Yang sighed heavily, folding her arms over her chest and eying the gloom around her with suspicion. The temple, wherever Blake had led them, was wrong. Off-putting. It sent oozing tingles of wrongness shivering up her spine, and it stank of a diseased kill.
She had learnt many things in the years she had spent abandoned and alone. Some kills were easy, sheep gathered in little flocks by humans that she could swoop in, grab and devour nearby. Others were too easy. A beached whale. A dead bear. When they had no clear wounds, it meant the wounds were from within, and those wounds were the deadliest.
They were unseen and unstoppable. Yang learned that the hard way. When she had first reached the icy shores she had found a whale, its corpse rotting and untouched by scavengers. That should have been the clearest warning to her, the fact the little white birds did not swarm it. She could remember now, the bodies of the dead ones lining the cliffs, struck down by the infection carried by the whale. At the time she had been too hungry to care, and she had feasted on the remains too quickly to notice the tangy wrongness to the flesh.
The tainted meat had ailed her for weeks, making her body weak and her stomach ache like it had been cut in two. The scavengers flocked around her, curious and waiting for her to die. She only survived when she used her fire to burn away the invisible enemy, and even then she nearly starved in the time it took to recover.
The experience was a valuable one. She knew to be cautious, to take in her surroundings and follow her gut instinct when it came to it. It had gotten her this far, brought her to Jaune, and now it was telling her they should never have stepped foot inside the cold walls of this strange, dark place.
She picked up the sounds of scuffling feet and a soft, watery sound. She listened quietly, hearing the girl mutter something, sounding sad. Had they not found what they wanted?
Yang bit her lower lip. She wanted to look inside, to make sure her mat-Jaune-was safe. But he wanted her outside, protecting them in case the doors tried trapping them. The sounds started to die down, before a purple light flashed from the room and she could hear evil laughter. The hairs of the back of her neck stood up, and she moved into the middle of the doorway and peered inside, wincing as a blinding purple flash dazed her for a moment.
As she blinked away the spots floating in her vision, she saw Blake hurry over to two figures, the stench of rot oozing off them. Yang watched wearily, blinking in surprise and horror as the figures grabbed Blake and threw her onto the floor, her screams echoing through the chamber as they devoured her flesh. She stepped forward to help her, before she froze and her panicked eyes darted around the room, searching for Jaune.
Then her eyes fixated on his still form, crimson blood staining his yellow hair and pooling around him. A strange woman with pale skin, red eyes and dark veins criss-crossing her dress-clad body stood over him, and her crimson eyes met her and a smirk grew over her face.
"Jaune!" Yang screamed, all her fears, all her terror, seeping through into the cry. Her heartbeat pounded in her eyes and her hands trembled with fury. The evil woman's smirk grew, and Yang felt her tenuous grip over her form fade, her body burning brighter than the sun as her flesh hardened into scale-like armour and her bones became bigger, sturdier and stronger. Fire burned in her belly, aching to be unleashed, and when she fixed her now red, draconic eyes on her enemy she roared her rage at the one who had stolen her most precious treasure, the one she deemed worthy of being her mate.
The prey merely smirked. Her fury reached bounds she never realised she had, and liquid fire burst from her open maw as she surged forward, wanting to bite and maim and tear and rend the prey who had taken her mate from her until it was nothing more than a whimpering pile of flesh ready to be devoured.
Lightning surged out of nowhere, charring her scales and making her bellow in anger and pain, cutting off the flame that surged from her mouth. The prey grinned, lightning crackling between its fingers as it stepped forward and sent another arcing surge towards her. She sunk low and leaped to the side with a snarl, but the prey moved with her. She moved faster, beating her wings and taking to the air, kicking up clouds of dust. The trail of lighting followed, but the faster Yang flew the more dust she kicked up and the more obscure her prey's vision became. Seeing it clearly, Yang surged down and snapped her jaws at the unsuspecting prey, only to howl as large spikes of ice shattered against her face.
She pulled out of her dive, but she lost speed and the prey knew where she was as the dust settled. Chunks of ice smashed into her wings as lightning scorched and burnt her armoured flank, burning the thick scales but not reaching her flesh.
Howling in rage and pain, she dove down onto the ground and hurried towards her prey, snapping her eyes shut as the lighting tried getting them. She used the sound of the prey's cruel laughter to guide her as she snapped blindly into the air, before suddenly spinning around and swiping the air before her with her tail. She felt something soft crunch against it, and the prey let out a howl as it was flung across the room and smashed against a wall.
