Chapter 96: Amber and Relics.
As always, if anyone wants to support me or just read 3/7 chapters ahead in my two stories, that's possible on my (P)(A)(T). If not, I still appreciate you reading my stories, thank you very much!
That said, good night and happy reading!
(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori
[...]---[...]
POV: Devas Asura.
"Ozpin. Can I ask you something?"
"Uhm? Sure."
"Would you be upset if, let's say, you found your office reeking of rotten fish tomorrow?"
"I... I think so. But why would my office smell like rotten fish?"
"I don't know. Maybe because I've been stuck in an elevator for twenty minutes?..."
Ozpin didn't answer me; I wasn't sure if I even wanted a response.
A fun fact about spending a few months in an apocalypse in Japan, with the power off, the fish in the supermarkets spoiled quickly. Did I still put them in the VoidBag? Yes. Why? I don't know, but it was useful in moments like this.
He'll never think to look for a rotting fish head inside the socket, and if he does, he'll never think to look inside the leg of his chair...
He'll never find them all...
"I might have mistakenly forgotten to switch off the 'Elevator against politicians' mode, but I promise it won't happen a second time." Ozpin finally responded as the elevator door opened.
FREEDOM!
"Next time, I'll tear up the elevator floor and jump, just a heads up." Or the ceiling, it didn't really matter, climbing or falling, both would be faster than this shit.
We hadn't even descended much, the elevator was just damn slow.
"I'll make sure that doesn't happen then." The man sighed, not hiding the faint smile on his face. "Shall we?"
"Lead the way." I waved for him to walk.
I didn't know what to expect, but the place was large, it reminded me a bit of the interior of a chapel; a grand palace would be a better description.
The ceiling was high, I'd guess about twenty, maybe twenty-five meters, with pillars on the walls holding everything up, illuminated by lamps and lanterns with a greenish-white hue.
I had noticed this as the elevator descended, but the mana in the air felt denser, so to speak, more concentrated and pure in a way.
Was this Ozpin's workshop?...
Suddenly, I didn't feel as comfortable here anymore. Damn, confidence was good, getting dissected not so much. I had become more relaxed and let my guard down, something I would rectify.
I prepared in case something happened. Nothing happened. Ozpin wasn't a Magus, and we weren't in FATE.
Still, it was good for me to stay more alert; I had been too confident lately.
"What is this place?" I asked, looking around. "A security chamber in case the school and Vale fall?" The place wasn't large enough to support the entire city, but it could still accommodate a large number of people easily.
"In the past, this location was also made with that in mind, back when humanity wasn't as fortified, scattered in distant villages, not kingdoms." Ozpin explained without breaking his stride.
"Not anymore then." I nodded. At least not for that purpose, since he said 'also'. "What purpose then?..."
My voice trailed off as I felt something, what exactly I didn't know, but it was familiar.
Ozpin noticed the change in my behavior but said nothing as I walked to one of the walls to the left and felt it with my hands.
"Is there something here?" I felt like there was, but the Minimap didn't indicate any room.
It was a vague feeling of something that I could recognize, it was like...
"A spatial distortion? No..." No, not anymore. "Was there a secret room behind this wall before?"
It was a guess based on the sensation I always felt when teleported by the stream, it also somewhat resembled the Travel Spaces the Terrarians used, although different, I had tested some, they were inferior to the VoidBag, but I wanted to study them.
"Your senses are keen." Ozpin praised. "As you felt, there used to be an artificial space behind this wall, but no longer."
"Collapsed? Or did you destroy it?" I asked. I didn't know how difficult it would be to create something like that, in HP it seemed easy, in FATE? True Magic stuff.
"It vanished when I removed the item that sustained the room, so you could say I destroyed it." He explained without many details, but I could see the subtle signal he gave pointing upwards.
The stream? Wasn't that something he wanted to discuss with others listening? Or in this case, Team RWBY and Winter listening...
I'll ask him about it later then.
"As for the purpose this place serves currently, besides being a useful warehouse, it's where that ally I mentioned is currently residing." Ozpin resumed walking.
"You didn't tell me what she has. Amber, right?" I already knew it was, but I asked out of courtesy.
"Yes. As for what she has, well... It's complicated, I'd like you to take a look at her yourself before explaining everything."
