The Shadow of Fire
Chapter 49: Rebellion
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Two Weeks Later
Community District, Vale
Hunger.
Weiss, as a famed and rich heiress, wasn't used to the feeling of her stomach hissing at her like a stray cat. The aching sores of her body craving any form of relief barraged her like a plague.
Normally, she would have just had Ruby or Orion or any of the other Gods on her friend-list to conjure up a nice dinner, maybe a fine ice cream for dessert. However, things weren't as lucky, as her luck would have it.
Dagonus, as far as Weiss knew, must have done something to the world. Somehow, all of the "good" Gods were severely weakened upon the final fight above Vale. The most Ruby could do is spawn food for herself; a half of a cookie, maybe some day old water, the works. Weiss didn't understand how a God would suddenly need to eat food to actually survive, but Weiss had her suspicion that it was related to their loss of power.
Weiss ducked behind a dumpster, wearing a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt, both stained with muck and other mysterious colors. Her eyes looked horrible, having only slept a few hours last night due to the patrols of Dagonus's hellish soldiers. The black and grey bags beneath her light blue orbs were clearly visible, and obvious indicator of her new lot in life.
Weiss looked up to the sky above, spotting the silver disk hovering above the city.
'Oh right.' Weiss thought with a sigh of stupidity. 'That has to be the issue.'
Said disk was a satellite to the entire city, acting as a command base for the God of Deaths' forces. Since it appeared, the Gods below, the good Gods, have lost most of their divine powers. Weiss was quick to blame the object to become her target of hatred, but a ton of random thing have happened in the time it appeared.
Weiss rubbed her sore back, grunting in pain. The impact with the railing on the Maelstrom had indeed hurt her skull, but the aftermath of that must have been worse.
When Blake and Lucas found her in the wreckage, Weiss was bleeding profoundly. A metal pole, about six feet long and a few inches wide, was impaled deep into her chest. Her spine has taken quite the beating, as it was nearly shattered. But luckily, she was alive.
The broken girl checked to see if the coast was clear before running across the street towards a large café she had once known.
Ding
The bell to the front door chimed as all of the patrons turned their heads to face the new arrival.
This was another random thing: Vales citizens.
Weiss had thought originally that Dagonus was on a quest to purge Vale and level it. What she didn't know, or understand at the time, is that he only wanted the military and political offices gone for himself to take control.
Weiss scanned the café for any sign of a threat before her eyes rested on the tv above a fireplace.
Weiss's heartbeat sped quickly as a photo of herself appeared on the plasma television screen, along with the warrant and bounty for her arrest or death.
Weiss felt a tad upset that she wasn't worth 15 million lien, only 10. While it honestly wasn't a good thing in any form of light, Weiss's adamant nature shined through every day.
The owner, or co-owner of the café walked out from his back room, brandishing a heavy chrome shotgun.
"Now everyone." The man said with a semi-friendly tone. "Is anyone here going to, I dunno... expose this girl to the authorities?"
The man cocked the shotgun, looking towards the rapidly shaking faces.
"Good." Mark Shadow said with a nod in acceptance, hooking the weapon to a clip on his back. "Miss Schnee, please come here, you look like trash."
"I feel like it too..." Weiss muttered as all the eyes left her to focus on eating without a shotgun shell involved.
"Here." Mark said as he helped Weiss up onto the bar stool seat, pushing the menus aside to speak to her. "You are quite popular today, huh?"
"I suppose." Weiss sighed as she felt sick to her stomach from lack of nutrition. The menus had falling open on the side of the bar, displaying dozens of cake related materials.
Weiss stomach audibly growled, enough for the restaurant owner to hear easily.
"Here." Mark pushed a plate of red velvet cake to the girl before him, smiling as her eyes grew wide with shock.
"F-for me...?" Weiss was hesitant, as she was on edge about others.
"Of course. Since David Intent left town, I've been in charge of the whole works here. Eat as much as you'd like." The older man smiled as Weiss went to town on the tasty dessert before her.
Within 34 seconds, the entire slice of cake was devoured by the Schnee, allowing a light chuckle to escape Mark's smirk.
"Someone is a little bit hungry." The café owner teased as Weiss dabbed her lips with a plain handkerchief which she produced from her jeans.
"Erm... Sorry. I haven't eaten in a while..." Weiss sighed in defeat as more news reports came in across Vale, calling for Weiss and her friends to turn themselves in to Dagonus.
"I bet. These have been playing off and on throughout the week. They seem desperate to find you." Mark commented on the whole situation, gesturing to the mounted television.
