After a cascade of water poured over him and rough scratching to his scalp made the boy realize that people now a days weren't nearly as violent as the people from his time. Back then, he would've gotten dunked into a river if the guards were feeling nice. Instead, now he was now taking a nice, warm bath in a wooden tub, surrounded by servants that satisfied his every need. Wether it be scrubbing his back or washing his hair, they did it all. He did feel a little bad, ordering them around and such, but he couldn't lie, it did feel a little nice to be the one being bathed, rather than bathing someone else.

As he looked around the bathhouse, he couldn't but grow curious of this land's history. How their architecture came to be, why their clothes are like that, and most importantly, their strategies. Oh, how he wanted to learn about their tactics so he could ingrain them in his mind, and perhaps use them later. Thinking about it, it was a little morbid that his first thought was to learn about strategies that were used to kill people, but oh well.

As another bucket of water was poured on him, he moved away the hair that covered his face and tried to smile as nicely as he could as he looked at the lady who poured the water on him. "Excuse me, do you happen to know where the library is?" He asked. "Ah, and is there something you could cut my hair with?"

***

The library wasn't as large as he had expected, but it did have an air of comfort and serenity. The books were being held up by green shelves, in contrast to the crimson that covered the walls. There were wooden tables set up in the middle, where a few people sat reading, but the boy was far more interested in the corner of the room, where he would be alone. Certainly not because he was scared of the dirty looks people were giving him. His hair was tied up into a ponytail now, and he wore a short, vest-like top with long sleeves that partially revealed his torso, as well as baggy pants and sandals. He could see the scar Falchion left imprinted on his toned stomach, and if he touched it, he could still feel the same burning sensation he felt when the sword first impaled him. He tried his best not to touch it, despite how tempting it was.

He grabbed a random book from the shelves and sat on an elevated part of the floor, where a carpet laid, and began reading. He looked at the book. He felt like it was looking away from him. He tried looking harder. Still, the book wouldn't make eye contact, despite the fact it was facing him. "What the hell," the boy said. "These aren't the letters Chrom showed me, what are all of these weird squiggly lines?"

"You took it too far, apologize!" Yelled the ivory-haired man.

"Okay! Okay! Let go!" Cried the ivory-haired woman. The man let go, and with a bit of recoil, the woman groaned and rubbed her ear as she looked at the boy. She looked away, guilty. "I'm sorry, I guess I did go a little far."

"Yeah you did," The man sighed as he hopped off the platform. He walked up to the boy with a warm smile, leaning down and offering a helping hand. "Sorry, we didn't mean to scare you. Figured we might play a joke and break the ice, but I guess that backfired."

"Yeah, because you're not funny," said the woman as she joined them.

"Shut up," the man glared as he helped the boy up. "Anyway... My name's Corrin, and this is my twin sister, Kamui."

Yeah, I figured, thought the boy. These two were strange. What kind of joke was that? But, it's true he was kind of in the wrong too. Still, that's not the point! He had a strange feeling that he got entangled with the two of them, it would end up in disaster. "I'm Robin," he muttered as he picked up a couple books and began to turn to leave, but before he could, Corrin wrapped an arm around his shoulder, that same warm smile from before still on his face, though it seemed a little more sadistic now.

"Where are you going, Robbie? Don't you know it's time for your training?" Corrin said.

"...training?" The boy said quietly.

Kamui nodded. "Chrom asked us to train you."

Chrom? "What do I need training for? I'm already developing the strategy to take back Ylisse, isn't that all I need to do? Unless, you mean I need to study some strategies?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Corrin said. "What I mean is, dragon training!"

The boy raised a brow. "Dragon training?"

The twins looked at each other, smiling. "What, did you think you were the only one who could transform into a dragon?"

"What?"

"C'mon, c'mon," Kamui said, taking the boy by his arm and dragging him away. "You gotta get stronger if you wanna help Chrom in the future, right?"

The future? He... had never really thought about the future. Chrom did say he would find a way to separate him and Grima, but he kind of assumed he would be locked back underground in the meantime. And what if Chrom managed a way to separate them? What then?

The boy was silent as he was taken away by the twins.

***

The three arrived in a wide training area, which had no ceiling or walls. It looked more like a small field than a training area, the only thing distinguishing otherwise was the small table of refreshments and the stacks of weapons right next to it.

"Welcome to the Transformation Training Area, where dragons and beasts alike can train all they want with all the space they need!" Kamui said.

"You just came up with that, didn't you?" Corrin said.

