Chapter 6: New Beginnings and Decisions
Ryler inhaled deeply and held his breath for a second before letting it out again. He was sitting in his Mindscape, on the the replica bed in his hotel room to be more precise. Sarah was nowhere to be seen. She could never manifest herself for very long. It was likely because it was a relatively new ability and he was used to using it quite yet. Ryler concluded that she might have just run out of time or he lost focus for too long. He laid back in the replica bed and closed his eyes, the memory of Sarah's death was still fresh within his mind as he drifted off to sleep.
X-X
He returned to his own base after he buried her body. He told his "higher ups" that his contract was complete and that he wouldn't be helping in the war for anyone's side again. When they had joined the fight they had done so as mercenaries. This made it very easy to leave without being called a traitor of deserter. Not that it mattered anymore. He left with all the stuff they had brought with them. He now had possession of the only things Sarah had left in life. There was a survival knife, a locket that she would often look at from time to time, a gold ring and a picture she had taken of them the day after they had first met. Ryler never knew her to be sentimental about very much, that made these few items that much more important to him.
After that incident, he traveled across the country that used to be America. He started from somewhere near the West coast all the way back to his home town of New York City. It took him only a few days, he would have been there in a matter of hours but he didn't have the strength, neither physical, magical nor emotional. When he reached his destination he collapsed into a sobbing mess. The bombed out ruins of the once majestic city were the last things he saw before he passed out from the immense amount of stress of the last few days. When he awoke again, he found himself in a place that looked as he felt inside. A place of hopelessness and despair.
He walked around the city for hours trying to make sense of the destruction all around him. A popular restaurant, a pile of rubble. A bank, now an empty shell. Homes, offices, hospitals and fire stations. All were in just as bad a shape as anything else. The place he had once called home was nothing at all like it used to be. It all just made him want to go back and live the peaceful life he used to have. It was impossible. Sure he was strong and he would be the most powerful being in all of existence when he got full control of his powers. Even still, it was impossible. His powers relied on the natural order of the universe but the universe never spontaneously reversed time. So neither could he. He kept walking for a while longer before he came upon a, somehow, still standing sign. Beacon. It was the school he had decided to attend the following year. Being a genius at such a young age had plenty of perks.
He was once thought of as a prodigy and someone who could possibly revolutionize the world. But was headstrong, overconfident, arrogant, and never appreciated his gifts. And now here he was. All his potential for making a better world and he couldn't even save one person when he truly needed to. The ruined school would stand as a reminder of his failures as a human being. A monument telling him that he would never be able to achieve what he really wanted. A peaceful life what living.
Suddenly there was a small ball of golden amber light shining down on him. He looked up and watched it as if floated down toward him until in was within reach. He held out his hand and it rested in his palm before it vanished into thin air. At that moment he knew that it was a message from sarah. He heard nothing and no one had shown themselves before him but he understood its intent clearly. He knew Sarah would not have wanted him to become a depressed wreck like he was now. She would want him to keep moving forward no matter what happened. She was gone but that didn't mean she wasn't with him right now.
He felt a wave of peace and tranquility wash over him. It was as if she was there with a hand on his shoulder, telling him that everything would be okay. He smiled, knowing exactly what he needed to do. He gathered as much power into his body as he could. He pulled his arms and legs in as he strained. Gathering that much power was something he didn't do very often so it was hard for him to contain it all. Once he had enough power stored within himself he released it all in one of the largest attacks he'd ever performed. The shockwave he launched was large enough and strong enough to utterly obliterate the entire island of Manhattan. Before, it was a wasted city, ruins of a once great metropolis, now a clean slate. The blast wasn't meant to destroy even further, it was meant to wipe the area clean of its sorrowful past. Now life could gather and start all over.
Ryler chose that place, the place where his life had changed once before, to start anew as well. He would dedicate the rest of his life to honor the sacrifice Sarah made for him. He started by spending the next few weeks revitalizing the island. Soon, after he kick-started the process a bit, life would return in abundance.
He also meditated often to grow his abilities even further than what they were now. It was hard for him as he had always skipped his meditation sessions with Sarah, instead opting for more combat training. What made it harder was the fact that he was technically still in "enemy" territory. When the Federation eventually came to investigate the epicenter of the powerful blast, he had to keep from being discovered. He used a combination of illusions and emotion manipulation to create a barrier around the entire island. It would simultaneously show any unwanted guests a completely devastated city while also making them more hesitant to return to that area. It was an effective method of remaining hidden.
