A World of Dust and Souls

"The hell does that have to do with anything?!" Sienna snapped, looking incredulous. "You can't just say 'oh yeah, I have an evil twin so that totally wasn't me' and expect us to buy it! Do you think we're stupid or something?"

"What? No of course not, but the fact remains that I'm telling the truth. You said you encountered my brother sometime during your last mission? I have been talking with members of the Beacon facility for the last two days."

"You expect us to believ-" Tyson started.

"Students," Ozpin said the word, but it hung in the air, laced with aura and authority that couldn't be ignored.

"As much as I'm sure you have your reasons, let me say right now that Sir Ajin arrived mere minutes after your departure. Now many Huntsmen as exceptionally skilled, but no hunter is fast enough to be in two places at once."

"A cloning semblance can and will be tested however," Glynda continues, "So for the time being, I'm going to have to ask everyone to remain separated. Sir Ajin, if you are willing to come with me, I'm going to ask you a few questions."

"If it proves my innocence, I will gladly do it." He says.

The two walk off, but not before Ajin gives a wistful kind smile to Nisha. Once they were out of range of hearing, Ozpin looked between Sterling and Sienna.

"Now then, while we get that situation sorted out, is there anything else you'd like to tell me?"

"Well, while we were fighting, he-er his brother, was talking about an extremely powerful fruit. Would you know anything about it sir?"

Ozpin took a long swig of his coffee.

"Yes. I also know that you and Miss Drake each took a bite out of said fruit. Tell me, how is Ashaka these days?"

Sterling picks his jaw off of the floor. he knew that Ozpin knew a lot but... how did he know what happened only earlier that day?

"She's fi- wait how did you know?"

"Miss Rose delivered her report, you know the field report that all leaders must send to the headmaster once they arrive back on safe space," Ozpin explains, smiling behind his mug.

"He's right," Tyson says, "Remember that 15%."

"It said that you achieved a level of Semblance that Miss Rose described as," he holds out a platinum scroll, "And I quote 'Ridiculously awesome it's so cool I want one but I don't know how he could make swords that big and for some reason he's blue.' Truly, a wordsmith Miss Rose is."

Ozpin's smile, however, turned sour as he continued, "As for Ashaka, I have been walking this world for a long time and what I am about to tell you is things that are only supposed to be heard by those just as old as me."

"And you're telling us because?" Tyson asks.

"Because you deserve to know. I have made more mistakes than any man woman and child that will ever walk this planet, but I don't intend to make another here. The truth is, Mr Tikeri, Miss Drake, you have been selected as Avatars of Two of the Three Goddesses. Order and Potential if Miss Rose's report is accurate. If my assessment is accurate, both of your scrolls are malfunctioning, correct?"

Sure enough, both of their scrolls registered as disconnected.

"Why don't they work? Even with the damage, they're in perfect working order."

"Because Tyson, scrolls can only read human and fanus aura."

"Did...hold on, am I hearing this right? Are you actually saying we're not human anymore?" Sienna followed the conversation just fine, but she was still confused despite herself. She half expected this whole thing to suddenly turn out to be some kind of ridiculously elaborate joke. It was making her head hurt. Or maybe that was just a leftover from back at the church. Who knows.

"Avatars? I mean the woman in my vision refereed to herself as the goddess of potential, I thought I was just tripping balls. This is a lot pardon my rambling."

"No, you're not. You're something... more," Ozpin says.

"That doesn't explain anything," Tyson mutters under his breath.

"Well I know that the two of us are avatars. But what does that mean? is there a class we can take on this subject?"

"Mythology," Ozpin explained with a small sigh.

"Children, the fact of the matter is that you have access to powers that drawf nearly every huntsman on Remnant. Mr Tikeri if you were able to draw upon your position, I dare say that even your father wouldn't be able to beat you."

Behind him, Tyson was furiously scribbling down notes. The action brought a small smile to the headmasters face. Not even the threat of being compared to gods was enough to stop him from helping as well as he could.

"To put it simply, the Avatars are a collection of three individuals that are chosen by each of the three founding Goddesses. Mandanus, goddess of Order chooses her Avatar to order and reform the land as they see fit. If the stories are to be believed, with was Mandanus first Avatar that shaped the surface of Remnant, and forged the prisons of the Titans."

The headmaster glanced to Sienna, "Considering the data, I would say that Mandanus has chosen you. A good choice, considering your semblance, but they always did make interesting choices."

"You knew the other Avatars, didn't you?" Tyson surmised.

The headmaster nodded gravely, "It has been a long time. The last time that a set of Avatars was chosen, none of the four Kingdoms had been formed. It was a time of war and strife that history has long forgotten. Your lessons say that the Great War 80 years ago was the greatest war, compared to the conflicts of that age, the great was nothing but a footnote."

His gaze turned softly to Sterling, "Most of the destruction was done by your predecessor. Ashaka, chooses the champion of potential, the one who stands as the pinnacle of what humanity can achieve."

Next he glanced at Nisha, "Levanael, goddess of Chaos on the other hand, chooses her Avatar to be the one to ensure the changing of times. The guardian of freedom, and all things that chose to slice out a piece of the world that Mandanus creates. Together the three Avatars balance all things in the universe, and their choices shape the world as the goddess believe that it is the choices of man that decide the fate of the world, not them. In fact, the four hunter team was based on the interplay between the Avatars.

Finally, he turns to Tyson, "And the normal man that reminds them of what they once were."

Sienna had to take more than a few seconds to process that, fidgeting with a lock of her hair. "You're saying we're supposed to change the fate of the world or something? That...that doesn't make any sense. Why us? We're just students - first-year students! Shouldn't they pick, I don't know, actual Huntsmen and Huntresses? People like Sterling's dad?"

"You're right, it doesn't make sense," Tyson agrees, "Give Stephon the same power as Sterling and he'd be bringing down countries."

Ozpin shook his head, "Stephon, while powerful, has already realized his maximum potential. Sterling, on the other hand, has barely even begun to taste the power that he could wield. Ashaka is many things, foolish is not one of them. Sterling has a great deal of power that is just waiting to be unlocked. If I had to hazard a guess, her next best choice would've been Miss Rose or Mr Xander."

"So she chose him because he was younger?" Tyson guesses.

"Moldable," Ozpin corrects, "As much as I want to believe otherwise, you are still students. You haven't seen the world for what it is. You have visions, dreams, aspirations and ideals that you want to live up to. The rest of us," he chuckles mirthlessly, "Have lost sight of our dreams a long time ago. A new world needs a new dream, who better than the ones working to inherit it."

Sienna fell silent, unsure exactly how to react. The whole bit about the world crushing ideals and dreams was pretty damn bleak all things considered - but hadn't he just said that Avatars were supposed to shape the world's destiny? Something along those lines anyway. Which should mean they could fix that, right?

"I will go over everything that I can. Starting today, the two of you will be taught by me personally and only a select few others," Ozpin says, "Unfortunately, this places you as my apprentices. For this reason, I have to bar either of you from participating in the Vital Festival."

"That's fair." Sterling says, hiding his disappointment.

"So we won't be going to our regular classes anymore?" Sienna asked, not hiding her disappointment as it didn't exist. She still hadn't sorted out how she felt about this whole thing.

"You will be bared from combat classes, but I see no reason to deny you the chance to learn the finer points of our profession. Demigods you may be, the least I can do is let you remain children, if only for a little longer," Ozpin says, "The staff will be informed, as well as select team leaders. For now, rest and in the morning, I hope you can forgive me for letting this happen."

With that, the headmaster turns toward the waiting elevator. Even as the doors closed behind him, he still looked at the team with pity.

"What do you think he meant by us forgiving him?" Sterling asked, turning to the others.

"There's a chance that he's worried about your continued existence since you're no longer human, but that could be just me," Tyson drawls.

"Yeah but that's not his fault, is it? I don't see how it could be. And besides, we're doing an alright job of existing so far," Sienna said.

Tyson opens his mouth, only to close it again.

"Stop being logical, that's my only contribution to this team."

Nisha rest her head in her hands. She is hearing everything they are saying but she is having trouble processing this. Demi-gods....snake faunes... everything. She is getting exhausted just trying to get a firm grasp of things. Sighing she mumbled barely audible, "Can we just stop for a moment?"

"We should go back to our room," Sienna agreed. "I feel like I could sleep for a week after all this...whatever it is." Which was only half-true. Physically she felt she might fall over on the spot but her mind was buzzing with thoughts about what exactly being a demigod would entail.

"I agree with Sienna. get a clear head, and we'll think through everything in the morning."