26 Checkpoint (Cont.)

For a moment, the world seemed to drop away. Light and sound faded, as did the gentle wind on my face and the small dampness that remained from my bath. I could see or hear anything and even the scent of the forest faded away. All that was left to me was the feeling of falling—or maybe flying. For a moment I was bizarrely unsure of where or even who I was. I was lost in the dark, uncertain of…everything. In that moment,all I wanted was to find something, anything, to cling to, to hold onto, to keep from slipping away, but all that was left was—

And then the moment passed and I was back where I was supposed to be, apparently having closed my eyes at some point. I opened them now and was surprised when four eyes opened, rather than two—a pair right where they were supposed to be and a set higher, on my temples. The other eyes on my mask.

I lifted a hand to touch my chin and felt human skin. Then I reached higher and made sure the mask had not somehow become a part of my face. That had been a serious concern, but it didn't seem to have some to pass.

But that brief moment in the dark had been…

"Everything alright?" Adam asked and I looked up to see him overlaid in light, bright red highlighting parts of him as I had only seen twice before, lights illuminating his hair and shining through the flesh of his chest to reveal a stead, beating core within. I could sense it, feel it, and for a brief moment before I regained myself completely, I wanted to find out what would happen if I took it out.

It wasn't just him, either—I could see light washing through the trees and grass, sparks in the air that I focused on quickly and saw to be insects. But I could also see patches and pools of…not quite light, but something that was nonetheless bright and clear. It took me a moment to recognize them because of how different they looked through my new eyes and even then I was only sure because of the pool growing from Adam's feet, casting his silhouette across the ground.

Shadows. Darkness. Except…it wasn't dark anymore, at least not to me.

I saw windows opening up before me, lots of them, but I looked down at myself before reading them, just to see what I looked like. And I was…burning, white fire shining through what my dark cloak didn't cover, bright and gentle and pure—and shot through with trails of cold, empty black that I thought I could almost feel. My Aura was marked and scarred with it like veins or stripes and even before I followed them back to it, I knew the source.

"Jaune," Adam said again, more pressingly. "Are you okay? You look…"

"Yeah," I answered, still looking around with too many wide eyes. "It's just…weird. I can see your Aura, Adam—I can see everything's Aura. Is this how the Grimm see the world?"

"But there were no side effects?" Adam asked.

"Uh…" I hesitated, finally looked at the windows before me, and winced.

Status 'Ghastly Grimm and Stately Raven' has been granted by the item 'Lenore.'

Status 'Dirges of Hope' has been granted by the item 'Lenore.'

Status 'Nameless Here Forevermore' has been granted by the item 'Lenore.'

Status 'Terrors Never Felt Before' has been granted by the item 'Lenore.'

Status 'Soul and Shadow Floating on the Floor' has been granted by the item 'Lenore.'

Status 'Into the Tempest' has been granted by the item 'Dreary Midnight.'

Set bonus! Status 'The Wind and Nothing More' has been granted by the simultaneous use of the items 'Dreary Midnight' and 'Lenore.'

Status 'Nameless Here Forevermore' has been partially negated by the skill 'Gamer's Mind.'

Status 'Terrors Never Felt Before' has been negated by the skill 'Gamer's Mind.'

Status 'Soul and Shadow Floating on the Floor' has been negated by the skill 'Gamer's Mind.'

Um.

I had no idea what…any of that meant, but I once more felt exceptional gratitude to the utter bullshit that was my power.

"Uh," I said. "Well, like we expected, my power seems to have blocked the bad stuff—of which there was a great deal, I mean damn—but I'm not sure what any of this stuff does. Give me a second…"

I called up my Status Window and immediately frowned. What seemed almost like a thin layer of smoke covered the entire screen, gathered particularly hard near the top. Wherever I focused seemed to clear, but the rest…

"That's weird…" I murmured, frowning at it. "My status screen is hard to see."

"You're hard to see," Adam said. "That's what I was trying to say before."

I blinked at him—and God, that was still weird with four eyes—and looked down at myself again.

"Am I?" I wondered. "I can see myself just fine."

"You're…" Adam frowned. "It's hard to describe, honestly. I can see your mask, I can see the cloak, but you are kind of hard to focus on…sort of? I can see you just fine, but if I didn't know it was you…"

He shook his head in irritation.

"Well…" I mused, touching Lenore. "It is a mask. Not sure which ability would do this, though?"

I frowned at my screen, eyes gazing over it searchingly. There was…something up with my stats, a marking beside them in the shape of my mask, but I had not idea what that meant. My Air Affinity had increased greatly as well. The upper part of my screen was especially covered with the smoke, such that I could only see a twisted blur of my name and stuff, but…

I shook my head and just selected one of the new statuses randomly.

Dirges of Hope: ???

"Goddamn it," I said, annoyed. "You're still not gonna tell me?"

I tried again.

Nameless Here Forevermore: The dark smoke of the Grimm rises around your soul and conceals it from the eyes of man. Beware, however, of wandering in the night. This status effect hides your true self from mortal eyes and minds—including your own. Greatly increases the difficulty of identification attempts made towards the user, regardless of source. Partially disabled by Gamer's Mind.

Um.

"Well, uh, I…dodged that bullet I guess," I stated before speaking to Adam. "It seems the mask has some powers I still can't see, so I'm not sure what they're doing. Or if they're working at all, really. Maybe I have to figure out what they are before I can use them or…maybe they require the negative effects to function properly."

"Could be," He shrugged. "It's really hard to draw upon examples in a case like this. But…you'd think that since it was your power that created it, it would be designed for your use in mind. Or at least your potential use. If the only way to use it was impossible for you, why would your power create it?"

"That makes sense, but I don't know," I shrugged, still browsing my statuses even though several windows were already open. "Honestly, how or why my power does what it does. But yeah, you'd think that item drops would be for me. I guess I'll just have to level up Observe some more until I can see it or do this the hard way."

What I didn't say was that I'd had the same thought as Adam and that I had some support for it. I'd checked 'Into the Tempest' and then checked 'The Wind and Nothing More,' finding I could see both and that they served roughly the same purpose—increasing my Air Affinity—which was something that would undeniably come in handy in the mission ahead. In fact, it would be so useful that it made me wonder.

Was that luck or design? It wasn't uncommon in games to need to get some item in order to make it through a specific dungeon and it was quite possibly these two items would save me in the skies, but…then, had my power somehow organized this, drawing me into place just in time to be attacked by a Nevermore? Or had it made the Nevermore attack me? Or, perhaps, had it truly just been luck—or Luck?—that had led to me being attacked and getting what I needed when I won?

Or maybe…had I done this? Had my power led me to what I wanted, what I needed? If this was my Semblance, a representation of my soul, was I somehow…and if not me then…

I looked at my other statuses, for now hidden from my sight, and wondered what that might mean for them if any of my suspicions were true. I could even, perhaps, take that further and wonder what that meant for anything that had happened to me. I'd given some thought to it before, to what had happened and how I'd so suddenly been involved with the White Fang and in over my head—I'd bemoaned my luck. But was it luck? Had I just been in the right place at the right time and entered some enormous, sprawling side-quest that had gotten me into a quest chain?

Or, if this was a game, then was this the, or a, plotline? If I thought about it, I had always wanted to be a great warrior, a hero like my parents. Maybe that was even, in a way, why I had always loved games so much—apparently enough to get this power. But if so…had it led me to this?

It was a concern I'd never voiced—about my power and about Luck, about how things seemed to come together. I don't know when I'd started to wonder and I'd avoided giving it more than a passing thought, but if I was a game character, if my power could access information I had no way of knowing and provide items that couldn't otherwise exist, if there were quests, if I had a stat that could literally effect the probability of what happened to me…

If I truly was able to live life as if it were a game…

Then who programs my game? Was it me? Was this all truly the work of my Semblance? An expression of my soul and what I wanted most? Had it known I wanted to help people and manipulated me towards a place where I could?

Was I just over thinking this?

And, most importantly, did it matter? Even if couldn't be sure how far the 'game' went, did it change how I wanted—how I should—change my life? Regardless of how I'd gotten here, there were still people who needed my help and I still wanted to help them. Did it matter how or why I was able to, even if it meant letting my power guide me? Even, perhaps, pull my strings?

Yes, I thought. Why always matters. But if the reason why I could save people, why I could be a hero, why I could be here was because of my power or my wishes or whatever caused it…then I was grateful for the opportunity. Even if in the end it led me into danger—if, in the end, it maybe even resulted in my death—then still I was glad to be given an chance. If it was for this, for helping people…

Then I wasn't afraid. I was born to do that.

I smiled then and felt like a weight had been removed from my heart. I looked at the water, at my reflection in the shifting river, and saw my white mask and hood hiding my face and more. But even if it meant hiding things or leaving them behind, if it was for this…it was okay. If it was my loss, if I was the one who needed to lock things away, and if in return I could set others free…

I shifted within my new cloak, closing it over my chest as light gleamed upon Crocea Mors from both the sun and my soul. I saw Crocea Mors within it, even, a light submerged in my own and in my darkness. But those things were in everyone, weren't they? It was simply a matter of understanding what that meant. I wasn't sure, even as I felt it flowing down into my weapons, white claws growing further into dark talons to better arm me against…itself?

I guess I'd have to figure that out for myself, one way or another.

Though he was rarely one for words, I heard my sword whisper a reminder at the edge of my thoughts.

Whatever should happen, I will always protect you.

I closed my four eyes and nodded as the world went dark around me. I felt it now, like a touch on my skin—slight here in the day, but forever there, if only in the shadow trailing at my heels. I drew power from it now, breathing it in, and relaxed.

"Jaune?" Adam asked.

"Hm?" I looked at him, blinking. "Oh, sorry. I was just lost in thought, I guess. But…I'm fine."

I shrugged one shoulder and smiled at him honestly.

"By the way, I forgot to ask…" I held my arms out to my sides and stood tall. "…How do I look?"

He stared at me for a long moment, considering—and then waggled his hand.

"You look like you're trying to hard, but it's not terrible," He said. "Could be worse."

I snorted.

"Well, I was about to tell you something cool," I said, turning and walking away. "But since you can't appreciate how awesome I am, I'm gonna go do stuff. Since Observe is being finicky, I'll just have to try and figure out what my mask does the old fashioned way. And I'll try and combine my wind affinity with stuff and see what I can come up with, too…"

"Meh," Adam said, following me.

"Yeah, I'm going to start with Far Strike. I wonder what happens if I over charge it? Oh! I wonder if I'll get to name another technique. If I do, I'll call it, uh…" I mulled over that for a bit before smiling. "Far Slayer. Or should I make it one word? Or maybe—"

I'm pretty sure Adam rolled his eyes again.

"Oh, shut up and tell me already."

I smirked at him.

"Well, I was thinking…if my Semblance can apply to stuff besides me…do you want to see if we can make a party?" I asked. "I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings for you and find you a place on Team Jaune. What do you say?"

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