Final spoiler warning for previous FE games that haven't been officially introduced to the story yet. In this chapter, there are references to canonical character deaths from older games, some game worlds which have been discussed in the story and some that have yet to appear (but will be very soon).
Chapter 23: As All Stars Fall
Ancient Ruins, The Kingdom of Valla, Moirai
Year 625
Agony.
Pure, white agony seared through the core of Byleth's entire being. Everything inside him felt like it was being scorched down to the bone, every fiber of his soul consumed by dark, corrupted flames. A young girl's scream blasted his ears—Sothis? Sothis?! Stop it, you're killing her!—as the Crest of Flames clawed at his heart, at his ribs, at the sword stuck deep within his stomach. The last of his—their—power tried desperately to combat the magic tearing him—them—apart. A magic forged to kill dragons. A magic forged to kill gods.
AND IT HURT LIKE GODDAMN HELL!
With a guttural roar, Byleth punched the Vallite shadow right between his pink, soulless eyes. Marth's head snapped back, spraying thousands of water droplets into the air, but his grip on both Byleth and the sword did not weaken.
The corrupted Falchion instead twisted further into Byleth's gut. Wave upon wave of pain pounded against him the deeper the sword sank. His mouth formed a silent scream—
Light burst up in thin tendrils around Byleth's feet, wrapping around his legs, his torso, his face. His vision was suddenly engulfed by a vast sea of empty white space, and for a moment his body was completely weightless, floating upwards without direction. Up, and up, and up until he felt the sword slip out of his stomach.
The world flashed and the white emptiness vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. Gravity brought Byleth back down, but the pain and exhaustion still clinging to his bones had him toppling over as soon as he touched the ground. He coughed and wheezed, tasting copper through each ragged breath as he rolled onto his back.
What had just…
"Byleth! Byleth, come on, stay with us!"
Someone was shouting at him, putting pressure on his stomach. The figure above him was blurry. Everything around him was blurry, even the distant clamor of battle just barely reaching his ears.
Battle? Were his students trapped in battle?! No, no, he had to help them! Byleth tried to grab his sword, but his fingers barely managed to twitch.
"Warp the others out of there and get them to the pegasi!" a different voice ordered. Celica's voice? Her fuzzy figure tossed a long, thin object—a staff?—to another equally fuzzy figure. "Get them ready to fly now!"
Feet scuffling around Byleth's head. More incoherent shouting, steel clanging against steel, thunder cracking across the sky and making his hair stand on end. Then, another voice.
"But Celica!" High-pitched and panicked. Mae. "What about you?!"
"They'll bleed out on the way back if I don't heal them now! Just get everyone else to safety—we'll be right behind you." Celica's blurry figure dropped to Byleth's side, resting her hands atop the pair already pressed against his bleeding stomach. "Now go!"
"A-as you command!"
Warmth flooded from Celica's fingers, knitting the torn skin around Byleth's midsection back together. Enough to stop most of the bleeding, but not enough to stop the bruising and the burning pain.
"M-my students…" Byleth rasped. And Sothis! I need to protect them!
"Don't worry," the first voice spoke again, their words holding a hoarse edge that rivaled his own. "We're going to get everyone out of here."
Byleth blinked, long and slow, to clear his vision, and just barely recognized the other person beside him as Alm. His green hair was matted with a heavy sweat, his face drained of all color, his chest stuttering with short, uneven breaths. There was an arrow still stuck in his arm, the steel head leaking black miasma into the wound.
"Th-the Warp staff plan, remember?" Alm gave a weak nod to the chasm connecting Valla to the outside world. "At the first sign of danger, we teleport ourselves out and make a hasty retreat. That plan…agh…" Alm slumped, bringing a hand to his bleeding arm and wincing at the touch, "really…saved our hides…"
Many of their allies were already stationed by their squadron of pegasi at the canyon's edge, ready to hop into their saddles and take off at the first command. Most were unscathed, others bore deep cuts and discolored bruises along their skin, but all were beyond the reach of Lilith and her warriors.
But one glance back to the ruins they had escaped from told Byleth they wouldn't be safe for long. The Vallites had quickly caught on to their plan and were already halfway between the ruins and the chasm before Byleth could muster up enough strength to yell out a warning.
Thankfully, he didn't need to.
"Merric, Boey, Annette!" Celica shouted, shifting her hands from Byleth's stomach to Alm's arm. A tight rigidness lined her lips as she cut through the armor straps and undershirt wrapped around her husband's bicep to reach the arrow wound underneath. "Give me the strongest wind magic you can conjure and push them as far back as you can! I just need a minute more!"
"On it!"
