To Live in Magical Times (Pathfinder/Rwby)

Once there was a child that was alone in the world. Abandoned because there were too many mouths to feed, left to the tender mercies of a town that didn't want to share with a stranger. She was ignored by all, treated as an unwanted burden that would eventually go away and be forgotten. Few let themselves think about what that would mean.

But even if the town had welcomed the girl despair would still have found her. For the town's grim fate had been sealed long ago. Some would call the nucklavee that shattered its walls a mercy, sent by a cruel but not uncaring force to put it out of its misery. Those few that knew the truth knew there was no mercy in its actions, for the beast's purpose was to shatter those places that could recover on their own.

But there worse fates than death, more terrible monsters than the Grimm. From the land of the dead came a mighty hound, seeking a headless rider that brought nothing but death, a fallen knight that left nothing in its wake but misery and despair. Unable to scent the corpse the hound instead preyed upon the monsters around it, knowing on sight that the shadowy creatures had no more place in the cycle of life than the undead it was born to consume.

The hound was cunning but simple, unaware of the difference between the nucklavee and its quarry until the two headed rider was standing in front of it, when it decided that it didn't care. The man and boy that witnessed the resulting carnage would later swear that the grimm was alone, one moment about to trample the girl underfoot and the next shaken like a ragdoll in invisible jaws. Its back broken by the first blow, the nucklavee fought against an invisible foe with all the wisdom and cruelty of its years. It screamed and struck at the man, assuming him to be the source of the invisible assault. Instead it found invisible claws raking across its back, somehow cutting through its hide as easily as if it were butter.

When the battle was done and the townsfolk retired to their homes, the girl stood vigil over the dead. Not out of affection for the fallen or a sense of duty, but because only she could see the truth. She stayed with the feathered hound and witnessed the arrival of a bird wearing a leather mask. She told the bird of the hound's battle and asked if her new friend could stay.

And so it was recorded in the archives of the Boneyards that the esobok Garm was hereby assigned to the valkyrie Nora, until the pair report to the yamaraj Skould for judgement.

---

Once there was a child with a perfect family. An attentive father, a kind mother, a generous uncle and an adorable sister.

She never understood why her parents wept when her sister was born, never thought to ask why her uncle acted as if each time he saw them it might be the last.

Until one day her mother didn't come home and her family shattered.

Only then did she learn that she did look like her mother, that her father had had his heart broken before and hadn't been able to handle it then.

Only then did she realise her mother didn't want her.

For years she tried to find her mother, to find out why she'd left. Her father refused to speak of her, her uncle only talkative when drunk. Eventually she learned of another home, a place her mother once lived. And so she set out to finally find her mother, bringing her sister because it wouldn't be safe for her to be alone.

They should have died - two children wandering the forest alone, ignorant to the dangers that lurked around every corner.

But the gods rarely forget their debts. A gift was given. A burden was shared.

For the sake of their mother, that they could someday meet again.

Their family celebrated their survival. But away from the ears of the children they shared fury, terror and confusion.

For both daughters of Summer Rose now had silver eyes.

You are flying higher than you ever have before. No bird could match your height and speed. One of the aptly named skyscrapers of Vale could be built atop the tallest mountain on Remnant and this airship would easily pass above it.

"If you want to know all you have to do is go over and ask her."

You hadn't realised any of this from the cargo hold of a Bullhead. Hadn't paid enough attention to the sky around Beacon to notice the mastery of the sky technology has granted the people of Remnant. You hadn't put it together until you'd awoken from your slumber and looked out a window, a lonely beacon far below the only light to reveal the inky darkness of the sea, while the stars danced above the clouds.

"I don't want to interrupt her. What if she gets mad?"

You haven't moved from your seat on the viewing deck since an attendant had confirmed that you'd get to see the sun rise, knowing that every second of this voyage will feature in your dreams for years to come. The other passengers seem to still be asleep, but even if they were moving around you'd ignore them.

"She's looking out the window, you won't be interrupting anything. And what's she going to do, shoot feathers at us like a nevermore? Worst case scenario she'll ask us to leave her alone."

You'll need to eat at some point - the flight was chosen to ensure you'd arrive in Argus only a few hours before the Invitational begins, meaning you'd boarded late at night and would be arriving early in the morning. Perhaps you'd slept less than you'd intended, but this is essentially meditation - you'll be fine.

"Yang!"

You didn't pay any attention to the other passengers, assuming whatever security offered by Ozpin's plan would suffice. You couldn't exactly ask someone to keep watch while you slept since you're supposed to look alone and vulnerable.

"Fine, don't ask her about her hammer. Just don't come whining to me if you don't get a good look during the tournament."

