Prologue:

Ch.1: Here We Lay, Here We Die

Hello there readers, its the writer. Just a heads up, I do not write stories, so this will not be a quality fic like some out in Fanfiction. I will make mistakes and may have plot holes, so pointing that out would be a huge help. Also, if you have suggestions or criticisms, they are appreciated but criticisms without any sort of fix are not, as they will probably not help me if you have no ways to fix it. Other than that, I hope you enjoy the story.

RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth. I only own my OC characters.

There are many interpretations of what souls are. To many, a soul is incorporeal and fitting many shapes and sizes, yet it lives within us all. Others say it is one's inner power that allows them to become who they are. But a rare few say that a soul is what determines how you shall live, shall exist. The act of destiny, or that one's soul has a path it will follow throughout life and that everything happens because of destiny. There is no chance, no possibility of deviation. Your lot in life is decided from the beginning. But me? I understand. I know what a soul is.

It's the most boring fucking job in the world.

Like seriously, all we do is float around in the celestial plane until we are brought to the overworld and tethered to a life, giving it meaning and purpose when it begins to be influenced. Before that, however, all we do is wait. Those ones are okay with it, hell, they accept it in full. I seriously don't see how they can. But I guess that makes sense, after all...

I am a twisted soul.

Yes yes, I was one of those souls, those that were different from the rest. Where the others were created pure and untouched, I was not. Unlike the souls of varying colors, of perfect tear-drop shapes, I was different. I was a sick and strange color of green, one unseen before amongst the souls around me. Most souls did not look like two colors together, but one solid color. You want to know why you have a favorite color? Welp, this is why.

Unlike the others, I wasn't tear shaped either. I was a little similar, so that did a little to boost my positivity, but instead of a human's tear I was like an ember, a small flame. My body would frequently twist and writhe with the air around it, almost as if it was rejecting it. I was one of those one-in-a-million mistakes that was supposed to be everything a real soul shouldn't be. A real soul should be pure, we learned. A real soul should have room for change, we knew. But I didn't. I couldn't change, as change wasn't expected of me. Every soul was born from some human desire, something that truly defined what the small sack of flesh would become, some personality-filled human. Some were pitied, however, born from emotions rather than desires, like loneliness and fear. These souls, or the people they would create, would be forced to have this trait within themselves no matter the circumstances. Many souls of loneliness willed themselves to disappear, so that no human would be stuck with an emotion like that, a trait like that. Fear didn't however, because it was in their nature. They were afraid. Would they become a new emotion, or would they have to endure whatever it is they feel whenever they disappear for nothing?

...I envied them.

Souls like me, souls that were believed should never be tethered to a human life, wanted nothing more than to take that risk. Some could, but I couldn't. Because I was SPECIAL apparently. The desire or emotion I was created from was so strong within the overworld that it GROUNDED me to existence. Despite its strength no one had any sort of idea what exactly I had been created from. The lust for power, lust itself, death, insanity, and every other aspect of human life had come to mind, but even then, I didnt know which was the right one. Hell, not even that stupid fucking vortex knew, and that bastard was the one who specifically pulled the souls to the overworld to become tethered. Bastard, he was the one that was stopping me from becoming real. When I braved the currents myself, the vortex just upped the current's push. The other souls would be pulled up by him, so they would make it to the spirit part of the overworld, but me, with no sort of hold, would eventually tire and be pushed back by the spiritual currents, forced to wait at the bottom for eternity. I couldn't live, yet I couldn't die.

WOW, WHAT A GREAT EXISTENCE I LED HUH. SO ADVENTUROUS. SO GRAND.

I guess it wasn't all boring. I could still stare up at the vortex and see life, or well, the life of others. I learned a few things from this, like what lakes, mountains, horses, buildings, and a few other things were. I couldn't see everything, and it's not like I have a choice in what I can see.

I looked down once more, unto the other hundreds of souls waiting for a tether. No soul waited long, but some waited a little while. These were souls mainly based on fear, anger, and hypocrisy. The vortex really hates hypocrisy for some reason. Strange too, as the only souls I could claim were my friends had been souls of hypocrisy.

They were weird.

