Corporal Shard Tiran
SDC Reinforcements
"Remnant Squad, prepare to move out."
Shard looked up at Jacques Bergamot, her tall, muscular, commanding squad leader. She opened the programs relevant to the mission on her scroll and collected all her instrumentation. She had recently been put in charge of anything related to technology in her squad, and she was determined to do a solid job on this mission.
"Shard, you ready?" The voice was upbeat and peppy.
Shard looked to her right at Mau, her closest friend in the squad. He was currently checking his straps on his armor, making sure nothing was falling off. His shotgun was in its rack, boxes of ammo in pouches sown onto his armor.
He had short spiky black hair that somehow matched his wild brown eyes. They never stayed still, always darting here and there as if searching for things to do. He had a grin on at all times, no matter the situation.
One time during basic training, the two of them had run into a pack of Beowolves while doing survival training. Even as they kept the Beowolves at bay desperately waiting for backup, his grin hadn't faded. She had found it annoying at the start, but she had gotten used to it, even finding it endearing.
"Oh I'm so ready. I'd be more worried about you though; you might scratch one of your precious claws." She added the last part in as a whisper, nodding at his hands, which had small holes above his nails where his retractable claws hid.
They were the only sign of his Faunus heritage and he kept them a secret. She was the only person he had shared the secret with and she had promised to not tell anyone. That didn't stop her from teasing him from time to time about them, though she only did it when he got too cocky.
He pouted at her, immediately deflating. "C'mon Shard, you know I don't like that. Why you gotta be rude?"
She laughed and patted him on the shoulder. His smile popped up again. She checked over her own weapon once more. It was black and grey like most of Atlas's weapons, though she had modified hers to an extent. Most soldiers added some degree of customization, though she had gone further.
She had extended the barrel and modified the scope to relay more information to her. The shell eject system was optimized slightly to decrease the delay between each shot. She had one or two magazines of explosive rounds, but those were for emergencies.
She had almost forgotten to take them since she had been abruptly woken up to report to the mission briefing center. There her squad had been told about the intruders that had managed to make it into an SDC mining camp. The only piece of intel had been that the mercenary Hunter, Kalo Black, had confronted the intruders, and that no alarms had been tripped while the intruders made their way through the base.
Her squad had been loaded into a Bullhead and sent out here with the promise of more reinforcements once they got another squad ready. That would be at least an hour from the start of landing, so if things went south upon landing, they would be screwed.
"So what do you think is up with this attack? Or if it even is an attack. These guys just strolled in according the briefing, no alarms, nothing on the cameras, nothing. Just some unconscious guards and that's it." Shard asked the secret Faunus.
Mau sat back with a contemplating look on his face. "It doesn't seem like White Fang to be honest. They would have started burning the place to the ground immediately. And those guards would have their throats slit."
Shard nodded. It definitely didn't seem like what the White Fang would've done. Humans and that too on a Schnee mining base? No way they would be kept alive. "So who do you think did it? There aren't many criminals out there that would risk something so large, especially not on a base like Northern Wind. If there was a gang that was bold enough to risk it, they would have started with smaller ones."
"Exactly. There's another thing that stands out about this, and that's the fact that they are Hunters, or at least Hunter trained. Some aura sensors on the edges of the base reported that there were bursts on aura that popped up in the timeframe. That fact plus the fact that they took down the merc Hunter that the SDC hired."
Mau got a sour look on his face. "Yeah, I really don't like this. First of all, we know next to nothing about them or their motives and they're Hunters to boot! Aren't they supposed to be the good guys?"
Shard had to think about that. Hunters were supposed to be their guardians against the Grimm, the best of the best. They were supposed to use their talents for good. Yet some Hunters went bad, using their powers to rob, steal, cheat, and harm. Shard understood why Mau disliked the power Hunters possessed: it put them over the 'regular people'.
