Weiss Schnee stared back at her reflection in the mirror, contemplating.
She looked at herself, her face, her features. Her ice blue eyes trailed down the pale skin of her face, along her eyebrows, and the bridge of her nose, down to her lips. Then, they flickered like shadows, up to the left.
Almost mesmerizingly, her hand reached up to touch it, the scar, tracing it from the bottom to the top.
She almost wished she was someone else. She wished she had someone else's pretty problems, and not this.
Percy was arriving tonight, and the charity banquet was tomorrow, hosted for all of Atlas to see.
Was she... really going to do this? T-to... proposition her team leader, one of her best friends, and the boy she liked, into- into signing a sponsorship?
All for her despicable father, who had increased the stakes, threatening her very inheritance? Who claimed that, if she married Percy, the Schnee Dust Company would "rise to new heights"?
Was she really going to do it? Simply so that she could keep her position as heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?
She squeezed her eyes, her resolve wavering slightly, her fists clenching at the thought.
Weiss didn't know the answer. She didn't know.
It seemed like that was happening more and more lately...
She had been so sure of herself when she had first gone to Beacon. But when the world showed itself, she had to adapt, both in her beliefs and her abilities. Instead of having the world at her fingers, she questioned herself more and more, thinking critically. Her team had forced her to adapt, Percy had forced her to adapt.
And still, even after all that, she was still going to bend the knee to Jacques Schnee, the most hated man on Remnant. And there was nothing she could do about it.
Refusing to submit to her father would result in being cut off from the Schnee family, and her dreams of inheriting and fixing the SDC would go down the drain.
On the other hand, submitting to his will, like she was doing now... it seemed like the only option. She didn't like it, but it had to be done, if she wanted to change the world for the better. To help people like Blake, the faunus who needed change. To make better labor practices...
And all of that boiled down to this.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow night, she would attend the charity banquet with Percy as her date, and, afterwards, they would retreat to the bedroom.
There, she would proposition him, all because of Jacques Schnee. Because the richest and greediest man on Remnant wanted to become even richer.
She stared down at her pale, white hands. She was a horrible person. She swallowed her saliva that had unknowingly gathered in her mouth.
After several moments of silence, she lifted her head back up, resolve strengthened.
It was for the better good, she reasoned. If she could change the world for the better, and all she had to do was to proposition Percy... then she would.
For the better good.
-----
"So this is Ozpin..." Yang commented uselessly, as they all sat around the campfire awkwardly. The boy from before, Oscar Pine, who indeed was fourteen, cringed as they gazed at him expectantly. He shied away from their glances, fidgeting with Ozpin's cane, which Qrow had given back to him.
Well, they knew he had reincarnated, but... it was still kind of strange to see it in person.
"It's kind of weird, isn't it?" Nora chimed in, "To think that he used to be this tall professor dude, and now he's a little shorty!"
It was actually kind of ironic, considering Nora herself was just barely above five feet. Yang made her look short... but Percy made Yang look short. So did Pyrrha, although slightly less so.
"Shut up, I'm getting there," Oscar muttered, partially to himself, and partially to the group of people that was looking at him.
"Don't you worry! We're going to train you to be the best huntsman you can be, even if you were a farmhand before!" Ruby threw her arm enthusiastically around the boy. Oscar blushed in response, cheeks darkening slightly.
Aww, he already has a crush on Ruby, even if she doesn't realize it, Yang grinned to herself, Jaune better watch the competition.
"Still, we need to check on Ozpin," her dad retook control, like the worrywart that he was.
The boy nodded, taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes, before opening them again.
His irises flashed slightly, and Oscar suddenly stood taller. There was a marked change in him, but also something subtle. The expression on his features shifted slightly.
"Greetings, children," he smiled. Even the voice sounded different from before, even if it wasn't.
"Woahhh," Nora and Yang intoned simultaneously. They looked at each other; violet met turquoise blue eyes, and they nodded, agreeing.
Geniuses think alike.
"It has been a long time, Tai. And Qrow," Oscar, or, Ozpin, smiled. It was a smile, sure, but not a boy's smile. It was a fatherly smile, on a boy's face.
"This is so weird!" Yang barely heard Jaune whisper to Ruby, who nodded back.
Ozpin nodded, "Trust me, Miss Xiao-Long, I get that a lot."
"Alrighty, alrighty, I'll go over details then," Qrow stood up from the couch he was laying on, not with a flask in his hand for once, "So, the big news first. Percy's a demigod."
"A what!?" Ozpin shouted. Yang and the others froze.
