"Blake?" Jaune asked quietly. "What's wrong?"
"I…We…" She shook her head. "This…I thought it was just a dream, that I was tired."
"What?" Jaune repeated, looking at the dagger then at Blake. "It doesn't look that bad to me."
He moved to pick it up, only for Blake to smack his hand away from it and grip him with a surprising amount of strength before slamming him against a nearby wall.
"Don't touch it!" Blake hissed, a madness in her eyes that frightened him. It was like he was being transported back in time, when he had faced a dragon that towered over him and watched as it slowly moved to eat him for daring to stand up to it. "That…You can't. You just can't."
"Why?" Jaune pleaded, raising his arms and keeping his hands open to show he wasn't going to do anything. "Talk to me. Use your words, we were taught them for a reason."
Blake blinked and let go of him, a shuddering exhale leaving her explosively as her eyes closed and she calmed down. She opened her eyes again, calm and collected like she normally was, but there was an inexplicable fear in her eyes as she talked.
"That dagger is a sacrificial one." Blake explained quietly. "It was used to sacrifice to a greater being, a goddess, a long time ago. It…It plays a key part in the ritual we need to unlock the temple's vault."
"So this is a temple?"
"Yes. What I, we, need is down here too. The dagger acts like a key of sorts, unlocking the door that keeps the artefact we need hidden. In a way, it is the artefact we were looking for."
"So we need it." Jaune said, pausing for a moment. "Why were you so against me touching it?"
"It's a very potent, strong relic of a bygone age we know next to nothing about." Blake replied, a firmness in her tone and a glint of determination in her eyes. "It could have unintended consequences on people who wield it. I know you aren't some innocent lamb, but you are a good person and…and your a good friend, one of the best I've ever had. So I'm not going to let that thing do anything to you whilst you help me finish my mission, I owe you that much."
"But doesn't that mean it will affect you?" Jaune asked hesitantly. "I don't want that to happen either."
"Jaune." Blake smiled sadly. "Don't worry about me, okay? I'll be fine. Just…Keep an eye out for me would you?"
"Of course." Jaune replied, determination in his tone and mind. "I'm not letting some evil relic take control of you or something. I promise, and an Arc-"
"Never goes back on their word." Blake finished, scoffing lightly. "I know the mantra well enough by now Jaune."
She turned around and approached the dagger, seeming much more menacing now that he knew some of its history. How many lives had that dagger stolen in the name of worshipping a deity who was likely forgotten, alongside the civilisation who'd built this temple. He moved to the right, as if he was flanking a dangerous enemy. Blake paused at the altar, a look of conflict on her face. She turned to Jaune, a look of questioning on her face, a look that said she was looking for an answer, a sign, anything to help her make her decision.
He smiled and nodded, encouraging her. The sooner they got the artefact and were out of there, the better.
Blake's hand wrapped around the hilt of the dagger. He expected the room to collapse, the temple to tremble, but nothing happened. She lifted the blade off the altar and stared at it with a haunted look.
"Well that was anticlimactic." Jaune said, smiling awkwardly. "I was expecting some sort of trap to spring. Or something along those lines. You alright Blake?"
"Never better." Blake whispered, turning around and storming down the corridor they had come down not too long ago. "Yang will be waiting for us, let's go."
"Yeah." Jaune agreed following after her. "If we take too long to get she might jump to conclusions and start breaking down walls to find us."
They walked silently, and Jaune noticed her Faunus ears were flat, as if she was upset. In fact, he could barely distinguish them from her raven locks, as their colour and how far back they were helped them blend in the tresses of her hair in the gloom.
"Blake?" He asked, voice echoing down the corridor. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I've never been better, Jaune." Blake said quickly, picking up the pace suddenly. "Let's hurry up."
"Slow down!" Jaune called out, huffing and puffing behind her as he jogged after her. "My armour's heavy damn it!"
Yang wasn't tearing down walls, but she was tapping her foot with her hands on her hips like a mother who had just caught her rebellious children trying to sneak outside after curfew.
"What took you two so long?" Yang demanded, and Jaune shrugged helplessly.
"We're…hoo…as fast…ha…as you…" Jaune panted, leaning on his knees. "By the Gods Blake, why did you have to take off like-Blake?"
She said nothing as she headed down the middle corridor. Jaune huffed and followed, with Yang bringing up the rear. She tapped his shoulder impatiently.
"Did something happen?" Yang asked, eyes suspicious as they glared at the back of the third member of their trio.
"Blake found a dagger." Jaune said, deciding to omit some parts about Blake's weirdness and the purpose of the dagger due to Yang's unexplained dislike of Blake. He assumed it might be jealousy, but that seemed a little strange because it wasn't as if he was treating Blake like a princess and Yang like a pauper. There was nothing to be jealous about.
