The Age of Fairy Tales:

The New Gods V

Travel over Remnant was surprisingly fast on the glider but Aqua had initially been against using it, if only to avoid suspicion and questions. The last thing she needed was attention being drawn to her, especially in a world now devoid of magic. However when she learned that Salem and Ozma were seeking the Relics, if only at least one of the Relics to use against Sin, she knew she couldn't afford to remain undercover and hope she found the Lamp in time.

There was now a race for the Relics.

Aqua's plan for finding the Lamp was using her brief time as a host of Ambrosius to try and find the other spirits. Since Ambrosius had possessed her three times now she had been able to sixth sense, able to recognize the presence of the power inside the Relics as well as she could sense Darkness. It was faint but she could sense unique magic of the Relics off in the distance, far from where she and Poppy had been staying.

It seemed that the Relics were scattered to the far corners of the world.

Right now, they were traveling over the western part of the continent that would one day be known as Sanus.

Aqua could see the desert lands below, filled with numerous oasis's, forests and rivers that let her know this was a thriving land.

She only hoped she wouldn't do something that would damage it somehow.

The feeling was getting stronger and she slowly brought the glider down. She landed before what looked like a cave with several palm trees close by. There was some form of writing above the entrance but it was in a language neither Aqua nor Poppy could understand.

Narrowing her eyes, Aqua could sense the magic inside. "It's in there."

Poppy followed Aqua's gaze, remaining still for a moment but followed Aqua into the cave. The walls were lit torches, lighting their path…And allowing them to see the skeletons of people who had obviously come here before, looking for the Lamp.

Aqua remained composed while Poppy stared for a wide-eyed second before quickly catching up to the Keyblade Master.

They continued but after some time, both had the feeling they were walking in circles.

"Okay, something is wrong here." Poppy finally said. "I am sure passed those same skeletons about five times now."

Aqua stopped and considered what Poppy had said. "It's a maze…Obviously built to protect the Lamp…If it's the Relic hidden here."

"So how do we find it?" Poppy asked curiously.

Aqua closed her eyes and focused on the energy signature of the Relic.

She then opened her eyes and pointed forward. "We keep going."

Poppy just watched Aqua as she continued walking and just walked after her, unable to think of anything else to do.

When the group continued searching for the relic of the lamp. Poppy is still upset about that witch that killed all of her family and village that is now proclaiming herself as a deity. That still makes her so disgusted. She wants nothing more than to eradicate that wicked witch of the West. Although, her mentor tells about that story long ago when the brothers live among their creations, and Salem is cursed with immortality by deceiving the brothers which makes it much impossible to end her.

If this group of the cult was similar to the cult Yevon that her and Aqua finding the truth and exposing them of their heinous acts why is this make it so different from Salem? Only she is the only witness to what happened to her little brother, her family, and everyone in her village who had suffered from her.

"Aqua..." Poppy said to her mentor a little bit holding on to the edge of her tone. Aqua turned to her knowing the resentment in the tone she had in her voice was about the news she had given her and knew what this was about. "I know what you said and everything about Salem even for your ancestors in your stories."

"Yes... I know you have your resentment toward Salem for what she did." Aqua pointed out.

"I know, but to be honest it was my fault for not listening to the warnings and because of my actions and negligence…If I wasn't so careless…My family and friends in the village wouldn't be buried right now." Poppy tried to remain stoic but wavering from the memories of the guilty just looking down that she was the one responsible for her choice on herself. "Side the point for now. Why are you always sometimes cautious about this on Salem and about revealing the truth for what she really is? Because she's like the same as the cult of Yevon. I'm not complaining about your logic of reasoning, but why don't we do the same thing like the cult?"

Aqua sighed, agreeing with what Poppy had said but she had her own reasons as well. "There is a major reason for the choices I decided on the situation at hand especially after finding out about the cult of Yevon's methods to creating those summons. As she was trying to make her speech if we tried to do what we you planned on doing we'd have ended up having all those people try to fight with us. And it will be the same if we try to confront Salem and along with the followers she and Ozma have made. The last thing on my mind is wanting to try and harm innocent people and I hardly believe you want to do the same."

Poppy had given it more thought.

If they have to tried to confront the cult leader with those a lot of people…

She could hardly imagine such a situation, let alone trying to handle it because the last thing she wanted was to pull her blade out on completely misguided people. She had fought a lot of people like bandits and slavers but innocent bystanders were a different story.

She wanted to slay monsters like the Grimm.

