A Peculiar Visitor

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A/N: Ey, bois and gurls. Ready for another chapter?


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She'll train him, she said. It'll be fun, she said. 


When Mama said she would prepare him for the future, he expected her to be gentle and slow. For the first few weeks, she was.


Books? He diligently read every book given to him, ranging from simple mathematics to biology to recent politics.


Physique? Mister Watts and Salem had prepared a diet plan for him to strictly follow along with an exercise routine. He needed to gain some mass. The training facility in the castle helped greatly in that aspect.


Combat tactics? He studied the past Vytal tournaments along with history's wars and pointed out maneuvers he could use and learn. He had yet to truly find a weapon for himself though. For now, he simply settled for a unique short saber imbued with magic.


But in actual combat, let alone dodging Mama's dangerously speeding projectiles aimed at him? The sore muscles in his arms and legs begged to differ. 


What was slow to her was way too fast for him.


He laid on the floor of the training hall, panting and gulping every bit of air he could breathe in. After somehow managing to dodge all the projectiles Mama had thrown at him with the surprising acrobatic skill he never knew he was capable of, she'd been impressed.


She cupped her chin in thought whilst Grimm tendrils floated behind her, carrying various debris and projectiles ready to shoot at a moment's notice.


"Your evasive skills are impressive if only your body was trained to handle such acrobatic maneuvers." Perhaps giving him a class on dancing might help with that. 


"Time, time-out, please," he gasped out desperately. He couldn't even wipe his sweat without his arms feeling really fatigued.


"Of course. You've earned your recess." 


Thank you, Oum!


Problem was, he was having a hard time getting up from the floor. That was until Salem gently helped him walk to a nearby bench and handed him a glass of cold water to drink.


"Don't sit just yet. Let your blood circulate."


He gulped down the whole glass in one swig. Goodness, the cold water coating his dry throat was such a godsend.


"Do you feel any lingering pain in your body?" She checked up on him, somewhat worried if she had pushed too far.


He smiled at the concern and shook his head. "Just feeling tired all over." 


 "Good," she nodded after appraising his body for a brief moment. She sat down on the bench and commented on his performance.


"You have some impressive reflexes to successfully dodge my throws. We'll need to work on your physique. Take the rest of the week off after this session."


"Yes, mama." 


She gently wiped the sweat on his back and his face. "Still, where did you learn to dodge like that?" She snorted lightly in midst of speaking. His acrobatic feats, while impressive were also hilarious.


He puffed his cheek, pouting. "I got chased by some of the big animals in the forest. I had to learn to dodge, hide, and run."


"I see."


She pondered on how she could help develop that skill other than dancing. He was agile and quick on his feet. All that was left of the basics was fighting back.


"Small adjustment will have to be made," she whispered in thought.


After the break, he stood up from the bench and walked towards the open area.  


"Before we begin," he turned to his mother and quickly caught the wooden training sword thrown at him. "I suggest you use that in the upcoming sessions."


He tested the sword, gripping it in different angles, and swung a few times before turning to his mother.


"What for?" He immediately dodged small debris aimed for his head, mere centimeters away from his cheek. Another sped directly for his face and batted it away with the wooden sword and jumped back.


"Good, you're learning. Do not let up," she smiled proudly before throwing more debris. 


He dodged and batted away as fast as he could. As the session lasted, the debris gradually got faster until they were all a blur. 


Just when he thought he was doing well, one tiny ball-sized rock penetrated his aura and bonked him on the forehead, knocking him unconscious.


Dang it, he thought before blackness welcomed him.


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"Oh, dear me," she winced. Looks like she threw that last bit too hard. It was quite an impressive headshot though.


Lifting his body with the black Grimm arms, she gently picked up Y/N from the extra limbs and walked towards the bench. Her poor son's forehead was literally red and smoking.


She laid his head on her thighs and placed an ice bag on his swollen forehead. Looking at her cute little son, she threaded her fingers between his hair.


Truth be told, she has little to no idea how to raise a son. She's had daughters but the needs between the two were different yet similar in some aspects. 


What would they be like in their adolescence? Did they experience mood swings? 


It'd be a nightmare if boys had menstruation. She knows how cranky girls could be in their puberty stage, she'd been there after all.


But looking at his peaceful face and observing his actions throughout the weeks, the worries simply washed away. Her son was raised with humility, valuing strength yet did not actively seek power.


He was such an innocent child.


"I shall return shortly with some snacks, Y/N." 


Carefully folding a few towels, she placed them under his head and carefully removed herself from her seat, and exited the training room.


Had she stayed a bit longer, she would've noticed a strange symbol etching itself onto his hand.


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Y/N groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Finding himself in the training room asleep on the bench. 