"Is it something even you couldn't heal?" By the way he was saying it, it seemed more complicated than just a wound.
"I don't know how much Tyrian told you, but I'm far from being as strong and powerful as I once was." Ozpin sighed. "Much less omnipotent or omniscient. I don't know why, but people tend to think that a lot."
"You exude that air of mysterious old master, that might be why." I shrugged as I glanced at the (CHAT), Dumbledore seemed to compare himself to Ozpin.
Another old man with mystical aura around him.
It didn't take us long to reach where Amber was, a separate room with futuristic devices, at least to me, which seemed to catalog everything and sustain a capsule at the back of the room where the woman lay.
She had a tan skin, just slightly lighter than her dark brown hair. Her eyes were closed, and she wore light clothing, just a cloth wrapped around her chest and waist.
She seemed to be around my age, maybe a few years older.
It took just one look for me to know that the woman had magic, much like Cinder, to be more specific, the mana within her was identical to the mana Cinder had...
"Ozpin... What happened to her soul?"
...It also took just one look for me to know that I couldn't heal her.
I wasn't a soul expert, far from it, but after unlocking my Aura and the experiments I did with Tyrian, I'd like to think I had gained some extra knowledge and senses, senses that told me Amber's soul wasn't doing well at all.
Life potions healed the body, I doubted mana potions would do the same for the soul.
"You've noticed..." Ozpin replied, sounding weary. "We tried what we could to heal Amber, her physical body is fine, but she isn't, no matter how much we try, she won't wake up."
"Losing almost half of one's soul must have that effect on people." I replied with a hint of sarcasm as I approached the capsule where she lay.
It wasn't exactly half of her soul, it was more like the outer half of the soul, where her Aura resided. I couldn't detect the innermost part of the soul, but I knew it existed.
What strange thing was in her soul?...
"Is that a Grimm?" I murmured the question as I squinted. This action didn't help at all, it was more of a habit than anything else.
"Yes. One that we have no knowledge of and couldn't kill without risking Amber's stability." Ozpin explained.
From the context I knew, that was really bad. If Ozpin, of all people, had no information about this thing, that said a lot.
"Will opening this capsule harm her?" I pointed to Amber.
"For short periods, no, since it's the equipment that keeps her stabilized." It was impressive how they had managed to stabilize a wound in the soul. I'll see if I can get this equipment for myself later.
"What do you intend to do?" Ozpin asked as he watched me place my hand on top of Amber's head after he opened the capsule.
"For now, nothing, I just want to see if I can detect anything." Anything beyond what the Analyze: Item had informed me, that is.
-//-
Parasite Grimm: A beetle-shaped Grimm, handcrafted by the Grimm Queen, Salem, with the purpose of draining Aura along with the part of the soul that carries the powers of the Maiden target.
It can switch between physical and ethereal states, being able to interact with the material plane and affect the outer parts of a soul; anything beyond that would damage the Parasite Grimm beyond repair.
-//-
Three hundred thousand SP to analyze Amber were quite expensive, but nothing I couldn't afford, especially after my deal with Serafall.
[Current SP: 7,022,726]
I recovered a good portion of the SP I had spent, so I was in a comfortable place, not that I couldn't charge Ozpin and James for the SP cost later.
I had gained some useful information, but nothing that would be helpful in this current situation, I now knew what was affecting Amber and what her real condition was, but that didn't change the fact that I couldn't help her.
I placed my hand on top of Amber's head and closed my eyes, concentrating.
The moment I probed Amber's body with my energies, I felt the Parasite Grimm's body tense up, and it ceased all movement. In fact, it seemed to have started trembling slightly with fear.
"Disgusting little thing..." It hadn't been created to be very intelligent, but it had good instincts to know that I could easily destroy it.
Which, unfortunately, I couldn't do, since, aside from the machines, the Parasite Grimm also sustained Amber's soul, or almost that.
The parasite had almost created a 'web' in the part of Amber's soul that had been torn out, which was bad, as it could continue living there while 'gnawing' on other pieces of her soul, preventing her from healing, if that were possible.
The good side was that this 'web' was what prevented Amber's soul from starting to collapse due to... Lack of support, let's say, the 'web' acted like a pillar, supporting the soul.
