Knights of Remnant: The Ring of Shadows

Prologue/A Dark Beginning

AN: Welcome everyone!

Hello those who are reading this for the first time.

And welcome back, any and all who have read my previous story and liked it.

This is the continuation of the "Rise of a Star Knight". And like the Lord of the Rings, there was a dark past to the world of Remnant. And here is where this part of the story begins.

Credit to my beta-readers/partners in this grand story: "Nightengale4698" and "Breakawayfan"

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Lord of the Rings; both universes belong to their HIGHLY respected owners.

Also for this chapter only "this" means someone is narrating a story.

Enjoy.

For so long I have lived in this world. I imagine six centuries of living is a long time for anyone, no matter what they are. I have seen kingdoms rise and empires fall, and even throughout all of the horror and darkness Humanity has faced, they still stand strong.

I think that's what annoyed her the most… Apologies, I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

As most of Remnant's history goes, out of all the kingdoms and empires that rose and fell to Grimm, there were four that survived to this day. That, however, is not entirely true. There were five.

Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, Mantle, now known as Atlas, and Mordor.

Like any other kingdom, Mordor had a king. Once known as the prince of darkness, the Dark Lord Sauron stood tall and proud. And like any great lord, he bore children to carry on line: two daughters, one born of darkness, and the other of light.

The mother of his children was a Faunus woman. She was beautiful and powerful. Despite his darkness, she brought out a bright side of him that no one in this world has seen.

With his hatred for humanity, Sauron ensured that his kingdom's people were completely Faunus. For centuries he lied to his citizens that humanity was a bloodthirsty, war-like species that had no place in their kingdom.

What nobody knew at the time, Sauron himself created the Grimm from the very beginning, and intended them to be a means to destroy all of Humanity off the face of Remnant. He knew the process would take millennia, but he felt that the wait was worth the effort. Unfortunately for him, his time ended with old age, and his eldest daughter Salem took his place.

While it was unclear what Sauron was; he had a particularly long life span, reaching almost 30,000 years; if not longer, making him seem godlike to his kingdom's people. His children also shared his long life, as well as some of his power.

After Sauron's passing, his daughter, Salem, saw that humanity was still standing strong against the Grimm, with the help of the Seasonal Maidens, Star Knights and other Faunus in the world where not born in their kingdom. Seeing that humanity outlasted her father, Salem felt insulted and disgusted.

With no hostility towards Mordor by the others, Salem believed there might be a way to speed along the destruction of humanity.

She began with the forging of the stones and rings she made from the rich raw materials of Mt. Doom. She forged many beautiful rings and brightly colored stones. The Arkenstone was one of them.

The amount of energy she used to create the stones and rings was equal to that of a solar flare. While the items had great power within them, they were also cursed. If anyone were to touch them, they would succumb to their darkest sin.

Salem's plan was to give each leader of the kingdoms one of these great objects and trick them into going to war against each other.

Her plan worked in the beginning. The first kingdom to receive her 'gift' was Vale. The king of the land received the Arkenstone and was slowly driven mad. He saw enemies around him and felt that a war was brewing, even through there really wasn't one coming at all.

The Mad King started what the people of Remnant call "The Great War." Nobody saw his madness at first. For almost 2 years, the four kingdoms were divided in two; Vale and Vacuo against Mantle and Mistral.

The Maidens themselves stayed out of the war all together. The Star Knights knew in their hearts that this war was wrong; there were two instances where two knights of opposite kingdoms would face one another but did nothing. They simply walked in the opposite direction.

A day came when one of the Star Knights, The Star Knight of Vale, discovered that her king was not acting as he used to. She could see the paranoia and blood lust within his eyes.

When Joan Arc confronted her king of his madness he immediately slandered her name, without hesitation, and dubbed her a "usurper." For the King, labeling his greatest champion and sister a "usurper" revealed his madness to even his subjects and generals. With great rage flowing through him, the king forbade Joan and the rest of her blood line from ever attaining the throne of Vale.

Although most would have ignored such order, Joan, and all those who would come after her, was obligated to follow the "Last King's" order. Their family swore to follow whatever order the current ruler gave them, even if the word was to a madman. For an Arc never goes back on their word.

It was at that very moment that the entire kingdom moved to dethrone the King. As was expected of her for being the protector of the kingdom, Joan was forced to exile her own brother. After he was banished, Joan discovered that the great 'gift' from the mysterious queen of the Dark Continent was the cause of his madness.

