Asarirn walked alone down the streets of downtown Vale. The only difference for the streets was the buildings were in total ruins. Some were on fire as for the rest left in piles of rubble. Everyone were nowhere to be seen.
Asarirn had his Ice Weaver in his hand as he walked cautiously down the rundown street. He stopped as soon as he noticed a man on the same road, facing away from Asarirn. A closer look at the person appeared to wearing the same black coat Asarirn wore. This caused Asarirn to be concerned.
Asarirn approached the mysterious man, the man turned to face Asarirn with the hood covering his face. Immediately, Asarirn readied his sword for caution.
"State your number," Asarirn ordered the man.
The man stood there silently without showing any attempt to comply with Asarirn's command.
"Why have you destroyed this city?" Asarirn tried a different approach, "You just caused countless people to lose their lives." Asarirn paused as he realized something was amiss. What makes Asarirn think it was him?
Before he could think this through, the mysterious man began to laugh menacingly.
"What makes you think I would do such a thing?" The man finally spoke, "Are you sure you're not blind?"
"What are you talking about?" Asarirn was confuse.
"Take a look at your precious blade," was the only thing the man said.
Without moving his head, Asarirn moved his eyes over towards his Mystical Blade. To a complete shock and him without realizing, there was blood dripping from the tip of his blade. There was one thing Asarirn doesn't want to know. It is whose blood was it from.
Before Asarirn could realize due to the blood on his blade, the mysterious man made his move. The mysterious man vanished and quickly reappeared in front of Asarirn. A dark demonic blade appeared in the mysterious man's hand. The man proceed to attack without warning.
Asarirn didn't have time to react as the man attack. Asarirn quickly blocked with the blood stain Mystical Blade. Blood splattered from the force of the impact. Even though, Asarirn blocked the attack, the force of the attack caused Asarirn's blade to be slapped away, creating an opening.
The mysterious man, then, held out his other hand he wasn't using. Another blade appeared in his hand. That blade itself looked exactly like Ice Weaver. However, the blade appeared to be darker than the one Asarirn had.
Before Asarirn could react, the mysterious man lunged forward with his Ice Weaver. Asarirn tried to move but stopped as he felt a sharp blade ran through his body.
Asarirn slowly looked down to find the Mystical Blade was struck through his chest. Blood started to pool around the blade. Asarirn dropped his Mystical Blade in defeat. Afterwards, the mysterious man drawn the blade from Asarirn's chest, leaving him with a hole in his chest.
Asarirn tried to move, but instead fell forward towards the mysterious man. The mysterious man done nothing as he watched Asarirn collapsed onto his chest and clenched onto his coat. The mysterious man knew very well there was no fight within Asarirn.
In one final attempt, Asarirn reached out with one of his hands towards the mysterious man's hood. Again, the mysterious man done nothing to stop him. It was like he was allowing to do as he pleased. As Asarirn gasped the hood, Asarirn used all his force to yank off the hood. Asarirn's eyes slowly widen from shock as he found out who the mysterious man was. It was himself.
The only difference for this version of Asarirn was a lot darker than he was. His eyes were red all the time, with his hair reached down to his neck. However, he doesn't appear to bear the mark of the Weapon Master on his face.
The mysterious Asarirn (yep, I'm so creative with names) had the look of disappointment towards Asarirn. "You should realize, by now, the path I have set out for you, Asarirn Nightlyis. If you don't follow my path, it could lead to suffering. Not only to yourself, but to others."
Asarirn fell to the ground as the mysterious Asarirn stepped back. Blood began pool Asarirn's body. He slowly began to blackout.
As he was slowly going unconscious, he could see a figure running towards him. His vision was blurry, so he can't who it was. But, the only thing he could tell by the shape of the figure that it was female.
"Asarirn..." Asarirn could hear a faint voice.
Asarirn slowly reached out one of his hand towards the female figure. Asarirn couldn't keep his hand up due to the lack of energy. In the end, his hands collapsed onto the ground.
Asarirn!
