Ruby and her team stood at the end of a long broken stone pathway, a temple sat on the far end that had four statues standing outside, warriors that Ruby assumed were meant to represent each of the kingdoms. This was the only point of significance on the island of Vytal, everything that had once stood here or lived and thrived had long left, despite the fact that the island was untouched by Grimm as far as any of them could tell. Coco knelt a few steps ahead, examining the terrain and brushing her hand against the dirt. She slapped her hands together, letting the bits of earth fall from her hands and scatter to the ground as she looked back at Ruby. Pyrrha watched the rear as Ruby and Qrow slowly approached, both of their capes drifting lightly behind them.
"Tell me what you know," Coco said. Ruby brushed past her and admired the front of the temple, it towered at least three stories high and five of the six pillars that held the monolith up still stood, the last had collapsed from eroding, or Ruby wanted to assume that was why.
"Ozpin left a message with Qrow and told us to come here with whoever we needed to," Ruby said. "That's all that we were told."
"Why he was always so cryptic is beyond me," Qrow said taking a drink. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve before returning the flask to his pocket.
"Maybe it's because he knew that only the right people could figure it out?" Pyrrha offered. Ruby nodded thoughtfully and Qrow shrugged, looking at the tattered building.
"I'll be right back," Qrow said. He transformed into his bird form and took off for the temple, leaving them to wait outside as Ruby looked Ozpin's staff over in her hand. How could he have known that all of this was going to happen? His messages had been planned almost perfectly, each appearing as another piece of the puzzle solved itself. Coco shook her head, smelling the air and admiring the dirt once more. Ruby knew that something must have been off, Coco was usually more relaxed.
"What's up?" Ruby asked.
"Is it too cliché for me to tell you that I don't think we're alone," Coco informed her. Qrow reappeared and landed clumsily on his feet.
"I think Coco's right. I'm not sure where they are in the temple, but I definitely heard someone," Qrow said. Ruby handed the staff to Qrow and marched forward taking the lead. Coco and Pyrrha both ran after them moments later to catch up.
"Ruby!" Coco yelled. "We're here to protect you, let us do our job!"
"I don't need protecting!" Ruby told her. "I need your help. But at the moment, I'd like to figure out what's going on." Qrow chuckled.
"There weren't any traps that I initially noticed, but it seems like you're too determined to be bothered by such information anyway," Qrow said. He stopped and fell back with Pyrrha, Ruby totally unfazed as she entered the great hall. "Ruby!" Ruby stopped and looked at him.
"What?!" She shouted. They all looked at her in shock and her eyes softened as she turned away. "I'm sorry… It's just… I haven't been out on a mission in ages, and the council keeps tabs on me like I'm a child that they're afraid is going to be killed by Grimm in some freak attack. I have a child of my own now, and I don't want what happened to me to happen to her." Qrow felt a knot in his chest. Summer. "I'm just a little stir crazy, but trust me. I'm still just Ruby. I still enjoy killing Grimm and eating cookies." She smiled. "I just eat more now."
"I understand," Coco replied and Pyrrha nodded. Coco had a hard time functioning normally when there wasn't conflict. Schooling and teaching were alright, and she enjoyed it, but there was nothing that she loved more than this. "Just try and understand that we're all working together on this. I know it feels like a rush, with the Fang, Salem, and whatever else, but we have time."
"Thanks," Ruby replied with a smile. She turned slowly and took in the beauty of the room, a large dome over the top that had been painted with scenes of war, a round, stone table sat in the middle with four chairs around it, obviously the location at which they signed the treaty. The room was in perfect condition with the exception of natural dust, dirt build-up, and cracked stone from natural disasters that affected the island. There was no graffiti or evidence of tampering, but Ruby could in fact hear the muffled sounds of people conversing, as though it was coming from a cave or maybe some chamber below the room they were in.
"Is there any more to this building?" Coco asked. Qrow sat on the table and folded his arms.
