Eyo. How goes it?
Next chapter of Who We Used to Be should also be up later today. Not much else to say.
Start Chapter 47
As the smoke dissipates, and she is left to stand on her own in the middle of a vast desert, Cinder's mind is a whirlwind.
Clearly, wherever she is now, it is not Evernight.
"Long ago, the Silver-Eyed Warriors were given a power beyond reckoning by their God, He of Grandest Light." Jinn's voice echoes out in a sphere around Cinder, like it is coming from inside her own head and from every possible angle outside of it all at once. "This power allowed them to, with a single glance, wipe the Grimm, humanities fated enemy, from the face of Remnant."
Cinder watches as the landscape is suddenly shadowed, and she turns around to see a massive creature, some eldritch Grimm, rising from the sands. It towers over her, easily a hundred meters or more tall.
"The Silver-Eyed Warriors, or as they were called then, the Warriors of Grandest Light, set out amongst the dunes, culling the Grimm in great herds. Their goal was simple; to train with their powers, to master them, so that they might one day unleash them upon the immortal Queen of the Grimm. This was to be the first step in their ultimate mission."
In the next moment, there is a piercing white light, one that causes Cinder to wince, and shut her eyes. She opens them again in four or five seconds, and sees that the creature hanging above her has been petrified entirely, already beginning to crumple under its own weight in certain sections.
And on the ground, standing in front of a small procession of people, stands a tall man with dark skin, and gleaming, silver eyes. They are still alight with power; still glowing with the faint heat that has just been unleashed from out of them.
"Chief among them was the strongest of the Warriors of Grandest Light. His name was Enkidu, and he was, in the Warrior's eyes, god's chosen. Blessed with the same raw, unyielding light of their god, he slew nightmares that had stalked the dunes of Vacuo, or, as it was known at that time, Uruk-El, for thousands of years. In but a few short months, he carved away Vacuoan mythos, reshaping the very legends of the continent."
"The goal of the Warriors, at that time, was to attract the eye of their enemy. Of the wicked witch of the Grimm. They wished to lure her out from her pedestal by wiping her creations from Vacuo's sands, and then, when she showed herself, annihilate her once and for all. They had no knowledge of Salem's immortality, or any such notions. They knew only that their powers were uniquely qualified to remove Salem from play. And so, they sought to do as such."
Cinder watches as the landscape shifts, then. They are still within the desert, and Enkidu is still the subject of this vision, but there are other figures now. One of them is a man being carried along atop a palanquin by servants, who is dressed in gold and silks and fineries.
"However, a problem arose when Enkidu, on one of his many journeys to try and cull the Grimm, was set upon by a human party. Enkidu could defend himself against any Grimm that may attempt to oppose him, but he was not terribly skilled in combatting those whom his eyes did not annihilate. Not to mention that some of the finest soldiers in all of Vacuo were marching along with this retinue. After all, the King Gilgamesh was being escorted back to his castle."
Cinder watches as the king is set down, and he steps out of his palanquin as his warriors bring Enkidu to him. His arms are locked behind his back by their grips, and though he struggles, it is clear he does not possess the strength to break such a hold.
"The king, however, was astounded. Before him was a man with eyes more beautiful than he had ever seen, and immediately, he fell madly in love."
Cinder's brow creases as the King orders for Enkidu to be loaded into the Palanquin alongside him, and the retinue continues onwards.
"Gilgamesh wanted for Enkidu to become his lover; one with whom he could share warmth in the cold desert nights. Enkidu held no true inclinations towards the king, and yet… he spotted an opportunity."
The scene shifts again, this time, to the inside of an ornate bedroom. Cinder briefly takes in the breathtaking views of the surrounding dunes from the high-up tower, and the fineries of a royal life, before she turns towards the bed itself. Within it is the sleeping figure of Gilgamesh. Enkidu, however, is wide awake. He stands from the bed – wearing not a lick of clothing, although his genitals are hidden from view with an application of Jinn's smoke – and walks towards one of the windows, gazing out across the same view Cinder had been briefly enjoying earlier.
