Volume I: Chapter I: That Night:

I wake up to the sounds of bells, screams, and the roars of the grimm as they tried to barrel through Dorado, my home village, located on the continent of Enima not very far from a rising village known as Oniyuri. I sit there petrified, tears beginning to cloud my eyes, in my bed not knowing what to do. I hear the sound of footsteps- they are my mother's. I haven't heard them in so long. She rushes into my room and grabs me in a panic. My body is trembling and my heart is racing as she wipes the tears rolling down my cheeks and carries my body, paralyzed with fear, down the stairs.

"It's okay sweetie! I've got you!" She says as she holds my head to her chest in an attempt to calm me down.

The screams are getting quieter and farther away as the grimm get louder and closer. Between my rushing heart and my racing mind, I can barely utter a single word other than a weak and shaky "mommy!"

As we near the door, it gets torn down in front of us. My mother freezes in her tracks, still holding my trembling body. A canine snout begins to poke through the doorway, the black mist steaming out of its mouth. The snout is followed by a pitch black wolf's head with burning red eyes staring into my own. The creature slowly crawls into the house and I can see its full body. It looks like a cross between a man and a wolf. It looks to be about 7-8 feet tall if it were standing upright- maybe even bigger. It had long arms and legs that looked like black massive pythons that could constrict their prey in a matter of seconds. It's enormous paws could easily fit my entire body in their grasp with gray dagger-like claws at the end of each finger. Its feet could effortlessly crush my entire body with the slightest bit of shift in its weight if it were to pin me with them. Its fur was blacker than the darkest void except for its face- more specifically, its snout and the area around its eyes, which was hairless and looked to be made completely of bone. It was a beowolf. I had only heard stories of them but I never thought I would encounter one in person.

There is about 10 feet between me and my mother and the beast. I look away with the tears still filling my eyes and bury my face into my mother's chest, cowering and whimpering in fear. I could still hear the growls of the beast getting closer and closer as my mother tightened her grip on me and began moving backward. I could feel my mother's heart beat faster and harder to the point I could hear it as well and her breathing quickly grew heavier and turned to hyperventilating. Judging from the steps she's taken backward, we are no longer in the living room and have been backed and cornered into the kitchen. I looked up at my mother's face. I had never seen such fear in her eyes. I felt her begin to compose herself as she looked down at me, this time with tears in her eyes. She tells me:

"Mommy loves you, sweetie. Don't ever forget that mommy loves you!"

With seemingly no other choice, she tosses me behind her and rushes the beast with a pocket knife that she always keeps on her in an attempt to protect me. She gave it a few stabs in the face but, unfazed, the beast swatted her across the kitchen, knocking her knife away in the process, with such ease that she looked weightless. Her body ragdolled in the air and slammed into the stone wall, knocking her unconscious and leaving a massive crack, and fell to the floor with a heavy thud. The beast lunged at her and began to sink its teeth and claws as it was tearing her limb from limb. I was frozen in place not knowing what to think, what to do, where to go, how to feel, what to say. Should I fight? What if it kills me too? Should I run for the door? I don't know. I don't want to leave mommy, but I also should get daddy who's fighting off the rest of them right now. I just don't know.

I can't even muster the courage to move a muscle. A piece of my mother's flesh hits me in the face that snaps me out of it. After realizing what had just happened I was so overcome with fear and despair, that the only thing I could manage to make myself do was scream and wail my lungs out as my mother was being torn to pieces in front of me. As the beast finished with my mother, it turned its full attention to me, who was still screaming for my father to save me. It's too late for me to run now.

It was now completely facing me, its face and claws now crimson red with my mother's blood. The beast drew nearer and nearer and started to close the distance between us. I could hear its low growls making my heart race to the point I thought it would explode. In an attempt to defend myself, I picked up my mother's pocket knife that was knocked toward me and used it to guard myself. The beast was now 3 feet in front of me. As it got closer, I could feel its hot breath against my face as the black mist emanating from its mouth clouded my vision; however, I could still see those burning red eyes piercing through and looking at me. I gave it a quick slash, but it didn't seem to do anything. It decided to back up a couple feet and I heard my father's voice shouting for me. He must have heard my screams. I shout for him and immediately after, the beast lunges toward me, its massive, black paws stretched out to grab me, enveloping my whole body.

"Sim! Wake up, Sim! Simin!"

I wake up in a cold sweat to my father saying my name and shaking me awake, both hands on my shoulders. I quickly sat up, trying to regain my composure and catch my breath. My father wraps his arms around me to try and calm me down.

"It's okay, Simins. The nightmare's over. I'm here." My father says still trying to comfort me. "Just take deep breaths, okay? In and out. In and out."

I slowly but surely begin to compose myself and eventually, I calmed myself down. My blue pajamas are drenched in sweat. It was over three years ago when I lost my mother that night. I was only 5 at the time and I'll be turning 9 soon. I've never been the same since, but, then again, what kind of kid would be the same after such horror? Since that day, grimm attacks have increased, for reasons no one knows. I wish I could just forget about that night. My head really hurts now.

I hear footsteps rushing up the stairs to my room. Those footsteps belong to my dog, Bruno. He bounds up the stairs and turns toward my room. He jumps on my bed, assaulting my face with licks and dog breath. Bruno is basically my best friend. I found him wandering Dorado one day when I was eating lunch outside- probably a stray who lost his home and/or owner. He went up to me with a begging look on his face and I fed him. He followed me home and I, who loved animals let him inside. When my dad got home, he was slightly surprised. I was just as surprised when he didn't even so much as try to kick him out. He just said "Looks like we have an addition. And proceeded to leave and return with a bag of dog food. Though strange it was, I didn't question it. I assume he let him stay to help me cope with the loss of my mother. We've had him for a little over a year now and he has been such a wonderful friend. He is one of the main things that keeps me together.

When my father is working, which is now more than usual, Bruno is the only company I have. He keeps me from feeling lonely and cheers me up - even if not by a lot- and we pretty much take care of each other when dad is gone. He is a medium sized dog but compared to me, if I were facing him, we would be staring each other in the eye (I am about 3'10" by the way). From the end of his tail to the tip of his nose, he is about 3-4 feet. Wrapped around his neck is a scarlet and black bandana with a diamond shaped pattern. He has golden brown, long, thick fur on most of his body. The fur on his paws and stomach are white and he has a small patch of white fur in the center of his forehead that forms a white diamond.

"Feel better yet?" My dad says in a soft, concerned tone.

I nod in response.

"Okay. Good." My father immediately goes into a slightly more serious tone. "I want you to get dressed and head downstairs. You're breakfast is ready. I'm going to be at work today so, unfortunately, it'll have to be just you and Bruno for the day. Try and get some fresh air alright?"

I nod.

"When I get back, we're going to train so I need you to be ready by then." He says before leaving the room.

I look over at my mother's pocket knife that sat on the nightstand beside my bed. It's all that I really have left of her to remember her by, which is why I always kept it around. I also really liked the design of the blade which had a sort of floral engraving on it. I let out a long sigh before getting up to dress myself in some tan shorts and an airforce blue short-sleeved shirt. I slipped on my socks and put on my brown shoes and headed down. As I walk down the stairs, I am greeted by the smell and sound of simmering meat and eggs. I walk into the kitchen (which was now heavily renovated to the point of unrecognition) followed by my dad and Bruno, who lifts and places me onto the chair since it was too high for me to climb up on without it tipping. On the plate, there are two crispy pieces of bacon, cooked to a reddish brown tint accompanied by a single sunnyside-up egg. To drink, there was a glass of orange juice. I stare at my breakfast and start to get lost in thought. My father notices.

"It's not going to magically hop into your mouth you know." I could tell he was joking judging from the tone of his voice and slight chuckle under his breath.

I quickly snap out of it and begin to eat the breakfast my father prepared for me. I gulp down the orange juice and once finishing, my father lifts me off the chair and places me on the ground and takes my glass and plate. I have been speaking significantly less since then. For almost a year since then, I didn't utter a single word. But my dad and I have been making baby steps in my progress to get me speaking again. Nowadays I will speak every now and then, but I will sometimes go days or maybe even weeks at a time without saying a single word, but during those times, my father always recognizes when I thank him. I give him a hug and he replies with a "You're welcome, Sim."

Sim was the nickname he sometimes called me.

"I'm going to head to work now, Sim. Remember what I said."

I nod.

He bends down and kisses me on the forehead.

"Love you, Simin." He says softly.

As he heads out the door, he stops himself and pokes his head out from behind the door. "Oh! Uh, don't forget to feed Bruno."

He then disappears behind the wooden door as it closes with a creak.

*Chapter End*

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for reading my first chapter. It really means a lot to me. I have been working on this Volume since June last year, and I honestly feel pretty excited/nervous about it. I should let you know that this is a demo chapter and that Volume I is currently being worked on as we speak. I am currently working on chapter 13 and (including 13) have about 5 left to go. Once Volume I is complete, I will start posting weekly every Friday at around 5:00 EST. I should also let you know that a very good portion of this series takes place before the main series with Volume I taking place about 8 years (I'll have to check my math) before the main series starts. Volume I is also basically going to be a prologue of sorts to the main story (my main story, not the main RWBY series) and it will only be focusing on Simin Megistus, so we will not be meeting the other three just yet. Lastly, once Volume I is complete, I will also (hopefully) be posting the story on Archiveofourown and Wattpad under the same author name in case anything were to happen here and also to give my readers multiple options in case they have a preferred way to read this. Also in case you're probably wondering why I keep putting in metric measurements whenever I talk about the measurement of something, I just thought it would be courteous of me to those who use the metric system, so I will be doing that a lot whenever I bring up a specific measurement of something. (also by the way, I don't really have the metric system down completely down yet (I'm trying to teach it to myself) and I am mainly relying on a converter, so if I'm doing something wrong and you use metric, please let me know?)

Anyway, if you have any advice/constructive criticism, please feel free to give it to me. I'm doing this not just because I want to write a fanfiction, but also because I want to be a better writer and I am constantly looking for ways to improve myself, so advice/constructive criticism is always appreciated. If you liked this chapter and are interested or excited to see where the story goes, please spread the word.

By the way, I will not be posting on the weeks of New Years, Christmas, Easter (More specifically Holy Week since Easter falls on a Sunday), and Thanksgiving. And since I'm 19 years old and in college (although I was 18 when I started working on this), there might be some weeks that don't fall into those categories where I won't post like midterms, finals week, or pretty much any week with an exam, or any week where I just have a lot of work to do like if I have multiple papers to work on or something. I promise I will give you a heads up if that ever happens.

One last thing! Sorry if I'm being a bit longwinded here, but I just want to let you know that I also like to drop fun facts (if you want to call them fun) at the end of every chapter about the development or writing process of said chapter just for a bit of fun and hopefully, maybe amuse the reader with some (hopefully) interesting information. I guess you could say it's a little peek behind the scenes or something. Like this one, for example:

Fun Fact #1: This chapter was originally supposed to be the first chapter of a different fanfic I was thinking of writing, but I ended up scrapping it at the last minute and repurposed the chapter for this SLVR fanfiction.

Anyway, I think that's all I have for today. I will (hopefully) see you again once I finish Volume I (which might be sometime in the next couple months (assuming school doesn't slow me down)).

See you once I'm finished and I hope you all have a wonderful day/night wherever you are!