It didn't look at first as if the gods, or whatever they were, would comply with the demand for truth.
["The Judge"--21 Pilots]
The jury, as they were, wondered if this was going to turn into a stalemate.
Vara wasn't really good for this anyway. She was still unconscious.
"Does anyone understand what's happening right now?" Jaune asked.
"Not at all," Pyrrha murmured.
"Oh good, I thought it was just me," Jaune said.
"Dude, I haven't understood one thing about this entire day," Sun said.
"I assume this is necessary to get them to leave." Winter was leaning forward and squinting at the gods thoughtfully. "If they give us the truth, perhaps their claim will not hold up. This is an interesting way to do it."
Qrow looked at her weirdly, then looked at Weiss. She shrugged at him but then nodded. "Maybe, yeah."
"Why do I feel like you two are the only ones comfortable with this turn of events?" Meridian murmured.
Finally, after Shine staring them down, and Wally being uncertain what to do, the pseudo gods seem to have to relent.
"This is an account of our history," the elder said.
Behind everyone, on the back wall of this--room? Was it a room?--there materialized a sort of screen.
This was preferable to being lost in another white void, but it gave most of them the unmatched feeling that they'd entered a movie theater.
And images began to play on the screen.
Even the spirits of the Relics were watching, though they probably understood very poorly.
And Salem and Ozma were just gawking.
"Jinn," the god of light said, "explain."
Jinn, not at all as if this pleased her but of course having no choice about it, rose up, and blue smoke surrounded everyone, though it only blocked their view of what was around them so that it was even more like being in a theater than before.
"A long time ago when the world was new..." Jinn began, "it had another name. Artriusterra. And the world had no God but the one unseen and unknown." [Artrius is a Latin word that means "complete", "perfect", "artful", or "cunning". Terra means "land". I didn't use the correct Latin grammar, but roughly it would mean "complete or perfect land". We came up with this idea because the name Remnant couldn't always have been the world's name since it only applies because they are a remnant of the humans and world before them. So it stood to reason that the first name might mean "whole" or some variation of that.]
The images displayed people living very simple lives, farming and doing woodwork or other such trades, with families and children.
It looked very surreal.
"Mankind was troubled then by evils," Jinn's narration continued, "but they were only what is common to man, and they were not the ones of the gods. The world was new and very undeveloped. The first men and women had only just found their way there not a hundred years ago from the other worlds of men."
"What?" Blake said in a low voice.
"Of course..." Weiss muttered. "Just like Underland... people travel worlds... whoa."
"Until one day, out of the blue, there arrived two new beings on the small planet," Jinn said.
[The fact that the RWBY show confirmed this theory that we came up with ages before we saw Volume 9's finale is too funny to me. None of y'all haters can't say a dang thing to me about this not being how it happened because the show already said we were right! But our explanation was slightly different. Put it up to interpretation.]
The screen showed the gods appearing, not as humanoid persons, but more like smoke and light clouds.
They floated over the ground and passed by the humans, who didn't seem to notice them.
"The Brothers Grimm found the world new and utterly lacking in established rulership. Every small group of men just did as they pleased or agreed upon with their neighbors," Jinn went on--and her tone implied this was the first time she was hearing some of this also.
The brothers then took the forms of dragons and began to confer somewhere on a hilltop.
[Note: While it may not have any real significance, hilltops are often used as sites for pagan shrines or temples, while the Bible says strictly not to build alters or temples on high places because of the exposure, and probably because it's less accessible to the weak or lame to get there.]
"This is a fresh new world, ripe for cultivating," the brother who was light spoke first. "It would be perfect to establish ourselves in."
"If only there weren't already humans here," the other replied. "They will ruin it as they do every world. Soon there will be wars and laws and civilizations."
"So much the better. No kind of authority could be established without some form of organization," the brother of light said. "I think it will do nicely. We could rule them well."
"Suppose they don't like to be ruled?" the dark one said. "I could destroy them all."
"That is not likely to be allowed," said the light one reprovingly. "After all, they are already here. You wouldn't want to incur the wrath of those above." [To avoid confusion, by 'those' he could either be referring to the triune nature of God, or to the fact that there are other spirits that serve God who are said in, the Bible and in other religions, to do actions of judgment or war for Him.]
