Emerald Rain

Reunion at Dawn:

Byleth:

"You... How long do you intend to sleep?" A voice rang through Byleth's head, "Your body is awake. Your eyes must open now, and you must find the strength to stand upon those legs of yours" the voice continued on "Like so much rain, a pool of blood has fallen to the ground... As spears and arrows pierce the earth, it weeps. And even now... it weeps" the voice said. "In order to survive, they kill. And so, the people of this world are lost in an abyss of suffering. They weep as well" The voice said, "The only one who truly knows the nature of such things is I... or rather, you" the voice added.

"I'm still sleepy..." Byleth called out.

Byleth heard a dramatic sigh "You are a complete and utter fool! Have you not changed one bit?!" the voice huffed out "Get on your feet. Right now! I'll coddle you no more! You are just a child, always needing me to hold your hand..." the voice scolded.

The black slowly faded away, until Byleth saw white, she blinked her eyes trying to adjust them to the harsh beams of the sun. "Sothis?" Byleth said weakly.

"Huh?... Hey! A- are you awake?" A voice called out, Byleth's body instinctively shot up in case she would have to defend herself, she looked at the person before her a man with brown hair and brown eyes, by the looks of it he seemed to be a peasant.

"Where am I?" Byleth croaked, her throat hurt, just how long was she lying dormant for? she wondered.

"We're in a village at the base of the monastery. What are you doing in a place like this?" The man asked, "I honestly didn't expect to find someone floating away down the river..." he added quietly, "Garreg Mach is upstream of here, but that place was abandoned" he added.

Byleth furrowed her brows, "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Huh? You don't know? The Church of Seiros isn't there anymore" he said "Though there have been some folks still living there in the five years since... well you know" he added "Anyways, I've heard some thieves have been spotted around those parts these days" he said.

A realization hit Byleth "Did he say five years?" She thought to herself, "What year is it?" she asked the man.

"Um, are you feeling alright? You didn't hit your head or anything, did you?" the man asked "It's the Ethereal Moon of the year 1185. It's been nearly five years since the monastery fell" he said, "Tomorrow was supposed to be the millennium festival, but who's got time to think about things like that?" the man sighed.

"The millennium festival..." Byleth chocked out, remembering her promise to her classmates.

"Uh yeah, that's what I said. But with the war and the archbishop waging a war from Fhirdiad..." he said.

That is all Byleth needed to hear, Rhea was still alive, now all she needed to do was find Edelgard and they could end it for good this time. But why was Rhea in Fhirdiad? Did Dimitri eventually side with her, Byleth could not help but feel a pang of hurt over that. Regardless that did not matter now.

Byleth began to walk towards the monastery, the man ran after her "Hey! Slow down, will ya? Where do you think you're going?" He asked.

"The monastery" Byleth said bluntly, as she kept walking onward.

"Are you crazy?! I told ya! They say thieves are running amok up there, and there's plenty of other dangers too" The man shouted to her, Byleth nodded and kept on walking, "Come on, I promise I won't say you're a coward. Just forget about going anywhere near the monastery" the man pleaded " Byleth shook her head. "You just remember I tried to stop you, got it? It's not on my conscience if you wind up dead!" the man added.