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I lay on my back, staring at the sunset through the canopy of blood red leaves of the forest around me. My mind slowly drifted to simpler times as I saw the beginnings of stars twinkling in the endless depths of the world beyond. I closed my eyes, a sense of calm overtaking me as I faded away.

I found myself floating in an inky abyss. Nothing to see but darkness all around, stretching to some infinitely distant horizon. Here I felt no hunger, no thirst, no pain. Here I was free.

A pair of arms clad in fair and silky skin draped themselves over my shoulders from behind, the luscious body they were attached to pressing flush against my back. A sultry voice whispered in my ears as I felt breath on my neck. "So close, dear Jaune, but I have use for you yet."

The arms detached themselves from my chest, and I felt a rush of energy course through me. In some far away place, I felt myself be called; the pull of a familiar vessel beckoning to be filled. I let the energy overtake me, and the abyss faded around me, the last thing I was conscious of being a saccharine smile accompanied by sadistic eyes made of embers and fire.

((()))

I walked into a town made of simple wooden huts and surrounded by farmland. They were simple folk, with hardly anything of value besides the land they worked on, but they were good folk.

I ambled through town, drawing stares and whispers as the townsfolk drew in my appearance. Besides my battered armor, chipped shield, bleeding wounds, and shattered sword. More than that, the main attraction was the worg head I was hefting under my arm.

Making my way straight to what passed as the town hall, and knocked twice on the flimsy wooden door. Within a minute, a perky, freckled girl around my age who stood just a couple inches shorter than me opened the door and beckoned me in, before bouncing back a few steps.

"Adventurer! Ya made it back! And ya took care of our worg problem ta boot!" She cheered ecstatically at my good fortune, her voice heavy with a country accent. She looked me over and let out an appreciative whistle. "Looks like it wasn't easy though, huh? If ya weren't standing here in front of me I'd think those injuries had killed ya!" She laughed lightly at her own joke, and I chuckled nervously in response.

"I'm just happy I made it out alive, honestly," I said. "Now I don't mean to be rude, but I'm really tired and trying my best not to bleed on your floor." The girl smiled at me before bounding off to fetch the mayor, her light brown ponytail bobbing along behind her as she slipped off.

I shuffled over to a chair in what counted as a sitting area and eased myself down, my weight alone making the chair creak under the stress. I let out a sigh and sank as deep into the chair as I could go, before closing my eyes and turning my focus inward.

Within me, I felt the warm energy of my own soul, its form similar to a warm yellow mote of light. Looking past the light, I moved deeper into myself. Within I felt a vile perversion; a foreign entity grafted to the very walls of my soul and parasitising my life force so it may live. I goaded that power, drawing from it, and felt an unnatural warmth spread through my body as my wounds began to knit themselves together and the aches and pains faded.

I was shaken from my meditation by the sound of calm and measured footsteps approaching the sitting room, and I opened my eyes to glance at the hallway where the energetic girl had disappeared earlier. As the footsteps became increasingly apparent, I became faintly aware of the smell of brimstone, and quickly waved my shield like a fan to dissipate the smell.

The door to the hallway opened, and an elderly man by the name of Mr. Rye walked out. He took a second to scan the room before landing on me, before shifting to the worg head on the floor next to me. He walked over to me slowly, almost seeming a bit scared. "I see you finished the quest we gave you, Mr. Arc," he began, his voice shaking ever so slightly, both from his age and a small amount of fear.

I began to wonder why he was afraid of me at all. I mean, sure, I look like I lost a fight with a butcher's chopping block, but I'm hardly intimidating. The reason for his trepidation became apparent as he continued on.

"Unfortunately, , the damage the worgs did to the city between the time the quest was posted and the time of your arrival was more than anticipated, and we don't have enough money to cover your reward." The man seemed to shrink and prepare for an outburst from me. I saw visible shock cross his features as I instead gave a comforting smile.

