Bellona put her cup of tea on the table, deep in thought as she eyed Arylos and the two girls with him, each with their own cups. Arylos’s explanation made no sense, and yet it was the only possible answer.

“So let me get this straight,” she began with a deep sigh. “Eir here is mortal just like me and you think her living with me will help her get her life in order?”

“That’s pretty much the story,” Iris cut in, always feeling like Arylos’s explanations were too long-winded. “The same that happened to you also happened to Eir, so I think staying with someone just like her will help her fears and anxiety. I’m sure you can imagine that staying with us isn’t the best option.”

“Right,” Bellona sighed, turning her gaze back to Arylos. “Please don’t tell me you plan to make a habit of this.”

Arylos shook his head. “Realistically, this should be a last resort, but it’s better than killing you. Neither you nor Eir did anything wrong, but you needed to be taken out of the picture. This was the best way of handling that.”

“You mean how she got roped into Odin’s fight against you,” Bellona asked while resting her chin on her interlaced fingers. “You’re trying to keep her out of all of it, aren’t you?”

“That’s my goal,” Arylos answered with a firm nod. “The more I can stay out of this nonsense, the better.”

“And what nonsense is that?” Eir asked softly.

Arylos leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands like Bellona. “Odin is going insane. In his attempt to subvert his Rangarok prophecy, he could be accidentally making it a reality. In doing so, he may have made a deal with a species meant to do just that.”

“You mean the monster that Baldr became when you tried reincarnating him,” Bellona jumped in. “That creature that you will tell us nothing about.”

Arylos let out a sigh as Iris saw his expression change to dark and saddened. “That creature is known as an Eikon.”

“Eikon? I’ve never heard of that,” Bellona asked while leaning back and crossing her arms.

“I have a good deal of money riding on the fact that no living race has heard of them either,” Arylos explained in a dark voice. “They are ancient, vile, and destructive. They seek to infect civilizations that are on the brink of war and push them past that razor’s edge. They infect, destroy, and move on.”

Bellona let out a scoff, amused by the idea. “So murder-bots that just wipe out whole worlds?”

“As easily as one could make tea,” Arylos explained.

Bellona’s scoff slowly turned into laughter. “No offence Arylos, but if a species like that existed, Templarius would have heard of it.”

“Semigon,” Arylos blurted out in an angry tone, cutting the Templarian off. “Tell me how long has Semigon been a ravaged moon.”

Bellona thought for a time while rubbing her chin. “A long time, back when Anoron first came to us, long before many of us were born.”

“Semigon was their fault,” Arylos explained while clasping his hands into a tight fist. “The war there was the perfect scenario for them, so they took over and ensured that the planet was sterilised by the time the war was over. Anoron saw them and fought them firsthand.”

Bellona processed the information. She had always been under the belief that the Semigonians destroyed their own world. But if the Eikons infected their people, that changes the perspective. She silently wondered how many other races were extinguished like this that Templarius had just written off.

“Then why didn’t he tell anyone?” Eir asked.

“Because the Eikons succeeded,” Arylos explained. “They have one goal; to eliminate life. To do this, they will infect every world and render them sterile and do so over aeons; too long for anyone like you to notice their presence.”

“So they’re like a plague,” Iris wondered aloud, feeling fear starting to grip her. “And one of them came here.”

“Exactly, and it sounds like most of the leading figures of Asgard are infected too,” Arylos returned while leaning back in an attempt to relax himself.

“But you killed one,” Bellona cut in.

“I killed one,” Arylos corrected. “They number in the millions, maybe more at this point. And only one of them is needed to destroy a planet.”

“Just one? You’re joking,” Bellona scoffed.

“I wish I was,” Arylos lamented softly. “Any one Eikon can create more of their kind. If you see one, it’s already too late; you don’t know how many others have been infected and those who are infected are already gone.”

“Like how that Eikon didn’t wake up until Baldr reincarnated,” Bellona realised slowly. “It was waiting until it couldn’t wait any longer and none of us noticed until you figured it out.”

Arylos nodded while crossing his arms. “They turn the infected against their own people. To fight an Eikonic army, you’ll have to kill your own people; friends, family, children, all of them. They’re beyond saving and the only thing you can do is kill them. That’s what makes them powerful; no one is willing to kill their own people. No soldier is willing to kill his parents if they cross swords. That fear is what feeds the Eikons; that fleeting hope that you could help the infected is the weakness they exploit.”

Everyone sat quietly at the table as they processed the threat. Iris herself clutched at her dress. She imagined if everyone in Sentoraya suddenly became those monsters. Arylos had a point; she would hope they could be saved just like she hoped with Baldr.

To know there was a whole army, a whole civilization out there of creatures like that was horrifying.

“What’s our timeline?” Bellona asked once she shook herself out of her thoughts. “How long do we have? What can we expect?”

Arylos shook his head and massaged the knuckles of his hand. “I wish I could tell you. They attack sporadically, all to avoid detection.”

“Then what are their motives?” Iris cut in.

“That I don’t know for sure,” Arylos explained with a sigh. “The one thing I know is that they believe life and evolution was a mistake. That people like you and me are flawed and should be exterminated like rats. So they find a world with life and sterilise it, ensuring life could never regrow on that world again.”

“People like you? As in the Titans?” Bellona asked in confusion.