Before a great battle over the island of Vytal could begin, Joan ordered her fleet stand down and surrender to the Star Knights of Mantle and Mistral, Isildur Numenor and Themistocles Nikos.

Themistocles knew Joan for a long time, and knew that she would never resort to using surrender as a means of trapping her enemy. They spoke and were shocked by her warnings.

Joan revealed to the other Knights that all the other kingdoms' rulers are at risk to the same madness that corrupted her king. The other rulers were saved from suffering the same fate, and moved for peace between the kingdoms.

With her first phase of her plan broken, Salem moved forward with her next step regardless. The dark queen unleashed a dark horror unto the kingdoms. While the armies of Grimm were already attacking the kingdoms of man long before, a new enemy also accompanied them to the world of Man: grotesque and dark creatures. Their skin was pale as corpses; they had fangs like animals; and the darkness in their eyes were the one characteristic that most people could never forget. Their bodies were similar to that of humans, but their minds were that of savages. They knew how to adapt to their surroundings. The more they fought against the humans, the more they learned from them. They called themselves 'Orcs' and they shared no remorse as they brutalized and butchered village after village of every kingdom.

As all the kingdoms licked their wounds over their war amongst themselves, they quickly found themselves under siege by the Orcs for almost 10 years, and so began the second half of the Great War.

Mantle and Vale received the full blunt of the invading Orc armies. They were the strongest of the four kingdoms, but their enemy was brutal.

Vacuo still hadn't fully recovered from the Spring Harpy's plague of its trees and the sudden increase in desert regions. Including their losses they suffered when the war started, they would have been the first kingdom to fall.

Mistral itself never got the full blunt the invasion. Their continent was too far away from Mordor for the invaders to arrive the same time as the others. The Orc armies did not arrive at Mistral until 4 months after the Great War started.

Mantle almost seemed like it was going to fall within the decade of the war because of the massive infestation of flying Grimm, but when it was almost undeniable that they'd lose, their Star Knight pushed back the Orcs and Grimm in one great battle.

Isildur was later named the 'Angel-Knight' after the battle. He used his light semblance to form wings and was able to completely destroy the enemy's air force within a week, allowing Atlas' troops to push back the invaders completely within two months.

Vale did its best against the invaders, but their land was being taken village by village. It wasn't until the arrival of a new ally that Vale found hope. The large trees that once surrounded their villages unbound themselves of the ground and attacked the armies of darkness. The trees themselves came to life; they could speak like men, and could fight like giants. They were known as the Ents, and with their help, Vale survived.

The Star Knight of Vacuo, Henry Smith, did what he could for his kingdom, but was too overwhelmed. He repeatedly asked Joan to send help, but she had none to spare.

After Mistral was able to successfully defeat the Grimm and Orc invaders, they prepared to take the fight to the enemy. Before they could ship out, Joan Arc requested the great king Leonidas Nikos to aid Vacuo. Vale was stretched too thin to aid them, so she begged the king to help.

The King Leonidas respected the knight as much as his brother, Themistocles, did; so he accepted her request to aid Vacuo. The King ordered his men to aid the Vacuo defenders while their civilians were escaping.

After three days of defending against nonstop attacks by both Grimm and Orcs, the king lost his life defending the last village as its people escaped.

Themistocles ordered the fleets of Mistral to defend the shores of all the other kingdoms, providing Atlas and Vale a chance to catch their breath.

With Vale and Atlas secure and their enemies currently in retreat on all but Vacuo's theater of war, Joan called for a meeting with Isildur, Themistocles, and Henry on the island of Vytal, and made them an offer they could not refuse.

All four kingdoms would form what would be known as the "Last Alliance", for it was the last alliance any kingdoms ever made before the end of the Great War.

While the Sky knights of Vale, Mantel, Vacuo and Mistral all converged on Mordor, any and all militaries of all their kingdoms stayed behind to protect them in the event if they were to fail.

Themistocles commanded the fleet and broke the blockade around the Dark Continent, allowing Vale and Atlas troops to make landfall on Mordor.

All four Star Knights and their armies laid siege to Mordor, all the way to the roots of Mt. Doom.

The Sky Knight armies of Mantle, Vale and Mistral marched together against the armies of Salem.

