"Professor, professor, wake up! This isn´t the time to be taking a nap"

He opened his eyes. Around him he could see a desolated land, open wounds on the ground and lonely limbs scattered all around. Not counting them, there was no other living being around in miles.

"Where are we exactly?"

"We are between Gloucester and Riegan lands, so you could say that we are in the middle of the alliance. Quite a trip if we were in the far west of the Leicester Alliance just hours ago"

"I think we shouldn´t be here for too long, since we must have alerted half the continent about our presence. I wouldn´t be surprised if an alliance army comes to this place to check what the hell has just happened" Yuri said as he adjusted his sword belt. "Can you stand by your own?"

"Yes, don´t worry" he said before his hand noticed something besides him. "The sword…"

The Sword of the Creator was next to him as if nothing had ever happened. When he touched it, it glowed weakly before its glow disappeared. He also noticed that the cracks that were on its surface had disappeared, but apart from that the Sword appeared to be just a sword, an empty sensation as he touched it. Sheathing it, he looked at his companions.

"You are right, we must leave this place before unwanted visitors appear. We should head south to leave the Alliance territory as soon as possible. We already got what we needed here"

"The closest path would be by the great bridge of Myrddin, but as one would expect is heavily guarded. We could head west and approach the river in a lest populated area. Hapi, do you think that you could warp us that way?"

"I could, but I´ll need to rest for a while to restore all my energy. I´m completely exhausted after everything that has happened"

"True, but we have to leave this place now. We´ll discuss about it later when we find a place to spend the night" he said as he started advancing. They were in the middle of the great plain of Fódlan and they risked being easily detected by the alliance forces. He wondered if some of the Golden Deer students were leading such armies in the search of the responsible of what had happened, but he didn´t have any time to wait for such army to arrive.

…..

"We´ve been walking for hours. I need to get some rest" Hapi said while sighing.

"Don´t do that!" Balthus said alarmed knowing what were the effects of such action, but nothing happened.

"I think that there aren´t more monsters alive nearly. Perhaps half of the monster´s population had been eliminated by this battle. That would be a good change for a while"

"The fact that such powerful being could exist is something that defies the human mind" Constance muttered as she used her parasol to avoid the sunlight.

"Hopefully is gone for good, right?"

"Yes, I feel it" he said as he cautiously touched the surface of the sword. He detected nothing within it as if it was just another sword. It was strange although a part of him was relieved by that.

"This area should be a good place to get some rest" he said as they approached a small group of bushes and trees. It was big enough to hid them from any troops nearby and it could protect them from the elements in case they decided to spend the night there.

"Thanks the Goddess we can get some rest. I was planning on deserting if we continued like that" Hapi said while sitting on a rock. Balthus was picking some berries while Constance was sitting as well reading a magic tome. Yuri was on the top of a tree, checking the surroundings. For a moment he felt like they had returned to the monastery days, when everyone was safe.

"Byleth, come here" Yuri´s voice said from above. Climbing the tree, he approached the leader of the Ashen Wolves. His face was focused on the direction whence they have come.

"It´s difficult to see even with amplifying magic, but it seems that Alliance Troops are already there"

"Can you see any familiar herald?" If they were in lands of Gloucester it would be normal to see the sigil of Gloucester´s forces. Most nobles had their own sigils and he knew that a proud House as Gloucester would identify himself with its sigil as a sign of mightiness.

"No, just the generic flag of the Alliance. I don´t see anything else, but they are too far away anyway. They must be as surprised as we were. I´m sure that they will spend the next hours there, checking every single stone to get an idea of what has happened there"

"Hopefully they´ll spend enough time so they don´t detect us"

"What should we do, Byleth? Should we continue or should we rest here?"

"Continuing would be in the best of interests, but all of us are exhausted and in a couple of hours the day will come to an end. If we want to be undetected, we can´t use torches or fire spells. We´ll spend the night here, but nothing of fires. They would quickly detect us if we use a fire"

"They will certainly protest, but I get it. In all these years we´ve spent our time travelling from one place to another, avoiding always the main routes. Most of the forces of the Alliance are at the borders, but that doesn´t mean that there aren´t any patrols in the inner areas"

"In war being careful can mean the difference between victory or a crushing defeat. They must be confused now, but if they think that they had been attacked…"

"There will be consequences"

"Exactly, although I´m not sure how they will come to understand what has happened there. A human army couldn´t possibly achieve such degree of destruction"

"To be fair, I wouldn´t have believed if I wasn´t there" he said as he yawned. "Anyway, time to get some rest. The army is far enough we can rest without unpleasant surprises"

"I´ll be taking the first turn"

"Thanks for that, counting on you"

…..

