ushernet Memories, Fire, Sins…
Memories, Fire, Sins…
Extreme summary: Not born as heir.
Very brief summary: Work issues.
Not-so-extreme summary: Had a crappy week, not so great, barely had time to breathe, but hey, here's the chapter!
Honestly, I want to go back to posting things normally, every 1/2 days, but it's TOUGH. If everything gets better (BECAUSE DAMN, IF IT DOESN'T GET BETTER!) the schedule will return to normal.
If possible, comment—I want to know how the story is after this little hiatus.
Oh, and read the note at the end of the chapter, some important things happened in this chapter and I explain some things there.
Well, that said, as always, if anyone wants to support me or just read 3/7 chapters of my 2 stories, that's possible on my (P)(A)(T). If not, I still thank you for reading my stories, thank you very much!
Finally, good night and happy reading!
(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori
[...]---[...]
“Nice to meet you all, I’m Jinn, but I guess you already know that thanks to the stream!” I only partially paid attention to Jinn's cheerful introduction as we landed.
At least she remembered to put on a dress and look presentable. She even asked me for a summer hat to match.
“We know... I’m Ruby!” Ruby replied, looking Jinn up and down before speaking excitedly. “These are Weiss, Yang, and Blake!”
“She probably knows us, Ruby. Spirit of knowledge and all that.” Weiss commented beside her.
“Nudist spirit...” Blake murmured. I could hear her despite the noise of the Bullhead's engine and Yang’s snort indicated she heard it too.
“I know about you, but I don't really know you.” Jinn approached the four and started circling them while observing, before Ruby mimicked her movements. The two twirled around each other, giggling.
“It’s been about six... actually, seven months since my vision got blurry.” Jinn explained as she circled Ruby. “I have knowledge about you four, but thanks to the stream, the information is a bit scrambled. If I focus on the stream, I can’t see anything!”
She seemed excited about the blindness of her clairvoyance. That was around the time Ruby got her phone, wasn’t it? My thoughts wandered a bit.
The four of them, five including Jinn, chatted quickly for about two minutes before they realized I hadn’t come down from the Bullhead’s roof, even though Ozpin had turned off the aircraft.
“Devas, are you okay?!” Ruby shouted from the ground before jumping up and landing next to me after a bit of a stumble. “Did something happen? Why didn’t you come down?”
“I’m just reflecting on my mission choices...” I commented vaguely, looking at the daily missions. “Sit down so you don’t fall, you were spinning around for a while.”
Jinn seemed immune to dizziness, probably due to her physiology or magic, maybe both. Ruby didn’t have that advantage.
Thanks to Jinn, the Spring Vault, and the quick return to Beacon, I had forgotten to check the three daily missions available from the stream. Just before we landed, I quickly pulled up the screen to see what I received today.
Imagine my surprise when I saw one of the three missions shining in all the freaking colors of the rainbow...
Seriously, I even checked to see if I had used the Rainbow Ticket by mistake, but no, it was still there in the VoidBag.
“Here, it’s easier for you to see.” I jumped down from the Bullhead after seeing Ruby had calmed down enough to follow me and swiped to the mission screen, showing it to the five of them.
-//-
[World Mission]
Rarity: Rainbow.
World: Amalgam World.
Time limit: None.
Mission Description: A normal world, a normal Earth, with one small difference... It contains several ‘worlds’ within it.
Animes, Movies, Series, Cartoons, mostly Slice of Life, some with a certain level of power, a place full of surprises and random missions at every corner!
Explore the world as “The Streamer” wishes, meet the ‘important beings’ of the world, whether they are significant to their stories or just secondary characters, help them or ignore them, it doesn’t matter, follow your heart and have fun!
Objective: Enter the world!
Reward: Minimap Update (Missions). Mission Book.
[..]
NOTE: BIG worlds like MARVEL, DC, BLEACH, DXD, FATE, etc. are not included in Amalgam World!
NOTE: “The Streamer” cannot accept the mission while on an emergency mission!
NOTE: “The Streamer” can return to ‘Terraria’ after one week in Amalgam World and return to Amalgam World after one week in TERRARIA!
NOTE: Before the destruction of the “Wall that separates and seals the World,” the maximum continuous time limit in Amalgam World is 6 months!
-//-
I was happy that this mission appeared and, at the same time, a little sad... I only had one slot to store missions, and unfortunately, it looks like I’ll have to discard the mission in the Hotel Transylvania world...
Some people might think I kept that mission for Mavis, and I won’t lie, she was part of the reason, but a small part.
