Ruby Woke to the shadows of Stygia, and came to as a Necromancer and Alchemist of the Leaden Coin. The ability to talk to the dead was a heavy one, but one she wouldn't trade for the world
Herald of Stygia (RWBY/Chronicles of Darkness)
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Chapter 1
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Behind you, the voice only the Resurrectionist could hear whispered in her ear and she slid her hand in her pocket, weaving a mote of mana to merge the rings of Kassiterum, Perfected tin, on her right hand into a set of studded knuckles, harder than anything other than Siderite, not the alloy but Perfected iron. Ruby Rose turned at the tap on her shoulder, meeting the eyes of the black dressed thug glaring down at her through red sunglasses.
Pulling down her headphones with her left hand, she said, "Let me guess, this is a robbery?"
He nodded. She nodded.
Then she drove a Siderite toed boot into his shin with a snap, letting her Aura flow into her arm and strengthen it until she drove the fist into his gut, slamming him out through the front of the store. Disintegrating into a bunch of wilted rose petals, passing Nicholas, Gretchen and her Mom, she reformed outside, over the man and swung Frozen Rose off her back so the rifle-axe was aimed at his head.
"I don't have my Aura unlocked," the man gasped, raising his hands so he could block the gun as best as he could, "Please, I don't want to die!"
Ruby rolled her eyes and kicked the man in the head, knocking him unconscious and calling out towards the approaching criminals, "Anyone else not got their Aura unlocked?"
Basically every one of the mooks raised their hands, and Ruby sheathed Frozen Rose and shoved her hand in her pocket, glad she had decided to wear jeans today instead of one of her combat skirts, and merged the Kassiterum rings on that hand into another set of knuckles. She bounced in place a few times, limbering up as she drew on knowledge of a twin she didn't have, had never had, and would never have.
But Gretchen had. She wouldn't divulge his name, or let Ruby look into what he was doing nowadays, if he was even still alive, but Gretchen held her time learning to brawl with him close to her heart, and that made it all the easier for Ruby to draw on the knowledge with her magic. She was in the first grunt's guard in less than a second, wrapping her hand in his gut and throwing him into a second.
The third stabbed from behind her, and she activated her Semblance, just enough to shift out the way of the attack, and punched him upside the head, just enough to knock him out…
Ok, so she had probably concussed the poor guy. It wasn't her fault, it was really really hard to fight to incapacitate.
—
Glynda Goodwitch approached the reported fight as quickly as possible. A dust robbery? At this time of night?
Had to be Roman Torchwick.
Leaping onto the rooftops, she had just enough time to take in the girl firing at the bullhead with a massive, single bladed ax, a bardiche that would have taken two men without Aura to lift. Torchwick stood in the bullhead door and threw a crystal of Burn dust at the girl, aiming for her with his cane. Before he could shoot it out of the air, or before Glynda could intercept it, the girl caught it and threw it straight at his head. Glynda, not being one to miss an opportunity, sent a bolt of Telekinesis at it, blowing it up in Torchwick's face.
Torchwick roared and staggering back and only not falling out of the bullhead because he was caught by the other occupant of the bullhead, who threw him into the captain's chair while they strode to where he had been standing. She swept her hands down her arms, activating Dust weaved into the fabric there, and shot a spear made of burning stone at the girl.
The bardiche shifted rapidly, until the blade was pointed straight up and the haft had shrunk to a hilt, turning the whole thing into a hulking great sword, more executioner's sword than practical weapon in Glynda's opinion. An opinion that was immediately shattered as the girl swung it in a one handed grip and shattered the spear into a hundred tiny pieces.
The bullhead started to pull away, and the girl aimed the butt of the greatsword at the woman while Glynda grabbed the entire thing with Telekinesis and held it in place. Amber eyes flashed like-
-like a Maiden. Just for a second, enough to weave a single spell into existence and force Glynda to pale. The rooftop around the girl cracked and turned molten, and Glynda let go of the bullhead to form a barrier around the girl. Keeping it up through the ensuing eruption drained Glynda's Aura and distracted her enough that the bullhead managed to pull off and fly high into the air, high enough that tracking it would be difficult at best.
"Damn, they got away," the girl swore, then, angrier, "I had some questions for the thief."
Oh, that was true for both of them. Glynda had serious questions for the Maiden thief. Glynda turned to the girl, who was storing her ax-sword behind her back in a folded form.
Bedraggled hair, deep set bruises under her eyes, skin so pale it was almost palid. A blood red cloak with white fur lining, a modest chest pushed up by a lightly strung bodice, a pair of black pants, and on her fingers were glossy, off-white rings.
Despite looking, physically, like she was one foot in the grave, the girl's eyes sparkled with life. She turned towards Glynda, a wide grin splitting her face as she did, "You're Glynda Goodwitch, right? Can I have your autograph!?"
—
It was three AM by the time Ruby wished Yang goodnight and shut the door of her Demesne, her Sanctum…
Her bedroom in other words. The entire house was Warded to keep it from being spied on by scrying spells, a herculean task of Spacial Magic Ruby was pretty freaking proud of, since that wasn't her ballpark. But her room was special, it had been a multi-year practice of tearing down wallpaper, carving Atlantean runes to strengthen the spells, and then putting up new wallpaper, all while keeping the process a secret from Uncle Qrow when he came over.
Having one relative that was a Sleeper was such a pain in the butt. She much preferred Yang and Dad, who were Sleepwalkers. She'd have preferred it more if they were Awake obviously, but since they weren't, Sleepwalking was good enough.
Anyways, her room was warded against Spacial magic of all types, capable of keeping ghosts in, stayed at a balmy 72 degrees, had, hidden underneath the carpet, four carved circles for summoning, one shaped like an Atlantean pentacle, the second a Salemite Eye, the third a Brother's duality and the fourth a Maiden glyph, all filled with Kassiterum, which was the Perfected metal most associated with summoning.
She had never used the second and rarely used the third and fourth, but you never knew when the good ol' Pentacle just wasn't going to cut it.
Yawning and stretching, Ruby sat down at her CCT terminal and turned it on. Looks like it was another all nighter, if she wanted to study the Grimore she had picked up before the night went to chaos. She cracked open her mini fridge, pulling out an energy drink and getting ready to shotgun the thing.
Ruby, Summer reproached quietly.
"No more than one a week," Ruby sighed, replacing it with a carton of strawberries. Sometimes it was such a pain having the ghost of your mother bound to you as a familiar. The Kassiterum pocket knife was instead used to cut the top off of the strawberries.
Finally, the terminal connected, and Ruby navigated to the password protected chat room between her and another Mage.
Rose-Petals-Wilting: Hey @MagneticSpartan, you know how we were talking about how you needed to come by when you got out here? Yeah, nevermind, I'm going to Beacon.
Cracking open the book, Ruby leaned back and began to decode it.
Pulling down her headphones with her left hand, she said, "Let me guess, this is a robbery?"
He nodded. She nodded.
Then she drove a Siderite toed boot into his shin with a snap, letting her Aura flow into her arm and strengthen it until she drove the fist into his gut, slamming him out through the front of the store. Disintegrating into a bunch of wilted rose petals, passing Nicholas, Gretchen and her Mom, she reformed outside, over the man and swung Frozen Rose off her back so the rifle-axe was aimed at his head.
"I don't have my Aura unlocked," the man gasped, raising his hands so he could block the gun as best as he could, "Please, I don't want to die!"
Ruby rolled her eyes and kicked the man in the head, knocking him unconscious and calling out towards the approaching criminals, "Anyone else not got their Aura unlocked?"
Basically every one of the mooks raised their hands, and Ruby sheathed Frozen Rose and shoved her hand in her pocket, glad she had decided to wear jeans today instead of one of her combat skirts, and merged the Kassiterum rings on that hand into another set of knuckles. She bounced in place a few times, limbering up as she drew on knowledge of a twin she didn't have, had never had, and would never have.
But Gretchen had. She wouldn't divulge his name, or let Ruby look into what he was doing nowadays, if he was even still alive, but Gretchen held her time learning to brawl with him close to her heart, and that made it all the easier for Ruby to draw on the knowledge with her magic. She was in the first grunt's guard in less than a second, wrapping her hand in his gut and throwing him into a second.