The barrage of elements stopped, and Yang chuffed as she hurried forward, opening her mouth to snap at the prey and cut it in half in one, powerful bite.
Against all experience and wisdom she knew, the prey stood up, as if she hadn't just swatted it across the room like a fly. The actions surprised her so much she paused for a moment, which was all her prey needed to reassemble her broken body and send out a wave of purple energy at her. It encased her like an unbreakable net, trapping her and burning her. Her yellow scales were singed black, and her howls of agony shook the air as it the purple net began eating its way inwards, burning through her armoured scales and making its way towards her soft flesh and softer innards.
A savage war cry tore through the air, and the purple net broke as a wave of white light surged over her. Yang blinked as her body glowed for a moment, feeling like a second wind had come over her now that the net had been broken. Then her eyes widened as she realised her wounds had been healed and her body was restored to its peak condition, as if she hadn't just been maimed by some strange net.
Her surprise grew as she realised the prey was panting heavily, a pained look on its face. Whatever that light was, it had harmed it.
White light…
She turned quickly, eyes widening at the sight of Jaune. His hair was blood stained and so was his armour, but the fury burning in his bright blue eyes told her he was very much alive, and very much not dead.
A low coo spilled out of her, and she forgot her prey as she hurried over to her mate, knocking him over as she pressed her head against his body and inhaled his scent, searching him for wounds and reassuring herself in the fact that she could not smell fresh blood from open wounds.
"G-Good to see you too Yang." Jaune said weakly, and she realised she was being too rough with him. She leaned back so he could breath, and he offered a sad smile. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I should have-look out!"
Yang did what her instinct commanded. Her mate was fleshy and soft. She was armoured and strong. Whatever was dangerous was powerful and threatening, able to harm her mate easier than it could harm her. She curled her body around him, forming a wall of scales as purple lighting surged around them, making her howl in pain as they burned at her back and wings, undoing whatever it was her mate had done to heal her.
"Yang!" Jaune cried with worry, his hands pressing against her flank. His body glowed white, and some of his light spread over her, shielding parts of her body from the onslaught of agonising lighting.
"You think you can defeat me fool!?" Bellowed her prey, voice distorted and booming in sharp contrast to its relatively petite, feminine form. "Arrogant as ever. You needed to hide behind your pawns and brother last time Darkness!"
Jaune's sword started to glow in a thick, purple shroud, tendrils of smoke rising off of it. Yang blinked as Jaune unsheathed it and pointed it at the distant ceiling, the tendrils curling around the silver steel and rising up before suddenly surging into the sky in a thick beam of energy. Yang raised a damaged wing to protect Jaune as rocks and dust fell down around them, her eyes adjusting quickly as sunlight poured in from the hole in the ceiling of the vast, cavernous room.
'That is not normal.' Yang thought, staring at Jaune with bewilderment and worry. She had been driven off by humans many times before, often with steel weapons like the sword Jaune had. None of them had been capable of such a feat. None of them radiated with the same malice that oozed off of the evil woman.
"Can you get us out of here?" Jaune asked, breaking her from her thoughts. Crackling electricity arced towards them, but before she could move to protect him from it with her body, Jaune stepped forward and slashed his sword diagonally, sending out a wave of purple light that smashed through the tendrils of more light purple electricity used by the evil woman, the wave of energy slamming into her and sending her crashing against a wall.
Yang wanted to strike, but she'd learnt from what hse had seen, just like she always had done. This enemy was too strong for them right now, so the only hope they had was to retreat. She dove low, nudging her nose between Jaune's legs and hoisting him up onto her neck. He yelled and grabbed her snout before sliding onto her neck, something she was grateful for.
Blowing hot air from her nostrils to dispel the lingering irritation left by Jaune's armoured fingers, she flapped her smoking, scarred wings, steadily building up momentum. In the corner of her vision, she saw the evil woman start to stand up, panting heavily and fury in her cruel eyes. Yang swatted her with her tail, buying them a little more time as they ascended through the hole Jaune had created and up into the fresh, beautifully liberating air.
She soared higher and higher and further and further away until the hole was little more than a speck, the vastness of the white land spreading for miles around them.
"There's a mountain to the north where we can rest at." Jaune yelled, and she turned slightly, seeing him point at the mountains to the north. It was weird to think that days earlier she had been sent spiralling from the sky there, unable to fly due to her hunger.
Her belly rumbled suddenly and she quickly pivoted to the north. She'd need to find food before she had the energy to turn back into her Infiltrator form but that was a problem for the future.
