Some news after this chapter, which starts to add focus to something I've wanted to use in the story.

Chapter 33 – Song of Snow (Pegasus Moon)

Anna scowled as she shut another book in the library. She had been pouring over numerous texts from the restricted section but had not found anything pertaining to her search. She was beginning to think there wasn't anything to find that could help her figure out what Rhea wanted Byleth for.

Just as she got up to put her current book back on the shelf, Dorothea entered the library and, upon seeing Anna's frustration, asked, "Hey, Anna. What's with the frown?"

"Oh, hey Dorothea," Anna answered. "I've been looking through some of the restricted section. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what Rhea wanted By for in the Holy Tomb."

"I'm guessing you haven't had any luck so far?"

"Nada. I'm starting to think Seteth might've already cleared it of anything that could give me a hint, or maybe what I'm looking for was never here to begin with. But I have to keep searching, for By's sake."

Dorothea said nothing to this. She too had to wonder what Rhea was trying to do in the Holy Tomb, and why the Archbishop had asked her to sing. What was the ceremony's true purpose if it wasn't so Byleth could hear Sothis's words?

It made the singer think back to when Byleth revealed that Sothis, whether she was a god or not, had shared her soul with Byleth's. But Byleth couldn't hear or see her anymore, not since the incident in the Sealed Forest. Sothis had given her power to Byleth to save herself from Solon's spell and ultimately defeat the necromancer.

Anna then said, "Maybe I'm not looking in the right place. Care to help me check, Dorothea?"

"In the restricted section?" asked the brunette.

"Yeah, Seteth gave me permission to check it out when I was looking for the House Ernest vault. Maybe I've missed something."

Dorothea walked over to the restricted section and began checking the books with Anna. Most of them weren't of interest to them, however, either containing unrelated reports, old maps, or other irrelevant material.

After several minutes of searching, Dorothea saw a scroll in the back of the restricted section. The parchment was light blue, and bits of frost clung to the scrap of paper, despite that the library was warm inside. Curious, Dorothea pulled the parchment from its place on the shelf and unfurled it. The words and design on it were completely alien to her, written in a tongue she had never seen before, while showing a stylized winter storm in its center.

But there was one thing on the scroll she did recognize: music notes. Despite that she could not understand the letters, Dorothea could tell a set of lyrics when she saw it.

"Hey, Anna, look at this," said Dorothea. "It's some kind of song."

Anna set down another book and walked over to look at the scroll.

"Where'd you find this one?" asked the redhead.

"In the back of the restricted section. But I don't know what it says. Do you have any idea what it means?"

"No, I've never seen this script. Lemme see if I can find something to help translate it."

Anna walked off to the dictionaries in the library, containing books on various languages and translations. Thumbing through the books, Anna could not find anything that looked remotely like the letters on the scroll. Yet something about the scroll seemed familiar to her.

Meanwhile, as Dorothea continued to look at the letters and diagram on the scroll, the letters adorning it began to glow a faint blue. It almost looked as if the diagram was moving.

Dorothea's eyes began to shimmer with blue light, contrasting her green eyes, as she stared at the scroll, as if in a trance.

Then, without even realizing, she began to sing.

Comilito equinus

Orbitas lacuna

Anna briefly stopped her search and looked on as Dorothea sang, utterly confused at what the diva was doing.

G'odhun A'l Korok

Boda U'hm

Boda U'hm ron'kashal

Detrimentum a do sola ditas

As Dorothea sang the words, Anna suddenly felt a chill in the air within the library. It was as if all the warmth of the nearby fires was being sucked away.

An Karanir Thanagor

Mor Ok Angalor

Mor Ok Gorum

Pala Ah'm

Ravali Ah'm

Dorothea's body began to shimmer as Mana coalesced around her, the diva not realizing what was happening around her.

"Dorothea, what are you doing?" Anna finally asked. "Hey, Dorothea?"

Dorothea did not acknowledge the merchant and continued to sing. As she did, the candles and torches in the library were suddenly extinguished by a freezing wind, and Anna began to shiver as the cold chilled her to the bone.

Comilito equinus

Orbitas lacuna

G'odhun A'l Korok

Boda U'hm

Boda U'hm ron'kashal

Detrimentum a do sola ditas

The magic around Dorothea was now creating a blizzard around her, sending icy winds through the halls of Garreg Mach Monastery.

Alarmed, Anna realized what the diva had uncovered: a Hymnos spell. And the girl had no control over it, or over herself.

An Karanir Thanagor

Mor Ok Angalor

"Dorothea, stop!" Anna shouted. "Stop singing! Doro– AAH!"