The third stabbed from behind her, and she activated her Semblance, just enough to shift out the way of the attack, and punched him upside the head, just enough to knock him out…
Ok, so she had probably concussed the poor guy. It wasn't her fault, it was really really hard to fight to incapacitate.
—
Glynda Goodwitch approached the reported fight as quickly as possible. A dust robbery? At this time of night?
Had to be Roman Torchwick.
Leaping onto the rooftops, she had just enough time to take in the girl firing at the bullhead with a massive, single bladed ax, a bardiche that would have taken two men without Aura to lift. Torchwick stood in the bullhead door and threw a crystal of Burn dust at the girl, aiming for her with his cane. Before he could shoot it out of the air, or before Glynda could intercept it, the girl caught it and threw it straight at his head. Glynda, not being one to miss an opportunity, sent a bolt of Telekinesis at it, blowing it up in Torchwick's face.
Torchwick roared and staggering back and only not falling out of the bullhead because he was caught by the other occupant of the bullhead, who threw him into the captain's chair while they strode to where he had been standing. She swept her hands down her arms, activating Dust weaved into the fabric there, and shot a spear made of burning stone at the girl.
The bardiche shifted rapidly, until the blade was pointed straight up and the haft had shrunk to a hilt, turning the whole thing into a hulking great sword, more executioner's sword than practical weapon in Glynda's opinion. An opinion that was immediately shattered as the girl swung it in a one handed grip and shattered the spear into a hundred tiny pieces.
The bullhead started to pull away, and the girl aimed the butt of the greatsword at the woman while Glynda grabbed the entire thing with Telekinesis and held it in place. Amber eyes flashed like-
-like a Maiden. Just for a second, enough to weave a single spell into existence and force Glynda to pale. The rooftop around the girl cracked and turned molten, and Glynda let go of the bullhead to form a barrier around the girl. Keeping it up through the ensuing eruption drained Glynda's Aura and distracted her enough that the bullhead managed to pull off and fly high into the air, high enough that tracking it would be difficult at best.
"Damn, they got away," the girl swore, then, angrier, "I had some questions for the thief."
Oh, that was true for both of them. Glynda had serious questions for the Maiden thief. Glynda turned to the girl, who was storing her ax-sword behind her back in a folded form.
Bedraggled hair, deep set bruises under her eyes, skin so pale it was almost palid. A blood red cloak with white fur lining, a modest chest pushed up by a lightly strung bodice, a pair of black pants, and on her fingers were glossy, off-white rings.
Despite looking, physically, like she was one foot in the grave, the girl's eyes sparkled with life. She turned towards Glynda, a wide grin splitting her face as she did, "You're Glynda Goodwitch, right? Can I have your autograph!?"
—
It was three AM by the time Ruby wished Yang goodnight and shut the door of her Demesne, her Sanctum…
Her bedroom in other words. The entire house was Warded to keep it from being spied on by scrying spells, a herculean task of Spacial Magic Ruby was pretty freaking proud of, since that wasn't her ballpark. But her room was special, it had been a multi-year practice of tearing down wallpaper, carving Atlantean runes to strengthen the spells, and then putting up new wallpaper, all while keeping the process a secret from Uncle Qrow when he came over.
Having one relative that was a Sleeper was such a pain in the butt. She much preferred Yang and Dad, who were Sleepwalkers. She'd have preferred it more if they were Awake obviously, but since they weren't, Sleepwalking was good enough.
Anyways, her room was warded against Spacial magic of all types, capable of keeping ghosts in, stayed at a balmy 72 degrees, had, hidden underneath the carpet, four carved circles for summoning, one shaped like an Atlantean pentacle, the second a Salemite Eye, the third a Brother's duality and the fourth a Maiden glyph, all filled with Kassiterum, which was the Perfected metal most associated with summoning.
She had never used the second and rarely used the third and fourth, but you never knew when the good ol' Pentacle just wasn't going to cut it.
Yawning and stretching, Ruby sat down at her CCT terminal and turned it on. Looks like it was another all nighter, if she wanted to study the Grimore she had picked up before the night went to chaos. She cracked open her mini fridge, pulling out an energy drink and getting ready to shotgun the thing.
Ruby, Summer reproached quietly.
"No more than one a week," Ruby sighed, replacing it with a carton of strawberries. Sometimes it was such a pain having the ghost of your mother bound to you as a familiar. The Kassiterum pocket knife was instead used to cut the top off of the strawberries.
Finally, the terminal connected, and Ruby navigated to the password protected chat room between her and another Mage.
Rose-Petals-Wilting: Hey @MagneticSpartan, you know how we were talking about how you needed to come by when you got out here? Yeah, nevermind, I'm going to Beacon.
Cracking open the book, Ruby leaned back and began to decode it.
Chapter 2
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Pyrrha joined the other prospective students aboard the airship leading to Beacon. Miló and Akoúo̱ were resting on her back, practically yelling her name to the world, or anyone who followed the Primary Combat School section of the International Combat Tournament Circuit.
Which was probably most people who got into Beacon, so there went any chance of her joining Beacon anonymously. Hopefully it wouldn't be enough to scare off-
"Magnetic Spartan?" Pyrrha whipped around to see a blond young woman her age with a pronounced bust, and a shorter, slightly younger girl with black-red hair, a bodice over a black blouse, a black skirt and a red cloak with white fur around the top hem. Her hair was bedraggled, and deep bruising showed under her eyes, like she hadn't had a good night's sleep in years. Not that Pyrrha thought less of her for that, her mentor, when she had started out as a Prospect of the Adamantine Arrow, had been a Moros. A gnarled, old man who had seen the Great War and Awoken during it, who had been a master of the spear.
It had taken six Praetorians and an entire Reaver Pact, twelve in total, to take him down during the attack on Argus. Spear snapped, shield shattered, he had been reduced to fighting with a pair of combat knives, Matter and Death magic that would have sent any Sleeper who saw it into fits of Quiescence. In the end, it had been Reaver poison that took his life.
"Rose Petals Wilting?" Pyrrha prompted in return, to a smile from the Moros.
"See, Yang, I told you we'd find her!" She chirpped, stepping around the taller woman to give Pyrrha and excited grin, "Can I hug you?"
It was a sincere question, the closer a mage was, the harder it was to dispell their magic. While the distance between them was already as close as any mage would need, it was only polite to ask.
"Please," Pyrrha said, taking the hug from the smaller girl, "Pyrrha Nikos."
"The Invincible Girl is a mage?" Yang said, not loud enough to draw attention to them but loud enough for Pyrrha to hear, "what Mage Armor do you use to get done your matches so well?"
"I don't use magic during my matches, just my semblance," Pyrrha said.
"I'm Ruby Rose," Rose Petals said, stepping back from Pyrrha, "and this is my sister-"
"Yang Xiao Long, local spell caddy for Ruby," Yabg cut her off with a self deprecating grin.
"Spell caddy?"
"I'm a, what do you guys call it? Sleepwalker, don't got a lick of magic myself, but I don't cause spells to go all wibblely when you cast 'em around me."
"I hope that changes one day," Ruby said, "I really do."
"Thanks," Yang said, "but I really don't think the Mage life is for me, Sis. I prefer to party than study, ya know?"
"Humanity still deserves to have magic but choose not to use it," Ruby grumbled.
—-
Ruby knocked one hand on Pyrrha's shield as they stepped off the airship, closing her eyes and listening to the ringing of the metal. Finally, she opened them and said "Steel? Really?"
"You could tell from-? Right, Alchemist," Pyrrha cut herself off, and Ruby gave her a grin, "What's wrong with steel?"
"Nothing wrong with it," Ruby said, "just surprised you didn't get an Awoken to make it Siderite."
"My mentor was going to do it, as a celebration for my graduation to Talon… but he died before I did."
"Ruby, I'm gonna split off from you, I see some friends of mine and you know this kinda talk bores the crap outta me," Yang said, and Ruby waved her hand. Yang high-fived it and began to step backwards, waving as she went before turning and rushing towards a group of students.