"That's all right, Mr. Rye," I said, "I'll be fine taking whatever you can comfortably provide." I saw him deflate in relief as he shook my hand, thanking me profusely. I felt heat rise to my cheeks and rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. I was no stranger to how some adventurers abused their obvious superiority over the common man, and so knew how much relief my words brought him.

All in all, after a brief check-in to ensure I completed my contract, I was given a handful of silver coins. There were twenty in total, about enough for a night or two in a larger city and half my original pay. Regardless, I accepted them with a smile on my face, the remainder of the reward more than made up for by the look of happiness and relief on the face of the mayor.

However, even as I felt the warmth of a job-well-done in my chest, I was able to feel a foreign presence stirring within. Its tainted grip on my soul allowed me to feel it as it grew ever so slightly in strength, and the raw pleasure it gained from doing so. I left the town the next morning, my satisfaction tainted by the presence of a sultry voice whispering in my ear.

((()))

I hunched over the side of the road, retching as the last of my meager meal expelled itself from my stomach. The scent of vomit was unfortunately unable to cover the smell of blood and viscera that painted the area and my armor.

"They tried to rob me, it was me or them, they were going to kill me, it wasn't my fault!" I cried in my head. Despite this, the feeling of my sword cleaving through flesh and my shield buckling bone played back through my mind. Images of the shocked look on the bandits faces just before the light drained from their eyes brought about a new wave of nausea, and I doubled over once more to dry heave on the side of the road.

"Awww, poor little knight." I heard a sultry voice tease, the sound seeming to come from everywhere at once. "Not taking your first kills well, I see. Not surprising. You were a meek little specimen from the beginning. Though, I really should thank you. Tainted souls like this are just what I needed," The voice continued.

I felt a perversion of a soul within me pulse with power, and I collapsed to my knees, clutching my chest. The same vile feeling continued to grow and pulse for a moment, and I felt the true depth of the tainted grasp it had on my soul.

I felt a presence grow behind me, and chanced a look between my legs. I was shocked to see a head of raven hair begin to rise from my very shadow, as if it were a pool in the ground the figure had been submerged in.

Raven hair framed a striking face, with full, red lips and fair skin. Set into the face just above a perfectly-shaped nose were eyes the color of fire. Eyes that gleamed with a sadistic satisfaction.

The figure continued to rise from my shadow, revealing a womanly figure clad in a blood red dress with a feathered ornament on the right hip. The whole figure stood, propped up by black glass heels, before unfurling a pair of black, feathered wings, the tips of each feather glowing like freshly-made embers.

"It's so nice to be able to see the outside through my own eyes," she cooed in a low tone. She closed her eyes and stretched both her arms and her wings out, basking in her newfound freedom.

"Cinder," I managed to croak out, my nausea temporarily forgotten. She looked down at me in both a literal and figurative sense before sending me a self-assured smirk. "My little knight," she crowed, "you truly are a man of your word."

"I didn't do it for you," I spat, only to receive another smirk in response. "Oh, but you did," she began smugly. "You suggested the deal, after all, and gave me so much more than you asked for in return. That said, as I still have yet to return to full power, our bargain hasn't ended yet. So I will continue to provide my end so long as you provide yours. Until then, I will be borrowing your shadow, your soul was a little cramped for my liking. Continue to entertain me until then, little knight."

Cinder shot me one last smirk before dropping into my shadow, vanishing from sight. I picked myself up, wiping off my sword and shield as best I could, before trudging off once more to my destination, the hollow pit of nausea forming once more coming from two different sources.

((()))

I rolled to the side to avoid the blade of a hobgoblin skirmisher before separating its head from its shoulders in a swift motion. Using the return stroke, I speared a smaller goblin to my right, killing both before the first's body had time to hit the ground. I was spared from having a spear driven into my back by a blast of green energy from off to the left. Sensing no more threats, I stood up and looked over to where the blast had come from.

"Thanks, Penny," I said, and was met with the cheerful reply of "No problem, Master! Your combat skills were more than sufficient, so I am happy to have been able to provide assistance!" I let out a sigh, sheathing my sword and returning my shield to my back. "You know you don't have to call me that, Penny. I'm not your master, I don't order you around, and you're not my property."

The redheaded girl cocked her head, a jovial smile plastered onto her pale and freckled face. "Nonsense, Master, you are the one who entered my creator's facility and activated me. That makes you my rightful owner, as my creator has thus far shown no resistance to the concept. As for giving me orders, you do that all the time, such as when you tell me not to call you master!" She finished her sentence by rocking on her heels once to punctuate her upbeat tone of voice.

To almost all forms of visual inspection, Penny was a human girl. Short ginger hair, pale skin, a rounded face dotted with freckles, electric green eyes, and a skinny frame. I, however, knew the truth. Penny was an arcane golem, and a rather peculiar one at that. She had been following me around for days now after I had accidentally stumbled into an abandoned wizard's study and activated her, at which point she promptly declared me her master and pledged her literally undying servitude.

The whole "master" thing was still a little too embarrassing though, and she had seemed to ignore every request to stop. She would always respond with "Yes, Master!" and then not change a thing.

I simply sighed at her once again acknowledging and denying my request in the same sentence, before walking over to pick up a backpack I had discarded when the fight started. Seeing my lack of distress, Penny retracted her weapons- an array of sharp, green, crystalline pylons -by storing them in her own localized pocket dimension before brushing off her black, skirted overalls and standing at attention. "What adventure shall we go on next, Master?" She cheered.

"First, we're going to have to reach a town. Then I can see what jobs are available," I said. Penny simply gave a nod and an energetic salute before falling into step just a few paces behind me. I shook my head with a mixture of exasperation and amusement before continuing along in the direction I had mapped the nearest city to be.

((()))

"I'm beginning to understand what you humans find so special about these places," Cinder sighed, swirling around the water of a hot spring I had found in the forest we were traveling through. I sat facing away from her, my back stiff and cheeks flushed. Demoness as she was, she was still very much a woman, very much naked, and very close to me, so my nerves were frayed. The situation wasn't helped by Penny watching me like a hawk to ensure my safety.

Penny had confronted me in regards to a demonic presence she had detected on my person a few days prior, and it was at that moment that Cinder had decided to reveal herself. Penny, being the kind girl she was, had attempted to free me from my possession by attacking the demonic threat. Unfortunately, I kind of relied on said demonic threat to be an adventurer in the first place, so I had to talk her down to avoid either Penny getting destroyed or myself becoming a mundane human again. I was able to convince her to stop attacking, but she clearly still harbors a wariness towards Cinder. A well-founded wariness, to be sure, but not a helpful one.

I heard the water splash as Cinder lay back, spreading her wings haphazardly in the pool. "You know, little knight," she began, "I don't think I ever thanked you for freeing me from my prison." Her words caught me off guard, causing me to grunt out a "huh?"

"I never thanked you for freeing me from my prison," she repeated. "I had been trapped there for almost a hundred years, and it was so terribly boring. I had seen people come and go over and over again, some not taking even a second to glance and others actively avoiding being in my presence for too long. Even though it was for your own gain, you still saved me from that endless drudgery, and so I should thank you." She spoke in a mindless tone, as if she were thinking out loud, and by the sound of her voice wasn't even looking at me as she spoke. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that as she reminisced, her voice sounded… lonely.

"Don't mention it," was my response. "Like you said, I did it for selfish reasons. You should have no reason to praise my actions like some kindness." Cinder simply hummed noncommittally at my words, and a soft silence descended over the group. The silence was broken by Penny speaking up. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Master. Even if it was an accident, I am still eternally grateful for you giving me life. That is why I pledge my servitude to you. Not because I am programmed to obey you, but because I would have no other person be my master."

