In hallowed halls, forgotten by time. Deep below, where only the foolish would climb.
A lone guardian wanders the halls. In its hands was an unfortunate prey that stared in horror and awe.
It was hungry, thirsty, angry at its prey, its mind filled with many ways for it to play.
But then it stops, it stops, it stops, it lets go of the prey. Who was dropped on the floor didn't care as it scurried away.
Master, creator, goddess, words that poorly describe what lay before it. The guardian prays, its body trembling in awe as it submits.
The words were wordless, the plans submitted yet formless, and the guardian writhed and squirmed on the ground in rapturous ecstasy.
The guardian slowly got up after the feeling passes, an aroused smile on its face as it was once again alone, in hallowed halls forgotten by time.
Paars was scared.
For all of Paars' life, he knew hardship. No parents, a poorly managed orphanage, and the kids besides him were all his bullies. His name didn't help it serves as a reason for the kids at the orphanage to bully him. So when he encountered a mysterious person lurking around the orphanage at night, he didn't tell anyone. The day after that, there was candy underneath his pillow.
The next few days were made brighter by his nightly visits with the stranger, one day, the stranger asked Paars if he want to leave the orphanage. He accepted, because why would he say no to someone who was the first person to treat him so nicely?
Today, Paars woke up in an unknown building, next to him was a window. There was no sun, only a bright moon, and a beautiful night sky. Storm clouds are forming in the distance, though far away he can barely make out a large rock wall.
He looked around him, there are kids around his age, some younger, some older, but overall it looks like he was in another orphanage. Some were playing with toys, others doodling on the wall or paper.
Before he could think about it, the doors of the room opened. The children stopped what they were doing and looked at the person entering the room, and that's when Paars became scared.
The person wasn't a person, it was a beast, the black and white evil beasts that the heroes of the world fight every day to keep us safe. And one of them was in the same room as him. It looked like a person but so, so very wrong.
Instead of screaming, or in his case, staring at fear. Everyone rush towards the beast person, their words unintelligible as they overlap with one another. The beast person then made eye contact with Paars and walked towards him. He only stares at the beast person as it got closer and closer. The pale white skin, the red lines on her body, the red eyes in the middle of the black. When it reaches Paars, instead of mauling him like in all the stories, it offers its hand and gave Paars a comforting smile.
"Come, child~."
"Awww, that's not fair!"
"Yeah, he just arrived!"
All of the children voiced their opposition to Paars being approached by the beast person, however, instead of being scared of him…they sound disappointed? He grabs the beast person's hand and was gently guided out of the room. As he walked towards his unknown destination, he saw more beasts…carrying boxes or helping clean the orphanage. He was sure one of the jellyfish beasts was looking at him with bright, hazy blue eyes on its orb body.
Paars was led to a large chamber, it was dark, yet somehow illuminated. There was a large pool of what he could describe as liquid darkness, the beast person guided him to the pool and began to step into it.
Paars hesitated to follow the beast person, but one worried glance from it overrides Paars's hesitation. As he stepped into the pool of darkness, he immediately felt the urge to jump out. It was so cold, so hostile, so…alien, he didn't like it.
"Relax child~. My hand will guide thee~. Salvation is close~."
Paars was taken deeper and deeper into the pool, to the point where the beast person had to pick him up to make sure he doesn't drown. Then the beast person looked directly at him in the eyes, the wrongness of which made him uncomfortable and start to panic. Then she places him into a floating position.
"Don't panic child, you have been saved~. Relax, and let the darkness swath you in its comfort~."
The cool, alien liquid slowly became warmer, the beast person comforting him and humming an unknown soothing hymn as he felt sinking deeper and deeper into the liquid. It feels nice, to be loved for once. Paars closed his eyes and took deep, relaxing breaths as he was submerged in the liquid.
Freya watched as the lightborn child is submerged in the darkness, soon he would become duskborn, free from the cycle, and hopefully, find an adoptive family. She leaves the pool of darkness, one of many in Twilight before doing a prayer.