"Yes, so what?" Kamui pouted, putting her hands on her hips. "Quite an awesome title and description if I do say so myself."

"Right."

"Um, excuse me," the boy said quietly. The twins looked at him, their red eyes piercing right through him. He gulped. "Uh, you keep mentioning dragons. Are there... more dragons?"

The twins grinned at each other. They ran past the boy, towards the table, and each grabbed a pink crystallized stone which had an odd emblem in the middle. They then stood on the table, took one glance at each other, and jumped off.

The stones shined a blinding pink as the light enveloped the two. The boy covered his eyes with his forearm, but still did his best to look. Something gathered around their feet, wrapping itself around their bodies. It looked like... water. It began to shape itself into a ball, like a bubble, growing larger and larger by the second.

The boy watched in awe as the bubble burst and two black and white dragons emerged, roaring and flying up into the sky. They spun around each other, majestically, as if they were dancing with one another. The boy had never seen such a sight. He had always believed he was the only dragon, or serpent, alive, that if there somehow were more, they would be just as horrific as Grima. But this was the complete opposite. This was a work of art, magnificent. He almost wondered if he could possibly be as graceful as them, as beautiful as them. But he knew that wasn't possible. It never would be.

The twin dragons slowly descended, that same bubble surrounding them, until it popped and revealed them in their human forms. They put the stones back on the table and walked up to the boy, smiling. "So," Corrin began, "What'd you think? Cool, right?"

"You're dragons," the boy breathed. "There's more dragons?!"     

"Of course there are! Not all dragons are evil like you," Kamui said.

Corrin kicked her shin. "Yes, there's a large variety of dragons, from holy dragons, demonic dragons, ice dragons, water dragons, and so on. You just, uh, happened to be the worst one. I-I mean, it's not like you're Grima, you're two different beings that happen to share the same body and, um..." 

"Don't worry, I understand," the boy smiled sadly.

"Anyway," Kamui said, trying to ease up the mood. She grabbed a different stone, a black one, and handed it to the boy. "This'll help you transform, try it."

"How?" The boy asked. As soon as he touched the stone, he felt a surge of energy rush through him. His blood burned, but unlike when he was stabbed with Falchion, this time it wasn't painful. No, rather it made him feel more powerful, it made him feel like he was more in control of his body. "What the..."

"Dragon stones allow you to enhance your senses, help you feel more, well, in control, I guess," Corrin explained. "Control is essential for dragon transformations. If you're stressed, or don't feel well, then everything could end in disaster, to say the least."

"As in...?"

"As in you could transform and go on a murder spree," Kamui smiled.     

"Oh."

"Just like you and Grima are two separate beings, that's kind of how it is for the rest of us, too," Corrin said. "It's like... a separate organ that you normally don't have control of but if you try really, really hard, you can spit out and maybe spit acid from it. If you lose control of your transformation, well, let's just say that organ will come out of your body, but you can't control where the acid from it goes, so you could potentially kill yourself and many others in the process."

"Ew," Kamui hissed.

"Best I could come up with," Corrin shrugged.

Kamui sighed. "But... that's not a totally inaccurate description. You gotta look deep within yourself, and bring out that which lies sleeping inside you."

The boy was silent. That which lies sleeping inside you...He never thought about transforming into Grima, about using his power. He always saw it as Grima taking control of him, and him just watching as chaos reigned throughout the world. But, what if he took control of Grima? What if he overpowered him, or used his power for good?

He recalled Chrom's words, then.

"Those thousand years since the First Exalt have almost passed, what I did back there was extend that time period for a little while longer."

What if, by using Grima's power, he only foreshortened his awakening? No, it was far too risky. "I'd rather not try to transform," he said, handing the stone back to Kamui.

"Why not? What, you scared or something?" Kamui asked.

Corrin slapped her mouth shut. "What would you rather do, then?"

"Can't I just strategize? Is there a need for me to learn something?" The boy asked.

"We need as many people on the battlefield as we can get, so yes, you're included," Kamui said. The boy pouted and looked away. He wasn't too ecstatic about fighting, but if it helped Chrom, he was willing to do it. "So, pick. Sword, axe, lance, daggers, something else."

"I don't think he'd do too well with axes," Corrin hummed. "And I have a feeling he has horrible aim, so no bows or daggers."

"Hey!"

"Lances take a lot of power, so maybe not those," Kamui said. "Maybe swords?"

"Swords could work," Corrin nodded. "But..."

