The streets of the warehouse district had turned into a warzone that night, gunfire and the sound of battle echoed throughout the night sky as the defenders of Mountain Glenn fought desperately against the monstrosities that had emerged from the portal. I ducked behind the remains of a burned out car and swore as I fumbled with some shells, shoving them into the receiver on the gun and peeking around the corner. Whatever this thing was, it was ugly as sin; a moving mass of tentacles tipped with snapping beaks, with a single, multifaceted eye that swirled on a long stalk that protruded from the collection of slimy limbs that obscured any body it might have had.

I watched as it oozed its way down the street, occasionally grabbing objects seemingly at random, pulling them into the mass of writhing limbs. I finished reloading and took a deep breath, my eyes fixated on the creature's progress. It was moving inexorably toward the intersection that I was watching it from. And while any sane, rational person would be absolutely terrified and should run screaming if this thing was getting closer to them; I had a plan.

However, that plan involved it reaching the several pounds of explosives that I had managed to scrounge up and rig into a mine that it would be tripping in just a few seconds. It would be close to blowing me up as well, it had to be; I had a shotgun, a close range weapon. However, the car should theoretically shield me from the worst of the blast, enabling me to hit it while it was down.

Assuming that this thing wouldn't eat an explosion like that and then just keep coming, having the pesky little Hunter for a swift, crunchy second course. Assuming that I didn't miscalculate in the few desperate minutes that I had used to set this ambush and the car didn't flip over, crushing me beneath its weight.

I have great plans.

The monstrosity oozed up just short of the trap when suddenly it paused. My heart went into my throat as I watched it sit there, swaying slightly as even its ever moving eye fell still. A single drop of sweat crawled its agonizing way down my forehead as I begged and pleaded every being in existence that it would just move a few more steps forward…

Suddenly there was loud clang and the creature's eye spun around to stare down a dark alleyway. It's whole bodily shifted eerily and it began flowing towards it.

I quickly considered my options… I knew this city like the back of my hand, and that alleyway ended in a dead end. If someone was down there then they'd be trapped; even if they tried to scale the wall, I'd seen these things move, the chances of them getting out were slim to none. However, if I alerted the thing now I'd lose any element of surprise… suddenly a scream erupted from the alleyway and the thing began to surge faster.

I sighed and vaulted out from behind the car, "Hey! Big and ugly!" The creature froze and its eye swept around and when it locked its gaze on me its eye widened and began turning a deep crimson. I immediately opened fire, pumping round after round, its multitude of beaks all screamed in fury as the bullets collided with the eye. A swarm of tentacles reared up and shot towards me, and I dove aside, continuing to fire at the beast. It screamed as suddenly its tentacled mass flowed forward in a wave of undulating flesh. "Ohhhh shi-." I began, and then it crossed over the mine.

A couple of pounds of red, brown, purple, and even a pinch of acid-green Dust went off, with a bunch of scrap that I had stuffed in as shrapnel. The result was a massive explosion that sent me flying into a truck. My ears rang and my head felt like it was on a freaking carousel ride; my eyes looked up at the sky… damn the stars were bright tonight… too bad all of that smoke was in the way… glowing a bright red from the fires that raged below…

Something moved in my peripheral vision and I turned my head to see that the creature was lying on the ground… globs of flesh and beaks were in laying on the ground in pieces. Even as I watched, the thing's eyestalk thing quivered, then slowly stood up, still a shade of crimson red, black ichor flowing freely from a massive wound where a piece of shrapnel had imbedded itself. It fixated on me, and several of its remaining beaks gave a weak scream as they slithered inexorably towards me.

I desperately tried to collect my thoughts and tried to lift my sword… which I suddenly realized was no longer in my hand. I looked up to see that it had been blasted into a building a few steps away from the blast, it's hilt sticking out, taunting me.

"Well… balls…" I said. I watched as one of the tentacles reared up and struck like a snake towards my throat…

Where it froze, just gently cupping my jugular. I frowned and then let my head fall back against the side of the truck.

It wasn't just the instrument of my impending death… everything was… still… silent. Even the roiling clouds overhead had frozen, as though in a photograph.

Suddenly there was a flash of blinding, golden light; I squinted my eyes, and when the spots cleared, there was a large man, floating in the air in front of me. He gently lowered to the ground, he frowned at the tentacle at his feet and then looked back up at me and readjusted a pair of spectacles that seemed several sizes too small for his face.

"Hello. Qrow Branwen I presume?" he walked up to me and offered me an outstretched hand.

I stared at it for a moment, "What the HELL did I drink?" I muttered.

"I understand your confusion… but I'm afraid I'm going to have to make this brief… you have been chosen."

I looked up at him, "Oh goodie… what'd I win?"

