The Dustbin
Day 7: Night School Part Final
27th of the Great Tree Moon, Dawn
"If any word of this gets out the public, or goddess forbid, any one of the three kingdoms, then we're in serious trouble!" panicked Seteth as he paced back and forth in his study while nervously biting his thumb. "The so-called 'Dustbin' may be the worst students of Garreg Mach, but the fact that the Church of Seiros takes an annual oath to ensure the safety of our students and guaranteed provision of a stable learning environment where all three surrounding sovereigns can send their young minds to grow and advance, and the fact that those wastes of space are not exempt from our oath, if they hear of this, then the trust established with the three nations will be called into question!"
He then looked at his desk scattered about with loose leaves of papers on its surface. It would've been so simple for him to grab the table by its edge and flip it over out of frustration, but even Seteth knew that causing more of a mess in his study wouldn't help matters.
So he opted to simply brush aside all of the sheet of paper off of his desk in one hard swoop of his right arm strafing across the surface, scattering them into the air like falling leaves during autumn.
"Hahh... calm down, Seteth..." he sighed out as he gripped his hands hard onto the edge of his study desk, "... everything hasn't gone belly-up just yet... the situation can be still fixed."
He then takes in a deep breath in before releasing it back out in a steady stream of air.
"... Yelling won't solve anything," Seteth told himself as he recollected his nerves, "don't let it get to you-"
"Lord Seteth?" a voice spoke from behind as the door in his study opened.
"WHAT!?" Seteth roared back in a spur of a moment, scaring the poor guard back. "... Oh, sorry. I lost my nerve for a moment there," the adjutant apologized at the poor man shrinking back in fear, "... do continue. Don't let me stop you."
The guard collects his bearing before standing back up straight.
"The search party is ready, sir," the guard notified, "at your word, we scour the designated area."
"Before we embark, I need to go over a few things one last time," remarked Seteth as he grabbed his [Silver Lance], "all students and staff are in their rooms?"
"Sound asleep," the guard remarked.
"Surrounding area around the monastery under lockdown?"
"No one gets in or out, sir."
"No one else gone missing in their rooms sans for those nine students, one professor, and the assailant who blew up the bridge?"
"All present, sir."
"Good," Seteth remarked as he walked out of his study and towards the corridor where the search party was gathered. Standing next to them was a burly-looking man in a simple steel helmet and furred vest and armor was waiting for them.
"... Are you sure that you all wish to proceed any further?" the man remarked as he shot a sharp look with his scarred eye. "Gotta report all this to the Cardinal in charge of the place down there before I let you all in."
"Report it when we get there!" barked back Seteth. "This is an emergency!"
The burly man then lets out a sigh before pressing a single brick in the wall behind him, causing the entire segment of the wall to open up and reveal a pitch-black hallway leading towards underground.
"Follow me," the burly man remarked as he lit a torch and walked ahead of the party, "I ain't getting paid to be called the 'Abysskeeper' by the Cardinal for my lack of night vision..."
As the search party led by Seteth traversed down towards the Abyss with the torchbearer as their guide, the wall behind them closed shut.
Back Down at the Abyss...
"So, dare I be bold to ask why you have all of surrounded in an encirclement of spears?" Karna asked Yuri as he and the others with him were kneeling while surrounded by spearheads pointed towards them in all directions.
"We figured out the 'how' you all ended up down here," pointed out Yuri, "but we're still lacking the 'why'."
"I'm telling you, it was an accident," protested Karna. "We only after those three there before we triggered some strange mechanism by complete happenstance."
"Likely story," Constance dryly remarked, still avoiding eye contact, "you honestly think that we'll fall for such contrived tale of yours? You lot weren't the first of intruders that we had to cut down for our self-preservation. There are those from the outside world who wishes ill upon us all dwelling here, from Balthus's endless string of debtors... and to those who wish for end of my own life simply for my lineage."
Byron then begins cackling at the girl's testimony.
"... Is there something amusing you find of our plight, intruder?" Constance remarked as she pointed her fan towards the cackling bookworm.
"Ohohoho... I'm sorry, you think you all had it rough?" remarked Byron as he held back his laughter, "my condolences, but I call pegasus dung."
"... Are you insinuating that you're any worse off than us?" Constance replied, her voice dropping to a dangerously-low tone.
The boy then simply throws off his coat hanging from his shoulders into the air, turns his back towards the noble-looking girl, and flips up his shirt, exposing his back, revealing a peculiar mark engraved on his upper back towards his nape.
"... The bloody 'ell is that?" Sorcha asked as everyone looked at the mark on Byron's lower back. "... Some kind of birthmark?"
Constance's face simply goes into a scowl as her hand then emits out the projection of the same mark from her right hand. Byron then does the same with his left hand.
"... So it seems that my lineage isn't truly endangered after all," remarked Constance with a bemused tone, "... tell me, have you heard of the Nuvelle House?"
Byron's face then cracks a wry smile.
"... I did, and their subsequent demise shortly before my own, cousin," replied Byron, "could someone get me a bucket of water?"
A spray of water cascaded across Byron's face. Before Vidar can retaliate, Byron simply grasps onto his shoulder to stop him from flinging himself into an unfavorable situation.
"... Thank you," spoke Byron as he brushed his hand across his hair, his black-hair fading to a shade of lavender. "... Ink comes surprisingly cheap, you know."
