It was a night like any other in Vale. On the roads deep within the Emerald Forest, an individual would calmly walk, brandishing a cloak as black as the night sky above him. His face was covered by the shadows and no word would come out of his mouth.

After the Fall of Beacon, while in the City of Vale the remaining staff were struggling to rebuild the academy, another, much smaller nation, took notice. While the kingdoms of Vale, Vacuo, Atlas and Mistral were the 4 major powers in Remnant, there was one that, from the shadows, planned their downfall.

The Commonwealth of Maelstrom. Located on a land that all other kingdoms believe to be uninhabited and had forgotten about long ago. Unlike the other continents, they do not possess any advanced technology...at least not of their own

Lost between the now-derrelict Domain of Light and the Land of Darkness, the people in Maelstrom do not exist for the rest of the Kingdoms, and as such have had to raise themselves on their own

One of these people being the person now walking right in the middle of the Emerald Forest, seemingly with no destination in mind, until, after some time, he notices some bandits hidden between the trees, believing that they would not be seen

As the moonlight finally breaks through the leaves, it is revealed that this person wasn't covering their face with just the cloak on their head. They also brandished quite the particular mask.

This mask was completely plain. It was devoid of anything that resembled a human face. It was flat and the only color that stood out from the plain metallic black was the color of the metal itself peeking out from carvings made on the mask made to resemble a horrifically deformed smile

As the person kept on walking, the bandits revealed themselves one by one, standing in front of him

The person would calmly stop as the rest of the bandits came out

"Hey, you. Going somewhere?" Asked one of them, in a pretty confident tone, as he always did when trying to rob somebody.

The person simply didn't respond and just...stood there, motionless

"Hey, Jay is talking to you, you better answer" Replied his partner, putting up the façade of being angry. This, however, didn't seem to shake the person standing in front on them

After a couple of silent, awkward minutes, one of the bandits loses their patience and pulls out a machete while walking to the person

"Nice cloak you got there. Who made it? Your grandma?" The bandit said, waving the machete around in an attempt to startle the person in front of them. Just as before no reaction

But once the robber was in sprinting distance from them, he jumped right in for the kill. The person then threw one solid punch right into the robber's abdomen, punching out all the air from him. And then, the robber let out one scream of agony as the person under the cloak punched his way through his chest, his metallic arm coming right out the other side.

And then, a chaotic retreat ensued. As Jay ran into the forest, he heard one scream after another until suddenly all he could hear was the wind hitting his face as he ran...and then...that wind stopped, just as he turned around, he was lost deep within the woods, certainly nowhere around the main camp as he wasn't able to see any lights. Then, he turned around.

The next morning, Raven Branwen and some of her henchmen were searching for a lost party that didn't return the previous night. Deep within the forest, she heard her henchmen scream as they described a scene of nightmare. After following them, she couldn't believe her sight

All 6 bodies had one giant hole right in the middle of their chests.

Somewhere away from the Emerald Forest, in a village within the Kingdom of Vacuo, the dark figure would enter a local inn

"Hello, good ..." said the innkeeper, being unsure on how to follow due to the dark figure's mysterious appearance

Then, the person under the mask would reply

"Sir" They said in a tone that clearly didn't belong to a normal man or woman. Unlike the normal human voice, their voice was...gutural, unnatural. Like if they had been stripped of their vocal chords. The person nods after that reply

"Good sir...How may I help you?" the innkeeper replied, doing their best to hide their obvious concern

"A drink will do for now. Ginger can do " The person replied, this time showing a more masculine voice tone, with a very deep voice

After some time, the innkeeper would bring the man a glass of Ginger

"There you go. Anything else I can help you with? That sore throat from before sounded very serious"

The man would grab the glass of Ginger and take a sip after lifting their mask a little

"It's okay. Actually, I'm assuming I can stay here for the night so how much will it be?" The man said in a rather calm tone, while pulling out some Lien from an unseen pocket under the cape

"And another thing. How are things in the City of Vale? I heard they had a Grimm Attack, while others say it was the White Fang. I'm not...very good at staying up to date" The man said, faking ignorance

"Well. They aren't very good. Without Beacon Academy, there are no communications and the blocks closest to the ruins have been blocked off. Apparently that...giant stone thing frozen on the top of the ruins attracts the Grimm to it so there are Huntsmen stationed in the City" said the innkeeper

"Well. That sure is a bugger" the man replied and then continued

"So. About staying. Anywhere I should sign?"

"Yes. Let me get your name first, so I can fill in the list quick" the innkeeper said, as she looked inside a drawer for something

"You're renting to Gary..." The man stops for a couple seconds

"Gary ...Carton" He then continued

"Gary ... Carton...Alright, then it will be 500 Lien. Will you stay just for tonight?" Asked the innkeeper

"Yes. Just tonight. Where's the room, sorry?" Gambit then left some more Lien as pay and got up from his chair

"Upstairs. It's that...blue door over there" The innkeeper pointed out. She then took the pay and went to attend other clients while "Gary" went upstairs and into the room

Once in the room, he locked the door behind him and sat on the bed, where he pulled out a relatively new but very damaged picture, with some scrapes and scratches and a couple of traces of blood. In the picture, there were other figures in cloaks, wearing different masks, with him standing all the way to their right, wearing a bright black mask. Written in marker, there were letters written on top of each member's head.

G M B T

The man had written B on his head in the picture. Then, he turned the picture around to read a worn out message written in pencil

Balisong, if we never see each other again, I wish you the best on your life as the new Gambit

-Minerva

After reading the message quickly, Gambit simply kept the picture back into his pocket and went right into sleeping