Hey there, everyone. Was able to get around to this much sooner than expected. Thankfully my current class's final essay, while long at 15 to 20 pages required, was at least something I could easily bullshit my way through. Now whether or not it's enough to pass…
Well, that is not any concern of you all, heh.
Anyways, glad to see that the first chapter of Defining Purpose grabbed some attention. Hopefully this chapter will help put it further onto the RWBY fanfic map, especially since this fic might be a fairly lengthy one now that I think of it. Likely longer than my last fic, to be sure. Now whether or not this ends up being longer than my other RWBY fics is something that shall remain to be seen.
I'm also glad that Veratyr managed to stir some interest as well. He'll be a fairly involved character going forward, perhaps not too much at first, but certainly he'll be integral to this fic further down the line… and especially in regards to Ozpin, this much I can say without spoiling.
So without further ado, let's just go ahead and get right onto the next chapter, shall we? Please enjoy, especially as this is where I will start to make Ozpin and his inner circle noticeably more competent already.
P.S. Please consider purchasing any of my books as well. Universal links to them can be found in my profile page, just remove the spaces. Fading Darkness, Rising Light as well as the Infinite Genesis trilogy can be found on a variety of sites such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon Kindle and much more.
Chapter 2 – Meetings and Greetings
"Unbelievable!" James roared. "To think someone could just waltz in like this!"
"James!" Glynda snapped. "For the love of all things good, just quiet down!"
The good general, not always the most emotionally controlled of them all, seemed to ignore her in favor of continuing his little rant within the security of Ozpin's office.
And speaking of the headmaster, the man in question was feeling most thankful that his walls were reinforced with soundproofing or else just about everyone within a mile of here would probably listen in suddenly on the general's words.
It's been almost a whole day since the duel with Veratyr and only now did Ozpin finally get the chance to summon James to his office to inform him in person of what had occurred.
Needless to say, the general of Atlas' military hadn't taken it too well as indicated by his ranting. It was all Glynda, who was also obviously present, could do to keep the man relatively under control… though Ozpin had the feeling that is this kept up, he'd have to restrain both of them before Glynda started using her semblance to throw the irate general around in frustration.
Thankfully – to an extent – James seemed to rein himself in… if only to slam both hands on Ozpin's desk and glare the headmaster of Beacon in the eyes.
"Where is he right this moment, Oz?" the general demanded. "Tell me where and I'll have him brought in questioning. I'll personally see to it he spills all that he kn-!"
"James," Ozpin began abruptly, even holding up a hand. "Enough, please. I understand this breach in information security is concerning, but going in guns blazing is not going to help in the long run."
As usual, his calm tone of voice managed to somewhat placate the general, but not by much this time. "Oz, this is… this is a massive concern. For some mercenary to just pop out of nowhere and know all this… that isn't something that just happens every day. Just where could he have possibly learned of such information?! We need to know now in case other people start to learn of this one day!"
Ozpin let out a weary sigh. His friend admittedly had a point, but he doubted it was that simple.
Moving from behind his desk and around it, the headmaster remained silent for a moment before speaking. "Though he obviously didn't tell me everything he knew, the details he did know were not ones he could have simply happened across anywhere on Remnant. Not without learning of them from Salem herself… and I highly doubt he's had any encounter with her."
At that, James narrowed his eyes. "How can you be so sure of that?" he all but growled out.
"Salem is many things, but reliant on people that don't bend the knee to her is not one of them," Ozpin explained simply, his lifetimes' worth of knowledge about the woman he once loved being called upon here.
Salem has had many agents throughout the ages. Some had been in awe of her, treating her like a goddess. Others had joined her out of pure fear, deeming her an existence that can't be challenged. Then there were those who joined her for more personal reasons, be it riches or having a chance to settle grudges that couldn't help been fulfilled otherwise.
But regardless of the reasons why, all her agents have sworn fealty to her. Thus, the mere idea of someone – anyone – being told such private details by her and then just being let go like that was simply ludicrous.
…Plus, Ozpin had been able to tell how sincere Veratyr's words were.
