Flames flicker in opened palms. Silver hair flows with the breeze of chilly air, the soft sensation causes the flames in her hands to flicker. Lilac eyes peer down at the swirling white flames, pitying the spirit that had moved from the mortal realm. "How tragic," Edelgard sighs quietly, her hands clamping together before a red aura forms from her fingertips and down to her arms, "your stay in the underworld will be nothing but misery."
Humans are flawed creatures. Edelgard was never fond of humans, as they were nothing but trouble when paths met with theirs. Her experiences with humans have been a burden on her shoulders. A death god is what she is-and death was all she knew. Her time severing the ties of life with her weapon of choice, Amyr , was always quick and painless. Despite taking loved ones from humans, she held complicated feelings towards them. Edelgard knows that she had grown accustomed to mingling with the living, but at the cost of seeing despair grab at the heart of a person, and crushing it without remorse.
For a deity with the ability to strip life away, it wasn't always easy. Humans valued life, and they certainly clung to it as a priceless treasure. They also gave death a cold shoulder, a blind eye, until it was too late. They would always voice their grief, concerns, despair...and Edelgard many times during her role as a death god simply watched as many grieved over lifeless bodies. She would watch burials or cremations. Gifts of flowers were often bestowed to graves as a way to portray respect but to also keep memories close to their hearts.
Life is unforgiving. Edelgard knows the reality of life. It's why people attempt to live the best life they can. Gods were immortal. They aged up to a point and they continue to keep a certain form as numbers rise from years passing by. Life would make time an enemy, turning youth to old age and simply introducing death during the period. Sometimes, death would acquire lives simply out of cruelty. Disease and famine were common within this age after all.
White flames flicker and disappear, and the warmth within Edelgard's palms cease to exist. She closes her eyes, shielding lilac eyes. It's never easy, she would tell herself, feeling the ache clamor at her chest. She was a special kind of grim reaper, one who had the ability to empathize and feel the emotions and thoughts of the deceased.
"Are you done here, Edelgard?" she hears a male voice nearby, footsteps approaching her.
Her thoughts were interrupted, but she allows lilac eyes to view the world again and she turns to face her greeter. "I'm done, Ferdinand. I just finished up."
Ferdinand eyes at her and nods, seeing that there wasn't a trace of mortal life around them both. "I was wondering what took you so long. The others have been waiting."
"My apologies," Edelgard speaks, though her tone was devoid of any emotion, "I'll meet up with you in a bit."
Ferdinand agrees, and he leaves Edelgard to her own solitude. Edelgard finds herself feeling the emptiness return back to her heart. Sending spirits from the mortal realm and into the underworld took quite some time and energy from her end, only because she took the luxury of time to provide the most comfortable route for the lingering spirits. On normal occasions, death gods would often either devour the lingering spirits or send them to the underworld in the most quick-fashioned method possible. Edelgard would take the time to comfort the spirits and gently allow them to drift to the spirit realm for their next chosen path.
Something always drew her towards human spirits-their complexity fascinated her despite how appalled she was of them. Despite how wary she is of them, she also grew to enjoy learning the truth about each soul she encounters. It was equivalent to a child going to a library and reading all of the books on display. Each spirit held such a rich history. Some were amusing, some were plain. Some were downright awful , and some were tragic. Each person was both their own hero and their own villain. It fascinated Edelgard, even more, when she found two spirits that knew each other. The "story" would unfold even more and add further depth.
Wings flare and stretch. Edelgard realizes how tense she had been when dealing with sending the spirit to the afterlife. She allows the red hue of her aura to envelop her, allowing herself to disperse into a conspiracy of ravens, the cry of ravens echo in the now abandoned area she's in. It's her way of avoiding attacks from humans, but to also teleport to her designation.
"She's here," Ferdinand answers, seeing the ravens flock together to form Edelgard's entire being.
"I apologize," she answers, sighing softly to herself, "I was occupied."
"As usual." Edelgard hears her fellow companion speak, "you've grown soft."
Edelgard allows her lilac eyes to stare at her speaker, almost glaring for the remark, "I have not, Caspar. It harms no one to have time alone."
Caspar grins a bit, "well you are soft, Edelgard. Softer than before ."