Ozpin sounded... angry. Angrier than she had ever seen him before. In fact, she couldn't remember when she had ever seen Headmaster Ozpin angry before. He was furious.
Even though he was a small boy, his eyes contained an unmistakable glint of hatred in them, and his small fists were clenched so hard that his nails began to dig into his palms. Yang could see where the nails cut into the flesh, and blood began to ooze from the wound. He didn't even have aura yet.
"A demigod from a different planet, son of the god of the sea and storms, and also other stuff," Qrow finally repeated, somehow not hearing the hostility in his voice, nor did he catch Yang's frantic eyes for him to shut up, "He helped us at the Fall of Beacon. Without him, Vale would have fallen. And apparently the Brother gods are real. Aether and Erebus, except Erebus, the God of Darkness, is like the older one. He's actually the father of Aether. And Percy's like one of their descendants, or something..."
Without word, Ozpin began to tremble, his hands shaking, his jaw clenched.
"I wonder how I hadn't seen it before. All of the signs were there. How powerful he was, the display he had put on... all of it pointed to the fact that he was only another cruel immortal... he must die..."
There was a strange aura coming from him; not his normal aura, but one that exhibited true killing intent. All of them shied away from him now, and Qrow's eyes widened.
"Woah woah Oz, what's going on?"
"You don't understand the pain he has caused me! He cursed me!" Ozpin looked like a wild animal, his eyes wide.
"Him?? Are you sure it was him?" her dad reasoned with Ozpin, stepping forward, and placing his hands on Ozpin's shoulders, "I mean, you've never seen the kid before, right? He's only eighteen... Something that his ancestor did shouldn't affect him."
Qrow stepped in, "You know, kid fought his own aunts and uncles on the godly side," he slapped Ozpin's back a bit too forcefully, "You got nothin' to worry about Ozzy."
That snapped Ozpin out of it.
The anger that he had just moments ago, vanished, and he sat back in his seat, looking down at his hands. He tapped the cane several times, his hands still shaking slightly. He took several deep breaths, his chest rising and falling as he tried to calm himself.
What was that? Why had he been so angry? Yang had so many questions, and so few answers.
No one spoke for several seconds. The silence dragged on to several minutes, as they sat there quietly. Then, Ozpin spoke.
"I apologize for this. I know you all have been through tremendous hardship already. There exists a leader of the Grimm. Her name, is Salem. I believe you all know this already."
They all nodded.
"I've kept secrets. Perseus has done the same, with his heritage. I understand it, to some extent. You are all deep into this war already. The truth... is that I have a past with Salem, Queen of the Grimm. And, just as I reincarnate, Salem is immortal."
"And?" Nora grinned, "We'll just have to hit her harder so she can't come back! Just like Percy!"
They all whooped, excited. Yang pumped her fist, ready to kick that woman's ass. Percy'd proven to them that immortals could be killed, right?
Even the Queen of the Grimm could be taken down. No way were they letting this bitch destroy Remnant!
"No... it's not the same kind of immortality," Ozpin objected, sighing, "She has nigh-instant regeneration, through years of performing necromancy and experimenting magic on herself..."
The room, which had just been full of jubilant cheering and whooping, was now deadly silent.
What the fuck?
Instant regeneration was something straight out of a videogame...
How were they supposed to beat her? None of Percy's opponents had instant regeneration... Yang thought.
That revelation put a dampener on their mood.
They all sat back down, looking awkwardly at each other.
Qrow and her father were the polar opposite.
Qrow stood up, his red eyes blazing with fury comparable to that of Ozpin just a few minutes ago.
Her dad looked stoic, but Yang knew that meant he was beyond furious.
Ozpin shrunk beneath their gazes.
"So you're telling me that you had us, all of us, fighting for false hope?" Qrow scoffed, shaking his head, "You had us running in circles. All my life, I'd been a bandit. And then, I met you. I thought I was doing some good, trying to stop Salem."
"I-"
Her dad cut him off, "Team PRWBY is the next Team STRQ, huh?" Tai continued, lips thinned, "The treasured, elevated team that you send on dangerous missions that don't even do anything when the Queen is unkillable. The team that eventually gets torn apart because of you. You have one every generation, don't you? The one that you use to push back the Grimm, all for naught."
"I was trying, okay?!" Ozpin shouted back, "What was I supposed to do? Tell everyone about Salem, and let the Grimm invade every town and city in Remnant!? I'm reincarnated whether I like it or not, and I'm trying my best! I needed to create false hope!"
"But you hid it from all of us! All of us!" Qrow shouted back with just as much ferocity, getting up in the boy's face.
