Beacon Tower
Hera was pacing back and forth. She was still in her pajamas, standing right at the base of Beacon Tower, in the middle of the night, and her mind was racing at a million miles a minute. She was still reeling from the nightmare that she had just woken up from. And instead of falling back asleep, she ran out to try and talk to Ozpin. She had buzzed his office several times, hoping that he would wake up and answer her, but there was still no response. She honestly started to consider trying to see if she could stretch her way to the top of the tower with her arms, but then the elevator doors opened and out stepped Professor Ozpin.
“Who’s there?” he said yawning and adjusting his glasses. “Office hours aren’t available….Hera?” Ozpin rubbed his eyes real quick to try and make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. “What are you doing here child? You need to get some sleep and….” Hera cut Ozpin off by running up and hugging him. She was shaking a bit. Ozpin sensed her fear and returned the hug.
“I need to talk to you” Hera said still shaking a little bit.
“Come upstairs with me” Ozpin said as he guided her to the elevator. “We can talk as much as you need.”
Ozpin poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at his chair.
“Would you like a cup?” he offered Hera.
“No thanks” she said, “I’m not that into coffee.”
“What is it with everybody these days preferring tea to coffee?” Ozpin said jokingly taking a sip. “I swear, your parents have some strange hang-up about this drink.” He chuckled, but quickly turned his attention back to Hera who was still clearly dealing with the issue she came to him with. “What’s wrong?”
“Well, this might sound strange, but I’ve been having nightmares.”
“And you decided that it was best for you to wake the headmaster of the academy as well as the oldest being on this planet because of bad dreams? Pardon me child, but you seem a bit too old to be needing an adult to help you through the night just because of one bad dream.”
“Well, it wasn’t just one bad dream. It’s been several. For almost a few years now. I keep having these dreams about so many weird things. And ever since this whole war with the Order started, they’ve only gotten stronger and stronger. They really started picking up when we lost Mistral a few weeks ago.”
“Well, if I am going to help you, I need you to tell me what these nightmares are about. Are you in them? Are you fighting somebody?”
“Well, sometimes I’m fighting somebody, but at the same time, I also sometimes have these weird dreams about just mundane daily chores.”
“Is it possible that these are just memories of your childhood coming back up in the form of dreams?”
“Well, maybe. I mean, you’re in most of them.” Ozpin seemed surprised when he heard this.
“I know I spent a great deal of time with you and your family while you were growing up child, but why would I be the primary focus of your dreams?”
“Well that’s the really strange thing. We don’t even really do any of the stuff that we did when you came to visit us while me and Arri were growing up. Instead of the evenings sitting on the beach, I have dreams about walking through a small farm town with you and four random women, one of them who looks a lot like Arri.” Ozpin slowly started to stand up as Hera continued to explain her dreams. “And there’s another dream where you and I are sitting at a table playing a game of chess. I don’t even like chess! Why is my mind telling me we played chess?” Ozpin walked over to Hera and placed his hand on her shoulder.
“Could you hear anything? Were there any names spoken during these dreams?”
“Well, before tonight, no. I couldn’t hear a single word. But tonight, some strange lady appeared in front of me talking about how I needed to find her brother and that would lead to the lost relic, and all this other stuff that felt like it came straight out of a video game.”
“Hera, did she say a name of any kind?”
“Well she mentioned your name, but she also said something else at the very end as I was waking up. I think she said, Salem?” Ozpin took a few steps back from Hera, his eyes widening in surprise.
“Could it be….?” He said as he used his cane to make sure he didn’t lose his balance.
“What is it?” Hera asked standing up quickly. “Did you figure something out?”
“Maybe” Ozpin said as he ran back over to his desk. “Could you please take a seat once again child and not move whatsoever?” Hera obliged and sat down. Ozpin searched through his desk and finally found a good piece of chalk. With it, he started writing several strange symbols on the ground surrounding Hera.
“Um….how is this supposed to help with my nightmares?”
“This isn’t meant to deal with the nightmares themselves, but rather perhaps to discover the cause of your nightmares.”
“And how does arts and crafts on your office floor help find that out?”
“Because I believe that you are not alone in your dreams. It’s entirely possible that there is another person residing in your mind.”
“Excuse me, what?” Before Hera could get an answer to her question however, Ozpin started making several magical symbols by waving his hands in the air summoning symbols of light. Before Hera could even blink, the room seemed to turn white, and then flashed, with everything seeming to change within a single instant. They were no longer in Ozpin’s office, but in a giant white void, seemingly devoid of anything but Hera and Ozpin. But as Hera looked around, she saw that they weren’t alone. Standing there right beside Hera, was the strange woman from her nightmares. Only this time, she seemed much fuller and more vibrant than in her dreams. Hera didn’t know what to say, she just stared at this figure that had been a part of her nightmares for so long. She looked to Ozpin to see if he knew what to do, but saw that unlike her terror and shock, his face was stricken with surprise. He was crying a few tears, his hand covering his mouth as he was clearly struggling to stand. The strange woman smiled and made her way over to Ozpin and embraced him. He returned the hug and said with a choked-up voice,
“It’s wonderful to see you again Salem.”
“Same to you brother. It’s been too long.”
The Order’s Flagship
Nathan stood in his quarters looking out the window, the airship passing over the open wastelands of Vacuo. He fiddled with Ember’s necklace, watching as the desert sands kicked up as the engines created large gusts of wind. He was in a deep trance-like state, not focusing on anything but the necklace when a knock was made on his door causing him to snap out of his trance. He put the necklace back inside his shirt, grabbed his mask, and started to put it on as he made his way to the door. Opening it, a grunt soldier saluted him.
“Lord Tenebris, your presence has been requested in the war room.”
“I will be there shortly” Lord Tenebris said as he slammed the door in the soldier’s face. With that, he pulled together the rest of his armor and made his way down to the war room. In the room was Lord Imperia and Sangui, as well as several high-ranking generals and tacticians within the Order, each of them going over a small passage they had managed to keep safe despite the destruction of the base.
“What’s the purpose of this meeting Lord Imperia?” Lord Tenebris asked as he joined the circle. “I was under the impression that our next objective lay with claiming the Relic of Life. We were able to decipher potential locations based on the riddle the Relic of Knowledge gave us before we lost it to the pretender.”
“We still need another important piece to the puzzle Lord Tenebris” Lord Imperia said as she enlarged the passage that they were reading over. “If we are to achieve our goals, the Relic of Life will not be enough. In order to fully complete our plan, we will need its counterpart, the Relic of Death.”
“For what purpose does the Relic of Death serve if our goal is to bring back what was lost with the Relic of Life?”
“It is not necessarily for the purpose of bringing back mind you, but rather, it is to serve the purpose of making sure that once we do enact our final plan, we have a clear leverage against the enemy forces to make sure we can accomplish that goal. We no longer have access to the powers that Lord Mortem stole years ago. After we captured and killed all of the Maidens for Lord Mortem, and following his defeat at the Battle of Vytal, the Kingdoms have been far more wary of making sure that the Maidens don’t fall into the wrong hands, living or otherwise. Alongside that, the enemy already has the Relic of Knowledge which can reveal much about our plan to them if they choose to us it in order to find out more about us, and the Relic of Connection ensures they could potentially attack us from anywhere and leave us venerable. Given the fact that even though they’ve had the Relic for the past few weeks and have not attacked us, it stands to reason that the Relic can only open gates to locations and not specific people per-se. So long as we aren’t discovered, we’re safe. But that’s a drain on our fuel, and that means we may be stuck sooner rather than later with the enemy right on our heels. So in that regard, we need to find the Relic of Death so that we can regain the advantage over the enemy that we lost after our attack on Atlas.”
“The problem is,” Lord Sangui said scratching his head, “is that we don’t know where to find the Relic of Death. This riddle that the Relic of Knowledge left us is even more cryptic than the one it gave us about the Relic of Life.” Lord Tenebris pulled the riddle closer to him and read,
“The Scythe of Death Lies in Wait,
In the world Consumed by Darkness and Hate.
The Path to this Staff is Not Hindered by Tricksters,
Just Pass Through the Doors Left Behind by the Dark Sister.”
“The only thing about that which makes sense is the reference to the Dark Sister, which we know was Salem, the master of the Grimm” Lord Sangui said as he started to pace back and forth. “But beyond that, it seems like the rest of the riddle is trying to keep us from actually finding where in this world it is hiding. We’ve been trying to see if Ozpin and his cronies could find it so we could have them do all the hard work and then take it for ourselves. For all intents and purposes, the Relic of Death can’t be found.”
“That’s because you’re looking in the wrong place” Lord Tenebris said as he snapped his fingers.
