Yeah, I think I'll include the history between Salem and Ozpin, of course it will feature a certain character from Star Wars that many of will know of for those who played Knights of the old Republic and the old Republic. To the guy who suggested that character, you'll know who it is and thank you.
I know some of you are thinking I should skip this chapter, but it does provide a lot of information about Salem, information that Ozpin had decided to share with Ruby, Galen and the group. And it will explore how the Force came to Remnant. So, this maybe a long chapter.
Alright, let's get on with the reviews.
First off, 54godamora: I'll be including something about a certain Dark Lord of the Sith who is still alive in spiritual form.
BlindFaunusGirl: Like I said last time, trust is an important part of getting those to trust you as well as them.
Darth Cody: Trust me, you'll like what I have planned for the future, and you have given me a few ideas about the Atlas training arc. I'll send you a PM so we can discuss it further.
Luffy L Deathwalker: Yeah, I think I won't be skipping this one.
Spiderboy2004: I wouldn't get your hopes up, well about everything you are no doubt hoping that will happen when we reach Atlas. Just please try to keep an open mind and I do have a reason for Ozpin telling the others the truth.
42: You'll hear the thoughts about the situation next chapter. I promise.
Spartan-626: Yep, Mara Jade is here and Ozpin is opening up to his students and allies. No one will be fighting over Grogu.
Alright, let's get this started. Disclaimers are the same as always, please enjoy and don't rip my ass for anything. Got it!
Chapter 86: The Lost Fable
Blue smoke appeared in front of the group to reveal Salem staring from the window of the tower, her arms crossed as Jinn began to narrate. "Locked away by her cruel father, Salem was a girl who desired one thing: freedom. She lived in a time when kings and their Kingdoms were plentiful, when men and women were capable of greatest, and magic was a gift from the Gods that all could use." the apparition of Salem walked away from the window with sadness before she sat down and leaned against the vanity, before using said magic to create a magic circle. "And yet, there she sat within her tower."
The blue smoke reappeared and enveloped Salem, reforming the castle and showed a young man in armor, with a cape and wielding a scepter standing proudly in front of the tower. "Until one day, a legendary hero came to brave the challenges within the tower's walls. The people of the land knew him as Ozma. Unlike those who had come before, this warrior was not driven by the prize of the young maiden's hand. He fought only for righteousness, and his pure heart and courageous soul prevailed." Jinn narrated as Ozma walked up to the tower, past the other warrior who had fallen in battle before striking down a dark-armored figure, presumably Salem's father before the young man opened the door leading to Salem's room, who stood up and smiled at him gratefully before the smoke reformed and showed the two-battling side by side with their magic powers. "They escaped the wretched fortress, and yet something bound them together." The two of them finally stopped, catching their breath before they looked at each other.
"Ozma had been ready to give his life for justice countless times, but now saw a woman worth saving. And Salem, to her surprise, found her freedom not in the outside world she had yearned for, but in the eyes of the man that saved her. The two fell deeply in love, planned adventures around the world and lived happily ever after. Or at least that's what should have happened." Jinn continued, the smoke once again reforming and this time, showed Salem kneeling at Ozma's bedside, holding his hand and sobbing. "Ozma, the infallible hero of legend, fell ill. And where all the beasts and blades of the world had fallen short, a single sickness prevailed."
Salem asked herself why the gods would let this happen as Jinn continued her story. "The Gods, brothers of light and darkness, creation and destruction. Salem prayed they would see the injustice that had befallen her beloved and make thing right." Jinn continued as a bright light and blue smoke transitions the scene to a brightly lit place with a stairway leading up a mountain. "The Domain of Light was a sacred place. It was here the elder brother dwelled beside his fountain of life and creation. It was here… where mankind would fall to ruin."
The group watched as Salem walked up the stairs to the top of the mountain, where a valley of flowers with a pool of water and a tree were located at the center. The leaves blew from the tree and encircled the water, and from it the God of Light rose from the pool and walked to Salem, who begged him to bring Ozma back. The God of Light refused her request, stating that it would upset the delicate balance of life and death. Salem was not about to give up and as the scene transitioned again, the mountain changed from a place of life to a place of death filled with skeletal remains and a pool of tar like liquid that spawned the creatures of Grimm. "The God of Darkness… None dared to enter his home, as men knew what monstrosities emerged from his blackened pools of annihilation. And so, you must understand the Dark Lord's surprise when he found a lone woman kneeling before him. Salem understood it well. She told him of her loss and professed that she knew only he could answer her prayers, all while careful to make no mention of his elder." Jinn narrated.