"I forgot you were an Arrow," Ruby said, evenly. She didn't particularly care for Awoken Politics, despite "publicly" declaring as a Libertine, a member of the Free Council. She mostly did that to get people who complained about her being an apostate to shut up. So long as you weren't a Seer of the Throne or a Reaper or something, she could work with you pretty well, "How'd he die, if you don't mind me-?"
"Seers," Pyrrha said, "you know that bandit and Grimm attacked Argus last year? That was them."
"Right," Ruby grunted, "Couple of Councillors in the Assembly said they heard rumors of it being them. Hard to tell if they're right though, we tend to blame anything that can go wrong on 'em."
"I forgot you were a Council member," Pyrrha returned just as evenly, "What's the town Consilium like?"
Ruby pantomimed a talking mouth, rolling her eyes as she did, "too much talking, not enough action if you ask me. We got Grimm on the border and Seers in the city, and you wanna fight for Hierarch? Blech."
Ruby, Nicholas suddenly cut in, That girl over there… Is that?
Ruby's eyes traveled over to the direction Nicholas was urging. The Familiar was staring at a girl with white hair and blue eyes, haranguing the Beacon staff pushing a cart loaded high with baggage. Walking forward, Ruby tapped her on the shoulder, Pyrrha following behind her, "Wha-"
"Weiss Schnee?"
—
Weiss was impressing the importance of being careful with her Dust supply on the hired help when a finger tapped her on the shoulder. Turning in place, she met the silver eyed gaze of the girl who had distracted her, "Wha-"
"Weiss Schnee?" The girl said, and Weiss's chest inflated at being recognized on sight. Good, people should recognize he- "Why don't you let those men do their job?"
"What?" Weiss said, the wind taken out of her sail immediately.
"They're trained employees of Beacon, do you really think they don't know how dangerous Dust is?" The girl said, one of the help muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Yes, thank you", and continued on, "You're probably just making it more likely for them to make a mistake, honestly."
I- Who are you to tell me what to do?" Weiss snapped.
"I'm not telling you to do anything," the girl said, with something resembling disappointment in her silver eyes, "just offering you some friendly advice. Come on, Pyrrha, I said what I wanted to say."
Pyrrha?
Focusing on the woman behind the girl, Weiss jolted as she realized it was Pyrrha Nikos watching the argument with careful eyes. She hadn't expected her future partner to come to Beacon with friends. Especially not a little brat who thought she could tell Weiss what to do!
She'd have to convince Pyrrha she could do better once they were partners.
"Pyrrha!" Weiss said cheerfully, "Do you mind if I walk to the opening ceremony with you?"
"If Ruby doesn't mind-"
"You go on ahead," the girl, who must have been Ruby, said, "I've got some stuff I need to do."
"Are you sure?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Ruby said, walking away with a wave, the gaudy rings on her hand glistening as she did.
—
Blake quietly followed the girl with strange thoughts, curiosity piqued despite herself. She was .. she was like Blake in some way, she could tell. Activating her special sight, she stared at the girl, watching her dual colored hair become tri colored as the roots became gray and wilted rose petals whirled around her gently. Deactivating the sight, and the petals and gray hairs vanished.
She hadn't seen anything like this since, since she Woke up that day. The day she had read Adam's mind and found him to be…
Mad. Unstable. Violent. Everything she had already known but hadn't wanted to admit, that the knives and racks and pain of that dream that wasn't a dream had dragged out of her. That wandering, haunted by screams, until she had come across the tower deep underground had shown her.
"Any reason you're following me?" The girl asked suddenly, head not turning but undeniably addressing Blake. Blake stopped in the shadow, watching the glimmering silver eyes flicker over to her, "Ah, You're a mage."
Mage. That sounded…
It sounded right, despite the fact that it should have been ridiculous. Magic wasn't supposed to exist, it was something that existed in storybooks and fairy tales. Finally, Blake said, "I guess?"
"You guess? You have a Nimbus, you're a mage. Ruby Rose, Moros."
Blake took the offered hand, surprised at the calluses and tightness of the grip, "Blake Belladonna."
"And your path?* Ruby said.
"Path?"
"...You're new to this, aren't you?" Ruby said, with understanding leaking into her voice. Not pity, but like she was putting pieces of a puzzle together, "When'd you Awaken?"
Blake didn't need to ask what she meant, she instinctively knew. The nightmare, the torture and the pain and the release, "Two weeks ago."
"Sorry for being so sharp with you," Ruby said, "normally when you have a mystery mage following you, things get… explod-y. Come on, let's talk."
"What did you mean by Path?"
"Every Mage has a Path," Ruby hummed, sitting against a statue, "it's the Realm we Wake up in and how we understand the world. I'm a Moros, I Woke up in Stygia, land of Death and Matter."
"That sounds rather… moros," Blake finished lamely. Ruby cracked a grin.
"It's beautiful to me. Everything dies Blake, a tree dies when you cut it down, it dies again when you burn it for firewood, and that fire dies when you don't feed it. Everything dies, everything changes, that's what gives it meaning. Mages normally don't regret where they Woke to, do you?"
"No," Blake said, immediately and to her shock, "it wasn't… It wasn't a good place but I don't regret it."
"Well, let's go over the paths and see which one sounds like where you Woke up, huh?"
—
Ruby shot a silent apology to Nicholas for the interruption, then leaned against the statue, looking over Blake with Mage Sight again. She had a Nimbus, but it was faint, weak and, in hindsight, new. It hadn't had time to let magic and a Shadow Name change it to be something that completely embodied "Blake Belladonna".
"The first Path," Ruby started, "is the Acanthus, we call the people who walk it Witches and Enchanters. They Woke to Arcadia, the land of Fae and Fairy Tales. They cut themselves on the trail of thorns to reach the Watchtower of the Lunargent Thorn, which makes them attuned to the magical arcana, that's the types of magic, there's ten of them, I'll get to them in a second, of Time and Fate."
"I think I'm gonna need to know those now," Blake said, "because they sound important."
"Most of them are exactly what they sound like," Ruby nodded, "Time manipulates time, Fate manipulates chance and fate. Death controls dead bodies, souls and ghosts, Matter manipulates matter, Forces manipulate the physical forces of the world, gravity, magnetism, fire, stuff like that, Prime is one of the more bizarrely named, it manipulates the Supernal forces, that's what we call anything doing with Magic, Supernal. Mind manipulates the mind, space warps space, Life controls living bodies and animals, and Spirit controls nature Spirits and the Grimm."
"Which Path controls Mind?" Blake said, "ever since I Woke up, I've been able to read minds."
"Mastigos," Ruby nodded, "Warlocks and Psychonauts, they Awaken to Pandemonium, home to demons, and from what I understand, get tortured to absolve them of their sins and regrets as they make their way to the Watchtower of the Iron Gauntlet. Sound like what you went through?"
"Absolutely," Blake said, "I didn't- I try not to sin."
"It's probably not what any of the religions call sins," Ruby shrugged, "more what you personally call a sin. At least if I had to guess."
"Then yeah, I'm a sinner," Blake said, "I… I did a lot of bad stuff, before coming to Beacon."
"You won't see me judging you, my uncle was a bandit when he was a kid," Ruby shrugged, "You wanna go over the other Paths, or is knowing what happened to you good enough?"
"I want to continue," Blake said, "what was your Awakening like… if that isn't rude to ask?"
"Imagine the world's biggest graveyard," Ruby hummed happily, "Where every gravestone is made from precious metals and stones. You could wander it forever and never be interrupted, but eventually, quietly, the rivers running down it like half dead veins call to you, you make your way through the graves, following the rivers until you come to an island that no grave dares touch but every river does. You wade through the detritus of a thousand dead souls, trusted weapons and lucky coins, beloved dolls and hated wedding rings. On that island is a Watchtower and you enter and engrave your name in it. That's how I Awoke."
"...Ok then," Blake drawled, "next Path?"
