Two immortals share a brief ceasefire over a game of Chess.
Beacon Academy, City of Vale
Kingdom of Vale, Remnant
Headmaster Ozpin took the elevator to his office.
It was a long day than usual. Ever since the Red War on Remnant and on Earth, things had been quite different.
First, there was the reclamation of certain points of interest in Vale and by extension, the rest of Remnant. The Cabal legions stationed on Remnant had made quite a mess of things. Blockades and barriers down numerous streets that needed to be torn down, Cabal bases in places where parks or malls used to be. And then there was his beloved academy, Beacon. The Cabal had redecorated several location in his academy, knocked down walls and even replaced a piece of his school with a tower of theirs.
After the reclamation efforts were finished here in Vale, the rest of Remnant was underway.
The rebuilding of several villages and towns that the Cabal bombed as "target practice", and the other academies. By a stroke of fortune, Shade Academy in Vacuo was spared from any attack by the Cabal. The other academies didn't fare that better. Atlas Academy was attacked by the Cabal towards the end of the Red War, with his friend General James Ironwood having gone face to face with Val Ca'uor and barely survived the ordeal. The worst was what happened to Mistral Academy: burned to the ground and the headmaster dead. Reports were few and vague, but from what he gathered, his fellow headmaster Leonardo Lionhart faced against Dominus Ghaul himself when the latter went after the Relic of Knowledge. The Dominus succeeded and burnt Haven Academy to the ground. Only to replace it with a Cabal base.
After the Red war, Guardians and huntsmen went and reclaimed it, driving the Cabal out.
Ozpin sighed at the heavy losses. While the Academies can be rebuilt, it would take months or years before they were remotely back to normal. And rebuilding even one of the academies might not be a priority due to how much the rest of Remnant went through.
Luckily, Remnant had what huntsmen remain along with their Guardian allies to keep them safe.
Sighing as the elevator doors dinged for the top floor, he went to enter his office to gaze upon Vale and his academy like he always does before going to sleep.
Only to find the last person he expected to be waiting for him.
"Hello Ozpin." His once wife now enemy, Salem said as she sat in front of his desk.
She was just the same as she was many centuries, ago. Pale skin with red lines across her face and arms, black gown, ashen hair tied up and red eyes looking at him.
"I was wondering when you will be here. Sit down, I set up a game." She said gesturing to a chessboard on his desk.
He eyed around his office looking for any traps or Grimm waiting for him.
"Please Ozpin, if I wanted you dead, I would have one of my trusted Psion Flayers to snipe you from Vale. One of them is a very good shot. Or I would have waited for you to fall asleep before slitting your throat and have you reincarnate as someone else. I'm just here to catch up and play a game with you."
Seeing no threat, and taking her at her word, he walked across the room, around her and to his seat. Fittingly, she chose the black pieces with him as the white. He made the first move and moved a pawn. The game began.
Several minutes into the game, neither one spoke. A pawn here and there taken; other chess pieces began to be played.
Ozpin was the one to decide to break the silence.
"How have you been doing during the Red War?" He asked, curious about how the Cabal dealt with her during the War. Also due to the comment about a Psion flayer joining her ranks.
Salem hummed as she moved a bishop on the board, taking one of his pawns. "They built a base right on my shores, several meters away from the Storm. After the Guardians Traveler awakened, they've seen the error of their ways and joined me."
Ozpin sat in silence hearing her words. Not only confirming her newest acquisitions, but telling him this!
He decided to fish for more answers. He moved another pawn, making way for his bishop next turn.
"I heard that you were chained up in Ghaul's personal ship. Getting sloppy in your old age Ozpin? To think all this time, all it took was a bunch of militarized space-rhinos to take you down." One of her pieces took another of his own. Right now, both had an even number of pieces on the board.
He huffed in annoyance on her intel. Getting outmatched by the Cabal did sting his pride a bit, but how could he have prepared for that? The cabal somehow found and made their own version of the A.N.D.
