A king's return
Chapter 2 learning.
Arthur stood in a small clearing in the woods a little after midnight. The shattered moon resting high in the sky over head lighting his surroundings for him. It has been about a week sense he joined the Arc family. In that time Arthur has come to understand things about this new world he found himself in. one being well the moon was shattered. Something that unsettled him to no end. The second thing he learned was the name of the world was Remnant.
It was an interesting thing that people had changed the name of the world from earth to remnant. He wondered if that had anything to do with the shattered moon. The third thing he learned was there where monsters that plagued the land known as creatures of Grimm. From what he could tell these Grimm where beasts born from darkness with the sole desire to kill human's. The fourth thing he learned was that there is a subspecies of human's known as Faunus.
It seemed these Faunus where a hybrid of human and animal. Something Arthur wasn't surprised by seeing as there were plenty of hybrid like creatures back during his time when he ruled Camelot. One of those hybrids was Merlin who was half human and half incubus. So with that knowledge all Arthur could assume is that over time more and more hybrids must have come to be and that is what led to the birth of these Faunus.
At least that was his theory but he wouldn't share it with others. With the knowledge he was gaining he had also decided he should investigate into what had happened to Jaune. The first thing that he decided to look into was what the shadow beast was that killed Jaune. From what he could read up on the creatures of Grimm all of which were of some sort of ancient beast, or at least in the form of an ancient beast.
One of the most common of these Grimm was a Beowulf, beast resembling the Lycanthropes of his era. The most notable difference being the names and how both creature acted. The Lycanthropes were purely nocturnal supposedly said to only appear on full moons, something Arthur knew would never happen in this current era. The second difference was that Lycanthropes where once human themselves having turned form into blood thirsty beasts by a curse.
The Beowulf's were not like that seeing as they were never human to begin with, at least says the book Arthur had read. Arthur could continue with his mental comparisons all night but that wasn't why he was out in the woods. He had seen the strange shadow beast in Jaune's memories allowing him to at least have some idea as to what he was hunting. The beast seemed to be some physical manifestation of mama being controlled by some unidentified being or person.
The only way such a thing was possible was through mage craft or true magic, both of which don't seem to be known in this world. Even with warriors like the Huntsman and Huntresses the world doesn't know of magic. This means that either someone is hiding it or it had died out to the point of almost non-existence. Both of which meant who ever had brought Arthur back wasn't going to be easy to find.
With a sigh Arthur decided he would think more on the subject later, for now though he will start on training his new body. Yes he was still the king of knights and yes he still remember all of the skills and techniques he learned when he was king, and yes he did have the power of a dragon but that meant nothing if he didn't have a body that could handle that power.
So far he knew he could control some of his original powers like his ability to control the "invisible air" (Bounded field of the wind king.) the sheath of wind he used to cover Excalibur and seal its power as well as to hide the sword from onlookers to help conceal his identity. It might not be needed now seeing as no one knew of Camelot or any of the other great kingdoms that once ruled.
But that didn't mean he would just up and forget about the power seeing as it was one of the most useful once he had. So over the past week he has been trying to control the "invisible air" as well as summon his armor and sword. The latter being far more difficult seeing as his body wasn't very used to letting prona flow through it to activate the magical circuits in his body.
Still he was able to manifest the armor and sword to an extent seeing as they could take form for a second but wouldn't last. He had decided it would be good to practice controlling the "invisible air" to get his body used to controlling mana and magecraft. Using focused wind mana was a difficult task for some but luckily Arthur had been trained by one of the greatest mages ever to live.
So when Arthur first tried using the "Invisible Air" it had worked fairly well allowing him to turn a fork he was holding invisible for a short time. The only thing was is he turned the fork invisible while he was having dinner with Jeremiah and the girls. Needless to say he had to answer some questions. All the girls began hounding him for answers as well as mentioned how cool it was while two of them threatened to kill him if he tried peeping on them.
With all that Arthur couldn't answer any of the question as he got lost in the wave of them that hit him. Luckily for him though Jeremiah came to his rescue stopping all the questions by explaining what it was. Something Arthur had first been shocked by when heard Jeremiah but it was pushed aside when Jeremiah went on to tell them about this power called aura.
