Pegasus Moon: Askr

Excitement danced in Sophie's head as she laid under the covers, keeping her wide awake. Tomorrow, she was heading out to a brand-new world, and learn the power of creating portals to the other worlds. This would give the heroes a major advantage against the forces of darkness. The only thing she had to do was wait until morning . . .

Once dawn's light streamed into the room, Sophie ripped her blankets off and threw on her clothes. Silas observed his daughter's frenzy. "Sophie, what's the rush? You're not late. Even if you were, we wouldn't leave without you."

"I know, Daddy. But I can't wait for us to get the new power! The sooner we get it, the better shape we'll be in."

Silas rolled out of bed. "You have a point."

Sophie raced to the dining hall for breakfast. Hanneman cut in line just to get to her. "Hello Miss Sophie. I must say, your cooperation for letting me examine you has aided me in my research. I now understand how a crest would manifest its power naturally by looking at your dragon blood. I believe that there would be less strain on the body if I could alter our crests to make them act more like yours."

Sophie smiled. "That's really great! I'm glad I can help the people of Fódlan."

After getting her plate, Sophie slid next to Caeldori and Shiro. "Hey guys. Are you ready?"

Shiro grinned. "Oh yeah. Wait, ready for what exactly?"

Sophie elaborated, "Getting the power to open gates to other worlds! I can't stop thinking about it!"

Caeldori beamed. "Then we'll really get this show on the road! We'll finally be equal to our adversary. I wish there were a name for them, though. Like the Grimleal, Those Who Slither in the Dark . . ."

Shiro shoved some bread in his mouth. "Why can't we ask Ashunera? She'll know any nickname they have." Bits of his meal sprayed on the table. He quickly wiped them up. "Blech. Sorry."

Caeldori shielded her eyes from the sight before her. "Please don't talk with food in your mouth."

Once it was to go through the portal, Sophie caught up with her fiancé. "Hey Siegbert! Want to jump through with me?"

Siegbert simpered and offered his hand. "Absolutely." He caught Silas watching them out of the corner of his eye and gulped.

When she got to the other side, Sophie saw a mighty mountain range that dotted the skyline pierce the fluffy clouds above her. "This world is beautiful!"

Nah squealed, "This is the perfect place to rampage! We better get that power so I can come here all the time!"

Sylvain suggested, "We better find someone." They walked slightly east until a young woman in golden armor eagerly approached them. "Hi! Are you heroes from other worlds?"

Dimitri was impressed. "How did you know that?"

The woman giggled. "We have the ability to open portals to other worlds. When we were facing our greatest trials, we summoned heroes from other worlds. Some of you, even. Dimitri, Silas, Nowi, Claude, Nah, Azura, Byleth . . ."

Visions of a flowery dream world blossoming with childhood magic flashed across Dimiti's mind. He staggered backwards and toppled over. Mary mustered all her strength from training and straightened him out. "What happened?"

Dimitri rubbed his head. "It was the strangest thing. I had images of fairies and dreams . . ."

The woman grasped his hands. "Yes! You remember our fight against the Dökkálfar! They wanted to take over everyone's dreams, and we stopped them!"

Owain nodded knowingly. "Dimitri, you just merged with another self! The timeline is still correcting itself!" Owain then briefly explained his experience of merging with other Owains to comfort Dimitri, who seemed very discombobulated.

Dimitri looked at the woman. "Are you Sharena, Princess of Askr?"

The woman confirmed, "Yep! That's me. Glad to have you back. What brings you here this time?"

Inigo covered everything that happened so far from the beginning to their last conversation with Ashunera. Sharena's eyes lit up. "That's why you were sent here. The Askrian royal family can open portals to other worlds."

Ferdinand questioned, "How?"

Sharena supplied, "It's in our blood, given to use by the dragon Askr. So apparently he's not a god? That's so weird. We've worshipped him since forever."

Cynthia empathized, "Tell me about it! Back home in Ylisse we used to worship Naga for millennia. But I like this change because I know this religion is real this time."

Sharena agreed, "That's a great perspective. Anyway, let's get the ball rolling and go see my family. My older brother Alfonse probably knows more and can help us."

On the way there, Sophie asked, "Is Alfonse your only sibling?"

Sharena responded, "Yep. In the castle, it's just me, Mother, Alfonse, and Eir."

Sophie prodded, "Eir?"

Sharena nodded. "Princess Eir of Hel. She lives with us after she ran away from her adoptive mother-aka her kidnapper."

Sophie shrieked, "What?! Her own mother?!"

Sharena filled in, "Eir is the daughter of two dragons. Hel, Hel's ruler, killed them and kidnapped Eir because Eir had so many lives in her instead of one. She also altered her memories to make Eir believe that Hel was her mother. She fought us in battle but didn't want to. We took her in. Later on, we found out that Hel brutally murdered her every day to get stronger until she was on her last life."

Sophie couldn't think of any words to say. "I hope she's okay now."

Sharena assured her, "Oh yeah. I mean, Eir still struggles with all the torture she went through, but she's safe now."

Sophie calmed down. "Okay good."

Sooner or later, they got to Sharena's home. Sharena dragged everyone to a training ground. Dusty training dummies littered the space. "Alfonse, check out our new friends! And some old ones!"

Sylvain caught Alfonse up to speed about all of the recent events. Alfonse contemplated that. "Hmm. Interesting. I know my power stems from the blood pact my ancestor Líf made with the dragon Askr. But how to transmit it to others? That I'm unsure of. Let's go to the library and look to see if any of the tomes reveals a way for me to grant you my power."

They followed him through a lovely hallway with elaborate jade tiling, and delicate slim silver chandeliers. After they appreciated the décor, they stepped foot inside the library, where a woman with long gray hair was reading with her back turned to them. Sharena threw her arms wide open and launched herself at the reader. "Hi Eir! What're you reading?"

Eir gasped in surprise but composed herself. "Oh hello. I'm reading about Askr's history. What are heroes from other worlds doing here?"

Sophie immediately took notice. "Okay, that's Eir. She went through a lot, so I should be super duper bubbly and happy to try to make her happy."

Sharena elaborated on everything again as she searched the stacks. "You didn't happen to find a text about giving someone our power to open gates to other worlds, did you?"

Eir answered, "No. I'm sorry."

Alfonse quickly comforted, "Not to worry. We'll figure something out."

Sophie cheered, "That's right! We'll do this together!"

Eir gave her a small smile.

Sophie congratulated herself. "Yeah, Soph! You didn't screw it up like with Lysithea!"

Byleth sat down at one of the tables and brainstormed. "You got your gift from dragon blood. Crests come from Nabatean blood. Sophie's powers come from her dragon blood. If we could somehow contact Askr, maybe he'd give some of us the power?"

Alfonse shook his head. "No one has seen Askr since the beginning of the kingdom's history. He's not likely to come for us now."

Morgan flipped through a volume about Askran horses. "If you still have Askr's power, maybe we only need your blood."