(Alt Title: You Can't Be Sirius)
There was rain, and with the countless raindrops were an equally uncountable beat, be it feet from man and horse or wings from pegasi and wyvern, as two opposing forces charged towards each other.
The armies of the both seemed endless as their numbers encompassed much of the plains that they were traversing. This movement marked the beginning of a grand battle, with its size indicating it would be the end to the war that had come before it.
Once both sides came into contact, when steel clashed, and bodies and blood dropped along with the rain, did the battle begin.
However, soon after the battle had just arrived, so did what appeared to be a flaming missile come crashing from the clouds into the ground. With its crash erupting a massive field of fire, visible to all who were fighting be it on the ground or sky, burning those who were unfortunate enough to be caught in it to ash, uncaring of allegiances. The flames were fierce enough to cause a halt to both sides of the conflict, neither willing to test their flammability.
Following the missile next came the wielder, Nemesis the so-called King of Liberation and leader of one of the opposing armies, who lifted the now revealed blade, known as the Sword of the Creator, from the ground. With the blade now lifted, so too were the fires' hold on the ground and their halting effect on the battle. Infantry and cavalry resumed their clash on the ground once more, joining the cluster of combat in the air and flares of magic spells on the ground once again.
As the number of losses rose, so too did the sun, now shining its bright light on what would be the center of the battle. Dozens of bodies laid in the space both sides gave a wide berth, for any who tried to approach and attack were swiftly mercilessly cut down. In that area stood the figureheads for each army. Seiros, to which the sun revealed an expression of pure hate, and Nemesis, to which the sun revealed a plain cold look. Said look was quickly broken with a yell as he extended and then whipped the Sword of the Creator towards the surrounding combatants. Much like those who were caught in the flames the sword created, those in the blade's extended path were wiped away and instantly killed, unable to stand to its power.
To that Seiros only pulled out her sword and rushed towards Nemesis, engaging in a clash of swords. Their blades only met with another blade but both landed physical blows on each other, but nothing truly concerning. Once he got some distance Nemesis extended his sword once again and swung it towards her. Knowing the consequences of allowing that to hit her she swiftly dodged with reflexes no ordinary human could hope to have. The King of Liberation made for a second strike, to which Serios dodged once again, and then a third trike, to which this time Seiros had wrapped around her sword, it being enchanted was the only reason it could last this long when most other swords would be hopeless against Nemesis' own.
With the Sword of the Creator stuck on her blade and Nemesis surprised, Seiros abandoned her sword, which ripped his blade from his hands as well and rushed towards him. Considered to be one of the most powerful humans the King of Liberation may be, Seiros' superhuman strength was well above even that. Which allowed her to swiftly and brutally assault him with a punch to the face and a kick, forcing him to the ground.
The man was dazed, still trying to find the strength to get back up. But any attempts were quickly stopped as she jumped on him with a dagger pulled from her waist.
As she held the dagger to his throat she asked. "Tell me Nemesis, do you recall the Red Canyon?"
His only response was the widening of his eyes. That seemed to be enough of an answer for her as she then began stabbing him.
"You'll die for that!" Stab
"Die! Die!" Stab
"You took everything that I loved!" Stab.
All that remained was the light fading from Nemesis' eyes and the panting breaths of Seiros.
The sun now fully risen illuminated the result of the battle between the leaders. To which the army for Seiros had cheered while Nemesis' army immediately fled from the battlefield.
Seiros moved to pick up the Sword of the Creator, a blade covered in the blood of an unknown but great number of people, of which she had lost far too many to and even threatened to kill her as well. Yet the woman brought it close to her face akin to a hug as if she were seeking comfort from it the way a child would a parent.
"He's gone now, Father." She whispered.
--
That image soon blurred away as many more, a few structures, lands, and then a masculine figure, began to flash before my eyes. The world became dark again with one last flicker of white light.
The first thing that greeted my eyes was what appeared to be a greyish void of some kind. I say some kind because this place isn't completely empty, as I'm sitting on a grey chair on a set of grey stairs. And judging by the ache I'm feeling that it wasn't too comfortable, but I imagine that stone may be preferable to sleep on than a floor of unknown makeup.
Oh yeah, speaking of sleep I feel like I need more of that, and on a proper bed please. As I stretch and raise my hand in response to a yawn I quickly take notice of said hand.
It was different from the hand I'm used to. For one it was way too pale and too clean. My skin was light but somewhat dark and while my hands weren't used for much hand labor, these looked way too presentine to be mine. And lastly, they were way too small. I was fairly average in size for a guy so I would say that I had medium-sized hands, but these were fit for a preteen at least and fifteen at most.
