Arylos took a deep sigh as he slowly woke up, feeling his senses coming back to him. With them, he felt a dull ache from his exercise the previous day; still feeling the punches in his chest. He rolled over as laughter slowly started to take over him.

“I got my ass beat by two girls,” he laughed to himself. He couldn’t help himself as he lifted himself out of bed as he tried to stifle the addicting laughter. Yet he reminded himself that Iris fighting him was the reminder he needed; he may be protecting her, but that doesn’t mean that she’s weak. His purpose was to keep her safe in the event that someone like Odin would come after her.

Or more accurately come after him. Maybe him staying with her was just exposing her to more danger; the very act of protecting her from his enemies only drew them closer. Could he tell her to turn away? Tell her to leave? Maybe she would understand, but would he be able to live with that? He remembered the week of solitude and how it felt for him. How the walls came crashing in on him as he was alone once more.

He shook the thoughts from his mind, once again content with what he has now. He felt that it was not only his duty, but his own wish to stay here. Even if it meant protecting a mortal girl. The Titan let out a sigh as he stood up out of bed and stretched his old joints. He turned to the desk next to his bed and saw a folded bit of paper lying on the desk.

“Leaving notes now, huh?” Arylos amused himself. He picked up the paper and unfolded it. He felt a touch of his anxiety return to him as he read spinning, spiralling characters written in blue ink. Characters that he knew all too well from a world that suffered a similar fate to his own. Only two other beings in this reality knew this tongue.

“Odin?” the haunting script read.

Arylos caught on as he looked around the room, making sure he was alone. He ran through his memories of the night, trying to find if he sensed someone entering but found nothing.

No, he wouldn’t just walk in through the front door, Arylos submitted himself to the only other explanation. He lifted a pen from the desk and tried to remember the ancient script. He always found the language strange to write and unnatural to speak.

“Yes,” was the only reply Arylos could formulate. He folded the slip of paper back down and set it on the desk. As soon as he set it down, his head rushed and he saw the paper in a different position from how he set it down.

He knew this head rush all too well. He was being watched. He looked around his room once more and saw no one; even the door itself was still closed and nothing else was moved. Someone was doing something unnatural, something that bent reality in response.

Not unlike that of a Titan.

Arylos sighed and lifted the slip of paper back up and saw that it was a different sheet entirely with more of the foreign writing. Arylos squinted, trying his hardest to make sense of the language.

“When will you be coming back?” the paper read.

Arylos growled under his breath as he crushed the paper in his hand. “You didn’t ask me in person because you knew what I would say,” he growled while gritting his teeth, directing his anger-filled speech to the unseen eyes watching him. He threw the scrap of paper into a basket nearby, discarding it and everything related to it and letting that be his answer.

He threw on a shirt he had laying to the side, not bothering to fasten it, and opened his bedroom door. As he opened the door, he felt the headrush again along with another sensation. Like a wave crashing through space, through reality, a wind that only he could feel as reality was once again twisted to meet the desires of this unseen entity.

Arylos closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he ignored the sensation. He didn’t care anymore, he couldn’t care anymore. He started laughing under his breath as he slowly made his way down the stairs as the morning sunlight and a peaceful quiet filled the house. He took a breath as he stood out in the living room, planning his next course of action for the day.

He had the day off so he could focus on some projects around the house and maybe find time to work on his smithing skills. He was finally nearing his old skill level and he planned a proper replacement for Sentarus’s broken sword but couldn’t get past the sketching phase. Maybe this would be that day. He turned and headed towards the living room and felt his stomach turn.

On the table rested a folded piece of paper.

The Titan growled under his breath as he marched towards the table and crumbled the slip of paper in his hand. He grew tired of this hiding in the shadows game he was being caught up in. Not only did it take him months to get a response, but now the old bastard was hiding from Arylos.

And then had the nerve to ask him to come back; imply that Arylos would come back.

Arylos let out a shuddered sigh as he crushed the paper as he felt the walls closing in once more. He would never escape, this is everything he is after all; his true nature, his true self. To say otherwise would be lying to himself. He wanted out of this war, but he knew he would have no choice but to rush head first into it. Even if he wanted to, he could never escape.

This was all just a fleeting dream.

Arylos looked back down at the crumpled ball of paper. His curiosity was taking the best of him and he felt the urge to see what it said. He at least wanted to know if he would have to wake up now or if he still had time. He took the ball of paper and began unfolding it carefully until he found a familiar script.

Kaiyumian script, written in simple characters and clear handwriting. Just for him.

“Bellona asked for some help this morning so I headed out early. I’ll probably be back sometime around sundown. I’m craving something fried for dinner so I trust you to work your magic as you always do.”

At the bottom of the note, Arylos saw a quick and simple drawing of a smiling face in place of a signature. The Titan sighed in relief and let out a nervous laughter. He held the note carefully in his hands as he continued laughing until he could feel a tear stream down his cheek.

