Zachariah shuts the door to the empty chambers where Julian is meant to be sleeping and turns away from the empty hallway where Angel was meant to be standing. He shakes his head, disappointed in his brothers, servants, and guests who forget that nothing slips by Lord Second. There are no secrets that he doesn't know. He knows Julian is headed for the Tick Tock's chambers. He knows that Angel is getting his daily dose of his own blood.

Angel takes a deep breath, looking at the great double doors. Gently, he knocks on the door, then opens it, letting himself in. He closes them then falls to one knee and keeps his eyes trained on the ground.

"I see your knee has healed if you can kneel in such perfect submission. Has my brother forgiven you?" Jonathan muses thoughtfully. He runs a hand through his golden hair then looks down at Angel.

"I-I don't think he has." Angel says, trying not to let any emotion trickle into his tone.

"Don't sound so dejected. He'll come around." Jonathan says then shuffles over to his desk. He goes through the fourth drawer and pulls out a large vial of black ichor. He then grabs a glass and pours the blood into it.

"Rise Angel." Angel stands up and looks at Lord Third's face for the first time. Jonathan smiles softly at the distressed young man and gives him the cup. Angel puts it to his lips and begins to drink slowly.

Zachariah finds the door he wants and opens it without knocking. Jonathan looks up at his brother with only a little shock.

"Why hello there." Jonathan says. Angel's eyebrows dip as he turns around to see who has entered Lord Third's chambers without an invitation. As he sees the intruder, he drops the glass of blood and it shatters against the stone floor.

"Lord Second." He breathes shakily. If he weren't raised to be emotionless, Angel might have cried at this moment. Zachariah looks at Angel and smiles icily. Seeing this, Angel wobbles on his feet, making Jonathan laugh.

"Angel." Zachariah greets, his smile disappearing. Zachariah then looks at the glass of blood messing the ground. Jonathan sighs loudly.

"Pick up the shards Angel." Jonathan orders. Angel gulps then nods.

"Yes, milord." He says then bends to pick them up. Zachariah's hand whips out to stop him from bending.

"Now now, address him properly, will you? He's not your Lord, is he? Go on, you needn't be afraid." Zachariah says all while looking at Jonathan who gives his elder brother a pout. Angel clenches his hands into fists to stop them from shaking.

"Yes- Yes, father." He says quickly then bends down and gathers the shards of glass.

"And I was hopeful enough to believe that for the first time since the existence of time, I had managed to keep something from you." Jonathan sighs. Angel stands up as he throws the shards away.

"Angel, get me the vials of my blood." He says so coldly, a shiver runs down the white haired boy's spine. Ignoring Jonathan completely, Angel scurries towards the drawer where the blood is kept and pulls out the reaming two vials. As soon as he turns around, they shatter in his hands. Jonathan groans loudly, running a hand down his face as he seats himself in the nearest chair. Zachariah pulls the sleeve of his habit up to his elbow and takes a large beastly bite, letting blood flow down his arm and onto the floor.

"Must you make a scene by dirtying my floor?" Jonathan exclaims, gesturing towards the mess. Zachariah ignores him and looks at Angel.

"Come here." Angel hurries to where he stands. "I forbid you from drinking my blood from anywhere but my veins, do I or do I not make myself clear? I want you to truly think of your answer, so that if I'm not clear enough, I may find a way to solve that problem." Angel straightens himself and looks up at Zachariah's face.

"Yes Sire. You make yourself perfectly clear." Zachariah puts a large hand at the back of Angel's head and slowly pulls him to where his bleeding arm awaits.

"When did you find out that he was my son?" Jonathan asks, watching them with his head resting in his hand.

"The same time you confirmed that he was. Jonathan, I shan't ask you this again." Zachariah begins as he looks at Angel, drinking every last drop until Zachariah's wound regenerates.

"You want me to explain." Jonathan finishes and Zachariah nods. Jonathan gestures towards Angel with a groan. "He's an experiment I began conducting just as we began building Esdith. Every one hundred years I'd try things with my blood, marks, gifts and flesh on the same bloodline seeing as Geminds can't reproduce until I was able to make him. Marked children have one supernatural parent, however; they remain humanly mortal. Mortal blood, heart, and soul. Angel here is a little different. I still haven't figured out how but my closest guess is that he remains with mortal heart and soul yet his blood isn't. That of course may also be the reason he is able to consume your blood without being driven to insanity within the first ten seconds. But truly brother, look at him. He has lived for thirty-seven years yet he appears as he were only twenty-one. He ages slowly, his endurance is fascinating since he carries your number on his skin and became your Elite, he is even sired to you. When you feed him your blood he becomes more loyal to you. For once, would you praise something I've done?" Jonathan scoffs. Angel tries to hold on to the questions pushing against his skull, threatening to burst.