'Maybe they just had a bad first meeting.' Jaune thought to himself. 'Time will fix the wounds made by bad first impressions.'
"So she's acting flighty because she found a dagger?" Yang asked, disbelief in her tone. Jaune shrugged and coughed awkwardly.
"It was really weird. The lever turned into it." He paused for a moment, glancing at Yang's empty hands. "Did your lever not do that for you?"
"No." Yang said, before sighing heavily. "This place is making me feel really uncomfortable."
"We all want to get out of here." Jaune replied. "That's why we need to get this done as quickly as possible so we can move on and pretend we never visited this place."
"Sounds like a plan." Yang smiled, and Jaune watched from the corner of his eye as she went back to not-so-subtly glaring at Blake once she thought he wasn't looking.
'Must've been a really bad first meeting.' He thought, staring at the dark walls around them. They walls were made of a strange black stone, and murals depicted strange things, like two horned things seemingly torturing a form that looked like a woman, followed by four figures with flaming eyes handing strange items to the woman who had been tortured. It seemed to then depict the woman overthrowing the creatures, seemingly some sort of evil overlord, and being crowned queen. It was a strange sight to witness, and he couldn't help but wonder about the story behind it, who had carved them and why.
"Blake?" He asked, him and Yang having caught up to their runaway partner. "Do you know what the story is about the murals on the wall?"
"It's a story of injustice, oppression, revenge and liberation." Blake replied, voice soft and echoing through the halls. "That's all I know about them."
"How?" Yang asked, and Jaune frowned at the hostility in her tone.
"By looking at them and putting two and two together." Blake retorted, falling to a stop. "This is it."
Jaune looked ahead and saw a looming archway. It seemed ominous, as if it had been purposefully built so that giants could walk through and enter. He shared a glance at Yang, who gave him an equally concerned look, but then Blake stepped forward so he followed. This place really was weird, but his decision to get it over and done with hadn't changed, even if he was looking forward to getting out of there.
"Arc." A voice whispered quietly, echoing around the room and sounding like a rumble because of it. He froze, every muscle in his body trembling with the sheer power radiating from the soft voice. It almost sounded similar to the one he had heard earlier and did his best to ignore, but even when it was apparently whispering he couldn't move, captivated by the inherent authority in whatever it was' voice. "It's time. I am waiting. Wield me. Together, we will cast evil back into the abyss waiting for it. Hurry."
He swallowed, trails of sweat dripping down the side of his face despite the coolness of the air. Blake and Yang walked on, unaware of what had happened, unaware of the rumbling voice that could only belong to a giant or monster or even a god. He had no idea what to think, what to do, what to say and his body moved as if it was just a puppet, and someone else was pulling the strings. It was like he was floating outside his body, and he watched as he strode forward, heading towards a large set of stairs and rushing up them.
He heard Blake and Yang call out to him, but their voices sounded distant and muffled, like he was submerged underwater. A desperate, urgent feeling tugged at his senses, hurrying him up the stairs, running as fast as he could and gliding up them like a bird in the air.
At the top of the stairs was a set of heavy looking metal doors and a sword, hovering in the air above a small podium. He did a double-take at the sight of a sword floating in the air, immediately usurping a lever that turned into a dagger as the weirdest thing he'd seen. Gods, it even trumped the fact he could apparently glow and heal himself.
"You know what to do, Arc." The voice intoned, before the tone shifted into the one it had spoken in earlier, commanding and all-encompassing. "Take it."
His hands reached out, wrapping around the hilt of the blade. He felt all his aches and pain disappear, and his body started to glow brightly of its own violation. The white glow also emanated from the sword, casting into a white sheen of shimmering light.
"You are too late, Old God." Another voice cackled, a feminine lilt to its commanding tone, and a purple light spilled from a jewel at the hilt of the sword. "Did you truly believe you had defeated me so thoroughly? I am evolution, Darkness, and you should know that change cannot be stopped."
"No!" Hissed the voice. "Quickly Arc! Remove the jewel!"
Jaune acted on instinct. When a voice inside your head that guides to floating swords tells you to do something, you do it. He smashed the hilt of the sword against the podium it had been hovering above, striking at an angle to dislodge the jewel. Fortunately it broke off easily, clearly not added onto the hilt through conventional blacksmithing. Questions swirled around his mind, and before he could think to ask any his body stopped glowing and the voices fell silent.
He sheathed the new sword in the sheath that had been built for the sword he'd lost after his fight with Ren, and it was a good enough fit for now, though he'd have trouble drawing it if they ran into trouble.
"Jaune?!" Yang yelled, reaching the top of the stairs suddenly. "What was that? Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah." Jaune lied, swallowing and smiling weakly. "Just wanted to hurry up and get this thing over and done with."
