Chapter 1: The Nordic Scroll

Blake's Perspective

I look out from my bed below Yang's and into the two girls that were seated in between the bunk beds.

"Yang, I want cookies!" Ruby whined.

"I do too." Yang agreed.

Their conversation about cookies was cut off by the sound of our scrolls going off. Yang was the first to grab hers off the floor.

"Professor Ozpin wants us to go to his office." She summarized.

"Really?" Weiss asked exasperatedly.

"Yup." Yang replied, popping the p.

There was a lot of moaning and groaning, mostly from Weiss, as we got out of our comfortable positions and headed off to Professor Ozpin's office. I thought about what we could've been assigned to. Patrol? Search and Destroy? Ruby and Weiss were talking about how nice combat skirts were while Yang injected with things like "But gauntlets are cooler!" and "Have you seen this cute top?". We finally reached Professor Ozpin's office and Yang kicked open the door with a "Heyoo~".

Professor Ozpin sat with the back of his chair facing us. "Welcome." He said ominously, spinning his chair around. It kept spinning. "I'll get it on the next turn." He said, defeat evident in his voice. He stopped in when it came around again. He held one hand on the table and the other grasped the chair arm. "Got it!" He said to himself. "Now," He looked up to us and Team JNPR, they arrived before us, and told us what we were doing, "You are going on an investigation in the farthest south point of Vale. There will be some ruins near the point of insertion and I will need you to inspect them. I got some messages about a new species of…" He trailed off in thought, "Grimm-like things" He decided "walking around it. It shouldn't be too difficult to handle, just enter it and find the source of these new species." He waved us off, telling us to go to the ruins.

"What a weird thing we're doing." Yang commented.

"Is it possible for a new species of Grimm to surface?" Pyrrha asked.

"I guess since no one has been to that area very much, it could be possible." I answer.

There was a silence while we all thought about how a new species could be brought forth.

Jaune stopped in his tracks and started patting his pockets. He looked up with a scared expression on his face that never seems to leave.

"I… forgot my scroll." He said, voice hardly above a whisper.

Pyrrha grabbed his shoulder with her left hand.

"I'll go with you to get it." She smiled and said.

As they walked off Ren cat-called. Pyrrha sent him a scary gaze, her hand still on Jaune's shoulder, and Nora gently hit his head.

We waited for them to return by the airship and Weiss walked on board to get her seat fit for a "queen". After around 10 minutes Jaune and Pyrrha walked out of the school. Pyrrha was telling Jaune something, then ruffled his hair. Jaune had a look of shame on his face throughout the one-sided conversation. They reached the airship and we all boarded.

"So what were you talking to Jaune about?" Ruby asked, the excitement of a new trip evident in her mannerisms. Pyrrha's face turned a little pink at the thought of us seeing that.

"I-I was trying to help tell him how to organize his stuff better." She told us.

"Okay!" Ruby responded and proceeded to change the conversation so fast I got whiplash.

The pilot called back from the front of the ship that the "ETA" was around 5 minutes. I could only assume that meant "Estimated Time of Arrival". Within around 4 minutes of him saying that the airship bounced, telling us that it touched down. Team JNPR walked out first, Pyrrha and Jaune in the lead, followed by Yang and I, then Ruby and Weiss. After we all got off the ship it lifted off and flew back towards Beacon.

"So, where do we go from here?" Weiss asked. "Because it's hot here and I don't want have to walk for a while." She continued.

Pyrrha told us that the ruins were two clicks west, about a 40 minute walk. We set off and walked through a dense forest that engulfed us as soon as we left the landing zone of the airship. The walk felt like it took forever. I was so hot, I took off my bow that covered my ears, just so that I could cool off a little bit. Ren wasn't as lucky. He carried Nora pretty much off of the airship. And yet he still had to deal with Nora complain about the heat. How he has the nerve to put up with her, I'll never know.

Upon reaching the ruin, some of us, myself included, almost collapsed, in Jaune's case he really did collapse, at the sight of a ruin that looked like it was a broken-down and decaying factory. It had brass colored tubes on the ground and broken pipes sticking out of a collapsed tower, water dripping out of one of them. Vines and trees grew out of and on the stone walls that still stood. The door, or at least I assume the large brass rectangle was the door, was partially blocked by the broken tower, but a path could be possible to make out of it. I looked up to see where the tower would've stood and my vision was obstructed by the cover of the trees. I looked to everyone else and saw my hesitancy mirrored on some of their faces.

"It is a ruin." Nora said, in slight disbelief.

"What did you expect? A pristine place?" Weiss replied sarcastically, with anger very evident in her voice.

We ignored what she said and started moving the stones around the door so we could get in. I pushed the biggest stone that blocked the door with Ruby, Ren and Nora. After a whole lot of pushing, we managed to move it out of the way. And once the dust cleared, we were shocked to see how well preserved the door was. Not only that, it was covered in elaborate carvings and designs that suggested that the people who made it were vastly more advanced than we thought. Yet at the same time, these ruins clearly dated back to pre-kingdom times, possibly even further. Which begs the question, how could such an ancient race create something so beautiful and elaborate? The door itself was at a slight angle, but that didn't seem to stop Jaune and Ren from pushing either panel open with a loud creaking sound, before it ended with a loud bang when they collided with the stone walls.

"Welcome to the start of our quest." Jaune joked, motioning in a grand manner to the open all walked in and Pyrrha grabbed one of his ears and dragged him in with her when she passed him. "Ow! Hey, hey, hey!" was the response she received.

Once my eyes adjusted to the change in light, I noticed that the broken pipes from outside carried through to the inside, except they weren't broken. Water droplets fell from the ceiling and crashed on the ground with a splash. Some vines clung to the walls, leaving groups of grassy patches where they touched the ground. A gentle glow lit the room. We looked for the source and found a ring hanging from the ceiling with a green fire in the center, almost like green plasma gripping the center of it. I looked for a power source, but was shocked that I couldn't find one. A few of us sat there in wonder, myself included, while others tried to push on without us. Those transfixed by the light came to their senses when they realized that they were being left behind. We, who were transfixed by the light, hurried after those who weren't once we saw they had left us behind. They were waiting by another brass colored door with ornate carvings emanating from the sides, mostly the bottom. Ren pushed the left side of the door open and Pyrrha pushed the other. We were then greeted by the sight of broken machinery. Cogs that were sticking out of the ground were slightly green and seasoned with cobwebs. Large gates that reached to the ceilings protected some cogs and pipes with vents facing the walkway. This was mirrored on both sides. On the right side, there was a ring-shaped piece of machinery sticking out next to a turn in the pipe, a faint blue glow emanating from the top of it. Jaune tried to open the gates, but found that they were locked. Yang stepped in front of him, cracked her knuckles and slammed the door with her fist, wrenching the two sides of the gates apart. Yang mocked the motion Jaune made when we entered the ruins, beckoning him inside. He walked up to the ring, touched the top and leapt backwards when the blue piece came off on a hinge and hung off the back.

"Did I break it?" He asked, fear staining his eyes.

"Go and look." Pyrrha replied.

With Pyrrha's encouragement, he gingerly stuck his hand inside and pulled out a fistful of differing objects. He held a garnet, some cogs, scrap brass colored metal and a pink gem that illuminated his hand.

"What is this thing?" He said as he pointed to the gem. We shook our heads because we didn't know more than him. I looked closer and saw that it was as long as his hand from tip to heel and half his hand in width.

"Can I hold it?" Ruby asked, bursting with anticipation about what it felt like to hold it.

"Sure." He handed it to her and her face glowed, both from the gem and from her excitement at holding it. She jumped when Nora said "Boo!" and grabbed both of her shoulders from behind her.

"Nora!" Ruby said exasperatedly, one hand clutched her chest, the other still holding the gem. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Let's keep going, shall we?" I say to the group, trying to get us back on task.

We headed out again, following the machine clogged hallways and walking past and under the pipes that lined the walls. It was only when we reached an apparent workshop that something very strange happened. Loud banging rang out from the pipes on the walls. Everyone was different stages of scared.

"What should we do?" I ask.

"Pry it off?" Yang answered.

"I don't think that's the best idea…"Ren chimed in.

"How else are we going to know what's in there?" Pyrrha asked him.

"Do we have to find out what's in there?" Jaune interjected.

"It could be that new species of Grimm that we were sent here to take care of." Ruby answered, one hand on Crescent Rose.

"True, but how would we go about prying that vent open?" Ren said.

"I could smash it open." Nora offered, clutching Magnhild.

Pyrrha flung open Milo "I can use this." She offered.