The Hunters generally turned a blind eye to the plight of the Faunus, leaving it to the governments to sort out these domestic and social problems. That was yet another thing Mau had against Hunters.
"So if it is a couple of rogue Hunters, what are we supposed to do against them? Ask them politely? They could probably take all of us out with their stupidly large weapons, aura, and Dust control." Mau growled the last sentence, the contempt audible in his voice.
Shard reached over and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Mau, relax. They didn't kill those guards, meaning they probably don't won't kill us either. Besides, I think this baby can put at least a dent in their auras, that's worth something right?"
Mau smiled sadly at her, the anger gone. "Shard, what if something goes wrong tonight? If one of us don't make it out?"
Shard stared at her reflection in her helmet's visor before she put it on. Short red hair and a pale complexion thanks to Atlas's weather patterns. Her eyes were a bit on the larger side, and startlingly green.
Could this be her last time seeing herself? Missions never went to plan, and her plan was to stay alive. She sighed and put that thought away; it was almost time to get going.
"Hey Mau? You really need to chill out. Once we get back, drinks on me. Deal?"
The green light above the door turned on and the Bullhead slowed its fast landing. Shard's stomach fell back down in a familiar feeling and she joined the rest of her squad at the door. Mau was at the front, aiming his shotgun at the door, shoulders locked with the person next to him.
The door flew open and they charged out, aiming their shotguns around. The next line of soldiers ran out and took their positions, followed by Shard and two other soldiers. Within the minute, all of the twenty soldiers had piled out and taken their positions around the Bullhead.
"Clear!" Their squad leader spoke into his scroll. The Bullhead took off again, the hot air buffeting the group. They kept their aims steady, waiting for any ambush from the intruders or Grimm.
None came. The squad moved forward, securing the perimeter of the clearing that the Bullhead had dropped them into. Jacques motioned her over to the elevator platform. She attached her scroll to the panel, reading the logs.
"So this thing says that the lift came up a bit more than an hour ago, but never went down. The evidence supports that," she gestured at the elevator, still visibly there. "They must have forgone the elevator either to avoid tripping any alarms or to keep their entrance quiet."
Jacques nodded. He motioned at two soldiers that had been at the South end of the clearing. They trotted up, saluting as they came to a stop near the leader.
"You two, check for any traps that could have been laid in the elevator. Tiran, you prep the elevator for manual control. We'll take the trip down slowly. Understood? Good. Get going."
Shard opened the door to the elevator and stepped in. She jacked into the panel, using the backdoor that had been installed primarily for the purpose. She could hear the two in charge of looking for traps clambering around below the platform.
She finished up taking control of the elevator controls. She sent an all clear to Jacques and waited for everyone to pile in. She didn't have to wait long, and soon the whole squad was inside the elevator, ready to start the descent.
"Tiran, you are good to go." Jacques nodded at her. She pressed the button and the elevator slowly came to life, taking them deeper into the bowels of the Earth.
…
Jaune Arc
Jaune had no clue what was going on, which was a first for him.
To recap, we tried blasting through a wall, Raven got possessed by something, we either get teleported here of the wall opens up to reveal a huge cavern filled with lava and tiny little islands. Oh, and the path backwards goes in a loop that is impossible in 3 dimensions of space. What a day.
Raven was still unconscious, aura trying to rebuild itself. The process was slow and generally took a day in a carefully maintained hospital environment. This was an underground cavern, so that didn't help things. Jaune's own aura was at 85%, which meant he would have to be a bit more conservative than he would have liked. Who knew what kind of threats were down here?
He still had most of his Dust and was as fresh as when he had started. He would have to treat the Promethean body as his own because he couldn't risk getting Raven caught in the explosion. Leaving her alone wasn't a good idea either, because who knew what kind of stuff happened down here? If topology was so easily overturned in the passage at his back, he didn't want to risk any other so called 'fundamental' laws getting broken.
