Gamer4 in. Okay, went back and fixed up the formatting of the last episode- guessing it had something to do with the way Georgie and I were bouncing it back and forth. And now, this episode... oh, boy, this episode. Is it odd to have three episodes for the same universe so close together? Probably. Am I gonna do it anyway? Well, I mean, I'm doing it right now, so... yeah. Let's do it.
Episode XXIV
Childe Ren to the Dark Tower Came
Downfall
"Okay, I'll admit, that world does look pretty interesting," Blake confessed. "Not because it stars me, you know, but..."
"Yeah, I mean, we're all going back to Beacon to learn how to be awesome knights!" Ruby beamed.
"Glad you enjoyed," George couldn't help smiling himself. "In that case-"
"Sorry, Georgie, we change worlds every episode," Crazy interjected. "Except in unusual circumstances, kennit?"
"Does that mean- oh, boy," George rolled his eyes.
Crazy turned to the others. "Back to Childe Ren- again!"
"Already?" Ruby faltered. "I mean, the one with Blake is way more lighthearted- we can't stick with it a little longer?"
"This is the episode where you'll find out more about what the Dark Tower actually is!" Crazy said cajolingly.
For a moment, the audience glanced at each other- they, admittedly, were rather curious as to what had caught that world's Ren's attention so thoroughly. "Very well," Ren finally spoke. "Let's see."
"Awright!" Crazy grinned as he fired up the screen again.
It had been three days since Ren related the story of his manhood test... or so Ruby thought. Being, as they were, in the heart of a series of tunnels through a great mountain, there was no sun to tell the time. Their only light was the dim offerings of the surrounding electric bulbs. It was a sickly light, one that was very clearly on its last legs- but it was something.
"Yup, they're still on the cart," Jaune immediately assessed. "Three days... this is one big system of caves."
"It kinda reminds me of another story," Nora mused. "I think Ren read it with me once... can't quite remember the name..."
The only reason Ruby would say three days was because they'd stopped for sleep three times since that chamber with the mummies- but sh e didn't know how long they'd gone between those naps, nor the length of the naps themselves. All she knew was the dim light as they traveled deeper and deeper into the tunnels.
"Three days of that, I'd go crazy," Yang grunted, looking uncomfortable.
"Reasonably, what other options do they have? Go back across the desert?" Weiss pointed out.
"That'd drive me crazier," Ruby concurred with a shiver. She really hated the heat.
As they traveled down the tunnels today, (or, at least, Ruby was willing to assume it was day,) her ears perked up when she thought she heard a distant rustling. "What... what is that?"
"I wondered when you might hear," Ren reflected. "That, unless I'm mistaken, is the sound of the grimm."
"Grimm?" Ruby whispered, eyes widening in panic.
"They've been on our trail since this morning," Ren informed her with no fanfare whatsoever.
The audience's stomachs dropped. "And you didn't think to tell her?!" Yang burst out.
"And you didn't tell me?!" Ruby squeaked.
"I wanted to see when you noticed," Ren said, not sounding remotely concerned. "The world has moved on- and many dangers have arisen with it. To survive, your senses must be at their peak at all times."
"But still-"
"Rest assured, I would not have allowed them to get the drop on us," Ren assured her. "Even now, they are far off- for the moment, we are outpacing them with ease."
Ruby still looked off-put. "I don't like secrets..."
"It was not my intention to keep secrets from you," Ren assured her. "If I truly believed you needed to know, I'd have told you."
"I don't buy it," Yang crossed her arms. "Sorry, Ren, but this guy's feelin' a little shady to me."
Ren, who'd had the same feeling virtually since his other met Ruby, said nothing.
Ren looked up ahead, then furrowed his brow. "Hearken to me."
Ruby seemed to drop all her apprehensions about the previous conversation. "What? What is it?"
"There's a roadblock up ahead- several boulders over the rails." He glanced behind them, where, according to Ruby and confirmed by himself, a legion of dark creatures was steadily approaching. "We must abandon the cart if we are to clear it."
"But then, won't they catch up to us?" Ruby asked, looking momentarily panicked again.
"If we climb over and leave the cart behind, they'll catch up to us anyways," Ren calmly countered. "If we are near the end, that may not be so bad- perhaps we could escape these tunnels before they catch us.. If we still have wheels to go, abandoning the cart would be... unwise."
He gazed at her over the cart's handle. "It is a gamble... one that I will leave to you. You have the touch- Neptune knew more about it than I, but if you sense that the end is near, I will not dispute it."