Ozpin and Salem continued to hug one another, leaving Hera sitting there completely confused and unsure of what to do next.
“I could really use an explanation right about now!” she yelled trying to see if she could catch either of their attention, but to no avail. Ozpin pulled back out of the hug and had the biggest smile on his face.
“How is this even possible?” he said scratching his head. “You faced the final death in the afterlife. How are you here?”
“The truth is Ozpin, this is the reality of what happens after someone like us passes on from the entirety of existence in this world. We can’t just fade away and die, the world relies on our general life force to keep balance since Father divided his own existence up between us and the four Maidens. So instead of being cast into the void for all eternity, I am now instead a part of a child’s mind, sort of a passenger on the journey to see how the world evolves from where it was when I left my physical form behind.”
“So it’s a form of reincarnation then?”
“Not quite. Like I said, I’m just a passenger. I can’t physically control the body that my spirit lives in, just watch as things progress.”
“So if you can’t control anything I do,” Hera said having walked over right next to Salem and Ozpin, “how come I keep getting your weird memories?”
“Honestly, I am not entirely sure for the most part” Salem said scratching her head. “However, more recently, I have been trying to get your attention and get you to talk to Ozpin so that I could try and be of some help.”
“Help in what way sister?” Ozpin said as he put his hand to his chin. “How much about this war are you aware of?”
“Like I said, I’ve been a passenger inside this child’s mind, so I know as much as you’ve told her about this whole ordeal. And once I saw that the Relics were involved, I knew that there was a great chance that somebody would try to claim them for their own ends. And I know that the Relic of Death is going to be on everybody’s radar soon enough. So I figured I could give you a hand in ensuring that you will be able to actually find the scythe and ensure that the enemy doesn’t get it.”
“But how can you help us sister? If you can only interact through the dreams of Hera, that makes it extremely difficult for us to get intel about where to go effectively.”
“Yeah, I enjoy sleeping,” Hera said with a yawn, “but I don’t think I can enter a deep sleep that quickly and suddenly in order to get intel.”
“Which is why I do have another solution” Salem said with a smile.
“And what is that?” Ozpin asked.
“You all come to the Realm of Darkness and I can guide you.”
“We are looking in the wrong place?” Lord Imperia asked with a renewed interest. “What do you mean by this Lord Tenebris?”
“When I was still using my false name with my pretender family, we faced off against Lord Mortem and left him in a catatonic state. He was brimming with the powers of darkness and Grimm, so Ozpin cast a magic spell in order to seal him in the Realm of Darkness, the same place where Salem spent many centuries trapped by her own brother.”
“So you’re saying that the Relic of Death is hidden within the Realm of Darkness?” Lord Sangui said with disbelief. “How do you even know that?”
“The riddle itself mentions a place consumed by darkness and hate. Nothing in this world matches that description, but from what few descriptions Ozpin has given us, it matches the riddle perfectly.”
“Fine. That makes sense. But how are we even supposed to gain access to such a place? Much less find our way around in an uncharted land.”
“I’m sure that Ozpin and the rest of the fools are preparing to retrieve the relic for themselves. That seems to be their main objective to this point. So if we manage to find a way into the Realm of Darkness, we can set up a series of scouts to not only search for the Relic ourselves, but we can also see if we can find Ozpin and his team and have them lead us right to the Relic. Then on top of that, depending on how prepared or unprepared they are, we can not only gain the Relic for ourselves, but we will also be able to perhaps remove some of their strongest pieces off the board, creating a brand new advantage like the one we had when we defeated them back in Mistral.”
“Impressive Lord Tenebris” Lord Imperia said as she clapped her hands. “Few people were willing to give you a chance when it came to strategizing for the next phase, but I would argue you have proven your loyalty and strategizing ability to the Order as a whole.”
“That still leave the question though,” Lord Sangui said still not convinced, “how exactly do we enter the realm of darkness?”
“The answer is also in the riddle” Lord Tenebris said with a smirk. “All we have to do is find a pool where the Grimm pass through into our world, and we can then pass through that gateway into the Realm of Darkness?”
“Is it even possible for humans to pass through such portals?”
“Tyrian used to be a part of Salem’s council” Lord Imperia said as she pondered this. “While he was one of the new leaders of the Order for a short time following Lord Mortem’s death, he would often speak to me about how he and the other members of Salem’s council would pass through these portals to meet with her on a regular basis.”