Arylos lowered his head, reflecting on his past. “Yes, especially my people.”

Iris turned to the side, feeling a familiar pain as she remembered Arylos’s origins. This all sounded too familiar. His people were caught in a civil war over whether to destroy her reality or not. She wondered if it was because of these Eikons; that destroying reality would destroy them too and eliminate the threat.

But then who was in the wrong; the Titans who wanted to destroy reality to stop the Eikons, or the Titan who killed his people to keep reality alive and the Eikons remain a threat?

“So what do we do now?” Eir asked while rubbing her arms.

“You? Nothing,” Arylos answered in a stern voice. “The Eikons will make quick work of you two and I wanted to keep the two of you out of this mess, so stay out.”

“Then what about you?” Bellona asked.

“My role has always been to fight them and always will be,” Arylos explained while clenching his fist, reciting the words as if it compelled him. “However, this infection seems to be isolated to Templarius. Anoron can handle this on his own.”

“Can he really?” Eir asked in concern.

Arylos laughed to himself as he bared his familiar fanged smile. “Want to know why Anoron and I aren’t on speaking terms?”

The three women perked up. Everyone knew that Arylos and Anoron had a fragile relationship, but it seemed strange for things to be that way.

“It started with Semigon,” Arylos explained while trying to contain his laughter. “He asked for my help, and so I provided what I could. When the Dragon Wars of Kaiyumi came and I got involved, I asked for his help as well; payment for helping him with Semigon.”

“I remember that,” Bellona cut in. “He ordered all operations on Kaiyumi to cease. There was also a battle in the Royal City that day that the civilians had to be evacuated from.”

“Exactly,” Arylos returned, getting his laughter under control. “He refused and instead wanted me destroyed. He pinned Semigon’s death on me and felt this is a repeat of that. I told him that if he felt that way, then when the Eikons come for him, I won’t help him. The two of us fought and he won, destroying my vessel at the time.”

“That’s why you came to Kaiyumi using Korseis’s body,” Iris realised aloud while stroking her chin.

Arylos nodded and clenched his fist. “I know you three may disagree, but Anoron can handle this himself. If he thinks he can stop the Eikons without a war, he’s more than welcome to try. If it comes to war, then I’ll bring the war.”

“But what if people die?” Bellona cut in. “What if the only way to stop it is for you to get involved?”

“I don’t care anymore,” Arylos growled through gritted teeth. The room went quiet but Iris could hear the air hum with Arylos’s voice. “I have spent my whole life fighting them only for them to always come back. Quite frankly, I’m tired of it. You may enjoy war, Bellona, but I’m tired of it.”

“Honestly, I think you’re overreacting,” Bellona said with a scoff.

“Girl, you’ve been fighting wars for not even a fraction of my life,” Arylos growled as his anger lost control. “You think there’s glory, pride in dying for a cause. You forget that people die, many who did not want to be a part of this war. Each time one of them dies, I hear it, I feel it, and I can’t get it out of my head.”

“But what if people need your help?” Eir asked accusingly.

Arylos growled as his eyes started to glow. “You’re telling me that a creature that doesn’t belong in this world cares more for your people than yourself? That I am your only hope? I may have eternal life but I don’t plan to spend it helping ungrateful people like you; those who are quick to turn a sword on me once my usefulness is up.”

“That’s not everyone, Arylos,” Bellona exclaimed while trying to calm him down. “There are a great deal of people who appreciate you; the Kaiyumae being one of them.”

“Oh? Do they now?” Arylos returned in a sarcastic tone while gritting his teeth. “Then why once the war was over and I wanted to live in peace was I ambushed and imprisoned? They didn’t just destroy my body; no, they trapped me here so I can’t leave and I couldn’t do anything. Had things been different, I could have watched a young girl be attacked and killed while I was powerless to help.”

“Arylos,” Iris whispered softly while holding onto his arm, feeling his muscles tense and hot, ready for a fight.

Arylos, arrogant to Iris’s help, growled and Bellona could see the back of his throat glow as if flames were welling up inside his chest. “And now here I am, three thousand years later and back in the same shit show,” he continued as smoke billowed from his mouth. “Part of me wishes that one of them actually had the balls to do me a favour and kill me. I keep thinking that someone would step up and finally put an end to this hell, but no; I’m still stuck here, trying to watch over an ungrateful reality when I would rather be fucking dead!”

The room went quiet save for Arylos’s growling breaths. Bellona and Eir were shocked and afraid, Bellona secretly having a hand on a hidden dagger under the table. Iris held him tighter, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to calm him. The silence dragged out as Arylos’s eyes darted between the women, waiting for one of them to make a move with a part of him begging that one of them would.

“Arylos, it’s alright; I’m here with you,” Iris whispered softly while holding onto him tighter to ease his pain.

Arylos felt his anger subside as Iris’s voice made him calm and yet angry at himself for what he said. He reached up and rested a shaking hand on Iris’s arm, wanting to take back what he said.

“You don’t mean that,” Bellona whispered softly in disbelief.

Arylos sighed as he leaned forward and covered his face with his hands. Iris kept a firm hold on him but could feel the familiar jerking motion of his shoulders and his shuddered breath. She held onto him tighter, trying to give this warrior some comfort.

Iris knew Arylos was crying and trying to hide it.