Chapter 1

The Blank Card

...Within darkness...

...there is fear…

… but maybe, there is Light after all…

Wait. A light? Teo jumped up and looked around. Aside from his phone randomly going off there was nothing unusual. "Who could be up so early?" he thought tersely, his shoulders sagging with a sigh of relief as his phone finally ceased its incessant flashing. The light dulled and he could relax. He lied a bit, then turned on his side.

"Great, now I can't sleep."

His eyes flung open, puffy and annoyed. From the anime posters on the wall to the figurines up on the dresser, his room looked just as it did before he went to sleep.

"Was that light really coming from my phone?"

He sprawled back across his bed, and he knew the lights were off, yet he could see the same light from before lifting him from his sleep. The light dulled and disappeared, but Teo's restlessness didn't, and for all his tossing and turning he couldn't fall asleep. His eyes sprung open.

He glanced at his phone, "2:30?!" He had to wake up early anyway but now? With a quick swipe, he unlocked his phone and opened Fate/Grand Order, his latest obsession. It was a game he had been playing for months now and he couldn't put it down. He couldn't sleep knowing that he would be wasting AP, so naturally he needed to play more before nodding off once again. He navigated to a screen that summons a servant, in-game characters. When he tapped the summoning option, he noticed an extra summoning ticket. "Why not?" he jested while tapping the button. The familiar animation of light spinning around to reveal a card played but something was off "The card is gold? And a lancer?!" The gold layer began to lift showing a red spear, and Teo's eyes widened in anticipation.

That's when the alarm went off and Teo woke up.

It happened again, and Teo couldn't be more frustrated. This was the second time in a row he had summoned a good servant in his sleep, and his frown of disappointment could be seen almost instantly. In the game, there were different rarities of servants, gold being one of the highest level. Out of the seven classes in the game, the Lancer class was the only servant he did not have a gold one of.

He looked over at his blaring phone alarm. 5:00am. Right on schedule. With a groan, he grumpily turned the alarm off and crawled out of bed. Working at a supermarket wasn't too bad, but the early shifts are a pain to wake up to. After rubbing his eyes a bit, he began his morning ritual of launching Fate/Grand Order and going to the restroom. The game loaded as soon as he reached the bathroom sink, and as he was putting toothpaste on his toothbrush, he saw a notification in his gift box. The schedule for the game was consistent. Each day at 10am central the game's missions reset, and daily gifts were received at 2 pm. It was far too early to receive anything.

He began to doubt his consciousness, but then the idea of having a dream within a dream made him chuckle. As he began brushing his teeth, he opened his gift box, revealing an olive colored ticket. The game occasionally gave out gold tickets to summon a servant without the use of in game money, but here was something else. There was no special event going on and he had never seen an olive ticket before. Though he was confused, he tapped the ticket which took him to the summoning screen. Pressing the button, he rolled, the game did what it normally did, but as far as normal goes it all ended there.

The animation is for summoning is always the same. Small orbs of light come from the middle of a symbol, and becomes a circle. The circle of orbs begins to spin until a column of light forms. As the light dies down, a colored card with one of seven classes appears, and reveals a servant. Everything started out the same… until an orb of light lifted out of the phone.

All he could do was stare. This game he had played for ages had physically manifested orbs of light in his bathroom. They began spinning rapidly. Teo started choking on his toothpaste. He coughed into the sink and the orbs kept spinning faster and faster. It formed a blinding column of light, knocking Teo to the ground. The bright light had dulled, becoming a soft glow. He grimaced a bit trying to get up. When the world came to focus, a card was floating a couple feet from where he was, bathed in light.

His fear had been replaced with curiosity, he had to know what was going on and that card had to be the key to understanding all of this. He reached for the golden light, and when he grabbed it, the light dissipated. When he turned the card over, it was completely blank. Looking at the back, he saw gold trim and designs etched along the edges with a circle in the middle, as if the back of the card was some kind of magic circle. It clearly looked like one of the cards in the game, but why was the front blank? The game usually has a servant on the front side, but nothing was here. Maybe the world was more than he thought. Or maybe he was just really tired. Stunned, he put the card in his phone case and focused on a more pressing matter: not being late to work. He splashed his face with water, and he went back to his room to get dressed.

