Howdy folks, how's it going?
Not much to say here. There wasn't really any trouble with writing this chapter for once, which feels quite nice.
As always, huge shout out to Chaos Productions for his assistance.
And as always, I own neither RWBY nor TES.
Now, without further ado, enjoy.
/
It did not take them long to set everything up. After the proper ritual circles were marked in the appropriate places surrounding the two pods, each of the sorcerous trio took their needed place. Serana stood by the one holding the thief, wherein her vampiric magics would hopefully contribute towards coaxing what they wanted out of its potentially temporary host. J'Zargo, on the other hand, stood by the maiden's, his relative experience with enchantments and healing spells ready to smooth over any distress on the damaged soul's party, or such was the theory, at least.
As for the dragonborn himself, he stood amidst cables and cords, at the exact middle point between both pods. All three of them were well aware that his… unique sensibilities regarding the matter would either make or break what they were about to do.
"I take it that preparations are complete?" The headmaster inquired, from his own place next to the console meant to operate the machinery, looking more tense than Tristard had ever recalled seeing the man, not that he could blame him, given what he was led to understand was at stake here.
"On our end, as much as can be done, aye." Tristard confirmed while looking up into the air, seemingly at nothing. "Whenever you are ready, Ozpin."
"…Very well, then. Be ready, I'll be activating the transfer." Came the reply, as the older man started typing away at the panel, activating switches and pressing buttons as he went.
Very soon, a low hum begun filling the chamber, the green lights dimming as the machinery all around them came alive. Both pods lit up in a faint, blue glow, both within and in several spots without. The dragonborn glanced in between both of the slumbering faces revealed by the glass, one blank from dreamless sleep, the other scarred and pained, as the lights kept going, from the top of the pod all the away down, and then continuing through the cords and cables that sprang from there, going and going until it all connected, right before his feet.
He looked towards Serana then, her orange eyes almost glowing themselves in the dimmed vault, and with an exchange of nods, the vampire put her hands to the contraption, a focused expression on her face. Withing moments, they shone with a glow of their own, this one a bright, ominous purple. A glow that quickly spread to the circle around that pod, spewing out a faint mist around it.
Tristard then turned to the headmaster, and nodded towards him as well. Ozpin took the cue, and after a few more clicks, started slowly turning a big dial. As he did, the humming increased as hidden mechanisms begun activating, and slowly, the blue glow within the thief's begun shifting more towards golden, as the latent aura of the one contained within awakened, and between the machine and Serana's vampiric coaxing, this golden glow begun trickling down the tubes.
"The aura transfer has begun. On my end, all systems working as intended." Ozpin announced, piercing eyes alternating between watching the process unfold and parsing through the data the screens where showing him. "Some readings are coming as anomalous, seemingly from whatever Miss Serana is doing, but nothing impeditive to the process."
Tristard heard the words, but did not acknowledge them, as something else was not holding his attention. Indeed, as the golden glow flowed almost like liquid from one pod to the other, there was something he was seeing that was beyond the others' senses, a spectacle that was familiar to him.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the dragonborn could see strands, as golden as the aura going through the cords, flashing into existence, gathering and spinning and twisting around the pod of the thief in dazzling display, one that almost startled him, as it reminded him of nothing so much as what happened every time he slew a dragon, or took into himself a new word of power…
"Is this… That Maiden's power?" He muttered to himself, staring uncertainly at the mesmerizing show, suddenly concerned as to whether his presence here at this moment had been a good idea.
Then, as the humming of the machinery grew louder and louder, and the golden glow of aura begun suffusing the maiden's own pod, as the transfer turned to full swing. And this power that only the dragonborn could visually perceive ceased it's spinning and shot like an arrow straight towards the other end of the connection, forming a stream of bright lights in the open space between both pods, one that Tristard followed to and fro with a critical eye.
"Ozpin, do your "readings" show anything of note?" He asked loudly, the Headmaster attention turning towards him curiously.
"Other than the anomalous energy readings on Fall's side, courtesy of Miss Serana, nothing immediately stands out, Mr. Soverick." He promptly replied, his voice thick with urgency. "Is there something wrong?"
"Not as such…" The dragonborn replied after a moment's consideration. "It's too early to tell, but… I believe that this may be working. J'Zargo?"
At the prompt, the khajiit swiftly puts his own hands, pale blue glowing hands to the pod, feline face set and focused as he gauged what he could…
"J'zargo thinks you may be right." He replied at length. "J'Zargo can feel the flow, which honestly is a weird sensation, but it seems like… the gap is the slightest bit smaller? It would seem the machine is working in transferring the aura, and it feels like… it's coming with something attached. The power, if J'Zargo were to guess?"
"Aye, that's what I figured, based on what I am seeing." The dragonborn agreed, tearing his eyes away from the spectacle and glancing towards the Headmaster. "Keep going, Ozpin, let us see it through."
The headmaster nodded gravely, slowly turning the dial further. And so the process continued, the humming of the machinery growing louder and louder in tune to the golden brightness of the surging energy. Seconds passed by, turning into minutes, with nobody saying a word, too engrossed in monitoring their own respective part of this very risky experiment.
"Readings put the transfer at 95%!" Ozpin called out, over the ambient thrum. "We are almost-"
He didn't get to finish the sentence before a keening wail started echoing throughout the vault, the faded background green lights suddenly beginning to flash red.