"You have taken more time with spirits now. Unlike before, you used to pass them on quickly without much thought," Ferdinand chips in, "that is not an issue. It's just an interesting observation."
"I see." Edelgard understands where her companions are coming from. It would be a lie to herself to say that she never did care for humans to some degree. She held a complex history with them after all.
Ferdinand signs, hand on his hip, "we still need to figure out what to do to with those pesky Agarthans."
"Right!? They keep making us work nonstop and they're killing innocent humans!" Caspar punches the palm of his hand, "if only I can just beat them up all at the same time. Sadly that's impossible and we don't even know where the infestation began in the first place!"
Edelgard pinches the bridge of her nose, lilacs disappear from closed eyelids to give herself a moment of respite as Caspar exclaims his words. She recovers shortly after. "All we know is that the goddess hiding as an archbishop at Garreg Mach has ordered all knights to kill any death gods who are taking human spirits away from Fodlan. It's keeping us from claiming the spirits that need to pass into the afterlife."
"Of course," Ferdinand frowns, "with her culling our ranks, it's keeping us from doing our duties...and allowing lingering souls to rot from inside out...turning these innocent humans into ghouls which further possess and infect others in the long run."
Agarthans. Ghouls formed from human lives that have not been sent into the afterlife by a death god. Without the gods that ruled the afterlife, spirits would certainly rule the mortal realm and overtake the population for their own greed. Dark. Insidious. Nothing but demonic beasts who fed and grew. They even had the ability to possess the gods themselves. It had been a growing concern in the spirit realm to deal with the lingering threat up above-humans wielded god slaying weapons that could cut away any deity's existence away.
"It's why I've been planning to take the situation into my own hands," Edelgard remarks, knowing she had planned for this for several years now, "the majority of us have no idea what to do, but I have some ideas-risky ideas, but without risk and sacrifice, we won't get results."
"Edelgard," Ferdinand frowns again, concern oozes from his expression and in his voice. "If you do what you have told Hubert and I...I'm afraid it's too risky-your life, your entire existence could cease to exist if it fails."
"I know."
"Even so, Hubert would be devastated! Your father as well as the rest of your friends-even your-"
"I know, Ferdinand." Edelgard interrupts, knowing what he was going to put in the last sentence. The vision of blood staining tiled, cold ground enters her mind; her memories begin to overtake her senses, just for a little bit. She shakes them off. "But we can't just sit around twiddling our thumbs. None of us know what to do. None of us have any ideas of what may work. Except for me. I'm the only one who can do this."
"Hey, you're not the only one." Caspar interjects, "you got us. You got every death god's support. You got some humans to support you as well. Like Dorothea. Don't carry this all by yourself okay? One person can't do everything."
Trusting her fellow companions would only further add to the burden on her shoulders. It felt like she was a god holding up the entire world on her shoulders. Edelgard sighs through her nose and she keeps silent-a way for her to gather her thoughts together when internal turmoil would rattle inside of her. If they perished for her ideals, it would only plague her with the darkness growing inside of her chest. In a sense, Edelgard feared for the loss of her own sanity. Feared for losing control of her emotions.
"I don't want you to risk your neck for my ideals," she responds after a while, "if you were to do so, however, I want you to use your head and proceed wisely." I don't want to lose anyone else.
"Right. Well, I know I have you and the others to help me move forward," Caspar rubs the back of his neck, "I'm not really the smartest person out there, but I want to help you Edelgard. You are really kind, even if you appear arrogant, cold even."
"I agree with Caspar for once." Ferdinand answers as well, sighing, "and I agree with you Edelgard. We have lost many over the years due to Rhea's orders. We need someone to start a wave of change. You have my support as well as many others."
"Thank you."
Edelgard wasn't the best with gratitude. She showed her emotions in subtle ways rather than explicitly expressing them with words. Still, she can tell the way Caspar stood proud and ready, and the way Ferdinand would nod his head in her direction that they truly believed in her ideals-her goals. It wasn't flawless , but it was incredibly risky. She couldn't help but smile at them both in return. They were her longest known companions (including Hubert), and she knew she could trust them.
"I need to speak with Dorothea and Lysithea. I trust that you two would use your own judgment for how you proceed next."
Ferdinand and Caspar nod and the flurry of ravens overtake Edelgard's small frame, allowing herself to become one with the conspiracy of ravens. The caws and cries of ravens echo in the desolate area, and she disappears-back to the mortal realm.
