A/N: Hello, and Welcome to the third of the three new stories I decided to publish. I do technically have another one, waiting in the wings, but I'm not sure about writing it down yet. If I do, it's one that I'm going to be dedicating a lot of time to it, because I don't want to lose the thread. I might still write out and upload the first chapter for your viewing, if you want me too.
Anyway, enjoy the first chapter of something I've been looking forwards to uploading. (Believe it other not, but I just finished writing this chapter yesterday. Hope it's not too messy for ya.)
RWBY was created by the late Monty Oum.
Dragon Quest is owned by Square Enix
The Queen of Shadows and the Four Flower Princesses
"Once, it is written, that Men and Monsters coexisted peacefully, and walked arm and arm side by side with the Gods themselves. The beast-folk were a gentle and nurturing race of the forests that traded peaceably with mankind while their god, The God of Animals, nurtured new life on every inch of the world even as men raised their cities and idols to their own gods.
"And, all was good.
"But, then the Queen arose. She grew in the darkness and was of the of the Darkness itself. Eventually, she would gain control over the Monsters and used them to birth forth a menagerie of nightmarish monsters under her own control. With these creatures and the once peaceful Monsters, the Queen of Shadows would wage war with the world of Men and their Gods.
"Nations fell, and Gods died. The Beast-folk were scattered to the far corners of the world while their God was consumed by the Darkness under the Queen's control.
"No matter what the armies of Mankind did, or their Gods wrought, the Queen could not be stopped, could not be killed. Not even the Silver-eyed Angels could hold back her forces for long. Their cities burned and their Idols to the Gods were tobbled.
"Slowly, the world of Light was forced to give ground until, at last, the Sun was about to be consumed.
"But then, just as all appeared to be lost, four of the mightiest Gods, those of the Elements, of that which made up the Essence of Mankind, joined together to combat the Queen directly. And, with them, were four Champions of Light, their Heralds.
"To empower their Heralds, it is written, the Gods had to fill a living emblem with their power. Emblems which had been overlooked by the Queen and her forces, unlike the Idols made in their honor.
"They chose flowers for that very reason.
"The Goddess of Victory and Valorous Deeds chose the Blood-red Rose with her prickly thorns and resilient nature as her Herald, while The God of The Holy Light and Burning Flames chose the Vibrant Sunflower whose face is ever turned to his light in devoted reverie as his Herald. The Goddess of The Sacred Seas and Deep Cold chose the hardy White Myrtle with its multitude of small, colorful flowers and evergreen leaves for her Herald, while The Ever Mysterious God of Reverent Darkness and Gloom chose the Baneful Belladonna with her dark and deadly nature as his Herald.
"But, even then, even with all their powers combined, these champions of Light could not stop the Queen of Shadow for long. At least, not until a lowly Unnamed God and their Herald, a simple Knight in Shining White-Gold, joined their power with the others did they beat back the Queen, and Cast her Essences back into the Darkness from which she was first form.
"So, it is written."
And, with that final sentence, the storyteller closed the cover of the tome resting on the pedestal and turned to her audience with a gleamingly white smile. Of the trio of robed children before her, the tall, statuesque girl with red hair and brilliant green eyes was the only one to remain in calm attention, while the boy with the black hair seemed to suddenly come out of a idle daydream, blinking his eyes open to reveal uniquely pink orbs. But, it was the short girl with teal eyes and orange-ish hair that stood there bouncing in place with her hands balled into fists who broke the silence of the lecture with, "So, what 'appened? How did they finally stop 'er? The Queen?!"
The tall, curvaceous woman laughed heartily at her charges antics before shaking her head of luscious black hair before turning to graciously waltz over to the single other furniture in the room, a pedestal. One with a glass case where a shard of crystal, jet black in color, pulsating faintly with a dark, smoky energy, jagged of edge and wickedly sharp, floated within.
The woman, in her rich, red gown, stopped before the case and turned back to her charges as she said with another smile, "It is not written, how exactly the Gods' Heralds finally defeated the Queen of Darkness, only that when the Queen was finally felled, all that was left behind only a scattering of Nightmarish Shards of Darkness like this one here.
"And so, we of The Order of Light, stand here, safeguarding the Shards from any who use them for nefarious ends, as Ordained by the Gods, even as our finest warriors seek out those that remain uncovered."
"And, that's why we're here! To protect that Shard, right?" Asked the energetic girl.
The woman smiled at the girl as she shook her head as she said, "Oh, no, Miss Valkyrie. Your purpose is to learn and study all that I teach you, so that you might one day take over that momentous task."
The girl frowned and slumped in defeat at that as the woman turned to face the statuesque girl once more, an unnaturally sharp glint in her amber eyes as she continued with, "Like young Nikos here."
The girl thought about that for a movement before nodding and grinning, showing a gape-toothed smile, as she said, "Right! Okay! One day I'll be the strongest warrior you'll ever see! Just you watch, Lady Cinder! All shall fall to my Hammer of Justice!"