The closest island was 50 meters from the base of the cliff that the corridor was in. That meant the island was 60 meters laterally in front of him, and 40 feet vertically. Jaune ran some calculations in his mind, scratching his rough work on the rock walls. Factoring in the gravity, air resistance, the turbulent flow exhibited by Wind Dust, the various temperatures it was possible to get out of the Wind Dust, the blasts of hot steam emanating from the lava pool, and many other factors, Jaune tried to figure out the most efficient way of crossing the distance to the island.
He wasn't going to use his Gravity Dust just yet, since he didn't know if there were any harder jumps, or any time he would have to up instead of down. Better safe than sorry.
He would have to make sure that he landed safely, and had enough room to gather speed to go to the next island. Jaune peered into the distance, but could barely see anything through the heat and haze of the air above the lava.
He checked, double checked, and triple checked his calculations. If he fell into the lava, it was game over for him and Raven, she would be toast within a second and his own aura wouldn't be able to power the Dust necessary for him to not burn.
Finally satisfied, he checked everything over again. He picked up Raven in his arms, keeping her center of mass near his own to prevent loss of balance. Gut feelings and reactions would be key here.
He backed up a little and sprinted off the cliff, boosting himself up and forwards with blasts of Wind.
POOF! He was now ten feet from the cliff and completely over the lava.
POOF! Twenty feet, falling fast, air whipping at his clothes. It tugged at Raven, threatening to rip her away.
POOF! The island was within 30 feet now and approaching fast.
Jaune opened the throttle wide, countering his downward and forwards momentum simultaneously. He drew closer and closer to the island, the heat a heavy blanket over his body.
He turned off the wind when he could see the details on the glassy rock and crashed into it, protecting Raven with his aura. The crash threw up super fine shards of the fragile igneous rock, most of the smaller particles mixing with the air. Jaune held his breath, bearing the thousand sharp stings of the minute shards.
The dust settled. Jaune opened his eyes and looked around. He was yet again in a crater of his creation, though this one was quite a bit smaller than the others he had created. He held Raven carefully away from the extremely sharp edges as he got up. Lacerations were not what she needed right now.
Jaune continued to funnel aura into his Ice Dust, keeping the temperature down to something that wouldn't broil them. Jaune peered around, trying to find the next platform. The air itself shifted in the intense heat. Sweat kept dripping down into his eyes, stinging as badly as the shards had.
Shapes shifted in the distance. Jaune couldn't discern their identity, which made finding the next platform even harder. Was that thing actually moving or was it just a trick of the haze? Jaune knew that he had to spend as little time as possible this close to the lava. Each second cooling himself and Raven down drained his aura like a large leak in his side.
Finally deciding on a course of action, Jaune shot some water at the lava to test how the lava reacted to the water. Next, he launched some more jets at the most prospective islands, each jet calculated to use the least amount of aura. The warm water gushed from the crystal at high pressure, the arc disturbing the air around it as it flew.
Jaune carefully watched each jet using his cameras, noting the slight difference in splash height and densities. He only could risk running one such trial and so he had to be careful in choosing the right location.
One prospective location proved to be the one he was looking out for. There was less gas escaping from that splash due to its low explosiveness. There was no way to accurately find the distance so he would have to wing the jump.
So easy a super powered caveman could do it. Right.
Jaune crouched and picked Raven up again, carrying her as he had before. He adjusted his footing, getting the best possible grip on the disappointingly smooth surface. He took a deep breath, adrenaline starting to pump once more. He pushed off the ground, speed increasing with each step as he covered the ten-foot wide island.
He reached the edge and leaped, accompanied by a loud bang as the pressurized sac of air he had collected behind him burst. He shot forwards, like a pellet from an airsoft gun. He angled himself so his feet faced forwards, reducing air resistance. He kept Raven's unconscious form tight to him, keeping their net surface area low. He could still feel her warmth which was surprising given their surroundings.
His view of the island grew clearer, the black mass contrasting with the bright, almost white seething lava. There was another island close by, much closer than this one had been. With the speed that Jaune was falling at, there was a way to make it to the other island.
