Chapter 16: Cimeterium
She awoke with a splitting headache emanating from her temples, it was nothing compared to her usual migraines, but it was still enough to make her let out a groan of pain. She was cold, her clothes also felt a bit damp, where was she? She blearily opened her heavy eyelids and blinked away her tiredness to take in her surroundings… a cave? No, a mining tunnel, there was old equipment scattered around. Turning her head around the dimly lit chamber she saw other, still unconscious people laid down in rows one after the other.
She really should have seen this coming…
She patted down her jacket and pants until she could feel the cold steel of her weapon in her hands, she at least still had that. Armed and at least somewhat ready, she got to her feet, somewhat reassured that she could hear those familiar echoes and blurry silhouettes in the edges of her vision. They told her that even if things didn't look safe, they will be soon enough.
"What happened?" She found herself asking, her normally silvery voice croaked from the sudden exertion and she coughed roughly into her hand. She remembered being on that train, travelling to Vacuo and then… pain, she collapsed onto the floor of her cabin and a strange Grimm bug stung her. They must've been attacked then, but if that was the case, where were the Grimm? She couldn't see any and her silhouettes seemed calmer than the situation would normally warrant.
"Only one way to find out, I guess…" She murmured and focused her attention before her. The previous headache had somewhat subsided, but the searing migraine that always accompanied her active usage of her Semblance flared up full force. The effect was instantaneous, a single moment stretched towards eternity and her silhouettes left the edges of her vision and stepped before her. Echoes and outlines became voices and people, their forms blurred before her as they moved. Her eyes twitched in pain as she focused more, the figures grew in numbers like bacteria and their voices bled together into incoherent speech, however some words were spoken more than others, these key phrases were chorused one at a time, allowing her to make sense of some.
Grimm, mine, rescue, Vacuo, Hunters and… Caryll Rose?
Her breath hitched as she reached her limit with her Semblance and the pain became unbearable. She deactivated her ability and the fast moving people retreated back to the edges of her sight, fading to shadows and echoes, but never leaving her. She collapsed to the hard ground in a heap, panting from the pain caused by the backlash. She closed her eyes and massaged her temples for minutes, trying to ease her recovery.
Bark!
The sudden noise made her jump in place and she snapped her eyes open to look at… a small corgi sitting before her? She blinked in mild surprise and regarded the docile dog curiously. It was sitting a feet before her, head tilted to the side with its tongue lolling out lazily.
"Hi?" She offered unsurely, thankfully her migraine was affecting her less and less, but she still made a mental note to stock up on aspirin as soon as she could.
Bark! The strange dog got up from the ground and trotted over to her, where it promptly invaded her personal space and began sniffing and licking her defenseless face. She yelped, the pitch of her voice finally returning, and awkwardly got up to a sitting position with the small dog held at bay in front of her. Wiping away the saliva on her face with the sleeve of her jacket she noticed that the dog had a red collar on it. She reached for it once the overly friendly dog decided her arm was interesting and promptly took it in its mouth.
Gross.
"Zwei?" She guessed, receiving a happy bark in response between chews. "And your owner is…" Her eyes widened when she saw the very name she had heard from her silhouettes. Thinking it over for a minute, she decided to search for this person, judging from the circumstances he seemed important and could maybe tell her what was going on.
"Can you take me to your owner?" She requested, the dog seemed strangely intelligent so it was worth a shot. Zwei let go of her hand and stared at her strangely, it felt like the docile dog was staring into her soul. After a few seconds of that, Zwei went to her side and repeatedly poked the hilt of her weapon with his nose.
"Hey, what are you doing-?" She finally stood up to her full height and yelped again when Zwei used his deceptively small legs to jump up and grab the hilt of her collapsed weapon.
"Zwei, give that back!" The thieving dog ran a circle around her before dropping the weapon at her feet. She snatched it up from the ground and glared lightly at the dog who was jumping in place while motioning away with its head.
"You… want to play fetch?"
Bark!
"Will you take me to your owner afterwards?"
Bark!
"Ugh, fine. Fetch!" She resigned herself to washing away the impossibly intelligent dog's saliva from her family heirloom later. She threw the weapon away and Zwei blurred after it. Zwei got under it and prepared to jump and catch it, but the weapon flew into a wall and clattered to the ground and Zwei disappeared through the wall.
"Huh?" She stared bewilderedly at the spot where the annoying dog was a moment ago while wiping at her eyes. Was that one of her silhouettes coming to life or was she losing it? She was spared from a possible mental breakdown when the ghost dog reappeared and picked up the thrown object while running back to her.
"How- Wah!" Zwei jumped up into her arms and began to enthusiastically lick her face. She awkwardly caught her falling weapon and held Zwei away from her face. Before she could even reprimand or question the strange canine, an intangible vortex consumed her vision and she could feel herself spiral away to somewhere.
Dawn and the search and rescue team arrived sooner than I'd expected. In fact, it was the roaring of the airships' engines that woke me from my slumber. It took longer than I'd liked, but through aching bones and sore muscles I got up and shot a Fire Dust arrow into the sky to serve as a flare, I don't think they would have bothered to get this close to the huge bonfire of white that was the still burning corpse of the Iratus Queen.
I didn't have to wait for long before an airship landed before me and let out a team of Hunters. They secured the surrounding area while their leader briefly questioned me on the whereabouts of the passengers, since the bulk of the rescue force was waiting by the wreckage of the train. After giving them directions to the abandoned mining settlement and promising a full explanation later, I was allowed to be looked over by one of the many medics present. My nose was reset, which wasn't very fun, and I even had the time to wash off the dried blood and get a change of clothes.
So, somewhat refreshed but still sore in places, I made my way through the hastily erected medical tents and landed airships to the leader of the mission. I was pondering on how to present what had happened last night when I felt a disturbance in my Time-Space. I stopped in my tracks and willed the disturbance to appear before me, expecting it to be Zwei, however I didn't expect him to bring someone else along.
We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity with both of us trying to overcome our surprise, though I doubt we shared reasons, seeing as they just appeared out of thin air, holding my dog.
…
…
"You… have Silver Eyes," I managed to say after a while.
"So do you," the girl holding Zwei blinked at me in return. We looked each other up and down for a few seconds in stunned surprise. She looked to be my age, if a bit smaller with a pale complexion, honey blonde, mid-length wavy hair and Silver Eyes that for some reason darted around the area while faint reflections danced on their surface. She wore an open golden yellow jacket over a tan undershirt, complemented by black pants and boots and a collapsed weapon in one of her hands. I slowly returned my attention back to her face, which sported a more and more painful expression as the seconds ticked by, then suddenly she seemed to snap back to reality and regarded me with a wry smile.
"I believe he's yours," the girl said softly and held out Zwei to me. I hesitated for a second before taking him in my arms, Zwei didn't waste a second and wiggled free to perch on my shoulders and lick my face. I'll never understand how legs so small could have so much strength in them.
"…Thank you, oh I'm Caryll by the way," I introduced myself, remembering my manners at last.
"Oh, I know…"
Not sure how to react to that information, I struggled for words.
"Right, I, uhh-" "Oh, sorry about that," she quickly shook her head and apologized, "sometimes I forget that others don't see things as I do…" She trailed off with a strange expression before offering a small smile and a hand, "My name is Theodora, but you can call me Theo." I looked at the offered hand and took it after a moment of pause.
"Nice to meet you Theo, but what were you doing-" "You know about our heritage," she cut me off again with that strange expression. I raised a curious eyebrow in response, well she wasn't very subtle it seemed.
"Yeah I do, and so do you," I answered with a half shrug. Honestly this whole thing was a surprise to me, I didn't expect to run into any other people with Silver Eyes, least of all in the middle of nowhere. I knew that Salem hunted our kind and Summer mentioned a thing or two about purges, but I didn't give much thought to the whole ordeal other than the impact it had on my life and my plans.
"Yeah, you're the first one I've met since…" Her eyes glassed over and she stared off into space again. I saw those faint reflections blur in her eyes again and I got the feeling this could take a while if I didn't do something.
"Theo?" I called awkwardly.
"Huh, yes?" She seemed to snap back to reality and regard me curiously.
"Can you let go of my hand? My palm is getting sweaty," I requested with a wry smile. She looked down at our still clasped hands and pulled hers back with a strangled yelp. She blushed in embarrassment and muttered something suspiciously sounding like "Not again" under her breath. I tilted my head to the side and regarded the flustered girl with both amusement and awkwardness.