Anna had tried to reach out to grab Dorothea, intending to literally shake her out of her trance, but when she reached into the small blizzard surrounding her, she almost froze her hand through her glove.

Dorothea kept on singing.

Mor Ok Gorum

Pala Ah'm

Ravali Ah'm

For a moment, Anna wondered if she would have to hurt the diva to get her to stop. If she didn't do something, Dorothea was going to freeze the whole monastery.

But just as Dorothea was about to sing the verses again, she let out a loud "AAH!" as she was dealt a quick, firm hand chop to her left shoulder. She stopped singing, and the magic surrounding her quickly dispersed as she fell to her knees.

Dorothea nursed her shoulder as she said, in confusion, "H-Huh? What was I… what just happened?"

"Dorothea? Are you alright?" asked Anna as she rushed to the diva's side as Dorothea nursed her shoulder.

"I-I think so. But – ow, my–"

The two turned to see who had snapped the diva out of her trance. To their surprise, Madame Jiayi was giving them a comforting smile. Surprisingly, she didn't have a trace of frost on her.

"You would be wise to take more care when studying a Hymn Scroll, Dorothea Arnault," said Jiayi. "They have a tendency to draw their readers into unleashing their magic."

"A Hymn Scroll?" Dorothea asked in bafflement as she stood up. "Wait, what are you–"

"Fortunately," Jiayi interrupted, "the weather outside is already quite frigid, so your little accident has not caused any significant damage."

Dorothea wanted to ask what Jiayi meant but stopped when she saw the large amount of frost that had built up in the library, as well as in the hall outside. Surprised, Dorothea stepped out of the library to see the frost and snow was reaching down the hall. The torches lining the hall had all been blown out. There were even several blocks of ice that had formed on the floor.

Her eyes widened as Dorothea said, "D-Did I do that?!"

"Unintentionally, but yes," said Jiayi. "I expect several in the building are going to be quite uncomfortable for the next few hours."

Dorothea realized in horror the implication of what Jiayi had said. If the seamstress hadn't stopped her, who knows what kind of damage she could have caused?

The diva stammered, "I-I-I… I didn't mean to…"

"No one blames you, child," said Jiayi. "Yet I must ask how you came across such a rare find."

"She said it was in the restricted section," said Anna. "But hold on a second, Jiayi. You know about Hymnos magic?"

"Yes. I'm something of a subject expert on the matter."

"You are?" Dorothea asked incredulously.

Jiayi walked over to the scroll and looked at it as she said, "Ah, I thought as much. You've stumbled across a very powerful one. It's colloquially known today as the Grand Blizzard Sonata. The old name is rather difficult to pronounce."

"Grand Blizzard Sonata?" asked Anna.

"Most in the world think the Fimbulvetr spell is the greatest of ice magic, but they would be wrong. This spell is unequivocally the mightiest of frost spells in the world, and it is also the most dangerous of them all. Uncontrolled it… well, you already have a good idea of what it can do. I've seen this spell used to plunge entire cities into a sudden freezing winter. Needless to say, it is not to be used lightly."

Even more horrified at what could have happened, Dorothea had her hands to her mouth as she said, "I… I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't–"

"Dorothea? What's going on?" said Byleth as she ran onto the scene. "Anna, what happened here?"

"By! It's, umm…" Anna struggled to find the right words.

"As I was explaining to your friends, Lady Eisner," Jiayi said, "Miss Arnault happened upon a rare Hymn Scroll and it enthralled her into releasing its Hymn. Fortunately, I was on hand to stop her before she went too far with it. She did not use this spell knowingly, nor willingly."

Byleth looked at the scroll as it glistened with frost.

"We should get rid of it, then," Byleth said as she reached for the frozen parchment.

"That would be quite pointless," Jiayi said as she snatched the scroll away from Byleth's grasp. "The scroll only serves as a record of the ancient magic, not as its source. Besides, you'd be lucky to ever see more than one in a lifetime. An item of such rarity mustn't be destroyed so callously."

"But–"

Jiayi raised a finger to Byleth's lips, silencing her as she continued, "In addition, a spell is not good or evil by itself. It is only in how it is used that determines its morality. Even Hymnos, some of the most powerful magic to exist in this world, does not conform to society's notions of good or evil."

"Good or bad, it's still dangerous," said Byleth.

"So is a sword, especially if used improperly, yet you still wield the Sword of the Creator. But I have seen others use Hymns in a manner that benefits those around it. Even this Hymn has been used in a way that has saved lives in the past."

Byleth wanted to object, but she realized Jiayi wasn't going to budge on the matter.

"You needn't worry, Lady Eisner. I will keep this safe. And I doubt Miss Arnault will be too eager to use it again soon, or at least not so unwisely."

