Chapter Text

Godly Transfer

The Pale King observed his thriving City of Tears from above in the top of the Spire. He didn't usually visit the capital of his Kingdom, not wanting to appear before his subjects as he once used to do. It was partly his aura's fault - he was a Wyrm, a godlike being that wielded incredible power within their Souls and minds, and a minor mistake in the control of his aura might mean a spike in its brightness, potentially harming the common bugs around him. The other part was his personality's fault, he's never been the most sociable of Wyrms.

Hearing Lurien's footsteps from behind, the Pale King turned around to see the tall butterfly serving drinks for the both of them. The Pale King left the wet window and approached his side on the table. Today Lurien's butler wouldn't be joining them - the conversation that they were about to have was of the upmost secrecy, after all - and so it was just the two of them.

"Is there something worrying you, my Lord? It was a very sudden call." The Watcher slightly lifted his mask to take a sip from the cup.

The Pale King drank from the cup, tasting the drink as he prepared his words carefully. He hadn't used his prescience for this conversation, and so he'd need to announce his change of plans without alarming Lurien. "Unfortunately yes. Recently I recieved an extemely devastating vision, allowing me to see the failure of our current plan to stop the Old Light."

Lurien put down his cup and sighed. "It's as we feared then? May I ask what the error was? Monomon seemed confident in her research."

The Pale King shook his head. "No, the Teacher's work has been excellent so far. The mistake comes from my part."

At this Lurien was somewhat taken aback. It wasn't everyday that he witnessed his King admitting to making a mistake, especially given his foresight, which allowed him to flawlessly solve any crisis that the Kingdom might suffer - well, excluding the Radiance's future arrival.

Seeing as the Watcher remained silent, the Pale King continued explaining. "You see, in its upbringing, the Pure Vessel has been tainted by affection directed towards me. The reason for this might have been my... failed attempts to not close the distance between the vessel and I."

Lurien 'hmm'ed in thought and raised an arm to his mask. "I assume we can't just raise another vessel for the task?"

The Pale King raised his cup under his mask for another sip. "I'm afraid that time is of essence now. We only have two years at most before her arrival." His visions had told him so, and they never failed him.

Lurien reclined back on his seat, likely thinking of other methods to stop the Old Light. "I see the problem now. We didn't leave any contingency plans, and that will surely backfire now."

The Pale King settled the cup on the table, purposefully making a sound to gain Lurien's attention. "That might not be the case." At his words, the Watcher's gaze turned to him, and the Pale King could practically feel the butterfly's eyes widening behind his mask. "Although I don't have a plan to stop the Old Light, there is something that can be done to escape from her."

Lurien suddenly jerked forwards. "My Lord, surely you aren't thinking of abandoning Hallownest?!"

The Pale King waved a hand calmly. "Fear not Lurien. I'd never let her win by abandoning our beloved Kingdom. No, instead, I'm planning on tranferring Hallownest outside of her reach."

The Watcher hesitated before speaking again. "I'm sorry my Lord, but I don't see how such a thing is possible? I don't doubt your power for such a feat - though it's still somewhat difficult to believe, I mean, moving an entire Kingdom through the dream realm is a feat that I've never imagined possible. I'm afraid that if we were to do something of this scale then she could just follow us wherever we go. The dream realm is mostly hers, after all."

The Pale King allowed himself a smile under his mask. "And that's the point, dear Watcher. The Old Light might be at her highest in the dream realm, but she's not the only Higher Being whose domain are the dreams."

A beat of silence passed between the two. Only the rain outside hitting the windows could be heard. Then, the Watcher broke the silence. "The Nightmare Heart. You want to ask the Nightmare Heart for assistance." It was a statement, not a question.

Then, the Pale King nodded. "Indeed. Though not many know this, the Nightmare Heart holds a grudge against his sister. I'm sure that stopping her advances would be in the Heart's interests."

"That might work." Lurien whispered under his breath. Then, in a higher volume, he continued. "The only issue now would be how to make contact with the Nightmare Heart. However, seeing that you've already planned all of this, then surely you have a way to communicate with him?"

The Pale King smiled. His quick thinking was part of why he chose Lurien for the role of the Watcher of Hallownest's capital, the City of Tears. "That's correct. We'll be leaving as soon as I inform the others of our change of plans." He looked down at his cup. "In the meantime, why not we talk about more casual topics? It has been ages since we just talked as old friends."

Lurien actually laughed at that. "I'd be delighted to, my Lord."

Herrah's PoV:

She continued staring at the latest letter that she had received from the White Palace.

Herrah the Beast

A most urgent matter has come up and our deal shall be altered accordingly. From this point on, you are free from your duties as a Dreamer, though the skills from the Weaver community inside Deepnest would still be appreciated in future royal matters. If you are interested in seeing our reasoning for these changes, then send a telegram of Soul through the magical threads of your den.

- The Pale King

Herrah had to admit, that this one was on the top of 'most hard to believe' letters from the damned king. Apparently she wouldn't need to enter an eternal sleep anymore to contain a future Higher Being? Was said Higher Being even real or had she been played?

Entering her personal chambers inside her den she decided on hearing the Pale King's words directly from his mouth. This was too good to be true and she wanted to make sure this wasn't the latest attempt from the White Palace to move Deepnest inside its sphere of influence - did the Wyrm seriously believe that Deepnest's denizens would allow such a tram to be built inside their home? - and so she gripped one of the threads weaved into the ceiling and pulled. This activated a chain reaction, making the thread glow in the dim light of her den and making the Soul inside it circulate. She was already familiar with what would happen next. The Pale King would sense such a numerous amount of Soul moving and would arrive before her in a few moments.

Indeed, even though Herrah wasn't the most experienced in the manipulation of Soul, she could easily see a teleportation technique when she saw one. The Pale King used a Soul spell to immediately arrive at her chamber, it was a fast way of travel that he commonly used to get around without appearing in front of his subjects - why he wouldn't want such a thing was beyond Herrah - and it also served as a way to show off his power in front of others - of course, such tactics did little to the Beast. She gave no fucks if he was the only one capable of long range teleportation in his entire Kingdom.

After a few moments of blinking to adjust her eyes to the Wyrm's annoying aura she threw the letter towards him, who caught it in the air effortlessly. "Explain." She ordered plainly.

The Pale King took a moment to compose himself before speaking - probably checking with his foresight, Herrah thought. "There has been a major change in plans. The dreamers are no longer needed and so you don't have to enter the dream realm for eternity."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that." The Pale King confirmed.

"Good. Leave now."

Herrah the Beast eyed the King of Hallownest as he manipulated his seemingly unlimited pools of Souls to construct a long range teleport spell and he was off.

She sighed. Perhaps now she'd get time with her daughter? Hornet was still such an infant and time with her mother would be essential. Yes, she'd go to see Midwife now - 'Midwife' wasn't her actual name, Deepnest bugs and beasts normally didn't carry names themselves. Hornet was one of the exceptions, being named by Hive Queen Vespa after all.

The Pale King's PoV:

The Pale King circled his Soul reserves around his shell. Then, extending it with his godly focus he encapsulated both him and his other passenger: her dear Root. Once the spell was completed both appeared in a normally unpopulated area: the Stag Nest. The first thing the King saw were the Watcher and the Teacher, having been told to come here to meet with them. Next to them stood the workers at the Stag Nest, who were responsible for the wellbeing of all stags - not that they couldn't take care of themselves, but they usually ended up exhausted at the end of the day and needed their deserved rest. Of course, the workers immediately bowed after seeing their arrival, they probably thought they'd never even see their King, working so far away from the White Palace, and so they were completely awe-struck.

The Pale King didn't pay them any mind and turned towards Lurien and Monomon. "We see that everyone is here. We shall leave now." He changed his usually common way of speaking for a more royal one - he was in front of his subjects and he had a image to maintain.

After seeing nods of confirmation from both former dreamers they set off towards the Howling Cliffs. The Pale King wasn't sure of the location of Grimm's nightmare torch, but with a bit of help from his prescience he soon found where it was hidden. The most difficult obstacle was the terrain, but they were all proficient at dealing with the cliffs and strong wind.

Once the fake wall was destroyed by a projectile of Soul from the Pale King, the nightmare torch was revealed.

"Is this it my Lord?" Monomon asked once she saw it. She quickly approached it and started inspecting the thing.

"Yes. A bit of Essence should be enough to activate it." The Pale King wasn't a Higher Being that dwelt a lot in the dream realm, but he had researched the realm extensively before. He could even manipulate Essence through the use of the mind, allowing him to create marvels such as the beacon that was Hallownest. With that said, he extended a bit of his stored Essence into the nightmare torch, instantly igniting it. The sound of the Grimm Troupe circus soon started resounding throughout the small cave and the Pale King sensed a foreign Essence being used near.

"Stay back." He ordered the two former dreamers. His dear Root had already backed off, being able to sense Essence being used almost as well as him.

Soon, the Troupe Master appeared before them. He looked over every one of them before setting his eyes over the Pale King. He noted that Grimm seemed somewhat annoyed and not because of his bright aura.

"This wasn't what I was expecting." Grimm remained silent for a moment before continuing. "You called us early, Pale Wyrm."

"That we did, Troupe Master. We come here to offer a deal that we believe would be beneficial to both parties."

"Oh?" Grimm raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "You think your Kingdom has anything that might interest the Nightmare Heart? Only its ruin could satiate the Heart's flame, and you are aware of this."

The Pale King's hands turned into fist. He successfully contained the rage that he felt at hearing the mention of his eternal Kingdom somehow dying, but it was still annoying to deal with. Thankfully, his dear Root was quick to come to his rescue.

"Troupe Master, by aiding us in the transfer of Hallownest through the dream realm into another world your Heart can see the Old Light's wishes be crushed." Her voice was soothing and managed to calm the Pale King completely.

Grimm blinked. "What? Did I hear you right? You want to move the entirety of Hallownest through the dream realm?"

"What our Root says is correct. With this deal we plan on making the most ambitious transfer that has ever occurred. Your role in this will be of course making sure that she cannot follow us to the new world."

Grimm simply stayed silent for a while, staring at the King of Hallownest. "I'll give it to you Wyrm, your plans are always enormous in scale. However, you misunderstand the Nightmare Heart's rivalry with the Radiance." Everyone flinched at the mention of her name, but the Troupe Master didn't notice or simply didn't care. "While yes, it would be delighted to see his sister frustated, it wouldn't foolishly risk its life in the matter. Hallownest is most useful to the Heart entirely ruined and I'm afraid not even you can't change that."

The Pale King sensed Essence being used again. Grimm was about to leave them and he couldn't allow that!

"Wait!" Grimm raised his tired gaze towards the King. "We can offer the ruin of another Kingdom!"

Grimm paused in his spell. "A Kingdom for another Kingdom?" He raised a hand to his chin, deep in thought. "I have never seen a deal like this being made, but it's still not enough. Although..." He moved his gaze from the Pale King to the White Lady and then to the two mortal bugs. Finally, his gaze returned to the King of Hallownest. "The Nightmare Heart could accept two Kingdoms for a single one. So, if you are willing to bring two entire civilisations to ruin then I believe I can agree to such a bargain."

The Pale King stood firm and nodded.

Lurien turned his gaze towards the him. "My Lord, are you sure about this?"

The Pale King didn't move his head. "Yes our Watcher. If we need to destroy two entire kingdoms for the survival of ours then it shall be done. There is no cost too great."

The Troupe Master smiled. "Fantastic. When do we start?"

"Right now." The Pale King declared. He started circulating all the Essence that he had in store. Unlike his reserves of Soul, this wasn't infinite and would need to refill with time.

The White Lady soon took position. "Sir Lurien and Madame Monomon, you can also help my dear Wyrm by stabilising the transfer through your great minds." She waited to receive nods of confirmation and then continued. "I'll be linking every one of us through my roots so that we are all attuned with each other."

The Troupe Master chuckled. "Ah, this is going to be great. Can't believe I'm witnessing the greatest transfer ever done with my own two eyes!" Grimm focused on the Pale King's Essence and starting mixing it with his own, creating a barrier of flames and nightmares that would keep even the Radiance at bay. "And the best part of all of this is that we don't even have a destination in mind. Who knows where Hallownest will end up?"

The Pale King didn't want to think about the destination - it couldn't be as bad as falling to the Radiance, he was sure. Therefore, without any second thoughts, he continued his majestic spell. He needed to connect it to the beacon resting at the heart of Hallownest so that the entire Kingdom was transferred with them, and this was achieved thanks to his wife's roots. Soon, the entire Hallownest got encapsulated in a bubble of Essence, making it an obvious target for the Old Light. Thankfully, Grimm's flames and nightmares prevented her from attacking the retreating Higher Beings, even though they were now in the middle of the dream realm, her domain. Lurien's and Monomon's minds helped stabilise the whole thing, releasing the Pale King from using too much of his godly focus in such a task and letting him focus on the destination. As Grimm had said, he had no idea where he was going, but he could more or less choose a direction inside the dream realm. As such, he chose a world that lacked any Higher Beings of noticeable power - it would allow Hallownest to thrive without worrying about a second Radiance coming after them.

Once the location had been selected, he released his spell, making them enter the new world in a huge explosion of Essence. Of course, to the common bug it would appear as if nothing happened, but the ones experienced in the dream realm would be able to see the obvious blast of Essence that had just entered their world. Hopefully, the Pale King had chosen correctly and there was a lack of experience in the dream realm among the inhabitants of this world.

Once finished, the Troupe Master laughed out loud. "You actually did it! I can't believe that such a feat was even possible!" He then shook his head to try to calm down. "Now though comes the payment. Since I predict that Hallownest would have fallen to the influence of the Old Light in about two years time, I'll give you exactly two years from now to take down another kingdom."

The Pale King, somewhat fatigued from the whole ordeal, jerked his head towards the Troupe Master. "Two years?! That's not nearly enough time to--!"

Grimm quickly raised a hand to stop the Wyrm's words. "Stop right there Pale Wyrm. By not aiding you the Nightmare Heart would have gotten its nightmare flames in two years time, it's only reasonable that you deliver those flames in the same time period. Besides," Grimm smiled under his mask "you are more than capable in terms of military might."

"Dear Wyrm," the White Lady tried reassuring the Pale King once again "we'll have plenty of time to plan accordingly. There is no need to act harshly."

The Pale King nodded. As always, his Root was correct. He needed to calm down and think rationally for the best of his Kingdom.

"As I was saying," the Troupe Master continued "you'll get two years of time. Once the kingdom is dead, plant this same torch on the ground to complete the deal. Then we'll talk about the possibility of a second kingdom."

Both the Pale King and the White Lady nodded at Grimm's words.

"Excellent! Until next time, Pale Wyrm." And with a bow and an explosion of Essence, the Nightmare Heart's vessel was gone. The circus music soon stopped after that.

Lurien was the first to speak up after Grimm left. "My Lord, are you alright?"

The Pale King took a deep breath. "Yes Lurien, I'll be fine." Once he had calmed down, he started pondering on what would happen next. "We have successfully entered a new and uncharted world. Our entrance however shouldn't have been detected by anyone other than those knowledgeable in the art of dreams and Essence."

Monomon spoke up for the first time since Grimm had appeared. "My King, I believe a reconnaissance mission should be our first step."

The Pale King turned around to address the Teacher. "I agree, but this is not a proper place to begin planning. Let us return to the White Palace and inform the Pale Court of our earliest development. Of course, not everything will be shared, simply the essential parts."

The Wyrm started the construction of a Soul spell around everyone present, ready for a teleportation to his private chambers within the White Palace. However, he was suddenly interrumpted by Lurien. "My Lord, there is someone nearby." Of course, Lurien wasn't known as the Watcher for nothing, his Soul-infused vision could spot any bug from anywhere in the City of Tears, and so if he said that someone was approaching Hallownest, then the Pale King believed him.

He cancelled the spell and sighed. "Return to the Stag Nest and take a Royal Stag to the Hidden Station. Let me take care of this intruder in our lands and we'll see each other there."

He saw nods from both former dreamers and a "Take care dear Wyrm" from his Root. They returned through the path they'd taken to get here in the first place while he simply took flight in order to see where the intruder was located at. While he flew, he noticed the change of world immediately. Gone were the harsh winds of the Howling Cliffs, and instead a calming breeze took its place. The Wastes beyond the Kingdom were also gone, and in its place stood vast amounts of vegetation of unknown origin. It had been ages since the Wyrm saw an actual forest of trees. There was also the sky, which was a sight that the Wyrm didn't think he'd get to see again after thousands of years.

However, he couldn't enjoy the view right now. He needed to focus on the task of protecting his Kingdom from unwanted visitors from this world. As such, he used some of his godly focus and foresight to guide him to where he needed to be. What he saw though made him pause for a moment. He then flew rapidly to where the intruder supposedly was, he needed to see it with both his eyes.

Indeed, climbing the tall mountains where Hallownest had moved into was a being that the Pale King recognised. He landed in front of the creature, scaring it instantly, though the Pale King cared little for it - he needed to make a show of power to make sure the creatures didn't dare enter Hallownest. From this close however, he was able to confirm his visions. The creature was a human, an actual living human. The Wyrm hadn't seen one of these creatures since the creation of the Wastes beyond the Kingdom. And judging by the reaction from the creature and the Soul circulating around them, then the humans appeared to have mastered the ability to manipulate Soul.

The human had started speaking to the Pale King. Incrompehension, wariness and confusion were clear in their - her? they seemed like a female of the species - voice, not that the Wyrm could understand her words at first. That was easily fixeable though.

He instantly teleported behind the human and used what remained of his Essence reserves to strike the mind of the creature. She yelled and fell to the floor, but the Pale King ignored her. He now held information of the global language of this world - Remnant, as it was apparently called. There were terms that entered the Higher Being's mind but couldn't make sense of - words like 'Semblance' and 'Huntress'. There were other he recognised though, such as 'Aura' and 'Grimm', though he doubted the Higher Being had come to Remnant before the Pale King did - he hadn't sensed any nightmare flames when choosing this place.

The human female groaned but quickly got up in an acrobatic way that impressed the Wyrm somewhat. "What did you do to me?!" She took out a strange looking weapon from... somewhere and unfolded it, making it grow in size considerably. It now looked more like a nail, though the flashy colours reminded the Wyrm that it wasn't one of the nails he had grown used to.

The Pale King's current form was unable to articulate the necessary sounds needed for the human language, and so he used a Soul technique to speak that every Wyrm developed since they were young. "Nothing. We just needed to get a hold of your human language in order to communicate with your kind."

The female human seemed surprised that he even understood her words. Why would that be the case? She tried opening her mouth to say something but nothing came out of it. Seeing this, the Wyrm decided to continue the conversation. "You must know that upon continuing climbing this mountain you enter the land of King and Creator, the eternal Kingdom of Hallownest. Turn back to where you came from or you'll be arrested and executed for trespassing." He complimented the threat with a slight increase in his Soul aura, which caused the human to flinch.

He started crafting a long range teleportation spell directed towards his personal chambers when the human called out to him.

"Wait!" Had she been able to see the Soul around the Wyrm? Did she know that he had intended to teleport? "What Kingdom of Hallownest? We're right now in the Kingdom of Vale, in the continent of Sanus. I've never heard of such a Kingdom!"

So that were the meaning of the words 'Vale' and 'Sanus', good to know. "Then inform your monarchs of this new development. Do not enter Hallownest by yourselves, you will be attacked in response."

The female human was clearly a warrior of the species, she should be able to get an audience with the monarchs of Vale. With that said, he completed the spell and teleported within the White Palace, in his personal chambers. His dear Root was already there, waiting for his arrival.

"The creature has been taken care of." He looked around and noted the absence of the two former dreamers. "Where are Lurien and Monomon?"

"I've already told them to wait for the next step in our plan." The White Lady explained - he was lucky to have someone that he could rely on like his Root. "I've also gathered the Five Great Knights and the... Hollow Knight in the main meeting room."

The Pale King flinched at seeing his Root's expression when she mentioned the Hollow Knight. It - no, they - weren't exactly hollow anymore, were they? "I promise you that I'll raise them as the kid that they deserve to be." He said with determination projected in his voice.

"Thank you." Those words relieved the Pale King in a way he couldn't explain. They both hugged each other. "What was the creature like, dear Wyrm?"

The Pale King chuckled. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The White Lady drew back slightly from the embrace and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Surprise me."

"A human."

The White Lady was definitely surprised by her husband's words.

Chapter Text

Pale Orders

The Pale King entered the main meeting room in the White Palace. Just as his Root had said, the Five Great Knights were already seated at the table, making small talk while they waited for his arrival. The Hollow Knight stood unmoving at the side, just like the Kingsmoulds did - the Kingsmoulds who only obeyed orders and didn't do anything else.

Upon his entrance, the small talk ceased and respectful greetings were heard by the Wyrm. However, his attention was on the vessel.

"Please, Hollow Knight, take a seat next to your fellow knights."

Confused glances followed his statement, and even the Hollow Knight hesitated for a moment before following the order - they were clearly not hollow, how could he not have seen it before? They took their seat next to Ze'mer, and adjusted awkwardly to the chair. The Hollow Knight was only slightly taller than her, but they struggled much more with the chair - had they even sat on a chair since their creation?

"My King," Dryya the Fierce spoke up "the White Lady told us of urgent matters. May I ask what happened?"

The Pale King directed his gaze at her. "You may. Currently, we are no longer in the same world as we were before. We've moved the entirety of Hallownest from the Wastes that once surrounded us and we are no longer restricted by them." Of course, getting rid of the Wastes wasn't the actual reason for the transfer, though he worded his explanation as if he was implying so. The Great Knights had been unaware of the threat that the Radiance posed and would remain unaware of the deal made with Grimm for the time being.

Shocked expressions followed his statement from all the knights except from his Hollow Knight and Ze'mer. She seemed more happy than anything else. "Ahhh... Che' travels to another world for a second time. It is a most precious thing, nym'King." The Pale King knew that that was Ze'mer's peculiar way of thanking him.

Ogrim was next to speak up. "This is great news! No longer will the bugs of Hallownest lose their memories upon leaving the Kingdom. Imagine the exploration that could be done!" He commented with a jovial smile.

"Ogrim." Dryya's gaze fell upon her fellow knight. "A new world brings with it new dangers. This is why the King brought us all here."

The Pale King nodded. As usual, the leader of the Five Great Knights was quick on the uptake. "Indeed. In a few moments we'll be giving all of you your respective tasks. The citizenry will also be informed of the events that transcurred. We are sure that the population of Dirtmouth must be confused about why their sky changed in an instant."

"Nym'King, le'mer's Soul... it sings of worry and stress. Nahlo, the Pure Vessel is the source?" Ze'mer tilted her head while she used her innate talent for Soul-reading.

The Pale King sighed, here was the second part of the news. "We must also announce that the plans for the Hollow Knight have been... cancelled." Everyone kept silent at his explanation, though he noted that the Hollow Knight had slightly flinched - were they scared of being found out? - "We'll talk with them after this meeting, though you should be aware that they shall be treated as a person from now on." This returned some confused glances, mostly due to the fact that he had insisted a lot in the past that the Hollow Knight was to be treated more like a Kingsmould than a bug.

Isma was the first to speak - she had been the most devastated when the Pale King had first introduced the Hollow Knight to the Great Knights. "May I ask why, my King?"

"You may not. It's classified information that only a select few know about. Rest assured, it doesn't concern you." They all accepted the refusal without further arguments. "Very well, seeing as there are no more questions, we will now start to distribute your individual orders."

He turned towards Dryya. "Great Knight Dryya, you are to set up a perimeter around the entirety of Hallownest, though the more easily accessible parts of the Kingdom should be prioritised. For this, you will receive all of the ten divisions that compose the Royal Army." The Pale King could see Dryya's eyes go wide, which was an understandable reaction. Never in history had Hallownest mobilised as many soldiers as he was doing right now - this perimeter would be protected by a thousand bugs in total.

Still, Dryya kept her composture. "How am I to respond to those that arrive?"

"If they don't try to force their way through, you may leave them. If they turn aggressive however, you are to do as you see fit." Suddenly, an important thought came to the Wyrm's mind. "Moreover, you won't be able to understand their words at first. We'll later grant you and your generals a charm that will aid you in communication with the local species: the humans."

Almost none of the knights reacted to the name of the species, key word being 'almost'. "Mi'? Che' has heard correctly? Is it the an'humans that populate nym'Hallownest's new world?"

"Wait, you know this species?" Asked for the first time Hegemol in his soft voice.

"Are they dangerous?" Asked Dryya at the same time.

"Ulll waaaaii! An'humans are a dangerous sort. Their Souls sing of violence and revulsion, or so che's land's tales go. Che' has never seen one of the an'humans, but their kind has always brought destruction to where they went."

"An accurate description." The Pale King turned everyone's attention back to him. "But you needn't worry, we've already sent a warning with a show of force. They won't do anything reckless for the time being." He turned his gaze towards Hegemol. "Mighty Hegemol, you are to patrol through Dirthmouth and the surrounding territories. Make sure no bug tries to leave the Kingdom, and if you hold no authority to stop them then inform me immediately."

"How shall I inform you, my King?" Hegemol bowed his head while speaking to the Pale King.