"Ugh, my worst fears have come to alight..." Constance groaned as she flipped up her fringe, revealing a tuft of dark-lavender-colored hair beneath her platinum-blond hair.
"... That's really weird," Cyrus pointed out, still nursing his leg in a cast. "I've ever seen hair colored like that naturally."
"Not my first oddity upon stepping into Fodlan," deadpanned Topaz. "They all bleed the same, no matter how distinct they are from each other."
"... You're a Nuvelle-blooded, aren't you?" pointed out Iago. "Thought that they were wiped out after a campaign in Dagda went south."
Constance simply ignores the third-year's remark with the click of her tongue.
"So, dear cousin," Constance asked Byron, her words of pleasantries dripping with scathing sarcasm, "how bad?"
"Took a [Hand Axe] from my home's landkeeper, and never looked back," replied Byron.
"Hooray, we found out that you two are related," Hapi yawned out as he fake-clapped her hands with a neutral expression on her face. "... Can I go to bed now?"
"Gonna stick around for a bit longer," Balthus remarked, "things are getting interesting down here for once."
"What's going on here?" a gentle voice spoke out behind the crowd of spearbearers, the latter clearing the way for the new person arriving.
The said person was an adult male with shoulder-length brown hair and a clean-shaven face, the perfect in-between of youth and maturity. Dressed in ash-brown and dulled red-colored Monk's robes, he carried himself in an approachable yet dignified manner, akin to Rhea, yet with a little less dark shadow casting behind his presence. As the man came forth, he made eye contact with the cloaked Professor, before giving him a friendly and warm smile.
"... And you are?" asked Karna, "I'm going to go off on a limb and say that you're in charge of this whole place?"
"You're correct, and I am sorry for this... misunderstanding," the man remarked before he waved his hand, dispersing the crowd of spearmen around him, leaving only the ten outsiders and the five Abyssals in place. "I've heard from the others. You're referred to as Karna Yuga, correct?"
"Indeed," replied Karna, "and these six are my students, while those three behind them are the ones who tried to end their lives a few hours back."
"What changed?" asked the man.
"They almost got wasted after falling into one of the sections that were blocked off a decade back," Balthus pointed out.
"This place isn't the greatest, but it's more preferable to have less bodies rotting through the gaps of our walls," Yuri remarked. "So, this man right here is the head of the Abyss, Sir Aelfric Dahlman."
"Please, no need for formalities," Aelfric remarked modestly, "still, I'm sorry for what the people under my watch put you all through."
"Been through worse during my travels," Karna deadpanned, "this will be one of them as soon as I leave here with my students, and those three cuffed in irons."
Aelfric's eyes shift towards the side, both showing twinges of regret.
"... We're not allowed to leave, aren't we?" answered Karna.
"Regrettable as it is, we must keep this place a secret at all costs," explained Aelfric, "we don't mind having additional mouths to feed, you know."
"I have a job up there that I literally bled for to get to it, and the last thing I'll let happen is that upstart sellsword outdoing me," pointed out Karna. "If you think I'll be content staying down here for the rest of my days, then you got another thing coming, good sir."
"Please, it's not for me, it's for the others," Aelfric protested, "the people down here have been rejected by the world above, whether the Church of Seiros or simply any number of vagrant reasons, the people down here have entrusted me with their collective safety and secrecy." he explained, "the last thing I'll do is compromise on my oath that I gave to them."
Karna clicks his tongue in frustration, realizing that Aelfric's standing was indeed valid.
"... How unfortunate," sighed out Karna, "well, better than dying, I suppose."
"You all plan to cooperate?" Aelfric asked. "This place isn't the greatest, but I'll do everything within my reach to ensure you live secure lives down here."
"Don't get me wrong, I don't plan to 'cooperate'," Karna remarked, "I'm just simply not dullard enough to bite the hand that'll feed in the meantime."
"... I suppose," Aelfric sighed out, "I'll try to make arrangements for your return back up to the surface."
"I'll take your word for it," Karna replied as Aelfric walked away elsewhere. "... So... uh, can I call you Yuri? Or by your last name? If the latter, mind if you tell me?"
"Please, call me as the former," Yuri replied jovially, "for now, you're all one of us now. Don't count otherwise."
And so, the ten of the ones who were plunged into the Abyss were now becoming unwilling parts of its inhabitants.
Back Outside at Garreg Mach...
As the guards placed the whole area under lockdown, one would normally expect that the students and staff in the monastery to be stay put in their respective rooms. However, like all people with rules, there are those were the exceptions, ranging from skeptics, the overly-concerned, and to the simply curious.
Such were the case of the three leaders of their respective three Houses all finding themselves with each other in the hallways near the Greenhouse by sheer coincidence.
"What are you doing here?" asked Dimitri in a hushed voice, "aren't you two supposed to be in your rooms?"
"I could say the same for you two," Edelgard replied towards the other two present, "I expected Claude to be the wily one, but never the Prince of Faerghus himself."
"Congrats prince, you outfoxed us both," coyly remarked Claude as he tapped his hands together in a false applause, "... you know what, how we propose a truce?"
"Don't see any way we're not going to get reprimanded for this," sighed out Dimitri. "Edelgard?"
"If you insist," the Adrestian heir replied, "but we ought to take our conversation with less foot traffic."