You'd stowed your weapons and pack in the locker provided, deciding to acquiesce to the apparently standard rules for flying on an airship rather than waste energy on an argument. You'd even placed them in a sturdy box with a key only you held to show your cooperation. Apparently the people of Remnant only tolerated the open carrying of weapons for huntsmen and huntresses, with most students coasting on goodwill.

"What am I supposed to say? Hi, I was behind you at the airport and saw them x-ray your weapon and I'd really like to know why you went with a solid construction and such an unusual design?"

Bella was…
[ ] in a carry case stowed next to the locker, with plenty of water, snacks and a book borrowed from Blake to entertain her. When disguised as a squirrel, cat or rat she'll be an extra set of eyes in the arena, hopefully capable of warning you of foul play without revealing herself.

[ ] Safely back at Beacon, apparently planning something with Amber and Coco. You didn't really try to uncover what she's up to, instead feeling relieved you won't need to worry about her safety when you are inevitably attacked.

"Yeah?"

It's been a long time since you set your clan dagger aside like that, but attitudes are different here. Knives are seen as weapons instead of tools and since your dagger would be a (rather unusually shaped) short sword in the hands of a halfling you didn't see any point in arguing. Even if Edrekk would've started a fight before doing the same.

"What if she thinks I'm insulting her? Or worse, her weapon?"

It's a pity he isn't here to see this. Sure he might grumble about how 'dwarves are meant to stay grounded' but he wouldn't be able to deny the beauty of the sky. You should try capturing the moment in your journal - or maybe use your scroll.

"Fine, I'll talk to her."

Is this what the Plane of Air looks like? An endless expanse of sky, with floating islands atop giant cloud banks, the Plane of Water visible just beyond the horizon? Fethrymil would know. Hengrei might as well, he's certainly traveled to the Plane of Fire. Talaith would be trying to figure out why you've never flown this high, would probably insist the three of you see how high you can fly immediately once you land.

It's a good thing Feather Fall is one of the first spells she mastered.

"Hi. Is this seat taken?"

You're torn from your thoughts by the sudden interruption, turning to see a blonde woman pointing to just beside you. You'd chosen the bench because it was the only seating option with an open back, even if you were technically sitting backwards when you faced the window instead of the table.

It takes you a few seconds to answer, blinking as you process the woman's appearance. Her clothes were clearly chosen for Vale's hot summers, exposing more skin than you ever would've in Sarkoris. She's a huntress, or at least a student, judging from her muscles and burning heart crest. No visible weapon but that should be stowed like yours was.

Most striking are her eyes, one silver and the other a pale violet. A changeling? On Remnant? You'd asked enough people enough questions to be fairly sure that if planar scions are ever born here that they're so few and far between no one ever draws a connection between them. Changelings don't fall into that group, being the children of hags and whichever poor man caught their eye. You'd have assumed there weren't any more hags here than there were dragons or owlbears, not that you'd ever thought to ask.

It makes sense that they wouldn't be mentioned - hags thrive at the edges of society, preying on those that won't be missed. They mostly feature in stories told late at night, or to small children, baking people into pies that they sell to their families, luring travelers off of the road so they get trapped in the swamp and driving people to insanity by making them question whether their memories are true.

"Hey, you falling asleep on me?" She asks, derailing your train of thought.

"No, sorry." You say as you drag your thoughts to the present. "I'm just distracted. Sit wherever you want."

"Great. I'm Yang by the way." She says as she sits close enough that you'll need to watch your wings. Behind her you can see a short girl in a red hood peek at you from behind a chair.

"Shayla." You say as you accept the offered handshake.

"So what are you planning to do in Argus? Watch a Colossus demonstration? Visit the museums? Watch the Invitational?"

You look the girl up and down again, making sure she sees you.

"Hoping I'll cheer you on?" You ask pointedly.

"Nah, I was just hoping to meet one of my competitors before we had to fight." She says with a shameless grin. "Plus MY SISTER saw you go through security and wanted to ask you a few questions." She adds, turning and yelling at the hiding girl who squeaks in protest.

"I'm happy to talk but as I understand the tournament, there are things we're not meant to talk about." You say, hoping you don't need to commit to any lies.

"It's not about your semblance or anything, Ruby just geeks out when she sees a new weapon." She explains dismissively. "I just wanna know if you know why you got an invitation - mine came completely out of nowhere. I've never fought in any tournaments, I'm not exactly top of my class and I already got accepted at beacon."

"I was told to expect an invitation a month ago, but I have no true insight into the selection process. I did some research but it was more focused on returning contestants."

The two of you engage in small talk for a while, Yang happily ignoring anytime you evade a question or cut yourself off halfway through a mention of Golarion. Her sister joins you in time to watch the sun rise, the towering mountains of cloud being dyed first crimson then orange. Far below the ocean is revealed for the first time, gleaming in the morning light.

"You wanted to ask Shayla something, right Rubes?" Yang asks eventually.

"Yeah - um, I wanted to know why it's got the spikes protruding from the head so they'd hit before the actual face? It looks like it'd spread the force of the impact unevenly and kind of defeat the purpose of having such a large and heavy head." Ruby asks, smiling nervously up at you and barely reacting when yang tugs her hood off of her head. She has silver eyes too - are she and Yang related by blood? Did their father somehow escape the hag with the baby in tow? That's certainly impressive.

"The style is called mordenkrad and I believe it originated as a hastily made modification to a maul to make it better in battle, rather than serving as a tool pressed into service." You begin, recalling what Edrekk had said after the small ceremony where the Knights of the Silver Scale had given the hammer to you. "It isn't a human weapon and it retains the heavy to maximise the impact of your blows, adding the spiked protrusions to do maximum harm. It isn't intended to be wielded against armoured foes, or for any foe your size or smaller. A mordenkrad is intended for enemies that dwarf you." You fight the urge to smirk at your language as you consider what you have to leave out. Mordenkrad is an undeniably dwarven name, but the weapon likely wasn't designed by dwarves. You've never met anyone wielding one that wasn't from northern Avistan and the Kellids were fighting giants for generations before the dwarves began the Quest for Sky.

"So it's for crushing the armoured masks of a deathstalker or goliath!" Ruby says excitedly.

"Yes." You say, choosing not to reveal your ignorance of what those are - presumably grimm.

"So what's the head made out of? A steel-titanium alloy? And why didn't you include any dust, it sounds like some gravity dust would be perfect! Why didn't you incorporate any collapsing parts in the handle? Or does it turn into something else and you couldn't fit a collapsing handle?" Ruby asks rapidly, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Steel, I think. I didn't have any dust and the smith didn't know anything about creating collapsing or transforming mechanisms."

"You didn't make it yourself? Which combat school did you go to that let you get away with that?" Ruby asks in an offended tone.

"I didn't attend a combat school. I had a more traditional master-apprentice education and the hammer was a gift when my master decided I was a journeyman." You say, awkwardly editing your life story to try and fit Remnant. You're still not sure what Fethrymil intended when she declared you a journeyman the same day the Knight-Commander arrived in Pulura's Falls and you both decided to leave but it sticks in your mind. "Did you both craft your own weapons?"

"Yeah, everyone at Signal does." Ruby says proudly. "Your master didn't teach you anything about forging a weapon?"

"My father's a smith, but I only learned how to work the bellows before I had to leave home." You respond, realising Edrekk would probably agree with this weapon-crafting philosophy if the students in question had completed a smith's apprenticeship. "And my master was of the opinion that instead of getting too attached to any one weapon you should instead be capable of fighting with whatever you can get your hands on - a battlefield is a chaotic place after all."

"Oh." Ruby says, frowning as she considers this. She shrugs it off a moment later, her eyes lighting up as she leans in to whisper conspiratorially. "I made a high-caliber sniper-scythe called Crescent Rose. She's got three different combat modes and has an effective firing range of over two thousand feet."

You listen with interest and a little confusion as Ruby excitedly tells you everything about her weapon, pulling out her scroll to show you pictures and schematics, and briefly segueing into a description of Yang's shotgun-gauntlets, a concept that sounds utterly insane now that you've fired a gun and felt the recoil.

Eventually breakfast and the airship's approach to Argus ends that conversation, though Yang and Ruby smoothly transition to a dozen other topics, conversation flowing between them as easily as it does for you and Talaith. You try to ignore the twinge of homesickness in your stomach, trying to focus on the trials to come. It doesn't fade until your clan dagger is hidden in your boot and you've moved to the car that'll drive you to the arena, parting with the sisters for now.

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You didn't get a chance to see the area set aside for contestants when you arrive at the arena, instead finding yourself quickly ushered into a waiting room that's built on the same pattern as numerous rooms you've seen in Beacon - long rows of lockers with long benches between them, attached to many toilets and showers.

As you're in the first match of the tournament you need to be ready to fight before they've finished giving speeches and whatever other ceremonies are associated with such a tournament - back home you'd expect to see prayers given to Gorum, Kurgess and Irori for such a tournament but you're not sure what the equivalent here would be.

You fight the urge to pace as the final speech begins. From your research you know this is traditionally given by the winner of the last tournament and focuses on what they gained from participation - the lessons learned, the joy of their new school or career. But for the last three years it's been given by whoever placed second or third because the winner never stopped participating.

Your palms itch as you consider that you might be facing Pyrrha Nikos in the first round. From what you know the top seeds will be deliberately split up, but you have no idea how you were seeded. Surely Ozpin wouldn't have risked you being knocked out in the first round?