It took a few days of constant meditation but eventually he had developed the ability to create a new place he could train. He now could go all out without having to worry about drawing anymore unnecessary attention if he released too much of his power at once. He called this new place, the Mindscape.
His training continued in the Mindscape for the next few years and it wasn't easy. He had always said that learning other types of magic was pointless if he didn't know how to fight first. Now he had to learn all those things alone. He thought back to the lessons Sarah tried to teach him. There was very little he had bothered to remember and now he was really hating his previous arrogant nature.
He started from the very beginning, focusing on extending his soul outward as a force. From there he tried focusing that force into a point capable of interactions with the physical, or in this case, metaphysical world. He would meditate for hours trying to perfect his technique but always felt like he never made any progress. When he grew too frustrated with his lack of success, he would do his focusing exercises.
Focusing meant that instead of trying to learn new abilities, he would strengthen the ones he already had. None of the powers he focused on were one he could actively used in battle.
The day Sarah had died had taught him many lessons. One being that he could lose control of himself again at any moment. It scared him that he had been so willing to take the lives of so many people. The fact that it had been so easy to do what he did also scared him. Though none of that was as bad as the fact that he had enjoyed every second of it. It made him sick to think that someone so vile and wicked was lurking deep within him and could surface at any moment.
X-X
Ryler had awoken in his bed but the sounds of birds outside the window told him that he had fallen out of his Mindscape. He checked the time again for the what felt like the hundredth time that day. The time read 2:14. He spent the entire morning talking with Ozpin and Glynda, telling them that he would think about the offer and get back to them. He decided to meditate on the offer and come to a conclusion on what to do.
"It should only take a few hours at most". Ryler said with confidence as he sat with his legs crossed on his bed.
...
Two days had passed since Ozpin had offered him a place in his school and Ryler was still debating on whether or not to accept. He was going insane just being cooped up in his room thinking for hours on end. He needed to go out and get some fresh air. Also he wanted to see if his decision could be influenced by people or things around the city. His thought process was: "Screw it, let the universe tell me what to do". Not the best way of making important life choices but his power was connected to the world around him. He figured if that was true then his power and the world around him would direct his actions.
Which led him to the park across from Signal where he took a seat under a large oak tree just taking in the sights around him. He had been sitting there for only a few minutes when he was given his sign. He saw a very familiar person leaving the school through the front gate. His caramel colored hair made his stomach churn. The arrogant smile made a scowl grow on Ryler's face. And worst of all, the mace he was resting on his shoulders made Ryler growl with disdain. There he was, leaving Signal Academy, Cardin Winchester.
"He is a disgrace of a Huntsman, an ass of a human being and a stain on the Winchester name." Ryler thought to himself as he also thought about the other two Winchesters he knew about. He knew he could never be certain but he always felt that Sam and Dean would hate sharing a name with that racist jerk. Ryler had to calm himself using breathing exercises. The last thing he needed right now was to lose control. He never wanted to hurt anyone again... Then something happened within his mind, something dangerous. Something that could mean trouble for not only his enemies but the people within a close physical proximity to them. There was an idea was forming in his head.
It was an idea for something to make the day much more entertaining. Just because he didn't fight anymore didn't mean he couldn't pull off pranks anymore. He grinned from ear to ear, it was a smile that would make the Joker jealous carp his pants. He unintentionally started rubbing his hand together like a fly and let off a chuckle that could give even the most hardened and battle worn Huntsman the chills. "Cardin, you are in for a hell of a day and I'm not going to let you off easy." He said. He was too lost in his temporary madness that he didn't notice a woman and her small child pass in front of him. The woman saw his face and heard his laugh, making her eyes widen, her spine chill, and her slow stroll in the park to become a jog out of it. She moved fast enough that her son was almost being dragged behind her.
Ryler got up and ran across the street so he wouldn't lose sight of his target. He followed him closely but made sure he wouldn't be seen. Although his training with Sarah had mainly been combat centered, he still made sure to learn how to gather information on someone. That meant he was basically a ninja when he wanted to be. Cardin would never even know he was there until it was too late. Now all he had to do was wait for the perfect opportunity to present itself.
Ryler didn't have a plan for what he would do when the time came but he knew that it would be awesome. After a few more minutes of following Cardin, Ryler suddenly realized something. Ozpin had told him that the airship to Beacon would leave in two days but that was two days ago. He had missed the ship and apparently so had Cardin. That would explain why he wasn't shown until the day of initiations. Which would explain why he didn't show up in the episode before.
