Chapter 23: Hope I

We spent the day studying. Well, I spent the day studying. Velvet was apparently feeling well enough so she had joined us down at our training field. She went between helping me and when her throat got bad, she sparred with my team.

I wished I could get in there but I apparently had to study. Velvet was more than capable of holding her own, her camera left off to the side with our bags. I shouted encouragement now and again, secretly activating my Small Team Tactics perk and that let them keep up, but just barely.

Meanwhile, I was busy tackling algebra and stabbing furiously at… more algebra. Not for the first time, I contemplated throwing all my status points into INT just so I could finally understand all this, but it had already gone up once on its own through my studying. It was simple with replacing x with something else, but then they involved little tiny numbers and there was a different order to things. Then they throw in a y and everything gets confusing again.

Velvet had tried various comparisons, but the only one that had made sense so far was the battlefield analogy Pyrrha had given, as she took a break.

"It's not that the variable is a number, it just represents it. You had battle maps in your world?"

I continued staring at the wall of numbers. "What do you mean by that?"

She rolled her hand. "You know, a physical representation of a theater of war that you would push little figures around on to signify how things were going?"

I turned and raised an eyebrow at her. "We had maps, yes. We were well able to mark troop movements on said map."

"Alright, awesome. So take… this one. x=7(24)." I noticed she grabbed the first question in the series. "Let's assume for a moment that we aren't talking about numbers, but troop movements. We consider x to be the right flank. This question puts 7 detachments of 24 troops on the right flank, so it's just asking how many troops are over on said flank."

"I'm estimating around 150." I put my pencil down in the margin of the page and started scratching figures out. "A bit off, 168 troops."

"Right. That one was simple. Now…. ah. 5x=7(24)."

"This is where I start having troubles. How is there 5 right flanks?" I looked at her puzzled, though her green eyes were focussed on the page and she was tapping a finger here and there as she explained.

"There aren't, your flanks are just five times larger. Imagine you had the same amount of troops, but you had to spread them over an area 5 times as wide. This question is just ask-"

"How many troops would be in the original area, if I had to split them off?"

"Correct."

"So I would just divide my troops into 5 segments, disregarding how bad of an idea that would be in tactics without any other information, and I would have… 33 troops to each battlefield, and an extra 3 troops left over as scouts or runners?"

"Leaning a bit far into the metaphor, but yes, that is correct. However, in math, we wouldn't leave those three to the side, but divide them up into fractions or decimals. Since that would be impossible to do with troops, the metaphor breaks down." She stood back up. "Will that be sufficient to help you through the next few?"

"I think so…"

A part of my brain screamed that I was just sitting here, accepting help from a little girl, but that part of my brain was beaten down by the others that had also seen her fly through this very same page in less than a minute. In fact, I bet she could have done it while killing Grimm. I kept plugging away at my work while she went off to spar with the team.

It was a half hour later when Ren approached me. "Torga."

"Ren."

"Will you lend me a weapon?"

I threw one of each that I had onto the grass beside me and kept studying. I kept the Axe of Forever Fall, as I wanted to be the first to use it, but the Boarbatusk sword, Nevermore axe, and the unfinished spear went out there. Unsurprisingly, he picked up the spear.

He twirled it a couple times with a frown. "This seems like it is missing some crucial component."

I threw my pen down, excited for the distraction. "In what way? Is the balance wrong? Does it need another part?"

He shrugged, and I realized I would get no answers. "May I use it to spar?"

I turned back to my work with dissapointment. "Sure, just be careful. I have 2 more, but every one of them is going to be used with Crafting to make some new stuff. Hey, what are your weapons based on? If you can give me some building blocks, maybe I could make you an upgrade?"

Ren nodded. "I'll come up with something."

I was left to my own devices for the next hour and I got halfway through before the metaphor of troop movements started breaking down even further. By that point I had largely gotten what the metaphor was supposed to represent, and felt both literal and figurative vindication when I completed the work.

Due to your studies in intellectual pursuits, gain +1 INT!

Tucking the sheet into my inventory, I stood and dusted off my hands. With a rapid movement I unsheathed my weapon and fired the harpoon over the heads of my sparring team, cracking a Lash attack to get their attention.

"Alright, I'm done! Two options, we go get lunch then train some more, or we go get lunch and then train some more. Any opinions?"

Velvet sighed. "Darn, and here I was hoping we would get some lunch and then train some more."

"Can't have everything you want in life." I answered lightly. "But I'm sure we could arrange something like that. Hands up, go into Vale or hit the cafeteria?"

Pyrrha stared at me blankly. "How would raising hands answer any part of that question?"

I pondered for a moment. "Well, it would let me gauge levels of enthusiasm?"

Incoming call from Cardin Winchester! Answer?

I held up a hand for a moment, and thought yes.

My scroll popped into my hand, and Cardin's face popped up on the scroll. "What's up, loser?"

I raised an eyebrow. If you're to greet a brother with an insult, at least have it be a good one. I wouldn't be reciprocating, it would be like talking smack to a child. "Just finished up my remedial work. How's the woods?"

He rolled his eyes and panned his scroll around where many of the teams were just sitting on the ground with jars of collected honey around them. "Most exciting part is when an Ursa Major showed up, but with the firepower we have here, it was gone in seconds. There was a building, some ruined piece of crap, so we sent a couple teams in to explore it. I'm actually headed in next."

I nodded, thinking hard. I'd had a feeling they would stumble across the ruins at some point. "You guys still get scroll service down there?"

He panned the camera back so he could look at me with a 'really?' stare. "They're underground, of course the scrolls won't have service."

[Quest Alert:] Dungeon Clear: Forever Fall Temple!

Due to outside circumstances, the final stage of Forever Fall Temple has been activated without you. Enter the temple, uncover its secrets, and save your classmates!

[Main Objective:] Clear the Forever Fall Final Boss

[Side Objectives:] No Allies Die, 12/12 students saved.

[Reward:] Forever Fall: Dungeon Create!, Title: 'Nature's Wrath', 20,000 XP, ?, ?, ?

[Failure:] Variable dependant on time of failure.

Accept? [Yes] [No]

The feeling in the pit of my stomach grew deeper. "Look, Cardin. Don't ask me to explain, but keep me on the line when you go through the door. If it doesn't disconnect, we're fine. If it does, you guys may need some help." I had absolutely no idea if the dungeon was permanent or not. I had no idea if others could find their way in there. I did, however, know that it was a result of my power and therefore my responsibility.