Then again, Nikos might not be that great a threat to you. Winning tournaments can't possibly compare to the harsh lessons of the battlefield and no semblance could possibly compare to your command of magic. No, you know better than to listen to your pride. You were the same age as the champion, had probably started training at the same age. She could outclass you because of the rules of this fight or the two of you could be evenly matched.

Your nervousness abates when the speech ends and you get a brief glimpse of the tournament draw before you need to step into the arena. Nikos is seeded opposite you, in the second half of the draw. Your first opponent isn't anyone you've heard of, a boy from Vale named Cardin Winchester. Those you assume to be top seeds are similarly distanced from you - Galloglass is in the same group of eight with Ayana and Soliel in the same sixteen, with Atlan sharing the same group of sixteen as Nikos.

You only have enough time to note that Yang could be your third opponent before a buzzer summons you to the arena. Hammer in hand you walk down the tunnel to the arena with precise strides, trying to project the impression of someone who's entirely in control.

You know exactly how you want to handle this fight - take flight and strike from above with radiant eyes and an electrified hammer, looking like a descending angel to most and like a maiden subtly using her magic to those you're trying to lure out. It's a simple strategy that'll keep your strongest and newest spells in reserve to catch future opponents off guard, whether they're tournament opponents or the assassins.

You step into the arena at the same time as your opponent and all nervousness fades as you assess him - an arrogant youth in shiny new armour that leaves his belly completely open, casually resting his mace on a shoulder as he gives you a cocky grin. He's completely unprepared for this, every movement of his screaming that he thinks he's already won.

Then again, maybe he's good enough to back up the arrogance. You're fairly certain you've identified five of the top eight seeds in the tournament and none of them are in your initial grouping of four.

"You better not go home crying when I beat you. Afterall, there's no shame in losing to the winner of the tournament." He calls out to you.

Maybe you should charge him for the privilege of fighting you. You'll be so much kinder when you crush him than any of the foes you've fought over the years. He's lucky the crowd can't hear his words or he'd never get to live this down.

"Good luck." You say, remembering what Amber had told you about how people express sportsmanship on Remnant.

You both drop into practiced stances as an announcer loudly counts down to the start of the combat. The moment it begins you flick and beat your wings, performing the somatic components for Gale Blast to create a showy but pointless blast of wind as you rise into the air.

Your eyes shine as you halt your climb, looking down at your opponent as he twirls his mace and sends a bolt of flame flying towards you. You dodge it by jinking to the left and dive towards him, letting the wind steal the chant for Shocking Strike from your mouth as lightning crackles along your hammer.

Winchester never considers trying to dodge your attack, instead squaring up for a wild two-handed swing of his mace to try and knock your strike aside.

Hammer and mace clash and your greater strength and momentum easily win, the resulting explosion barely managing to jar your arms as your hammer hits Winchester's chest, his armour conducting the lightning all over his body and his unprepared stance leaving him no option but to fall.

You don't even need to follow up as a buzzer ends the match, a glance at one of the giant scrolls attached to the stadium seating revealing that single strike knocked Winchester into the red. You step forward to help him up but he ignores you, turning and walking out of the arena with all the dignity he can manage.

You take a moment to look at the crowd, the hundreds or possibly thousands of people cheering for your victory, before turning and following your defeated opponent.

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Bella location vote, reprinted here for clarity:

Bella was…
[ ] in a carry case stowed next to the locker, with plenty of water, snacks and a book borrowed from Blake to entertain her. When disguised as a squirrel, cat or rat she'll be an extra set of eyes in the arena, hopefully capable of warning you of foul play without revealing herself.
[ ] Safely back at Beacon, apparently planning something with Amber and Coco. You didn't really try to uncover what she's up to, instead feeling relieved you won't need to worry about her safety when you are inevitably attacked.

You have over an hour before your next fight, leaving you plenty of time to look around or talk to almost anyone present. Choose any two of the below options:

[ ] Head to the contestant-only area and talk to…
-[ ] Yang, the changeling you met on your flight in.
-[ ] Pyrrha Nikos, the reigning champion who's standing alone as she watches the fights
-[ ] Arslan Atlan and Sage Ayana, two of the top seeds who seem to share a friendly rivalry
-[ ] A redhaired girl with a pink bow in her hair, a small pack on her back and a green dress

[ ] Go and explore the seating area for the audience and…
-[ ] talk to Ruby, the enthusiastic sister of Yang
-[ ] wait, is that Yatsuhashi? You knew he was from Mistral but didn't think he was from Argus.
-[ ] get approached by a short girl in a white dress with a splash of blue.

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I know it hasn't come up much yet, but I fully expect this arc to make exactly what Shayla's mission is clear to you guys if not Shayla. Amusing Shayla has all the pieces she needs to figure it out but hasn't put them together because its mostly obscure trivia.