FILE_RECOVERY_COMPLETE
PARTIAL_FILE_RETRIEVED
RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth, Salt and Sanctuary belongs to SKA studios.
(This might not upload properly, computer has been pretty whack the past few days)
Chapter 36: The Experiment
Spectre ran towards the tower in the center of the city, the direction Weiss's scream had come from.
"You heard it too?"
Spectre glanced to his left to see Ruby running alongside him, two books in her hands.
"Yep. Find anything interesting?" Spectre asked as they turned a corner.
"Probably, can't read it though." Ruby replied.
"Why not?" Spectre asked.
"Don't recognize the language." Ruby replied as they neared the tower.
A domed building stood tall and strange behind it. Spectre glanced at it. The golden doors were cracked open. If he had to guess, he'd say that's where Weiss was. He looked up. The dome had several, decently sized holes in it.
"I got a plan." Spectre said.
"Shoot." Ruby replied.
Inside the building, Weiss huffed in annoyance. The Jester was pacing back and forth, constantly holding one of his blades at Weiss's throat. The slightest movement was all it would take to slit her neck. More worryingly, her aura appeared unable to stop the Jester's blade.
"Your friends are taking a while. Perhaps they didn't hear you…" The Jester muttered. "No matter, this book is fascinating. Hard to believe I recognize the language."
"Wonderful." Weiss snarked, with a roll of her eyes.
"Indeed." The Jester responded.
He looked towards the door and frowned. He was impatiently tapping his foot. He glanced back at the book and turned a page. If only he could read the words.
"You know, patience is a virtue, and your incessant pacing isn't going to make them come any sooner." Weiss said, barely noticing a small plume of dust falling into the room.
"Maybe, maybe not." The Jester replied absently. "I could just start gutting you. Then we'll see what they do."
"I'd advise against that." Spectre called.
The two glanced towards the door. The Jester closed the tome with a hefty wump and smiled. Weiss breathed a sigh of relief.
"You doing ok, Weiss?" Spectre asked.
"Just fine." Weiss responded.
"Excellent." Spectre turned his attention to her captor. "Jester."
"Ah, Saltborn, glad you could finally join us. Azredak sends his regards." The Jester replied.
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to just let us go?" Spectre asked.
"Nope." The Jester responded.
Spectre grinned and raised his flintlock.
"It wouldn't take much to kill her." The Jester stated.
The Jester pressed his blade ever so slightly into Weiss's neck. A small trickle of blood flowed from the point of the blade. Spectre smiled and aimed the Mosaic Culverin to the left of the Jester's head. He pressed the trigger, and a loud bang rang throughout the room. The sound echoed through the quiet city.
A second later, the Kraekan's blood burst from its eye as he fell forwards. His blade fell away from Weiss's neck. The heiress acted quickly. She drew her weapon, grabbed the book, and ran towards Spectre.
"Smart." The Jester gurgled.
Spectre didn't say anything. He just reclaimed his flintlock and fired. Again, and again. The Kraekan's body was little more than a stain on the floor. Spectre smiled and holstered his pistol. Weiss rubbed the point on her neck where the Jester's blade had been. Her aura had already gone to work and sealed the hole.
"That was rather anti-climactic." Ruby said as she walked up.
"Where were you?" Weiss asked.
Ruby just pointed. Weiss followed Ruby's finger to see her pointing at one of the holes in the roof of the dome. Ruby nodded and walked towards the tower. She picked up the two books she found earlier and returned to the other two.
"The Jester was little more than a minor annoyance, even on the island." Spectre stated. "But I can see you found the library."
"Yep." Weiss replied. "And this is the book we're after."
"The one Jaret sent us for, or the Inquisitor?" Ruby asked.
"Uh… both?" Weiss questioned.
"Both?" Spectre asked.
"Just… look." Weiss handed Spectre the black book.
The gold lettering on the front clearly marked the tome as the Book of the Damned. He opened the book and began looking through. It was no small surprise to him that he recognized the language the book was written. Even if it was a dead language on Remnant, it wasn't quite so dead on Salis.
