[Shadow Horror] I do have a overall plan as to Ellens Zerg swarm meeting the flood, and as to the Grimm their not that great seeing as their weaker than 1st generation Zerg so their essence is not that useful with the exception of maybe their emotion sensing ability and self-destruction ability which could keep the essence of Ellen's swarm from being taken by the Overminds swarm.

And also just for those of you who don't fully understand. The main difference between 1st and 2nd generation Zerg in Ellens swarm is that 2nd generation Zerg are able to use psi-armor even if in a limited way. 2nd gen Zerg have other advantages over the 1st gen Zerg but the psi-armor is the main one.

Also as I was looking into RWBY info and maps for my story and I noticed that there are, [in reality two dragon shaped continents], the western one and the eastern one, that,s shaped like a long bodied asian dragon. The northern peninsula is the head and neck and the body arches westward and then south to the tail. I think it was a neat idea to put a western style dragon continent in the west and a eastern style dragon continent in the east.


[Chapter 8]

[Meeting's and plans]


Remnant

North western region of Dragon Continent

Desert region

Underground hive cluster

It has been two weeks since the human Merchant Mell arrived in the village of Alcon named for the river it site's along as he discovered from his talks with the Faunus.

In that time Solus had added the final touch to his hive cluster with a evolution chamber so his few Evo-masters could work more efficiently sinch even with his size increase there is still not that much room in his evolution pit.

After a few encounters between Zerg and Grimm It became apparent that collecting essence from them would be very difficult dew to their ability to self destruct once they die, destroying them self,s down to the genetic level. However Solus and his evolution masters were less interested in Grimm essence for their powers but rather their ability to destroy their own essence which was far more interesting given the swarms need for a way to prevent the Overminds swarm from stealing their essence when the two swarms eventually meet.

Racorra, the brood queen Solus sent to hunt and collect Grimm soon developed a technique to capture Grimm alive and hull them back to the hive cluster in Overlords for analysis. Most Grimm warn't worth the effort of capture as they were far weaker then Zerg and even lacked a hive mind that otherwise would have allowed them to communicate and coordinate their forces like the Zerg.

If they were ever able to do such a thing the Grimm would be a far more dangerous opponent even for the Zerg.

located to the south west nearly on the opposite side of the continent from the Faunus village was a small human nation consisting of a dozen towns all enclosed in a large geographically isolated area surrounded by the ocean to the south and west and a L shaped mountain range to the north and east.

As Yutorra was sent to keep watch on the Faunus town of Alcon and Racorra hunted Grimm, Numorra was sent to observe and collect Human samples and like with the Faunus the members of the population that had unlocked their aura's and semblances were a priority for capture and sampling. However they were also the more difficult to take alive as their Auras created a protective barrier even as they sleeped although weaker then when their awake, but still preventing the specialized Locust armed with a paralyzing stingers from rendering them unconscious. This caused more than a few fights between the Humans, Faunus and Zerg, resulting in injury's to the samples and the deaths of some lesser Zerg.

But in the end it was a minor inconvenience even with the Humans being armed with Dust weapons.

Do to how they were spread out the villages of the Human nation were easy pickings for Numorra as she traveled around at night time in her fleet of Harbingers and Overlords dropping, Locusts and Phantoms into the scattered towns and after the populace were rendered unconscious and the warriors defeated the Harbingers and Overlords picked them and the Human samples up bringing them back to the hive cluster for testing.

Only those with a Aura and Semblance were allowed to wake up from their slumber after being implanted with the sensory parasites invented by Abastein to monitor their bodies functionality during combat. They were then put through intense testing by fighting captured Grimm of varying types in a arena style chamber along with some lesser Zerg. After the tests were concluded they were rendered unconscious again and had their memories erased before they were sent back to their respective towns none the wiser of what really happened to them.


South western region of Dragon continent

Xanadu capital

Seaport city of Aranna

422 AF (After founding of the nation)

In the early morning knight captain Titus Arestrom awoke to a cawing of seagulls outside his window in the Knight guard officers house. Sitting up the 50 plus year old man rubbed the back of his neck feeling a strange scar like bump but not thinking much of it. He got out of bed and took a look out the window at the city by the ocean before changing into his uniform and buckling his sword sheath to his hip.

Upon exiting the officers quarters and walking into the congested street he was met by his second in command lieutenant Thara.

"Good morning sir," the red head greeted with a salut.

"Good morning Lieutenant." the captain replied returning the salute. "So what's the early bird routine?" he asked knowing that the Lieutenant normally waits for him in the guard post they are assigned to.