"We'll have a charm prepared for it. Now," He turned his gaze towards Ogrim "Valiant Ogrim, you'll be the messenger for the different areas of Hallownest. Inform them of what we've already explained, though make sure to leave the Hollow Knight out of it."

He received a nod in response. He turned his gaze towards the remaining two Great Knights. "Mysterious Ze'mer and Kindly Isma, your mission will be crucial for success, but also the one with the most risk. The future of Hallownest will be held in your hands, are we making ourselves clear?"

"Yes, my King."

"Sai, nym'King."

"Wait for my instructions in the first Soul chamber. Bring with you the first reconnaissance unit with their necessary equipment." After seeing that nobody was going to say anything, the Pale King dismissed the Five Great Knights. Only the Hollow Knight remained in the room, sitting somewhat uncomfortably.

"Hollow Knight, come here."

The Hollow Knight got up from their chair with their nail at hand and approached the Wyrm. "Your duty is no longer necessary, you won't have to seal the Old Light inside your Void anymore. From now on I... I shall try to raise you as my child."

The Hollow Knight, still stuck with their idea of 'emptiness', didn't react to his words. The Pale King should have suspected this, but it still hurt to see. There was much damage to be fixed with the vessel, and he couldn't deal with it right now - there was a Kingdom to protect, after all. "Go see your mother." He said as a last order, and the Hollow Knight took off to where the White Lady usually rooted herself.

He started crafting a teleportation spell with the objective set to his personal workshop. Once he appeared inside the circle of teleportation that he had set up in his workshop, he quickly began working on creating the necessary charms for his Great Knights. He opened a cabinet and took four charm templates as well as four notches and then put them on a side table. As a Higher Being, he had the ability to grant certain 'gifts' to his subjects, be it through sheer Soul alone or through charms. He didn't usually do it - the amount of bugs he trusted so dearly with a bit of his power could be counted in one hand - but when he had first arrived to what now was known as Hallownest it had been something of a necessity. It is how Lurien gained his Soul-ability to see from afar, for example.

Regardless, these charms were going to become mere translators, so they were harmless. Using some of his godly focus and focusing on the extracted memories from the human he had encountered, he passed that knowledge into three of the charms. It was the same method that was used in charm-crafting to manufacture charms such as Wayward Compass. For the last charm though, this would go for Hegemol, and was to be used as a way to inform him if something was wrong. As such, he simply fed the charm with a bit of his signature Soul, which would surely warn the Wyrm if used.

With that done, he stood inside the teleportation circle and started casting. His next destination was inside the first Soul chamber, specifically in the teleportation circle that was inside said chamber.

Once the teleportation was complete, he saw everyone already gathered in the chamber. Mysterious Ze'mer was equipped with her longnail that was even larger than she was and Kindly Isma with her venoms and plants that would surely make quick work of any enemy that stood in her way. Next to them stood three smaller bugs known as the first reconnaissance unit. There were only two units for this especific purpose, and they all trained under the Great Knight Isma. These bugs were of high value, since their abilities for camouflage were extremely rare in Hallownest and often didn't see any use. When not on a mission, they often spent their time inside the Archive, but today their abilities would be of upmost value.

As he arrived, the three bugs from the reconnaissance unit bowed, while the two Great Knights simply bowed their heads in greeting.

"We see you have all already prepared for the journey ahead. Very well, we shall begin giving you the necessary instructions." He summoned the two charms for communication and gave them to the Great Knights. "Your first objective would be to find a settlement of this kingdom named 'Vale' that supposedly is located near Hallownest. Find one of the humans and observe their appearance and manners. Great Knight Ze'mer, your Soul-sight will be of great importance for this, the creatures have evolved and are now knowledgeable in the arts of the Soul, so they might be able to distinguish different Soul signals."

"Sai, nym'King. Che's gift from lands serene is at nym'King's service."

"Good. Once enough information has been gathered, it will be time to use the gift I granted you, Kindly Isma. Transform into these humans and observe them from within. Prioritise not getting caught over the gathering of information however, it's crucial to our survival to make them believe that we aren't making any moves."

"I shall gladly follow your orders, my King."

"Reconnaissance unit." At his words, the three small bugs raised their heads. "You are to set up a Soul antenna that will send and receive a very specific signal. Futhermore, you must camouflage the antenna with the environment, so that the humans don't detect either the signals nor the antenna itself. Another part of your job will be to return immediately to Hallownest if there is information that absolutely must be shared with the Kingdom at the moment. Understood?"

He received nods of affirmation from all three bugs.

"Lastly," He turned around to eye the reserves of Soul inside the chamber "take as many Soul jars as you see fit." These Soul containers were one of the only good things that the Soul Sanctum produced, so might as well get them to use.

As they did exactly as he ordered, he then began to construct a teleportation spell, this time with the Howling Cliffs in mind as a destination. Normally he wouldn't be one to teleport common bugs through his spells, but these bugs in particular had been trained in the arts of Soul combat, so they should be able to withstand the teleport.

In mere moments they were at the top of the Howling Cliffs, which didn't howl anymore with wind. The bugs he brought with him, including the two Great Knights, took a moment to view the blue sky above.

"So much colour, it's truly beautiful!" Kindly Isma exclaimed at the sight.

"Sai. Che's lands serene's stories sang of blue skies, but che' had nai imagined che' would see such thing with che's eyes."

After a cough from the Wyrm, the bugs regained their attention and started following him through the difficult terrain of the Howling Cliffs. It wasn't long until they met with Dryya and her perimeter of soldiers.

"My King, no threats have been detected so far." She informed while bowing.

"Excellent news. Take this." He extended an arm and offered the third translation charm with a notch at its side. Dryya quickly equipped them. "Maintain the good work." He turned towards the reconnaissance unit and the two other Great Knights. "Start exploring in that direction." He pointed at the direction from which the human had come. "Don't go too far away from Hallownest, or my Beacon might not be able to support your minds." The words were more directed to the common bugs of the reconnaissance unit, since he was confident in the ability of his Great Knights to function without his Beacon.

They soon started their journey downhill, carefully jumping from platform to platform. Now that he had made sure that the perimeter was safe, he unleashed his wings and took off towards Dirtmouth, where Hegemol should be waiting. And indeed, Hegemol was surrounded by the entire population of the small town, most likely being bombarded by questions of all kind about what happened. However, as soon as the bugs spotted his aura high above, silence instantly replaced the earlier commotion and he was able to land next to the Great Knight.

"My King, no one has tried to leave Dirtmouth and the surrounding areas as of yet, but the population is distressed." He informed the Wyrm while bowing - which was always awkward seeing that Hegemol wore a suit of armour.

The Pale King eyed the inhabitants of Dirtmouth, who were now averting their gaze from his aura but at the same time trying to get a look of him without burning their eyes. "Take this, Mighty Hegemol." He gave the communication charm and a notch to the Great Knight. "If anything happens, rub the charm and we'll be notified."

As for the population... well, his appearance in front of them will surely calm them down, right? At leats that's what a side effect of his aura tended to do within his subjects.

Seeing that Hegemol had equipped the charm the Pale King began crafting another teleportation spell to go check on his last Great Knight, Ogrim. "Continue the good work." He said before leaving for the City of Tears.

The Void's PoV:

The Void was not part of the Wyrm's Hallownest, though it had decided to follow the dream gate into this new world. Normally the Void didn't simply decide things - it had a mind to think, but lacked focus to decide. It also lacked a form most of the time, but this was easily fixed with the previously mentioned focus. As such, the Void couldn't normally decide on things, though there was one exception. If the entirety of the Void agreed on something - an extremely rare occurrence that only happened once every millenia or so - then the Void could actually gain a sort of pseudo-focus they could act with. This was one of those extremely rare occurrence, the Void had decided to enter through the dream gate instead of remaining in an abandoned Hallownest.

There hadn't been any issue with the transfer, but there had been once they had arrived at the new world. Here, there was... something that resembled the Void, but was nothing more than a mere copy of it. It wasn't nearly as old as the true Void and was instead considerably young. In fact, some of the Higher Beings of Hallownest were older than the fake Void, which was honestly an insult. This fake Void had to be destroyed.

As such, a second decision was made by the entirety of the Void. However, they lacked the form with which to do anything. It was the fault of that damned lighthouse that the Wyrm had built in its domain, casting a pale light upon the sea of Void so that it was unable to take form. To teach the fake Void of its blasphemy, it was first necessary to take down the lighthouse. Perhaps convincing the bug inside of it would be an easy task? The Void took its third decision in a row, a record in its entire history.

Chapter Text

Human Disguise

Isma's PoV:

It had been minutes since they left the Kingdom of Hallownest and began exploring this foreign green area. Ze'mer had called it a 'forest', and that she had heard about such a thing in one of the tales from her previous lands. In Isma's opinion, the place was much more welcoming than most of the roads that ran outside the Pilgrim's Path inside of Greenpath, yet the vegetation wasn't as cared for as it was back in the Queen's Gardens.

She turned around to check on the small bugs that accompained the two Great Knights. Of course, she already met them - she had trained them herself, after all - but she hadn't had an opportunity before to just get to know them. She knew their names, if they had any relatives or not, and little else - Royal training wasn't the place for private stories. She was about to ask them how they were doing when Mysterious Ze'mer abruptly stopped walking.

"Is someone close, Great Knight Ze'mer?" One of the reconnaissance bugs asked, the name of this one was Silvia.

"Che' has nai..." She jerked her head towards what appeared to be a random direction with what might have been worry. It was hard to tell, since Ze'mer's mask didn't have any holes in it and as such was extremely difficult to know how she was feeling at any given moment. "Me'hon, follow che'."

Ze'mer suddenly unsheathed her longnail and started walking towards what appeared to be a random direction. Kindly Isma was quick to address the reconnaissance unit. "Wait until we return." She followed behind Ze'mer after that, preparing her concoctions and toxins and moving her small Soul jars to a more comfortable position.

Once they were outside the range of the unit Isma whispered to Ze'mer. "Ze'mer, what's wrong? Do you see someone?"

"Nai, and that's the issue. Che' feels a... thing of destruction and hate. A thing that che' wouldn't have recognised if nai for the Pure Vessel." Ze'mer sliced a plant in half, allowing them to pass through the wild vegetation.

"Don't you mean... there is a creature of Void?"

"Che' doesn't know. Void is antithesis of life, nai space for songs about emotions. These, while similar, sing of utter rage." Before Isma could question any further, Ze'mer spoke again. "Me'hon, we arrive."

Indeed, a dozen meters in front of them stood an incredibly black creature, resembling the Pure Vessel in its colour. It crawled across the ground on its four legs and wore a white mask on its face. Shell fragments were distributed across its back and its eyes glowed a menacing red that somehow managed to unsettle Isma more than the blackness of its body like the Pure Vessel used to do.

Regardless, the creature took notice of them too and Isma soon found the hate that Ze'mer had described before. It charged against them at a fast speed and Isma moved out of the way thanks to her trained instincts. She first threw two of her toxic grenades before taking cover behind a thick trunk. She noted that the creature shrugged her toxins off as if it wasn't alive, and looking back at her actions, she should have realised that the creature was most likely a Void construct - meaning, it wouldn't be alive.

Ze'mer waited for the black creature to approach her and when it was in range she dashed forwards in a blink and sliced the beast in half with her Soul-infused longnail. Isma didn't know what to expect from a Void construct's corpse - for what she knew Void tended to liquify when uncontrolled - but she didn't expect for the corpse to turn into black smoke of all things.

"This is wrong." Ze'mer said suddenly while she inspected the creature.

"What do you mean?" Isma asked while approaching the smoke.

"Void constructs are always crafted by someone. This was nai natural, but made." She explained while attaching her longnail to her back.

"Yeah, this might require we send one of the bugs to inform the King."

"If Me'hon thinks so then che' shall nai oppose."

"Kindly Isma?! Mysterious Ze'mer?! Are you two okay?!" Both Great Knights turned around to see the three little bugs running through the vegetation. The one at the front - a bug named Meno, Isma knew - spoke in a worried tone. "We heard fighting and came at soon as we could!"

"No need to worry, Meno. We did indeed get into a fight, but we persevered without a scratch on us." She explained in the most calming tone she could muster.

Meno looked around, as if trying to find someone. "Did they escape?"

Ze'mer and Isma shared a look before Isma was the one to inform the clueless bug. "Actually Meno, I'd like for you to report something back to the Pale King..."

Ozma's PoV:

Ozma was the kind of person who rarely got surprised anymore. The lastest 'surprise' if he could call it that was finding a Silver Eyed girl that got into a fight the last night. Of course, seeing her skills and attitude he couldn't refuse giving her the opportunity of attending Beacon Academy - the eyes were just a plus.

So imagine his surprise when this afternoon he just felt an explosion of actual magic coming from the mountain range to the south of Vale. His first thoughts were Salem, since she was the only one other than him to be able to use raw magic in the first place. His second thought was that this wasn't Salem's modus operandi and that maybe there was another culprit, such as a rogue Maiden. Regardless, he needed something to calm himself down, so he requested the aid from Huntress Jasma to investigate the occurrence. 'Why her?', you might ask. You see, Jasma was one of the few Huntresses that preferred working alone instead of in a team of four, which was the common trend - one that he himself started in a past life, there was safety in numbers after all. Futhermore, there was also her Semblance. It allowed her to move at ridiculous speeds so long as she wasn't fighting. It basically meant that she could be easily deployed everywhere that wasn't filled with Grimm, and would get Ozma results much earlier.

Six hours have passed since then, and he had received a message directly sent into his scroll about a Huntress wanting to talk with him immediately. Ozma already knew it was her, and so he allowed her entrance into his office here at Vale. As always, Glynda Goodwitch was beside him and he had his cup of coffe at the ready. No matter how many lives he lived, coffe was always a must.

He was in the middle of another sip when his office door swung open at worrying speeds. Glynda had better reaction speed than him and made sure to show it. "Jasma Dihgo, what kind of manners are these?!"

Ozma noted that Jasma's expression was one of extreme stress and... slightly scared? "Goodwitch, I believe we should forego manners in this particular occasion. Please Miss Dihgo, take a seat." He signaled to the chair in front of his desk.

"Thank you Headmaster." She took a deep breath as she sat down. Meanwhile, Ozma eyed Glynda so that she knew that he was serious about this. Thankfully, the professor silently nodded and drew back.

"Now, can you tell us what happened? There is no rush, take your time." The 'there is no rush' part was a lie, but it wouldn't do for the Huntress to miscommunicate under her stress, and so it was a necessity.

"Yes uh... ah fuck, where do I even begin?" She scratched her head with her right hand.

"May I suggest from the beginning?" Ozma shrugged as he took another sip from his cup. Ah, delicious.

"Yes, of course." She shook her head at that, as if the idea hadn't occurred to her. "I was climbing up the mountain without my Semblance since, y'know, I wouldn't want to miss anything important. And... in my way up I saw a strange white creature suddenly land in front of me."

Both Glynda and him raised an eyebrow at that description. "White creature?"

"Yes! It was smaller than what an average human would be, and it looked like an actual giant insect with its mask and white robe hiding its true self." Ozma was about to ask for more on that when Jasma continued speaking. "But the most shocking thing of all was its Aura. It was so fucking huge that you could literally see the thing. It even hurt my eyes!"

Okay, there was a lot there. While the Huntress took another deep breath Glynda and Ozma shared another look. This just confirmed that whatever creature was, it wasn't Grimm - Grimm couldn't have aura, of that he was sure. But that left another, more worrisome question: what was it?

"So of course I took up my sword - I... have yet to decide on a name for it - and warned the creature that I'd attack back if it got any closer. It then just teleported behind me out of nowhere and struck at my head! It was so unexpected that I uh..." she averted her gaze from the Headmaster of Beacon "I fell to the floor. But! I was quick to recover, expecting the creature to follow up after that hit. Surprisingly though, it just stood there, looking at the claw it had hit me with - and I mean claw, that thing was no hand!"

Ozma blinked at that description and massaged his forehead. This was all wrong. "Did the creature do anything else, Miss Dihgo?"

"Oh uh... yeah I'm getting at it. So I kind of expected the creature to attack but it instead just... talked. I couldn't see any mouth behind that mask, but it felt like the sound wasn't even coming from it."

Glynda spoke for the first time since Jasma started telling what had transcurred. "Miss Dihgo, please focus. What did the creature say?"

Ozma gave Glynda a thankful nod and took a sip from his cup. The Huntress continued her tale. "Yes, yes. Um... it said in a somewhat masculine voice that, and I quote: 'We just needed to get a hold of your human language in order to communicate with your kind', end quote. So yeah, apparently a slap to the head equals entering someone's mind now." Jasma blinked. "I swear I'm not crazy though!"

Ozma sighed. "Alrgiht. Did you reply?"

"Oh yeah. Uh... actually, I kind of got stuck with my mouth." Jasma's cheecks turned red from embarrasment as Ozma sighed for a second time.

"Miss Dihgo, focus!" Gylnda elevated her voice to gain the Huntress' attention.

"Yes Professor!" She blinked. "Wait I'm not... ah nevermind. The creature continued talking after my silence. It said, and I quote again: 'You must know that upon continuing climbing this mountain you enter the land of King and Creator, the eternal Kingdom of Hallownest. Turn back to where you came from or you'll be arrested and executed for trespassing'. Headmaster, have you heard of this Kingdom before?"

"No, I have not Miss Dihgo." And that was impossible too. Had he never in his past lives heard of a kingdom with the name of Hallownest? The only plausible answer that came to his mind was that the kingdom just appeared today out of nowhere, and seeing the explosion of magic? Maybe it was even true, nobody really could tell when magic was involved.

"Well, I told the creature that I had never either. It just replied with a: 'Then inform your monarchs of this new development. Do not enter Hallownest by yourselves, you will be attacked in response'. I saw it teleport away after that."

"Did you see anything after that?" Ozma asked while he reclined in his seat.

"No Headmaster Ozpin, no more creatures appeared."

"Thank you Miss Dihgo." Glynda started. "Could you wait outside while we discuss this new 'development', as the creature put it."

"Uh yeah, I can do that." The Huntress soon excused herself and closed the door to his office. Ozma slowly turned his chair around to face Glynda Goodwitch.

"Do you seriously believe the woman's tale? It was utterly ridiculous." Glynda instanly said.

"Hmm... I think I do have a tale about a King Beetle on a Coconut Estate that might fit into all of this." He half-joked as he thought about the explosion of magic he saw.

Needless to say, the professor was not amused and narrowed her eyes at him. Ozma sighed. "On a more serious note, I believe in her story. You don't see an explosion of such magic without something weird happening right after."

"Alright then, say I also believe in her story. Then what? Do we prepare for an expedition to this new kingdom... 'Hallownest', was it?"

"If I were in any of my first one hundred or so lives then I might have agreed with you, but alas, the creature insisted on not paying a visit." Ozma stroked his chin in thought. "Perhaps we should take a more careful approach and inform everyone of our close circle about this new kingdom, maybe even going so far as to expand that knowledge outside of our usual contacts - this is a new kingdom after all."

"I must say Ozpin that this is one of your most reasonable moves in these last few years." She said while raising an eyebrow and managing a half-smile - a rare sight to be sure.

"Joking aside, there is something that bothered me about her tale." He frowned in thought. "The creature she talked to almost seemed like it owned the kingdom. Saying things like 'you'll be attacked' and 'you'll be arrested and executed'. It even talked about itself in plural pronouns instead of singular, implying that it was above the common person. I'd even go as far as to say that it might have been the same 'King and Creator' that it itself mentioned."

Centuries of experience in the arts of language had given Ozma the knowledge to know when someone was talking in a specific manner for a reason, and this was one of those times. Especially because the creature had appeared alone too.

"And are you sure you don't want to send anyone to investigate?" Glynda asked in a tone that implied that he'd do such a thing.

"Oh, I assure you that whether I want to or not will be irrelevant in a few minutes. Dear old James will surely ignore all my warnings and head straight into danger." He chuckled at the thought.

Glynda opened her mouth to speak and then closed it, only to open it again. "You know what? You're right. We can't expect James Ironwood to listen to reason, and it's not like Qrow Branwen will even receive our messages." She shook her head in desperation. "And I also suppose I can't convince you to leave James out of it?"

Ozma tapped his fingers on the table. "Maybe. I'm not sure what the best course of action is. I'm going to need to think it over tonight."

Just as he was finished saying it Ozma and Glynda heard sirens outside the building. A very specific siren that Ozma recognised - he had, after all, been the one who gave the idea in the first place in one of his past lives - they were the Grimm sirens. How inconvinient.

Isma's PoV:

They had been walking for over an hour by now. Just how far could they really go without endangering themselves? Could there be more of the black creatures the further they went? They had luckily not encountered any more of them, but who could tell if that was just coincidence?

Either way, they eventually reached a clearing in the forest. The reason for this clearing was quite evident: in the middle of it was a huge settlement, about the same size as the entirety of the City of Tears. It was guarded behind tall walls, though the Great Knight could see the top of buildings from the distance.

She turned around to address the two remaining bugs - Meno had returned to Hallownest and only Silvia and Hakari stood next to her. "You two should start building the Soul antenna somewhere nearby, and make sure you camouflage it with the local fauna. Ze'mer and I will be observing the humans in the meantime."

After a quick bow they both left the two Great Knights. Isma turned around to look at Ze'mer, who was moving her head around - clearly using her Soul-sense to spot a lonely human they could study. "Che' found an an'human that sings of loneliness and despair. She's easy prey, che'd say."

"Let's go check her out then." Isma said as she followed behind the taller Great Knight.

Indeed, after a pair of minutes they found what Isma could only assume to be a human sitting atop a rock, a journal in her hands and a small glowing device at her side. Isma observed the creature intensely, taking all the details for her transformations. She looked like a heavily mutated Fluke, to be honest. The pink skin - no shell! -, the fur on her head and her two horns coming out of the sides of her head. Her clothes though, those were most strange. A long dress of lively colours, some kind of strange clothing on the feet, and strangest of all: no mask! Did the humans not wear masks? It almost seemed to be like going around naked to the bug.

"She fits the description from the tales of che's serene lands." Ze'mer commented, basically confirming that the creature was a human.

"Alright, I can work with this. I'll need your help to mask the Soul inside ourselves though."

Ze'mer nodded and they slowly returned to their previous position. Thanks to Ze'mer's Soul-sense they didn't take long to find the other bugs, already in the middle of construction. Isma informed them of their finding and that they'd be nearby, changing into their new human disguises. Once Ze'mer and Isma were alone she started focusing on the image of the human they had found. The closer her disguise was to the human the less of a risk they'd run, but she also couldn't just copy the human entirely - Isma had to conceal her plant-like extremities somehow. As such, she went for a pink-skinned base and started modifying stuff from there. First, her fur atop her head would be black like the human they found, and as for horns she decided to form two vine-like horns in the shape of a seashell, making it easy for other bugs to identify her as Isma just in case. For clothes, she had to conceal her plants at her hips, so she decided on a green skirt with black cloth underneath - similar to what the human wore under her dress. The upper part would be covered by a green shirt with a vine-like aesthetic, making it easier to tell that she was indeed Isma. Lastly was the Soul, and with directions from Ze'mer it took her about ten minutes to get it right.

"Che' can still see Me'hon's true nature, though che' believes others wouldn't have such an easy time finding Me'hon."

That would have to do for now. Next was Ze'mer, who would need to be a taller human than either her or the actual human they had found. For starters, she went for the basic pink-skinned exterior before focusing on the fur. To make sure that bugs would recognise her as Ze'mer, she made her fur white and long, just as in her true form. She would keep her four long horns, making her even easier to recognise. For clothes, Isma designed a grey long dress with black cloth underneath - identical in form to the human they saw. Of course, she had to remove Ze'mer's mask and add a human face. While she had gone for green eyes for herself, she decided on grey eyes for Mysterious Ze'mer. It was still weird wearing fake faces with no mask, hopefully some of the humans wore masks so they both could also get away with wearing them.

"Che' feels weird looking at che'self and seeing a foreign Soul singing." Ze'mer commented once Isma was done.

"I'm sure you'll get used to it." She reassured Ze'mer as they returned to the Soul antenna in construction. Needless to say, the bugs' reaction at their new forms were one of shock, confusion and embarrasment - this last one was due to their lack of mask, Isma deduced.

Either way, neither Silvia nor Hakari commented on their appearance and instead informed them of the status of the Soul antenna. "It's ready to start broadcasting, Kindly Isma."

"Do so, then." She practiced smiling in her disguise. Judging by the bugs' reaction, it wasn't as effective as she'd thought.

Soon though they turned on the Soul antenna, which looked like any of the trees nearby - the humans would never manage to find the thing.

"Che' can see the singing of the antenna. It travels through the air in the direction of nym'Hallownest." Ze'mer confirmed that the Soul antenna worked as intended.

"Great! Now we can send a message back to Hallownest whenever we need!" She commented happily. She turned around to address Hakari and Silvia. "You can leave now, report to the King and manage the messages that we'll be sending back."

"Yes, Miss!" They gathered all their belongings and soon left for Hallownest on their own.

"Well... now what?" Isma asked to her disguised friend as the bugs started leaving.

"Now Me'hon and che' practice speaking in the an'human language through nym'King's charms. Then... we enter the city and investigate anything nym'King wants."

"Okay, that seems like a good plan."

Little did the two Great Knights know at the time, but their Soul antenna was also a huge Grimm magnet.