Night had already fallen on them, a cool breeze coming from the northwest. In the distance he could still see the torches of the soldiers of the Alliance which were still checking the surroundings. The troops had been searching from east to west, sending patrols and scouts as well. When the day was coming to an end the first carriages had arrived, picking the things that were scattered all around. He couldn´t about wondering what they were talking about at this moment, but he knew that most of them would have been surprised to see a desolate land in the middle of the Alliance with the responsible agents to no avail.

"Is it over for good?" he wondered as he observed the sword to his side. Since the battle he didn´t feel nothing strange coming from it, as if its former inhabitant had disappeared from this realm. That was relieving to say the least, but there were still many mysteries unresolved. The nature of the crests was one of them.

He already knew that they were capable of turning humans into mindless beasts, but it was unnerving to know that they could affect crest bearers as well. According to that being, one of the heroes of old had fallen to such curse, but locating a forgotten hero, could proof to be a difficult task, since he could be anywhere…or dead for good. He needed to know if the curse affected crest bearers differently or their fate was no different to ordinary humans. He wouldn´t forgive himself if some of his friends turned mad because of their abuse of relic weapons.

The second matter he needed to resolve was the destruction of the Agarthans. Time and a time again, they had proved to be a threat impossible to ignore. Most of the problems that existed in Fódlan had been caused by them, an ancient civilization that wasn´t willing to disappear. As a consequence of their last encounter, he had come to understand the deep hate between the two factions that had written most of the history of Fódlan. The clashes between both forces had shaped the world into what it was; a broken, incomplete reality. The being that had been inhabiting the Sword of the Creator had said that their last stronghold was to the east of the land, but how far?

They were in the middle of the Alliance, the areas to the far east weren´t as densely populated as the coastal areas to the north or the south of the Alliance since the constant invasions from Almyra had prevented settlements to be permanently established there. Such area could be suitable to have a hidden base, but he still had doubts. Even if in that area there was their last stronghold, that didn´t mean that all their forces were located there. To clearly defeat them they would need not only to destroy their hidden base, but get rid of all the forces that were scattered all around Fódlan…and all of that in the middle of a war.

"There has no use to search for them until we cross the border, but we can´t really ignore them. We can be stabbed in the back at any moment" In the shadows they dwelled and, in the shadows, they remained waiting for their opportunity to attack once again. Such enemy wouldn´t be destroyed unless they cut the head of the beast off…and he already knew who was such head.

"Thales…"he muttered. The responsible of the death of his father as well of many others. The one that had been manipulating many in order to achieve his own ambitions. The conflict between them and the children of the Goddess had marked most of Fódlan´s history, but he knew that their time had already passed. No matter what they were they had turned into a poison to the inhabitants of the region, a poison that was menacing to bring all of them to a painful end.

He was still looking at the horizon, when he felt something moving nearby.

"It should be impossible, I haven´t spotted any scouts around" he thought, but he nevertheless unsheathed his weapon as he prepared to descend to the ground.

"Professor, it´s been a long time since the last time we´ve met, but you haven´t changed a bit" greeted him a woman´s voice. "Don´t you remember me? I´m Leonie from the Golden Deer and this sweet girl over here is Lysithea"

"I am a grown up, Leonie, you mustn´t treat me as a child anymore" Lysithea said while flustered.

He couldn´t believe his eyes, both of them were standing in front of him, the rest of the Ashen Wolves looking at both of them, curious. Looking at them he couldn´t avoid smiling. If they were standing like that in front of them, it meant that they weren´t hostile against them, they were here to talk. However, their sudden presence could mean that others could detect the very same place as easily as they had.

"How did you find us?" he asked.

"Are you really making such question after everything that you´ve just left behind? The amount of magic I was feeling was menacing to numb my senses" Lysithea sighed as she casted a fire spell to keep all of them warmer. "Don't worry they won´t see anything from here. I´ve casted a spell to prevent that"

"Well, even someone like me could feel that something was really off, so it must have been something pretty big" Leonie said while relaxing. "To think that after all these years you were to appear here in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the Alliance. You were hiding really well"

"We really hide very well, although that´s something normal since we´ve been used to hiding our whole life" Yuri laughed.