"Obirmos. If you Awoke to Hell, they Awoke to Heaven. I don't know much about it, you'd have to ask my friend who's one. They control Forces and Prime. And finally, there's the Thyrus, they Awaken to the Primal Wild, fighting through apex predators to reach their Watchtower."
—
Which was probably most people who got into Beacon, so there went any chance of her joining Beacon anonymously. Hopefully it wouldn't be enough to scare off-
"Magnetic Spartan?" Pyrrha whipped around to see a blond young woman her age with a pronounced bust, and a shorter, slightly younger girl with black-red hair, a bodice over a black blouse, a black skirt and a red cloak with white fur around the top hem. Her hair was bedraggled, and deep bruising showed under her eyes, like she hadn't had a good night's sleep in years. Not that Pyrrha thought less of her for that, her mentor, when she had started out as a Prospect of the Adamantine Arrow, had been a Moros. A gnarled, old man who had seen the Great War and Awoken during it, who had been a master of the spear.
It had taken six Praetorians and an entire Reaver Pact, twelve in total, to take him down during the attack on Argus. Spear snapped, shield shattered, he had been reduced to fighting with a pair of combat knives, Matter and Death magic that would have sent any Sleeper who saw it into fits of Quiescence. In the end, it had been Reaver poison that took his life.
"Rose Petals Wilting?" Pyrrha prompted in return, to a smile from the Moros.
"See, Yang, I told you we'd find her!" She chirpped, stepping around the taller woman to give Pyrrha and excited grin, "Can I hug you?"
It was a sincere question, the closer a mage was, the harder it was to dispell their magic. While the distance between them was already as close as any mage would need, it was only polite to ask.
"Please," Pyrrha said, taking the hug from the smaller girl, "Pyrrha Nikos."
"The Invincible Girl is a mage?" Yang said, not loud enough to draw attention to them but loud enough for Pyrrha to hear, "what Mage Armor do you use to get done your matches so well?"
"I don't use magic during my matches, just my semblance," Pyrrha said.
"I'm Ruby Rose," Rose Petals said, stepping back from Pyrrha, "and this is my sister-"
"Yang Xiao Long, local spell caddy for Ruby," Yabg cut her off with a self deprecating grin.
"Spell caddy?"
"I'm a, what do you guys call it? Sleepwalker, don't got a lick of magic myself, but I don't cause spells to go all wibblely when you cast 'em around me."
"I hope that changes one day," Ruby said, "I really do."
"Thanks," Yang said, "but I really don't think the Mage life is for me, Sis. I prefer to party than study, ya know?"
"Humanity still deserves to have magic but choose not to use it," Ruby grumbled.
—-
Ruby knocked one hand on Pyrrha's shield as they stepped off the airship, closing her eyes and listening to the ringing of the metal. Finally, she opened them and said "Steel? Really?"
"You could tell from-? Right, Alchemist," Pyrrha cut herself off, and Ruby gave her a grin, "What's wrong with steel?"
"Nothing wrong with it," Ruby said, "just surprised you didn't get an Awoken to make it Siderite."
"My mentor was going to do it, as a celebration for my graduation to Talon… but he died before I did."
"Ruby, I'm gonna split off from you, I see some friends of mine and you know this kinda talk bores the crap outta me," Yang said, and Ruby waved her hand. Yang high-fived it and began to step backwards, waving as she went before turning and rushing towards a group of students.
"I forgot you were an Arrow," Ruby said, evenly. She didn't particularly care for Awoken Politics, despite "publicly" declaring as a Libertine, a member of the Free Council. She mostly did that to get people who complained about her being an apostate to shut up. So long as you weren't a Seer of the Throne or a Reaper or something, she could work with you pretty well, "How'd he die, if you don't mind me-?"
"Seers," Pyrrha said, "you know that bandit and Grimm attacked Argus last year? That was them."
"Right," Ruby grunted, "Couple of Councillors in the Assembly said they heard rumors of it being them. Hard to tell if they're right though, we tend to blame anything that can go wrong on 'em."
"I forgot you were a Council member," Pyrrha returned just as evenly, "What's the town Consilium like?"
Ruby pantomimed a talking mouth, rolling her eyes as she did, "too much talking, not enough action if you ask me. We got Grimm on the border and Seers in the city, and you wanna fight for Hierarch? Blech."
Ruby, Nicholas suddenly cut in, That girl over there… Is that?
Ruby's eyes traveled over to the direction Nicholas was urging. The Familiar was staring at a girl with white hair and blue eyes, haranguing the Beacon staff pushing a cart loaded high with baggage. Walking forward, Ruby tapped her on the shoulder, Pyrrha following behind her, "Wha-"
"Weiss Schnee?"
—
Weiss was impressing the importance of being careful with her Dust supply on the hired help when a finger tapped her on the shoulder. Turning in place, she met the silver eyed gaze of the girl who had distracted her, "Wha-"
"Weiss Schnee?" The girl said, and Weiss's chest inflated at being recognized on sight. Good, people should recognize he- "Why don't you let those men do their job?"
"What?" Weiss said, the wind taken out of her sail immediately.
"They're trained employees of Beacon, do you really think they don't know how dangerous Dust is?" The girl said, one of the help muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Yes, thank you", and continued on, "You're probably just making it more likely for them to make a mistake, honestly."
I- Who are you to tell me what to do?" Weiss snapped.
"I'm not telling you to do anything," the girl said, with something resembling disappointment in her silver eyes, "just offering you some friendly advice. Come on, Pyrrha, I said what I wanted to say."
Pyrrha?
Focusing on the woman behind the girl, Weiss jolted as she realized it was Pyrrha Nikos watching the argument with careful eyes. She hadn't expected her future partner to come to Beacon with friends. Especially not a little brat who thought she could tell Weiss what to do!
She'd have to convince Pyrrha she could do better once they were partners.
"Pyrrha!" Weiss said cheerfully, "Do you mind if I walk to the opening ceremony with you?"
"If Ruby doesn't mind-"
"You go on ahead," the girl, who must have been Ruby, said, "I've got some stuff I need to do."
"Are you sure?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Ruby said, walking away with a wave, the gaudy rings on her hand glistening as she did.
—
Blake quietly followed the girl with strange thoughts, curiosity piqued despite herself. She was .. she was like Blake in some way, she could tell. Activating her special sight, she stared at the girl, watching her dual colored hair become tri colored as the roots became gray and wilted rose petals whirled around her gently. Deactivating the sight, and the petals and gray hairs vanished.
She hadn't seen anything like this since, since she Woke up that day. The day she had read Adam's mind and found him to be…
Mad. Unstable. Violent. Everything she had already known but hadn't wanted to admit, that the knives and racks and pain of that dream that wasn't a dream had dragged out of her. That wandering, haunted by screams, until she had come across the tower deep underground had shown her.
"Any reason you're following me?" The girl asked suddenly, head not turning but undeniably addressing Blake. Blake stopped in the shadow, watching the glimmering silver eyes flicker over to her, "Ah, You're a mage."
Mage. That sounded…
It sounded right, despite the fact that it should have been ridiculous. Magic wasn't supposed to exist, it was something that existed in storybooks and fairy tales. Finally, Blake said, "I guess?"
"You guess? You have a Nimbus, you're a mage. Ruby Rose, Moros."
Blake took the offered hand, surprised at the calluses and tightness of the grip, "Blake Belladonna."
"And your path?* Ruby said.
"Path?"
"...You're new to this, aren't you?" Ruby said, with understanding leaking into her voice. Not pity, but like she was putting pieces of a puzzle together, "When'd you Awaken?"
Blake didn't need to ask what she meant, she instinctively knew. The nightmare, the torture and the pain and the release, "Two weeks ago."
"Sorry for being so sharp with you," Ruby said, "normally when you have a mystery mage following you, things get… explod-y. Come on, let's talk."
"What did you mean by Path?"
"Every Mage has a Path," Ruby hummed, sitting against a statue, "it's the Realm we Wake up in and how we understand the world. I'm a Moros, I Woke up in Stygia, land of Death and Matter."
"That sounds rather… moros," Blake finished lamely. Ruby cracked a grin.
"It's beautiful to me. Everything dies Blake, a tree dies when you cut it down, it dies again when you burn it for firewood, and that fire dies when you don't feed it. Everything dies, everything changes, that's what gives it meaning. Mages normally don't regret where they Woke to, do you?"
"No," Blake said, immediately and to her shock, "it wasn't… It wasn't a good place but I don't regret it."
"Well, let's go over the paths and see which one sounds like where you Woke up, huh?"
—
Ruby shot a silent apology to Nicholas for the interruption, then leaned against the statue, looking over Blake with Mage Sight again. She had a Nimbus, but it was faint, weak and, in hindsight, new. It hadn't had time to let magic and a Shadow Name change it to be something that completely embodied "Blake Belladonna".
"The first Path," Ruby started, "is the Acanthus, we call the people who walk it Witches and Enchanters. They Woke to Arcadia, the land of Fae and Fairy Tales. They cut themselves on the trail of thorns to reach the Watchtower of the Lunargent Thorn, which makes them attuned to the magical arcana, that's the types of magic, there's ten of them, I'll get to them in a second, of Time and Fate."
"I think I'm gonna need to know those now," Blake said, "because they sound important."
"Most of them are exactly what they sound like," Ruby nodded, "Time manipulates time, Fate manipulates chance and fate. Death controls dead bodies, souls and ghosts, Matter manipulates matter, Forces manipulate the physical forces of the world, gravity, magnetism, fire, stuff like that, Prime is one of the more bizarrely named, it manipulates the Supernal forces, that's what we call anything doing with Magic, Supernal. Mind manipulates the mind, space warps space, Life controls living bodies and animals, and Spirit controls nature Spirits and the Grimm."
"Which Path controls Mind?" Blake said, "ever since I Woke up, I've been able to read minds."
"Mastigos," Ruby nodded, "Warlocks and Psychonauts, they Awaken to Pandemonium, home to demons, and from what I understand, get tortured to absolve them of their sins and regrets as they make their way to the Watchtower of the Iron Gauntlet. Sound like what you went through?"
"Absolutely," Blake said, "I didn't- I try not to sin."
"It's probably not what any of the religions call sins," Ruby shrugged, "more what you personally call a sin. At least if I had to guess."
"Then yeah, I'm a sinner," Blake said, "I… I did a lot of bad stuff, before coming to Beacon."
"You won't see me judging you, my uncle was a bandit when he was a kid," Ruby shrugged, "You wanna go over the other Paths, or is knowing what happened to you good enough?"
"I want to continue," Blake said, "what was your Awakening like… if that isn't rude to ask?"
"Imagine the world's biggest graveyard," Ruby hummed happily, "Where every gravestone is made from precious metals and stones. You could wander it forever and never be interrupted, but eventually, quietly, the rivers running down it like half dead veins call to you, you make your way through the graves, following the rivers until you come to an island that no grave dares touch but every river does. You wade through the detritus of a thousand dead souls, trusted weapons and lucky coins, beloved dolls and hated wedding rings. On that island is a Watchtower and you enter and engrave your name in it. That's how I Awoke."
"...Ok then," Blake drawled, "next Path?"
"Obirmos. If you Awoke to Hell, they Awoke to Heaven. I don't know much about it, you'd have to ask my friend who's one. They control Forces and Prime. And finally, there's the Thyrus, they Awaken to the Primal Wild, fighting through apex predators to reach their Watchtower."
—
Chapter 3
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
I never wanted my family to end up that way, Nicholas said, voice somber as he did. Ruby payed attention to the ghost just as much as she did Blake as they made their way to the entrance ceremony, We were miners, Huntsmen, servants of the people. What did Jacques and Willow do to make a child so… arrogant? You saw the look in her eyes when she realized Pyrrha was there, it was glory hungry.
Glory wasn't a bad thing; it was through being enshrined in glory that people gained immortality.
But you shouldn't hunger for it, Nicholas argued back as Yang approached them, Glory should come to you, hunting for it is only going to end in tears.
"Hey, Sis, who's this?"
"Blake Belladonna," Blake said, holding out a hand, "are you… uh…"
"She's not a Mage, but she's a Sleepwalker, that's what we call someone who can see obvious magic without inviting the Abyss and Paradox," Ruby said.
"So feel free to talk about magic around me without breaking your mage laws," Yang said with a grin.
"Mage laws?"
"The four big ones are The Precept of Secrecy; that we can't talk about magic or obviously perform it in front of Sleeper, The Precept of Protectorate; spying on other Mages without due cause isn't allowed. You technically broke that one when you were scanning my mind, but I'll forgive you. The Precept of Hubris says we're not supposed to use magic to harm people without due cause, and finally the The Precept of War outlines what we do when two cabals, that's groups of Mages, can't get along to the point it comes to warfare. Mostly, we cover it through Duel Arcane unless the blood feud gets that bad because actual warfare runs the risk of breaking the other Precepts. The Seers are, of course, exempted from all laws and spying, harming and waging war on them is open season."
"Seers?"
"Seers of the Throne," Pyrrha's voice came from behind them, "did you have to feed me to Weiss, Ruby?"
"Sorry," Ruby apologized, "Nicholas wanted to talk. Didn't really get too much of a chance."
"Nicholas?" Ruby bobbed her head.
"One of my Familiars is Nicholas Schnee's ghost," Ruby explained, "That's why I went to talk to Weiss, he wasn't happy with how she was behaving."
"Good," Blake said, 'So what are Seers of the Throne?"
"Mages that reinforce the Lie," Ruby spat, "they think that humanity is best as slaves, not as Awakened. Nobody likes the Seers, not even other Seers."
"They sound… unpleasant," Blake said.
"That's because they are," Ruby said, "If you become a Seer, Blake, we will be enemies."
"I don't think I'd like them," Blake said, "humanity... You're counting Faunus among that, right?'
"Of course I am," Ruby said, "We all live, die and Awaken, don't we?"
"Humanity and Faunus don't deserve slavery, that's ridiculous."
"Good," Ruby said, "We'll go over the Pentacle after Ozpin's speech."
—
After Ozpin's speech, the group of three mages, Yang had peeled off to go do "other stuff" had gone and found one of the restaurants around Beacon's campus to eat at before it got too dark and the ballroom locked for the night. Ruby had insisted on paying, and after she pulled out a wallet filled to the brim with more Lien than Blake knew what to do with, any idea of protesting had died on her lips.
"How do you have so much money?" Blake asked instead. She was, admittedly, used to being broke, the White Fang hasn't exactly paid well, and she tended to put what little money she did get towards books as soon as she got it.
"I'm a Moros," Ruby said, "manipulating Matter is what we do. Transmuting metal to gold isn't the easiest spell in the world, but I was lucky enough to find a Grimoire with the spell when I was just starting out."
"So does that make you the bank for our Cabal?" Blake snarked, only to notice Ruby and Pyrrha staring at her in confusion, "Sorry, I-"
"I've never been in a Cabal," Ruby said.
"Me either," Pyrrha said, "I wouldn't be adverse to it though."
"Probably for the best," Ruby sighed, "We don't need three Mages all trying to avoid stepping on each other's toes, especially if we end up on a team. So, yeah, I guess I'm the Cabal bank. Anyways, order whatever you want, I've got enough money."
They all ordered, Blake still trying to avoid breaking the bank as they did, before all focusing on the topic.
"So the Pentacle is five orders of mages, or four orders loosely allied with a fifth depending on who you ask," Ruby said, having borrowed a pen from the waitstaff and drawing a five pointed star with practiced ease, "The Adamantine Arrow, The Silver Ladder, the Guardians of the Veil and the Mysterium make up the "Diamond", the four orders that try to trace their lineage back to the Awakened City."
"Awakened City?" Blake asked.
"Give me a second. The fifth, who think that trying to do that is stupid from the word go, is the Free Council. The Awakened City is a myth and a symbol, which, in the world of Mages, makes it real enough to matter. The story goes that once there was a great city built into a mountainous island. It has like, a million names so don't worry about that, you'll figure out one you like sooner or later. It was, as the name implies, a city of the Awakened, everyone there was either Awakened or a Sleepwalker. But, of course, Hubris took hold and they did something of absolute stupidity and arrogance."