Chapter Text

New Students

Isma's PoV:

Isma thought that she had become an expert at speaking without a mouth but at the same time moving said mouth so it seemed that she was speaking through her mouth. It also didn't help that she was speaking in a foreign language, and she had little idea what sound went with what movement from the mouth. Ugh... this would be much easier if they wore masks! She was tempted to just create two of them, but Ze'mer had managed to stop her from doing so.

Eventually they decided they could enter the city under their disguises without alerting anyone, and so they set off. However, before they could enter the city, they needed to pass through a check of some kind. Guards were stationed at the entrance to Vale, and the few merchants that entered seemed to need some sort of identification. They obviously didn't have those, but it wouldn't hurt to try, right?

The first thing Isma noticed as they approached the check was that the guards stared more at their horns than anywhere else. Why would that be? Isma noticed the guards didn't have any horns, but the other human had them, surely this wasn't strange?

"Stop there. Identification." The first of the two guards said as they got close enough.

"Che's sorry, sir. We come from a settlement far south past the mountain range and this is our first time in one of the kingdoms." Ze'mer explained to the guard, and Isma blinked at some of the words she said. What was 'south'?

"Tch. Without identification there is no entry, especially for Faunus. With the recent White Fang attacks Faunus are under much closer watch than ever. Turn around and leave or we'll be forced to arrest the both of you." The guard's distaste for them was apparent in his tone.

"Che' understands." Ze'mer settled one of her hands at Isma's shoulder and began guiding her away from the city. Once they were at a safe distance from the guards, she whispered to her. "Their Souls sang of hatred and disgust towards us before we even arrived. There is something nai right."

She agreed with her, but before she could reply to her Ze'mer tensed all of the sudden. "Ulllll waaaaaaii..."

"Ze'mer, what's wrong?" Isma said with a worrying tone.

"The black creatures are back, and there are many more of them." She unsheathed her longnail and started moving towards the forest. "Come, we can nai let them destroy our source of information."

Isma immediately started following behind Ze'mer, though she doubted that her toxins would do any good - it hadn't done anything before. Still, she was a Great Knight, she couldn't give up this easily. Isma climbed a tall tree in preparation for combat and then she saw them. Dozens of the black creatures storming through the forest in the direction of the city, most of them being of a different shape than the others.

Isma prepared her vines for combat.

Ruby Rose's PoV:

She had been accepted into Beacon two years early! Now she had to make preparations for attending the most prestigious academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses in the entirety of Remnant! Preparations such as notebooks, possible additions to her Crescent Rose - not improvements, that would imply that Crescent Rose could be improved - and more additions to her lovely weapon!

So, imagine her surprise when she just started shopping late afternoon with her older sister Yang - they were going to Beacon together! - and she heard the Grimm sirens alerting the citizens of Vale of an attack from the Grimm. Of course, as a future Huntress in training she needed to do her duty and protect the civilians from the Grimm. Not even the shouts from her sister could stop her!

Using her Semblance for faster travel she reached the walls of Vale in no time. Getting up was as easy as using Crescent Rose and firing a Dust round to the ground, sending her through the air and up to the wall. From this high above Ruby could get a better picture of the entire thing. She could see the Huntsmen and Huntresses getting ready at one side and at the other the charging horde of Grimm. Strangely, there were two Huntresses already fighting the Grimm - she could see one of them atop a tall tree, firing something down below - and they were all alone! She obviously needed to help them - not that professional Huntresses needed her help, it was just the right thing to do.

As such, she took off with her Semblance and arrived at the limit of the clearing - fighting inside a forest would be to her disadvantage, she wasn't stupid. It didn't take long for one of the Huntresses to appear out of the forest near her. Ruby took advantage of this to glance at the Huntress in more detail. She wore a grey dress and wielded a longsword as a weapon - Ruby wondered what its hidden transformations were - but looking up she saw something even more impactful. The Huntress had silver eyes! Just like her! She hasn't met anyone with eyes her colour until now, and her hair was also white and long and... wait, were those horns? She's a Faunus?!

Ruby Rose averted her gaze and focused on the upcoming horde of Grimm. She needed to focus for her first true battle against Grimm - she couldn't embarrass herself in front of a Huntress!

The first Grimm to arrive were beowolfs, easy to manage as long as you avoided their claws and jaws. She could take care of these! "I'll deal with the beowolfs, you can take care of the rest!"

She didn't check if the Faunus Huntress had gotten her message, but seeing as she charged against the Death Stalker behind the beowolfs Ruby supposed she had. Also, did her longsword just glow? What kind of Dust trick was that? She also wanted her Crescent Rose to glow!

She had managed to slice a lunging beowolf in half with her scythe when the other Huntress jumped from atop the tree and down to the ground behind her. Suddenly, vines appeared from her body and immobilised the charging beowolfs.

"Thanks!" She said as she started cutting down the hopeless Grimm. While doing so, she took a peek at the new Huntress. She wore a green shirt and skirt with a vine aesthetic, clearly modelled after her Semblance. She had black hair and two green horns stood at the sides of her head in the shape of seashells. Another Faunus Huntress!

As the silver-eyed Huntress broke the Death Stalker's mask with a single hit from her longsword - wow, she must be strong! - she shouted over the Grimm's howls. "Che' sees a flying creature approaching." Her accent was obviously foreign, Ruby had never met someone that spoke another language! This was so exciting!

No! Focus! A flying Grimm? Where? She couldn't see anything!

Suddenly though, her thoughts were interrumpted by the screams of a Nevermore flying high above. Thankfully, it appeared to be distracetd with the other Huntsmen and Huntresses that were protecting the city by the wall. Not so thankfully though was the fact that they still had to deal with the ground attacks from the Grimm, and that meant more beowolfs and the like. Wait, was that an Ursa?!

Thankfully, the two Huntresses seemed to realise the danger that the Ursa opposed and began focusing on it. Ruby Rose meanwhile dealt with the wild beowolfs that kept following her. However, the Ursa was stronger than the green Huntress' vines and could somewhat withstand the silver Huntress' attacks. If that was the case, then Ruby wouldn't be able to be of much help!

"Me'hon! Trap the creature's leg with Me'hon's vines!" The silver Huntress shouted at the green one, and she did as told. Soon, the silver Huntress sliced the Grimm's leg in half and it fell to the ground.

"Miss Rose!"

Ruby Rose yelped in surprise at the voice that she very much recognised. It was Professor Glynda's! Once she arrived she moved her riding crop as she used her Semblance to drop rocks over the crippled Ursa, killing it on the spot. Its body transformed into rising smoke as it died.

"What did I tell you about not getting into trouble?!"

"But Professor Glynda, these two Huntresses were fighting Grimm alone and I had to help them!" Ruby Rose explained her perfectly justified actions as she sheathed her scythe.

Professor Glynda's gaze moved to the two Huntresses. "Are you two Huntresses?"

The two Huntresses shared a look with each other before the silver one answered. "Nai, we are nai."

Professor Glynda narrowed her eyes. "And what does 'nai' mean?"

The green one sighed. "No, we are not Huntresses. We just arrived here."

Wait what?! But they knew how to handle the Grimm perfectly! How could they not be Huntresses?!

"Then that was extremely risky of you. You could have been hurt, you must leave the Grimm to professional Huntsmen and Huntresses."

Ruby Rose noted how both Faunus flinched slightly at the mention of the word 'Grimm'. She'd read how some people got traumatised for life after their settlement got attacked by Grimm, and it kind of reminded her of that. Hopefully it hadn't happened to these two.

"Who is Le'mer to be ordering us? Che' and Me'hon do nai respond to Le'mer." The silver-eyed not-Huntress argued back, setting her longsword into her back.

"I am Professor Glynda Goodwitch at Beacon Academy and also a professional Huntress whose job is to make sure that kids like yourselves aren't hurt even if you behave irresponsably." She adjusted her glasses as she spoke. "Futhermore, you are currently in the Kingdom of Vale and must answer to the authorities of said Kingdom, that is, me."

"Le'mer is wrong. Le'mer might be trained in the arts of combat, but so are we. We may nai hold Le'mer's titles, but we do nai require them to show others our skills. Besides, Le'mer's Kingdom of Vale does nai extend past the walls of Le'mer's city. Le'mer's authority is nai projected into these woods and instead the black creatures are the ones that truly claim the forest as their home."

Wow, Ruby couldn't believe that these Faunus were talking back to a Professor of Beacon, just like that! They must be telling the truth when they said they had never been inside one of the four Kingdoms, because nobody would be that insane to do something like that.

"Professor Goodwitch, I beieve we should avoid antagonising the people that just defended our city from the creatures of Grimm." A new voice came from behind Ruby and she turned around to see none other than Headmaster Ozpin! She'd never thought she'd see him again before Beacon!

"Hello to you too, Miss Rose." Oh! Did he notice her excitement? Oops.

"Headmaster Ozpin, we shouldn't let others charge recklessly into danger, it sets a bad example for other kids."

"Ah, but I wouldn't say these two were 'reckless'. On the contrary, I believe they knew exactly what they were doing." Ozpin's gaze swept from the green Faunus to the silver one. Ruby noticed his eyes widen slightly at the sight and heard him mutter under his breath. "Silver eyes...?" Oh my God, did he also think that silver eyes were rare?! Their meeting had to be destiny!

However, Ruby was confused as to why the silver Faunus wasn't replying. She had been the one to talk the most, but now that Headmaster Ozpin had arrived she just... stared at him silently. Was she at a loss of words from his appearance? Either way, whatever had happened to the silver Faunus wasn't contagious because the green one was able to comment. "It's exactly as you say, Ozpin. We may not have your titles, but we do have the skill to show the Grimm who's the prey and who's the 'Huntress'."

Was that intentional? It might have been as Ozpin chuckled, though Glynda didn't seem amused in the slightless. "That is true. Tell me, how old are you both?"

The green Faunus looked at the silver one, but the silver one wasn't moving her eyes away from Ozpin. Eventually, the green Faunus put a hand on the silver one's shoulder to wake her up and it seemed to work. The silver one looked back at the green Faunus before answering. "We don't know."

The three humans were momentarily taken aback by the response, though Headmaster Ozpin was quick to ask. "You don't know?"

The silver Faunus shrugged as she clarified. "We lost track of our age after our village got burned down. Since then, we've been travelling together without a way to measure time."

Headmaster Ozpin tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "What about your names? Surely you have those."

"Sai. Che's name's Ze'mer and che's friend's name's Isma, though che' calls her Me'hon."

Ruby stood for a moment trying to make sense of the silver Faunus' statement. So... her name was Ze'mer and her friend's name was Isma? Yeah, that sounded right. "You don't have surnames?" She suddenly asked, and was rewarded with a glance from Professor Goodwitch that said 'stay away from this'. Oops.

Thankfully it was Isma who answered - her accent was much easier to comprehend. "No. Our town wasn't one to use surnames before it got destroyed."

"Lastly, do you have a place to stay?" Headmaster Ozpin asked. Professor Goodwitch switched her signature glance from Ruby to Headmaster Ozpin after realising what he was trying to do.

"We don't. The guards at the gates weren't keen on letting us enter the city."

"That's hardly surprising, with the White Fang's new activities in the city entry for Faunus has been... difficult. However, I can't let go of the fact that you two risked your lives for a city you hardly knew. So, while I can't give you entry - that'd be under the council's jurisdiction, not mine - I can save you a spot at Beacon Academy."

"Headmaster! These two can't pay the--!"

"Nonsense, Professor. Beacon Academy stands as an academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses that seek to protect humanity and Faunus from the creatures of Grimm. These two ladies have proven more than capable of hangling the duty that such a title entails, regardless of their economical situation." After reprimending Glynda Goodwitch, Ozpin turned towards both Faunus. "So, what do you say?"

"I..."

"Che' accepts le'mer's offer." Ze'mer said as she nodded her head in respect. She smiled at her friend, who looked mildly terrified. Ruby thought that maybe she was scared of attending an academy with other students, that maybe she was the shy one!

"Excellent. I'm sure Miss Rose here would gladly explain the proceedings to you both." Headmaster Ozpin's gaze fell upon her and she quickly nodded. Yay, new friends! "I'd be staying as well, but duty calls and I need to investigate a new... 'development' of sorts." He chuckled at the word 'development' as if it was some kind of internal joke.

"Yeah! I was about to go shopping for Beacon with Yang when the Grimm attack happened - Oh! You have to meet Yang! She's my older sister, and she's soooo cool." She moved in her excited speed between both Faunus and was about to embrace them in a friendly hug when suddenly both of them jerked their bodies back away from her.

Isma stared at her with a serious expression. "No touching."

Headmaster Ozpin eyed the commotion from where he stood next to Professor Glynda. "Miss Rose, while I'm aware of your... tendencies when excited, I remind you that others may not find such closeness comfortable. Especially in the case of wanderers that have travelled alone for years."

Ruby's head lowered slightly in embarrasment. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you both like that."

"It is fine, though we insist that le'mer be more careful in the future." Ze'mer tried reasuring Ruby with a smile.

Ruby Rose nodded. She might be extremely socially awkward, but she couldn't give up on making friends with future Huntresses and students at Beacon!

Neopolitan's PoV:

"Alright, let me know if I got this right. I am to allow these two brats into Vale, who will later on try to get their way into Beacon through sheer... pity by convincing Ozpin to let them in?" Her dear Roman Torchwick asked with a tone that made Neo smile with amusement.

Cinder narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes Roman. I don't know why this even bothers you so much, it's not like your orders have changed."

"Eh, can't a man like me worry about his fellow workmates from time to time." Roman raised both hands as if surrendering, making Neo let out a silent giggle and a sigh from Cinder - she didn't like the taller woman, especially with how she talked towards her dear Roman.

"I'm not in the mood to waste any more time so I'll just introduce you to them." Not long after she said those words two Faunus entered the conversation. They were a girl and a boy, both at the right age to be entering an academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses like Beacon.

Both of them wore worn pants and jackets, and they seemed to have just escaped a near-death situation. Neo also noted how some of their hair and skin had been burned - clearly Cinder's work. Neopolitan immediately smiled at both newcomers and was delighted to see how they became unsettled with her presence. So satisfying!

"Alright, give me your full names." Roman ordered the two Faunus as he took out another one of his cigars.

"I'm Loaf Min and this is my sister Leah Min." Said the male Faunus as his gaze moved from Roman to Neo and back to Roman.

Roman was about to reply when Cinder interrumpted him - rude! - "Remember what I told you. Either follow our instructions or... well... you know the consequences."

Neopolitan did not, in fact, know what the consequences would be. But knowing that it was coming from Cinder of all people, then they'd surely be something bad and cruel. The shudder from the two Faunus supported her theory.

Then Cinder brought her two companions - Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black were their names - and started talking about a mission and other boring stuff she didn't care about. Sadly, her dear Roman was also part of the conversation, even though she knew his dislike for Cinder was almost as great as hers!

She crafted an illusion of herself in the same spot she had been before while her true self walked away from the room and into the night outside. She could see the shattered moon from here as well as the entirety of Vale. It was truly a shame that eventually all would fall by the hands of Salem - or at least that was what her dear Roman believed. She didn't care one way or another, as long as she remained at his side!

Chapter Text

Pale Decisions

The Pale King opened the door to one of his private meeting rooms, close to where his workshop was located. Through the door came the two former dreamers Lurien the Watcher and Monomon the Teacher. They all soon settled in their respective seats around a stone table that was covered in different stone tablets, expensive papers and personal charms. He had been preparing a briefing of what had transcurred in the day since they had all appeared on Remnant with the help of his godly foresight.

He took his seat at the table and spoke up. "Thank you both for coming, today we shall discuss the events that have happened since our arrival and what our future goals will be. Needless to say, the decisions that we take today will influence Hallownest for the rest of its history and are of crucial importance."

He received a pair of nods at his statement and so he began with the first set of news. "First of all, Mysterious Ze'mer has recently informed us of a new type of creature that inhabits these lands alongside the humans. When news first reached the White Palace the creatures didn't have a name, they were simply described as 'black creatures' - which will be revelant later on - but in the first report from the Soul antenna in the Vale city we now know that the humans of these lands call these creatures 'Grimm'."

"My Lord, I believe that a new name should be chosen." Lurien commented immediately upon hearing the name. "It wouldn't do to tarnish Troupe Master Grimm's name like that, especially considering our current situation."

"I agree, my Watcher. That's why I'll read the creature's characteristics to you both and let you come to your own conclusions." He picked up the correct stone tablet from the pile thanks to the signature Soul that he had previously granted the object and started reading its contents. "Black body, white masks made out of shell, other shell fragments around the body and glowing red eyes. Number of limbs, size, general behaviour and other characteristics are determined by the specific subspecies. Upon death their blackness becomes smoke and disappears into the air."

Monomon's eyes grew wide. "My King, surely you don't mean...? A Void construct?"

The Wyrm sighed. "Indeed Teacher. It seems like Hallownest aren't any longer the only ones that utilise the Void." He massaged the front of his mask. "Even worse is the fact that, according to the same report, humans are generally unaware of where the creatures come from, meaning their creator - possibly a Higher Being themselves - is doing this puppeteering from the shadows. Of course, we can't even begin to know why or how they are doing this, and that is what bothers me the most."

"I'd like to point out that those characteristics listed aren't exactly true for the Void we know." Monomon said as she picked up the stone tablet. "Perhaps it's something else, Ze'mer explicity mentions emotions coming out of the creatures."

"My Lord, should we terraform the nearby terrain so that ground Grimm cannot reach the entrance to Hallownest?" Lurien asked as he took out his personal tablet to write notes. "We can't sustain a constant perimeter around Hallownest for much longer."

The Pale King used a bit of his foresight to form his answers. "Yes Monomon, I'm aware of the differences that can be seen. That's why I plan to capture some of the creatures and send them to you for research." The Wyrm turned towards Lurien as he saw the Teacher bow in agreement. "Another method of defence against the black creatures is an urgent matter, I'm aware. However, you needn't worry my Watcher, I've already informed our Root and the leader of the Five Great Knights of our needs. I'm convinced that they'll find an answer."

"As you say my Lord."

"Very well, as a last point to make, I'd like to name the creator of these creatures the 'Puppeteer' for now, and their creatures the Black Puppets. It's close enough to the original name used by the humans that there shouldn't be any misunderstandings." After receiving a pair of nods the Wyrm turned to the next tablet. "The next matter to address would be the four kingdoms that reside in Remnant - Remnant being the world's name given by the humans."

He moved towards a cabinet inside of which was a map made of expensive parchment from Deepnest. It had been drawn by him, using the descriptions of the actual map from Ze'mer's report and his godly focus to make her words into reality. He laid said map onto the table, and both dreamers started inspecting it.

"I'm guessing the blue areas represent water, the green ones the Greenpath-like areas, the white ones the Kingdom's Edge-like ones and the dark ones the Black Puppet infested ones?" Asked Monomon, looking up to him as she did so.

The Wyrm nodded, honestly impressed by the Teacher's deduction skills. "Indeed. We are currently located at the east of the Sanus continent, just slightly south of Vale. The west-most kingdom would be Vacuo. The east-most kingdom is called Mistral and it's located in the continent of Anima. And finally the north-most kingdom is named Atlas, in the continent of Solitas." As he explained, he distributed five tablets, each one detailing a general list of crucial information from Ze'mer's report. "The extra tablet is about Menagerie, a pseudo-kingdom that lies to the southwest."

Both dreamers began to read through the tablets, and eventually Lurien was the one to speak up. "My Lord, if the information from these tablets is accurate, then I believe an attack against the kingdom of Atlas would be most difficult. They seem to have a militaristic culture and are the most technologically advanced of the four, we should focus on easier targets."

The Pale King nodded and took out a small unused red charm from the drawer beneath the table. He put it atop of the kingdom of Atlas on the map.

"Reading through the Menagerie tablet, it seems they have little to no military at all. They only hold close ties to the White Fang because they are part of the same species? My King, what are these 'Faunus'?" Monomon asked as she held the tablet with one of her tentacles.

"Ah yes, the Faunus." The Pale King started answering as he used some of his prescience. "They are almost identical to the humans, to the point that even I would have trouble distinguishing between both species. For some reason that wasn't mentioned in the report, they are discriminated against by the humans. In recent years their 'terrorist' group known as the White Fang has started attacking certain shops that sell Dust, an object that will be addressed later in the conversation."

"I see." Monomon nodded. "In that case, even though Menagerie is weak, I'd advise against attacking it. Grimm was very particular in his request and we shouldn't risk that Menagerie doesn't count as a kingdom in his eyes."

The Pale King nodded and placed another unused red charm over Menagerie.

"My Lord, I think we should also eliminate Mistral from the map." The Watcher looked up from the Mistral tablet he was holding. "Not only are they located in Anima, another continent separated by a sea of water, but they also hold the most territory out of every kingdom. It'd be difficult to lay everything to ruin and a prolonged war will only leave us defenceless. Furthermore, they also hold close ties to the kingdom of Atlas, and would probably side against us in the war."

Another red charm was placed over Mistral. That only left the kingdoms of Vacuo and Vale. The Wyrm pondered on the issue until he came to a conclusion. "Taking into account the fact that Vale is the closest kingdom to us it's clear that they'd be the first ones to get curious and, despite my warnings, will try to reach out to us. Adding to that the fact that Mysterious Ze'mer's and Kindly Isma's mission is going without issue, I'd say we should focus on Vale first. We could easily break the kingdom from the inside - especially considering the fact that their power is severily weakened by having a fractured council instead of an actual absolute monarch - and when the opportunity arises, we'll betray them with our soldiers already within Vale."

"A simple yet effective plan, my King." Monomon nodded, leaving the stone tablets on the table.

The Pale King nodded back to the Teacher before picking up two other stone tablets from the pile. "These two tablets hold information about a material known as 'Dust'. Both Mysterious Ze'mer and I agree that it resembles the purple crystals that we mine from the Crystal Peak, though they have multiple magical properties of unknown origin that our crystals lack." He passed a tablet to each former dreamer before addressing Monomon. "Teacher of the Archive, I'd like for you to also research these crystals and find possible ways of incorporating them into our society, though prioritise the military. Moreover, let me know immediately if you find any Higher Being influence within the Dust."

"Of course, my King."

"Next would be Aura, the humans' way of manipulating Soul. Unfortunately, little is known by the public about Aura, and so our two Great Knights have yet to find any information about it. Luckily for us however, is that Mysterious Ze'mer and Kindly Isma have been able to trick the headmaster of an academy that specialises in the arts of combat to let them enter cost-free." The Wyrm noted the looks of surpirse coming from both bugs. He understood, it was quite the achievement considering they have only been out of Hallownest for almost a day. "The information on the tablets comes from what they called a 'Scroll'. Apparently, it's a device that allows access to publically known data of any kind. A student from Beacon - 'Beacon' being the academy's name - showed them her Scroll and taught them how to use it."

"My Lord, this is great news!" Lurien stood up from his chair as he spoke. "We've already infiltrated their warrior society, it is but a matter of time until we can fracture them from their insides. The possibilities are endless!"

"Lurien, you fail to see the issue here." Monomon started speaking as she eyed the Watcher. "Even though what you say is true, we just lack the time for any long-term planning. Remember that we only have two years until Grimm comes for his payment, we cannot expect our Great Knights to graduate from an academy in just two years!"

The Pale King cleared his throat to get the two bugs' attention. "These aren't as great news as you both think they are." He saw confused expressions behind the former dreamers' masks. "The headmaster of this academy is a male human that goes by the name of Ozpin. However, there are some interesting notes from Ze'mer about him." He picked up the bottom-most tablet in the pile and started reading from it. "Ze'mer claims that the man has at least a few thousand years old Soul, using the humans' measures of time."

While both former dreamers started converting the units the Wyrm sorted his thoughts about the man Ozpin. He hid in plain sight yet was clearly a Higher Being, being the headmaster of the most successful academy in the entirety of Remnant. But why? Why would a powerful Higher Being become a mere teacher for teenagers? Did he hold no ambitions like the Wyrm of creating an eternal kingdom? Surely there was something more that he wanted to do, no immortal being would settle for just an academy - albeit a prestigious one.

The Higher Being culture of this world was clearly foreign to him, and he was worried what the reason for such sift from the norm was.

Ozma's PoV:

Ozma arrived at his office and sat in his desk with a cup of coffe in his right hand. He left it at the table and took out his Scroll, which he then connected to the computer inside his desk. After checking the hour he soon started a call through the personal connection that he had installed in his scroll with the Cross Continental Transmit System - perks of being as influential as he was. The man he was calling was no other than James Ironwood, another influential man like himself, though his sphere of influence was mostly within Atlas while Ozma's extended all throughout Remnant.

The call soon connected and Ozma was able to see his friend's face through the hologram.

"Ah, it is good to see you again Ozpin. Is something the matter?"

"Nothing urgent, I just wanted to catch up with you after so much time."

At his words James' expression became serious. Understandable, considering that what Ozma just said was a code that meant they had to have a conversation about confidential issues. Ozma was no fool to say anything private while connected to a network that could be hacked, even if his friend James insisted on calling it secure. The 'nothing urgent' was also meant to indicate that the matter was, in fact, quite urgent.

Ozma saw James nod through the screen. "Ozpin, I am a very busy man. I've already told you to call me in emergencies and nothing else." Meaning: I'll be there as soon as I can. James soon ended the call after that.

