AN: the designs for Salem's daughter Rosalind, her armor, Jaune's armor, and their weapons are on the Facebook page for my stories (under the title 'TheSilverboar' same as the stories themselves)

AN2: sorry about how long it took to get this chapter out, been getting used to new job and new schedule.

Chosen of the Light and Darkness

Chapter 1

-Aether-

Chaos. Death. Anarchy. As Aether, god of Light, gazed down at what he helped create he felt disappointment. Long ago he and his brother had worked together to form the world that resided bellow. He had created the trees and rivers, the mountains and valleys, oceans and sky, the animals and the sun, treating the planet as a canvas for his own personal masterpiece as he showed off before his brother Erebus.

Erebus in turn formed the night, the shade case by light, the dark basin below the deep waters, the presence of darkness itself. In his youthful foolishness Aether had seen this as a challenge to his masterpiece and then crafted the moon and the stars, a light that shines even in the darkest night. He had assumed that Erebus would do nothing, he was wrong.

Feeling wronged, slighted, betrayed, Erebus attempted to create life, to copy what Aether had created. These facsimiles of creatures, formed from the concept of night and fueled by the feelings of betrayal were not the creations that Erebus had wanted but wild and savage. They felt the ever-burning sense of betrayal that had coursed through Erebus and sought to destroy all that Aether had created in the sake of vengeance.

The fury with which the 'Grimm' had ravaged the world, leaving naught but a remnant of what had once been a masterpiece, had turned the two brothers to fighting each personally upon the moon as they looked down at the burning world. Their fight cracked the orbiting moon itself but, in the end, as they lay broken and battered, watching the destruction of what could have been a perfect world, they knew they had to do something.

Erebus' creations had raw power, the younger of the two brothers being a being of raw power and determination.

Aether's creatures had finesse and control, being more adaptable but not as durable as those of his brother.

Together they made humanity, forming them from the water of Aether's earth, the bone of Erebus' Grimm, and the dust from the fallen stone of the shattered moon. From this union formed humanity and their pulsing souls and the dust bellow their feet became Dust. The dust had more of Erebus' raw power and so the Grimm paid it no heed but humanity, they posed just enough of Aether's light to draw their eye and ire.

Humanity was clever, possessing the determination of Erebus and the adaptability of Aether as they harnessed Dust, the power of the gods itself and fought back against the Grimm from the beginning. The war ebbed and flowed, sometimes a raging fire and other times smoldering like ash but never put out. Eventually they tried creating a being to bring the Grimm under control, to reign in their hatred and form a possible peace. Salem was crafted, Erebus doing most of her creation to protect her from the creatures of Grimm. They had hoped she would follow their will, would form peace, but she rejected the purpose she was created for and sought war, driving the Grimm into a further frenzy and with the power of intellect the Grimm were more dangerous than ever.

After a time, they sought someone else, this time Aether choose someone already existing, a master of Aura and Dust by the name of Ozpin. They tasked him with stopping the war and gave him the blessing of reincarnation. The man saw his village destroyed by the Grimm and went away from it all, refusing their task. Eventually four women found him and coaxed him out of hiding and Ozpin spat on their blessings, ripping portions of his pour and putting it into the four women whose power would reincarnate as he would. He refused peace and decided the way to stop the war was to kill Salem and destroy everything she represented.

Salem sought for only the power of Darkness, for Erebus and herself, to exist.

Ozpin wished for only light to shine, for the darkness to be destroyed.

He and his brother wished for balance between them, but it seemed that would never happen.

"Aether!" speak of the devil and he shall appear, a mortal saying that seemed fitting as the god of Light turned and saw his brother approach, a mischievous grin upon his face "I have an idea on how to fix this." There was no question as to what the 'this' was, there was only one problem they were devoted to solving.

"And that is?" he asked, sounding as tired as he felt, they had tried for so long he had doubts they'd ever succeed.

"With Salem we formed her completely, we designed how we wanted her to think, what we wanted her to do and she rejected it. She desired freedom through destruction. Ozpin was already broken against the idea of peace and saw our gift as a curse. What if instead we give blessings to two children, one a child of Salem and one a child of a human. We give them the blessings from birth and visit them in their dreams as they grow, help raise them to bring the peace. Make sure they know each other from the beginning."

"So, what, you make Salem have a child and bless them while I find one of Ozpin's chess pieces and bless their child?" he asked, contemplating the idea "How do we know they wouldn't be corrupted by the thinking of their parents?"

"No, I bless the human child, and you bless Salem's." Erebus grinned "A mingling of light and darkness. We help Salem's child escape the heart of the Grimm lands and let them grow strong enough to form not just a piece, but to turn what is a remnant back into the whole."

