To address something that was mentioned in my forum – and probably in reviews too – I'm aware that the final battle between the Guild and Raven may have seemed anticlimactic, mostly because they didn't really fight. This was unfortunately always going to be the case because Raven couldn't fight them without killing them. In a normal story I could have written a fight wherein she outclasses them and knocks them around, wounds them all bit by bit while they fail to even touch her etc, but in an RPG-Style story (or any Gamer story) that shouldn't be possible due to Stats.

In normal stories there is a human limit of what is possible, so "skill" becomes the defining factor – with the antagonist often being more skilled or experienced and thus able to knock the good guys around. Here, there are Stats, and Raven's are just too high for them to deal with. Raven can't "swing and miss" any of the team (bar Ruby) because her Dexterity is too high to their Agility. If Raven swings, she hits. With her Strength to their Con, if Raven hits, she kills. There's no "Jaune was thrown back into a wall" – it's "Jaune was turned into a red mist".

This isn't a Forged Destiny specific problem; it's a genre one. When you have someone who is 50x stronger and faster than the average person, they can't really portray a fight properly. As much as I hated the anime, Sword Art Online (Abridged did it better) did a good job of showing that in a scene where Kirito is ambushed by a bunch of PvP'ers and he just stood there letting them wail on him without fighting back. Because at the end of the day, his stats were just bigger. As abridged Kirito put it:

"My numbers are bigger than yours. We could do this all day and you wouldn't get anywhere – not that it isn't amusing. I heal faster than you can hurt me."

Kind of the same thing with Raven here. If I'd had her fight them and not immediately kill them, it would have lost the element of "extreme high-level characters can't be fought" that this story has been trying to push home.

Anyway, this is just to answer people who probably wished for `more` from the fight. If this were an anime I could have had the usual `moves faster than blink of an eye, turns invisible, explosions as sound barrier broken` things, but those don't work so well in written fiction. As I said, in any non-RPG based story, I could have made it work.


Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Dishwasher1910

Book 8: Chapter 13


Ruby's scream pierced through my eardrums. It was a pitch so high that it cracked and broke, the girl twisting on her feet with her eyes flashing, body convulsing. She dropped her scythe and gripped her head with both hands. Her nails dug into her skin and left red marks down her pale face before, in what was almost a merciful conclusion, she cut off and tumbled to the floor like a puppet with her strings cut.

On the other side of Salem. The opposite end of the room from the door.

"Shit," I hissed, peeking out from behind the pillar. Any hope of Salem having missed forgotten about us was gone now, especially when the woman was still holding Raven's severed head in one hand, her other cupped to her cheek as her own eyes flickered.

"Oh my," she whispered huskily. "This feeling. This incredible feeling. Ah~" Her moan was almost orgasmic. "I could get used to this." With a chuckle, she threw away Raven's head, which fell to the floor with a splat and rolled past me.

Raven's eyes were wide with terror. To my horror, her lips were still moving – a nervous reaction of some kind, but still something that had me cupping a hand over my mouth and looking away. Looking to Ruby, just in time to see Salem finally take note of her and walk toward the unconscious girl. Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it! Slapping a hand down against the flagstones, I gripped my sword and ran out.

"Get away from her!" I swung for Salem's back, but the woman lazily stepped away, smiling the whole time. She'd heard me coming no doubt – if she'd forgotten about me in the first place. I steadied my feet between her and Ruby, fighting for balance on a floor slick with blood.

Sweat dripped from my body as I held a shaking Crocea Mors in front of me, all too aware that Raven could have shattered it, my armour and my body with one swing, and that Salem had killed Raven just as easily. Salem was faster than Raven, who was faster than me. She was more deadly than Raven, who could have killed me with ease.

I was no threat to her, and she knew it.

"Hello Jaune."

"Not Deceiver?" I asked, content to do anything that didn't involve dying. Talk was fine. Talk was great. If Ruby could wake up, she might yet be able to escape with her speed – which must have been even higher now that she'd kill-stole half of Raven's Exp.

"The name doesn't really fit anymore. Does it? I see you've accepted what you are at last. You're welcome by the way."

"Excuse me?"

"For showing you the importance of believing in yourself. Didn't I do that for you? You were so unhappy before yet look at you now. None of this would have been possible without me." Her smile grew. "Your welcome. Even if you haven't thanked me for it."

