Ashen Dragons of Fire and Ice

It was now the fifth bell past noon. Byleth and Abban are seated at the back of the wagon, and Flayn, the advisor to the archbishop, is seated at the front of the wagon. The three riders noticed that the road to Garreg Mach was surprisingly empty for a route through Oak Woods on their way to Remire Village as they rode through Barnabas Woods on their way to Remire Village.

"I do not like this in the least," Abban warned, biting his lip as he inspected the rear of the carriage as he sat right next to Byleth. Fidgeting with his lance, he looked down and muttered, "I really do not like it."

She crossed her legs and put out the fire that she was playing with, but she looked at Abban with a confused look on her face, and she asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Abban replied by lowering his lance and crossing his arms, saying, "This road is one of the main roads from the Empire to Garreg Mach, and it is barren." Abban dropped his lance and crossed his arms in response.

Byleth laughed while she said, "I don't know why you worry so much, brother. Maybe everybody just doesn't feel like venturing to the monastery today."

"I think it would be extremely strange if that happened, given that Saint Macuil Day is the next moon," fumed Abban. "I think the more likely scenario is that bandits have at some point occupied the road," he added.

A loud snort by Byleth, accompanied by a lot of laughter, caused Flayn to look towards the back of the carriage as Byleth snorted, "Oh brother, stop being ridiculous."

"I think it's good to see someone's day getting a little better," commented Flayn before turning her head back around and chuckling again. Having spotted the entrance to the village, she waited for the carriage to reach just before the main intersection before stopping them and allowing them to enter the village.

Once Flayn had climbed out of the carriage, she dusted off the dress she was wearing and walked to the back of the carriage. The moment she reached the back of the carriage, both Byleth and Abban were waiting there with crates in hand as they had both been seated at the rear. Flayn smiled and said, "I see both of you have already started," with a smile on her face. "In order to let the village mayor and the town crier know of our arrival, I need both of you to finish emptying the carriage while I go get the mayor and the town crier."

In unison, they agreed, and As Flayn walked back through the village, they answered, "Yes, Flayn."


As Flayn walked through the village's main road, she was looking for both the town crier and the mayor, both of whom he did not see. Her staff, which is called the Caduceus staff, was hung on her back. In addition, she had a bag which was made to hold tomes and carried her tome Amalthea. Both of these items were sacred weapons that Saint Cethleann used during the war of heroes. The woman continued walking, and soon she saw a man dressed in a red, blue, and gold overcoat, red pants, and black boots, carrying a bell in one hand and a piece of paper in the other while walking along the main road.

"It would be helpful if you could excuse me, but might I inquire if you are the town crier," Flayn said as she made eye contact with the man on the street.

"That would be correct, ma'am."

As Flayn smiled, she said, "Okay, great, that's great to hear." Giving him a quick but polite curtsy, she then continued her conversation. "Hello, my name is Flayn. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am the advisor to the church of Serios, as well as the second in command. I am here to deliver supplies to the village, as we will be staying here tonight. Therefore, if anyone needs a healer, please bring them to me. We will be staying at the town inn this evening."

The crier replied, "Okay, ma'am, let me take you to the mayor," asking her to follow her. Upon entering the town hall, they saw a man dressed in an elaborate red outfit, along with a hat. Upon walking up to him, he bowed and shunned her, telling her, "This is Flayn; she is here with business from the Church of Serios."

A smile spread across the mayor's face. He stepped forward and sent a nod of approval towards her as she spoke to him, "Hello, mayor, my name is Flayn. I am here with the archbishop's children to deliver supplies to the village." The mayor smiled and nodded his approval and asked her to continue: "They are unloading the carriage now. We will be staying here tonight, so please send anyone who needs a healer to me at the local inn when we are done.

"Okay, will do," declared the mayor "can you take me to where the carriage is"

"Yes, now follow me."


Flayn approached the carriage with the mayor just a few steps behind her. First, she noticed that all the crates and boxes were piled up on top of each other on the curb. It was Byleth who was sitting in the back, playfully bouncing a ball of fire from one hand into the other while she was holding one of the flames in her hands. With a lance to his side, Abban stood beside the crates and boxes with his back to the crates and boxes.

Flayn smiled and said, "So it looks like you both have completed the task I gave you."

"It was a piece of cake; now, where does the mayor want these things to go?" shouted Byleth.

"Follow me; we will be taking them to the city hall," replied the mayor as Byleth picked up a box which was cradled in her hands as she picked it up. "The fact that children are doing the right thing and helping out a town that is in need is certainly heartwarming."

