Here we go. On a side note, College Fool had a chance to look at the plot outlook and planning for this chapter, but didn't get to see the words himself due to time. As such, any mistakes are likely my own, etc…
Again, I know a lot of people have suggested I just go third person if I want to, but it's not that I do or don't, so much as I'm discovering and experimenting with it. It has its pitfalls, yes, but also its advantages. I'll be sticking with it for now.
Beta: College Fool
Cover Art: Pachumaster
Chapter 25
We stayed another night in the abandoned cabin. Neither Blake nor I were healthy enough to make the dangerous trek further up the mountain, and everyone was too emotional after the reunion to try. Instead, Yang and Nora went out for firewood and were able to stock the heart with enough to make it roar, and we all baked in its heat, sharing out dried meat, fruit and stories of what happened while we were separated.
Blake sat across the fire and pointedly refused to meet my gaze. At any other time, that might have upset me, but I couldn't help but feel relieved at that for the moment. The question of what might have happened if the others had arrived ten minutes later dominated my mind. My hormones were more than willing to provide a detailed account. Fortunately, I had Ruby to distract me. Less fortunately, was how she clung to my arm in relief of my still being alive. It wasn't that I found her warmth distressing. It was very much the opposite, and therein laid the problem. My body was still very much focused on what Blake and I almost did, and Ruby was soft, warm and comfortable against my side.
"After we were split up, there was a bit of an argument on what we should do," Ruby said. "Obviously, we all wanted to try and find you, but… well…" Ruby trailed off, but it wasn't hard for me to guess who argued against coming back for us. Viktor and Kaedin sat a small ways off, lost in their own muffled conversation.
"Thanks for not listening to them, then." I said.
"I was so angry. Heroes should try to save everyone, not pick and choose or leave people behind." Ruby clung to my arm a little tighter, to reassure herself I was still there. "I would have gone off on my own if I had to. I wasn't going to leave you or Blake behind."
I didn't doubt it for a moment, and that brought its own problems with it. I didn't want to imagine Ruby giving her life for mine, but then again, I couldn't say I would have done any different. "What happened after that?"
"I shouted at them and… and I guess everyone else listened. Yang agreed with me, of course, but Nora, Ren and Pyrrha did too." Ruby giggled. "I think Weiss was worried as well, but she said it more like it was her having to look after us."
"And those two just came along?"
"The Mage decided to," Ruby said, "and Viktor didn't argue after that. He tried to use some kind of spell to find you, but the storm caused it to fail."
"The magic in the air?"
Ruby nodded. "That's what he said. Apparently, the storm was made by the same magic that caused the other disasters, so it kept messing with his attempts to find you. He did explain it," Ruby added, with an expression that said she'd only tangentially understood. "It was something about how most spells change things in front of him, so the magic doesn't interfere, but that a searching spell is smaller and has to travel a long distance, so the magical waves in the air kept knocking it aside. It was complicated, okay?"
"I think I get the idea," I said with a little laugh. "How did you find us then? Did you climb down the hole we fell through?"
"That was too dangerous. The whole ice sheet was torn to pieces, and Ren said the tunnel you went through might have even collapsed halfway. We… we sort of had to guess." Ruby shrugged helplessly. "We just figured you must be somewhere downhill from it, but the storm hit while we were headed that way. We managed to find some shelter and hole up, but we couldn't move until it ended."
"The same as us, then," I sighed. "We were lucky to find something like this to be honest. What are the chances there'd be an abandoned cabin out here?"
Ruby's face fell. The Reaper looked away for a moment, but seemed to realise nobody else was going to fill me in. They were all too busy enjoying the heat, with Nora sharing some grand story about what she and Ren got up to in their youth. Eventually, Ruby sighed and turned back with a solemn expression on her face.
"The chances are quite good, actually," she said. "We… the shelter we found wasn't a cave like the last time. We found a small community, some kind of hunting lodge with two small houses and a storage barn. It looked like quite a few people lived there, at least six or seven to each house. They… weren't there any longer."
A lump formed in my stomach, and with what we'd faced it wasn't hard to guess at their fate. "Grimm?" I asked. "Or was it another disaster caused by this person?"
"That's the problem. As far as we could tell, it was neither."
