The Lords of Grimm

AN: Hello, dear readers! Man, this came out quicker than I thought it would. I guess my inspiration was still there. Though I'm currently not inspired to write more so you'll definitely have to wait for a little while before I come back to this.

Now to reviews.

Dracus6: Not much of a fan. Never gotten into them. It may change in the future.

2 Past Problems

Salem and Wolfram sat within the meeting chamber for a while, with Salem explaining to her fellow Grimm Lord what transpired over several millennia that passed since he was sealed within the mountain. He was honestly intrigued to hear that the magic no longer existed in this world, besides a few exceptions and it did explain why the moon was half destroyed. But to think that the two Brothers would actually exterminate all of humanity, it came unexpectedly to him if he was honest.

And there are these maidens and relics that Ozma, now called Ozpin, was trying to gather. A desperate way to try and defeat Salem.

"So that's how it is," stated Wolfram knowingly.

Salem nodded. "Yes, more or less."

The three other men stood at the side as they watched the two converse. Hazel and Watts were the most intrigued by this newcomer who could just so calmly talk to someone as powerful as their queen, while Tyrian just looked angry.

"I don't like him," Tyrian growled out, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed.

"Why don't you tell that to him? I'm sure he'd take it well," Watts commented.

Hazel only continued watching the two.

Wolfram rose from his seat. "It's a real shame, what happened between you and Ozma. For him to abandon you like that, try to take your children as well," he said as he walked behind Salem whose eyes followed his movements. "And only because he disagreed with how you wanted to change the world." He then put his hand on the backrest of her chair, nearly touching her. "If I was in his place I would never have done such a thing. I would appreciate what I have, what I've built and achieved."

Salem's eyes still narrowed despite the apparent sincerity of his voice. "And since when did you care about anyone but yourself?"

Wolfram chuckled. "I'm not a completely heartless monster, my dear Salem. It's just that not a lot of people earn my sympathy," he explained as he retracted his hand. "I see your vision of the world as perfection, a goal that I can get behind. You have earned my respect."

"Is that so?"

He jokingly made a cross-motion on his chest with his fingers. "Cross my heart and hope to die," he said before slightly laughing. "In all seriousness, you have my help. With the two of us, Ozma… sorry, Ozpin's chances of winning are impossible." He then brought his face closer to hers. "And I very much look forward to us working together," he said with a knowing smile before retracting. "Now if you excuse me, I need to go out and take in the sights. I want to see just how much this place changed."

Before he could walk away, Salem called out. "The Grimm, get them out of the palace."

"Come on, Salem. They make this place lovelier," Wolfram argued as he petted a Beowolf on the head. "Besides, they don't leave any unnecessary waste."

"Sorry, but they will be a bother to me and my servants. So get them out," Salem demanded.

Wolfram frowned. "Fine then, as you wish," he said before giving a mental command. All the Grimm in the palace then began immediately walking out. Wolfram soon followed.

The three men then approached Salem, Tyrian still glaring at the retreating Wolfram.

"My Lady, are you sure this is wise?" Hazel asked.

"And what else should I have said exactly? Tell him 'no'. I don't need him to be our enemy as well as Ozpin," she explained, her expression neutral. "Besides, he could still be a powerful ally. Refusing his offer would have been a waste."

"Pardon the curiosity, my Lady," Watts began. "But who is he exactly? I wasn't aware there was another Lord of Grimm around."

Salem gained a slight smirk. "Looks like I'm all about telling tales today."

Watts retreated back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Enough," she said with a wave of her hand. "If you're going to work with him you may as well know who he is." They then watched intently at her. "Just so you know, a lot of these things were told to me by another as I wasn't present during most of it."

'Far back, during the time I was still a mortal woman, there was a mighty kingdom. It was great and prosperous, with its king ruling as a mighty warrior. He was respected by all and feared by quite a few as well. The King himself had only a single child, a son that his wife bore before she died.'

'However, much to the King's dismay, the son turned out to be a disappointment. He wasn't a fighter, being physically weak, barely able to wield a weapon. No matter how much he trained the son wasn't improving. The king then made a request of the kingdom's mightiest wizard, Huntar, to take the young son as his apprentice and teach him magic."

