Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC.
-Nora-
"Well fuck." I jumped at the sudden swear that came from the boy next to me. The big bell in the middle of the village was ringing, and I heard a lot of howling and other scary sounds coming from far away.
"W-what's happening?" I asked. A few adults ran past the houses we were hiding behind and they looked really scared.
"Grimm are coming." My eyes widened at his answer. Looking at him, he had his scarf covering his mouth again. I could only see his eyes, but they had a serious look to them.
"Grimm!" Why? What do we do? Before I could voice my question he started walking toward the edge of the building closer to the street and started looking around. I followed behind him.
He turned back to me. "I think we should find Re... a friend of mine. He could help us."
I nodded my head and then followed him out into the street. It was chaotic, there were a lot of people running and screaming. Rain didn't seem bothered by the panicking crowd.
"Where do we go, where does he live?" I asked.
He looked one way then the other, "This way." he said, as he took off running to the right, so I followed.
-Rain-
I have no idea where he is. I wanted to answer honestly, but 'this way' is all that I could utter as I directed us in a random direction.
-Nora-
The last few hours have been a mess. I went to check the trash near the bakery. Sometimes I can find some old bread that has been thrown out. Today was a great find, there was a whole loaf. The one end of it was moldy, but the trick is to avoid eating those parts. But I was spotted by a group of boys on my way back to my hiding spot. One of them started shouting and I just froze. When they saw the bread I had, they called me a thief. I didn't steal it; it was thrown out, so it wasn't anyone's anymore. Then they laughed at me for finding it in the trash. One of them tried to take it from me, but I bit his hand when he reached for it. That was a bad idea. As he pushed me, the bread flew from my hand. I rushed to get it back, but by the time I did, they were closing in on me.
We all turned toward him when he yelled as he suddenly appeared. Before I knew what was going on, one of the boys was on the ground not moving, while the other two were running away. As he yanked me along by the arm, my arm hurt from how hard he was pulling me. I got him to slow down and he apologized, he did get me away from those boys so I wasn't really upset about it. He then told me not to eat the bread I endured all this trouble for.
Then he pulled out of his pack some meat and vegetable kabobs that he had. They looked delicious. Then he held out two of them towards me. I wasn't really sure about taking the food he was randomly giving me but then he basically shoved them into my hands and at this point I had more hunger then suspicion so I took a bite. They not only looked delicious, they tasted delicious. It had been so long since I had meat. Before, I found some vegetables, but they were raw and didn't have any seasoning or sauce like these ones did. Before I realized I had already finished both of the kabobs he had given me, I noticed he still had another left. I looked away. He had helped me get away from those boys then given me almost half of his food. I shouldn't be greedy. I glanced back to see that he had removed some of the meat from the last stick and handed it to me. I tried to refuse but "Food is always tastier when you share it with a friend." is what he told me. I committed that line to memory.
Looking over at him, he had pulled down his scarf, and his teeth were sharp, very sharp. Could he be a faunus? I've never seen a faunus with teeth like that. I looked back down and took the food he handed me.
After we had finished what was left of our food, he stood up, I followed his action, looking back at him, he had already covered his mouth again. I guess he's hiding his teeth. I've seen how faunus can get treated so hiding his teeth makes sense.
He told me his name was Rain. I told him mine, and he seemed to freeze, just standing there not moving. I asked if he was ok and then the village bell started ringing. The sound of what he told me was grimm could be heard and now we are running though the village looking for a friend of Rains who he said could help us.
Running down the road, Rain in front of me. He turned a corner and came crashing backwards to the ground.
"Rain!" I yelled, helping him up into his feet and looking up at who he ran into.
He had a mustache and goatee and his hair was black with some gray streaks and pulled back into a ponytail.
"You two need to get back to your homes and find your fami..." he trails off, as he looks in my direction at my clothes then seemed to guess we had no place to go. His face briefly scrunched in frustration "Come with me you two I need to get my family then we will all escape together but we must move quickly." he states while grabbing me and Rain by our wrists.
I looked over at Rain unsure of what else to do. He looked back at me and nodded, so I just went along with them.
-Rain-
Up until a minute ago, my plan was to frantically search any area we traveled in hoping to find someone I could identify as a child Ren.
