Chapter 20: All Ends Are Beginnings

Yang's Perspective

Vzaldam Boilery: Haze

Steam poured out of the door the Dragonborn just opened and I instinctively grabbed Ruby's arm so we wouldn't get separated. However, my hand slowly slipped off when the steam clung to the floor; swirling and churning as objects moved through it, but always staying on the floor. The Dragonborn thrust himself through the doorway and into the steam filled hallway with an unknown number of automatons.

The pathway lazily turned right. The steam that filled the hallway had now stuck to the floor because of the open door behind us. The low amounts of steam revealed a lack of automatons in the path, and also a lack of loot for the Dragonborn. As the path neared its end, we were greeted by a heavily rusted door. Pyrrha and I gave it a solid push, but were rebuffed. "Stand aside." the Dragonborn commanded. We backed up. The Dragonborn took a deep breath and then called upon the words of the dragons to open the door. "Fus… Ro Dah!" The Thu'um rushed towards the door and struck it clean.

But it didn't open.

"What in Talos' name?" The Dragonborn asked, inspecting the door.

"How do we get it open now?" I asked.

"...I have an idea." Ruby said quietly.

"Speak your mind, little one." The Dragonborn prompted.

"Do you have any way of traveling super fast, Dragonborn?" Ruby asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do." He replied, raising an eyebrow out of curiousness.

"Ok. Here's the plan: I will use my super speed on you to get you moving fast, then you use yours and hit the door." Ruby said.

"This seems very dangerous and rather lacking in thought." The Dragonborn said. Ruby was crestfallen. "...So give me a second to prepare." The Dragonborn finished, causing Ruby to light up.

Once the Dragonborn was ready, Ruby tried, and failed, to hold the Dragonborn. She used her speed and then we heard "Wuld… Nah Kest!" ring out and there was a rush of air and loud clang. Then there was a slight creaking noise and the door opened slowly.

"Come here, little one." The Dragonborn said to Ruby whilst we were celebrating. He gave her a short hug and pat on the head. "That was a brilliant plan." Ruby smiled brightly.

"Thanks, Dragonborn!" She said cheerily.

"Don't go making any moves on my sister, now." I joked.

"I'm married, remember?" The Dragonborn replied in his usual monotone manner.

"...I was kidding." I mutter and the Dragonborn doesn't hear.

Through the open door I saw burst pipes hanging from the ceiling like slumped over corpses. Jagged edges showed the burst areas like the steep crevasses of a mountain range. Steam slowly poured from the ruptures; a slow-motion waterfall emptying into the cold stone room. The steam in this room was much thicker than that of the last one. So thick in fact, that I was unable to see much. I glanced at everyone that was hesitantly looking through the door like I was and I saw the same look of apprehension on their faces as I knew I had on mine.

"Since we won't be able to see much in there, want to split up into our teams?" Pyrrha asked.

"That seems like a good plan." Blake said.

"I think breaking up into your partners would be more efficient." Weiss announced snootily.

"Shut up, Weiss. It's a good plan." I said to her.

"The red one is correct." The Dragonborn said.

"Me?" Ruby and Pyrrha asked at the same time.

"Uh… the not-small red one." He said.

"Thanks, Dragonborn…?" Pyrrha replied, slightly unsure about the compliment.

"Anyways... " Pyrrha prompted. "It's time to break up into teams."

We all bunched up with our teams leaving the Dragonborn staring like an idiot.

"So… Who's going to take the Dragonborn?" Blake asked.

"We will." Ruby said with conviction.

"Thank you, little one." The Dragonborn said with a smile.

Team JNPR went in first, everyone holding onto each other. Then it was our turn to enter. I grabbed Ruby and the Dragonborn grabbed me. And then, Team RWBYD entered the room. We'll work on that name.

"I can hardly see in here." The Dragonborn said in an offhand manner.

"Let me help!" Weiss said with a distinct pride in her voice. She then balled her free hand and made a ball of light appear.

"NO NO NO WAIT-" The Dragonborn shouted, but was cut off by the ball being sent into the air. The light that the ball emitted reflected off all the drops of water and amplified the intensity of the light, which made the light both blind and hurt us.

"Brilliant spell, Weiss, absolutely top tier magic." Blake said angrily, whilst shielding her eyes from the harmful rays.

"This is why I tried to stop you…" The Dragonborn said quietly.

"Shouldn't your silver spoon have given you enough education to know that.. I don't know… water reflects light?!" I asked, as the spots of flash blindness dance in my vision.

"You guys don't have to be so mean…" Weiss said meekly.

