Forenotes

"Origin. All living things come from a source. Where. Why. How. All souls have a singular instinct that drives them. The True Origin, however, is something far deeper, far untouched. Ryougi, Shirou and Touko race against time to discover the purpose of the 'True Origin' and it's potential threat on the world."

Dusk to dusk, moonlit night. A man stands confidently, some kind of mad scientist from those movies. Conjuring a portal of darkness, an emerging tendril now threatened the group of three. With the boy's companion and lover sating a fate worse than death, he stands silent unknowing what to do.

Ryougi and Touko begin to move, not wanting to be on the other end of the gargantuan arm of Kraken; tarnished a crimson red. With the force of the black gates presence rupturing the wind, Shiki's kimono rustled restlessly. However, she was not about to quit. "You're... in my way,"
She flexed her fist into a clenched position, and still holding her dagger in hand she ran towards it.

"What are you doing!?" Shirou shouted back, finally regaining his senses.

Touko merely stood and observed. The girl in blue flipped up to dodge the oncoming swipe, and rather than thrust forward her weapon, she reached out with her right hand and grabbed onto it, point blank.

Edge laughed. "What are you doing? Are you asking to be infected too?" He seemed to enjoy her fight, despite her prevailing. The tendril wrapped around the entire of her right arm and began to lift her from the ground. She looked as if she was in trouble.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Shirou proceeded to run towards and help out. It was then a hand stopped him in his tracks "Just watch," Touko worded, keenly observing Shiki's style.

The Kraken arm began to moan as Shiki's right arm clenched tighter and tighter, penetrating the skin and causing it to ooze blood that dripped onto the ground. Her eyes lit up as her Mystic Eyes activated and proceeded to cut through them with her left hand slicing them like butter. In a last effort attempt, the arm threw her away before falling apart into chunks that evaporated like kettle water as it hit the paved ground. The kimono girl rolled over and over on the ground until she finally stopped. After some time she pushed herself up.

Touko and Shirou rushed to her aid. She lay there unphased and immediately got up as if nothing was happened. As she brushed off the dirt from her kimono, Shirou noticed her right arm was moderate burnt, nearly like plastic to a flame. "Y-you're arm!" Shirou cried out.

"She's fine," Touko spoke "That creature hasn't affected her because that arm is prosthetic. Whatever toxic substance that lands there can't invade the bloodstream. I know because I made it myself after it got destroyed when she was on a mission for me,"
Shiki didn't seem to care much for Shirou's concern.
"However, if that thing had grabbed the wrong arm all might as well have been lost,"

"You really are the master of puppetry, I would have never of known," Shirou was surprised by her talent to replicate entire body parts. "Of course besides that it's several hundred times more solid than a regular arm and would take the foot of an elephant to crush it,"
Without warning, Shiki's eyes activated again. It gave Shirou a shock because the threat was dead. Shirou stopped. Shiki was clearly observing something behind him. A clash of sounds writhed from behind.

Edge had been pushed to the ground. A malevolent and frightening cry ushered the landscape, the cry of something reptilian. Touko flushed her head around and stood. She took off her glasses, rubbed them for a second, and then placed them back on. "You've got to be kidding me,"
It was like one of those movies where you had those creatures chasing you down the corridor. A small dragons lavender-bone neck laced over his body. It's head breathed heavy as it stared hell into him with crazed willow eyes. The light blue claws pushed him down to prevent movement.

"There's only three more lines." Shiki warned.

Shirou didn't even look behind him like the two women. "You've... you've gotta be kidding me right?" He started to fall into some kind of weird sadistic laugh, as if he too had fully lost it.
"If you don't turn around and fight now you could be killed Shirou," Touko warned.
The constant sounds freaked him out. There was no way he could do it. He place his head on the ground, wishing it would all go away.

But it didn't go away. The sounds behind him of a former knight slowly descending into mania could be heard and he would have to continue to put up with it until she finally snapped.

A black scorpion tail lashed out towards the corrupted magus. Edge smiled, despite Saber completely flooring him "Okay, enough play time," He then proceeded to snap his finger and a burst of flames completely separated the hybrid from the man.

Shirou still continued to burrow like a turtle, before the frightening sounds ceased.

"B..before I lose it..."

That familiar, yet clearly strained voice made him sit up. "Saber!" Shirou flipped around and burned her altered appearance into her mind. A dragon-like creature surrounded in frayed tatters slanted one slitted eye back towards Shirou sadly, as if she still thought dearly of him. Humanity was hardly apparent now, and it was becoming more difficult to remain sane.

"Before... I go. I have yet one wish to fulfill." The fallen knight sighed before her eyes dragged back onto the man called Edge "That is to end you, for the sake of Shirou... above all else has suffered the most from this ordeal. What you have undone to me, undone to... everyone simply cannot be forgiven, no matter what. Above all else I want to die remembering Shirou, and not die remembering the void!"

The Void.

The void rang to Shiki, making her place her chest on her heart and close her eyes.

"My origin was the Void. The nothingness in-between nothingness. If there is anything that can be undone perhaps it is my duty? Why am I thinking about this crap?"
She visualized a familiar empty space with swirling lights. It was there, she saw herself, but she was smiling unlike her usual self.

She had seen this smiling version of herself before.

"Snap out of it, Shiki!" Touko scolded causing her to awaken.
She stood up with some emotion in her face. She gave some odd, out of character looks at Shirou and Touko as if she'd never met them before but then adjusted herself. "Shiki, what's up with you?" As Shirou reached out, she quickly snapped into it and jumped back.

Saber charged at Edge, failing to see why she could not best him. But this felt like her last chance. If she didn't... then who knows what could happen.

