Chapter 1: Azaren Forest
Author notes: This is going to be my first RWBY story so just bear with me, I'm hoping to turn this into a lengthy story but advice, opinions, possible improvements and so on is welcome.
'Thoughts'
"Conversations"
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(34 Years before Volume One.)
Space…. An ocean of darkness with island of light dotted across it's expanse. In these islands are entire ecosystems of complexed yet similar forms of life. These islands are what intelligent life live on, but like all things, it leaves these islands and colonize new ones. Yet there are dangers that may lurk on these islands. Thus, the need for explorers, no matter what era they may be found. This was what one Herbert Oscar Odds, a pale, almost corpse-like individual, was doing, been doing for years now. His small and modest vessel escaped Hyperjump and emerged out into real-space above a planet with a broken moon.
'well…. this is a first' thought Herbert as he started taking his ship towards the planet below. 'Hm…. So far, the planet is earth-like, liquid water, diverse ecosystem…. Wait… is that? Is that light?'. He turned his head towards faint but clearly artificial light coming from the planet's dark side 'uh… that means this planet has sentient life….' Herbert started smiling at a prospect of seeing and documenting a new sentient species 'I'm going to love this!'.
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'Oh, come on! There got to be a spot to land!' Herbert thought bitterly, still in his ship, was looking for a spot to land and finally he finds a place 'There it is! Now to take this ship down.' He started to slowly land the vessel down, scaring a few animals out in the process. Once he finally lands, he walks out of the ship and quickly taking note of the environment around him, then he took out a small journal from his backpack and started written.
'definitely Earth-like, hell even the animals are similar…. Theory; a lost colony perhaps? A lost post-terraforming colony no less?' Then he closed his journal, putting it back in his backpack, and continued exploring the environment around him, getting deeper and deeper into the forest he landed in. Then he came across something that surprised the man, old ruins…. Old ruins that the man never though he'd would see. 'Is that…. That can't be….' Herbert though as he made his way closer and closer to the ruins. These ruins, although weathered and worn down, decayed in more ways than one, but it was still crystal clear, these ruins are old bunkers, well nearly 1500 years old, something that Herbert could only take a rough guess at.
'why the hell are there old bunkers here? One that's so close in design and architecture to the-' His train of thought was stopped when he heard a growl nearby. 'What in the Universe….' He though, quickly hiding behind a ruined wall while keeping an eye out for what made that sound and what he saw surprised him and unnerved him. Out of the forest came an almost pitch-black creature with bones seemingly growing out of its' body, still growling, it walked through the ruined section of the bunker, looking for something. Of course, Herbert have a feeling it was him that this creature… this predator…. Was looking for. 'yay vicious predator…. From Earth-like to a death-world in one moment, wonderful' he thought, as he pulled out a pistol and readies it as a precaution for if this creature found him. Then, the creature, growing bored perhaps, walked back into the forest, leaving a now relived Herbert behind. 'may as well keep my gun out…. Just in case I run into those creatures' the thought was quite…. Reasonably, afterall, who knows if there are more of those creatures in the forest.
Still, he started walking again, noting down anything of interest in his notebook and simply enjoying the planet's natural beauty, though he wonders why their so little human activity, or perhaps sentient activity so far. 'If they could make electricity, shouldn't there be people around here?' He thought, still walking through the forest, every occasionally, seeing another ruined bunker nearby, but, though he wasn't a religious man, he can't help but feel something…. Wrong with these ruins, like they were locations of a number horrible things that still haunt them. 'considering who made them…. These bunkers may have been a site of unspeakable horror.'
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Day turned to night, Herbert's exploration of his location taking hours, all to document the environment he landed in. Of course, he didn't expect to find odd and monstrous creatures in the forest much less old ruins dating back to much darker time. But still, he's an explorer, and it what he loves about his job, landing on planet and seeing, documenting and discovering all he can, but so far, all his discovers have been…. Lackluster in all honest…. In fact, he hasn't even come across any sort of intelligent life yet, even though he knows full well that they do exist on the planet. Unless, this Intelligent life only exist on the other side of the planet, which, he certainly hopes is not the case. 'Please don't be on the other side of the bloody planet….' Almost as if his silent prayer was answer, he heard a voice, a…. rather bombastic voice coming from nearby, still far enough away for him not to pick up any words, but loud enough for him to hear. Of course, wishing to see actual intelligent life, he ran or quickly walked rather, to the source of this voice.