The main reason I wanted to go to that world was to meet the version of Dracula who didn’t succumb to revenge and chose to focus completely on protecting his daughter and his people, ignoring everything else.
I respected the guy, simple as that. I hope I get another chance to meet him.
“Amalgam World...” Jinn murmured, her eyes shining. “The stream has the power to merge worlds?”
“Probably, but there’s a chance that this world ‘emerged’ naturally.” Infinite possibilities in an infinite Omniverse... “I’ll save this mission for when I return to Terraria.”
I had two months until whatever was going to happen there happened. Spending a week or two in this Amalgam World to see what’s in it wouldn’t hurt.
“There are few rewards for a Rainbow mission. Aren’t they the rarest?” Yang pointed out.
“As far as I know, yes, but the rewards are just for entering the world.” I pointed to the text on the screen. “The real rewards are probably from the many missions that exist there.”
An update to the Minimap about missions and a mission book? I could already see the ‘!’ and ‘?’ points on the Minimap where the missions existed.
“What is this ‘Wall that separates and seals the World’?” Weiss asked as we started walking.
“That’s the second time this Wall has been mentioned, isn’t it?” Ruby skipped alongside me with Lucy at her waist. “A similar message appeared when you tried to invite Dylan to the stream, didn’t it?”
Looks like they had watched the past streams they hadn’t seen.
“I’m sure I already answered this question when (CHAT) asked.”
“Saying: ‘It’s a wall that’s probably very big’ isn’t really an answer.” I’m sure it wasn’t Blake who spoke, but a manifestation of (CHAT)’s dissatisfaction in the form of a cat-girl.
“It is, and nothing you say will prove otherwise.” I quickly pointed ahead where Glynda was waiting for us. “There, let’s focus on the really important things, like a two-meter-tall woman with a whip in hand and very irritated.”
The look she was casting in our direction made team RWBY shrink instinctively. I placed a hand on Ozpin’s shoulder, who was walking silently beside me, and gave him a gentle push.
“Something tells me her target is you. Have fun.” Ozpin sighed and walked towards Glynda with very short steps.
“I need to have a conversation with the headmaster. Could you take care of my class in the meantime, Devas?” Glynda asked without diverting her gaze.
“Can I do it my way?”
“As long as no student loses a limb or dies, feel free.”
“Yay!”
Jinn was the only one who seemed happy along with me.
[...]
“Glynda offered you all as a sacrifice in exchange for Ozpin’s life.” I walked around the arena while the students were seated. “Because of that, I’ll be making some changes to this class compared to your usual ones. Raise your hands if you have any questions.”
Every hand went up.
“No questions? Great!” I clapped my hands, and Jinn laughed behind me. “By the way, this is Jinn, she’ll be my assistant teacher today.”
“Am I getting paid?” Jinn asked with a cheerful smile.
“Probably.” I shrugged. “You can bill me later since I’m the one who hired you.”
“Well, let’s start by explaining the class. First, we’ll have the class here, no Emerald Forest today.” I heard some sighs of relief and others of disappointment. “Second, the spars will go until your Aura reaches the red, not the yellow.”
I fired a few shots into the air when the voices started getting loud and continued.
“Grimm won’t stop when your Aura gets halfway. I’m being nice by stopping at red. If you didn’t have class tomorrow, it’d be until your Aura breaks.” This quickly silenced the murmurs.
I scanned the room before stopping on someone specific.
“Pyrrha, did Glynda use the notes I made in the last classes?” Pyrrha nodded; Weiss looked annoyed that I hadn’t chosen her to respond. “Great, that saves me some work! Any volunteers to start today’s class?”
Several hands shot up, with Pyrrha’s and Ruby’s almost breaking the sound barrier. I pointed to them and two others who had raised their hands: Cardin and Sun. Interesting...
“Any questions from you four?”
“She’s blue.” Cardin pointed out with remarkable wisdom and insight.
“Jinn is blue, you have eyes, and that wasn’t a question.” I sighed.
This wasn’t the first time I’d heard that since entering the class. Jinn drew attention, and although no one had pointed it out, the murmurs were inevitable.
Jinn herself didn’t seem to mind. Knowing ‘everything’ probably made you immune to many things, but I thought it best to address this right away. The feelings I could sense from Cardin weren’t good, even though they were somewhat contradictory.
Anger, disgust, and slight repulsion, but also shame, anguish, and fear. The latter directed at himself. Did he think Jinn was a faunus?
“Pyrrha, Ruby, step down please, not you, Sun.” The two looked unhappy with my words, but Ruby noticed something in my expression and nudged Pyrrha to step down. “Blake, Russel, Dove, and Sky Lark, step up.”
I gestured without turning and pointed for Blake to go to Sun’s side while the entire CRDL team stood on the other side of the arena, with me in the middle.
“You know, it’s not my place to ask what happened to make you like this.” I looked at Cardin. “Frankly, I don’t even care, but as your teacher, it’s my job to teach you lessons, be they combat or life lessons.”
I continued before anyone could speak, Jinn stepping back to sit next to Ruby in Blake’s seat to watch.
“I’ve heard some rumors here and there, something about someone saying faunus are animals...” Cardin turned red, a mix of shame and anger. “I don’t agree, but for this class, we’ll use those rotten rumors as a scenario. Blake, Sun, hand over your weapons, please.”
Sun looked confused and offended by what I was implying; Blake didn’t hesitate, she knew me well enough to trust me.
“Animals don’t need weapons, right?” I sang as I placed Sun and Blake’s weapons aside. “This first fight will be team CRDL against Sun and Blake unarmed.”
I walked to the back of the class, ignoring the disapproving, confused, and angry looks from the students, especially the faunus.
“Oh yes, Ozpin told me the lights are a bit unstable due to BS reasons.” Bullshit reasons. I stopped next to the breaker panel. Blake’s smile was bloodthirsty when she realized what I wanted to do.
“Remember, the fight ends when the Aura of everyone on one side hits the red...”
With a few simple touches, the whole class plunged into darkness. I could see as if it were day, as could the faunus, their eyes glowing like small fireflies throughout the class.
I pulled the Scrolls from everyone who tried to light up the place into the VoidBag.
“No Scrolls in the classroom.” My voice echoed through the dark room thanks to nightmare energy.
“What are you waiting for?” My eyes glowed orange like two small flames as I walked to the corner of the room.
“... Start the fight.”
The fight lasted five minutes. Sun and Blake didn’t take a single hit.
[...]
“Some people would say it was childish of you to do what you did,” Jinn commented as she walked beside me. The class had already ended; I hadn’t done anything too elaborate other than a few fights and pointing out some things I thought the students could improve on.
“Yes, maybe it was,” I didn’t deny. “But it’s better for Cardin to learn the important lessons here than out there. He may be a bully here, but there’s always a bigger fish.”
I wouldn’t have done it if I weren’t the ‘teacher’. To me, if the guy didn’t improve quickly, expulsion was the only option. Cardin could do something ugly out there if he graduated still with that mentality.
Still, a part of me felt sorry for the kid. He had hate and anger, but much of it was directed more towards himself than the target of his racism. It didn’t justify his actions, but something must have happened for him to be like this.
“Do you want to know why he’s like this?” Jinn sang with her eyes shining in a soft blue.
“No, at least not like this. If I’m going to find out, it’ll be because he came to me himself.” I ignored Jinn’s pout and kept walking. I had said if he wanted to talk, he could find me; now it was up to him.
Ozpin and Glynda already had the boy in their sights too. If he didn’t improve... Well, I won’t be sad for him.
“I thought the girls were going to come with us to see Amber.” Jinn sang as she took light steps. She didn’t like shoes for some reason, not even slippers or anything that covered her feet.
“I don’t recall mentioning that we were going to see Amber.” I opened the elevator door and checked to see if it was in normal mode and not that damn slow-ass turtle mode. “Don’t your powers get scrambled when you’re closer to me?”
The closer she was to me, the less Jinn could ‘see’, and if she focused on the stream and her phone, her clairvoyance was effectively blind.
“I don’t need my powers to know that... Well, maybe a little, but not much.” Jinn stuck out her tongue. “I saw what happened to Amber, saw Ozpin’s attempts to heal her failing. It’s not hard to connect the dots with his arrival to me.”
“Can you heal her?” I asked. Jinn didn’t even open her mouth and pulled out her phone.
[JinnOfTheLamp]: Yes and no. I have the knowledge for it, but I lack materials, assistance, and many of the means to do it. I can heal her, but not alone. Of course, I don’t know what you’re capable of, nor your friends from the stream, maybe it’s simpler. (Emote of a Chibi Jinn spinning gently).
“I see... Well, let’s see what we can do then.” I looked at Jinn chatting on (CHAT) and continued. “About the Summer Maiden, do you know where she is?”
[JinnOfTheLamp]: Do you want the sword?... Uhmm... I know where she is, or was in the case. As I said, things are confusing, it’s like I’ve developed double vision. In one vision, I can see a world where you don’t exist; in the other, confusing fragments of that. Many things have changed. (Emote of a Chibi Jinn spreading her arms).
“The original timeline...” I murmured. I had changed things, a lot apparently. “Have they changed for better or worse?”
Red... This thing was of Red rarity...
I played Terraria; it was actually my favorite game. I knew the rarities well, I didn't know how they translated into reality, but in the game...
Red was the second-highest rarity, with the highest being only Red items with very good prefixes. There was no way I wouldn't want that, especially with the enemies I knew I would face.
Not only in Terraria, but in other worlds too... MARVEL, FATE, and others...
Why interfere?
The small voice kept whispering in the back of my mind:
Things would work fine without you, and if they don't, it's not your fault... It was going to go wrong anyway. Why do you need to try to fix everything?... You're not a hero...
Indeed, I wasn't a hero...
"Let's go then." With a push, I pulled the Shadowflame necklace out of the VoidBag.
...But screw it, many of them are my friends. I don't need to be a hero to help them.
I knew the shit many of them would face. Stark had endless enemies ahead, Rin had the damn Fifth Holy Grail War and the fucked-up world that was FATE, Percy was Greek, a Greek demigod actually, his family was a mess.
Not just for them either. I wanted to help them for myself, I wanted to be part of their stories, see these worlds, meet these people. It was selfish in a way, but I never said I wasn't selfish.
I wanted to be part of all these stories, see everything, meet all of them!...
I raised the Shadowflame necklace with my left hand up to my face and looked at the purple fire for a few seconds, before pulling the necklace away and slowly extending my right hand...
You don't need to interfere...
It's true, I didn't need to interfere, I never needed to... But I wanted to.
...So I touched the flame, my sins burning me.
[...]
POV: Third Person.
What were sins?...
Mostly, sins were actions, thoughts, or behaviors immoral, contrary to norms, be they of a society or religion.
That would be the answer from a book, but... What or who really defined them? How were they judged?...
What were sins?...
If sins were defined based on a society... Which one?... Which world?...
Remnant, Terraria, Earth? Which one... Which Earth? Among all, which society?...
The human could be considered a citizen in more than one world, in more than one society. Which of these would judge him? Which of these fueled the fire slowly rising up his arm?...
The answer was simple: None.
The Human didn't belong to any world; his Origin at this moment was just a distant memory.
And if sins were defined based on a religion... Which one would it be?... In which world?... Which god?...
The human wasn't a believer; he knew of the gods and their pantheons. He didn't doubt their powers or existence, but he also didn't place his faith in them, much less was he their follower.
If the human didn't have faith in the gods, didn't follow them... Which god would judge him?... Dictate right from wrong?... Decide the weight of his actions?...
Which god would condemn him for his sins?...
The answer was simple: None.
The human wouldn't be judged by a god; his existence was an Anathema, his being wouldn't be judged by the Divine.
But then why?... Why did the fire keep rising up the human's arm until it consumed his body completely?...
What fueled the fire? What fed the flame?... How were the sins being judged?...
Who was judging the human?...
The answer was simple: Himself.
Who would judge him besides himself? Who would punish him beyond the Echo of his memories? Who better than a human... To punish a Human?...
When the Shadowflame was whole, complete, and at its peak, its main task was to judge the souls that went to the domain of its master...
The Shadowflame always obeyed its master... Always followed the wishes of its master...
Sins didn't carry equal weight for everyone...
The human didn't scream, didn't grunt when the pain began, even when his flesh seemed to burn, even when his mind began to be consumed by the flames, even when his soul burned in the fire.
His title wouldn't protect him here, whether because the human accepted the test willingly, or because, subconsciously, he didn't want help or interference.
His sins were his and his alone.
When the fire covered his entire body, when his vision was completely taken over by the flickering of the purple flames, slowly, the human sat down on the ground, folding one leg in front of his body and resting his arm on it.
In his hand, the human held the chains of the Shadowflame necklace, now empty, swaying back and forth slowly.
Just like the necklace, the grass on which the human sat was unaffected by the fire, not burned by the flames.
The human took a deep breath, the cold air burning his airways, now on fire, the heat increasing...
His unfocused orange eyes were the only part of his body that could be seen from the outside, shining like two flames of their own, incessantly, unyielding.
Not closing, not blinking even once.
Flashes of memories flashed every second in the human's mind, each action judged as wrong increased the heat of the flames, their size.
The plant life around was unaffected, the heat didn't affect the ground, the air, nothing but the human was judged, burned by the flames...
The Grimm?... None of them approached; for the first time in their existence, since their creation, they feared something beyond their creator, instinctively they knew...
That fire, that flame... Would burn not only them, but even their creator to ashes.
