Chapter Text
With a thunderous roar and an earthshaking crash, the demonic beast fell and began to unravel in bands of ash. Finally, the last obstacle has been cleared and all that’s left is the sadistic backstabber: Kronya. Byleth tightened his grip on the Sword of the Creator. He has never felt emotions before last month, so he is not familiar with the feeling he has, but it feels like a fire is caught in his throat, and he’s ready to release it like a dragon’s breath. He can faintly see Sothis floating besides him, and can hear that she’s trying to say something, but all he can focus on is Kronya flippantly spinning a knife in her hand as if this was another Saturday for her.
Byleth charged forward, whipping his sword into its individual segments to strike her outside of her range. As the blade ripped through the air and severed nearby trees, Kronya was able to predict where the blades would go thanks to Byleth being further away. She dodged, leapt, flipped, and crawled around all the blades throughout his assault, never once even touching the sword. As the sword returned to its normal form, the assassin stood up and casually leaned against a stump that used to be a proud pine tree.
“You’re a fool to be so brazen.” She then looked around to the ruined forest and the fresh scars in the dirt. “You’ll never avenge your father at this rate.”
As Byleth grinded his teeth, a rapid paced thundering approached from behind. Passing him quickly on his right, Leonie charged forward atop her mount, lance couched in her arm just as Byleth and Jeralt had taught her. With the new threat coming closer, Kronya had to wait for the last moment to leap to the side before she would be impaled by Leonie’s charge. As she dodged, however, Leonie knew her telegraphed attack wouldn’t connect, so she used the Blade Breaker’s secret technique to slash at Kronya’s hands as she dodged away. The edge of her lance ripped a devious gash into one of her hands, forcing her to drop a knife. Leonie glowered at the murderer, her usual cheer and optimism long gone.
“Monica. You’ll pay for what you’ve done.”
Kronya growled out a response as she nursed her wounded hand. “I told you! I am not Monica, I am Kronya! Do not call me by that fake name!”
“I don’t care what you’re called. I don’t care if it takes my last breath. I’ll kill you.”
“Please! My powers are beyond your comprehension. You’re just a filthy wor-”
An arrow pierced through the conversation and Kronya’s shoulder as Claude sauntered up next to Byleth.
“Whatever Monica.” The future duke said, making sure to emphasize the false name. “Please, keep talking so I can aim for your throat next.”
Kronya wretched the arrow out of her shoulder. “I changed my mind, you aren’t worms. You’re hyenas, too cowardly to face me alone, so you join your weak selves together in a scavenger pack.”
“Uhm excuse me, but what is a hyena?” Marianne asked as she rejoined the others, still trying to cover herself up in her new dancer’s outfit. “Is it like a dog?”
Kronya tilted her head in shock, only dodging Leonie’s lance at the last moment. “Do you normally have conversations with the enemy as you’re trying to kill them?”
Claude spun another arrow around his fingers as he readied to fire another shot. “Nah, just the ones we really don’t like.”
As he said this, Byleth took off without a word, charging forward. Kronya smiled as she jumped further into the forest, avoiding another stab from Leonie. “Tell you what, you catch me, and I’ll tell you all about how disgusting you hyenas are.” She then turned and ran, using the trees as cover from Claude’s arrow and to stop Leonie’s horse from giving chase.
“Shoot.” Claude muttered. “Looks like she’s going for those plaza ruins. The other group should be meeting us there soon. Let’s take it slow and we’ll fight her togeth-”
“Marianne, with me!” Byleth shouted as he dashed into the forest.
Marianne squeaked at the sudden, and harsh order. She looked between Claude and where Byleth disappeared to before giving chase to her professor. “Sorry Claude.”
Claude sighed as he ran up to Leonie. “So much for that plan. Guess we’ll try to meet teach at the ruins and support him. Got any room up there?” Leonie scooched forward for Claude to also mount and took off down the forest trail.
Byleth, meanwhile, was in hot pursuit of his father’s murderer. For as skilled and flexible as she is, his determination and newfound emotions would carry him further. For every stone she leapt over, he sliced through. For every low hanging branch she slid under, he tore out of his way. Marianne quickly caught up to her frantic teacher thanks to the path he’s cutting. Just as his muscles’ screams to rest almost became overbearing, the pain suddenly ceased, and his stamina restored. He glanced behind and saw Marianne finishing her dance and leaning against a tree to catch her breath. Byleth then turned forward and sprinted with renewed vigor.
The boost that Byleth enjoyed was not something Kronya had accounted for. Despite her genetic enhancements, the lactic acid was building up in her joints, and she started to slow down against her will. It was only at the familiar sound of a sword cracking into a whip behind her, did she dived forward to avoid being cut into ribbons. Her hands landed on a stone that she would have used to springboard forward, but the very tip of the Sword of the Creator cleaved through the boulder, causing it to slide and explode into debris. The sudden stone fragments pelting against her body caused Kronya to curl into a ball to protect her vitals. While she succeeded in not being stoned to death, her landing was botched and instead of sprinting to the ambush point, she rolled like an out-of-control wheel all the way from the forest’s edge to the plaza ruins.
She pressed a hand on the ground to push her up, only realizing it was her wounded hand when the pain caused her to cry out and stumble. She then stood on wobbly and exhausted knees, her three tail-like appendages moving this way and that to keep her balance. She drew her knife as Byleth dashed from the forest, sprinting towards her. On either side of the forest came more people, Claude and Leonie galloping forward, and another group of children on the other side cutting down any soldiers that still stand in their way. Her eyes locked back onto Byleth, who just stepped foot onto the plaza.
“But how? How could I really lose to a lowly creature like you?”
With this question, Byleth halted his march. All the muscles in his face that were pulled haphazardly to form a facsimile of anger, suddenly relaxed. Then a wicked grin pulled across his visage, like a twisted mirror to her own sadistic smile just moments ago.
“Allow me to demonstrate!” He roared, stabbing forward with the glowing sword. The sword’s segments separated, and the blade’s reach extended to where Kronya was standing. Before the blade could pierce her stomach, however, an unseen force grabbed her and pulled her back towards the opposite side of the plaza, safely out of reach.
“Well…” an old and familiar voice sounded just behind her ears.
