A/N (10/28/2021): Writing. It's really something, isn't it? We are all born in different environments with different innate talents, and growing up, we gain different strengths and flaws.
Writing, I'd say, is basically baring all of this in public, for even if you write different characters with different points of views it is your portrayal that betrays you. Your beliefs, your ideals, your soul, laid naked on paper for all to see. Though it is an imperfect representation of yourself, since it can be interpreted in a thousand ways, it feels… so vulnerable.
Beta: Path of a Writer
/-A Requiem for a Gamer-/
"Aaaargh!" The armored woman yelled. With all her strength, she dragged the magician's dead body. "Aargh - " She coughed blood. There was still pain and exhaustion, but she was only distantly aware of it, her body so filled with adrenaline. "Just… another push." She whispered to herself. And she yanked. Something inside her ripped.
She collapsed back to the earth. A soundless scream.
This has to be enough, she thought through the pain and awkwardly rolled onto her back and onto her spot on the magic circle. Grasping wildly at the ground, she found the dagger. Expressionlessly, she raised it high above herself and plunged it deep within her stomach.
Her fresh blood mixed with the old within the lines of the dimming magic circle. The magic reacted, slowly, and molts of light started forming around her. Like fireflies, dancing around her body. Warmth of days long past enveloped her. A sea that surrounded her like a gentle caress.
She felt a nudge. A question, from the magic itself. Unsure, she tried imagining the old man and his power transferring to her. Like grasping hands, the magic tried, but she could feel it come out empty. A tinge of disappointment appeared in her dull heart. In response, the magic parted from the dead body and began to look elsewhere without her input.
The white light washed over every inch of the surroundings, investigating them, expanding outwards from the magic circle until it faded from view. Then, the pulse came back. She could somehow tell it came back empty handed. As expected.
As expected, until the magic gathered around her body instead of dissipating and extracted a glowing red orb from her chest.
The magic pulsed questioningly.
The orb was coloured like blood, reminding her of disgusting, translucent swamp goop, further tainted by bodies of the deceased. She could almost smell the diseased air, taste the rotten flesh of corpses upon corpses. Revolting. What was it? It couldn't be...
"An interesting outlook on your own soul." The dead man's voice called.
Strength has left her due to her blood loss, such that she was unable to turn her head to look at the dead body beside her.
"Worry not, I am still dead. I am communicating telepathically to you through my remaining magic in this circle." The magic started swirling around the orb leisurely. "Now, let me put your most precious possession back into its rightful place. While it is a great source of power, soul magic is not a topic for the uninitiated. Not even the gods were willing to meddle with it." The orb was slowly lowered back into her chest. "You may be asking why."
She wasn't.
"It's simple. Expend your soul completely and you lose your very being. Lose your very being… and you'll never have an afterlife."
Her eyes widened.
"You also can't be reborn, not that that's likely with the large pool of souls there is." The old man continued rambling, uncaring of her surprise. "There's a lot of things you can't do without a soul. That aside, let me try to see if I can complete the transfer ritual from beyond the grave."
As the magic started poking and prodding at her and he kept talking, her mind wandered elsewhere. She couldn't believe what she had heard. Even at death's door her addled mind suddenly started spinning at a mile a minute.
Did the wizard just confirm the existence of an afterlife?
Does this mean she can see her family again?
"Aft-Afterlife?"
"Back when the gods were around, they had mentioned it."
"What i-is it like?"
"...I don't know. I've been dead multiple times, yet I have no memories of it. Nothing, except a white, empty void..."
She growled.
"Perhaps it's a defense mechanism that the gods built in, so that the living may never know of it."
She closed her eyes. A cynical thought came to her. Maybe the afterlife was just another life, just as ruthless and terrifying as this one. She realized she didn't know at all what it was. But if it was paradise...
A distant set of memories came to her. Back in the old days, when Atilla would tend to his flower garden with the delicate effeminate touch of a mother. She could almost smell the lavenders, and the hyacinth, and the magnolia... Vasilica would tease him about it, but he'd know it was for good fun and the two's laughter would ring in her ears. Then, Michael would come back from tanning the hides and they would have supper all together, a delicious smell hanging in the air.
Her heart clenched.
She longed for it so much... Which was probably why when she reopened her tired eyes, she watched a Grimm exit from the treeline, tearing her away from her peaceful daydream and back into cruel reality.
"It must have been attracted by your negativity before, when I was slain." The old man observed. "I will try my best to finish as fast as I can. Keep calm. It hasn't realized you are still alive yet."
This Grimm was based off gorillas, not that she would know. All she saw was that it was mildly different in shape and had its bone plates be placed differently. But, as it stomped closer, she noticed something else. Illuminated by moonlight as it stepped out from the shadows of night, she saw red caked on its monstrous hands.
/-/
She ran. Heart pounding. There's the field. Attila? Flowers. Perfume. Smell.
Blood.
A corpse, carved into violent chunks in a bed of gardenia.
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"Calm down. I'm almost done."
A lone tear dropped down from the side of her eye to the ground.
Her eyes drifted to its face, where dark crimson painted its savage mouth.
/-/
Spear in hand. Cave. Not safe. Vasilica? Enter room. Screams -
Silence.
A headless body against the cold rock.
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"Aaaah…" She breathed out in pain. "Aaaaaah…" The tears that came out from her expressionless face joined together into a stream.
"I said calm down, young one. The magic is responding to your emotions! There are thousands of Grimm who've bitten someone to death or ripped people apart with their hands. This is not the same one!"
It would be an incredible coincidence if it was. Still, she looked for the one remaining signifier. Her eyes focused on its foot. There, between the shadows, was a single patch of discoloration from maybe the trees. It could have been anything, a trick of the light, yet -
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Guilt. Anger. Hysteria.
Her fault.
His stomach. Scarred. Crushed.
Can't eat.
Days pass. Skinnier everyday. Distraught.
His bony hand. So fragile. So cold.
"I wish we had more time."
/-/
The tears came out like a flood.
"Stop!"
The magic, hearing her call, broke from the ordered formation it was in just a second ago, only to gather up into a swirl of energy at her beck and call. She couldn't control it at all, for just as her grief slammed back into her at full force, so did the magic. It uncontrollably jammed itself into her body, burning a hole straight through her leather armor. Inside, it seared, it simmered, as she rolled on the ground and screamed in agony, hatred, and misery.
She knew she had to stop, but all she could think about was her torment.
"You need to calm down! Think of something else, anything else!"
As she spasmed on the ground, from the corner of her eye, she saw the approaching despicable Grimm. In that moment, her mind focused through the haze of pain and she thought of the first thing that came to mind.
She thought of how she wished she could kill it.
Her suffering turned into hatred as lightning burst from her body to smash into the monster, obliterating it in a split second of wild flashing lights. As it dissipated into smoke, she collapsed back onto the ground like an uncoiled spring, the tension gone from her body.
There was a moment of shocked silence.
"What have you done..." The old man whispered. "You've wasted almost all of what magic there was left."
She breathed heavily. The magic, while inside her body, had also partially healed her wounds. The woman sat up. Her throat burned.
"It's over. All that's left is this sliver of magic, enough for me to talk to you for a bit longer, but little else."
She grabbed her spear.
"Damn it. Damn it!" He said. "No, no, no. It's not your fault. You have no idea how magic works. This is my mistake. I am the one who should have been more careful - I didn't think she would have figured out how to modify the Grimm in this way. I'll need to see how she was able to get past my wards."
The armored woman sprinted in the direction her tribe had said they would go.
"You are still going to try?"
She opened her mouth. "I will still…" She coughed. Her voice box was still torn from her screams. "Little. Magic. Will use."
"...You're very practical."
"My fault. My respon - " Cough. " - bility."
The voice in her head turned softer. "It wasn't. Your grief is natural. You can't blame yourself for something anyone would feel in your situation."
She was silent.
When she arrived, it was chaos. The grassy field was on fire, bodies laid everywhere, and many of the trees were eviscerated. Screams echoed in the air, and at the center of it all, was the Alpha Manticore in all its fearsome might.
