A/N: Hi Guys! I'm finally back with a new story. The story you are about to read is a prequel, of sorts, for the spiritual replacement of RWBY: CDAR's Tale, my first story on this site. I'm gonna get this out of the way now: There is NO dialogue in this story. I wrote this in the style of Qrow when he told Team RNJR the story of the two brothers in Vol. 4, or someone recounting a historical event. If you wanted an action packed, pun-filled tale of Team RWBY's antics at Beacon, you have come to the wrong place.
Anyways, Enjoy, and please, leave a review if you liked it, or even if you didn't. Lack of feedback is partially responsible for the death of my first story.
Entry 1: The Brethren Gods (Or: Origins of the Wizard, the Priestess, and the Silver Eyes)
Long ago, in the time before the Grimm, Humans and Faunus worshipped two gods. These gods, however, were more than just mythical beings. They walked in the Mortal realm, amongst the people of Remnant. Each god was named for one key aspect of the world: Life and Death. They were brothers, and each was revered and respected by everyone. This is how things were for several hundred years, and the brothers vowed to never interfere in mortal affairs unless they deemed it absolutely necessary.
As time passed, Death noticed that there were fewer mortals worshipping him and that they began to favour his brother. Angered, he began to plot. He knew that he could not directly seek his revenge, as doing so would cause Life to side with the mortals. However, he realised that if the mortals were to begin fighting each other, then his brother could not become involved. That would be how he sought revenge: He would force Life to watch as his precious mortals were slaughtered.
One night, Death snuck down to the Mortal realm and tracked down people who worshipped him. After several attempts, he managed to find a Priestess who agreed with everything he wanted. She too saw how the people were no longer giving Death the respect he deserved as a god. Death was pleased by her devotion, and so imparted the knowledge of how to create constructs of darkness that would carry out his mission. These entities that the priestess created became known as the Grimm. Returning to the heavens, Death watched as these Grimm began to exterminate the mortals, and he smiled.
Once Death had returned to the heavens, Life cornered his brother, and demanded to know why he had created these abominations. Death would not give an answer, so Life took the matter into his own hands. Life also descended to the Mortal realm and, believing his brother had created the Grimm, gave the mortals weapons with which to combat the hordes. Life showed the mortals how to harness the power of their very souls, which would become known as Aura. Knowing that this would not be enough, Life also gave the mortals a way to harness the power of nature itself: Dust. With these new weapons, the mortals managed to push back the Grimm, and seemingly eradicate them altogether.
Unbeknownst to Life, Death's revenge had taken a new twist. As he had given the mortals Aura and Dust to fight the Grimm, Life had broken the vow he and Death had made to not interfere in mortal affairs. Death confronted his brother as he returned to the heavens. He informed his brother that the Grimm were not his creations, but that of a Human. Death attacked his brother, and delivered a heavy blow, casting Life out of the heavens and into the Mortal realm. Believing his brother to be dead, Death decreed that the mortals were to stop worshipping his brother and to return to worshipping him. To ensure that the mortals would not ignore him, he ordered that the Priestess create new Grimm to control the mortals.
Life, however, was not yet dead. Having landed in the Mortal realm, he was discovered by two Humans, a man and a woman. The Humans tried to help Life but were unsuccessful. As Life lay there dying, he knew that he could not stop his brother in his current state, but perhaps the mortals could, given the right push. To show his gratitude to the man and his wife, Life split his powers in two and bestowed half to each of them. The man gained the power to manipulate the four elements without the need for Dust. His wife's new powers caused her eyes to glow a brilliant Silver, signifying the divine light within.
Knowing that Death would come after them, the man and his wife went into hiding and began to learn to use their gifts. In their travels, they encountered more mortals who refused to worship Death and began to train them as well. Several years passed, and the man, now known as the Wizard, and his wife returned to find that Death had wiped out nearly all the mortals. Angered, the Wizard declared war on Death, determined to avenge the mortals he had killed. Death replied by sending wave after wave of Grimm to slaughter the Wizard's people.
The survivors huddled around the Wizard and his wife, who began to use their powers to counter-attack. Death continued to send Grimm to attack them, but could only watch as they were ripped apart by the Wizard's power. Death was so focused on the Wizard that he failed to see that the wife had snuck behind him. It was only when she unleashed her own power to smite him that Death realised that the woman was the true threat. Much as he had done to his own brother, the woman dealt Death a fatal blow, confident that he could not oppress the mortals any further.
Once again, however, Death had the last laugh. Realising that his brother had given these mortals his power before he passed, Death followed his brother's example and gave his power to the Priestess. But unlike the Wizard and his wife, the Priestess gained a much larger amount of Death's power. The excess power caused her skin and hair to become deathly pale, and her eyes to become completely black with the irises becoming blood red. Black veins sprouted all over her body and face, making her look not dissimilar to the Grimm she had created. Fearing retribution from the remaining mortals, the Priestess fled and went into hiding far from any form of civilization.
The Wizard and his wife, who people were now calling the Protector, settled down and began their own family. They had a son, who shared his mother's silver eyes. The Protector taught her son how to use their shared gift, and made him promise to teach his children should they inherit the silver eyes. As time passed, the Protector passed away. The Wizard was saddened by her passing but knew that he would see her again, as he too was reaching the end. As he drew his last breath, the Wizard closed his eyes. When he opened them once more, he was shocked to find that instead of seeing his wife, he had awoken in the body of someone else entirely. The Wizard slowly realised that the greatest power that Life had given him was also a terrible curse. He was forced to reincarnate into the body of another every time he died. He spent several lifetimes searching for his wife, in the hope that she too had been reborn, but to no avail. The Wizard was doomed to spend eternity separated from his wife, never able to gaze upon her face again. Instead, he turned to the future, knowing that the world had not yet seen the last of Death's Priestess.