"Follow me, I know a place," whispered Claude as he led the other two elsewhere away from the Greenhouse.
As the two followed the Leicester scion, then spotted a youth with ruffled short gray-silver hair and a black hood draped over his head, sneaking out of his own room with the moves of an experienced cutpurse.
"Ashe?" Dimitiri quietly called out upon spotting his fellow classmate, with the gray-silver haired boy in the hood placing his finger front of his lips.
Ashe's other hand points its thumb towards the guard approaching them, causing them to lay low onto the floor until the sounds of armored boots clanging against the stone pavement passed by.
"Your highness, what are you doing at this hour?" whispered out Ashe as he kept his physical profile low.
"I could ask you the same," replied Dimitri. "I'm here to investigate this anomaly of this sudden lockdown, but I happened upon the two behind me, who're also out for similar reasons."
"Funny you should mention that," Ashe remarked, "I'm out here for the same thing. Call me curious, but I couldn't help myself."
"Ooh, is this what they meant by a 'rebellious phase'?" a youthful female voice remarked. "In that case, count me in too!"
"Who're..." Edelgard remarked as she turned back to see the young-looking girl with twirled bright-emerald-green locks of hair drooping down the sides of her head. "... Aren't you the archbishop's adjunct's younger sister?"
"I have a name, you know!" she huffed as her cheeks puffed out slightly, "it's Flayn!"
"Please reconsider," Dimitri begged, "we're doing this of our own volitions. You have no obligation to stick out your neck for us, Miss Flayn."
"Well too bad, I'm staying with you all of my own free will!" Flyan retorted boldly. "I didn't sneak out of my own room by tying me spare bedsheets together for nothing, you know!"
"Well, don't slow us down," Claude remarked as he headed towards Ashe and whispered something into his ear, with the latter replying with a nod before heading off, with the others following suit.
They slowly edge their backs against the side of the stone stairs leading up to the sauna house. Normally, one would simply climb up the stairs without worry, since rarely anyone comes to the sauna during nighttime, but there were a cluster of guards patrolling by the area next to where the Training Grounds were at, making them easy to be able to spot the vagrant students heading up to the stairs.
"Damn, this is bad," Claude clicked his tongue as he spotted a torchlight heading towards their way from behind them. "Cornered on both sides, figuratively the walls are closing in..."
"Um, excuse me?" a sassy voice remarked out in the open, the two guards facing where the voice came from.
"You can't be here," the guard stated towards the direction of the voice. "You're way past your curfew."
"I lost something really important this afternoon," the voice continued on, the armored guard passing by the five of them crouching down behind the bushes. "It's something really important, so could you mind making an exception for me?"
"You can look for it tomorrow morning," the other guard pointed out. "I'm sure it'll be there, or at the very least, be at the academy's lost and found."
"What's going on here?" the armored guard joined in on the conversation, causing the two guards to turn towards the armored figure with the torch, behind the guards being revealed to be a girl with a pair of bright pink pigtails reaching down to her ample-sized chest.
"Captain!" the guard saluted upon seeing his superior, the latter taking notice of the female student. "What's she doing here? Ain't she a Goneril? Saw her brother attend here a decade back, so I can recognize the pink hair."
"What's Hilda doing here?" whispered Edelgard as she observed the conversation. "Claude, did you plan this out beforehand?"
The Riegan scion gave her a shrug as they listened in on the interaction.
"I lost an important assignment that I worked real hard on this afternoon," claimed Hilda. "I think I might've left it in the library, but the doors are locked."
The armored guard lets out a sigh as he walked away.
"Come with me," the armored guard instructed Hilda. "I try to look for the librarian, see if he has the keys or not. The two of you, head to the entrance, we reported movement nearby, so make sure it wasn't a stray dog or something."
With that said, the area around the five were hiding in begun to clear, with Hilda and the guards none the wiser.
"... Hilda gave us an opening to pass," Claude remarked as he snuck ahead. "I knew suggesting her to go to the library to do her assignment was a good idea."
"We'll talk later," Dimitri sighed out as he and the other followed the Golden Deer leader up the stone stairwell, reaching the closed off sauna building and finding a dark-green haired male student taking a nap behind the bushes next to the sauna door.
"... What the hell," Edelgard gawked at the napping male. "Lindhardt?"
Lindhardt then lets out a stiff yawn before he rubbed his eyes, looking laxly at the scowling Adrestian princess.
"... Good morning," the drowsy male greeted as he smacked his tongue. "And before you ask what am I doing here, I couldn't sleep with all the sounds of boots tapping in the hallways keeping tabs on all of us," he explained as Lindhardt pointed towards Flayn, "... so I followed her."
"What are you, an alley cat?" commented Edelgard.
"This place is the quietest place available during nighttime," Lindhardt pointed out, "and it would've been if it weren't for you guys barging in. So what's the situation?"
"We're investigating the whole surrounding lockdown by ourselves," Claude pointed out, "normally, something's going on when there's a bomb going off at this time of the year. I for one am simply curious of this little enigma."
"I'm just hoping that I can get to the bottom of this so the people won't get hurt later down the line," Dimitri remarked.
"And I for one, am generally suspicious of what's going on," explained Edelgard. "A lockdown this early into the academy year is raising more questions than answering the cause."
"And how is all of that my problem?" replied Lindhardt.
"Come with us, or I'll report the staff of you breaking curfew," Edelgard threatened.
