The world was painted white by the fresh snow, the only thing that disturbed the silence was the crunching of snow under the boots of the crimson cloaked girl. The lantern on her staff glowed a opaque white. Her hood was up and her silver eyes stared at the path before, cold and calm there was no emotion in her deep silver pools. She prepared herself for the task before her as the shape of houses could be seen through the trees all around her. The souls littered the area around the town and the open areas.
(((Perspective shift)))
Okay. Here I go, just another many were there? I closed my eyes and reached out, not with my arms but with my aura and soul. 135, 135 souls, no more no less. I sighed, this was going to take way longer than I wanted it to. This was supposed to be a quick job, go in get the souls get out, but I hadn't thought how many would perish in villages like this one.
Might as well get started.
I lowered my staff and grabbed the lantern by its ring handle. I laid my staff down and grabbed a book off my right side. Opening the door to the lantern, I stood up straight and undid the clasp on the book. I scanned the pages for the right text.
"Death is not a punishment but rather a salvation from the torments of life. Let peace be upon you now that you have the knowledge of true salvation, for they will come and collect you once you depart from us. Those who harvest the crop of man will be gentle in assisting our arrival at our next destination, for death marks not the end but the embarkment on a different journey… The Passing of Souls Chapter 1, 2:25." I said as the light from the lantern grew stronger and the souls around me started to drift towards the open door. Turning the pages I stopped again.
"The Collector's Lantern is the container of the soul when it has no master or host. The soul must be free of malice without reason if it wishes to be collected. Those free of malice will therefore be drawn to the lantern after the reading of The Passing of Souls, Chapter 1, passage 2:25. After the souls have reached the the inner workings of the lantern the Reaper must recite the seal of death to contain the souls without problem." I spoke the words without emotion, now I had to wait for these slow ass souls to gather inside before I can even start the last part of the process.
I stood up, smiling. My right hand grazed the rectangular object on the small of my back. Screw waiting I could be practicing my scythe skills. I felt the rush of energy flow into my hand as I triggered the spell on the scythe, unfurling it to its full height of 6'3" Crescent Rose's blade loomed over my head. It felt so natural in my hands, as it had for years. I lowered the blade of the weapon so that it rested behind me. I swung it with both hands on the shaft. The blade glowed red as it passed in front of me, and the snow by where the tip lay inbeded in the cobble stone road, had been blown away. In fact I know stood in the middle of a 30 foot circle. I wrenched the scythe from the ground and used the force to spin, keeping the now luminescent black blade close to my body. Slowly I extended the scythe outwards, using a touch of magic to keep myself rotating in the center. The blade was now a full 6 feet from me. Suddenly the blade shot towards me as I triggered a small pulse from the top of the shaft. I twisted my hand and turned the attack into a downward slash. Jumping as the blade was about to hit the ground it swung below me before the shaft rested on my shoulder and my feet touched the ground. I shifted my stance as the shaft left my shoulder and returned to its original position behind me. I crouched down and focused my mind on the other side of the town and dashed forward at speeds that others would have thought impossible. I reached the other side of town in mere seconds, and repositioned for another dash across the town. I dashed and repositioned again.
After what seemed like a few hours of dashing and slashing all the souls had finally gathered inside the lantern. Fucking finally, now I could get to the shortest part, the seal. Flipping to the right page I ran my finger along the text and read aloud.
"You have lived this life with whatever deeds you chose to commit. Now you must be collected and returned to that which you once came. Stay then inside this vassal until it is time for your fate to be acted upon. With binds like iron and walls of stone I seal thy soul." Light erupted from the Lantern and bathed the surroundings in an ever changing light show. I picked the lantern up and returned it to the top of my staff where it hung in the middle of the circle that sat at the top. Clasping the book I returned it to its place on my side before turning around and walking back the way I had come.
I approached the building in the middle of the forest, it was a small house with only one floor. It had seen better days but was still inhabited. I knocked on the door.
Three knocks.
Two more.
Eight Knocks.
The door swung open and revealed a man.
"Good job, Carmine." said Elder Almawt, head of this division of the Reaper Guild. He stood in his black cloak, much like mine but full of marks of wear, and on his face was a mask that resembled a Boarbatusk. I hated the codename Carmine, it was what Qrow had called me when he first saw me covered in the dried blood of my enemies, after my third job. I walked into the hall, following him to trap door in the floor. He lifted the door and motioned for me to go before him down the stairs.
