A horse neighed.
It was a tiny, insignificant sound that was in no way at home in the desert.
Inky cackled, a sword fashioned from blazing white fire in her left hand and her staff in her right. "Ah, finally. Took 'em long enough, eh?"
"What are you talking about?" Weiss said, an orange glyph spinning on the tip of her blade. "Who's them?"
Nex nudged her hip, craning his head to take a peek. Her eyes followed, squinting.
A brown mare cantered atop the dune, the moonlight casting a soft glow upon its sleek fur. Two riders sat on its back.
One of them was a woman, the top half of her face concealed by a butterfly mask. The steel was the same colour as Vigilance, midnight blue trimmed with gold. Eyes only a shade darker than Weiss Schnee's hid behind the grey slits, glowing an electric blue—the sure mark of a faunus.
She was garbed in a tattered white cloak, her snowy mane draping over it. Her companion—a man—was a knight shrouded in a crimson cowl, the shadows concealing his face. Chainmail glittered under his vest, a red-rimmed shield hanging off his back and a blood-red sword fastened to his belt.
For some reason, his choice of colours reminded him of none other than Ruby Rose.
"Hail! Adventurers on the sand!" the snow-maned woman said, her steady voice ploughing through the growls of Grimm. "Mayhaps thou art, as the locals say it, experiencing of the bind?"
What?
"Aye, it be quite unfortunate, eh?!" Inky said, her grin bigger than ever. "Captain Inky be requiring your aid, eh? She be your bestie, eh?"
"Bestie?!" the woman said, gasping. "Pray! This heroine bears no recollection of this Captain Inky. Mayhaps thou art lost through the realms of Akasha as well?"
Inky's grin pursed into a line as she glanced at Leli. "Bugger. Something be awfully fishy here…"
Leli shook her head, muttering, "They seem different. Perhaps they are not our them. Or they are not yet."
Nex stifled the urge to scratch the back of his head, eyeing the Grimm creeping closer. Were they seriously chatting like they were sitting around in a cafe?
"Aye! That be it!" Inky said, her eyes lighting up. "My mistake! You be aiding us now, yes, future bestie?!"
"Hmph!" The woman smirked, palm spread over her face, posing like the heroine on the cover of one of Ruby's comics. "Let us make for the war and the slaughter then, bestie, and see if thine words ring true!"
The knight let out a shrill, piercing cry, nudging their horse down the dune. Its frantic hooves kicked up a tide of sand. He drew his sword, the crimson steel glimmering like the eyes of Grimm as it basked in the light of the shattered moon.
The woman held a bow in her hands, ice flashing into her grip before she sent it through a Deathstalker's head. His semblance tingled—the arrow was formed out of magic.
She was a Maiden as well.
It was at that moment, that the Grimm charged, galloping towards them like animals bred for the sole purpose of slaughter.
"Weiss! You're on defence!" Nex braced his shield, his aura breathing new life into his limbs. "Ruby! Offence! Blake! Cover us!"
"Arrows of doom!"
The woman's bow twanged as their horse sprinted into the bulk of the Grimm, the knight swinging his bloody sword and lopping the head off a thick Taijitu in one broad stroke. She sat on the tip of the saddle back-to-back with the knight. The horse's tail flopped between her thighs, slapping her exposed skin.
"Onward, beloved! Into the mouth of the abyss!" the woman said. "For 'tis most decisively dangerous, most exhilaratingly exciting—"
Nex rolled his eyes, tuning out the woman's melodic soprano. Though a nagging whisper at the back of his head—his semblance—kept telling him that she was a little too familiar, as if they had already met each other before.
Still, he had no time to think about it. He had to focus on the task at hand.
Namely, escaping—or killing—the Lyndwyrm, the queen of the Vacuan wastes.
"What about us?" Leli said.
Nex shrugged, finding his footing on the slippery sands. "Stab them. It's short, simple. Easy to remember."
Inky boomed in laughter. "Why, yes! It be an excellent suggestion, eh, amatus?"
"It's exactly what you'd suggest as well, ma chérie," Leli said, grinning as she twirled her daggers by the rings on their hilts.
The bulk of the Grimm crashed against them.
Nex found himself the tip of a metaphorical spear, tearing a hole through the Grimm, with Weiss and Inky as his prongs. He weaved around the lurching Taijitu and the zigzagging Lancers, letting Inky burn the snakes to ash, white flames gushing from her staff.
Weiss' glyphs tinkled, shielding him from the blows he could not avoid—either because his semblance saw no way out or because the Lancers were simply too quick. Ruby took care of them and the Deathstalkers, her dress and scythe already dripping with monster blood. Leli and Blake hacked at the Grimm in their path, trailing after her. Or, rather, after the mad pair on a horse.
The masked woman fired shot after shot with a shit-eating grin on her lips. A flurry of frost and thunder mowed down swarms of Grimm even as the horse—a mare, really—raced dizzying circles around the battlefield, guided by the knight's expert touch.
He had one hand stretched out, the other on the reins, his cloak whipping behind him. Silver bolts of what seemed to be lightning—magic that made Pareidolia squirm—fried a Beowolf mid-lunge, forking out of his palm.
It seemed… different. Colder than the magic Inky or the masked woman wielded.
"Arcane Bolt!" the knight screamed, lightning putting a smoking hole through a Taijitu's head. "Arcane Barrage!" That one—ten consecutive bombs of wind—took down a host of Lancers in a single breath.
"Bwahahahaha!" Inky clutched her stomach. "Captain Inky can scream her spells too, eh?" She swished her staff, stabbing its piked butt into the sands. "Burn in the crimson fires of hell! Kreuzfeur!"
Blazing crosses bubbled under a chunk of Grimm, like portals to a world of flame. The unlucky ones shrieked when lava gushed and flowed, dragging them into the swirling inferno. Their ashes faded along with the spell—Kreuzfeur as Inky called it.
"Ha! Take that!" Inky grinned. "Kreuzfeur be cooler than Arcane Bolt, eh?"
"Verily! This heroine must broker the agreement!" the masked woman said, nodding furiously as she fired another shot. The motion threw her hood back, a pair of wolf ears the colour of powdered snow twitching atop her head. "Kreuzfeur! Epico! Sensational! 'Tis the epitome of the fieriness indeed!"
The knight glanced at Inky, rolling his eyes. "I'm not the one who, like, came up with the dumb name."
"Ah, it be a waste, Eir!" Inky said—and the knight arched an eyebrow. "But perhaps you be renaming it—"
The Lyndwyrm roared, rising high up into the skies. It reared into a dive, its wings blazing with crimson fire—like a phoenix instead of a dragon. Its scales glowed orange, steam rising from its joints like mist off a cauldron.
It was headed straight at him. Damn.
"Nex!" Weiss screamed. "Watch out!"
Nex leapt aside as the Lyndwyrm crashed into where he once stood, the sand turning to onyx glass. Sweat oozed from his face, the searing heat sapping the aura from his limbs.
The Lyndwyrm's mace-like tail whipped towards him.
For some reason, the thing really had it out for his ass.
Nex ducked under his shield. The blow sent him flying away, glyphs tinkling and cushioning his fall. He landed beside his partner, his bones shaking, jarred from the impact.
"That's gotta be the strongest Grimm we've faced yet," Weiss said, frowning. "Qrow was right, you know. I hope you have a plan."
Nex racked his brain, the world turning quiet, grey, as his semblance buzzed in his skull. "Someone needs to drag it out of the sky. But I don't think those scales will budge easily. So once we do, someone needs to hit it hard enough to kill it in one strike. And that strike really has to end it all. I don't think Lyndwyrms are dumb enough to fall for whatever we do twice."
