This is a repost and edit of the First Chapter of the story. I would like to take this time to thank Fierdin for pointing out my error with Zelretch and also would like to say thank you to everyone who reviews your advice and observations are always appreciated and hope that they continue.
Also in regards to my O.C and his mostly vague past, well I plan on revealing that as I go maybe with an occasional side chapter going into more detail on the characters and there relationship to one another.
With that being said Let The Wheel of Fate Turn (Sorry had to do it ;P)
FUYUKI CITY, JAPAN, 20 DAYS BEFORE THE HEAVENS FEEL
"Fuyuki City, I've finally arrived." Jolon Grey said to himself with an air of relief.
He had spent the last two months using incredibly roundabout and not altogether legal ways to make his way to the city in secret for the fifth Heaven's Feel.
The Heaven's Feel the war for the Holy Grail. A confrontation between seven different magi and their servants, summoned heroes of legend. The prize for this conflict the Grail an all powerful wish granting device and the use of the Heaven's Feel, The Third True Magic.
That is why Jolon found himself here going so far as to fake his own death on an Apostle Hunt to cover his tracks. That being in of itself is an incredibly difficult thing to pull off involving a homunculus husk he spent the last two years preparing and hundreds of unnoticeable impulse and hypnotism spells on the other enforcers so they would see said stand-in and accept him for dead without delving to deep at least for awhile.
Jolon was a magi an enforcer for the Clock Tower in London and a first generation magus. He was brought into the association at the age of thirteen as an apprentice after a series of strange events even Jolon couldn't put down had the apparently named Wizard Marshal Kischur Zelretch Schweiorg offering him a place there.
He accepted moving from his home in Halifax overseas to London where he began to study with gusto. He delved in to multiple forms of magecraft absorbing as much as he could on the different fields of study. While he was brought to Clock Tower as Zelretch's apprentice his master was generally occupied with other "important" duties in the form of travelling between dimensions and looking for things to amuse himself with leaving him to more or less teach himself with little to no help from the staff.
While Jolon had talent and could quickly grasp most of the more obtuse and esoteric forms of magecraft he found himself taken in more by the more... violent forms of the arts reading the battlefield much more effectively than the books. With that his master had transferred him to the enforcers at the age of sixteen. It was here he began to train excelling in dispatching his opponents quickly with the application of his magecraft burning his enemies to cinders no thanks to his natural affinity to the wind and fire elements.
It was during these years in the enforcers and his propensity towards overkill with his flames that they begun to refer to him with various nicknames the ones that stuck though seemed to be The Grey Flame or even simpler The Grey or any other variation of the name which he didn't mind much.
When he was seventeen one year after being transferred into the enforcers something curious happened to him. During a hunt for a sealing designate he found himself face to face with the target, a Dead Apostle. He was clearly outmatched against the monster that was once a man and surrounded by the bloodsuckers ghouls with no backup with them either dead or occupied by the ghouls in the surrounding village it took up shop in.
Seeing no way out and the Apostle moving in to finish him Jolon took a chance and working his Circuits to their absolute limit adjusted the air composition and introducing a little fire catching the Apostle off guard enough that it didn't have time to prepare as it, its ghouls and the building were blasted to pieces and Jolon finding himself buried under the ruble.
It was at this point that the young magus had completely accepted his death for the most part his only regret being to die before he had a chance to prove himself to the Clock Tower who held no secret in their general distaste for him and a few other members of his peer group based on the fact that they were simply first generation.
For Jolon this may have been the inciting incident which would lead him down the path into the grail war. As he lay there buried under the ruble he felt something itch in his right hand as if something was engraving itself into it. At the time though he was in no place to examine the sensation as he was buried under half a ton of rubble and the slight discomfort was the least of his problems.
He began to dig himself out reinforcing his body as best he could to prevent more significant damage as he clawed his way out. inch by inch he made painfully slow but undeniable progress until he finally broke through into clean air and sunlight.
After the countless hours Jolon spent digging himself out of what otherwise would have been his tomb he found himself lying down looking at the sky in a deep haze. Knowing that he couldn't stay there he willed his tired and battered body to move it was at this time he noticed something his right hand had a strange set of markings adorning, it a stylized dirk with two snakes twisting around it.
Jolon thought enough to cover up said markings and keep them secret from his associates as they began to make their way to his location to retrieve the designate after finally finishing off the ghouls in the surrounding area.
After his return he found himself in front of his master Zelretch asking what the symbols meant. The moment that he looked upon the symbols the old vampire burst out laughing completely surprised and very pleased with the turn of events.
He began to explain the grail war and that he was selected quite early to be a master for it. He told Jolon of the power of the grail and how it could grant any desire along with the power of the third sorcery.
