First things first, I'm so sorry that this chapter is as late as it is. A multitude of things was responsible, but it should be sorted now. Expect more regular updates.

Cover art - MRK50

The sun bathed the sky in pinky orange as it dipped past the mountains, bringing an end to another day in the Branwen Tribe.

Most of the bandits were sitting around campfires, eating, drinking, and generally being loud and obnoxious. Their company was unwelcome to Pyrrha. She sat on a log by herself, holding the photo of Team JNPR. What had once been a treasured memory was now her last cling to sanity in this insane place. Her team had always been her salvation.

"Hey guys," she said with a sigh to the photo. "First things first, I need to apologise. I thought some bad stuff about you again. Not you, Jaune. Never you. I'm talking to Ren and Nora here. I accused you of being ungrateful for everything I've done. I'm sorry, I've been doing it a lot lately. I'll try to stop it from now on."

The smiling faces of Ren and Nora patiently waited for her to continue.

"It's Raven," Pyrrha said. "She's been messing with my head. Do you know what she told me? You'll never believe this. She told me that Ozpin is an immortal wizard, and there's this woman called Salem who apparently commands the Grimm. She told me her bandit tribe is trying to defeat Salem and save mankind." She snorted. "I know. Crazy right? Sounds like something out of a storybook that's had a bit too much to drink."

She frowned. "So why is it I can't stop thinking about it? I know it's stupid, I know it's impossible... but ever since the Maidens, I think I need to re-think my definition of reality. But surely there has to be a point where something is too ridiculous to be true. There has to be rules on what's real and what's not. Otherwise how are we supposed to-"

"You always this weird when you're by yourself?"

Pyrrha turned around, surprised to see Vernal behind her, even more so when she saw her unarmed. Strange, considering how delightful their last conversation had been.

Vernal groaned. "Raven says I gotta try and get along with you while you're here. So… hi."

The absurdity of it made Pyrrha snicker. Vernal of the Branwen Tribe, harbinger of peace? As if things couldn't get crazier.

"Look, I'm trying to be fucking nice here!" Vernal snapped. "You can at least make an effort too!"

"Hate me all you like, Vernal. I'm not here to be your friend," Pyrrha said.

"God, you're a bitch," Vernal growled. "I don't get you. You come here acting like you're so much better than us, and yet you sleep behind the safety of our walls, eat our food-"

"I have my own food," Pyrrha said. "And I was brought here by Shay. I didn't choose to come here."

"Then why don't you leave? If you hate us so much, just piss off outta here. It's not like anyone's stopping you. I'll open the gate for you myself."

That was the right question. Pyrrha knew Raven was crazy and everyone here was a brainwashed drone. Her wounds had healed, and Raven had revealed her 'truth' to her. In theory, her time with the tribe was done.

So why was she still here? Pyrrha couldn't answer.

"You know what, whatever," Vernal grunted. "I did my best. Go talk to a fucking photo, freak."

That was the kindest offer she had been given in this camp. Pyrrha turned away from Vernal and waited for her to leave. Seconds passed and she didn't hear the sound of angry boots stomping off. Pyrrha smiled to herself as she felt a miasma of anger build up behind her. It was probably a bad idea to annoy the Spring Maiden, but she deserved to have a bit of fun.

"You're still here," Pyrrha noted casually, not bothering to turn around again.

"This is my home! I can go wherever the fuck I want!" Vernal barked.

Pyrrha sighed and scooted along the log, making room for Vernal. "Well, if you insist on staying, I guess we can talk. Just try not to shout so much, I've had a long day."

Vernal rolled her eyes and sat down. "Let's get one thing straight, I don't want to talk to you. You can sit by yourself or fall off a cliff for all I care. I'm doing this because Raven said so."

"Of course, and we wouldn't want to upset her, would we?"

Vernal growled. Pyrrha had never met someone so unwilling to talk to her. Back in the day, if a fan of hers wanted some one-on-one time with her, they either had to win a competition or pay hundreds of lien for VIP treatment. But Vernal was no rabid fan of hers.

She was simply rabid.

Vernal looked at the photo. "Who are they anyway?" she grunted. "Your family?"

Pyrrha hesitated. The photo had always been reserved for her eyes only. Anyone else seeing it was uncomfortable, like a well-guarded secret suddenly exposed. "In a way," she said. "They were my team members back when I was studying at Beacon. "

Vernal raised an eyebrow. "Were. They dead?"

"One of them is," Pyrrha said in a stiff voice. Her finger rested on the image of Jaune.