Weiss thrust her rapier towards the Lyndwyrm. Purple glyphs tinkled above its wings, trying to push it down.
It shrieked.
A mighty flap of its wings shattered her glyphs like mirrors.
Weiss grimaced. She shivered as her aura crackled over her skin. "My glyphs can't pin it down."
Nex jammed Hrunting into Vigilance, the weapon whirring as it came to life. "If things get worse. We run. No matter what."
They exchanged nods, dashing back into the fight. The Grimm's numbers had dwindled, so much so that roughly a dozen of them remained. Still, the Lyndwyrm roamed the skies above—unbreakable. A terror even among terrors, its shrill shrieks numbing his extra pair of ears. No doubt it would chase them until the ends of the continent, even if they fled.
"Bestie!" Inky swung her staff towards a Deathstalker's tail, wielding it like a spear. The monster writhed as flames crept up the appendage, searing away flesh and armour alike. "I got the fire if you got the thunder, eh?"
"Pray!" the masked Maiden said as their horse stopped beside his team, joining them in a line. "Whatever does the future bestie mean?"
"Seriously?" the knight—Eir—said as he flicked his bloodied sword. He wiped the rest of it off the crook of his elbow. "We're, like, doing some sort of time paradox now?"
Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Time paradox?"
"Time paradox?" Ruby said, grinning.
"Time paradox?" Blake said. "Seriously?"
Eir chuckled. "I like this one."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, King Crimson," Blake said, shooting him a deadpan stare.
"Hmph!" The masked woman smirked and raised her chin. "The cat in the black will be most disappointed! For you see, the Guardian Eir's betrothed to none other than this heroine!"
"Riiiiiight," Eir drawled, flicking her dainty nose—and she yelped. "Look, let's just, like, kill this thing already." He yawned. "Hesus. It's been, like, ages since I got some shut-eye."
Nex licked his lips. Now that was something he could relate to.
"It's circling back," Leli said, her grip on her bow tightening. "Chains?"
"Chains," Inky said, grinning. "You be casting Song of the Storm, yes, bestie?"
The masked woman gasped. "Pray! However does the Captain Inky know of this heroine's Limit Break—with capitals L and B?!"
"Limit Break?" Ruby mumbled, grinning. "That's so cool."
Of course. Trust Ruby Rose to be the one to know what a Limit Break was. Certainly not Weiss or Blake, both of them looking as confused as he probably did.
Inky smiled, the Lyndwyrm drawing ever closer, a belt of meteors swirling behind it. "We be joining hands now, eh? Ready whenever you are, bestie."
The masked woman hmphed, closing her eyes. "Let us sing then, Maiden of the Summer," she mumbled, "and become the song that stokes the hearth…"
Whatever that one meant.
"What do you need us to do?" Weiss said, staring at the masked woman.
"Ah, we be needing a few moments, yes?" Inky said. "You five be distracting the beast, eh?"
Weiss nodded. "We'll give it our all, Inky."
Eir hopped off his horse, patting its sleek mane. "Ugh. Fine. I can try to, like, aggro that thing. It's not like I can die, right?"
Inky and Leli smiled wryly—as if they were in on some inside joke. And considering how the four were apparently old friends, they probably were.
Eir swung the great shield off his back, its steel glowing an eerie red. Like glass tainted with frozen blood. It sent chills zipping through the hairs of his skin, Pareidolia petrified whenever he so much as looked at it.
The unknown metal almost seemed indestructible, immortal. Not of their world. His knees quivered as the shield exerted the crushing weight of eternity—of life and death—every time the knight's boot fell upon the earth.
But Eir's sword was worse. His semblance screamed when the knight strode past him, frenzied wails banging on the crystalline steel. Like prisoners, casualties of a never-ending war.
Cursed. A magical, cursed blade straight out of the fairy tales.
That was probably what the knight's weapon was. It was definitely older than Ozpin's cane—that much Pareidolia could deduce.
"Thine will dictates mine soul…" the masked woman sang under her breath. Her voice was suddenly deeper, theatrical, no longer as high and carefree as before. "Thine song permeates mine flesh..."
Magic—headier and thicker than anything else—peeled off her skin in waves, his semblance shrieking louder than ever. Something crackled in the distance, rain clouds blanketing the desert.
"Thine words touch my heart..." The woman's eyes snapped open, blazing silver behind her mask. She thrust her bow high above her head, her legs spread wide. "Let mine oath reach thee! Angelic thunder that sunders the heavens! Come forth!"
The Lyndwyrm flung a belt of meteors with a snap of its wings. But then, Remnant wept, a song of the storm shattering the skies above. Violet flashed as lightning ground the meteors into chunks, the molten pieces sinking into the desert with a boom.
Eir gulped in a lungful of air as he charged straight towards the Lyndwyrm. It screamed at him. His cowl whipped in the storm. Fireballs spouted from the Lyndwyrm's gaping mouth, blazing a path—into a collision with the knight.
Still, Eir made no effort to dodge.
Weiss gasped, frantically weaving circles with Myrtenaster.
Nex stopped himself from lurching forward, his eyes narrowing. He held out an arm before Ruby could whisk the knight away.
"Wait," Nex said.
It was a chance to see exactly what the knight in red was capable of.
Eir grinned as the fires consumed him, shield held high in defiance.
Ruby's face twisted.
The Lyndwyrm cackled—piercing to his extra pair of ears.
Smoke rose through the torrent of rain.
And the knight strolled through the flames, his chainmail unmarred by soot or ash.
"Blood of the pristine, babyyyy!" Eir banged his sword against his shield. "That all you got? It's, like, you're all bark and no bite."
The Lyndwyrm let out another shrill shriek.
"Oh I'm sorry, did I hurt your teensy weensy feelings?" Eir said. "Like, how would you want me to mock you?" He snickered. "I take requests."
Nex resisted the urge to rub his eyes. Was the knight really planning to taunt the Grimm to death? His voice was annoying too. Like he was practically made to piss everything off on purpose. Well, he along with his beloved—the masked faunus who talked like she was some old-fashioned Atlesian monarch on sugar high.
The Lyndwyrm howled and brought its neck forward. Its jaws hinged open, dead set on taking a bite out of the blond.
"Now?" Ruby said, her scythe creaking.
Nex nodded, his aura surging around him. "Now!"
He tore through the rain, Hrunting beaming with light. Three crescents split the curtain of water as he leapt over Eir—straight towards the Lyndwyrm's blood-red eyes, the monster even more terrifying up close.
It was definitely something out of his best nightmares. A foe that would have pushed him to go all out, with no more excuses, the possibility of death all too real.
Nex grinned.
He bounced off the Lyndwyrm's nose. The crescents hacked deep into the tender flesh around its eyes with a loud squelch. Ruby struck at its legs, sparks dragging along the joints. Blood sprayed the rain and painted it crimson.
The Lyndwyrm roared and spat out whirling balls of fire. Steam followed in their wake, even as dark glyphs spun and wrapped around them, shrinking them down to marbles.
Weiss huffed, her armour glinting wet as she shot the fireballs back. They burst into tongues of flame, licking the Lyndwyrm's scales. Blake emptied a mag into the smoke. A rumbling grunt echoed from the monster's throat, her bullets pinging off its wings.
The Lyndwyrm's tail lashed out.
Eir sprang to meet the blow, his stance as steady as the mountains of Mistral. The tail smashed against his shield, the very earth shaking. His boots dug into the mud, entrenched, brown splattering his crimson vest.