Kronya turned and saw Solon standing behind her, in all his large and deformed head-edness glory. “Don’t just stand there and stare. I need your help!” When she returned her gaze towards Byleth, she saw Claude dismounting from Leonie’s horse right beside Byleth.
“Yes. You most certainly do.” Solon replied, but the tone was all wrong, almost predatory.
Kronya turned around to see what the Agarthan scientist was up to. As she completed her turn, however, her vision grew purple and hazy. It took a few moments for her body to register that she’s no longer breathing, and that there was an intense piercing pain in her chest. She could feel Solon’s hands tighten around something in her chest.
“Have no fear Kronya. Your sacrifice will help to rid this world of the filthy vermin that have long infested it.”
The purple miasma of energy then shot out from Kronya and shrouded the pillars that surround the plaza. Leonie’s horse, not accustomed to magical shenanigans, reared up on its hind legs, dumped Leonie on the ground, and bolted for the forest.
“Leonie!” Claude shouted as he and Byleth turned to help her up.
While their backs were turned. Kronya screamed as Solon tried to pull something out of her chest. Leonie rubbed the back of her head as she stood up. “What is going on over there?”
Kronya screamed again. “Solon, stop this!” She begged as her shallow breaths transformed into mere gasps.
“Get out of there!” Lysithea cried out in desperation. Claude grabbed Leonie’s and Byleth’s arms and began to pull. He knew better than to question Lysithea if she sounds this panicked. As the group got to the edge of the plaza, however, tendrils of purple energy shot out from the pillar and restrained the three’s arms and legs and forced them to turn around and face the two pale people(?). A wall of miasma shot up from the edges of the plaza, separating the three from the rest of their class.
“Claude!” Hilda shouted from beyond the wall. “Are you ok? What should we do?”
Claude looked over his shoulder. He could somewhat see through the purple haze and see the rest of his class standing in anticipation. “Solon’s on the other side of these ruins. Run around and give his face and axe-full.”
Most of the class peeled off to do as Claude ordered, but one small figure stayed behind and approached the wall. “It appears to be dark magic.” Lysithea called out. “I can try to interrupt the casting of it to buy the others more time.” Even more dark purple energy appeared from where Lysithea was standing. Much to everyone’s relief, the walls around the plaza shrank in height, and the restraints around the trio loosened slightly.
“That’s it Lysithea! I think it’s working!”
Solon grunted with exertion. “Meddlesome insect. Do you honestly believe your power could compare to mine?” He twisted his arm inside Kronya’s chest, causing another scream; this one much weaker in volume as air refused to fill her lungs.
The walls then rose again, and the restraints tightened even more around the three’s wrists. Byleth couldn’t see anything physically touching him, but it felt like iron bands were tightening and cutting off blood to his hands.
“Lye!” Claude called out. “It’s building up again.”
“I know, I know!” Lysithea cried out as her hands moved frantically, connecting the different nodes in the magical sigil in front of her. “Come on you stupid crest, for once in my life, actually be useful!”
Leonie turned her head to see the blue glow of a crest activating, and the lowering of the walls. The restraints on their arms slackened again, and this time Leonie could shuffle closer to the edge. If she could just manage to get her hip to the wall, she could tumble over it, it was so low.
Solon growled in frustration. This was proving to be far more difficult than he could have ever predicted, but he can’t fail now. This was his best chance to banish the Fell Star once and for all. He tightened his grip, causing Kronya to breathlessly sob as she is only held up by his arm inside her. Before he could call upon more magic, however, he heard the clanking of heavy armor. Turning his head, he saw a group of children charging towards him, with a pink haired girl leading the pack.
“That’s enough!” Hilda shouted as she hefted her axe over her head.
Solon leapt back, ripping his hand out of Kronya’s chest with his bounty still in his grasp, dodging the axe strike in the nick of time.
“Better now than never.” He muttered as he crushed the “heart” he held. “Now I unleash the Forbidden Spell of Zaharas upon our enemies!” A swirling vortex of purple magic spewed from Solon’s hand, causing the rest of the Golden Deer to flinch and find cover from the magical attack.
Kronya, without Solon’s hand supporting her, fell on her back. She tilted her head up and saw the three people struggling against their restraints. She reached a hand towards them and tried to breathe in to call out. “Please… help me…”
Claude was too focused on the vortex of death in front of him to care about the dying assassin. Byleth was caught off guard at the request, nearly putting his hand on his hip and asking “Really?” if only he wasn’t restrained. Leonie, however, locked eyes with Kronya and stared with all the hatred she could muster.
“To the Eternal Flames with you, Monica!” She cursed.
It was at this moment, Solon lowered his hand, and the spinning whirlpool of certain doom shot forward, absorbing Kronya, Claude, Leonie, and Byleth, cutting off any screams that they started to sound. It even broke through the magical walls and engulfed Lysithea.
When the spell ended, Hilda looked over and saw no trace of the purple energy, Kronya, the professor, Claude, Leonie, or Lysithea. She turned her gaze back to Solon to see him break out in a smile.
“Begone with you… Fell Star.” He spoke to himself.
“What?” Hilda questioned, before looking around the plaza. “Professor! Claude! Where are you? Where did you go?”
“They were swallowed by the mystical darkness of the forbidden spell. An eternity of wandering in a void of nothingness, never to return to this world.” Solon gloated before softly muttering, “To think we almost had the Sword of the Creator.”
“There is no way they died from that spell!” Flayn called out to rally the others, “Our professor is no ordinary human, and the others won’t die from something like this either.”
“Yeah, that’s right.” Raphael added. “Leonie and Lysithea are both really strong. And Claude is too smart to be smeared by a weirdo like you.”
“It is possible that death has yet to find your friends. But there are worse things than death. Drifting through the darkness with no chance to escape… Overwhelmed with hopelessness… It must be torturous.”
“So, you’re saying they could still be alive? That sounds pretty good to me!” Ignatz said.
“And if they are still alive, then we must still fulfil our orders.” Lorenz said as he readied his lance for a charge. “And our last orders were to slay you, foul sorcerer.”
Solon tilted his head. “Do you normally have conversations with the enemy as you’re trying to kill them?”
Hilda hefted her axe over her shoulder, and threw one of her ponytails behind her, “Nah, just the ones we really don’t like.”
