N:   Wilfred waved back, "Have fun," until Deutsche left before he sighed. "He may be a good leader," he muttered as he took his mug to the kitchen, "but his inexperience shows. FE and Deutsche?" He only clicked his tongue in disappointment, thinking how he was going to tell BE, but thought it was best to tell him in person.

___________

Back in Britain, BE wandered the corridors, trying to find the servant who gave him the parcel, and not wondering where he was going, so he randomly rushed around the place.

M:   Because he was rushing around, he failed to hear footsteps coming around a corner and ended up running right into Esha, who was carrying a bowl of porridge for Prudoria. She dropped the bowl when the empire collided with her, causing them both to slip and fall into a pile.

"BE, what the hell," she shouted in indignation, "watch where you're going, and get your fat ass off me, you weigh more than a freaking behemoth!"

N:   "You shut up," BE snapped, "you can literally turn into a dragon so you better keep that mouth shut, you overgrown lizard."

When they had finally gotten off each other, the empire looked at the mess caused, his uniform covered in porridge but he was thankful he didn't wear his cloak; it would have been hell to get it out of the fur. "I'm sorry that I ran into you," he grumbled, "but I am in search of someone- you, come over here." He pointed at a passing servant, who jumped when he was called, so he walked over to the empire just as he was told.

"Explain to me," BE spoke, his voice dangerously low, "why the fuck does my office smell like something died in it, and when I check inside that box you put there, there is a goddamn butchered eagle in it. Where did you get that box and who gave it?"

"I-I," the servant muttered, "I don't know. I was just told by a messenger who came to the compound to deliver it to you. I don't know who they are or who they serve."

M:   "Oh, so that's why you smell like you came back from hunting," Esha grimaced, sniffing BE, "either someone is a demented prankster, or is trying to send you a message, my money's on the latter."

She summoned two towels and gave one to BE to clean themselves up, "why an eagle, that is oddly specific," she turned to the servant, "Sir, did the messenger have anything on their person that looked like a symbol or a crest, or did they perhaps have a foreign accent of some sort?"

N:   "They didn't speak much so I can't tell you about their accent," the servant answered, "but I do remember that they had a broach to hold their cloak, which hid their face, and it had ...," he paused a bit, trying to remember when his face lit up, "it had axes, two axes to be exact, sort of crossed over each other."

The servant's proud face fell when he saw BE's face, full of confusion and a hint of fear. "Ahem, thank you for telling us this," the empire spoke, "now may you prepare a bowl of porridge for Prudoria, our guest in the infirmary, so he may eat." The servant nodded before bowing and leaving the pair behind.

The moment he left, the Brit immediately rushed to his office, forgetting that his clothes were ruined, and slammed open his door, allowing a whiff of the dead odor to enter the corridor. He ran towards the box and opened it up, digging into the remains of the eagle to see if there were any clues.

"Where is it," he grumbled before he pulled out the eagle's leg, completely separate from its body, and removed the piece of paper tied to it. Unraveling it, he read its contents, and his face slowly turned emotionless, before he looked up at Esha.

"Call my Grandpa, Anglo," he ordered, "he needs to see this. And if the thing happened actually happened, may God help Odrus if my Grandfather Saxon finds out."

M:   Esha's face was momentarily horrified when he said that Odrus could be in trouble, but she did as told and ran off to find them both. She knew that Odrus was still in the library, she found him there last night, and how he fell asleep as he was reading, so she got him a blanket and let him sleep.

After she woke him up and told him what happened, they both rushed to the dining room where she felt Anglo's wings. When they arrived, Esha was frightened to see that Saxon was also there, so she tried to be as discrete as possible.

"Um, morning Anglo, BE needs you," she said, trying to put on a smile, "he got a package yesterday but it was actually for you, he's in his office right now, let's go see what it is, quickly."

N:   Anglo raised a brow, "a package for me? But I don't know anyone who would send me one."

"Maybe it's just England sending you something," Saxon shrugged as he ate his breakfast, "you might as well check it."