Still, the knight's shield arm lay unmoving, holding up the Lyndwyrm's entire weight. He yawned even as the Lyndwyrm lifted its tail, again and again, driving his heels deeper into the softened sand like a stake being beaten by a hammer.
What the fuck.
"Remind me to never arm-wrestle with him," Blake muttered.
Nex was inclined to agree. Not even aura would have granted a huntsman Eir's level of strength and endurance. Nope. Yang Xiao Long would have probably been green with envy.
"Now's our chance," Weiss said, her breathing a little too ragged.
A quick glance at his watch showed that she was hanging on to the last of her aura, her reserves dangerously low—the lowest of his team, in fact.
"Crippling Shot!"
Leli bellowed, her voice flying above the storm. An arrow the colour of midnight shattered the curtain of rain. There was a snap. And a boom as the Lyndwyrm's right-wing crumpled, folding in on itself like paper. The monster shrieked, falling to gravity as Leli lowered her smoking bow.
"Inky! Ready or not!" Leli grinned. "The moment is upon us!"
Inky raised her staff, her eyes utterly consumed by green fire. "Wretched souls pounding at the gates of oblivion…" She thrust her staff against the blackened skies, green mist bursting from its heart-shaped gem. "I am the key! My will is to set you free!"
Pareidolia shrieked.
Hundreds of skeletal arms awash with flame groped at the Lyndwyrm, its anguished howls caught in the raging storm.
A pair of those very same hands—possessed by ghostly, skeletal cadavers—dug Eir out of his hole, tossing the yelping knight towards them.
The other ones sprang from the earth and dragged the Lyndwyrm flat on the mud, the once mighty queen of the Vacuan wastes brought low with only a few words, an arrow travelling faster than an Atlesian nuke, and a fuckton of magic.
"Ah, it be me bestie's turn now, eh?" Inky said, grinning. "Me wonders what spell she be readying."
The masked woman raised her arms high, motes of golden thunder merging into a giant bolt. She notched it along her bow, lighting up the valley. The very night itself seemed to shy away from its luminous glow.
"Now! I shall declare here!"
The masked woman's words froze something within him, his semblance rioting in his skull. It was a declaration, the world itself seemingly acknowledging her words. It was in the way that the wind stilled and the storm seemed distant as the masked woman spoke.
"'Twas here! Here, on this battlefield, that the witch queen led a thousand doomed souls in rebellion! A thousand mortals that clawed at the heavens, their undying spirits pledged to sunder the throne of the gods! A thousand voices that roared and shook the earth! 'Twas here that the last light of humanity never faltered! Here, at this very moment, that the witch queen brought her authority to bear! Namely, the tempestuous bow of the apocalypse! The arrow that felled a thousand gods!"
As she finished her chant, the weight of magic seemed to implode around her, and Nex had to turn away, to stop his brain from lurching out of his nose.
"Word of advice?" Eir said, his chainmail clanking as he jogged away. "That's, like, an insta-kill nuke. Get clear!"
Nex nodded, tugging at Weiss' hand. He shrugged the headache off. They scaled the dunes and stood beside Inky, watching as the masked woman tugged the string of her bow back. The golden thunder fizzled, wisps of snow spinning along its shaft.
"Oh! It be a matrix of ice, thunder, wind, and light eh?" Inky said as she inspected the arrow. "It be improvised spell work, eh, bestie?"
"'Tis an arrow that ended an era, bestie." The masked woman smirked. "Behold! Spirits of Remnant, hearken the witch queen's call! Angelic Thunder of Immeasurable Inevitable Doom!"
What—
The bolt of thunder sheared through the storm.
The Lyndwyrm shrieked and pried its head away from the skeletal hands, one last twister of fire bursting from its mouth.
Nex braced himself, watching the two attacks collide under the sky.
The bolt split the Lyndwyrm's fiery-white breath, lancing through the supernova—seemingly without resistance. It exploded with the light of a million dying suns, the Lyndwyrm's defiant roars fading into the pitter-patter of rain.
Nex had to cover his eyes, his extra pair of ears pressing themselves against his skull. When he pulled his arm away, nothing was left of the Lyndwyrm. Only a hollowed basin of ice and glass where the entire valley had been, sparkling like glaciers under an Atlesian moon.
"That was…" Ruby said, grinning as she looked at the masked woman with stars in her eyes. "So awesome!"
"Hmph!" The masked woman wrapped her cloak tighter around herself, her eyes lingering on his. She blinked and glanced away when he caught her staring behind the slits of her mask. "This heroine had been expecting more of the challenge. 'Twas much too short."
"Well, I'm glad someone's enjoyed herself," Weiss said, heaving a sigh of relief. "Not everyone can snap their fingers and melt an A-Class Grimm, you know."
"Verily," the masked woman murmured. "Mayhaps 'twould be wise for this heroine to do the holding of the back…"
Eir snorted, catching the masked woman as she stumbled on her fancy boots—blue and trimmed with expensive-looking gold, but muddied with dark sand. "You? Holding back? Sure. No offence, but, like, I don't think you even know what that means."
"Oh, beloved…" The masked Maiden kissed the knight's mouth, and she collapsed in his arms after. "This heroine finds herself of the tiredness. Mayhaps 'twould be prudent for the guardian to do the carrying?"
Eir chuckled, scooping her up into a princess carry. "You're lucky I'm, like, feeling generous today."
"No way," Blake said. "You're the heroine and the guardian Inky mentioned."
"Aye," Inky said, "that be them."
"Hmph! 'Twould be Heroine and Guardian—both with incredibly tasteful capitals!" the masked woman—the Heroine—said. "For you see, these are no mere epitaphs! Nay! They are titles wrought from the golden halls of Akasha!"
Inky and Leli laughed as they all started trotting north, after the Branwens' trail. Or, at least, after the general direction of where the bandits and the refugees went.
"Akasha?" Weiss asked.
Eir shook his head. "Ignore her. My partner gets like this sometimes…" He sighed, smiling at the woman he held. "No, wait. Who am I kidding? She's always like this. Like, all the time."
Nex did not envy him at all. Well, what did they say down in Mantle again? Never stick your dick in crazy? Apparently, Eir must have never heard of the old adage before.
"Is that so?" Weiss said, smiling. "Nevertheless, Team Snowbear thanks you. I'm Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. These are…"
She introduced them one by one, motioning to them as she said their names.
"I'm Eir," the knight said, rolling his tongue on the peculiar name. "And this is—"
"Hmph!" The masked woman folded her arms like a child. Her bow was collapsed over her wrist—into a more compact, watch-like form. "You may simply address me as Archer! For 'tis a name most mysteriously mystical! Most rare and romantic! Most—"
Eir clamped a hand over Archer's mouth, the masked woman squirming like a worm. "Okay, Little Miss Chuuni. It's, like, wayyyyyy past your bedtime."
"Alright, I'll bite," Blake muttered. "Who are you? Am I the only one who thinks it's suspicious that they just so happened to show up, right when we needed them?"
Admittedly, he would have been more suspicious as well, if not for the fact that the two—no, the four, did save their asses.
Eir tilted his head, a grin playing on his lips. "That's, like, kinda what we do. You're welcome by the way."
"Indeed!" Archer said, her mouth finally wrestling free of Eir's palm. "Fret not, cat in the black! 'Tis nought but the most truthful of truths! For we are the mysterious! The shadowy—"
"The unsung!" Inky hollered from ahead, giggling.
Archer smirked, two fingers held over her masked eyes in the shape of a V. "The Guardians of the Unknowing—"
"The desert," Eir said, rolling his eyes. "Yeah. That's, like, a totally legit name. The Guardians of the Desert. It, like, rolls off the tongue, right?"
Of course. Nex shrugged. Far be it from him to judge whatever it was they called themselves.
"The Guardians of the Desert," Weiss said, arching an eyebrow. "Really? Are you an elite huntsman cell from Vacuo? Just like the Ace-Ops of Atlas?"
If they were, it probably explained how they could deal with the Lyndwyrm like it was a baby Beowolf. Although, he had never heard of the Guardians of the Desert before. But maybe Vacuo kept its cards closer to its chest. Having a Maiden of all things on a public cell would have blown wind on Ozpin's bare ass.
"Pray!" Archer's nose wrinkled. "Our organization is, as the locals say it, most classified. 'Twould be wise for the heiress of the Schnee to be keeping the questions to herself."
Eir snorted, snickering into the back of Archer's hair.
"Of course, Archer," Weiss said, smiling thinly. "My apologies. Though, I imagine we'll be parting ways soon?"
Nex hummed. She did not want them to know that they were travelling with a tribe of bandits, in pursuit of a cult of deranged faunus-killers. Well, if they really were black-ops government agents from Vacuo. It was definitely more convenient that way.
"This Heroine fears that she must do the shaking of her head," Archer said. "For you see, we are, as the locals say it, going in the same direction."
"I see," Weiss said, her face twitching. "Then you're most welcome to travel with us."
An hour passed of trudging through the desert storm. Exhaustion eventually settled into their limbs. The trail was long, the bandits' flight farther than expected. And so, they had to stop in a cave—a spacious chamber that Inky built into the side of a cliff with a swish of her staff.
Wisps of white fire lit the corners, roots curling out of the stone floor. They twined into a bonfire, the crackle of flame beckoning Nexus Shade to sit before it and warm his cold hands. His gaze landed on Archer, the masked woman sitting at the mouth of the cave and playing with the lute on her lap. Her mane was splayed out behind her, bits of dirt sticking to the wavy, wet strands.
"Ah, it be a chilly night, eh?" Inky said.
She snapped her fingers. A couple of pots, utensils, and practically a small kitchen flashed into existence. Stacks of meat still dripping with blood floated above the fire, the steely scent making his mouth water.
"Y'all be hungry, yes?" Inky said.
"Yep!" Ruby grinned. "Can you summon cookies? Cake? Milk?"
Leli laughed at that, hiding her mouth behind a gauntletted arm.
"Ruby!" Weiss flushed, nudging the silver-eyed girl. "I'm sorry. We shouldn't be troubling you like this. I'm sure it's not right for you to use magic for every little thing."
"Oh? Fabricate Object be no trouble, eh?" Inky said, chuckling. "It be quite the simple spell for me, eh?"
"She's, like, telling the truth," Eir said, wringing his cowl beside Archer. "Her mana bar's, like, wayyyyy taller than the atmosphere."
"Mana?" Blake said.
"It be the measure of a mage's power, eh?" Inky said. "It be like aura, but more fluid."
Fluid. Of course it was. Her magic could do a billion things and more. Their aura could only enhance their physical abilities and shield them from harm, with the occasional huntsman unlocking their semblance. Plus, aura made them look more attractive to Grimm. But maybe magic did the same too?
Inky and Leli started preparing a meal in their impromptu kitchen. Blake sat by the campfire, reading a miraculously intact book. Their combat outfits lay beside her feet drying. Ruby buzzed around their hosts for the night, grinning as she kept asking them question after question—questions that Inky answered with even more enthusiasm. Apparently, the silver-eyed girl had found an unlikely match in the enigmatic mage.
Nex shuffled against the wall opposite Archer. Weiss plopped down between his legs. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, propping his head on her shoulder as he held her close. She smelled of rain and vanilla sunscreen, her warmth seeping through her sweater.
"Come back to bed, and tell me the story of how it all ends," Archer crooned, her fingers gliding across the strings—a minstrel in white and blue spinning a damp melody. "But surely there's not an ending..." She took a shallow breath, her eyes darting towards them. "Where feeling so alone is all that is left, that's keeping me alive..."
"Sing louder. You have a beautiful voice," Weiss said, clapping once. The sheer glee in her words would have made her adoring fans scratch their heads. "You shouldn't try to hide it."
To be fair, she was right. Archer did have the musical chops. And he might have to admit, if he was being perfectly honest, that she was better than Weiss. More natural. Almost like she put no effort into singing at all. But maybe that was just because she seemed older, and thus had more experience.
Her notes were stilted, the rhythm choppy and uneven. Almost as if she were coaxing the words out, slowly, surely, and carefully, every severed beat like wading through an ocean. It was a far cry from Weiss' style, with soaring harmonies and aggressive highs. Still, Nex had to stop himself from smiling. Archer's song was exactly his type of song.
"I'm not the first to go, but maybe I'll be the last one, to see the stars exploding," Archer sang, her words a little louder. Firmer. Her voice cracked as lightning boomed and the storm raged on. "In hope that one day, I'll see them again."
She plucked at the top of her lute, striking three notes—three notes that hung in the air like a death sentence, before she resumed her tempo. How she could make a lute sound like an instrument straight out of hell—and go back to making it sound like heaven—was a mystery even to himself.
"Oh, darling, they're sending me up." Archer's voice shrunk. "And you'll be dead save for the memories... That keep me awake."
She strummed the last chord, the song unfinished, thunder crackling as her voice died and she cleared her throat.
"'Tis nought but an exercising of the song," Archer murmured, her extra pair of ears stiffening. "But mayhaps the heiress of the Schnee is nought but pouring of the flattery as well."
"I'm not a woman who offers empty flattery," Weiss said, smiling as she rested her head on the crook of his shoulder. "You're not going to take off your mask? Your partner doesn't seem to be overly concerned with showing his face."
Archer hmphed and hugged her lute to her stomach, concealing her corset. The tight fabric was midnight blue with golden trims as well. Huh. She had good taste in fashion—her odd, rhythmic way of speaking aside.
"The heiress of the Schnee has said her piece." Archer pointedly turned away. "Now leave this Heroine be."
"Is something wrong?" Weiss blinked. "Was it something I said?"
"Nay. But this Heroine shall be of the bluntness," Archer said. "I find thine company to be poisonous to my mood of the current."
"Excuse me?" Weiss said, her eyebrows furrowing.
"She's saying that she doesn't wanna hang," Nex said, "because she's not feeling it right now. Well, I guess she just wants to be left alone."
Archer clicked her tongue. "The wolf of the shade is of the most astute indeed."
"In that case, we'll give you some room," Weiss said, flashing Archer a smile before she stood up, dragging him along with her with more force than usual. "But I'm sure Inky and Leli will be finished soon. Shall we be seeing you then?"
"Hmph!" Archer raised her chin—almost exactly how Weiss did it sometimes. "Verily. 'Tis of the trueness that hunger is of the enemy indeed."
Weiss let out a strained laugh as the two of them skittered along the wall. They passed Eir on the way, the blond offering him a look akin to pity, like he was staring at a dead man.
Nex shrugged, smiling at the knight. Talking to Archer was nowhere near as painful as the two made it out to be. Still, he could talk to Neo—who was mute. Doubtful they could do the same.
"We need to talk," Weiss whispered, her breath shuddering as she tugged him aside—into the furthest corner of their Inky-made cave. "Tell me honestly. Is it just me, or does she seem a little too familiar?"
Nex raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"Archer," Weiss said, a tiny scowl on her lips. "Obviously."
"I dunno," Nex said, shrugging. "Does she?"
"Nexus Shade," Weiss said, parking a hand on her hip. Uh oh. "Are you playing dumb? Do I have to spell it out for you?"
Nex chuckled, pecking her forehead. Her skin was clammy and hot. "Tell me what's on your mind then."
"Blue eyes, white hair, and pale skin," Weiss said, counting Archer's traits on her manicured nails. "Any one of these characteristics would have been common on their own. But together, they're… You know."
"The mark of a Schnee," Nex said, his eyes narrowing. "What are you thinking?"
A hundred different theories popped into his brain. One of them painted Archer as a distant cousin. A relative of Weiss who chose to live outside Atlas. Another one branded her as an illegitimate child. An heiress that Nicholas Schnee had hidden away somewhere—maybe as the by-product of a drunken one-night stand, a moment of weakness, that Weiss' grandfather swept under a rug.
Admittedly, the second theory fitted the mould more. Doubtless, having a faunus as the heiress of the SDC would have shaken Atlas, infinitely more had the faunus been simply her fiance. A harmless accessory in the eyes of the upper class—or a pet.
Still, the beaming smile on Weiss' lips, and the coy curl of her brows, revealed that none of those theories even crossed her mind.
Not for a single second.
"You were right, love." Weiss leaned in, giggling as she stole a quick kiss. "You were absolutely right."
"I'm right?" Nex quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Weiss winked. "Would you believe me if I told you that Archer is our daughter?"
Chapter 63
Weiss trotted after Archer, sand stuck in the mushy state of being both wet and dry burping with every step she made.
"Where are you from, Archer?" Weiss said, grinning even as she hid her face from the angry sun. "I imagine somewhere north, right? Like Argus or Atlas. Perhaps Mistral?"
"Hmph!" Archer trudged through the muck quicker. "'Twould be wise for the heiress of the Schnee to do the tracking of the prey—instead of this chattering of the idle."
Weiss chuckled, shooting Nex a glance. Help me, were the words unspoken.
Nex shrugged, shuffling behind Blake as she traced the exact footsteps Leli and Eir took. Ruby skipped along Inky's side, the mage spinning some tale about a witch and a dragon. One that wanted to eat her friend—and one that they had to put down. It must have been a long time ago, judging from how Inky kept pausing to remember parts of the story.
"So…" Weiss said, smirking as if she thought of something particularly conniving. "What's your semblance?"
Now that was a clever one.
"'Tis a secret amongst secrets," Archer said. "This Heroine finds it most convenient to do the keeping to her chest."
Weiss' smirk grew larger. "Alright. Shall we talk more about yourself then?"
"Nay," Archer muttered, her cloak fluttering. "Mayhaps the heiress of the Schnee finds it desirous to do the talking of herself instead?"
Nex sighed, smiling as Weiss moved on to another topic—with far more enthusiasm than the amount she usually poured into small talk, or even dealing with the press.
She had been at it all morning, right after they broke camp and continued marching after Raven and Qrow. Predictably, the results were less than stellar. Archer was as tight-lipped now as she was last night, seemingly unwilling to share even a few words with Weiss.
Still, now that they were next to each other, he really had to hit himself—and his semblance—for not seeing it before. The similarities between them were uncanny, masked or not. It was uncanny enough that he had to wonder if their Schnee genes really were that dominant, or if his Shade ones were that recessive.
Come to think of it, he inherited more stuff from his father than from his mom—loathe as he was to admit.
But then again, everything was speculation. Wishful thinking. And Archer seemingly had no desire to put their suspicions to rest.
To be honest, he still had no idea how to feel—or to act—if she really was who Weiss thought she was.
"How old are you?" Weiss said.
"Twenty winters and another five," Archer said, her nose wrinkling for the tenth time since Weiss started talking. "Mayhaps now the heiress of the Schnee has deemed her curiosity to be of the satisfied?"
Nex hummed. Time travel was strange—if it really was time travel. As far as he was concerned, what people saw in the movies was impossible. But still, he could be wrong. Maybe Inky and her friends really were travellers from another time, displaced here to fulfil some purpose. The only question was what.
"Which academy did you go to?" Weiss said.
"Atlas," Archer said, licking her dry lips. Huh. Yet another one to add to the list.
"Not Beacon?" Weiss said.
Archer shook her head, brushing some stray locks off the slits on her mask. Gold ghosted over her electric-blue eyes—and, for a moment, he almost saw Amariss Shade instead of Weiss Schnee without the scar and with wild, untamed hair that went past the thighs.
"You're not gonna say anything, are you?" Weiss said.
"Nay," Archer whispered. "This Heroine finds herself at the loss of the words."
"Perhaps you'd like to ask me something," Weiss said, smiling. "Some burning question at the back of your mind, maybe?"
Archer's lips scrunched up—and Nex had to stop himself from laughing. She looked like she was holding a giant shit in.
"There is but a question," Archer said, her icy gaze thawing.
"Only one?" Weiss said.
"The dating," Archer murmured, shrinking under her cloak. "This Heroine finds herself in great need of the advice for the dating—the holding of the hand doesn't work…"
Nex laughed, winking at his fiance. Of all the things their maybe-kid could have asked. It just had to be that.
Weiss coughed. "Pardon?"
"Hmph!" Archer crossed her arms, waddling like a penguin. "Mayhaps the heiress of the Schnee is hard of the hearing? Mayhaps she finds the question to be of the most inappropriate?"
"No, no, no, of course not," Weiss said. Her eyes and face lit up. "Ahem. I was simply caught off guard. I wasn't expecting your question to be so… personal."
Soon enough, their party crested a dune, Inky holding a palm over her eyes. Nex stopped beside her, scanning the ocean of sand. The thin trail of smoke blowing towards them piqued his interest. He took a cursory whiff. It smelled of fish—the very same fish that Raven and her men cooked the other night.
"That be them, eh?" Inky said. She tapped the dune with her staff, magic pulsing across the sands. "There. Just behind the cliff."
"That's really damn useful," Nex said.
"Oh? Magic?" Inky said. "Why, yes. Methinks it be quite the gift, eh?"
"A gift?" Nex said. "How do you become a Maiden, anyway?"
The fairy tales said many things, but never how someone could inherit the world-shaking powers—without Ozpin's miracle machine at least.
"The gift comes to you, eh?" Inky said. "When the wisp of life fades and the world finds your song on her lips, that is how you become a Maiden."
"I don't understand," Nex said.
"Tell me, Nexus Shade," Inky said, leaning on her staff as they slid down the dune. "What do you know of souls?"
Admittedly, he knew very little. Beyond the philosophical stuff anyway, or the things he read about aura and its relation to a person's soul.
"Ah, say no more," Inky said. "He who knows does not speak, and he who speaks does not know. But in your case, it be the opposite, eh?"
"Right," Nex said. "I don't see the point in pretending to know something you don't."
"Ha! Such modesty!" Inky said. "But methinks it be simple pragmatism, eh?"
She paused, letting go of her staff. It floated beside her, the tip leaving a thin line on the sand.
Huh.
Did the amount of mana it cost to cast a spell change depending on how much it warped reality? Archer's arrow—the one that melted a Lyndwyrm—must have taken much more than just a simple levitation spell, right?
"To be answering your question, dearly inquisitive one," Inky said. "Maidens, or Incarnates as the keepers of the lore name them, are vessels of the primordial magics that shaped Remnant. Or, well, any other world by any other name."
"Other worlds?" Nex said.
"Surely you don't believe that we're from around here, do you?" Leli said.
Had she posed the question two days ago, he would have called her crazy. Delusional. But something about the strangeness of their current situation made him—gods forbid—consider what she said. But still.
"You don't look like aliens to me," Nex said. "Aren't you supposed to have four arms or six eyes or something?"
He eyed Eir as the knight laughed along with Ruby and Blake, the three paving the path ahead. Nope. No aliens at all. Eir looked about as normal as any guy off the streets—too normal even.
Inky smirked. "Why, yes! We be terrifying monsters, eh?! Here to snatch your firstborn straight from the cradle, eh? Sacrifice 'em to some evil god with tentacles, eh?"
Nex raised an eyebrow, chuckling.
Leli giggled as if she were choking on grapes. She had her lips hidden behind her palm. "You'll have to pardon her. She has a dreadful sense of humour."
Nex shrugged. He had one too. "Say I believe you," he said. "Are Archer and Eir from another world too?"
"Aye! That be the question, eh?" Inky said. "Shouldn't you be asking your—"
Leli elbowed her side. "Hush, Incitatia!"
"Incitatia?" Nex smirked, clicking his tongue thrice. "Incitatia? Really?"
Inky huffed, her nose curling in on itself. "Call me Inky. Princess Incitatia is what my vassals call me, unfortunately, no matter how I be insisting otherwise, eh?"
"Sure," Nex said. "So you're a princess from another world, huh?"
Apparently, Weiss was right. And Inky had been telling the truth in the Hanged Scoundrel.
"Why, yes," Inky said. "It be a terrible burden, eh?"
"Surely it isn't so terrible when you partake of the laurels and the wine, ma chérie," Leli said, smiling.
"Aye, that be true," Inky said. "But it be me duty that binds me to my world, and my people. Not the laurels and the wine, eh?"
When they arrived at Raven's camp, it was to the bustle of bandits and refugees alike licking their wounds, the cliff casting its shadow over their gaunt, forlorn faces. A line of faunus stood before Raven and Vernal, taking turns in front of them.
The light of Raven's aura—a malevolent red—coated one of the women. Then she said the words. The words to pick the lock to the cage that held another's soul. Still, the light faded, and the wolf-girl's aura did not come forth.
"You don't have the aptitude, girl," Raven said. "But never fear. Aura alone does not make the warrior."
The wolf-girl nodded, fists clenched as she stalked through the crowd of refugees.
"You've arrived safely," Raven said, her eyes darting towards Archer and Eir. "I see that you've brought… friends."
"Yep," Ruby said, grinning. "They helped a lot."
"Understatement of the year," Blake muttered.
Raven scoffed. "So they're the only reason why you're still breathing. What a splendid stroke of luck."
"Aye. It be quite fortunate, eh?" Inky said. "This be me bestie and her spouse"—said spouse rolled his eyes—"Archer. Eir. They be pleased to meet 'yer acquaintance, eh, chief?"
"An acquaintance that will have to wait," Raven said, motioning for another refugee—a faunus with a massive beard shaped like the head of a mop—to step forward. "As you can see, we have much to do before we can resume our march."
"We can, like, wait," Eir said, shaking the sand loose from his mail. "It's not like we're in a rush, right?"
Nex licked his lips. He paused and tugged at his semblance, spreading its field of awareness around the camp. "Where's Qrow?"
"Oh he's stretching his wings somewhere," Raven said.
"Where is he?" Weiss said, glaring at her.
"Calm yourself, heiress of Schnee." Raven snorted. "If you must know, my foolish little brother is probably halfway to Vale by now."
"What?" Weiss hissed. "Isn't he supposed to be in charge?"
"In charge? Don't be stupid." Raven laughed. "Did you ever wonder why Beacon sent him out of all the other huntsmen on its roster?"
Nex shrugged. "Oz got him to spy on us."
As cold as it was, it was the truth. His father being here had nothing to do with familial attachments, or anything of the sort. Rather, his team had both a silver-eyed warrior and the next in line to be the Fall Maiden—as well as an ex-terrorist with intimate connections to the White Fang.
Shit. When he put it like that, it almost seemed like he was the most unremarkable one on his team. Well, unless… No. The only ones who knew who he had been were Roman, Neo, and now his team. There was absolutely no way that Ozpin or anyone else knew—he covered his tracks far too well for that.
"I can't believe Uncle Qrow just left," Ruby mumbled as their team strode to the edge of the camp, just out of the sun's reach.
"Pretty sure he's off to tell Ozpin," Blake said. "About everything that happened, I mean."
So that was it. Qrow left them to tattle to his boss. About the Resolutionists. And the Lyndwyrm. Their first official mission as a team just spiralled out of control. From simple monster extermination to hunting down cultists and facing off against hordes of Grimm led by a literal fire-breathing dragon. And that was without all the shady magic and time-travelling business added on top of everything else.
"I must admit," Weiss said, pursing her lips. "We might be in over our heads."
"What are you saying?" Blake said.
"I'm saying that maybe we should return to Beacon," Weiss said. "Although…"
She trailed off, glancing at Archer from the corner of her eye. Their maybe-kid and her friend sat on a tall ledge by the cliff-side, a curtain of magical light sparkling around them. They seemed to be chatting about something, the words too distant, too muffled, for his extra pair of ears to hear.
"You think she's your grown-up kid from the future," Blake said. "Really? You're not seriously buying what they're selling, right?"
"I dunno," Nex said. "Inky seems to be the honest sort."
Almost as if she was incapable of keeping her mouth shut—or wielding a lie. All those times she kept trying to tell them about Archer were proof enough.
Weiss gave them a tiny smile. "Whenever I look at her, I get this tight feeling in my chest. It's like I should know her—and it hurts that I don't. I don't even know her name. Or her birthday. Or what her favourite food is."
Gods. Nex licked his lips. They probably ended up being terrible parents too, huh?
Ruby frowned, clutching Weiss' hand between hers. "You'll find out. She's here, right? That means she's real." The silver-eyed girl chuckled. "She's gonna be real."
"Or not," Blake said.
"Come on, Blake," Nex said. "After everything you've seen last night, you can't even consider the possibility?"
Blake said nothing in response—only a slight shrug of her shoulder as she reached for the book tucked in her back pocket again.
"What do you think?" Weiss said.
"Me?" Nex said.
"Yes, you," Weiss said. "As team leader, I believe you have the final say."
Nex shrugged, watching as Archer and Eir jumped off their perch, a breath of wind cushioning their fall.
"I'm staying," Nex said. "I can't leave."
No. He could not. Because him leaving struck chords in his soul he never knew he had. And coaxed out images of that night—of the night his mother never came back.
"I'm staying too," Ruby said, grinning. "I wanna ask her about my kids. Eheh."
"Gods help whoever's the father," Blake said.
"What's that?" Ruby said, scratching her ear. "I can't hear you over the sound of—"
"I'm staying," Blake said, shoving her book back into her pocket. Her extra pair of ears twitched.
"Great!" Ruby pumped a fist. "Team Snowbear, move out!"
She pointed at Archer and Eir, the duo stalking out of camp with Inky and Leli.
"We better keep track of them," Weiss said. "Let's go."
They jogged after the four, waves of sand baking their feet even with huntsman-grade boots. A hoverboard—or something like what they used to fly to Tanis—would have probably been a godsend. And they had it. But they were running low on dust after yesterday's skirmish, and wasting what they had left would have probably made Goodwitch herself personally fly over and scold the idea out of their heads.
Right now, every little bit they had counted, and it could mean the difference between life and death. Well, except if you had magic and the reserves to conjure food and water out of thin air like Inky, apparently.
Bummer. Maybe he could learn magic too? Imagine all the strawberry sunrises he could have.
Nex chuckled and shook his head, garnering an odd look from Weiss.
