Author's Note: Some events may be deemed insignificant enough or commonly used, so expect little time-jumps here and there unless its significance to the story is absolute. Anyways, besides that, the rest of the Lizardmen cast should finally arrive in this chapter so things could get interesting from here on out. Also, when Tehéx'lol-tek starts initating ritual sacrifices later down the line, expect a mix of horrified and disgusted reactions to such savage and brutal religious practices from the Church of Seiros (especially Rhea) and to a pretty reasonable extent, Edelgard along with the Agarthans.

Another thing to consider when people makes comparison between their respective gods is that whenever sacrifices are made in the Serpent God's name, he not only actively answers his worshipper's prayers (unlike Seiros or Sothis), but does in fact manifest His will on the physical plane in his own way. Just imagine it now, an entire cult of fanatical human worshippers dragging prisoners along with whoever Soték deems appetizing at the time and publically sacrifice them for all to see, only for Soték's blessings and presence to manifest throughout the surrounding landscape... Oh s***, that's something that might possibly happen somehow and Soték could appear in the flesh, which at that point means that anyone that isn't a Lizardmen in Fodlan is super f***ed.

And with that, The Prophet of Soték himself would say the disclaimer today. May you lead us, Almighty Prophet?

Tehéx'lol-tek: Of course, Friend of Soték, Warhammer belongs to Games Workshop and Fire Emblem belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. All other Easter Eggs that are within the chapter belongs to their respective creators and franchises.

And now, the new chapter of The Crests of the Saurian!

Chapter 5

The True Nature of Reptilian Accords

Garreg Mach Monastery, Fodlan

After some weeks of travelling through the mainland on foot from the southernmost tip of the Adrestian Empire, a group of three reptilian individuals have finally arrived at Garreg Mach Monastery, which their fellow Lizardmen await them. As the trio walked towards the main entrance, people begin to whisper and mutter about them consistently whilst they walked by ignoring them as they passed.

They then arrived at the gate of the monastery from which a single gatekeeper stands vigil for any external threats. The gatekeeper, who's used to seeing two of them going in and out along with telling him that there's more of them coming, sees them stop just a dozen or so meters away, taking a glance at the largest of their group, as a single emerges from the group, showing to the gatekeeper a circular pendant with the symbol of Soték on it. The Gatekeeper knew then who they are and says to them rather nonchalantly,

-"It seems that you came a long way to get here, good strangers. One of your friends had already told me of your coming to the monastery. I'll go ahead and let you guys in since a couple of your friends were waiting for your arrival for a few days now. I should probably not keep y'all waiting then. Enjoy your stay here!"

The gatekeeper then opens the gate, allowing the trio to pass through before closing the gate once more. They walked around the monastery until a young olive-haired warmblood come towards them. They can obviously see that he's quite nervous since he partially shaking in place as they gaze upon him before he broke the awkward silence, asking them,

-"U-uh E-excuse me, b-but may I ask w-what are your intentions here?"

To the boy's credit, the group's leader walks up to him and calms him down, in which afterwards tries asking him for direction to the reception hall before they heard sounds of clashing weapons and instead asks for the warmblood to take them to the source of the sound.

-"Oh! O-of course, let me take you there right now, I think your friends might be there around this time."

The warmblood says as he leads them to the training area of Garreg Mach, with no shortage of astonished looks from students and knights alike agape upon the sight of even more Lizardmen coming to their monastery, wondering truly how many more of them are out there in the world. Upon their arrival, the group was met with the Prophet of Soték fighting multiple students from all three houses along with many knights, easily dodging and parrying with superior footwork and eye coordination, analyzing for weakness and opportunities to strike, just as much as he's hitting them back, knocking many to the ground with incredible speed and strength disproportionate until only two remain standing against him. The spectators were awed by the skill and power shown by Tehéx'lol-tek, who has beaten some of the most well known veteran knights by himself, even besting the likes of the Blade Breaker in single combat in under a minute. Dimitri was running out of options other than charge him head on, calling out to the other remaining fighter,

-"Felix, let's attack together so we could have a better chance of defeating him."

