RWBYKnights: Volume 1 [Old Version]

Chapter 12: The Book Shop

A door creaked open as a young child peered inside. At first, he found himself above a set of stairs, overlooking a library, the child carefully began to walk down, careful not to let out a sound. His heartbeat was fast, he was nervous. Yet he continued. 

The reason why he was entering a library this nervous was mainly because of 3 things. The words of his mom kept repeating behind his mind, not to mingle with any Faunus he comes across, has always believed in his mother's words, that they were crooks and monsters, yet... His friends, however, did not, as everyone around the neighbourhood had heard of a recently opened bookstore owned by a large scary Faunus. It was only a matter of time for the children to began daring others into entering the bookstore, and he was the first to succumb to the taunts...

As the child reached the bottom of the stairs, he quickly realized how massive the bookstore was in comparison to the outside. Maybe it was thanks to the extra space as he knew he was below ground, maybe it was because he was still a child... But, as he once more scouted the area, he peered back up the flight of stairs, seeing the many eyes of the other children also peering in, all watching him.

Frankly speaking, the bookstore was clean, brand new, with the walls and floor polished, with the only problem being that due to its size, the place a dimly lit, with shadows being cast over entire sections. It was unfortunately for that specific reason that his heart rate elevated even further, with a cold chill running down his back as he stared down the long winding corridors that seemed like it would never end...

He felt like he was in those stories, about the hero and the monster, both trapped in a labyrinth, fated to meet one way or another. Shivering at the thought, he calmed himself at the thought that he was the hero, a huntsman to be, and the hero always wins... did they always win?

Suddenly, the wooden floor shook as the hanging lamps rattled. A footstep, the child quickly deduced. Turning back to look at the entrance, he grimaces as he found the door closed. His friends have abandoned him, he was all alone...

Moving once again, he sneaked through the hallways created from long, tall book-filled shelves, each path he took seemingly enough to fit 3 more of himself shoulder to shoulder. At first, he didn't think about anything of it all, it was just a library owned by a Faunus, yet... the more he snuck around, it terrified him nonetheless. The silence was unbearable. The only sound he heard was that of his small feet tapping onto the wood with each step as well as his breath.

Soon enough... The world around him shook once more, another step. Stopping at a corner, he peered a crossroads of hallways, empty, and he continued onwards. Yet, as he did, he noticed something hanging above him, as the hallway he had entered was oddly dim, he looked up to only gasp. A halberd hung above him, 2, 3 times taller than himself, he was already considered tall for a 12-year-old, how monstrous of a man would he be to wield such a weapon...

Then, again, the ground shakes, then another, something else inside was now walking. He could feel it himself, they were getting stronger, someone was approaching. Yet, he persisted onwards, creeping deeper, unknowing on how to escape his perilous predicament his dare, and now curiosity, has brought him into...

Yet, his movement stopped as the ground he stared at grew darker. Silence once more dawned on him as he looked around, wondering what caused the darkness. At first, there was nothing as he turn front and back, yet, it quickly dawned on him from where the source of the darkness was, as he looked up.

He gasped, a large claw now grabbing onto the shelf he was huddled beneath. The claw was large enough to wrap around the child's body, yet, it merely was a claw, as the full figure soon came to turn the blind corner...

It was like a wall of darkness, as if he was seeing the night sky without stars, he stared into nothing. The size of the figure shook the child as he stumbled on his back, clearly now gaining the true size of the figure in front of him. Yet, what stood out the most was what the child stared at the most. It was a grimm head, no, it was far more terrifying than any grimm he had seen in his scroll, with two large horns spiking out, he could see two red, glowing eyes stare down at him... making his presence known to the figure.

"Umm..." The child stuttered as the figure lowered his entire frame, causing the child to peer through the dark veil, worn-out armour and machinery were all he could see. Finding himself to be at his limits, the kid was about to make a break for it when suddenly a deep haunting voice paralyzes him, the voice of the figure.

"Hello there." The man said, forcing the remaining energy found on the child's arms out, the child fell down to the floor once more, he had no more strength...

Yet, as he embraced whatever fate he could imagine, he felt the claw wrap around him, as he expected, it embraced him entirely, lifting him up, his eyes now fell under the terrifying gaze of the man that now held him captive. But... seconds passed, a minute... nothing had happened. 

The boy quickly opened his eyes as the man was about to set him upright once more. Like a toy soldier and a collector, he carefully let go of his giant claws as the child looked up in awe, the giant now contracting his entire body, straightening up once more, also almost causing the poor kid to topple over again, still in awe at how massive the man was. 

"I apologize if you had gotten confused and lost your way. Currently, the hanging signs are still being worked on..." The man said, with the child thinking of something say, "What book are you looking for?" He asked, with the child soon remembering a book he found in another bookstore that he really wanted to buy.

"D-Do you have the bo-book, the Third Crusade?" He asked, now mustering all his strength, the man hummed as he placed his claw and scratched what appeared to be his chin. As he did, the child once more glanced through the veil of darkness, seeing the battle-torn armour and machinery, it felt savage, dangerous. It felt brutally unlike the triumphant huntsmen that he saw on his scroll through passing news videos and stories... 

"Yes indeed, I remembered seeing the book having just finished stocking up on the novels isle early. Let me assist you there." He said as the child only nodded. Following the man, the kid noticed the rather lack of anything happening, no, the world did not shake at the steps of the man. Whether he did it because the child was there or that it wasn't he who had caused the earthquakes, the child would never know, but for now...

"Here it is, would you like to rent it? Or buy it?" The man asked as he gave the child the book he asked for, with the child quickly replying only to rent it, the man nodded as he gave him a rental card.

"Very well then, the duration of the rent will be 5 days, with each passing day after increasing the price of your rent by 30 lieh." He said, leading the child to the set of stairs, the kid was speechless. While the presence of the man indeed shuddered him, the way the man acted, how he spoke...

"Thank you... Sir..." The child turned around as he bowed to the man. Even if he was still halfway up the flight of stairs, he barely was even on the man's eye level.

"It is alright, and, you can call me Patriot." He said as he began to walk back into the labyrinth of books... 

Walking out of the book store, the sun once more embraced him with warmth as if time had frozen outside, with a group of children rushing in and flooding the kid with many questions, the kid only smiled. 

"You all owe me 30 lieh now." He said as the man had just gotten his first set of customers for his book store...

~~~Author's Notes~~~

Almost the end of Volume 1! Whew, after writing nonstop for an entire week, there's just one more arc of the volume to cover... 

Also, I always found the design of Patriot and a few other characters to be so intriguing, for a tower defence game with anime in its name, while there are still your husbandos and waifus, there are characters like Patriot who's just so different compared to the rest... And unlike the final fight which was more of a 1v2, the way the plot handled Rhodes Island facing off Patriot and his build-up was handled so good.