She would not bring her sword out there to kill innocent people. So that's why Aqua approached differently to take on the cult leader herself when she was alone. If the leader of the cult wouldn't listen to reason then the fight would expose their intentions and if it they played their cards right before that creature had taken the cult leader's summon they would have used a large explosion to open the underground passageway exposing what had happened to many of the people being used to create those summons.

"Even if we used the staff as evidence those cult leaders of Yevon would have tried to scheme right behind our backs and would have tried to get the Staff of Creation back and tried to get rid of us as well for what we knew. And they would have tried to convince more people to be on their side like when Yunalesca used her aeon to destroy that monster to rally up more followers. Also, even if the cult are leaders already disbanded people with an interest in power finding out about that staff we are holding will want use it similar to what the followers of Yevon did. This is also a major good reason think this more through before reacting to it." Aqua had explained to Poppy.

Her apprentice give it more thought about this too. Even using the only evidence would not only cause shine light of the situation but cause more problem if the staff of creation was used in the wrong way again.

"All right... I'll admit that." Poppy subsided. "If we have a chance to expose Salem with the knowledge that we hold she might try to turn it against us since we don't have a lot of evidence. Also I'm the only witness and lone survivor of my village that had endured Salem's cursed Grimm that had possessed and killed everyone in my village. Perhaps if we could confront her by ourselves while she's alone we could -."

"Are you following your reason of heart or guided by anger." Aqua cut her off sentence, leaving Poppy silent for her mentor said to her. "As for me, long ago before my journey led me here, there was someone one individual who ruined so many lives, especially me and my friends. When I realized who it was I attacked him without knowing the consequences of my actions would take. When he redirected my attack it and sent it to one of my friends it lead him to almost near death."

Poppy was now in shock that her mentor had someone robbed her of everything especially when she had the chance of stopping him. Her actions had brought forth pain from the price of one of her friends taking the hit that nearly killed that was close to her. That's why Aqua planned things very carefully before taking the risk and also making sure that other people close by to her or anybody else won't be caught in the crossfire.

Poppy even remembered by the training that Aqua had summoned known as Phil showing the rules especially of 'act don't react', which meant you have to analyze and assess the situation before taking the right actions, including the three fundamentals of training: mind, body and heart. Those three types of training are not only just for physical improvement but mentally too. Training the physical body for certain situations, training your mind of knowing and analyzing, and training your heart and the emotion of what course of action should take by not reacting to the emotions of anger and hatred.

"Knowledge is powerful but misusing it the wrong way it will cause damage not just only to yourself but to others around." Aqua pointed out. "Wisdom will guide you to know the right course of action to use the knowledge rightly, and the good judgment for the situation to build and to aid those in need."

Her apprentice gave it more thought, knowledge is the same as the power it's rigid but with wisdom, it could direct you to the right course of action.

"Being patient is one of the key reasons for us to not falter. And when the time comes there will be a chance to have hope that the light shine in the darkness." Aqua finished her sentence all nightfall came and when they noticed a blue light shining.

When they reached the end of the maze and found a strange door. It was a large stone door with a strange locking mechanism and strange writing above it. There was also some form of writing on the door, each of them on a single square shaped tablet that made it look like a giant puzzle.

"It's a riddle." Aqua realized as she summoned her Keyblade. "We tap the answer on the puzzle to answer the question on the wall."

Too bad for whomever had built the door that Aqua had the ultimate key to any lock. She pointed her Keyblade at the door and a beam of light shot out, touching the lock mechanism. Poppy watched as the mechanism unlocked the door and slowly opened it.

Inside was a massive chamber and in the center was a pedestal and on it was a blue and gold ornate looking lamp.

Aqua's eyes widened with recognition upon seeing it. "This is it. The Relic of Knowledge."

Just as she took a step forward, she froze and sensed something was wrong.

"Aqua?" Poppy asked.

Aqua readied her Keyblade as something fell from the ceiling above and landed on the ground in front of the pair.

It was a Grimm.

A giant Grimm resembling a dog with one head but three heads, all of them sporting very sharp looking teeth.

Poppy gasped and stepped back with a fearful look on her face while Aqua remained composed. The Grimm's three heads all growled at her but she remained completely still, staring it down. Poppy expected Aqua to attack but she stepped forward surprisingly and to her shock the Grimm took a step back.

"Poppy, come here." Aqua said, not taking her eyes off the Grimm.

Poppy looked at Aqua like she was crazy but took one step forward. The Grimm growled but Aqua held up her hand, focusing its attention on her. Poppy took another step forward and quickly moved behind Aqua.

"Stay behind me." She instructed and slowly led Poppy around the Grimm.

