I know what your thinking "Wait this is chapter 1, I though last chapter was chapter 1?" well that last chapter was mainly me testing the water to see if people will even like this story and considering how over 700 people have read this and there are 9 people who's added it to there library even though there's only one chapter with less then 2k words clearly some people liked it so here is a chapter with close to 5k words your welcome and thanks for supporting my work.
Multiverse GOD P.O.V.
"Oh, you want to know how and why I sent Eden D Thorn into Remnant? Well, it all started when I was walking down the Multiverse pathway, you know the one most gods like me take so as to not accidentally break or cause problems for others, but well..."
As I was walking there was this blur of red followed by rose petals that bumped into me, and as due to being a variant of Eden D Thorn I ended up collided with his universe, and I may have ended up displacing that universes Eden and in the processes nearly fused (more like absorbed) his soul, and while I was able to fix most of him, he is still very much fractured and its only due to some of my energy being in him that he is still able to live.
Now, while I'm not blaming Chibi Ruby for causing this mess, it is in the end still her fault for all this; I'm just glad that other me bought the whole "accident and now I'm trying to fix it scheme", though I think I may have hit him too hard, resulting in him forgetting the whole illusion.
Sluurrrrpppp. "Hmm, oh, you're back, so yeah that's about how it went down so now if you'll excuse me I'm off to watch other universes; for example, there's this universe that combined Black Bullet and Tokyo Ghoul, though the Black Bullet part takes place after, well, spoilers and all, so I'll leave it at that. After all, the RC Cells are literally called red child cells; it all fits."
O-o-O-o-O (This means a scene change btw)
I usually LOVE to sleep in, and I mean full-on hibernation sleep; if I wanted to, I could sleep for over 12 hours with the only problem being a dry throat and a slight headache. However! The only times when I wake up early are when I feel like I'm forgetting something, when I have something really important to do or when I'm in an unfamiliar place like, for example, the middle of the tundra with forest surrounding me.
That was not the reason for why I woke up however the reason for why I woke up was due to a new noise being introduce to me, now here's a fun fact animals and this includes humans are usually able to fall asleep while there are noises around be it loud or quiet however when a new noise or when there's suddenly silence they instantly wake up and that is what is happening here, as some where in the distance I'm hearing sounds.
I remained perfectly still, staring up at the rough branches that made up the roof of my shelter, hoping that whatever's out there won't notice me.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch, Not an animal was the first thought; animals tended to move in bursts and be a lot quieter. A rabbit would hop, and even then I think most snow rabbits would dig tunnels and foxes wouldn't create a noise that loud, and a wolf pack would produce an irregular rhythm as they moved through the snow.
I thought in a rush due to my slight panic and hope that it works as a way to calm me down and not fall into fear, as it could be a Grimm, though I thought in the lore most grimm weren't able to survive the cold.
This was different.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
It was a steady, measured, almost deliberate gait.
'Great, it's most definitely a human or at least something smart, and it's hunting.' Slowly, I pushed myself upright, wincing as my stiff muscles protested. The fire had burned somewhat low due to the night, leaving little more than a small flame that cast long shadows across the shelter.
The noise continued closer now, probably a few trees out. A cold breeze slipped through the branches as if death was over my shoulder, just waiting.
Then the footsteps stopped; every instinct I had immediately screamed that this was bad. Nobody stops walking in the middle of nowhere unless they've found what they're looking for.
A long, uncomfortable silence. Then a faint mechanical hum drifted through the trees. That is definitely not a Grimm. A pale blue light suddenly flashed across the forest like a drone of some sort.
The light disappeared for a moment before several more joined it. It's not just one patrol but multiple.
A cynical part of my brain thought, 'Who in the world sends this many people after a random campfire smoke?'
I carefully peeked through a gap in the shelter; the sight that greeted me made my stomach sink. Black armoured figures moving between the trees with practiced precision. Their white cloaks blended into the snow while rifles remained trained on every possible angle of approach.
Soldiers, or at least something close to them, could be the white fang for all I know, or some random bandit group to make things even worse; several drones floated overhead, their optics scanning the area.
One of the soldiers crouched beside a set of footprints my footprints, the tracks I'd left yesterday while gathering firewood. I'd hoped the night and wind would cover them when I slept, clearly it didn't.
