Matthew Park

Matthew Park is a student at the Etheran Academy who is the latest host for Ares, the Greek God of War. He is a member of the Core Four and one of the protagonists in Young Gods.

Early Life
Matt was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of James, a first generation South Korean mechanic, and Alison, a Caucasian high school teacher. They survived off of a lower midde-class income. His upbringing was normal until the age in which he became more autonomous, in which Matt's behavior took a turn toward defiant and violent, exhibiting intense periods of uncontrollable rage. The older and larger he grew, the more difficult it was to restrain him, and he often senselessly attacked his peers and adults alike. His misbehavior came with threats from the school and parents of other children, putting stress on his parents and causing strain in their marriage.

Sometime in his early childhood, he was diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder. He also struggled to read and write, causing him to lag behind his peers. Eventually it was discovered he had a severe form of dyslexia, a learning disability. For some time Matt visited a therapist weekly in order to aid him with his behavioral disorder, as well as the emotional burden of his dyslexia. His therapist helped spark his interest in drawing, which would eventually become a lifelong hobby, as a means to cope.

Around the age of eight, his mother sustained injuries in a car accident, forcing her to undergo several surgeries. As well as the financial strain this put on the family, it also caused Alison to develop a dependency on prescription pain killers. Eventually she formed an addiction and routinely abused opioids, further deteriorating her physical and mental health. Matt was no longer able to visit his therapist due to lack of funds. As a consequence, his behavior continued to worsen beyond the scope of his own control, and his home life became extremely volatile. His drug addicted mother quickly developed a deep-seated hatred for him, and began to physically and verbally abuse him while his father turned a blind eye.

Even in his young age, Matt began to routinely run away from home, preferring homelessness to his current family environment. He still attended school, using it as an opportunity for a guaranteed meal, which helped stave off suspicion toward his abusive home life. During this time he befriended much older individuals that also lived at least part time on the streets, many of them gang affiliated and runaways themselves. He slowly became involved with petty crime, such as theft and vandalism. Over the years, he repeatedly got in trouble with law enforcement, who would deliver him home until he was able to escape again.

Despite his unstable life, Matt persisted in art and his remarkable talent awarded him a scholarship to a magnet middle school, specializing in the arts. It was there that he formed his first real group of friends, including Ashley Leblanc. Now significantly older and thus physically larger, the consequences of his behavioral issues became more severe. Vandalism and physical altercations with other students risked expulsion several times, and his crimes outside of school worsened, eventually tying him up in the distribution of cocaine. Simultaneously, spending time with his friends raised suspicions and concerns in parents, sparking more intricate investigation into his home situation. This ultimately resulted in Alison losing her teaching position, making James the sole provider of an income. During this time, child protective services made efforts to remove Matt from the legal care of his parents in an effort to place him into foster care instead, however multiple road blocks were stumbled upon. Before anything reached a climax, Matt's Awakening occurred and he learned that he was the host of Ares, whisking him away to Etheran Academy.

Underclassman Years
Matt did not take well to the news that he was the host of Ares, the God of War. Fearing that it inherently made him evil and that it was indeed impossible to control his rage, he fell victim to intense emotional suffering. This sparked a dislike of the Celestial Realm in him, as well as an unforgiving self hatred. It caused a misguided desire in him to return to his old life in the Mortal Realm, spearheading a period of the worst behavior he'd ever exhibited. Matt constantly started altercations with other students, skipped classes, and was defiant to faculty. However, Zeus showed a soft spot for him and was unrelenting in his efforts to help him. Although Matt was forced to spend most of his time on campus, he frequently returned to the Mortal Realm to willingly involve himself in illegal activities, resulting in several arrests. Zeus was forced to intervene multiple times, and reigned him back to school.