For now, being as far as she could from the pit that had been opened in the ground and the monster that was inside was more than enough for her.
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Salem watched as the dragon rose up into the air and disappeared in the falling dust that tumbled from the hole carved into the earth by the God of Darkness. Even after millennia, the fool remained the same. Arrogant, prideful, easy to manipulate and eager to smash what his brother created.
It was of no matter. Salem was weaker than she should be, still adapting to her suddenly changed circumstances. Before she was essentially nothing, a floating void that could barely interact with the physical world. Fortunately for her she had exploited what little weakness her prison's defences had had and been able to corrupt, influence and manipulate long enough for her return to be orchestrated.
Speaking of…
As the last of her broken bones cracked back into place, Salem made her way over to the two figures hunched over a very much dead corpse that they were too busy devouring to notice her approach. Such a shame. She would have liked to revel over the Belladonna before she perished. Oh well.
She struck down the monsters she had created. In truth, they looked nothing like the parents the girl had lost and sought to bring back, and not on account of the fact their flesh were rotting and they had an unnatural hunger for the flesh of their 'daughter' but also because she lacked sufficient control over the domain of the dead to bring back the deceased.
She was close to becoming a Goddess, and currently far more powerful than the mere remnants that were the former Brother Gods, but she was not quite there yet. Humanity would have to die first, a sufficient sacrifice, as would the Brother Gods. But with her as Remant's steward she would usher in a new age. Humanity would be brought back, soulless so as to not create conflict between them and her Grimm. With mankind and the Grimm unified under her rule, worshipping her for eternity, she could become the most powerful being in the universe, perhaps even more powerful than the Fates.
If that was possible…everything could be made right. She could undo the mistakes of the Brother Gods, re-write time itself and go back to a time where she was younger, human. Where she could feel and love. Where she could grow old and die with her husband.
Hmm. She sensed Ozma's presence somewhere on Remnant. He was weak, like he always had since the creation of his Maidens, but he was there.
He'd come to challenge her in time, with a new cadre of pawns to back him up. Salem smiled, reaching out further, using her powers to feel. The Grimm called to her, like a chick chirping at its mother, urging her to return to the Grimmlands they had secured in her name.
Flexing her fingertips, Salem reached out and cast out a bolt of powerful magic, morphing it until she was smiling at the form of a newly created Wyvern. The Grimm bellowed its first, echoing roars, before lowering its head submissively in deference to her and purring at her as she stroked its lower jaw. It barely fit in the vast chamber that had been constructed to contain her, and she smiled for a moment, basking in another victory over the Brothers before mounting her Wyvern and urging it into the air.
When they reached the open skies she closed her eyes and basked in the feeling of the chill wind against her skin. It felt good to finally be back. Even if she could sense Darkness' weak signature retreating in the opposite direction. The fool.
Escape only meant prolonging what was left of his meagre existence.
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Ruby blinked, her body stiff and her eyes aching. She rolled over and ground, hiding her sensitive eyes in the soft green grass and breathing heavily, the stinging pain slowly fading into a dull ache.
She tentatively opened her eyes, staring at the grass and letting her eyes adjust to the dimmed light, shaded under her hands. Then she dared herself to look up, and blinked when she saw that she was laying in a small circle of grass amidst a mountain of snow.
'Was this a dream?' She wondered, staring around her. She tentatively prodded the snow, expecting a monster of some sort to burst out and attack her.
Nothing happened. The snow crunched inwards and she pulled her wet, cold finger out of the snow.
Picking up Crescent Rose, she stood and clambered the slope of snow, struggling to find purchase and toppling over too many times to count. The embarrassing experience was thankfully seen by no-one, but that thought made her frown angrily.
Blake had betrayed her. That reptilian filth had kidnapped Jaune. The Inquisitor…She…She'd killed him hadn't she?
She paused her ascent, just nearing the top. She had strapped Crescent Rose back into its resting place on her back once she realised she couldn't use it as a walking stick effectively. Its steelhead was coated in brown, dried blood.
Ruby felt like she wanted to vomit. She hadn't killed before. It…It…She didn't like it, the feelings she was feeling now and the reminder of the feelings she had felt then. She had hoped he felt relieved, that it would be quicker for him than to just slowly bleed out.
She shook her head and swallowed, barely keeping control over her stomach and preventing her from expelling her…breakfast? When was the last time she had eaten?