Wolfram, now around eighteen years old, focused on his palms, trying to get some spark of magic out of his palms. The way he looked was quite a contrast to what he would be in the future, fairly average build, short black hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in a dark vest with green pants.

Beside Wolfram was an elderly man, with long white hair and beard dressed in a blue robe, a metal staff with a purple crystal in his hands. That was the wizard Huntar.

"Focus, young prince," Huntar said silently, not wanting to distract the boy.

Wolfram focused, his hand outstretched in front of him. He once again tried to focus the magic out of his body. He stood for several minutes, sweat appearing on his brow, his eyes narrowed. And nothing happened.

Wolfram sighed and put his hand down. He turned to Huntar. "What am I doing wrong?"

Huntar stroked his beard. "I'm honestly not sure, my prince. You've pretty much meant all the requirements of being able to cast a spell."

Suddenly, the king burst through the door, dressed in his armor and royal cape, a golden crown on his brow. He approached the wizard.

"Well, is there any progress?" the question was more of a demand than anything else.

"I'm sorry, my king. We've been trying for a while now but your son seems incapable of producing magic," Huntar answered which made Wolfram look down in shame. That was honestly more humiliating than his skills with weapons since everyone is capable of wielding magic but he couldn't create even a spark.

The king groaned in frustration. "Why has my wife died to give me such a pathetic son?" he complained as he rubbed his face.

That caused Wolfram to look at his father in shock. Of all the things the king called him in the past he never referred to him as pathetic, which only increased his feeling of shame.

Huntar noticed the situation and quickly spoke. "It's still too early to tell. We'll continue practicing and I'm sure your son will get a hang of it."

The king scoffed. "If I don't see results soon than this was nothing but a waste of time," he said. Wolfram thought he heard an undertone in his father's voice as if he restrained himself from calling Wolfram a waste of time. The king then turned away. "The gods must have cursed me." And with those words, the king departed.

Huntar put a comforting hand on Wolfram's shoulder. "Your father is only speaking out of anger, young prince. He doesn't mean any of it."

"I wish I could believe that, Huntar. I really wish I could," Wolfram said as his mouth began to twitch. "If you would excuse me, I'll retreat to my quarters."

The mighty wizard could only look sadly at the young prince as he walked away from the training room.

Wolfram sat the large bed within his room. His head hung down, his eyes threatening to water but he refused to shed a tear. His father didn't deserve it.

But in all honesty, he wished that there was something he could do. He hated being so weak, always having his father and everyone else talk down to him like that. He couldn't count how many times people have called a failure of a prince and a disgrace to his father's legacy. What could he have done about it, it wasn't his fault he was born this way.

If only there was something, something that could make him better. It honestly did seem like the gods cursed him.

His head suddenly perked up. That's it. The gods! They were the key to his solution. The Brothers were still present in this world so they could help. But the likelihood of that actually happening was slim to nonexistent. Still, he had to try.

'And so the young prince began his journey. He sneaked out of his father's palace, taking all the necessary provisions for his trip. His search was long, passing through many terrains and hardships that presented themselves before him. But he finally reached his goal.'

Wolfram walked through the Land of Darkness, the dwelling of the God of Darkness. He walked down a flight of stairs before finding himself in front of a pool of black water.

He steeled himself and called out. "I demand an audience with the God of Darkness!"

Suddenly, the water was disturbed, sending mighty ripples from the center. Out of it came a shape of a man, completely purple in color, featureless except for the horns on his head. His limbs were twisted in unnatural ways before snapping back in their place. The figure then stood at the edge of the pool, several Grimm walking to his side.

"You must be quite brave or quite foolish, demanding an audience with me," he then walked forward. "But you got my interest, speaking so boldly to me. Why have you come here?"

Wolfram took a deep breath and stood tall. "I want power."

That caused the god to tilt his head to the side in confusion. He then gave a laugh. "In all of my years, I've never seen such a bold human. You come into my domain, demanding an audience with me and now you also demand that I give you power." He was now standing in front of Wolfram, towering over the prince. "What caused you to act in such a way?"