He slowly stood up from his seat, catching the ice bag whose ice had long melted into water.


"Where is Mama?"


He picked up the faint sound of wind coming from the door of the room. Strangely though, no windows were open. So where was the wind coming from?


He slowly walked to the door and tried to open it but was locked. 


Please don't tell me Mama locked me in here.


"Great, how am I supposed to get - out?" 


He looked behind him to see the half of the training room had disappeared. What greeted him was a large doorway to a whole new dimension.


Dark shades of grey filled this strange void's non-existent sky that stretched across the distances around him. 


Rocks and small islands floated everywhere in the landscape, suspended in chaotic disarray like a child's toy room. Broken buildings, tilted towers, and crooked architecture stood atop these islands, a mockery of the real world.


It was such an awesome place of impossible geometry and monoliths that endlessly reached for the skies. Rocks upon rocks, shapes upon shapes.


Yet strangely, for all its chaos, this void emanated an alien sense of peace. 


"Where am I?" He hugged himself amidst the endless cold.


Did Mama hit him so hard he got deleted into another dimension?


He continued to observe his surroundings until a loud sound startled him.


"What was that?" His head twitched left and right until he saw a humongous whale swimming across the space as if it were water.


What sort of loopy land have I entered?


He scratched his hair in confusion. This was one hell of a dream. 


His ears picked up the sound of something moving, rock grinding against rock. Looking ahead of him, a path formed from broken debris towards a crooked archway.


His hair across the back of his neck stood on end. Living in the forest of wild animals honed his instincts of potential danger. 


He wasn't alone. He could feel something was watching him.


Maintaining vigilance, he slowly walked towards the archway. Just as he reached it, black smoke converged in front of him to reveal a person, a plain-looking young man with a brown coat, blue-grey pants, black boots, and black hair.


What unsettled him, however, were the black eyes of emptiness that stared back at him. 


"Y/N L/N. I am the Outsider." The stranger spoke his name, layers of voices all at once. Soothing yet inhuman. He was standing there yet he wasn't.


"Your life's taken quite an interesting turn, hasn't it?" 


Y/N tilted his head, confused at how he knew what his life was and the events that led to it.


"I watched as you, a young farm boy being betrayed for your uncanny ability to tame the creatures of Grimm and then taken in by the queen of the very same creatures you've come to love, the creatures meant to destroy humanity."


Where was he going with this? Was he some kind of god? He had to be.


"They blame you for your own home's destruction, screaming for your death. But we both know what happened, don't we?"


"It wasn't their fault," he defended. "Fear of what they don't understand led to my exile. They're only human. In a different time, I could've been one of those shouting and throwing the stones."


A fascinated expression made its way to the stranger's face. "Even after everything, you still have the will to forgive your persecutors? Extraordinary." 


In a blink of an eye, the man disappeared into thin air without as much a sound. His voice spoke right beside his ear, startling him.


"You yearn for a family yourself. The embrace of a mother that you sorely miss and you found it in Salem, the cursed princess, now queen."


Cursed princess?


"How ironic for a child loved by nature to meet the incarnation of the dark."


His brows furrowed at what sounded like his mother being badmouthed. 


"Even if she was cursed, she's still my mother. I finally have a mother that wouldn't abandon me and I'm not going to let anyone take that away from me."


A ghost of a smile graced the stranger's lips as he continued to speak. 


"I've heard the same line in many generations. Some kept it, others were consumed by their own goal." He reappeared beside him, slouched against a bench. 


"How far are you willing to go to keep your word? And are you clever enough to do it without spilling a river of blood?"


He crossed his arms. "I asked two people the same question thousands of years ago. This is what changed them. What'll be your answer?"


Pain seared on Y/N's hand. Hissing as he tensed his hand, it glowed in waves of blue and orange like a candle fire and watched as a strange symbol etched itself on the back of his hand.


"It burns," he gritted until the pain subsided. Staring at the odd mark that was given to him by this stranger.


"There are forces at work in this world and beyond this world, men call it magic. And now, these forces serve you. Use it well."


"This is one cool mark." Y/N marveled at the odd symbol on his hand. It looked like those personal insignias huntsmen had on them. 


The stranger chuckled. He nodded his head. "Follow me."


He disappeared into thin air and at his leave. Rocks started forming rough paths for him to take. Y/N, somewhat awkwardly, managed to climb up the rocky paths.  


"Now how am I supposed to get up there?" 


He looked at the symbol again. He stretched his marked hand towards the edge and was surprised to see a black pool of some liquid form and the next thing he knew, he was falling and reappeared on the edge he was pointing at.


He blinked once, twice, and then looked at his hand. "That was awesome."


He tested it out again and pointed ahead of him. Once more, he sunk into the ground and reappeared at his destination. 


