RWBY a new empire

[blueayes]

The light of a single candle waved as it was blown by the wind. Next to it, a soldier wrote a letter to his family, not knowing if it would ever reach them.

It has been three years since we entered the portal that led to this world, and we have been forced to face dangers that would and have driven men insane.

Last night we faced a snake the size of a mountain. I am not exaggerating, the cursed thing was no beast but a devil that somehow escaped hell. The vile thing was not alone, there were more snakes that weren't as big but were still giant feasted on a giant ape and its young.

To think that an army of forty thousand men would be reduced to a few hundred in so short a time would have been laughable, but this is no joke and the danger is real.

I am both ashamed and relieved to say that those who call these strange lands home have agreed to help us, under the condition that neither we nor anyone from Rome will try to enslave them.

Do not be mistaken, they do not fear us. Truth be told they have no reason to. The strongest of them has the power to tear the walls of a fortress with his bare hands and the children despite their size are as strong as a trained man.

There are no savages or at least none that we have seen and while our new allies claim that they exist, they warn us not to anger them for they never fight alone.

I asked them for more details, but our allies have said that to ever mention such creatures is to invite them into your home. I fear the day that we must face those things, for if these men fear such things, then they must be demons in the flesh.

The lands beyond the portal are fruitful, and truth be told if it was not for the monsters that call this world home, they would be perfect. The ground seems blessed, as crops have not failed once, and the cattle of our allies are both larger in size and number than our own.

I want to write more to you and tell you about the fortress that we now call home or the beautiful women who live with our allies. I want to laugh, but I can't because while some, if not all, of the men would gladly take one of the women to bed, the women don't look at them in the same way.

Needless to say, no one has tried to take one by force. I know that because there haven't been any men with broken bones.

Tomorrow I will speak to the rulers here and ask for their aid in expanding our territory. While it may be unusual, I have become aware that we can't hold onto any land without their help.
][][]
The voices of the merchants loudly announcing their merchandise mixed with the noise of the carts and the cries of the animals. She folded the letter her husband had sent and couldn't help but laugh.

The letter had arrived days before the second one.

He said that the men of the other world agreed to help them grow their hold of the new world. The men of the new world had agreed under the condition that no one, not the senate, not any soldier or Centurion and not even Cesar himself could ever hold any power within that world.

The reason was simple, they couldn't survive.

It wasn't an insult, far from it. The reason was that everything no matter how small it was could kill them and death was a mercy if her husband's letters were true.

The voices of soldiers ordering everyone to be silent cut through the peace that she had created inside her mind so that she could focus on reading the letters.

She held her breath in fear that she might breathe too loudly and draw the men's attention to her. She couldn't help but feel her heartbeat as a wave of excitement and fear swept over her.

The Senate had agreed to the world's demands and declared that criminals, beggars, and even slaves who were willing to go to the new world would be allowed to go.

She tightened her grip on the letters and had they not been made of so strong material she would have riped them with her fingers.

The crier was saying that any soldier who had lost their fortunes could travel to the new world and receive lands there. Taxes would be collected as they always were, but they weren't expected until a sufficiently large settlement was created.

The sound of someone knocking on the door made her jump and when she turned to look at the wooden door, she swallowed what little spit she had left.

Her mouth had become dry and every step made her want to faint, things were happening too fast and she could barely process what was going on, but she feared that she would be sent to that horrible place.

She reached for the door her hands shaking with each passing second and when she finally managed to open it, she found a soldier waiting patiently outside.

He didn't say anything beyond "This is for you." before handing her a scroll. She opened it and and fell to her knees crying.

Her fears had been proven real. Her home had been taken from her, and the military would pay her travel expenses, but once she reached the new world she would be on her own.

The world and days passed by her in a blur. She didn't know when she had packed everything she owned onto a cart that was pulled by an ox, or when she joined the caravan.

She just knew that she had lost everything.

"Hey wake up." she hears someone say to her before something hits her on the back of the head.

She blinks and finds herself surrounded by strangers, there are people from everywhere some are dressed in expensive silks and she can swear that there is a woman wearing something purple in the distance.

She looks around and sees that there are people who are filthy and only have rags covering their intimate areas, while others are completely naked.

There are soldiers wearing outdated armor, she knows this because her husband would laugh when he spoke about how the medal weapons that he uses could piers the strongest of them.

'To think that tomorrow we will reach the new world." she hears a young woman say to her before a man next to the girl tells her to stop.

"Where am I?" she asks them before the two look at her with shock-filled eyes.

'You finally came back." the girl says to her.

She feels something hit the back of her head and when she turns she finds that the ox hit her with its head while it used its tongue to clean its neck.

"Onwe questions, were you ordered to leave because your husband is on the other side?' the man asks her.

She nods before hearing him grunt. "That explains it." she hears him say.

"Don't mind him, but you aren't the only one who is in shock." the girl says to her as she waves her hands around. "A lot of women were acting the same way, but at least you woke up before we crossed." the girl says to her.

"Crossed?" she asks the girl.

"Look over there." the girl says to her while pointing at something in the distance, but she can only see the light of a torch.

"They are letting us cross in groups and tomorrow is our turn." she hears the girl say to her with an excited voice.

 

[blueayes]

"Those with animals go left! Those who only have a single beast to pull your cart follow them!" a soldier yells to the people as they cross the portal.

"Single women or widows, step this way. If you are accompanied by your father or someone responsible for you, keep walking!" another soldier says.

She can see the edge of the portal she wants to stop but the people behind her force her to keep walking, the moment she crosses the portal she finds that her hair begins to rise. It's as if the air is charged with power.

She sees a cart that is carrying several chests that are full of gold, she looks back and sees that the soldiers are paying a merchant who brought a caravan with him.

She sees the soldiers uncover the carts before nodding to each other when they see that the food is still in good condition.

She keeps walking and sees the tents that have been set up along with the various fires that are either being used to cook food or simply have men sitting near them.

"If you have someone in the army, come this way!" she hears a soldier say, she turns to look at the pair who took care of her when her mind was gone, who wish her the best before leaving her behind.

