A/N: So, last chapter I made a slight mistake. The mistake was, the part where Nora didn't know what a Gryphon was. As it was pointed out by zen's review, Gryphons are present in RWBY as Grimm (interestingly, their names are written as Griffon). In future I will look up if the monster in question has a matching Grimm, but as far as this case goes, let's just say that in the Remnant of this FanFic, Griffons don't exist. With that said, I'm proud to say that, with the end of the introductory chapters, this one marks the beginning of the first proper arc in this FanFic.
Disclaimer: DragonFable and RWBY are owned by Artix Entertainment and Rooster Teeth respectively. I do not own any of the characters/settings presented here.
Fire
"I understand," said Raven, after being brought up to speed with Jaune's situation "I can help you with finding your friends and a way home."
"That would be appreciated." says Jaune. Earlier, he seemed distressed but now his face had regained composure.
"I think that our best bet right now is to seek help from Warlic. He should be able to figure out a way home and he might even have a spell that can help you find your friends easily." suggested Raven.
"I see, but what if he doesn't?" asked Jaune.
"Then you'll just have to seek help from the adventurers in Falconreach." answered Celestia.
"Well, if there's nothing else that you'd like to ask about, let's get going!" proclaimed Raven.
"Actually," said Jaune "there's one thing I'd like to ask about."
"And that would be..." questioned Raven.
"Why are you wearing a pumpkin on your head?" asked Jaune. Earlier, during introductions, Jaune had decided not to ask about it. Raven noticed that, but hadn't said anything. Another thing that he had noticed while introducing himself was that Jaune had reacted to Raven's name. While finding that a little bit weird, he himself had decided not to pry further.
"I feel better wearing this Jack 'o helm." answered Raven "It feels comfortable and I don't really like to show my face."
"I see..." said Jaune. He decided that it would be better not to pry any further. Raven, having noticed that, decided that it's time to go.
"Let's go, shall we?" he asked. Jaune nodded and they both headed out after telling their goodbyes to Celestia.
"So, how exactly are we supposed to get to Warlic?" asked Jaune. Raven simply pointed forward. Jaune looked in that direction and saw something that was made of stone.
"We're going through that portal" said Raven.
"What? That's a portal?" exclaimed Jaune.
"Yes," answered Raven "it is one, and we'll use it to get to Warlic."
"How?" asked Jaune. Raven didn't answer his question. Instead, he moved towards it and placed one hand on the portal's side and closed his eyes. Following that, his hand lit up. Jaune couldn't believe what he was seeing. In mere moments, the portal was glowing blue inside. Raven removed his hand and looked towards Jaune.
"Now we can go in and reach the portal near Warlic's tent." asserted Raven. Jaune was speechless as he watched Raven enter the portal. Naturally, he followed him through. The next thing he knew, he was on the other side. The scenery was different. Now he was surrounded by a forest with a single road going through it.
"Wow!" exclaimed Jaune, after coming through the portal "This is unbelievable and it's much more convenient than the way we travel back on Remnant!"
"You remind me of the first time I went through a portal. It was the most magical experience for me at the time." said Raven. He then looked towards Warlic's tent and exclaimed: "We're here!"
"Already?" asked Jaune as he looked towards the tent. The two noticed that Warlic was already outside.
"Hi, Warlic!" yelled Raven out as they were approaching him. Hearing that, Warlic turned towards them and greeted them.
"Hello," Warlic said "it is nice to see you again. I see that you have a new, peculiar, friend."
"My name is Jaune." he introduced himself.
"I see." said Warlic "And, forgive me if I'm wrong, but are you possibly from Remnant?"
Warlic's words immediately stumped the two. Seeing that, Warlic told them that he had already met someone from Remnant and that he'd sent him on a small quest.
"Wait, who did you meet? Was it Ruby, Ren or Nora?" asked Jaune.
"No," answered Warlic "I haven't met any one of the three you've just named. He said his name was Qrow."
"Qrow? But how?" asked Jaune. Warlic, rather than answering, looked to the side. Both Raven and Jaune turned their heads in the same direction as Warlic. What they saw was a crow, flying towards them. What happened next surprised them. The crow turned into a man and walked towards them.
"Why did that crow turn into Qrow? What is going on here?" asked Jaune, visibly confused at everything that's happening.
"A pun." answered Raven. Jaune slapped his forehead and groaned.
"I see that you're safe. What about the others? Do you have an idea where they could be?" asked Qrow.
