With the promise of delicious food, everyone decided to take Summer somewhere quiet to talk and catch you up on what happened.
The perfect place is eventually found, a nice little out of the way table at the edge of Beacon. It overlooks the Emerald Forest and has a nice breeze to cool everyone down.
You wonder who put a table out this far?
"So, ugh, did anyone remember to bring the food?" Summer asks with a chuckle as she takes a seat. Ruby and Yang proceeded to sit on both sides of her.
Everyone looks at her for a second and then points at you.
"Umm, I do hope you don't plan on eating the poor boy" Summer replies with a giggle.
"No, Mordin just has a lot of food on him" Ruby replies with a smile.
"Really? Where does he hide it?" Summer says as she closely examines your frame.
In your pocket.
"Pocket? Well, I'm not sure if I want to eat it then...." Summer replies with an awkward smile.
In response, you ask everyone what they would like. Everyone agrees on pizza, so, you summon up a few pizzas with different toppings and side dishes.
You see Summer's eyes widen and she asks how you did that.
You tell her that your semblance allows you to store thing in a hidden place, you can then take these things out whenever you want.
"Wow! that sounds very useful" She replies with a smile.
"Yeah, he can keep an infinite amount of cookies in his pocket! I wish I had that....." Ruby whines.
"There, there, I'm sure your semblance is perfectly fine" Summer replies with a warm smile. You see Ruby smile back.
"Don't worry, my dear leader! I'll keep your true motives for dating Mordin a secret~" Felicia says with a chuckle.
Ruby glares back at her.
Yang clears her throat.
"So, I'm sure Mordin would like to know why Ruby left him alone in her team room to be bothered by our mom, right?" Yang asks with a smirk.
"Hey! I didn't mean to, I just.....forgot?" Ruby says sheepishly as she looks away from you.
It's fine, though, you would like to know what happened.
"Well, we decided to leave you asleep since you looked really tired from last night." Ruby says lifting up a finger.
You nod.
"After that, we went off to see mom and found her waking up just as we arrived. She kinda freaked out thinking we were enemies" Ruby says with a frown.
Summer raises her hand and interrupts.
"Hehe, sorry about that, but in my defense, I was fighting for my life just a bit before then" She says with a regretful frown.
Ruby shakes her head.
"No, we understand" Ruby replies with a smile.
Yang chooses to continue the story.
"So, after that, it took quite a bit of explaining and Ozpin stopping by to convince mom she wasn't being tricked or dead" Yang says with a shrug.
Once more Summer interrupts.
"To be honest, I didn't expect to see Ozpin alive. He, unfortunately, died in my...er...world?" Summer says in a confused tone.
Timeline would be the correct word.
"Ah! Thank you" She replies with a soft smile.
"Yeah, so after that, mom here decided to play a trick on us and go for a walk. She even left a crudely drawn note for us." Yang says taking out a piece of paper with some rather horrid drawings on it. Perhaps you need to inform Summer that she should practice her drawing skills?
"We, of course, couldn't let her wander off alone, so, we decided to look for her" Ruby says in a proud tone.
"And then we found her talking to you alone, in our room. Like mother like daughter, huh~" Felicia says with a smile.
"H-Hey! Stop that!" Ruby whines with rosy cheeks.
You hear Summer giggling beside Ruby.
"S-Stop! Don't embarrass me like that, Felicia!" Ruby yells as she reprimands Felicia.
"Oh, my? Did you hear that Mordin, she thinks you're an embarrassment to her~" Felicia says with a small giggle.
Really?
"NO! Uh, I mean.... I'm going to stop talking now" Ruby says with a radiant blush.
You hear Summer start laughing.
"Well, it's good to see that the both of you have such good friends" Summer says as she looks at Yang and Ruby.
Blake suddenly interrupts.
"Mordin, have you discovered her time limit yet?" She asks.
"Time limit?" Yang asks with slightly narrowed eyes. Ruby slightly stiffens next to Summer.
"Yes, had I been brought here without Mordin doing what he did to me, I would also have a limit placed on how long I could stay." Talitha interrupts.
"Exactly, I'm sure she's also worried about her own world, correct?" Blake asks with narrowed eyes.
