I've been debating whether or not I want Sova to find himself in Mistral or Atlas. I ended up picking Atlas as it was a lot like Sova's country of origin, Russia.

I wanted Sova to have been transported in Mistral, that way he'd be able to meet with young Ren and Nora and take them under his wing. I decided against it.

- Into the night.

It was freezing.

And a completely different feeling to what being consumed by the spike's explosion felt like.

It was almost nostalgic, the rush of wind and hailing snow reminding him of his younger years in the freezing forests of Russia.

But he couldn't have been in Russia. Right?

Sova was breathing. His face wasn't charred, with no bruises, scrapes or cuts on his skin. No bullets wounds either, he realised.

His left arm was back, and so was his sleeve which had been torn off as well. He had everything, his clothing, tech, and weapons, as well as a backpack he didn't remember ever carrying.

One Operator, one sheriff, one bow and a quiver full of arrows.

It was as if he wasn't just battling for his life not five minutes ago.

Was this the afterlife? Well, Sova thought so.

He wasn't religious by all means, but he never expected the afterlife to look like this, he expected there to be nothing but an endless plane of black surroundings, with nothing to do but sit and watch the endlessness of the void.

He was glad it wasn't like that.

He placed his hand on the ocean of snow that surrounded him, the heat from his skin quickly dying, an ice-cold feeling soon in its place. Next to him lay his weapons and quiver.

He knelt with his hand still buried underneath the inch of snow, his boots squealing as they rubbed against frozen bits of dirt and ice.

He stared into the sky for what felt like hours, no signs of life besides the looming trees surrounding him, and the distant howls of wolves as well. He wasn't alone in the afterlife, it seemed.

It gave him time to think, what was going back on his Earth? Did his surviving teammates successfully retreat? What was Brim doing right now? And what were the rest of his fellow agents, friend and foe, thinking.

He shouldn't have felt bad, he accepted death the moment their team's only healer was gone, embraced it even.

But why did it hurt?

He tried his best to ignore the feeling in his throat, and the single tear that quickly froze on his cheek.

"Skrrrrrrrrr..."

His stargazing and thoughts were interrupted by a noise, a mixture of a deep growl and the scrape of something rough. Its growl was deeper than any animal he had hunted, and his back had been turned to the source of the sound.

Whatever made that sound, couldn't have been any smaller than a bear.

His eyes darted to his sheriff, its pistol grip still sticking out from the snow, he didn't dare move, not until that thing made the first sign of it.

It glared at him, he could feel it. The supposed dead man's finger twitched, pulling the trigger of a gun he didn't have right now. The same gun that just so happened to be only an arm's length next to him.

Calming his breathing, Sova relaxed his muscles, he cleared his mind, taking notes of the surroundings and what weapons he had. He planned out his next move, what he'd do, how he'd do it and when he'd do it.

He then moved in a blur, turning 180 degrees, pulling the sheriff out of its snow holster in a blur.

It was dark, but with the light of the shattered moon shining down on the two beings, Sova could make out some features of the creature, its huge frame, its monstrous claws, its sharp teeth, and its eyes.

Red eyes filled with so much anger, so much hatred, so much distaste that Sova could've mistaken them for Reyna's.

It took a whole second for the creature to realise, using this to his advantage, he pulled the trigger six times. The trees and snow illuminated in flashes of yellow light, a deafening bang echoing throughout the forest, startling any creature attempting to sleep.

And grabbing the attention of the ones who didn't need it.

The beast could only move one step, its bone covered head riddled with bullet holes, a dark red liquid spilling out of each one, staining the snow carpet in red.

He let his arm drop to the ground, the empty gun pointing toward the ground, small trails of smoke floating out of its chamber.

He let out a breath he hadn't realised was being held in, staring at the beast that had started to dissolve into nothing.

That was new.

It was like a darker, bigger and grimmer version of Skye's summons, they dissolved into what could only be compared to green sparks. That animal, if you could even call it that, was different, it dissipated and floated upwards, like black ash guided by the wind.

Sova quickly grabbed the bag and his sniper rifle, eyes darting left and right for any signs of movement and unusual noises in the forest.

The sudden rumbling of an army of giant limbs stomping together, and the dozens of red eyes were the final nail in the coffin. Sova could only stare in horror and shock as he was face to face with almost a hundred. beasts.

"Дерьмо"

/Hunter/

He ducked under a black arm, with the thickness of a tree trunk and with force strong enough to have reduced his head and torso into nothing but red mist. He weaved through the forest, jumping and vaulting over obstacles, whilst side-stepping and sliding under claws and jaws promising a very quick but gory demise.

His bleach blonde hair, now covered in grime and snow, flew behind him like a horse's tail. His sniper rifle, now strapped around his shoulder to his waist, bounced with each step of his metal-tipped combat boots, leaving behind a trail of human-shaped footsteps.

Which paled in comparison to the enormous paw prints left behind by the black beasts.

Only sixty minutes earlier was he stargazing in the middle of nowhere.

Only thirty minutes earlier did he realise he wasn't alone in the woods.

And only ten minutes earlier did he start running from these things.

Was this hell? Was this some deity's way of punishing him for the sins he had committed in his past life? By forcing him to run away from monstrous beasts for all eternity?

Grunting, the hunter grabbed a shock dart and stabbed it into one of the giant wolf-like creatures that chased him, it screamed in pain as its insides were cooked by the dart's energy, sparks of blue lightning dancing around its body as yet another monster dissolved into black mist.

His muscles ached, his throat burned, bells rang in his head, his vision started to blur and fade into black. Was he seriously going to die a second time?

And then it happened.

His feet were no longer digging into the snow, nor was there even snow or any ground underneath him.

Beneath him lay a black abyss, one big enough for him to fall through, but small enough to keep those creatures out. He tried to grab onto the edge of the hole, but the snow made it almost impossible for him to get a good grip on it. His arms were torn and overworked, barely functioning and struggling to even move, turning back he saw the dozens of eldritch beasts that chased him, growing bigger and bigger as they got closer to him.

He looked down, eyeing the nothingness below him.

And with one final view of the black brutes, he let go.

/Hunter/

Sova rolled down an icy slope, slowing down after travelling a few metres.

He laid there, arms spread out and breathing heavily, his eyes stared up at the midnight sky, and the pieces of snow that floated down onto his face.

He was so tired, and he felt like he was dying once again.

Groaning, he turned to his side, eyes heavy and muscles numb. But once again, he wasn't alone.

This time, however, instead of being greeted by the sight of hateful red eyes, he was greeted with silver.

Two silver eyes stared at him with fear and hope.

Gee, I wonder who that silver-eyed person could be...

The new RWBY Ice Queendom trailer looked sick btw, can't wait to watch it!