“Other than that monster and that fight of yours, that ended rather peacefully and easily,” Iris commented while taking a seat at the long dining table with the others. “Almost too peacefully, compared to recent days.”

“Why must you jinx everything?” Arylos added as he sat next to her, wearing a black yokui that was provided to him by one of the servants.

“Because I swear something bad is going to happen,” Iris responded while crossing her arms. “If this was any traditional story, this is where we find out there’s a bigger and badder evil, or that Baldr is still evil, or something.”

“You get too absorbed in those books you read,” Arylos responded with a nudge and a smile before his expression went sad for a moment. “Although, all of this is too soon. I would hope that there was more time.”

“Time before what?” Iris asked, catching a glance at the Titan as Bellona and Garris took a seat.

Arylos thought for a moment while stroking his beard before waving it off. “Don’t worry about it for now,” he assured. “It’s probably nothing, and even if something is wrong, there’s still time.”

Sentarus, Baldr, and Frygga all returned to the dining hall, Baldr wearing a white robe lined with black trim. The Templarian mother and son took a seat across from the duo while Sentarus sat at the end of the table.

“This truly is a joyous occasion, but I am afraid that there is still much to discuss,” Sentarus began while stroking his beard. He waved his hands and various servants poured glasses of a violet wine that even Iris could from Sentarus’s glass long before hers was poured.

“You mean Odin and what infected Baldr?” Arylos wondered aloud, taking in the aroma of his glass. “You want to know where everyone stands right now. And I take it Anoron will not deign us with his presence?”

“I have decided to leave Anoron out of this for now,” Sentarus responded while taking a drink. “Arylos, you are the only one who knows what truly affected Baldr. So tell me, can we trust Templarius?”

Arylos set his glass down without drinking, furrowing his brow as he collected his thoughts. “That is not a simple question to answer, and I am afraid I don’t know if I can explain his ailment to you.”

“Try your best, if you can,” Sentarus commanded while leaning back in his chair.

Arylos clasped his hands together and Iris could tell that he was shaking; subtly, but in a way only she knew. His hands are normally still but now they fidget as he continuously interlaced his fingers.

He was nervous.

Arylos cleared his throat and finally took a drink of the wine, taking comfort in the alcohol. “What infected Baldr is a species few know of, and fewer understand. In fact, I’m pretty sure no living race truly knows what they are.”

“Does that include you?” Frygga cut in.

Arylos nodded. “Me and my people know next to nothing about them. I’ve seen them for a long time, and I’ve fought them for just as long, but even I don’t fully understand them and their motives. What I do know is that they are infiltrators; they infect and take over the vulnerable and power hungry and slowly turn them into more of their kind like what you saw happen to Baldr. They then repeat this process until they have amassed enough numbers to destroy any world that opposes them.”

The room fell silent as everyone pondered Arylos’s explanation. Iris took in the words and tried to understand. They sounded like a sickness, a plague. Yet this made little sense to her, all she could do was lift her glass and take a drink. The alcohol was smooth and tasted sweet and fruity with a hint of cinnamon. The alcohol burned her throat but it was a gentle and smooth burn, warming her rather than burning her. She could tell this was an alcohol fit for a king.

“Do you think Templarius has been infiltrated by these things?” Sentarus finally asked.

Arylos shook his head. “I highly doubt it; it’s not their method to do so. I believe they would be interested in trying to possess Anoron, but he’s not that weak to fall for their schemes. A part of me hopes that he’s already aware that his people are being infected.”

“And you think Odin is infected by a similar creature?” Frygga asked while covering her mouth.

Arylos nodded and turned his gaze to Baldr. “What are your thoughts? I’d like to hear them if you are comfortable.”

Baldr fidgeted in his chair and massaged his knuckles before finally speaking. “I don’t know. When I was younger, I was approached by my half brother Loki. He told me about a way to get stronger and took me to a man who replaced my tooth. After that, I felt a burning pain and then nothing; no pain, no cold, no warmth. I had nightmares for a while afterwards before they started to pass.”

“So Loki did this, not Odin?” Arylos asked while stroking his beard once more.

Baldr nodded and looked towards Sentarus and Frygga. “Odin didn’t know what happened; he knew I couldn’t be killed, but not why. He let me fight for him though and hunt for him. But almost a year ago, he changed. He started freaking out, gathering several Einherjhar and saying that Ragnarok would be approaching.”

Frygga had a sudden realisation come to her. “Hold on, around that time, I remember he had a nightmare that terrified him. He went to his scrying bowls for a week but each time he would panic and sometimes break them. One day, he went away and said he needed answers. When he came back, he was calmer but angry on the inside. Since then, he has become cold and distant.”

“And almost a year lines up with when I woke you up,” Iris jumped in while looking towards Arylos.

“Not quite,” Arylos remarked. “Eir was sent after me practically the day you woke me up. Frygga says he started panicking for a week before any action was taken. That means he was aware of something beforehand.”

“He is known as the collector of prophecies,” Sentarus commented.

“I don’t think so,” Baldr added while rubbing his arms. “When Eir didn’t come back and the soldiers brought a corpse with them, that’s when he went away for a while. When he came back, he ordered me to come after Arylos.”

“And that’s when you attacked Gurindai,” Iris added, starting to put the timeline together.

