“Are we there yet?!” Iris complained, stretching her legs from the back of the carriage. The three day journey had been long and taking its toll and the impatient Iris had enough of this. She finally got over her immobilised state and was ready to get moving.

“Within the hour, I’d say,” Keratos called from the front of the carriage.

Iris groaned and stretched out on her bench. She was glad for that bathhouse visit after leaving Torasu, but now she really wanted to get out and fight something; get the blood pumping again.

She looked out the window and admired the scenery. Dulsereik, a once distant peak, now loomed over the group and cast its shadow on the land below. The northern view was practically nothing but tall mountain ranges past the trees.

But once the trees cleared, Iris could see a bright structure at the base of the mountain. A city surrounded by tall walls and spires and built part-way into the mountainside itself.

Iris pointed it out excitedly to Arylos who came up beside her to look.

“Sentoraya,” he told her, “at one point called Nagamichi. It was built by the Kaiyumian Resistance during the Dragon Wars and the seat of the nation to rise from the ashes of the war.”

“Was it like this during the war?” Iris asked. Arylos was there during the war so she wanted to know if it was always this large.

Arylos shook his head. “During the war, it was a series of tunnels in the mountain. The walls didn’t come until near the end of the war, but they can still suppress a Reig attack. Once the war was over, the city was built outward, leaving the tunnels and the walls raised to protect against future wars.”

Iris was now more excited than ever to get into the city and after an hour, the massive stone walls were just overhead at the southern gate where Keratos stopped the carriage, not too far outside the gates.

“I’m going to park her here,” Keratos told the duo. “I’m afraid I have other business to handle so I won’t be able to join you.”

Iris nodded with excitement as Arylos began gathering their things and the two of them left the carriage. Iris looked up at the walls and admired the pristine work of stone reinforced with metal. Towers stood at regular intervals along the wall’s length and the bricks of the walls all had individual names carved into them with the named bricks forming various patterns and designs. The tall gate contained two large metal portcullis and on both sides stood statues of fully armoured soldiers; no doubt designed based on the resistance soldiers of the time.

Arylos came up beside Iris who was still enamoured by the massive gate; the walls of Sentoraya put the walls of Mornyr Khai to shame.

“Before we settle in,” Arylos told Iris, “we will have to make a stop at the Royal Palace.”

Iris was snapped out of her trance. “Wait, how come?” she exclaimed.

Arylos nodded. “You’ll know why when we get there, but in short immortal beings have to announce themselves before they can remain in the city.”

Iris’s confusion grew. “So you’ll just waltz in, say ‘hi there! Very powerful Titan entering your borders; don’t mind me!’ and they’ll just be okay with it?”

Arylos belly laughed at the suggestion. “Of course I won’t say that.” Iris sighed as Arylos started walking towards the gates. “I’ll say ‘hello there’ first,” he told her. Iris panicked and she ran to try and catch up to Arylos.

The traffic through the gate was busy, but did not stop. Guards stood on either side of the tall gate but traffic was allowed unimpeded. As the two approached, one of the guards wearing thick metal plate armour and a visor that covered his face with a greatsword on his back stepped forward, about to stop the duo from proceeding.

Here we go, Iris thought to herself and hid behind Arylos.

“A moment,” the guard called out and blocked the duo’s path. Iris looked at the guard again and noticed glowing white eyes under his visor as he examined the group.

“That body is mortal, yet you are anything but,” he concluded. “Identify yourself.”

Arylos sighed. “I’m not trying to hide from you if that’s what you’re on about. The name is Arylos.”

“Lord Vahsmorn’r!” the guard realised in a concerned tone. “When did you return to this world?”

“In all fairness, I never left,” Arylos answered. “I was kept imprisoned this whole time until this girl here woke me up a little while ago.”

Iris poked her head out from behind Arylos and waved nervously.

The guard examined Iris and nodded. “The city is open to you, my Lord, however you must report your arrival at the palace. One of my men will guide you.”

One of the other guards came forward and beckoned the two to follow him as he walked through the gates. Iris breathed a sigh of relief and came out from behind Arylos’s back and admired the city that laid before them. A sprawling expanse of buildings on diagonal and gridded streets that all lead to a large white palace to the far north against the wall of the mountain.

The buildings were of stone with wooden and steel reinforcement and featured many colours and styles. Each neighbourhood had small walking streets leading to the various houses from the main road. Small carts wait outside these neighbourhoods, too large to go into the living plazas and gardens. Merchants set up shop on the sides of the road, announcing their wares to all with many goods and foods on offer.