"We'll be fine, you big baby." I did notice that he kept me on the line. I turned back to my team.

"Who wants to do a quest after lunch? This time, hands would help."

"Coco took the boys shopping. I'm with you today." Velvet answered with a gravelly voice.

Nora raised her hand excitedly, while Ren looked straight at me and nodded with intent. Not as expressive as his shrugs, but still impressive.

Pyrrha, on the other hand. "Is there a choice?"

I honestly contemplated that. "Well, there is always a choice. I could ignore this quest. Part of that quest involves saving 12 of our classmates, so I believe our choice is already made. I will hear out any dissent, though."

She shook her head and uncrossed her arms. "I am not dissenting. I am hoping we can come up with a plan as a team, rather than you giving us a 'pick A or B' option. There could be a third route to take."

"I agree completely. If this were any other ruin, any other situation, any other ability providing the information, I would say we do what I always did: Gather allies and intel so we can show up with catered, overwhelming force. Nothing like raiding a den of fire mages while wearing a set of armour that gives immunity to fire. That being said, we have a very cut and dried goal: Clear the Forever Fall Temple, and save our classmates."

"I'm in, Torga, you don't need to convince me."

"I'm glad, partner. One moment." I turned back to my phone. "Alright, Cardin, you guys headed in soon?" The screen was black. I tried to call him, but it went right to his voicemail.

I tried to be worried, I really did. Considering it took us a half of a day to get through, even with the oddity of the Dungeon, I doubted anyone would be up against the King Taijitu any time soon, and those skeletons were nothing to worry about. However, at the forefront of my mind was a restaurant that Arthur had told me about and all I wanted to do was go eat there.

"Well, I'm not skipping lunch."

Richard was a non stop line of complaints about the Bullhead once we set off. He complained about the speed, the turning, the agility, the sounds, the looks, even how comfortable the seats were.

"Like seriously!" He continued ranting. "Not even a fucking cupholder? What kind of savage creates a long range aircraft without a cupholder?"

"Yo Richard!" I called up.

"What?!"

"How much is a proper airship? One with washrooms and beds and shit?"

"You can't just fucking buy those! What, you think Atlas is going to just let one slip out their back door instead of send it to the fronts?"

"Decommissioned?"

"Yea? Who the fuck is going to fix it?" I waited a beat until he got where I was going with that, then relaxed and enjoyed the music as he started a new round of cursing.

The restaurant was a very unique experience for me. The staff set us down around a grill that was embedded in the table, giving our film crew a small table off to the side without a grill.

It was a testament to their professionalism that once we started being less into the show, they backed off and largely just took footage of events from afar. We did still have our weekly interviews, and I'll admit it was slightly tougher to talk about days-old events as if they had just happened, but I much preferred how things were going now. I'm certain they were great people, but the only thing I trusted not to die in a heated combat was the camera drone.

Richard had us order the party platter, as I had said I would pay for it. I'm sure it was expensive, but I didn't really use my money for much else anyways. Maybe I'd go back to Tukson's and clear him out if I didn't get anything good from this quest, but my money was being saved for big purchases. I already had a property, which felt great, and a vehicle. I even had a staff member, though I consider him more a shield-brother, oddly.

When the platter arrived and it was a spread of raw meat, I finally figured out why Arthur had recommended this place. There was deer, elk, pork, beef, chicken, a few other gamey bird meats, a selection of thick and juicy fish, and a spread of brightly coloured vegetables. There were a few small bowls of seasoning and a small bottle of oil. I wanted to just dump the entire tray on the grill, but I knew different meats needed to be cooked differently, and so I reluctantly had to place small bites of meat on the grill bit by bit.

It wasn't a chore though. We sat and talked and laughed. I told a few of the lighter stories from Skyrim, like the time I danced all night with a crowd of revellers in the middle of the woods, or the day I spent walking around with a 'dumb fart' note pinned to my cloak. I could not understand why everyone was laughing behind my back for the longest time until a child had the audacity to call me a dumb fart to my face.

I left Falkreath Hold for a month after that. Even Dragonborn get embarrassed.

Pyrrha told us of her recent Tournament victory, the one right before Beacon. Apparently she had been fighting an opponent with a similar semblance, one that let him push out a wave of magnetic repulsion. She told us she developed her method of tagging a piece of equipment with rifle bullets during the middle of that fight, as every time her opponent used his semblance all her marks were lost. Richard even pulled up a highlights clip, and I gave a low whistle as she dodged or deflected a stream of minigun fire during a charge before tapping his armour once, then using a kick as the veil to send him flying out of bounds.

Richard told us of one of his missions: running escort for a merchant Dust fleet run from Atlas to Vacuo. They were not far from the coast when a murder of nevermore decided to attack, and they lost one of the escort craft in the battle. They evaded the Grimm by flying into a sandstorm, though then one of the transports got taken out by a Great Wyrm that was hunting beneath the shifting sands. His visual of a giant burrowing monstrosity leaping up out of the sand and swallowing a ship full of dust whole was apocalyptic, and he finished his tale with descriptions of the nearly-fatal maneuvers he had to pull in order to fly a missile down its throat when it went for an acid spit attack.

By then, our food was mostly complete, and awkward pauses dropped between each short story. I asked Richard if he could fire up the Bullhead, and his polite demeanor changed.

"Stupid fucking hunk of junk, can't even smoke.." He grumbled his way past the wait staff, pushing his way through the double doors into the kitchen. It was the way to the roof access and to be fair, we had been getting somewhat of a special treatment.

"So, this time we go to the Forever Fall Temple, it isn't for grinding experience, and it isn't for any gear. It's for a quest. Apparently there is one more boss beyond the Forest Guardian, and we need to kill it to finally label the Forever Fall Dungeon as 'Clear'."

Ren spoke up. "Does it say anything about regional effects, from clearing the temple?"

I looked over at him, seeing the interested look he was giving me. "Regional Effects?"

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I've played a game or two before. If you defeat a boss, or clear out a tough dungeon, usually it will have some effect on the world. For instance, there was a mission in one of the earlier Grimm Nights where you had to go kill a giant slime in a sewer, but when you resurface, all the muggy swampy water around the city is now pure water and doesn't make you resist diseases anymore."

"That's the same as life. You kill the local necromancer lord, the foliage starts growing properly again. No, though. No mention of regional effects. Quite frankly, we don't know enough about the temple to even make guesses as to what they would be, so for now we will assume there are none." Pyrrha withdrew a few cards and slapped them on the table, standing.

