The Speaker
The memory begins...
The beautiful sapphire ocean flows with a full moon in the sky. A time long before now, with the moon in one piece instead of being shattered. There are no clouds in the sky, just the sea of stars spread across. The calls of whales can be heard under the ocean surface as they swim. "On the clearest of nights, when the wind of the Valerian Ocean were calm and peaceful..." The Speaker narrates; his voice has been translated into English from Yang's presence in the book as she watches the contained memory. A huge wooden ship floats across the soft oceans, the underside cutting through the water as it moves, creating a trail behind it. The deep churning growl of its propellers underneath it giving it the thrust it needs to move. "The Great Merchant Ships of Arkhonex, carrying their hordes of Dust Crystals, felt safe and secure." The Speaker continues, the massive vessel continuing on.
The huge mast has huge sails spread out, using the wind to help it move. The ship has a long bowsprit that stretches across the Beowulf designed figurehead built out of gold as it moves across the ocean. Some crewmates walking around the deck to keep it moving, civilians sleeping inside, others cheer as they party and drink. Feasting on their spoils inside of the enormous wooden vessel. "Little did they suspect, that their trail was being tracked by..." The Speaker narrates, when suddenly a faster but smaller ship moves up behind the Merchant Ship with fiery orange sales and a furious skull with fire around it on the flags as it approaches with cannons at the ready from its starboard side.
"...The Claimers." The Speaker announces as the ship sails on intercept course with the ship, the once peaceful emotions of the ocean growing cold and aggressive as it moves closer and closer. Stood at the deck's bridge is a man, wearing Pirate's Clothing.
His set of armour that he wears has a pointed helm with a furious skull roaring with fire engraved into the steel on his chest plate. The face is damaged, almost volcanically, as magma and fire bleeds through the cracked face as it roars. The man has wide shoulders with jagged plates of armour on them, combined with metal and the bones of boar and Wyverns from the Vacuo Mountains. There are leather straps across his bare bicep and forearms that keep the armour attached on them. He also has a pair of iron bracers and gauntlets, knuckle dusters made from the vertebrae of Atlesian Mammoths. His arms are muscular, coated with scars and tattoos and clutched in his hands are a pair of Berserker's Axes that he holds tightly, glaring at the ship as they come up beside it. He wears a uniquely designed set of armour plates that is combined with a leather trench coat, the coat blows in the gentle wind and there are plates holding it together. The metal covers up his chest but some scars are visible from his times being a captain. The moonlight reflecting off the steel metal that he has around his body. His legs are fully armoured with metal and bone pieces, strapped together as he stands there.
He reaches to the helm and he takes it from his head, looking at the ship, his wig that he wears blows in the wind. "And the most feared of all these Claimers was the notorious Captain Axzura Vex." The Speaker continues. The man turns and glares at the reader with a pair of glowing hot orange eyes with constant anger on his face. He stares at his crew and he swings his axe aggressively.
"Burn them to ashes!" Axzura demands with a bellowing voice.
The Claimer Ship opens fire, launching a swarm of dust powered shells into the hull of the Merchant Ship, blowing holes into its hull. Fiery explosions erupt from the wooden hull and the civilians scream in terror, cowering under tables as the Pirate-Style ship opens fire. The calm oceans are now quivering from the booms of the Claimer Ship's cannon-fire. The Merchant Ship suffers extreme damage and casualties, making it become disabled and slowing down on the water, fire and smoke spilling from its wounds. "Like a Giant Nevermore overtaking its prey, Vex's men swooped in!" The Speaker narrates, and on cue the crew from the Claimer Ship moves up beside the Merchant's ship and the crew start throwing themselves onto the deck of the Merchant's Ship. They draw their swords and they begin to attack the men aboard, the guards were good fighters but are nothing against the Claimer Captain.
Axzura grabs onto a rope and swings himself over the abyss and he lands onto the wooden deck, splintering the wooden floor from his landing. His helmet back on and the glowing orange eyes can be seen through the enraged mask that he wears. One Guard swings his cutlass at Vex but he ducks down, smashing his axe so hard into the blade that the Cutlass snaps clean in half. Axzura smashes the other axe straight into the neck of the guard and he splutters in pain, blood squirting out from the impact, ripping it out so hard that blood erupts out like a fountain. He immediately spins round, lodging the blade of his axe into the side of another Guard's head, forcing it free. He grabs another by the throat, choking him to death as he fights through them with his men. All of his men have similar helms with the furious face on it. He continues to carry the guard as he approaches the stares that descend into the treasury of the ship. There is a loud cracking sound from the neck of the choking guard and his body falls limp. Axzura throws the dead man aside and he starts walking down into the depths of the ship.
He stares at the civilians inside, and they are terrified of him. He walks slowly, keeping his eye on them and they look at the blood on his armour and on his weapons as it drips down into the polished wood floor. They can feel the creaking boards as he walks, and then pretty quick, his men charge down and they point their swords at them all, shouting. He turns to a door and he sends his boot straight into the locks, smashing them and the door from its hinges. He looks inside and he laughs maniacally when he sees the trove of treasure before him. He steps inside, scooping his hands into the dust crystals, some falling through the gaps between his fingers and he stares into the multi-coloured crystals as he laughs. His greed truly shown as he stands there.
"And then...gathering up their spoils..." He explains. The scene ends as the Claimer Ship starts to leave the place where the Merchant Vessel starts to sink into the depths of the ocean, smoke rising into the sky. A mysterious mist forms before the ship and it enters the fog and fades away like a ghost. "...vanished...like a phantom." The Speaker says, creating a mystery to the Captain.
"Those who came searching never found the Merchant Ship, but they found a map...a map that would show the path of which the Claimers took." He explains. The Visionary Book presents a fog cloud that parts and there is an island across the way from them. It is small with three mountains with clouds surrounding them and storms swirling round the island itself. "...a path straight to a mysterious island. One that only a young silver eyed warrior could access safe passage through." He explains. "And that certain Warrior's spirit would soar!"
"A young Knight..." The Speaker announces.
The setting transforms, morphing and shattering and fading into a different environment outside the ocean of which where Captain Axzura Vex attacked the Merchant ship. It now reveals itself in some sort of mountain range. Snow capped mountains penetrating through the clouds like knives that are ready sink their serrated teeth into flesh. Misty snow trails from the caps and there is a whistling wind.
A man walks across the snow environment, wearing a Knight's Armour with a sword sheathed to the scabbard that is magnetised to the spine of his armour. The armour is extremely impressive, crafted by some of the best Arkhoni Smiths in Arkhonex. The set of armour has a black colour to it with red sashes and robes built into the armour itself. The helmet is fully concealing the face of the man with a V shaped visor that is made up of two glowing red optics. The helmet comes together like a snout, made from intricate pieces of metal. Unlike the Pirate, Axzura Vex, he has a full suit of armour with no openings. The gauntlets are sharp, and the armour has engraved markings across it. His boots press into the snow, able to move through the snow with ease and his red cape blows into a howling wind on the top of this huge mountain. He has scars across the armour itself. Etched into the sword are some ancient Hieroglyphics, but in the time of which this took place, this would have not been as ancient as it is now.
He walks up it, taking his helmet off to reveal a young man underneath it. He has brown hair and dark brown eyes as he stands there, looking around with awe. There are huge glowing cyan dust crystals sticking out from the mountain, along with deep purple ones as well. Ones of unknown origin that glows faintly. He looks around and he sighs, observing the environment. "...he hunts his prey up in the Snow Capped Mountains of Mantle." The Speaker narrates as the Knight walks around.
Until he hears a loud bellow from the summit of the mountain, initially sounding like the wind that roars around him, but it is anything but. Through the blizzard he can see the glowing red eyes of some sort of Grimm that hisses like a serpent. The Knight grabs the hilt of his sword and he draws it, holding it in one hand. He clenches his hand into a fist and a Dust-Based shield forms to protect him when he needs it to. He stares at the beast and it growls at him, heavy thudding as it moves. He puts the helm back over his head; shaded visors protect his eyes from the snow that blows against his body. "And so we meet at last." The Knight greets, holding the sword tight as he glares at it. The beast roars at him and it spreads its massive arms out, huge black wings extending from the bone as it roars, the internals of the beast glow bright red and it jumps from where it was perched.
It is a Wyvern Grimm.
Savage, glowing red eyes sit inside the armoured skull of the beast, fixated on its newest visitor, and soon to be meal. Several bone growths sit atop its head, just above the internal ears that allow it to hear. Large fan-like skin and bone structures run down the sides of each of its jaw lines. Its nose is pointy and has two long, pointy nostrils and there are bone growths on its chin. Four large teeth poke out from the side of its mouth and show a glimpse of the terror hiding inside. A huge neck runs down from its head and into a narrow body. The top is covered in smooth jet black scaly skin and an armoured bone plated ridge runs down its spine and snout. Its underside is covered in warped black scales and an external ribcage of bone and is riddled with glowing red veins underneath the scales. Two powerful limbs carry its body and allow the creature to stand illustrious and intimidating. Each limb has 3 digits, each of which end in long claws seemingly made of protruding bone matter. The delicate wings are attached to the long muscular arms of the beast, folding out from its arms as they extend, a translucent red tone to the membrane that glows as it becomes more and more aggressive. Its spiky tail ends in a sword-like growth and is covered in the same smooth skin as its body.
"Every hunter has their prey, and eventually...the hunter becomes the hunted." The Speaker says with a powerful tone in his voice. The wings spread outwards and it glides across the snowy sky above him and he walks around. He reaches into his small bag attached to his utility belt and he pulls some sort of potion out from it. He unscrews the bottle and takes a hefty swig. He starts to growl in pain as his veins start to glow from the potion that has been drunk. Like his veins are on fire, it has some sort of lethal effect on him and his eyes start to glow blood red and he gasps for air, but luckily whatever this pain was it seems to pass. His muscles have increased in size and strength, his skin has cracked and become the scaly skin that mimics his game.
He spins the sword through his fingers and his eyes can focus more easily in the blizzard as he watches the Wyvern circling him. It roars aggressively as it soars across the sky, banking around the summit. The red eyes leak from the armoured crest of the beast as it comes towards him. The Wyvern glides straight for the Knight and it spreads its wings out to stop its flight and hover in one place. The snow blasts into him with a gust of air that nearly knocks the Knight off his feet. But he stabs his sword into the snow to keep himself from being blown away. He glares at the beast with a scowl and he pulls the sword from the floor.
The Wyvern breathes deep, its chest glows bright orange as the fire inside begins to catalyse from the magical capabilities of the creature. Its eyes glow brighter as it breathes in, rearing its neck back like a cobra that is about to attack. It then opens its jaws with a metallic screech that unleashes a cloud of napalm flames towards the Knight. He lifts the energy-based shield up before the flames, holding the fire back with the blue energy. The snow melts around him and he holds his ground as the Dragon attacks him with its fire attack. Staying in the same position. As the Knight stands there, he reaches to his back and there is a crossbow. He holds it in one hand and aims it at the Wyvern, pulling the trigger and launching a bolt straight at the creature. The bolt darts across the stormy air and snaps upon impacting the bone armour plating around the snout.
Having no effect.
The fire-breathing finally comes to an end and the Knight can stand back up again, lowering the shield. The Dragon swings its wings and flies straight at him. The Wyvern clamps its jaws at him with force, the bang of the jaws impacting echoes across the mountains along with the rage-induced roars that it creates. But the Knight ducks down and immediately drives the blade of his sword upwards, into the wing of the Wyvern. The Wyvern screeches in agony as the black smoke spills from its wing. It flaps uncontrollably, attempting to fly away, but as it does, it crashes straight through a mountain and starts to fall, crashing into the snow with force, ripping the stones from the ground and creating a mini avalanche. The Wyvern presses its taloned hands into the snow, crunching the compacted ice layer beneath him down.
The Wyvern utters a growl, gritting its sharp jagged teeth together and it stares straight at the Knight of which who has managed to ground it. The Wyvern hisses like an Alligator and it crawls towards him. Unlike the Sea Dragon that Blake and Sun faced, this Wyvern is still able to kill when on the ground as well. The spines that run down the spine of the monster rattle like the tail of a Rattlesnake. It breathes fire at the Knight again but he uses his shield to block the flames as he walks towards it.
The Wyvern roars, spinning round with its tail smashing straight into the Knight. The Knight is thrown across the battlefield, tumbling and crashing into the wall with a heavy thud. He rolls across the floor, groaning in pain. He grabs his side, the metal plates clanking and scraping against one another and he rises back up, seeing the Wyvern glaring at him, on all fours as it snarls at him. It charges at him once more and goes to devour him with its muscular razor sharp teeth riddled jaws. It has three rows of teeth inside those teeth.
But the Knight rises up and smashes his sword into the side of the Wyvern's head with force. The impact is so hard that the bone armour is shattered on its nose, smoke billowing from the wound, causing it to stagger. The Wyvern cries out as it moves around, scraping the talons across the snowed over ground, chipping its claws against the rocks that are hidden underneath the snow layer. The Knight bashes the shield he has projected against the face of the animal with enough force to stun it.
He takes his chance, running right at it and leaping onto the wing, running onto the back and he jumps into the air, holding his sword in both hands as he drives it straight into its skull with force. The Wyvern ducks down and manages to swing its head out of the way. The Wyvern shakes the man off and it looks at him as he rolls onto the floor. The huge Creature of Grimm turns to face him, its eyes glowing bright red as it walks around. It snarls deeply and lunges straight at him; jaws agape as it lunges, snapping its jaws down before him. The Knight rolls out of the way and he slashes his sword across the eye of the Dragon, cutting through and blinding that one eye. The Wyvern shrieks in pain as the smoke pours from the eye like blood pouring from an open wound.
The Wyvern stumbles away from the Knight from the impact, pressing its taloned hand against the mountainside and it growls from its suffering. The wind is picking up and the snow is getting heavier, making it harder to see for both of them. Even the strength that the potion has given him is not helping. But the Wyvern manages to shake the pain off and it charges straight at him, biting into his arm with force. The Knight cries out in agony, pushing the blade of his sword into the wounded eye. The extra agony that it suffers from the same wound causes the Wyvern to cry out as the smoke spills from the wound. The Knight twists the blade further and it pulls its head from him, opening its jaws after tasting his blood.
The Knight grabs his arm in pain, the teeth managed to puncture the metal plates and he stares at the beast as he bleeds into the snow beneath his feet. The Wyvern stumbles and stares straight at him. It breathes into unleash a cloud of fire on him, but the chest does not glow orange like it normally does. Not fire is ignited in the heart, and it confuses and worries the Wyvern. It looks at its own body in confusion and it notices the bone armour beginning to break off and crumble onto the floor, turning into a structure similar to the snow that they are surrounded by. Like ash.
The man's helmet has fallen off, landing onto the snow and he stares at the creature, battered and bruised from his combat with it. He smirks at the monster as he stands there, still holding his sword and still bleeding into the snow. The Wyvern glares at him and it barrages a roar straight at him with anger in its pained voice.
The Knight clenches his hand into a fist and he suddenly launches a blast of energy that sends the Wyvern backwards, back into the mountain with force, the summit cracking like glass and exploding into chunks of rock that tumble down the mountain. The bone spine of the Wyvern snaps upon impact, slumping to the ground from the impact. It scrapes its talons into the ground, stretching its wings out despite the other damaged one and it starts to flap them to try and escape. But the Knight grabs the Wyvern's sword-like tail and he pulls it downwards. The potion has granted him enhanced strength and he managed to smash the dragon into the ground with force, hitting its head against the ground. The ground quivers from the impact and the Wyvern turns round sharply to attack the Knight. The Knight dodges and opens his hand; a cloud of fire erupts from his hand and burns into the hide of the Wyvern, no longer protected from its beloved bone armour. It shrieks in agony as it tries to escape, until he swings his heated sword upwards and managed to cut clean through the arm of the Wyvern.
The arm cuts clean off and smoke billows from the wing and it screams in pain, slumping to the floor, crawling away.
The Knight walks up the body of the Wyvern and he looks down at it. He lifts the blade of his sword upwards and then plunges it straight into the head of the creature, ending its suffering once and for all.
The Wyvern falls lifeless and there is a faint hissing sound from the corpse as it begins to disintegrate beneath his feet. He stands tall and looks up at the sky, exhaling a white mist from his lips as he stands there. But as the body of the Wyvern disintegrates away, he collapses, passing out from the battle and his injury.
He lays there for hours as the snow billows around him after killing his prize.
Until three hours later, he gasps when he opens his eyes, reawakening and he looks at his arm. The wounds have closed up from the potion he took, which also enhanced his healing capabilities. He sits upright and his eyes are no longer glowing red, they have returned to their normal blue colour. He picks up his sword and he makes his way down the mountain to the town at the bottom. The journey must have been long for him but the memory managed to shorten it down to when he got down. When he reaches the location, there is green everywhere and a warm sensation in the air, unlike the ice cold summit that he just fought that Wyvern atop.
He approaches a man by a notice board and he kicks his foot gently and he gasps when he wakes up, snorting from his snoring state. He looks up and sees the Knight stood there, still got some cuts and bruises on him and his armour, but alive. He then sets a bag down, which contains some shards of dust from the crystals he found up there. That was his true prize; the Wyvern was the challenge to get it. "That Wyvern won't be attacking your livestock anymore, and here's the dust you asked for. Three Shards worth." The Knight tells him, his voice is young but he is far from innocent sounding.
The man opens the bag and he sees the dust shards inside and he gasps with amazement. "How did you take the Wyvern down? No one has managed that before!" The Farmer exclaims.
"I have my ways." He tells him.
"Well, you have my thanks. Come with me." The Farmer says as he stands up, taking the bag with him and he walks towards his hut. He opens the door and the two of them enter. Inside is his office and he sets the bag down on the table. He then reaches into his safe and there is a large quantity of golden coins inside. This is a time before Lien was invented to be a currency, so in this time they used golden coins. "What we agreed on, three bags worth of Sovereign Coin." He says, setting the three bags down, filled with the coins for the Knight. He picks them up and straps them to his belt and he just nods. He turns to leave but the Farmer calls him again. "Why don't you stay at the inn? Find a warm body to sleep with; there are plenty of fine women who would enjoy your company. You have paid one hell of a fine service to this town." The Farmer says with his arms crossed.
"I appreciate the offer, sir, but I already have someone waiting for me." The Knight says to him.
"You never did tell me your name." The Farmer says. He stops and looks at hm.
"My name is Krekras Blackridge, but people call me Archangel." He answers.
Yang
The memory collapses before her eyes as the stored memories in this particular book have been usurped and suddenly there is a pulse that pushes Yang away from the book. Kassius catches her before she could accidentally hit her head on the ground from the pulse. "Whoa! You alright?" Kassius asks her, moving some of her blonde hair from her eyes so she can actually see.
"Yeah...yeah..." She stammers, but she doesn't even notice the blood leaking from her nose.
"Your nose is bleeding!" Kassius says, wiping the blood away.
"I'm fine...I just need a minute." Yang sighs as she sits down, Kassius helps her down and they all look at her, kneeling down beside her. She breathes in and out slowly to recover from that, having her head played with like that is bound to have a few physical repulsions after usage.
"How much did you see? You weren't in there for long." Nora asks curiously.
"I was in there for around a few minutes, maybe fifteen..." She presumed.
"It was like a few seconds for us." Winter says with a shrug.
"I guess time in that thing is longer than it seems in reality." Qrow theorises. Yang sits there and she manages to get her head back into it, shaking the migraine off eventually.
"What did you see? Anything that can help us find Ruby?" Weiss asks.
"Maybe..." Yang stammers as she remembers what she saw with Axzura Vex.
"What was it?" Ren asks.
"It was – a story from back then...Axzura Vex..." Yang explains.
"Didn't Kragen mention him? He became Fury, didn't he?" Sun asks.
"Yeah, he was a pirate." Neptune remembers.
"Well he was definitely telling the truth, because I saw him raiding a ship and he managed to pull it off and leave without anyone figuring out where he went. Except for a few, apparently." Yang remembers.
"Where'd he go?" Blake asks.
"An Island...one surrounded by storms...and the guy narrating it said that only a young silver eyed warrior can gain access to it somehow." Yang explains, and they all stand there, realising that there must be something important on that Island.
"That must be why they have Ruby!" Kassius realises as he stands up, taking his Stetson off for a second to wipe the sweat from his brow.
"Salem must want her to get into that place...but why...we need to find more of those books...learn what we can." Yang explains to them.
"So it was worth the effort?" Qrow asks.
"Definitely...And there was something else in that book...I saw this guy called Krekras, he was a Knight and...His armour looked identical to Death's." Yang explains. None of them have the confirmation if Krekras Blackridge is Death or not, but they know someone who could. And they need to get back to him. Yang gets back up. "We need to get back to Kragen." Yang says.
They all walk up the stairs, but Yang stops in her tracks like a dear at the headlights of a car.
She feels the hairs stand on the back of her neck when she sees him leant against a wall with his knife in his hand. "Looks like you're not the only one looking for those books." Hazel says. Yang looks around and she can see Cinder stood there with flames engulfed in her hand. Mercury and Emerald emerge as well and she scowls at them both, since she trusted them, and Emerald is responsible for the murder of Penny.
But they are not what are creating the sensation of dread.
Yang turns and she sees the Knight of Fear walking next to her and stopping right in front of them all with his Scythe in his hand, golden eyes staring into their eyes. Maggots' crawling in the rotten skin and his rotten smirk looks right at them. Torn skin moving and the skull can be seen underneath, the white bone of his jaw visible under the ripped open skin. "Look who has decided to arrive." He says with a smirk.
Jaune turns and he sees the Knight of Loss is also here as well. Her glowing blue eyes looking at them and she holds her bow, drawn back and the arrow aimed at them, ready to kill them at the command of her friend, Fear.
Yang stares straight at Fear. "What do you want?" Yang questions coldly.
Fear walks closer and he is now nose-to-nose with her. "Let's talk business, hmm?" Fear asks her, tilting his head with an insane smirk on his face.