Damp.

Dark.

Those were Shinji's first impressions as he walked down the stone stairs into the basement of the Matou mansion. There was a hint of that sound, that soft slithering sound the further he walked.

The soft squeaky sounds of his shoes against the stairs were absorbed by the stone.

It was when he reached what he thought was the bottom, that he understood. This wasn't a basement that he was in.

For he stood upon a platform that looked down into a catacomb.

A soft green luminous glow from soft glittering lamps that moved in the shifting darkness.

The soft cooling aquamarine hexagons that had filled the world since his re-awakening were still present, here and there... but the shadows here, they consumed them.

Leaving behind that ever shifting darkness.

No, that wasn't right. Shinji's eyes widened as he truly took in what lay before him.

The walls that vanished down into the murky green darkness, the numerous holes that dotted them at regular intervals.

Intellectually, he knew that those holes were for the burial of dead people, where corpses decompose and vanish with the passage of time. Leaving them empty once more for their next occupant.

But where time and air took care of those buried above, here... it was something else.

That smell, which had pervaded the Matou mansion, which he had lived with all his life, it was strong here. He could truly notice it now. That moist earthy scent.

The slithering darkness.

The moving points of light along with the glow of alchemically altered moss.

The darkness lived.

It breathed and ate just as he did.

The countless things that squirmed over the floor, covered in shadows, that were the shadows.

"Do you see them?" the pride in his grandfather's voice could be feel by Shinji as he and Sakura stood at the platform overlooking into the catacomb. "My happiness worms?"

For once, he felt ill. The meal in his stomach threatening to come up.

This.

This was the Matou magic?

For this, Uncle Kariya died?

For this, his father was shot?

For this, Sakura was given to their family?

He looked at her once more. The silence from her telling him more than anything he had been told.

Did he truly desire to become a magus at any cost?

Puella Magi Schuetze Aurulent

Part 8 : Progress is like a fire, it can only grow or die.

"Shinji, do pay attention. This is something that Sakura already knows," As he struggled to keep his breakfast inside his body, his grandfather continued speaking. Perhaps uncaring of the nausea being displayed here, perhaps uncaring of its cause, simply knowing that what he spoke of was more important. "I call them happiness worms. But that isn't what they really are called. To be more accurate, they are the worms that will bring happiness to any true Matou magus."

"W... what do you mean?" He looked up, breathing in heavily with his mouth in a futile effort to calm his body down. Looking up meant he wasn't looking down as he followed his grandfather ever downwards.

"Boy, the heart of any quest by any magus to reach the origin of everything, the [root] of existence, is that it is a race against time. More accurately, it is a race of endurance" The raspy voice echoed in the hollow beneath the matou mansion. The echoes gave it depthm reinforcing what was said. "Time is the one enemy that can't be defeated, even by magus. It can be stalled by various tricks... but it can not be truly stopped."

"Continuation..." Shinji blinked and the light shifted just so, and it appeared that the old man had no need to breath. For a moment. "Continuation is key against relentless time that erodes away at a magus' mind, body and soul."

"Knowledge must be transmitted because one can only live so long, and the journey to the [root] of everything... that takes longer than the life span of a human, even with life extension techniques," There was a smile and a nod from the patriarch of the Matou family at Shinji in answer to the unspoken question of just how old Zouken truly was.

At the smiling nod from the dark eyed elder magus, there could be little doubt in Shinji's mind, this was a magus who would extend his life at unspeakable cost. That he would extend his life for any and all effort to continue down the path of mysteries. "Books are one way of transmitting knowledge. But inefficient and it runs the risk of being lost in some disaster or stolen by rivals."

Shinji had to nod at that statement, he could see the dangers of storing things by pen and paper, or... digitally, a small part of his mind spoke up. "So... there is something better?"

"Indeed, boy... most magus are content with the current system is use, that of books, scrolls and other storage mediums and their family crests," The approval at Shinji's question could be heard in the indulgent tone of voice. "The magic crests used by most magus are magic circuits imprinted with the techniques and gradual advances over the ages, physically transmitted from one head of the family to the next."

"Tell me boy, what is the inherent drawbacks of the crest system," They stood at the final platform above the squirming mass of worms now. It was obvious to Shinji that the worms had to do something with the path of the topic that his grandfather was guiding him through.

Still, the question had an obvious enough answer if one applied certain basic precepts of computer knowledge. "I... I suppose that if it's from one person to the next, it can get disrupted or corrupted given that it's in a series? And that there can only be one 'heir' or person receiving it?"

The answer, despite its tone of voice, was the right one Shinji determined from the slight smile.

"And, this is my answer," Shinji's grandfather gestured at the mass of squirming things that vaguely resembled worms in the sense that humans resembled dogs. "My happiness worms. Or rather, to be more accurate, my crest worms."

"Every single spell that depends upon the Matou Thaumaturgical Theory reside within the worms. Every single piece of knowledge that the Matou have gathered and gained over time reside within the worms. And as long as a single worm exist, that knowledge, that wisdom, they will never be lost," Shinji could only gapped as he looked at his grandfather as he spoke.

"So... basically, you have a huge mass of crests that distribute everything to whoever has a worm in them?" The logic was sound, Shinji had to admit to himself. It did sound like something that even in the mundane world with computers did, or was that would do?

"That's right, boy, But it isn't a one way road, everything you learn will be given to the worms as well..."

The not quite glimpsed motion from the corner of his eye drew Shinji's attention.

What he saw, however, was not what he expected. It was a sight that had him blushing and turning away to his grandfather's cackles.

His adopted sister was undressing and putting away her clothes in a neat pile as if she was about to go swimming.

"Don't look away, Shinji. This is what is needed to harmonize with the Matou magic... to become one with the Happiness Worms." What? The boy's mind rebelled against what his eyes saw, as his adopted sister gingerly stepped into the swirling mass of things.

Walking as if she was descending further down another flight of stairs into a swimming pool, and just floating in not-water [worms/insects/things].

"Harmonization is only necessary at the beginning. She has yet to finish doing so. But before that... you need this," Shinji turned to his grandfather, the question on his lips dying as he realized that he would need to do this. There was the vial of liquid that glowed a soft lambent green.

"You need happiness worms within you, to connect your magic circuits..."

In his other hand, his grandfather held a syringe of glass and immaculate steel.