Hey guys, I know I said the next thing I uploaded would be SoI, but this story idea was just lodged in my head and I could not get it out. I hope you all enjoy.
Chapter 1 – A Life Wrought with Havoc
It wasn't very easy to comprehend the scene playing out before me; fire spreading from building to building, blood running through the streets, the screams of the damned in my ears, the poop festering in my diaper, none of it was pleasant. But by far, the most unpleasant part of it all was the massive beast towering over me, maw open and teeth serrated, dripping with the blood of my family.
I was never told of the creatures of the night, I am but a baby after all, and parents don't make it a part of their day to teach their infants about nightmarish creatures like this. I found that to be a horrible choice of priorities now that I think about it, but that's not the point.
The fact that I'm about to be eaten would be the point.
The beast is getting closer; I can feel its hot, stinking breath on my face as its teeth graze my skin, I reach out to grab hold of one of its canines in my childlike naivety. Luckily, before it manages to bite my hand off, a sharp blade plunges out of the front of its skull and the beast drops dead.
"Glynda! Secure the perimeter, we've got a survivor!" I hear as a man steps over the body of the beast before picking me up off the floor. He frantically searches the area for a moment before sighing and quickly departing, running to a trio of horses and handing me over to a man with a large moustache and a pot belly. "Peter, hold onto this child while we finish off the last of the wolves, guard him with your life."
As the man runs back into the blazing village that was my home for the last four months, I look up to the man now carrying me. The man looks back and I can see a sad smile behind his facial hair. "Don't worry child, you're going to be alright…"
I respond by pooping myself and falling asleep.
I wake up to the sound of arguing and shouting, looking around I see tall stone walls and moonlight shining through a window to my left. I also notice that my diaper had recently been changed, making my mood considerably better. I focus on the shouting and recognise one of the voices as my saviour; I immediately call out to gain his attention.
"-and another thing! I… oh, oh that's just great! Now he's crying too! Look Ozpin, I get that he's the only survivor and all, but we do not have the resources available to take care of a baby while we're fighting a war here." I don't recognise the voice of the woman speaking, but her tone upsets me, so I felt the need to notify her by calling out louder.
"I understand your concern, Glynda, now so more than ever… But you saw what I saw; you're the one who found the sword in the first place."
The woman scoffed. "Just because we found it in the same village as him, doesn't mean that he's related to him. That could be anyone's kid." I hear the man sigh as footsteps grow closer.
"Be that as it may, we can't take that chance. I'll raise him as my own if I have to, I'm not just going to leave him in Riften to grow up in an orphanage, I can see great things in his future, its best we train him while he's young and show him the way."
I see the man as he looks down at me, his brown eyes shimmering with knowledge even another adult wouldn't be able to understand, but as I stare closer, I can see a certain dullness to them, as if they've lost their light.
"You've been reading the Scroll again, haven't you? You'll go blind at this rate." The man laughs and tickles my stomach, forcing me to join him. "I can see there's no point in arguing then… In any case, we don't know the first thing about the kid, so it's best we at least give him a name. What do you think?"
The man smiles at me and I smile back. "Jaune…" He says, staring at me further, I can't help but laugh in response, finding the word to be odd in some way. "I think that'll work well…"
I agree by throwing up over myself.
I clench my hand as tightly as possible, feeling the powers of Mundus coursing through me, focusing on Geoff, the god of righteousness, I release my hand into the air and force the power out like a beacon of light. I see a glow in my hand begin to brighten until looking at it hurts my eyes, as I turn away I hear a loud pop and a sizzle. Looking into my hand, the spell was gone.
"Oh come on! That's my fourteenth try this session, what am I doing wrong, Oobleck?" I ask as I turn to the amazingly tall Wood Elf, the most religious of our order.
"You turned away Jaune; you mustn't ever look away from a spell, especially when you're forcing it out, instead of flowing it out like I told you to do." His robe flutters in the wind as he stands in front of the door to the balcony of the fortress. He turns to his left and nods his head. "Try doing it more like Ruby."