At the start of his first year, he discovered that his close friend from middle school, Ashley, had also experienced an Awakening, learning that she was Aphrodite. Despite having a familiarity prior to Etheran Academy, Ashley chose to ignore Matt, electing to pretend to not know who he was in favor of reaping the benefits of her newly found popularity. However, he was not without friends. It was at this time he met Roman Levchenko, and the two quickly grew close, no doubt partly due to Roman's erroneous admiration of Matt. Only a month after the semester began, Matt's roommate insisted on a new dorm accommodation, bred from a fear and dislike of him. Konstantin Chernov found himself in a similar predicament, and thus the two were put together instead. At first they found each other off putting, but only a few weeks later they formed a friendship. Despite his preference for mortal names, Matt began to affectionately refer to him as "Kash". Over the course of the school year, their friendship evolved into an intense emotional dependency, forming an intimate kinship with each other.

That summer, Matt and Ashley establish contact with each other and rekindle their friendship. Come the start of their second year, Matt and Roman frequently spent time with Ashley and her crew on campus, much to Kash's chagrin as he was well-informed in Matt's previous feelings of abandonment and anger toward her. Roughly five months later, Matt is arrested in the Mortal Realm for possession of cocaine with intent to redistribute. He is arraigned and charged as an adult, sentenced to multiple years in a federal prison. However, he only spends roughly half a year in detainment thanks to Zeus's prompt involvement, facilitating his release in time to begin his third year at Etheran Academy, albeit several days late. In October, Matt and Ashley's friendship matures into a romance and the two begin to date. Kash, unhappy with this development, tries repeatedly to break them up, but fails.

In Matt's fourth year, Kash manipulates Dimitris Antonopoulos, another of Ashley's boyfriends that Matt dislikes and is jealous of, into fighting him, resulting in him losing control of his abilities and nearly killing him. Thankfully faculty intervenes, saving Dimitris's life. As per Kash's plan, Ashley is disgusted with this course of events and ends her relationship with Matt. Devastated by this, he ceases contact with Kash despite sharing a dorm space together. At this time, Leah Calloway, familiar with Matt through her close friendship with Ashley, acts on her long-time attraction to him and pursues him. The two begin to date and Leah is excommunicated from her friend group by a scorned Ashley. At the turn of the new year, the Slavic deities are pulled from Etheran Academy by Kazimir Volkov, the current head of the pantheon after he had murdered Belobog, the previous leader, six months prior. This ends their involvement with the Etheran Alliance. The departure of the Slavic students occurs too fast for Matt and Kash to exchange any parting words, forcing him to leave a note for Matt instructing him to personally hide the object that his soul is linked to. Although the two are not on speaking terms, Kash has no choice but to put faith in their previous friendship. As advised by the note, Matt hides the object and returns to school, now lacking his two closest friends.

Appearance
Despite being conventionally attractive, Matt's demeanor is by no means approachable. He is one of the tallest students at the Etheran Academy and being a God of War gives him an intimidating, muscular build and broad shoulders. Contrasting his fair skin is his unruly dark brown hair that falls to his shoulders in waves. His angular face has high cheekbones and a strong jawline with almond-shaped hazel eyes. He has several beauty marks all over his body but most notably is the one above his upper lip.

Matt has a slightly slouched, leisurely walk that reflects his attitude. His hands are usually buried in the pockets of his leather jacket which is black, like the rest of his wardrobe. Black shirt, black jacket, black skinny jeans, black boots. His style is surprisingly put-together, showing that he at least cares somewhat of his appearance.

He has a deep, gravely voice as expected of a smoker. His tone is either sarcastic or disinterested, rarely anything in between.

Personality
Although not popular in the traditional sense, Matt is well-known around school for his standoffish and rebellious behavior, as well as his history of violence. His expression is often serious and stony, or devilishly mischievous. Matt's reputation precedes him, driving many students to form opinions of him regardless of whether or not they'd ever spoken, and even causing them to avoid him altogether. His slacker attitude toward his studies and penchant for skipping class has lead many to believe that he is unintelligent, however the opposite is true. He has an acute memory and is extremely observant, noticing small details in his surroundings. Matt has a silver tongue, and often uses it to his advantage, weaseling his way out of things with his cleverness and charisma. He has the ability to turn on and off his charm, utilizing it as a tool. He has an effortless talent for weaponizing words, using sarcasm and a dry wit to talk circles around people. He bluntly expresses his thoughts and opinions regardless of how rude or hurtful they are. His sense of humor is crude and shocking.