Merric charged toward the enemy first, tossing his Warp staff—cracked and dull from overuse—and snatching a green tome from his belt. The pages lit up with an ethereal glow as he waved his hand over the symbols drawn within. Behind him, green gales swirled in the palms of Annette and Boey, and together,
"Excalibur!"
The air roared to life around the three mages. Hundreds of green blades of wind shot out from Merric's hand and slammed into the Vallite warriors with the force of a hurricane. Two tornadoes from Annette and Boey followed in quick succession, ripping trees from the earth as they swept up the enemy soldiers and launched them all across the field.
All except one.
The sage with the golden headdress had taken the full impact of the elemental attack and hadn't moved an inch. Even as her flaxen spirals of hair whipped violently around her face, even as her white and green robes billowed behind her like a sail in the middle of a stormy sea, she still did not yield to the whirlwind.
Instead, she pulled open a tome, preparing a spell of her own. The arm holding the book was bent at an unnatural angle, as though it had been broken in multiple places after a dangerous fall.
"H-How is she doing that?!" Annette shouted over the roaring air around her, summoning another bout of gales to throw at the Vallite sage. "How high is her resistance to magic?!"
Too high to be natural, Byleth thought, struggling to push himself up to his feet. No one should have been able to withstand such an overwhelming force of elemental magic, yet this woman was doing it with ease.
"Th-the Exalt…" Odin muttered, his eyes blown wide. His hand, which had been raised to reach over his pegasus's saddle, slowly lowered to his side in shock. "And the Hero-King…?"
Selena shook him to try to snap him out of his stupor, though her hands seemed to be trembling just as much as her companion's. "I-it doesn't matter who they are! Don't think about them, we just need to—"
"Everyone, take cover!" Merric yelled, whirling around to warn the rest of the group.
But the warning came too late.
Blazing rings of azure light materialized around their pack of pegasi. As the very air around them began to burn like sulfuric smoke, their allies just barely managed to scramble out of the spell's immediate range—
Boom!
An explosion of blinding Starlight blasted out of the rings. The shock wave seared across the sky, its raw power throwing Byleth and everyone around him right off their feet. Byleth flailed through the air, ears ringing, before slamming back into the ground and tumbling through the field's thick patches of damp grass. The wound in his stomach was screaming, and Byleth had to force himself to stay conscious and not succumb to the pain. An increasingly onerous endeavor.
"What a cute little trick you all tried to pull off. Quick thinking and expert coordination between allies—no wonder you've made it this far."
Byleth glanced up to find Lilith grinning down at him with an aggravating smirk.
"But as I said before," Lilith continued, adjusting the end of her multi-colored braid, "resisting is pointless. Maybe you would have had the slightest chance against Father's favorite generals if you were fighting in the outside world. But when you're in Valla, right at the heart of Father's power…"
She spread her arms out wide, wisps of dark purple energy coiling down to her fingertips.
"They're practically invincible."
Byleth's fists curled around the clumps of grass beneath him and, ignoring Lilith's smug stare, slowly rolled himself onto his side. Gripping his stomach, he frantically surveyed the field to locate his allies and assess the damage of the spell, but his vision kept blurring in and out of focus.
"You don't have to worry about your friends," Lilith said. "They're not going anywhere. They've already used up their Warp staves, and their ride out of here is…well…"
She dug a hand into his hair and yanked his head up, forcing him to look at the area that had been struck by Starlight. Azure flames crawled over the earth's surface, eating through the grass and coughing up plumes of white smoke. All that was left of their pegasi were a few charred feathers floating against the fire's updraft.
"…gone," Lilith finished with a malevolent giggle.
No. No, there had to be a way out. There had to be. He just had to think. Push away the pain and think, damn it! Byleth's eyes darted around the field, searching for something, anything that could give them even the smallest advantage.
But all he could find were his allies, scattered and disoriented from the magical blast. There was Celica, sword drawn and teeth clenched, standing protectively over Alm's body as the bearded axeman closed in on them. There was Gray and Selena, rolling out of the way to avoid being cleaved in two by Edelgard and Aymr. There was Petra on the back of her wyvern, hovering over the chasm with an unconscious Odin held limp in the beast's claws. The blast seemed to have knocked him out cold, and the flying duo had just barely managed to catch him before he could be flung over the canyon's edge.
And there was the Vallite archer, aiming a shot directly at them. Byleth's heart dropped into his stomach.
"No!"
Byleth threw an arm toward the archer, fire alighting in the center of his palm—
A boot stomped down onto his back before he could cast the spell, forcing him to fall back down face-first into the damp grass. Byleth struggled and strained to try to throw off the weight, but the foot holding him down wouldn't budge.