He frowned severely at me, "I see that you have still decided to act as those this is some kind of hallucination, let me assure you that-"

"Damn, my hallucinations are talkati- ow!"

My "hallucination" reared back a foot and kicked me in the shin.

"Alright, gotcha…" I took the being's hand and he helped me stand up, I brushed off my shirt and turned my gaze to the creature, still frozen in time.

The being followed my gaze and nodded, "A Malzbeast, I must say, not a bad kill; most mortals do not survive such an encounter…"

"So wait… I'm not dead?" I asked.

"No indeed Mister Branwen… as I stated before, you have been chosen."

"That makes just about as much sense now as it did the first time you said it."

He sighed and turned to me, and for the first time I noticed the "man's" eyes. They were a brilliant shade of metallic green; no pupil, no iris, just a flat chrome that glinted slightly in the light. "You are the Guardian of Remnant, chosen for your unique position of both being one who has seen the portal that has thrust your world into the chaos, and the kin of the one who opened it. Take this…" He held out his hand and a swirl of light formed, taking the shape of a small bottle. "Drink of its contents and receive, at least for a while, the power of Anima. It will last twenty-four hours, so you will have to be swift. Close the portal, and should you survive… we shall meet again, if not… then another will be chosen."

I raised an eyebrow and reluctantly grabbed the bottle, "Glad to know that I'm your first choice." I muttered. I stared at the bottle and then looked back up at him, "You know I usually don't drink things given to me by strangers…"

"My name is Tlaloc."

"You know that doesn't really solve the issue here…"

He shrugged, "Well then, let me elucidate the issue, as you put it. When I leave you will be left with this Malzbeast and several other creatures that will seek to kill you. You are still quite injured and will stand no chance of survival, much less fighting your way to the portal. Alternatively, you could drink the contents of that bottle."

I bit back a reply and sighed; he wasn't wrong. The man smiled and his form began to dissolve before my eyes, "That's the spirit… for what it's worth Mr. Branwen, I do hope we meet again."

"Wait!" I said, but he was gone, I looked at the bottle and uncorked the top. Wisps of golden light shone from within and I hesitated.

Suddenly everything popped into focus and the tentacle at my feet began moving again, snapping at empty air before letting out a shriek of rage. The eye swiveled for a bit and then focussed on me once more.

"Welp… bottoms up." I kicked back my head and guzzled down the concoction. Almost instantly my head pounded, and a bizarre feeling flowed through my veins. Power coursed through me and I dashed over to where my sword was embedded in the stone, as fast as I had ever run before. I yanked it out in time to see a swarm of tentacles racing toward me. I slid aside and with a single cut cleaved through them. Black ichor spewed out from the ends and the creature's remaining beaks screamed. Without hesitating, I rushed forward, spinning my blade in an arc, I swung at the eyestalk. The flesh parted like a knife through butter and it went flying, the screams echoed once more, weaker this time, and I rose my blade overhead and with a shout brought it down on the creature's center of mass. My sword bit into the ground and the creature fell still. Slowly, the flesh parted from my blade, the two halves fell to the ground and began bubbling, as I watched the flesh dissolved into a black slick that boiled away. Soon nothing remained of the creature, I let out a whoop and shouldered my blade, I felt invincible as alien strength of a magnitude I had never felt before ran through my body.

There was an enraged scream and I looked up to see another one of the "Malzbeasts" as Tlaloc had called them, emerge from an alleyway, then another… and another. Soon no less than four of the creatures were facing me, their bizarre eyes turning that all too familiar shade of red. Far from feeling terrified as I should have I sighed and cracked my neck, "Time to get to work." and brandishing my sword overhead, I ran forward into the fray.

I opened my eyes and found myself sitting in a chair in front of a mahogany desk. Sitting across from me was a familiar bespectacled man. He was reading a newspaper, a thoughtful expression on his face. I looked at the front page to see Jaune's face with a headline that read, "Devorahk: A Champion is Chosen!".

"We meet again, Mister Branwen." he remarked.

"What's up?" I asked him.

He looked up and arched an eyebrow, his expression displeased. "What? You guys are always so damn formal… lighten up a little bit."

"You do realize what you risked in even forcing me into this meeting right?"

I shrugged, "I mean, the book just simply said something along the lines of 'this guy is a really bad dude, and if you want to see him and he doesn't like you, then say his name three times.'

His expression somehow managed to scrunch itself up to show even more displeasure at my tone. "That…" he said sourly, "is truly awful paraphrasing. You utterly trivialize that of which you do not… can not, understand."

I shrugged, "We mortals do it all the time, you should try it."

"Oh yes… and how is that working out for you?"

I grinned, "We get by."