"Shall we, then? I feel anxious sitting around talking while our compatriots require saving."

"We shall."

Of course, because both Richard and I showed absolutely no respect for nonsensical laws, we flew low to the building tops, for 'cinematic shots'.

I was just egging him on though. He rolled the craft, barely passing beneath a train bridge and twisting enough to knife-edge between a couple of skyscrapers before evening out a few feet above the river. My team and Velvet were seated in the back, but I had come up to take the copilots chair. I didn't touch the controls, as I didn't dare interrupt what he was doing, but I strapped myself in with a view out the front and was absolutely loving this.

Soon, however, the buildings got further apart and Richard pulled up to altitude, settling the craft into a stable flight. The red treetops of the Forever Fall were visible not far away, and we made a beeline for the one hill that I knew housed the temple. "So, Richard, we've got the majority of the first year of Beacon down there. I don't think we will need a holding pattern, so you're welcome to just land it and relax.."

He taps a few buttons on the dashboard, swiping past a red 'Danger' menu with no more thought than any other of the radily changing and scrolling menus. That done, he unbuckled his own belt and stood, grabbing a rifle from a cramped pocket on the back wall of the Bullheads cockpit. He then thumbed a switch, and a hidden locker opened up to reveal a gleaming set of white, tech-enhanced armour. That behind him, he turned to challenge me. "I'm coming with."

My heart sank. This was too soon, much too soon, and I didn't know how to tell him. Not with other people around. If I trusted him enough, though… I think I did. Right, now how to figure out how to test it.

"Richard, you're my pilot." I answered, wondering which route of reasoning he would be trying to use.

"I'm a soldier first, and you said this place is a walk in the park." He countered. Personal competence it would be, then.

"You were a soldier first. You're now our pilot. If you're looking for some action, I can bring you down there another time, but right now, my party system only allows 5 total. I couldn't bring you without leaving someone else behind. I'm not saying no, I'm saying not now. I think we should have a nice long talk after this." I already knew I would be updating Arthur after this, as well, though on something different. I trust Arthur, slightly, and would rather just tell him any developments on our search for soul gems. Beats being 'shunted through the probability matrix' any day.

He looked me in the eyes, glaring and silently prodding for any doubt or hesitation I had about my decision, but he would find none, even without the Gamer's Mind allowing me to sideline those emotions. "Fine." He slams the rifle back into its hidden slot, and punches the panel to cover up the armour locker. The whine of the engines rose as the ship started coming in for a landing. Richard didn't move to take the controls. He was still glaring at me.

"Richard, is your Aura unlocked?"

He shook his head. "Never got selected for advancing to Hunter training, so they didn't bother."

"For fucks sake- Pyrrha!"

"The flipping is finished?" I heard as a belt unclipped, and Pyrrha stood in the doorway.

"For now." Richard spat, falling into his pilots chair, and launching into more mutters about the Bullhead as he over-rode the auto-landing program. The engines screamed in protest as he pulled up hard, in a looping arc. I set my hand beside a guide rail, just in case, but again Richard displayed why he had the highest level in the cabin.

The forces acting upon us were constant, or near enough. With his change in pitch, we were being pushed against the floor slightly harder than typical gravity. He banked slightly as he went, sending us into a high turn that ended with a low dive, pulling into a hard brake.

I dropped my hand from where it was ready to grab the support, the rail remaining untouched. The engines started spinning down, and I realized he must have ended that maneuver with the actual landing. He stood from his chair.

"Richard, would you like me to unlock your Aura?" I asked him, finally certain. When told he couldn't do something, rather than sulk or complain, Richard Mavis showed me why he could do much more than I expected of him. What I wouldn't give to be able to take him beyond the walls and see what he can really do. Soon, I remind myself.

"Torga!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

"...Torga?" Richard asked, somewhat meekly for the first time I'd ever heard it from him. He looked conflicted, internally, and my respect for him rose just a little. "Are you….serious?"

"Damn right I am." I promised.

"No, he's not!" Pyrrha planted a gauntlet on my pauldron and swung me around. "You know that an unregistered unlocking of Aura puts you as responsible for his actions for the next 2 years?"

"His actions I'll be asking him to take? Shit, Pyrrha, at least I'm asking. If you want to think about something, think about how by these dumb rules you're responsible for the Dock Incident and all the people that died there." I sigh, calming myself. "You know I don't agree with most of your laws. You know I also don't go around breaking them for fun. Will you teach me to unlock an Aura?"

She picked up on the unspoken hint. "You'll find out elsewhere if I don't, won't you?"

I nodded, already trying to think of who else I could ask. "Well, let's think about it this way. If we got taken down, the ship crashed and blew up, do you really want the pilot to be the only one dead? Besides, if he can activate his Aura in flight, it should improve his reaction times and make him an even better pilot."

"I'm right here."

"Also, I eventually plan to unlock every Aura in the world? Richard just seems like a good start."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes at me. "Sure, Torga. You're going to unlock everyone's Aura. Next you'll fix the environment and kill all the Grimm."

I looked over and stared at her. "Have you not been listening? That is, quite literally, our whole entire plan. We train people to fight, we kill all the Grimm, and we rebuild the clear areas. What did you think we were doing?"

She hesitated. "I assumed you were just being optimistic."

I nodded at her. "I am. That doesn't mean I'm being ingenuine. I do plan to stop the Grimm, I do plan to rebuild. I can't do that alone, and so I need help that doesn't answer to Ozpin or any of the other Academies. In fact, I imagine I'll likely get grouped in with the White Fang if I'm not very careful to craft a very particular image, which I will be asking for your help on, Invincible Girl. For now, though, can you just help me help Richard to help himself? It's either this or I go beat him up until it comes out naturally, and neither of us want that."

She stepped fully into the cabin, hand hovering over the door to close it but deciding against it.

"Richard, now's your choice. Aura, or no?"

"You could get in a lot of trouble. Like, banishment trouble." He replied.

"So that's a yes?"

He rolled his shoulders, grit his teeth, and nodded once, firmly. "Yep. Let's do this."

Pyrrha gave one more small sigh, then put a hand on Richard's shoulder. "You may want to be seated for this. Aura unlocking can be rather disorienting."

"Will it hurt?"

I chimed in. "The only thing that hurt me after was knowing it wasn't my choice. The process itself, I was asleep for."

"No, this should not cause any pain. Maybe a slight discomfort, but it will pass. Now, Torga, place your left hand here, thumb against his collarbone. Your right goes around the side of the head, like so…" Pyrrha adjust my grip until it was firm, then began walking my through the process.

