It was no secret at this point that something cataclysmic has happened in the world of Remnant. The commanding and booming voice of a person declaring that he is a god isn't something that should simply swept under the rug and continue on your daily lives. To follow that up, the sudden appearance of a floating continent. Nobody could've missed it, it's literally sitting in the middle of Remnant, floating just high enough so that the entire world could see, chains so thick that they're pretty much unbreakable kept the floating continent on the ground which made for this threatening yet breath taking view of a chained floating island.
Some of the local populace had considered this as the Second Coming, others had called it the beginnings of Armageddon, theorizing that the chains that kept the floating continent in place would break and that it would fly so high in the sky before it comes crashing down, creating a massive display of death and destruction that could very well wipe out both Man and Grimm. Not even three hours since the appearance of the floating continent, cults have started forming, praying to whatever god that they believed in to save them from the fires that would eventually swallow them whole.
On the other side of the spectrum, the greatest minds of Remnant are wondering and questioning the sudden appearance of the floating continent. They weren't ready to records its initial appearance, but they are prepared to do anything to investigate the cause and effects that the floating continent would bring with. Aside from that, the scientists have also received reports of sudden appearances of two unusual biomes that are spreading in the corners of the world like a plague. The first one was described to corrupt anything that it touches and the second one spreads through the use of fluids that looks like it came from raw flesh.
But that wasn't all that they received, reports have also stated the appearances of new creatures that weren't of the Grimm kind, grotesques creatures that were made of flesh and floating monsters that bear fangs sharper than the talons of a Nevermore. At the moment, nothing much is gleamed from these creatures other than the behaviour that they cannot leave the biome that they reside in and also the fact that they kill anything that isn't them. Still, to the scientists, this wasn't enough information and therefore they have been tirelessly figuring out the sudden changes in the world that they lived in for thousands of years.
The headmaster's office was deafly quiet, Qrow had returned from his search and relayed the purple robed man's message to them. The room had been silent for the last few minutes with the only sound coming from the tablet that was on Ozpin's table, a news reporter being filmed on a flying bullhead.
"As you can see right now, Richard, there it seems like this unusual corruption has started spreading at a faster rate – only yesterday this corruption was only spanning a couple of kilometres. Now, it goes so far as to reach the horizon!"
The camera stopped focusing on the corrupted land and panned upwards to reveal an entire forest covered in a sickly purple substance. At the distance, there were grotesque creatures floating. The camera zoomed in on one of those flying monsters to reveal a hideous amalgamation of rotting flesh with some bone protruding out to the sides. It had an irregular conical shape with the wide end being the mouth of the creature, big enough that a small child could be swallowed whole.
"Um, aren't those things getting closer?" the man behind the camera asked, on the side of the footage, a hand showed up pointing to the direction of the monsters.
The reporter looked behind and did notice the monsters getting closer. "You are right. Hey, pilot, turn this thing around!"
"You don't need to tell me twice." Came the staticky response from the pilot.
The camera tilted to the side and sat on one of the chairs that were built in the bullhead. The reporter did the same and sat on the opposite side. As she settled herself on her seat, the camera focused back to her once more and she finished off her report.
"As you can see, the situation has clearly gotten out of hand already but need not to worry, the scientist that were sent from Atlas hours prior have been working hard in an outpost not too far from here. According to the leading scientist, Gustav Brownian, they seemed to have discovered what might've been the source off all this abnormal expansion."
Ending on that note, Ozpin closed the tablet. He gazed an everyone in the room, tensions palpable. He gave out a heavy sigh before looking to James. "Care to show us what your scientists have found, James?"
Stepping up, he took out his scroll. He interacted around with it, accessing valuable files and other private things that shouldn't be shown to the public. He eventually found what he was looking for and with one up-swipe, sent the data to Ozpin's tablet. Ozpin took his tablet back and started browsing through the files that were sent.
Aside from voice logs which were used to keep track of the project, there were also images taken. While there were many images taken, there was one that stood out the most: a purple orb. James walked up to Ozpin's desk and started explaining.
"This was the most prominent thing that the scientists found hours prior. At this time, we have no idea what it does, but we are certain that it could be the reason for this corruption. At the moment, they have been conducting all kinds of tests on it and the results show that it shows a damage reaction against anything explosive and for that, we've decided to make use of fire dust since it has the most potent explosions.
Another thing to note is that there are more of these orbs scattered around the corrupted lands. I have authorized more scientists to go to these orbs and conduct more experiments so that we could learn more and with time, figure out how to revert them back to normal."
"This is ridiculous."
All heads turned to the man wearing a grey suit. Qrow stepped up, a frown on his face. "Did you not hear what I just told you? That robed man said to not touch anything that we don't understand!"
James gave out an incredulous look. "And you're just going to believe him?"
"I believe that he knows more about what's happening around the entire world than everyone combined in this room!"
James turned around to face Qrow. "You do not know that! If that man could pull an entire continent out from nowhere, there is little to no reason why he wouldn't pull out these corruptions out from where he came from as well!"
"That is enough"
Both Qrow and James piped down. They both looked to Ozpin, expecting to give an answer that would favour either side. A moment of silence passed by as Ozpin thought of a decent solution that would benefit both parties. While it was true that it was better to leave this situation alone, he couldn't simply turn a blind eye at how fast the corruption is spreading.
They needed something to push the corruption back. At the same time, if he considered of Qrow's words, the robed man specifically told them to not mess with anything that they don't understand lest they want something unknown on their already full plate.
Ozpin took a deep breath, this was certainly out of his league, he was too focused with his war with Salem that he didn't really have time for other things such as the phenomenon that's happening around the world right now. Nevertheless, he needed a way to stop this situation while at the same time, not losing the trust of his right hand man.
"James, I will permit you to research on three of these purple orbs. That's all the exception that I'm giving you. At the first sign of trouble, I trust that you would stop all research. Understood?"
"Understood."
With his piece said, James turned around and left the room. Qrow on the other hand was completely dissatisfied with his decision and chose to walk up to him. "Ozpin…"
He wanted to say something, but it was completely cut off when Ozpin spoke. "It's only three orbs Qrow. What's the worst that could happen?"