"What's so funny?" Weiss said, yelping softly as she tripped over a stone buried in the sand. Her face flushed—even redder than it already was.
Nex snorted, bursting into full-blown laughter. "Nothing."
"Hmph." Weiss scoffed and raised her chin, pointedly staring ahead. "You're lucky that I happen to be hopelessly in love with you."
"Yep, that's right," Nex said, smirking. "I'm the luckiest man in the world."
"That must mean I'm the unluckiest woman then," Weiss said, a traitorous giggle sneaking its way from her throat. "You're laughing. I almost fell face-first into the sand and you're laughing."
"You have to admit," Nex said, his thumb brushing some dirt off her cheek, "it is kinda funny."
"Well," Weiss said, her eyes crinkling. "I'm so glad you're finding my sudden lack of grace funny."
To no fault of hers, of course. Weiss Schnee had probably never stepped into the deserts of Vacuo before. The treacherous sands below their feet concealed more than just Grimm—although they were the reason why his semblance was always humming at the back of his skull.
Many a careless huntsman had met their end when the wind roared and carried them off their feet, sending them careening into the sharp rocks and ruins lying everywhere. Or, at least, according to Professor Port. Personally, he thought that it should have been a Taijitu's gaping maw instead of random debris.
Inky paused, quiet. The mage raised her staff, the seven of them instinctively stopping behind her.
Nex squinted, his semblance writhing. The dry breeze was riddled with magic. Whatever spell it was, it made the desert light ripple like a pond, casting an invisible net over the valley. He could almost see through the fog and glimpse a golden city behind.
"Hmph!" Archer crossed her arms. "'Tis most dastardly of the cultists to do the direction of the amiss."
"What do you mean?" Weiss said.
"There be powerful magicks in the air," Inky said. "Not a step further, lest y'all be lost in the vilest of dreams."
"An illusion," Eir said. "Just perfect."
Something told him that this illusion was more powerful than anything Neo could create—and dispelling it took more than just giving it a hard hit.
Inky closed her eyes, muttering, "Born of blood and fire, and blessed by midnight's hand…"
She drew her knife. Silver flashed. And time froze as crimson gushed from her wrist, the shredded artery twitching, spraying blood on the sand.
Weiss' breath hitched.
Ruby gasped. "Inky!"
"Oh, wow, so you're a blood mage too," Eir said. "Can you, like, warn people before going all stabby though?"
"By the call of the pyre…" Inky mumbled. Her eyes glazed over, green fire swirling within. "Her sorrows we repent…"
The blood surged upwards, forming a sigil of a staff wreathed in white flames—a caricature of Inky's emblem. It slammed against the illusory wall. Tendrils of fire snaked over the valley, crackling, spreading like cobwebs. Soon enough, the flames died down, leaving embers fluttering in the wind.
Inky panted as she sealed her wound close with a wave of her free hand, stumbling on her heels.
"Are you alright, ma chérie?" Leli said, catching Inky in her arms.
"Peachy," Inky said, grinning. "Now then. There be two anchors tethering the spell to this plane…"
Nex licked his chapped lips, taking a sip of his flask. He passed it on to Weiss who chugged it down with a grateful nod. The four of them were perched on a dune, overlooking a ruined shrine of some sort. It lay below, deep in a canyon, robed cultists roaming its dusty halls.
They split into two strike teams, tasked to disrupt an anchor each. Theirs was made up of him, Weiss—and Archer and Eir.
"Hesus," Eir said, wiping the sheen of sweat off his face. "It's, like, they personally made this place to piss me off or something."
Weiss scowled. "We should do what Inky wants us to do as soon as possible and get out of this infernal sun."
Archer frowned as she held a hand to Eir's neck. "Pray! Mayhaps the Guardian is feeling of the unwell?"
"I'm, like, roasting like a fish here," Eir said. "Any moment now, I'll flop over and die, and golden girl isn't here to rez."
Nex snickered. The knight was definitely as overdramatic as Nora. Well, both he and Archer were. Only that Eir got on well with Blake, apparently, which was something that would only happen with her and Nora after a thousand years.
Archer's bow snapped open, Pareidolia squirming at how familiar it was—from its architecture down to the tiny quirks in its design—even though he had definitely never seen it before.
"Mayhaps 'twould be wise for the Shade and the Schnee to do the pressing of the onwards?" Archer said.
"You want us to lead the charge," Weiss said, arching an eyebrow.
"That sounds kinda dumb—with a capital D," Eir said. "I'm, like, the mega tank here, remember? You know, that one guy built to be the meat shield in every raid?"
Archer tittered. "The Guardian and this Heroine shall attempt to do the flanking," she said. "But mayhaps we ought to do the swapping of the partners?"
"That sounds great, Archer," Weiss said a little too quickly. "Nex and Eir will act as our vanguard, while we aid them from a distance."
Huh.
Nex shot Eir a look, the knight pretty much doing the same. The blond was taller than him by at least an entire foot. Damn. First Taurus, then Jaune, and now Eir. It was a small wonder he ever caught his fiance's eye at all.
Archer hopped to her feet, grinning. "Very well! 'Tis a glorious day for the battling indeed! Let us ride for the war and the slaughter, comrades of the arms!" She spun into a flourish, poking Weiss' chest plate incessantly. "Leave none standing! Take no prisoners! For honour! For glory! For the sons and daughters of Skyrim! For…"
Eir dragged Nex away, leaving his fiance to deal with their maybe-kid—the woman of twenty-five years still waving her arms around like a little girl and screaming her lungs off.
Gods. Wherever did they go wrong raising her?
"You owe me one," Eir said. "Like, big-time."
Nex shrugged. "I'll buy you a milkshake. Just name the time and place."
"Hesus," Eir said as they padded along the pass towards the shrine. "You don't know how long it's been since I've had, like, a glass of milkshake."
"How long?" Nex said.
"Four days," Eir said. "Fuckin' feels like eternity though."
"Tell me about it," Nex said.
"Yeah, like, no," Eir said. "It's, like, a super long story, more than a hundred-thousand words long. And you're not exactly loaded with H2O."
To be fair, he was right. Weiss drank the last of his stock just a few minutes ago. But hopefully, his father was out of alcohol too.
They squatted behind a pillar, Nex glaring at the blackened heart that floated atop a pedestal, an idol of a woman with dark veins tattooed on her skin standing behind it, arms raised in reverence. The Grimm heart was there, sitting in the middle of the shrine, red tendrils crawling over its flesh.
His semblance clawed at the walls of his skull. The heart pulsed as if it were still alive—dub, dub, dub. The sound rapped on his extra pair of ears as if death had personally chosen to drop by his grave and say hello.
A grizzled man stood beside it, arms crossed as he leaned against a broken column. His eyes darted to every shadow on the wall. He was a stone amidst a creek, the cultists flowing around him. None of them seemingly dared to even come close or engage him in idle conversation. Clearly, the man was the one in charge of guarding the anchor, and the cultists were only there to act as fodder.
"Looks tough," Eir whispered. "But I can take him."
"You sure?" Nex whispered back.
"I can't die, remember?" Eir said, willingly stepping out of their shade.
The cultists stopped their chatter, stilling as they stared at the knight.
Eir drew his sword and shield, banging them against each other. "Oi! Yes, you, the morons with the matching hoods! No offence, but, honestly?! You look like Death Dealer rejects from My Immortal!"
Nex palmed his face, groaning as the grizzled man uncrossed his arms and pushed himself off his makeshift backrest.
"You," the man said. "Are you one of Ozpin's?"