The young and enigmatic man truly was on the side of humanity… a side that Salem was very much not on anymore, hasn't been for a long time.
James grunted, very reluctantly accepting of that statement.
Glynda now chose that moment to step in while doing a far better job than the general of calming down. "That aside for the time being," she began tightly. "He had mentioned a threat that would appear to be unrelated to Salem. Or so we can assume based on his words alone."
And there was the true issue at hand. A rising threat that apparently none of them save for Veratyr had been aware of until yesterday.
"And just how do we know he wasn't speaking out of his ass?" James replied. "Or that he isn't part of this threat?"
Glynda's right eyebrow twitched something fierce at the man's insistence of Veratyr being negatively involved in all this.
Once more, Ozpin had to intervene. "Regardless if what he said is true or not, it is still worth looking into. If there is one thing we should learn from recent events, it is that we've become far too passive. Ever since Amber was ambushed by those assailants, we've been focusing too much on reacting rather than taking initiative. This needs to change."
"…Mm. Now that's something I can get behind, Oz," James replied. He was finally beginning to simmer down now. As usual, the very thought of taking action appealed to the man, who's life had molded his already bold ideology into something truly fierce and borderline out of control…
The price of his semblance, Ozpin supposed.
"I figured as much," the headmaster of Beacon drawled, allowing himself a slight dig at James' expense, which worked considering the wince it drew from the general. "Now then, can we all just take a deep breath, sit, and properly talk?"
He directed his words not just at James but also Glynda, eliciting a huff from the woman in acknowledgement of his point.
After a moment to settle down, they all took seats at or around his desk.
"Alright then, Oz," James started. "This Veratyr man spoke to you, so tell us word for word what he told you."
"'Aren't you the one who's so fond of fairy tales' is what stuck out to me the most," Ozpin responded, saying Veratyr's words verbatim.
"…Could he have been referring to your past life as the Wizard?" Glynda asked. "Given what he appears to know about your circumstances…"
James grimaced as he folded his arms across his broad chest. "If that is the case, then that would mean he's likely aware of the Maidens as well… think there might be another attempt on the Maidens then?"
As he heard those opinions, Ozpin hummed. "It is certainly likely… but it could also just as easily be a vague reference to the Silver Eyes Warriors as well. Salem has hunted most of them down to extinction, after all, more so than her pursuance of the Four Maidens throughout the ages."
There were fairly good interpretations of Veratyr's words, for the Maidens had always been of interest to Salem given their ties to the vaults that housed the Relics. And the Silver Eyed Warriors, whose eyes possessed the power to eradicate Grimm, were a natural counter to Salem's most readily available source of foot soldiers.
…And yet.
"…Still, I can't help but feel Tyr wasn't referring to either of them," Ozpin murmured. He thrummed his fingers along his desktop as he pondered those words. "If he had been referring to either the Maidens or the Silver Eyed Warriors, I feel he would have been much more direct in his words."
"Then he was referring to something else entirely, assuming that really is the case." Glynda hummed, accepting his logic quickly enough. "But if he really was referring to something else… just what could it be?"
James chose to continue from Glynda's unfinished thought. "There's numerous different fairy tales out there, native here to Vale as well as to the other kingdoms… and that isn't getting into any other regions in between."
Ozpin nodded, fully understanding of the man's thinly veiled frustration in those words.
The Tale of the Two Brothers.
The Warrior in the Woods.
The Shallow Sea.
The Man Who Stared at the Sun.
The Hunter's Children.
And so many more. The number of fairy tales developed across the ages was not small, not in the slightest.
However.
If there was one thing he had the advantage of in this situation, it was 'time.' That is, the amount of time he's existed in this world.
Ever since he and Salem had noticed their irreconcilable differences and had properly declared war against each other, he's wandered the world numerous times over. In his travels, he'd experienced many different things, things that uplifted his spirit and at times wore him down to almost nothing. But with nothing else in his endless life other than his mission given to him by the God of Light himself, he had no choice but to soldier on, looking for any possible advantage against the woman he once loved so dearly.
