The duo were set out along one of the southeastern roads from Sentoraya under the morning sun with a light chill in the air, heading to a region called Khoras, home mostly to open farmland and mines along the eastern mountains. Arylos would think of this walk as peaceful, serene even.

“DAMN IT!”

If Iris’s shouts weren’t testing the limits of his patience.

“Who does he think he is?” Iris continues complaining. “He moves us from one impossible task to another and for what? So he can sit in his palace and profit from our work?”

Arylos rubbed his eyes with a deep sigh. “You have to remember he’s allowing us to remain in his city. This is the least we can do for him.”

“Yeah, but six months of this?” Iris bit back.

Arylos rubbed his tired eyes; she had a point. Since Arylos and Iris settled into Sentoraya, Sentarus would always assign them to do various patrols and hunts outside of the Khymr order. This meant the pay was bad and the work was always something either boring or pointless. Six months of this; six months of Sentarus working the two hard.

“We need a vacation,” Arylos lamented.

“We do,” Iris grumbled. “If Sentarus would give us the chance to.”

“I’m sorry that taking you to Sentoraya resulted in this,” Arylos apologised.

“It’s fine,” Iris returned, crossing her arms. “At least this time he made it sound important.”

That Sentarus did. The task was to investigate a series of villages to the southwest being raided by an unknown party. No survivors were left but there would always be a large portion of the village population missing, causing Sentarus some concern.

I’m worried the survivors are being sold into slavery, or worse. Sentarus told them when he urged them to investigate.

“At least Sentarus had new armour made for you,” Iris added, admiring Arylos’s new gear. He no longer wore his ancient and tattered robes and wore proper armour now. It still maintained the black and red motif but the cloak was more intact and had a hood, had chainmail under a black cloth shirt, and even chainmail vambraces and greaves. His battle worn sword on his hip remained unchanged however.

Arylos chuckled to himself. “It’s not what I would have made, but it’s more than sufficient,” Arylos complimented.

“I would have liked to see more colour though,” Iris mocked. “Will you wear anything that isn’t black? You’ll wear black even when it’s hot.”

Arylos grinned. “I’ll wear something else when they make a darker colour.”

Iris sighed. Maybe one day, she’ll force Arylos to wear pink or something just to make him pay for that comment.

The two continued on their southeast, the sun still slowly passing overhead. While Iris could walk better wearing Helion on her back, it was still exhausting. Arylos looked like the walk wasn’t bothering him but rather the whole thing irritated him. He has been having to continue his work with the Khymr all the while Sentarus works him like a horse.

Maybe they really should go on an adventure. Or maybe just stay at home for a couple of days. Arylos has done a lot for Iris and his work keeps money flowing on top of cooking for her on many days. Iris starts thinking that maybe she should tell Arylos to stay in bed and she’ll even cook for him; give him a chance to properly rest.

The universe had other plans however.

A howl sounded from the trees not far off and a creature came running from the trees, faster than Iris could see. Arylos had just enough time to turn and put his hand on his sword before he was knocked to the ground by the creature.

The creature was brown and scaly, serpentine in body shape but had six large arms and a sword-like tail. It hissed at Arylos with saliva dripping from its wide mouth.

Iris readied Helion and came at the creature, but the creature knocked her away with its tail with a loud hiss. Arylos growled and kicked the creature off of him with his otherworldly strength and prepared to take out his sword when he too was knocked away. Arylos stood up and finally readied his flaming sword while Iris slowly got back up to her feet.

Arylos noticed something odd, behind the howling monster was a shadow of a person holding a large greatsword on their shoulders. The person approached the creature and with blinding speed came forward and cleaved the creature’s serpent body in half, generating a gust of wind as the creature fell silent save for fading gurgling and dropped to the ground in two pieces.

Iris watched as the person stepped forward. It was a woman; medium length black hair and fair skin and a fire in her brown eyes and soft facial features. She radiated with a strange and alluring beauty that even Iris was stunned by. She wore gold and steel armour with tattered red adornments and faded gold trim. The armour had a skirt of segmented studded leather strips and plated greaves. She had some kind of golden vambrace on her left arm that looked intricate yet well worn. The areas of her armour that was exposed showed a muscular yet delicate form.

Her sword is almost as tall as she is, and she’s already just a little shorter than Arylos. It had a stone grey blade that was well worn and had gold trim and orange gems inlaid in the hilt.

