A.N. apologies for the late update! My phone decided it no longer wanted to live, and so I needed a new one, meaning all my notes were gone. This will be a split chapter and the return to the land of RWBY for the foreseeable next few.
Thanks to my excellent beat, TheBrightestSilver!
Awakening leaning against the wall of a nearby building, staring into the depths of the small eldritch light that inhabits the lantern, the Hunter hears a cough resonate from within the building behind him. Leaping to his feet, Sybil turns and faces the barred window through which the figure of a man can barely be seen.
Walking up to the opening, the Good Hunter gently knocks against the bars, catching the attention of the sickly man. Sybil notices the man jolt, before calming and walking over to the barred opening. Taking in a shaky breath, he begins to speak in hushed tones, pausing frequently to catch his breath.
"Oh, you must be a Hunter, and not one from around here either. I'm Gilbert, a fellow outsider."
The freshly christened Gilbert paused to cough, accompanied by the sickly sound of coagulated blood escaping with each breath. Sybil backs away from the window, allowing the man to recover before continuing their conversation. Regaining his breath, Gilbert continues on, although slower than before.
"You must have had a fine time of it. Yharnam has a special way of treating guests. I don't think I can stand if I wanted to, but I'm willing to help, if there's anything that can be done." Taking a shallow breath, Gilbert continues, clearly impeded by whatever sickness ails him. "This town is cursed. Whatever your reasons might be you should plan a swift exit. Whatever can be gained from this place, it will do more harm than good."
Sybil feels a chill run over his body, knowing that escape for him is not an option. He was stuck, bound to hunt until the night ended and the sun rose from its trapped rest, and the cursed moon falls below the horizon.
"I appreciate the advice, Sir Gilbert, however I am afraid that is simply not an option for me. I am stuck here, just a doomed Paleblood doomed to hunt on this cursed night."
Hearing Sybil talk, Gilbert perks up from behind the bars, focusing more on Sybil than his strange illness.
"Paleblood, you say? Hmm… Never heard of it. But if it's blood you're interested in, you should try the Healing Church. The church controls all knowledge on blood ministration, and all varieties of blood. Across the valley to the East of Yharnam lies the town of the Healing Church, known as the Cathedral Ward. And deep within the Cathedral Ward is the old grand cathedral… the birthplace of the Healing Church's special blood, or so they say. Yharnamites don't share much with outsiders. Normally, they wouldn't let you near this place, but… the Hunt is on tonight. This might be your chance…"
Taking the sickly man's advice to heart, the Hunter bids farewell to Gilbert, promising that they will talk again as soon as he is free. Gilbert agrees halfheartedly as if he knows he won't last long enough to meet Sybil again. Leaving behind the old building, the Hunter wanders the nearly empty streets of Yharnam.
As he approaches the center of town, Sybil notices a roaring bonfire taking place in the nearby courtyard, with many citizens surrounding the blaze. Silhouetted by the fire, Sybil notes their enlarged features, not dissimilar to the man who first sent him into the dream. Attempting to sneak around the congregation, Sybil backs away slowly, not noticing the many creatures hiding in the darkness and alleyways - between buildings and carriages. Backing directly into one of the malformed creatures, Sybil manages to attract the attention of every beast in the street.
As the deformed creatures rush forward, Sybil, unprepared for the wave of enemies rapidly approaching, Sybil is taken by surprise, resulting in him receiving a few strikes from the opposing beasts. Jolted into action by the new wounds, he scrambles fervently to flee the mob, tripping over the loose cobblestones in his mad dash to escape. Falling into a stack of barrels, Sybil crashes through, into the rafters of a tall storehouse. Noticing an exit across the wooden beams, Sybil scurries to escape from the mob quickly filling in behind him.
The Hunter slides to a stop on the other side of the door, noticing something - or rather, someone - observing him from under the dim light of an overhead torch on the edge of a small balcony. Covered in a cloak of feathers resembling a crow, with a pointed mask and spiked hat, stained by dried blood, they stare out of the shadows, watching the Hunter with an almost wary gaze. Standing straighter, Sybil backs away, waiting to see how this new arrival would act. Chuckling quietly, the shadowed being begins to speak, with an accent noticeably foreign, and a voice of a higher timbre than his own.