"Huh," Vernal said. "Unlucky for him. One guy in a team of three girls. He must've been living the dream."

"Two girls."

"What do you mean?"

"Ren's a boy." She pointed to him.

Vernal blinked slowly and her jaw hung open. "Seriously?" she whispered in frightened awe, running her fingers through her short hair. "Fucking hell…"

A snort escaped Pyrrha. That reaction never got old, no matter who it came from.

"So, the blond one's dead," Vernal said a little too casually for Pyrrha's liking. "What about the other two?"

"They're busy in Vale. After the attack, they stayed behind to rebuild the city and help the survivors."

And somewhere along the line, they got bored of sending me letters. Pyrrha cursed herself the moment the thought came to her head. She had just promised she wouldn't do that!

"So you guys are like family, and yet they're on one side of the world while you're out here on your own?" Vernal shook her head. "See, that would never happen here. No one gets left behind in the Branwen Tribe. We're all brothers and sisters here."

"They didn't leave me behind," Pyrrha muttered, but every day it sounded less convincing. She was terrible at keeping promises. "Anyway, I've seen how you treat your 'family'. You nearly killed that girl in that fight of yours."

"Nothing wrong with a bit of tough love," Vernal said. "We beat the weakness out of each other, but we don't abandon our own. Shay's a prick, but at least I know he's always got my back."

"I didn't think the Spring Maiden needed any backup in a fight."

Vernal shrugged. "Yeah well, I'll never say no to it."

It still boggled Pyrrha's mind that Vernal was the Spring Maiden. She lacked all of the grace and mysticism she expected someone with ancient magical powers to have. Cinder, as wretched as she was, at least played the part well; from how she dressed, the way she spoke, to even her beauty. Amber did too, despite being close to death when she saw her. Vernal was about as remarkable as ally trash rolling through the gutters.

Vernal scowled. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

"I'm just wondering what the Spring Maiden is doing in a place like this," Pyrrha said.

"A place like this?" Vernal sneered. "This is my home you're talking about. We can't all be born with a silver spoon up our ass. The Branwen Tribe took me in when my village got destroyed by Grimm. My parents died in that attack and I was left all alone."

"Couldn't you have used your powers to save them?"

"Idiot, I wasn't the Spring Maiden back then. I was just a kid. I couldn't do shit."

"I see," Pyrrha said. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be," Vernal snorted. "I blame my parents for putting me in that situation. They were weak. They couldn't protect themselves or me. Now I have a new family, one that actually knows how to stay alive and fight. Can't go wrong with that."

"Then why are you not the boss around here?" Pyrrha said. "Why don't you just use your powers to take command?"

Vernal gave a nasty smile. "This is why your family sucks compared to mine. You don't know the first thing about loyalty. I'd never betray Raven. She's the one keeping us together. We owe her everything."

Pyrrha's anger spiked. She could deal with insults just fine, but hearing someone praise Raven Branwen for anything? That was going too far.

"Even though she's crazy?" Pyrrha growled.

Vernal's eyes flashed angrily. "What was that?"

"I said she's crazy!" Pyrrha snapped. "Anyone with a brain can tell you she's lost her mind. You seriously believe Ozpin's an immortal wizard, and there's a queen of the Grimm coming to kill us all? I don't know who's madder. All of you for believing the garbage she's spewing out, or her."

"I dunno who this Ozpin guy you're talking about is, but you better shut your mouth," Vernal snarled. "You don't call Raven Branwen a liar while I'm around."

"Oh, go on then, get angry and use your Maiden magic. See if I care," Pyrrha huffed. "I was promised answers, and all I got was superstitious mumbo jumbo. I'm the one who's angry here."

"Salem is real," Vernal said. "And you'd be an idiot not to believe it."

"Oh, is that right? Have you ever seen her before?"

"No."

"No?" Pyrrha laughed. "So, you believe she exists just because Raven told you she does? And you're calling me the idiot here?"

"I don't need to see her to know she's real! I've felt her!"

Pyrrha frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I've felt her." Vernal shuddered in her seat, like her hothead had been doused with ice water. The rugged bandit was gone, and in her place was a frightened little girl.

