Chapter 90: Interim 6 Months Part 5
Emerald is approached by an eccentric old man with a long mustache and a book in his hands on her way home one night after a patrol. And that moment would change her future.
She had been heading home after her annual neighborhood watch. She had just handed off the stolen merchandise from one of the stall owners to the guard stationed for that exact reason. Passing an alley Emerald saw a man doing a puppet show to children who were fascinated by the uniques story. Emerald didn't have anything important to get to so she decided to stay and watch.
The story was of a man and woman who came from two opposing families. One was a human family and the other was a Faunus family. Their love was forbidden but they decided to fight fate and elope. But the story took a dark turn as the final scene came about. The woman who had decided to use a sleeping draft to simulate death to escape her family awoke much later after all the important events happened. The boy she loved was on the ground dead. She cried at the cruel hand of fate and decided to take her own life to be with him in the afterlife.
The man seeing the sad looks on the children seemed to come to a decision. He didn't stop talking even as he walked behind the booth and things began to change. The stand seemed to shimmer ever so slightly not enough to distract the enraptured children but visible to someone who had sharp eyes. Emerald saw it and recognized it as something like her own semblance.
The man continued to speak even as the new creature appeared and cried upon the two lovers. It was a beautiful ruby red Phoenix. It had seen the tragedy and decided to change fate as the two lovers wanted. The two lovers stood up, embraced and walked off into the distant sunlight as the mans words resounded, "And so Romeo and Juliet freed from deaths grasp decided to live the lives they wanted now free of Fate's strings."
The children cheered for the stories ending and happily clapped even as the Phoenix continued to fly in a figure eight into front of the children. The man looked at Emerald before he winked. Emerald shifted as she looked around but no one was standing near her position against a stand wall. She squinted wondering what the man had up his sleeve.
As he turned his head back to the crowd the Phoenix flew out into the crowd, imaginary flames following behind it. It circled the crowd before it shot up into the air and exploded in a spectacular explosion of red, orange and yellow colors.
The cheers redoubled from the children and adults watching. As one they raced forward and put lien into the hat that was sitting on the ground near the mans feet. Emerald didn't move from her spot as she waited to speak with the man. If his power was like hers he could have some suggestions on how to make hers even stronger. It was a great opportunity but also a risk as she didn't know anything about the man or his background. But she was limited in her options at the moment due to her education level.
She didn't go to school like other kids her age did when she was younger. For this reason she had a hard time getting into one of the training academies. But she had been working hard with Ebon and his wife to get up to snuff for the entrance exams. For now she worked hard to bring up her reputation and interact with the right people. She had been getting a lot of help from the guards so she was making good progress in her opinion, but until she could pass the entrance exams she would have to grind her skills in the ways she knew how. And any tips and tricks she could scrounge up.
The crowd had cleared out and the man was looking into his hat with a small smile on his face as if remembering something from the past. She waited for a few moments before she cleared her throat bringing the man out of his mental daze.
"Ah, yes my dear? What can this humble playwright do for you?" The man said as he looked up after shaking his head.
"You were using illusions to do the whole play weren't you?" Emerald asked.
"Oh ho, caught that did you? Good eyes on you milady. Yes this is a part of my...semblance. It allows me to recreate anything I write giving life to the words." The man said as he put the hat in the crook of one arm while twirling his mustache with another.
Emerald's eyes widened. That was an impressive ability but also somewhat lacking if he had to write it down first. "It is an amazing semblance! Though it has to be pretty limiting if it is only what is written. I have one that is similar. I can recreate things so that someone doesn't even notice what they see is not real."
"Oh? Interesting. I would love to see this in action but I will have to ask for a rain check. I am currently looking for a certain place." The man said as he placed the hat on his head like there was nothing in it. Emerald expected to see money fall out but nothing did.
Emerald squinted as she realized the man had been using his semblance to hide the location he put the money on his person. And she didn't even notice. Emerald became on guard at realizing this but seeing the sincere look of the man she relaxed. He didn't look the type for any kind of physical confrontation should it come to that so she responded asking, "What is the location you were looking for?"