The memories continued quickly, retreating one by one like a film running backward, slowly feeding the flames.
Lionheart paid for his sins, his punishment was death, a fair consequence for the evil he had done...
"...To death."
But a part of the human wondered if it was truly him who should have enacted that punishment?...
The flames grew...
Tyrian's death was a blessing to the world, his punishment was inhuman, but deserved, fair, his sins were immense...
"Sins are sins..." The human murmured one last time... "I will bear yours as well..."
But just like the Nightmares, made of sins... Tyrian Callows occupied his place within the human's spiritual realm as his servant.
The flames grew and grew...
The Deerclops was a monster, consumed by pain and loneliness, made one with his energy. His death was quick, merciful, and painless. Would the people of WinterHord judge him for this?...
How many died in WinterHord?... How many innocents fell due to his inefficiency in killing the beast, in destroying the hallucinations faster?...
[Ninth mark: 12042/14289 (Failure!)]
Many...
The flames grew and grew and grew...
How many goblins did he massacre? It was to defend himself, to defend Jille, but did that absolve him of everything? How many parents, siblings, and children did he kill that day?...
[Sixth mark: 1182/1239 (Failure!)]
The human remembered... There were many...
In war, there are no winners or losers... But a part of him felt guilty...
The flames grew and grew and grew and grew...
Could he have done more to help the people in the Takagi mansion? If he had been faster, if he had remembered before Alice and her father, could the man still be alive?...
What happened to the students he left with Shido on the bus?... It wasn't the human's fault that they chose to follow the man...
It said: Teacher Devas.
Maybe he could have saved them...
The flames grew and grew and grew and grew and grew...
He didn't need to kill Millia, maybe he didn't need to kill the Mother Slime either, but even if the human had no choice...
"Did he feel pain before dying? Did he call for his mother before bursting into flames?"
...Taunting her with the death of her children right after she left her seal was right?...
The flames grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew...
The memories receded even further, before Terraria, before the supernatural existed, where mystery was just mystery...
Sins were still sins...
Did he need to be cruel to his neighbor just because she was deceived just like many more by the books and movies his 'father' had made?...
If he hadn't been delayed in coming home because of a fight at school, would he have made it home in time to help his grandfather who had had a heart attack?... Called the ambulance earlier?...
Maybe there would have been time?... Maybe he would have survived?...
The flames grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew...
Did he need to react as he did and fight as he did at school whenever someone talked about his 'father's' movies and books and called him a monster, a demon?... They were just kids...
The human was also...
... But sending them to the hospital in their injured state, was that right?...
The flames grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew...
The memories receded more and more, racing back rapidly to the beginning, back to the start...
The flames exploded in size and heat... The human at the center of it all remained silent, looking forward with unfocused, pained eyes...
His First Act...
Guilt raced through the human's mind as it always had...
The flames grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew and grew...
Everything was fire, the color was purple... The forest was engulfed...
Born of a sin... Sinning at birth...
"I will accept everything..." The human murmured within the flames. His voice was low and hoarse, tired... “All my sins...”
He blamed himself, even though he shouldn't... His sins still burned... The human embraced the heat...
The flames froze in the air like a picture, a paused film... The memories ended, the connection was made... More than perfect...
The Shadowflame had a master... And would never have another...
The human shook the necklace one last time before it disintegrated into dust. Then, he reached his hand upward... No order or thought was needed; the flames returned, receding to his hand like a loyal dog without a word.
The human stood up, his clothes intact, his flesh and skin untouched, but the pain had been real... His mind was tired for the first time in a long while... His body sore, exhausted... His soul fragile, weak... His Aura...
"Sins are sins..." The human took a deep breath, his bright orange eyes clear... Then he began to walk back to Beacon.
... Glowing in purple.
[...]
This chapter, this 'test,' is what I wanted to convey about Devas, about what he feels and thinks. I don't know if it was obvious before, but he doesn't think very highly of himself; his self-esteem is somewhat confusing, as Yang had commented.
"So confident in himself, yet at the same time so insecure."
Devas has some issues in his mind, some quite serious ones. I believe I made implicit what they are in this chapter, in the part about his memories.
I also want to mention that the names of the second and third racial traits of the Devas were revealed in this chapter, albeit implicitly. Anyone who figures it out or thinks they have, feel free to comment.
Well, finally, there's Shadowflame. I saved this 'character' for this moment, for these memories and feelings of Devas. Nothing better than his reward from Jille Village, where he took the 'first step,' where I showed what Devas was for the first time, to 'close' this circle, right?
Well, it's late again, I apologize for the delay.
As always, good night and happy reading!