Finn: Jahangir? No I have not heard of him.

Finn changed into field gray trousers with black leather gaiters, a splittertarnmuster smock, Y strap and belt with MP 40 magazine pouches, a gray toque and his commander visor.

Emil: Good, that means you haven't run into him.

Finn: From that, I take it that he's a problem.

Emil: You're right about that, guy has a hard on for us. We were sent in to start a coup in Belzianki led by Prince Vincent. He went to deal with the King and we ran into his new hire Jahangir, He kicked our asses and the coup failed.

Emil assembled his STG-44 back together after he finished cleaning it, he stood up and started walking to the door.

Emil: Diner should be ready now, we are leaving here first thing in the morning.

Finn: Already?

Emil: Jahangir knows about this place, last thing I want to happen is us ending up like the guys out on the courtyard.

They walked down the hallways to the kitchen where Joseph was heating up a kettle while Krueger while seating on a stool reading a book.

Emil: Reading that book again?

Krueger: Its the only good thing is this place, everything else is childish.

Finn looked at the cover of the book, it was Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of The Red Death".

Finn: Hey my friend liked Poe, literally all he would talk about when he first learned about him.

Krueger: Oh really? Glad to know I'm not the only without taste.

Joseph: Coffee is ready, we didn't have much meat left over so we'll have to settle for extra fruit and veggies.

Joseph Placed 4 plates with a slice of beef, sauerkraut, bread and preserved peaches.

Emil: Thank you Joseph.

----

Her boots sank into the mud as she walked through the forest, she has been running on fumes trying to track them down.

Minerva: How much.. more..?

A horned serpent emerged from under her tattered cloak, it took it's time sensing the air.

Leviathan: We're almost there, his scent is getting stronger.

Minerva managed to break past the treeline onto the opening between the woods and the city's wall, she looked up at wall to measure the height. She spread her wings but so did the pain, she winced but pushed through it as she flapped them just enough to reach the edge of the top. Pulling herself over the edge, she looked both ways to make sure no one saw her.

Once confirming the are was clear, she lifted herself all the way onto the top of the wall. Crouching towards the edge of the inside part of the wall, she looked down at the city.

Minerva: Where do I go now?

Leviathan emerged once again and began smell the air.

Leviathan: Over there in that section on buildings.

Minerva spread out her wings to slow her fall as she jumped from the top of the wall down to the ground. Keeping her good down, she walked through the streets as Leviathan guided her.

Leviathan: This is it.

They arrived at one of the buildings, the plaque next to door said "Lazvin".

Minerva: You positive this is it?

Leviathan once again confirmed, Minerva reached for the knocker.

knock knock

-----

Luna: Thank you for the gift Miriam.

Miriam: I'm glad that you liked it, looks really good on you.

Luna and Miriam were cleaning up the diner table after everyone had finished eating, Luna put some of the leftovers in a bowl for Choco.

Luna: Here you go buddy.

She placed the bowl down and Choco began to eat but then stopped, her ears raised up as she looked past Luna.

Luna: What's the matter?

Knock knock

Choco: Bark Bark!

Choco ran towards the door and began barking, Luna grabbed her by the collar and began pulling her back.

Luna: Hey! Settle down!

Ga1ahad: Is everything ok?

Luna: Oh hey can you check who's at the door?

Ga1ahad walked towards the door and began undoing the locks, he opened the door slightly once he disengaged the last lock.

Ga1ahad: Hello?

A woman slipped inside and closed the door, she stubbled onto the nearest chair as she fell from exhaustion.

Minerva: Calm down, it's me.

Luna: Minerva?

Minerva looked at Luna, she looked up and down at her.

Minerva: You sure look like you've changed.

Luna: You look like a mess.

Minerva: Thank you, can I have some water?

Everyone gathered back in the dining room, Minerva was eating leftovers, she appeared to had eaten in days.

Peter: What happened to you?

Minerva: My home was destroyed and I was left for dead, I managed to survive and spent the rest of the time wandering the countryside.

Luna: Who tried to kill you?

Minerva: He goes by the name Jahangir, he's a warlord that appeared a few years ago.

Peter: Okay but why would he try to kill you?

Minerva: I'm.. not really sure as to why either.

Arran glanced at Peter, Peter looked back at him with the same expression.

Peter: How are your wounds?

Minerva: They are still healing, our kind the Strigiformes, have long life spans. The more of us there are, the better our healing.

