Added line breaks and stuff
Heavy boots charged forward, trampling grass and vegetation underfoot. With a well aimed thrust, and a flash of steel, a beowulf collapsed to the floor, a spike of metal lanced through its skull. Bracing the tough, armored boot against the grimm's skull, wrenching the blade free.
The sword was relatively basic, being a straight sword with a triangular point, convex edge, with a single fuller running down the entire length of the blade. It had a standard, if a little small golden hilt with a crossguard, the ends of which pointed upwards in two small triangles. The handle could easily fit two hands, and was wrapped with blue cloth, and capped with a golden, cylindrical pommel.
There was a growl, and with a quick movement and a flash of steel, a beowulf found its head rolling across the forest. With two more roars and two more strikes, another two wolves were decapitated. A charging ursa suddenly burst from the trees, and with an open hand, a roaring gout of red and orange flame collided with it, throwing the demonic bear off course.
Its roar turned into a shriek as demonic flames turned its fur to ash and scorched its flesh, and the disoriented beast accidentally rammed its head into a tree, shaking the trunk and splintering the bark.
With two steps and a jump, a pair of heavy boots found themselves on the bears shoulders, and a downwards thrust send a spike of steel through its skull. Seemingly unputerebed by the roaring flames that consumed the grimm, even as it dissolved into smoke, the boots landed on the grass, and continued north.
"What is a lone hunter doing this deep in the Emerald Forest?" Glynda asked, looking at the security footage once more. She turned to Ozpin, who was currently reviewing the exact same footage amid sips of coffee.
"Not a hunter," Ozpin took another looker at the video recording they had obtained from the cameras in the forest, "Certainly not old enough, probably a hunter in training."
"Even if they are, what are they doing out there? No school's even start for a few more days."
"Lost, perhaps?" Ozpin mused, taking another swig of coffee.
"Well they certainly seem to know where they're going." Glynda pulled up a map on her scroll, which displayed a straight red line cutting through the forest, heading exactly north.
"Whoever this person is, it's important that we don't do anything rash," Ozpin set his scroll down and beckoned for Glynda to follow him, "That being said, It would probably benefit both parties if we could meet them."
He could practically feel Glynda sigh, "Do you want me to call up a bullhead?"
"Of course."
The beowulves were getting more numerous. One got impatient and took a step forwards, resulting in two quick slashes and boot to the chest. Seeing one attack, the entire pack decided to leap forward and charge, intent on tearing this person to shreds.
The first to reach their opponent was greeted with a right handed sword strike burying itself down through its shoulder and coming out the bottom of its waist. The second wolf died from a left handed punch delivered with a heater-style shield, held in a way that the 'top' of the shield was facing outwards toward his hand, letting them deliver very effective punches.
The shield was a solid black metal, decorated with a golden cross, and featured golden runes around the edges, which were capped with a bright silvery reinforcement.
With a series of slashes, punches, stabs and kicks, the lone warrior dispatched the horde with relative ease. Just as they freed their sword from the chest cavity of a grimm, the loud noise of a bullhead made itself known. Not seeing any real escape, the warrior simply stood, shield raised and sword drawn, readying for any hostile movement.
With a loud metallic noise, the doors of the bullhead opened, allowing Ozpin and Glynda to exit the ship. The two stood in front of the lone figure, observing their attire.
Dressed in somewhat archaic armor by their standards, the person still cut an imposing, knightly figure. Tough, dark leather boots, armored greaves and kneecaps. The upper legs sported what looked to be bright, silver chainmail over a tough cloth. The chest was covered in a chestplate, which was partially hidden by the long, cloth tabard, which began at the shoulders, went down the front of the chestplate, and was separated from the legs by a thick leather belt, which was decorated with numerous pouches.
After the belt, the tabard continued, ending about halfway down the shins, capped with a series of golden metal plates. The tabard was cut down significantly, being a 7 or so inch wide stip of fabric down the center of the chestplate, only widening near the top where it went over the shoulders, forming a long, rectangular line down the armor and between the legs.
The tabard was a rich, midnight black cloth, and the chest portion was emblazoned with a golden cross over the black background, the bottom of the cross continuing down the tabard and making a strip on the bit between their legs.
