RWBY 40k fanfiction – Salem, mistress of Inquisition.

Ep 16: The Greatest of the Magician.

(Narrating Magnus).

I did not understand who I was, where I came from.

I feel so different from the rest of Tizca...

I feel my strength in me which wants to come out... and yet, nothing comes out.

(Normal Narration).

Guardian: "Magnus. I'm talking to you."

Magnus: "Oh sorry, my mind was elsewhere."

Guardian: "You're dreamier than usual. What's happening to you?"

Magnus: "I don't know. I feel a great power within me. But it can't come out."

Tutor: "I know I feel it too. But he will come when needed. You know, some Tizca mages got their abilities as adults."

Magnus: "Sorry Master Amon. I'll be more attentive."

Amon: "Let's resume..."

The evening when Magnus came out of his classroom, lost in thought.

Since his arrival in this city when he was only a small child. He had many questions.

Where did he come from and where did this strength he had inside him come from? Above all, why couldn't this power that must be like the other mages in the city come out?

What is certain is that he very quickly became one of the most respected apprentices in the city because of his intelligence and his ability to learn in record time.

But that discomfort was there and Magnus didn't know how to fix it.

Also, unlike his comrades and masters. He didn't really need to eat, drink, or even sleep (although that didn't stop him from doing so because it was still good).

But one day he discovered something that made him realize that he was clearly not like the mages of Tizca.

Tizca was the only human city on the planet as the rest of Prospero's civilization was swept away by a plague from the Warp. Parasitic insects similar to slender wasps taking on the terrifying name of Psychneuein.

That day, a swarm of these monsters manages to overcome the psychic barriers of the city and attack the school of Magnus.

Amon: "Run and hide quickly!"

The students ran while the mages gathered around Amon fought the monsters.

Magnus on his side led the group of students towards shelters.

Magnus: "With me, quickly!"

While the students were going to take refuge in the building.

A smaller swarm came in front of them with a huge crash of flapping wings.

Magnus: "What?!"

Student 1: "No!"

Student 2: "Help! Someone help us!"

Magnus stood in front of his friends.

Magnus: "You'll have to pass me on the body you dirty beasts!"

The bloodthirsty wasps stared at the Primarch for a moment.

Eventually, a greediest Psychneuein lunged at Magnus with his dart pointed at the young primarch.

But the latter grabbed him before sending him to the ground and crushing his head with his foot.

More wasps followed and Magnus grabbed the wasp like a sledgehammer before hitting the insects with it. The other students took the opportunity to run away. Thus, several insects were crushed or pulverized by this terrible weapon.

But the carcass ends up being as destroyed as the other wasps.

Magnus somehow hit the other wasps with his fists and feet.

But the swarm swooped down on him, knocked him down and started stinging Magnus with their stinger, biting him with their mandibles and hitting him with their paws.

Magnus: "OOAAARGHHH!"

Magnus cried out at this, thinking his life was over.

But over time, Magnus realized one thing. He felt nothing, no pain, no sting, nothing.

He then saw something incredible, his limbs which were pierced, bitten and cut were regenerating at very high speed.

Magnus (thoughts): "What's happening to me? I... I can't die... I can't die!"

Magnus tried to free himself from the embrace of these wasps but the latter voracious and ruthless crushed him with their weight.

Magnus: "Come on...Move...Moveeee!"

He was trying to fight back and he felt something growing inside him.

A force trying to free itself.

Magnus tried to use it but the force couldn't come out. He remembers a word of Amon.

Magnus: "The power of the warp is not sought...it is discovered..."

He relaxed and strength came to his right hand.

Magnus: "Now!"

The insects attacking his right arm saw a light and to Magnus' surprise, fled. Magnus with his free arm pushed the rest of the cloud away from him with that great light.

Amon and the rest of the mages arrived there and were surprised.

Amun: "Magnus?"

Magnus: "Master!"

Amon: "But how..."

Mage of Tizca: "I don't know what's happening to me but I feel weak all of a sudden..."

Mage 2: "Me too, what's happening to me?"

Amon: "I've never seen this power before... Where does it come from?"

Magnus on his side always tries to repel the predators but the latter tried to pass next to him towards other prey.

Magnus: "My strength...Give me more! Let me destroy these insects!"

It was then that the strength within him grew greater and at that moment a great ray of light reduced the cloud of Psychneuein to ashes.

Magnus gaped at the strength and looked down at his hands.

Magnus: "What is it? What is this power?"

It was then that a hand landed on his shoulder. The boy turns around and discovers Amon.

Amon: "Honestly, I have no idea Magnus."

Magnus: "Professor. What am I? I don't understand anything anymore."

Amon: "You have to find out yourself. I'm sorry about that."