“I didn’t think a Vespa could get the best of you,” the woman said, her voice loud and commanding.

At that moment, a very sly smile came across Arylos’s face; a smile Iris had not seen in a while. Something about this woman intrigued him in ways Iris did not want to know.

“To be fair, I almost had it until you stole it,” Arylos joked, his smile widening.

The woman returned her sword to her shoulders. “The beast looked peckish so I gave it a taste of my sword; that’s all,” she joked with Arylos, returning the same smile he was giving her. “And who do we have here?” she asked, motioning to Iris.

“This is Nashonaru Iris, a friend of mine,” he introduced. “Iris, this is Bellona, yet another old friend of mine.”

“How many old friends do you have?” Iris asked partially accusingly. Arylos has only been with Iris for the past six months so if this is an “old” friend, that makes this woman date back to the Dragon Wars and the last thing Iris wanted was yet another immortal.

“He has more than he’s willing to share, so it seems,” Bellona returned with a bit of sarcasm. “I take it you’re also here because Sentarus asked?”

Arylos snapped out of the joy of the reunion. “Sentarus sent you too?” he asked in a confused tone.

“The southeastern villages being raided,” Bellona responded. “Said he wanted extra patrols of the area to prevent further instances. He did mention he was going to send some help; I didn’t think he was sending you.”

“To be fair,” Arylos began, “he didn’t tell us anything, and seeing you on Kaiyumi is a bit of a shock.”

Bellona lowered her sword and it stuck itself in the ground. “I had nowhere else to go,” she lamented.

A brief moment passed between Bellona and Arylos that made Iris feel a bit awkward; there’s some history here that she was out of the loop of.

“Well, the more the merrier, right?” Iris cut in between the two, trying to lighten whatever sad mood they were sharing. “And since you took care of that creature so easily, it will be good to have another person in the group who can fight!”

Arylos and Bellona snapped out of it. “She’s right,” Arylos confirmed. “Three fighters will do a lot better than two, and we can personally use your strengths.”

Bellona was both shocked and confused for a moment. “Wait, you’ll let me join you? Just like that?”

Arylos smiled as he turned away. “We’re still friends, you know. I’ll never turn down a good warrior who is also a friend.”

Bellona was overcome with both joy and excitement as she grabbed her sword and let Iris lead the way, the two of them chatting along the way.

“So, how do you know Arylos?” Iris asked, wondering more about their history.

“I’ve been friends with him for a while,” Bellona answered. “Anyone that can make quick work of an army with a snap of his fingers is worth getting to know.”

“Wait, he can do that?” Iris jumped in, wanting to see some of this power Arylos has, especially since he keeps getting his ass kicked.

Bellona nodded as she explained. “I once saw him snap his fingers and a whole army erupted in flames and the ground beneath them broke in a quake that left a permanent mark. It was the single most graceful act of devastation I’ve ever seen.”

“No way!” Iris could barely contain her excitement. She’s heard a lot about what Arylos can do, but this was just rich and juicy.

“Come now, keep Iris’s expectations tempered,” Arylos cut in, half embarrassed. “I can’t do anything like that in this body so it makes you out to be a liar. I can only channel a portion of my power into this body.”

“Yes, but that’s a lot of power!” Iris cut in. “You ripped a valkyrie’s wings off with that strength!”

Bellona stopped in place for a moment, her expression now sombre and borderline scared. “You…did what?” Bellona asked, her tone softer.

Arylos sighed. “Don’t think too much into it,” he told Bellona. “I did what I had to do; that’s all that matters, and I don’t intend to repeat myself.”

Bellona snapped out of her fear for a moment and nodded. Iris wasn’t sure what came over her but this and she wanted to ask more about this.

However, the universe once again had different plans.

Hisses and growls came from the trees as four more creatures like the serpent one Bellona killed earlier came out from the trees, apparently searching for revenge.

“Hey Bellona,” Arylos called out and he put his hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t you show Iris how it’s done.” he told her with a grin.

Bellona grinned as well and readied her sword and twisted her free arm, the motion causing her golden vambrace to unfold like some kind of machine, revealing an intricate and worn golden shield.

“I thought you would never ask,” she laughed and launched herself at the creatures with incredible force.

Iris could only watch as she saw Bellona strike one of the creatures with the shield and bring the sword down on its head as the other creatures started to gather around. With that one down, Bellona twisted her arm again, closing the mechanical shield, and blocked one of the creature’s tails with her sword. She then made a motion with her sword arm and the blade unfolded somehow, changing shape into a large warhammer.