"There are four side chambers where the rulers must have stayed while they negotiated the terms of the treaty, but with the exception of that, it doesn't appear so," Qrow told her.
"Do you think it's outside?" Pyrrha asked.
"Could be," Qrow agreed as he found his feet again. "If a person was trying to hide an entrance, putting it out there in the jungle somewhere would definitely make it difficult to find." Coco looked at Ruby who looked a bit awestruck, still taken with everything and she brushed her hand along the tabletop, her eyes flaring and sparking with silver light as a scene played before her. She let go immediately, her eyes barely containing their power as everything seemed to stop in time. Qrow was statued, in the middle of removing the sword from his back, Coco was frozen flipping her purse out, and Pyrrha was motionless with her shield held out in front of her. A voice filled the room and seemed to fill Ruby as well.
Do you think it will all make sense soon?
"Who are you?" Ruby asked. The strange female's voice laughed softly, the corners of the room lighting up with silver light that poured in as the vines died and shrunk away from the dome. Everything seemed to rewind as Ruby found herself in the middle of the treaty signing. They were all clearly yelling at each other, but they could not hear or see her, and she could not hear them either. "What's happening?"
It was at this point that Ozpin, the king of Vale who is seated to your left, realized in entirety that he should have destroyed the brothers instead of sealing their power away. The history books tell you that it was a fight over land and Dust, petty things that humans feel give them power over other humans… But it was the stones, Salem's first reincarnation would only see her power fully restored if the stones and the time relic were all returned to one another. She had a silver tongue and had deceived both Mistral and Atlas, promising them great power. It took five days just for Ozpin to finally talk them out of it. Does this make sense?
Ruby nodded and the voice hummed softly, the vision disappearing and her friends returned as the table began to sink into the floor.
"Ruby, step back!" Qrow yelled. They all drew their weapons, Ruby staring at the opening floor as she took a few distracted steps away from it. It formed a platform lower down that Ruby jumped onto and peered around the downward spiraling staircase using her scroll for light. Coco was next and assessed the stairs by walking on them first, noting blood on the steps and running her finger through it. It was fresh. She gave a look to Ruby who waited for Qrow and Pyrrha to join them before she continued. As Qrow's feet met the platform, Ozpin's staff whirred to life and an image of Ozpin was shown on the stairs just ahead of them.
"Hello Ruby, and hello to the rest of you," Ozpin said. "Pyrrha, Coco, and Qrow? My, what a fine team indeed."
"How can you tell?" Ruby asked. "How did you know this would all happen?"
"Do you think that this is prerecorded?" Ozpin asked with a smirk. "Time travel is messy at best Ruby, but despite my incomplete and distorted image before you, I am here now." Qrow stopped drinking from his flask for a moment and poured it out, screwing the lid back on and tossing it away.
"What do you mean that you're here Oz?" Qrow asked.
"I traveled here from the past to bring you this message, but I cannot assist you in any way that is physical. Imagine that I am standing in a hallway and there is a door on one side but a window on the other. I can leave the way that I entered through the door, but I cannot reach through the window despite my ability to tell you what I know." Ozpin said.
"You should work on your analogies," Qrow mumbled.
"However, the strain of staying here with you is more than my body can handle for more than a few moments at a time," he explained. "I'll return once you've all reached the bottom." He looked at Ruby. "If you're here then you must have heard Salina's voice." Ozpin gave her a wink before disappearing and they all looked at their leader.
"What's he talking about?" Coco asked.
"When the floor opened I heard a voice telling me that soon we would know everything," Ruby explained. Qrow brushed past them and began down the stairs.
"Enough standing around Ruby, let's get to the bottom of this," Qrow told her. They maneuvered down the stairs for what seemed like an hour as they all lost their sense of time, and light from a side passageway poured into the endlessly descending room. Qrow entered first followed by Coco who took note of another puddle of blood, this time larger in volume and had been smeared or dragged across the floor by something.