"Can you tell us what happened?"

He started explaining everything that had happened until this moment. He feared that they might not believe him, but they listened to his words in completely silent as he narrated the events of the last days. When he finished, Lysithea was looking at him with a thoughtful look, she was about to talk when…

"Are you telling me that the Sword was alive and was trying to have its revenge? Wow, talking about resentment…but if it was after the culprits of master Jeralt´s death, you should have allowed it and then finish the work"

"And then finished the work?! Have you seen what happened there? Even if that could be the most time efficient solution to finish such menace, half the world would have disappeared because of it. You did the right decision, Professor. Allowing such existence to have it its way would have been far worse. The fact that I still I have a headache because of it it´s a living proof of how menacing it was"

"By the way, aren´t both of you part of the Alliances? Wouldn´t you try to imprison us or something?" asked a surprised Hapi. "No need to do so, though. It must be annoying to take care of prisoners these days"

"Why would I do something like that to the Professor and some former students?" Leonie laughed as it was something impossible to happen. "I´m a mercenary, I´m on the side that pays the most and I don´t have any contract right now that tells me to imprison all of you. Besides, I made a promise" she said as she looked at him. "I made an oath with your father, no matter what could ever happen I would protect you and I´m here to fulfil such oath, although I must admit that five years ago, I had my doubts. I thought that you were a traitor, but back at the battle you allowed us to escape, even if we were hostile to you. My doubts turned into gratitude since them"

"Even if I sided with the Empire"

"Even if you did so, my alliances are to Jeralt not a country. Besides, I´m a mercenary. If I had never believed you, I would probably have turned into a general of the Alliance army, but that is a possibility I discarded a long time ago"

"In my case I´m here because I believe in the cause you are fighting for. After reading the manifest and everything that has happened ever since I´ve come to understand Edelgard´s stance on this matter. If the current system puts the crests before everything else, it is a system that doesn´t deserve to exist anymore. I have no time to see the world change by its own so I must aid to change it.

Besides, I have the suspicion that my past and Edelgard´s are somehow related. I would like to ask her some things about that matter" she said as her sight focused on the fire in front of them. "We should leave this place as soon as possible. Even if my spells are able to hide us well, the army of the Alliance has been reinforced by many talented mages. Heading west should be the best option to us"

"Now that I found a place to get some rest" Hapi complained but she stood up.

"Lysithea is right, the more distance we can put between ourselves and the Alliance armies the better" he said as he stood up. "I´m sorry for abusing of your confidence once again…"

"There is no need to ask for it, Byleth. You only need to provide us with comfortable beds, after all of this ends" Balthus laughed.

"For sure" he nodded. Having such light-hearted conversations in the middle of a war was a blessing that had turned uncommon in recent times.

….

The camp was filled with activity. Patrols were making sure that the enemy scouts didn´t enter their perimeter as they prepare the siege weapons to launch the assault on the greatest bridge of Fódlan. Even though the strange source of magic had disappeared many days ago there was no coming back. The control of the bridge would allow a faster transport of provisions to the frontlines, allowing them to have a control of the commerce in the area. Wars were expensive and even though the Empire was wealthy enough to sustain the campaign, the control of commercial routes was crucial if one was meant to control the possible surplus of the enemy lines.

She was walking in silence through the camp as groups of soldiers were checking their weapons. Some of the soldiers had already faced many battles, but some of them were new recruits. The cost of lives had already forced them to use reserve troops in some areas. Compared to the Alliance, the Empire had a permanent army. Such core was formed with elite units whose training had been supervised by the most respectable generals of the empire, but the rest of the troops consisted on volunteers and those who didn´t have any job and properties, those that were willing to risk their lives because they had nothing.

Compared to this, the Alliance lacked an army of its own, all his forces consisting on the troops that each member of it was willing to lend for the defense of their land. That allowed them to keep the costs at a minimum at times of peace, but was also a sign of fragility, since every member of the alliance had their own priorities.

"But it seems that Claude had changed that as well" she thought. According to many reports, Claude had been able to unify the control of the Alliance army under him. To achieve so he had to convince most leaders of the Alliance and that wasn´t an easy task in a country marked with the obsession with wealth and power. But even under such circumstances he had been able to unify an unstable country, erecting defenses to avoid any possible invasions from both sides of Fódlan. Even if they were rivals, she couldn´t avoid feeling admiration for the political talent of her rival.