Everyone watched as the God of Darkness brought Ozma back to life, but the moment was shattered when the God of Light entered his brother's domain and undid what his younger brother had done, angering Salem when the two finally agreed and forced Ozma to vanish this time for good. They then watched as Salem attacked the gods, only for the older brother to devour her and then submerge her into the God of Light's pool, who upon emerging from the pool was told by both Gods that she was now immortal, meaning she couldn't die or be with Ozma, until she learned the value of life and death before she was transported to a vast open field. "Salem was a prisoner once again. Her fruitless attempts to reunite with Ozma became nothing more than acts of spite and defiance against the Gods. But perhaps the Gods were not as powerful as they seemed… She had lied to them, turned them against one another, they… were fallible." Jinn said as Salem tried to kill herself several times before she turned her sights to a castle in the distance. "If she were to turn humanity against life and darkness, she could rid herself of their curse, or at the very least… make them suffer."
"This getting more and more weird by the minute, don't you agree kid?" Wrecker asked Grogu who looked at Salem's past self with a saddened look as the scene changed once more, showing a king standing up as a bloodied ax was thrown to the ground. "And it's just getting weirder."
"Salem traveled from one Kingdom to another, telling tales of how she stole immortality from the Gods, and welcomed any swordsman to cut her down, to demonstrate her powers." Jinn continued as Salem was now shown speaking with various leaders of the Kingdoms which consisted of an oriental-looking empress, her subjects and a savage looking-warrior king. "With the kings and queens in awe, she pulled them deeper into her scheme. She painted them pictures of a time when they would no longer watch their loved ones wither and die, when they could claim the powers of their creators themselves, and in turn, perfect their own design." Salem then kneeled before the warrior king, who drew his weapon and let out a battle cry as now he, and the combined forces of the Kingdoms were now seen launching an all-out assault on the domain of light.
"All they needed to do was destroy their old masters." Jinn narrated as the warriors ran towards the pool where the God of Light emerged from said pool in his dragon form. "The Gods had hoped that Salem would learn from her eternal curse, and she did. She learned that the hearts of men are easily swayed."
Soon, the God of Darkness arrived in his own dragon form to help his brother and when they spotted Salem leading these warriors who were using their gift of magic against them, he caught the attacks sent towards them, absorbing them into a purple sphere of energy before he squeezed the sphere and created a massive shockwave that enveloped the world, eliminating all of humanity into dust except for Salem, the animals and the Grimm. Salem vowed to build a new army, but the Gods having wiped out all life on the planet left in a purple light that shot out into the sky and out of the atmosphere, shattering the moon in the process the fragments raining down like meteors as Salem fell to her knees and screamed.
"Once again, Salem was alone. She cursed the Gods. She cursed the universe. She cursed everything, everything but herself. She wandered the face of the planet, awaiting a death that would never come. Until fate led her back to the Land of Darkness. This was it. This had to be it, the brother's Grimm, the pools of black that continued to give rise to horrific nightmares. If the fountain of life granted her immortality, then surely the pools of Grimm will finally take it away. She was wrong. The force of pure destruction could not destroy a being of infinite life. Instead, it created a being of infinite life with a desire for pure destruction." Jinn narrated as the group watched as Salem's attempt to kill herself had transformed her into the being they saw at Haven. "And in time, she would find her adversary…"
What they saw next, was Ozma awakening in a white space, looking around his surroundings until the God of Light explained that they were in between the realms, due to the tragedy caused by his brother. He went on to say that while all life had been wiped out, it would return once again, only without their 'interference'. The God then conjured up a Staff, a Sword, a Crown and a Lamp, explaining that if the four each had a special significance. Creation for the Staff, destruction for the sword, choice for the crown and knowledge for the lamp. If all four of them were brought together they would bring the gods back to Remnant, but there was a catch. Humanity was to be judged. If humanity had learned to live in harmony with one another and set aside their differences, the gods would live among them making humanity whole again.
If they hadn't changed and demanded their blessings and still fought against themselves, mankind would be found irredeemable, and Remnant would be destroyed. Ozma wanted to see Salem, but the gods told him that while she still lived, the woman he knew was gone, twisted by the darkness that created the Grimm, but the Gods left that part out.
Ozma agreed, but when he began his task, he could not remember his name, but his previous soul did. "And so, Ozma was reborn, but he found himself in a world completely unfamiliar to him. Cities looked different. Creatures known as the Faunus bore fangs and claws and were locked away in cages. And without the blessing of the God's, no one could perform magic like mankind was once capable of, no one but himself and a women known as… the witch. During his years of travel, he heard the same frightened whispers that spoke of a terrifying sorceress who commanded dark powers in the wilds among the beasts and monsters. Ozma was convinced that this witch was Salem and decided to see what she had become. Call it magic or call it something stronger, but in that moment, the two knew exactly who it was that stood before them." Jinn told them.
"So, the two of them were in love, but that's not the worst part, is it?" Ahsoka surmised.
"Something tells me that we're about to find out." Galen answered as the once dilapidated cottage had changed into a much better condition as Ozma and Salem conversed with one another at the table at the front of the porch.