How twisted. We both knew she hadn't done this to teach me a lesson; she'd wanted me to die on my own foolish pride. The only acceptance I should have gained was dawning horror as I bled out on the floor facing a Grimm I couldn't hope to defeat. I had to wonder if it was Salem's doing that pitted me against so many ridiculous dangers. The Beowolf in my First Quest, the Ancient Ursa in the Dungeon, Merlot and everything else. But she was right. Intentional or not, I was only where I was because of her.

"Thank you. For the wish. Even if you had your own reasons, you're right. I don't regret making it, or the people I've met along the way."

Salem appeared shocked. "You-? Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha!" The woman clutched her stomach and bent forward, laughing at the top of her lungs. "Oh you~" she said, wiping a tear from one eye. "Every time we meet you surprise me just a little more. Do you know that you are the first to ever thank me for a wish, even knowing the results?"

"I'm not surprised," I said, glancing to Ruby. Still no movement. Were the others down already? Was the ship ready to go? "You do tend to kill those who make a wish by you. Most people aren't going to be happy with that."

"Really? I bend the laws of reality to grant a person their deepest desire, yet they're unwilling to make a sacrifice for it. You humans… always asking so much. I can bring back the dead. I can end poverty. I can change the seasons, create life or alter the very world you live on, yet it is cruel if you must die to have it?"

My mouth worked. The words didn't come forth.

"As ever, you humans are selfish creatures." Salem walked forward. Slowly. She could have moved faster than I could see, but she made her approach obvious. My muscles tensed and I fought to keep Crocea Mors between us without swinging it. If she wasn't killing me, I didn't want to prompt her to. "You only think of what you want and how you can benefit. Did you know Watts was not the first who wished for me to bring back a loved one? There was a father once who wished for the return of his daughter."

She circled me and I followed, tracing a path around Ruby's body to keep me and my sword between us always. Salem didn't seem to mind. She was lost in thought, eyes pointed upward as she remembered some distant memory with a fond yet frustrated smile.

"I brought her back, using his life energy to do so and killing him in the process. With his dying breath, he cursed me as a monster. But did I not do as he asked? Did I not bring back his beloved daughter? What do you think, Jaune?"

"I think he was upset he didn't get to spend any time with his daughter."

"Obviously." Salem rolled her eyes. "But there must always be a price. His daughter, who died so young, lived again. And I didn't kill or manufacture her death if that is what you are thinking. I ensured her safe return to her village. What was her name? Cinder…?"

I flinched.

"Oh? You know of her, I see. Whatever happened to that little girl, Jaune? I'm curious."

"I…" My hands gripped the hilt of my weapon so tightly they turned white. "I think you already know…"

"I'm not all-knowing, though your reaction here tells me enough. She is dead, then. A shame. I had no hand in that, however. I can assure you." The worst part was that I knew she was telling the truth. No one had killed Cinder but me. "But my point remains. Her father rebelled at the cruelty of his daughter losing her life before she had a chance to live it and I fixed that. Yet he never once thanked me for it and instead cursed me. I, who gave him his heart's desire, became the monster. That's the truth of humans, I've discovered over the ages. What they proclaim to want and what they truly desire are all so often at odds. He believed that he wanted his daughter brought back for her sake, when in reality it was for his own. He did not grieve for a daughter that had lost her life. He grieved for his pain at having lost her. He wanted her back for his peace of mind."

Suddenly, she was within my guard, one hand pushing Crocea Mors down by its tip – held between finger and thumb – and her other gripping my chin, one thumb against my left cheek and her fingers my right. Her eyes were close to mine, so close our noses almost touched.

"What do you think of that, Jaune? Is it fair?"

I tried to draw back but couldn't. Her grip was absolute. "N-No," I whispered. "It's not."

"Precisely." She released me and leaned back, though she didn't let go of my sword. "You and yours believe I should give and give without expecting anything in return, then lash out at me when this isn't the case. Can you imagine what your world might be like had Merlot been granted the power he desired? If Tyrian created his Kingdom? If Raven could have wished to live forever, as she so truly desired?"

So, that was Raven's true wish. Somehow, it didn't surprise me.

"I have done your kind a favour by removing those who would wish by me. I have protected you from the one true threat to your pathetic specie's survival. Yourselves. And yet instead of gratitude I receive threats, curses and attempts to hide or seal me away. To end me once and for all. And now this!" she roared, shaking the very foundations of the manor. "To be dragged down and made as one of you! Shackled to this forsaken realm of selfish beggars and prideful monsters. I did not ask for this, Jaune. I did not wish for this!"