Jeremiah explained that aura was the manifestation of a person's soul allowing them to defend against attacks that would normally be fatal as well as give them the ability to control something called a semblance. All of the information was very good to hear as he let Jeremiah explain more.
As he did Arthur decided it would be a good idea to learn more on the subject for when he needed to explain his powers in the future. After wards the old hunter told them that was why Jaune had survived the attack from that shadow beast saying that his aura had been forced to activate to save his life. He also said that was why his eyes were green as well.
That hadn't been the first time his eye color had been mentioned seeing as the first few days after showing up the girls had all asked why his eyes had turned green. In the beginning Arthur had no idea what to say but thanks to Jeremiah he finally gave an answer to that question. Still he knew that wasn't true. He knew because his eyes had always been green. Meaning that when he and Jaune had merged for lack of a better explanation his eyes had taken place of Jaune's.
He was grateful for Jeremiah to be able to help clear up some things with the girls, but he wondered why Jeremiah had waited so long before sharing the information. Arthur pushed the thoughts aside to continue with his training. He will need to get himself back to full strength if he was going to try and return Jaune back. He knew it would mean in his own death but he was fine with that if he could give the Arc family back their real son. And with that he began training in regaining his full power.
2 months later.
Arthur sat with Lily on a light blue bed and a book resting in his lap. He was reading her a story. But not just any story it was his story, at least the story of the king of knights. He told her he had decided to write her a story to read to her when she asked and began writing down his life story. It helped him with the change of being Arthur Pendragon to being Jaune Arc.
In doing so he found it easier to tell Lily his life story over just lie to her none stop. So in a why when he read her the story he was telling her who he was. While in reality she just thought it was a great fairy tale her brother made just for her. Even with that truth known he just wanted to believe his own little fantasy.
At times when he read to her he wondered if his life had been different and he wasn't the heir to the throne of Camelot would he and his sister Morgan's relationship have been like this. He would have enjoyed that as he would have had a proper relationship with his sister over what had truly happened. Still though when he had wrote the story for Lily he had made sure to keep all the gruesome parts of his history to make it more suitable for her.
He read her his story from beginning to end making sure to leave out any of the terrible acts he had done as well as the sins he committed as well as the truth behind the revolution saying it was by an evil witch who had corrupted the land. Some of which was true but he had left out the fact that the witch was his sister and the leader of the revolution was his own son. But still the story made Lily jump up in down in joy as she cheered for the king of knights.
It was nice to see her cheering and smiling at the story but he knew that with this false retailing all he was doing was building his own ego by making himself to look like a fairy tale hero. But he knew that the hero he had been was hated that the king he became was no longer human. It was just like Merlin had predicted he die a miserable death while resented by humanity.
All of it had come true, but Arthur didn't regret his decision's he knew that he made the right choice even if the outcome wasn't what he had wished for. He couldn't change his fate so he had resigned himself to it and was willing to let it be and if telling this girl a fantasized version of his life was wrong he didn't care because he was happy to let her believe that the great king of knights was indeed that, great.
"And with one finally swing of his sword the king of knights purged the land of all evil saving his kingdom."'
Arthur spoke reading the last lines of the story to Lily and closing the book. The young blonde girl just jumped up throwing her hands above her head with a woohoo. As she than jumped and hugged Arthur.
"That was such a good story Jaune."
She cheered him as she jumped back from her brother with a huge smile.
"The king of knights was so strong and cool!"
She squealed as she spun around pretending to be swinging a sword around as she began retail the parts she like from the story. This went on for a few minutes before Lily finally calmed down and fell into her brother's lap. She had her back against his chest as she let out a few laughs as she just rested on him.
Arthur didn't mind he found it nice to just be in the young girl's presence as she seemed to make him smile.
"I'm glad you liked the story so much."
He said wrapping his arms around her waist hugging her for a second. When he let go he lifted her up so he could stand.
"I am going out now you should get some rest ok."
He said with a smile kissing her on the top of the head and turned to leave only to stop when Lily reached out and grabbed his sleeve. He turned back to see her staring at him worriedly as she held him in place.
