Endlessness
Elusive paradise
The curse of being "alive"
Collective unconscious
Behavioral spectrum
Eschatological myth
Shattering of the superego
Closed space
Persona
Aconitum napellum
[omissis]
Are you listening?
Impossible road
Anima
Empty rooms
Recollection of lost memories
Great mother
[omissis]
Defacing of "self"
Maitreya
Shadow
Tabula rasa
Will you find me?
[omissis]
Fregoli delusion
The black battalion
Wise old man
Approximation error
[omissis]
[omissis]
[omissis]
Ontological dilemma
Stream of Akasha
Extrojection
Animus
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Liminality
Trickster
Return to myself
Return to nothingness
[omissis]
[omissis]
Do you love me?
Then…
Let's bring everything to an end.
FATE/ETERNAL NIGHT
PROLOGUE – MOONLIGHT SHADOW
"You are my Master."
It wasn't a question, because there was no shade of doubt in the voice of the incorporeal presence – nothing more than the silhouette of a tall, slender human being traded in light – standing in front of the nervous young man who was the sole other occupant of the small room. On the simple wooden floor in front of his feet a large, intricate circle (multiple concentric circles, to be exact, a complex work of art more than anything; it was full of curved lines and angular glyphs not unlike Celtic runes, albeit more elegant and harmonious; something that wouldn't have looked out of place on the walls of a mosque) had been meticulously drawn with charcoal. And it was right in the middle of that circle that the shadow made of light stood.
The young man did his best to look back at the entity speaking to him, but the human-shaped tiny sun in front of him was blazing too intensely for him to stare at directly; his eyes wandered on the set of crumpled yellowish pages scattered on the floor, his forehead frowned in confusion and perplexity. "I… guess?" he replied in a smoother, deeper voice than what one would have expected by looking at his lanky, slightly hunched frame. Inside his head, the word "Master" popped up, with a capital M; that was clearly how the light spirit had pronounced it, and how it was written on the sheets of paper anyway. "T-to be honest, I wasn't expecting anything like this would have happened…" he added in a murmur that was mostly directed to himself than to his mysterious companion. "I wasn't expecting anything to happen in the first place."
The shimmering silhouette pulsated quietly, in a way that almost suggested it was chuckling. "You mean you summoned me with no previous knowledge of the ritual? That's… impressive, in a way," the figure observed; the polite tone it used didn't make any effort to hide the fact that whatever or whoever the being inside the circle was, it didn't think that what his "Master" had done was a particularly smart move.
The young man bit his lower lip, a look of frustration in his pale brown eyes. "It's not like I had much choice on the matter, really," he said, his stare once again gravitating towards the pieces of old paper scattered around his feet like ginkgo leaves; the one that was right next to his left shoe was covered in row after row of small letters and tiny smears of ink, no doubt the byproduct of an old typewriter. The young man's eyes focused on the very first line and its politely ominous content:
Should you want to survive the night, please make sure to follow these instructions.
And that's what I did, the young man thought with a grimace. If only I knew what the hell did I accomplish exactly…
The silhouette of light tilted its head. "Someone being forced to participate in a Holy Grail War? That's quite unusual," it murmured. "Have you considered trying to seek for help? Getting a neutral third party to help you?"
To help me with what? And how? Why?, the young man asked himself in supreme confusion, shaking his head. "Listen, I'll be honest: I don't know anything about this Holy Grail War you mentioned except for what's written in here." He grabbed a random page from the floor and pointed it in the figure's general direction. "See? I only got the cliff notes. Wait, you can read, can't you?"
The shape's glowing contours vibrated in barely contained disappointment. "Of course I can. I proud myself to be quite learned." A few seconds of silence followed. "It pains me to say this, but these letters lack of elegance when compared to those of my native language," the silhouette observed with a touch of regret.
The young man's first instinct was to bow his head and ask for forgiveness in the name of all the English speakers in the world, but he managed to restrain himself just in time. "The only things I know for sure are that I woke up here in this room I've never seen before with a weird tattoo on my forearm and this set of instructions on how to summon… well, you, if I wanted to stay alive. And also that I'm your Master and you are my… Servant? That's the word, am I right?"
"You are," the spirit replied in a quiet tone.
"And that you are supposed to help me win this war or win the war for me, the instructions are uselessly confusing and verbose on the matter." The young man grabbed his forehead in his hands, his eyes closed and a somewhat pained expression on his face. "How is all this even possible anyway? Oh, god, maybe I'm just lying in some alley and my brain is marinating in LSD or something."
"I can assure you this is without a doubt real," the figure in the magic circle intervened with the usual polite voice.
"Yeah, that's exactly what a drug-induced hallucination would say, too," the young man replied grumpily.
A weird, tense silence followed. "Looks like we have reached an impasse," the silhouette observed. "Could I ask you to show me the weird tattoo you were talking about, Master?"
"Um? Sure," the young man rolled the sleeve of the simple grey t-shirt he was wearing up to his elbow. "See? It doesn't hurt at all, but it does feel kind of itchy from time to time… though it could just be my mind playing tricks on me." The young man scratched the skin with his free hand for good measure.