"Surely they are not here already, so they will not care," said the dark one.
"They are always here," said the light one. "And He, He Himself knows all."
"Others have ruled the worlds before," the dark one protested, though more subdued.
"I think it could be done as long as the children of men accept us," the light one said, with more confidence. "I say we should win them over. Let's see." He rubbed his chin in the grass the way a human might rub it with their hand. "We could promise them power... Yes, we could grant them dominion over the elements... even over each other. Through magic." He held up his claw, and colored light swirled in it.
"I'm sure that will only encourage them to rule themselves," the other said skeptically.
"More then? I could show them new crafts and technology," the light one insisted. "How to harness the power of the beasts, how to write, all manner of things."
"It won't do any good," said the dark one. "Unless there is something to keep them down. Every race must have its adversary, no matter what..."
He swirled around, and then he said, "I have it!"
"What?" The god of light's tone implied he didn't trust his brother to have any useful ideas.
"Oh, don't be so proud!" the dark one said. "This is just the thing: I will create dark beings... Yes... I could call them Grimm, after us."
"Grimm?" the light one said warily.
"Yes... something like this..." The god of darkness suddenly seized an innocent looking bird from a tree it was in, and, taking on the form of a human now, with his horns, he waved his hands over it, and the bird changed.
It became red and black and white, and its eyes mutated.
This almost made Blake throw up, and she wasn't the only one.
"Ugh." Raven leaned away.
Mercury was leaning back with his feet on the back of the seat in front of him. "This is some first class horror right here," he said, putting his arms behind his head.
"What is wrong with you?" Emerald could barely look.
"The Grimm." Salem was leaning forward, and then she looked at her own hands and then back up. "Of course... so they were always amalgamations..."
"You want to use the beasts as enemies of man?" The light one spoke not as if this was horrifying but as if it was juvenile. "Mankind rules over the beasts, brother. They won't be held back that much by them."
"I'm not done. This is just the model," the god of darkness said impatiently. "I will take its soul out."
He made a motion, and the creature's eyes seemed to drain of life.
Something that must have been its soul rose up from its body and then disappeared.
The dark one then snapped his fingers, and it grew to be the size of a large plane. In fact, it was a Nevermore.
"There, you see?" he said. "Now that I have one, I have only to copy it, and I can make more without even using the original animals. The humans won't be able to rule them because they have no spirit left."
"Well, that is impressive," said the light one with a shrug--if a dragon could shrug. "But I do not think it will work. Suppose any of them learn to master spirits? They would be weaker than before."
"That's where your idea comes in," the god of darkness said. "You want to give them magic? I will give them my magic, and then the Grimm and them will share a weakness. That will even the odds."
"Hmm." The light one considered. "I suppose. Yes, that might work... but, I don't know, that might wipe them out too quickly."
"Ugh." The younger brother seemed to feel this was inconsequential.
"I know--" The light one turned human now. "--I will endow certain individuals with great talents in magic to fight, and I will select just a few who will have special gifts to turn these monsters to dust--or stone--with one look of their eyes."
He flashed his, and the Grimm vaporized.
"Hey!" the brother of darkness said, like "it was my toy!"
"This way both our creations can live alongside each other," the brother of light said.
"You take all the fun out of destroying things if you give them a way to cheat," the dark one said.
"Your monsters--Grimm, you said?--will surely spread much faster than the humans, with all the darkness in the world," the light one said. "I hardly think the humans will feel it's cheating."
"Well, this is not good enough," the dark one said. "I won't be able to make them fast enough to be a real problem... unless..." He glanced around. "I'll create a place to make them right here on this planet... Yes...somewhere the humans don't live yet. That will be my territory."
"That's not a bad idea," the light one said. "I will do the same... We should split one land in half... Yes...I have just the one also. A little reshaping..."
He moved his hand, and the land around them seemed to shift and morph.
An aerial shot suddenly showed that it had become the dragon continent--the one they were all still currently on in the natural, they reflected.
"What should we call ourselves to the humans?" the light one said, as if he was quite done.
"I think that's obvious. We'll be their gods," said the dark one.
"Gods... but if they don't believe us?"
"They will. Humans will believe anything if you dazzle them with enough power. Besides, we will be gods," said the dark one.
"Then gods it is," the light one said. "I will take the east, and you take the west."
"Why should you have the east?"
"It only makes sense. The sun rises in the east. What better way to represent the light? And night falls in the west, just you will."
"Hmrpf," the dark one agreed to this sullenly, as if he liked the idea but didn't like to admit it.
"This is unreal," Ruby muttered.
"I know." Little was leaning on her head with one paw.
Jinn looked at them strangely, but then her narration resumed.
"And so the brothers did as they had determined. They set up shrines in the east and west end of their new land, and any humans that came into it were met with the new monsters known as Grimm. They both put in place plants and pools to channel their power through. And they kept to themselves. Then once the Grimm had spread over the lands of men, they appeared to them and offered to give them the power to fight them. At first humans were not sure what to think of these spirits, but when they saw how easily they could destroy the Grimm and wield the elements, they were eager to receive their powers. Some warned the others that they had had visions or dreams warning them not to accept any power from the gods, but these were not heeded--and then, mysteriously, they disappeared. Some said the Grimm came for their homes first. This only confirmed that the humans needed the new beings who called themselves 'gods'."
Scenes were played to show all this without any sound.
"Though some who doubted the gods escaped their wrath," Jinn added, "and disappeared into the far lands, causing mankind to spread out. The brothers decided to retire to their land and allow humans to seek them out. But not many ventured to them, for now they had the power to do almost anything they liked if they worked together enough. Their civilization grew and spread... and yet no one ever raised themselves against the gods... until one woman."
Salem, as her old self, appeared on the screen.
Everyone gaped.
"As you know the circumstances leading up to it--" Jinn seemed to be taking this cue from the god of light himself, since it didn't quite fit with her usual narrative style. "--we will pass over it. Suffice it to say, the brothers were not pleased that anyone had dared to try to fool them."
The brothers were shown moments after Salem had no doubt been turned immortal, judging by where they were standing.
"It is just as I always said," the dark one said. "They would eventually get too greedy for us."
"Peace, brother," the other said. "I told you, as long as we do not overstep, it will be all right. I told her we could not bring him back, and now she is immortal."
"And how it that going to help?" the other said.
"Because now she will know better than to resist us," the light one said. "And no one else will dare after that warning. You should not have even tried to grant her request. You'll start strange ideas if it ever gets out."
"I don't think it will. She's not likely to speak of it again," the dark one said irritably. "And it was only putting the husk back together. You're the one who said no wonders beyond the magical variety. It's a foolish rule."
"It's a necessary one. If we try to reach to the level of the Most High, at some point someone will ask us to do the impossible," said the light one. "Like change someone's heart. This we can't do."
"I could do it," the dark one said. "My ponds could poison anyone's heart and mind."
"Even you, brother, could never completely control a human unless they allow you to, and it is imperative they do not realize this fact," the light one insisted. "Do not try it."
"If this does not go the way you think, I will not hesitate to wipe them all out. I won't stand for such humiliation. Let the beasts have this hovel."
"No, you would be sure to call down wrath. I told you we must have the idea of balance. It is the only way. You would incite them to rebel further if you even tried."
"Not if there was no one left," the dark one hissed.
"That is exactly why you would incur wrath," said the light one with a nervous look. "I won't hear of it."
The dark one snarled.
Jinn went on, "But for a long time the gods had nothing to fear from man. And they were much stronger than any of them... but then came a day where the woman they had cursed to be immortal until she accepted their laws returned to them--and this time she was not alone."
Everyone had seen this already--well, in team RWBY--but those who hadn't before were horrified to see what followed.
As the scene played out, no one spoke.
Then Jinn said, "And as the smoke cleared from the brother of darkness wiping out most of the world as he could see it, there was no life left that he knew of--though of course, the gods did not know everything. They would later realize that some humans had been underground in caves and mines when the destruction happened--and they also would learn of a thing they called dust--which was all that remained of the magic energy of the humans before them."
"Ew," Emerald muttered.
