Episode Brooklyn: Chapter 2: Kami

Chapter 2 of Brooklyn's Story

            Brooklyn tilted her head in confusion as the man who called himself Ozpin held his hand out waiting for the response.

            “I’m sorry,” he said removing his hand, “do you come from the wastelands?  I hear it is common to bow out of respect.  Is this correct?” Ozpin asked as he lowered his head awkwardly.  “I’m not used to this sort of motion.  Especially around my father.

            “I’m sorry,” Brooklyn said, “But I think I heard you wrong.  You said your name is Ozpin?”

            “That is the name my father gave me, yes.”

            “As in Professor Ozpin?”

            “Professor?  No, no.  I am not a scholar.  Although I may wish to be one someday, my place is here with my family.”

            “Okay, I’m super confused.”

            “Do you even know how you arrived here?”

            “I thought I did.  Now I’m not so sure.”

            “Well then, allow me to take you to my father.  I’m sure he will be able to help answer any questions you may have.  If you would follow, please?”  Ozpin then gestured lower down the mountainside, and Brooklyn saw the outlines of what looked like a town of log cabins that were built as replicas she would use to have to visit on school trips.

            “I think that might be best at this point” Brooklyn said as she followed Ozpin down the side of the mountain.

 

 

 

            As they walked into the village, Brooklyn looked around trying to understand what was happening.  The houses were well kept, kids ran around in the street as if they had lived there their entire lives, people shopped and traded items, for all intents and purposes, it was a fully-functional city.  Where everybody dressed as if it were a time before indoor plumbing was invented.  All the clothes were hand-made wool and cotton clothes, some were made of rags, but nothing looked fancy or ornate.  It was as if the pages of history were jumping to life.  The village was structured with several houses built to form streets on a grid, with one major wide road running down the center of it leading to a large house in the middle of everything.  The two of them stepped inside that particular house and were greeted with a large audience chamber that was accented on the other end of the chamber by a large throne.  The throne was seemingly built out of a hollowed-out tree, with branches extending across the width of the back wall like roots.  Sitting in the main chair was a withered old man with a cane.  He wore a black coat that was draped over his shoulders and wore a green suit beneath it.  His beard was long and gray, almost reaching his feet from sitting down.  He wore four rings, two on each hand, each one emblazoned with a different color that seemed to reflect the seasons.  To his left stood a woman with skin white as snow and eyes a pure black with no visible pupils, adorned in an all-black dress.  To his right was empty, but Ozpin walked over and took that spot while Brooklyn continued to take in her surroundings.

            “Bear witness” the woman next to the old man said in a booming voice.  “You stand before The Wizard, creator of all things that exists in this world.  Without him you would not be able to draw breath nor see light.  Without him you….”

            “Enough daughter” the Wizard said raising his hand to silence the woman.  “You’re going to frighten somebody with that level of oomph in your voice.  Besides, I’m nowhere near what I once was, there is no need for pleasantries beyond my name.  And in tandem I can introduce myself just fine.”

            “But father you deserve the praise.  You have given so much for so many…”

            “And I understand you wish to honor that Salem, but I will not be in this world for much longer, and I wish for the people to begin looking to themselves for improvement and not just myself.”  Brooklyn continued to stand near the throne, still dumbfounded about what she was witnessing.  She had heard about how Natalie had died and met Salem in their battle against the Order back during their first year, but according to Ozpin after the battle, she was supposed to be dead.  But here she was, full of life alongside a man who claimed his name was Ozpin and knew nothing about the Kingdoms he helped create centuries ago all the while staring at an old man who was the supposed creator of this entire world.

            “Beg pardon,” Brooklyn said leaning forward towards the Wizard, “but what year is it?”

            “I believe the current time system the people have come up with 1423.”

            “B.W. or A.W. (Before War or After War)?”

            “What are those may I ask?”

            “Oh you have got to be kidding me….” Brooklyn muttered under her breath following the Wizard’s answer to her question.

            “Is something wrong child?”  the Wizard said stroking his beard.

            “Yeah,” Brooklyn said pinching her forehead.  “You see, I think I’m in the wrong time.”

            “I beg your pardon?”  Ozpin asked stepping towards Brooklyn.

            “Yeah, I am from a time way WAY past this point in history.  I was exploring this region in my own time, jumped into a massive storm high above this mountain and somehow wound up at this moment in history.”

            “How peculiar,” the Wizard said stroking his beard even more intently.  “Children, would you please give me the room?”

            “But I have so many questions father” Ozpin said with excitement in his voice.

            “And it is because of those questions that I do not wish for you to listen.  This child may know things that would alter the course of history if you knew them as well, and we don’t want to send her back to a time that she is a stranger to, now do we?”

            “But what about you father?”  Salem said as she examined Brooklyn.  “Would that logic not also apply to you?”

            “Given her attire and weaponry it stands to reason this child is from a time eons into the future.  I do not have much time left in this world, so I will not directly benefit from this information.  My destiny is at hand, yours is yet to be written.  Now please, if you would be so kind.”  Salem bowed her head and exited the audience chamber.  Ozpin initially stood his ground, but eventually bowed his head and exited the chamber as well.  As soon as they were both gone, the Wizard looked over Brooklyn’s outfit and weapon closer than before.

            “You are from a time not far from our most recent guest, but still far away from this one.”

            “Most recent guest?”

            “You believe you are the only one who has survived the storm to find your way here?”

            “Wait, you know about the storm?”  How?  Far as I can tell it isn’t raging around this place at all.”