"Because I have nothing to lose. I am unable to wield a weapon, shaming my father. And I also found out that I'm completely unable to wield magic," Wolfram explained, his resolve not wavering one bit. "And I don't know why this is. Every human is capable of using magic, so why can't I? Have you decided that I'm the one who shouldn't?"

The God of Darkness rubbed his chin. "Hmm, that's quite peculiar," he said before extending his hand, enveloping Wolfram in dark light. "Ah, I see. So you really can't use magic. It would appear that you are a defect."

Wolfram's eyes widened at what the god said, but then it became serious again. "If that's how it is, then you owe me. You have to give me power."

The god looked at him for a moment before once again letting out a laugh. "This is honestly the amusing thing I've seen in a while," he said. "But tell me, why not go to my brother for such demand?"

Wolfram looked down. "Because… my reasons are selfish. I don't think he would have."

"Well, aren't you a smart one," the dark god commented. "Normally, I would incinerate you where you stand for such insolence. But you've proven to be quite entertaining and the fact you came to me instead of my brother pleases me." He then quickly grabbed Wolfram by the throat, shocking the prince as he tried to pry the hands off. "So I'll give you something special."

The God of Darkness then turned around and threw Wolfram into his large pool. Bubbles erupted from it, the black water became uneasy and rumbling was heard from beneath it. A red glow also came from it and shined for a few moments.

After a while, a clawed white hand grabbed the edge of the pool, Wolfram quickly arose from it, sending some water flying around him as he gasped for air. He then rose to his feet and looked at his transformed hands. "What did you do?" he asked before turning and looking at his reflection in the dark pool. He looked like a completely different person, he was far larger, the only article clothing that wasn't destroyed being his pants, and had some animalistic traits. And most of all… he felt powerful.

His face then began morphing into a smile. He felt incredible… no, invincible. He then turned towards one of the dark crystals that decorated the dark domain. He walked up to it, cocked his fist back and punched it, making it shatter into a million pieces.

This time, he laughed. He laughed so hard that it echoed through the domain. "Yes, YES! This is what I wanted!"

The dark Brother looked at the scene with amusement, like seeing a child discovering sweets. It would appear that his little bath in the pool also had some alterations to his psyche, seeing as he seemed to act differently.

Wolfram then turned back to the dark god and gave a bow. "I thank you, my lord. This is the greatest gift anyone could have ever given me. What do you want in return?"

The deity chuckled. "Oh, I don't want anything. There really isn't anything you could give me either way. All I want is to see what you would do with the power I've given you."

A maniacal smile spread on Wolfram's lips. "Oh, all the things I'll do with this power."

'And so, Wolfram left the Land of Darkness, ready to test out the power that was given to him. He returned to his father's kingdom, shocking the king with his new appearance before killing him and raising the castle to the ground. So he began a conquest of his own, taking over lands by force, an army of Grimm by his side.'

'People tried to oppose him but failed. Nobody could match him in power. But not everyone lost hope. Huntar, the former wizard of Wolfram's father escaped and went to seek out his former apprentice… Ozma. He needed help if he wanted to take Wolfram out and I was also there to lend a hand. An army was gathered to fight Wolfram and the three of us joined to fight him personally.'

The three of them stood in front of Wolfram, suffering some battle damage from the fight while Wolfram only had a few singes on him.

Wolfram laughed. "Any more tricks you three have?" he asked mockingly.

Huntar turned to Ozma. "There is one thing that I can do stop him, but the two of you will have to buy me some time. Can you do that?"

"We can, master," Ozma said before looking at Salem, who was in her human form sporting long blonde hair and blue eyes. She gave him a nod and they charged Wolfram.

Wolfram responded by charging at them as well, his fist ready to strike. However, his strike was met by a magical shield produced by Salem and Ozma took the opportunity to attack with a magic beam from his staff. Wolfram was fast enough to avoid the attack as the beam flew past his head.

Instead of attacking Ozma, he focused on Salem and slammed his fist into the shield, this time putting more strength into it and shattering it. Salem moaned in pain from the backlash which caused her knee to meet the ground.

"No!" Ozma exclaimed and readied another attack. Wolfram did then something Ozma didn't anticipate and jumped over the magical blast towards him. Ozma didn't activate his defenses quickly enough before he was kicked in the head and sent hurling back.

