Iris sat on her new bed in this foreign Templarian house while looking around at the decorations of their room. The blue and gold tapestries lined with the dark cherry wood gave a noble yet rustic feel to the room, even though she found herself completely unable to read the spiraling writing of the Templarian script. The spacious bed was firm yet soft; leagues above even her old bed before her house in Sentoraya was destroyed. She truly felt like she was in a noble’s bedroom.

She then winced while Arylos wrapped a bandage around her burnt arm, covering the red runes burned into her skin with an ointment as he wrapped the bandage around. All the while, Arylos stared at her arm in confusion as he tried to process the burn marks. Even with the bandage covering the runes, their shapes were still visible in his mind as he read the otherworldly carvings over and over again, shocked from the fact of seeing Titanic runes appear on another living being. Iris could see the confusion on his face and tried to find the right words to ask as her eyes darted back around to the fine furniture in the room.

“What do they say?” Iris asked nervously while glancing back to her bandaged arm for a moment.

“‘Geri’djhel tzu’keharsun kolun’zast’,” Arylos read off from memory while securing the bandage.

Iris laughed nervously, unable to understand the Titanic speech, much less read it back. “Uhh, yeah, what does that mean?” she asked while trying to hide her nervousness.

“Nothing yet,” Arylos explained with a groan while moving to sit next to Iris. “Only fractions of proper Titanic speech appeared; there are other words that are missing that complete the sentence.”

“Oh come on, even a partial translation is better than nothing,” Iris complained while rubbing her bandaged arm.

“Our language doesn’t work that way; until all of the words are together, the context isn’t clear,” Arylos explained with a laugh followed by a sigh. “It could mean ‘walking through smoke and ash’ or ‘bringer of smoke and ash’ amongst other translations.”

“‘Smoke and ash’, huh? Like Sentoraya?” Iris asked while thinking about the ashen city.

“Possibly, but I’m also translating horribly,” Arylos said with a confused grunt while stroking his beard. “It still makes no sense how the language of my people appeared on your skin.”

“Maybe it’s because of my marriage to you?” Iris asked while reaching for Arylos’s arm, gesturing to the similar markings on his arm.

Arylos quickly shook his head and lifted his arm to show Iris the symbols she was gesturing for. “None of these carry any similar meaning to yours, so you didn’t inherit them from me. And markings like these symbolize a Titans’s hold over a vessel; to have these markings means a Vlajhilsen inhabits your body.”

Iris sighed for a moment before turning away as her cheeks ran red. “M-Maybe I’m pregnant? Could that be a ‘Titan inhabiting my body’?”

“Doubtful, honey; there would be a lot more signs than this if that could remotely be the case,” Arylos said with a scoff yet he couldn’t help but smile.

“So then if you gain these markings from a Titan living inside you, what could cause this to happen to me?” Iris asked, slowly changing her tone to that of concern.

“I really don’t know and I wish I had an answer,” Arylos said with a reluctant sigh. “Maybe your proximity to me? There is a concept of horizontal gene transfer, but that shouldn’t apply to you.”

“Horizontal what now?” Iris asked with a sarcastic scoff.

Arylos laughed for a moment as he struggled to find the words. “Basically, from being near me, you managed to take in some material that makes me what I am and that’s causing mutations.”

Iris thought for a moment before her cheeks turned red again. “By ‘take in material’, do you mean–”

“Shush little girl,” Arylos immediately cut in before embarrassment took him. “I don’t mean like that in any case since theoretically, this body is still human, even if it is mutated and controlled by a Vlajhilsen. That means that even if it was the case, you would only be exposed to human genetic material.”

Iris nodded, a little more understanding of the situation, yet she still had questions that plagued her mind. “So then, could this be radiation sickness?” she asked softly, wondering if her sickness was manifesting differently.

