Hello again for chapter 2 of Rwby and Dark souls Cutting the strings.

Let's continue where we left off at
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Ruby and her team were making their way to Professor Goodwitch for an important mission, entering her office. At the sound of the door opening, Goodwitch looked up from her paperwork.

"Ah, team RWBY. I hope you don't make a habit of being late." She stated, giving the team a stern look.

Ruby nervously smiled, scratching the back of her head. "Umm...sorry?"

"No matter. I hope you all are prepared for todays assignment." She said, receiving a, "YES MA'AM!"

"Good. You're all being sent to an excavation site as assistants and guards. Listen to the archeologist in charge of the site, but if anything illegal is transpiring, you are to report it to authorities and await further instructions. Now, any questions?" Glynda asked, looking over the team.

Ruby spoke up with excitement, "Oh! Where are we going? To an ancient temple or-or a lost desert city?!" Ruby asked with sparkles in her eyes.

"Now don't be ridiculous Rubes, it can't be that big of a deal, otherwise it'd be a second year team or something." Yang pointed out.

"If you two are done-", Weiss butted into the conversation "-I'd like to know where we are going" she said, not wanting to waste time.

Goodwitch picked up a folder from her desk, handing it to Ruby. She opened it and looked through it, "You all will be going to ruins known as the 'FireLink shrine'." Blake perked up, hearing the name.

***Inside of the Bullhead***

"Sooooooo, Blake. Ya look like you know where we're going." Yang said, taking a seat next to her.

"Well, I think do." She answered, taking the book she was just reading earlier out. "I've read it out of this."

Showing the book to the others, Ruby perked up, "Oh that the book you were reading earlier! What's it called?" Taking a closer look at it, she noticed something, "There's no title, what kind of book has no title?"

Blake opened the book, "I don't know, I found it on a lone shelf in the library early morning and haven't been able to stop reading it."

"So what's so special about it?" Weiss asked, trying to look over it from behind Blake. Trying to get room from her crowding teammates, she began to read. They had time to kill.

In the beginning, there were two plains of reality, 'the above' and 'the below'. Above was a lifeless gray land, ruled by the dragons who lived forever. Nothing changed, all stayed the same, none living nor dying .

The below was nothing but darkness at first until a flame grew bright, showing the creatures hiding in the dark. Four creatures were drawn to the light and became something more. The flames had great power and they claimed it.

This power shaped and changed three, the first to come to power was the Grave Lord Nito, the embodiment of death. Second, was the Witch of Izalith who became the embodiment of life. Last was Lord Gwyn, who became the protector of the light and declared the light was more powerful than the gray world up above. So they declared war.

Many knights died in the war as the dragons were immortal. It seemed there was no hope of winning this war... Until intel of one dragon that betrayed his kind. Seath the Scaleless, born without the scales of immortality, told Gwyn the weaknesses of the dragons, jealous of the dragons who had what he did not. The scales were their lifeline and lighting was the way to pierce them.

Gwyn and his knights wielded lighting bolts, breaking the scales. With the combined power of Nito and Izlith, the dragons... were no more.

With the flame, a new kingdom grew and grew to be so much more for hundreds of years. The kingdom was in the age of perfection, but a prophecy was told, rebelling against this time. And so began the fall of the age of fire.

Darkness was feared as it became the lifeblood of humanity. The fourth to attain the flame.

The Dark soul...

Looking up from the book, Blake could see her team was completely quiet, listening until Yang spoke up, "Well then what happened?"

"There's too much to read so I'll skip ahead to what we need." She said, beginning to flip through the pages.

"WHAT?! BUT WE GOT TO THE GOOD STUFF!" Ruby shouted out, she was really enjoying the dragons and knights! Oh and the Lighting bolts! Those sounded awesome to have!

"Ruby we need all the knowledge we need before we get to the ruins.", Weiss pointed out, but truth be told, she was enjoying it as well. But duty calls, they could read it later.

"Oh right, that would be for the best", Ruby said sheepishly, forgetting about the mission.

"Found it." Blake said, bringing everyone's attention back to the book.

Firelink shrine, the crossroad to many dangerous places, spread all around the land. It was known to be the very last place many heroes come before dying, going mad or hollow. All have come through this shrine, trying to find their purpose in this life. All come just as all leave at some point, never to come back or just go hollow...But there is a story of one undead who would come to Firelink shrine, who escaped the Undead Asylum and who made a choice that would effect all.

