The book in my hands was much younger than all of the others, though the dusted state of it would not suggest so. The paper was bound tightly in black, shining leather, and the paper was a bone white. The troubling thing about it was that I could almost feel the darkness coming off of the book. The man who wrote it was very cold, calculating, and treated people more like players and pieces than those with souls. I could sense no emotion in his aura traces.
The book was also much longer than the rest, as I had mentioned, and I was preparing the task of reading it. Although as I wrote this, I realized there was no way to summarize this. So I will simply copy the text. Here you have it.
Chapter 1 - The Grimm
I'm sure you have all heard the tales of the Grimm. The creatures of darkness and destruction that lack a soul. Of course these are correct in assumption, but only scratching the barest surfaces of what they are. The following is a compilation of the tough and true facts of what the Grimm really are. For now, I will simply say that they are much more than mindless creatures with red eyes and a lust for blood.
Chapter 2 - Origins
The stories you tell your kids at night start with man, overseen by the God of Darkness and the God of Light. They say that Light created man, and watched him prosper for a time. But the God of Darkness became enraged, and sent forth from the darkness swaths of Grimm to return humanity to the void. Of course it all ends happily-ever-after, with humanity finding dust and combating the Grimm. Life is no fairy tale.
The true creation of the Grimm came from a twisted little soul called Salem. We'll talk more about her later. Just keep in mind that the Grimm are hers, and they are an act of revenge. She is the root of Grimm, and gives them their existence.
When she first created Grimm, it was a simple creature, barely more than a small fox. But the humans, they were terrified of it. They had never seen a creature of such hate and blood-lust before. They knew animals would attack if provoked, but never had one come walking out of the shadows and tore out a man's throat without second thoughts, and went for more.
Of course this small Grimm was killed fast by clubs and spears, but the fear was planted. The first emotion that Grimm preyed upon. With this seed planted, Salem was able to create more Grimm, stronger, and the cycle began. The Grimm would come, stronger, and kill many humans, and then die. But more fear would be there, and then stronger Grimm would rise to this fear.
The only thing that allowed this cycle to be broken was the discovery of dust and Aura. While the first aura user is lost in time, as well as how the first aura was unlocked, Dust was an element. Dig deep enough into the ground, and you pull out some crystals. These crystals allowed some strength and confidence to creep back into the humans, and it broke the cycle, instead becoming a deadly dance still danced today.
Chapter 3 - Creation
At first we all thought that Grimm were born from the shadows themselves, but we were wrong. The discovery of spawning pools changed everything. Spawning Pools, quite literally condensed Darkness, brought forth the husks of Grimm that you know. Now, these husks alone are truly mindless. They will not kill, react, think, or make a sound. They are not drawn to anything, and few seldom move. Until that is, they are filled with emotions.
The main emotions that Grimm are filled by are anger, fear, sadness, and to lesser extents, doubt, distrust, and frustration. I say anger first, because that is what their creation was, an act of anger and revenge. But again, we'll get to that when we talk about Salem. Back to being filled, Grimm take these ever present emotions and it fills them with strength and drive, as well as an instinctual drawing to those feelings.
In this state, they are simple creatures of darkness. Volatile and dangerous due to their strength and short-fuse. But they are not Grimm yet, something is missing. They haven't opened their red eyes. You see, Salem's anger and vengeance is the final piece to the Grimm, filling them with the red-hot temperament and blood-lust we all know. Few Grimm can resist this unless nearly ancient.
There are theories that destroying the source of anger, Salem, would leave only husks as the worst-case scenario, killing them all in best-case.
Chapter 4 - Biology
Grimm, surprisingly enough, are just like you and me, kind of. They've got a brain, a heart, stomach, blood, and most of the other essential organs. They don't have any waste organs, attributed to the fact that they have no digestive acids to eat things. They actually don't need to eat, and only due so as either a presented fear-tactic, or because they like the taste. Take your pick.
Although, theories run that they eat to regenerate. More on that later.
They have a very impressive muscle system, containing nearly triple the tension found in similar sized muscles in humans and other animals, their jaw and upper body in particular. That is what makes them so fast and strong.
I mentioned Grimm's digestive systems a moment ago. With no waste organs or digestive acids to speak of, and we have searched thoroughly, we cannot come forwards with an answer as to where the chunks of human goes when eaten. Even after gorging on entire bodies of humans and other large animals, Grimm have never been observed to regurgitate or produce any sort of waste from the material eaten.
Grimm have been cut open mere minutes after consuming said bodies and it has been found that little or none of the matter remains within the empty, fluid filled stomach. This fluid mind you, roughly matches their black blood, but is less viscous and observed to dissolve faster.
The running theory for this, before proper documentation, was a pocket dimension or void housed within the stomach, one that ruptures and dissipates rapidly after the vessel (stomach) has also done so. Then scientists 'coaxed' a few Grimm into the consumption of cameras and a variety of sensors. The camera's footage was lost almost immediately after being eaten.
The sensors however, before being destroyed, transmitted the data of rapid erosion and rotting on a molecular level. The device, and coincidentally, more concrete information was lost within the Grimm, but we learned the space within it rapidly rots and destroys things to such an extent that there is no observable matter left. Theories go that this plays a large part in the regeneration factor of Grimm, with any and all matter being converted to the stomach liquid.
Somehow though, and completely baffling to our scientists, Grimm can scar. And smaller, more decadent wounds can scar more easily than deadly onces, like cutting off of a limb.
Speaking of the regeneration of Grimm, we found that all parts of the Grimm are roughly of the same structure of molecules. It is like water and ice, different states of the same matter. This is why the leading theory is that the stomach acid is actually a storage to regenerate lost parts, be it hair, bone, skin, or blood. The matter is rapidly disassembled and reassembled into the fluid found in the stomach, and when the Grimm is injured, this matter reassembles into the needed parts.
Below is a short list of the many trials performed on Beowolves alone.
Damage Trial #1-A
Grimm is damaged severely, with a total of 2.3lbs of matter removed from the full body. After six hours in containment, the removed matter has completely regenerated.
Damage Trial #1-B
The same Grimm is damaged again, removing one arm below the elbow, and cracking major bone plates. After six hours, the bone plates show minor reparation and the arm has stumped, but regenerated no further over the following six hours. At that point, the Grimm began to weaken and die due to time in captivity. Note the subject had been in captivity for two days beforehand.
Damage Trial #2
A freshly captured subject is injured, allowed to heal, and injured again until the point of regeneration ceases. The Grimm is fed 2lbs of venison while a similar weighted section of arm is also removed. After six hours, the arm has almost completely regenerated. This trial is repeated with similar successes each time.
Captivity Trial #1
The Grimm are known to die in captivity at a maximum of one week. Grimm at four days is fed 10lbs of various meats, but shows no improvement in the process of dying. At five days, a live deer is released into the containment cell in order to simulate the hunt. Grimm ignored the deer, swiping only when it came too close, and died on day six.
Captivity Trial #2-A
Grimm at day five has begun process of dying. This time, a loved pet, willingly sacrificed, was released into the chamber as the owner watched. Again the Grimm showed no interest, aside from some attention placed on the owner filled with worry and fear. Animal retrieved safely.
Captivity Trial #2-B
Grimm at day six is nearly dead, showing little to no activity. Using neural-stimulation, three subjects are placed in front of the cell. The emotions are anger, fear, and sadness. After two hours of exposure, the Grimm improved slightly, lasting to day seven. The subjects however, could take no more.
Captivity Trial #2-C
Taking the day seven Beowolf, a live human is released into the cell with all three neural simulators attached. The human was a prisoner on Death Row, and was borrowed from a prison. The Beowolf actively, albeit slowly hunted and killed the human in the cell. The Grimm improved greatly in comparison to other actions, but ultimately died a few hours short of day eight.
Chapter 5 - Colonization of Grimm
Grimm, aside from some large species of sea-fairing Grimm, are land mammals. They breath oxygen, walk on two legs, and actually aren't very good swimmers. Now, the sparse spawning pools found across the main continents of Remnant do not explain or justify the extreme numbers of Grimm found inland. So, there must be a way for them to transfer from the Grimm-lands, the home of Grimm and Salem, to mainland Remnant.
Originally we suspected that a large sea craft must be responsible, but this was disputed as the Grimm could not construct or operate something of this maginitude, let alone stay off of our radars with it. So another solution must be present. We couldn't exactly ask them though.
So, people in my organization secretly stayed at beaches encircling one of the continents, hidden from the public or anything coming from the sea. After many months of no activity we began to fear other theories may be closer, such as massive undersea caves and or more hidden, larger spawning pools. So we looked at our data of Grimm populations, recalling half of our men until further notice.
In the data, we found a pattern. At a certain part of the year, Grimm populations would spike suddenly after being dwindled by hunter and human activity all year round. There was also a sharp decline that balanced things out, the hunter initiation. At this time, the schools were only barely forming when we made this discovery.
So, we recalled all of our men and waited until a few weeks around the spike, and got in position. 22 days later the men on a near abandoned beach radioed in and filmed the Grimm colonization. What we saw surprised us. Giant, beyond leviathan class Grimm beached themselves upon to land and opened their mouths. Out from that poured Goliaths, Beowolves, Ursai, and all other kinds of Grimm. The creatures were gigantic and rushed into the woods, filling the continent.
The men in the area were lost to the horde, but the data sent was invaluable. We found out the Grimm's colonization methods, and began experimenting with ideas to stop them, or at least we tried. With me being the head of all the projects, I banned any active attacks on the Gargantuan, as we called them. Grimm of such size were important, and the slight injuring of one would most certainly alert Salem to their discovery.
If we were to attack, it could not fail. Of course, with the Grimm being the size of some buildings, and literal armies being inside, total destruction while remaining undercover was virtually impossible. We would simply send an anonymous note to the kingdoms to increaser thier numbers at the colonization sites, and hope that helped.
Chapter 6 - Species
I'm sure that everyone knows the average species of Grimm that they teach you in your hunting academies. The Beowolves, twisted wolves that walk on all fours or twos, the leading animal in any Grimm attack. Led by Alphas.
Ursai, the bear-like Grimm and muscle of any Grimm attack. Dominated by Ursa Majors.
Boarbatusk, cannon fodder really. They're a lot like boar.
Nevermore, the sky Grimm. Giant raven-like Grimm that are old and powerful, decimating buildings.
Deathstalkers, mean giant scorpions with a deadly poison stinger. A walking tank.
Creeps, the speedy, blind Grimm that span distances in rapid-fire attacks. One of the only subterranean Grimm known.
And finally, Goliaths. Great mammoths of Grimm, who are nearly indestructible. They are also old, and have learned to stray and pick their battles. Mostly though, they wander in herds.
There, that's the basics. But what about the Grimm you don't know about, the one's they don't teach you due to a lack of information and or population. Let's start with Geists. Geists are ghostly Grimm with the ability to posses any object they come into contact with, with the more powerful ones possessing larger objects. Some ancient ones have even possessed mounds of rock the size of mountains, and were once worshiped as wrathful gods.
Their weakness is to either destroy the host body, nearly impossible, or to attack the head. The head is the only part of the Geist that stays materialized, and is usually slightly armored. If you attack the head, then hit the body hard enough, you can stun it enough to take out the true body. Bullets will work for that. Note that they cannot posses humans.
Next we can talk about the more interesting ones. Seers are medium sized, jellyfish-like Grimm that act as Salem's ears and eyes out in the field, as she seldom leaves the Grimm-lands. Don't let their size fool you though, because the stingers are razor sharp and overwhelmingly strong in numbers. They have the odd effect of a crystal orb of children stories, but for two-way communication.
Next there are Griffons, the more agile of Salem's sky Grimm. They seem to be a mix of small Nevermore and something else entirely. Because their DNA matches no other animals, it is hard to say.
King Tajitu, the snake Grimm, and their smaller counterparts, princes. The kings are giant, bus-sized snakes with two heads of opposing color schemes and they can act independently, making them a double edged sword, Fortunately, their venom isn't deadly. The Prince's venom however, is overwhelmingly so, and their size makes it easier to strike.
A small cure for it's venom was found in a small mountain village called Shimitani. Even with the cure, it incapacitates the victim for days. Surviving the venom however, grants an aura boost for the time being, that raises the user's maximum aura level slightly, for the rest of their life.
There is now the Beringel, or Gore Ape. This gorilla Grimm is overwhelmingly strong, and seems to be more intelligent due to it's ability to strategist with other Grimm, mainly throwing them at another target. Surprisingly, its regeneration effect comes back with stronger skin and eventually bone the more it is damaged, making it stronger every-time it survives an encounter with a hunter.
There are a few unkown and undocumented species of Grimm, such as Valos, large humanoid Grimm who posses strength potency much higher than even Grimm should have, and a keen inteligence.
We've already talked about Gargantuan earlier, so that leaves us finished with the regular Grimm. Let's move on to a quick syllabus of the Variantals.
Chapter 7 - The Variantals
The Variantals known by a less common name, "Mutaloid Grimm" are scattered breeds of Grimm that have mutated to become something better than they once were. Some of them may become larger, stronger, faster, or smarter than any other of their breed. The change is always accompanied by an extremely obvious physical change, some of which may not look natural.
Some documented cases are overly large, not giant, Beowolves; Nevermore's with wings tipped by blades of bone, and Ursai with four arms. There was once the occurrence of a Beowolf that could understand human speech perfectly, and showed no hostility. The effects can also be as faint as differently shaped claws or bone structures.
Sometimes, though incredible rarely, these become a new species of Grimm. It is supposed that the Ursa Majors were of this occurrence, along with Griffons. Other times, even more rarely, they mutate to become so strong that they are categorized as Grimm of Legend. But enough of the Variantals.
Chapter - Ancient, Alpha, and Giant Grimm
These are all very distinct groups, and should not be mistaken, even if one Grimm alludes to more than one. Let's explain them.
Ancient Grimm are simply Grimm that have grown older and learned to survive past the base instincts bestowed upon them by Salem. They know to flee from a fight if needed, and will sometimes ignore humans entirely. They sometimes have the ability to bend younger Grimm to their will. These Grimm are usually decorated by a plethora of scars from battles, and it is unknown why they have them. They also have greater and more jagged bone-plate growths that are sometimes tipped. Their markings also appear darker than the younger Grimm.
Alpha Grimm are sometimes confused with Ancient Grimm for two reasons, they can both control lesser Grimm of the same species, and Alphas do often live to become ancient. There are plenty of young alphas however, and that is what you need to know about. The reason these alphas have the ability to control and to an extent, 'guide', the lesser Grimm is not known. It has been discovered though that a pack of Beowolves lose their synchronicity and any strategy they have when the Alpha is killed. So target it.
Finally there is Giant Grimm, which is less often confused, but often is part of the other two categories, if not both. Now, there are large Variant Beowolves that stand 1-2 stories high, but those are only large. The true Giants stand at shoulder level with the treetops or above, and stop at nothing. Younger and smaller Grimm of all kinds flock to their presence.
An interesting fact about Giants is that their eyes tend to be a glowing grey, instead of red. This provides them with a hollowed look that somehow is more terrifying than the evil red.
Chapter 9 - Grimm of Legend
Ah, finally we get to the Grimm of Legend, my personal favorite category. As I mentioned earlier, Variantals can sometimes become Grimm of Legend through the sheer extent of their evolutionary mutations. Buy we won't talk about them, as they are technically lesser legends. Let's talk about the big names, and their current locations.
BoneCladden, located in the deepest reaches of the Shimitani forests, is an immovable force. Having the basic shape of a bipedal Beowolf, this Grimm is entirely covered by thick, near indestructible bone plates, and the skin that is in areas needed for joints is on a grade above Atlesian Kevlar. The markings on the bones as well as the eyes of this creature burn a bright blue, and shunts blue embers rather than typical Grimm Miasma.
Alpha War-hound, located in Shimitani Forest - A large Grimm that has the Alpha and Ancient status, controlling smaller War-hounds. War-hounds themselves are like your typical dire-wolf of legend, but with thin red streaks decorating their fur, claws, and teeth. They posses extreme durability, strength, and speed. They require almost a full brain destruction to put them down.
The Alpha is much like the regular War-hounds. Except its fur is mostly covered in red swirling patterns that sparse the black. The claws, teeth, and eyes all glow a bright white. It is incredibly fast, and possesses extreme stealth capabilities, able to sneak up behind experienced hunters without them knowing.
The Barron, located in Shimitani's caves, is a huge Minotaur-like Grimm, standing at 1 1/2 stories tall and wielding a bone mace. Bone plates decorate the shoulders, elbows, and knees of the creature, as well as the huge horns. The skin on the creature is amazingly thick and durable. The Grimm also houses two unique abilities.
Siphoning, which allows The Barron to shoot tendrils from its hands and siphon Grimm matter from other creatures for regeneration. It can also learn at an impeccable rate, even for humans. its red eyes will flash once as it regards and stores what it has learned.
The last creature in Shimitani is the Wendigo, a bipedal Beowolf esque Grimm that has no bone plates, and seems to understand human speech. Its special ability however is speed. The rate at which the creature can run rivals and overcomes any normal speed semblance known. With attacks based on rapid reppitition and speed-fueled kinetic energy, it is deadly.
Forevermore, located in the plains near the Ice Fangs - An odd instance of Nevermore that has existed as far back as we can date, hence the name. So far there are no means of killing this bird. While a normal Nevermore's feathers are already hard, sharp, and a source of armor, the Forevermore's feathers are entirely made of bone with black markings. The eyes are black as well.
The bones remain un-shattered even under bombardment from approximately 12 flak cannons powered with Gravity Dust rounds. When used as a weapon, they prove to be twice as sharp as the normal feathers. It does not help that the Forevermore is also in the class of Giant, being 3x the size of the largest recorded Nevermore, and 4x the size of the one recently killed at Beacon's latest hunter initiation.
The Grimm Dragon is currently sealed within the mountain nearest to Beacon Academy, and has been there for the past 1,000 years. While larger than most Nevermore, it is smaller than the Forevermore. This Grimm completely understands human speech, and has the ability to create small, temporary spawning pools for Grimm. Larger Grimm are also drawn to its presence.
The Sea Dragon is a large Grimm that spends its time encircling the island of Menagerie, and has the odd ability of lightning breath. Observation for how this happens has been impossible. The creature's skin is very tough, surviving cannon blasts with ease.
The Mammoth is incredible in size, and accommodates all three categories mentioned earlier. Being approximately 10x the size of normal Goliaths, and covered head to hoof in bone plates, we are very glad this creature only exists circling the entrances to the Grimm-lands. It is ancient, possibly one of the first Grimm, and has herds of regular Goliaths following it at all times.
There are a few other legends wandering around Remnant, the Red Wolf, Stranger, Shadow-Walker, but as of now, we don't have the definitive information to include them within the contents of this book.
I'll tell you now, in case pure information bores you. The final chapters of this, save for two of them, are made of our many documentations and experiments on these subjects. Continue if you so choose.
Chapter 10 - Dispersion Effect
We all know the simple rules of the Grimm. They have no soul. They have no aura. They bleed, and any part of the body that is cut off of killed, dissolves into thin air, save for your incredibly rare spoils of war. Now, the first thing we though was that the molecular structure of Grimm and whatever force was holding it together ceased when the host died. But that matter had to go somewhere, right?
So we tested that. In vacuum rooms, open air, air-tight rooms, underwater, the whole nine yards. What we found was that in a room devoid of all matter, save for the room itself, the matter did not exist anymore. It faded away entirely, the ashes becoming dust and the dust becoming whatever is after that. Nonexistence, apparently.
Either way, or next assumption was that there was nothing to catch the matter. So we installed in the room high-powered air pumps combined with oxygen-scrubs. We turned them on, killed the Grimm, and watched the effect. As the Grimm dissolved, the matter was caught by our near windstorm and sucked to the filters. After the body had fully dispersed, we checked the filters. Empty.
If we could not find a way to preserve Grimm matter, how could we keep an entire Grimm carcass intact. Next we tried underwater, and using using natural means. Perhaps if we did not murder it, but it died, the effect might not perceive a threat. More theories without harm of test. We weighed down a Beowolf with cinder blocks and dropped it into a pool 100ft deep, and another at 12.
The first died from the pressure long before drowning. The blood spilled into the water, temporarily blacking out our cameras. After three minutes, the blackness began to clear and showed no remains of the wolf. The one drowned however, its body sat in the bottom of the pool, dissolving incredibly slowly. The fur was only just dispersed away to half length at ten minutes.
A thanks was said to the man who perceived the rapid dispersion as a defense mechanism against researching purposes. We attempted to retrieve the Beowolf from the bottom of the pool, but at human touch it crumbled away like a child's sand castle long-since dried.
With no proper way to get Grimm matter to synthesize and stabilize, we were forced to hold down a Beowolf under an electromagnetic microscope. Our hopes were that if we could isolate elements then we could find others to forcefully keep them bonded. As we said near the beginning, every part of the Grimm is made of the same material, down to the atomic level. An unknown material.
With the many elements discovered and even more alloy elements as well as dust and dust-melded elements, it would, and is taking years to subject Grimm biology to each of them. For now though, we know what makes the Dispersion Effect tick.
Chapter 11 - Salem
Before we delve any further into our topics that are now going to become no longer natural Grimm effects, I would like to finalize what you now know by telling you the history of Salem and the Grimm, from day one.
The first thing you must absolutely know is that Salem was human once. You have got to keep this in mind for any of this to make sense to you.
The humans rose out of dust, actual dust from the ground, and awoke to a world shrouded and darkness and mystery and danger. Their first instinct was to survive. And the first humans did that very well. Delving into jungles and forests, plains and plateaus, they gathered rock, wood, water and food. The first settlement was born, but it did not have a name. The concept of names was not yet, but very soon. It would have a name, at a later date.
History likes to say that the Grimm are truthfully what tried to return mankind to the void, but it was really the beasts. not creatures of darkness, but of the same primal instinct and rage that they have. Of course these creatures were weaker than Grimm, and were killed and feasted upon by the humans after they crafted weapons.
These beasts are actual where names got their start. They needed a way to signal to each other what beast was coming for them, and how to kill it. Names and language came, and advancement soon after. Decades later, Humans had mined metal and blacksmith were made, but it was still a very primitive outpost that the humans lived in.
The second thing you have to know, is that humans refuse to be alone. We will, even with ourselves and the wild for company, come up with more powerful and greater things. Enter The Gods, church, and religion.
Humans made a religion out of things, and sought to repent for the things that they had done as savages in years past. How could they though, without punishing themselves. Each of their crimes in lives past was thought to be punishable by death, so the needed a catalyst.
All their hate, crimes, and whatever other names you have for the dark spot in the hearts of man, was aimed towards a girl named Salem. Unwillingly she was made the target of redemption. For hours and days they tortured and killed her, making it as slow and painful as hundreds, before throwing her to the beasts in the wild, thinking they were rid of that darkness now, and that they were better for it.
Salem, weak and barely able to move, with most of her bones broken and blood bled out of her, was victim to the beasts in the wild. She was questioning to this line of thinking, afraid of her death at beasts, sad that this was how she would leave. But mostly, she was mad. More than mad, more than angry at them for doing this to her.
She was VENGEFUL.
Never before had the world seen an emotion so pure as vengeance, and the animals, their primal instinct and rage, responded to it. As they came out of the shadows to consume her, she locked eyes with one, and commanded it with all the hate in her heart. As her eyes turned red and her skin pale, and the blood in her ran black, she uttered a single word that every creature in that forest heard.
KILL
And they did. Running by her in a concentration and focus that humans had never seen from them before, they made their way to the settlement of Ignis. Salem sat in the forest alone, her soul corrupting and collapsing in on itself. Plenty of times someone had wished and acted upon wanting someone dead. Never though, had someone wanted death on such a large and dark scale. The weight of it was too much.
As the attack went on, her soul twisted and became something darker, a mockery of a soul. True darkness was born inside of her. She stood, her body rearranging to pump darkness through her veins and support the weight of her anger. She became less than human, yet so much more.
The animals that had responded to her were just that, animals. They were killed and driven off with few casualties in Ignis, but the fear was there. Salem could feel it. But the attack had failed, and she screamed in rage, a sound that echoed through the forest and back to the village. Inwardly she felt the spike of fear the sound created.
Despite her anger though, she turned away from the village and deeper into the forest. The animals followed her into a cave humans hadn't explored or knew about. For one week Salem stayed inside that cave, trying to figure out just what she had become, and what she could do. Each day an attack was rushed by the animals to Ignis and against the people that had wronged her.
Each time they were repelled and killed by arrows, spears, and an old man with a piece of metal that spit fire. The first gun. Each failure stung more than the last as the realization dawned on Salem. Even as what she had become, she was still weaker than them, a victim who was helpless. If only there were more like here.
She grabbed the beast next to her, now jagged fingernails digging through the fur and skin, drawing blood. The beast growled, but didn't dare move or attack her. It was afraid, as it should have been. "Why? Why can't you hate like I can?" She half sobbed and half screamed, nails digging deeper. The beast howled and something happened.
Her fingertips splintered and webbed outwards, deeper into the beast she held and lashing to the nearest veins. Before Salem had a chance to let go, the beast shuddered, its howling becoming a human sounding scream as its eyes began to glow red and its blood ran black to match Salem's own. After that was done, the true metamorphosis began.
The animal's skin and fur turned black and its size stretched. Muscles tore and reformed as bones broke and generated to accommodate the new space. Random spaced of skin split and bones protruded from them. The wolf's maw elongated with its tongue and a taste for blood filled it.
As the transformation completed, both Salem and the first Grimm sat, breathing heavily from exertion, but Salem was smiling. The rest is history.
The humans were attacked a few days later by beasts of a much larger caliber than before, and Ignis fell. The remaining humans ran, some into caves. There they found dust, and managed to drive back the Grimm, creating the circle I mentioned earlier.
Salem experimented with her powers for centuries, learning how to create spawning pools to recreate the altered beasts, and eventually learning how to summon completely new Grimm.
Chapter 13 - Grimm Herding
Grimm herding is a currently forbidden practice, though some still use it. The process behind it is simple, torture a human, and bait Grimm. Usually this is done via airship with a suspended cage of human(s) who are either being tortured at the moment or have experienced torture before. Then, you would take this cage through a low altitude near a Grimm infested area.
The end result would be a train of all Grimm in the area following the cage. Then it was up to the herder to do what they wanted. Usually in old wars, the airship would release the cage into a nearby enemy stronghold, effectively launching a Grimm based attack. Other times, though not nearly as common, it was used as a relocation effort.
A few notes. Grimm herding does not apply to older and smarter Grimm, so the attack would be filled with younger Beowolves and Ursai as a majority. Grimm herding is also advised against in an area with Nevermore for obvious reasons. Finally, Grimm Herding obviously kills the torture victims. Always.
Now, there is a variant of Grimm Herding called Grimm Hot-spotting . The goal is to apply such pain onto a multitude of people that their deaths literally stain the area with the emotions of them. The result is many young, and even sometimes older Grimm, to stay in the area. This is good for guarding old relics or entrances you know you will not frequent.
Note, there is no current way to cleanse the area of Grimm Hot-spotting, therefore the effect is permanent.
The following is a map of remnant containing all known Grimm Hot-spots and previously used Herding Lines.
Chapter 14 - Soul Implementation
Grimm are, by definition, soulless creatures of darkness. But we have wondered for many decades whether or not giving a Grimm a soul would make them good again, perhaps returning them to the beast they were modeled after, or if it would bite us in the asses by creating a Grimm with a semblance.
We took an immense amount of care to contain any test subjects.
Briefly I will explain a few of our methods and theories about how we have tried to force a soul into a Grimm. The first was simple aura healing. Aura healing combines the aura, aka the extension of the soul, with another in order to boost natural aura healing. This was chosen first because in extreme cases of aura healing, soul 'fracturing' was known to happen.
We forced a prisoner with unlocked aura and aura healing education to heal a restrained Grimm. After a few minutes his aura ran out, so we held the man at gunpoint and forced him further. The glow of his aura returned, but our sensors detected a different pattern. Aura was reforming at a much faster rate than normal, allowing the man to continue. At the same time, his health began rapidly deteriorating.
We deduced that the man, in a panic, had begun to burn off his soul to gain more aura, but he still wasn't transferring the soul. We ordered him to stop and let him recover. After a few hours, he showed decreased emotions of all kinds during the interview. When asked how it felt at first, he said he was pouring his aura on a wall. Afterwards, he described the later act as the same, but with a horrible burning. The Grimm showed no aura on or in it.
The second method was Aura Training, our own creation. We took two people and one Grimm. The two were asked to link hands and one was to touch the Grimm. Then we continuously damaged the middle man while another attempted to heal him, until his aura was gone. Then at gun point, he was told his life depended on healing the man.
Then, we told the middle man to begin trying to aura heal the Grimm. Our sensors detected the first man's soul fracturing, or at least what looked like it. He began screaming in pain in fear, as did the man in the middle. The Grimm began howling when the sensors showed distinct pieces of condensed 'something' entered the middle man and traveled through his arms to the Grimm.
The hand touching the Grimm began to glow in a volatile way, and the Grimm's fur in the area darkened and Grimm fog formed more at the contact site. Then the glow exploded. The Grimm was found with a caved in chest and the middle man's hand was gone. Furthermore, the two of them showed spliced personalities. They were kept for further research on the effect of splicing souls. Out of our field, but interesting nonetheless.
The third method is a simple one. Aura and Aura Production injections. Using a form of dust power-cell, we were able to push aura into the host Grimm, in the same way we can make a brick have aura. It couldn't do anything with it, and I suspect it barely knew it was there. Surprisingly enough though, the aura stayed within it. More experiments ensued after.
Below are logs of numerous experiments.
Chapter 15 - Dust Infusion
One of the experimental trials that we conducted after managing to put aura inside of a Grimm, was Dust Infusion. As everyone on the planet knows, dust reacts with aura, becoming volatile and actively discharges energy.
Something less known, is that if dust is put inside of the human body, two things could happen, sometimes both. Firstly, if the person's semblance allows for it, their aura will directly absorb the similar power, and the depleted dust crystals will either be removed, or dissolved if small enough. The second possibility, is that the user's aura and semblance will become eclipsed by the dust, fueling and directing their attacks.
One of the problems with dust injections however, is that in the bloodstream of a person with aura, the dust has the peculiar behavior of growing. I don't believe I need to tell you how bad crystals growing in your blood is. Best case scenario, the dust merges with your skin, if embedded. Worst case, the dust fractures under the skin and leeches into the bloodstream, growing and encasing the heart in a rock of dust.
A Grimm's blood doesn't have aura though. If dust were to be left in, and it certainly wouldn't be used up, it may allow the Dust to grow in a controlled rate and area. This combined with a Grimm's usual anger and aggression, as well as the aura in it, could give way to a Grimm able to use dust. There was a lot of resistance to this project because it meant making stronger Grimm. All risks for the greatest rewards, I say.
So we went ahead with the project, and there were many failures and many Grimm-shaped dust crystals lying around. Finally though, we managed it. Using a link with two or more electrode-like injectors of aura, we were able to sustain and cement a passage of aura within the beast. Then we placed the dust crystals inside the outer exits of those passages.
Using some less than willing prisoners, we had them activate the crystals, and by extent, the aura within it. Our first subject, a small Beowolf, began to writhe in agony almost instantly after activation. Monitors showed that blood flow within it increased 5x, and the blood attacked the dust. Unable to harm it though, it only managed in dislodging pieces of it.
These microscopic pieces were carried through the body before settling in the veins and arteries located within the passages of aura. Then something amazing happened. The two large tendrils of dust that had been placed in the shoulders of the creature activated, with the Grimm fog around it turning yellow like flecks of electricity themselves.
I'd like to say that we were prepared for this kind of aggression and volatility, but we weren't. Four of our best men were taken down before we managed to subdue the beast. In hindsight, issuing a 'kill' order instead of 'capture' would have ended better.
Below are a list of the effects each type of known dust has on a Beowolf. Further beyond are all other Grimm we have experimented on. Then we have the locations of the subjects currently alive, and many other trials that we have tested with.
Beowolf - Blaze Dust
Eyes turn a shade brighter red, and all Grimm fog becomes embers. Aggression increases 400%, even going as far as snapping at its own embers. The Grimm gains rudimentary control of the dust in its body, but mostly just becomes a walking powerhouse with flames extenuating its every movement. Body temperature rises to the point where impaling it turns a blade a dull red.
Beowolf - Lightning Dust
Aggression increases 200%. Speed increases 750% in short burst attacks, and 250% in long distance. Eyes turn an electric yellow with arcs coming from them. Claws become sharper with time, and contain most of the electricity in the body. Gains a 10-foot EMP field.
Beowolf - Earth Dust
Incompatible. After five minutes of fusing, the subjects movements become sluggish and brown spots start to appear around the dust. The entirety of the Grimm body is converted to a type of "Grimm Granite" within the hour.
Beowolf - Gravity Dust
Eyes turn purple. Relative weight of the creature quadruples. Surprisingly, even though Gravity is the hardest dust to control, it seems to be the easiest for Grimm. After a week of practice on hunts, the Grimm has learned to lower its relative weight to 25% for speed, and 400% for heavy handed attacks.
Beowolf - Air Dust
Incompatible. Subjects, along with all other kinds of Grimm except Nevermore explode during the infusion process.
Chapter 16 - Human/Grimm Infusion - Mention how these are hunted down by Hunter/Killers, and what those are
Reading this book, you may have already felt we have delved far enough into the darkness of Grimm science. I say not far enough. We took a large number of prisoners, and attempted to integrate them with Grimm DNA, and the results were astonishing.
The legends say of a Grimm called The Stranger, who could inject you with Grimm matter and turn you into a Grimm, but we had no such legend on hand. So our first and only attempt to transform a human into a Grimm, was simple transfusion. We strapped down a Beowolf who had recently eaten a great deal, and began to feed its blood through a tube while slowly draining different amounts of the blood. Five test subjects were transfused.