As the two continued, Iris noted just how many gardens sat between houses and the many streams that ran through the city, the roads bridging the sides of the streams. One would say this city, while modern, represented an incredible attunement to nature; the stone walls and buildings broken up by the green of trees and the blue of waters. The streets are filled with people going to and fro in their busy lives yet always in the accompaniment of nature. All of this busy city life in the shadow of a mountain anyone would injure their neck to see the peak of; a long and dark shadow across the city that almost gave the appearance of nighttime in some districts.

Another bridge walked over and Iris admired the waters beneath. Large koi swam in the bubbling streams banked by green gardens. It reminded Iris of her small stream in the forest back home, but now running through the city itself.

Arylos chuckled as he saw Iris gaze around her with the biggest smile, taking in new sights and memories with each glance. So many people, so many foods, so many cultures, the sensory overload was almost too much for the little girl from a small southwestern village.

Before long, they found themselves at the foot of the palace; a white stone building with dark blue tiled roofs built partway into the rockface. The building was at least five floors high and wide enough to fit an army with various windows adorning the front of the building along with decorative carvings and adornments, many of which not Kaiyumian. A large balcony stood in the centre of the building on the third floor with a large set of doors framed by white pillars holding up the balcony rested underneath. The top of the doors framed an intricate engraving of the Dragon Wars; man on one side, dragon on the other. The side of man had a tall soldier with a greatsword at the head of his army with the black dragon Kalndahvok on the other, leering at the tall man.

Iris could not help but admire the engraving above the door as they approached the doors.

“Do you know that carving?” Arylos asked Iris.

She nodded. “Obo’e had a tapestry of it. He called it ‘The Final Day’; the day when the first king Sentarus battled and defeated Kalndahvok, freeing Kaiyumi at the cost of his life.”

Arylos sighed and rested his hand on Iris’s shoulder almost sorrowfully for some reason before he continued to the building as the guard opened the large double doors.

“Please, follow me,” the guard instructed as he entered an ornate wooden-decorated foyer complete with a gemstone chandelier at the top of two wooden staircases leading to the upper floors. He led the duo up the stairs and to a room on the back side of the staircase.

He opened the door and within was a large windowless room lined with various paintings and a single ornate and dark stained rectangle table in the centre with six chairs surrounding it. The chair on the far side was engraved beautifully with various symbols and padded hefty cushioning; a seat for the king, no doubt.

“Please wait while I fetch my Lord,” the guard said and closed the door, leaving the two in the dark candle lit room on their own.

Arylos took a seat at the end of the table opposite of the ornate chair and Iris sat next to him, fidgeting in the silence, her heart starting to race with what the guard said.

“Why are you so nervous?” Arylos asked, leaning back in his chair, obviously relaxing.

“He said he will ‘fetch his Lord’,” Iris responded nervously. “Does that mean we’re speaking to the king?”

Arylos wrapped his hands behind his head, stretching out. “Of course. He wants to know who is here personally.”

Iris’s anxiety grew to no end. “But the guard at the gate, he called you ‘Lord’ as well.”

Arylos scoffed. “My name carries weight to those who know. Being the last Titan comes with that ‘perk’.”

Arylos obviously seemed unhappy with the remark so Iris just sat in silence. A few moments later, the door creaked open and a single person entered. Iris looked and the person who entered was an older man with dark brown hair with lines of grey that was combed back and a braid down his left temple, tied off with a small metal medallion. He sported a thick brown beard and wore dark blue and silver robes with gold trim and strange runes stitched in gold. On his back draped two long capes with gold writing on them; writing Iris had never seen before and was lost in the intricate brush strokes of the writing. His body was hidden under his robes but his arms were about as large as Arylos’s. In fact, he was about as tall as Arylos as well, towering over Iris.

“I was told an immortal had entered my city,” he announced in a deep and resonating voice as he walked to stand next to Arylos, “nothing but par for the course. However, imagine my surprise when I am told that said immortal is not an immortal at all.”

The man turned to Arylos with a menacing glare in his eyes. “But an Eternal. A Titan, no less.”

Arylos crossed his arms and returned the man’s stare. “Am I wrong to assume that my help left us on good terms?” Arylos growled.

“I would think so,” the man returned. “However, there being only one Titan alive, I must see for myself; see who you are with my own eyes.”

Faster than Iris could see, the man pulled aside his robe and unsheathed a large and ornate silver sword with a gold hilt and swung it towards Arylos’s neck. Before the blade could land though, it was stopped dead in the air as the air hummed with a powerful energy; like some invisible hand was preventing the blade from moving closer. The man grunted and struggled, trying to free his blade but Arylos simply gave him a dead stare, as if begging the man to try something else for Arylos’s entertainment.