What a strange girl.
"Anyways, I have to go to a debriefing now, we can talk more on the way if you want to," I offered and scratched the back of my head. Theo quickly collected herself and readily agreed with a strange glint in her eyes, though I could see they weren't those weird reflections this time.
After a brief recounting of the events that unfolded last night, silence reigned in the quickly assembled command tent. There were five of us there, counting myself and Theo, the leader of the operation and I stood on opposite sides of a low table with two other Hunters standing behind him with momentarily forgotten radios buzzing with activity. The leader, an aging Hunter didn't stop me once in my tale and just stared at me with an unreadable expression, which somehow felt worse than the two Hunter's baffled expressions and Theo's piercing glare to the back of my head.
"So," the man cleared his throat to break the suffocating silence that took hold after my story. "You want to tell me, that you've not only wiped out tens of thousands of a Grimm species that has been extinct for decades, but right after that you've killed a Titan of that same species that is now that amorphous burning hill where we've found you, effectively eradicating them again. All in a single night." The man finally allowed his disbelief to show on his wrinkled face.
"I couldn't have defeated the Queen without my teacher, but yes, that's the gist of it," I shrugged with a strained smile, the death of the old Schnee was still fresh in my mind.
"Right…" The man amended, seeing through my expression. "Forgive me for my bluntness, but do you have any evidence to back up your story? I just find it hard to believe that you and Nicholas did something unheard of in decades," he asked with a searching look, I guess I could understand where he was coming from, no Titan has been killed since the time of the First Hunters, well until yesterday that is. I put a hand to my chin in a thinking manner, narrowing my eyes in thought. What to do, what to do?
I snapped my fingers as an idea occurred to me. I opened an outbound portal from my right eye and summoned an annoying pest I caught yesterday.
"Woah!" The others in the tent took several steps back as they saw the Iratus Grimm writhing in my grasp.
"Here's your extinct Grimm," I grinned as I held out the Grimm bug at them with one hand holding it beneath its stinger and with the other holding it by its belly. I closed my eyes for a second before opening them again, revealing silver flames dancing wildly around them.
"And here's your mysterious fire that only burns Grimm, satisfied?"
Hah, I should do this more often, their expressions of disbelief are hilarious.
…
…
The old Hunter finally came to his senses and stepped closer to me, eyes hard and fixated on the Iratus in my hands. "There's no mistaking it, that's an Iratus…" His eyes then travelled upwards to meet mine. "And you, but how?"
"I have Silver Eyes," I replied with a smile while cutting off the flames.
"But… those are just supposed to be myths, fairy tales to entertain children…" The hardness in his eyes disappeared and was replaced with genuine wonder.
"Yes, and these were supposed to be eradicated decades ago," I nodded at the creature in my hands, "if this doesn't make you want to question your preconceptions, I don't know what will," I shrugged and warped the squirming bug back into my Time-Space. That made the man pause and stare off into the distance with a thinking expression, his escort of two doing likewise. I didn't get to say anything more as I was yanked backwards by the fabric of my cloak.
"What are you doing?" Theo whispered harshly into my ear. She let go of me and I turned to face her with a steely expression.
"I'm sending a message," I stated without hesitation.
"To whom? We live in secrecy for a reason, you know, there are people searching for us, hunting us. I've been running from them ever since-"
"I know," I cut her off with a light glare. "I know who's after us, what they're capable of and I'm not afraid of them. They took my mother away from me and I have a feeling they'd done something similar to you," I sent her a questioning look, her silence was enough confirmation for me to continue. "I don't know what they hoped to achieve when they began hunting and massacring our kind, but when they hear about this and see that burning mountain, they'll understand that there's someone out there who'll fight back and win. That there is someone out there who's a genuine threat that they can't ignore." I pointed in the direction of the Queen's corpse without taking my eyes off of her.
"That's my declaration of war to them."
Rumors would no doubt spread about someone who took down a Titan, these would reach Salem and her circle fast, I'd imagine. This gave me another option to work with, a new Plan E, have them hunt for me instead. I could fight Summer to a standstill and she was considered one of the best of her generation. I was confident I could do the same with one of Salem's agents, more than that if I could upgrade my equipment and build my weapon finally. I could beat them and question them about Summer's whereabouts without having to lift a finger in terms of searching on my own.
Theo backed away a couple of steps form me with wide eyes. The reflections in her eyes returned, making her eyes dart around for a time while she lifted a hand to massage her temple. The reflections cut off after some time and she turned to stare at the ground with a thinking expression.
"I…" She returned her attention back to me and her expression wavered. "Then I will put my faith into you for now."
"You'll still have to answer a few questions for the authorities, not to mention the media once they get wind of this," the aging man reminded as he escorted me towards a cargo airship preparing to take off.
"I have some time sensitive matters to tend to near Vacuo and this delay wasn't welcome at all," I explained over the whirring of the engines. "They can ask all the questions they want afterwards, but not now." I gave him a strained smile that I was sure explained how little I actually cared about those things at the moment. We came to a halt before the airship and the man turned to face me.
"I see. Well, I won't stop you, considering the circumstances you deserve some leeway. That is as long as you really intend to answer those questions," he chuckled and his face evened out. "But I'd urge you to spare some of that precious time for this too." He turned to a nearby crate and picked up a long and narrow object that was wrapped up in a red fabric. He turned back to me and offered the item for me to take.
"What's this?" I asked curiously and took the object in my hands, however once my fingers touched the red fabric I instantly realized its origins.
It was Nicholas' scarf wrapped around his cane.
"We've found Nicholas where you said we would and are preparing to transport him to Vacuo before sending him back all the way to Atlas," he told me while I eyed my teacher's precious possessions. "…I don't know if you're aware, but aging Hunters like myself and especially Nicholas rarely take on students, I wouldn't be surprised if you were the only Hunter-in-Training he took on in decades, maybe in his entire life," he shrugged. "I guess what I'm trying to say is since that you two were close, perhaps you could notify his family yourself. I'm sure both Nicholas and they would appreciate it if you were the one who delivered the news." I listened to him silently while staring at the cane-sword in my hands.
"I… I'll be sure to do that," I swallowed the lump in my throat and lifted my head to give him a weak smile. The man nodded in response and bid me farewell before returning to his duties, leaving me alone on the improvised landing area.
Another thing to add to the ever-growing list, I sighed and warped away the mementoes of my teacher into Kamui. I turned on my heel and boarded the airship, closing the door behind me as I looked around the cargo hold. This airship just got done unloading medical supplies and was already preparing to return to Vacuo for another supply run, so the cargo hold was mostly empty save for a few stacks of strapped down crates. However, there was an addition to its visage that was somewhat amiss.
"Looks like I'm not the only one in a hurry," I commented as I saw Theo sitting on a couple of crates with a travelling bag at her feet, lost in her little world as I've come to expect. She seemed to snap out of it and frown at me.
"Well, thanks to your little message, I have to leave even faster than I'd wanted to," she grumbled and brought her knees up to her chest.
"Sorry about that," I snorted unapologetically and made my way to sit on another stack of crates. "So, where are you headed?"
"I… don't know. I planned on going to Vacuo and lay low for a week or two before going to Karnacca, but now I'm not sure," she sighed and hugged her knees.
"Wait, you travel completely alone? I thought you'd have someone to travel with?" I blinked at her in confusion. The girl was what, ten or so and was casually crossing the continent on her own?
"My family's gone and I would be too if I hadn't ran for the past few years. I've had someone… take care of me for a while, but they're gone too," she shrugged, expression downcast.
"Did they teach you how to fight?" I nodded to the collapsed weapon at her side.
"Among other things, they mainly taught me how to look after myself." I hummed in thought at that before breaking out in a smile.
"Well, you're not alone anymore. As your cousin it's my duty to look out for you." I told her brightly, making her blink owlishly at me.
"Cousin?"
"Well yeah, we don't share many similarities and I don't really know my family tree that much, so we're second or third cousins at best, but still, we're family!" I gestured enthusiastically between our eyes. Her own widened at that and she was about to respond when those weird reflections clouded her eyes once more, making her partially zone out and put a hand against her temple in pain.
"…You've been doing that a lot, you okay?" My smile dropped as I caught her wincing. She snapped herself out of whatever trance she's been in and sighed.