She followed the soldier's voice to a tent that was surrounded by people, some were sitting behind it while others waited in line, some were alone, and others had animals that pulled what little possessions they had.

It was finally her turn and after telling the man her name, her husband's name, and what group he was in, she was told to join the others in the back and wait.

She did as she was told as she waited she noticed that she was surrounded by slaves, some wore the brands that were tattoed on their foreheads while others still had the shackles on their arms or legs.

She grew afraid, perhaps she was to become one of them, but her fears were proven wrong when a group of soldiers arrived and began to remove the metal shackles from the men and women's feet.

She nearly jumps when the woman behind her breaks crying, her voice is loud and it sounds as if she is screaming in pain, but when she turns to see what happening, she sees that the woman is holding two children who hold her with just as much strength as she is using to hold them.

For the first time, she is reminded that this is supposed to be a new world, one where everyone can start over.

She hears someone say her name, but she doesn't recognize the voice. It sounds familiar but she doesn't know any men beyond those in her family, her husband's family, and the merchants.

She feels a pair of muscular arms wrap around her and she nearly screams that she is a citizen of Rome and that she isn't for sale, but when she turns she finds her husband looking at her.

She could see the joy in his eyes, but it was fading, the shock of her reaction put a dark cloud over what should have been a joyful occasion.

She throws herself into his arms, before the sadness of knowing that she had forgotten his voice can set in. They hold each other before he leads her to a fort where several other soldiers along with their women and children are gathering.
[][][]\
We look at the growing number of people and we can't help but worry about what's going to happen, in the near future.

We managed to buy time, by giving the Romans so much gold that they had no choice but to accept. Only an idiot would attack someone willing to give away carts full of gold for something that the Romans allow to rot every day.

The knight armor that we wear makes us stand out. Meaning that we can't hide in any crowd, but it's okay because our bodies have been changed and we now have super strength.

Unfortunately, our new bodies don't mean much considering that we are fighting monsters, and groups of people who are used to harsh conditions.

The various camps are starting to separate themselves from each other. As we look at the growing number of people, we can see them forming by skin color, hair color, and even sex.

It's only a matter of time before the soldiers tell everyone not to cross the border because if they do no one is going to rescue them. There are things out there that make the monsters that we have been fighting look weak.

There are six castles on the border each one is nothing more than a roadblock. The deal we have with the Romans is that if an invasion comes then the first castle that is attacked is to hold as long as it can.

It may not be much of a plan, but for whatever reason the Romans agreed, as long as we allowed them to keep the two castles close to the portal.

The castles were abandoned when we found them and they are either in good condition but are covered with overgrown plants, or ruins that have a wall or tower standing.

From where we stand we can see men and women glaring at each other, it's clear to everyone that it's only a matter of time before fights start.

Soon people will want to leave and explore or the soldiers will force people to leave if they can't learn to live with everyone else. To think that they would see a day when being thrown out of a town was a death threat.

None of us know how long peace between this world and the one on the other side of the portal will last.

Hell none of us know if there are other intelligent creatures besides the monsters in this world, but we do know that we won't stop the two of them from fighting each other if they threaten us.

One of the men calls to us, it's time for us to decide how our forces will be split. Not everyone was given superpowers. Some of the people who came to this world were either veterans or were somehow given the knowledge and experience of how to use the weapons and vehicles they were given.

We follow him to one of the castles the soldiers and knights are surrounding the castle making sure that no one gets in or out. No one besides those who are meant to be here will know about what is said today.

It's strange walking into a room where men who are wearing medieval armor stand with soldiers who are holding machine guns and grenades that hang from their bulletproof vests.

The conversation is long and more than once it turns into an argument that threatens to turn violent, as men point fingers at each other before accusing one another of things that haven't happened yet.

In the end, we agree that each group will control a single castle and both groups will be allowed to travel into each other's lands without permits or passports.

The Romans and the people that they brought however are a different story, they will need to have papers if they want to cross into our lands.

They outnumber us by a lot, the soldier's ammunition is limited and the fuel that they do have will eventually run out, meaning that their cars, tanks, and helicopters will be useless soon.

We knights may have supper strength, indestructible armor, and swords that seem to be able to cut through anything, but we still need to eat, and sleep.

We need to do everything that any normal Human needs to., and we are growing more aware that poisons and colds still affect us.

With any luck, none of this will matter, as our groups will respect each other's borders.

 

[blueayes]

Five years later
The sounds of the hammers hitting the metal rods as they force them into the castle walls could be heard throughout the castle but no one inside or outside of the castle cared.

Jacob looks at the map in front of him, things have changed a lot these last five years, and unfortunately for him, not all of the changes had been good.

All of the people that had crossed over had forced him and his allies to grow the borders of their small kingdoms west, as it was the only direction that didn't have monsters trying to kill them.

Animals needed grass to eat, and people needed room to build houses and live. He can't help but grow when he remembers how those last two parts had been a headache for all of them.

Give Egyptians some land and they will build a pyramid. Give the Romans the same thing and they will build a fort. His men and the soldiers chose to make farms so that they wouldn't have to depend on the food that was sold to them by the Romans.

Land distribution had been one giant argument after another, not to mention the arguments that followed because stone was needed to build everything that wasn't temporary.

Needless to say, everyone's eyes turned to him and the soldiers who were forced to pay for the materials, because no one else had enough money to convince any merchant that it was worth risking their lives to get the materials to them.

His frown deepens as he remembers the oils, parchments, clay, herbs, spices, wine, and everything else that he and his allies paid for and how it felt seeing all of that gold fall into Roman hands.

It was only because the Romans and everyone else agreed to give him and the soldiers their lands as payment that he and his allies didn't force people to pay them back with whatever they had.

Then there was the problem of who would work the fields and if they were going to raise animals. The problems just went on and on.

He looks up and sees a woman who is wearing a white dress or at least he thinks it's a dress. The damm thing is completely transparent, so he can see everything, but for whatever reason most of the women from Egypt dress this way.

