"Well, where should we start? How about you take a sit?" The woman in front of him said as pair of chairs and an elegant table materialized next to him. A tea set was already placed on it, its presence bizarre compared to the slaughter that had just happened around him.

"What are you?"

"I told you already, why are you so suspicious about me?" the woman that called herself Sothis said as she approached him.

"Don´t approach!" Balthus roared as he threw at her an axe, but the axe turned into dust before it had even approached her.

"How disrespectful, don´t you understand that the adults here are trying to hold a conversation?" the abomination said as she snapped her fingers, Balthus´s arm falling to the ground.

"Ugh!"

"Balthus!" Constance cried while Hapi and Yuri prepared to attack as well.

"You will pay for it!"

"So, annoying, this lack of education is astonishing, but on behalf of my friend here I´ll contain myself" she sighed before she snapped her fingers again. The four of them were standing still like statues, even the blood pouring from Balthus´s wound appeared to have frozen in the air.

"What have you done!"

"Don´t worry dear, I just stopped their time, they´ll be fine" she smiled before she served herself a cup of tea. "After watching you, I came to the conclusion that talking over a cup of tea could be a good way to get to know you a bit better. How about you take a seat?" she offered, but he didn´t move. "So stubborn…I won´t do anything to them, look" she said as she pointed at them. They were still idle, but Balthus´s arm was intact, as if nothing had ever happened. Then, with a movement of her hand, the corpses around them disappeared, not even the blood remained, as if nothing had ever happened there.

"Now, could you please take a seat? It would be disrespectful after forgiving the insolence of that little kid"

"He isn´t a kid anymore" he said, but he took a seat.

"To me, everyone is a child, although I don´t know how I could describe you, since your insides are really a mess" the woman smiled, before placing her arms on the table. "You really are an interesting being, Byleth Eisner, many powers flow through your veins yet you are actively refusing to use them, like the times you used me to fight. The power of the crest stone and the free communication with Sothis is something that most people would kill for"

"The tiredness I felt those times, was it you?"

"That was just the resistance of your body against me, even though I just wanted to make you stronger. Five years ago, if you had truly embraced your true nature you could have defeated the Immaculate One"

"My true nature?"

"You are half god, half human, Byleth. You have the blessing of immortality and the ability to learn quickly from humans, you have the best of both worlds"

"I don´t believe your words. Besides, I don´t even believe that you are Sothis. The true Sothis…"

"Is inside you? I already know since I´m her"

"That´s nonsense! There is only one progenitor God! You are just a burden imitation!"

"You are too harsh with me, understand that I´m a maid with a faint heart" the woman said before her smile grew wider. "You are correct, there is only one Sothis, yet here I am. Perhaps this reality is something difficult to understand for a half human. I would explain it easier so you can understand" she said as a mirror appeared in front of him, the moment it appeared it shattered, its fragments falling on the table.

"There is only one Sothis, but there are multiple fragments of her and I happen to be the greatest one, and I must dare to say, the most beautiful" the woman giggled, observing her reaction.

He was shocked. It was absurd that something like that could ever happen yet…If Sothis really was like the little girl he knew why the Church depicted her as the woman in front of him. Apart from her eyes, she was exactly how she was described by the Church, and the Church´s leader, Rhea was a child of her. He couldn´t think of any possible reason to describe the Goddess as a small girl, not with Rhea, who seemed to admire her.

"So, you are telling me that there is more than one Sothis. How could that happen?

"By death, to purify this world from the corruption of the great war, I sacrificed everything I had to save the world…although thinking closely about it, it was just a waste of time since the cycle has never ended for good" she sighed.

"The great war? Do you mean the war of liberation?"

"That was just a child´s game by a man that used what remained of my body to do what he pleased. No, I mean the war that shaped this world into what it is. A war of mutual annihilation for the control of this world"

"Against whom?"

