Chapter 21: The Land Below

The Bottomless Canyon, The Border of Nohr and Hoshido, Moirai

Year 625

"No."

"Come on, Felix, don't be such a spoilsport," Annette said, stroking the mane of one of the many Hoshidan pegasi lent to them by Queen Hinoka. "She's very friendly, see? Let's just hop on and give her a—"

"No," Felix repeated. His arms were folded tightly against his chest, shoulders tensing back every time the pegasus blinked its dark eyes in his direction. "Men and pegasi don't mix. My sword is more effective on solid ground, not riding on top of…beasts."

"I think you're just scared."

Felix scoffed at her. "I am not."

"Then stop complaining!" She wrestled one of his arms away from his body, guiding his hand along the soft, snow-white feathers adorning the creature's wings. "Look, she won't bite."

"Annette! Hey—"

Byleth sighed at his students' antics. It had been going on for quite some time, Annette trying to convince her husband to go along with the mission and Felix being as stubborn as usual. Byleth had half a mind to march over to the swordsman and just throw him up onto the pegasus himself, but the exhaustion weighing his body down protested the very thought of it.

And Felix would sooner stab him than allow himself to be picked up like a fussing toddler. Byleth wasn't too keen on getting a sword between his ribs. The tightness of his chest, and the weak beats of his struggling heart inside it, were providing enough pain as it was already.

So instead, Byleth turned his attention elsewhere. His eyes swept the length of the canyon, taking in every crag that formed the natural border between two nations, searching for any sign of danger. Any sign that they should abandon their plan to fly down into the depths below, any sign that they should just return to the safety of the military camp before Edelgard, the Altean prince, and all their invisible warrior friends decided to show their faces again.

But he found nothing among the stones. Nothing but a single, wooden bridge connecting one cliffside to the other, creaking against the canyon's updraft. All in all, it didn't seem anything more than a standard, average, run-of-the-mill chasm, albeit a fairly deep one. Is this really where Azura had wanted them to go?

…No…that small voice whispered again.

No what? he asked it. What are you seeing that I'm not?

The voice, again, had no answer for him. All he felt was a chill crawling along his back, like an icy fingernail tracing the curve of his spine.

He dared a glance down. A flash of fear flitted through his gut, the memory of his body plummeting into that dark abyss during the Battle of Garreg Mach still so clear and raw in his mind. He shook the image away, and his feelings along with it. Today, he didn't have time for fear.

"Professor?"

Light footsteps padded against the hard ground behind him. Byleth looked over his shoulder to find Ashe fidgeting with the drawstring of his hood, staring at a crack in the ground.

"Petra and her wyvern are ready for us," he said. There was a hard edge to his voice that sounded foreign coming from Ashe's mouth, one that Ashe himself didn't seem to be fond of. Byleth chose to ignore it.

"Good. And the others?"

"Everyone's pretty much ready to go. The girls decided it would be best for them to take the reins, since they have a little bit more experience handling pegasi than we do." Behind him, the rest of the party were checking the straps on their mounts' saddles, making sure they were equipped to hold up to two or three riders. "Though Sir Kris took to flying on pegasus-back pretty quickly. He said something about if he had been born as a woman in another life, he would have wanted to train to be a pegasus knight."

"Can't say I've never wanted to try it," Byleth said distantly. He scanned the canyon one more time and waited for the voice to utter another warning, but still his eyes and ears caught nothing of concern. The time for stalling was over.

"We should get saddled up ourselves, then. The sooner we get started, the—"

As Byleth stepped away from the canyon, Ashe's arm shot out to stop him from going any further. His face was tight and twisted with worry, his gaze still trained on the ground to avoid meeting Byleth's eyes directly.

"Maybe it would be better," Ashe said slowly, hesitantly, as though each syllable cut his tongue on the way out, "if you left this mission to us."

"…What?"

"I think it would be better for you to keep watch up here with the Nohrian troops, while we scout out the canyon's floor."