Much like the tabard, the actual armor plates were a very dark, yet metallic grey, tinged with gold at the edges. This held the same for the pauldrons, rerebrace, vambrace and gauntlets that armored their legs and arms.
"What do you want?" The knight asked, with a youthful voice that befitted their face.
"Just want to help. You seem a bit lost young man," At which the knight scoffed slightly, "Wandering around the Emerald Forest." Ozpin took a sip from his mug.
"I'm not lost," The knight responded, "I'm going north to Vale."
"May I ask why?"
"I'm going to be attending Beacon Academy in a few days, but I seem to have taken a wrong turn a few...days ago," The knight scratched his head with an armored hand, "and found myself here."
"You're attending Beacon?" Glynda asked, almost in disbelief, wondering how a future student had managed to make it almost the entire way to Beacon on foot, through the Emerald Forest.
"Yeah. I was planning to go to Vale, but I got a little off course. Once I found myself in the Emerald Forest, I just decided to go through it."
"While that is very admirable and impressive," Ozpin spoke up, "would you care to join us on our bullhead?"
"Yeah sure," The knight said as the three boarded the vehicle, "how'd you find me?"
"We have cameras set up in the forest, just to keep an eye on things out here."
"Of course, cameras." The knight said out loud.
'What in the Velsharoons name is a camera?' He thought to himself, 'and how in the Nine Hells are we flying on this damn thing?'
But deciding to keep his thoughts to himself, the knight just sat down on one of the seats and just enjoyed the ride. It wasn't nearly as intense or fast as a dragon or wyvern, but it was very comfortable and relaxing.
"So young man," Ozpin took a sip from his mug and turned to the knight, "what is your name?"
"Jaune," the knight responded, "Jaune Arc."
"My Lord," Morrigan gave a deep bow before addressing Acererak, "with all due respect, was it really necessary to drop Jaune off a few dozen miles outside the city?"
"Lady Morrigan, how many times have I told you to stop the 'my lord'?" Acererak sighed, a reflex that managed to stick around from when he was still alive, "We are friends, are we not?"
"And how many time have I requested you call me 'Morrigan'. Lady Morrigan, seriously?" The nevermore challenged, crossing her arms and earning a chuckle from Acererak.
"You saved my life, and for that I owe you, Lord Acererak." She said in a suddenly serious tone, temporarily obstructing her playful attitude.
"Any debt you are imagining, you have surely repaid in full." He said, as the Nevermores wings shifted slightly.
"Fine." Morrigan decided to drop the topic, "But back to the subject, did you really need to set Jaune down that far outside Vale?"
"No." Acererak looked out the window of the warehouse they were in, down at the streets of the human city of Vale, "But the boy needed a challenge."
Morrigan was just about to interrupt, when there was a knock on the door, which the Nevermore answered, one hand drifting to the hilt of her bastard sword. When the wooden door creaked open, Morrigan looked ahead and saw nothing. Then she looked down slightly, and saw Neo, who was looking up at the rather tall woman with a sense of jealousy.
"Greetings Neopolitan." Acererak said as he strode over to the girl, "I trust you are here on behalf of Roman?"
Seeing the girl nod, she handed the ten foot giant a slip of paper, which he had to crouch down to pick up and she had to tiptoe to give, a sight which earned a small giggle from Morrigan.
"He wants lien as payment?" Acererak asked Neo. Seeing the girl nod again, Morrigan interrupted.
"He does understand that we could pay him his weight in gold, right?" The nevermore asked the little girl, whos eyes widened.
"Would that be preferable?" Acererak asked. After a series of vehement nods, the little girl left to go tell Roman the news.
"Looks like you can make friends!" Morrigan reached up and poked Acereraks shoulder, "I thought Zalthar was kidding when he said you got a deal with a human crime boss."
"We both know Zalthar is incapable of humor." He said, before muttering under his breath. "That vampire needs to relax once in while…"
"Yeah he does, but you do too." The nevermore said as she resumed trying to figure out how to work a scroll.
"I need no such thing."
"Yes you do," Morrigan reaffirmed, "I've never seen you stop working, save for when Jaune is around, and even now you've been wearing your heavy combat armor for three weeks straight!"