Moving on from my hand I look to the rest of my body to see what over changes there were. Well oh boy. The rest of this body seemed to be rather young, sixteen at most if I were being generous and since this was mine now I certainly was. Never mind the fact that I wasn't much older by a few years.
Then there were the clothes, thankfully. Not so much however is the fact that they were awfully similar to a fictional character's outfit, which if I recall correctly was the Sothis-themed outfit Male Byleth could wear. And a general sense of feeling confirmed that I was still male, more thankfully.
The last thing I checked just to be sure was the hair, my hair. I pulled a strand and noticed that while it was shorter than Sothis' original hair, it certainly fit the long and green theme that Nabataeans and many mantaketes had in the Fire Emblem series.
So, in the middle of only God knows where with just a chair and in a body that looks an awful lot like a fictional character. Not to mention a dream exactly like the one Byleth had at the beginning of the game. Yep, reincarnation/isekai story.
Well since I'm not in any immediate danger I feel that a moment of freaking out is well deserved. FUUUU-
--
Alright, while it didn't accomplish much, I did feel a bit of a relief to get that out of my system.
But what now? I'm probably stuck here for who knows how long until Byleth shows up. Which should hopefully be soon since that dream I just had should be the same as theirs, and thus would bring them before Sothis, or should I start saying me.
As much as it might feel good to close my eyes and hope that this was a dream, this felt very much real and I've never been in a second dream before. And last I checked that only existed in Interception, so I'm stuck in a fictional presence regardless.
The best thing to do right now would be to recall everything I know about Three Houses. After all, my survival is linked to Byleth and I would very much like to remain alive and un-merged, thank you very much.
Which made it rather frustrating that I wasn't a hardcore fan of the game that played all the routes multiple times and could recall every little detail about the plot. I only played most of Claude's route, a bit of White Clouds on Dimitri's route, and haven't started Edelgard or the Church's at all. But the Church route was similar to Claude's last I checked so I'm only missing a few details from there. I knew about their plot points, but only broadly.
Sothis came to Fodlan a couple of thousand years ago from space. It was time to find a new home for myself, this planet seems nice.
SHe started a family using his blood, the Nabateans such as Rhea, Seteth, and many others. All my beautiful children.
ThWe lived in peace with humanity before the Agarthans fucked Fodlan over by launching nukes. We lived along them and helped pave a future to a better Fòdlan, great technology and social change. But not all were content with that peace, the people of Agartha abused my gifts, viewing themselves as gods and sought to replace me. Sought to kill me, but only succeeded in killing the land. It was only after the work of centuries that I could restore it to its rightful state, and work that had left me drained. I needed to rest.
Some of them survived however, the remnants of Agartha and ancestors of Those Who Slither In The Dark. (Really dumb name, I gotta give a better one to Byleth before that sticks. I can give them a title much more appropriate for them, so many to choose, yet lacking to fully describe). They found some bandit, Nemesis, and got him to kill me in my sleep and harvest my body and blood. They butchered my children while I was asleep, I could hear their cries yet could not help them. After my death they continued the cries of my children using my own bones. Please forgive me for failing you, my poor, poor, children.
The emotions overwhelmed me; the grief, anger, and sorrow at losing my children far eclipsing my previous panic.
I fell asleep once more.
————
And once more I woke up.
And damn did that suck. It seemed that as I recalled the earliest parts of Fodlan's history, Sothis' memories came in. Ugh, the physical pain of being harvested by some brute asshole was the worst I've ever had as well as the emotional pain of a parent losing their children and being helpless to stop it was just too much. Way too much. No wonder the original Sothis lost her memories, I already want to lose them and never think of it again. But I can't find bliss in ignorance since memory is how I'll regain my former strength, no matter how traumatic.
And would you look at that, a convenient excuse to ignore all that in the form of Byleth!
And female Byleth at that. She looks like how I expected her to, only differences being that she was far more beautiful than the medium of anime or the okay graphics of Three Houses could portray. Also interesting to note that she wore her male counterpart's outfit rather than her original, makes sense that she'd dress practically without horny fan service holding her back. But even without her old outfit, her body spoke for itself.
Any further thoughts I could have were interrupted by the person in them.
Byleth simply looked at me, staring blankly. But despite the lack of emotion in those eyes, I could tell that she was rather curious. From intuition or our link, call it what you will, I could get an idea of what she's feeling.
