It is punishingly hot. Wtf. It has been close to 30 degrees for almost 10 days now. I could barely sleep last night, the grass is turning yellow and there are flies and midges everywhere. Argh.

Winter can't come fast enough for me.

Also, I'll be a week of no writing from sat 23 – fri 29 due to my work event. God, I hope it's cooler for that because there's nothing worse than standing on a stage in front of bright lights when it's this hot.

Cover Art: GWBrex

Chapter 78

There were signs of devastation up and down Vale, with burned-out villages and empty towns, and even the occasional dead body. It wasn't like Mistral. As cruel as Willow Schnee and her people there could be, they'd at least been human, which meant bodies were collected and burned on pyres to give them some semblance of dignity. Here, they were torn asunder and left to rot where they'd fallen, some half-eaten by carrion and passing animals, but most disturbingly whole.

In hopes of finding survivors, Jaune and about fifty others had taken to riding on the coast adjacent to the ships in the shallows. It made for slow going, but the last thing he wanted was to imagine a desperate survivor seeing them sail by and be unable to reach out to them. In his head, it was always one of his sisters.

The fact that he couldn't possibly reach his home from here made it worse. If this pattern had continued westward then his home village would have been destroyed as well, but it would take a week to travel that way and take them far away from the shore and their ships. He couldn't do that. Their army would be cut off, and they could be surrounded and slaughtered en masse.

Please be okay. Dad knows how to fight. He can look after them…

He didn't even know if he should hope they'd made it to Vale or not. The city… well, there was no telling what state the city was in, though they'd find out soon enough. Jaune rode at the head of a procession of aura users, with Ruby, Pyrrha and Weiss along with him. Ren and Nora had stayed behind, and Ruby had been strict on her dad and Yang being on the ships since Yang still hadn't really mastered her aura.

There was faint chatter among the faunus. He didn't stop it. The ride was long and arduous, and boring as well, and if they wanted to keep their spirits up then he wouldn't stop them. His own conversation with Pyrrha, Weiss and Ruby was sporadic. He had too much to think on, and too many worries running through his head. In a way, they were lucky that they didn't have family to worry over.

Pyrrha and Weiss were currently talking church dogma and gospel, which would have been an aggravating subject were they not using it to try and figure out what was happening right now.

"There's never been a case of the Goddess losing battles to the Dark Lord, or at least there hasn't been one recorded. I wouldn't put it past them to suppress information if it did happen."

"That much is obvious," said Weiss. "But my main concern is that there's never been a time as far as I can recall reading about where Grimm were allowed to run rampant across the land."

"Haven't there been Grimm attacks before?" asked Ruby.

"Yes, but they've usually results in the destruction of a town or a few villages before the Chosen put them down. Though knowing what we know now about Salem, it makes me wonder what exactly those places had done to displease her."

"Maybe it's nothing," said Pyrrha. "Atlas stayed loyal, and it just got attacked to cause panic against Jaune. Maybe the Grimm attacks just happened because she wanted to remind everyone who's in charge, and who they should be grateful to. Make an example of them."

"That doesn't explain this one, though. This is beyond the pale. They're being allowed to rampage almost pointlessly, and it doesn't make sense. Had she just not done anything, these towns and villages would have harried us. They might not have stopped us, but they'd have slowed us down and raised the alarm."

"At the very least they'd have been levied in some final theological battle against us," said Ruby.

"Exactly. I can't believe this is happening just to spite us."

"I have family here," said Jaune.

"Jaune, the Church knows which village you hail from," said Pyrrha. His hands tightened on the reins. "One of the first things we did was go back to Ansel and talk to your family. They pleaded ignorance, and said you ran away."

They'd lied. Good. "Did anything happen to them?"

"No. Not at the time. You have to understand that Dark Lords rising up was common for us, and they're not born of salt and rock. They always come from a family, and if we executed every family that birthed him then people would hide them in the future. The Church's methods are to interview and investigate. If the family aren't found to have directly helped him, then they go free. Sometimes they're even rewarded." Her face twisted. "Or compensated for their loss. It depends on how cooperative they are. Yours didn't raise any flags at the time."

"That may have changed now," said Weiss. "Your ascension wasn't a matter of great concern at first. Even when you came to Mistral, the assumption was that you'd be found within a few weeks and delivered back to Vale to languish in a cell. The reason Vale and all its Chosen wasn't churned out to hunt you down was because the Church felt there was no need. Dark Lords come and go. You never amount to anything. Salem likely didn't feel any great rush to put you down, and in some ways you serve as useful an example as the Grimm."

Because when Salem shattered a Dark Lord's army and killed his host, she reaffirmed her place as the one true goddess. It could be called arrogant that she let him get away, but thousands of years of experience supported her decision. He'd been a roaming wolf, an issue, but not a great threat, and one that would likely deal with itself given time.

In truth, Salem's greatest mistake hadn't been him. It had been her actions toward Mistral and Menagerie. Without the slaughter of Menagerie, he'd have never had the support of the White Fang, and without Willow's oppression of Mistral he wouldn't have been hidden away by An Ren and the rebels.

It was less that he'd outsmarted Salem and more that she'd sown the seeds of her own defeat, and he'd capitalised. In a more orderly world where everyone was loyal to her, he wouldn't have stood a chance.

Something stumbled out the bushes about twenty feet up the road, making Jaune's horse toss its head and a few others shy away. Jaune swung his torch toward it, the burning stick wrapped in oil-soaked rags illuminating the path.

And a child's tired and hopeless face.

It was a girl no older than ten, with matted hair and a dirty face, and clothes torn from running through bushes. Mud caked her skin and she was missing one shoe, limping as she stood before their procession and stared at them. She didn't look relieved to have found them, nor even pleased, just tired. As if she was telling them to rescue her or kill her but spare her the pain.

Jaune held up his hand for the force to stop, but most of them had noticed or heard what was happening and had done so anyway. Jaune dismounted, and heard Pyrrha and Ruby do the same nearby. Holding his hands out to the sides and free from weapons, he approached the girl, not wanting to frighten her. She looked too tired for fear.

"You're the Dark Lord," she said, in a low and broken voice. "You're the evil demon."

He was struck not only by what she'd said, but her lack of fear as she did.

"I…"

"I can be evil," she whispered brokenly. "If I can have food."

Jaune didn't know what to say.

Fortunately, Pyrrha did. "There's no need for that," she said, stepping briskly forward to kneel by the girl. "What's your name, precious? I'm Pyrrha. I'm a Huntress. Where are your parents?"

"Emily. And momma and dadda are gone. Dadda held back the monsters, and momma took me to Vale, but they wouldn't open the gates and told us to wait outside, and then the monsters came and momma said to take Bruce and run."

"Who is Bruce?"

"Bruce was our doggy." The girl whimpered. "A—A bigger doggy tried to attack me a few nights ago, and Bruce fought it off. B—But he wouldn't get back up after." She began to shake, and Pyrrha wrapped her in a tight hug.

Vale had turned her and her mother away. Or refused to open the gates. Why? Were they at capacity? But then why have the Grimm come, and attack refugees prepared to swear their loyalty to you? He desperately wanted to ask for more details but forcing her to talk would have been horrifically cruel. He opened his saddlebags for some food instead, and tossed a waterskin and an apple to Ruby, who caught it and knelt with Pyrrha to help the girl eat and drink.

They got her up onto Pyrrha's horse with her, riding alongside Jaune as they moved on, and he listened in on their conversation. Pyrrha was soft with her, never asking but gently prodding her into giving her story.

"The monsters came and the village men decided to hold them back while all the women took the children and ran. We were close to Vale, so we thought it would be safe, but when we got there it was locked, and there was a big group of people outside. Lots of tents and a wooden wall being built."

A refugee camp. It reminded him of the camp that had sprung up at the tournament, though that had been for a much happier occasion. They'd wanted to keep the mercenaries and fighters out the city because they were a raucous bunch that would have probably caused fights and disruption, but he was surprised they were keeping faithful refugees out.

Vale was either at capacity, close to it, or there was something else going on. Given there would have been other villages and towns with fleeing survivors, not to mention those from Atlas, it could have been either, but, at the same time, they'd lost thousands in the attack on Mistral, so that would have opened up space.

"Did they tell you why you weren't allowed in the city?" asked Pyrrha.

"There were Chosen on the gates, and Church men with them. T—They said it was a trib… a trib…"

"A tribulation?"

"Yeah. That. The faithful would be protected. And they would come among everyone. Sometimes they'd take people inside. Say they were worthy. But it was younger boys and girls, and their families weren't allowed with them. One of them looked over me, but they said I looked sickly. Momma tried to tell them I was just tired from the journey, but they said they were following the goddess' decree."

"Women and men…" said Pyrrha.

"It can't be recruitment for the Chosen, then," said Weiss. "Not unless they're desperate enough to take men now."

"Maybe they are," said Ruby. "That could be why they're taking them young. That way they can train them to be loyal to the Church, right? If they grow up there, they won't know anything else."

"It would take too much time," said Pyrrha, holding some bread for the girl to nibble on. "It's a good idea, Ruby, but it would still be five or six years before anyone recruited could be expected to actually fight. Salem needs an answer to us now."

Ozma spoke up for the first time. "The Grimm are the answer to us in the immediate term…"

Jaune relayed the message, and the three of them looked very interested. The young girl just looked tired, and focused on the food, content to be abducted by the Dark Lord as long as it meant she was fed.

"That doesn't make sense," said Weiss. "I get that the Grimm are a problem we'll have to deal with, but we'll either best them within a few weeks or be destroyed. They're not going to be able to keep us occupied for ten years."

"It's Ozma who said it. Not me."

"Then ask him what he means!"

"What I mean is that there was a time, many thousands of years ago, where the battle was not so one-sided. This was before the Church of Salem, before her godhood, before this culture that exists now. Back when we were waging what was at the time a shadow war that few knew of."

Jaune relayed it, and they listened, intrigued.

"Back then, the war was always on much closer ground and the technology… suffice to say, she has seen fit to let technology not only stagnate, but regress. It makes controlling things easier for her. At the time, she began to gather people to her. The power-hungry, the cruel, the deranged and even just the terrified. Those too afraid to oppose her. Salem did not necessarily defeat me, but what she did was cripple the world to such a degree that civilisation faltered."

"From the ruins of that time, she and those loyal to her, who had been spared the devastation, rose up and… well, they did not so much take over as they were the only large group of people left. Others had no choice but to flock to them, and from there she created this false ideal of being a goddess. The end of the world, she blamed on me, and I became the Dark Lord, a monstrous figure in the shadows."

Weiss waited for him to finish relaying it and then said, "Is he saying she plans to keep a select few faithful in Vale and then wipe the rest of Remnant clean? That's insane!"

"It has been done before."

"But there's no need!" she argued, after Jaune replied for Ozma. "The odds are still in her favour and Vale, Vacuo and Atlas are loyal to her. I'd accept a plan like this if we'd reduced her that far but—"

"She's paranoid," said Pyrrha. "She's… overreacting."

"Genocide is a little more than an overreaction!"

"I agree, but do you think she does? We're just humans, and she's more interested in keeping her power. She underestimated Jaune once or twice and lost face for it, so now she's going the opposite way and not taking anything for granted. The Grimm will rampage across the world while she divinely protects the people in Vale." Pyrrha's sarcasm was thick. "And the Church will see it as more proof of her godhood, won't they? They'll write it off as a moment where the faithful were saved, and everyone else who died was obviously traitors loyal to the Dark Lord."

Weiss still didn't look convinced, and there was a part of Jaune that wasn't either. But they didn't know what was happening in Vacuo. For all they knew, it could be a ruin as well, with Grimm running rampant through its capital right now. Unless it, like Vale, was being spared. Spare the capital cities and burn everything else to ash.

"Signal the ships." Said Jaune. "We're going to make for Vale as fast as we can."

/-/

They surrendered the sole survivor to the others to look after, then stored their horses and split up across several ships, before the armada began moving even faster. They sailed up the coast for the better part of a day, and then reached the peninsula on the northern tip, sailing around it before heading west on the final stretch toward Salem's seat of power.

On the shores nearest Vale, the wealthiest towns had spring up, but they were annihilated now. Her Grimm had not spared those close to her, and shipyards lay deserted. Tellingly, the ships themselves had sunk and been badly damaged, which was unusual behaviour for monsters that only hunted humans. This was either to stop her people fleeing, or to stop them from cannibalising any ships into their own fleet.

Honestly, he hoped it was the latter.

But he just wasn't sure.

When the tall towers and walls of Vale did show on the horizon, it was almost a relief to realise they were still standing. Smoke rose from it, but in narrow plumes from chimneys and hearths instead of devastation.

The city was standing.

And it was waiting for them.

The fleet stopped several kilometres away, out in the shallow water. They were definitely in sight, and he was sure Salem knew of their arrival, but an attack now would be folly. Jaune passed the message on that he wanted all of Sienna's commanders on his ship, ready to plan, and they arrived soon after. None of them complained at the presence of his friends, the bunch of them as good as being his acolytes now.

"There's no navy arrayed against us as far as we can see," said Neptune. "We could very easily blockade the city, but my concerns are they know that. At this point they know they won't be expecting resupply, so there won't be any ships for us to cut off. They're not looking to go anywhere."

"Can't we siege them out?" asked a faunus. "I realise we came here to put a stop to this once and for all, but Salem has burned her bridges. As Neptune says, there are no reinforcements coming. Why not just trap them in Vale and let them starve?"

"Let who starve?" asked another. "Because it won't be the immortal monster who doesn't need to eat. It'll be the innocent folk inside."

"But an all-out assault is out of the question. Not unless we plan to bombard the city with magic until it's a tomb of dead bodies of men, women and children. We might as well become the Dark Lords ourselves at that point for all the death we'd cause." He looked to Jaune. "No offence."

"None taken," Jaune replied. "And I agree with most of you. We can't afford to siege them out and we can't afford one big battle to decide it all. That could change, though. Salem has a reputation to uphold. She's a goddess, and the church needs to be seen as caring for the people. I can't help but think turning away refugees isn't helping them any on that front."

"He makes a good point," said Pyrrha. "The Church of Salem has always been strong, but that strength is based on her strength. It's easy to appear powerful when everything is going your way. The fact that the Grimm are roaming uncontested must already have some within the Church talking, and even more among the populace."

"Meanwhile we can take the refugees in," said Weiss. "We're already doing that. We can move them to Mistral, or just care for them here. Defend them and feed them and let the people of Vale see that happening."

"Some might even join us," said Blake, sitting in what had once been Adam's seat. "They may have their faith, but when your family is turned away and left to die, you'll place your faith in whomever will protect them. There are already some we've picked up who are prepared to fight for us."

"Even against the goddess?"

"They find their excuses. Some of them believe the goddess is being misled by the church, or that the church has become corrupt and greedy. And then there are some who have never even seen the goddess of her miracles, and who were only faithful because they had nothing else to believe. They're furious they were abandoned to the Grimm, and they can't really be angry at us for it when they've seen with their own eyes that we oppose the Grimm. The only one they can blame is Salem."

There was quiet chatter around the ship's quarter. Excited murmuring, but also less certain responses. Jaune couldn't say he was sure of the plan either, and it couldn't really be called a plan for victory. It would weaken Salem and, at best, force her into doing something to fight back and reclaim her people's faith.

With any luck that might give them an opportunity, but nothing was certain. Those inside Vale's walls might just close their eyes to the carnage outside and tell themselves that the reason all those people were dying was because they didn't worship hard enough, or they'd sinned in some way or another and this was their punishment.

"We'll need to make a camp on the shore," said Blake. "Far enough away to be out of range, but within sight. When survivors are rejected from Vale, it'll only be a matter of time until some are brave or desperate enough to try our camp. We can provide them shelter, medicine and food. Even if we don't immediately win them over, they'll feel safer with us, and if Salem sends the Grimm to attack us then that will as good as prove to them we're not responsible."

"Let's do it," said Jaune. "I'll head that camp if needs be. Maybe it'll help to see the Dark Lord as a person. I want ships nearby in case the church sallies out, though."

"I don't think they have the numbers," said Taiyang.

"Even so, let's not give them a chance. And if the Grimm show up, I want to be able to get people onto the ships and to safety. We'll undermine her influence and swell our own numbers at the same time."

"We'd best beware of spies or infiltrators," said Weiss, "but I otherwise agree with the plan. Pyrrha, Coco and I can check any women to make sure there are no Chosen in disguise. They will stand out to us."

Their plan made, the orders were given, and the soldiers atop the walls of Vale watched in curiosity and fear as ships pulled into shore late into the night, and as a large and fortified encampment was built. Messages were sent to the Church, and the Chosen appeared to watch it, but it was too far out to attack by spell or by trebuchet, and they could only watch as the forces of the Dark Lord made landfall, poured their dark forces out onto the mainland, and then…

Began cooking food in great pots, and erecting tents…?

The Church sent out preachers the next morning, talking to the refugees camped outside about the danger of a tainted soul, and about how paradise awaited those who remained faithful. When begged for food however, they had little hope to give other than assurances that faith could nurture the spirit, and that the goddess understood their plight.

But, for starving children and parents who had families to look after, faith alone would not suffice. Slowly at first, but with increasing propensity when the first few came back with stories of hospitality and food, the hungry refugees forced to camp outside the walls of Vale began to visit the other camp. They sat and ate with faunus, tense at first, but relaxing after the first day or two, and after regular meals of meat, fish and vegetables.

Wounds were patched, spare fabric offered to fix clothing, and children were allowed to play in a safe area watched over by others, so that mothers and fathers could finally have a moment to sit down and take in all that had happened. Even though they were reluctant at first, people talked, not only with the faunus but with the other survivors Jaune's group had picked up, and who told the newcomers of the Dark Lord's mercy and hospitality, and how they had been kept safe and looked after on the ships.

And how the Dark Lord had sent out armed parties to hunt down the Grimm, and how he himself had even ridden out to hunt them down. Even if not everyone believed it, and even if many hid back under the walls of Vale and returned there to sleep, not quite trusting the offer of tents, the news spread. The story spread.

There were always just a few more who visited on the following day.

Soon, they were accepting charity of tents to take back to the walls of Vale, and wrapped food they could eat in safety, even as the priests and bishops of the church lambasted them and chastised them for their weakening faith. Food was taken away, confiscated by the church, but those that lost it came back to Jaune's camp and begged for more, and they were granted it.

And, inevitably, they decided that if the church was just going to take their food away, they might as well stay. Slowly, over days, the camp grew, volunteers helping to erect wooden walls against the Grimm and set stakes and ditches. And as new refugees came and found they had a choice between tall, closed gates and a miserable pious few, and a warm and well-stocked camp where food and shelter were given freely, the refugee camp outside Vale dwindled down to nothing.

Jaune was not surprised when the scouts told of Grimm six days after they had made camp, when Salem had realised what they were doing.

Next Chapter: 17th September

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