Howdy folks, how's it going?
As has become the case ever more frequently these days, the meat of my author's note will be at the bottom.
As always, shout out to Chaos Productions for his help.
And as always, I own neither RWBY nor LoL.
Now, enjoy.
/
The only sound that could be heard within the room after such a proclamation was the faint hum of the machinery contained in it. Ruby wasn't one to be easily surprised, but even she was looking at the fountain of power standing before them with wide eyes, in stark contrast to an otherwise still blank face.
"A World Rune…?" Penny all but whispered, her own shock and awe much more obvious to see. "I thought… I thought that was just a myth…"
"Of course you did." Jax replied, for once without a hint of careless sarcasm in his tone. "They were one of the Institute's best kept secrets. Only the three highest seats in the Council knew about it, only a handful of the most ancient champions were aware of them, and of those only Ryze, Kayle and I had any idea of what was being done about them. Well, Zoe might have too, but you never know what was going through that one's head."
"What is a… World Rune, exactly?" Jaune ventured hesitantly, looking towards the slumbering woman in the pod with cautious curiosity and concern. By his side, Arslan was quiet, words apparently failing her for once. "And what is wrong with her?"´
"Both are questions that require… a fair bit of context, I'm afraid. This is history that was ancient even before Remnant came to be. But then, that is why I brought you here." Ozpin began to explain, after a few moments of weary silence. "The World Runes, Mr. Arc, were a set of incomprehensibly old, immeasurably powerful artefacts. Some even believed that they were the origin of all things in Runeterra, the tools of our creation, so to speak. Given the sort of power we are talking about, I would not be inclined to disagree."
"Yeah, no shit. This was before even my time, but everyone knew the old stories. When the first civilizations rose in Runeterra, they eventually came across these things, buried and hidden within old, forgotten corners of the world." The most ancient of those present cut in, as he took over the explanation, grim reminiscence in his whole demeanour. "You can imagine how well that went, given what happened after they were found."
"You mean, the Rune Wars." Penny replied, a statement more than a question as she connected the dots.
"Yep, turns out, leaving absolute power in the hands of people curious about what such power could do is a terrible idea." The Grandmaster confirmed with a shake of his head. "Some wanted to see the extent of the Runes' potential, others lusted for their power and to claim it as their own. The result was a shitshow that quite literally reshaped the face of the world. Magic running rampant, empires wiped out in seconds. Those old ones all but destroyed themselves and damn near dragged the rest of the world along with them due to these things."
"Wait a minute…" Jaune muttered, his mind racing with possibilities of a past thus far unimagined blitzed by. "Are you telling me that your Runeterra was itself a remnant of an even more ancient one…?"
"Alas, Mr. Arc, the saying that those that fail to learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them is not just a platitude. It is a certainty." The headmaster replied. "After a fairly long time period for the world to recover and new nations to rise and fall, the Institute of War and the League of Legends came about in an attempt to prevent such catastrophes from occurring even again, the World Runes once again fading to obscurity, known to all but a few."
"And one of those was Ryze-" Jax continued, and upon hearing the name once again, Ruby thought…
…She remembered then, a man, dour and weary, bearing the marks of the impossible burden he carried in his very flesh and soul, power arching through the runes running through purple skin, the massive scroll strapped to his back settling upon his shoulders like the weight of the world…
"-He was a survivor of the cataclysm, a man who had witnessed the Rune Wars in all their terrible glory, and who wisely decided such a power should be kept hidden for the good of all. Bloke spend a long, long, time tracking around the globe, finding the Runes one by one, and taking them to a secret location where they could be secure, the world protected from them."