"The knight guard got a messenger pigeon this early morning just before sun up from that Mell guy, the merchant from Sanus will be returning here along with a diplomatic group from a Faunus town far to the east," Thara informed.

Captain Titus thought remembering one of his history lessons that told of the Humans and Faunus sailing in a great fleet from Sanus a few hundred years ago. And a century after that when the population started getting too high and Grimm attacks increased a dozen groups along with the majority of the Faunus population left scattering across the continent never to be heard from again do to the isolated geography and Grimm.

"Faunus huh. I haven't heard of them for a long time," the captain stated rubbing his chin in thought.

"I think there are still some Faunus family's living along the south east coast by the edge of the Fanged mountains," Thara stated in a unsure tone.

"Well whatever the case we should get over to the port to provide security just in case any idiots or pickpockets decide to cause trouble for the Count. I know he loves personally greeting travelers given how rare they are."

Thara chuckled as they both walked off to the docks. "I think its just because he's board most of the time given how the prince runs the council now a days."

"That may be the case but count Barry Adelson is still the leader of Xanadu."


10 kilometers east of Xanadu's border

Altitude 6058 meters above sea level

Mell's airship jostled about as the high mountains winds blew against his craft.

In the control room of the airships second floor and forward most room Mell held onto the control wheel with all his strength as he guided the airship over and through the Fanged mountains for the second time while his sister Vio made sure the dust powered float engines stayed online or else they would fall like a box of rocks to be dashed to pieces on the jagged mountain peaks below.

The Faunus on the other hand were having a... rougher time.

They had gotten used to flying over the course of the past week of travel from their village on the diplomatic mission to make contact with and start trade relations with other villages which the elders of their village had expressed great interest in after learning of the other places Mell had visited before he landed in their valley.

But now the four Faunus were each doing their best to keep from loosing their lunch as the ship swayed back and forth.

Behind Mell Duke was sitting down in a chair arms on his knees with his head between his legs moaning.

Lav stood by the window holding on to a handrail giving the best straight face he can muster, given his seasick green face, drooping cat ears and weary eyes.

Mell gave him a 'are you ok look' and Lav replied with a not very convincing smile of his before grabbing his mouth and holding on for dear life as the air currents tossed the ship about.

Tealle and the Alcon village elder the three Rangers were guarding on the diplomatic mission took turns in the lower deck bathroom as they each lost their lunch from the back and forth motions.

"Aaah are we through this accursed mountain range yet," Duke asked in a nauseated tone.

Mell fought the wheel a bit before answering. "Ah just a bit more. Need I remind you it was your idea to take the shortcut over the mountains instead of going south and around them," Mell replied as he did his best to keep them all from dying.

"Aaah 'hrump'. Ah... yes I remember," Duke replied.


Flashback two hours ago

Eastern side of the Fanged mountains

The airship floated twenty kilometers away from the mountains as the two Humans and four Faunus stood in the ship's control room with Vio had the helm of the ship.

"So you saw it will take about two extra days to go around the Fanged mountains?" asked the Alcon elder serving as the diplomat and village representative on the trip.

"Yes I suggest taking that route. We took the trip over the Fanged mountains the last time me and my sister traveled east. It was a very rough ride and I was exhausted from just keeping us on course. The winds are very fast up that high up and the mountain pecks cause them to blow as odd angles. If we can't keep control the ship it will crash into the mountain side," Mell warned from his past experience.

"Still you came out of it unscathed the first time you went through, so I think it will be fine. I would like to finish with this diplomatic mission sooner then later," the elder said holding his ground.

"He does have a point Mell."Lav said defending the elders point of view. "If you got through the mountains with little experience on your first go then it can't be all that bad."

Mell sighed remembering how his arms felt like rubber from fighting the control wheel the first time. "Duke, Tealle, Vio?," Mell called out to get their opinion's.

Vio was for it along with Duke who got a elbow to the ribs from Tealle who was against the idea.

"Eh sorry Tealle but if a novice got over the mountains it can't be that bad. No offense Mell."

(Sigh)"None taken."


Flashback end.

After a hour more of the tossing and turning and back and forth of the wind, the small airship finally exited the wind currents of the Fanged mountains and descended down into the wide open plains that made up the nation of Xanadu. No fewer than five large one to two hundred feet wide rivers cutting the plains area into six long strips of green land most of which was covered in farm lands and the areas along the north and eastern mountains being covered in forests.