"I-I'm sorry."

"Ever has it been I who grants the wishes, with no regard to what mine might be." She spoke to the room at large, eyes on me but not seeing me. "If humans consider me a monster so, then why do they continue to seek me out? I did not choose to entreat with you. I did not force your hand in summoning me. You consider me the villain and yet I would gladly have nothing to do with your wretched little species."

"I'm sorry!" I repeated, shouting it out. My body was shaking and my legs felt weak. Resilience or not, the sheer anger in her voice shook me. "We didn't want to summon you. We've been trying to stop them. And I'm sorry that people keep doing it!"

Her crimson eyes pierced mine, demanding I continue.

"And… And I'm grateful for my wish. And for the one to bring Cinder back. Even… Even if we didn't part on the best of terms, thank you for giving her a chance to live. She was a friend, even at the end."

Salem's hand came back to my face and I closed my eyes. There was no impact, however. No crushing of my skull like I knew she was capable of. Instead, she stroked my cheek. A gentle, almost matronly, motion.

"Oh, Jaune," she crooned. "Would that your world was filled with those like you. I might not find it quite so detestable."

"You don't have to. There are good people out there…"

"And will they accept my living here?"

I didn't know. "Yes."

"Oh?" She laughed. "Need I name you Deceiver once more? Even now, your people ready themselves for my attack. If I do not, they will seek to kill or control me. I am no longer bound to grant wishes, but my power is still far beyond your understanding. You know as well as I that your species will not allow another with such power to live." Salem's head cocked to the side. "You're shaking. Do I frighten you that much?"

"Yes," I admitted.

"Good. You're right to be afraid."

Salem glanced down to my sword, still held between her finger and thumb, and smirked. With a twist and a flick, the metal shattered, leaving me with a shard of metal a foot shorter than it had been.

I flinched again, shaking badly but refusing to give ground. Even as she looked at the metal in her hand as if it were an accident, I kept the remains of my sword before me.

"Still?" she asked, lashing out and catching the cross guard. A squeeze of her hand caused the metal to crumple like paper. The tang snapped and the blade fell, leaving me wielding a hilt and nothing more. "I'd ask if you believed that enough to best me but we both know the answer. Don't we? You standing there so bravely before your wounded companion. A true Hero. But as you know, every Hero needs a monster to slay and a princess to rescue. Shall I take your friend away and grant you that?"

"Let us go…"

"Hm?"

"Let us go," I said, a little louder, a little less desperately. The worst she could say was no and kill me, and I was half expecting that anyway. I lost nothing for asking. "We're no threat to you. Ruby is unconscious and couldn't hurt you anyway, and you know I can't do a thing to you. There's no point killing us."

"No?" Salem placed a finger on the leather hilt in my hands. Her eyes flashed and I let go of the thing a second before it ignited. It fell to the ground. "You hurt me before, Jaune. You didn't wound me; you wouldn't be capable of it." Her finger prodded into my breastplate over my heart, then pushed.

A gasp was torn from me as her finger – her bare finger – punctured through the enchanted metal and my skin. I trembled and fell forward, hands instinctively catching me on her shoulders. "Grk." I gritted my teeth and pressed my forehead against her collar bone, shaking as I felt her finger curl inside my body. As I felt it grip and tease one of my ribs.

"It still hurt when you attacked me like that, even after I gave you the means to defeat Watts. I could have made the resurrected Mage a thrall to his wishes but did not. And yet you thanked me by lashing out in petty rage." Salem tutted. "How rude."

Her finger came out with a squirt of blood and I sagged back, clasping a hand over the wound and the hole in my armour, which had been created not through magic or some Skill, but solely the Strength of the individual before me. I coughed and fell onto one knee, robbed of my breath and with my vision blurring.

Despite that, I reached out to grasp the hem of her dress. "Please…"

"Hm?"

"Let us… Let us leave."

"You realise that I am no longer required to grant any wish you might make." Her foot swept forward and knocked me onto my back beside Ruby. Before I could scramble to my feet, she placed a single foot on my chest. It might as well have been a building, for I couldn't shake it off. When she leaned forward, I couldn't even breathe. "And what would you do? Where would you go that I would not eventually find and kill you? I shall have to, you realise. Your kind are already planning my demise. I will defend myself. I will rid this world of your species. Really, it would be a kindness to grant you your death now. I could make it painless."