"It happens all the time now," she murmured. "I've seen the aftermath of a Grimm attack loads of times. Destroyed villages, bodies ripped apart, it's nothing new. But sometimes it feels… different. Sometimes I show up to one of these graveyards, and even though there's nothing left - no survivors, no Grimm, nothing - it feels like something or someone is watching me. I look at every shadow, expecting to see something staring out at me. But there's nothing there, and that only makes it worse. This feeling follows me even when I'm back home, it's like a bad stink you can't get rid of. After a while, I forget about it and move on. But when I go to another village and feel it again, that's when I realise that whatever it was, it didn't forget about me. It's still watching me, waiting for me to make one fuck up so it can take me."

Vernal shuddered again. "I can feel it even now. Every shadow looks like a trap to me. That's what Salem is. You can never forget about her after that."

Pyrrha listened to Vernal's anxious ramblings. There was no denying it, the girl was completely convinced of the idea of Salem. She could understand her feelings. Visting the sight of a Grimm attack was always a tense experience, but saying it had anything to do with Salem was about as convincing as being told the moon was made of cheese.

"Okay for you then," Pyrrha sighed. "I guess we've all got monsters we're scared of. But I've actually seen mine, and she isn't called Salem."

"Go on then, keep thinking I'm crazy," Vernal said. "You think Salem cares if you don't think she's real? She'll kill you whether you believe in her or not."

"And that's why you're here, is it? You're the one's who are going to stop her?"

"You're damn right. Raven Brawen is the only hope we've got."

"Why do you trust her so much?"

"She's the only one who cares!" Vernal snapped, her temper coming back. "Look at us. We're walking garbage, peasants living in the woods. The kingdom's don't care about us. Anyone born outside the main cities might as well be dead to them. We're just meat shields to keep the Grimm busy, so that people like you can live cosy little lives, while we die out here with nobody to help us."

"You're saying it's my fault you're a bandit now?" Pyrrha said.

"Raven is the only one who gives a shit about us," Vernal ignored her. "Someone with her skills, she could've easily just turned us all into slaves. Instead, she taught us everything she knew, gave us the means to fight back. She wants everyone to survive what's coming, including people like us. So yeah, that's why I trust her - because she trusts us!"

That was the first time Pyrrha had seen Vernal put passion into something that wasn't fighting or insulting her. It would've been nice, if only she wasn't still putting her energy into the wrong things.

"Did Raven ask you to become the Spring Maiden?" Pyrrha said.

Vernal nodded. "Let's just say she never asks anything of us she wouldn't be willing to do herself."

How quaint. There was no contingency plan if Pyrrha hadn't agreed to become the Fall Maiden, or if there was, it wouldn't have been nearly as effective. No wonder Vernal didn't look so burdened by the power of the Maiden. She still had a say in the matter.

There was nothing like that for Pyrrha.

"What's that like, anyway?" Pyrrha asked. "Being a Maiden?"

Vernal shrugged, suddenly looking very awkward. "I dunno, it is what it is. The whole magic thing might seem cool to you, but you do it enough times, it gets old real quick."

"But how does it feel? What do you-"

"Look, can you stop asking me about Spring Maiden stuff?" Vernal said. "I get enough weird looks as it is from the others."

Pyrrha frowned, unsure of where her nervousness was coming from. "Fine. I just asked because I was supposed to become the Fall Maiden."

"Yeah, I know. Shay told me. He said you told him you were destined to be it." She snorted. "A bit full of yourself, aren't you?"

"I was."

"If you were, then you wouldn't be hanging around with us, would you? But then again, you city folk love thinking you're all special and shit. You expect everything to be given to you."

"We're never going to be friends, are we?"

"Did you think we would?"

Pyrrha heard someone approaching them. She could already guess who it was. Apart from Raven and Vernal, there was only one other person in the tribe who bothered talking to her. Pyrrha closed her eyes and sighed.

"Ladies!"

Shay's voice leaked into her ear like rotten sewage. Pyrrha turned to see him staggering his way to them. A whisky bottle dangled between his fingers. She could already smell half its contents wafting from his breath. A tipsy Shay was just as annoying as a sober one.

"What do we have here?" he said as he sat opposite them. "Looks like the two Maidens are finally playing nice. Hey, I got a question. If the two of you are Maidens, does that make you like sisters or something? Can you read each other's minds? You got that twin telepathy down yet?"

"I'm the only Maiden around here," Vernal snorted. "She's just a wannabe."

Shay flashed Pyrrha a yellow grin. "Don't listen to her. I think you're perfect just the way you are."

Pyrrha stared coldly at him. "What do you want?"

"Just wanted to see how my two favourite girls in the world are doing." He held the bottle to Pyrrha. "Have some, or you'll end up as grumpy as her."

"No."