"You know what Weiss, you're right. We don't have to be so mean to the person that just blinded us." I said sarcastically. Weiss hung her head and said nothing.

The farther we walked into the room, the hotter it got. I assumed it was because there was machinery at the center of the room that was heating the area around it. It's hotter than a sauna in here… My hair was plastered to my head and face from either sweat or the steam or a combination of both. Whatever the cause, I was furious that my hair was in disarray from this room.

Up ahead I heard the sound of a muffled scream and something being dragged. Followed shortly by the sound of Pyrrha's sword hitting something metallic, causing a clang to echo in the room. Then I heard the sound of something metal being dragged and then smashed against a wall.

"Thanks, Pyrrha." Jaune said shakily.

"My pleasure, Jaune." Pyrrha replied.

Ah, an automaton tried to take Jaune from Pyrrha. Bad idea for that bot.

"So there are automatons in here." The Dragonborn said, pondering something he had yet to say. "I'll be right back, ladies."

He broke the chain and walked a few steps away from us. "Laas… Yah Nir!" I heard him whisper and a bright red film covered my vision for a split second. He then calmly walked off and proceeded to smash various bots in the room. He came back after only a moment.

"Let's continue." He said, rejoining the chain.

Pyrrha soon called out that she had found a door and we made our way over to her using the Dragonborn's magic find-everything-living shout. We cautiously made our way through the door and into the room that it opened into. There stood a fork in the road. To the left was a path where the walls were lined in pipes. The right descended into steam, blocking my vision from what lay ahead.

"Which way? Pipes or back into steam?" I asked, slightly sarcastically.

"Pipes." Ruby voted. Followed by Weiss, Blake and Jaune.

"Steam." Pyrrha voted. Followed by Nora and Ren.

"I agree with Ruby." I said, feeling my soaking hair with a shaky hand.

"Pipes it is then." The Dragonborn said, then whispered something about it not being the path he'd take under his breath.

We headed up the path with me in the front and Ruby behind me. As we ascended, various pipes let out small amounts of steam, probably to siphon off excess steam to prevent the system from being oversaturated with steam. Some pipes would rattle, some would rumble and others would stay silent before releasing their steam. All noises culminated into a symphony of machinery, brass upon brass, steam jettisoning into the hot air and the small footsteps taken by the procession of adventurers scaling Vzaldam's stone paths.

One pipe on the right side of the path let out a deep rumble that I brushed off as a small bit of steam. But I knew it might be something more than that when I heard "Tiid!" followed by a rush of energy washing over me. My vision was tinted blue and all my motions seemed grossly slowed, like I was moving through molasses. The Dragonborn ran over to Ruby, who stood next to the rumbling pipe, and pulled her back away from it. As the slowness of my movements faded, I noticed that the rumbling pipe seemed like it was slowly bursting. Right before steam burst from it, the Dragonborn grabbed me and yanked me back away from the bursting pipe and into safety. My movements returned to normal speed and I watched as the pipe burst apart, blasting steam into the opposite wall at forces that would crush me and Ruby.

"Th-Thank you, Dragonborn." Ruby said quietly. I repeated what she said. He rubbed Ruby's head.

"Fear not, Shield-Sister, I will do my best to protect you. And you as well, Yang." He said looking at me after talking to Ruby.

"Looks like I was right." Pyrrha said, in a mock-snooty fashion.

"I guess so." Ruby replied.

The path on the right was a simple path that lead a short way to an elevator.

"What do the inscriptions say on the lever?" I asked the Dragonborn as we all milled around on the elevator floor.

"'The Spire'." He replied, staring at it.

"Is everyone ready to head down?" He asked.

Everyone gave an indication of approval, then he yanked on the lever, sending us down into unknown depths.

Vzaldam Boilery: Spire

Dust sprinkled down from the roof, adding an enhancement to our hair that I did not appreciate. Our footfalls echoed off the stone walls and the machinery that was sporadically placed about the hallway. I shuffled along the cold stone, staring blankly at the feet of the person in front of me without even really paying attention. It was only when I ran them over after they stopped abruptly and received an angry "Hey!" that I realized I wasn't even paying attention. Before Pyrrha, whom I knocked over, stood a massive room, or I assume it is massive, because it was filled to the brim with various materials and trinkets.

"Well, Dragonborn, if you're going to 'gather supplies', here's the place." Blake commented under her breath.

"Not even I could manage to find anything useful amongst all of this...cluttered trash." The Dragonborn said.

Blake mumbled something about not being surprised if he dove headlong into the room.