"By Gilgamesh's side, even as only a concubine, he might more easily attract the attention of his enemy; something that would be worth more than simply culling Grimm from the sands. And so, he allowed this arrangement to continue, feigning interest in the king, hoping that one day, he might bring the wicked witch of the Grimm to show herself."
Briefly, Cinder finds herself examining the look on Enkidu's face. It is… it is one that Cinder is intimately familiar with.
It is dull. It is lifeless. He stares off into the distance beyond him not in wonder, not in amazement, but in want. He stares at the wide, clear sands beyond, and he seems to want to reach out towards them and cup them in the palms of his hands.
Cinder feels a kinship with this man near instantly.
Because she recognizes a slave when she sees one, as a former slave herself.
The landscape shifts once more, and immediately, Cinder catalogues that time has advanced by years. When she sees Enkidu again, he has wrinkles beginning to form on his face, and bags and crows' feet around his eyes that he had not had before.
In truth, he looks rather terribly tired.
"Years passed while Enkidu, and subsequently, the rest of the Warriors of Grandest Light, awaited a potential opening in their enemies' defenses. Unfortunately for them, they were working on very limited information. While they knew their opponent's general location, that being the Grimmlands across the sea, they knew they could not reach them without being torn apart by the millions of Grimm that the wicked witch commanded. Enkidu's eyes were powerful, but their energy was not limitless. It had taken him months to cleanse a good portion of the Vacuoan sands, and the reason for that had been simple; he'd required rest in between such prey."
Cinder watches as a hawk or eagle of some type flies towards a nearby guard, who allows the beast to land on his arm. He unlatches a note tied to its leg, and begins to read. Suddenly, the guard's eyes widen, and Cinder watches as he runs back towards the castle behind them, Enkidu's eyes following the man's retreat all the while.
"But finally, an opportunity came for Enkidu. The King of Vale had heard of his exploits. He had heard of the man who could wipe away Grimm with a single gaze. And he wished to meet him."
Cinder watches as the insides of a massive audience chamber form around her. It seems as if ten thousand people could fit into such a place, and indeed, a good few thousand are present today. Many of them seem to be commoners and servants, and Cinder recognizes that this is likely a crowd present to welcome in an outside procession.
The King of Vale's arrival, then.
Ozma's arrival.
Just as Cinder has that thought, Ozma's retinue becomes visible on the horizon. Ozma himself – or, at least, the one whom Cinder believes is Ozma – rides atop a brilliant white steed. He is clad in greens and browns and generally matches Cinder's assumptions as to what an Ozma incarnation would look like.
"The king of Vale put up with Gilgamesh's grand feasts, and wondrous entertainment. His eyes, however, rarely strayed from the form of Enkidu. But the hunger within them was not the same as that which Gilgamesh looked at Enkidu with. It was not carnal in nature, no…"
"It was hope. A burgeoning, building hope. That somehow, this man would be the key he had been searching for."
Now, they stand within a banquet hall. There are people everywhere, dancing about, cavorting, and drinking. Off in one corner is Ozma, and standing alongside him is Enkidu. His silver eyes are wide as Ozma tells him something, though whatever it is, it's inaudible to Cinder.
"It was then that the Valean king revealed to Enkidu, and Enkidu alone, a secret. That he knew of the wicked witch of the Grimm. That he had known her for a long, long time. That together, the two of them might finally be able to topple her from her throne."
"In that moment, Enkidu finally received that which he had been waiting for nearly half a decade. Information relating to the wicked witch of the Grimm, now named as Salem. With it, his clan would finally be able to advance forwards with their plan. Now, they had a name. One they could begin to proliferate around the world. One which would, hopefully, attract its owner's attention."
Now it is an adjoining hall that Enkidu travels through. His strides are purposeful, his gate measured, but powerful.
He looks determined. Cinder sees that look and wants to smile herself.
"And it was in that moment, finally given that which he'd been searching for oh so long, that the wicked witch's assassin struck true."
A shadow forms from the ceiling, and it takes Cinder a moment to realize that it is a man quite literally melting out from it. A semblance, then, one which had allowed him to merge with the material of the building.
Tailor-made for assassination.
Cinder knows what will happen before it does. She knows that the assassin will spring himself from the ceiling, priming his blade all the while. She knows that he will score an attack easily upon the unsuspecting Enkidu.