Ozma calmly took a sip from his cup before opening a drawer and taking out a pile of papers. These ones were the documents detailing all the information about the candidates for Beacon Academy, though he now needed to add two more candidates. Ze'mer and Isma.

A lot of questions came to his mind when he thought about those two Faunus. He wasn't close to being all-knowing - though he did know much more than the common man - and as such he could be wrong, but he had a feeling that this time he wasn't. He had the suspicion that there was more to both Faunus' backstory than what they told them. Firstly, he honestly doubted the existence of any human settlement south of the mountain range, though he couldn't be sure about Faunus settlements. Secondly, he did notice the way the silver-eyed girl kept staring at him until her friend woke her up from her trance. Was it part of her Semblance, which somehow allowed her to know of his true nature? Were there other things at play here?

The whole ordeal was suspiciously close to the blast of magic that he saw, especially considering that it happened on the same mountain range that these two Faunus claimed to come from. The timing and the location supported his theory, but... the two Faunus didn't match the descriptions given to him by Huntress Jasma. Unless the 'bug-people' knew how to shapesift, then those two couldn't be citizens of this new kingdom of Hallownest. However, he had to take into account all possibilities, including the one of this simply being the work of a Semblance from one of the two Faunus. This theory was also supported by the fact that both girls had refused to be touched by Miss Rose, though this could be explained by the fact that they were shy as a result from their long travels.

Well, at least he'd have James here soon to get a third opinion on the matter, much to Glynda's dismay.

Putting all of that aside, he focused on the possible teams among students. Of course, the teams were partially chosen by the entrance test in which the first canditate you lock eyes with would be your partner until graduation. This was announced previous to the test, though what he didn't say was that the initial positions and direction of flight upon starting weren't random but calculated so that specific canditates were more likely to be paired with other specific canditates. In conclusion, he was the one responsible for the teams at Beacon from the very first day.

Fortunately for him, with the arrival of Ze'mer and Isma the pairs for candidacy now could be grouped in fours. As for which team these two Faunus would end up in, he had a few ideas. The one he decided on was pairing the two girls with the recent pair of siblings that, as them, have come from no school but where instead from a village that got ruined by Grimm. Their names were Loaf and Leah, Mister and Miss Min. Taking into account the similar backstory and their shared species, perhaps they'd do a great team?

Now came Ozma's favourite part: choosing a colour-related name. What could he do with the letters 'Z', 'I', 'L' and 'L' though? Hmmm.

Looking at the other possible names he had already come up with he saw the team name 'RWBY', named after the colour but also the mineral. Ah, he could do a mineral, the lazuli!

As such, he wrote down on his Scroll the possible combination of letters to form the colour lazuli: 'LZLI'. Now all team LZLI needed to do was pass the entrance test and they'd be officially part of Beacon Academy.

Chapter Text

Encounter

Tohsa's PoV:

Tohsa travelled through the Fungal Wastes with a small group of followers behind him. In past times he'd have called himself Mantis Lord Tohsa, but recent events have made him lose such a title. Now he was known as the Traitor Lord Tohsa in the Mantis Village, and only a few followers recognised him as the legitimate Lord of the Mantises.

The reason why he took up exile was a disagreement between him and his sisters. They foolishly believed in the Pale King's words and had accepted his deals in the past, which went against their culture in the first place. Now they were expected to protect Hallownest - a kingdom that had done nothing for them and whose citizens saw the mantises as savages - from the terrors of Deepnest, and what did they gain in return? Not being conquered. Absolutely humiliating.

And so, he had fought his sisters and lost. Worst of all however was the fact that one of the Pale King's knights had seduced his daughter to their side! She barely even held mantis culture even before he had been exiled! Even more humiliating.

Eventually, he and his group passed close to an acid lake in which a giant mushroom laid resting. He didn't expect the mushroom to address him as they opened their eyes.

"A mantis group so high up in the Wastes? Why, colour me surprised." The mushroom spoke in their fungal language, in which Tohsa was fluent.

"It doesn't concern you." He simply said as he tried to make the appropiate sounds to speak the difficult language.

"True. Though if you've been exiled then I recommend not dismissing me outright." The mushroom smiled.

Dammit! The mushroom already knew of his humiliating exile! Stupid mushrooms and their shared mind! They always knew about everything! "So what? Are you going to give me advice on where to go? If you haven't noticed, these caverns are not exactly known for being uninhabited."

"Oh, that is why you shouldn't stay within these caverns."

He hadn't expected that response. He raised a claw as he asked. "What do you mean? I am no fool to venture in the unexplored Wastes beyond the Howling Cliffs."

"Then I bring you some good news, since it appears that the Wastes beyond Hallownest have been... lets say, replaced." The mushroom suddenly sumerged deep within the acid lake, and Tohsa was left with a look on confusion on his face. Well, perhaps he should now do a trip to Dirthmouth to see what all of that was about.

James' PoV:

"James Ironwood, Ozpin is currently at his office-tower." Gynda Goodwitch informed him as she guided him towards the lift at the center of Beacon - not that he needed a guide, he'd been here multiple times.

He nodded in response to Glynda as the lift started ascending. Eventually they reached the highest floor in all of Beacon, Ozpin's office. James saw his friend with the screen of a Scroll connected to a computer as well as his signature cup of coffe.

Ozpin looked up from his screen as he entered the office - James didn't sit down on a chair, he preferred to stand. "Ah James, it is good to see you. We have much to discuss."

James sighed. "Alright, no delaying it. How bad is it?"

Ozpin chuckled as Glynda shook her head. Ozpin was the one to reply. "Well, that depends whether you consider a new kingdom of insect people good or bad news."

James blinked at that statement. He knew that Ozpin always said the strangest things, and though James had no way to confirm if his tales of a woman named Salem being behind the Grimm were actually true, he had always trusted his friend's word. This though... he turned his head around to look at Glynda and saw her nod. Oh goodness, it was actually real.

"So insect people? As in, human-sized insect people? Not Faunus?"

"Correct. Here, take a look at this." Ozpin turned around the hologram over his desk and James could see a drawing of a strange looking bug with a white mask that ended in what appeared to be a crown and a white robe that fell to the floor. In the drawing next to it stood the bug but with one of its claws extended - he noticed that the claw had been drawn in great detail. "This is a drawing made by Huntress Jasma. She's the first one to make contact with the bugs of Hallownest - that being the kingdom's name - and the bug shown is what I suspect of being the kingdom's monarch."

James raised an eyebrow. "'Suspect'?"

Ozpin took a sip from his cup before clarifying. "The bug mentioned a 'King and Creator' in its speech and I believe it was referring to itself. The plural first person pronouns and the assumption it made about the kingdoms having monarchs support this theory that I have."

"Wait, the bug spoke our language?"

He didn't like how Ozpin's smile became worried. "Huntress Jasma claims to have been struck by the bug's claw - hence the drawing here - and that the bug learned our language from just a strike to her head - or at least that's what the bug claimed to have done."

James pursed his lips as he thought over the implications of that. Accessing a mind with just a strike was a powerful Semblance for sure.

"I believe a bit of context is necessary here." Ozpin straightened himself and started explaining what had happened in the last two days, beginning from an explosion of magic that he saw until Jasma's tale of meeting the bug. James was especially bothered by the warning that the white bug had given about entering Hallownest uninvited.

"We need to investigate further." James said just after Ozpin's stopped explaining.

Glynda shook her head in desesperation as she spoke up. "Of course you'd say that."

"I don't necessarily disagree James, but I think I should insist on not just dismissing such warnings as a first thought, especially coming from someone with an Aura as big as the bug's."

"This is simply fixed by sending someone that isn't human. Atlas has a reserve of reconnaissance drones that can be controlled from a safe distance." James crossed his arms across his chest.

"Not a bad plan, but I believe I've got one that will result in higher chances of success." Ozpin smiled as he leaned forward in his chair.

Glynda turned rapidly towards him. "You do?"

Ozpin nodded. "Indeed. We may be able to request entry into Hallownest if we have something to give them in exchange."

James thought about it for a moment. "You want to avoid any confrontation with Hallownest."

Even though it was a statement and not a question, Ozpin answered regardless. "Exactly. It will be an information exchange of sorts." Ozpin raised a hand to his chin. "From my first few lives I've noticed that information when you are in unknown territory is an urgent matter for all beings. That includes these new bugs, and that means that it's quite likely that they'll let us through."

"Alright, I can accept this. Who's going?"

"Why, all of us of course."

"What?!" Glynda shouted at Ozpin's words. "That's extremely reckless!"

Ozpin nodded in agreement. "True. Glynda, you can stay here taking care of Beacon while James and I leave for Hallownest."

At least seeing Glynda's breakdown was entertaining.

Ozma's PoV:

James and Ozma had arrived near the mountain range thanks to James' personal bullhead. Now though, they decided on climbing up the mountain on foot so that they didn't scare the bugs. At least that was the plan, but somehow Ozma knew that they'd likely be the scared ones here. As they climbed, it was obvious to all that the bugs had formed some sort of perimeter around the top and were observing them as they climbed. Some of the bugs even patrolled through the air with their wings, though none of them ventured deep inside the forest.

Eventually though, he and James arrived a few meters away from the top and a voice called them to stop. Ozma somehow understood the language being spoken. "Halt humans! Beyond this point you enter the kingdom of Hallownest. Move no further unless you wish to be arrested and consequentially executed."

Ozma eyed the white bug that had spoken in a vaguely feminine voice. She stood out from all the bugs with her white armour instead of the standard grey one. She wore a reinforced skirt and like all the bugs around her she wore a mask that hid her expressions. She also held some sort of sword in her hands.

Thankfully James let him reply to the bug. "We are aware. We've simply come here to request a meeting with your ruling monarch. We believe we have information that might be useful to them." As he explained he adjusted his glasses as to allow the light from the sun to obscure his gaze from the white bug. This way, he could inspect the other bugs as he spoke.

The white bug seemed to pause at that, and other high ranking giant beetles started whispering in their language with said white bug. Meanwhile, Ozma noticed his friend's nerviousness. "What do we do if they attack us, Ozpin? I only have a Dust pistol with me."

He didn't respond. The white bug had reached a conclusion and turned towards them. "Very well. We'll be sending a messenger towards the White Palace to wait for a response. If the answer is no, you must leave however."

He nodded at that and muttered a low 'thank you'. James at his side sighed in relief.

What came was the most tense staring he had ever witnessed in recent decades. The white bug did not want to avert her gaze from them it seemed. Eventually though, the messenger came back with a rock which he handed to the white bug. She read it silently before addressing them both.

"This seems to be your lucky day. Though the Pale King is busy at the moment, the White Lady has allowed you to have your meeting at the White Palace." She handed the stone back to the messenger. "You will, of course, be escorted by me and my personal guards. Anything that I judge to be done with malicious intent will result in your deaths. Do you both understand?"

They both responded in the affirmative. The white bug turned around. "Very well, follow me. You may address me as Great Knight Dryya."

They soon followed Dryya and another three bugs through a dimly lit cavern that stretched without an end in sight. After a minute of walking however, Ozma was able to see a giant door at the end of the tunnel. Dryya ordered it opened in the bugs' language and while it did Ozma turned around to look at the strange stone egg that was placed to the side. It somehow had Soul inside of it, even though it was clearly not a living being. How did an egg have Aura?

As soon as he approached however he saw strange symbols that he somehow was able to understand.

Higher beings, these words are for you alone.

Beyond this point you enter the land of King and Creator.

Step across this threshold and obey our laws.

Bear witness to the last and only civilisation, the eternal Kingdom.

Hallownest

He blinked. It was as if a voice had spoken directly inside his head.

"You won't be able to read those godly words, human. They are only for those who are above mortals." Dryya explained as the door finally opened and they stepped inside. Ozma soon followed behind them. He noticed that James had raised an eyebrow while looking at him and he nodded. James understood that Ozma had been able to read the words directed towards 'those who are above mortals'.

On the other side of the door stood a giant bridge that connected the cavern they had just travelled through with the other side of the mountain, from which grew some purple crystals that reminded Ozma of Dust. However, never in his past lives had he seen a Dust with that shape, though he couldn't say for sure with the distance.

They didn't follow the bridge though, instead they got on a platform and, after hitting a lever, it started to ascend. Oh, so this was a lift? Eventually they reached another cavern inside the mountain, though this was smaller and much more populated. There were bugs everywhere transporting things on carts while giant beasts stood resting and eating. When they entered, all eyes moved towards both of the humans or the Great Knight Dryya, who with but a shout made all of the bugs resume their work.

Ozma and James were silent and observing their surroundings until they reached a sideways tunnel. It almost seemed like a train station, especially with the benches in which bugs waited and the bells that stood atop small pilars. Two of the giant beasts soon appeared from the tunnel and started having a conversation with Dryya and the guards, eventually Dryya turned towards both humans.

"Mount the stag. We'll be traversing the Stagways until we reach the capital city, from where we'll descend to the White Palace." She explained as she waited for them to mount.

Ozma and James shared a look before doing as told, and off they were. So it did work as some sort of train system, though instead of trains they used giant sentient beasts. Ozma didn't even know a fairy tale that he could use for the situation.

Either way, after moving through the tunnels that were occasionally illuminated by strange lamps that contained small bugs within they arrived at the capital city of the kingdom of Hallownest.

"We've arrived to the King's Station inside the City of Tears." Dryya announced from the other Stag once they arrived.

Both Ozma and James were too occupied looking around to dismount though. The station was absolutely gigantic, and it somehow was filled with bugs moving around and waiting for their Stags. At first glance, he could distinguish at least sixteen different lines, with half of them being for arrivals and the other half for bugs that wanted to leave. Some of those lines seemed to accept carts filled with goods, though the bugs seemed to have to deposit some stones inside a machine to use those Stags. The walls were completely filled in signs that he suspected depicted what each line was for, and he was able to distinguish a map of a network in the center of the wall to his left. According to the map, there were more than ten stations avaiable - though he doubted he could comprehend exactly what each dot in the network meant.

Even before both humans dismounted, the vast majority of the bugs had turned to look at them. He could hear but not understand the whispers coming from them, though thankfully Great Knight Dryya was able to silence them with all but a glance. The crowd parted ways as they advanced, eventually reaching the exterior and were greated to the sight of the City of Tears. Now Ozma understood why that was its name, it was called the City of Tears due to the... rain from above?

"It's raining? But we must be hundreds of meters underground!" James exclaimed in surprise as he stared at the ceiling of the cavern. From the rock small water drops fell to the ground or the top of the buildings, which didn't escape Ozma's gaze. The buildings were much more beautiful that the average building in Vale, that was for sure. Whoever had designed this place was without a doubt a great artist.

Great Knight Dryya turned around towards James. "It is raining because our King wished for it. This city is Hallownest's heart, and everything about it is perfect. The eternal downpour, for example, protects us from the odor that comes from the Fungal Wastes outside the walls."

The guards accompanying them handed them a pair of umbrellas made out of leaves of all things and they continued their march. The majority of bugs didn't seem to care about the rain and just let the water fall on them. At some point they crossed a bridge that went over a canal of water - was that a boat sailing through the middle of the city? - until they reached another lift, this one the same size as the one they took earlier. Once they had stepped on the platform and stored the umbrellas one of the guards hit the lever and the lift started descending. Unlike the previous lift however, this one seemed to go on forever. Ozma swore that it had been minutes since they first started descending.

He and James shared a glance. They both thought the same - a monarch wouldn't have their palace so deep underground, it was much more likely that this was something akin to the cells where prisoners were held and from which they wouldn't be able to escape so deep underground. Had they fallen into a trap?

He got his answer when the lift stopped and the view let him awe-struck. Before him was the single biggest and most beautiful palace he had seen in the entirety of his lives. Though, part of the White Palace's charm was the air around it. It was filled with Soul like Ozma had never seen before. Even from this distance inside the lift, he could almost extend his hand and touch the magic in the air. Upon a second glance he could also distinguish small white roots across all the palace, and they were even more saturated in Soul than anything living that Ozma had ever seen.

"And this is the White Palace. Come, the White Lady is waiting for us." Dryya started moving and both humans followed, though their gazes were on the palace at all times.

While looking at the Soul in the air Ozma also noticed a fountain at one side of a garden. The fountain resembled the drawing made by Huntress Jasma, all but confirming that the bug she encountered was indeed the monarch of this kingdom - he apparently went by 'the Pale King'.

As they entered the White Palace and started following Dryya - the rest of the guards had stopped following outside - Ozma noticed the Soul being used in clever ways. For example, there were Soul-powered lifts all around the place that even though they were much smaller than the ones they took to get here, they were extremily fast in their travels. The most shocking discovery however was one that James noticed first and Ozma second after following his friend's gaze. Next to some of the doors stood guards that at first glance appeared to be insects just like all the other white bugs, though on closer inspection they lacked Aura. It honestly reminded Ozma of the robots made by Atlas with their movements, and their skin - if it was even skin - was as dark as Grimm. It was honestly quite the coincidence that the bugs made their robots so similar to the Grimm.

Eventually they reached a closed door guarded by two of the black robots and, after a word from Great Knight Dryya, they obeyed and opened it. "The White Lady will see you now, be on your best behaviour." Dryya said as she waited outside.

A pair of nods of affirmaiton later and they entered inside. Ozma could instantly feel it. Power. It was all around the air but one figure near the windows seemed to be giving off the thing just by their Aura alone. Indeed, next to the windows glancing at the gardens below was a tall figure entirely white that resembled a tree with their root-like extremities. They wore a white dress around themselves and was the first creature down here that wore no mask - even the Stags wore masks.

The figure turned around and spoke in a feminine voice. "Ah, you've arrived. Please take a seat." She extended one of her roots to signal the small table at the center of the room - the room was way too big for just a small table.

After a quick nod from both humans they took a seat on the smaller chairs while the White Lady sat on a chair that seemed to have been designed just for her - it probably was. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Hallownest's Queen, though most know me as the White Lady."

"It is a pleasure, White Lady." James nodded in greeting. "I am James Ironwood, an influential figure in the political scene at the kingdom of Atlas as well as a researcher for technologichal development." He extended a hand towards Ozma. "This here is Headmaster Ozpin, who runs an academy exclusively for Huntsmen and Huntresses - they could be described as warriors - inside the kingdom of Vale, just a little bit to the north of Hallownest."

"I see. It's a pleasure to finally meet one of your species, and I'm sure that there is much you wish to ask?"

Ozma spoke up. "Indeed, that was our intention with this meeting. An exchange of information. How would you like to proceed?" Ozma wished he had a cup of coffe right now. Even though he had been to many meetings in his lives, this one was the most stressful one by far - was it because of the Soul in the air or the great power that the being in front of him wielded?

"I haven't given it much thought. I believe that since Hallownest is a guest in the world of Remnant then you should be entitled to answers." While she talked Ozma did notice that Hallownest already knew the planet's name - was it also part of the information that the Pale King had extracted from Jasma's mind? Oblivious to Ozma's internal thoughts the White Lady continued. "Though I'll have to ask that we wait for my Wyrm before we start - you may know him as the Pale King."

James nodded. "There is no rush, we can wait. Great Knight Dryya mentioned that he was busy."

The White Lady raised a root to her head. "Ah yes. Sadly he's been managing our arrival to Remnant personally from the very beginning, and that leads to many important meetings - such as this one, actually."

Ozma was about to comment on that when his words were cut short when the door on the other side of the room suddenly opened. Two figures entered, one he recognised as the Pale King and the other was a tall one, being the size of the White Lady. Their body was just as black as the robots and they moved with the same robotic movements that they did. Some kind of recent model of robotics from Hallownest? Possibly, he didn't pay the robotic creature much attention since his eyes were focused on the Pale King. Ozma was able to see what Jasma had referred to with the mention of a visible Aura, though there was a lot more than that going on. The Pale King was purposefully represing his Aura as to not blind anyone close to him, and that was obvious to the headmaster. The Pale King's true Aura occupied the entire room and much more, and he had the same scent of power that the White Lady did.

"Excuse our tardiness, we were dealing with the rampant growth of the Flukes in the Royal Waterways." He took the seat next to the White Lady while the robotic bug stood unmoving to the king's side.

"It's no problem, I know the hardships of governing very well." James commented as he eyed the small king.

Ozma was about to add a comment too when his thoughts were interrumpted by a literal third eye opening inside the Pale King's Soul. It wasn't even opened for a second before it closed, and Ozma, who had lived in Remnant from before it was even called that, couldn't recognise what just happened - that thing was no Semblance, of that he was sure.

"Dear Wyrm, I believe we should let the humans begin the talks. They've earned it." Ozma almost didn't notice that the White Lady was speaking again.

"Of course, please ask away."

James eyed Ozma for a moment before making his question. "What exactly happened here? Just before today I'd never heard of your kingdom and now you are here. It almost seems like you just appeared out of nowhere."

The Pale King laughed a bit behind his mask. "Well, that is because we did, in fact, appear out of nowhere."

"Indeed. Our past location was being haunted by a creature that saught to bring Hallownest to ruin." The White Lady explained. "We decided that leaving for a new world was our best option for survival."

Ozma asked his question. "How were you able to bring your kingdom to Remnant?"

He saw the third eye inside the Pale King's Soul open again before it immediately closed. What the fuck.

"We hold many powers, some of them shared with our subjects and many more hidden from them. All we can say is that Hallownest is a beacon for those who lack a face, giving them the opportunity of using masks in their place."

Ozma had more questions after that explanation than before. He had obviously noticed the fact that all bugs wore masks, but he didn't think that was to be taken as something more than just a culture. The Pale King said that it was to give faceless bugs a face, but that couldn't just be it, right?

Ozma saw James shiver a bit at the response. He knew how his friend reacted to uncontrolled power so he wasn't surprised by the reaction. Still, he didn't expect James' next question. "Still, I'd imagine it was still a feat of power to transport the entirety of Hallownest. How big is it?"

The Pale King stood up in his chair as he talked. "It'd be best if we showed you." He placed a hand over the table's surface and Ozma saw the threads of Soul shoot from his fingers all throughtout the table. Soon, they started to take shape and colour and where before it had all been white now was a map of Hallownest in colour. Interestingly enough, the map wasn't a bird's eye view like Ozma was used to, but instead it showed Hallownest from the side. As both humans eyed the map the Pale King continued. "There are multiple disputes on whether some places belong to Hallownest or not, so we will try to be as objective as possible."

The Pale King extended a finger towards the center of the map, where the City of Tears was located. "This is the kingdom's capital, named City of Tears. It is where most of the population lives and the most secure place in all of Hallownest. This is thanks to the Watcher, whose job is to watch over the city at all times."

Ozma wondered how literal the Watcher was. Was it a camera security system or a person with a Semblance? Did it not disturb the citizen's privacy to be observed at all times?

The Pale King's finger moved to the left. "Here lies the Fungal Wastes, home to the race of mushrooms and the Mantis Village. Though the mushrooms are part of our kingdom, the mantises consider themselves independent from us and have insisted on remaining this way. Thankfully relationships between our two civlisations have remained friendly."

The finger moved towards the left and up. "This is Fog Canyon, an extremily different part of Hallownest that hosts the most research facilities in the entire kingdom. It is a place of learning and studying, basically."

Hmm. Wouldn't be a bad place to visit at some point, if relationships between Vale and Hallownest improved to the point he'd be allowed entry.

The Pale King's finger continued in the same direction. "This is Greenpath, a green area that resembles your forests in the surface. Many dispute whether this place belongs to Hallownest, since Hallownest's laws do not aply in this area. However, we do have our roads built in this place to what's known as the Pilgrim's Way."

The finger moved south, to a place in the map known as Queen's Gardens. The White Lady was the one to talk about it. "These are my personal gardens, the majority of which are open to the public. It also serves as a place for me to take root from time to time."

"As our Root says, it is a place of unparalleled beauty. It was given to us by Unn's mosskin as part of our deal."

Looking at the map, Queen's Gardens seemed like a huge area to simply just give up. Ozma had lived many lives, and his experience told him there was more to this than what the Pale King was willing to share.

The Pale King's finger moved down. "This area is known as Deepnest, and it's considered its own kingdom, separate from Hallownest. They have their own queen, known as Herrah the Beast and relationships with them are shaky at best."

A rivalry between two kingdoms? That could be exploited if needed.

"Connected via a tram to Deepnest is the Ancient Basin, where the White Palace is located. It is also the deepest part of Hallownest."

Which begged the question 'why?'. Why would one build their palace so deep underground, far from their subjects? The White Palace wasn't even built near the rich districts of the kingdom - Ozma knew that monarchs tended to stay with the wealthy - it was entirely hidden from anyone. There must be a reason for it, Ozma just didn't know it yet and it was unlikely that the Pale King would share that knowledge ever.

"Following the tram we get to the deepest part of Kingdom's Edge, which is another area where Hallownest's laws do not apply. It's abandoned territory and has extremily difficult terrain, so it is home to many wild beasts that are hunted for food."

The Pale King pointed at a yellow spot under Kingdom's Edge. "Here lies the Hive. They are another independent kingdom from Hallownest as well as pretty isolationists. We do hold amicable relationships with them however."

"On the upper part we have the Crossroads, where the vast majority of goods are transferred through. It serves as a commercial hub as well."

