Cinder turns away from the deceased boy and takes a few steps toward the castle, having decided to leave his eyelids open and exposed to the elements. Something feels wrong. A quick turn back around reveals that nobody is there, and all she can see is smoke, fire, and the body of a dead kid. Strange chilling sensations run down her spine despite the hot air around her and goosebumps cover her arms. Cinder rubs her arms furiously to rid her skin of the annoying bumps and turns away from the dead boy for the last time.
"Chaos" is the only way to describe the scene on the main road, and it's the first word Cinder thinks of when she turns a corner and witnesses her many hours of planning finally taking place in the real world. The second word she thinks of is "beautiful."
Retrieving her double glass swords from her hip, Cinder finds her gaze floating back up towards the green light in the tower. For the third time, a small shadow crosses through the windows but is gone so quickly that Cinder isn't even sure she saw it this time. What is he planning? She thinks to herself, forcing her gaze back down to the scene unfolding around her.
Fire has spread along the main road now, enveloping a majority of the homes and shop buildings that line the streets. There are no citizens left, and the only things in the street are dead bodies, evaporating Grimm, and sizzling burnt rubble. The smell of blood mixes with the stench of smoke, creating an atmosphere that feels thick like syrup. The army had converged to the main road and intercepted the largest forces of huntsmen some time ago, Cinder guesses. She's just about to join in and lead her followers when a Griffon Grimm dives for her from the sky.
It comes at her with amazing speed, but Cinder is faster. She backflips out of the way from where the Griffon is aiming, and when she comes out of the flip and stands up again the creature is staring her in the face. It jumps at her with it's mouth wide open, but a quick slash with one of the glass swords beheads the creature. Its sizzling and evaporating body skids across the ground, eventually coming to stop for a brief moment before it's completely gone. It's as if it had never existed.
Something's wrong. Cinder's head is suddenly full of the short sentence repeating itself over and over, and Cinder even finds her vision blurry for a moment before she shakes her head violently and focuses back on the terror around her. Even though the frustrating mantra is gone, she still feels like something - a partially concealed presence, perhaps - is lurking around.
A loud roar erupts from up ahead, and Cinder sees a second wave of huntsmen emerge from the shadows of vacated buildings. She notices two things. Immediately, Cinder first notices that the group is rather small, and she smirks to herself, knowing that Ozpin's pathetic army is already on its last legs. But the second realization comes a split moment later, when some of the taller huntsmen begin to take off in different directions, revealing what is behind them.
Children. The word flashes through Cinder's consciousness like a bolt of lightning, striking her every sense and fiber of her body. Ozpin's students. That is the only explanation for the group of youths charging at the invaders, weapons drawn and mouths open with shouts. Cinder almost feels relieved, but for what exactly, she doesn't know. A teenager not much older than the boy she had murdered just minutes earlier lunges at her, a golden colored arrow already flying at her from his golden bow. Cinder's reaction time is slow but she leaps back from the line of damage and watches the arrow tear through the air where she had been not a split second before.
The boy desperately reaches for another arrow, choosing to not get too close to Cinder, but in that time Cinder lunges at him, fire trickling out of her fingers. I've had enough of this already. She reaches the boy before the arrow is locked into his bow and swings a fiery punch straight up into his lower jaw. His body is shot back several feet and he skids to a stop against the cobblestone. Cinder turns away from him without another glance, and continues marching toward the castle. Nobody attempts to attack her.
Now ignoring all the unimportant distractions around her, Cinder turns and crouches inside an alleyway between two stone buildings to assess her group's progress. She estimates that by now, about half of Vale's buildings should be destroyed and a majority of Ozpin's pathetic forces depleted. She can't see the green tower from her position, but she imagines that the devilish shadow still stands within it.
A burst of red suddenly engulfs Cinder's surroundings and her body becomes encased in a deep black color. Cinder only has a brief moment to grunt annoyedly to herself before it's gone and an injured huntress collapses near the entrance to the alleway.
The woman has striking black hair and blue eyes, but what Cinder notices first is the saturated blue glow of her aura surrounding her left leg; or, what's left of it. A short stump remains where her leg had been only moments before. Her eyes slowly shut, but the view is blocked by two figures who jump into the alleyway with Cinder.
