Said it on Saturday's story but will say again here for prosperity – I will not use AI-Generated art for covers or promote it in any way. Not tyring to be mean, just trying not to spit on the sheer amount of hard work and practice that goes into artist's and their craft.

Cover Art: GWBrex

Chapter 40

Ren sat on the bed with a bandage wrapped around both eyes. The doctor had been unable to save them and had gone so far as to remove them for Ren's own health. The young man was sat with his hands gripping his knees tightly, and his lips dragged into an angry snarl.

"Who is that?" he asked as the floorboards creaked.

"Jaune."

"Here to laugh?"

"Do I seem the type?"

Ren snarled again but didn't answer. He knew that wasn't why Jaune had come, but he was bitter at the world for his eyes and lashing out at everything. He'd seen Nora leave the room almost in tears a few moments ago.

"I heard you spared the Schnee," said Ren, changing the subject. "Why?"

"I could give you a bunch of reasons why I wouldn't have killed her, or I could point out Ozma was in control, and so it was him who spared her. You're welcome to try and argue with the Dark Lord himself if you want to."

Ren clicked his tongue with a quiet "tch" knowing there could be no arguing with the actions of an immortal entity. "We had her right there. A Schnee. We could have avenged so many. Fixed so much."

"It wasn't Willow Schnee."

"A Schnee is still a Schnee."

"At best it would have killed one person and sent her mother into a maddened rage. How many Mistralians would have paid for that?" Jaune crossed his arms, then realised Ren couldn't see it. He sighed and took a seat instead. "Your mother told us to distract the Chosen and the Corps. Not fight the war against the Schnee. You must know she wanted you kept safe from it all."

"Of course I know that!" snapped Ren. "But that doesn't mean I want to be kept safe. Not that it matters now." He gestured to his face. "Like this, I'm useless. Useless not only to the rebellion but to the Schnee as well. They'd as soon cull me for my disability as look at me." His voice grew hoarse. "They've taken everything from me. My father, my village, my freedom and now my eyes. What's left? What is there left to take?"

Nora, An Ren and his life. It would have been cruelty to point that out.

"It…" Jaune cut off, closed his eyes, tensed. Was he really going to do this? Why was he? For Ozma's sake-? He held no real hopes for a war against the Goddess. No, he was doing this for Ren's sake. To give the man another chance. "It doesn't have to be this way. You've lost your eyes, but you're not helpless."

Ren scoffed. "Don't belittle me."

"I'm not. Ozma suggested a way to help you adapt."

The man stilled on the bed. "He can heal this? His magic-?" There was desperate, naked hope in his voice that Jaune shot down immediately.

"Not heal. Adapt. According to Ozma, there are ways for those with aura and magic to see the world through those senses instead of with their eyes."

"What good is that to me? I'm male."

"Also, according to Ozma, there's nothing stopping men using aura."

Ren's head rose, old instincts making him look in Jaune's direction even if he couldn't see anything. "What?"

"He says that Salem and the Church spread the knowledge that only women could use aura. That a woman's aura comes from her. That's a lie. Aura existed before and it exists independently of her." He was reciting Ozma's words now. "The reason they say only women can create it is because it means they can hunt down any man who does and there's a good chance it'll be Ozma's reincarnation. Those men who do unlock it naturally are dealt with as offshoots of his power."

"It's a system," said Ren. "To control. Not unlike what takes place here." He frowned. "Assuming he is telling the truth of course. What evidence does he have of this?"

"I think he's expecting you to become the evidence."

Ren chuckled. "Of course. I… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested. Like this, my life is over. If there's even the smallest chance, I'll take it."

"There… may be a cost…"

"Of course there is. Why didn't I assume that?" Ren sighed. "What is it?"

"You're to swear yourself in service to me." He saw Ren frown and continued. "Ozma says training you will be energy and time intensive, and nothing will be immediate. You'll have to travel with me either way, and he wants you to become… I don't know. He used the word acolyte but that feels wrong. A companion, maybe."

"I have duties here," said Ren.

"And I'm sworn to help An Ren with them," Jaune pointed out. "I can't leave Mistral while the Schnee have it on a chokehold, so I'll help with the rebellion as I've said I would. It would be after that.

"After the Schnee are dealt with?" Ren hummed. "I could agree to that. A small sacrifice to pay – and there isn't much to tie me to Mistral anymore. To be sure, you have no designs on Mistral, do you? I won't swear myself to someone who will turn on us."

"I don't have designs on anything."

"Then why do you need me at all? What's the point?"

"I don't need you. I don't want acolytes or followers. This is Ozma's idea. He…" Jaune sighed audibly. "He seems to think that what I want doesn't matter because Salem will come after me anyway. Judging from what we've seen, he isn't even wrong."