Byleth opened his eyes to see swirling shapes in the darkness around him. He felt around himself and couldn’t feel anything, no air blowing through his hair, no floor for his feet to stand on, just nothing. He looked around and still saw Claude, Leonie, and Lysithea floating around him. Lysithea was working on some magical spell when Byleth could hear a faint whimper below him. He looked down and saw the small form of Kronya, weakly reaching out to him. Byleth didn’t have time to consider how he was able to see everyone with no clear light source before Kronya’s form was swallowed by the darkness. Even though he couldn’t see it, he felt the pressure of the darkness closing in like a shrinking cave.
“Hold on to something, I think I can get us out of here.” Lysithea called out as the magical sigil in front of her changed colors from yellow to blue to green.
“Hang on to what?” Claude asked incredulously as he floated about upside down.
Then, a field of soft blue energy spawned from Lysithea’s sigil and grew to completely encompass the group in a wispy blue bubble. “Here we go!” She shouted as everyone suddenly jerked back and the bubble shot forward. Byleth could see the faint whisps of shadows whipping past them as they travel faster and faster.
“Where are we going?” Leonie asked as their bubble broke through a dense cloud of shadows that rocked them like a ship grounding against coral.
“I don’t know.” Lysithea replied. “Anywhere but here.”
“How are you even doing this?” Claude asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice and replace it with curiosity.
“Do you really want a lecture on sorcery and the intricacies of instantaneous transportation right now?”
“What’s that over there?” Byleth pointed towards a small hole of light that they were passing by.
Lysithea grunted with effort as everyone felt their momentum shift and they began traveling towards the light. “Whatever it is, it has enough energy to break through this pocket dimension. That’s our best shot.”
“A pocket what now?” Claude asked as the bubble around them started to fade and flicker.
“Claude, you don’t even like magic. Why are you asking all these questions right now?” Lysithea asked before putting more effort into maintaining the field.
“Right now, this magic is very relevant to me living, so color me curious.”
“Brace yourselves!”
The group neared the hole of light, which grew to the size of a mountain. The bubble flickered one last time before winking out of existence. The group screamed as they fell. Their momentum, however, carried them forward enough to pass through the gate. The light was blinding, and Byleth had to shield his eyes with his arms. It was only when he was hit with hot air that he forced himself to open them. He managed to look just in time to see the rapidly approaching ground his head will smash into. He twisted his body to land on his stomach and bellyflopped onto the dirt. With a groan, he rolled onto his back, looked up and saw his three screaming students also crash into him. They all groaned as they rolled off their professor, slowly getting up and dusting themselves off.
Byleth, still dazed from his own landing and from being everyone else’s pillow for their crash, stayed on the ground until a familiar hand was held in front of him.
“Need a little help there teach?” Claude asked as he pulled his professor to his feet.
Byleth dusted himself off, spat the dirt and mud that made it into his mouth out, and took stock of their surroundings. They were in a small clearing in a heavily dense forest or jungle. The air was hot and humid, with the smell of bright flowers, rotting leaves, and sea salt in the wind. The smell wasn’t too unpleasant, just different from the crisp, cold air from around the monastery. He could also hear the sounds of hundreds of animals chirping, skittering, clicking, humming, and distant bellowing. Further away, he could also hear waves crashing into rocks from behind him.
Lysithea then gasped and pointed. “Look at that!”
Everyone turned to see a couple strange weasel looking animals with over sized ears more fitting for a rabbit. Upon being spotted, the creatures quickly scurried away making cute squeaks.
“Where are we?” Leonie asked as she took in the sights of the strange trees with vines draping from them.
Claude knelt down and felt the ground. While the patch they landed in was dry and baked from the sun, the surrounding dirt in the shade was wet and almost muddy. “Hmm, between all the fauna that we can hear, and the climate we can feel, I’d say we’re in some kind of jungle.”
“But there are no jungles in Fodlan.”
“Everyone, over here.” Byleth ordered as he walked towards the sound of the ocean that he heard earlier. Standing on a cliff, everyone could see that they were on the coast and along the ridge they could only see dense foliage for miles, except for a prominent scar in the jungle. There, all the foliage was black and small fires could be seen. It was like a firestorm had made landfall and cut its own path through the jungle. Looking out to the ocean there was nothing but waves and distant storm clouds all the way to the horizon.
“Then I guess we’re not in Fodlan.” Byleth concluded.
“But then where could we be?” Leonie asked again, looking towards Lysithea.
“I don’t know. I only focused on getting us out of that darkness. This place was just the easiest escape route.” Lysithea replied defensively.
“I remember Petra telling me that Brigid has jungles everywhere.” Claude said. “Perhaps we’re in Brigid, or maybe Dagda?”
“Why would you think Dagda?” Leonie asked.
Claude shrugged. “Hey, they say Dagda is a big place with all kinds of biomes. Who’s to say they don’t have jungles.”
“Lysithea,” Byleth said, “think you can warp us home?”
“Even if I could warp us long distances, I still need to know our relative position to home.” Upon seeing her classmates look downcast, Lysithea lowered her own face and muttered a soft, “Sorry.”
“It’s ok.” Byleth said as he awkwardly patted her shoulder. “We’ll find our home the old-fashioned way. Everyone, take stock of your inventory. What all do we have?”
Leonie patted herself down. “I’ve got a couple lances, a hunting knife, a day’s worth of provisions and water, and a vulnerary. Unfortunately, most of my stuff was on my horse.”
Lysithea, having the least number of items, answered next. “Three vulneraries, a chest key, and some writing supplies.” When she saw Leonie’s shocked face, she crossed her arms. “What? We were only supposed to be fighting for an hour and then go back to the monastery. Sorry I didn’t pack for a week of travel.”
“Yeah, I’m not much better either.” Claude offered as he finished digging through the secret compartment on his quiver. “I’ve got two bows, a couple dozen arrows, a few throwing knives, some pieces of jerky I won off Raph in a card game, and a small collection of poisons. Oh, and soap.”
“I could go for some jerky myself right about now.” Byleth said to himself.
“Why soap?” Leonie asked.
“Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go.”
“I’m sorry I asked.” Leonie said shaking her head. Lysithea also shook her head violently, muttering “Gross,” to herself.
“Alright, very good.” Byleth said to gain everyone’s attention. “Our main goal is to return home. Our objectives to complete that goal are twofold: find more food and water to ensure our survival and find civilization. Everyone understand?” All the students nodded. “Good, then let’s stay together. We don’t know what we’ll find.”