I follow his gaze to see a young Breton girl covered in red and black clothing, holding her hand tightly she thrusts it into the air and a small ball of light floats above her head. "Well that hardly seems fair," I announce as she turns to look at me, her burning yellow eyes shining bright even as her candlelight spell wafts in the wind. "She can't even cast Geoff's Aura, on account of her being burned alive if she did, and she's had thousands of years to learn this stuff, I've had eight."
Oobleck simply shakes his head as he sits down on a crate, readjusting his glasses as he does so. "Now now Jaune, that just means you've got thousands of years of catching up to do if you want to be able to fight alongside her. Now try again." I groan in annoyance as I begin to focus once more, but as I tap into my Aura, I notice how empty it is.
"Uhh, Oobleck? I'm running on fumes here, you think I could have another potion?" Oobleck simply groans.
"Jaune, I understand that you're only a novice in the art of Restoration, but surely it shouldn't drain your aura that much to cast this spell. You're an Atronach for Burnie's sake! You've got more Aura than any of us." Even as he scolds me, I can see him reaching into his knapsack for another potion.
"And that also means I can't regenerate any of it, so unless Ruby wants to train some Destruction magic on me, this is all we've got." Ruby's eyes light up immediately.
"Ohh! Can I? Can I?!" She calls out as she lights up a fireball in her hand. I only glare at her in response.
"Well we are out of potions, and as much as I'd like to see Jaune run around attempting to put out his pants, I'm afraid we'll simply have to call it a day." I sigh, both out of relief for being done with the damn training for the day, and out of annoyance for not being able to do anything with the school of magic. I watch as Oobleck walks down the spiral staircase to his research lab, probably to talk with Burnie, while Ruby walks up to me and smiles.
"Hey Jaune, I'm going to head to the den and feed Zwei, you wanna come with?" I smile at the thought of Ruby giving that monster food, but I also remember Glynda telling me to meet her at the range as well. I cant help but sigh, knowing it would mean certain death to refuse the older woman.
"Sorry Ruby, but Glynda wants me, and you know what she can be like." I can almost see a hint of sadness in her lifeless eyes as Ruby nods and walks down the staircase without me, but I shake off the thought and blame ten year old puberty for it.
Before I follow after her, I take a glance off the edge of the fortress and through the trees to the west to look out on the land of Atlas. Riften could just be seen over a low hanging slope, and further in the distance stood the Throat of the World, tallest mountain on Remnant. Admiring the view for a few more moments, I quickly turn around and make my way down the stairs, past the armoury and into the archery range. As expected, Glynda was already waiting for me.
"You're late." She spoke in her high and mighty High Elf tone, barely acknowledging my presence.
"I'm half an hour early." I reply, already dreading my choice of words.
Glynda tightens the string on a small bow, still choosing not to look my way. "You're half an hour early to the time I told you to arrive, yes. But I arrived before you, and if I'm left waiting, then that means you're late." I manage to hold in my sigh, knowing she would scold me for showing emotion as well, and simply look down at the table of odds and ends she was fiddling with.
"So why exactly am I here? I thought I was already set on how to use a crossbow…" Glynda's mood seemed to sour further at hearing my question.
"As did I, but Ozpin told me that at some point in time, somewhere in the future, for some reason, you'll also need to know how to use a bow and arrow as well. So I'm left to teach you everything all over again." As she finishes her sentence, Glynda hands me a child sized wooden bow and a quiver of arrows. "I've set up some targets on the other side of the clearing, let's see you try to shoot them and we'll go from there."
Following her instructions, I grab hold of the arrow with my middle and index fingers, and then pull back until the string is taught; I hold my breath, aim and fire. As the arrow flies through the air, I see it careen off course and explode on a rock sitting six feet away from my target.