"Why on earth would I praise your little 'experiment'? It's unethical." Zachariah mocks. Jonathan scowls deeply as he stands up and stalks towards Angel where he wipes the excess of Zachariah's blood from his chin.

"And this? This in itself is a form of experiment you're conducting. Do not patronize me with your moral superiority." Jonathan deadpans, wiping the blood onto his robe.

"But there is more to the story, is there not?" Jonathan nods with a sigh.

"How he found his way to Esdith; I had left behind whispers, legends, and rumors around his birth, so that when he came of age, he'd hear them too. And well, clearly he had, and the rest is history. After all the end of the story places you as a round character while I, a flat one." Zachariah looks towards Angel and meets his eyes.

"Indeed, it is but only mere history." Zachariah whispers quietly.

Fire. His mind was on fire. He constantly thrashed on his bed as his brothers held him down. He did not know what was happening outside of his own personal hell that his thoughts had created for him. It'd been three weeks since Zachariah had released Niklaus and since then, he'd been unconscious and enormously pallid. However, today was different. As if possessed, Zachariah had risen to his feet and in a matter of seconds; erupted. His eyes were a pitch black hole while thick black cracks formed down his face. His teeth were no longer those of a human's as a hurricane of black smoke exploded from around him, destroying the whole east sector of Esdith. Somehow, he had heard of a disruption in the city of Esdith where a boy whose powers he couldn't control were wreaking havoc in the tranquility. And so with his seething rage, massively out of hand powers, and inexplicable mental, emotional, and physical strain Zachariah rushed to exterminate the penetrator of the repose. An eye blink later, Zachariah was out and striding through the city. Civilians froze with shock and suffocated on the overwhelming power and aura of an out-of-control Zachariah. Zachariah almost didn't even realize what he was doing. He was living the horrible agony of the release, in which half his soul had been clawed away and along with that, somehow, his identity mark had shattered. In the distance, his destructive angry eyes spotted a white haired boy on his knees and hands. He barely registered his cries of pain as clusters of white feathers were ripping through the flesh of his back. In a second, Zachariah disappeared, formalizing where the boy was. He stands with the cracks on his face spreading to his back and breaking completely. Huge black wings erupted from his back along with a long powerful tail that immediately coiled around the boy's neck, carrying him above the ground. His transformation seemed to stop there as Zachariah clutched his hair and screamed, tornados of smoke demolishing the small houses around him. The lush soil he stood on shriveled up and the sky turned black. Inhaling the smoke, the boy's skin broke and blood began to spill onto the dry hard ground. Blood streamed from his eyes and cascaded from his mouth. The white feathers ripping through his flesh halted and exploded into tiny particles.

Something dawns on Zachariah, making him smile wickedly, baring many of his tiny pointed teeth. He bends his knees, then pushes up, soaring through the sky and towards Esdith.

***

The young child awoke in a dark, damp dungeon. The first thing he was aware of, was a burning on his chest. He clawed of what little remained of the rags he wore to find a shining bright imprint on his flesh. The burn was so intense, he tried to claw it off of his skin only to find that despite it being only on the front of his chest, the pain was spreading throughout his whole body to even his mind. He could do nothing but scream and feed the ravenous ears of the listening. Zachariah was well hidden in the shadows. His madness remained.

"You bear my number, child. A number so close to zero, no creature with a heart has survived it. Slowly, it turns to a curse." He sings. "Until you, submit to me and I accept you." And with that, Zachariah left the twelve-year-old boy in a rotting dungeon for two years, where the curse activated and began to eat away at his mind and flesh turning him into an infernal cynical shell of a human whose name was Elliot. However, right before he was a goner, Zachariah transformed him into something else. Something entirely different where his name became Angel.

Zachariah continues to gaze at Angel, making him so aware and regretful of all the disobeying he has done. For instance, he should be at Julian's door. Zachariah courtly turns and leaves.