"Budget Dumbledore?" Eir said, snorting. "Fuck no. I'm just here to clean up the trash."
The grizzled man cracked his neck, his hawk-like eyes fixed on the knight.
"So I'd really appreciate it if you, like, move over and let me do my thing," Eir said. "'Cuz, like, you know this bit about my job?" He chuckled. "It's a pain in the ass sometimes."
"Your name, boy?" the grizzled man said.
"Eir," the knight said, shifting into his rock-hard stance. His heart pounded even as he put on an easy grin. "So, you moving or what?"
"Hazel," the grizzled man said, flexing his shoulders. "I was about to ask you the same. Leave and no one needs to die today."
"Well, death's, like, the dumbest thing you could possibly threaten me with," Eir said, magical winds coating his sword. A scarlet glow suffused his limbs, Pareidolia shrieking at the accursed weight that blanketed the air. "Last chance. From one tank to another, you're, like, super screwed right now. Bad RNG, Hazel. Bad RNG."
"Cocky," Hazel said, his eyes narrowing into slits. Every muscle on his massive, seven-foot-tall frame tensed. "Or confident. We'll see."
The two clashed.
And with a boom that sent the nearest cultists rag-dolling towards the crumbling walls, Hazel's fist smashed against Eir's shield, kicking up a tempest of sand. When it dispersed, the two were locked in place, neither of them budging an inch. An unexpected result judging from the widening of Hazel's eyes.
Unstoppable force versus immovable object. Though he was honestly unsure which one of them was which.
Nex leapt out of the shadows, locking Hrunting into Vigilance. The gilded blade roared as he swung its pommel at a cultist's head, her nose caving in like a pack of biscuits. She screamed in pain, clutching her face as he kicked her away. The Resolutionists' sword-shaped emblem—stark on her chest—glinted under a red sun.
Still, more of them charged towards him, yelling out cries of war.
Nex grunted, ducking under a greatsword—his nimble size proving its worth. His adversary's blade was coated in fire like Inky's, the bitter heat warming his brow. But still, it was powered with dust and not magic. Nor was it as unbearably hot as the white flames Inky wielded.
A grin stretched his cheeks. He twisted past the man's guard, Hrunting and Vigilance breaking about the middle—into twin swords of blue and gold. He sent the man skidding on dirt with a thunderous sweep of his blades, merging them whole into a cannon. A blast of frost—straight to the head—shattered the man's aura like cheap glass.
Arrows of ice rained from the sky, finding their marks with deadly accuracy. The volley pinned dozens of cultists against the cracks on the floor. Some by their hoods, others by their robes, and the less fortunate ones by the flesh of their shoulders.
What stood out the most was the fact that they all fell—at the same time. If they really named their maybe-kid Archer—out of all the possible names they could have chosen—then the moniker suited her like a second skin.
White blurred, and Weiss was beside him, Myrtenaster lashing out into a flurry of sword strokes. Her blade pierced through an unlucky man's shoulder. A purple glyph spun and flung him away—into a head-first collision with the black heart.
The man slammed against it, and bone-white spikes sprang from its dark flesh, impaling his throat. Blood flowed freely from the wound even as the cultist gagged and slumped against it. Weiss gasped as she stared at the dying man, a river of his blood dripping on the black heart. The glow of Grimm shone within, its beating suddenly quicker, erratic.
Black mist wafted off the sands, Pareidolia screaming in wild protest.
"No!" Hazel said, the raw crystals of lightning dust stabbed into his shoulders sparkling. "You fool! You've doomed us all!"
Hazel rushed past Eir, even as the knight ripped a chunk of bloody flesh from his back, hollering, "Hey! Get back here!"
No such luck.
Nex gritted his teeth and shoved Weiss away. He braced his shield as Hazel's fist fizzled into existence, already poised to tear off his fiance's head had he not pushed her out of his path.
Too fast. Almost as fast as Ruby at her fastest. No doubt because of the lightning coursing through the man's veins. An excruciating infusion, suicide for all but the most formidable of huntsmen.
It was almost admirable, if not for the fact he already did it better against Pyrrha, in a much safer way, and the fact that Hazel's fist was about to send him flying into a wall—and there was nothing he could do about it.
Pangs of agony jolted up his shield arm, the entire left half of his body shaking like a leaf. His aura slipped as his head hit the stone, the world wobbling—blurry, his semblance shrinking into a mewl.
Well, it hurt less than he thought.
"Nex!" Weiss screamed, the panic in her voice piercing through the buzzing in his head. "Hold on!"
Then she was there next to him, arms wrapped around his chest as black glyphs launched them away from a falling pillar.
The shrine trembled as something under the sand roared. Whatever it was, the black heart had gone missing—and with it, the anchor's elusive magic.
"We… we need to get out," Nex croaked, dust from the roof stinging his eyes. His chest hurt like a fucking bitch. "...before the place falls on our heads."
Weiss gave him a clipped nod, her lips drawn into a taut line. They hobbled out of the temple, side-by-side, glyphs propelling them high into the air and well beyond the canyon walls. Black tentacles ripped through the sands, hungry, groping at the screaming cultists and dragging them deep into the earth, their voices dying—never to be heard again.
Something wriggled beneath, slowly digging its way to the surface. A Grimm, no doubt. Very old. And very dangerous.
"Where's Archer?" Nex said as they landed on a tall dune, hopefully away from the reach of the Grimm's tentacles.
"'Tis most fortunate!" Archer screeched—right next to his extra pair of ears. He winced. "This Heroine is here of the present!"
"Yeah, me too, by the way," Eir said. "Is it just me, or are tentacles, like, cropping up wayyyy too often?"
Archer grimaced, opening her mouth—
"Who dares to awaken me?!"
A gravelly voice echoed in the wind, like rocks grinding against each other.
"Who dares to steal my power?!"
It lurched out of the sands—a Grimm in the mockery of a cockroach, tentacles swaying on the back of its carapace. It crushed the shrine with a single step, shattering the aged stone into crumbs.
Whatever the Grimm was, it was titanic, its hot, putrid breath reeking of death and decay as it towered over them, blotting out the Vacuan sun. It was taller than Beacon's tower, its girth thicker than Atlas from a fair distance. And much more, it was talking.
"Who dares to stand before me?!"
Weiss shivered as the titan turned its gaze upon them, thousands of crimson eyes blinking in the oozy darkness under its shell.
Nex tightened his grip on his sword and shield, his aura trying its best to knit itself together.
It was… unnatural. Grimm did not speak. And they certainly did not have as many eyes as it did.
"Hmph!" Archer stepped forward, her cloak whipping in the wind. "I dare! This Heroine fears neither the gods above nor the terrors of the below!"
"You are…"
The desert rumbled as the talking Grimm turned its eyes on Archer—a woman of barely five feet fearlessly staring up a thousand-foot monster.
"You are bold, keeper of the storm," the Grimm said, bursting into booming laughter. "By what right do you challenge me, Czipueth, herald of the dark abyss?!"
"By right of birth! By right of ascendancy!" Archer said, sweeping her ragged cloak aside. "By right of the blood coursing through my veins!"
She held her arm out, palm spread against the violent sky.
"Cosmic fire, bring!"
Oathkeeper clattered against Nexus Shade's hip, his mother's blade quivering, ringing in its sheathe like it never had before. Lightning crackled, streaking across its surface. The runes on its hilt blazed silver—brighter than it ever did.
The hell?
Archer smirked.
"The weapon of the immortal witch queen!"
Gold sliced through the heavens, a brilliant sword whirling into Archer's hand, the steel crowned with pitch-black flames as if heralding the birth of a celestial star.