Magnus spent the rest of his youth in Tizca. Even if the courses he took on the Warp did not bring him anything personally because of his unknown powers. At least he knew what to expect.

Also, he rose quickly in the society of Tizca, his intelligence and his clairvoyance was without limit at the same time as his immense strength and vigor.

But his new powers, although effective against those insects that gnaw at Prospero, weakened the city's mages, he was forced to use them with restraint.

One night, however, while he was sleeping...

He woke up in a blank space.

Magnus: "Where am I?"

He discovered a person. A blonde woman, with a large white dress who was apparently confused.

Magnus: "Hello?"

Woman: "What? Who are you? Where am I?"

Magnus: "I don't know how I got here. I fell asleep and here I am..."

Woman: "Really?"

Magnus: "Yes. Why?"

Woman: "The same thing happened to me! But what does that mean?"

Magnus: "I have no idea... But since I've been manipulating my powers, weirder and weirder things are happening to me."

Salem: "Powers?"

Magnus: "Yes, I'm the only one to manipulate them in my city. The other mages are warp-bound but I'm obviously the opposite."

The woman widened her eyes.

Magnus: "What?"

Woman: "Tell me, what powers are you talking about?"

Magnus: "Hm... Let's see if I can show them in my dream..."

He thought very hard about these days of practice and they materialized before the eyes of the woman who was speechless. She started to shed tears after a while.

Magnus: "But why are you crying?"

Woman: "I happen to have the same..."

She showed her memories where she had used her powers.

Magnus could see that the woman was manipulating energy, light and other elements like himself.

Magnus: "But what does that mean?"

Woman: "That means... I found one of my babies!"

She threw herself on him and gave him a big hug, she wept silently with joy.

Magnus was surprised but let the woman do it.

Then the latter descended from him.

Magnus: "Why would I be your son?"

Woman: "So explain to me how did you come to your planet?"

Magnus remained silent, he had always been told that he came from a star that had fallen from the sky.

Magnus: "That star I came out of...wasn't that by chance?"

The woman looked sad.

Woman: "Alas no..."

Magnus: "How so?"

Woman: "You were still a baby when the gods of chaos tore me from your arms. They separated you from me because you had so much potential like your other brothers..."

Magnus: "What?"

Woman: "Yes..."

Suddenly the place started to get dark.

Magnus: "What's going on?"

Woman: "We're going to wake up any moment now! Tell me where your planet is so I can find you physically!"

Magnus: "I don't know! I just know that I'm on a planet called Prospero, I live in the city of Tizca!"

Woman: "Alright. Give me your name before we wake up."

Magnus: "Magnus."

Woman: "My name is Salem."

Everything becomes dark and silent.

Magnus woke up in his bed.

He looked around.

He remembers everything very clearly from that conversation. It was clearly not a silly dream.

He felt in him sadness and nostalgia towards this mysterious Salem that he does not know. A woman who claims to be his mother...

Magnus: "Is this all true? Is this story true?"

Magnus was immersed in this reflection and it lasted several months.

But another night he woke up again in the white room.

He then saw Salem who was surprised but who was relieved. A torrent of unanswered questions that tormented him.

Salem: "You're back...I thought I lost you for good..."

Magnus: "But who are you?"

Salem: "I told you. I'm your mother even if you don't believe it."

Magnus: "Prove me."

Salem: "Very well."

She explained to him everything that happened on Terra and the Great Crusade going on in the galaxy. Magnus was surprised but remained skeptical.

Magnus: "Hm... That explains some things."

Salem: "I know my child... But please believe me. I have been looking for you for decades with your other brothers."

Magnus: "But how are you going to find me?"

Salem: "You have a greater magical potential than I imagined. Exploit it to the end. I could find you with your magical presence in the material. We can reform a united family."

Magnus: "Can't you teach me?"

Salem: "I don't have time for that. You know that... But I'll find you. That's the solemn promise. Discover your magic, boy."

Magnus: "Hm... good... mother."

The dream ended.

From that day on, Magnus was determined to improve with his magic. This woman, Salem. If it's her mother finding him on Prospero, he can physically verify his statements.

Thus, he regularly left Tizca to practice his magic which kept getting bigger and bigger.

Amon and the other Tizcanians were impressed to see this man progress like this.

Concerning the teaching of the other mages of the city, with his intuition. He wrote several texts supposed to profoundly modify the teachings of mastery of the Aether.

By mastering the opposite, Magnus could carefully observe and sense psychic disciplines.

He considered these apprenticeships too dogmatic, too linear, and too limiting for the potential of the mind.

One day he was summoned by the great council of Tizca.

Magnus: "Why did you call me?"