"Thank you," replied Byleth.

In the corner of Abban's eye, out of the corner of his eye, he notices two males and a female, all dressed in variants of the officer's academy uniform. They are running towards them as if they were being chased. His left eye was raised with a sigh as he crossed his arms and raised his left eyebrow. He said with a sigh, "Flayn, it looks like we got some company from the officers' academy, students from what I can tell."

"Where are they, Abban?" gasped Flayn

"They're northeast of us," shouted Abban. Looking directly at them, he noticed that they were wearing blue, red, and gold capes, giving off the impression that they were indeed house leaders. "Judging from the look of things, it would appear that they are the house leaders for the blue lions, golden deer, and black eagles."

A wave from Flayn signals to them to come over to where she is so they can get a closer look at what she is doing. The boy wearing the blue cape notices it and runs over to her. In line with him, the girl with the red cape stands to the right of him, and the boy with the gold cape to the left of him.

The boy with the blue cape, panting and out of breath, took a deep breath and shuddered, shouting, "Please forgive our intrusion.". We wouldn't bother you if the situation didn't appear to be dire."

There is a reason why the students of the officer's academy are here downhill from Garreg Mach; where is it that your professor was supposed to be with you if you left the monastery" remarked Flayn with a sour expression.

A girl in a red cape raised her hand and said, "We were separated; Professor Mattias ran away at the first sign of trouble."

"Fled… trouble explain," stated Byleth.

"A group of bandits is pursuing us. I can only hope you will be so kind as to lend your support."

"A group of bandits? Here?" asked Abban with narrowed eyes.

"It's true. They attacked us while we were at rest in our camp," said the girl with a red cape.

"We've been separated from our companions, and we're outnumbered. They're after our lives… not to mention our gold," exclaimed the boy wearing the gold cape.

"Claude, we are members of the church, so don't worry about the gold, Edelgard, we'll deal with professor Mattias at a later time, and Dimitri, we will lend you our support," declared Flayn.

As soon as Flayn finished speaking, a lightly armoured guard ran toward the mayor in a panic and shouted in a panic, "Bandits spotted just outside the village! Wow... it seems like there are quite a few of them."

"I guess they followed you, idiots, all the way here. We can't abandon this village now. Come on, let's move. Hope you're ready," stated Byleth.

"Hold them off. I will alert the town guard," yelled the mayor running in a panic inside the city.


As Abban grabbed the lance, he was holding on to, and he ran towards his sister, who was holding her sword un-sheathed. As he walked toward Byleth, he noticed that Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude did not have any weapons with them. As a result, he decided to walk to the carriage in order to look inside to see if there were any weapons inside. As he searched through the carriage, he discovered a bronze bow and a quiver filled with bronze arrows, in addition to a bronze lance and an axe also made of bronze. In one hand, he grabbed the weapons, while with the other, he had his steel lance in his hand. In spite of the fact that he is more proficient in the use of axes and has an axe that was made for him by Macuil and Indech, he left it at the monastery as he was not expecting to get into a fight with bandits.

On the other hand, Byleth had her own sword, which Indech and Macuil forged. In fact, you could tell this simply by seeing the glowing blue light that the blade emitted, its handle being pink in colour that fit comfortably in Byleth's left hand. A circular shield on her right hand also glowed blue, and in the center of the shield was her crest, which also glowed red.

As he ran back towards the group, Abban dropped the weapons carefully on the ground and yelled, "Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude... I need every single one of you to grab a weapon for each of your fighting styles."

Ahead of the pile, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude all walked over to it, and each of them grabbed one of the weapons. Edelgard grabbed the axe, Dimitri grabbed the lance, and Claude grabbed the bow. As Edelgard glanced at Abban with narrowed eyes, she asked, "You're expecting us to fight?".

"Of course," chimed Flayn as she pulled out the Amalthea tome causing the blue light to glow within it. Considering the fact that you brought the bandits into the town, it is only right for us to ask you to assist us in eliminating them. Plus, all we need to do is hold the bandits off until either the Knights of Serios or the Remire Town guard arrive.

"You know, Byleth, this may be a bad time to say this..." joked Abban with a half-smile on his face, "I told you so."

"Shut Up! Brother!" yelled Byleth.

"Byleth and Abban cut the argument," Flayn yelled, putting an end to the argument and refocusing the group's attention on the bandits who stood in front of them.