Subject 1 - 1% Blood Transfusion
This subject was drained of a few mili-liters of blood and replaced with Grimm blood. Though some dissolved in the tube, most was transferred into the host body. After a few minutes, we found the blood did not dissolve in the human bloodstream like we thought it would. We left the subject for a week, and other than harsh sickness and increased aggression, hate, and all other things Grimm, he continued to live normally. Until terminated.
Subject 2 - 10% Blood Transfusion
Same as before for subject 1, but after the first day, things began to happen. After waking up the first morning of the week with incredible soreness, two days were given to heal. During this time, reported nightmares of violent kind were reported, and some disgust to the acts as well. Upon day three, the subject began having bouts of violence towards guards, and then vomiting after. On day five, the bouts increased to hourly, and the disgust was gone. Anger was slowly taking its place. Note that during this time, they did sometimes show regret and a knowing that they were being corrupted.
On day six they passed out entirely, in a constant state of agony when awakened. On day seven, they were no longer themselves. They possessed all of their memories, but they meant nothing. Strength had doubled and a regeneration factor had surfaced. Over the coming weeks, the body slowly became more and more Grimm, until they were a kind of humanoid Beowolf.
On one case a repeat subject escaped, and was hunted down by a Jäger-Mörder, Hunter-Killer. These were originally men trained to hunt down rouge hunters, but they did the trick.
Subject 3 - 25% Blood Transfusion
Subject underwent the first parts of the process, but in half the time of 10% infusion, but required a few days of recovery after they lost themselves, due to how much more violent their metamorphosis was.
Subject 4 - 50% Blood Transfusion
Subject died within the day, and the body dissolved.
Subject 5 - 100% - Drained until blood ran black.
Subject died within the hour, and the body dissolved.
Below are all existing subjects and every log made.
I snapped the old cover shut and placed the book flat on the desk again, and leaned back into the chair. That book was a true fountain of information of all things Grimm, and the creator's ruthless pursuit of knowledge appealed to me. This man, "Darhk' and I would have gotten along.
Now the book may have seemed short, and in wording, it was. But the true size of the book was filled with pages upon pages of lab documentations of all their experimentations done, going into greater detail than those I listed. In a way, half of the last chapter had been a single log out of dozens more. The same went for many of the other chapters.
I glanced once at the books I had nto read yet, and smiled. The Lock-Box would undoubtedly survive my attack on Beacon no matter how great. The inside may be damaged somewhat by quakes if the battle went that far, but it would survive. I would read through the rest of these books after my attack as a sort of victory. It would be nice to find out just how much humans knew about the things they have claimed to master.
Standing up from the desk with a sigh of contentment, I placed the book back on the shelf with the others. The collection of all knowledge that humanity deemed important enough to hide. Or maybe not... Did the other Lock-Boxes contain other Dark Archives within them. I may very well have to see that for myself after a time.
But that was another time and place, and right now I probably needed to get back. I had after all looked through most of the documents in the book, and it was night now if not near morning. I needed to get back as the long trek through the woods would unboubtedly take some time if I didn't want to speed through it. No sense in rushing things that don't need it.
So I stepped out of the Dark Archives and made sure the door locked before turning my sights on the exit. Time to find out where that went.
*SMASH* a sound like glass shattering with steel
My astral body was torn from me and my conciousness slammed backwards to my body above. What had happened?! Did my Sigil run out? No, that was impossible. It didn't matter. I would soon find out. I could feel whatever passed for a soul in my existence settle back into the body I had made.
My eyes opened, and you could see the anger. Of course, I think you would have noticed the 8ft tall humanoid Grimm standing above me, its foot on the smoldering remains of my Sigil. The Sigil that would have dientigrated any hunter on the spot. It looked at me with dark, glossy eyes and I only had a moment to wonder what it was before a fist of unexpected and unprecidented might slammed into me.
I felt myself slam through three strong trees before a large section of outcropping rock stopped me. As it was, I had left deep cracks in it and the front had dug itself out of the dirt an inch. The sword on my back left an aching indention as it had not allowed my back to absorb the force of the blow, and had instead made it worse by having no give.
Ising my arms, I dug myself out of the rock with a groan, rubbing my chest absentmindedly where the fist had hit me. "What was that?" I muttered, and then I listened. My travel must not have been as far as I had thought because I could hear the powerful, pounding footsteps as it approached me. With a breath that ranged anywhere from annoyance to easing out some of the pain in my chest, I drew my blade and amped up my defensive power.
I wasn't going to take chances with something that hit me that hard from a standstill.
I want to credit DeadRich18 for the idea of the Gargantua, and Gammabeta99 for Salem's history.
I am incredibly sorry for the wait on this chapter. Even the slight add on to length was inexcusable for the time. I'd like to say a number of things, that I was sick or my computer broke down, but then I'd be lying. Somehow this story walked its way to the backburner of my life and stayed there for a bit. But now I've got it back on track. As you read this, I'll be writing the next chapter. See you all next time.