"What?' he asks her while not trying to hide how her presence is a nuisance to him and his men. The woman was a noble or someone important, and it was her pyramid that the people from her section were building.

"[][][][]" he hears her say something but he has no idea what she said, as it takes a moment for the translater in his head to change her words into something he can understand.

"Say it again." he orders her.

"A king has no need to look over maps and plan for the harvest that might fail.' she says to him while looking at the maps that are on the table in front of him.

He sees her signal to a group of women who begin to bring plates filled with food, wine, and for some reason sticks that smell like lavender.

"I am no king. My men have every right to replace me if I am incompetent or if I am distracted by pointless things." he says to her before turning to look at the women who haven't raised their heads since they entered the room.

"You are no queen." he says to her before ordering the group to raise their heads and never act like that again.

Jacob feels his eyebrow twitch when he sees the woman smirk at him.

He knows that she knows that he hates when she does that. For some reason it makes him feel as if she has him wrapped around her fingers and is playing him like a puppet.

He turns his attention to the map. "Why are you here?" he asks her.

"There's gossip amongst the maisons, they say that you and your allies are preparing to go north." the woman says to him.

Jacob stops looking at the map and lifts his head. She shouldn't know about that, everyone has kept their mouths shut, so he can't help but wonder how she heard about it.

"So what if we are?" he asks the woman, before looking into her dark brown eyes, which are surrounded by black eyeliner.

'I want my men to take part. Your territories continue to grow but mine."

Jacob orders her to stop talking before he rolls the maps into tubes and hands them to the knight close to him. He takes one loud and heavy step that echoes in the room when his armored boot lands on the stone floor.

He can see the confidence in the woman's eyes crumble as fear begins to take its place. The men behind her try to reach for their swords, but his knights stop them, their armored bodies tower over the Egyptians.

He slowly bends his knees until he is the same height as the woman and says "No" in a voice so cold that he is surprised when he hears it.

'But you and your allies have so much wealth because!' she tries to argue, but Jacob won't have any of it.

"You chose to build a pyramid and concentrate your efforts on building places for people to get drunk, sleep with strangers, and make fashion statements." he says to the woman before unbending his knees and walkin' past her.

"Men need to relax, they can't just work." the woman says to him, as she tries to argue with him.

'I'm not saying that what you did was wrong, but you should have thought about what would happen when the people who are on the other side of the portal decided that they won't help us anymore." he says to the woman before reminding her that the Romans have a history of taking whatever they wanted when they thought that they could get away with it.

"Isn't that why you and your allies became farmers?" the woman asks him.

Jacob stops walking and turns to look at the woman.

"Those fields are for my people, the harvest is for those living in these lands." he stops talking and looks at the guards that the woman brought with her.

"My ally's fields and harvest are theirs and their people. I have nothing to do with what they choose to do with it." he says to the woman before leaving the woman behind. If she wants to be in it, then she can be there alone.

 

[blueayes]

He walks past the men who are working on the castle. They are either replacing something broken or fixing cracks in the walls and pillars before they can grow and damage something important.

He stops walking when a group of children runs in front of him. He doesn't say anything; instead, he looks at the bright smiles on their faces and the wide eyes full of life that they have as they chat with each other.

One of the girls notices him and bows to him. The rest turn to look at who she is greeting, before looking at him with wide eyes and following the girl's example.

He can't help but smile when he sees that they haven't moved beyond raising their heads.

"I don't know why you stopped, but she's getting away." he says to the kids who turn to look in the direction of the girl who noticed him, only to realize that she was gone.

'She went that way." he says to them. The kids bow and run in the direction that he told them. He waits for the sound of their footsteps to disappear before turning to look at the girl who had run behind him when the other kids had lowered their heads.

"Go," he says to her. She smiles at him and runs after the kids who were supposed to be chasing her.

Jacob didn't move, he just watched the girl run away, her black hair swinging whenever her feet touched the ground.

Five years is enough time for the men and women to make more people, but that didn't mean that either of them stayed with the kids that they brought into the world.

He starts walking. The memory of the day that his men and the soldiers began to bring half-dead children and infants forced itself into his mind. Some of them weren't even a day old and the people who were supposed to care about them had thrown them away.

Then there was the other bunch. The ones born from prostitutes, or had arrived with merchants who had traveled to the border, because they had heard that they could sell their useless slaves for a high price.

"What?" he asks the woman who for whatever reason is following him, but stays four steps behind him.

"Cute girl is she yours or does she come from a friend of yours?' she asks him.

Jacob doesn't answer, but he keeps walking. The girl isn't anything to him, she is just another orphan, but one that quickly grew to understand that as long as she doesn't do anything dangerous. He and his men won't have a reason to be angry at her with angry eyes.

He walks past the castle doors, that are being reinforced with different kinds of metals so that if anything does manage to reach them, it will be a lot harder for it to break the doors down.

The yard outside of the castle is always alive, it doesn't matter if it's day or night there is always something going on.

If it's not the night patrols who are either gambling or fighting with the creatures that somehow managed to cross the border and reach the town. It's the people around him that live during the day.

He ignores the yells of the young men and boys who are learning to use a sword and are being trained in different forms of combat.

His ear moves when he hears an infant crying, but when he sees a woman probably its mother silences it by putting her breast in its mouth he keeps on walking.

He reaches the main gate and finds himself in aworld that he hasnt been able to get use to despite living in it.

He turns and waves at the soldiers and knights signaling that he won't be returning until late at night.

The city around him is a chaotic blend of woodhouses that are built next to houses that are made of rocks, bricks mud, and so on. The houses vary just as much as the people who live in them.

Everywhere he looks there are different colored people, who have different colored hair and eyes. He almost swears that he is living in some anime, or comic book.

The people move out of his way and let him pass, he can't help but think that they are a school of fish and he is the shark that they don't want to get near them.

The sound of something hitting the dirt road makes him stop walking, when he turns he sees the woman lying down on the ground. He doesn't have to look for the culprit because he can see that her white dress is caught on the tip of her sandal.