The Grimm kept all three pairs of its eyes focused on them but did not move to attack. Poppy was speechless and glanced at Aqua, realizing she must have some kind of ability to command the Grimm.

Is that why no Grimm bothered them while they traveled on the road?

Once they were on the other side, Aqua pushed Poppy behind as she turned and faced the Grimm while slowly backing towards the pedestal the Lamp of Knowledge rested on. The Grimm snarled but remained still as Aqua and Poppy reached the pedestal and Aqua reached out slowly and grasped the hand of the Lamp.

She could hear the whispers coming from the Lamp as she picked it up and held it in front of her and she took a deep breath. "…Jinn."

Poppy watched as everything went still, including the three headed Grimm.

She then watched with widened eyes as the Lamp shook and a blue mist emerged from it, taking the form of the Spirit Aqua knew as Jinn.

"Well, isn't this a surprise?" The Spirit of Knowledge sighed in relief and smiled down at the sight of Aqua. "The Lost Master herself is the first human to pick up my lamp."

"Hello Jinn." Aqua lowered the lamp and glanced at Poppy who stared in astonishment. "I do not believe introductions are in order since you probably know my friend here."

"Indeed I do but I suppose we shouldn't overlook the concept of manners in this case." Jinn said as she dramatically bowed to Poppy. "I am Jinn, the Spirit of Knowledge created by the God of Light to guide humanity."

Poppy just simply waved. "H-Hi."

"Now, Aqua." Jinn faced Aqua. "What knowledge do you seek of me this time?"

"The monster called Sin." Aqua answered with a serious gaze.

Xxx

"Are you sure that was a good idea?"

Neo was sitting back on what was becoming her favorite stump, watching Penny who had just sent Xaldin and Lexeaus to where the needed to go.

"I am." Penny nodded. "It will be worth it in the long run for all of us."

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it." Neo rolled her eyes and looked back at the tree, seeing show what was happening with Aqua again. "Well, looks like Aqua found the Lamp. That was quick."

"Quick for us, Neo. Aqua spent weeks looking for it." Oscar pointed out as he walked up next to Penny. "This all happened while we dealing with those two, didn't it?"

"You remember any of this?" Penny asked him.

Oscar nodded but still had a concerned look on his face. "Ozma, when he became Norman the Inquisitor came across that cave with the maze when he found the Lamp but I don't remember that Grimm."

"It's a Grimm created by Erebus, the God of Darkness." Penny answered. "He created it and other Grimm like it to fight Keyblade Wielders."

Terra perked up at that. "Fight Keyblade Wielders?"

"It was back when Drasil sent Aqua to meet the Brothers. The God of Darkness saw her as a threat and created Grimm more powerful than the ones he had already made." Penny explained. "Grimm that are bigger, stronger and even have abilities that not even you remember, Oscar."

Oscar paled at the thought of Salem having Grimm powerful enough to fight someone with a Keyblade.

"Fortunately because Aqua stood up for the Brothers against Salem, the God of Darkness changed his mind and called off the hunt on her." Penny continued. "So now, the Grimm are forbidden to harm Aqua."

Oscar and Neo's eyes widened at what the former android had just said. "They are what?!"

"Forbidden to harm Aqua." Penny repeated with a smile.

"That….Tha…." Neo rubbed her head. "The first human outside of Salem that the Grimm won't hunt…How does she do that?"

Oscar was silent as he realized that if the Grimm won't hunt Aqua on the orders of the God of Darkness…Then it was likely not even Salem could use them against her either.

Meaning Aqua was a greater threat to Salem than Ozma had been for thousands of years!

"Speaking of Relics," Penny waved her hand and showed an image of Ozma in his Diggs incarnation. "I fast forwarded this by several months. Ozma has been slow but steady strides in finding a Relic too."

Oscar looked at the image, showing Diggs wearing a traveling robe over his royal attire. "Which one and how is he making better prog…It's the Grimm, isn't it? They're attracted to the Relics."

That's right.

Back when he was with everyone on the train to Argus, Ozpin had brought up that the Relics could felt by the Grimm due to their divine origins. His mistake in not telling everyone that was what caused the downward spiral that led to Ruby and the others using the Lamp to find out what he was keeping hidden from them.

"Seriously?" Neo raised an eyebrow. "They're attracted to Relics?"

"Yeah." Oscar nodded, not looking at Neo as he continued to watch. "Which one? Is it the Sword?"

"Yes." Penny nodded.

"The Sword of Destruction you called it." Terra recalled. "What does it do?"

