Unknown Narrator PoV
The World of Remnant. A world of Dust, of Magic, of Aura, of secrets long since faded from the light of day. A world of Bloody Evolution.
Legends depicting man versus beast fill the land, and yet there is always fare nore stories of man... versus man. Wars, Witch hunts, Persecutions and so much... Blood.
Many Inhabit this world of blood and death.
The Faunus, with their Animal Heritage and the Bestial Magics they covet. Long have they forgotten their origins in their pursuit of the equality they so dearly yearned for.
The Human, with their Aura and Advanced Technology. Abandoned by the very Gods that created them.
And finally... The Grimm. Born of malice and instinct their sole goal is to drive all forms of intelligent life into extinction. Or rather that's what was taught to those who stood to fight against the coning destruction.
I wonder... Jaune Arc, how your future will come to pass? Rest now young pup, and may you awaken to the power that I have bestowed upon you... my final child... born of Man, Faunus, and Spirit.
~~ God of Animals
He slumbered within the depths of nature, its presence was one with the Animals, and one with nature itself. It had been ages since he had awoken, the last time it had been rejected by its children. He had gifted them with nature's splendors and they rejected him.
But that was fine with him. He was content that his children had forged their own paths seperate from his own.
He was not like his older brothers, he would not eradicate his creations simply because they refused to obey the rules he had set for them.
He was a God of all things Wild and untamed. For him to create rules for his children would be foolishness. No he simply gave them what they had desired, even if it hadn't been what they had originally intended.
(*Sniffsniffsniff*)
His deerlike snout twitched as he smelled something in front of him. A single goatlike eye peeked open as it took in the being that had approached him.
It was a woman, one of his children as well, a wolf Upon her head was a mane of flowing golden hair, if not for the distinctive pair of Lupine ears upon her head he would have thought her a Lion.
She stared into his eye with trepidation, holding a dark bundle within her arms.
His eyes fully open now, he raised his head so as to look down upon her.
"Hello my child... tell me... why have you come to my den?" He asked the woman, who began to shake as her ears picked up the multitude of ethereal vocalizations that made up his voice.
She was afraid of him.
Gently, he lowered his head to be eye level with the woman, a level of kindness beyond words could be clearly seen within his eyes.
"Be not afraid. You are my beloved child. I would never harm you." He told the woman.
The fear practically melted away from her body as she sank to her knees and wept at his hooves.
"Please..." She began as she held up the bundle within her hands, "save my child! He is my only son... and the last child I will have! I would give my own life if he would survive!" The wolf woman begged the deific sire of Faunus.
The god of animal blinked at her request and inspected the child in the bundle.
Blonde tufts of hair matching his mother, but lacking the animal appendages of his creations, likely born of a human and faunus union. He was clearly a newborn, likely only a few hours old, and yet... he wasn't moving, nor was he breathing. He was stillborn.
The god looked back to the woman with pity.
"I am sorry my child... I cannot bring life to something that never had it to begin with."
It may have sound cold and callous, butbit was the truth. He was not as powerful as he onces was, and even at full power... he couldn't create something out of nothing. Even his own children were once man or animal.
The woman, understanding his meaning, sank into the pits of despair and wailed her grief for Nature around them to hear.
The God of Animals felt his heart break for the woman, but it was out of his hands. The child never had a soul bound to his flesh to begin with, so he couldn't bind something to the worldly body if it was never bound in the first place.
...
The god stilled as he felt more of his other children enter the den that was his temple, having sensed their sister's grief and came forward to him.
An elderly lone wolf, black as night and scarred from an untold number of battles, limped his way from the dark forest, ice blue eyes fixed themselves upon the golden haired stillborn child in the arms of the grief stricken Wolf woman.
It's cold eyes softened as he approached the woman and gently nudged her with his wet nose. The woman tensed at his touch and looked up into the eyes of the wolf.
An understanding passed between them in an instant and the woman calmed.
The interaction was witnessed by their God and he found himself stunned by even his own children.
Faunus and their Animal counterparts never got along well with each other. The Animals shunned them due to their humanoid appearance, while the Faunus were ridiculed for their Animal appendages by mankind, and had developed a resentment towards the very animals they were related to.
To see Lone Black Fang, who had faced more battles alone than those of his kind combine comforting his wolfish sister struck a cord in him.
Lone Black Fang, his faithful guardian and child, who had protected his temple alone for many years, looked upon his God and began to commune with him.
"Father..." The wolf spoke in a series of growls and body language.
"Yes my child?" The god of animal responded.
"My body is old... and weak. I am afraid... that I am unable to protect you from the Black beasts." Lone Black Fang told his God.
The god of animal nodded in acknowledgement of this truth.
"Soon you will need a new protector, someone who is as one with nature and this world as you are... I-..." The wolf looked back at the stillborn boy before them.
"I believe that Pup would make a good protector." Lone Black Fang said as he gazed at the silently crying woman, who gently caressed her child with the care only a mother could possess.
The god gazed upon the wolf. Lone Black Wolf, a warrior he may be, but he was also wise beyond all, including himself.
However...
"It is beyond my power to bind a soul that never existed to a Soulless body, you understand this more than all of my children." The god said as he looked into the ice blue eyes of the black wolf.
The wolf stared back at him defiantly.
"Then use my soul. As I told you. My body is old, frail, weak. I will not last much longer. It is time for my rest Father. My time is over. Allow me to give the pup the chance to live his life." Lone Black Fang pleaded with his god, taking a single step forward to enunciate the seriousness of his words.