The group then moved forward through the clearing that they landed in. After pushing through some hanging vines, the gang stood atop a small cliff looking over a clearing where a river lazily flowed from the jungle on their left to some cliffs that drop into the ocean on their right. In the clearing were a couple of trees sprouting from the few dry spots, and some rocky outcroppings that guided the river into the ocean.
But what grabbed everyone’s attention were the giant monsters grazing and drinking in the clearing. Large, quadruped reptiles with leathery, gray skin. Atop their heads are long crest-like appendages that reached over their backs. Finally, most notable, were the swinging tails with spikes on either side of it.
“Definitely not Fodlan.” Claude said to himself.
“WHAA-” Lysithea started to shout before Leonie and Claude clamped their hands over her mouth to muffle her screams. When she finally calmed down, she shook her head and shut her eyes. “Nope, nope, this isn’t happening. I am not seeing this. I just hit my head and am dreaming this all up.”
While Leonie tried to calm Lysithea down, Byleth pointed past the clearing to some distant trees and mountains. “Claude, Leonie, can either of you see what that thing is?”
The two archers squinted, and thanks to their superior vision they were able to make an image of a
“Is that a ship?” Claude asked.
“What’s it doing all the way up there?” Leonie added.
“Great, first big monsters with spikey tails, now mountain ships.” Lysithea muttered to herself. “What’s next, talking cats?”
“Looks like our best shot to finding other people.” Byleth said. “Do you see any direct route to it?”
Claude shook his head. “Nah, the only way through is that narrow opening, but it looks like a tree fell down and blocked it off. We’ll have to cut through the jungle if we want to get around it.”
“Hold on,” Leonie said, “maybe we can follow the river. It cuts through the jungle for us, plus villages usually set up around rivers. We could use it to find another village or another river that leads to the mountain… ship… thing.”
Byleth nodded again. “Sounds like a plan. First, let’s drink all the water from Leonie’s water skin, and refill it at this river. We have to be careful we don’t dehydrate ourselves in this heat.” Everyone pulled at their uniforms, peeling the cloth off their sweaty skin. Despite only landing here a few minutes ago, everyone, especially Lysithea, had a shiny coat of sweat on their brows. “Then, we’ll move around these… animals, without provoking them to follow the river.”
Everyone agreed and crept down the cliff they were standing on towards the mouth of the river. While everyone took a break in the shade, Byleth noticed Sothis standing near the cliff looking over the ocean. Byleth moved over to her and looked out on the horizon.
“Something on your mind?” he thought to her.
She answered with a sigh and sat on the edge. “My mind feels much like this river. Ideas and memories flow through, distorted by the ripples, but when I try to reach out and grab them, they slip away.”
“Something about this place sparked a memory?”
“More like a feeling. I can’t shake the idea that I should know this place, but nothing stays concrete. Just phantoms of hunches.”
“Then perhaps it’s a good thing we came here. If this place is related to you at all, maybe it can unlock some memories?”
Sothis laughed at that. “What an optimist take on this situation. Don’t think I won’t forget who got us here in the first place though.”
“…Solon?”
“No, you fool!” Sothis shouted, jumping up to her feet. “What were you thinking, charging right into an enemy’s trap? Are you just a boulder that rolls down whatever hill it’s on? No, even a boulder has more sense!”
Byleth flinched away from the screaming child. “I don’t recall you giving any warnings.”
For a moment, Byleth’s “words” seemed to have stopped the goddess’s tirade as she was too shocked to speak. The moment, however, did not last, and Sothis’ face actually started to turn red.
“Didn’t give you any warnings?! I was screaming at you to wait for the others. To not follow that assassin so blindly. Did you forget that she was an assassin? I certainly didn’t and knew she would pull some kind of trap to kill you. And what do you know? That’s exactly what happened, and you fell for it, like a rabbit stepping into an amateur’s snare!”
Byleth took a step away from her before looking down and sitting down at the cliff. “You’re right. I don’t know what came over me. I just had this need to kill her. Is this those emotions that everyone else has?”
Sothis clenched her fists and took a deep breath, before letting it out and relaxing her form. “Yes, you were enraged. It was justified to feel that, but you must learn to control your emotions.”
Byleth felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Leonie holding her waterskin out for him. “Hey, you gotta drink some water too.”
Byleth took the waterskin and took a few greedy gulps. His eyes slid over to Sothis who was still standing a ways away.
“Everything ok, professor?”
Byleth looked back to Leonie and saw her frowning with concern while Claude and Lysithea also walked up to them. He took another sip, trying to buy time to come up with a response.
“I am sorry for getting you stuck here.” He finally said to his three students. “I acted recklessly, and foolishly chased Monica right into her trap. It was stupid and I should have known better. I promise, I will do everything I can to get you students back home.”
The students were shocked at their professor’s confession. Quickly, however, Claude stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on Byleth’s shoulder. “Hey, teach, I also chose to step into that trap. If I hold you responsible for this, I’d also have to hold myself just as responsible.”
Leonie then stepped forward and pumped her fist. “Claude’s right. Besides, if you didn’t chase after Monica, I definitely would’ve. There’s no way I wouldn’t have chased her down through any trap she could have set.”
Lysithea crossed her arms and turned away from the group. “Well, I didn’t even step into the trap.” She looked over her shoulder to the group and softened her stance. “But if I didn’t interrupt the spell, who knows what would have happened to you?”
“Aww Lysithea!” Claude said as he held her in a tight hug, “You really do care.”
“Keep it up bud, and I’ll finish what that egg head started!”
Byleth finished Leonie’s waterskin and refilled it while the other students bantered. After standing up, he saw Sothis looking back at him. She looked back to the students and then gave Byleth a smile and nod. Byleth responded with his own subtle smile, until he heard the tell-tale sound of an angry mage preparing a devastating spell. After establishing order again, and scolding Claude for harassing the weapon of mass destruction, the group set out up the river.
Fortunately, the water was only ankle high as the group had to wade through the river to avoid the large creatures. During the walk, they found a large bee-like creature carrying a giant sac of green fluids.
Leonie shivered at seeing the bug. “Eck, what is that thing?”
