Ch 10 - Did Someone Solicit some Sorcery?
A/N: Oh boy, chapter 10! Counting Author's notes, at the end of the last chapter, we were just under 40k words (spoiler alert, me from a few months back: review responses already put us above that number). So this one will be marking a new milestone in word count just a few paragraphs in!
Anyways, this is to celebrate my first 100 followers. Also, my Wednesdays suck.
Warning for dark character backstory later. You've been warned.
It occurs to me that perspective/POV changes might not be immediately obvious, and those will occur more frequently as the story progresses. To deal with that, going forwards in the story, when the writing latches to another character, I'll put their name inside the bold parentheses that I use as transition markers. If most of you don't like that, let me know, and I'll just leave you to sus out the perspective by reading the first couple paragraphs.
Review Responses:
XiHeng: Praise be on to Pyrrahs breasts! \[T]/
And from what Im getting, Ren and Weiss gonna get sorceries, Yang and Nora gonna get pyro, Pyrrah and Ruby miracles, Blake a filthy Katana Dex user, and Jaune a nameless fuck running around with the most BROKEN weapon; 2h longsword. Amirite or Amirite.
Either way keep up the good work!
My response: I can't help but wonder if that first sentence is a reference to that one image where a Pyrrha in her birthday suit is scaled up to the size of and put in a Gwynevere pose. Anyways, I'll just gloss over that and praise the sun instead. \[T]/
As for who gets what... well, that's spoilers, but I'll tell you that you got 5 of those guesses right. Though if we're talking more along the lines of specialization, only 3 are actually correct. And you'll find another one out in this chapter. And you're also forgetting that there's something more broken than a 2 handed straight sword. A one handed straight sword, with a parry spamming implement in the other hand.
Lastly, does it count as "keeping up" the good work if its already done, and I'm just spacing out uploads? Because the work's already done, strictly speaking, so how does one "keep up" something that's finished?
Alby199800: "His lifetime companion, the game camera", wait, is that a reference to Dork Souls 3 Seasoned Knight by Shezmen?
I will wait the next chapter with bated breath.
My response: Why yes, yes it is a reference to just that. Have an internet cookie.
Konahrik10: This so far has to be the most lore friendly dark souls story I've ever read so far including how you portray the magic's of the dark souls universe, for me i always believed that the Arch-Dragons were biologically identical or that there DNA was very similar and so when they had children it caused them to be born with mutations and after every generation they would be less and less like their ancestors before them or it could have been a unique interaction of the first flame with descendents of the Arch-Dragons as the Arch-Dragons were "born?" Before the first flame
Also it may just be me but i never believed that catalyst were necessary for people of high faith or intelligence it just makes it easier to cast Miracles or Sorceries/Hex's. And possibly makes casting spells less wasteful (unless your trained to use your mana efficiently) like using a fire hydrant to put out a small fire instead of a fire extinguisher (Pyromancer's always have their catalyst so their exempt :)
My response: Thanks, I did my research. Though, Dark Souls is particularly loose on the lore to begin with. It's more of a "show, don't tell," kinda game in that department. But yes, I'm doing my best to stay in line with DS lore. That's the beauty of what I call "The Dark Souls Clause." Basically, because the lore for DS is so loose, you can come up with anything you want to fill the gaps, so long as its reasonable (ie: Gwyn isn't doing crack, because while the lore doesn't say he doesn't, that just takes immersion and gives it the Old Yeller treatment) and doesn't directly contrast established lore. Essentially, as long as you stay within the confines laid out by Miyazaki and From Software, you're free to write your own story. Quite literally in this case. As for the archdragons? They won't be appearing in this series, bar some serious shenanigans on the part of my muse, but that's an interesting theory, and under the Dark Souls Clause, that's totally legit if you wanna headcanon that.
For catalysts, I'm gonna have to disagree there. A staff crafted in the fashion of Big Hat Logan's, one of the best sorcerers ever, is gonna be better than a run of the mill sorcery staff. Yorshka's chime, crafted by a god, will be better than a random piece of blessed cloth. Though a pyromancer IS always armed.
proiu: Wonder what Ozpins reaction is gonna be when he learns of Vyliria's gods. Keep up the great chapters, enjoying every moment reading them :D
My response: Well, Oz is aware that there's more to Remnant than even he's aware of, but as of this chapter, there are only two individuals currently on Remnant besides Vyliria who are even moderately aware of the true past of the world. Basically, Oz suspects Vyliria's hiding some big stuff, but he believes that she's not a threat. He's unaware of Dark Souls however, as even in his first life, only a scant few books survived to detail that ancient past. The likes of which would only be found in a magic tower or something...
Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Souls or RWBY. Dark Souls belongs to From Software and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth. I only own my own OC.
(Vyliria)
One week later
The training room that Vyliria and Pyrrha had requisitioned had become an impromptu magic classroom for Yang and the Invincible Girl, as the rest of RWBY and JNAPR watched on as two of their friends gave physics the bird while a third taught them how. The unkindled was currently going over the tale of the most basic form of the lightning spear, since once Pyrrha had finally figured out how to channel her will through the sunlight talisman, she'd taken to force like a fish to water. She'd knocked Vyliria off her feet repeatedly, apologizing every time in spite of the woman insisting she didn't have to. Meanwhile, Yang was currently left to meditate on her pyromancy flame, practicing calling it and dismissing it rapidly and consistently. Ruby had wanted to record her sister "fire bending," which was apparently a reference to some manner of animated show the girl watched, to send to her father, but Vyliria had shot that down on the account of not wanting to draw a ridiculous amount of attention on the off-chance someone intercepted the call. While Ruby called her paranoid, she respected the unkindled's wishes. Vyliria merely thought that it wasn't paranoia if everything actually was trying to kill you… again.
"... then the knight, channeling the hatred he felt from when the dragon had melted his brother with flame right before his eyes, cast forth a bolt of lighting through his catalyst, striking the beast in an eye, which stunned it long enough for a trio of Silver Knights to fell it with greatarrows, saving countless lives. It was no exaggeration that for every dragon slain, the Lords lost three scores of their own, yet that day only fourteen souls were severed from the mortal coil," Vyliria finished the tale, and passed her tome to the Mistralian. "Take pictures if you need it to memorize at a later point where you might find free time, and when you feel that you've taken the tale into your heart, we'll get around to attempting to cast it. If you have questions, so long as either Yang or I aren't actively launching fire about the room, feel free to call for my attention."
"I will," Pyrrha said. "And once again, thank you for taking the time to teach me something so special."
Vyliria turned back to her. "You're succeeding a rather great legacy with that talisman, Pyrrha. Doing the best I can to help you is the least I can do."
As she walked across the room to Yang, the blonde brawler took notice and extinguished her flame, perking up and calling to her mentor, "We good to get going, now?"
"Correct. Let's just take a quick review of the spells you've already started. Call forth your flame."
Yang's hand lit up once more, and Vyliria said, "Combustion." The pupil smirked, and said "Boom" as she thrust her hand out and an explosive burst of flame followed.
"Fireball," was the next command, and Yang reared her hand back, took a second to gather the flames, and tossed a ball of it to the other side of the arena, where it burst harmlessly on the floor.
"Fire surge." Yang responded, "One hand-held flamethrower, coming up!" she thrust her burning palm out, and a stream of flames billowed forth.
"My, my, I was quite correct in my assumption that you'd be adept at this. You're learning these faster than I did," Vyliria spoke.
"You jealous?" Yang asked.
"Not really, no. You have an almost classroom setting to learn this, whilst I was given a trial by fire."
Yang burst into laughter at the unintentional pun, to which Vyliria just replied, "Godsdamnit."
When Yang recovered, she asked in a serious tone, "All right, what's next then?"
"I was thinking of great combustion."
"Great combustion?"
"Think combustion, but five times bigger."
"Ohohoho, Yang likes!"
"That's what I thought you'd say," Vyliria started. "Right, so you want to start with the same effort that goes into combustion, but you want to force much more fire into thine flame at a much more rapid pace, and you want to let it build up significantly more. When it achieves a critical mass," she demonstrated, as her left hand lit up, "you release." She turned to the side, and thrust her hand out, a significantly larger explosion erupting from her palm. "Like that. Now you try."