"Wow, he's a terrible human being and he's a slacker too? Pathetic." Ryler thought, deliberately choosing to ignore his own hypocrisy. Several more minutes passed by but still the right moment to strike had not presented itself. There were some smaller moments that would have been alright but he wasn't looking for "alright", no it had to be perfect. Ryler looked ahead to where Cardin was headed to now and found exactly what he had been waiting for this entire time.
Ahead of them, looking like a true gang of deuchery, stood the other three members of CRDL at the entrance to a local club. Have you ever seen movies where someone sees the world slow down to a crawl. Ones where they see things in their environment being highlighted by their own mind. Well this is exactly what Ryler was seeing right now and it wasn't even his powers being activated. Ryler could see it all now: the red car, a large dog sleeping on the front step of a pizza joint, a pedestrian carrying a hot cup of coffee and Cardin's own mace. These were the things Ryler saw, these were the tools for his prank. He cleared his mind and started off
First, Ryler made sure to keep his distance from Cardin but still stayed close enough behind to see it all happen. Ryler focused his power into his hand, which he raised and let the energy gently flow into Cardin's mace. It glowed blue for a brief moment before it faded. Ryler now had full control of the weapon. Quickly, Ryler ducked behind a different car than the one he needed and clenched his fist. The weapon that Cardin had been resting on his shoulder seemed to become more uncomfortable to wield. Cardin felt it and tried shifting it to his other shoulder. Instead of the familiar weight of his mace falling into place gently on his shoulder he felt a heavy metal bar impact him hard. His aura protected him from any broken bones but that was definitely going to bruise.
He winced in pain and shrugged off the mace and let it hang in his hand. By now, the other three were watching their future leader having trouble lifting his own weapon. They started snickering at his expense. Ryler made the weight of the weapon nearly ten times more that what it originally was. Ryler knew exactly what would happen. The velocity of such a heavy object combined with him not being prepared for the sudden change, made him follow it down to the ground. Yes, face plant, just as Ryler wanted to happen. He wasn't the only one who saw Cardin's not so graceful landing. Down the street, at the club's entrance, the other three members of CRDL were stifling even more laughs.
"That's right douche nozzles, laugh it up." Ryler said quietly to himself.
Meanwhile, Cardin was standing back up from his place on the sidewalk. He dusted himself off and reached down to pick up his weapon. While he was doing that, Ryler proceeded to the next step of his plan. Cardin was standing with his back facing the red car pulling uselessly on the stuck weapon. Ryler activated a sound amplification spell on the car's horn and reached out with his power and pressed the horn. The spell was a little too strong as blast from the sudden increase in noise created a pressure wave that sent Cardin face first into a wall and shatter the glass windows of a store across the street. The others saw this too and burst into laughter, one of them, Ryler didn't remember his name, was rolling around on the ground. Ryler stopped the horn and the constant sound wave keeping Cardin against the wall stopped and he fell backwards back to the ground.
"Now let's finish this." Ryler thought to himself. A few feet away, in the direction they were previously moving, Ryler saw the pizzeria and the dog sleeping out in front and proceeded to stage three. Now fully awake and agitated by the loud sounds, the large dog angrily watched as Cardin stumbled around in his daze. Ryler used his powers to pick up his mace and held it out in front of his path. Just as he was hoping for, Cardin was walking towards the dog. The moment he was within range, Ryler dropped the mace and Cardin tripped over it landing on the dog. As you would expect, the dog did not take too kindly to that. It forcefully pushed Cardin off itself, stood menacingly over him and snarled at him. Upon hearing the unhappy sounds, Cardin looked up an saw the dog. It barked directly in his face and spit flew from its maw to his face. The stench of dog breath that the angry good boy was giving off was bad but was not a horrid smell. To a dazed idiot, however, it might as well have been the scent of death. Ryler was trying so hard to stifle his laughter so he would not be discovered, unless wanted to he make himself a target for revenge. On the other hand, the other three idiots were freely laughing their asses off at Cardin.
Slowly, out of fear, Cardin stood back up and picked up his weapon. Instead of running away from the dog and into the man with hot coffee about to round the corner, like Ryler had planned; he did something that, honestly, he really should have expected from Cardin. Cardin smirked once he had his mace back in his hands, without the added magical weight. He raised his mace over his head getting ready to hit the poor animal. Ryler couldn't believe it, he was about to attack the dog. Reacting quickly, he raised his hand toward the mace and stopped it in its tracks. Cardin continued the motion and swung downward, the dog seeing this flinched expecting the hit but it never came.
Standing there, hand stretched out to snatch the mace from Cardin, Ryler made his presence known. "You really are an asshole, Cardin." He said as he let go of his hold on the mace, making it drop down on Cardin's head.