"Oh Dragonlord Jourmungandr, father and god of dragons, I ask you to lend your strength to these burgeoning duskborn just have you gave wisdom to our god queen. So they can emerge healthy and strong, for their new lives, liberated from the cycle that plagues the surface. From stone comes wisdom, from lightning comes strength, and from wings comes sight. Let the young be guided under the grace of our lord, so be it."
"Isn't it early for prayer?" A voice asked curiously from behind her.
"Oh, Miko! I'm sorry, I always perform a prayer to the Dragonlord so he may grant strength to the new generation."
"It's ok Sister Freya, I'm not one to judge since I'm a shrine maiden. Now get out of the pool, you'll stain your clothes."
Freya wades her way out of the pool of darkness and began walking alongside the shrine maiden.
"I'm thinking of leaving early today."
"Oh? Why?"
"Hard to perform a lunar ritual when the false moon is covered by a rainstorm."
"I understand. Besides work, was there anything of issue or note today?"
"No, three children were adopted by families today, the local dragon church adopted two children to help raise and taught draconic values, and we received seven saved lightborn today. All in all, I'd say it's been a slow day."
"You call seven saved children in a single day "slow"?"
"Ehh, relative to the adoption rate. A few years ago there was a high adoption rate, now it feels like it's slowing down."
"Right, either way, you're free to leave early, I wouldn't want to hinder you on your religious duties."
"Thank you sister, may the moon illuminate the way for you."
"May the dragons give strength for you."
"Thou have been quiet as of late. Has something bitten your tongue Amat?"
Munnin asked curiously while eating his breakfast, it's been a few days since his sister acquired the location of the stolen relics. Yet she has been quiet as a late, which is strange considering she's always been chatty in the morning. Perhaps the morning rain was souring her mood.
"Houyi…I think I went too far in retrieving the location of the relics."
"Too far?"
"I nearly crushed the leg of Roman Torchwick's assistant, only stopping if either she spoke or he gave up the location of the relics, the girl was mute. I don't even know if I was thinking and-."
"Amaterasu, take a deep breath."
The kitsune took deep, long breaths, tears are forming in her eyes. Houyi decides to be more informal to talk with his sister and show a more truthful, honest version of himself.
"Amat, don't worry. I know you're going through a lot with Ruby gone, we all are, but don't worry. We'll find her."
He gave a comforting smile to his bigger, younger sister. That seems to calm her down somewhat.
"Besides, I read about this Roman Torchwick, sleazy man. I'm pretty sure that mute girl would be his enforcer, did she particularly stand out?"
"Yes."
"Then with the Moon as my witness, I say she deserved it, who knows what crimes she had committed before you arrived."
"Houyi you don't have to flatter me like this, I'm not a child."
"It was either this, or the alternative option Amat, and I know how much you love and hate that option."
The kitsune pouted at Houyi, which made him chuckle as he take a bite from his breakfast. It feels good to have a casual chat from time to time. He and Amaterasu may be Ravens of the Queen but they are still human at their core.
"So Amat, you never really did tell me where exactly the relics are located. You only said that you are making preparations for the trip to retrieve them, is there something wrong?"
"The Snowflakes bought them, we have to infiltrate Atlas City."
Houyi let out a disappointed and angry sigh. He still remembers how much of a pain it was to steal the CCT documents from the Kingdom of Machine and then transcribe those documents to the duskborn languages. It was for the greater good but by the moon, if he had to deal with one more stupid automata…
"Anything else?"
"I'm using our contacts within Mantle to work our way up towards Atlas City, hopefully by the time we arrive in Solitas they would have disabled their local sensors for the arrival."
"Alright, that's good to know. I'll transfer some Lien if you encounter any difficulties. Speaking of which, any updates on the Gaze situation?"
"Hmmm…well grimmomancer Nyx has to go on medical leave for a few weeks because she decided to toy with her prey instead of killing them. Now she's suffering the consequences of being drunk on negativity. I don't even understand why she toyed with Azure instead of just killing him. Other than that they didn't have Ruby."