Then I ran into this guy who started pulling us along and said something about escaping after finding his family. At this point I was already reaching for my shield off my pack for a quick [Avenger's shield] so Nora and I could get back to our search for Ren. I used [observe] to check his hp to make sure the ability wouldn't kill the guy.
Li Ren
Race: Human
Level 5
HP – 140/140
VIT – 14
STR – 15
DEX – 13
INT – 19
WIS – 22
CHA – 17
LUK – 10
Holding back the smile on my face, I looked over at Nora, who was confused by our sudden addition to our group and sudden change in direction. I gave her a nod and that seemed to calm her.
"You're Lie Ren's father, right?" I ask while running beside the older asian featured man.
"You know my son?" he questions, not looking back at me.
"I've seen him in the village." I answer back, not technically a lie.
He looks back at me. "I have not seen you around before until a few hours ago."
I look back at him eyebrow raised "I was in the area when you sucker punched that boy." he answered my unasked question.
"Oh! Yea I wasn't trying to hurt him that bad but" I try to explain with some embarrassment.
"But you have your aura unlocked and dont have good control over your own strength." he replies with what he assumed I was going to say.
It's not what I was going to say but I nod my head accepting the offered excuse.
He stopped his run in front of what I would guess to be his home. "Wait here we will be back out in a moment." he rushed up the porch stairs and into the door.
Nora steps over closer to me. "Is he the friend you were looking for?" she asked in a whisper pointing towards the now empty doorway.
"He is the father of the friend well he's not really a friend more of someone I know of." I answered her back.
She looks at me with confusion and looks like she is going to ask me something else, but a loud screeching noise cuts her off. Looking up above the village are several large black feathered white masked bird-like grimm flying about menacingly. Seeing the grimm in the sky she rushes over next to me. I pull my shield off of my pack and use [observe] on the closest one.
Nevermore
Race: Grimm
Level 13
HP – 400/400
VIT – 40
STR – 50
DEX – 60
INT – 15
WIS – 10
LUK – 15
Looking over at Nora just realizing, I hadn't checked her stats.
Nora
Race: Human
Level 2
HP – 110/110
VIT – 11
STR – 5
DEX – 9
INT – 12
WIS – 11
CHA – 16
LUK – 16
"Inside now!" I shout, pulling her inside as some of the nearby nevermore begin to descend.
The family of three that were standing in the living room all paused and turned in our direction as we entered.
"There are grimm outside in the sky!" I announced to the family whose focus had turned to us during our entrance into their home.
I fixed my gaze on the other boy in the room, who was wearing a green and purple top and gray pants. His hair was black and on the left was a familiar pink streak that matched his eyes.
Lie Ren
Race: Human
Level 2
HP – 120
VIT – 12
STR – 8
DEX – 12
INT – 12
WIS – 10
CHA – 12
LUK – 14
"Mother what is happening?" The young Lie Ren questioned the woman who was now identified as his mother.
Looking over at his mother she was wearing a long green dress with a darker green around the neckline her hair was a dusky rose color, held in a loose bun with a few hair bands. Her eyes were pink like her sons but full of worry.
An Ren
Race: Human
Level 3
HP – 120
VIT – 12
STR – 11
DEX – 13
INT – 15
WIS – 14
CHA – 15
LUK – 10
She crouched down to rens height. "It's ok, darling. Everything's ok." she tried to reassure the increasingly frightened child.
There was a loud creaking and a sound of wood snapping. All I had time to do was pull Nora in closer to me and raise my shield above us before part of the roof collapsed in.
The weight of the ceiling that crashed upon my shield brought me to my knees. Looking at where there was once a roof trying to spot the nevermore that collapsed it in on us. With nothing being there it must have flown off after losing its perch. I looked down at the small girl that was now clinging to my side. "You ok?"
She was shaking horribly and there were tears in the corners of her eyes but she nodded back. I patted her head with my empty hand to try to calm her.
"An! Lie!" a loud wail reminding me we were not the only two in the collapsing home.
Li had been attempting to pull off a wooden beam that had fallen onto his wife and son. They were both unconscious while a pool of blood steadily grew from under their bodies.
Pushing aside the debris around the two of us and making my way towards Li I could hear Nora gasp from behind me, possibly only now seeing the steadily growing bloody puddle.
