The screen began to bubble and boil as the familiar silver door rose from it's depths, the thick purple chains corroding and breaking apart as the door opened up and bathed everything in dark purple.
From the tainted light, came a single red eye that glared at the screen before the door slammed shut and everything became static, a crumbling rose symbol appearing every so often as the title began to form.
The Ruinverse: Chapter Eleven, Everything Goes Upwards, To Devastation.
Xxxxxxx
-Remnant, Grimmlands, Evernight Castle-
"RRROOOOOAAAARRRRR!"
The sounds of the deity of pure darkness' pets roared in the distance as the camera moved from the outward expanse of purple Dust crystals and tar-like ooze pits to the large castle's interior, filled to the brim with crystallized structures and the occasional silken cloth of pure purple and black.
Within this palace of hate and forgotten knowledge, past the twisting hallways of solidarity, was the enlarged hall, about the size of a city, layered with semi weak purple candles and thick obsidian masonry as several strange red circles littered the ground, forming symbols of unknown origin within the edges of said circles.
And within these circles, kept in place by thick purple energy pillars, were large chunks of earth, three in total, all floating within like tiny moons without a planet to orbit.
Each one was broken and in different stages of destruction, seemingly ripped from the ground by unnaturally strong hands.
The first of these chunks, located in the far right one being made from a pale blue crystalline structure with the remains of a rectangular doorway carved into the structure itself.
The second of these ripped earthen chunks, the one near the far left, was a dull yellowish like structure that was heavily obscured by shadow except for a rectangular corner jutting out from the darkness.
And the final chunk of Remnant's outer crust, the one towards the right hand side of the room, was a thick granite chunk of earth with an orange rectangular doorway carved into it with gold fans layered on top of the sides in an almost floral like pattern and a wilting tree with dull orange flowers on the tips.
The camera moved across the room, revealing a figure looming near a large opening near the left side of the room, the size of a Goliath and leading to a circular platform overlooking the castle like a hawk.
This figure? It was...the Queen of the Grimm, former ruler of man, broken soul cursed with immortality, Salem. And right at this exact moment, she was waiting...for someone.
'She should be here by now.' Salem thought while tapping a finger against her right elbow, her arms crossed, as she stared at the empty expanse of darkness and decay that went on for miles in every direction. 'What is taking her so long?'
As she looked upon the light purple skies, a strange dull green light began to move towards the castle at incredible speeds, all making the monarch smirk with interest.
"Ah, finally. And to think she would be late." Salem said to herself as a thick gray metal with several broken torches lining the front and back as a dull green rectangular doorway, cracked in half by tremendous force, was seemingly welded into the metal like a weed, hovered right towards the platform and stopped just a few feet from the ground as a figure, covered in the same dull green light, moved closer to the woman and landed gracefully in the process.
The figure in question was a tall pale skinned woman with long dusty rose hair held in a bun by a gray band and went down to her legs, pink eyes with a hint of redness near the iris, thin black vein like tattoos going down her eyes and towards her neck in the shape of a setting sun's light rays, a C cup chest and small ass, wearing a long dull green dress with long flared sleeves that covered her hands, pale gold bands on the cuffs, a single dull gold opening near the sides of her hips, a long black sash around her waist that trailed down her right side and had a torn pink cloth attached to the end in a bow, black ballet flats, and a single curved black hilted knife attached to her left hip by a green chain, who seemed to have an expression of dulled apathy, never smiling at all in the presence of the immortal woman from a bygone age.
"An Ren, welcome back. I take it the mission was a success?"
"...yes." she said while bowing, her tone emotionless and lacking any real emotion other than sadness. "The Vale Vault was easy to deal with, once I removed the castle above...still it was a shame. It was beautiful."
"It was made from the lies of a man twisted by the gods, it was a waste of space."
"Still...Lie would've loved attending Beacon." An said sadly as Salem's expression briefly formed a sympathetic expression. "He was a sassy boy, like me, he...he could've made Remnant a kinder place."
Salem placed a hand on the woman's shoulder and sighed. "Perhaps, but once the relics have been placed in containment, the lies of this world will be revealed. Don't worry child, he would've wanted the injustice of Ozma brought to light."
"...yeah, he would. Li would too, if he survived." An said before raising her right hand up, glowing a dull green in the process, as the chunk of metal moved deeper into the castle. "Let us put this accursed thing away."
And with that, the two women walked into the chamber as the metallic object was pushed by the green energy into the circle in the left most corner of the room, the symbols on the floor glowing red as it was placed within its cylindrical prison.
"I must say." the immortal said out loud as An Ren's right hand stopped glowing and she looked upon the crystalline windows above her. "You are quite the woman, capable of taking the vaults without little effort. Always hiding in plain sight, even when Ozma's avian eyes scour the world hunting for you."