"Yeah, it's just my Semblance acting up, I… can't really control it and it sometimes activates on its own."
"What is your Semblance? It looked… painful," I asked both out of curiosity and worry. Theo closed her eyes and let go of her knees.
"…Unlike others, when I open my eyes I don't just see the world in front of me. I hear and see things that shouldn't exist yet, but they do for me. For an endless moment the world slows down and I can observe every faint silhouette or echo. If I concentrate hard enough, the images and sounds can become clear enough for me to learn everything they have to offer."
"You… can see the future?" My eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.
And I thought my Semblance was cheating…
"Futures," she corrected without pause, she opened her eyes and looked at me with those same reflections dancing across her irises. "The future isn't set in stone. When I look at you, I see dozens upon dozens of possibilities play out and overlap, no matter how strange or unlikely they are." Theo elaborated before shutting off her Semblance with a wince.
"That's…"
"Tiring, uncontrollable, excruciating and distracting, but it's what kept me alive so far," she offered a wry smile.
"So that's why you paused before conversations, you wanted to see every outcome before saying anything," I accused lightly. I wasn't mad, but it did shed some light on things, like how she knew my name, and it was certainly clever. Theo confirmed it with a shameful nod before responding.
"I observe as many scenarios as possible and plan around the ones that play out and overlap the most, but that doesn't mean I can always do something about the outcome. If you decided to just stand up and kill me, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it," she waved airily with a humorless laugh.
"That's a morbid and very unlikely scenario," I said wryly in discomfort.
"And yet I see it anyway," she countered somberly, "no matter how random or gruesome the scenario is, I always see at least one of those possibilities among the sea of others." I exhaled softly and gazed at her in sympathy, I saw a far future too and sometimes I thought it was simply too much, the pain, the distrust and the destruction. Then here she was, seeing something similar happening every day. I hopped off my stack of crates and sat beside her on hers.
"There has to be other upsides, right? Most of the time Semblances aid the user, can't you ignore or turn these bad visions off?" I hypothesized but Theo was already shaking her head.
"The echoes and silhouettes are always there in the corners of my vision, whispering and doing both good and bad things. Focusing usually helps somewhat, but it hurts badly and I can never control how far they go or when do they even begin. Sometimes my Semblance flares up randomly and I lose track of the real world for hours… Huh, the more I think about it, the more it sounds like a useful curse, rather than a Semblance," she chuckled mirthlessly. I put a comforting hand on her shoulder and was about to speak when the door separating the cockpit and the cargo hold slid open, revealing our pilot looking at a notepad in his hands.
"So, you two kids are the ones I'm supposed to bring back to the kingdom?" He asked distractedly before stowing away the notepad and looking at us. He wore a yellow helmet and an orange visor covered the upper portion of his face, so I couldn't really make out his expression at the moment.
"Yep, I hope we're not a bother," I replied amiably, to which the pilot snorted in response.
"Please, it's the least I could do. I've had relatives on that train coming to visit for the holidays and they are mostly fine thanks to you. In fact, if you ever need a ride somewhere free of charge, just call me up," he crossed his arms and smiled at me. I blinked at him in surprise, looks like those rumors were spreading faster than I thought. I silently debated for a few moments if I should tell him that all of this was technically my fault and he really didn't need to do anything, but I ultimately decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Thanks, could I chip in that favor, let's say… later this day?" It was the seventh day since Summer's disappearance and I still needed to do my own investigation and preparations while I was in Vacuo. Relay towers covered a large area, so I needed to narrow down the search area even further, unless I wanted to comb through hundreds of square miles of desert.
"Sure thing, I'll be free after five in the afternoon," he nodded and turned back towards the cockpit. "Get yourselves comfortable in the meantime, I'm done with preflight checks so we're lifting off. If we're quick we'll even reach the city before lunch." With that he returned to the cockpit and closed the door behind him.
"Well, that settles it," I declared while looking ahead of us. "We have one day to master your Semblance." Theo's head snapped to me with an incredulous expression.
"What are you talking about?" I met her gaze with a determined one of my own.
"A Semblance that you can't control is no more than a hindrance, a problem to get rid of. No matter how distant, we're still family, and family looks out for each other. That makes your problems mine too, and I treat problems like challenges that need to be overcome… I have a good track record with those," I finished with a growing smile. Theo stared at me with wide eyes for a while with a variety of emotions flashing across her face until she finally let out a resigned sigh.
"You're weird, you know that?"
"I've been told that a few times, but usually with less polite terms." My reply got her to let out a short laugh.
"Fine, but I have to tell you that I've been trying for as long as I can remember, I doubt we'll make any headway now," she warned with a shake of her head. Not to be deterred, I thought back to my lessons with Summer, Raven and Nicholas. Semblances were a tricky and very broad subject that greatly varied from person to person, but a few fundamental truths applied to all of them without exception. For example, no Semblance could function without Aura… we could constantly break hers to stop the visions, but I doubt she would appreciate that method.
Another example was that the greater control one had over their Aura, the easier it was for them to utilize their Semblance. With a thoughtful hum I channeled Aura to my eyes to observe her and promptly muttered a curse.
"Gods, what's with your Aura…" I grimaced as I observed her honey colored Aura ripple across her form. Unlike the normal, slow stream of light that flowed from the nerves to the skin like a calm river, her Aura was like a star where Aura flowed from inside the body in large chunks and then either swirled around on the surface or got ejected outside. She didn't have much Aura relatively speaking, just around the level of a Signal graduate's, which was still a lot compared to her age, but it was recharging even faster than mine did.
"What's with it?" She asked indignantly and gave me the stink eye.
"You barely have any control over it, no wonder you can't control your Semblance," I gave her a blank stare.
"Hey, I can control it just fine while it's inside me," she defended with crossed arms.
"That's the thing Theo, the entire cargo hold is saturated with your Aura. You're like a malfunctioning sprinkler with an unlimited water supply."
…
…
"I shouldn't have said that," I nodded to myself when I noticed her twitching eyebrow and clenched fist. I summoned a plate of cookies with my Semblance and offered her some. "I'm sorry?"
She blinked in surprise at the plate's appearance, but winced when her stomach growled. She nodded sheepishly in acceptance and reached for a couple of the pastries. We munched on our breakfast in silence for a few moments when something occurred to me.
"Wait, when you use your Semblance to see the future-" "Futures." "-Right, how far exactly do you see, physically speaking I mean?" I asked between bites. Semblances had limits to them, Theo's was no different from what she told me, but how far did hers really extend? She activated her Semblance, causing the blurs to reappear for a second before dismissing them.
"I usually see events happening in a… dozen or so meter radius around me I guess, or in the room I'm currently in, like the one we're in for example," she explained with a thoughtful shrug.
"Then the solution to your problem is obvious," I commented offhandedly, making her turn to me with a confused expression. "Many Semblances are tied to Aura in some way other than being just a fuel source, my Aura for example phases away to another dimension when it isn't anchored down to something and yours is similar in a way. My guess is that your Semblance is using your Aura as a medium to function, that's why you only see events around you," I shrugged in explanation. "Learn to properly suppress your Aura and you'll gain complete control of your Semblance." It wasn't a very fast or easy solution, but it was the only way.
Theo froze in place and remained still like statue for what felt like hours, just looking at me like I offered her the Holy Grail. She eventually let a smile form on her face and turned to search through her bag for something. She eventually found what she was looking for and shyly presented a Scroll to me.
"I-… can I take a picture of you?" She requested with her eyes looking elsewhere. The unexpected request made me raise an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"I've been losing memories ever since I've unlocked my Semblance… it was barely noticeable at first, small things and some words missing here and there, but as time went on I had trouble recalling more important things, like important dates and faces of loved ones. My caretaker said that I have trouble with forming long term memories or something," she explained somberly. This threw me for a loop as I tried to find a logical reason for a drawback so severe-
"Oh…"
I remember hearing a comparison once in my old life between the human brain and computers. I didn't remember exact figures, but I recall hearing that the human brain could theoretically store enough information to allow a person to remember hundreds of years' worth of memories.
With experiencing dozens of different timelines at once nigh constantly for how knows how many years, Theo's memory should be filling up rapidly. Forgetting old memories isn't simply a drawback of her Semblance, but a safety mechanism of her body put in place to prevent her memory from overloading.
