Eclipse - Act 1 - The Healing

Chapter 2 - Recovery

Ruby

A heavy blasting cascade of wind roars through her mind as she hears the distant roars and screams in the distance. The darkness in her eyes finally clears when she sees the expanse of a lifeless landscape; huge shards of glowing purple dust protrude up from the ground. And the Shattered Moon floating overhead, constantly watching over them like an eye from the gods.

Her heart pounding a hundred times a minute, she slowly looks around at the mysterious Sanctum she has found herself in during her nightmare. The feral growls of Beowulves emerge from around her and she gasps, reaching to her back to find Crescent Rose...

Only for her beloved weapon to not be there after all.

Her heart sinks, knowing she is completely defenceless against the prowling Grimm that approach her with saliva drooling from their razor sharp gnashers. Eyes glowing bright red and the flaming energy trails from their skulls as they skulk ever closer with snarls, ready to tear her flesh from her body.

The Grimm claw their way ever closer with a growl, and Ruby backs up fearfully as they get closer, until they all flinch from something that explodes in the distance.

A sheer bright white light ignites at the summit of a small mountain in the centre of the Sanctum and Ruby's eye widen with fear from what she sees. The bright light shoots a beam of energy up into the sky and towards the opening in the broken moon. With disbelief the moon slowly moves, each chunk that broke away begins to reverse and return to whence it broke loose. Every single piece that crumbled away from the shape of the satellite that protects the world of Remnant fuses back to the moon.

She staggers back with fear, then something in the Grimm changes, as their eyes glow even brighter and they seem to also become more aggressive than ever before. They roar immediately at Ruby and leap towards her, and she screams. But just as they do...

Time stops...

And she slowly opens her eyes, looking up at the frozen in place Creatures of Grimm that float above her right now. "The end is coming...small soul." A chilling female voice speaks from behind her, with a tyrannically regal voice, getting Ruby's attention. She slowly turns round and her eyes widen when she sees her stood there. Tall with a black dress around her pale white body etched with glowing purple and red markings and a black stone between her flaring red eyes.

Ruby freezes, her blood turning to stone when she sees her staring right at her. "W-Who are you?" Ruby whispers fearfully, and a smirk grows across Salem's face.

"I – am Ozpin's Reckoning." Salem states, snapping her fingers and Ruby turns with a scream as the Beowulves land on her. She screams with desperation and agony as they claw into her, biting and tearing chunks from her as she wails, and Salem smirks as she turns and walks away as Ruby is devoured alive by her creations.

As she struggles, there is one last haunting image that Ruby sees...

A face...

With no human features.

Just a metal grill and a pair of green eyes staring straight into her soul.

Then she jolts awake with a gasp, her hands pressed to her stomach with horror in her blood as she pants, it felt so real when the Beowulves started to rip her apart like that. There was so much blood from her body...it nearly makes her sick to imagine how painful that would have been. But she has so many questions...

Who was that?

What was happening to the moon?

What was that place?