Jaune pulled his and Raven's legs up, forming a cannonball. He sent all his aura that was actively covering him to his feet, forming a night impenetrable barrier. The shiny surface approached and Jaune could see the two of them falling towards the surface as if in slow motion.
He could see his armor, scratched, dinged, and burned in places where he had reduced his aura. Raven was cut and burned in similar places. Jaune had covered her in his own aura, but kept the protected locations to the minimum.
Jaune could imagine his own face behind the visor, eyes narrowed in concentration. A single mistake would be fatal. His red hair would be a complete mess, no doubt.
His thoughts were interrupted as time sped up again and he slammed into the hard surface at breakneck speeds. The force of the collision compressed his aura like a spring, all the kinetic energy of their flight getting stored as potential energy.
Jaune cringed as his visor almost brushed the stony ground. It held there for a millisecond, Jaune staring at himself. Then the potential energy finished its community chat about the future of its state and decided to split off and become thermal and kinetic energy.
Shards flew in every which way as the two bounced off the island, flying towards the next one. Jaune slowed himself down slightly, adjusting the arc so that landing wouldn't be too hard. He breathed a sigh of relief as he approached the apex of the flight. The bouncing maneuver had been stressful, but he had done it. He wondered what the next chall… what the hell was that?
A pillar of lava shot up on his right, illuminating his surroundings and piercing through the haze.
OH SHIIIIIII
Jaune poured aura into his Wind Crystal, almost giving himself whiplash at the sudden acceleration upwards. He flew over his target island and passed into a hole in the side of the cliff that had seemingly materialized in front of him. He dragged along the ground, creating yet another furrow in the Earth.
He came to a stop, covered in bits and pieces of rock with Raven lying on top of him. He shifted her weight off, quickly taking a look around where he had ended up now.
It was a tunnel similar to the one where they had found the metal wall, though this one didn't seem to be the same one, thankfully.
60% aura remaining.
Hmm. Better than I expected, in all honestly.
He looked up the corridor and saw nothing moving. It was just the rock and nothing else. Nothing at all. Jaune went back to the edge of the hole, peering out into the blinding light. The pillar of lava had covered the island he had been aiming for with lava.
It had been way too close. Jaune set up a Barrier Crystal at the entrance and started down the hallway, intending to scout the tunnel.
Countless watchful, alert eyes followed his every movement.
…
Corporal Shard Tiran
Shard was getting bored. They had been stopping and rechecking for traps every couple hundred feet, a process that took five minutes each time, making even the rough mile of descent a huge pain.
She glanced back at her scroll, the aura residue readings higher than normal. The intruders had used aura to descend and it had left traces on the walls and rope of the elevator. The graph was occasionally spiking slightly, no doubt where they had used a little bit more aura than intended. Nothing unexpected.
The elevator started descending again. This stretch would take them to the first landing platform, where they suspected the intruders had entered the mines.
"Stopping in 3…2….1." Shard read aloud from the display.
"All guns pointed out, be on high alert!" Jacques yelled, pointing his own rifle forwards. Shard took her place near the back once more, protected by three of her squad mates. Her scroll was in one hand and the other held the aura probe.
The doors dinged open and the squad moved out into the corridor. Her aura readings climbed a little higher as the doors opened, which confirmed the fact that their quarry had gone down this path.
"Confirmed read." Shard spoke up quietly, turning on the basic night vision that was standard in all the soldier's helmets. The squad continued down the corridor, infrared flashlights helping light the way.
They had been walking for a while when the aura probe went off the scales, showing readings that should not have been possible.
She unplugged and plugged it back into her scroll, restarted the software and even the scroll itself. There was no mistaking it. Something had happened in this tunnel that had released incredible amounts of aura.
"Sir? Can you take a look at these aura readings? We may have something big on our hands here."