"I already told you," Lilith said, almost as a sigh, "resisting is pointless. You're just making this more painful for yourself."
Byleth craned his neck around just in time to see the Vallite archer loose his arrow, tearing a hole right through the wyvern's wing. The beast screeched in pain and gave two more desperate flaps in an attempt to stay airborne.
"Petra!"
"Owain!"
The screams and shouts of their allies didn't stop another arrow from slicing through the wyvern's second wing, and didn't stop Petra and Odin from plummeting into the canyon's depths.
And Byleth could do nothing but lay there and watch in horror, completely and utterly useless.
No no no no no
"I know it hurts to see your friends go like this, but you don't have to worry," Lilith said, grabbing the back of his mercenary jacket and flipping him onto his back to meet him eye to eye. "They'll die quickly, and then they'll have the honor of serving Lord Anankos. Father will take good care of them, I promise."
Something wet rolled down Byleth's cheeks. Tears? No, there was no need for tears. If Corrin had fallen into the canyon from Nohr and survived without a flying mount to guide her, then surely, Petra and Odin could also survive the fall back into Nohr.
….Right?
"You probably don't believe me, but it's like Azura said earlier." Lilith gestured to the ancient ruins, where Azura's spiritual form was still kneeling on the rocky floor, holding her head and seemingly lost in her thoughts. "Lord Anankos has always had humanity's best interest at heart. Everything he's doing, he's doing to help them. To bring them peace. We are on the side of Order, after all."
"Peace? Order?" Byleth hissed, finding it difficult to speak through the pain, through the raw fury pulsing through him. "How is invading other worlds…killing everyone…peaceful?!"
"You will know soon enough."
Lilith waved her hand with a flare of purple energy, and in an instant the Vallite shadow of Marth appeared at her side. Byleth instinctively tensed, watching his own blood drip down the length of the corrupted Falchion.
"Bring him to the castle to join the others of his kind," Lilith ordered. "The sooner we get him there, the sooner Lord Anankos can—"
Byleth drew the Sword of the Creator and swung for Lilith's torso, but the blow was easily deflected by Marth's blade.
"Seriously? You're really going to try to keep fighting us, even after being sapped of all your strength?" Lilith's smile only grew with more amusement. "You're stubborn, I'll give you that. I guess getting stabbed wasn't enough for you." The girl tapped her chin and hummed. "Marth, how about you cut off his arm this time? It'll be easier to drag him to the dungeon if he can't use that sword."
Oh no.
Byleth tried to crawl away from them as fast as his arms could carry him, which, admittedly, wasn't very fast at all. Marth caught up to him in just a few strides and stepped on Byleth's shoulder, pinning him to the ground with his heel. A cord of water slithered out of a puddle beneath Lilith's feet and coiled around Byleth's wrist like a shackle to keep him in place.
Without a shred of mercy, Marth brought his blade down on his arm—
A broadsword met Falchion's golden edge before it could bite into Byleth's skin.
"The Marth I knew would never strike a man when he's down," Kris said, pushing his sword against Marth's and shoving him away from Byleth. His face was set into a deep scowl, his eyes burning with white-hot rage. "You have no right to use him like this!"
"Why weren't you there to protect him, then?" Lilith asked. "Maybe if the captain of his royal guard had done his job, your dear prince would still be standing by your side."
The vengeful flame in Kris's eyes flared. "Why you—"
"Failed…knight…" Marth spoke, voice hollow and cold. "Failed…me…"
Kris's aggressive stance faltered for the briefest moment, but a moment was all Marth needed. The Vallite shadow charged forward, hounding Kris with a flurry of sword strikes that Kris's broadsword was only just barely able to block. Each swing was quick, ruthless, deadly, and though Kris was currently keeping pace with Marth's dangerous dance, it wouldn't be long before he began to tire.
"They'll probably be busy for a few minutes," Lilith sighed, grabbing Byleth's loose arm sleeve. "I guess I'll just have to take you to Father mysel—"
Lilith's other hand snapped up to catch an arrow aimed at her head. She looked over her shoulder, lips twitching into an annoyed frown at the man who had tried to shoot her.
Ashe. He glared back at her with a hatred Byleth never thought his student capable of, his cheeks wet with both tears and blood.
"It seems none of you know when to quit." Lilith crushed the arrow in her fist. "Come on, do you really think you of all people—Crestless, insignificant, weak—can kill the daughter of Anankos?"
Ashe shook his head.
"Made you look."
Before Lilith could even blink in response, Felix darted from behind the cover of the stone ruins and sliced through her with two blades at once, his Crest blazing blue behind his back. Lilith's flickering form burst into mist, the tiny droplets spraying across the field like a rushing river hitting the edge of a rock.