"One of them must be injured," Coco said. "They can't be too far now, this blood seems relatively fresh." The passage opened into a large room with a waterfall running through the middle and creating a river that seemed to carry on as far as they could see until it reached the poorly lit opposing side of the cave. A fire that seemed to have no source stood at the base of two statues, both of them men's with horns atop their heads. The one statue had its arms outstretched, everything on its side of the river was well lit. The other reached forth as if trying to claw the land away, not a single light graced the land before it. "The brothers?"
"I think that's a safe guess," Ruby replied. They were maybe twelve feet tall, shorter than the statues outside, but also made out of a more sandstone and clay material. Ruby wondered if this was their actual height and she examined them with Pyrrha. Where were they supposed to go next? As if on cue, the voice spoke once more to Ruby.
Stand in the river child.
Ruby felt a pull to the water that she couldn't resist and she moved to the middle, splashing into the flowing stream and watching as the same silver light from before drown the entire cave. The water stopped, drying up beneath her in an instant and once again her friends and family were stopped before her very eyes prior to disappearing.
To begin with… there was nothing. There was only Oum. He saw the void and decided that it deserved more, it deserved better, and it deserved life. From Oum came the brothers, the good and the bad, both of them free to do whatever they pleased. For a while they worked together, there was a relative peace for thousands of years until they ran out of Remnant to shape. With new ideas and nowhere to take them, they sought to use the land of their brother, but each refused to give any up. A line was drawn… The river flowed once more and the light side filled with flowers and plants that bloomed and took shape, while the darkness filled with Grimm and the earth died. The line remained for years on end, the two brothers warring to no end.
"What happened next?" Ruby asked. Everything she was shown disappeared and she was returned to the present as time began once more.
Find out…
"Ruby!" Coco called out. Ruby looked down, noting that she was soaked almost knee deep and Coco shook her head as she approached. "What is going on with you?"
"It was Salina again," Ruby said.
"What did she say?" Coco asked.
"We have to keep going," Ruby replied.
"Something's shifting over here!" Pyrrha called out. Ruby, Qrow, and Coco ran across the cave, reaching the redhead as it opened and arming their weapons as three people stood in the doorway. It finished sliding up and Qrow squinted to see if he was making them out properly. A man who looked to have abounding strength, rather large wearing half of a mask with a pointed nose. A woman that Ruby knew as Jett from the briefing that Coco had given about Stardust. A seer that floated quietly beside them, and lastly the source of the blood. With them was a woman that was hobbled slightly, refusing to show her face, chained and shackled with the man holding the lead. She had long black hair that dragged on the ground and appeared to be naked.
"Who are you?" Ruby asked. The half of the man's mouth that wasn't obscured by a mask twisted upward and he chuckled.
"I know who you are, yet you don't know who I am?" He asked.
"Abigor," Coco stated as though it was common knowledge. "I've heard rumors of you floating around, they say you plan on resurrecting Salem."
"Whoever says this really knows their stuff," Abigor told her.
"Who is she?" Ruby asked pointing at the woman. She moaned softly but Abigor gave a tug on the chain and Jett kicked her in the chest, causing her to cough up more blood.
"She doesn't matter much," Abigor told Ruby. He knelt and grabbed the woman by the chin, making her look up at Ruby. "Can you tell the nice woman your name?" She opened her eyes weakly, revealing that they were silver and Ruby stared deep into them, it was as if she could feel the woman's pain and she took a knee, trembling hard. Abigor looked pleasantly surprised as he stood. "You didn't think that you were the last, did you?"
"Listen here pal, whatever you're doing with her ends now!" Qrow demanded, removing his sword. Abigor handed the chain over to Jett who held tightly to it as he removed a small rock from his pocket and held it up.