Jacques called for a halt and walked over. He peered over her shoulder as she clicked from readout to graph, showing him the steadily and quickly increasing readout of the probe. It was well above regular aura usage, as noted by a helpful horizontal yellow line. It was even above harmful levels, anyone who must have expelled all that aura would be exhausted by now.
"Let's get closer to the source and see if we can figure out what caused it. Shard, run scans. You two…" Shard tuned her leader out as she focused on the readings. It was part of her training to identify the difference between the residues left by different auras, and she intended to put that to good use here.
The whole squad waited while she worked. Two scouts had been sent ahead to see the aftermath of the aura usage and hadn't come back yet.
After some time wrestling with complex math, graphs, and error analysis, Shard had a pretty good lock on the two different auras that were at play here.
"Sir!" Shard went to the squad leader, holding an impromptu report on her scroll. She started the presentation. "Field reports by the MIA Mercenary Hunter Kalo Black have indicated that two intruders broke into this mine earlier today. The aura readings in this site indicate that the two passed through this corridor. I have managed to differentiate between the two auras and here are the characteristics of both auras, saved as evidence in case of capture."
She pulled up a picture of two auras. One was black, red, and wispy. It coiled around itself, the black and red parts moving as two. The other one was a solid, glowing white, unmoving and unyielding.
She pointed at the black and red one first. "This one was found in trace quantities in this area, completely overwhelmed by this one here." She pointed at the white one. "This one was like a blanket over the region, almost completely overwhelming everything. My guess is that there was some sort of large scale eruption of aura further on."
Jacques looked away from the report and at her. "What does this mean for them?"
Shard fidgeted slightly. "It means that the person who channeled that much aura is probably dead. A very low chance of still being alive, about 3% if the person was particularly strong. If whoever this white aura belongs to died, their body is probably still here and the scouts should be able to find it, given the person with the black and red aura didn't carry it away."
Jacques took another look at the graphs, the worry apparent on his face. Shard understood the reason completely. To have this much aura meant you were an extremely experienced aura user. To have to use that much aura means something had put you in a very desperate situation. Something that would undoubtedly kill any of the soldiers with ease.
"I'm calling for backup. Let's dig in here and wait for them to arrive. Corporal, continue to monitor the area for anything unusual."
…
Jaune Arc
Jaune walked forward through the semi-darkness, senses extremely alert. The air had slightly thickened a distance from the entrance to the tunnel. It had continued to thicken almost imperceptibly. His aura almost seemed to be increasing its hold on his body, something he had never seen it do before.
Along with the slight pressure, he started feeling almost like he was walking on mud. Each step was slightly harder to take than usual and he had to actively pull his feet up with each step. He stopped once to examine the ground, but it was still normal. He even concentrated his aura under his feet to push himself off the ground slightly, but it did nothing at all.
After 500 feet, the air felt like a soft blanket wrapped around him, not suffocating but tight. He felt like he was walking through 4 inches of snow, having to pull his feet up with each step.
After 1000 feet, his head felt like it was covered by a tightly wound scarf. His clothes felt uncomfortably tight on him. Wind rustled around him, finding every opening in his clothes, icy daggers coming to rest in his abdomen.
We're a mile underground, where is this wind coming from?
Jaune looked around, seeing only whiteness around him, his arms wrapped around himself. The wind picked up slightly, blowing snow into his face.
Snow? What the…
He shook his head, trying to clear what must be a hallucination. He was a mile underground in a Dust mine. There was no way that there would be snow here, especially not a snowstorm!
Jaune looked up. Dark grey clouds blended with the dark white sky, sending down pure white snow. He caught a couple flakes in his hands, trying to determine their composition. They appeared to be watery, though who knew?
He kept walking forwards, some feeling inside of him telling him it was a good idea. Something dark loomed in the distance ahead of him. It was the only thing that wasn't snow, snow, and more snow.