"Ozpin!?" The dragonborn called out, caught off-guard by the abrupt change which he could hazard a guess meant nothing good…
"Readings indicate that the flow has stopped!" The Headmaster replied in obvious alarm, eyes darting between warning notices popping up on the screens and the rumbling machinery. "It's like something is blocking it!"
"Tristard!" Serana called, immediately drawing the dragonborn's attention, his eyes going wide as he looked in that direction.
In his view, from all around the pod, a sickening, oily blackness seemed to ooze out. It moved with slow but alarming purpose, apparently chasing after the maiden power, smothering and consuming every strand of golden light it could reach, the flowing stream frozen in place, as if something had latched on to it, seeking to pull it back…
"I feel something dark." The vampire stated gravely, reflexively releasing her hold and stepping back as if she had been grabbing on to something disgusting. "Something hungry. It does not want to release its prey."
"I see it! It's trying to consume the power as we speak. Sheor's bones…" The dragonborn stated, taken aback by the utter vileness of what he was witnessing. Even with all his experience in dealing with foul things, this was beyond any expectations he had…
"Uh, guys." J'Zargo called out, turning the duo's attention his way, to see the Khajiit looking up, towards the glass panel in the pod… To show the maiden, up to this point unresponsive, suddenly shift and twitch, as if simply going through a fitful sleep rather than being comatose, flashes of sheer dread passing through her scarred face. She was feeling whatever was happening, they realized…
"Unbelievable…" Ozpin muttered in growing alarm. "Something is fighting the flow, trying to push it in the reverse direction! If things keep going like this, the machinery won't be able to take the strain for much longer!"
Indeed, by this point, Tristard could see that the darkness had all but consumed its resident pod and seemed to be ready to follow the stream, to keep consuming and gorging until nothing remained. A spectacle that roused a deep, primal fury within the dragonborn, an existential wrath at what his every sense was screaming at him was sheer mockery of the natural way of the soul…
And as the hum of the machinery reached a crescendo, now joined by hissing, venting sounds as contraptions all around him desperately fought against the strain, the archmage realized there was only one move that he could think to make.
"Nothing to it then…" He muttered in somber resignation, his face stern as his eyes focused on the stream, on the exact point where the darkness was threatening to spread, and he took a deep breath.
In this instance, blasphemy would be met with blasphemy.
"RII VAAZ ZOL!"
A ghastly purple wave rippled through reality almost like a blade, as the Soul Tear acted upon its target. Tristard had been loathe to use this particular ability on either of the two women, knowing full well that death would be all but inevitable in their weakened state, but he wasn't really aiming at a living target, technically speaking.
To his eyes, the results were immediate. The rending words cleaved through the stream, snapping it like a rope that had been pulled too taught, and the darkness recoiled, twitching and quivering, retreating as if burned, fading back into the pod.
An unholy shriek of utmost agony immediately followed, so sudden that it startled all four present in the chamber. With her eyes still closed in slumber, Fall was suddenly screaming and trashing in her prison, each cry echoing a piercing pain, as if the container holding her was an iron maiden.
But as this was happening, the dragonborn's eyes were more focused on the other end of the stream, which after briefly whiplashing about from the abrupt severance, immediately completed its journey towards the intended destination, snaking into the maiden's tomb, all of the red lights and keening alarms fading as it did.
…
…
…
"…The process has been concluded." Ozpin announced, breaking the silence that settled over the chamber. "The pods will be opening now."
As if prompted, a loud click followed by an echoing hiss followed, as the pod containing Fall opened, and the woman flopped to the ground, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
To Tristard and Serana's continued surprise as they cautiously approached, however, the thief did not lie idle, her entire body shaking and convulsing, until, with one final shriek, the woman opened her mouth wide and hurled, vomiting a thick, black sludge onto the ground. Only when the last, revolting drop passed her lips did she finally still, slipping firmly back into unconsciousness.
The dragonborn and the vampire barely had the time to process the odd occurrence however, before they noticed to their growing shock that something within the revolting black mass was moving.
A tiny black shape burst out of the swiftly disappearing liquid, skittering and weaving across the ground as if seeking escape, a shape that Tristard recognized as some sort of insect, bearing the distinct coloring and bony marks of a Grimm. It didn't get much further upon that realization, a freezing spell from Serana trapping it in place, for the dragonborn to incinerate it immediately after. As the tiny form crumbled into nothing, the archmage did not miss a last few strands of gold power escaping it, rushing through the air.
The dragonborn promptly turned to look to the other pod, which was now opening. Amber too flopped forward, but J'Zargo was there, catching her and gently placing her on the floor. Ozpin was upon them in moments, kneeling down besides the woman and looking her over fretfully.
"Amber? Can you hear me? Amber…?"
For a few moments that felts agonizingly longer than that, there was silence. Then, ever so slowly, a frown crossed the maiden's face. Dull, unfocused brown eyes fluttered open, and trembling lips moved.
"O…O-Ozpin?"
/
And thus things continue to change, and a slumbering maiden is restored.
Let me know what you guys thought about this particular development. Next time, we'll see the immediate aftermath and some of the ensuing discussions.
But before that, up next we got the next update to 'Ere We Go, Pluz Ultra!, so look forward to that.
Cya all on the next one, stay safe and take care.