The wall held stong under the third consecutive hit from his Semblance, only the faintest traces of cracks could even begin to been seen. At any other time in his life, he would have had to respect the craftsmanship present in the structure as few things he had ever come across could withstand more than one blow from his Semblance and this wall had taken three strikes and barely shown any give from the strikes.

The roar of crackling flames, gunfire, and harsh shouts behind him ignited the fire in him to once again strike the wall, pouring the full force of his Semblance into a fourth blow.

"SMASHING"

Fist struck rock, hairline cracks that had only just become visible from his previous strike now splintered noticeably with massive spiderweb fissures formed in the stone wall and the wall that was flat an smooth now concaved in several inches and made a bowled shape but still help against his strike somehow.

Blood dripped from his fist as his Aura had been unable to fully shield his arm from the recoil of essentially throwing his fist as hard as he could at the wall, the flesh had been torn away from his knuckles as bone, muscle, and tendons were exposed but he ignored the pain and pulled his arm back again and threw forward another punch.

"SMASHING"

The wall crumbled under the fifth blow, exploding outward with the force of a dust missile, any Grimm on the other side immediately turned to black smears of smoke as jagged chunks of the rock wall tore through them more effectively than any grenade could have.

"Exits open, move your asses Thornberries," Nigel shouted as he turned, ignoring for the moment the ruined mess of flesh and bone that was his right hand. Bring forward his left hand gripping his weapon collapsed down into its simplest form of a versatile Submachine gun and covered his unit as they extracted themselves from their fights and exited through the opening he had made. Once his squad was through he followed, the Grimm and the flames on his heels as he ducked through the opening but as he stepped through the Grimm ran face-first into a hard light barrier.

The barrier wouldn't last long, only having the energy to last a minute or two tops but that would be enough as through the barrier the flames the burned across the entirety of Haven Academy mercilessly and efficiently dealt with the Grimm better than any Huntsmen could have managed.

Nigel turned away from the projector and the images of Grimm burning to death beyond in and surveyed their new surroundings. Wherever they were is wasn't part of Haven as it appeared to be a natural cavern in the cliff Haven was built on. That alone explained why entering had been so difficult, the stone wall he broke through had no naturally occurring faults he could exploit to make the task easier and had to rely on simply brute-forcing his way through the stone. It was lucky that after he and his team had been cornered in the previous room that one of their Semblances which allowed them to see an open area beyond the wall or else it was very likely that his Team would have perished. Although as he surveyed his surrounding he wasn't exactly sure if they had just traded a slow death to fire and Grimm for a different slow death in a cave that they might not be able to navigate safely.

Finally sparing a moment to inspect his right arm he grimaced at the ruined remains of his right hand. It was a bloody mess and it hung open limply as he could literally see the exposed bones and muscles, grimacing he called for someone to bandage it as best they could and knew that he wouldn't be 'SMASHING' his way back out the way they entered as the Grimm had all but perished several tonnes of debris was collapsing down and sealing the hole shut completely.

"Eliza, search the surrounding with your Semblance, find us a way out of here. Donnie, cover her while she searches." Watching as the pair turned to inspect their surroundings, Eliza's Semblance making her eyes pulse green as she followed the curvature of the cave without error being some powerful amalgamation of X-ray, thermal, night vision and telescopic sight, perfect for a primarily scouting and recon unit. The pair only vanished from sight briefly in the darkness before returning.

"Report."

"Sir, there is a path that travels about five hundred meters that opens up near the roof of a cavernous chamber, judging by what my Semblance showed me the chamber could be the source of the Grimm attack, I picked up several hundred individual forms in the room, heat reading mark nearly everything in there as Grimm aside from three Humanoid and one unknown."

A passing look at the sealed route they had used to enter was all the choice he needed. "Thornberries form up, Eliza and Donnie in the lead, Marianne do what you can for my arm, and Debbie watch the rear for any surprises."