He read a few pages. He raised an eyebrow at the words on the page. The author was discussing the possibilities of other worlds, and the feasibility of traveling to them. Not other planets, but other dimensions. The written words were little more than conjecture and theory, but it was fascinating what this author was discussing.
"Weiss," Spectre asked. "How long ago was Aurum destroyed?"
"I don't know, several hundred years." Weiss replied. "No one really knows what destroyed the city either. Most believe people left it and it was abandoned over time. Lost to the ages."
"I don't think that's what happened, but this book is fascinating. Whoever wrote it is talking about other worlds." Spectre noted.
"There's a section in there you really need to see." Weiss said. "It's titled Memento Mori."
"Odd." Spectre muttered as he flipped through the book.
Weiss turned to Ruby. The girl was looking up at the tower. The top of the monument was strange. From the ground, it appeared to be transparent. She couldn't understand why they would build a tower like this.
"Why do you think he doubts what historians believe?" Weiss asked the younger girl.
"I don't know, but I think he's onto something." Ruby responded.
"You too?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah. I found the ruins of a mansion on one side of the city." Ruby said. "Inside was a room that was completely sealed off. Only a corpse and its notes were inside… actually, I wanted Spectre to look these over."
Ruby glanced down at the books. Weiss looked at them too.
"That doesn't explain why you agree." Weiss stated.
"Yeah, well these books are anatomy books. Focusing on Grimm anatomy. The mansion had an entire wing caved in and the door blown out. Claw marks were scratched all over the courtyard and the main gate was severely dented." Ruby replied, looking at the tower once more.
"Interesting." Spectre interjected, looking up from the book. "I followed the main waterway towards the walls. I think this city was built on an estuary, the river being their primary source of freshwater."
"But there is no river." Weiss stated.
"Exactly. Whatever they did, they sealed off their water source, and, I believe, they tried to follow it to escape."
"Why?" Ruby queried.
"The grate that covered the tunnel under the walls had been blown in. Dented metal, soot, and melted edges." Spectre replied. "I would have explored further, but…"
The Saltborn gestured back to the library. Ruby and Weiss nodded. Ruby continued examining the tower while Weiss reentered the library. Spectre kept thumbing through the aged pages. The Libri de Condemnabitur had notes on such a wide variety of topics. Other than the notes on multiple worlds, there were also notes on proper burial methods, architecture, the Grimm, aura, maintaining and establishing new settlements. Oddly enough, there was even a short section dedicated to proper naming of children. Then he turned a page and found the subtitle Weiss wanted him to see. It was about halfway through the book.
Memento Mori, it read. Directly underneath it, Modum Mortis. Method of death.
Spectre raised an eyebrow and quickly thumbed through the rest of the book. There were no more subtitles. He narrowed his eyes and returned back to the first Memento Mori page. He figured the book got its name from its extensive discussion on how to kill. He flipped to the next page. His eyes widened.
The two diagrams each covered a single page. They were incredibly detailed. They also revealed why both The Inquisitor and Jaret and sent them to this city. The first page was of the Scarecrow. The second was of Azredak's armored puppet. To drive the point home, over the top of each diagram was a title. Spectre didn't even have to read the title to know what it said.
He scowled. How could this city know of Azredak? Better yet, how did they know of him when he was The Nameless God? Unfortunately, the tome did not reveal anything about its author. Spectre marked the page and closed the book.
"Is it what we want?" Ruby asked.
"Yes." was Spectre's curt reply.
"Great. What do you make of these?" Ruby inquired, handing the two books she found to Spectre.
The Saltborn sighed and put the first tome in his pack. He opened the first book. The Nature of Grimm. An odd, but fitting title. It was little more than an advanced Grimm anatomy book. A few of the diagrams had meaningless notes written on them, but it was nothing more than an anatomy book. Spectre did note that a few of the diagrams were actually quite incorrect, assuming that the ones Port had were correct.
The second book was far more interesting. The title simply translated to Reanimation. Reading through a little of it, Spectre gathered that it was a book about bringing back the dead. But it didn't explain what all the Grimm diagrams were for, or the extra papers of notes. Spectre pulled one out and translated it.