The soldier tapped the side of their helmet. A moment later, every drone's optics shifted along with a batch of the soldiers, all looking straight toward me or at least my general area.
"...Fuck." I whispered. They found me a second later; a voice crackled through a speaker somewhere.
"Unknown individual. You are surrounded."
I looked around my tiny shelter with the tiny gaps allowing me to see rifles and drones all targeting my shelter 'yeah no shit sherlock'.
"Exit slowly with your hands visible."
I closed my eyes. There went the peaceful morning I hoped for. I stared at the entrance of my shelter for several seconds.
Could I run?
Probably, though not very far; the people outside were trained individuals. Running would just convince them I was a threat; how should I play this… With a sigh, I slowly raised my hands. "Alright! Alright! I'm coming out!"
The response was immediate. "Exit slowly."
Carefully pushing aside the branches that concealed the entrance, I stepped out into the freezing night air.
Several lights immediately locked onto me, making me squint so definitely trained and trained well at that.
"Ow. Right in the eyes." I complained, though there was no response. There were six soldiers that I could see and probably more that I couldn't.
All of them wore white winter combat gear marked with Atlas insignia, so there soldiers, thank fuck.
Behind them floated two drones whose weapons were aimed directly at my chest; they even had a red dot on me.
That is extremely concerning, especially considering I can't go venom on there arses. One of the soldiers stepped forward.
"Tundra Security Division." His helmet concealed his face.
"Place you're possessions on the ground and step away."
Slowly, I removed my camera bag and placed it onto the dirt after clearing the snow; after all, I wouldn't want the tech inside being destroyed.
The soldier's gaze lingered on it.
"A camera bag?"
"...Yes? Urm, yes, sir?"
Nobody said anything. The silence somehow became even more awkward after the soldier motioned toward another member of the patrol, who probably thought it was a bomb.
"Search it."
The second soldier approached cautiously, expecting explosives; I almost felt bad for him, though I was more amused, if anything.
He opened the smallest pocket first. "Sir."
"What?"
"...Lollipops." The patrol leader stared at him. The soldier stared back, super serious, then replied again. "...Several lollipops. Sir."
A few seconds passed.
"Continue." And the search resumed.
"Seven storage cards."
"Noted."
"Camera batteries."
"Noted."
"Cleaning equipment."
"Noted."
The soldier opened another compartment. His movements slowed.
"Sir." He said extremely seriously; the patrol leader sounded irritated now.
"What?"
"Orange juice."
"What?"
"A carton of orange juice. Sir."
The entire patrol fell silent. I could practically hear their collective confusion and mild amusement, the soldier held it up. "It appears unopened." Again, he said this extremely seriously.
"Why do you have orange juice?" the leader asked.
"I like orange juice," I said as if it's an obvious fact, all the while trying to hide my glee at all this. The leader didn't seem satisfied with that answer, so the search continued.
"Camera lenses."
"Tripods."
"Filters."
"Battery charger."
Another pause.
"Sir," as if about to say something unexpected.
"What now?"
"There are more camera lenses." And now, while he did say this extremely seriously, you could clearly hear the underlying amusement at this moment.
The patrol leader slowly rubbed the bridge of his nose, though it made him look stupid considering he still had the mask on, as even through the helmet I could feel his frustration.
I honestly couldn't blame him; from his perspective, they'd tracked an unidentified individual through the Atlas tundra during the Vytal Festival, where very important people all over the world are coming only to discover what appeared to be the world's most lost photographer, which wasn't exactly wrong.
The soldier finally finished his search, though he seemed slightly saddened at not being able to continue frustrating his officer. "No weapons, sir."
That got everyone's attention back onto me and not the magic bag of camera gear; the patrol leader looked back toward me.
"No weapons?"
"Nope."
"No firearm?"
"No."
"No blades?"
"No."
"No combat equipment?"
"No."
The man was silent for several moments. Then he looked at the shelter. Then at me. Then at the camera bag. Then back at me.
"You crossed the Atlas tundra carrying photography equipment."
"Yep." I even popped the P.
"And survived."
"Yep," again popping the P.
"Who are you?"
That was an excellent question, unfortunately, I had absolutely no idea how to answer it in a way that wouldn't make this situation significantly worse.
The patrol leader continued staring at me.
I continued staring at him.
Finally, he spoke. 'Ha, I won.' Said a part of my monkey brain that thought itself funny. "Why are you here?"