"Against humans. They were busy killing each other, but their weaponry was destroying this world in the process. After spending thousands of years in the cold abyss I just wanted to have a place which I could call home…and seeing those idiots ruining everything really made my blood boil…so I decide to wipe them out of existence" she said as if she was talking about a small nuisance.

"That doesn´t make any sense. How could Sothis decide to get rid of humanity? The Sothis I know would do quite the opposite"

"Humanity was bringing the rest of the world to the brink of extinction; it was the logical course of action. But fighting alone would have been too risky, so I decided to create perfected beings of my own flesh. Alongside my children we battled the humans during centuries. They attacked us with spears of light that turned the land into cinders and I sent against them the dark waves of oblivion. The fight was ferocious, but in the end, we were the clear winners, not even their greatest weapon could destroy me, but…"

"But?"

"In the process of saving the world, we ended up destroying it, how ironic isn´t it? A decision born out of justice ended up causing more pain than anything else. The world left for the victors was a wasteland, a land where no one could never possibly live"

"But it is said that the Goddess saved this world and that she is the creator of all things."

"Are you truly believing everything you read?" she sighed "In that case I pity those who would have to follow your orders. Byleth, those texts are exaggerated at best. It is true that with my sacrifice the world was saved, but not all living beings come from me. Most of them were already here, including you, humans. I adopted a form resembling of humans so they wouldn´t need to fear me, but as you can guess only by war they stopped to listen to my words. Humans are really interesting, they think of themselves highly yet they were about to destroy everything so they could get rid of me, although I must admit that I almost did the same. I guess that in the end the ideals of justice are just an excuse we use to get rid of our opponents" she said as she toyed with her hair.

"Do you know why they were fighting against each other before you intervened?"

"People fight other people since the beginning of ancient times, you humans are meant to kill each other to seek new heights, although I can´t really blame you, it is your nature after all. There aren´t many animals that kill for pleasure or for absurd ideals. To be fair, humans are the most irrational creatures I´ve ever met, but that´s what makes life interesting, right? Just a bit of madness" she smiled as she looked directly at him. Trying to look back was proving to be difficult, a dark aura coming from her eyes. "If there is something that you can obtain by force, a human will certainly try to steal it from others. That´s just your nature. The only problem is that you were too developed for your own good. Compared to those times, your actual knowledge is quite lacking"

"Knowledge" In a world where most people couldn´t even read, knowledge was as valuable as gold since through knowledge one could easily obtain more power. However, he had already seen unnatural things that could only be born from that raw desire for more wisdom. "Those who slither in the dark…"

"They seek knowledge to recover what they had once lost. They are the ones that never kneeled, even though the war was already lost by then. They preferred to hide in the shadows where my children couldn´t reach them…and since then, they have held a grudge against me and my descendants, and all of you, kneelers"

"Are you saying that we are the same species?"

"Yes, although they will never admit that. They had the knowledge to unleash living hell on earth, but since their primal defeat they aren't´ what they used to be, but I must admit that I´m not at my prime as well. However, even in defeat, they continued moving in the shadows, and they used my own sacrifice to emerge once again by deceiving a thief and his commanders into raiding my resting place"

"You mean Nemesis and the 10 elites?"

"There was one more of them, but it seems that everyone forgets about him" she laughed as she hid her smile with one of her hands. "History focused on him, but he wasn´t the one behind the onslaught against my descendants. Taking away what remained of me, they crafted an unbeatable weapon"

"The sword of the creator"

"Exactly" she smiled. "The sword might be ulterior to my own demise, but my memories have remained intact since that moment, I was the greatest fragment of the Goddess remaining in this world, after all. The same can´t be said about your little friend" she said pointing at his chest. "Together with the crest stone, the Sword of the Creator was a weapon capable of destroying even mountains. Such was its might that the wielder of the Sword of the Creator, Nemesis, annihilated my descendants, which had been ruling the world since the end of the great war. You have already been to that place, ruins of what appeared to be an ancient civilization long ago forgotten"

"Zanado..."