However as the Human airship descended a Zerg Overseer and its escort of two Wyverns followed from a much higher altitude of 10,000 meters. They followed the Human airship as it continued along its course to a port city remaining at a higher altitude then what the Humans and Faunus can see as they continued their mision to keep a eye on the group.

Soon after traveling over the great plains of Xanadu the airship touched down at the seaport. At this point the Overseer sent out a small swarm of a few dozen Locusts to get a closer look.

The airship touched down on the water with little but a splash as the crowds that were gathered by the ports all watched as the Merchant ship owned by Mell took its second stop at their port city. Among the groups of people was count Barry Adelson the leader of the nation of Xanadu.

"Well I see they got my letter," Mell said as he guided the airship now turned seacraft closer to the docks as the groups of people watched as a big man with golden hair and beard like a lion along with a matching a tail walked on deck with shaky legs followed by a young girl who most recognised as Vio Mells sister. The two of them wrapped the ships ropes onto the docks securing it in place.

Duke was still too shaken up from the flight over the mountains to care much about all the people gathered along the docks and just made a lazy grin and wave to them, noticing that a few of them were in armor and armed with swords. A few moments later two of the armored people moved through the crowed as if looking for someone.

Mell walked on deck and then onto the docks pier along with Tealle carrying a big bag slung over her shoulders, followed the Faunus diplomat and Lav quickly ran to catch up from puking his guts out in the bathroom. But as soon as he caught sight of some of the Human ladies in the crowed he quickly took out a cloth and wiped his face clean and sprayed some of that perfume that he had bought from Mell on his neck and under arms and even combed his hair all in less than ten seconds as Duke watched him and face palmed at the one track minded woman on the brains cat man.

"Mell my friend its good to see you." count Barry said as he took the man's hand and shook it. "It's been just over a month since you left us, and you bring passengers with you?"

"Ahh yes your highness, these are the Faunus I told you about in my letter."

"Ahh yes... um. Mell my good friend I wish to say welcome to you. And to you Faunus as well it is good to know that their are surviving settlements out their."

The Faunus diplomat took this opportunity to introduce himself as he remembered the counts name from the short explanation of Xanadu Mell gave as they were first setting off on their trip. "Greetings Count Barry. Im Brans Lasten the representative of the Faunus village of Alcon."

Count Barry and his personal guards glanced in wonderment for a moment at the mans gray rabbit ears each of which had three gold rings.

"Ah it is good to meet you mister Lasten. Uh forgive me and my peoples reaction but it has been some time since we of Xanadu have meet any Faunus."

"That is quite alright Count Andelson. It has been a few hundred years since we have met any humans. Now I believe any further discussion should be handled in a more... appropriate location," Brans suggested.

The count smiled and called to his guards for his opulently decorated carriage as the throngs of people parted for it to passby.

"Your highness I'm afraid I'll have to stay here as i'm sure all these people are eager to have a look at my new goods that i've obtained from the other side of the continent," Mell said quit eager to please his customers with the goods he had traded for and bought in Alcon village, some of which included life like Grimm head mounts or even full body replicas the making of which was something of a tradition among the Alcon village rangers sinch they can't keep the self destructing Grimm bodies.

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that mister Mell but please you are welcome at my Estate any time," Count Barry stated as he and the Faunus gathered into the carriage with the bodyguards following as it was pulled off by the horses.

"Heh, well that was something," Titus said as he held a unconscious teenage thief under his arm.

"I wonder if the count is too friendly to travelers sometimes. Not everyone is a possible ally," lieutenant Thara said as she held another thief in her arms KO'ed from her smack to his head.

As people gathered on board Mell's merchant ship to look at his goods or dispersed going back to their daily lives a man in a cloak watched from atop a nearby warehouse on the docks.

"Hmm the prince will want to hear about this," the cloaked moustached man said as he turned around and dropped down on the other side of the building.


Half a hour later

Royal palace

Quinn Adelson the crown prince of Xanadu and current head of the royal council which runs the day to day administration of Xanadu's government, sat in his rather large bath tube while sipping some wine.

Hours ago he and the other council members had ended their tenth deliberation on weather or not to try to expand beyond the Fanged mountains.

Two years ago a battalion of knights guarding a group of geologist went north beyond the Fanged mountains in search of a safe and usable land and after a month of looking had unexpectedly come across a mother load of precious metals which the kingdom was sorely in need of. The only problem was that the area was the territory of a rather large group of Grimm Death stalkers, and while the knights of Xanadu can hold their own against most small and medium sized Grimm a group of house sized Death stalkers can do a lot of damage to even a well trained army. By the time the expedition returned their numbers were cut in half. Between the random Grimm ambuses and the occasional moron who thinks the warning of 'stay in the group' is a suggestion, the losses mounted, and then there was the losses of ten of the geologist and 200 knights that were lost to the Death stalkers.

