Hey guys. Again, sorry for the messed up formatting on the last chapter. Should be fixed now. Been a while, but I am back and not dead.

I COULD say that I didn't have any time, or that I had writer's block, or that real-world things got in the way of writing, but those things would be lies. I really don't have a particular reason not to write more of this - and it's not like i didn't want to either, I just didn't do it, for whatever reason. So, sorry for keeping y'all waiting.

Don't have much else to say, so here's the next chapter. This one's with Talos and Rose, as well as somebody else.

Eight days after Talos' arrival

The splinter spoke to Talos.

It wasn't materialized right now, instead simply existing as information within a sort of "transmat vault," but he could still feel it. The cold, dark whispers scratching at the back of his mind. He'd heard stories of the Darkness taking over and speaking through ghosts, or corrupting guardians with its whispers, driving people mad over long periods of time.

He had no idea if that was what this was, or if his mind was simply playing tricks on him.

The revelation that Eramis had access to a paracausal, elemental form of darkness was rather terrifying to him. The whispers may very well have just been a manifestation of his own doubts, speaking to him in this time of great uncertainty. However, he didn't want to take any chances.

"Esper," Talos spoke through his comms.

"Yes, Tal?"

"That piece of the Darkness we have… is it doing something? Anything that you can detect?"

The response was delayed by a few seconds. "Yes. It's pulsing slightly with paracausal energy. Seeping through, even in its non-material state. It's strange, really - it's acting almost as if it's an energy sink of arbitrary depth. If the readings are right, you could feed this thing forever. Heat energy, kinetic energy, even Light itself; I think it can consume pretty much anything."

"That's..."

"Interesting?"

"Not to mention unsettling."

"On that we agree. It also seems to have other strange effects. I can't be sure, but based on the simulations and tests I've run on it, it seems to be able to… actually reduce entropy in an isolated system."

"Hmmm. Breaks the laws of thermodynamics? Strange, but not exactly unexpected for an object with paracausal properties."

"Yeah, but most of the time, when we ignore natural law, it's the first law of thermodynamics. You know, violating conservation of energy by pulling more power out of nowhere? Not only does this seem to violate that law in the other direction, making energy disappear instead of spontaneously creating it, but it also reverses the generally expected increase of entropy over time."

Under normal circumstances, entropy - the general amount of chaos in a system - would always increase or stay the same as time passed. Even if an effort was made to reduce the chaos in a certain part of the system, the energy expended to do so should, in theory, create an equal or greater amount of chaos elsewhere. What Tal's ghost was saying, essentially, was that this splinter of dark power seemed to be able to circumvent this problem.

"We'll have to run more tests, to see if that's true, and if so, exactly how much energy - and entropy - we can remove. But we need to learn more about this world too." Between this 'Dust' substance, strange kingdoms, and technology relatively unfamiliar to the duo, they had enough to learn about even without the splinter.

Talos and Rose had been en route to the kingdom of Mistral for the past few days now. Following the last known trajectory of Eramis's ship would send them right near the seat of power in the kingdom of Mistral, so that was where they were headed. Talos had learned from information-gathering in Vale that the capitals of each kingdom housed the now defunct CCT systems, as well as huntsman academies, both of which may possess the technology and information that he'd need to track his quarry more effectively.

Of course, it was also possible that this avenue, too, would turn up dry. But he would follow it through to the end all the same. Eramis would likely give away her position eventually, and he just had to hope that he'd be in position to act when she did.

For now, the pair of Guardians had stopped for a brief rest. For the past few days, they had been spending most of their time either on sparrows riding through the landscape, or training. They hadn't ever slept or stopped to rest for more than an hour - Guardians didn't technically need sleep, though it was nice to get. Talos was used to going longer periods of time without much rest, and he guessed that the Light-induced resurrections and healing that Rose had undergone after many of their training sessions had refreshed her mind and body enough that she didn't notice the lack of it. Of course, Talos hadn't brought it up, and he didn't plan to. The less she thought about it, the less she'd think she needed it.