Council Member 1: "It's for your writings. They're dangerous."

Magnus: "Dangerous?"

Councilman 2: "Yes, to say that one should take these risks written in these books is the prelude to the loss of our city."

Magnus: "Listen to me, we can make an arrangement. Leave it to me to teach a mage class. If I succeed, you will have to accept my texts. If not, I swear to you that I will not question your teachings again."

Thus, Magnus spent an entire year teaching aspirants his ways of controlling the Aether.

Despite his lack of connection to the warp, his students progressed at a greater speed and became masters by the end of the year thanks to his advanced and complex theory.

The Council was forced to withdraw its ban on scholars beginning to apply Magnus's methods.

The latter always focused on his unique magic.

Balls of light, elemental manipulation, and realms of alchemy were increasingly within his grasp.

But at some point, he discovered something deep inside of him.

Something darker...

Magnus was then in a full outside the city walls.

Magnus was in the process of materializing a new form of dark magic he found after meditation.

Magnus: "Grm...come on..."

He pointed his hand towards the ground of the immense plain around him.

Then, a large dark orb appeared in his hands.

His hands were starting to turn pale, quickly losing their red hue, black veins started to pop out as his fingernails turned black.

Finally, he threw her to the ground, unable to hold on any longer. His hands returned to normal.

Magnus was breathing heavily at the crazy risks he had taken.

But then he saw something on the floor. It was some kind of black ink, a little puddle.

Magnus: "Hm... I wonder what it's going to be like..."

Magnus decided to walk away, not knowing what was going to happen next.

A few weeks later...

Magnus returned to his training ground after a long walk of several hours.

But discovered that this one had changed a lot. A kind of pond with water of black ink color was in the middle of the plain.

Magnus: "But what is it?"

Approaching closer, he discovered that it was the same substance he had materialized days before.

It was a kind of black tar that contaminated everything that touched.

The grass around this pond was now black while the flowers were white as bone whose petals turned blood red as they approached the center. The pollen strands were orange.

Magnus looking closer discovered insects on the ground.

He picked one up and saw that it was a beetle, but a beetle with a white, bony shell while its eyes were red.

Magnus thinks to himself with some concern.

Magnus: "What did I do?"

But a buzzing interrupted him. He turned around and saw a Psychneuein hovering ready to attack him.

Magnus: "Do you want me? Come on..."

But as the warp wasp was about to attack him, another buzzing noise was heard.

Magnus turned and then saw another giant insect but which sported the same appearance as the small beetle. Red eyes, a bony carapace for a black body and large red wings. A big bee of the same nature as all this fauna and flora of the pond.

His arrival distracted the warp wasp's attention and the two faced each other, eyeing each other before engaging in a furious clinch.

The wasp struggles but ends up getting stung by the bee several times, the warp wasp ends up dying.

Under the astonished eyes of the Primarch.

The bee brought back took the Psychneuein still alive but immobilized before flying over the pond and knocking it down.

The warp wasp remained on the surface for a few moments before disappearing below the surface of the pond.

Magnus: "Interesting."

But he saw that the bee was watching him before rushing at him, stinger forward.

Magnus grabbed her before ripping her abdomen off.

The bee's corpse fell to the ground, before dissolving into the ground as if it had never existed.

Magnus: "If I can defeat those filthy wasps with this... Tizca will dance with joy. But I shouldn't abuse it."

He cocked his arm towards the pond, a large ball of light materialized before a huge beam of energy swept across the pond and its surroundings, leaving only a hole and charred grass.

Magnus: "I will see in due time..."

Magnus decided to leave after this moment around Prospero despite the danger.

He left with the aim of surpassing himself in his powers but above all to learn more about the mysterious matter he had discovered with this magic of darkness.

He roamed the wilderness of Prospero.

Sometimes, some Psychneuein attacked him and he easily got rid of them with his magic.

After nearly 40 days of travel, he arrived in front of a gigantic city in ruins. Bigger than all the others he had come across on his way to the foot of a large cliff.

He saw the skeletons everywhere, in the position of their death and the shattered skulls of warp wasp maggots. Magnus climbed the cliff through a narrow passage.

He then discovered something that surprised him.

A statue of a large carved, multicolored bird.

Magnus: "Incredible..."

But suddenly, the bird statue tipped forward and shattered at the foot of the cliff.

Magnus: "What? But what...? Whatever, let's go down."

He descended to go towards the shards.

Magnus was fascinated and looked at the pieces.

He fell after a while on three shards which were arranged precisely in an equilateral triangle.

He then found four white stones arranged in a square and discovered that removing two of these stones from his vision resulted in a diamond shape with two gray stones one meter away. Then there was a pentagon of the same size. Then other ever more complex geometric shapes.