"I have that appearance." she said while not even proud of the complement. "I used to be a beauty back in Kuroyuri, but age and loss have dulled it. Not even the best Huntsmen can remember me."
"But you still are a beauty, even if time has...affected you." Salem said while touching her left cheek with her hand, feeling the smoothness of her marble skin and contemplating thoughts of a different time and what could've been.
"..." 'She's only saying it to make me feel better...I am not beautiful anymore. I lost it the day the Grimm invaded...when my life fell into a void of pain and loss.'
Time stood still for the two women, both silently contemplating their next course of action upon the other, the Grimm bellowing in the distance as it felt like an eternity of discomfort, strategizing and, in the case of the only living Ren in existence, painful recollection of past events.
But like a droplet in a river, An Ren finally broke the silence with a question.
"Lady Salem. When will you give me my wish?"
Salem turned to face the woman, a little surprised she just said that, and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"The wish, when will you grant me my wish."
"Wish...oh. You mean the one I mentioned years ago, on the day you lost everything." she said while An turned to face the immortal.
"Yes, the wish. The one involving the resurrection of my family." An said with a low tone of aggression, as if she was angry at the immortal's forgetfulness. "You said that if I gave you the relics, all four of them, you would tear down the gates of death and reunite me with my husband and son."
Salem blinked before sighing. "Are you sure? The gates of death are...difficult to open, even with the relics."
"I have been for twenty five years." An said while her eyes stared at the immortal with a burning anger, one formed from impatience and perseverance yet dulled by apathetic thoughts of self worth. "Please, bring them back."
"...very well." the immortal said while walking towards the main entrance way. "Come, I shall show you the fruits of my labor."
An raised an eyebrow, her eyes filled with a flicker of positive emotions for the first time in years, as she followed the immortal out of the room.
(Elsewhere)
-Spawning Pools-
"Why did you bring me to this...place?" asked the mortal as she watched several Grimm, mostly Beowolves, rise out of the numerous pits in the distance, each one making her sick to her stomach despite seeing this every so often between her missions. "What does this have to do with my family?"
"Everything." Salem said while standing over a large deep pool of tar-like ooze separated from the rest of the pools by a purple crystalline dam on either side of the pool.
An blinked before seeing Salem's right hand moving from her side and-
SNAP!
Snapped her fingers, the sound echoing across the land like a single note on a triangle.
….gurgle...gurgle...
SPLASH!
And lo, from the blackened pits of unholy liquids, came the clawed arms of a duo of Grimm, unlike any seen by humanity or by the former Mistrali woman.
For they were large monstrous wolf-like monsters with blackened fur, thick white bones covering the back, arms and lower jaw, a thick white mask-like face sporting a short yet wide snout, deep yellow eyes that seem to 'bleed' a viscous black substance, thick red lines near the eyes and spine, pointed canine-like ears, think quills on the arms and lower torso, overlapping curved fangs, a thick jaw-like structure under the lower jaw that dripped with black ooze, long claws sporting red lines going from the joints up towards the elbow and knee sockets, a long snake like tail covered in barbed white points that overlapped like scales towards the hips, and two tar-like tendrils near the shoulder blades that twisted and turned like vipers, though one was smaller compared to the other, and each one scratch at the earth and pulled themselves from their inky prisons as Salem and An watched on.
"Grrrrrrr."
"Arh! Grrrr! Ar!"
"What...are these things?" An asked while trying to maintain a straight face, but internally failing as Salem began to put one of the creature's head like a common dog.
"Hounds, well that is the working name I have for them." she said calmly. "A magnificent specimen, capable of limited speech, thinking on the fly, adapting to any situation, and eliminating any target with the intelligence of...higher forms of life. A possible replacement if you did fail in your missions but thankfully you exceeded my expectations, a feat worthy of praise."
"I...I see." she said while sensing something..foreboding about the Grimm but shook it off. "But Lady Salem, what do they have to do with the resurrection of my family?"
The 'Hounds' moved closer to An while dripping black ooze from their body and lips, seemily sniffing her in an attempt to assess her intentions.
"It's quite simple, An Ren." the immortal said while the Hound's jaws began to split apart down the middle and opened up to reveal...a horrifying sight. "Because these Grimm."
For in place of a normal skeleton were two human bodies, in different stages of decay, fused into the ooze by their arms and torso, leaving their heads exposed.
For the larger of the two, its face was that of a pale skinned human male with long dried up black hair with white streaks running down its ponytail, a single functioning pale gold eye, a patch of blackened bone near the chin and left eye, a revealed right jaw with several strands of muscle keeping it together and a white vein like patch of flesh over the right eye.