The mere thought of food made her belly rumble and reminded her of the fact it wasn't just her eyes that hurt, but rather her entire body. Everything just hurt.
Reaching the top of the snowy slope, she blinked as she surveyed the infinite white around her. Had she died and was this some sort of hellish part of the afterlife?
She was in Atlas, at least she thought she was, but the area they-she had been in was greener. Wet but not caked in snow. What happened?
She stared at the sky, gasping when she remembered the dark, rolling clouds that swooped in out of nowhere as she started to pursue Blake's trail, the snow and ice falling around her. She had been terrified, it was like the apocalypse began. Then something had pounced at her and she had acted instinctively, creating a shield with her eyes.
Was that even possible? Ruby blinked, and rubbed her silver-eyes tiredly. It wasn't as if it was too far out of the ordinary, they could cripple dragons after all. But…Why didn't her mother tell her she could do it?
She frowned, hands curling into fists. She was tired of adventuring. She had no luck tracking down any dragons, her friends had betrayed her or been kidnapped and she was hungry, all alone and everything hurt!
She needed answers. She needed to see her mother.
Ruby stood determinedly, making her way in what she hoped was southwards and towards the coast, where she could get a boat back to Vale.
Mom would know what to do, what was happening. She was smart like that.
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It growled lowly, shaking off the snow that surrounded its fur and cracking the ice that made its limbs uncomfortable.
After butchering some fleeing, terrified humans it had lost its restraint and hurried towards the humans it had been tracking, unable to touch due to the male's destiny. Just before it could strike what he thought was a weak link in the pack, it had unleashed previously unseen silver eyes and concealed itself in a cocoon of its magic.
It had waited patiently for what felt like a lifetime for the magical shield to fall, but just as it did, a familiar tremble echoed down its body and a demanding call shook through its mind.
Its master, its Goddess, had finally returned to this accursed land to rid it of the taint of Light. It growled as it turned away from its prey, knowing its master would want it to report to her immediately.
She had chosen it to watch and wait, to learn and gather knowledge in her absence. She wanted to be informed of the petty tribal structures and groups formed by Light's creations, who led them and where and how strong. Its mission was now over, and it dreamed of being unleashed with no restraints upon it to terrorise and destroy the creations of Light by its master as reward for completing its long mission.
Even if that meant giving up perfectly vulnerable prey.
It huffed one last time and headed westwards, following the scent of its master.
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Pyrrha sighed as she leaned against the wooden wagon. They were in sight of Mistral now, and despite the long, hard journey across the seemingly endless ice they had finally made it back home to Mistral, to the frigid northern shore of her Kingdom.
Richard stepped next to her, eying her homeland for the first time. She raised a brow at his disdainful look.
"Don't beat it till you try it." She teased, happy to throw back the man's catchphrase. He'd been teaching her 'bits and bobs' about the Atlesian way of life, the sayings and teachings and little quirks she normally would not have paid much mind to. Pyrrha was always a warrior before a scholar, but out on the ice you could barely walk without slipping, let alone fight.
So learn she had. It was a novel experience, being brought so low it was if she wasn't actually royalty. At least she hadn't been deposed yet.
Yet…
She frowned as her mind flickered back to her brother. The dangerous holiday of hers had come to a close. She needed to get her head back in the game and focus if she didn't want to lose anything to the 'snivelling little snot weasel' that was her brother.
Richard's snort broke her darkening train of thought.
"I have tried it." Richard replied, pointing at the snow capped mountains with a smile. "That's snow. I come from Atlas, and Atlas is snow."
Pyrrha's retort was cut off by a sudden crack. The whole column froze. In their entire journey south, not a single noise had been heard from the great ice plain that was once an ocean. No crack, no nothing. Just the howl of the wind.
Then it cracked again.
"We need to hurry." Richard said, face serious. Pyrrha believed him, as she felt the same way, she turned to order her men to pick up the pace, only for something to thud against the surface of the ice nearby.
Everything was still and silent for several moments. It wasn't a crack. It was a thud, as if something had bumped against the ice.
Pyrrha looked down, eyes widening with horror at the dark shape that loomed underneath the sky blue ice.
"Underneath us!" She yelled, grabbing a stunned Richard and dragging him to the side as a dark tendril shot up towards them. "Move!"
The ice cracked open, and dark tendrils wriggled into the air, chunks of ice raining down on them. Some of her men threw spears at the tentacles, and an echoing roar shook the ice underneath them before the tentacles whirled around the air wildly, sending men flying through the air as if they were dolls and crushing the wagons carrying their scant remaining supplies.