"He's letting her decide?!" Yang burst. "Why would he-"
"Because he's right," Blake said quietly. "This world is dangerous- maybe even more dangerous than Remnant. If she's going to survive in it, she's going to have to learn to hear and see everything she can- to make hard decisions. If they ever get separated, he won't be there to help- best to teach her now while he's still there as a safety net."
Yang still didn't look like she liked it, but backed down nonetheless.
Ruby hesitated only a moment, weighing the pros and cons of each course of action, doing what she could to weigh the probability that they were, in fact, near the tunnel's ends. In the end, she reached only one conclusion. "We have to move the rocks."
"My conclusion as well," Ren agreed. "Now... let's make this quick."
He reached for the handbrake, and pulled- the cart screeched to a halt as Ruby turned and saw the block that had been erected in their path. The entire lower half of the passage was covered in rubble- she could see where they could climb over, but it would be a while before the cart was going through.
"Yeah, the grimm are gonna catch up," Jaune stated. It was simply fact.
"Quickly!" Ren ordered, leaping off the cart and beginning to dig his way through the rocks. Ruby was quick on his tail, grabbing and hurling stones as swiftly as she could, but she could hear the sound of the approaching beasts behind her. "Ren-"
"Continue digging. Do not fret, I am with you."
Ren turned, and faster than Ruby could see, had drawn his large guns with the sandalwood grips. Fire seemed to fly from his fingertips, a resounding crash with each pull of the trigger. Ruby was momentarily stunned, even more so when she heard the distant cries of falling grimm. Even at this distance, not a single shot missed.
Remembering herself, she turned and continued digging as fast as she could.
"Okay, credit where it's due... that's damn cool," Yang relented.
"Yeah..." Ruby nodded, almost drooling. Nora looked closely enough to determine that the drool was directed at the guns, not the man wielding them, then returned to her former posture.
Again and again, thunder rang out through the tunnels. When it momentarily fell silent, Ruby glanced back in hope that the storm had passed- she spied a clear dozen deceased beasts, all black fur and jutting white bones, but saw several more in the distance, bloodthirsty howls, drooling jaws, gnashing teeth. Ren had only paused for a moment to perform his reloading trick, each chamber refilled the same second its empty shell was ejected. "The rocks, Ruby, the rocks!"
Ruby nodded, and returned to her work, doing her best to ignore the threat from behind, placing faith in Ren and his deadly hands.
"I don't think I can get all of it!"
"You don't need to- just clear the track!"
Her hands were a blur, as, so she imagined, were his. Every crash heralded the death of another grimm, and the arrival of three more.
"This doesn't look good..." Pyrrha was gripping the edge of the couch tightly.
"Come on, guys, come on...!" Nora was furiously chewing on her nails.
Finally, she cried, "That's it, it's clear!"
The path wasn't completely clear, but she thought it would serve the purposes of their little cart. She turned to find the grimm closer than ever, working to overwhelm the gunslinger through sheer force of numbers.
"Move!" Ren ordered, never lifting his guns even as Ruby rushed forward, resuming her place on the cart and struggling to move the handle. Ren was right on her heels, pulling himself up and taking the liberty of starting up the handle for her.
Ruby screamed when she felt something grab at her leg- she looked down to see one of the wolf-like creatures scrabbling at her leg with its long, cruel c laws. Before she could scream again, another thunderclap echoed through the tunnel, and the creature's face disappeared. She looked up to see Ren working to pump the handle with one hand, the other clutching one of his guns, which he aimed still.
The cart was moving again- after a few pumps, Ruby reached up and began working it herself, picking up speed and, to her great relief, leaving the hordes of monsters behind.
Weiss had collapsed back into her seat. "I don't know how much more of this world I can take..."
It took Ruby nearly a full minute to realize she was bleeding. She looked down at the phantom pain creeping through her leg and saw the long wound left there by that last grimm. Ren saw her looking.
"You were very brave."
"I... I don't feel very brave," Ruby shook her head as she absentmindedly continued to pump. "I was scared to death the whole time..."
"Courage is not about being fearless," Ren countered. "Courage is about being scared to death, but doing what needs doing anyways."
He focused more on the injury. "Once we shake of the grimm, I'll see what I can do to attend your injuries."
Ruby nodded mutely, and neither spoke for the next three hours, when they finally reached the end of the railing.
"Three hours by cart... yes, I'd say it's a good thing they cleared the block," Pyrrha nodded.
