The Child of Light & Darkness

Prologue

"You disappoint me," she said.

Her words, though simple, were ice cold and pierced Tyrian like three sharp blades. Heartbroken and mortified he shank into himself, his feelings of sorrow and anguish boiling over. All at once his emotions spilled out of him, spewing forth as he wailed in grief. He had failed in his task and worst of all he had failed his mistress, his Goddess, Salem. He cried louder, his voice echoing in the large sparring chamber. It would come as no surprise that he did not hear the growing of a Beowulf nor the clicking of it's claws against the stone floor as it approached, his negative feelings basting him in a tantalizing aura. Without warning the Grimm leaped into the air, ready to pounce on its unsuspecting prey and feast.

Unfortunately for it the maimed Faunus' instincts were sharper than its own. Sensing the creature's bloodlust Tyrian's sorrow turned to unbridled rage as he lashed out at the creature, pinning it to the ground before slashing at it again and again and again with his claws. While the Grimm whimpered at first it soon made no sound at all as the scorpion tore into it's hide. With hot tears of anger rolling down his cheeks Tyrian's cries of anguish slowly devolved into peels of horrible laughter as he imagined his prey, the silver-eyed girl, falling victim to his own claws. Thinking this brought him such joy and would especially win back his Mistress's praise.

Salem, having left the room only moments before, heard Tyrian's voice echoing through the empty halls of her castle. She paid it no mind as she flowed like a specter down the hall. His voice was nothing more than the ravings of a failure, a pawn who had failed to fulfill his duty. They were nothing more than background noise at this point, much like the wind that blew outside the windows. Still all was not lost. This was merely a small setback and she still had stronger pieces left to play on the board. Salem smiled, oh yes there were much stronger tools still left at her disposal and many were unaware that she was pulling their strings. Traveling deep within her mysterious home Salem descended down into the castle dungeons.

Few of her followers knew of this place let alone what she kept down here. For all they knew it was empty, collecting dust and cobwebs the way a child collects stamps. Yet she knew. She knew of the man, the tool she kept locked down here, away from the prying eyes of her servants. He was powerful and quite useful if only he would cooperate. Unfortunately, he was stubborn and loath to adhere to anyone's while save his own. However, much had changed since she had locked him away and some solitude might have helped him to change his mind. That and, after careful observation, she had come to realize that she had something he wanted very badly and he had something she needed very badly. All that was left was for them to "help" each other.

The darkness soon gave way to an odd light as the candles ceased at the foot of the stairs, ensuring the only light to be seen came from the strange crystals that grew on the dungeon walls. Though dimly lit it was enough to show her the way and cast an eerie shadow as she moved without a sound. The moment she touched the ground floor, however, Salem lost any element of surprise. All at once she felt eyes peering down at her from all directions, ensuring she could do nothing more than sneeze without an invisible hand offering her a tissue. It was a strange feeling to have but somehow this pleased her. It meant he had not lost his fire, his desire to be set free. He was always watching, waiting for the moment when fate would give him the opportunity to escape. Little did he know that today was his day.

Following the dim light through the halls it soon opened up into a long stretch where either side was lined with jail cells. At the very back was situated the largest cell and the only one currently occupied. While the crystals allowed some light to illuminated the outer cells this one remained pitch black as if even the light was afraid to go near him. Before long Salem stood erect outside his cell, her hands folded casually in front of her and a pleasantly creepy smile on her lips.

"Good evening Jack," she said warmly, gazing down at the silhouette laying on the stone bed.

"What do you want?" the man asked tartly.

"Come now, is that any way to speak to your hostess? I've provided you with food and shelter and in return you're unapologetically rude. The least you could do is look me in the eye when speaking."

As if to answer her sarcastic remark a lone spider descended from the celling. It lowered itself until it's tiny body was level with her eyes. While its features were difficult to make out in the poor lighting Salem could still sense the connection between it and her prisoner.

"There, now I have eight gazing at your two. Happy now bitch?" he said smartly.

All at once Salem let out a peel of laughter that was both haunting and intimidating. The figure stirred, obviously unnerved by her uncharacteristic response to his candid insult, a feeling obviously shared by his arachnid servant which seemed to shrink away from the pale skinned woman.

"Why are you here?" he asked once she had finished laughing.

"I have a task for you Jack, something I believe you'll be most useful in performing. Should you succeed I might be inclined to give you something you want very much."

Now it was Jack's turn to laugh only his was a gruff chortle that sounded like the rattling of bones. "What could you possibly offer me that would tempt me to even consider aiding you?"

"Freedom Jack, and not just from this cell. Freedom from Remnant, from those who've persecuted you and would do you harm if they were to learn of your existence. Help me and I will ensure that no one ever hurts your again. Remnant will bow to me and in turn all shall do as I command and as an added bonus I'll leave you alone. You'll never see me nor anyone of my followers again. You'll be free to live a life in solace, just as you always wanted."

The young man craned his neck revealing one ice-blue eye staring back at her, intrigued though suspicious. Salem smiled, knowing he was nibbling at the bait she'd cast before him.

"What sort of task did you have in mind?"

"There is a girl, about sixteen years of age, with raven black hair tinged with crimson and silver eyes," she said.

"Silver-eyes?" the man whispered in disbelief.

"That's right. Those same eyes injured my dear Cinder and left her scarred. I want you to bring her to me, alive."

"It would be easier if I simply plucked out her eyes and brought those instead. Save me the trouble of dragging a snot-nosed teenager all the way back," he said as he lifted himself into a sitting position.

"No, you will bring the girl to me unharmed. Do this and I will grant you your freedom."

"Sure, sure, but one thing I feel I must ask. Suppose you set me lose from here. What's to stop me from running to the furthest reaches of Remnant and never coming back? What guarantee do you have that I'll return at all, girl in tow?" he asked. Leaning on his hands his eyes peered into the dim light that illuminated Salem. Despite his confines they held a surprising amount of confidence as if he expected himself to win in this game of whit.

"My dear Jack, you misunderstand. The only reason I offer you freedom from my influence is because there is no place on Remnant that I cannot reach. Free though you would be, doesn't mean there isn't a single place you could run to that I would not be able to find. Obey me and you will be rewarded. Betray me and you will a face far worse fate than anything the persecutors of your past could have put you through."

Jack leaned back against the wall, keeping his stance relaxed in an effort to hid how intimidated her was by her. He was silent for a long while and Salem found this to be in her favor. The longer the man took to decide the more she knew how he would start to see no other way than hers.

"When do I leave?" he asked.

"I'll have your clothes readied for you and Emerald along with Mercury will take you to her last know location," Salem said with a smile before turning to leave.

As she began to ascend the stairs she heard Jack yell out "and what about the door?"

Without turning back, she waved her hand and the cell door opened with a loud creak.

"Happy hunting."

First, let me welcome those of you who've chosen to read my first RWBY fanfic. I'm really excited to be making this and to see so many people showing their support in the creation of this story. Also, for those those of you who are already part of the fan base following this story then you may notice that some changes have been made to this chapter. They are small, obviously, as most of them were simply grammar changes. I'll be doing that to the next few chapters to clean everything up before working on my latest chapter.

I hope you all enjoy reading this. Please follow and fav this fanfic and if you'd leave a review of what you think of my story thus far let me know. Lastly, I know many of you will have questions regarding the OCs that I've developed so let me say that, any questions you may have now will more than likely be answered as the story progresses.

As always see you next time RWBY fans.