The Mistral knights primarily had large bronze shields, spears, and short swords. Some had some projectile weapons like 45 Colt pistols and Springfield M1903 sniper rifles. The tanks they brought with them were Cromwell tanks.

Vale knights had broadswords, short swords and kite shields for melee weapons. Their long range weapons of choice were M1 Garand and Thomson SMGs. The tanks they brought with them were M4 Sherman tanks.

Vacuo knights had halberds and scimitar swords. Their long-range weapons of choice were M1917 Enfield and Winchester 1897s. The tanks they brought with them were T34 tanks.

Mantle (Atlas) knights had bastard swords and war hammers for their melee weapons. Being the most advanced when it came to handheld projectile weapons, they had M2 Carbines and PPSh-41s. The tanks they brought with them were Tiger 1 tanks.

(AN: The layout of the armies is just for this battle, they obviously had more weapons to work with than that in a war of that scale, but this is all they brought with them to this fight.)

As the Orc and Grimm charged at the armies of men, the Mistral knights formed a phalanx in front of the vanguard. The Orcs and Grimm clashed with the phalanx, pushing the front line back a few feet, then spears and rifles poked out from between the shields and hit their targets; spears stabbing the heads of Grimm, bullets hitting their mark on enemy troops.

The men holding the phalanx pushed the enemies back, they lowered their shields, revealing mounted machine guns that were waiting for their turn to fire. They unleashed a hailstorm of bullets on the Grimm and Orcs alike, blasting them to pieces. Then the phalanx would raise their shields and block the next wave of enemies.

While the troops held vanguard, their tanks unleashed a constant barrage along the slopes of Mt Doom to thin out the enemy force against the front line. This also gave openings for troops to push inwards and shatter the enemy's frontal charge.

This pattern would continue for what felt like hours. They pushed their enemy back all the way to the slopes of Mt. Doom. It was there where the armies of men broke ranks and attacked every enemy in sight.

Victory seemed to be within their grasp, but even that was not enough to defeat the queen herself.

Salem stood before the armies of man, and she looked disappointed. She pulled out a sword from beneath her kimono and swung it at the soldiers. Every soldier her blade touched was either blasted to pieces or was burned to ashes.

The armies of Sky Knights backed off from Salem, allowing their Star Knights to see their enemy.

Henry and Themistocles charged in full force, swinging their swords at Salem with all their might. Salem first blocked Themistocles' sword with ease and moved it to block Henry's. She then swung her sword in an attempt to stab Themistocles while he was off balance.

Joan blocked Salem's blade with her shield, allowing Themistocles an opening to kick Salem in the chest. His kick did nothing but push himself away from her a few feet.

Salem then swatted them both, sending them into the ground, making a small crater.

Henry managed to evade Salem's hand and charged at her with his sword. He swung hard and chipped her left shoulder plate. Salem retaliated with a quick swing of her sword, which Henry quickly blocked in time before it could hit him. But the impact from the two blades knocked him off his feet and sent him back a few feet.

Isildur raised his sword, and charged at the Dark Queen. They clashed blades repeatedly; Isildur energized his blade in an attempt to break Salem's but her own sword proved to be just as powerful, despite it being made of pure dark magic.

Joan, Henry and Themistocles took the opportunity to attack Salem in three directions. Salem turned their attack against them as she spun in a tornado of shadows, engulfing all three of them. She spun them around, and threw them into the ground hard.

Isildur was the first to stand back up; his aura's light formed around his body and then formed wings on his back. The light on his body was pure white, while the wings on his back gave off a golden glow. He picked up his sword and stood in an Ochs stance.

Salem reformed her sword and stood there, waiting for him to make his next move.

Isildur advanced, using his wings to move him forward at incredible speed, and clashed blades with the witch. He swung for her head, she blocked. She swung for his body, he dodged. They almost looked evenly matched, until she unleashed a massive blast of dark magic and knocked him off his feet.

Isildur lost his sword when he fell, landing almost a mile away from where he was launched. When he looked up he quickly found himself in the path of a shadow blade. He moved out of the way of Salem's sword as she tried to stab him while he was on the ground. She repeatedly plunged her sword into the ground, trying to stab him. Isildur had no time to get back up, only to roll over and away from any sword stroke Salem through at him. Just when she had him cornered, Joan and Henry both jumped in and blocked Salem's blade their own.

The two were both pushing as hard as they physically could, but it came to no avail, Salem was too strong. Even with their aura's being poured into their limbs and muscles; they were both being overpowered by the Dark Queen.