The other council members although admitting that they were in need if the resources were against the venture considering the danger and the potential loss of manpower just to secure the area let alone keep it. Even with the addition of Dust weapons provided by that marchent Mell from across the ocean.

However Dust weapons, although a great help were too few in number to arm every soldier and they coast a pretty penny considering the distance Mell had to travel just to resupply.

"*ucking Deathstalkers. *ucking Grimm," the prince muttered in frustration with a angered scowl on his face only for his expression to change to a pleasured moan just before Russ one of his spy's literally dropped in from a secret passageway in the ceiling.

"Ahh!..." prince Quinn exclaimed as a woman rose from the water filled bathtub in just as much surprise as the prince. "Russ..." the prince said in frustration. "How many times have I told you not to do that. Enter the room like a normal person, your not a damn thief!" the prince said being reminded of the reports of a small group of thief's that had for the last year and a half mad quit a name for themselves stealing from even nobles.

"Sorry your highness," Russ apologised with a bow.

"Ah Olive"the prince said in a soft tone." can you please give me and my friend here some privacy," said the prince reluctantly as the nude woman got out of the water drying herself off and quickly got her cloths on before leaving, blowing the prince a kiss as she closed the door.

Prince Quinn then glared at Russ who was still looking at the door when the prince called out to him.

"Russ over here, "snapping his fingers as Russ turned towards him." your report," the prince asked as he gestured with his free hand.

"Oh aah yes... um your highness it seems that, that mearchent from across the ocean...Mell has returned from his trip to the east."

"Yes so..." the prince said uninterested as he finished off his glass of wine and refilled it from the bottle on a table by his bathtub.

"Yes well it seems that he did not come alone. He arrived a short while ago with a group of... Faunus. Four in fact. It appeared to be a diplomatic group because they had a talked with your father who had been waiting for them."

In shock to this the prince spit out a bit of the wine he had just drank. "What?!. Father meet them."

"And took them in his carriage to his private villa," Russ added as the prince reclined back in the bathtub trying to relax and think.

"Ok... I suppose I will have to meet these... little animals just to make sure Father doesn't mess up any of my plans with one of his crazy ideas," the prince muttered to himself as he took another ship of his whine.


Meanwhile in count Barry's private villa

The Faunus envoy's and their Human hosts, count Barry and two of his bodyguards gathered in a rather lavishly decorated room with a fireplace. Some servants came in and placed some silver trays of decorated tea cups on the short table between the two couches the two parties sat in. The three rangers looked and felt a little out of place in the room as they looked around but still put on a respectful front.

The rabbit eared elder diplomat took a cup of tea and smelled it, taking in the pleasurably aroma that the stronger senses of a Faunus can only enjoy. "Ah this smells delightful. What kind of tea is it." Brans Lasten asked as the Count took a sip of his tea also.

"Oh I believe this particular type is Oolong. Supposedly from the faraway continent of Anima far to the east...(sipping tea) or west depending of how you look at it."

Brans let out a small agreeing laugh as the two middle aged men shared a leisurely talk before getting to business.

Tealle got goosebumps from the taste and smell of the tea as she, Lav and Duke tried their own cups, but as soon as Duke tried his he slurped instead of sipped quickly attracting everyone's attention.

"Ahh this is... uh new... I've never tried this... Oolong before," Duke said as his face flush with a expression of silent embarrassment.

"Smooth," Tealle whispered into Dukes ear.

Wanting to change the subject Lav intervened.

"Ahh I do like this Oolong tea. Its taste is somewhere between sweet and toasty," Lav said upbeatally with a smile actually enjoying his tea as Duke silently thanked his friend for diverting attention from him.

"I,m overjoyed to hear that you like it. It cost a steep amount considering how long our merchant friend Mell had it in stock. Said he had it ever since leaving port in Anima and sailing across Sanus and well until he reached our Continent of 'Avalon'," count Barry said catching the Faunus ears.

"Oh is that what you call the continent?" Lav asked the count.

"Yes. It comes from a legend about a silver eyed warrior king who slayed a Dragon Grimm in ancient days. If I recall my great, great... great, grandfather heard it from a old man or who's name was never spoken... I don't fully recall all the details but the story has been passed down in my family for generations along with another concerning a man who has two souls, each struggling for control of the body, huh? now that I think about it I always liked that one... maybe I'll write a book about it some day," count Barry muttered to himself as he finished off his cup of tea along with the others.