Bellona spun the hammer around, knocking the creatures back and brought the hammer down on one of the serpent’s heads, splitting it cleanly open in an explosion of blood and skull fragments. She made another motion with the hammer and it collapsed back into a sword.

Iris was having issues following what she was seeing the weapon do; a shapeshifting weapon that seems to defy its own construction.

Bellona smirked and made a twisting motion with the sword, the blade unfolded into a long chain with the blade segmented on its length; a flail of pure evil nature.

Bellona snapped the flail and it wrapped around the neck of one of the creatures; piercing into its flesh with the bladed segments. She then pulled on it and the creature’s neck was torn open, nearly decapitating it.

One of the other creatures ran for Bellona but she quickly deployed her shield, catching the creature’s maw on it and she knocked it in the head with the shield, staggering it. She then took her moment and the flail returned to its sword shape and she ran it through the creature’s gut and it fell to the ground in a mess.

Iris could only watch in awe. Less than a minute and five of those creatures were killed. And a weapon that seems to shapeshift to match its user’s desired weapon. Just who is this woman?

Arylos must have seen the shine in her eyes so he explained. “She is Bellona, sometimes named Enyo. She is a goddess of war, destruction, conquest, and bloodlust.”

Iris snapped out of her hypnosis as she processed what she heard. “A goddess of war,” she repeated back. “So she’s a Templarian.”

Iris looked on as she saw Bellona make another motion with her sword and it took on the shape of a long golden spear and she ran it through the skull of the creature she just stabbed, making sure it was dead.

“That she is; one of the strongest,” Arylos confirmed.

Bellona made her way back to the duo as her spear returned to the shape of a sword. Iris determined that Templarian or not, she would have to watch Bellona closely. If she wasn’t an enemy, she would have to learn how she fights.

Bellona came up to the two with a sigh of relief, almost like she enjoyed the experience. “Well now,” she said with an exhale, “shall we get going?”

Arylos chuckled as he nodded and turned to continue down the road with the two ladies in tow, Iris pelting Bellona with questions like she normally does with Arylos.

The group eventually decided to stop and make camp once the sun began to set. The ladies had taken most of their armour plating off and Arylos lit a campfire and used it to prepare haunches a boar he prepared ahead of time as well as a pot for rice. Arylos lamented that had he had time, he could have prepared curry or something else to go with the rice. Once everyone had eaten, Arylos got up from his place at the fire and reattached his sword to his hip.

“So like old times, you still don’t sleep?” Bellona asked, wrapping a blanket around her with her sword at her side.

Arylos shook his head. “Iris has gotten me to do so in some cases, but it’s not required.”

“Then why do you look so tired all the time?” Iris cut in, also tucking herself in.

“Call it mental exhaustion, I guess,” Arylos chuckled. He then turned to the women and bowed his head slightly. “If you need me, I’ll be patrolling. We’ll head back out at dawn.” With that, he turned and walked into the night, his shadow blending in with the shadows of the endless black.

Bellona sighed. “He really hasn’t changed, has he?” she said with a smile and turned to face Iris who was sitting across from the fire. “Do you know what he does when he ‘patrols’?”

Iris thought for a moment. “I figured he was walking around the camp and making sure nothing came too close.”

Bellona shook her head. “I got curious one night when we were doing some work. I think it was Eaphus at the time; I was helping him and a Khymr knight hunt down a city lord turned vampire. I waited until he wasn’t expecting and went out and searched for him. He was meditating when I found him.”

“I’ve seen him meditate too,” Iris replied, “what’s weird about that?”

“Well, if you were guarding a camp, shouldn’t you be aware of the camp?” Bellona pondered.

Iris thought about the question for a moment. “You have a point,” she answered, “but when I see him meditate, he’s still somehow aware of me. Like he knows when I wake up.”

Bellona nodded. “Exactly.” she told Iris. “I wanted to see how this worked so I shot an arrow at him and he caught it in his hand without even opening his eyes.”

Iris couldn’t believe that story until she remembered something. “A while ago, when I got him to sleep, or his version of it at least, I tried painting something on his face. But before I could, he caught me instantly.”

Iris looked up with a sudden realisation hitting her. “So even when he’s meditating, he’s still aware of his surroundings, or at least able to see.”