It was Ren's turn to sigh. "He probably isn't. The Goddess has been waging war on the Dark Lord for thousands of years. That isn't going to stop because you're not attacking her. If you can choose peace, then I refuse to believe there haven't been iterations of you in the past that haven't done the same. Yet our history is filled with villainous Dark Lords bested by the Goddess. Once upon a time I would have accepted that as fact, but I have lived under the yoke of the Goddess and her decrees. She put the Schnee in charge of us. Abandoned us." Ren's hands clenched. "To hell with it. I'm already a blasphemer for daring to question her choice of steward. A true believer would accept that all the pain we've been put through was deserved." He stared blindly in Jaune's direction. "I accept. I accept your terms. Fix me, train me, and I will swear myself to follow and support you – so long as we deal with Mistral first."

"I'll have to ask-"

"I accept," said Ozma. "Grant me control for but a moment."

Jaune surrendered and sank back as his body moved outside his influence. Ozma stood, stepped forward and then placed his hand on Ren's forehead, palm to skin, fingers in his hair. Ren flinched but didn't pull away.

"Jaune holds trust in you."

Ren sucked in a breath. "You are-?"

"The Dark Lord? That is certainly what they call me. And I am responsible for much of the state your country is in. I apologise for that. Still, we shall make amends." Power swelled up inside his body and trickled down his arm. If Ren could see, he would have seen the sparkling green light swirling around Jaune's wrist. "This will feel strange. Grasp that feeling, embrace it, pay attention to it. You will need to summon it up inside yourself in the future, so concentrate on it now." He paused for a moment to let Ren steady himself. "Are you ready?"

"Is there no oath? No magically binding geas to threaten my life should I betray you?"

Ozma chuckled. "Such things plant the seeds of resentment. If you will not honour your word and place your faith in us then I would rather you make that apparent sooner than later, and not waste our time. Better to stand alone than beside an untrustworthy ally."

"I'll honour it," said Ren. "As long as you fix your mistakes here. I'm ready. Do it."

What Ozma did was difficult to place. Magic left his own body and entered Ren's, pushed against something, and then broke through. It was like pushing through a barrier. Once it was punctured, something else flowed out and against him like blood from a wound, but deeper. Ren gasped and tensed up on the bed, hissing through gritted teeth as Ozma pulled their arm back and let go of the boy entirely.

"It is done."

"I… I felt it," whispered Ren, looking down, or rather pointing his face down, at his hands. "A-And for a moment I… I didn't see but it was like seeing. I could make out the shape of you, the shape of the room, in green light."

"Magic is a part of nature and the world, even if some see it as supernatural or divine. It has existed on Remnant forever. Every little thing, in some way, is infused with it. You can learn to sense that when using your own. Not everyone bothers, as the skill isn't entirely useful to someone who has eyesight. I merely wanted to give you a taste of what it would be like."

"Everything was similarly coloured. Different shades of green. I couldn't make out much detail, but I could at least see. It won't ever be the same but… it will be something." He bowed his head. "I gave you my word and I will stick to it."

"Good." Ozma had them step back. "Your training will begin another day. Do not argue. Your body has only just unlocked its aura and needs to acclimate. It has yet to suffuse your muscles and bones. Taxing it now would break you."

"Can… Can I tell Nora…?"

"You may tell her what you wish so long as she stays quiet on the matter. And so long as she does not change your mind."

"She won't. Nora might even agree to come with us once this is over." He hesitated again. "I assume that is okay?"

"The more allies Jaune has, the better. Now, if you will excuse me."

Jaune sagged as his body fell back under his control. He gasped reflexively on suddenly having to breathe on his own. It passed quickly and he stood again, watching as Ren opened and closed his hands in wonder, feeling what was meant to be impossible flowing inside him. The fact it wasn't proved that Ozma had been telling the truth.

And it had Jaune wondering how much else of what he said was true as well.

"More than you would ever believe…"

/-/

Weiss ran a finger down the dark red scar burned into her flesh. It began above her eyebrow and went down beneath her eye but, through sheer luck or fate, had not pierced her sensitive eye and taken it away. She supposed she ought to be grateful for that, even if the wound had come from her own broken weapon.

Why did he not kill me when he had the chance?

The question ate at her, for she'd woken up inside the lodge tended by the Deterrence Corps with Miltia and Melanie also still alive. She'd felt irrationally angry at first to realise that over a hundred armed men had not come to their aid, nor tried to capture the Dark Lord, but she quickly pushed past that. They would not have fancied their chances after seeing three huntresses laid low. Weiss had been granted the commander's office instead and was inspecting her new scar in a burnished mirror. It wasn't the ugliest scar she could have imagined.

It was still a scar left by the Dark Lord, however, etched onto her flesh.

"Mother is going to be furious." Weiss sighed and pulled away. Willow would be angry not only because she'd failed, but because she'd allowed herself to be marked. She would read into it somehow, and Weiss dreaded what the consensus would be.