"Run!" Pyrrha ordered, Richard and her nearest soldiers yelling the orders to the others to ensure it was heard and carried down the line. "Get to shallow waters! Retreat!"
A mad dash followed. At first her men did what they were trained to do, forming small groups and raising their shields around her to form a fighting retreat. The tentacles merely swiped away the larger blob of humans aiming easily at the larger, more visible targets. They spread out slightly, continuing their frantic flight, and Pyrrha let out a sigh of relief when they moved out of the apparent range of the monster's tentacles, waiting briefly to catch her breath and let the stragglers catch up.
Then the dark shape of the monster moved under the ice towards them.
"By the Brothers." Richard gasped, and she did not rebuke him for using gods that weren't her own as yelled at her men to resume their retreat, which quickly seemed to be turning into a full-on rout and massacre combined.
One of her less fortunate, poor men was sent crashing down onto the ice in front of her, a sickening crack sounding as he landed on his head, which slid to the side in an unnatural manner that told her his neck had been shattered by the rough landing.
His spear clattered nearby, and she picked it up instinctively, not pausing her full on sprint towards the coast for a second.
Once again they managed to make it out of the range of the monster's tentacles, but their number was severely depleted. Pyrrha would be lucky if one quarter, let alone half, of her men survived this attack.
The monster's roars made her legs wobble as it shook the ice, genuine fear shooting down her spine. Just what in the name of the Goddess was this thing?!
"Ugly bastard must be angry he missed out on more lunch." Richard grunted, panting heavily as he caught his breath. Seventy-Seven shook his head.
"It isn't hungry." Seventy-Seven said, and Pyrrha turned to face him, eyes widening with realisation.
"It isn't eating the bodies." She muttered. "It's just killing us."
"Why the hell would it-it's moving!"
Pyrrha gasped as Richard tackled her to the ground, which was fortunate as moments later the monster breached the ice, its body flopping on top of it and it's tentacles surging everywhere. What was left of her troops screamed and Pyrrha watched in horror as Seventy-Seven disappeared from view, blood splattering onto her face as his body was severed in two by a tentacle.
"We need to move." Richard hissed, sliding off her and unslinging his shield to offer what meagre protection it could provide. What could a mere shield do against a creature that could cut good men in two? "Your Majesty? Pyrrha! We have to-off!"
Richard flew away from her as a tentacle lurched towards him, pulverising his shield and sending him flying through the air. Pyrrha snarled angrily at the monster, jabbing the tentacle hovering above her with her scavenged spear before rolling away as it slammed down, cracking open the ice sending her rolling as she struggled to find purchase on the slippery ice.
As she slid to a halt, she ended up facing the monster's open maw as it shrieked into the sky, and her eyes were drawn to the crimson eyes on its side. She crouched as low as she could to avoid detection, though in all honesty the creature seemed to be flailing its tentacles in random directions and hoping it hit them.
Pyrrha was precise. Her eyes were keen and her aim was true. The monster screamed as her spear turned javelin sank into its eye, and it quickly retreated as her soldiers rallied and peppered it with more spears. It did not bleed, but it howled in agony as it sank back into the sea, it's dark shadow fading as it made for deeper waters.
Pyrrha stared around her, trying to avoid the sight of so many maimed and mortally wounded bodies. Her remaining troops slowly rallied around her, and she was too drained to do a headcount. There couldn't have been more than ninety milling around her, thought hopefully there would be stragglers who had been at the rear of their convoy that had survived.
Richard wandered over, wheezing as he clutched his ribs and neck, where blood oozed from a wound on the side of his neck. It wasn't deep, but it still worried her. They had already lost too many lives on this wasted expedition.
"We'll head to the coast and wait for any more survivors there." Pyrrha ordered, her tired men quickly standing at attention and listening to her words like she was a preaching priestess. "I want our ablest men ready to go on a scouting mission to find the nearest township. Our ordeal is nearly over, we just need to survive the next few hours and we can start to recover what we lost."
The men nodded, still clearly trusting her to an extent. But their eyes were sad and solemn at their heavily depleted number.
Considering these were troops who had been raised since their very birth to serve the monarch of Mistral unflinchingly and unquestionably, it said something about her leadership ability that they were starting to show signs of doubt.
Her eyes met Richard's, whose orbs were pained. She looked away as another wave of guilt washed over her, before leading her ragged troop that had once been a fearsome army back to the frozen shores of their homeland.