Exploring Uruk

Author's Notes: Thank you guys for the support ,and probably should put this on my the first chapter but here a quick Disclaimer. I do not own Fate/stay night or it associated media suc Fate/Grand Order and I do not own High School DxD. The only things I own are my OCs,

Well, that was a nice that nap, I feel like I could run a marathon, win the long jump, and parachute out of an airplane all on the same day. Taking a quick minute to bask in my rejuvenated strength, I looked around to see if there is any sign of a way out of this damn desert until I noticed the most peculiar yet beautiful sight in my time in the desert. A brown sack, that could be filled with food, water, and other necessities like a map.

I rushed over to the sack to see what inside, and what came out was a few metal flask, some nonperishable foods, a lighter and little blue sticky note with some writing on it. I picked the sticky note to see the contents of it.

If you are reading this, then congratulation you have been saved by me, Shamash god of the sun, salvation and few other things. Now you may be wondering why have you been saved by such a gracious god like myself: well, to be honest, it was a combination of a whim, your potential and most importantly to get a few favors from you that I will cash in the future. The second thing you must off noticed is this increase in energy and awareness. Well, that was because I unlocked your ability to use magic. Now I gotta make this short as I'm almost out of time but I suggest you head 30KMs north which gets you to the ruined city of Uruk, then camp there for the night. Afterward, follow the Euphrates river to An Najaf.

Best Wishes, Shamash your friendly sun god

I just stared at the piece of paper flabbergasted at what this could potentially imply.I began endlessly reread the note to make sure I fully I understand what this implies to me, my plans, my future and potentially if I'm even in my own universe or not.

From my understanding of the note the person who gave me these supplies claimed himself to be a sun god of all things. The next thing that this person wrote that he saved me and gave me supplies on what is essentially a tit for tat type of deal in which he wants something from in the future in exchange for healing me and helping me out. The next he tells me magic is real, I mean that claim seems ludicrous and just because I feel a lot better than yesterday doesn't mean I suddenly have magic powers that allow me to use fire and lightning spells like in Skyrim.

Assuming that he is telling the truth though, that leaves open a lot of possibilities such as I'm currently in my world and magic and gods are real but is just super well hidden or I'm in another universe altogether which allows for a system of magic to place such Harry Potter or The Percy Jackson series. Until I can see first hand use of magic I will have to be skeptical of that claim.

Now in regards on his advice to travel up north to Uruk then to An Najaf. It seems to be a solid plan plus it confirms that is in Iraq or in whatever state that controls this region of the world.

I guess this is enough speculating for now because if I don't get going I might not be able to reach the ruins before sunset. I quickly put my supplies and the note back into the sack and started walking north to get to the city of Uruk before sunset.

10 Hours later…

Well, what you know the desert is not half as bad I first thought. Once you get out of that sea of sand the terrain becomes rocky, so I'm overall less tired than if I continued to walk through the sand with sandals. Besides that, the biodiversity is quite a bit more interesting from the occasional small rodent that scurried in the brushes to the hawks overhead which is infinitely more interesting than dead grass that I was so used to seeing.

Besides the more pleasant scenery, I am a bit excited to go see Uruk. Sure it was basically a bunch of abandoned ruins, but the history and legends that surrounded the near-mythical city are quite interesting especially if you look into Uruks early struggles for dominance in the region. A fascinating part of its history though was it first dynasty that ruled Uruk. The first dynasty includes mythical figures such as Lugalbanda who said to rule Uruk for over 1000 years, but more importantly, Gilgamesh, the hero demigod-king who tale is told in history first great peace literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh. Although his appearance in the media ranges from wonky sword collector in Final Fantasy to the Arrogant king seen in Fate series, his other appearance makes up for it in my opinion such as Caster Gilgamesh in Fate/GO.

As I was about to make another comment about Gilgamesh, the ruins of Uruk came into view, and I was surprised at what I saw. While the city was indeed in ruins with the walls that once surrounded Uruk, now a pile of rubble and the painting that once decorated the building have since long be worn away, the city was surprisingly mostly intact with most the structures only having minor damage and the road that connected the important parts of the city seem to be in great shape.