[You know this makes perfect sense actually. The god of light didn't know that Salem went to his brother till he followed her there, and the god of darkness didn't know anything about it. The Lamp itself said they weren't infallible. So of course they could just have missed that some humans survived the blast. And the god of light saying to Ozma what he did might just have been covering it up so that no one knew, since clearly they didn't want to admit they could be misled, to him or anyone else. Just as the god of light conveniently didn't mention that he just let humanity get wiped out by his brother and did nothing, though he called it a great "tragedy".]
"But the gods left their adversary, Salem, behind," Jinn went on, "as a warning to all who might follow her that they would not be mocked or humiliated by mere men. And though the god of light thought to take his magic with him when he left the world, the god of darkness felt mankind deserved no such boon, and he left his pools of power behind, in order that they might always have an adversary to keep them from being too strong ever again. They also left only a remnant of magic to humans, which became known as Semblances. Due to the gods upsetting the balance of the world in this way, humans even became weaker and more easily killed and made ill, and some took on the form of animals, where the god of darkness had left some still too close to magic, and those ones became known later as Faunus. Though they're the relatives of humans, they were shunned because humans now associated animals with the forms of Grimm and supposed any human with these traits to be perhaps on the verge of becoming a monster."
Blake covered her mouth, and Sun winced.
"Even though later this was proven to be incorrect, as the magic faded, humans often carry a grudge for a very long time," Jinn added.
[Surprisingly this is not unlike how racism started in the real world. On multiple fronts. Actually it was because the color of black was associated with devils in European countries, and the color white was associated with spirits in the African countries, so both sides thought the other were something strange and inhuman. Though of course eventually we learned that skin color is all caused by the same thing, melanin, and people just have different amounts of it depending on their race, for a long time people thought the color had something to do with the mark of a god's punishment. The Bible used to be used to support this, at least in the spin-off related to Christianity with extra documents such as Mormon and I think Jehovah's Witness {they don't still teach it now}, but the Bible has no such actual teaching. The Bible teaches that all men come from one man and thus are all equal, if you read Acts 17: 26-27. ]
"But the darkness pond did something unexpected," Jinn went on, as they saw Salem walking up to it. "Long before the humans had begun to come out of caves and tunnels long enough to be discovered, Salem had given up of ever finding them. And she discovered that the power of Grimm still worked to combine certain things--but it came at a cost."
Those who had not seen this either winced, and some of them looked away.
Shine and Wally, who had not seen any of it, period, were staring.
Wally was eating some trail mix also.
"Are you for real?" Shine glanced at him.
"I mean, this is bad, but it's not nearly as freaky as some of the horror flicks I used to watch," he said.
"This actually happened," Shine said.
"Oh... right." Wally had almost forgotten that part. "But it's not like it's now, right? It's still from the past."
"Oh!" Shine slapped her forehead.
Salem was gripping the edge of the witness stand in a vice grip.
"If Oscar is seeing this at all," Ozpin muttered, "I wonder what he would think. I feel I owe that boy an apology."
Jinn went on. "The brothers knew of the works of man, but rather than risk coming back to face further anger from mankind, they instead sent an ambassador, the same one who had started it all: Ozma. But rather than go back on their word not to grant someone the same life over again, they gave him the ability to take the lives of whoever was like-minded to him in some way. Though it was never clearly defined what that meant." If that was Jinn being salty about it, no one knew.
"And so through many lifetimes, Ozma tried to complete the gods' quest... and Salem tried everything she could to keep him from doing so. But the gods knew that no resolution would ever follow as long as they were focused only on destroying each other, though they had been warned not to try to seek comfort in the other person. Things seemed like they would go on this way indefinitely, and the world, now called Remnant, would continue as it was forever--but then someone disrupted the gods' carefully balanced system."
Alicia appeared on the screen.
Many had not seen her either.
"Hmm, she's actually cuter than I expected," Mercury said.
Emerald elbowed him.
"I'm just saying Oz could have moved on," he said. "He's got a thing for blondes, apparently."
"Shut up," Emerald hissed.
"Seriously, shut up." Blake looked back at him. "This is literally the most important thing we've ever watched, and you're distracting me."
Mercury made a face at her but clammed up.
