Unblinded eyes I finally can see
The deceptive evil of our sin
With our victory there is no guarantee
That peace will ever be ours again
Until we're allowed to be free
Break the chains that bind us harshly... yeah
Bleed out the poisonous body
Torturously heal me violently... again
Until we're allowed to be free
Stretch out your hand further... yeah
Shout out our final decree
To break the tower and save our land...
Dust & Sand excerpt (Ghosts of Babel)
Chapter 3 - A Tale of Two Worlds
Trying to swim in a world of darkness. That is what it felt like for Blake Belladonna. There was no up or down; nor sight or sound. She was adrift in the blackened abyss and couldn't find her way out. Her memory also was shrouded in mystery. How did she get here and why did she come? Furthermore, how was she going to find her way back?
She tried calling out yet found her voice taken from her. She was completely helpless in the void. As she had nothing better to do due to the vast nothingness; she thought back to the last moments she could remember.
It all started in Vale she recalled. She met with two people who she knew well; one in particular she seemed to think of fondly. Then there was this marble and stone building. It might of been a prison; ok she wasn't for sure that it was a prison; but it sure looked like a place to harbor criminals with its' imposing fascade.
Now her mind skips to inside this building. She looks around and sees these weird men and young girls fighting. She recognizes the girls as people she knew yet couldn't remember their names.
Now there are two men that look the opposite of each other. Yet she could tell that they shared the same soul. All these memories made no sense what so ever to her yet somewhere deep in her mind she knew that they should.
Yet all of a sudden her right hand felt warm as if someone was holding it in an embrace. Now she could hear a soft noise coming from somewhere. She turned in every direction trying to figure out where it was coming from till finally she could pick up a single word, 'Blake'.
She walked towards the direction of where she thought it was coming from and felt her hand get warmer and warmer with each step. As she continued; her body became lighter and it seemed the darkness began to subside. Without even realizing it, the warmth in her body began to spread up her arm and across the rest of her body. Part of her was shocked that she didn't even realize how cold she was, while the other part tried to deduce what it all meant.
Eventually she began to recall everything that led up to her being there. There was trouble at the museum? Yes it was a museum not a jail. The men there were faunus; yet didn't look like they belonged to the White Fang. They were after something that was on display. She tried to stop them. She was... she was stabbed in the back. She barely moved out of the way from having her spine pierced. There were others there trying to stop these men. The girls... the girls there were her teammates, Ruby, Yang, and Weiss. And there was a boy there; a boy with sandy blonde hair and a monkey tail. "SUN!"
As she shouted his name the world went white around her and she felt herself lift into the air like a leaf on the wind...
Beacon Academy Medical Center
Blakes' eyes hurt like hell as she slowly forced her eyelids to open. Around her sights and sounds pummeled her senses. In her groggy state; she recognized multiple shapes surrounding her as she lay flat on her back. Slowly but surely the blurry shapes and colors began to come into focus and she realized that her entire team surrounded her bedside. Her ears began to pick up garbled noises that slowly began making sense as she began to grasp her surroundings.
" Blake... Blake can you hear us?" One of the shapes said. Her cat ears twitched a bit as she began to shake off the last of the disorientation.
" Yeah... Yes I can hear you? Where am I?" Blakes' eyes finally could focus enough to make out all three of her team mates clearly. All three looked a bit worse for wear with bandages and bruises dotting their bodies.
A voice from behind the girls piped in sharply startling the girls. " You are in the Beacon Medical Center. You took a nasty blade stab into your stomache. It is actually amazing that nothing vital was it. Even so; it was touch and go for a long time due to your substantial blood loss. If it wasn't for the quick thinking of Jace; you would of died."
The girls parted as they turned towards the chair behind them letting Blake get a good look at Professor Ozpin; who was casually sipping coffee from his mug. Blake let his words sink in for second until she noticed a name she never heard before. " Professor, who is Jace?"
A voice from outside the room chimed in quickly. " I'm Jace. More precisely, my name is Haven Jace, second in command of the fourty second reconnisence and reclamation division of New Roma." A man of medium build wearing tan military fatigues; walked in with a quick pace and gave Blake an unknown salute. On each hip he wore the most particular pistols and multiple pouches on his belt around his waist. What was even most particular was his long bushy wolf tail and wolf ears. " And as second in command of my division; I would like to apologize to you personally for all the injuries that you have suffered due to our negligence."
Blake looked deep into his eyes and saw his deep regret. Even through his tough exterior and weather worn appearance; he did hold deep sorrow about everything. " It's ok. We're huntresses in training; we accept that injury is a part of the job. I just hope the man that saved me is ok."