"It was a long job but not all that hard." I shrugged as I said it. I turned right as we reached the landing at the bottom. I walked a few feet and opened up the door at the end of the hallway.
"Ruby…" He turned on the only light in the room, revealing a desk with three chairs on one side and a fourth on the other side. He sat in the fourth chair and I took the first.
"Yes?" I responded meekly, he only called me by my given name when he wanted to be very serious about something.
"I want you to go out into the real world and experience it before it's too late for you to truly live. You need to go and have a life outside of the Guild, you should go to an academy, make friends and have fun, this is not the life for you. Trust me." He sounded somber as he said the last part, as if he was speaking from experience.
"I… I trust you… But what about the other Elders and the Guildmaster?" I asked, it was tradition that reapers complete the training with their second soul before they were allowed to truly be free of the secluded lifestyle of most members. Training with the second soul she had yet to receive.
"I have called for a Elders council to discuss the matter and persuaded them to allow it." I was shocked by the notion that they would have called a meeting just for me.
"Now come we must prepare for the meeting, Qrow will be here soon. And you have yet to dawn your mask." My mask, a bone like mask that was supposed to resemble a grimm, but not mine. Mine was a bone like mask that covered all of my face and had red symmetrical patterns on it but no protrusions like all the other masks in the Guild. Mom made mine when I was still being born and saw it fit to make the mask so different from the others, maybe it was because I was born both a Harbinger and a Reaper, a feat which granted me the title Angel of Death. I prefered the class name Harbinger because outside of the Guild there was no one who knew what it was, aside from those clued in on the secret. I never explained my class to anyone just as a chance that it might tip someone off as to what Guild I originated from. That was the law of the land because most people were ignorant of what Reapers really did and so they hated them with a passion, but before all that they feared the Reapers because we were not bound by the rules of the world and could do whatever we pleased short of mass murder of innocents. I had killed a number of times in the real world because of my thoughts, if I saw a noble who I wanted dead I would kill them. I had never seen it fit to kill anyone in the lower castes. I never really saw the value of someone who didn't deserve to live.
I donned my mask and stepped into the larger room to the left of the stairs. A massive throne sat at the far wall. Two U shaped sat in front of the throne, one surrounding the other, with a smaller rectangular table in the space between the throne and tables. I walked to the rectangular table and sat in the chair.
"I will do most of the talking, so you don't have to worry about that. Make sure you don't seem weak." He said in a gentle voice. I didn't get the chance to respond before 30 shadowy figures filled the seats in the room, including the throne.
A booming voice called out. "Elder Almawt, why have you called this meeting?" It was Guildmaster Shade's voice.
"I have called it to discuss the fate of one of our members, Carmine." Elder Almawt responded.
"Have we not already decided on her role?" Asked the Guildmaster.
"I think that we made a hasty decision and would like to open the discussion up again but with her present this time, since she is of the age where she should have received her second soul." I wasn't expecting him to say that. I was enraged at the thought that someone was holding me back.
"I see no reason to change the verdict that had previously been passed." Said a shadowy figure from behind me, Elder Morte, that was his name. "She may have exemplary skills and dual classes but she is far to valuable to not cultivate in our presence." He continued.
"Is it because of my mother?" I said, spite heavy in my voice.
Silence followed, no one wanted to answer my question.
"Are you afraid that I will dissapear like she did? Is that the reason?" I was outraged that I was still being judged by her actions, after she vanished ten years ago I had been taken into the guild and not been allowed to see my family. And the only reason was that they didn't fucking trust me?
"What have I done that would make you think that I was not dedicated to this cause? I have killed for you, and yet you still think I will run from those who have shown me the truths of the world?" I was consumed by the rage inside me as I saw all the elders shrink away from my question.
"Yes." The word was powerful and cut through the air like a knife. It had been the Guildmaster who spoke. "She was like you in so many ways, including her dedication to the Guild, but yet she has vanished before us like smoke. So yes we still doubt you…" His word were like cold water to the flames of anger inside me. "That being said I do think she brings an excellent point into play, we have judged her on the actions of her mother when she has shown to have an extreme conviction to the role we serve. Does anyone have a counter to her argument?"
Silence. The sound had never been so pleasing to my ears.
"She doesn't have a second soul." Said Elder Kifo.
"And who is responsible for that?" asked Elder Almawt.
