It was a dark night and stormy in the city of Vale. The streets were empty, say for a few wayward souls desperately seeking refuge from the present downpour. Few dared to look out from their windows, content to wait out the storm from the comfort of home.
It was on this night that Tukson found himself closing up shop with a barely contained paranoia. With slow breaths he locked the doors to his shop and pulled the bag on his side closer to his chest. He gave shallow glances to the streets around him, taking careful moments to scrutinize any dark corner or deep alley. With little fanfare he turned his back to the doors and began walking away from his shop at a brisk pace.
Rain bouncing off his coat as he pulled an umbrella out and opened it. The pitter patter did little to calm him as he quickened his pace with intent. Water splashed with every step as the rain seemed to grow more intense. The faunus took another glance back before doubling his pace, uncaring of any water that splashed him.
As he ran he could have sworn that the shadows around him slithered towards him. That dark whispers began to lick at his ears as his eyes scanned the buildings along the street. In but a moment his eyes landed on their prize, a two story building with a sign hung over the door. The symbol of a shield with two small arcs over top of it was all he needed to see before he broke out into a run.
The world around him seemed to abandon any notion of patience as he felt something brush against he back of his leg. Tukson didn't look back, letting out huffs as the door to the building seemed to open on it's own. Light from within bathed his form as he rushed in, not looking back for a second.
The door slammed shut the moment he was inside. Something massive knocked against the wood of the door with an unknown fury, only to stop and slink away just as quickly as it had appeared. Tukson only gave a small glance towards the door before he let out a sigh of relief. He dropped to his knees before a small chuckle escaped him. He didn't even realize that tears were running down his face as he forced himself to look away from the door.
"Glad you made it here." A voice said from the other side of the room. Tukson looked up at the source of it, only finding a young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes staring back at him. "Barely." Tukson muttered as he gave one final glance at the door. "At least you can finally be free from all this, you have the book right?" the young woman asked as he stared Tukson down. Tukson didn't say a word, only reaching into his bag and pulling out a large object wrapped in cloth.
"Just take it, I never want to see another book in my life as far as I'm concerned." Tukson said as the young woman took the time from him. There was a moment of silence as she felt along the edges before nodding. "Its real all right." she muttered before she turned his gaze over to Tukson. "Your bags are in the guest room, just try to get a bit of sleep, you still have a few days until your Bullhead leaves." she said as Tukson nodded all too eagerly.
The woman watched as he took off the rain coat and set it on the coat rack before approaching the guest room. Her eyes lingered as he disappeared into the halls of the building. His footsteps fading as she turned to look at the time in her hand. "Poor guy, let's see just what degree of harm you've done." she muttered while removing the clothe from the tome. She paused for a moment as the first corner of the tome poked out of the cloth, a slow feeling of unease trying to worm it's way into her stomach.
With a sigh the woman tore the cloth from the tome and scowled as she looked over it. The cover was pitch black and leathery, small decals of unknown symbols dancing every which way on cover, before she calmly opened the tome to its first page. The woman's boredom slowly turned into a scowl as she read over the contents of the first page. "Not a perfect recreation, but still potent enough to cause harm." She muttered before a rough banging on the walls caught her attention. She only glanced up for a second while shaking her head in the direction of the noise.
"Stupid, I have too many wards up." She muttered in a low voice as she turned the page. "Ah, mixed blood ink, they were really trying to made a proper copy. Too bad no mor-" her sentence was cut off by the sound of a door opening and shutting behind her. She quickly turned, slamming the tome shut as she did so. Her eyes scanned the room, finding nothing out of the ordinary, before she grabbed a sword from the mantle off the wall. Tucking the book under her armpit as her eyes let out a strange glow before she stalked towards the guest room. "Tukson? You Ok?" She half shouted before pausing in front of the guest room.
All she received was silence.
Slowly she wrapped her hand around the doorknob and twisted. She threw the door open and held her sword with both hands. The room was empty, the only source of noise was the patter of rain against the window. "Tukson?" she called out much louder. She slowly walked into the room, shifting her stance to allow her to strike from any angle "Tukson, if you don't answer me you might get a sword through your gut." She called out. All she received was silence, she huffed before lowering her sword. "Must have taken a walk around the house, trying to get his mind off this thing." She muttered while taking a short glance at the tome under her arm.