"That all sounds quite interesting but now if I do say we should get down to business," Bran's stated as he asked Tealle to grab the contents of the bag she had carried since leaving the docks. Tealle reached between her legs where she sat the bag and opened it, making the guards tense up in caution as she lifted a rather large chunk of raw Dust out of the bag and placed it on the table.

"Oh my is that... raw Dust? and quite a large chunk also" count Barry said aloud, his jaw dropped for a moment before recovering his composer as from what he knows of Dust from Mell even this amount can fetch a rather large price on the open market mainly because Grimm tend to make mining such things problematic at best. Most of the safer large mines that aren't in Grimm infested areas are few and far between on other continents. "If I may ask where did you get this?" Barry asked making his best poker face.

"Well to be honest count we didn't really know that this stuff... Dust was all that valuable until that Mell and his sister dropped into our village and informed us of its true value," Bran's admitted as he continued. "To explain our ancestors arrived in the Alcon valley we now call home after taking a dangerous underground route through a cave network that went all the way through a mountain range we now call the Dradson range.

"It means dreadful place," Duke said, explaining the name.

"Yes it was... is a dangerous place. "Brans admitted. "Half the people that traveled through the cave died from Grimm attacks as they made their way through it. But one of the useful things they found along the way were these crystals in the caves. We still harvest them on the rare occasion when we need them. We use them mainly as a source of light and warmth otherwise we would have to burn trees and considering the small size of our valley compared to... well your nations rather large plot of land, our forest would have been all used up and left barrien."

The count thought as he considered what a boon this was. There were no Dust veins anywhere in Xanadu to his knowledge or anything like Dust in general but it seems that these people have by accident or luck or the grace of whatever god you would want to pray to been blessed with access to a motherload of Dust even if it's Grimm infested.

"Hmm I see. Mister Brans you intend to open a trade route between our two respective nations.

"Yes in short," replied the aged rabbit Faunus.

"Then I surmise the relationship between us would be... mutually beneficial. We of Xanadu would invest in buying the airships from across the ocean to transport the Dust. And you mine it from the cave," the count stated in a more serious tone.

"I would hardly call our lone village a nation but... Yes," the Faunus diplomat replied with a small grin as he and the count regarded each other.

Count Barry and Faunus envoy Bran,s stood and started shaking hands. "Mister Bran's Lasten I do believe we have agreement.

It was in that moment prince Quinn barged in, gaining the glares from everyone in the room as a guard who was on the outside apologized for not keeping the prince out.

"Thats ok leave us," the count said with a exasperated expression on his face as the guard left the room closing the door as he went.

"Father I." the prince started as he gave the Faunus a look over. "heard you have guests from another settlement."

"Yes and we have just concluded a discussion when you... so rudely let yourself in," count Barry stated as his son noticed the large piece of raw Dust on the table.

"Is that Dust?!"

"Yes it is," Bran's stated as the prince's eyes went wide at the sight of such a large nugget of Dust. "And it is the reason for our trip to your nation prince...uh."

Prince Quinn regained his composer at the words and replied. "Quinn..."

"Ah prince Quinn. We are from a rather humble village far to the east, who just so happens to have access to a... rather large vein of Dust and we wise to open a trade partnership with your nation."

Prince Quinn regarded the aged Faunus diplomat with his best poker face. Covering up the fact he was more interested in the dust then the Faunus.

"Hmm so that is the deal. Father I hope you told them that the final word on such decisions will be up to the council which may I remind you I am the current head of," the prince said intentionally to show how much power he has.

As the prince let it slip that he controls the final decision on the matter Bran's suddenly understood more about the power structure in this nation and the relationship between the count and his son.

Prince Quinn gave the Faunus another look over, adjusting his plans as he went.

"Now mister...?"

"Bran's Lasten your highness," he introduced himself using the honorific.

"Brans lasten... I, and the other members of the council, would like to hear more on this trade deal you wish to make with our nation in detail two days from now. Until then good day," the prince said before turning around and leaving as Duke raised a eyebrow at the man.

Count Barry apologized for his sons rudeness, calling one of his servants to lead the Faunus guests to their room for the night.

(Sigh)"Why does it seem like he's going to be trouble," Duke stated as he laid down in the comfy bed with his legs hanging off it's edge.

"Another one of your gut feelings?" Lav asked with a shrug as he looked out the window.