"I never even knew…" Penny said sadly, downcast eyes blinking as if warding off tears that would not come. "He was always so distant, so rude…"
"Yeah, it was kinda his whole deal. When he wasn't being called in to fight in the fields of justice, he was usually out in the world, hunting for traces of any Rune that might have escaped his notice. Guy didn't trust anyone to keep such power secret. Heck, he barely even trusted himself. To this day I still don't know how ol'Ashram managed to convince him to allow the big wigs and I in on the secret." Jax shrugged. "But manage it he did. And we would have loved it if things coulda stayed like that, but alas, the world kept spinning, and new forms of bullshit kept happening. Twice in the entire history of the league did the situation of the world grow serious enough that trying to use the power of the Runes became the final desperate solution. Once was during the whole Darkin business-"
"That's how the institute managed to stop Xolaani?" Penny interrupted, balking at the revelation. "I thought that had been Kayle's doing!"
"Yeah, the lass took the credit for it, to keep the whole thing hush hush, but it was Ryze bringing out one of the Runes to bring that bitch down. Blew a massive crater at the edge of Shurima while he was at it, but it got the job done." The grandmaster replied. "And then of course, there's the second time we were desperate enough to resort to them…"
"The Grimm." Jaune breathed out in realization, deciding to leave questions about the other mentioned events for later.
"Indeed, with the Grimm steadily gaining ground, growing stronger and stronger with every victory in that conflict, once again, the World Runes were brought out of their hiding place, and used to try and stop the threat." The headmaster replied before pausing, letting a long deep breath through his nose. "Needless to say, given our current situation, things ended badly."
"How, though?" Penny asked, at once horrified and desperate for clarification. "How could things have turned out like this…?"
"Treachery, kid. Treachery of the worst kind." Jax replied, and Ruby blinked slowly as she noticed the uncharacteristically angry edge to the man's tone. "After the results of the Darkin debacle, this time Ryze wanted to try a more measured, controlled approach when bringing the Runes to bear. I wasn't there, I was assigned to keeping those bloody critters at bay alongside other more battle minded champions that remained, but there was a whole dang ritual in the works. They brought in some of the mightiest of the summoners and some of the most magically and spiritually attuned of the champions. Kolminye, Ryze, Karma, Soraka, Le Blanc, hell, even Syndra got in on it, situation was so serious." The man shook his head, as if struggling with the memories. "In the end, Ryze was right for not wanting the knowledge of this power to spread, because someone fucked up bad. One moment I was out on the battlefield, standing against a tide of monstrosities, and the next… kaboom."
He grew quiet then, as if lost in events long past. It was clear that the champion did not wish to speak further.
"The specifics… Elude us." Ozpin once again took over, when the silence grew to be too long. "All that we know from context clues is that the ritual was destabilized in some way, the power of the runes went haywire. And thus, the great glyphs, these embodiments of all that is… they broke. And the world broke with them, quite literally in this case. Continents sank, entire species were wiped out, the very fabric of magic itself was altered in incomprehensible ways. Runeterra was no more, only ashes and dust remained."
Once more silence fell upon the room, the heavy weight of revelation adding to the thrum of power that could be felt all around them. Ruby considered what she was being told, thinking back on the memories of a time long ago, the ones that even know she struggled to distinguish, hoping to glimpse at some sort of explanation…
She remembered only the chamber, the black creatures that came, only to be slaughtered by scythe and crow, the raw, visceral fear of countless lives being snuffed out, the almighty crash, the deafening rumble, the blinding flash… and then silence, that constant companion, and the wait, as ever and always, the never ending wait…
She shook her head, it was pointless. Her demon had been too single minded to care about the world around it…
"And from those ashes, Remnant arose…" Jaune concluded, sounding absolutely floored by the revelations, not that the red-cloaked girl could blame him, before his eyes once again fell upon the woman in the pod. "But… you say, these all powerful artefacts that supposedly date back to the beginning of time, just broke? How?"
"A question that haunts us to this day still. The world runes were lost, vanished with the cataclysm, and we have every reason to believe them destroyed. We even have some proof, in fact." The headmaster replied, levelling an even stare at the children before him. "You will remember that I mentioned how we were left with the fallout. That was no metaphor."