He wants to leave her there. She doesn't have any business following him because her presence makes people think things that aren't happening, but against his better judgment, he walks to her takes off his cape, puts it on her, and helps her to her feet.

He does not say anything, even as he sees her wrap his cape around herself and use her hands to hold it in place.

He takes one last look at the woman, her light brown skin somehow mixes perfectly with the thin white dress that she is wearing underneath his bright blue cape.

"Go home.'" Jacob says to the woman in a low voice.

'Not until you listen." the woman answers him, her voice is barely a whisper.

They look into each other's eyes, their wills trying to overpower each other, but the voice of a soldier inside his head forces him to stop and pay attention to his surroundings.

"What's going on?" he says loudly, before a map appears in front of him, it isn't much but it shows enough information that he knows where the men need him.

He runs to a large building that was once a tent but is made out of wood. He can hear men arguing despite still being far from it. He briefly looks back and sees the shadow of the woman who is chasing after him.

He finds a Marine who is dressed in camouflage waiting for him "Sir someone opened their moths and now the other groups are threatening to riot.' the marine says to him.

"Give me more details." Jacob orders the Marine.

"Sior, a word about us stopping the land distribution has spread and the other groups are demanding their parts."

Jacob can't help but narrow his eyes, another piece of information has spread, he looks at the marine but the man signals to him that none of the soldiers have said anything about it.

He thanks the man and walks inside. "Move!" he orders the men blocking the door, but he forces his way past them when they don't move out of his way.

"Stay behind me mam!" he hears the marine say to the woman.

'Touch this woman and I will shoot, kill her, or hurt her in any way and you won't have to worry about what the knights will do to you!" the marine shouts to the men who are slowly surrounding him, but they back away when a group of roman soldiers arrive.

He pushes his way into the main room where a group of men that come from different places are yelling at the leaders of the marines and the Roman guards.

He sees his men glaring at the troublemakers, their hands are constantly reaching for their weapons, but they manage to keep themselves from killing everyone in front of him.

"I see, so I will let you choose. Will we crucify all of you or throw you outside for the creatures to enjoy.' one of the Romans says to the men.

One of the men widens his eyes and tries to grab the Roman but the others pull him back before things can grow out of control.

"In two days we will be going north." Jacob says to everyone, his voice silences everyone in the room.

"Or at least that was the plan." he walks past the troublemakers who glare at him, He ignores them but stops walking when a man with a thick white beard and dark brown skin refuses to get out of his way.

Jacob grabs the man by the head, lifts him upside down, and puts the man behind him.

"Someone has ears in places they shouldn't, information that anyone could have gained by asking has reached your ears." he says to the men before reaching his chair and sitting down.

"In two days all of you will go north if you fail to clear those lands. You will not be allowed to return.'

The room falls silent and Jacob can see the Roman leaders smirking, next to them the leaders of the Marines have wide smiles on their faces.

The troublemakers begin to yell and push closer to them, but his men have had enough, so they begin to tear the heads of the men close to them. Jacob doesn't say anything, he only watches as the men kill everyone who tries to fight or run away.

The sound of footsteps makes him look up and he sees the woman looking at the the room in horror.

"This is why we keep things secret, idiots like them just want to cause trouble." he says to her.

"I wasnt aware that you took a mistress and an Egyptian one at that. Please the two of you must come to my house, my wife will be glad to meet you." one of the Romans says to him and the woman.

Jacob looks at the man and notices that the man is looking at his cape. He can't help but frown because he can't do anything without people getting the wrong idea.

 

[blueayes]

Judicious ignored the frightened expressions that the people gave him, as he walked past them. By now word about what had happened must have spread to every city and he would be surprised if it hadn't.

The look of fear reminded him of the days when he and the legion he served under plundered enemy towns and villages. And while he wasn't proud of it, he did enjoy knowing that none of them would dare to hurt him.

Judicious frowned as he looked down and noticed that the blood on his tunic had dried and if his wife didn't wash it soon, it would be stained, and he would have to buy another one.

He could hear his men following closely, they kept a respectable distance from him, just in case he had to stop walking for one reason or another.

The events that happened earlier still played in his mind and the images of the knight tearing a man's head from his body, before using it to kill another reminded him of the days when he and his legion first entered this world.

The new arrivals and some older ones would forget that despite how benevolent the knights and soldiers were, they were the same men who were fighting monsters and his legion at the same time.

Judicious would never forget, his position as senator wouldn't allow him to forget. He had been the one who offered a truce to the knights and soldiers and made the creation of the settlements possible.

He stops walking and bows his head, sometimes he wishes that the senate had sent someone from a family that had real power to take his place and rule his city.

That way he wouldn't have to worry about things that affected the lives of everyone around him and he would go back to being a simple soldier.

Unlike the fools that now stained his clothes, he wasn't angry because the knights weren't going to grant anyone more land, because there was no more land to give.

At the edge of the knight border was the ocean and while it was full of fish that were regularly brought into the city and used to feed the people, it was also full of monsters that needed to be killed.

He would admit that he was enraged when he heard that the knights and soldiers had been meeting in secret and were planning on moving north, but he also knew that if they hadn't told him, it was for a good reason.

What that reason was he did not know, but he planned to ask Jacob what it was during tonight's dinner.

He pushes tore door to his house open and his men replace the guards who went to get much-needed rest.

He found his wife in the kitchen looking over the cook's shoulders. He couldn't help but smile, his wife needed to learn to relax. He stops smiling when he sees her round belly miss the tables and chairs that were in the kitchen.

He looks around and finds his eldest son and daughter both born a year apart from each other playing on top of a bright red carpet. Some would say that he had been too eager to be with his wife, but he would argue the contrary.

If he had been too eager then his wife would have given birth to five or twelve children in the first year of them reuniting.

"Honestly why do we need cooks if you are going to be in the kitchen anyway?" he says to his wife but his attention is on his two children who he takes into his arms before lifting them up and holding them with pride.