"Hey!" The pilot yelled, bringing their attention back up to the cockpit. "We're going to be landing soon, take a look outside. It's quite the sight!"

The whole team got up to look out the window, it was unlike anything they've seen before! Off of a cliffside stood a ruin that looked to be untouched in ages. They saw stairs built right into the side of the cliff, but were mostly to destroyed to be used.

"Wow, would you look at that!"Ruby said with pure excitement. All of them were excited, but her team wasn't showing as much as her.

As the ship landed,all departed off to meet the man there to greet them.

\(•_•)/Praise the sun scene change
\(•_•)/

Nothing...I feel nothing...No, I felt death before this. There was something different, I was here and not here at the same time...Is this a dream? No. I'm starting to feel something. A spark? No, a slow burn. I realize this small bit of life is...me. My soul.

But I should have died I took the flame! It burned my soul...right? Wait no that's not right! I fought the flame, made something new, different, but what happened?! I need answers!

Touch...I can feel cold, but I can feel something...my soul. I can feel it grow and burn. That's it! I must fight! I will not just sit by! Feeling a new goal, I push myself to feel alive again, the moment I can feel my hand move I felt nothing but ash. Pushing myself up, I tried to see, but there was nothing but darkness.

The first flame should be burning. Did it finally burn out? Did anything I did matter at all?! Lifting myself fully, I casted a miracle of light to see finally see. This was Gwyns chamber, the very place that housed the first flame, but the flame was missing.

Looking down out of the ash, I saw the Chaos blade. My blade. Picking it up, I could feel how different it glowed with a power of flame, but it shouldn't possess power like this. Sheathing it away, I moved forward, seeing the Grass Cresent shield sticking out. I moved to pull it out, but more than half of it was burned away. T'was a shame, it has severed me well since I found it. I will miss it. Dropping it down, I move out of the cave and looked around. It all looked the same as when I was first here. Going up the stairs, loud echoes loud echoes were all that followed.

\(•_•)/Praise the sun scene change
\(•_•)/

"Team RWBY reporting for duty!" Ruby said with excitement, "Are you the head archaeologist here?" She greeted the man who was to escort them. He was an average man with brown hair. He stood at 5 feet 8 inches with goggles over his eyes, brown cargo shorts and a large trench coat on. "Yes, I am Professor Hines. Ruban Hines and I am very glad to have some extra hands around! This is an important dig you know!"

"Yeah, a really old ruin was found right," Yang said with a small smile which the Professor couldn't see but man turned around in a fast spin.

"It's MORE than that! This is on record as one of the oldest ruins today! WHO knows what we could find! Can you imagine it?! WELL can you?!" He asked/yelled, though out of excitement, not anger, getting at little close to her face

"Ummmmmmm...yes?"

"Excellent! Let us continue!" He yelled again, moving back to the front. The girls shared a look, this was going to be a long mission.

"Welcome to Firelink shrine" Ruban gestured to the open courtyard where a few others were working about. In fact, there really weren't many other workers there. Maybe 10 to 13 at most.

"Shouldn't there be...more people here if this is an important discovery"? Weiss said looking around.

The Archeologist sighed, "There were more of us. You see, this area usually has low Grimm activity, but in recent events, they've been attacking the site. Good people have gotten hurt..." The girls shared a sad look.

"But!" Hines yelled, turning quickly again, "That is why I asked for guards! We're so close to finding something, I can feel it! Come here, but please, do watch your step."

Making their way across the ruins, they approached a strange structure. Entering, they saw a large set up of equipment with one man watching it. He looked up to see Team RWBY and Hines.

"Hines your finally back! Who are your new friends?" He asked.

"These are our new bodyguards." Hines answered swiftly.

"Ummm... I'm sorry, in my excitement I never ask your names."

"Oh! I'm Ruby the team leader!" Ruby greeted excitedly.

"I'm her sister, Yang." Y and introduced herself, giving a wave.

"Weiss of the Schnee family." Weiss introduced herself with a bow.

"Blake." Blake simply stated her name.

"Well, you can just call me Earl." He said, looking back the equipment. Hines walk behind Earl

"Any changes?"

"Same old same old" Earl sighed.