"At first the gods, who knew of the events in their world even if they were not there, thought little of her attempts to weaken their enchantments," Jinn spoke. "But gradually she began to make more changes. The tribes of men began to say that perhaps she was right, perhaps there were other powers outside the gods. But the god of light was convinced that his curse would never leave anyone alone long enough to turn aside from his mission--and so he was right. For even the power of a Worldling was exploited by the magic he'd left behind, and using her own gifts against her, she was barred from the world forever."
The scene played for everyone.
Ozma swallowed.
"This is the other woman?" Salem was leaning on the stand now, looking almost intrigued. "She doesn't really seem so impressive. That was a very harsh move, however. I almost admire it."
"Be quiet," Ozma said feebly.
"And so, for hundreds of years, nothing disturbed the gods' world anymore," Jinn went on. "And so it seemed likely to continue forever... but sometimes other powers have a way of biding their time until the best opportunity arises..."
Oscar appeared on the screen.
"And the rest, you already know," Jinn finished.
The smoke cleared, and she resumed her spot in the row.
"That was so overkill," Ambrosius said.
"You should talk," Jinn sniffed.
"I think it was, but maybe it wasn't," Janus said.
"All of you, shut up," Delilah spoke for the first time, and her voice was very harsh.
The screen vanished, and everyone turned to look at the gods.
They looked as if they'd be squirming if they were human enough to.
"That was more than you should have told them," the god of darkness said.
"I had no choice," the god of light muttered.
"Even so--" The god of darkness stood up. "See all the good we did for the world. We gave them a common enemy, gifts, tools, powers, and they repaid us with scorn."
Shine glared down at them, and Wally even didn't look happy now.
"Let's see what the witnesses have to say," Shine said coolly. "Salem?"
Salem stood up.
"What is there to say?" she said loudly. "You saw it all. It was never about what was possible. It was about maintaining the balance of power. Which I now see is all they ever meant by 'balance'. The didn't want us to exceed them."
"I didn't ask you to assign motives," Shine interrupted her. "I think we had enough of that. But would you say the gods made your life better?"
"Better?" Salem spat. "They never did a thing for me but make it worse. Even if--" And she shot Ozpin an angry look. "--I hadn't met this fool here, what did they ever do? And then they used it against me. I would never say they made it better."
"Fair enough," Wally said. "Though I think the jury decides if they're guilty? Are we doing this the right way?"
"It won't matter. We have no lawyers anyway, though defendants can speak for themselves if they wish," Shine shrugged. "Which they already have. Ozma? Would you say the gods made anything better for you?"
Ozma looked up.
"Miss Likstar--or Your Honor perhaps, in this case," he said, "I won't stand here and lie to you and say that I never had any good things in life. Many more perhaps because I had so many. But could I say the overall good was more than the suffering and the constant failure? And knowing that any good I had, I really stole from someone else...? I think it would have been better to end where I did. Or to have my life back. And though she is not here, I would add that Miss Vundar deserved better than to be simply a threat to their balance. She spent more time doing good than they ever did, that I knew of. And it didn't come with a cost. But I am no one to judge. I've made more mistakes and told more lies than anyone else. I think your verdict is the most unbiased."
"We haven't got that far yet," Shine said. "All of you--" She looked at the team. "You tell me. The gods stand accused of messing up the world of Remnant. They have been accused that they cursed unnecessarily and did not help where they should have. What do you think?"
"Is this even a question?" Yang asked.
"Still, maybe we should at least talk about it," Pyrrha said. "I wouldn't like to seem unfair in the end. Rushing into things has never helped us."
"I think we decided a long time ago," Jaune said. "But I think I should abstain. Clearly, I want the gods gone for personal reasons." With a nod at Pyrrha.
"That goes for us too," Roman said, and Neo nodded.
"I don't think we can punish them." Blake rubbed her ears.
"I think we're just deciding if they're guilty or not," Sun said.
"I'd say they are then." Yang folded her arms. "They lied, didn't they? This isn't their world. Even if they think they helped, what did they do that did any good?"
"That's not the question," Raven said. "Would we have done any better on our own? Our ancestors accepted their leadership. We can't ignore that."
"I think I'd rather at least have the option," Theo said.
"On the other hand," Winter said, "the world cannot be godless. Consider if more creatures like the brothers showed up. Perhaps they are guilty, but perhaps also humans like to worship things. We followed Ozpin (or Salem). We do not like to think for ourselves."