He feels his wife's arms around him before he feels her stomach and his unborn who has already decided that hit doesn't like him, because despite not being born yet, his son or daughter kicked him.

'This blood?" his wife says to him, but he tells her not to worry because it's not his.

"I have good and bad news. The good news is Jacob the Knight Leader is coming over for dinner." he says to his wife who looks at him with wide fear fear-filled eyes.

'What's wrong?" he asks her.

"I heard that he ordered his men to kill the protesters, that the knights tore the heads of those men. They didn't cut the men's heads off but tore them off. If we anger them." his wife begins to panic, but he puts his forehead on hers and waits until she calms.

"I was there, and they deserved it and more." he says to her.

'So what's the bad news?" his wife asks him but doesn't separate herself from him.

"He has a mistress. Saw it with my own two eyes, the woman was wearing his cape. Normally I would think that she was just another person Jacob helped, but my men said that one of the Marines was protecting her when they arrived."

His wife pushes him away and looks at him with wide eyes. Judicious still can't believe that the woman can open them that wide. While he can look into his wife's blue eyes all day, he has to admit that he doesn't like seeing them this way.

"This is " his wife tries to say something but stops, she lets go of him and begins to walk back and forth.

Until now neither the knights nor the soldiers had ever been seen with a woman, or a man for that matter, but if one had taken a woman and more importantly. If Jacob had taken a woman then that opened the possibilities for relations to tighten between the cities.

'So who is it? Is she Roman, or is she that girl's mother you know the one Jacob pretends isn't his daughter, the Greek girl?' his wife asks him.

'That's the bad news. She is the Egyptian that's been following him around like a dog in heat. It seems that she found a crack in Jcobs armor and slipped in and helped him slip into her." he says to his wife who frowns.

'An Egyptian, why one of them when there are so many better options?' his wife asks him, and he shrugs.

"Who knows, but she is only a mistress, a toy to play with. Not his wife who will have control of his men." Judicious says to his wife before a pair of tiny hands start pulling his hair.

'We need meat, lamb, now beef." his wife begins to talk to herself while ignoring his attackers, who have found that he isn't able to hurt them, so they attack him even more.

"Everything has to be perfect, if we can get Jacob to lower his guard then maybe we can." Judicious raises his hand and stops his wife from saying anything else. He wordlessly reminds her that Rome has ears everywhere.

 

[blueayes]

Nefertari skipped into her home. It wasn't luxurious, nor did it have any of the benefits of the estate that she had grown up in, but it was better than nothing.

Her lands or what the men claimed were her people's lands were the smallest of the four kingdoms. While many would complain about her position, she was well aware that just having those lands was enough to put her ahead of everyone else.

Those who already had lands had the right to take the best parts of whatever area were conquered.

She felt a shiver run up her legs and up her spine every time she took a step. The marble floor was naturally cold, and because she didn't wear sandals indoors she was forced to put up with it.

She stops walking and looks at Jacob's cape, out of instinct, she had tightened her grip on it while trying to fight the cold that spreads through her body.

The cape had the man's emblem on it, meaning that it wasn't a simple piece of fabric but a claim of ownership. She was now his, and while it had taken a lot of effort to get the man to notice her, or give her a moment of his time, her efforts finally bore fruit.

Nefertari had even begun to question if her beauty had faded and if she should start dressing in less revealing clothes as older women were meant to.

The blue cape was tied firmly around her neck to keep it from falling off her. Whenever she moved forward or back the cape moved as if it were a part of her. It was so comfortable that she almost forgot that it hadn't been with her for more than a day.

She stops walking and smiles while looking at the blue fabric in her hands. He had claimed her in front of dozens of his people. Now no one would question her position even if her assumptions were wrong.

The perception of power was always something that could be used.

She ignored the curious gazes of the servants who walked past her. Perhaps they were wondering why she was standing in the middle of the room, or maybe they were thinking of something else.

It was possible that they weren't thinking of anything at all and were admiring her figure, so she allowed them to stare. A master was supposed to provide for those beneath her. So she would give them that much.

She finally untied the cape from her neck and looked at the simple gold cross. It was a simple design one that wouldn't catch the attention of anyone who didn't know what they were looking at.

While the cross wasn't anything worth looking at, what was used to make it was. Gold, the cross was made of gold, it wasn't a simple outline but a complete cross that was surrounded by an ocean of blue.

Everything from the materials that the cape was made of, the dye that gave it its color, and the gold that was used to make the emblem was meant to show how rich Jacob was.

The man hadn't bothered to hide his fortune, after all, he was the one paying for most if not all of the raw materials that were constantly arriving.

The thought of the day that she would gain control of that fortune thrilled her to no end.

She can still remember seeing the caravans of gold leaving the settlements after they were used to pay for everything that was needed to build their small kingdoms.

She had seen something like it before, back when her name still meant something and she was the daughter of someone important. Whenever someone important visited her home or when her family visited someone of even higher status they or the person visiting would take with them chests full of gold and precious stones.

She had never seen one caravan leave, only to be followed by another, then another, until it felt as if the man didn't have an end to his wealth.

Soon all of his fortune would be in her hands and she would be free to spend it on pointless things like the men above her did.

In time she would have all of the jewelry and accessories that she once had and more. She would show Jacob and more importantly, everyone else that she was still someone they should look up to, that she was important.

The silk curtains and clothes that her people wore, were her way of challenging Jacob's authority. The man had refused to pay for the materials she needed to build the temple where her people could worship their gods.

Jacob had agreed to buy the materials to build the homes for her people, the stones needed to build the roads, sewers, and her pyramid but he stopped her from building the temple.

She felt herself become enraged, not because Jaco had refused but because both Ricardo and Judicious laughed at her. The way that they looked at her made her feel like a fool.

So when Jacob asked her if that was everything she needed she lied and claimed that silk was so abundant in her homeland and that everyone wore it, even the beggars.

Nefertari's mind turned to the Greek girl. Jacobs's not-so-secret child it didn't matter if he fathered her or if he had adopted her she would need to disappear.