"That was for Petra," Ashe said, spitting on the ground where Lilith had been standing.
"She's not going to stay like that for long." Felix sheathed one of his swords and turned to Byleth. His blue hair was plastered at wild angles all around his face, having lost his ponytail at some point during the chaos. "Can you stand, Professor? We need to get you out of here while Kris has his prince distracted."
Byleth slowly nodded, staring at the scattered remnants of Lilith's Vallite form. Thousands of beads of water floated around their heads, suspended in the air like rain frozen in time. It was…an oddly familiar sight.
Like rain…frozen in time…
Byleth was struck with a sudden epiphany.
"Professor? Come on, we need to—"
"Water!" Byleth blurted out, patting down the pockets of his pants. Where had he put it? "They're made of water."
"…Amazing deduction. Did you really only figure that out just now?"
"Not the time, Felix. He's hurt." Ashe hooked Byleth's arm around his shoulder and helped him stand. "Really, really hurt. His injuries might be affecting his mental state."
No, Byleth's mental state was fine. Better than fine. Because if what he was thinking was possible…
"They're made of water," Byleth repeated. His hand fumbled around his pocket, pulling out the golden pendant Kana had entrusted to him before they had left for Valla. "And this…this has magic that can control water."
"Kana's pendant?" Ashe asked, scrubbing blood and sweat out of his eye and wincing. There was a cut sliced into his forehead just above his brow, and light burn marks trailing down his neck. Must have been caught in the blast, too (a thought that pushed another surge of fury through Byleth's veins). "Are you sure?"
"It stopped the rainstorm back at Castle Altea."
"Okay, but…" Ashe glanced around nervously, "How do we use it? Can we even use it?"
"We can't…"
Byleth raised his arm with a strained effort, pointing to the ancient ruins. To the pendant's true owner, to the woman who had demonstrated such powerful mastery over water that she could write letters with the rain.
"But Azura can."
"…You think…" Ashe swallowed hard, the slightest bit of hope shining through the weariness. "You really think she can stop them?"
Byleth's fingers curled tightly around the pendant's golden chain.
"I don't think we have any other options."
Ashe nodded and tightened his hold on Byleth, keeping him upright as he pivoted them both toward the ancient ruins. "Then let's get this to—"
"Get down!"
Felix shoved them forward, the Aegis Shield raised just in time to block a deadly sword strike aimed at their backs. Metal carved through ancient bone as their attacker—the Vallite warrior on horseback, marred by burn scars—pushed his blade against Felix's shield with such great strength Byleth feared it might split in two.
"Whatever you're going to do," Felix yelled through clenched teeth, hands glowing with sparks, "do it now!"
Lightningburst from Felix's palm, forcing the rider to pull back. Byleth looked between the pendant and Azura's huddled form in the ruins. Too far for them to try to run to now.
Only one way to get the pendant to her, then. Byleth pressed it into Ashe's hand and said, "Take the shot. We'll cover you."
Ashe frowned at Byleth's slumped posture and the wounds littering his body. "But you're—"
"Just do it!"
At once, Ashe let Byleth go and dropped to one knee, wrapping the pendant's golden chain around the shaft of an arrow. Byleth swayed, struggling to stay on his feet without the extra support, but he forced himself to stand tall. He poured all of his energy into one final spell.
Just one more push.
The rider charged them again. Felix jumped in to defend them against the onslaught, hissing as the rider's sword caught his shoulder instead of his shield. Giving Felix no quarter, the rider raised his blade over Felix's neck and—
Byleth unleashed a blazing ball of fire at the rider's face. Both man and horse screeched as they swerved out of the spell's scorching path, a distorted scream full of anguish and fear and pain that pierced the air even after the pair had successfully dodged the spell.
The sound rattled Byleth to the core. What the hell kind of a reaction was that? He hadn't thought it was possible for these dead, soulless puppets to exhibit such raw emotion.
Whatever it was, it gave Ashe the few seconds he needed to line up his shot and steady his aim. A deep breath in, then out…
And Ashe let the arrow fly.
The extra weight from the pendant dragged the arrow out of the air sooner than a regular shot, something Ashe seemed to anticipate. The arrow landed just a few feet away from Azura, skidding with the pendant across the stone floor of the ruins.
"Azura!" Byleth shouted, his voice cracked and hoarse. Azura startled and snapped her head up in his direction. "Your song! Help us!"
Azura's gaze lowered to the golden pendant. She blinked, gingerly touching her throat with one hand and reaching out to the pendant with the other.
"No!" Lilith's voice commanded as the suspended water droplets began to merge together to reform her image. "Stop her!"