The long and short of it is that whenever a fairy tale had begun to took root, he'd made it a point to look into the matter. Whether it was simply out of vague curiosity or a deep rooted desire to see if anything else had survived the end of his version of humanity, he'd made the effort to look into the fairy tales to determine how much truth there was behind it.
…Alas, fairy tales were what they were more often than not because they couldn't be proven or disproven. Thus, he'd often walk away empty handed.
Nonetheless, he'd been able to dismiss a handful of fairy tales as mere tall tales, meant to scare or awe listeners throughout the years.
With that in mind, he could readily handwave away just about all the fairy tales he'd just listed in his mind… all except for one that immediately stood out to him.
"The Girl Who Fell Through the World," he spoke.
His statement got both of his friends to glance up at him, baffled by his sudden statement. "What could possibly be your reasoning for that?"
"I made contact, once upon a time, with the author of that story," Ozpin began. "Though the man, Lewis, hadn't been one for conversation when I came along, he did confirm the existence of a sister… one who, as far as anyone knows, simply disappeared one day, with no one having the slightest clue as to where she could have gone."
"Except for Lewis?" James asked.
"Most likely," Ozpin answered. His questions at that time had been without much direction, but nonetheless he'd been able to goad certain emotional responses out of the author, responses that confirmed to Ozpin that the man had experienced things that no one else could have possibly fathomed.
Lewis, for better or worse, knew what had happened to his sister, Alyx. And whatever the truth was, it had been enough to leave quite the impact on him, enough that the main character of the tale was evidently based on the disappeared Alyx.
While Ozpin once again had had no way of verifying anything, that brief encounter long ago had been enough to tell him at least this much:
There was far more out there in this world than even he knew.
As he explained all this to his friends, he could see their expressions shift, lightly skeptical at first but than fairly accepting by the end of it.
"…It's still a bit of a leap," Glynda said, playing devil's advocate to an extent. "The tale itself was written before the Great War. And if it is supposed to have some connection to the disappeared sister, that would have occurred even further back, before even the concept of huntsmen and huntresses was invented. So why now of all times would something related to that fairy tale appear now?"
"Assuming this really is the case," James chipped in, hands clasped together in thought.
Ozpin, despite giving his reasoning just a moment ago, could only shrug. "Things from the past have ways of lingering in some way or another. If my hunch is correct, then I suppose this could be a case of something having been brewing in the background until now. But hunch or not, I believe it is something worth looking into."
A silence fell upon the trio for a long moment, long enough to make even Ozpin feel a little tense. He knew well how much of a longshot this is. Despite his advocacy for greater action, his desire to look into a fairy tale of all things was a bit much, even for them.
"…If I remember right, the author is from Vacuo," James eventually began. "I never bothered keeping up with the lives of any particular author, much less this one, but he lived there his whole life, didn't he? So maybe Theodore could look into it?"
Theodore, as headmaster of Shade Academy, would certainly be local enough to look into the matter without too much trouble… at least in theory. But even with a majority of Shade academy students here in Beacon for the time being, the job of headmaster was never a light workload to have. Him looking into it was certainly possible, but probably wouldn't yield immediate results depending on how the man would go about it.
Still, it would be better than any of them here attempting to investigate.
"Most likely," Ozpin agreed. "I will have to inform him and Leonardo of what's occurred for that matter anyways, so I can ask him to see what can be done."
And what a small lie he'd told just now, he thought bitterly.
He'll definitely speak with Theodore about the encounter with Veratyr and the issues that have arisen in his wake, but as for Leonardo… Though only barely recently as well, the man had begun to act skittish. And the Beacon headmaster has had more than enough experience by now to know when Salem was somehow able to sink her hooks into one of his allies.
…By all rights, he should just cut the man off completely, but since he didn't know all the details, doing so could easily backfire. For one thing, it would alert Salem to him catching on and have her easily adjust her current plans.
Given how mysterious said plans already were, it'd be best to avoid taking this risk until he had a better picture of the whole situation. This current era was proving much more precarious than previous ones.