Jacob had feelings for the girl and children always have a way of influencing their parent's decisions. She couldn't allow the girl to threaten her position, and she found a way to get the girl on her side or she would have her killed.

The sound of people running reached her and it didn't take her long to see who those sounds belonged to. The Romans had brought several of her father's servants along with a few of her friends.

She didn't ask what had happened to them while they were slaves because the answer was obvious to everyone who had a brain.

The group of men and women looked at her with worried expressions, while waiting for her to give them the good or bad news. Instead she wrapped Jabobs cap around herself and showed them his emblem.

Within moments her old friends ran up to her and squealed as if they were children while cheering for her.

She looked past her friends and looked at her father's servants who smiled at her with pleased expressions, but their cold eyes reminded Nefertari, that it was up to her to make sure that Jacob didn't tire of her and found someone who was worthy of his embrace.

An emblem was something that wasn't given away so easily and yet it could be lost at any moment.

She told everyone about Judicious invitation and how the knights had violently killed the protesters who had become an angry mob. They didn't care about the troublemaker's death's, but they focused on her first formal appearance.

At best there would only be four people, but it was a meeting between rulers and she couldn't be allowed to go without wearing something that would make everyone she walked past look at her with envy.

 

[blueayes]

A bath of warm milk and scented oil to help her skin keep its youthful appearance and perfumes that excite and attract the attention of men and women.

Her gown covered her breasts and intimate areas but left everything else exposed to help the men around her forget that they were men and not beasts. Finally, her servants placed Jacob's cape around her neck but instead of tying it, it was held in place with white silk string.

With her preparations ready, she ordered her servants to take one of the few accessories she had managed to obtain and wrap it with red silk.

The cold wind made her shiver, and her heart nearly stopped when she found a knight and a soldier waiting for her outside. The men didn't say anything; they just waved at her, signaling they were there to escort her to wherever Judicious lived.

She lowered her head and allowed the men to lead her to wherever they planned to take her. She could hear her guards following them, and the unexpected appearance of the knight and soldier made her wonder if she had done anything wrong. Her worries were soon proven wrong as she found Jacob and Ricardo waiting for her nearby.

She was about to step away from her group when she noticed something that shouldn't be there. Behind Jacob's right leg was something or better said someone who shouldn't have been there.

The girl, Jacob's daughter, the woman she had to replace, hid behind her father's leg like a dog who had never been allowed to leave its master's home, and now that she was outside, she didn't know what to do.

Nefertari smiled at the girl, but the girl buried her head into Jacob's leg. For a moment, Nefertari wished Jacob was wearing his armor instead of the grey trousers he wore when he wasn't wearing it. That way the girl would have hit her head on the armored leg and given herself a bruise.

Remembering why she was here she greeted Ricardo and Jacob who greeted her in return. She would ignore the girl's insult, but she would not forget it. Her time as a slave taught her that there is more than one way to destroy a person's life and even make death impossible to achieve.

She had to admit that she enjoyed seeing the fear in the eyes of these beneath her, and felt her chest swell with pride when she noticed the envy in the eyes of the women who wished that they had been in her place.

Yet as she walked she began to feel something that she didn't recognize, it was a feeling that she had never felt before.

The people around her, those who Jacob claimed weren't slaves but citizens of his kingdom looked at Jacob with warm eyes. Nefertari knew that those same people still feared angering the man, but she couldn't see the fear that should have been there. There was only warmth and admiration.

She turned and noticed that Ricardo the leader of the Soldiers was being treated the same way, however, unlike Jacob, the people only had respect for the leader of the soldiers. There was fear in their eyes, but it was the kind that people had whenever they looked at a guard who said their name when the city was under curfew.

They finally arrived at Judiciousses home but Nefertari couldn't help but feel disappointed in what she found. During her time as a ruler and as a slave she had seen the palaces and estates where the Romans lived, but Judicious's house did not have any of it.

The best way that she could describe the man's home was a three-floor house that was surrounded by stone walls. While the walls were smooth on the outside and there were guards walking at the top, the house had none of the elegance that a person in the Roman's position should have had.

The inside was no better there was a fountain where a small shrine where Judicious's family prayed to their gods and while there was a table set up where all sorts of fruits, vegetables, meats, and fishes were waiting for them, there wasn't as much wine or music.

Nefertari hid her disappointment something that became even harder to do when she noticed the lack of incest. The Roman and his wife had even forgotten to make the air pleasant for her to breathe.

The girl let out joy filled cry before running past Jacob and taking one of the two infants from what Nefertari could only assume was Judicious'd wife.

As time passed more Romans, soldiers, and knights arrived, and while they exchanged pleasantries she couldn't help but feel bored, especially since all of the men paid little or no attention to her.

That meant that she only had Judicious wife and the women that the soldiers had brought with them.

She was going to consider the entire thing a failure, as even her gift was treated as something that wasn't worth much because one of the other women had brought a shield that was made of steel, and Judicious had treated it as a family heirloom.

"So about the two of you going north?' She heard Judicious say to Ricardo and Jacob, who looked at each other and placed a pair of large scrolls on the table.

"We were planning to talk to you about that." Ricardo says to Judicious before he unrolls the scroll revealing a map of his kingdom. Nefertari could see that the soldiers' lands were mostly covered in farms while the rest were divided by military outposts and a small city where the none combatants lived.

Jacob unrolled his scroll and it showed several small towns and villages that were surrounded by several small farms. Nefertari could see that the villages had been set up in such a way, that if anything happened like an attack, they could sustain themselves at least for a time.

"We were hoping that you could give us the set up of your walls, in exchange we offer the set up of the inside of our territories." Jacob says to Judicious before turning to look at her.

"My men and I will enter the forest and cut down as many trees as we can. We will kill as many of those things as possible before retreating."

Ricardo begins to speak as if he and Jacob had rehearsed this conversation before coming here. "My soldiers will kill as many as we can before they breach the walls, but make no mistake the enemy will break through our defenses,'

"We need you and your men to deal with those that manage to get through." Ricardo finishes his explanation.

