Intro:At the End of All

Shirou Emiya stood(?) in the abyss, staring(?) out into the eternal void. He had gotten used to such situations – being tossed around dimensions, catching interest of eccentric powerful beings, and having to fight while being fatally injured. Nothing much surprised him anymore. Also, this time around, at least he knew the reason he was in such a strange place. More or less, it must have been because he had died. It was not like it was not his time. He had saved many people. Even though he could have saved more, he realized, he was too tired to put up with all the shit that life kept throwing at him. The Grail War had been the beginning of the deaths. Everyone he loved had eventually died. Still he had followed his ideals, not bothering to do more than pause to mourn. If this was the afterlife, his afterlife, then it was aptly relevant. All he needed now, was time. Time to mourn, time to think, time to regret and time to think upon all the things he had so casually ignored. His ideal was beautiful. And it was flawed. He had always known as much. And yet, he had followed that path till his very last breath, hoping to see that smile again.

In the end, he mused, this could not be anything other than the afterlife, for it was too quiet to be anything else. His thoughts were interrupted however, almost as if he had jinxed it all by himself, the perfect blackness of the abyss was suddenly marred by a pinprick of light. Even though he could neither feel nor see his body, he felt unreasonably afraid of that small white dot, to the point that he was sure if he could see his body, it would have been shaking with terror from the tip of his hair to the bottom of his feet.

"You need not fear, little one. That just the beginning, of everything." Someone(?) spoke from beside him. Startled, he turned(?) to find a very strange thing floating(?) beside him, staring at the pinprick just as he had been doing not too long ago. The thing, for it did not match the description of any being he had ever known of, was purely black. It was vaguely humanoid, and only visible because it was blacker than the absolute black of the abyss. Even though Shirou should not have been able to see the face, he was able to see something resembling eyes and a nose. There was, however, no sign of a mouth.

"Just what are you? And what is that?" Asked Shirou, unable to collect himself, and too unsettled to be polite. The thing turned. It almost felt like he was being assessed, and was found less than satisfactory, through those black orbs. The pinprick had widened somewhat, and appeared to be somewhat the size of a basketball.

The being spoke. "That ,young child, is what your kind would call "creation". However, it is not just your creation. What you saw, is the creation of various "trees", various Eternities, or to simply speak, various "Realities". Not that the last one is accurate. But, I think, it is enough dumbing down for you to grasp that concept, even if it is not entirely accurate."

Its voice was something that could not be compared to anything. Even though Shirou had met and fought many species, both normal and Phantasmal, he couldn't compare it to any one of them. It was primal, yet humble. Deep, yet shrill. It was a contradiction which went far beyond his perceptions.

"It's better if you try not to think about these things. You wouldn't be able to grasp these concepts, of that I'm sure." It said, as if reading his mind. "Let's just get this over with quickly. Being here isn't something which is going to be beneficial for you."

"What are you talking about? What is this place? And who-what are you?" Shirou asked, feeling slightly panicked. Strange situations were not new to him, but this, this was new, as every time anything mysterious had happened, he had been able to calmly gauge his options. That he was here, even when he was dead, put him off balance. This being, whatever it was, was definitely above the two supreme entities which were Alaya and Gaia. The power that enveloped him, was just like a blanket. It was clear, that at the slightest whim, the blanket could strangle him, even when it felt warm and good.

"Don't keep asking what I am, if I answered that, it would take a long time before you could come to understand. This place is what your kind, that is, mages, would call "The Root". Only, it's more of "Roots". You can say that this is the garden of existence."

"Roots?" He asked. It was a baffling concept that more than one of that existed, yet he could not help but trust that this was the truth. "How can it be possible? The root is supposed to be the Root of All Existence-"

"Exactly." It answered. "These are Roots of various existences. Anyway, we are getting off topic. So you are hereby not allowed to speak anything until I explain your purpose here." It continued, with an authority even greater than all of the Heroic Spirits he had met, put together.

"I have prevented your soul from moving on. Why, you may ask, would I do that? The answer is simple, I am offering you another go at everything. Of course, as things stand, and seeing how your life turned out, it is not an offer that should be taken lightly. You get to keep your memories, along with another go at saving all those whom you hold dear, even after they have kicked the bucket. It is not exactly easy to do this for other, lesser beings, but I am willing to let you have all this. Other beings, who hold the power to give you another chance, merely do so either by sending your memories to a particular point in time and cutting off the branch that holds the information about the events that happen after that which will result in the future that was cut off crumbling away, or, by simply sending the memories to another dimension where things have not happened yet. But, what I am going to do, is very different. I am going to reverse the growth of the particular branch that is your world and then send you to its "present"."

"Doing so would enable you to change the future, though it would not be quite easy. Other entities exist, like Fate, who will try to "correct" the events in order to preserve the "original" version of the tree of existence. Anyway, just that changing the events is possible, should be enough. So, now tell me, do you wish to accept my offer?"

"Wouldn't changing the future mean that all the experiences I went through and all the sacrifices that people made for me, would be rendered meaningless? It is a good deal, but that in itself is the problem. Generally there's a catch involved." Shirou said, finally being able to speak again.

"No, their sacrifices, the experiences, would all live on in your head. It would be just like a delusional illusion about how the world would turn out to be, because I have faith that you can fuck it up even without meaning to. There is no catch however. I do not mean to subjugate your soul or make you sign a contract to become my slave, the only thing you have to do, is try to preserve certain events, because if you change too much, then the situations might get worse." The being answered.

"If that is so, then I am grateful, and ready to go through with this." Shirou replied. 'After all, if I can save them, if I can see them smile again, and if I can save more people, then it would not be a waste, and I would not regret it. Not even if I die, not even if I end up sharing the same fate as him.' Shirou thought, even the idea of becoming someone like that person making him feel repulsed.

"Fine then, shall we proceed with your training?" The being asked and Shirou got the feeling that it sounded happy.

"Training? What for?"

"Of course I wouldn't send you off without completely mastering your Magecraft. Did you think that I would let you half-ass it? First, I am going to give you some memories from your alternate selves, then you are going to apply those memories and master all the aspects of your Magecraft. The situations you are going to be put in to achieve this complete mastery would also give you valuable experience in all sorts of other areas."

"I thought that as I am now, I can beat most of the Heroic Spirits in the War?" Shirou asked, his curiosity finally shining be fair, he had taken on Apostle Ancestors and killed them, even though they were the weaker ones and it had taken a lot of effort and planning to do so. Before death, he had become someone worthy of being called the successor of the Magus Killer.

"Nope, not happening. The War in your reality went a lot smoother than what could have been. The weapons in your Reality Marble may be enough to counter the noble phantasms of your War, but that doesn't mean you can win. You know that too. Also, you are overestimating. Your body became used to projections, and your circuits became more used to the strain after the War, to the point that you were able to do Projections that would have left you an inch from death during the War. The body you will get, will be slightly better, but not nearly as efficient as your last one."

"What do you mean 'The body you will get'?"

"It means, that reversing the growth will result in some alterations to the past, to accommodate the memories that you will have of the War. I know that your body will be slightly different along with your past, but those will be minor changes, at best." The mysterious entity answered.

"Well, I shall go along with it, because the opportunity is too valuable to waste over slight changes." Shirou conceded. 'It's not every day that a person gets a chance to change the past after all' Shirou thought.

"Then let us commence with your training. You may address me as Aries."

"The god of war?" Shirou asked.

"No. The first symbol of the zodiac."