Wolfram grinned at the situation but quickly turned towards Salem who now stood up and ready to engage him, her hands glowing with mystical energy.

"You know, you don't have to fight me," Wolfram said. "You can surrender, and I'll be more than willing to spare your life. In fact..." He extended his hand. "I offer you to become my queen. You are definitely a more than worthy candidate, beauty and power at once."

Her eyes only narrowed. "No," was her simple which made Wolfram frown.

"Too bad. You missed quite an opportunity."

She then began using her magic, hands extended towards him with Wolfram ready to guard against it. But then he was hit in the back with another magic attack and turned to see a familiar black-haired and green-eyed man pointing his staff at him.

"Don't count me out just yet."

Salem then shot at him and he quickly braced himself for impact. He blocked the attack with his arm but was forced to block another one from Ozma. Caught between two blasts energy he had no choice but to jump backward out of the way. He then continued dodging the beams shot at him by them.

Then he noticed the old wizard further away, keeping distance while chanting something.

"So, you're only distracting me," he said in annoyance. "Too bad." He jumped over their attacks and ran past them straight towards Huntar. Just as he was about to reach him some golden ropes wrapped around him, keeping him in place. He looked back at the two of them in anger, their spell keeping him away from his old mentor. "That won't hold me for long."

"It doesn't have to," Huntar said as he looked Wolfram straight into his eyes. "I've already finished." Then he put his staff up, red energy emanating from it before the staff was reduced to pieces and the red energy went into Huntar. "I'm sorry, my boy. But you've caused enough damage as it is. If only you didn't let your anger get the best of you." He then shot the energy straight into Wolfram.

Wolfram didn't scream as a blast hit him since it didn't hurt. The golden ropes disappeared but he wasn't able to move. He realized that Huntar's magic was the one that was doing this and he wondered just what the old man planned.

Huntar shed a tear as the spell continued. "I'm sorry I couldn't have helped you, Wolfram," he said before he himself turned into red energy and struck Wolfram. Suddenly, several rocks sprang from the ground and began encasing the Grimm Lord as he watched in panic what was going on.

Rocks covered him completely before they themselves were also piled upon by other rocks. A large structure then began growing from the gathering rocks, Salem and Ozma looking awed as a mountain formed in the place of Wolfram, trapping him for many centuries.

Salem finished telling her tale, and the three men looked fairly stunned.

"So, that's how it went," Watts muttered. "Tell me, do you ever regret not taking his offer?"

Salem then looked at him with narrowed eyes as he tried to put his hands up in defense but before Watts could say anything she already responded. "What happened, happened. I don't want unnecessarily dwell on it." Though as she said that, she now realized the irony of her situation as she became a Lord of Grimm herself.

"I don't like him, mistress," Tyrian complained. "He's up to something, I can sense it."

"From what I've seen, Wolfram isn't that much of a schemer. Unlike me, he's a frontline fighter, making decisions on the fly."

"But, won't that make him unpredictable?" Watts asked, still concerned about the ancient man's motives.

"He isn't dumb, Watts. Even he knows that just going straight into a fight isn't the only solution. He'll be open to suggestions."

"Doesn't hurt to be wary of him though," Hazel said with crossed arms.

"Perhaps, but we should still focus on our mission. We have a lot to do."

Unknowing to them, a small Grimm insect flew out of the room and went outside.

The insect then flew over to one of the rocky hills located not too far away from the castle. On it, Wolfram was standing and looking over the landscape. He opened his palm and the insect landed on it before letting out several buzzing sounds.

"Not much of a schemer, eh?" he said with a chuckle. "Oh, Salem, Salem, Salem. You shouldn't underestimate me so."

Still, this alliance is something that will benefit him greatly. He will finally have the entire world in his grasp, and he will have Salem ruling by his side. Ozma was a fool, trying to abandon a woman as wonderful as Salem. But now the slot opened to him, and he had all the intention of having Salem as his queen, now more than ever.

AN: And that's it for now. Well, if any of you were curious as to where Wolfram came from, here you go. Did you like it, hate it? Tell me in the reviews.

And once again, check out my other stories. They're well worth your time, trust me.

See you next time!