"I thought your Selmbance was supposed to be Good luck!" Harriet shouted, annoyed as another Grimm turned to greasy smoke around her fist.

"I mean, we're still alive aren't we?" Clover replied as he wrapped a hasty bandage around Elm's torso and shoulders, covering a nasty looking gash made by Manticore that had finally stopped bleeding. "Speaking of, how are we looking out there Vine?"

"We are holding the choke point, largely due to Marrow's Semblance but aside from that nothing else to report."

Clover looked at Marrow and watched as sweat literally poured off the Faunus operative, the strain of using is Semblance so repeatedly taxing him to his limit, he had no idea how much longer Marrow could continue to force his Semblance without rest. "Elm, are you good?"

"Yes."

"Good, back up Vine but save your munitions. Harriet, I need a sitrep, what are our options, give me everything." Clover watched as Elm moved into the line of combat, with Harriet backing off at the same moment, Semblance activated and Harriet vanished from the room, after a quick ten count the speedster reappeared, a little short on breath but otherwise unharmed from her short sojourn.

"Quick estimation, roughly four hundred Grimm assaulting our location, exit through the structure is impossible. Viable exit is available." Pulling back a hand Harriet slammed her fist into one of the walls of the room several times, opening up quickly a hole large enough for two people to stand abreast. "Most plausible extraction route is through here."

Clover grimaced as he peeked his head out the destroyed wall and looked at the sheer five-story drop into a coiling mass of Grimm directly below, before looking toward where Harriet gestured. "That's the Haven Headmasters office isn't it?"

"I believe so, it's lack of any Grimm in the vicinity or fires burning means in all likelihood the building is empty of Grimm and we should have a few moments to catch our breath."

"I concur, and really we don't have any other options. ACE-OPS, push them back, we leave in ten!" Clover shouted and trusted his teammates to understand and act accordingly as he launched the hook from Kingfisher the two hundred or so meters to the building and gave the line a sharp tug, satisfied that it had hooked something sturdy enough to hold the weight. "Elm, you're up." Placing Kingfisher on the floor Elm's semblance wrapped around it locking it in place more securely than anything else could. "Vine, Marrow!" He watched as the pair broke off from holding the choke point and unerringly knew what the plan was, Vine hurling Marrow through the opening and the Faunus using his weapon to zipline to the building the line was attached too, with Vine following right behind with his own Semblance allowing him to cross the gap in seconds. "Elm, pop em and move." A pair of explosions followed his instruction's as he grabbed Kingfisher as Elm's Semblance let go and with a few moments reprieve, Elm hit the makeshift zipline hard and with a grunt of exertion he held the line taught as Elm crossed. "Harriet!" The speedster was gone in a flash, not using the taut line as a zipline but rather a tightrope, so fast was it that he followed along behind her as he hit the concealed trigger that retracted the line pulling him across the gap in a descending arc, with Harriet running atop the slowly slackening line but ultimately ending with the entire ACE-Ops reaching momentarily safety.

"No time to waste Specialists, Head to Ozpin, and Lionhearts last known location."

"Sir, what about the Thornberries?"

"For the time being, we assume they made it out safely, if we find evidence to suggest otherwise we will adjust the plan appropriately but right now our priority is to ensure the safety of Headmaster's." With their orders clear the group of five moved to the last location they had seen Ozpin and Lionheart, along with the Vernal woman they had escorted to Haven, which was just inside the grand entrance to Haven Academy and judging by the body language and feeling in the back of his mind he knew to return there was the right choice.

Nigel looked at the scene playing out in the mid-distance below him. Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon fought alongside a Raven haired woman atop a bizarre rock formation that held an enormous doorway inside of a subterranean tree that appeared to lead into another space altogether, a space that should be unable to exist as the space it appeared to encompass easily surpassed the visible size of the tree.

While the abnormal space had drawn his attention for a moment with the sheer preposterousness of it it was only a moment it held nonetheless as he tried to make sense of the fight that was happening.