"Now now, don't sound so down in the dumps".

Ruby took a step closer, looking down to the hole. Darkness. Pure darkness was all she could see and in a strange feeling, it was looking back.

"Not too close now, it dangerous!" Earl said.

"What's so dangerous about a hole?" Yang asked.

"To our study, we have yet find a bottom to this pit. It's unlike anything found or tested before" Hines answered.

"No bottom? How is that possible?" Weiss asked this time.

"Here, let me show you something." Hines pulled a small, round device and walk over to the pit, dropping it. "Now, if you follow me to the screen over here." Hines said, walking to the other side of the room.

"What I dropped was a tracker and with this-" he gestured to the screen, "We can see it's decent."

Looking at the screen, the little red dot was going and going... still going. Team RWBY just watched and wow it was still going

"Is it gong to stop or..." Yang was interrupted when beeping went off and the red dot disappeared.

"Did it hit the bottom?" Ruby asked.

"No, it's out of range. That tracking device has a range of 100 miles." Team RWBY were truly surprised by what just happened. "Now do you see why this is important. We need to get to work, so we'll let you do yours."

Receiving a nod from the team, they went back to work. Weiss spoke up "I suggest we spread out around the site, we can cover all angles if our leader agrees" she said, looking at Ruby.

"Sounds like a good plan, let's do it" Ruby gave the order, making team RWBY spread out.

\(•_•)/Praise the sun scene change
\(•_•)/

There's nothing here. No crossing the ash land of what was housing the first flame. No black knights like before. I reached the gate that lead to the Lord Vessel, passing into the white room. I never knew what this place was, but I never really cared before either.

This time there were no ghosts of black knights that were passing through. This time, things were different. Making my way to the top where the Lordvessel lied, I looked into it. There were no flames...no flames meant no lord souls. Where could they have gone? I worked hard to kill all of them, but I guess that doesn't matter now.

Walking to the edge of the platform, I looked down into the abyss. What now? The only way I got here was Darkstalker Kaathe and I can't just jump into the darkness to be lost forever. Was this it? To be stuck here for my eternal life?!

"DAMN IT!" I yelled into darkness, thinking what to do next.

Lost in thought, a sudden roar could be heard. It was loud and it sounded powerful, but most of all... angry.

"BY THE GODS, WHAT IS THAT?!" I pulled my sword out. This was going to be trouble.

**Firelink Shrine**

"Hines! I'm getting something!" Earl yelled, standing up taking a closer at the readings, "And it's quickly rising off the charts!"

"WHAT?!" Hines ran to check the readings, but didn't have time as the roar came out of the pit, alerting everyone in Firelink shrine and knocking Hines to the ground from the sheer force.

Ruby made it to the ruins first, being the fastest. "WHAT GOING ON" She yelled, Crescent Rose already out and ready for action.

"I DONT KNOW!" Hines shouted back, but as roar came, it stopped and the rest Team RWBY showed up.

"Is everyone ok?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, we're fine. How's everyone outside?" Hines asked.

"They're ok, Blake and I just checked on them." Weiss said, weapon ready. "But what was that, a Grimm?" She asked.

"No, it came from the pit. We need to collect the data, Earl is the equipment still working?!" Hines asked.

"Yeah, it's still good, still running!"

"That's good we're ok and the equipment is in running condition."

"We have a bigger problem than that!" Everyone looked at Blake as she was on top of the ruins, looking out, "That roar attracted Grimm! They're on their way here!"

"But you can beat them right?" Hines look at them with hope.

"There too many of them! We need to evacuate now!

Hines looked broken, but accepted, "Ok, ok, I understand. We need to get everyone and the data to the transport, but we need time to gather everyone and important items! We'll move as quickly as we can!"

"Understood! Team RWBY moveout!" Everyone was ready to protect the crew.

\(•_•)/Praise the sun scene change
\(•_•)/

The Chosen Undead had fought many creature, large and small, even the gods themselves, but this? He had no idea. Whatever this was had many large hands, all of them rose out of the abyss, surrounding the platform.

He took a stance and readied himself for the challenge, "I was in a foul mood but maybe you can be a challenge! Have at thee!" He yelled, charging the closest hand. He was ready for a battle!

Thats all for now, thanks for reading. A battle on both sides! What is this monster from the dark?! Find out next time on Cutting The String.