"How truly kind she is…" Ferdinand sighs once Edelgard is out of range, "she denies any claim of ever being kind...but her actions, her ideals...are the kindest of them all."
"Sadly it's because of what happened years ago," Caspar replies, shaking his head, "I wonder when she'll acknowledge that being kind is a strength itself?"
Ravens cry and circle around in the alleyway of the opera. Edelgard stretches herself once stabilized into the mortal plane, and she looks around-in case there were strangers and threats lurking around. The silver-haired goddess sneaks further into the alleyway, allowing the darkness to consume her; light seldom reaches these parts, and often many are too paranoid to use this area in case of ghouls and other criminals lurking around. She keeps walking. Edelgard ends up underground and finally, into the underground area of the opera.
"Dorothea," she breathes out, noticing her human companion humming to herself, waiting. "I apologize for taking a while. I had to talk to Ferdinand and Caspar."
A giggle emits from the brunette, her smile matches the tenderness in emerald eyes, "quite alright, Edie. You're a busy goddess after all."
Edelgard feels her hands held by the singer's, a small kiss is planted on her cheek; it's Dorothea's classic greeting to loved companions-one that took several months to adjust to. "True, however, you know why I'm here." She feels her cheeks warm for a few minutes, "any reports about Garreg Mach?"
Dorothea sighs once she releases the deity's hands, finger gently twirling and mingling with brown hair. "It seems that they have a person rising in the ranks with the knights. She's the Blade Breaker's daughter, and Rhea's personal favorite person to dispatch when it comes to killing the gods."
Wings flare out instinctively, menacingly. Edelgard narrows her lilac eyes, suspicious. "Have you gotten a name?"
"Yes actually. She and her father visited the opera here not too long ago-to rid of one of the lower-tiered gods from taking a life here. Byleth Eisner. That's her name."
Byleth Eisner. Edelgard blinks, her gaze downcasts for a brief moment to think to herself. She looks back up to Dorothea shortly after, "If she is rising to the ranks, then it's adding to the plate of burdens that we have. The Blade Breaker is difficult to deal with, but to add her into that fray? How unexpected."
"Not only that Edie," Dorothea leans forward, whispering into her ear, "she wields the Sword of the Creator too-the sword that is said to be crafted from Sothis's magic."
"The Sword of the Creator? This changes my plans entirely."
Dorothea frowns, "I know, Edie. You work so hard to make sure humans and gods can live in peace…"
"How's Lysithea?" Edelgard chips in, there is a tinge of worry that itches itself into her voice-she views Lysithea like a younger sister after all. "I do hope she hasn't gotten herself hurt or killed by the Knights of Seiros-"
"She hasn't." Dorothea interrupts, her hand gently caressing Edelgard's cheek to soothe her anxiety, "she's careful. She masks her form to look like us. She hates being seen as a child, but it benefits us all. She's here right now piecing together information. You can talk to her in a bit if you'd like."
"I would like that," Edelgard takes Dorothea's hand into her own, using the warmth from her human companion to further soothe her concerns, "thank you for letting me know."
The singer smiles and there is a small giggle that emits from her. "You're too kind, Edelgard. Kind to us humans...kind to gods…"
Memories dominate the silver-haired woman's mind, and she remembers the cursed scene playing like a play in the theater. Blood. Blood staining the ground in front of her, Amyr in her hand, dripping of the crimson essence of life. She remembers a woman's voice, speaking to her during her state of frenzy . Guilt begins to climb up in her chest, and blackened wings flare out even more before Edelgard grasps control of her thoughts, her body and forces it to relax again.
"Humans are complex creatures," Edelgard speaks, her tone suddenly distant, "they can't escape life or death-they fear death and fear adversity. They blame their misery on the gods-"
Dorothea smiles, knowing .
"-blaming them for everything, also holding us on the podium of worship...some may believe that is a good way to live life."
The way Dorothea looks at Edelgard-it drives her up the roof with tension. The way everyone who liked her would look at her; the same tenderness and understanding that she herself cannot seem to grasp. Not knowing what they were thinking is what causes her to be cold.
"I am not kind to humans at all."
Dorothea's smile widens at that sentence.