"Oh, a hunter, are ya? And an outsider? What a mess you've been caught up in. And tonight, of all nights. Here, to welcome the new hunter."
Stalking towards the still wary Sybil, she pulls out something from her belt-satchel, grabbing his hand and closing his fist over the now identified parchment embossed with the mark of the Hunters. Stalking back to her original location, she continues her statement to Sybil.
"Prepare yourself for the worst. There are no humans left. They're all flesh-hungry beasts, now."
Watching the oddly garbed woman stalk across the small overhang, Sybil is reminded of a predator stalking its next meal. Her movements are fluid, calm, and collected, with an underlying image of superiority.
"What are you still doing here? Enough trembling in your boots. A hunter must hunt."
Dragging Sybil along with her, she leads him to a strung-up corpse chained to the ceiling. Cutting down the cadaver, while pulling something from its hardened grasp, she hands the startled Hunter an interesting weapon, resembling a spear with serrated teeth along the blade.
"This weapon should suit you better for your hunt. You won't make any progress with that hunk of metal you call a blade."
As Sybil examines the weapon, the crow feathered hunter silently moves behind him, shoving him off the rafters before he can notice. Breaking his fall with a roll, Sybil stares up into the rafters, just barely able to see the gleam of light reflecting off the small blades previously hidden in her cloak.
"Oh, get on with it. A hunter must hunt. Continue on your way," She calls to him. Turning around, Sybil begins to travel through the sewer he was dropped into, stopping when he hears the whispered finale of her sentence. "Oh, and if you still dream… tell the Doll I said hello."
Startled by the statement, Sybil whips around to look for the hunter, only to see the feathers of her cape flowing behind her in her exit.
Pausing in his story, the hunter notices Maria had fallen asleep on his lap sometime during his tale. Smiling at the small girl, Sybil stands, walking over to the doll, and allowing her to bring the young child to bed. Now unburdened by Maria, Sybil turns to the other girl residing in the dream: the yet unnamed girl who inhabited the building that he made into his new workshop. Seeing her staring blankly at the hunter, he sighs, sitting before her, and waiting for her to talk.
After a few minutes of silence, the Doll returns, kneeling down next to the girl, and pulling her into her bust. Whispering serenely into her ear, the Doll calms the girl enough to continue on a conversation.
"Hello, little one. My name is Sybil, and we are here in my Hunter's Dream. May I inquire as to your name?"
Staring at the hunter for a few minutes, the girl eventually replies, although in a manner neither the Doll nor the Hunter could have expected. Instead of replying verbally, the girl replies to his inquiry telepathically.
"My name is Koamaru, please call me Maru. I am… or, at least, was, the leader of my church. It used to be a great church, until one day, everyone from Addersfield simply stopped showing up."
The girl seemed saddened by the loss of people coming to her church, seemingly not knowing of their fate. Neither Sybil nor the Doll wanted to break the news to her. Instead of bringing up the fate of Addersfield, Sybil instead asks about her apparent telepathy.
"How are you doing that? I have never had the pleasure of meeting anyone with your specific abilities."
Seemingly shocked by Sybil's question, Maru pauses to think about her answer.
"Mister Sybil... are you unaware of aura?"
Sybil nods in confirmation of Maru's question. Maru looks confused at the hunter's proclamation, questioning how he survived as long as he did.
"Mister Sybil, not to be rude… but how have you survived this long without knowing about Aura? Are you perhaps not from around here?"
Sybil replies, answering her queries.
"Indeed, I am a foreigner in these parts. I admit my lack of knowledge about your… Aura, was it? If you would be willing to enlighten me as to its purpose, I would appreciate it verily."
Taking some time to recompose herself, Maru begins her explanation into Aura.
"Aura, in a simple explanation, is a shield against injury that everyone possesses once it becomes unlocked. In complicated terms, it is the manifestation of one's soul given form by their will and desire to fight against their darkness and survive. Based on what traits the person possesses, their aura can take multiple forms and abilities, what is colloquially known as a semblance, along with the defensive capabilities. My semblance is psychokinesis, allowing for telepathy and telekinesis. However, other people may have different abilities, such as pyro or hydrokinesis. Put simply, based on their character, their semblance matches what they personify."