"I guess he is doin' a fair job takin' care of her," Yang relaxed, smiling at their last bit of parlance. "Maybe I'm being a little harsh on him..."
The railing ended in a massive chamber, stretching up into darkness that couldn't be penetrated by the feeble sparklights they'd been using to guide their way thus far. Before them was a vast abyss, spanned only by a rope bridge that looked as though it had seen better days. Straining her eyes, Ruby could barely make out the opposing cliff, where she thought she saw a split in the rock, and beyond that... the faintest trace of light.
It should have elated her, but the sight of the chasm filled her with dread instead.
Ren continued on, already mounting the bridge without a second thought.
"Wait!" she cried, taking a nervous step forward. "Maybe... maybe there's another way around!"
"Yeesh God knows I'd want another way around." Yang gazed uncomfortably at the massive fissure in the earth.
"I don't think there is one, though," Blake murmured, taking in as much of the chamber as the screen allowed.
"There is none," Ren confirmed. "Come... the end is in sight."
Ruby looked up, and tentatively began her own march across the bridge, several feet behind Ren. Her ears perked up a few feet out- she could hear something behind them. "Ren! The grimm! The grimm are coming back!"
Ren grimaced, and picked up the pace. Ruby followed suit, moving slowly but steadily across the rickety bridge.
"Of course it couldn't be so simple," Weiss groaned.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Jaune gnawed on his thumbnail.
Ren reached the other side first, and turned to find Ruby only about halfway across. "Ruby! Hurry!"
Ruby maintained her pace, perhaps picking it up a little. Behind her, the noise of the grimm was growing louder and louder.
Ren's eyes narrowed, and he drew his guns, firing into the tunnels behind them. He could hear the shrieks and cries of the grimm he struck, but like before, there were plenty more where that came from.
"I really hate these grimm," Nora grumbled, really wishing she could be there to help.
"Ruby! Make haste!"
Ruby glanced behind, saw the approaching hordes, turned, and began to move as quick as she dared.
Ren fired as fast as he could, working to keep the grimm off her tail, but even he had to stop and reload. Quick as he was, it wasn't enough to stop at least one grimm who leapt onto the bridge with none of the care that he or Ruby had shown. The monster barreled across as swiftly as its legs could carry it... until the bridge finally collapsed beneath its weight.
"No! Ruby!" Yang leapt to her feet, eyes wide and wild.
"Oh, no, oh, no, oh no!" Ruby whimpered, chewing on her own nails now.
The ropes snapped- Ruby fell forward and managed to grab on to one of the boards as her end of the bridge tumbled downwards, slamming her against the opposite wall. She momentarily lost her grip, slipping down a few boards before managing to steady herself. Looking up, she saw the cliff-top about ten feet above. Chancing a glance backwards, she saw the grimm who'd broken the bridge tumbling into the pit below, along with several hordes who'd failed to bring themselves to a halt in time. Beast or no beast, their cries as they tumbled into the abyss haunted her, not least because she was so close to sharing their fate.
"She's still alive! Get up, Ruby, get up!" Weiss shrieked.
Ren remained silent, hands clenching themselves tight enough to draw blood.
"Ruby!" Ren called, looking over. "Hold on, I'm-"
"Not so fast, Gunslinger."
The audience's heart sank, because while they'd not heard this particular voice before, they knew who it must be.
Behind Ren, the Woman in Red had appeared, charred black hair falling down her back, red dress seemingly aflame. She stood in the cracks that would lead to the exit. "Here we stand, closer than ever before... here I stand, with all the answers you seek. All you need to do is come to me and ask- Mother May I? Yes you may."
Ren hesitated, glaring at her even as he stood over the precipice.
"Ren!" came Ruby's cry. "Ren, I'm losing my grip!"
"By all means, save her, if you're willing to let me escape," the Woman in Red taunted. "Reach down and save her life, then catch me never. 'Mother may I? Yes you may.'"
"Oh, my!" Pyrrha raised a hand to her mouth.
"It's exactly as I feared, "Ren whispered. "That's why she placed Ruby in my path- to create a situation exactly like this one."
"Well, of course he's gonna save Ruby!" Nora grinned nervously. "I'm sure he's got some awesome plan to save her then catch up to Cinder anyways!"
"Ren!" Ruby cried. "Ren, I... I..."
Her eyes drained of hope as they met Ren's, and saw exactly what he intended to do. There would be no salvation for her, not this time.
"...I'm sorry." When Ren's eyes flicked away, no longer able to meet her own, she knew all was lost.
"...Go, then," she whispered. "There are other worlds than these."