Jaune blinked, sharing an uncomprehending stare with Arslan, before the two turned to look towards an equally confused Penny, who's face was set in a deep frown as she processed the implications, but in the end, it was Ruby who first connected the dots.
"Ashes and dust…" She mumbled, making all eyes fall on her.
"Perceptive, Miss Rose, well done." The headmaster replied with an approving nod. "Dust, Mr. Arc, the fuel of our current civilization, the weapon we use to keep the Grimm at bay. And it is literally just that, the debris of the cataclysm that ended Runeterra, little more than specs of dust from the World Runes themselves."
"…You've gotta be kidding." Jaune breathed out, eyes wide as comprehension set in, turning swiftly towards the girl in the pod. "How, how does she feature into all of this, then?"
"…Dust was all that the Runes left behind, or so it was believed for a while. After the cataclysm, magic itself ebbed and faded from the world, as if reality itself was establishing a new paradigm. Gone were the mighty sorceries of old, into oblivion faded those that were the most deeply connected with it. Over time, only the few survivors and their descendants had any ability to use magic, and over time even that became so diluted that such people are extremely rare and spread throughout the globe. To most people, in the place of magic, only a semblance remains." The headmaster glance back towards the students, a flash of wry amusement crossing his expression at yet another sudden realization. "With your interest in history, Mr. Arc, you should have realized by now that the origins of a name are often more literal than one might realize."
The boy did not reply, so focused on wanting to hear the answer was he, and with a nod the headmaster obliged.
"But, as I am sure you are all well aware at this point, the past is not quite as behind us as one might think. As it turns out, dust is not the only thing we have left of the world runes. Every once in a while, throughout the ages since, people have appeared, with might beyond anything the world has seen. Those few left from before the cataclysm swiftly realized that these people were carriers of a power that they swiftly recognized as belonging to the world runes, bearers of a sliver of their power, a shard, many times more powerful than dust itself, but still nothing compared to the real thing. Legends have sprung forth about these kinds of people, such folktales as the one of the Maidens."
For a little bit, the headmaster did not reply, contemplating the slumbering woman with sorrowful regret, a weary sigh escaping his lips.
"Amber was a student of mine. By quirks of chance, she was one of those few people that still manage to manifest magic in its true state, which drew my attention." The man explained resignedly. "She was so bright, almost like a star. The power came to her easily, and I did my best to help her master it. But neither of us was prepared for just how much power the shard that manifested within her truly held. A pittance, compared to anything that Ryze himself had to deal with, but still far greater than a common mortal could handle. She tried her best, she really did, but eventually it became clear that this power would consume her from within. She volunteered to be sealed away, lest she become a danger to herself and others. And so she has remained here, slumbering in a dreamless sleep, condemned to isolation through no fault of her own…"
"…Is there no way to help her?" Penny could help but ask, green, sorrowful eyes looking to the woman in the pod. She looked so peaceful…
Ruby too, looked upon the woman, Merle crooning pitifully upon her shoulder. The red-cloaked girl looked upon Amber, felt the power radiating off her, wondering if there could be a way to save her…
And she remembered then, a figure that was little more than a charred caricature of a man long gone, nothing more now than a puppet, an embodiment of careless destruction, cackling in joy as the fire burned all around, branding the world in flames…
…She was not surprised when the headmaster's only response was a sad shake of his head.
/
My apologies if the chapter felt like a bit of a lore dump, but it really felt important for the world building.
For clarification, names like Ashram and Kolminye should be familiar to those aware of the old timeline lore of the institute, while Xolaani and the "Darkin debacle" are directly lifted from recent events of the Legends of Runeterra card game. Let me know what you thought of these revelations in the reviews.
Needless to say, things are progressing ever deeper into AU territory, but at least come the next chapter we should be done with all the exposition and back to moving the plot forward.
Before that though, in two weeks we have the next update to Beneath a Broken Moon, so look forward to that.
Cya all on the next one, stay safe and take care.