Chapter 2 (Note: I’ve made some major revisions to the first chapter.)​

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The question had barely left my mouth when I saw one of those wolf Alters in the corner of my eye coming right at me. It was so close that if I hadn’t inherited enhanced reflexes from a werewolf, I wouldn’t have been able to dodge to the side in time. I pulled my staff out of its canister and swung for the wolf, knocking it aside. It got up and snarled, then leapt in my direction. The pointed black ends of my staff turned blue to signify the buildup of my staff’s kinetic charge. When the wolf got close, I released the kinetic energy, making the wolf explode.I gave a gasp at the wonderful feeling of pleasure that Heretics always felt when killing an Alter. My golden aura glew brightly and I took the moment to wonder what power I inherited from the Alter.I recovered from my pleasure just in time to see another Alter flying at me. This one looked like some sort of griffin. I opened the compartment of my staff that was linked to the sand canister. Sand flew out of the staff and into the griffin's face. Except the sand didn’t do anything. The griffin kept coming after me. It opened its mouth as though to swallow me whole. I leapt backwards and landed on my back hard. The griffin came down on me again, so I responded by hitting it as hard as I could with my staff. I was already up as it fell on its side. I swung at it again, releasing what was remaining of my staff’s kinetic charge.Through the pleasure the took me, I noticed that the corpse was turning into smoke. What was up with that?An explosion in the distance took my attention then, and I looked that way to realize the airship had crashed. What was going on there? Actually, what was going on in general around here? Why were there so many Alters, why were the Pooka looking people attacking innocent people, and what was up with all the robots? I wished I had my robot mice, Jaq and Gus with me. They would have made fighting all these things much easier.I could have gone in any direction and found a fight where I was needed, but the dragon was flying toward the giant tower. There had to be something important there, so that’s where I ran.“Hey!” I spun around at the voice. There was one of those masked Pooka like people. He was holding a knife and coming at me.I realized in that moment how unintimidating I must have looked. My blond hair was in a disheveled ponytail, and I was wearing a red tank top and gray shorts. If I hadn’t been holding my staff, I probably wouldn’t even look like a threat to this guy.My Stranger sense was still not registering these guys as Alters. Yet clearly they weren’t human, since they had the animal parts. I wasn’t like most Heretics who thought that anything not human was evil and had to be killed. While most Heretics called anything non-human a Stranger, I used the term non-humans used, Alter (although that term included Heretics). I protected Alters who needed protection. Hell, I was friends with a vampire. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to stop Alters when they were doing evil things. So I didn’t hesitate when I swung my staff at the Alter’s hand, making him drop the knife and cry out in pain.“We don’t have to fight!" I said. "Why are you attacking these people?”“Shut up, bitch,” the Alter said. He was radiating frustration and anger. Wait . . . I could feel his frustration and anger. Was that the new ability I inherited from one of the Alters? I tried to see if I could feel any other emotions, but it was clearly a close ranged ability, since I could only feel the terror of the people running by when they got close.The Alter tried to go for his knife, but my enhanced reflexes kicked in and I hit him in the head with my staff before I could do anything. He fell unconscious, so I left him there. I wasn’t afraid to kill Alters when I had to, but that didn’t mean I was going to unnecessarily kill when I didn’t understand the situation. I wouldn’t hold back, but I also wouldn’t kill a disabled opponent.I continued my sprint toward the tower, fighting Alters and robots along the way. Run. Duck. Spin around. Strike. Block. Keep running. Disable a robot. Knock an Alter down. I had no idea how long this kept going on for, but I didn’t run into any more of the red-eyed Alters along the way. Eventually, I made it to the tower just in time to see . . . not what I was expecting.A gorgeous red-haired girl with a spear and shield on her back pulled herself into a kiss with a blonde boy who was wearing a hoodie, jeans, and armor pads. Meanwhile, I just stood there awkwardly. I mean, I understood that emotions were high (this girl in particular was full of guilt according to my new power), but was this really the time?I was just close enough to hear the girl say, “I’m sorry.” With that, she pushed the boy into a locker.“Hey!” the boy shouted. “W-wait! Stop Stop!” Even as the girl walked over to the locker and typed something into the pad, the boy kept going. “Pyrrha, please don’t do this!” Sensing the anguish coming off of the boy, I took a step forward to intervene, but before I could do anything, the girl, Pyrrha took a step back and the locker flew into the air. I stared wide eyed as it flew further and further away, taking the boy with it.It wasn’t until the girl turned around that she saw me. She stared at me in shock for a moment before opening her mouth to speak. Before she could say anything, however, I spoke first.