"Because if I told you, I knew you would react like this! Or you wouldn't even try! The people deserve help!" Ozpin argued.
At this point, Yang didn't know whose side to take. On one hand, Ozpin had lied to all of them. But on the other hand, he couldn't have done anything.
"Then why are you telling us this now? When our enemies are approaching Mistral, trying to get the Lamp!?" Tai pointed out, still heated.
"Because I thought Perseus might be able to do something about it!!"
Silence reigned again, as her dad and Qrow processed the thought. Taking several, shaky breaths, Ozpin sat back down onto the armchair.
"He is single-handedly the most skilled fighter I have ever seen, and he wields the elements naturally. You say he is the son of the sea and storm god. This is one opportunity," Ozpin elaborated.
"Did you not say Salem was immortal?" Jaune finally asked what they were all thinking.
"Yes," the former headmaster thinned his lips, settling down, "Salem was the greatest magic wielder of our time."
He went to say something else, but stopped himself.
"Haven't you kept enough secrets?" Taiyang looked at Ozpin. His face was neutral, but it was apparent that he wasn't happy with Ozpin.
"Ozpin, if this is important..." Qrow warned, leaning forward.
"If we're going to help you, if we're going to fight in this war..." Jaune stepped up. His face was dead serious, all traces of a smile wiped from it, a far cry from the goofy boy that he had once been.
"Then you need to tell us," he finally finished, "Everything."
They all nodded, turning their scrutinizing gazes onto Ozpin. They were his allies! They were supposed to work together to defeat Salem, and not keep secrets from each other.
They weren't his pawns. He needed to trust them.
Ozpin sighed.
"I have kept too many secrets, but it was simply to keep you all safe. We are in the deep end now, though..."
"This is worth the cost of my magic..."
The last part was said in a hush, but Yang picked up on it all the same, being directly next to him. Magic? And using it cost him?
She looked around the group, but no one else seemed to have caught it.
He stood up, and he whispered something under his breath.
A strange symbol began to form beneath his feet.
It expanded, and soon enough, Yang recognized it as his emblem.
It was a clock-like symbol, with gears turning and shifting. Wind whipped up underneath him unnaturally, sending a chill throughout the clearing, as the trees rustled.
Suddenly, the entire landscape around them changed.
Ozpin's hands wielded a kind of green energy around them, and he was whispering things under his breath. He cast out his hands, changing it again.
And his story began to play in front of their eyes.
"This is my closest kept secret."
"Her father was known was the Wicked King..."
-----
Let this be a warning, an omen, to never be trusting of the paradoxical, dualistic nature of mankind.
The Wicked King was once the most benevolent king in all of Remnant. Hence his former name, the Benevolent King.
The Benevolent King built infrastructure, funded roads and canals, traded cordially with other kingdoms, fostering new markets, and was loved by all.
Yang's mouth hung open, as did everyone else's. The King was rich. And not just that, but the people were prospering too. Trade flourished, and the market was amazing. The capital was... beautiful. Great temples were built in his name, and his palace stood on top of a mountain, overlooking his kingdom.
The last in the Golden Age of Emperors, the Benevolent King led an era of peace and prosperity. Fighting back against the invaders of his kingdom, he led his armies to victory against the oppressive Mongolian Empire, and the Kievan Rus. Legends said that he wielded a great, powerful sword, which could cleave the best riders from their horses, and split armies in half.
The ground split open beneath their feet, causing several of them to gasp out in shock. However, Yang and the group soon realized they were only watching from another's perspective.
Yang gulped at the sight of the man at the charge, who led with the sword, which was too far to be made out.
With a single cleave, great ravines were opened. Spanning hundreds of feet wide, the ravines opened quickly, and suddenly, as thousands of men and horses lost their footing, and fell to their deaths.
That's fucking terrifying, she thought to herself.
In actuality, it was a relic, one of the five gifted to Remnant by the Brother Gods to guide humanity: Knowledge, Balance, Choice, Creation, and Destruction. Each relic was fought over, and traded hands multiple times... except this one.
This relic was the Sword of Balance, but it had no name. In fact, it was the only relic of the five to not have a given name.
It was the Sword of Balance, and thus, it was perfectly balanced, as all things should be. It granted the user immense strength and power, being a relic from the god of light... but it came at a hefty, hefty price.
Whosoever wields this blade shall possess eternal power.
The Wicked King was a good man before. But all men have a weakness. However small, that weakness was targeted by the Sword of Balance. It was the price one had to pay for such power.
His greed.