"Motherfucker if you kiss me, I swear to every god ever my wife will murder you and the body will never be found."

I wasn't thinking that, but this was quite an intimate position. I was more thinking along the lines of: I have a helmet, you don't, all it takes is a tug to smash your face.

"Now, you need to be careful in how you do this. Once you begin, you cannot stop. This is why only trained Hunters do this, and not often. Like your shouts, in a way, you will be casting out a portion of your soul to find Richards, deep within himself, and help it rise to the surface. If it doesn't rise, you lose that portion of yourself. I imagine you would just lose AP, but for the rest of us, it would severely hamper our abilities and prowess." She placed her hands over mine and talked me through it with no power. "The mantra is not necessary, but it is a wonderful mnemonic for remembering the process."

So, she talked me through it.

She told me about sending whispers of your Aura into the dormant shell of another, searching and trying to find the light. I tucked in my pinky finger.

She showed me how one's own soul will resist this change, and so you must batter it into submission for their own good. I tucked in my ring finger.

She explained how, once you had access to the vibrant, glowing part of the soul you want to grasp it with a feeling of protection, but also conviction. I tucked in my middle finger.

She waxed poetic about the ascent, about the struggle and the triumph of a body knowing it is about to become whole. I tucked in my index finger, and the hand on Richard's shoulder was a fist.

She finished by reminding me that I had to do all of this with precision and poise, and end off with a disconnection. I pressed my thumb firmly against the center of his forehead, and felt the Aura I had spent flow back into me, not dissimilar to the feeling of my Thu'um being ready for use.

When I pulled my hands back, there was a light yellow sheen that remained where I had put my thumb, that quickly grew to encompass his entire body. I stepped back as Richard turned his hands over, then started rubbing his arms.

"Well shit, if you had told me that Aura helps with dry skin I would have been at the Academies ages ago." I could tell he was still processing, though.

I even got a new skill out of all this:

Aura Awakening LVL2 (Active) Cost: 400AP

"For it is in risk that we gain survival. Through this, we become a paragon of duty and sacrifice to outlast all others. Infinite in reach and unbound by lies, I release your soul, and by my hand, set thee free."

You have learned to harness the power of Aura to an extent where you can draw it out of others. A short but intimate ritual that allowed mankind to grow their power in a time of struggle.
Range: Touch

Casting Time: Varies based on INT, WIS, Skill Level, and comparative level between caster and target.

"Well, it's expensive, but not too much." I ponder, closing the skill window.

Richard was flexing his arms, and jumping on his feet. His level hadn't changed, but he did certainly look more… lively. "God, I feel like I'm 25 again. You guys feel like this all the time?"

"Well, most of the time. In the beginning, it will take effort to keep it up in any meaningful way but as you get practice, it will be as second nature as breathing." Pyrrha explained to him.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. "So, you're starting then?"

"No, Ren, this was a… test. And a favour for a friend. We have more work to do before we can really get started, and I wouldn't do it without a team meeting."

"Well, can we go smash some skeletons now at least? I'm bored." Nora stood by the closed bay door, hammer shipped away. Velvet was there too, typing away on her scroll. I was curious to see what challenges Nora had made for herself.

"Sure thing. You guys head over to the temple entrance, stop anyone else from heading in. I'm off to find Goodwitch and see why she thought it would be a good idea to send multiple students into a temple that I had already explained to both her and Ozpin was a weird dimensionally separate dungeon. Richard, feel free to go look for a Beowolf to punch, it's very satisfying."

Assignments given, I made my way over to where the majority of the students were, in the clearing outside of the temple. Goodwitch stood there, oversized Scroll in hand and looking as in control as ever. Ignoring any eyes or gazes, I strolled straight up to her.

"Good afternoon, Deputy Headmistress." I took a stop just off to her side, looking out over the situation as if I were here as an equal.

She did a double-take. "Your team opted out of the field trip for remedial studies. Why are you here?"

"The temple." I gestured toward it with a gauntlet covered hand. "You sent people in?"

"Of course. Part of exploration and resource acquiring missions is always to obtain information on assets that could help the kingdoms. That means leaving no stone unturned."

"Right, that makes sense. I already turned that particular stone, though, so why send children in?"

She tucked her Scroll under an arm and adjusted her position so we were facing each other. Damn it.

"Mr. Arc, quite frankly, I don't trust you. You hide things, act strangely even for a Hunter, and Ozpin refuses to doubt you for whatever asinine reason. My job is to look out for all of the students. That means giving them experience so that just once we might be able to have a 5 year alumni reunion without it turning into a remembrance ceremony. That's why I sent these children into a dangerous area: because that is the job they chose for themselves. Now, are you quite finished unreasonably demanding explanations?"

"I won't tell you how to do your job, Deputy, but it sounds like you're saying you endangered the lives of children because you don't like me."

"It isn't about you. Your involvement was a very small factor behind my decision. Now please, let me continue running this operation."

Well, there goes the idea of influence through public perception. "Just one last thing so I don't go stepping on your painted toes then. If we were to, say, go down there and retrieve all of your students, would that somehow end up with negative consequences?"

She scowled at me. "There is a line of groups spaced out at regular intervals. If you insist on entering, you will take your place at the end of the queue."

"Wonderful, thanks." I walked away from her, hearing her sigh of exasperation when I left. I didn't think dealing with me could be so… tiring? Is that the word? Either way, I was happy she didn't try to send us back immediately.

Hopefully my team had better news, and it seems they did. "First team in was a no-name team, I think they're second or third last in the rankings. RWBY went in second, and CRDL third. Cardin may or may not have intimidated the rest into staying behind." Ren explained, as Richard walked over to us. I noticed that he had his rifle, but had forgone the armour.

"I'll watch the entrance, at least." He said before I could object. "Too many Hunters to need me running Grimm interference, and the bird ain't going anywhere without my keys. Besides, you don't want anyone coming in after you, correct?"

My hand already on the faded door, I was interrupted as a Window popped up, different from last time.

Prerequisites met! Would you like to try to Clear this dungeon?

Note: Clearing a dungeon is difficult! All enemies are tougher and do more damage, the floors are larger and with more varied layouts, and leaving from the Respite is impossible. This must be done from start to finish in one continuous effort. The dungeon acquires the 'Cleared' state.

Unique rewards will be obtained upon completion, and enemies provide increased XP.