The mark carved on the pale forearm was glowing scarlet as if it was burning right under the skin. It was composed of branches: a central one – the thicker, running parallel to the ulna and the radius underneath – and two smaller, twin ones departing from the slightly rounded base of the main one and intertwining around it like a couple of snakes before joining together near the top in a curved arc. "That's indeed a Command Spell," the androgynous voice of the summoned creature explained. "Worry not, my Master, it's not permanent: it will disappear at the end of the War… Or should you get killed in the meantime."
"Get… what?!" The young man took a sudden step back while covering the ominous red mark once again. "But… the papers said that I was going to survive if I did everything right!" he protested in a vehement tone, while twin spots of dark pink blossomed on his pale cheeks.
"I guess that also includes winning the Holy Grail War. That would indeed give you a pretty high chance of surviving," the spirit replied in a soft tone.
"Like hell I'm taking part in a war I know shit about," the young man grumbled curtly.
"I'm afraid it's a bit too late for that, Master," the shining humanoid said after a brief sigh. "But you shouldn't be worried: with me by your side, there is no way you can be beaten. I consider myself to be quite capable in battle; not that I am bragging or something…"
Except you totally are?, the young man allowed himself a small smirk. "And how are you going to fight our enemies, exactly? Sparkle in their faces?" he then snarked.
The light silhouette cleared his throat. "Unfortunately, it appears that the magical energies that are necessary for the completion of my summoning will still take some time to gather properly. In the meantime, I guess I should introduce myself." The mysterious figure took a short, elegant bow. "You may call me Archer, my Master."
Even though the being inside the magical circle had infused quite the epic tone in the last sentence, the young man didn't seem particularly impressed. "…Archer," he replied, the word rolling on his tongue as if it was an insult. "That's it? Archer?"
The light creatures cocked its head again. "Um? Why, were you expecting something else?"
"To be honest, yeah. Something like Mephistopheles, the Mighty Tempter of Mortals, or, I dunno… Balrog, the Devourer of Flesh. Something scarier, more intimidating…" the young man confessed.
The evocation raised its shining chin, a snort coming out of its intangible nostrils. "I don't know what kind of idea you have of me, but I can assure you I am not some lowly demon. I am a Heroic Spirit, and I would very much like to be considered as such," it explained in a blatantly upset voice. "And just to be clear, I do have a real name, but since there's no need for you to know it for the time being, Archer will be a perfectly fine way to address me."
"As you wish," the young man replied, rolling his eyes. "Although – and please don't get offended again – I've always thought archers weren't very good in actual battle. I mean… except for shooting arrows at people from a safe distance."
"Oh, there are countless types of warriors, my Master!" Archer mused after a brief chuckle; at least it seemed that it was as quick at forgiving as it was at getting angry. "When my summoning is complete, you won't have anything to worry about!"
The young man nodded, his eyes distant. "Oh, yeah, by the way…" He cleared his throat. "My name is Josh, Josh Sinclair. I'm a voice actor." A moment of silence. "Come to think of it, do you know what a voice actor is?"
"I know what an actor is," Archer dutifully replied. "And I imagine there is not that much of a difference between the two."
"Finally! Someone who gets it!" Josh raising his stare to the ceiling. "Usually, when I tell people about my profession, I get responses on the lines of: 'Yeah, but have you acted on stage? Or on TV?' or: 'Well, but voice acting isn't really acting, right?' And I don't even want to get started with the stuff I get when I make the mistake to say that I work on animated series, too… At last year's Christmas dinner, my aunt told me: 'That's very interesting, Joshua, but you're also trying to find a real job too, am I right?'" Josh shook his head. "Sorry, didn't want to bore you, Archer. I'm sure you don't care in the least about this bullcrap."
"On the contrary," Archer replied, seraphic. "You are my Master, which means that right now you are the most precious and invaluable existence to me."
"Man, that's a cheesy line if I've ever heard one," Josh joked back, even though his cheeks were flushed and he looked at least a bit pleased. "…and also surprisingly sweet." The young man realized that he was still clutching the yellowed page in his hand, and let it fall back on the ground. "So… what are we going to do now?"
"Waiting seems to be the safest option," Archer replied. "My current condition would not allow me to protect you, after all. I cannot even use my Noble Phantasm in this state."
Josh frowned. "I'm sorry, Noble what?"
Archer let out another impalpable sigh – fingertips brushing on velvet – and took its first step outside the magical circle. "I think you should probably sit down…" Archer's resplendent head scanned the room, which was empty and desolate except for the sheets of paper scattered around the dusty wooden pavement and a small black backpack lying against the wall opposite the closed door. "…well, on the floor, I'm afraid. Until my summoning process is completed, I can try and explain you the intricacies of the Holy Grail War, at least those I know about."
Josh did as told, crossing his long skinny legs. "Well, it's not like I have anything better to do," he grumbled, glancing at the only window of the room. Utter and complete darkness looked back at him. "It's still night out there, after all."
Welcome to my very first fanfiction written in English! It's not my first language so I hope I didn't make too many mistakes.
I know it's a weird way to start a fanfiction about a Holy Grail War, but bear with me! I hope you will enjoy the story.
In the following chapters I will also provide the data for the Servants, when their identities will be revealed. They are all "new" Servants, meaning they are based on mythological/hystorical characters that (still) haven't appeared in the canonical Fate-verse. I hope I will be able to make them justice.
Well... Let me know if you liked the prologue! I will try and post the first chapter as soon as I can. In the meantime, goodbye!