The door opened suddenly. Weiss turned, half ready to curse out whomever had entered without knocking before she saw who it was and swallowed the words. "W-Winter," she stammered. "Why are you here?"

Her sister flowed into the room gracefully and raised a single eyebrow at the question. "The Dark Lord was sighted and engaged here. Why else would I be here?"

To check up on your sister, thought Weiss. No, she would never expect that. Winter was mother's firstborn and had been raised in what Willow called the golden era of their rule; the time when Mistral was most cowed, and when they quaked under the gaze of their family. Winter was not cruel like Willow, but she was callous. Only the Goddess mattered – only her faith – and everyone else was unimportant.

Her younger siblings included.

"Tell me what happened," demanded Winter.

"I'm sure you've heard it already," said Weiss, crossing her arms. "I predicted that the Dark Lord would attack this lodge eventually and came here with two other chosen. We had to wait but a week for his arrival, at which point we engaged him on the premise that he was untrained and uncoordinated in using the Dark Lord's power. Information we were given by you, Winter." Weiss' eyes hardened. "Information that was wrong."

"That is Huntress Superior."

"Huntress Superior," sniped Weiss, no more respectful. "Your information was wrong."

"The Goddess herself told me this." Winter inclined her head challengingly. "Are you suggesting that she was incorrect?"

Was Winter suggesting she was not? Weiss had seen what she had seen, which meant someone was wrong. Evidently, the Goddess could make mistakes. Weiss knew better than to say in front of her fanatical sister, however. Blood would not save her.

"He was able to grant the Dark Lord control over his body."

"Impossible," snapped Winter. "The Dark Lord is insane. He would be a babbling wreck."

"He didn't seem as such. He fought well, strategized, communicated, and invited us to retreat at several opportunities. He was not insane, Huntress Superior, so either something has changed or the information you were given was at fault."

"Mind your words, Weiss. The Goddess watches."

"Then the Goddess sees that I fought against her enemy while you gallivanted across Mistral subjugating peasants at mother's behest." Weiss flicked her hair as she turned away, though she kept an eye on the mirror to watch her sister. "You were sent here to do a job, Winter. That job was not to indulge mother's twisted fantasies."

"Willow Schnee was chosen by the Goddess to rule Mistral. Her word is second-"

"Willow Schnee cares more about her position than finding the Dark Lord." Weiss intentionally used her full name to put Winter on the back foot. "Otherwise, she would be out there looking for him in person. The Goddess sent you here to find the Dark Lord. You instead did as Willow ordered you. To me, Huntress Superior, it would seem like you have ignored the Goddess' wishes."

Winter stared long and hard at her back for a long moment, then said, "You're playing a dangerous game, Weiss."

"I'm doing my job. It is you and mother who are playing games, chasing glory, and wasting time. And to think, if you'd but listened to what I had to say rather than rush off to do as mother asked, then you would have been here with me to fight the Dark Lord."

Winter was forced to concede that. "That is true. The results would have been different."

Somehow, Weiss was not so sure. That fight had not been close even with numbers on their side. The Dark Lord had been active, cognizant, aware, and capable of rational thought. Nothing like the insane wreck all her education painted him as. Weiss found herself wondering if he really had changed, or if all those teachings hadn't been intentionally wrong to quell fear. It didn't matter. Winter had taken them to heart and wouldn't be convinced her view of the world, one touted by the Goddess, might be wrong.

The Dark Lord was said to be on the Goddess' level in his prime. To even think we could defeat him on our own is akin to thinking we're as powerful as Salem, and that is heresy. You tread so closely to the line, sister, but I suppose it doesn't matter when you are judge, jury, and executioner.

"I doubt he'll continue the same as he did before now that I caught him," said Weiss. "He will change his approach and stop attacking the lodges."

"Willow believes he is aiding the rebellion and has stated that he can be drawn out if we isolate and capture one of their cells. Rip away his support structure."

Weiss laughed. "That's what she believes, is it? Of course, and the fact it benefits her more than anyone is just a coincidence, I'm sure. Mother has been unable to quell the rebellions for years and now sees a chance to throw us at the issue. You really are naïve if you can't see that manipulation, Winter. You're being used – and not for the right purpose."

"The Goddess has a plan for us all, Weiss. It's not our place to question."

Winter really had let faith blind her. Worse, she was using it as an excuse for being stupid. Weiss couldn't understand what had gone wrong, as Winter had always been so intelligent before. It was like she'd become dumber since leaving for Vale, though she doubted that was the case. More accurately, Winter had stopped questioning anything, and took everything for granted now, believing deep inside that she didn't need to think if she just took every order given as being from the Goddess, and thus perfect. Easier to follow, easier to be led, than to use any brain power yourself. Just smile, nod, and do as you were told, and if anyone questioned your actions argue that you were doing what the Goddess told you.