She knows that Enkidu will die. He already has.
But Cinder doesn't quite know what to do with how her heart aches, then, as she watches the assassin plunge from the sky, and deliver a dagger straight into Enkidu's heart.
There is no interim moment between Enkidu's determined, steadfast expression and the disbelieving, horrified look that replaces it. It is made even worse when, in the next moment, the assassin readies another blade, and slits Enkidu's throat.
He claws at it as he is dropped unceremoniously to the floor, left to die a slow and agonizing death as the assassin melds back into the stone, disappearing from sight.
Cinder… she watches as the light fades from his eyes. She watches as his struggles cease. She watches as his body goes entirely limp.
She watches as Enkidu, the strongest of the Silver-Eyed Warriors, fades away entirely.
Again, the scene changes. But this time, it is not a physical location that is different, but the position of the shattered moon in the sky. Another servant finds Enkidu, and when he does, his face pales, and he immediately scampers off, screaming.
Cinder watches it all dispassionately. She kneels down beside Enkidu's cooling corpse, and just… sits with him.
It's all she can offer. She only wishes it were enough.
Gilgamesh enters the scene, and as he does, he wails and cries and weeps at the feet of his 'lover'. Cinder almost wants to scoff.
Enkidu had never loved Gilgamesh. Although it seemed such had not been mutual.
Everything shifts again. Now, she sees as a fleet of warships a thousand wide sail from the northernmost port in Vacuo, and towards the Grimmlands.
Cinder has heard this story from Jaune. She knows what will happen next.
"Gilgamesh, incensed by the death of his love, rode to war against the wicked witch of the Grimm. He had been given said information by Ozma himself, who had been equally troubled to learn of Enkidu's demise, albeit for far different reasons. Ozma had returned to Vale without anything to show for it. Nothing that would give him an edge against Salem."
The waves part as a massive black and white tentacle whips out from under the depths. It wraps around one of the galleons and sinks it almost immediately, and then, all hell breaks loose.
"And he allowed Gilgamesh to sail to his death, knowing full well what would occur."
"Salem's Grimm were almost infinite in number; spawned by their progenitor over the course of countless millennia. No human navy could hope to war against it, and Gilgamesh, though a militant king, was no different. Less than a hundred ships made it past the Grimm's first attacks, and only three made it to shore on the Grimmlands."
Gilgamesh stands with only a few hundred men at his back as he steps upon the rocky shores of the Grimmlands. Off in the distance, Cinder can just make out Evernight, somehow looking almost exactly as it does in their time, nearly twenty-thousand years later.
"They were met by Grimm in the thousands. King Gilgamesh drew his blade regardless, and perished at the hands of an assortment of nameless, unimportant Grimm. Of the 50,000 men that sailed with the King that day, not a one returned to Uruk-El. The kingdom died along with its king, and the tale of Gilgamesh and Enkidu was lost to the unforgiving sands of Vacuo."
Cinder watches as the scene shifts. This time, to an underground assortment of temples, where she sees a scene that she'd had only described to her by Jaune over the past few days.
This is the cavern they'd found; she can't help thinking.
"But the Warriors of Grandest Light knew little of the events that had transpired in Uruk-El. They had only sparce contact with Enkidu, and so, when he was assassinated, and his kingdom ruined, they assumed the worst; that Salem had figured out their plan. More than that, they feared that the one they were truly destined to destroy would discover them. In their mind, Salem and the Devil of Darkness, their true sworn enemy, were linked irrecoverably."
They thought that Salem worked for the God of Darkness. Cinder realizes in that moment, her eyes widening. And Jaune was right.
"And so, the Warriors of Grandest Light scattered to the winds, but not before destroying any and all of the more overt remnants of their history, and their goal. Leaving only fragments behind. They intermingled with society, and hoped that one day, no matter how far into the future, they would eventually be able to accomplish their god's mission. To slay the Devil of Darkness, and to allow He of Grandest Light to become complete."
And then Jinn's smoke fades entirely, and Cinder finds herself back within the audience hall of Evernight, surrounded by a collection of equally surprised people, who've all gone through the same rather shocking last fifteen or so minutes.