"What?"
"Nora did her best to look around for tracks, but those were all covered up in the storm. Even so, the houses were in perfect shape, so it couldn't have been another avalanche." Ruby sighed and brought her legs up before her. "There was no sign of damage, though. If it were Grimm, you'd at least expect to see claw marks, broken doors or something."
"Maybe they just up and left. It can't be safe to live up here with all the crazy storms going on."
"If they did, they left a pantry full of food. Some of it was rotted, but some was fresh, so it can't have been too long ago. There were loads of things left behind too, like children's toys or clothing and valuables. They wouldn't just leave all of that behind."
She was right. The picture she painted was an unusual one. If my family had to leave Ansel for any reason, then we'd have definitely packed for a long journey. Up here, where the very environment was enough to kill, it would be even more important. "Was there anything else you managed to find?" I asked.
"Nothing at all…" Ruby deflated with a soft sigh. "If there were tracks, we might have been able to figure something out, but we only arrived when the storm hit, and any evidence was more than gone by the time it stopped." Ruby looked frustrated for a moment but quickly cheered up. "Kaedin managed to hold another one of his magical sensor thingies, though." she said. "We had nothing but time, so he did it in one of the rooms in the house to try and see if the storm was from magic again."
Ah, some good news for a change. "Did he find anything?"
"The storm was definitely caused by the same stuff as the last ones, but it was closer!"
"Close enough for him to get a location?"
"Hmhm," Ruby nodded happily. "He said it's only a little further up the mountain and that the houses we were in must have lived fairly close. The one causing it must be there as well, because it happened only yesterday and Kaedin said he wouldn't be able to travel in the storm either, and that the person would probably be exhausted after whatever caused this."
Excitement stirred within me. It felt like the first time in days that we had any good news to go on, and after what happened to those people in the village we helped, I was more than up for solving this quest once and for all. "We're closing in," I said. "We're actually going to do this."
"And in one piece as well," Ruby added, clinging onto my arm a little tighter. "We're all going to win, go home as a team and then pay off TRE so we can have our Guild Hall."
"Yeah… yeah, we can." I smiled and sipped of the soup Ren had made for us all. "We can actually do this. There is one thing, though… how did you find us so easily?"
"Oh, that?" Ruby giggled. "The houses we stayed in are a little further up. When the storm stopped and we went outside, we had a clear view of the area and we could see some wisps of smoke in the air. Your fire died, but it was a sign someone had been there. Basically, we just guessed and hoped for the best."
I laughed and wrapped an arm around her. "Well, you sure saved us, Ruby. Thanks."
"It's what a Hero should do, right?"
What a Hero should do, not what a Hero did. I noticed the omission, but that only made me smile down at her all the brighter. She really was incredible, if only because of her determination. "You're right, Ruby," I said. "That's exactly what a Hero ought to do."
The rest of the night passed in pleasant conversation. We talked about Beacon, about our Guild, about what Velvet was probably getting up to and even the look on everyone's faces when they realised we – a first year team – had already completed our Annual Quest. It was bravado and boasts, that much we knew, but it helped to dispel the horror of what nearly befell us, what we nearly lost – not to Grimm, but to the harsh climate.
As the fire roared away and sleeping bags were laid out, the mood couldn't have been better. Even if another storm came, we had supplies enough to last, and a destination we could aim for. Whatever – or whoever – was responsible for all of this would surely fall. We had to tell ourselves that, if only to keep our morale up.
The morning dawned bright and early, with a crispness to the air that spoke of clear skies – magical storms notwithstanding. Refreshed and alive, our bellies and hearts filled, we started out once more into the icy wonderland of the Fang.
/-/
We trudged through the thick snow for what must have been four hours, with nothing to guide us other than the old Mage's esoteric sense of direction. Part of me questioned why we listened to it, especially as the warmth of the cabin became a distant memory, replaced instead with chill winds and the joy of hugging our cloaks close to our bodies. Hadn't the magical pulses already made his spells circumspect? What if he was leading us on a goose chase, the end to which would be nothing more than a cold grave, our bodies washed over and hidden by freshly fallen snow?
The point proved a moot one, for as we crested the next rise, the breath was drawn from my lungs at the sight that stood before us.
