53

RWBY: Forever Fall

Day One

I looked around again, taking in the ruins of the building around me. Well, this seemed to be as good a place as any. From what I could see, this place had once been quite a sight, but now it was little more than a forgotten ruin all but lost to nature. It looked like it must have been decades, perhaps centuries, since anyone had been here.

If my planeswalking had deposited me here, right at the top of this ruin, perhaps there was something more to this place than what I could see now. The first time I'd planeswalked, I'd found myself in Slaughter Swamp, a place of powerful dark magic and death. There I'd forged my first land bond and gained my first creature blueprint for a local horror by the name of Solomon Grundy.

Since then, I'd gained a few more locations that I could Planeswalk to, and both were places of powerful magic as well. Of the four, this one looked the most ordinary, but I knew well how not everything was truly as it appeared to be. I hadn't seen anything yet and it was entirely possible that this was just some random ruin, but I wasn't willing to discount it just yet.

"I'm going to poke around up here," I told Zatanna, "can you take a look around the hill, see if you can find anything?

"Okay," she agreed easily, "I'll call out if I see anything."

"Perfect. Just don't go too far," I warned.

"Yup. I'm a copy, not cuckoo," she snarked, walking away.

I watched her go––dressed as she was, it was quite a sight to see––then shook myself and got to work as well. I started by casting a supersensory charm on myself, then began to scour my surroundings. Idle flicks of my wand cleared away thick beds of moss, grass growing in the cracks between chunks of stone, and vines creeping on the columns and what was left of the walls. I checked around the broken columns, searched the ground for anything that may have been left here when this place was abandoned, and curiously examined what remained of the floor.

As I'd thought, the center of the floor had once held an elaborate black and white mosaic. Most of it had been hidden under dirt, grass, and moss, while other sections were badly damaged by cracks, roots, and erosion, but none of that was a real obstacle to a wizard of my caliber. Repairing this entire building was beyond what I was willing to do right now––it would take days to clean everything up, repair what was at least somewhat intact, and conjure or transfigure material to fill in the gaps––but fixing up some ancient artwork was well within my means.

Soon there was a clear, clean spot near the center of the floor, a stark contrast to the rest of the ruin. The circle of stone shone as though it had been freshly polished and, outside of a long, deep crack in the stone that I hadn't been quite able to repair, the mosaic that had once been barely recognizable was now clearly visible.

I walked slowly around it, examining it from every angle. It depicted two nearly featureless figures, a white man with black chips for eyes and a black woman with white chips for eyes. Between them was a crown, the most highly detailed portion of the entire mosaic. It included what must have been hundreds of tiny chips of stone, defining every line and curve in a beautiful array of black and white. The two figures were shown facing away from the crown towards the edges of the mosaic, and beneath the crown were two serpents wound tightly together like on the staff of Aesculapius.

There was no magic in the image, no runes or enchantments, but it was a beautifully done work of art. It was a shame there was such a deep line cut through the center of it, dividing the two figures and nearly decapitating the two serpents. I probably could repair that part as well, but it would take a lot of magic and focus to fix compared to what I'd used for the rest of the mosaic.

Before I could do anything else, I heard a shout from somewhere down the hill. "Hey, Hydrys!" Zatanna called. "Come check this out!" I gave the mosaic one final glance, then turned away and hurried towards where I'd heard Zatanna calling from.

It didn't take long to reach her. She was perhaps a dozen meters down the hill, about half way between the top where the ruins were and the forest. There were a handful of small trees growing on the hill, but they looked young and slender compared to the ancient trees that surrounded us. I doubted I'd be able to see more than a few meters through the forest itself, but here I could pretty clearly see all the way down to the base.

A few steps down from the floor I'd been standing on, the green grass and moss beneath my feet turned into a thin blanket of crimson leaves that crunched beneath my feet. With every step down the hill, the layer of leaves thickened until it was nearly up past the tops of my shoes and I was glad I'd decided to wear pants today despite the warm weather back in Gotham.

I found Zatanna standing next to one of the larger trees growing on the hill and it took me a moment to see what she was looking at. There was a vertical crack in the ground surrounded by roots and half hidden by the shadows cast by the tree's leaves. A branch covered the top half of the opening and the thick layer of leaves nearly hid the rest of it from view, but with my supersensory charm I could tell that this was the entrance to some sort of cave, or maybe a tunnel.

Zatanna pointed to the crack. "First interesting thing I've found. I nearly missed it, but my foot got caught on a root and I almost went in face first."

"Good find, but you should be careful. I used up all my mana summoning you and it feels like it's going to be a little while before it all comes back. I'd rather not have to resummon you because you tripped over a root and broke your neck."

"Better me than you," she told me softly.

"Fair point."

I silently peered into the crack and then back up the hill, judging angles and distances. The crack seemed to lead deeper into the earth, but took a turn just a few feet back. Still, it could very well lead under the ruin. Though, well, most of the hill was generally under the ruin, but the two could feasibly still be connected.

I twirled my wand, clearing away the leaves around the hole and the branch covering it. The crack was bigger than it had appeared at first glance, large enough for two people to walk side by side with room to spare.

Well, I had wanted to take a look at the ruin and the area around it, and this certainly qualified. Still, it was best to be cautious. I waved Zatanna forward, "After you, my dear."

Zatanna gave me a deadpan look, then rolled her eyes. "Thgil," she muttered, conjuring a glowing orb of light floating over her shoulder. Then she tentatively took a step into the crack and I followed after her, descending down into the earth

I kept a firm grip on my wand as I walked after Zatanna. A few steps in, the tunnel turned sharply up and slightly to the right. Zatanna glanced back at me and I waved for her to keep going as I studied our surroundings. The walls and floor were made of hard-packed dirt and bits of rock, but it looked structurally stable. There were marks on the floor and walls, small gouges and bits where dirt had come loose and fallen to the ground.

It was warmer here. The air outside hadn't been cold, but it hadn't been particularly hot either, even in the sun. Here it was distinctly too warm to be fully comfortable, and I was glad for the spells in my clothing that kept me cool and comfortable regardless of the weather.

Zatanna stopped and I paused as well, "Hydrys?" she whispered, and pointed at something I couldn't see past her.

I took another step forward and peered over her shoulder. There was another mark in the floor, but this one was much bigger and deeper. The hard-packed dirt had been cleaved by something sharp and heavy, leaving a two-inch gouge in the otherwise mostly smooth ground.

"Huh," I mumbled, fingering my wand cautiously. Something had been here, but I did not know what. "Be on your guard," I whispered softly, "but let's keep going."

"Okay," Zatanna agreed, trusting my decision. She continued forward and I once again followed after her, keeping my wand raised and at the ready, a number of spells on the tip of my tongue in case I needed them.

The tunnel continued to curve slightly and we soon left the light shining through the opening far behind us. The only light was the one shining from Zatanna's spell, casting deep shadows on the walls. The tunnel had changed direction again after several meters. Now it was moving downward deeper into the ground once again instead of up into the hill.

From time to time, we passed pieces of pale white stone just like we'd seen in the ruins above us. Some of them showed faint tool marks and we even passed what was clearly an entire column buried beneath the earth, now making up part of the wall of this tunnel instead of holding something up. It was carved with geometric patterns and a motif of interlocking crowns.

Perhaps I was right that the structure above us had once been the upper floor of a larger building? Or maybe it had once had a large, elaborately decorated basement that had been buried by earth and debris over the years. It was hard to say one way or another and that was a lot of potential earth to move if I wanted to uncover it all. Not to mention the risk of everything collapsing if I removed the wrong clump of dirt.

We walked for several minutes and I slowly felt a sense of apprehension growing in the back of my mind. Only the knowledge that I could easily grab Zatanna and apparate out of here kept me walking deeper into the bowels of the earth. This tunnel had clearly been made by something or someone. Maybe a human, but it was proportioned oddly in that case. It was too high––nearly twice my height in places––and not wide enough to make that height overly useful.

And then, the tunnel turned again and Zatanna and I emerged suddenly into a cave. Zatanna took a step forward and her light flew up, illuminating more of the room. It wasn't a very large cave, but still much bigger than the tunnel we'd just exited. The ceiling was about fifteen feet high and the cave was vaguely circular and about twenty feet in diameter. There were also several other openings along the walls besides the one we'd just entered through, behind which I could see only darkness

Much more interestingly however was that this cave was clearly connected to the ruins where I'd arrived. The ground here was not packed earth, but white stone. Dirty, damaged, and partially buried in places, but clearly the same sort of construction as I'd seen above. There was also another column partially extending out of the ground and then disappearing into the ceiling near one of the walls, and one of the other openings looked like it had once been an archway of some sort and not just another hole in the dirt.

I didn't immediately follow Zatanna into the cave. Instead, I double checked that all my spells were in place, then recast my earlier human revealing spell. It showed only me and Zatanna, but that didn't mean that there weren't non-human entities around. Ones I didn't have spells to detect.

This place felt…strangely cold, despite the warm, damp air. On a whim, I activated the bubble-head charm on my necklace, then cast the same spell on Zatanna. Better safe than sorry and this place did not leave me feeling comfortable in the least.

I finally took a step forward and Zatanna moved over to stand beside me, the click of her heel on the stone floor echoing softly off the walls. "I wonder what this place used to be?" she asked softly.

I shrugged. "A temple maybe? Or a bank. I found an interesting looking mosaic up where I summoned you, but the floor down here looks undecorated. It's hard to––"

I stopped mid sentence, my magically heightened senses picking something up. Zatanna opened her mouth and I swiftly shushed her, pressing a finger against her lips before she could say anything.

Something rustled in the distance. There was a loud scraping noise, and then another rustle. My wand rose and I peered into the darkness. Zatanna's right hand found my left and I grasped it firmly, ready to shield both of us or apparate away at a moment's notice.

For several long seconds there was nothing, and I almost believed that I'd imagined it all. And then a huge black head wearing a pale white mask decorated with red lines pushed through the archway. It had bright orange eyes and a row of sharp, shining teeth right below the mask. A moment later, two large paws with three white claws each appeared, followed by a titanic body with folded, feathery wings on its back.

I stared at the monster. The monster stared back at me. And then it roared and a blast of searing flames erupted from its mouth, flying directly towards the two of us. The cave went from warm and dark to blisteringly hot and bright in an instant, but my wand was already moving.

RWBY: Forever Fall

Day One

I twirled my wand through the air above our heads and barked a word. The flames washed over the two of us and all we felt was a faint tickle of heat brushing our bare skin as my flame-freezing charm turned flames nearly as hot as a dragon's breath into little more than a summer breeze and the blistering heat of the air faded away. .

Even before the flames had fully cleared, I was casting again. None of my lands had readied yet after I drew on them to create a copy of Zatanna, but I was confident I didn't need the aid of mana to rely on here. This thing didn't seem anywhere close to as dangerous as a nundu, so, I'd give two wizards good odds against a mere creature. And if things did start going poorly, I could apparate away at any moment.

Flames parted around my flipendo and the spell smashed into the creature's masked face. It reeled back, more surprised than hurt, and unfurled its wings. They were huge and black as the night, each enormous, spikey feather as long as my arm and jagged like a bread knife. Despite the size of the cave, it could not fully spread its wings, and instead just used them to stabilize its fall as it moved fully into the room.

The creature was massive, but it looked more feline than reptilian like I had been expecting. It was no dragon, though it looked to be about the same size as the young Common Welsh Green that I'd seen pictures of in the Daily Prophet. Perhaps three yards tall at the shoulders, two wide, and five long without the tail I could see behind its black body. It was long, the same shade of white as the creature's mask, and relatively slender with a snake head on the end. Perhaps it was some manner of chimera than?

Before its front paws could land on the ground, Zatanna extended a hand out towards it. "Dnib," she called out, and ropes sprang into existence around the creature's limbs. It lurched as one of its wings was pulled violently out of alignment and nearly fell on its side.

"Good idea!" I complimented, my wand movements changing mid spell. I'd been planning to blast it with a confringo, but having a fully intact specimen would be far more interesting than a headless one. "Incarcerous!"

Thick woven ropes sprang from the tip of my wand and began to loop around the creature's body and wings. It struggled wildly, bucking and biting and even breathing fire in all directions, but a second flame-freezing spell onto our conjured ropes, followed by an Imperturbable charm to stop it from tearing them apart with its razor-sharp teeth and claws, rendered those efforts mostly futile.

Perhaps if it hadn't reflexively spread its wings, it would have been fine. No amount of rope would have stopped it from simply pouncing towards us, but as soon as Zatanna had bound its wings and legs together and stopped it from refolding them, the fight was all but over. It then falling over onto one wing had just sealed the deal.

Even still, it continued to strain and struggle. I cast the Incarcerous spell two more times, cocooning the creature and binding its mouth shut, finally reducing its rope-straining thrashing to tiny twitches of movement.

I relaxed slightly once it was fully secured, though I didn't fully drop my guard, nor lower my wand. Our fight, for as short and one-sided as it had been, had been rather loud and very bright, and if there was one creature like this down here, there could be more.

Zatanna took another step into the room and cast another light spell, creating a trio of glowing orbs that floated up around the roof, fully illuminating the cave. "I've never seen an animal like this one," she told me, curiosity evident in her voice. "What is it?"

I shrugged. "Not a clue, but hopefully I'll find out soon. First though…" I twirled my wand above my head in several wide, slow circles. With each revolution, the earth around the other entrances to the cave shifted and flowed as though it was made of water, stone doors rising smoothly from the ground.

On the final revolution, I brought my wand down and drew the outline of a P in the air. "Colloportus," I declared, focusing on the half-dozen oddly shaped doors I'd just transfigured. They each gleamed briefly as the locking spell took hold. "That's better. They won't stand up to a charge from something as big as this thing," I gestured to the chimera-like monster, "but they'll hold back anything smaller and will warn us if something's coming."

"Good thinking," Zatanna praised, "Your magic is so convenient sometimes, I'm jealous."

"And Logomancy isn't?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Zatanna laughed. "I never said that. But you can do both!"

"Not half as well as you can."

She waved me off. "That's just a matter of practice."

Maybe. Zatanna's grasp of Logomancy was rather impressive and she was more held back by a lack of practical experience and small natural reserves of magic. Both of those could and would be inevitably fixed with age and experience. Meanwhile, it would take me a lot of time and effort to get nearly as proficient with her family's form of spellcasting as she was.

I changed the subject. "Well, let's take a look at this beastie. Boy, it's a big one."

I cast a shield charm around myself, then took several cautious steps towards the restrained creature. It tried to snap at me, but the angle was all wrong and its mouth was bound shut, so it mostly just looked like another small jolt.

Hmm. "Stupify," I tried, pointing my wand at a bare patch of black feathers. Red light flew from my wand and splashed against it. The creature's body stilled for a moment and I thought my spell had worked, but then it began to thrash around again with renewed vigor.

I recast the spell three more times, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect on the creature. I didn't want to get close to it if it could still move and potentially attack me, so eventually I instead added some more ropes, cocooning the creature until only a few tiny patches of black skin and feathers were visible.

Only once I was absolutely certain that it wasn't going anywhere did I finally approach the creature, Zatanna trailing behind me. I stopped just within arms reach and extended my wand to poke it. When it didn't respond, I cast a spell intended to check for topical poisons and dangerous potions which came up clean, so it was probably safe to touch.

I took another step forward and laid my hand on its side. The flesh beneath my fingers was smooth and oddly cool to the touch. It barely felt like a natural material, more armor than the fur or feathers I'd expect from an animal.

Was this some wizard's pet, perhaps? Some form of guard animal or breeding experiment? It would explain the markings on the mask and the combination of different features. It was said that the first chimeras had been created by Greek wizards thousands of years ago and, though most such experiments were illegal today, it was not uncommon for some wizards to flaunt those particular laws.

If that was the case, I was glad we'd subdued it and not killed it. That could have been awkward if we eventually came across its master. When I was done, I'd leave the creature here––the ropes Zatanna and I had made would all vanish eventually once we were long gone.

First however, there was something I wanted to do. I was pretty sure this was going to work, but I hadn't yet had a chance to test the theory I'd come up with some weeks ago. This seemed like the perfect occasion.

"Keep an eye on the doors," I ordered, "and shake me if you notice something."

I waited for Zatanna to nod, then turned back to the chimera. I pressed one hand against its side and dug my wand past two layers of rope to press into another patch of flesh, Closing my eyes, I breathed slowly and deeply, my consciousness sinking inward until I reached my Spark.

A thin trickle of magic flowed from my wand and into the creature, giving me a vague sense of its shape. Then I very carefully shifted the source of that trickle, moving down and in and…

My Spark flared momentarily and a new blueprint appeared within me. I opened my eyes and took a step backwards, blinking rapidly. "It's a Sphinx," I told Zatanna, though it didn't look like any sort of Sphinx I'd ever heard of. "A…Grimm Sphinx."

"Neat. Though it seemed more interested in barbeque than riddles."

"I don't think it's that kind of sphinx."

"Probably not. 'Rawr, fireball!' isn't a very good riddle."