Bellona nodded, confirming Iris’s realisation.

A question came to Iris’s mind. “Arylos says he’s a Titan, do you, as a Templarian, know what that means?”

Bellona thought for a moment. “I’m sorry, even among the Templarians, the Titan’s aren’t known. The only thing I know about them is that they’re some kind of spirits of immense power. Some of these Titans, if they can interact with our world, can do things like literally move mountains; their power is beyond my understanding.”

Bellona lowered her head for a moment. “I’ve seen that firsthand,” she said under her breath.

Iris thought for a moment, trying to figure out if she really wanted to ask the question. “What happened between the two of you?” she decided to ask. “You say you’re friends but it’s like there’s some bad blood between you too.”

Bellona sat in silence for a moment. She then sighed and got up from her blanket. “Come here,” she told Iris. Iris got up and approached her as Bellona turned around, facing her back towards Iris. She then began lifting up the back of her shirt.

Iris tried to imagine what she saw. Bellona’s skin was smooth and glowing with beauty, but by her shoulder blades were massive and pitted scars, the skin not having healed over in a long time. A sharp contrast to her otherwise flawless skin. The scars were deep and ran down her back along her spine and to the base of her ribcage.

Iris couldn’t contain her shock. “What happened to you?” she asked, running her hand along the scar.

“Arylos happened,” Bellona replied. “Not that long ago in comparison, I was ordered to help protect a realm called Onaria. I didn’t think much of it but I knew Arylos was around at the time; I figured he had something to do with it. Not long later, Arylos came to that world, and I realised that I was ordered to protect that world from him.”

“From him?” Iris asked.

Bellona sighed and lowered her shirt before continuing. “He set Onaria on fire, burning the people; men, women, and children. He set the sky on fire and broke the ground they walked on; a walking force of nature itself intent on their destruction. I of course fought him, trying to protect the world as my duty called for, but he knocked me down without much effort.”

“You couldn’t stop him?” Iris asked, trying to imagine the scene.

Bellona shook her head. “I could do nothing against him. I tried reasoning with him, but he wouldn’t listen; telling me that it had to be done. When I was defeated, he pulled my wings from me as easily as you would pull wings from a fly.”

Iris had a strong recollection of Nageki; Arylos taking on some different form with six wings and tearing Eir’s wings off with ease.

Bellona tucked herself back in as she continued her explanation. “It was later that I found out that the people were corrupted, infected somehow. Arylos told me that they were becoming something horrible but I couldn’t imagine what he meant by that; I still don’t know what he was talking about. But I did find out that the Onarian government was performing experimentation on their own populace of some kind; trying to imitate what we Templarians can do. Many did not survive the experiments.”

“So they were becoming evil,” Iris concluded. “Willing to use their own people in that way. But why were you ordered to protect it?”

Bellona shook her head. “I didn’t question the order but I know it was agreed upon after a discussion with Odin. That old bastard likely had something to do with it, but I don’t know what.”

“But you survived,” Iris said, trying to comfort Bellona. “That counts for something, right?”

A tear came down Bellona’s cheek. “I’m alive, yes,” she answered, “but I’m not whole. Without my wings, I have no divine power. I have no magic, no reincarnation, I can no longer heal wounds, none of it. I’m sundered, broken.”

Iris hugged Bellona, trying to comfort the Templarian. “It’s like a piece of you got ripped out and now there’s a void you can’t fill, is it?”

Bellona nodded and Iris continued her comforting words, “sure, you might not have what makes you Templarian; no magic or extreme power, but you still have strength and still apparent immortality. And you’re making a living here. It’s not the life you had, but it’s the life you have. I know that firsthand.”

Iris let Bellona go, trying to mask tears of her own. “I still think back to home,” she continued, “the people I lost, the life I lost. A part of me still misses it, but it’s far from the end and Arylos has given me a new life with him. It’s not what I had, but it’s what I have now. And I have yet to thank him properly for that.”

Bellona chuckled. “Look at us,” she said with a laugh, “two broken girls flocking to a Titan for comfort. Our mothers would laugh at us.”

Iris chuckled as well. “My dad would hear what I said and wonder when I’m bringing him a son in law.”

The two women laughed. Even with their lives drastically different and changed in ways they did not expect, the meditating Titan in the woods was a constant they both shared. Iris had not yet forgiven Templarius for what happened at Nageki, but she’s beyond hating a woman who is just like herself.