Arylos grunted to himself as he thought; his eyes dancing around as he ran the numbers in his head. “I don’t think so, but you are half Templarian. Maybe now that your body took genetic damage from the radiation, maybe your Templarian self is trying to repair the damage. Although that would not explain the markings on your arm; your body would express Templarian traits like changes in your senses, magic, and the ability to reincarnate.”

Iris thought to herself for a moment as she tried to dissect the situation in her mind. She felt like the theory made sense but whether or not it was actually the case had yet to be seen. “Unless it’s just a byproduct of you letting some of your magic through me,” she said while rubbing her chin.

Arylos winced at the word and chuckled nervously. “Again, I wouldn’t call it magic, but if it helps things make sense, then sure.”

“But it doesn’t normally leave marks like this?” Iris asked, gesturing to her bandaged arm.

“No, not like that,” Arylos responded while shaking his head. “Scars, sure. Burns, possibly. But brands like that, highly doubtful. Remember back in Torasu when we visited Norra’s house?”

Iris thought for a moment, recalling her trip with Arylos from the dark reaches of her mind. She remembered the first time they walked through the village and how people were afraid of them; she remembered the pale grief-stricken woman who lost her husband and daughter to an arrogant lord. Iris nodded quickly, impressed by Arylos’s memory sometimes.

Arylos gestured to more markings on his arm while explaining. “I placed a ward on the door to her house using, what you would call ‘Titanic Magic’; by imprinting my own brands on her door and making a seal out of the words, and even then the markings faded to only be visible to a Vlajhilsen like me.”

Iris nodded, slowly understanding yet getting more confused at the same time. “So then what happened to me?” she asked softly.

“I don’t know, and I hate not knowing,” Arylos said with a frustrated grunt. “I think it would be best to talk with Thoth just in case. It might be possible that you’re picking up traits from me somehow and that can’t be good.”

Iris slowly lowered her head, deep in thought as she agreed with Arylos, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth that she was dying a lot sooner than he expected. She tried, yet she knew it would break his heart, but she didn’t want to be the wife to withhold the truth. She opened her mouth to speak, trying to force herself to confess, yet only silence came out.

“Enough of that, how about we walk around the city?” Arylos cut in with a soft laugh.

Iris’s mind was cleared of her concerns as she looked up at Arylos in disbelief. “I thought you said this wasn’t a vacation?” she asked sarcastically.

“Well, we have until morning to go to the tower and I know you want to go shopping,” Arylos said with a smirk. He then reached into his pocket and took out an ornate medallion with Templarian markings engraved on the case and handed it to Iris. As she took it in her hand, the cold metal stung her fingertips as she traced the engravings and balled the chain at the end in her hands. She found a small raised button on the side of the metal casing and pressed it, shocking herself when the lid of the medallion opened and revealed a small clock that ticked softly yet evenly. Even with the foreign markings, she could still read the clock as if it was Kaiyumian; almost like one inspired the other.

“That there is very important to life here,” Arylos explained while gesturing at the watch. “Templarius is in perpetual twilight; there’s no sun so there’s no day or night so the people keep clocks on them at all times. Otherwise, there’s no indication of the time of day.”

“Unless they’re weird creatures like yourself who keep time in their heads,” Iris remarked in a sarcastic voice.

Arylos’s eyes narrowed and he grunted loudly. “Fine then, I’ll just take the pretty trinket back.”

“Oi, don’t you dare,” Iris growled while pulling the watch away so Arylos couldn’t take it.

Arylos chuckled softly as he watched Iris take the watch out to continue admiring it. “So, since we still have time, how about we go down to the markets in Snogard and get some food?”

Iris grumbled to herself while closing the case of the watch and losing herself in her thoughts for a brief moment. “Okay, let’s go,” she grumbled softly.

“I know you so well; I can either motivate you with money, pretty things, or food,” Arylos said while laughing as he slowly rose up from the bed and took his staff in his hand.

“I hate you,” Iris growled while stifling a laugh.

“No you don’t, little girl,” Arylos reminded her with a smile that she loved and hated at the same time.