"You wouldn't risk breaking this, would you?" Abigor asked. "You see, this has been in my possession for quite some time and I'd hate for something to happen to it. The stone of life, have you heard of it? I hear it has a twin somewhere out there, so I guess that means we're both looking for the stone of death." Ruby raised her hand as she managed to stand and Qrow placed his sword on his back once more. "You have him trained well. See, we aren't so different, we just have different vices to make those around us listen."
"Hand over the stone," Ruby said with her hand extended. Jett laughed before Abigor glanced back at her.
"Huntsmen and Huntresses, always quick to use words rather than action," Abigor said. "This is why none of you will ever be able to completely destroy-" He was cut off by the thundering of gunfire and landed on his back as Coco blew on the end of her barrel.
"Coco!" Ruby exclaimed. Abigor laughed as he stood, still clutching tight to the rock as it healed him.
"You took me by surprise, but I guess I should have seen it coming since we all know what Coco is capable of," Abigor stated. She attempted to rush him but Pyrrha stopped her.
"Ruby! Kill this son of the bitch and grab the stone!" Coco yelled straining.
"Why do you want to resurrect Salem?" Ruby asked. Abigor tilted his head.
"Still trying to talk your way out," He noted. He tossed the stone up and caught it. "Why does anyone bring that hag back? Power. Many men have given up more for far less, but when an opportunity like this arises, how can one resist?"
"Let me shoot him!" Coco demanded.
"I won't let you leave this place," Ruby told him. He smiled and his voice lowered.
"I think that's where you're wrong. If we destroy this stone improperly, it'll free the brother from his confinement. That might seem like a good idea since this one's the good guy, but he's still a god. If you think life under Salem would be rough, watch out," Abigor warned. "I'd be very careful." Ruby's eyes lit up and she began to float, Abigor surprised by her move as he pocketed the stone and prepared for what came next.
I will not allow you to use the power like that.
Ruby ignored the warning and it trailed out from her in a flash, inches from punching a hole through his chest before she fell to the floor with an unnerving thud. Abigor's body heaved as Ruby's party checked her over and he moved past with ease, dragging the girl across the ground as she had also passed out. He glanced back at them to find that Coco and Pyrrha had silently given chase. He caught Pyrrha's shield as it came in and deflected Coco's bullets before throwing the shield back. Pyrrha caught it awkwardly as if her semblance was being canceled out. He gritted his teeth.
"We'll meet again," Abigor called out. "But first, let me show you the power of the gods!" He lifted the stone, the light bursting forth and piercing through the two statues. There was a rumbling as they retreated quickly and the monuments of the brothers began to move, leaving their pedestals and marching towards Ruby.
"This is bad!" Coco shouted. Coco and Pyrrha ran out ahead of them as Qrow planted his scythe into the ground opened fire with gravity Dust, each shot slamming into them and jerking them away momentarily before they would continue their march. He grumbled, checking Ruby over but it seemed as though she had been done in quite thoroughly in spite of still having her aura.
"You better let loose ladies!" Qrow shouted. He scooped up Ruby and ran for the door, slipping under it and wincing in fear as he heard it slam shut behind him. "Shit."
"You and Ruby can keep going, I think we can handle this!" Coco shouted.
"Can we?" Pyrrha asked. Coco chuckled and turned around, firing at the brother closest to her and he stopped as he swatted at the bullets.
"Pyrrha Nikos sounds a little unsure of herself," Coco exclaimed. Pyrrha took a runner's stance, waiting for a long moment before sprinting towards the action.
"Fire at its limbs before it can hit me!" Pyrrha shouted. Coco laughed and swung her gun around towards Pyrrha's titan.
"Now we're talking!" Coco exclaimed. Pyrrha threw her shield, distracting the beast as she rushed through its legs, using the full strength of her semblance to force her spear through the rock and shatter it, Coco firing at its arm as it attempted to retaliate. She backflipped as the giant before her brought his arm down, firing at his face which he once again tried to avoid as they strafed right. Pyrrha's stumbled, the mass she'd removed was enough to throw its balance off permanently and it careened as it turned, nearly bumbling into a cave wall as its foot slipped into the river. Pyrrha pulled her shield back towards herself, throwing it on the ground and bending her knees before launching herself up. "There she is."