At the same time, Themistocles tried to stab Salem in the back, but was blasted in the face by a shadow that originated form Salem's kimono.

Salem pushed down on Joan and Henry with ease. "Isildur, if you're going to do something, do it NOW!" Joan shouted as she felt her strength, and Henry's fail them both. Isildur saw that as Salem was pushing her sword down on them, her ring was glowing.

That could be the source of her power! the knight thought. He quickly rolled out from behind Joan. There he spread his wings, and flew as fast as he could to his sword.

Salem saw Isildur leap out from behind Joan; first she removed her sword form Joan's shield, then she blasted Joan with the same kind of shadows she hit Themistocles with, and then flew straight for Isildur.

Isildur grabbed the sword and spun around to Salem, right when she was about to swing her blade downward to slice him in half. Isildur swung his blade and cut her right arm off.

The moment the blade cut through her wrist, it shattered like glass, leaving behind a short broken blade and its gold hilt.

Salem's eyes grew wide as she saw her hand fly from her arm. She was about to reach for it on the ground, but was stopped when Isildur stabbed her through the chest with what remained of his sword.

The broken blade stabbed Salem through her heart, her eyes widened like saucers as she felt the blade rip apart her insides. She backed away from him, removing the sword form her chest in the process. Then her body began to glow in a pure white light, her eyes started to shine, her mouth shined as she screamed. And in an instant, a massive blast of pure white light and a shockwave strong enough to knock every single soldier, Orc and Grimm on their back.

Salem, the last queen of darkness on Remnant, was defeated.

But what nobody knew at the time; days before the Alliance reached Mt. Doom, Salem saw that her defeat was close, so she made a plan. She took the Ring, the last and most powerful gift her father gave her before his passing, and re-forged it in her own way. This time, she made it to be her 'Horcrux', that way, when she was defeated, she would return again when the time was right.

That day, Isildur had the chance to destroy the ring, but couldn't. For in the creation of this Horcrux, Salem placed upon the ring a terrible curse. Much like the stones and rings she made before, any whom touch this ring will fall under its influence and lose their minds to darkness.

Isildur kept the Ring, believing that he could conquer its magic and use it to strengthen the kingdom of Mantel. But the Ring itself has a will of its own. It used Isildur for a time, and it caused the fall of Mantle, which gave rise to the kingdom of Atlas that we see today.

Isildur and a small army of knights and troopers came under attack by Grimm, more specifically very large and monstrous Grimm. Isildur knew right away that they were outnumbered and would be overwhelmed in minutes.

He removed the ring from his neck and put it on, making himself vanish in the middle of the battle.

He ran as fast as he could, dodging Grimm as he ran and jumped into the river that ran alongside the road he was on. When he dove into the water, the ring grew, forcing itself out of his hand. When he realized it was gone, he tried to reach for it, but was quickly stopped by the feeling of being impaled from behind.

Above the water, a large Deathstalker stabbed him and killing him instantly. With its stinger impaling him, the scorpion retracted its tail and pulled Isildur's body back out of the water.

The Ring betrayed Isildur to his death.

And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. For two generations, the kingdoms grew… they lived… and they forgot. Believing that the war was over the day she was slain, humanity decided to forget Salem all together. The search for the Ring was ended after the passing of the last Star Knight from the "Last Alliance".

Then a day came when a new being found the Ring. The creature Gollum found the Ring, and took it to the mountain borders of the kingdom of Vale. Gollum kept it hidden deep within the mountains, out of the sun, out of sight. And there it consumed him.

The Ring had a very lasting effect on Gollum, altering him, changing his body into a grotesque form.

As the years went on, rumors started to form, whispers of a shadow growing in the Dark Continent. And when they reached the Ring, it knew, its time had come. It abandoned Gollum, but something happened then the Ring did not intend.

(Somewhere in Vale)

In one of the pits to Gollum's cave, a woman in a white hood was wandering around. She held her spear rifle close as she treaded lightly through the dark and damp cave.

As the woman walked along the cave floor, a reflective object in a puddle caught her eye. She walked over to the puddle and picked up what was beneath. It looked to be a gold band ring with a black jewel on the top. The ring looked to be no larger than 6 carats.

It was picked up by a huntress; Summer Rose, from Patch.

