Preface: LOOKING FOR BETA READERS. Please PM me if you are interested.

Thousands of years ago, the Chorodius people walked the earth.

It is said that the Chorodius once dominated this planet, its empire spread across the the whole of Remnant. Mountains. Oceans. Deep caves. And savannah. To this day, historians and archaeologists have yet to unveil all the glories and mysteries of this great civilization. Adventurers and frontier explorers still stumble upon ruins of the great empire that once dominated this planet.

However, just as with all things, there is an end to every beginning. After more than two thousands years of prominence and prosperity, the Great Chorodius returned to the ashes whence they had risen, gave way to the greed that rose the Third Era. And so the Second Era of Remnant ended, and the age of slavery and brutality began.

The grandeurs left by the Chorodius - however well established and widespread they may be - suffered from the defeat of its builders just the same. The four warlords who destroyed the Chorodius ordered the buildings to be burned and collapsed during their retreat from the Grimm. Whatever avoided such fate became desolate, forgotten. They stood silently, weakened by the the wrath of nature and the unforgiving time.

Among the many things lost in the demise of the Chorodius civilization, the most sacred belonged to the legend of Remnant's genesis.

The Chorodius believed that a pair of twin Gods - they called them Lux and Tenebris - were born along with the universe. The Gods are the two extremities on a spectrum, the very definition of opposite. They complement, but also contradict with one another. Their consonance brings beauty and harmony to the world, and their discord breeds diversity.

The Chorodius believed the Gods to be destined to battle for eternity. Their rivalry shaped highlands and alpines, carved basins and canyons. But there was more – the clash of their power did not simply destroy, it also created.

Through the intertwined energy of the Gods, a miracle happened. It took physical shape. The Gods paused their dispute, and watched with wonder as it grew.

When the first ray of sunlight shone on the world that day, the first living being woke, and smiled upon its parents.

When the twin Gods set eyes on this new being, they were overwhelmed with love. Their first child was beautiful and pure. It was perfection.

Delighted, the Gods made a truce and set to produce more children. By the end of the day, the world was no longer a quiet, lonely place. It was filled with lives, each unique from the rest, yet just as fascinating as their siblings.

The Gods were overjoyed by the company of their firstborn children, and decided to cease their battle indefinitely. It was in that peaceful era that the First Civilization was built.

But time was cruel. After centuries living with the First Civilization, the marvel eventually wore off, and the Gods resumed their war. Except this time, the participants were not just the Gods, but also their firstborn children.

Some of them took with Lux, while others followed Tenebris. There was no denying that each loved both Gods and would give themselves for either, but their natures were such that they agree with one side more than the other. Soon, the world was once again divided in two halves of equal strength.

Except there were two children who remained indecisive as to which path they must follow. They were the eldest and the youngest children of the two Gods.

They pleaded with their parents and their siblings, wishing to regain the peace and harmony that nourished their creation. But the pleads fell into deaf ears.

Until finally, one day, the Gods came face-to-face with one another. In their rage, they unleashed their full power.

In the heat of the battle, they did not hear the horrified cries of the Firstborn, nor could they see the destructions they brought upon the planet. The children realized their mistakes and joined their eldest and youngest siblings, praying for the parents to seize their fight.

It was to no avail.

Alas, when they watches their youngest, most innocent sibling fell, the Firstborns understood - there would be no stopping of the Gods. They gathered around their most beloved sibling and wept, as they conjured up all their strengths.

The eldest of them all - and also the wisest - gathered all the life force of its brothers and sisters. With one final spell, it sent the soul of the youngster high above the world, to a place where the wrath of the Gods cannot touch.

Then, together, the siblings embraced each other one final time.

When the battle finally subdued, the First Civilization was reduced to nothing but ashes that scattered across the planet. Their blood became rivers, lakes and oceans. Their breath became the breeze, and their cries gusts of winds. Their bodies joined the land and became the soil. And their energy, when kindled, became the blazing fire and the rushing lightening.

When the Gods realized what they had done, it had been too late.

