Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck; huntsman, professor, and historian, was sitting in the Beacon Academy library. He was researching various texts for a paper on the lives of the ancient peoples of Remnant. That said, he found himself at a road block. Within more than a handful of texts, there is a blank in the timeline. A section of history was missing from the archives. He tried every text he could find, but there was no record of the era.
"Very strange." Bart stood and returned the books to the shelves. "I must find something to fill in this gap. I think an expedition is in order."
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As the bullhead landed, Oobleck stepped out of the ship and took a deep breath. "Ah… the smell of discovery and the forgotten. Soon, we shall be the discoverers of a piece of history that had been blank for too long."
"I don't see why we need to be here, though." The blonde brawler from team RWBY stepped out of the ship. Yang had her arms crossed. "This isn't a mission and you didn't really give us much of a choice." Standing beside her were Sun Wukong, Ruby Rose, and Blake Belladonna.
Ruby smiled. "Oh come on, sis. This could be fun."
"It would be nice to know why we were selected to be here." Blake added. "Weiss isn't here with us. So there must be a reason we are."
"There is." Oobleck took a sip from his thermos. "You four show the least interest in my class."
"What about Cardin?"
"Mr. Winchester is too far gone to respect this expedition. I picked you four because you have the least interest while having the greatest possibility to change that."
Sun stretched his arms toward the sky. "So, teach, what are we doing?"
"For now, we move to a base camp to the north. From there, we move to find an ancient crypt that has not been seen since it was sealed away thousands of years ago."
Sun gave an impressed whistle. "That long?"
"Yes. There is a blank in the historical records."
"You couldn't just check another library?" Yang did not enjoy having to be dragged out to the middle of nowhere. She enjoyed a good adventure, but on her own terms.
"I did. I checked every library, every archive. Nothing. The era is blank and forgotten. So, we are here to discover something that no one else has ever seen. By discovering this missing history, we'll be making some of our own."
Yang had to admit, that did sound cool. "Okay. After you, prof."
"It's doctor."
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After setting up a base camp, the group searched the surrounding area until the sun started to set. They had found nothing. No ruins. No ancient tools. No sign that the area was ever inhabited. They sat down to rest and enjoy a meal, if you could call it that. It was simplistic: bread, cheese, beans, and water. That said, it wasn't horrible. Just… simple and a bit bland.
Yang yawned and stretched. "I'm starting to think that there is no history to be made."
"What do you mean?" Ruby spoke while taking a bite from her bread.
"There's no record of this stuff ad we don't really know what we're looking for."
"I will admit…" Blake chimed in, "…it isn't much to go off of."
"Exactly!" Yang took a bite from her bread. "And besides that, it didn't look like anything lived here… ever."
Ruby looked down at her meal. "I guess…" She was disappointed. She wanted to see whatever it was they were looking for. After all, how often do you get to see something no one else has?
The sun finally set and the group sat around the camp fire. Blake looked around at the team. "I'll take the first watch."
"'Kay." Yang lied down on her sleeping bag. "I could use some sleep."
As her group drifted off, Blake took up a position overlooking the area and observed her surroundings. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Although, the longer she looked, the more there was something off… It almost seemed like there was something they missed.
She raised an eyebrow and moved to a higher position. She found a tree and climbed as high as could. When she reached the top, she looked down on the area and was awestruck. They hadn't missed it. They were standing in it!
Below her was a large structure. The stones they believed to be part of the landscape were deliberately arranged. They were sleeping right next to exactly what they were looking for! Maybe… Whatever. We'll figure that out once they know. Once she returned to the ground, she moved to wake her group and explained what she had seen.
"Incredible!" Oobleck looked over the stones again. "How could I have missed this? The structure is so simple as to be understated, but it seems so obvious now!"
"So, how do we get in?" Sun asked.
"I'm not sure. There doesn't seem to be a way in from here…"
Yang cracked her knuckles. "I can fix that."
"DON'T YOU DARE!"
The whole group jumped. It was rare that Doctor Oobleck raised his voice to that level, let alone yell at a student with an undertone of a threat.
"This is a historic sight. We must preserve it as is. Now," he turned his attention back to the structure, "how do we get in?"
After putting on a pair of gloves, Oobleck moved his hands along the outside of the structure until he found a small indent. "What have we here?" He moved his hands along the indent, tracing a small arc. A torrent of steam shot out from the structure. A section of the stones moved and a doorway opened, allowing them entry.
The group was speechless. Except for Ruby. "How did you know that would work?"
"Because there was a similar system on a crypt that predates this one. Although, the steam is new. Steam was used in structures after the blank era." Oobleck smiled. "We found it."
