Episode Sage: Chapter 3: Mirror

Chapter 3 of Sage's adventure.

            The ruins carried a strange stagnant smell in the air.  Nothing felt dead, more forgotten and lost to the winds of time.  Sage was expecting something similar to the ruins of Mountain Glenn where even after all those years you could smell the rotting flesh of decaying skeletons.  This smelled almost as if everything wasn’t so much encased in amber, but rather evaporated like water leaving nothing but dirt and rubble.  Even the piles of Grimm goo and pools didn’t have their normal stench.  They just sat there bubbling like a cooking stew.  The ruins themselves were still rather dark, making it difficult for Sage to discern a potential direction he could go in order to figure out where everyone was taken.  There were no signs of a struggle, no tracks outside of the worn in paths the hordes seemed to travel through, nothing that looked out of the ordinary.  Everything about this place looked more organized than even the Atlas rail system.  Despite its ruinous state.  But finally, Sage saw something that seemed out of place.  Fresh Beowolf tracks leading deeper below one of the toppled buildings.  Sage took a deep breath and ventured deeper into the caverns.  The further down he went, the less and less Grimm goo seemed to be lying around.  In its place was rubble and strangely even more broken weapons.  Surprised, Sage picked one up, believing that the only place the weapons were scattered about were above ground.  Not in the ruins.  But there they were.  Weapons strewn as if they had been lost in battle.  Sage then noticed a handle sticking out of the wall.  He walked over to it and pulled on it.  As he did so, the whole blade came out of the wall and brought a pile of sand along with it.  The sand spilled all over the ground, and Sage brought his light up to the new hole he created.  Inside this hole in the sand he saw more blades sticking out.  All of them embedded in sand.  He then starting putting the pieces together.

            “The graveyard of blades I saw above on the surface was only created after years of shifting sands.  Whatever happened here created a crater so big that it ended up delving even this deep into the ground.  And given the Grimm’s repetitive patterns, it stands to reason they flattened the earth to a point where it is smoother than any road I’ve ever been on.  Crazy.  But that still doesn’t explain why.  Why here of all the places in Remnant do the Grimm migrate here?”  Sage kept pondering this staring into the cavern he created in the sand.  But he quickly shook himself and returned to trying to find the lost researchers.  The trail led deeper and deeper into the depths still, continuing to astound Sage at how deep the crater actually went.  Whatever happened all those years ago was lost to time and nature.  After a few more miles of walking, Sage came across something that stood out.  Claw marks.  They were scattered across the walls of the cavern.  Sage brought his light closer to the markings, trying to find out what created them.  But despite every claw of the Creatures of Grimm having been documented previously, none of them matched what Sage was studying now.  The claw marks grew greater and greater the deeper and deeper he went.  Suddenly, he found several clothes strewn about.  They all looked to have Vacuo origins in their tailoring.  There weren’t any bones, only the clothes.  As if they were cast aside for some reason.  Sage initially began to venture deeper to find out more, but then in an instant, something appeared in front of him.  A giant blob of darkness just oozing as if it were melting yet keeping itself together that looked almost like a human but not quite.  Sage quickly jumped backwards and drew his swords, preparing for battle.   The blob simply stood there, then around where its eyes would be, something flashed a bright light.  Sage covered his eyes but kept his guard up.  As soon as the flash dissipated, Sage now saw that the blob looked a lot more like a copy of himself.  Even down to the swords.  The blob mimicked Sage’s battle stance, and simply stood there.  Sage started circling the creature, but the monster refused to move.

            “Why put up with all that you have over the years?” the creature said in a gravelly voice that sounded eerily similar to Sage’s.

            “Oh, did you look into the depths of my heart?” Sage said mockingly back at the creature.  “Did you see my darkest desire and want me to act upon it?”

            “Your darkest desire is who you truly are.  It is who all humans are.  And yet you choose to act against these impulses and drive yourself to doing what you think is right for others.  How do you think you stand to benefit from all of this?”

            “I benefit from knowing that I help keep people safe from things like you.  And if you’re about to go all about how what I truly desire is for….”

            “For people to give you the respect you deserve.  For people to recognize your efforts at Vytal and the role you played.”

            “Yep.  Here we go.  Oh, I didn’t get a big shiny medal.  Oh no, the world doesn’t really know who I am.  Oh no, people mistake me for Sun’s friend all the time.  I’ve dealt with hordes of Apathy Grimm, Spider Grimm, even strange magical locations around the world that try to mess with my brain.  I’m not falling for your gimmick.  If I’m being honest, yours is a three at best.  On a scale of fifty.  I once fought a guy whose Semblance allowed him to impersonate another person and his transformation process was so gross, I seriously considered therapy for what I saw.  You’re just a stupid “dark me” trope that I’ll just bury in the ground real quick and move on to finding the people I came down here for.”