I spent almost an hour probing and seeing what I could do before coming to a conclusion and standing up.
"Good, bad, and awful news." I spoke as I got up. "Which do you want to hear first?" I asked the man who was watching in silence.
"Good news is something rarer, I'll save them for last." Ozpin replied before asking. "What are the awful news?"
"Awful news is that: If I try to help Amber now, I'll end up killing her." Her soul was weak, fragile, if I tried to do anything, she would die.
Ozpin made a thoughtful face before nodding. "What are the bad news?"
"The Parasite Grimm in her soul is something I can crush easily." More than easily. I wanted to do that, actually, to see if I could copy this little guy and create a Nightmare just like him.
"That doesn't sound like bad news to me. What's the catch?" Ozpin asked.
"The catch is that it would also affect Amber. I'm more qualified as a butcher than a surgeon." Both cut, the latter with much more care and delicacy than the former, which wasn't my case.
Anything I tried to do with the Parasite Grimm would end up damaging Amber as well, no matter how delicate I tried to be.
"And that powder? What you used on Jille. Wouldn't it work?" Ozpin suggested.
"It would." I didn't deny. "But Amber would still end up getting hurt more or dying. The parasite is a parasite, but it still sustains her soul."
"We came to that conclusion as well." Ozpin didn't seem surprised by the information. "James's scientists were working on a solution, but progress is slow..." And they didn't have time. Amber didn't have it.
I'd give it about two, maybe three months before the damage became too much for her to bear and for her to heal.
The stream gave less time.
[Time until soul collapse: 1 month and 28 days]
"I don't want to assume anything. But shouldn't you have some knowledge about this?" I asked without specifying if it was about souls or something else.
"Aura, souls in general, have always been something delicate and complicated to learn. I have some knowledge, but I'm not arrogant enough to think that the Queen hasn't set a trap for me, nor am I arrogant enough to think that I'm better at magic than she is." He closed his eyes before sighing.
He was sighing a lot in these last few minutes.
That... was something I hadn't thought about, but it was obvious in a way. I didn't know how long Ozpin and Salem had been facing off, but I knew it had been a long time. The two of them should know each other well.
I also couldn't use Analyze: Item on the parasite, it was in its ethereal form, I needed to touch it to use Analyze: Item, touching only Amber wouldn't suffice.
As much as I could touch the parasite, it would only be if I used mana, spiritual energy, or nightmare energy, and I felt that if I touched the little thing with any of the three, either the parasite would die, or it would flee, and everything would go to hell with either option.
"What's the good news?" Ozpin asked after a few seconds of silence.
"I think I might have an idea on how to save Amber." I continued before Ozpin could get too excited. "I think, just think, I might have an idea, it's not a certainty."
"'Think' is more than what we currently have, I won't complain." Ozpin replied with a certain relief in his voice. "What do you have in mind?"
"For now?" I organized my thoughts a bit. "How's the search for Cinder going?"
"James has put his Ace Ops to search for her. I've also put Qrow on her tail, but so far we haven't had much success." That was bad, expected, but bad.
Cinder disappeared too quickly, and from what Roman had explained to me, she was paranoid, she should have escape plans in case she was discovered.
"Did Winter make a report about my conversation with Roman?" I asked.
"Not very detailed, just that you talked to him and his associates about Cinder." Ozpin replied.
"Let's start with that first then. Roman gave me some locations where Cinder used to meet him and some others where he thinks she might be hiding." I took my phone out of my pocket to transfer the files Roman had sent me.
I highly doubt she's still within the Vale, but it's worth a try, if we found the woman and managed to get Amber's soul back, that would make some things easier. Well, if it's still possible to recover that part, that is.
"As for Amber, well..." I looked at the woman in a coma. "First, we need to find a way to recover, even if just a little, Amber's soul." Weak as she was, even what I had in mind wouldn't work.
"If you can help, it'll be great." Was foreign magic for him? Yes, but screw it if I'm not going to want the help of a millennia-old mage.
"I'll help in any way necessary." He didn't hesitate to respond. Great.
Ozpin plus the voices in my head, aka the viewers of the stream who had knowledge in magic, along with me, should be enough to think of something, especially with Dust included in the mix.
"Let's leave this conversation for tomorrow, it's late already." The stream indicated two forty.