"Like you all are?" deadpanned Lindhardt, hardly amusing Edelgard.
"It's called our 'rebellious phase'!" Flayn proudly proclaimed. "School life hasn't been this exciting since then!"
Lindhardt lets out a tired sigh as he slowly gets up.
"Next time, don't make me do Hubert's job," Lindhardt remarked as he begrudgingly joined the group. "But you all owe me for this, got it?"
"Anything within my powers!" Flayn agreed, which caused Dimitri and Ashe to look at her worryingly, but Claude simply places both of his hands on each of their respective shoulders, shaking his head in disagreement with their sentiments.
"Let her go, gentlemen," Claude remarked, "once a girl wants something, you can't stop em. I have to deal with two in my classroom daily."
"Well, we got six people on our side," Ashe remarked as he looked ahead, still finding the area below them empty, "now where do we go-"
Suddenly, sounds of wood breaking and a horse's neigh came from the direction from monastery's Marketplace, followed up by panicked cries and armor plates clanging onto the floor like dropped pots and pans.
"DAMMIT! THERE'S A WILD HORSE RUNNING LOOSE!" a panicked guard cried out from the distance.
"IT'S THE SAME ONE THAT THE ALMYRAN BRAT USED TO TRY AND ESCAPE WITH!" another pointed out as the sounds of hooves drumming across the earth, intensity so great that it can be heard from all the way to the other side of the monastery's halls.
"WHAT DO WE DO!?" the other guard asked.
"KILL IT!" the head guard barked out.
Several guards then charged towards the gigantic horse with their [Steel Lances], but as soon as they thrust their weapons at the charging beast, the gigantic horse then jumped over them, its heavy hooves thundering behind them upon landing, leaving them in utter awe as the horse got away.
The other six hiding by the sauna building then see the galloping horse heading towards their direction, and they were able to catch the glimpse of its pristine, short-haired amber-brown coat with a jet-black mane immaculately trimmed down it rearside of its sturdy neck, its size and muscles throbbing with each stride it took during its wild rampage across the monastery grounds, the hooves, heavy and dense as the business ends of a [Hammer] weapon, cracking and breaking down each tile that its hoof tramples on into gravel.
"The guards call that a horse?" Dimitri remarked, "that is no horse, it's a hornless oxen!"
"Huh, haven's seen those in a while," Claude remarked while thinking another thought in his head, is this the so-called "Golden Horde's Kings of the Batu Steppe"? Guess fiction isn't so farfetched from the fact after all.
"Wait, is that-" Edelgard cut herself off as she saw her professor Byleth patrol around the area with her [Iron Sword] in hand, "PROFESSOR!"
Byleth, upon hearing Edelgard's voice, goes into an alert stance as she was set upon by the gigantic horse charging towards her. She tries to get out of the way, only for her to be tackled aside, breaking her ribs underneath her own breastplates and before she can get up, the horse simply hoists its formost body upwards to crush the remaining life out of her body with its titanic hooves.
Suddenly, time froze to a standstill. And before her, once again, was the mysterious girl on the throne, sitting before the laying Byleth.
"Once again, I stand before you, seeing you moments before your fatal end," the mysterious girl remarked before letting out a yawn. "... Can't stay away from me, can you?"
"To be fair, anyone would be mildly curious of a girl whose name I haven't learned yet," Byleth pointed out. "Still though, you mind taking me back to a time before I got tossed up into the air like pie dough?"
"... If you insist," the girl with the overly-long green hair sighed out as she waved her hand, rewinding the world's time back to where before she was creamed by the horse, her feet now back to where she was walking from, aiding the other guards to increase security under the archbishop's request. "... You're a mercenary, aren't you? So why are so susceptible to be bested by a mere equine, albeit, one that is way too large to be considered a horse?"
"Good question," Byleth deadpanned. "But I think I saw the thing notice my hand reaching for my sword, so around that moment, it picked up speed and rammed its whole body weight against me before I can draw it."
"Brilliant, you just proved that an animal is smarter than you without my help," the girl on the throne deadpanned back.
"Guess I know my plan this time," the mercenary-turned-professor declared.
"What, face the beast with your bare hands?" the girl remarked amusedly.
Byleth simply gives her a confident, yet blank look.
"... You cannot be serious," the girl on the throne sighed out as she witnessed Byleth disarming herself, tossing her [Iron Sword] aside as she begun to hear the drumming of the hooves coming from a distance, closing in onto her. "Do you value so little of your own life!?"
"Hey, I was a mercenary," pointed out Byleth as she crouched down with her arms spread out open. "Me and my old man got paid to do worse for less."
As the horse charged towards where she stood, she then charges towards the rampaging beast, jumps into the air, and clings her whole body around its tree-like neck. It began swinging and violently torquing its head as its rampage proceeded unimpeded, causing panic at the gargantuan horse's stampede attempted by the noticed guards trying to stop the beast, while the other seven followed the horse's trail of carnage, the panic ensued providing a perfect cover.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!?" one guard cried out.
"RUNAWAY HORSE!" Byleth warned as she continued to cling onto the horse's neck for her dear life.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? THAT AIN'T NO HORSE!" one terrified guard cried out as he leapt out of the way. "HORSES AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THAT MASSIVE!"
"PROFESSOR!" a voice cried out. "BRICK WALL DEAD AHEAD!"