“Well, only one way to find out!” Claude said as he ran up to the creature. Both Byleth and Lysithea tried to stop him, but Claude reached the creature before they could grab him. Despite approaching noisily, the bee thing didn’t make any moves to get away. Claude walked around the creature, who seemed to be content hovering in place.
“Claude!” Lysithea shout-whispered, “Leave that thing alone, you don’t know what it could do.”
“Hold on guys. It looks like it’s storing something in this green sac it’s holding.” Claude then pulled out one of his throwing knives. “I wonder if this is like our honeypot ants?”
“Claude, I don’t think this is a good id-” Byleth tried to reason but Claude punctured the sac, and the whole bag exploded in green gooiness. The blast had a decent range and coated Claude, Byleth, and Lysithea in the green goo.
Lysithea began spitting the bitter tasting substance out of her mouth. “Pweh, pweh. Ugh, Goddess! It’s in my hair!”
Byleth tried to rub the sticky substance out of his eyes, but it was hard to scoop away entirely, like getting maple syrup around your mouth. Slowly, however, the goo started to disappear. Byleth was able to open his eyes after a few seconds to see the slime being absorbed into his body. Despite feeling uneasy about absorbing strange green substances, his body started to feel renewed. The injuries he had sustained during the fight in the Sealed Forest faded away with the slime, and his body felt completely refreshed.
Which was a good thing, as Leonie began to scream after Byleth regained his vision.
Turning to face her, he saw she was holding a steel lance and trying to swat the bug thing that Claude was inspecting a moment ago. Apparently without the green sac, the bug had no reason to stay and started to fly around. Its path, unfortunately, lead straight to Leonie, who has a fear of toxic animals, like dog sized wasps.
“Go! Go, shoo! Get away you stupid hornet!” Leonie wildly slashed and stabbed at the flying creature, but none of her strikes landed, and the bug came ever closer to her. Seeing the futility of her assault, Leonie tried one last hail marry, and threw her spear towards the bee and ran the other direction screaming. While this would normally be amusing, Byleth saw that Leonie was running in the direction of one of the large spike-tailed creatures.
“Leonie, get away from that thing!” Byleth called out.
“What do you think I’m running from?”
“No! The bigger thing!”
Leonie finally seemed to realize where she was running, just as she smashed headfirst into the large creature’s leg. The impact startled the large animal and caused it to lift its head from the river it was drinking. The bee creature, having avoided the thrown spear, continued its lazy chase, until it bumped into the spike-tailed creature’s head. Thoroughly annoyed, the spike-tail shook its head and started to walk away further down the river. Leonie needed a moment to realize she was moving as the leg she was clinging to lifted her up like she was a child grabbing onto her father’s leg. She let go and took a few steps back to avoid the swinging tail. The bee thing, having changed its course after bumping into the creature’s head, meandered its way into the jungle.
“Interesting.” Claude muttered to himself, “Did anyone else think that thing was acting drunk? Maybe it was lethargic just from carrying such a large sac around, or collecting the nectar makes it intoxicated? That would explain why it didn’t seemed bother when I walked up to it, until I broke it’s ‘bottle.’”
“I’m going to break you in a minute!” Lysithea said as she tried to comb more of the green gunk out of her hair. Interestingly, it seems that the slime doesn’t dissolve when in hair that’s not touching skin. Claude decided to file that information away for later and instead focus on the tiny, angry time bomb that is currently glowing purple and floating over the water.
Leonie walked over to the river and took her spear that Byleth had picked up. “That was embarrassing.”
Byleth merely shrugged. “We all have our weaknesses. Best we can do is to rely on our comrades to shore them up with their strengths.”
“Uh right. You’re not going to tease me for that, are you?” Leonie asked as she held her spear close to her chest and looked off to the side.
“No. I’m not that kind of guy.” Byleth answered as he turned around to keep Lysithea from murdering her future ruler. “Claude, however, no promises.”
With a sigh, Leonie stepped back into the river after her teacher. “I was afraid you’d say that.
After cleaning out Lysithea’s hair, Byleth discovered if he used his fingers, the goo would absorb into his hands, the group continued up the river. As they approached the wall of trees that ended the clearing, they found that the river cut through the jungle, just as Leonie predicted. There was even a rocky edge for them to walk on and dry out their boots. As they followed the river, eventually it ended in a small waterfall that was covered by dense vegetation. There was no way for them to follow the river up, however, a new trail opened up on their right. Seeing no other way, Byleth led them down the trail until it came to a narrow chokepoint that was surrounded by massive roots and stiff vines.
Before Byleth could step through, Claude grabbed his shoulder and pointed down. In the mud were shoe prints, two sets it seemed. Byleth nodded and decided to be cautious as he crouched low and crept forward. The others followed his lead until the students let out a gasp. Lying against a tree in the sunlight that broke through the canopy of the jungle, was a bloodied person in chain mail armor. The group moved forward, and Claude reached out and pressed his fingers against the man’s neck.
“He’s gone. His body is still warm.” He said in a grim tone.
“What did this?” Lysithea asked as her eyes searched for any unseen threats in the dense foliage.
Leonie knelt next to the body and examined his wounds. “Bites and scratches. Looks like an animal attack. Whatever it was, its claws and bites look like they’re wolf-sized.”
“Now what’s this thing?” Claude wondered as he examined a strange crossbow like device on the body’s left arm.
“Claude! Show some decency for the de-” Leonie started to reprimand before a shuffle in a bush back the way they came alerted everyone. Byleth and Leonie formed a wall of steel between the bush and their squishier classmates. While their attention was focused on the bush back the way they came, a yellow, thin, quadruped, lizard slowly climbed its way down the tree the Golden Deer were standing around. When it was only a few meters away from the group, it leapt towards the human at the back of the pack.
Claude saw the leaping lizard at the last moment and rolled away. Unfortunately, the beast was determined to get Claude, and as he stood up from his roll, the creature leapt again and sunk its teeth into Claude’s arm.
As Claude screamed, the group turned towards their friend in need. This gave the pair of lizards hiding in the bush they were watching the opportunity to ambush Byleth and Leonie. As they rushed, Byleth heard the rustle of the bush again, and turned to see the two predators prepare to jump. Byleth body checked Leonie out of the way of one of the lizards, and pivoted away from the other, spinning just in time to bring his silver blade slashing down into the beast’s neck.