Julian grunts to himself as he gets lost in the halls of Esdith. He rubs his face, dreading what is to come. As he rounds a familiar corridor, he halts and runs his plan through his mind again. No doubt will there be guards at Lily's door. Most probably Elites. He sighs quietly, acknowledging the blisteringly large amount of trouble he is landing himself in by using his powers on the guards. For wandering without Angel and for speaking to the Tick Tock. With a deep breath, he begins to walk forward, seeing the strings of emotion ahead. There are two people, however none of them have the strings of an Elite. Both are those of powerful Geminds. He takes a deep breath then jumps into view, just about to lash out and pull on their strings with all the power God has gifted him, until-

"Xavier?!" Xavier, leaning against the wall by a large set of double doors raises his eyebrows.

"Yes?" He deadpans lamely. Julian shocked at the chosen guards, stutters and sputters looking for words.

"My lord, I suppose he is here for the girl." A voice sounds. Xavier scowls, looking at Nicholas' rigid figure.

"I'm not stupid you know." He snaps. Nicholas too scowls. "And stop calling me my lord. It's weird." Nicholas grits his teeth and clenches his fists.

"Nicholas? You look different." Julian points out, observing his thin pale figure.

"What do you mean stop calling you my lord? You are my lord and there is nothing I can do about it!" Nicholas exclaims, flailing his arms around.

"Yes there is." Sings Xavier. Nicholas gives him a dry look. "You can ask for release." Subconsciously, Nicholas raises his foot and lands it in Xavier's chest, sending him staggering meters backwards.

"You're a fool Xavier." He grits angrily, his breathing becoming labored. Xavier laughs sourly, clutching his front.

"Oh what was that? Did you just call me Xavier? Clearly, you can do something about it." He laughs. Julian's eyebrows narrow, seeing their strings react near each other.

"Something is going on with your aeternus bond." Julian states. Nicholas laughs sourly.

"Yeah, no kidding." He mumbles.

"No seriously. When Lord fourth stands near his aeternus, Robynn, her strings of emotion become diaphanous, almost as if they were submitting to his too. While with the two of you, it's the opposite. Xavier's are submitting to Nicholas'." Julian points out. Upon hearing this, Nicholas sways on his feet, reaching out to the wall to steady himself while Xavier looks indifferent.

"What do you expect? He was Lord Second's aeternus for a whole millennium. His power had to rise to somewhere near Zachariah's level to keep up. And now he's Lord Twelfth's aeternus and I hope you see where I'm going with this so that I don't have to spell it out for you." Xavier says nonchalantly as he stands near Nicholas again.

"I'm not stronger than you. I can't be. You're a Major Gemind, it doesn't matter what number you are. I mean it is true I may be able to beat you in a simple combat in your human form, but there is no way I could if you were in your true form. Even then, that's only because I've had a ton more practice with Lord Second while you, lounging in your authority never train yourself." Nicholas says almost as if in a question.

"No you're not stronger. Not in that sense at least. And thank you for pointing that out by the way." Xavier says with a sigh. Julian looks at his friend's tired face as Nicholas chucks off his robe and rolls up his leave, baring a bite mark on his arm. Julian looks at it and sees nothing but a faded mark, however when Xavier looks it at, he sees something else. Black swirls and designs spread from it and up his arm a few inches. Nicholas looks at Xavier desperately. Xavier shuts his eyes and leans his head on the wall, shutting his eyes.

"It's supposed to spread with time Nicholas. We've been in an aeternus bond for a year." He whispers quietly.

"It's shrinking." Nicholas says coolly. He eyes Xavier's figure for a while then shuts his eyes. "May Esdith forgive me." Xavier's eyes open just in time to see Nicholas' teeth bared and his arm zip out and try to grab Xavier's. Julian narrows his eyes in confusion and looks between the figure of Nicholas stopping just inches away from Xavier and the figure of Zachariah slowly approaching from the end of the hallway.

"Nicholas." Julian whispers. Nicholas looks at Julian with wide and pained eyes, almost asking Julian for a confirmation of what he's feeling. They share a knowing look then they both turn to look at Zachariah. Julian observes as his strings of emotions compel Nicholas' to halt completely. Suddenly, Zachariah disappears. Before Julian can turn his head to look for him a loud thud resonates throughout the hallway. Zachariah's foot lands exactly in the middle of Nicholas' chest, pushing him into a wall. Lord Second leans forward, adding more pressure onto his ex-aeternus' chest and gets closer to his face.

With a voice so cold it could burn, Lord Second looks Niklaus straight in the eye and says,

"Niklaus of Esdith, you dare attempt to feed on your Master first?"