Experiment 42: Reconstruction: success, reanimation: failure. Body accepted and rebuilt limbs, stayed dead.
Spectre put the note back in the book and kept looking through the book. He came to the book's end. The last page had a final note scribbled on it.
Experiment 97: Reconstitution: success, reanimation: success, control: failure. Experiment would not respond. Escaped containment. Further research into control before next test.
There were no other notes in the book.
"Odd." Spectre muttered.
"Spectre?" Ruby asked. "Do you know what they're about?"
He closed the book and put them both in his pouch. He turned and began walking into the library.
"The first is an incredibly detailed book on Grimm anatomy. The second appears to be about reanimating the dead. The notes refer to some sort of experiment they were running." Spectre replied as they entered the building.
Spectre stopped on the threshold. He looked at the floor, where the Jester's body was. It was gone. All that was left was the bloodstain. Spectre looked around. Weiss was looking through more books on the shelves.
"Weiss, did you move the Jester's body?" Spectre asked.
"No, I thought you did." Weiss replied, absently.
"I didn't." Spectre replied.
Ruby quickly caught on and the two of them slowly entered the room, weapons drawn. Weiss glanced over and saw them. The cautious looks on their faces and their drawn weapons convinced Weiss that she should do the same. She put the book she had been thumbing through back on the shelf and drew her own rapier.
The silence was deafening. The only sound was the wind rushing through the streets, their breathing, and the occasional shifting of rubble. Spectre kept his eyes towards the ceiling. Ruby and Weiss were looking around the room. Spectre raised a fist, the familiar green arcane circle of Undersight appeared. He looked around. Still nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"See anything?" Ruby asked.
"Nope. Let's leave. We're sitting ducks here." Spectre stated.
"Agreed." Weiss replied.
The three exited the library. The quiet that was once somewhat peaceful had grown eerie. The city ruin was more menacing. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. Darkness was falling. Spectre knew his own vision wouldn't be a problem, but the girls couldn't see in the dark.
Still, they continued through the streets. The shadows grew longer. Spectre lit a torch and they continued. The sun had fully dipped below the horizon and they hadn't even made it to the walls.
"I thought we were leaving." Weiss whispered.
"We were." Ruby replied.
"Then why haven't we left?" Weiss asked.
"Spectre?" Ruby asked.
"It's following us… hunting us." Spectre replied. "We haven't left, because we're safer in the ruin."
"I'd beg to differ." Weiss said, looking behind them.
Spectre shook his head but kept walking. The moon wasn't shining. It was dark. The only light in the sky was from the millions of stars, none of which illuminated more than the torch in Spectre's hand.
A quiet whirring drew Spectre's attention. He stopped and looked towards the source of the sound. He felt a shudder of fear at the sight. Two crimson eyes could be seen glowing down the roadway on their left. Spectre pulled the two girls to the side of the building and snuffed the torch.
"Spectre, wha-" Ruby began, before Spectre clamped a hand over her mouth.
He motioned for Weiss to remain silent, and they moved along the edge of the building, away from the street. They could barely hear the slow, heavy footsteps coming towards them. Spectre, Weiss, and Ruby ducked into an alley.
The Saltborn watched as the beast's head appeared from the road, they had just been in. The dark made it difficult to see, but Spectre could tell which direction the beast was looking and see how large the beast probably was. It looked down both directions of the road they had been following. When it looked towards them, Spectre was surprised to note that it had a third eye. The two crimson eyes appeared to be on the same side of its head. The third eye shone yellow. The creature blinked, and the eye changed to blue.
As for size, the Grimm was massive. Its head was a good twenty feet off the ground, and nearly as wide as the road it had come down. Spectre ducked back into the alley as it looked their way and began walking towards them.
Weiss and Ruby saw the beast's eyes as it walked past the little alley, they were in. Spectre motioned for them to head out the back of the alley. The three began inching their way back, so as to avoid making noise. They emerged and Spectre recognized the city's main waterway.
The Saltborn looked around. He was mildly surprised to see the beast's glowing eyes were well above the tops of the ruined buildings. How could such a giant predator be so stealthy? The beast appeared to be near the tower and library.