Salem glanced down at me, writhing and choking.

"Well. Relatively painless…"

Her foot was removed long enough for me to catch my breath, but she reached down with both hands and grasped the top and bottom of my breastplate. With an almost negligent flick, she sent me sailing away. My back slammed into the ceiling then fell, crashing down onto the stone floor with a wet clank. The floor already being covered in blood, my own mixed with it, my nose buried in the coppery liquid. Salem stepped towards Ruby.

Gritting my teeth and ignoring the pain, I scrambled up and grabbed the only weapon I could – Raven's discarded sword. It was longer than I was used to, but I gripped it with both hands and charged in, swinging it down over my head. She'd wanted the `Seal` Rune placed onto it. That had to do something. It had to have a purpose!

Salem caught the sword with one hand and twisted it to the side.

"Oh no. A sword." she said flatly. "My only weakness."

Star metal flexed and snapped as easily as mine. I stared through the glimmering shards as they fell like rain before me, through them and into Salem's irritated eyes. Her hand rose and the shards that had been falling stilled in the air, then shot toward me like arrows from a bow. Several pattered off my breastplate but more nicked my face and one lodged in the meat of my shoulder, just below the bone. I fell, or would have, if not for her hand catching me by my plate once more.

"I really did intend to keep you around," she said. "I'm not sure why. A pet maybe, or a curiosity. Just long enough to see me grind your Kingdoms into dust. I suppose you're not so different from all the others, though." She placed a finger against the hole she'd made earlier, aimed at my heart. "Goodbye."

A red blur struck Salem from behind. "NO!"

The impact was like a crack of thunder. Ruby's speed was far in excess of anything I'd seen before and I'd failed to notice her wake, let alone stand, draw a weapon and lunge forwards. It was enough to shake Salem and make her drop me.

Ice crackled and spread across her form, originating from her back and clasping up over her shoulders. She didn't look afraid of it by any means, more curious as the ice cracked and formed over her arm, covering the arm that had held me and locking her in place.

"Get up," Ruby hissed, suddenly beside me in a flash of red light. "Come on. Move."

"Ru-?"

"No time! Get up!" Ruby hauled me to my feet and tugged me in the direction of the main doors. "While she's trapped, come on!"

"Trapped? Now I wouldn't go that far…" Ice shattered behind us as Salem walked out of the prison my custom-made Rune had locked her within. It didn't appear to have caused her any damage, though it had bought us a second or two. Salem gestured with one hand and the wall above the main door exploded, dumping rubble down over the entrance. "Ah. There's irony here, I expect."

"Left!" Ruby cried, darting that way. I followed, neither of us knowing where we were going but knowing that anywhere was better than here. We burst through a wooden door and Ruby slammed it shut behind me, catching up a moment later. Not a second after that, the door exploded inward and hurtled over our heads, nearly taking me down in the process.

"Where are you going?" Salem's voice echoed all around us. "And we were having such a delightful conversation."

Ruby looked back and gasped, seeing something I could not. She moved right, through another door. I was a second behind her and the searing hear that passed behind seared my feet. Again, Ruby slammed the door and moved on. We were in a dining room of some kind with a long table, several Greycloaks dead upon or by it. There was a door at the back that likely led to the kitchen we'd been in before. Having no other options, we rushed for it.

Salem came not through the door but the wall itself, peeling the stone away with her bare hands and ignoring those that rained down on her. They bounced off her head and crashed down around her in an explosion of dust and mortar.

"Are we playing hide and seek now?" she called after us as we closed another door on her. I'd been right; it was the kitchen. Ruby was already at the next door, the dinky knife I'd made for her clutched in one hand. "I suppose I can play along. How about a few friends to play with?"

Howls echoed from around the Belladonna manor, howls I recognised. Grimm. She could summon them at will. Or maybe it was just the negativity covering the Mirage Isles like a thick fog. "Give me the knife," I said to Ruby. "You can't fight without a scythe."

"I can freeze them," she shot back, still moving but keeping her speed low enough to match mine. "And we can't stop and fight anyway. She'll catch us if we do!"

I accepted her words with a grunt and let it be. As we approached the next turn in the corridors, a loud snuffling from the right preceded the appearance of an Ursa. An Ancient Grimm – though not one huge enough to match that we'd faced in the Dungeon back in Vale. It would have been enough to destroy a small village like Ansel, but we could kill one with our high Levels now. If we had our weapons.