Penny's words brought me a small peace, the knowledge that she was following me of her own free will comforting in its own weird way. As for Cinder, her words brought a small bout of conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I had released a dangerous demoness from her eternal prison in my selfish pursuit of an impossible dream, but on the other hand saved a living and thinking creature just like myself from an eternity of isolation and boredom.

If I had given up on my dreams, if I had not decided to turn to darker forces when the light refused to listen, would the Cinder I know now be gone? Would she have gone insane in her isolation? Come to well and truly despise humanity? I didn't know, but I found myself feeling glad that I had let her free, even knowing what it had cost me.

((()))

The ogre let out a loud roar as it brought its tree-sized club to bear on my shield. The wood hit the metal with a loud crash, and my body was briefly enveloped by an orangish-yellow glow as I tanked the blow. Penny whizzed by behind the ogre, firing off a series of small green beams in a magical strafing run before flying back to a safer position.

"Get down, little knight!" I heard Cinder call from behind me. I ducked down to the ground shield above my head, and watched as a barrage of black and ember feathers crashed into the ogre's chest before detonating. The ogre let out a roar as it was staggered from the blast, and I moved in to take advantage. However, I was interrupted by a yell from off to the side, and a girl with a glowing mane of golden hair flew out of the trees and slammed a gauntlet-clad fist into the ogre's face.

The ogre fell, concussed by the blow. As it hit the ground, I heard a higher pitched battle cry sound before a streak of red blew across the clearing. The ogre's body seemed to have been instantly covered in a large number of slashes, and it remained on the forest floor, dead.

I straightened my stance to look at the two newcomers, and came face to face with a pair of red eyes. "What are you doing trying to steal our quest, huh?" The blonde shouted at me.

I blinked dumbly for a second, before regaining my wits. "Uhm, steal your quest?" I asked. "Yeah!" The blonde shouted, "we got the task to kill that ogre like two days ago, and you think you can just swoop in and steal the reward?"

I was completely lost as to what was happening, and that must have been pretty apparent on my face. A smaller girl with black hair clad in a red cloak walked up beside the bad-tempered blonde, clutching the haft of a scythe awkwardly.

"Yang," she whispered loudly, "I don't think these are the people who have been stealing our quests." The girl now known as Yang's face relaxed for a second, and she scanned bewildered the look on my face. I saw the red in her eyes vanish, turning them into a stunning shade of lilac, and she relaxed her posture, backing out of my face.

As she moved out of my field of view, I saw Penny behind her with her pylons ready to fire and a surprisingly angry look on her face. I shot her a reassuring look, and she lowered her pylons, quickly regaining her cheerful disposition.

"So… you weren't trying to steal our bounty?" Yang clarified, a carefully skeptical look on her face. "No," I replied, "we were just defending ourselves after we accidentally entered this thing's hunting grounds." She seemed to consider my words for a second before breaking into a toothy grin.

"Well why didn't you just say so!" she cheered, clapping me on the shoulder with strength that would have sent me flying had I been a civilian. The smaller girl whispered to her "Because you didn't give him a chance to explain," and Yang whispered back with just as much tact: "I know, but I'm trying to skip past that part so we can be friends."

After their aside, Yang turned to me with her same grin. "Name's Yang, and this here is my sister Ruby," she said, pulling the cloaked girl into a one-armed hug. "Sorry about the mix up. It's just that we've had some bad luck with people scalping our bounties for the last little while, and I jumped to conclusions." She at least had the decency to look sheepish, and let out a small chuckle at the end of her explanation.

I shrugged. "Eh, nobody got hurt, so you're fine. I'm Jaune, by the way, and these two are Penny and Cinder," I said, gesturing to the two as I said their names. Penny gave an energetic wave and Cinder simply gave a disinterested nod to the two. Ruby returned Penny's wave awkwardly, and Yang frowned for a second at Cinder's dismissal of the two.