One thing that I'm now certain though is I'm definitely on my world anymore because if I remember from a school project about Sumeria I did in high school, Uruk should mostly be made up of what left of the foundation and some short walls here there.

In any case, as I entered the city I began to survey for a good location for a camp. Ideally, I want it to be in a relatively high location just in case an animal tries to mess with me and because I would like to stargaze for a bit as it been a hobby of mine since I was a kid.

As I was walking down the main causeway, I spotted what seemed to be the biggest building in the area. It was a relatively tall ziggurat that had a pathway that led to the to the top of this gigantic structure and it would seem like the best place to set up my campsite. As I climbed up the stairway my senses began to tingle like there was something a bit more to the ziggurat that what it seems, but I quickly ignored, chalking up as just my nerves as when I was a kid I had a massive fear of height.

When I finally reached the top, I looked around to view the city and I was not disappointed at what I saw. The building where organized into a grid-like system yet even if it a bland yet efficient way organizing a city it did not take away from the overall majesty of the sight. From the sand-colored building to large Ziggurats, the city of Uruk must have been amazing at its height.

Being up here, with a view of a king, imagining the city at its height, I could better understand the difficulties of managing city let alone a kingdom. From up here, the king does not see the individual he sees the markets, the barracks, the trade convoys, and these are only part of the intricate web of interactions that form a society. When deciding policy the king of this land looks out for the kingdom and himself, not the individual, as an individual is only a mere cog in the machines that was the kingdom. A truly perfect king may be able to manage the balance between liberty and command ,but it seems like a perfect balance will never be found as people will always dissent at the current establishment in private such as the case of Arturia in that while she was deemed perfect she was flawed in that she could never truly understand her led to her downfall because her subject resented her inability to truly connect with her subjects. I digress though, democracy would have been hard to create during the golden age of Uruk because one, educating a populace which essential to a democracy, takes time and money that could have been used elsewhere plus the inherent disunity in the time period where rival city-states often vied for power within the region made it a bad place to try out new ideas.

Well, that was enough philosophy for a day. Sigh, well I better explore the top level of the ziggurat to familiarize with it layout just in case something happens. Entering the palace complex I began to go through each room to see if there was anything inside or a backup exit that I could potentially use to escape through. After going through most of the rooms, I concluded that there was only one exist which was through the main door and that whatever items that were in do rooms have been taken by looter or scavenged by an archaeologist. Hmmm, well if that's the case then I'll just go to last room I have not explored yet.

Now the reason why I did not explore this last room yet is that its the room farthest away from the entrance and that it was probably the most important room in this complex because it seems like the biggest, and everyone know that the biggest room is usually reserved for very important people such as priests, kings, queens and I entered the room I quickly noticed that the room was as barren as the previous room but with exception of it having a stone grey throne in the center of the large room.

Well, that was a disappointment, there seems to be nothing in these rooms except dust. Sigh, whatever its past sunset and I'm starving, if there's one thing that I found that was useful was a nice place to sit. Taking a seat on the throne was quite uncomfortable, after all, it was made out of stone, I opened up my sack and took out my canteen for a quick drink of water. After I finished drinking all of the water out of my first canteen, I took out some of the dried meat and quickly consumed a handful of it.

Huh well, that was actually quite filling, I expected it to be like beef jerky but it actually tasted a lot better than beef jerky, it was sweet, yet spicy but it was literally like eating a fresh steak, in that it melted right in my mouth like a freshly cooked medium well steak.

Well then let's see what I have left. I have three canteens of water, and four baggies of that divine jerky left to spare which should at least last me long enough to get An Najaf or one of the surrounding towns.

*yawn* well I guess I should hit the hay, as tomorrow is going to be a long day of walking. As I about to lay my head on stone shoulder rest, I heard a mechanical clicking noise which is strange, as I am 100% sure the inhabitants of Uruk did not have clocks or anything mechanical.

After around 5 minutes of that inane ticking, I began to look around the room from my position on the throne, in search of that infernal noise. Just I was about to get up and actively look around for that noise, it stopped. Finally, I can go back to sleep in peace.

Just as I was about to get some shut-eye, the ticking began again but something different happened. something underneath moved, and next, you know I'm falling for the 2nd time within 3 days.

Oh, come onnnnn! OOF ughh…...At Least the fall was for only a few seconds this time instead of an eternity like last time that happened. I picked myself off the floor to check for some injuries only to find a few bruises and cuts which was a miracle in itself in that, from the height I fell from I should have at least a few broken bones. Well with the injury report out of the way, let's see what I got myself into this time, I looked around the pit and I noticed that there were two directions I could travel in, right or left.

Hmm, well let's see ughh well, how about I take the path to the right, after all, it is the right path, and nothing ever could go wrong since I'm taking the right path.

3 hour later…

Yeah, I'm officially lost, when I first started my walk I thought it would be simple. Just go down a few corridors and walk out of the exit, but no this place is apparently a damn maze. I do not how many times I walked in circles or backtracked but at this rate, i'll most likely die down here lost in a stupid know what I'm blaming the world for all my problems. It seems like this world is out to get me, first by dropping in the middle of a desert and now the world decides to drop me into a maze.

"You know what I can play this game too" I yelled " next time I go to the park, I will not pick up the trash, and I won't turn off the air that mother nature, take that HA HA HA." Breathe in, Breathe out, Breathe in Breathe out, just calm keep calm Nick, no need to lose your head right now, just keep calm. After saying that mantra to myself a few times I was able to calm down a bit. Now let's just review the situation I'm in. I'm in a maze that's in a ziggurat which means each time go down a staircase the area of the maze should increase, and since I did not see any entrances or doors on the side of the ziggurat I can assume two things. That in order to escape this maze I would need to find a secret entrance or I would need to complete this maze. In either case, my time limited from the ever-present risk of running out of supplies and the amount of oil left in this lighter.

Well, I need to keep a move on then as standing here and contemplating my situation is not going to improve my situation in any way, shape or form. With all that in mine though I face a choice I could go down the staircase to my right or I could go left and continue to search for an exit on this floor. Hmm, I guess I'll take the staircase even though it's more of a risk that I could get lost, it's more likely I'll be able to find exit down there than up here wandering around for the few hours.

15 minutes later...

You know this staircase is quite a bit longer than the previous staircases I walked through. I turned around to see how far I descended, and I was surprised in that I want to see where I originally came from. Sure it's quite dark down here, but with my lighter and when I really focus on a certain location long enough I was able to see just fine. Now though no matter how hard I tried to focus my eyes I could not see the entrance of this staircase. Sigh, I'm already down here, I might as well keep walking till the staircase ends.

After another 15 minutes of continuous walking, the staircase ended at a closed wooden door. Finally, that god damn staircase has ended, but now let's hope the door is locked or I'm going to kick that damn door down.

I pulled on the door handle and surprisingly the door opened without resistance. I walked through the door and was immediately relieved in that this was not another godforsaken maze. Though a bit confused in that their assorted torches throughout the cavern. I mean those torches should've burned by now if they were lit over 4 millennia ago unless someone has been here recently and took the time to plant those torches. Whatever the case is, something is down here and I should be on high alert as I already had enough surprises to last me a lifetime.

I as I began to walk through the hallways of this underground complex I began to notice that changes in the air as I got closer to the next room. When I entered the room I noticed immediately that is was different from any other room I have been, during my stay in Uruk. The room for one was well decorated in that the paintings have not faded, the intricate motifs that line the walls were well preserved, heck the ceiling of this room was a giant portrait of the night sky. The most jarring thing though we're the many treasures that littered the floor that ranged from simple gold bars to beautiful Jewels, and 4 giant golden coffins that were decorated with many patterns, images of bulls, the sun and the moon.

Well…..this is really the best thing that happened so far today...so may treasure to go through…..but I gotta find an exit out of this place first….though I'm sure I can take a few coins here and there as with this I could jump-start a new life in this world. I grabbed a handful of coins and gems and placed them in my sack.

Just I was about to leave the room, the room began to shake as the four coffins opened up and spewed out hulking metal suits of armor which proceeded to block the 2 exists.