Ruby blurred ahead before I could say a word. She'd always been fast, but this was different. Her entire body became nothing more than an extension of her cloak. It was just a flash of colour to me – and to the Grimm, which didn't respond to her in time, barely even turning its head in our direction before she was on it. The dagger slammed into its chest and ice exploded out from it, covering the thing's head, shoulders and upper arms.

I charged under its left arm as it strained to move, cracking the ice and causing shards to fall on me. It was already moving a little, creaking around to face us as the ice shattered. My Rune bought us a few seconds, but those seconds were enough for us to be past and through another door, into what once might have been an office but had been turned into a sleeping quarters of some kind. Bedrolls covered the floor, dead people within them.

"Where do we go?" I panted.

"I-I don't know. I just thought we'd keep running until we find a window."

Good enough for me. My energy was already flagging, and fighting was an impossible prospect. If we found the forge Raven had brought me to before I could make some weapons, but what would we do with them? Fight Salem? Kill her? I touched the limited Star metal wrapped around my locket but didn't use it. The sword I'd made Raven had shattered as easily as Crocea Mors. So much for her and Ozpin's hopes that it might somehow be enough.

The entire wall and roof behind us was slowly being brought down brick by brick. Ruby and I hurried on away from it, listening to the sounds of roars and crumbling masonry behind us. Nothing from Salem now, but I didn't dare to hope she'd let us go. We barrelled through several more rooms with Ruby having to freeze two Grimm to let us by. They tended to get caught on the doors, quickly destroying the wood but being stuck in the frame until they could knock the stone down. That bought us time to keep moving, but it felt like we were going deeper into the manor, not toward an outer edge and an exit.

If Blake were with us, she'd have been able to offer directions. As it was, we kept running. Head in a straight line for long enough and we'd eventually come out on the other side. The crackling thunder high above let us know a storm awaited us, but there was nothing we could do about that.

"Do you think we've lost her?" Ruby asked, panting harshly. While her speed was second to none, her stamina was not. "M-Maybe she got lost."

"I wouldn't count on it."

"Nor would I, little mice."

Red eyes ahead. A cocky smile. I barged through the door to the left with Ruby behind, the mocking laughter of Salem behind even her. The corridor we came into stretched and bent in on itself, warping before our eyes as the walls turned black like ink and clawed hands grasped out from every direction, trying to catch us. Ruby shrieked and dodged through with her Agility, but several claws caught my legs, digging into the fabric of my pants and forcing me to tug it away, often ripping the material.

One caught my shoulder and hooked into flesh. I grunted and pushed through that as well, tearing the claw out with no regard for what it did to my skin. To stop for even a second was to be dragged down. Ruby lashed out with her dagger around me, freezing what limbs she could to make my path easier. I fell through the next door, tripping over and rolling forward, relying on Ruby to drag me up.

I was holding us back. Ruby could have been away with ease if not for me. "Ruby…"

"Don't say it! I won't do it!"

"Y-You could get help for me," I tried. "Convince the others to help." Her lip went white as she bit down on it, but she didn't offer an immediate denial. "Go," I said, pushing her. "If we stay, we both die. At least if you reach the others, they might be able to come up with some way to help me. It's the only way we both get out of this alive."

Ruby shook visibly. "I won't let them leave without you."

I knew she'd try. I also knew Yang or Weiss or even Ren would knock her out and force her hand. It was the only option. "Go," I said, giving her a little push. "Get help."

The Reaper became a red blur within a second. It shot off through the door ahead and turned a corner a hundred metres further in less than three seconds. Suddenly alone, I felt worse than ever and slapped a hand down on a table to catch my breath. A bloody handprint was left behind. Keep going, I told myself, stumbling on despite my exhaustion.

"So brave," Salem mocked, voice coming from the walls once more. "The Hero sending the girl on ahead while he stays to face the monster. Except, you're not quite doing a good job of that. Running away as you are."

"Yeah well." I grimaced. "I'm just a Blacksmith."

"So true. Maybe you should be making a weapon for the real hero."

Maybe. Probably. I stooped and looted a dead Greycloak of his sword, then concentrated and began to mould it with my hand as I staggered on. It took me the time of two corridors and a room to forge it into a functional copy of Crocea Mors. Not a great one given the substandard materials, but it would do. I added a Rune of Constitution and instantly felt my fatigue lessen.