"Well, how's about I treat you guys to a drink as an apology? The city of Vale isn't too far away now, so we can make the journey back together and I could get you a round when we arrive. " Yang ventured. I gave a small smile in response. "That would be nice. In fact, we were on our way to Vale anyway, so extra company wouldn't be too bad." Yang's grin grew wider and she clapped me on the shoulder again before strutting off. "This way!" she called behind her. I sent a shrug and a small smile to my companions, who responded with an ecstatic nod and roll of the eyes respectively. With that decided, we moved to follow the two to Vale.

Throughout the journey, Penny talked animatedly with Ruby, the two discussing everything from weapons and armor to spells and magical items. It seemed Ruby was quite the gear maniac. Yang would occasionally chat me up when she wasn't trying to pull Cinder out of her indifferent shell.

Speaking of Cinder, she was standing so close to me in the presence of the newcomers that she might as well have been in my shadow again. It seemed that she was making a concentrated effort to stay as far from Ruby specifically as possible. I leaned down to ask her about it at some point in our journey and was met with a surprisingly meek response.

"I can feel the influence of a god in her. Not exactly a paladin or cleric, but enough that she registers as holy. Be careful of her, as she may try to persecute you for travelling with me if I am exposed as a devil." Cinder whispered, a noticeable amount of trepidation in her voice. It made sense to me. Last time she crossed a god-touched, she was sealed within a temple in the middle of nowhere for close to a hundred years. "If that happens, Penny is more than strong enough to carry me short distances and you can already fly, so we can high-tail it out of wherever we are," I said, a serious look on my face.

She seemed to be caught off-guard by my reaction and leaned closer. "If you do that, you will be prosecuted as a demon worshipper!" she hissed. I shrugged in response. "Would you rather I just leave you behind? Besides, you're kind of tied to me, anyway, so if they don't detect the hellish presence from you, they'll get it from me."

Cinder seemed to try to think of a retort for a second, but eventually sighed. "Your funeral, little knight." She put up an attitude like she thought I was an idiot, which was probably true, but I still noticed how she walked with a bit more confidence after our conversation.

((()))

It had been weeks since we had entered Vale, and we seemed to have been acclimating to life there pretty quickly. Penny and Ruby became fast friends, I found Yang to be agreeable in most aspects, and Cinder was no longer shutting down any attempts at conversation with the two. In our time there, I also managed to run into another pair, a ginger barbarian and her green-clad monk "friend." I put "friend" lightly since it's clear to anyone that they have unexpressed feelings for each other, so that may not be the right word for long.

At the moment, the sisters were assisting our group in an elimination quest so we could pay for our rent. Our task was to locate and destroy a goblin nest a few miles away from the edge of town. It seemed that the regional manager of that portion of the city had been neglecting his duties, which had allowed for monsters to roll in and harass the farmers outside the walls.

The extermination was going well so far. We were able to wipe out the small group guarding the entrance without alerting any of the others, and had made it halfway through the cave before we met any more resistance. They were dispatched quickly, but loudly, and now we were headed to the main chamber in order to finish the rest of them off.

We stood outside of the main chamber and I snuffed my torch. "Alright guys, here's the plan. Cinder, Penny, I need you guys to stay in the back and provide ranged support. Ruby, I need you to use hit and run tactics on any ranged enemies before switching to larger targets. Yang, you and I are going to be in the front line, drawing the attention of any heavy hitters and keeping them away from Penny and Cinder." I spoke with purpose, pointing to each person and making sure they absorbed my instructions.

"As you wish, Master!" Penny cheered.

"You betcha, Jaune!" Ruby chirped.

"Let's kick some ass, VB!" Yang said with a predatory grin.

Cinder sent me a small smirk. "A fine strategy, little knight."

With our plan set, I counted to three before breaking down the flimsy gate leading to the main chamber. A barrage of glowing feathers and green beams burst into the room from over my shoulders, wiping out the small cluster of goblins guarding the door. Ruby burst past me in a blur of red, zipping the almost one-hundred feet it took to reach the other end of the chamber in only a few seconds and swiftly decapitating a pair of goblin archers with a swing of her scythe.