Devastated by the death of their children, the Gods made peace once again. They tried for millenias to reach the beyond the world, yearning to be reunited with the last of their Firstborn. But it was not to be. Defeated, the Gods tried once again to join their effort in recreating the Firstborn.

However, with their hearts broken and their spirit shattered, none of their creations came close to the perfection of their first children.

Desperate, the Gods made one final attempt - they gave pieces of themselves to their creations.

However, it still did not bring back their first children. The Secondborns were incomplete, imperfect. They made poor resemblance to their perfect brothers and sisters. Some of them animals that barely understood words and ideas, acting purely on instincts. Some of them plants that appeared to be unmoving under the disappointed gazes of their parents, but blossom to breathtaking beauties when they revisited after turning away for some period of time. And some turned out to be something totally unexpected from either of the Gods - those lives, ingrained with fragments of themselves, became unique souls, novel in their individuality.

Lux was fascinated by the outcome, but Tenebris was outraged. The very idea that such imperfection should hold a figment of itself angered it.

While Lux celebrated the second-born children and shepherded their evolution, Tenebris hunted down every creature in possession of a fragment of itself. As an act of mercy, Tenebris decided to spare their lives, but took away their souls.

The children - whether they understood what was taken away from them - cried out in pain and despair as their souls were yanked away from them. They were helpless to resist Tenebris, however, and one by one they became empty.

From these soulless husks emerged the Grimm.

During the time of Tenebris' hunt, the more primitive creatures who bore souls evolved into Human and Faunus under the guidance of Lux. The power of the souls grew with the two races, and made them wise.

The soulless creatures, yearning for the souls that had been stripped from them, sought out Mankind and Faunus. They lurked in the shadow outside the establishment of civilizations, capturing and killing those who were careless and wandered too far into the wilderness.

Some, protected by the shattered pieces of their predecessors, escaped the assaults with their lives. But the hunger and eagerness to be complete of the Grimm overwhelmed the weakened strength of the Firstborn. Many were slaughtered, and some captured and tortured.

Despite the effort of the Grimm, their schemes did not help them in obtaining the souls. With every passing day, they grew increasingly frustrated and ruthless. Finally, they began to invade villages and slaughter innocent lives.

At this point, the Grimm were nothing like those who were supposed to be their siblings.

Terrorized by the Grimm, Mankind and Faunus cried for help. Lux pitied them, and decided to gift them the power to wield Dust, the remains of the Firstborns. By teaching them the art of soul manifestation and Dust techniques, Humanity grew stronger.

The battle of darkness and light raged on for millenniums. Clans and kingdoms rose and fell, until finally, the Gods became weary of their struggle.

Tired of war and loss, the twin Gods separated the universe into two worlds – one of light and one of darkness – and retreated into their domains. The Gods took with them what they deemed worthy to have a place in their courts, but left the rest on their own. What remained – the Remnant – was the boundary between the Light and the Dark, where they continued to clash. They wanted nothing more to do with the conflicts, and so they turned away from the sufferings.

The youngest Firstborn awoke from its slumber. It cried for both Lux and Tenebris, but neither heard its cry.

Seeing the struggles on Remnant, the Firstborn made the decision to sacrifice itself to save its younger siblings. It gifted Remnant the first of its descendants, and supplied them with extraordinary powers to reinstall peace and harmony to all.

And so the three realms maintained balance.

From the realm of Light, noble warriors and wise sages ventured to give advice to their far cousins.

From the realm of Darkness, creatures of Grimm swarmed toward the light. After hundreds of years of frantic scouring, they were eventually driven mad, and they had long forgotten what they were truly searching for. The only thing remained within them was the desire to kill those with a soul.

The descendants of the Firstborn guarded the Remnant with their lives. Their blood joined the water, their breathes merged with the wind, their spirits lit up fire, and their fallen bodies became part of the earth. But in time, they, too, forgot the truth they once held dear in their hearts, and the power in their bloods fell into a slumber, waiting for a time when destiny calls.

.

.

Egbert Stein stands on the balcony of his study. His gaze sets at the shattered moon, his thumb subconsciously stroking a small, silver pendant around his neck.

"I wonder what you will say, if you are here." He says. "I wonder where you have gone."