"What are you doing!?" the girl's voice cried out in Byleth's head, "bail out unless you have a death wish-"
At the exact moment when the horse that Byleth was clinging onto charged towards the main monastery building, the horse then tucked its head forth and picked up speed. Its cranium makes physical contact with the monastery's walls, breaking through the mortar and brick layer without resistance.
All whom were present at that moment were left in complete awe, student and staff alike, special mention going to the young monastery Monk whose chamber was breached through, thankfully left unharmed, but his chambers being left a complete mess of broken wood, upturned furniture, and a destroyed door.
"... At least use the door," said the Monk as he looked out towards the hallway laid before the trampled door.
The horse's brays echoed in the halls beyond, right at the moment where Hilda and her escort guards came down from the Library with her misplaced papers in hand.
"... Umm, aren't the stables at the other end of the monastery?" Hilda pointed out before she herself was swept off of her feet when the hem of her collar got caught in Byleth's metal plate armor that she wore around her waist. "PROFESSOR!?"
"Yo," Byleth greeted nonchalantly. Her composure remaining unfazed even when the titanic horse then rams through another segment of the brick wall, this time, dragging them both into the underground hallway.
Amidst the chaos sprang from the fallout, the other six students make their way across the monastery under notice during the confusion with Ashe's guidance, the six then find themselves facing down a cavity in a brick wall leading down elsewhere.
"... So Miss Flayn, did your brother ever tell you about there being underground passages around the monastery grounds?" asked Claude.
"Not this one in particular," the girl remarked. "... Are you insinuating what I think you're insinuating, Mr. Riegan?"
"Either that, or immediate detention," the scion pointed out. "By the way, not it for me carrying sleepyhead."
"Wait, what?" Edelgard remarked as she turned her head to find Lindhardt sleeping on Dimitri's back while the latter was carrying him.
"I don't mind," the prince remarked, "he weighs less than a roll of bread."
Edelgard groans as she and the others headed down towards the open path leading underground, unknowingly walking into one of the monastery's many secrets buried underneath.
Back at the Marketplace...
"Greetings, Sir Alois!" the Gatekeeper greeted the Knight of Seiros. "... Where do I begin with my report!?"
"Umm, I guess you can start why the whole Marketplace before us looks like one of Captain Jeralt's old trails of carnage whenever he has one too many at a local tavern," Alois remarked as he looked at the scene of carnage laid before them. "I don't see the gates being breached, so how did the horse manage to breach security?"
"Well, there was an old wagon right next to the entrance, but that couldn't be it," the Gatekeeper testified. "... But I did see the horse land on top of the Guild Hall's tent as a landing pad, and then proceed to tear through everything else before galloping right across the stables and spooking the horses. Goddess save my soul, I saw my own life flash before my eyes."
"Well son, at least you're not dead," Alois remarked reassuringly. "Tell me, were there anybody else during the commotion?"
"Never left my post as ordered, sir," the Gatekeeper replied. "As far as I could tell, it was only the bear-sized horse that I had my eyes on."
Alois lets out a sigh before walking back to his guards.
"You're our watch, and the best one we have, so don't err, understood?" Alois requested the Gatekeeper.
"Yes sir-"
"BIG TROUBLE!" another guard came rushing in.
"What's wrong!?" Alois replied to the rushing guard.
"... We spotted activity..." the guard huffed out. "Movement indicates... they're heading towards... Garreg Mach."
Alois then begins to rally all surrounding guards within the vicinity.
"MOBILIZE ALL AVAILABLE MEN IN ARMS!" Alois barked out. "DO NOT LET THEM ANYWHERE NEAR THE MONASTERY! GATEKEEPER! SOUND THE ALARM!"
From the outer rims of the monastery, a horned figure wielding a scythe while riding atop its jet-black steed layered in horned armor gazed upon the animated scenery of the monastery atop the hill that it looked upon.
"... A battle is brewing beneath its underbelly..." the horned knight atop its steed declared. "... I must feast."
The horned figure then disappears like the very breeze that passed by its silhouette, seemingly carried off like a free-floating feather within the wind.
Back Below the Abyss...
"... Interesting," Karna remarked as he looked through the Abyss's own Shadow Library of tattered texts, "... how scandalous."
"Professor?" Byron called out as he approached him, "what are you reading up on?"
"Potential blackmail material," Karna remarked as he closed the book in his hands. "Call it a hunch, but... I think I know this place."
"In what regard?" the bookworm replied as he crouched down and picked up a loose leaf of paper with faded text.
"Seteth's dirty little secrets," the cloaked professor answered. "Erotic novellas, half-burnt reports, and way too many evidence of scandals that would effectively destroy Fodlan from the inside-out."
"... Hm, that seems interesting," Byron remarked. "... You're thinking of writing it down?"
"Do I need written evidence that would destroy my prospect career?" asked Karna, "of course not. But you may feel free to do it, but be sure that you memorize them first before writing and burning it after you rip it apart."
"Oh joy, two scheming dastards before me..." Constance's voice spat out in mild disgust as she walked into the same room where they were in, "... can't even enjoy my evening tea with you mouth-breathers flapping your lips."
"Hello there, my pompous and disgraced cousin, couldn't you've taken your tea elsewhere?" Byron venomously remarked.
"Name one place elsewhere where I can be on my own person," Constance snapped back.