"Pyrrha would actually pry it off, Nora would break the entire pipe." I think out loud.

"Pyrrha it is!" Yang exclaimed.

Pyrrha walked up to the pipe and rammed Milo in between the panel and the pipe. She started to work open the vent and pull it off. Jaune, mesmerized by the curiosity for what was in there, walked up and was staring into the, now opening, vent. Pyrrha finally wrenched off vent and stepped back, breathing heavily and looking proud of herself for wrenching it off.

"I wonder what's in there." Jaune comments, moving closer to the opening. We found out right away.

A spider-like robot leapt out of the vent and onto Jaune's face. Jaune threw it off with a very girly scream. The spider-robot landed on the floor and "looked" at everyone. I didn't see any eyes, just a glowing orb. The spider-bot then leapt on Jaune and began crawling on him and scratching him. Nora leapt to action, as her weapon was the only one out, and smashed the spider-bot sending it and Jaune into the wall across the room. The spider-bot fell to pieces when it hit the wall, legs twitching and sparking as the power ran out. A pink gem rolled out of the head and came to a stop inches away from the robot. Jaune was completely out of it and needed Pyrrha's help to stand up. Ruby walked up to the gem and held it up next to her own.

"It's the same gem, this one is just bigger." She said, pointing to the one on the ground.

"Weird." Nora replied, looking over Ruby's shoulder.

Everyone looked warily to the pipe that still had banging noises in it.

"What if we walk past it and not disturb it. Would it stay in the pipe?" Ren asked.

"I guess so. It took a lot of work to get it off." Pyrrha answered, supporting Jaune's right side with her left.

"Let's move on then, just keep an eye out in case it does jump out at us." I warn them.

We walked with Yang and Ruby in the front, Jaune, Pyrrha, Weiss and myself in the middle with Ren and Nora in the rear. It was quiet except for the banging and Nora singing about her being the "queen of the creepy, ruined castle". The banging stopped after the vent was thrown off and another spider-bot, almost identical to the other, jumped out. Nora smashed it without hesitation. After we had already started moving again, Ren called out "Nora!" exasperatedly and Nora got up from her playing with the broken spider-bot.

We walked for a long time, passing room after room filled with broken machines. We fought countless spider-bots and sphere-fighter-bots, they roll up to you and spring out with a dagger and start attacking the instant the pop out, on our way to the center of operations. It was only after a long while that we reached a door with extremely exquisite carvings on it. We slowly opened the door and saw a massive room filled with rows upon rows of beautifully crafted bookshelves. The books themselves were ruined, but the room itself was incredibly well preserved, everything from the light fixtures to the smallest details on the stone chairs. After exploring the room for a bit, we came across a pedestal in the far back of the room. It had odd symbols on it, and looked like it had been pulled out of somewhere even more ancient than this. It was what on the pedestal itself though, that primarily caught our attention. A massive golden scroll, with rubies lining the wooden handles, sat atop the pedestal almost radiating with some type of energy. It had some kind of description on the pedestal, but it seemed to be nothing more than just a bunch of odd symbols.

Nora stared at it with a hunger in her eyes.

"I. Wanna. Touch." She says.

"Oh no you don't." Ren grabs her left arm and stops her from sprinting forward to touch it. "I'll check it out." He informs the group. Assent was murmured amongst our ranks.

Ren walked up to the podium and looked carefully at the scroll.

"It just looks like a normal scroll." He calls out.

"Open it and see what's inside." Jaune answers.

Ren grabbed a the end of the scroll and pulled it out. He looked towards the symbols and quickly looked back at us with a confused look on his face. Before we could ask any questions, we were blinded by a bright light and made deaf by a loud pulsating sound. I felt a strong tugging sensation in my chest that felt like I was a fish that got hooked and was being reeled in, except I couldn't move at all. I was in the exact position that I was in when I stood in the ruins. It was like I was frozen and moved somewhere else, and in an instant, I felt myself hit something hard, and I instantly blacked out.

/AN:

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Now, I wasn't planning on uploading any of this until it was finished, but considering the fact that the story isn't even half way done, and I'm applying for a job, I decided to get this out now. So, here's how the uploading is going to work: Every time I complete a new chapter, I'll upload the next chapter on here. For example, I'm posting chapters 1 and 2 today. So when I finish the chapter I'm currently working on, I'll upload chapter 3. Now then, hope you enjoy the rest!