Recording #0

January, 22981 AEA

"Hi guys, Ruby here! I've started a new project! As per usual, I'll be recording my thoughts and notes down for future reference. If you have any questions or commissions, feel free to contact me or send a request through the Council. Anyways, that's all for this entry. See you next time!"

? ? ?, 78 AGW

Something was wrong, Ruby knew it. She didn't feel the sensation of opening her eyes. Rather, it felt like her eyes had been open, and the world just now faded in. And it wasn't just her eyes that felt off, her sense of touch seemed oddly dulled as well. Pushing down the feeling of panic, her vision adjusted to the darkness surrounding her, and Ruby could barely begin to make out the outlines of her hood.

She sat up—why was she lying down in the first place?—and took in her surroundings. It was a tiny cave, if the light reflecting off of the stalagmites and stalactites were any indication, with a single brightly lit exit in front of her leading outside. Feeling around, she could tell that she'd bonk her head on the ceiling if she stood up completely.

Ruby frowned. She didn't recall falling asleep in some empty cave. The last thing she remembered doing was presenting her… research? She had made a breakthrough and was telling someone, but who was it?

What was she working on?

Who was she talking to?

Her work was everything to her, so why couldn't she remember?

Deciding that sitting around in some dingy cave wasn't going to get her answers, she crawled towards the mouth of the cave. The feeling of wrongness hadn't left her, and as her surroundings grew brighter, and the sunlight hit her body, she found out why. The first thing Ruby noticed was that she was completely naked aside from her cloak. She would have felt it earlier, but her sense of touch still hadn't returned to normal. This was handily explained when she examined her arms and hands. In place of where her red, glossy skin would have been, Ruby could only see bone, distinctly lacking in flesh and muscle.

A quick examination of the rest of her body told the same story. Muscles, skin, joints, and internal organs were all suspiciously missing from her person, and while Ruby knew she wasn't in any trouble physically, she still had plenty of reason to panic.

How did this happen without her noticing? Her people had long since solved the whole aging problem that most living organisms had, so it wasn't like she just fell asleep for a long time and decomposed as a result. That left a few troubling possibilities. She might have been caught up in an explosive experiment, which had happened before on occasion during her research. The hole in her memories before waking up certainly didn't help there, leaving that theory uncertain. There was also the less than ideal possibility that someone had done this to her on purpose. Yet again, Ruby could only broadly speculate why, as her memories failed to give up any semblance of an explanation. She fiddled with the red crystal adorning her skull to calm herself. At least that was still there, in all its diamond-shaped glory.

'How inconvenient.' Ruby mentally prepared herself for the ridicule she would receive from her colleagues. While running around as a skeleton was fun and all, she had a reputation to uphold!

'Well, what's done is done. I should get back to my lab and fix this.'

But then it hit her. She had no idea where she was. How was that possible? Ruby had made sure to explore the entire planet during her first millennium, and any sweeping changes to the landscape would have left traces of her technology and magic behind. Yet, there wasn't a single recognizable landmark in sight! Not near the cave, not in the forest, and certainly not past the cliff face above her.

Wait, the cliff?

Well, it was a good enough height to cast a far-sight spell from, and Ruby really didn't want to fly any higher and draw any unwanted attention. She was naked aside from her signature red cloak, after all. Speaking of her cloak, she wondered if she had left anything in its pocket. Shoving an arm into the pocket dimension, she blindly fished around for anything resembling her jet-pack or portal gun, but came up empty. When was the last time she checked this thing anyways? The only one of her inventions she did find in there was her Shapeshifter's Mask, which would have been significantly more useful if she had any clothing with her. As it stood, there wasn't much difference between naked bone and naked flesh, so Ruby left it there.

'Magic it is' Ruby decided. After a brief moment of concentration, she created an updraft of wind to carry her to the top. The journey was swift, as it was even easier to fly without her usual flesh to weigh her down. Standing on a flat outcropping near the edge of the cliff, she began channeling her magic once again. In a flash, her vision stretched and expanded several times in scale.

Now it was simply a matter of finding something eye-catching… there, near the ocean! Switching her focus to that area, Ruby could see an unusual shape that couldn't be another mountain. She focused and enhanced her vision once more. New colors flooded in as the forest green and sky blue colors near the horizon separated and sharpened in contrast, allowing her to see even the most minute detail.

She let out a gasp.

In the foreground, a wide patchwork of flat land stretched from the coast on the left, to the mountain ranges on the right. In some patches, animals could be seen grazing on freshly grown grass, while in others, budding wheat and corn plants gently swayed in the breeze. Farther into the settlement lay an intricate arrangement of warehouses, factories, and ports near the ocean. A river flowing from inland bisected the arrangement, dotting the city with docks and ports throughout. Several roads lay suspended over the entire layout, supported by massive pillars, vehicles traveling across them at breakneck speeds.

As the river split deeper inland, the city became more streamlined and uniform. Houses and stores lined the streets, varying in height and size, yet none looked out of place.

On the edge of a cliff overlooking the entire city stood a large concentric castle. The tallest of the buildings towered over the rest, a shining beacon with its own emerald-colored light show to boot. It was so…

So horrible! Ruby sank to her kneecaps.