And the last thing the Ring expected to happen did. It would appear that Silver Eyed Warriors are immune to the dark powers that surround the Ring.

"LOST!"

Summer looked up to one of the higher points to the cave and could hear echoing of a voice. Summer didn't feel comfortable being in such a tight space and limited visibility. She started to slowly backup towards the cave entrance.

"MY PRECIOUS IS LOST!"

The voice started to sound like it was getting closer. Normally Summer wasn't one for getting scared in the middle of a fight; but whatever was coming, it didn't sound good. Once she was near the entrance she quickly turned around and bumped face first into something big. She landed flat on her butt and looked up to see it was an old friend.

"Jonah?" Summer asked as she was rubbing her head.

"I thought we agreed not to split up in these caves?" Jonah asked as he lowered his hand for Summer to take.

"I thought I heard something in here." Summer said on her way up.

After helping her up, Jonah looked into the cave she exited, "Well, we are in the Valsan Mountains; this must be 'Gollum's cave'."

"Well, I don't know about Gollum, but I did hear something down there." Summer said as she gripped her spear tight.

"Come on, I don't think we should stay." Jonah said as he started moving towards daylight.

"Don't tell me you're getting cold feet, Arc?" Summer teased.

"Not cold feet. I just don't want to be late for this one." Jonah said as he waved off his friend.

"Oh, that's right." Summer ran up to Jonah before he reached the main exit, she tucked the ring she found deep into her pocket; "You and Kida are expecting your third. You think you'll get lucky this time?"

The outside looked to a green forest, and the time of day seemed to be dusk, with the sun falling over the horizon.

"Luck won't matter. According to Kida, she wants more than three." Jonah said as he pulled out his map, so that they could find their way back to the road.

"Geez, what if she goes for five?" Summer asked with a fearful look on her face.

"I just hope she stops before there're too many," Jonah said with a nervous smile.

"What about you, Summer? Where are you going back to this?" Jonah asked, trying not to change the subject.

Little did either of them know, but there was a small slimy and sickly green creature, watching them walk away from the cave. It creeped out of the cave and moved into the tall bushes, moving slowly and quietly.

"Well, I plan to head back to Patch. I hear Tai and Raven are having their first soon." Summer said as she hung her spear over her shoulder, "Seams like everyone we know is starting a family, even you."

Summer's smile was cut off when she heard something not too far behind them. She turned towards some of the brushes and saw some small movement. She readied her spear and walked slowly towards it.

"Rose… What do you see?" Jonah asked as she slowly drew his sword from its sheath.

Summer reached the brush and moved it with her spear, although the sun's light was still out, the shadows still made it hard to see. She kept moving until she saw the glare of green eyes. She froze instantly.

"Gollum."

She knew she had the drop on him, and with Jonah behind her, they could easily kill it. But looking at the misshapen figure of this creature, she couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger. Gollum didn't move. It only stared at her, waiting for her to do something; whether out of fear or out of preparation, she couldn't say.

Summer slowly backed away, retracting her rhodium spear and backed away from the bush. She then cleared her throat. "Nothing, it was just a small animal."

"It wasn't a Grimm?" Jonah asked.

"No. It wasn't." That wasn't even a lie.

She backed away and walked towards Jonah with a calm stride, "Come on, 'daddy-oh'. You have a family to get back to."

Jonah relaxed and sheathed his sword as Summer passed him. He took one last look at the mountain and the cave entrance, and then turned back around to join her.

"You know, it's not as bad as you think… Maybe you'll get lucky and have one of your own, someday," Jonah said with a smirk.

"Hah. Maybe… but right now, I just want to stick to what we do best." Summer said as she hung her spear back over her shoulder.

The green creature watched as the two hunters walked away, "Patch… Rose…" Gollum crawled back to the mountain, back to its cave, and continued to mutter the same two words.

With the Ring's corrupted powers proven to be ineffective against its current owner, it did the only thing it could: it slept. Waiting until the day that its mistress returned and for it to have an opportunity to find her again.

(Patch)

Summer entered her house in Patch and walked into her room. (The same house that we see in RWBY)

Summer walked over to her dresser and opened a small jewelry box. She then opened a hidden compartment and placed the gold band black diamond ring inside. "I'll look into this later. For now, Tai is going to need all the help he can get."

AN: I hope you guys like my version of the story.

It took a lot longer for me to write than I thought but here it is.

Until next time, ARKOS!