Once I reached them I helped Li move the fallen piece of his home off his family. I quickly [observed] them both Ren had only lost about twenty percent of his hp but his mother seemed to have taken the brunt of the damage for him. she was below thirty percent and was steadily declining.
"Ren is mostly fine, just knocked out but she is the one bleeding" I say pointing to his wife.
He immediately crouches down into the blood and begins to turn her around. She winces at the sudden movement.
"Wait stop!" I interrupt his movement of her while reaching down, moving his hand aside revealing a wooden stake piercing her abdomen.
"An!" he shrieks, in a quivering voice, as he sees the wooden stake lodged into her side. "We have to get her help!"
"I can heal her with my uh...semblance" I say, crackling my aura. It will be quicker and easier for the time being to just say my light magic is my semblance. But first we must remove the wood. I can't heal the wound while it's still there.
He glances down at his wife then at the stake, then back at me "And you're sure you are capable of healing her?" he asked in a serious tone.
"Yes,'' I answered back in an equally serious tone. My heal spell will work on her wound right Index?
Yes, if you remove the offending object from her torso before she bleeds out, you can heal her.
Looking at her HP again now below fifteen percent. "we need to hurry before she loses any more blood."
He lays her upper body back down on her back and places one hand on the end of the stake and the other softly on the edges of the wound and looks over at me now crouched beside him. I move my hands up near the wound and nod to show I'm ready.
"I'm sorry but please endure this." he says while pulling the wood from her side. She tensed up upon the removal of the nearly 3 inch piece of wood.
I cast [Holy light] my hands are engulfed in light that moves to the wound. The bleeding halts and the wound starts closing. I watch her health near immediately return to full, knowing my [healing hands] would likely have the full benefit given how low her health was before.
"Amazing, there isn't even a scar." he says with astonishment touching the patch of skin where there was a gaping hole just a few seconds prior.
She starts to stir then awakes to a massive hug from her husband. "You're alright!" he says to her then turns to me a few tears running down his face. "Thank you Thank you so much."
+60 Reputation with Li Ren for saving his wife. [60/100]
Li Ren Reputation has reached 50
Perk Unlocked
[Village People] - Bonus affection/reputation with villagers.
Wasn't expecting my first rep bonus to be some old dude but whatever I saved someone's life so I'll definitely count this as a win. I broke out of my musing when Nora started shouting.
"There are more grimm coming!" as she points in the direction of a slowing approaching pack of grimm.
"Yea we need to move now." I start heading back toward Nora. Li picks up the still unconscious Ren and holds him in one arm while taking his wife's hand in the other, and we all start moving in the opposite direction of the approaching grimm.
Nora moves closer to me and whispers. "That other kid was the one you were looking for right? How is he going to help us."
I pause in my tracks and look at the unconscious boy being carried by his father.
Fuck, my original plan was to find Ren and have him use his semblance to hide us from the grimm until they left or we could find a way out of the village. I check his hp again and it hasn't gone up at all. If I heal him he might wake back up like his mother but does he even have his semblance at this point. I remember he got it some time during this attack but what triggered its activation. Was it his mom dying? Did I just ruin our only chance to escape by saving her. I might end up having to face that creepy horse grimm if I can't think of a way to get us out of here.
"What are you doing, keep running!" shouts back Li when he sees I had stopped moving.
Nora, who had stopped running when I did, grabs my arm to pull me along when a horrible wail comes from not too far off behind us. Even the Ren family that were a few paces ahead of us paused in their escape at the sound.
I turn back in the direction of the noise to see it entering the village partially obscured by smoke from a nearby building that had caught fire. Four glowing crimson eyes were visible through the smoke. Two on the head of its horse-like shaped lower body and the others on the face of the mockery of a rider that was its upper torso.
Nuckelavee
Level ?
I heard Nora's whimpering as the half equine grimm slowly trotted into the increasingly chaotic village.
Question marks! Its level is so far above me that I can't even see it. Index what's the highest level I can see with [observe]?
The [Observe] skill works on anything up to fifty levels above you.
Fifty levels, so at a minimum it's level sixty one but could be and probably higher. There is no way I can kill that thing or even slow it down at my level. I don't even know how much hp it has and one hit from it would most likely be the end for me.
