Prologue
"Kotomine… Kirei!"
The dagger found its target and plunged inwards, shearing through clothing and tissue alike. Kotomine staggered backwards, his hands scrabbling at his chest in a futile attempt to pull the blade out. His eyes looked not at his wound, but into Shirou's, staring intently.
"I gave this dagger to that Tohsaka girl many years ago."
Shirou said nothing, baffled by the fact that Kotomine was still standing, even with Azoth rammed through his heart.
Kotomine went on.
"Back then, when I have her the dagger, I thought it a simple game. How ironic, then, that it would be the instrument of my undoing. But," A sinister smile spread across his face, "you did not release the energy inside it. You did n-ugh!"
Kotomine Kirei stumbled backwards, and his still smiling corpse fell down into the black pool of the Grail's essence.
It was over.
Or so it seemed. Shirou could not help the feeling that something, somewhere, was terribly wrong. His thoughts were soon diverted, however, when the structure of the Grail started shaking, and Ilya fell from her position at the top.
Shirou ran to the edge of the black pool, catching Ilya on a hastily Traced blanket at the nick of time.
Kotomine was the one who put Ilya there, he thought, if she was released, then it means that he… he really is dead.
As if to finally banish all fear from his mind, a voice rang out through the air, filled with happiness.
"Shirou!"
It was Saber, walking towards him, smiling. This was it. Shirou's misgivings had been unfounded. His heart swelled with joy.
And then it happened.
As Shirou turned around, a disfigured body, clutching the dagger Azoth, rose from the Grail's ichor, fighting to rise upwards. It found a handhold on solid ground, and it rose. The dagger rammed it into Shirou's back, the force of the blow enough to rip apart skin, muscle and bone, the dagger penetrating far enough to be seen protruding from Shirou's chest. In blind shock, the boy dropped Ilya to the ground, saving her as the body of Kotomine Kirei dragged him down with him into the darkness.
The last thing Shirou saw before plunging into the black ooze was Saber's horrified face.
----------------------------------
You may have heard, once, about how people can change things. Turn good into evil, death into life, pain into happiness.
You may have heard how to turn tragedy into hope.
Ugliness into beauty.
A murder into art.
But how do you turn a curse into a blessing? How do you change something that seeks only to consume your soul into your greatest power? How can you pursue your dreams if the world itself seems to conspire against you?
Some would say that you can't. Sooner or later you would have to give in.
But they are wrong. And if one can defeat the curse, and through one's own flaws find their power, then they will achieve their dream.
You may wonder who I really am and why I say this. Come, and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard...
