RWBY 3: Fall

Part 12 - The Dying Flame

"Explosions..." Nume didn't have time to stop. His lungs burnt and his heart was almost bursting out of his chest. But the sound behind him was definitely an explosion - two large ones - in the residential quarter he was just in. The residential quarter he had left Daryun-

Guilt and worry racked him, but the archer didn't stop. "I hope Octavia is okay... aw man, I really hope I get to see her again!"

Beacon stood atop a cliff on the eastern edge of the city of Vale. While naval transportation was possible via a river, most people travelled to and from the academy via airships. There was, however, a very old staircase carved into the cliff which dated back millennia - when the grounds Beacon now stands on were considered sacred and travellers would make arduous pilgrimages. Nume wouldn't have known about the stairs if not for Daryun. The sickly hunter had a penchant for mysteries and found an abandoned staircase that came out into the middle of the Beacon gardens quite fascinating.

Nume scanned the cliff edge as he approached. Civilians screamed and ran past him. "Crap... definitely can't fight here..." he pivoted and loosed and arrow at the bandaged monstrosity that followed him, ensuring that the creature would remain focused on him and not the civilians- 

It worked.

The bandaged man roared and pushed past the crowd, but he didn't harm them. His eye fixed on the archer.

Nume hit the stairs and ran as fast as he could. He didn't know it, but no one had ever attempted to run up these stairs - and for a good reason. The stairs were carved into stone, stone which was getting old and crumbling, and was wet and slippery in places. The stairs were steep and narrow - barely wide enough for one person. The cliff was on Nume's left side and a sheer drop on his right, the slightest slip meant certain death.

"Good job I'm not afraid of heights..." he tried desperately not to look down-

The sound of rocks crumbling made his heart skip a beat. Nume pushed off with all his might and leapt up a few stairs to safety as the stair he stood on just moments ago broke apart-

The bandaged man screamed like a grimm "RA... VE...N!" and dug his blades into the cliff-

"Oh hell no! Don't you dare!" Nume paused and frantically searched for an arrow-

The bandaged man begun to climb the cliff directly, with incredible speed. The archer fired, hitting the monster's hands with arrows, but it didn't seem phased.

"Holy fuck Raven... this guy really hates you..." the archer sighed nervously and continued to run up the stairs, pushing himself to go faster. The staircase soon begun to carve inside the cliff and into a pitch black tunnel. The archer used his scroll as a light and sped up - now without the fear of falling off. "How the fuck did they make this!?" he wondered, but he would never find out.

Nume finally saw blinding light from the tunnel exit and breathed a sigh of relief. He exited the tunnel and came out into the artificially lit gardens. He was about to pause and look for the tower, but the sound of gunfire made him instinctively look to the side-

There it was. Beacon tower. It was close.

The archer ran towards it without pause. He heard the roar of Atlas transport ships overhead, and saw them land in the distance. A blonde man lead a group of hunters into battle. "Wait... he was in the tournament... Jaune Arc, right?". Nume was about to head for them and ask for help-

*roar*

He knew that roar. It wasn't a grimm. It was him... or should that be 'it'? The bandaged man - the monster! The archer didn't have time to stop, he kept running and bolted into the back entrance of the tower with an arrow nocked and ready.