            “Find them?  You’re looking at them right now!”

            “Wait, you don’t mean….”

            “I promised them their greatest desire.  All they had to sacrifice in return was their existence.  I am more than just a mirror.  I am the key to finding the one who will best serve as my vessel.”

            “Vessel for what?”

            “No need to tell you.  You will either be worthy to bear the soul within my being, or you will be absorbed as another warrior to bring me closer to…”

            “Okay killing you now” Sage said charging forward.  He quickly brought his sword down to try and land a hit on the creature’s head.  But in the blink of an eye, the creature blocked the attack with his own sword.  Sage tried to use his dagger while the creatures focus was on the sword, but as soon as he tried to stab the creature in the gut, the creature used his own dagger to parry Sage’s attack.  Sage leapt backwards and tried running along the side of the wall to get some momentum.  He took a few quick steps along the wall, then propelled himself into the air and brought both his sword and his dagger down, but they were met with the main sword of the creature.  And as soon as the blades made contact, the creature landed a powerful strike with its dagger on Sage’s gut.  Sage fell back a bit, his Aura taking the hit.  Sage slowly got up, cracked his neck, and charged forward again.  The two of them continued to trade blows.  Or rather, Sage continued to swing his swords with all the skills he had gained over the years, only for the creature to parry each and every attack.  Without missing a beat, the creature simply anticipated each strike and kept landing small hits here and there on Sage.  After another attack, Sage leapt back and looked at his aura levels.  They weren’t dropping super-fast, but given the fact that he was not doing any significant damage against the creature, he would need to do something quick to turn the tide.  He took a deep breath, and charged in again.  The creature simply smiled, and prepared to defend itself.  And Sage attacked the creature as he had done several times beforehand.  He brought his blades down, and the creature blocked them.  But this time, when the creatures dagger attempted to strike Sage once again, the world slowed down.  Sage started slowly walking around the creature, and watched as its eyes slowly opened in realization seeing Sage’s after-image taking the hit instead of his real body.  Not wasting a moment as he felt his Aura begin to falter, Sage pulled back his sword and beheaded the creature.  The head rolled on the floor, with bits and pieces of goop flopping around where the head landed.  Sage collapsed on his knees gasping for breath.  Using his Semblance with full Aura was difficult enough, but this late in a battle with even lower aura meant he now was struggling to stand up.

            “A valiant effort” the creature said mockingly.  Sage watched horrified as the body of the creature walked over to the decapitated head, touched it with its hand and absorbed it until the head grew back.  “But not enough.  There are truly no souls worthy enough to conquer me.  As such, I shall….”  Suddenly, another blade appeared out of nowhere from behind and cut the creatures head off again landing right in front of Sage.

            “You gotta stab the head before it does anything” a new voice called out from the dark.  Sage tried to see who his new benefactor was, but realized the body was rushing towards the head again, so he quickly took his dagger and stabbed the head.  As soon as the blade cut through the head, the body began bloating like crazy.  Parts of the goo started flying off into the walls, other parts fell to the ground and began to dissolve into the sand, and then finally it all exploded into a pile of dust, leaving nothing but the darkness.  Sage initially thought it was over, until he noticed where the body once was now was floating a black flame.  The flame hovered there for a few moments, then flew past Sage and out into the world.  Sage wasn’t entirely sure, but he could have sworn he heard the flame whisper “thank you” with a female voice to him as it passed.  Sage slowly got up, and turned to see a stranger in a black coat wearing a hood covering his face clapping where the body used to be.

            “Very nice” the stranger said continuing to clap.  “Full marks.  You know, that stupid acolyte of mine kept sending me person after person to fight this thing, but none of them managed to even get a hit in!  Most of them looked like they were from Vacuo, but you have the clothing that screams Vale.  That where you’re from?”

            “I’d love to tell you, Sage said walking towards the stranger, “but I’m not exactly inclined to tell you anything.”

            “Uh….I saved your life?  I’d say that’s enough of a conversation starter.”

            “Fine.  But I would at least like to know who my savior is.”

            “Well, I can’t exactly tell you who I am, so for now why don’t we go with, Lost Master?”

            “Wow, cryptic and mysterious.  How do I know you didn’t save me just for some other devious reason?”

            “Have I given you a reason to doubt me ever since you met me?” the Lost Master said mockingly placing his hand on his chest in shock.

            “You mentioned an acolyte.  Chosa works for you?  You had him bring me here to fight this thing?”

            “Oh yeah.  Chosa works for me.  Well only recently.  His research team did come here in search of knowledge several years ago, but they came across that abomination and he almost died to it.  I managed to get him out and told him the only way to defeat that creature was to find a warrior that could help him save his friends.  And that’s what he would do.  About once a month, he would return with a warrior to try and take down the abomination, but they all failed.  So, I’d go to him, erase his memory, then have him wander off, bring back a Huntsman or Huntress, they’d fail, become a part of that thing, rinse and repeat.  He’d find random nomads in the wilderness, but this new village just on the outskirts of town really has helped speed things up.  Usually, it was a random guy every six months, now he’s been bringing me people every month or so.”