"Tired?"
"Not at all. But my viewers, whom I intend to ask for help, are." I don't want to have a discussion about how to heal a soul with people half asleep.
I chatted a bit with the (CHAT) before saying good night to everyone and turning off the stream.
"I suppose you want to continue this conversation tomorrow?" Ozpin asked me. "About Amber, I mean."
"Yes." I confirmed. "I need to organize some thoughts." Medical subjects were complicated, about the soul? I didn't want to risk anything.
"I still need to print today's lesson report for Glynda. Speaking of which, can I use your printer?" Jarvis had typed everything for me, and I had saved everything on my phone, no way I'm going to write all of that.
"Of course. Shall we go then? We have a long way to go." Oh yes... That elevator...
"Get yourself a good perfume." I followed the man down the hallway. "An air freshener too..."
"I don't think I like what that implies."
"Don't worry..." He'll never find all the pieces of the fish...
[…]
Ozpin ended up convincing me not to break the elevator ceiling and climb the thing with my hands, the fish would still be there, though.
"I hope you like your accommodations," Ozpin said as he opened the door to my room. Or in this case, my dorm.
It was simple, but cozy in a way, a bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, it had few furnishings, but nothing I couldn't fix, not that I needed much, a bed was already good for me.
"As for earlier, about that wall, you didn't want the girls to know what was behind it. Is it something important? Dangerous?" I asked as I pulled a bed out of the Voidbag and placed Millia on one of the pillows.
The little slime, although silent, had been awake and watching everything all day long, she fell asleep the moment her gelatinous body touched the pillow.
"Both, actually," Ozpin replied. "Something so important that it becomes dangerous, even if it's not inherently so." He fell silent, as if contemplating whether he would tell me.
"What do you know about gods, Devas?" He asked me after a few seconds of silence.
"Some things. More than the average, I'd say." Much more than the average, actually.
"Have you met any personally?"
"Not personally, but I've talked to one before." And a demigod too. "Winter didn't tell you about Aqua?"
"Miss Winter told us about the goddess Aqua... Just the way she behaves is different from what I'm used to from a god..." He spoke somewhat confused.
"Aqua has that effect on people." I pointed to the chair as I sat on the bed. "Coffee?"
"Unfortunately, I'll have to decline. I need to sleep tonight, coffee would only hinder." A pity, I don't have that problem.
"You said Aqua was different from what you're used to with a god. I presume that's what put that thing inside you?" I pointed to his chest.
Immortality through reincarnation. Some people would call it a blessing, others a curse, Ozpin seemed to think the latter, I didn't disagree.
"The Brother of Light, yes, but I've also met the Brother of Darkness." His eyes seemed older when he talked about the gods.
I let Ozpin have his little moment, he seemed to be revisiting some old memories.
"The Brothers left Remnant a long time ago, even before the current oldest civilization. But they didn't just leave, in their departure, they made two great acts." Ozpin began to explain.
"One of them is something you can see by looking at the sky right now." The broken moon. "Something for humanity to remember what they lost, the protection of their gods."
I had to restrain myself from scoffing out loud so as not to interrupt.
"The second act was a gift, four items, four relics for humanity to use." Ozpin paused, I spoke at this moment.
"I presume that by you talking about this right now, this key is for a Vault." I confirmed his statement. "Which one?"
"I don't know. The reward said the key was random. One-time use."
"For a single Vault then." He didn't seem disappointed. "Do you know how to open a Vault?"
The logic was that no, I was from another world, but I had an idea.
"The Maidens." It was obvious. Four relics, four seasons. "Which one is Beacon's Vault? Fall?"
"Good guess, both are correct." He confirmed. "Only one Maiden can open a Vault, and Beacon's Vault is, or was, the Fall one." Was? I didn't need to ask.
"I asked Amber years ago, when we found her, to retrieve the relic from the Vault, without the relic, the entire Vault is destroyed, since it's the relic itself that sustains the Vault's dimension." He explained.
"You have the crown then. What does it do?" I took a sip of coffee. "By the name, I would guess something related to the future or the past. A choice already made or to be made." Items that show the future usually aren't very reliable.
"Good guess again." Ozpin smiled and twirled his cane on his lap. "The crown shows the future that your current choice will lead to."