"But shouldn't you see it?"

"If it's directed to you, then it's you who should see it," the entity explained, "it might be important if it is urgent."

The winged country sighed but nodded in agreement, leaving the table so that he could join Esha and Odrus back to BE's office.

Once they arrived there, the Englishman was surprised by the smell, and if he had a nose he would have definitely pinched it shut. He saw that the empire was leaning against his desk so he asked, "BE, what's the package and what the hell is that smell?"

The empire just looked at the winged country before sighing, "The smell is from the package, and you need to see it."

Curious about what he was talking about, he walked forward to see what it was all about, and when he looked inside, his wings immediately lowered. The country reached inside to touch the eagle, but hesitated before pulling his hand back out.

"What is the meaning of this," he asked quietly, "this is the eagle I sent to England."

"This came along with it," BE added, handing over the note, so Anglo took it and read it, his wings slowly lowering as he did.

On the note was Anglo's message to his son, asking for him to return, but below it, glistening in blood, read:

'He is with family.'

"And the servant who brought it here said that the messenger had a broach with two axes crossed over," the empire further explained, while Anglo leaned on the table to support himself, his wings lowered to the floor, "so there is a possibility that...Father was captured."

Anglo just stood there, his head hung low as he crumpled the note in his hand, and even when BE assured him that he would send soldiers to check on England, he still said nothing.

M:   Esha and Odrus exchanged glances, the former looked shocked and the latter looked angered.

"I should go too, I'm the reason he left in the first place," Esha said, "if he did get captured then it's my fault he did, let me go find him, I don't want him to be hurt because of me."

"I'm going to kill him," Odrus growled under his breath, "if he had something to do with this, I swear-"

Before anyone could respond to his mumbling he marched out of the office and down to the dungeons, stomping over to Chrysalis's cell and slamming his fists on the bars.

"What have you done to England," he roared, his blind eyes blazing with fury, "Anglo's bird came mutilated in a box, sent by a guy with your boss's crest, what have you been doing behind my back!"

N:   Chrysalis looked up, the slam catching him by surprise as he flinched, but then what the Eternal said finally clicked, he smiled. "How could I do anything," he asked, "I've been stuck in this compound since day one, so how can I-"

The insurgent just realized something, and when he saw its possibility, he began to laugh. "Oh wait, no way," he laughed wholeheartedly, "Man, this is just wonderful. The Englishman got what he fucking deserved, and it's pretty amazing that from the entire family, he was the one taken."

M:   Odrus growled and demanded the guard open the cell door, he thundered inside and grabbed Chrysalis by the collar of his shirt, forcibly dragging him off the bed and slamming his head as hard as he could on the ground, then kicked him in the stomach for good measure. Because of the entity line, Odrus felt all of that but he was so angry that he wasn't even phased by it.

"Quit acting like you know nothing you parasite," Odrus shouted, "you are the only follower of Suebi in this castle, no one outside of it knows that England had left, so that means that you are the only one who could have told him."

He then stomped down on Chrysalis's right arm, a sticking crunch sounded as his own arm went limp, but he didn't care, "WHERE IS ENGLAND, WHAT DID SUEBI DO TO HIM!!!!"

N:   "Now, why would I tell you," Chrysalis asked, "This is literally the best news I've heard in ages, and there is nothing that would make me speak."

After Odrus beat him up some more, he added, "Just let the grandson and grandfather have some quality family time, I bet he would love to meet him."

M:   Odrus growled again, at long last, Chrysalis had finally broken his last nerve, and something snapped in him.

"You have made a grave mistake," he said, his voice doubled over with a demonic undertone, "I tried to see the good in you, tried to help you get out of here alive, I tried to be your friend after everything you've done to me and my family," he chuckled maliciously, "and now ... now you have released all the horrors of Jastrem."

Odrus closed his eyes, still laughing demonically, and when he opened them not only was the black sclera gone, but his eyes were nothing but bloodred orbs. He raised up his hand and Chrysalis was suspended in the air, completely unable to move.