"Well, they certainly have us cornered." Weiss admitted as Mark shooed away some man nearby who had been trying to listen in.
"How so?" Mark questioned.
"That disk in the sky? The second it showed up, my... friends abilities were blocked in a sense. Now we are low on food, clothing, water... you see where I am going." Weiss spoke in a wounded tone, as if the idea of listing all of the issues before her was akin to stabbing her with a rusty blade over and over. "You all seem to be fairing well."
"Well... I suppose. The power shift to Lord Dagonus has been... interesting, to say the least." Mark expressed as he took a sip of a coffee mug. "Business is normal as ever, just a few slips off and on with some people fearing the end of the world."
"I could see that happening. Dagonus isn't exactly a great leader from what I've seen and heard lately. More like a dictatorship than a monarchy." Weiss argued as Mark shrugged.
"Perhaps. Yet Grimm attacks have actually decreased tenfold." Mark explained. "I'm just mixed on this whole take over. It doesn't affect me that much. But, I can see that it have been horrible on you."
The café owner lifted up the latch on the counter, opening a small door to let Weiss pass through behind the bar.
"Come." Mark said with a hand gesture to follow. "I have something for you."
Weiss tilted her head as she followed as instructed, noticing several workers there whom she had met once or twice before. Everyone seemed to be happy to see her, some offering a wave or a nod in approval as she followed Mark to a large white van.
"This is my pride and joy. Old Keller I call it." Mark announced as he pat the drivers door of the van. "It's usually for transporting materials for catering events, but today she's gonna be used right."
Mark lifted up the grey metal shades on the back of the van, revealing a empty compartment.
"Pick anything you want from this room. We can put it in Old Keller and I'll take you where you can get food to your friends." Mark offered as he automatically lifted up a large, plastic, green mesh crate of apples into the white van, pushing them towards the very back as he helped Weiss pick what might be helpful.
"That oughta be enough for a good while." Mark noted as he lugged one last case of water into the van, pulling down and locking the shades in one swift motion. "So, where are all you guys set up?"
"Um..." Weiss thought as she looked around the room with a seemingly clueless look upon her pale face.
"What's wrong?" Mark questioned as he leaned on the van for support.
"Nothing..." Weiss lied.
Weiss, deep down, hated having to depend on someone for help. However, she hated the idea of placing someone completely innocent into a zone where they could be harmed, or even worse, killed, more so.
"You are worried that the kings guard will come after me?" Mark figured to Weiss's dismay, forcing her to let out a sigh of confirmation.
"Listen." Mark began as he adjusted his black apron. "I've been in a lot of conflicts over the years, so I'm not new to this sort of thing."
Weiss blinked. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"It's nothing. Just something from my past is all. I'll be fine, don't worry." Mark comforted Weiss.
Weiss slowly accepted and nodded to his offer of help, slowly climbing into the passenger side door and onto the brown leather seats inside.
"So." Mark climbed in and started the engine, pressing a button above to open the garage as well. "Where to?"
Weiss pointed down the vehicle-wide alley way before them, nodding in agreement with the direction.
"That way." Weiss said cryptically.
"Fair enough." Mark shrugged as he drove off down the alley way: off towards Weiss's new home.
Blockaded Area
Zone Alpha
Wreckage of The Maelstrom
"Find it yet?" Blake asked in a hushed tone as she gently pressed her right foot down on a section of flooring, testing its balance and sound.
"Nothing." Feng spoke quietly, holding a lantern up for light. "Just scrap and wire."
Blake scanned the room with her night vision, maneuvering herself around and about as she looked for any sign of, well, anything useful.
"I could have sworn it was here..." Blake thought aloud in a near whisper, looking down at her right hand as she felt a familiar texture.
Blake pressed down her index finger to confirm the sight before her.
The unforgettable click-clack of a keyboard echoed throughout the chamber: the former bridge of the Maelstrom.
When the Maelstrom went down above Vale, the dying airship attempted to make its way towards some form of landmass to avoid sinking like the Navy crafts. The humongous craft did in fact reach land just in time, crashing bow first into the business district of Vale. The Maelstrom burrowed straight through a towering skyscraper and slammed into the earth below afterwards. Upon impact the massive airship folded at its hull; explosions and detonations of both the ammunitions and engine room tore the steel craft in two.
Most of the crew was sent flying out of the craft, landing scattered among the flaming wreckage. Luckily, everyone was accounted for after the crash, both awake and unconscious. Those who were able bodied carried those we weren't away to safety before Dagonus's forces could reach the site to purge them. As the group fled beneath the city through the sewer system, those awake and in command had a decision to make.
