"What the heck was that?" Blake inquired to her team as they found themselves seemingly falling through nothing before crashing onto the hard, dusty ground.
"I have no idea." Weiss declared, standing from her position and giving Ruby a helping hand.
"Could that weird statue have something to do with it?" The little Reaper offered, giving her partner a smile of thanks.
"Maybe Rubes. I don't know what to really believe anymore." Yang said in a cryptic tone.
Her sister had to give her that. After discovering that the Maidens and Relics were true, reality and fiction became a blurred line.
"Where are we?" Ruby inquired to no one in particular as she took in her surroundings. The ground was nothing but rocks and dirt accompanied by a few bushes; there were a few wooden structures nearby and in the distance, a colossal tower with walls surrounding every direction.
"Maybe they can give us information." Weiss piped up, pointing to a group of three figures approaching from a cloth tent.
As they got closer, the girls could see they weren't your average soldiers and when they got very close, discovered they couldn't be human at all! Grey skin, hideously long teeth, contorted faces and clad in basic armor consisting of a shoulder pad and leather waistcloths.
"Good." One of the monsters snarled, his very voice like sandpaper on each of the girls' ears. "We're going to eat well tonight, boys!"
What happened next was a blur to everyone involved. Each of the things drew a crude blade, the one in the middle let out a shriek only for a piece of very sharp metal to pierce through his skull in the shape of a small trident. His head was then pulled off his torso and yanked backwards. While the other two took in the sight, a savage blade cleaved one of them in half as his blood splattered over the last one and as he ran, had a small object hit his back and engulf him in flame and he screamed in pain as his skin turned from grey to black.
"Maggots." A deep voice grunted. The four girls turned to face their mysterious savior who wore heavy armor; a metal chest plate that covered his entire body along with metal boots carrying a jagged spear and massive shield while a mask with the image of a skull adorned his face. "Mordor's not fit for pinkskins. What are you doing here?"
The four of them could only stare as half a dozen of the same beasts stood beside the newcomer. "I'm sorry, where are we?" Ruby asked curiously.
"How do you not know where you are, you stupid shraks!?" One shouted. "These ones are even dumber than the others!" He declared, turning to the armored one. "We should just cook 'em up and have ourselves a nice meal. No need to tell the boss right?"
Within an instant, the masked one swept out his legs from under him with the butt of his spear and with his shield, repeatedly bashed his stomach until the creature was halved and the ground was drenched with black blood.
"LET ME BE CLEAR!" He demanded, turning to the rest of them. "The boss says we don't kill pinkskins and he's saved me more times than I can count so if I hear any of you globs even thinking about disobeying him, you'll receive the same treatment. UNDERSTOOD?!"
His thundering voice echoed across the air as each of the remaining five nodded quickly. He then turned back to the stunned girls and shook his head. "You really don't know where you are?" They shook their heads in unison. "Fine. Follow us and we'll see if the boss can get you sorted."
Tentatively, the four girls could only obey as they kept a tight grip on their weapons and the creatures formed a triangle around them as if to protect them as they walked towards the fortified tower.
"What are these things?" Weiss whispered.
"I don't know. But until we know where we are, we don't have much of a choice other than to go along with them." Ruby answered.
"Whatever happens though, we stick together and keep each other safe, just like we always have, right?" Yang asked with a small smile, looking towards Blake who nodded back as the others gave their quiet affirmation.
The fortress got much larger as the group approached. From atop the battlements, a voice shouted: "It's Destroyer, open up the gates!" And sure enough, the doors slid open swiftly.
The group walked through and the large one dismissed his followers as he led the girls through the massive area. What they saw, heard and smelled was enough to terrify anyone else though.
Screams of pain echoed off the brick walls of the many buildings, a voice that sounded like it wanted to end repeated the phrase; "I never wanted the fort, just keep the bloody fort!" One beast stood on a machine that spun with deadly spikes protruding from it and shoved another into the blades, turning the air black as the gruesome squish haunted the girls' eardrums. The smell of blood, maggots and rotting flesh was enough to make one vomit and Blake had gagged more than a few times while Weiss gently rubbed circles along her back.
After what seemed like an eternity, they arrived at another set of gates leading to a set of stairs and their savior stopped them at the entrance to the tower.
"Make any moves against him and if he doesn't kill you, I will. You've been warned." He declared, his eyes burning with malice. Each of them merely nodded in reply and he pushed the large doors open and climbed the short steps to a massive throne room accompanied by fires burning in each corner of the room and the stench of rotting flesh.
"I thought I asked for no disturbances." A voice declared, hunched over a table with several scraps of paper on it, adorned in a pitch-black cloak.
"My apologies, my lord." The beast declared, kneeling.
"Oh, it's you, Destroyer. Very well, give me a report."
He quickly stood and appeared to stumble over his words before being interrupted.
"Where is Daz?"
"Still searching, sire. He retreated after The Pretender mocked him about being unable to protect Bruz."
"Any casualties?"
"Az-Bror took a club to the ribs but he's still moving. No one dead aside from a lot of his troops though."
"Hmm." The voice muttered. "Tell Slayer and Scorpion to set up checkpoints along the roads, but stay away from Shelob's cave."
"Yes, my lord."
A moment passed. "Was there anything else?"
"Y-yes sir. These four pinkskins were lost and ambushed by the Dark Lord's soldiers. I made sure they were unharmed."
"Very good, Destroyer. I'll assign more troops under your command. You can take your leave now."
The beast nodded and left, the large doors making a loud clang behind him.
The voice let out a huff and turned around with arms crossed. "A decade later and we finally meet again. It's been quite a while, ladies."
The four raised their eyebrows and took in the man's appearance. Clothed in darkened armor with a hood covering his head, although his face had been disfigured with blackened veins and red glowing eyes, Ruby still recognized the smirking bearded face.
"I-you-is-is that really you, Tal?"
