Chapter 1: Knee Deep in Sheep

Salem didn't think much when she woke up today. As far as she was concerned it was another day in her unending life, save for an assembly with her underlings to discuss their next move on Haven Academy since their meeting with Raven Branwen. Arthur Watts was absent as he had to travel to Mantle for the next phase of her scheme.

Yet the disgraced scientist confided in her some concerns of his. Namely that Cinder was going to jeopardize the Haven mission over petty revenge against the silver-eyed brat who disfigured her during the attack on Beacon Academy.

With the Relic of Knowledge housed at Haven and wanting to minimize risk even further, Salem requested that Tyrian, one of her more fanatical minions, delay his travel with Watts in order to ensure success for the mission. Neither the disgraced scientist nor the serial killer complained about her decision; not that it was ever an option.

The meeting went precisely as Salem wanted, concluding with a not-so-friendly reminder to all who were present not to put their own personal ambitions over her own. Simple enough. As the meeting was adjourned, the group began to hear sounds originating from the distant parks of the land. It was faint, noticeable, yet incomprehensible for a short while. Soon it became apparent what it was. They were too dumbstruck by what they knew this unmistakable sound to be to notice the rumbling that accompanied it.

It was the sound of Grimm being massacred.

The only logical explanation was that her home was being invaded.

Salem's bewilderment was shared by all in the room. She knew that Ozpin didn't have the capacity to launch such an offensive against her realm nor would he do so in such a reckless fashion. Without a word Tyrian burst out of the room to assess the situation but returned almost as quickly as he left.

"T-they've already overrun the last line of defense! They're everywhere!" his panicked tone only amplified the feeling of dread in the room.

"How can this be? Who can overtake the Grimm so quickly!?" Hazel, the giant of the group, shouted in disbelief.

"WHITE! All you can see is white!" Tyrian yelled in an uncharacteristically frightened tone. Mercury looked out the window in curiosity while Emerald stayed near her master as if fearing for the older woman's safety.

"Oh my God, look! They actually are everywhere!" exclaimed Mercury as he motioned for the others to peer out the windows as he was. For as far as the eye could see, there was an army clad in white that was nearly at the foot of Salem's castle.

While too crowded together to discern their enemy's true form, they could tell that the individuals that made up this force were round in shape, definitely not humanoid.

It seemed to the Grimm Queen that this army was rolling over the creatures of darkness, crushing them beneath their combined might. It was than that the rumbling finally registered in their heads, which was how they could measure the army's progress.

The sight bothered Salem immensely. Her home, the Land of Darkness, was the former domain of the Dark God. This place, vile and wretched by the standards of most people, gave birth to the endless stream of Grimm that have plagued Remnant since time immemorial. From her own experiences, any kind of assault should have been extremely difficult if not outright impossible.

Yet the entire land was overrun in less than five minutes. That ominous rumbling intensified as Hazel was hastily looking for something to use to make an impromptu barricade. Realizing he was too late to react; Salem forced the giant doors shut using her magic. The Queen's actions came in the nick of time as they all saw the white ocean turning the corner through the tiny opening that remained in the doors as they were slammed shut.

To Salem's horror there were deformations in the large wooden doors as the tsunami crashed into it, causing wooden fragments to fly off. Yet they didn't relent, as they kept ramming into the obstacle.

Instinctively, Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, Tyrian, and Hazel threw themselves at the door, trying to prevent entry. Yet the door was deforming more and more with every successive bash despite their best efforts.

While this was going on, a new sound invaded their ears: a chorus of excited 'baas'. It penetrated the massive doors, sowing confusion and disbelief in them all, especially Salem.

When the doors were forced open slightly, she could see fluffy white wool protruding through the gap as well as a flailing mess of tiny brown hooved legs. Despite the situation they were in, some repressed part of Salem's psyche thought that the scene before her was utterly adorable.

But than it occurred to her: was the Land of Darkness seriously being invaded, successfully no less, by a herd of sheep?

Moving to get a view through the opening they created, Salem got a better look of their features. Their face and legs protruded from the ball of fluff in addition to a pair small horns on top of their heads. They had large round eyes with white horizontal pupils and grey plaits hanging on the sides of their heads.

Even though it wasn't a breed she was aware of, Salem could say with 99.9% certainty that it was some type of sheep.

A whole herd of them.

She only looked on in disbelief as her minions: a notorious serial killer, a giant who injected raw dust crystals into himself, and the Fall Maiden, were failing to hold back the herd.

With one last mighty push, the sheep broke down the door, enveloping the witch's followers as they came tumbling down, barreling their way towards the dark monarch. The encroaching pile they formed reached as high as the room's ceiling.

It quickly became apparent to Salem that none of her underlings could be saved. Cinder was buried and trying in vain to escape. Emerald was the only the who tried to save her by reaching for the Fall Maiden's free arm that was desperately flailing for rescue, but the sheep were up to the thief's waist, thwarting her attempt. Tyrian was being pulled into the mess as they grabbed him by his hair and tail. The only thing of Mercury she could see was his hand sticking out, his open palm begging for salvation. And Hazel… she didn't even see him anymore.

Erecting a magical barrier between herself and the Herd seemed to be the only thing that could protect herself at the moment, but Salem wasn't satisfied with just defending.

With the barrier stabilized, Salem turned to her more offensive spells as they wouldn't burst her own shield.

Although the attacks were connecting, they were having absolutely no effect. If they didn't ignore them outright, her magical attacks would bounce off their fluffy wool coats. In fact, Mercury's begging hand was hit by one such deflected bolt. The pain caused him to instinctively recoil, allowing what was left of him to be fully consumed by the mess of fluff.

Seeing how offensive magic was useless, Salem decided to try something more sinister: corruption. Approaching the edge of the bubble, to the closest of the sheep creatures whose face she could see clearly, she reached out and touched the monstrosity's small face. Next she attempted to infuse with the same dark essence that made her who she was, to turn it into just another minion of hers.

Yet these things were bent on defying her expectations in ways that only intensified the Grimm Queen's horror at her powerlessness in her current situation. The corruption failed. With a load, defiant 'baa', the sheep Salem tried to enthrall chomped down on her hand with the most powerful nibble she ever experienced!

Upon seeing the bane of humanity recoil in pain from the nibble, the sheep were only encouraged to break down the temporary obstacle in front of them.

Too caught up in her hatred for these things, these sheep that made her feel so powerless, that Salem failed to notice that visible cracks were forming in her magical barrier as the sheep kept tackling, trampling, and summoning reinforcements to add even more weight to their assault.

Salem had no choice, she simply didn't. With her minions consumed and no way to harm these…things, the only option at this point was escape.

With a simple teleportation spell, Salem materialized in front of the airship that her minions would use to journey to and from her realm. Mercifully, the docking area was still clear of those monstrosities. Salem figured that they were too busy raiding her castle or simply didn't know it existed.

Turning back to quietly say goodbye to the place she called home for the last couple of centuries, Salem saw how quickly the mountain of sheep were dispersing. What was interesting is that they were heading in the direction… of the airship.

Dread overcame Salem once more as she came to the realization that, somehow, the sheep knew her general location. The primal self-preservation instinct Salem thought she once lost gave her a sudden adrenaline-boosted mad dash to the ship.

The airship took off in record time and gained altitude just as fast, if only because Salem ignored even the most basic of pre-flight safety precautions. Any normal person would have felt nauseous from the strain but Salem wasn't ordinary. She was the undying queen of Grimm who was fleeing for her life from a herd of sheep she couldn't hurt or enthrall.

One would think being high in the sky would have calmed her nerves but Salem's sense of powerlessness only grew upon seeing just how vast the Herd was. It was one thing to see an endless number of sheep from inside her castle, but was it was something else entirely from the sky.

"This can't be happening." Salem repeated to herself like a mantra as she sunk back into her pilot seat as desperation began to take hold. "This is just a bad dream. Yeah, a bad dream. I just need go to sleep, wake up, and everything will be okay! Oh what's the best way to fall asleep? Oh yeah! Counting sheep!"

Salem actually slapped herself for suggesting the idea to herself given the current predicament and for thinking it would be wise to fall asleep while operating an aircraft.

"Okay so what are my options?" Salem asked herself before beginning a brainstorm.

"Baaaa"

Salem's pupils shrank to the size of a pin upon hearing that sound. Slowly and anxiously, she turned her head to the sound's direction. Standing in the middle of the ship was one of the sheep. She could see how small the sheep really was; it couldn't have been more than two feet tall. But that was for this particular sheep, Salem could have sworn that the others that swarmed her castle varied in size.

Speaking of swarms, Salem couldn't help but wonder why this specific sheep came on its own instead of coming with its friends. Furthermore it was here before the rest of its herd, waiting for her.

Were these things intelligent?

No, they couldn't be. They're sheep! Why waste her breath trying to communicate with something that, in all likelihood, couldn't communicate back?

"Baaaaaa"

Setting the ship to autopilot, Salem got up to physically remove the intruder. That was still an option, right?

"Baaa?" the sheep's expression change and tilted its head a little to the right, as if confused by the intent conveyed by Salem's body language.

As she menacingly approached it, the sheep realized her intentions and tackled her in full sprint! The monstrosity packed quite the punch as Salem recoiled from the tackle to her but was able to hold her ground. The little demon had to jump in order to headbutt her in the chest, allowing her to grab it and suspend off the ground in her grip.

But gosh darn it did the wool feel soft in her hands. Salem felt her worries drift away while gripping it. Her mind was invaded by thoughts about nurturing the sheep, protecting it, cuddling it. The sheep sensed this, as it ceased its struggle to free itself from her grip. It even rubbed its head against her affectionately.

She must spoil the Wooloo.

Wait, what?

No.

Bad thoughts.

This was exactly what the little devil wanted! To make her drop her guard and be consumed like her underlings. With her renewed willpower Salem kicked the sheep out of the airship. She watched as it gave out an uninterrupted 'baaa' as it fell to the ground, bouncing off several rock formations in the realm. Out of morbid curiosity, Salem watched to see if long falls could cause it harm.

Yet she was both unsurprised and disappointed when the creature got up without as much as a scratch despite the massive drop and the number of rocks it hit on its way down. It looked on back at Salem as she went back to the cockpit.

Catching her breath, Salem came to a realization as she took her seat. The airship has an emergency Seer. She could communicate with Watts and Lionheart!

With them alone, it may not be the ray of hope she was looking for but it was a start.

The downside was that Watts was taking a shortcut to Mantle to compensate for the change in plans. There wouldn't be any chance that he'd be able to meet up again with Lionheart at Haven Academy.

She than had another realization: Haven Academy.

Lionheart would provide her a safe haven at Haven Academy. She couldn't help but snicker at her own pun.

Resetting the autopilot to head to Haven, she prepared herself as best she could before making a conference call between Watts and Lionheart. These sheep things had to have a weakness. Watts could help with the research aspect and Lionheart could direct Huntsmen and Huntresses against the Herd as guinea pigs in her newfound quest to find their weakness and reclaim her realm from them.

The Herd looked on as Salem's airship flew into the horizon. That was a bummer. They went out of their way to have a representative of theirs meet with her one-on-one to come to an understanding and reach a resolution that was agreeable to both parties. There was a hope that their display of force today would have shown her that they will ultimately get what they want and that it wasn't too late for her to get a pleasant outcome instead of doing things the hard way.

Instead what they got today, was this.

Her evasion today was unfortunate but irrelevant. They had already planned out what to do in the event she got away. With the Grimm eliminated and the spawning pools seized, the Herd went to work repurposing this dark place of hers into something that would be more productive and put smiles on everyone's faces.

Well at least not for Salem's captured underlings. Their foul, terrified screams were thankfully muffled by the Herd members tasked with seizing them as they were loaded onto transportation for the Right Time.

They were mad and frowning when they were fastened to their seats in the aircraft. Yet those frowns would be turned upside down once it was the Right Time.

Those who weren't tasked with making preparations for the Right Time were gathering tools to get to work. When their work will be finished, Salem's minions and the land would be unrecognizable.

While on the topic of positive developments, they checked their tablets for updates from two specific members in Atlas and Mantle respectively. Things were proceeding well except for a handful of malcontents. Nothing they couldn't handle. Heck they already planned how to deal with them as entertainingly as possible. However the Atlas member's ideas were a little…extravagant. While some in the Herd supported his ideas, mostly for the fun of it, others felt it would compromise the supposed subtle nature of his mission.

It was the opinion of the Mantle agent that there was absolutely nothing subtle about their work whatsoever. After what they accomplished here at the Realm of Darkness, subtlety was a thing of the past. In fact, the Mantle agent pointed out how the nature of his task meant that being inconspicuous was never an option.

The dissenters felt compelled to agree with the Mantle Agent. They were convinced the outcome was ultimately unaffected, no matter how flashy the Atlas Agent's ideas were.

This certainty was why it didn't matter if Salem escaped them today. They would have her one way or another.

She owes them a lot and the Wooloo Herd never forgets an unpaid debt.

Author's Note: I got bored during quarantine so I decided to write a story based on this image: /y8ay8a/status/1207462264988672004/photo/1