Prologue
A dangerous sorceress has escaped.
Professor Ozpin examined her cage. It was hidden nearly two miles beneath the earth. The sorceress' name is Hecate. She thinks of herself as a god and has proven to be as terrifying as a real one.
"How did she escape?" Gilda, his assistant, asked.
"Look at these ashes." Ozpin said. "They are the remains of her liberators. She must have drained all their life force as soon as she was free. Poor things."
"Should we have the students arriving evacuate?" Gilda asked.
"No, but have General Wayde's men search the entire school, secretly." Ozpin ordered. "She cannot be allowed to escape. If she does, then God help us all."
Chapter 1
Ruby Rose could hardly contain her excitement as she arrived at Vale's capital, Sapphire City.
Her sister, Yang, was just as excited. Starting this year, the two of them were going to be attending Signal Academy. This was the greatest combat school in the entire kingdom. There, they were going to be trained to protect their home from the creatures of Grim. The Grim are violent monsters that want nothing more than to end the human race.
Since Ruby is two years younger than Yang, normally she would have to train for two more years before attending Signal. However, Professor Ozpin, the headmaster at Signal, witnessed her skills when he came to their school looking for potential warriors. He was so impressed that he let her skip the last to years and go to Signal with her sister. While she did miss her friends, it was awesome to be able to go to such an amazing school.
"Look," Yang said. "You can see Signal now."
They were traveling to Signal via airship. An airship is a ship infused with magic so that it can sail the skies. In the distance, they could see Signal's towers over the horizon. The academy was surrounded by six walls that made the shape of a hexagon. At each corner, there was a tall tower. Within its walls were buildings of every shape and size. Also, the students were allowed to paint the buildings. There were all sorts of things painted on them. Such as monsters being slain by heroes.
In less than a hour, the ship docked. Ruby ran straight to the bridge that was formed by magic whenever a ship landed. She ran so quickly, she did not see the pale girl coming around the corner until it was too late. The two of them crashed into each other.
"Ow." Ruby murmured when she hit the ground.
"Watch where you're going!" The pale girl shouted.
"I'm sorry." Ruby said.
The pale girl took a deep breath. "No, I'm sorry. I should not have raised my voice. My name is Weiss."
"Hello Weiss, I'm Ruby." She replied with a smile. "This is Yang."
"Good to meet the two of you." Weiss said. "Would you care to accompany me to the Welcoming Assembly?"
"Sure." Yang said.
"Happy to." Ruby said.
The three of them made their way to the assembly hall. There were nearly three thousand students in the room, along with a dozen teachers, and the headmaster. Each person in the room was unique. Every student had their own abilities and personality. They were all special in some way. All of them were there to learn the best way to protect the kingdom they loved.
Even though Ruby, Yang and Weiss wanted to sit together, all of the seats were assigned before hand. Ruby sat next to a dark haired girl with a black bow and carried a sword on her back. She was reading a book titled, "The Ninjas of Love".
"Hi." Ruby said. "Are you looking forward to the headmaster's speech?"
She was completely ignored.
Before she had the chance to say another word, a spotlight focused on the stage where the teachers sat. Professor Ozpin stood in the front of a microphone. He had gray hair and a pair of glasses. His clothing consisted of a black vest, a red scarf, and plain pants.
"Hmm." He said into the microphone. "As you all know, this academy will provide you with training and knowledge. However, it is up to you to use these things when you graduate. From here on, you must ask yourselves, 'how will I use what I have gained?'"
Everyone applauded. Since it was sundown, all the students went to their assigned dorm rooms. There was a note under every seat telling them where to go. Apparently, the dark haired girl and Ruby were going to be sharing a room with two other students. As they walked through the hallways, the dark haired girl did not take her eyes off the pages of her book. Ruby did not find this weird. She knew what it was like to get lost in a book. However, she still felt annoyed that the girl continued to ignore her.
"Ruby!" Yang yelled.
She and Weiss stood outside the door to her room. Lucky for them, they were all going to share a room. Inside was a pair of bunk beds with a window on the wall behind them. To the left, was a door that opened to the bathroom. The walls were painted green. Their suitcases were already in the room.
"Okay, before we unpack, we should decide where everything goes." Weiss suggested.
The dark haired girl ignored her and started to unpack, while still reading her book. It must have been very captivating. She did not even notice how frustrated Weiss looked.
"Hey!" Weiss said.
Yet again, she was ignored. To keep things from getting worse, Ruby joined the conversation.
"What is your book about?" Ruby asked.
"What?" The girl replied as if that were the first thing she had heard in days.
"It must be a great story." Ruby said.
"It is about a female ninja that falls in love with a male ninja from an enemy clan." She said with a smile.
"Sounds awesome." Yang said. "I love romance stories."
"Same here." Weiss said with a grin.
"Thank you." She replied. "My name is Blake."
After that, the four of them had a long discussion about books. While the girls had fun, Professor Ozpin received good news. The sorceress, Hecate, had seemingly left the school grounds. The soldiers had found evidence of that.
As soon as the sun rose, all the students reported to the assembly hall again. This time there was a different seating arrangement. So Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang got to sit together.