The god paused and looked at his child, then at the stillborn in his other child's arms.
"A human... with the soul of a wolf...? No perhaps... ah..." He looked towards the wolf.
"Are you sure this is what you desire?" The god asked him.
The wolf grunted in response.
"Yes."
The god closed his eyes for a second, before they opened once more, but they were different and glowed with a green light that radiated life.
The wolf stood before his god and closed his eyes, before gently laying to the ground at peace.
"Rejoice my child," The god addressed the woman who looked up with hope, "My most loyal of sons has gifted your son with the gift of life... may he grow strong and noble like the wolf who he was born of."
To his spiritual eyes he saw the silhouette of a black wolf outlined in gold sitting beforethe woman, it gave him a nod before fading away, revealing the now living baby had begun to move.
The woman shed tears of happiness as she heard those words.
"Thank you Wild Father! Thank you so much." She cried in joy as she held her child tightly, she could feel a heat starting to well up inside the child.
"However child... be warned. There has never been a man with the soul of a beast, I do not know how this will affect the child in the future. He is neither Human, nor is he Faunus, his is an entirely new existence, a being born of man and spirit and he will walk in the lands of both. Now child, it is time you leave this place." The god warned as he turned away and faded from vision leaving the woman and the now living child.
The woman wiped her tears and smiled at her baby boy.
"Let's go home... Jaune." the woman known as Juniper Arc nee Lupa said as she stood and turned around to walk back to her village.
She froze however when she saw at least a hundred gray wolves with amber eyes boreing into her from the woods.
No they weren't looking at her, they were watching Jaune.
"Awrooooooooo!"
Juniper jumped at the piercing sound of a howl from one of the wolves nearest her. The others soon joined in and parted to form a pathway for her to walk.
She was stunned by the sight of the sea of gray fur parting, each sat in place out of respect for her child, or rather the wolf who had given her son life.
Looking back at the peaceful visage of the black wolf, she felt more tears well up in her eyes.
"Thank you. So much. I will not take your kindness for granted." Juniper vowed to the wolf, before she turned and marched through the crowd of waiting Lupine animals.
A female white wolf stepped in front of her and pawed at the dirt, shaking her head, while pointing her nose to the trees.
"You want me to follow you?" Juniper asked.
The wolf snorted is reply, before walking towards where she pointed. Juniper followed after the wolf as she guided her through the dense foliage of trees and shrubbery.
Soon they came across a cave where the white wolf stopped and gave a growl to her.
"Wait here... got it." She said, finding it easier to understand her animal counterpart than before meeting her deific sire.
The wolf huffed before disappearing into the darkened cave that was her den.
Juniper waited like she was told and before long the white wolf returned with something clutched in her jaws.
A wolf cub, white as snow, like it obvious mother.
The mother wolf walked up to her and placed the pup onto the dirt before her feet.
Juniper understood what was happening immediately.
"But that's your baby... I can't just take her from you... I could never put another through what I felt." Juniper refused.
The mother wolf glared at the woman a gave her a growl, before nudging the pup with her snout.
"B-but I..." Juniper tried to protest again but another growl from the mother wolf shut her up.
Juniper looked at the pup, it's eyes weren't open yet, and it pawed at the dirt with it's tiny limbs. The sight of the tiny being made all resistance melt away as her maternal Faunus instincts gave in as she bent down to scoop up the tiny wolf pup. It was a female like her mother.
The pup let out a slight squeak at the change in altitude, one that made her mother tense as she fought every instinct she had to save her pup.
"I... will protect her as if she were my own. She and Jaune will be the best of friends." Juniper promised the wolf, who heard her sincere words and relaxed.
The mother wolf huffed a final time before pointing her snout east, where Juniper knew her village waited.
"I understand... I will be going now. You are always welcome to visit her anytime you wish. I would never deny you that right as her mother." Juniper said as she turned away from the wolf mother and walked into the forest.
Once she was close enough to see her village she paused as a sound reached her ears.
"Awrooooooooo!" A distant howl broke the silence, one that the pup in her arms attempted to mimic but it only came out as an adorable squeak, what happened next shocked her as her son opened his own mouth and released a cry that sounded disturbingly like a howl.
Juniper gave an uneasy look back to the forest, the God of Animals' warning echoing throughout her skull.
She could only hope her son would be normal like she hoped. She couldn't bare it if he wanted to become a Huntsman like his father and grandfather and his before. She wished for her baby boy to live a normal life away from any dangers that would take him from her again.
She wouldn't let him get hurt ever, that she swore.
[Explanation time. Alrighty so this is basically a Rwby story with elements from Werewolf the Apocalypse. Jaune is born of a human father and a wolf faunus mother, but was stillborn. Mad with grief Juniper, sought the god of animal, who's temple is the very wilds he covets. I made it so that he is connected to all things wild and may appear before those who seek him, even without him intentionally doing so. As said in the chapter the GoA used the soul of a willing wolf and bound it to Jaune's newborn body, essentially reincarnating the wolf into Jaune. Now this will essentially make Jaune into a Garou, so expect Werewolf transformations and other Garou from from the World of Darkness franchise.
Now be warned, I do not actually know much about the Franchise, I've only ever played the Werewolf the Apocalypse Earthblood video game, and I did enjoy it quite a bit, despite the criticism.
I will do a bit more research into things like the various forms of the Garou, and various other things like the spirit world know as the Umbra.
I want Jaune in this to be more involved with the spiritual side of things. Plus I intend for Jaune to attend beacon still, but with a twist.
Hope this little prologue was good enough to start with. I tried something a little different this time.