"Are you well?" She asked before I could say anything. "When I got here you were asleep. Which is rather odd as I'm sure that is what I was doing before I ended up here. And your eyes are quite red, either the signs of grief or drug use."
I blinked a few times before I chuckled lightly. "Despite being quite sober for longer than kingdoms and empires have existed, I certainly wish that it was from drug use. The pot back then was divine." Huh, never expected Dragon Grass of all things to be a thing. Oh what a thing it was, shame that I won't be having anymore for a while. Most of my children loved it, besides Cichol and a few others. Maybe that's why Rhea went unhinged, she must've run out. I finish my reply on a more somber note but in much higher spirits. "I am alright though, just processing some bad memories. But never mind that when I have a far more interesting matter to attend to, you!"
This time she was the one blinking, in what I could guess was confusion. "There is not a lot that is interesting about me, or so I have been told by many in my father's mercenary group." Despite confusion probably being what fueled her response, both the tone and face were blank.
"I've heard mysteries were quite interesting and you ma'am are very much both. So, how about your name? Who are you, dear stranger?" I ask in a slightly exaggerated tone.
"I am a demon. Feared and known as the Ashen Demon." She said, not giving me a proper answer. Huh, it seems that the playfulness of player choices are still there. To that, I just lean on my rail and place a fist on my chest.
"Normally such talk would belong to braggarts or children trying too hard to sound fearsome. But I can tell that you genuinely believe what you're saying." Ooh boy, I hope I'm not dealing with a genuine psychopath here. I mean, I could still make it work, and a good majority of the cast has a whole bunch of mental issues anyway so what's one more.
"They call me that due to my unflinching proficiency as a mercenary. I've ended the lives of many without even the slightest feeling. Despite my father trying to assure me otherwise that is the truth." That feeling of slight playfulness swiftly dies as she returns to her stoic expression. Not a hint of emotion in what she said, but I got a feeling of acceptance from her. She shouldn't have to feel used to that and I'm feeling a bit guilty since Sothis, now me, being here played a part in that via draining her emotions as she grew up.
"You have caused much death, yes. But couldn't the same be said for your father as well? He would be guilty of being a demon, much the same as you are would he not?" I ask, this time challenging her previous notion.
"No. My father is a great man, and I will not allow some child to defile his name." Her eyes look at me pointedly, with her brows slightly furrowed and her lips are forming a slight frown, either annoyance or frustration fueling that, and a tinge of what I could feel as love. Ah, so it seems that she's not entirely without feeling after all. No, that wouldn't be right. Perhaps extremely dulled would be a more proper term. Or maybe she just can't emote properly, I don't know I'm no psychologist dammit.
"Hehe, calm down. I didn't mean any disrespect towards Jeralt, simply trying to get you to change that outlook of yourself, it ain't healthy let me tell you. Since you're a mercenary that means you kill for money, yes?"
"Yes."
"And you were neither intentionally cruel nor malicious when taking the life of another?"
"I find such methods inefficient and distasteful." Byleth shakes her head as she says this. The same for my father as well." She adds after a moment.
"Well then, clearly you are no demon. While some would argue that killing is a mortal sin, sometimes one must for a variety of reasons. In your case, it's to simply get a job done, get paid, and support yourselves. Nothing truly evil or demonic, not good mind you, but decent like most humans. And don't argue otherwise, I have seen true demons in human flesh commit actions that would make you the greatest of saints."
I clap my hands before continuing on a different topic, also snapping me and even her from that abrupt dialogue. The feelings of old are still strong, and may even get strong the more I remember. "But enough of such serious topics. The whole point of this was to lighten the mood and get to know each other better."
"Wasn't the discussion we just had the means to get to know each other?" Byleth pointed out. She wasn't wrong but...
"No you smart ass, I mean proper and basic conversation. Again I ask, who are you? And don't you derail me again or I'm giving you another discussion."
"I am Byleth Eisner." She simply answered this time.
"Byleth, quite an interesting name for one such as yourself. I'd reckon that you're the only one running around with such a strange name."
"Father said it was fitting. My mother, who was a one-of-a-kind woman, gave a one-of-a-kind child a one-of-a-kind name." From this I could hear a bit of mourning and loss, possibly from a desire to see her mother.
"Your father, while right, is slightly off. Sitri was one of twelve." At that, her eyes widened before narrowing a bit. Hm, if I recall correctly Jeralt didn't mention much of her at all. And it seems that my mention of a name she's never said may have made her suspicious. But hopefully curious as well, it'll help hook her in.