"Oh, good. I was hoping you'd say that," Shay laughed and took another swig from it.

"We've been talking about Salem and whether or not she's real," Pyrrha said. "I think Raven's lost her mind, or maybe she never had one to begin with. What do you think?"

Shay's mood sank. He pulled the bottle away from his lips slowly and fixed her a dark glare. "Raven finally told you about her then?"

"She did."

"Then I hope you were listening." Shay bowed his head and toyed with the bottle in his hands, rubbing his thumbs over the label. "Yup, Salem's no joke," he said in a serious voice. "She's the one you gotta watch out for. When the boss told me about her, I had nightmares for three days straight. Sometimes I can see her when I look at myself in the mirror. Maybe that's how she works? Maybe she can live within the darkness inside all of us." He looked up at Pyrrha. "I can see a little bit of her in you now."

Shay was a horrible actor. Pyrrha had seen him scared before, back when he told her the story of Raven butchering Denzel Maraudis. She remembered the look of terror on his face that was absent here.

"You know what I see when I look at you?" Pyrrha said. "An idiot who thinks he's being clever."

Shay burst into laughter, abandoning the act. "Couldn't keep a straight face. I tried, I really did. Of course she's crazy! I'm still waiting for her to tell me that Santa Claus is real, and that he and Salem bang on the weekends."

"You don't believe in Salem, but you still follow Raven anyway?" Pyrrha said.

"Lemme tell you what I believe," Shay said. "I believe Raven Branwen is the baddest bitch in all of Remnant, and she's gonna make some serious changes around here. When that happens, I wanna be on her good side. So she can believe in whatever crackpot boogeyman she wants. I ain't gonna tell her she's wrong. Hell, I'm kinda hoping she's right. Fighting a big scary Grimm lady sounds like a good time to me."

He stood up. "Anyway, I gotta get an early night. Boss has given me a job to do first thing tomorrow. Sleep tight, and don't let the Salem bugs bite." He walked away, drinking and whistling a tuneless song.

Vernal shook her head. "Like I said, he's a prick. But I know I can count on him."

[/]

Ren was in trouble, and Ruby had to do something.

Nora kept telling her to just give Ren time, that he would come around eventually. How many times had she heard that back at Patch, back when Yang was suffering? 'Just give her time' was a phrase thrown around the house as regularly as Zwei's chew toys. It felt like an excuse to sit back and do nothing. Time hadn't made Yang any better. Yang had all the time in the world, and it just made her worse.

Ruby had failed to help Yang. She had failed to help Jaune. They never would've gone to Salem if she hadn't been so careless. How many more failures could she afford to make? How many more mistakes until she couldn't even look at herself anymore?

She wasn't going to fail Ren. She couldn't just stand by and wait for everything to work itself out. She had to help.

A sky full of stars was their roof for the night. Ruby didn't know how long she had been awake for, but it was long enough for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She could see Nora curled up in her sleeping bag, not a care in the world as she snoozed away.

Ren's bag was empty.

She had seen him stand up and leave when he thought everyone was asleep, walking deeper into the woods. His movements were wistful, dazed like he was sleepwalking. Disturbingly, it was the most relaxed Ruby had seen him in a long time.

She waited a long time before she stood up to follow him. She thought about waking up Nora too, but it wouldn't have been fair to her. The last thing Ruby wanted was to be dependent on her when something was wrong. She had dragged the pair of them into enough of her problems already.

It didn't take long to find him. He hadn't gone far. Ruby found him slumped against a tree like he had fallen out of it, head hung low, his long hair spilling over his face. Asleep, but hardly peaceful. It was hard to ignore the twitches his body made with each shallow breath. She was close enough to hear what sounded like him muttering beneath his dark stringy hair. The easy answer was he was having a nightmare, but Ruby knew better than that. Something else was tormenting him. Something deeper. Something darker.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up when she looked down at his hands. Ruby felt chills, the dark of the night now seeming very threatening around her.

The book. The one he got from the church that he now carried around like a prized family heirloom. She saw it clutched in his hand, his fingers drawing creases along the oily black cover. Even in his sleep, there was a desperate strength in his grip.

Ruby knew she had to get the book away from him. That was the obvious part. She had no idea why Ren had decided to take it, or why he still had it. Whatever was written inside it was poisoning his mind. But once she had it, then what? Throw it away? Ren was hooked on it and would probably be furious with her if she did, even if it was for the best. She didn't want to cause any conflict within the team.

But then again, as a leader, wasn't she supposed to put her foot down? Wasn't she supposed to take charge? Did she have the courage to deal with any infighting?