"We call it the Celestial Ladder," Pyrrha picked up, "Instead of traveling to the Supernal Realms through visions and calling beings from it to us, we would go through them."
"That's as far as we know for certain," Ruby continued, "everything after that is Myth and Symbol-"
"So real enough to matter?" Blake said dryly despite being transfixed at this myth being painted out before her. Ruby shot her a grim grin.
"Exactly. The common story goes that eleven Archmages, the strongest and most skilled mages in existence, stormed the Realms, waging war on the Supernal gods and seizing control of the heavens through violence, becoming myth and symbol-"
"You really like that term don't you," Blake snarked.
"We call them the Exarchs, and they broke reality. They made it so Awakening went from something anyone could do to something the lucky few did, they made it so Sleepwalkers became Sleepers. They made the Lie, that magic was fake and reality was as banal as we believed when we Slept. To Awaken became to realize that no matter how tender, how exquisite, a Lie will remain a Lie."
Ruby hadn't raised her voice, but she nonetheless was undeniably spitting the words, vitriol in her voice.
"Ruby," Pyrrha reproached quietly, and Ruby fell back into her seat, breathing in and seeming to compose herself.
"The Sleeping City disappeared when the Lie came into existence, you can find ruins, but they never make any sense. Some might be in Vacuo, some in Vale, some between the Kingdoms. So yes, four of the Orders try to trace their lineage back to it, that's why we're here, so let's talk about them, huh?"
"I'll go first," Pyrrha offered, "since I'm actually a member of the Diamond, unlike Ruby."
"You are?" Blake turned to her while Ruby composed herself.
"Yes, the Adamantine Arrow, or the Ungula Draconis, Claws of the Dragon, of Atlantis, that's what I call the Awakened City. We try to trace our lineage back to the military and police force of Atlantis. We believe in the five Precepts, Existence is War, Enlightenment is Honor, Adaptability Is Strength, The Supernal is the Self, and Service is Mastery. Then there's the Silver Ladder, no relation to the Celestial Ladder mentioned earlier. They claim lineage from the Vox Draconis, Voice of the Dragon, the priests and vicars of Atlantis. They believe in, if this makes any sense, a meritocratic caste system and four Precepts, Diamond, "that the Awakened are one nation", Thunder, "Imperium is the right of man", Star, "The Silver Ladder is the Path to Victory, and Blood, "The Sleepers follow". Thank you."
They stopped to take their meals, fish for Pyrrha and Blake and a rack of ribs for Ruby, and Blake took the moment to snark, "So they're modest?"
Ruby snorted, "anyways, next up is the Guardians of the Veil, Visus Draconis, Eyes of the Dragon. They're rather proud of being descendants of the secret police and spies of the Awakened City. They think they're above the laws because of that, while coming down hard on anyone from any other Order who goes Left handed, that's what most fiction would call "Dark magic". Their Precepts are "Paradoxes strengthen the Abyss as punishment answers pride, Sins for a just end grant Wisdom to the Awakened, and Merit must rule the Fallen World.""
"And finally among the Diamond are the Mysterium," Pyrrha said, "Alae Draconis, the Wings of the Dragon, they're a scholarly order dedicated to finding and preserving magical knowledge. Precepts are "Knowledge is Power, Knowledge must be Preserved, and Knowledge has a Price."
"But they're hoarders," Ruby said, "they love to collect magic but it takes an entire Consilium, that's all the Mages allied to the Pentacle in a city, to get them to give up knowledge. Anyways, my turn, the Free Council, we don't have any fancy title because we're rather proud of only being founded a century prior to the Great War. We're the "Sleepers are awesome" faction. Our precepts are "Democracy seeks the truth; hierarchy fosters the Lie, Humanity is magical; human works have arcane secrets, and Destroy the followers of the Lie." You don't have to join one of them now, or even anytime soon, but those are the Orders of the Pentacle.
—
Glory wasn't a bad thing; it was through being enshrined in glory that people gained immortality.
But you shouldn't hunger for it, Nicholas argued back as Yang approached them, Glory should come to you, hunting for it is only going to end in tears.
"Hey, Sis, who's this?"
"Blake Belladonna," Blake said, holding out a hand, "are you… uh…"
"She's not a Mage, but she's a Sleepwalker, that's what we call someone who can see obvious magic without inviting the Abyss and Paradox," Ruby said.
"So feel free to talk about magic around me without breaking your mage laws," Yang said with a grin.
"Mage laws?"
"The four big ones are The Precept of Secrecy; that we can't talk about magic or obviously perform it in front of Sleeper, The Precept of Protectorate; spying on other Mages without due cause isn't allowed. You technically broke that one when you were scanning my mind, but I'll forgive you. The Precept of Hubris says we're not supposed to use magic to harm people without due cause, and finally the The Precept of War outlines what we do when two cabals, that's groups of Mages, can't get along to the point it comes to warfare. Mostly, we cover it through Duel Arcane unless the blood feud gets that bad because actual warfare runs the risk of breaking the other Precepts. The Seers are, of course, exempted from all laws and spying, harming and waging war on them is open season."
"Seers?"
"Seers of the Throne," Pyrrha's voice came from behind them, "did you have to feed me to Weiss, Ruby?"
"Sorry," Ruby apologized, "Nicholas wanted to talk. Didn't really get too much of a chance."
"Nicholas?" Ruby bobbed her head.
"One of my Familiars is Nicholas Schnee's ghost," Ruby explained, "That's why I went to talk to Weiss, he wasn't happy with how she was behaving."
"Good," Blake said, 'So what are Seers of the Throne?"
"Mages that reinforce the Lie," Ruby spat, "they think that humanity is best as slaves, not as Awakened. Nobody likes the Seers, not even other Seers."
"They sound… unpleasant," Blake said.
"That's because they are," Ruby said, "If you become a Seer, Blake, we will be enemies."
"I don't think I'd like them," Blake said, "humanity... You're counting Faunus among that, right?'
"Of course I am," Ruby said, "We all live, die and Awaken, don't we?"
"Humanity and Faunus don't deserve slavery, that's ridiculous."
"Good," Ruby said, "We'll go over the Pentacle after Ozpin's speech."
—
After Ozpin's speech, the group of three mages, Yang had peeled off to go do "other stuff" had gone and found one of the restaurants around Beacon's campus to eat at before it got too dark and the ballroom locked for the night. Ruby had insisted on paying, and after she pulled out a wallet filled to the brim with more Lien than Blake knew what to do with, any idea of protesting had died on her lips.
"How do you have so much money?" Blake asked instead. She was, admittedly, used to being broke, the White Fang hasn't exactly paid well, and she tended to put what little money she did get towards books as soon as she got it.
"I'm a Moros," Ruby said, "manipulating Matter is what we do. Transmuting metal to gold isn't the easiest spell in the world, but I was lucky enough to find a Grimoire with the spell when I was just starting out."
"So does that make you the bank for our Cabal?" Blake snarked, only to notice Ruby and Pyrrha staring at her in confusion, "Sorry, I-"
"I've never been in a Cabal," Ruby said.
"Me either," Pyrrha said, "I wouldn't be adverse to it though."
"Probably for the best," Ruby sighed, "We don't need three Mages all trying to avoid stepping on each other's toes, especially if we end up on a team. So, yeah, I guess I'm the Cabal bank. Anyways, order whatever you want, I've got enough money."
They all ordered, Blake still trying to avoid breaking the bank as they did, before all focusing on the topic.
"So the Pentacle is five orders of mages, or four orders loosely allied with a fifth depending on who you ask," Ruby said, having borrowed a pen from the waitstaff and drawing a five pointed star with practiced ease, "The Adamantine Arrow, The Silver Ladder, the Guardians of the Veil and the Mysterium make up the "Diamond", the four orders that try to trace their lineage back to the Awakened City."
"Awakened City?" Blake asked.