            “No, but I have heard stories from those who have found their way here the way you did.  Displaced in time and forced to this land against their will.”

            “So what happened to them?  Did they reserve themselves to staying here, found new families and now they have had a few generations living here?”

            “Most of them at least.  Most return to whence they came by means of time itself pulling them back to their era or I offer them a doorway, but it stands to reason the majority of people who are listed as missing in your era are the ones who found their way here and have remained here.”

            “Well I am not in that bracket, so how do I get out of here?”

            “Quite simple.  My magic may be waning, but I can still open portals in time.  I can help you get back to when you came from.  All I need is a good totem for you to use and I will get you back home.”

            “All right.  How long will that take?”

            “About a day or so.  Like I said, my magic is still waning.  It is imperative the magic is just right, or I could potentially send you to an incorrect era or the doorway will collapse without proper magic preperation.  And I don’t know how much more I have left in these old bones of mine.  In the meantime however, I believe there is something you can help us with here in this town.”

            “I guess that’s a fair trade.  What do you need?”

            “There’s a group of raiders who have been terrorizing us for the past few weeks.  They aren’t much compared to the might of my children, but they are persistent like gnats.  They have ambushed some travelers and caravans on their way here, even almost killing a dear friend of my daughter’s on one occasion.  I would be eternally grateful if you would go with another in our number and deal with these miscreants once and for all.”

            “Dead or alive?”

            “Either or, I am not too picky.”

            “Works for me.  So who’s this person of your number I’m going to be working with?”

            “She’s actually much like you.  However unlike you, she came here to this time of her own volition.  Although she did not wish to divulge why, I took her and her daughter in without hesitation.”

            “I don’t need her backstory, just tell me where I can find her.”

            “Of course.  She’s in one of the huts near the outskirts of town.”

            “She got a name?”

            “Yes, but I think it best if you introduce yourself in person.  Daughter!”  The Wizard bellowed and Salem appeared in the blink of an eye.  “Please take our friend here to the hut of the assassin.”

            “Of course father” Salem said with a bow.  She then motioned for Brooklyn to follow, and she did so.  They stepped outside and once again made their way through the town.  Now that Brooklyn knew she was in the past, she started seeing a lot of the signs that pointed to that.  Large plumes of smoke from a blacksmith’s workshop with fires stoked by wood instead of Dust.  Swords and spears at the ready but bows and arrows as well, no firearms whatsoever.  There was even a mill that seemed to have water flowing from a nearby spring close to the central hall.

            “How is this place so nice?”  Brooklyn pondered.  “In my time, this whole region is a desolate frozen wasteland.  And at the top of a mountain no less?  Where I went to school is nowhere near this nice in terms of weather.”

            “My father cast a spell over this region when he first created this place” Salem said as they walked along gathering a small band of onlookers who were gawking at Brooklyn’s futuristic outfit.  “This world is very different from the one you know.  You speak of these other lands, but currently our world as mapped by my father is one large land mass.  But he says in previous iterations of the world, there were times when worlds were separated from many things like large oceans or deep valleys.  I have seen many things change in this world in the eons I have existed.  I have watched mountains grow from small hills with the shifting of the planet itself, I have watched mighty oceans dry up into tiny ponds.  And I am sure I will see far more before the world stops spinning if it ever does.”

            “And this is why I don’t normally talk to Ozpin back in my time….”

            “You know my brother in your time?  I can’t even imagine what that must be like.”

            “Trust me, you aren’t missing that much.”

            “I suppose some things never will change” Salem said with a chuckle.  “But no matter.  Here we are.”  Salem motioned towards a small hut near the edge of the village.  Brooklyn slowly walked up and knocked on the door.  After a few moments, the door opened, and there to greet Brooklyn was a small girl.

            “Can I help you?” the small girl asked.  Brooklyn was about to respond to the girl, but then felt a sharp pain going through her head.  Brooklyn clutched her head trying to remain upright, with Salem rushing over to help keep her from falling unconscious.

            “Brooklyn darling what’s happening?” a voice called out from inside the hut.

            “The tall lady is here to see you mom” the child yelled back into the house.  “And she brought a friend, but I don’t think she’s doing too well.  She seems sick.”

            “All right, bring her inside.  I’ve almost finished a pot of coffee, hopefully that will help.”  The little girl motioned for the two of them to enter, and Salem helped Brooklyn to the kitchen table where she sat down, still clutching her head.  The child helped her to the table then ran off to find her mother.  As the child left, Brooklyn felt the pain start to fade away.

            “What was that about?” Salem asked.  “Are you unwell?”

            “Do I look like I know what’s happening around here?”  Brooklyn answered reaching for the pot of coffee the stranger had mentioned earlier.

            “Well I hope you get your head on right” a voice said from down the hall.  “Because these raiders aren’t going to care one bit about whether or not you are up to snuff.  In this world, it’s killed or be killed.”

            “Wait….” Brooklyn said realizing, “that voice…..”

            “Do I know you?” The stranger then entered the room and Brooklyn almost fell out of her chair in disbelief.

            “You are….”

            “My name is Angela.  Been here for a short while now.  You’re the first person I’ve seen come through here via the time storm since my arrival.”

            “And the one who answered the door….that was….?”

            “My daughter, Brooklyn.  She’s young but isn’t super energetic.  I actually think that’s the most I’ve heard her talk since we got here.”

            “Will wonder’s never cease….” Brooklyn said as she took another swig of coffee.

Author's Note

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