"The waterway is just in front of us. If that thing's current size is any indication, then I think we can hide in the tunnel under the wall." Spectre whispered.
"Sounds like a plan." Ruby replied, equally as quiet.
Spectre stalked forward and slid into the waterway. Ruby and Weiss were quick to follow. Ruby pulled out her scroll and used the light from the communication device to see their way. The trio stole along the bottom of the waterway. They avoided the scattered buckets and puddles.
Spectre risked a glance back towards the beast. Its glowing eyes could still be seen scanning the city. He shuddered. Whatever that monster was, it was bigger than any Grimm or Darkborn they had yet encountered, except Skourzh.
This time, though, they didn't have the advantage of an active war zone to help them. Spectre also had a suspicion that the massive beast was the result of the experiments he had read about. If he was right, this thing may be far worse.
The trio eventually made it to the tunnel that Spectre had found. They didn't stop and quietly entered the tunnel. Spectre almost breathed a sigh of frustration when they came to a fork. The tunnel split in two directions, both angled upward.
They took the path on the right and continued down the tunnel. Spectre lit his torch again and they breathed a sigh of relief.
"What was that?" Weiss asked.
"Don't know." Ruby replied.
"Probably the experiment." Spectre supplied, as he kept glancing around. The tunnel was a fairly straightforward path.
"That thing was at least the size of Skourzh." Ruby gasped.
"Yeah." Weiss muttered as they continued down.
A few seconds of silences lapsed through the trio. Spectre then chuckled.
"I think it's safe to say that Aurum wasn't just forgotten." Spectre said.
"You think that thing killed it?" Weiss asked.
"Maybe." Ruby said. "There's never been any documentation of a maximum size for Grimm to grow, and Aurum was lost hundreds of years ago."
Spectre just grunted in affirmation. They kept walking. The tunnel was damp, and it stunk. Spectre scowled at the smell of ancient, rotting, flesh. A sickening crunch stopped the trio. Spectre looked down.
His foot had caved in a human skull. He looked through the cavern. Skeletal remains littered the area. The only other notable feature of the cave was the back wall. Several of the corpses were leaned up against it. Oddly enough, the back wall was entirely flat, save for a few cracks.
Spectre, Weiss, and Ruby moved to inspect the cave. Spectre ran his hand along the wall. The cracked areas were particularly damp. Spectre noted that one of the cracks had a small stream of water trickling from it.
"I think they killed themselves." Weiss stated.
Spectre turned to the heiress. She was examining one of the skulls. Spectre walked over to her. He noticed that the skull had a hole in the back.
"Suicide?" Spectre inquired.
"It looks like it was that or the monster out there. There's no evidence of food, and I doubt that water is very clean." Ruby said as she returned to the group. "There is something written on that wall, though."
Spectre looked at the worn-out writing. He chuckled as he realized it had been carved into the rock. It was surprising that it hadn't been eroded away.
"Damn you Hades." Spectre read with a chuckle. "Someone must have really wanted their last words recorded."
"Hades?" Weiss asked. "You think that's the monster out there?"
"Would be an apt name. If it is what destroyed Aurum, it certainly deserves it." Spectre replied.
"What should we do then?" Ruby asked.
"Wait it out." Spectre responded.
"You think it's nocturnal?" Weiss asked.
"It would certainly explain why it didn't appear until the sun was setting." Spectre replied. "That, and I'm actually feeling tired."
"So… rest now, fight later?" Ruby asked.
"More like, rest now, run later. I'm not sure we can even hurt that thing." Spectre said.
"Fair enough." Ruby replied.
Spectre snuffed the torch, and three huddled together in the damp darkness of the cave. The last thing they heard that night was the sound of the beast's roar.
ERROR-DATA_CORRUPTION-BEGIN_FILE_RECOVERY…/…
Data Log BoS 036
Thank you to all who read this, your feedback is much appreciated. Feel free to leave ideas and recommendations for the future.
Goodbye viewer; Fare thee well.
End Log S.T.K.
