I guess it all began where it usually does: the beginning. See, back then things were a lot simpler. Life was easy, we lived a lot longer, and Man had only one rule: to NOT do the one thing that would kill us and eat from a deadly, cursed tree.

Well, nothing simple ever goes smoothly, because then Man met its first enemy. The first Grimm, the Serpent, played a dirty card, told us the secrets to the universe were locked away in the fruit, that eating it would make us gods. What a ridiculous lie!

But we still fell for it. We always do. Always have, and always will. Be it the allure of power, fame, or fortune, we always want to be gods. So at every opportunity to get closer, we take it.

Always

Ruby was definitely not okay. She could feel it everywhere, in her head, her muscles, her bones. She knew that she wasn't getting up any time soon. She had a splitting headache, felt heavy and weak, and couldn't move a single muscle in her body. And worst of all, she was still tired, exhausted. Like the last eight or so hours had all been in vain.

All that hard work and training, and it did this to me. Now I can't even move my arms. If I ever get up, I might just cut down on my regimen.

Everybody in the room knew something was wrong with Ruby when they woke up and found her still in bed. Under normal circumstances, she was the first one up every day. She always to her team that people expect leaders to be examples of what their teammates should be like, so she tried her hardest to do just that. But today she was out cold even after the rest of her team had gotten dressed and ready for class. Blake was the first to notice Ruby's absence, and found Ruby still curled up in her bed.

At first, Blake just let it pass. Ruby worked exceptionally hard on her training every day, but yesterday was over the top, even for her. She had changed so suddenly, turning from dedicated to obsessed overnight. The team had seen no harm in the extra intensity and vigor their leader had gained, so they had left her alone to practice her skills. Ruby had stumbled into their dorm late last night and fell into her bed fully clothed. An impressive feat, as she was on a bunk suspended six feet off the floor.

But they were about to be late for Professor Port's class, and Weiss refused to go through another extra-long "When I Was A Boy…" lecture.

"Ruby, get up! We're going to be late, again."

"Just five more minutes…"

"Ruby, Ruby? Hello! Are you even there?" Weiss continued, in vain, to rouse their leader.

Yang walked up beside her, carrying a smile far too big for Weiss's taste. "I don't think that's working too well. Maybe you need to yell a bit louder?"

"Eat Dust."

"Hey, just trying to be helpful."

Weiss gave up and walked towards the door. "Sigh. Guess we'll just have to leave Ruby behind. Can't afford to miss another class, can we?"

Yang frowned. "I just hope she's okay. I've never seen her wiped out this badly, and she rarely gets sick."

So team RWBY, minus their namesake, walked out of their dorm and headed to class, leaving their leader alone for the second time in two days.

Ruby stood in a large open space. A light shone down on her, illuminating her immediate surroundings in a cold, white light. Looking down, she noticed that the floor was pitch black, barely distinguishable from the area just outside of her little ring of light. She was still in her combat skirt from the previous night, stiff and with a slight odor that she guessed was her sweat.

She knew she was asleep. She had been here before, in a dream the night before. That's two nights in a row. This is going to be interesting.

She heard the sound of footsteps coming toward her, the thumps of heavy steps followed by something similar to stones striking together. She knew what it was that approached, somewhat. It was mostly just a guess based off of the little she had seen of the figure last time it had appeared.

The footsteps had stopped. In front of Ruby, just inside the circle of light, was the figure. It was shaped like a human, but definitely was something… other. It was covered in thick, matted black fur, and had white bone plates on its thighs, shoulders, and chest. The figure also had wolf-like claws extending from its hands and feet. Red markings decorated the bones and claws, giving off an eerie glow in the low light. The only thing that Ruby couldn't see was its face, which was just outside of her illuminated area. The creature, whatever it was, made her think of a human-like Grimm.

"Well, I should've expected this to happen again." Ruby started. "You did warn me, after all."

"That we did." The creature replied. Its speech unnerved Ruby, sounding like a chorus of different voices, male and female, young and old, all talking at the same time. It reminded her of the demons in the horror films she used to watch with Yang. "We also told you that you would have questions, so ask."

Ruby took a deep breath. She did have questions, but before those, she first had to clarify something. "First off, what you told me yesterday, it doesn't make any sense, at least, not to me." She looked at where she thought the creature's eyes would be. "If trouble really is coming to Vale, then why would you tell someone like me? There are plenty of stronger, wiser, more, you know, capable people out there, so why am I the first to know?"

The creature was silent for a moment. "You have impressed us, our delicate Rose. Not a compliment to be taken lightly."

That was another thing that bothered her about this Grimm: it always used terms of endearment. As if it had known her for a long time. "Okay then. Why do I need to keep this a secret? Will it tip off whoever is threatening Vale, or will it hurt somebody, or is it just so over-the-top that no one will believe me?"

"We never told you that you had to keep it a secret." It responded. "We only told you that you must trust whoever you tell. Those who you reveal this to will need to help you, and you should only ask help of those whom you trust."

Ruby could understand that logic. If she told anybody about this they would need to be able to keep it a secret, as not to cause kingdom-wide panic, and would also have to be able to help her. But she still felt uneasy about everything the figure told her.

"Our time is coming to an end," it told her. "If there is anything else you must ask, now is the time."

Ruby, knowing well enough by now to start off any and all relationships with complete strangers in distrust, had prepared a question for just such a situation. "How can I trust you? Who, or what, are you? And how do I know you're telling me the truth?"

For a moment, Ruby though she heard the creature chuckle. But it was over as quickly as it had begun. "We can be trusted, that much we can assure you of, dear Rose. I know this may sound like complete insanity, but sometimes the truth is much harder to believe than a lie. And to your final question," The creature took a step forward into the light, revealing its previously hidden face. It was another bone plate, with holes cut out in the center for the eyes to see through. Red tribal markings covered its surface, looking like a cross between Grimm and warrior tattoos. Yet only one thing had captured Ruby's attention, and it would not let her go.

"We are the coming storm, child. We warn you of us, so that when the day comes, you will know exactly who it was that ended your precious world." Ruby still could not avert her eyes from the object that so held her focus.

"We are Legion, and I am Lucifer."

Instantly, the dark world faded around her, and Ruby was back in her bed at Beacon, sweating hard, breathing heavily. All she could think of was his last words, and that horrifying final reveal of his identity, specifically that one, disturbing feature.

His eyes, she thought to herself, shivering. They were mine!