"Where did that ever get us?" Cinder leaned on her hand. "I think we decided a long time ago what to do here."
"But we're not just going to stop them." Weiss nodded at the two brothers. "We have to make a choice. We can't just choose nothing. I mean, we have nothing to compare them to to say they did a bad job unless we use the Other One. Compared to Him... yes, I'd say they did a bad job. They got it all wrong."
"On that we can agree," Neptune said.
"So is that it?" Nora asked. "We're all on the same page? Ren? You never liked it."
Ren shook his head. "After seeing that? I think there is only one thing we can do. We must give the world to something else, so that they cannot come back, or something even worse than them... What if they offered us magic again? We have to think of the people who will come after us too. Would they be wiser?"
"That's a good point actually there," Qrow said. "Some of us took magic willingly. It would be better if it wasn't on the table."
"I can get behind that," Theo said. "And if Vara could speak, she'd say the same thing."
Vara blinked. "I kind of heard..." she mumbled.
"Oh, you're awake again," he said.
"In and out... Just get rid of them..." she murmured.
No one else felt the need to speak, they just nodded.
"I guess I'll just announce it then?" Ruby said.
They nodded.
She stood up.
"We talked about it," she said more loudly. "We think the Brothers Grimm are guilty of... uh..."
"Misrepresenting the truth," Weiss hissed.
"Misrepresenting the truth," Ruby said aloud, "and pretending to be what they weren't, and we think that...uh, the way they did things was--"
"Unsatisfactory," Winter said.
"And reprehensible," Raven said.
"Right, both those things," Ruby said, clearing her throat. "So they're definitely guilty. And we think that we prefer the other God to them. We don't want this to ever happen again."
"But it will," the god of light began. "You'll see that--"
"Order." Shine grabbed the gavel from Wally and hit the stand with it. "Order in the court--this is kind of fun."
"You take to it very naturally." Wally tapped her on the back.
"Just give us a sentence already," Salem urged.
"I said order," Shine said.
After a pause of silence she said, "Well, I think that about does it. Wally, do you have any thoughts on what we should do?"
"There's not usually two judges," he said.
"Oh, in Greek tradition there's more than one," Shine said. [In the Underworld there's three.]
"Well, I think that we shouldn't try to do anything too big," Wally said, "because we might be pushing it. But since no one wants them here, and we have all the facts, I think we should just send them away."
"I concur." Shine leaned on the stand. "That's all we can do. The rest will be up to Him." She tapped the gavel again. "Brothers Grimm, you are hereby sentenced to exile from the world of Remnant, forever and eternity, on pain of punishment if you ever return, on behalf of the Higher Power than ours. You are to leave and take all trace of your powers with you, but you will not touch any of those who hold them, as they have renounced you and wish to cut ties. If you go peaceably now, we will not enact any further damage upon your persons, but be assured we will defend this world if you try to take anything by force. Whatever is to follow this will be up to the only Righteous Judge there is and not us. Remnant is hereby given back to the people of this world, as best as they can hold on to it."
"And you know that it will not last, as long as man is a fragile thing," the god of light said.
"They will never keep it," the god of darkness said.
Wally frowned at them.
Shine frowned also. "I know that man will not be free of evil while evil is part of his nature," she said, "but that he can be free of the service of such as you, I have no doubt. And what follows is of no concern of yours. You are to wash your hands of this place. And we will also be confiscating those spirits that you chained to the Relics. Remove their chains."
The god of light looked displeased, but he snapped his fingers, and the chains floated off the 4 spirits of the Relics.
Shine stood up, and the entire court disappeared, and they were all on the ground again in the Grimm lands.
She held out her sword. "In the name of the One True Ruler of All Worlds, I bind you and banish you from this world."
"Me too," Wally said.
"And all of the you of this world?" Shine looked at them.
They all knew they needed to agree.
"Yes," they all said, in different tones.
"And you?" Shine glanced at Salem and Ozma.
"Oh, get them out of here already," Salem said.
"I... agree..." Ozma said faintly.
"Oscar's verdict will be assumed, as he already said it many times," Shine said. "And with that, I think this trial is over."
The chains from the spirits formed suddenly around the gods' wrists themselves and tied them together.