It was the most basic of all sins, Yang knew. She was greedy, and everyone was greedy, to some extent. Everyone had wants. It was what enabled them to function in this world
Then no one could ever truly wield the Sword of Balance, right? No one could resist it... it was a cruel curse placed on him by the Brother Gods...
He was materialistic, like all men were. It was this small facet of him that the Sword of Balance targeted in him. The slight chink in his armor, in his morals.
Overtime, his weakness grew, and corrupted him.
There was a glowing blackness in him that Yang could see. The sight of it caused her and the others to recoil in disgust.
It was like a parasite, a maggot infested in his aura, squirming and crawling and pushing against his own soul, spreading slowly. Nothing could stop it, nothing could oppose it, and they watched as it spread further and further. First it was small, then it took a fifth, a quarter, a half, and then all of him.
He wanted the power to himself, and soon refused to part with the blade, which, only led to a vicious cycle. He conquered defenseless villages, even his own trading neighbors. He raised taxes, pushing the peasants to death to feed his extravagant palaces and mansions. Any who dared to challenge him were put down by the might of the Sword.
One day, the Wicked King received a prophecy from an old, decrepit woman, who was rumored to be a witch on the edge of death.
They watched as the man received the news, gripping his fists. There was an innate desire to protect himself, to keep power. The will to survive, at all costs.
It was a survival instinct that everyone had. It wasn't supposed to be a negative, but the Sword had turned it into a negative.
Yang frowned. The gods were cruel.
It said that he would one day be overthrown by one of his own children.
The little good left in him tried to desperately dissuade this notion, but his paranoia grew. He would use the Sword of Balance to exert himself, trying to keep his mind off things, but it would only further his paranoia. He was jumping at shadows.
Finally, one day, he could not take it anymore. In fear of his own, he slew his seven sons, rendering them into incomprehensible pieces so that they would never challenge him.
The Wicked King, although wicked and greedy, was no idiot. Even his daughter was a threat to him.
But he could not bear to do anything to her, until she showed she was a threat.
And, at a mere five years of age, she did.
Although his sons showed immense prowess in weaponry, Salem was different. Magic was commonplace at the time, and every person on Remnant had some form of it.
However, Salem was the most naturally gifted magic wielder of the time. A prodigy, she showed immense proficiency in elemental manipulation, in spells, like transmutation, telekinesis... It was an unprecedented amount of abilities that she could wield...
She was this powerful at the age of five. Yang dreaded to see how powerful she truly was. Magic was one thing that Percy had never mentioned fighting against before. Could he win against a sorcerer who had all sorts of tricks up her sleeve? A Witch, the Queen of the Grimm, who had undoubtedly accumulated thousands of years of knowledge in the time she'd been alive?
Yang knew she shouldn't doubt Percy with his track record. He had bested the odds time and time again, and come out on top. He was an actual demigod, straight out of a fairytale. It was still something to think about, though.
This only drove the Wicked King further into the corner. Although the remaining good in him still could not bear to kill the last of his children, the Wicked King lashed out, like a cornered rat.
Salem was locked away in a tower, and the Wicked King could rest.
Soon though, the Wicked King realized what potential his daughter had. The Sword of Balance had effectively driven his mind into a power-hungry madness.
If he could overthrow the gods, none could challenge him.
Salem, having exceptional talent and potential, became both a threat, and an experiment for her father.
The Wicked King studied her, trusting no one to talk to her. Unbeknownst to Salem, every full moon, in the middle of the night, he would come to her, trying to steal her power. But it was to no avail.
Still determined, the Wicked King kept her locked away. Her castle was guarded by the fiercest warriors that he could find, and the monstrous beasts that had been tamed by the greatest wizards and sorcerers.
At the time, I was Ozma, a knight of an opposing kingdom, the Kingdom of Assyria. The Wicked King's continued encroachment on our territory received retaliation from our king. We made a pact with three other kingdoms, an alliance, to stop him.
When we invaded his lands, the Wicked King, although powerful, had to divide his large army into smaller sections, and his focus was split. He could not be everywhere at once.
I had heard rumors of a weapon of mass destruction that the Wicked King had hid away in a tower. Our kingdom needed it to prevail against the Wicked King's great forces. And so, we attacked the tower that was to the east in his lands, fighting viciously. Along the way, many of my brethren fell. Some to wizards and sorcerers, others to great giants and warriors, and still others to great fire-breathing dragons. All of them fought, risking life and limb to protect what was their king's, the tower.
All of this only heightened my suspicions of how powerful the Wicked King's secret weapon was.
And yet, my companions fell. One by one, they fell to the powerful wizards and witches and sorcerers, to great giants that wielded clubs the size of mountains, and to great beasts of legend, monstrous dragons and ethereal phoenixes that wrought destruction onto our entourage.
During my time, there was no such thing as aura, only magic. No aura that could protect you from injuries or heal them. Only those who could wield healing magic were able to heal.
Still, we persisted, and, in the end, it was myself and another who remained. But not long afterwards, he died of his injuries too.
I was left alone, but I was unopposed.
Around me was a battlefield, bathed in blood and corpses of the deceased. The greenery of the grass fields was turned into a foreboding, bloodred color.
It looked like the fields of Vale after Percy had decimated the Grimm... except red, instead of black.
Hundreds of lives lost, just like that, in the blink of an eye.
They could even see, and hear, a few corpses taking shuddering, last breaths, as they bled out. It was a massacre of people.
It was horrible, gruesome. Yang felt a pang in her heart at all the lost lives, the lost people.
Yang looked away, grimacing. She liked to fight, for the adrenaline. But she didn't like what might come with it if she wasn't careful.
Ozpin did not react. He didn't seem to care all that much, to be honest. He looked saddened by the loss, but not the loss of the people. Instead, he seemed almost saddened because... he was obligated to. He was saddened at the loss of organic life.
Yang looked over to Ruby, hoping that she was taking it well. She wasn't.
She knew it was her sister's first time seeing death so close up... and even though she had fought at the Fall of Beacon along with the rest of them, Ruby had never seen a death in person before. Yang had to do something.
Ruby looked shellshocked, but Jaune threw his arms around her, tugging her into his chest and gave Yang a solemn nod. His blue eyes seemed firmer, now.
Yang nodded back in acknowledgement. Jaune would take care of her little sis, just like Ruby took care of him. Yang trusted him enough to let him do so. Jaune had good intentions.
Death was an integral part of life. Part of me had expected this, but to be the only one left was... too much.
They felt for him. Although Ozpin, or Ozma, rather, didn't seem to be too close to his companions, it was painful all the same.
Not wanting to stay any longer, I chose to walk into the tower.
Yang had to crane her neck upwards to even look at the tower.
That was a whole lotta steps...
Up the hundreds of spiral steps I climbed, relentlessly. I did not slow my pace, for I was too anxious to see this rumored weapon of mass destruction.
I came to a stop before a locked wooden door, twice my height, but half my width. My sword sliced it in half.
I had to withdraw my shoulders to squeeze through, and when I finally came through, I met face to face with the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
This, was Salem.
Salem... Yang looked at her. Pale, platinum blonde hair, a shade that was different from Yang's own. Enchanting baby blue eyes, and fair skin too delicate to be even touched by the sun.
She was undoubtedly beautiful.
Her eyes dipped down. Damn...
Yang wasn't jealous. Nope, she would never be! She had nothing to be jealous of! Right? Right!?
The woman finally responded, "Who are you?"
And the scene shifted.
I had thought I would come face to face with an ultimate weapon. I was prepared for it to be anything – a sword, another relic (perhaps the Relic of Destruction), an ancient monster... anything but another human.
She turned out to be the Wicked King's daughter.
It took some convincing, but, she was naïve. She was a woman who wanted to travel the world, and I obliged.
And so we went, vanquishing the Wicked King's forces along the way. She was the Wicked King's most powerful weapon, and I was one of the most esteemed knights in the kingdom.
Along we went, decimating squadrons of knights and cavalry, with just the two of us. At night, we would pause to rest, and sleep.
They laughed, and lived with what they had... The scenes kept playing in front of them, and each time, Yang could see, Salem was falling more and more in love with Ozpin. Ozpin, in turn, seemed to care about Salem, too.
They would smile, and hold hands, and lay each other's heads on their shoulders. After a battle, they would sigh in relief, and collapse on the ground. At night, they would point to the stars, and count them. One, by one, by one. Remnant's moon was unshattered, complete, and they would bask in the luminescence of its rays.
It was everything they could have wanted.
I took a certain fondness to her; she was physically beautiful, yes, but emotionally, she was still a child, who was developing. And I suspect that she didn't truly love me; it was only an infatuation, a sort of hero-worship... I was the first man other than her father that she had ever laid eyes upon, and I had saved her from her prison in the tower...
Ozma's love for her was less than love, and her love wasn't true love either... something must have happened, Yang knew. It wasn't set up for a good ending.
One night, we were ambushed in our sleep.
In hindsight, I should have been more careful. I should have set up traps, and defenses.
The Wicked King had caught word of a duo ravaging his forces, and, in response, had sent mercenaries and assassins.
Knowing Salem was weak in close quarters combat, I grabbed my sword and shield, headed towards the entrance of the cave, and stepped into the night.
He didn't have a helmet, or a chest plate, or any armor at all. He didn't have any aura. He was an esteemed knight with some standard magic, but he was no Percy. They all knew that.
I fought as hard as I could, trying to take down as many as I could. But, in the end, I fell.
Several spears struck through his chest, and Ozma, with so many opened gashes and nicks, fell to the ground. Yang grimaced, as the blood poured from underneath his body.
All of the racket awakened Salem. She came out, watching as I bled to death.
Her entire being was shaking. Her hands flew to her face, as unshed tears began to form in her eyes.
Yang pitied her, seeing someone who she loved die in front of her eyes.
For everything that she had been through, fighting and killing others was different from receiving the same. She had never felt someone who she cared about die. It was not the same.
With an ear-splitting scream, Salem unleashed a torrent of magic, generated by grief.
A rainbow of colors exploded, expanding outwards and shooting arcs of power. It tore up the ground, rending the roots of trees from the ground, and splitting the mountain in half. The ground shook, as the arcs of power only went further and further.
The Wicked King's army, and our own armies were torn apart. Ravines were created, as even the Wicked King fell into one.
Yang's jaw dropped, her eyes glued to the scene in front of her. She had that much power?
With magic, Salem grabbed my soul, and shoved it back into my body. However, my essence of life was gone, and had been gone. She could not keep a hold of that.
And so, keeping the soul attached to my body, Salem hurriedly brought my body. Stealing one of the mercenaries' few surviving horses, she began riding towards the Land of Light, where the God of Light resided.
The scene shifted again, and they saw Salem begging the God of Light to bring him back.
"I pity you, child, but life and death are a delicate balance. The circle of life cannot be disturbed. Balanced, as all things should be."
They watched as Salem took her loss on the chin, and, heading in the opposite direction, rode for the land of darkness.
The elder god's response was very much the same.
"You may mourn, you may cry, you may grieve, but, in the end, the result is the same. All life only gets to live once. Life and death cannot be disturbed. They are eternal, unlike you."
Desperate, Salem tried reviving me with her own magic, but to no avail.
She was frustrated, and on the edge of lashing out. What would happen?
They were all on the edges of their seats, watching with dread and anticipation.
In the end, she resorted to drastic measures. Remembering the gods' words, she ambushed, and killed a nearby farmhand.
It was easy. Too easy. The farmhand was only a naïve boy, who stuttered and blushed as Salem walked up to him with an easy expression on her face.
And then she stabbed him to death with the knife she had hidden behind her back.
It was disgusting, and gruesome.
Still, Yang couldn't tear her eyes from the screen, in an abysmal show of morbid curiosity.
Jaune put his hands over Ruby's eyes, and they both turned away from the scene. Qrow and Tai looked disgusted, and Nora looked horrified. Even Ren's mask was cracking a little bit.
The muffled screams of the farmhand slowed, even as the boy kicked and squirmed relentlessly, and hopelessly.
Soon enough, it was over.
But, before the farmhand's soul could leave, Salem grabbed it. With her own spell, her own will, she grabbed the soul, and tore it open, to reveal the essence of life.
It was, simply put, a violation of nature. It shouldn't have happened.
It was upsetting the balance of life and death.
At the time, such a thing had never been documented before. It came to be known as necromancy.
They watched as she weaved an intricate spell, forcing the essence into Ozma's body.
Salem had no morals, or guidelines to follow. She was selfish, and, to an extent, that was the intrinsic nature of humans. Self-survival. Like daughter, like father.
And just like that, I was reawakened. But I was disoriented for a few seconds. And in those few seconds, the Gods knew what had happened.
The scene shifted again, back to a meeting between the two Gods.
They knew that doing such a thing was upsetting the intrinsic balance between life and death, and agreed that it could not continue. Humans should not be able to perform such extreme acts.
In the Land of Light, the two Gods lifted their arms, and they removed all magic from Remnant.
It came flooding back to them, magic of all types and different colors, returning to their owners.
And so, I died once more.
The scene shifted once more, and this time, they were in a place of pure white.
In front of Ozma were the Gods of Darkness and Light. They spoke in unison.
"Salem has upset the balance of life and death. Humans have lost their magic, but they retain a fundamental part of themselves, a semblance, if you will. You must stop her. Your own semblance shall be reincarnation. You will retain your magic."
"So long as this world turns, you shall walk its face. So long as Salem is alive, you will never rest."
And the gods cursed me with reincarnation.
