The Phases of Remnant

ESKK: A new trailer chapter let's get this chapter started. But before we do a small warning if anyone is a fan of Jaune then I'd suggest you skip this trailer entirely it's not very friendly to the blond knight.

(Begin)

Mirage of Deceit, Innis, Betray all with the flawed image, and did aid the Wave.

And with the turbulent destruction after the Wave. Only a void remains. From deep within the void arrives Corbenik.

Perhaps then the Wave is just a beginning as well.

-The Epitaph of Twilight the Second Phase of Morgana and the Eighth Phase of Morgana

(Start years after the Gods Left)

In the empty desolate world that would come to be known as Remnant all was quiet. Life had come to an end and the only things left were the Grimm. As the world continued on in its perpetual silence something began to shift. Descending down upon this world were two balls of energy one of them surrounded by eight smaller glowing spheres that circled around it. The central sphere carried with it a dark aura while the same could be said about the eight smaller ones. But oddly enough they did not come with ill intent as some would suspect.

The other one was a sphere of pure light that had several azure flames circling around it. As it came down upon the empty world known as Remnant, they eventually made landfall and changed forms. The sphere with the azure fires turned into a beautiful woman with pure white hair and a flowing white dress. She stood on the ground as the azure flames floated around her almost protectively. She looked upon the world with a look of sadness and grief for she knew that once upon a time life flourished here.

"Aura." A voice spoke and in turn the other sphere, which was the source of the voice, landed but instead she remained as the dark sphere. "Do you weep for this world, a world whose life was cut short? A world that holds no consequence to us?" The Voice spoke as the eight spheres circled around her still.

"Perhaps." Aura spoke as she walked or perhaps hovered over the ground. "No... I weep for the people whose lives were darkened before they could shine." Aura said with a tone of sadness.

"Pity, even now you still find a false beauty in their shortcomings." The voice spoke as Aura chuckled to this.

"You only studied their negative attributes... Morgana." Aura said in a tone of calm and serenity. "But perhaps I am to blame for your lack of understanding as well, mother." Aura added knowing what turned Morgana to this.

"Don't." Morgana began but then stopped herself before sighing.

"You did not wish to die... any being wishing to survive would have done similar actions if they had no other recourse offered to them." Aura said showing she understood why Morgana had done what she had done so long ago. Aura then kneeled down and took a handful of soil in her hand. "Still there is hope." Aura said taking a single seed from the soil. "Even now life still flourishes it still rises from the ashes." Aura said which meant nothing to Morgana.

"Life will grow once more and this time it shall flourish without Gods forcing their will upon it." Aura said showing she had a distaste for the divine and both their actions and inactions. Just then the Azure fires flared to life causing Aura to look to them before three changed forms into demonic figures with fanged teeth.

"Aura." Morgana said her tone showing something was wrong. The three humanoid warriors surrounded Aura to protect her, and it was fortunate that they did. Creatures of darkness showed up roaring at the pair drawn here by the evil of Morgana and her Epitaphs.

"No... they are not here for us." Aura said seeing why they were here before she looked to the sky. When she did both Aura and Morgana saw two dragons hovering over the area descending down. The gold Dragon was an Eastern Dragon that looked down upon them and the other was a Western Dragon comprised of dark energy similar to the Eastern Dragon.

"So... the return the moment we arrive I suspect its not to welcome us." Morgana said as already the eight spheres circling around here were beginning to take form.

"No... they are not." Aura said as she knew that a fight would break out between them. "The Brother Gods of this world." Aura spoke as her three protectors formed a wall between her and the two new arrivals. "So then..." Aura began while looking to the pair of dragons. "A Dragon of Light and a Dragon of Darkness... tell me have you ever heard of the Dragon of Twilight?" Aura began before her face gave a stern glare.

"From the Epitaph of Twilight?"

(Scene Break Modern Day Remnant Ansel)

Just outside of the town of Ansel a young woman was seen walking through the forest. She was dressed in an emerald greed dress as she made her way through the forest just outside of town. As she walked, she seemed to admire the birds flying around looking to a pair perched up on the tree near where she was.

She then put her gloved hand on the tree as she recalled a friend lost to her. A friend and something more as he had saved her from her own darkness. "Haseo." The girl said as she recalled another life another place. This was none other than the reborn Chigusa Kusaka who bore the online name of Atoli in The World: R2. She was also the bearer of the Second Phase of Morgana Innis the Mirage of Deceit. Her outfit was largely modeled off of her outfit back when she played the World in her previous life. Here she had been reborn as Atoli Arc one of the many daughters born to the Arc family who only had one son, her twin brother Jaune Arc.

Atoli was oddly enough the center of attention between herself and her brother. She had been rained with praise and words of encouragement. She wanted to find her friends hoping they had been reborn as well and thus to do this Atoli walked the path of a Huntress. She had been enrolled in one of the many combat schools where she graduated with top scores. Her brother unfortunately did not apply himself and despite Atoli's best attempt to help him he was headstrong on doing it himself. Jaune was the outcast because he wanted to be a hero like his father and grandfather before him and while his sisters all had successes in their lives Jaune fell short.