"Maybe... can't tell yet. What do you think Tealle?"

"Snake" the wolf eared girl replied summing up her opinion of the guy in one word.

"Yeah he did seem off a bit," Lav stated as Brans came in from his private room across the hallway.

"I don't really care about the internal politics of this nation or the royal family. If we are to protect our village and maybe even improve the quality of life for our people we need this deal to go through. And all of you should keep that in mind when we meet this council. Am I understood," Bran,s stated in a strong tone.

"Uh yes," Duke replied.

"I understand," Lave replied.

"Understood," Tealle said in a subdued tone.


Xanadu capital Aranna

Knight guard jail house #4

7:00 PM

A Knight guard (which also serves as a police force) walked across the jail cell room as the two thieves handed to him by the captain and Lieutenant gave him a mile long glare.

"What your own fault for not following the law little brats," the man said as he walked over to a chair and sat down and picked up a book to read until his shift is over.

The two teenage thieves gave each other a sidelong look and one looked out the window seeing that it was night time indicating that it was time for the plan to start. After getting themselves caught on propose it was now time for the two to start their plan to rescue their jailed third member of their little troupe of thieves.

One of the jailed thieves started feeling around his for-arm then using his semblance of Farromancy (touch based Metal bending) he pulled out of his arm a small piece of metal that quickly took the shape of a key. Quietly he handed it over to his partner in the cell next to him and then moved to the front door of his cell grabbing the bars and looking over to see his partner with the key in her cell door. In the next instant they both acted at the same time both opening their cells, one bending open the bars and the other unlocking the cell door making a distinct clanking noise.

"Huh?" the lone guard exclaimed as he stood up and turned around to see both prisoners free of their cells. He reached for his sword as one of them rushed him grabbing onto his shoulder. The guards body started jerking and shaking as a jolt of electricity surge through his body like a tazer and in the next moment the man fell to the floor barely conscious and numb and limp all over feeling like a Boarbatusk had hit him.

"Well that was easy," Storm said as Nick walked over to her and the guard, bending some of the metal bars into bands of metal to tied the guard up then tied some cloth into a mouth gag to keep him from yelling when he woke up.

"Ok lets get Pastel and get out of here," Nick said quietly as the two teenage thieves made their way through the building avoiding the other knight guards as they made their way to the lower cells eventually finding the third member of their little group in a lone cell room.

Nick and Storm bothe entered the room with caution making sure there were no guards. As they did the lone figure laying on the bed looked over at them.

"Nick. Storm? it's about time you got here!" Pastel exclaimed in a soft voice as he got out of bed. Nick touched the bars of Pastel's cell and they bent like play-doh allowing Pastel to just walk through them.

"Ok mission completed. let's get out of here," Nick said just as the door to the room slammed open and Knight captain Titus and Lieutenant Thara entered.

"Shit! Titus," Pastel exclaimed remembering that it was these two who had captured him in the first place a week ago.

Titus looked a little disappointed at the young man."Now, now thats not the proper language for people your age."

"Oh what are you my dad now old man," Pastel yelled as Thara growled at the insolent young man who insulted her superior whom she has great respect for.

"Now, now, Thara no need to get angry."Titus said placing his hand on Thara's shoulder calming her down and keeping her from pounding the kids into paste. "Now Pastel, Nick, Storm." the three tenagers looked surprised Titus knows their names. "I know a lot about you considering your past exploits of stealing from half the people in Xanadu using your semblances. A little too successful in my opinion. You drew too much attention to yourselves and well... here we are," Titus said as he gestured around the room.

"Yeah well it's not like we chose to be orphans and live on the streets," Nick yalled the anger visible on his face.

"People like you who get warm meals and beds just because your the royal families lap dogs won't ever understand what it's like for people like us who don't have anyone to rely on but yourselves," Storm shouted back as Pastel told them to calm down. Being hot headed wouldn't help them get out of this situation.

"Whats your angle Titus. "Pastel asked. "If you really just wanted to put us in jail what's with the speech," asked the cunning leader of the thieving trio as he remembered the near instant curb stomping he got when Titus caught him during a supposedly normal thieving mission to a rich nobles house.

"Well Im glad to see that you learn. Pastel Theson," Titus said making Pastel freeze at the name.

"Ho- how do you know my last name," the teenager said in a confused tone of voice as Nick and Storm look equally confused.

"The same way I know that all of you are siblings. Your parents..." Titus said with a note of regret. "Alex and Sno Theson served under me when we went on that ill fated expedition two years ago. Its not common for two people let alone husband and wife to both be apart of such expedition," Titus said remembering that the three teenagers father was apart of the knight guard and mother was one of the Geologist who died during the mission.