Grimm swarmed up for the deepest reaches of the cavern, cresting the platform that Ozpin and the Raven haired women defended only to be turned to smears of dust in moments, mere aftershocks of the real fight dealing with the Grimm from below.

On the platform itself was a fight of some scale that he was at a loss on how to even proceed, a strange shaped Grimm fought alone against Ozpin and his companion, and not only did it fight them, it was winning. Not in an overwhelming manner but to anyone watching objectively from a distance the sole Grimm was making incremental gains as it pushed Ozpin and his ally back, further and further toward the gate that made no sense.

Debbie was in the midst of giving the entire cavern a thorough examination with her Semblance, looking for an effective escape route they could secure and hold and also make known to Ozpin in some way without drawing the attention of his opponent.

"Nigel!"

"Yes, report."

"Excluding the doorway that Headmaster Ozpin defends, there is an elevator shaft that leads up behind Ozpin's opponent and there is also a deep lake at the bottom of this cavern and near one of its edges is an opening large enough for a human of Grimm to pass through with minimal effort, that opening is packed with Grimm and I have to assume its where the ones attacking Haven came from considering the numbers in this cavern."

"Odds of securing that exit?"

"At full strength, I would say fifty/fifty odds."

'At full strength' was a telling enough response, the Thornberries weren't slouches when it came to a fight but they also weren't the heaviest of hitters either, everyone aside from himself had Semblances that were more focused on reconnaissance in some fashion and he was the only one with a combat effective Semblance and right now with his arm in tatters he knew he couldn't manage more than maybe a punch of too before his arm would be all but useless for who knew how long, though at the moment that mattered very little. "Eliza, hook two lines up. Donnie and Debbie, secure the elevator shaft, the rest of us we will be attacking that Grimm engaged with Headmaster Ozpin."

'This is not good.'

Jaune wheeled around a corner in the halls of Beacon, moving to fast that he collided with the opposite wall but so focused on his goal he shrugged off the impact and ignored the broken plaster and drywall as he continued racing toward his locker where his equipment resided, he could hear the sounds of pursuit behind him as the teaching staff, led by Glynda had finally snapped from their initial shock and called for all students to arm themselves and prepare for deployment.

The negative repercussions of a Huntsman academy falling to Grimm were catastrophic and unless reacted to immediately then who knew how many frontier villages might vanish overnight or how well the walls of cities might hold against a surge of Grimm the defenders not prepared to handle.

'Gotta grab my gear and then find Yang. Haven falling means Ozpin made a move to retrieve the Relic of Knowledge, which means he had to be confident on Raven's help.'

Jaune reached his locker only moments before a throng of excited and panicked students made an unnavigable press of bodies as everyone began pushing and shoving to reach their respective locker's. Ignoring the press of forms behind him he quickly donned his combat clothes and slide all his weaponry into position before reaching into his locker and filling his numerous pockets with all manner of dust devices that were normally left out of his regular kit for combat classes.

Turning toward the press of bodies he withheld an angry growl as the press still pushed against each other and very few individuals had managed to reach their lockers yet and worst of all the press of bodies made it impossible to sort out who's who either, he couldn't tell if Yang was in the press of bodies or if she had reached her locker and was currently changing, or worse if she hadn't managed to arrive yet, which to him was the worst possible outcome.

'If Raven needs an escape and is panicked the portal almost always targets Yang, much like how if she dies the Spring Maidens powers always travel to Yang as well.'

A loud exclamation of shock echoed from outside one of the multiple entrances of the locker room and a faint ting of crimson red appeared. The direction of it put the entire press of bodies in his path and with a reluctant growl he raised his heavy bracer and hit one of his conceal triggers and a huge gust of wind exploded forth, tossing aside anything or anyone in its path and he bolted through the opening, diving through the doorway and entering the hallway where the familiar glow of Raven Branwen's portal hovered in the air, his fellow Beacon students having recovered from their momentary shock and now stood defensively around the portal, ready to react even without their weapons if some threat emerged from it.

