Dust

by IntergalacticPanda

The mankind of Remnant were born of dust, discovered Dust, and had changed the ways of battle with Dust. But what was to occur if that power were given to humans? Would they change the ways of the world for the better or would it be destroyed in their steps? [ OC run storyline, no romantic plot. ]

Prologue

The story of the Harbingers

In the land of Remnant, Dust is a commodity used by the masses in order to gain power or further encroach upon their own capabilities. Humans are being of curiosity and when the discovery of Dust had spread across the world, so did the need to discover further uses in its purpose. With the limitless possibilities that Dust held in combat, those in the mind of science searched for further questions that some may have never have considered. What was the use of dust in weapons? To give them more power, to give them strength. So what would it do to a human? How could it change a life for better or worse? With the threat of Grimm, scientists were sitting on their hands and some could not take that wait til death any longer, they needed to know more.

Orphans of Remnant were common place in a land riddled with Grimm and death, children would be abandoned or they would watch their parents die one by one. A natural commodity, children were not dime a dozen, they existed all over the lands and those without parents had none who could protect them from further harm. Children, slowly one by one, were picked out for the use of experimentation. A test to see if dust could have a purpose further than in weapons, but in humans instead. Gender, sex, species, no such thing mattered for all but age. Children were selected at the ages of 10 or younger, any older and the threat of having such a test become public was for too risky and the experiment would only give fruitless results. Atlas had been the main hub of activity for the scientific research, yet most of the children taken for experimentation originated in areas where Grimm attacks were common activity. Each were taken by twos, too much and the experiments would've gathered attention, simply one and something would've been off.

Every experiment had begun with the question on the minds of those behind the cruel act. How could they place Dust into the beings themselves yet keep them alive? At first, the experiments were simple, implement dust via the bloodstream and allow it to settle in the body. However, when results had simply provided negative results, more ideas were needed. Dust implementation via the head? No, too many deaths. Dust implementation through the lungs? Risky, and while it had worked for a small while, deaths were common in a year time. The progress had halted, yet soon enough the scientists had found the answers among the corpses of Remnant children.

With the high-tech society that existed in Remnant, scientists were given the ability to change major organs yet still allow them to function as they once did before. Dust, pure crystals of the substance would be transplanted into the hearts of children yet while the experiment had worked to their fullest, their years of living would be cut in half and the greatest lifespan of children who had survived was believed to be in the late fifties. Alongside of that, these children would simply continue to lose their lifespan if the power given to them by the dust until they would wither away into the substance they were born as. Humanity was born of dust, and those given the power of Dust would retreat back into their creation. Seven children survived out of believe to be over a hundred orphans, and they were given the name of Harbingers.

Lightning, Fire, Wind, Ice, Water, Gravity, and Earth. They were the only ones left, and their powers had given them a natural strength and power that regular creatures of Remnant may not have had. Harbingers who brought the omen of death from those who had not survived, they use their power for good if that is to be believed. But what if that power had fallen in the hands of those who may abuse it? What a terrible world that would create.

Here is the prologue to the story of Dust! If you've at the very least read the summary or checked the character tags, then you can tell this will be an OC based story! It will intrude upon some events in the main plot, and if I write it quick enough, then maybe it will lead to a different ending from RWBY's end! Thank you for reading this, and I hope to release the first chapter soon!