Chapter 29: Power
I hurry out of the hotel room and down to the lobby. It appears to be pretty late. The sky is completely dark already, as seen through the skylights on the ceiling. A quick glance at the clock reveals that it's already half pass three in the morning.
Damn, I've been unconscious for that long?
Wait, Tohsaka and Mordred have been at it for that long?
Regardless, I don't really have anywhere to go now. I definitely can't go back to the suite, and I don't think that any shops or attractions are open this late, or this early, barring those "pubs" that Fuji-Nee spoke of anyway. I'm not really a fan of alcohol either, so that is out of the question as well.
I look around the lobby. As expected of this hour, few people are around, save a couple of tourists who are checking in at the counter and the staff member attending to them. There is a lone hooded figure in white seated in the café attached to the lobby, with a glass of transparent brownish liquid.
"Mass?"
"Ah, Mr Emiya," Mass notices my presence. He quickly finishes his drink and walks over, "what are you doing here at this hour? You should be resting yourself."
"Ah, well, you see…" I hesitate. What the hell can I tell him anyway?
"Well, you see, I can't really sleep with two girls in my room trying to have sexual intercourse with each other."
"Ah, I see. My apologies, Mr Emiya, I was not aware that the situation has evolved to this stage. Please allow me to check with the hotel to see if they have more rooms left."
With that, Mass strides to the counter. The two tourists have just finished checking-in. Mass speaks with the attendant for a moment, then returns to me.
"Unfortunately, Mr Emiya, the hotel appears to be fully booked at the moment. You have to wait until morning for rooms to be freed-up."
"Fully booked? How? Those two just got themselves a room!"
"It seems that they have made a prior reservation, so you have to wait until morning for guests to check-out before I can acquire a room for you."
Oh no, what am I going to do now? Going back to the room is out of the question, but besides that there is nothing else I can do. Maybe I should visit those "pubs"…no, they'll probably know that I'm underage, too. Maybe I can get Mass to arrange accommodation for me somewhere else…
Wait, why is Mass here at this hour?
"Mr Emiya, you seem to be troubled," Mass easily detects the thought in my head.
"Ah-no, not really, I was just wondering what you are doing here."
"Oh, I had just finished speaking to the general manager of the hotel regarding your stay here. If everything proceeds as expected, you will be checking out of the hotel three days from now."
"Three…days?"
"Indeed, as further complications have arisen, we would deal with them before proceeding to Avalon on the day after tomorrow. As for your accommodation, we will arrange a separate room for you tomorrow."
That's fine, but I don't really have any idea how I can kill time until tomorrow morning. Coming to think of it now, it probably wouldn't be good to ask more from the Assassins, like putting me in a different hotel just for the night. Yamada did say that this hotel is owned by the Assassins so it would be more convenient for them.
"Right, but what can I do now?"
Mass looks down and scratches his chin for a bit, then turns around and walks to the door.
"Follow me, Emiya Shirou."
Mass appears to have something interesting to do, so I quickly follow after him. That quick nap I was forced into by Tohsaka has allowed me to recover some energy, so it should be alright if I go without sleep until morning.
(Please play the following song in the link given below before continuing, while making sure to remove additional spacing and dots as usual to overcome censorship. Thank you for you co-operation. w w w . youtube . c.o.m. /watch?hl=en-GB&v=Gs2axjnJUbM&gl=SG)
The moment Mass walks through the automatic door of the hotel, he breaks into a rapid sprint down the street.
"W-what?"
"Follow!" Mass commands. I have no real choice but to run after him.
I run through the darkened and desolate streets. The sky is pitch black, the stars obscured by the fog and haze of the city. The streetlights seem to be dimmer than those in Fuyuiki, probably because the lamps appear to be pretty old. There is nobody around, no one at all, save the white hooded figure running about 10 meters ahead of me. Wind brushes past my face, reminding me of how fast I'm going. Damn, my arms and legs are still tired from the fight back then despite the sleep I got, but for some reason my body keeps going without even slowing down, probably boosted by adrenaline.
I keep running, trying my best to keep up as Mass rounds corners, crosses roads, and vaults over short fences and parked cars. It's getting further and further from the hotel as I follow Mass through the sleeping city, through empty high-streets and deserted back alleys. Mass doesn't seem to tire one bit, not even showing any signs of fatigue like heavy breathing or slowing his pace. My body, on the other hand, is being stretched to its limit, especially after all the fighting in the day. Mass was there as well, so he should be tired as well, but why?
We come out of the alleys and onto a broad and well-lit street. A dead end approaches ahead, the road terminating at an iron gate. Behind it is an old western-style building, decorated with carvings and ledges. Time has taken its toll on the structure of the building, as cracks are clearly visible on the building between and on the bricks and stone. Mass does not slow down one bit, and in fact increases his momentum and charges straight into the wall.
THUD! Mass collides with the wall, or rather, raises his leg and steps on the wall. Running a few steps up the wall, he pumps his body forwards and grabs onto the windowsill of the second floor. In rapid motion, he begins to scale the old building, grabbing on to ledges, windowsills, even crevasses and cracks in the bricks that are apparently deep enough. He doesn't even stop to look for the next hold-point, but does it in such a fluid motion that I swear he has memorized some sort of route on the wall.