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As they walked through the structure, the group looked around in awe. Though, 'awe' might be too weak a word for Oobleck. He had found a piece of history no one had seen. He could start to fill in the blanks in Remnant's chronology. He was positively ecstatic. He would even go so far as to say he was experiencing pure bliss. His group was more subdued. That said, Ruby was excitedly looking around like a smile child in a theme park. Sun and Yang were talking about how cool it was that they were making history. Blake remained stoic, but she had to admit that it was pretty awesome.
The structure's walls were covered in some kind of drawings. They depicted what looked like armored knights and creatures of Grimm locked in combat. There was one picture that showed one of the knights decapitated by a Grimm while the warrior's sword had pierced the Grimm's mask between its eyes. Various other pictures showed similar scenes.
"Interesting. It seems like the inhabitances were enamored with warriors in armor. Perhaps their versions of huntsmen…"
As they walked, the drawings continued throughout the structure. They found themselves traveling through a handful of rooms. They were all empty, likely the contents having decomposed, but there were still some clues. One seemed like a sort of cafeteria. Another had the tell-tale signs of sleeping quarters. There wasn't much, but enough to try to guess.
It was when they reached the room farthest back that Oobleck was overtaken with joy. Standing in the room were the full suits of armor as well as a small arsenal of swords, spears, shields, axes, and even a few rudimentary dust-propulsion muskets. "Incredible! Everything seems perfectly intact! This is a major find!"
Yang gave an impressed whistle. "Pretty cool."
Ruby looked around. "I don't know why… but I have a bad feeling about this place."
"I half expected Blake to say that."
Blake rolled her eyes and started to look around.
Sun was looking over the armor. "It's so dusty."
"Naturally." Oobleck handed the group a pair of gloves and a small brush. "Use these if you must interact. However, keep touching to a minimum. Use the brushes to remove any excess dust."
Ruby put on her gloves and moved toward the weapons. They were all old fashioned and in great shape for being so old. It probably helped that they seemed to be made entirely of metal. Yang followed her sister and looked over her shoulder almost the entire time.
Blake and Sun looked over the armor for a while. At one point, Sun's attention was caught by something. He looked at the chest piece of one of the armor suits and focused. Something was underneath all that dust. He used the brush to remove the dust. He wanted to know what was beneath.
"Holy…" Sun stopped his motion and turned back to the group. "You guys… might want to see this."
As they gathered around him, they were surprised by what he had found. On the armor was a symbol. It was a set of two parallel arcs, like the symbol used by one Jaune Arc.
Yang broke the silence. "I guess that 'family of warriors' thing goes back farther than he realized."
They became silent again. Blake's ears perked at a strange sound. "Something is here."
They all stopped and listened. There was a strange air about the room. That was when they heard it. "You… should… not… be… here." It was a whisper. It was like the wind itself was speaking to them.
Oobleck looked around. "Who are you? If you're trying to scare us away from this sight, you are mistaken."
"I… am… Arc."
"Arc?"
The group looked between one another. They all had the same look. What's happening?
"Yes… I… am… Arc. You… are… trespassing."
"What is this place?"
"Old… hall… of… Arc. You… are… not… Arc."
"I must ask, how old is this structure?"
"Why… should… I… say?"
"I am a researcher. I merely wish to fill in a blank in Remnant's history."
The voice was silent. "Admirable… mission. I… shall… tell… you."
"Thank you."
The voice explained that the structure was an Arc clan barrack. It was used as an outpost for the family during a time of war. The time was an age that would put the Faunas War to shame. Stories of heroes and villains. Men and women fighting on the frontlines against humans, faunas, and even monsters. The voice told them about the final hours of the war when the Arc forces pushed back their enemy to the brink, only to be betrayed by their allies and forced into retreat. The voice told them about the weapons, all created by the Arc, and the armor made of a metal more powerful and lighter than all others at the time. He said it was given the name 'titanium.' He spoke of the early dust muskets and how they cut through all others. He told them about the tradition of the Arc warriors and weapon smiths.
As the voice ended its tale, it took a deep breath. "Now… you… must… leave. Allow… my… brothers… to… sleep."
"Of course. Thank you. May I ask you for your name?"
"I… am… William… Arc."
With that, the voice faded and the group left the structure. As they emerged, the sun blinded them a moment. The doorway closed behind them and it seemed as though nothing had happened.
As the group returned to their camp site; Sun, Yang, and Ruby couldn't stop talking about what they learned from the voice. Blake would chime in and kept her attention on the conversation.
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Oobleck had finished writing in his journal when Peter walked in. "Bart! It's good to see you, again. I take it your expedition was a success."
"It was." He closed the journal, "and then some."
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King: We're back. A writer's block has kept me away, but I have returned. For now... Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter.