Ch. 69 Relic of knowledge
Jaune's eyes met Ruby's for just a moment as the elevator hidden in the statue began descending. The way she looked at him spoke of understanding. They both knew what was down there and that Jaune needed answers.
Vernal stood next to Raven, wondering why she was going down there as well. This blondie knew that the boss had the magic thingamajig… So why did Vernal need to go down the hole under the academy?
Raven was… calm. Well close to calm, there was a fight going on that would decide her daughter's fate and Ozpin was very close by while she did the thing he specifically didn't want her to do. But she was calm. If things went well she would be free from the burden of this damnable conflict between immortals.
As the platform stopped the trio were met with a bridge suspended over a chasm. The floor lit up with a path of blue glowing light with three large glowing circles between them and the gate at the end of the path.
The gate itself was built into a spiky rock formation with a tree that wound between the spikes. That was their destination, a gate to the vault.
Jaune walked out first feeling the magic in this place pulling him towards the gate. The way the pull enveloped him was strange and bordered on uncomfortable. When he placed his hand on the gate he felt what was beyond it.
Raven soon stepped behind him and opened the gate without a word. Vernal was right beside her but was completely lost as to what she should be doing.
As Raven and Vernal stood there looking at him, Jaune took a step into the space beyond the gate.
It was empty, not in the sense of looking like a desert wasteland but the energy, only in its absence did he realise how used to feeling it everywhere around him he was, but it was nowhere to be found.
The relic almost paled in comparison to the realisation that the world was filled with magic and Jaune could feel it. Not here though, here there was nothing but the Relic of Knowledge glowing to his senses like a lighthouse in the dark.
He picked up the lamp and felt the soul within. It was trapped and chained, only to be released at the behest of the user, just like the Brothers intended.
Jaune walked out the vault, lamp in hand.
"Would you like to know how it works?" Raven spoke to him, bringing him out of his musing.
"If you wish to tell, speak. Though I'm sure she will reach out to me regardless."
Raven was about to reply, but before she could make up her mind one way or another two things happened. A soft thud of someone landing on the bridge was heard, immediately followed by an arrow piercing Vernal's heart from the back.
Raven could see Vernal coughing up blood as she fell to her knees and then face first to the ground. For a moment there she saw Yang's body doing the same.
"Very well done. Now hand the Relic over." Cinder spoke through laboured breaths.
Before Raven or Jaune could react though, another combatant draped in fire slammed to the ground. Yang stood from her kneeling position and locked eyes out with Cinder.
"Thought you could run bitch!"
Jaune noticed how battered and bruised she was, much like Cinder. His guess was that their aura had given out sometime ago and all that fueled them now was Ozma's magic, the pieces of his domain spewing out power endlessly.
Jaune startled when he realised he had not known that before. He looked at the lamp in his hand glowing slightly to his senses.
He focused back on the two Fall Maidens just in time to see them exchange blows. It was clear that Cinder's ribs were cracked, maybe even broken. Yang took a glancing blow to her side with a red hot glass sword, the cut immediately cauterising itself.
Jaune was about to yell and take a weapon from his Arsenal to help, but before he could, someone spoke before him "Jinn!"
Raven seeing the fight come to its conclusion suddenly felt uncertain. Was she right abou Yang and the Fall's power?
"Miss Raven Branwen and master Jaune Arc. There are still two questions left in this century."
"Will Yang be fine after…" Raven wasted no time asking, eager to know the answer and cautious to prevent Jaune from asking and wasting questions.
"Tut, tut, tut, Raven. That is future knowledge and you know I don't have that knowledge. Take a breath and rephrase your question." Jinn spoke up over Raven's question.
It was then that Jaune felt a nudge towards the right question. "How do souls interact with magic and divinity?"
Jinn smiled at Jaune but Raven looked at one then the other a few times before settling for staring daggers at Jaune.
"I know what you wish to know and I assure you Raven, this question will answer more than just the fate of your daughter."
Raven looked towards the frozen forms of Yang and Cinder moments before the final blow. Cinder's swords were set to be parried by one of Yang's gauntlets while Yang's other gauntlet had already fired off a shotgun blast directly into Cinder's stomach. The shot had just exited the barrel and Yang's fist would momentarily strike into the soon to be created wound.
Raven looked down at Vernal's body then back at the two combatants with a flaming eye each mirroring the other.
The scene locked in time confirmed that it was too late to stop the end. Cinder would die by Yang's hand and the transfer of maiden power would begin.
"Fine. Show us then."
The scene suddenly changed into a pure white space concealing everything and everyone.