-"Don't think of me as a lapdog who you could tell what to do, you damn boar!"

Felix then charged headfirst against the Prophet, trying to attack him from the side, only to have his weapon taken out of his hand as it flies to the other side of the fighting area before being slammed to the ground in the blink of an eye as Tehéx'lol-tek grabs the prince with his other hand, throwing him to the ground. Dimitri tries to get up as the Skink puts his training sword to the prince's face, prompting him to tap the ground to signify his surrender. The Skink then allows them both to get up with Felix walking away with a slight limp while Dimitri smiles at him, giving the reptilian his praise.

-"It appears that despite our best efforts, we couldn't even lay a single scratch on you. I'd imagine that it would've been over much earlier if you decided to use your magic."

Dimitri says to Tehéx'lol-tek, who only nods to him as he gives the training sword to Byleth, who was watching the whole thing nearby to make sure that no one's severly hurt. The professor then turns to the newly arrived group and waves them over as everyone then looks towards the entrance to see three more Lizardmen coming towards them, elicting the same reactions as from earlier.

-"Tlauil-qrek'ekko. Chatz'axyutl. Nax'ih-chek. It is of good fortunes for the three of you to arrive. I presume that the Master of the Heavens is elsewhere at the moment patrolling for our potential enemies on this continent, yes?"

Tlauil-qrek'ekko, Astronomer of the Nocturnal Nebulae and Head Skink Priest of the Invenerable, was a fellow skink, like Tehéx'lol-tek, who had a lean but well-toned body which was semi-melanistic in colouring, with tangerine covering the sides of his neck while the base of his tail is a combination of a deep orange with a dash or red along a white bottom jaw bearing broken turquoise stripes alongside a black dewlap, as bright blue interconnected stipplings of stripes and spots are sported along the flanks with a forked tail of blues and purples. Tlauil-qrek'ekko's head has a shape resembling the fusion of a Culchan Rainbow Whiptail and a Boyd's Emerald Hypsilurus, with a crest that turns into spines as they go down his back eventually stopping at the middle of his tail (search up Last Sword Miniatures skink), which was not only prehensile, but it's slightly longer than his entire body.

He wears an ornate golden mask in the shape of a serpent's mouth with emerald snakes bearing ruby eyes on its sides, a golden crest in the form of a Coatl in its coils emerging from a bejeweled circle with its tail sticking out the front along with two crescents from each side as an intricate arrangement of an ornamental pattern derived from a headdress is custom fitted around the Skink's crest with feathers, including those of standard Skink Priest variant, that adorns the ancient Old Ones relic known as the Star Helm of Astromantic Destinies. (for reference, look up Micheal Verhaaf for the warrior priest(including the back part of the concept) along with the Ixchel(snake from 1, tail and crescent arrangement from 4) and Kukulkan masks respectively.) Tlauil-qrek'ekko also bears circular earrings made from shards of blue plasma time crystals in the shape of a twin-tailed comet with blackened horns of ivory coming out of a dragon fish's mouth along with tassels made out of Paolumu fur as a right nose piercing of blue-green beads connect to the earring. A necklace consisting of beads and precious rocks with a massive pendant depicting a jaguar's head in the center is hung around the Skink's neck. On his left shoulder is a shoulderplate that resembles the top half of a inlaid human skull with gold decor atop it while the shoulderplate itself rests atop shoulderpads,. Draped around his right shoulder is a cloak, which was put atop of a cape taken from Shahmaran of the Order of Spheres, made from snake scales woven by the Lustrian Crimson Skull Bark Spider whilst a collection of Steel Uragaan scales, which were moulded into another shoulderplate, sit atop it as a form of protection, with both shoulders bearing the wings of the Feathered Serpents of Soték. The Skink has feathered arm cloaks on both arms (Last Sword Miniatures) with the left arm having a golden armplate while the right arm has bracelets of gold and beaded stones, both hands clad in fingerless hard-knuckle sapper gloves. Tlauil-qrek'ekko also wears the Faulds of the White Balam (Simon Duboc, Project of the Balam: white balam variant 2) with his left shin having plating which bears a similar pattern to his mask whilst his sandals have a 3x4 rectangles made from emerald with vines going between the toes attaching to the sandal along with stone circles bearing gold edging lie at the back of them.