"It's a ruin," Pyrrha whispered.
"More like an ancient temple," Ren said. "It's incredible."
"Beautiful, even," Yang added. "Is this the place?"
"We move on," Viktor growled. "This isn't the time for sightseeing."
It was a temple, of sorts, and also a ruin as Pyrrha had said. What remained now was the framework of some grand architecture, with pearl-white marble that reached up in arching patterns, like the ribcage of some great beast but carved from stone. Snow covered it, but there was evidence of floor beneath us as well, not to mention steps that led up to several larger buildings, some of which were partially or even fully destroyed. I had to agree with Yang; this place was beautiful.
"How could anyone live up here?" I asked. "Where could they possibly have gotten all this marble from?"
"Ancient records suggest the Fang was not always an ice-capped mountain," Kaedin answered. The Mage picked his way through the snow and led them up a small flight of steps. Pillars rose up on either side of them, with several murals etched onto their face. One caught my eye, that of a snarling animal's face with several slashes through it. "The faunus communities you see here today were once part of an older civilisation," Kaedin continued. "This mountain was a lush and prosperous place, with fertile land and a thriving community. This was a temple city, from what I recall, populated by thousands of faunus."
"What happened?" Pyrrha asked, sidling up beside us.
"The Mage Wars… they tore Atlas apart, or Mantle as it was once known. History suggests the faunus here sided with our people, with Atlas. They were proud and powerful warriors, raised with an almost religious fervour that created a strong desire to protect their homeland." Kaedin sighed and moved on. "The enemy, the incumbents of Mantle, did not take their involvement lightly. The `how` is lost to history, but they enacted some terrible ritual that plunged the mountain into a deadly story. Few survived, and the city itself was levelled, as you can see. With no food, dangerous weather and no time to prepare, those that survived surely starved or froze to death. The city fell… with not a single thing Atlas could do to prevent it."
"That's disgusting," Yang scowled. "Just because they were losing the war, they decided to massacre civilians?"
"That's war," Blake answered. "In their mind, I'm sure there was a reason. Perhaps it would make the faunus surrender, or cause Atlas to divert forces to try and rescue those left behind."
"It did no such thing," Viktor chipped in, the Knight's voice terse. "Bereft of home and family, it drove the warriors from this city into a righteous fury. Atlas felt the same, and the people were incensed at such barbarity. Mantle fell within weeks – torn apart both from without and within, and the Mage Circles took control soon after."
"That's why the Archmage refused the calls to have the mountain colonised," I whispered. "That's why the Mage Circles want to try and colonise it. The foundations are already here… they'd just need to erase all of this history."
"The history of a civilisation which aided us," Kaedin agreed. "The people who live now may well have forgotten them as distant history, but some of us are still taught their sacrifice. The Archmage is one of those. The faunus who live here are remnants of those people. He would not drive them away."
I couldn't help but be impressed. The man seemed like a good person, but this went beyond that. At the same time, however, it was distressing to imagine that those hardy villagers had once been a thriving warrior race, reduced to this by the actions of another. As I looked around, I couldn't help but imagine what this old ruin might once have looked like. The white marble would have shone in the sun, while people meandered through verdant gardens lined with white pathways. An empty, frozen pit to the side spoke of an old pond. Children might have sat on the edge, throwing bread to the colourful fish within.
It was all gone now. In its place was the skeletal structure of several buildings, along with whispering winds and howling gales. Snow and ice had claimed whatever remained… perhaps even the bodies of those who fell.
"Mages did this, didn't they?" It was Weiss who spoke, her fur cloak clutched to her breast. Her pale eyes were firm, like chips of ice.
"It's likely, lass," Kaedin answered. "It's hard to imagine anyone else being capable of altering the climate here. Whatever the case, it wasn't one of our Mages. Mantle had its own, of course, and many of those were willing to go to such lengths."
"Wouldn't we have as well?" Weiss asked. "Are we truly blameless in this?"
"It doesn't do to borrow misery, Miss Schnee. There's enough of it in this world without searching for more." The Mage shook his head and looked around him. "We have no idea where our quarry is, but I'd imagine it to be indoors."