"Did I ever tell you how I lost my eyesight, or how I got revenge on my slave master," he asked, smiling wider than humanly possible, "well, let's say that there are side effects when cutting a deal with the devil, he wants his dues after he's paid his half of the deal."

"Perhaps I can share my gift of blindness with you," he then hissed, "You think Saxon was good at torture, you haven't seen the likes of me, I will gladly gut you alive and prolong your life to make you eat your own entrails, so spill it, before I spill you!"

N:   Chrysalis stared in horror at Odrus, not knowing that he could do that, and the Scot struggled against him, trying to free himself, but knew it was useless. The insurgent just went slack, thinking over what he should do before staring at the ground.

"I'm not afraid of going to hell," the insurgent spoke, "I already know I'm going there, and your torture doesn't phase me. To hear that the person responsible for my sister's death has been captured is the best thing I've heard in decades, something I've been trying to do for so long, and there is no way I will willingly give any information."

He looked at the Eternal and continued, "So you're finally going to get your revenge, and if I say nothing, even if I am in pain, but England gets what he deserves, then I will happily do so. You cut your deal with your devil, and I did with mine."

M:   Odrus chuckled maliciously, "Oh silly boy, this is not revenge ... this, is, fun."

-----

"Odrus ... Odrus, are you ok," Esha called, it had been nearly two hours since he's been in the dungeon and she was getting worried, "god I hope he didn't do something stupid."

She was scared, she was the only one who knew of Odrus's "issue" and was fearing the worse, so she brought Saxon, BE, and Askad as backup, and when she smelled the overwhelming amount of blood, she knew they were needed.

"What has he done," Askad asked, "I never would have thought that Odrus could snap like that."

Before they could even step off the stairs, they saw Chrysalis's guard huddled in a corner, clearly traumatized and had some blood splattered on his armor and face, that sickened the Eternals to their cores.

"Um, m-maybe you should go first, Saxon," Askad whimpered, Esha nodding in agreement.

N:   Saxon slowly nodded and edged his way toward Chrysalis' cell, and when he took a peek at it, his whole body froze in horror. BE was with the guard, trying to comfort him, but when he saw the entity standing still, he went over to check on him, and the moment he saw the cell, the empire felt nauseous and proceeded to throw up in a nearby bin.

There sat Chrysalis, his back leaning against the far wall as his head hung low, and parts of him were scattered all across the cell floor. The first thing that the entity noticed was that the insurgent was missing a limb, his entire right leg was propped up like a broom in the corner, markings that seemed to resemble whiplashes decorating the entirety of it.

Taking a closer look, he could see a large slash across the Scotsman's stomach, blood oozing out of it like a river, and what seemed to be a similar one across his throat. Countless wounds covered his bare chest, and on his forearm, double axes were etched into the skin and flesh.

Saxon continued to look when he noticed two small circular objects, so he walked over to them to see them better through the bars, and he felt sick when he noticed magenta circles on them, and when he looked up at Chrysalis, the insurgent was facing him, but his eyelids were sunken into his face, blood resembling tears running down his cheeks.

"What have you done, Odrus," the entity muttered, looking at the figure looming over the insurgent, the entity rendered speechless from the sight.

M:   Esha and Askad had crept up to the cell and were sickened by the sight, Askad too started throwing up.

"That's not Odrus anymore," Esha whispered, "that's a bloodthirsty demon that had long ago stolen his sight, in exchange for getting revenge on his family's killer, Chrysalis must have finally snapped the chains that bound him."

Odrus suddenly snapped his head towards the two, making Esha yelp in fear and cower behind Saxon.

"Visitors," he declared, his voice sounding unrecognizable, "come to join the party, we were just playing pin the tail on the cunt, want to have a go?"

"Odrus, you have to fight back," Esha said, "I know you can hear me, you would never do this, please fight back."