"Honestly? I'm not entirely sure, I was hired by someone from Vale to come and take Photos for their news on the Vytal festival, but they didn't exactly leave me a way to get into Atlas, so I had to use what god gave me and walk."
The silence that followed suggested that was not the answer he had been hoping for. One of the soldiers shifted slightly as if imagining the pain of my walk; at least that's what I imagined.
Another wrote something on a data pad. Probably: Possible idiot. Which, in fairness, was a reasonable conclusion considering this was the character I chose to play in the hopes of not dying.
The patrol leader folded his arms, but also rephrasing it like those teachers in the exams reading the question and not being a helpful at all... most of the time anyway.
"Why would a civilian travel into one of the most inhospitable regions of Solitas carrying photography equipment?"
"Oh."
I answered in a way that lined up with this act I have going on: "Photography."
The leader blinked. I think. Again, the helmet makes things difficult to tell. "You entered the tundra to take photographs."
"Well, yes, and to make my way to the festival."
"Photographs of what?"
"The scenery," I replied as if answering a toddler. I think I even heard someone chuckle. The silence returned.
One of the drones emitted a quiet electronic sound. For some reason that felt judgmental.
"The scenery," the leader repeated.
"Yes."
"The frozen wasteland."
"Very photogenic frozen wasteland." I think I read too many AI-generated stories if that's my reply, though I had to admit it sounded pretty cool... at least in my head.
The man stared at me for several seconds, then slowly turned toward one of his soldiers. 'Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, Pleasedontkillme-'
"Please tell me civilians don't normally do this."
The soldier immediately replied. "They do, sir. Especially content creators," why'd he sound embarrassed and slightly dead inside admitting that.
The leader looked genuinely disappointed by that answer. I decided not to mention that I'd once spent four hours trying to photograph a particularly interesting cloud, and the photo I got was let's just say it involved a bridge a train and slight panic.
The leader returned his attention to me.
"Fine. Next question."
His gaze swept over my clothing. Then toward my shelter. Then toward the remains of my fire. "Where is your survival equipment?"
"...My what?" Act like an idiot, Eden!
His shoulders visibly tensed.
"Your survival equipment."
"Oh."
"You mean normal people bring things for this?" Not that IDIOTIC!
The entire patrol became very still. The leader spoke slowly.
"As opposed to..."
I pointed at the shelter. "That... you know making there own shelter and all that." Might as well see this through.
His gaze followed my finger. The shelter consisted of branches, snow, and what could generously be described as a kids DIY project.
One soldier quietly lowered his head. Another looked away. I was beginning to suspect my survival strategy wasn't considered standard practice.
The leader took a deep breath. "You entered the tundra without emergency heating equipment."
"Yep."
"Without thermal sleeping gear."
"Yep"
"Without emergency rations."
"Mostly correct."
His head tilted. "Mostly?"
I pointed toward my bag. "Orange juice."
The soldier searching my belongings looked down at the carton. Then back at the leader; neither said anything.
The leader continued. "Without navigation equipment."
"Correct."
"Without communication equipment."
"Technically, I have an old Scroll." Please tell me phones are just old scrolls! That or they look close enough.
"Does it function?"
"..."
"Does it function?"
"Sometimes."
"Then you do not have communication equipment." The man was now looking at me with growing concern or frustration. I think… AGAIN HES WEARING A HELMET!
As though he genuinely couldn't determine whether I was incredibly brave or catastrophically stupid. Finally, he asked the question that had apparently been bothering everyone.
"How did you survive the night?"
"I built a shelter." Keep it simple, nice and simple.
The leader nodded. "We can see that."
"I started a fire."
"We can also see that."
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Then I went to sleep."
"That's it?" one soldier finally asked.
"Pretty much."
"Temperatures dropped below negative twenty."
"It did?"
"You should be suffering from severe cold exposure."
"I mean, my nose is cold and a little runny, especially the left one… why is it always the left one?"
The soldier looked physically offended by my existence, yet a few of them seemed to agree with me on what I didn't know.
The patrol leader stepped closer. Much closer. His eyes narrowed as he examined me.
"No frostbite." A pause. "No visible hypothermia." Another pause. "No signs of physical distress." His gaze sharpened. "What Aura training have you received?" There was a brief silence as everyone waited for an answer some were nervous and others seemed as though they are expecting a fight.
"None, I haven't been aura trained, though is there a way to see if I did unlock my aura?"
Several soldiers exchanged glances the patrol leader stared at me for a long moment as if thinking on acting on something.
"...None?" he asked.
"None."
"You have never attended a combat academy."
"Nope, though I'm guessing street fighting doesn't count."
"No, no it dose not now have you received private instruction."
"Nope though my dad did share a few tips that worked back in the day."
"Never had your Aura unlocked."
"As far as I'm aware, no."
The leader was silent. One of the soldiers quietly muttered, "That's impossible." Another nodded.
"Negative twenty-seven last night."
"I know what the temperature was," the leader replied trying to quell all the talking.
The soldier pointed at me clearly not getting the hint. "Then explain him."
"I am trying." the leader growled in frustration.
I helpfully raised a finger. "I did have a really nice fire." Nobody looked convinced. The patrol leader rubbed his helmet again.
"Right." He stepped closer. "Humor me."
Before I could ask what he meant, he reached toward my shoulder every soldier around us immediately became alert. I had absolutely no idea what was going on, the leader placed a gloved hand on my shoulder and commanded "Stay still."
For several seconds nothing happened then I felt it warmth, comfort and strength. A strange sensation spread through my body. It felt like hot water being poured into frozen pipes it felt nice, yet there was also pain as well as though something being stretched too thin.
My muscles loosened and aches from sleeping on the ground vanished, the lingering cold on my joints also disappeared.
My eyes widened. "What the hell di-did you just unlock my aura?"
Several soldiers visibly tensed however the patrol leader's expression became unreadable, he then spoke into his helmet voice heavy like moms spaghetti.
"Command, this is Patrol Seven." A brief burst of static answered him.
"Go ahead."
The leader never took his eyes off me. "We've located the unidentified smoke signal."
"Status?"
"Possible Aura manifestation from last nights extreme climate maybe even before that, however the individual did not realize until I made it show it's self."
The radio immediately became much more interested. "Repeat."
The leader kept staring. "Subject claims no combat training, no formal education of huntsman regulations, and no prior notice of Aura awakening."
A longer pause followed finally the radio replied. "Bring him in."
"Wait where are you taking me, I'VE DONE NOTHING WRONG DAMIT!"
"You are being transported to Mantles City Checkpoint."
"WHY, I'm just a photographer."
One of the younger soldiers failed to suppress a laugh. The leader continued. "Specialist Schnee will want to speak with you and if you're accounts are true, then we'll let you go however you will have to sign a few papers."
O-o-O-o-O
The ride to the checkpoint was quite comfortable despite being surrounded by full armored buff as fuck soldiers, seriously what are they being fed with and get me on that stat.
Enough of the jokes I'm just glad they gave me back my camera bag and that they didn't go over the photos, after all some of them doesn't exactly match with Remnant geography, though then again the newest photos are that of their moon.
"so, ur got any interesting stories to tell?" Eden said in an attempt to hopefully brake the awkward silence.
"Get out!" Yelled the leader at the front of the truck. "Were here."
"Oh thank god, I though he was going to make me walk." Some of the soldiers near me snickered at my comment.
"Don't worry he wouldn't do that after all the time we spent looking for you."
Getting out of the truck and moving towards the city's walls was quite stressful considering just how many turrets and people were on patrol there was also the fact that, Winter fucking Schnee was standing there... Menacingly.
The look she was sending me is also quite menacing though I'm pretty sure it's just her scrutinizing me and I don't blame her considering how I looked, a messy haired teen wearing an over sized winter coat with a camera bag strapped over his back and the camera dangling from his neck.
However I couldn't be focused on that right now as instead I have an absolutely wonderful image right in front of me, so rolling my sleaves up, removing the cap on the camera, then turning on the camera, I got on one knee and took an absolute gorgeous landscape photo as well as a few close up photos of soldiers patrolling, some even on a smoke brake.
The best shot however had to be of Winter Schnee with her left hand on her weapon and the other behind her back, shoulders squared and the face of cold calculation it gave her the aura of a extremely powerful woman, with the back drop of Mantles gates being open showing it's streets and all the lights giving her a glow of a deity then there's the two floating land masses of Atlas and the Amity colosseum.
The soldiers clearly didn't like me suddenly stopping to start photographing however as they ended up grabbing me by the arm pit and lifting me the rest of the way there and as they were following Winter, I was too busy looking at the new photos I got especially the one of Winter and while doing some camera editing such as cropping out some of the guards and centering the photo to be focused on winter I saw a new setting that wasn't on there when I was on earth.
Print from camera.
How the fuck that made sense I couldn't explain considering this is a digital camera and unlike a polaroid this camera doesn't have any paper or ink in it. Still all the same I pressed print also made most of the soldiers turn there heads my way just to see what the noise was about.
But seeing that it was just me messing with my camera they went back to focusing on whatever... 'probably back to sneaking glances at Winters arse.' a voice in the back of my mind whispers.
Time must have flown however considering when I refocused on what was happening I'm sitting on a metal chair with Winter Infront of me and was on the looks of about to snatch my camera like a mother to there iPad child.
"HEhehe achem, Sorry. Here." taking the newly printed photo I looked at it and took out a pen from my coat pocket and signed the back of the photo even leavening a personal note then handed it to her.
Though she didn't take it, so I simply left it on the table.
"Name and age." She demanded even though they probably already know.
"Eden D Thorn. 16, pleased to meet you."
Glancing up from her scroll-tablet and instead of replying she simply asked the next question. "Reason for coming to Atlas and Mantle?"
"Well I was hired to-"
"Who hired you."
"Umm... Lisa Lavender."
"Continue."
"Right well, I was hired to come and take photos as well as notes about the Vytal festival, and well if possible get photos of the participants of the tournament."
"Why did you," Pausing to read what was on the tablet as if processing. "Walk all the way here instead of getting on a bullhead or a means of transport."
"Right well, they didn't give me a means of transport to get to Mantle or Atlas so I had to find my own way and well I used what little money I had just to get on Solitas and by a coat for the cold. Then I well, started walking and while I was able to hitch hike most of the distance I still ended up walking most of the way here."
"How were you able to survive you're walk here especially since while there aren't much Grimm there is still quite a few predators that would have hunted you."
"I ur, well... I got lucky I guess." 'I cant exactly say that I've been seemingly teleported here can I.'
"I see, and what are you planning to do now."
"Hmm, probably continue what I originally planed to do here."
"So you have no intension of joining Atlas Academy or any other academy?"
"Well maybe in the future, but ur aren't I too young at the moment?"
"While you may be too young to actorly attend Atlas Academy properly there is however a junior school you can attend much like Signal over at patch."
"I see... however I'm afraid I wont be able to join atlas academy due to the cost and the distance and I have a job to do..."
There was a few seconds of silence as if she was trying to see if I'd go back on my answer however when she noticed that I wasn't going to change my answer she started grabbing papers. "Then please sign here, here and here."
"And umm what exactly are these for?" I couldn't be bothered to read.
"This one, states that you agree to not use you're aura on others unless its for a case of self defense or in the protecting of others, this one states that you will not try to awaken other peoples auras and that if you do you will be sent to prison. Lastly this one states that in emergency you will help as much as you can in the fight against Grimm."
"Do I have to sign that last one?"
"Yes as due to the fact that you now have aura Grimm will be more attracted to you then they would with unweakened people so this is both for the safety of both you and others."
"Sigh, fine might as well get this over with." and after signing I got up and waited for her to guide my way out.
'Honestly I was expecting a lot worse then what has happened after all I could of died out there in the wild not to mention now I have my aura awakened I might even discover what my semblance might be.'
"Mr thorn, before you go I would like to give you this as a thanks for the wonderful photo you took." looking at what she handed me was a lien card and also a note attached.
'Could it be... is a girl giving me her number!'
'Mr Thorn here is a location of a clothing store that dose both custom work and also refitting, I suggest you spend some of the money on getting your coat fitted to your size.'
...
...
'Where not talking about this...'
O-o-O-o-O
2 days later. (This is mainly a sneak peak.)
"Hey did you here a new video by FrustratingOfficer was posted."
Mean while off in a corner. "Whoa this photo looks amazing who took it?"
"Hmm, someone by the name of E.T. he only started posting a few days ago so he's still relatively new."
O-o-O-o-O
And that's it for Chapter 1 hope you enjoyed.
Question What's you favorite snack?
Mines Cookies, raisins and dried mango.
Also here's the photo of Winter and yes it was done by A.i mainly because I suck at art and I cant pay people to draw so yeah.
(IMG)