"Are you sure?" Blake asked firmly, stepping forward with a suspicious look, like she somehow knew what had happened.
"Positive." Jaune replied, turning and pointing at the doors ahead. "Just wondering how are we supposed to get through those. They look really heavy."
"Yeah right." Yang scoffed, stepping forward confidently. "I've seen gates that looked heavier than those."
She planted her hands firmly on either door and let out a grunt as she pushed, the muscles of her shoulders tensed and coiled as she gradually heaved open the doors.
"What in the name of all that is holy?" Blake asked, a blank look on her face. "No living, breathing person alive or ever born is strong enough to just force doors like those open."
"Yang's just…erm…really strong." Jaune said weakly, and Blake closed her eyes before shaking her head.
"Sure. Whatever. Let's just…get this done." Her voice trailed off, and Yang turned around, face flushed and sweat trailing down her face.
"S-See?" Yang panted, a wide grin on her face. "It put up a fight but it couldn't stand up to me."
"Damn right it couldn't." Jaune smiled back. "That was really impressive, Yang."
Blake rolled her eyes and stepped through the doorway, brushing past Jaune. Yang's pleased look turned into one of vehement dislike as Blake stepped past her and into the room inside.
"Why don't you wait outside the door Yang?" Blake asked, stopping suddenly. "I don't really know what might happen, so I'd rather we have someone as strong as you outside in case the doors try closing."
Yang frowned and turned to Jaune, who shrugged and grinned weakly.
"I mean, I'd feel a lot more safer if you were guarding the door." He replied. "But if you want to come inside with us I don't really see why we should exclude you from coming in."
"It's fine." Yang said quietly after a moment's thought. "Just be careful Jaune. That girl, this place. Everything is wrong about it."
"We'll be in and out." Jaune smiled, stepping past Yang and into the chamber after Blake. "Promise."
The room was massive, larger than the cavern they'd descended earlier. It was wide, open and empty apart from a slab of rock in the middle of the room and giant statues that were the size of castles, depicting a myriad of monsters from wolf-like creatures and bear-like ones. Some were more monstrous than others, but a common feature was their weird armour. Since when were wolves armoured?
"Woah." Jaune gasped, staring around him with awe mingling with horror as he walked alongside Blake towards the slab, the statues forming a sort of honour guard on either side of them. "What is this place?"
Blake didn't answer him, and when he looked at her she seemed pale, scared. Her eyes were wide and watering, and her hands were shaking uncontrollably at her sides.
"Are you sure you are alright Blake?" He asked, putting a hand on her shoulder and forcing her to stop. "You look sick."
"I…I just…" Blake wiped tears from her eyes, staring stubbornly at the ground. "It's been so long…I don't…I don't know if it's worth-"
"Blake, stop." Jaune ordered firmly, squeezing her shoulder gently. "You've already told me you've spent pretty much your entire life searching for whatever it is that's done here. I know it might seem daunting, but we'll get it done. Alright?"
"Alright." Blake whispered hoarsely, her eyes shut tightly and her head lowered to the ground. "I…You deserve better Jaune."
"Thanks?" He replied, unsure of what to say to that. It was an odd compliment, but a compliment nonetheless. "What are we even looking for? There's nothing down here."
Blake didn't reply, so he sighed lightly and headed on towards the slab of rock, letting her have a moment to herself. On closer inspection, it was literally just a slab of rock. There were no murals, no inscriptions on it. It wasn't a chest or any sort of container, just a big slab of rock. Was it an altar maybe? He wasn't sure.
"What do we do now?" Jaune asked, looking around the altar curiously. "There aren't any instructions or anything. No symbols or glyphs or anything. Just a slab of rock."
"Jaune?" Blake asked quietly, and he turned around to speak to her.
"Yea-urk!" Jaune gasped, Blake grabbing his hair violently and yanking him down. Something sank into his neck, and he choked, tears building in his eyes, unable to breathe with something rammed into his neck.
A cold sweat broke out over his back, and he could see tears falling from Blake's eyes.
"I'm so sorry." She sobbed, yanking the dagger out of his neck. Blood spilled out from the gaping wound in his neck, and he grabbed at it, trying to stem the blood flowing freely from his throat.
He tried to speak, but all that came out were watery gurgles he realised was blood bubbling his mouth and throat. He tried to breathe but he couldn't, his throat clogged and heavy. Blake grabbed him as he lurched, tilting his head back and letting his blood spill onto the altar, all the while sobbing the words "I'm sorry" like a prayer. The blood -his blood- oozed down hidden rivets, and when it flowed onto the floor the altar glowed with purple light similar to that of the crystals from the cavern.
Blake gently laid him onto the floor, a small mercy as the room oozed with purple light and an evil cackle echoed through the air.
