'Time for the grand finale.'

Smirking Zeffre held out her left hand and conjured a bolt of starlight in the center of the group of Beowulf's. The creatures snarled and roared as they were lifted off the polished marble surface of the training room, their claws digging marks into the floor. As the creatures were lifted into the air, Zeffre dashed beneath the gravity well, her body swiftly becoming enveloped in a radiant light. Moments later, she was surrounded by a brilliant azure glow.

A wave of plasma exploded from her form, incinerating the Grimm instantly, leaving behind nothing but ash. The marble floor, once a polished white, was now cracked and bubbling from the intensity of the heat, charred a deep black. Standing at the epicenter of the destruction Zeffre turned to her audience of two and, with a flourish, gave a dramatic bow. "Tada!"

'This had been fun,' she thought smiling as she took in the training room. All around her were the aftermath of her abilities. Scorch marks on the walls, shattered pillars on the floor, some melting frost. It had been entertaining at the very least.

Looking up at the observation balcony Professor Ozpin and Glynda were both watching her intently. She had been told that her initiation was to be done in private and had been asked to display her powers to give them a better sense of what she could do.

Leaping into the air Zeffre used her boost pack to land on the balcony next to them, giving another dramatic bow. If she had to perform and exhibit her powers she might as well make it an entertaining show.

"So… How'd I do," she asked smiling.

Professor Ozpin was watching her intensely before he began to refer to his Scroll. "I assume that the last ability you just did was the one you call 'Supernova', correct?"

"Yup! I toned it down a bit because it felt a little unnecessary," she said, still a bit excited from the demonstration.

"And how do you feel," he asked as he glanced over at the mostly destroyed training room.

"Fine? As long as I pace myself it'll take me a while to run out of juice," she said before leaning on the railing. "It's funny really. Using my powers a lot makes me feel… tired, but not tired in a physical sense. It's deeper than that…," she said before shrugging. "I've never really found the right word for it."

Professor Ozpin leaned against his cane deep in thought for a moment before looking back at her.

"Zeffre… where do your powers come from," he asked, staring into her eyes.

'Here it is.' "Uh… I mean, I could tell you," she began before scratching the back of her head laughing, "but you'd never believe me." She truly hoped that he would just drop the issue.

"This isn't something that I can just accept without more information," he said gesturing over at the destroyed room.

Zeffre gnawed on her bottom lip, unsure how to respond. Looking down for a moment deep in thought she considered what to say next.

"All people by nature desire to know…," she began, sounding as if she were quoting something. Suddenly, an idea passed through her head. With a flick of her wrist another Zeffre formed next to her, wearing the same black armor.

"Hey me. I'm trying to explain to Professor Ozpin and Glynda where my powers come from, and I need some help," Zeffre said, giving the other her a nervous smile before looking back at Professor Ozpin.

The other Zeffre just shrugged.

"I'm a Starborn from a different universe, and so is she."

Zeffre's head immediately snapped to her duplicate, eyes wide in shock. "You're just going to tell them?! What the hell!"

Her duplicate shrugged again. "What? It doesn't matter to me if they know or not."

"You meet two strangers and that is the first thing you say to them," she shouted, voice echoing off the stone walls.

"Uh huh."

Zeffre glared at herself, her carefully thought-out plan backfiring immediately. "Just tried to be helpful as I explain what a Starborn is because you suck at this."

The other Zeffre gave her the finger.

Zeffre took a deep breath. "Okay, so there is this place called the Unity—," she began.

"You're going to start from the Unity?"

Zeffre glared at the duplicate. "Which of us is telling the story, you or me," she said through gritted teeth.

"I mean, if you insist on telling it poorly…"

Zeffre punched her other self on the shoulder.

"Ow."

"The Unity is the center of all creation," Zeffre said looking back at Ozpin.

"'Center' isn't exactly the right word, but it's close enough."

Zeffre ignored her.

"It is a location that connects each and every point of space and time. By traveling to the Unity and passing through it to a different universe a person can become Starborn, like me," she said gesturing to herself.

"When are you going to talk about the Artifacts?"

Zeffre used every ounce of her willpower to not shoot her.

"You explain the Artifacts then smartass."

"Fine. There are twenty-four Artifacts located in each universe. Bring them all together and you get the Armillary, and with the Armillary you can travel to the Unity," the other Zeffre said in a dry tone while looking around the training room.

"Each Artifact—"

"Hey, what happened in here?"

"Shut. Up."

Her duplicate raised her hands in surrender and took a step away from her.

"Each Artifact has an associated temple, and by traveling to said temple anyone can obtain powers like ours," Zeffre continued, watching the other Zeffre very closely.

Professor Ozpin for his part stood silently and listened to their story. "And what are the Starborn exactly," he asked.

"They're just people who have traveled through the Unity to enter a different universe," Zeffre said shrugging. "Beyond that and sharing powers there isn't really anything we have in common."