"If that is the only argument then I will personally give her a second soul." The Guildmaster's voice cut through the air, leaving no room for argument.
Silence followed once again.
"If there are no objections then I declare this meeting adjourned." His voice was booming with authority. As soon as he said this the shadows began to disappear, all except the Guildmaster's, which became more solid, and eventually a man in a beowolf mask and a black cloak stepped out of the shadow. "Come here Carmine." I complied, standing up and stepping forward towards him.
"I wish there was some ceremony for bestowing a second soul but alas there is not. This will hurt a lot." His voice was soft, nothing like it had been mere minutes beforehand. He reached out and a massive black soul lame appeared in his hand. "This will be your second soul, it is that of the first Guildmaster, the first Harbinger." He pressed the flame into my chest and stepped back. Nothing was happening.
Then I felt it, the burning sensation that rest just under the surface of my skin. I hunched over and cried out in agony. "The soul is joining your body, birthing the new you in fire." I toppled to the ground still writhing in pure agony. Then the whole world went black.
(((Jaune POV))))
The wood crackled in the stone fireplace of the small cabin. The meats hanging above were close to being done as Jaune threw another log on the fire. He looked around and saw the ghosts of all that he had experienced in this cabin, twelve years he had lived here with his master and adopted mother, Rova Enko. But these were just memories of the things that had happened. If he was being completely honest with himself, he was scared. Scared of what people would think of him if they ever saw that he was cursed by the gods themselves. He had been in isolation for so long he had forgotten what people were like.
His eyes drifted towards the swords that were leaning against the wall, ten of them. Seven of them were some kind of sacred blades that had been passed down in their fighting style for generations, The Seven Grimm Blades. Two of them were Katanas, Willow was Jaune's weapon of choice, he had trained with it since it was forged ten years ago, a very long process where he had directly poured all of his aura into the blade. The other, Smoldering Ghost, was his master's sword, and now it was his. The sword was ancient, older than the Grimm Blades, it had dust directly inside the enchanted metal, and held the souls of all those who owned it inside of its steel prison.
Jaune was not the rightful heir to the title of Swordsman of the Seven Blades, that title belonged to a Gladiator somewhere in the world. Someone Jaune knew he would inevitably have to train in the use of the swords.
The seven blades were wrapped in a cloth to hide them from sight, the wrap was messy, he didn't need those swords. While both Katanas were cleanly wrapped in a linen cloth, those were his swords to use now though he hoped he never needed to draw his master's sword. The only blade unwrapped was Crocea Mors, his family's blade, a weapon that his master insisted he use when Jaune would inevitably venture forth into the world. He was a Knight and an outcast, a hero and a demon. the Cursed ones were not seen in a good light by the rest of the world, Jaune hated that he was given this class at birth, but he would not let it define what he would do. And so he was going to go into the world and make some friends and some enemies, but for now he needed sleep.
A/N: Alright so this is going to be a little confusing at first but I hope it will become more clear in time. So I'm gonna explain some shit.We will follow Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc as they live their double lives in the world of Remnant. I know I did a shitty job with Jaune's POV but I just didn't know how to do him in first person, and I probably did a really shitty job of portraying Jaune anyways. His section was a little shorter because the next chapter will focus Jaune with a snippet of Ruby at the end. I will be using Coeur Al'Aran's concept of classes, levels and stats/skills for this story. So people have classes given at birth that are part of a caste. Labour caste, Hero caste and Noble caste. If you want a better understanding of how the system works and how the levels work, read Coeur Al'Aran's Forged Destiny(It's Fucking Great).PS. I got his permission to use the concepts from him.
Ruby and Jaune are both dual class. Ruby is a Reaper and a Harbinger. Jaune is a Knight and a Cursed one.
Both of them have one displayed class and one hidden class, only people with a hidden class can see another person's hidden class.
Jaune is not the rightful user of the seven Grimm Blades, despite being trained in the art of using the blades.
people have stats that I will display in the next chapter and from there on out.
Jaune and Ruby will have a higher level than is standard because of their training.
Stat increases are proportionate to training done while leveling up, meaning that you control your stat distribution and the amount of points per level. stat increases are given at level up.
the Reaper guild isn't really a guild but more of a brotherhood.
Jaune never trained with Crocea Mors, but will start when he goes to beacon.
This is a story that will have OCs so if you have one that you think would work then feel free to pm me.
Follow Favorite Review and stay beautiful!