The boards broke beneath her hands, and she felt her stomach rush up into her throat as she fell into the abyss.
A long, ringing silence fell.
Predictably, Yang was the one to break it. "ReeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!"
Nora quickly dove between the two, arms outstretched. "Not him! That other world! That other world!"
Weiss, Blake, Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha all stared blankly at the screen for a long, long time. Ren paid no mind to Nora struggling to defend him from a furious Yang, slowly turning to Ruby. "Ruby... I'm sorry."
"...Right," she whispered. "It... It wasn't you... another world..."
It took a long time for things to settle down, but when they did, the audience finally realized the universe was still going.
The cackling of the Woman in Red filled Ren's ears as he rushed through the cracks, a fierce anger burning in his eyes. Within seconds, the chambers of his big revolvers were reloaded, and when he finally had her in his sights again, he raised the guns and emptied all twelve chambers at her.
Each and every shot missed.
"He... even he can barely wrap his head around... what just happened," Jaune choked out.
The woman in red smirked, no trace of fear on her face at the fact she'd come so close to death. "Oh, don't kid yourself, gunslinger- you'd kill me no sooner than you'd kill yourself- not while I hold the answers you seek."
Ren reloaded his guns, but did not fire again, instead clutching them in his hands, white-knuckled, as he focused his furious eyes upon the woman he'd been chasing for so many years now. "You... you're... Lady Marquis..."
"One of many names I go by," the woman in red bowed theatrically. "But for you, who have finally pursued me here, to the Golgotha of Bones, where, legend says, none may speak falsely or fail to answer, I bequeath my true name, Cinder of the Fall."
Ren finally paused to take in his surroundings- he was in a large, cylindrical canyon, formed, as Cinder said, largely of bones, towering up towards the sky. He could see the stars above, and a sliver of the moon. Before him, Cinder stood next to a fire pit, on either side of which were two logs, clearly for seating.
"You have surpassed every obstacle I placed in your way," Cinder congratulated. "You fought through the Sisters of Elluria... you survived your journey through the town of Styx... your ordeal at the waystation, the trial of the speaking ring... and even now, you didn't disappoint. You let the girl die." That hateful smirk worked its way onto her face again. "Even to someone like me, that's cold."
"You made him do it, you bitch!" Nora glared fiercely.
Everyone was looking at the woman with hatred in their hearts- Nora was simply the only one to give voice to it.
"But enough talk of the past... you tracked me down to find your path to the future, didn't you? Well, let's start with a meal."
She snapped her fingers, and the fireplace in the golgotha's center burst into flames. Another snap of her fingers, and Cinder had produced a rabbit, seemingly from nowhere, freshly cleaned and ready to roast.
Ren maintained his glare as he sat opposite her, reaching into his bag and eating only his own jerky.
"You fear so much." Cinder's eyes widened in mock hurt at his refusal to accept her food. "Do you truly fear enchanted meat so much?"
Ren remained stonily silent.
"I wouldn't except a dishrag from her," Blake growled, her ears flat against her skull.
Yang nodded, cracking her knuckles. Whatever her thoughts towards this world's Ren, she clearly considered Cinder far worse.
"Oh, have it your way," Cinder rolled her eyes, before producing another item- a large deck of cards. "Tell me, Gunslinger... do you believe in fortune telling?"
"By the tarot?" Ren guessed, taking in the cards in one glance. "I've never lent it much thought."
"This is a special deck," Cinder explained. "My sister is rather impulsive, you see- she gets bored so easily. One day, she took a standard tarot deck and added several cards of her own design. Personally, I find her deck far more useful for divination, but... perhaps we'll see what you think."
She shuffled the deck heavily before finally coming to a halt. "I will turn over seven cards, Gunslinger, and read your fate. This should be interesting... what will happen once you resume your quest for the Dark Tower?"
"What do you mean, 'resume?'" Ren challenged. "I never left off."
Cinder didn't answer, only smiled that hateful smile.
"That Tower... they keep bringing it up, again and again- what is it?" Blake growled.
Cinder turned the first card. "Ah, the Hanged Man. Inverted, it would mean death, but upright, I can see your strength- the strength to continue your journey to the Dark Tower, though it take you through Hell itself. The strength to sacrifice the girl, your own personal Isaac."
Ren's eyes narrowed, but he maintained his composure. "If you have a point, speak it."
"Isaac?" Ruby asked tentatively.
"An old story about a man ordered to sacrifice his son," Crazy related.