Azura rose off the ground, the pendant floating just above her palm. Bright blue light glimmered from within the pendant's center, shining so bright that its glow seemed to span across the entirety of Valla.
The rider galloped toward her with a speed too fast for Byleth to track. Azura simply closed her eyes, unafraid of his approach, and held her arms out wide. Her lips parted, and…
"You are the ocean's gray waves…"
Azura began to sing. Her voice carried across the field despite the softness of the melody, seeping into every breath of air, every drop of water, every pore on Byleth's skin. Mesmerizing. Beautiful. Powerful.
The rider reared back as the pendant flashed once more. Azura thrust her arms toward him…
Both horse and rider immediately froze, locked in place by the magic flowing from her pendant and her song. The water and dark energy dripping off his flickering form also stilled, as though the passage of time had ceased to exist around him.
"…Whoa…" Ashe breathed out.
Yeah, whoa was right. It wasn't only the rider, but all the Vallite warriors were as still as statues: Marth was stuck in the middle of a lunge, his sword within a hair's breadth of Kris's face; Edelgard had frozen in a twisted posture with her arms and axe raised high, looking as if she had been planning to slam a crater into the earth; the bearded axeman, the sage, the archer, even Lilith herself, all stopped by Azura's magic before they could unleash their next attacks on the living.
His students and allies were safe. Or at least, they had a few moments to breathe.
With that comforting thought on his mind, Byleth's legs finally gave out.
"Professor!" Ashe and Felix were at his side in an instant, the latter holding onto a bleeding shoulder. Kris jogged over to join them with a slight limp in his step. "Hey, come on, don't give up on us now! We've finally got a chance to escape—"
"Escape to where?" Kris asked, leaning on his knees to catch his breath. "We don't know the layout of these lands at all, and our only ride back to Nohr was just fried by Starlight."
"Or shot out of the sky," Ashe mumbled.
"…Jump…" Azura's voice echoed through the air in between the beats of her song. "You have…to jump…"
"…Jump? Into the canyon?" Felix scowled. "Are you crazy?"
"It's the only…way…to the outside…"
The ground began to shake beneath them. Even from his position on the ground, Byleth could see the way Azura's arms were straining to keep the Vallite warriors at bay, could hear the exhaustion in her voice from singing the magical melody.
"Complete the Yato…it has already chosen…a new wielder, I can…feel it…" More trembles shook the earth. "I cannot…hold them for…long…you must jump, now!"
"Does that mean…" Ashe asked hesitantly, "if Petra and Odin fell into the canyon, does that mean…they're okay?"
Kris drew a deep breath and reattached his broadsword to his back. "Only one way to find out."
"You can't be serious—"
"Our options are to stay here and die fighting Lilith's soldiers, or jump into the canyon," Kris said. "If the woman who just saved our lives is telling us to choose the canyon, I'm choosing the canyon."
"She's also the one who led us here in the first place," Felix muttered, but Kris was already hurrying away to gather the rest of their scattered allies before he could finish.
"If there's even a chance that Petra's still alive after that fall," Ashe said, helping Byleth once again find his feet, "then I'm going, too. Standing around here won't do us any good."
Byleth gave a weak nod. He didn't like the idea of falling down another deep, dark chasm—he hated the idea, in fact—but he wasn't about to stick around so he could get stabbed by a magical god-dragon killing sword again.
Together, Ashe and Felix carried Byleth over to the rest of their group (Byleth had tried walking and had immediately found his face in the dirt after taking a single step). The others, unfortunately, were not in the best of shape themselves. Each person was nursing their own injuries; in the case of Celica, Annette, and Merric, they were also nursing the wounds of several people at once.
"A-are you sure it's the only way?" Boey asked. He was carrying an unconscious Mae on his back, his tanned face pallid from an overexertion of magic.
"We can't…afford to stay here…any longer…" Alm murmured, leaning on Gray's shoulder. His eyes were lidded and struggling to stay open, though the arrow had at least been removed from his arm. "This is…our only option…"
Kris brought himself to the canyon's edge. "I'll go first, while everyone else is healing. I'll make sure the Nohrians are ready to help us once we reach the other side."
"I'll go with you," Selena said, stepping up beside him. "I need to make sure Owain…Odin, is okay."
"…Good luck," Merric said, casting a worried frown at his companion.
The ground quaked again, throwing everyone off balance and nearly throwing Kris and Selena prematurely into the canyon. Azura's song grew into a whisper in their ears, the presence of her power began to trickle away…
Out of the corner of Byleth's eye, he saw the Vallite warriors begin to twitch back into motion.
"Time to go," he said hurriedly.
Kris and Selena both glanced into the canyon's depths, hands shaking with a slight tremble. They shared a determined look, then a nod, then…
"Here goes nothing."
