I opened my eyes and gazed at the stars, Raven was silent beside me as we stared at those distant pinpoints of life. In the distance I could hear the tribe as they sang around the fire, the distant melodies hung over us, giving the night an ethereal feeling.

"Do you believe in fate? Like that things happen for a reason?" My sister asked suddenly. I frowned and mulled that over, "Or even that things that are meant to happen will happen and nothing we can do can change?" She continued.

I snorted, "There's no point in thinking about that.." I replied.

"Oh?" She rolled over to look at me, "Why's that?"

"Well like, so if I decide to cut down a tree for firewood, and somebody comes up and tells me that if I do that then my house will burn down. I chop down the tree anyway and get the firewood, then my house burns down because I do something dumb, like drop a lit match on some Dust or something. Is that fate? Or is that because I'm a dumbass?"

"I mean, you're definitely a dumbass." She quipped at me. I stuck out my tongue at her and she chuckled. "Hmm, I guess you've got a point though. What about the really random stuff? Like if a big rock just fell from the sky and fell right… here." She reached over and flicked me right between the eyes.

I batted her hand away, grinning, "Then you're unlucky."

"So you don't believe in fate, but you believe in luck?"

I frowned, "I guess, yeah, just kind of stuff that you couldn't do anything about or predict, you just kind of… make a choice, like in that case lying down in the middle of a field. That's luck."

She seemed to think about that, then rolled over on her back to stare up at the stars once more, "The view's nice enough that I think I'll risk it." she stated.

I grinned, "Hey, maybe you're lucky."

She laughed at that, "Qrow, you're the luckiest person I know, if you're safe out here, I am too."

We said nothing more and simply watched the stars overhead.


Today I wasn't feeling particularly lucky, as the spots cleared from my eyes and I saw Jaune Arc shake himself and turn to stare at me. I sighed and looked around, sure enough, everyone else was frozen, save for Kali who was rubbing her eyes. I sighed and pulled out a flask and took a drink as she looked around in confusion before turning to me, a single eyebrow raised.

"Don't ask me. It's their shtick." I took another gulp from the flask.

"'Their' shtick? Who's 'they'?" She asked.

"The people who gave me this job." I looked at the blonde kid who was still staring at me, his eyes wide, he tentatively took a step forward and then looked around at his frozen teammates. I sighed, "Apparently they also have a hell of a sense of humor."

Kali turned her gaze to Jaune, who was currently waving a hand in front of Pyrrha's face. "Uh-huh… so clarify this for me… the Devorahk is the sacred event that selects a Chosen One in order to fight against a renewed wave of darkness and destruction from outside the world right?"

"That's right."

She turned to me, "So one would assume that because that's kind of a big deal, the person chosen would be an adult for one."

I shook my head, "Actually, from what Ozpin and I have gathered, that's not really the case, it's often a younger person that has great potential."

She glanced over at Jaune, who was now starting to freak out a little as his efforts to get his teammates to move or talk weren't working out. He grabbed Pyrrha by the arm and pulled, his face grew strained as the girl didn't even budge, he then grabbed her arm with both hands and leaned into it. Suddenly his grip slipped and he fell onto his back with an audible thud.

"Right… but still… considering all that's on the line, is it wrong that I'm really hoping that this is some kind of joke?"

I put the flask away, "No, no it's not," I watched the kid struggle a bit, then go limp as he fell unconscious. I sighed heavily, my mind made up, "That's it, I'm gonna go to the people in charge and lodge a complaint."

She turned to me, "What? You mean you can do that?"

I shrugged, "Don't know, never tried."

I walked over to where the Arc kid was lying still on his back as he started to come to. I leaned over him and sighed as his eyes shot wide.

"Qrow! The woman told me about you! You've gotta help me, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, they're frozen or something!" He blabbered as he stood up.

"Yeah, look around for a sec kid." I told him.

He did so and his eyes went so wide, I would swear they were going to pop out of his skull, "Oh my gosh, uh… so is everyone like this except the four of us?" he asked as Kali waved at him.

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, exac-." I frowned, "Wait, four?"

"Is he not with you?" He asked, pointing to somewhere behind me.

It's as I was turning around that a couple of things sprung into my head, most importantly that earlier Kali had said that she had seen four blurry figures.

There had only been three Grimm.

I saw a figure walking between the merchant stalls in the distance, from here I couldn't make out much about its features except that it was wearing a heavy black cloak with a hood worn over its head.

What made my hairs stand up on end and nearly scared me straight sobriety and back, was that I heard the far-off ringing of a giant pendulum bell.

I turned to the others, "We've got to get out of here fast." I told them.

"So not with you?" Jaune asked, his voice getting a little squeaky.

"Why don't you go ask him and see what happens?" I snarled as my gaze darted around the merchant stalls. If memory served, there was an entrance to Agartha a little ways from the school. I decided on a direction and began running, "Follow me!" I shouted.

Thankfully the kid got the hint when Kali immediately began running after me and started booking it. We ran out of the tent and stand lined alleyway and out into an open meadow, I looked around and my eyes fell upon a stand of trees growing in a circle.

I waved the others to follow me as I dashed over to the circle. I reached the first tree and desperately ran my hands over it, damn, nothing. I moved onto the next one as the sound of the bell became louder.

"What is that noise?" Jaune asked, his voice squeaky with fear.

"An inexhaustible hunter from the Outer Realms that wants to take your soul and slice it up for dinner." I replied.

His eyes grew wide, "You're joking right?" he looked to Khali, "Please tell me he's joking…"

She didn't reply but instead was looking over one of the trees, "What am I looking for?" she asked.

"If you listen you'll hear a kind of buzzing sometimes, particularly with a nature attuned Conduit like this one. Knocking helps, if you reach out then you'll feel a kind of pull when you draw your hand away."

"Reach out with what?!" She screamed at me as the sound of the bell rang in our ears.

"Um… does it look kind of like a massive tree? With a whole bunch of huge twisting branches?"

I frowned and looked over at Jaune, who was pointing at one of the trees. I walked over and put my hand up against it, sure enough, it was the Conduit." I looked over at the kid, who laid his on the tree next to mine and suddenly the wood started to churn and twist.

Well damn, I thought as the Conduit activated fully and golden light began to pour outward. "Get in!" I yelled, and pushed Jaune forward, he disappeared with a flash of light. Kali dove in right afterward and I began to step forward when suddenly I felt a chill as a dark presence engulfed me.

I turned my head to see the hooded figure standing a few paces behind me, it lifted an arm and a black tentacle whipped out from its robes and flashed towards me. My scythe twirled and I yelled some words in the old tongue. My mind recoiled as an oozing cold slithered in my head; my scythe flared with a blue flame and the thing screamed as the severed tentacle fell to the ground. The foreign presence in my head receded as the wounded limb recoiled, black ichor squirted out of the wound in a jet. Two spots of red flash beneath the thing's hood as I felt its outrage course over me. I gave it a single-finger salute and stepped back into the portal. It's scream of rage cut short as I felt my gut wrench and I was transported across time and space.


I came to my senses as someone painfully grabbed my hair and began dragging me by it.

"Ow! What the hell?!"

"Oh shut it! Quick, where to?" Kali shouted down at me.

"Just relax, will ya?" I replied as I slapped her hand away. She let go and I got to my feet and casually brushed myself off."

"Hello? Big scary bell guy chasing us? The 'slice up and eat your soul' guy." She said as Jaune's eyes fixated on something behind me. I turned to see that the portal had turned pitch black, I shrugged as tendrils began growing over the rim of the portal.

"Don't worry, he won't come in here." I reassured them.

Kali frowned, "What makes you so sure?"

"Agartha has security systems in place to stop things like him from getting in; they won't necessarily kill him, but it will ruin his day." I unscrewed the cap on my flask and took a swig.

"So how come the kids, those Proxy things, were able to get in?" she asked.

I shrugged, "They're not strong enough to trip them, that's why the Night Haunter was using them in the first place. They can't fill the place with those either however, as too many might activate them as well." I swirled the flask, feeling slightly depressed at how empty it sounded, "Think of it this way, you definitely would notice if a cow started walking around in your house, but you might not notice a few ants. However, if an entire ant colony tried to move into your house, you'd be getting the bug spray."

Kali considered that as she examined the portal, by which point was covered in twitching black tendrils. "So what the hell are those?" she asked, pointing to them.

I nodded, "Those will solidify soon, it's a way of blocking the Conduit." even as I said this, they began to calcify before our eyes. Soon the portal resembled a statue carved out of black stone.

"Uh-huh, and how long will that last?" Kali asked.

I shrugged, "Normally a couple of days, but that thing is really bad news; I would guess that it will wear off in a couple years at best."

"And at worst?"

I thought about that for a moment, "Few hundred years, give or take." I began walked down the bridge, getting my bearings as I peered into the portals along the way.

"Whoah, whoah… Conduits? Proxy? Night Haunter? Just what the hell is all of this?" That of course, was the Arc kid, I sighed heavily.

"All right kid, here's the low-down, you know how you've always thought that Grimm were the biggest, scariest thing out there? Well that's all wrong, there are things out there that make Grimm seem like cute, adorable little puppies in comparison. You've been chosen to help fight them by the powers that be that also gave me the job of making sure those things don't get too comfortable on our world. A choice that I'm going to them in person and complaining about. Got all of that?"

I looked over my shoulder to see him standing there, his eyes wide and his jaw slack, an absolute expression of hopeless confusion. Sweet, merciful Maidens, maybe good ol' Tai had yet another marriage I didn't know about, because I could swear the resemblance was uncanny.

"You still haven't explained that part about seeing 'them' in person." Kali said.

I shrugged, "Honestly not too sure if it'll work, my best guess is to go back where I met them the first time and see if I can't find them."

"You don't think that there's a most productive use of your time? Like, I don't know, maybe getting the Chosen One to a safe place and stuff like that?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow at her, "I mean, he's with me."

She narrowed her eyes at me, "Right…"

"Look," I said, my tone growing serious, "Beacon wasn't safe anymore, they knew he was there, and we didn't really have much of a chance reaching any of the defenses. None at least that could've stopped that guy."

"So who exactly was that then?"

I took another swig from my flask, "Short version: real bad news. He's a being from the Outer Realms, which are essentially a kind of… spiritual outer shell." I frowned, "So basically think of Remnant having layers, there's the physical one that we live in, but there are also spiritual ones. The closer ones are more connected to the world itself, for example, the Realm of Nature, which houses the… model world of nature, a tree here will have a representation there. Of course, if that tree is cut down, the representation there will also die."

"So those layers are the ones that the Elemental Lords occupy?" Kali asked.

I nodded, "Exactly, humans though kind of… create… their own layers, all of our thoughts, expressions, and ideas exist in the further layers that aren't as connected to reality."

Her eyes widened as she understood, "So basically a realm of all of the worst thoughts and fears of humanity."

I winced, "Yeah, see... people used to ring bells of a town if it was under attack by Grimm. Of course, after associating a bell with such a horrifying event, the sound of bells became a thing that everybody grew to get real twitchy about. That meant that all of those negative emotions all coalesced in that Outer Realm and poof." I spread my hands wide, "With some meddling from the Outer Gods, a being called 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' is born."

Jaune butted in at that point, "Whoah, whoah... Outer Gods?"

I sighed, "Yeah, so it turns out, those Outer Realms are susceptible to a bunch of really unfriendly creepy crawlies called Outer Gods. For the most part they're ambivalent towards humanity; however there are a couple that are out to get us. Fortunately, we also have some things that are looking out for us. They're the ones who created Agartha and conduct the Devorahk, an event in which they pick a Chosen One who wields the power of Anima."

Jaune shook his head, "This is all so much to take in… so where do the Grimm and Aura fit in?"

I sighed, "That's the weird part, they don't; in fact, they contradict each other in a lot of ways." I turned my gaze upward. I didn't finish the thought out loud, that it had been my own sister who had brought all of this creepy crawly craziness on top of us. I didn't know how she did it, hell… I barely could comprehend why she had done it. All I knew is that then some of those golden people had shown up and had appointed me as the Guardian of Remnant over the rapidly disintegrating corpses of some eldritch monstrosities. I briefly considered as I usually, whether I was just having some kind of bizarre dream, born of a massive bout of drinking. That I would wake up and be chewed out cheerfully by Summer as she dragged me out of the bar.

I deliberately kept my face hidden as I quickly brushed my arm across my eyes.

I wasn't that lucky.

I paused as we came up to a portal that showed a large cityscape. Giant buildings towered overhead as cars moved along the road, flanked by crowded sidewalks. "Here we are." I said. The other two stopped beside me.

"Is that…." Jaune began.

"Yup." I answered and stepped into the portal.