Calmly she turned and stepped out, closing the door to Tukson's room as she did so. Slowly she walked towards the kitchen, resting the flat of her blade on her left shoulder as she did so. Entering the kitchen she found Tukson slumped over a chair sound asleep. With a sigh she approached him. "Tukson!!" she shouted with agitation. The man jolted awake, his eyes darting around before they landed on her. "Sorry, it's just that these last few days have been rather stressful. I thought a short walk and a cup of tea would help me relax." Tukson apologized while gesturing towards the counter. She could see a small cup with steam still waving off the rim.
"Hmm, you prepared that quickly. So you checked out the room yet?" she asked. "Not yet." Tukson replied as he stood up and went to retrieve his cup of tea. The woman looked back at the hallway she had just entered from. "Well, if you need me I'll be disposing of this before anything else happens." She said while gesturing to the tome in her arms. Tukson glanced over at the tome and jumped back, the cup of tea in his hands falling to the floor. "... Sorry..." Tukson slurred out as be glanced down towards the puddle of tea and broken ceramic. "Its ok, I know the tome has caused you a lot of trouble." She waved him off as she began walking out of the kitchen.
She gave one last look back at him. "Just, try to relax. This much stress isn't good for anyone." She advised. "But the mess?" "It can be dealt with later, destroying this is far more important." She cut him off before returning to the main room. Her eyes glancing at the door to the guest room as she passed it. A brief flash of lightning stole her attention as she saw something standing at the window. "Don't try it." She said with a bored tone as the thing at the window stared her down.
Feeling adventurous she held the tome up with one hand to let the figure see it. As she did so, two objects crashed against the window as another struck the door. With little fanfare she walked into the centre of the room and approached the fireplace. The crashing grew louder as something let out a hellish screeching noise. The woman pulled out a set of chalk and began drawing a series of symbols around the fireplace.
The rain and thunder grew in intensity as she used a small bit of fire dust to light the wood. The symbols glowed a bright white, merging with the fire and causing it to glow like a star. The knocking at the door escalated to an intense banging as the hinges shuttered from the sheer force of it. Without hesitation she threw the tome into the fire, letting the powerful flames consume and purify the cursed tome in less than a second.
Everything was now silent.
Rain and thunder ceased, the banging at the door and the figure at the window were now gone. The woman kept her eyes on the fire, watching as the flames consumed even the ashes. She gave a quick glance to the window before letting out a huff. "Third time this year, whoever is teaching others to make these is real damn annoying." she muttered before turning away from the shrinking fire.
Then she heard Tukson scream.
With little hesitation she ran back towards the kitchen, her blade in hand. She could hear Tukson struggling against something as furniture was tossed and broken.
Reaching the kitchen she found a most horrid sight. A large figure, its limbs little more than guant vestiges while its gut was swollen to the point of breaking through the pale chalk like skin of its body. Running from below the nose too the end of its ribs was a large vertical mouth, swarming with slime covered tongues. It had nothing above its nose, just a flat surface where the rest of its "head" should have been. A pair of eyes rested where its nipple should have been, pitch black with only a stark white pupil swimming in the endless abyss of its eyes. The Stalking Horror had Tukson's left leg trapped in its jaws, the faunus desperately trying to free himself using the destroyed remains of a chair leg.
The woman raised her blade high and charged the Stalking Horror. The Horror raised its left arm, the limb little more than sharpened bone covered in its leathery skin. Steel sunk into bone as the woman pushed forward, her eye glowing with an intense golden aura. That same aura began traveling along the blade, setting the Horror's arm elite with the same white flames that had destroyed the tome not five minutes ago.
The Horror let out a screech of pain, letting go of Tukson as it used its tongues to remove its left arm. Quickly the girl grabbed Tukson and began dragging him out of the room. "Come on, that bought us some time." She said sternly as she dragged him away from the screeching Horror. "What, what was that? I thought you destroyed the book." Tukson slurred out. "I did, looks like the one interested in it had a back up plan." The woman replied as the screeches of pain died out.