Byleth arched an eyebrow at him. "If you'd like some alone time with Petra, you can just tell me. I'll find another pair to fly with."

A hint of a blush brushed over Ashe's cheeks, but he quickly recovered. "You know that's not what I meant."

"Then I'm afraid you have me confused."

"Do I really have to say it?" Ashe lowered his arm, his fingers curling around the worn edges of his jacket. "Flying requires good balance, even if you're just a passenger. One of the first lessons you taught us at the monastery."

"I remember," Byleth said. "Your point?"

"The point is you can barely walk without tripping over yourself, Professor! How can you expect to fly when you can't even—even—" An exasperated breath puffed out from Ashe's nose as he tried to calm himself down from his outburst. "I'm worried—we're all worried—about your health. You haven't been at your best, and with all the…um…" he gestured to Byleth's blue hair, "changes you've been experiencing, it might be safer for you to sit this one out. I think we can handle a search-and-rescue mission by ourselves, without you risking yourself further."

No…

Yeah, "no" was right. There was no way Byleth was letting anyone go down there without him as backup, his students least of all. Deteriorating health be damned.

"I'll be fine," Byleth said, turning again toward the rest of the group. He squared his shoulders, straightened his back, and set his jaw to look (and feel) as strong as possible. "Where my students go, I go. That's my job as your professor."

"But—"

Byleth cut Ashe off by clamping a hand down on his shoulder and spinning him around to face him head-on, so Ashe could no longer avoid meeting his gaze. "I'll be fine, Ashe. I know my limits." Do I? "Besides, I'll have you there to support me. I'm trusting you to keep me from falling if I do end up having a bit of a struggle."

Ashe pressed his lips into a thin frown, breaking eye contact once again to glimpse at the canyon's steep drop. The bridge creaked again as another gust of wind whistled through the chasm.

"I'm trusting you," Byleth repeated, "Can you give me a little bit of that trust in return?"

Ashe's chest rose as he drew in a deep breath, then deflated as he exhaled and, finally, relented.

"Of course, Professor," he said, though the frown still remained. "I trust you. I always will. Just…please, be careful."

Byleth patted his shoulder again, strong and firm. The skin around his mouth crinkled as he attempted a smile.

"I will be. I promise."

Ashe nodded, seemingly satisfied with the response, and guided Byleth back toward their band of allies, both new and old, with their newly acquired pegasi. Byleth followed on stiff feet, watching the others from the corner of his eye. Just about everyone had settled into their saddles—even Felix, whose attempts to look calm and collected were betrayed by how tightly his arms were wrapped around Annette's waist—and were practicing a few flight patterns to get a feel for the air.

"Are you both ready now to go flying?" Petra asked, holding out a hand from atop her wyvern. Her purple hair had been styled into a long braid and tucked securely over her shoulder, likely to keep it from whipping their faces during the ride. "We will go as gently as possible."

Ashe thanked her and took her hand, swinging up into the saddle with little effort. Once he was sitting comfortably behind her he offered a hand of his own to Byleth, ready to hoist him up onto the large beast.

But before Byleth could take it, someone tapped his arm.

"Mr. Byleth?" Kana asked. The boy was rocking on his heels, fiddling with something hidden beneath his scarf, with Leo standing protectively at his side.

"Hm?"

"Um…if you find Mama and Miss Azura…" Kana unclasped the golden pendant hanging around his neck and dropped it into Byleth's hands. The crystalline gem nestled in its center glistened blue under the midday sun. "Can you give this back to her? I don't really need it anymore now that I've got this dragonstone."

"You don't want to give it to her yourself?"

"Papa and Uncle Leo won't let me go," Kana said, pouting up at the prince. "They said I have to wait here with them. I even showed them my dragon form and showed them how strong I can be, but they still said no."