"I... yeah, I get it..."
Cinder returned the card to the bottom of the deck, then turned another. "Ah, the Sailor- the first of my sister's invention. Her eyes are wide as she drowns, yet nobody casts her a line. This can be nobody but the girl, Ruby."
Ren looked as though he wanted to draw his guns and begin shooting again. He refrained, saying nothing.
The corners of Cinder's mouth twitched downward, as if in disappointment, before she drew the third card. "The Prisoner." It depicted a man in silhouette- astride his shoulders was a fierce baboon, a whip in hand, presumably the cause of the figure's stylized grimace.
"Upsetting, isn't he?" Cinder smirked. "He is possessed by a demon, Gunslinger- the name of the demon is 'heroin.'"
"H-heroin?" Weiss's eyes widened.
"What's that?" Ruby asked.
"Something you should never deal with," Yang stated fiercely.
"So... Ren is the Hanged Man, Ruby's the Sailor... who's the Prisoner?" Pyrrha pondered.
Jaune grimaced a little- going by patterns, he thought there was reasonably only one person 'The Prisoner' could refer to.
"I don't ken that demon," Ren shook his head.
"Not now," Cinder agreed. "But perhaps, in the future, you will become more familiar with it than ever you wished."
The fourth card portrayed a woman in a chair- a chair sitting upon a large pair of wheels. She, too, was in silhouette, not even a stylized expression on her face as there had been upon the Prisoner. However, the way her head was designed was strange, the contours of her head making it seem as though she looked to the right and to the left simultaneously.
"The Lady of Shadows," Cinder introduced. "Does she seem two-faced to you? She is- she is the Two-Who-Are-One. She is the one who shattered the blue plate."
"...I don't follow."
For a fleeting moment, a disquieted expression crossed Cinder's face- an expression that lent credence to her next words. "Neither do I."
"So... we started with Ren and me..." Ruby struggled to follow. "This Prisoner and Lady of Shadows... they're people he's going to meet later on?"
Quite a few of the others shrugged- they were having their own trouble keeping up with this bizarre fortune-telling session.
The next card came from the original tarot- a simple skull upon the card, sitting the center of an arch. "Death," Cinder identified. "Of course, in the standard deck, the meaning of death is not so clear- but in the one developed by my sister and I, death means just that- death. But not for you, Gunslinger- never for you."
"I suppose there's a point to all this?" Ren more demanded than asked.
"Consider this a necessary ritual," Cinder instructed as she prepared the next card. "I'm sure, in time, all we be clear to the both of us."
The sixth card caused Ren's eyes to widen with intrigue, and it was little wonder why- it depicted a tall, dark structure of stone. "The Tower," Cinder smirked. "I'm sure I have your attention now."
"What does it mean?" Ren demanded.
Cinder smirked as she returned the card to the deck.
"Damn you, what does it mean?!"
Her smile grew.
"Then to hell with you. What's the final card?"
"Really getting sick of her," Nora growled. "Renny passed all your tests, you should be telling him everything right now!"
Yang cracked her knuckles, as if to remind them all what the final test had entailed.
The final card bore the image of rolling plains, the sun rising into a perfect, crystal blue sky. The plains beneath were stained with red, what looked like roses... or perhaps blood. Something in Ren, deeper than instinct, told him it was both. "Life."
"And what does that mean?"
"I don't know," Cinder repeated. "I am not the one you are looking for, Gunslinger- I am merely a conduit. If you wish to have your true answers, you must sleep."
"The hell I will!" Ren growled as he rose to his feet.
Cinder quickly raised her hands, and barked an order, her voice coming out almost as Goodwitch's: "SLEEP!"
And before he knew what happened, Ren had fallen to the ground, dreaming.
"Renny, no!" Nora cried.
"No!" Ruby agreed.
Yang looked taken aback. "Rubes, what do you care? He let you die!"
"I know!" Ruby admitted. "I know that, but still, I don't... I don't want him to..."
When Ren awoke, he was in a dark place. A dark void- the void that pre-existed all things.
From somewhere nearby came the voice of Cinder- the Woman in Red. "In the beginning, there was nothing," she whispered. "Then, as if from nowhere, a light."
Indeed, a light appeared in the distance- a brilliant light, even from far away. Brighter than any star, filled with... everything. Even from this distance, Ren could see it- this light contained... everything.
"Everything that is," agreed Cinder's voice. "Everything that ever was... everything that ever could be. What else could we call such a light... but Existence?"