"If he's still here at all," Viktor snapped. "We lost time babysitting."
"I believe they are still here, Viktor. This area pulses with latent energy, and I doubt there would be any more auspicious spot further up the mountain. Whatever our missing Mage desires, it lays within these ruins."
I felt a spike of anger at the Knight's dismissal of mine and Blake's lives, but chose to ignore it. Instead, I focused on Kaedin. "Can you locate him?" I asked. "Or her, I suppose."
"I'm afraid not. This area is saturated with magical energy. My combative spells would be strong enough to blast through it, but more delicate work would be crushed beneath the weight of it all."
"Great," Yang sighed. "We need to check every nook and cranny ourselves, then? That's going to take ages."
"Unless you have a better suggestion, it's the best we have," Viktor snapped. "Less whining and more searching, and for the love of the gods, try not to attract any Grimm."
"I don't think that's going to be a problem," Blake said. "You might want to take a look at this."
I turned, along with the others, in time to see the Assassin take several steps backwards. Before her, a black mist crept across the floor, coalescing into pools of darkness. Steel rasped as weapons were drawn, our bodies bumping into one another as we formed a tight circle.
"Grimm spawns," Pyrrha gasped. "Why are they spawning here?"
"Plenty of negativity, don't you think?" I offered.
"That was almost a hundred years ago, Jaune! I doubt any remains now."
I didn't have anything else to offer, nor did the rest of them. Instead, I glanced around the ruin. We were on a raised platform before a destroyed building, maybe ten or so feet above what would be the ground level. It gave us a commanding view, but that only worked to show the true horror of what was happening.
They were everywhere. None had formed fully yet, but the black mist covered much of the ruin and seemed to be spreading further still. Around broken pillars, ruined houses and empty plazas, they formed together, delving down into twitching pools of black ink.
"This doesn't make sense," Kaedin whispered. "Why would Grimm form so suddenly, and in such numbers? I doubt we could have brought such negativity here, even if we tried our hardest."
"That's a nice theory," I said, pushing my back against Pyrrha's. Although I tried to keep my voice light, my panic shone through. "The theory isn't holding up, though."
"There!" Ruby cried out and pointed towards the sky. "Look at the clouds!"
Her request confused me so much I complied without even thinking about it, and then gasped a second later when I saw what she meant. The clouds had darkened above the ruins, and seemed to swirl in concentric circles above a particular building – mostly in-tact and in possession of a domed roof.
"That must be where the Mage is!" Yang cried.
"The magical storms," Weiss said out loud. "They're causing natural disasters further down the mountain, but we can all feel the taint in the air. What if this fool's spells are causing these Grimm to spawn?"
"Wouldn't we know by now if that were true? We saw Grimm, sure, but never this many."
"Because they never made it past the storms," Ren realised. "Weiss is right. If this spell summoned Grimm and causes natural disasters, then it would make sense that the Grimm died before reaching civilisation. By that logic, we're going to be hit with another pulse soon!"
"We can't be out here when that happens!" Ruby said. "We can't fight Grimm while trying to keep our footing if an earthquake hits. We need to get to that building and find the one responsible."
"Go!" Viktor roared, pushing from the back of the group and knocking us in the direction. "Run to the temple. Quickly, before the Grimm spawn!"
I stumbled for footing, knocked off-balance as Pyrrha fell against me, but was able to catch myself before I fell. The Knight's warning, however, and the Grimm that were half-formed around us, proved more than enough motivation to move. I skidded over to the steps, half-descended, half-fell down them, and then jumped the final ten or so. I landed hard, but rolled in the soft snow and got back onto my feet.
The others were with me. Our breath came out in thick gouts of mist as the very temperature in the air started to drop. The wind picked up, now a howling gale that threatened to whip up frost and tug our cloaks away from us.
"Keep moving!" Kaedin called over the noise of rolling thunder and bestial roars. "Don't stop for anything!"
Around us, the Grimm finished their cruel journey towards life. Red eyes lit up in the storm and all of them seemed to focus on us with unerring precision. Terror washed over me. There were so many of them, hundreds – and many were as large as the Beowolf from the First Quest. How could we be expected to fight so many and survive? Like a lightning bolt, all of Blake's warnings about the dangers of a Quest shot back into my mind. This was what a Quest was about. This was the danger it presented. We weren't ready for this. None of us were!