"Huh…"
Glynda rolls her eyes and grabs a hold of my arms. "'Huh' indeed. Your stance is all wrong. You don't stand as if you're about to loose a bolt from a crossbow, you stand sideways, keep your legs shoulder length apart, hold your left arm out until it's just short of being straight, and you grab the string, not the arrow. Now try again, and keep the arrow in line with your eye, so that when you pull back you're touching your cheek with your hand. Oh, and make sure you don't hold your left arm too loose or else you might cut yourself with the string of the arrow."
I blink slowly as I attempt to process the information that had just been shoved down my throat. I keep my stance straight; arms level and grab the string. That was about all I could remember as I pull back and aim, letting fly another arrow. I watched with baited breath as it flew and wedged itself into the target. "Alright! That one was way better."
Glynda nodded and spoke of her agreement, although her calculating eyes said something very different. "Alright, again."
I could tell it was going to be a very long day.
By the time I was done with archery for the day, it was nearing midnight and my elbow was bleeding, no one would part with any potions and I was still out of Aura. I just had to deal with it as I crawled into bed for rest. Before I could even grab a book from my bedside table though, I hear footsteps and see a small light from the hallway. Ozpin entered the room, his eyes closed to protect them from the light he himself was carrying. "Good evening Jaune, how was today's training?"
I hold in my groan as I recall the day's events and fake a smile for the man. "It was great dad, I made plenty of progress. Nearly cast Geoff's Aura and I got a few bullseyes with Glynda." Ozpin gives a warm smile as he sits down next to me, his eyes still shut tight.
"That's great Jaune, soon you'll learn all the schools of magic, and even the greatest swordplay the world will ever see, just remember to take it all one step at a time, and don't be afraid of failure, after all, what do I always tell you…?" I can't help but roll my eyes and smile.
"Failure isn't the end; it's just the next step towards success."
"That's my boy, now you get some rest, another big day ahead of you tomorrow, and who knows, maybe you'll actually be able to cast a spell." Despite his closed eyes, I could tell Ozpin saw my glare I gave him from his comment.
"And maybe you'll actually be able to see." It was also obvious he wanted to give me one too.
"Goodnight Jaune, I'll see you tomorrow." Ozpin stood up and began to leave.
"Goodnight dad, I'll see you tomorrow."
I stare at the small white ember burning in my hand as I failed for the thirtieth time that day to cast a fireball spell. I could feel the pitiful look Ruby was giving me as her target stood burning in the field across from us. "Destruction magic is always the hardest to learn… just be glad you know how to use the other schools at least…" I extinguish the ember and turned to her slowly, giving silent thanks for her being able to put up with me all this time.
"You're the most optimistic person here Ruby, it really helps…" Ruby just smiled and softly punches my shoulder.
"Anytime." Looking at the small girl in her long cape, I found it funny to think she was the oldest of all of us. Vampires aren't hard to come by, especially for an order that hunts them, but a fifteen year old vampire with very unique looking eyes was a rare sight. She was ancient for vampire standards, living even back before the Dynasty was born in the heart of Vale. She had many stories to tell and I was always fond of listening to them, whenever I had a break from training.
But the comedic thing to it all was her size, back when I was ten I was just a few inches shorter than her, now that I'm nineteen years old and very tall for an Imperial, I absolutely towered above the girl.
I could never understand her motives though… Why would a vampire hunt other vampires? She never gave me a definitive answer and by the Nine would Ozpin never talk in anything but riddles, so it was all but impossible to figure out. Still though, as adorable as she looked, I knew better than anyone not to cross her path, the vampires we faced on the field didn't have that knowledge and they paid a very steep price.
All in all, I couldn't imagine a better partner to fight alongside with in my quests to come. "Jaune, Ruby! Come to the main hall, we've got a new mission!" I hear from the doorway leading inside, whatever it was, it sounded important. Without a word between us, Ruby and I hurry inside to see what was happening. Once we arrived, all I could see were Glynda, Port and Oobleck scurrying around with boxes while Ozpin stood in the middle of the room, a slender white object in his hand.