"That," Jinn speaks as they all finish getting their bearings. "Is the history of the Silver-Eyed Warriors, as much as they themselves ever knew or thought."
"I… I see…" Ozma mutters as he shakes his head. "And there was nothing else important after the Silver-Eyed warriors went their separate ways?"
"Nothing that ultimately matters to the scope of your inquiries, no, or I would have mentioned it." Jinn says, and Cinder believes her. "This is all I am able to share. There is more; much, much more. But I am prevented from showing it to you. I am truly sorry, my friend."
"Again, Jinn, do not apologize. That we know there is more, and that you cannot share it, is useful information in and of itself." Ozma speaks, before shaking his head and letting out a groan. "Though for now, I must apologize myself; I've been taking control of Oscar's form for far too long. I will relinquish control back to him for a while. I trust you will all treat him as fairly as you have me."
"Of course," Nora snickers. "Why would we do any differently?"
Ozma chuckles. "I was more talking to Salem and her cohorts, Ms. Valkyrie, but it is good to know I can trust you."
"Oh, right."
Oscar – and Cinder can tell it's Oscar because the boy lets out a shrill little 'meep' as he regains consciousness – immediately steps a few paces back towards their gang, and away from Salem's own. Cinder can't really blame him for that.
"Complete." Jaune says after a moment, his hand on his chin. "Complete… what does that mean, complete?"
"I would assume it means that the God of Light intended to usurp both Light and Darkness. To have sway over both creation and destruction." Salem speaks, and Cinder finds herself nodding along. "To become the sole true God."
"That would make sense if we didn't know the Blacksmith exists." Cinder points out. "But we do. He already knows he can't become sole god. So perhaps it's not the status, but the power itself he's after."
"What could he need it for?" Jaune asks. "What power is beyond that of a god?"
"Omniscience?" Someone suggests.
"I somehow doubt mixing non-omniscience with non-omniscience creates omniscience." Arthur Watts of all people interjects. "If these 'gods' are truly divine beings, then is it not possible they want something alien to us entirely? Something that we, as mortals, would not even consider?"
Salem seems to consider that the harshest of all of them.
"They likely do not wish to die, or else they would simply do so." Salem speaks, and Cinder knows that she is talking from experience. She imagines that Salem has tried all manners to erase herself from existence. The Silver-Eyes perhaps one of very few methods she has not. "But we could sit here and consider such all day. I imagine you cannot answer such?" She asks of Jinn.
The being shakes her head. "I cannot."
"Then we seem to be at an impasse." Salem speaks. "We have learned that my descendant's theory is correct, but little else, other than yet more questions."
"U-Uhm…" Oscar raises a hand. "Ozpin says– er, sorry, Ozma says that 'As much as he's loathe to admit it, we should probably all, uhm… take a break and rest a while'?"
"And as much as I'm loathe to admit that Ozma has a point," Salem sighs. "He does. We shall adjourn for now and discuss our next steps later. Perhaps tomorrow. For now…" Salem seems to hesitate a moment. "Will you be staying here, or leaving? I care not which, in truth."
"Uhm…" Jaune turns to all of them, and Cinder shrugs, not really having much of an opinion on the matter.
Or, well, that's what she presents, anyhow. Somewhere deep inside herself, somewhere she'd rather not admit exists, there is a part of her that's afraid to be within these walls. That wants, more than anything, to be free of them.
Jaune must somehow sense this, for he nods his head and says, "We'll camp back with the others for now. Oscar, can you ask Ozma if Raven can make portals to him, even if she's never met you?"
Oscar goes silent a moment, his brow furrowing.
"Uhm, so, there are some weird clauses to this, but apparently, she at least has to see me first to be able to make a portal to me. She has to… uh… recognize me as Ozma. Then her brain, or her aura, or her semblance, or something, makes the connection that I'm one of the people she's supposed to be able to warp to, and then she can."
Oscar pauses a moment. "I uhm… have almost no idea what any of that means."
Qrow snorts off in the corner.
"Yeah, kid, welcome to the club."
End Chapter 47
Welp, we've got confirmation that Jaune is right, but what will our heroes actually do with that information?
More on that next chapter.