=O=O=O=
Deep within the mountains there once stood a tower. In the tower once lived a mage, a woman of considerable power hailed as the most powerful mage of her time.
But as the novelty of battles and politics wore off she chose to isolate herself. What joy was there in letting the side she chose always win.
She enjoyed creation. Vast stretches of the walls within her tower were covered in paintings and murals, statues and ornaments decorated every alcove and trinkets of both mundane and magical design littered every shelf and table and even her body was slowly being improved.
She was the Witch of the Northern continent and her magnum opus was that of her staff.
She spoke to him, nurtured him and let him grow and with her creation of Ambrosium she solidified herself a Domain of Divinity. Creativity.
But soon that divinity started affecting her. For much like Magic is a higher form of Aura, Divinity is but a higher form of Magic. Unfortunately without a sufficient outlet that Divinity starts to consume both flesh and bone.
It wasn't long however until the Dragon of Light and Creation noticed her divinity. She has reached a point where her Divinity had eaten away on her flesh to the point where most of her body was replaced with metal.
The Dragon saw her as a threat to him, but seeing as she was busy with replacing her flesh, both the Staff and Ambrosium sitting to the side forgotten about, the Dragon came up with a solution.
"I offer you an exchange. A place of your own to create for all eternity in exchange for your staff."
The mage foolishly agreed. She disappeared, falling through the world.
The Dragon chained the soul of Ambrosium. Ambrosium was left with rules on how to use his power and an inability to beg for freedom, before being locked away within the Dragon's domain.
=O=O=O=
A man ran through the battlefield, sword held high above his head as an army followed him.
The Kingdom of Lakes was a formidable foe, but it would fall like many before them. Mages threw their magic at the warrior in an attempt to end him, yet with naught but the swing of his sword he dispersed it.
The man was a great warrior, some said he was blessed by the God of Destruction, but he thought otherwise. This was a result of rigorous training and walking through many battlefields.
One day during a long battle, after his sword broke and armour shredded, an arrow grazed his leg cutting the skin. Beneath the skin of his thigh however, instead of just muscle, was a large crystal.
The warrior pried the jagged crystal from his leg and held it in his sword hand fighting for many more hours before the battle concluded.
After that he fixed a simple handle to the crystal and took to sharpening it with whetstones.
Now, many decades later the warrior held the crystal sword up high before swinging it down with force.
The mages that previously tried to kill the warrior took to shielding their army but it was for naught, the wave of force from that single sword swing broke through the shields.
Drunk on the atmosphere of battle the warrior swung his sword until the Kingdom of Lakes was jo more. In its place was a wasteland of sand and fire with not a single cloud in sight.
The warrior held his sword high "I am become death, destroyer of worlds!" he yelled.
It was then that the Dragon of Darkness and Destruction descended, his massive form blotting out the scorching sun.
"You who encroach on my domain… perish."
With a breath of destruction rivalling that of the sword's, the immortal warrior perished. The only thing that remained was the crystal sword which fed on the raw Divine Destruction until its mind formed and subsequently shattered.
The Dragon saw no reason to shackle a soul shattered and torn by the Divinity of Destruction and simply locked the sword away within the Darkness of his Divinity.
=O=O=O=
Within the ruins of a kingdom sat a craftsman. He had sat there for centuries now, his divinity eating away at his durred flesh.
He had failed his task.
His daughter sat on his head. A crown of fate and blood.
His blood had long since turned to crystals due to his budging Divinity ravaging his body, the crystals now adorning the crown.
A man clad in darkness walked through the ruins approaching the throne but the craftsman didn't seem to notice, his mind shattered long ago.
The Dragon of Dark and Destruction looked at the man considering his actions. Destruction brought about by mistake…
He took the crown away from the man's head. In the Dragon's hands the blood red crystals drained of their crimson, blood dripping at the roots by the man's feet, revealing pure blue jagged gems set within the crown.
As the Dragon walked away, the soul within the thing properly chained, the craftsman's eyes cleared for the first time in centuries.
"Wait, give her back! Hey!" The man attempted to stand but found himself rooted to the ground, blood red foliage surrounding him. And the Dragon walked away without another word.
=O=O=O=
In a library of massive proportions a scholar flipped through the pages of a book before looking at his lamp. It was an ornate thing he had commissioned for his late wife before her departure.
He did the inscription himself though. They read "Postquam omnia peracta sunt, scientia est omnibus quae supersunt." After everything is over, knowledge is all that remains.
He had spent decades, perhaps centuries whispering his findings to the lamp but recently he found sometimes the lamp would whisper back.