As we turn back to try to escape, we see Li handing Ren over to his wife, whose eyes were filling with tears as she realized what her husband was about to say and do.
"You need to escape with Lie, I'll do what I can to distract the beast." He says while hugging them both. "I love you both, now please go."
She looks down at her son in her arms then back up at her husband eyes redding with tears but determined. Adjusting Ren in her arms. Then with a I love you and quick kiss, she takes off in the opposite direction of the grimm.
"You two go with them. I'll keep it here" he says walking past our still frozen figures taking the bow off his back and knocking an arrow from his quiver.
With Nora now tugging at my arm I turn and leave the man to his fate. Sadly it would probably only gain us a few minutes.
We were putting distance between us and the major threat but there were still a bunch of minor weaker grimm currently spread throughout the village. Ren's mother and Nora halted in their advance when they saw the gathering of creeps ahead of them.
I continued my pace passing by them both while pulling my sword from its sheath at my side. As I closed the distance between me and the nearest grimm, I held off on casting [holy shock] to conserve my mana. Preparing a [crusader's strike], I swing my sword at the creep slicing into its bone-like mask near killing it.
[One Light in the Dark]
+50% VIT
More damage would have been nice but i'll take increased health and aura when fighting a pack of enemies. Four other creeps moved towards me. None of them were above level six so few strikes each were taking them down. My main goal was to keep every one of them ahead of me so that I could protect the three people behind me. Probably due to their low intelligence they kept focus on me as the closest target. I do hope I get a taunt ability some time in the future.
I had culled four of the five grimm in our path and was in the middle of dispatching the fifth and final. When An shrieked. Turning to see a beast with glowing red eyes and a white and red mask approaching us at a fast speed.
Beowolf
Race: Grimm
Level 25
HP – 1,210
VIT – 121
STR – 85
DEX – 76
INT – 16
WIS – 8
LUK – 9
Pulling my sword from the already half dissolving creep, I rush at an attempt to intercept the beowolf from reaching Nora and the others. Knowing I won't make it in time, I toss my shield with the ability [Avenger's Shield] at the snout of the previously charging grimm. I internalized my joy at the successful stun and reached for my shield as it flew back toward me.
An, while still holding on to the unconscious Ren with one arm, grabbed Nora by her hoodie moving them father back from the now dazed grimm. Allowing me to place myself between it and them. Shield raised and sword at the ready waiting for it to continue its charge.
Damn, this thing has fifteen levels on me, Is all I had time to think when it shook off the stun and growled in what I could only assume was anger in my direction as it got closer to me.
My raised shield took one swipe from its sharp claw, sending me flying and I landed with a thump at Nora's feet as she saw what was left of my aura shatter.
"Rain!"
-Nora-
I thought we were going to get away. First there was the giant scary grimm that came into the village but we managed to escape from it. But then a group of the creepy ones on two legs came into our path. I thought it was over for us. Then Rain pulled out a sword and started fighting and even beating them; it was amazing. Then he stopped the big wolf-like grimm with his shield and I thought he would be able to beat it like the others, but I was wrong. Looking down at the boy who helped me, gave me food, and is trying to protect me. One hit from that grimm shattered his aura. I don't know much about grimm or huntsman but I know aura is needed to fight the grimm. Without his aura he would die. I can't let that happen. I don't want that to happen.
"Nora let go." he said to me. When did I grab him but it doesn't matter since he can't fight now without aura. We just need to get away from here.
"No we have to run, you don't have any aura, you will die."
"I'll be fine, it wont let us just run away, you have to let me go." he said back but I didn't loosen my grip. I could feel the lady that was with us pull on the hood of my jacket. She too was telling me to let him go but I couldn' is stronger than me or anyone else that was nearby, but if he tries to fight it he will probably die. We need to get away from this grimm and away from this village. I need to just get him out of here.
"Nora you're glowing!" When he said that, I opened my eyes to see that I was bright pink. It was all over me, and then it spread to Rain. Before I could question what was happening, everything was bright, and then turned dark.
Authors note: To be honest i'm not entirely happy with how this chapter came out. I edited a few times and even put it aside and started working on chapter 4 then 5. I came back to it and changed some more stuff but It's holding me back from editing chapter 4 so I'm just going to put it out as is.