"Jaune are you ok?"
She asked as she tightened her hold on his sleeve. He was caught off guard by the act but quickly pushed the surprise away as he knelt down in front of her reaching up and patted her on the head.
"Don't worry Lily I am ok, there's nothing for you to be concerned about."
He leaned forward resting his forehead on hers causing her to blush some but she just closed her eyes and let him.
"So I won't loss you again right?"
She asked quietly not wanting to let the moment end. Arthur just let a small smile spread across his lips as he chuckled at her question.
"Don't you worry I give you my word that you will never lose me."
He said as he then pulled her into another hug. She gave her own hug back as she just smiled into the crook of his neck. She didn't know what happened but she knew that after the attack Jaune had changed but she was just happy to see that he was back and she could careless that he was different, she was just glade he was still with her.
"Thank you Jaune."
With that she broke the embrace and let her brother go. As Arthur let go of Lily he gave her one last kiss on the forehead then said good bye and walked out. As Arthur left Lily walked down the hall and down a set of stares as he looked at the walls with photos placed along them. He saw all seven of Jaune's sisters and Jaune in one photo on the left where Jaune had on what looked to be a dress. Something Arthur would have laughed had he not well been Jaune at the moment.
Still though he chuckled internally. As he looked at the photos across the wall he was surprised at every time he saw Jaune. It was odd seeing as he and Jaune look so similar to one another. Jaune was only just a little disheveled in comparison. If Arthur guess he bet he would have looked more like Jaune if he wasn't raised with noble blood.
It was quiet surprising. He pushed the thoughts away and simply continued on and out of the house passing by several of the girls who were sitting in front of the hearth letting its fire warm them. The three waved to him and he gave a nod in return and then continued to make his way out of the house. He was on his way to continue the training he had started 2 months earlier. In the beginning he worked on his physical improvement alongside letting his body get accustomed to using magecraft.
Even if he had a small understanding of it the magecraft he did know would be invaluable to him in the future. So after starting his training he had been surprised to find that Jaune wasn't as lacking in the muscles department seeing as he had the build of a square. It was a nice surprise seeing as it just meant Arthur would only had to continue on the normal training he had done when he was groomed to be king.
Which mean he had more time to work on his magecraft. So after the first month he had decided it would be a good idea to test himself against someone in battle to see how much he had improved. He went to Jeremiah asking him if he could help him training saying he never wanted to be so weak as to be caught off guard by the creatures of Grimm or another shadow beast.
Jeremiah had refused at first but thanks to Arthur's having been trained in persuasion he was able to convince Jeremiah to help him. So Jeremiah had set Arthur up with a wooden training sword while he took on a blunted wooden spear. The two set themselves up in the back yard in a large sad ring and took ready stance. Jeremiah had been caught off guard by Arthur when he saw him take a perfect stance. His legs spread shoulder length apart knees bent and sword held tight.
The stance was a standard stance that many swords men started with but it was also one of the most versatile being able to let the fighter shift their stance. After the fight Jeremiah had lost thanks to Arthurs having more experience and the "invisible air". Using it to turn the wooden sword invisible Arthur had gained the upper hand and defeated Jeremiah. While he said it was his semblance that let him beat Jeremiah in truth he knew it was his experience in combat that gave him the edge while he still wasn't at full strength he was still able to use all the skills and tactics he had learned in swordsmen ship to win.
After the fight Jeremiah had said he was very impressed with how well Arthur had done and would be more than willing to help him train more but only after he got the rust out so he could fight him at full strength. Now most would assume the old Hunter was only making and excuse as to why he lost but Arthur knew better as he could see when fighting Jeremiah that the man was having trouble taking certain attacks.
It was obvious the man hadn't been in a real fight for some time and his movements proved it along with the day after the fight Jeremiah stayed in bed because he was sore. It was pretty fun at first but Arthur choose to stay quiet and not let on that he was amused. So now after another month of training Arthur was going to continue with trying to summon his sword. He was capable of summoning his armor now but his sword was still difficult to summon. So as he continued on his way out of the house he went to the clearing in the woods just behind the house and continued to train.