So he could sink into the shadows and get thrown back out at where he wanted? Pretty neat.


He looked ahead of the path only to see there was no way he could get across without falling. He pointed to the ground far below him only to frown that the black pool didn't form.


"So there's a range limit," he muttered. Figured an awesome power like this had some disadvantages. 


So he could teleport on flat ground. But what about mid-air?


He pointed at the empty air below him and was surprised to see a black pool spill forth. 


"Oh, crap!"


The black pool spat him out onto the ground only at a more manageable height. He rolled safely across the ground and nailed the landing.


So his teleportation ability works on the air. Good to know.


He continued walking and getting used to teleporting around until he came across a broken piece of a giant bedroom. And its still inhabitant sat on the bed, a beautiful woman Y/N had the pleasure of calling his mother.


His adoptive mother, Salem, in her human form, sat upon her soft bed of silk with a forlorn gaze in her orbs of turquoise. Her hand seemed to be reaching out for something far beyond her reach. 


"The Outsider mentioned Mama being cursed. Was he talking about this?"


He encountered another frozen scene, this time it was of his mother who crawled her way out of the black, murky pools that birthed the Grimm. 


Her face was changed. Her entire complexion had turned deathly pale from healthy, milky skin. Once vibrant and curious eyes morphed into hateful, angry red orbs that glinted in the dark that made him shiver.


"The pools changed her. Why would she jump in it?" From what Mama told him, the pools were the birthplace of all Grimm. Anything that fell in it was to drown in destruction, to be destroyed down to the cellular level. 


So how did she survive? 


So many questions with very few answers.


He continued running and teleporting around the place, getting a feel for his new power until he reached a small shrine with weird objects on its altar. 


He closely inspected the weird offerings. The symbol of the Outsider was etched on them and he could feel something was off about these things. 


"Is this thing made of bones?" He whispered in fascination. He loved strange-looking antiques.


"Tooth of a whale, in fact."


"Can you stop doing that!?" Y/N shouted with a comical vein on his forehead. Seriously, he needs to stop!


He stared at him for a brief moment. "These are runes. Across the world's dark corners, you will find them bearing my mark and offered up in my name. Find them and they shall grant you more than what you are capable of."


So these runes would help him gain new powers? Awesome. Question was, how was he supposed to find them, let alone know when one was nearby?


"My mark will serve as your guide. It shall grant you its senses, to see and hear these runes." 


Is he reading my mind? He tested out by thinking Salem had a wonderful body.


"I strongly agree with your assessment."


Damn, he could really read minds. 


"Why me?" He asked after a long pause. 


"Call it curiosity on my part. A boy your age should be running around with toy swords, running errands for your mother. Imagine my surprise to see you betrayed and dishonored by the ones you saw as irreplaceable friends for a crime you didn't commit."


He bent down to stare at Y/N's unflinching eyes that stared back. "I wanted to know what'd happen if you give an innocent child power like no other, to see what they'd do with it after having their life dragged down on the mud."


"Now you've got power men would kill for, what are you going to do with it?"


Before he could answer, everything slowly disappeared in the blink of an eye as a bright light enveloped him.


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His eyes slowly opened to see that he was still lying on the bench, specifically on Salem's ever-comfortable lap pillow.


"Rise and shine, my son," she greeted with a smile.


He smelled the freshly baked scent of cookies and hot milk. Slowly sitting up, he scratched his head in confusion as he looked around him.


Was everything just some weird dream?


"What's wrong?" Her worried voice snapped him out of his thoughts. 


He looked at her, his gaze remaining on her deathly pale face. His thoughts went to the frozen scenes enacted in the Void, of how she was once human before she became what she is now.


Did it change how he would treat her? Far from it. All he knew was that she was cursed. She was just like him. His simple mind registered only one truth; that Salem was still Salem. She was his mother and he wouldn't change it for the world.


He smiled and set the question aside for later. Mama's snacks were to die for. "Nothing. I thought you were gone in my dream."


He felt her cold hand affectionately rub his head, pecking his forehead with a small kiss. "You will always be my side and I, you. Now come before the cookies get cold."


Little did he know on his left hand, the Outsider's symbol glowed for a brief moment before dimming still and falling silent.



A/N: Hello. Miss me?

So I'll be honest, I thought it'd be easy to squeeze in some free time in my Architecture studies. Turns out I only have Sundays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays as free time and even then, I'd still be doing two plates per week.

It sucks ass.

Trying the best I can to finish my plates and assignments early so I can get some time to work on my stories. The updates are uncertain as to when they'll come next but no way am I abandoning this story.


So as always, enjoy the story and I'll see you guys next time!

Next Update: The First Huntsman

CIAO!!!

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