"
This will be the day we've waited for
This will be the day we open up the door
I don't want to hear your absolution
Hope you're ready for a revolution"
-This Will Be The Day(Casey Lee Williams/RWBY)
Last February 1, 2015, Monty Oum, Creator of Dead Fantasy and RWBY, and member of Rooster Teeth Productions died of a severe allergic reaction that left him in a coma for days until his body could no longer recover.
This story is dedicated to a wonderful, amazing, and talented person who had been taken from us too soon. Goodbye Monty... You will be Missed
Rest In Peace (Monty Oum June 22, 1981 - February 1, 2015)
Without any ado, this is the first chapter of Oum.
~Oum~
Long ago, a mysterious sorcerer called Kalt emerged from the shadows and cast open a rift in between our world and the shadow's.
The shadows that follow our every move is a mirror to our every steps and they are always a step closer to seeing the conclusion to our actions. But they will never interfere, for it is merely their job to observe. To lurk within our sight, but never in our grasp. Day after day, without will, they must follow suit their original version's life for the shadows were once alternate versions of people. But their will was so strong they began to gather power and rebel against the will of Fantasma, the Dimension King. To Punish them, they were allowed to keep their powers, but was cast into darkness and will only echo the movements of their true form.
But when the sorcerer came, he had found a ripple into the dimension. He had contact with his shadow self, of course. No one knew how.
The world was plunged into overlapping darkness. Shadows had become physical, human like beings. Most shadows were evil, and caused chaos. There WERE some who had good hearts. Some from the hearts of truly good people, some alternating a bad one.
A mage simply known as Ross had gathered strength from good shadows and the will of men to forge 2 mighty weapons that helped seal of the Shadow Realm. Oum, The Pen of Light. A staff that could emit light that could eliminate darkness. And Rubiose, The Tome of Darkness. A sword that can overlay darkness on shadows to cease their movement. With these two weapons, he banished evil shadows back into their realm and shut the rift that granted entrance to their world. To this day, however, there are still shadows that lurk among us. Most are the ones that helped Ross. But most alarmingly are those who escaped. Even more so are the creatures they had brought with them. Echoes. Dark creatures that dont have their own original personas.
Generation after Generation, the story of the mystical Weapons of Ross have been told to each. However, of the two weapons, only the Rubiose was found.
Oum had been sealed away by Ross as it held deep powers that he predicted would have been fought over.
Even to this day, people sought after Oum to find its secrets and banish shadows.
~Oum~
"Monty!"
"Huh?"
Monty Ren opened his eyes to find his sister, Kayla, trying to trek through his things.
Monty closed his laptop and cleared a way for her.
"You're going to be late for registration! Your entrance exam is in an hour!" She turned around to check on his things. It was a mess.
" You're not going to make it to Rote at this rate!" But he was gone. His laptop, a few of the anime posters plastered on the wall, and his bag with him.
When Kayla had finally gotten out his room, Monty had already eaten his breakfast(a stack of pancakes), washed the dishes, and was tying his shoelace.
"How did you..." Kayla stopped. Of course he could do that. He'd been doing it since they were kids.
"Well, I'm off." He grabbed his things and got up.
"Rote's in the next city over. How are you going to get there. Your car's in the shop. You know, after what happened LAST WEEK?" Monty took out a pen and grinned.
"I've got it covered."
The weapons Oum and Rubiose had caused a reaction that created substances that is used today to power many things and create weapons. This was called Oumites. Along with them, it unlocked People's potentials by giving them a sort of link to their shadows. Powers if you will.
Monty's power relied on his imagination. With his pen, he had to power of creation. Though his powers held significant strength, it had it limits on what came into existence and his mental strength.
"Let's try a portal..." Monty drew a circle in the air. It turned into a hoola-hoop and dropped into the ground.
"Guess that's out of the picture." He could draw a car... but he wont. It was just too simple and boring for him.
Instead, he drew a glyph into the air. Something he studied from an Oumite book of power called Weiss. A friend got it for him once.
A booster glyph.
Rote was in Pale City. It was directly across his hometown. But it was far. By car, it would have taken at least 30 minutes.
He stabbed his pen into the glyph and pressed a button. He jumped into it and released the pen.
He was soon flying 20 feet into the air.
As he began to fall, he pointed the pen to his feet and pressed another button. A copy of the glyph appeared and he continued to boost.
~Oum~
Within 20 minutes, he was within the city and halfway to Rote.
"Excuse me! Coming Through! Future Maven coming through!"
Maven's are groups of trained professionals that use their powers to battle Shadows and Echoes while constantly searching for Oum.
Monty arrived at the front door of Rote, the academy of Mavens.
For years it stood proudly and trained fine Mavens.
"Am I... Too late for registration?" He said to the registration lady.
She looked mean, but it disappeared with a smile.
"Sign your name and go on in. Wait for your name to be called."
Monty signed his name and entered the glass doors leading to a hall. As he continued, he watched students from the window as they walk on campus or trained.
He was really excited and nervous.
Exams usually pit trainees and cut those they deem weak.
He eventually reached the Exam Waiting Area. A lot of tough contenders who looked ready to eat him alive had fire in their eyes.
He sat next to a girl with brown hair tied in a ponytail and wore a combat skirt.
"Hello... I'm Monty" Monty, outside of friends and family, had a shy disposition. If he was to become a Maven, he had to learn how to talk to people.
She looked at him with a sort of arrogant... No... Confident Smile. "Sheena Valkyrie."
A Valkyrie... Monty should have guessed from her combat skirt. Her family name is widely recognized as expert Mavens who had helped eliminate countless Shadow Rebels.
If Monty was right, he counted that this girl was a trained expert in combat. He shuddered at the thought of facing her.