Jace had a look of shock on his face as he heard her worried about his commander more than her current situation. " Um... I... Uh... My commander. Gideon Nacatyl is completely fine save for a few cuts and bruises. Unfortunately he is currently in talks with one of your leaders. His name was Ironwood wasn't it?"
" One thing at a time Jace. I believe miss Belladonna should hear as to what she is now a part of before we get too in depth." Ozpins' words caught her off guard for a second until she realized that something cold and heavy was on her right arm. It looked like a bone white bracer with multiple markings carved deep into it.
" Upon your arm now rests the lost artifact 'Titania's Call'. It is and old and ancient weapon created back before the collapse of the last great faunus city; Babel." Jaces' words were so cold and impassionate that it originally took the girl off guard. " The men that you fought in that building you call a museum were after it."
" Wait wait... Did you say Babel? That's not possible; Babel was just a rumor." Blakes ears perked up when she heard him talk about Babel. She recognized the name from her book Dust & Sand as being the main city where it took place. She then remembered that the word Titania was also found in the book. " Also wasn't Titania some kind of immortal goddess who ruled as queen of Babel?"
" I am glad to see that the stories that were told of your infatuation with the book Dust & Sand turned out to be true. Will make explaining everything to you a bit easier." A slight smile crossed his face. " The book is a stylized version of Babels' rise and fall. Most of the things written in the book are quite accurate. More to the point; you now are the unwilling owner of one of the more chaotic weapons of that time."
This time Ruby cut in asking for an explanation. " It doesn't look like its' so dangerous. Why such the worry?"
" The main use for the bracer was as an activation key for long lost massive war golems called Titans; named after Titania herself. Unfortunately the bracer has an unfortunate side effect that calls all the monsters you call Grimm towards it like a beacon." Jaces' face turned to worry as he turned to Ozpin.
" At this moment a swarm of Grimm are gathering around Vale and have begun marching towards Beacon as we speak. Multiple teams have gone out already in order to quell as many of their number as possible. All the other kingdoms have sent as many of their trained teams to assist along with the Atlas air fleet. Even with all this help; as it stands now both Vale and Beacon will be over run by Grimm within the week." It was rare that Ozpin showed this much worry, which just heightened Blakes grasp of the situation. " Which now leads to our current problem."
Jace turned back to face her before explaining. " There are two ways to stop the bracer. One, the wearer of the bracer must die. Then said bracer would disconnect itself from the wearer so a new one could claim it. Two, it must be opened with the Word of Titania; basically it's a way to unbond any unfortunate soul from any of Titanias' Ramient. Which unfortunately leads us to our second problem."
" Second problem? What's worse than a horde of Grimm coming to kill us all?" Ruby turned towards Jace with a worried expression on her face.
" The Word is located in our capitol city and they are not too fond of visitors." Jace lowered his head towards Blake.
Even before he finished speaking; Blake had already decided on trying the second option. A part of it had to do with her not wanting to lose an arm while a vast majority was due to her actually wanting to see a faunus city with her own eyes. " If it is no to much to ask; I would like to accompany you back to your capitol city in order to get this bracer removed."
" No." A new voice startled everyone and caused everyone in the room to turn towards the door. In the doorway stood a black spikey haired man with a greyish black lions tail with a dark black patch of fur at the tip. He also wore the same style of fatigues as Jace; but had a long sword on his back.
" Gideon... I." Jace had a look of fear on his face as he tried to talk to Gideon.
Gideon let out a low sigh as he thumb and index finger at the bridge of his nose. " Jace I know you have good intentions but you also must consider all the consequences of your actions before speaking."
" Sir, with all due respect, I can not ask this girl to give up her arm so easily when there is another option that should be considered." Both men stood their ground and locked their eyes on each other. A pregnant pause filled the room as both men sized each other up in case it came to blows.
Gideon glanced over at all the girls in the room and took note of their determined faces and let out another sigh. " We leave tommorrow at dawn. Jace if this goes tits up then it's your ass."
Gideon turned and left before another word could be said about it. " Well he seemed very pleasant." Everyone turned towards Blake due to her comment. Everyone knew that she meant it sarcastically; but something about Gideon in general just irked something deep inside of each of them.
Ozpin stood up and walked towards Blakes' hospital bed. " You all need to get ready for the journey ahead. And you miss Belladonna should get a bit more rest. You will need your stregnth for the challenges that lay ahead."
Without another word both him and Jace left the room.
Blake contemplated to herself in a moment of silence of their departure, ' Tommorrow is the day that I will see the faunus kingdom.'