"Oh, so the infamous Solar Raven is talking about the consequences of getting drunk on negativity now?"
"What do you mean by that?"
Houyi took a dramatic, loud slurp from his drink before continuing.
"Means you're a hypocrite."
"How does that make me a hypocrite?!"
"Amat, I will not lie. I've lived with you for nearly a millennium now, you may be taller than me but I am still your older brother, I know how you act. And I know whenever you get extremely enthusiastic, or in this case emotional, I know you love "playing" with your targets. So don't throw stones in your glass house."
"Hmph, that doesn't mean I'm wrong though."
"Yeah yeah. Either way, is there anything else you want to talk about?"
"Well~, Lusus wanted some books from the outside. I can't give it to her right now so I gave it to the Chief Apothecary to hand it alongside her tincture medication."
"Really? What kind of books?"
"Oh, not much, just parenting books and teenage rebellion. She has been going through her library as late to find out why exactly Ruby left. I've been doing the same too, she was a little sister or niece to me and I loved and I-"
Houyi sighed before standing up. He did warn her after all.
"What are you doing?"
He said nothing as he walked towards his sister, he then hugged her and started rubbing her head.
"Whose a good girl~?"
"What?!"
Amaterasu tried breaking from her brother's grip to no avail as he head patted her.
"Oh come on, you used to like this when you were young. It helps calm you down!"
"I am not 300 cycles old Houyi! By the moon I am a Raven, not a child, you know I'm too old for this!"
"Your tails say otherwise, oh! Did you go back to seven? I thought you said three was fine?"
Amaterasu only responded with embarrassed noises as her tails wagged about in excitement until one of them accidentally knocked over a plate. Breaking it and spilling the food. The siblings looked at it in awkward silence before…
"Youbreakityoucleanit!"
Houyi froze Amaterasu's legs to the chair and quickly began leaving the room.
"HOUYI!"
"Sorry dear sister, but I'm afraid that I have more serious business to attend to than thou. Hopefully, one of the servant darkborn would arrive and help thy cleaning business. Toodles~!"
Houyi gave an evil laugh as he quickly leaves the room, dodging a fireball aimed at his head and hearing his sister giving out an enraged scream.
The pattering of the rain on the window gave ambiance to Lusus's study, she needed it, for it helped her relax, and maintain her grip on reality.
"Still searching for your lost "daughter"?"
She took a deep inhale. He's back.
"I was until thou hath to ruin the peace with thy wretched presence."
"You know you won't be able to find her. Remnant is a huge world, and you trained her especially well. And now she's gone, taking with her your "normalcy". Who knew that survival training led your precious "daughter" to run away and discover the truth about you?"
She chuckled.
"What truth?"
"The truth of your wretched existence, of the crimes you co-"
"Really? Even though thou art a wretched figment of my mind, thou tried distorting reality to convince me to submit?"
"You know it's the only way to repent…"
"Repent what?! I have repented! I look around and I see a thriving civilization, that I brought up with my own bare hands. Yet here art thou, trying to convince me that suicide as if it was the early days again! As I did before, I reject your call as I had before, and I will do anything to ensure the life of this civilization continues!"
"Even if that means killing your daughter~?"
She froze. The voice was different. Sublime, primordial, calm…yet truthful. It sounds like it was right behind her, yet when she turned around, there was nothing. Her eyes widen as she processes this before the doors of her study open.
"Ah, my Queen! Sorry for my delay, but the morning rains caused the roads to get muddied in delivering the supplies. I take it thy day wasn't ruined by thy visions?"
She looked towards the visitor, it was the Chief Apocathary, of the Apocathary Guild. Due to being an immortal monarch, she doesn't need a permanent personal doctor. However, with the rebirth of Ruby, he was assigned to monitor and help maintain the young Dusk Princess's health.
It also allowed her to divulge secrets that no man should know to him.
"No, no. I was just doing some slight reading. Please, take a seat."
He approaches and lays down a large container, he then opens it and takes out a large stack of books and a tincture bottle. Though he is of an average height of a duskborn, Lusus still towers over him.