Initially, the Slann were taken aback when he spawned, wondering about this new anomaly for decades, while the Skink Priest proved time and time again his service to the cause of the Great Plan, before it was concluded that he was personally blessed by the Old Ones known as Tepok, Uxmac, and Xholankha; Tepok gifting him immense foresight similar to that of another famous Skink Priest Tetto'ekko along with an otherworldly presence like the Arcane Rayfinned Lung Drakes of Lustria. Uxmac, being the messenger which heralds the Children of the Old Ones receiving a turn of the tides via premonitions of good fortunes befalling them for the coming future. And lastly Xholanka, to herald his return from his all-but impossible mission from the empty void in the form of an ability to summon forth several floating monolith which have many capabilities and purposes along with the Staff of the Solar Tempest's Eye, a recently found artifact that's said to have been wielded by Xholankha himself.

Chatz'axyutl, He Who Stalks Unseen, The Unseeable and Master Assassin of the Vanguards of Silence, was a Chameleon Skink of exceptional prestiege who's designed for camouflage, espionage, assassination along with many other purposes that involves stealth. He has a larger 'frill' than most of his brethren, with two 'brow horns jutting out of his head along with two nose horns which curve upwards. His skin color is a mix of greens, blues, yellows, and reds with a pattern of black and white that has the resemblance of a combination between the Southlands Carpet Chameleon and the Dragon Isles Furcifer Chameleon.

He wears more appropiate clothing for his position compared to the other skinks, consisting of a short sleveless vest with a symbol of Huanchi, being a jaguar's paw, on the back, wearing a green waistcloth with red and gold outlining, along with a jaguar head pelt on his head and neck partially going over his vest. The Chameleon Skink also wears a full set of Karuta-gane armor beneath his vest and over the waistcloth for extra defense with his tough skin along with his feet having shin guards woven from reinforced spider-silk and magical charms to not leave behind footsteps or any sound that could be made,. Finally, he has several species of poisonous and venomous fauna placed on his person such as Lustian Dart Frogs, Twin-tailed Bushmasters, Banana Tarantulas, along with various deadly plants to be utlizied for a specific purpose.

When Chatz'axyutl was spawned 200 years prior, he was blessed by the Jaguar God Huanchi, from which the Chameleon Skink recieved the cold steel multi-barreled scoped blowgun called the Fury of Huanchi's Fangs and the legendary magical recurve bow known as Paititi's Sight, which compelled him to create the Vanguard of Silence, an elite force of Skink Skirmishers and Assassins to harass and tire the enemy as the main force approaches. It was he who singled out the disguised enemy leader of the Daemonic Legions of Tzeentch, a Lord of Change by the name of Caimzaiz the Blazebender amongst the Lizardmen's own territory who managed to lead 99 sorcerers to the door of the main bridge within the Legacy of the Ancients before his demise along with the coven of sorcerers at the assassin's hand. So dedicated, observant, and so eternally watchful he is at his job that many amongst the Children of the Old Ones believe that Huanchi himself influences the mortal plane through Chatz'axyutl.

Nax'ih-chek, The Last Wandering Spirit Guardian of Lustria, Revered Ancient of the First Spawning, Lord of the Titanic Beasts, and He who befriended the Progenitor God, is a blizzard piebald Kroxigor of truly colossal size, being as tall, if not taller, than most of the prehistoric monsters at the Lizardmen's disposal at a titanic 11.7 meters tall due to his extremely old age being speculated by Skink Priests and even Slann to be around 9,700 to 14,750 years old.