She and Jaune had attended different combat schools or, so Jaune claimed. Jaune said he was attending a different combat school entirely whenever he and Atoli spoke, and she asked about it. She suspected he was lying but Atoli did not want to push him on it and when they spoke Atoli swore that Jaune had some sort of resentment going on. The girl sighed as she continued on her path through the woods.

She had recently gotten her acceptance letter into Beacon and her entire family was through the roof. Jaune was quiet about it by Atoli did not judge him... at least not until recently. She gained a sad look in her eyes as she walked through the woods no doubt to clear her head as her mind was clouded with thoughts of the day's prior events.

(Flashback Arc household)

Atoli stood shocked as she entered her bedroom so she can feed her birds. But what she found to her shock was Jaune holding a copy of her acceptance letter and from the looks of it had torn it open and had read it. "Jaune what are you doing?" Atoli asked shocked that her brother would do this.

"Atoli I can explain." Jaune said trying to find a way out of this.

"Why did you have my mail?" Atoli asked as she had been expecting the letter today.

"I was trying to protect you and." Jaune said trying to hide the letter only for Atoli to summon a mirage of herself to stop him. Jaune panicked giving Atoli the opening to grab the letter before Jaune could hide it. Jaune was surprised he fell for that trick and as Atoli read through the letter her eyes widened in shock and horror.

"Jaune... were you trying to tear up my letter?" Atoli asked as she held her acceptance letter in hand.

"Atoli it's not what you think." Jaune said but Atoli was trying not to look deeply hurt.

"Then what is it, why did you go through my mail, why did you have my Beacon Acceptance Letter in your hand?" Atoli asked as she wanted the truth and truly did not want to see Jaune become another Sasaki.

Before anything could be said a new voice was heard. "Atoli? Jaune is that you?" Their mother asked as she arrived at the room. "Are you two, ok?" Mrs. Arc asked looking to the pair.

"I um..." Jaune began but Atoli cut off her twin brother.

"Hey mom everything is alright, I just got my Beacon Acceptance Letter." Atoli said showing the letter to her mother who gushed. "Atoli that's amazing I knew you could do it." Mrs. Arc said praising her daughter once more for her abilities. "Isn't this great Jaune your sister is going to Beacon." Mrs. Arc said as Jaune did his best to smile.

"Yeah... that's great." Jaune said trying to hide his own upset tone behind a smile. "Come on let's go tell your father and then we can all celebrate." Mrs. Arc said taking her daughter out of the room to plan a party for her. Jaune was left there alone and without his sister who he had hurt just now.

(End Flashback)

After that Atoli just wanted to be left alone so while they prepare a party Atoli went to clear her head. As she walked around the forest, she eventually came upon a large clearing she was not alone as from the Woodline growling could be heard. Emerging from the shadows were Beowulf's who all roared out being attracted by Atoli's hurt feelings of sadness. These were that monster's that were native to Remnant known as the Grimm creatures of darkness and destruction not to dissimilar to AIDA and by extension Cubia just weaker.

The beasts roared at Atoli all of them ready to go on the attack. Atoli for her part reached for her weapon ready to draw it out showing it to be a revolver handgun. The creatures then went on the attack and in response Atoli drew her weapon and opened fire on them. The Dust infused bullet sailed through and pierced through the creature of Grimm. The Weapon was called Avian Hope a weapon she had designed herself while in combat school. The weapon uses specialized rounds that carry a variety of offensive uses while in gun form. They also had a few accessories and tools for other uses such as a grappling hook for example. Emptying the revolver barrel Atoli moved to cover as she began to reload her weapon. Once it was loaded up with a different set of ammo Atoli opened fire with Fire Shots from the weapon.

Each Grimm came at her attacking her left and right all of them trying to get the jump on her. Moving through the enemies Atoli saw that she was outnumbered and thus with her Semblance produced mimics of herself to confuse the Grimm. Her Semblance allowed for her to create mirage images of almost anything to use as distractions or decoys or even disguises. So, while the Grimm attacked the Decoy's Atoli fired through them to take them out. But they were getting smarter as Atoli saw they were avoiding the mirages when they saw that they could not damage them. So, they performed hit and run to try and find the original Atoli amongst them.

Atoli saw the pack doing this and in turn converted her gun into a staff similar to what she used back in The World. The Revolver had become the scepter piece and the handle and part of the barrel had become the shaft for it. During the conversion, a large stone was produced from the weapon making it look more like a scepter for her. Bashing a few of the Grimm away Atoli jumped back and released what looked to be balls of fire from her weapon to attack her foes. The Grimm were hit but Atoli was far from done. Spinning her weapon, the revolver began to spin with it switching to another Dust Type. Atoli then slammed the staff down which proceeded to cause spikes of stone to shoot from the ground impaling several of the Grimm.