Upon looking around, they saw that seven bandits were standing in plain sight, and they were all aware there was a high probability that there were more hidden in the forest as well. In their usual manner, Byleth and Flayn looked directly to Abban to determine a course of action. Changing his view between Byleth and Flayn, he then looks ahead at the forest ahead of him as he moves his eyes forward. He then placed a finger on the chin of his left hand and said, "Flayn, take Edelgard and Claude around to the left and try to pull them towards you as quickly as you can. I'm going to go straight to the right and take Byleth and Dimitri with me to try to take out the leader of these bandits."

"Dimitri go two meters straight and to the right, then attack the bandit with your lance make sure he is dead," ordered Abban on the other side "while Byleth you're going to stay in the trees and go after the bandit leader if you see an easy kill go for it."

"I need you, Edelgard, to make sure that you follow me and Claude to ensure that they follow me" yelled Flayn to Edelgard while keeping her attention on him. "Edelgard, please stay in front of us so we can stay in a triangle formation with you at the front and me and Claude behind you."

Claude and Edelgard were shouting together in unison, "understood, Advisor Flayn."

I would like you to move about one meter straight, and then to the left a bit," said Flayn, as she commanded Edelgard to move.

"On it" declared Edelgard.

'Dimitri, if you can, go a meter straight and to the right and then attack the bandit with your lance, make sure he is dead,' ordered Abban. "While Byleth you are going to stand in the trees and go after the bandit leader, if you see an easy kill take it. ".

"Claude, are you able to hit the target?" asked Flayn in a soft and low tone of voice while pointing at a bandit running towards Abban's back just two meters in front of her.

Pulling the string back on the bronze bow as he aimed for the neck, he closed his left eye in order to avoid distractions as he pulled the string back on the bronze bow as he aimed. The arrow was let loose after he had calculated in his mind both the speed of the wind and the direction in which it would be blowing. The bolt of the arrow flew straight to the back of the bandit's neck and implanted itself in the center of the bandit's neck where it was instantly fatal.

At the location that Abban instructed Dimitri to move to, Dimitri swung his lance aiming at the exposed stomach of the bandit while maintaining his balance with the lance as he swung it. Byleth, with her sword ready at her side, moved forward and stabbed a bandit right next to the one that Claude had just killed before retreating into the forest with the sword in hand. Having decided to kill them quickly, Byleth aimed for the chest so that she could kill them as quickly as possible. Because Byleth is not the type of person who likes torturing her victims to death, she went for quick deaths.

As Byleth observes from the trees, she notices a bandit carrying steel and silver equipment that appears to be directing her attention to the rear. From what very limited experience she had of fighting alongside her father and mother, she knew that the leader of the bandit gang was that person. Her fire magic was being poured into her sword as she charged forward, causing fire to burst onto the blade as she charged ahead. As she swung her blade in a cross pattern, she created two arcs of fire in the air. These arcs flew forward at a great speed, burning everything in its path, and setting several bandits ablaze in the process.

As a result of the fire that was all around him, the Bandit leader narrowed his eyes and yelled, "Damn! What is the reason for the presence of mercenaries in the village? I guess we'll have to deal with them as well"

Byleth yelled at him, baring her canines in an attempt to intimidate the man, "We are not mercenaries, we are members of the church of Serios" she yelled with a vengeance. "You made a grave mistake by attacking students of the officer's academy, and I will never forgive you for that."

In a single swing of her sword, Byleth made contact with the head of his silver axe as she swung it upright. She was pushed down with a great deal of force by the bandit as he attempted to push her sword down. However, Byleth did not relent, aiming horizontally with her sword, forcing the bandit to roll to the right as a result of her attacks. As soon as the bandit arose, he swung his axe downwards and jumped onto the ground. Byleth raised her shield in an effort to stop the axe from impaling itself into both of her shoulders but was too slow to do so. The bandit was splattered with green fluid as the fluid poured out of the wound, splattering green liquid all over him. Having dropped her sword and shield, Byleth screamed with a scream that shattered the eardrums as she was inexplicably in pain.

"Byleth!" shrieked Abban trying to make sense of what just happened. In the distance, he observed his sister, who was lying on the ground in tears with an axe on her left shoulder and a bandit on top of her with a dagger in his hand. Suddenly, slits appeared in his eyes as he raced to help his sister. As he mumbled under his breath, he said, "I'm coming Byleth.".

By pouring his magic into the lance, he caused ice crystals to form and completely encased it in ice, causing the lance to freeze over. In a flash, he jumped up and immediately slammed the lance into the ground and aimed at the leader of the bandits. As he did this, the bandit was thrown backwards by the force of the lance and flying ice shards.