Nikolai: How much was your healing affected?

Minerva: Jahangir burned down the forest and killed almost all of us, so my healing has slowed down to almost that of Human.

Nikolai: Are you really sure that they tried to kill you for no reason?

Minerva: Yes I'm sure.

Nikolai walked and stood between Peter and Arran, he whispered to them about his concerns.

Nikolai: Etwas passt nicht zusammen (Something doesn't add up).

Peter: Ich Kenne (I know).

Arran: Räuber denken an Ort und Stelle, sie schmieden keine ausgeklügelten Pläne (Robbers think on the spot, they don't make elaborate plans.)

Nikolai: Sie verheimlicht etwas (She's hiding something).

Minerva: Is something the matter?

Peter: Do you have any information on this Jahangir guy?

Minerva: I do not, but I know someone that does, Terra Karvonen.

Peter: We are gonna have to stop you there.

Minerva: What's the issue?

Arran: Look Miss, we are a little short on trust at the moment, we've already been there and we wish we hadn't.

Minerva: How did you guys get there?

Peter: Vincent asked us to go there because she was a suspect in an attack on his camp. Finn agreed to it because Mrs. Lazvin's daughter was there, we lost Jäger, Finn, and almost Molotov.

Minerva: I am so sorry to hear that.

Peter: Don't be, we don't want pity.

Minerva: Jahangir isn't someone to be taken lightly you know?

Peter: What does that have to do with us?

Minerva: When your friend Marco was killed, didn't you stop to think how you ran into people similar to you?

They all looked at Minerva with confused expressions, then with hostile eyes.

Arran: We never told you anything about Marco, so how did you know about it?

Minerva: Although it's clearer when it's with owls, I can speak to other types of aves to varying degrees. So sometimes you hear peculiar things in the air, and one spoke about 2 beasts against another 2. Sound familiar?

Minerva crossed her legs as she took another sip from her cup, her face still covered under the hood.

Minerva: Those other 2 beasts are with Jahangir, reason for that is not within my knowledge, if only there was to change that.

Peter: If we refuse?

Minerva: If you have a death wish then refuse.

Peter looked at Arran, then at Nikolai and Molotov, they all gave him a hesitant look. Peter gritted his teeth, he looked back at Minerva who's composure which didn't look like that of someone who'd been on the brink of death for a month.

Peter: Fine, we'll play your game.

-------

Ember walked through the dark hallways of the manor, a gem-powered flashlight was attached to her mask to illuminate the direction she faced her head towards. She had her Mosin-Nagant rifle in her hands pre-aimed, its furniture was changed to a grey colored finish, the metal was painted black with gold plated decorations on it. Ember had decided to name it Judas, meaning praise, she preferred it over her old bow due to the simplicity of it.

Esther walked behind her covering her rear, she also had a flashlight attached to her mask. The harsh outside climate had quickly claimed, high amounts of snow and ice had built up all around the manor. Ember looked at the ground looking at traces of animals walking around, hearing rustling noising around the corner, she carefully peeked around the corner. A large rodent was eating another smaller one of its kind, Ember raised her rifle and fired at it. A green muzzle flash was produced by it as a round struck the rodent, exploding soon after the initial impact, she cycled another round into the chamber and continued walking.

Esther: There's a lot of mountain rats here.

  Ember: That's the 10th one so far, we just need to get to the vault and we can leave.

They arrived at the master bedroom, Esther stayed at the doorway while Ember went inside. Ember slung the rifle onto her shoulder as she removed a painting from the wall which revealed a safe.

Ember: 04.. 11.. 19..

The safe clicked open and she began grabbing its contents into her backpack, coins and jewelry and the like. Once the contents were transferred, she put the backpack back on herself and pulled out a blue crystal.

Ember: Eva, can you hear me?

Eva: I can.

Ember: We are done here, have you guys found it?

Eva: Nothing, we have excavated the whole area and we still haven't found his corpse.

Ember: Damn, head back up and well meet up at the caverns.

Eva: I'll see you then, lets go up Gol3m.

Ember placed the crystal back into her pocket and headed out of the room.

Esther: Did they find it?

Ember: Its starting to look more and more likely that he's still alive.

Hello people those who are still around, thank you for reading this chapter. My apologies for not delivering 2 weeks, I got busy with work and Callisto Protocol and Battlefield 1. As always all forms of feedback are welcome, take care and be good people.