Hello everyone, I'm back. So I probably have a lot of explaining to do as to why it took so long for me to get this story out. Whilst I won't be going too deep into specifics, there's a lot going on at work at the moment that's forced me to shift priorities. That's all I'll say. For those who have come for a story, I introduce you to the first chapter of the third instalment of The Hour of Twilight series. As with the previous ones, this roughly takes place around the same time as 'The Child of Prophecy'. Now, on with the show!
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Chapter 1- Journey Home
The sun glistened high in the sky as it overlooked the shattered world of Remnant. Deathwing's return had done much to the land, forever changing it. Islands had sunk and risen, entire coastlines had been reshaped, even the mainland homesteads had been forever changed by violent earthquakes or erupting volcanoes. The only thing that seemed to stay constant in this new world was the oceans, which still shimmered brightly, the surface glimmering as the sun radiated its light upon it.
Aquatic mammals of all sizes, from seals to whales, would occasionally break the surface, releasing sea spray from their orifices as they inhaled more air, before submerging below the murky depths, where they would not be seen again for many hours. Then the waters suddenly began to churn and part as a large white vessel powered forward, clouds of smoke bursting out of its chimneys. On the side of the ships near the bow was the name Skyfire, along with the coat of arms of Mistral, its port of origin.
Walking the decks of the ship were the crew, wearing standard naval scrubs, and alongside them were the passengers of the ship. The passengers usually walked in either pairs or groups, chatting away with one another to pass the time. All but one.
One passenger stood in solitude, gazing at the crystal waters below, a forlorn look on her otherwise beautiful face. Her skin was pale, with long black hair that reached to the middle of her black, with catlike amber eyes. Upon her head was a black bow, which hid away the cat ears upon her head, hiding what she truly was. She wore a white longcoat, along with an all black ensemble that included knee high boots, leggings, and a sleeveless top that made the skin on her stomach bare, along with a highly visible scar.
"Travelling alone?"
Blake startled as she suddenly turned, her hand reaching for her weapon, Gambol Shroud, only to stop when she realised she'd left her weapon back in her cabin. Before her was an elderly man with a white moustache and beard, wearing an Atlas Naval BDU, with many old medals, clearly identifying him as an elderly veteran. On his left coat pocket was a name tag that read Cyrus Crestfall, along with a symbol that identified him as the Captain of the ship.
"Now now, no threat here." Cyrus reassured, holding his hands up in reassurance before lowering them. "Just here to chat."
Blake rolled her eyes, realising that it would take a considerable amount of effort to make the old sea dog leave her alone. She turned away, hoping that simply giving him the cold shoulder would be enough to deter him. Unfortunately, it seemed to have no effect.
"Not many people travel by boat on their own." Cyrus began, leaning forward with both hands on the handrail. "Understandable really, considering it can be quite a lonely voyage. But I often find that those that do travel alone tend to have an interesting story to tell."
"Or maybe it's just better to be alone...for me at least." Blake bitterly replied, hoping her cold demeanour would finally be enough to make him leave.
"And why would that be?" Cyrus pushed, raising an eyebrow.
Blake sighed as she realised the man could be here for some time, and perhaps the only way to make him budge was to either physically assault him (which after a brief assessment she decided would only lead to her being locked up in the brig or worse, thrown overboard) or to simply satisfy his curiosity. And whilst she didn't like either of those options, one was definitely less trouble than the other.
"Whenever I'm around, people get hurt...people I care for." Blake answered, having made her decision. "And if I'm not around any more, maybe they won't get hurt either."
"I see..." Cyrus answered, running his fingers through his facial hair before taking a step back. "Then I'll leave you be. Just know that if you're running from something, it'll always catch up to you. No matter how far you go."
Blake let out a sigh of relief as the old man finally left her, turning to patrol the deck once again. She thought back to his parting words, and found herself realising how true they were. Especially considering her destination. Without so much as a single word, she undid her ribbon, holding the black swath of cloth in her hands. Then she released her grip on it, letting it float gently to the water.
Where she was going, she wouldn't need to hide what she was.
As time went by, Blake found herself aimlessly wandering the deck, even as the sun began to set, turning the pale blue sky crimson as twilight neared. She had retrieved Gambol Shroud from her cabin not long ago, the weapon now strapped to her back. The reason she had armed herself was that she simply did not feel safe. She could feel a foreboding sense of dread creeping up on her, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. Not only that, but there was something wrong with the weather.
A thick wintry fog had spread across the horizon, and she could see the outlines of massive glaciers within, which should be impossible. She knew that the Shattering had damaged the land, but the weather was mostly fine. There was a minor storm here and there, but nothing this unusual. And as they entered the fog, her fears only grew. She could see other passenger ships that had taken a wrong turn and ended up impaled upon the ice, or even massive sea Grimm that had frozen completely solid. A Sea Feilong was coiled in a defensive stance nearby, one of its wings and its entire upper jaw shattered, with enough cracks running along the rest of its body that it seemed all it would take to shatter the Grimm was a gentle breeze.