"What... what kind of drugs did she slip into his jerky?" Nora finally asked on everyone else's behalf.
The light began to move across the void, and where it went, it left stars. With a twirl of what may have been a hand, a planet was formed- with a spin, a swirling galaxy.
"The Existence said, 'Let there be light,' so they say, and, at its word, there was light. Yes... let there be light!"
The original light was growing closer, growing brighter. Ren realized he was not hearing the voice of Cinder any longer, but the voice of the light- the Existence, echoing with all the voices of every man, woman and child that ever may draw breath in the world it was creating. "Let there be light... LET THERE BE LIGHT!"
The light was continuing to grow, and it was growing blinding.
"Stop..." Ren found himself moaning. "Please, stop... no more..."
"Then cry off," came the whispering voice of Cinder of the Fall. "Cry off- renounce the Tower. There is still time in this world- cry off, and spend what remains of your life piecing together the remains of your soul."
The fierce determination that had born Ren forth through all the years to this moment roared up. That which had carried him forth from Jericho Hill, the final battle that had snuffed out what remained of Kuroyuri- which had carried him across the desert, through the mountains, and finally to this golgotha...
"Never," he stated firmly. "I will reach the Tower!"
For a moment, everything froze, then Cinder's voice returned. "In that case..."
Then, the voice of the Existence. "Let... there... be... LIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHHHT!"
The light grew well beyond blinding, consuming his vision, his flesh, and entering into his soul. He let out a scream that disappeared into the infinite light, until both he and his voice had been swallowed whole.
In the next second, Ren was sitting bolt upright, back at the Golgotha of Bones, back on his log, Cinder sitting across from him, arms folded. Smirking.
"...I'll go ahead and repeat my previous question," Nora decided, looking just as shaken as all the others nonetheless.
"What... what was that?" Ren asked, looking truly shaken for the first time.
"I'm disappointed," Cinder taunted. "I thought any child of Kuroyuri would recognize the birth of the universe when it was shown to them."
"Birth... of the universe?"
"So... that was supposed to be God?" Blake asked.
"Eh... basically, yes," Crazy shrugged.
"Into the void, came the Existence," Cinder narrated. "Light clashed with darkness, giving birth to life. And at the center of all things... the Tower. You truly seek the Dark Tower?"
"Yes," Ren stated firmly.
Cinder leaned forward, her face split in a wide grin. "You'll never have it. You could barely weather that vision- the true might of the Tower will destroy you half a world away."
"I will stand atop the Tower, or die trying."
Cinder let out a long-suffering sigh. "So you always say... so you never do."
"I don't understand you."
"No, you don't. Never have, never will. And so, everything continues as it always has..."
"Is she ever going to stop jerking him around and tell him what he actually wants to know?!" Nora demanded.
When Ren spoke next, it was clear he'd given up on this line of questioning. "What was the point of that vision?"
"You tell me- how did it end?"
"Shouldn't you know?"
The question had been rhetorical, but Ren started when he saw a minute widening of Cinder's eyes, as she every so slightly pulled back into herself. "You don't, do you? You summoned the vision, and yet, of the most important part, you know nothing! You charlatan!"
He sounded a little too happy to have caught her with her pants down, so to speak.
"I know enough," Cinder said evasively. "Just not... the very end. What did you see?"
"Light," Ren recalled. "An all-consuming white light, and then..."
No, there had been something else- stretching his memory as much as he could, he could faintly see it.
"Grass. A single blade of purple grass. Stretching from here into infinity."
"Purple grass?" Weiss asked.
"Into infinity?" Jaune grunted.
"Hmm... purple grass..." Cinder mused. "You seek answers, Lie Ren, son of Li Ren? Then listen well..."
She paused momentarily, taking a drink from a canteen, then began to speak.
"You will never truly understand the nature of reality, Gunslinger- there are none who can. Our ancestors were capable of many great things- they cured diseases thought incurable, mastered travel across land, sea, and air alike- even walked on the moon."
"I don't believe you."
"Believe it or not, it was so. But for all the knowledge our ancestors had, they lacked one thing- insight."
"Knowledge, insight- what's the difference?" Jaune asked.
"Well, knowledge doesn't make you more vulnerable to frenzy, for one," George suggested.
"What our ancestors failed to come to terms with is, in fact, one of the universe's simplest truths- for every question that is answered, a hundred more mysteries unveil themselves. What would you, Gunslinger, say is the greatest mystery of all?"
Ren didn't bother answering- he crossed his arms and glared, challenging her to get to the point.