"Hold." I raised a hand, pausing to add everyone present to my Party. "Alright, apparently this time will be tougher, and it says the dungeon will become 'Cleared' and we will get unique rewards. I'm always ready to dive into a dungeon to find lost artefacts, but are you all ready?"

Nora pulled out her hammer and kicked the door in, leaping down the stairs.

With a tug in my gut and a turning in space, we were inside, and the door solidly shut behind us.

Deep underneath Vale, Jakk was alone in an empty hemisphere of stone with no entrances. Typically used as a clandestine meeting area, Jakk was observing the source of light: the great sphere of Aura that sparkled and shone, shooting ribbons of light to flow lazily around the room in an esoteric display.

"Investigation." Jakk growled for what felt like the hundredth time, and the sound of rattling bones permeated the space.

He felt, deep in his bones, that he had just critically succeeded on an Investigation check. He also felt, deep in his bones, that there was no way his scores would ever be high enough to decipher this through his Dungeonmaster power, crit or not.

Not for the first time, he considered simply teleporting it somewhere far away so as to not be his problem anymore. It wasn't hurting anyone, not yet. It wasn't volatile, and it didn't do much. Every so often, though, a ray of light would shoot up through the ground and vanish.

Raven was able to follow one for a time, using her portals and liberal use of earth dust, but once the beam got too close to the surface, it sped off faster than one could see if they weren't looking. Nothing happened afterwards. Nothing in the news, no odd occurrences among the populations, nothing at all.

In fact, had Jakkins Turner not received a Quest to prevent the end of Remnant that led him right here, he likely would have never returned at all. Thus, when another ray of light shot off, he dutifully hit the button on the slow-motion camera array to capture the timestamp, and went back to using his Worldbuilding skill.

"This is new." I heard Velvet rasp. I fully agreed with her, as the appearance of the dungeon had changed, though thankfully not too radically. The same moss covered stones formed unnaturally straight hallways and purposeless square rooms, but there was variation. The southwest corner of the room protruded in instead of out, and on either side of that protrusion was a hallway. Leading straight off into darkness, as they mostly did, but not 20 feet along the west wall was another hallway that went forward for what seemed like 30 feet then cut north.

The east wall had 3 entrances, each going another few paces before ending at a solid wall. The north wall was blank but for intricately carved stonework, flowing in loops and vines. Looking at the walls, bits of red ivy pushed through the cracks.

"Yes, this is new." I answered, weapon drawn and ready as we waited for something to happen. We waited for about 15 more seconds before I straightened out. "If there's anything here, they'll hear this." I aligned myself with the curved hallway, and let out a Fire Breath. With my bonuses and class equipped, the ivy in the walls was immolated, and the only thing left after the flames faded was darkened, faintly glowing stone and scattered soot.

Then, I was knocked off my feet as a dark mass collided with me. Within half a second, I felt Pyrrhas semblance hook into my armour to stop my momentum, I heard Nora shift her weapon into hammer form. I saw Ren jerk his arms and his weapons slid out of his sleeves, raising to fire. Velvet, camera already prepared, took a photo with a flash that both startled and illuminated my assailant, revealing none other than-

"Oh hey, Ruby!" Nora was the first to spin her hammer back away as Pyrrha gently set me down on my feet. I noticed her slump the smallest amount when she finally let go, but I was looking for it and the others likely wouldn't have seen it.

"Did you bring food?!" She had wide eyes, and I noticed her clothes were quite dirty and her hair matted and greasy.

"Wherever I go." I answered, pulling out a fresh, steaming hot dog and giving it to her.

She spoke around mouthfuls. "Sho, wha' 'ook you sho lung." She swallowed and looked at me expectantly.

I looked her over again, carefully, and received a punch to my shoulder from Pyrrha for it. "Torga! Time and place!"

I turned to her for a moment, mouthing 'really?'. "Look at her. How long have you been down here, Ruby?"

"Uhmmm…. I think 3 days? It's Sunday night, right?"

I explained to her that no, it was not Sunday. She started bringing us along to where the camp was. She further explained that once they had entered, the first team was nowhere to be found. Team RWBY had cleared the first floor, save for a 'rat hole'. They had guards set up around the rat hole, and were killing them for food as their provisions had run out days ago. I commended them on their forward thinking.

"Oh, Blake kind of likes hunting them so it's fine."

They had stayed there for the last little while, exploring the floor and trying the entry door. Eventually boredom had set in, and after Yang tried punching her way through a wall they realized they would need to wait for help. Given that the next group through was Team CRDL, I doubt that the girls found their arrival a relief.

Soon, I was standing before a divided room. On one side, a small fire pit with 4 colour coded sleeping bags arranged neatly around them. On the other, a cloth pavilion with all four sides drawn shut. My first order was to call everyone to the center of the room and take stock.

"So, who wants to know what the plan is?" I shouted as soon as I cross the threshold of the hallway into the room. "If you listen, I have pizza!"

Sadly, much more hustle was shown for the second declaration than the first. I handed out a box to either team, then put the third back into my inventory. I was saving that one. Soon enough, I had 4 young girl, 4 young boys, and my team in front of me. Velvet stood off to the side, but still not where I was making my stage so I appreciated it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to your first dungeon." I didn't get any questions or comments, likely due to mouths full of pizza. "Yes, now that the rescue team is here, we can get you home. There's only one way to do that though, and that's to keep going down until we come out the other side."

Yang disregarded her full mouth. "We tchried th-" She started coughing, and Ruby went over to pat her back while shaking her head. Blake took over.

"We already mapped the whole place, there's no way in or out besides the front door."

"I can understand why you would think that. I'd like to let you know that you are completely wrong though. Nora?"

She must have been waiting, because with a flick of her wrist she casually pointed her grenade launcher at the rat hole in the corner and fired, detonating the nest and causing it to crumble. A set of stairs opened up into the floor right in front of Cardin's tent.

"So as you can all see, we kill everything on a floor, then move down and do it again. We get through the whole place, and we'll be free. Any questions?"

Weiss raised her hand. "How will going down get us up and out?"

I nodded sagely. "Yes. Any other questions?"

Cardin swung his mace idly, having finished his food. "You know something about this place, and we need to talk after this."

"Great. Now, we have some time, because this floor is clear and apparently time moves faster in here than out there." I again had to explain that, no, it wasn't Sunday, it is Friday. Once I got through that - seriously, it's not a difficult concept - I resumed.