Atoli jumped away but when she landed the girl felt pain course through her body for a moment. With dull glowing marks appeared but went by too fast for Atoli to see. For a moment Atoli swore she saw Innis, but that moment passed as the Grimm attacked her. Moving to the side Atoli used Light Dust to create a flash of light that blinded the Grimm before using Wind Dust to blow them away.

With the area clear Atoli switched to a light green Dust and applied it to herself. Atoli was using a very rare form of Dust known for Healing though it was more of a small booster to one's Aura. It's used to promote healing and seeing as Atoli is more of a support fighter, she tends to use whatever form of Dust that can help with that. The Grimm then went on the attack as Atoli knew she had to end this as soon as possible before more follow. But then a loud roar was heard and following it up, Atoli saw the Alpha had arrived roaring at her while the rest of the pack followed its lead.

Seeing her chance to end this Atoli went for it. She first did a few bashes into the alphas guards before switching her weapon back to its gun form. Once she had her gun again Atoli opened fire making each shot of her weapon count. Moving closer to her target Atoli ignored the Alpha Beowulf's pack where she could and got closer to their leader.

Eventually Atoli got close enough and reverted her weapon back to its staff form. Spinning it she had the main part painted at the Alpha that was about to attack. Its maw was open when Atoli produced an orb of lightning energy curtesy of a Lightning Dust. The Alpha ended up taking the full blunt of the attack at point blank range. Plus, with how much armor it had the armor ended up hitting its pack as well taking several of them out at once. The explosion also created a dust cloud in the area obscuring Atoli's form. But not long after Atoli emerged from the smoke spinning a bit and firing off ice spikes from her Avian Dream in its staff form. The spikes hit the few remaining Grimm while the others saw fit to escape now that their leader was gone.

When Atoli landed on the ground, she looked sadly to all the Grimm she bested as their bodies vanished from sight. She holstered her weapon and began to walk away to return home. This helped her clear her head and gave her a target for her repressed aggression. And while it gave her some perspective the trees and the suns position gave her shadow an image, the image of Innis the Mirage of Deceit.

(Scene Break Beacon Ozpin's Office)

Headmaster Ozpin sat in his office with a mug of coffee in hand as he looked out the window. His paperwork was more or less done yet he felt a shift in the air a shift he had felt for over 17 years already. As he looked to the distance the door behind him opened making him sigh knowing who it was.

"So do you have any news for me?" Ozpin asked as he turned around and met a man with orange tinted glasses, cyan blue hair, a coat, and his entire left arm inside some sort of sealed object.

"Yes." The arrival said as he entered the room. "It seems our enemy is after something knew and I fear there may be an equally dangerous or more dangerous enemy in the shadows." The man said before placing several images onto the table.

Ozpin looked upon them and saw what looked to be images of experiments. "Salem is looking for something a new weapon entirely." The man said as Ozpin saw how this could be dangerous.

"Is she still seeking the Maidens?" Ozpin asked with concern in his voice.

"Yes, but she had discovered something of equal or even greater power... the same power I told you about, The Epitaphs." The man said which Ozpin knew was a major problem if Salem knew about them.

"Well, Ovan... what do you suggest?" Ozpin asked which Ovan paused for a moment.

"We find them first." Ovan said as he had the best idea and chances of locating the Epitaphs. "Qrow and his Niece are both prime candidates for one of the Epitaphs, but Qrow's nephew I suspect he's the first choice while Ms. Rose and Qrow are options two and three, respectively." Ovan spoke but was not done. "I narrowed down the location of at least one of them in Atlas two at best, and another somewhere in Sanus." Ovan said explaining to Ozpin what he had found via his investigations.

"What happens if Salem finds them first?" Ozpin asked knowing if Salem was looking for the Epitaphs, she will be in for a struggle in locating them. The Epitaphs choose their hosts, and they were known to be picky.

"The End." Ovan said which meant they had to find the hosts before Salem can narrow it down. Since Ovan had been doing this for a long time already he had a sufficient head start but that won't last forever.

"Then I suggest you get moving I'll look in on the ones closest while you handle the rest." Ozpin said and in turn Ovan took his leave only to stop at the elevator door.

"Ozpin Amber... has there been..." Ovan trailed off leaving his question clear for Ozpin.

"No changes I fear... there might be no helping her." Ozpin said solemnly knowing that what happened to Amber was unheard of until it happened.

"Very well." Ovan said and thus he left with a focus of finding the other half that was stolen from Amber. 'To think this use to cover my AIDA Infection and now covers the mark of my failures.' Ovan thought to himself as he left the headmasters office.

(TBC)

ESKK: It's done another one has been completed. I hope you all enjoyed this update and will leave a review. Now as always folks, ja-ne.