With that his training would continue on like this till he was finally back to full to strength and he could start learning more about what had happened to him and Jaune. And when he at least had a better hold on his power he will start his search for answers. He had already started to search for some answers. So far all he's learned is he and Lily weren't the only ones to encounter a shadow beast.
With that he had found he needed to regain his powers quickly so he could investigate the matter.
3 months later.
Arthur stood at the edge of cliff just next to the bridge that connected the Arc house hold to the village of Eden. It was just a little after midnight as he stood inn his armor searching the edge of the cliff for any signs to help him understand. He was wearing his signature long blue and white coat with a full body chest piece on over it. His shoulder guards fanned out in the back over the back of his chest piece and held riveted pieces of flexible sheets of metal to help with movement reaching down to just above his elbows.
On his left arm he wore an elbow length bracer with a flexible elbow pad as well as wrist guard that reached down to his knuckles. Both hands had on armored gloves to protect his hands from strikes that might happen to graze them. His right arm had no other guard leaving the long laced weave running up it exposed till it reached his shoulder guard.
For his legs he wore some dark blue thick wool pants with full leg guard that ran up from his armored feet to his thighs covering them in the front completely while his calf's where housed in the shin guard front and back. At his waist he had on an armor belt with some tassets hanging down them to shield his waist and hips.
At his collar he had on an attachable hood that hung down his back connecting at the front with an extra armor piece with leather straps growing under his arms and around his sides to reach up at his back connecting the whole thing. As he was fully geared up he just reached over to check on his left bracers straps and then looked down the edge of the cliff.
'This is the first place those shadow beast were sighted meaning they must have originated from somewhere down stream, and followed it till they got into the village.' He thought as he looked up and down the river using some magecraft to enhance his sight. There was little to see other than the fact that the river had been frozen over. He turned to his left and decided if he was going to investigate anything he should follow the river down to the lake that was feeding it and see what he could find.
He slowly began his trek through the dark woods in search of the one behind the shadow beast as well as the one who was kidnapping villagers. The walk began with little difficulties as he walked for about half an hour before he came upon a small dam that connected to the outer defense walls of the village that the people used as a scouting post so they could warn the village if Grimm attacked.
Now Arthur would have just decided to sneak past as to now alert the guards of his presence but when he moved to find a different point to cross the wall he noticed something odd. Back when Camelot was under siege he would make sure the watchmen would always have two posted on a watch tower with a horn to blow to warn them of attack. Now this was a normal procedure all castle or village guard had adopted to defend their homes.
But here at this damn there were no guards or watchmen. Arthur swept his gaze over the top of the top of the damn and wall to look for anyone manning it only to find nothing. 'This isn't right.' He thought as he lowered himself and slowly made his way through the brush and towards the dam. As he quietly made his way towards the wall he was glade that they had let the brush and trees grow so close to it on the inside making his approach all the more difficult to see.
As he reached the wall of the 20 foot dam he slowed and looked around again for signs of anyone nearby. He felt even more cautious than ever at the fact that the wall was so quiet as well as the fact no one was around. He turned his gaze back up the wall to see if he could see the movement of lanterns or any other light at the top of the wall only to find nothing.
He then turned to look at the entrance to the damn to his left where a dam control room stood connecting to the wall. He could see that there were lights on inside the control room but no movement, either the men were sleeping or they were just so good at their job they never needed to move to make sure the dam was working. He then turned back to look up the wall again for one final check of movement and then controlled the "invisible air" at his feet and jumped easily making his way to the top of the wall.
As made it over the wall he used the "invisible air" again to let him land quietly with no sound. He crouch on the wall and looked up and down it for any sign of movement of someone that might have been hiding up her waiting. When he was certain no one was up there he slowly began to make his way towards the stairs that lead down into the dam control room. As he moved he made sure to check his back as to not let anyone sneak up on him if they were there.