Well fuck me, I'm surrounded and unarmed. I took a quick look at the suits of armor that blocked my path safety. Each one seems identical in that they wore golden plate, had a single blue stripe that ran from the pauldrons to the gauntlets, had beady red eyes that were visible when you looked directly at their visors and that they carried what seemed to be golden greatswords.

Just I finished my quick analysis, one the metal behemoths that was in front me, charged at me like a speeding truck. I stood frozen as I saw my entire first life flash before my eyes. Just as the blade was about to meet its mark.

A single thought raced through my mind. I want to live...I want to live...I want to live. That single order was quickly relayed to the brain, then to the core. The core immediately came to life and quickly began to spread a vast amount of mana throughout the body.

As this was happening, the blade came ever closer to bisecting me, but then a sudden urge to dodge overcame me. I was able to duck beneath blade and roll in between the legs of the brute. Then I tried to counter him with a simple leg sweep, but the metal monstrosity was able to detect it and quickly jumped back to its original position.

A brief break in the action allowed to get my thoughts together. Holy shit, how was I able to dodge that strike. Then I remembered something that seemed ridiculous a few hours ago, now made perfect sense now,' I unlocked your ability to use magic' that mean what Shamash wrote to me was also mean I was using magic similar to reinforcement from the Fate/Stay Night series.

If that's the case I might actually stand a chance against the mech. I looked around the room for a weapon until I spotted a golden longsword. I then made a dash for the swords. The same suit of armor that tried to kill me previously decided to intercept me by slashing at my legs. I jumped over the blade and lunged for the longsword. The armored nightmare then attempted to slash at my face, which I countered by moving out of range of its greatsword.

For a brief moment on the battlefield, the combatants stood still waiting for the other to make a move.

During my engagement with the robot, I noticed a few thing such as it movements are stiff and that even with all that range he has of the great sword, the size of that sword is a detriment in this small room, so if I can get underneath his guard victory should be mine, but that would require me to be able to go toe to toe with that machine. Which I can not do in my current condition, but if I channel some mana to reinforce my body I should be able to rival it straight. The one downside though is I'm getting tired quickly from all this fighting so this battle will need to end soon or I will collapse from exhaustion. With that taught in my mind, i decided to go all in.

Taking the initiative, I wildly lunged at the machine in an attempt to amputate its right arm. The droid countered with a simple block, and so began a flurry of slashes and stabs in which whatever grace I had was discarded in favor of an all-out offensive in which I attempted to overpower the suit of armor with pure force and speed.

Cuts, bruises, and tears in my cloak began to appear as I began to get tired of reinforcing my body for too long. Just I was about to break off the engagement, I saw an opportunity arise in that when the robot was about to go for an overhead strike a small gap appears between the breastplate and the fauld.

Exploiting this flaw, I pressed the attack until the bot predictably went for another overhead strike. Just as the mech was going for an overhead strike, I reinforced my arms as much as I could and stabbed at that spot with all my robot was unable to react in time as was impaled on the spot. Everything stood still for a bit until the suit collapsed unto the ground due to its wires being cut in vital areas.

"Ha ha ha, take that you golden bastard" I whispered to the downed droid. I was about to celebrate until I remembered there was still 3 other suits of armor left.

"Well, shit ….eh would you guys leave me alone for I don't know… how about a few days" I asked in a polite yet begging manner.

The 3 bots quickly dismissed my plea, but it seems liked smile upon me today in that the metal suits decided to go back into the coffins instead of skewering me in my near defenseless state.

"Thank god, they left me alone," I said to myself quietly.

With the imminent danger dealt with, I did what my body wanted to do 2 minutes into the fight and I slowly made my way onto the floor. Well, at least I'll feel better after a nap.

Author's Notes:

Thanks you guys for the reviews and i'll try my best to address them properly

rc48177- Thank you for constantly reviewing my chapters ,and I try to keep your suggestions in mind.

The Rupture- No, the MC did not get a Gilgamesh class card ,but that could be an idea for a future fic.

Dark flame god and guest - I can not say for now ,but we will see as the plot progresses

If you guys have any suggestions please tell me as I want to try improve my writing.