Unexpected Development

"Haah haah…that… could have gone better." A woman huffed, clutching her misshapen arm as she made a hasty sprint through the grimm infested forest.

It still surprised her greatly that such a place teeming with life, even if corrupted, was possible near the fabled land of darkness. It was almost as though it was preserved specifically, though she knew no life remained on the continent and wouldn't for much longer if her condition got any worse.

She was still kicking herself in the butt for so foolishly walking into the den of their enemies, alone without telling anyone, knowing, of course, they would try to dissuade her.

She felt like she had to try. After finally hearing the truth from the man himself. Learning of Salem. The millennia long shadow war. The maidens. Magic. It was enough to drive her best friend to abandon her team and family in fear. All of it just seemed so…tragic.

That's why, even though she knew it was foolish, she wanted to try reasoning with the woman. After having become a mother herself, she couldn't imagine a greater pain than losing her babies, especially by her own hands. The thought alone was enough to tear her apart with grief and she suspected it was partially why her best friend decided to abandon her own daughter when she returned to her tribe.

In any case, she still wanted to try, confident in her abilities to at least escape should things go south. Which they inevitably did. But, hey, she's still alive. So at least she was right about escaping…

She snuck into the land of shadows and fought her way alone to the base of her enemy. In hindsight, it was far too easy. She found the woman, Salem, seemingly waiting for her on a lonely throne. If not for the ensuing conflict, she'd almost believe the woman wanted someone to stop her.

After a brief exchange of words, the battle commenced, and while it wasn't painfully one-sided, it was clear to the woman that she could not win from the moment it started. Still, killing Salem wasn't her goal from the start so it mattered little to her. She came to reason with her, to make peace. To try and understand her, something even her former husband could not do.

It did not go well at first. Understandable as there was no way someone who had lived for who knows how many centuries would believe the words of a woman barely in her 20's. But she pressed on, telling the older woman she would find a way to bring her peace. To defeat her without killing her.

She was almost insulted by the dismissive scoff she got in return. As if she couldn't be bothered by the ravings of an ignorant child. Even if there was some truth there, she didn't need to be such a B word about it…

Unfortunately, that's where things took a turn for the…strange?

As if she sensed something, Salem suddenly turned her head and narrowed her eyes in the distance. While the white cloaked woman, already a little upset at the previous dismissal, boldly decided to strike then in hope of at least getting the many years older woman's attention back on her.

That's when things went south. Salem, lost in thought, appeared to have grown tired of the battle and simply decided to end things there. The woman barely had time to register the attack before she was suddenly flung into a nearby pool of grimm liquid!

The pools of liquid darkness that spawned the grimm were beyond toxic to all living things, be it humans, Faunus, plants or regular animals. They were said to be able to kill a person with a single drop and though that was exaggerated, there was still some truth there as she soon found out.

Even Salem, in the early years of her immortality had tried to use the pools as a final method to end her eternal suffering. Changing her into the monster she is today.

The pain that followed was…agonizing to put it lightly. She felt like her body was dissolving or outright trying to eat itself. At that moment, all she knew was pain. Then, just as suddenly as it came, it vanished? No, not vanished, just dulled. In an effort to save herself, the woman unknowingly activated her silver eyes leading to something so bizarre that it even drew Salem's attention and interest back to her.

The woman, Summer Rose, crawled out of the pool of darkness, changed. Not unlike the origins of Salem before her.

Her arms and legs were pitch black and covered in white spikes not all that bore striking resemblance to the very creatures the pools gave birth to. Her silver eyes continue to flash, seemingly in an effort to fight the corruptive sludge advances.

To say the scene before her shocked Salem was an understatement. For the first time in her many years of life, she witnessed the birth of a creature that was not too dissimilar to herself. It's not like she hadn't tried to create other humans like herself, but they all paled in comparison and more importantly didn't last long even with inferior methods. None however managed to survive directly entering the pools as she had.

Until now that is.

She wanted to know more. No, she needed to know more. Perhaps the results might lead to a way to reverse her curse!

Unfortunately for her, Summer was no longer as petulant as when she arrived. The situation had taken a major turn for the worse and she needed to escape. And so, she did just that. Using her semblance, she disappeared in a flash of roses, beating a hasty retreat out of the grimm infested lands. Unknowingly going directly towards the direction that originally caused Salem's distraction.

She wasn't out of the woods completely though, but she felt the grimm that followed seemed to act more as a test than any actual show of resistance.

-_-_-

Salem looked on as Summer ran away and decided to leave her be, though she doesn't fully understand why. Although she felt it was important to possibly figure out a method to reverse her situation, she felt strangely melancholic at the moment, ever since she felt that sudden fluctuation of magic earlier. It felt familiar but she could not recall where she would have felt it before. She sensed Ozma's magic as well but it was at the same time distinctly different.

Seeing as it's where her most recent assailant was headed, she assumed it must have been one of his little maidens preparing to do something pointless before changing her mind.

She knew of them of course, but this was the first time she had ever felt the presence of what she assumed to be one. She had chosen to ignore them over the years, seeing them as a pathetic attempt to bring back what he stole from them…from her!

But now that she had felt one…she couldn't help but to notice the similarities to her lost treasures. Perhaps the words of the woman before had gotten to her more than she realized. Not even Ozma had truly attempted to understand what she had been through, all she had lost. It was a novel experience if nothing else.

Perhaps that's why she decided to give the woman a chance to escape her grasp. Finding another pair of those accursed eyes wouldn't be too hard so she could experiment at her leisure. Plus, without her, the woman likely didn't have too long to live regardless. Silver eyes or not.

She then went back to wondering about the fluctuation of magic she just felt. The maidens…Perhaps it was time to collect them for herself? First she'll need to find a pawn to hold the power.

Salem suddenly found herself with quite a lot to do and still all the time in the world to do it…

-_-_-

[A/N: Would you look at that, I caught Covid yet again as soon as I decide to start writing...again. I was joking before about it being a sign but I'm seriously starting to get worried now lol. This is legit the second or third time it's happened. In any case I had most of this chapter already written up before I got sick so I have no idea if anything needed to be changed or not. Once I get better I'll let you guys know if anything is different.]