"Valeria?!" A familiar woman called.
"Run!" She hoarsely yelled, before charging at the Grimm.
"It's not good. We need more Dust, more people!" One of the wounded men on the ground called to her. "It's too strong!"
The monster turned its hateful gaze to her.
She calmly met the gaze, unafraid.
They took a moment to circle each other. Watching every movement for insight into each other's fighting styles. The Grimm was well built for brawling, unlike the usual more light-weight Manticore, and the ignited flora around her seemed to indicate it had also kept its breath attack. She saw the multitude of spears and arrows stuck into the Grimm's hide, but it seemed unaffected. However, it could be hiding it, just like she was as she did her best to appear unburdened by her own wounds.
Having seen enough, they met in the middle with a battle roar.
With expert practice, she dodged around its heavy melee blows while dancing around patches of flaming grass, all while fighting past her injuries. Every blow the Grimm missed that hit the ground made the earth shake. This Grimm may be powerful, but its size makes it easier to predict where it would strike next.
"I can help you." The old man said.
Barely dodging underneath a swipe from its wings, her spear thrusted at the Grimm's side. However, instead of making a shallow cut in its tough hide, a magical aura formed around the tip and her spear struck true. The monster cried.
She leapt back, making space.
"Good. Keep going. A few more blows like this and it'll go down. No mistakes."
She nodded. She focused on the movements of the monster, checking to see if there was a limp or a gait, looking for a weakness. She charged.
Snap.
She crumpled to the ground, incomprehensibly. Her spear stabbed to the ground, twisting her arm such that she was forced to let go. She planted face first into the dirty grass, tasting the musky earth and ash.
"Valeria!"
The woman tried to get up, but her right leg…
"You've torn a tendon." The old man noted solemnly. Her wounds had caught up to her.
The charging Grimm swung at her with a set of bloody claws. With only one working leg, she tried to evade it.
The Grimm tore off her left arm.
Her limb made an arc in the air, spraying blood. She collapsed to her side, letting her head bang against the earth. Every part of her hurt such that she was starting to feel numb.
The monster roared, raising its claws for a final strike.
Suddenly, a shaking voice yelled from her left. It was the same woman who was with her at the beginning of this story, barely dressed in thin cloths. She brandished a thin stick in both hands.
"G-Get away from her!"
The Grimm stopped itself in its tracks and turned towards the source of greater fear. There was a great distance between them, so the Grimm opened its mouth. Yellow flames gathered in it.
The armored woman stared. She couldn't understand why the other woman was still there. Didn't she want to live? Then, why was she -
"Her family." The old man's telepathic speech made her look beyond the woman and at the children trapped underneath a tree.
Her mind froze.
"No matter how many times I witness it, I never get used to it. A terrible event, but one that will happen many millions of times more. An eternal cycle."
"No." She stated.
"No?"
She grabbed hold of the remaining magic with her mind. Firmly. Commanding it with care, she tried to imitate the magic's movement that had happened a few minutes ago.
"What are you doing?"
The thing she tried didn't work, the magic doing nothing but reorganization itself.
"...You can't be serious. You wish to…?"
She watched the fireball in the Grimm's mouth grow larger and larger. Letting go of the magic as it was commandeered by the ghost of the old man, she crawled towards her friend.
"If the ritual fails in the midst of casting, I can not guarantee your soul would be intact! You might never see your family again."
With just one arm and one working leg, she crawled desperately in the dirt.
"I see. There shouldn't be enough magic, but I will try doing the ritual anyway."
But there wasn't enough time.
The Grimm reared back its head… and fired.
With just one leg, she pushed herself from the ground and leapt into the path of the fireball, a last ditch meaningless, fruitless effort.
And she died.
/-/
She woke up in a white void.
Featureless, it seemed to stretch on for eternity.
The armored woman sat up from her prone position, carefully examining her new environment. A simple deduction told her that she was most likely dead. So, then, was this emptiness the afterlife? It was quite disappointing, if that's all it was.
"I'd say it is more so my personal waiting room. A twilight of life."
The old man, now without a scratch, stood in front of her.
"No time to explain. Have you taken a look at yourself?"
She took a look at her body. Her unblemished skin, with none of her thousands of scars, didn't surprise her. No, what surprised her was that it looked like she was disintegrating. The tip of her fingers were turning into luminous specks of dust ever so slowly, disappearing as they drifted away. A bit curious, she turned her hands - both hands? - in order to inspect them from different angles. That was how she noticed that her body was hollow. Her skin seemed to be just a film blown into the shape of a human body, surrounding a core of mysterious dark red light. "What's happening?" She whispered.
"I don't know."
She stared at her hands. "Did the ritual fail?"
"I don't know." He repeated. "What I do know is that your soul is leaking power and that it's increasing as your corporeal shell dissipates."
"What happens when this…" She flipped her hands, taking a look at both sides. "What happens when it finishes?"
"I. Don't. Know." He reiterated gravely. "The amount of power you extrude could increase past the regeneration rate, and then you run the risk of losing your soul. Or maybe the regeneration rate increases as you use up more. I don't know!" He looked angry at his lack of knowledge.
He sighed, calming himself. "However, I think I can fix this."
"Even if you've never done this before?"
"It's a spell. You cut off its power source and it will stop."
"And it will reverse the damage already done?"
"...Perhaps."
"And then we can try the ritual again?"
"No."
She stared at him.
"The moment we break the link with the mortal world, you will be freed from its shackles and be sent to the afterlife to reunite with everyone you've lost." He offered a hand. "The earlier it is done the more likely it is your soul will stay intact.
She hesitated.
"Quickly, we have no time."
"...What about my tribe?"
The old man shut his eyes in resignation. "There's nothing we can do. Your soul takes precedence."
"..."
"We need to act, right now." He reached out his hands in order to grab hers. She didn't pull away and he yanked her over to him, a little rough in his hurry. He raised his other arm and emerald magic gathered around it.
That was when a second set of arms pulled her away from the old man and into an embrace that she hadn't felt since so many long years ago.
The old man didn't look too surprised.
"Hmmm…" Her husband mumbled into her hair, his well-built arms wrapped around her mid-section.
She was frozen.
"Why do you let this person make your decisions, Valeria?" The husband rubbed his chin against her bare neck, the stubbles making her suddenly gasp.
She couldn't say anything, instead, turning to face the man. It really was him. From his clear hazelnut eyes, to the crooked canine tooth peeking out from his grin, it was so distinctly him.
"Hey." He said playfully.
"...Hey." She replied with a smile.
His expression turned more serious. "We don't have much time, so I will make this quick. I don't know if I have been watching you all these years, as for some reason I'm drawing a blank, but what I do see is what is in front of me. These years of grief have made you a mere shadow of the woman I love."
She looked down at the white floor, her smile fading.
"Do you remember when we first met? I remember it clear as day, even in death. You were wild. Unrelenting. Driven. Love, you have forgotten the sheer depth of your passion."
He paused, letting his words sink in, before continuing.
"Valeria, what do you want?"
She closed her eyes in resignation. She loved her family. There were no words for how much she yearned for them, and right now, she wanted nothing less than to stay here in the arms of her husband forever.
Yet, something called for her.
She had something she needed to do elsewhere. She was a protector, a defender. All that pain that had happened to her - no one should ever have to feel it. She wanted to see her family, yes…
But not at the cost of someone else's.
It was time to let them go.
She opened her eyes. "Can you force it to partially stop, esteemed elder?"
"No. It's either or."
"Then, I will see this ritual to its end."
"Child - !"
Gently, she disentangled herself from her husband's embrace. "Are you some sort of immortal, esteemed Elder?"
The old man looked shocked.
"I thought so from what you've told me. Yet, for generations, pain and suffering still plagues us. Whatever you've done is clearly not enough. I think it is time to try something new. I'm sorry Michael, tell the children I love them. But I need to do this."
"Something new, yes, but this is foolish!"
"Should I die forever, then it will be a lesson for you, Elder, that this is not the path to take. But should this succeed… It won't be just my tribe that will be saved. This kind of magic, won't it be able to be applied to anybody? Imagine it!" She roared. "Every man equipped with the most extraordinary of weapons. It will be a new age. An age... of humanity!"