A.N.D or Aura Nullifier Device was created in conjunction with the same device Atlas created that could transfer Aura from one vessel to another. Due to how controversial Aura was, the former device was to be used in prisons containing rogue huntsmen and huntresses. While the latter was planned to be used on Amber. However, with her death, that has been off the table. When the Cabal unleashed their own version of the A.N.D, it affected him as well, allowing them to put a collar on his neck that suppressed his magic as well.
After the Red War, five of the A. have been found and destroyed. Only two remained and according to his source stationed on the Tangled Shore, those two are somewhere in the Sol System, far away from Remnant.
"It was…an experience. One that taught me much." He said moving one of his pieces into position.
Salem analyzed the battlefield. "Your academies didn't fare that well either. Haven burnt to the ground; its headmaster killed as well. It's a shame…Lionhart was so useful to me." She said taking his bishop.
Ozpin took in her words. His friend Lionhart was one of Salem's this whole time!? How could his friend had fallen so far. He put that on hold and focused on the game.
"If what I heard was true, your new fall Maiden made a bit of a scene in Atlas. Trying to take the Winter Maiden while the rest of the Kingdom focused on the Cabal? Clever move."
Salem frowned as his rook took her own rook. "I gave the order to all in my inner circle to stand down and wait it out. She had other plans and got punished for her insolence. What I didn't expect was the new Winter Maiden being an Eliksni; and the daughter of the Kell of Light as well. Surprised even me." She said making another move.
She wasn't the only one to be surprised. When Fria died, the Winter Maiden mantle went to Eido the daughter of the Kell of Light; Mithrax. And she handled herself very well against Cinder during the Battle of Atlas. Right now, she was in a secret location being trained in her new powers known only to the Guardian Vanguard leaders, per his request.
Silence fell before them as they continued their game. Some pieces were lost, while others were kept out of reach. Soon the game came to a halt.
"Looks like we're in a stalemate." Ozpin said as he surveyed the game. "Indeed. Like how we were long ago." Salem said, picking up one of her pieces. She waved her hand and pieces shifted on both sides mirroring their current predicament. His pieces became a mirror image of him, Glynda, Qrow, Oobleck, Teams RWBY, JNPR, CFVY and other current huntsmen teams. One of the pieces was even Guardian Fireteam Nero composed of Prometheus-23, Lux Syphoid and Summer Rose. On Salem's side were herself, Cinder Fall, several Cabal, Psions, even a few Fallen. A few he didn't recognize: a scientist, a scorpion faunus, and one he did; Hazel Rainhart.
"Our little game has changed Ozpin. It used to be you against me. My followers against yours. Keeping the relics away in their vaults to prevent the Brother Gods from laying waste to Remnant. It used to be simple. Now there's aliens and paracausal forces. Since Summer Rose came back bringing with her the Vex, I've started to miss those days."
"I'd like to think that our game as you call it, just got bigger. More allies for both sides. Guardians on mine. Psions, Cabal and Fallen on yours." He said gesturing to her pieces.
"True. I originally wanted the Relics to summon them here, to end everything, even me. But as I've said: things changed. Even my desires."
She looked at him from across the table, pieces arranged down on the table, like it was since this whole thing started.
"I've seen what's coming for the Traveler…the Voice in the Darkness. What's coming is much more powerful than those two. More powerful than you and me." She stood and looked him in the eye. "Sooner or later, you and your Huntsmen and Huntresses and your Guardians will face it. If it wins, I'll die and that will be the end of it. But if you win…" She leaned down, quickly gripping his chin in her hands. "There will be a power vacuum that no one has ever seen! Perfect for me. All I have to do, is wait."
She straightened her gown and turned away from the table. She touched one of her black pieces, using her magic to turn it into a black pyramid. "I enjoyed this game. We should play again some other time." She waved her arm and a portal appeared before her as she stepped through it.
The portal closed on a shocked headmaster as he stared at the transformed chess piece.
It was a long while before he removed himself from his chair and looked upon his academy and vale beyond. If what Salem said was true, things are about to change.
He turned to leave, but not before spotting a purple envelope on his desk. He picked it up and opened it.
On the top of the page it read,
To Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy,
You are hereby invited to a banquet in you and other's honor upon his Grand Leviathan by his most excellence, Emperor Calus of the Cabal Empire.