"Jaune?" Ruby gasped, her words reaching my ear.
It snapped me out of my panic, enough so to look down to her. She looked worried… as though in the middle of all this carnage, she'd had the time to see and feel concern over my wellbeing. I swallowed my fear and shook my head. "I'm fine. I'll be okay." This was no time to give up. Not to fear, not to exhaustion and certainly not to the Grimm. If I wanted to be a Hero, this was what I had to face.
"Ahead!" Pyrrha warned, despair in her voice. Several Grimm moved before us, eyes glinting through the snow-laden winds. "They're going to cut us off."
"No," Viktor whispered. "No, they're not." The Knight blurred past us, his silver armour a streak as he charged the two Ursa. He slammed into the first before it could move, his two-handed blade driving into its chest up unto the hilt. The creature staggered forward and over him, but he tossed it aside with contemptuous ease.
The second roared and slashed from the side, only for the Knight to tear his sword free and grip it with two hands, one on the hilt, the other near the top of the blade. Like a stave, he deflected the strike, and then placed the sword's edge against the Ursa's neck in the same motion. He didn't so much draw it down as turn with the blade. It pulled down across his body and decapitated the monster in one go.
Two Beowolves leapt at him from behind, but a pillar of fire incinerated them. Kaedin's staff blurred as he flicked it to the left, causing the ground there to rumble and splinter, knocking one creature off balance before a spike of jagged rock lanced up to pierce its chest. Another roar came from the right, but he spun and held out one hand. Several shards of ice punctured the monster's chest and face. One found its eye and sent it toppling to the ground, dead.
That was insane! Was that the power of a real Hero, and not the simple students we were? Kaedin and Viktor moved forward on either side of us, carving a ruinous path towards the temple while we fled down the middle. By the time we reached the steps, the path ahead was clear – but the one behind teemed with Grimm.
"You have to go on," Kaedin called, one foot on the steps, the other the ground. "You need to end this!"
What? They wanted us, the teenagers, to go on and fight the person responsible for this!? "Are you kidding me? Look at you, you're far more powerful than we are. How are we supposed to deal with this?"
The others hovered nearby. They were as conflicted as I, willing to let me speak for them. Kaedin sighed and turned back to the battle, but Viktor was holding them the horde off well enough. The Mage turned back with a frown. "The eight of you would never be able to hold these off," he said. "While we could kill the one responsible with ease, you would all die in the effort." A roar cut him off, but he sent a ball of fire to incinerate the Beowolf's head. "The one responsible is a Mage, a Sorcerer if the villagers are to be believed. No matter how powerful, every Class has its weakness. You have the natural enemy of all spell casters with you. You might as well use her."
As one, we all turned to the side, where the dark-haired Assassin stood. Blake heard, of course, but if she felt anything from the suggestion then her face didn't show it.
"Go now," Kaedin ordered. "There's no time. If this keeps happening then we won't be able to hold them off indefinitely."
Damn it. I looked to the others, but they looked back, having somehow decided that since I was the one talking, I was the one in charge. The Grimm were breaking upon the bulwark Kaedin and Viktor created, but that wouldn't last. Meanwhile, the storm above us continued to rage, growing stronger with each and every moment. Inside the temple, a dangerous enemy awaited us… and they could easily be as strong as one of the two Heroes with us.
But what else could we do? There weren't any other options.
"Push on," I yelled over the wind, and forced myself to take one step after another. "We'll finish this!"
The storm cut out as we entered the temple's entrance, and not a single Grimm stood in our path. Down below, the battle still raged, but the sound became muted and lost. Pyrrha strode forward and took a brazier from a nearby wall. It took her a second or two to light it, but the flames revealed some of the interior to us. "No Grimm…" the Champion mused.
"More proof whatever this Mage is doing caused them to spawn?" Ren offered. "It might explain why there are none at the epicentre. I doubt he would want to draw them down upon himself."
"There's no time to waste," I sighed, grabbing a brazier for myself and lighting it off Pyrrha's. I pushed down the central hallway, moving the flame gently from left to right as I went. It illuminated watery snow and ruined masonry, but still no sign of enemies. "Weiss, the faunus at the village said this was a Sorcerer. Can you tell us the difference?"
