I fell faint, I stumbled a little while I watched the corpse of my father fall and evaporate. I reached out to the desk beside me and caught myself. Ryan thankfully also grabbed me, asking if I was alright, realization was hitting me like a freight train; I just shot my own father, or what apparently was left of him. He asked if I wanted to lay down, and I simply nodded. He led me out of that room while Dan started to organize everybody else on what their next course of action was going to be. Ryan had led me to the Commanders room, or my fathers. It was what you would expect one to be; a large bed in one corner and a desk with a computer in another. A dresser on the left side facing the bed, and a giant window overlooking the landscape, all around us was a giant forest. I sat on the bed and let my head drop into my hands.
"Simply call if you need anything alright? There's a landline scroll right there alright?" He said pointing to the one on the desk, I thanked him and he left. I quickly got out of my armour; Snow had asked to be put beside the computer so she could access the database again. I simply laid on the bed; my heart was racing and my mind was a complete mess. I just laid there; crying, after a couple months of searching for my father for it to only end with him being corrupted by this "abyss" and for him to die by my hand. My mind was full of regret, despair and confusion, to the point that I passed out from exhaustion. My mind drifted into a peaceful slumber.
I woke in an old tea shop; or what looked like one. Signs on the wall in language that I couldn't read, but I got the vibe that this was an old tea shop, mainly by the decor and the various signs that showed tea. The decor had tables and cushions laid around, a straw mat under each one, and each table had a long cloth laid over top. On top of the tables were small plates, a candle in the middle and cups beside each plate. While I was looking around, I didn't notice the man before me. I almost jumped when I saw him.
"Care for some tea?" He said, lifting a pot with steaming coming out the nozzle. I simply nodded as he grabbed the bottom of his sleeve and poured out a hot brew into my cup. "This is rose tea, great for calming the mind and letting you relax." He said, the man looked no older than his fifties, he had a long grey beard that was tied around the end. He was wearing a green robe. Once he was done pouring the tea into my cup, he poured some into his own; blew on it and slowly drank it. "It is not poisoned my friend if it was I wouldn't be drinking out of the same pot." He laughed a hearty laugh at the end. He had a good point, I did the same and blew on it and drank. It was good, it really did help calm the mind.
"Who are you?" I asked. "Where am I?"
"You are in your own mind, and me, I am in ours." He said before taking another sip. I did the same.
"What do you mean by ours?"
"We are one in the same, my friend, we are a generation of great warriors. Masters of semblances, masters of weapons, masters of creation and of undying friendships."
"I don't understand..." I replied reluctantly.
He simply nodded and extended his hand out, palm up to show the same symbol, a diamond with three slashes going through it. I place mine beside his.
"We bear the mark of the abyss, and thus are bound for life and death. You carry the knowledge of every marked one that has ever existed. You carry all of our emotions, memories, and duty." He said while taking another sip. "To answer your question of who I am, I am bearer Ashan. I served the Abyss Walker before yours; and yet you do not know your walker."
"This is all new to me, and very confusing. What do you mean by my walker?"
"When an Abyss walker dies, the Abyss chooses a new host from any realm, and once that Walker is chosen, it also chooses a bearer. The job of that bearer is to repel the abyss whenever a walker uses their power. When a walker uses their power, they release a little bit of abyss, if that abyss is not suppressed, it can grow and grow it will." He says, while offering some more tea, I accept. "A bearer's job is to follow the walker, or detect where the tear is. Their job is to close that tear. With such ability and power from the walker, there has to be balance. And with the power of the abyss, there is also balance that must be kept between worlds. If the balance is destroyed, it will bring chaos amongst all realms. Like the balance of life and death; if death gets out of hand, life shall bring create anew. If life gets out of hand, death shall strike it down to recreate balance."
"But I don't even know who my walker is, I don't even know how to use my power!"
"All in good time, and I sense that you shall soon find out. There will be great disorder and shift in balance soon, I can sense it. Do you?" He says, pointing to my mark. I look at it; a slight pulsating feeling shoots through my arm, it didn't hurt but felt like a shock. I shiver, for it was unnerving.