Where to go.
They needed somewhere safe, somewhere with structure, somewhere where no one, not even Dagonus's forces, would think of looking.
After hours of toil and work making their way through the muck and filth of the sewers of Vale, they finally made it somewhere safe.
"Mountain Glenn..." Yang caught her breath as she felt the surface of one of the various steel walls built to contain the Grimm population. The aged barrier stood like a fortress, blockading the very bane of mankind from destroying one of the last safe havens of man.
"I heard the tales." Blake spoke in a hushed tone, Weiss's body dangling over her right shoulder as she let Orion and Cheshire step forward to examine the barrier before them.
"Cheshire." Orion spoke with a glance to his young sister, who perked up for a moment at the sound of his confident voice. "Let's get this door open."
Cheshire grinned evilly, flicking her wrist so her deadly shadow claws could spark to life.
"With pleasure~" The shadow Goddess chirped with joy as she leaped at the door face first, only to teleport away in a loud pop.
Within several seconds, the entire door fell to the floor in hundreds of pieces. Cheshire stood on the other side of the wall with several dead Grimm laying about with their bodies torn.
"We aren't still forbidden from killing Grimm, are we?" Cheshire asked her brother as he simply shrugged in response.
"If Father were angry, we would have known it by now." Orion spoke as he looked upwards for a response.
Thunder echoed in the distance.
"Well, that answers that question." Cheshire sighed as she decapitated a Creep.
"Indeed." Saturn noted as he cracked his neck, holding both Felix and Geist over his two shoulders. "Mind making some light, Morris?" The former crime lord asked of the special forces trooper.
Morris flipped the switch at the end of his assault rifle, a high beamed flashlight shinning throughout the cavern before them as the group pushed forward, making their way towards the surface.
"I knew it." Blake spoke with a hint of a smile on her face, eyeing a blueish circle, no larger than a lein penny, in the corner of the screen.
"She's been following us all along. Ozpin must have sent her after us." The cat girl continued as Feng walked over to examine the object in question.
"Who did?" The monk asked as he dimmed his lantern, spotting the glowing circle in the lessening of the light.
"Luna, come out." Blake spoke aloud as if she were demanding the presence of said entity- as if it were not a suggestion.
The familiar artificial intelligence of Beacon's defense network sparked to life in the room. The Glynda Goodwitch inspired entity "stood" on the keyboard of the large computer, looking towards Blake with a seemingly concerned look plastered on her coded face.
"Blake Belladonna." Luna spoke with a quick scan of the room. "Is it safe?"
"For now." Blake responded as she held her palm out to the A.I, who promptly shifted into said hand. "Mind explaining why you're here?"
Luna seemed to flicker as she lightly chuckled. "Well... Headmaster Ozpin ordered me to follow you all through the onboard A.I program. I simply hid inside of its codex until the time to reveal myself was opportune."
"Until no enemy was onboard that is." Blake clarified the intelligences statement, much to her dismay.
"I... Suppose." Luna mumbled as she activated a nearby hard-drive. "What did you come for?"
"I'll ask the questions, Luna." Blake stated as she narrowed her eyes. "Where is Ozpin."
Luna visibly gulped as her image shuttered.
"Dead." The entity spoke simply, crossing her coded arms in her own state of self-loathing. "He refused to let me stay when he sensed something big was coming."
"Dead..." Blake spoke with a hollow tone.
The worlds greatest Hunter. Dead. Killed by some madman.
"I see..." Blake continued as she examined the hard-drive. "What are you doing?"
"Downloading the entire ships memory banks." Luna said simply as Feng opened up a few metallic shelfs nearby to find anything useful.
"Seems they cleared the ship on their first sweep." Feng noted as he tossed a small brown backpack to the cat girl.
"I knew we wouldn't have the best of luck here..." Blake groaned as she realized her situation, looking to Luna. "But with you here..."
"Ababa." Luna held a palm to Blake in defiance. "Don't get me involved in anything." She spoke as the hard-drive clicked in an echo across the room, causing Blake to snatch it with her lightning reflexes.
"You don't get a say in this." Blake rolled her eyes as footsteps echoed from the nearby hallway. "Feng, let's move."
The duo turned to leave as Luna waved her arms in protest, teleporting away as Blake pocketed the A.I's data chip into her boot before quietly making their exit.
Beacon
Dagonus's Throne Room
Former Tower of Headmaster Ozpin
Vale
"You mortals are so cute." Dagonus expressed his views as he held Ozpin up by his throat before chucking the man at one of the nearby walls. "So creative, so fragile."
