A/N: I've elected to attempt to write out another story for this saga I've begun.
Please note that these stories will not all be told in chronological order.
And again, RWBY and Elric belong to Oum and Moorcock respectively.
The Raven Cries for Tanelorn Part 1
The night was like any other at the Jeweled Eye. Dim lighting and soft music filling the quiet space with deceptive sweetness, and a holoscreen in the corner displaying a fight serving as a dissonant accompaniment for the eyes and ears of the bar's rough customer base. Cards and pool were played, beer and spirits numbed worries. For Raven Branwen, this bar was a stereotype made manifest, its abject mediocrity dooming it to destitution if not for the lack of competition in the small Mistralian village, hence why there couldn't have been more than ten people in the space, including her.
The only thing that set this place apart was a man sitting in a booth next to the wall opposite the bar, an open bottle of cheap beer gathering condensation in front of him. He was garbed in black armor from his collar to his wrists and toes, hidden beneath a cloak grey as fog. A black helmet arrayed like a roaring dragon rested on the table in front of him. What little of his skin she could see on his hands and face was white as a dry bone and looked just as sickly, his hair white as glue, but his eyes, filled with a strange melancholy Raven didn't recognize, were blood red, a brighter and sharper scarlet as she had ever seen outside of a Grimm's face.
She recognized him instantly as one of the most notorious men in all of Remnant.
But, strangely, disturbingly, what drew her attention and fear the most was the sheathed broadsword that leaned against the booth. She'd seen bigger and more elaborate swords than this, and it appeared to only be a sword. But the red jewel set into its pommel reflected the light like an eye, seeming to gaze back at her as though it were an eye, one plucked from an Alpha Grimm, and irrational as it was, she feared the sword was planning to unsheathe itself and stab her through her heart-
"Disregard Dirgehowler," the man advised. "Its appetite has been sated for the time being, so it will not act out against you tonight."
The assurance did nothing to assuage the bandit's worry, but Raven forced herself to project calmness to quell her panic as she took her seat opposite her summoner.
"To anyone else who sought me out like you did, I would have accused them of being suicidal, or at least having incredible gall," Raven told the man. "But for the White Wolf? I'll listen to your offer."
Raven Branwen was not accustomed to being approached for employment. Banditry, after all, did not foster a feeling in others that she was one for playing well with others, especially since she led a whole tribe of such practitioners. Further to the point, she always sought to ensure that no one could find her or her tribe that she didn't let live to see, and even then without giving up her location.
Thus, it was a surreal experience for Raven when her tribesmen captured a man wandering the wilds of Mistral who was looking for Raven specifically in order to deliver her a job offer. She was skeptical, and remained so even after learning that the man in question had been paid five years' worth of his job's wages to do so. But the lengths to which this man had gone to arrange a meeting warranted her at least making an appearance, more for the sake of investigating (and probably eliminating) a potential threat than entertaining his offer.
The albino nursed a quick sip of his drink before addressing her. "What do you know about the Valleys of the Sun?"
Raven sneered. "You want to go there? To that Grimm-infested death trap?"
"Yes," he calmly replied. "And you're the key to my gaining access."
"*Huff* I knew this whole thing was a waste of time," Raven stood up to leave-
"I know you're a Maiden," the White Wolf revealed.
Raven stilled for a moment, shock and fear electrifying every nerve, before a fire lit in her eyes as she exploded across the table to grab the man's cuirass at the collar with a red-hot hand and pull him to her face.
But just before she could interrogate him, she felt steel colder than ice whisper against her throat.
Raven's wide eyes looked right to see Dirgehowler free of its sheathe - which she now noticed had a secret seam along its side that allowed quick draws - and ready to cleave her neck, its bloodlust felt all the more clearly from how it seemed to quietly hum a song only it knew, while the pagan, alien runes along its length seared into her mind, and the black metal of the sword ate all light.
But none of that scared her more than the fact that the Black Blade had bypassed her Aura completely.
Panicked, Raven tried to focus her Aura into dislodging the blade-
"I wouldn't recommend that," the man warned, recapturing her attention. "I know very little about how Dirgehowler was forged or what from, but it was made to consume souls and fight gods. Aura will protect you from it as effectively as paper. So release me, sit down, and we will discuss my proposal at length without disturbing the patronage any further."
Another quick look showed that every eye in the bar was fixated on them. She could tell that at least one or two recognized her, but all of them were clearly more intimidated by the White Wolf than her.
"Everything's alright," she announced, letting go of the black armor as the man slid the grumbling sword back into its sheathe. "Just a minor conflict."
Everyone else slowly disengaged from the unfolding drama, while Raven and the White Wolf settled back into their seats.
"How the hell do you know I'm the Spring Maiden?" she demanded.
The man gave a quirked eyebrow. "You're Spring? Thank you for that."
Raven clicked her tongue in annoyance at the slip.
"To answer your question," the man explained, "I was traveling the wilderness some months ago when I saw storm clouds gather from the midst of an empty sky to send down rain and lightning. It was some hours later that I reached the center of where the freak storm had manifested, to find a village utterly destroyed. Your Branwen Tribe was named by a survivor who died."
Raven fought off an urge to scoff. "Is that why you called me here? Some roundabout way to exact vengeance on us for some forgotten wreckage in the backwoods?"
"Vengeance is a drug I've been trying purge from my blood for years," he related. "I will not wage war on behalf of strangers."
"That still doesn't explain how you know I'm a Maiden," Raven pressed. "Who do you work for?"
"Hopefully, myself," the man replied cryptically. "Otherwise this venture is all for nothing."
Well that's not concerning, Raven thought.
