(A/N: And we're at 4 of 5 now. That's a passing grade but lets go for a 100%!)
XOXO
XX Years Later
Mistral
XOXO
Her blades sank deep into the pitch black fur of the beowolf's neck. With a yank, she wretched them out, spinning into a twist and slicing through the bodies of several others, their bisected bodies coming apart into smoking heaps of darkness. Backpedaling, she leaped away from the vicious claws of another, flipping further back the moment she landed and rejoining the line.
"Yeah, I don't know about you guys but I'm kind of running low on aura here." Mercury said from her left as he fired off bursts of energy with a series of kicks, each one slamming into the Grimm ahead.
"Same here." Emerald said, firing off into the hoard with her weapons. She glanced over as she reloaded. "Should we…"
Cinder clenched her twin blades, looking behind her.
A small village, insignificant and meaningless. They'd only been passing through on their way back to Mistral. Those behind its walls meant nothing to them. The line of fighters around them, many barely able to produce more than a basic aura shield, were just as meaningless.
Its destruction, the deaths of those who called it home, meant nothing.
She'd have abandoned this pointless fight without batting an eye.
"We just need to hold out for now." Cinder said, twisting back around, eyes narrowed. "Stick together and don't take any stupid risks. We aren't dying for these people."
"Got it." Emerald said, she and Mercury stepping in closer to her as they stared down the Grimm pouring out towards them.
They stepped forward.
A sword sliced through the group of Grimm in front of them. With a curved arc the silvery blade spun across the entire field, saving many from near death. One by one it was joined by four others blades of varying sides and shape, all chopping and piercing through the Grimm as if they had minds of their own.
One final blade, the largest of them all, stabbed into the ground in front of them, buried in the dirt. A person followed, one foot on the guard and the other on the bottom of the pommel, their long black hair wafting with the winds and crimson eyes half lidded.
"You guys good?"
"Still kicking, boss." Mercury said.
"Finally." Emerald exclaimed, weapons lowered. "You better find a way to get us paid for this."
He raised a brow as their eyes met. Looking at him, you wouldn't think he was the one controlling the blades flying across the battlefield behind him. If it'd been her choice, she never would've ended up working with someone like him, but he had power in spades. The kind of power she wanted.
The kind of power she needed.
"About time you got here, Talon." Cinder said, the hold on her swords loosening.
XOXO
(A/N: Yeah, Yeah, I already see the comments coming. I've never written any part of this story with a word count in mind, just letting chapters be as long as they need to be to do what I planned for them and it just so happens they tend to be in the same ranges. This chapter is meant to be what I'm pretty sure is called a cold open for this next arc or volume if you want to call it that. Sparse on details with a main focus on creating obvious and not so obvious questions about how things got where they got. Also, providing a good idea on the direction things will eventually go over the course of that volume.
Consider this me trying new things out as a writer. Like this first person stuff. People have taken surprisingly well to that so hopefully this goes over well too.
A cold open fit as a opening for this next arc but I don't really have anymore like it planned in the future so I sincerely doubt there will be any chapters this short anytime soon. Thinking about something called intermissions but that's not an idea I'll put into action until this arc ends and the next begins so better not to get ahead of myself.
We'll be getting an image on Talon's general appearance in the next chapter among other things. Its a pretty big time skip so if you end up feeling like you have a lot of questions in your head, that was the intention.
As always, link for those who want to read ahead:
patreon .com/ thirdratewriter
Lets hope I hit that 5th chapter and don't leave you all hanging on this short ass one.