"It is far more comfortable than it looks!" Acererak shot back in an uncharacteristic shown of backtalk. While Acererak was a very reasonable being, he was also rather stubborn. As such, when he first made his heavy combat set, he'd worn the dread steel and dendritic emerald plate armor for a solid month, just to prove that it was worth it.
And even though it was very impractical to wear as normal daily attire, its combat efficiency and the amount of defense it offered could not be matched by most mortals.
"Alright, alright, don't get your wraiths in a knot…" Morrigan put her hands in the air after setting the scroll down, "Anyway, I have another meeting with Raven Branwen, so I should get going."
"Good. I expect Zalthar to finish negotiations with the White Fang soon."
"Why wont you die you damn human!" A young white fang member shouted as he swiped angrily at Zalthar, who kept taking hits, allowing the child to hack him up into pieces.
"Remind me again why we aren't stopping this kid from killing him?" Adam asked, looking over to the female tiger faunus on a throne next to him.
"If this vampire is able to live up to your claims Taurus," Sienna answered, "then I will have a reason to believe him."
"Raaah!" The boy yelled, letting his anger for humans and frustration at not killing Zalthar reach a boiling point, and he lunged at the vampire, cat claws growing from his fingertips as he leapt forward.
Zalthar however, simple exploded into a cloud of bats, leaving the child to hit the ground as the vampire swarmed all around the room for a minute or two, before coalescing into back into Zalthars form, black robes and all.
"I can understand your anger, child," The vampire spoke as the kid stood back up shakily, "Your hatred toward humans is understandable, but you must realize that I am no human."
"You show great promise, and indeed," Zalthar gave a short nod, "your blows would have felled any normal human, but nothing short of a stake through the heart or enchanted silver will be able to harm me."
"That is enough Cye," Sienna spoke up, seeing the new white fang member getting ready to pounce again, "Leave us."
Once the White Fang had left, Sienna and Adam focused their attention on the vampire, with the former taking in his truly haggard, almost decrepit look with what might have been slight concern.
"I'm sorry about that," Sienna explained, "Cye Arren has a very unfavorable view of humans, as do much of the White Fang. Despite Adams insistence, I belIeved you to be human when you first showed up. However, your little display was enough to convince me otherwise."
"Well you are correct on some level," Zalthar began to explain, "I was human, but a few centuries back I was attacked by a vampire."
"Centuries?" Adam asked.
"Nine and a half centuries." Zalthar clarified. "I spent the first fifty years wandering and hiding under the cover of night. Around the time of 950 years ago, I was found cowering in a hole in the ground during the invasion of Amar Basin by Lord Acererak, and have served at his side ever since."
"Adam had informed me of you and your 'Lords' otherworldly origins, as well as your offer," the white fang leader said, "and while it is quite promising, we have some questions I hope you can answer."
"Our end of the bargain is that we help you establish ourselves here, and provide assistance if needed. Why?"
"We are unfamiliar with this world," Zalthar said, settling back into his natural element; negotiations and discussions, "We would greatly dislike the appearance of any surprises from those who would disagree with us, and therefore assistance in our establishment here would be greatly accelerated."
"What would you be looking for, concerning assistance from us?"
"Primarily advice, such as where to begin construction as well as what dangers we might face, in addition to basic guards."
"Who will you have build your…" Sienna paused for a moment, "base?"
"We will provide construction materials and constructors. We have no intention of roping your people into a project they wish not to." The vampire clarified, "Well, except for one thing…"
"And that would be?" Adam asked, filling in for Sienna briefly.
"Your technology is fascinating, simply put." Zalthar unconsciously scratched his silvery-grey goatee in a thoughtful manner.
"We have nothing like it, and as you can see from my attire," Zalthar gestured to the heavy black robes that hung on his emaciated frame, "and possibly my mannerisms that you are technologically more advanced than us. We would like assistance in understanding it."
Both Sienna and Adam exchanged glances, the former somehow emoting through his White Fang mask. After reaching a silent agreement, Sienna spoke again, making her first request to the vampire.
"We have decided to accept your offer...if," The silence hung the air for a moment, "if you get Cinder Fall and her sidekicks out of our hair."
"Done." Zalthar said. "If you would be kind enough to give us any information you have on them, we would be more than happy to oblige."
