Fenmore jumped back from his opponent, a little girl in red. Nothing more than mere rabble. Less than even that messenger girl from Kaesnau. A mere stepping stone on his quest for domination of the weak. A pathetic creature not worthy of his attention.

And yet she was an even match for him.

No vim emanated from the girl; her power seemed her own. Not lent from a spirit, like Fenmore or Kindra, but from her own soul. It was a powerful soul indeed, if it was keeping up with Fenmore. A noble soul.

But a soul can be torn apart. Corrupted. Twisted to one's own ends.

A snap of his fingers and the girl wrenched in pain, falling to the ground in a pain-filled heap. In Femore's hands was a crystal, red as blood. A piece of the girl's soul, made physical.

He pondered the girl's soul crystal; she let out a whimper. He glanced over to the girl, her body curled into a fetal position, reminding the Alpha of the girl's lack of a spirit. Her weakness.

"Filthy animal!" He snarled, striding over to the girl.

A swift kick brought her back to reality, her pathetic face met by Fenmore's wolf-like scowl. She squeaked like a pitiful rodent and scurried away from the Alpha.

But she could not escape the pack.

Some time earlier…

Ruby was lost. Really lost.

Yang had disappeared after classes had ended for the day, mumbling something about wolves and punching. With nothing better to do, Ruby had decided to covertly follow her sister to wherever she was going. That somewhere happened to be deep in the Emerald Forest, far past the relic shrine at the center.

As Yang went deeper into the forest, the harder it was for Ruby to keep track of her. Almost like Yang knew Ruby was following her, and trying to lose her. But why? Ruby couldn't think of anything that she had done recently that would make her sister run off into a Grimm-infested forest alone.

She stopped only a moment to catch her breath and regain her bearings, but when she looked back out into the forest, Yang was nowhere to be found. That wasn't the best thing to happen, but Ruby was a huntress; she could easily track her sister down. Probably.

All she needed was a direction to travel in.

"So, animal, you have come to face me?" The man across the field from Yang spoke in an arrogant yet collected and calm tone. A tone that pissed her off to no end.

Yang stamped her foot down in anger. "Yeah I came. You happy, freak?"

The man chuckled, closing his eyes as if to savor the moment of calm.

The man had appeared to Yang in a dream, proclaiming the future subjection of the common people of Remnant and the rule of persons he called 'shapers'. While in the dream, he dared Yang to come and try to stop the 'rightful rule' he was to impose, even going so far as to provide the location for any combat to be performed. This field where the two stood, face to face.

It was a fairly plain field surrounded by the trees of the Emerald Forest. The grass was green and bushes and shrubs lay near the trees in haphazard piles. What was special about the field, however, was the portal that stood behind the man. Like a monolith of magical energy it was, quietly humming with unknown power. The man stood chuckling quietly there, but his chuckle slowly wound down till it petered into silence.

His eyes reopened. He was no longer interested in pleasantries.