"And that is how I defeated a Goliath single handedly!" exclaimed the thirty-odd year-old Peter Port, as he regaled his story to a white-haired man in a red scarf around a small but pleasant fire. "Peter…. That story is completely bollock…." Said the white-haired man in a very unbelieved tone, which Peter took offense to "Bollock!? My story is Bollock!? I'll have you know Nicholas, my dear friend, that this story is completely true!" The White-haired man, now Nicholas, only laughed a little before replying to his friend's remark "Sure it is…." Peter only puts his arms on his chest and gives a disbelieving sound "It is the truth! You simply-" he stopped as he felt something or someone watching them, causing him to grab his blunder buster and took aim at something behind him, Nicholas, seeing this, took out his sword and readied himself. Out of the forest came a man… a Man whom they both thought looked more akin to a walking corpse, his skin pale and deathly, eyes clouded and equally death-like, with his hands raised up in a gesture of surrender.
"Hey, hey…. I'm not here to cause problems! I'm just here to talk" his voice had a gravelly voice, almost as if he had been through numerous fires or had smoked twenty to thirty packs of cigarettes a day. "I've been walking though this forest for hours, and…. Well, I'm hoping to talk to someone…" Of course, neither Peter or Nicholas put down their weapons, causing the corpse-like man to sigh and spoke again "ok, I'll tell you my name…. and you two tell me yours, ok?" Both Peter and Nicholas looked at each other then back at him, Peter, giving a small nod, this was followed by the man giving a small smile "Great! My name is Herbert Oscar Odds and you?" "Peter Port at your service, and this white-haired champ here is Nicholas Schnee" "Pleasure to meet you two…. So….. think you could put down your weapons?" After thinking about, the two did, allowing Herbert to breath a sigh of relief, as he sit down on the dirt near the fire while Peter and Nicholas put their weapons away before sitting down themselves. "So…. Pleasant night isn't it?"
The two only stared at him, either not wishing to answer or just doesn't care.
"Ok….. Uh….. This…. This is awkward…."
Herbert stares at the fire, trying to think of something to say to the two men that he just meant, and small talk didn't seem to get him anywhere. That is, until he thought of something, something that he can use to get some good intel out of.
"I'm…. I'm from a small and really isolated village nearby." This caught the attention of both men, though the look on their faces are almost the exact opposite of each other. Peter was more curious about this statement while Nicholas only held a look of pure skepticism. But Herbert continued regardless.
"For a while we were harassed by a bunch of black-furred demons…."
"Grimm…. Right?"
"Yeah…. But we called them demons, anyway, we started breathing a collective sigh of relief, mostly because those things finally stopped attacking us, so our…. Village elders sent me out to scout around and see if there are anyone near us and to find out about the world around us."
'I hope they're buying this' Herbert thought, after all he really didn't want to reveal that he's from space, much less that he's a entirely different sub-species of Human. So he payed close attention to their faces and so far only Peter was buying this, Nicholas, on the other hand, didn't seem to fully buy this little white lie yet, so, it didn't really came to his surprise that Nicholas cleared his throat and spoke.
"And you're tell us this because?"
"well…. you two seem like you know about the world so….. I'm just curious if you two could help me in this mission of mine…."
"And if we refuse?"
"…. Then I'll just go, continue my exploration and hope I can find some valuable information." Herbert studied the two mens' faces again, and while Nicholas still held that neutral look, but Peter's was far more…. Animate, to an extent, with his groaning and throw his hands up in frustration.
"Oh come on now Nicholas old buddy, this man need our help!"
"Peter…. I don't think this man is being honest with us…."
"It doesn't matter! It is our job to help anyone in need, no matter what it is or how the person seems! After all…. WE ARE HUNTSMEN!"
That last part was a loud yell, which both Nicholas and Herbert couldn't help but put their fingers in their ears to stop the ringing. Not that he notices, as he turned to Herbert to ask "What sort of information do you and your village desire?" Herbert, in utter confusion, replied with another question "What? Sorry, my ears are still ringing." Peter looked like he was hurt by this and spoke out at this "I said, what information do you and your village desire!?"