"Exactly, but they let some of them survive, among them was one of my daughters, a person who seems to have favored you with her scent. What a troublesome girl, but I must admit that the blood is strong in her" she smiled

"Rhea…"

"She used to have other name, was it Seiros? Anyway, she swore she wouldn´t rest until avenging those who fell during those dark times…and she achieved it somehow. Allying herself with a man with endless ambitions they started a war against the almighty Nemesis. The war caused many casualties, but in the end, Nemesis was no more and the war came to an end.

However, the damage was already done. My descendants had almost disappeared, most of them turned into weapons with a conscious of their own. To make things worse our blood had already been mixed with the wielders of such weapons. Discovering the bloody secret behind the king of Liberation, Seiros wondered about the best course of action. Continuing the war would only mean more deaths and the risk of disappearing if the resistance was greater than expected so a vigilant peace was established among what remained of my descendants and the humans of the Surface that they were and still remain unaware to this day about to what extent they have corrupted their bodies with our own"

"The corruption you mean is the power of the Crests? And what do you mean by having a conscience of their own? Does it mean that the hero relics could manifest like you are doing right now?"

"Exactly, an innate power obtained by murder, the Crest manifests to show who is accountable of such unforgivable crime, yet you humans seem to feel proud about holding it, the mark of shame. Regarding your second question, that´s highly unlikely, but even if they are now just bare bones, they remember, they remember what humanity did to them and they seek revenge… that´s the only thing that motivated those weapons…the destruction of humanity and above everything else the destruction of those cursed by the mark of shame"

"But those with crests are able to wield the weapons without turning into beasts"

"They just have a higher tolerance to the corruption that they face, but every second that passes they are closer to transform into abominations. As I told you they remember what you did to them and they will have their revenge. Fascinating, right? I didn´t expect to have such a vengeful offspring, but that makes the situation even more entertaining" she laughed before suddenly changing her expression to a more serious one. "However, current humans shouldn´t worry about it, only those who live long enough will feel the wrath of the relic. It would take several centuries to experience the curse to its full extent"

"If you need to have such long lifespan no one could possibly experience something like that. Who has suffered such fate?"

"The forgotten hero, one of the comrades of that thief had been blessed with its curse. If you are curious about it you should visit the forest you had been through before. If it´s still able to talk is unknown to me, though" she smiled. "But you haven´t made the most important question yet, if the mark brands those who are cursed, what is the fate of the wielder of the Crest of Flames, the greatest crest of all times? Especially, when that particular person has been blessed with an unending life?"

"Are you menacing me?"

"Why would I do that? I´m actually fond of you, otherwise you would be dead by now. However, you must now that your situation is quite unique compared to others. Not only you have my crest, but my core is within yours. Your situation is quite unique, I dare to say. Will you eventually grow mad and destroy everything you are trying to protect or will you act as a new guardian of the world even if you grow weary of it. Countless possibilities are opened to you. With you, everything is a possibility"

"More than a possibility it sounds like a burden" he said as he looked at his own hand.

"Well, if you have been living like this during all these years, you shouldn´t worry too much about it. However, there is something I want to see with my own eyes. How about you try to use your divine pulse?"

"Why should I have to do something like that?"

"Are you afraid of such demand? I´m not asking anything out of your reach, right?" she smiled.

He closed his eyes and tried to activate his powers, but as he tried to do so, he felt as if his heart was being crushed by something, blood pouring from his mouth. It was such the pain he felt, that he fell on his knees while the woman before him looked amused by the situation.

"What…has…just happened?" he said as he tried to catch his breath.

"As I feared, it seems that my daughter has been truly diligent. I wouldn´t expect less from someone that comes from my own flesh after all. I´m afraid to tell you that your divine pulses have been deactivated by a potent cursed placed upon you. I guess that from now on, every decision you will ever made will truly matter, right? This isn´t a kid´s game anymore"

"I cannot longer use them?" he asked as he sat down again. His face was a bit pale, but he didn´t have time to show any weakness before her. Without the power of the divine pulse, it was as she had just said, those who would be lost would be gone for good, no matter what he did. He had already experienced enough pain with the death of his father, if one by one all of them died without being able to change the outcome…"

"Can you revert such spell?"

"Oh, so now you seem to seek for my knowledge. What an interesting change coming from you, that in the beginning was so hostile towards me"

"That hasn´t changed. I don´t trust the being you are, but I can believe some of your words. Tell me, is there a way to overwrite this problem?"

"Well, it really is a problem that no one has ever experienced before, but… there could be something I could do for you" she said as she gracefully placed her hands on the table.

"Tell me"

"How about you make a pact with me?" she asked with a wide smile on her face.

"A pact?"

"Yes, a pact. I´ll grant you my powers, getting rid of the grip that my offspring has on you while at the same time allowing you to overcame every possible obstacle that you might face. With our strengths combined no one will be able to defeat us and everyone could survive through this gruesome war. Don´t you think it would be the best of outcomes? A future where everyone survives, where through your efforts everyone is able to get along once again, the horrors of war long ago forgotten. Such possibility, such potentiality depends only on you"

It was a tempting offer, but despite everything she had told him, he couldn´t just trust her. Even if she was Sothis, she was a twisted version of the one he knew, the one who had saved him when he was blinded by wrath.

"What are you asking for in exchange for your offer? You said that it was a pact, in that case you will want something in return"

"First of all, a bit of gratitude wouldn´t be bad for your health" she smiled. "But I guess that it´s a logical question. I seek to search all the relics that still exist on this world. By absorbing them, my power will be increased and it will reduce the risks of turning innocents into malformed beasts, don´t you agree? This is my first condition in case that you want to have my help"

"I see" If relics were so dangerous it was wise to get rid of them, although allowing a being like her being stronger was a risky bet he was unwilling to accept without hesitation.

"My second condition is to be able to communicate with you freely in any place, at any time. To do so, you must wear this" she said as a purple crystal appeared in front of him. "That way I´ll experience the same reality that you´ll ever experience. Don´t worry, our communications will be impossible to detect by the mortals around us"

The conditions so far were reasonable enough, although the fact of being bounded with such creature for the rest of his life was unnerving. "Although if that way we can save everyone…"

"And my third condition. You´ll give me the crest Stone within your heart" she said as she stood up. "Don´t worry, though I won´t be opening your chest for such matter. Even if by the look of your eyes I feel that you don´t trust me I´m still quite civilized"

"For what purpose?"

"Isn´t it clear? To destroy it"

A few seconds passed before he realized what she had just said.

"You said before that Sothis has been able to communicate with me and granted me her powers via this crest Stone"

"I did"

"And you also said, that she is the core of all the fragments that remain of her, her soul"

"Exactly"

"Then, why a fragment of Sothis would try to get rid of her own core?"

"Isn´t it obvious, to make sure that she doesn´t return, to get free of such weakling" the other Sothis said, her smile unnaturally wide.

"You…"

"I was once like the other relics, lifeless yet not completely death, only a fake consciousness floating in an ocean of senses. But as centuries passed, I started to develop a consciousness of my own. I started to create my own identity. I wasn´t just a fragment of someone else, but an entity of my own. Why the biggest fragment of Sothis should obey a core that has proved to be weak?"

"Sothis has never been weak. Without her the world we know would have never existed!" he said as he stood up.

"Because she was weak, she allowed those that cause pain to this world to run away, if she had been strong, she would have purged this world entirely to rebuild it to her own liking, even if that meant the disappearance of many things"

"Being merciful isn´t a sign of weakness, but a sign of a strong will. Being able to forgive is the sign of a strong soul"

"Do you really think it is? What´s the purpose of being merciful, if that means that the world will bleed again? What is the purpose of forgiving when it is a matter of time that you will sin again? All that has happened to this world since those events could have been stopped if she had decided to destroy everything, but she led the poison spread. Seiros had the same opportunity, but she decided to keep a peace born out of lies, in the hopes that everything would go better in the future…in the hopes that her creator would return…But those promises had turned into ashes and the only result has been more suffering and the unnecessary loss of lives. Humans and Nabatheans had proved to be failures as governors of this world, but the source of all the current problems is base of that weak Sothis's final wish" the other Sothis said as a faint light started to glow from within her.

