I live! I had this idea on my head for some time and I really wanted to know if you readers like it, please leave reviews. Mainly inspired in fantasy universes like Warhammer Fantasy and Dark Souls.
Thanks again Natdog and Itz Syndrome for helping me with editing and beta reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, it belongs to Rooster Teeth, god bless Oum.
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Pain.
The word that described what he felt.
He awoke with a gigantic pain across his entire body and mind, to the point where he couldn't make a sound due to the pain.
But the pain subsided suddenly as it came. His eyes snapped open making him wince with the bits of dust falling from it, with his body completely immobile.
'Why...I...can't move?' He thought and looked to his body, only to see that his body is buried in a layer of dirt making his head the only body part sticking out of the surface.
"Damn- ACK!" He started to cough violently when he tried to speak, his throat feeling like sandpaper. Even with his mouth burning he slowly raised from the ground, his joints and muscles screaming in pain making him fall on ground again gasping.
He made quick breaths and in a single motion he rolled aside and started to raise more slowly, getting to his knees and then fully getting up. He looked around with half open eyes and saw a small stream near him.
He immediately rushed to it despite the agony his joints were feeling, falling to his knees before the stream and scooping the water with his hands for drink it. Once he felt that was enough he stopped, and looked at the stream, the reflection of a very young white haired boy with a messy short cut, sharp face, very pale skin and a pair of platinum blue eyes stared at him with equal curiosity that the owner have. "T-t-this is me?" He asked to himself while scooping more water for clean his hair and face.
The boy looked around, and noticed that he was in a forest, his 'sleeping' place being where he'd curled up beside an old, gnarled tree.
'Wait...my name...w-who I am?' His vision gone foggy when he tried to remember his name. Shaking his head again for clear the discomfort, he looked down at his body and saw that he's dressed in a old ragged cloak torn in multiple places but the worse was that he could see his bones under his skin of so skinny and malnourished he is.
His stomach growled for confirm his suspicions, "Food..." He whimpered while clutching his tummy.
He felt a strange feeling nagging at the back of his head, focusing on it made it quickly zap to his eyes and suddenly his vision blurred with a explosion of colors that made him release a totally-not girly scream that he quickly covered his mouth and eyes.
He unshielded them again for see that the world around him became much more colored than before, as if his perception expanded in a sense.
He looked at a nearby bird nest that had a trio of chicks, feeling the hunger emanating from them, and when their mother arrived with a worm on her beak, he felt the warmness of relief.
This made the nameless boy smil- He felt a malevolent presence coming from his left that made him freeze on spot.
Slowly he turned to the voice, a goosebump passed through his spine when he saw a black spot some meters away in that direction, it emanated pure hate and killer intent.
He immediately stepped away from the spot but it seemed to notice his fear and started to approach him. The boy gulped and started to walk away from whatever it was and the spot followed him with a low growl announcing it's position, that made the boy's fear increase tenfold.
"Waaaaah!" The boy wailed in fear and entered in a full blown sprint with the dark spot bursting out of a bush with a lupine howl that sent chills to him.
He suddenly tripped on a root, sending him sprawling on the ground. In his panic he scrambled to get up, but a lacerating pain erupted from his back as the creature lashed it's claws on him.
"WAAAAAAHH!" He screamed in surprise, barely dodging the attack while getting up.
The boy quickly saw an upturned tree that had its bark hollowed and half buried, its roots sinking on ground forming a cage formation. He quickly leapt to enter inside it with the creature hot on his heels and wood groaning with his weight even if very light.
He finally dared to look back, seeing the lupine semi-humanoid creature that is double his size - if not more - peering inside the trunk, a white mask with red lines and yellow-orangish eyes filled with pure hatred and desire to kill the boy at its front.
It snarled angrily with the boy swiftness, promptly biting and slashing the bark with its claws viciously making the boy flinch.
He whimpered and crawled deeper in the tree, curling into a ball and sinking on his cloak, "W-w-what can I do...?" He whined in the lowest voice that he could make while expanding his senses, feeling only the black -more akin to a void that devoured all color around it- of the creature, greens of the forest unity and a purple and dark grey of decay of the tree that he is inside.