"Sorry, Odrus isn't taking phone calls at the moment," the ... creature chuckled, "and he won't until this bastard speaks, or until I can extract the memories straight out of his brain, whichever comes first."

He turned back to Chrysalis and telepathically lifted his body and brought him closer, "What else can I spill from you, another kidney, your other leg, it doesn't look like you're using that spine. Oh, I know-"  He shoved his arm into the gash on the insurgent's stomach and reached into his body, there was a sickening crack and he pulled out one of his ribs.

"They say that God used a rib from Adem to make Eve, why not make it even on both sides, eh," he laughed, "come on, you know that's funny, Chrissy."

N:   The insurgent tried to speak, but he only coughed up blood, allowing it to splatter all over the floor. He didn't bother to move, the sheer pain he was in left him immobilized.

"Why are you, a demon, interested in Chrysalis," Saxon questioned, "he has nothing to do with you, only Odrus, so why are you getting involved?"

M:   "Odrus's mind finally snapped," the creature explained, letting Chrysalis drop to the floor, "everything he worked for, everything he did to help Chrysalis, finally came crashing down at the thought of losing another family, so I came out to fulfill my duty as per the contract."

The creature summoned a dagger and let it hover in front of Saxon, "I won't hog him forever though, I'm sure you want a turn as well, or did they not tell you yet?"

When it saw Esha shake her head he chuckled, "Oh, so you don't know, that Anglo's bird was mutilated and gifted to BE, how the unsent letter had 'he's with family now' written in blood, that Suebi has kidnapped your own son and is doing god knows what to him."

N:   Saxon stared at the dagger, his face emotionless, and after a moment he grabbed the dagger out of the air.

"Grandpa," BE warned, "don't do this-"

"Don't tell me what to do," the entity snapped, staring at the blade, "you didn't tell me that England was taken, and because of him-," he pointed the dagger at Chrysalis, "he was taken by Suebi."

 The entity ignored the rest of the empire's orders as he entered the cell, and when he knelt next to Chrysalis, he held up the dagger to Odrus, "Heat up the blade." Once the demon-possessed Eternal did just that, he looked down at the insurgent, "Let me give you a taste of my Vater."

With that, he brought the hot blade to the insurgent's skin, singeing his chest the Odal rune; another symbol of Suebi. Chrysalis' mouth was open in a silent scream, unable to move as the entity did his work, digging deep into his skin as he branded him.

M:   "Saxon, we didn't tell you because of Odrus's entity line," Esha said, though she held her hand in front of her mouth to keep from vomiting, "we would have told you immediately otherwise."

The eternals didn't know what to do, their friend was gone and replaced by a bloodthirsty demon, and now Saxon has been consumed by revenge.

"Let's just go," Askad sighed, "there's nothing we can do, even if we interfere, Chrysalis will not recover."

Esha had to nod in agreement, she then gripped BE's arm to tell him it was time to go, "Chrysalis is no longer our problem, when he dies we can extract the memories from his brain and they will give us all the answers we need. There's nothing else we can do otherwise."

N:   BE just looked over to them, feeling powerless that he couldn't do anything, so he nodded and followed after the pair out of the dungeons. As they left, a guard walked into the dungeons, and when BE asked what he was doing, the man said that he was ordered to replace the traumatized guard, so the empire allowed it.

 When they were back out, the empire turned to Esha, "You need to go and check with my Grandpa the place where my Father was staying. He and Saxon are the only ones who knows where it is, and he needs the support. Could you do that for me?"

M:   Esha nodded, "Of course, England is as much family to me as everyone else despite our fallout, we'll bring him back, I swear on my wings we'll find him."

First, she rushed to her room to get her weapons and her satchel, as well as her deer mask. Then she went to the dining room where she thought Anglo would be waiting for her.

"Anglo, I'm coming with you," she said when she saw him, "you're going to need some backup if we find England and he's imprisoned."

N:   Anglo looked up to Esha, the note still in hand, "ok, I'm for the backup." The country stood up, and his wings were still lowered as he walked towards her, "but we're flying there. The soldiers would take too long and we don't know if he's still there."

