Ruby rose was struggling to keep her eyes open, she was tired and she didn't know why. She had laid her head down hidden behind her text book so that Professor Port couldn't see her slacking off. She looked around the crowded classroom for a distraction from the droning lecture Port was giving the class. Sitting to her right was her sister Yang Xiao long who was absentmindedly twirling her blond hair around a finger. On her left sat the ever mysterious Blake Belladonna who was seemingly paying attention, beside her sat Weiss Schnee who was diligently noting down certain points. Together the four of them made team RWBY, a newly formed Huntsman team. But outside of herself and Yang none of the girls were particularly close to one another. Seeing as the entire team formation ceremony had only occurred two weeks prior. She looked away from her teammates and found herself staring out a nearby window and for a brief moment she a glimpse of what looked a giant wreathed in blue flames. She blinked twice and the figure was gone, she shook her head and chalked the strange sight up to exhaustion. "Ahhh I really need to get more sleep." She sighed as she laid her head back. As her eyes closed she heard the faint sound of fluttering wings, she ignored it and soon after she drifted off to sleep.

As Ruby slept the fluttering noise grew louder and louder until it eventually woke her. As she rubbed her eyes and yawned she saw that she was no longer in the crowded classroom but instead an empty, black void. She stood up and looked around there was nothing and no one. The scene was one that was becoming more and more familiar to her, it was the same dream that had been plaguing her the past few nights. The fluttering started again and she looked to see a blue butterfly flying right over her head. She followed for moment with her eyes and saw it make its towards what in her mind looked like a blue mirror. She started to walk apprehensively towards the shining mirror and as she did she began to her strange voices echo around her "I am thou... Only those bond by contract may enter." As she grew closer to the mirror she saw the butterfly enter it causing ripples to form on its silvered surface. She reached out instinctively to try grab the small insect but instead she only felt the cold surface of the mirror. As her hand slid into the cold mirror she screamed in shock before she jolted awake to find her teammates and classmates staring at her.

Ruby felt her cheeks go crimson with embarrassment as the room stared at her with a mixture of concern and scorn, she heard the word weirdo whispered more than once. She swallowed nervously and heard Professor Port speak "Ms. Rose if you find my lectures to be sleep inducing please refrain from screaming, you are interrupting your fellow huntsman and Huntresses." "Sorry Professor." Ruby said apologetically as she sat back in her chair attempting to look as small as possible. As Port began to continue his lecture Ruby felt a hand land on her shoulder and turned to see the concerned features of Yang staring at her. "Hey Sis are you ok?" Yang said concerned as she saw how pale her sister was. Ruby smiled weakly to alleviate her sister's worries and whispered so Port wouldn't hear her "Ahhh I'm fine Yang. I just didn't sleep enough is all." The answer left Yang unsatisfied but she didn't press Ruby for answers. Ruby turned away from Yang and looked down at text book in front of her, her hand had unconsciously been doodling a simplistic rendition of a butterfly in blue ink. The class continued without interruption and ended soon after. As the various students left Ruby went to stand up and staggered as her head began to pound. Her hand flew up to her forehead as she steadied herself with her other hand. Weiss who normally wouldn't have talked to her leaving class now stood beside her looking concerned. Ruby smiled before waving Weiss off. She left and Ruby followed soon after.

As Ruby walked through the crowded hallways she grew woozy and eventually split off from her teammates making her way to a nearby bathroom. It was thankfully empty and she went over to the sink, splashing cold water on her face in an attempt to alleviate her headache. She looked at the mirror in front of her and saw herself staring back. There were black rings underneath her eyes and she looked paler than usual. She put a hand on the mirror next to her reflection, nothing happened. She laughed and spoke to herself "Why would I think something would happen." She took her hand away and as she did so the mirrors surface began to ripple, Ruby jumped back in shock and fright at the strange sight. She stared at the ripples and in what was akin to a trance placed her hand on the mirror once more. Her hand sank into the mirror which now had a texture akin water, Ruby curious pushed her hand further in up to her elbow. As she pushed further in she felt herself lose balance and she started to fall forward into the mirror. She fell through the startlingly, cold surface and felt herself hit the ground. "Ow" she groaned as she stood up, looking around she saw she was still in the bathroom. Confused she left, failing to notice the brown and gold camera on the ground.

As Ruby made her way to her next class she took notice of how eerily quite the hall way had become. She was sure that there had been people around before she went to the bathroom. She started to call out for Yang but she got no response. She continued along to her class. After a short while she reached the class room. The door was unlocked and she made her way in. It was empty, no one not even Dr. Oobleck was in the class. She looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary save the black board at the head of the room. It was covered in various equations which was normal but they were reversed as if someone had written them backwards. Her brow furrowed in confusion, nothing was making sense, she started to wonder if maybe this was all some sort of dream. She had heard of people who fell asleep standing up, maybe that had happened to her? She pinched herself to see it would wake her. There was a sharp pain but nothing else. She deflated with defeat, Ruby bit her lip and weighed her options. She could wait here and see if anyone came or she could explore. She left the class, she took special care to see if anything else was weird like the black board was. She did notice that the text of any posters or signs were reversed. The more she saw the more confused she grew. As she looked at a poster for what she thought was a music club she heard a loud scream echo through the halls. Her head swivelled in the direction where the sound had come from and set off at a sprint towards it.

She had ran for about five minutes before she arrived at the auditorium. She was out of breath, a first for her and she leant against a door frame breathing heavily. She looked in and was shocked to see the familiar form of Velvet Scarlatina; a second year she had briefly met before. Velvet appeared locked in combat with a large, red skinned humanoid. It had a large singular horn on its head and a huge metal club in its hands. It was attempting to strike Velvet but the nimble Faunus managed to dodge the heavy blows. Ruby called out her "Velvet! What's happening?!" Velvet turned to see the red caped girl breathing heavily, a look of shock registered on her face before she was brutally struck by the giant's club and thrown into a nearby pillar. Ruby saw this and prepared to leap forward with her semblance to attack the creature with her bare fists. She leapt forward but fell to the ground not even five feet away from her starting position. Her head was burning, it felt like a hammer repeatedly striking her. The creature turned its attention away from the injured Faunus and instead began to stomp towards Ruby. Ruby pushed herself to her knees and saw the creature lumbering towards her. She tried to use her semblance once again to run from the creature but all it did was bring another bout of pain. Then she heard a voice through the pain "Do you seek power?" It said in a voice that sounded much like her own. "Who's there?!" Ruby cried out. She heard a chuckle and the voice repeated the question "Do you seek power? If you don't you'll die and so will that girl." Ruby stammered trying to speak, her head spun and nothing made sense. The Red skinned giant was closing in, pulling its arm back readying a swing. "Yes!" Ruby screamed as the club swung down, the voice roared with delight and the club was stopped in midair. "Good Ruby, now tell me will you walk the safe path free from danger or will you brave the black woods and carve your own legend." Ruby staggered to her feet and with a renewed determination spoke slowly and clearly "Yes... I will Holzfäller!" As the words left her lips she saw a series of blue flames coalesce into a humanoid form and then the flames died revealing its true form. The newly appeared creature was large, dressed in rustic clothing and wearing a long green cloak, it had lupine features and looked like a hybrid of human and wolf but the most striking feature to Ruby was the large, single bladed, wood cutters axe in its left hand. It's right hand had grabbed the red skinned monster's wrist, it threw the creature to the ground and Holzfäller turned to Ruby. "I am thou, thou art I. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I am Holzfäller, Slayer of beasts."