Despite the clean hit, the scales of the creature absorbed much of the blow, turning what would have been a decapitation into a superficial wound.
Leonie, recovering from the shove, turned onto her back, just as the lizard above her raised its claws to slash at her. Relying on instincts, she jabbed forward with her lance. The sharpened steel blade, combined with the momentum of the monster, caused the creature to impale itself on her lance.
Lysithea was reading a spell to blast the yellow lizard off Claude, but with Claude’s wriggling, and the creature using its claws to dig into him, she couldn’t get a clear shot. She then ran forward and placed her hands on its back. The creature turned its head away from Claude’s arm to hiss at the mage, but it was the last noise it made as violet energy scorched its back as her spell was casted at point blank range.
As Leonie hefted the dead weight off her, trying not to let any of the drool from the dead creature’s lolling tongue get on her face, she looked up and saw over twenty lizards scurrying across the canopy. Scanning around her, she saw the jungle alive with the yellow beasts crawling down trees or stalking towards them.
“Professor!” She called out as Byleth grabbed the biting beast by the mouth, using his gauntlet to soak most of the damage, before jamming his sword down its throat. “They’re all around us!”
Byleth looked around as he helped Leonie off the ground and retreated to where Lysithea was healing Claude with her white magic. “A large pack or no, they’re still animals. If we kill a few more, they’ll get the idea we’re more trouble than we’re worth. Everyone, circle up. Don’t let yourself get knocked down and focus on helping each other.”
Claude slung the brave bow off his back, and with a flurry of arrows, discouraged any of the approaching lizards from getting too close. “I’ll hold them off, you knock them down Lysithea.”
“What a day to not have Thyrsus. I should steal that relic from Lorenz when I get back.” Lysithea bemoaned as dark energies swirled around her and glowing sigils appeared before her hands.
“Ooh, let me know when you’re doing that. I’ll gladly run interference.” He then drew his bow tight and released four arrows in succession. “Left!”
Following the path of the arrows, Lysithea released her magical missiles into the two beasts that reared up after being struck by the arrows. The blast of the spells scorched their soft, green underbellies and sent them flying back into the brush.
A blur of yellow further to her left drew her attention, so Lysithea turned in time to see one of the leaping lizards turn into a scaly shish kabab over her head, as Leonie’s lance pierced through its hide.
“Gotcha back.” She said as she tilted her lance to let the lizard slide off it.
The sound of chains whipping drew Leonie’s attention back to her front as Byleth unleased a frenzied attack with the glowing Sword of the Creator. The beasts, while able to resist slashing damage somewhat, were no match for the power of a relic. At least eight lizards were felled by Byleth’s one attack.
After the sudden drop in their numbers, and the display of pure power, the lizards quickly routed to save their own hides. Once the coast was clear, the group surrounded Claude to inspect his wounds, but the archer pushed them aside with bloodied arms.
“Let’s get out of here before we take a breather.” He then pointed towards a set of shoe prints that didn’t lead to the dead man, but rather towards another narrow opening in the jungle. “Whoever they were, at least they made it farther than this guy.”
Byleth nodded and led the group into the opening that led into a wide clearing. They walked forward, Leonie, who took the rear, looking over her shoulder, until they reached another cliff. Taking a moment to look around, Claude pointed, flinched at the sudden movement, and then pointed gently this time towards a massive tree that is lying on its side.
“That’s the tree that we saw back at the river! We found a way around it.”
Byleth looked down from the cliff and saw the area below them was filled with tall grass. “Let’s hide down in there and plan our next move.”
Leonie was the first to climb down the cliff. Fortunately, a mass of vines covered the rocky wall and made climbing easy. After she made sure the coast was clear, Byleth helped Claude climb down with one arm supporting the archer. While it was slow and awkward, Claude was thankful for the help due to his injuries. Lysithea quickly scrambled down the cliff to rejoin the others. The group crouched and sat in a large bush to inspect Claude’s injuries. His uniform was ruined between the large gashes in the cloth and most of it soaked and stained with his blood. Fortunately, the white magic Lysithea used seemed to have stopped most of the bleeding. Claude still had some open wounds and couldn’t move his arms as freely due to the pain, but after drinking two vulneraries, the worst of it seemed to have passed.
“Phew, glad that’s over. Thanks for the assist, Lysithea. Those things were vicious!”
“And well-coordinated.” Byleth said. “They purposefully drew our attention to ambush us multiple times.”
“They acted less like wolves and more like the bandits that attacked my village.” Leonie sighed as she leaned against her lance.
“That…” Lysithea started to say as she shivered, “that was scary. That one lizard almost bit my head off!”
Leonie reached over Lysithea’s head and held her shoulder in a half embrace. “It’s ok Lysithea. We won’t let anything happen to you.”
With the group somewhat rested up, Byleth moved to the edge of the bush and looked around. He saw ahead of him a tall tree in the clearing, and a rocky slope that led down and out of sight. He turned to the group. “Leonie, you and I are going to scout ahead and make sure the coast is clear. Claude, stay here and watch our backs. Lysithea, watch over Claude.”
Byleth and Leonie crept out of their bush and walked over towards the large tree. Now out in the open with no shade, they were sweating bullets from the intense heat. The ground no longer gave under them like mud but was now solid and dry. As they neared the tree, Byleth saw an indent in the dry dirt and knelt to inspect it. It looked to be a footprint of a large creature with three large claws and a dewclaw.
While inspecting the footprint, Leonie moved ahead and found some more marks. She called Byleth over. “It looks like something was dragged through here.” She spoke. Byleth kept a watch over her, seeing the rocky ridge ahead of them with dense vegetation above it, and the seeing the rocky slope lead down into the ocean. Byleth could hear the waves crash against the rocks, the wind blowing from the sea, carrying sea salt that tickled his nose. Byleth looked down at his student and saw her tense up.
“Professor, do you hear that?” She whispered.
Byleth crouched down behind her and closed his eyes to focus on listening, but no new noise could be heard. “No, what should I be hearing?”
Leonie looked around and locked eyes with him. “Why did all the birds and bugs go quiet?”
Byleth quickly scanned around, looking for any threats. She was right, all the smaller animals had gone quiet while he was inspecting the footprint. He turned to look back to where the other two were to call them over for backup. When he turned his back, Leonie saw the brush on the ridge above them suddenly burst in yellow as a giant version of those yellow lizards pounced out of hiding towards her professor.