"I don't know. We came here to ask him." answered Jaune, as he pointed to Warlic "Why are you here? Were you actually following us the whole way or what?"
"So, would you like to introduce me to your friend there?" asked Qrow, obviously trying to steer the conversation in a different direction. Before Jaune had a chance to say anything else, he was interrupted.
"Hi, I'm Raven. It's nice to meet you." introduced himself Raven. After introducing himself, Raven barely noticed Qrow's reaction to hearing his name. It was the second time that that had happened, but he decided to, once again, let it go. Jaune, once again, started questioning why Qrow was there.
"Okay, okay, I'll explain. Yes, I did follow you all. I did it because the path to Haven Academy is way too dangerous." explained Qrow "Now that that's done, I have a report to give to Warlic."
"Ah, yes. What did you find?" asked Warlic. Before Qrow had a chance to give his report, both Raven and Jaune asked about what the quest was. Warlic told them that recently the town of Lymcrest to the south-west has been having trouble with the local elementals. To top it off, the river which runs beside the town had been turned to lava. He added that Qrow's job was to investigate the river and see if he could find clues as to what's happening and who's behind it all. After being done with his explanation, Warlic asked if there are any more questions. Both Raven and Jaune shook their heads. Warlic then nodded towards Qrow. Following that, Qrow gave his report.
On my way to the river itself, I did see many elementals, which were fighting amongst each other. As I was getting closer, I noticed that there were more and more fire elementals than any of the other ones. Once I reached the river, I was glad that I was a crow, because there were many fire elementals among other fiery beasts in the area. I kept flying past everything while going upstream. But, as I was approaching the source, I saw a figure start emerging. I hid among the few remaining trees and tried to get as close as I could. I was quickly noticed. The man threw a ball of fire at me to get me to come out. He was quite successful. His appearance was, interesting. His entire body was on fire, but he was somehow able to wear his red clothes. As I confronted him, he introduced himself as Xan. He then summoned a monster, which he called a Bassault and then teleported away while laughing maniacally. As I had no other option, I fought I.
Qrow had no other choice than to fight the Bassault. As he was cursing his own luck, he took out his weapon and switched to a battle stance. Bassault fired off lava towards Qrow. He quickly dodged backwards, following that up with a dash to the side. He then jumped above and landed behind it. Before Bassault had a chance to react, Qrow swiftly slashed at its back multiple times. He then dashed to the side, turned his weapon into a shotgun and shot at Bassault's arm. Seeing as that had no effect, he quickly turned it back to a sword. As he was doing that, Bassault dashed towards him. Having taken him by surprise, Qrow was headbutted. As a result, he was launched into the nearest tree. Qrow barely got up and started running around Bassault, trying not to give it a chance to attack. As he was wondering about his next move, Bassault tripped and fell to the ground. Qrow immediately took the chance, and cut its arm off. He then jumped backwards, because Bassault had launched lave towards him from that arm. Qrow then turned his weapon into a scythe and dashed straight to Bassault, assaulting it with a flurry of slashes to the front until he managed to cut the rest of its limbs alongside its head. As he was done, he noticed that its body had started shaking viciously. Qrow immediately jumped back and shielded himself with his weapon, which he had turned back to a sword. Bassault's body exploded, throwing Qrow backwards.
After defeating Bassault, I was left quite injured. I took some rest at a tree's base. Afterwards I turned to a crow and flew back here.
Once Qrow was finished with his report, the other three looked among each other. Jaune's face had been showing slight sings of him being terrified. Most likely at the idea of monsters made of fire and lava. Raven's face hadn't changed a bit. He was already used to fighting such monsters on a daily basis. Warlic's face was buried deep in thought.
"So, Xan's the one behind the recent imbalance of elements and the river being turned to lava." said Warlic "I do have an idea about how I could turn the river back to normal, but I'll require your help. But, helping me means that you'd all become Xan's targets. You see, Xan has this deep hatred of me. I don't feel like sharing the details, but know, Xan will attack anyone who works with me. Knowing that, would you three still help me?"
"Our deal was that you'd help me after I help you, and I mean to uphold my side of it." answered Qrow.
"I'm already one of Xan's enemies and I've been meaning to pay him back for when he had burned Falconreach down." said Raven.
"You're supposed to be able to help us, so I'll help out too." said Jaune.
"I see, then let's begin our preparations at once." proclaimed Warlic.
A/N: Thank you for reading yet another chapter! The next one will come out most-likely sometime during the second half of January.