Nefertari had never seen the creatures that lived in this world but judging by how Judicious lost his smile and now looked at the men in front of him as if they were mad, she understood that whatever was beyond the walls was something truly dangerous.

"Even if we combine all of our resources, we don't have the men to fight those things. Have the two of you forgotten what it took for us just to build the border and how many of the slaves" Judicious stops talking bows his head and asks for forgiveness.

"Have you forgotten how many citizens died before we could bring settlers here?" Judicious asks Ricardo and Jaacob, before pointing at the area where the ocean was.

"Those things won't just come from the north, they will come from every direction just like they did back then. We would need a thousand of what we have, and hundreds of thousands of what we don't.'

Nefertari listens to the heavy silence, she waits for someone to say something, but she doesn't have to wait long.

'Just say it and my fortune is yours to pay for it, but you will have to pay back whatever you use for your territory, that isn't used during the fight." Once again Jacob turns to look at her, but this time his words are for her.

"That includes you. Gather what you need for the fight, and work with Judicious so that your people survive, but remember that you will have to pay me back for anything that isn't used for the war."

Nefertari didn't know how to react, her position had been acknowledged, but it was an afterthought. Jacob had shown her that while she was important, she was barely above those she looked down on.

She nods before turning to look at the maps on the table, knowing that she will need to present hers to the men.

 

[blueayes]

Judicious looked at the oil lamp that burned in front of him, he hadn't moved since the guests left, next to him were the maps of Ricardos and Jacobs kingdoms. To think that there would be a day that he would be given such an honor.

By handing him the maps of their kingdoms Jacob and Ricardo had shown that they trusted him. The two men had given him the means of destroying everything they had built.

He just needed to give the order and Rome would claim everything. The soldier's machines, medicines, and weapons. The secret of the knights of how they became so powerful and the ways that they created their swords and armor, but most of all Rome would have the knight's wealth for itself.

The flame moved, he would have compared himself to it. If Rome was the oil that gave the flame light, then this alliance was the flame itself, one needed the other to continue, but for how long would this alliance last?

The oil would eventually run out and would need to be replaced and the flame that kept the darkness away would have to be put out so that it could be light once again.

He was Roman by birth, but his time in this world had changed him, he no longer struck a slave that walked in front of him, it didn't matter if they hadn't seen him they had dirtied the ground that he would step on.

He had every right to do that, he ruled over this part of the world and yet he didn't. Something, he didn't know what but something inside of him had changed and he no longer treated slaves as what they were, slaves.

The sound of his children playing with their hands as infants do, further drove the dagger into his will, they had only known this world and Judicious was well aware that despite coming from a Roman mother and father, the people would treat them as outsiders.

He frowned how could he be so stupid, he had made his decision long ago and he had been too retarded to see it.

He grabbed a sheet of parchment and began to list the things that the men would need the easiest things were the weapons, but the skins needed for the shields were more difficult. His work became even harder when he began to think about the food that his men would eat.

The shelter for the noncombatants and marking those who would not be fighting as every available man would have to help keep the cities alive. He couldn't afford to forget about the priests who would secure the souls of those who died so that they wouldn't fall prey to something that could target them.

Hunting and guard dogs, horses, slaves, and pleasure girls to help the men remember that there would be something worth fighting.

He would need to negotiate with the fort that was on the other side of the portal and get them to agree to help in case all of his preparations weren't enough.

The defense of the kingdoms needed to be rehearsed over and over again, until the men felt so frustrated with the repeated action that they went insane.

He talked with merchants, blacksmiths, alchemist explorers, and people who he never considered speaking to, it was all so frustrating, and it was all so slow.

He watched as fortifications were built only to be destroyed when a group of soldiers managed to breach it with ease. Those same soldiers helped his men rebuild the defenses so that they wouldn't fall so easily.

When it was the knight's turn to attack they were forced to fight for every inch of ground and while they did manage to reach his men, they had done so slowly.

He watched as the caravans began to arrive, men who had heard about a land filled with monsters where they would have their names marked in the halls of heroes were the first to arrive. Next were the slaves and then everything and everyone else.

Those resources needed to be split between the kingdoms and trained for what was to come. The people and animals that were sick either had to be cured of their illnesses or put down so that whatever they had didn't spread.

Nefertari finally made herself useful and began to use her people's knowledge to help the men relax relieving the tension that had accumulated. The fights that were threatening to occur and his men were forced to stop had calmed and stopped being a distraction for him and his men.

Finally, when the places where the elderly, women, and children were to hide during the fighting were finished, he spoke one last time to Ricardo and Jacob who listened to his worries and insecurities before sharing their own.

The two men had taken the information that he had given them about the defenses of his kingdom and used their secrets to reinforce the walls as best as they could.

He watched as the women and children ran to the reinforced buildings before hiding in the tunnels that were dug beneath them.

Bells began to ring through every city announcing that those who had failed to enter the buildings would have to keep themselves alive. When the bells finally stopped and everything became silent a single horn could be heard throughout the kingdoms.

Judicious watched as Jacob and his men opened the northern gate before heading to the forest and started to cut the trees close to it. He listened to the sound of the horn whenever an hour passed.

Further and further away Jacob and his men go, each of them cutting the trees in front of them, until they reach the area where the trees are so thick that it's impossible to see the knights.

The sound of the horn only made the tension grow, but the discipline of his men kept them from acting until he no longer heard the horn.

The sound of something crashing into the northern gate makes those who had come seeking glory charge but they stop when they see something their stories only spoke of.

A massive elephant whose body was made of something blacker than a night without a moon and a head that was protected by pale white bone that had a pair of red eyes filled with hate.

Judicious could see the men trembling with a mixture of fear and excitement from where he stood. The stories that they heard were real and they were now in one.

"Fire!" Judicious heard Ricardo yell before his soldiers used their strange weapons that shot iron at the creatures outside. Judicious watched as thousands of arrows were fired into the forest, whether they were aimed at something or were just shot hoping to hit something he didn't know.