They jumped over the edge and fell into the darkness below.
"You all next," Celica said, nodding to Alm and her friends as Merric and Annette finished tending to their injuries. She cast the last of her healing magic over Felix's shoulder and Byleth's entire body in hopes of helping him regain some strength. It didn't help. "We'll follow after they're healed enough to make it back to camp."
"A-all right…" Despite the clear pain he was in, Alm managed to smile at his wife. "See you…on the other side."
Without a moment's hesitation, Alm let himself fall off the edge with Boey, Gray, Mae, and Merric. Annette gulped and looked back to Felix, who offered her a rare smile of his own. It was slight and obviously forced, but it was there.
"Don't get cold feet now. You'll be fine—and we'll be right behind you."
"Okay, okay…." Annette shook out her arms and stepped toward the edge. "I can do—ah!"
Her foot slipped on a loose rock, causing her to trip into the canyon before she had a chance to fully prepare herself for the fall.
Felix sighed, the smile immediately dropping away from his face. "Clumsy fool," he whispered through a stiff jaw before turning his hard stare at Byleth and Ashe. "You better be right about this."
"She'll be fine, my friend," Celica said, pulling her hands away. "There, that should—"
Azura's scream cut her off. The four of them whirled around in time to see the Vallite rider slice through her spiritual form with a single swing. Her image burst into mist; both water and pendant dropped to the stone floor, and the melody disappeared completely.
With Azura gone and her magic undone, each of the Vallite shadows turned to face them.
Celica clasped her hands together, squeezed her eyes shut, and whispered, "Mila, give me strength."
She leaned back over the edge and let gravity pull her down into the canyon's depths. Ashe and Felix carried Byleth to the cliff side and prepared to follow her—
A cord of water snatched Byleth's ankle and yanked him back hard, ripping him right out of their grasp.
"Professor!"
Ashe and Felix managed to grab his arms before he could be dragged away. Byleth thrashed and kicked at the water magic snaking up his leg, but its grip only tightened, biting into his skin with teeth of raw ice.
"Let…him…go!"
Ashe and Felix dug their heels into the ground and pulled back with all their strength, doing everything in their power to wrest Byleth from the cord's hold. It refused to break or budge.
"You're not going anywhere, vessel," Lilith's voice hissed, dripping from the air like poison rain. Even though she was still in the process of reforming herself, even though she was several feet away from the canyon, they still heard her growling voice loud and clear. "You're not. Going. Anywhere."
Her six Vallite warriors stalked toward Byleth and his two struggling students, weapons raised and prepared to strike. Panic overtook the pain in Byleth's chest. Ashe and Felix wouldn't be able to fight the shadows off if they were busy trying to save him. Hell, they wouldn't be able to fight them off even if they weren't stuck in this stupid tug-of-war match over his body.
They were going to die. His students—his friends, his family—were going to die…unless…
"Let me go," Byleth whispered.
"What?!" Felix grunted. His shoulder wound had reopened, yet he was still holding on to Byleth with all his might. "No! No way!"
"We're out of time," Byleth said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. "Let me go. That's an order."
"Where we go, you go!" Ashe said, sweat pouring down his face. "You promised! We're not leaving without you!"
Byleth clenched his fists.
"Yes, you are."
Byleth yanked his arms down and wrenched his wrists from their hands. Ashe and Felix stumbled back from the sudden lack of resistance, and without anything to grab onto to stabilize themselves…
They toppled over the edge of the cliff, falling against their will into the canyon below. Beyond the reach of encroaching enemy, at least for now. Safe.
But that left Byleth alone. Alone with the daughter of the mad dragon trying to kill them all and a set of some of the deadliest warriors Byleth had ever crossed in battle.
The cord of water constricted around his leg again and pulled him back, dragging him further and further away from the canyon through mud and stone. When the water finally decided to let him go, he found himself once again staring up at the face of Lilith.
And she looked pissed.
"Father didn't tell me you were going to bring Azura's pendant," she seethed, glaring at said pendant as it dangled off her finger. "This wasn't what Father said would happen."
"Maybe dear old dad isn't as all-powerful and all-knowing as you think," Byleth spat. It probably wasn't the best idea to be snarky with her, but damn if it didn't feel good. "You underestimated them, and you lost."
"Lost?" Lilith forced out a laugh, wiping away fake tears from her eyes. "No, we got exactly what we wanted. The final soul Lord Anankos needs to move on to the next stage of his plan."
The six Vallite warriors formed a circle around him with Lilith at its head, staring down at him with empty gazes.
"You and Sothis."
