Volume 1: Chapter 1 - Child of the Sun

'The light here is different. This is...not the light of my father, Surya?'

This was the first thought that popped into his head when he opened his eyes after a long, long time. How many centuries later? It was not certain.

His wild, white hair danced with the wind as his blue eyes darted around, looking for clues to what was happening. He drank the surrounding with his inhumanly sharp eyes. It was beautiful, but he had no time to dwell on it.

'Why am I here anyways? The only way for me to be anywhere really is to have answered a summon. But I don't remember responding to any?'

He looked up to the sky, eyes narrowing as he thought of his current state of being. The light glinted off his armor and earring, which looked as though they have been fused to his skin rather than being worn by him. It was definitely something supernatural, evident by the two discs floating above his shoulders that held an unnatural cape in position. In the first place, calling that his armor was a stretch, since it seemed more to be a part of him than anything else. An exoskeleton of the gods - absolutely natural to him, and yet immensely unnatural. Like a turtle and its shell. As much a part of him as his bones, nail or hair. Combined with his wild hair, otherworldly beauty and calm demeanor, it made him look immensely dangerous, like an exotic blade of great beauty never before seen in human realms.

'I have everything with me. Dematerialised, but willing to come to me at the slightest pull. But...Vasavi and Vijaya together? On top of Kavacha & Kundala? How? And...Brahmastra has manifested as an arrow. The strength that courses within me is truly immense too. Who could be supporting me? It feels as if, even though incomplete, I have been given a life. A manifestation. Just like Vishnu had manifested as Narasingha.'

He stared intently at his hands, as though he would wrest the answers out of his own existence if possible.

He belonged to the past. A spirit he was, who had lived his life to his satisfaction and had borne death with a smile. Just as a Kshatriya would. So why was he here, with a body so real that he could not dematerialise? With such immense strength that did not belong in this age?

The world was sorrowfully silent, as though it was apologizing to him for having roused him up from his slumber.

'And where am I anyways? This place is strange. Foreign. Is it not my world? The one shining high above is definitely not my father.'

'I need to find out what is happening. I need answers.'

Deciding that mere contemplation would be meaningless, he leapt down the cliff he had been standing at. The cliff collapsed as if a giant, red-hot hammer hit the cliff. The ice and snow together rushed down the mountain with a roar alongside the demigod down towards the clouds.

Far below the clouds, he could see the terrain clearly. He was one of the greatest archers of the world, after all. His eyesight could pierce most obstructions to behold that which he wished to. And he now saw the majestic mountains which encircled him, filled with an endless white shining with the splendour of the light. He could see the steam rising from the snow join the clouds to form a veil beautiful, the mountains like a demure lady draping herself in it, and the wind tugging at it to look at the beauty hidden beneath.

Far beyond the high peaks, he could see the tall alpine trees growing, clad in an assortment of vibrant colours. Tall they stood, wearing colours green, orange and violet. The rocks there were nearly blue, as though the dull greys had been painted by the water of the mountains to something far more beautiful, and the water in itself was crystal clear like glass. All through its intricate webbed journey through the terrain, even in its resting haunts, it was lined with undergrowth of colours more vibrant than anything offered by the trees themselves.

Far beyond even that lay settlements. Villages of people whom he knew not. But if he were to begin to do anything, it had to be there.

His mind made up, the cape of sun-fire that lay draped across his shoulders came to life from its dormant form resting lazily upon his back to flames so brilliant that the clouds emerging from the wall of ice racing alongside him simply vanished. The avalanche itself turned to water, disappearing beneath the ice and snow of the mountains. The cape then parted into two, like wings of an angel unfurled.

These wings pulsed and beat just once, and immediately he blasted forward at tremendous speeds towards the destination he set in his mind.

Isawé was having a hard time right from the onset of the day.

The night before had brought to the village a harsh snow-storm, and it was a miracle that the roof did not blow away. She had woken up early to find snow covering the ground at least three feet outside, and therefore needed to wait for the lightest layer of snow to thaw off.

She prepared tea for the morning and drank it, tearing off the cobwebs of sleep that clung to her relentlessly. She rubbed her third eye, trying to open it. It always took a little more time to open the eye upon her forehead.

Her third eye fluttered open and the world was changed in her vision. Colours and patterns invisible to her before came to life right in front of her.

She felt pity for herself at that moment. What a lowly being she was. A human being? A maggot among human beings! That was what she was!