Yang concentrated on the fire within, trying to push it faster and harder into her flame, only for it to slip out because she pushed too hard. A pathetic sputter shot out of her hand, and she heard Ruby start snickering in the background. A second attempt resulted in a normal combustion, and a third was something approaching a cross between combustion and fire surge. On the fourth, she managed to keep the flames where she wanted, letting them build up as she fed them more, and when it felt like she was about to lose control, she released. Her efforts were rewarded with a huge explosion of fire, which slammed straight into the black knight shield Vyliria had waiting, sending her skidding across the floor.
"Oh my Oum, are you okay?" she yelled.
"Yang… what did I say about watching where you cast? It's the same as guns: you don't point it at something you don't want to kill! Godsdamnit woman, you're lucky I'm paranoid as a hare in a wolves den, and happen to have my most fire resistant shield on hand whenever you start casting," Vyliria admonished her. Resuming a normal tone of voice, she continued, "That said, that was a stellar great combustion. Could you try to repeat it a few times while facing away from me?"
As Yang turned around to start attempting to replicate her feat in a less dangerous manner, Vyliria heard the clacking of heels on the arena floor. Turning around, idly noting Pyrrha pouring over her scroll, the divine tome closed and stored on a bench on the opposite side of the room, she noticed Weiss approaching, looking almost hesitant, and probably the most humble she'd ever seen the heiress.
"Vyliria?" the blanchette asked.
"Yes?" Turning her head back to Yang briefly, she called, "keep practicing that-" FWOOOSH "-that one was great! I'm going to talk to Weiss for a minute. Try not to set the building on fire!" She ignored the responded "HEY!" as she put her full attention back on the other girl. Speaking in a voice low enough that Yang couldn't hear and take offense… further offense… she said, "Let's move a ways away before she accidentally sets one of us on fire. I'm not going to admit how many times I set myself or Cornyx alight in the early days while I was learning, but it was enough that I'm deeply concerned that I'm going to live a repeat of that."
Weiss' eyes widened, and there was a slight increase to her pace as they walked to the opposite side of the stands occupied by their team. When they arrived, Vyliria spread her arms out in a welcoming manner, and asked, "Well, what is it?"
"I know that you're already teaching two other people, but you said that sorcery grows in strength with intellect, right?" At Vyliria's assent, Weiss continued, "could you… teach me sorcery?" she nervously spat out the last three words as fast as humanly possible.
"Yes."
"I assure you, I'm more than intelligent enough to- wait, what?"
"I said yes," the unkindled responded smugly, "and judging by how you immediately went to argue, you expected me not to. Sorcery rewards the intelligent, but it also rewards the bold. I was waiting all week for you to ask me." A pair of seconds pass. "I declined to join the betting pool," she added as she pointed towards the other side of the stands, where Nora and Ruby were decidedly less than happy as Jaune took a stack of Lien cards from both of them, a cheshire grin on his face.
Weiss stared at them incredulously for a few moments, before turning back to Vyliria. "So, when do we start?"
"Well, it will probably take Pyrrha a day or two of memorization and reflection before she's ready to cast lightning spear, so I have time on that front. We have combat class tomorrow, so that's out. And it would be horribly irresponsible to not watch Yang while she's practicing-" As if on cue, one of the school banners on a wall was set alight, and the unkindled called forth her staff and shot a soul spear, the vacuum it left behind it snuffing the nascent blaze. She held up a finger to Weiss, walked over to the damaged cloth, cast repair on it, spent a minute yelling at Yang again, before congratulating her on managing to accidentally cast fire orb before she even started teaching it to her, and then walked back. "Case in point," she resumed, jerking her thumb in the blonde's direction. "Give me another hour with Yang… actually, make that two. She's going to insist on figuring out fire orb now that she accidentally managed it. After that, we'll break for lunch, then I'll meet you back here and we'll get started. Sounds good?"
"Yes, thank you," Weiss said diplomatically.
"No problem, now if you excuse me," her voice raised to a yell once more, "Yang! Combustion now, fire orb later! One damned step at a time, I'm trying to avoid fire-related accidents here, and it seems like you're actively seeking them!"