"What?!," the three siblings exclaimed in differing tones and looks of surprise on their faces.

"I'm sorry if we got on the wrong foot but you three had turned to stealing things that aren't yous... But." Titus took a step forward making the three siblings tense up. "It's within my power to have the charges against you dropped and erased from your records IF..."

"If what?" Pastel asked wondering what could the old man possible give them to make it worth trusting him.

"If you join the Knight guard. People with awakened Auras and Semblances like yours are rare. You wouldn't have to steal anymore and you would have three meals a day and you would be working in your father's footsteps. I'm sure your parents would want you to make a honest living instead of living out on the street and stealing from others.

The three siblings looked stunned at the offer and shared confused looks between each other for a few moments.

As the three teenagers talked amongst themselves a literal fly on the wall watched them relaying everything it sees to the Zerg Brood queen Numorra.


Inside a Overlord hovering Four miles above the port city of Aranna,

Numorra sat wings folded and tail wrapped around her crossed legs. Concentrating on taking in all the information from all of the Fly type Locusts in the human city below. Her evolved mind easily processing all the information from hundreds of Locust's and filing away the important date in her selective photographic memory.

Abastein under empress Ellen's direction had evolved the brain architecture of the Brood Queens essence arcitype to the point where they all have minds that can control their memories like a computer, discarding unnecessary memories if they so choose and make sure the important information remains. This was done for two reasons, one because of the long life span of Zerg. In a very long life possibly as long as ten thousand years or more, the memories will pile up so being able to discard the useless ones is an advantage to maintaining one's sanity and sense of self. The second reason is because it may be necessary for Brood queens to destroy all of their knowledge and memories if they are captured by a being able to forcibly take information from their minds such as the Protoss and Tal'darim or anything else with such abilities.

As Numorra sifted through the date from the Locusts the two events that stood out the most amongst them was the meeting between the Faunus party and the leader of Xanadu. And the encounter between the knight guard captain his lieutenant and the three thieves.

"Hmm," Numorra mumbled to herself as a thought ran through her mind. "Solus I have a idea," she projected to the Behemoth.

"Speck Numorra what is on your mind."

"I've been thinking... would it be possible for me to walk amongst the humans in one of those clone puppets the Evolution masters have been working on,"

Numorra asked referring to the cloning experiments to understand the nature of the Aura and Semblance abilities of the Humans and Faunus on this world.

Solus brooded over the idea of using a clone body as a spy to infiltrate and spy on the locals but such was unnecessary with the Locusts. But the idea itself was also apart of the Empresses plan but was not meant to be implemented until much later when the four nations of Vale Vacuo Atlas Mistral were founded.

Solus thought over his orders and came to the conclusion that doing such at thise early stage was not against the empreses orders so long as Numorra doesn't do anything to change the ultimate fate of the Humans and Faunus.

"Very well Numorra you may use a cloned body. However it will not have the Aura ability nor a semblance like the natives. However I would suggest having it given the base ability of psi-armor from the Queens nest if you intend to encounter combat."

Numorra cocked her head in puzzlement. "The evolution masters can do that?" she asked.

"Yes. And since we don't fully understand how the Aura and Semblances work perhaps you could glem such information from the people who have awakened their powers."

Numorra weighed her options and decided to go through with her idea even though she had no need to walk amongst the people of this world. Still she had a feeling of curiosity that couldn't be satisfied watching through the eyes of Locusts. Even though using a empty shell of a clone as a proxy wouldn't be much different, still Numorra would be able to touch and feel and smell the world around her as if she was a human herself. And more importantly she would be able to ask questions.

Over the past few hundred years serving as a chief subordinate of the swarm Empress has made Numorra more interested in Humans other then just viewing them as a weaker species that the Zerg manage like a hunter managing the population of elk or deer. Numorras interest's have turned into a sort of fascination that only grows as she watches through the locust eyes, and now she has an opportunity to get a much closer look even if it's through a remote controlled body.

"I will learn as much as I can. And as per our empresses orders I will only interfere with the Humans and Faunus only as necessary."

Numorra quickly returned to the Hive cluster taking no more than a half hour as the Overlord exited the planets atmosphere, unimpeded by the air resistance it quickly crossed the continent and descended back into the layer of air covering the planet like a blazing comet. The second gen Overlord easily resisted the heat friction with its psi-armor reinforcing its body.

