Chapter Text
~My name is Sothis. By now you must be well aware of what that means.~
~You and I are now as one.~
~You know I am The Beginning. What shall you do?~
———
Dimitri watched in shock as the cloud of dark mist surrounding the massive altar dissipated, leaving the man from Remire standing alone and unharmed. Alone, as his professor was nowhere to be seen.
“What was that sorcery?!” Dimitri exclaimed, his shock mirrored by his classmates. “What have you done with Professor Eisner?!”
The ghoulish mage was not threatened at all by the obvious anger in the young prince’s voice, and instead looked self-satisfied and unthreatened.
“He was swallowed by the forbidden spell of Zahras.” Solon espoused. “An eternity wandering the Void, never to return to the physical world…”
Solon further muttered “And to think, we almost had the Sword of the Creator…”
The fear visible in Annette’s eyes, both for her teacher and her fellow students facing this man, bubbled over and spilled from her mouth. “It’s a lie! There’s no way Professor Byleth is really dead!”
The other students followed suit, their insistence that Byleth was still alive leading them to speak over each other. Dimitri felt his heels digging into the soft dirt, preparing to strike true for that- that creature’s repulsive skull.
“Of course, death may not have found your friend just yet.” Solon continued to monologue. “Drifting through the darkness forever, overwhelmed with hopelessness until the mind fades… oh, it must be torturous.”
“Enough!” Dimitri snarled. “I’ll slice you into pieces while you watch! You will know true pain before I finally allow you to die!”
“How trite! If you prefer it, you may also be added to the ranks of the dead.”
And that gave him pause, but no, he could not allow this monster to escape, or emerge victorious. He could not allow himself to join his mother, his father, Glenn, or Byleth until he had spilled blood to quiet them.
And just as Dimitri prepared to launch his lance at Solon, a slice of red lit up the air above them.
The sky seemed to boil above them as the red tear expanded, and Dimitri was mesmerized by it. It started to widen, and Dimitri felt himself being yanked back by his cape by somebody in the hustle to get out of the way because whatever that was, it was dangerous.
A pair of scaly claws emerged from the tear and pried it apart, making way for the beast’s horned head, teeth bared and eyes full of rage.
The creature, large enough to nearly rival the demonic beasts that had patrolled the forest previously, tumbled out of the rip in the sky and landed heavily on four legs, chest visibly heaving with effort. It was a shade of cloud-grey, with curling horns and tenting leathery wings.
Dimitri had seen enough stained glass imagery and iconography in his life to know he was looking at The Dragon, the form the goddess was shown as in all the religious texts he could remember.
Solon looked just as stunned as the terrified students were, and had just the presence of mind to warp away and call for reinforcements.
Which left the students within spitting distance of a being known as the goddess’s wrath personified.
But the dragon that tore the sky ignored the humans behind it, and instead raced to the cliff face, its wings buffeting them into the ground.
The roar that shook the trees purged Dimitri of any doubt about the divine beast he had seen.
“What are we waiting for? After it!” he heard Sylvain cry, and it was enough to send them all scrambling for the high ground where the dragon had chased Solon. Even Dedue, steady and rooted as an ancient oak, looked shaken by what he had brushed with.
The demonic beast that was making its way towards them may have spurred their steps, perhaps.
At the top of the cliff, on the patterned tile spelled for protection, there was nothing but a grotesque bloodstain where Solon would have been, unidentifiable pieces scattered about the floor. The dragon looked up at the approaching humans, and Dimitri shuddered to a halt, resolving to face his death in a dignified manner expected of a prince when it launched itself towards them.
It was among screams of panic and the feeling of hands grabbing onto bodies in terror that Dimitri realized he was, in fact, not dead. That horrific ringing roar blasted out from behind the Lions, and the braver students were watching as the dragon leapt onto the demonic beast’s back and began to tear into its neck with tooth and claw alike.
The beast died with barely a whimper, and all of the dragon’s attention was on them.
The second beast approached the dragon from behind, and the dragon swung its horned head at the monster, sending it toppling to the ground. The dragon, despite its ease in dispatching the demonic beasts, backed up towards the students and roared at the downed monster. In an astonishing show of self-preservation, the demonic beast heaved itself up and fled.
