My blade is my soul, and it shall sever my enemies. I recited my grandfather's mantra in my head, as I need it for the coming battle. Once again my home is under attack, and once more, there are no Huntsmen to protect us.

"If only you were here," I look towards my grandfather's portrait - A strong long-haired blonde man in white and gold armor that even a king would admire - and let out a heavey sigh. "But you're not." And thus I grabbed my sword and headed out of my home, towards the chaos.

The town of Randel was once a peaceful border town that separated the Mystral kingdom from the armies of Grimm in the west, and served as one of the great frontiers of the expeditions to the Grimm infested lands. But as time went on, the talented Huntsmen and Huntresses soon gave up on the west after many casualities at the hands of extremely powerful Grimm.

With the Huntsmen gone, the Grimm surrounding the area have grew stronger and attacked constanly, causing the people of Randel to retreat farther and farther towards the east, but not before countless deaths of commonfolk just trying to defend their families. After all the chaos, the great City of Randel has been reduced into the size of a small village.

My blade is my soul, and it shall sever my enemies. I repeat my grandfather's mantra again, hoping I would bring me solace. I found none.

The town's homes were set ablaze by the attacks, and the fire became to big to put out. Some of the town's men had already gone to face against the Grimm.

"Jaune, get your sisters and evacuate with your mother." I feel a hard slap on my shoulder come from behind me as my father stopped me in my tracks.

He was about in his late forties, had a more darker blonde hair than mine, and to my surprise he was wearing granpa's white and gold armor, and strapped on the armor's belt was also my grandfather's sword and sheathe. the expression he gave me was even more of a shock...he wasn't a serious person at all, but right now, he glared at me with intense authority that I could not ignore or look away, but seeing his eyes, I knew what his intentions were.

"I'm not gonna let you fight alone!" I rebelled for the first time. How couldn't I? I wansn't gonna let him go on a suicide mission.

"I won't be alone Jaune, the other fathers are with me," He removed his hand from my shoulder, and as I turned I saw thirty other men about his age. There were less than ten of them, and their faces told me that they were prepared to die. "Randel had already fallen long ago." He gave me a sigh and walked passed me. "I know that you know how to use a sword, but I won't let you come with us to die."

"Die?! What are you talking about you dumb old man?! We'll kill the Grimm attacking, and rebuild our homes!" I raised my voice to rebel against his wishes, but my eyes were already in tears. 

As the Grimm finally appeared, and the men armed with pitchforks and poorly made swords charged back at them, miracuously keeping them at bay...for now atleast.

It was then I finally realized the severity of the situation.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Rendel had only thirty families living in it, and none of us were trained Huntsmen. The nearest sanctuary that would accept any refugees was miles away. The Grimm hunt and crave the flesh of man, so to buy them time...the only idea the men had was to sacrifice themselves in order to buy time for their families to escape and find refuge.

"Please son," His expression changed from serious to such a saddened state that I could not describe. "Just -"

He was interrupted by the sound of a lion's roar and the flapping of giant wings. I look to the skies, and even in the dead of night the flames from our burning homes provided me enough light to see the Grimm, and it was a monstrocity. The creature was pitch black in color, it had the body and head of a lion, wings of a gigantic bat, and a tail of an enormous scorpion.

Not a second later, it descended - right next to us. With such force, the great impact of if was enough to knock us both prone. It's stong, it's fast, and very smart. As it left a small crater on the ground from where it landed, it quickly found the gap on the armpit area in my dad's armor, and immediately attacked with its tail, injecting venom in my father's bloodstream, causing the veins on his arms and face to turn black.

"Dad!" I was only a few feet away. I wasn't thinking, I had my sword, and my father just got attacked by this Grimm. With my eyes in tears, and my throat yelling as loud as it can, I ran towards it as fast as I could. 

My blade is my soul, and it shall sever my enemies. Granpa, I hope you're watching.

I felt weightless for a few seconds as I put all my strength into one swing at the Grimm, but I felt no impact. As I began to halt, I realized that the scorpion tail that had impaled my chest. "I should've worn some armor...." I began to cough blod. "How stupid of me." I was sure that I'd feel pain, but I didn't feel anything. 

I turned around, and saw the Grimm, and found it was slashed on the side of it's torso, and it was impaled with my blade. The beast roared with pain as it thrashed around - dragging me along with it. Tossing me around like some lifeless doll, I'm sure I got hurt somewhere...probably everywhere, but I still felt no pain. 

A few more minutes of thrashing in pain, it then finally succumed to its wound. Meling into a black tar susbstance, and leaving bones behind. The tail finally dissapeared, as I was expecting to find a gaping wound on my chest, you could only imagince my face once I saw that aside from my torn clothes, I was completely fine.

"Jaune.." I hear a raspy voice.

"Dad?" 

Then I saw him. Laying on the floor with the veins on his face now completely black. I checked the surroundings to make sure if it was safe, and It had seem to have quieted down. Rushing to him, I felt all the more uselsess. I knew from one close look that he woudn't make it, and so....I waited.

After that, I just stayed beside him, and help eventually came. The nearby cities had dispached some Huntsmen and Huntresses, but they were too late. They killed some of the Grimm, but a lot of homes had already been destroyed, people had been killed - one of whom was my dad. When I went to look for my mother and sisters, I turned up with no results. The Huntsmen told me they must have fled far away from the borders of the Mystral kingdom, or where somewhere hiding in the forests, in either case, I don't know where the remaining memebers of my family are.

I was now separated from my family and had nowhere else to go. "Become strong Jaune, you're m--our legacy." I remembered his last words to me. I knew I had to find my family, but I was too weak, I can't fight Grimm as I am now.

 There's only one place to go.

 Mystral's Huntsmen Academy wouldn't ever let me - a commoner, a refugee - enter their walls. Knowing that, I grabbled what I could: The parts from the armor my dad was wearing, most of it was damaged and only the top half was usable. The sword and scabbard the belong to my granpa - the one that my dad never got to use. I prepared some money and food for the trip as well. 

To Beacon Academy.