Forged Destiny [Book 7: Ch. 10, 11]

Worse, the Lancer drew a knife.

Bard in front, Thief behind, with Lisa against my back, shaking like a leaf.

And all of a sudden, a soft chuckle.

A figure touched the ground to my left, forcing me to push Lisa back and defend from a third angle. It was a woman, dark-haired, pale-faced, dressed mostly in black. She had a sword in hand, long and thin, but it wasn't that which caught my attention, but the accessory she wore, covering her face and most of her hair from view.

A long, hooded cloak of silver-grey.

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[...]

"Up ahead!" Weiss yelled. "I hear combat!"

Yang heard it, too. Though `combat` might have been generous. She heard the scream of pain, followed by the eerie, immediate, silence.

Don't let it be Jaune. Don't let it be Jaune. She whispered, repeating the phrase like a mantra. If it was, if he died when they hadn't even sorted their shit out, she'd fucking kill whomever was responsible. Don't let it be Jaune, damn it!

Yang burst out onto the street with her eyes glowing red.

The light winked out a moment later.

No Jaune, dead or otherwise.

Instead, a swirling mass of red and black that winked out of existence. And before it, sweeping a sword to the side, clearing blood from it in a wave, a Greycloak. Yang was already rushing in as Weiss got out the alley, gasping behind her. Yang didn't need to be a Mage to recognise the tell-tale sign of a portal closing. They'd taken Jaune.

—Forged Destiny [Book 7: Ch. 10]



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The first thing I became aware of were the voices. Muffled, rushed, there was a man and a woman, but that was all I could figure out. The words didn't make much sense but sounded close.

—Forged Destiny [Book 7: Ch. 11]