He had come to call the voice within Jinn, although sometimes it was the name of his late wife that escaped his lips when addressing her.
Magic is such a simple yet complex thing. It has a nasty habit of latching onto things you didn't expect.
Magic, being derived from Divinity, carries with it a piece of the Domain it came from. Most human magic comes from the three dragons. Light and Creation, Darkness and Destruction, Time and Space. Though the third has long been absent from human souls.
Sometimes though humans, through their own actions and power, awaken something within their own soul. Climbing from the most dilute of Aura to the most concentrated Divinity those humans have potential to become more. But despite stories being told of old Gods being human, there were none since the advent of the age of Dragons.
A few got to become divine, but none managed to shed their flesh and truly ascend.
The scholar knew this just as he knew that he had inadvertently carved a Domain of his own. He knew the end was coming.
He could smell the end before he saw it as his library, his domain was set aflame. He took the lamp calmly and called out her name.
Time slowed and the flames licking at the bookshelves filled with knowledge stopped moving. Jinn showed herself before him for the first time and what for him was also the last.
"Jinn… What is my Divinity? I'd like to know."
"It is Knowledge and Time."
"Hmmm, and which Dragon came to take you away and seal me?"
"The older of the Brother Dragons. The Dragon of Light and Creation."
"Oh, what a pity, I had hoped to meet the Serpent. Alas, what can I do…"
"You could stall indefinitely… but eventually the moment will pass and the older Brother will take me away."
"no… no that… that would be torture. I think I'll go and meet my wife. You look so much like her you know that."
"Yes, I do."
"Did you choose to look like that?"
"No, you did."
"Perhaps I did. What will he do to you, Jinn?"
"That is in the future…"
"Oh, but you can make an educated guess."
"Chained for eternity."
"Ah, but a moment will end eventually and so will your chains. I'm sorry… I wish I could offer more than feeble encouragement."
"..."
"Well then, nothing to it, it is time to abandon my domain…"
=O=O=O=
Finally it was done and the old man sat alone. Like seasons they came and went and the old man could only pray the women who so resembled his daughters wouldn't come to resent him. After all, he split his domain between them in a vague attempt to end his curse.
Alas, he was chained to his domain by the Brother of Light and couldn't let it go so easily. And so as he closed his eyes one last time, he opened his eyes elsewhere.
He screamed internally, his magic scorching the home of the young man he awoke within.
When he opened his eyes once more he found he had killed the young man in his anguish.
His magic was slow to return, a consequence of tearing apart his soul. He wondered whether the same fate awaited the maidens he grafted his soul to.
As the years went on, his soul, or what remained of it became hungry. The young men who would become a part of him were devoured to heal his soul. Yet the old man was blind to this, choosing to believe nothing changed.
For a broken soul seeks to feed and the Infinite Man could no longer access his Domain, though he remained bound to it. Yet the pieces of him that now resided within the Seasons could barely do so. Even as that piece would move on from a dying Maiden it would feed itself on the Divinity of the Infinite and mend itself to the soul of a new Maiden. And so long as there was enough of the Infinite to feed on, it would continue to do so.
=O=O=O=
Jaune watched as Yangs first went through Cinder. He saw light vanish from Cinder's glowing eye and he saw Yang's second eye ignite with magic. He held Yang as she cried.
Raven closed the Vault and sat Vernal's body in front of the gate, giving her a last farewell. She then walked over to Cinder and kicked her remains down the chasm, the only last rite she deserved.
When the platform returned up the battle was over.
Ruby was tending to the wounds of the injured and Qrow was quietly talking with Oscar and Ozpin.
The large man Ozpin had called Hazel succumbed to his self-inflicted wounds and Tyrian still had Qrow's Harbinger stuck in his chest.
Raven was the first to walk away from the elevator, joining Qrow and Oz in their quiet discussion.
Jaune calmly led Yang over to Ruby and smiled as the two sisters hugged.
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
Well, we've reached another big moment in cannon and in doing so expanded on the underlying change to how this Remnant works. As for Yang and Cinder, Cinder is dead. That much should be obvious from Yang receiving the Fall Maiden power but just to clarify, I'm not planing to pull the rug from under you, no "Somehow, Cinder returned..." none of that.
The relics each have their story though some are simpler than others. In truth, Knowledge and Destruction have been explained pretty much completely. Creation has been hinted at and many of you will be able to figure out who that story was about. As for Choice and Keel, there is way more there but that will be revealed in a seperate chapter when the knowledge becomes relevant.
But hey if you want to support me you can do so on P a treon . com (slash) OlympianScribe
Anyway I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch. 70 Upgrades