Episode 3: Chapter 9: Light of the Past

Chapter 9 of Episode 3 of War of Seasons

            Lord Memoriare stood outside the rubble of the command ship, staring up at the sky with a smile on his face.  He chuckled as he watched Nathan ascend to the sky and through the veil of death.

            “He just might pull it off” he said with a chuckle.

            “What did you do Memoriare?!” a new voice cut in.  Memoriare turned to see the voice belonged to Anima, who made her way over to where he was standing.

            “I’m surprised he didn’t kill you on the spot Imperia.  That child is extremely emotional and so easy to persuade.”

            “Don’t ignore me!  I had Tenebris under my full control!  Why turn him against me?!”

            “Child, he was going to turn on you regardless of what I told him.  You made the error of leaving the broken body of your former prisoner unguarded and let him wander around the command ship.”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “The other survivor from Aequo that you brought back from your mission to claim the Relic of Life.  He escaped, found me and the Relics, and then as a result, when your puppet looked for him, he found the Relics and the truth of your mission with the Relics.  I simply turned the situation around so that the Order may yet still win the day.”

            “How is this going to help us win the day?  He is planning for the death of all life on this planet!  Including the Order!”

            “Yes, but he is still susceptible to persuasion.  I have witnessed many possibilities and outcomes in scenarios much like this one.  Tenebris is one of many who will surround himself with anybody so long as they praise and worship him.  If you offer yourself as a servant and repent for your sins against him, he is likely foolish enough to believe you and let you live to serve him and his whims.”

            “What good will that do?  His mental state is all over the place!  Even if he does take me back as some kind of servant, who’s to say he won’t execute me publicly later?”

            “It will keep you alive long enough to find a way to keep the Order alive.  Maybe you kill him yourself, or you could potentially manipulate him back to being your puppet for a time.  Or you could simply give up and die at his hands right now.  Either way, the Order will find a way to live on in this world.”  Anima punched the ground in anger, and started limping towards a still functional airship.

            “Fine” she said as she reached the ship doors.  “I’m sick of your games Memoriare.  The only reason I kept you around was because of your connection to Lord Mortem, and your knowledge of the Order’s history.  But you have outlived your usefulness to me.  Either run away and hide for the remaining amount of your miserable life, stay and fight, or stay and die.  I don’t care which.”  With that, Anima managed to get the airship working, and took off, heading straight towards the veil hanging in the sky.  Memoriare simply smiled and laughed, watching as the battle raged on.

            “So interesting, that there are so many versions of her that exist, and yet this one is more stubborn than most of them.  Even the ones that served the superior far longer than this one did.  Well, all that’s left is to witness what happens, and observe if this will open the final door.”

 

 

 

            Ember was in shock.  Her namesake and her grandmother both standing before her as if they were alive.  But they clearly weren’t, as despite the fact that they now had full-fledged bodies as opposed to the spirit orbs they were just moments ago, they still glowed with a slight steam-like substance flowing off of them and dissipating into the air like a mirage.  But they were real.  Ember stepped forward towards the two of them.

            “How is this possible?”  Traci took a deep breath and began to explain,

            “Well, it’s like this Ember….”

            “Wait, why are you talking to me about this Traci?” the elder Ember said cutting her off.

            “Ugh,” Traci said pinching her forehead and turning to face the elder Ember.  “This is going to get confusing right quick, and even more so for young Ember here.  So I’m just going to call you Em.  That work?”

            “Works for me” Em said with a smile.  “Now then, please continue.”

            “Right.  Well, to put it simply Ember, your father has torn the barrier between the realm of the dead and the realm of the living wide open.  Originally, it looked like the Order was planning on only letting one soul through the gate, but your father has other plans.  He ripped the gate open, and now souls are here in the real world.”

            “So why are they all balls of light?” Ember asked.  “Why aren’t they taking up forms like you are now?”

            “Not that easy.  Spirits have no purpose in the realm of the living.  We are not supposed to be here anymore.  Our time has come.  So, we can’t take physical form, nor can we morph into some kind of alternative form like we are now.  The only reason we appear before you as we do now is because we have a vessel we can work with.”

            “A vessel?  You mean my dad’s old clubs?  But those aren’t alive.”

            “Yeah,” Em said cutting in.  “They aren’t alive, so we can’t live through them.  But by bonding ourselves to these weapons, we can at least take up a form that allows us to talk and interact with people outside of just moving things around in orb form.”

            “But your father plans on changing that” Traci said cutting back in.  “He’s taken the Relic of Death and created a giant veil around the entire planet that he plans to use to kill every living thing on this planet.”

            “What?  Why?”

            “He thinks that it’s possible that by killing everything on this planet, he will be able to make all of the bodies that have lost their souls and replace them with souls that he can hand-pick to be a part of his new world.  But this won’t work.”