"Ozpin, what's going on?" I hear Ruby ask from next to me while I stare at the object in Ozpin's hands.
"As much as I hate to admit it Ruby, I'm afraid our enemies are making a bold move. We've been spying on their scouts for as long as I can remember, and they've finally reported back to their leader about a very important artefact within a crypt, Dimhollow they called it." I felt myself well with uncertainty, knowing they were moving faster than we expected would never be a good thought…
"Then let's get down there and kick their butts." Ruby said without skipping a beat, forcing Ozpin and I to smile.
"If only it were that easy…" Ozpin said solemnly. "I'm afraid this is a solo mission, for you Jaune." I blinked slowly.
"Wait, what? Solo? As in, alone?" Ozpin simply nodded his head, handing me the thing he was holding this entire time.
"This was found in your village the night we found you. I know for a fact you're ready to use it." Looking down, I can see that the object was a sheath, with a golden sword inside of it. Carefully pulling it out, I hear Ruby hiss and practically teleport to the far end of the room. I immediately sheathe it and turn to her.
"Ruby, are you alright?!" She doesn't say a word and glares at Ozpin as he puts a hand on my shoulder.
"That weapon is called Dawnbreaker, it burns vampires better than the sun ever could. That's one reason why I can't allow Ruby to go with you, the other… well; you'll figure that out soon." I watch Ruby back away from the wall with an apologetic look on my face, she noticed it and smiles at me, walking back over, she gave me a hug and kept her hands as far from the weapon as possible.
"It's alright Jaune, I'm fine. And hey, you won't be completely alone, Zwei can go with you as well, can't he Ozpin?" I looked over to him and Ozpin smiled at me, I returned his smile with a look of dread. Before I could say anything, the man whistled loudly and large footsteps could be heard barrelling towards the main hall from another room.
"Oh come on…" I utter under my breath as Zwei charges me and throws me to the ground. The Frost Troll held me down by my shoulders and just before his tongue managed to hit my face, Ruby pulled him off of me. I silently gave thanks to each of the Nine one by one.
"Bad Zwei, bad! Not today, you have a mission today." The troll looked to the ground guiltily before the word mission reached his ears; he then gave a confused look to his master. "You get to eat some vampires." By this point, I was sure if trolls had tails, Zwei would be wagging his right now.
I turned away from the troll getting a pat on the head to look at Ozpin. "This sheath looks unique in some way too; does it have magical properties as well?" Ozpin laughed and took the weapon from my hand.
"Not magical, no. Mechanical. Glynda created it a few years back, simply press this switch on the side and…" The sheath made a small clicking noise as the sides of it expanded and turned itself into a shield. I stared in awe at the contraption. It was a kite shield, with visible plates on the front for when it contracts back into a sheath. The symbol of the Dustguard was emblazoned on the front, and I couldn't have felt more proud to be a member of the group. "It's yours." Ozpin said with a proud tone to his voice. I spoke my thanks as I took the weapon from his hand, pressed the button to turn it back into a sheath and clipped it to my belt. "Alright… what's my mission?"
After the briefing and the long wagon ride with Zwei, I was eventually let off next to Whiterun, the city nestled in the heart of Atlas. It would still be a very long trek to reach my destination, and I felt a tonne heavier with the crossbow on my back, bolts at my waist, sword and shield at my side and satchel of potions over my shoulder, not to mention the light armour. But Zwei's constant sniffing and scuttling helped ease the weight on my shoulders as I trudged onward through the marshes west of Whiterun.
As we snuck past a Giants camp, I heard a loud growling noise next to me, looking over I saw that Zwei was staring at something over the horizon. "What is it boy?" I whisper to him, but he gave no reply, instead he ran over the rising slope next to us and pounced on something that would definitely regret being there. Not five seconds later did he return with a rabbit in his mouth and what I could only assume was a happy smile on his face. I rolled my eyes and turned around to come face to face with a brown object hanging in front of me.