He bolted for the portal, Raven had not immediately passed through it and closed it behind her told him enough and he had no idea how long it would remain open and not willing to waste the time to attempt to convince those nearby who might be useful he charged into the portal, crossing the threshold without even glancing toward his surroundings.

'Cannot let Salem have Knowledge'

Yang had no idea what the portal meant, the shock of its sudden appearance and then it's just silent emptiness told her nothing, only when Jaune appeared did her mind begin to piece together the information she had seen this morning.

Haven burning, Glynda being the teacher on staff to issue orders and not Ozpin, her mother's Portal opening before her silently with no one stepping through.

Too late did her mind come to the answer as Jaune charged through the portal like a man possessed, too late for her to react and stop him as he crossed the threshold before she understood, and unfortunately too late to follow as she stepped toward it the portal shimmered for the briefest of instants before blipping out of existence.

A pit formed in her stomach as a wave of nausea and guilt took her mind.

Ozpin felt his back collide with something solid, crushing the air from his already laboring lungs as he struggled to not only remain standing but ultimately conscious as errant gunfire and sounds of combat rang loudly in his vicinity.

The Wild Thornberries had appeared at a crucial moment and prevented Salem from not only killing him, but also acquiring the Relic of Knowledge.

The tide, however, had not changed, the Thornberries had no idea what they were actually fighting, or for that matter how to adequately affect it as well, as his lungs once again found air he watched as a pair of the Thornberries performed an attack that would have been lethal to anything else, especially if the creature in question hadn't even bothered to react in any way simply be shrugged off within moments.

Salem's immortality meant she never had to worry about defense and could simply push toward her objective, trusting in the fact that any opponent would realize their attacks were worthless to late to matter.

Lethal attacks were pointless, they were shrugged off like nothing, that knowledge was one of the main reasons why his weapon had remained a blunt instrument. Immortality was all well and good but Salem wasn't immune to a solid stunning blow to the head or body.

He couldn't remain out of the fight for long and with some measure of normalcy returned with his brief reprieve he stepped forward to rejoin the fight as best he could, though he knew that it was simply a matter of time before Salem overpowered them all he still had a brief glimmer of hope.

The gate to the vault was still open, he needed to get both the Relic and Raven back inside and force Raven to close the gate, locking herself and the Relic inside and away from Salem. It was the only plan he had at the moment and he rushed forward, trying to figure out how exactly he would accomplish it.

Raven had before he had the wind knocked from him, used her Semblance and attempted to flee through it before being caught by Salem, that has been a few seconds ago he knew by the fact Salem wasn't shrieking in rage that that escape had been thoroughly thwarted, unfortunately, as he moved to attack he learned just how bad it had gone as the Wild Thornberries lay scattered around the platform, most unconscious, the only one remaining standing was Nigel himself who sent a brief but significant nod toward himself, which Ozpin read as the Atlesian specialist preparing to commit himself fully to his next action.

Ozpin couldn't do anything besides wish the man good luck silently in his head as he watched as Salem choke one Raven Branwen into unconsciousness, as uncomfortable as it was to watch he could do nothing as Salem held Raven's unconscious from aloft with only the slightest trace of magical energy.

"Ozma, it seems that you're out of pieces this day."

Ozpin's eyes glanced at Nigel who stood out of view, shock evident on the Specialists face as the Grimm creature spoke. "That seems to be the case." Stepping forward, using his cane as much needed support he gingerly walked to the middle of the platform, hoping to give Nigel as much time as he could.

"If you would hand over the Relic please, I would spare your next host the fate of your intrusion for at least today."

"That is a most generous offer Salem, but I fear I will be unable to do so willingly." A hand moved to grasp the ring of the lamp firmly, his mind considering calling forth Jinn, and wasting a question hastily.

"Please Ozma, do not do anything that ultimately will mean nothing in a hundred years. Even if you were to use all three questions right this instant before I could stop you it will not change the fact that today I will be leaving here with the Relic and the living host of the Spring Maiden, who's power I will make certain pass's to someone more amenable to my interests."