"What happened here?" Blake murmured to herself, watching morbidly as the ship continued to sail past the graveyard.
Then, almost as if in response to the rhetorical question, there was an ear-splitting cracking noise off the starboard bow. Slowly turning to face the source, she found herself staring nearly slack-jawed at a massive glacier that was slowly falling to pieces. Almost immediately the ship went hard to port, swerving rapidly in an attempt to dodge the icy projectiles. Blake was forced to balance herself as the shipped rocked unsteadily, before it levelled itself out.
And that was when she noticed the silhouette in the ice.
The glacier fell apart even faster as something seemed to be rising out from within it. What appeared to be a head was slowly unveiling itself, with piercing blue eyes that sent a shiver down Blake's spine and two horns that pointed forward at either side of its head. It had broad shoulders with razor sharp spines running along its arched back, with massive forearms that ended in razor sharp claws, and a massive Scythe in its hand. Its chest was like a set of ribs, with what looked like a heart of black ice protected within. She looked further for any semblance of legs, but found herself instead staring at a swirling storm of snow and ice.
And that was when Blake realised that something wasn't alive inside the glacier, but that the glacier itself was alive! The being before her spread its arms out wide and let out a shrill roar, covering the deck of the ship in a layer of frost. And then it began to raise its Scythe in the air, and Blake didn't need long to figure out what it was going to do.
And so she quite literally jumped into action, drawing Gambol Shroud as she used her Semblance to teleport in front of the Ice Elementals face, landing upon its brow. She began to hack and slash, though her strikes seemed to have little effect on the creature itself. Fortunately the crew of the ship seemed to be on point at this moment in time, the ship swerving rapidly to avoid the strike, its alarms flaring a bright red as the crew scurried to their battle stations.
The Ice Elemental then finally decided to focus on Blake, roaring in frustration as it used its other claw to rip Blake off its face. Thinking quickly, she activated her Semblance, this time leaving behind a shadow clone infused with fire Dust. She smiled as she landed on the deck, the clone exploding in the Elementals face, causing it to shriek in surprise as it seemingly keeled over. The sound of metal shifting below caught her attention as the ships starboard cannons emerged and began to fire a salvo at the creature.
The smile on Blake's face quickly disappeared as she saw that not only had her own attack not damaged the Elemental, but the cannon fire was having little effect either. The creature let out what sounded like a derisive snort as it hefted its Scythe up and swung out in a horizontal arc, an arc of icy energy flying out from the momentum of the swing directly towards the ship.
Blake grunted as the ship was hit, the force of the blow sending her sprawling to the ground in a heap. The cannons were no doubt useless after that blow, and the Ice Elemental no doubt knew that. The being in question let out a hiss as it surged forward, leaving a trail of ice over the water. Blake slowly stood up, holding her weapon in a defensive manner. She accepted that this was most likely where she was going to die, out here in the cold, but she wouldn't go down without a fight. She moved to strike, only to fall down as a foot pushed down on her shoulder.
She looked up, completely stunned as a hooded figure suddenly appeared in the air before her, seemingly floating between herself and the Elemental. Who was this? The creatures conjurer? Another Huntsman? She quickly found her question answered as the cloak was suddenly discarded, revealing a young Faunus wielding a familiar set of nunchaku, along with a familiar mess of sand blonde hair and monkey tail.
"Sun?!" Blake gasped, equally surprised by his presence as she was angered by it.
The monkey Faunus let out a carefree cheer as he launched himself at the Ice Elementals face, jumping back as his foot connected to its brow, momentarily stunning the creature as well as halting its advance. He then began to swing his nunchaku at the Elemental, causing it to shriek and howl in fury as each blast ricocheted off its frozen hide. As he slowly began to loose momentum, Sun halted his firing and let himself free fall, the icy talons of the Elemental swinging out where he had been just second earlier. As he fell, he quickly created a clone to catch him, the spectral construct grappling him and throwing him back towards the ship, the Elementals Scythe striking the clone, causing it to detonate and send it flying back into a nearby glacier, which quickly collapsed on top of the Elemental, burying it under the waves.
Blake watched with mild interest as Sun somersaulted onto the deck of the ship, landing on his feet with arms wide as if accepting applause.
"Hey there Blake, told ya you looked better without the ribbon, didn't I?" Sun smiled as he faced the Faunus in question, giving her a wink and a coy smile. She felt her cheeks redden as she stormed over to the Faunus and pulled him forward by the scruff of his shirt, clearly startling him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Blake demanded angrily, Sun looking awkwardly from left to right before facing Blake again.
"Seriously? No 'how are you Sun?' or 'where have you been, Sun?'" Sun deadpanned, mimicking Blake's voice as he spoke, causing her to growl irritably. "Or not even a 'gee, thanks for saving this ship Sun'?"
CRASH!