"And how do you know such a name, one that I neither mentioned nor even knew? I don't even know if you're right yet I can feel that you aren't lying." She glared, suspicious of me. Honestly, I'm surprised it didn't pop up sooner, probably didn't take me seriously that much. Even more so is that she can feel something between us, though it wouldn't work well for her as it would for me due to me having more of an understanding of these things, though it ain't much let me say. Her glare remained but curiosity began to seep in as well. "And what exactly do you mean 'one of twelve'?"
"To answer that question, I'll give a different one which does that later. Who am I?" Seems that my crypticness is getting her annoyed, judging by that sharp and pointed glare. It annoyed me in various media too but now I can understand why it's done, it's fun being a cryptic asshole. "And don't you worry I'll answer."
"You could call me the Beginning or the Progenitor, either fits, an accurate title considering my role in this land's history and even your own. And as you gave me your name, the least I could do is give you mine. I am Sothis."
"Sothis, as in the Goddess of Fodlan preached by the Church of Seiros? At this time of year? Right now? In this part of Fodlan? Localised entirely within my head?" She questioned, laced with skepticism.
"Yep." Hold on did she say, Goddess? Is that term gender-neutral like Emperor is here? Well, I'm not complaining, the Goddess rolls off the tongue a lot more than the God, plus it just doesn't feel right walking around with that title. And I'm fairly certain Sothis should be male here considering how Seiros mentioned 'Father' while cradling my spine.
"I can see what you meant earlier now." Huh, what's that supposed to- "Such talk of being a demon or goddess does come off as bragging or the exaggerations of children."
"You dare use my own words against me?" I glare a bit before dropping it and chuckling a little as I shake my head. "Cheeky ain't cha? I guess it was too much to assume that you'd believe me right off the bat."
"I lack much of an understanding of the Goddess as my father never saw fit to discuss anything more than the basics, but one doesn't live in Fodlan without hearing about its main deity. I'm quite sure that Sothis was described as an all-powerful and caring father, yet you have the appearance of a boy who just reached adolescence and a rather crass attitude." Hmm, child and crass she may have called me, she didn't say that I wasn't caring so it was somewhat positive, though the child comments did nettle me a bit so I could understand how Lysithea and OG Sothis felt.
"You know, in a world where magic, special blood, and demonic beasts exist you'd outta give my words some consideration. Besides, what exactly could I be?" I ask. As much as I wanted to get back at her for those comments, I'd be proving her point which wouldn't be of much use. Besides, this was Byleth, I'm fairly certain any insult I could come up with or steal from the Internet wouldn't faze her at all.
"I'm still certain this is all a dream of some kind. The grand battle was here much like the last couple of times I dreamed, you and this location are new however. Yet you seem far more real than a dream could be. Are you some kind of ghost, or perhaps a long distant memory that resurfaced just now?" She asked. "Despite having just met, you feel familiar to me. It is confounding, you are confounding."
"Hm, a ghost is the best way to describe me at the moment, though distant memories are something I got plenty of. Physically I am dead and spread out, but my consciousness, as you can bear witness to and hear, is tied to this area, your mindscape. And boy is it fitting, much like your face there's not much going on." I made a show of gazing far and wide for something. To that she just looked blankly at me, in this case, I think that was her just deadpanning at me. Man guessing her emotions off whatever connection we have is getting a bit old, hopefully, that'll change with time. "But then again, I'm here now so maybe I can liven both this place and you up." I say with a little smile. Still unadjusted I see, but I'll break through soon enough lady.
"And to prove that I'm right, I'll give you information that only your father could know and verify. The first I've already given you, your mother's name is Sitri, she was a nun of the Church of Seiros. And the second, your father possesses the Crest of Seiros due to Archbishop Se-Rhea giving him some of her blood, it's how he's able to live for so long. I think he's one hundred something right now, maybe between 100 and 150."
"If he's lived for that long it'd certainly explain why he doesn't remember his own birthday." She mumbles to herself before shaking it off and looking back at me, curiosity rising once again. "How exactly do you know all of these things?"
"As I've said, I'm the Goddess of these parts. In spirit at least. Plus I got four timelines of the future to fall back on for info."
"I don't know what's more outlandish, you being a deity worshiped across Fodlan or that you could possess knowledge of four different futures. Then again, having that much information in the first place would explain those distant memories of yours."
"Well, feast your ears for even more proof of my vast and retained knowledge then. Remire Village will be attacked by bandits led by some guy named Costco as soon as you wake up. On that same day, you and Jeralt will encounter 3 random rich kids by the names of Dimitri, Edelgard, and Claude."