Asarirn's eyes slowly closed as this was the end. Before he blackout, he got a better look at the female figure. He could see the black and red of her skirt. Once the girl was close enough, Asarirn could finally have a clear view of who this mysterious girl. Even though his face doesn't show his surprise, Asarirn was surprised to see Ruby Rose was the one running towards him.
"Ruby..." Asarirn's voice was weak.
Asarirn closed his eyes as the end was near. Regardless, Ruby called out his name one final time.
ASARIRN!
-*RWBY*-
Asarirn jumped from what it seem a nightmare he was having. He breathe heavily as he tried to calm himself down. Asarirn wiped the sweat that formed from his face. Immediately, Asarirn clenched his chest as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. To Asarirn, the dream felt more real as it was reality. Nethertheless, it was a dream, nightmare more like it, he was having. But Asarirn knew it was more than that.
After a bit, he took a deep breath and exhaled as he finally calmed himself. The pain in his chest subdued. Asarirn simply sat there, looking up in the sky.
Asarirn was on a rooftop of a random building in downtown of Vale. He decided to sleep in the city than the rooftop of the school building was because the recent confrontation with Pyrrha Nikos. He didn't want to encounter any other students, especially if he was sleeping up there.
Asarirn pressed his hands on the cool hardtop of the roof. Even though he was so used to sleeping there, he rather prefer sleeping on an actual bed. What would he kill just to sleep comfortable in a nice bed. With that said, Asarirn thought of his bed back in Team RWBY room. Maybe he should go back? Asarirn quickly shook his head to dismiss the thought. There was a reason for this.
Asarirn looked at his hand for a moment, and sighed to himself.
It didn't took Asarirn long to realize there was someone who was next to him. Asarirn turned his head to find Dark Asarirn was there.
Dark Asarirn was crouch next to Asarirn for a bit. He has been simply staring at Asarirn with a serious look on his face.
Before he could what was going on, Dark Asarirn answered for him.
"I would suggest you move," was the only thing he said to Asarirn before fading away.
It didn't took Asarirn a second to realize and moved. Asarirn quickly rolled back and used his hands to push himself off the ground. A blade smashed into the ground where Asarirn was at.
Asarirn landed on the ground as he slid back a bit to create some distance. Asarirn took one look at the attacker and instantly was angry.
The attacker had a male figure that bared the same black coat as Asarirn. Not only that but has red trims as the same as Asarirn.
Immediately, Asarirn remembered the nightmare he had just moments ago. He forced himself to be cautious.
The attacker charged in at Asarirn with both hands on the handle. The attacker swung his sword at Asarirn as he came close to him. Asarirn quickly ducked to dodge the attack. Then, the attacker threw a series of swords thrust and swings in a desperate attempt to land a hit on Asarirn, but Asarirn dodge all of the incoming attacks with ease. In one final attempt, the attacker lunged forward with his sword in order to pierce Asarirn.
This entire time Asarirn was mainly dodging all the attacks without showing any retaliation for a reason. This whole time Asarirn was studying all of the attacker's attack pattern. Since the attacker wore the black coat, Asarirn was unable to identify the attacker. The only way he could figure out by studying their attack pattern and compared it to the known rank members of the organization. With this said, Asarirn figured out without a doubt, this person was impostor. A traitor to the organization.
As the attacker lunged with the swords, Asarirn managed to move to the side of the attack. In one false swoop, Asarirn wrapped his arm around the attacker's arms and held tightly. Before the attacker had a chance to react, Asarirn swiftly threw a punch to the face. The punch staggered the attacker, but Asarirn kept a hold of him. Asarirn released his hold as he pulled the attacker close. Asarirn quickly delivered a kick at the attacker.
Asarirn's foot slammed into the attacker's chest. The force of the kick send the enemy flying. The attacker flew back quite a ways before crashing into the ground. The attacker slammed his back into the ground and bounced slightly. The attacker quickly recovered as he flipped himself. As the attacker landed and slid back, he managed to grab his knives and threw it at Asarirn.