Talos sat on a cluster of boulders, examining a few pieces of this "Dust" that he had brought with him from the city of Vale. It had strange elemental properties. As Esper had said, most instances of it seemed to carry faint traces of paracausal power, both of Light and Darkness.

A few fast cracks a short ways away came from a weapon discharge. That would be Rose, probably taking care of a few stray Grimm nearby. She had a true Hunter's instincts - always ready to scope out a new area after they stopped briefly. A few short moments later, she emerged from the nearby treeline, holstering her weapon and stepping towards Talos.

"Took care of a few Beowolves. What are you up to?"

"Thought it was a good idea to take another look at this 'Dust' stuff."

"Any new insights? Useful applications?"

"Well, I can see why the native population uses this stuff. It's highly energetic. Would make for a great fuel source, or weapon components. I've got an extra amount of Ice Dust, considering that Earmis -"

"- Has scary ice powers, yeah. Let me guess, you want to use it as an approximation for training and study purposes?"

Talos smirked. "Well, Eramis's powers aren't strictly ice-based, though it should be close enough to serve as an approximation. At least until we get something closer."

You already have something closer. Something MUCH closer. Why not use it?

Talos inhaled sharply. The voice had entered his mind unbidden, speaking coherently for the first time he could notice. He banished it quickly with a shake of his head.

"So. I was thinking of making something with this Dust. A weapon, preferably a sword."

The girl's eyes seemed to brighten slightly at the prospect of making a new weapon. "Really? What'll you make it out of?"

"I'll use Glimmer to make the frame. Programmable matter. If you have enough of it, you can theoretically make almost anything out of almost any material. It's what we use as a currency back on Earth."

"Sounds useful."

Harmony appeared in the air next to her Guardian. "It is, incredibly so. It's how I make your sparrow, actually. When we store matter as information, it's usually in this form, and when we bring it out into material reality it's programmed into its intended shape."

"Okay. So where do we start with the sword?"

"Well, I have a basic frame outlined - Esper, please?"

Metal in the basic shape of a sword appeared in his hand, brought forth from its form as stored as pure information. It was a double-edged weapon that came to a sharp point. The blade was shorter and thinner than that of Stormshaper - which was quite a large weapon in its own right - but it definitely looked as if it still had a hefty weight to it. Obviously, it was less ornate than Talos' other sword.

Esper floated overhead. "We were thinking of running the Dust along the center of the sword, in a thin column that should charge it with elemental powers." Talos handed the weapon to her.

Rose ran one finger down the side of the sword, looking closely at it as she did. "That's interesting, but it might weaken the structure."

Rose's ghost, Harmony, spoke up now. "Yes, but they should be able to repair small structural flaws that would result from that kind of imperfection on the fly. Again, programmable matter and all that."

"I suppose, but wouldn't you have to use a little bit more of that every time? Seems wasteful."

Talos stepped forward. "Well, we haven't thought through it all that much yet. The goal was to use ice dust along the whole length to conduct nearly all of the thermal energy out of any target it strikes once active."

"Weeeellll, you say that you want to conduct all of the energy out of the target - could you do something like, I don't know, make the sword out of something really conductive? And keep the Dust near the hilt?"

"No, a material that conductive probably wouldn't make a very good sword." Talos took the blade back from Rose. He pondered for a moment. "But, we might be able to use a bunch of nano-scale heat conducting wire and lace it through the whole volume of the blade."

Rose perked up at that. "Yeah. If they're small enough, they shouldn't compromise the blade's structure."

Talos reached for the center of the blade, and his hand seemed to move right into the weapon. Esper hovered around, and short bursts of blue darted from her iris into the blade. Together, they reshaped the matter forming the sword, moving from tip to hilt. The weapon retained the same general shape, but the small tube for the dust that ran down the center was gone, and there was a cartridge inside the hilt in its place.