            “Erase his memories?  Memoriare of the Order” Sage said with a growl, jumping back away from Lost Master and drawing his weapons.

            “No, no.  You’ve got me all wrong.  I’m not Memoriare.  He physically pulls memories in and out of people’s heads.  That’s not what I did.  I simply rewound Chosa a few times so that he forgot that he had even brought a warrior back.  It’s kept him young and panicked.  Even to the point that he learns about things that have happened in the world during his absence, but doesn’t question why he hadn’t heard of it before he left.  Heck, the first time I sent him back after they hadn’t even started building Portum to the south of here.  Once they did begin construction he didn’t question how a city was being built overnight.  Nor when he returned after it was finished on another trip that apparently there was a town not far from where he and his colleagues were studying these ruins.  I made sure that he always remained panicked long enough that he didn’t question a thing.  Only bless the gods he found a place where he could find a warrior.  And up until today, he kept bringing duds.  So the abomination kept growing stronger and stronger.”

            “You seem to know your way around a blade.  What was stopping you from fighting that thing yourself?”

            “Yeah, the thing is, this abomination isn’t entirely what it seems.  It’s an after-product of a dark magic cocoon that went awry.  How much do you know about the Battle of Vytal?”

            “I was there actually.”

            “Cool, but how much do you know about what exactly happened that resulted in a victory for the Kingdoms?”

            “Natalie Grover killed the Order’s leader Zenoma Mortem and saved the world.  End of story.”

            “Yeah, that’s the public story.  But there are several other pieces that only Ozpin and a handful of others know.  After the battle, one of the souls integral to this world’s survival was stripped from its original vessel. Normally, a soul that powerful goes through immediate transfer into another like the maidens.  But that stupid kid Ozpin decided to leave this place as a festering pool for negativity and dark magic for centuries.  As such, instead of finding a new soul to call home, she wound up here trapped in that blob.”

            “She?”

            “Right, you’re just a normie.  Her name was Salem, she commanded the Grimm for millennia.  She decided to do a sacrifice play to save this world from destruction, ruining my plans in the process.  As such, since the world needs her soul in order to keep on spinning, she was about to begin the process of transfer, but then found herself in this weird cocoon.  I found her like this and was about to set her free so that I could jumpstart my next idea.  But then I realized if I did so, she would recognize me and given how she patched things up with her brother and the fact I didn’t take her memories of this place, that would be a bit troublesome for me.  So, I decided to watch how things played out.  I had used Chosa and his group of nerds to research different pieces of this world in the past, so I tapped them again to be guiena pigs   Thankfully, as soon as they found this goop, it became clear one of two things could happen.  Either she would be defeated by a strong warrior and free her soul to start the transfer process anew, or second, she would absorb as many people as it took until the mass was powerful enough to act as a new vessel.  Either way, the timing worked out perfectly.  There are plenty of roads that lead from today that I’ve seen across the paths of time, and luckily you showed up to lead us closer to a path towards my ultimate goal.”

            “And what is that ultimate goal?”

            “I’m not telling!”

            “You’ve told me this much so far.”

            “Yeah, that was because first off, I was bored of talking to the same stupid nerd for the last several years.  Secondly, by telling you I’ve opened a potential door for the future that could prove useful.  And finally, I’ve been stalling you.”  As soon as the Lost Master said this, the ground began to shake, and Sage heard a giant roar come from the surface.

            “What’s happening?”

            “Salem’s soul being trapped here made the Grimm enter protection mode.  They sensed their master was dormant beneath the ground regaining her strength.  So they did everything they could to keep her safe.  The natural fear humans have of Grimm was enough of a deterrent to keep people away, and they knew that the only reason humans would be there would be in services of their master.  Be it either through victory jumpstarting the process or by being absorbed into the new vessel.  Now that Salem’s gone, they’re reverting back to their normal nature of killing every last human they can find.”

            “What?”

            “Thanks for the talk Sage, and thanks for getting things moving.”  The Lost Master then pulled out of his pocket what appeared to be a broken piece of mirror.  And with a snap of his fingers, that mirror shard turned into a door-sized portal that led to a place filled with stars.  “Oh, and look out for the pack of Stalkers on the western pathway.  Those will give you a bit of a trick if you leave them for last.”  The door then faded away, leaving Sage in the darkness.  He stood there for a minute, trying to figure out what exactly was happening, but then a roar from a Grimm above the surface snapped him back to reality and he started running back towards the surface as fast as he could.

Author's Note

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