Both went wide eyed as they turned back to where the Ice Elemental had just been, only to see it had reappeared, noticeably angrier than it was before. It let out a shrill roar before it raised its hands to the sky, a massive icicle forming above. Blake released her grip on Sun's shirt, marching towards the edge as the icicle continued to form.
She heard metal shifting behind her, but did not turn to face it, fixated on the projectile the Elemental was forming. The being then swung forward, the icicle flying forward at tremendous speed. Both Blake and Sun could only watch in horror as the projectile neared, both not willing to look as it came closer. There was then a tremendous cracking noise as the ship rocked from a sudden force. When both dared to look, they saw directly above them a thin vapour trail, which had traversed through a cloud of misty frost where the icicle had evidently been before it.
Blake turned, a smile spreading across her lips as she realised the reason for the noise earlier; the ships heavy cannon. She turned to the bridge of the ship, where she could faintly make out the Captain, giving him a thumbs up at the quick save. Captain Cyrus gave the Huntress in training a quick salute, before turning to his First Mate.
"Status on the Heavy Cannon?" Cyrus asked, manning the helm as his First Mate and another crew member manned the controls.
"Recharging sir, it'll be a while before we can fire again." his First Mate replied, overlooking the status of the ships weapons.
"That thing will be on us long before then." Cyrus growled irritably as he gritted his teeth in frustration. "What about the engines?"
"Engines are at full power captain." the second crew member confirmed.
"Then it seems we might have to perform a tactical retreat." Cyrus concluded, overlooking the horizon for any advantage he could find. In the distance, he could what looked to be a wall of ice before, seemingly blocking their path. The wall looked impenetrable, save for what appeared to be a thin crack in the ice, just enough for sunlight to be partially visible. "Divert all power to the engines! Leave just enough for one last round for the heavy cannon."
"Sir?" the First Mate asked, clearly confused by the request.
"See that wall up ahead?" Cyrus asked, the First Mate nodding as he pointed at his intended target. "We're going to ram it."
"Aye, Captain." the First Mate responded, though they were clearly unsettled by the decision to head on ram a wall of ice.
Blake and Sun watched as the wall came closer and closer, wondering just what exactly the Captain was planning. They could hear the Ice Elemental behind them, slowly catching up with them even as the ship went faster.
"What the hell are those?!" Sun suddenly asked, pulling Blake's arm as he pointed to a glacier on the starboard side.
Blake followed the length of his arm, and found herself gasping in horror. Perched on the glacier were a dozen skeletal like beings, each one armed with blades made of ice. As they got closer, she realised that the creatures looked the same as the Elemental chasing them, save they had legs and were roughly human sized.
One of the smaller Elementals let out a shrill roar as the ship neared, before rushing towards the edge of the glacier along with the other Elementals. As the ship neared, the Elementals leapt forward, landing on the deck of the ship with a thud. Both Blake and Sun leapt into combat, slashing and hacking at the icy creatures.
"What are those things?" the First Mate asked, her voice quivering as the two Huntsmen battled the Elementals, despite the odds not being in their favour.
"They must be trying to shut down the cannon!" Cyrus concluded, gritting his teeth as he continued to steer.
"Sir watch out!" the second crew member quickly shouted, pointing to the deck.
Cyrus gasped as one of the Ice Elementals launched itself at the view port, shattering the glass as it connected. The First Mate let out a shrill shriek as both herself and the other crew member were sent to the floor. The Ice Elemental let out a shrill roar as it leaned forward, its mouth agape as it continued to shriek.
"Get the hell off my ship!" Cyrus growled as he drew a pistol and jammed it into the Ice Elementals mouth, pulling the trigger and blowing the Elementals head clean off, killing it instantly. "Are you two all right?"
"We're fine." the First Mate grunted as she helped the second crew mate up, who had a large shard of glass sticking out of his arm.
Blake and Sun continued to fight the Ice Elementals, dispatching them one by one. As Blake cut down the last of her attackers, she turned to watch Sun dispatch his last Elemental, leaving the deck empty save for the two of them. They watched as the wall came closer, both fearing what was about to happen. And those fears were soon answered as the bow of the ship suddenly impacted the wall of ice, sending them to the floor in a heap. Blake watched in shock as by some miracle the ship seemed to make it through to the other side, where the sea seemed to be back to its normal state.
As the rear of the ship made it through the breach, it suddenly swerved and did a full 180 turn, where it was directly facing both the breach it had made and the Ice Elemental that was pursuing them. There was a single shot fired from the Heavy Cannon, not at the Elemental itself, but rather at the edge of the breach, causing it to collapse and block the Elementals path. There were roars of fury as the Elemental tried to break through the new blockade, only to fail. They had won.
"Yes! We did it!" Sun cheered, throwing his fist into the air as he turned to face Blake. The smile on his face quickly faded however as he saw Blake's fist making a beeline towards his jaw.
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And done. Liked it? Feel free to review and constructive criticism is welcomed. Any questions? Either PM me or leave in your review. Next update should be June 22nd.
Raging Archon out.