Adam and his cat girl friend, the name of which Cinder never bothered learning, put their backs to the wall and breathe heavily. Cinder can tell that the pair knows Cinder is standing there as well, but none of the three acknowledge each other. Adam was not one for conversation and the faunus girl had never looked trustworthy or loyal enough to even introduce one's self to. Cinder briefly wonders why she's even here.
Soon Adam and the girl exit the alleyway, leaving Cinder alone again. For the first time, she looks towards the other end of the alleyway. It points vaguely in the direction of the castle and seems to lead to a completely deserted street. Cinder decides that the rest of her mission would be best done alone, and she takes off running.
The road and buildings on it are completely deserted and mostly intact, as the original route of invasion had ignored this street completely. The green tower appears closer now, and Cinder follows the road in that direction, keeping her eyes on the glowing light and looking for who, or what, could have been standing there before.
The road dead-ends into a circular clearing, which looks like it could have held a market or large gathering party in its better days. It is eerily quiet back here, and Cinder almost has to strain her ears to make sure the invasion is still proceeding. The cobblestone and the buildings almost melt together in their gray, monotone appearance. The only thing that stands out is a marvelous white statue of a winged woman that stands in the middle of a fountain; her facial features are soft but strong - her pose welcoming but authoritative. The sight makes Cinder feel at ease.
Blindness. It's the first thing Cinder's body registers. But it's not dark, it's actually the brightest white Cinder's ever experienced, and it fills her vision. She even closes her eyes but it does nothing.
Pain is the second thing Cinder feels. Her body is on fire. It feels like someone is peeling the meat off her bones. Cinder's arms clutch themselves in a frivolous attempt to protect herself. Her head begins to throb with pain from the brightness that she can't escape.
Cinder's legs give from beneath her and her face slams into the hard, stone ground. For the first time in a long time, Cinder is afraid. Afraid that the mission would fail without her. Afraid that if she survives, she'll be punished.
Afraid that she'll die.
This is the beginning of the end. Cinder gathers up all her strength as she remembers the daunting words spoken to her not long before the invasion.
I thought you were the girl who wanted power. She did. She does.
Did you lie to me?
"NO!" Cinder lets out the loudest scream in her entire life, and using what limited power she has, sends a fiery projectile in the general direction of the light source.
Everything goes quiet and for a moment Cinder thinks she really is dead. That is, until the white light begins to fade and the agonizing pain on her skin retreats back to whatever cavern of hell it came from. Cinder grasps at her face with her trembling hands to make sure everything is intact, but is stopped mid-motion when her vision returns and she sees the scene in front of her.
Directly above the statue of the winged woman floats another woman shroud in a hooded white cloak. More of that devilish white light appears to seep out from her eyes, and with a terrified feeling Cinder remembers. Remembers what she is. A silver-eyed warrior. Several moments pass and Cinder can do nothing but stare at the woman. She has short, dark hair and wears a simple black outfit under her white cloak. Around Cinder's age, the woman looks as if she's been fighting for decades. Her hair and clothing billow in the smoky wind but her gaze is stoic and unmoving.
When the woman's eyes begin to fill up with light, Cinder's body seems to move of its own accord, making her stand and ready herself for battle. It's seemingly all for nothing, however, because as soon as she is on her feet, a lightning fast bolt of light hits Cinder square in the chest, sending her flying backwards into a stone wall. The stones crack beneath the pressure and Cinder's head is bashed against the hard surface. As the light disappears, Cinder catches her breath and looks around for some type of diversion to buy her time.
She sends a dense projectile at the winged sculpture in the fountain, shattering the intricately carved stone and sending its shards flying in every direction. The fountain's water source is disrupted as well and water shoots up into the air. The water, shards of stone, and smoke drifting through the air cover the floating attacker and for a moment she is invisible.
In "life or death mode," Cinder turns to the nearest glass window and breaks it her her hand, causing it to shatter into several razor-sharp pieces. She activates her semblance for the first time in awhile, sending the glass pieces into a frenzied dance around her. As the white woman comes back into view from the cloud of debris, Cinder launches the glass at her opponent at frightening speeds.