He snorted, "I see you don't merely butcher paraphrasing, you also savage summary. I truly cannot understand Their infatuation with you." He sighed and turned his attention back to the newspaper. "Just be aware that the King in Yellow is a truly terrible being. Truth be told I am not completely certain that you would have summoned him; his whims are capricious to say the least. However, the results should you have done so in that fashion would have certainly left all that you love in ruin."

I shrugged and smiled at him, but I had to admit, there was a grim certainty in those words that chilled me slightly. Thing is, I tend to become even more of a smartass whenever I let myself get scared, and I had better things to do than potentially antagonize one of the few beings I had encountered that seemed to have an interest in helping human and Faunus kind. At least, an interest in helping beyond a readily apparent ulterior motive.

"All right then, noted. Now I had some questions for you to answer."

"Proceed."

"Why exactly did you pick him?"

"Who, Jaune Arc?"

I leaned forward, "Yes, Jaune. Arc. The kid who's so green that I can see the grass coming out of his ears. Who's sole likable trait appears to be that he has a goofy look on his face when he's getting pummeled. A kid who-"

"Reminds you of a person named Tai-yang, who you appear to blame for everything. Am I correct?" Tlaloc interrupted. He shook his head and opened a drawer on the desk, he pulled out a cigar and lighter.

"What, are you stalking me now?"

"No, it's just that he's so much at the forefront of your mind right now that it's practically screaming at me." He lit up the cigar and took a deep puff. "No I can't read, your mind, it's more like peeking in through a window… really… reading minds. Once again, an absolutely awful summarizing." He leaned back and turned his gaze up toward the ceiling.

"Forgive me, I sometimes forget that view you mortals have of the universe is so… restricted. If you saw that boy through my eyes, you would ask how could we not select him. For lack of a better term… he burns in our eyes… full to the brim with potential, destiny practically curves around his form if he just reached out and seized it."

I raised an eyebrow, "Him…"

"Yes him, if we had selected that Nikos girl… as you're thinking right now, she wouldn't have lasted a day. Would you like to have seen what her fate would have been? You can see it if you want, after all, you're not exactly quite in the time stream yourself."

I groaned as images flashed through my mind, as though in a feverish dream. Myself, Pyrrha and Kali, all running from For Whom the Bell Tolls nightmarish visage; Kali tripping… falling to the ground, was that a bandage on her leg? Pyrrha turned around without a second thought, charging at the creature as she imposed herself between it and the fallen woman. I saw a single flash of light and Pyrrha fell, crumpling to the ground. I screamed…

And found myself back in the chair, hands shaking as they clasped at my forehead, a cold sweat on my brow. I slowed my quickened, almost panicked breathing, recovering my composure. I sat up, running my hands through my hair, letting out a slow breath. Tlaloc said nothing, but simply handed me a glass of amber liquid. I took it, and drained it, gasping as the alcohol burned my throat.

"Alright then," I finally got out, "we'll move on to why the hell does that keep happening?"

"The random deja vu? The flashes of things that will or will never happen?"

"Yeah, those things."

He leaned forward, looking at me over steepled fingers. "How much do you know about what your sister did?"

I frowned, "She opened a portal, she… she got grabbed… by whatever the things were that came out of the portal. Since then, a whole bunch of weird crap is happening, and I'm the one stuck cleaning up the mess."

He sighed, "Another absolutely awful summary… is that truly all you know?"

I shrugged, "All of those books that we recovered either didn't make sense, or were too vague to draw anything conclusive from."

He sighed heavily, spewing out a small cloud of smoke. "Mountain Glenn… everything begins with that doomed city."

I raised an eyebrow, "Doomed? Like, how doomed?"

"As in its time is up; it should have been destroyed long ago, but the arrangement your sister made spared its destruction for a time. It will not last the night"

I shot up out of my chair and he lifted his hand in a placating gesture. "Do not fear, time passes much more slowly here than it does on the outside. Your companions will be safe when you return, and we have much more to discuss."

I reluctantly sat back down, "So, my sister made a deal with those… things?"

"Not specifically with the creatures you fought from the portal, but with their masters yes." He waved his hand and a small globe of Remnant appeared above the desk. "Remnant was originally a kind of game between two powerful beings, the god of light, and the god of darkness."

"A game?" I asked.

"Yes indeed, each thought that their own virtues would supersede the other's. Could creation outpace destruction when each is given an avatar in the world? Humans and Faunus against Grimm." He waved his hand and the globe spun rapidly and zoomed in to where Mountain Glenn was located. "The two raised their stakes higher and higher, until this city was in both of their sights. Should it stand, then it would be a great victory for the god of light, should it fall, the god of darkness would take yet another victory to gloat over; which indeed, seemed like it would be the case."

He smiled, "Indeed, I believe you yourself declared the whole situation 'hopeless'."