He knew a lot about the Fate franchise. Most of stories consist of seven mages who compete against each other for the Holy Grail of Myth, which has the power to grant one wish. To fight for the grail, the mages summon a servant from legend into one of seven classes: saber, lancer, archer, rider, assassin, caster, and berserker. There are exceptions, but these rules are standard. Some versions of the story do talk about servants being cards similar to what Teo had here, but mages? Magic? Something strange must be happening. He grabbed a flannel and began to button it up. All those stories were just stories, a visual novel written for the enjoyment of others. Yet there was a class card in his phone case right now.

Buckling his belt, he grabbed his coat and headed downstairs, He grabbed an apple and headed out the door. Taking a bite, he wondered how things would change.

"What does all this mean?"

It had been several hours later and after a long day at work and various errands Teo was just happy to finally be headed home. "It's Tuesday" he thought. His phone rang and he wasn't surprised to see Rey's name on it.

"Hey Teo."

"Hey Rey, you coming by today?"

"Yeah, I'll be there around 6, that ok?"

"Yup, I'll see you soon."

Teo turned away from the setting sun and walked into his house. Climbing the stairs, he thought about the blank card he had received. He sat down and pulled his phone out, the card on the inside of the case. staring at it, he wondered if any of his other friends got one too. They all play grand order so maybe this isn't an isolated incident. Then, there was a knock on the door. Teo opened it and there he was.

Rey was shorter than most of the group, and usually the youngest too. He usually wore cargo pants, tennis shoes and a t-shirt, today was no different. He wore a bright green shirt, contrasting his tanned skin and his short black hair was askew, he probably napped before coming. After exchanging greetings, the two went upstairs where a table waited for them to do battle.

Most of Teo's friends play various trading card games, it's a simple way to pass time and engage the mind.

"Hey Teo, I've got a new deck I want to try out! It's not much but I hoped it was enough to play with."

"Yeah no problem, let's see what I've got here" Teo reached into a bag and pulled out a yellow deck box. The deck inside was built purely out of extra cards. They themselves weren't terrible but the mish mash should be enough to let Rey play with whatever concoction he had brought today.

They cut each other's decks, drew a hand and rolled a die to begin. Teo looked at his hand of cards, trying to think of an opening move, but an image of the card in his pocket flashed in his eyes. he couldn't stop thinking about the card all day. Maybe Rey had some information about it.

Rey's eyes widened " Did you see the new cards announced?! I can't wait! they seem so good!"

"I saw them, they look pretty decent but they don't fit into anything I play. I think Irving might be getting some of those cards though, you should talk to him about it. "

"Haha I figured he would, those cards would be very useful to him also. I see him tomorrow at the college, I'll be sure to talk to him about it. "

Teo suddenly spoke a bit more seriously, " Hey Rey, when you played Fate today, did anything weird happen?"

Rey looked down quickly and back up.

"well, I was able to get a lot of gold experience cards today, no silvers at all."

Teo grinned, he had been afraid to tell anyone about the cards himself, and from the way Rey reacted he was too.

" You've got a card don't you?"

"Oh," Rey sighed, " I wasn't sure if I was supposed to keep it secret. Looks like we've both got a card though. What class is yours?"

Rey reached for his wallet and pulled out his class card, it was gold with the same markings on the back, but when he put it on the table there was an image of a person and the word "Rider" on the bottom.

"Wait yours has a class?!" Teo exclaimed. He quickly pulled his card out of the phone case and showed Rey it's blank side. Teo didn't exactly have terrible luck, but times like these definitely made him feel like it.

"What do you suppose they're for?" Rey asked.

"I have a couple theories, especially now that I know THEY ACTUALLY ARE CLASS CARDS" Teo grumbled a few more words not quite under his breath.

" But now I know this there is something I want to try"

"What is it?"

"You'll see, follow me"

The two walked downstairs and out the door.

"Near my house is a small field around the corner. It's late and a school night, there shouldn't be anyone there."

"Wait why, what's going on?"

"Like I said I have a theory, there was an anime that was a bit like this, and I want to test something out."

Rey suitably satisfied with Teo's reasoning simply nodded and followed along. Around a corner and down the street just as Teo mentioned was the field, and as expected it was empty. In the center of the field was a concrete slab, a basketball court that only had half a court and was mostly run down. When they reached it Teo held his card in his hand. looking at the blank side, he turned it over and knelt down.