"Art these the books and medicine I have requested? I thought Huginn was supposed to deliver these to me."
"Oh, she claimed that she was busy with work, so she handed these to me. Either way, the medicine thou requested took some difficulty to create. There are no citizens of Yggdrasil that match your height and weight class, so we had to make due. An oni around 10ft was offered reduced sentencing for medicinal testing involving an opium mixture…the man was knocked out but is currently recovering and displaying positive results. Either way, if the medicine proves too strong or too weak, please send a missive. The health of the monarchy matters as much as the people's."
"Regarding the monarchy…art thou finished with the experiments I requested?"
"Oh…yes. Please excuse me for a moment."
He got up, walked towards the doors, and closed them.
"Ooh~, assassinating the Timeless Queen aren't we?"
"Technically thy medication would substitute for a poisoning, but I digress."
He sits back down and takes a deep breath.
"Though the research is being finalized, and all of this is being kept down under. Only those close to me are allowed to work on it. I can safely say…She's a match."
"A match?"
"Not only that but 100% compatibility, same ability to produce it as thou. I mean this as a compliment, but thy blood was interesting to study. Of course, that should be expected from a progenitor goddess of the Blood Queen. But there's so much potential, not to mention the Dusk Princess's silver eyes, who knows what could happen. And the control-"
"Apothecary…"
"I apologize my queen. But if thou art worries about thy daughter, do not worry. I'm sure the fine men and women under the Ravens are working tirelessly to find her. Besides, if the worst comes, it would be easy to find her."
Lusus eyed him curiously after he said that.
"How so?"
"Well…if we find her as normal, she returns home, issues solved…"
"The surface however could push her to the limit, and in her teen years no less. And now that we know that she shares what thou possess. If the worst comes…"
She understood where he was leading to.
"You don't mean…"
"Well…if the worst does come, finding her would be easy. All we have to do is follow the path of destruction to the Dusk Princess."
He stops speaking to let what he said to hang in the air. She never considered it happening to her. She needs to have Ruby back. Not only for her safety but to mend their relationship and prevent her from falling into the same depravity as her grandmother.
Lusus also noted that life was slowly becoming more and more numb without Ruby around.
"Well, I must take my leave. Before I do, the recommended dosage is one cup every week. Praise be upon thee, my goddess."
She was once again alone, and she sat there. Mulling about what she has just learned. She decided to at least take out the books she requested before taking the tincture later in the day. She organized the books, most of them lightborn parenting books. Perhaps she can gain insight into what exactly she did wrong and how to do better in the future. One of them however stood out.
It was flashy, unique compared to the rest of the books, and written in Mistrali. It stood out among the books, just begging her to gleam into its contents. Perhaps Amaterasu made a mistake…but she can take one quick read into it before discarding it.
"3 sapphires and 25 emeralds?!"
"Yes…I stated that it would be expensive, you're asking for several high-quality silver weapons that I have to smith and then ship."
"But that's way more than I expected! I mean a sapphire or two and a few dozen emeralds, maybe amethyst and citrines, yes, but you're extorting me! How did an artificer like you manage to get a license?!"
"Well excuse me for being an honest merchant! Everyone nowadays wants a good weapon due to the rumors about the monarchy, you know those always get the crazies crawling out of the sewers, ruins, or wherever they decided to establish themselves. I saw an opportunity, and I took it. So are you going to pay now or are you going to leave?"
He sighed, before taking out his pouch and paying the artificer while muttering about it being unfair and illegal extortion.
"Good, before I start. Are you forming a militia training group, just asking given that this is a rather large shipment."
"Yes, bandits, where I live, have been harassing us and the military hasn't been able to deal with them yet. I'd rather be prepared than be caught off guard and murdered."
"Aye, I can understand that. You have a good day now, may the dragons give you strength."
He nodded before leaving the store. The rains were in full force, with many people out doing their business in cover or with umbrellas. He casually strolled into a crowd of people, making note whenever to move should a local patrol happens to casually walk by. He walked and walked, occasionally hearing the odd rumor or casual conversation between his fellow duskborn. He then reached his destination, walking to an alleyway, he slowed his pace. Making sure no one was following him before going to a door and knocking on it with a special pattern.