Slogging day and night to please her masters, which she had to do if she wanted to survive in this harsh world. And her masters always complained that their masters were too harsh. That they lived a wretched life.

Wretched? What did they know about this word which they so casually flung around? She had to bring up food like a beast of burden every week, and that consumed three days for her - one day downhill, two days uphill. She had not a mule to her name, and yet her masters expected her to bring all of it uphill by herself? They even had the gall to claim that since she was not of much use, she would be paid little! And they thought they were wretched! She would gladly trade places with them.

Some days she just wished she could die.

Today was definitely one of those days.

She had just reached her home the evening before, after having had brought up all the goods and barely avoiding a storm. She had not even the time to go and get the necessities she had bought on a monthly basis, aside from some of the food. That night it snowed so much that now she had to wait, both for the snow to thaw and her benefactors to get the checking done so that she could get her pay. Adding to her misery was the fact that today was the fourth day of the month, and she had exhausted almost all her stock from the last month.

After her liquid breakfast, the snow outside had thawed quite a bit, so she went out with a shovel to clear the snow. She had no means to do it in any other way, for her ability to utilize mystery was nowhere near strong enough. She could see it, but not utilise it, no matter how hard she tried.

She toiled in her dainty little hut far away from other neighbors to get the path to the rest of the village cleared. No other person helped her, since she had isolated herself from others living with her husband. After he had died, a few had come to ask for her hand in marriage, but she refused them all. The problem here was that among the declined was a powerful man, a member of the village council. His pride snubbed, he openly declared his hatred towards her; none would then help her out. They were simple village folk afraid of going against the 'powerful lords'. Her benefactors were the only people who took pity on her. They were a part of a guild in the mainland, with relations to the market and trade. But business was business, and all they really offered was an employment - a means to keep on living, to survive.

Her exhaustive work took her well into the later part of the noon. When she retired to her hut, she found that her roof was leaking because of the of the night storm. How she failed to notice it in the morning itself was beyond her comprehension. She tiredly cooked up a meal for herself, had it in short notice, and sealed the leaking roof shut with bits of plastic she kept handy and lined the outer part with tin.

By the time she was done, the afternoon was so late that an hour later the world would turn ablaze with reddish hues of the setting sun - the blue skies would turn yellow, orange and deep crimson, the white snows would seem to be set afire, and the water would turn to molten flame of heaven.

She had missed her payment again today, and would have to wait another day. She wondered if such a wretched existence was even worth it? What difference would it make if she merely dropped dead at that moment?

Tired beyond imagination and bitterly lonely for nearly half a decade, she really missed her husband. He had been a strong man, loving and kind. No one could ever have asked for a better spouse. He alone in the village had been able to manipulate the Mystery to his will. He had loved her so much! A powerful man he used to be, whose backstabbing friends lusted for her after his death and tried to own her, rather than helping her out. It was only due to the her 'Masters' that they did not try anything. Her 'Masters' had been acquainted to her Husband before his death, and they were respectful men, even though they were businessmen at heart.

She wondered sometimes - did he miss her in his afterlife? Would she be reunited with him if she died?

All of these musings of her were cut short as a rumble sounded in the distance. An avalanche. But in this time of the year? She waited for a few moments, lost in thought. And then she began to move. She had a strange feeling that something was wrong. Everything had suddenly grown brighter too. She walked a few steps towards the distant mountains. The clouds were clearing slowly.

Suddenly the world grew a lot brighter at a frightening pace, making her pause in anxiousness. A thunderous noise resounded through the sky as the clouds abruptly vanished. She looked up to the suddenly clear skies to behold a miracle. It was like something out of a tale of the gods. Something she had only heard and dreamt about.

An otherworldly figure glowing like the Sun itself was floating down gently into the ground, melting the snows with his wings of unbearably brilliant flame. She had never felt so uncomfortably hot in her entire life before.

'An angel!'

He stood upon the ground, his visage akin to the Gods she had heard of in countless tales. Ethereally beautiful, powerful beyond compare. He strode forward towards her, she shrunk back.
Had she died? Did God's messenger come to take her? Was this all a dream?

Cutting right through her fear addled mind, the divine being slowed down and spoke in a warm and powerful velvety voice, as if the sun had granted itself a voice to speak.

"Do not be afraid. I mean you no harm."

A few moments of silence lapsed found her voice after that long moment of eternity, and it emerged hoarse, broken.

"Who...who are you?"

The radiant being smiled in a thin lipped manner that looked far deadlier than he intended it to be.

"I am the son of Surya."

His smile softened.

"I am Karna."

Karna was perplexed.

He knew that this woman was someone tormented by life. But he knew this too that she was a strong person. His discernment made it possible to see through anything, after all. Thus he also knew that she was afraid of him. It was inevitable that a normal being would be afraid of him, but he had been gentle in talking to her. He had reassured her and even smiled at her to put her at ease. So he did not know why had she been so shaken when she saw his reassuring smile.

That begged another question. Why was it that when he saw her he got his first bit of information from the world that she was a human being? What manner of human being had an eye on their forehead? The feeling of alienation that he had been feeling ever since he manifested grew stronger within him every passing minute.

"Can you tell me of my whereabouts, O troubled lady?"

The woman before him seemed to finally shake off her stupor and nodded. She would be compliant.

"You're at the Northernmost village of the Great Balïen Empire. Of the Fillé ranges."

Karna took in this information and nodded. This made sense. He was truly in an alien land. But before he could contemplate on this matter any more, Isawé cut through his thoughts with a question.

"Excuse me sir, but why did you call me a troubled lady?"

Karna raised his head to look at her.

"Are you not?"

She squirmed under his intense gaze.

"Well….maybe I am. I mean, yes."

"But how did you know?"

Karna smiled.

"I simply know people. It is a trait of mine. I know how troubled by life you are. I know how you wish nothing more than to rest. I know you miss someone very badly. O lady, there are not many things that remain hidden from my foolish sight. Even your strength of character cannot stay within this veil you wear in front of me. You are indeed admirable."

Isawé flushed at this and sat down upon now clear soil of her home. This angel had seen right through her. She supposed such was the nature of angels.

Karna saw this and felt elated. She was awed by him, but not angry or annoyed. He never truly understood where exactly he went wrong, but he inadvertently ended up creating disasters when he opened his mouth to speak. He was very warm at heart - an immensely caring person who wished for the good of all. Yet, he was labelled as spiteful in place of truthful, arrogant in place of proud, and bitter in place of humble. He wondered if it was due to him not having proper expressions as is expected. He knew he came off as cold and uncaring. It was troublesome. But here it seems his kindness prevailed over his glacial visage.

Back to serious matters, Karna had a few more things to learn. He turned towards the overwhelmed Isawé once more. He needed information right now. He would definitely pay this kind lady back for putting up with him so much.

"Kind lady, if you do not mind, I would like to know a little of where I am. You see, I manifested here. I have little idea of where I am. I know there must be a reason why I have manifested here, and to answer those ends I feel I shall have to wander this world quite a bit. But I cannot dematerialise. So I would be in your debt if you could supply me with the knowledge of the lands."

Isawé looked at Karna and thought,

'Of course! He's a being from the heavens! Maybe he's lost? Maybe he fell down from the heaven? But….an angel is an angel. I must help him out. Maybe I shall be blessed myself if I do! I could really do with blessings right now. Life is so hard!'

"I will help you. What is it that you need?"

"You have my heartfelt thanks, O lady! I shall definitely pay you back! As for what I need, I need you to tell me about the world in itself and of this land."

"I see. Well then, won't you come and sit in my humble house? My husband used to have quite a collection of maps. I'm not sure if I still have any left, though."

"If you insist."

Karna followed the woman into her hut. He believed that her husband must be dead now. He saw the emotions in her eyes when she spoke of him and the maps. That would also explain the haggard condition of the woman, and the vast pain lingering deep within her, hidden well by a brave and strong front. Nothing could be hidden from his gaze. He understood that such was the way of happenstances in the world that it was her inevitability to suffer.

But he had seen her eyes pleading for help. That had stirred his kind heart. As the saint of generosity, he would definitely answer that call for help.

They went into the hut and Isawé made Karna sit in a simple stool, while she began rummaging about in the hut in search of anything that would be relevant. The helter skelter went around for a long time, in midst of which Isawé apologized to Karna for making him sit in such quaint thing that barely qualified as furniture, and for taking so long in her search. Karna assured her that it was alright and she should not work herself up so much. All this hurried action in search of relevant documents took them through the deep evening and quite a bit into the night. The stars emerged out of the deepening gloom one by one and the moon peeked out from the mountains with a tantalising leisure. The stars moved along, seemingly twinkling brightly without a care in the world; the moon glided along and cast her pale light into a world speckled with white.

But no map had been found.

It turned out that she had no relevant books or papers left behind. All the intellectual prints were sold off in preference of food. Survival was more important.