"As for how I know, it is connected to why I want to gain access to the Valleys of the Sun."
Raven raised an eyebrow in incredulous curiosity. "Now this is a story I've gotta hear."
The man finished his bottle, and sat back. "You know that magic is real, and you know of the war between Salem and Osma as well as the story of the Two Brothers-"
"Wait, Osma is his real name?" Raven interrupted.
"Only his first," the albino answered.
Raven went silent again.
He pulled out a napkin from the holder on the table next to the wall, as well as a pen from a pack beside himself that she hadn'tcared to notice before. "What you do not know is the wider cosmology of our reality. While there are many intricacies to it that no one could ever learn in a single lifetime, there are three basic facts I can teach you that explain our purposes here."
He drew a circle and filled it with dots. "The first is that the world we live in is but one of an infinite number of worlds throughout the Multiverse, each and every one a unique realm of peoples and splendor."
He then began drawing lines that connected the dots at random. "These worlds are all connected to each other by the Moonbeam Roads, which can take you to any place in any world at any time - if you know how to navigate them."
"You've... traveled, on these Moonbeam Roads, then?" Raven reasoned.
"Correct," he sighed. "I've seen things you can scarcely imagine. Oceans made of spores, cities peopled by living crystals, and so much more. I've seen Kingdoms begin being built and then returned to find only ruins."
Raven said nothing, still finding his story incredible, but now she was much more interested than before.
The man moved on from the circle and drew in rapid succession three symbols: a single arrow pointing straight up, an old-fashioned scale, and a group of eight arrows radiating out from a common point. "The second thing to know is that the Multiverse is divided between two warring factions. The forces of Law-," the pen tapped the single arrow, "-and the forces of Chaos," it moved to the eight arrows.
Good and Evil, Raven rolled her eyes at that.
The man pointed the pen at her to emphasize his coming point: "I know what you're thinking, but don't be fooled into believing that one is all good and the other all evil," he chastised. "For just as bandits like you cause great harm through the chaos of destroying homes and livelihoods, the old Mantlean and Mistralian sovereigns pervaded great evils by crushing the passions of culture in the name of sterile security.
The pen now rested on the scales. "If there is Good in the Multiverse then it is in the Cosmic Balance, where neither Chaos nor Law are dominant over the other. Evil, therefore, is Law or Chaos holding too much sway in a world over the other, for while Law brings structure and order, Chaos brings freedom and creativity. Without one or the other, there is only destruction and desolation, before finally, oblivion."
Raven reflected on how this was a very different dichotomy than that of the Two Brothers - if the White Wolf was being truthful, then she wondered which ones answered to Law or Chaos, of if they answered to either one.
Then the man laid down the pen, and voice suddenly became a reverent whisper. "But the third fact to teach you is that amongst the infinite varieties among all the worlds of the Multiverse, there is one thing they all have in common:
"Tanelorn."
Raven had never heard the word before, but it rang with the echo of every memory of love and warmth she had buried beneath years of despairing cynicism and bloody depravities. She swore she could hear Summer's encouragements and Tai's acceptance again - she could hear the laughter of her daughter and feel her loving embrace. The sweet ache of her heart's longing for home and family rose with the sound of that magical name.
"Wh- What is this... Tanelorn?" Raven stammered.
"The Eternal City, the City of Rest," he revealed, a note of wonder filling his voice. " It is a Neutral City, declaring for neither Law nor Chaos. It is where all who enter can finally find safety from the travails of the Multiverse. Great men from across the cosmos have quested for Tanelorn, and there found true rest and peace to enjoy for the rest of their lives."
Raven could practically see it now, the vision coming to her almost unbidden: her and Tai together again, both Yang and Ruby there too with them living in a city made of silver, gold, and every kind of jewel in existence, discovered and unfounded alike. No weapons, no more fighting, no more war, no more Grimm, no more Salem, no more Ozpin.
Just her and her family, without worries forever.
"And the city can be found on every world in the Multiverse."
Suddenly, Raven understood. "The Valleys of the Sun. You believe Tanelorn is there."
The man nodded. "My travels on the Moonbeam Roads have taken me to many times throughout Remnant's history in many parts of the world, but they have never taken me there, and the Valleys have always been surrounded by Grimm. They are creatures of pure Destruction, and a city that stands eternally at Peace is utterly anathema to their existence, and so they naturally would seek to bring about its destruction."
Raven was utterly taken, and she strained not to let this fact show. "Why come to me? Why not another Maiden, or some band of Huntsmen to lead you there?"
"Because I have no desire to drag Salem and Ozpin's war to Tanelorn's doorstep," he explained. "Any force of sufficient strength to reach the Valleys, legitimate or not, would alert them either directly through their contacts, or alert them by its movements. With the exception of one group: your Branwen Tribe - and most importantly, you."
After mentally preening at the acknowledgment of her strength, Raven ran the mental math of breaking into the Valleys of the Sun:
Even by herself, backed by her tribe, she would have hesitated to try to break through the hordes, despite being a simpler task than wiping it out.
But with the wealth of the White Wolf providing her Tribe bigger and better weaponry, as well as the full power of the fabled Schnee Semblance backing her Maiden powers, on top of Dirgehowler and whatever other tricks he's picked up in his travels...
"This is the absolute craziest thing I've ever heard, and I've been part of some really stupid shit," Raven stated as she rose to her feet. "But I think I can get my Tribe on board."
The man mirrored her motion. "Very well then. To Tanelorn then, Raven Branwen?"
Raven grabbed his hand, a lithe thing almost as womanly as hers, and shook it in sign of agreement. "To Tanelorn, Liulfr Schnee."