The Englishman went other to the armory and grabbed his bow and quiver, as well as a sword, and once he was dressed suitable for the weather, he stepped outside into the winter wind. He had given a map to the soldiers, since some insisted to know just in case they didn't return. "I will lead you to my home," he told the Eternal, "let's just hope he's there," and with that, they took off.

They flew for hours, but the country wasn't tired, his nerves fired up from earlier, and soon they had left the main body of Britain and flew over a small island off the southern coast. Flying all the way to the southern point, a white lighthouse was spotted in the distance, isolated from the surrounding settlements, and that was where Anglo landed.

With a quick glance, he didn't suspect anything had happened; however, he found a horse lying motionless in the stables, a sword sticking out of it. "Someone was here," he muttered as he walked over to the creature and closed its eyes, "and this was England's horse. If you're wondering, this is on the Isle of Wight, and he grew up here. I don't know how Suebi would have found him, but at this point anything is possible."

Drawing his sword, he showed Esha the main door, and there were clear signs that it was damaged, so the country tried his best to keep his composure. "You head in first," he muttered.

M:   Esha gulped but nodded, normally she wouldn't be this worried but this was England, and she felt responsible for him being hurt since she was the one who drove him off.

She gathered her courage and carefully opened the door to make sure it wasn't an ambush, "all clear," she said when she saw no one inside.

The room was in shambles, it looked like a hurricane blew through it, but what surprised Esha the most were two decaying bodies on the floor.

 "Well, at least England put up a fight," she stated, rolling over one of the bodies to get a better look at it, "these two have been dead for at least a week, one was shot by a musket and the other was stabbed through the heart."

N:   Anglo hummed as he observed the two men, rolling over the other body to see a note crudely attached to its chest with a metal hook. Pulling it out, along with the person's shirt, he read its contents.

'Du bist zu spät'

"You're too late," Anglo translated before throwing away the note, rushing towards the stairs to check the different floors for evidence, calling out to England in case he was hiding somewhere. He was only gone for a couple of minutes, but when he came back he was clearly angry.

"If that man fucking laid a finger on my son," he snapped, his wings brisling with anger, "I swear I will make that man wish he had never stepped a foot back into the living world."

The country roared and smashed some nearby china, letting out his anger towards Suebi, but he quickly turned to despair, falling to the floor. Letting his sword clatter to the ground, everything finally crashed on him, the fact that his son was captured, the chance that he was in the hands of someone who hurt his husband, and that he couldn't do anything tore him apart.

"Fauntkin, where are you," he wept, covering himself in his wings as he leaned against the arm of a sofa.

M:   Esha knelt beside Anglo, rubbing his back comfortingly, "I'm so sorry Anglo, this is all my fault, if I hadn't fought with England that night he never would have left. With that said, however, I swear on my wings that we will find him and bring him back home."

She glanced back at the corpse with the note on it, humming as an idea came to mind. She stood up and dragged the body to the middle of the room, then placed her hands on the head and closed her eyes.

Concentrating as hard as she could, she let go with one hand and brought up another viewing screen.

"I'm going to try to dig through the memories," she explained, "I can only do this when a person is dead so we were lucky there were bodies, just let me know if you see anything significant and I'll let it play."

N:   Anglo nodded as he got himself mentally prepared for what he was going to watch. When the screen flickered to life, all they saw was a door and the muttering of a few men, and suddenly they fell silent before one of them bashed the door in.

From their point of view, they were scanning the room, until suddenly a musket shot was heard, and the man next to them was dead. Soon there was a scuffle, England jumping out of nowhere, slamming the butt of the musket against his head, knocking him to the ground, while he tried to fight against the remainder of the soldiers. However, he was soon overpowered, and they forced the country to sit on the sofa, and Anglo almost cried when he saw his son struggling against the men, his face bleeding from a blow to the forehead. It was clear that he was unprepared, still wearing his pajamas as he swore at them, although he fell silent once he turned to see a figure.

