Byleth awoke with a throbbing pain in the back of her head. "Urg…" She tried to urge her weak body up, but even if she did succeed, she would be stopped by the chains holding her. The professor fell back to the ground, already exhausted from the slightest exertion.
"Ah, the all-powerful Fell Star has finally awakened," said a raspy voice coming from the darkness.
"Who's t-there?" Byleth asked weakly, staring into the darkness for any hint of who could be hiding in the shadows.
"Ah, that's not important currently. The important thing here is you." He said, and Byleth could've groaned.
But she settled for, "W-what do y-you mean…?"
"I'm sure you know already, but I don't see the harm in explaining. You see, Fell Star, you have a connection to the goddess, Sothis. And that may be a problem for our future plans. So, logically, it makes sense to get rid of you at your weakest. Which one of ours helped cause." He responded, and you could hear the grin in his voice.
Byleth attempted a confused look, "What exactly do y-you mean?"
"I mean what I say, and you know exactly what's going on, do not pretend you do not. I've had many chances to observe you." He said, still grinning.
"How…?" Byleth asked, thoughts running through her foggy head. "Wait… Don't tell me."
"Ah, you figured it out," She could hear some magic, and heard and cane clicking towards her. The voice spoke again but in a different, kinder sounding voice this time. "Nobody would ever suspect a kind, helpful, old librarian."
Byleth's eyes widened, and the man stepped into the light, in the form of Tomas. "T-Tomas? But… You never did anything suspicious."
"That's exactly the point, but dear child, I am not the real Tomas." He transformed into a pale old man with one pitch-black eye. "My real name is Solon."
Byleth shook her head, "How c-could I be so d-dumb…? The threat w-was right in front of m-me the whole time…?"
"Correct, Fell Star." He said with a smirk.
Sothis decided to take this time to show herself to Byleth. "This is certainly not good." She said, composure calm, but a hint of panic in her voice.
"No kidding," Byleth muttered.
"What was that?" Solon asked, suspicious.
"Nothing, I w-was just thinking…" She said quietly.
"Oh, don't worry about me killing you." He said, and he smirked. "One more thing about Wyvern Fever. If left untreated, it will kill the victim." On that note, he turned and walked away.
Sothis sighed. "I'd love to blame you for this, but in any situation, we likely would have gotten captured. We can't even use Divine Pulse, without exhausting you to the point of death. The best thing we can do now is pray and wait."
Byleth nodded tiredly, the energy she had used already exhausting her.
"You can sleep. I won't judge you, this is quite a lot." Sothis said, to which Byleth did not respond, already asleep.
"You'll make it. Even without me backing you up, you're strong enough to handle this." Sothis said quietly, and faded away again, leaving the room nearly entirely black.
A/N: *shows up two days late holding seventh Coke Zero in two hours* So, hello, I guess. This one was really short, compared to the last one, but online schoolwork cuts down on my writing and posting time. Sorry about that. Next one will be longer than this though. And if it all goes well, a memory from Claude. That may sound dumb, but it's like the A-Support conversation, but Claude is supporting Byleth this time. Well, that's all for now. See ya.