Slowly the girl let him rest against the counch in the living room, just a few feet from a now white hot fire place. "Is it dead?" Tukson asked. "Doubt it, I only got its arm. It won't take long for it to heal." The girl explained as she let her golden aura bleed into the sword. "Stay here, the fire should keep it away." She said before getting into a fighting stance. "Understood." Tukson breathed out before slumping his shoulders.
Both kept their eyes glued to the hallway, quiet breaths leaving their mouths. The woman began to walk back to the hallway, her footsteps far louder than they were just a moment prior. The woman took a slow sniff before shifting her stance for a horizontal slash. "Come on, you stupid bastard, you already got a taste of him so where are you." The woman muttered as she glared down the hallway.
The only warning she got was the creaking of the ceiling.
In a pivot she turned back to the room and prepared strike at the attacking Horror. With the cracking of wood the large Monstrosity burst from the ceiling with its limbs aimed for Tukson. Wood chips flew everywhere as Tukson dragged his body away from the attacking monstrosity. The woman's sword glowed white before she thrust it into the Horror's center mass. With unexpected speed the Horror swung it's right arm and struck her across the side, sending her flying into the wall.
Tukson continued to crawl away as the Horror stalked closer. The Horror struck, stabbing Tukson in his injured leg, and began dragging the faunus towards it. "No, not like this!!!" Tukson shouted as the Horror drove its sharpened limb tip into his leg. Tukson screamed in pain as the Horror began to open its massive mouth, tongues slathering outwards.
The woman rushed back in, driving her now glowing sword through the Horror's back. The burning blade sprung out the lower half of the Horror's mouth and stabbed into the floor. The Horror squealed in pain as white fire began to spread through its body. The Horror's limbs bent in unnatural ways at it attempted to remove the sword from its body. The woman rushed over to Tukson and pulled him away from the Horror as it began to stand up. The Horror only grew louder as pure white flames began to burst out from its body.
The two just watched as the Horror stilled, its limbs curling in on itself. The fire just continued to burn, consuming the Horror much like the tome before. Cautiously the woman walked around the burning body and grabbed another sword from the display. Calmly she began to push the burning Horror into the fireplace, the two white flames merging together the moment the two sources touched. The two watched as even the ashes were burned away by the fire.
Slowly the woman turned to Tukson. "I have to make some calls." She said before walking out of the main room. Tukson just turned back to the fire place before slumping against the wall.
"So that's your report?" An old voice inquired. "Yeah Gramps. I managed too destroy the Tome before they could break through the wards, but I didn't expect for them to throw a Stalking Horror at me." The woman replied with a tired tone. "And the man who brought you the Tome?" The older voice asked. "Fine for now. Had to treat his leg with some cleanser before the EMTs arrived. He's currently resting in a private hospital. Shame that he'll miss his flight." The woman said. "Considering his disposition to all that newly acquired knowledge, I doubt he would have enjoyed Vacuo." Another voice chipped in from the call.
"Regardless, have someone keep an eye on him. We know he was part of the White Fang so they might come around and ask questions." The old voice advised. "I know old man, but after last night I think that the White Fang will be the least of Vale's problems." The woman replied. "Really, are you thinking of calling in some help from Arcadia?" the old voice asked. "Yep, just not one of the heavier squads. We need to be smart about this." The woman advised. "Ah, I know just the squad to bring to Vale. I'll have Barty give Oz the heads up so that he'll keep the huntsmen out of our hair while we work." The old voice said.
The woman let out a huff at this. "Why do we ever work with him?" She asked with irritation. "Because he has a lot of sway over the kingdom and huntsmen. Besides, he's well aware of the things we're dealing with and he's happy to leave it to us." The old man replied. "I still don't like it." She replied. "Not everyone does, still, I'll be sending a four person squad to Vale in a few days, best be prepared." The old voice said. "Bye old man, see you around." The woman said. "Good hunting." The old man replied before the call was ended.