"The gods had left us because we tried to find happiness by breaking their laws! I will not doom anyone for such short term gains!"
She stared at him. "You think the gods had left in disappointment, forsaking mankind to the Grimm. I don't think so. Who knows the agenda of gods? Maybe they left… because they wanted to see what we could do for ourselves."
The words in the old man's mouth froze.
"Maybe I'm a fool for thinking so, maybe you're right! Maybe I will die a nobody! Or, maybe I will go down in history as the woman who started everything. My decision... is to try."
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The woman dressed in cloths didn't know what had happened.
She was there, for a moment, foolishly trying to buy her children time to run. There was nothing she could do against a monster of this size - it could even shoot fire! But her love made her brave, brave enough to stand here and realize that she was oh so very stupid.
When the fireball shot at her, she knew she would be dead.
Then, Valeria leapt in its path. Even though she was covered in her own blood. Even though there were gashes and holes in her chest and stomach… and she only had one arm.
She was engulfed by the flames.
The woman dressed in cloths screamed her name again. It felt like all she was doing was screaming her name, but what could she do? She was not a warrior, her skills lay elsewhere. Still, like a desperate prayer, she wailed, as if it was the name of some deity.
Valeria's dead, charred body rolled bonelessly to the other woman's feet, still burning in the Grimm's yellow flames.
The woman dressed in cloths sobbed. The extent that the other woman was willing to go to in order to protect her tribe had touched her heart, but yet… it was all for nothing. Her vision started becoming blurry from her tears.
And then, the yellow light that shone on this woman's face was replaced by the red of the setting sun. Confused, she wiped her tears away to look towards it, but it was still the dark of night. Instead, her eyes moved down and watched as the yellow flames around Valeria's body died down, revealing something… extraordinary.
There was a halo of red light around Valeria's fallen body, banishing away the flames.
What was it? What was happening? The woman dressed in cloths watched as the numerous wounds closed by themselves around the warrior's body and charred flesh fell away to reveal smooth, unblemished skin.
Slowly, Valeria stood up. Tall, and proud, and she said -
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality."
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The armored woman flexed her remaining arm. She felt new. All of the exhaustion, all of the pain was gone.
"...You were right." The old man stated in disbelief.
She smiled in relief.
"Good, good!" For the first time, she heard joy enter the old man's telepathic speech. "It worked! And those words - they are rightfully chosen. Continue, we have not finished yet!"
She stared down defiantly at the Grimm before her, who was eyeing her form, mildly confused by the sudden change.
"Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all."
Her aura shone brighter.
"You see this light, child? This is the brightness of the human soul. Your very being, here for all to gaze at in wonder."
The Grimm made to gather another ball of flame. She didn't let it, grabbing her spear still stuck in the ground and lunged at a superhuman speed. Seeing her rapid approach, it spat the half formed fireball at her. A little off balance due to her sudden improved agility, she only barely weaved around the projectile. Thrusting her spear forward, the Grimm twisted itself. Combined with her having only one hand, the spear ended up hitting one of its bone plates at an awkward angle.
It snapped in half.
She leapt backwards, giving herself space again and discarding the broken shaft.
"It's just a small setback, grab one of the weapons of your tribesmen. Don't forget to continue the chant - speak from your heart."
She hadn't noticed till now the few weapons scattered around her. Keeping an eye on the monster, she circled it. Perhaps understanding what she was about to do, it didn't give her a chance to locate a new weapon. The monster spread out its wings and beat them with a mighty stroke, sending it soaring at her.
Like water, she weaved into the space by its side, narrowly avoiding several wild claw strikes. The edge of a wing passing by her, she had a sudden thought, and she reached out a hand to grasp around it.
"No, don't!"
Her hand closed.
The sudden pull sent her sprawling against the ground, while the Grimm also lost its balance and fell on its back with a boom.
"...So it does give you some extra strength. Not a lot. I apologize, this sort of magic is new to both of us."
They got back up. The Grimm roared in challenge and she opened her mouth to declare -
"Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release my soul."
The area was now bathed in brightening crimson light. Her aura shone like a beacon, shining light into the deepest of darkness.
"So this is your dreams... Your hopes." The old man said with awe. "In your light, I see the strength of your conviction, your dedication towards a singular, impossible goal. A world without strife. And I am humbled. It is incredible that one who has seen as many terrible things as you can still fight on for this kind of ideal."
The Grimm rushed her again. This time, she was ready. However, instead of aiming for her, it leapt over her. It took her a moment to realize what it was doing and she twisted her body to follow it.
It landed before the woman in cloths, who was still trying to pull out her children trapped underneath a felled tree.
The armored woman rushed across the field, almost tripping with her newfound speed, and scaled the monster's back. As it was about to breathe fire, she clamped her legs arounds its neck, choking it, before using her remaining arm to pull its head back using its snout as a handhold. The fire shot into the sky, scorching the tips of some trees in the distance.
Grunting, the Manticore fell backwards and slammed the armored woman into the ground. She tried to get out of the way in reaction, scrambling aside, but it wasn't enough as she cratered the earth. For a second, she thought she saw stars.
Her hand wildly grasped at her surroundings. She needed a weapon. Her hand wrapped around a handle, but before she could bring it to bear, the Manticore rolled right-side up, dragging her with it due to the death grip her legs had around its neck. Then, it raised its wings, and flew, bringing the armored woman with it into the night sky.
In the air, it swung its head violently. She tried her best to stab it with whatever she had grasped, but the Grimm was several times stronger and she was flung right off.
She crashed into the ground.
The Grimm landed a good distance away.
"Valeria, are… Are you okay?" Her friend called.
She ignored the concern and readied herself to face the monster once more. However, instead of charging, it readied a fireball. Because of the distance between them, it had more time than before to charge it up. Time for a stronger, more devastating blast.
She took a glance behind her.
Several of her tribe were behind her. The monster was smart, it was trying to pin her. Force her to take the fireblast again.
She took a breath.
The woman brought her weapon - it was the other half of her spear, the one with the blade - and charged. The Grimm's fireball grew bigger and bigger, far outstripping its previous size. An inferno. When it finally fired it, it wasn't a fireball anymore. It was a torrent of flames, a tornado of superheated plasma, coming straight at her.
"And by my shoulder,"
At her words, her light receded - no. It focused. Concentrated. Before, it was an aura, but now, it had hardened itself until it became an armor of light around her skin. She met the flames head-on, and she parted them with her own light, cleaving through.
But, her spear was outside the armor of her soul.
In the heat, the stone tip turned red hot.
She didn't notice though. In this moment, she wasn't thinking about how everyone watched her battle in disbelief, or of how they were scrambling to get the wounded out. No, all her focus was the Grimm, and why she fought it.
There was only one thing that she had dedicated herself to after - no, even before losing her family. One ideal, one purpose that pushed her past any obstacle.
Slowly, her light inched up the shaft of her spear, until the entire broken weapon became part of her. They were fighting, they were struggling against the fire, but not as a weapon and its wielder. Instead, they became one, united in purpose.
And, in this test of light against light, she had only one thing to say.
"Protect thee."
She burst through the last of the fire to plunge her glowing spear into the Grimm, splitting the bone armor it had and striking deep within.
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In that moment, when the first fireball hit, she had died and that should have been the end of her story. Luckily, there was a side effect. It also destabilized her soul. Then, in that moment, even the meager amount of magic that was left was able to start the unveiling of her spirit.
It was a coincidence, a miracle.
Regardless of the reasons for which it happened, it still happened. From this day on, the balance of power shifted. The world was not the Grimm's domain anymore. In the dark of night was born an incredible new predator. And, to those that used to hunt us, she was their monster. A hunter, for the hunters.
The First Huntress.
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Jaune watched as the woman and the Grimm disperse back into mist, the scene fading back into the busy downtown street.
"I have so many questions."
Light crossed his arms.
So many things came to Jaune, overwhelming him. "I - I can't believe I never thought about this. The world - well - you made it!"
"Of course."