The sound of something running reached him before the ground began to shake and it was when the puts inside the houses fell and broke that the cannons and trebuchets began to fire their contents at the monsters outside.

Boiling oil was dropped and light as more and more created gathered, despite the chaos outside Judicious could still hear Jacob and his knights fighting desperately with the horde that was even now overwhelming them.

The walls shook as men ran back and forth while they dropped puts full of explosives onto the monsters, but it wasn't enough as more and more creatures climbed over their dead and reached the top of the walls.

Judicious ordered his men to prepare their shields and spears as the walls shook, he could see that the monsters were about to break the walls by their sheer numbers.

The walls finally break and like a tidal wave, the creatures spill into the city.

 

[blueayes]

[Point of view change]
Whitley Schnee could only watch as the men and women around him desperately tried to keep their ship from being swept away by the waves. The battle in front of him was insane, it was just one Knight versus an army of Grimm and neither could defeat the other.

His grandfather had ordered him to go and live in Mantle, the kingdom he had grown up in before the Kingdom of Atlas even existed. It was his grandfather's last order before he passed and his hisgrandfathers company was handed over to his father.

A massive lion whose eyes glowed red so brightly that the light seemed to flow out its sockets and up the Grimms pounced onto the knight who grabbed it with one hand before crushing the lion's neck.

A pack of wolves swarmed the knight attacking him from every direction distracting the man before a massive snake attacked the knight from above.

Everything became quiet when the snake swallowed the knight whole, no one on his ship or the ones accompanying it moved, the shock of seeing such a man die before their eyes forced them to stop moving, and not even a sound left their lips.

Then they heard it, the sound of something tearing, before the Snake Grimm screamed in agony as the knight tore his way out of the monster's stomach.

The knight wasted no time and continued his attack, each time his powerful legs hit the ground the shockwaves from his attack made the ocean waves grow as they carried his power.

Whitley could only watch as the fight dragged on before the sounds of gunfire reached his ears, he watched as the knight turned and looked at him and the ship that accompanied him before turning to where the sounds were coming from and running towards them.

"Sir it's too dangerous we have to go" Joan Arc the bodyguard that his grandfather had hired to protect him said to him while hoping that he would listen to reason.

"Turn us around, we are going to need more people and maybe an army." he says to Joan who signals to the crew that they should leave as fast as possible.

The cold wind of Mantle's frozen lands felt like a fire that burned his skin. He replayed the memories of what he had seen and the reason that he had led his people this far into the uncharted lands of the West.

Mantle was once one of the only kingdoms that could survive this far north, and while it had prospered in the past. That was no longer the case and the kingdom wasn't even a shadow of what it once was.

The walls that once protected the kingdom were now broken by the attacks of the grimm and the lack of resources needed to maintain them.

The homes that were once the pride of the north were barely better than ruins that just kept the people from freezing to death but did nothing else as the rain somehow managed to enter the buildings.

His grandfather's kingdom now faced raids from both Faunus and Humans who took whatever they wanted and burned the villages that didn't have anyone to protect them.

He had traveled deep into the west hoping to find something, it didn't matter what it was as long as he could use it to help the kingdom before it was destroyed.

He never expected to find what looked like a knight from an uncontacted kingdom.

The ship shook as the anker was drope and the captain ordered his men to disembark. "Come on we have to tell the higher-ups.' Joan said to him before hitting the back of his head and forcing him back to the present.

He followed Joan off the ship and headed to the border town, it was the furthest town from Mantle, so its people had to learn to defend themselves from both grimm and raiders.

There was no way that his team were the only ones that had seen the fight and even if they were others must have heard or felt it. It was only a matter of time before the other kingdoms sent search teams into the uncharted lands, but they wouldn't be alone, the raiders would send their teams, and when that happened.

Whitley pushed the door of the cottage open and watched as the wind violently forced the door out of his hands and slammed it onto the wall. He walked inside and waited for Joan to walk in, they needed to talk about this and plan for what was to come.

"You need to contact your father, if there are more of those men then there will be war." Joan said to him the moment that the door closed.

"War, why would there be war?" Whitley asked Joan who looked at him with a pain-filled expression.

"It's only been eighty years Whitley. I know that you weren't born yet but when two kingdoms meet it's never peaceful and if there are more kingdoms in those unknown lands then peace is impossible." Joan said to him while reminding him of the great war.

Seeing his hesitation Joan reminded him of what happened when Vacuo made contact with the rest of the world and more importantly atlas and how its people were enslaved before they rebelled during the great war.

"Even if I called my father for help. Mantle needs someone to represent them and no one has held the office for years, it's one of the reasons that the kingdom is in the state that it's in. Nobody wants that position." he says to Joan whose eyes harden before walking past him and opening the crate that his grandfather trusted to her.

'Your grandfather ordered me to give this to you, either when you were ready or if something happened." Whitley shakes his head while looking at the silver armor that had the emblem of Mantle on its chest, while on its shoulders was the emblem of Atlas.

"No, I can't." Whitley protested before his world spun and he found himself on the cold floor.

"You are thirteen!" Joan said to him her voice filled with disgust.

"You are old enough to get married. In the old days, men like you would be expected to raid a village and impregnate the women before you could become men!" Joan yelled at him before grabbing the helmet and throwing it at him.

"I'll be at your side. Those people won't know that I'm from Vale and if they somehow find out, just say that I'm your mistress and that I have to stay at your side no matter what." Joan said to him while trying to give him some much-needed confidence.

"That would just start problems with Vale." Whitley says to Joan while he stares at the silver helmet lying next to him. "Besides even if I claimed to be in charge the people of Mantle would rebel. They won't accept someone from Atlas." he says to Joan who grabs his collar and forces him back to his feet.

"Your grandfather was the last living Knight of Mantle, you are the Kingdom's ruler. That's why he sent you here." Joan said to him before grabbing the breastplate and shoving it into his arms.

"Be the man that you are, either form an alliance or take what your people need." Joan said to him and Whitley could only hold onto the armor as if he was trying to hold onto something because if he didn't he would drown.

 

[blueayes]