Sighing, Byleth said, "Fine. I'll trust you on this, Madame Jiayi."

Jiayi smiled at this and said, "In any event, you surely have more important matters to attend to, yes? I'll leave you to them, then."

The seamstress left the library with the scroll as Byleth turned her attention back to Dorothea, who was clearly still mortified by what she had unleashed.

…

"You mean a song did all this?" Annette asked in surprise.

Some of the former students had gathered with Byleth, Dorothea and Anna in the main hall, with Caspar busy clearing away some of the ice that had built up.

As he broke off another chunk of ice with a hatchet, Caspar said, "Never knew a song could be so dangerous."

"Y-Yeah, me neither," Alicia said uneasily. "I can't use magic, but… knowing something like this could happen just by singing? That's scary."

"That is not how it works in the slightest," said Constance. "Hymnos magic cannot be invoked simply by reciting the lyrics. It requires a substantial amount of Mana and for its wielder to be capable of channeling the immense power of the Hymn. Yet even I would be… hesitant to wield one. It is not a branch of sorcery I am deeply familiar with."

"And you just let Madame Jiayi take the scroll?" asked Lysithea.

"I don't think I could've dissuaded her," said Byleth. "And Madame Jiayi claims to be an expert on Hymnos."

"Hymnos is an extremely esoteric branch of magic," said Linhardt. "I personally don't have an interest in it, but I haven't heard of anyone in Fódlan who might know a lot about it."

"So how does she know, then?" asked Caspar.

"Good question," said Anna. "There's a lot we don't know about her."

"Funny you should say that, Anna," Yuri said jokingly.

"I get the irony, Yuri," Anna said unamused.

"In any case, we'd better get this all cleaned up before we head out to Ailell," said Annette. "At least we won't have to worry about freezing there."

"Careful what you wish for, Annette," said Leonie. "Once we get there, you're gonna wish you were freezing."

…

Jiayi knew someone from the Church was going to come for the Hymn Scroll sooner or later as she opened the door to her room. She was immediately faced with Seteth frowning at her.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Jiayi asked coyly.

"I understand you are in possession of a highly dangerous object, Madame Jiayi," said Seteth. "I will get straight to the point: please hand over the Hymn Scroll so that it can be disposed of properly."

"Should you not have disposed of it rather than keeping it in your library? In any event, it is safe in my custody."

"That is not for you to decide. Now please hand the scroll over. I will not ask a third time."

Sighing, Jiayi said, "Very well, you leave me little choice."

Jiayi handed over the scroll as Seteth said, "Thank you for your cooperation. If I had known this was in the restricted section, none of this would have happened. Now, if you will excuse me."

Seteth took his leave of the seamstress as she shut the door to her room. She smiled as she turned away from the door and pulled a blue scroll from her robes, knowing Seteth would never suspect she had given him a copy.

"Anata wa mada damasareyasui, Cichol."

How easy to dupe, indeed.

I'm sure some of you may recognize that song Dorothea sang, but for those who don't, it comes from World of Warcraft, specifically Wrath of the Lich King. I know it has a quasi-translation in the actual game, but the translation doesn't matter so much compared to the sound. A shame Blizzard has fallen so far from grace these days. I never played WoW (did not want to pay the monthly subscription, among other reasons), but an MMORPG that's lasted as long as it has is definitely special.

Hymnos is something I've wanted to start putting into the story, but I had to do it in a way that doesn't feel too contrived. You see plenty of other games and stories with song-based magic like the Zelda series (albeit more on an instrumental side), Ar Tonelico (though that's not necessarily magic, per se), and so forth. I wanted it to be something Dorothea can do that the others can't (or won't) do, despite that she's not the only singer in the roster.

And once again, you might have some assumptions about Jiayi, but some of them are bound to be wrong. I won't say more than that at the moment. And if I butchered the Japanese dialogue again, I'm sorry. Online translators aren't great with grammar.

Now, for some good news. First, I'm off this weekend to my younger brother's wedding. Been waiting two years for it due to the pandemic, so we're glad to finally get it underway.

Second, starting in July, I think I may be able to get back into my two releases per week schedule. I no longer have crippling back pain, though the tension headaches still crop up occasionally (and I wonder if that's just due to the antidepressants). Hopefully I won't run into writer's block, because at the one release per week rate, it'd take me way too long to finish the story.

It'll only be one release for next week, as I won't have time to write a new chapter before Monday due to travel and obviously the wedding. But once we're past that, I should be able to get things going faster as long as nothing goes seriously wrong.

Only one bit of bad news, though: a gacha title I've been playing for almost 7 years now is shutting down its global version. I'll miss you, FFRK. T_T

See you next time.