Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 18, Ch. 19]

Salem placed her hand on my breastplate, over my heart. "You are the only human whose name and face I might care to remember. If nothing else, take solace in that."

The breastplate gave way with a crack. Metal caved in, shattering as her hand pushed forward. Her eyes remained on mine, always bright, always smiling, as she reached deep inside my body. Something inside me gave way. I heard a deep, metallic, clang, and then saw nothing but darkness. Dimly, I was aware of my body being thrown back to the ground. Of hitting something hard and cold and laying there, of feeling heat seep out of me, and hearing her walk away.

"Goodbye, Jaune Arc."

[...]

His breastplate was carved open, literally buckled inward like he'd taken a point-blank hit from a trebuchet. His blue jerkin and white tunic beneath were stained red.

"She killed him!" Ruby hissed.

[...]

With no regard for her fingers, she pushed into the open cavity of Jaune's armour and his chest, peeling back the blood-soaked clothing and skin. Muscle and ribs poked through, blood pooling, but as she forced the blood away, she gasped.

Her own face stared back at her, reflected in glimmering metal.

"What is… I… I don't…" Ruby's voice trailed off.

There was no faulting her. Shining metal twisted its way through the inside of Jaune's left breast, sticking to parts of his ribs like a spider's web. It coalesced in a singular spot, coiled and wrapped around what could only be his heart. Or what remained of it. There were bits of flesh that peeked through, but the metal was worked into it, moulding to the organ and filling in blanks and gaps, forming a clumsy and outright hideous approximation of a human heart. Small symbols flickered and glowed upon it. It didn't move but the metal of the locket had rattled against it. Why?

Blake touched two fingers to the smooth and hard surface. It was warm.

Vibrating.

"Is that…? Is he…?"

"I don't know." Her own heart was racing. "I have no idea. The metal is burnt but it's all forward facing. It took the brunt of Salem's spell. How did it last when his armour folded like paper?"

"It's like a shield over his heart…"

It wasn't. A shield was something you held in front to protect you. From her angle, she could see that the metal made up a portion of his heart. It was twisted and melded into it.

[...]

My eyes snapped open.

"Uwahhh!" I dragged in breath, choking and gasping. Hands supported me, drawing me up, breaking thin silver branches and making their leaves flutter down onto my body. I was dragged up and pressed into something warm and wet. My throat was raw and scratchy. "Ahhh. Hahhh…"

[...]

I laid there in their arms, choking and struggling to breathe. My chest felt so tight, like I was wearing armour several sizes too small. "What… Salem…"

"Killed you," Blake said. "Or tried. How you survived. I don't believe it. Your heart is literally made of metal. How? Did you forge yourself from steel just to withstand her?"

"My heart…?"

"You don't know." Blake helped me up, pulling me back off the Ironwood root. "Your chest was carved open by Salem and she left you for dead. You should have been, but your heart – it's like its half flesh, half metal. It withstood her attack, though I don't know. Your armour didn't stand a chance."

The armour was just steel. It wasn't any stronger than any other material, just thicker and sloped to deflect or redirect force. My heart, though? I brought a hand up to try and touch my chest, but Ruby pulled it away. Blearily, I noticed stitches and felt the tightness as they pulled. They'd sewn me back together. Medical instruments were strewn across the floor, including some empty bottles of what I could only assume were healing supplies.

The sword, I realised. Watts' sword. Or Cinder's. The one we gave to the King, which Cinder used to run me through. It's inside my chest. I… Did I melt it into my body? Like the dream. Or the memory. I winced. Did I, in my dying moments, use the sword run through my chest to patch the damage and rebuild my heart? How…? It didn't make sense. It wasn't the only thing.

[...]

"Jaune." Blake shook me. "We can't stay here. We need to move."

"Salem. Where is she?"

"On her way to Beacon. She'll be at the walls in under an hour – and through them just as quickly. It's going to be a last stand."

"Good."

"Good?" Ruby almost shrieked. "How is that good?"

"Because she'll be distracted." I tried to push myself up and had to be helped by Blake. I leaned on her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder for support. I looked back to Beacon, where spellfire and arrows could already be seen raining down on the encircling army. "We're going to strike from behind."

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 18]



The `Seal` Rune was all over her outfit too.

[...]

"It's for infusing items with spells."

Blake's head shot to mine. "What?"

"It's not locking something away – not exactly. It's more like… putting a spell into an item. Or a weapon. Do you remember my amulet? That changed my Class name to Knight. Nothing more. I thought the item itself was magic, but it wasn't. Sun recognised the symbol as being something from Vacuo. It was literally just a bauble picked up by Salem. It wasn't magic at all."

"But the effect-"

"An illusion spell. The very same one Neo used to pretend she was a Maid." A reminder that I hadn't been the first to hide my Class. "Salem didn't give me an item that changed my Class; she wanted me to die from my bravado, so she gave me something that just hid it. But she couldn't afford to follow me around for however many months it took maintaining a spell. She put the spell into a random piece of jewellery, sealed it in with a Rune and gave that to me."

"Seal," Ruby whispered. "It's just glue-?"

"Pretty much. It sticks a spell to the object and keeps it from ending. There's probably more, something to make the effect perpetual, but that's pretty much what the spell does. And why Salem was so amused when Raven tried to use it on her."

"Because Salem could read it – and because it was empty."

[...]

"Ruby's weapon has Salem's attack sealed into it," Blake realised. "That's how she survived a fatal blow, isn't it?"

"Exactly."

Ruby looked down to her scythe in awe. The blade looked the same as it always had, despite blocking one of Salem's attacks head on. It should have shattered. That it hadn't was a miracle. I touched a hand to my chest as well, feeling something hot and heavy beating in my chest. I'd have died without the same Rune etched on my heart. On the sword Cinder impaled me on.

[...]

I swung Crocea Mors to split one Grimm from foot to chest, twisting him aside and down. My sword tore free and slashed down on another, lopping off an arm before being reversed and driven deep into its chest. I pushed it away with my shoulder, letting gravity tear it off and to the ground. Blake vaulted off the chest of her own, her daggers pulling out its eyes.

[...]

"I tore open your armour. I peeled open your chest. I used on your heart magic that has torn downthe walls of your city." She seethed with dark energy, wisps of black smoke rising from her hands. "You. Are. Dead!"

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 19]