Ruby wore a black-and-red shirt with a skirt. She had her spear strapped to her back. Her hair was black with red highlights and her eyes were silver. Yang wore a gray shirt with a yellow heart painted on it. Her weapon was brass knuckles. Also, Yang had long blonde hair and purple eyes. Weiss wore a blue shirt and jeans under light, silver armor. The weapon she carried was a foil. She had her hair carefully place to cover a scar on her forehead.
At the assembly, the students learned their roommates were going to be their partners for the rest of their time at Signal. However, they still had one more test. To make sure they belonged at Signal, everyone had to complete one more trial.
Each team had to navigate through a maze and find a relic. As soon as they exited the maze with a relic, they would officially be students at Signal. The location of the labyrinth was under the school itself.
It was both gigantic and amazing. The walls were twenty feet tall and fifteen feet apart. There were vines and flowers covering the walls. Some paths lead down and some lead up. All of the teams entered at different locations. When Ruby's team went into the maze, they could hear the howls of Grim.
"So, does anyone have a clue where these relics are?" Yang asked. "I fell asleep towards the end."
"Really?" Weiss scolded her.
"Hey, I am here to fight, not to listen to boring speeches." Yang replied.
"I didn't think it was boring." Blake said.
"Okay everyone, let's think of a plan." Ruby said.
"I got one." Yang said.
She then walked to the nearest wall and punched it with her brass knuckle. The wall crumbled instantly. Every weapon used by the warriors of Vale were infused with magic. This infusion gives each weapon powers that they would not normally possess. In Yang's case, her brass knuckles give her inhuman strength.
"Are you crazy?!" Weiss shouted.
"What?" Yang replied. "If we keep plowing down the walls, eventually we'll come across a relic. It's not against the rules. Right?"
"No, but I don't think it is a good idea." Blake said.
Before the conversation could continue, they heard a growl. Creatures of Grim came out of the hole Yang had created. These Grim were similar to wolves, only they walked on two legs and had hands. Their eyes were blood red and they had white spikes sticking out of their backs. Saliva dripped from their mouths.
"Dang." Yang said, but the smile on her face betrayed her voice.
"Are you happy about this?!" Weiss asked.
"Yang kind of has a love of life-and-death situations." Ruby said.
"No more talking." Yang complained. "It's time to fight."
The first Grim to attack was punched right in the face by Yang. It went flying straight through a wall. She grinned as adrenaline filled her veins. Another Grim went snarling at Weiss. She stabbed it with her foil then stepped back. Starting with where the wound was inflicted, ice began to cover the monster until it was completely frozen. Then it shattered and the Grim's body became smoke, as all Grim did when they died. The power of Weiss' foil is to freeze whatever it touches. Two Grim charged at Blake from opposite sides. Or, what seemed to be Blake. In truth, it was an illusion created by her weapon. The two Grim crashed into each other. At that moment, the real Blake jumped from the top of the wall and quickly cut the Grim to pieces. All of them were skilled, but not as skilled as Ruby.
What made Ruby special was that she did not use her weapon's power. She saved that for the most dangerous of occasions. Instead, she relied on her own speed, agility, and strength, which were very impressive. In no time at all, she defeated the remaining Grim. The others were speechless after witnessing her strength. Even her sister Yang. She had not seen Ruby fight in some time, and it was clear she had improved greatly.
"Okay, let's start walking." Ruby said. "Yang, don't destroy anymore walls."
"Got it." Yang replied.
After a hour of searching, they were starting to feel frustrated. All the paths looked the same and they had no clue what the relic they were searching for was. Such a situation was difficult.
"Ahhh!" Yang sighed. "This is so boring."
"Hey, sometimes boring is a good thing." Blake said.
"No, it isn't." Yang said. "I can not stand boredom."
"Well, not every mission we'll go on will be filled with daring and heroism." Blake said.
"Ya, I'll probably skip those kind of missions." Yang replied.
"You can't skip a mission!" Blake said.
"Quiet, the both of you!" Weiss said.
"What is it?" Ruby asked, noticing the serious expression on her face.
"Listen." Weiss said as she pressed her head against the left wall.
The other did what she did. From the other side of the wall, they could hear chanting. A single voice chanting the same thing over and over again.
Rahl Sool un Banca Recora Sona . . .
"What is that?" Yang asked.
"A spell." Weiss said. "I remember reading about this one."
"So what?" Yang said. "Probably just some other students fighting. I'm jealous."
"Do you know any students that would use a forbidden spell?" Weiss replied. "Something is wrong."
Without another word, Yang knocked down the wall. On the other side, in the middle of a pentagram, stood a woman in a purple silk dress. Her skin was very pale and her nails were painted black. Her hair was long and blonde. Despite almost being hit by rubble, her eyes were shut.
"That's Hecate!" Weiss exclaimed.
All of them knew the stories of the evil sorceress Hecate. They charged at her. Suddenly there was a flash of golden light. Next thing Ruby knew, her and her comrades were laying on the ground near a sign that read, "Welcome to Storybrooke".