Ruby slapped herself. She needed to focus. Getting the book away from him was the main priority. She would worry about the other stuff later. She crouched down and tugged the book gently, trying to pry it from his fingers.

Before she could even blink, she suddenly found herself staring down the barrel of his gun.

Ruby went deathly still. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw Ren's wild, restless eyes glaring back at her. Sweat bulleted down his face, travelling past the beastly snarl that twisted his lips, revealing a set of chattering, feverish teeth.

Ren blinked. "Ruby?" he gasped, sounding like he didn't believe it was her. His gun arm didn't waver.

"Yeah, it's me," she stammered, holding her hands up in surrender.

"What are you doing?"

"That's what I wanna ask you. You, um... you can put your gun down now."

Ren didn't like the sound of that, but he did with a worrying amount of reluctance. His fingers still stroked the trigger as he brought it to his lap.

"Why are you following me?" he grunted as he stood up. She hadn't noticed his smell until he started moving. He reeked of sweat, like he had been sprinting for miles under the blazing sun. His clothes looked clammy against his sheening skin.

"You walked away from the camp and didn't come back, what was I supposed to do?" Ruby said.

"I know these woods. I can look after myself."

"I'm not saying that you can't, I'm just saying I was worried. What were you doing out here anyway?"

"Reading," Ren said in a dismissive tone that demanded the end of the conversation.

Ruby looked at the book again. He held it tighter than his weapon. "Yeah, that's why I was worried."

"You don't need to worry about me. Go back to bed."

Ruby remembered her purpose for coming out here. "No, I don't think that's true," she said in a firmer voice. It was time to take action. "Something's been bothering you lately, and I want to know what it is. Remember back on the boat when we promised to be open with each other? You need to tell me what's wrong."

"It's not your concern."

"Wrong. As the leader, I need to take responsibility for-"

Ren groaned. "Ruby, can we not do this?"

"Do what?"

"This. This whole 'teams' and 'leaders' nonsense. Can we just end it here? We're not at Beacon anymore."

Ruby faltered. "I know we're not," she said, unable to stop the slight crack in her voice as her authoritative tone dissolved.

"Then stop acting like it. It's like you and Nora think things are gonna go back to normal, with your team attack names and your carefree attitude. You think we're going to go back to school one day, hunt Grimm, and it will be just like old times. I've seen what's become of Beacon now, Ruby. I've fought under its ruins, and I can tell you that that's never going to happen."

His words were throwing knives, cutting her deeply with every sentence. "Ren, why are you saying this?" She felt her worst fears begin to surface. "Are you having second thoughts about going to Mistral?"

A desperate plea laced the question. He couldn't leave her now. They had come so far, and Nora would surely leave too if he decided to call it quits. She couldn't bear the thought of doing this by herself.

Ren sighed and rubbed his temples. "No, that's not what I'm saying. It's just... you're not blind. You have to realise things have changed. We can't act like how we used to anymore."

She felt slightly relieved by his choice to stay, but his decision didn't sound absolute. "Ren, if you don't want me to be the leader anymore, that's fine," she said gently. "I just thought being a team would be a fun idea. It's something we're all used to. You were on board with it before."

"Well, I've changed my mind."

"Sure... but we're still, like, working together, right?"

"We are," he confirmed. "I just need... I need space. I need time to be alone every now and then. You think you can give me that?"

"Sure, Ren. Whatever you need." Her eyes drifted down to the book. "It's to read that, isn't it?"

Ren tensed and turned it away from her. "That doesn't concern you," he muttered.

"But what's it-"

"It doesn't concern you," he repeated, his voice as firm as a hand around her throat. "Your job is to get us to Mistral, remember? Focus on that. Let me worry about this. Deal?"

Ruby knew she was walking on thin ice by asking any more questions. Ren's loyalty was wavering. Irritating him further would only speed up his decision to leave. All she could do was meekly nod and feel terrible while doing it.

"Good," he said, already turning her back on her.

"You're not coming back to the camp."

"Space, Ruby. Remember?"

She remembered. Ruby obediently slunk back to her sleeping bag and buried herself beneath its folds, putting as much distance between her and Remnant as possible. She understood now. It wasn't a matter of 'if' Ren and Nora would ditch her.

It was 'when'.

[/]

Tyrian strolled through the dark and twisting woods like he skipping through a flower meadow on a sunny day. He had nothing to fear. No man nor Grimm could hurt him, though he always invited them to try. In these woods, he was the monster to be feared, and it was always delightful watching that dreadful realisation dawn on his victim's faces.