He reached the site after a fair bit of walking, the broken and destroyed pillars of the ancient looking temple poking up through the snow. The dark red blocks contrasted with the pure whiteness of the snow, looking like blocky congealed splashes of blood.
He ascended a set of stairs, his footsteps compressing the snow. He could barely see the curved runes inscribed on the stone. They looked distantly familiar, like a person you saw once as a child.
The wind had slowly been increasing in intensity and Jaune had gone numb long ago. His aura and Dust either weren't working properly, or it was much colder than he thought. The incessant howl got quieter once he passed through the doorway at the top of the stairs.
He pulled a hood off his head, keeping the scarf still wrapped around his face. He crept forwards down the hallway in front of him. The slightly familiar runes were inscribed on the walls in greater quantities, though they weren't repeated as the ones on the steps had been. That must have been some sort of chant, this was more of a story.
He stepped back from the wall to get a better look. The large area above the inscriptions was filled with wild splashes and lines of color and they made no sense to Jaune. There were circles and ellipses, squares, triangles, curves, angles, and many other geometric shapes.
He reached out to the wall, tracing the raised lines of layered paint. He traced a line of red from the bottom of the wall to where a medley of lines intersected, forming an even larger ridge.
He continued down the hallway. The inscriptions continued, the text never repeating. That supported his theory of the entire thing being a story, but how did that connect with the abstractness of the art?
He traced the red line unconsciously, the texture soothing to his fingers. He pulsed his aura into the line on an instinct and was disappointed when the aura simply disappeared. Nothing about the line or the art as a whole changing.
He kept walking, the paintings somehow getting wilder, the number of closed shapes lessening and the number of open shapes increasing. The shapes almost seemed like they had broken, their sides jagged and distorted. The splashes of color clashed rather than harmonizing like they had before.
A podium of sorts appeared out of the darkness as Jaune continued to walk. It was fashioned from a silvery metal, with blue paint tracing its edges and creating jagged shapes on its faces. They pulsed light blue and white every 5 seconds, the white flashes increasing in frequency as he got closer.
The paintings on either side of the podium abruptly ended in line with the podium. The dominant color in the past 30 feet had been blue and white and closed shapes had once again dominated the scenes.
No buttons, switches, or active components of any kind could be seen on the podium. Everything past the podium was pitch black, invisible to even Jaune's night vision goggles.
Something in him urged him to place his hands on the podium, just to satisfy his curiosity. What could go wrong? It's just a flat surface, it's not like it will do anything. Better to know than to regret never knowing. C'mon, put a hand on, you know you want to…
Jaune gasped. His hands were half raised towards the podium and his feet were already starting to step towards it. He regained control of his limbs, reviewing everything that had just happened.
He had been utterly convinced by some reason or logic that touching the podium was the right thing to do. Why was he so fearful of doing it now? It's just a silly podium. Do you not want to know what lies beyond the podium?
Jaune clenched his hands. That sealed it. He knew his own thoughts, and these particular ones were most definitely foreign. Jaune started backing away from the podium, trying to see if distance would help.
Sweat started dripping into his eyes and he raised a hand to wipe it away before freezing. He had a scarf wrapped around his face and it was supposed to be way below freezing in the building. How was it so hot now? Come to think about it, why had he even wanted to come here?
Jaune glanced down at his arms to see if any other part of his attire had somehow changed, only to gape in shock. He was at the pedestal, his hands pressed onto the flat surface.
He tried to pull his hands away but every attempt was futile. Even his legs were immobile, leaving only his torso free to move. The podium surface started to glow a light blue, the metal itself coming alive with the color.
Jaune's hands disappeared into the bright glare. The light grew steadily brighter until the hallway was completely white.
The light reached its peak and then dimmed suddenly. Jaune gasped again as he felt something flow through his arms into the podium, his arms shaking in place. He grit his teeth as pain lanced through every corner of his body. His muscles spasmed, sending even more pain through his body.