Matt's aloof attitude means he holds everyone at arm's length, emotionally guarding himself against forming personal relationships except for a select few that he allows close to him. He is fiercely protective of those individuals, showing a surprising level of loyalty and willingness to sacrifice himself for their benefit. Even so, his volatile anger often gets the better of him, substituting itself in for other emotions, and he can be impulsive, starting arguments and saying things he doesn't mean in an effort to hurt someone. His rage comes with the sensation of a high, filling him with adrenaline and giving him tunnel vision, however after he comes down he feels regret and guilt. Unfortunately, it can be difficult for him to apologize due to his fear of being vulnerable. It is hard for Matt to show his genuine feelings, preferring to hide behind a facade and the walls he has built up, though when he does share his feelings he becomes bashful and nervous to an endearing degree. However, he has no problem being straightforward when it comes to sexual endeavors. Otherwise, Matt prefers to compartmentalize his emotions, dealing with them on his own rather than seeking out comfort from others.

He is selfish unless dealing with someone he cares about. Matt has few qualms with anyone that may get hurt in his efforts to protect himself or someone close to him. He is easily frustrated by people telling him what to do, and he abhors figures of authority, sometimes going out of his way to do the opposite of what he is told. He hates being talked down to, sparking aggression from him. He has a fear of being seen as dishonest when telling the truth, which happens often due to his turbulent past. He seems fearless, displaying courage beyond what some may expect of him. Despite his indifferent attitude, Matt is neat in his day-to-day life, keeping his bedroom and other surroundings tidy. He loves art and is exceptional at it, spending most of his free time drawing and painting. His love of metal music is blatant as he is often found walking around campus with headphones on, blasting the music so loudly that the sound leaks out. Matt loves food and inhales it at comedic rates, but he has a particular affinity for drowning his meals in ketchup.

Powers
The core of Matt's abilities pertain to the feeling of rage. He is able to sense it in others, manipulating it of his own free will to increase or decrease it, as well as inspiring aggression in others. He is also empowered by it, whether from his own emotions or of those around him, causing him to become stronger overall. However, he is often blinded by it and thus loses control of himself, allowing the anger to reach beyond a manageable point. This often results in him becoming bloodthirsty and violent, blacking out, and doing or saying things he would not normally. While rage may feel negative for others, Matt experiences a pleasurable high from it, making it difficult for him to willingly pull back from the feeling. In the right mindset, watching others suffer from pain or inflicting wounds upon others is pleasant to him.

Being the God of War, Matt is able to manipulate it, namely in inducing its existence. He can inspire chaos in large areas, causing fighting and discord as he pleases. Conflict strengthens him, as well as the bloodshed that follows. Unsurprisingly, he is naturally extremely skilled in fighting. He has an innate knowledge of all weapons and forms of combat without needing previous instruction, and can execute them as if a master. He is naturally strategic, sensing opponents weaknesses, and is knowledgeable in battle tactics. Matt possesses the physical components necessary of a perfect warrior, having enhanced strength, durability, reflexes, stamina, and survivability. He is able to exert energy more efficiently than others, and can survive damage that may kill someone else.

Rarely, in certain circumstances Matt can unwillingly shape-shift into one of two large, werebeast creatures, either a dog or a boar. In this form, he has no recollection of his human self, falling victim to an entirely feral mind. He acts only upon a primal, unstoppable rage and a desperate desire for bloodshed. Matt is unable to distinguish friend from foe, and will attack those even he holds most dear to him. Unless restrained or reverted back, he will attempt to kill what he lays his eyes upon; in the event that he is unable to reach an opponent, Matt will attack himself, even to the possibility of mortally wounding his own body. He feels no pain or exhaustion, thus is unable to be deterred by normal methods and would sooner collapse before give up. In this form he is able to take and inflict more damage than as a human. He is, however, vulnerable to emotional manipulation abilities, such as love, which can revert him back to his true form.