She used her power to block the beast's arm with her weapon, her shield reaching the monster's neck before she did and she planted her feet against it. Coco shot its arm again as it tried to remove Pyrrha, allowing her time to thrust out her legs, the shield slicing clean through its neck as Pyrrha landed on the ground on one knee, looking up at the remaining foe as the first collapsed into a pile of rubble. She took off in another sprint as Coco ran beside her. They nodded, Coco swinging her purse around as Pyrrha leapt and it made contact with her feet, launching Nikos into the air and she fired her rifle, a shot of gravity Dust loaded. It slammed into the stone head, causing the body to stumble back. Coco had taken out both legs with a swing of her purse, switching back to her gun after rolling out from under it.
We all know what Coco is capable of… Coco's flashback killed instantly as she was swatted across the room, planting against a wall as Pyrrha finished the statue off and ran to her.
"Are you okay Coco?" Pyrrha asked. Coco sat up in a daze and nodded, looking to where the door had been open on the wall before and sighing.
"I'm guessing that we can't get in there without silver eyes," Coco stated.
"How would Abigor have known that?" Pyrrha asked. Coco rubbed her face as she allowed Pyrrha to help her stand up.
"I don't know," Coco replied.
"Ruby," Qrow said softly as he reached the next room. It was a small round room that almost looked to be made entirely out of Atlas tech, strips of glowing light running every which direction, crawling up the four shadowy statue figures that surrounded a woman in the middle. "Kiddo, I can't go any further without you." He set her down on the floor and sat beside her, shaking her gently again before giving up. "Ozpin always warned me that it would get worse, but I never imagined it would come to this. Those stones, this staff, they're clearly far more powerful than either Oz or Salem. Let's face it, I have another twenty years at most if I hang it up soon, but then we relinquish the power we had, we trade away that feeling of security in hopes that Neela, Shadow, Rosy, and Amelia can protect us. I don't think they're ready for whatever this 'Salina' is about to tell you. I don't think that we're ready for it even."
"Is she alright Qrow?" Ozpin asked appearing in the doorway. Qrow nodded.
"She'll be fine," Qrow replied.
"I can't linger here any longer," Ozpin told him. Qrow chuckled and looked at Ruby.
"I figured you'd say that," Qrow retorted.
"Can you relay a message for me?" Ozpin asked. "Before she enters the final chamber, there's something that she needs to know." Qrow looked at him. "Under no circumstances are the stones and my cane to be used to resurrect me." Qrow eyes stirred and he stood.
"Oz!" He shouted as the man began to fade.
"Goodbye Qrow," Ozpin murmured as his body disappeared. Qrow looked down at Ruby and then the staff in his hands. He knew that Ozpin had given those instructions for a reason, but he wasn't sure why. Ruby slowly began to stir and Qrow knelt down, helping her sit as she groaned and yawned. She squinted at him.
"What happened?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know," Qrow admitted. "You tried to attack Abigor but you instantly fainted." He helped her stand and brushed her off, handing her Crescent Rose. "I need to tell you something."
"What is it?" She asked. She panicked and her eyes grew. "Where's Coco and Pyrrha?!"
"They're fine Ruby," Qrow informed her. "Oz told me that he can be brought back using the stones with his staff." Her eyes lit up.
"That's great!-" She was cut short by the look that Qrow was giving her.
"He said not to," Qrow told her. She looked at him for a long minute, knowing better than to ask why with Ozpin. A tear slipped from her eye and she turned to view the statues.
Are you prepared? Are you truly ready to see what destruction the brother's wrought?
"Show me," Ruby replied. Qrow faded from her vision and the four dark statues collapsed and crumbled, drifting away as the woman stood and floated about in a field of flowers.