"And so the Knight visited the Blacksmith and found himself a trusty weapon. With it, he fought to face a dragon to save his princess."

"There's no dragon here."

A chuckle. "Isn't there?"

The wall to the left of me exploded inward and a long, serpentine head burst forth. Eyes set in a snake-like face, yet one far wider and with a maw covered in fangs and spikes, looked down at me. A mighty paw slammed forward, bringing down more of the wall as the very-real dragon Grimm struggled to fit its bulk into a room at least ten times too small for it.

"Fucking hell." I didn't even think to fight it. I dashed in the opposite direction and that saved my life. I was through a door and had it shut a second before its head snapped forward. The frame shook behind me and the door was wrenched open, throwing me several feet down the stone corridor. Glancing back, I saw its jaw open and a spark of flame within it. "Shit!"

Fire rolled over my body. My clothing ignited and I fell to the floor mid-run, rolling to put it out. It wasn't a continuous stream like Cinder's had been, nor was it as hot, but then I didn't have full plate armour brought to several hundred degrees to counteract it either. I kept rolling as the flames died off, putting out those on me. Behind, I heard it take another breath and felt the air rush back. I squeezed myself into an alcove ahead and stood with my back to hot stone as a wall of flame rushed by. I was out when it ended, rushing again through the corridor as it drew another breath.

The third didn't catch me. I was out and beyond, taking a right just in case it tried to follow and splashing through the blood Raven had left behind. This time not just from Greycloaks but the odd pirate.

I must be close to an exit. The pirates only lived for a few minutes and they couldn't have made it all that far into the building. I'm close! By now, Ruby would have been out. With Salem focusing on me, I had to assume she'd found an exit.

"And like the brave Knight he was, Sir Jaune ran and ran. To where, one might ask? No one knows. But ahead of him, he espied an exit."

A small door stood ahead, a window on either side looking out into a roiling storm. It was a servant's exit or a backdoor, but it was there. I slowed to a stop and drew a deep breath. I didn't feel all that excited for it. Hard to when Salem knew where I was and had as good as shown she could manipulate the Grimm as she wished.

"Not going to take your prize, Jaune?"

"Is there any point?"

Salem stepped out of a side door and into the room. Her hands were linked behind her back and her heels clicked on the stone floor. Where I was covered in blood, dust and minor wounds, she looked as fresh as she ever had, albeit more `human` than ever before.

"Was there ever a point in fighting me?" she asked. "You knew you could not win yet continued to try. What has changed, my dear Knight? I stand between you and the way out. A way back to your friends who even now wait in the waters below." Her eyes crinkled. "I wonder if they know of the beast that lurks beneath their ship."

Anger raged through me and I threw my sword at her face. She sidestepped it, smiling the whole time. "Is this just a game to you!?" I screamed. "Is that all we are, pieces on a board?"

"No."

"Then what!?"

"You're more characters in a story." Her words hit me. I sagged. "Every now and then I get a glimpse into your silly little world and a chance to interact. I watch and amuse myself in the same way one might pick up a book and read a chapter of a story. This isn't my world. I feel no connection to it. But it can be entertaining in small doses."

I don't know what I'd expected but this… it hurt. I glared at her through tears that ran down my cheeks. The analogy she was creating – I knew where it led. You didn't care for the lives of those you didn't consider your equals. If we were just characters in a story to her, a story for her entertainment, then we were utterly expendable.

"This isn't a story to us," I hissed. "This is our life."

"And now it is mine. Tell me, Jaune. Would you like to be drawn into your favourite childhood stories? I'm sure most would think it fun. A chance to explore a new world, to be a part of it and be a character yourself." She made a vague motion as if wielding a sword. "How exciting. How fun. And what do you imagine you would do if you came into such a world? Would you sit back and live it as a minor character? Would you retire and become a farmer, raise a family, grow old and die?"

"No!" she said, laughing. "No one thinks about that, do they? It's always just how much fun it would be to be there in a world not your own. But you know what they do get right. Don't you?"

"Who is they?" I asked weakly.

Salem ignored me. "What they get right is when they say how they would try and thrive in that world. Make it better. Be important. When I look at your world from the outside, it's easy to not put any effort in. To just do as is expected and let you live your lives as you wish. Now that I'm here, though? Why, I've become a part of your story. Or your story is mine. I must live in this blighted world now. I have to spend eternity here."