Oh no, I'm almost at the wall too! My arms are already strained from swinging and my legs feel like they are going to give way in the next instant. I can't do it, I can't just climb it like that, my arms and legs are way too exhausted for that!
"Emiya! Follow!" Mass merely commands me again as he continues to climb.
There is no way, there is no way that I can do it. I'm going to hit the wall if I don't stop now. How can I climb this wall when all the strength in my body has been exhausted? I have to stop, I have to stop, I have to stop.
"Emiya, do what you do best, copy!"
Copy him? How can I copy him? I'm way too weak to even keep myself upright. To copy his actions, I will need to have his physical strength in order to carry those actions out.
If, hypothetically, I can mimic his actions exactly however, then there will be no problem with me climbing the wall. I have seen him do it, and I can trace his movements in my head. I know how he does it, and I know how I "can" do it if I am to do it. I can imagine myself climbing the building the same way he does. I have to use same ledges and crevasses that he has been using, hauling myself up with my arms and pushing my body upwards with my legs. In my mind, I am climbing the wall.
A fire shoots up my spine as I run into the wall.
THUD! I step on the wall. Pushing myself up, my arms grab onto the cracks that he grabbed, my legs step onto the ledges that he stepped on, my body moves, seemingly by itself, up the wall in rapid, fluid motion. I've seen him do it once, so I know how to do it. I am copying his moments, every single one of them, exactly. Without thinking, I move higher and higher. I don't need to think, for I already knew what to do. My body simply moves according to the image of myself moving in my mind, despite my obvious lack of physical strength to do so, as if logic of the world does not apply to my body. Higher, higher, higher, I have no idea how far up I am, only aware of where the next crevasse is, where the next ledge is, where I should put my arms, where I should put my legs…
How long have I been climbing this wall? I can vaguely remember shifting around a corner onto another face of the building, but I can't see the top. All I can see is the next thing I must hold on to, the next crevasse, the next ledge….
Suddenly, I see the sky again, no longer pitch black now but filled with crimson light on one side. My feet are now firmly planted on a solid, somewhat inclined surface.
I am on the roof of the building, or rather, the pinnacle of a building, a very tall one, overlooking the vast skyline of the city. Ancient structures weave between modern skyscrapers in perfect harmony. The night is pierced by countless points of light, along roads, on buildings, from the occasional vehicle. Below my feet, a river cuts across the landscape, winding through the dense urban environment, seemingly bringing life back to the slumbering city.
It is a truly peaceful and beautiful sight.
"The Clock Tower of Westminister, marvelous view, isn't it?"
THUMP! My view abruptly changes, and now I'm looking sideways at the wide open sky in the distance.
I think that I have collapsed.
No, I have definitely collapsed. The pain from the fall must have slipped through my dulled senses. Yes, that must have been it. Now that I think of it, how could I have run all the way here from the hotel and climbed this building with my weakened and tired-out body? It was ridiculous for me to have done something like that, it was impossible.
"Power, Emyia Shirou, power."
Huh? Someone is speaking? I don't even have the strength to turn my head backwards anymore. All I can do is just lie on my side and wait for him to continue.
"Power is always there, you just have to find it. There is always a way, if you focus on what you need to achieve."
How, how did I acquire this power, this strength? I simply wanted to copy him, to do what he was doing, then my spine was burning hot…
My spine was burning hot? That means…I've been channeling magic energy…
I wanted to copy him, I wanted to copy his movements, copy his strength…
I had traced it and made it my own.
"It appears that you can already trace abstract concepts. I was not wrong about you, Mr Emiya, you have great potential indeed, you and your Unlimited Blade Works."
Yes, that's it. I traced his strength, a concept. I traced his movement, a concept. I traced them, and projected them onto myself. My lack of physical strength or expertise in climbing buildings didn't matter, for I definitely will be able to move like him because I'm using his movements and his strength to climb the building.
Did I really, do that? Wow.
"Your greatest power is not the sword you create, but the mind you create it with. You have a powerful mind, Emiya Shirou, and a powerful world within the mind. You are in control of the reality in your mind, the reality of your world, where your power over things is infinite. What limits your power is simply the reality of this world we all exist in."
I always have infinite power? What limits my power, is the reality of this world?
"But enough on that matter, it is a good position you have there. Look to the East, Emiya Shirou, tell me what do you see."
The East? Oh, right, I think I'm facing it already. I look at the sky again. Just above the horizon, the sky seems to be set ablaze by a shower of light, painting the few clouds in the way bright crimson. Dawn is breaking. A powerful sight, especially when I am viewing it from such a high point, seeing the darkness of the city below being washed away by the cleansing sunrise.
Beholding the grandeur of the scene before me, I manage to squeeze one sentence out of my limp lips, "Am I supposed to say something clichéd, like 'The East is Burning Red?' "
The voice behind me breaks into laughter.
"Of course not, Mr Emiya, I cannot have you turn into another Yamada now, can I? But bear in mind this: the sun rises and sets, unbound by our actions, but it is up to us to ensure that we live to see it. Fate is what we have been given by this world, but it is up to us, to create our own destiny."
The sun rises…and sets…
Fate…and destiny…up to us…..
My body doesn't listen to my head, and my head isn't really thinking clearly either. Maybe I should…I should just…