"Ah, I can't say that I am not. Knowing whether or not I am stuck here would definitely help alleviate some of my worries." Summer replies with a sigh.
"Yeah, we can't blame you for wanting to go back. I'm sure we'd want the same if we were stuck in another world...." Yang says with a frown. Ruby nods her head.
You glance at Summer and see hesitation cross her eyes. She looks at Yang and Ruby's sad faces and then comes to a decision. Her hesitant attitude transforms into one of determination and she smiles.
"Yes, I miss my family, but I'm sure you miss your mother just as much. While I'm not her exactly, and I know I can't replace her, I'll try my best to make your time with me enjoyable" Summer replies with a genuinely happy smile as she wraps one arm around Yang and the other around Ruby.
Yang smiles widely, chuckles and then gives her a hug.
Ruby, on the other hand, only says a small and whispered "Thank you" before wiping her face and wrapping herself around Summer's midsection.
--------------------------------------
The happy reunion is interrupted by a passing Ozpin.
"Oh my, I'm glad to see that you're all getting along now." Ozpin says grabbing everyone's attention at his sudden appearance.
"Ah, hello, Oz" Summer says with a smile.
"Hello indeed. Quite a surprise to see you here, but then again, this place is among the first ones I'd think to look for you" Ozpin says with a chuckle.
"Really? Why is that?" Summer asks tilting her head.
"Ah, it appears I was incorrect. Perhaps this place wasn't built in your time." Ozpin says rubbing his chin.
"Oh, is this something the other me built?" Summer asks looking at the table and chairs.
"Indeed, now, since I see you're all having fun, I'll be off" Ozpin says with a smile as he walks away.
Yang voices her opinion.
"That was weird, I guess he just wanted to see if you knew about this place?" She asks.
"Looks like it" Your partner says.
Before anyone forgets, you once more inform summer that she has 3 weeks before the rift pulls her back.
"Only 3!" Yang shouts.
"That is a surprisingly large amount of time. I believe we only had 3 hours when we visited Talitha's world" Blake says.
Ruby looks at you with a complex expression. You see a large smile on her face but also see sadness at the fact that her mother will still be going away.
Her expression quickly changes to a simple happy smile and she tells Summer that she's happy for her.
"You, you can tell? Well, 3 weeks is a really short amount of time. We'll have to make it count!" Summer replies with a smile, though, you can feel a bit of happiness and sadness or is it regret in her voice?
Yang chuckles.
"Well, I'm just surprised this has happened twice! I mean, are you a magnet for stuff like this, Mordin?" Yang asks.
It was a coincidence.
"Suuuuure~ You better watch out, Ruby." Yang replies with a chuckle.
"Huh? Why?" Ruby asks tilting her head.
"Isn't it obvious~" Felicia answers for Yang.
"Yeah, it should be obvious." Yang says with a smirk.
You don't find it very obvious.....
"Clearly, sooner or later you're going to find another rift." Yang says with a confident nod.
"And when you do, the person to fall out will probably be a girl. Maybe she'll even try to seduce you away from Ruby for your amazing rift finding powers~" Felicia says with a teasing tone.
Ruby opens her mouth but then quickly closes it. With a huff, she turns away from them and starts mumbling about "Stupid Yang and Felicia".
The following laughter emanating from both Yang and Felicia is quite entertaining.
--------------------------------
After everyone calms down, Talitha asks Summer about her timeline. She was very interested in hearing about the differences between worlds and all that.
"Well, first of all, Beacon isn't nearly as pristine as this" She points to your school off in the distance.
"Really? Did something happen?" Ruby asks with a face that shows how focused she is on Summer's story.
"Yeah, long story short, some guy tried to take over the world." She says with a sigh.
Someone tried to take over the world?
Summer nods.
"Yeah, I was on a mission with other people to act as distractions so that a specific person could beat him." Summer says shaking her head.
"A distraction..." Yang whispers.
"Yes, and thankfully, it seems like I did an excellent job, though, i had to sacrifice my lovely spear to finish my part. Hopefully, I probably don't have much to worry about. " She says with a relieved sigh.
"You were very badly injured..." Talitha says.
"They sent a lot of strong people to stop me. After Ozpin.....passed on, I and a few others were given rather high ranking positions in the organization we worked for." Sumer says with another sigh.
"That sounds like a very worrisome situation..." Your partner mutters.
"Yeah..... Hail's a very dangerous and cunning individual. His semblance was rather weak, but he made up for it with his intelligence and charisma. He even managed to find that ancient relic and boost his semblance." Summer mutters to herself.
"Hail?" Ruby asks.
"Relic?" Talitha asks excitedly.
With rosy cheeks, Summer rubs the back of her head.
"Hehe, did I say that out loud?" She says with a small laugh.
Yes.
"Come on, tell us all about it!" Yang says energetically with a large grin.
Summer chuckles.
"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. Since he hasn't taken over the world here, maybe Hail wasn't born in this...timeline?" Summer says.
That's a possibility.
"So, where do you want me to start?" Summer says with a nostalgic smile.
Where to start?
Well, you want to ask about the relic, sadly, Felicia beats you to answering her question.
You can't complain, it's not like she directed the question to you specifically.
"So, can you tell us about this Hail? I'm kind of interested in how someone managed to become such a threat. How bad was he?" Felicia asks with a serious face.
Summer smile and nods.
"Yeah, the fact that one person can hold so much power can be quite jarring. Really, we barely know much of anything about him aside from his semblance" Summer says with a sigh.
Yang cuts in.
"Wait, how did he manage to almost take over the world if you barely know anything about him? Can his semblance blow up continents or something?" Yang asks dubiously.
"No, his semblance isn't anything overt or physically powerful. It's still one of the most dangerous semblances to have if you're trying to fight against him, though." Summer says with a conflicted look.
Ruby raises her hand.
"So, how did he almost take over the world?" Ruby asks.
"Ah, he managed to take total control of Atlas with his charisma and cunning." Summer says.
"Aren't there measures in place to prevent one man from having all that power?" Blake asks.
"Yes, but he was so charismatic that by the time everyone noticed, the entire military belonged to him and no one could oppose him." Summer says with a bitter frown.
What about the hunters?
"The disloyal ones were quietly disposed of and replaces with a sort of sentient robot army." Summer says with a sigh.
Nearby, you see Talitha clench her fists.
"Umm, these sentient robots, how advanced were they?" Talitha asks.
"Hmm, I'd say about as smart as a child, though, from what we gathered, Hail made sure to restrain their intelligence so they could prove useful as an army." Summer replies.
"Ah.....I see. Thank you." Talitha says with a bitter smile.
Blake jumps from your head and settles down on Talitha's lap. You see Talitha cheer up just a bit as she moves her hand through Blake's hair.
"Right, so, after Atlas, he lead an attack on Mistral and took over. He used his cunning to win most fights, though, at that time it didn't seem as dangerous as it truly was." Summer says.
"What about the other kingdoms, did they not help?" Your partner asks.
Summer shakes her head.
"No, everyone was busy with their own problems, namely, an influx of Grimm. Sending help would mean leaving themselves open to attack." Summer says with a sigh.
What happened?
"Hail took Mistral with a decent amount of losses and then used all of its resources to fuel his military might. Suffice to say, Vale and Vacuo made an alliance against Atlas." Summer says.
Yang suddenly interrupts.
"So, how did they lose? Even with Atlas's army, two kingdoms full of hunters isn't something to scoff at." She asks.
"Yes, that would normal be the case. Unfortunately, it is around this time that Hail's semblance changed and he proceeded to never lose a fight until just recently." Summer says bitterly.
"Wait, wait, wait, his semblance changed?." Tang asks with a surprised tone.
Summer nods.
"Apparently, he found some ancient relic that boosts a person's semblance to obscene levels. The only reason we even managed to figure this out was because of a traitor." Summer says.
What were his semblances?
"Yeah, why is it so strong?" Ruby asks.
"Well, his first one let him know the correct answer to any trivia questions about fantasy books." Summer says with a small chuckle.
That actually sounds like an interesting semblance. Does it work on books that haven't been written yet?
Your partner nods enthusiastically.
Summer raises a finger and then thinks about it.
"I don't know, we only have the basics from the informant." Summer says with a small shrug.
"What of his stronger semblance?" Felicia asks with a focused look.
"His new semblance, It allows him to shape his aura into a copy of any living being he has the genetic material of." Summer says with a frown.
So his semblance can copy anyone? Does that include their semblances?
"Yeah, that sounds crazy strong..." Yang mutters.
Summer shakes her head.
"No, the copy created has no aura aside from what Hail gives it. Besides, that's not the worst part." Summer says with a sigh.
"Being able to copy a person's appearance could definitely be beneficial." Blake nods.
Once more Summer shakes her head.
"No, it doesn't just copy their appearance, it copies all of a person's memories. Supposedly, he used this power to make copies of those with information he needed, then he [interrogated] them until he had the information he wanted. I'm quite sure he made multiple copies to confirm the information." Summer says clenching her fists.
"That....that would allow him to learn all the information his enemies would have. No plan would work against him, every offensive move he could make would already account for his opponents moves." Felicia says with a displeased frown.
Summer nods.
"Exactly, but it still gets worse." Summer says with a sigh.
"What! How could it get worse!?" Ruby shouts with a frown.
"You see, he could also simulate what might happen if certain choices were made and make a copy of himself with that information. Thankfully, this part only worked when he made copies of himself." Summer says.
Simulations?
"Yes, let me give you an example. Say he wanted to know of his next attack would be successful. He would make a copy of himself with the simulated battle already finished, this would give him information on the future." Summer says.
Yang loudly interrupts.
"He could see the future! That's crazy!" She shouts.
You shake your head. She said simulate, not see the future.
Summer nods.
"Precisely, even though his simulations were accurate enough to count as precognition, there were a few blind spots, namely, five individuals, certain types of Grimm, and copies of himself." Summer says.
How did they manage to gather information from a traitor then?
Summer smirks.
"Ah, but you see, the traitor was himself." She says with a smile.
Ruby asks what she means.
Felicia and Talitha widen their eyes, one smirks and the other smiles.
Both Blake's narrow their eyes.
"I don't get it..." Yang says raising her hand.
Summer giggles.
"You could say he couldn't trust anyone, not even himself. But really, one of his simulated copies apparently ran into one of the mentioned five individuals and decided retiring from world conquest was the best answer." Summer says with a chuckle.
Did she not say the five individuals were immune to his semblance?
"Ah, my mistake. I forgot to mention that the fifth only became immune [after] the copy of Hail encountered him." Summer says sheepishly.
"So, he just, gave up?" Your partner asks dubiously.
"Yep, wrote down all his plans and gave them to the people that were immune to his powers. No one knew what was happening until the day of the final attack." Summer says with a sigh.
Felicia shakes her head and speaks.
"That sounds like a logistical nightmare" She says.
"Mhm, though, thankfully, it was working last I checked." Summer says with a hopeful smile.
Ruby tugs at Summers sleeve and asks a question.
"What happened to the copy of Hail?" Ruby asks with a smile.
"Ah, sadly, copies made with his semblance only have about a week to live before the aura sustaining them runs out and they vanish." Summer says with a sad frown.
Quite a strong semblance.
"You bet it is! I'd rate it half a Mordin on my scale of crazy powerful semblances." Yang says with a smirk
"Half? But isn't his semblance just a place to store things?" Summer asks tilting her head and pointing at your food.
"Pft! Nah, I think his semblance lets him randomly gain powers whenever he wants or needs." Yang says shaking her hand.
"T-That! That's quite a strong semblance..." Summer says as she looks at you. She hesitates before answering.
"At any rate, what would you like to hear about next?" Summer asks.
Week 11 Part 0.4 "Relic"
-----------------------------
As Summer finishes asking everyone what she should talk about next, you speak your answer.
You had seen Felicia once more try to ask about a topic, so you made sure to speak before her.
Felicia gives you a small annoyed look before turning it into a mischievous smile.
"Oh? You seem quite excited to hear about the relic." Summer says with a giggle.
Yes, it just seems rather interesting, you think.
Ruby giggles nearby.
"Ok, so, not much is actually known about the relic," Summer says with a smile.
"You said it can boost and evolve semblances, right?" Yang asks.
Summer nods.
"Yeah, how it exactly does that no one know." Summer says.
Your partner raises her hand.
"How did you learn about it?" She asks.
Summer looks at Blake and answers.
"The only reason we even knew it existed was because of Hail's copy." Summer says with a frown.
"What, there were no folk tales and stuff to give hints?" Yang asks.
"None that could easily be found. Hail was apparently from some tribe outside of the Kingdoms and he had been looking for the relic for a very long time." Summer replies.
He was from a tribe?
"Yes, the only reason he knew about the relic was from stories passed down from the elders of his tribe." She replies.
"Wow, I'm guessing this is some backwater tribe right? How did he go from that to almost taking over the world?" Yang asks with a dubious look.
You're more interested in what happened to the tribe.
"Well, first, Hail was a genius. He would have had to be one to advance so quickly and managed to take over Atlas almost unopposed." Summer says.
"Maybe he was just really lucky?" Ruby asks.
"Maybe, you're not wrong, even with his intelligence he would have had to be really lucky to get so far." Summer says with a smile. You see Ruby smile back happily.
"As for the tribe, Hail made sure there was no evidence leading back to the relic." Summer says with a serious and somewhat angry look.
Ah, that's quite unfortunate.
Summer nods.
"We never did manage to find out where the tribe originated, Hail made sure of that. The most we managed to find out was they were from Vale. Or Vacuo " Summer says with a sigh.
So they only have information gained from Hail? Were they perhaps planning on stealing the Relic?
Summer scratches her cheek.
"No. Hail made sure no one else could use the Relic once it evolved his semblance. He threw it into the deepest part of the known ocean" She says.
"The Grim Abyss?" Felicia asks with a raised brow.
"Yes. It's so deep that even on a sunny day, the ocean beneath you looks pitch black. That's not saying anything about the sort of Grimm that must be hiding down there." Summer replies.
That sounds like an interesting place to visit. What could be at the bottom, you wonder?
"Ughhh, how about we don't visit the equivalent of a bottomless dark hole, huh?" Yang asks with a chuckle.
But it could have some very interesting fish life. Think of all the new types of fish related dishes that could be made with such deep sea fish!
"Hmm, perhaps he has a point." Blake says with a nod.
"Indeed" Your partner says with a small nod of her own.
"I really hope you're joking, Blake. You're supposed to be the sane one on your team." Yang says with a sigh.
"What? What about me?" Felicia asks.
"Hey! How come no one's mentioned me?!" Ruby asks with a huff.
Everyone points to you.
What? What do you have to do with anything?
"Ugh, yeah, I don't get it either....." Ruby says with a confused look.
Your little argument is interrupted by Summer giggling.
"Your interactions are very fun to watch." she says with a small smile.
Ah, right, could she perhaps go back to the Relic?
"Sure. So, from what Hail told us, the Relic looks different to everyone that lays their eyes on it." She says.
"Wait, so someone might see it as a coin and others like a small shard of metal?" Ruby asks.
"Exactly, Hail saw it as an arrow. Now, to actually get the item to work, you have to use it for its intended purpose." Summer says with a nod.
"So, if it was a telephone booth, you'd have to get in it and make a call? How would that even look to others?" Talitha asks with a curious look.
Summer shakes her head.
"No, apparently, it does have a size limit. But yes, say it looked like a revolver, you'd have yo shoot yourself to activate the items power. At any rate, using the Relic has a chance to kill you if your will isn't strong enough or something like that. As for how Hail used the arrow, he stabbed himself with it." Summer says with a frown.
Hmmm, what if it appears as food and you ate it? Would the relic be gone forever?
"That.... Isn't something I even though about. Anyways, aside from all that, the Relic seems to have been around since before people started to record history." Summer says with an awkward laugh.
Felicia follows up on your question with one of her own.
"How far back are you talking about? Before dust?" She asks
"If Hail is to be believed, yes. Apparently, his tribe was tasked with keeping information about it secret from outsiders." Summer replies.