"If I'm going to do that, I'd like to do it properly."

Salem turned aside and waved a hand toward the door. It opened of its own accord.

I stared at it.

"Go on," she urged.

I didn't move.

"No? Don't tell me you want to become my General or something. That would be quite the twist in this story, wouldn't it?"

"This isn't a story to me," I whispered. "This is my life…"

"But what is life if not a story?" she asked. "And I'm giving you a chance to continue yours. After all, you only have the one chance to make your story a good one. I'm not going to waste mine. So go, return to your little Kingdom and raise your armies. Prepare your defences, forge your weapons and train your body and mind. For when next we meet, Jaune Arc, I will expect you to properly play the hero in our little show."

Exhausted. That was the only way to accurately express what I felt. Nothing I did mattered, and she would play her games with my life as she wished. Against all common sense, I didn't argue and didn't turn away. Instead, I walked forward. I walked by her, within reaching distance, and then beyond.

Salem made no effort to stop me.

"Why all of this?" I asked. "If you were going to let me go anyway, why do this? Just to show me how outclassed I am? Just to drive home how little I can do against you?"

"Do I seem the type?"

"No. So why?"

"I didn't know if I would let you go," she said easily. "I decided to delay while I considered whether to kill you or not."

I shivered at the cold words.

"We'll see one another soon enough. Two months. That is what I shall grant you. Use them well."

The door closed behind me and I was left alone out on the grassy verge behind the Belladonna manor, looking out over the vast ocean in turmoil, the lightning that crackled down to strike the sea and the spray that was drawn up by the fearsome winds. It was still day, but you wouldn't have known it. The clouds were so thick and so dark that it felt closer to midnight.

Sheathing my new Crocea Mors, I stumbled over to the elevator that the others had used to escape. It was a simple pully system using two ropes over a wheel above. The platform was at the bottom. I clung onto the other side and my weight caused it to fall. Slowly, thanks to some mechanism preventing the wheel from spinning too quickly.

I descended with an agonising lack of haste, able to see with uttermost clarity the Grimm that were feasting on the remains of pirates who had not been so fortunate. The sinking ships of those who could not fight them off. The fires that had taken over the lower decking of the Mirage Isles, and the thick, black ooze that had spread into the water like tar. The lower ends of the stone spires had begun to change as well, turning a sickly purple with red veins running through them and pulsing. I didn't dare touch them as I descended past. I could feel the heat coming off them.

There, at the bottom, I could make out several figures holding back the Grimm. The idiots. They were supposed to take Ruby and run, yet they'd actually thought to come help me. Knowing I'd have done the same, I couldn't bring myself to feel angry.

I couldn't bring myself to feel anything.

"Jaune, you're alive," Blake said, looking back with such relief that I'd have normally felt something. "Is Salem-"

"We're leaving," I said, voice dead.

"What? How did you escape?"

"I didn't. None of us have. We've just delayed the end." I looked past them. "Did the supplies make it to the ship?"

"We're good to go," Yang said. "Adam has picked up what pirates we can afford to. Food will be tight, but we can make it to Mistral to purchase more. From there, we'll drop those we saved off and head back to Vale. Should take a week."

Leaving us even less time to prepare. I shuddered.

"Let's go," I said, shaking my head. "I… I just want to go home. Away from this place. If we're lucky, she won't have the monster below the ship sink us."

They looked at me, startled. "Beneath-?"

As I said it, a bell tolled from Adam's ship. We looked back in time to see several long tendrils reaching up from the water around it and wrapping around the mast and hull. With a loud metallic sound, the ballistae fired, piercing the tentacles in places, but one of the masts was cracked in two and sent tumbling down into the surf.

With a muttered curse, I drew Crocea Mors once more.

"Looks like she isn't going to make it easy for us…"


Just to say – Salem is not referencing us or you in her speech here. She isn't breaking the fourth wall to claim Forged Destiny is some meta world which exists only in a fanfic (even if it is). What she means is more… I suppose it's Final Fantasy 10-esque, except Jaune isn't a dream, etc. A character called Auron often used the words "This is your story" to reference how you choose to live your life. The idea being that you get one life, one story, and it's your choice on how you let it happen or end.

Or call it Shakespeare if you will – the world is but a stage and we, the players.

I'm not pulling some stupid "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players."

I promise you that.


Next Chapter: 20th May

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur