RWBY: Beacon

Day Three

“Ah Hydrys, excellent. You are right on time.”

I stepped out of the elevator and inclined my head. “It would be rude to be late given how helpful you’ve been these past few days.” And he really had been. Ozpin was both a wellspring of knowledge and a skilled teacher. His position also lent him an impressive amount of influence and resources that he had readily directed towards helping me. The last few days had been very productive.

Now however, it was time to earn some of what I’d been given. I wasn’t completely clear on what exactly the Headmaster wanted from me, but I’d promised to do my best to assist him, though I had warned him that my abilities in certain areas were likely far more limited than those of the Brother Planeswalkers.

“Still, I appreciate it. I’ve seen just how hard you’ve been working these past few days––if you are willing to put even a modicum of that effort into assisting me, the price will have been more than worth it.”

I shrugged. “I’ll do my best. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to help you, but I am willing to try.”

He smiled. “That is all I ask. In any case, the most crucial task is one I believe you will have no trouble with. The others…we shall have to wait and see.”

As though to punctuate his words, the other elevator that led to Ozpin’s high office dinged and slid open, revealing a much plainer metal box than the elaborately decorated public lift. Ozpin stepped inside and extended an arm out to stop the doors from closing behind him, gesturing for me to join him.

I followed him into the elevator, far more relaxed than I would have been several days ago. At this point, I was pretty sure that Ozpin didn’t wish me any harm. I represented too valuable a resource for him to risk me just deciding to leave.

I’d learned a lot in the past few days. New magic and how to use my newly-unlocked aura of course, but also about Remenant’s past and present. It wasn’t a particularly pretty picture. I hadn’t realized it at first, but the people on this plane were not in a good position at all. Grimm outnumbered Huntsman by a truly ludicrous margin, and, as far as I could tell, only apathy had saved mankind from extinction centuries ago. The Grimm simply didn’t bother wiping them out, even though they almost certainly could if they chose too.

With all factors remaining constant, there was no feasible way that Ozpin could ever actually win. There were simply too many Grimm and too few people capable of fighting back. Furthermore, Grimm did not die of old age and simply grew more and more powerful year by year. Huntsman could and did die. Bright flames snuffed out one by one while the darkness grew and grew without end.

I however represented a confounding variable, an opportunity to upend the current order and change the grim future facing him. I wasn’t currently strong enough to really make a difference, but I was pretty sure that Ozpin was hoping that, if he could build up enough good will now, I would come back in the future when I was that powerful.

There was more to it than that, I was pretty sure, but I wasn’t sure what else Ozpin wanted from me. He’d been slightly hazy on the details during our initial negotiations, something I’d allowed because of how relatively generous he was being. Well, I was pretty sure I was about to find out what it was, so there was no point agonizing over it. If the cost was too high, I could always just leave. I’d gotten most of what I wanted already, after all. That and more, even.

I flexed my hand and pale green light flecked with silver shimmered faintly over my skin. Even after several days, I still wasn’t used to the sensation of Aura wrapped around me like a comforting blanket. Aura was so much more than I had initially suspected. It was not just some shield enchantment or fancy spell, but rather a part of me that I had never known could exist.

As far as I could tell, Aura was literally the light of the soul made manifest. Damaging did not damage my soul directly, thankfully, but as my proficiency with it slowly grew, it began to infuse my every action in a way that was incredible to feel and impossible to describe. I felt like I was…more. More than I had been.

It reminded me, oddly enough, of a line from a muggle film that Zatanna had taken me to see. ‘Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.’ I’d always known on an intellectual level that my soul was the core of my being, the seat of the essence that made me, well, me, but now I could literally feel that distinction. I was a soul with a body and a mind. Not just meat and bone, but something that was so much more.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Your progress controlling your Aura is commendable,” Ozpin said softly, breaking the silence that had filled the elevator. “It takes most of our students weeks or even months to reach the level you have achieved after just a few short days.”

I shrugged. “I have excellent teachers, and it is not so different from some of the magic I’ve learned. A new muscle, yes, but not wholly an unfamiliar one.” And it was true. Magic too, like aura, was something that came from the soul. That was how my Spark was able to allow me to use any form of magic, near as I could tell, and not just the single type that I as a wizard was naturally born with. The exercises I’d learned to train my Hydromancy and Order magic were not fully applicable to Aura, but they were a step in the right direction.

“Even so. Have you had any luck identifying your semblance?”

I frowned and shook my head. “Not yet.” And it was really starting to eat at me. When I had first learned what a Semblance was––a unique ability born from a person’s soul and personalized to them––I was incredibly interested. Then I’d learned that there was no catch-all method by which someone’s semblance could be found and identified, and that many people never discovered theirs. Even some veteran huntsmen went their entire careers without once stumbling on whatever unique ability they had the chance to possess.

“It will come with time. Forcing the issue will not help. It never does.”

I hummed noncommittally. Ozpin was almost certainly right, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.

The elevator finally slid to a stop and opened, revealing a long, brightly lit hallway lined with doors. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all a blank, shiny white and it was completely silent except for the hum of the lights.

Ozpin led me half-way down the hallway, then opened a door and stepped inside. The room beyond was small and reminded me slightly of the hospital wing back at Hogwarts. There was a row of beds with white sheets, cabinets on the walls, and, near the center of the room, a metal and glass pod with a young, brown skinned woman resting within it with her eyes closed. Horrible scars covered one side of her face and her face was twisted into a rictus of pain.

Ozpin stared silently at the woman, an inscrutable expression on his face. Then he turned to me. “This is Amber.” He paused. “Do you remember the story of the seasonal maidens that I told you during our second meeting?” I nodded. “Well, this is one of them. My Fall Maiden. Or well, what is left of her.”

“Oh?”

Ozpin’s lips narrowed into a thin line. “She was attacked on the road and taken by surprise. The attacker used some method to tear the power I invested in my Maidens from her, but was interrupted before they could take it all by one of my agents. Still, Amber was left seriously injured and…” he sighed heavily. “I am not sure what I can do to help her. I was hoping that you might be able to do something for her.”

I nodded slowly. “I’m…not sure what I can do, but I’ll certainly give it a go. This might take a while, and I’ll need to examine her before I try anything.”

“I would expect nothing less.” Ozpin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “There is another thing, however, that I would ask you to assist me with first. It is a…delicate matter. One that I would ask you to keep secret from all on this world, even your companion.”

Ozpin led me out of the room and further down the hallway until we reached the second to last door. This one was sealed with more than just a lock and key. I could feel the magic radiating off the door, and Ozpin took several seconds to temporarily lift the protections on the room before leading the way inside.

It was a small office. There was a desk, a few chairs, some bookshelves, and a cabinet. On one wall hung a portrait of two people, a man and a woman, sitting in the grass beside a small cottage. Ozpin shut the door behind us, then took a seat, gesturing for me to do the same.

He dived right in without any preamble. “When the Brothers left us, they did not depart together. The Dark brother left immediately, but our God of Light remained for a time. Before he left, he gifted me four treasures. Relics, he called them. On their own, each is powerful, but together…He claimed that, if all four are brought together, the Brothers will return and judge us again. Once and for all. I do not believe such a judgment would end well for Remnant.”

I immediately understood the idea. “Ah, I see.”

Ozpin smiled. “I do not believe the relics should ever be united, but certain others do not agree with me. I have protected the four relics for countless years, but each day I fear that those who seek to use them draw closer and closer to their goals. I would ask that, when you leave this plane, you remove that temptation. Permanently.”

It sounded like a good deal to me. I liked the sound of powerful relics crafted directly by these ancient planeswalkers. “Sounds like a sound plan to me. I’d be happy to assist you.”

Ozpin smiled. “Good. Very good.” And then he opened the cupboard behind his desk and withdrew a very familiar looking lamp. I’d seen it's like just a few days ago, except that one had been cast from solid gold. “This is the Relic of Knowledge. Once every hundred years, it is capable of answering any three questions. I can not say how reliable it will be beyond the bounds of Remnant, but I wish to never see it again. I’m afraid you’ll have to learn how to use it for yourself.”

Fair enough.

And then he handed it to me. Just like that. I nodded firmly. “I’ll make sure you won’t. No one on here ever will.” I slipped the lamp into my expanded bag and Ozpin looked like an immense weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

“Thank you, Hydrys. This means more to me than you could possibly know.”

“I’m always happy to help.” Especially when ‘helping’ meant being given powerful magic items. If only it was always so easy.