"W-what's going on here?" She cried out in dismay.

But before she could further process the travesty that lay before her, a boisterous voice shouted out from behind her, jolting Ruby out of her enhanced sight.

"Hey you! What the heck are you doing up here? Do you want to get eaten by a Grimm?"

Another voice followed. "You're lucky Dudley and I were hired to clear out the area!"

Ruby slowly turned around, mentally preparing her giant list of excuses for why she was lacking flesh. Her list dwindled out and disappeared when she took in their appearances. Facing the pair, she lifted a bony hand in a half-hearted wave.

"Uh, hi?"

Ruby was confused. There was a pervading sense of wrongness that grew as she continued to look at the pair that had called out to her. On the surface, they looked normal enough. They were similar in appearance, both compared to each other and to Ruby's normal look. She knew she didn't exactly have a gut at the moment, but it was still telling her that something was off about these two.

The one on the left was tall and pale. Wavy brown hair threatened to cover up his panicked yellow eyes. A dark blue jacket with silver buttons covered his black undershirt, while a plain brown belt wrapped around a pair of light-gray pants. At his waist hung a pair of brown studded gloves and a large spiked club. A weapon, perhaps? 'No way it's just the club. There must be some hidden mechanism inside.'

On the right, a man of similar stature stood shaking with his finger pointed at Ruby. His brown hair was tied into a bun at the top while a stray fringe lay over his blue eyes. A goatee beard marked his otherwise ordinary face. His clothes and gear were similar to his companion, but with blue over beige instead of dark blue over black. He had some sort of rifle firmly grasped in his non-pointing hand, though Ruby couldn't tell exactly what kind of rifle it was from where she stood. She'd wager it was a simple hunting rifle, but that had gone out of date aeons ago.

Rifle Man finally stopped screaming and spoke up.

"Dee, w-what the hell is that?" He shook his finger a couple times for emphasis.

"C-calm down man, it's probably just a Geist possessing a skeleton. Yeah, that must be it!" shouted Club Man.

Oh great, and now they were mistaking her for a "Geist", whatever that was.

"A Geist? Geists don't talk, Dee!"

"They do if they're possessing mouths!"

"Um, actually I'm-"

"That doesn't even make sense, dummy!"

"Whatever, man!" Dee raised his mace and charged as Dudley leveled his gun at Ruby. "Die monster! You don't belong in this world!"

"W-wait! Can't we just talk this out?" Ruby exclaimed, dodging back as Dee's weapon slammed into the ground. There wasn't a lot of room to maneuver given that she was standing on the edge of a cliff, but thankfully she had a lot less weight to work with at the moment.

"Stay back Dudley, I got this!"

Another swing from his club, and another miss. Ruby could hear the rattling of gravel fall down the cliff behind her. It seemed like her choice in lookout spots weren't exactly stable. Still, she wasn't about to stand around and take the hits like an idiot. Ruby was fairly certain the pair weren't packing enough firepower to hurt her, but it would be a serious waste of time to just stand around and let them find that out through trial and error.

"Watch it, you're gonna-"

"Take this!" Dee gripped his weapon with both hands and brought it down in an overhead blow. Ruby leapt out of the way, but the impact of the attack shook the ground around her, causing her to lose her footing. Falling flat on her spine, she realized too late that she'd become prime bait for another grounded attack.

The mace crashed into her face with a dull thud, forcing her into the already loose dirt. A pebble began rattling around inside her skull as Dee forced her into the ground with another blow.

Finally, it seemed like the earth beneath them had enough. With a sickening lurch, Ruby felt herself begin to slide backwards as the ground gave way. Dee let out a terrified yelp as he stumbled forward, desperate to find anything to latch onto.

"Dee!" His partner stepped forward, hand outstretched in a futile attempt to rescue his partner. 'Why isn't he using any magic?' Come to think of it, Ruby never noticed any magic usage from her assailant either. 'That doesn't make sense, unless… no, it can't be…'

Her cloak flapped wildly in front of her face, jolting her out of her thoughts and completely obscuring her vision. Oh, that's right, they were in the middle of falling off a cliff. Ruby readied another wind spell to soften her landing, channeling the magic in front of—

*Crack!*

Something slammed into her torso, breaking her concentration and sending her tumbling through the air. Her vision spinning, Ruby could only see glimpses of the ground rushing up to her face.

"Oh boy," Ruby sighed and prepared for impact.

"This is gonna hurt!"

"Dee and Dudley sure have been out for a while now, huh? What was that you were saying earlier? 'Don't worry about it, they'll be fine.' Honestly, I don't know what you were thinking, sending them off on their own!"

"Okay, okay, I messed up, but can you save the insults for later?. Knowing those two idiots, they're probably holed up in a cave somewhere waiting for their Aura to replenish. Hurry up and let's go!"

A/N: Thanks for reading! I'm new to the whole writing process, so any and all reviews are appreciated. Since this isn't a crossover, you won't need to know anything about Divinity to enjoy this story. I'll be sure to properly explain Ruby's situation as the story progresses. Again, this is basically my first experience in writing, so feel free to leave a review or message if something doesn't make sense or if I make a mistake somewhere. Thanks!