They would come up to me and tell me how being in my presence felt sickening and cold, I would tell them it felt the same talking to them, they would laugh, and then they would come back over and over to talk to me. Well, until they got tethered. But yeah, they were weird. They seemed to like being told of their hypocrisy. They weren't even being mean when they said those things, as it was actually a matter of fact. My very presence would make the area around me feel a little sickening to others.

I looked up once more to the swirling purple vortex of spirit energy, constantly pulling up souls one after another. God was I blessed to have been created only a few years ago; an eternity of this would have been mentally painful.

Before more of my internal monologue continued, a high shriek pierced through the air around us, making me flinch slightly. A large amount of small ropes-like coils seemingly peeled themselves out of the swirling mass of stars and the void blackness that made up the vortex, hovering in the air for a few seconds before shooting off toward the ground. The ropes splitting the air caused more high-pitched shrieking like I had heard before, stabbing into souls all around them, slowly pulling them along toward the River of Souls.

Oh great, here we go again. Slowly I backed myself up only for a giant rope from the vortex to swing towards me and almost ram into me. I did the equivalent of a little hop back for a soul.

Oh that fucker. You think this is funny?! HUH! WELL FUCK YOU VORTEX!

I quickly rushed forward toward the River of Souls, jumping into the current and allowing it to carry me forward. The vortex noticed and reversed the flow, the wispy river moving backwards and pulling me down with it. Pushing my strength onward, I trudged slowly up the current toward the opening, staring intently at the stars that made up the vortex and the sky, along with the multi-color clouds that swirled within it. The cold sensation coming from the wisps dettered me none as I continued to fight against the opposition.

Wait, what the hell!? I'm making it!

Only now did I look around, and I realized why. The vortex was overexerting itself. It was reversing the current to get rid of me but he had decided to tether too many souls, easily twice as many as its normal batch. Pulling this many souls against the current was too much for it, and it too realized its mistake. There was no going back now. If it decided to get rid of me it would also push back the others, and this could not happen. Even if they were pushed back, the tether would not disappear, so it would be stuck in a constant loop of battling me while pulling up a large amount of souls. It had screwed up, and the best solution here…..was to let me win. Externally, I was still just a twisted soul, but internally I was elated. I would win. I would WIN.

HAHA, YES! FINALLY.

My elation continued until I noticed soon that I had stopped. Despite my effort, I was locked in a stalemate with the current.

Wait what? Why has the current gotten stronger?

Looking around once more, I gazed upon all the tethered souls that had also stopped, confused. They had realized the same as me, and knew the vortex had no choice but to let me pass. But, like me, they questioned why the current was stronger. Looking back, my totally fake mental eyes widened considerably like the others as I gazed down. The current was a loop, always leading straight up and back to the vortex. By pointing upwards, any souls stuck in it would fall out and back to the bottom. The way forward had to be a slope, or else the number of souls received would be severely decreased. But it was not angling upward, but downward, into the deep dark abyss of the casm it was over.

Is the vortex crazy?! If it does this, it'll kill all the souls here and I'll just reappear at the bottom! Why is it trying so hard to stop me?! SERIOUSLY?!

I turned to the other souls near to me, and they mirrored my movements. We could all tell that each had the same thoughts on this situation. I could just go back, but I was already seventy percent of the way there. Was this a bluff? Was that what was happening here?

Feeling the pressure increase once more and watching as many tethered souls slowly moved backwards, I forced myself to stay still. The vortex was really going to kill them, but if I went back now I'd never make it back this far again. Slowly looking up once more, I pressed onward, moving at a little more than a snail's pace. Going back now might not help, as some souls were not that far up. It would actually be faster to go up. If it wanted me gone with the others, it would have increased the pressure to unbeatable amounts to begin with. I was so close to the opening, and once in there would be nothing to stop me. I angled myself upward, the very top of my twisted form barely touching the goal. Almost instantly, the pressure increased to a force that was unbeatable. I sighed in defeat, only to realize I wasn't moving. Looking up, I realized the tip of my form was past the veil, holding me up.

Wait… what about the others?

Looking down, I could see the souls all at the bottom. Many were gone, but the moment I had made it the vortex had ended the pressure to save as many as possible. It wasn't enough, however, as out of the few hundred that he had tethered, only about fifty remained. I felt bad, but also good. UGH, I'm horrible. Giving a great, mental sigh, I forced myself up and past the veil...

...to life…

...to the World of Remnant.