Asarirn quickly reached into under his coat and pulled out his knives. Asarirn, then, threw his knives at the attacker's knives. Each knife collided onto one and another. Sparks flew from the knives as they ricocheted from one and another.
Asarirn pulled out three more knives on one hand and two on the other hand from under his coat. Asarirn immediately threw the two knives at the attacker, one by one.
The attacker charged in with his sword at Asarirn once again. The attacker moved to one side to dodge the first incoming knife and continued charging at Asarirn. The attacker swung his sword midway and slapped away the second knife.
Asarirn held up the last three knives close to his face. He began to whisper a chant under his breath. Two of the knives began to glow in a light blue radiant, while the third one was cover in black smoke.
As the attacker was close enough, the attacker swung his sword horizontally. Just like before, Asarirn ducked down as the sword swung over his head. However, the attacker knew Asarirn would duck to dodge the incoming attack. Continuing from the first swing, the attacker swung himself around and then swung the sword low towards the ground.
Asarirn quickly jumped high from a crouching position. In responds, Asarirn threw the knife that was covered in black smoke, down at the attacker.
The attacker ducked before the knife could hit his face. The moment the attacker dodged the knife, he held up his sword and began his charge. Before he could charge, the attacker stopped completely and was unable to move. Asarirn landed on the ground and stood there as he believed this was over.
The attacker struggled to move his body, but his attempt ended in failure. He could slightly move his head, so he looked behind to see what was binding him. To his surprise, the very thing that kept him still was the knife that he had dodge just moments ago.
The knife was stuck in the ground behind the attacker. But the area where the knife was impaled was the important part. The knife stabbed inside the shadow of the attacker. It felt like the knife was the very thing that kept him still.
Asarirn threw one of the two knives he had left at the ground directly in front of the attacker. Ice started to form around the knife and began to spread towards the attacker. Asarirn slowly walked up to the attacker with the last knife in his hand. As Asarirn came close, Asarirn held up the knife to the attacker's throat. The attacker remained still regardless.
"What was your purpose for you to attack me?" Asarirn finally spoke.
"I don't have to say anything to a traitor like you!" The attacker spat.
"Traitor?" Asarirn thought to himself. Asarirn paused for a moment to think what to say next before continuing. "State your number."
"I'm not telling you anything," the attacker answered harshly.
Asarirn pressed the knife to the attacker's throat. The attacker could feel the coldness like ice on his neck. He looked down to see the ice on the ground was close to his feet. The attacker could swallowed hard by his situation.
"Sounds to me like you don't care about your own life. If you don't have anything important to say, then I will end you right now."
Asarirn held up the knife as he was about to strike. Before he could, the attacker stopped him.
"W-wait!" The attacker cried out. "I-I care about my life."
Asarirn grabbed onto the coat of the attacker and pulled him close. "Then state your number."
The attacker was hesitant for a moment. But given his situation, he doesn't really have a choice in this matter.
"T-twenty-seven," the attacker finally answered.
"Twenty-seven?" Asarirn repeated as he was confuse. "If your number is twenty-seven, then why you bared that coat?"
"What about you?" Twenty-seven questioned Asarirn. "You bared the same coat, tell me your number."
Asarirn didn't say anything as he stood there, but held up only one finger. Instantly, Twenty-seven was stunned and surprised by the sight of the finger. Asarirn could tell he was speechless.
"I-it means... it means... you're...," he was stuttering in his words.
"Yes, I'm the leader of the Silent Angel," Asarirn finished the statement.
"I-I'm so sorry," Twenty-seven was quick to apologize. "I didn't know it was you. I heard you had gone missing for the last few weeks. But I didn't expect you to be here. Well maybe, that is where you gone."
Asarirn held up his hand, not only to comfort him, but also to get him to stop talking. "It's alright. Just tell me why you bared the same coat as the elite members like us."
"I was given a task of eliminating a traitor and impostor of the organization. Reports said that the traitor reside in this world. With the task given, I was told to wear this coat while on this mission. He also said, if I could assassinate the target, I could join the ranks like yourself."
"Who was the one to give you such a task?" Asarirn questioned.