"And they're important because?"
"Well, it's the Prince of Faerghus, the Princess of Adrestia, and the future Duke of Leicester, all students of the Officers Academy and very important in those futures I mentioned."
"What."
"You'd think for someone who's lived in Fodlan that they would know about the-"
"Now hold on a second, why are they even there in the first place?"
"Here's another bit of knowledge of mine, they're all there because-Oh!" At that moment Byleth seemed to be fading away, I guess she must be waking up. Or rather it's Jeralt waking her up. I guess our conversation has been going on longer than it did in the game.
"It seems that's all we have time for. The next time you see me, be ready to hear a 'I told you so' or 'I called it' Just know that I say it with love and a dose of I was right." I say as I wave her off. As I did, my eyes did catch a bit of movement from Byleth's hand, whatever it was it she meant to do was lost to me since she was gone before it could form. Probably meant to wave me off.
So, she's gone. It was nice talking to her and I'm sure our next conversation will be fun once she confirms what I told her. Let's see you try to dismiss my words now, hehe.
The next time I should see her, ala canon, would be when she takes an axe for… Edelgard. Oh boy, her, not even online and she's already causing a debate. The Flame Emperor, a major antagonist for 3 out of 4 routes who starts a bloody war to remove the Crest system and destroy the Church of Seiros. A noble endeavor, yet those good intentions could and for 5 years had paved a road to hell, especially when you're working with the devil.
And she kills Seiros and potentially Cichol and Cethleann in the process. I won't let that happen. And besides my connection to them, they would be incredibly useful in recovering more of Sothis' memories and in turn boosting what power I have.
But the system of Nobility does have to go, it sucks as it is. And her war does lead to Fodlan changing for the better. Pros and cons, upsides and downsides, such choices!
Whether or not to let Edelgard die, or flat out kill her? This is certainly the best time to ask such a thing with no witnesses, besides a bandit but he's easily a nonfactor, and especially no Hubert around, is something I really oughta think long and hard about, need to include Byleth in on that since she'd be doing the killing. I mean I technically have all the time in the world since I could just freeze time until we make a decision.
Damn it would be a lot easier if I could talk with Jeralt before having to decide. Having him and Byleth would really help in making a decision since they actually know about Fodlan, military tactics, and all that shit. Plus I am a bit biased with the Sothis' part of me pissed about her killing Rhea and working with the Agarthans despite the shit they've done to her.
Well, that's enough with the heavy topics, I need some rest. But I really don't want to lie on this stone throne anymore, why Sothis didn't put cushions here is beyond me but ok.
Then again, this was a mindscape. Hmmmmm. I turn my attention back to that stoney chair of mine and focus my mind on an intent to bring to form a-
Pop
Oho! Gone was that ancient chair and in its place, a top of the line massaging chair appeared right before me! I half expected that to fail since this was Byleth's mindscape, but we were linked so it makes sense that I could make some changes here.
I turned the chair on and rested back as the machine did its work. Hehe, that feels nice. I considered conjuring a Lazyboy, an actually comfortable resting place for a dragon, but I missed my shopping mall luxury more.
Oh yeah, dragon. I should figure out how to do that. The closest thing to Sothis turning into a dragon was FEH and all she did was just fly into the air as herself. Probably not available right now because I lacked the memory, power, or body for that. But I had power over time which combined with Byleth's skills and no plot bullshit should more than make up for that. Except for the nukes but that won't be an issue until much later.
Hmmm, however, I can save those thoughts for later. Now is the time to relax, since I know when things start in earnest there won't be much of it for a while.
I just started writing this last Friday and a few days later a Three Houses spinoff gets unveiled, what are the fucking odds lmao! Hella hyped for it, even if I hadn't finished the all routes in the base game. Also, not too sure how the new game will effect this fic. The spinoff looks like it may be an AU and contain some new juicy lore, but I guess if I like the new stuff enough I'll just edit it in or something.
Anyway, a this here is a male Sothis SI. To be honest it was just a thought that popped up in my head and I got a little too deep into it. I went with Sothis because I didn't want to go for Byleth throwing an OC in with or without some power since that's been done by better writers than me. But I've noticed that nobody did Sothis and figured that it'd be free real estate. Though someone else did something pretty close. In fact, I gote some inspiration to write this from Headmates by Blackplant, I really recommend reading it.
I hope you liked what you read and please leave your thoughts, any feedback or criticism is good as it helps me improve. I thank you for reading it and have a good