When he reached the stairs he leaned down into a crouch as he stared down the stairs as they lead to a short hall with ended with a door on the left side leading into the control room. He could see the lights of the room shining through the window in the door but he also saw that there was a discoloration to the light as it got darker at the bottom of the small window. That gave him cause for his caution as he focused his mana to his right and summoned his sword. His sword formed in his hand concealed by the "invisible air" letting him keep the weapon hidden in this low light environment.
No one would notice the shift in the air around his hand in the dark so no one would be able to tale he was armed. Yes an underhanded move for a knight to take to hide their weapon but Arthur had cause for his caution so he felt it was the best course of action. He then slowly made his way down the stairs into the inner working of the wall and dam. As he made his way done the stairs slowly the closer he got to the bottom the more a stench filled the air.
It was a bitter stench leaving a sweet taste to the air. He knew that it was the smell of blood and corpses right away having come familiar with the smell back during his time at war. As he reached the bottom the stench had become so great he had almost thought he was back on the battle fields of old. He slowly made his way to the door and prepared to open it. He cautiously reached out gripping the handle of the door and turned the handle slowly. The moment her felt it give and he could push the door open he gave one strong push causing the door to swing open at lighting speeds crashing into the wall.
He paused just out of the frame of the door sword ready in case there was someone or something inside. He waited for several minutes before finally looking in. what he saw inside was just what he had expected. Corpses of at least ten different men all of which were severely decayed. Blood that had been splatted on the walls had long since dried a dark coppery red. The corpses all looked like they had been sitting in the room for months. Dark colorless skin, eyes sunken and bones exposed from wounds that had killed the men.
Arthur dispelled his sword and moved into the room to examine the corpses. He moved to the closest one to him which was that of a man in a chair who had a gun resting on the ground next to him with his severed hand still holding it. Arthur knelt down to look at the appendage to see how it had been removed. He lifted the hand shifting it in his own looking at the wrist where it had been severed at to see it was that of a clean cut that had removed the man's hand.
Arthur set the hand back on the ground and then looked up to the corpse in the chair before him. The corpse looked like it had had its chest ripped open. Arthur was intrigued with this seeing as the man's hand was removed by a blade of some sort. He reached up putting his hand into the chest where a fist size hole was, to feel around to see what he could find inside only to find nothing. He removed his hand from the corpse's chest flicking away the remnants of blood that covered it as he then began examining the ribs.
He could see that the ribs had been ripped out and broken but what surprised him was the fact that the ribs looked to have been broken from the inside. He then looked up at the man's neck he could see that the man had had his throat slit from ear to ear. A deep cut clean and well placed. This unsettled him. He looked over the corpse again looking for any more details he may have missed when he noticed something odd along the ribs that had fallen to the floor.
Arthur reached down and picked up the pieces of ribs to find something that made his stomach flip. There where bite marks along the pieces of ribs that he was holding and they weren't bite marks from an animal. They were human bight marks. He dropped the pieces of ribs and quickly began to examine the other corpses in the room. He found the same marks on all the corpses. Indentations of teeth covered the corpses meaning that someone had come in to this room and killed all these men and then ate their innards. The mere thought of such a think sickened Arthur to no end as he looked over the corpses again.
'What is happening to this world?' He thought as he turned and left the room quickly. As he made his way up the stairs back to the top of the dam, he walked to the edge of the wall and looked out over the landscape that the wall protected Eden from. He panned his gaze over the horizon searching for anything as he tried to understand what was going on. With one final look he grit his teeth and balled his hands into fists as he stared out over the land.
'I will find my answers and kill whoever did this!' he thought darkly as he turned away and jumped back off the dam and began to make his way back to the Arc household. As he disappeared into the woods a shadow began to take form on the top of the dam. A white skull mask formed in the center of the shadow as its figure took form and stared at Arthur as he left.
A sick chuckle rang out like the sound of bones rattling from the figure as it leaned over the wall and looked watched Arthur leave.
"I found one." The figures sickly voice came as it shook in its place lifting a decrepit thin arm out from the shadow and held the bone mask in its hand as it laughed.
"I look forward to having your heart." The figure spoke again as it than faded into shadows without a trace.
End.
AN/ Yeah new chapter done. Please leave a review. Fav and follow if you wish too.