“What. The hell. Is going on?” I demanded. “Why did you do that?”She shook her head. “I had to.”“I highly doubt that,” I said flatly.“But I did!” she yelled. “I couldn’t let Jaune get hurt.”“Hurt from what?” I asked. “There’s no Strangers around here except for that giant dragon, and I’m pretty sure that thing could hurt anyone if it wanted to.”Pyrrha frowned. “Strangers?”“Strangers,” I said. “Alters. You know, the creatures trying to kill us? Or those masked Pooka looking people?”If anything, her frown deepened. “You mean the Grimm and the White Fang?”I had never learned of any Alters called Grimm, but I also never saw any Alters like the ones I was seeing. I had no idea what the White Fang was, but I nodded anyways. “Yeah, that. Why would you send him away to ‘protect him’ when just getting the hell away from here together would have been safer for both of you?”“Because I’m not running,” she said, looking toward the tower.“There’s something else in there, isn’t there?” I asked.“Someone,” she corrected. “Someone powerful. Jaune wouldn’t have let me fight her alone.” She took a step that way.I intercepted her. “Well no shit. Why would you go to fight someone powerful on your own?”“I have to,” she said. “I—”“No,” I said. “You don’t have to fight anyone on your own, and to go in on your own is stupid. First off, why do you have to fight this person?”“She’s the reason this is happening!” Pyrrha shouted. “She made me kill Penny! She killed Amber! She stole the Maiden power!” Her mouth clamped shut when she realized what she was saying.“I have no idea what you are talking about,” I admitted. “But if she really did all that, then you shouldn’t fight her alone.”“It’s more complicated than that—”“I don’t care,” I said. “And unless you want to give this woman more time to get away, stop arguing. I’ve fought zombie hoards, mind controlling kids, werewolves, powerful Heretics, and a bunch of other things.”She looked at me like I was crazy. I would say she was a Bystander, but clearly she knew about the Alters here. Maybe this planet just had different Alters than the ones I was used to?“The point is,” I said. “I can handle myself in a fight. And there’s no locker for you to shove me into. I’m not running away, so either let me go in with you, or we go in separately.”She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she nodded. “Alright,” she said. “Let’s go.”“Just let me grab one thing first,” I said. I ran to one of the nearby benches and tore off some of the wood. Then, I ran back to Pyrrha, who looked more confused than ever. “Now I’m ready,” I said.Together, we ran into the tower and toward a broken elevator. When she ran into the elevator, I frowned but still followed her.“Uhhh, Pyrrha?” I said. “This elevator is broken. How are you planning on—”She clenched her fists and the elevator began shaking. I clutched onto one of the rails, distinctly noticing the giant hole in the center of the elevator.“Pyrrha? What are you do” my question turned into a yell when the elevator launched itself upwards.Cinder smiled at the giant dragon in front of her. “Shhhh,” she said. “This is your home now.”Finally, after months of planning, her plan was a success. She had the full powers of the Fall Maiden, and Beacon had fallen. Cinder backed up a few steps and ignited a fire in her hand. It felt so good to finally have the full power. Before, there was an emptiness, like hunger. Now, there was a satisfying pleasure. This power was hers and hers alone to control.She spun around, extinguishing the fire, when she heard a screeching from the elevator. The door opened, and a spear and shield flew out. She easily leaned to the side to dodge the spear. The girl Pyrrha was riding the shield, which Cinder caught with her hands. Cinder pushed Pyrrha back. As the elevator doors were closing, Pyrrha used her polarity to catch the spear and shield. Cinder began her barrage of flames. Pyrrha dodged the first two fire beams, but had to block the third with her shield. She pushed herself forward and swung her spear at Cinder.Too easy. Cinder caught the spear and sent Pyrrha flying against the wall. Even as Pyrrha was standing, Cinder pushed her back into the wall. Pyrrha caught herself on her feet and flipped behind Cinder, throwing her to the ground. Cinder went with the fall, back-flipping before standing. She had just stood when Pyrrha charged at her, hitting her with her spear twice. Cinder parried the third swing, causing Pyrrha to launch backwards into the air. Pyrrha threw her spear and shield down. Both were effortlessly deflected, but Pyrrha hadn’t been trying to hit her with them. Pyrrha threw herself at Cinder, using her polarity to grab the spear and hold it to Cinder’s neck. Cinder clung to the spear and tried to push it away.Cinder just had to wait for the right moment. Smiling at the look of confusion on Pyrrha's face, she snapped the spear into pieces just as the Grimm Dragon flew into the building. Cinder launched Pyrrha into the wall, or at least what was left of it as the top of the building blew open, exposing them to the air.Pyrrha launched one of the broken gears of the tower at Cinder. Cinder blew the gear off of her and launched three fireballs at Pyrrha. She dodged all three, then threw her shield at Cinder. The same tactic as before. Pa...thetic?The gears were all closing in around her. Before Cinder could react, Pyrrha tripped her with her shield, then crushed her with one of the gears. Cinder only just managed to blow the gears away before they all closed in around her. One of them hit Pyrrha, and Cinder smiled to see that it depleted her aura.Cinder prepared her bow to finish off Pyrrha. She was expecting Pyrrha to throw her shield in an attempt to block the arrow, which would have gone around the shield with ease. Instead, Pyrrha was holding . . . a piece of wood? Cinder was even more confused when Pyrrha threw the wood at her feet. What had she been expecting that to do?It wasn’t until a girl popped out of the wood that Cinder realized she had been tricked.I didn’t give this woman any time to react. Pyrrha had told me she was powerful, so I had figured a surprise attack was the best way to win. My staff was already full on its kinetic charge, and I released it all at her face, causing her to fly off the building.It would have been nice if that ended the fight, but the woman wasShe threw a beam of fire at me that I had to throw myself to the side to avoid it. I rolled with the fall to avoid the second fire beam she shot. I converted my staff into its bow form and shot a kinetic arrow at her. No surprise, she dodged easily. She threw three whole fireballs at me. This time, I didn’t dodge. I used my energy absorption power to absorb all three fireballs.Unfortunately, the woman wasn’t dumb enough to launch more fire at me after that. But since she wasn’t using her fire, I could send sand toward her without her burning it. I did just that. The area around her exploded, sending the sand flying in all direction. I used my sand-controlling ability to keep it from getting near me.I had to get close to her. I ran forward even as she shot an arrow at me. With the kinetic charge I had begun rebuilding in my staff, I launched the arrow away from me. Once I was close, I flung sand from my staff at her again. This time she just used her arm to block the sand. She then flew my way and pinned me to the ground. But even with her strength, the strength I got from that werewolf was stronger. I pushed her off of my just in time for Pyrrha to throw her spear. The spear cut into the woman, but even then, Pyrrha kept attacking. She must have inherited a magnetism ability at some point, because when she threw her shield it directly hit the woman.I saw the anger in the woman’s glowing amber eyes. It was divided between me and Pyrrha. Ultimately, she decided Pyrrha was the easier target since she had been fighting for longer. She sent a blast of fire Pyrrha’s way. The girl barely dodged in time.I wasn’t about to let Pyrrha get hurt. With a cry, I charged toward the woman and hit her with my staff. That wasn’t enough to keep her down, because the area around her exploded again. I didn't even have time to absorb the energy. The blast sent me flying back to the groundOw. That really hurt. I was pretty sure a large portion of my skin had been burnt off from the explosion. The peridle healing was already taking effect, but it wasn’t going to be enough. Pyrrha and I were both badly hurt, and while this woman took many hits herself, she was still more powerful.At that moment, a red blur flung to the top of the tower and hit the ground with a thud. It was a girl with black hair, silver eyes, a red cape, and a red and black dress. Seeing the terrible situation we were in, the girl pulled out a mechanical gun and did something that turned it into a scythe. The fact that I saw that without even blinking spoke miles about how crazy the last few months of my life had been.The girl yelled and threw herself at the woman. She swung her scythe but was easily parried. I refused to let her fight alone, so I turned my staff back into a bow and sent an arrow flying. Pyrrha, meanwhile, fired bullets out of her spear.The girl changed tactics at the same time and began shooting the woman with her scythe. Together, the three of us started to barrage the woman with ranged attacks. The woman was dodging and blocking them just fine at first, but I noticed her exhaustion was getting to her. She wasn’t able to dodge every hit, and now that the fight was three against one, her attention was too divided.Pyrrha pulled one of the gears from the wall and smacked it into the woman's head. A red, crinkling aura surrounded her.I shrugged off the question and forced myself to stand. The burns were already healed to the point where I could push them to the back of my mind. I ran toward the woman at the same time as the girl. The woman deflected both our swings, but I wasn’t planning on hitting her. I snapped my fingers three times, causing a silver knife to pop out of the watch I was wearing. I released the kinetic energy I had absorbed earlier. When it hit the woman, she hit the ground hard. I flung myself on top of her and stabbed the knife deep into her throat. She let out a gurgled scream that reminded me too much of Doxer.She glared at me, her eyes filled with enough fire to melt the tower we were on. Slowly, that glow diminished, until all the light left her eyes.After that, I gasped as I experienced the greatest pleasure I had ever felt. It was at least double the pleasure I had felt from Doxer. My golden aura brightened the entire tower, visible to the people below. I fell to my knees and couldn’t stop myself from moaning.When that faded, I felt what I could only describe as a fullness. I pulled on the heat I felt from my hands, and a fire surrounded both of them. I looked over at Pyrrha and the other girl, who were both staring at me with wide eyes.“Oh my god,” Pyrrha said. “You’re the new Fall Maiden."