Talos took out a vial of Ice dust and poured it into the hilt compartment. Immediately, one who looked close could start to see tiny crystalline structures appear on the outside of the blade as it condensed and froze vapors from the air around it.

Rose looked at the sword, and smiled to herself. Her input had really helped make the weapon better - and she was proud of that. "Did you, uh, have a name for this weapon?"

Talos twirled the thing once, then stopped. "I was thinking something along the lines of 'Frostbite'."

"Hmm. A bit on the nose, but I like it."

Talos smiled. "Good. In any event, you need to practice something."

"... What?" Rose looked up at him cautiously.

"Unfreezing."

Without warning, the newly constructed Frostbite ran through the side of her torso.

Rose gasped in pain - though she felt it for only a moment before all of the nerve endings in her side froze.

Frostbite slipped free, leaving rose with a large portion of her body frozen, and an incision through her left side. She dropped to her knees. "What is your problem..." she said weakly. Judging by how hard it was for her to talk, parts of her lungs, or possibly her diaphragm, were likely frozen.

"When I was frozen by Eramis, I pushed Solar Light through the affected area, and it broke me free. See if you can do the same with Arc."

"I..." Rose focused intently, pushing Light, any kind she could manage, through her body. Slowly, feeling started to return, and she felt Harmony begin to help mend her flesh and revert to its normal state. After around twenty seconds, she stood back up slowly.

Talos had barely moved at all while she was on the ground. He had just stood there, with the sword, after stabbing her.

"You could have… at least… given me some warning." She couldn't tell whether she felt tired from her use of the light, or from just being frozen, but it showed in her speech.

"If I did, would you have just let me stab you?"

"Probably not," Rose glared at him.

"I'd have been disappointed if you had. In battle, you won't have warning. You'll need to get better at that unfreezing thing - a few seconds is already too long in open war, and being incapacitated for so long will get you, or more pressingly, others, killed." The sword dematerialized from his hands. "We'll use that in training. Make sure we can't be caught off-guard by some freezing temperatures."

Rose said nothing, and Esper snickered softly. "You know, just because you're right doesn't make it not a dick move."

"I'm aware, Little Light."

"Hey! Don't you start with that!"

/

- A short while later -

After walking on foot and travelling by sparrow for a little while, Harmony materialized and spoke up.

"Hey, uh guys? There's a single source of Paracausality a short ways away from here."

Tal looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression. "Isn't everyone here a bit paracausal? Like the Awoken?"

"Yes. But this is different. It's not like the Grimm, or like Aura. It's… more. Almost as much as I'd expect from a Guardian. And it all seems like it's coming from one source, nearby."

"How can you tell it's not just a bunch of people?" Rose asked. "Couldn't that make it look like there's more… para-whatever than normal?"

"Well, there ARE multiple people there, but the paracausality seems strictly attuned to one individual aura. It's also giving of some strange power fluctuations- a specific frequency or pattern. If it didn't seem like it were attached to a person, I'd probably guess that it was like some sort of… key." Her shell spun. "We'd need to get a closer look to find out more."

Tal pondered for a moment. "Could… whatever this is… actually kill us? Permanently?"

Harmony paused. "I don't think so. It doesn't seem like it's overflowing with Darkness, at least not enough to effectively sever your connection to the Light. I also doubt that whoever is controlling this power would actually know that you need special means to be killed permanently. But I would still be careful."

"Well, I think it's worth investigating then. Could be something or someone useful. If we do go though, you and Esper should stay out of sight. Don't want you two to be killed by a big discharge of paracausal energy, accidental or not."

Talos then looked at Rose, who shrugged. "All right then, gear up. Might not need to fight, but best to be prepared."

/

Weiss stared at the wooden bars of the cage she was trapped in, still feeling like she was in shock. It had been a few hours since she had been captured by what she assumed were bandits, only to be told that even her attempt at getting away from Atlas would have been pointless anyways. Her sister, Winter, had left her intended destination.

She was alone, trapped, and didn't have a good way out. Well, at least, not if she couldn't focus.