"I will tell you all what I would tell my followers, in other times." A few of them looked confused at that, and I remembered that while I was no longer being secretive with my power, my real nature wasn't quite as widely known. "We are going in here with one purpose, and one purpose only: kill everything inside that is not us."

"Your team leaders will know best how to utilize your team's abilities, so listen to them. Team Leaders, when we go down these stairs, everyone will be separated. Our first priority when going to the next floor is to regroup and assess the danger of the floor. We will then methodically move through the entirety of the floor, clearing out all spawn points and finding the stairs leading to the next floor. We will regroup, prepare, and do it again. Last time we were down here, it was 10 floors?"

"12, counting the final chamber and the Respite." Velvet helpfully added.

"Right, this dungeon has a campfire going down on the 11th floor. If we get there, it will refresh and rejuvenate us. We will strategize more there, but for now we clear this floor. Remember, keep an eye out for that other team, they should have been on the first floor unless they managed to move on before you guys got here. Now, before anyone asks questions, I need to know what kind of creatures were down here. Was it just the rats?"

"Giant Rats." Blake corrected me, seeming to be in a surprisingly good mood for having been here for what felt like days.

"There were a few beowolves, but I was the only one that saw them." Ruby added.

"There was a pack of Ursae too, but I'd found my team by then." Cardin added. His team was quiet, and looked fatigued.

"So, Giant Rats, Beowolves, and Ursae. No skeletons yet?"

"Animated skeleton mobs." Ren clarified before anyone could get too confused.

At their glances and shared looks, I knew this to not be the case. "Alright then, things are different. Everyone ready to get out of here? In order, we'll go with our team, then RWBY, then CRDL. Now, I will take questions."

"Why are you in charge?" Yang demanded hotly. I glanced at Ruby to see if she would take this one, as it was hers to explain, but she seemed to be looking down at her shoes.

Velvet stepped forth unexpectedly, and spoke with something approaching frustration. "Torga is taking charge because he has experience, and you all have been in here for days apparently without getting past the first floor. In fact, you stopped and waited for rescue, despite the other team being missing. That would be commendable, if you were a group of civilians, but we are not. We are Hunters and Huntresses and we have to do better. I trust Torga to never give up, I trust him to want to do what's best for his immediate team and right now, that includes all of you. If anyone else is going to take charge, it will be me." She looked out at each of them while I stared at her, surprised at how close she was to the truth.

She was right, in most parts. I am not the type to give up on a task, and I've had nothing but tasks to fulfill since I arrived here. At first, I was still just ready to go to Sovngarde. Now, with these powers and this training, a part of me believed I could bring some of it with me when I went on. I owed it, both to myself and to the warriors that came before, to make my soul as strong as possible in preparation for the battle with the Daedra. So no, I wouldn't be lying down to die any time soon.

Beyond that, though, she had identified my feeling of responsibility for the people I went into battle with. It was simpler, with my own team, because at this point we were well able to fight together. Not quite as seamlessly as some of the upper-year teams, but it was still a relief to know what my teammates were and were not capable of. I had lost that advantage here.

"Good. Now, Torga, lead on if you would? I'm going to be-" She coughed, wincing at the motion. "I'll be keeping quiet."

I shook my head, utterly surprised at the vote of confidence, and the effectiveness of it. "Unless there are any more questions?"

Ren raised his own hand. "Shall we keep a kill count?"

"Feel free, but I won't be. This isn't a competition, this is a search and rescue mission. Now, because I'm not sure of how this time-difference works between floors, I would like Ruby's team to follow me exactly 5 seconds after we vanish. Cardin, bring your guys 10 seconds after that." I stood, waiting. "Well? You going to leave your kit behind?"

There was a frantic moment as everyone packed up, the large tent being stuffed into a bag and carried by the short one on Cardin's team. It was interesting to see how small they managed to pack such a large tent, and have it light enough to carry with the rest of their adventuring gear. Soon, though, we stood before the stairway leading down into the darkness. I gestured towards it with my shield. "Well ladies? After you."

Nora jumped headfirst down the stairway, and I could swear I heard her giggle. Pyrrha strode past with determination and purpose, vanishing from sight as her foot hit the first step. I gave Ren a pat on the back, and he followed after, vanishing as well.

"Where'd they go?" The halberd wielding boy asked.

Sky Lark

LVL 24

The Flight of Fancy

"To the next floor, detective. Don't be alarmed, it just works like that, right?" Cardin both told and asked.

"Yep. Cya soon!" I followed my team through, Velvet behind me.

A twist, a tug, and I was in a new room. There was only one hallway leading out, but it was double-wide and filled with enemies. Ren was hopping from wall to wall within the hallway, staying just over the swinging, ancient nordic sword and battleaxes.

"Torgaaa! There's zombiieees!" Nora shouted, parrying a battleaxe with enough force to rip the weapon out of the enemies grasp. The piercing blue eyes turned to face me, and the maimed draugr pointed right at me.

"Doh. Vah. Kiin!"

"You're gods damned right!" I answered, sliding my sword into the shield and shifting it to the quad-blade axe. "Ren! Get back, watch for any with bows! Pyrrha, keep on going but if Ren calls out a target I need you to make it a priority! Nora, it's finally time!" I started to feel slightly excited.

Out of all our team moves, Nora and I were the most destructive. Due to this, we hadn't used it against RWBY or in any of our Phys Ed sparring matches, but here… here would do just fine.

I pulled all of the electricity dust out of my inventory, shot it into the Dust Factory, then slammed a hand down on Nora's shoulder and fired my skill.

Shocking Grasp LVL 5 (Active) Cost: 20AP/Sec

From your time spent among the charged forces of nature, you have learned to apply that charge using your own Aura to shock anything you touch.

Range: Melee
Damage: Base 50/Sec

With my Aura Affinity cutting that down, and my own Dust filled Aura to enhance it, I shocked the absolute Oblivion out of her, and she loved it. Sparks raced up and down her body as her muscles started twitching. With an occasional flash, I could see through the skin into the networks of veins and bones below, then I was flying. She threw me forwards a short way, then began building up her own speed behind me. We needed a decent amount of space to launch this attack but with Pyrrha and Ren slaughtering the draugr, we were able to take the space we needed. When my arc fell, I hit the ground in a roll - the hardest part of the maneuver, to me - and just got into my crouch and started speaking when a pink and orange blur flew over my head, bolts of lightning shooting out and impotently zapping the walls.

"FUS RO!"

Nora's speed was already impressive before my boost, and she shot down the hallway, spinning her hammer around like a giant, deadly top. Behind her, my shout picked up those that she missed and flung them bodily down the hallway which I could now see ended in a corner twisting to the right.