"Give me a second. The fifth, who think that trying to do that is stupid from the word go, is the Free Council. The Awakened City is a myth and a symbol, which, in the world of Mages, makes it real enough to matter. The story goes that once there was a great city built into a mountainous island. It has like, a million names so don't worry about that, you'll figure out one you like sooner or later. It was, as the name implies, a city of the Awakened, everyone there was either Awakened or a Sleepwalker. But, of course, Hubris took hold and they did something of absolute stupidity and arrogance."
"We call it the Celestial Ladder," Pyrrha picked up, "Instead of traveling to the Supernal Realms through visions and calling beings from it to us, we would go through them."
"That's as far as we know for certain," Ruby continued, "everything after that is Myth and Symbol-"
"So real enough to matter?" Blake said dryly despite being transfixed at this myth being painted out before her. Ruby shot her a grim grin.
"Exactly. The common story goes that eleven Archmages, the strongest and most skilled mages in existence, stormed the Realms, waging war on the Supernal gods and seizing control of the heavens through violence, becoming myth and symbol-"
"You really like that term don't you," Blake snarked.
"We call them the Exarchs, and they broke reality. They made it so Awakening went from something anyone could do to something the lucky few did, they made it so Sleepwalkers became Sleepers. They made the Lie, that magic was fake and reality was as banal as we believed when we Slept. To Awaken became to realize that no matter how tender, how exquisite, a Lie will remain a Lie."
Ruby hadn't raised her voice, but she nonetheless was undeniably spitting the words, vitriol in her voice.
"Ruby," Pyrrha reproached quietly, and Ruby fell back into her seat, breathing in and seeming to compose herself.
"The Sleeping City disappeared when the Lie came into existence, you can find ruins, but they never make any sense. Some might be in Vacuo, some in Vale, some between the Kingdoms. So yes, four of the Orders try to trace their lineage back to it, that's why we're here, so let's talk about them, huh?"
"I'll go first," Pyrrha offered, "since I'm actually a member of the Diamond, unlike Ruby."
"You are?" Blake turned to her while Ruby composed herself.
"Yes, the Adamantine Arrow, or the Ungula Draconis, Claws of the Dragon, of Atlantis, that's what I call the Awakened City. We try to trace our lineage back to the military and police force of Atlantis. We believe in the five Precepts, Existence is War, Enlightenment is Honor, Adaptability Is Strength, The Supernal is the Self, and Service is Mastery. Then there's the Silver Ladder, no relation to the Celestial Ladder mentioned earlier. They claim lineage from the Vox Draconis, Voice of the Dragon, the priests and vicars of Atlantis. They believe in, if this makes any sense, a meritocratic caste system and four Precepts, Diamond, "that the Awakened are one nation", Thunder, "Imperium is the right of man", Star, "The Silver Ladder is the Path to Victory, and Blood, "The Sleepers follow". Thank you."
They stopped to take their meals, fish for Pyrrha and Blake and a rack of ribs for Ruby, and Blake took the moment to snark, "So they're modest?"
Ruby snorted, "anyways, next up is the Guardians of the Veil, Visus Draconis, Eyes of the Dragon. They're rather proud of being descendants of the secret police and spies of the Awakened City. They think they're above the laws because of that, while coming down hard on anyone from any other Order who goes Left handed, that's what most fiction would call "Dark magic". Their Precepts are "Paradoxes strengthen the Abyss as punishment answers pride, Sins for a just end grant Wisdom to the Awakened, and Merit must rule the Fallen World.""
"And finally among the Diamond are the Mysterium," Pyrrha said, "Alae Draconis, the Wings of the Dragon, they're a scholarly order dedicated to finding and preserving magical knowledge. Precepts are "Knowledge is Power, Knowledge must be Preserved, and Knowledge has a Price."
"But they're hoarders," Ruby said, "they love to collect magic but it takes an entire Consilium, that's all the Mages allied to the Pentacle in a city, to get them to give up knowledge. Anyways, my turn, the Free Council, we don't have any fancy title because we're rather proud of only being founded a century prior to the Great War. We're the "Sleepers are awesome" faction. Our precepts are "Democracy seeks the truth; hierarchy fosters the Lie, Humanity is magical; human works have arcane secrets, and Destroy the followers of the Lie." You don't have to join one of them now, or even anytime soon, but those are the Orders of the Pentacle.
—
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
The Pentacle... Mostly put up with each others existence. It's the Seers that they don't like, and Ruby"s faction has a very simple answer to them.
Rock salt. Rock Salt, rusty nails and good old fashioned IRA style torture methods.
Yeah, the followers of the Lie mentioned in the Free Council Precipts? It's the Seers, and they fucking HATE the Seers. They hate them so hard that if you're a Left Handed mage that only targets Seers, they'll just pretend you're still Right Handed.
To go into more depth than what Ruby gave in the story, the Seers once approached the Free Council (who were on the brink of war with the Diamond) to join the Seers, the Council told them to fuck off, initiated the single greatest Mage war since the Awakened City sank, and promptly joined the Diamond.
The book has different "stereotypes" for how each Order views the other orders, and this is what the book says about the Seers from the Free Council
Chapter 4
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Blake followed her new Cabal, and Yang, towards the clifftop where they could see Ozpin and Goodwitch waiting. Ruby was in the lead, Pyrrha and Yang flanking her on either side and Blake bringing up the rear. Despite that, there was an immediate sense of belonging that reminded Blake of her first few years in the White Fang, the feeling that had decayed as the organization became more radical and she remained moderate.
Ruby and Pyrrha had gone over a bevy of other, smaller topics last night, but the one that stuck out to Blake was Shadow Names. It was dangerous, apparently, for an enemy mage to learn your name, so most Mages came up with a second, fake name to use when it came to Magic. Ruby's was Rose Petals Wilting, and Pyrrha's was Magnetic Spartan.
But from the moment they had met and Ruby had recognized her as a Mage, she had opted to introduce herself using her real name. She had chosen to trust that Blake didn't mean to harm her. And Blake was going to do everything in her power to prove her new Cabalmate correct.
"So, you have the ghost of Nicholas Schnee as a familiar?" Blake asked as they walked along. Ruby's head bobbed.
"My Legacy, that's like, a way you focus on learning your magic that gives you abilities you can use without hurting Sleepers, is called the Stygian Heralds. We believe in summoning the souls of Heroes to fight with us and mentor us. I have Nicholas Schnee, Gretchen Rainart, and Summer Rose as my mentors and Familiars.
"Summer Rose?" Blake said, "Are you related?"
"Summer's our mom," Yang said, "Well, my stepmom. But yeah, she went on a mission a bit before Ruby Awakened and… well, she never came back. Ruby summoning her ghost answered that question fast."
They finally arrived at the cliff, taking their places as Goodwitch began to speak, "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."
"Son of a gun," Ruby muttered.
"These teammates will be your family for as long as you're at Beacon," Ozpin picked up, "So it's important that you find someone you can work with-" Ruby or Pyrrha… and maybe Yang. Got it, "-That being said, the first person you meet eyes with upon entering the forest will be your partner for the next four years. Once you do, make your way to the ruins on the north of the forest and retrieve the relic waiting for you there. Do not hesitate to kill every Grimm you see, because we will not be interceding short of an absolute disaster. You can and possibly will die if you don't take this seriously. Now, take your positions for deployment."
Blake met Ruby and Pyrrha's eyes, before settling into her position for launch while another student tried to ask questions, only to get stonewalled by Ozpin at every turn. She watched Ruby and Pyrrha get flung into the forest, followed by Yang, then took off herself.
—
Pyrrha had always loved deployment, had done so since her childhood practicing impractical landings to Old Man Grey laughing and clapping. And then, after an Awakening that had been more sound than sight, the grinding of glacier against stone with each step, the crash of thunder and howl of solar winds, flashes of vision, of many eyed wheels watching her as they turned with the grinding of a million, billion gears, winds beating so hard they had whipped monsoons and tornados, he had taken her out back, smiled at her with perfect teeth despite his age, and unlocked her Aura before kicking her off a cliff to practice her first real landing.