The pain vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving Jaune feeling sick to his stomach. He slouched over the podium, his hands and feet now free to move. Something blasted out of the podium and launched him backwards. He landed on his back and groaned as he stood up.
The podium pulsed white thrice, each pulse dimmer than the last. The metal disappeared, leaving behind a bundle of light hovering above the floor. It floated forwards, illuminating the previously dark sections of the walls.
They seethed, colors popping up and disappearing, lines forming, curling, cutting, and widening. Shapes grew and shrunk, solidified and broke. The eerie blackness of the end of the hallway had not gone away, but rather the light had managed to pierce it.
The shapes continued to seethe even as the light passed by, as if unable to make up their minds. A door loomed out of the shadows as the light approached. It looked like it was made of solid metal, similar to the metal wall he and Raven had destroyed.
The difference here was that there were two large ridges that arced from the bottom to the top, one curving and the other right like a V. Smaller ridges branched off every so often, with even smaller ridges branching off those.
The light reached the base of the door and started climbing, splicing off pieces of itself as it rose. The tree-like structure started glowing white as the light climbed up it, but soon tinges of red started to seep in, turning the tree a light red, then a blood red. As the light reached the top, it looked almost angry.
The whole structure pulsed once all the 'branches' were filled with light, almost tangible menace oozing from the structure. Some of the shapes on the walls closest to the podium started to solidify.
A low rumble shook the hallway, then again, and again. There was definitely a rhythm to it.
Laughter. Jaune realized with a start.
A bright red, flame-like burst of light ran down the length of the door, cutting the door in half. The rest of the door started to dissolve, the light doing nothing to penetrate the darkness but only serving to make it darker.
Jaune started stumbling backwards, head swirling with possibilities. Something had forced his body to do something that he felt he shouldn't have. It was as if a dam had burst in his head, flooding his mind with questions.
Why the hell did I think that leaving Raven alone was a good idea? Why did I think that not turning back when the world turned snowy was a good idea? Why the hell did I walk to this…whatever it is. And now a dark ominous door is opening up thanks to my touch, something is laughing and I really should get going.
He turned around and almost froze in midstep at the sight. The walls still looked the same, but somehow now he could understand the language. The shapes made sense to him, the lines and color baring their meanings to him.
There was something about trapping something after great effort, a divine being of some sort, a ritual. A loud roar interrupted his reverie and pulled him back to the real world.
He glanced over his shoulder to see the door dissolving into nothingness, the metal dissolving into nothingness. Jaune had no idea how any of this worked, the physics of it made no sense. Mass just disappearing into nothingness? Impenetrable darkness? Something was very wrong here.
Jaune sprinted forwards, running backwards through the story. He caught glimpses of it as he ran. Battles lost and won, blood spilled, betrayals, desperation, hope. He ran past it all, the story getting lighter and happier as he ran back to the entrance. The entire building shook, stones falling out of the ceiling.
Jaune felt something slam into his back and he fell and skid across the floor on his face.
"We meet again, Aurawielder. You have grown soft since the last time, your mind very malleable. No matter, I think we shall enjoy this nonetheless."
The voice sounded as if it was coming from all around Jaune. The language that it spoke sounded similar to the one that Raven's body had spoken before they were pulled into the lava cavern. But the difference was that Jaune could now understand him. Maybe it had something to do with him activating the podium?
"Who are you? Were you the one behind that door?" Jaune stood up once more. He glanced behind him, expecting something to come barreling at him. He still couldn't see what had caused him to fall and that put him on edge. If he couldn't see the source of the force, then it was either a field acting on him or the source was moving too fast for him to see. Neither of those sounded like a fun time to him.
"Do you truly have no memory, Aurawielder? I remember our last meeting with exquisite clarity. The torture, the pain, the humiliation you laced upon me. Revenge shall be sweet." The voice rumbled through the stones of the building itself.
"Nah, no thanks. Gotta get home y'know. Maybe later?" Jaune didn't wait for a response. He turned and ran back towards the exit, slipping through the door way as more laughter caused the hallway to shake dangerously.