"You seem off Dagonus." Ozpin spat out blood as he spoke, clutching his chest as blood seeped from his opened sword wound.
"Off?" Dagonus snickered as he flicked his wrist, sending a sharp steel throwing knife into Ozpins right knee. "Off? Seriously?"
"Y-yes." The former Headmaster spoke with a series of grunts as he yanked free the blade from his leg, limping forward to the Death God. "This clearly isn't you."
"Isn't me?" The God continued to laugh as he caught Ozpins arm as the latter attempted to thrust forward with the blade, breaking his arm in the process. "My old friend, you must be more descriptive. Or has your old age corrupted your ability to maintain a simple conversation?" The elder teased as he flipped Ozpin into his own clockwork desk.
Ozpin slowly shifted his weight so be could sit upward, holding his broken right arm.
"You aren't yourself, is all. Tell me, do you think yourself clever or bold enough to seriously attempt to conquer the planet on your own?" Ozpin snickered as he cracked his neck. "I doubt that. You fear your Father too much, correct? His power to simply abolish your existence with a single word."
"Mind your tongue, mortal." Dagonus spoke in a more ancient voice than his own, much to Ozpins delight.
"Ah, no. It can't be." Ozpin spoke sarcastically as he honestly had nothing to lose. "It couldn't be my dear old friend Xalveris, could it?"
Dagonus stormed over and lifted Ozpin up by his shirts collar as glass from the table fell to the floor in a melody of clings and clangs.
"Do not test me." The God warned as he glared deep into Ozpins very being. "I will not-"
"You? I thought I was speaking to Dagonus?" Ozpin spoke in a false sense of confusion, hoping to piss the man before him off. "He is controlling you, Dagonus. Don't let him win. Just fight it."
Dagonus lowered Ozpin for a moment, looking down at the glass below to see his reflection.
In the glass stood Xalveris where the God of Death should have been standing, holding a mirrored Ozpin up by his collar, who was chuckling in reality.
"Fight it Dagonus. You beat him before, you can do it again." Ozpin seemingly begged as he ceased chuckling to be serious for now, as the point of being sarcastic and "goofy" had passed its worth.
Dagonus dropped Ozpin down onto the table, backing away for a moment as he grabbed his head with both of his hands, squeezing tight as he seemed to be in a internal mental battle with himself. The Gods form flickered as he shook his head in pain, falling to his knees.
"No." Dagonus growled as he ceased his frantic motions, standing up tall as he levitated Ozpin with his Godly magic.
"Dagonus is lost to you, mortal." The God spoke as he flung Ozpin across the room into what seemed to be a portal device, sending the man back to his prison.
Dagonus looked at himself in the glass before shaking his head in content, brushing the broken glass aside as he began to create a throne for himself where Ozpins desk stood.
"All hail Xalveris." The Death God snickered as he continued his work.
"LEFT!" Weiss shouted out in a frantic cry of fear as the van bounced around on the rocky road below. "TURN LEFT!"
"I'M TRYING!" Mark retorted equally as loud, yanking the steering wheel as nearly all control was lost to him.
"WE ARE GOING TO CRASH!" Weiss cried out as she clutched her seatbelt for dear life.
Mark was about to let out some form of reassurance to the panicked girl beside him before the force of hitting a reinforced steel wall cut out his voice.
"And you're sure that the girl can be trusted?" One of Orion's brothers asked aloud as he adjusted the large worn black cloak on his back, scratching his beard as he looked at a large map of Vale upon a nearby round table. "She has been gone for hours."
"Indeed." A woman with a long bow around her shoulder voiced in response. "We need to be sure every one of these mortals can be trusted before we can begin even considering a response to Dagonus's activities."
"Everyone, please calm yourselves." Orion raised his hands in a calming gesture. "I am certain that Weiss will be back soon with supplies. She is one of the most powerful and trustworthy individuals I have ever known." Orion then turned to a few of his siblings with an angry glare. "So if you all could ever so kindly cease hostilities towards a girl whom you have had little to no contact with, I would appreciate it immensely."
Every God in the room nodded in acceptance, believing in Orion's seniority among his fellow beings.
"Now, as we were previously discussing-" Orion began before the wall behind him exploded into rubble as a massive white van flew into the room, cutting him off from the topic at hand.
The Gods in the room dove out of the way in confusion and fear while the van continued onward throughout the room.