The Overlord descended over the buried form of Solus and entered into one of a dozen massive skyscraper sized hollow towers that lead into the underground hangers. Before the Overlord even landed Numorra jumped out stretching out her wings and glided down to the creep covered floor and from there it was a short jog through the hive cluster to reach the Evolution chamber.

As Numorra entered the chamber she saw a half dozen evo-masters working on a equal number of cocoons each with a green transparent organic membrane showing the bodys of nine identical people, all Faunus. As she continued moving through the bio lab Numorra saw many more cocoons each with groups of identical clones, some of Humans others of Faunus, eventually she came to a chamber where a few empty cocoons were waiting along with evolution master.

"Brood queen Numorra." The evolution master greeted in monotone. "I will assist, in creating the desired form of your puppet."

Numorra made a tiny grin as she walked closer and started the process of customizing her human dolls form. Numorra took her time looking through all of the selections of genes that change the bodies qualities such as height, skin color, face structure, body build and all the many internal functions that improved the bodies functions.

The Zerg swarm had had two hundred years to perfect the process of categorizing and quantifying the genes of many life forms and creating a date base of them, including human genes. So creating a body was not that hard. The difficulty came when the world of Remnant was found baring a second Human population that while on the surface looked similar to those on Earth but in their genes they were found to be quite different although similar.

It was these difference,s in the humans and Faunus of Remnant genetic make up that Solus and his evolution masters found were responsible for gifting them with the power of Aura and their unique Semblances.

And most disturbingly or interestingly many, but not all of the genes, that were unique to the Humans and Faunus of Remnant were very similar to those found in the deep genetic makeup of 'Ellen' the Swarm empress. This clearly showed a genetic link between the Valkyrur of Earth and the people of Remnant even though why and how this is the case is still very much a mystery.

From the information provided by the samples taken from the Humans and Faunus, Solus was able to speculate that all Humans and Faunus of Remnant have the ability to have a Aura and Semblance but yet not all can. From their long investigation of Ellen's essence, Abastein and the other Evolution masters of the swarm have discovered that all psionic powers 'partly' come from the biological structure of DNA 'essence' on the molecular and atomic to the subatomic scales, all of it interacting with the universe on the quantum level, which falls in line with Ellens theory that psionic powers link and connect life forms to the universe itself in someway.

It is these precise structures of the molecules and atoms interacting with the universe on the quantum level that give, Protoss, Zerg and Khaydarin crystals their psionic power's. Or at least that's the theory.

But as Ellen and Abastein have discovered there is also a mental and spiritual aspect to Psionic powers that are 'far' harder to understand and will take the swarm many more years of experimenting to fully understand.

However this world of Remnant may just be the key to understanding that other half of psionic abilities.


Beyond the boundaries of the universe where the concept of Time, Space, Form and Shape, even Thought and Memories have no meaning the higher dimensional 'being' watched as the actors of its play go about their planning and scheming, and daily lives. All of them slowly moving forwards to the appointed day of fate.

"Who will win in the end... Ellen or...," Psyon thought as it continued to watch the current point in time as events unfold like a movie to it.

Chapter End


Note

Also I've been seeing that more people are favoriting and Following my story. (Both the first and second stages) Glad to see you all enjoying it, also I just wanted to get it out there that I'm really glad my story (is enjoyable to all of you) so thanks for Favoriting, Following, and Reviewing. It means that I do not suck and gives me confidence to move forward with the story.

All that said I do want to let all of you know ahead of time that I will... (in all likelihood) start another story. Yeah since it doesn't look like the RWBY story will not be done anytime soon I thought I would kill time with some other story that has nothing to do with Ellen or her universe.

I 'wont' be ending [Zerg Swarm Empress] but just delaying it from the end of StarCraft 1 Brood war since that's the point in time I planned starting the inserting the main RWBY story. But I will have a few chapters dedicated to explaining some further back story of how the Zerg presence on Remnant changes a few things. Now to be original and not steal from other fanfic writers I won't be having some of my OC's being in team RWBY but they will be in Beacon academy and will... change a few things lets just say.

Also I want to flush out the characters of some of my Zerg OC's while also creating a story that builds up to the really interesting stuff so after this Remnant arc is done the focus will shift to the other high ranking Brood Queens and their adventures with the Protoss and Overmind Swarm, and then another of them with The Covenant, and the start of major hostilities between the UNSC and Ellen's swarm which will also have the explanation of how the Spartan program changed. You know because of the Zerg. But everything may or may not be in THAT order.

Then the Starcraft 1 story proper should start if things go as planned?!.