The woman stared at the girl as she suddenly gathered up her two friends in her shorter, yet stronger frame and grinned up at her alongside them. "I look forwards to it, my dear, precious students." Cinder replied with a gentle grin of her own.
/ /
As the boy in green trained, going through the various steps of his fighting style with intense concentration, two adults in the livery of the Order watched him in silence. One, an ashy brown-skinned male with raven hair with silver eyes, crossed his arms and turned to his female companion as he said, "Such dedication to one's studies is truly commendable. A fine warrior he shall make one day."
He smiled then, his eyes gleaming brightly, as he then said, "You must be quite proud, Lady Cinder?"
The pale woman with her mysterious amber gaze merely let a slight smile appear on her otherwise stoic face.
The two then watched as the youth's orange-hair friend came charging in to tackle him from behind, squeeing loudly as she clutched at him tightly. They noted how he seemingly allowed her to get the drop on him with a subtle smile on his part as the two then began to chatter amicably with each other as the third, and final, member of the small group of trainees wandered in slowly, a bouquet of flowers in her luscious crimson hair, obvious put there by the other female student.
Indeed, the orange-haired girl then promptly produced another crown of flowers from within her voluminous robes to which she plopped on her friend's hair before, with another squealing shout, dashed off again, only for the boy to chase after her in mock annoyance. Their friend once more followed after the pair slowly.
"Aye, one day!" The man stated again before bursting into a belly laugh as his fellow instructor could only watch on in amusement.
/ /
As a hellish roar of combat resounded around them, and flames from various fires crackled loudly, a burning beam of thick wood overhead fell down with a horridous crash, the trio of students struggled to make their way through the burning citadel around them. The girl with the crimson hair shouted, "Lady Cinder! Sir Braden! Where are you!" as her emerald eyes darted about before she stopped to cough as she inhaled acrid smoke.
"Pyrrha! We have to go!" The boy to her left called as he continued to half drag, half carry the ginger-haired girl in his heavily singed arms, her face a bloodsplattered mess from the head wound she had.
"Not yet! We have to find the Mistress!" Pyrrha called back, raising an arm overhead as another beam splintered and crack apart overhead before falling down around them all as they continued to stagger towards the Central Chamber, and the treasures within. "Lady Cinder! Sir Braden!" She called again.
They could see nothing from the smoke, could hear nothing over the flames and dying combat.
Then the flames and smoke parted just as they reached the Central Chamber. The pair froze in horror at what they saw within.
The silvered-eyed warrior, Braden, and the Lady Cinder, were seemingly fighting off a pair of unknown combatants, a man with grey hair and a girl with green hair. Their other features were too indiserable due to all the smoke and flames.
The Lady suddenly staggered backwards, clutching at her face, with her back still turned to the threesome.
"Lady Cinder!" Pyrrha called once more in terror as she and her companions watched on. They made to come to their teachers' aid only to stop as the Lady turned around them, showing her face for the first time. She had the Shard sticking out of her left eye!
With a hideous, bloodcurdling cry, the woman seemingly exploded in a burst of black, oily energy. The gooey, tarry energy promptly consumed Sir Braden and their opponents as it blasted outwards in a wave of ballistic force.
The energy struck the trio of students just as they turned to flee, screaming in terror, blasting them away and knocking Pyrrha against the opposing wall.
Her last sight before she lost consciousness from the blow was that of someone resembling her beloved mistress stalking towards her, a violent, dark aura billowing around her.
/ /
"Oi, Pyr!" A voice hollered suddenly. "Rise and shine! We got news, and breakfast!"
The crimson-haired woman came awake suddenly at that with a sudden, harsh gasp. She shook her head, one hand to her tousled, sweat-slicked bangs, as she got to her feet. Finally, she stood and stretched her arms overhead with slight groan at the burning sensation, not noticing how her voluptuous bust bounced slightly at the activity through the sheer nightgown she wore.
With another stretch of her arms, she staggered over to the small cabinet next to the low bed where she had slept to dress for the day. Then she gathered up her weapons and armor before making her way out of the room.
As she stepped outside, she briefly had to block the sunlight shining through the nearby window before she could look around for the origins of the voice. She smiled as she found her two friends, a young man with long black and white streaked hair and pink eyes, and an equally young woman with spiky orange hair and teal eyes, and made her way towards them.
As she did so, she swept her long, vibrant crimson hair over her shoulder, briefly revealing the back of her bare neck, and the evil-looking mark in the shape of a purplish colored hand there.
A/N: So, did you enjoy it? You probably already know who each of the Flower Princesses will eventually be, and probably the Knight. But, maybe I'll throw you for a loop? (Nah! I'm not a subtle writer, or am I? You guys seemingly haven't gotten everything from The BEast, after all? Or, well, no one's left a review saying so, So...)
Still, it's a Dragon Quest esque adventure, so we won't start with the Princesses right away (Or, will we?)
Alright, that's all from me. Essiter out!
And, remember, you're awesome, stay awesome! Bye!