Said van would have continued its rampage had Saturn not stepped out from the shadows with his Guardians, catching the vehicle in place as he dug his heels into the stone floor below. The crime lord maneuvered the van in the air so he could get a look at its occupants, giving Weiss a "the hell?" look as she simply flipped him off in response.
"I assume that is the lady of the hour?" A God asked aloud as they all began to surround the van in curiosity as Saturn placed it down.
Weiss pushed open her door as she dragged Marks unconscious body out of the vehicle, avoiding all the eyes darting around her as she deposited the man on a nearby couch Yang had "found."
"You. Explain. Now." Orion said in a semi-stern tone, towering over Weiss as she looked around at the other figures in the room.
"Cupcakes?" Weiss said slowly in response, in a questioning tone as she produced said dessert from thin air.
Orion narrowed his vision as he glared deep into Weiss's eyes, seemingly judging her every cell in her very being before he plucked the cupcake from the girls grasp.
"Go get cleaned up." Orion ordered as he took a bite of the treat with a nod in approval. "And good work. We will get everything cleaned up. Won't we Saturn?"
Saturn let out a bellowing groan in dismay as he began to clean up the rubble the van had left in its wake, muttering something about Gods and how life isn't fair.
Weiss in turn gave a nod in understanding before running off towards the temporary housing location within Mountain Glenn.
"She is far too young to be the one prophesied in the text." The God of Storms, Kell, grunted in disapproval, his short golden hair blowing in the new breeze from the grand opening currently before them. "And far too immature."
"Weiss. Immature?" Aphrodite blinked as she shook her head no. "She is a brilliant young woman. I believe Orion is correct about her being the one to finish where we will fail."
"Regardless of that." Orion interrupted the conversation as he tossed the wrapper of the treat into a nearby makeshift garbage bin. "We need to be ready, mortal and immortal, for what is coming. Weiss may or may not be the one spoken of in our lore, despite my visions and own beliefs, but regardless we all know what is at stake here."
The room grew quiet as everyone present, save for Saturn, knew what the Fate God spoke of.
Dagonus was just the beginning of what was to come.
Milky Way Galaxy
"And what of our friends?" Xalveris asked to a void portal hovering before him, adjusting his tie as he floated before the nearby moon of some inhabited world.
"They... are much more illusive than we had previously suspected, Lord." The God of Machines spoke quietly within the portal on the other end of the universe, standing inside of Beacon. "They have the aid of their own Gods. We are still on alert for any sightings."
"And has the device been activated yet?" Xalveris asked his loyal subject as he held a loathing look within his orbs.
"Yes, my Lord." The God, Vex, answered as he seemed to brighten up with good news for his master. "We can confirm that the Gods have lost their powers to a major extent. We have been unaffected, as previously projected in the simulations."
"Good. Report back once you find these rebels." Xalveris gave a hint of a smirk to his thrall. "Excellent work, Vex. Continue to impress and you shall be rewarded justly."
"My ever lasting thanks to you, my Lord." Vex gave a bow before the feed cut off, leaving Xalveris all alone in the vast space of some random galaxy.
"..." Xalveris looked down at the planet below him. The Gods eyes seemed to silently judge every mortal below him as if they were but ants at his dress shoe.
"And these people have no idea that I exist. They believe in their own ideals and kill each other over it." Xalveris chuckled as he ran a hand through his ghostly hair. "They have no idea what awaits them. So innocent, so puny. Order must be restored to this universe..."
Xalveris went to hover away towards his own realm before he paused in space, turning around to face the Sun, as the mortals called it.
"Might as well test how much my brothers seal has drained my powers..." Xalveris hummed as he raised a single hand upward.
Snap
Xalveris snapped his fingers in the space above his head. The sharp sound of the motion echoed aimlessly throughout the void, even when such action would have been impossible to mortal kind and the laws of science in general.
Instantly, at the snap of his fingers, every star, planet, asteroid, moon, even the Sun, detonated in a series of massive implosions. The entire Milky Way galaxy was consumed by the light of the detonations, leaving nothing untouched by the fabric of inferno.
When the flames settled, nothing was left. No stars shinned distantly in the void of space; no warmth from the life giving suns; no occasional passing comet.
There was just nothing.
"Hm." Xalveris seemed to frown as he examined his hand with disapproval, shaking his head sadly. "It seems I'm barely at quarter strength, as usual. But no matter." The God of Destruction seemed to perk up as he gazed into the vast nothingness before him.
"Once my plan comes to fruition, wiping out this entire universe will once more be at the simple command of thought."
The God stepped into a massive void portal and disappeared from sight, leaving the desolate galaxy of the Milky Way alone to suffer eternal darkness.