"Connected via tram are the Resting Grounds, where we bury our dead. They were also part of a former territory of the moths, but they are mostly extinct now."

Ozma mentally raised an eyebrow at that. As far as he was aware, races didn't just go extinct without reason.

"The highest point in Hallownest is in the Crystal Peak, where the mining of crystals take place. They are used as a method of powering machines and robots."

Similar to dust then, Ozma thought. James probably did too.

"Hallownest's only settlement on the surface is Dirtmouth, which is a small town with few people in it."

The Pale King's finger moved all the way to under the City of Tears, though there was nothing depicted on the map on that area.

"Finally the system of sewers that manage the City of Tears' eternal downpour are the Royal Waterways. Lately there's been a problematic growth of Flukes inside them, but it is mostly under control now."

The Pale King raised his finger from the map and sighed. "And that'd be all the territories of Hallownest and its adjacent kingdoms." The map soon disappeared from the table when the Pale King stopped adding Soul inside of it.

"It is much more diverse than I'd first thought." James commented as he raised his head.

The White Lady was the one to reply. "It wasn't always this big. Long before my Wyrm's arrival the cave system was smaller, though through centuries of rooting it had grown in size considerably."

Ozma pushed aside the weird implications of that and asked his own question. "Was your kingdom also under attack from the Grimm?" It was likely that they weren't - he doubted Salem would try to reach other worlds - but it was something that he had to make sure.

"Ah, you refer to the black creatures." The Pale King spoke. "No, it is our first time meeting them. It makes us wonder about their origins."

Ozma was suddenly alarmed at seeing the Pale King's third eye open once again, though this time it didn't close. It just remained there, looking at him. Thankfully, James was unaware of it and replied in Ozma's place.

"Unfortunately, little is known about the Grimm. They are all over the planet so pinpointing a place of origin is difficult." An absolute lie, Ozma knew. James continued. "But moving to the next question, do you have any plans to announce yourselves to the kingdoms of Remnant? Currently, no one really knows you exist, surely you'd want to open yourselves to others?"

At this, the Pale King and White Lady shared a look before the White Lady replied. "You see, Hallownest has always been isolationist in the past, so adjusting for other kingdoms nearby might be more difficult than you imagine at first, especially considering that the citizens of Hallownest are not allowed to leave."

James had a complex expression on his face at hearing that. "Why would Hallownest's citizens not be allowed to leave the kingdom?"

The Pale King was the one to respond. "It was not that we didn't allow them to leave and more that the Wastes prohibited them leaving. When we said that Hallownest was a beacon for bugs, we meant that literally. Leaving Hallownest would led to various negative effects, depending on distance and time spent in the Wastes. At first it'd be memory loss, then if one's face was not properly defined total loss of sentience would come next. At the end, bugs outside Hallownest would resemble wild beast more than anything else."

Ozma felt relief at that. If the bugs needed to stay in Hallownest to keep their intelligence, then no one would dare come to the human and Faunus lands. Though, there was something that didn't add up. "But what about before Hallownest? Surely these aren't the only sentient bugs from your previous world?"

The Pale King nodded. "Of course, some bugs are totally capable of retaining their minds on their own - these are in the minority however, and most of our subjects were granted their minds and face by this kingdom."

James raised a hand to his chin in thought. "Fascinating. Then perhaps bugs could be capable of attending the Vytal festival."

Ozma turned his gaze to his friend and raised an eyebrow. The monarchs of Hallownest however just looked confused - or that's what Ozma thought, reading their expressions was hard considering one wore a mask and the other was a white tree. "Ozpin, I believe that a cultural exchange of sort in the Vytal festival is the perfect opportunity for allowing Remnant's population to grow closer to Hallownest. At the end of the day, the entire reason why the festival is celebrated is for the cooperation between kingdoms."

Ozma wondered for a moment if there was any hidden intention behind that, but pushed those thoughts aside for the moment. He could always ask James later, once they left for Vale.

"That sounds perfect, James." He turned around to the two monarchs. "The Vytal festival is broadcasted in the four kingdoms and as such would be a perfect moment to make a first appearance. It is celebrated next year in Vale, and so your kind wouldn't have to go far to reach it. Though I believe it'd be best to announce your arrival at the festival beforehand so that the populace aren't negatively surprised."

He omitted the part where he thought that the bugs would most likely receive large amounts of discrimination from the humans during the festival. He needed Hallownest to open up to the other kingdoms and implying that they wouldn't be welcome was counterproductive.

"We... shall think about it." The Pale King moved his gaze from the White Lady to the two humans. "Do you have a method of communication at a distance? This way we may inform you of our decision."

James nodded and hanged the king a Scroll - a spare one that had been selected by themselves to bring here. "Does Your Majesty know how to use it?"

The Pale King took the Scroll and inspected it. "Yes, Huntress Jasma's memories have been a good source of information."

Ozma couldn't help but feel that that statement had a double meaning of 'I can read your minds at any time'. Maybe his paranoia on others was imagining it.

Chapter Text

Escalation

Ruby's PoV:

She followed the airship with her gaze and saw it land in front of them. She'd been waiting for its arrival for half an hour now! Finally, they'd go inside Beacon and be examined in a test of sorts. She couldn't wait!

"Woah Ruby, calm down. Let them open the doors." Her older sister, Yang, held her so that she wouldn't shoot straight into the airship.

Ruby most surely did not pout and instead she waited patiently until the doors of the airship opened. She and Yang were the first students to board and glance around. The walls were covered in glass panels that showed the view outside - so pretty! - as well as having holograms every few meters. There weren't any seats to sit though, so she stood awkwardly to the side as they let other students pass through.

Ruby marvelled at the amount of people she didn't recognise - all of them possible friends! - though hopefully they won't treat her differently just because she was two years younger than all of them.

"Hey Ruby, I'm going to say hi to a few friends. It'll just be a minute, wait for me alright?"

Before she could answer though, Ruby saw Yang run straight towards a pair of tall girls - most likely friends from her academy. Unlike herself, Yang had come the ordinary route to get into Beacon and such had made friends and acquaintances along the way. For a single second she regretted accepting Headmaster Ozpin's offer - what if she didn't make any friends? - only for those doubts to be purged from her brain. No! She couldn't think like that!

She was spared from any more worries when she heard a familiar voice from behind.

"Miss Rose?"

She turned around to see the familiar green-clothed Faunus named Isma followed by her tall silver-eyed Faunus friend Ze'mer. "You can just call me Ruby!" She said with a smile - they both kept insisting on being formal with her, was this a Faunus thing?

"Ah yes, sorry." Isma returned her a smile as Ze'mer swept her gaze across the crowd - Ruby had noticed that she tended to do that a lot. Maybe she was paranoid?

Ruby shook her head because, really, it wasn't a big deal. At that moment though was when Yang decided to come back from her friends. "Hey Ruby, are these two your friends you told me about?"

Ruby turned around again and nodded excitedly. "Yep! The one in the green dress is Isma and the tall one is Ze'mer."

"You must be Miss Xiao Long, Ruby's sister? It's a pleasure to meet you." Isma bowed in greetings which was still something that Ruby hadn't become used to.

"Che' shares the same feelings." Ze'mer bowed too and Ruby noticed how her tall figure was even taller than her sister's! And her sister had always been tall for Ruby.

"No need for that, you can just call me Yang. Ruby here had told me a lot about you two, especially how you fought the Grimm the other day." Yang chuckled. "In fact, she wouldn't shut up about it for the entire--"

"Yang!" Oh God, her sister was embarrasing her in front of her only friends! What if they thought she was obsessed now?!

"Is that so? She must be a very diligent girl then." At Ruby's confused expression Isma turned to her. "I most certainly didn't expect you to take notes from our little battle. Not everyone would bother, really. But that you did says a lot about you!"

"I guess so." Yang smiled from behind her. "She did mention your Semblance though. Is it plant control?"

Isma looked down and fidgeted a bit. "Yes... it's not very strong though."

Ruby almost yelled in surprise at that statement. "What? How could you say that? You completely immobilised those Grimm! A Semblance like that has so many uses!"

She'd know, she had spent an entire hour thinking about cool combos between their Semblances - totally necessary preparations for Beacon Academy, hypothetically they could have gotten grouped together in a team! As a future Huntress, she had to account for all possibilities!

"Well, it's not really useful if there aren't plants around. It most certainly wasn't enough to save my village from the Grimm."

Oh no, Ruby hadn't expected the conversation to go this way, and she didn't know how to reassure her friend. Thankfully, Ze'mer put a hand over Isma's shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. She'd have done something similar if not for their strict orders to have no contact with her.

Before she could say anything though, the airship's engines came to life and the various holograms that were distributed along the glass panels showed the image of Professor Goodwitch. "Canditates of Beacon Academy, the journey to the academy's grounds will begin shortly. From now on you will not be able to return to your homes until the test is over. I repeat..."

"Well, looks like we are about to take flight." Yang commented, directing the topic of the conversation to something less sad.

"Wait, take flight? Are we going to be flying?" Isma asked with wide eyes.

"Oh don't tell me you've never been in an airship before!" Ruby asked excitedly as she closed the distance between herself and Isma - without getting too close, of course.

"Umm, no?"

"You are going to love it!"

Leah's PoV:

Her brother and herself had been among the last to enter the airship that would get them into Beacon Academy. Inside stood easily around a hundred candidates, though she'd only seen about five Faunus. The two siblings, another pair of girls with horns, and another lonely Faunus with rabbit ears.

The humans, being the hateful creatures that they were, had been sending them glares since they first arrived. Her brother Loaf had took it upon himself to stand in front of her, as if saying 'if you want to hurt her you'd first need to get me first'. Of course, Leah knew that Loaf didn't take stress that well, though she appreciated the act that he put in front of others just for her.

Eventually though, this sort of stalemate wouldn't last. One of the humans would surely believe himself better than others, that he was some sort of main character and would try to do something to them. Both her and her brother were competent fighters - you couldn't not be one these days and not get abused by humans - but with there being so many humans? They'd most surely lose, especially with there being absolutely zero oversight inside the ship - no professors, no huntsmen, no guards. Whoever designed this wasn't the brightest person alive.

Surely enough, they got approached. A group of four male humans, with smug looks on their faces and whispering among themselves. They walked up to them in a fake calm manner, as if they were the stereotypical bully of the school. Her brother prepared himself for them, standing ahead of her and appearing as imposing as he could. Still, the majority of the humans were taller than him and Leah noticed his tail was tensed upwards - indicating extreme worry, she knew.

Once they were at just a few meters from them the apparent leader of this group raised his voice as the other humans just stood there, unmoving and judging with their gazes. "Well well, what do we have here? A pair of animals are trying to--"

He didn't finish however, as he was interrumpted by a new arrival on the scene. Both the humans and the siblings were surprised, not expecting it, and the girl capitalised on it. "Animals? You must be mistaken." The girl approached the two siblings in a calm pace, as if this was normal. "When I see these two's faces, all I see is sentience behind them." She turned around from the siblings and addressed the four humans, though she spoke to the entire audience. "Higher thought is a most precious gift, human, and all of you shouldn't mistake those with higher thought with mere animals, that lack these gifts of intelligence."

Now that the girl had stopped speaking Leah could focus on her. She was one of the Faunus she had spotted earlier, especifically the green one with the horns. She was a petite woman with balck hair and a pair of horns sticking out of her head. She wore a green shirt and skirt with a vine pattern on them. She also had a smug smile on her face while addressing the taller human.

The human, after blinking away the confusion of her appearance, tried to speak up again. Unfortuantely for him, there was another interrumption. "Che' excuses Me'hon's improper behaviour. Me'hon is known for her more... protective actitude towards those Me'hon feels like are being attacked."

Behind the crowd came the other Faunus. She was tall, easily the tallest woman that Leah has ever encountered - and that was without counting her horns! They were massive! - She had long white hair and wore a silver dress that reached the floor. Leah could also see a sword attached to the Faunus' back, easily even longer than she was tall!

"Ze'mer! I don't have such a protective tendencies!" As she said it though Leah could see her cheeks getting red in embarrasment, implying that she did, in fact, hace such tendencies.

"Me'hon, they don't call Me'hon Kindly Isma for nai reason."

"Hey! Listen to me you disrespectful creatures!" The human shouted as he pointed at the two new Faunus. "This is what you always do. You come here to Vale and other human settlements and expect us to pay attention to you, expect us to just give you our jobs inside our society without any effort whatsoever. This? This is more of the same. Going into our human academies because your kind are just too savage to make their own academy within your own island."

Nods and whispers of agreement were shared among the humans in the group. Leah couldn't help but tense herself, ready for a fight. Loaf seemed to think the same and silently drew his Dust pistol from behind.

Suddenly a ball of red petals moved next to the Faunus girls and from within appeared a human girl. "You won't talk to my friends like that!" She shouted as she drew her own weapon, a red scythe of some kind.

The group of humans reacted to this by taking hold of their swords, maces, and other plain weapons. At this though, another human girl joined the two Faunus' side, adopting a combat stance. "Who do you think you are threatening?! Drop those weapons right now unless you want to get punched so hard that you won't be able to take the entrance test!" Small bursts of fire came out of her gauntlet, just as an intimidating measure.

The crowd began to retreat, making space between the two teams but otherwise not doing anything else. Of course, the airship only had so much space, and even if people closed the distance among themselves they didn't manage to let enough free space for a confrontation without colateral damage - especially considering the ceiling was rather low, only barely letting Ze'mer stand with her horns not touching it.

However, before tensions could raise any higher, a man tried moving through the crowd, looking for a free space - that is, until he found the middle ground between both teams. "Sorry sorry, I'm gonna--" His words were cut short when vomit came out of his mouth and fell to the floor, making half the crowd shout in disgust - including the human group, who shot glances of repulsion towards the puking human and promptly left the pseudo-battlefield. Though they did send one last hateful glance towards the Faunus and human group that had appeared to save the siblings, making sure that they knew that this wouldn't be the last of it.

The two Faunus girls seemed more curious of the vomit than actually disgusted of it, while the red human yelped in surprise and the yellow human just eyed the vomiting man with both amusement and pity.

After the vomiting man left for the bathroom Leah came out from behind Loaf and greeted the newcomers. "Hi! I'm Leah, and this is my brother Loaf." She raised both hands over her chest. "We're very thankful for coming for our rescue"

Her brother took his time to comprehend that the danger was gone, and he could calm himself down. "Y-yes, we appreacite your actions."

The green Faunus grew a wide smile at their words. "It was no problem! We Faunus have to stick together at the end of the day." That at least Leah could agree on, these human cities were sometimes just as much of a danger zone as the wilderness beyond the kingdoms, even though it was infested with the Grimm out there. The green Faunus continued. "I didn't expect it to escalate that high though, I wasn't planning on drawing my weapon out of nowhere." She said as she sent an inquisitive glance towards the red human, who quickly transformed her scythe back into its idle state and hid it behind her back, all while giving the Faunus a nervous smile. The green Faunus sighed as the yellow human let out a chuckle. "I'm Isma and this here is my friend Ze'mer." She signaled to the tall Faunus, before they both bowed in greeting which, wow, nobody had bowed to her before. After the bow she introduced the two humans. "These two sisters are Ruby Rose and Yang Tai Long."

"Call me Ruby!" The red human excitedly announced, making a much more normal greeting with her hand.

"And you can call me Yang." The yellow one said, making two fists with her hands and punching them with each other over her chest, making some flames in the process. Clearly a very strange greeting.

Leah smiled. It has been so long since she's had a group of friends! Perhaps this experience wouldn't be as bad as she had first thought.

Tohsa's PoV:

Tohsa shot another glance at the annoying Great Knight that, once again, insisted on him and his followers not going beyond the great gate that separated Dirtmouth from the King's Pass. For some reason, the Pale King had prohibited entering the Howling Cliffs, not even seeing what was there. Of course, he wasn't a subject of that foreign king. Ironically, the same treaty that had forced him to take up exile absented him from listening to the Pale King's orders, so Tohsa took no small amount of satisfaction at seeing the Great Knight not being able to command him around, and eventually allowing him to enter the King's Pass.

Tohsa knew the implications of there being a Great Knight up here. It meant the king was hiding something, so perhaps the mushroom's ominous words were true? Well, he'd see soon enough. Although he could have sworn that the tales of the surface hadn't mentioned a sky so blue? And what was that yellow ball that stood so high in the air?

Chapter Text

Flowers

The Pale King soon crafted a spell of teleportation upon receiving a signal from his Great Knight Hegemol through the charm that he had given him. He had ordered the Great Knight to only use it when someone tried to leave Hallownest and he didn't hold any authority over them.

Once the spell was constructed he appeared next to Hegemol in a secluded location of the surface, far from the Dirtmouth settlement. Turning around, the Pale King saw his knight bowing to him. "My King, the Traitor Lord of the mantises and a group of his most faithful followers have left Hallownest through the King's Pass. Your orders?"

Dammit! Hallownest's survival relied on them winning against the human kingdoms of Remnant, and they only had a year's time to bring down Vale. If the Traitor Lord attacked a human they'd not only be outed to the world but they'd also make a really bad first impression - which, considering the current discrimination that the human kingdoms displayed against the Faunus, would make the humans start a conflict against them in a matter of months. The Pale King needed to maintain peace in order to infiltrate the Vale kingdom, and allowing the Traitor Lord to go unchecked was counterproductive.

"Great Knight Hegemol, await for further orders in the White Palace, I'll deal with this issue."

The Pale King didn't wait for a response and soon took flight towards the King's Pass exit. He tried to ignore the giant yellow ball that stood high in the sky - it reminded him too much of the Radiance - and eventually arrived at the perimeter of soldiers. At the head was Dryya, the leader of the Great Knights, who stood looking down the edge of the cliff.

He soon landed behind her and was greeted with a reaction of surprise. She almost swung her nail at him in instinct which, to be fair, was entirely warranted since the amount of bugs that could sneak up on Dryya could be counted in one hand. Still, Dryya stopped herself and soon bowed in greetings.

"Great Knight Dryya, report."

"Yes, my King. The Traitor Lord and a small group of followers have begun descending towards the forests beyond Hallownest."

Without waiting any second longer the Pale King took flight once again and flew downwards. He eventually reached the construction of the pits, designed by his Root and with the intention of stopping the land-based Puppets from ever reaching Hallownest. He saw the workers - mainly cicadas - digging down in the ground, while construction beetles and menderbugs managed the logistics. What surprised him however was seeing the Great Knight Ogrim working alongside the other bugs, he didn't remember ever ordering him to this position. With a bit of his godly power and foresight however, he soon learned that the Great Knight Ogrim was following his Root's orders.

Seeeing no mantis near the pits the Pale King stopped moving. The Wyrm held no authority over the mantises due to them not being part of his kingdom and though the multiple agreements that he had reached with the Mantis Lords meant that if a mantis ever damaged his kingdom - a big mistake if the bugs in the catacombs had anything to say - he could arrest them. However, the Pale King didn't have any way of proving that what the mantises were doing could eventually damage Hallownest in the future. And so even if he couldn't force the mantises to return or directly kill them without consequences, he might be able to use their departure to his advantage.

Letting his prescience run free, the Pale King gazed into the future once more. For a moment, the activation of his godly powers reminded him of the meeting that he held the previous day with the Higher Being in disguise. When he first used his powers to properly articulate his responses the Ozpin human had flinched slightly and directed his gaze towards the Wyrm's Soul. At first, the Pale King had considered this to be but a mere coincidence. However, once he used his power a second time, Ozpin reacted again, though this time he held some sort of mildly terrified expression - were his powers really that foreign to the other Higher Being? Eventually though, he made sure to test the human's ability to see his foresight by opening it and eyeing the human directly with it. As he had expected, Ozpin grew tense when the entirety of the Pale King's prescience fell on him, all but confirming that he could gaze into the Pale King's Soul. The Wyrm wondered what other tricks the other Higher Being might be hiding in plain sight.

Still, he could deal with those thoughts in another time. Now he needed to focus on this mantis crisis. Directing his foresight into the world beyond Hallownest's beacon, he gazed into the future. The mantises would eventually find a place to set camp, having to fight the local Black Puppets to obtain it. Eventually the local town of miners would put up a call for help for a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses to clean the mines from Puppets, only for the Huntsmen and Huntresses to find the mantises instead. They'd fight, and depending on who they sent either the mantises or the humans would win. Chances of the mantises winning were the highest if they sent a group of students from Beacon Academy while the chances of the humans killing the majority of the mantises were highest when it was a group of professional Huntsmen and Huntresses.

Now the Pale King needed to know what outcome benefited him the most and subtly influence the future in that direction. Although, taking into account that this encounter would either way out the existence of intelligent insects to Vale, it would be best if the Pale King accepted Ozpin and James' offer in order to create a favourable first impression. He might even allow the humans to build an embassy in Dirthmouth to improve relationships between the two kingdoms.

Constucting another spell, the Pale King soon returned for Hallownest. He needed to talk with his inner circle about the possibility of announcing their presence to the wider world.

Yang's PoV:

Yang didn't know what her first day at Beacon Academy would look like - actually, scratch that, she did know what it would look like. Before she arrived here she tended to pick up fights with other students in her previous academy, so it didn't come as a surprise that she'd eventually get lectured by one of the Professors, though she at least thought that it wouldn't happen in her very first day, even before she even passed the entrance test!

"...and as Huntsmen and Huntresses in training, you must show respect and discipline with others at all time. The citizens will look at you for advise and as a role model, so you must conduct yourselves in an acceptable manner."

As Professor Goodwitch paced from side to side while eyeing every one of them, Yang took a peek at the others to see their reactions. The two Faunus that Isma had approached to save looked like they wanted to argue back with the Professor but knew better than to do it. Actually, both Isma and Ze'mer also looked like they wanted to argue back, though instead of feeling angry like the siblings they most likely wanted to argue back due to a disagreement with how things were managed - Ruby had mentioned that the two Faunus had done something similar when they first met Glynda Goodwitch.

Her little sister looked embarrased at being the cause for the conflict - Professor Goodwitch had mentioned not resorting to drawing your weapons as a first response while looking at Ruby, and all Yang could think about was that she had thought she'd be the first one to get lectured about reacting with violence at first notice, but instead it was her younger sister! She was so proud!

Then there was the group of four men that had first approached the Faunus siblings and they all seemed like they'd do it again, especially considering the stares that they kept sending to the rest of candidates when the Professor wasn't looking their way.

And then there was Yang herself. Honestly, that she didn't get to hit that smug and racist grins off their face irritated her to no end. She might have to hit something in the gym to calm down like she usually did when she got worked up. The two Faunus siblings might even want to do the same.

"Is that understood?" Professor Goodwitch stopping pacing to stare at all of them. They all nodded in the affirmative. "Good, another confrontation like this and you will all be disqualified from entering Beacon Academy."

That earned concerned reactions from the four Faunus, which seemed strange to Yang. Didn't Ruby mention how Isma and Ze'mer had at first been relunctant about joining? Why the necessity to enter Beacon Academy now?

Regardless, Professor Goodwitch soon dismissed them after that.

"I might need to hit something after that. Can't believe they let those humans away by doing nothing!" Loaf gritted his teeth and well, maybe Yang should make the offer?

"Wanna join me at the gymm?" She asked with a smile.

"Yeah let's go Loaf, before the presentation begins." Leah, Loaf's sister, said as she took her brother's arm and guided him towards the direction of the gymm.

According to the map at the entrance, it wasn't very far from where they were, and so after a quick goodbye with Ruby they started moving. Yang was surprised about how labyrinthine were the hallways of Beacon Academy - they all looked the same! As such, they got soemwhat lost and had to ask for directions before finally reaching the gymm. It was empty, which made sense. Nobody would be training half an hour before the presentation. What they were doing however, now that was entirely reasonable.

Isma's PoV:

"Distract Ruby for the time being while I look to investigate." She whispered Ze'mer while they eyed the two Faunus siblings and Yang leaving.

She silently left after that, saying that she needed to go to the bathroom - apparently humans defecated both pee and poop, which had been a search in her Scroll that she wished she could entirely forget. Shaking those thoughts away, Isma soon started using her gift from the Pale King, hiding herself with the surrounding light. To others, she'd be invisible unless they were especifically looking for a distortion in the surrounding light or had some sort of enhanced sight that could trace her, which didn't seem to be the case. This time she didn't bother hiding her Soul signature since no one they had encountered so far had been able to see Souls either way.

Following the mental map she had made of the academy thanks to the one at the entrance she searched for the library. There were two libraries, one for students and another one that wasn't open to the public. As a candidate, Isma didn't have access to any of those, though with her invisibility she should be able to take a peek at the contents of the one open for the students while looking for a way to enter the restricted one.

After some walking through the hallways of Beacon, she found the library. There might be some knowledge inside of it that could be urgent for Hallownest to get and wasn't easily accessable through her Scroll. For example, information on Aura and Semblances was lacking in her Scroll, and so a combat academy like Beacon should have more of it for its students.

Isma noticed that there was no one guarding the library's entrance even though it was supposed to be a restricted area for candidates. This might mean that they didn't think anyone would bother breaking in a library or that the security system was entirely automatic. Isma bet on it being the former - who would want to get into the library at their first day at Beacon? - and entered inside. Nothing happened, and so she continued forwards.