"Well isn't it the great England," the voice spoke, the person staying out of view, but England's reaction was clear as day, his face turning pale by the second, "it is wonderful to see you in the flesh, as you now see me." Heavy footfalls seemed to echo as the figure walked passed the soldier's head and towards England, not showing the person's face the entire time.

"I've watched you for centuries now," he continued, reaching out to touch the Englishman, who only flinched away, "and your actions have impressed me; how you quench every rebellion, your ruthlessness, and attitude appropriate for a true king, and I am proud to call you my grandson. You are much better than your vater, both of your vaters, and I can see a great future in you."

"From what I heard from you," England spat, "you're just a pathetic man who tortured his own son, and lost to the likes of Roman Empire. If anything, my father is better than you and I am nothing like the arsehole you are, Suebi."

"Has your father never taught you to respect your elders," the man chuckled, "from now on you are to call me Großvater (grandfather), and ja, I did that to Saxon, but he needed to be ironed out, but you were perfect. That was until you had children, and you became weak like your vater, and it's a shame I have to give you to that Scotsman."

The man paced away, "If it wasn't for that Englishwoman, I would have taken much longer to find you, but she was inside to know everything. A wonderful asset. But until Chrysalis has his revenge, let's see how much I can iron you out, hmm?" Most of his face was out of view, but a smile stretched across his face as he ordered the soldiers to take England away before he himself walked away, leaving white boot prints along the way.

There was a moment when nothing happened when suddenly the entire screen was filled with a face, two entity eyes staring at the soldier as he smiled. "I've been dead long enough to know that you will be used, human," Suebi smirked, "so let me use you to send a message."

His entity eyes then stared straight at the man, almost as if he was seeing Anglo and Esha right there. "I don't know if that bastard Anglo or my son will see this, but if you can see this then you have a pesky Eternal with you. No matter who you are, just remember, I will take special care of my grandson like any good grandfather would, so don't fret. "

"If you want your precious son back," he warned, brandishing a dagger, "you must do what I say, otherwise he becomes my next canvas. Let's play a little game, ja? More information would be found in the place Saxon took my throne." As soon as he finished, the image froze, signifying the end of the memory.

 Anglo looked at the soldier with the note and noticed that he was the one with the dagger to the heart. "He killed his own soldier," the Englishman muttered before looking at Esha, "I think he was referring to where Saxon became an entity, and that is not far from here, less than an hour's flight from here."

The Englishman just stared at the image, seeing the odal rune over one eye and the two axes over the other, he muttered, "I thought I would never see him again, and after a millennium he's back."

M:   "And he clearly is trying to be the puppet master," Esha growled, taking her hand off the corpse and letting the screen disappear, "sending us on a scavenger hunt that will probably lead to another dead body, what I'm worried about is who's body is it going to be?"

The draconic entity searched around the living room and found a piece of paper, she wrote down what they learned and what the situation was, then folded it up and blew fire on it.

"I've sent that to BE," she explained, "I don't trust Saxon to receive that just yet because he will do something reckless. Now enough chit-chat, let's go get our lovable bastard back."

N:   Anglo smiled a bit before getting back on his feet, sheathing his sword and taking a good look at his surroundings. Stepping outside, he took one final look at the lighthouse before walking away from it.

"I haven't been to the place where Saxon became an entity for a while," Anglo admitted, "it was a difficult time for both of us, a time of significant change, so we tend to avoid the place. However, I guess we got to back there again."

After talking, the pair took off towards there, and just as the Englishman said, it was less than an hour's journey, and when they arrived it was barren, except for a single body lying in the field of white snow. When they approached it, Anglo used his foot to roll them over and was surprised to see their face.

 "Arthur Bekerel," he muttered, "but ... but how? How did this happen?" He grabbed the note attached to him and it read:

"Bring me his master,"

 "Who is Arthur's master?" the Brit questioned, "he has only worked for BE and that's it, he hasn't for anyone else?"