“Odin ordered me to draw him out and cut him down,” Baldr responded while nodding. “When I went back after Arylos defeated me, that’s when Odin took out a weapon.” Baldr rubbed his arms and spoke softly as the memory came flooding back to him. “A whip of thorns. He lashed me with it for what felt like days and each one gave me a brilliant pain that I had not felt in thousands of years.”

Arylos leaned back in his chair as he took the information in and began performing the calculations.

“Arylos, you were concerned Odin had a relic from your world,” Frygga interrupted his thought process.

Arylos waved his hand. “A whip of thorns doesn’t sound like something my people would have made, so there’s something else afoot.”

“What do you think then?” Sentarus asked while taking a drink once more.

Arylos growled under his breath, deep in though as his eyes darted around, examining invisible numbers as he processed everything. His eye twitched before he sat forward and concluded his thoughts. “Here’s where I think we stand. It sounds like Loki is infected and has been for a while. Since it looks like Baldr’s infection was slow, it may have been more of an experiment; a test run to see if infecting a Templarian is even possible in the first place.”

“If these creatures were testing with Baldr, could we reincarnate Loki to cure it?” Sentarus wondered aloud.

Arylos shook his head. “Doubtful; they were able to suppress it in Baldr. Loki or someone else may have been the original test subject for that. Baldr may have just been their first proper test, applying the knowledge of reincarnation and Templarian biology.”

Sentarus nodded; the explanation sounded fair while Iris was still trying her hardest to follow.

“From there, Odin became afraid,” Arylos continued. “He may have had a vision of what he believed to be Ragnarok and found no answers. Something led him to me, and when a Templarian’s corpse was sent back, he panicked. The creatures may have taken that time to infect him since he was weak-willed and anxious. That would not only explain him disappearing and coming back calmer and ordering Baldr to hunt me, but it would also explain a whip that can hurt Baldr.”

“Wait, how would that explain the whip?” Iris cut in, slowly catching up.

“If they’re the ones who infected Baldr, then they know how the infection works,” Arylos explained while glancing towards Baldr. “You were their proper Templarian experiment; a way to turn you into a weapon, but you still had free will. Since they know how your infection works, they would know how to hurt you. The whip was just that; a way to keep you under their control.”

Baldr nodded in slow realisation. “Then how were you able to hurt me?”

“Simple; they fucked up,” Arylos responded in a scoff. “They tried to make a weapon that even I couldn’t beat but forgot what I am. That was likely part of their experimentation, only something went wrong. This does mean that me hurting you means their big weapon failed and they’ll be more desperate for a means to come after me.”

“That would explain why Odin lashed out at him when he failed,” Frygga realised while holding her son’s hand.

“It’s logical,” Sentarus cut in. “If Baldr was an experiment to create a weapon against Arylos, his failure likely cost them time and progress. They could have even been betting on Baldr entirely, so if Odin was infected too, him lashing out like that is logical.”

“So we’ve inferred that Odin and Loki are infected,” Iris summarised while taking a drink of the wine again. “What do we do now?”

“I find it hard to believe they’ve infected all of Templarius if they’ve only recently taken Odin,” Arylos explained while taking a drink. “So here’s what we’ll do; Frygga, do you have anywhere safe you can stay? Away from Templarius and Asgard.”

“I have some family on Vanaheim we can stay with,” Frygga answered with a firm nod.

Arylos couldn’t help but smile. “A couple of Aesir living amongst the Vanir? A lot really has happened in three millennia.”

“I was raised by witches; I know how to hide from prying eyes,” Frygga added with an alluring smirk.

“You better turn up those charms; you’ll be hiding from things more dangerous than me,” Arylos warned but kept his smile, curling into a wicked smile that made even Iris feel uncomfortable. “So you two can hide on Vanaheim. While you’re there, be sure to send Hoenir my regards, will you.”

Frygga nodded and Arylos turned to Sentarus. “You will pass a message to Anoron for me, if you would be so kind,” Arylos instructed.

“Why not speak to him yourself?” Sentarus asked in confusion towards the request.

“Because he and I are not really on speaking terms right now,” Arylos added while his smile disappeared. “It’s a message that he’ll understand is from me. It would actually be best if you send an envoy who has no idea what’s going on. Think you can manage that?”

Sentarus rolled his eyes as he processed playing the messenger owl again. “What will I relay to him?”

“Simple; you’ll tell him nothing,” Arylos explained cryptically. “You won’t tell him about Baldr or Frygga. Nothing about what has happened today, no matter how much he pressures you. Simply tell him ‘the icon of the dark sin has come’. Tell him nothing else but that.”

“Do you think you can trust him?” Sentarus added in a serious tone.

“I hope I can,” Arylos responded while lifting his glass to drink. “If he understands those words, then we can buy ourselves some time as he’ll handle it all. And something tells me from him signing our refugee status, the old boy just might be inclined to listen.”

“And that means we can go back to normal?” Iris asked, feeling some hope come to her.

“If Anoron gets my message and understands it, yes,” Arylos assured with a smile. “He knows these creatures as well so if he figures it out, then we’ll be fine.”

“Then why not tell him everything?” Sentarus questioned as lines of servants began filing out of the various rooms.

“Because we don’t know if we can trust him yet,” Arylos responded. “Once we know for certain, I’ll be more than happy to explain.”

Sentarus stroked his beard as the servants began placing plates and various foods from roasted boar for the Asgardians to noodles for the Kaiymians and the Titan. A servant refilled his glass of wine and Sentarus lifted it high. “Then let’s drink away our worries and enjoy what has been accomplished today!”