Chapter 12: A Warrior will fall or rise
( Narration by an unknown female.)
The Storyteller was ancient, living for thousands of years in the world of Fortuna. Over those centuries, he took countless disciples under his immortal wing, sharpening them into becoming legendary warriors that have written the course of history. But, there was once a time where a student had a power that rivaled his own and tried to usurp the mantle of Fortuna's ward from him, only to be defeated. With no other choice as they would attempt to do it again, he locked them away in a part of Fortuna that could only be accessed by the Third in his series of 12 volumes, legendary texts that pressed warriors against the hardest trials to make them stronger. After the first Grimm Wars, the 12 volumes were divided, each ending up in the far reaches of the kingdoms, with the third being hidden away by a band of warriors entrusted by the Storyteller himself. The Third in the Series, Master's Shadow, resided in an old chamber in Vale, where the Student waited for the time they would return...
Beacon Academy, Emerald Forest
11:10 am
Blake and Yang walked along the forest, sweeping through hostile Grimm that had been accumulating there. This had been their first field assignment they had been given since they had returned to Beacon after wreaking havoc on the now-crippled White Fang. They swept through waves of Grimm, destroying huge packs, before stumbling across some old ruins...
" When were these here?" Blake asked.
" This place must be thousands of years old." Yang remarked.
" Let's have a look in case any Grimm are hiding inside." Blake mentioned.
" Good idea." Yang responded.
They entered the ruins of what had appeared to be an old temple, in which they came across Master's shadow, sitting still atop a marble podium, with light shining down upon it. Before they approached the book, Blake decided to talk to Yang about how she felt about Ruby and Weiss's relationship...
" How do you feel about Weiss dating your sister?" Blake said.
" Are we seriously gonna have this conversation?" Yang said.
" I just wanted to see how you felt." Blake said in defense.
" I'm...actually pretty happy for them." Yang said.
" Really?" Blake asked.
" Yeah, Weiss was there for her when I wasn't, that shows how much she cares about her." Yang said.
" I talked to Ozpin, apparently she shielded Ruby in case you were to accidentally hit her when you had your outburst." Blake said.
" Yeah, threw herself over so she wouldn't be hit." Yang said.
" Okay, so how long has your dad grounded you?" Blake said.
" Two months of no motorcycle, video games, or T.V unless it's the news, and I have to stay in detention with him every night." Yang explained.
" Man, that's rough." Blake said.
" Yeah, he's even making me do the laundry down at Signal on Sundays." Yang said.
" That's even more rough." Blake said.
They approached the book and they both opened it up and they were teleported inside to Fortuna, but it was a part of Fortuna Blake did not recognize, as a large spire sat ahead of them and the environment was dark. Eventually, a dark blue void appeared ahead of them and a voice began to speak...
" Please, you have to help me." The voice said.
" What the?" Yang said.
" Please, you have to help me complete my task." The Voice said.
" Calm down, what task?" Blake asked.
" I must kill the villain who resides at the peak of the spire." The voice said.
" Who are you?" Yang asked.
" My name is Alleecia, listen, you must get me out of the trap she has me in. " The Voice said.
" All right, Alleecia, how do we get to you?" Blake asked.
" You need to get across the shadows, be careful, go in without a light, and you will be killed." Alleecia said before the void disappeared.
" What does she mean by that?" Yang asked.
Blake looked down to see a small rat-like creature scurrying towards the shadows, and they both watched in horror as the creature was quickly reduced to a skeleton in a matter of seconds as Blake was timing it...
" Seraphim." Blake said.
" What?" Yang asked.
" Seraphim, they're really small insect-like Grimm that can reduce a person to a skeleton in 30 seconds exactly." Blake said, looking at her watch.
" How do you know that?" Yang asked.
" Duncan told me about an encounter he had." Blake explained.
" So how do we get past them if they are too small to fight?" Yang asked in a concerned tone.
" We use this." Blake said, picking up a lightsphere.
The two girls made their way through the swarm and reached the exit: the start of the next chapter of the book. They entered the first floor of the spire and was approached by a spectral Alleecia this time, who was wearing an elaborate armor set.
" Good, now you've got to take out the wards that are holding me on the second tier." Alleecia said, pointing to her frozen self on the upper tier of the spire.
" How do we shut them off?" Blake asked.
" You'll need to take out the eyes of Katria, they're what's holding me in place since she put them there." Alleecia explained.
" What are the eyes of Katria?" Yang asked.
" They're the artifacts of the prisoner that I have to take out." Alleecia said before disappearing again.
Yang and Blake had now learned the name of the enemy Alleecia was sent to kill: Katria. They immediately swept through and found a text by The Storyteller on the Eyes, a pair of enormous moonstones that are capable of holding immense power. They found both and overloaded them, in which they regrouped with Alleecia in the main chamber, as she was now free of the enchantment that had held her frozen in place. She was a little taller than Ruby, with long, light brown hair that stopped at her shoulders. She walked over to a large pile of books, and pulled an enormous greatsword from the pile, which was black and gold in its color. It looked as if it was burning in a blue flame, and had a bright red gem at the pommel.
" Thanks, being frozen like that does hell on the back." Alleecia said, cracking her back.
" How long were you like that?" Blake said.
" I don't know, lost count after the 77th year." Alleecia said.