His curiosity sparked, what if instead of looking at his surroundings he peeked on himself? He brushed away his panic, closed his eyes and focused to inwards trying to ignore the creature slowly advancing on him.
He was greeted by a myriad of colors that all of them were in a sad palette including dark blues, greens, purples...but a duo of bright green and red standed out in the flood of darkness making him metaphorically tilt his head in confusion.
They started to grow in size like a ember gaining heat with his attention being a like gentle wind, a rising feeling of true hatred starting to spread across his mind and unknown to him his body started to gain a green hue around it.
He screamed, making the green glow explode outwards sending the grimm away right on a tree, with two cracks -one from the wood and one from it's mask- and a loud whimper of pain from the beowolf. It shaked it's head before snarling at him with a furious look with it's mask cracked in the middle leaking black ichor.
The boy eyes narrowed in cold rage, with it's iris changed to a neon green and hands glowing with the same color, vine-like veins gently appearing on his pale forearms giving them a eerie but healthy appearance in a sense.
"Rise." He moved his hand in a quick circular motion around him, sending a more concentrated pulse of energy. The trees started to crack and groan as veins violently spreading across the bark, wood strengthening far more than normal and starting to move, roots sprouting from the ground and branches twisting like arms.
The beowolf barely had time for react when one of these roots grabbed it's ankle and lifted it on air, constricting and breaking the leg. It whined in pain and flayed around trying to free itself, but another two roots grabbed the offending members, and another one on its head.
"Die." He flicked his fingers and the roots separated themselves in opposite directions, dismembering the grimm in a shower of black blood. They dropped the corpse unceremoniously that slowly started to dissipate.
Before he could sigh of relief he heard multiple growls coming from his left, the beowolf pack members coming to avenge their fallen brother. Different from the latter they were bigger, easily being the triple the boy height -and possibly weight too- with jaws the size of his head.
The nameless boy didn't faltered, instead he made a impassive face at the visible threat, the roots retreating to the ground with some going to coil around him like snakes waiting for pounce.
Five beowolfs charged head on towards him, only from the ground spiked roots emerge and overwhelm them like a wooden tide of spears, piercing fur and flesh before retreating back to the ground.
Other two appeared from the bushes, choosing to flank the boy instead of going in a oblivious direct attack like their deceased brethren.
The boy hugged himself and a half of his roots responded by making a shield around him while the rest remained on ground waiting...until the beowolfs leaped towards him, wind whistling as the roots launched towards them.
The grimms twisted in air narrowly avoiding being impaled, but the roots stopped in air losing some sturdiness for smack down the beowolfs making them whimper in pain. Even the boy flinched with the sound, clenching his fists making the roots slither around the stunned beowolfs for crush their bones like snakes.
Suddenly his wooden shield was cleaved by a set of bone white claws, being attached by a mean looking alpha beowolf that snarled angrily to the boy while clawing its way to him.
The nameless boy blinked twice before flicking his fingers, his wooden shield twisting and changing for trap the beowolf stopping it's advance, jaws in a very uncomfortable distance from his face.
"Good bye, doggy." The boy camly said to the grimm, his roots penetrating between it's bone plates, traveling through like drills until they pierced the beowolf eyes and mouth in a gory display that barely made the boy react.
The roots freed the already dissolved body, with their master glancing around for any more threats. Sensing nothing he allowed himself to relax, his hands glow faltering as the tension in air dissolved like the corpses and sounds of the forest returned.
He felt a weakness spread through his body forcing him to kneel and breath heavily, his animated roots falling as if someone cutted a puppet string and vision starting to blur. He heard a tired sigh before darkness consumed his view…
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The nameless boy groggily woke up while looking around with a still blurred vision. He's laying beside a large old tree, a black old cape being used as a sheet covering him and the grass was softer beneath him, making a natural mattress while the setting sun made large shadows over the small clearing.