Leaping to her feet, she bodychecked Byleth out of the way, and planted her lance into the ground, ready for the monster to impale itself on the spike. What she wasn’t ready for, was the monster landing on the spear, its scales depressing at the pressure, until it hit bone, and the shaft of the lance snapped in two.
The creature landed awkwardly from the lance, but it was still unharmed. Meanwhile, Leonie fell on her back as the force of the monster pushed her back. Byleth rolled back to his feet and turned to face the greater lizard. Standing before it, the creature stood at least ten feet to its withers, its head was the size of a large dog, and it had a strange horn like mane around its head and down its back. The creature then moved to pin Leonie on the ground.
Drawing his silver sword, Byleth rushed to the head of the creature before it could take a bite. He swung overhead onto its snout. The blade didn’t even depress any scales before it bounced off.
The creature did turn its eyes onto Byleth and bellowed a loud roar that forced him to his knees as he and Leonie both covered their ears from the noise. The creature then stepped forward before Byleth could overcome the shock of the roar. After a second step, however, an arrow wisped past Byleth’s ear and glanced harmlessly off the creature’s face. The creature did flinch from having something rush at its face, which gave Byleth time to swing his sword again, this time aiming for the monster’s teeth and gums.
Byleth had greater success and drew a thin line of blood from the monster’s mouth. Now the greater lizard answered with renewed aggression and lifted its claws to strike him down. Byleth saw the raised claw and easily dodged its strike, however, the second claw strike from the opposite direction caught him by surprised and sent Byleth tumbling partway down the rocky slope and his sword sailing through the air back towards the jungle.
Leonie, during this time, was trying to crawl out of the underside of the lizard. For every foot she shuffled towards its front, it seemed to move two feet forward in its assault. When the beast attacked with its double claw attack, it shuffled forward so quickly, that Leonie’s legs were caught underneath the thing’s stomach. The weight of the great beast threatened to shatter her ankles and legs, causing Leonie to cry out as she fruitlessly tried to push the creature off her.
As Byleth recovered from his fall, his teeth still rattling from the impact, spitting out salty beads of sweat that made its way into his mouth, face smarting from skidding across the rocks, and back screaming in pain from the claws that raked across them, he heard Leonie cry out in pain. Forcing himself to stand, he drew the Sword of the Creator, now starting to show wear and tear from the continued use throughout the day and charged the beast.
The greater lizard had backed up, relieving Leonie from the weight that nearly crushed her, but it planted its front feet on her arms, applying its weight again and pinning her in place. As it lowered its open mouth to encompass Leonie’s entire head, the glowing segments of the sacred sword sailed through the air and severed several of the horns that made up the beast’s mane.
The pain caused the creature to push itself onto its hind legs, unfortunately forcing even more weight on Leonie’s wrists. She felt something crack in her hands and screamed but did not hesitate to roll out of the beast’s range. While the lizard stepped back to reevaluate its prey, Leonie awkwardly scrambled to her feet without using her hands. Byleth moved in front of her and held the sword out.
“Are you ok?” He asked.
Leonie clutched her arms to her chest and tried to blink away the tears that started to blur her vision. “I think it broke something, but I’ll live.” She reached down to her belt and bit back another sob as she grabbed the vulnerary bottle and ripped the cork from it.
“Go back to Claude and Lysithea, I’ll try to hold this th-”
“RUN!!” Lysithea screamed as both she and Claude sprinted towards the two. Behind them, the jungle exploded as a giant bipedal pink monster crashed through the trees and roared. This monster stood at least 15 feet tall, its mouth was filled with dozens upon dozens of dagger like teeth, it's head easily the size of the yellow lizard's midsection, and it had deep purple hairs along its back. Its large, barbed tail and its powerful two hind limbs easily compensated for how ridiculously small its two fore limbs were. This apex predator finished its roar and chased after the two students.
Leonie, throwing the empty vulnerary away with somewhat repaired hands, looked around and saw a narrow path through the ridge ahead of them. “Come on! This might be our way out!”
Everyone tried to shuffle around the yellow lizard as it was distracted by the newcomer monster. The yellow lizard roared at the pink monster, a valiant display of courage, if not suicidal due to the pink monster outweighing the yellow one at least two to one. However, the yellow lizard did see its prey trying to flee and started to move to block the exit.
“Go!” Byleth commanded as he rushed the two monsters before they collided in a melee. “I’ll buy you time, go!”
Lysithea, leaning against Leonie, panting, screamed back, “Get back here you idiot! They’ll kill you!”
Claude got behind the two girls and started to push them towards the narrow passage. “Come on, let’s have a little faith in teach. He’s not the kind of guy to get himself killed. Now let’s go!”
As the three students started to leave the battle, the yellow lizard made to charge them, but Byleth sent the Sword of the Creator flying forward and pierced the scales along the beast’s nose. It recoiled back away from the sword and hissed at Byleth, but that was all it was able to do before the pink monster gripped it with its teeth and thrashed it around.
Byleth, seeing the monsters distracted with themselves, turned tail, and ran in the direction his students went. He sprinted through the small ravine that gently curved until it was just a ridge overlooking the ocean. As he reached a straight section of the path, he heard the pink monsters roar some ways behind him. Not bothering to look back, he did see his students ahead of him, and saw that they were running for a huge gate made of wood and giant bones. He could also hear a pair of voices shouting for his students to run faster.
Suddenly, a massive force surged behind Byleth, and nearly caused him to tumble off the ledge into the ocean. He caught the edge of the cliff before rolling off, his back stinging with pain from the earlier injuries, and scrambled up to his feet. He saw the yellow monster quickly scurrying after his students, seeing them as an easier meal than Byleth.
He then felt a weight in his stomach as Lysithea, who was already ragged and winded from the long sprint, tumbled and fell. Leonie at once turned back to drag Lysithea back to her feet, while Claude drew his bow and fired a Riegan crest powered arrow that bounced off the tough hide of the lizard as it continued to charge towards the girls with its mouth wide open.
Then, a new figure jumped over the girls, wielding a mass of bone the side of the lizard’s head, which he promptly used to drive said head into the dirt. He held his “sword” in front of him and shouted, “Go, get to the gate!”