"Yes, I don't think that stopping that outcome is within my power at the moment, but a well-asked question could mean all the difference in this next century." His fingers curled around the ring of the lamp a little tighter as he struggled to think of an appropriate question to ask that would lead to an answer that would be helpful in the short or long term, his mind frustratingly unable to think of anything useful to ask simply being stuck on the betrayal of Lionheart and Raven Branwen's reveal as the Spring Maiden and her willingness to stand beside him at this terrible moment.

A flicker of red light flashed for an instant in his peripheral and then vanished.

Crocea Mors was fully drawn in an instant, ripping itself and it's scabbard free in one vicious and fluid motion, wasting no time or pretense that he was not fully aware of what he could be facing, Ozpin's questions be damned in this moment.

This action was to preserve a peaceful life for Yang.

His presence was immediately noticed by both parties and he could hear but not make out Ozpin's confused exclamation, too busy was he expanding the shield within his armguard to its full towering size, enough to allow him to easily plant and absorb the shockwave from Salem's impulsive attack. Eye's darting around in a flash, taking in the surroundings, and situation, grimacing slightly at the fact that the Vault was open, Ozpin held the Relic of Knowledge tightly in his grip and that Raven was held aloft by a dark tendril of energy, not dead but clearly unconscious.

His shield collapsed the second he felt the power of the attack begin to fade, letting the last vestiges of the elemental attack Salem had assaulted him with on reflex to wash over himself to no effect.

Pushing through the attack, using the clearing elemental effects dissipating to cover his move he dashed forward in an instant, rushing at Salem and tossing one of his many flashbang grenades directly toward her face, his armguard expanding in time to block the bright flash of phosphorus light and collapsing once again as Crocea Mors, encased in its scabbard, whirled with mechanical noise and shifted for an instant into a massive cudgel.

Impacting with the blinded and surprised Salems skull with a what would have been a life-ending impact on a full Aura Huntsman, a gout of dust, wind, and fire, erupted on impact and sent the thoroughly rattled Salem careening toward and then over the edge of the platform in an instant. As Crocea Mors followed through the weapon had already shifted into the form of the sword inside the unassuming metal scabbard once more as he rotated and pulling the two halves apart he sliced through the tendril of energy that held Raven and was pulling the unconscious maiden toward where Salem flew at the moment. A slash, a resheath, and the pair once again connected to his back between his shoulderblades and as he landed on the ground he caught the slowly falling and still unconscious Raven Branwen in his arms and unceremoniously threw her over his left shoulder and drew Crocea Mors from his back again scabbard and all and the weapon grew longer and an audible hum of barely restrained dust emanated from the blade.

The forms of multiple unconscious Huntsmen he did not recognize aside from garb that was too uniform to be anything but some form of Atlas personnel lay scattered unceremoniously around the platform, Salem not bothering to kill any of them, no doubt with her focus divided between Ozpin and Raven, ensuring neither could escape taking utmost priority.

"Jaune?"

The tone from the stunned Headmaster spoke volumes, but now was neither the time nor the place to address to novels worth of questions and theories that were forming in the mans mind.

"We don't have time for this Ozma. Follow me if you have any interest in living, and if you don't and would rather move onto your next host I respectfully ask you hand over that relic." Jaune saw the already confused mind gasp at fewer and fewer straws as he spoke the man's original name, not for any real purpose other than to prompt the man to some form of action as him standing dumbstruck did little good for anyone at the moment as he could feel the rage welling up from below them as Salem recovered and the chamber began to noticeably drop in temperature to better reflect the mood of the Queen of the Grimm.

The expression on Ozpin's face turned grim as his thoughts remained scattered but through reflex alone, Jaune could see the body-hopping immortal was prepared for action. Casting one final look at the figures scattered on the platform, unconscious and useless and with a sigh resigned them to their ultimate fate as he could not waste time on those who could not move, Raven already being a substantial burden, but one that would pay dividends when she woke up.

"Time to move, follow me." With that Jaune bolted to the edge of the platform, opposite of where he had knocked Salem, a purposeful move as it sent her as far as possible from the small cave opening at the base of the subterranean lake. Footfalls behind him signified that Ozpin was following. Without breaking stride he lept forward and plummetted from the platform with Ozpin right behind him mere instants before Salem crested the platform. A mind rattling scream of fury exploded from up above as Salem for a moment thought that Ozpin had escaped.

He knew that fury would be replaced in a moment when he would have to react and fight a path through the Grimm that waited in the lake below. Even as he fell with speed he could see the roiling mass of tightly packed Grimm covering the lowest portions of the chamber. The force of Grimm was a problem but it was also a solution, the size of several of the Grimm was such that the entrance that in his previous lives was barely enough for an adult human crawl through was widened significantly and while it was dark outside he could still barely notice the imperceptible change in hues of light and knew exactly where the exit was.

With a flourish and a wave of his currently elongated Crocea Mors he both altered his falling direction as well as hopefully pointed out his destination to the following Ozpin. His answer to that was two blasts of bright green energy hurtling past himself as Ozpin took the initiative to deal with some of the Grimm below, a fact that Jaune hadn't expected but appreciated as he was carrying Raven and was stymied by exactly how much he could do with the extra person on his shoulder.

The howl of rage above ceased when the attacks from Ozpin landed and in an instant, Jaune could feel the already closing presence of Salem bearing down on them and urged his body to fall faster as now it felt far to slow in this case.

Holding Raven didn't make for the most graceful impact with the water below, awkward as it was to carry her, to begin with, but then to make sure the plummet didn't snap her neck on collision was felt by his back taking the brunt of the impact. He kicked his legs with everything he had, not bothering to waste any effort to see if Ozpin was with him as with only a brief glimpse he could see Salem bearing down on them with fevor.

A hasty slash of Crocea Mors and the way to the exit was clear, the Grimm that blocked his path dissolving into nothingness as a superheated line of air that was rapidly fading alongside the corpses being any indication that Jaune had done anything.

Tearing through the opening and sprinting with everything he had Jaune could hear the struggling footfalls behind him as Ozpin tried to keep pace as exhausted as he was after a prolonged encounter with Salem.

"Wake up Raven, we really need an exit!" the shout was loud, Jaune cared little about stealth currently as he knew hiding from Salem was pointless, she could and most likely would, simply burn all the surroundings in an instant if she thought she had lost them, as it was right now all he could attempt to do was put as much distance between himself in Mistral as possible, with the ultimate hope being that Raven would return to consciousness before Salem caught up and could open a portal to anywhere that wasn't here so that they could escape.

On sheer reflex alone he found his feet sidestepping as a searing heat could be felt, the maneuver slowing him down significantly but also saving his life as the area he had been running toward just a moment earlier burned with a sickly green flame.

Hoping to recover some lost ground a hand-dug into one of his pouches and without checking to make sure what he pulled he simply pulled the pin in this case and flung it to the ground as he began to run once again feeling for a moment the dead weight on his shoulder stir slightly a good sign but it needed to be much faster if they were to have any hope of escape.

Behind him his device activated, a sharp hiss of air could be heard signaling the beginning of a long loud wail of noise as the sound grenade erupted, it was a device that would normally break the concentration of Huntsmen that had to focus to maintain their Semblances, or to distract powerful Grimm, he had no idea what the result would be of Salem being struck by it.

A more active shift of weight on his shoulder was followed by a confused groan as hands both fought his grip carrying her and also trying to block ears as Raven's returned to consciousness mind tried to figure out which was more important.

Her own stability took priority as she fought off his grip and rather than attempt to keep hold of her simply shrugged her off screaming over the deafening grenade to open a portal to anywhere. It took a moment for Raven to seemingly grasp the situation, between returning to consciousness, soaked by the underground lake, and deafens he could sympathize for a moment, but only that long as he dragged Celica Mors from its sheath and thrust the blade into Raven's hands, screaming louder now that they needed a portal as his grenade reached its crescendo.

A confused understanding seemed to fill Raven as even though she looked confused as to what was happening and who was this who was yelling at her, her instincts kicked in and with a slash, a Portal flashed into existence, not a moment too soon as with an unceremonious *pop* the grenade peeked and the air was filled with another ear-shattering noise that had previously been surpassed.

Turning, the source was immediate, Ozpin knelt on the ground, only a few feet behind himself clutching the bloody stump that was once his right arm, which to anyone else would be a normal reason to scream ones lungs out but Ozpin had endured worse and it was obvious where the agony was coming from.

The severed arm and the relic it held was held by Salem, standing triumphantly over Ozpin, the previous rage over the temporary escape gone.

With a shove Jaune pushed Raven through the portal before Salem could focus on her surroundings. Raven vanished through the portal, Celica Mors still in hand, and Jaune lifted his armguard and unloaded every special dust cartridge in once instant.

The air around him was sucked inward, both superheating the air as it was pulled in while freezing the area's the air vanished from for a moment. Shards of Ice spiked dangerously close around him and with the chaotic distraction he grabbed Ozpin by the collar and hurled him bodily toward Raven's portal, watching him vanish through it with only an agonized look of defeat.

An errant glance to where Salem had been a moment before was all it took to prove to be a mistake as Salem had been confused again for a brief moment, the effects of his attack had no lasting impact and she was already focusing her attention toward himself, a tendril of shadow snaking forward in a flash, severed in an instant but that instant was costly, as a second, then a third, lashed forward, forcing him to respond and prevent his escape.

Crocea Mors swept forward in a savage arc, cutting down three tendrils in a single flourish and Jaune turned, the portal was only a few feet behind him and he charged it, crossing its threshold in a heartbeat, his body slamming down onto the rough dirt.

The attacks stopped and for a moment his mind believed that he had escaped, Salem had the relic of Knowledge and that was a terrible thing but he was alive and safe so there was still a chance.

A chance that he didn't know whether or not it existed as the world around him fell to a suffocating silence.

Pushing himself to his feet he glanced first toward his armguard. All the Dust inside had been expelled to create the opening needed for Raven to open her portal and to allow the three of them to escape with the Relic, now it was simply an instrument defend with. In his hand he gripped Crocea Mors with white knuckles as he eyed the empty leather scabbard that normally housed Celica Mors, the blade gone through the portal with Raven, lost to him now.

With a sigh of frustration, he raised his head finally and looked toward where Salem stood.

So... normalcy has stopped for me, and I cannot even blame it on COVID or the economy.

Many years ago I underwent a 'minor' brain surgery to deal with a problem with my pituitary gland, that went smoothly and the problems I had all but disappeared nearly immediately after the surgery was complete and I was discharged a week or so later.

Fast forward, gods, nearly twelve years and I wake up one morning to a slight headache and a left eye that to me looked like someone had smeared vaseline on, I couldn't see anything other than a weird smudge.

A morning of fumbling panic as I struggled to accomplish anything as I was suffering from other problems related to this and finally after much effort, I was able to locate a phone and call for help. After the fact, I realized the near 2-hour struggle to locate my phone was probably far more concerning than my body/mind made it seem at the time as my cellphone serves as my alarm clock and I wake up next to it every morning.

So yeah, a quick surgery and weeks of appointment and MRI's, bloodwork, and eye exams and I'm finally back home and healthy, with one or two more prescription drugs to take to make sure this never happens again.

That being said here is a new chapter.

Not exactly my finest work but after two weeks of putzing around my house, not allowed to go back to work because of COVID I finally sat down and tried to write to take my mind off things and just sorta see how the story would come to me.

Now, as always lemme know what you guys think, even if it is to tell me that I suck at words.