His giant head is very reminiscent to the Kapropiranha Crocodiles of Piranha Swamp being boar-like with multiple pairs of tusk-like teeth in a similar structure to the Zlatan Defiant Greatmaws along with acutal Lizz-esque tusks, a wide curved horn pointing towards the skull and a brow-crest resembling those of the almighty and god-tier Dread Saurians whilst two pairs of Moonlost red spines that each have three points; one for the back of the head and the other larger pair near the end of the tail. His face being heavily scarred from millenia of unending from the world-that-was, with a couple of broken teeth from that one time when he bit through a Fatalis' hide during a battle within the ruins of a castle known as Schrade. Fish-like gills and a neck frill along with a spinosaurid-like dewlap adorns his thick neck while large leaf-like spines and spikes run down his back to where his tail meets his lower torso with a Transapient and Neo-Earth crocodilian-like tail, looking similar to the black creatures known as Sobek-class Grimm Nax'ih-chek slew on a world called Remnant from which his shoulders, stomach, and lower mandible also share resemblances to. His overall body has an osteodermate-like armor that compliments the bulky and muscular build with 'thicc' and chunky legs with crocodilian-like scales and feet.

Nax'ih-chek's helmet was custom made to accommodate for the natural features on his head, which is also a combination of the three variants of Ancient Kroxigor helms, with the addition of feathers on each, whilst having the signature 'helm-tusks' on the side along with the two golden serpents being placed atop the 'tusks', a nose horn with a golden rectangular plaque along with a Guan Dao made of obsinite and black adamantium and the two pairs of ivory horns arranged at the back flanking the red spines. Upon Nax'ih-chek's neck is a miniaturized collar and accessory that would've been put on the Dread Saurian whilst a collar of various pendants, bones, and Skaven, Orc, and human skulls lies array on his neck. His arms bear the Gauntlets of Quetli, being kroxi-guardian power fists with the decor and spikes of two of the Sacred Kroxigor Geomantic Power Gauntlets combined with designs of the standard Ancient Kroxigor's bladed rerebrace and those that would later inspire the Varja-Mushti Gauntlet Relic of Fodlan. The back plates have obsidian 'squares' along with carved luminescent horns carved from golden-clad beasts called Kulve Taroth depicting the Temple-Cities of old and of Lustria's Prehistoric Dragons while his lower jaw, ribcage, upper arms, shoulders, the thighs down to his feet and 6 feet of his tail are clad in Kroxi-Guardian Tortuga Armor.

Nax'ih-chek, unbeknowst to most of the Lizardmen in the fleet, was in fact one of the sole survivors of the First Spawning of all Kroxigors after the Great Catastrophe, presumed dead until his reemergence during the End Times fighting battle after battle against the Skaven hordes. Knowing that Lustria is lost, Nakai the Wanderer told his fellow spawn-sibling that his true destiny lies with the survival of the Old One's primordial custodians to find a way to restore the Great Plan elsewhere. As for what happened to him, Nakai gave his final hours battling against the full might of Clan Pestilens at the Final Battle of Itza alongside other legendary warriors such as Gor-Rok, Chakax, Kroq-Gar, Oxyotl, Tiktaq'to and Tehenhauin; all of which voluntarily decided to defy the orders given to them to evacuate and stayed behind for one final stand, knowing that they would inevitably die, with the thousands upon thousands of remaining Lizardmen who can't get onto the Exodus Fleets, as the Serpent God Soték himself manifesting onto the battlefield with Lord Kroak destroying the majority of what was once Mannslieb, to stall the Vermintide whilst their kin retreat to beyond the stars as Lustria drew its last...dying breath when the moon chunks came crashing down. The Kroxigor Ancient vowed he would have redemption and vengeance against the Old One's enemies for what happened to the once beautiful paradise the Children of the Old Ones called home.