" You've been frozen like that for more than 77 years?" Yang said.
" Yeah, being like that caused me not to age." Alleecia said.
" How old are you?" Alleecia said.
" 17. Hey, quick question?" Alleecia said.
" Shoot." Yang said.
" Who is currently in charge of the Aletian Military?" Alleecia asked.
" That would be General Ironwood, though I feel he's a bit hot-headed." Blake said.
" Ironwood? As in James Ironwood?" Alleecia said.
" Wait, you know him?" Yang said with shock in her voice.
" I remember him when he was a lot smaller. I was like the older sister he never had." Alleecia said.
Blake was looking at the large metal gauntlet on her right arm that had what appeared to have a skull-shaped design on the palm...
" Oh, you're curious about this?" Alleecia said to Blake.
" Yes, I've seen that gauntlet before, but not on your arm." Blake said.
" Yeah, I've seen that gauntlet before too, but it was on a very powerful huntsman that was mentioned in a book once." Yang said.
They eventually remembered where they had seen the gauntlet before, it was the gauntlet of the first horseman, leader of a band of huntsmen that had such powerful semblances that they were able to topple any hostile threat that stood in their way. But one question was on their mind: How did Alleecia get her hands on the gauntlet?
" Come on, we've got to kill Katria before she escapes." Alleecia said.
" Why is she so dangerous?" Yang asked.
" Because she intends to kill anyone who stands in their way." Alleecia said.
" Okay, that's not good." Blake said.
They raced through the trials of the story, and came face to face with Katria herself at the top of the spire. Katria was about as tall as Yang, but with snow white hair and piercing blue eyes. She wore elegantly-designed robes and carried a black metal long-staff with a glowing green sphere at the top.
" Katria." Alleecia said.
" So the executioner has finally been freed, what a pity." Katria said.
" Save your breath, because I don't have time to put up with your rants." Alleecia said.
" Heh, I like your attitude." Katria said, hurling a bolt of electricity at the three girls.
A fight ensued, with Alleecia racing to end the life of her sworn enemy, atop the largest spire in all of Fortuna. They fought like they were living a climatic story battle, where the heroes rallied to topple a cruel tyrant, with the heroes becoming Victorious, as Alleecia severed Katria's head with one swing of her sword. But without every victory, there must be a sacrifice, and Yang looked to see Blake clutching a profusely bleeding side...
" Blake?" Yang said in a worried tone.
" I don't...feel good." Blake said before falling to the ground.
Yang and Alleecia raced over to help her, in which they had found out she had been struck by a shadow talon strike carried out by Katria. They returned to Remnant and sought medical help for Blake, and while that task was being carried out, Xavier was about to reveal a secret that he had learned to his inner circle...
WHITECROSS Headquarters, Vale
3:30 pm
Dante arrived alongside Alexis and Blaze at the headquarters of the organization in the city. It was a massive building, over 200 stories tall, guarded by the most advanced security systems and personnel on the planet, and home to some of the most advanced labs in Remnant. The trio were determined to reach the 112th floor, as it was home to the office of their superior officer, and they were greeted by Athena, Xavier's A.I helper and Secretary.
" Greetings you three, Mr. Moore will be seeing you now." Athena said.
" Thanks." Dante said.
They entered the office, and watched as Xavier was looking over some maps of disease outbreaks that had been recorded by WHITECROSS, who were also the ones to stop them. The first map was of the Celaphax plague that killed over 20,000 people, the second was of the outbreak of Seranthril, and the rest were lesser outbreaks leading up to the GRV outbreak that had been recently stopped over a few weeks ago.
" Why are you looking over these maps?" Alexis asked.
" You've been staring at them for days." Blaze said.
" Why have you called us here boss?" Dante asked the young man.
" What do you see when you look at these maps?" Xavier asked.
" Maps." They responded.
Xavier pressed a few buttons on his Holo-console and they eventually saw what he was trying to show them: The outbreak routes formed a symbol, a symbol that was only known amongst the head administrators of the organization would know...
" What is that?" Dante asked.
" That is the symbol of the Lowell institute, an organization that WHITECROSS has been at war with for years." Xavier said.
" I thought they were shut down 19 years ago." Blaze said.
" Turns out, they weren't." Xavier responded.
Xavier explained to his associates that the Lowell institute was once a research organization that worked for the government of Vacuo, until they unleashed a mutated and aggravated strain of Celaphax into Remnant and even tried to sell it as a bio-weapon. WHITECROSS discovered their involvement and it launched a raid on their location, which immediately resulted in them being shut down and their bioweapons destroyed, but their staff dropped off grid following the shut down...
" So you think they had restarted again?" Dante asked.
" Possibly. But I now know these outbreaks weren't random." Xavier said.
" They were coordinated." Alexis said.
" So yes, they're back, but we are going to stop them." Xavier said.
" Hell yeah." Dante said.
They all knew what this had meant, the biggest battle was about to begin...
This chapter ends with Xavier and his inner circle discovering that each of the outbreaks were coordinated and carried out by the ruthless Lowell institute, an organization of Bio-terrorists. Blake and Yang have released Alleecia Williams, rider of the red horse, and helped her complete the task of assassinating the ruthless former student of The Storyteller. The final chapter is next and a secret of the storyteller is revealed, and fast-forward moment occurs in which someone has gotten married...
WAIT AND SEE.