“So what was stopping Lord Mortem from passing through and stealing her power from the beginning then?”
“While Grimm and other beings could pass through the gateways between the realms, Salem was bound to the Dark Realm due to her time spent there as well as the spell that Ozpin had cast upon her eons ago. Even if Lord Mortem did find her in the dark realm and claimed her power as his own, the magic would likely have remained bound there, trapping Lord Mortem inside. It would also stand to reason that Salem herself would approve if a person would be able to pass through without any harm or swift retribution from Grimm. As to avoid any prying eyes that followed Tyrian and other members of her old council. So Lord Mortem simply couldn’t have just walked through the gate and gained the power for himself without Salem knowing about it and possibly killing him because of it.”
“So what’s stopping us from being barred from entering the Dark Realm ourselves?”
“Lord Mortem’s body is spewing nothing but dark energy in the Dark Realm” Lord Tenebris said as he pulled up old archival footage of Lord Mortem lying dead in the middle of a pool of darkness in Vytal. “With Salem, she had her soul alongside her physical form to give commands to the Grimm to coordinate more calculated attacks. But when Lord Mortem took the power, he had his soul and his body severed, leaving the body to spew power and Grimm infinitely, but without the mind of a living being to give them all direction. So it is entirely possible that any person could walk through a gate and enter the Realm of Darkness since there isn’t a true gatekeeper any longer.”
“An astute observation Lord Tenebris” Lord Imperia said clasping her hands together. She then turned her attention to her officers also in the room. “Prepare a scan of the surrounding areas for potential Grimm hives that we can use to pass through to the Dark Realm. And prepare a team for recon and potential strike tactics once we arrive. We don’t know what to expect once we cross over to the other side.”
“I may not know what to expect,” Lord Tenebris said clenching his fists, “but I know that it will lead us to another step towards our absolute victory.”
“So if we take Hera into the Realm of Darkness,” Ozpin said trying to wrap his head around everything that Salem had just told him, “your power will be strong enough to act as a guide to lead us to the Relic within the Dark Realm?”
“Yes,” Salem said walking towards Hera. “I am bound to this child as a passenger in the Realm of Light, but my power is linked directly to the Dark Realm, so while I still wouldn’t possess the child completely, I can speak to you even when she is awake to help guide you all to the Relic.”
“Pardon me ma’am,” Hera said scratching her head, “fighting the Order and Grimm are one thing, but going to another dimension and acting as a spirit map? Sounds a bit much to me.”
“Even if this is the best option to move forward sister,” Ozpin said scratching his chin, “I doubt her parents would ever allow it.”
“There will be no danger whatsoever” Salem said with a smile. “I guarantee it.”
“That isn’t very reassuring given your track record” Ozpin said with a worried smile. Salem laughed a bit at this.
“I have missed our banter brother. But I don’t think this spell will last much longer. I suggest you leave before everything collapses in on you. I will speak to you soon once we get everything situated when it comes to this mission of yours.”
“I suppose we will. See you soon Salem.”
“See you soon Ozpin.” With that, the white space faded away and Ozpin and Hera returned to Ozpin’s office, where it seemed that no visible time had passed whatsoever. Ozpin smiled, while Hera just had a look of absolute confusion.
“What the heck is going on?” she said with worry in her voice. “Your sister is in my head and she has a plan to get us another thing called a Relic and all this other stuff….” Hera was just talking a mile a minute, still trying to come to grips of what was going on. Ozpin smiled, and placed his hand on her shoulder.
“It’s a lot for me to take in as well. And I’ve lived longer than anybody currently on this planet. But for now, we need to get some sleep. I want to meet with your parents and a few select Huntsmen and Huntresses tomorrow about figuring out this whole expedition to the realm of darkness.”
“Am I really going to go on this mission Professor Ozpin?” Ozpin could tell that Hera was clearly scared, so he gave her a quick hug.
“I know it’s scary, but you’ll have all of us watching over you. We won’t let a single bad thing happen to you while we’re in there. Besides, you just blew up an enemy base, didn’t you? Honestly a trip through unexplored lands should be child’s play!” Hera chuckled a bit at this, and stood up to leave.
“Okay, I’ll get some sleep and be back here as soon as I wake up.”
“I’ll be waiting” Ozpin said as he watched Hera descend the elevator. As soon as she was gone, he looked out the window at the moon, thinking about everything that had just been put on his plate.
“I hope you know what you’re doing sister.”
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