The boy sighed as the two went back and forth, arguing with each other over something that would affect him. He glanced at the table, looking at the refreshments, the stones, and something he didn't notice before, books. He grabbed one of them, a blue book with gold details, and held it up. "What's this book about?"

"That's it!" Corrin gasped, turning to the boy. "Magic!"

"Magic?"

"Magic!" Kamui agreed. "But... we don't know much about magic."

"Hm, we could go to Leo," Corrin suggested. "But I don't know if Chrom will let us take him so far away."

"What are you two talking about?" The boy asked.

"Magic!" Corrin smiled, raising his hands. "I can't really go into much detail about it, considering I'm not experienced in it, but if you like reading and stressing yourself out, then magic is just right for you!" 

That... did sound enticing. "But why would we need to get Chrom's permission to go see this Leo person?"

"Are you serious?" Kamui said, an eyebrow raised. "I mean, I know you might not be evil, but we never know if Grima decides to... POP out and destroy the world. Leo lives in Nohr, a land west of here. It'll take a while to travel to and from, not to mention the time it'll take for you to learn about magic."

"Yeah, there's no way Chrom will allow it," Corrin said, scratching his head. "Well, should we train with the sword then?"

"No." The twins looked at the boy, who seemed more serious than usual. "We're going."

"But-"

"Grima won't come out for now, I can feel it," the boy said. "We're going to Nohr, so I can learn magic."

"But Chrom won't allow it!" Corrin said.

"Then we go without him knowing, simple," the boy shrugged. Honestly, he didn't think this was a good idea either. He had zero clue when Grima would take control, for all he knew, Grima could come tomorrow. But he was interested in something. He hadn't felt that way in centuries, there was no way he was just gonna let it be thrown to waste just because some guy was worried the Fell Dragon would destroy the world, despite how much of a valid worry it was. He did feel bad though. After everything Chrom did for him, he would be betraying his trust. But this was for the better. Hopefully. "We leave at night, from here, make sure you prepare the transportation and everything else we may need."

"I don't think this is a good idea," Corrin frowned.

"Let's just do as he says, 'less we wanna get killed," Kamui shrugged.

"In the meantime," the boy said, "I'll write a little letter to Chrom."

***

The boy slipped the envelope beneath the door, and instead of standing up, he crawled around the hallways of the castle. It was dark out, the castle's crimson shade now turned into a maroon color. There weren't many guards around, surprisingly, so it was easy for him to sneak around the castle and escape through some back door.

He ran through the field until he spotted the twins atop a hill, where they stood by a carriage. There was no one else around, other than the coach. The twins seemed quite nervous, and rightfully so. They could be heavily punished for taking the Fell Dragon outside the agreed boundaries, but at least they wouldn't die from it. If they were to disobey the Fell Dragon, well, that's another story entirely.

As the boy made his way to them, Corrin nervously laughed as he walked up to him. "So, ol' Robin, ol' pal, you, uh, ya sure you wanna do this?"

"Yes, very," the boy said.

"I see," Corrin said. "Awesome, cool, great. This totally isn't gonna go horribly."    

"Totally won't get murdered," Kamui muttered as the two walked up to her, then got on the carriage. "To Nohr! Yayyy." She hopped in and closed the door behind her, and soon the coach was clicking the reins and guiding them away.

As they rode, the twins quickly fell asleep, their heads resting on the boy's lap, while the boy himself distracted himself by looking out the window. He didn't like sleeping. It's not like it was necessary for him anyway, being that nothing can kill him other than himself. But more than anything, he didn't like how... lonely sleeping felt. He'd rather be awake, aware that there's other people around him, than be dragged into a dark nothingness.

The road to Windmire, Nohr's capital, was quite long. As they traveled, the boy saw the striking differences between it and Hoshido. While Hoshido was full of life and verdant, Nohr was dark, devoid of life. Not once, since they had crossed the border, had the boy seen the sun shine in this barren land. And as they approached Castle Krakenburg, he couldn't help but feel uneasy at this seemingly hellish landscape.

"Welp, here we are," Corrin said as the three peeped out the window. "It's, uh, the castle!"

"Let's hope Leo is willing to help, usually he shuts himself in his room and avoids people like the plague," Kamui said.

"I'll drag him out if I have to," Corrin huffed.

They got off the carriage and were guided through the castle, which was dark and filled with long, branching pathways. But somehow, it felt a little comforting for the boy. Primarily because people weren't giving him dirty looks here. Otherwise, this castle was far scarier than the one in Hoshido.