            “Why wouldn’t it?  He has the Relics of Life and Death.  Given what Ozpin has described them as being able to do, it should work the way he wants them to, right?”

            “Not quite.  Nathan may have control over life and death itself, but he has no way to control the souls themselves.  Even with his newly gained powers and abilities by taking a piece of Salem’s power, he can’t control which spirits take which bodies.  And even then, that’s not to say there will be any bodies left to possess once the veil of death reaches the surface.  Nathan’s actions won’t just kill the people of this world, but the planet itself.  Not just the plants, not just the animals, everything.  He will quite literally kill the planet.  Alongside that, the Relic of Death doesn’t normally leave corpses behind.  It decays everything into oblivion.  As such, there would be nothing left for your father to reconstruct with the Relic of Life.  So, he would be alone in a dark void with no life other than himself.  And after that, who knows what will happen.”

            “That’s horrible!  Why would he do all of this?”

            “Your father has always had a side like this” Em said as she lowered her head fighting back tears.  “When he was a boy, he sought out approval and support from anybody he could.  And when things got too hard for him, he tried to find the easy way out.  Before Aequo fell, he was struggling at combat school and was begging the two of us to let him drop out and tour with me and the Violet Troupe as a performer.  We refused, and he claimed we didn’t care about him.  He was so set on trying to find an easy out, he refused to accept that in order to move forward in life, you must work hard.  When we died and all he had left was your aunt Natalie, we hoped that his love for her would be the driving force that kept him on the path to work hard and be better.  To never give up no matter how difficult the road ahead.  And for a time, it looked like it was working.  He met his friends at Beacon, he met his wife, he had you and your brother.  Everything looked like he was on track to truly take a hold of his life and move forward despite the ups and downs.  But then Anima came back.  She woke something within your father, and goaded it into taking control.”

            “So, you’re saying that my father is under some kind of spell?”

            “No, he is doing all this of his own free will.  But rather than pulling from the knowledge and experience he has gained over the years or listening to the guidance and counsel of his family and friends, he chose to listen to that little voice in his head that told him to take the easy way out regardless of what happens.  That part of him has always been there, Anima just helped push him more and more in that direction.”

            “Wait, are you saying that my father is basically throwing one big temper tantrum?”  Both Em and Traci scratched their heads a bit at this thought.

            “Now that you mention it…..” Em said tilting her head in confusion.

            “Whatever it is,” Traci said shaking her head, “your father is in a really bad place, and we need to help him out of it.”

            “If he’s doing this of his own free will,” Ember said with a sigh, “then there’s no helping him.  He’s dead set on this path, and won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”

            “She’s right Traci” Em said with a sigh.  “We aren’t going to get through to him today.  We need to take him down now before he kills everything.”

            “I know” Traci said with a sigh.  Her spirit form began to dissipate, and she faded back into the club.  Em stood there and sighed as well.

            “Did she leave?” Ember asked stepping towards the weapons.

            “No, she’s just getting herself ready for the final battle.”  

            “Like, bonding with the weapon or something….?”

            “No, mentally preparing.  It’s her son after all.  Despite everything he’s done, he’s still your family.  And it’s hard to find the line between handing out forgiveness and making him accountable for his actions.”

            “Yeah” Ember said as she sat down on the floor.  “I couldn’t do it back then.  What make you think I can do it now?  Heck, why me?  Why not somebody already at the battlefield who can stop my father?  Why not Natalie?  Why not mom?  Why not….”

            “Because we believe that it has to be you” Em said placing her hand on Ember’s shoulder.  “Your father started on this path because he has been doing nothing but looking to the past for validation.  Ignoring what was right in front of him.  Refusing to accept the love and support of the people he already has.  You have to be the one to face him, to remind him that you are here, and that you care about him.  That you will stand by him no matter what. “

            “Can I do that though?” Ember said with tears rolling down her face.  “Can I still stand by him despite everything he’s done?”

            “You’re the only one who can answer that question kiddo.  Now then, it’s high time we got back to the battle.  Take the clubs, and we’ll fly you back.”

“So what’s the plan then?  How do we stop my father?”

“He may have absorbed some of Salem’s power, but it hasn’t fully bonded with him.  He’s still mortal, just with an extra bit of power and defense.  He can still be defeated by conventional means.  We can help you get to him.  All you have to do is defeat him.  We can help guide you, but you have to be the one to find the strength to stop him.”  With that, Em dissipated and faded back into her own respective club.  Ember stood up, dried her tears, and grabbed the clubs.  As soon as she did, she was enveloped in light, and once again took off out the front door and flew faster than thought back towards Aequo.  Ember watched as the world flew by, dreading what was waiting for her once she returned.

Author's Note

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