"Alright, let's see."

Teo slammed the card into the ground and it began to glow. The markings on the back began to light up and the light extended out of the card around Teo forming a circle. Rey jumped back from the bright light and said something but Teo couldn't hear, he was too focused on what was happening. The ring of light grew brighter and shown so brightly, Rey and Teo had to close their eyes. Then darkness returned. As quickly as it started the light retreated and all that was left was a faint glow from the card. Nothing looked different and Teo felt the same. He picked up the card and stood, the card was still blank.

" Well that was disappointing " Teo said, a bit depressed. " The flashing lights got me excited, but nothing really happened."

"Are you kidding? that was incredibly cool! I wonder if my card does it too!" Rey said excitedly. He pulled his card back out, quickly knelt to the ground slammed his card down like he saw Teo do. The result was similar, the card began to glow and he was encircled in light. The light grew bright once again, but when they opened their eyes things were different than before.

Rey was still on the ground but the card was gone now. He stood up and looked over at Teo.

"What happened to me?"

Teo was too in shock to say anything.

Rey looked at himself, he was now wearing a black jacket that was grey from the shoulders up. It was extremely big and ended midway down his thighs. He still wore shorts but they were bigger and almost looked like an extension of the jacket. His tennis shoes were replaced with black combat boots and his hair had a streak of white in it.

He felt his coat and gripped his hands. Opening them again, he gripped his hands harder and smiled. "I think I'm stronger," he said holding back excitement. Rey squat down and jumped up, easily able to clear a house. Upon landing Teo could hear him laughing in enjoyment.

"Teo, the card gave me powers! I feel stronger now. There is a connection to something I can only imagine is some sort of magic flowing through me!" Rey held his hand out and a flash of energy shown out of it, leaving a cutlass wrapped in red cloth. Rey squealed a bit, "it's like I'm them from Grand Order, Mary Read and Bonny Anne! The pirate girls!"

Watching from a few feet away, Teo felt too many emotions to process. Happiness and excitement because he was right, but also sadness. He looked back at his card and back at Rey, still looking at himself and smiling like a maniac. "Why can't I have this power too?" he thought. Still he wore a smile for Rey, No reason to let him know something is amiss.

"Wait," Teo questioned, " They are two servants in one right? Can you access Bonny?"

"Oh uh, let me see."

Rey, waved his left hand and mana began to flow up his arm. As it moved across his body it removed the black jacket leaving a red one in its stead. When the transformation was finished, Rey stood in the same black shorts but he now wore an open red jacket and a brown shirt underneath, the cutlass replaced with a old type pistol.

"I wonder how this"

BANG

The entire basketball hoop was now gone, leaving nothing but the frayed end of the pole that the hoop was once attached too.

"Oh uh… looks like the gun shoots mana when I want it to, not actual bullets. Still it does some serious damage"

"We should head back, can you… um… turn it off?"

"I haven't done this before! But it feels like I have, as if my brain was implanted with the know how." he put his left hand in front of his chest and his attire glowed white, reverting back to energy. The energy pooled at his hand and reformed as a card leaving only shimmers where the magic once was.

"Whoa look!"

The card still had the word Rider on it, but now it also had a picture of the two pirates. Standing in front of the other was the smaller Mary Read, in her black jacket and white hair holding her cutlass. Behind her was the much taller Bonny Anne in her red jacket and pirate apparel. The two were real pirates from history, but the image of these powerful women were from the fate franchise.

" you should head home Rey, it's getting late"

"Yeah, and I'd rather we not get in trouble for this basketball hoop. Also the lights, someone is bound to have seen them."

Teo had been mostly quiet about the entire ordeal, and it wasn't about not also getting powers. When the two got back to the house Rey raced upstairs, grabbed his bag, and rushed back down to start his truck. if these cards really do symbolize class cards from fate, then this could really be more dangerous than anticipated. Rey waved goodbye and Teo reminded, " I'll see you at DNA tomorrow right"

Rey had just closed the door but nodded in response while he drove away.

If the servants are real then the grail must be too. A real grail war right here in Houston, and Rey was involved. Teo took one last look at the blank card before heading back upstairs. He didn't yet know how, but he knew he was involved as well.