We left Higanbana and were on the road again. Once again, it was a boring walk.

Nora: Another day, another adventure.

Ruby: What's on the agenda today?

Jaune: Walking!

Nora: With a side of...?

Ren: Walking.

Ruby: (sighs) Haven is a lot farther away than I thought.

Ren: Ruby? How long did you think this journey was going to take?

Ruby: I don't know! I grew up in a small area; I've never been this far away from home!

Jaune: Right, but... how long?

Ruby: Three weeks?

Y/n: Reasonable, but maybe a little longer. Since it's across the world.

Ruby: A month?

Y/n: Sounds right.

We stopped looking towards each other and back down the road and noticed an upcoming village.

Ruby: Hey, what's that?

Nora gets to a better viewing position on a nearby fence to look at the village.

Jaune: That's strange.

He's checking the map again.

Jaune: I didn't think we'd be hitting another village for a few days.

Nora: Are those buildings... damaged?

Jaune: We should search for survivors!

They ran off while to me it looks incomplete. I grab the map as I quickly join them in the village.

Ruby: Anything?

Nora: Nothing over here!

Jaune: No one over here, either!

Ren: It almost seems like... the town was abandoned.

Ruby looks around while the others go around, feeling unease in the wind.

Nora: Hey, I think I found something!

We all met up on Nora as she was in front of a sign that had the village's name behind some vines that she had moved.

Nora: Oniyuri? Never heard of it.

Jaune: Me neither.

Ren: I have.

We all look towards him as he starts explaining.

Ren: You might think of it as Anima's Mountain Glenn, had it never been completed. Years ago, the richest members of Mistral were unhappy with how the Kingdom was being run. Frustrated with the council, they pooled their resources together to build their own city, with their own laws. They hoped that one day, it could maybe even become its own Kingdom. Many thought it would be the future.

Ren walks away from the us.

Ren: I know my parents did.

Ruby: What happened?

Jaune: The Grimm.

Ren tightens his hands into fists.

Ren: Not just any, one.

Ruby briefly faces Nora in confusion, but Nora doesn't move her concerned gaze away from Ren. Ruby turns back to him.

Ruby: One?

Jaune: Come on. Let's just get through here. This place gives me the creeps.

Y/n: Yeah.

I quickly caught up to Jaune as he was leaving the group to try and get out of the village. As we press on, Ren stops and holds his hand out and soon grabs his weapons, the others follow and ready for a fight. I summon the go-to fallout power armor as I switch to Void Titan Subclass Sentinel. Tyrian lands in front of us as Ren goes straight at him and gets kicked away. I run straight at him as he slashes and tries to push me back.

Y/n: Finally, an actual workout. Mythic deathclaws.

Two deathclaws come appear and join the fray. They come from the sides as he dodges another punch from me as he jumps on my head and launches me into the ground as he launches into the building, breaking its wall. I despawn the armor as I get up

Jaune: We're not looking for a fight!

Ren: Who are you?

Tyrian leans forward, drops from the tower, does a front flip, and lands on his feet in front of us.

Tyrian: Who I am matters not to you. (points to Ren) Or you. (points to Nora) Or you. (Points at me) Or— (cuts himself off and pauses) Well... you do interest me. (pointing to Jaune)

Jaune gasps nervously.

Tyrian: No, I only matter to you.

He points to Ruby, and the rest of RNJR turn to look at her as i keep my eyes on him. She tilts her head in confusion.

Ruby: Me?

Tyrian: (breaks down into laughter) You, you haven't the slightest clue, do you? Oh, how exciting this must be.

Ruby: What do you want?

Tyrian begins acting dramatically in response to her tone of voice.

Tyrian: Oh, the rose has thorns! My little flower, I'm here to whisk you away with me!

Nora: Well, what if she doesn't want to go with you?

He stares for a moment with his lips scrunched up before answering.

Tyrian: Well, I'll take her.

Jaune walks over and stands between him and Ruby, his shield held in front of him.

Jaune: We're not going to let you do that.

Tyrian: Good.

Y/n: Well then, hive portal, vex portal, skiff, and cabal dropship. Ready to fight an army that could make you a bloodstain.

Ruby: Y/n?

The structures appeared as the grunts of the related factions started coming in.

Y/n: Break his aura.

The thralls and warbeasts charged him he was fast at dispatching them, killing them with ease. He quickly charged towards me, slashing whatever gets in his way, still getting shot from the small army. I saw his tail reveal itself as he got right in front of me. I turned on the prototype blade as he managed to punch his tail through my armor and slashed my neck with his wrist bladed weapons.

Ruby: Y/n!

Tyrian starts laughing manicly. He didn't realize I never grabbed wounds as I pulled out Ghost.

Y/n: (Laughing) Ghost heal me.

My wounds were healed as I swung the blade as hard as I could down on his tail, severing it.

Tyrian: Ahhh.

He stumbles backward onto his knees. As he stayed there, I put my hand to his face as all of the factions despawned.