It was so obviously cruel that even Yang pitied Ozma at this point. He had kept secrets from them, but right now? He was cursed. He was a knight, but was now ordered to stop, and kill Salem, the woman that he had taken a liking, or fondness to.
I was baffled. I didn't believe it. I was cursed with reincarnation to stop... Salem? The woman I had freed from the tower?
I was reincarnated into a young teenager's mind, a different body.
I was born back into a world that I didn't know. For a thousand years had passed in the time that I had left, although it felt like only a few years to me.
Entire towns and cities were different. Humanity continued fighting, kingdoms still starting wars. There was no mention of the five relics that were once warred over.
Humans could no longer wield magic like they once did.
However, there was an intrinsic part of humanity that retained magic, that which could not be avoided. It was a fundamental part of humans that the Gods could not take away. They were semblances. Aura was the human soul, that which was granted to me when I was reborn into this world.
There were now monsters, known as Creatures of Grimm. Black flesh and white armor, they were the natural predators of humans, and they terrorized them. No one knew where they came from...
Now, there were creatures known as faunus locked away in cages, or whipped as slaves.
Yang winced just looking at it. It was outright racism.
When I grew older, I ventured out into the world, looking for Salem. I followed the tracks and the rumors at every bar and tavern.
There were tales of a wicked, terrifying sorceress who lived deep in the woods, alone. I trekked forward, trying to reach this fabled sorceress. And finally, I arrived.
The house in front of me was silent.
As I walked up to it, the door opened. It was a woman, similar, yet so different to Salem.
Salem had changed. Her sclerae were black, and her irises were red. Her skin was even paler than it had been before... she was terrifying...
And so we reunited.
And when we reunited, I kept the secret of the gods from her, and she kept the secret of her immortality from me. There was a growing rift between us, and neither of us were brave enough to bridge that gap.
Salem eventually convinced me to remake the world in our image. To become the Gods that had left Remnant, to offer a guiding light.
We had four children. Through her's and mine bond, of the two remaining practitioners of magic, our four children acquired magical abilities that they showcased to us. These four children would become the maidens.
Life was good. We ruled a prosperous kingdom and conquered others. We were unstoppable, as we searched for the five relics of an age long past. Those who would not bend the knee, we killed.
Most of the time, I was on the front lines, commanding troops as Salem stayed back in the castle, casting her spells and supporting us.
It was like good old times, when she and I went on a rampage against the Wicked King.
And yet, I slowly began to doubt myself, and her in turn.
Yang watched, as Ozpin slowly grew discontent. He grew more and more paranoid, stressing over the answer.
Why was Salem immortal? Where had the Grimm come from?
I did not know.
Although we married, and had children, and were close, we were not particularly romantically inclined.
She may have been biologically mature, but mentally, she was still a woman who had no social interaction growing up. I could not love someone who I had to continuously guide, and...
And I made my greatest mistake. I committed the biggest sin.
Adultery.
I fell in love with another woman.
Yang could feel herself grinding her teeth. Her eyes were red, and hair on fire.
The white space was silent. The silence was suffocating.
Did they really have to pay for some old man's past sins? Was Remnant doomed to oblivion? All because Ozpin had cheated??
I... I did not know why. But perhaps...
Perhaps I had felt for her, but what I had felt for her was not love, perse. It was more... a fondness.
A fondness for the girl that I had found in the tower, but, over time, that same fondness faded, little, by little. Perhaps that was why I had agreed to marry her.
It was a warm feeling, but temporary. Nothing lasts forever.
And, for her, a form of hero-worship, an infatuation with me that she could not let go of.
And one fateful night, I would find out. Out of pure curiosity and paranoia, I followed her into the dark, down into the basement of our castle, disguising my footsteps. I never visited the basement; it was always locked, and I never bothered to go in, assuming nothing was there.
Oh, how wrong I was.
And what I saw, horrified me. Low moans and groans from bodies that had no right to be moving, and alive... blood that dripped ever so slowly, just enough so that they were left alive...
Yang placed her hand over her mouth, taking a step back. She was doing it...
Salem sucked the soul out of another body, splitting it. And she took the essence of life, placing it into her own body. She cast a blanket of magic, forcing the other souls back into their bodies. Keeping them alive, and suffering. Like sheep and cattle.
It was a nightmare personified.
I did not know she was practicing necromancy.
I was so shocked that I dropped my magic, and, as I took a step backwards, my boots crunched on the brick floor.
"Ozma."
Her voice was resigned, as if she knew it would happen. She knew Ozma would eventually find out. That only made her more terrifying, Yang thought.
"W-What is this!? What are you doing!?"
His voice gradually rose, as he began shouting at her.
"Ozma... this, was the cost of bringing you back. The cost of killing that farmhand, the cost of necromancy. The cost of playing with life and death... I need essences of life to survive. I had to do it... to bring you back."
"I never asked to be brought back!"
"You had to be brought back!!" she argued defiantly, red eyes glowing.
"I never asked for this!! I didn't want you to become... to become this feeder of souls!!"
"I did this to be with you!! Why are you so ungrateful!?"
"Because this isn't right!! This isn't right! This is how you are immortal? By stealing other's lives!?"
I was disgusted, and terrified.
What had Salem become?
In my absence, necromancy had corrupted her...
"I hold the immortal blessing of the God of Darkness! Don't you see!? This is all because of you!" she shouted back at me, "I had to do this to survive! And now that you're back, I'm doing this for you!"
"What about the Grimm, did you make them too!? To terrorize humanity?"
"How else would I feed? How else would I exert my emotions? Destroying the world isn't worth it when I lose out on so many souls! Don't you see!? More souls means that I get to be with you more!"
"Mommy, daddy, please don't fight!"
I head our children behind me, and I grimaced. They had followed me here. They didn't understand...
This was bad. This was really, really bad... Would they be killed?
Yang winced at the thought...
"Go...go, go..." I whispered frantically to them. But they did not budge, with the stubbornness of children who did not truly understand.
I had come to the conclusion that Salem was an abomination who had to be stopped.
She had been infatuated with me, the entire time. To someone who had never stepped outside of the stone walls of her castle,
I made the fatal mistake of holding out my hand and gathering magic in my palm.
They watched with bated breath as Salem drew her own staff, a grim, resigned look on her face.
And we unleashed our magic.
It was a terrible, terrible decision, both as people and as parents.
Yang was of the opinion that they definitely should have talked it out, and even if they were to fight, they shouldn't have fought with their kids so close to them.
Our children were killed in the crossfire, and that only enraged me more, and her in turn. We blamed it on each other, and we fought madly inside of the castle.
Our battle destroyed the castle's foundations and caused the castle to collapse. The Kingdom would fall along with it.
In the end, she won.
And thus, it would begin a long life of reincarnation, over, and over again, of me bonding with like-minded souls.
Many of my lives were spent trying to forget it all, but no matter where I went, she was always there; her presence was always there.
Eventually, I would gather four of the five relics, storing them away. I would fight back, to stop her, to hold her at a standstill.
I didn't tell anyone. I gave the people false hope because otherwise the Grimm would run entire kingdoms over. I couldn't let humanity fall like that; only hope could stop the Grimm.
And here we are.
-----
Out in the northern ends of Solitas, cargo trains full of dust zoomed along the tracks. The few SDC workers were assisted by automations; after all, it was hard to survive in the harsh winters of Solitas.
The cargo trains were to head south, across the frozen tundra, and through the numerous tunnels in the Withered Highlands, to Atlas.
As they were traveling, however, figures suddenly appeared on the horizon, and gaining.
They were warriors, trained, and cloaked in white, as they began moving for the train.
But these were not White Fang.
With practiced ease, they covered the distance in an unnatural instant, and landed onto the moving train, unnoticed by the few SDC workers, and undetected by the Atlesian automations.
Only when they entered the train, did the workers notice. But it was too late.
They cut them down brutally. The automations and the untrained workers never stood a chance. The bodies dropped to the snow, still bleeding.
One went to the front to pull the lever,
And they began to unload the train, full of dust.
"Dust for the Goddess!" one of them screamed out into the night.
"Dust for the Goddess!" another echoed, and a chant started.
It was terrifying, yet mesmerizing, hundreds of voices shouting in a cacophony over the blistering wind and cold. And yet, their voices were strong, and hopeful, and believing.
Believing in salvation, having faith for the Goddess.
Truly, the hearts of men were easily fallible.
AN: Note: Some reviewers have recognized the mature themes that are appearing more often in this book, and after reconsidering the material, I am inclined to agree. Therefore, this book will be rated M from now on. Now, onto the real AN.
So, Salem has been buffed. Of course she had to, otherwise she wouldn't be a threat for Percy. And I think canon Salem is too weak anyway; Hazel shouldn't have been able to "defeat" her that easily, even if she is immortal and apparently only focuses on offense.
As you can see, the lore for the Brother Gods and "the Lost Fable" has been changed.
And Gaul, something mentioned briefly from Chapter 25, is revealed.
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'til next time!
Next Chapter: March 3rd (2 weeks)
-thann3