He repressed a sigh.
This vague clue Veratyr had given him… he really hoped it was worth something in the end.
Within Beacon Academy, Cinder Fall and her two subordinates, Emerald and Mercury, were situated in the dorm provided by the school. With faked aliases that painted them as students from Haven Academy, they'd been able to operate with impunity so far. So much so that the young woman was left with a feeling of invincibility almost.
Despite the little hiccups her plans had experienced so far, the overall plan had been proceeding about as smoothly as could be imagined. Just about the only change that had occurred was them moving their timetable for infiltrating Beacon up by some odd weeks. However, said change had been more of… well, almost a whim rather than a necessity, in her eyes, but still it had been notable nonetheless.
But while the plan was going well… the events of just yesterday left Cinder feeling… off. Visibly so, what with the way her two lackeys eyed her.
"So…." Mercury began, only to trail off. But then he found his courage again and continued. "What exactly is the big deal here?"
Cinder, leaning against the wall of the room, slowly eyed him as she finally gave him some measure of attention. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, ever since that duel yesterday, you've been kinda… out of it," he said, testing his bravery here. "It was a pretty good fight, not going to lie about that, but it looks to me like you're taking it a bit harder than normal for some reason."
"…It is a little unusual for you to be like this, ma'am," Emerald now added, speaking respectfully.
Cinder glanced from one to the other before huffing. "Think for a moment, you two. Just how long has this plan been in place? How much time and effort did we pour into making sure everything was accounted for?"
The two shared a look. "Are you asking that rhetorically?" Mercury partly quipped. When Cinder's single visible eye began to glow threateningly, he spoke again and much more hastily. "For at least a year in advance. Tracking down the Fall Maiden, getting Torchwick under our thumb along with the White Fang… I can't say an honest estimate, but at least that long to get things into place."
"Quite right," Cinder said as she dismissed the mounting power. "Back when this plan was developed, we'd expected some measure of resistance, either from Ozpin himself and his allies or even from random meddlers… much like that Rose girl that Roman likes to whine about so much. It's caused some minor trouble here and there, but the plan itself remains perfectly in place."
She finally moved away from the wall. "However, a mercenary out of the blue picks a fight with the headmaster here and now he and his allies are holding a meeting? Something is clearly amiss."
Cinder had no way of knowing for sure if Ozpin was discussing something with his inner circle, but it was a strong gut feeling of hers that couldn't be ignored. Nor could the timing of it all.
"That mercenary had spoken with Ozpin at the end of the duel. Something must have been said of considerable importance. Why, even as the duel began… Ozpin had frozen up," Cinder declared. Her harsh years of training under Salem's hands had taught her to have a keen eye for details and this had allowed her to see the way the Beacon headmaster had gone still at the start of the duel. The image quality and lack of sound had made it impossible to tell what exactly was said, but there was no way it could have been some random nonsense.
That man was clearly not normal, to say nothing of his ability to seemingly fight Ozpin to a draw.
In other words, a wild card. And she so detested wild cards.
With her logic explained, Emerald and Mercury nodded in understanding. "So then… should we try and track him down? If he's still here in Vale, it shouldn't be too hard to have that idiot Torchwick and his punk lackies look into things for us," suggested the former. "Maybe we could even tempt this guy into working for us if we play our cards right."
"Or we just kill him," Mercury, ever the simple one, offered. "He's tough, sure, but if we lay out an ambush…"
Cinder hummed. "What needs to be done for now is just to look into things. If he ultimately proves to be of no consequence, then we can afford to leave him be – no need to draw unwanted attention if anything untoward happens to him suddenly. But if he does truly know more than he should… we'll go from there." She folded her arms under her chest now. "On our next outing, go to Roman's place and give him the order to find this man. Tell him to leave no stone unturned."
"You got it," Mercury replied.
"Of course," Emerald said.
With that out of the way, there wasn't really much else to do. So, with considerable reluctance, Cinder could only act out the part of a student for the rest of the day…
…And yet as she recalled that man's very image, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. Something about him felt unnatural to her and she didn't have the slightest clue why.