(Weiss)
Weiss had gone to search for Vyliria after lunch, but apparently the enigmatic woman always ate alone, and when questioned, her team admitted that they'd never actually seen the Irithyllian's face. Having given up on a search, she had returned to their unofficial training hall, waiting along with her friends for a few minutes before the woman in question strolled in, not realizing how well she showed off her curvaceous armor. Weiss knew that she certainly didn't realize how much of the male population of the school, and a decent fraction of the female population, also noticed how well the perpetually hidden woman flaunted her figure, because she saw that Vyliria barely paid attention to the student population outside their teams. To her gratitude, a good deal of would-be suitors who would have pestered her because of her status and wealth had instead been both attracted and intimidated by the school's resident mage. Speaking of, the taller woman finally reached the heiress, taking not one, but four separate weathered tomes, each titled in the same script that adorned the one she used with Pyrrha, decrying that she had also written each of them by hand. Gently setting them down, Vyliria began to speak.
"Sorcery is a logical discipline. Its spells are rigid and structured. Where other schools have spells that can fulfill multiple purposes, only particularly limited by the imagination of the caster, sorcery has a plethora of spells, all suited to a single task, but together, one can find a spell for nearly any situation. It has an exacting nature, and miscasts can result in failure of the spell at best, and explosions of arcane force at worst. While we are peers in the classroom, and you are technically a superior in the societal sense, when you study under me, I am your teacher, and you will respect and obey my commands, because I know what I'm doing, and I'd rather only have one student blowing herself up-" "It was one time" "- and more importantly blowing me up," turning to Yang she said, "which you've done thrice, now." Turning back to her, she finished, "Are those terms agreeable?"
Swallowing her pride, Weiss spoke in a diplomatic manner, "Yes, they are. I'll defer to your experience."
"Wonderful! Firstly, you need a catalyst to cast with. Hold on for a few moments while I prepare them, and then pick whichever you fancy most." At this, the unkindled called forth her Izalith staff, gently placing it next to her sorcery tomes. Next, in repeated bursts of cinders, she called forth a variety of staves, sticks, and branches of varying lengths and forms, including-
"Is that an arm?!" Surprisingly, Ruby beat her to the question.
"Yes. The right arm of a locust preacher in the Ringed City. It was severed long before I came across it, but it somehow works for spellcraft, so I thought that I'd include it among the choices. I would have also included an immolation tinder, but considering you wield a rapier, I would assume that you'd rather not have a catalyst that's also a halberd, the head of which is perpetually on fire."
"You assumed right," Weiss replied hesitantly, still staring at the decidedly inhuman limb sitting innocently among the rest of the catalysts. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, doing her best to ignore that particular catalyst while surveying the others lined on the floor. Eventually, her gaze settled on a smaller, one handed, gnarled staff. "Can you tell me about this one?" she asked, pointing at it.
"Ah, that one's a court sorcerer staff, from the Profaned Capital. It scales quite well with the caster's intellect, but only for those who are exceptionally so."
"I would like to use that one, then."
"Very well," the rest of the staves, and the arm, burnt into embers, which were then whisked back to and within Vyliria. "This catalyst does not bear a grand tale to go with it, and lacks the significance of a pyromancy flame, but it will serve you quite well regardless. Right! One of the most basic of sorceries, and the first virtually every aspirant to the school learns, is the soul arrow. One takes the ambient souls in the world around them, focussing them into their catalyst, and then launches them forth as an offensive bolt. Since the projectile, much like all offensive sorceries, is not entirely physical, some of the damage chips through armor, and considering the soul-based nature of sorcery, I'd be willing to bet that if it doesn't bypass aura, it would do greatly increased damage to it instead." Opening one of her four sorcery tomes, Vyliria flipped to one of the earlier pages whilst simultaneously grabbing the catalyst Weiss had chosen and tossed it to her. Catching it, she watched as Vyliria settled onto a page, before moving next to Weiss and displaying it, continuing. "Listed here are the exact dimensions and power to be put into a soul arrow, along with the methodology to cast it." Included in the page Weiss was now looking at were a series of mathematical equations and formulas. "When you know all of these, work through the means listed in the tome, and attempt to cast it through your catalyst. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask."
Weiss spent the next twenty minutes almost feverishly pouring over the details and arithmancy of the spell, memorizing every single tidbit she could and routinely quizzing herself to make sure that she correctly remembered. While this happened, Vyliria started setting up targets she had found in a back room, idly noting that she should also get them out for when Yang was the one actively learning. Finally confident enough, she grabbed the catalyst gingerly, pointing its knobbed head at one of the targets, and started concentrating like how she had read. Her catalyst glowed a light blue, but nothing happened. She tried again, with similar results.