As Zelretch explained with a rather disturbing grin on his face Jolon began to mull over the opportunity presented to him. He himself did not have a very strong wish that the grail could grant but he was nonetheless intrigued that feeling that he had when the vampire first took him as his apprentice stirring. In his mind the third magic itself was a prize worth fighting for in itself.
With that he began to delve once more into study finding out all he could of the Ritual from books, reports and a helpful amount from one of his teachers a Lord El-Mellio II.
For the next five years he prepared himself which involved multiple training regimes with Zelretch which every single member of the Clock Tower knew better than to ask knowing the old vampires taste in pranks as well as training for the ones unfortunate enough to be his students, gathering funds along with nearly five years spent setting up his staged death so nobody would know of his participation in the war with the exception of his master.
His decision to hide his participation in the ritual was not without serious thought him knowing full well that if one of the more established magus's learned of it they would no doubt endeavor to steal his command spells. With that in mind for most of the five years he tended to conceal them underneath bandages which most of the clock tower bought easily most of them knowing of his status as an enforcer where said wounds could be fairly common.
The homunculus husk he created was a much more difficult task with Jolon spending the better part of two years perfecting the puppet. An Einzbern would have easily created the thing within a day or two maybe three at the most but they had centuries of research and a very successful established method that he could not hope to replicate. Though he didn't need it to walk, talk, think or live for that matter, it would just be a stand in to fool his associates. After multiple failures and false starts Jolon finally had his success, a nigh from perfect homunculus that could easily pass for him even upon close inspection.
The implementation of his double would be simple for Jolon as he thought it through years in advance, he would go on assignment the next chance he got moving on ahead of his peers with the excuse of investigating and kill the Apostle quickly in his workshop. He would then leave the corpse and the homunculus there and set the place on fire, even if for some reason they found out it would take several months to conclude that his double was a homunculus and that is considering if they even gave a damn to which they didn't.
After his plan came through without a hitch he began to make his way to Fuyuki city using mainly illegal means of transport which he got through with a combination of money and carefully applied hypnosis. While these methods were effective in getting him to his destination with zero paper trail it took a long time in which Jolon was not surprised and was prepared for this leaving three months before the ritual was to begin.
And now he was here in Fuyuki city for the most part he was prepared and ready for what he may face in the next month but for now he began to make his way into town he had much to prepare before the ritual began and he had no intention of being caught unprepared with him being less established than the other magi no doubt participating.
SHIFT
"Well first things first, I need a base." Jolon muttered as he strode the city streets a hiking bag on his back filled with appropriate clothing and a suitcase filled with texts, supplies and other things that he would need for the war.
On the outside Fuyuki wasn't that strange an average sized city where it seems that nothing strange ever went on. In actuality though the city was situated perfectly under a set of lay lines that made the city for large scale magecraft.
Jolon continued on his way down the street paying his surroundings a passive attention while he received curious looks from the people around him due to him standing out with his bulky bags as well as being a foreigner.
He knew where he would look the old factory district that was near the edge of the city at the waterfront due to the fact that many of the buildings were abandoned. A location like that would be perfect for the enforcer to set up his workshop for the duration.
So he continued on his way not paying attention as he bumped into a young woman sending her sprawling to the ground.
"I'm so sorry miss." Jolon said (In Japanese) as he snapped back into attention holding out his hand which she took as he pulled her up. "I wasn't paying attention there."
"It's all right I wasn't either." She said with a warm smile as she brushed herself off.
The young women was no doubt still in her teens with long plum coloured hair and matching eyes that at first glance appeared to have no pupils. She stood a good four or five inch's under him and she looked on him with a curious smile.
"You aren't from around here are you sir, taking in the sights?" She asked, a warm smile on her face
"You could say that, I'm going to be in town for the next six or seven weeks on business. I actually just arrived?" He said with a small smile.
"Oh and what is it that you do Mr.?" She asked.
"It's Grey, Jolon Grey and you can call me a contractor. I work with a corporation in Britain that is hoping to expand into Japan and they decided to send me to Fuyuki to scout out opportunities." Jolon said reciting his cover story with a casual smile.
"Oh wow that sounds really exciting" She said.
"Not really, it's actually a lot of meetings, paperwork and waiting around." He said with a chuckle.
"Oh that's too bad, maybe you will have an opportunity to explore in between your meetings." she said with sympathetic smile before she looked at her watch. "I'm sorry Grey-san but I have to get home and prepare dinner, it was nice speaking to you and hope you have a nice stay.
"Yes it was nice to speak to you miss... I'm sorry I didn't get your name." He said sheepishly.
"Oh yes I'm sorry my name is Sakura Matou." She said with a polite smile.
The moment that the name crossed her lips Jolons eyebrow ever so slightly quirked up in surprise.