"Okay, dropping the pretense, can we just admit that we both want to murder each other where we stand," Byron remarked out of the blue, "because in all honesty, I hate your very existence as much you loathe mine."
"Then what's stopping you?" Constance remarked, "getting cold feet?"
"I only kill under two conditions," Byron answered, "either I'm getting paid for it, or that person in question is a threat to my own life. You are neither."
Constance sets her emptied teacup on its saucer.
"... Are you implying that I'm below you?" said Constance as her voice lowered. "Don't you know who the hell I am?"
"... A soon to be dead rich girl that I'm probably going to fleece off every single gold coin off of her corpse?" Byron replied bluntly. "... You're not the first one, Constance. I literally paid for my tuition at Faerghus's Mage Academy and both Vidar's and my tuitions into Garreg Mach with blood money."
"I REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU SHARE THE SAME BLOOD AS MINE IN YOUR VEINS!" she snapped as she threw her [Fire] towards Byron, only to peter out into a burst of steam.
"Tch tch tch," Byron clicked his tongue as his hand already extended outwards. "Don't you know we're in a library? Everything around here is a fire hazard," he remarked as Constance noticed frost particles emitting from his hands, "so I all of us a favor, and put it out."
"... Was that [Fimbulvetr]!?" Constance pointed out.
"If it was, this whole room would've been covered in ice," Byron explained. "While you were wallowing in your own family's fall from grace, I spent my given time coming up with a new line of spells that would allow me to punch through either the physical body of a armored [Fortress Knight] or the mental fortitude of the [Holy Knight] at will. What better element is there than ice, which can erode armor-like muscles to strips of brittle cartilage and disrupt the focus of the sharpest mind simultaneously?"
So he'd turned the very formula of frostbite and frost erosion into a set of spells for him and him alone, commented Karna as he witnessed the clash. [Fimbulvetr] can only be learned around when a person's magical proficiency is around C or B, he continued to observe Byron mentally, either he's already at that stage... or somehow managed to learn [Fimbulvetr] at proficiency E or D. Either way, his intellect is truly something remarkable. No wonder why prior instructors were stumped at him.
"... So what?" Constance remarked as she stood her ground. "I still have my pride as a Nuvelle!"
"Which is why you're weak," Byron retorted, "you refuse to accept reality for the way it is. I saw the writing on the wall, it doesn't matter if you're a noble or a peasant. Whoever gets first blood often lives for another day. Take away the money and prestige, they're nothing but potential carrion waiting to be poached by owls."
The girl then scoffs at Byron's remark.
"... It seems that I'm grateful that you were here to tell me all that," said Constance. "For now I can see that you're nothing more than a sad mongrel wading throughout an endless wasteland of snow, not even setting a goal for yourself."
"Then why are you hiding down here?" Byron shot back.
"Because like you, and only this once, I know well that I can't do anything when I'm dead," answered Constance. "Better to hide and plan to live on rather than endlessly walking as a dead man."
With a huff, she walks away from the two.
"... Her dreams mean nothing," Byron muttered to himself, "they're all the same kinds of delusions that I've destroyed."
"Tell me, would you've considered yourself as delusional before you lost your family?" asked Karna.
"Keh, no," spat out Byron, "I was already bored out of my mind before and after my family disappeared into the inferno. I had nothing, and neither does Vidar, for we both see the world for what it truly is; an ugly place where all pretense of civility hides a primal and endless storm of savagery that people deny of its existence."
"... Do you believe that anyone can change the world?" asked Karna once more to Byron, "even if that person has to be you?"
"Who would?" Byron remarked bluntly as he left the room, "we all benefit from it."
As soon as Byron was no longer present, Karna then reads through another slip of paper found between an old book akin to a shopping list, albeit one listed with rare fruits and now-endangered animals.
"They don't even taste that good..." muttered Karna as he put the slip of paper back where it was found before shelving it back, "then again, I vomit just by eating anything except for clear broth."
Then from the corner of his eye, he spotted a book labeled [Encyclopedia of Fodlan's Insects] lying about below the bookshelf.
"Hm, haven't tackled entomology for a good while," remarked Karna as he reached out to the unassuming book and picking it up, "I wonder what's this thing doing down here of all places-oh my," he remarked upon seeing the contents inside its covers, realizing that the book's subject being about the multi-legged wonders of Fodlan being an utter lie.
Looking around to see that no one else was present around him, he then stashes this so-called book of insects into his cloak, realizing that the very thing he's going to abduct back into the upper world would put more than just his own career in jeopardy.
Still, even he's fully aware that no risk equals no yield. As an academic himself, all knowledge must be destined to see the light of day.
"There's nothing left here but pointless drivel and libel written between the covers shelved in the forgotten chasm," he remarked. "Someday, I shall reclaim every single one of you."
As he walked out back to the communal area of the Abyss, he notices a crowd gathering around the square, with Yuri himself speaking in it.
"What's going on?" asked Karna. "Something happening?"
"Well, nothing too dire, but our scouts spotted intruders breaching into the Abyss," Yuri informed the crowed, "and unlike our new friends who fell down here, it seems that our new guests are more deliberate in their ill intent."
Murmurs of concern begin to sprout among the dense number of people gathered.
"So are we going to stop them?" one of the Abyss-dwellers pointed out.