And for the smaller of the two, its face was that of a human male child with long black hair that covered the right eye and had the remains of a magenta streak on the left side, a pale magenta eye with oozing black liquid leaking out of it, an exposed lower jaw, flaking patches of skin near the cheeks that seem to be protected by white tumors, and a single blackened bone exposed near the forehead that was cracked near the middle.
An's eyes went back into her sockets in shock, horror and disbelief as she stepped back, terrified for the first time in her twenty five years of servitude.
"Are your family. I couldn't bring them completely back from death's grasp, but I did make sure these Hounds were as loyal to you as the day they left you." Salem said, seemingly proud of fulfilling her end of the bargain, as An Ren felt something crack inside her mind. "Now, my pets, say hello to your new owner, An Ren."
"Grrrr."
"Grrr...m...m...mother…" the little Hound said as An felt something familiar in her heart.
That sense of familiarity...complete and total...despair.
Crack.
Crack.
Rumble!
Rumble!
RUMBLE!
Salem fell to her knees as the entirely of the Grimmlands began to shake, to move with such force that the very castle began to break from the unusual tectonic abnormality, the pools of Grimm sinking into the earth and the very ground began to tear itself apart, large pillars of earth rising and falling in the process.
All the while, An Ren, her body glowing with a dull green aura, clamped her hands to her head and screamed in a moment of devastation and hopelessness, the earth around her breaking and rising upwards with the same green glow as molten magma began to erupt from the cracks and spill outwards in every direction.
"W-What, An! What are you doing!?"
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"An! An! AN! Stop this!" Salem yelled out while the mortal kept on screaming, all logic and sanity erased from her eyes and replaced with a mania, one that screams for only retribution.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Salem paled, seeing that her intended gift for her loyal servant caused all of this, tried to use her magic to calm the woman down, only to realize that the entire land, her kingdom…
Was already in the mesosphere...far from the ground and breathable air that was normally required for even an immortal.
"Ah...ah...ah!" the immortal gasped in pain, her lungs bursting from the pain as the Grimmlands began to rocket towards deep space, right into the pathway of the moon.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"
BOOOM!
And just like that...silence, everything became silent. For the Grimmlands...have been obliterated and with it, salvation for as the camera zoomed back towards the planet known as Remnant.
It revealed a massive tear within the upper and lower crust, cracks littering the landscape as lava began to boil the oceans and erase life in the process. And in an instant, the screen became a bright orange color as the planet faded away into the screen like a dream...no...a nightmare.
Xxxxxxx
Name/Designation Title: An Ren (Everything Goes Upwards, To Devastation An Ren- EGUTDARRWBY)
Age: 20~30?
Affiliation: Mega Evil~Ultimate Evil.
Dimension: - 01111290- 00 EGUTDARRWBY
Abilities: Limited hand to hand combat skills, semi enhanced strength, speed and agility, high knowledge of the 'true' history of Remnant, espionage skills, knowledge of the Kingdom's political and economic status, high Aura pool, Dust laced clothing, limited control over the Grimm.
Semblance(s): Up (a semblance that allows one to manipulate the gravity of objects, usually by making them weightless, though touch. The bigger the aura pool, the bigger the object or objects that can be manipulated. If overcharged or negatively affected by the user's emotional state, the power can go out of control.)
Bio: In this timeline, the destruction of Kuroyuri occurred as in the canon timeline, however unlike canon, An Ren was able to survive due her semblance activating during the collapse of her house. This semblance, called Up, is a unique gravity based power that allows the user to cause objects and people that were touched to lose all gravity and either float away or be controlled by the user. From this moment, she was able to escape the Grimm by crushing said monsters with her semblance, but in the process, discovered that her entire family were killed by the invading Grimm and seeing the corpses drove her into madness. Seeing herself within An Ren and feeling sympathy for her plight, Salem personally appeared to her and took her into her Inner Circle, allowing her to serve her in exchange for bringing An Ren's family back from the grave. Renewed in her purpose in life, An Ren became Salem's most reliable agent, similar to Cinder Fall from the main timeline, but more prolific and less self destructing as she used her charm, espionage skills and semblance to pull off near impossible missions, from killing any member of Ozpin's Inner Circle to using her semblance to steal vaults and relics from the four academies via pulling them out of the earth. However, even though she was able to help her benefactor, she felt no emotion from her deeds, only wanting her family back from the gates of death, to regain her old life in the process. Once she obtained the Relic of Choice from Vale, she was granted her wish...in the form of two monstrous Hound-like Grimm using the bodies of her husband and son as the genetic templates. Snapping for the final time, her semblance went into critical levels and caused not only the Grimmlands to the void of space but ripped apart Remnant's upper crust, killing organic life from earthquakes, lava and tidal waves higher than the tallest mountains. From loving mother to destroyer of civilization...a tragedy of fate.