It had, rather predictably, been an all together terrible affair. If she hadn't had her Aura unlocked, it probably would have, at minimum, dislocated a joint and likely done far more damage to herself. Instead, she had climbed up the path back up the cliff, and thrown herself off it without hesitation, the thrill of her stomach falling out from under her causing her to laugh the whole way down.
Pyrrha breathed in and opened her eyes, catching sight of Ruby and Yang grinning just as widely as her, then her eyes traveled further past Blake and watched a flailing boy. Did he not have the training for deployment? That was strange.
Halfway through a flip, Pyrrha weaved magic into a spell to manipulate her velocity, rocketing towards the ground with Akoúo̱ bared as she smashed through the treeline. Landing with enough force to crater the ground, she took half a second to aim and then threw Miló to catch the boy.
Next to her, a vortex of wilted rose petals hit into the ground and swirled, before reforming into Ruby, who very deliberately met Pyrrha's eyes. Partners, then, "Nice save."
"Thank you. Is that your Semblance?"
"Petal Burst," Ruby said with a nod, "it lets me transmute my body and anything I'm touching into rose petals and back. It's pretty useful."
"I bet," Pyrrha said, "mine is polarity, I control magnetism."
Ruby nodded. Any Alchemist worth their salt had at least a passing knowledge of Forces. It wasn't their forte necessarily, but you had to know how different metals heated and cooled.
"Let's go get your spear back," Ruby said, leading the way.
—
Weiss bounced off one glyph onto another, using them to reach the ground as quickly as possible and landing with a roll. Popping up, she began to look around, drawing Myrtenaster, chambering ice Dust, and sent a spike of ice to impale one of the Beowolves nearby. Skating along, she dodged a second's claws and drove Myrtenaster into it's jaw and brain.
Pyrrha, had to find Pyrrha. She wanted the best partner at Beacon, and that was obviously Pyrrha Nikos. Which meant everyone in the forest would be looking for her. And after Pyrrha, everyone would be looking for Weiss.
"Uh," a voice called from above Weiss as she walked along, "Hello? Can I get a bit of help?"
Weiss kept walking, determined to find Pyrrha… only for the girl she was hunting for to come out of the treeline behind that brat from the other day. Oh, no. No, no, no.
"Pyrrha!" Weiss said anyways, "Why don't we be partners?"
Pyrrha shook her head, "I'm sorry, Weiss, but I'm already partnered with Ruby. This boy doesn't seem to have a partner yet, why don't you partner up with him?"
Pyrrha finished the statement by pulling the spear from the tree, letting a blond haired boy drop from it and land on his chest with a loud "oof" before he scrambled to his feet with a loud "I'm ok! I'm ok!"
—
Ruby and Pyrrha had gone over a bevy of other, smaller topics last night, but the one that stuck out to Blake was Shadow Names. It was dangerous, apparently, for an enemy mage to learn your name, so most Mages came up with a second, fake name to use when it came to Magic. Ruby's was Rose Petals Wilting, and Pyrrha's was Magnetic Spartan.
But from the moment they had met and Ruby had recognized her as a Mage, she had opted to introduce herself using her real name. She had chosen to trust that Blake didn't mean to harm her. And Blake was going to do everything in her power to prove her new Cabalmate correct.
"So, you have the ghost of Nicholas Schnee as a familiar?" Blake asked as they walked along. Ruby's head bobbed.
"My Legacy, that's like, a way you focus on learning your magic that gives you abilities you can use without hurting Sleepers, is called the Stygian Heralds. We believe in summoning the souls of Heroes to fight with us and mentor us. I have Nicholas Schnee, Gretchen Rainart, and Summer Rose as my mentors and Familiars.
"Summer Rose?" Blake said, "Are you related?"
"Summer's our mom," Yang said, "Well, my stepmom. But yeah, she went on a mission a bit before Ruby Awakened and… well, she never came back. Ruby summoning her ghost answered that question fast."
They finally arrived at the cliff, taking their places as Goodwitch began to speak, "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."
"Son of a gun," Ruby muttered.
"These teammates will be your family for as long as you're at Beacon," Ozpin picked up, "So it's important that you find someone you can work with-" Ruby or Pyrrha… and maybe Yang. Got it, "-That being said, the first person you meet eyes with upon entering the forest will be your partner for the next four years. Once you do, make your way to the ruins on the north of the forest and retrieve the relic waiting for you there. Do not hesitate to kill every Grimm you see, because we will not be interceding short of an absolute disaster. You can and possibly will die if you don't take this seriously. Now, take your positions for deployment."
Blake met Ruby and Pyrrha's eyes, before settling into her position for launch while another student tried to ask questions, only to get stonewalled by Ozpin at every turn. She watched Ruby and Pyrrha get flung into the forest, followed by Yang, then took off herself.
—
Pyrrha had always loved deployment, had done so since her childhood practicing impractical landings to Old Man Grey laughing and clapping. And then, after an Awakening that had been more sound than sight, the grinding of glacier against stone with each step, the crash of thunder and howl of solar winds, flashes of vision, of many eyed wheels watching her as they turned with the grinding of a million, billion gears, winds beating so hard they had whipped monsoons and tornados, he had taken her out back, smiled at her with perfect teeth despite his age, and unlocked her Aura before kicking her off a cliff to practice her first real landing.
It had, rather predictably, been an all together terrible affair. If she hadn't had her Aura unlocked, it probably would have, at minimum, dislocated a joint and likely done far more damage to herself. Instead, she had climbed up the path back up the cliff, and thrown herself off it without hesitation, the thrill of her stomach falling out from under her causing her to laugh the whole way down.
Pyrrha breathed in and opened her eyes, catching sight of Ruby and Yang grinning just as widely as her, then her eyes traveled further past Blake and watched a flailing boy. Did he not have the training for deployment? That was strange.
Halfway through a flip, Pyrrha weaved magic into a spell to manipulate her velocity, rocketing towards the ground with Akoúo̱ bared as she smashed through the treeline. Landing with enough force to crater the ground, she took half a second to aim and then threw Miló to catch the boy.
Next to her, a vortex of wilted rose petals hit into the ground and swirled, before reforming into Ruby, who very deliberately met Pyrrha's eyes. Partners, then, "Nice save."
"Thank you. Is that your Semblance?"
"Petal Burst," Ruby said with a nod, "it lets me transmute my body and anything I'm touching into rose petals and back. It's pretty useful."
"I bet," Pyrrha said, "mine is polarity, I control magnetism."
Ruby nodded. Any Alchemist worth their salt had at least a passing knowledge of Forces. It wasn't their forte necessarily, but you had to know how different metals heated and cooled.
"Let's go get your spear back," Ruby said, leading the way.
—
Weiss bounced off one glyph onto another, using them to reach the ground as quickly as possible and landing with a roll. Popping up, she began to look around, drawing Myrtenaster, chambering ice Dust, and sent a spike of ice to impale one of the Beowolves nearby. Skating along, she dodged a second's claws and drove Myrtenaster into it's jaw and brain.
Pyrrha, had to find Pyrrha. She wanted the best partner at Beacon, and that was obviously Pyrrha Nikos. Which meant everyone in the forest would be looking for her. And after Pyrrha, everyone would be looking for Weiss.
"Uh," a voice called from above Weiss as she walked along, "Hello? Can I get a bit of help?"
Weiss kept walking, determined to find Pyrrha… only for the girl she was hunting for to come out of the treeline behind that brat from the other day. Oh, no. No, no, no.
"Pyrrha!" Weiss said anyways, "Why don't we be partners?"
Pyrrha shook her head, "I'm sorry, Weiss, but I'm already partnered with Ruby. This boy doesn't seem to have a partner yet, why don't you partner up with him?"
Pyrrha finished the statement by pulling the spear from the tree, letting a blond haired boy drop from it and land on his chest with a loud "oof" before he scrambled to his feet with a loud "I'm ok! I'm ok!"
—
- Pronouns
- He
This is great, nice to see a mage story and a rwby story
I bet that if it weren't for the Grimm, the seers would have hidden Aura
Also aura probably supports the Free Councils case of people being magic
I bet that if it weren't for the Grimm, the seers would have hidden Aura
Also aura probably supports the Free Councils case of people being magic
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