"To understand your power, you must also know how it was created. The power of the bearer was created when the Abyss was created. The abyss was created when life was created, it was the ultimate balance. It controlled all, and it was with all. Inside every living creature, is a fraction of the abyss. Either it be light, or darkness. The abyss is fueled by emotion, be it negative or positive. Humans have created a way to maintain the positive fraction of it, but with negative energy; hatred, anger, greed or others, the negative abyss will take over, and that will bring in what you call grimm."
"So it's emotion?" I interrupted.
"It is far more than meer emotion, this part of the abyss is the easiest to explain, and easiest to understand without delving into the abyss itself, and possibly losing yourself within. Grimm are fueled by negative emotion as we understand. Then there is what you call Blind Nightmares, pure creations of the abyss, they live in the abyss, they breathe the abyss, they are purely created by the abyss. What the bearer must do is close off any rifts to ensure they do not escape. But by being a bearer, you yourself can bring these creatures forth if you are not careful. As from what I can see, you have experienced these nightmares in the past; purely by accident, but do not be afraid. These were created by the abyss within you. Each bearer has an abnormal amount of the abyss inside them, thus allowing them to control it, or have it control you." Ashan says, he yawns and takes another sip of his tea.
"This might be all to take in, and with past events of today, you must be exhausted and confused. But do not worry my friend, for if you ever have any more questions, you can call us like you have done today." Ashan says, before standing up and heading for the door of the shop.
"But how do I talk to you again?"
"You are one of us, and we are one of you. Look inside yourself, find a name and we shall answer. Goodnight bearer (Y/N)." Ashan says before vanishing behind the door. He leaves me in the tea shop, confused, and scared. But oddly calm, as if I have experienced this before, and as if I already know this. I finish my tea and follow where Ashan yet, and I walked through the door.
I open my eyes and my vision is blurry, but my eyes slowly adjust to the light. I feel calm, and look around and notice I am back in my father's room. On his desk lays a tea set, and steam is flowing out of the spout. I climb out of bed and lift the lid to smell Rose tea. I pour myself a cup and sip it slightly. I sit at his desk and access his computer. My bracelet lights up and I hear Snow's voice.
"Morning (Y/N), you have been asleep for two days, and I have access all of Lights Oath database." I nearly spit out my tea "Two Days?!" I yell.
"Yes, I suggest you call Ryan and let him know you are awake." I click on the landline and dial up his phone; thankfully my father has all of their numbers here.
"Morning sunshine, how're you feeling?" Ryans ask.
"Better, what's happened lately?"
"Well, we are going to be holding a meeting here shortly to figure out who the new commander should be, and after that a speech to the regiment, and a reformation of Lights Oath. All done and executed by the new commander. Care to join?"
I respond with yes, and wait for him to come and lead me the meeting. While sitting at the desk, sipping tea. My scroll lights up. I had completely forgotten about it, it is constantly buzzing as more and more texts come in.
"Sheesh, don't they remember I'm on a mission," I grumble before realization once again hits me light a freight train; that I was on a mission, but basically disappeared without any notice. Poor Neo probably blames herself, and Weiss, Weiss is probably worried sick, same with all of team RWBY. My scroll stops buzzing, with one last text sent by Weiss.
'(Y/N), please respond if you're out there, hopefully, you do. Please don't be dead...'
An aching feeling ran through my heart, I quickly read all the texts that were sent to me, my heart aching more and more with each one I read. I don't know what feeling they could be experiencing at the moment, or what questions are going through their mind. Sadness, fear, grief, worry? I don't know, and I will never know the pain I have put them through. How could I forget? I quickly go to call them before Ryan enters the room.
"What are you doing?" He asks
"I need to report back to Ozpin and my friends to let them know where I am and that I'm safe."
"You can't do that! You'll expose us!"
"Why not?!" I say, standing up, fueled by rage.
"If you are going to swear your loyalty to Lights Oath, you have to obey our one law! No one must know we exist. The only time we let that happen was with you and your friends. We are just a myth, a breeze in the wind. We all have left our past lives in the past. We all know your pain and the brings us all closer together."