Y/n: Serve me!

Tyrian: Ahhh. (Pause) I'll serve you, my new god.

I took my hand away as he now has a seared handprint on his face.

Ruby: Uncle Qrow?

Tyrian: What do you want of me, master?

I look over and see Qrow getting here.

Y/n: Return to your former master and be my spy. Tell her you poisoned Qrow Branwen.

Tyrian: Yes, I'll return to the goddess I've renounced and keep you updated on her plans.

Ruby: Who?

Qrow: Salem.

He leaves as I turn towards the group.

Nora: Who was that guy?

Ren: How did you get here?

Jaune: Why are people after Ruby?

Ruby: Uncle Qrow? What's going on?

Qrow: What's your favorite fairy tale?

We leave the village and Qrow gives them the explanation on the Maidens.

Qrow: Really? No questions?

Jaune: Of course we have questions. This is just... a lot to take in.

Qrow: (sighing) Sure, of course.

Ruby: So these... Maidens... They're powerful fighters that don't need Dust to use magic.

Qrow: Yeah.

Nora: And there are four of them?

Qrow: Yup. Always.

Ren: Which means that, whenever one of them dies, the power transfers to someone - a female - that they cared about?

Qrow: Whoever was in their thoughts last. Important distinction. Best option is someone we can trust. Regardless, their souls become combined, in a way.

Jaune: And that's what you were trying to do to Pyrrha... the night the tower fell. You were trying to turn her into one of them.

Qrow: The previous Fall Maiden, Amber, had been attacked. She was young, inexperienced. And her assailant, who we now know is Cinder, somehow managed to steal some of her power, but not all of it. We were afraid that if we didn't do something, the rest would go to her as well.

Jaune: (looking angry) So you forced it on Pyrrha.

Qrow: We didn't force anything. We explained the situation and gave her the choice, and she chose. You were there, you heard her.

Jaune: Yeah, and she's only alive because of Y/n.

Ruby: That guy, Tyrian - why was he after me?

Qrow: (sighing) Well, you definitely painted a target on your back with what you did at Beacon. I told you having silver eyes is a rare trait. And the fact that you were able to use them seems to have upset some very powerful people. Not many people know about the silver eyes. Those that do aren't very happy that one has surfaced. That's why I've been keeping an eye on you in order to make sure you were safe. All of you.

Ruby: Well, then, why not just travel with us? It seems like that would've been way easier.

Jaune: He was using you as bait.

Qrow: Look, I wouldn't put it like that - it's complicated.

Jaune: (turning back to face him) What is all of this? Ruby's being hunted, the schools are being attacked, all for what?! What is the point of all of this?! Will you just tell us what's going on?!

Qrow stares at him, then slouches over with a sigh.

Qrow: Not many people are super religious these days.

Qrow caps and sets the flask down.

Qrow: This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real. They were two brothers. The older sibling, the God of Light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the God of Darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go. The older one would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. And at night, his brother would wake to see all the things that the elder had made and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the God of Darkness brought drought, fire, famine, all he could do to rid Remnant of life. Life always returned. So one night, the younger brother went and made something - something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything.

Ruby: The creatures of Grimm.

Qrow: You guessed it. The older brother finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed that they make one final creation... together, something that they could both be proud of, their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow - the path of light or the path of darkness. And that is how Humanity came to be.

Ren: But... what does that have to do with us?

Qrow: Well, that's the kicker. See, the four gifts to mankind - knowledge, creation, destruction, and choice - aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exists in a physical form, left behind by the Gods before they abandoned Remnant, and each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world. That's exactly what the enemy wants. The Huntsman Academies were created to train generations of Humanity's protectors, but they also serve another purpose - guarding the Relics. When Ozpin's predecessor founded the schools, he built them around the Relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would constantly be surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was that hiding them would keep mankind from using them against itself... and, of course, keeping them out of her reach. So yeah, there's that.

Ruby: Her. You mean Salem?

Qrow: That's right. Not much is known about her. Quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the Relics, and if she gets them, it's not going to end well.

Y/n: I'm gonna get some sleep. Bad headache.

Timeskip

I get up and start coughing violently.

Y/n: Anti- (coughs violently) anti- (coughs)

Ruby: Y/n! Ghost, can you do anything?

Ghost appears.

Ghost: No, it's a strong poison that I didn't realize entered his bloodstream.

I continue to cough.

Ghost: Two things will work you killing-

Ruby: No!

Ghost: Then find an antidote.

Y/n: Get (coughs) qrow.

Ruby: Uncle Qrow.

Qrow gets beside me as I see them getting things together to carry me.

Y/n: Let them (coughs) handle themselves. (Coughs) Jump in if they can't handle what they're up against.

I pass out.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Bacca: Alright. I wanted to do the nuckelavee fight but it be to trivial or the exact same due to Y/n thinking they would need to do it themselves keeping Qrow from helping.