Yang and I rushed into the fray, disabling as many goblins as possible before they could regroup. My sword cut through my enemies like a hot knife through butter, its blackened glass blade glowing almost imperceptibly with a magical energy. I'd have to thank Cinder after the battle for using so much of her relatively meager power to revitalize the ancestral sword.

The goblin forces were getting decimated, and I saw a few on the fringes of the battle begin to cut and run. With a shout of "Ruby!," their numbers were thinned even further as the red reaper blurred around the flank, scythe slashing deadly arcs into the unsuspecting and breaking fighters. One of the goblins, however, managed to slip past our notice. But, instead of fleeing the cave, they made a beeline towards a large wooden structure built into the side of the main chamber.

The movement of the goblin's hand toward a lever caught my eye, and I turned to look just as it yanked the lever down. A rudimentary pulley system groaned to life, and the wooden structure fell down, revealing a very large, very angry cave troll. It barely waited for the wooden door to its cage to open, crashing through the opening once the door was halfway open, causing it to swing down at an angle and crush the goblin that had released it.

Once the gate was down, it straightened out and roared into the cave. It was easily eleven to twelve feet of ugly, with mottled grey skin stretched over grotesquely thin limbs that jutted out from a body that could have been considered wiry if not for the massively round and bloated gut protruding from it. The comparatively small head had a disproportionately large nose, which was only rivaled in size by the troll's underbite, which revealed discoloured fangs that jutted out in all directions. It finished its roar, leveled its beady yellow eyes at our group and charged. As it ran it swept its arms side to side, batting away any goblins unfortunate enough to be in its path.

"Get down!" I shouted across the cavern, diving to the side to avoid getting bowled over by the troll. I felt the wind rush past the back of my head as an arm swing narrowly missed me during my roll. I quickly spun and decapitated one of the goblins, all of whom were fleeing the cavern while the troll distracted us. I felt a surge of energy course through me as the goblin's soul was cannibalized to form an orange barrier around me that quickly faded from view.

I turned back to face the troll just as it was swinging toward me, only to miss as it got stumbled by a large green beam to the back. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I slashed at its torso. Yang moved in from the left, punching it in the side with enough force that a sickening crunch sounded out and the troll's chest was visibly deformed. Ruby sprinted over and, waiting for her perfect moment, slashed the troll's achilles tendon. The troll toppled with a roar, even as a series of explosive feathers detonated on its chest.

The troll slammed a hand on the floor, and began pulling itself up. My eyes popped out of my skull as I noticed that the troll's body began to heal. The cuts on its ankle and chest faded, the divot on its chest filled itself out, and the chunked flesh repaired itself. I stared on in shock, which gave the troll enough of a window to swing its arm at me.

Barely bringing my shield to the fore in the nick of time, I was toppled to my knees and stunned. The orange barrier flickered and dispersed and My head was swimming, despite my shield taking the brunt of the impact. This left me unable to block the return swing, which sent me flying across the cavern. I crashed into a wall, feeling my spine give way, and the world began to dim.

I vaguely registered my name being called, an angry scream, and a flash of multicolored light. I felt a few flashes of heat, probably from Cinder, fire's her thing. The scream sounded a lot like Penny, now that I think about it. I don't know what they're so upset about, I'm barely even hurt. The world is a little blurry, sure, and the lights are pretty bright, but I'm fine. Just a bit tired. Just… gonna close my eyes for a bit, y'know?

I found myself once more in the inky void, but this time, it looked a little different. This time, instead of an endless expanse of dark, there was a low wall in the distance. The wall appeared to be made of a muted grey stone, and behind it was an expanse of grass the same color. I felt its pull, felt it call to me. It felt so warm, so inviting, and before I knew it I found myself being drawn to it.