A convenient excuse for anything you could ever do.

"I won't be joining you in this, Winter."

"The Goddess-"

"Instructed us to hunt down the Dark Lord." argued Weiss, spinning to face her. "Something that I have done. I faced him, Winter. Not you. Not mother. Me!" She flung her hand out dismissively. "Go and do what you're told to if you must, sister, but I will continue what I am doing. It's obviously proven much more effective than anything you have."

"I could force you, Weiss.

"You could." Weiss nodded. "But then, what if this is the Goddess' plan, hm? What if I'm simply doing as she intends, and you are the one who interferes?" It was a stupid statement, pointless, and Weiss hoped Winter would call her out on it, just on the chance there was anything left of the sister she'd once admired.

There was none. "Very well, Weiss. Do as you see fit."

"I shall." Weiss turned away, blinking back tears. "But know this. Should I capture him and deliver him to Salem, I shall inform her of your and mother's actions here, and how you mindlessly followed her orders rather than commit to your mission. The Goddess will be furious."

Winter inclined her head. "Should she choose to punish me, I shall accept without question. There can be no question of guilt if she decides. Until then, Weiss, I shall continue as my faith demands. This rebellion is against the Goddess as much as it is against mother. It will be rooted out and destroyed." Winter stepped away, and back to the door. "Good luck with your hunt. I have left two fresh huntresses to reinforce you."

"Aren't you even going to ask how I am?" asked Weiss. "Whether my eye hurts?"

"You're obviously fine. I don't see the point."

Weiss had never hated her sister more than in that moment.

/-/

The Seaspear was floating off harbour in a small village. Neptune had left with Sun to resupply from the locals, who were apparently much more willing to work with the rebellion than most. That didn't mean they wouldn't panic if they saw him, however, so he'd been asked to stay on the ship and wait. There was aiding the rebellion, and then there was assisting the Dark Lord. Their friendship didn't go that far, and Neptune feared they'd be outed.

Ren had told Nora the terms of their deal, and she was neither talking to him or Ren at the moment. He'd really expected her to challenge him on it already, but she'd gone into the village with the others. Ren, at least, didn't seem nearly as angry as he did earlier. The promise of a way out, and the tantalising taste he'd had of aura and magic, had left him hopeful rather than defeated.

"You will need to keep an eye on him," said Ozma. "Make sure he does not let power go to his head and steer him to violence. I am prone to rash choices when confronted with Salem, and I fear he will be the same when presented with a Schnee."

"Then don't teach him anything destructive until we're off Mistral."

It didn't take them long to return laden with crates and bags of supplies. While the sailors began storing it below deck, Neptune came up to him. "News in the village is that the Dark Lord has returned to Mistral. It looks like tales of your prowess are spreading."

"That's good. I guess…"

"There's more news than just that, too. A small but not unimportant town had seceded from Mistral."

"Seceded?"

"Declares its independence. Broken away from." He shrugged. "It looks like the rebellion has started."

"I thought An Ren wanted to defeat the Schnee."

"Different cells have different objectives. Some want war, some want revenge, some want freedom. This one is trying to reach out to the Goddess in person and present their case as a loyal town apart from the brutality of the Schnee. It may not be An's rebellion, but it'll serve the same purpose in distracting the Schnee."

"Will it work? Will they be free?"

"Doubtful. I'm not saying the Goddess would reject them, but the Schnee aren't going to let a letter make it to Vale if it incriminates them. They'll raze the town under the pretence of doing the Goddess' work. Either way, it'll be a battle."

"Should we go there? Help them defend?"

"No. You being there is the last thing they want. It'll justify any assault by the Schnee, and get the Chosen involved as well. If you're seen far away from it, then most of the Huntresses should leave the town be. I don't think it'll help them any against the Deterrence Corps, but a siege ought to buy time for An Ren and the others to make their own moves."

"More of the same, then."

"Same principle, but different methods. That last call was too close, and they're onto us attacking the lodges. We're going to have to do something different. There's a rebellion cell not far from here that left a message for us at the village. They want our – and your – help in assaulting a town of their own."

A pitched battle? That wasn't the kind of thing he'd agreed to. On the other hand, his efforts to keep out the war were ruined anyway. He'd fought a Schnee and attacked huntresses, so it didn't much matter what he did or didn't do. He was involved. The only question now was whether he clung to neutrality and dragged this out or dove headfirst into the water and tried to bring this rebellion to a close sooner, so he could leave. The answer was obvious.

"Where is this town?"

Still working NaNoWriMo. I'm at 22k words, which is "on track" but I'm still a little annoyed at how slow I'm being. Then again, November is a busy month for me. Really ought to have planned this for December lol.

Next Chapter: 20th November

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