"We'll catch them by surprise in the old coliseum," Yuri stated, "but in order for our plan to work, we're going to need someone to act as bait."
Every Abyssian then looks towards Karna and his students with their captors.
"... We're bait, then," deadpanned Karna. "I take it that we have to earn your trust by fire?"
"Hey, no one who chose to come down does so willingly forfeiting their own lives," pointed out Yuri, "call us cowards, I'd call it survival."
"Astute," Byron shot back. "I take it that you'll arm us or are we actual meatshields?"
"Eh, we got plenty of old weapons at the storage," Balthus remarked. "They're intact enough to work. I'll take you all there."
"Everyone else, prepare your arms," Yuri ordered, "let's make our guests regret coming down here willingly."
As the crowd dispersed, Balthus then leads the Dustbin and the three captors to the storage, where they all find a room filled with crates of old weapons, and as Balthus stated earlier, "intact enough to work" was the apt description for most of these weapons inside, as the iron edges of the weapons were half-rusted from neglect, or simply gone dull.
"Hmm, this seems adequate enough," Karna remarked as he picked up a slightly-worn [Iron Lance]. "What about this?" he remarked as he picked up the [Javelin], only for its spearhead to break off. "... Whatever, I know magic, so a ranged polearm is redundant anyway."
"What kind of magic?" asked Balthus. "Might not look like it, but I know a few to get by."
"[Reason Magic]," Karna answered as he shuffled through the crates to find something else for his students. "[Dark Magic], but I'd prefer the term 'Elder Magic'."
"No one's judging," Balthus remarked as he handed Sorcha a reasonably-maintained [Steel Sword]. "Want this?" he asked the girl.
"Nah, too small," she replied as she looked elsewhere, only for her eyes to lock onto a giant black-handled double-edged sword sitting idly at the corner. "Oi big guy, can I take this?" Sorcha asked as she pointed at the sword taller than her whole body.
"Yeah, no one's using it anyway," remarked Balthus, "I mean, I used it once, but the whole sword feels unbalanced even for me. Handle was too thin and short, yet the blade was tall and heavy as me."
"Thanks," Sorcha thanked Balthus as she took the giant sword and slung it around her back, her fit to the unorthodox weapon being a natural fit for her. "Haven't used a [Claymore] in a while, so maybe I work the rust off."
"I-I'll be okay with this," Selene remarked as she picked out an [Iron Bow], "... I'm okayish with my aim, so shouldn't be too much of a hassle."
"What about me?" asked Cyrus, now sporting a new set of crutches, "... I mean, I have a good enough throwing arm," he remarked as he took a bundle of [Javelins], each varied in quality of maintenance.
"Ain't stoping ya, so go ahead," said Balthus as he walked towards Vidar, staring blankly into a crate where the [Gauntlets] were stored in. "What about you, kiddo? Found something you like?"
The bandaged boy then picks up a pair of [Iron Gauntlets] and walks away without saying a word.
"A fellow pugilist?" asked Balthus, "when this all over, how about we have a round?"
"I'd recommend you don't," Byron pointed out as he took a belt of [Hand Axes] and strapped it around his legs, "he's banned from the Training Grounds up there for a reason."
"Oh come now, I can take a punch-"
"He bit off a student's ear during sparring for close combat training," cut in Byron. "For your sake, don't go to him if you're looking for a casual 1-on-1. Every fight for him, is a fight to the death."
"... Could've put it another way," Balthus pointed out as walked towards Topaz picking out an old rectangular-bladed sword. "Whoa whoa whoa, little lady, I recommend you don't touch that," he warned the Almyran hit girl.
"For what reason?" she asked.
"That blade secretes poison on its own," the giant brawler replied, "one guy died after being careless with it, cut his own finger open and died a slow painful death afterwards."
"So it's an ideal weapon for me then," Topaz remarked as she unsheathed the blade, revealing a blade with small holes opening up from the inside, each orfice secreting a scentless and clear liquid. She then licks the blade, tastes the poison, and feels nothing.
"... What the hell are you doing?" Balthus upsettedly cried out. "Are you trying to kill yourself with that thing-"
"Peh, weak," spat Topaz in a disappointed tone. "Mere venin, barely strong enough to kill a mountain sheep. I can't even feel mildly faint from this weak concoction, let alone irritated. And you're saying that one of your lot fell to this? Bah. I assumed you Fodlanders were made of hardier stuff."
Topaz looked at the flabbergasted Balthus upon seeing her lick the [Venin Edge] and come out unfazed.
"... This is nothing to me, King of Grapplers," Topaz boasted as her snake-like eyes gazed into Balthus's own. "I have been dealt much worse than whatever your continent can concoct during my training."
She then walks away with the sheathed [Venin Edge], leaving the shocked Balthus behind.
"... You have a weird class," Balthus remarked to Karna the latter gathered bottles of [Vulnerary] for his class. "And I was a Golden Deer Alma Mater a couple years back."
"Take it from me, there are weirder things outside of Fodlan," Karna remarked. "I would tell you stories, but time is of the essence, isn't it?"
"You got it," Balthus replied as Karna passed by him, "after we drive them away, how about we share drinks and stories over fire?"
"Give me a word as soon as you're available," Karna answered as he met up with other Dustbin students with Constance and Hapi.
"Well, at least someone's lookin' ready to die," Hapi deadpanned. "At what I heard from Coco about Roro."