"Oh…. Yeah….. uh…. Where are we for one"
"Why you're in the Azaren Forest!"
"And why is it called this?"
Before Peter would speak, Nicholas interrupted
"it was named after a Huntsmen who used to live here"
"ah…. The next question relates to what you just say, what's a Huntsmen?"
"You…. Really don't know?"
"uh…. Yeah…."
They sit there in silence for a while, before Nicholas spoke again, this time with another question
"you mention that your village called Grimm 'Demons' so…. Does that mean you have a different term for someone who fights them?"
"We all fight them, not just a select few, are you answer my question?"
"Yes… well, a Huntsmen is a person who defends the four kingdoms, the Kingdom of Vale, the Kingdom of Vacuo, the Kingdom of Mantle and the Kingdom of Mistral, against the Creatures of Grimm…."
"And where did these Grimm creatures come from?"
"We…. We don't know…. They just…. Appeared and attacked Humanity and Faunuses for as long as I can remember, as we all can remember, centuries actually. All we do know is that they're not natural, their bodies tend to disappear... Some legends say that Dark Gods created the Grimm, to be used as weapons in a war in the heavens, but one of their own betrayed them, and used the Grimm to kill the Dark Gods after that, this Fallen Dark God has sense used the Grimm to hunt Humanity and Faunus for reasons unknown."
'well that didn't get me anything... though, the legends seems... foretelling.' Herbert thought bitterly, but it was still something, with him mentioning the 'four kingdoms'. After all, it's always a clever idea to know any political goings on any planet, be they Federation member-worlds or lost colonies. So he asked them
"You mentioned the four kingdoms…. What are they? And for that matter, what Kingdom are we in?"
But before Nicholas could reply to him, Peter interrupted him and spoke out in a bombastic way
"The Kingdom of Vale! The greatest kingdom on Remnant!" of course Nicholas could only scoff at this, but Peter continued. "And the kingdoms are the four states that call Remnant home, and named after the cities they govern from, the City of Vale, the City of Mantle, the City of Vacuo and the City of Mistral"
'they sound more like city-states then nationstates' Herbert thought in confusion, both at the concept of these nations being named after their capitals and nature of it only being four. 'not nationstates are there…. Though I must admit, with those things…. It's kindof hard to have many nationstates like Earth once had.' But now he's more curious about the government these Kingdoms have, aside from monarchies that is, and he certainly didn't want to make assumptions.
"So, do we bow before a King or something if we actually revealed ourselves?"
This time it was Nicholas who answered in a very bored and unemotional way "we haven't had Kings or Queens for the past forty odd years now"
"Oh…. Then who governs the kingdoms?"
"Councils, Atlas is a bit…. Special case….. it's largely military but…. Well the councils are made up of nobles so….. things haven't really changed much sense the Great War…."
"The Great War?"
"a Global war that ended forty years ago, it created the councils and the Huntsmen academies"
"ah…. But…."
"didn't change much in the long run, yeah."
'Seems to be a repeating pattern' Herbert though, silence once more surround them, with only the crackingly of the fire and the wind making any sort of noise, with Herbert now thinking of anything else he could ask them but come with nothing, he sighs and gets up. 'well, I won't be able to get anything else from them' Herbert thought and spoke again
"I better head back to the village but…. I have one final question"
The two men looked at him, waiting for him to speak
"There's some ruins in the forest, but….. I can't help but feel something…. Bad….. like they're connected to something horrible that happened in the past somehow."
This apparently caught them a bit off guard, if the looks they had on their faces was any indication and how the two simply looked at each other before looking back at him.
"Yes…. The ruins…. Everyone feels that feeling you're describing, in fact…. Grimm seem to ignore this place a lot as well… maybe, it's the same reason why most people tend to stay clear of this place too…."
'interesting' Herbert thought once more, taking in the answer, getting up and grabbing his bag, and spoke again.
"Thanks for your time and…. Not shooting or stabbing me"
Peter laughed a bit at this joke but Nicholas only waved at him as Herbert left the camp.