Well, that was probably for the best. If they were wrong about the canyon and his mother had really fallen to her death…it wouldn't be a pretty sight, to put it lightly. Byleth suspected that was also the main reason most of the Nohrians and Hoshidans had decided to hang back instead of venturing into the canyon with Byleth and his group. No one, especially children, should have to see a close friend or family member in such a state.

"Dragon or not, you're still a child, Kana," Leo said, "and children have no business going into dark, mysterious canyons."

"But I've already gone on lots of adventures with them!"

"Out of necessity, yes, but now—"

"We'll do what we can," Byleth interrupted, stuffing the pendant into his pocket. The less time they wasted on idle chatter, the better. "Anything else?"

Leo shook his head. "Just be careful, and make sure you stay close to Selena on the way down. She's a good flier, even if she…well…"

To their right, Selena sat rigid in her saddle, glaring down at the reins she had trapped in a white-knuckled grip. Odin had taken the space behind her but was too preoccupied with staring star-eyed at the rest of the group—Alm, Celica, and Merric, in particular—to notice her reaction.

"She's always claimed to hate flying," Leo continued, "but she's agreed to guide you all to Corrin's last known whereabouts. Where she…fell." The last word came out slowly and carefully, a slight crack to his voice. He had to clear his throat before speaking again. "We will be eagerly awaiting your return and whatever news you have to report. I hope you find what you're looking for."

Byleth nodded, his gaze once again drifting to the canyon's edge. Their missing persons, the answers Azura had promised…were they all down there? Was it really that simple?

No…

Again, he found himself agreeing with the voice. Nothing was ever that easy. But what other choice did they have, besides going down and seeing what secrets the canyon held for themselves? Any opportunity to gain an edge in the fight against the dead, any opportunity to save their missing companions, Byleth would take it.

With that determination flowing through his veins, he began to pull himself up onto Petra's wyvern. His muscles strained and ached to reach the saddle, his breath short and haggard, but he managed to slide into the seat behind Ashe without extra help. Weakened, but not completely useless.

Petra glanced back to them, hands wrapping around two scaled spikes protruding from her wyvern's thick neck. Ashe nodded, Byleth gave a thumbs up…and Petra whistled.

The wyvern immediately lurched forward, spraying up dust and pebbles as its wings beat against the air and took to the sky. A half dozen pegasi joined them soon after in a whirlwind of soft, white feathers.

"Stay on my tail!" Selena barked. "Don't be stupid and stray too far from the group!"

"Gotcha, captain!" Mae threw her arm out in a dramatic salute. "Better hold on tight, Boey. It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

"Mae, this isn't a—AH!"

With a laugh that bordered on maniacal, Mae kicked her pegasus' sides with her heels and dove into the canyon. Even after they disappeared from sight, Byleth could still hear Boey's panicked screams.

"Hey—wait!" Selena gritted her teeth and spurred her pegasus after them. "Stay on my tail means follow me, you idiot!"

Petra was quick to follow, gliding over the canyon's opening in time to see the two pegasus pairs descending into the depths below. The chasm was deep, so deep that the floor was obscured by a blanket of darkness.

"Like Mae warned," Petra said, "please hold on tight."

Byleth gripped the back of the saddle with one hand and the back of Ashe's jacket with the other, sweat beading above his brow. He squeezed his eyes shut to avoid looking down.

Another sharp whistle from Petra, and the wyvern dove head-first into the canyon.

Harsh winds roared in his ears and blasted his face as they plummeted toward the darkness. The loose sleeves of his mercenary jacket whipped violently around him, cracking against the air like bolts of thunder magic. Byleth tried to reopen his eyes to gauge how far down they had traveled, but the winds made them water and forced them back shut.

The further they went, the stronger the winds grew. So strong they ripped the breath right out of his lungs. He swallowed whatever air he could but trying to breathe in the canyon was like trying to breathe underwater. They plunged into the dark chasm for what felt like an eternity, each second stealing away more and more air, but it just kept going, and going, and going down without end. Bottomless, like its namesake suggested.

Pain and panic pounded against his skull, his chest trembled at the lack of oxygen, his grip on the saddle loosened as his body went limp. He felt Ashe and Petra slipping out of the seat in front of him and felt himself begin to slip too and—

Byleth woke up gasping, sprawled out in a bed of soft grass.

Grass? He ran his hands over the ground, testing to make sure it was real. The ground? Why was he on the ground?

He blinked up at the clear-blue sky. Gentle ripples of water rolled over its surface, flowing for miles in every direction. Chunks of loose earth, some tipped on their sides and others upside down completely, floated through the air without regard for gravity, casting the occasional shadow over Byleth as they drifted between him and the sun.

Is this…a dream?

"What—"

A cough wracked through him as he tried to speak, his lungs still recovering from their brief suffocation. No, not a dream at all.

"Professor!"

Ashe and Petra dropped to their knees by his side, eyes wide with worry. "Are you okay?" Ashe asked. "Please, say something! Goddess, I had one job and I couldn't—"

"I'm…fine…" Byleth said, pressing a hand to his throbbing head. "What happened?"

"We are unsure…" Petra rubbed her arm and frowned up at one of the floating earth pieces. "I was doing exactly as Selena was instructing, following 'her tail', but then we…we…"

"Lost consciousness and fell," Ashe murmured, "then somehow ended up…here."

"Here?"

Slowly, Byleth sat up to get a better look at their surroundings. Stone ruins that seemed centuries old wasted away around the field they had fallen into, crumbling at even the slightest breeze. The field itself was expansive, marked by scattered puddles and the greenest grass Byleth had ever seen. Parts of the land curved upward toward the sky, as though the earth itself was stretching to touch the sun.

What was this place? Some kind of magical paradise, hidden beneath the canyon?

"Is everyone all right?" Alm asked. He and Celica were moving from person to person, checking to make sure no one had been hurt on the way down. Some of their allies were more disoriented than others but, much to Byleth's relief, everyone had made it in one piece—including their rides.

"Yes, sir!" Odin sprung up from the ground with a beaming grin. "Odin Dark is grateful for the great heroes' concern, but he himself is a warrior who has trained to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best the universe has to—"

"Keep it down, Odin!" Selena hissed, eyes darting to every corner of the strange land. "We don't want a repeat of last time."

"…Last time?" Alm asked. "You've been here before?"

"Yeah, a long time ago. This was the place we were trying to talk about back at the Dragon's Gate, but we couldn't give specific details then." She cast another nervous glance around the area, fingers twitching over the pommel of her sword. "The place I'm sure Azura wanted you all to find."

"That's right, Selena," an airy, melodic voice said behind them. A familiar voice.

A woman with long, light-blue hair smiled at their backs. She floated just above the ground, her image rippling like the water in the sky overhead.

"Azura!" Odin's grin grew even brighter. "I can't believe it, you're really here!"

"I could say the same for all of you, though I had faith that you would find your way here eventually." She glided toward them, hair and dress fluttering gently around her spiritual body. "I would love nothing more than to catch up, but we unfortunately don't have time for casual conversation. We must speak quickly and quietly, before Anankos awakens again."

"Anankos?" The name stung Byleth's tongue and shot through his head with another pulse of pain; he did his best to hide the wince.

"The one you've been looking for," Azura said, hushed and hurried. "The being responsible for all of this: the one you know as the Silent Dragon."

"And Corrin?" Selena asked. "Is she here with you?"

Azura's posture wilted, so much so that her toes touched the ground. "Corrin is here, and can still count herself among the living…but I'm afraid she is far beyond your reach now."

"…Far beyond our reach?"

"I will explain as much as I can in the time we have remaining, but we must first start with the place I have brought you to," Azura said. "The lost kingdom, the land below…my homeland, Corrin's as well."

Her hands clasped together over her chest as a hint of grief flitted over her rippling face.

"Welcome to Valla."

Character Bios:

Nothing to report

Next chapter: Azura speaks freely about the nature of the enemy.