The rumours of the light source had led him here. In the last place he ever expected to return to.

"I'm hooooome!" he sang merrily. Most people were unaware of the village of Salem's existence. It was situated too deep in the woods for any reasonable person to explore. Perhaps that explained his very unreasonable mindset? After all, no one grew up truly sane in a place like this.

"Brothers and sisters, your saviour has arrived!" Tyrian announced loudly. "Come one, come all. I have news for-"

He stopped and inhaled the butcher spice that scented the air. He felt his tongue wet his lips as he tasted the old memory of blood. Tyrian Callows was a natural friend of death. He spent much time in its company, introducing it to the unfortunate masses. It was his addiction. So, it was rare for him to stumble upon its work and have nothing to do with it himself. It almost felt like a betrayal.

Something had happened to the village. It didn't take him long to see what.

Walking down the streets of his younger years, he found hundreds of grey statues lined up like an art exhibition. Even by his standards, it was bizarre. There was no carnage to be seen, but he had both the eyes and the mind of a killer, and his mind always told him the truth. Death had come to the village.

Tyrian inspected one of the strange statues. The sight surprised him, but so did the gasp that left his mouth. It was the most normal reaction he had made in a long time. But his surprise couldn't be helped. He had thought the statue to be of a person when he saw it from a distance. He was wrong. It looked like a hybrid of man and Grimm, with both beings fighting for dominance over the body, resulting in something twisted and monstrous.

There was very little of the person it had once been left in the statue, though Tyrian could make out some familiar features amidst the mess of its face. He recognised him to be a former teacher of his.

He didn't need to see the other statues to guess what had happened. The realisation forced an eruption of laughter from him.

"Unbelievable!" he cackled. "You did it! You actually did it! And they call me insane!" It was the kind of laughter that hurt, punching his gut and stinging his sides in the best way possible. He was on the verge of tears. "Brothers and sisters, I applaud your madness. I never expected you to go this far, but your dedication is outstanding. Oh, how I wish I could've been there to see the results of your follies. It would have been marvellous."

They were dead. They had gorged themselves on the flesh of Grimm, and become these creatures. Everyone he knew growing up was dead. He did not pity them. Their foolishness had brought this on themselves. Besides, this was what they wanted. He supposed they died happy. There weren't many who could claim that, certainly not if they encountered him.

He looked for his mother, expecting to see her statue somewhere. He wondered what sort of hybrid the leader of Salem would turn out to be. When he found her, she was no statue.

Mordana hadn't been so fortunate.

Her body looked like paper sent to the shredder, skin peeled from her bones and strewing the grass. Claw and teeth marks covered every inch of her. He could see in that last expression that haunted her lifeless eyes that her death had not been a happy one, though whether it was because she hadn't transformed, or because of how violently she had died was unclear.

He knelt down by her grisly remains. "Oh Mother," he tutted. "I leave the village for a couple of years, and this is what you do in my absence. Who do you think is going to clean this mess? I'm pretty sure the undertaker is a statue too."

Like with the other villagers, Tyrian had no pity for his dead mother. There was a beauty to a slaughter that few people appreciated. Capturing someone's last moments alive was art in of itself, immortalising them as much as a portrait did. Only this was real, it was in the moment. He ran his fingers over her, and he swore he could feel the sorrow still lingering on her.

"This is your fault," he continued. "I tried telling you all those years ago. Salem doesn't care for your sacrifices or prayers. Consuming Grimm brings you about as close to her as jumping does between you and the moon. She expects her followers to carry out her will. It's why I left you and your sycophants behind. I thought you would simply fade into obscurity where you belonged."

He looked back at the statues and giggled. "Though I admit, this is impressive."

They hadn't become statues by themselves. The silver-eyed girl must have run into them and turned them into these stone forms. He didn't know what circumstances had occurred to lead to that happening, but it didn't matter. He was on the right track now, and that was all that mattered.

"But take heart, Mother," he said. "I will succeed where the rest of you failed. I will pave the way to Salem's victory, and ensure her rightful dominion over existence. It will be glorious. A shame you'll never be able to see it. But then again, none of you were worthy anyway."

He closed what remained of her eyes. A futile gesture if ever there was one. As if she could ever look peaceful in the state she was in.

"Rest easy now. I have a future to create... and a heretic to hunt."

He left the village, remembering how he swore never to return all those years ago. Only this time, it would be true.