However, only a few pieces hit the woman, as she slowly rises higher in the air and the light around her grows brighter. Fierce tongues of it leap out of her eyes and Cinder barely counters it with a less than effective burst of fire. The two substances clash in the air, creating sparks and hissing noises, but the white quickly overpowers the orange. Before Cinder can leap out of the way, some of it grazes her shoulder. She thinks she hears her own skin sizzle as it happens, but she also hears one more thing: shattering glass.
Not missing a beat, Cinder uses her semblance again and creates a large ball of glass above her head. It's immediately sent flying at the hovering woman who attempts to counter with a blast of white light; anticipating this move, Cinder keeps the shards moving and most of them actually make contact with the woman. The woman is surprised the the projectiles actually hit her, and the combination of that surprise and the force of the attack sends her toppling to the ground on the opposite side of the courtyard.
Where is everyone? A quick glance at her surroundings tells Cinder that nobody is around besides her and her opponent. Even the air feels thinner, as if there is less smoke, and the sky's blood-orange tint seems to have faded. Is it failing? Why isn't anyone helping me?
Before the silver-eyed warrior picks herself up from the ground, Cinder picks up pieces of debris from the ground around her and throws them at every glass window she can find. She breaks the last one just as the other woman begins to get up. As fast as she can, Cinder gathers the glass around her, pleased with the large amount, and forms them into deadly sharp arrows. She loads them all at once into her bow, formed from the two glass swords at her hip joined together.
Cinder lets the arrows fly, knowing that they all won't just crowd together by flying in the same direction. Using her semblance once again, she sends them in a variety of directions, and saves a few for a surprise attack. The woman can't dodge all of them, much to Cinder's delight; about a third of them make contact and the others are decimated by well-timed bursts of white light. It's only then Cinder realizes she's been making a bad mistake.
Dammit! She's used her semblance too much, and at this point her aura is likely to be depleted enough to leave her vulnerable. I better use those extra arrows soon.... She briefly wonders how much aura her opponent has left, but her train of thought is cut off when something unimaginable happens.
The silver-eyed warrior begins to form something in her hand. Light pours out from her eyes and down her arm, and she begins to levitate again. Cinder watches with horror as the new figure begins to take shape.
A... scythe? It's gigantic, the main blade even larger than a Griffon. It glows with such ferocity that Cinder feels afraid again. The woman wields it in her left hand, holding it by its thin snath; it looked so fragile. If the weapon were real and physical, it would fall apart before getting to be used.
Cinder assumes that the creation of this weapon signals a coming end to the battle. Keeping her burning gaze locked with the other's steely and luminous one, Cinder sends the last few arrows from the shadows whistling through the air. They make contact, but shatter almost immediately upon contact with aura into thousands of glistening pieces that almost look like stars in the night sky.
But as these pieces fall, something else begins to move: the scythe. The blade is raised into the air in a backswing, creating contrast between the stark white of the weapon and the dark night sky. Cinder registers its every movement, but finds it difficult to decide what to do.
Do I run? Do I fight? Cinder knows that her power is limited, and she mentally curses the huntsman that had interrupted the fight that fateful day. But even considering her condition, Cinder finds that she can't run away. She tries to move, tries to turn away, but her focus stays solely on the spectacle in front of her. Is this some kind of mind trick? If only Emerald were here...
The scythe pauses at the end of its backwards trajectory, and Cinder knows her only option is to fight. There's nothing she could do at this point besides use whatever she has left, so that's exactly what she does.
If anyone had been watching what happened next, had they blinked, it would have been over. But for Cinder, it felt like an eternity of hell. The scythe flew through the air at an agonizingly slow pace, headed directly for Cinder's torso. A dense ball of flame formed in Cinder's hand.
The weapon inched closer. The fire grew stronger.
Still too weak. But there was nothing else to do.
As the scythe blade reached Cinder's body, she sent what she believed was the strongest attack she could muster soaring out of her right palm. She didn't get to see if it made contact, however.
Her vision had already gone white.