Weiss had been practicing her summoning, a powerful part of her semblance, before her escape attempts at Atlas, but she found that most of the time she was still too emotionally unbalanced to summon properly. On the way here she had been able to use it effectively to fight off a veritable army of lancers, but she suspected that the heat-of-the-moment nature of the situation and the adrenaline coursing through her were a big help in that scenario. Here, though her situation was still dire, she couldn't quite draw upon that same kind of desperation. That wouldn't stop her from trying, though.

Her stomach growled. She had been given some water, but no food, while held captive here. She suspected that the bandits weren't going to waste any more resources keeping her alive than they had to. They wanted to keep her just alive enough to sell back to her father - though part of her doubted that the man would even pay anything for her now - and make as big a profit as possible. She clenched her teeth. The thought of going back to Atlas was an unpleasant one indeed, but if her dad wouldn't pay, she doubted that these mongrels would keep her around after she'd lost all of her value. Getting out of here was far better than either alternative.

A noise brought her attention toward the entrance of the camp. She could barely make out two armored figures entering the camp. It seemed as if they weren't exactly welcome here, as a few of the bandits were surrounding them with weapons at the ready. The group's leader, a strange woman in a mask that seemed to be fashioned to look like a grimm, stepped out of the main structure near the back of the camp. Her voice rang out authoritatively.

"Why have you come to this place?"

The two or three people that seemed to be tasked with guarding Weiss stepped out towards the center of the encampment, interested in what was happening. This was her chance - it was now or never.

Weiss focused intently, and a pure white glyph began to manifest on the floor in front of her.

/

"Why have you come to this place?"

Raven Branwen looked out across her camp, where she saw two individuals had entered, now surrounded by a group of her men. There were two of them - a smaller woman dressed fully in armor including a red hood and helmet, and a man in flowing robes with short brown hair and intense eyes that seemed to be analyzing everything. The man held his helmet in his left arm as he stepped forward, and he gestured at her with his right hand.

"You. You're paracausal."

Raven narrowed her eyes under her mask. "I'm… what now?"

"Your power. You have more of it than everyone else. More than just … aura."

Raven felt a cold spike of fear. Did he know? How could he? He seemed like he knew about her Maiden powers somehow - but she hadn't told anyone. Did this man work for her?

No. She didn't know for sure yet. She had to play it off until she got a better read on this man.

"Of course I do. I lead this tribe. Nobody without a special kind of resolve would be worthy of such a thing."

The man looked at her directly, and his vibrant green eyes seemed almost to stare into her very soul.

"Interesting." He looked around. "You're hiding it."

He could have just been insane, a madman rambling about things he didn't understand. She couldn't be completely certain of what these two people did or didn't know. But at that moment, she was almost sure of it - he knew. And she didn't plan on letting him leave this place to tell the tale.

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

A small smile tugged at the man's lips. "Which is why I hope to learn."

Raven snorted and turned to her men. "Make sure these two never bother us again."

The strange man sighed and pulled on his helmet in one swift motion. "What did I expect? Of course they'd attack us"

As her bandits closed in on the two people, the young woman threw an object from her hand. A bolt of lightning whipped around the area, knocking a few people out of the fight immediately and disorienting others. The man's hands erupted into flame, and a bandit in front of him disintegrated. As the scene in front of her erupted into total chaos, the dust blades in Raven's sheath twisted, and she drew her sword.

A sword of pure fire appeared from thin air in her opponent's grasp as well, and he raised it toward her. The two dashed at each other, and the weapons clashed in a spectacular pyretic display.

/

I was originally planning on writing more, but I really felt like I couldn't delay any longer. Hopefully my next hiatus will not be anywhere near this long.

Also, please let me know if that science-talk near the beginning was off-putting or out of place. If it's too weird, then I'll limit it in future chapters.

Again, last chapter's formatting was a little messed up - i think i fixed it, and this one hopefully shouldn't have the same issue. Something about the way it was pasted into the document.