Looking it over I saw it appeared to be a giant club, and as it rose into the air and I followed its arc, I saw a Giant connected to it. "Zwei… run." He didn't follow the command immediately, but once he saw me bounding over the hill and as far from the reaches of the Giant as possible, he chased after me as if we were having an innocent race. I gave no head to the fact that the giant wasn't following us, and merely let my adrenaline take hold as I continued to run as fast and far as possible.
When I finally stopped, night had fallen on the land and I could only collapse on the hard floor next to a tree. Zwei happily panted as he stopped and sat down next to me. I gave him a soft pat on the head and he lay down on the grass for a moment before closing his eyes, the blood all over his face was proof enough to me that he ate the rabbit on the way over. I was hot, sticky, sweaty and thirsty. I dropped my water on the way over, I was too tired to make a fire and I couldn't even bother with seeing if anyone or thing was nearby, instead, I just closed my eyes and joined Zwei in his rest.
I awoke to the sound of voices nearby, sharp and relatively high pitched, it was easy to tell that they were High Elves. "Why do we have to be the ones guarding the perimeter? Shouldn't we be in there securing the artefact, or at least helping kill stuff?" One of the men asked as he walked by tree I had rested against, managing to somehow miss the giant mess of fur next to it.
"I'd love to be in there killing some stuff too, but we have our orders. Now shut up and walk in a circle around the place will you? You don't want to draw any unwanted attention." The man nodded his head and continued on his cycle while the other man turned around to walk past Zwei and I again. It wasn't hard to tell that he was a vampire, ignore the skin and the teeth and the eyes all you want; they all wear the same stupid armour.
Raising from my spot, I unsheathe Dawnbreaker and sneak up behind the man, his heightened senses clearly alerted him to my presence when he turned around and unsheathed his own sword. I was just quicker though, and managed to nick his stomach with the tip of my blade. His scream of agony alerted his friend, who quickly decided to join us, but all he found when he arrived was a blast of blue flames rapidly approaching him as he too was set ablaze. I watched in awe as he burned alive and stared down at my sword.
'Ozpin never mentioned it could do that…' I thought as I sheathed the blade and searched the piles of ash for anything that mightn't have been burned. Zwei woke up during the commotion and sniffed the ashes by my side, but grew bored of the dead bodies and began to walk around the area we now found ourselves in. Funnily enough, the only thing that wasn't burned was a piece of paper, describing the orders to protect the perimeter of Dimhollow Crypt while their superiors worked inside.
"Oh, hey Zwei, we're here already." I said while tossing the note to the ground and following after the troll. "Where do you think the entrance… would…" I couldn't manage to finish my own sentence as I found Zwei chewing on a rock next to the entrance to the crypt. He looked up at me with a confused expression on his face and I silently walked passed him, ignoring the fact he beat me to it.
Upon entering the dark cave, I cast a small Candlelight spell and made note of how much Aura I had left, I then followed the natural path down to a very man-made gate blocking my entrance. Next to the gate was a small lever, I of course pulled it and the gate opened up. "That seemed… really pointless." I uttered as Zwei followed me into the main room. Before I could mock the interior designers further, I noticed voices on the other end of the room.
While hiding behind a small rock, I dispelled my Candlelight and closed my eyes in attempt to determine just how many people there were. "I mean seriously, why do we have to guard this one room? No one's coming in here and everything's dead already, why can't we be inside finding the stupid artefact?" Two people at least, and I think those light footsteps are a dog too.
"Hey, just be glad you're not outside, those poor idiots have to deal with random wildlife and the sun? No thank you." The two vampires laughed, but were cut off when a third voice scolded them.
"Oh shut it you two, just walk around in circles for a while will you? I'm sick of listening to your banter." No more words were spoken from then on, so I readied my crossbow and loaded it with a bolt. Taking aim at the dog in the left corner of the room, I fired at the beast and hit it right in the left eye, killing it instantly. No one noticed its demise.