"What's the catch?" There's always one, always with gods.
"The vision is random. You could see tomorrow, or fifty years from now. The visions also occur randomly, only the first use of the crown guarantees one."
"Not very reliable." Especially for me, thanks to my title.
"It's not the most useful relic, I'll admit." He shrugged. "As for whether I have the crown? The answer is no." No?
"No?" How not?! Did he lose it? Trade it for another relic?
"No. I put it in a steel safe and threw it into the sea." I must have made a funny face, since he laughed.
"Why?" It was my only word. There must be some reason.
"One reason. The relics attract each other, whoever holds one knows the direction of the others, it's vague, but it points to where you need to go if you want to have all four at once."
"Something you don't want to happen." He nodded in confirmation.
"The gods also left a mission for humanity, which was that, when ready, they should gather the four relics, this would summon them back for them to judge whether humanity was worthy, then they would walk among them again to be worshipped, or not, then they would destroy it and start over."
Of course it would be some shit like that...
"One of them being at the deepest point of the sea complicates things if someone wants the apocalypse then..." I'm human, I love humanity, that's why I know there would only be one result for this 'mission.'
"It's not impossible to retrieve it, but it's something that will make things difficult." Even more so than having one relic only pointing in the general direction of the others, the general direction of the bottom of an ocean is a lot.
I shook my head amused. This was something I would do too, well, I would have thrown the thing into space, but the sea was good too.
I just hoped that the damn key I had wouldn't open the Vault of the relic that was at the Nemo point of this planet.
"And the other relics, what are they?" I asked.
"Wanting to know what possibilities the relic your key will open?" Ozpin asked amused.
"If I take a relic to another world, hardly anyone will be able to gather the four, right?" It's a win-win here. My heart is pure, I just want to help.
My words only made Ozpin look even more amused.
"I'm not against you taking one of the relics. As you stated, that would take a great worry off my shoulders, but as a resident of this world, I am morally obliged to negotiate with you for it."
"You're not going to offer me the relic for free? How stingy of you." I joked. I already expected something like this actually, it was logical. "What's the price?"
"First of all, I'll state here that the Staff of Creation is not something you'll be able to take." Ozpin spoke in a serious tone.
"Any specific reason for that?" I asked. From his look, it seemed to be serious. "Will I die if I use it? Will someone die if I use it?" The name of the thing was Staff of Creation, if the price for using it was a life I wouldn't be surprised.
"No. The relic has no cost, but only one creation of it can exist at a time." That was better than I thought.
"What's the catch?"
"What currently sustains Atlas in the sky is something created by the relic."
I must have stayed about five whole seconds just in silence, blinking slowly as my brain absorbed the immense stupidity I had heard.
"Atlas... The city in the sky?" I asked.
"Yes."
"The same city that's above another city?" I thought it was a joke when I found out the information.
"Yes."
"I see..." I sighed and took a deep breath. "Whose fucking idea was this shit again?" Damn it, all it took was one Maiden not so good with ideas for a kingdom and a city to go to hell?!
I was sure the relic was well guarded by an army, or at least I hoped it was, but still, what the hell?!
I won't even comment on the fact that Atlas was also anchored in the sky. At least that had the excuse of not being able to 'maneuver' the island and it would be dangerous for the inhabitants.
"That wasn't one of our brightest moments in history, I'll admit that." Ozpin seemed a bit embarrassed.
I nodded. Humanity on Earth had also messed up a lot, I won't point fingers here, even though I should.
"I'm not a genocidal. Don't worry." Even though this relic was something that attracted me, I won't kill two kingdoms for it.
I was just surprised that Ozpin had entrusted me with this information.
With that, two relics had been removed from the poll.
"And the other two?" Mistral and Vacuo are probably next on the list of kingdoms.
"The other two are the Lamp of Knowledge and the Sword of Destruction. As for the Lamp, it allows the use of three questions per century, without being able to ask about the future." Ozpin explained.
Probably useless for me, at least if I take it from Remnant, since that would probably mess up whatever that 'knowledge' is.
Damn it, am I going to end up being forced to melt a relic and create something with it myself, aren't I?
"And the sword? It destroys, but what's the price?" All the relics seemed to have a 'catch,' the sword wouldn't be different.