"Then I believe we have a deal." Adam said, stepping forward and extending a hand to Zalthar
"I believe we do." Zalthar replied as he returned the handshake.
"You will know where to find us." The vampire said, before exploding into a swarm of bats. The couple dozen winged mammals darted around the room, before flooding out an open window, into the night.
"This is Beacon academy?" Jaune asked, sword sheathed at his side and shield on his back.
"It is. Even with your relatively slow method of transportation, you still have about six days before classes start." Ozpin answered, then took a sip from his mug.
"I don't mean to be annoying or anything," Jaune said, dreading the next part of his statement, "but do you know anywhere I can stay?"
"Of course." Jaune sighed in relief at that. "Room and board is accounted for, and your tuition has already been paid in full for this year. Now if you don't mind, Professor Goodwitch will show you to your room and scroll."
"Thank you Sir Ozpin," Jaune said, giving a short, almost unnoticeable bow, "A pleasure to meet you."
"I...it was a pleasure to meet you too, Mister Arc." Ozpin said after a slight pause, being temporarily thrown for a loop thanks to the knights politeness.
"Follow me," Glynda made a sharp turn and began to lead Jaune through the academy.
'It seems the feast hall in this academy is rather grand,' Jaune thought as he passed the lunchroom, 'For such a large hall they must have suitably legendary battles to fit the occasion of such a feast. I bet they serve a good slow roasted manticore loin…;
But despite the rather relaxed atmosphere provided by the place, Jaune could not figure out why for the life of him why the woman leading him about was dressed so provocatively. And this seemed to be her normal day wear, not even night clothing. It was less something he expected to see on a professor and more something he'd see on Lady Morrigan, whenever she was trying to draw out a reaction from Acererak.
But he refrained from commenting, as that might have been seen as rude, so Jaune simply tried not to focus on her impressive assets, a difficult task in it of itself.
After some time, they reached the dorm rooms, one of which Goodwitch unlocked, then handed a copy of the key to Jaune, along with a strange rectangular slab of metal with a glass front.
"Here is your copy of the key, as well as your scroll. Try not to loose either of them."
"Thank you." Jaune said.
'What in the name of Velsharoon is up with these people? This isn't a scroll, this looks more like a piece of Elven jewelry.' Jaune thought.
"Take the next few days to familiarize yourself with the academy, and feel free to use the bullheads to visit Vale." Glynda said as she turned to leave.
"I will," Jaune gave another small bow, "thank you, Lady Goodwitch"
Once she left, the knight entered the dorm room and closed the door. It was a modest affair, with four single person beds, a kitchen of sorts, and a large flat pane of black glass and metal.
Jaune had began removing his armor and laying it out for inspection when a clicking noise caught his attention. Walking to the large glass pane, he opened it, allowing the ragged corpse of an oversized raven to come in.
The emaciated body perched itself on a nightstand and gave a low caw as Jaune ruffled its feathers.
"Hello Edgar, how is everything going?" Jaune said as he scratched its skull at the base.
"Crawww…" Edgar intoned, "craw, craw…"
"Yes, I've arrived in one piece, you can tell Morrigan to stop worrying now…" It had taken Jaune the better part of a decade to learn to speak and understand Corvian, the language of the Corvidae family of birds, which included Crows, Ravens, Corvians and Nevermore's.
"Craaaaw craw crrawww…" The nevermore croaked, as it untied a small scrap of paper from a pouch on its leg and handed it to Jaune, who accepted.
"Thanks, I was wondering how these 'scrolls' worked…" The knight said as he began observing the instruction manual, his Ring of Translation making the foreign text readable.
"Caww?" Edgar asked, and tilted his head toward Jaune.
"Yes, actually," Jaune passed the room keys to the nevermore, "can you see if we can replicate these?"
The undead raven shook his head up and down, before grabbing onto the key with its jagged, craggy beak. The nevermore unfurled its mangy wings, and flew out the window, quickly disappearing into the environment.
Watching Edgar fly off, Jaune gave off a relieved sigh. He'd made it to Beacon, despite Acererak dropping him off in the wilderness. He turned back to his bed, and continued to remove his armor, laying out the dark grey and old edged plate mail. He carefully undid and placed his black and gold tabard on the bed, and used a Greater Restoration spell to polish up the armor and repair the few rips and tears in the cloth.