"I've found that pictures help with remembering, so I've been making as many as I could about things I'd like to remember," she continued, then she finally turned to look back at me with an embarrassed smile. "You're the first family I've come across while… travelling and you've been nothing but kind and helpful and… I guess I just wouldn't want to forget you once we part ways," Theo admitted shyly with a hopeful look.
I didn't need to be a genius to figure out the best course of action here.
I sighed softly and slid beside her while taking the Scroll out of her hands. I draped one of my arms around her shoulders and leaned my head beside hers while raising the Scroll up in the air. Not giving the very surprised girl a chance to collect herself, I took our picture.
A flash of light blinded us for a brief moment and we separated to look at it.
"You look hilarious!" I snickered at her shocked expression and rigid body, talk about a deer caught in the headlights. Meanwhile I was beaming at the camera with my off hand making a peace symbol over Theo's opposite shoulder. The various crates and walls didn't offer the best background, but oh well, it was still an awesome picture in my book.
"I look horrible! Did you have to take it in this lighting? I demand-" "Less complaining, more practicing with your Aura," I cut her whining off with a smirk and tossed the Scroll back to her. She didn't appreciate my tone, if her piercing glare was anything to go by, but she did reluctantly put her Scroll back into her bag and turn to me for instruction.
The journey to Vacuo was relatively short, but we did manage to make some progress with Theo's control problem; her Aura was less… volatile compared to earlier, which was a sign of greater mastery. Not much else was achieved sadly, her main problem was with Aura projection and that was a skill only learned by third year students of the Academies for a reason, not to mention that I could only coach her on theoretical aspects since I sucked even more in practice than she did.
So, it was with a minor sense of accomplishment that we disembarked our transport and stepped outside into the kingdom surrounded by miles and miles upon of sand dunes and drylands. A slight dry breeze hit me as I opened the door, coupled with the glaring sun hanging up above, the first impression I had of this corner of Remnant was a distraught longing feeling for Vale's and Mistral's more temperate climates.
I wasn't pale as chalk, but I was sure I wouldn't last more than a few minutes under that sun.
"At least it isn't the snow," I muttered while putting on my mask.
"What's with that?" Theo appeared beside me and raised an eyebrow at the mask. I hopped down to the concrete ground of the landing pad and pulled up my hood.
"I have people after me at the moment, so I can't afford to be recognized." I wouldn't be surprised if Qrow or someone else was already on route to Vacuo. Headmasters were regarded as the de facto leaders of Hunters in their respective kingdoms and all of them answered to Ozpin on some level. I wouldn't put it past the old wizard that he already caught wind of the Titan incident involving a Silver Eyed Warrior. Considering the circumstances, it wouldn't be hard for him to connect the dots and provide Qrow with a lead on me, which meant that I had one or two days at best before they caught up to me.
It was a lot less time than I'd like, but I'll have to make due.
The first thing I had to do was locate the black market, then I could sell my Dust and buy supplies, weapons and possibly information. The only hurdle with that plan was that I had no idea where to even begin. relative lack of law enforcement or not, a black market wouldn't be much of a black market if it could be found by anyone. I looked around myself and took in the brightly lit cargo airport, workers were already filing closer from the nearby warehouses to begin loading the waiting airship. Beyond those I could see houses made out of sandstone, concrete and steel, in the distance against the backdrop of sand dunes and towering palm trees I could even make out the roughly pyramid shape of Shade Academy alongside Amity Colosseum itself. The Vytal festival would start later this month and preparations were underway to accommodate the influx of tourists that were sure to flood Vacuo.
It provided a somewhat scenic view even from where I was, but I had to wonder, what made Summer come this far on her lonesome?
"So, where are you headed?" Theo asked me as she walked up beside me.
"I honestly have no idea. I'm looking for the black market, but without knowing what to even look for it could take days." Days that I did not have, nor did Summer. Theo hummed thoughtfully in response.
"Then it's a good thing you have me." This made me turn my head to her curiously. "I've been doing this a lot longer than you have, I picked up a few tricks along my travels," she shrugged with a smile.
"You know where we can find it?" My visible eye widened with hope.
"Maybe, it's not my first time here, but it has been a while and you know how's my memory," she shook her head negatively. "Maybe they've even changed their clues since then, but it's worth a shot."
"I'll take your word for it," I sighed lightly and gestured her to lead the way. That wasn't very reassuring, but it was a start at least.
Theo took the lead and let out a similar sigh, albeit for different reasons, "I hope we find a clue soon; I don't like being in the big cities," she complained.
"Why?" I asked as made to follow her a step behind.
"This many people and things in one place just gives my Semblance more variables to work with, the silhouettes would just blot out my vision," she explained with a wince. I hummed non committedly in response, we already came up with a solution for her problem, granted it was a long term one, but I didn't see how we could-
I stopped in my tracks.
I didn't see…
"Is something wrong?" Theo stopped and turned to me once she noticed she was walking alone.
"I think I just figured out a stop-gap solution for you until you gain total control of your Semblance," I told her with an ever growing smile.
"Really, what is it?" She asked interestedly.
"We'll blindfold you!" I presented my genius idea.
…
She gave me a flat look of disappointment and indignation.
"Hear me out, you see those shadows or whatever normally, right?" I moved to clarify my plan. She nodded slowly in a positive, still staring at me like an idiot. "Then even if your Semblance activates on its own, you'll see nothing and can immediately snap yourself out of it."
"Yes, but I would actually like to, you know, see things?" She said sarcastically, my smile only got wider at that.
"Exactly! Which is why you'll channel Aura into your eyes, my dear cousin."
"…What?" She truly looked lost now, which brought my internal celebration to a halt.
"What do you mean 'what?', I thought you were glad to meet someone else who knew how to use our heritage?" My visible eye crinkled in confusion.
"Well yeah, it's just that my knowledge is a bit spotty because…" She trailed off and briefly activated her Semblance for emphasis.
Oh…
"Did you… ever activate your eyes? Or know how to?" My expression evened out, losing memories must be difficult.
"No, most people unlock theirs in their late teens. I know the theory of how to go about it, but it's easier said than done. It would be even harder for me because of my Semblance," she reasoned solemnly. "Which makes me all the more confused as to how you're not only using yours, but how did you even awaken the flames of Lumia in the first place?" She shook her head and looked at me curiously.
…
"They have a name?" I stared blankly at her and I swear I could make out a tumbleweed roll past us.
"You don't even… Of course they have a name! How can you achieve the strongest form of our heritage and not even know its name?!" She sputtered incredulously.
"Well, my training has been cut short too because they took my mother, that's what I'm trying to fix right now," I crossed my arms defensively with a hidden frown. "Besides, I haven't made much headway with them since I've basically been figuring out things on my own, so how about we fill in the gaps in our knowledge? You tell me what you know about these Lumia flames and I tell you how to see even better than some Faunus do," I offered with a calmer tone.
"Fine, but like I said I only know the theory and it's easier said than done," she threw up her hands before crossing them over her chest. "So, how is your wonder method supposed to work?"
"Well, I could tell you, but then we'd be wasting daylight. So, how about we jump straight into practice? Channel Aura to your eyes." It was fortunate I had my mask on, because otherwise I would probably have given myself away with my contorted face and barely contained mirth. Theo reluctantly nodded and did as told.
I could fully understand Summer's reaction back then; the expression on someone's face as they lie on the ground experiencing sensory overload is simply priceless. The crossed eyes, the stuck out tongue and drooling mouth is a hilarious combination rarely seen in real life.
A painful one too, if the victim has no qualms about pummeling you afterwards as revenge.
"I never thought I would see that much Dust in one place, or money for that matter. You're seriously planning to spend all that money on weapons?" Theo asked wonderingly as we stepped onto a staircase leading to the basement of a run-down residential building. Luckily for us, they haven't changed the markings since Theo's last visit as evidenced by a black and white symbol of two hands reaching out for one another graffitied on the brick wall of the building.
"Quality equipment costs an arm and a leg and I need the best if I'm to go against those that hunt us," I responded as I opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, revealing the shop of the weapon dealer and manufacturer that apparently had the best reputation in the underbelly of the city. I looked around briefly, as I've come to expect in my short time here, all buildings had sand and dust in them no matter how well looked after they were, it was simply a fact of life in Vacuo. It held true here as well because I could see a generous amount of dust swirling in the air. Countless weapons rested on the walls and in glass display cases scattered around the room-
"Wipe your shoes!" I almost yelped in surprise when a voice shrieked across the room, Theo didn't have such problems and did so without hesitation. After the initial shock I tracked the voice to a woman standing behind a counter on the far side of the room… For the lack of a better term she looked like a classical hippie with clothes that seemed like they were painted by a toddler with paint stuck to their fingers, strangely braided hair and designer cap and glasses. What was even more surprising was her skin color, as in that it was constantly changing and shifting between different colors of the rainbow, was she a Faunus? She cleared her throat pointedly and glanced at my feet, I looked down at the ground and saw a doormat before my feet with writing on it.