The chill night breeze is the only reply.

"Things are set in motion now." The elderly gentleman continue his monologue, untroubled by the coldness and his solitude. "I hope you are well and alive, somewhere in this wild, wide world. But I know better than to hope."

He holds up the pendant, dangling it between his fingers, examining it under the starlights.

"I wish I can say I have faith." He pauses for a brief moment.

"But the truth is, I remain skeptical of your prophecy. How could you, or anyone, know that someone is to come and claim this talisman you have left for me to safeguard?"

A gust of wind lifts the pendant slightly. It swings to just the right angle that, the rays of the broken moon reflect into the old man's eyes.

If Egbert does not know better, he would have said that is a reply to his question.

He squints at the silvery pendant. After a long moment of silence, he finally speaks again.

"...perhaps it is as you said." He whispers wistfully. "It is the fate of your 'people', whoever they may be."

The pendant is still. The wind has ceased its playfulness. Perhaps I am reading too much into the randomness of this universe. The elderly gentleman thinks to himself.

He sighs, and looks up to the broken moon again. It is a gloomy night. The moon shies away from his sight, hiding behind the clouds. Its soft glow seems weaker, not at all like the reassuring gentleness from the memories of his younger years.

"No matter what, I wish you are correct in choosing your path, my friend." He mumbles to the fantom of his past. "And I wish, sincerely, that whatever dreadful fate had befallen on you will not rob another innocent of their bright future. You may be a martyr, my friend, but not a hero. Heroes overcome hardship and stand proud and tall regardless of what happen to them."

With that, he turns and begins walking back to his study.

As he closes the double-doors to the balcony, he can feel the warmth from the mantlepiece wraps around him like a blanket. The fire flickers and he hears the wood snaps. He looks over.

On the sturdy oak desk right next to the fireplace, a few pieces of papers scatter across. An opened envelope lies motionlessly next to them.

Egbert Stein wonders, not for the first time, what his Warden might know about all this madness. He suppresses his urge to write back and demand any sort of explanation from the man who never seem to age. He drives away the desire to ask Ozpin if he knows anything about the disappearance of his best friend.

"There is a time to everything." He says.

For years, the phrase has brought him comfort and reassurance.

"There is a time for the beginning and a time for it to come to end. There is a time for doubts and a time for answers."

On the table, the letters remain quiet, motionless, as if waiting for the wheel of fate to turn, until it is their time to fulfill their duty.

He feels more lonely than he has been in years.

"If the chosen one truly exists, may the wind carries them across any obstacles, may the water washes away their doubt, may the earth guides them in their path, may the fire cleanses their soul," he pauses and closes his eyes. "And may the light be with them."

Thousands of miles away, sheltered by a makeshift tent and covered in her red cloak, Ruby Rose stirs.

A/N: This has been sitting in my Google Drive for weeks now, and I couldn't bring myself to finish it, until today.

I don't know what exactly triggered me, but when I saw the Vol. 4 trailer showing up at my YouTube recommendation, I was just... I'm not sure how to put it. I suddenly felt extremely upset (and I haven't even watched the trailer yet).

That being said, I'm probably going to hold off on watching Vol. 4 for a bit while I work on this story. I may or may not switch between writing The Fifth Seal and The Estranged Dreams back and forth. It will depend on what I feel like writing at the moment, I guess.

The themes and storylines for both has been completed months ago. I might add new elements where I see fit.

Also, I'm sorry about the delay and for going back on my estimation of when the series would reboot, but work has been daunting and I'd rather write nothing at all than producing half-ass products that I squeeze out chapters when I'm not in the right mood.

I'm also writing pieces of a brand new series where Ruby travels through multiple different AUs. The AUs will be based on world settings that I thought up but felt like too much work to complete (each was estimated to be at least 5+ chapters long). If anyone is interested in that, please let me know in comments or PMs as well.

Thank you for your patience and support. And, as always, I'm always looking for constructive criticisms and/or any sort of feedback. Even just a simple "I didn't see that coming" or "oh so that's what such-and-such is about" would be highly appreciated.

Cheers.