…The man better hope he's of some use to her, she thought, or else he would be removed off this board of shadows permanently.
In downtown Vale, there existed a club simply known as Junior's. Despite some rather shady rumors here and there, it was nevertheless a very popular spot that appealed to both the casual crowd and the rich alike. Here, the average civilian willing to shell out the money to gain entrance can have a fair shot of stumbling into high profile celebrities and rich socialites in general.
And there was one such celebrity here and now.
A woman, nearly six feet in height and blessed with abundant curves, danced away on stage. Outfitted in a glamorous silver dress with slit in it that showed off her legs, she sashayed about with a look of utter euphoria upon her lovely face, framed by shoulder length dark blue hair. Her eyes were occasionally closed but when opened to expose her vibrant lime green irises, she'd shoot an alluring look at random people in the crowd, driving them all wild with excitement and desire.
Desire for her. Awe of her.
More so than the setting and music, it was like a drug. One that she could never have enough of.
But as much as she soaked it all in, even she had limits to her stamina. After dancing for almost a whole hour straight with increasing intensity, she now had no choice but to step away for a while… though not before mingling with the crowd a bit, waving and cooing at people to further get their blood pumping recklessly.
Her fair skin had a light sheen of sweat to it now, enough to make her shine like a radiant star under all the spotlights as she took her leave to the private booth the club had, one she'd reserved just for herself.
And as she entered said booth, her vivacious look suddenly faded and was instead replaced with an almost stone-cold mask. The high of being gazed upon had instantly faded, leaving her empty.
As it always did.
"Make sure I'm unbothered," she commanded of the bouncers outside her booth. "I'd like to drink in private."
"Yes, ma'am," the two bouncers, provided by the club, chorused as she closed the curtains to the booth.
With a heavy sigh that would have been heard if not for the near deafening music, she unceremoniously uncorked the bottle on the table and drank from it directly, no need for a shot glass. She all but guzzled it down like a man dying of thirst finally coming across an oasis. But unlike such a scenario, she found no reprieve.
…She never did, not for long.
The woman drank deeply until it was empty and then slammed it down back onto the table. She promptly ordered one of the bouncers to bring more bottles along with some nice little snacks, maybe a shrimp cocktail with the stupid little umbrella in it.
A few minutes go by in relative silence, the woman staring directly at the wall ahead of her with dead eyes…
…Only to stiffen when she felt a certain presence approach her.
The curtains to her booth gently opened up and someone came in, bottles and snacks placed atop a tray.
Except it wasn't the bouncer who brought them in.
"Been a while," spoke Veratyr with that damnable smile of his. He set down the tray and took a seat directly across from her. "How are things, Eva?"
Eva Lambros, actress. Not just any actress either, but one of the hottest actresses ever produced in Vale. Born in Mistral, migrated to Vale as a child, she quickly found fame as a child actress and kept at it until her adulthood. Now here in her early thirties, she was a household name, able to do just about anything she wants and get away with it just because of sheer star power…
…Except keep this particular man out of her fucking life.
"You insufferable sackfuck," she growled out, her coarse language at odds with the normally alluring and vivacious image she gave off, the party girl that was always the highlight of the day without ever getting vulgar or crass. Except when around certain people and Veratyr was one of them.
"Saw your newest movie just before coming here," he said, continuing without even the slightest bit of reaction to her insult. "As always, you were splendid. I outright shed a tear at the confession you gave as you died in the protagonist's arms."
Despite her clearly less than stellar opinion of him, she all but preened. "I am the shining star of Vale, after all."
Veratyr chuckled as he opened a bottle and slid it over to her. "You most certainly are. Any chance I can get an autograph? I'd like to present it as a gift to Alisa; she's always been a huge fan of you but was never able to work up the courage to approach."
Eva snorted. "As if I want that emo bitch around me, ruining my luster."
Insult aside, there was a practical reason behind this statement of hers – Alisa's very presence would drive people away… or to insanity. And that was one thing she wouldn't tolerate, no when she still needed to 'shine.'
