The Knights of Grimm - Act 4 - Whispers of Arkhonex

Chapter 3 - Across the Desert

Oscar

Walking through the city of Vale, Team J.N.P.R, Blake and Oscar continue down the trail to find Ruby before anything worse can possibly happen. He keeps his hands to his side, close to Traveller's Atrocity, just in case. Vir Nominis Umbra left an impression, a scar that does not seem to be willing to go away any time soon. But the young hazel eyed Time Traveller keeps those emotions at bay as best as he possibly can, focusing on finding the girl he loves.

But as he walks with Blake, he can see that something is shaking her up. Obviously it must surround their true enemy and what he is capable of, so he would not be surprised if it has something to do with that god-awful Soothsayer. "Blake? How are you...holding up?" He asks her, nervously since he can tell that nobody is holding up very well after seeing how Umbra slaughtered Oobleck right in front of them. Smashing his head in with a steel claw hammer was brutal even by his standards.

Blake's ears are folded downwards, sadly as she thinks on the events that have lead up to this moment. Being framed for the death of Sienna Khan to destabilise the White Fang, Adam's death, and now the execution of Oobleck, Taiyang and the remaining survivors of Team B.R.N.Z. Words cannot even describe how she feels, how any of them feel after that fall that they have suffered, and they fear that worse failings await every single one of them.

But only some words do come to mind. "Once...I claimed that there was no such thing as pure evil. I was in an argument with Weiss over the White Fang...before I showed them what I am." Blake explains as her ears move slightly when she remembers them. Oscar looks at her ears – and it is strange for him, since he has never known Blake with the bow despite that he has been told stories about it. The bow that the young Faunus Huntress used to wear all the time to hide who she was from the world.

Oscar keeps his eyes on his friend, and she closes her eyes with a trembled exhale...then she concludes her statement. "I truly believed it...until I met...him." Blake snarls as she pictures the face of the ruthless Soothsayer himself. That cold and cunning smirk he always has, the jokes he pulls from his sleeve with ease and the prancing about he will do as he murders someone they love. He is a cold and evil bastard, and he must be stopped.

But at the same time...

How?

It is entirely possible that they have not even seen the full extent of his power yet – all the more reason to find Ruby.

As Jaune walks at the head of the group, Pyrrha keeps her hand close to his as she walks, looking at some of the people that pass by. There is an energy in the air now, when once there was calm – now there is dread, the question in the back of everyone's minds. Mistral, Atlas and Vacuo have been taken over by the enemy in the span of thirty minutes. And Vale is the only location that has not even been touched.

The question is:

When will we suffer the same price? And what will happen to us?

Will we be eaten?

Burned?

Infected?

Ruled over?

She cannot even continue to wonder in the back of her mind, so she just shoves those questions aside and she looks at Jaune. She can see the concern in his eyes, not just for Ruby but for Kassius as well. "Jaune? Are you okay?" She asks her boyfriend with concern in her regal toned voice. Jaune sighs, closing his blue eyes.

"I'm worried, Pyrrha." Jaune says to her, turning to face her. "Ruby was already struggling long before all of this, Torchwick and Tyrian were stuck in her head...and now she is missing and six thugs have turned up butchered. She never would have done anything like this – and...Well you saw what happened with Hyde. I don't know what Umbra did to him but he managed to do it with the snap of his fingers." He explains, sighing as he thinks of his good friend.