"I-I can't tell you. I was ordered to keep this discreet."
"You can't tell me to your leader of the Silent Angel."
"W-well... I mean..."
"Since you can't tell me who gave you that order, that makes you a traitor to the organization," Asarirn held up his knife once more.
"Okay, okay, I will tell you," Twenty-seven was quick to give in. "The person who gave me the task and coat was an elite members like yourself."
"Tell me his number," Asarirn grew inpatient.
"It's -"
Before Twenty-seven could finish, an arrow struck him in the back. Asarirn watched as Twenty-seven's lifeless corpse dropped to the ground in front of him. The moment Asarirn saw the arrow on the back, Asarirn quickly rolled to one side as another arrow slipped pass him.
Asarirn quickly threw the knife he had in his hand. Asarirn predicted the area where the target would be by figuring out the direction of arrow. The target was a rooftop of a random building from a while away. Asarirn held out his hand to the knife that was flying towards the building. A yellow magic circle appeared in front of his hand. Asarirn casted a spell in a whisper tone.
To reach out my target, I must guide my arrow.
Swift arrow!
The same magic circle appeared on the pathway of the knife. The knife passed through the magic circle. As the knife passed through, it began to increase in unbelievable speed and distance. The knife managed to travel all the way to the other building almost instantly.
The knife crashed into the first thing on the rooftop. The moment the knife stabbed something, it literally exploded with ice. Ice spiked out in all directions on the rooftop. Asarirn watched closely as a shadowy figure jumped from the same rooftop as it tried to escape from the explosion.
Asarirn didn't waste any time as he held his left hand. Ice Weaver appeared in his hand. Almost instantly, Ice Weaver quickly transformed into an Ice bow. Asarirn grasped the string with the other hand, which caused snow to form around in between his fingers. The snow took shape as it formed into an arrow made out of ice. Asarirn drawn the arrow and string of the bow as he took aim.
Asarirn quickly and carefully aimed the arrow directly at the shadowy figure, who continued to descend. However, when Asarirn was about to fire the arrow, both of his hand began to emit electricity. This was telling Asarirn he was near his limit.
"Too soon!" Asarirn said under his breath.
Asarirn wasn't going to let his target escape, despite his condition at the moment. He released the arrow and the arrow went flying out from the bow. The arrow traveled at an incredible speed towards the target. As the arrow came close to the target, the mysterious person instantly smacked the arrow with his hand and the arrow shattered into dust.
Since the arrow failed on the first attempt, Asarirn forced himself to ready a second shot. However, as Asarirn gasped the string of the bow, he felt extremely weak almost like he was about fall unconscious. Asarirn fell onto his hands and knees. The bow instantly transformed back into the sword form. Ice Weaver disappeared from his hand, leaving only trail of snow and bit of ice behind. Asarirn breathed heavily as he tried to grab a bearing. Asarirn could only watch as the mysterious person disappeared into the dark alleys of Vale.
Asarirn punched the hard surface of the rooftop. Not only he allowed the enemy to escape, the one person who has the information he needed was lying dead on the ground before him. Asarirn pondered on his next course of action. First of all, ensured he doesn't leave any trace of his presence here.
Asarirn stood up from the ground. He looked over to the other building. The ice from explosion remained standing and pointy on the rooftop. With a single snap of his fingers, the ice began to crack and then shattered into dust. Then, the wind blown away the remains of the ice dust.
Asarirn looked over to the corpse of Twenty-seven. He held out his hand at the body. But then nothing happened. Asarirn was hesitant for a brief moment. Asarirn took a deep breath and casted a spell. A pool of black liquid surround the body. Before anything else could happen, the body sank into the black liquid until the whole body was completely submerged. Once finished, Asarirn moved his hand away and the black liquid faded away, leaving a perfectly clean ground.
Now Secondly, Asarirn now have to wait for Three to show up for the ritual. But that doesn't happen until the next night. Asarirn simply sat on the ground, since that was the only thing he can do. After all that had happened, he was pretty much wide awake.