"Ow! That hurt you sack of ass!" Cardin shouted. He picked up his weapon again and charged at Ryler. Ryler, on the other hand just stood there, calm and unwavering. He had the perfect way to counter his attack. However, he never had to move a muscle because the dog that Cardin was going to hit suddenly jumped on him and bit the hand holding the mace. Ryler was stunned that the dog was protecting him. It might have just been attacking Cardin because it wanted revenge and that's all but Ryler felt that the dog's actions were motivated by something more. During their struggle, the other three knuckle draggers rushed in to aide their leader. One of them pulled the dog off and he threw the dog at Ryler. He quickly reached out with his powers and caught the dog in midair and softly lowered it to the ground. When it was again on stable footing, the dog turned to Cardin and started growling again. Ryler was curious why it wanted to keep fighting so he activated his powers and read the dog's mind.
"I must protect." Was all that was in its mind. Over and over again, the dog repeated those three words. A true good boy doing his duty of protecting the store as best as he could. Ryler smiled at the animal and turned back to face Cardin but he quickly sent the dog a mental message. "I can handle them, you don't have to worry." Surprise was the only thing on its face when the message was received. It looked around the area to see if there was another dog around but there was only the Human standing beside him. "Don't be afraid, I am not an ordinary human. If you let me, I can explain how after I take care of the other humans. And, it's kinda my fault that you were even involved anyway, sorry about that." Ryler thought to the dog. When Cardin saw that Ryler was distracted he ordered the other three to surround the two of them. They were out numbered. Ryler begrudgingly took a fighting stance, it seemed there was no other way out but to fight.
Then they saw something they didn't expect. The dog sat down and started happily panting like there was no immediate danger, tail wag and all. When he saw this Ryler gave a questioning glance at the pooch and its response was a single word, "Friends." CRDL was closing in on the two when they heard something across the street. It was a short howl from another dog. Then there was another short howl from an alley a block behind Ryler and another from somewhere they couldn't see. Then there was a sudden pack of dogs running out of the many alleyways. The four morons were standing there, stunned beyond actions, as they were now the ones to be surrounded and out numbered.
The dog that was sitting beside Ryler gave a quick bark and the pack started closing in while growling at CRDL. Needless to say they were scared shitless. Just as they did in the show, and would do later on in the future, Russel, Dove and Sky all ran away abandoning their leader. Cardin frozen by fear and started whimpering. The pack descended upon him and they made a literal dog pile on Cardin. When they cleared off, Cardin was on his back being held down by a few of the larger dogs, while most of the others had a piece of his clothing in the mouths. Ryler was shocked at what he was witnessing, Cardin had been taken hostage by a pack of wild, but probably still harmless, dogs at the command of the one sitting beside him. He looked down and read its mind again.
While others would have heard barking, Ryler heard, "Take him away but do not kill him, I want him to fear us for the rest of his miserable life." Ryler was wide eyed and slack jawed at what he heard. Truly, they were man's best friend but could also be his worst nightmare. The entire pack silently acknowledged the orders and in response began dragging him away toward the alley across the street from them. The last thing he saw before Cardin disappeared into the dark was him struggling to get free while he screamed and begged for mercy. Ryler looked around the area to see if anyone else had witnessed what had happened. There was only him, the dog and a tumble were rolling down the sidewalk.
X-X
Ryler sat up in his bed and shuddered at the memory. To think that an animal that looked so innocent would be so ruthless. It was crazy but at least he knew now not to make a dog angry. And speaking of that dog, he learned just after Cardin… went missing… that his name was Cujo, which made the situation that much more terrifying. Possible Satan dog aside, Ryler was sitting in his hotel room just thinking about what he did and what he would have done if he hadn't been saved by Cujo. He was willing to fight Cardin to protect an innocent animal, and he had still maintained control of his emotions. There had been a few times while living in his sanctuary when he needed to fight off a vicious bear or two and it almost always ended with Ryler needing to isolate himself in his Mindscape until he regained control of himself. But now he didn't even feel the darkness' presence anywhere in his mind. Maybe he was growing stronger or maybe it was becoming weaker, it didn't really matter. The important thing was that there was now a real chance that he could go into battle again without the fear of killing someone. He didn't want to jump straight in, however, as he still needed to be cautious. He needed actual combat training again. And there was a perfect opponent outside the city limits that he knew he could go up against and not feel guilty if they died.
Ryler stood up from his bed and did a few stretches. It was always a good idea to stretch before going Grimm hunting.