Slowly, ever so slowly, a smile began to form on Aether's face "Let's change the world brother."

-Mathias Arc-

Mathias Arc, one of the two Knights of Ozpin's council, a titan of aura and a wall that broke walls of Grimm sat gasping for pain as his wife crushed the bones in his hand "Push!" a nurse yelled as doctors scurried about and their daughters waited outside in the hall.

"What is going on with this?!" he demanded as his wife's grip threatened to shatter his aura, how she was able to do so easily what the Grimm struggled to still befuddled him every time they went through this "It's never been this bad before!"

"I don't know sir!" the nurse says scared as the woman dabs at his wife's forehead "Her aura is fluctuating like I've never seen before!"

"ARE YOU REALLY HAVING THIS CONVERSATION NOW?!" his wife screamed out as she gave another yell "AND YOU!" she glared at him "IF YOU EVEN THINK OF PUTTING THAT THINK BACK IN ME I'M GOING TO CUT IT OFF AND MAKE YOU EAT IT!"

"Yes dear." Mathias Arc, bane of the Grimm themselves, squeaked fear before whimpering in pain as his fingers began to crack.

"Come on, you're almost there!" the doctor urged "Push!"

"AAAAAARGH!" his wife's scream of pain was soon mingled with and replaced by the cry of a child taking its first breaths in the world.

"It's a boy!" the nurses cooed as they checked Mathias' newborn son over before handing him over, his wife cradling the small baby to her chest as she stroked his little tufts of pale blond hair. The jubilation he felt at his first son being born, and relief as his fingers being spared, was quashed when he saw the frowns on the doctor's face as he talked to the nurses.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, eyes narrowed dangerously at the man, demanding answers immediately.

"It's your son, his aura is already unlocked." The doctor said quickly, gulping nervously at the glare being leveled his way.

"What?" he breathed out in shock as he stared at his son, noticing the pale glow now that he knew to look for it "How is that even possible?"

"It's been known to happen in the past for very rare circumstances." The Doctor explained, the man having a specialty in treating those with aura "Sometimes it happens when the mother's aura is unlocked during the pregnancy. This is the most common way it happens but clearly not what happened here. Other ones are if the mother, who already has aura unlocked, channels aura either intentionally or unintentionally into the fetus during development to a sufficient degree."

The unasked question was directed at Juniper as she shook her head, still stroking the head of their son "I never channeled my aura during the pregnancy." She denies resolutely.

"The third and rarest are when the child's soul is so strong their aura is unlocked naturally. It looks like you have a very gifted son Mr. Arc." With that the doctor let in their daughters to meet their new baby brother. Watching the interaction was enough to bring a smile to his face despite the tense atmosphere that was only faintly receding. Stepping just aside he pulled out his scroll, "Oz, there's something you need to know."

-Salem-

Frowning she looked at the child who shared her same ivory skin and glowing eyes, a child she was commanded to sire the god who formed the Grimm themselves, much to her displeasure at the task. "Hazel," she commanded as she lay in a bed, Tyrian dragging away the terrified human medical experts who had just outlived their usefulness "take your child, I don't have the time to deal with her." She was told to give birth to the brat, not to actually raise it herself.

"As you wish Salem." The large stoic man nodded, taking the little girl away and moving to find a room for her in the citadel. She had chosen Hazel for the simple reason that he wouldn't let his one time laying with her go to his head as Watts would have, nor did he 'enjoy' it too much as Tyrian most certainly would have. Either way she had done her task, gained a potentially powerful or useful tool, and would put this whole pointless action behind her so long as the brat didn't make a nuisance of herself.

-Erebus-

"We did it Aether!" the god of darkness crowed as they looked down upon their chosen champions. His, Jaune Arc, was being doted upon and played with by his many sisters. Aether's Champion, Rosalind, was being watched by Grimm and occasionally Hazel.

"But we'll have to get Rosalind out of there as soon as we can." The god of light frowned at how his champion was being treated "Perhaps guide her to one of our worshipers as a 'blessing' to them in the form of a daughter?"

"Maybe." He acknowledged as he stared into the void, "Either way, I think this could be just what we needed to fix this mess." Within the swirling pool of the Abyss the god of Darkness saw two figures, their champions several years hence. He saw Jaune Arc, standing tall and proud in armor as black as knight, his very presence screaming of power. Rosalind walked beside him, her stance more primal and movements more fluid as she was draped in the brightest white. Together they were quite a pair, together they were Remnant's final hope for true salvation.