Iris panicked; she didn’t know whether to fight or flee.

After a moment of staring into Arylos’s red eyes, the man chuckled and withdrew his sword. “So it is a Titan,” he concluded, “and that means the man before me can only be one person.”

Arylos chuckled to himself, “I’d say you’ve gotten slower in your old age.”

The man looked towards Iris. “And you bring this girl with you, who is she?” he asked Arylos.

Arylos sighed. “This is Nashonaru Iris, she's from a village to the southwest. Nageki; do you know it?”

The man sheathed his sword and took his seat at the far end of the table. “I do. I am aware the Templarians intruded upon my territory and slaughtered my people.”

How does he know? Iris questioned internally. Even when she spoke to the Speaker in Mornyr Khai, she did not mention the Templarians.

“That is correct,” Arylos confirmed. “Iris is the only survivor of that village and I’ve taken her into my care. What news from On High?”

The man sighed. “Odin was accused of instigating an unnecessary war. The council met and Anoron gave Odin full floor time to explain. Odin claimed that you will bring about the Ragnarok from his prophecies and that you must be stopped.”

“And where does Anoron sit on that?” Arylos asked.

The man crossed his arms as he answered. “His conclusion shook the council. He determined that you are not an immediate threat and instead said that Templarius had ‘more pressing concerns’ than to chase after ‘a half-faded prophecy’”

Arylos thought for a moment while stroking his beard. “So he essentially told Odin to kick rocks,” he concluded.

The man nodded. “He did. He declared that if Odin truly believes you are a threat, he should seek you out with his own power and not involve the Council or the Templarian military.”

The two began talking more in-depth about politics that Iris knew nothing about. Houses, Orders, the need to return to the three throne system with majority vote, it was all too much like they were speaking another language.

“Hey Helion,” Iris mentally reached out to the sword on her back, “can you translate for me?”

Long story short, there’s political unrest within Templarius, the sword answered. Odin attacked Nageki in an unprovoked move to destroy Arylos. The rest of Templarius disagrees with him and Anoron, the king, ordered that if he wants to pursue Arylos, Odin will have to do it alone. This means that Odin will be unlikely to make such an attack again.

“That’s good to know. But who is this man?” Iris asked. “Why does he know so much about Templarius?”

From what I know, he is Sentarus, the twenty-fifth son of the original Mendasar Sentarus who fought in the Dragon Wars, Helion explained.

“Okay, but what does the Kaiyumian king know of Templarius?” she returned.

“Ah, it seems we have been rude to your guest,” the man cut in.

Arylos looked over to Iris. “Ah, right,” he said, chuckling nervously.

Iris stood up and tried to formulate her question professionally and with respect. “So you are Sentarus, the king of Kaiyumi,” she began, “but you know almost everything about the Templarians' attack on Nageki and you even know their politics. So I must ask; just who are you?”

Sentarus thought about his response carefully before responding. "I have a seat on the Templarian council," he explained. "My primary goal is to ensure that Templarius remains uninterested in Kaiyumi as much as possible. The last thing I want is for them to see us as people to conquer or subjugate."

"Why would they do that?" Iris asked.

"At the end of the day, Templarius is an empire spanning thousands of worlds," Sentarus explained. "The Kaiyumae already worship them as gods and Templarius has a militaristic force capable of annihilating us if they wished."

Arylos nodded and took over the explanation. "If Kaiyumi has something Templarius wants, they will encounter little resistance. So it's best to keep them believing Kaiyumi isn't worth their time."

“It would be like two tribes who only have bows and spears,” Sentarus cut in, “both sides may be hard pressed for war or war may result in a draw. But assume one of them learns magic that the other side was never prepared for.” Sentarus cut his explanation, using a snap of his fingers to symbolise that the war would end in a single moment, snuffing out the non-magic users instantly.

Iris understood this; Nageki had a handful of warriors and mostly hunters in its population. Yet they were decimated by the Templarians who lived and breathed war and were capable of feats that no mortal could have dreamt of. If all of Templarius wanted, they could law waste to all of Kaiyumi. In fact, that sounds awfully familiar to the Dragon Wars; the Kaiyumae stood no chance and victory was hard to achieve and required Arylos's intervention.

If Templarius really wanted to invade, Kaiyumi wouldn't stand a chance; a jarring lesson that the gods aren't as merciful as Iris once believed.