He felt warmth coming from a campfire on his front, firewood burning brightly with a large piece of meat being cooked over it with a platform of twigs sustaining it and smaller pieces, possibly for dry them for travel.
"Hmm? Ah...you're awake, good." A voice said approaching the campfire, it sounded male and very cold, low like a whisper but he could hear as it was coming from everywhere.
"Y-you sound familiar…." The boy said, sitting up on his sleeping spot, the voice strangely making him feel relaxed.
A massive figure approached the campfire being seven feet and some inches high, covered by a black scaled armor lined up with ebony chainmails and dark colored trimming. It's- His left arm instead of a gauntlet, looked made of a dark stone material with cracks that emanated a bluish light from inside. One of his flat shoulders pads had a small white tree painted, and the other a bone decoration for attach a cape. His armor chest piece had multiple pouches, throwing knife and vials slots, similar to the belt that he had on his belt. And finally he had a white and black hilt poking from beside his head that was covered by a black hood that shadowed his face, but with his glowing blue eyes appearing from inside.
"Hmm…" He looked up and down at the boy, humming with approval before giving a nostalgic chuckle, "You're exactly as he described…"
"Who? You know who I am? Who are you?!" A hint of desperation coated the boy voice.
"No need to be hysterical, I will tell you everything." The man calmly said, his voice serene as a cold gale, washing away some of the boy nervousness.
"But first, I'll tell you a...tale, one from a forgotten time, it was long time since I done something like this so don't ask too much." The man joked before starting.
"A long time ago...in the beginning of times, two gods created this world...the older one -the god of light- made many animals and plants for live on the newly created lands, water and sky. But his younger brother -the god of darkness-, filled with envy, created the Creatures of Grimm or just Grimm for short, these soulless creatures of darkness hunted down any being created by the Older Brother...eventually the Brothers came in a agreement for create a joint project, a race that could choose between light and dark with their sentiency."
"But...secretly, another being had entered in their world when they first created it...the being was neither from light nor darkness, but between them." He coughed a bit and continued, "That entity was called by many humans as The Rogue God or God of Nature, due his affinity to the world's plants. He wasn't a God like the brothers, but he was powerful enough for be considered one...he was more envious than the young brother, due his lack of ability to create and destroy life. The Rogue God arrived at the world, using his own powers for twist and change the land and creations of the Older Brother at his image, seeking to amass a army for challenge the Brothers and their reign, since him alone couldn't win against a true god even more two."
"Obviously the Brothers didn't liked to be threatened by the being, but their powers couldn't quickly wipe out him and his forces due the nature of his own. They decided to make their own army of humans, mages and monsters for defeat him...and so the War in Heaven started!" He opened his arms in a dramatic manner, the campfire gaining more light for accentuate him, making the boy become amazed by his storytelling.
"The War was so big that it was separated into different phases, the First was bloody and chaotic, both sides didn't had organization or tactics, only anger and bloodlust for each other, manly with Monsters and Grimm as the fighters, Humans and Others just trying to build their own towns, villages and homes. The Second phase was...calmer, the more monstrous combatants were so little that they rarely appeared on the battlefields, but the sentients were another story...they made more skirmishes and probing attacks, again with cities and castles being made."
"The Third phase was the biggest and last, starting with cults directed to the Rogue God sprouting inside their foes towns, quickly making riots for sabotage the Brothers work, having bloody reprisals in direct wars, massacres and the so called 'Purges'. It lead to the Rogue God make less...conventional ways of recruitment…" He rubbed his face in a strange way.
"W-which way?" The boy asked hesitantly.
"Necromancy...the art of bringing back the dead...many people from the Brothers side saw this as the manifestation of the Rogue God vileness. But actually his side was having many losses, and he saw the 'vile' magic as a desperate way for bring veterans of the previous battles to his fold...Myself am one of them, a wraith." He gestured to himself, "Pain is a foreign concept to me, or at least physical pain. Enough brooding, continuing...The war turned its climax when the combatant numbers were in hundred of thousands, and the dead count even higher. It became even more custating to the Rogue God create undeads and monsters, while the Brothers had spawning pools and quicker manpower making methods. The end was a duel between the Gods, ending with the final defeat of the Rogue and his forces. With his death, many of his monsters died from lack of 'energy' being fed into them, mages and witches losing their powers, enchantments and artifacts stopped working...his Magic died with him."