"I won´t let you sacrifice a friend of mine, she saved me!"

"She saved you not based on a merciful decision, but because she was ashamed of what she really was"

"There must be another way to get rid of such threats without any more sacrifices"

"Are you really meaning it or have you just turned into a madman? You can´t save everyone, not with your current powers at least. No matter what you do someone will die, someone will resent you and all of it will be the consequences of your acts.

The things you fear will turn into reality; you will kill some of your own students. No matter what you do, that future is as clear as a cloudless sky. However, if you make a pact with me, you´ll be able to save everyone, even if they refuse, you can try no matter how many times it takes, you could imprison them, enchant them so they forget their resentment, to allow you to reach the world you wish for. With my strength, you could end the war in a matter of days and before a moon passes all the problems that had been tormenting this world would be gone for good. You said that she sacrificed for your wellbeing. Let her them sacrifice once again for the sake of the world. I can´t think of a better finale for a being like her"

"You are talking constantly about your powers and I must admit that you are powerful enough, but there is no way that we could end this war in a matter of days. You have already said it, your powers aren´t what they used to be. Our enemies are countless, and those primordial humans are still around"

"Do you really think so?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. For the first time in their conversation, she was showing disbelief at his words. "Your lack of faith is highly unusual coming from someone that has the protection of the so-called Goddess, but I guess that to believe sometimes you have to see it through your very own eyes, right?" she said as they were engulfed in a green mist, when it disappeared, they were in the middle of the night sky, the castle where they had been talking thousands of meters beneath them.

"Until now you have experienced many menaces, but you would certainly have never seen the power of someone considered a God. Now take a look to what I offer to you"

Ok, here are many things I need to explain. First of all, the name of the chapter. The translation I chose in English was "Teatime with the Goddess" but I put it like this 邪女神との茶会, basically "Teatime with the evil Goddess" 邪神 is evil god, something malicious in nature. Goddess is megami in Japanese and here I´m forcing that reading into three characters instead of the usual two. This way of forcing something to be read in a different manner isn´t something I´m making up. It serves to catch someone´s action or to give a better insight. In the game you have the famous "my teacher", which is basically forcing the word sensei 先生 into 師which really means master, but its never read like "sensei".

The other thing I need to explain is the true appearance of Sothis and the "sentience" of relics. In game, we already see how the Goddess is depicted as an adult woman by the Church, which is completely different from the little girl we know. Is it then, the depiction of the Goddess by the Church false? In one of the supports with Rhea you can choose to tell her something about Sothis, if you talk about a little girl (of the three options you had) you get a negative support from Sothis and Rhea is surprised. Wouldn´t she be pleased if she knew that that was Sothis´s form? However, she just seems surprised, perhaps the Sothis she knows is quite different to the one we see…

Also, Ingame Sothis says that she is just a "fragment" 欠片, but there is nothing more to it, although it could lead to think that the "true" Sothis is something a bit different to the green-haired character we know.

Regarding the relics, their unnatural characteristics are pointed out in Hilda´s paralogue when she talks about the axe she gets from her brother, as if it was somehow alive. That could explain why they are able to transform crestless people into beasts, as if it was a sort of revenge for what had happened to them. I think that relics affect all people, the only difference is that people with crests have a higher tolerance. If they were truly immune, it wouldn´t make sense what happened to Maurice (the 11th Elite) that everyone has forgotten.

This is just an explanation of the logic I´ve been following. This isn´t mean to be the absolute truth, just wanted to explain the thinking process on this. See you!