Grabbing the bottle, she downed half of it nigh-instantly, her noticeable chest heaving , made all the more prominent by how much cleavage her dress tastefully showed off. She should know, having personally had it tailored to be like this.
After that long gulp, she glared at Veratyr.
"What brings you here anyway, you fuck nugget? Here to pester me again to join you?" she snarled out, her mood swinging wildly now. "I already told you my answer. And I know for a fact the others did as well."
She and Veratyr… they went back with one another. Along with a handful of others, the aforementioned Alisa being one of them. Though their encounters with each other were few and far in between, they all had something in common that served as a bond. It was something Veratyr tried to capitalize on, only for the others to shun him for it.
…Well, except for that cowardly bitch Alisa and the other fucker. They were perhaps the only two out of them all that liked and worked with Veratyr.
"I'm well aware," he replied, still unbothered by anything, which only infuriated Eva more. "Truly, I just thought to check in on you since you are local, after all."
"How kind of you, oh auspicious one," Eva drawled out with such sarcasm that it could probably power all of Vale for half a year if it could be converted into energy.
Veratyr, despite being younger than her by a handful of years, sat primly and properly. It was a hell of a contrast given his looks and his clothing even after all this time having known him. "Tell me," he started, getting serious now. "How has it been going? Have you come a little closer to discerning your desire?"
Eva, having been downing the rest of the bottle, paused. "…You're still going on about that."
Veratyr remained silent.
She glared at him, but as always, nothing budged him. Though they were alike in the most basic of ways, they were still leagues different from one another.
With a sigh, she replied. "…No." It came out as a whisper, weak and wistful.
Veratyr nodded, visibly sad. "I'm sorry to hear. To truly 'shine' is certainly not an easy task." He bowed his head as if in mourning. But it lasted no more than ten seconds before he raised his head back up, his smile returning. "But I believe soon it will be the time that you finally figure out why you are the way you a-."
"Veratyr… enough," she interrupted. "I couldn't give a shit about your 'help' with my life. Me and the others… we're doing just fine as it is. And we'll do much better once this feeling of irritation we've been having goes away."
Yes. For quite some time now, about a few years, something has been changing in all of them. A discontentment in life, not with themselves but with something else – an outside source of irritation, in other words.
They could feel it, growing ever more annoying, steadily driving them all practically to the edge of insanity. It was enough that finally they all had come together to form a little coalition of sorts. It wasn't much of a coalition, to be honest, given they were few in number and that some, like herself for example, had quite the busy life… but it was still better than nothing.
As things stood, she could only do so much when not working or trying to 'shine,' but the others for the most part were able to become active now. In due time, they could finally start making a move against the forces in the shadows that thought they were so well hidden.
Not that she was about to tell this man anything about that. Bastard probably already knows anyways, considering what other shit he's done in his life.
"…Very well," Veratyr conceded. "If you all have a plan in place, then I suppose there is no need for my interference. I just pray that you can find your reason before Salem's agents steal the show."
At that, Eva truly froze as she just finished munching down on a shrimp. Her eyes then narrowed. "Her agents?" Her beautiful face contorted into something hideous. Not literally, but the sheer level of anger she now showed was the stuff of legends. "They're here? In Vale? Threatening to steal my thunder?"
She and the others were aware of Salem, that dumb immortal bitch, the whiner. She was, after all, the biggest source of magic around in this world, which bothered them all something fierce. It'd taken them quite some time to fully realize how long Salem had been making use of people to do her dirty work, and they'd come to learn that as time marched on, Salem's schemes grew only greater in scale and effect, courtesy of her agents.
And now some of her agents were here in Vale? Planning something big, no doubt… something that would take attention away from her of all people.
As this thought hit her, the realization she wouldn't be dominating the news as much anymore, energy began to radiate from her very body, interfering with all the lights in the club and making them rapidly dim and flicker…
…Except for the lights that were closest to her booth, making her little spot of the club the only source of light around for the moment.