I was shaken out of my trance when I felt a presence behind me, and turned to regard it. I saw Cinder, descending down on me. Her wings were spread wide like the images of angels descending upon the Earth, which was pretty ironic. I noticed that her feathers, while previously only glowing like embers on the tip, seemed to be glowing a fiery orange for almost half of their length, giving her an ethereal glow.

"Little knight! You shall not take a step closer to that wall! Return to me at once!" she called out to me. "What do you mean?" I called back, confused. "I'm just going to see what it's like. It looks so peaceful. It feels like I belong there." As I shifted my focus back to the world beyond the wall, I felt its pull once more. The inviting, yet inaudible call promised me peace that I had never before known, whispering sweet nothings in my ear and drawing me closer.

"Little Knight!" I heard the call once more, "I forbid you from moving any closer!" I turned to regard her once more. "And why not?" I called back. Why was she trying so hard to keep me from my peace? From this wonderful place where all my worries disappear? Where I can finally be free of everything? She should just shut up and let me go!

She took a deep breath and leveled a glare at me. "Until I reach full power, you are bound to me, as written in our contract. You told me yourself, 'an Arc never goes back on their word.' Are you so eager to make a liar of yourself?" I paused. I guess I did make a contract, didn't remember that for a second. And I certainly wouldn't want to make a liar of myself. Cinder continued. "Besides, are you willing to leave Penny masterless when she finally found one after all these years? What of Ruby and Yang? You befriended them, and now you try to leave so soon?" Oh yeah, Penny. I didn't even think of that. Ruby and Yang too. How could I have forgotten about them? My head feels… fuzzy.

"I… yeah... you're right. I can't just leave them like that, and an Arc never goes back on their word," I clutched my head and muttered. I began shuffling toward Cinder, the call of the realm beyond the wall diminishing the further I traveled. My thoughts became clearer the weaker the call became, and I began to wonder why I had ever wanted to cross the wall in the first place. What kind of man would I have been if I had just gone and abandoned everyone like that?

Cinder reached a hand out to me, a wide smile on her face, and I took it. I felt a rush of energy flow through me, and felt the call of an empty vessel, longing to be filled. As the void faded, I took one last look at the wall, and wondered just what exactly it was.

I groaned and shifted my body as I regained consciousness. I felt a heat close to my face and pressing against my forehead. I blinked my eyes open and found myself staring into the glowing embers of Cinder's eyes. My senses caught up with the world around me, and I turned beet red as I realized that Cinder and I were forehead-to-forehead.

Cinder pulled her face away from mine, keeping her features schooled despite the slight pink in her cheeks. "Can't get away from me that easily, Little Knight," she quipped. Even despite her nonchalant attitude and attempts to keep her face neutral, I still heard the slight relief in her voice and noticed the puffiness of her eyes.

Before I could even think to comment on it, I got swept up in a bone-crushing hug by a ginger golem. "Master!" she cried with naked relief, burying her head in the crook of my shoulder and clutching onto me with enough strength that I felt my bones creak. "Master, Master, Master…" she began repeating into my shoulder, her voice muffled. I gave a soft smile and gently returned the hug, which caused her to tighten her grip just a little more. I simply braved the pain and let her hold me.

"Gave us quite the scare there, VB." I heard Yang say. I could tell the cheer in her voice was forced as she was trying to make light of the situation, but I didn't comment and instead decided to play along. "If it was that easy, I would have escaped Cinder a long time ago," I joked, even though my voice was still a little weak. Yang leveled a shaky smile at me, and I finally noticed that she was holding a limp Ruby in her arms.

"What happened to Ruby?" I croaked out. Yang let her forced smile drop and looked with concern towards her sister. "After you went down, Ruby snapped. I think you looking like you died and all, and her not being able to do a thing about it, reminded her of mom. It was weird. She got so upset, then her eyes started glowing and… I've never seen anything like it. Then she passed out, and for a second I thought I lost her too and…" Yang's voice cracked, and she took a second to compose herself. "I'm just so, so glad that you're both okay."