"I never agreed to join you! All I wanted was to find my father, and now he's dead! BY MY HAND" I yell.
"By being his son, you are next in line to be the commander of LO, that is why I'm bringing you to the meeting. We all have agreed that you should be the next Commander, by being a bearer, we know you can hunt down the Walker that's been consumed by the Abyss. You can guide us through it and find him."
"So you're going to use me? Is that it?!"
Ryan stumbles on his words, before mumbling yes. "But we also believe you can reform us and restore our previous glory!"
"STOP LIVING IN THE PAST AND TALKING ABOUT PREVIOUS GLORY! THERE IS NONE! Only the now and future, you must bring back new glory! And if I'm to agree on becoming the new Commander, there is one rule. Let Lights Oath be known by everybody. Let them all know there is a protector outside their walls. But if they are to know that, they must know about the growing threat of the abyss."
"That's crazy! If we let them know of the abyss, it will cause panic, and with panic comes grimm! We cannot endanger the people!"
"If humanity has lived with grimm for so long, and the discovery of new grimm every day, they will see this as just another grimm! If we open ourselves up, we can grow our numbers and recruit huntsmen! Lights Oath will be stronger than its ever been!"
Ryan pauses, and thinks, "You've....convinced me...But you'll have to convince everybody else."
I arrive at the council room with Ryan. Before me is an oval shaped table with twelve people sitting at it. The majority of the men I do not recognize besides Dan. I take a seat beside Ryan.
"Ah, (Y/N), nice to meet you." I voice says, while others agree. "We are the council of twelve, the eldest members of Lights Oath, we have come to an agreement that you shall become the new Commander, but Ryan has explained to us, that you have a proposition already?" The man at the head of the table explains.
"Yes, my proposition, if I am going to become Commander, is let everybody know we exist." There were various gasps, questioning, and yelling."
"UNACCEPTABLE!" A man to my left yells. "Lights Oath has been a secret for many generations, we cannot just let the world know we exist after so much time hidden! They'll blame us for various attacks, asking why we didn't step in sooner!"
"Silence Master Bogden, explain yourself; young commander." The head member; I presume, says gesturing to me. "We should not hide in the shadows any longer, I feel as if a great catastrophe is about to happen, we should let the world know that a protector has arisen that is willing to aid the people. Let them know of an ancient enemy, and we shall share our experience with them, to train a new generation of LO and huntsmen. Equip them for a brighter future so we shall not carry the fate of the world on our hands, or theirs, but together as one." The voices of the council of the twelve, before the head member, silences' them.
"You suggest that we let them know we are not just a breeze in the wind, but a force that shall aid the common good?" He says, raising his voice. I simply reply with yes.
"It's about time a damn Commander suggests that." He laughs, receiving gasps from all of the other members, including myself. "I've seen 3 Commanders arrive and go, and not one of the suggested that. They all suggested to stay hidden, and you are the first, young commander. I agree with your proposal, and I suggest my fellow councilmen shall do the same." The other council members look at each other, before nodding in acceptance. "Then it has been decided. Young (Y/N), you are now the Commander of Lights Oath. Bring glory to that name, let there be songs sung about your greatness for many generations to come. Enscribe yourself amongst the stars as a legendary commander, and repel the abyss with your gift, and bring everlasting peace amongst our world! I, as the eldest councilman, salute you!" He says, standing up and saluting, while the others follow; including Dan and Ryan, as they all salute and chant "Repel the darkness, by binding yourself to the Oath!"
-Authors Notes-
You all are probably a little confused at what the hell just happened before. I know I pretty much am, it was slightly confusing. So I decided to do a littke prolouge towards the upcoming chapter, which hopefully this also explains a bit more about everything. Also I recently rewatched Avater The last airbender, andddd kinddaaa didn't base Ashan off of Iroh......kinndddaaaa didn't
Anywho hopefully you enjoyed this, I will try to upload more!
-ArkenSenpai
(Credits for photo go to original creator)