Nodding along to her explanation, Sybil reflects on how these semblances would have affected his hunt, along with questioning what certain other hunters that were let go from the dream, semblances would be. He held back a chuckle at the thought of Eileen flying like a crow, or Durja creating more explosions than his beloved weapon. Turning back to Maru, Sybil questions how one goes about 'unlocking,' as she put it, their aura.
"Well…" she begins, "some unlock their aura through a personal struggle that they overcame, whereas others have theirs unlocked by someone already possessing Aura." Here, she pauses, as if to collect herself, before resuming. "If you would like… I would be willing to unlock your Aura for you…"
Accepting Maru's offer, the Hunter agrees to allow her to attempt to unlock his Aura. Both decide it is better to attempt to unlock Sybil's aura in the field behind the workshop in case anything goes awry. Leading Maru under the great oak tree lying in the field of lilies strewn upon the hill, the Hunter calmly rests against the base of the massive tree, leaning back into the rough wood worn away with time. Closing his eyes as Maru kneels in front of him, Sybil prepares for her attempt at unlocking his Aura.
After a few moments, Maru places her hands gently against the Hunter's temples and begins to chant.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality.
Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death.
I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee."
Upon the completion of the chant, the Hunter dipped into a serenity he had never felt before; a feeling of complete peace in both body and mind, causing him to relax more than he ever had before. His newfound aura pulsed around him, gently blowing against the pale petals of the lilies resting on the hill, causing the flowers to gently dance and sway in the nonexistent breeze.
Inadvertently, his deep relaxation caused him to lose control of his presence as a Great One. Unfortunately, due to Maru's close proximity, she experienced the full brunt of his presence.
To many, the presence of a Great One would cause frenzy, boiling the blood inside their veins and mind, causing immense pain and the slow descent into madness. To one with Aura, instead, they received immense insight, typically resulting in madness. On rare occasions, they would see the true unrestrained form of the Great One, which leads to understanding more than ever should be known.
Sadly for Maru, she indeed has Aura.
Upon feeling Sybil's immense presence, Maru collapses on the ground, staring blankly at the Great One's true form. A mass of cosmic tendrils, undulating in the sky, surrounded by an ethereal teal glow, reminiscent of the coldest stars at the furthest depths of the cosmos. A face beyond comprehension, whose appearance depicts the cruelest and most inhumane parts of the world, and the nightmares beyond comprehension.
In an effort to understand Sybil's apparent transformation, Maru chose to connect telepathically: quite possibly the worst decision she could make, for the mind of a Great One is far beyond mortal comprehension; something filled with the ever-present thoughts of the Cosmos and the past, present, and yet, never the future.
Unfortunately for Maru, Sybil's mind is worse than most, showing her the time he spent both in Yharnam and trapped by the Hunter's Nightmare, a twisted land devised by the Great One Kos as punishment for overindulgence into the Hunt.
Unprepared for the assault on her mand, Maru cannot defend herself against the macabre images assailing her senses. As she lies on the ground, her eyes glaze over, and she begins to repeat the endless chants shows to her from the Hunter's Nightmare as she slowly descends into madness.
"Curse here, curse there. A curse for he, or she, why care. A bottomless curse, a bottomless sea, source of all greatness, all things that be. Listen for the baneful chants. Weep with them, as one in trance. And weep with us, oh weep with us…"
Upon hearing the cursed chants of the Nightmare, Sybil snaps to awareness, reigning in his presence in an attempt to slow the frenzy afflicting Maru. Lifting her pale, shaking body, Sybil runs into the workshop, calling out for the Doll for assistance.
As the Doll rushes over, Maru's condition continues to worsen, spouting mismatched chants from all over Yharnam, and not simply the nightmare.
"Ah, Kos… Or some say, Kosm… Do you hear our prayers? No, we shall not abandon the dream. No one can catch us! No one can stop us now! As you once did for the Vacuous Rom… Grant us eyes, Grant us eyes! Plant eyes on our brains to cleanse our beastly idiocy!"