"Life force. The stronger, more resilient, or powerful the target of destruction, the more life force the sword consumes from the user to destroy it." Useful, actually, especially for me.
If the key doesn't open the Vault of this relic, I'm going to hunt down the Maiden who can open it or break into this thing by force.
"The sword also cannot destroy anything created by the gods." Ozpin added with a bitter smile on his face.
That means the sword can't destroy the 'blessing' he had received, and something told me he had tried exactly that...
Damn it, what a mess...
"You said you would negotiate with me, didn't you?" I asked, trying to dispel the melancholic air in the room. "The price. What's the price of the Lamp and the Sword?"
Ozpin didn't hesitate to answer, it was as if he didn't even have to think, or in this case, had already thought before.
"The same for both, two tickets to the stream." That... Is much cheaper than I thought it would be.
"Just that? I won't complain, but why just that?" I had to ask. Why just that? Ozpin wasn't stupid, he could ask for more.
"I don't think having the opportunity to see other worlds is just a 'Just that.' But if you want to know the reason, it's because I want you to take the relics away." He explained.
"I want you to take them, so the Brothers can never be called back to Remnant. They won't be able to return, at least not if they don't return on their own." They had abandoned the world, something told me their pride wouldn't let them return.
It was the first time since I met Ozpin that I could see such raw emotion in his eyes, anger. It wasn't hard to figure out why.
It lasted only a short time, just a moment, then he was back to his usual serene, calm face.
"I would have given you one of the relics, if not all three except for Atlas for free, but I'm not against getting something in return either." He laughed, as if the anger from before had been just an illusion that I had seen.
I shook my head and ignored what I had seen. Ozpin didn't want to delve into the matter further, so I won't comment on anything then.
"There's a chance the key will open the Vault of Atlas or Beacon." I commented. There was a fifty percent chance the key would be 'useless.'
"Yes. But I don't think it will happen. If it does, well, it happened." Ozpin shrugged before getting up.
"Going?" It was late, but I thought he would ask me to get the key.
"I need to sleep, I haven't done that right in the past week. Coffee and Aura can sustain me up to a certain point before my body collapses." He laughed. "Good night to you, Devas. See you tomorrow, or later today, in this case."
"Night." I raised my hand and waved to him as he passed through the door.
I still had a few things to ask the guy about, about his 'blessing,' Salem, the Maidens, even about the Brothers, but Ozpin was right, it was late, it could wait, I also hadn't slept well in the past week.
In fact, I hadn't slept in the past week, studying the Codex Umbra in WinterHord among other things and even though I wasn't tired, physically or mentally, I wanted to sleep, just to not think about anything for a few hours.
I set my phone to alarm and threw it under the pillow, so it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.
A short night...
... No dreams...
[...]---[...]
Quick notice here: It's currently... 5:40 in the morning, I'm going to sleep and wake up later, it's Sunday and all, but when I wake up, I'll post an extra chapter tomorrow!
With this quick notice in hand, onto the chapter!
Well, Amber's condition isn't an easy fix. Ozpin took Devas there to see if he could do something, maybe a mana potion or Purification Powder? Who knows, but fixing souls is more complicated than that, Ozpin knows, but it wouldn't hurt to try.
Regarding the relics, well. In the grand scheme, two are really useful for Devas, Creation and Destruction.
The Crown shows a future, but that wouldn't work well with Devas, especially outside of Remnant, both of them? Better melt them down and make a weapon.
The same goes for the Lamp. Useful in Remnant? Absolutely, but outside? Not so much. Devas doesn't know about Jinn, not that it would change much. Or maybe it would?
Finally, the two most useful relics. Creation is a no, at least not without genociding a few million people. The sword is something simpler...
The sword wasn't shown in the canon show, mentioned, but not shown, let alone its uses and limitations. I've seen some RWBY fanfics that put limits on destruction, like 3 per century like the Lamp, others that copy creation and make it able to destroy only one thing, and if it's to destroy another, the previously destroyed thing comes back.
I actually found this last one pretty cool, but I ended up going with the simplest and what the Brothers would probably choose. You destroy something, you lose life, life force in this case. Perfect for Devas, that is, if he can get the sword...
Good night everyone and happy reading!
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