Turning to the right corner of the room, I saw the cranky vampire alone with her thoughts. After loading the bolt and seeing that the other two vampires would notice the shot, I turned to Zwei and made sure my voice was hushed. "Zwei: Kill." The Frost Troll was bounding for the two vampires by the time I turned around to aim for the third. I closed an eye, held my breath and fired. The woman turned her head when she heard the sound of her associates screaming, but luckily I had aimed for her heart, and the shot connected. All the enemies in the room were dead, and Zwei had some bodies to play with, giving me enough time to think.
After making my way across the room, I saw another iron gate blocking my path. A quick glance to the side of the room I had just stood at revealed another small lever. I sighed and walked over to it, upon pulling the metal pole, the gate opened and the path was made clear. "Seriously, who designs these things?"
After making my way through uncountable rooms and watching bodies dissolve into the mouth of a troll for hours on end, I had finally made it into what seemed to be the last chamber, or at least where the artefact lay hidden based on what the leader of the vampires was talking about.
I stood in a stone room, a statue holding a burning bowl in the middle of it and a stairway leading into a massive cave at the end of it. Upon looking through the doorway and out into the cave, I could see the master vampire, a cohort of his and a thrall limping behind him. They were crossing a bridge over a deep body of water onto a massive ritual site from the looks of it. Pillars built from the centre outward with a small pedestal in the middle of it and etchings along the floor. I could count at least four skeletons and I was standing from a far distance.
I turned around and looked to Zwei, his fur stained with blood. "Zwei, wait at the bottom of the stairs." Despite his meagre intelligence, the troll understood the command and followed my order; I moved to the railing just before the stairway and took aim at the master vampire's friend. As I had done dozens of time that day, I closed one eye, held my breath and took aim. The bolt wedged itself into the vampires head and he dropped to the floor with a loud 'thump.'
Zwei immediately ran for the thrall as I jumped the railing and drew my sword; the master vampire conjured his own as he began shooting fireballs at me. I managed to dodge most of them on my way across the bridge, but I was struck in the left shoulder and the ribs by two of them. The man extinguished his flames as I drew near and he conjured a second sword to wield in his other hand.
My sword bounced off his as I swung at him, and he was quick to strike back, but a dodge to the side and a horizontal swing that cut at his abdomen made him know that I was no ordinary threat. "Who are you?! How did you get here?! And more importantly, how do you have a Daedric artefact in your possession?!" I backpedalled and stood my ground as Zwei growled, the thrall having been taken care of by the time I drew my sword.
"My name is not important; all you need to know is that I work for the Dustguard. I got here by slaughtering every one of you monsters, and this 'Daedric Artefact' was a gift from my father!" I ran at him at full speed and with a war cry I lunged and tackled the man to the ground, pinning him by the shoulders. "Zwei, NOW!" Before he knew what I meant, the man's head was bitten clean off. And I heard a loud crunch as Zwei enjoyed his meal. I quickly removed myself from the nauseating site and sheathed my sword, making sure to wipe off any and all blood.
Giving the room a quick once over, I assured myself that everything was dead and I turned my attention to the pedestal in the middle of the site. What appeared to be a button sat in the middle of it, so with my index finger, I gently applied pressure to the edge of the button until I spike rose through the middle of it. I instinctively pulled my hand away and watched as a fire lit up around the room, its purple glow mesmerizing me. Before long, I saw that the fire lit up an odd, brazier like object, the fire then moved to another one, already set in the necessary position. After a few moments, all braziers in the room were a lit with the purple flame and a large monolith structure rose from a vortex in the floor.
Zwei cocked his head at it and I sighed in relief, whatever was inside was obviously the artefact I was sent to retrieve. I walked up to the smooth, stone object and placed my hand on it, marvelling at how soft it felt to the touch. When the object began to rumble and one side of it sunk into the floor, my eyes widened in shock at what I found inside.
"How am I possibly supposed to retrieve this?!"