The door opened, and he quickly rushed inside.
He walked down some stairs into a storage room. Another person pulled a lever disguised as a torch and he enters the secret room. It was a large room, with people wearing azure scarves and doing their assigned work.
The tyrant has eyes and ears everywhere, and who knows who might be an informant for the city guard. Thus it was wise to hide their locations in areas none may suspect.
"Welcome back brother, have you been able to procure the weapons?"
"It was expensive, but the final phase of our plan shall be complete."
He walked to a table, it contained a planned pathway that leads from the White Palace to Twilight. A sympathizer within the tyrant's servants gave them the plans for this to be possible in the first place. Everyone starts gathering around the table for the next meeting.
"The Dusk Princess is missing, the tyrant is aloof and the monarchy is called into question…Azure siblings! Today marks the final piece in our long plan, the death of the tyrannical Lusus and the end of the abyssal monarchy. One millennium ago, our progenitors, clad in azure scarves, sought to change the world and slay tyranny. Yet in the end, instead of liberation and the shattering of our chains, we were only given lip service! All the while the monstrous spawn of the Blood Queen sits on her silver throne and profits off of our suffering!"
He slammed his fist for dramatic flair.
"Well, no more I say! The tyrant may be old, but she is just one, and we are many! We are the instrument of the people, who shall lead us to true liberation just as the founders of the Azure Scarves intended! And if we must water the stars of liberty with our blood, then so be it! The beast shall fall, skewered like her wretched mother! And with it the nobles that support and prop her tyrannical system!"
"Death to the Queen! No gods, no masters, only Dusk!"
"No gods! No masters! Only Dusk!"
"Hey! Can you come over here and see this?"
A groan is heard before a shadowblade enters the room, unmasked and very tired.
"Mind telling me why you are interrupting my date with the shattered moon?"
"Check this out!"
He points to the screen of the computer, it was a missing person's bounty…with a picture of the Dusk Princess, albeit it was somewhat modified to prevent total identification. He stared incredulously at him before asking a simple question.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Well, I heard from the missives that she wasn't found in the Kingdom of Freedom, despite murdering an entire lightborn trafficking ring. So I figured that if we couldn't find her, then why not outsource our work to the huntsmen? Anima is a huge place, after all, she's surely hiding among one of the many settlements scattered across here. Might as well do some work to alleviate the effort finding her."
"That's so stupid, and yet it might work. Hmmm, the bounty is too low though, no one will accept it. Try putting it at 20k Lien and we'll see where we go from there."
"Nah, we're in the Kingdom of Corruption. People here love their cash nearly as much as that Snowflake! Though they don't send people to die to my knowledge. If we're going to find her, we gotta weed out the lazy bunch and get the best of the best. Plus it might get the Spider syndicate to assist us in the search effort."
"And how do you figure doing that?"
He simply press the zero number several times, until the number was twenty million Lien.
"There, that tells everyone that she's rich, comes from a powerful family, and would ensure that they are willing to pay for her. Also means we'll get the best of the best doing the work for us. All I have to do is finalize some paperwork and we'll have the princess within our grasp, alongside eliminating the contamination."
The shadowblade simply nods in approval before going to bed. The move was risky, but it would cover their bases well. All they have to do is listen to whoever finds the princess first, kill them, and then safely extract her to Yggdrasil. Hopefully, nothing can go wrong.
In a shallow cave, an ancient pool stirs, for the first time in millennia. It was a relic, an area built for a long-forgotten time. The Grimm essence bubbles and writhes, before a shape, comes out of it. Then another, then two more. Powerful, ancient, and filled with purpose. They spread out their wings and began their sacred duty.
One went west, towards the lone and level sands.
One went north, to the lands of ice and innovation.
One went east, towards the vast, corrupted lands.
And finally, one stayed and began its search in the verdant emerald green lands.