"Really, 'Coco'?" Byron pointed out as he tried to hold in his chuckling of hearing Constance's and his own admittedly cute nicknames. "... Not bad, Hapi. I kinda like your quirk."
"Is there something wrong with it?" pointed out Constance.
"... Your name sounds like it belong to a cat," Byron corpsed out.
"And yours-*pft*" Constance held in her own laughter mid-word, "... sounds like a dog's."
As the two once-bickering distant cousins now share laughter, Hapi simply rolls her eyes and guides the others to the abandoned coliseum, waiting for them being Iago, Hans, and the bomber, all now armed with their own weapons, being an [Iron Sword], [Iron Axe], and a [Iron Lance] respectively.
"Well, try not to die," Hapi plainly remarked as she and Constance left the ten on their own to face the intruding vagrants coming towards their way.
As the ten were left on their own, all of them begin to get ready to face the coming enemy.
"... So, professor," spoke Byron, "any last-minute advice before we jump into our first field assignment?"
Karna cracks his neck to the side as he spotted the initial wave of enemies, four [Iron Axe]-wielding [Fighters] coming in pairs, each pair being led by a [Iron Sword]-wielding [Myrmidons].
"... Divide and conquer," Karna remarked. "Disrupt their initial organization and cut them down one at a time."
"Sound enough," Byron nodded. "Let's do this."
To Be Continued...
Support Conversations Available:
- Karna and Byron (C)
Karna: I must ask, Byron.
Byron: What is it, professor?
Karna: You mentioned that you had a history of scaring away other instructors during your stay at Garreg Mach.
Byron: So you're asking how did I end up scaring them off in the first place?
Karna: I'd like to know how, yes. I've heard some youths being too smart for their age, but you seem to be a... particular case.
Byron: Well, for one, most of the so-called instructors have connections to the upper classes of Fodlan society, presumably only taking the job because they look good for themselves.
Karna: So you noticed that and begin chipping their ego away?
Byron: You've should've seen the looks on their faces when I did things from crating my own unique branch of [Reason Magic] from scratch to acing every example with a perfect score while I was an active truant.
Karna: I take it you weren't studying during your truancy?
Byron: I already learned these material back when I was younger. Them trying to teach me is like trying to teach a horse how to fly like a pegasus.
Karna: ... So I take it that you have high expectations for me?
Byron: As long as I haven't heard of it, I'll indulge. When do we start?
Karna: ... I might want to draw out a new lesson plan first. Or I can make things up as I go. Either way, it'll be a challenge for both you and me.
Byron: Don't hold back. Make it engaging for me.
- Byron and Sorcha (C)
Byron: ...
Sorcha: ...
Byron: So what's your deal, following me about?
Sorcha: Bah, bugger off, ya wanker. You're perfectly fine letting that bullock Vee-dar tail ya like a lost pup.
Byron: That's because he's a friend. You are an acquaintance at best.
Sorcha: What's the bloody difference? We been in the same room for the past few years!
Byron: Vidar's someone I can trust not to stab my back. Anyone else not him, is a potential bounty.
Sorcha: Oi, I ain't got nuthin' to hide, ya know. No need to sleep one eye open around me.
Byron: I wish that were the case, but as of now, you're a convenience. I need absolute assurance in order to ensure I'll live tomorrow. Do not mistake my boredom for suicidal need for constant excitement.
Sorcha: ... Yer bloody impossible to read, ya know. What are ye for really?
Byron: So it has been said by many more than you. I'll leave you with this though; I don't fundamentally trust anyone. Only Vidar is worthy of my time because he's pure, and in turn, he understands that I'm obligated to return the favor to make sure that he lives pure. For now, leave me be.
*Byron walks away*
Sorcha: ... Bloody 'ell, I just wanna be his friend like he is. What's stuck up his arse anyway? Bah, to hell with it.
*Sorcha runs towards Byron's direction before stopping to cup her hands around her mouth*
Sorcha: HOPE YA SLIP AND FALL, YA BLOODY PIPER!
Author's Notes: Well, had the time and finally found my motivation to continue and try to attempt to make this a thing, so here it comes.
Had a free enough week to make this a thing, and well, I guess it worked out for the most part.
First real battle for the Dustbin (and the three accomplices) is based off the [What Lies Beneath] Map, albeit, scaled down to a more beginner-friendly variant, with the basic four promotions of [Fighter], [Myrmidon], [Monk] and [Soldier] making up the bulk of the enemies. Also, Flayn will be joining in on the expanded-version of Cindered Shadows.
As for the Support Conversations, dunno how they're gonna turn out with the audience, but they're my first attempt at it, so give me some slack. There will be more after the battle is over, so please, give me time. Support conversations will be revealed at the end of every multiparter arc, or individual chapter should I think enough rapport between certain characters have been built in the given time.
Also, sprinkled in some additional lore on Almyra, bringing in influence from Mongol culture (not the first time Mongolians were represented in the FE universe, as seen with Sacaean people in the Elibe Duology/Binding Blade and Blazing Sword), and Batu Khan was Genghis Khan's grandson who led the Golden Horde between Western Asia and Eastern Europe, right where Turkey/Middle East is located at, and where Almyra takes most of its inspiration from.
And with that all said and done, we got to our first battle in the next chapter as the walls begin to close in. See you soon.