"Heh, that didn't work out so well." Yang says with a chuckle.
"No, it didn't. Still, from what little Hail mentioned, the artifact was apparently given to the tribe by some godlike being as a gift in some sort of deal or something." Summer says with a shrug.
"Why would a "God" need to make deals with mortals?" Felicia asks.
Summer once more shrugs.
"No idea, Hail thought it had something to do with protecting something. Maybe the "God" would one day return for the Relic or something like that?" Summer says.
Ruby interrupts with a question of her own.
"I have a question! If the item always changes the way it looks, how would you know if you had it?" She asks enthusiastically.
Summer smiles.
"The convenient thing is that the Relic always has a symbol somewhere on it. The symbol is the same no matter what form it takes." She says.
What does it look like?
"Ah, does someone have a sheet of paper? I can draw it." Summer asks.
You take out some paper and a pen.
The symbol Summer draws is quite unique. It also seems... Familiar? you know you don't have anything like it, but perhaps you've seen it? Maybe it's just your mind playing tricks on you?
Aside from that, you once more gaze at her poor drawing skills and secretly feel proud about being better than her, even if only by a bit.
At any rate, it seems time has passed by quicker than expected. Still, you have one more topic you want to talk about.
It won't be as detailed as her other answers, but-
Looking at Ruby, you see the anxiousness in her eyes. You know she has a lot of admiration towards "heroes" and similar things that act as a beacon of hope for others.
You understand that thought process, after all, in a place like Remnant where negative emotions attract Grimm, hope is a valuable resource.
Hmm, you wonder what a Remnant without Grimm would be like? Would it still need hunters? What would all the already trained hunters do?
Perhaps they would retire and open up bakeries? Either way, maybe you should try and find a way to get rid of all the Grimm. It probably wouldn't be too difficult with the right domains, though, it would take some time.
At any rate, you once more ask Summer a question, namely, who the "hero" was.
"I was going to ask that!" Ruby announces with an indignant tone.
You apologize, but the hero was also something you wanted to learn about.
Ruby drums her fingers across her lips and holds out her hand.
"Well, I guess it's fine. We were thinking the same thing anyways" Ruby replies with a smile.
Is something wrong with her hand?
You see a small look of annoyance cross her face.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe if someone gave me a cookie or some cookie flavored ice cream I'd feel better." She says stressing the word "someone".
Well, since no one else has the ability to make any-flavored ice cream, you guess that duty falls onto you.
With that, you take out one of your many ice cream cones, fill it up with strawberry cookie ice cream and add a dash of "apology" and "happiness" into the flavor and then hand it to Ruby.
She gleefully takes a bite and you see her eyes light up.
"Wow! I can somehow taste that you're sorry just from eating this ice cream!" She says with a happy smile.
You begin to say something, but Yang interrupts.
"Hold it! Since when could you make, "Any-flavored" ice cream? Also, did she just say she could taste your apology!?" She says indignantly as she points at your face.
What? Did no one tell her?
"Nope! Team leader's orders. Apparently, she wants to monopolize your ice cream powers, among other things~" Felicia says with a sly smile.
"Slander!Lies!Traitor!" Ruby yells at Felicia.
"How could you, Ruby! Are we not sisters? What do ice need to do to get you to trust me?" Yang says with a look of shock and betrayal.
"..... That was horrible." Blake mutters.
"Yeah..." Ruby agrees.
You think it was good and that she does not deserve such a punishment.
*Sigh*"Maybe you're-" Ruby begins to say before Yang's bellowing laughter interrupts her.
"G-Good one, Mordin!" Yang says as she holds out her hand. It seems she wants a "High-Five".
As you raise your hand to return her gesture, Ruby hastily grabs it and wraps herself around it.
"Noooo! I won't let you corrupt him with your horrible puns!" Ruby says as she makes a barrier between you and Yang.
"Is this normal? Cause she's definitely acting a bit more energetic than usual." Your partner asks Felicia.
"Hmm, perhaps it's the ice cream?" Felicia replies.
"Yeah, yeah, can I have my ice cream now?" Yang says as she holds out her hand.
You look to Summer and ask if she'd like some too.