"But it wasn't the end…..He always had a backup plan when he thought that something would go wrong, maybe he knew that he would die, nonetheless he made a way for his hard work didn't crumbled to dust, erased from history. He made his most trusted lieutenants and servants to went to hide one week before the Duel, building special tombs that would preserve their bodies and souls, a secret castle guarded by a mystical fog, and his most ambitious project. A way to cheat death...You."
"M-me? W-what do you mean?"
"You're his secret project, a rebirth as a half-human. Even if he could manifest in a human form, he wasn't 'human'. Different from you, a being that in theory would have more intense emotions and empathy than his cold self." The knight explained.
"Why?"
"...He...envied humanity. Short lived but could do great things, weak alone but very strong when united towards a common goal, and the ability to have children...Heh," He chuckled in remembrance, "When he said that he wanted to become a child I actually saw this as laughable, but he snapped that I would be the one to raise that child I grimaced-"
The boy chuckled a bit, but stopped with a flinch when the knight shot at him a stern glare.
"-because I didn't -and still don't- know how to raise children. I just hope that I can do my master and creator last wishes...boy."
"O-okay then...you still didn't answered my questions." The boy sneered a bit, "What is my name? And what is my name?"
"I am Ser Alnoth Blackleaf, wraith knight of the Followers of the Great Tree at your service." The now named Alnoth proclaimed and bowed, "And you're Avandil, the Rogue God reincarnated, heir of all his works and the one who will avenge him."
"Avandil…." The name sounded right on his mouth, almost like he already heard it before. "Yes...this is my nam-!" He cheerfully said.
Alnoth covered the boy mouth while drawing a finger to his own lips, "Be silent."
Avandil gave to him a dejected look but nodded anyway, the knight slowly withdrawing his finger. His stomach growled loudly making him become flustered.
"I expected this…" Alnoth muttered while turning to the campfire, drawing a small hunting knife for cut a slice from the large meat and throwing it to the boy who started to fervently eat it.
"Calm down or you'll choke with it." He said while giving to Avandil a waterskin, which the boy drank while eating the slice.
"What meatsh is thwis?" Avandil asked with his mouth half filled with meat, feeling how greasy, sweet and having a lot of fat it have, gulping it down with a chaser of water, like a man simultaneously starved and left without water for weeks.
"Just the previous resident of my tomb, it was builded inside a cave that was occupied by a bear. He tried to attack me in a moment of weakness due a rough awakening, but got a split head instead of a easy meal." He answered while cutting more slices for give to the boy, and storing the dried meat in a small leather satchel. "My blade is old but it never lost its edge." He patted his sword pommel with a smile under his hood.
"Uhuh.." Avandil continued eating his dinner happily only nodding to the Wraith grumbling.
"Well, once you're done go sleep, we have much walking to do tomorrow." He said, looking at the now night sky, the sun having gone down as the two talked, filled with stars, nebulas and a full half broken moon.
"Seems like one of the brothers threw a temper tantrum." Avandil commented while seeing the moon, "I wonder what caused that."
Alnoth chuckle in amusement, drawing his sword, its black steel blade glistening with light, setting the tip on the ground while crossing his arms leaning on the cross guard and pommel. "I'll be on guard, the dead don't need sleep. Good night."
"Okay…good night." Avandil finished his meal and putted the waterskin aside, once again laying on his soft spot with Alnoth's cape as a makeshift cover, entering in a dreamless slumber.
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Sorry sorry sorry sorry for the wait, I got catched up with school and some games that I bought. Please make reviews for I know what you think about this story.
I'll try to upload the chapter 1 that I'm already making. It will have more explanations, a bit of character and world building.
See ya later.