"Simply running around and chasing the harbinger isn't going to solve anything." Touko spoke. "We need to find out exactly what causes the True Origin to occur. From what we know, the True Origin is activated as soon as one of those creatures he summons enters you. But where do they come from? We see him creating a portal with a similar demon inside, but we don't know where that portal is connected to, or where it leads,"

Shirou wondered. He could not keep up with Saber, and instead watched her fight back against the Magus while he easily dodged each attack with a simple movement. A glittering object caught his attention. While Shiki and Touko made their way into the terrain to go help out, Shirou was diverted to a mystical blade laying on the ground. It blade was solid silver, it's hilt a glistering gold like the sun and moon had met under a forbidden sky. He bent down. "This is her sword... the Excalibur,"
What good would it do now? Even if he wanted to hand it to her, she would be unable to properly wield it. He lifted the surprisingly weighty object and pushed out to the hillside in a sprint. It had begun to snow and Touko stopped as she was outrun by Shiki. "Geez, I'm not used to all this running."

Edge painted the sky, and entered a set of magic Armour he had conjured, barely avoiding a fatal blow. He then grabbed onto Saber's neck and found some kind of strength to pull her down the cliff face below the hillside. Below was a crashing ocean of water that shuffled excitedly, ready to catch both of them. Ryougi was forced to stop as the battle jumped forth to a dangerous level of gravity. Within moments, the two were dragged into the depths of the ocean.

Keep running. Keep running. Shirou continued to move forward. He saw Shiki and Touko stopped, and then realized why. The pathway ended, and the cliff descended into the crashing water below. Nothing had yet emerged from the sea below. Touko then noticed the sword in Shirou's hand. As he was about to toss it in the ocean, Touko stopped him. "Wait Shirou,"
"Is that her sword?"

"Yes, but it's pointless now right?"

The sword glistened brightly. "This sword is composed of Mana too, so why it has not also been affected by the conversions is a concern to me. In fact, no, this is actually very helpful,"

"What does it mean?"

"It means that we still have a very good chance of saving your friend without resorting to execution," Shirou was relieved.
That was until Shiki pushed both of them back. Unfortunately, Shirou felt the end of her prosthetic arm and choked a little as he was forced down. Skeletal wings emerged from the cliff face, shadowing the three. A looming skull leered over them. They seemed vacant to his words, and instead she veered forward over them and landed across the way onto the tundra. The dragon stared toward the snow, and then slammed a claw unto it, unearthing the delicate beauty into a tarnished mess.

"Saber!" By now Shirou had grown used to what his eyes saw, despite still not fully accepting it. He moved towards her and it wasn't long until she immediately took notice. "D-don't follow me... I don't want to..."

A beat of wing, and Shirou was knocked back a little. He got up again. And carried on moving towards her.

"Just what are you doing!? I don't want to kill you...!"

"If I sit idly by and do nothing, then you'll be dead. And if you die... I may as well be dead too. I know there's a fact I can do something, so don't you worry."
Shirou stopped and held out his sword. "Do you remember this?" He held out the golden Excalibur towards her; it twinkled sadly in the moonlight. As long as this sword remains pure, you will be fine.

"Shirou, are you forgetting that a living demon still lives within her body? I wouldn't get too attached if I were you," The voice of Edge once again emerged. A giant shadow behind formed, forcing the group to look up in woe.

Another dragon. Darker than black, like a demon from the night blocked out the moonlight enshrouding them in an eternal dusk.

Shiki activated her eyes but nothing on the dragon changed. "He has no lines of death..."

"I already awakened my True Origin long ago, lowly ones. My True Origin is named 'Night'. I can no longer avoid death.)
A pair of slender white eyes looked down on them. "It doesn't matter!" Shirou cried back. "We'll find a way to end this!"

"Sh-shirou..." A sharp roar erected behind Shirou, and before he knew it; he was beaten to the ground. With front claw vicing him to the ground, he found he could not move as the blue dragon's lavander white head lent towards him.

Both Touko and Shiki stopped. "Dammnit, we left it way too long!" Touko sketched the air with her finger and several light missiles encircled Saber. They were quickly beaten away by the black stinger.

Shirou didn't know what to do. Without thinking, he grabbed the Excalibur and used it as a blockade to prevent her jaws getting closer. "Is she really going to kill me right here and now?" The boy shut his eyes and tried to think. Think back... to times further back.

Shirou awoke and saw a vast lake enriched with green foliage, basked in radiant sunlight. "What is this place?" He wondered to himself.
The place was eerily quiet. It was then a figure stepped across the water, the water's frail surface remained unbroken.

"You are the person I've been waiting for," The woman's voice echoed like a spirit.
Shirou had never seen this person before.

"I am here to give you the gift of the gods, the tears of all man, the bloodshed and victory of past, present and future,"

Victory, of the future.

Shirou knew where this was familiar. In the old myth legend of King Arthur, he was issued the sword Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake. The sword contained the victory of the future, not just the past or present.

Shirou came to his senses as he looked the aggressive dragon in the face. "That's it!" He began to push the Excalibur into the creatures jaw, pushing it back successfully with little force. He then let go of the blade and it remained their gripped in the mouth of the dragon.

The black dragon looked towards the boy in surprise. "Why haven't you finished him yet!"
When Saber looked back to him, she leered. But her eyes were filled with nostalgia. No longer they were slitted and more humane. "Don't tell me," Edge sighed. "It's that sword?"

Touko explained as she watched the confusion unfold between Shirou and the black dragon. "That sword is untainted. Such a small creature like an Eyerus is not capable enough to override it, leaving it untouched. Within, there is an explosive quantity of mana, plenty left to sate the heroic spirit, preventing any foul games being played,"

"You failed Edge. You failed dramatically at the Mage's Institution and you failed today,"