As Sybil and the Doll rush to lay Maru down upon the altar under the windows in the workshop, she begins to flail as her blood begins to boil. In a desperate attempt to calm her down, Sybil rushes for his chest, pulling out a sedative from his time as a Hunter, and praying, however ironically, to the Great Ones above that it soothes Maru's affliction. Frantically tearing off the seal, he thrusts the container to her lips, forcing her to swallow the congealed mess of blood and herbs that composed the sedatives during the night of the Hunt.
Luckily, his desperate gamble appears to have worked. Maru begins to cease her flailing, her blood no longer boiling, and the stress of new insight causing untold exhaustion, lulling her into a deep slumber.
Pleased with the results of his desperate gamble, Sybil leaves the Doll to take care of Maru should she awake, as he exits the dream to gain further control of his new Aura, and to ensure that his presence never inadvertently leaks again.
As the Great One awakens at the lantern in the new Workshop he discovered in the forest, he notices three people rifling through his wares. Intent on assessing the capabilities of his Aura anyways, he decides it is the perfect time to see just how different the Aura of a Great One would be to that of a human.
Clearing his throat, Sybil suppresses the desire to laugh outright at the other people, as they jump at but the slightest sound. Once they recover from their shock, he notices how they accept an aggressive stance, legs planted firmly enough to defend from any sudden attack, but also light enough on their feet to move at a moment's notice. Additionally, they all draw a weapon, with the closest being a katana, reminiscent of his own Chikage, with the furthest pulling out a simple staff. The man in the middle pulls out perhaps the most shocking weapon; a gargantuan sword appearing to weigh more than even the Kirkhammer, a massive hunk of stone carved into the rudimentary shape of a weapon.
As the hunter evaluates the humans before him, the closest decides to rush him, intent on severing his arm from his torso with a swift overhead slice. As the blade nears his arm, Sybil notices a small blue sheen cover his limb. As the blade impacted the glowing air around his limb, it seems to slow, before deflecting off and burring itself into the ground.
Shocked at the loss of his weapon, the man doesn't notice Sybil reel back and punch the man in the chest, causing him to fly back into the walls of the Workshop, smashing his head into the wall and ending his life immediately. Startled at the death of their partner, the remaining men decide to fight Sybil in a two-on-one. Rushing both sides in a pincer, the hunter prepares to release a fraction of his Aura to see what it would do to those near him.
Once the two men reach within five feet of Sybil, he releases his Aura, blasting the men back with its sheer intensity. As he continues to release his Aura, it begins to flood the building, crushing the men with its suffocating presence.
As the man with the staff remains flush against the floor, the man with the sword rises, flaring his own aura, a deep red color, and once again charges towards the Great One. As he once again approaches, his sword ignites, bathing the Workshop in warm orange light.
Once again desiring to evaluate the defensive capabilities of Aura, Sybil prepares to receive the blade head-on. The man continues forward, slashing the blade at the hunter's chest, cutting straight through Sybil's Aura, and getting stuck in his gut.
Thinking that he avenged his friends, the man developed a sneer, before it is wiped off his face by Sybil's disappointed sigh. Grabbing the blade and pulling it out of his torso, Sybil pushes the man back, causing him to fall on his rear, shaking in fear at the fact that Sybil remains relatively unharmed, save for the small cut leaking silver blood on his stomach. He remains so stunned by the lack of damage caused that he doesn't even notice when his own blade rends his head from his neck.
Sighing at the disappointingly short encounter, Sybil drags the bodies outside, before chucking them and their weapons as far as he can in the direction of Addersfield, hoping that the fauna of the land will receive a satisfying meal. After cleaning the blood from the walls and floors, Sybil collects some materials from the surrounding forest, before creating a small campfire, and settling down for the night, intent on further exploration of the land in the morning.
A.N. Hey Everyone! Once again, sorry for the super late update! I will attempt to be quicker in the future, but finals season is approaching, and so I have no idea what they will be like this year. Reviews are always appreciated, and flames will be responded to in kind. Cheers!