"Yes, Yes! I have been restored!"" Something roared triumphantly, the second voice he had heard earlier. His vision was starting to go blurry as he watched the altar transform from a slab of rock to a woman-like monster with pale skin, glowing red eyes and dark veins criss-crossing her body.
"You owe me blood debt Salem!" Blake yelled, though her voice sounded like a whisper compared to the power of this so-called Salem's. "You owe me one wish!"
"Granted." Salem snorted dismissively. "What do you want, mortal?"
"Bring my parents back from the dead!" Blake demanded, and the creature smiled cruelly.
"As you wish." Salem replied, a purple light grew in her hands and a smirk growing with it. "It feels good to be back. Your wish is granted."
The purple orb slammed into the ground nearby, and from the smoke Jaune could see two figures kneeling in the dust and smoke.
"Mama! Papa!" Blake cried, hurrying over to the figures. Jaune coughed, trying to dislodge the blood in his throat, but there was too much of it and he wouldn't stop bleeding.
"A scion of the Arc's as well as a Belladonna? Oh this day keeps getting better." Salem chuckled, striding over to him, black dress flowing. "I'm almost tempted to restore you. Betrayal was a key part of my return, hence why she sacrificed you, but the greatest betrayals are ones that you yourself can inflict on others."
Jaune gurgled his reply, blinking as his eyes drooped. He could hear screams and terrifying growls, but a sudden roar cut through the noise and made his ears ring.
"Jaune!" Yang bellowed, pain in her voice clear as the sun in the sky. He felt a twinge of pain, regretting the pain he'd caused her, regretting the ignorance he'd shown in the face of her worry.
"I couldn't have asked for a better return." Salem sighed happily, patting his cheek. "Goodbye Arc."
A bright yellow light drowned out the purple glow for a moment, and a piercing, ear-shattering roar shook the ground and caused dust to fall from the distant roof.
Jaune blinked, hearing the sounds of a titanic clash, feeling the heat of fire and the smell of rich, pungent air as electricity crackled.
"Aura!" Someone hissed as his eyes drooped. He was tired, so tired, he just wanted to close his eyes. "Don't you dare! I did not demean myself to being relegated to a mere weapon to see the blood of my former champion die so pathetically! Fight! Fight damn you!"
Jaune closed his eyes, wishing he could die in peace, a furious growl echoing in his mind as his fingers twitched at his side. They brushed against the hilt of his sword, and he gasped as something hot and cold lanced out of it, surging up his arm and the rest of his body.
"Damnit Arc." The voice growled. "I'm supposed to maim people, not help them. Get up you fool! The least you could do now is not embarrass me in front of our enemy."
Jaune stood, gasping for air as his body glowed white and the wound in his throat healed. The air had never felt so liberating, so deliciously tasty.
His hands, stained and wet with his own blood, wrapped around the hilt of the sword he yanked from it's too small sheathe and shrugged off the shield he had slung across his shoulders, eyes narrowing as a burning rage ran hot through his belly and made the corners of his vision dim in a bloody, crimson colour.
"Maybe you won't be so disappointing after all." The voice said, a hint of admiration in its tone. Jaune didn't really listen. He didn't really care.
All he wanted was revenge.
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In a land far to the west, the ground trembled. Its inhabitants, solitary dragons and the herd animals they hunted, looked around them with confusion and instinctive fear. This was no ordinary earthquake. This was something different, unnatural. Dangerous. A dark miasma haunted the air like a fog, making the prey moo and clump together in feat whilst the dragons moved themselves and their young to the mouths of the caves, watching the skies in case they needed to flee.
It was then when the mountains erupted, spewing ash across the sky. The mighty dragons, the lords of the skies and the land they roosted in for hundreds of years, fled, unable to protect their homes from natural disaster like they would have been able to if it had been a human fleet coming to invade.
The ground cracked and black liquid spewed forth like and ran like rivers across the once green fields and hills, pooling into lakes the size of cities. Flame erupted and burnt the ground from the mountain-cum-volcanoes, killing the herds of terrified herbivores without mercy, sweeping them aside like they had been caught in a fiery tsunami. Creatures with black fur and white bone-like armour spilled out from the dark liquid, their arms gleaming red with malice as they stared at the fleeing dragons, little more than specks on the horizon as they ran away from the only place on Remnant their kind could truly call home.
They turned to the skies and howled in victory, celebrating their rebirth as well as that of their Goddess Queen, the closest thing they could feel to satisfaction emerging at the cowardice of their fleeing enemies.
The Grimm had returned, and they belonged to the God of Darkness no longer. Nothing would stop the eradication of humankind or faunuskind or this new species oozing dreaded life. They would all be crushed, eviscerated and destroyed.
The Age of the Grimm had come.