Welcome to Sunny Vacuo!
I took a step forward and made a show of wiping my shoes, the woman nodded to me and shifted her glare at Theo, she followed my example, earning a satisfied huff form the weird woman.
"Thanks! Sorry for giving you the scare but I hate when customers drag their filthy feet through my shop. Everything gets even dustier than before and you know how it is-" "Sally,-" hic "-stop weirding out-" hic "-the customers!" Another voice cut the woman off and signified the arrival of a man from a doorway in the back. As opposed to the woman, he at least wore somewhat normal clothing, or whatever cloak-like garments passed as normal in Vacuo anyway. However, the half empty bottle of alcohol in his hand did nothing to alleviate my worries.
"I'm not! I'm just informing them about our policies regarding sand!" The woman, named Sally apparently, sniped back and sat down on a chair behind the counter. "I'm sure they get it-, I mean it's coarse, rough and irritating and it gets everywhere! There is no need to worsen the situation by bringing in even more of it!" She complained and grabbed a mug to drink from, only to blanch and pour out the sand that was inside instead of whatever drink she expected. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother, why did I leave Mistral? Sure, they didn't appreciate my art at all, but at least the environment didn't try to constantly revoke my right to exist," she whined, her skin color flickered between blue and purple and she slumped against the counter.
"Poor life choices-" hic "-Sally, poor life choices-" hic "-and money," the man addressed the overly dramatic woman before turning his attention to us with a bright smile. "But I'm sure you're not here to listen to our antics-" hic "-so how can we help you?" I shook my head at the amusing sight before me and conjured a familiar blueprint into my hand.
"Right, I was wondering if you could do a custom order for me." The man nodded positively and motioned towards his colleague. I approached the desk and placed the rolled up paper in front of the sulking Faunus. She perked up at the action and reached for the intruding object. She unfurled it and let her eyes roam over it with ever increasing speed. Her skin color changed rapidly from blue to yellow and then green before settling back to a normal slight tan, though spots of various pigments remained behind like-
Oh, Sally, Faunus, got it.
"Who designed this?" She eventually spoke up and looked at me with an unreadable expression.
"That would be me." She coughed into her hand politely in response and placed the blueprint between us.
"As a fellow artist I must admit that your design has merit and is very functional, I would even go as far as to say that some idio-… not so artistically inclined individuals would be overjoyed to possess something like it…"
"Thank you?" I responded unsurely, only for her to slam a fist into the table, upsetting the papers on it and causing her mug to roll off and fall to the ground.
"But I cannot in good conscious, make something so hideous- I mean just look at it! I get that it's like a Vytal army knife in functionality, but there are obvious improvements to be made here that even a toddler could spot!" I bristled at the jab and narrowed my eye at her.
"If you're talking about the mecha-shift, I left it out on purpose for easier maintenance."
"An understandable yet idiotic decision. Art has many faces- to only show one ugly aspect is a sin against art itself and a blight on the artist's reputation," she countered and crossed her arms in defiance.
…
…
"Alright, listen here lady, I don't know where you got your degree-" I removed my mask to clearly convey my disappointment and joined her behind the counter.
"This might take a while," Theo sighed as she stood with the man from earlier, just watching the two of us arguing rather animatedly over the blueprint over the finer details of the art of weapon design.
"Would you like some cactus tea in the meantime-?" hic "-I have a feeling this will turn out to be a fruitful business transaction."
"No, I'll head to the bazaar, I have a few things I wanted to buy and who knows, maybe they will finish their argument by the time I get back." She shook her head and walked out of the shop while calling out a brief explanation and goodbye to me.
"See you, Theo! Now, like I was saying this is an abstract piece of engineering that's elegant in its simplicity-!"
"Oh yes, it's simply horrendous! How do you expect anyone to look at you holding it and not burst out laughing?"
"You don't understand my vision!"
"It's done," I released a sigh of relief and took the still cooling weapon into my hands. After several hours of arguing- I mean debating, Sally and I took our business to their forge and created art.
"Yes, it is," Sally acquiesced as we walked back to the front of the store. "You know, I quite enjoyed working on this project, the challenge and the near impossible deadline of a few hours, it was thrilling to work on it together."
"Oh, I agree."
"If you're interested we could work-"
"Not a snowball's chance in hell."
"Ah good, I wouldn't have it any other way, but you know how professional courtesy goes," she agreed blandly. I nodded knowingly, just because we worked together on a wonderful collaboration project didn't change the fact that she was a witless fool who couldn't appreciate real art if it hit her in the face.
Still, I had to begrudgingly admit that some of her ideas were worthy of being incorporated into-
"So, what will be its name?" Sally asked with fake innocence as we reached the counter area. I pondered over it for a minute before snapping my fingers with a satisfied smile.
"Attero."
"Hmm, Old Valean? I like it," she clicked her tongue, savoring the word and nodded approvingly. "Now, since my colleague isn't here to ask, is there anything else I can do for you?" She forced a smile on her face and sat down on her swivel chair. In response I brought out a throwing knife and showed it to her.
"I'm looking to upgrade or find a substitute for these. Do you have any ideas?" Sally hummed and took the blade away from me with a hand on her chin.
"DUCKs? Now these are elegant in their simplicity, albeit not really resistant to more modern art… I might have something in mind," she snapped her fingers and disappeared under the counter, only to reappear with a similar looking, if a bit more polished and streamlined knife in her hand.
"This is from our stash reserved for favored customers, but I guess I can show it to you, even if you clearly have no real sense for design aesthetics," she huffed and placed the knife onto the counter. I collapsed Attero and stowed it on my back while observing the small blade.
"What's this?"
"The most modern, even futuristic art straight from the Atlesian Specialist Corps. They took the original DUCK design and modernized it with quality materials and better Dust handling capabilities," she explained while I rotated the knife in my hands, it certainly looked the part of a Specialist's gear.
"How did you get them if they're so new and apparently from the Atlesian military?" I asked confusedly.
"We had friends in the Atlesian detachment that escorted Amity to Vacuo. They were eager to make a buck and I was looking to expand our collection," Sally shrugged simply in response. Ah, the wonders of the black market. "There's also a neat little advantage they have over other combat knives, watch." She took out another knife and also took the one from my hand. She inserted a Lightning Dust crystal into their injection ports and channeled Aura into the blades. A moment later an intangible yellow string formed between the knives' hilts, just like the gravity strings I used in my vambraces.
"They can be networked without the need of a caster?" I asked, holding back a gasp of amazement.
"Yep," she confirmed with a knowing smirk.
"I'll take your entire stock," I stated with utmost seriousness. This could be huge, if I was right then this meant that these knives could serve as universal puzzle pieces for various glyphs. With these and Nicholas' lessons I could take my glyph casting to a whole new level.
"Hmm, maybe you're not as hopeless with art as I've thought," Sally acquiesced with a shake of her head. "I'll go get them, feel free to take a look around in the meantime," she said and walked out of the room to what I assumed was the storage area. I did as suggested and walked around, looking at various display pieces while humming to myself. I wasn't intending to buy any, but it was a novel experience to see what bizarre weapons could people come up with.
Seriously, there were missile backpacks, needle-gatling guns, high-frequency laser pointers, a rotary Dust-odachi, twin curved swords that could turn into a bow- wait what?
I stopped in my tracks and snapped my head back to where I saw the last two weapons. I reappeared before them in the blink of an eye and stared at them disbelievingly, there was no doubt about it, they were Omen and Laminae, but what the hell were they doing here!?
"Something caught-" hic "-your fancy?" The semi-drunk man from earlier reappeared and walked beside me.
"May I?" I snapped my attention to him and gestured animatedly at the weapons in front of me. He nodded and I grabbed hold of Omen first, seeing Raven's symbol on the sheath and then repeating the action with Laminae confirmed my suspicions and made me shudder in anticipation and trepidation.
"Where did you get these?" I rounded on the man with a desperate expression, Summer and Raven wouldn't just sell their weapons at the drop of a hat.
"Oh, those-?" hic "-An Atlesian gentleman came in a few days ago and sold these to us. The bastard drove a hard bargain I tell you." Atlesian gentleman? Considering the circumstances it would be reasonable to assume it was Watts, but why would he sell weapons? Funds maybe? Hunter weapons go for a lot and Salem's agents have to finance themselves somehow, I doubt Salem cared for her underlings' wellbeing beyond the success of their assigned tasks. But this also raised a problem, what the hell was Raven doing here? She is supposed to be in Mistral with her tribe-? Her Semblance allowed her to know if her bonded people were in danger, did she try to help Summer and got captured too… or did they spare themselves the trouble and just killed her?
I clenched my fists at the thought, no, in this case I shouldn't assume the worst right away.
"Did he say where he got these weapons from?" My voice strained a bit but the man didn't seem to mind.
"It's the black market, we don't ask unnecessary questions-" hic "-unless the items are highly sought after." I released a frustrated sigh, that's just great! I had not one, but two people to save now and I wasn't any closer than 'they are somewhere south of Vacuo!', simply wonderful.
"He found them in the Red Sands!" Sally's voice boomed from behind us as she reappeared by the counter with stacks of boxes in her hands. We turned to her with differing expressions of hope and curiosity.
"How can-" hic "-you tell?" Sally put down the boxes with the sound of clattering metal and shrugged.
"Like I said, sand gets everywhere, weapons are no exception," she explained. "And the sand in those weapons can only be found in that hellish graveyard."
"The Red Sands?" I raised my eyebrows at the name, hope at a new lead tinging my voice.
"Ah, it's an infamous place here in Vacuo-" hic "-it's the only place where you can find this kind of artificial sand," the man took Omen from my hands and rattled it a bit, causing a bit of red sand to pour out of the mecha-shift. I held out my hand under the falling sand and caught some of it. It was made up of coarse, red grains.
"Is this silica and… rust?" I wondered once I realized that there was in fact two kinds of material in my palm. The man nodded in confirmation.
"The Red Sands was once a lush oasis surrounded by towering mesas, but that changed when civilization appeared in Vacuo-" hic "-It became the battleground between individuals, tribes, city-states and even kingdoms-" hic "-when the last great battle of the Great War happened. Thousands of years of warfare scarred the land until the land couldn't heal itself and became nothing more than a deadly wasteland of rust and scrap metal, truly a graveyard of empires," he explained between hiccups and handed Omen back to me.
I nodded in understanding and warped away the weapons in my hands alongside the stacks of boxes on the counter. I then made a sizeable pile of Lien appear on the counter and walked out of the front door without a glance back. "Thank you for your help, keep the change."
I had a new lead to pursue and no time to waste.
Finding Theo didn't take long at all, knowing her Aura signature and thanks to her tendency of projecting her Aura everywhere made it easy to track her to a local bazaar. She waved to me once she caught sight of me in the crowd and motioned for me to come closer. I did so and made my way beside her to look at a selection of scarfs and other cloths with a similar purpose. She picked up a silver colored cloth and held it out for me to take.
"Could you help me put it on?" I nodded with a smile and took it from her hand.
"So, you decided my plan isn't stupid then?" She huffed and turned away from me. I placed the cloth over her eyes and tied it behind her head.
"I feel stupid with it but it works, so thank you, I guess," she mock sighed and turned back to face me. I rolled my eyes in response, but my expression sobered a moment later.
"I have new lead and an airship to get to, so I guess I wanted to say goodbye before I disappeared on you," I told her with a sad smile. I did enjoy spending the day with her, but all good things have to come to an end.
"Oh, you're leaving, huh." Theo's mouth curved a bit downwards with her sigh.
"Hey cheer up a bit, I'll come back and find you once I found my Mom. You don't have to worry about being alone-" "-I want to come with you." She cut me off and her face settled into a frown.
I wasn't surprised in the least by her interruption and shook my head. "Sorry, but no."
"Why?" She asked curtly without missing a beat, frown still in place.
"Out of everyone you should know how dangerous what I'm doing is. I'm gladly willing to risk myself over this, but I'm not letting others-" "Oh, I know!" She interrupted me yet again with a growl. She pulled up the blindfold and activated her Semblance.
"I know everything that can happen! I've spent the last four years running from settlement to settlement, not knowing what awaited me over the next hill or river, but knowing with full certainty what would happen if I stayed in place! I am tired of knowing! I am tired of running! I am tired of not doing anything!" She moved a finger against my chest and poked me roughly.
"And then you come along, doing exactly the opposite of how I've lived my life, flourishing alone and taking the fight back to them. I envy you, your confidence and determination. I want to prove to myself and to the world that I can be the same!"
"I don't doubt your determination, it's just-" "And don't treat me like a goldfish, Caryll! I may have trouble remembering things, but I recall you saying how because we were family, my problems were yours and that family should look out for each other. Well, guess what, that goes both ways!" Did she just cut me off again? This was quickly becoming an annoying trend… But still, she had a point. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, I wasn't keen on letting a little girl fight for me, moral questionability aside I didn't even know how good she would be in a fight. She was probably around Academy student level if I were to guess, though that greatly depended on how her Semblance acted during battle. She could just as likely hinder me as help-
Nicholas' lesson came to the forefront of my mind and I furrowed my brows in thought. I couldn't do this alone, the train incident proved as much, but was she like me and Nicholas? Nicholas admitted that at first he had no idea I was like him, so what made him sure later on? I glanced up at her steely expression and blinked in surprise at the look in her eyes. Not at the glow from the active Aura vision or at the shadows from her Semblance, but at the sheer determination in them.
It kinda reminded me of Summer and Nicholas…
Ah, my bleeding heart.
"Fine, you can come along on one condition; you have to master your Semblance first. Otherwise you'd only be liability." I sighed and massaged the bridge of my nose. Theo blinked in surprise, apparently not expecting that answer, and that was telling considering her currently active Semblance.
"That could take days," she protested weakly. I smiled mischievously at her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Better give it your all then," I gave her a shoulder pat and picked up a particular scarf that I saw from the corner of my eyes during our conversation. "See you later, Theo." I waved over my shoulder and disappeared into the crowd.
I had an airship to catch and a sewing kit to find.
"Hey kid, we're here." I stood up from my seat and joined the pilot in the cockpit.
"Already? It was closer than I expected," I commented as I looked out the front window of the airship, the sun was hanging low on the horizon and was basking the skies in orange light.
"It's as close as I can get you with that thing in front of us," the pilot shrugged, making me squint at a dark violet… pillar in the distance. It was still very far away and I had no idea why the pilot wouldn't fly any closer to it, but if he seemed wary of it, then there must be a reason for it. However, it was the only landmark that I could see and consequently it would probably the best place to start snooping around.
"It's alright, I can handle myself from here," I told the pilot and turned around to walk to the side door of the cargo hold.
"Good luck, kid. I don't know what you're doing in a graveyard like that, but I'm sure you'll need it!" The pilot called out one last time while I made a last minute equipment check. Laminae and its quiver were tightly strapped against my back and over my cloak, under that rested Attero in its folded state. I reached for the satchel bag containing my Dust reserves and new knives and patted it in confirmation. Finally, my hand travelled to my neck and caressed my new red scarf. The symbol of a five-armed spiral, made up from swirling white rose petals glowed briefly as I activated the Dust in it. Finding everything in order, I activated the opening mechanism and the door slid open to reveal the outside world.
What greeted me was a hellish wonderland of endless rust colored deserts, maroon mesas and deep chasms.
Simply wonderful.
"Much appreciated! And thank you again for the ride!" I shouted over the howling winds before taking a step forward and falling out of the speeding airship. The wind fluttered my cloak and threatened to undo my hair as I rapidly approached the sand dunes below me. I looked over my shoulder to see the airship swerve around and head back towards the kingdom, I would be on my own from now on. I warped myself to ground level and looked around curiously.
This place is supposed to have a lot of history to it, that was obvious if one were to see the rusting pieces of weaponry and armor occasionally protruding from the sands, but from what I've heard this was also a crossroads of sorts. The last battle of the Great War happened here, meaning that Ozpin was present while he was the king, the same with Nicholas' sister from what I remember and I remember Summer once telling me that my great-grandfather earned his war hero status in the last battle as well. And now Summer and maybe even Raven visited this place. It seemed like this place was attracting a lot of people, like it was somehow special.
And now it drew me as well, huh. Hopefully whatever that pillar was could shed some light on this whole situation. I put on my mask and hood and blurred from my spot towards the violet anomaly in the distance.
It barely took me a minute to arrive at my destination and it was a breathtaking sight to behold from this close. It also came with the realization that the towering monolith wasn't a solid pillar, but rather a swirling tornado of violet fire that stretched for miles in every direction. In some places the wind blew sand from nearby dunes into the strange twister, the impact points erupted with fire and hungrily swallowed the added mass. That on itself was somewhat expected, however what was strange was that the grains of sand that merely grazed the sides were set on fire and incinerated without a trace soon after. Looking down at the base of the blazing inferno and seeing the sand around it remain completely untouched raised even more questions. What could not only set fire to sand, but straight up erase it from existence while leaving more of that same sand unharmed? What kind of firestorm was this-?
Firestorm…
My eyes widened in realization as I remembered Ozpin's words from years ago. A violet firestorm that erased anything it touched, be it human or otherwise. This was the site of their last duel?
"So this is divine power…" I stared at the wall of divine fire before me. The Relic of Destruction was used in their duel, wasn't it? That could possibly do something like this. Memories popped up in my mind, depicting the God of Darkness using these very flames to erase Ozma and later on all of humanity. Wanting to examine it a bit closer, I walked down from the top of a nearby sand dune and approached the anomaly. From this distance it looked stable enough and I could make out faint footprints in the sand not far from it, meaning that someone had been here recently and that it was safe to traverse this close to the storm.
My standpoint changed exceptionally fast when I was around halfway there and my eyes decided to act on their own. Pressure built up inside them faster than ever before and discharged itself before I could even tell what was happening. The area around me was basked in bright light and I took a step back in surprise.
My vision returned soon after like normal, but I was perplexed as to what exactly happened as my eyes never did this before. I didn't get much time to ponder on this however, as movement in front of me drew my attention. The wall of hellfire visibly recoiled at the sudden flash of light and swirled aggressively in place like some wounded organism. I furrowed my brows in confusion at that. What was going on with my eyes and why did that fire move around like it was alive…?
"What the-?" I was cut off by the sudden eruption of those violet flames. In the blink of an eye they burst from their position and covered the entire area up to the dune I originally came from. They were so fast that they reached and enveloped me before I could even react. The fire then receded back to its original position as fast as it came and left me standing there with a positively terrified expression.
"…Thank the Gods my Semblance is so broken," I laughed awkwardly to myself, trying and failing to alleviate the terror I felt after whatever that was. It was too close for comfort even for me. If Kamui's intangibility hadn't been literally the fastest thing on Remnant, I wouldn't even be a pile of ash on the ground, I would have been straight up erased from existence.
"With the threat of being struck down by God out of the way, what the hell just happened?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. For some reason my eyes reacted to those flames' proximity and vice versa, but why? The only reason that made some sense was tied to their origins, but if that were the case…
I channeled Aura to my eyes and marveled at what I was seeing.
I was seeing nothing, and not in the sense of darkness that most people would assume, but nothing. The portion of my vision where I should've been seeing the flames was missing, it was like the universe beyond an imaginary line in the sand simply didn't exist. Deciding to test a possible theory of mine, I took hold of an old throwing knife I had, channeled Aura into it and threw it at the abyss before me. Sure enough, after crossing that imaginary line the glow of my Aura ceased to exist.
"So that's how it is," I murmured thoughtfully. "I guess I just discovered the dark equivalent of the Lumia flames." It was an interesting but simple conclusion, my eyes only worked in the presence of manifestations of darkness. These violet flames were the darkest objects I have ever seen, similarly how the Lumia flames were the brightest lights in existence. No wonder my eyes reacted the way they did, being suddenly exposed to each other's polar opposite must be jarring for both forces.
It was a fascinating discovery that raised even more questions than it answered, but sadly I wasn't here to answer them at the moment, I had leads to track. I looked pointedly at the trail of footprints glowing with a subtle golden light. Following the trail towards its source I caught glimpse of a speck of red.
I warped myself over to the familiar Aura signature without a second of hesitation and found myself on top of a sand dune, overlooking a small camp of tents, crates and a put out campfire, however none of these things held my attention for longer than a split second as I stared at the life-size ice sculpture of Raven. She was clearly in distress, with one hand reaching forwards and with another reaching for her missing scabbard.
I narrowed my eyes at it and looked around suspiciously, this could be a trap and that statue could be just some Aura infused ice used as a lure, but I didn't see anyone home and I doubted Salem's followers expected someone to mount a rescue mission. From their perspective they captured a Silver Eyed Warrior and a rogue Huntress that came to rescue her.
Not to mention that the statue's Aura level was stable, if it was some lure then it would gradually weaken over time.
I warped myself before it and examined it closely, the ice was hazy but I could still make out Raven's familiar pale skin and unique outfit under it, there was no mistaking it, it was her. I placed a hand on her outstretched arm and frowned in confusion; the ice wasn't cold, it was closer to room temperature and it wasn't even melting in the middle of the desert, which made no sense whatsoever. My eyes travelled to her face, much of it was hazy but I could clearly make out her unblinking red eyes staring straight ahead.
She was clearly alive, her Aura proved so, but how? At most she has been like this for an entire week. How could she eat or even breathe with a cocoon of ice around her? And why wasn't the ice cold? It made no sense, unless…
Raven has been literally put on ice; this was the magical equivalent of putting someone in stasis.
This wasn't a lure for a trap, but simply a package waiting for transport…
"Oh, a visitor. I wonder what's someone doing this far out in the Red Sands." I snapped my head around towards the source of the voice. Standing near my previous position on the sand dune was a woman in her late twenties garbed in a tan cloak and dark pants. She had shoulder-length dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, somewhat pale skin and a suspiciously friendly smile. It may have been my foreknowledge induced paranoia speaking, but the huge buster-sword similar in design to Qrow's Harbinger strapped across her back didn't go well with her friendly demeanor.
"…I'm looking for someone," I answered and stepped away from Raven. "Her name is Summer Rose, mid-thirties, mid-length deep red hair, overly friendly and usually wears a white cloak…" I listed as I turned to her with a narrowed visible eye. "…she also has Silver Eyes, you hadn't seen her by any chance?"
The woman put a finger to her mouth in a mock thinking manner and hummed to herself, I admit she may have been somewhat attractive looking, but I had a gut feeling that would be just about the only positive thing I would observe about her. "Hmm, interesting you mention that, I maybe had a run-in with her some time ago. But I have to ask why you would follow her this far away from civilization, surely you must be aware of the dangers out here?" She asked and began to close the distance between us with deliberate steps.
"I've made too many promises to turn back," I responded carefully, my eye never leaving her form.
"And we're all bound to our promises, I see," she nodded in understanding. "However, I must warn you that you're dealing with things you may not understand. Since you're only a child or a teen at best I'll let you walk away this time, no strings attached, but if you-"
"Save your breath."
Caught off guard by my interruption, she stopped in her tracks some distance away from me. I glared at her with my visible eye, not intimidated by her implied threat in the slightest.
"I know why she disappeared, I know about Salem and the secret war going on between her and Ozpin, in fact I most likely know more than you do," I told her dryly. Her friendly aura disappeared instantly, but for some reason her smile never left her face.
"Oh, is that so? That's a pretty dangerous claim you're making," she noted with a strange edge to her tone.
"I'm aware of the consequences and I'm not afraid of them in the slightest."
"Are you sure about that? More have died for less," she asked with a raised eyebrow and that ever-present smile, it was getting a bit unsettling.
"Somehow I doubt that would be the case here," I told her blandly. "…So, how about a wager then?" My sudden suggestion made her lose her smile momentarily and regard me with confusion.
"A wager?"
"Yes, I think we both know where this conversation's headed and at this rate one of us isn't going to walk away from this. Neither of us wants that, so how about we don't escalate this to a straight up deathmatch… only just a regular fight where the one who's Aura drops below one-fifths surrenders without any bloodshed," I shrugged and crossed my arms under my cloak. "If I win, I get to take this statue here and you'll have to tell me everything you know of what happened to Summer Rose. After that you're free to do whatever you wish, I'll even allow you to scurry back to your mistress if that's what you want." My glare intensified at the stupefied woman. She stared at me for several seconds before chuckling to herself.
"You've got some nerve, I'll give you that. But I fail to see how this would benefit me in the slightest, not to mention what's stopping me from killing you right here and now." That unsettling smile returned to her face and she regarded me with amusement.
I paused for a moment and internally sighed, I hoped this would do the trick. My cloak parted in the middle and my hands went to pull down my hood. The woman regarded me curiously and her eyes widened in understanding when I removed my mask and exposed my familiar features and blazing Silver Eyes.
"I may not know what you're doing with our kind, but I know that you're trying to collect us," I addressed her in a measured tone. "Trying to capture someone alive is a hassle in on itself, they try to resist and fight back at first and sometimes they die accidentally, but then they try to escape afterwards, it's a pain really. So to give you some incentive, if you win our fight, I won't resist in the slightest. You can take me straight to Salem and I'll be the model prisoner the entire time," I offered and waited for a response. She just regarded me with an expression that I had a hard time deciphering and a tense silence descended between us. The distant and deep whizzing sounds of the violet firestorm and the weak, dry wind bellowing the tents and our clothes were the only sounds between us for a few long moments. That is until a crack formed in her façade.
"Oh, I see, I see…" She chuckled to herself, but to my surprise those chuckles quickly evolved into full blown laughter and that smile turned into a face splitting grin. I took an involuntary step back at seeing that quick change of attitude and grabbed hold of four of my knives under my cloak. "-I see how it is! Very well, I accept your challenge!" She declared once her laughter subsided a bit. "It's not every day I run into a Silver Eyed Warrior, let alone a fully-fledged one. I sometimes forget how fun your whole lot can be. Sadly, Tyrian got to handle the last one and I only got there in time for the finale, so maybe you can entertain me for a while. Come then, let's take our business away a bit, wouldn't want to accidentally damage our bargaining chip, now would we?" She gestured to Raven's frozen form while laughing to herself. She then turned to the side and started walking straight ahead without a care in the world. I reigned in my bewilderment and made to walk parallel to her with the same gap between us as before.
"Can I ask you something?" I voiced cautiously as the distance between us and the camp grew.
"What is there for us to talk about?" She asked mirthfully. I hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Why do you follow Salem? Why are you loyal to her?" Whatever she expected me to say, it apparently wasn't that, because she actually paused for a second.
"What brought this question on?" She replied carefully.
"Everyone has their reasons for doing what they do. Most of them are understandable, even relatable, but some of them are irredeemable. I'll treat this confrontation in accord of your answer," I shrugged in response without looking at her.
"You're trying to see if I'm 'redeemable' is that it?" She shook her head with that same grin. "Your kind never ceases to amaze me with their 'nobility', but you're even more unpredictable than most. But to answer your question, it depends on your definition of loyalty, she merely made an offer that is too beneficial for me to decline," she responded with a scoff.
"What was it then? Money? Power? Revenge?" I listed with a side glance at her. I did believe in second chances; this life was my second chance and I was actively trying to better Raven and her whole lot. It would be hypocritical of me to deny the chance of someone willing to change.
But if they refuse or waste it, then oh well, may they rest forever in hell.
"Oh, nothing so complicated I assure you," the blonde woman responded longingly and stopped her walk. I did likewise and we turned to face each other, the camp was still in viewing distance, but we were far enough to not damage it.
"In my years of wandering, fighting and surviving in these harsh deserts, I've come to realize something. Life is a fickle and fleeting thing, it can be taken away in the blink of an eye and even so, many squander it," she paused for a moment and closed her eyes with a blissful smile. "Life is too short to waste on inconsequential things like you mentioned, instead one must seek joy while they're able to, it's the only way to live a fulfilling life. What this happiness is differs from person to person, it can be fulfilling a dream or even finding true love and starting a family, but what brings the greatest joy for me is…" She trailed off as her right hand appeared from her cloak and caressed her own cheek, for some reason her hand was shivering.
My expression faltered momentarily as a wave of apprehension washed over me at those words. For some reason my gut told me I wouldn't like what was to come…
"…Battle." She opened her eyes and released a wistful sigh. "…The fateful encounter between people trying to end one another's existence, when the adrenaline floods your veins and instinct takes over. The intoxicating feeling of the outside world ceasing to exist and only you and your opponent becoming the only variables that matter. When you're no longer humans, but forces of nature with a single drive to survive, to remain standing while the other's lifeblood covers the ground! It is the greatest ecstasy!" During her monologue, her voice got steadily louder and a face-splitting, manic grin parted her face.
She spread her arms in front of her like a preacher addressing a crowd and her eyes gained a mad gleam to them. "Salem understood my desires and approached me with an offer. I would serve her and become a harbinger of her will in the world, and in exchange she would provide me with worthy entertainment until the day of my death! I have served her for years and she never once failed to deliver on her promise, I've got to witness more people taking their last breaths than I've dared to dream! I'm happier than I've ever been in my entire life!" She laughed madly while I regarded her with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"Does that satisfy your curiosity?" She asked between a few stray chuckles one she had calmed down enough.
"You're utterly insane…" I muttered under my breath and shook my head. Whoever this woman was, she was just as bad as Tyrian, in which case I had to be especially on guard, their type was unpredictable and illogical which was a deadly combination. My eyes hardened and I reached under my cloak for Attero. I pressed a button on its handle and twirled the weapon in front of me as it transformed in my hand.
This modified version of Attero was a lot more compact then what I've had designed originally and the maintenance on it was going to be a pain thanks to all the moving parts, but against an opponent like her the faster mecha-shift and better ergonomics would help immensely. The weapon in storage mode, which was the shaft with two elephant gun barrels pointed in each direction with their corresponding triggers on the side, was only the length of my arm, but that changed fast when two segmented blades emerged between the paired gun barrels and tripled the weapon's overall length. The now fully deployed double-bladed sword stood as high as I did, courtesy of my limited height, and its slightly curved blades gleamed proudly under the setting sun. I settled into a combat stance with Attero behind my back and pointed diagonally at the ground, while I clutched the four throwing knives in my left hand, just barely visible under my cloak.
"Before we begin, may I ask a question in return?" The blond seemed nonplussed at my preparations and asked away.
"What is it?" I asked cautiously.
"What's your name?" I blinked at the unexpected question and looked at her suspiciously, prompting her to elaborate. "I make sure to remember the names of every valiant opponent that I've crossed blades with, I would especially like to remember the name of the person who went out of his way to challenge me," she explained with barely contained excitement. For a moment it occurred to me that maybe it was a trap or something along those lines, but dismissed the thought immediately after, there was no advantage to be gained by knowing my name, they already captured Summer and could easily run her family name through kingdom records for potential matches.
"…My name is Caryll Rose," I answered hesitantly. She hummed and nodded with a satisfied smile. She closed her eyes and I immediately felt a change in the air around us. The slight breeze picked up suddenly and the sand shifted subtly as it vibrated beneath our feet. I glanced around, alarmed at the sudden changes, but my opponent's voice quickly recaptured my attention.
"Hello, Caryll Rose, the Silver Eyed Warrior. I'm Konan, the Summer Maiden." Her eyes snapped open and golden flames burst from them as a proof of her claim. The sky darkened as storm clouds formed out of nothing and thunder roared above our heads. Her shaking right hand reached for the handle of her sword and grasped it with deliberate slowness.
"And I hope you'll enjoy these coming minutes as much as I will," she regarded me with a bloodthirsty grin.
It was at this moment Caryll knew, he fucked up.
As you can see, I decided to go with the name Lumia for the flames, which is an offshoot of the latin word lumen, or light. It was also suggested by the guest reviewer Hmason, though his version contained an extra n.
Well, a completely OC character appears in the story. I'll say this now, because I know the reception OCs get in most communities, I may use throw-away characters that get mentioned once or twice, but Theo will be the only long term, recurring OC in the entire story. All other recurring characters are established and listed so you can rest easy. With that said, I spent an ungodly amount of time making her character to be better than what you'd normally expect, seeing as she will be playing an important role in the plot with a few others.
Another note that I'd like make is that I've based her off of a character in mythology/fairy tales, I'm curious to see if you guys can find out which, just to see if I need to be more subtle with my writing or not.
Attero is latin for entropy, decay and disruption among other things.
No omake here because too long chapter, plus I wanted to put it out as fast as I could, but next chapter I'll write two, I promise