Perfect.

The mass of bodies hit the end, and Nora just twisted her leg. The momentum of her spin, combined with her minor change in center of gravity, almost instantly transferred her spin from horizontal to vertical and she slammed her hammer down on the ground with deadly force, discharging all of the dust I had poured into her. A titanic explosion erupted, shot throughout with lightning and crackling. With how much their bodies had faded in time, most of the dragr simply blew apart in a shower of dry, dusty limbs.

"Woohoo!" I shouted in exhilaration before the Gamer's Mind chomped down on that.

"That was awesome!" I heard Nora shout from down the hall. "But there's still more coming!" I saw her turn to the right and set herself in a stance.

I looked back into the empty, dead-end room. It had been more than 5 seconds and I had yet to see RWBY. As always, it will never be simple. "Alright, I want everyone to go cover Nora. I'll stay here another few minutes, but if they don't show we need to assume they were dropped elsewhere."

Ren shot off with haste, Pyrrha jogging behind him. Velvet stayed with me. "Torga, you know they probably won't show up here."

"I know." I sighed. "I'm just worried. Skeletons are one thing, but draugr? There are some really nasty draugr out there. If CRDL or RWBY gets separated and has bad luck… Well, you remember what happened to Pyrrha on our first time here. She ended up in the main enemy room and had to fight for at least 3 minutes before we found her. She almost wasn't able to, and that's Pyrrha."

Velvet was acting a lot more familiar with me than I had expected from her, because she put her hand on my shoulder and looked me dead in the eye. "You can't take responsibility for every single person that came in here."

"Yes, I can." I answered, but she stopped me with a squeeze on my shoulder.

"No, you can' 're setting yourself up for failure."

"I'm striving for excellence." I countered.

"And what if someone doesn't make it back? We haven't even seen the third team or heard of any trace from them. Are you responsible for people you've never met?"

I let out a dark laugh. "Yes. Them, their families, their unborn children, and their very homes. The entirety of the mundane world relied on me to save them, and I did. If I want to save everyone in this temple, I'm going to plan and act as if everyone in this temple can be saved. Anything else is cowardice, anything more is fantasy."

"I just don't want you to get hurt." She averted her gaze when she said that.

"I don't get hurt, not anymore." I tried to reassure her, and it was largely true. I didn't have to dwell on emotions I didn't want, I didn't get any lasting injuries. I was invulnerable, in a way, until I lost my last HP and then I wouldn't be.

"Yes, you do. You think you don't but even if that bully Cardin died, you would feel sorrow. I know you are… friends, with him." Her tone was unsettling, especially given the sounds of combat echoing from down the hall. She seemed resentful.

I latched onto a different track of thought, not wanting to have this conversation in a dungeon. "What's wrong with Cardin? He's always been great to me."

"He's racist against the Faunus. He thinks we're nothing more than animals."

My face darkened. "Oh. I see."

"Yea."

"Well… You're right. I don't take a person's views into account unless they conflict with my own, but I do consider him something approaching a friend. I would likely be upset if his story ended here."

Her gaze snapped back to me. "Oh? His views don't conflict with what you think?"

"Well, considering I'm not here to solve Remnants race issues, yea. I don't care if he thinks all women are secretly magpies, as long as he can swing a weapon where and when he should and nowhere else, it isn't a problem. Were someone like him in my company, I would just make sure nobody sends him out into the world alongside the race he hates. I would also try my best to ensure that none of our petitioners of that race had to interact with him, but that would be more difficult."

"You would give him the same opportunities as everyone else, were you in charge?"

"Yes. Just like I would the dunmer, the argonians, the khajiit, I even had a mammoth of an Altmer who trimmed his own ears and turned against the Thalmor. What you are is not important. What you do, when all the dice fall and the cards are laid, is what I look for. Shit, Velvet, he could have a very good reason for hating Faunus, or have grown up in a family that did so."

She took her hand off my shoulder and slapped her palm against her forehead, sighing. "Yes, the Winchesters hate Faunus. A General of the family was greatly embarrassed in a battle, and they blame the Faunus for it."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Oh Talos above, that is rich. Velvet, I guarantee you this: Don't show animosity to him. Treat him as anyone else, and within the course of a year, he'll be questioning his family views. Less, if he stops talking to the influence. If the Faunus as a whole never truly did anything to him, he's just parroting the beliefs of his role models. Don't hate him. Hate his parents."

"So, next time he comes along and tugs on my ears? I should just pretend it isn't happening? Seems smart. Very wise." I could tell she was being sarcastic, but I wasn't.

"No, then you stand up and punch him in the fucking face for being an annoying piece of shit. Just don't do it because of your views or his. That just makes you a fanatic."

"I can't just punch someone in the face!" She exclaimed, anger gone and slightly shocked.

"Is this part of that 'you can't hit women' thing?" I don't know why she giggled at that, I thought our conversation had been quite serious.

"No! Who told you not to hit women?"

"Weiss."

Velvet rolled her eyes heavily, posture relaxed as she cocked her hips. "Of course a Schnee would say that. No, when you become a huntress you forfeit all gender-based protections in court."

"And for a Huntress in Training…?"

"Same applies. It's why we're allowed to drink alcohol before the legal age limit."

"WE ARE?!" I shot up, suddenly debating just quitting this ques- right. I couldn't leave until it was done. Velvet just laughed and turned to go help the team. I was feeling a lot better than I had before, despite how scattered and unfocussed that conversation had been.

I ran to catch up. "No seriously, you're telling me I've been allowed to drink this whole time?"

"From the second you put on your uniform, yes. The faculty will try to hide it, as Ozpin doesn't like it very much, but the Council ruled that if you're old enough to die for the Kingdom, you're old enough to drink in it."

"There may be hope for this Kingdom yet." I joked, and we jogged the rest of the way to my team. In terms of sheer quantity, we were dealing with significantly less draugr than when we arrived, which I attributed to the other draugr going off to try and kill the other two teams. No more overkill techniques were used, and we simply fought our way through them to the next room.

This sheer amount of draugr would have been a death sentence to anyone in Skyrim, including me before I finished my custom armour. As it was, I was easily able to bounce swings from hammers that would have at least left me bruised before. In fact, the biggest issue was the lack of space, so I harpooned myself up the wall and sat there throwing Ice Spikes at any archers before they could loose at me. With me focussing down on the archers, Pyrrha dissecting the two-handers and Ren straight up assassinating the shield wielders, we made short work of the hall and came upon another empty room.