Turns out, the large room full of trinkets was only a side room. So why stop there?! The real door revealed itself at the end of the hallway, a short ways from the trinket room. The door creaked slightly as it was pushed open, but not loud enough that it was too noticeable. Before me was a long, narrow walkway that led to a tower. The walkway was elevated over something, I just couldn't see what because of the rocky ceiling that had stalactites with small blue specks gently glowing in contrast to the dark, almost void black, stalactites.

A quick glance at everyone else showed that they all were waiting for someone to walk across the path, so I volunteered to be the first and hesitantly walked across the path. I very carefully leaned to see down over the walkway and saw the large expanse of a city. Golden rooftops contrasted the gray cobblestone streets. I noticed small glints of metal among the pathways and assumed they were just bots casually marching along the way.

"What do you see, Yang?" Pyrrha asked.

"A giant city." I reply.

"A city?!" A few asked excitedly and both teams ran over to see the city beneath their feet with expressions of ecstasy. The Dragonborn looked on with an expression of someone remembering something unpleasant.

I was going to ask the Dragonborn about the look on his face, but experience with people has shown that doing so would be a very bad idea. Instead, I looked again at the city below my feet and saw towers that lay across the street, the stones that once held up their golden rooftops scattered amongst the neighboring houses and streets. The glints of metal moved rhythmically up and down the streets, like blood cells in a vein. This made sense because, after all, they are robots. A hand touched my back and I nearly punched the person whom it belonged to until I heard the Dragonborn tell me we needed to keep moving. So I tapped the shoulders of the people near me and pointed to the disappearing figure of the Dragonborn. As I walked over to the Dragonborn, a large amount of light caught my eye off to the left. I looked and saw a massive ball of fire hung from the roof like a sun for the people who lived here. This might be why the Dragonborn had a sad expression; he was remembering Blackreach and nearly killing us.

We neared the other tower and Jaune mumbled something about not wanting to die in the city below us. The Dragonborn reached back and smacked him on the back of his head.

We piled into an elevator that had a large windowed panel on the opposite side of the entrance. We all, excluding the Dragonborn, plastered our faces against the glass and stared at the vast city that we descended into.

Vzaldam Gatehouse

The elevator creaked to a halt and we piled out into the very dimly lit room. It was a square room with gears and steam, as per the usual, but at the very center of the room was a pedestal like the ones we saw at the other two places. This one had a knife on top of a basin, unlike the other two which had hand prints. The area behind the pedestal was a very dark black, almost like it sucked the light from the room.

"So, Dragonborn… try the inscription?" I asked.

"I will." He walked over and ran a finger across it. He opened his mouth, left it open for a second and then closed it.

"Is it completely unreadable?" Weiss asked.

"It is completely clear…" He said, showing there was something deep in the inscription.

"What does it say?" Ruby asked and he looked at her and then gained strength and said it.

"'The impure are bound to lead a life of darkness. Only the most pure of spirits can guide these lost souls through the darkness, unto a new light.'"

"So… What does that mean?" Weiss asked.

"'I am so smart, you can't understand me'. 'I go to college in Skyrim'. Durr durr durr durr durr!" I mocked Weiss.

Weiss turned a shade of red that was so dark, it was almost black.

The Dragonborn let out a deep laugh and said "That was brilliant, Yang."

Weiss got darker, if that was even possible.

"The more we talk, the longer you stay out of your home, so we need to continue." The Dragonborn said, grabbing the knife.

"I want to go first." Ruby stated plainly.

The Dragonborn laughed like a father would after his child talked back for the first time.

"Child, you are much too small to do this. See?" He grabbed her right hand. "It still contains the softness of youth." So he's saying it'll scar?

Ruby turned away, and then turned back and stared at him with the most effort I've seen her put into puppy-dog-eyes.

The Dragonborn narrowed his eyes and it seemed like Ruby had gotten to him, then as she walked over to the pedestal, he grabbed her hood and pulled her into the corner of the room, and in a commanding voice said "Stay".

"I'm not a dog!" She protested.

"If you aren't, then do not act like one." He replied.

"But enough of this talk. It is time for action." The Dragonborn said, making a small cut along the inside of his hand and clenching his fist to drip the blood into the basin at the top of the pedestal. Nothing happened.

"Is it broken?" Ruby asked, standing in the corner where the Dragonborn left her.

The Dragonborn stared at the pedestal in shock. Ruby walked over and pulled him away from it. The dagger clanged as it fell out of the Dragonborn's hand out of shame. Jaune picked it up.

"My turn." He said, mustering up the confidence to speak. He walked over to the pedestal, and reached out his hand and raised the dagger just as the Dragonborn did. But his dagger hand was shaky. In one motion, the dagger fell out of his hand and lodged itself in his shoe.

"Mommy!" He said in a pitch so high and so quietly, I could barely understand it.

Pyrrha walked over and pulled the dagger out and walked him away from the pedestal.

"Do you want some milk with those tears, boy?" The Dragonborn called out.

Jaune, ironically, began to cry softly.

The Dragonborn just sighed heavily, not even mustering up a response. Pyrrha murmured softly to Jaune and I decided that it was time for me to step up.

I picked up the dagger and looked over it. It was a simple bronze colored dagger with small inscriptions and indents that I couldn't make out. I shrugged. The dagger passed quickly through my skin, and I clenched my fist like the Dragonborn did and watched as my blood dripped down into the basin and down the hole at the bottom. Again, nothing happened. Well, nothing positive.

The black wall that was before us had moved closer to us on all sides. Well, this isn't good.

"Well, darn." I said, sarcastically.

"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Jaune shouted, thrusting himself forward with a face so pale it was white.

"You can… come out of the corner." The Dragonborn said to Ruby, who was very close to the blackness.

"Thanks…" Ruby said, sarcastically.

Nora shouted, "I WILL GO NOW!" She picked up the dagger and cut her hand and had the blood in the pedestal all before I could register her words. The darkness in the room inched ever closer to us. Oh no.

"If Nora goes, then so shall I." Ren stated, grabbing the dagger and adding his blood to the pedestal. Again, the darkness inched closer.

"Maybe it needs the blood of someone wearing black to remove the black." Blake joked, dripping her blood into the pedestal. Well, I don't think it does. The darkness was now forcing us to stand close to one another.

"In what world did you see that logic working?" The Dragonborn asked.

"Well I thought…" Blake mumbled something incohesive. "What about your confidence going in, then the shock when you too failed?" She asked, after thinking for a moment.

"Having experience with blood seals before, I figured this one would be no different." The Dragonborn said.

"Sure." Blake replied.

"You ok with me going next?" Pyrrha asked Jaune.

"I can be on my own. But I… uh… I d-don't want you to get hurt." He replied, cherry red.

Pyrrha ruffled his hair and walked over to the pedestal. If I was not mistaken, I saw her blushing too.

Another trial, another inch closer to being consumed by this void. But this was different. Her blood made the machinery start moving, granted it was only for a second, but it moved.

"Woah, what was that?" Pyrrha asked, looking at her hand.

"I think we need people dressed in red, not black." Ren put forth his thoughts.

The Dragonborn nodded before realizing who else was dressed in red.

"I would hate to disagree with you, but you're wrong. It's people in white. Right, Weiss?" He said, panic masked over by confidence.

"What he said seems perfectly-" Weiss was interrupted.

"That's the spirit!" The Dragonborn pushed her over to the pedestal and put the dagger in her hand. "Now, go ahead."

"Sure." She dripped her blood into the pedestal and the machinery worked in reverse, if that was possible. Can machinery not move any less?

The Dragonborn looked around and noticed that everyone had gone… except Ruby. Oh no, not Ruby!

"It is my turn." She said, walking over to the pedestal. It wasn't a long walk; we were so tightly packed I could touch the pedestal, and this room was fairly large before we began.

Ruby picked up the dagger gingerly and hesitantly moved it towards the hand she intended to cut. She took a deep breath and then cut it. The only sound in the room was the dripping of her blood. And the Dragonborn worrying about her. Nothing seemed to happen at first. Another trial, another- Machinery came whirring to life. The light that hung from the ceiling flickered very gently and after a moment of this, it all stopped. A single ball of light came up from the pedestal. Ruby grabbed it instinctively and she, too, softly glowed.

"What the fu-" Blake started to talk, but Ruby raised a hand to stop her. She walked through the blackness, cutting a path through it.

There, before us, stood the doorway to the city that holds the way home. I was giddy to say the least.

After a moment of thought, the Dragonborn spoke up. "So, the pedestal required the blood of a person with a pure soul. Those Dwarves sure were clever bastards."

"Yeah. I guess." Pyrrha said, wrapping gauze over her cut. She's just mad that she couldn't make it work fully.

The Dragonborn, noticing the lack of desire to talk, threw open the door wordlessly.

Vzaldam

The light of the artificial sun that hung over the city blinded me after nearly being suffocated in darkness. Weiss' heels clicked on the gold stones that made the pathways. We had found ourselves in, what seemed like, the market district of the city; stores, taverns and banks lined the streets. The cobble that made up the streets were well worn and the buildings in the area were also well worn. Despite the wear that came to the market district, it still stood up in defiance to time and the beating of the people who walked these streets those many an Era ago.

We set off down the street and within a few feet noticed a large building that sat upon a hill overlooking the city. This building was massive. I mean it was massive. A single pathway rose above the city and towards the building. Maybe this is where we go to get the Elder Scroll.

"You may be right, Yang." Pyrrha commented. Did I say that outloud?

"Yes. Yes you did."The Dragonborn replied.

"I'm just so focused on going home, I don't even know what I'm doing." I said in defeat.

"Don't worry, we all feel that way." Ruby comforted me.

"Thanks, Ruby." I said. She nodded in response.

The Dragonborn cleared his throat.

"Back on topic." He said.

"My unconscious talking was the topic." I told him. He stared at me uncomprehendingly.

"I meant the Elder Scroll in the big building." He replied.

"It is quite possible." Blake commented, drawing a few nods from the people in the room.

"Then let's check it out." Pyrrha announced.

We began walking through the road we thought would lead to the library. Off to the left rose a large pathway. I assumed it was an aqueduct. That was until I noticed the train resting on one of the tracks. The dwarves had monorail? But there it was; its curved fronts of the engine cars and the many passenger cars between them. The track it was on slithered its way over the city, finally stopping at the top of the hill that the large building sat upon. Small flashes of blue light came from the engine car nearest us. I squinted my eyes and noticed that it was a Dwarven Spider tinkering on the car to make it move again, but in vain.

"I knew the Dwarves were advanced, but...I never expected that." Weiss said. As it turns out, my gawking drew the attention of everyone else.

"Yeah, to think they'd have a monorail down here." Blake said.

"Mon-o-rail? What do you speak of?" The Dragonborn asked, confused. Oh, right, he has no idea what a monorail is.

"Think of it as a fast moving, robotic horse that carries people inside of it." Ruby said.

After some thought, the Dragonborn responded with a bit of a chuckle "Once again, the Dwarves outdo themselves."

We resumed walking down the road, passing by what seemed to be collapsed apartment buildings. Everyone would always take cursory glances into the buildings, just in case we were being lead astray. However, everyone stopped dead when we heard a loud crash next to us.

The Dragonborn instinctively readied his weapons, as did everyone else. But we couldn't see the cause of the crash. The source however, was in plain sight. A massive bolt, nearly the size of Ruby, was sticking out of the ground, with the rubble it brought up from the road surrounding it. A few seconds later, another bolt shot down from a different direction, landing at Jaune's feet, which caused him to nearly jump out of his skin.

"Everyone take cover!" The Dragonborn yelled, heading towards one of the buildings to our right.

We split up into the same teams that we head in the boilery, Team JNPR headed into a building on the left, and the rest of us joined the Dragonborn in the building on the right. I started to scan the upper parts of the buildings, trying to find our attackers. "Up there! In the tower!" Blake called out, pointing towards a dilapidated tower ahead of us. What I saw was not what I expected.

To put it simply, it looked like a large, robotic turtle with a spiky back. However, like everything the Dwarves made, it wasn't that simple. I noticed what appeared to be the two ends of a giant bow sticking out from either side, and the legs were definitely more centered on its body than that of a turtle.

I turned my head to see Ruby aiming Crescent Rose at the turtle-bot, but she seemed to be having difficulty getting a clear shot. I looked back to the tower and noticed the turtle-bot moving rapidly around, as if it knew she was aiming at her. Once she finally got a shot off, it definitely hit, but it only staggered it. In response to Ruby shooting it, the bot fired a shot of its own back at us. We took cover behind a collapsed wall, but the shot broke clean through the wall, causing it to fall to pieces. The Dragonborn, meanwhile, was taking shots at it with an ebony bow, trying to get its attention.

"Aim for the sphere in the center of its body!" The Dragonborn called out.

With that, Ruby took aim while the turtle-bot was distracted with the Dragonborn, and fired. The shot connected, and it broke into two halves, the bow-half falling off the tower and landing with a loud thud. I looked over to Team JNPR to see how they were faring, and they seemed to take up the Dragonborn's advice, and their bot was down within seconds. After their bot fell from wherever it was perched, we reconvened back on the road.

"What were those things? I don't think we saw anything like them in Alftand." I asked.

"Dwarven Ballista. I've only read about them, and how their rounds ignore even the strongest of armor. To think that the Dwarves here had them, they must've been serious about keeping unwelcome guests out." The Dragonborn said.

"It's a bit too late for that." Pyrrha said.

We resumed our walk down the road, fighting the Dwarven Spiders and Spheres that were drawn to the crashing sounds the Ballista's made. The walk itself wasn't that long, because we reached what appeared to be a central square shortly after we resumed. The only problem was that the road we were following now split up and took different paths throughout the city. We gathered at the center of the square, in which sat a ruined fountain, to discuss our options.

"Now the question becomes which path will lead us to that massive building." The Dragonborn said.

"Well, the monorail seemed to go by the hill, maybe we can just follow the tracks?" I suggested.

"In that case, we are to head…" The Dragonborn paused to look up at the tracks "northeast."

After a few nods of agreement, we headed towards the road which best fit the description of "northeast". Sometimes I wonder how he's able to tell directions without a compass… The new road was in much worse shape than the previous one, causing us to squeeze between collapsed buildings and dirty alleyways to keep up with the Dragonborn, who was traversing through it like it was nothing. After what seemed like forever, we arrived at the base of the massive hill, everyone except the Dragonborn covered with new scrapes and dirt marks.

The good news about climbing the hill? It's a straight path with no buildings to traverse around or through. The bad news? It's still a hill, and after walking through this entire ruin with little time to sit down and rest, it took a toll on all of us. Sure, we had stamina potions, but once we ran out of the larger ones, the small ones did little more than give us a quick boost that faded just as fast as it arrived. Once we reached the top of the hill though, my breath was taken away for another reason entirely.

Massive braziers lined the surprisingly well maintained path leading to the massive structure. The building itself had a large, seemingly cylindrical base, with two smaller, rectangular section jutting out of both sides of it. Whereas the city beneath us was in disrepair, this building seemed to be almost immune to the effects of time. We began to make our way towards the elaborately carved door when the Dragonborn stuck both of his hands out to block us. A few of us, myself included, were about to ask him why he stopped, but then I noticed what he was staring at.

At either side of the door, stood two massive Centurions, easily much larger than what appeared to be the standard. However, these ones were different. For starters, it didn't have a face, that section was just smoothed out. The next thing I noticed were the arms, which were actual arms, hands and all. But the hands weren't empty, both carried an equally massive sword and shield. They stood with the shield blocking their body, and their sword being pointed towards the ground behind it. Both seemed to be looking towards the path, but their heads were angled downwards. I guess this is why the Dragonborn had us stop?

"Laas… Yah Nir!" silently rang out, and once again, the red hue briefly flashed over my vision. After a few seconds, the Dragonborn dropped his arms and said "They are inactive, it is safe to move forward."

Upon reaching the door, the Dragonborn looked up towards what appeared to be a plaque sitting above it. After a minute of analyzing, he said "This is the Grand Library. If the Elder Scroll is anywhere in this city, it'll be in here."

Cries of joy and happiness filled the cavern, though the Dragonborn seemed to be holding back something which was clearly bothering him. Again, I was about to ask before I decided that doing so would probably not be the best idea. Before I could second guess myself, he shook it off and threw the doors open, leading us into the Grand Library.

Vzaldam Grand Library

The first thing I noticed upon walking through the doorway, was the fact that the lights in here were still working. Because of this, I was able to clearly see the rows upon rows of bookshelves which lined the walls of this place, all of them reaching to the ceiling. Ladders were scattered amongst the shelves, some still propped up on the shelves themselves. The center of the room contained four rectangular, shallow ponds, with a single fountain situated in the center of them. To our left and right were multiple common areas with numerous tables, chairs, and benches surrounding now silent fireplaces. The hallways themselves seemed to stretch on forever in both directions past the common areas. This place seems to have gotten even bigger once we got inside.

"Did the Dwarves really have to make it so hard on us?" Blake asked.

"Clearly the Dwarves here treasured knowledge above all else." The Dragonborn said.

"I found that apparent when I noticed that while the city below us is in ruins, this library is in top condition." Pyrrha said.

"So now the question is, just where in this massive place is the Elder Scroll?" Weiss asked.

"To best answer your question, I suggest we start taking a look around. We won't find the scroll by just standing here, now will we?" The Dragonborn said.

After some nods of agreement, we all split up to search for the Elder Scroll. Weiss, being the "overachiever" she is, had decided to try and find the library's registrar, which in itself had become another task entirely. The rest of us headed off towards different sections of the library to find any sign of the Elder Scroll. Ruby and Blake headed off towards the right wing, whereas Team JNPR went towards the left wing. Me and the Dragonborn had decided to stay in the center. Where do I even begin to look? I decided my best bet was to climb one of the ladders and start shuffling through the shelf.

Some time had passed, many books now covered on the floor, and my arms were getting tired. I descended to see if anyone else had any luck, but all I saw were disappointed faces. However, while I was up on the ladder, I had noticed that by the entrance, two staircases lead to a second floor. After informing the others, we all headed to them and began the climb to the second floor.

Upon reaching the next level, we were met with a floor that looked very similar to the first, which didn't exactly raise my hopes. While the bookshelves once again rose to the ceiling, this time, large tables filled the center of the room, some of which still had books and half-finished papers on them. We began to make our way through the room when we were met by an unpleasant surprise, a wall. The placement on it seemed odd, because it cut the rooms size significantly. To make it even weirder, the wall itself didn't cut off the room entirely. Two hallways cut in between the wall and the edges of the room, leading to who knows what.

"So, which path should we take?" I asked.

"I think it would be best to split up, if they end up being dead ends, we met back here." The Dragonborn suggested.

"And if one path is but the other isn't"? Ren asked.

"Then follow the group that didn't take the dead end." The Dragonborn said.

Team JNPR decided to take the left hallway, so we joined the Dragonborn in the right hallway. After walking down it for a few minutes, the path widened, and we noticed a door to our left. Upon opening it, we saw numerous benches leading to a podium, which sat elevated on some raised stones. Impressive as it was, we continued down the hallway, which exited to a small, rectangular room. Shortly after we arrived, Team JNPR did as well, telling us how their hallway had a well furnished room with a fireplace.

Before we could go any further into our conversation, however, the Dragonborn brought our attention back to the room we were currently standing in. He gestured over to a set of stairs which lead up to an ornately carved door. Two more of the modified Centurions stood guard at the door, and a pedestal sat in front of the door. We all walked up the stairs to see what trial the Dwarves would put us through this time.

"What does the inscription say this time?" Ren asked.

"'Filled with lore, I am, though not at first sight. Small in stature, I may be, but not in knowings. What am I?'" The Dragonborn rubbed his head with his hands "Damn Dwarves and their riddles."

"Come on, it doesn't sound that difficult." Ruby said.

"Ruby's right, we just have to put some thought to it and the answer will come in no time." Pyrrha said.

And so, everyone fell into silence to better think about what the answer could be. We thought the Dragonborn would've thrown an answer or two out, but nope, he was just pacing back and forth in thought. Clearly it's harder than we thought. I was about to start banging my head against a wall when Weiss blurted out "Wait! I think I've got it!" Everyone looked at her in anticipation.

"Is it a Lexicon?" The moment she uttered 'Lexicon', the pedestal retracted into its base as gears began to turn behind the walls. Then, the door opened, beckoning us into the next room.

Vzaldam Grand Library: Arcanex

I stepped over the threshold cautiously and noticed that the room was a spitting image of the room that sent us here. It was like we went back in time to where the room was slightly less decrepit. Bookshelves lined the walls, the crisp looking books stacked neatly amongst the hand carved shelves. A single mana powered light shown brightly over the scattered stone chairs in the room, their glossy stone surface reflecting the gentle glow. Ruby dashed out in front of us, charging to the back of the room to see if the Elder Scroll was there. She screamed and we looked to see what caused the commotion. It was the only active automaton in the entire library. Weiss smashed it without thinking and I saw what it was: a Dwarven Spider. Ruby looked out from behind the pedestal that held the Elder Scroll timidly.

"Well, we're here," Pyrrha stated calmly.

"Yeah!" Ruby leapt up and dashed around the room. After a moment she lay in the center of the room, gasping for breath.

"Are you alright, Ruby?" I asked her.

Ruby stared blankly at the roof.

"I will take that as a 'yes'," I said.

She threw her upper body forward to sit up. She slowly turned her head to me. "I am alright."

I walked cautiously up to the pedestal and ran my hand along the stone that held our pathway home.

"What I cannot get over is that this pedestal is both in the Nordic style and it has Dovahzul on it." the Dragonborn announced, walking up to read the Dovahzul. He ran his fingers along the inscription and then pulled out a paper and charcoal.

"I take it that you can't translate it," Weiss commented snootily.

"Not yet," he replied, the charcoal dashing from letter to letter and leaving behind a thin, black line. After a few determined strokes he had completed the tracing and beheld the paper before him with the Dovahzul plainly sitting on the paper.

Slowly, we all gathered around the pedestal. The Dragonborn looked over sadly and we awkwardly milled around.

"I think it is time that we say our goodbyes," the Dragonborn said calmly.

He was hit in the gut by a speeding Ruby giving him a death grip hug. He smiled.