"I am looking for NAV Fabrication. It seems my boss sent me here as a tutor for someone." The man said as he picked up his suitcase that was against the wall of the alley way he had been using as a backdrop for his stand. Speaking of the stand it evaporated right in front of Emerald leaving a wide open alleyway before her.
"I have a feeling you didn't explain everything your semblance does sir." Emerald said as she side eyed the man.
"And you didn't explain everything about yours my dear." The man smirked as he bowed slightly. "Now if you will excuse me I must find this location before it becomes too late."
Emerald smirked as she felt like she could come to like this man. "Touché. There is no need to go looking. I know where NAV Fabrication is located. You can follow me. I am heading that way as well."
The man bowed as he said, "Thank you young miss. Allow me to introduce myself. I am William Shakespeare, playwright extraordinaire. I hope this will be the beginning of very wonderful tale with a wonderful young lady as the lead." He did a courtly bow as he swept his hat before him as he bent his back with one leg slightly forward and bent.
Emerald couldn't help but smile as she returned a courtesy in her long cloak that she wore when she went out. "Your words are flattering sir. I am Emerald Ebon. The beginning of a wonderful tale indeed. I just hope you don't plan on placing yourself as the male lead. Now lets go. You don't want to be on the streets past a certain point unless you are able to keep sticky hands away."
"Hohoho, as you say milady. I would never be so presumptuous. After all there is already a fine male lead for this story." William said with s knowing smirk as he followed his new charge to her home and his newest story.
Vlad continues to search for the hidden clans of Faunus. He has been on the road for months but he has not found any sign of any of the clans. It is as if they disappeared from the face of the world. But word from the Norse Pantheon was that they had become a secretive bunch hiding themselves away after the Dark Age past and the Faunus were turned into the new enemy that the humans had to deal with. As they didn't want conflict with the humans they decided to hole themselves away. But it seems they were experts evasion and espionage as even the Valkyries of the pantheon could not find word or sight of the reclusive clans for centuries. But there were plenty of tales in the history books about secretive dark clothed Faunus that appear before, during and after a great events that affected the world.
But thinking of the Valkyries failure made him think of the gods and their whole reveal a few months ago.
Vlad still could not come to terms with the gods of the past finding their way to other worlds. It was obvious after a little thought but the legacy of the gods left an important impact on their original world. So it is hard to see them being able to fully separate from their original world. After all Vlad still felt the pull of his other half. The lasting effect of his other legend is leaving him with the feeling of vibrations on his soul like a sting on a guitar being strummed.
This being the case Vlad came up with the theory that the gods had left behind echoes of themselves that could be used as summoning circles of a sort so they could return if needed. But Vlad could not disparage their choice of world as this was a world filled with endless combat from what he had seen and understood from the history classes Jaune had taken.
Perfect for gods who created Valhalla for Ragnarok. A practical heaven for warriors. Of a sorts.
Vlad snorted to himself as he rode his horse down the trail around the mountain he had been searching for. Looking around Vlad could not see any signs of habitation let alone any communities as large as the clans were known to be. This was hardly surprising as he was in an area of the deep, deep Wild Lands. He had been told that the clans were like assassins or ninjas depending on how you looked at it. Vlad for some reason felt a call to find these people. Maybe it was his need to lead.
Maybe it was to prove himself useful to his master.
Any way he looked at it Vlad felt he needed to do this so he followed his instincts.
Or it could be something from his other half.
Vlad shook his head throwing that thought away as fast as it appeared. The horse snorted at the motion. Vlad smiled as he leaned down and rubbed the neck of his steed. After about four hours of searching Vlad finally found something. It was small and nearly unnoticeable if one was not looking from the right angle. On the wall of the mountain cliff behind bushes was the carvings of what could only have been made by children.
Vlad jumped down from his horse and stepped up to the wall pushing the bushes away. He looked intently at the drawings. It was a picture of what could be a human with bat wings, a minotaur, a leviathan from the sea, a invisible outline of a person sneaking and a finally a monkey tailed human that lead the others to a new land. From the drawing that was pretty extensive Vlad could see that they moved on the regular from one location to another.