"A Sorcerer is someone who uses magical currents in a raw form," the Mage explained. "A Mage's spells tend to be more refined and versatile, able to do specific things such as freeze floors or condense flames into a fireball. A sorcerer, by comparison, is far less specialised. Their magic is untamed and straightforward, with little in the way of subtly."
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say unsubtle doesn't mean weak," Yang sighed.
"Hmph, that's a safe bet, Xiao-Long. What a Sorcerer lacks in finesse, they more than make up for with brute force. They draw upon the currents themselves, and don't even bother to shape them to better effect. Their spells are often faster to cast and more powerful, but again, their control is far weaker than a Mage's."
"What does that mean for us?" I asked. "How do we fight against something like that?"
Weiss sighed. "If we're lucky, we won't have to. Kaedin was correct when he said we have the natural enemy of all Mages here. If Belladonna were to get the drop on this Sorcerer, she might be able to finish the battle before it even begins."
My eyes glanced to Blake, worry and concern mixing together as I wondered what her response would be. I knew she didn't want to kill… she'd said as much before, back in Beacon. "We can't force Blake to-"
"I'll do it," the Assassin whispered. Her eyes blazed in the dark. "I can kill this person."
"Blake…"
"Good," Weiss sighed. "The quicker this is over, the better. If she fails, however, then our best bet will be to swarm and confuse them. Don't all attack from one side, or together, or he'll be able to throw spells at us. You'd be better served at striking from all angles to try and distract him."
"I see something ahead," Nora interrupted the conversation. The Barbarian jogged ahead, but crouched down before she left the circle of light our torches provided. Her hand brushed some snow aside, and came back up with something.
"What is it?" I asked.
Nora turned and showed it to us with a glum expression. It was a small toy… some kind of stuffed humanoid figure with great floppy ears. It wasn't well-made, and the stitching was rough in places, but it looked like the kind of thing mom might have made for one of my sisters when they were younger.
"Is it from the people who lived here?" Ruby asked.
"No. The weave wouldn't have lasted in this temperature," Ren pointed out. "This is recent… very recent."
"There's more," Blake said. "Up ahead. I can see… cages?" The Assassin didn't wait for us, and rushed off into the darkness after them. Pyrrha followed quickly after, along with the rest. I brought up the rear and arrived in time to see Blake and Nora crouched by what was indeed a set of metal cages. They were rusted and old, but there were bowls of water on the floor.
"People were kept here," Nora said. The Barbarian's eyes scanned the ground. She moved occasionally, sometimes to brush some snow aside, other times to pick something up and look at it. Much like in the Emerald Forest, the rest of us patiently waited for her to look at the scene. "There are little signs of life," she said. "The water is one but there's also discard food and ash. Someone made a fire recently."
"Why would people be up here?" Weiss asked. "Let alone in cages."
"The families were missing from those houses," Ruby said. "What if… do you think they came here?"
"Not willingly," Yang sighed. "You don't need a cage for willing people."
A bloodcurdling scream cut through the air. My heart leapt into my throat a moment later, Crocea Mors whipping to the left while I swung the torch the other direction. Nora and Blake were back on their feet, weapons at the ready – but it was not one of us who had screamed.
"It came from within the temple," Ruby gasped. "What if the Grimm found these people? We need to save them!" The Reaper made to rush off, and with her speed she would have escaped us entirely, but Yang caught the back of her hood and stopped her from doing so.
"Easy, sis," the Brawler said. "We need to go as a group."
"Let's make it quick," Blake whispered. The Assassin loped off immediately, into the dark. I cursed and followed, and behind us, the others did as well. Blake's eyes allowed here to see in the dark easily, but the same couldn't be said for the rest of us. I hopped from left to right, over rubble and patches of ice that might have sent me to the ground. Up ahead, always keeping within vision, Blake would wait impatiently.
Another scream punctured the baited silence. It was one filled with agony, with a high pitch that denoted something I really didn't want to consider. My heart beat faster in my chest and my palms felt soaked. Please let us arrive in time, I begged. Please let us save someone.