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Hours passed again when he finally arrived at his ship again, if the morning sun was any indication. A full night's worth of walking and he could feel it. In his bones, muscles and his tired eyes. 'home sweet home' he thought as he walked into his ship and putting his bag down. 'I could sleep but…. I think I'll just do that when I get this ship into Hyperjump' he thought making his way to the cockpit. He sat down and took the controls, activating the vessel and moved the ship to leave the forest behind.
After an hour of travel, his ship finally escapes the planets' atmosphere, allowing him to control his ship in the direct he desires, flying it feather and feather away from the planet, while he put in the corradiated for a hyperjump. That is until his ship rocked hard causing him to look out the viewport and sees a small but extremely armed vessel appear before him, and from the looks of it…. It was a interceptor. "OH COME ON!" he yelled "Why this bullsh-"he was intercepted by a coms beeping on his ships computer. He stared at it, not wishing to answer, but, what other opinions does he have? He let out a deep sigh and answered it, a symbol appeared on the holoscreen, on that he knew enough about 'Xekelidoti Gnosi Corporation eh? What the hell do they want?' Herbert thought, and hopefully got his answer soon, but the symbol didn't disappear and a voice belonging to a man is heard "Land in the hanger…. We'll talk" 'vague much?' he thought in a snarky way, but did as he was told, flying the ship to the very heavily armed vessel's hanger. Once he lands the ship and exits the vessel, he saw that a two men waiting for him, the first was dressed in a white suit with a grey shirt and a green tie, with this was a lab coat of some kind and the other was dressed in a XGC security uniform, which was white with green on the shoulder, breast pockets and an equally Green metal-like shoulder pads-like. 'I'm guessing the guy in the white suit is some sort of admin.' Herbert thought, just as the man in the white suit spoke. "Please follow me" motioning him to following him, Herbert, looked at this in skepticism, but noticed how the rest of the XGC Security Guards were giving him looks, sighing, he did as the man said and followed him deeper into the ship.
For the next thirty minutes, he and the two men walked through the white hallways of the XGC ship, with only their footsteps being heard the entire time. Then, the man stopped, and motion for Herbert to walked into a room of some kind. Herbert eyed him a bit, but did so, walking into a dark room with a table and some chairs. Once the man entered, he motioned for Herbert to take a seat, and while he didn't like the look of this, he did, sitting on the chair at the other end, with the man taking a seat at the opposite side of the table, once he's sited, he cleared his throat and spoke.
"Sorry for the rather….. antagonistic feeling but I'm Dr. Siddharth DeGarmo, and your name?"
"I really don't trust you."
"Please, sir, we can make this meeting short or long, that's all up to you."
"Fine…. Herbert, Herbert Oscar Odds."
The man, Dr. Degarmo, gave a smile that Herbert didn't like one bit and spoke again "Pleasure to meet you Herbert…. Now…. What can you tell us about the planet you just came from?"
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"I'm telling you that's all I know, theirs's these things called Grimm and the people of the planet have no idea where they came from." Said Herbert, as he finally got to the end of what he knew. For whatever reason, this man, and indirectly the XGC, was very curious about the planet and wanted everything he knows about it.
Dr. Degarmo only raised an eyebrow at that, which Herbert knew was a bad sign. "And these things just appear out of nowhere and been causing hell for these people for centuries…. How is that even possible?"
"Well…. I did find some Odinian ruins…" that caused Dr. Degarmo's eyes to widen a bit "So maybe they had something to do with it."
"Hm…." Dr. Degarmo looked like he was thinking about something before looking at Herbert again. "Thank you, Herbert, but…. I'm afraid you can't leave from this point on…."
"WHAT! WHY!?"
"We don't want you to tell the Federation about this world, after all we own it…."
"I wasn't going to-"
"Oh please don't lie to us, we recognized any emblem of the Necrois Journeymen, Mr. Odds."
That caught Herbert off guard, 'how did they….' Before he could continue his thought, the security guard walked in with a pistol visible, then Dr. Degarmo spoke again
"So…. What's it going to be? You stay with us or we shot you…. Your choice."
'that's not a choice!' Herbert thought angerly, both at what the XGC is going to do with the planet and their threat. Yet…. He's not Rambo… he can't fight his way out of this, so, he talked again. "I'll stay….." His tone made it clear he did not like this one bit, but Dr. Degarmo either didn't notice, or just didn't care and replied "Good….. glad we…. Come to an agreement Mr. Odds."