Edelgard's boot slammed down onto his forearm, grinding with so much force that he swore he could feel his bones grating against each other. He bit back a muffled scream.
"No need…" she groaned, "for gods…"
"It's certainly troublesome that your friends escaped with so much knowledge of this place, but it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things." Lilith tightened her fist around the pendant and crushed it into dust. "Father's loyal servants here will hunt them down, along with anyone else who might try to help Kana unlock the Yato's full potential."
"…Kana?" Byleth asked, somehow. The pain from the heel in his arm aggravated everything else in his body and made it difficult to even move his mouth.
"Azura said it herself: the Yato has chosen a new wielder." Lilith sighed and ran her hand along the length of her braid. "It's unfortunate, really. Father wanted him to be brought here alive so he could join the rest of our family, but now that his plans are so close to completion…Kana's become a liability." Her eyes flashed red. "A liability that now must be eliminated."
But he's just a child! he wanted to say, but Edelgard's boot stomped on him again before he could utter another word.
"Takumi," Lilith said, turning to the archer bathed in purple shadows, "how would you like to get back at the Nohrian scum who destroyed your family? To get back at the woman who got both your mother and brother killed?"
"Bet...ray…al…" the archer growled. "Corrin…betrayal…"
"And Sigurd…" Lilith directed her attention next to the Vallite rider. "How would you like to get back at the man who stole away the love of your life? The man who murdered your friends and orphaned your son?"
The rider's lips peeled back into a snarl. "Damn you…Arvis…"
"For Edelgard, the boar king who ripped away your dreams of a Fódlan free from the machinations of the gods; for Hector, your so-called best friend, the man who wasn't there for you when you needed him most; for Marth and Emmeryn, the people you had sacrificed so much for to save, betraying you and the ideals you strove to uphold…"
Lilith held out her arms and smirked. "Now is the time for you to get the justice you all deserve. Justice only Lord Anankos can provide."
"…Justice…" they hissed in unison.
"Now it's time to get to work. We must ensure that all threats to Lord Anankos and his plans with Order are destroyed, and that those who have wronged you can never do so again."
"You…you're…" Byleth struggled to form the words. He settled on, "…insane."
"And you've become annoying." She waved her hand, summoning the bearded axeman to her side. "Hector, could you shut him up for me? I'll be taking him to Father, and I don't need him causing a scene."
Byleth couldn't brace for the blow he knew was coming. His whole body was too tired to do anything. As the axeman reeled his arm back, Byleth narrowed his eyes at them with one last defiant glare.
(Floating just above them, Byleth could see the faint outline of a girl with green hair, frowning down at him through silent tears)
A fist slammed into Byleth's face, and everything went black.
—
Kana was bored.
He sat cross-legged on the ground, knees bouncing as he plucked halfheartedly at the wisps of grass dotting the canyon's edge. Kana was pretty sure it had only been a few minutes since his friends had flown down to look for his Mama, but to him, it had felt like hours. Days. An eternity!
He leaned forward and dared a peek into the canyon. Nothing but rocks and darkness, no sign of anyone no matter where he looked. Kana scooted back away from the cliff side, whimpering softly and scratching at his arms. Staring down into the chasm for too long made his head feel all fuzzy and his skin super itchy, but he wanted to be the first one to see his friends when they returned back to the surface. To see them flying up on their pegasi looking all cool and heroic and brave, with his Mama at their side!
So he went back to waiting. Waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and…
"Didn't Papa warn you about getting too close to the edge?"
The tips of his pointed ears twitched at the sound of his sister's voice. He sighed, bringing his legs to his chest and resting his chin on his knees.
"He said to be careful by the edge," Kana mumbled. "I'm being careful."
Sophie lowered herself to the ground beside him, giving him a playful nudge with her elbow. "Hey, lighten up. Everything's going to be fine."
"I know, I just…" Kana curled into himself tighter. "I just want them to come back already."
"Give it some time. It's a big canyon, so they have a lot of ground to—"
A clap of thunder rolled across the sky. Kana yelped and jumped to his feet, the hairs on his arm standing on end. The wind began to howl, causing the rickety bridge to sway and creak violently against the rough air. Shadows quickly stretched over the canyon as dark clouds consumed the sky and blotted out the sun.
A storm? Where had it come from?
"Kana! Sophie! Get back!" Silas galloped over to them on horseback, putting himself between the two and the canyon. The other Nohrian soldiers were quick to follow with Prince Leo in tow, weapons drawn and battle ready.
Kana clutched his dragon stone. What felt like icy claws from inside his body slashed at his head and his chest, snapping at the unknown danger hanging over their heads. The dragon was trying to force its way out. Not yet, he told it, just wait until—
Six people were flung out of the canyon. They landed and tumbled across the rough ground just inches away from the Nohrian soldiers, battered and bleeding onto the stone.
Kana recognized them immediately. Alm, Gray, Boey, Mae…then Merric and Annette…
Why were…why were they hurt? Why were they bleeding?
…Where was everyone else?
Silas was the first to dismount, hopping off his horse and rushing over to the person sprawled out closest to him—Alm, with blood both fresh and dried staining his left arm.
"Hey," Silas started, "are you—"
Alm shot up gasping, nearly bonking heads with Silas's. "What—who—did—" Alm felt his face with his good hand, then felt around his chest as though checking to make sure he was real. "Did we make it?"
"Make it?" Silas asked, his brows drawn together in deep confusion. "What are you talking about? What happened to you?"
"We were under attack…had to jump into…" Alm grimaced and pressed a fist to his forehead. "Into the canyon…"
"Attacked by who?"
"By the invisible soldiers…did Kris and Selena not tell you? They jumped in…agh…before us to warn you about—"
"Kris and Selena aren't here," Leo said, trotting over with a concerned frown. "The six of you are the first to return."
"W-wait, what?" Annette was the next to speak, propping herself off the ground with an elbow. "But they went first! Petra and Odin too, they should…they should have arrived a long time ago…"
Leo slowly shook his head.
"B-but…" She glanced back to the canyon, eyes frantically searching for their missing friends. "Maybe…maybe the others will know! Felix, Ashe, the professor, Celica, they should have followed us after the six of us jumped. They might know something…we don't…"
Everyone waited there for a few moments, tensing as lightning cracked overhead. Waiting, and waiting, and waiting, just as Kana had done before…
But no one else emerged from the canyon.
"…No…no no no…" Annette's eyes welled up with tears. "No, where…where are they? They should be…they should be here…"
"Celica…everyone…" Alm stared at the canyon's edge, face and lips drawn tight. "If…if they didn't end up here…"
He let out a frustrated cry and hit the ground with the bottom of his fist.
"Where the hell did they go?!"
—
Somewhere, in another world…
.
.
.
"…have….do some…"
"What…ose…we do?"
Kris slowly woke up to a pair of unfamiliar voices, soft grass tickling his face and the midday sun shining in his eyes. He winced at the overwhelming brightness, bringing a hand up to shield his face.
"…don't know…ah! Lucina, look!"
Two figures leaned over his body, their heads helping to block out the harsh sunlight. A girl and a boy perhaps a few years younger than Kris, both sporting the same shade of blue hair. The boy wore a coat that seemed a bit too large for his body; the girl, in contrast, was dressed in light armor and a blue uniform that was…oddly familiar…
"I see you're awake now," the girl said. The boy gave Kris a cautious smile and added a soft, "Hey there."
Kris blinked and rubbed his eyes as he tried to get his bearings. Tried to remember where he was, what he had been doing before he had found himself sprawled out in some random field. He squinted up at the two faces hovering over him, trying to jog his memory…
Actually, now that he was studying them more closely…their facial features, their hair, their mere presence reminded him of…
Caeda and…
"…Marth?" Kris rasped. Dear Naga, why was his throat so dry?
The pair exchanged confused glances, then the girl looked back to him with a furrowed brow. "I haven't gone by that name in quite some time. Have we met before?"
"…Huh?"
The girl just sighed and shook her head. "Never mind that for now, we need to get your wounds healed." She turned to her companion. "Morgan, do we have any clerics in Southtown?"
"Yeah, Father sent a bunch of new recruits there not too long ago. Shouldn't be any issue finding someone to help us."
"Good," the girl said, "then let's not waste any more time. The sooner we can get you treated, sir, the better. Besides…"
She held out a hand toward Kris, offering him a soft yet determined smile that matched the glow of the sun sitting high above them.
"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know."
The End of Part 1
Aaand we've reached the (approximate) halfway point of this story!
In total, there are four new FE worlds in total that some of our heroes have just fallen into. One has already been revealed at the end here with Kris in the world of Awakening. The other three will be revealed in the near future…but you can have a say in which one comes next :)
I have provided three scenarios below, each connected to one of the three currently unknown worlds our heroes have been scattered to. Select one of the following:
- A crossroad between three armies
- A field of frozen faces
- A race to save a life
You can either drop a comment or vote anonymously through the strawpoll link posted on my profile page. Your input is greatly appreciated!
Thanks for reading so far! The next chapter will probably be posted during/at the end of the first week of December. It's the end of the semester, so I've got a lot of other academic/work related things that will cut into my creative writing time. So, see you in a few weeks!
Next chapter: Kris sees the future of Archanea.