Asarirn pondered again. To Asarirn, Six is the main suspect for him targeting Asarirn. But there are two problems. One was why would Six wanted Asarirn dead? Second, if he did wanted Asarirn dead, the issue was the evidence to support that claim. Regardless, Asarirn was stuck here until he could figure out what was going on.
Before he could pondered on, he felt a bit of vibration. Asarirn reached into his coat and pulled out his scroll. He checked just to find out he received a text message. It was from Ruby herself.
It read:
"I am texting you not just to annoy you or anything. I just wanted you to have a good night. If there anything you want to talk about, just tell me. Sorry, I'm dragging this. Again, have a good night."
Asarirn curled up like a ball as he stared at the text message. Why does she care about him? The thought ran around in his mind. Asarirn looked around, only to find him alone on a rooftop in the middle of the night. The option to reply popped on Asarirn's screen. Asarirn hovered his thumb over the reply button.
After some more thinking, Asarirn pushed himself to press the button. The option led Asarirn to a blank page with Ruby's message. The keyboard appeared, ready for the message. Asarirn stared at the screen again.
-*RWBY*-
Earlier...
Everyone in the Team RWBY (excluding Asarirn of course) were in their sleepwear and ready for bed. However, the thing that was bugging someone was Ruby Rose. Ruby happened to be sitting upon Asarirn's bed. It was rather comfortable than sitting on a chair. Anyway, in her hand was her scroll. She has been staring at it for a while. On the screen was the text message for Asarirn. The only thing on her mind was rather or not to send it or not.
Weiss happened to be walking by Ruby when she happened to glance over Ruby's shoulder. Weiss noticed a written out text message on Ruby's screen. And the person she was about to send was Arranis Shadow.
"What are you doing?" Weiss confronted Ruby. Ruby nearly jumped from the bed by the sound of Weiss' stern voice.
"Well, I was thinking I could send a good night text to Arranis," Ruby answered with a somewhat scared tone.
"I don't think that is a good idea," Yang happened to overheard.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked as she gave Yang a confuse look.
"Well one thing for sure," Weiss began to talk, "we attempted to get a hold of him and he didn't respond. I'm pretty sure he's annoyed by the fact of us trying to call him"
"Yeah, even you said it yourself. You said we should give him some space. I believed if we try to get a hold of him, it will be a harder time to get him back."
"Okay, okay. I see your point," Ruby felt defeated. Ruby placed her scroll on the bed as it was a threat to her. "I won't text him."
"It would be probably the best for we don't call or message him," Weiss added.
Ruby felt a bit of sadness for the fact that she isn't allowed to say a simple goodnight. Yang walked over to Ruby and placed her hand on Ruby's head.
"Don't worry about it," Yang tried to make her see the bright side. "Tomorrow is another day."
Everyone in the room prepared themselves for bed. Everyone laid on their bed and waited for next day.
Later that night…
Ruby couldn't help but stay awake because of what happened earlier. To her, she wasn't doing anything wrong. Just wanted to say good night to a fellow student and teammate. Regardless, the thought of couldn't be able to message Arranis lingered in her head.
Because of this, that gave a Ruby an idea. What was the harm in just sending the text? She believed he doesn't reply anything back, it just the thought that counts.
Ruby reached over for her scroll, which laid beside her pillow. She opened to the text message for Arranis Shadow. The message, she had written earlier, still was there, ready to be send. For a brief moment, Ruby paused. Was this alright to text Arranis in the middle of the night? What she said earlier totally justify her action. Without a moment too soon, Ruby hit the send button. And there, the text was sent.
Ruby couldn't help but smiled by the fact of what she done was the right thing to do. She placed her scroll back beside her pillow. With her conscience cleared, Ruby can now finally go back to sleep. She closed her eyes and waited to drift back to sleep.
Before she had a chance, her scroll vibrated. Her eyes shot opened. Ruby quickly grabbed her scroll and check what it was. Her eyes widen in surprise by the notification on scroll. Ruby froze by the one thing she didn't believed would happen. The notification said, "One new text message from Arranis Shadow."