"Well I hope you have a good day Ms. Matou." Jolon said maintain his demeanor as he watched her leave.
After she was gone the pleasant smile on his face dropped and his features furrowed as he went into deep thought.
"Matou huh, how surprising." He muttered to himself knowing full well the history of the family in question.
With the thoughts mulling over in his mind he turned and continued on his way.
FUYUKI CITY, JAPAN, 16 DAYS UNTIL THE HEAVENS FEEL
Jolon was currently sitting at a small table inside a small cafe in the middle of the Fuyuki shopping centre. He found an appropriate base two days ago and was in the midst of setting up his workshop and thought it may be a good idea to familiarize himself with the layout of the city beyond just sending out familiars as it would most likely be a couple of days before the opposition would make its move and even then it would be unlikely that it would occur in the middle of the day in the middle of a shopping centre while he also was pretty sure he was not identified yet.
That being said he was airing on the side of caution as he had a few said familiars out scouring the immediate area for any form of disturbance, to which there was none.
Jolon sighed running his hand through his shoulder length chestnut hair then getting up to head to the counter to order. The barista at the counter gave him a smile as he ordered a coffee with a double shot of espresso and a scone which he sorely needed.
Over the past four days he had been busy with the aforementioned hunt for the base and setup of said base has left him without the appropriate amount of sleep that he was used to. With the workshop now nearly finished he had taken the time to explore the foreign city.
He had only been to Japan a few times and that was when his master decided to bring him along and on more than one occasion promptly abandon him for a few days for giggles. Unfortunately for Jolon that was one of his masters more mild forms of amusement so mild in fact that it barely registered.
It was at this time as he sat back down that he thought back to his training for the Grail War and felt himself paling slightly as he dredged up the memories.
When he showed Zelretch the markings on his right hand and was told of what they meant Jolon insisted that his training be increased to prepare himself the look that he gave him before they began should have clued him into what the next five years would have in store for him.
Needles to say the next six months and multiple occasions thereafter the training began, mostly spent jumping from one parallel dimension to another through the use of the old bloodsuckers Second Magic to 'prepare' him but Jolon doubted that was his master's only reason as it rarely is.
Shaking his head slightly to banish the thoughts he took a sip of his coffee and went into the small bag he brought with him and pulled out a couple local maps and began to study them marking down notable landmarks to investigate later.
He had to prepare and garner as much information as he possibly could, he already had one thing that may turn up as a double-edged sword, the fact that he was basically an complete unknown here as his manner of dress and his features set him up as both an unassuming foreign businessman to most but to someone savvy enough he could be identified as a Master if he drew too much attention to himself.
His features as they were at the same time very striking but easily disregarded in large crowds of people. He was a lean man to say the least but years in the Enforcers and his Apprenticeship with The Wizard Marshall gave him a countenance and physique that many would kill for. His Chestnut hair was combed and tied back into a neat ponytail that hung around to his shoulder blades with some stray hairs in the front hanging down around his face. His face was unassuming, a face that bellied an easy going nature when he was not on the job, a genuine kind expression that was emphasized by his dark forest green eyes. When he was on the Job however he wore the expression of the Enforcer his features hardened and became sharper almost dangerous losing much of the kindness that he generally had, even to his colleagues the sudden changes in mood for most of them was off-putting and it was from this Jolon later mused may have been one of the factors in his nicknames.
It was the latter expression that he was currently wearing as he studied the maps in front of him his gaze focused on Mount Enzou and Ryuudou Temple the most likely spot that the grail will manifest at the end of the War.
He would remain in the same spot for the majority of the afternoon silently studying the maps and planning how to best proceed only passively aware of his surroundings.
SHIFT
It was during this time a priest walked past the large window that gave the cafe a large view of the surrounding shopping centre and stopped looking inside towards the man in the dark pressed suit with a dark coat draped on the back of his chair and wearing black leather gloves that didn't completely hide the edges of the markings on his right hand.
Kirei Kotomine stood there for a solid minute before a dark smile crept onto his face as he continued on his way.
FUYUKI CITY, JAPAN, 11 DAYS UNTIL THE HEAVENS FEEL
Jolon was sitting down in the break room of an old abandoned factory which was now his base of operations. Said break room was used once by the maintenance staff and was situated in the basement apart from the factory proper and was at the opposite edge of the boiler room.
The location was perfect in Jolon's mind with it being both at the edge of the city away from prying eyes and the fact that one of the lay lines ran through the location making it a good place to summon the servant. He already set up basic bounded fields that would alert him to intrusion and compel any mundane person who would happen to pass by to turn away or ignore the area.
Jolon was in the midst of reviewing information he ascertained over the last nine days through the use of Familiars to identify any possible masters before the war began. He knew for a fact that the current Tohsaka head one Rin Tohsaka has been chosen as a master and he also has identified Einzbern Homunculi in the city. The Matou's were a different story with the apparent head a Shinji Matou not displaying any talent at all in Magecraft and was currently having trouble finding out the status of Sakura Matou.
With Tohsaka he was most definitely unsurprised that she would be participating and mildly comforted in the fact that she was here. He had met Rin on occasion when Zelretch on his famous/infamous whims decided to visit the young head of the family taking Jolon along with him when he didn't abandon him that is. She was most certainly a magus he could tell the moment he met her when she was nine and he was fourteen and even more so when he met her again a couple times over the years. It was the way she carried herself and the way she behaved which set her apart from most girls her age even though from what he could tell she worked hard to put up a facade of the perfect student.
The Einzberns on the other hand would definitely present a problem not in the form of their goals as they were not that departed from the Tohsaka's as they wished to re-establish the Third Magic the entire point of the ritual itself. What he worried about was the lengths they would go to gain the prize. During the last war the adopted an outsider into the family to act as the representative for the war, The Magus Killer Kiritsugu Emiya Master of Saber after the War ended in Failure he disappeared but Jolon thought it was highly likely that his inclusion was a factor in the ferocity and ruthlessness of the fourth. With that the thought in what the Einzberns brought this time around made him feel uneasy.
Other than that he wasn't able to find any other potential masters which bothered Jolon to no end as he wanted to know more about the battlefield before he charged in. He knew though it couldn't be helped and he knew that the others would reveal themselves sooner or later instead began to focus on his next concern, his servant.
All masters in the Grail War were required to summon a servant a human, a legend who ascended to such levels of fame that they were uplifted after death to the Throne of Heroes as Heroic Spirits beings that resembled forces of nature more than anything.
And Jolon was about to summon one.
While his command spells engraved on his right hand would ensure that the servant would obey he had to be cautious all the same. Heroic spirits tended to be very hard to control and prideful depending on who heeded the call and as a result were the cause of more than one master's demise.
He knew this though the moment he accepted the role of master he began down a path that can in multiple ways be the end of him all for the grail, the third sorcery.
"Well it's no time to be dawdling it's time to get ready." Jolon said to himself.
The room itself was the proper size to begin the process as he cleared the tables out of the way and began tracing the outline of the summoning circle with chalk. When that was finished he began to trace over that with the mixture of lead paint silver and his own blood to properly prepare said circle.
After an hour it was ready. Jolon looked at the results nodding to himself in approval at the results of his work in front of him.
Getting up from his crouch he paused for a moment as he once more thought of what he was about to undergo. He knew whom he aimed to summon planning so for a long time and has made the necessary preparations to do so.
"It's time." Jolon said almost a whisper as he raised his right hand and focused inward focussing on the mental image of a crack of lightning as his circuits hummed to life.
The familiar sense of discomfort came with it as his circuits came to life as he began the chant:
Let Silver and Steel be the Origin.
Let the Stone and the Archduke of contracts be the base.
As he spoke the outlines of the circle came to life glowing a pale blue as he continued to push his circuits with his body feeling as though it was heating up.
Let Blood be what I pay tribute to.
Let rise the wall against the wind that shall fall.
Let who heeds me be cloaked in the shadows of misdirection and cunning
The glow from the circle became more intense as he continued and sweat was beginning to form on his brow as he continuously pumped od feeding the summoning ritual.
Let the three-forked road from the Kingdom rotate.
Let it be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again.
Let it be filled fivefold each turn and break asunder with each turn.
Let the one who heeds my call come forth under the Grail to the world.
With these final words a brilliant flash of light occurred and Jolon was forced to shield his eyes.
After a moment the light died down as the dust began to settle in the now dark room and all was silent until a voice broke the silence.
"I ask you, who summoned me under the class Assassin, are you my master?" the voice said but Jolon was unable to make out the speaker as his eyes were still slightly dazzled from the lights of the summoning.
The voice itself was female though it sounded distinctly hollow as if speaking under a mask.
"Yes, I am the one who summoned you to this time and place to do battle for the holy grail." Jolon said with a proper tone of both respect and strength.
As his eyes readjusted to the now less bright room he could make out the features of the Servant in front of him.
She stood a good four inches beneath Jolons five foot eleven and had a slim athletic build, her skin was dark almost like obsidian. She wore a pair of breeches and a cloth bikini which bared he midriff. She had long dark hair that looked almost purple tied up in a ponytail. The most distinctive thing though was the mask she wore, it was bleached white and in the shape of a skull and would be menacing to more than a few people.
The figure regarded him for a moment then said. "With this our pact is complete. I now ask what are your orders?"
With those words a small smile crept up Jolons face.