As the bandit leader lies down on the ground, the rest of the bandits see him lying there and begin to flee as well. When Abban saw the bandit leader on the ground, he ran back to his sister, who was still awake, but was holding her left shoulder with her left hand. A dried green fluid was clinging to the garments of the woman. He lifted her up into an angle and then froze his hand while placing it above the axe as he lifted her up.

On the other side of the battlefield, Edelgard and Claude took a moment to rest while the rest of the bandits ran away while they were resting. Flayn ran towards Byleth while holding her healing staff in her hand, as she ran towards her. "With deep regret, Byleth, I am going to have to remove the axe from your shoulder. It's going to hurt. You should know this."

The Knights of Seiros are here! We'll cut you down for terrorizing our students. Hey, the thieves are running away! Go after them! The students seem to be unharmed. And who's this?" said A knight named Alois. Several knights just ran in the direction that the bandits were running in.

Pulling out the axe caused Byleth to scream in pain as green fluid was now pouring out of her shoulder as she pulled out the axe. The state of consciousness of Byleth would fluctuate from one moment to the next. Each time she closed her eyes Abban or Flayn was there to make sure she didn't fall asleep. A hand glows with healing magic from Flayn's staff, slowly causing the wound to close slowly as she draws power from her staff. Byleth fell asleep as soon as the wound had closed.


Time has passed and everyone was in the inn, Byleth was in a room with Edelgard leaders while Abban was with Flayn.

"I appreciate your help earlier. Both you and your brother are clearly experienced fighter. I am curious on why you're with the advisor of the church of Serios in a village on the border of Garreg Mach and the Empire" asked Edelgard

"We been training with each other and our father Jeralt and our mother the archbishiop since we were 10 years old, we even occasionally go on expeditions to eliminate bandits.

"Your mother is the archbishop I never heard of her having children. I'd wager the explanation for that is fascinating indeed," declared Edelgard

"Hey! You are coming with us to the monastery. Of course, you are. I'd love to bend your ear as we travel. Oh, I should mention that the three of us are the Officers Academy students at Garreg Mach Monastery. We were doing some training exercises when those bandits attacked. I got the worst of it." said Claude after he barged into the room.

"That would be because you ran off," snapped Edelgard

"Too true! I was the first to make a strategic retreat. Everything would have worked out if these two hadn't followed me and ruined everything. Because of them, every single one of those bandits chased after us. Utterly ridiculous." Goaded Claude rolling his eyes Edelgard.

"Ah, so that's what you were thinking, Claude. And here I thought you were acting as a decoy for the sake of us all," declared Dimitri who came just came in the room.

"His intentions were as clear as day. You will prove a lacking ruler if you cannot see the truth behind a person's words," yelled Edelgard

"Hm. You will prove a lacking ruler if you look for deceit behind every word and fail to trust those whom you rely on," responded Dimitri

"Oh, joy. A royal debate between Their Highnesses. I wonder how being completely predictable affects one's ability to wield power. Personally, as the embodiment of distrust, I'd say your little exchange smacks of naiveté.," said Claude with sarcasm in his voice

"Me? Naïve? Tell me, are you incapable of keeping quiet, or is your lack of self-awareness a condition of some sort?" said Edelgard.

"In any case, forgive our digression. I must speak with you if you can spare a moment. The way you held your ground against the bandits was captivating! You never lost control of the situation. It showed me I still have much to learn." said Dimitri

"Your skill is exactly why I must ask you to consider lending your services to the Empire. I might as well tell you now. I am no mere student. I am also the Adrestian Empire's–" said Edelgard

"Halt, Edelgard. Please allow me to finish my proposition. The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is in dire need of exceptional individuals. Please, do consider returning to the Kingdom with me." Interrupted Dimitri

"Whoa, there! You two sure are hasty. Trying to recruit someone you just met. Tactless. I planned to develop a deep and lasting friendship on our journey back to the monastery before begging for favours. But it seems there's no time for niceties in this world. So, capable stranger, let's get right to it. Where does your allegiance lie?" said Claude

"My allegiance lies with my mom, dad, and the Church of Serios, it absolutely does not ally with any of your kingdoms, especially after you brought the bandits here where there is little protection for the civilians involved in your mess. If it weren't for us delivering supplies here, all of you would be killed, and this town would be plundered," said Byleth with her hands on her hips "and Edelgard I am very disappointed in you, I already told you who was my mother and father so you should know where my allegiance lies, I am a child of the archbishop and you still offer me a job to betray the church. I am going to tell you a secret its not happening."


To Be Continued

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