"Ah yes, the most energetic of the bunch. If you had acted and talked the way you do now back when we first met, I would've thought you to be a Nord. I'm so proud of you." The Dragonborn said, returning the hug. So cute!

"I'm gonna miss you!" Ruby announced.

"Aye, the Companions won't be the same without you." He reached into the front of his breastplate and pulled out a necklace that looked like a spike being jabbed into a block of wood. He slowly pulled it over his head and gently placed it in Ruby's outstretched hand. "As long as Talos is watching over you, you can be assured that I will be as well. Stay safe little one, and may our paths cross again in Sovngarde."

Ruby turned the color of her cloak and slipped the necklace over her head and held the amulet in her hand and happily let it fall onto her chest.

The Dragonborn smiled. We gathered around the Scroll, but I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder. The Dragonborn winked and handed me a few bottles and a barrel of mead. Everyone else said a quick goodbye and Ren picked up the Scroll. This seems familiar. Well, except for the weight of the mead the Dragonborn gave me. I turned to him and he shot me a thumbs up. Ren took a deep breath and began to unfurl the Elder Scroll.

Bright lights and a loud buzzing sound filled everything around me. My feet screamed in protest as they hit solid ground. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the area we were before we went to Nirn. I nearly collapsed. Some of the others yelled and jumped about, hugging and high-fiving. We were excited to be home.

"We did it! We made it home!" Nora shouted, running down the hallway and out the front door, rolling in the Remnant grass with gusto.

"Nora! You'll stain your clothes!" Ren protested, picking her up off the ground.

"Come on guys! Let's get back to Beacon!" Pyrrha happily commanded.

/AN (IMPORTANT: If you haven't read these before, please read this one. Lots of important information follows)

And so, our journey has finally ended. Teams RWBY and JNPR have successfully made it back home to Remnant, with the assistance of The Dragonborn. Though, personally, one of my favorite bits of this chapter is the title. "All Ends are Beginnings", for the end of one story, could be the beginning of another. But, we'll get back to that, because I have something more important to do first.

To all who worked on "The Remnants of Nirn" [Using Reddit account names for confidentiality],

/u/Crapperto[Azarth], even though you came on to the team close towards the end, you still offered a plethora of amazing ideas and scenarios for us to do with not only what we had left, but for other possible works as well. You brought back something the team was lacking since chapter 11, being our ability to loosen up and fuck around.

/u/captinmet [The creator of the title to this story], me and AbsoluteDark_10 brought you onto the team not only so we could have a third opinion, but so we could have someone read over our work and make sure it was grammatically correct. Sadly, that didn't last long. However, you became more of the "comic relief" and "morale" who helped us move forward during stressful moments. And of course, your opinion still had an impact on the direction this took.

/u/AbsoluteDark_10[Main detail/RWBY dialogue guy], when this started, I didn't think that this would grow to what it has become today. Without your creative genius, guided by my layout, The Remnants of Nirn grew from a small blip in the RWBY x Elder Scrolls section to one of the section's more popular titles. Without you, none of this would've been possible, and for that, you will always have my thanks. May you have the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Now, concerning that last line, yes, we are losing a team member. He has a life to lead, and that includes things that are more important than working on a fanfic. I don't blame him, everyone has their priorities, and some outweigh others. But, now all we can do is look to the future.

And what is that future, you ask? Well, something that has been in planning since long before we were done with "The Remnants of Nirn". Some of you more keen eyed readers might have noticed some things here and there hinting at a possible sequel, and I'm happy to tell you now that if you guys want one, we'll deliver.

But, we'll need YOUR help. That's right, if you're interested in joining our team, all you need to do is either PM me here on FF, or on Reddit [/u/xXEmpoweredXx], saying that you're interested. Now, there are some requirements, though if you're on this page right now, you've probably already met them. [We'll be taking a maximum of 2, and possibly but highly unlikely (due to group size) 3 new members]

The list is as follows:

Owns Skyrim and all of its DLC

Has access to Skype or Discord [Preferably Skype, but it doesn't matter]

Have up-to-date knowledge on RWBY

Has some previous writing experience

Things that will increase the likelihood of you getting picked [not required]:

Has previous RWBY fanfiction experience

Can confidently write fight scenes

Can confidently write RWBY character dialogue [refer to first point in this section]

Has a good understanding of TES lore

And so, that just about wraps up everything. It's been fun everyone, and once again, thank you for staying with us to the end. This is xXEmpoweredXx speaking for the entire "The Remnants of Nirn" team when I say: We'll see you next time.

**IMPORTANT: Remember to continue following the story! A preview of the first chapter of the sequel will be posted here once it has been officially released. So stay tuned!