Ilrok stepped over bloodied corpses. The screams of the nobles of Cyeollaria had been music to his ears.

      "Find anything?" Ilrok called out to one of his men.

      Baronaz looked toward the Demon King. "We found Heimir Sindrisson's head." Baronaz promptly chuckled afterward. "The child must've beheaded him."

     Ilrok looked amused by this. "Where is the child?"

     Baronaz sighed. "Frrywdowin said the child escaped the kingdom."

     Ilrok angrily yanked Baronaz over by his tunic. "Well, tell Frrywdowin that she better find the child or else I'll have her head." Ilrok let go of Baronaz before pushing him, making him stumble backward.

    "Yes, sir!" Baronaz quickly scurried off in the direction of Frrywdowin.

       "The child couldn't have gotten far," Ilrok told his warriors. "Spread out and find him."
       Warriors rushed off left and right.

       Ilrok looked toward where the king's head lay before kneeling down and picking it up. He examined it, his snarling grin growing larger and larger by the minute. "This is will make a fine trophy."

   ─┉─¡! • !¡─┉─

    "How'd you sleep, kid?" Athanasia asked Druid as she approached the child-–the sun still wasn't even up yet.

     "Better than I have the past few days," Druid told Athanasia.

       "Druid," Athanasia began. "Can I ask you something?"

       "Sure," the child responded.

        "Where are your parents?" Athanasia asked.

         The events of two years prior began to replay in Druid's mind.

     The sounds of screaming shattered the skies over Rome. Even though the heavens above them were white, it almost felt red—stained with the blood of the Emperor's victims.

     "Tata," the young girl asked. "Where is Uncle Vinicius?"

      Aileanius Ausonius looked over to his five-year-old daughter. He swallowed. "I-I don't know… He should've been back by now." For one of the first times in years, Aileanius was concerned for his brother's safety.

      A couple more hours had past by the time Aileanius had realized what was happening and the fate that had fallen upon his younger brother. He approached his daughter once again. He kneeled in front of her. "Angelus… we have to go."

    "Why?" The young girl asked her father.

    Aileanius sighed. He wasn't going to lie to Adruidialla. She was smart. She'd figure everything out sooner or later, whether or not he even told her. "The Emperor… he doesn't like our people. He doesn't like our practices and our gods." His people being Druids.

    "Why not?"

    Aileanius shook his head, still speaking softly to the five-year-old. "I don't know." He paused. "The Emperor is… downsizing the population of our people."

     "Did he do that before?" Adruidialla asked her father. "Tata, did he do that to my mamma?"

     "No, Angelus." He leaned forward, stroking the side of her face. "...Órlaith…She was sick. Morrigan needed her."

     "It's not fair," Adruidialla sniffled. "I didn't even get to meet her."

     "I know." Aileanius reached over, pulling a sheathed dagger out. "Hand."

     "W-why?" Adruidialla asked, sounding panicked.

     "Just trust me on this, parvulus," Aileanius told her.

     Adruidialla silently nodded, holding her hand out to her father.

      Aileanius put the sheathed dagger into Adruidialla's hand, closing her fingers around it. "I want you to keep a hold of this. You need something to defend yourself with if anything happens to me."

     "Tata-" Adruidialla began, sounding upset by that.

      Aileanius then said, "I'm not saying it will happen… but we do need to be prepared for every possibility." He lead his daughter to the doorway that met the back roads of Rome. "Now, Adruidialla, it's important you listen to me. Don't say anything. Don't look at anyone. And most of all, don't stop for anything or anyone. Got it, angelus?"

     Adruidialla nodded. "Yes, tata."

    "Good." With that Aileanius and Adruidialla stepped out into the war zone that was the streets of Rome.

      She couldn't do it anymore.

       She couldn't remember it.

       She didn't want to.

       She didn't wanna think about the look on her father's face when he died.

       "It's a complicated story," Druid insisted. "It would take too long to explain."

      "Yeah, I get complicated," Athanasia confessed, rubbing the back of her neck, thinking about her own mother's death.

       Cedozar approached the two. "Come on. We're heading out again. We wanna get to the docks before nightfall."

       Athanasia and Druid exchanged glances before both joining the ranks of the group, not saying a single word to anyone.