"And what about this one?" Shirou found himself asking, stepping lightly around the shattered chunks of stone.
"The Archstone of the far North." The Maiden said, though her was covered eyes could not have possibly seen his gesturing. "The Giant's Archstone."
"Why was it destroyed?" Saber questioned, a little ways behind her.
"When the Old One woke, and the fog drew near, the children of the mountain were the first to be taken. The children of Boletaria, the Ivory Tower and the Stone marched in the hopes of combating the demons and halting them before they could encroach further. But the Old One is strong, and the young races have memories both quick and short. The armies of the kingdoms were defeated, and the Giants' corrupted. Desperate hope led the rulers to shatter the Archstone in a bid to halt the Fog. But to no avail, all lands near and far are under the threat of the fog."
Saber and Shirou fell silent after that, and the Maiden, sensing their mood let the subject drop. Not that she was known for being overly talkative anyway.
She walked down the stairs with light pitter-patter steps. Shirou and Saber walked after her but didn't follow, not really, they were just heading in the same direction.
Sure enough, at the foot of the stairs the Maiden in black veered off to the right, while they moved to the left. Stepping between two of the shrines massive support columns, Master and Servant found themselves in the presence of all the other Nexus inhabitants.
The man who called himself Stockpile Thomas was browsing through the small mountain of effects as per his "morning" ritual. Morning of course being whatever time he woke from his sleep. With nothing to discern the light of day in the Nexus, Shirou, Saber and Rin quickly learned that time tended to get funny in a place like this.
Meanwhile old Blacksmith Boldwin was laying down on a filthy cot that was little more than soot stained furs, snoring noisily. His forge was on the other side of the Nexus, where the stink of the fumes were well away from everyone else's sleeping space.
There were four others milling about that they hadn't met yet. These people had been asleep when the three of them arrived. Three of the four knelt in what must have been prayer in a corner. The other was passing an eye over a book. Though a blind man would have noticed that his eyes seemed more fixed on them than the tome in his hand.
Shirou and Saber gave them as wide a berth as they got in return, marching towards the space that Ostrava and Rin had settled themselves.
There wasn't anything very noteworthy about the space. Indeed, the only reason they used it was because it'd been free at the time and Ostrava was more than willing to collapse anywhere as long as it took the weight off his leg.
Currently, the Knight was running an oil cloth on his Runesword, carefully cleaning the blade of the muck, blood and grime that had gotten into its various little openings and thin canals.
He turned his eyes up at the sound of their footsteps, his dark eyes favoring them for a moment before he nodded.
They nodded in return, and Saber quickly averted her eyes from the man.
He bore such a striking resemblance to Galahad that the King of Knights found it was...disconcerting.
Slim, sharp features, blond hair, almost the same eyes too.
It brought up a lot of memories, most of which she would have preferred to leave in the past where they belonged.
Shirou sat down with saber following shortly after, and Rin turned around where she lay, facing them with baleful, bored eyes. "So..." The brunette groused.
"What?"
Rin shrugged at his question. "Its an open question Shirou, answer it with whatever you can. I could be asking, -How do we get out of here?- or -What's our next move?- or -How the weather's been?-. Let's not just sit here and stare at each other till we're blue in the face lets think of something!"
Now she was sitting up, crossing her arms infront of her chest. Her eyes were no longer bored. They were sharp and irritated.
"Tohsaka" He almost sighed in exasperation. "If I knew anything at all I'd be the first to talk, but I'm not a good magus, not even with the few things I do know. Trying to help you come up with a plan to get out of this is completely out of my league."
This time, Rin did sigh. "Well at least your smart enough to admit when you're stupid." She turned to Saber, leaving Shirou to wonder for a second whether he was just insulted, or praised. "Another thing that we need to try do do is remember what the hell happened to us."
"The last thing I remember...is Berserker grabbing you."
Rin winced, phantom pains running up her sides and ribs, recalling the horror of literally being crushed alive as she realized that lead skinned monster wasn't dead. "Yeah..."
"Then after that everything-it just goes blank for me." Shirou said with an apology in his eyes and a helpless shrug.
Rin sighed. "Same here. Whatever happened it definitely has to do with how we ended up here, if that wasn't obvious enough. So...if we ever do remember what happened we might be able to find a way back because of it." She shrugged, grasping at straws tended to suck. Looking to the servant, whom had remained quiet up until this point she decided to make her more active in the conversation.
"Saber, do you have any ideas?"
"Hmm." The King of Knights thought for a moment before she sighed. "This is not our world. We are wholly unfamiliar with the extent of their magical knowledge and any form of practice manipulating it. If we're to have any hope of getting back we need to find some way to contact someone in our world."
Rin nodded. "I see where your going with that, but even if we did, the magic to bring us back to our world would be beyond almost anyone's ability."
"Perhaps not." Saber said. "The fabric of this world is thin and weak. Its how we were able to slip through before in a way that seems entirely accidental."
"Good point. I still think one of, if not our best bet is to find a mage of this world. A strong one. Perhaps he or she can help."
The young man that had previously been reading a book near the far corner of the room, snapped the tome shut and stood, making his way over. The others were too wrapped up in conversation to truly notice.
"The Schola of Marath in the Boletarian Palace holds much knowledge." Ostrava put in. "Perhaps, should we ever find the means to reach it, and expel the demons, you can find the answers you seek there." He made a gesture with his sword, vaguely pointing in the general direction of the Archstones in the main chamber. "The Tower of Latria is hailed to be even greater in its conservation of ancient magical tomes and rituals. If it hasn't been destroyed then certainly-"
The Knight paused, looking towards the new arrival, and everyone's eyes swiveled up to face the intruder.
He was young, perhaps in his mid twenties, a sharp nose and the faint traces of a sneer on his lips, as though he were looking down at peasants.
"Hello. I overheard you're looking for a powerful mage?"
"That's right." Rin answered carefully.
"Then perhaps I can point you in the right direction. Have any of you heard of Sage Freke?"
Archer groaned, rolling onto his back his eyes fluttered open before he reached for a piece of furniture to help him stand up from the floor.
He stumbled once, and that was more from a momentary weakness than any real pain. He'd take it and call it a victory for now.
He walked out of the hall, through the living room and into the kitchen setting a kettle to boil water, the Servant focused his waking energies on making tea.
It didn't take him long to realize that his left arm was still largely...broken.
He could at least twitch his fingers now. So it wouldn't be long before his abilities as a servant set and knit the bones on their own in just a few short hours.
As he waited for the water to boil, he went about making himself a makeshift sling.
It was not a long wait. Soon enough Archer found himself sitting in the living room, a tea cup in one hand, the other hand, hanging comfortably off a wrap going around the back of his neck.
Archer sat there, drinking his tea, and thinking.
By the time he heard the door open, the Sun had risen from the east and was now high in the sky, filtering light through the entire room.
Most of the feeling was back in his arm too.
Her cherry red eyes turned this way and that way, wide and frightened, her hair was a mess, her clothes were wrinkled and she fixed her gaze on Archer's with far too much fear for the counter guardian's liking.
He didn't fault her for being afraid...not really. He had killed Berzerker six times, a feat too few other Servant's could contend with, if at all.
And she was now standing here, with him somehow still alive, and her Berzerker long gone.
She should be afraid of any servant right now.
Just not necessarily of him.
He set the tea cup on the tray. Wincing as his back spasmed with unexpected pain. The beating he'd endured would take time to heal.
Too long as far as he was concerned.
"Illya-" He began, only for her to interrupt.
"You! How are you alive! Berzerker killed you! I watched you die!"
"I didn't." He answered simply. Though, in truth, he didn't remember much after the world had gone dark. When he woke again he'd barely had the energy to bring himself to the top of the mansion where he'd seen the lead skinned giant holding Rin in one hand.
Just before that arm of his had been chopped off...
Illya bit her lip, hissing a breath through her teeth. "Where is Berzerker! What did-"She seemed almost ready to start crying in frustration, or desperation...probably both.
"I don't know." He said. "Nor do I know where my Master, the servant Saber or her useless master is either."
She sagged, her hands falling limply at her side as she stared at him. "But I can still feel the-"
"Yes." He interrupted. "So do I. Rin is still alive, from what you've said so is your Berzerker." He didn't want to even think what a problem *that* was going to be. "By all rights, so are Saber and the Emiya boy. You and I are all that's left for some reason though."
"But-but-but." She stuttered before finally regaining herself. Her fury mounted and she scratched at her scalp before exploding. "How did this happen!?"
It didn't take him long to answer; he'd been thinking about it all day. "Caladbolg."
"Huh?"
"When I woke up." He decided to explain. "I pulled myself to the top of the mansion. I saw the battle against Berzerker. I did what I could. I nearly killed myself for real by projecting that blade and firing it a second time."
"But how could any Noble Phantasm do something like this!"
"Not on its own." He clarified. Caladbolg could bend space, but never shatter it, never break through the fabric of dimensions which is what he suspected had occurred. "But when it hit, it must have met with something else."
And then he saw Illya pale, her own memory returning and Archer leaned forward. "You know something don't you?"
Illya bowed her head, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. Archer could see the quivering in her shoulders that told him she really was about to cry.
"It was that sword!" She shrieked. "It did this!"
Archer closed his eyes. Sighing through his nostrils.
The sword...Emiya...he knew what sword he traced.
Could Caladbolg and Caliburn really have done this?
His understanding of such things was limited...but he doubted it...
There was something else here. He was sure of it. There was something they were missing. An incomplete puzzle.
He opened his eyes, looking at the distressed Ilya. "It doesn't matter now." He said, as much to her as to himself. "All that matters is finding a way to get them back."
When Rin stepped onto the raised dais that housed the third Archstone she wasted little time placing her hands on the faintly glowing crystal in its center.
"Umm Tohsaka-" Shirou commented after a second or two. "Do you even know how this works?"
Begrudgingly, Rin realized that she, in fact, did not.
She'd been in such a rush to find this Magus, Sage Freke, that she just marched over to the designated Archstone without even bothering to ask someone just how one used them.
Luckily however, she was saved from the embarrassment by the dark haired candle keeper.
"Thou canst not exit the Nexus." Her somber voice drifted up towards the three of them, bringing their eyes down to where she stood on the Nexus' void like floor.
"What do you mean we can't leave." Rin asked, beginning to descend the stairs, Shirou and Saber went down the opposite flight.
The Candle maiden seemed to follow her movements without eyes, facing her directly as she stepped down from the steps that housed the Archstones before she, Saber and Shirou made their way closer.
"Thou canst not exit the Nexus." The maiden repeated. "Thou is not prepared."
Rin wasn't the only one who noticed the Maiden's "gaze" turn onto Shirou.
The Maiden in black took a step closer, still brandishing her candle staff. Tohsaka was sure Shirou was fighting the urge to take a step back in response to her proximity. He looked very nervous, truth be told.
"Thou canst not exit the nexus. Not until the spirits within thine form have been quelled and tamed; lest they once more grow in power at the touch of the fog and consume thee."
Shirou raised an eyebrow, looking to either Rin, or Saber for some help but both women seemed just as confused as he was.
"I don't kno-"
Her hand came forward, it wasn't fast, but it was abrupt, and Shirou barely had the time to give a startled, tense twitch of his shoulders before her hand was against his chest.
The world vanished in a blink. Walls of granite and steps of marble gone, replaced by endless, star glimmering black.
Shirou moved, looking around, searching for Rin, for Saber, but only the woman stood there. The woman in black with skin pale as the moon and wax over her eyes, dressed in rags.
She held out her hand to him. "Come." She said. "This one will teach thou what thou needst to learn."
Color crept through to the edges of his peripherals and Shirou turned around, facing away from her, finding a spreading light of bloody red on the horizon,. As though someone had cut the universe open with a blade and its bright red blood was slowly leaking out.
It was coming closer, nearly indistinct in form but growing sharper, more real. Shirou felt himself backing away until the Maiden's hand was on his back, holding him forward.
"Thine fears must be cast aside. Thine will must be strong."
"But...I don't understand." He answered, finding that it was the most true. And in reality, it was the only thing he could really say.
She stepped over to stand at his side, taking his left wrist as she held out his hand. "Come now, I'm here...thine fear is present but thine will is strong. Wait and you shall see."
The thing came closer, like a wave creeping its way up the slope of the beach. He could hear it, see it feel the moisture of the sand beneath his feet, but the water just hadn't reached him yet.
The first touch was like the barest hints of a feeling along his fingertips, and Shirou still pulled his hand back as though it'd just been burned.
Or at least, he tried to, the maiden's grip was like iron, holding him firmly in place for the briefest moment.
Then he was back in the nexus, blinking his eyes back to sight, he saw Saber holding the candle Maiden's wrist, pulling it away from him while her sword was gripped firmly in her free hand again.
"What are you doing!" His servant demanded, glaring at the black haired woman.
But the maiden ignored her, keeping her attention on Shirou. "Thou sees it now yes? The power within thine form. It rests for a time. But to enter the fog will rouse it from its slumber."
"What are you-"
"Saber." He found himself interrupting her. Meeting her shocked green eyes with his own. "Let her go. I-" He hesitated watching the maiden return her freed hand to the staf she held, a mark forming where Saber had grabbed her. "I...she's right."