This one was also odd, in that it had one hall in the far left corner, one in the far right, and the hallway we had just arrived from. Even more odd, was the glimpse of a card I saw in the corner. Strolling over in our moment of reprieve, I picked it up and found it was a 1000L note.

"So uh… There's money on the ground." I tossed the card to Pyrrha. "Is it real?"

She shrugged. "How should I know? We would be best suited by asking a banker, or perhaps Mr. Barnes." She tossed it back, and I threw it into my inventory.

"Velvet, do you hear anything?"

"Always." She answered with a grin, before looking off into the middle distance and concentrating. "The echoes are too loud and disoriented to give precise details, but there's fighting going on down both hallways."

I looked at the group. "Alright, vote time. Split up and meet back here, or go for one then the other?"

"Split" Ren and Nora said simultaneously, for which Nora gave him a friendly shoulder nudge.

"Together." Pyrrha said, and I looked over to Velvet.

"Don't tell me I made that whole speech for you to be running a democratic team?" She was looking at me with disapproval.

"A what?"

"You're the leader. Lead." I opened my mouth to explain that I was just looking for other viewpoints, but then realized I wasn't doing that at all.

"Fair. Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, head down that way and fight your way to our allies. Take out any spawning points you see down there, but if you find an unopened crypt, turn around and come back. Everyone good on Aura, ammo?"

"Yep."

A nod.

"We will see you soon."

And with that my team left me alone in an empty room with a rabbit girl. We took off down the other hallway at a slow run, and we turned the first corner with nothing in sight before she spoke. "Why did you send your team away?"

"I'm good at estimating power. Between you and I, we are actually weaker than those three. With our only enemy so far being draugr, they have an even greater advantage with numbers. Part of me wants to see how you fight without your semblance. The other part enjoyed our talk earlier. I mostly just want to finish this quickly so I can go buy some damn mead."

"Oh." We ran in silence for another minute before coming up to a room that finally held a spawn. Four of them, with a solitary crypt, closed and in the center of the room.

"Fuck." I cursed as the next four draugr to crawl out of their upright crypts did not follow the rest down the hallway on the opposite side, but turned and came right for us. Two longswords, an axe, and-

"Oh fuck oh shit, MAGE!" I called out in reflex, hastily separating my weapons to get my shield up just in time for a firebolt to splash against it and dissipate. The next one flew under my shield and struck my shin, and I fought my instincts to run for cover.

"You wanted to see how I fight?" Velvet said calmly, strutting past me. She held her camera box in one hand, and as the first dragr swung, she casually swung her box and blocked it with hardly a flinch of effort. Her right hand occupied, the left reached out to its belt and drew a small, rusted dagger that she slammed into the base of its skull, not missing a step.

The next swung its longsword hard in a horizontal sweep that she simply crouched under, taking another step as the axe-wielding dragr was cut in half by its companion. Her last step landed right on the draugrs foot with a sickening crunch, and it looked down before staring at her and opening its mouth to roar. Velvet plucked something from her belt and tossed it into its gaping maw, launching herself back in a handspring kick that slammed the draugrs jaw shut. There was a brief flash of fire, then it fell to the ground with a tattered stump where its head used to be.

Then she pulled out her camera, leaned forward in just the rig- No, Torga, stop, bad puberty - she snapped a picture of the mage as it threw another firebolt at her, then pulled another back handspring, the firebolt just barely glancing off her midriff.

She tucked the camera away mid acrobatics, clicked a button on her box, then rapidly threw five glowing balls of shimmering light. The first embedded itself in the mages torso, exploding and scattering it across the room. The other four each targeted one of the crypts, collapsing them around the bodies of the draugr that were trying to claw their way free. There was silence, then a faint clattering as the bits of detonated mage fell down.

"Damn." I spoke, giving description to what I just saw. "Just…. Damn. Maybe I should have just sent you off alone."

"Don't be silly, then you wouldn't be able to watch!" She tossed over her shoulder with a wink, and I felt something in my chest.

"Yea, you're right." I answered diplomatically, confused by what was becoming more and more apparent as a level of attraction. That, or she was simply an easily familiar girl. "Well, at least the cr-"

A crack of rock breaking. The sliding of stone on stone. My heart dropped as a cruel, horned helmet rose from the crypt, sitting up and turning its head to stare at me. "Doh. Vah. Kiin"

"Yes, I know my name, thanks." I was nervous, waiting to see what ancestral weapon it would pull from its resting place.

"Traitor." I halted from my march towards its crypt.

"Excuse me?" I let my arm go limp, absolutely flabbergasted that a draugr was trying to communicate.

"Doh. Vah. Kiin."

"Huh, must have been the wind or something." I tried to reassure myself.

"Nope. It called you a traitor." Velvet added, having taken a spot by my side. "Why's it just… sitting there?"

"I don't know. Should I throw something at it?" She looked at me blankly.

"We're dealing with Skyrim zombies, right? Hit it with some fire. I'd imagine dead things from cold places don't like fire."

I shrugged, and launched a gout of Flamethrower at it. Three seconds later, all that had done was clean the dust and cobwebs from its banded iron armour. The Scourge lifted a foot out of the crypt and placed it on the ground. When it did, all of the access hallways to this room just vanished, flat textured wall where they had been.

It placed the other foot, and a dull moaning rose up around us as 5 tombstones pushed their way through the ground, and the beginnings of bone-white hands began to pull their unnatural bodies from beneath the earth.

Then, it pulled out a dagger that shimmered with an excited blue light, and we had a real fight on our hands.

Elsewhere, Forever Fall Temple B2

Another, similar crypt opens, and from within crawls a hulking figure adorned with gleaming armour and a well-detailed battle-ax. It let out a dark chuckle, turned to the spread of 6 girls and one boy, and Shouted in a voice all too familiar to them.

"YOL TOOR SHUL!"

First off, to the guest reviewer that said that the Elder Scrolls universe outstrips the RWBY universe in every way: Running water. Refrigerators. Flying machines. Electricity. Cameras. INTERNET. In what possible way could anywhere in Tamriel compare on a technological OR a military level?

That's it. Just a little baffled by that dude. Thinking about rewriting a few chapters. Thinking about writing an alternate fic where Jaune doesn't die and just has to survive Skyrim with no Aura. Thinking about quitting every part of life, moving to the middle of the woods, and just existing until I die. It sounds really, really, really nice.