He could dream for a little while longer.

Iris walked through the Sentorayan streets, enjoying the springtime air as she patrolled. Putting her sword back on and getting back out into the world felt good after spending so much time cooped up; Bellona asking for her help with additional patrols was a blessing that Iris sought to profit from herself.

She took in the sounds of the bustling city as she walked. The chatter of people, the sound of footsteps on stone, the sound of merchants haggling, the sound of street food cooking. The intense loudness brought a bit of peace to Iris. A hint of the normal life that she felt Arylos had been looking for. She wondered deep down just what Arylos’s life was like after the Titans died.

She wanted to know more. The worlds he had visited. Where he went after the Titans died. Whether it was possible for someone like her to go to Mortehksun herself. So many questions roamed through her mind that she couldn’t find answers for. More accurately, Arylos would be unable to explain.

She wanted to know more, but she knew enough.

A smile escaped her lips as her attention lapsed, thinking about how this all looks. She was living with a god, a real god. She could call a god her friend, a god of the gods themselves.

She was falling in love with a god.

She shook her head to get the thought out of her. She couldn’t call it that just yet and thinking about that only made her spiralling storm of emotions worse. She needed to keep her head clear for the sake of the patrol. She will have plenty of time to process all of this later; even if she ends up confessing on her deathbed.

She straightened herself and turned down a busy road of restaurants as the sound drowned her. She took in the experience, enjoying the thunderous cacophony of sizzling grills, laughing and chattering crowds, excited and running children, and the sound of the daily life of mortals.

And yet in the choir of commotion, she could hear crying off to her side.

She latched onto the strange sound and found it was coming from an alley off to her right. It was soft, indistinguishable against the chaos of the street, but it stood out once one could hear it. It was a woman’s voice; soft and sad, as if hiding from the outside world.

Iris neared the alleyway and saw a young tan woman with long silver hair leaning against the wall of the building nearby in a frayed white dress. She kept her head buried in her knees as she sobbed quietly. Iris felt her heart go out for the young woman, feeling a bit of her pain as if she was looking at a reflection of herself.

“Hey there, are you alright?” Iris called out softly.

The woman lifted her head a bit and stifled her cries for a moment. Suddenly, the woman lurched forward and shoved her body into Iris, knocking her to the ground before Iris could catch on. Once Iris came to, she saw the woman frantically running away.

“Wait! Hold on!” Iris called out as she dragged herself back up and gave chase, calling on as much of her strength as she ran, weaving through the crowd as the woman was slowed down by repeatedly bumping into pedestrians.

Iris reached out a hand and before she could grab onto the woman, the woman suddenly dashed off to the side out of reach and went down another street. Iris groaned and continued her pursuit, trying desperately to keep the air pumping through her lungs.

“Wait! I just want to help!” Iris continued her shouts as she continued after the woman, passerbys moving out of Iris’s way yet showing little overall interest. Iris could barely see the white hair of the woman through the crowd as she felt she was getting too far away.

Iris gritted her teeth. She wanted to use some of her magic to get closer but the group of people in the streets would make that difficult; not without causing some unnecessary damage. She frantically tried to piece a plan together. She saw the woman dash off to the side and squeeze her way towards another alley. Iris quickly turned and ran down the same alley, finding no one in sight save for the girl she was chasing as she darted around a corner.

Iris saw her chance. She gathered her strength and took the turn hard, nearly falling over as she began holding her breath to help her focus. She watched her vision turn grey as time stopped around her as she ran. She rose to her feet and sprinted for the woman, frozen in place in mid-sprint.

Iris let out her breath and reached out. Time resumed and the sound of thunder filled the air as Iris knocked the girl to the ground in the alley. Iris got up as she tried to catch her breath in deep pants.

“What the hell is going on? I’m trying to help you,” she exclaimed in between breaths.

The woman gasped as she turned around and backed away from Iris and into a wall at the end of the alley. She stared at Iris with bright green eyes as she panted and her lips quivered. Iris could see that she had been crying for a while and was terrified, petrified.

“You won’t help me,” the woman responded as fear cracked her voice and tears streamed down her cheeks.

Iris knelt down to get a closer look at the woman but the woman pushed herself against the wall to try and get away. Iris was about to comfort the woman, but something seemed familiar about this woman. Her silver hair and green eyes and tan skin. She felt something familiar tug at her, a memory she kept inside.

Iris reached out a hand but before she could touch the woman, she felt a sensation tear at her that she had not felt in a while. It suddenly made sense to her; she had seen this woman before. Iris closed her hand into a fist and lowered her hand as she started to feel a familiar hatred come to her.

She definitely knew this woman.

Iris rose to her feet as her fists clenched. Instinctively, she reached for Helion on her back and pulled the blade out of its scabbard as it hummed with a blue light and Iris could feel her blood boil.

“Eir,” Iris growled.