Cinder rolled her eyes. "Size, Gunslinger- the answer is size."
It was a mark of how serious things had become that Yang didn't seize the opportunity for a terrible joke.
"In a way, I suppose, children are the wisest of us all," Cinder mused. "Children have no concerns over asking the most difficult questions. Suppose a child asks his father, 'What lies beyond the sky?' If the father is wise, he will answer, 'Space.' 'Father, what lies beyond space?' 'The rest of our galaxy.' 'Beyond our galaxy?' 'Still more galaxies.' 'And beyond those?' No matter how wise the father is, he will eventually be forced to that final answer- 'Nobody knows.'"
"I mean... I guess that's true," Ruby admitted. "But... what does that have to do with this Tower?"
Ren still said nothing. Cinder sighed in resignation.
"Very well, consider it this way." She picked up a nearby bone. "This is a bone- one of the most integral parts of a human body. It must be solid for us to continue standing- and yet, it isn't. Should we look close enough, we find it is actually comprised of numerous smaller objects- atoms, joining and whirling together like trillions of little planets. What if you could descend to that size, Gunslinger? What if atoms were the size of planets to you? Can you imagine traveling the epochs of distance between? Even atoms aren't the bottom- they are comprised of nuclei- protons, electrons, and what if we go smaller? Will we eventually reach a state in which there is nothing? Of course not- the universe itself denies nothing! Only the most foolish of fools would ever suggest there is ever an ending."
"Yes, that's all true," Weiss conceded. "But what does that have to do with the Tower?"
"What do you think you'd find, Gunslinger, if you reached the end of the universe? A wooden fence marked with a sign- 'Dead End?' Clearly not. Perhaps you'd find something, though- a smooth, solid wall, something like the inside of an eggshell. What would you see if you penetrated that shell? What if you were to look through and find that our entire universe is but a single atom at the edge of your purple blade of grass? What revelations would follow? What if, by burning a twig, you eliminate countless other universes- an eternity of eternities?"
"Perhaps that is the nature of your vision- that our universe is, ultimately, but one blade of grass in an infinite field. What if that blade began to die- to dry- to move on, as we all say? What if each grain of sand in the desert you crossed to find me contained an infinity of universes- not worlds, not planets, but entire universes. In each of those universes is a desert of its own, and each grain of sand there containing an infinity of its own. And on... and on... and on.
"Infinite universes, Gunslinger... and yet, they are all connected. They all share the same center- the center of all things. What in some worlds is known as Zohar... in others as Kingdom Hearts... and in still others as the Tower. The Dark Tower, a bolt that binds the worlds together, overseeing them all. Within it, a staircase ascending through the worlds, to the godhead at the top- would you dare ascend to that top room, Gunslinger? I suspect not."
The audience spent a long time mulling that speech over. "So... the Dark Tower... is the center of everything?" Jaune asked. "The center of all the worlds?"
"Every universe," Crazy agreed. "It has an avatar in every universe, holding all of reality together. The Center of All Things- some even say... well..."
Ren thought for a moment. "Someone has dared to ascend."
"Oh? Have they?" Cinder asked, smirking again.
"God. The Dark Tower is the home of God- the place, it is said, from which he continues his dance to maintain the worlds he has created."
"Perhaps," Cinder shrugged. "Perhaps God stands at the top. Perhaps it is the Red Queen- or, perhaps most chillingly of all... suppose the room is empty?"
A cold wind whistled through the Golgotha- it was difficult to tell which of the two was more unsettled by the idea.
"Wait, so you're saying this is a real thing?" Jaune asked. "That there's an actual Dark Tower, not just in these universes, but in our own, and... well, I guess in yours, too?"
"That would be what I'm saying, yes," Crazy agreed.
"Then... what's at the top?" Jaune seemed nervous, but asked anyways. "What is at the top of everything?"
"Jaune," Crazy said, plopping a hand onto his shoulder, "you're asking something that's way, way above my pay grade."
With that, Crazy would say no more.
At long last, Ren spoke. "You speak no falsehoods?"
"Why should I? We are equals, not friends," Cinder scoffed. "I think you'll find that there is nobody more deceitful than a friend, unless perhaps it is a lover. I find such things tiresome. Let us agree not to lie to each other, Gunslinger- things will be so much more interesting that way."
"I certainly have no wish to bore you," Ren muttered. "Very well, let us speak only truth. You may begin- with the enchantment that binds us here."
"That is at the behest of my Red Queen," Cinder answered. "She will maintain nightfall here until our palaver is complete."