Magnus for several days noted all these reasons in his travel book.

But it was then that a person arrived in the city.

It was Amon who was worried about Magnus and decided to go looking for him.

Amon: "Oh, there he is. He should come home."

Amon came to Magnus but saw the shards. Amon was mesmerized in turn by their beauty.

Amon: "Ho... I have to write that down..."

After a long moment, the two stood up.

Magnus: "We have to show this."

Amon: "I know Magnus."

They left with their powers to Tizca, they went to warn the scholars of the city.

Magnus showed them the patterns and the scholars were in turn surprised and demanded to see these objects.

Thus, the group of scholars arrived at the abandoned city. In front of so much magnificence, they were overwhelmed with joy but suddenly...

A huge hum was heard.

Magnus: "But what's going on?"

Amon: "It's the Psychneuein!"

The cloud descended on the group and killed many scholars. But Magnus, Amon and 8 other scholars reacted quickly.

Magnus launched huge torrents of magical flames and hundreds of these insects disappeared into them.

Two other masters who had seen red stones made ramparts of flames. Two more threw boulders by the force of their minds after seeing a spiral of white stones. Two others desired the insects to be reduced to mush, which happened for real since they saw an eight-angled shard crown.

The last two having seen the squares, circles and triangles confused the flying insects and the cloud dispersed as if there was no one.

Amon on his side saw the near future and coordinated the attacks.

The cloud finally left.

Magnus: "Amazing. I just learned all about my magic in no time."

Amon: "I feel almighty."

Scholar: "Let's bring it all back!"

They picked up the stone shards before returning to Tizca.

Thus, Magnus accompanied by his companions founded the Six Cults of Prospero.

Magnus became Magus of Tizca, master of the Six Cults.

The Sixth Cult was directly under his jurisdiction.

It was the Material Cult.

Indeed, he was trying to transmit the material magic to allow the inhabitants of Prospero to face the Immaterium.

Magnus could now control much more of his power.

He immediately got down to a great project: to drive out the Psychneuein from Prospero for good.

From this, he created the Tree of Holy Darkness.

A gigantic tree piercing the sky with its black trunk, red leaves and white flowers.

From its brambles lived black birds with skeletal beaks and red eyes as well as other flying animals. At its base, a crowd of such dark animals formed a great fauna.

This region formed an animal kingdom in its own right that hunted the insects of the warp. Although the latter continued to threaten Prospero and infect some of these black animals to use as a host. The battle raged between Ether and Material.

Some of the most fanatical inhabitants of Tizca went there to immerse themselves in the tar. They in turn gained a diaphanous appearance, with red eyes, black veins and white hair. They had the ability to control these dark creatures.

Magnus could then telephatically reconnect with Salem and speak with her regularly.

They took the time to get to know each other better.

Salem was impressed with Magnus' exploits.

In one of his discussions with her, by the way.

Magnus: "You will see in the sky, a tree among the most beautiful there is. The Holy Tree of Darkness."

Salem: "Holy Tree of Darkness?"

Magnus: "Look."

He showed the illusions featuring the big tree with the creatures.

Salem was shocked and... horrified?

Magnus: "What? What's going on?"

Salem (trembling): "Reassure me... You control these... these... monsters... don't you...?"

Magnus is surprised.

Magnus: "Hm... Not really, I can't control them. Only Dark Converts can."

This phrase increased Salem's fear.

Salem: "Magnus... But why are you doing this?"

Magnus: "Where is the problem?"

Salem: "I see you're struggling with how much you're playing with fire..."

Salem explained to him that they are these creatures.

Magnus: "The Grimms... That's what they're called."

Salem: "Don't you understand my warnings? These creatures are soulless monsters who wish to devour everything that exists. It's very dangerous."

Magnus: "I don't understand."

Salem: "Also, people who embrace darkness are unpredictable. They are consumed with the desire for destruction."

Magnus: "But what do you want? Don't you have any other solution against Ether and Chaos?"

Salem: "Pure magic. Nothing more, nothing less. Look, I can accept the Grimms on your planet because it's warp-targeted itself. But make me a promise: Do not use these monsters in your legion. Never."

Magnus was confused but seeing his mother's concern and anxiety, he felt ashamed to place such blind trust in the darkness.

Yes, great shame and regret, what was the Emperor going to say when he saw all this?

Magnus: "It's a promise."

Salem: "Thank you..."

To be continued... The Corrupted Legion.

Magnus discovers his Legion in a lamentable state because corrupted by the darkness from which his magic emanates.

He will do everything to free his sons from this corruption.

Note: I would be curious to see fanarts illustrating my story, I am sure artists among you would do something really great !