"The Exams are about to begin. Please Enter The Stage Monty Ren..." Monty stood up, nervous to find out how he'll fair. "And Sheena Valkyrie."
Oh Crap Monty thought. This was just great.
He looked at her with a sort of fazed, but still blank expression.
"Come on." She said and stood up.
~Oum~
They entered the arena. It was a simple, concrete battlefield with some debris. The audience were watching from bleachers.
Sheena crossed to the opposite side and produced a single, steel handle.
Monty was already trying to asses how she would fight.
Maven's created their own weapons with Oumites, but the Valkyrie family were particularly popular with their line of weapons they crafted.
"Monty Ren versus Sheena Valkyrie. Single Round." Monty got nervous. It doesn't matter if you win, or lose. As long as you put up a good fight. If you do, you can still enter. If you don't, well try again next year. This was a Valkyrie she was facing. Could he really put up a fight?
"Begin."
Sheena put her right foot forward and raised the handle.
"Let me ask you something before we begin." She said.
"What is it?"
"Why do you want to be a Maven?" She asked.
Monty remained silent for a few seconds before giving a huge smile.
"Because being a Maven's awesome."
She looked annoyed. "Excuse me?"
"What reason do I need to explain more? Mavens help people, save lives. Protect them. I get to work my hardest and people call you awesome for just doing what you love. I work and people are safe. The world looks very different when you're pushing yourself every second you've got. So I'm willing to risk it."
Her face softens and the fire of a fighters soul burns.
"Alright... Then lets see if your resolve is just as good as your strength!" The handle extends into a steel rod. She spins it and multiple blades appear. The rod flips and it becomes a sword.
The swords glow and a glyph appears on the ground.
The same booster Monty used just a while ago.
She's in the air.
"This is my power! Energy Projection! Can you take it?!" The blades rain down at Monty.
He takes out his pen and begins to create ink strokes into the air. It blocks blades before cracking. More was coming.
From a single hole in the ink shield, he put the end of his pen and spun the barrel like part on the rear. He then pressed a button that was labeled "Paste"
The Booster glyph reappears on his side and the blades that came at him flew back at Sheena.
"Impressive. Someone studied their glyphs." New blades manifested and blocked the repelled blades.
The new ones gathered their tips all pointed as if like a drill.
Energy emit from the tips. Monty made it out as the Reverse Glyph. If the blades combined with a Reverse Glyph hit the Booster Glyph, it would reverse the direction towards Monty, and he'd be struck.
"This is it!" Sheena flew down and pierced through the Booster Glyph.
Though she felt she hit something, she knew that the fight was far from over. Wind picked up and the broken ink strokes scattered. The blade was being blocked by a... Laptop?
"This is my weapon. I made it myself."
"You made... A battle laptop?"
Monty pushed her off and held his lap- Weapon up.
It had different linings and held no brand besides a glowing 'Monty' on the top.
"Don't underestimate it just yet." Monty threw the laptop up. From the air it transformed into two dagger like weapons.
"Ah... You used Tentral Steel for it to shift into weapons and refined Xaltec for the monitor and wiring."
"Smart." Monty swiped his pen into the air and multiple copies of the Daggers fluttered into his hands.
He continued the fight by throwing the carbon copies at Sheena. It was easily deflected. But she did not see Monty come at her and he began swinging the knives. He looked docile, but he was very fast. The energy projected blades were being shattered and she was down to her real sword.
Like the scene from Kingdom Hearts 2, Monty had continued bashing Sheena, but unlike Kingdom Hearts, Sheena was able to back Monty off.
Her reach with her sword was admirable. She swung at him with a fencer's style. Luckily, he was able to block it with his weapon's form. But he can't swing to an offensive. She pulled back and multiple swords appeared.
Monty twirled his weapons and they became pistols. It shot the energy swords with electricity and they shattered.
He reassembled them and turned it into a single sword.
It was a continued battle of swings and blows.
However, Monty knocked her into the air with a stroke of ink from his pen.
To win the exam, you must hit the enemay into submission, but cannot fatally hurt them with swords and such.
Monty turned the sword into a bat and swung up.
Sheena reverted the sword into a rod and swung down.
They were both hit in the shoulders and fell to the ground.
"DRAW!" The announcer said. The crowd got wild and began clapping.
Monty and Sheena got up and dusted their pants.
"You were great." Sheena said.
"Nothing less from you too, Valkyria." She smiled and they returned to the waiting area.
~Oum~
As the exams continued, Monty and Sheena waited for the results to come.
Warriors exited triumphant, tired, or unconscious. That was mostly the gist of it.
But there WAS one who had to be taken to the hospital. His opponent was Gallen Raze. He had the look of a toughened warrior with a ruthless edge. He gave Monty and Sheena a dark and menacing look before returning to his seat.
"All exams have finished. Please proceed to Malton Hall to see results."
Monty was glad that despite their battle, he had made a friend out of Sheena. They entered Malton Hall to check the results.
"I got in!" Sheena squealed and shook Monty's hand. He did not expect a girl of the Valkyrie name to be this quirky.
Monty quietly continued looking. Scared that he didn't make the cut. Then he saw it.
Number 54: Monty Ren.
"I got in too!" Monty laughed. The two were happy and agreed to go get lunch. Then they saw him again. Gallen. He was staring at the results board. The two looked as well. Sure enough. His name was there.
Though it scared them to know such a dangerous and violent person was around, they couldn't help their excitement.
Monty took out his phone and dialed his sister's number.
"Hello?" His sister picked up.
"I'm a Maven." The screams of happiness was so loud that Monty had to move his phone out of his ear.
But... He has worked hard for it.
This was just the start of everything.
Today marked the start of his life as a Maven at Rote Academy.