I am Salina. This was my body. I was the first that bore the silver eyes. My life came about from necessity and I lived only to serve my master, the brother of light. I was the first goddess born of a lesser god. My purpose was simple. I was the one that had been chosen to end the feud between the brothers, I was the warrior that the brother of light had chosen for battle. But darkness will never play by the rules. Four Possession Grimm that appeared similar to the Geist appeared and the corners of the horizon became dark, crawling in to consume Salina. The Four were the Grimm gods, created by the brother of darkness to destroy me and rule over the Grimm.
"Is it over?" Qrow asked. Ruby blinked, realizing that she was back in the round room with him and she nodded lightly, tripping over her feet as the room jolted, slowly spinning to allow them to exit through the new corridor. It was easily the largest and was lit only by a small silver torch at the far end, Ruby guessed that it was four or more stories tall as she shone her scroll up. She turned around, above the door was Salina, carved into the wall, depicted as on her knees and crying, carvings of The Four, two on each side, as they pressed onward. "You might be the only one hearing the narrative, but I get the feeling something bad happened." She nodded, the flame flaring higher and higher as they approached and it was instantly snuffed out.
The world was plunged into an eternal night due to the blatant disregard by the brother of darkness. He became greedy and required more and more until there was nothing left but Grimm and despair. The torch relit suddenly, almost blinding Ruby and revealing the horrified faces of the Grimm carvings, and the tears of Salina actually being tears of joy. Oum had returned to see how his sons were getting along, but he saw what the darkness had done and redistributed the earth. To atone for how they had both acted he forced them to create man and then cursed them with mortality. The Four were banished to another realm, and I was allowed to keep my power, but at a fraction.
"How does Ozpin play into this?" Ruby asked. Ruby kept walking forward with Qrow close behind, only to find the flame was gone and the room on the other side looked similar to the round room from before, only this time four men made of bright materials bowed to a dark figure in the middle.
Ozpin was a great warrior that fought on the side of light, the two brothers retained their power and continued to fight even after their punishment. I had calculated a solution to bring peace to all men, and it involved killing both of the gods. He was hesitant at first, afraid of what might happen if he did so, terrified that destroying that much power would bring about chaos and unbalance. I could not convince him otherwise and he decided on trapping both of their powers within the stones. The man in the middle crumbled and the four that bowed slowly stood, red veins covering their arms. Ozpin couldn't help himself, thinking that if he took a fraction of each power he wouldn't be consumed by either. A risky move that paid off, but once he took Salem under his wing, she'd only discovered half of the truth and hated him for keeping it from her.
The room spun quickly and violently, throwing them both to the floor and Qrow looked at her.
"What was that?!" He asked.
"We've almost reached the end," Ruby told him. They left the room, reentering the room with Pyrrha and Coco. They ran to her.
"Ruby, you're okay!" Coco yelled.
"Sorry that we got separated," Pyrrha replied. Everything stopped once more and Ruby watched as the statues were reconstructed.
By drawing power from the stones and separating out his own power, Ozpin created a way for either himself or Salem to be resurrected one last time if their host bodies were ever unavailable for their next iteration. There is another option left to bring either of them back. The statues changed, light and dark replaced by Ozpin and Salem. However, upon Salem's return, the stones would be destroyed, and it would become the first key in breaking the seal of The Four. Both statues collapsed and the room was thrust into utter darkness.
"Then how must they be destroyed?" Ruby asked. The woman appeared before her, giving off a blinding light that filled the room and pushed even further out.
Bring them to me.
With that, the vision ended and Ruby was returned to her friends.
"So what did you see?" Coco asked. Ruby laughed sheepishly.
"It's a long story, but we have got to get those stones."
It seems that Abigor plans on resurrecting Salem again, but Ruby plans to do everything in her power to stop him. Next week, Chapter 69 - Last Night's Events
A big thank you to Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!