"These Artifacts and Temples… Who made them," Ozpin asked after a moment of silence.

Both Zeffre and her duplicate shrugged.

"No idea." they said in unison.

Glynda looked at the two of them. "You mean to tell us that the Starborn gather and use these Artifacts without knowing anything about them?"

"When dealing with infinities there's bound to be an infinite subset of idiots," Zeffre said smiling.

The other Zeffre chuckled next to her.

"None of this information is terribly important anyways," her duplicate said, moving to lean against the wall. "Traveling through the Unity is a one-way trip. The only relevant part about the Artifacts are the powers, and even then, without space travel there's no way for us to go out there and look for them."

"She's right. The only relevant part really is that more Starborn like me might show up, but there would only be a few of them," Zeffre continued.

"Besides, we're stronger than most other Starborn anyway," the other Zeffre added.

"True," Zeffre said nodding. "Double besides, even if someone were to gather the artifacts in this universe and the powers, that would only give them the powers available in this universe."

'I should explain that more,' Zeffre thought upon receiving a raised eyebrow from Ozpin. "Each universe can only give you so much power from each temple. Someone would need to travel to multiple universes to get their powers to increase in power."

The other Zeffre nodded. "Yeah, like we did."

Turning to herself Zeffre held out her fist. "Thanks for the… help? Sure, let's call it that. I think I can take it from here."

"Anytime," the other Zeffre said, returning the fist bump before dissipating into starlight.

Looking back over at Ozpin and Glynda Zeffre felt self-conscious again at Glynda's skeptical look.

"I told you you wouldn't believe me," she muttered before having another idea.

Without another word Zeffre collapsed into starlight and disappeared for a few moments before reappearing again with a sketchbook in her hands.

"I, uh, like to draw my memories and… uh… stuff…," she said, flipping through the pages before finding the one she was thinking about. It was a detailed drawing of the Armillary, with her notes about the Artifacts. "Here's what the Armillary looks like," she said handing the book over to Ozpin. "There's other information about the Unity in here too."

As Professor Ozpin flipped through some of the pages Zeffre found herself feeling very self-conscious. "Uh… that also has some of my past experiences and information about my powers… I use it to sort of help me think," she said giving a quiet laugh.

"May I borrow this," he asked.

Her eyes widened in alarm. 'Absolutely not.'

He gave her a small smile. "I promise I'll return it to you in a few days."

Zeffre rubbed her shoulder. She really didn't want to give him her sketchbook… But, if it'll help him understand… "Okay."

"Thank you," he said before going back to the pages.

"I mean, either I'm telling the truth, or you have someone with weird powers who is insane," she said laughing. "Believing me is the easier way to deal with this situation."

"I believe you," Professor Ozpin began as he turned to look out over the destroyed training room, placing the sketchbook under his arm. "Something you must know is that you being here makes things... complicated. There are forces on Remnant who will see you as a threat."

Zeffre smirked. "I am a threat."

"Do you have an Aura," he asked, ignoring her comment.

"Not that I know of," she said, not having considered the possibility before.

Professor Ozpin closed his eyes for a moment deep in thought before coming to some conclusion.

"Zeffre. I will need some cooperation from you on a request," he said.

"What's the request?"

"For the mean time I'll need you to keep your origins to yourself. I also need you to show a little more discretion in using your powers."

Zeffre opened her mouth to argue but was cut off at Ozpin's raised hand.

"If not for your own safety, then for the safety of others. Please. There are forces operating on Remnant that cannot know about the full extent of your abilities," he said.

Zeffre let out a small sigh. "Fine."

"Thank you," he said, seeming to relax as a tension in his shoulders faded away. "Now, I need to know, have you talked to anyone else at Beacon about your powers? Do others already know some of what you can do?"

She decided to be honest with him. "A few yeah. I met some girls last night, Ruby, Blake, and Yang. Blake explained to me what an Aura and Semblance are," she said, smiling at the memory.

Nodding Ozpin began to walk away, saying nothing more.

'I guess we're done here?'

Turning to walk away Zeffre heard Professor Goodwitch give a cough.

"Wassup?"

Adjusting her glasses Glynda simply walked up and held out her hand. In it was a spent casing.

Blinking Zeffre looked down at the casing, then back up at Glynda's stern face. "That is a very nice casing," she said carefully.

"Zeffre… Did you know that you are the only student to attend Beacon Academy that uses a weapon chambered in 20mm," Glynda said.

Zeffre pursed her lips.

"No… I did not know that."

"Hmm… Well then, maybe you can explain to me why casings such as this one was found at a closed indoor shooting range this morning."

Author's Note:

This chapter was surprisingly difficult to write. I had to write like three different version of this chapter before settling on a version I was happy with. I hope the lore dump was at least entertaining. Anyway, thank you for reading!