Tlauil-qrek'ekko nodded as the sound of a loud shriek fills the sky as a winged form rapidly descends to the ground, before pulling up its large wingspan just a couple dozen feet to the ground as it makes a few laps around the entire monastery before landing safely to the ground near the fishing pond, a place the Lizardmen particularly like for certain reasons. The assembled Lizardmen along with Byleth and a lot of the students quickly come over to see this new arrival, in the form of a Skink, as Ar'racx, who just returned from a patrol outside the monastery, also came over, realizing that this particular individual is one of the Pahaux Sentinels regiment of Terradon Riders.

-"Ni anilitia máanen se ihkuilol in Slann in le múuch reunido u se yankiuk task inon k'a'abet amomediate óolal in region ixmatili as Duscur. Teuatl mayo manila in assistance u warmbloods tikpia oyokoya aliados ika nik paleui navigate tetsalan in region."

Relayed the Skink sentinel before he took off to the skies once more, leaving the amassed crowd in wonder before dispersing yet again, talking about the monastery having cold-blooded visitors come in twice in a single day as they went back to normalcy. Dimitri took the opportunity to walk up to them along with Byleth and the Blue Lions so he could ask to come with them since they understood the words Duscur, navigate, and region very well. Dimitri got their attention before he began by saying,

-"Pardon us for barging in, but I heard the word Duscur in what I presume is a message from your leader, so I was wondering if we can come with you? Besides, our next mission won't come for another week and it would give us at least some good experience."

The royal prince asked politely as the rest of the Blue Lions were mostly in agreement along with Byleth. Ar'racx knew that without the man-spawn's assistance, they would potentially be lost and probably put into an ambush by the natives or worse, so he said yes only if Archbishop Rhea allowed it. The humans then went off to ask for Rhea's consent, most likely yes, the Oldblood pondered, since Dimitri was right about it giving them precious battle experience for the near future.

Tlauil'qrek-ekko was also in thought of something else before the fishing pond darkened, gazing his eyes into it as they began to glow with starlight. The Lizardmen looked at the Skink Priest as time itself began to slow whilst the pond to begin to swirl with aetheric energies into a storm with bated breath for what seemed like an eternity about what visions has he been given. Then, time began to resume as everything suddenly went back to normal as if nothing happened at all, with Tlauil-qrek'ekko's eyes beginning to lose the glow as he returned to the present. The Oldblood caught the Astronomer as he began to fall to the ground, temporarily dazed by the events that occured.

-"What did you see in the visions, Tlauil-qrek'ekko?" Ar'racx asked, summing up the Lizardmen's thoughts into a single sentence. The Skink supported himself back up as he looked around for a moment before turning to the group with grim but determined eyes.

-"It seems that the visions revealed to me about this Duscur harboring hidden secrets beneath the surface. Secrets that could spell a repeat of the Great Catastrophe from the world-that-was with the potential to see the Great Plan in ruins once more. But we can prevent this by journeying there as soon as we're able, for Fodlan must persevere if we were to enact the will of the Old Ones."

Realizing what stakes are brought forth if this isn't addressed, the Lizardmen quickly depart to a secret and secure place in the dead of night, within the Greenhouse as Tehéx'lol-tek creates a portal to the Dragon Isles so preparations could be made for this next potential step. Unbeknownst to the reptiles as they cross into the portal, Hubert, Edelgard's black-haired retainer, spots them while the portal itself stay open as Hubert walks over to put his arm into it... only for him to be given an electric shock as he pulls his hand back. Seeing that he could do absolutely nothing, at the very least, Hubert could ensure no one else could see it by standing watch in the shadows as the retainer begins to think of contingencies about what to do with the Lizardmen.

A/N:

And so the Team has been given a task from the Slann to investigate malign portents in the region of Duscur. Perhaps it's something that could either change the course of Fodlan's history prematurely... or be nothing more than something that needs killing. Perhaps when that happens, Byleth and the Blue Lions could see another side to the Lizardmen they haven't seen yet, such as when they're going full throttle on the 'Dealers of Death' pedal. But, if it's enough to get the Slann's attention, it could be something like a preview of what's coming to the world of Fodlan, we'll see what happens.

Please stay tuned for the next chapter of The Crests of the Saurian!

Have a good day as always.