A different matter was the army of the Holy Kingdom. The royal army was permanent like the Empire´s, but the different lords battled at the battlefield next to their own soldiers. The search for glory was strong in those lands, but unexpectedly the Holy Kingdom had been taking a cautious stance on the conflict, avoiding to overcommit under all circumstances. Such reality was really disturbing when she knew that the man ruling the Holy Kingdom dreamed on putting her head on a spike.

"Perhaps is the influence of the Church" she wondered as she walked under the cover of the trees. Even if she was alone, she didn´t fear an attack from her enemies, they were in Empire-controlled lands and she was a capable fighter. Walking alone allowed her to reflect on the many events happening around her and keep her mind busy from mundane worries.

The Church of Seiros was the true enemy to the north and the alliance between the Holy Kingdom and the Church was the greatest menace to the Empire in the war. The Church had proclaimed Dimitri the savior of Fódlan and with its influence it was spreading the believe that the Empire´s objective was to destroy the legacy of the Goddess. It wasn´t surprising that she was depicted as a demon in many of the propaganda documents coming from the Church. As a reaction she had adorned her head with a crown resembling the horns of the demons of the ancient texts as a mockery of the lies of the Church. "If they want to see a demon, they´ll have it" although that was always leaving a sour taste in her mouth.

The forest around her was calm, a gentle breeze caressing the branches around. A few miles away the border of the Alliance and the great bridge was awaiting. In a couple of days, the invasion would begin and like that a new chapter of the war. She was confident that they would be able to secure the bridge, even if could proof to be a difficult task. The thing that was worrying her the most was keeping all of them alive.

The Black Eagles Strike Force had been battling together and she had been able to keep all of them alive, but she knew that they could die at any time. Losing someone else was the thing she feared the most after what had happened five years ago.

"Five years had already passed…The flow of time is really merciless" she muttered. Even now she held dear many of the memories of the past, but such warm memories were covered by the pain of losing someone very dear to her.

"Of all people I never imagined he…" The memories were too painful to say aloud. She knew that Hubert had taken a practical approach regarding that matter, but she had never abandoned hope. The fact that his body had never been discovered after their fall was a sign of hope she wasn´t willing to abandon…but the uncertainty was a lacerating pain that had been piercing her heart ever since.

"Now that I think about it, this very same day five years ago…" It was difficult to believe that five years ago, most people were worrying about the clothes they wanted to wear to the Ball that was taking place the following day. That day all of them made the promise to rencounter no matter what.

"No matter what I´ll return here" she recalled her younger self saying to him when she was still trying to hide her feelings from him. Perhaps if she had been bolder back them, the outcome of the monastery battle could have been a bit different.

"My Teacher…no…Byleth, I wish you were here, I wish you could reunite with all of us once again. All of them are waiting for your return. All of them continue battling for the sake of a better future for this land, for a world where we can place our own rules…but we need someone to guide us as you did in the past. I know that it is my duty to take care of all of them, but…I really wish you could be here. Even if it´s a selfish feeling" hearing her own voice in the middle of the forest was somehow relaxing. Even though no one was listening to her words, to her fears and hopes, hearing her voice filling the air was somehow recomforting her. It was a living proof of her own existence. Her existence was the opportunity to achieve a greater future and she wasn´t hesitating about it. After all, such was the path she had decided to place upon her.

Her attention was caught by a large rock in the middle of the forest. Approaching it, she entered a small area where she could clearly see the night sky. The teachings of the Church said that the stars above them were the tears of the Goddess after witnessing the suffering of humanity after each calamity, but she didn´t believe it. Some scholars of the Empire were already discussing about the nature of such elements, but there was no consensus about it.

"Whatever it could be, the sky is truly magnificent. Byleth I truly wish you were here to see the same sky as I do" she said while sighing.

"Yes, it truly is" said a voice behind her that made her heart jump. Shocked, she suddenly stood up as her eyes searched for the source of the voice. There he was, next to one of the old trees smiling at her as if nothing had happened as if he had just gone for a walk and he had just returned.

"B-Byleth…?" she asked in disbelief, afraid that she was just daydreaming in the middle of the forest.

"It´s been a long time, Edelgard" he said as he slowly started approaching her.