"Stupid, moronic, and pointless actually." I shrugged, "there were far safer places to establish a city, but none close enough to the mines that Vale so desperately wanted to claim."

"Hmm… in any case, at this point, the god of light had quite enough of losing. So, when a third player offered their… assistance… well... " A mass of dark tentacles began swarming over the globe, hovering menacingly over the landscape. "You wondered why the Grimm stopped coming, would you like to see why?" Without waiting for me to answer, he waved his hand and I saw legions of Grimm advancing toward the distant city, jaws snapping in anticipation. Suddenly, tentacles began rising from the earth, Malzbeasts poured out of nowhere, and numerous other monstrosities as well. They lacked any kind of resemblance to any creature I had ever known. Their anatomy bizarre, their forms those that could only appear in the crazed nightermes of the most deranged of minds.

A few moments later, the Grimm… and the monsters that had slaughtered them… were gone, vanished into the nothingness.

"In return for this, 'assistance', they demanded only one thing. That they be allowed a seat at the table to play. Your sister unfortunately, was the one who was chosen to provide that."

I leaned back trying to take in what he had said, "Why her?" I asked him.

Tlaloc suddenly looked uncomfortable, "I'm afraid that we had something to do with that."

My gaze narrowed, "What do you mean, 'something to do with that'?"

He sighed, "When this third player entered the game between light and darkness, we did as well. You see, we are a kind of… opposing force to them. We possess the power of Gaia, the power of Anima, for each living world that they attempt to consume, we must oppose, in order to maintain the balance."

"That still doesn't answer why they chose her." I said.

He looked up at me with a look approaching apologetic, "You're thinking about it in the wrong order." he said softly.

My eyes widened and I sat back in the chair, "You guys chose me…" I said slowly, "so they chose her."

Tlaloc said nothing.

I snorted angrily, "Well… screw you guys, now you're stuck with me and I'm stuck with Jaune." I tilted my head back to gaze into the white nothingness above my head.

"Why me?" I asked quietly.

"This may seem like a bit of a contradiction," he said, "but it is because you are lucky, beloved by fate, as it were."

I shook my head and let out a weak chuckle, "Great… just great. That is one big shitty contradiction alright."

We were both silent for a long time.

I sighed, "So, what's any of this got to do with the visions and the deja vu bullshit."

"Your world was never intended to get involved with all of this, therefore, its 'timeline', was written down a different path." He pointed at me, "You not only were present at the opening, but at the closing of the rift, your presence at that junction where your world jumped onto this new course is why you aren't quite back into a mortal flow of time and you're able to 'look around' as it were."

I lowered my gaze back down to stare at him, "So… I can see the future?" I asked.

He sighed, "Mortal time is like a river." He waved his hands and the globe image disappeared and was replaced by a river with three different paths. "Most are submerged in it, and can only act based on what they know at the time." He pointed at me, "You are on a log." Right on cue, a log with a little stick figure on it appeared, floating on the river.

I laughed, "Really? Can't draw my handsome visage?"

"Well, at least you know you'll never have ridden a log on a river with three different courses in your future." he growled. "This is harder than this looks."

I rolled my eyes, but said nothing.

He waved his hand and the log with the stick figure in tow reached the divergence and it stopped there. "You have the unique ability to see behind you, to see where the other paths would have led, as well as look ahead to see what some of your decisions may result in, or the decisions of others." He shrugged, "Of course, bigger things." He waved and a massive fallen tree appeared in the middle path. "Are easier to spot and avoid, and others may lack context or the full story."

"Right now, since you have no mastery of it, and indeed appear to have decided to drink yourself into a stupor rather than experience the discomfort of this time slip, your current situation is more like this." The stick figure promptly swam under the leg, gripping it tightly with its miniscule hands.

"Have to admit, didn't expect a sobriety intervention out of this meeting." I muttered. I frowned and leaned back in my chair. "This is a lot to take in." I said. "So what about the Devorahk? What the hell is it?"

He waved his hand and the image disappeared, he folded his hands on his desk and bit his lip. "This is the last hand of the game." He said simply.

I blinked and sat up straight, staring at him, "That sounds rather… final."

He shrugged, "Essentially, all parties involved have grown… bored… of the stalemate, and seek to end it all. One last bid from all players, and let the chips fall where they may. Should you win, defeat your enemies and trump their final card, then Remnant will be free from their machinations forevermore. Should you fail…" His eyes looked into mine and I gulped nervously at the intensity of his gaze. "Then it shall be lost to eternal darkness… consumed by the beings that have devoured so many other worlds before it."

I sat there for a while, then stood and stretched with a groan, "Great, any last advice before I go back?"

He smiled, "Yes actually," he said.

"What's that?"

"Don't lose."