With a warm smile and a giggle, she asks for raspberry ice cream.
And so, you share your delicious ice cream with everyone.
Now that everyone was calm again, you once more ask Summer about the hero.
She nods and begins her tale.
"So, there's really nothing all that remarkable about his life before he decided to help us out. He was born to two farmers that lived in a tiny village outside of the kingdoms." Summer starts.
How far?
"Quite far. It would take about three days of walking to arrive at the nearest village which is just outside the Kingdom of Vale." She replies.
"That's far, how did the farmers even survive?" Felicia asks.
"Luck, mostly. They left with a caravan and managed to make a small village. Apparently the "hero's" mother was pregnant with him at the time." Summer says.
"Did they at least have a hunter with them?" Ruby asks.
Summer shakes her head.
"No, when I said they were lucky, I meant it. They rarely encountered Grimm, and when they did, the Grimm would run away." She says.
"Oh! did the "hero" have some super cool power that kept the Grimm away?" Ruby asks with hopeful eyes.
"Nope. He was just a normal kid that grew up normally and did normal things. Really, the only odd thing about him was his gaze. When you look into his eyes, it's almost as if he was staring into your very soul, like he didn't even consider you above his notice." Summer says with a frown.
What did he like to do?
"Oh, he liked farming and growing crops. He was so good that he could single handily feed the entire village with his crops. He also liked reading and playing with animals." Summer says with a nod.
"I don't see how someone like that could be such a threat to Hail." Yang says dubiously.
"You'd think so, right? But I've seen him fight, he can be quite terrifying. He's only had his aura awakened for about a month and he can already keep up with our strongest hunters, and that's not even mentioning his semblance." Summer mutters.
How old is he?
"About your age." Summer says pointing at you and Ruby.
Why did he leave the farm?
"Only the copy of Hail and the kid himself know the answer to that question. The little guy says he left because someone tried to hurt his family and that he wanted to stop them." Summer says with a proud smile.
"Like a real hero!" Ruby says with a large grin.
Summer giggles.
"Yep. So, he somehow found our base and volunteered to help us if we looked after his family. We really couldn't refuse his help after he showed us his semblance." Summer says scratching her cheek.
"Must have been some semblance." Yang says with a whistle.
Summer nods.
"Yes, his semblance is something that turns the rules of the world on their head." She says.
How so?
"It lets him negate the effects of aura, dust, and other things that don't conform to "his" reality. Or at least, that's what he told us when he explained it to us." Summer says.
Ah, that makes sense and does seem quite powerful.
"No, no, no. You don't get to just slip that aside, explain what you mean!" Yang says pointing at you.
Summer's giggle can be heard from nearby.
In a word, his power allows him to alter rules of the world. Perhaps it lets him enforce the rules of another world in a specific range?
"Exactly. When you enter his range, which is about 5 kilometers cubed, dust and aura stop working. Aside from that, things that are too large collapse under their own weight. Goliaths, for example, go squish if they get too close." Summer says with a chuckle.
"So, cool!" Ruby says with an excited smile.
"The best thing is, he can selectively decide who is exempt from his powers, though, it takes severe concentration and leaves him quite vulnerable or so he says." Summer says with a frown.
You could see how that would make Hail's entire army quite useless.
"You'd think, but Hail is a crafty one. He attacks from outside our range and always keeps his army on the move and spread out, this forces us to split our own lest he surround us and blow us up." summer says with a frustrated sigh.
What was this hero's name?
"Auric Plum, quite an unique name" Summer says.
You like your name better.
"Hehe, "Solus" is a very uncommon name, I've only met one other person with such a name" Summer says with a giggle.
"Y-You have!" Ruby asks with widened eyes.
"Yes, it was an old man, said his name was Harbinger Solus. He must have been over a hundred, poor man." She says shaking her head with a sigh.
What happened to him?
"I don't know, I only let him stay at our house for a bit. He was looking for his sister, he didn't say much and kept to himself." Summer says.
A drop of water lands on your nose.
"Oh, looks like it's going to rain soon. We should probably head back." Summer says as she takes one final look at the emerald forest below.
And so, with the weather turning bad, everyone heads back inside.