I pulled my arms from Penny's back, the girl still clinging to me like I would disappear if she let go, and held them out to Yang. "I think we have room for one more, if you want to join," I said in a coy tone. Yang let out a weak, but real chuckle. "You already have two women draped over you, Lover Boy, I don't want to inflate your ego too much." She replied with a small smile.

"Anyway, a few of the goblins escaped, so that's that. What's bothering me is the fact that there was no hobgoblin or chief in the cave, and the fact that they were apparently breeding freakin' trolls," Yang said, taking a glance at the charred and mutilated corpse of the cave troll. It seems it faced quite the beatdown after it took me out. "Yeah," I agreed, "we should report our findings to Vale, see if they have any thoughts on the matter."

Yang cocked an eyebrow at me. "Are you in any condition to move? You were unconscious for like five minutes, dude." I blinked. Unconscious? My eyes flicked to Cinder, who shot me an ever so slight look of warning. "Oh, uh, yeah, no, taking a rest would be nice. My head still feels a little fuzzy, you know?"

Yang nodded her head. "Well, you just keep lying there and enjoy yourself, I'll go get some firewood so we can take a proper rest." With that, Yang gently set Ruby down, propping her head up on her backpack, and wandered off to search the goblin camp for their firewood stash. Once she was far enough away, I looked to Cinder.

"I died again, didn't I?" was my simple question. I felt Penny's body twitch as I admitted to her worst fear, and gently patted her shoulder as a reassurance. "Yes, you did," Cinder confirmed. "I've been able to save you in the past, but your soul has started to lose its ability to resist death. You saw the wall this time around, yes?" I thought for a second, and was able to vaguely recall the grey wall and land beyond it, as well as the soft call that muddled my thoughts and attempted to pull me beyond. "Yeah, I did. What was that, anyway?"

Cinder stared into my eyes, her expression unreadable. "That, Little Knight, was the point of no return. Had I not been able to coax you away from that wall, your soul would have been unsalvageable the moment you crossed its threshold." I blinked, taken aback. "That wall was the border to limbo, where your soul would have sat for who knows how long, awaiting judgement and its place within the City of the Dead. The only reason I was able to interfere is because our souls are connected through our pact. But that connection is only so strong, and as you got subjected to the call of limbo through previous deaths, its call began to overpower our connection. I don't know if I'll be able to save you next time, to be honest."

Cinder's words took a second to sink in. I felt the blood drain from my face as I looked up at Cinder with fear in my eyes. "I would have died for real if I passed that wall…" I muttered. "Yes. I think we've both been getting too comfortable with your previous inability to die. We should work to take more precautions in the future. I'd rather you not die because you didn't take your safety seriously." I swallowed heavily and nodded. "Yeah, definitely."

Yang came back with some firewood and set up a campfire not far from where Ruby and I were laying. We spent the next hour or so in quiet reflection of the events of the cave, with Ruby having awoken a few minutes in. We all left the cave with new concerns, and new determinations.

-(0)-

Whew! That's that! I hope you enjoyed reading this little series of interconnected scenarios. I mainly wanted to write the last scene in the cave, but decided to add all of the previous scenarios to give a bit more background information (and pad out the word count. Writing stuff that's less than 4k feels really weird to me). I based a lot of the combat and abilities of the characters off of D&D 5th edition, so if you can find out what I'm referencing, good on you! This is my first one shot, and was meant as a sort of side project to keep myself from stagnating while I get through a patch of writer's block for my main story: [Redemption Arc]. I'll be adding to this little book of side stories and one-shots occasionally, usually when I take a break from writing Redemption Arc or run into writer's block like this time. They won't be interconnected unless otherwise stated, and will vary pretty wild in subject material depending on what I feel like writing that day. Expect a lot of these to be Jaune-centric, since he's like the perfect mold for male protagonist stories, but I have a few other characters get the spotlight. And who knows, maybe some of these will get their own full stories if they're liked enough. Anyway, that's all for now, toodles!