"I do not know what happened since we last met Aurawielder, seeing as you trapped me in this prison, but I know you are not the person you once were. Stop resisting, I will impart the same amount of pain no matter how much you struggle."
Jaune sprinted through the snow, his feet being pulled down by the snow. The air itself pushed him back, the wind collecting in every crevice in his outfit and creating massive pressure. Jaune struggled forwards, using aura to boost his strength. He ran in the direction he thought he had come in, the old steps completely wiped out by the wind.
"Trying to escape? I'd like to see you try." Jaune looked over his shoulder to try and see if there was anything chasing him. Nothing. He sighed slightly and took a deep breath. No air came.
Jaune tried again, his nostrils flaring, mouth open. Air refused to go in. He tried to activate a couple Wind crystals but there was no difference in his situation.
"Did you not hear the warning? Did you lose your intelligence with your memories?"
What warning...oooooooh. Jaune remembered the strange words that Raven had spoken with clarity, the meaning clear to him now. Beware the dark, beware of your senses, beware the ground. Heed or die. Would've been friggin useful about an hour ago!
Jaune held his breath, trying to get as much oxygen from the air in his lungs as possible. The higher the pressure, the more oxygen he could extract from the air. The only problem was that the only way to increase the pressure was to heat it up or add more air.
Heating it up would not be a fun experience and would likely burn his insides, something that would require lots of aura to heal fully. Jaune set that off for an emergency and focused on running.
His lungs were burning now, his feet feeling like they were trying to meld with the ground with each step. He used aura as a pure energy source now, trying to channel energy directly into his legs. That would hopefully keep the cellular metabolism going and the lack of aerobic respiration would be ignored. Hopefully.
He looked over his shoulder once again. Fog had covered the land, a dark red light diffusing through it, throwing shadows that shifted with the fog. It approached quickly, the light pulsing with each rumble that went through the ground.
Jaune turned to look forward again and sent every ounce of aura he could into himself, trying to get as much mileage as he could. He closed his eyes, completely on getting out of this snowy hell. He actually looked forward to going back over the lava pool!
"So it seems you have not lost your will to live nor your ability to survive. You will not escape this hell I guarantee it."
Jaune continued to pour aura into himself, his HUD throwing up warnings about 'excess aura usage' and 'exhaustion imminent'. Even if he had 40% aura remaining, exhaustion could set in due to prolonged aura usage. Jaune decided to worry about that later.
Jaune crested a small hill, memory getting jogged slightly. He had crested this hill almost immediately after coming here. Jaune picked up the pace, muscles screaming in agony, chest about to burst. His warnings were now blinking extremely urgently but he ignored them all, trying to make it out.
"HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE AURAWIELDER? YOU SHALL NOT LEAVE!"
Oh shut up, I'm getting out of here, your opinion is not needed on the matter. Please zip it.
The wind quieted down, lowering the pressure against him slightly. Jaune's speed increased with the lowering in pressure.
"No, you cannot, no!"
Jaune felt like he was pushing through molasses at this point. The wind was the first thing to die down. The snowfall was the next. His breathing came back next. The world went from grey and white to orange and brown.
He took quick gasps of air, refilling his lungs twice, thrice over. He lowered the amount of aura he was using, the aftereffects of channeling that much aura catching up to him. His muscles seized and relaxed, sending spasms through his body. His eyes watered and he stumbled to the ground trying not to retch into his helmet.
The dizziness clouded his mind and a killer headache set in. His brain felt like the two halves were trying to separate from each other. He took deep breaths and slowly calmed down. The headache slowly subsided while he lay on the ground in a fetal position.
When the world finally stopped hurting, Jaune struggled to his feet. He checked over all his equipment. None seemed damaged by the excessive cold which was a huge relief. His aura meter registered 35%, almost in the red.
This would be close.
…