His chainmail was next, a standard yet effective set of silvery steel, enchanted like the rest of his armor. Once the chain was off, he began to load everything into his bag of holding, packing the armor into a pouch barely the size of his fist, which he hung on his belt.
Having put his armor away, Jaune turned to the large mirror opposite the bed. He looked into the reflective surface, making sure he didn't have anything on his face. He reached behind his head and undid the cloth knot holding his shaggy, shoulder length hair back in a ponytail, allowing the long, messy, ochre yellow locks to fall down, small tongues of fire and smoke drifting from his hair.
Looks like his pyromancy was acting up again. When he got tired, his control of fire started to run a little rampant, sending sparks around his body. He huffed, blowing a small plume of smoke out of his nose.
Disrobing completely, Jaune stepped into the rooms bathroom.
"What in the Nine Hells is that?" He muttered to himself, looking at a strange series of objects implanted in the tiled wall. One was a lever, which the knight tentatively grabbed, and turned, giving himself quite a scare when steaming water began blasting out of a series of holes in the wall.
He reached a hand in, and felt a shiver run down his spine. Within moments, he was in.
Jaune sighed to himself, as scalding water that would give most mortals serious burns ran off his back. He felt the intense heat seep into his body, and the fire inside him rise to a toasty simmer, smoke drifting from his mouth and nose as he breathed, sparks and tongues of flame leaping from his hair, and his bright golden eyes gave off a warm, content glow.
Nearly an hour later, Jaune exited the bathroom with a towel, steam rising from his bare, tanned skin. After drying himself off, he decided he should become familiar with his new surroundings. Putting his full armor back on, the knight left the room, the building, and boarded a large bullhead, not dissimilar to the one he'd taken to beacon.
The streets of Vale were nice. The air was cool, with a light breeze, and the night was quiet and calm. Sure, Jaune had gotten a look or two for his full armor and sword, but most just filed it under 'Huntsmen being huntsmen'.
"Vale Valuables Exchange…" Jaune mumbled looking at a bright neon sign, "perfect."
Jaune strode right in and walked up to the desk that said, 'Gold to Lien'.
"Welcome young man!" The person working the desk said, opening his arms wide in a welcoming gesture, "I assume you're here with a bit of gold?"
"That I am sir," Jaune reached into his bag of holding, and withdrew a large wooden crate, measuring about a foot on each side. Jaune grabbed the top of the crate, armored fingers digging into the wood, and ripped it off, revealing neatly stacked rows of gold bars, each measuring about a pound in weight.
"Holy Oum…" The man's jaw literally fell open, "how, how m-"
"How much?" Jaune asked. Seeing the man nod, he continued.
"That crate has 1200 pounds of gold, each bar is 1 pound." The man started sweating profusely.
"How much is that?"
"Eleven…"
"Eleven?"
"Million…"
"Can you trade that much?"
"N-no…" The man started stuttering.
"Then I'll only trade for half of it. Five million is a good number to start with."
"Sure thing s-sir, I'll ring it up right now." The man said as he ran into the back in a hurry.
Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around, coming nearly face to face with a young, pale skinned woman with green eyes and bright red hair in a ponytail.
"Can I help you?" Jaune asked.
"No, I'm just looking to buy a little gold." She explained politely, "My weapon's seen a lot of use, and I wanted to touch up a few pieces."
"Huh, well I'm selling some gold," Jaune motioned to the large crate stacked with glittering bars, "interested?"
"Wow…" the redhead whispered, eyes widening, "I-don't need that much."
"Me neither." Jaune shrugged, "Anyway, whats your name?"
Her eyes widened in confusion slightly, before she smiled and reached out a hand, which he shook.
"Pyrrha Nikos, from Mistral."
"Jaune Arc, from Angmar."
"Angmar?" Pyrrha cocked an eyebrow up quizzically.
"Outside the kingdoms," Jaune said, technically not lying as he began to remove gold from the box, "Very far away."
"You're from outside the Four Kingdoms?" Pyrrha asked, "Is that why you have so much gold?"
"Yeah. We use gold as currency out there, so I was just exchanging some for lien." Jaune said as he began removing bars from the box.
"How much is in there?" Pyrrha asked.
"About 1200 pounds, give or take," Jaune said as he finished unloading half the box.
"Thats a lot of gold…"
"Eh. Anyway the guys should be back any secon-"
"Hello sir, I've got your lien from the exchange right here. Will that be all?" The man said, suddenly appearing and handing Jaune a large, black briefcase stuffed with lien.
"Yes, this is it. Pleasure doing business with you." Jaune said with a slight bow. He turned to Pyrrha and gave her a small bow as well, "It was wonderful to meet you Miss Nikos, I hope to see you around." And left the building, leaving a very curious Mistralian Tournament Champion alone in the shop.
"Now I need to find a library…" Jaune said to himself as he walked down the street, stuffing the box of gold and case of money into his bag of holding.
"From Dust Till Dawn…" Jaune read the name of another shop just down the street, "and bookstore."
"Are you sure no one is suspicious?" Morrigan said, and watched Raven huff in annoyance.
"I told you, no one is suspicious of us, we haven't attacked anything in a week, no one's heard anything from our tribe," she retorted, "all we've been doing is finding you guys a place to set up."
As the two women continued their meeting, neither of them noticed a lone crow, sitting above them in a tree branch
A crow that had just heard a lot of things. Just as this crow was about to leave, a loud, throaty craww announced the presence of another bird.
Edgar, Morrigan's nevermore, swooped down
Bone talons outstretched and a jagged bleach white beak ready to tear the smaller bird apart
The crow squawked in surprise and tried to get out of the way, but it was too late. Edgar slammed its claws into it and threw it to the ground, right in front of Raven and Morrigan.
The two watched as the crow began to change, shapeshifting into a middle aged human man with spiky black hair, red eyes and a substantial five o'clock shadow.
"Qrow…" Raven almost growled, as Morrigan drew her bastard sword and leveled the tip at the mans throat.
"Speak human, or I'll make you." Morrigan threatened, voice as cold as frosted steel. Edgar, who had since landed on her shoulder, gave another loud craww, as if to agree with her.
"Not happening sweetheart." Qrow said as he swung his broadsword at her.
Morrogan deflected the attack easily, and countered with a quick horizontal swipe, which Qrow backstepped. Keeping him on the defense, Morrigan dashed forward, clashing swords once more. Again and again, she pushed him back, and eventually Qrow decided to try and leap behind her, over her head.
The second he left the ground, Morrigan gave a beat of her own wings, launching herself into the air. She came down with a vertical slam, catching Qrow in his jump and slamming him into the ground.
As she landed in front of him, a shotgun blast just clipped her face, sending a few pellets through her cheek and on into her jaw.
With Morrigan temporarily disabled, Qrow turned back into a crow and flew off, heading toward a bullhead far off on the distance.
Raven was just about to give chase when she heard Morrigan shout, "Greater Polymorph!"
Suddenly Edgar grew a lot bigger. Bones cracked and reformed, feathers grew exponentially in size, and the exposed bleached white bone grew more massive until the once 4 foot long raven was a 30 foot long behemoth, the gargantuan wings of which literally blotted out the sun when he unfurled them. He rose into the air, higher and higher before speeding off towards the distant flying machine.
"Morrigan!" Raven shouted as she reached the somehow still standing woman.
Morrigan turned to face her, a cold, smoldering glare in her glowing red eyes. Her left cheek was perforated with about five small holes, with a sixth on her jawbone. Teeth now visible through the holes in her cheek, the tightly clenched white fangs giving way to a low growl of anger.
"Bastard," Morrigan stood up, and watched in the distance as the now supersized Edgar began to engage the bullhead in combat, "Acererak won't be happy…"
"Put the dust in the bag!"
"Please, just take it!" The shopkeeper begged, as he began handing the criminals the dust, "Just don't hurt me!"
There was a sound like metal on wood as a sword was drawn from a scabbard, and the criminals turned around to see a knight in black and gold with weapons drawn, a pair of glowing gold eyes staring them down.
"Shall we?"
AN
Oh boy. I just love having a job over the summer. It allows me to work on my writing and have free time. Also Monster Hunter World PC. Good game. Anyways, sorry about dissapearing again. I'll try not to, but I can't make any promises.
-Athk0r3
ps Add me on steam, name's Loaf of Sadness