"What do you mean she's right?" Rin asked, one closed fist in front of her mouth as she eyed him carefully.
"I saw...I saw something-"
"The soul of the vanquished demon." The maiden interrupted, clarifying. "The moment it was slain, its essence entered thine form, and now rests dormant. This is how the soul of the demon survives, how the demon is reborn again. The mighty who slew it will simply become it when the soul regains its former power."
Though now, all three of them looked uneasy, the candle maiden continued on, either oblivious due to her lack of sight, or heedless despite her knowledge. "This one will teach you to make the demons power your own. How to harness it until its soul and might are yours to do with as you wish."
"But-But I don't want it!" Shirou finally said, aghast, realizing just what was crawling beneath his skin.
"Thou is not the first to say such. But what thou wisheth is immaterial, the Demon's power cannot be taken from you save through death. The only other means are beyond you."
"What are the other means!?" He demanded, more aggressively than he perhaps intended.
"Long ago, the ancient smiths wielded power. Power enough to harness the strength of the demons and imbue them within weapons of powerful, legendary make. The art has been lost since long before the fog returned."
Shirou deflated, his shoulders sagging. "There must be some way-"
"Perhaps thou shall find it." the maiden answered extending her pale hand, which Shirou now noticed the mark of a quickly forming bruise on the pale skin of her wrist. "But until that time, this one will teach, and thou shall learn."
Shirou hesitated, staring at her hand for a long while as though it was the only thing in the world.
Then Rin stepped up, nearly placing herself between the confused red head and the black haired woman.
"What exactly is it that you're going to teach him?" She asked. "And how long will it take."
"This one will teach him how to make the power of the Soul, his own, how to take away the strength of the demon, so that only its raw essence remains, powerless and subdued within. So that the body becomes its prison, rather than its vessel. So that its power becomes the chains that bind it, rather than the fire that purges away all that surrounds it."
"And how long?" The magus asked again.
"Such a question can only be answered by him." The maiden answered. "But-" She hesitated. "It is an infant demon soul, a fledgeling of what it could be. This one does not believe it will take very long."
"We need to find that Magus, Freke, we can't risk waiting for Shirou to deal with this." As an afterthought she turned to look at the dazed boy. "No offense."
"None taken...I think."
"Then thine may pass through the Archstone in search of thine quarry. Thou-" She 'looked' to Shirou. "Will remain, and learn." She paused, as though weighing her next words. "I...I cannot stop thee if thou truly wisheth to go. But to heed mine warnings would be prudent of thee."
"Shirou will not stay." Saber finally spoke up.
"If she says he has to-" Rin began.
"Then we wait!" Saber cut her off. She looked to Shirou. "You are my Master, and I will not simply leave you here alone and unprotected."
"But Saber...if this Sage Freke can help us then-"
"Then we can't run the risk of him dying while we wait." Rin finished, looking to the blond. "I know you're Shirou's servant, and your job first and foremost is to protect him. But if we don't find a way out of here, we're all dead anyway. And I can't just go off on my own to look for this guy."
Saber looked like she was trying to work a bad taste out of her mouth, her lips curling a bit.
"Saber." Shirou placed his hand on her shoulder, smiling just the smallest bit at his servant, though it served little to hide his own anxiety over the situation. "Its alright...I'll be fine here. If worse comes to worse. I can always find Ostrava for help."
Still not looking satisfied with the idea Saber turned her eyes away from the lot of them.
Rin took it as a victory for the time being. Looking to Shirou she sighed. "Alright. I guess we'll be back for you later then." She threw a glance to the Candle Maiden then looked to Shirou with one of her more evil smiles. "Don't go exchanging any Prana while we're gone now."
It took the youth half a second to realize what she was implying. The blush on his face made Rin choke on her laughter, and Saber's head whipped back to face them so quick anyone could have attested to hearing her neck crack.
Still laughing, Rin grabbed onto Saber's hand and pulled her away, marching up the stairs with a fit of giggles before both women reached the archstone and vanished in a burst of green mist.
Shirou stared at the spot the two of them had previously occupied before he felt the maiden's hand on his shoulder.
"Come now." She said, and began to walk off to another part of the Temple. With another look towards where Rin and Saber vanished Shirou turned and followed.
Alright, chapter 3, a little short, but now we're getting somewhere, the next chapter will be twice as long at least by my estimates so it'll take a bit.
The first 7 to 10 chapters are really going to focus on getting the "universe" moving, like I mentioned in chapter 1, after that, there will be a lot of character development/progression. Anyway, hope you all enjoy it for now.