"As Salem and Ozma recounted the events which had brought them back together, each withheld parts of their story. Salem, fearing Ozma would reject her, blamed the end of the world on the Gods. Ozma, still unsure of where the truth lay, kept his task and the Relics a secret. Though time passed and all seemed well, Ozma's conversation with the God of Light still lingered in his mind. He had found happiness, but Humanity seemed to be more divided than before." Jinn continued.
The memory of Salem and Ozma sound revealed that Salem had suggested that she and Ozma, with their powers could create a paradise that the Gods could not create, to become the new Gods of Remnant. Ozma, was trouble but smiled in agreement with Salem. "The hearts of men… are easily swayed."
Smoke billowed as a village was attacked by a Nevermore before purple energy surrounded the creature, disintegrating as both Ozma and Salem levitated side-by-side above the villagers who bowed down in reverence. "They had amassed a following. That following grew into a prosperous Kingdom. And at the head of that Kingdom blossomed… a family." Jinn continued as four little girls, their daughters ran around playing together wearing dresses with colors similar to the Four Maidens. For a moment, it seemed that they were happy, but Ozma was starting to question their action and told Salem about what the God of Light asked of him, just as one of their daughters showed they could wield magic. "It was a miracle, their children could preform magic. But what should have been a joyous occasion was short lived. Ozma told Salem everything, the true reason the God of Light had brought him back, the Relics that they scattered around the world, and the day of Judgement he had been told to prepare for. But it was only days later, when that happiness was shattered permanently."
The smoke billowed and transitioned as Salem now stood face to face with a figure in dressed in black ropes, with yellow eyes, pale skin and a respirator, but what stood out from them was a lightsaber on their waist. "Having gone rogue and determined to expunge all his physical and mental restraints, Darth Malgus, had taken an interest in Salem's desire to destroy the Gods and warned her that Ozma would take everything they had built and leave her with nothing. Determined not to lose all that she had regained, Salem demanded that this Sith Lord ensure that she would not lose everything, but it was all for naught as one night, Salem caught her beloved running away with her children. Angered by this betrayal, Salem lashed out and killed her family, including Ozma. Thus began a long and painful cycle of death and rebirth for Ozma." Jinn explained.
"I told you that he would betray you." The past vision of Malgus told Salem.
"We finally had everything, and he threw it all away. He will pay for everything that he has done." Salem's past version vowed.
"And he will. With the proper training, you will have more power than the gods will ever have. Use that power and destroy the gods who bestowed this curse on you, my apprentice." Malgus said, putting an assuring hand on Salem's shoulder.
"For thousands of years, Salem learned the ways of the dark side. With this strength, she gained greater power and Malgus, was both impressed and proud when his apprentice cut him down, finally freeing him of his restraints. As for Ozma, some lives were spent in mourning, many were spent attempting to forget it all. But no matter what, his mind would eventually turn back to the task he had been burdened with. And as the centuries went on, Ozma began to learn the importance of living with the souls with which he had been paired. But no matter where or how he lived, her presence was always felt. If Humanity were ever to stand a chance at being united, one thing was clear… he had to destroy Salem… Knowing he could never rid the world of her through any mortal means, Ozma sought out the power of the relics." Jinn continued.
Smoke transitioned, showing another of Ozma's reincarnations, many years older tinkering with his cane before the smoke transitioned again, showing the first summoning of Jinn. "Armed with my knowledge, he believed he could fulfill his promise to the God of Light. He asked me many questions and though I gave him my answers, not all of them were to his liking." Jinn narrated.
"How do I destroy Salem?" the past version of Ozma asked Jinn.
"You can't, not by conventional means." The past version of Jinn told Ozma who almost fell to his knees in despair when he learned that there was a way to defeat Salem, but he just had to find it. Galen already had a good idea as to what that means was.
And I am finished with this chapter. Hope you all liked this chapter. I hope I did alright with it myself. I would have had this out sooner, but I caught a really bad fever and had to stay in bed for most part of two days. I am feeling better now.
Though I may be feeling better, the same can't be said for the families of the twenty-one people who were killed in yet another school shooting this year. Pardon my language, but I am so fucking tired of all these school shootings! Those who were killed were planning for summer vacation and now thanks to this bastard, the families have to bury their children and will never get to see then grow up. From what I gathered, the perpetrator of the school shooting in Texas used to cut himself on his face, abuse animals and pick fights with other kids. If that doesn't scream mental health issues, then I don't know what does.
How many more children have to die before we finally say enough is enough and act against these despicable and senseless acts of violence? How much longer can we allow the NRA and those who support them to claim it's against our constitutional rights or something like that? I'm not much for politics, but I strongly believe that no one but the police and military should be allowed access to automatic weapons. We need to take a stand against this, not just the background checks, but the mental health issue and so much more! I can't stand it anymore!
Anyway, next time it's the Brunswick farm so, please read and review until then.