Vlad smiled as he saw this. He was on the right track now he just needed to keep his perception at its maximum until he finds the clans he was searching for. It would not be as hard as he expected especially if the leviathan was anything to go by. As they needed water he had to find a large enough lake or place near the ocean to find the clans. Looking off into the distance Vlad saw the lake that bled out into the ocean not far away.
"I might need a ship in the future." Vlad said to himself even as his steed snorted at him in derision. The horse's eye said something like, 'Not doing it man. No way. You are on your own.'
Vlad laughed as he set back to the closest location that sold boats. He had quarry to hunt. Vlad smiled showing his canines that shined in the light of the day.
Not far away the last of the beowolves fell to the ground as the stakes holding them up flowed back into the ground. The massive pack was wiped out in a split second as a forrest of stakes punched up from the ground the puncture their bodies all over. A large cloud of black smoke filled the sky all along the direction Vlad had been traveling. The hunter would not be stopped by the beasts of this land.
Besides a vampire didn't share its quarry with anyone.
Tama and Artoria met up after a few months.
Artoria had searched the extensive library of the Valkyries and found a few locations of note that were said to contain powerful enemies as well as magical equipment from the distant past. She couldn't think of any reason she couldn't find these places and search. Plus she wanted a battle after so long. Sparring only got the blood flowing so much. This was a characteristic she had passed onto her daughter that she regretted not finding a solution for. As a king is not to have a battle oriented mind or their kingdom will know only war.
For Artoria it was an important thing to have at the time since the Fae, the Gaelic and Celtic gods were playing their games with her kingdom in the middle of the board. It was an important aspect to have when fighting beings so strong, who had endless patience and nearly endless subordinates to answer their call. But by the time Mordred should have been chosen as the next king she had already fallen to her battle lust and the sickly sweet words of her mother.
Artoria shivered as she thought of the witch and her schemes. It had he greatest threat she dealt with in her life. Not gods, not Fae, a human witch had brought down the kingdom she had built and ruled. Artoria shook her head and headed to the inn she had spoken of to Tama before the split up.
Artoria had already searched the sights she had put on her map. Beside a large snake like grimm that spat out smaller versions of itself and a giant golem she hadn't met any real threats. But it was relaxing to return to the road after so long cooped up.
Now she felt refreshed and ready to train Jaune even more in the future. Plus her stomach was screaming for his food once again. Jaune's skill at cooking had reached the point she could hardly differentiate the taste from Shirou's cooking in the other world. So she looked forward to it each time he made something for them. For now she had to eat the new exotic foods of this world though, while good they didn't hit the spot like Jaune's or Shirou's cooking.
As she was thinking this Artoria's stomach growled as she stepped up to the door of the inn. The smells of the food were wafting out the windows and leading her forward by her nose. Entering she examined every person in the bar giving them a ranking of threat. Only a few stuck out but her attention was grabbed by the wildly waving fox Faunus that was seated at a table with two drinks and a massive array of food.
Artoria didn't exactly run to the seat as that was unbecoming of king but her steps did increase as she made her way over.
"How was the treasure hunt?" Tama asked as Artoria sat down.
Artoria mumbled a few words as she dug into the spread before her with gusto.
"Right. I forgot how you can't think or talk when you eat." Tama said as she picked up her glass sipped at the brown liquid. "At least they have tea leaves in this world. I don't know what I would have done if they didn't." Tama spoke to herself.
About fifteen minutes later Artoria sat poised and lightly tapped her lips with her napkin. Everyone's eyes were fixated on the beauty who had just devoured four of the largest meals in the inn. The men looked on in awe while the women looked on with disgust and not a little bit of jealousy seeing Artoria's fair skin and small physique. Tama just smiled as she looked at the ex-king before her.
"You know you aren't a noble anymore. You can loosen up." Tama said as she sipped her second cup of tea.
Artroia looked at Tama with a serious expression as she stated, "A knight should never show poor decorum no matter where they are."
Tama chuckled as she pointed to her cheek while looking at Artoria. "Yeah of course your highness." A wide smile filled her face as she watched Artoria blush coloring her whole face as she wiped away the food there. "You are so cute when you do that." Tama said with a lazy smile at Artoria.
Artoria cleared her throat as she spoke up. "So what did you find in your search?"