"I - well, how was it made?"
Jaune watched Light turn his head to gaze down the street, watching the people go by their busy daily lives. Hundreds of people, each with their own desires, marching on a beat that they could only hear. The air was filled with lively chatter and the low purr of engines. As Jaune's eyes drifted back to the god, he saw the tiniest twitch at the corner of Light's mouth.
"At the beginning, there was nothing but formless chaos." The god closed his eyes, reminiscing. "I remember it clearly when I defied our orderless world and created the concept of a dot. The wonder in myself as I discovered there was something more than an eternity spent merely existing. With the help of Dark, I started working. I would slave away for eons working on every little small thing, throwing myself further and further down the rabbit hole of creation."
"I could not comprehend his focus." Dark drawled as he stepped up to them from the side. "Jaune, how long can you study for in a single sitting? Twenty minutes? One hour max? Light can spend lifetimes on a single task without stopping, and no it's not because he's a god or else I could do the same."
Light laughed boastfully. "Of course I could, I am the God of Light and creation after all!" It only took a few moments for his mirth to die down, as he then adopted a more stern expression. "Dark and I made many worlds at first. Some imploded on themselves, others exploded. It is through this whole process that we created the Cycles. A systematic approach to the creation of universes allowing us to improve every iteration."
"...it sounds simple enough." Jaune commented. Not the task, that was probably hard, but the creation myth didn't have any serpents biting their own tail or showdowns between gods.
Dark cackled. "Jaune, you have no idea how not simple it was. We worked long enough that suns being born and dying felt faster than a blink of an eye. Like all mortals, you will never be able to comprehend the sheer scale of eternity."
"And yet, for all our work, the very first non-test cycle we made ended in catastrophic failure."
"You still remember that?" Dark was surprised.
"I try my best to remember every cycle, but the details will always be foggy. Even a god can not recall everything. If I could, then I wouldn't need all these laws."
Jaune blinked. All these laws? What?
"We were young then and made many terrible mistakes. I dedicated myself to improving. But after all these cycles, and the rise and fall of countless galaxies, I always realize, as I stand here amid our greatest triumph…" Light smiled. "...that it's not very good, is it?"
Jaune was speechless. With how Light usually acted, he didn't expect him to suddenly make such a statement about his own creation. But was Light right about reality? That it wasn't very good? Jaune thought about war, famine, and pestilence. He thought about the ongoing civil wars and massacres. Still, he also thought about the breathtaking glaciers he had seen off in the north. He thought about the video games he liked so much.
"I mean… there's a lot of bad things going on in Africa, with warlords and all that… but there's nice things too, like family, love, lots of room for creative freedom... I'd say there are a lot of both good and bad things."
The smile stayed on the god's face. "Such a safe, effortless answer."
"Well, what did you want me to say to such an impossibly large philosophical question?"
"What you learned last Wednesday in class, at the very least."
Dark, at the side, guffawed quietly into his hands.
"Or maybe you should have questioned what criteria we are using to rate a cycle as good or not, as you learned in first year. Critical thinking is not so simple once you actually need to use it, no?"
"Or maybe it's the broken system," Jaune shot in, agitated. "Leaving us in debt while teaching us zero real life skills."
"Ah, actual cause and proximate cause. You might want to go ask Weiss about that."
Jaune stared at the god.
Light sighed. "Though I can not say I'm happy with this cycle's state, I've made so many interesting things in this world, and you humans have too. You've missed so much by not engaging with what you are given, like I still can't believe that you met your creator and had absolutely nothing to ask him about for several days."
The young man stood at the side of the street, cars beside him barely moving inches every second as traffic started congesting. It had been a day for much too many revelations, and he was certain there was more to question. He needed a break to think everything through, the comebacks not coming even if he was certain that the god was wrong because of how utterly befuddled he was.
"You don't believe me that you aren't facing life honestly, are you? Then answer me this. Would you like me to release you from RWBY:Online?"
Jaune's eyes widened. Didn't the god say that it was his punishment for the burger incident? And now, he was giving him a choice? Could this be some sort of trap? What was the god trying to do?
"No more stupid challenges. No more ways to steal money from you. Then, we'll part ways, like we have never met."
Jaune was silent. At the beginning, he did want to escape from the trap that gods had made for him. Yet, now that he had his goal within his grasp, he felt a strange sort of disappointment. Of defeat. If he takes the offer, then he'll be back where he started a few days ago. A soul draining job at McDough's. A useless degree that will put him into further debt. No gods to bug him.
His heart sank.
The god looked awfully smug. "I knew you'd see it from my point of view, mortal. Billionaires would pay a fortune to be able to still experience life while asleep. The game is basically a super power, Jaune, you have more time per day than anyone else."
T-That's completely right, but that wasn't what I was thinking at all!
"This is why I want you to start seriously thinking in whatever reality you are in." Light tilted his head, smiling again. "Why don't you play my game, mortal?"
For a second, Jaune wanted to ask if he was talking about real life or RWBY:Online.
His hands curled up into fists. While the god was right about him missing many of the details over the past few days, Jaune didn't think he hadn't been 'facing life honestly' less than anyone else. In fact, why the hell was the god bugging him, a random person working at the lowest tier jobs in society? Wasn't that basically just punching down?
The cacophony of city life around him didn't help him think.
"I'll play your stupid game." Jaune spun around, taking his food and backpack with him. He had enough of this conversation. "But you're wrong about everything else."
/-/
Dark watched the mortal leave, shaking his head. He felt a little bad for him, being the target of his brother's latest antics. Sadly, there was nothing he could do to stop Light. That's just how it always was. However, he did have a question today. The black haired retiree approached his brother, who had adopted a thinking pose after hearing Jaune's parting words.
"Light, can you explain this?" Dark held up a folder.
"A second, Dark. I have gotten a sudden spark of inspiration. You remember how I have finished the loot box system for the foreseeable future, like for skins and other characters, correct? I've been playing some games from EA recently, and I know exactly what I would like to add."
Dark's outstretched arm lowered a little bit. "You've already figured it out?"
"Yes… I've been thinking that there's enough microtransactions, but there is still something missing. Today, walking down the street to work, I realized that it was so obvious."
"What was it?"
"Advertisements."
Dark stared.
"I can't believe I missed such an obvious detail."
"No, Light, you can't."
"It's a great idea if I say so myself."
The God of Darkness' other hand smacked into his forehead, the sound of the facepalm being loud enough to be heard for a few blocks. "You can't be serious…" A few passerbys glanced at them.
Light laughed. "That's it! I'll let you playtest it when I'm finished, you said you had something to tell me?"
"Listen to me, for once!"
"But I am?"
Dark grumbled something unpleasant, before he motioned with his hands and the folder opened up, but only to them. While to others it looked like they were having a chat on the sidewalk, to them, translucent copies of the pages inside the folder floated out. They spread themselves out cleanly, until a dome of pages formed around them.
"What are all these notes you've been taking, Light?" Dark gestured towards one of them and it flew into his awaiting hand. "Notes on Operational Accuracy 26." He read the title, before skipping to a section in the middle. "Visual entertainment media of the time unable to be recovered. Filling in with material from this cycle as a bandaid measure seems to work for now." Then, the end. "Inconclusive. More data required."
Light didn't hesitate, as if he had a prepared answer. "You know I never do anything without trying my best."
"That day at McDough's, when we first met Jaune." He pressed harder. "It wasn't a coincidence, was it? Nor was it just for fun. You had a reason for it."
"I told you already, it was only a whim. There is no need for you to look any deeper."
"This is a vacation, Light! And vacations are for - "
"Yes, resting, I know. And I choose how I rest."
"This isn't resting!"
"I know what is too much, Dark. It is but the whim of a bored god. Leave this matter alone." With that warning, Light also left, leaving the other god alone.
Dark wanted to call Light out on his bullshit. He hadn't only found one folder, or a few. He had found trillions. That was a little too much for a whim! But like always, he couldn't find holes in Light's arguments, nor did he have any definite proof as technically the God of Light has historically been a man with many notes.
All he could do was question him and hope Light screwed up.
Like always.
His hands balled up into fists, before he relaxed. Dark laughed. "Eh, what does it have to do with me anyways. There's a new ranked split in Apex, I need to get my trails back!"
/-/
"Shit." Jaune swore as he finally returned home after a long day. He lazily threw his backpack to the ground, before last minute remembering that his laptop was in there and hurriedly caught it with his other hand. Tripping over his own feet in his hurry, he yelped and spun around in order to protect his bag and fell back first onto the tiles in midst of his numerous disorderly pairs of shoes. "Shiiiiiiit."
He laid there for a moment, letting the day's worries wash over him. So much had happened, yet nothing had been resolved. The thing with Ruby, the gods' game, and he actually even had to cover a co-worker's shift today. Turns out that the co-worker got a surprise interview from a company he really wanted to switch to, and Jaune just couldn't say no. Luckily, he had good luck on his shift and didn't meet any overly demanding customers - that would just be the cherry on top of his McSun-day.
The shoes stank.
He groaned as he was forced to get back up. He kicked off his sneakers without bothering to put them on his shoe rack and dragged himself to the kitchen. He didn't buy anything at his workplace even though it was late, since he had a meal prepped on Sunday and didn't want to waste food. Who knows how much money the gods would siphon off him, he didn't want to miss rent.
He forked some spaghetti on a plate and nuked it in the microwave.
Done, he took it out quickly, ignoring the burning sensation, and dropped it onto the table with a hurried clank. Then, he moved to the cupboards, looking for a fork. Surprisingly, they were all neatly placed in a drawer, washed and dried. Ah, so Light washed them for me. He finally realized. He chooses the strangest moments to be nice…
His eyes darted around.
Or it's a trap!
His eyes locked onto a literal mouse trap on the floor.
He didn't own any mouse traps.
...This is so stupid. There are no rodent problems in his apartment building. Was this a joke? But then, he would have to predict - I can't even.
Jaune decided to ignore it and sat down to eat.
By reflex, he took out his phone, and consciously noting his action, he instead decided to put it down onto the table. Today, he didn't have time to scroll through his endless feed of meaningless entertainment. He had multiple problems, the biggest of which was still his Aura. After what amounted to what would fill at least twenty pages of story, he had still not figured out how he will be using offensive Aura! Worse of all, he didn't really want to think about the problem either. It wasn't as if it was some kind of essay or project he could work on; It was literally just "become passionate". Jaune could write a five thousand word essay about how absolutely demented it was - or argue the opposite, he was flexible like that - but arrive at a strict conclusion himself within a single day?
"Fuck this." Jaune focused on his other problem. The Ruby problem.
At first, he wasn't sure about what the problem was. He thought he might have been just knocked off the rocker by Ruby's speech. After all, who wouldn't be when a young girl in a dress wielding a scythe started talking about ideals and heroes? It was something straight out of some anime. She even had a tragic backstory and all that, as hinted by her thinly veiled comment about a relative being killed-in-action. Actually, Jaune wasn't sure what he should feel about that, especially when his own body had that strange moment where it took control and told her… something. He didn't remember the exact words, something about Ruby being wrong?
However, after he woke up from the game, the feeling had grown and kept nagging at him from the back of his mind. It poked, it prodded, it annoyed him from the morning all the way to the evening. There was something about Ruby that he… wasn't thinking about. The thought felt oily, unable to be caught in his metaphysical hands, slipping between consciousness and unconsciousness like an eel.
His eyes slowly scoured his room, as if there would be something there to miraculously remind of what he was trying to remember. His eyes skimmed over his messy bookcase, where books were falling over left and right and some were even still in their packing boxes. The latter were the ones he thought he'd read, but never did find the motivation to even take them out.
Didn't mom pack some of my albums with them? He suddenly remembered.
Leaving the plate of half-eaten almost tasteless spaghetti on his table, he knelt down beside his bookshelf and started taking out boxes and opening them. The first one didn't have it, so he left it half-hazardly aside and continued to the next one until he found what he was looking for.
The album was quite the gaudy thing. It was well decorated in such a way only a kindergartener could call as such, with an over application of glitter and scribbles that loosely perhaps resembled what they depicted if one had closed one eye, then the other, and then turned away.
A fond, nostalgic smile sneaked itself onto Jaune's face.
/-/
"Mom wants me to decorate this stupid, boring book."
"Ah?! If you dunna want to, then let me do it instead! Hm… what do you think of adding a gun?"
"...Okay."
"I'll help too! She said we could use all the glitter we want, right?"
"Nora, no! Ren, stop her!"
"Bwahaha, you can't stop me!"
/-/
The mess that they had created took days to clean and they could still find glitter in the crevices.
He shook his head in amusement and finally opened the book up. Inside were the carefully documented pictures that his mother and sisters had taken. Back then, he had disliked staying still even for the few seconds it took for these memories to be immortalized onto paper, but now, he supposed that he could see some value in them. His finger glided across the page as he looked at each picture, the short description below, and the dates. Every tableau brought him back to a time where things were so much simpler.
Like, that time they were playing Monopoly. It was a cool spring evening, the rain battering the window with a gentle, soothing rhythm. Everyone was stuck indoors and Ruby was with them because her parents were busy. Then, Nora and Ren had come over - something about their foster parents - and became soaked to the bone. His mother had fretted over them, much to their indignation, though Jaune thought that they oddly didn't look that unhappy. Then, over a cup of hot chocolate, all four of them played "Die Alien Rascals".
...
It was still Monopoly. Just with a few of Nora's hand drawn props, Ruby's additions, Ren's rules, and his favorite battle figurines.
He got absolutely pissed when the Marvelous Nora-rangers obliterated the Junior Jeronimos using two Death Stars and an army of mutated ice cream bars.
...
Or, or, that time when the four of them, plus some other friends, went to the water park. There was this super tall slide, and he was absolutely scared out of his wits. However, Ruby and Nora were so hyped for it that he was swept up in their excitement and had ended up going.
...That resulted in Ren puking in the pool.
Jaune frowned.
Why was he nostalgic about this again?
He sighed, closing the book. He wasn't even close to the end, but, suddenly, he didn't feel like flipping through it anymore.
That reminded him. There was this time where they were at the library, and Nora had the bright idea of starting a mega Jenga tower on one of the tables… and he and Ren were very suspicious, since it didn't look like a one man job… and Ruby trying to whistle innocently in the corner didn't look very innocent at all.
Jaune's eyes twitched.
"Wait, weren't Ren and I getting messed with all the time?!"
Ping.
He was surprised for a second, but realized quickly that it was his phone and he picked it up. New email. "75% Off This Weekend at …" He slammed his phone back down.
"Useless."
Jaune cracked his neck.
"But 75% off is a pretty good deal and I haven't really found anything here." Muttering to himself, he opened his mail app and clicked on the link. "Oh shit, it's already Halloween?!" His eyes scanned over the digital flyer. One part caught his eye, and he quickly tried to drag the page so that he could see that side. The website decided to bug out there though, moving the entire webpage instead of moving the flyer's page. "Whatever they are paying these developers, it's clearly too much."
He moved to his computer in order to open the flyer there, leaving the mess of books and opened boxes. The desktop application was much superior to the mobile one, as expected, revealing the price of the item to be -
"It was up to 75% off?!" He face palmed. "I can't believe I keep falling for this!"
His cursor closed the webpage. The window with his emails came to the foreground and he was ready to close that too, but stopped himself.
He stared at the search bar.
A second of consideration later, he typed in "Ruby Rose".
Nothing.
"Oh, right!"
He started typing the first few letters of "gunsandroses3108" and auto-completed the rest.
There were several emails. While the two of them didn't like emails, it was the only contact information they had of each other that wasn't through their parents back then. So, it was kind of like a secret line of communication that no one could know about. Not that they used it often at all. Why use it, when they were next door neighbors?
His finger tapped on his desk uneasily.
He supposed there was one reason to use it. Like if one of them ever, for some reason, had to relocate to somewhere distant. Somewhere far, where everything was new and everyone nearby was a stranger. Somewhere… lonely.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
On his screen, at the very top of his search results, was a single unread email. It was dated a few years after Ruby had left, and a year or so after their communication petered out. There were no emails afterwards.
The subject:
"Can I talk to you?"
He raised his hands to brush his fingers through his hair, breathing out, trying to release the tension in his muscles.
Then, he clicked it.
/-/
Hello Jaune,
How are you?
I know I havn't replied to ur last email for a year or so…
It's because things… aren't okay.
I need to talk to someone.
Can I talk to you?
Ruby
/-/
"Fuck." He cursed.
How had he missed it? Jaune stared at the message with incomprehension. What was it? He raked his brain for the answer. Why did he not respond after that? Why did he not even open it? Was it his stupid, younger, childish self, feeling annoyed at being ignored for a whole year and spitefully left it forgotten? He didn't remember, but that didn't matter, because it wasn't him who most likely paid for the consequences of his actions. Hopefully, she didn't need that talk. Hopefully, she worked up the courage to email an old friend she had not talked to in a year for no reason, cause, "Fuuuuck!"
Is… is this why the gods are placing people he knew into the game?
No. No, it wasn't. The gods have their own stupid plans. No, this was probably part of what Light was talking about today. The story about the First Huntress. The speech.
He dragged his hands down his face, tiredly.
"Fuck."
Real life isn't a Disney fairytale. Don't expect a happy ending, because even if it was a fairytale it could very well be written by the Grimms. Especially so if you stand aside and watch silently as the course of events flows downhill without lifting a finger to change its direction.
And, should you not know about this downhill river?
Unbeknownst to you, still, it shall go onward to its fate.
/-A Requiem for a Gamer-/
Jaune jolted into full consciousness back at the clearing beside the crevice in the gods' game, right where he had been yesterday.
He didn't do much after the email realization. It wasn't like he could even do anything. It had been years, and whatever that had happened had passed a long time ago. After much time agonizing over it, he decided to leave it for now.
The problem he could even attempt to start solving was about his Aura. However, even that was impossible. He had tried rushing through some tutorials for hobbies like drawing, but nothing clicked in that extremely short amount of time. Jaune knew it was a stretch before he had even tried, but what could he do?
Well… There's one activity… However, it's not like I have the physique for that anymore, or a partner, anyways.
Still, he had one more avenue to explore other than finding his passion. Yesterday, in the game, he had received a loot box. If, somehow, he rolled really well… he'd have a chance. His only chance.
So, that means I have time to catch up on homework… and play some games to destress.
Therefore, he ended up using the rest of his time reviewing some class notes and playing some video games. He had then gone to bed pretty early, doing the usual things like brushing his teeth and washing his face. Additionally, he had set his alarm later to 12 AM in order to have more time to sleep. However, the moment he laid down on his mattress his problems had come right back to haunt him. And there had gone at least a few hours of his sleep, having been spent just rolling restlessly.
A small bit of him had wished he never found out about Ruby.
Still, he certainly had fallen asleep at some point, since he finally found himself here again. Back on the battlefield, without any preparation. It was only then, that he realized one very important problem about his loot box solution.
The menus were disabled in combat.
He facepalmed. "Shit!" The death throes of the Grimm and the cries of exertions from the huntsmen-to-be before him rang in his ears. "Aw, fuck this. Inventory Menu."
It opened before him.
There was a moment of complete disbelief as he tried to process it. Weren't all menus disabled during combat? Was this a bug? However, this time, everything around him wasn't stopped. The other huntsmen were still fighting for their lives, and he could still hear clearly the roar of the Grimm. He, on the other hand, was still frozen from the shoulders down as per the usual menu rules.
You're telling me… It's not consistent?! Light?! Why?!
Unlike the other loot box though, this one, a cube-shaped box with a keyhole, used up one of his inventory slots. Therefore, he assumed it would work just like the booster cards, and clicked on it verbally.
Nothing happened.
Of course. It's probably bugged.
"Eh, it probably had shit drops anyways."
The moment he said 'drops', the loot box disappeared from his inventory. Then, in front of him, it rematerialized, dropping straight onto his foot.
It was heavy.
He winced in pain, even with his Aura there to protect him. He disabled the menu to unfreeze himself and took a closer look at it. It was a box. With a keyhole.
"Open?" He tried. "Please?" Again. "Sesame?" None of those worked. "Don't tell me it actually needs a key."
Suddenly, he was frozen again, as a dialog box appeared before him.
[Common Equipment Box Key]
Buy for 2.99$?
"Aaaaah." Jaune got it. "So he gave me freebies, and now wants me to pay money. Gatcha predatory tactics, can't say I didn't expect that."
He reopened his inventory menu and tried to put the box back in. It took him a few tries to get the verbal command 'Store' correct, but by now, he was more used to predicting the gods' systems.
There went his last hope. He looked aside in annoyance, swinging his sword aside at nothing. He wiped his other hand, sweaty from his previous nervousness, on his shorts.
He was starting to regret the time he spent playing video games today. There had to be another way. Something else he could have spent the time on, like maybe… Like maybe… He took a hurried moment to try to think of something, but nothing came up. What am I thinking, there was nothing I could do. This is so… crap!
"Just… work!" He stabbed his sword at the ground. As he expected, the dull tip dug into the earth, but that was it. "Damn it!"
No. Even if using his Aura was impossible, there were still other ways this situation could resolve itself even without his help. Like, another huntsmen conveniently jumping out of the woods right now!
No one came.
...Or maybe all the Grimm drop dead because of a mysterious disease that only affects Grimm!
Nothing.
...Or Weiss finishes her glyph right now!
He glanced at Weiss. Weiss had been staring back at him.
Her hands were still moving, drawing lines onto the ground from memory, but her eyes were clearly boring into his.
Since when has she been looking at me? He nervously thought. Did she see me fail at using Aura? Or the randomly appearing box? He coughed into his hands and turned away without another word. He readied his sword before him, as if he was at any moment ready to jump heroically to the aid of the other huntsmen.
"Ruby!" She called, almost making him jump. "I'm done!"
Oh thank god. Then, Ruby can fix everything and there's no probl -
"I - I can't!" The red and black haired huntress gasped as her scythe took another Grimm's life, before being forced to go straight to the next one without a second of break. "They got more numerous! If I break formation, then we'll get overwhelmed in a split second!"
"So at the beginning, we had only been fighting the vanguard…" Weiss whispered. "Then the main force is on their way. Even a better reason to act now!"
"Are you willing to bet - " Ruby cleaved another Beowolf in half. "- To bet everything on this one glyph, after all the other failures?"
The white haired girl didn't answer.
Fuck it. Jaune rushed forward. "It's okay, I got this! Help her, Ruby!"
"No, Jaune, stay back!"
"Sis, I don't think we have many choices now…!"
Jaune charged past Ruby and into the fray. "Go!" He called to her. Without turning around, he heard her hesitate before she left. He gulped.
A Beowolf leapt at him and he swung his sword with all his might. Just like every other time he tried, it smashed into the Beowolf like a club, bouncing off it's musculature and jolting his arm. The monster itself crashed into him, tearing at his Aura with its claws.
His HUD went crazy with damage and dodge messages.
In the frenzy, he tried fighting back, punching the Grimm several times in the face with his empty hand, unable to bring his sword to bear at this range. It was barely fazed, dealing damage back just as hard as before. He could feel every claw attack mildly, a bit like feeling someone pushing against a soft mattress from the other side. Except, the other person was using the edge of a plastic knife, making him more uncomfortable than harmed.
He didn't want to know what it felt like when he lost his Aura.
At this distance, he could look into the mouth of the Grimm as it tried to bite his head with no avail, grinding against his Aura. He could see the disgusting blackened insides, and the several rows of sharp carnivorous teeth. Oddly, he didn't smell anything, but his imagination filled it in with the putrid smell of rotten flesh. Unlike at a distance, this danger felt much more real.
He also had no idea how low his Aura was.
His punches became more desperate.
"Eat this!" A fiery fist dislodged the Beowolf's jaw's death grip on his face. Then, a set of machine pistols stabbed into its hide and unloaded a full clip into the body, before a shield punted it off his body into the ground. It died a little.
He looked around incomprehensibly as the trainee huntsmen returned to their post. Weren't they getting overwhelmed? Yet when he looked, all he saw was a large number of slain Grimm, before they dissipated to nothing and their ranks were filled once more with live ones.
"Can you do that again?" Yang yelled at him.
Do what?! Get my face mauled?!
"I don't see many huntsmen being able to get that afraid of the Grimm, since we kill so many of them." Commented Ren from his side, ducking beneath another Grimm as he plunged the blades of his dual pistols into its belly. "It was a good distraction."
Afraid? What does being afraid have to do with anything?!
He raised his sword once more. Just as he was ready to swing it again, he saw small cracks having formed on the blade. Jaune had been abusing it too much. In his momentary loss of concentration, a Grimm slammed him into the ground again.
"Jaune!" Ruby appeared beside him in a swirl of petals, her scythe decapitating the offending Grimm.
"How was the glyph? Did it work?" He shook off the dirt and rushed to his feet.
"No, but almost!"
Almost?!
"There's a leak, most energy is lost!"
With Ruby at his side, his battle became much easier. Instead of having to actually kill the Grimm, all he did was flounder a bit in order for the Grimm to attempt to attack him, opening them to sneak attacks from Ruby. It sadly sounded much more effective than it actually was, since there was a limit to how fast she could deal damage and it wasn't like the Beowolves were big enough threats for her to put too much effort in evading them. But even he could tell that the Grimm swarm was getting thicker. Oddly, that fact didn't stay long in his conscious mind as something else came into focus.
It was another thing he could tell from being beside her. Her determination. As she flipped and danced with death around him, her incredible athletic feats went from insane to incomprehensible. He could see her form as she darted from his left to his right, and see the burning flame in her eyes as she twirled her weapon. Seeing it, he couldn't help but slow down his randomly waving sword that had gained another few cracks from his useless swings and just watch her do her work. He was so useless, even just standing there had about the same effect.
What was it in her past that drove her? He wondered. From what he understood, she seemed to understand the sacrifice that this kind of life demanded of her. Of this girl that seemed barely of age. Of this child soldier. Yet, she was still here, having dedicated countless years to protecting others. Knowing what had happened to her family member. Was she naive? Or was she understanding of the necessity that plagued such a society?
His hand touched the corner of his mouth. Strangely, there was a small smile. He blinked a few times, confused, before the reason came to him.
This… was just like Ruby.
'There's a kind of fire that burns in their hearts that others can never match', huh?
His old friend was always looking forward. There was always something for her to do. No matter what happened, she'd learn from it and evolve, never staying stuck in a past that she couldn't change. Combined with the spontaneousness of Nora, it was a dangerous recipe for absolute disaster.
'What was it in her past that drove her', is a stupid question. He thought. The real question is, what in her past isn't?
He didn't know any of the details, or even the vague outline, but he could already imagine some possibilities. A crying girl, at her sister's funeral. Days of tears and mourning, yet by the end of the week she'd come to terms, and by the second, you'd see her laughing with her friends from another team and misunderstand that she'd already forgotten about her loss. However, at night, you'd find her in her tent and watch the magical light shine through the holes made in last week's failed fishing attempt as she dedicate her every moment to exceed the already heavy expectations already weighing on this Maiden. Because she knew loss - yet it would never weigh her down. No, loss was a reminder of her duty, an empowerment of her will. Perhaps that's why her sister had that semblance, they were similar after all.
...That was an oddly specific and dark thought.
Regardless, he wanted to say that it was because she had so much inner strength. However, to say that would be to call those who suffer through grief regularly 'not strong enough', which was untrue as everyone processed it differently. Therefore, all he could call it was inhuman. Abnormal. But, as he once watched her getting beat down again and again against all odds, rising stronger than ever… A better word would be…
Inspiring.
And, standing beside her, he could only watch as she achieved amazing feats. At her side, he could only wish that he was even a single percent as strong as she was. At her side, he felt... like maybe he could be too.
And that was why, almost by instinct, Jaune raised his almost shattered sword, and plunged his blade at a passing Grimm as if he was a man as heroic as Ruby. Driven by his fantasy, powered by a mirage.
To his shock, his sword stabbed into the Grimm effortlessly, encased in a sheen of white light.
"Jaune, you figured it out?!" Ruby gasped in the midst of combat.
He stared at the dissipating body of the Beowolf without comprehension. "I… Maybe?" He brought his sword back to bear, this time holding it with both hands. "Er, I think I imagined… being inspired?"
Inspired. Be inspired. Taking a few steps forward he lunged at another Beowolf with his weapon, looking to recall the feeling he had. Instead, the Beowolf chomped onto the sword. He pushed, trying to cut through the Grimm with the ease he had felt a second ago, but nothing. Ruby had to kill the Grimm again.
He worriedly took another look at his sword. This time, it was chipped. He swore.
He looked back up.
An Ursa Major said hi with an upward swing, sending him flying backwards.
"Jaune! Sorry, there were just too many!"
He skidded across the land rolling, a death grip on his sword. Then, suddenly he felt emptiness underneath his legs and in reaction stabbed the fingers of his free hand into the dry earth. It did little to slow him, as he went straight over the ravine's cliff edge.
A lithe hand grabbed onto his flailing left arm.
He yelped as Weiss stopped all his momentum in a single flash, glyphs hovering around her. Gravity took hold of him again and he swung down slamming his face into the cliff. Then, the hand pulled him up with surprising strength. He rolled back onto the top of the cliff onto his back. His heart was beating quickly in his chest, having glimpsed what awaited him below.
"You're a Newspark, aren't you?" Weiss had her hands on her waist.
"Huh?" Was all he could say back.
"I didn't think they'd put us in the same Initiation, but clearly they've been changing rules around this year. As expected of Beacon Academy, they keep you on your toes."
"Uhhh…"
"You should have told me earlier." She offered him a hand up and he took it. "I see you are having trouble with Aura Evocation. Have you tried using music to complete the Aria requirement?"
What's she saying? It must have shown on his face, as she shook her head.
"Just my luck to be stuck with you." She harrumphed. "I don't have time for this, I need to finish making the changes to the glyph." She turned back to her work.
"Thanks for the tip?" Music? How did that help? He had absolutely no idea what she meant. However, he was willing to try anything. He took out his Scroll and looked for a music app. Luckily for him, the same symbol for quarter notes was there as the icon.
"Exciting music works best."
He glanced at Weiss, but she had gone straight back to what she was doing. Completely unsure, he navigated the app and clicked the playlist that had the most exciting name, playing it out loud.
Hearing it, Weiss raised an eyebrow at him. "...That should work. You have good taste."
Contrary to what he expected though, the first song in the playlist started slow. It was kind of airy, like a woman singing in a large, empty hall accompanied by piano, and he held up his sword to check if his Aura had extended up to the blade. Nothing.
Ren grunted in pain. Looking up, Jaune saw two Beowolves were pinning him in between them. Nevermind, I don't have time. Pocketing his Scroll, music still playing, he called out his friend's name and charged with his sword.
However, he noticed a strange thing. With the music on, he suddenly really wanted to synchronize with it. Therefore, his steps slowed to match the rhythm and his final leap was with the crescendo. The singer was singing about… loneliness?
He didn't register the words too well as his foot slammed into one of the Beowolves, giving Ren the room to pick up his dropped machine pistols and obliterate the other. Jaune ignored the thanks, as then the music started suddenly picking up.
This melody reminded him of something. It reminded him of what he thought of Ruby, alone in that distant land. The percussion in the back made him think of an encroaching darkness, as the strings danced and weaved around it's ensnaring arms. As he charged at the next enemy, the comparison was further ingrained into him as seeing the attacking Grimm, beings literally composed of darkly colored matter, activated something inside of him. Inadvertently, his body snapped into action, recalling moves from long, long ago.
Jaune landed a few steps away, having dodged the Grimm with a number of expert leaping pirouettes.
But his fight wasn't done.
The battle in the music intensified. Runs. Fills. Whoever was playing the piano was flying up and down it, raising the stakes and upping the heat. At this moment, Jaune forgot himself. He wasn't Jaune, a regular guy in his last year at the university. No, in this moment, he embodied the song. He embodied the feelings of the girl as she sang her heart out, lost in a battle against herself, and he danced on the battlefield with utter self-confidence.
And, as his sword came around for a cleaving blow, it shone with white light once more.
This… wasn't his song.
Yet, why did it touch his heart?
It was like the music was enthralling him, capturing him in a spell.
His sword shone with purpose, cleaving through a Grimm here, and another there, him lost in a martial trance. Yet, this purpose wasn't his, or even defined. What was the girl fighting for? He didn't know. The lyrics didn't mention it, but his imagination could fill in the rest, and so as long as the music played, he became an extension of its power. For a single slashing Assemblé, he was Ruby on a quest for greatness. Making a Grande Jeté over a blow to strike a Grimm between its armor, he was Ren, dexterously evasive yet focused. Next, he was Weiss, rushing to Pyrrha's aid with a number of classical ballet moves as a number of Grimm tried to flank her, as if he was fighting on a wintery battlefield leading a cavalry charge.
I am not as determined as Ruby or the First Huntress. I am no hero adorned with destiny. And I may never be.
But did his blade not cut through the monsters of darkness as if he was? Did his body not push itself to its limits as if he was? This feeling… it was familiar.
He barely registered it as he passed a shocked Ruby, taking her spot in the formation. He didn't notice it either when Weiss called for another test, making his bewildered ally leave to try their combination attack again. That was because while his mind was preoccupied with his fighting, in the back of his mind, he suddenly realized what this was. It was the same thing as OST's in video games, giving another dimension of immersion to the story that was told. A hack into your brain allowing experiences that you could only fathom to enter. Allowing anybody to become, for those hours spent in another world, somebody else.
He was playing a character.
"The glyph works!" Ruby yelled. "I'm about to try the whole thing! Protect us!"
At the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw a black blur. One of the Grimm had sneaked around Yang, having eased itself along the edge of the cliff and out of their immediate vision. A quick look told him both Ruby and Weiss' backs were turned, focused on their task. Instantly making the decision, he doubled back and retracted his sword to a position by his ear, as to plunge it forward deep into the offending Grimm. He knew it would doom their formation, but if Ruby and Weiss succeeded, it was worth it. The music swelled.
In his hands, his sword became an instrument of his character's will. Whatever song did the girl's soul sing, this weapon in his hands sang the same tune. He didn't need his own passion. He didn't need his own goals. Across this stage, he charged, his form anointed not with his own, but with someone else's light instead.
Fuck you, God of Light!
As he approached the Grimm, his eyes glanced towards the sword and it's almost invisible sheen of Aura, unable to stop himself. He'd done it. He'd played the gods' game, and succeeded at the impossible task they'd given him. He didn't need to put in the work to find his own passion. He didn't need to actually figure out the problem, when he can put it off till much later in the future. Why do so, when his current problem can be solved in the moment?
He watched the glimmering surface of its steel. He watched the cracks, how it was abused and destroyed yet still it held together by his will at the very last moment. Finally, his eyes inspected his own reflection, where the cracks that ran through his face almost looked like scars after years of battle and the smudges on the steel looked like a ragged beard.
The reflection. It...It wasn't looking back at him?
His eyes widened.
The reflection's eyes didn't.
He lost concentration. His blade slammed into the sprinting Beowolf. It shattered.
The metal shards clanged on the rocky earth.
His mind went blank. The Grimm was ready to pass him and ruin their whole plan. He had a split second to act.
He leapt at the Grimm.
His mouth whispered under his breath.
In his hands, an object materialized into existence.
And, to the accompaniment of the singer's final line, he slammed the loot box over the Grimm's head.
[?]: 1%
[Aura Menu Unlocked]
/-A Requiem for a Gamer-/
Ruby's tense shoulders loosened as she heard an 'all clear' from Jaune behind her. She composed herself. Now, it was all up to her. Weiss was standing there before her, the glowing glyph carved beside in the ground, expectantly.
"It's all up to you." The other girl said, unknowingly echoing her earlier feelings.
Ruby took an uneven breath. All she had to do was do as she trained. Nothing new. Of course, if she failed, then she'd let everyone down and Jaune might even get hurt before the teachers get here. No biggie.
Just breathe.
Her hands moved to collapse her scythe onto her back. That was how she realized they were shaking.
She had arrived two years early. For seventeen year olds, that meant that every other huntsmen had more than 10% more training than her. Could she really be ready for this, especially with this difficult new Initiation? What if she let everyone down? What if the headmaster was wrong about her?
"I take back what I said."
Her eyes met Weiss' gaze.
"I had been wrong when I first met you." The white haired girl admitted. "I saw how you fought, defending me. Every practiced swing, every step had the markings of a young lady who had spent countless hours in her craft. You aren't a child who by chance earned the whimful favor of the headmaster. There's something there, isn't it? A reason you became a huntress."
Ruby closed her eyes.
"And that's the First Huntress, sis!"
"Why was it so bloody?"
"Ehhh, realism?"
She breathed out.
Breath in.
Her body quivered.
Breathe out.
Her muscles loosened.
Yang placed the book onto the table. "I personally think this version was cringy. There's some extra notes in here by the narrator, as if he had been there himself. It's like a self-insert fanfic. Cringe!"
"I don't think that's bad. I think I like this version better."
"Huh?"
Breathe in.
The outer layer of her body bristled, partially transforming into intensely vibrating petals.
Breathe out.
They reformed into smooth skin and weaved fiber.
"I don't like how the other stories speak of her as if she was a saint. That she had no doubts, as if she was more than human. Like some ideal."
"Hmm…"
"This reminds us that we all stand on the shoulders of giants. From the fortresses that protect us from the Grimm to the strawberry, chocolate chip cookies I ate this morning, the people before us dedicated lifetimes to our present."
Breathe in.
She gritted her teeth as she expended further Aura into her semblance and her form became a cloud of red, buzzing blurs. Even without it being released, the wind swirled around her, kicking up dust and leaves.
B-B-Breathe out.
She was using all her strength to restrain herself, the potential energy having gathered to such a point that it was like holding back a thousand needles.
"Hmmm…"
"And that's why we need to be better. They could do all that with so little! To accomplish anything less than what they did is to spit in their legacy. To do any less is to - Yang!"
Yang looked up from her phone. "Sorry, someone sent me a message about a meet this Saturday!"
"Yaaaang!"
Ruby's eyes snapped open.
Yang didn't get it. She never did. She didn't understand why Ruby would put so much effort into being a huntress, and she might never do. Like so many others. But that's okay, because she had been by her side all these years when her own mother wouldn't - couldn't.
What Ruby fought for, what Ruby dreamed of, was something that she could only see.
Heroes… die.
Legends… forgotten.
Yet why do I still believe in a fairy tale ending?
It's simple.
Should the world not write us a fairy tale ending, then we must become strong enough to write our own ending. No matter how hard. No matter how impossible.
Because should you not try, then you've already failed.
Every petal that made up her body, bursting with unbelievable potential, was just waiting for her command. Thousands of blood red flakes, like crimson blades dancing with excitement.
And so, she grabbed hold of them with her ethereal light, and let herself go. Her form exploded into a whirlwind of petals, each followed by hurricane-speed winds blasting past the glyph. The moment they crossed, the power tripled, as the world was torn asunder by her passing.
I will become the hero, who saves the day, and lives to come back to write her own story!
/-A Requiem for a Gamer-/
A/N: As you can see… That's the reason it was delayed for a month. Surprise! It's a double length chapter! I was tired of splitting everything, so here's all of it at once!
Before anyone comments though, I will note that no, the lesson of the story is not "you don't need goals". Jaune's just trying everything he can to not have to think about it. I'm not sure if it's clear, but we are far from the conclusion. Real far.
Next Chapter: Hopefully November 28th. We've caught up to stuff I've pre-written, so updates might slow down unless I somehow speed up.