"Did- did we...." Jasoslav began to trail off. He swallowed. "...Go back in time?"

Koios nodded. "Yes. We did."

Sethunya didn't seem too impressed by this.

Akachi and Lukyan seemed to be frozen in awe.

Bohdana laughed a little to herself, slightly amused.

Jasoslav's mouth began to run dry as he wondered how Dasha was reacting for his long absence. Mother will kill me for sure, he thought.

Finally, Lukyan was able to break out of his daze. He cleared his throat. "Where are we?" He stopped himself. Then he corrected himself. "I mean, when are we?"

"1189. Common era," Koios informed the young siren.

Lukyan's white eyes grew wide. "The dawn of the third crusade?"

Jasoslav, Akachi, Sethunya, and Bohdana all looked over to Lukyan in unison.

"What?" Lukyan began to ask. "I just know a thing or two about history."

"If I may ask," Akachi started to say, "Lord Koios, why did we go back in time?"

A breeze blew past, taking leaves with it.

"Well," Koios began, "Time travel is my specialty. I am the Slavic god of fate and time after all. Plus time travel is quite complex. It would take an archangel like Decimus a lot to even travel back here--he'd be exhausted. I can't even imagine what time travel would be like for a demon like Athanasia."

"Oh," Akachi responded.

"You'll be safe for a while--hopefully until this whole thing blows over," Koios said.

"If it even does blow over," Jasoslav added.

"Yeah... If," Koios then said. He paused before continuing. "Come on." Koios started forward, beckoning the group.

"Where are we going?" Sethunya asked, curious.

"We need to see someone. If we even want to survive back here, we'll need to be in league with the people of power," Koios told them, grinning.

─┉─¡! • !¡─┉─

Koios led the group past beaten up shacks, through the village, and into the town. He led them to what only appeared to be a tavern. He gripped the old handle as he turned to face the group. "Watch your step. It can get a little...rough in here." Then, he opened the door, letting the group in; the door swung shut behind them.

People in the tavern stood, drinking. They all stood in a circle, chanting.

Jasoslav tried to look past the crowd to see what they were chanting about.

In the middle of the circle stood a figure with strawberry blonde hair that fell a little past her shoulders. She decked a guy in the face and he fell to the ground.

The man hit his head on the way down, falling unconscious for a moment. He was drug away.

"Who's next?" The girl shouted, in an Ukrainian accent.

A man with tan skin and a thick Syrian accent was pushed out into the ring.

The girl sighed. "Really?"

The Syrian man fell backwards, backing up freaked out.

"Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!" Shouted a red haired man in the bar.

The girl quickly whirled around, decking the shouting the man in the face. She turned to face the Syrian man again. She held her hand out to man. "I'm not gonna fight you, Jiheuc," she told him.

Jiheuc grabbed her hand and was pulled up.

"Nothing to see here!" The girl then began to say. "You can all fuck off and go along with your business."

The crowd began to disperse, chattering. 

The man who had gotten punched for shouting, 'Kill him', stood. He rubbed his head and quietly cursed to himself before heading out the tavern door.

"You okay?" The woman asked as she approached the guy she had just knocked out prior.

He had black hair that came down to the middle of his neck.

He clamped his nose shut between his pointer finger and thumb while tilting his head back. "Not really. I mean my nose is bleeding-" he trailed off before saying, angrily, "You punched me!"

"Calm down, it's not that bad, Grim," the woman with strawberry blonde hair began to exclaim. "And if you really think it's that bad then you should go see the town medic. I bet she'll help."

"No, no, no," Grim began to laugh, sounding a little frustrated. "That old kook will prescribe leeches. I'm fine."

"Suit yourself," the girl laughed.

"M'lady," Koios said approaching the girl and her group.

The girl turned around. "Lord Koios!" She exclaimed.

Jasoslav stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the girl's face. She looked just like someone he knew.

Lukyan seemed to know what he was feeling, he leaned in toward Jasoslav, and whispered to him, "I know that's your sister, but she doesn't know that."

"I know," Jasoslav swallowed.

"How can I be of service?" The vampire asked Koios.

"It's my colleagues," Koios began to tell her. "They're of high titles... They wish to mingle with the upperclass."

"Oh! Silly me! I should introduce myself." Her gaze fell upon the rest of the group. "I'm Queen Pagan."

Grim rolled his eyes. "You're not a queen." He looked to the group. "She's just a simple Baroness."

"Don't listen to him. He's a chronic liar," Pagan insisted.

"Hey!" Grim exclaimed.

"Who is he?" Akachi asked.

"That's Lord Zuianos Bozetjeh," Pagan told Akachi.

The man rolled his eyes.

"But we call him Grim." She pointed to the Syrian man from earlier. "He's Jiheuc."

"You're a vampire-" Jasoslav blurted out, seemingly having no filter.

Pagan cocked her head to the side slightly, waiting for the young demon to finish speaking.

"Is that why they make you fight?" Jasoslav asked.

Pagan sighed. "Yeah. That's part of it--that and I needed some extra cash."

Seth then asked, "What about your associates? Are they like you?"

Zuianos shifted from side to side, looking a little nervous.

"Zuianos is a some weird shit called a reaper," Pagan explained. "I don't know what that really is. But, Jiheuc's an archangel."

"Grim Reaper," Akachi whispered to himself.

Pagan looked at the group. "I know Koios, but I don't know the rest of you. Who are you guys?"

Before anyone could say anything, Koios answered. "These are Lady Sethunya, Lord Akachi, Lady Bohdana, Count Jasoslav, and... Prince Lukyan."

Pagan raised an eyebrow. "Prince?"

"He hails from Athens," Koios explained.

Jiheuc laughed a little. "An Athenian Prince, how about that-"

"Can you help them?" Koios asked.

Pagan nodded. "Yeah. I know the right people to get involved with if you want to make a name for yourself around here." She headed toward the tavern door with Jiheuc and Zuianos following. "Come on," the vampire beckoned.

Koios, Akachi, Seth, Bohdana, and Lukyan followed Pagan toward the door.

Jasoslav followed too, but saw two familiar figures out of the corner of his left eye. He had recognized the two just chatting to be Zephyria Xenakis and his own mother, Dasha. Jasoslav tried to shield his face from the two before leaving the tavern and heading back into the town.