"It is not of much inconvenience. You can simply describe the manner of things to me," Karna said, and then corrected himself looking at her weary from again, "But I can wait till tomorrow. Kind lady, you have pushed yourself too much for my sake. You should rest. Your body is pleading for some rest. It is good courtesy to listen to what is being asked of you with your heart and your mind. If the food is what ails your mind, I shall cook. It would be unbecoming of me if I do not pay back my host."

"Oh no, no! I can tell you what you wish to know by myself. I can go on a little longer! And you needn't make anything. I can cook! It would be better!"

Karna took a long glance at her with his sharp and piercing eyes, and she fell silent uncomfortably. He then sighed and closed his eyes.

Such a sad woman. It was but natural for a woman in her condition to be as desperate as she was. She was asking him for a boon, an alm, yet in her pride she could not even voice it out to him. It was his duty though to fulfil the wishes of a person who pleads to him, be it a spoken or unspoken plea, if it was within reason and within his strength.

"You need not look for good karma in such a way. If it is a request for aid that is in your heart, would it not be better to ask for it rather than put your trust in fate? In the first place, a means of aid that you see in front of you - is it not a stroke of luck? Would you ignoring the opportunity to ask for help not be the same as denying your own fate?"

Isawé grew deathly pale at this and went still at Karna's declaration. He had effortlessly seen into her true being, tearing apart her poorly constructed veil within a moment. She knew well of divine justice and divine wrath. She had been taught that ever since her childhood. So she knew what his words meant.

Tears welled up in her eyes and slowly started streaming down her face. Within moments, she was sobbing uncontrollably. Everything that had been spiralling downwards since the death of her husband had finally hit the abyss. There was no respite for her after this point. She had failed.

Karna turned away without a word to her. As she sat wailing her heart out, he spoke not a word to her. Instead he rummaged through her belongings and lit the stove. He left the woman who thought her life was forfeit to her own devices and cooked up a meal for her.

He did something like that not out of coldness in his heart, but rather because he was not good with words enough to know what to speak at that moment. At such moments, he believed, words were unnecessary. They could never convey his true feelings in the first place. And so, to let her know that there was kindness left in this world, he simply decided to show that to her. He wanted this poor, suffering woman to know that he had heard her plea for salvation, and he would deliver it to her.

"I apologise for using your belongings without your permission. I shall make atonement later."

"But here is your dinner. Eat it."

Karna said to Isawé as he put up her meal in front of her.

The mentally broken Isawé could do nothing but eat. To her, it was akin to a death sentence. She had no choice other than accepting it. As she began eating she was caught by surprise - the meal was quite tasty. But she hid her surprise and said nothing.

Karna, however, had been waiting for exactly this window. He gently spoke up to her.

"I will help you. I have heard your plea for salvation, O unfortunate lady. I do not let those who come and ask something from me in desperation go back empty handed. I will grant you salvation. The world is not as low as you believe, nor is your life at an end. All you need to do for now is eat and go to sleep. Just as you have asked me for aid, your body is pleading to you for rest. I shall remain outside at night and ward off the snows if they come. A debt must be repaid, after all."

Speaking out his part, Karna gently went outside into the open world. From within the hut he could hear weeping. Those he knew were tears of joy. Tears of finding hope after being devoid of it for so long. This was the reason he gave alms to all. To give others hope and happiness. To make his father, the Sun, proud. He looked up to the sky and imagined his father in all his radiant glory smiling down at him. If nothing else, this was definitely something he would always be summoned for. For his first day, Karna did well in his own eyes.

He walked down to the base of a barren tree and sat down at its roots. He then leaned back, enjoying the cold breeze against his armored skin. Smiling skyward, he closed his eyes to the night. His first day was done.

A.N. - So this was the first chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. And yes, the first of the servants definitely is Karna. He is one of my favourite servants. I would spoil you by saying this - there will be eight more servants. And I will conclude their introduction in this "Volume 1".

As for a few things about Karna -

He is the child of the Hindu Sun God Surya, an anti-hero of the epic, Mahabharata. He features in Fate Apocrypha as Lancer of Red, Extra CCC as Launcher, and as Lancer in Grand Order and Extella.

The rest about this Heroic Spirit and all the eight others I will upload in a sort of Databook, barring the Noble Phantasms, after the completion of the introduction.

Oh, and for those who are wondering about the 'volume' thing, it is a nod to the Light Novels of the Fate franchise.

Hope to see you by next update. I can range between an update a week to once a month. I'll make no promises on this matter.