"I don't understand," Weiss started, "I'm following what the book sa-"
"Are you attempting to draw the power from yourself?" Vyliria interrupted.
"Yes," she responded uncertainly.
"That's it. While that works well for pyromancy, and to a much lesser degree, miracles, your sorcery draws from the ambient souls in the world to form the spell you desire. Feel the world around you, and pull the power from it. Mind over matter, your intellect will exert its will upon reality when you cast."
Weiss nodded, and with new determination concentrated on the air around her staff, willing energy to condense into it. The blue glow returned, building, and she pointed it to a target before a blue bolt fired off with a distinct ring, striking it and bursting apart.
"Excellent!" Vyliria exclaimed. "It took me six tries to get that when I first started. Though I was a year younger than Ruby when I was learning it."
Weiss smiled back at the genuine praise the Irythyllian offered, before she continued, "Now you just have to practice that for a couple hours on end." Suddenly, Weiss wasn't looking forward to this as much.
"Don't be deterred by the task ahead, Weiss," Vyliria consoled her. "If I could learn the amount of spells I have, roughly a third of which were self-taught for Gwyn's sake, you'll have no problem. Especially since I'm being helpful from the outset, rather than acting like a crass prick like Orbeck did when he started teaching me, especially when he figured out that I already had a foundation from my studies under Gwyndolin."
"I'm still kind of shocked," Weiss admitted. "For everything my family's semblance can do, and with all the capabilities of dust, you're still teaching me genuine magic, just because I asked."
"You're a smart woman Weiss. I'd like to think that you're smarter than I was when I was your age, if a bit more vain, which is kind of ironic, considering I was reared in an actual aristocracy."
"On top of everything else you're a noblewoman too?" Weiss noticed that both her team and JNPR were leaning forward to listen in.
"Technically… yes. I am still the heiress to House Avalon, one of the middling noble houses of Irithyll. I started my training to become a Knightess of the Darkmoon when I was twelve though. I don't think I've even set foot on the family grounds since then," she said, mask angled in such a way that it was obvious she was staring at something far beyond the room they were in.
"Do you… miss your parents?" Weiss asked.
"God's no! The fucking bastards made my childhood a living hell." Everyone was shocked at the sheer vitriol that came with her voice. "I genuinely lost count of the amount of times I was told that if my birth hadn't left mother barren, that I would have been left in the wilds as an infant. I was beaten more days than not, constantly both emotionally and physically abused by the other noble children, on my eighth birthday father choke-slammed me into a wall and nearly strangled me, by the time I was six I knew to avoid even being seen by mother if I didn't want a beating, and after I was ten, when father was drunk… he… he…" her voice was cracking by this point, for the first time ever they saw the normally positive woman genuinely shuddering at the repressed memories. Tears started to fall through the grille of the Dancer's Veil, as she said in a small voice "he pretended I was mother and…" she was unable to finish the sentence, collapsing to her knees as she broke into sobs. "It… it hurt! And he wouldn't stop, even when I begged!"
Besides Vyliria's sobbing, the training hall was dead silent, the other students frozen from a combination of horror and revulsion. Ruby was confused, and she pulled Yang's shirt on her shoulder and whispered to her sister, asking what the Irithyllian meant. Yang realised that this one wasn't something she'd be able to shield her sister from, and tried to tone it down as much as possible when she responded at an equally low volume, "Her dad touched her in private areas when she didn't want him to. More than once, apparently." Ruby's expression rapidly morphed from understanding, to horror, to disgust, before her face turned green and she used her semblance to bolt to the garbage in a cloud of rose petals, the sound of retching and a partially digested meal impacting a plastic bag coming from the waste receptacle. Yang honestly looked like she wasn't far from following, Pyrrha and Jaune were crying, and Nora and the usually unflappable Ren looked genuinely furious, while Blake had a cold, collected anger, promising a much more subtle path to pain for the people responsible, and Weiss swore her bow was standing more rigid than it normally did.
Weiss gently placed her catalyst on the floor, walking up to Vyliria before enveloping her in a hug. The Irithyllian shuddered, before turning slightly to Wiess. "I… I thought my family had issues," Weiss began, "I mean, we still do, but they're nothing compared to what you went through. I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. But, I'm here for you now. We're here for you now. And we'll make sure that they can never hurt you again."
Speaking in a soft voice, Vyliria said, "I… sometimes I truly wish I could forget, that those memories would be lost forever, but they never leave."
"How could someone do that to their own child?" Pyrrha asked.
"The nobles of Irithyll," Vyliria shakily started, "were obsessed with their view of how perfect they were. 'Descended from the gods' they said. I learned from Gwyndolin how much of a lie that was… They were obsessed with the purity of their blood, refusing to 'dilute' it with the commoners. Interbreeding eventually became outright incest," she spat, the sorrow being replaced by an anger that had burnt so long it was only smouldering by this point. "My 'parents' were siblings, and when father was… drunk, he was apparently reliving the trysts they had in their teenage years." She took a shuddering breath, releasing it slowly. "I was born with a… deformity… and that was the source from which their hatred was born. I was 'tainted,' 'impure' in their eyes, yet I was the only heir possible because my very birth rendered mother unable to have another child, so they had to suffer my existence. They most certainly didn't hesitate to express their displeasure at the arrangement. Joining the Blades was as much a childhood dream, to become part of those knights in shining armor who protected the innocent by hunting the guilty, as it was an escape from them." She took another slow breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly, before somewhat recomposing herself. "My apologies for putting you all through that. I had thought that I had dealt with these emotions a long time ago, when I discussed them with other members of the Blades, yet it appears that the ghosts of my past haunt me still."
"You don't have to apologize for that at all," Weiss shot back, "what happened to you is beyond unacceptable, beyond inhumane. And I understand if you want to take some time to yourself after-"
"No. I'd much rather continue instructing you. It will distract me from the memories whilst my subconscious locks them away where they belong. And I insist. Throwing myself into my studies greatly helped when the scars were still fresh, and throwing myself into instruction will almost certainly bring me peace of mind now. Raise your catalyst, I'd like to go through soul arrow with you again…"
Weiss wanted to argue, but she heard and felt the determination in Vyliria's voice, even if she couldn't see it in her expression. It matched the determination she had harnessed when she pushed herself to the breaking point to escape her own family, to attend Beacon. And in that moment, even as she retrieved her catalyst and followed the other woman's instruction, she resolved that if it would help Vyliria fight her own inner demons, that she'd be the best damn sorcery student in a century.
()
A/N: Weiss has sorcery now. I'm also experimenting with other POV's. I did one for a brief period back in chapter 2 , one in chapter 1, and I have plans for some sections to be viewed from the perspective of other characters later on in the story: I have 2-4 planned for Cinder, at least one for Pyrrha, two for Neo (best girl), one for Roman, at least one for [REDACTED], two for Ruby, a couple for Blake, definitely one for Yang, one for Penny, and a battle scene that will include a good deal of the main cast sans Vyliria that I haven't decided who I want to have it viewed from yet. Not sure how many others I plan to add, but they're going to be the exception rather than the rule, as the vast majority of the story will follow our undead protagonist.
Weiss had a significantly better start to Beacon (in terms of attitude) than in canon, so the ice queen is thawing much sooner. There's still some jagged edges that might poke out, though. But more importantly Vylira's family drama blew Weiss' out of the water, and has the heiress finding herself much more sympathetic to someone than she would normally be.
I don't know if I want to fit any more chapters between here and the next cannon segment. I still have about two weeks to fill, so I want to do something, but I'm having trouble coming up with more unique content.
And some of Vyliria's backstory finally comes to light. A truly Dark Souls story: where everything sucks, and then you die, but even death isn't an escape from the utter nightmare you find yourself in. And it's honestly really fucked up. I wonder if I'm going to have to bump the rating up because of this (Spoiler alert me from 3 months ago, I did bump the rating up). I think as long as I don't get graphic with it, though, I think I'm good. But there's a reason beyond her nature for why she tries to keep an iron lid on her past and the memories that come with it.
And an undead wishing they could genuinely forget something is a big deal, when forgetting is a clear sign that their very minds are going out the window.
Also, being the best sorcery student in a century isn't a hard feat when you're the first sorcery student in Gwyn knows how many milenia. Not that Weiss knows that.