Claude ran over to Lysithea, who was bent over trying to catch her breath again and swooped her up in his arms as he ran as fast as he could, with Leonie just steps behind. The three students rushed past a woman carrying a large book and wearing strange goggles over her head. They stopped at the gate to look back. The man backed up to the gate, holding his sword out to keep the yellow lizard from charging.
When Byleth finally got his feet under himself, he heard another roar, and saw the pink monster fly through the air and nearly land on the yellow lizard. The two monsters began to bicker and fight each other. The man with the large bone sword went to cut a rope that would close the gate, but Leonie grabbed his arm as Claude cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, “Teach, come on!”
Byleth tried to move forward, but the melee between the two monsters was too intense to safely travel through or around. Byleth had to wait until the pink monster again picked up the yellow one and waved it around.
With less legs stomping around, Byleth rushed underneath the pink monster. He pivoted around as the creature spun about, making sure to stay between both of the legs. When the creature turned its back to the gate, Byleth made a break for it.
He got about two steps before a massive weight forced him to the ground. Before the life was crushed out of him, the world suddenly shattered, and his vision was filled with blues and violets.
He couldn’t move due to the immense weight above him, but he saw Sothis walk around and inspect the situation. After a few seconds, she looked down at him and held up one finger. “Wait just one more second before you run.”
He blew out a piece of dirt that was shoved into his mouth and gasped, “Ok,” with the last of his breath.
Twisting the hands of time, he felt himself lift up and move backwards until he was between the monster’s legs again. Relinquishing control, time began to move normally again. Byleth turned towards the gate and waited, despite the urging of his students and the strangers, until the powerful leg of the monster dropped and flattened the dirt beneath it even more.
With the danger passed, Byleth ran around the leg and sprinted for the gate. The strange man then shouted, “Jump!” Byleth didn’t hesitate and leapt over the tail that would have sent him flying over the edge. He tumbled onto the ground and heard the snap of a rope being cut, and the crash of the gate dropping.
Leonie stood over her professor, bending over to catch his attention. “Professor, are you alright?”
Byleth, who was again on his back and groaning, as was apparently the theme for today, held up a shaky thumbs up, before dropping his arm. He was hot, sweaty, tired, his muscles ached from the constant use, his back felt like it was bloody ribbons from the yellow lizard’s claws earlier, and he hadn’t had a chance to eat lunch. He was the definition of “not alright.”
As Leonie moved towards Lysithea for another vulnerary, still being gentle with her wrists, the woman knelt besides Byleth and offered a jar with a familiar green fluid inside.
“Here, take this.” She said as she lowered the jar to his lips. “It’ll help with your injuries.”
Byleth raised his head and began to sip, surprised that the healing liquid didn’t taste as bitter as the bee’s goo from the river. The taste was reminiscent of it, but there was a definite sweetness to the concoction that made it go down easier. While drinking the substance, Byleth got a good look at the woman, who had a strange assortment of clothes wrapped around her, like she just walked into a closet during an earthquake and let whatever clothes fell on her be her attire for the day. With bright eyes, and a cheerful smile, he thought she could give Claude a run for his money on disarming looks.
After finishing the substance, Byleth slowly pulled himself up and looked over his students. A small smirk grew on his face when he saw Lysithea was still being held by Claude in a princess carry. Lysithea, watching her teacher through her sweaty and disheveled bangs with concern at first, saw the smile directed at her, and immediately began to squirm out of Claude’s grasp. “You can let me down now, Claude!”
Claude, instead of letting her go, held her even tighter. “Aww, but your itty-bitty legs must be so tired from all the running they just did.” He said in a voice used by parents when talking to babies.
“Put me down, or I’ll put you down!” She exclaimed as a creature roared and slammed against the gate hard. The sudden noise caused her to shriek and hold onto Claude’s shoulders tightly.
“We should probably head into town.” The man with the bone sword said, as he casually reversed gripped the, what Byleth finally recognizes the blade to be, monster’s jawbone and hitched it to his back. “That gate’s strong, but no reason to antagonize the monsters.”
Lysithea, realizing she was still clutching onto Claude, slapped his shoulder and looked away. As Claude opened his mouth, she held up a finger to his lips. “Not another word, and I’ll let you carry me.”
Content with the proposal, Claude shut his mouth and moved with the group as they continued to walk along the path. The walk was relatively quiet, the strangers asking if anyone was hurt, and gave Leonie some more of their healing drinks when she mentioned her wrists still felt sore. The strangers were especially concerned about Claude, given his torn up and bloodied uniform, but he dismissed their worries and mentioned Lysithea, or as he said “this little tot,” had already healed him up. With that quip, Lysithea successfully squirmed out of Claude’s grasp and walked with them, keeping at least two people between her and Claude.
When they passed through massive bones that lined the pathway like teeth or ribs, and a draw bridge made from wood and bone, the group saw a port town bustling with activity. A giant ship was docked at the port, with several people carrying supplies from it. Stalls were set up around the entrance to the town, with huge crates being used for walls or stands for people to call out the prices of their wares from. There were canopies of cloth held over the market area by wooden structures and monstrous skeletons giving the canopy its form. The port wasn’t just confined to around the dock but also grew along the walls of the rocky cliffs near the port. The faint clinking of hammers could be heard over the hustle and bustle of the docks, and a mouthwatering aroma floated down from high above the port.
There were so many sights, moving parts, and colors that gang almost forgot to look at the ship that was docked at the top of the cliffs, with a strange chain system connecting it to the rest of the port. The students audibly gasped when they saw a person use the chains and hooks to attach a piece of metal that they used as an elevator. The entire town was an uncanny combination of primitive and technologically advanced. The sights, sounds, and smells were so much, the group didn’t see the small cat walk up to them until they almost stepped on the poor guy.
Leonie gasped as she took a step back. “Uh, guys? Why is this cat walking on its back legs?”
The cat, wearing a leather outfit that would have made Marianne faint from a cuteness overload, looked between the four with big curious eyes. And then it opened its mouth.
“Welcome Meowsters to Astera!” It said in what can only be described as a catlike voice.
Lysithea’s eyes rolled to the back of her head as she passed out. Byleth caught the young mage and looked among the worried strangers, and the flabbergasted Deer. “Why don’t we get some lunch?”