"Aww. You are no fun." Tama said as she sat back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling looking past the wood and the material to look into the vastness of space. "My other self had herself a party in this world from what I can tell."
Tama said as she looked back down to Artoria who raised a brow at these words. "It seems she came across the Monkey King who was wandering around after escaping from his prison back on Earth. While he was here they had fun leading the Faunus to survive in the beginning. And it seems he started a family line here. The Sun Wukong family. It seems this family split some centuries ago.
"One part of the family became one of the clans that Vlad is looking for, while the rest stayed in society and participated in the wars of the past few centuries. Since my other half didn't want to do that she fell in love with Jaune's ancestor. The rest you know. Besides this she has also played a part in the development of of Mistral and its culture as she loved the place she called home for millennia before she started her wandering. Though she is never directly spoken of, you can tell by reading between the lines that a powerful woman at different times and ages led the development of Mistral's culture."
"I see. She wanted to see something from the home she left behind." Artoria said.
"Ha, hardly. She probably thought it would be funny to pull one over on the two young gods of this verse." Tama said chuckling deprecatingly. "Now how was your search? Any nice valuables?"
"I was able to find some ancient ruins in the locations the Norse Gods spoke of. I had a few good fights with the grimm there. They were some of the biggest I have seen so far. Each of them had the capability to create their own spawn to cause a distraction. But they are at a higher level compared to the normal ones that surround the kingdoms. It seems they embed themselves around old ruins where kingdoms have fallen. I believe they are there for another reason as well." Artoria said as she looked at Tama.
"Oh why do you say that?" Tama asked looking at Artoria with squinted eyes, her mind spinning up suggestions and puzzle pieces to connect.
"There I found that there are ancient scriptures speaking of four heavenly maidens who brought about great prosperity to the kingdoms they called home. I also found out that they seemed to follow as set cycle, as their name implies. The spring maiden will appear in one place for whatever length of time it took for a kingdom to born or reborn from a rebellion or something similar, followed by the other three over a long or short period of time depending on the kingdom or empire.
"In those times the country they were located in would follow the seasons. Spring for birth or rebirth, summer for expansion and prosperity, fall for the slow decline of the kingdom, and winter the destruction of the kingdom in question. From my understanding the maidens did this pretty often in the past few millennia. But after a certain point the people in control caught on and began to hunt down the fall and winter maidens whenever they appeared as they were called ill omens. But the people quickly learned that this was the worst mistake they could make as any who attacked the maidens were wiped out without mercy." Artoria said as she gazed off in to the distance remembering the Fae and their two courts ever at each other throats even if they were a part of nature.
Tama blinked as she heard the story and things started to fall into place. "Was there anything else?"
"Yes there was mention of an old wizard who gave the maidens their powers. He was hardly ever mentioned again after this but I noticed a person of power and status would always appear when the winter and fall maiden appeared in the kingdoms leading the people to survive the storm that came towards them. If I was to guess this man and these people are one and the same." Artoria explained.
Tama tapped her chin as she thought over the information. If what she knew of the maidens was right as well as this information of the wizard were put together she could see the people the Norse gods spoke of in their tales of battle. These five appear very often in them. It seems the Norse Pantheon had an adverse nature to the winter and summer maidens as they were said to have gone insane with their power leading to the Valkyries to take them down for the people to survive a few times.
The wizard was also mentioned though much less than the maidens. It seemed he appeared often at the same times that the women needed to be put down. Things were getting more and more interesting as they learned more of this world. Tama smiled as she looked at Artoria, "How do you feel about visiting some more ancient ruins and searching the libraries of the kingdoms?"
"I will do this. Better than sitting waiting for Jaune to awaken." Artoria said as she looked down with saddened eyes.
"That is true. But think of it this way. If we do well and collect enough information we can solve the mysteries of this world so that Jaune doesn't stumble when he needs to move forward." Tama said with a small smile on her face knowing this will push Artoria to do her best, even if she hated reading.
"Agreed. Where do we start?" Artoria asked.
"How about..." Tama pulled out a map and got down to determining her future treasure hunts would be. Tama couldn't lie, she was having fun putting together the pieces of the mysterious past of this world.
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