As cries of confusion and annoyance now rang out, the booming voice of Hei Xiong aka Junior himself commanding his men to check the breakers and generators immediately, Eva managed to rein in her temper. As she took a deep breath, the lighting returned to normal and the music, which had also sputtered out during her moment, began to blare loudly again.
Veratyr, unfazed, quirked an eyebrow in confusion. "I thought you already knew of their presence," he murmured. "You and the others are surely working hard on something, so I had assumed certain details were already known to you."
Eyebrow twitching at his confusion, Eva spoke again. "Just answer the damned question."
"…They're here, yes," he spoke. "Given Salem's typical plans, I'd say they're going to target Beacon to some degree. Crippling an opponent's defensive capabilities is a standard tactic, after all."
"…The fucking White Fang," Eva muttered, a moment of clarity hitting her.
She, like the rest of the public, was well aware of the White Fang having stirred some trouble recently in the kingdom. First by attempting to steal Dust from the docks and then the incident with that Atlesian Paladin of all things. Now in hindsight, it made sense why the terrorist group, which normally moved about in Mistral and Atlas, now had a cell out here in Vale. Whether because it was a genuine partnership or a trick or coercion on the agent's part, the White Fang cell was aiding in Salem's long-term plan here.
And because the standard police were fucking useless, that meant Beacon was going to be involved instead, to say nothing of Beacon itself being a likely target.
…She knew now what must be done. She'll let the others know first chance she gets… but she refused to wait around while her purpose was trampled on by a bunch of unwitting and petty idiots.
But to do that…
Grimacing, Eva fought back the urge to hurl more abuse at Veratyr. Even with how laser-focused she was feeling now, his very presence upsets her immensely. As it always did for both her and the others. How Alisa and Valentino could be perfectly fine around him was a mystery that'll probably never be solved.
A pity that normal folk can't feel Veratyr's presence. Maybe if they could and enough people got sick of his shit, they could heap enough vitriol upon him to drive him away for good.
But for just this moment and this moment only… he'd be actually useful to her.
"What else do you know?" she asked.
…Gods, it felt like she was dealing with a devil here, what with the way he smiles.
And there we go.
Once again, some additional set up… and honestly, now that I think of it, probably a bit too much set up in that it gives some key details away. But thankfully, not the truly key details here, the ones that matter most to this story. So if you guys do figure out a few things, I can live with that. Just know in advance that I will neither confirm or deny any theories you may develop.
Anyways, introduced the second OC – Eva. Hope you'll like her as time goes on. She is but the first of several more OCs to come and while she is probably not the most colorful one just yet in terms of personality, the other ones will stand out quite a bit more in their own very whacky ways, especially one or two in particular. That said, as crazy as some might be, I do hope it won't detract from the overall quality/feel of this fic too much when I get around to introducing them.
Cinder and co., as you can also see, will be featuring quite a bit in the plot as well. Same thing goes for other members of Salem's cabal as well as Salem herself. I know I already said as much in the first chapter, but I just want to emphasize this point again, though Ozpin will still remain as the primary MC of this entire fic.
Regarding Ozpin and the fairy tales too - considering just how many lifetimes the man has lived and how desperate he is to stop Salem, I figured he took the time to look into the fairy tales that sprung up throughout the ages, if only to see if maybe there's some sliver of truth there that could somehow be utilized against Salem. Given just how out of the blue (to him, at least) it was for the God of Light to revive him just to stop Salem along with magic itself being a fantastical thing, my logic was that he'd find any way to prepare other than just ask Jinn for answers, even if it's all just a long shot. This is but the first of many ways that I will be showcasing his competence in this fic, by having him take more precautions and actions to weather the incoming shitstorm.
One final thing too: while this fic may be more serious than my previous RWBY fics, it will also be just as… well, just as over-the-top in terms of feats/scaling/overall chuuni-ness relative to the canon material. That said, it will all serve a purpose in the long run, unlike with Slave of Light where I admittedly just went ham with powerscaling for the hell of it.
Anyways, hope you guys are a bit more interested now in this fic. If not, then may the next few chapters change your minds.
Until next time, everyone. Take care.