Ruby snapped out from whatever trance she was in and quickly opened the message. She read the message.
"Good Night," was the only thing Arranis wrote.
Ruby smiled by the shear thought of Arranis writing back. She quickly thought, since he replied back, maybe she could strike a conversation.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Ruby texted.
Ruby waited. "Will he really text back?" Ruby thought. Without warning, she received another text from Arranis.
"Yeah, you could say that," Arranis replied.
"You know you missed out a lot of school work since you left."
"Yeah, I know. It should be fine, I can handle any homework they can throw at me."
"Really? Because Weiss was saying something about the latest homework gave her a bit of a struggle. And you know how Weiss is. Anything that is easy to her is difficult for us. Sorry about ranting on."
"It's perfectly fine," Arranis replied. "Again, I believed I can handle it."
"Well you do have pretty good grades, even you just transferred in."
"Thank you."
Ruby liked the fact she was having a regular conversation with Arranis. But, she wanted to know something. However, if she asked, then he might not reply back. Ruby wanted to press her luck.
"So, when are you coming back? You know we miss having our fifth member."
Ruby waited for the message to come in, but it didn't. Ruby could have figured this might happen. To her disappointment, she proceed to place her scroll down. But, she received another text. Ruby quickly checked.
"I can't say for sure."
"Why can't you come back? You can tell me. I promise I won't say this to anyone."
There was a paused before the next message.
"I'm afraid," was the only thing the message said.
"Is it because of what happened during your match with Cardin? There are always accidents."
"That is not it. I'm not of afraid of that. It is not that what happened, but more like what caused the event. Because of it, I can't come back."
"If you need help, we can help you."
"You can't. It's far too dangerous to help me."
"What do you mean it's far too dangerous?"
The conversation ended from there by Arranis not replying to that question. Ruby knew very well she had pushed her boundaries. But now, she had a better understanding of his current situation. However, there was one thing was troubling her. What was the cause of the situation?
Ruby had a flashback of the post-fight between Arranis and Cardin. It wasn't long before Ruby knew the answer. The black wings Arranis had.
That only made Ruby to be concern a lot more. Needless to say, everything will be determined by the next day. As Ruby laid on her bed, she could only hope everything could work out in the end.
-*RWBY*-
Asarirn continued to sit on top of the rooftop. He had his scroll in his hand as he stared at the screen. Asarirn had ended the conversation with Ruby by not answering her response. He even knew it was foolish of him to have a conversation with her.
"Why?" Asarirn sounded angry. "Why do you care about me so much?"
Asarirn laid on his back forcing him to look up to stars.
"You don't even know who I am really. There is a reason for me to bear this hood. What would happen if you really know my real name?"
Asarirn laid there thinking. What would happen if the girls of Team RWBY knew who he really was? It could cause fear, reason to fight him, or follow him like a cult for their own protection. *On the other hand, there would be a slight chance they could accept him the way he is. Again, the chances are pretty low.
Dark Asarirn suddenly appeared next to him, staring down over him.
"So, what are you planning to do now, Weapon Master Asarirn?" Dark Asarirn teased. Asarirn instantly rolled himself to one side, facing away from Dark Asarirn. Dark Asarirn responded by raising an eye brow and then sighing.
"Asarirn, you must understand you are the one that had accepted this gift. If you didn't accepted it, what would happen then? Would you die back then? Froze to death in the frozen tundra. You need to know your place and your purpose."
Dark Asarirn faded away without saying anything more. Asarirn remained laying on his side. There were a lot of thing on his plate. He closed his eyes as he tried to pretend there was nothing in front of him. It wasn't long until sleep took a hold of him.
Author's Note: Another chapter done. And yes, to the people who actually read my story up to this point, i lied about what going to happen on the next chapter. The reason for this, i didn't read my notes... Again. For sure though, what's going to happen on the next chapter on the last chapter is going to happen after this chapter. I just confuse myself as i wrote this. Well again, for sure this time, history lesson with Oobleck. And to comment on this, Volume 3 is... my god... i don't know what to say about it.