"Light ahead," Pyrrha warned, dousing her torch. "Someone's been here recently enough to light the torches. This… this is bad."
I couldn't disagree. My own torch clattered down onto the ground, and I drew my shield alongside the sword as we moved into a well-lit hallway. Our feet beat against the stone floor as we ran in a circle around what I assumed was the centre of the temple. Around the corner, an ornate door frame could be made out, the door itself having long rotten away. We pushed through, and into a scene from a nightmare.
There was blood everywhere, but congregated around the lone figure at the other end of the circular room. He was stood by a raised platform, his burgundy robes stained with blood, and more pooled at his feet. With a frustrated growl, he reached forward and dragged someone off the pedestal. It fell to the floor with a wet plop. A faunus child, its face contorted in horror, its blood splashed out across altar and cobbled floor. Other bodies lay nearby, discarded like trash but mostly surrounding the altar the Sorcerer stood at.
I felt sick. It was the stench as much as the sight, but the knowledge – the empathy – was what drove it even further. I fell to one knee and nearly retched, and I knew I wasn't the only one. This was… this was horrifying. The people, at least ten or twenty all told, dead on the floor, killed like some kind of human sacrifice.
I heard leather creak, and instantly saw Blake surge forwards, eyes ablaze. She covered the distance in a flash, so silent that I barely heard her. Silver flashed through the air and towards the Sorcerer's unprotected back.
Her dagger clashed against an ornate spear.
"I'm afraid not," the tall woman chuckled. Dressed from head to toe in a combination of leather and chainmail, and surrounded by a thick cloak, the woman kicked Blake away. She twirled her spear, bigger than she was, until it was held behind her back, the sparkling tip held towards the ceiling. The words above her head said she was a Lancer, and the name most assuredly fit. She flicked her head back, throwing her blonde braid over one shoulder with a cocky smile. "Merlot, my love, you really must pay more attention to your surroundings."
"Blake," I hissed, rushing forward to stand beside my friend. The others rushed up too, weapons prepared as we stared at the two. Blake staggered to her feet with my help. Her eyes were murderous.
"Isn't that what I have you for, Glenn?" the Sorcerer asked. He didn't turn, but instead shook his head. "The ritual is nearly complete. There isn't any time for interruptions. Deal with this, won't you?"
"Of course, my love…" The woman, Glenn, stepped forward with a languid grace. Her silvery spear flashed through the air.
"Those faunus," I gritted out. "You killed them, didn't you?"
"Killed denotes waste," the Sorcerer answered, "and I do so despise waste. I simply utilised them for a different purpose, not that I expect ones such as you to understand."
"You monster," Ruby screamed. "It's a Hero's job to save people like that, not kill them!"
"It is the role of the NPC to benefit the Hero, is it not?" Merlot chuckled. "They fulfilled their purpose in life, and now I shall go on to fulfil mine."
"Tch," Blake surged out of my hands and twisted to the left. Three daggers flew from her, hurtling towards the man's unprotected back. The woman deflected them, however, smiling the entire time. The throwing knives clattered to the floor around her, and she took a position between her partner and us.
"You face Glenn Vuori, Sentinel to he who shall be the most powerful Mage in Atlas. Consider yourself fortunate, children." The woman levelled her weapon, a cruel smirk on her face. "For you shall be the first to lay eyes on a God."
Insert Battle OST here, perhaps. Merlot makes his appearance, as an answer to the so many who asked if he would be present in this fic. I've not played Grimm Eclipse, but I read some basic wiki articles to get an idea of the story, etc…
A few people have asked where Kaedin and Viktor come from, but I'm afraid the answer is my arse – in that I pulled them out of it without too much thought. I usually try to avoid OC's where possible, but sometimes they're necessary for various reasons. The only difficult part is coming up with enough names and no, I have no idea where "Kaedin" came from. I mean, Viktor is a real name, but the other just feels weird. Ah well, whatever!
Also, some more world history revealed, of a sort. I really wish RT would do it like this instead of just dumping entire "World of Remnant" episodes on us. I mean, show a little bit of the culture, let's see the characters experience it, instead of us just sitting through ten minutes or so of summary.
Next Chapter: 17th April
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur
