Prologue: Deity's Gift

For seven years, Luke Silver and his honorary brother Jack Hell have had sick days, worse days, and weird days. However, that one day had gone from one of those days they could classify as standard to a day that never happened before: a strange day. Whether or not that was good or bad luck they couldn't say, the only thing they knew was that they were in something out of a psychedelic trip. They weren't in a room, but the floor was as flat as a ballroom floor and stretching beyond where they could see. The sky around them was a twisted dark blue like the ocean underneath a thunderstorm. Instead of clouds, there were large spheres that were pulsating as though there was lightning flashing inside each one of them.

"Jack… you didn't try to discover some drug that would work on me did you?" Luke deadpanned to his brother.

"Even if I thought that would be a good idea, Lukey, we both know I'm a shit chemist. No this… I think we've just gotten ourselves into limbo." Jack answered in his natural joking tone.

"For two who've survived what you have, neither of you seem to grasp this obvious in front of your faces."

The voice came out of nowhere, and the two survivors whipped around ready to fight, only to find themselves frozen in shock and confusion to see a wrinkled old man connected to a floating chair. All the skin the two brothers could see was on the old man's face, which was colored an alabaster white while in shining black clothes all over the rest of his body. On his head was a mechanical looking ring that surrounded his face and enveloped the top of his skull, connected straight to the levitating throne by what looked to be computer cables or surgical tubes. He wore a boasting smirk that screamed pride and ego towards Luke, who was the first to snap out of the shock by shaking his head.

"Well then enlighten us, sir, what are we missing that points out where we are? Where are we?" he calmly demanded of the floating man.

"You, Mister Silver, stand in the Realm Between Realms, or what you could call the Web of Worlds. From here, anyone can move from one world, one dimension, one reality, to another. Better yet, it is also the place where people can gain powers from these worlds. My name is Nexus, and I am what you would call a God." the old man declared, still wearing the proud smirk.

At his declaration, Jack burst into laughter, "Ok, maybe the drug part doesn't sound all that unbelievable, though I don't know how we could have stumbled upon those ultimate shrooms while we were sleeping."

Nexus' smirk merely grew into a grin, "Oh I assure you mister Hell, this is indeed, quite real."

The rest of Jack's laughter died in his throat, He opened his mouth again to say something but almost immediately closed it as his mind drew a blank on what to say. He looked to Luke with a questioning glint in his eyes, to which Luke responded with a calm, reassuring glance into his brother's confused eyes. Jack noticed the quiet and reciprocated it onto his own. Luke turned back to Nexus and stared deep into his eyes, looking for any sign of deceit or any secret he might be holding back from them, then when satisfied his gaze lightened only slightly.

"Well then Nexus, if you are the one who brought us into this 'Web of Worlds', then I am guessing you're also the one who can tell us HOW and WHY you did so, can you not?" Luke asked Nexus in a commanding tone.

"Indeed. Using my newfound powers as a deity, I reached into that universe there," Nexus pointed towards one of the calmer-looking spheres colored as green as a leaf. "then I sifted through the universe until I found you two asleep in that run-down factory. Once I found you, I teleported you, for lack of a better word, here to my domain. As to why you are here, it is because I have decided that this world and its version of the devil has been cruel enough to you and I have taken pity on you. Unlike many others, my godhood has not completely degraded my sense of humanity." his face turned to seriousness at speeds even Luke didn't expect.

He did his best to maintain his composure, but inside Luke could feel the mental safe he built beginning to crack and fall apart. For seven years he's had to live with those memories, both the good and the horrible, but both hurt just the same. Jack could see the turmoil going through his brother's mind and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, reminding his brother that he was still there with him. Then the rest of the gears began to turn, "Wait a minute, did you say 'godhood'? What are you saying, that you're a god?"

Nexus merely nodded to the questions, with a look of undying seriousness that gave no reason for doubt to the brothers. Though that didn't stop Jack from regaining his usual swagger, "Well then where were you all those years ago? Back when we could have had a chance for an even somewhat normal life?!"

"I had yet to reach my full potential to bring mortals into this place, even mortals as… gifted as mister Silver. Then I could only watch as you two go from one horrible situation to the next and all the humanity I have left had had enough. There is no godly power that I have to turn back the clock, but the least I could do is send you to a world where you no longer have to worry about only each other and what would be to happen the next day. A world where you can build a future for yourselves.

"Be warned! This world I will send you to is one that you may be only the tiniest bit familiar with; however, it is not much at all like the world you have lived in since birth. It is a world full of monsters and demons, except ones that you can easily defeat and defend others from, even more easily once I grant you your gifts."

"Gifts?" Luke stopped him before he could say any more, "What kinds of gifts? What other world are you sending us to?"

"Mister Silver, I am sending you to the world of Remnant. Where humanity battles against ancient forces of darkness with the tools of their world and the weapons of their souls."

Jack looked to his brother to see if he knew anything about what the old man was saying. He saw Luke had a slight look of recognition in his eyes. However, it was also evident that Luke had no idea where the identification came from, while at the same time, Jack also felt a sense of familiarity from the name, though even he couldn't place it. Luke turned back to Nexus "Ok then, so what do you mean by 'weapons of their souls' and what gifts are you giving us before you send us there?"

"There are people in the world of Remnant, Mister Silver, who train in the arts of what's necessary to protect the world from those ancient dangers. People who have found the ability to access their aura, a manifestation of their soul that can heal wounds as quickly as you, protect them from grievous attacks, give them superhuman strength, speed, and durability that almost match yours, but also a semblance. Their very own form of a superpower, whether it is to mask emotions, control lightning, or get hit and deal back double the damage from the original hit. These warriors also have special weaponry that transforms into something for melee and for distance, such as a scythe that is also a sniper rifle or a sword that is also a revolver."

Jack's face grew a near maniacal grin stretching a mile long, "Ohohoho… boy do I like the sound of that. Imagine the number of chicks I could get with something like that." Luke gave his brother a hard slap on the back of the head as soon as he finished his thought, though Jack's grin didn't look at all shrunken.

After sorting out his brother, Luke turned back to the self-proclaimed god, "Are we also going to get the ability to summon our aura and a semblance? If aura gives people the strength and ability to move like me, then will it give me the ability to move even faster and be even stronger than I already am?"

"Oh hell yeah! Then you can go from being a god among men to being a god KING among men!... and I still won't measure up to you… just great." Jack beamed before he hung his head in fake shame.

"Oh don't worry Hellfire, since I've been training you, you've always been a demi-god among men, so now you can be a godly prince among men while I sit on my throne," Luke smirked at his brother.

Jack just stared at his brother before he raised his brow "Did… did you make a joke?" he felt another slap on the back of his head and just laughed it off.

"Well, to answer your question mister Silver, because of what happened to you, the awakening of your aura will indeed boost your already superhuman speed and strength, however, it will only boost it by little more than a fraction. Mostly because the semblance you will most likely have will take more aura than most peoples', so your aura will mostly designate yourself to it rather than your natural reflexes and strength."

"So then will you unlock our auras before we get there?" Luke asked.

"I'm afraid not. You see, the unlocking of one's aura can only be done by one who has unlocked aura themselves. While I may be a god, I do not have unlocked aura. Therefore I cannot unlock other people's aura, nor their semblances. Semblances, after all, are not so easily unlocked. For some that I know of, it was unlocked during training, another in intense stress, and another when struck by lightning. It's believed that a person's semblance is defined by who they are as a person, while some believe there is no correlation. Which is true or not even I cannot say."

"So you're saying that you will send us into this world full of ancient evil monsters and people who swear their lives to the protection of others from these monsters without the tools that they use?" Jack agitatedly asked the old man.

"I never said that mister Hell. I cannot give you the 'powers', that they use, but what I can give you is the choice for your very own weapons. Your armor, however, should you ask for it, will be decided by me."

The two brothers looked to each other with the same hesitant looks. The only ones that they have had to rely on or trust was themselves and each other. They've never had to or chose to trust or put faith in another person and believe that they would do what is best and right for them, but with all that this floating old man had told them about himself and the place they found themselves in, what real reason did they have to not trust the man. After a minute, Luke looked back to Jack with an accepting and reassuring nod, telling Jack he thought all was going to be ok. The brothers turned back to Nexus and gave him their nods of acceptance.

"Very well then. Mister Silver, what weapon or weapon would you like me to give to you? Just picture it or them in your mind, and you shall find it with you when you arrive on Remnant."

Luke closed his eyes and tried to think of what weapons he would be best with, but also what kind of weapons would be less conspicuous on Remnant. After some thought, he finally kept his thoughts on his father's old Walther P99 with a silencer, his Ka-bar 1245 Tanto knife, and he delved into his imagination to put together a poly-weapon that would seem reasonable in Remnant. That poly-weapon ended up being a longsword, the blade being four feet in length and the handle one foot long. The edges were six inches wide and an inch and a half in width, a spade at the end of it, and six wings just above the handle, three on each side of the blade and pointing towards the hilt. The hilt was squared and curved downward and spikes of their own protruding from the ends, and the pommel of the handle spherical with small dragon wing shaped spikes pointing in the same direction as the other spikes. Finally, he closed his eyes again and watched it transform into a semi-automatic assault rifle with devastating armor piercing and hollow point rounds, and when back in sword mode, can split in half into two swords.

As he opened his eyes and looked to his host on the floating chair, Nexus smiled, "Fitting choices mister Silver, and what will you call the poly-weapon you have created?"

It didn't even take a minute for Luke to come up with a name for his little masterpiece, "Ragnarok."

Nexus' smile grew extensively. "And you mister Hell, what will you use in the world of Remnant?"

Jack closed his eyes, his mind picturing a gauntlet on his forearm morphing into a round metal shield like a medieval knight's, and the Ka-Bar Becker tac tool BK3 that Luke made him carry around. Finally, two three-foot-long, ragged blades that genuinely looked like fangs, the handles being eight inches and the blades lighting on fire, freezing over, and turning white while creating a vortex around each one of them. Jack's smile stretched eight miles long as he imagined each one turn into a large pistol shooting semi-auto and full auto, before being put together to make a sniper rifle. Jack's eyes opened, and his smile turned manic, "Oh I'm good now."

"I can see that you are mister Hell." Nexus chuckled, "And what would you call these blades of chaos you've made for yourself?"

Jack turned to Luke with a mischievous look in his eyes and a manic chuckle that made his brother jokingly lean away from him before turning back to the old god. "Hellfire," he raised his right fist, "and Brimstone" and his left fist.

Luke's eyes widened, and he looked into his old friend's eyes to find respect and admiration all over his eyes. That was also when he felt a bout of admiration and respect, more than he had for anyone ever before. He remembered the years when they were children that they played, explored, and got into trouble together; everything they did, they did together. Then there was the day seven years ago, the day when everything changed, except for the promise they would stick together no matter what. They weren't brothers by blood, not at all related, but they always have been, and still will be, brothers.

Nexus noticed this little brotherly moment and let it be for a moment before interrupting, "Now then, you both have chosen your weaponry that you'll carry in Remnant, and now I must ask, would it be your preference to have armor of any kind before you find someone who can unlock your aura?"

They both looked to Nexus after a few seconds and agreed to receive armor as well as weapons. "Then when you arrive in Remnant, you shall find yourself wearing said armor that I have chosen for the both of you and with your weapons on you."

Luke gave a grateful nod to the deity, "I don't have any words that can match the gratitude we feel for you giving us this chance to find purpose in another world, away from these memories."

"Of course… but before I send you there, I should let you know, to unlock your auras and semblances, I suggest you both head towards Beacon Academy, in the Kingdom of Vale. There you will find the perfect place to learn how to control your newfound power once it is unlocked and learn how to best protect the people of Remnant from the monsters that plague them. The rest then is up to you. Your choice."

A massive gateway appeared behind Nexus and began to shine brighter than anything the brothers in arms had seen before.

"Once we get there Luke, I swear to god I'm finally going to find you a girlfriend. You hear me?"

"It's impossible not to hear you Jackass. Just promise you'll stand with me like always, alright?"

Jack nodded to his brother, and they leaped into the gate, beginning their new adventure in a new world, unaware that their past would catch up with them and be a defining factor in their new future.

Author's Notes:

Hey everyone, welcome to my first story. I hope that you'll enjoy this little sneak preview and look forward to what's to come. Again, this is my very first story, so please go easy on the reviews, but I definitely encourage you to leave suggestions and constructive criticism.

Once again, I hope you enjoy!

Special thanks to SunWukongMogar and BlackLight181 for being my first beta-readers and helping me with the whole thing.

Last disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any TV Shows/Movies/Comics/Books/Video Games I reference. All I own are my OC's.