They came across a large set of black, metal doors. Despite how heavy they looked, Corrin and Kamui opened them with ease, slammed them open even. Inside, a blond boy with striking red eyes sat on a bed. He seemed to have been reading, at least before he threw it in the air out of fear and landed on his head.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" He said, taking the book off.

"Leo! We need your help!" Corrin said. The twins moved out of the way, pointing at the boy. "This is Robin! And he wants to learn how to use magic!"

Leo raised a brow. "And?"

"And we want you to help!" Kamui grinned.

"And why should I do it?"

"Because you're smart! Sometimes, at least."

Leo groaned, putting his head in his hands. "So let me get this straight, you guys came all the way from Hoshido to Windmire just so I could teach this guy magic? Because you guys thought I was smart?" The twins nodded, completely oblivious to their own stupidity. Leo sighed. "I admire your foolishness, but no, I'm not doing that."

"I'll ask the chef to cut tomatoes out of your diet if you don't help," Corrin said.

"You can't do that!" Leo screamed. Corrin smirked at them, knowing that he absolutely had that power, being an older sibling that was "worried about his brother's diet." Leo had no chance. "Fine! Fine, I'll teach your friend. Damn you, you water-dragon bastards." He muttered that last part. He hopped off his bed and walked towards a candle-lit desk right next to it. He took out paper and ink from one of the drawers and grabbed a book off one of the shelves. Tapping the desk, he looked at the boy with cold, almost hateful eyes.

"Um, thank you for agreeing to teach me," the boy said as he took a seat, grabbing the quill full of inc.

"There's two different techniques of using magic," Leo said. He sounded exhausted, but spoke quickly. "There's wizardry, basic magic, the whole 'making stuff appear out of thin air' kinda thing." He opened the book, waving his hand over it. His hand glowed green and out of it popped out a rose. He placed it on the desk. "There's sorcery, otherwise called bending, which deals with, well, bending the things around you, changing their shape." He placed a hand on the brick wall and slowly pulled it towards his body, leaving a dent on the wall. "There's also alchemy, but that's more like a third cousin of magic. Not exactly related, but people say it is.

"There's also different ways to express magic," Leo continued, leaving no opportunity for the boy to ask questions or say anything. "There's magic holders, people who have magic within them and are able to express it though tomes, staves, tattoos, hand signs, et cetera. These people, like myself, tend to focus on their magical abilities rather than anything else.

"Then there's the common people, or magic transmitters, which depend on a magic-enhanced book or staff or tattoo or whatever to use magic." He put his hand on the boy's forehead, a warm yellow light coming from it. He closed his eyes and hummed. "You... seem like a magic holder. One with quite a lot of potential, at that. The magic that flows within you is immense. Oddly immense."  

"U-uh, that's because he comes from a long line of magicians!" Kamui quickly lied. Leo seemed to buy it.

"Then, Leo, can you teach me?" The boy said as he finished writing down his notes.

"First, you gotta pick your weapon. We don't do tattoos or hand signs here in Nohr, those are more of Fodlan and Hyrulean respectively, so you're stuck with a tome or a staff. Oh, you should also know that there's different categories of magic-"    

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can show him that later," Corrin said, wrapping an arm around his younger brother. "Let's pick the tome first." He leaned in close to Leo's ear. "There's no way he's a healer."

Leo nodded. "Well, there's fire tomes, lightning tomes, wind tomes-"

"Oh dear god," Kamui face palmed, "Isn't there like a spectrum tome or something?"

"No."

"In that case," the boy began. "How about I carry one of each with me?"

"If you wanna carry around like five massive books, be my guest," Leo said. "Not to mention, there's different difficulties and levels and-"

"Okay well, Robin, my dear friend, I wish you good luck in this magical journey," Corrin said, patting, almost slapping, his back. "I'm gonna go because all of this sounds very complicated and very boring to me. If you change your mind and wanna learn more about transformation, come find me."

"And me! I'm also leaving, I'd rather not listen to Leo's go into depth about his silly little books," Kamui said as the two walked out the door. "Good luck!" They shut it.

The boy, for one, was very excited. It sounded so intricate, so detailed, so... complicated. He loved complicated and complex things. It's the main reason he began to strategize in the first place. He loved feeling his brain fry with new knowledge, he loved almost crying himself to sleep over not getting something right. It made him feel alive. It'd been so long since he last felt that way. He felt happy, really, like he finally had his inspiration back. And he was ready to put that inspiration to use.