A look of alien fear appeared in Ren's eyes. "Will I stand before the Red Queen, before all is said and done?"
Cinder pondered this a moment. "If you mean to conquer the Tower... almost certainly. However, this is not what you want to ask."
"The Red Queen again," Ruby piped up. "Who is she?"
Crazy looked away pointedly. "I'm... not gonna talk about Sally."
The audience exchanged bemused glances.
Ren met Cinder's gaze steadily. "Will I succeed? Will I reach the Tower?"
Cinder gazed back. "If I told you, you'd kill me."
"I ought to anyways."
"Kill me now, and all the doors you must open will remain fastened against you."
"I... really... hate her..." Nora growled.
"Where must I go?"
"Beyond this Golgotha lies the Western sea. From there, you must go north- along your path, you will draw three companions- without them, you will never see the Tower. Beyond that lies Mid-World- at the end of your world is where your quest truly begins."
"I will meet these companions by the sea?" Ren repeated.
"Yes... and no," Cinder answered infuriatingly. "That is merely where you will summon them to your side- where you will draw them to you. One by one... the Prisoner... the Lady of Shadows... and Death. A terrible power, one not granted to you, but one that resides within you even now. You will draw the three, and the real fun will begin."
Cinder looked to the sky. "Not that it means much to me- I won't be there to see it. I have given you all you need." She looked to him. "The hour is near... let there be light."
She began to laugh, and as she did, two things happened. The sun finally began to rise, and Cinder of the Fall began to age. In their first meeting, she seemed young, merely in her thirties, at the oldest- but now she was forty, now fifty, lines creasing her face, her hair turning gray, and still she kept laughing. She collapsed onto her log, laughing even as she became grey and feeble, and her skin began to turn to dust, leaving only her skeleton behind, still laughing.
Ren closed his eyes, then slowly opened them. The sun had risen, the fire was out, and the skeleton of Cinder Fall lay before him.
"That... was... creepy," Nora whispered, unsettled.
"Why did she just... die?" Ruby asked. "I mean, I'm not complaining, but..."
"There was magic going on, alright," Blake interjected. "Look at Ren- he got older, too."
"By about... ten years, I'd say," Ren assessed.
"Wow," Yang's eyes widened. "I guess they were... talking for a while... huh?"
Ren felt himself up- he had long since lost the jawbone he'd taken from the waystation. He reached out, wrapping his hand around the one that had belonged to Cinder of the Fall, and with a sharp tug, pulled it away, stowing it in his pocket.
Is it really her, though? he pondered. Somehow, I can't bring myself to truly believe it.
Either way, he continued, exiting the Golgotha of Bones and making his way down a steep slope.
Before the sun fell again, he found himself by the shores of the predicted sea, choppy grey waves crashing against a rough shore. He halted, gazing around, a weariness unlike anything he'd ever known setting in. Dampness filled his eyes- he raised a hand to wipe away the first tears he'd shed since the Battle of Jericho Hill, when his friends had fallen, and the last light of Kuroyuri had been snuffed out.
"I loved you, Ruby," he whispered. "I loved you so much."
Yang clearly wanted to deliver a scathing remark, but held her tongue.
It was another name for the list. Sun, Neptune, Scarlet... Nora, Penny, Melanie, Miltia... Ruby...
"I will sing all your names," he promised. "I will ascend to the top of the Dark Tower- I will stand atop the roof of all things, and I will sing all your names!"
Finally, the screen faded to black, and a set of words scrawled across it.
Childe Ren to the Dark Tower Came
Act I
The Gunslinger
The End
"Act one..." Jaune winced. "Act one... of how many?"
"Seven," Crazy answered almost automatically. "Eight, if we end up doing the whole Wind through the-"
"We're not doing shit!" Yang snarled, turning on Crazy. "How many universes you gonna let my sister die, you bastard?!"
She stepped forward, raising her fists, only for something completely unexpected to happen- a woman none of them had seen before leapt between them. She had long brown hair kept in place by a white ribbon, a gray blazer over a school uniform of some kind, accentuated by a blue pleated skirt.
"No!" the new arrival cried. "Don't hurt him!"
XXXX
Yeah, that seems like a good place to leave off. If only because I'm high right now. Kinda have to be, to write stuff like this. Okay, we're taking a bit of a break from this world for a while- I have something special to write now. Should be back on... the twenty-seventh. If all goes according to plan. God knows if it will, knowing me. Until next time, long days and pleasant nights, may it do ya fine,Gamer4 out.