Nobody dared move, for fear of attracting the dragon’s attention. It was one thing to sit in the cathedral and think that you were devout enough to be untouched by the goddess’s wrath, and another to see a god’s rage given physical form in front of you, solid and real.
The dragon swiveled its head about as if scouting for more monsters, and something niggled in the back of Dimitri’s brain. At the Red Canyon, Byleth had been what saved a few students’ lives, always seeming to show up just when they needed the support. Perhaps he’d finally lost his grip on his own mind, but the way the divine dragon’s wings were tented forwards and the way its back hunched…
“Professor?” Dimitri asked, barely above a whisper.
And of course the dragon heard that, slowly spinning around on a foreleg and staring down at the human that addressed it. Dimitri felt a hand reach out and grip his, and uncaring of who exactly it belonged to he squeezed it back. The dragon lowered his head until his muzzle was a near foot away from Dimitri, and a deceptively soft whuffle blew through his hair.
“Professor Byleth?”
The dragon shivered his jaws in what seemed to be contemplation before a guttural voice echoed from his throat.
“Yes.”
Annette was the first to break the spell, pushing out from behind the students on front to look Byleth directly in the eye. “Professor! I knew you were alive!”
And that opened the floodgates of relief and joy for the survival of their teacher. Dimitri sighed deeply and sent his thanks to the Goddess Sothis, invoking her name for the sincerity of his prayer. The mass of grey in front of him nudged closer, and Dimitri let out a startled “oof” when Byleth’s snout nudged into his gut, and he couldn’t help but laugh softly and wrap his arms around his mentor, his family, propriety be damned.
Dedue, one hand running over the professor’s curling horn, broke the reverie. “Pardon me, professor, but… how do you plan to return to your previous form?”
Somehow the professor’s countenance was less flat as a dragon than as a human, and he managed to look sheepish despite it all.
“I am not sure. This is… new, for me.”
“It’s okay, Professor.” Mercedes soothed. “We can stay here. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
Byleth nodded minutely so as not to knock over any of the kids crowded around his head. He settled his body into a resting position, tucking his forelegs beneath him in a manner amusingly reminiscent of a cat.
With the professor’s calm demeanor and relaxed position, the Lions felt more comfortable sitting down themselves. His head was resting on the ground, eyes closed, and Dimitri was content to stay close and lean against his scaly cheek. Mercedes and Annette were speaking softly, their words private despite the people surrounding them. Dedue, ever vigilant, kept watch for more of Solon’s underlings, though anyone in their right mind would have fled in the face of divine wrath. The conversation soothed rapid heartbeats and adrenaline-soaked bodies, and slowly the Blue Lions class started to calm down.
Dimitri was startled out of his reverie by the green glow in the corner of his eye, and he scrambled to stand as Byleth’s form glowed, shrunk, and faded. The professor pushed himself up into a sitting position and shook his head, looking confused for a moment at the soft green shade of his hair before stoically ignoring it and standing to see his students.
“Professor!” Sylvain hailed. “Nice to see you back on two legs! But, uh, can you tell us what exactly happened?”
Byleth swept his gaze across the anticipating looks of his house. “It’s… a long story. I’ll tell you later. For now, that really took a lot out of me, so give me a moment to… to-“ Byleth replied, seeming to drift off mid-sentence, and then collapsed.
“Professor!” Dimitri called in worry, echoed by his classmates. He rushed up to his fallen mentor, fearing the worst, only-
“Is he asleep?” Felix asked, disbelieving.
“It looks to be so. Help me get him onto my back, will you? We must get him back to the monastery.”
With Sylvain’s help, Dimitri got Byleth situated on his back, the professor surprisingly heavy even for the prince’s freakish strength. While the students and sleeping teacher plodded along back to Garreg Mach, Dimitri wondered at seeing ancient history come to life. When the Goddess was depicted, it was always, always as a winged dragon. Something very strange was afoot here, even beyond the conspiracy with the Death Knight and the accursed Flame Emperor, and Dimitri feared for the future of Fodlan. For when dragons walked the earth, when the goddess’s physical rage was made manifest, Aillel had been created as a scar upon the earth.
He hoped the continent would survive.