Glancing at the contents of some books, Isma learned a lot. For example, Aura seemed to manifest most commonly in high-stress situations, and a person's Semblance mirrored an aspect of their personality. Aura also seemed to be able to be transferred to objects such as nails or prosthetics just like you'd transfer Aura to your arm or leg - this was useful since Ze'mer's nail arts could be explained as simply being her peculiar usage of Aura. Frustratingly enough however, there was little to no new information on the beings known as Grimm, lacking answers as to where their origins might be or what they actually were - were the Huntsmen and Huntresses even told that Grimm were creatures of Void?

Isma shook her head and took out her Scroll to check the hour. Only fifteen minutes until the presentation began, she should be returning to the others now. Closing the book and putting it back in its shelf Isma exited the library without no one knowing that someone had even been there.

Ruby's PoV:

"Where did Isma go?" Ruby asked Ze'mer as she noticed that the other Faunus had just vanished!

"Me'hon left for the bathroom, Me'hon said to not wait for Me'hon." Ze'mer answered in that accent of hers that always made Ruby think twice before she understood what she meant.

"Ah okay." Ruby glanced at her Scroll. "We still have forty-five minutes until the presentation starts, do you want to do anything?" Because she honestly didn't know what she was supposed to do here. She didn't know much about Ze'mer, and so even if Ruby wanted to ask her so badly about her sword she didn't want to make any mistakes like she did when they first met - they hadn't liked her attempt at a hug!

"Che' wanted to see the gardens outside." Ze'mer responded as she tilted her head. "Is that alright with le'mer?"

Ruby nodded eagerly. "Yeah!"

The gardens were also the place where she met Weiss! Not the best first meeting however, as Weiss had been carrying some dust with her and that could have ended much worse than it did. Still, Weiss didn't have to be so rude with her for it!

Arriving at the gardens outside the entrance, Ruby was surprised that they weren't the only ones walking around. There was another girl that seemed familiar to Ruby and was eyeing the flowers. She remembered seeing that black and white outfit before, though she couldn't recall exactly where.

"Mi'? These flowers are most interesting." Ruby turned towards Ze'mer, who was occupied with touching the flowers with her hands, probably enjoying them.

"You like flowers?" Ruby asked. This way she could learn more about her new friend!

"Sai. It was a hobby even before che' met meled'lover. We like the view that flowers provide."

Ruby blinked. "Meled'lover? Is that like... boyfriend?"

Ze'mer turned around to stare at her. "In che's case girlfriend, but essentially sai."

But weren't Ze'mer and Isma the sole survivors of an attack on a Faunus village? How could Ze'mer have a girlfriend then? Unless... Ruby's eyes widened in realisation and she tried to stop the urge to say something embarrasing. It all made sense now. Isma and Ze'mer were not only friends, but lovers! Isma's plant-like aesthetic also matched her love for flowers that she shared with Ze'mer!

Ruby could now imagine the lonely travels that they had withstood together, and wasn't that a perfect scenario for romantic feelings to appear? Oh my god, she had to tell Yang about this!

But wait, maybe they wanted to maintain their relationship a secret? She should ask first either way.

"Ze'mer, is it okay if I tell others about your relationship?!"

Ze'mer made a confused expression - no, Ruby was reading it wrong, Ze'mer was probably considering whether to allow her to tell others or not. Eventually though, Ze'mer relunctanlty replied.

"...sai?"

Which Ruby had learnt to mean 'yes'. Yoohoo!

She disappeared in a ball of petals.

Chapter Text

Team

Isma's PoV:

Ze'mer's name was called by Headmaster Ozpin and she stepped up to the platform. Next was her name, and she positioned herself in the next platform. The next two names were the ones of the Faunus siblings, who stood in the next two platforms.

This was supposedly the entrance test, though no one had still explained anything of what they were supposed to do. Yesterday's speech from Headmaster Ozpin hadn't mentioned the entrance test at all and they were still in the dark. In general, Ozpin's speech had been really short and blunt, similar to how Dryya of all people might make a speech to the rest of the Five Great Knights. She didn't like them very much as they generally weren't the most informative of speeches, though she could see the reasoning behind them - by reminding the candidates of the importance of a title such as Huntsman or Huntress what Ozpin achieved was to make them focus, it was a similar strategy that was employed by herself in the Royal Guard.

Eventually however, Ozpin explained what they had to do. The objective was to retrieve a relic in pairs from a temple somewhere in the forest. Simple enough, in Isma's opinion. Headmaster Ozpin also insisted that the possibility of death was very much real, which for some reason took some candidates off guard. They were going to attend an academy for warriors, what did they honestly expect?

Still, they soon were launched from the platforms into the air, and since Isma didn't have an Aura she used her 'Semblance' to safely decelarate to the ground by atttaching vines to the surrounding trees. After landing Isma turned around to see Ze'mer diving into the ground with a Soul-fueled nail art. They two were the first ones to lock eyes, so by Headmaster's Ozpin instructions that made them partners for their time inside Beacon.

Isma smiled, searching for the academy's hidden library will now be much easier with Ze'mer as her partner. Still, she needed to focus on the test ahead, it wouldn't do to lose to all these humans. "Ze'mer, can you see where the relics are?"

Ze'mer looked around for a while as Isma retrieved her thrown vines back into her skirt. "Nai, though che' can see the majority of an'humans going in that direction."

"Let's follow them then!"

Ze'mer nodded and they soon headed forwards. In the distance Isma could hear the faint sound of voices and fighting, though it was still far enough that they didn't need to worry for now. As such, Isma took advantage of the moment to ask a question to Ze'mer as they walked. "Hey Ze'mer, do you know what's up with Ruby? She was behaving strangely around me last night and I don't want to think that she suspects us."

Ze'mer tilted her head. "Che's not sure. While we were viewing the gardens che' mentioned che's meled'lover. Ruby must have thought that che' was referring to Me'hon."

Isma blinked. "So Ruby thinks that we are lovers?"

Ze'mer nodded. "Sai."

Isma chuckled at the thought. "Well, we can always take advantage of this. We could use our supposed relationship as an excuse to disappear in the night or something, I've heard that human couples do that a lot."

Ze'mer giggled and was about to say something when her attention was directed somewhere.

Isma took a serious stance. "What is it?"

"The two Faunus Leah and Loaf are fighting a group of Grimm. What does Me'hon want to do?"

She shrugged. "I guess we can help them, it's not like students dying benefits us in any way."

Ze'mer unsheathed her nail and nodded. Isma followed behind Ze'mer as the shouting grew louder.

Ozma's PoV:

He stood atop a tall mountain that oversaw the entirety of the forest in which the test took place. As he had explained earlier, none of the teachers would come to the rescue during the test, and as such the candidates were alone in this. However, he still felt that he had to watch the students perform in the test, if only to see if he could find any flaws with the test for next year. From things like the speed the candidates where launched at to what the relics should be - this was the third year he had decided to go for chess pieces, one of his favourite board games throughtout all his lives.

Next to him stood Glynda Goodwitch, she was here to do the same as him. At the end of the day, four eyes were better than two.

Suddenly though, his Scroll ringed and both himself and Glynda were taken aback by it. The amount of people that could call him during the entrance exam could be counted in one hand, and so Ozma hadn't really expected to be called - it hadn't happened in decades. When he pulled out his scroll though, he was greeted to an unknown number, which could only mean one thing.

"Who is it Ozpin?" Glynda watched him with a raised eyebrow.

"It must be the Pale King. What an inconvinient moment to call though." He accepted the call. "Headmaster Ozpin here."

"Good day Headmaster, we are the Pale King. We have come to a conclussion about your and Huntsman James' offer." A brief moment of silence passed. "We accept the invitation to the Vytal Festival and would like to announce ourselves to the four kingdoms of Remnant."

Ozma let out a sigh of relief. By accepting their offer Hallownest would slowly open themselves to the rest of Remnant and that meant Ozma would eventually be able to make sure that Salem's lackeys didn't infiltrate the kingdom and use it to launch attacks against Vale, which stood near them.

"I'm glad to hear that your majesty. When would you like to make the announcement?" He ignored Glynda's raised eyebrow - they have yet to discuss the conversation he had with the Pale King fully.

"As soon as possible. Preferably in less than a week."

Ozma had not been expecting that, it was such a drastic change in behaviour from the relunctance shown in their meeting that for a moment he couldn't help but think that the Pale King might have been influenced by a third party. Of course, that shouldn't be possible - Salem couldn't know about Hallownest, at least not yet. "I believe an announcement could be made in the four kingdoms in a matter of a couple of days. However, I have to ask... why the sudden change? Did something happen?"

"Something did happen, yes. A group of rogue mantises have left Hallownest and we wish that their sighting isn't the first interaction with bugs that the people of Vale have. It'd leave a bad impression."

Ozma took a moment to recall what the mantises were. He remembered that they lived somewhere outside of Hallownest proper - was the area called Fungal Wastes? He had it written down in his office somewhere.

"I see. Do you have any idea where they went? We could arrest them and send them to you if your majesty wishes it."

"No, we do not know and there is no need for you to arrest them. If you see them simply go for the kill. We assure you, they will try to kill your kind."

Well, that wasn't reassuring in the slightest.

"Now for our next team, Loaf Min, Leah Min, Isma and Ze'mer." As he called out their names Ozma could see the four Faunus arrive at the front. Once they were all standing in a line he continued. "Everyone, please welcome team LZLI!"

The applause that normally followed a new team being presented was more restrained this time, clearly due to the fact that the team was entirely composed of Faunus. Still, that didn't stop Isma and Ze'mer from smiling, though the Min siblings seemed to be faking their smiles - there would be a lot of work to be done with those two, Ozma knew it. At least he could be certain that they'd be great Huntsmen and Huntresses, their fights during the entrance test have proven that to him. Although the danger posed by the Grimm they fought didn't compare to what teams JNPR and RWBY had faced it was still impressive. Killing a Nevermore was more than the average Huntsmen and Huntress in training could manage even after a year in Beacon Academy.

Waiting for the applause to die down he cleared his throat. "Team LZLI's leader position will go to Isma." Ozma noticed how Isma's eyes turned towards him and widened in surprise.

There was a simple reason why he had opted for Isma to be the leader of team LZLI. Not only were her skills at commanding during combat excellent as shown in the entrance exam, but her justice code was also something that mattered. She had defended a fellow Faunus in the airship on the way to Beacon - or at least the stories from the other students said as such - and so Ozma had no doubts that her heart was in the right place. Those were the reasons why she had been chosen leader of their team.

Ozma patiently waited for the four Faunus students to return to their seats before announcing the next team. It was team RWBY, another exceptional team for this academy, he was sure.

Leah's PoV:

It had taken a lot of restraint to not say something stupid during the team selection. Thankfully, Headmaster Ozpin had managed to comprehend that she wouldn't feel comfortable with a judgemental human as a teammate and had put them with the two Faunus that she respected. Of course, if instead of the Faunus they had been paired with two humans there was little neither herself or her brother could do, all because that damned Cinder woman.

Because of her, they had been forced here in an undercover mission of sorts that she still didn't understand. Neither of them were strategists, though why not simply use that shapesifting girl - did the Roman man call her Neo? - to steal a student's identity and achieve the same results was beyond her. It seemed like the simpler solution to all of this.

However, they weren't in a position to argue, and so they just obeyed and hopefully they'll leave them alone once Beacon Academy fell - they had said it would be one year before 'enacting the plan', so perhaps that was it?

Either way, she should avoid those thoughts. What had she been thinking about before that...? Ah yes, her new teammates. They had fought together the Nevermore and as far as she could tell those two were experienced warriors already. Especially Ze'mer, her skill with that longsword was like nothing Leah had seen before, and the fact that she could use it as an extension of herself with her Aura only made it better. In general, Leah felt secure with them at their side, which thankfully was enough to calm Loaf's protectiveness of her - she was glad that he cared so much for her, but sometimes it could be a bit overwhelming.

Of course, not everyone was perfect and the two Faunus girls were no exception. They had their... quirks. Like right now. It was almost night and Loaf and Leah had changed into their pijamas. However, Isma and Ze'mer had been very insistent that they leave the dormitory while they changed - just turning around wasn't enough for them - and so they were now waiting outside in the hallway near the door. Thankfully there weren't any annoying humans around and so they could chat in peace.

"So what do you think about them?" She asked her brother, just to make some conversation.

"They are acceptable." Loaf answered as he eyed both ends of the hallway for anyone.

Leah sighed. Of course her brother would answer with something like that. "They are much better than what we expected, are they not?"

His brother silently nodded. Leah could tell he was tense, though she didn't know what the reason was. Maybe it was the fact that they were outside, where one of those discriminatory humans could show up at any moment?

Just as she thought that she heard a door open near her and she turned around to see Ruby coming out of her dormitory. She was as surprised as seeing them as they were at seeing her.

"What are you guys doing outside?" She asked as she closed the door behind her.

"We could ask you the same th--" Leah quickly kicked her brother so he would shut up and let her speak.

"Isma and Ze'mer wanted privacy to change into their pijamas, though they had been inside for two minutes now." She said with a genuine smile instead of the forced one she used to speak with the majority of humans here. Ruby was a nice person, she knew, and Leah will try to make her brother understand that at a later time.

"Yeaaahh... Isma and Ze'mer have weird quirks like that. Though I think that's what makes them all the more interesting!"

She really liked Ruby, she always finds the positive side of all things. "Oh, I wasn't complaining. I think it's a wonderful thing how much trust they have in each other." Not only did they only allow the other to come into physical contact but they also sinergised very well in the battlefield. Some day herself and her brother could be like them.

Suddenly though, Ruby giggled. Had she said something funny? The expression of confusion must have been apparent in her face since Ruby quickly explained herself.

"Oh no, it's just that... Well, can you two keep a secret?"

Loaf and Leah shared a glance. A secret? If Ruby knew what secrets they were keeping she most surely wouldn't be as kind as she was with them, so yes, they most surely could keep a secret. Still, they nodded.

"Isma and Ze'mer are not just friends, but also lovers. But do not tell them that I told you that!"

Leah's eyes widened in surprise. That... made a painfully amount of sense. From how they interacted between themselves, always communicating more things that they let others know, to how the two only allowed the other to come into physical contact, and many other things...

Now she was scared of what the two were doing inside her dormitory.

Isma's PoV:

"Ze'mer, how the fuck was I supposed to know that humans used a different set of clothes for sleeping?!"

"Me'hon told che' that an'humans would accept sleeping in casual clothes! It was a lie!"

"The Scroll thingy said it! I swear!"

"Aaaiiiiiii... stop complaining and use Me'hon's gift faster, Leah and Loaf might otherwise notice something is amiss."

"I'm trying!"

Chapter Text

Announcement

"My King, preparations are complete." Dryya informed him as she bowed.

"Excellent. We will departure now."

Two days have passed since he had called Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy so that he could announce their kingdom to the human race. Since then, a lot of things have happened. Yesterday, Ozpin gave a speech to Vale's council about Hallownest's existence and it had gone viral in Vale's network. He also knew that the video had been sent to other networks through something called the Cross Continental Transmit System, an international system of communication among kingdoms. It sounded very valuable, definitely something to look into when he attacked Vale.

But regardless of the future war, today was a special day. He was accompained by the leader of the Five Great Knights, Fierce Dryya, as well as his vessel the Hollow Knight. The Pale King had insisted on making an appearance before the audience as to silent any conspiracy theorists that would dare call Ozpin's announcement fake - he had to deal with those a lot in the distant past - and so the easist way to prove that Hallownest truly existed was to make a visit himself.

As compensation, he had allowed a group of researches from Vale to enter Hallownest in a cultural tour of sorts. With a bit of help from his foresight, he had determined that the best path for such a tour would be the Pilgrim's Way. Not only had it been a crucial path that bugs followed in the distant past to get into Hallownest, long before the Pale King had ordered the construction of either the lifts or the Stagways, but it passed closely to the Archive, which seemed like an excellent place for researches to visit. Finally, the Pilgrim's Way would end in Hallownest's capital, the City of Tears.

As for the Pale King's visit to Vale, Ozpin had suggested a plan that the Wyrm had seen no reason to disagree with. He'd be escorted by a group of experienced Huntsmen and Huntresses - no doubt to keep an eye on him, but he didn't mind - and the destinations they'd visit would be, in no particular order: the shipping docks, the council building, the old centre of the city and finally Beacon Academy. He saw no problems with this.

"My King, the foreign flying machine you mentioned has arrived." One of his royal retainers rapidly informed him.

He simply nodded to the royal retainer as to signal that he had received the message and soon started contructing a spell of teleportation for the Howling Cliffs. He'd never admit it to anyone, but he was most curious about those flying trams that the humans used for transportation. Perhaps he could use them in the future as well? He'd have to look into capturing one of them without it being traced back to him.

Either way, the spell grew until it targeted himself as well as Dryya and the Hollow Knight. Then they disappeared from the White Palace.

Ruby's PoV:

"Oh my God oh my God you have to see this!"

"Ruby, we are in the middle of eating." Weiss sent her an annoyed glance which, okay, in any other day she might admit that she needed to calm down, but these were huge news!

"Ruby, do I need to remind you that the last time we 'had to see this' it was two in the morning? And you only showed us Crescent Rose?" Blake spoke up as she resigned herself to having to listen to what she had to say and put her book down on the table.

"Hmm. My sister does enjoy her weapons." Yang commented with her mouth half full.

Weiss sighed in exasperation. She didn't have the energy to correct on the other girl's manners this time.

"But team, this time it's serious! Look!"

Ruby activated her Scroll's function to display the screen as a hologram and turned it around so that her team could watch it. She started the video, which showed Headmaster Ozpin giving a speech to Vale's council.

"Thank you all for coming and allowing me to give this speech. Now, as you all know, I like to keep it short and blunt. As such, let me break the news to you immediately. As of the last week, one of Vale's Huntresses under my orders made contact with a previously unknown sentient species, neither human nor Faunus." In this moment in the video voices from the politicians made Ozpin's voice unrecognisable, though they eventually calmed down when Ozpin raised his hand. As for Ruby's team, they seemed really shocked by the announcement, which was good! Now they couldn't scold her like they had done when she had showed them her Crescent Rose! "This sentient species resembles bugs the size of humans, and they live inside a kingdom known to them as Hallownest. Upon contact with them I received an invitation by the queen herself, and had the opportunity to have a conversation with both the king and queen of Hallownest."

That statement had the politicians raise their voices again. Ruby had managed to understand some of what they were saying - a lot of 'you have no authority for that!' and 'you should have consulted us from the beginning' - but her attention was in Ozpin's annoyed expression. She'd know, being constantly interrupted isn't fun!

"Now, I can see that some of you disagree with my actions, but I must express that the Pale King - that is, Hallownest's king - explicitly mentioned keeping his kingdom a secret until they were prepared for outer contact. Yesterday he informed me that they'd build friendly relationships with the other kingdoms but especially ours on the condition that it be a gradual process, with a pace set by Hallownest." More whispers among the politicians, though this time it wasn't as much as before. "I implore the council to allow a cultural exchange between Vale and Hallownest as soon as tomorrow, since it had been an issue that I noticed when I first visited Hallownest." Ozpin adjusted his glasses in the video. "The political approach to other civilisations differs considerably and it is my belief that a cultural exchange with Vale's greatest minds would help in future relationships. The Pale King agreed to this, and he's now waiting for the council's response."

The speech continued after that point, though the video Ruby showed her team ended there. She had yet to see the entire thing - just Ozpin's speech lasted three whole hours! - and since the video had only gone public like half an hour ago she hadn't had much time.

Ruby eyed her team's expressions to see what they thought. Of course, there was a lot of incredulity in there but she was interested in what other opinions they might have. And so, since she was terrible at reading facial expressions she asked out loud. "So, what do you all think?"

"If it is true, then Remnant's entire societal structure would change." Weiss was the first to speak up. "Introducing a whole new species will have that effect."

Ruby noticed Blake sending a sideways glance towards Weiss before commenting. "I think they made a mistake. If we go by Headmaster Ozpin's description of their species, then there is no way that hu--, um, society would accept them. I don't know what Headmaster Ozpin told their king, but they should have stayed isolated."

It was now Weiss' turn to send a sideways glance at Blake, and seeing that Yang wasn't saying anything for the moment Ruby decided to add her own answer. "Well, I personally just want to meet this king! Can you imagine? Meeting an actual king in this day and age, just like the fairy tales!"

That earned her a snort from her sister which, ouch. She was about to respond to that before a voice caught her attention.

"Hey, how are all of you doing?"

Ruby turned around to see Isma approaching them, and her mood instantly brightened. Isma was such a nice person!

"Isma! Have you seen Headmaster Ozpin's speech?" Ruby asked her since she would love to hear her friends opinion.

"Oh, you mean before the council? Yeah I did." Isma then looked at all her teammates and Ruby followed her gaze. For some reason, Weiss was purposefully ignoring her friend!

"What do you think about it?" Blake suddenly asked. "Do you think they did the right thing?"

"Hmm..." Isma raised a finger to her chin in thought. "Well, I'm not a professional in the political scene so I wouldn't know. However, what I can tell you, is that they just published the tour that Hallownest's king will make through Vale. And do you know what one of the places he'll visit is?" Isma waited a moment so that the anticipation grew before answering. "Beacon Academy! I'd love to meet a king of a race of bugs!"

"Oh my God! That's amazing! I so want to meet him too!" Ruby smiled in excitement. She couldn't believe she had a friend that shared the same excitement she felt! Tomorrow was going to be the best first day of classes she'd ever have!

The Pale King's PoV:

He had been flying in this 'airship' for half an hour now, and the Pale King had to admit that he was kind of jealous. It was a great method of transportation that, while entirely useless within Hallownest, it would have been extremily effective for movement outside in the Wastes.

Either way, his mask served to hid his expressions and so nobody noticed him inspecting various details of the airship. The crew managing this thing were too unnerved by the Hollow Knight - they had to crouch somewhat to not touch the ceiling with their horns - and Dryya was making a great job at scaring anyone with her stares - that had been the main reason he had brought her with him.

Finally, the airship landed outside Vale's walls, where a reception of high-ranking humans and a group of Hunstmen and Huntresses had been waiting for his arrival. He positioned himself at the front, with Dryya at his right and the Hollow Knight at his left. He also sent a little bit more power into his aura, just to make a first impression of power.

When the door opened, he was greeted with a group of fifteen humans, though his godly sight could see more of them staring from a large distance. A bit of his foresight later and he now knew that those humans were merely part of the media, they'd be the ones to write about him and his kingdom. Thankfully Ozpin did not seem to be here himself, so that meant no one could see his foresight being used.

Now that the humans behind had been identified, he turned his gaze towards the humans at the front. Most of them wore suits and dresses - the formal attire, he knew - and the few that didn't were a group of four armed humans. They wore colourful outfits that the Pale King could not make any sense of and, according to Ze'mer's reports, that meant they were the warriors of this kingdom. What all the humans had in common however was the fact that they all had awestruck expressions on their faces, not believeing that he was actually real. In the case of the warriors though, that awe also translated into nerviousness at seeing his aura, and the Pale King meant that literally. Again, thanks to Ze'mer, he was aware that auras among the humans and Faunus weren't visible at first glance - sure, there were tools to measure aura, but you couldn't see it with your eyes.

He lowered the brightness of his aura a bit as Fierce Dryya began speaking in the humans' language via the charm that the Wyrm had provided her. "Attention! You are in front of His Majesty, King and Creator of Hallownest, the Pale King!"

Nobody spoke or whispered in the crowd, which actually surprised the Pale King. His model on humans might need to be readjusted.

"By his side stands the Hollow Knight, heir to the Hallownest throne!"

That part he hadn't told anyone, not even the Hollow Knight themselves. They flinched a bit at the announcement - not hollow - since the Pale King had insisted in the past that the Hollow Knight not be treated as an heir to the throne, even though they were his spawn.

"I am Great Knight Dryya, the highest-ranking warrior in the entire kingdom of Hallownest."

After a moment of hesitation, one of the humans took a step forwards and bowed before him. "Your Majesty, it is a pleasure to have you in our kingdom of Vale. I sincerely hope that our kingdom shows itself to be a great ally and relationships between our nations remain positive."

The Pale King had nothing to add, and so he simply nodded for the man to continue.

"Please, allow me to first introduce the team of researches that would participate in the cultural exchange." He turned to a group of five humans. "This here is Professor Oobleck at Beacon Academy and professional Hunstman... among other things."

When the Pale King eyed the man he seemed to be constantly about to add something but restrained himself from doing so.

"The four people you see behind him are a professional group of Huntsmen and Huntresses, though they are off duty and will merely work as researches in this exchange. They are, from left to right,---"

The Pale King ignored the rest of the man's words and focused on his own thoughts. To be honest, he was severily disappointed in Vale's council. Their political schemes were so... lacking in quality that the Pale King hadn't even needed to use his foresight to decipher them. First of all, a professional group of warriors off duty, it was crystal clear to him that this was their way to try and send trained fighters inside his kingdom, and a peek with his foresight revealed the orders that the group were under. To his surprise though, the professor from Beacon was not under any orders but instead was actually curious to study Hallownest's culture - perhaps he'd regret having to order that man's execution later on.

As the man continued to talk, his prescience turned towards the other group of warriors - these ones were the ones that would 'escort' him. They weren't under any orders from the council, though he noted that they were in direct contact with some high ranking politicians and military personnel. Lastly, his foresight turned towards the other men and women in formal clothing, and he had to stop himself for a second there. While the majority of the humans in front of him were just regular politicians - it was mostly greed what motivated them, not entirely unlike the nobles of his City of Tears - there was one particular woman that stood out. While the Pale King kept his facade of listening to the man - according to his foresight, he had been selected from the council as a provisional mediator until someone else with more experience could be chosen - his true sight, the one coming from his Soul, landed on a seemingly ordinary wealthy woman.

Why was the woman so interesting? Well, perhaps because it was nothing more than an illusion. A remote one, being controlled from somewhere else. The Pale King followed the trail of Soul from the illusion to the source and studied the coordinates. If he had to make a guess right now about who was spying on him, he'd have to go for the Puppeteer. This illusion was obviously not under the council's orders, and the Higher Being Ozpin lacked the intent for this. Either way, he'd keep this a secret for now. The Puppeteer was currently not an enemy to the survival of Hallownest, and perhaps they could even be a temporal ally after Vale falls.

The man had stopped talking and the Pale King nodded.

"Yes, everything is in order. The cultural exchange may begin now."

Chapter Text

Exchange I

"The shipping docks are this way, your majesty." The leader of the team of Huntsmen and Huntresses assigned to him commented soon after entering the city of Vale.

The first thing the Pale King noticed was that not only the media was here, but also the citizens of Vale. It was something he had expected, so it wasn't surprising in the slightest. Even the glances of hate and disgust were within his expectations, though strangely enough most of the public seemed more interested in the Hollow Knight rather than him. Was this due to their resemblance to the Puppets?

"I don't like this, my King." Commented Fierce Dryya in High Paleian - a language that the humans didn't understand.

"Ignore them. We don't need to bother with those that obsess themselves over the fact that we are different and can't see beyond that." He replied in High Paleian as well.

The Pale King noticed his group of escorts growing agitated by the second. The leader of them rapidly moved towards the Hollow Knight, which only made Dryya tense until the Pale King stopped her with a hand over her shoulder. He had used his foresight beforehand and knew that this wasn't any kind of attack.

Indeed, the Huntress arrived next to the Hollow Knight just in time to block an attempt by a reporter to get too close to them. "Please, all questions will be answered at a later time when---"

"It is no matter, Huntress." He raised his voice, getting the attention of both the reporter and the Huntress. "Ask your question, human."

The reporter soon recovered from having been pushed back by the Huntress and approached the Hollow Knight. He raised his mic to their mask and asked his question. "Excuse me, could you tell us a bit about your particular species?"

The Pale King noticed Dryya grow an amused expression on her face before returning to her serious look. Well, he had to admit, the situation was entertaining. "Human, you will not receive an answer from the Hollow Knight, as they are mute."

Th reporter's eyed widened. "A-ah my apologies your majesty, I didn't know."

He ignored the reporter's apology. "We shall answer in their place. The Hollow Knight is a Higher Being born of Wyrm and Root. We are their father and their mother is known as the White Lady among Hallownest's citizens."

There were some murmurs going on the background but the Pale King made an effort to ignore them. The reporter quickly bowed. "Thank you your majesty! Could you--?"

"The rest of your questions can wait until we finish this tour, can't they Huntress?"

The leader of the escorts quickly composed herself. "Yes, of course. You may all ask your questions once we are done. Please leave a path for Hallownest's king to pass through."

They continued their tour to the shipping docks.

Neopolitan's PoV:

She continued to stare at the monitor inside their base until she grew bored. With this foreign monarch arriving at Vale, she couldn't do anything! She had been ordered to take a closer look at the bugs and report if she found anything of worth, which she had easily done with a remote illusion of a woman. For all the rumored powerful abilities that these bugs supposedly had - those rumors being unconfirmed comments under videos that had gone viral - none of the bugs had even noticed her illusion! Very disappointing, especially from the bug with its head in the shape of a crown - what a way to mark that you were the king -. Said bug had an insane amount of Aura - something that she had had the displeasure of informing Cinder about - but he hadn't even stared at her illusion for a single second!

"HMPF!"

Neo turned her head around to look at the captured woman by her side. Truly, it had been the only fun she had had this entire day, capturing this woman and stealing her identity for her illusion. At first she had been making funny sounds which Neo had immensely enjoyed. At some point though, the woman had grown tired and stopped making those sounds, so why was she at it again?

Just because she was bored, Neo removed the tape around the woman's mouth and cocked her head.

"I uh... I need to go to the bathroom."

Ah. Well, that was a problem, wasn't it? She nodded to the woman and proceeded to leave the room.

"W-wait! Where are you going?"

She walked through the hallway until she reaching the base of operations that Roman had constructed with the help of those Faunus. Of course, there weren't any of the Faunus here at the moment. It was only her, her dear Roman, the Cinder bossy woman and her two subordinates whose names Neo had forgotten again. She spotted Roman in a table speaking with Cinder - no surprise there - and approached them both.

"You do know we are going to need to kill the woman, right? She knows way too much at this point." Roman played a bit with his cigar as he talked.

"No need. I have a new toy that I want to test on her. Worst case sceneario, it doesn't work and she dies." Cinder tiredly answered Roman's question without moving her gaze away from the monitor that stood against the wall. Neo followed the woman's gaze to the monitor too and she was able to see a live transmission of the bug king's visit to Vale. Boring!

"The same toy you mentioned having used on your two animal pets?" Roman raised an eyebrow while looking at Cinder.

"The same."

Finally she arrived at their side and they both turned their heads towards her. Roman was the first to ask. "Hey Neo, anything that you found?"

She shook her head and instead created an illusion of the trapped woman over her body.

"What about the woman?" Cinder readied herself to leave for the woman at a moment's notice, which was just an insult to Neo's capabilities. She could take care of a mere woman by herself, thank you very much!

As a response, she created an illusion of a toilet at her side. Cinder immediately sat down with an annoyed huff. Her dear Roman however stood up and let out a sigh. "Let's go Neo."

She followed behind Roman, though before leaving the room, she sent a last glance towards Cinder. Her full attention had returned to the television.

If it weren't for her dear Roman, she'd have already murdered that woman.

Monomon's PoV:

"Please, leave it here. My creations will take care of it." She informed the two beetles from where she stood inside her tank. They nodded in response and soon left the room.

With a bit of an effort, Monomon left her tank to inspect the cage that had arrived at her Archive. She had of course already received a report of what was inside and how it had been captured. It was a Black Puppet, having fallen inside the recently finished pit that surrounded the entirety of Hallownest. Removing the cloth from the cage, Monomon was greeted to a comletely black creature with four legs, a tail and little to no shell in its black body. Finally, her first specimen had arrived and she could start working on what her king had tasked her with.

Firstly though, came the categorisation of Puppets. Ideally, she'd use what the humans had already researched as a basis for her own research, and thanks to Ze'mer's and Isma's information directly from Beacon Academy she had plenty of things to use as a starting foundation. Most of them had to be tested of course - the humans might have deliberately stored false information inside the libraries so that their warriors weren't aware of certain things - but that would only take one week at most to be completed. Less if she obtained more specimens.

So, preparing herself for an intense session, she retrieved her tools from one of the tanks and--

A couple of knocks were heard from her door. She turned her attention to the door. "Enter."

A familiar pillbug entered inside, it was her student Quirrel. "Madam Monomon, the cultural exchange is about to begin."

Oh, she had almost forgotten! She quickly nodded to Quirrel. "Yes, I'll be ready shortly."

In her excitement she had almost forgotten about the exchange. Thankfully, she had her students to help her keep track of such events. This one, for example, was of great importance. Not only would she be able to teach others of her findings - part of her job as a teacher and something she enjoyed to do - but perhaps she could squeeze some useful information out of the humans? Who knows, maybe Vale had been naive and had sent her someone that had no self-restraint and a never-ending curiousity.

It was confirmed, Vale had sent her someone with no self-restraint and that talked too much for their own good.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, allow me to introduce myself." He bowed in greetings. "I am Bartholomew Oobleck, professor at Beacon Academy, professional Hunstmen, researcher at Vale's National Institute of Science, winner of three consecutive N.I.S. awards, auxiliar on Grimm studies in three distinct universities and self-proclaimed scholar."

Besides the titles, the man had also shook her tentacle without hesitation. The Pale King had informed her that humans tended to be weirded out by creatures like her, but this man seemed unfazed. He was also clearly an actual scholar, not like the infiltrated group of warriors that were posing as 'scholars'. Monomon found herself growing attached to this Professor Oobleck, which was something she'd have never anticipated.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Monomon the Teacher, Hallownest's most renowned researcher."

"Oh, how delightful! I hope it is okay for me to take notes? I'd love to research how your kind lives." He immediately said while he took out a notebook and a pen.

"Of course, there is no problem. We all have come here to learn, have we not?" She sent that last remark to the other four totally-not-warriors, who froze for a moment before nodding. "Well, if you can accompany me, we can start the tour. We will be travelling the Pilgrim's Way with a slight detour at the middle point to visit the Archive, but to reach said path we first must cross through Dirtmouth."

She started floating in Dirtmouth's direction, with the four undercover warriors looking at the bugs they passed and Bartholomew already taking notes in his notebook. At this rate the notebook would barely cover the entire visit.

"And through here we reach the start of the Pilgrim's Way, any questions so far?" Monomon informed them as they reached the giant lifts in the Crossroads.

The four undercover warriors remained silent while the professor started going through his notes. "Yes, a few. Back in Dirtmouth, you mentioned a variety of new shops that had opened and were selling goods from outside Hallownest." Monomon nodded and Bartholomew continued. "Are the small stones that they are trading this kingdom's currency?"

Monomon nodded. "Indeed. They are collectively known as geo, and their value differs on colour and size, with the bigger ones generally having a bigger value."

Professor Oobleck rapidly turned a few pages in his notebook before marking something. "Interesting. May I ask why? Surely you have developed parchment, which is both lighter and easier to use. Why not use it instead?"

"For a variety of reasons. Parchment is an import from Deepnest, and a very expensive one at that. That is without accounting for Hallownest-Deepnest relations, which are very unstable at the best of times. Therefore, having currency linked to an import from Deepnest is a terrible idea. Furthermore, parchment is easily ruined when exposed to water, and would make an inadequate currency to use within the City of Tears."

Bartholomew made some quick notes. "The way you speak of this City of Tears makes me curious, but alas we need to continue the tour at some point." He chuckled at his own joke. "Next question: what exactly is the Pilgrim's Way? You mentioned it being a path but nothing on the particulars."

"The Pilgrim's Way is Hallownest's most religious activity. In ancient times, it was the path that the bugs from the Wastes would follow in order to get to the capital of this kingdom, the City of Tears. Ironically, a large section of the Pilgrim's Way does not pass through Hallownest but rather Unn's land, though thankfully Unn and the Pale King have an agreement and the Pilgrim's Way belongs mostly to Hallownest."

Bartholomew quickly noted her explanation down and Monomon prepared herself for another question from the professor - she was enjoying this more than she thought she would - only to be asked a question from one of the warriors. "You talk about other lands inside here, but I thought this was Hallownest. How many kindgoms are there?"

Monomon raised a tentacle to her chin in thought. Hallownest today was a collection of different groups of bugs and beasts that had at some point or another joined the Pale King or had been conquered by him, and even some of the remaining kingdoms that weren't officially part of Hallownest were pretty much under its influence. "Besides Hallownest, there are officially five other kingdoms, though how close they are to Hallownest politically differs severily. While traversing the Pilgrim's Way, we will pass through Unn's Land and Hallownest, as well as passing nearby the Mantis Tribe, though we will not enter that one."

Monomon waited for another moment to see if there were any more questions - especially from Bartholomew - but seeing none she turned around and entered Greenpath proper. "We will now be entering an area known as Greenpath, please be aware of where you step as the mosskin are known to camouflage within the vegetation and there is the occasional acid lake. However, we should be fine as long as we stick to the Pligrim's Way."

The Pale King's PoV:

"Is an airship really needed to access the academy?" The Pale King asked one of his escorts, who nodded in response.

"That seems like an oversight. Why would you build an academy for combat so far away from the city? Surely that just makes the academy more difficult to defend and maintain as well as making the city weaker by removing all those professors and professioanl warriors from the civilians." Dryya commented to the leader of the team of Hunstmen and Huntresses.

The Pale King hadn't expected Fierce Dryya to interact much with the humans, but he was glad that she had asked - he was curious too.

The Huntress simply shrugged. "Headmaster Ozpin prefers it this way. The same thing goes for the headmaster before him."

Ah, so there was an actual reason for it and it wasn't a mistake. What would the Higher Being be keeping hidden from the public, though? He'd need to know before invading Vale - he must remove all unknowns to secure Hallownest's chances of survival.

Either way, the Pale King soon boarded his second airship with Fierce Dryya and the Hollow Knight following behind him. It was time to check out Beacon Academy with his own eyes.

His airship soon arrived at the destination - it wasn't very far from Vale proper - and he left the airship in the same formation he had used with Vale's politicians. This time though, instead of greedy adults greeting him there were teenagers training to become warriors and the occasional professor and instructor. Headmaster Ozpin was there, too, so the Pale King should try to avoid using his foresight as much as he could for now.

"Greetings, your majesty. I hope you had an enjoyable day back at Vale." Ozpin greeted him as he stepped down from the airship.

"The architecture and view of the city in general has been a new experience - living underground makes anything in the surface look different." He tilted his head in thought. "As for the citizens though, we must say that the public didn't seem content with our appearence."

To the Pale King's surprise, that statement actually made Ozpin upset. "Yes, humans do need to learn to coexist with other species outside their own." Then, in a quieter tone, he continued. "Our first all-Faunus team announced this year did not receive the support it deserved."

The Pale King didn't know what to say to that, so he simply nodded. His gaze turned away from Ozpin to the other professor beside him. "Greetings, we are the Pale King, Creator and King of Hallownest."

"A pleasure to meet you, I am Professor Goodwitch at Beacon Academy." A woman by Ozpin's right side greeted him.

"And I am Professor Port, I specialise in the teaching of Grimm here at Beacon Academy." A man with a mustache introduced himself.

The Pale King's interest of the man grew considerably. "You specialise on Grimm? Then perhaps we might ask your help later on. You see, we are... unfamiliar with the Grimm, and our greatest minds back at Hallownest are trying their best to research the creatures. We believe that, with a bit of help from Vale, we might be able to understand these creatures better and prepare for them accordingly."

Professor Port nodded in understanding. "A reasonable response to the Grimm. I'll gladly help, though I suggest you ask Professor Oobleck rather than me - he actively researches the Grimm, while I simply study them."

The Pale King recognised that name. "Ah, Professor Oobleck, yes. We recall a man by that name in the cultural exchange. Hopefully he teaches us just as much as we will try to teach him."

The Professor merely smiled at his response. The Pale King took this moment to introduce his two companions. "Allow us to introduce you to the Hollow Knight, heir to Hallownest's throne..." For some reason, a look of surprise passed through Ozpin's face before returning to a neutral expression. "... and Great Knight Dryya, a fierce warrior of Hallownest."

Now that introductions had been made, the Pale King turned around to look at the large amounts of students that had come to Beacon Academy's entrance just to see him. Unlike when he had been in the city, the looks he received were not of disgust and hate - although a large part of them definitely were - but rather surprise and interest.

His gaze stilled for a moment when he spotted Isma and Ze'mer in their 'human' disguises. Apparently, they had mistaken a Faunus for a human at the start of their mission and were now stuck as Faunus. Not an ideal outcome, but there was nothing that could be done now. He noticed that the two Great Knights were next to a red human girl - judging by Ze'mer's descriptions, that had to be Ruby - and her team, named 'RWBY' if he recalled correctly. Isma's own team was called 'LZLI' and consisted of the two undercover Faunus and two more Faunus that didn't appear to be here - the descriptions of the two siblings had been that of a pair of Faunus that wore more casual clothes than all the flashy outfits that the Huntsmen and Huntresses preferred to wear.

"It seems our arrival has attracted a large amount of students from inside the academy." He turned his head towards Ozpin as he talked.

Headmaster Ozpin simply waved a hand in the air. "No need to worry yourself your majesty, it was an expected outcome. Nobody would like to skip a new species presenting themselves to them for the first time. Though, if your majesty desires, we may want to start the necessary talks in my office before a visit to the academy as a whole?"

The Pale King nodded. "That sounds wonderful. Please, lead the way."

Chapter Text

Darkness

Salem's PoV:

Salem had always thought she knew Ozma very well. At one point they had been immortal rulers of Remnant, as well as a couple that could not return to the love they once had. Still, they had managed to become a family with four daughters - all of them had been capable of magic too, which had been an unexpected outcome, though not an unwelcome one.

As such, she had thought herself a knowledgeable woman when it came to Ozma's personality. He was stubborn, still fighting her attempts even throughtout centuries, every so often sending in a group of warriors - he called them 'Huntsmen and Huntresses', which was just ridiculous - to her and her Grimm, and they always ended up with the same fate: dead, or worse still, food for her experiments. At some point, Ozma had realised this and had stopped sending her more prey to play with - that had happened about a thousand years ago, if she remembered correctly.

Now Ozma was trying to band all humans together under one banner, which by the rules set by the God of Light would automatically mean that Ozma would win their eternal war. Of course, she couldn't let that happen, but she wasn't worried in the slightest. Uniting all humans for a cause was, she knew, a futile attempt at winning. In ancient times, even before this panet had earned its name as Remnant, she had tried to do the same. She had succeeded, to a certain extent. She had united the majority of the human kingdoms with the promise of immortality - a promise that she had shown them was real. She had played with the humans' greed - the only thing that remained constant thoughout all humans - and even then a few irrelevant kingdoms had decided not to join in her crusade against the gods. She knew Ozma's way of thinking, and he'd never exploit a person's greed like she did, and as such he stood no chance against her.

Eventually, the eternal war would end with her victory when she managed to gather the four relics.

Salem returned her attention back to the present. Before her stood Cinder, who would become the vessel for the maidens' powers and the key for the relics. She liked Cinder as a subordinate, as long as she gave her power - again, the same concept of greed aplied to her - she'd serve her. Salem was aware of Cinder's tendencies to act outside of orders, but at this point it would take Salem a few centuries to get a woman like Cinder for the powers and as such she had decided to ignore the woman's quircks for now.

"Rise." She commanded Cinder and the woman stood up again.

"The White Fang had begun with their planned terrorist attacks and we have managed to secure a small following through the use of Adam Taurus."

Salem nodded. It seemed everything was going as she had originally planned. Well, everything except one thing.

"Well done, Cinder." She rose up from her throne and approached the woman. Cinder tensed for a moment before returning to a more calm state. "Now, I want you to answer a question. Tell me, what is the thing I hate the most?"

Cinder froze. Salem could tell that she thought she had done something wrong before moving to other possibilities. Eventually, Cinder gave her answer. "... the gods?"

Salem pursed her lips together. She was correct, but that wasn't what she had been looking for. "Let me rephrase. When I'm planning, what do you think is the thing I hate the most?"

Cinder took half a minute before answering. "Is... is it incompetence?"

"You are incorrect." While incompetence was annoying and frustating, it was something that she could test on her subordinates at any time. "No, what a hate the most are wild cards. Events that, even though you have planned for centuries, you had no way of predicting them before they actually happened."

Cinder gave her a confused glance and said nothing else. Hmm, half-maiden Cinder may be, she still hadn't noticed? Disappointing. "You see, a few hours ago an... explosion of magic detonated near Vale. It was so great that its effects could be seen from the Grimmlands."

Salem could see Cinder's mind begin to work. While not as clever as some of her other subordinates - especially Arthur Watts - Cinder still demonstrated a great level of intelligence when she put her mind to it. Still, Salem felt the need to test her subordinate once again. "Tell me Cinder, who could have done this?"

"Only users of magic could be responsible. That means you, Ozma or a maiden was the culprit."

So... disappointing. "Wrong again." Salem took a small amount of delight at seeing Cinder's posture freeze. "When I mean who could have done it, I mean not only who had the ability to do it, but also who actually did it. For instance, while I could very well do said explosion of magic, I haven't been near Vale in centuries and I most certainly lack the motive for it. So, now, tell me. Who did it?"

"Um... it isn't you then. Not Ozma, he doesn't behave like that. It'd have to be a rogue maiden, then." Cinder nodded to herself. "Yes, the maiden might have been fighting a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses and was forced to utilise her magic."

Salem nodded, that was a much better response. "Plausible, but still not what happened. The only maiden near Vale that isn't under Ozma's control is the Spring Maiden, and she hasn't been spotted since she went rogue. Therefore, it's not her either."

Cinder frowned. "But... then there is no one that could have caused the explosion?"

Salem turned to Cinder. "Exactly."

It took a moment for Cinder to understand. "O-oh, I see... There is a magic user that is unaccounted for."

Salem nodded, pleased that Cinder had at least managed to deduce as much. It was this magic user - this wild card - that irritated her to no end. Not only should learning magic be impossible without Ozma's help, but they had also managed to avoid detection until now. Her plans had to change, but she didn't know by what degree. Was the hack on the CCTS still viable? Was the release of the Grimm and sabotage of the competition during the Vytal Festival as infallible now?

She shook those thoughts away. She could give it more thought later on, for now she had to give Cinder her new orders. "Since you now see the issue at hand, I believe I don't need to tell you to contact me through the designated Seer if you find the magic user at fault. I might also be forced to reconsider Watts' and Callows' current positions." Salem noticed the flinch in Cinder's posture at seeing her colleagues' names being mentioned. She was aware of Cinder's and the others' relationships, but she honestly did not care. She continued. "Futhermore, I want you to go ahead and take two wild Faunus and use them to infiltrate Beacon Academy, just like I taught you."

From one of the hallways a Seer came floating in. It carried a minuscule device in one of its tentacles. Salem extended a hand and the Seer placed the device on it. Cinder eyed the thing. "What is this?"

Salem smiled. "A magic device of my creation. It allows one to alter memories as needed. It's still untested, but I have confidence in that it'd work. Have it be implanted on the two Faunus you send in - make them have some memories of their families being held hostage or whatever you can come up with so that they'd work for you, I personally do not care."

Cinder nodded. "What purpose does infiltrating Beacon Academy serve us? I thought we could use Neo for these kinds of things."

Salem held back a sigh and tried to hide her disappointment. Cinder had much to learn still, she was just a young woman. "Infiltrating Beacon Academy is needed in order to spy on Ozma's action without relying on detectable Semblances. Whoever the magic user is, Ozma will be sure to investigate as soon as possible. By doing this, we can leech off his findings until we manage to secure our own methods of information gathering. Using two Faunus instead of a current asset like the woman Neo means that if the infiltrators get caught, nothing of value is lost. Futhermore, I have yet to see Neo with my own two eyes, and as such I question her loyalty to the cause - it seems to me that she's just listening to us because Roman Torchwick is, and nothing else. If something were to go wrong, we'd lose Neo in an instant."

Salem observed Cinder's expression carefully. The fact that the woman hadn't thought about these possibilities was another disappointment, but at least now she wouldn't make any careless mistakes. She dismissed Cinder shortly after that.

It had been a day since the magic blast, and news from Vale were scarce. She hadn't been expecting anything so soon, but the existence of the wild card alone served to unnerve her at times. After some pondering, she had decided to call for Watts and Callows to return from their respective missions. Watts as a support role, not only for the hacking operation of the CCTS but he'd also be an excellent man to hack into Beacon Academy's systems if needed. Callows on the other hand would make a fine assasin if the magic user turned out to be too problematic to keep around - unlikely that they'd actually pose a threat to her even with magic, but she'd be a fool not to account for the possibility regardless. Both men would reach her castle between today and tomorrow, and so Salem had to spend her time with something.

That something? Experimentation, of course. Sumerging her hand under the pools of Grimm she tried to create more intelligent Grimm, though her attempts were normally unsuccessful. She'd been thinking about adding a human mind to the mix, but to have said mind not die to the black goo was something she wasn't confident in achieving.

Looking up from the pool Salem observed the sky. While in the Grimmlands, the cycle of day and night was different than in the rest of Remnant - possibly some sort of side effect from the God of Darkness' pools. Either way, nights were longer and days shorter around here, and that meant that Salem often found herself wondering just how much time passed while she experimented. At some point she had decided to just follow her instincts and leave it at that, and her instincts were telling her that she should return for now.

She turned around, located her castle and proceeded to---

"Excuse my intrusion, but--"

Salem did not let the stranger say anything else, as she had already gathered a ball of fire in one of her hands. She pointed it at where the voice was probably coming from and, before she even saw the stranger with her eyes, shot a beam of magical fire towards them. Meanwhile, she gathered magical ice in her other hand, this one ready for a barrier in the event the stranger decided to retaliate.

As she instinctively moved into a combat position, Salem could only think about how she had found the culprit of the explosion of magic - or rather, how they had found her. She didn't know how they managed to evade all the Grimm around the Grimmlands - it should be impossible in the first place - but that only meant that this stranger was powerful. How they had achieved this level of power without either her or Ozma noticing was beyond her, but she couldn't think about that now.

Seeing that no response was coming from the cloud of smoke her beam had created, she preemptively constructed an ice barrier between herself and the opponent, while extending her other arm towards the pool of darkness. It was her greatest weapon, she knew. No matter how strong her enemy was they could not match the power of the Grimm.

"It looks like I'm not welcome here--"

The voice was coming from behind her, where her barrier did not cover. How was that possible? She had not noticed any movements within the cloud of smoke yet her opponent had managed to get behind her for a second time. Was this some sort of teleportation technique?

Regardless of what it was, Salem utilised the Grimm inside herself to call for Grimm creatures to her side. The fastest Grimm creatures would reach her current location in fifteen seconds while the ancient Grimm creature she had raised herself - the Monstra, she had called it - would manage to arrive in about two minutes.

Once the call was made, she turned around to face her opponent. For the first time, she was able to see what they actually looked like. They were a tall creature, clearly neither human nor Faunus, and they wore a long cloak around them. They had an aesthetic black and red going on that were both present on their skin and cloak, though the only noticeable exception was their mask, which was white.

Salem soon stored the information inside her brain and began to work with the black goo of the pools. She'd create a barrier of Grimm in front of her until reinforcements could arrive. Or she was planning to, since the stranger suddenly made a 'tch' sound that couldn't possibly be made with a human mouth and disappeared in a blast of red flames.

Salem spent the rest of the day scanning her immediate surroundings and later her Grimmlands as a whole for the stranger to no success.

It had been a day since the intruder had left and Salem had never felt more on guard. Both Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows had arrived since then, though she hadn't tell them anything yet. She had informed them of the explonsion of magic and the consequences of such explosion, and then ordered them to be on standby for immediate deployment on Vale.

As for Salem herself, she was going to make a net of Seers surrounding her castle so that yesterday's occurrence would never happen again.

At last, after a week of agonising waiting - and Salem tended to be a very patient individual, what the stranger had done to her was unforgivable - she had received a call from Cinder. She had called for both Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows so as to not have to repeat the same message to them. They were now all seated inside the meeting room in her castle, and the Seer on the large table was showing an image of Cinder somewhere within Vale.

Salem looked at Watts and then at Callows and then nodded. "We are all here, commence."

"Yes, Salem. Yesterday a video of Ozma giving a speech to Vale's council went viral, but I thought it simply a plot by him to distract the populace of Vale from the White Fang's activities. Today however, I stand corrected." Cinder fidgeted a bit, which was something Salem knew she usually didn't do. She prepared herself for whatever Cinder had to say. "A... new species' king has made his presence known to the world by visiting Vale. Just as we speak, he is giving a confidential speech to the council."

She'd have had a hard time believing that if not for the stranger's visit - they hadn't looked like anything she knew. It wasn't every day that a new species just appeared out of nowhere. In fact, as far as Salem knew, it had only happened once. Soon after her crusade had ended in failure, these Faunus had started popping up around Remnant. However, the Faunus at least did look human, while the stranger had been anything but human.

Salem looked at Callows, who just had a confused expression on, and then she turned her gaze to Watts just as the man raised his voice. "Bullshit! A new species with an established society would have been found ages ago, especially if it's that close to Vale as the rumours imply."

The rumours? Was he talking about Ozma's speech? He might have been aware of it and judged it to be fake too.

The annoyance from Cinder's tone was apparent. "Watts, shut up. They are literally showing the visit live on the television."

Salem did not stop the man from taking out his laptop from his suitcase and accessing Vale's net. As he did so, Salem turned her gaze to the Seer. "Continue."

Cinder nodded. "Yes, Salem. The Pale King - what he calls himself - claims to be the king of a kingdom by the name of Hallownest, a kingdom populated by 'bugs and beasts', as he says. He's a rather short creature of white carapace with a mask, though the most shocking thing about him is his Arua. It is huge and visible to the naked eye, which I thought it simply wasn't possible until now." Salem gritted her teeth, which made Cinder quick to continue. "But you have nothing to worry about Salem. We have tested the bug's powers with an illusion from Neo, and we have concluded that he can still be fooled by Semblances - he didn't even eye the illusion at all!"

Salem recalled her encounter with the stranger and that was simply the last straw. She rose up from her seat and slammed her fisrt against the table. "YOU IDIOT!"

She noticed that Cinder had grown scared while Callows at her left had grown excited. Watts had raised his head to look at what had happened but otherwise returned to his laptop a second later.

Salem directed her voice towards Cinder. "You have just outed our existence to an unknown king! We talked about this just last week!"

"B-but he was not able to see through the--!"

"Shut up, Cinder! You and I will talk after this - clearly you're too young to make decisions by yourself." She turned her head from Cinder - she did not want to look at her right now - and looked at Watts, expecting an answer.

Watts spoke up as he moved his laptop so that Salem could see the screen. "I've verified it, Salem. I'm afraid that the news are legit."

On the screen stood three figures that most definitely weren't human nor Faunus while they travelled through the streets of Vale. One of them was as Cinder had described, and he was clearly the monarch of the three. He just had that aura around him - both metaphorically and literally, since Salem could see the aura even though it was a photo and not the real thing. Next to the king stood a warrior - it was obviously a warrior, Salem had seen enough of them to recognise the posture and constant vigilance that the creature was doing even though they were an entirely alien species. However, the Salem's eyes landed on the third figure. Another warrior, though something about them unsettled her to no end.

"Watts, show me a video of the black creature. It doesn't matter what they are doing in the video, just be fast."

Watts nodded and began to work. In a few seconds she had her video. The black creature was walking in a robotic manner, and it was obvious to Salem's eyes that the thing had been created. That plus the black substance it was composed of led to a very worrisome conclusion.

"Cinder, what can you tell me about the black creature?"

"Y-yes, Salem. They are the heir to the throne of Hallownest and are mute."

"Did it have an aura?"

"I... I don't know. Though Neo should have been able to see the creature's Aura with her illusion, I'll ask her!"

Even though she said that last part as if she was going to do it, Cinder did not move - clearly waiting for Salem's approval. "Do so."

While Cinder went to ask Neo about the creature's aura, Salem turned to Watts. "Watts, you will be taking over this operation for the foreseeable future. When the time comes, I'll trust your judgement on whether the hacking of the CCTS tower is doable or not."

Arthur Watts nodded. "A wise decision, Salem."

She then turned to Callows, who was grinning like the mad man that he was. "You'll be sent to Vale as a precaussion for the time being. Be prepared to be called if we need someone dead."

"Yes, yes! Thank you, my mistress!"

Finally, Cinder returned to the Seer's screen and Salem directed her gaze towards Cinder's scared expression. "Salem, Neo told me that she didn't find anything within the creature, not even an Aura. She also said that it might be a robot like those in Atlas."

That was what Salem had been afraid of, and it had come true.

"Everyone, leave this room."

They did not ask questions and they all promptly left the room - including the Seer. A second later, she charged a magical blast inside herself and shouted "FUCK!" before blowing her own head off.

As the process of immortality began to repair her body, Salem couldn't think about anything else but the fact that another creature had been able to make use of the pools of darkness without a connection to them. Not only that, but he had also managed to do it better than her - the Grimm that followed him was very well trained and educated, unlike her own Grimm, who she could barely contain from attacking her own subordinates at times. The only advantage that she held over the Pale King was the fact that her Grimm were more powerful, there was simply no concievable way to create something like her Monstra through study alone.

Still, she held no doubts that if this king has been able to create Grimm just like her, then bringing said Grimm in his first visit was very much a message to her. What kind of message she wasn't sure, but he clearly wanted her to know that he also had the ability to create Grimm. Then there was the fact that he supposedly had a visible Aura, which was something that indicated just how powerful he was.

Salem desperately needed to infiltrate Hallownest's high society in order to spy on the king. Except that no, because if the king was a magic user then his powers could be a match for hers, and that meant that he could gaze into the Souls of anyone she sent. There was also the fact that she only had human subordinates, who would most definitely stand out in a bug kingdom.

No, she needed to make contact with the Pale King in some other way. But how?

Chapter Text

Exchange II

Monomon's PoV:

"And here we enter the Archives, a place of study and research." Monomon introduced the Archives to the humans, who followed closely behind her. Every one of them, including the warriors, seemed impressed by the place.

Her students had also noticed the humans' entry, though having informed them of their arrival beforehand made it so that no one was shocked by them. Impressed and curious, on the other hand, definitely yes. Monomon floated to a small table at one side and addressed the humans. "I'm sure you have many questions, so let's take a seat and chat for a while. There is much I have to show you in the Archives."

The humans followed behind her and they took their seats. Monomon, being a floating jellyfish, simply stood at on side of the table. Bartholomew kept turning pages in his notebook until he found something to ask about. "A question, Madam Monomon, if you will?" She nodded and the man continued. "You mentioned earlier that the jellyfish were of your creation, but you didn't specify what use they served. What are they for?"

Monomon raised all her tentacles and pointed at the numerous tubes that the Archives had. "Look around you, Professor. These tubes you see come from the Uoma and Ooma we encountered."

One of the warriors made a confused gesture. "And why would you want to make so many tubes?"

Monomon looked at the warrior and chuckled. "These, human, are Hallownest's most advanced data storage systems. If I recall correctly, your kind use nets and computers to store and share data, right?" The human nodded at her question. "Then this would be the bugs' equivalent."

Bartholomew's eyes went wide. "Fascinating. How much data could be stored in tubes of acid? What is the acid even made of?" As he spoke the questions aloud, Monomon noticed him writing possible answers - and some of them were even close to the actual truth, what a brilliant man this was!

Nevertheless... "I'm afraid Professor Oobleck that is classified information."

"My apologies, Monomon. It seems like curiousity got the better of me."

She waved a tentacle in the air. "It's not an issue. Perhaps, in the future, I'll be able to share my research with other great minds like yourself."

"Madam Monomon, you flatter me." The man smiled as he shook his head.

A few more questions followed after that, mainly from Bartholomew. The warriors seemed content with just watching the students going around or the tubes and their indecipherable words - indecipherable to them, she and her students could easily understand the content inside the acid. After the questions, Monomon proposed their next destination.

"Professor, seeing as you are a famous researcher back in Vale, I'd like to formally request your help with a new project I've gotten myself involved with."

Bartholomew raised his head from his notebook to her while the warriors' expression changed to suspicion. Had they been ordered not to share anything from Vale? Perhaps, but Monomon's attention was in Bartholomew for now. "Of course I'd be glad to help. What is it about?"

"It is about Grimm, Hallownest has been able to capture its first specimen and I'd like to study it in depth."

Bartholomew smiled. "Then you are in luck! I happen to be an expert in Grimm, and I've managed to crack most of their misteries during my studies."

"Excellent! Please, follow me."

The warriors seemed like they wanted to say something as well, but they didn't get the time as Bartholomew rose from his seat and followed behind her. They ended up following behind the two of them silently.

"Ah, I see." Bartholomew said as Monomon showed him the Puppet. "That'd be known as a Beowolf. Notice the black fur on its back?"

Monomon took out a tank from a shelf and inserted one of her tentacles inside. By moving her tentacle in specific paths, she could store the information from the Professor. "I see, what does this one do?"

Bartholomew shrugged. "Mostly lunges, strikes with its claws or bites. Not very clever in the battlefield, but can grow up to become a fierce enemy."

Monomon blinked. Grow up? "What do you mean by growing up? Do the Grimm become taller with time?"

As far as she knew, the vessels created by the Pale King didn't grow up - the Hollow Knight excluded -, and the Black Puppets seemed to share most of the characteristics Void creatures had, so why...?

"They don't particularly get bigger, but they rather evolve. One thing they always do when evolving however, is the fact that they become more intelligent and less suicidal. They start to make strategies and be patient for the correct moment to strike. Do not make a mistake by assuming that they are capable of reason however, as they will regardless of evolution always hold a hate towards humanity and Faunus-kind that is never forgotten." Bartholomew raised a finger to his chin. "And I assume that hate is also shared against bug-kind?"

Monomon recalled the reports that Lurien had mentioned about Puppets trying to stop the creation of the pits and nodded. "Yes, they have attacked us from time to time."

"Hmm... and I assume the pit that surrounds the mountain is a defencive mechanism?"

"You'd be correct. It was finished a few days ago." Monomon left the tank back on the shelf and took out another one.

"While the pit will allow you some protection for now, I'd warn you about over-relying on it. Grimm do evolve with time and they might learn to get around it."

Monomon nodded. "Thank you, I'll inform the White Lady once the exchange finishes."

One of the warriors - had they been there the whole time? - raised their voice. "White Lady? Didn't the king mention her?"

Monomon looked at the warrior and shrugged. "I don't know, I wasn't there. Though his majesty might have mentioned her, as she is Hallownest's queen."

"Excuse me Madam Monomon." Bartholomew addressed her. "Is white a royal colour in your culture? The Pale King was also extremily white."

"It is, though its connection comes from a term we have to refer to a specific kind of god. These gods are known as Pale Beings, and both the Pale King and the White Lady fall into that category."

The Professor's eyes widened. "You see your monarchs as gods?"

Monomon tilted her head. "You don't?"

To her surprise, one of the warriors was the one to answer her. "No, we haven't been ruled by kings in like... centuries? They were gone even before the Great War."

Monomon frowned. She knew the humans were ruled by councils and the like, but... "Yet, you call Vale and the other nations 'kingdoms'."

Bartholomew answered her. "Simply a remnant of the past. They are not actually kingdoms."

Monomon personally couldn't care less what the humans called their nations, the reason why she was asking was because Troupe Master Grimm had always specified 'kingdom'. It would be like him to put out a 'technicality' and say that Vale or the others weren't actual kingdoms. Of course, in that case Hallownest had been doomed from the start, but it was something to note.

Monomon mentally shook her head. Why was she thinking about this? Grimm's only desire was for nightmare fuel, and that could be obtained whether the nation they were attacking was a kingdom, a republic or a hive mind. She was definitely overthinking all of this.

She turned to Bartholomew and asked him a few more questions on Black Puppets before moving on.

The Pale King's PoV:

The lift reached its destionation at the very top of Beacon Academy and the Pale King was able to see the other Higher Being's office. It was just a normal office, except for the giant window that showed the front of the academy. But apart from that? Nothing that looked like a trap - the place was barely protected by any spells.

Professor Port had insisted that he'd keep watch over the students and as such now there were only five people in the room. The Headmaster took his seat behind the desk and the Pale King did the same at the front. Glynda Goodwitch, Fierce Dryya and the Hollow Knight all opted to stay standing.

"Before we start, I'd like to warn you that what I'm going to talk about is very classified information, your majesty. If any of your subjects present doesn't have the clearance to hear these things..."

"No need." The Pale King cut short Ozpin's words. He wasn't aware that this meeting would be of such importance, he had first anticipated the typical list of rules to follow when addressing Vale's council. Knowing this was another Higher Being in front of him however, he should have seen it coming even without the usage of his foresight. "We trust them both to keep any secrets you share with us. Please continue."

Headmaster Ozpin nodded and crossed both of his arms over the desk. "Pale King, I'll be honest with you, I've been hiding my true intentions this whole time."

The Pale King nodded. He now had an idea of where this conversation was going... "Is this about your true nature?"

To his mild surprise, Ozpin was not taken aback by his statement. "I see. I assume it was your Soul-eye that outed me?"

It wasn't, it had been Ze'mer's report, but of course he wouldn't be telling him that. "Indeed. We grew curious when you started reacting to our foresight."

Ozpin was, however, taken aback by that statement. "Foresight?"

The Pale King nodded again. "Indeed. We hold the ability to gaze into the future."

"My king," Dryya rapidly spoke from his left. "Are you sure you should be telling foreigners about state secrets?"

"Great Knight Dryya, there is nothing to fear." The Pale King turned his gaze from her back to Ozpin. "Headmaster Ozpin just wants to secure our help, is that correct?"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Was that from your foresight or simple deduction?"

"Deduction. Though if we use our prescience..." He opened it and gazed into Ozpin's future before closing it quickly. To Ozpin's credit, he didn't react to its appearance. "... then we are able to determine that you want to ask our help in the fight against the mastermind behind the Grimm. Isn't that the case?"

Professor Goodwitch, who had been silent all this time, spoke up. "So it is true. You can gaze into the future. Is this a technique only you wield or are there others that also have it?"

The Pale King turned to address the human woman and thought whether or not to lie. Though, seeing as there weren't any Wyrms in Remnant, he opted to tell the truth. "It is a trait that all Wyrms like myself have. Though I am the only one of my kind still alive."

Ozpin made a surprised expression. "A race of future seeing creatures went extinct? How?"

The Pale King could not help but chuckle at the other Higher Being's tone. "Trust us Headmaster Ozpin when we say that your world has it easy."

To his surprise, Ozpin's expression became sour. "That... is not entirely true, I'm afraid. You see, there is a reason why this planet is known as Remnant. It is a name Salem and I gave it, though it was first suggested by one of the gods that settled this place - so much time has passed that I can't even remember which one of the two said it."

Oh? There seemed to be a story there. The Pale King stood silent so that Ozpin could continue, and continue he did. "Millennia ago, the human race was created by the gods of light and darkness. These two gods often clashed, but they eventually managed to reach a compromise between the two. At some point however, a woman by the name of Salem saught to make a request to the god of light - by far the more popular of the two - that he resurrect her dead lover, Ozma."

Ozpin let out a long sigh before continuing. "The god of light denied her request - I don't know what his reasoning was, as I wasn't exactly alive when it happened - and then the woman saught the help of the god of darkness. This god, in contrast to his brother, did accept the request. As such, Ozma returned to life, only to be killed immediately after by the god of light. After another conflict between the brothers, the god of light's arguments made the god of darkness realise his mistake and he quickly apologised. At the end, the god of darkness made sure that Ozma would remain dead while the god of light decided to punish Salem forever. The punishment, funny enough, was immortality."

Immortality? As a punishment? The Pale King wanted to snort. Gods these may be, but their judgement on what constituted as a punishment was way off. His mind came up with a minimun of three other and more appropiate punishments for this Salem in the span of a few seconds.

Ozma, oblivious to the Pale King's thoughts, continued. "Salem, as vengeance, decided to spend her immortality gathering all the humans of the planet with a singular goal: slay the gods and steal their power. By demonstrating her own immortality, the kings and queens she met with fell for her tales and eventually an international army was assembled. Needless to say, they all died. The gods got fed up with the humans they themselves created and decided to abandon them - not that they existed by that point, since only Salem had remained. Now that she had failed however, Salem looked into ways to kill herself."

Ozpin adjusted his glasses. "She, obviously, found none. Salem tried everything she could think of, including dying by Grimm. Grimm were the creations of the god of darkness, they spawned from the black pools of darkness that he left behind in the world."

The Pale King internally shuddered. A god of Void? That was not someone he wanted to meet.

"She became something else. Not entirely human, but also not quite Grimm. Meanwhile, the god of light pondered on the experiment that was humanity, eventually recalling the man that Salem had loved - Ozma. He resurrected the man, though he gave him a mission. He was to find the four relics and put them together in order to summon the gods back on the planet. If he did so while humanity was united, then the gods would settle back on Remnant and return to give the humans the wishes they desired. If, however, the humans remained divided, they'd send the planet into oblivion and forget it ever existed."

The Pale King pondered on both options. He, obviously, did not want to fight two gods with the goal of destroying the world. However, he also wasn't particularly keen on letting a god of Void stay in the same world as him or Hallownest. In conclusion, both outcomes were undesirable. The Pale King would have to make sure these relics were never collected by anyone.

He raised his head to look at Ozpin in the eyes. "Considering the fact that you mentioned that the god of light gave Ozma a mission, you'd either have to have heard such a thing from this Ozma, or... be Ozma yourself."

Ozpin nodded. "Indeed, I am Ozma in the story. Both Salem and I are fighting a war behind the shadows, one in which Salem is trying to obtain the four relics and summon the gods so that they destroy everything - including Salem herself - and I am trying to make humanity stand united before accessing the relics that I have stored and summon the gods back on Remnant."

Both sides of this conflict were harmful to Hallownest's interests. Though Salem wanted to bring the human kingdoms to ruin just like he did, she also had plans for ending all life on the planet, which was obviously against his best interests. Then there was Ozpin, who wanted a united humanity, something that the Pale King most definitely needed to avoid. If he had to go to war against the humans, then they had to be as decentralised as possible.

Hmmm... what a dilemma.

"We see. And you wish for us to aid you in creating this human front?"

Ozpin nodded. "That is the idea. Considering the alternative - Salem's victory - then I saw no reason for why you'd simply refuse such an alliance. All major leaders of the human kingdoms are already aware of this story, after all."

The flaw on his logic was that Ozpin didn't know about the Pale King's own contract with the Troupe Master Grimm. If it weren't for that detail, Ozpin's plan to make the Pale King part of his inner circle would have resulted in success. The Pale King now needed to take advantage of this oversight.

"Before we accept - because, as you say, we do have no other choice but to accept - we want to have some sort of guarantee that your tales are the truth."

Ozpin shrugged. "Normally I'd show someone actual magic, but considering the fact that your majesty can simply enter someone's mind with just a strike, then I believe we have other ways." Ozpin adjusted his glasses. "Back when magic was widespread, memory reading was a technique that was often banned. However, I managed to study its effects and limitations. If I recall correctly - it was such a long time ago - a single glance into one's mind would show their most superficial thoughts, correct?"

He nodded. "Indeed. If we were to make a single strike then only the thoughts of the mind would reveal themselves to us."

"Then I invite you, your majesty, to strike my mind." Ozpin learned forwards in his seat.

The Wyrm nodded. "That is acceptable." He gathered some Essence on his hand and raised it. "This will not hurt in the slightest." The Pale King then proceeded to immediately strike Ozpin's mind with the Essence-infused claw.

It was true. It was all true. Of course, some details had been omitted as they weren't relevant - the four maidens and their role, for instance - but it was the truth. Still...

"We want some sort of insurance, however. Once this human front is formed, who is to guarantee that they wouldn't threaten Hallownest?" The Pale King asked as he sat back down on his seat.

Ozpin returned to his seat as well. "My plans are to reduce the discrimination among the human nations, as the Faunus are key in the united front against Salem as well. Eventually, even their hatred towards bugs would disappear. Besides, we would be the ones influencing this front from the shadows, and we have much time to work with. Since the first time I saw your majesty I had thought you to be immortal, is that not the case?"

"It is, my kind are immortal." The Pale King rose a finger to his chin. "We'll make use of our foresight for a moment."

He saw the headmaster nod and the Pale King aimed his prescience on himself. How could he fool the man into... ah, perfect. The Pale King nodded. "Very well, as a token of gratitude we will give you this information." He saw Ozpin raise an eyebrow while the Pale King cleared his throat. "We personally knew the god of darkness from back in our world, though we had little contact between us both."

He noticed Ozpin's eyes widen in surprise and Professor Goodwitch - who the Pale King had ignored during this meeting - made a sound of incredulity. He continued. "You see, the Hollow Knight here resembles the Grimm you know not because it is coincidence, but because they both are born from the pools of darkness that the god leaves behind."

The Hollow Knight looked at the Pale King with that neutral expression of theirs, and he couldn't help but be curious about what they were thinking. They obviously knew that he was lying, but it'd nonetheless give the Pale King a bit more of insight on his vessel's thought process. "Same thing goes for the Kingsmould you saw back at the White Palace. It is not that they are robotic, instead they are made from that darkness you are familiar with."

"And you can use that darkness? Could you, say, control a Grimm?" Ozpin quickly asked, not having expected the Pale King's words.

The Pale King shook his head. "You misunderstand, Headmaster Ozpin. It is not that we control the darkness like Salem does, but what we do is infuse our will into moulds animated by Soul, thus creating what we call Puppets."

Ozpin laid back on his chair and crossed his arms in thought. "Never would I have believed such a thing, but here we are. I assume your kingdom also has these pools of darkness?"

The Pale King nodded. "Indeed it does. For obvious reasons however, they are not public knowledge."

The Wyrm let himself mentally smile. This meeting had been much more beneficial than he had initially thought.

Tohsa's PoV:

He and his group of followers had managed it. They had found a cave shortly after leaving Hallownest and decided to claim it for their own, though they hadn't expected the black creatures inside, nor the structure already built in them. Clearly, there were mining operations inside of this cave, similar to what Hallownest did in the Crystal Peak. The minerals they mined where even familiar to the former Mantis Lord, though he had never used Hallownest's crystals before, only seen them.

Regardless of the crystals, there was something clear in his mind. Someone had claimed this mine for their operations and that someone was clearly not one of the black creatures - those were filled with rage even as they died. Meaning, there was an intelligent species already living in this new world they had found themselves in. Thankfully for Tohsa, he was an expert when it came to sustaining a constant war against a neighbouring kingdom - endless assaults from Deepnest came to his mind, and none of them succeeded.

Still, he looked behind him and saw the no small amount of mantis bodies dropped dead on the floor. He would be the first to admit that these black creatures... they were tough. Even though they held no honour, they still fought as a trained mantis. Hopefully, now that they were all dead, they would leave them alone to settle in these caves.

Tohsa returned to what he had been doing before, and that was inspecting the corpse of a black creature. For some reason he couldn't understand, it was turning to smoke? He had never seen such a thing before, so it caught his attention. Regretably, that meant these bodies couldn't be eaten. Instead, they'd have to hunt for food when night fell and their enhanced vision would be most beneficial.

He continued staring at the smoke as he pondered on what to do next.