"The Sword has the power to destroy anything the one who wields it wishes but the price is the wielder can only destroy one thing in their entire life with the sword." Oscar answered.

"That doesn't so like much." Neo stood up from her stump. "One wish and boom whatever you want gone is gone?"

"It's a reverse of the Staff of Creation." Oscar clarified. "And it's not that simple."

"It never is," Neo rolled her eyes.

"There are ways to use the Sword more than once. If you wish to destroy anyone you consider an enemy then the Sword will do just that, just because the person holding it deems whomever they face an enemy." Oscar explained. "If one is careful in how they phrase what they want destroyed the Sword can decimate whole armies, like Oz did in the Great War."

"Okay…And no one thought of using that sword to destroy, who I don't know, Salem?" Neo questioned rhetorically.

"There is one exception to Sword's ability. It cannot destroy anyone or anything touched by their mutual creators, the Brothers." Oscar shook his head. "Trust me, Salem found that out the hard way."

"Found that-" Neo's eyes widened. "You're telling me she got her hands on the Relics before?"

"Oz and Salem fought for centuries, Neo." Oscar turned around to face the multi-haired girl. "Is it surprising she was able to find at least one of the Relics in all that time?"

"I…uh…" Neo trailed off as Oscar had a good point. "But you got them back and put them in the schools."

"Yeah, Oz did and it wasn't easy. He had to fight through armies of Grimm each time and as time passed his magic grew weaker." Oscar continued. "He eventually needed to rely on whole armies to do get whatever Relic Salem had found. One of her agents gave Oz the Crown of Choice in a past life to see what he would do when faced with a choice he would have to make in the future and hoped it would force him to lead her to the other Relics. She found the Sword of Destruction and tried to destroy herself with it but her curse saved her again. The one Relic she never found was the Lamp and Oz made sure she never found out how to use it."

"And Salem tried to use the Sword because she thought it would break her curse." Terra guessed.

"Yeah." Oscar nodded. "The only thing the Sword cannot destroy is something touched by the Brothers. It could destroy Grimm but it could not destroy other Relics, their spirits or Salem."

"Because if there is something more powerful than the Sword then its power is rendered useless." Penny cut in, making everyone look at her. "I know everything Drasil knew because I can see all the possible timelines like she did so I now know as much as you do, Oscar."

Oscar stared for a second and then cleared his throat. "Yes…We gave Oz a hard time for not having a plan to stop Salem but that was only because he had run out of ideas. He tried talking to her, he tried looking for a way to seal her but even if they managed to trap her in cement in dump her in the ocean she would eventually break free and her control of the Grimm would have remained intact so she had a number of ways to escape. He couldn't rely on entire armies to try containing her to the Dragon continent because she had countless Grimm to call upon and millions would have died and even then people would have given up and joined her like so many others I had seen before, like Lionheart and Raven."

Penny felt something in her heart and she believed it was Yang's emotions reacting to Oscar mentioning her birth mother.

"All Oz could was focus on holding her back, trying to keep the Relics out of her reach and wait with the hope a solution would reveal itself but it never did. Not even when the four kingdoms were formed and Atlas was advancing its technology. He once had the hope if we could reach a way to travel off planet, he could either look for a way to send Salem or even the Relics off the planet to ensure she never got them or even build a ship and take everyone to a planet where there was no Grimm but we were dependent on Dust and without a way to keep it from losing its power outside of Remnant's atmosphere-"

"That plan was screwed." Neo said glumly.

"Yep. There was even the idea of locking her in one of the Vaults but she always sent her pawns to do her work, rarely leaving the Land of Darkness except when she was looking for new recruits. And even if we could blast her off Remnant, even if it took a very long she would use her magic to return and it would start all over again." Oscar nodded and continued. "Oz could only try and help humanity come together, put their differences aside and united them before he could consider telling them all about Salem but whether it was because they couldn't do it or because Salem was there behind the scenes manipulating everyone Oz was stuck. It is only after gaining his memories and going through what me and my friends did in Atlas do I now understand his actions better."

It didn't justify everything Oz had done but it was understandable.

It wasn't that Oz had spent the last few thousands of years twiddling his thumbs while keeping the Relics out of Salem's hands.

All that time he spent holding her back he was trying to come up with a plan but an opportunity had never come for him to try anything and no solution had ever come.

Xxx

"Where is the monster called Sin?" Aqua asked the first question.

A blue mist surrounded the two and suddenly they were now underwater. Poppy gasped, first thinking she was going to down but surprisingly she could still breath and she could still feel the ground underneath her feet enough she could see nothing but water under her.

