Blink and you'll miss it

Vol. 4 Chapter 3: Rogue Encounter

Team RNJRS continued their journey through anima, Jaune held the map in his hands ahead of the group.

Nora: "Another day, another adventure!"

Ruby: "What's on the agenda today?"

Jaune: "Walking!"

Nora: "With a side of...?"

(Y/n), Ren: "Walking."

Ruby: (sighs) "Haven is a lot farther away than I thought."

Ren: "Ruby? How long did you think this journey was going to take?"

Ruby: "I don't know! I grew up in a small area; I've never been this far away from home!"

Jaune: "Right but... how long?"

Ruby: "Maybe like, uh... two weeks?"

Jaune: (looking up from the map) "What?!"

(Y/n) bursts out laughing.

Ruby: "Okay, fine! Three or something!"

Jaune deadpans at her, Ruby avoids making eye contact

Ruby: "Look, whatever."

Ruby looks up again after a beat and notices something ahead.

Ruby: "Hey, what's that?"

Nora jumps onto a slightly fallen post of a fence to get a closer look at a wall and building ahead.

Jaune: "That's... strange. I didn't think we'd be hitting another village for a few days."

Nora: "Are those buildings... damaged?"

Jaune: "We should search for survivors!"

Jaune drops the map and all five go running into the village, with Nora leaping onto the wall and to a rooftop. They discover the town to be empty. Ruby lifts a fallen plank of wood to find only plant outgrowth underneath.

Ruby: "Anything?"

Nora: "Nothing over here!"

Jaune: "No one over here, either!"

(Y/n): "This place is dead... and not in the traditional sense, it's like life just vanished one day."

Ren: "It almost seems like... the town was abandoned."

Nora: "Hey, I think I found something!"

Ruby turns and rushes over. Nora, Jaune and Ren are looking at a town sign. Nora moves the ivy growing over it to the side allowing the others to read what it says.

(Y/n): "Oniyuri?"

Nora: "Never heard of it."

Jaune: "Me neither."

Ren: "I have."

The others look at him.

Ren: "You might think of it as Anima's Mountain Glenn, had it never been completed. Years ago, the richest members of Mistral were unhappy with how the Kingdom was being run."

He looks around at the unfinished buildings.

Ren: "Frustrated with the council, they pooled their resources together to build their own city, with their own laws. They hoped that one day, it could maybe even become its own Kingdom. Many thought it would be the future."

Ren walks away from the others.

Ren: "I know my parents did."

Ruby: "What happened?"

He brushes some dirt off of the stone border of a low wall to reveal claw marks.

Ren: "What always happens."