"The monster known as Sin has taken refuge deep underwater near the dragon shaped continent." Jinn's voice spoke clearly through the water.

Peering down below, both could see the massive form of Sin moving along the ocean floor. Any Grimm nearby actually swim away seemingly in fear of the massive monster.

"It is attracted to places that have a large population but at the moment it is still weak from having just been born. However as time passes it grows in strength and soon it will be strong enough to attack all highly populated kingdoms."

Aqua scowled at that but remained calm as she asked her next question. "My next question…The people that Yevon and the rest of his cult used to create their summons…How do I free their souls?"

"Destroy the core of Sin." Jinn answered, showing the interior of Sin where Aqua had fought the creature inside.

Poppy gasped at the sight of the strange creature with the eye symbol of the cult of Yevon.

"This is what remains of Yevon, the leader of the cult and the creator of Sin. His mind was destroyed when he merged with the Kingdom Hearts created when the hearts of his victims were torn from their bodies while their souls were used as a power source for his magic." Jinn continued. "Yevon is the one who cast the spell. Destroy him and the curse is broken."

"That is all I needed to know." Aqua sighed in relief as the image faded away, leaving them standing in the cave again. "Thank you, Jinn."

"I am very much interested in what you plan to do, Aqua." Jinn said with a smile before receding back into her Lamp.

Aqua then placed the Lamp back on the pedestal, confusing Poppy. "Aren't you going to take it?"

"No, I don't think that's a good idea." Aqua answered as she stepped back. "Just having one of these Relics is enough to draw unwanted attention to us. Two would be doubling that risk and I don't want the last question to be used recklessly."

Poppy stared at the Lamp for a moment while Aqua turned around. "So, only one question is left?"

"Until one hundred years pass, yes." Aqua nodded, turning her attention back to the Cerberus Grimm who had been glaring and snarling at them the entire time.

Even though its creator had made her an exception to their usual policy to hunt and kill humans, it was unhappy that the Keyblade Master was shielding a prey from its sight.

Poppy stared a little longer…

"Poppy?"

And jumped slightly when she heard her name being called. "Coming!"

She turned and jogged up to Aqua, staying close to her as they made their past the Cerberus who kept staring, even after they were out the door which closed a moment later.

Xxx

Once the door had been closed, Aqua and Poppy made their way out of the cave to see it was night.

"I think it's safe to stay here for the night." But just to be safe Aqua raised her hand and raised a barrier around the cave to keep any nearby Grimm from getting in. "We'll head out in the morning."

"Where to?" Poppy asked.

"Jinn said that Sin was near the Dragon shaped continent which happens to be north of this land." Aqua explained as she sat down and leaned against the wall.

Poppy sat down on the opposite side, glancing at her mentor with a thoughtful look on her face. "…Aqua?"

"Yes?"

"…Never mind, it's nothing." Poppy looked away.

Aqua looked at her but accepted her answer and slowly began to nod off. When she was sure her mentor was asleep, Poppy looked down the tunnel they had just emerged from.

Where the Lamp was kept.

Xxx

"This is it."

Before him was a deep forest and the Grimm with him were acting strange.

"They sense it." The Seer Grimm next to him showed Salem's face. "A strange power…I cannot believe I never felt it before."

Ozma walked through the trees, leaving the Grimm behind as they were not needed. Once on the other side he was stunned by what he saw. The lake was surrounded by a forest and with a blue mist surrounding it while the same black sky that seemed to permeate this realm was present. He could see a path of small rocks leading out to a single small island and on the center was a stone slab.

Seeing he could do nothing else Ozma slowly walked along the stone path towards the island and stepped onto it.

There it was.

A golden ornate sword embedded into the stone.

The Sword of Destruction.

He stepped forward and grasped the hilt…

And with a considerable amount of strength and effort he pulled the sword out of the stone.

"Who awakens me?!"

Ozma froze upon hearing a female voice from the Sword. "Who is there?"

"Who is there?! You disturb my rest and don't even have the audacity me?!" The voice grumbled. "…Well, I suppose since this is the first time my Relic has been found that you would not know of me."

He held up the sword. "Are you…inside the sword?"

"Indeed I am, chosen one of the Gods." The voice answered with a sarcastic tone towards Ozma. "I am the Spirit of Destruction, Nimue! Remember my name, for I am the one who brings destruction to all in my sight!"

Ozma felt the sword tremble slightly. "…Can you truly destroy anything?"

"I can. What do you seek to destroy?"

"A monster."