Fate is… a curious thing. You can't change your fate. At least… not in a normal way. There was once a king. He was loved by his people and feared by his enemies. This, however, is not his story.
No… this is the story of a tyrant. One may call it the exact opposite of the selfless king who pull the sword from the stone, while others simply call him the true persona of the king of knights.
The hero of this story is not said king. The hero, or better said, protagonist, of this tale is named Shirou Kotomine. An executor apprentice, who was adopted by Kirei Kotomine, in an event that claimed the lives of many.
Our story begins a decade prior the events of the first night. Shirou Kotomine, who haven't yet acquired his current surname, was in a park. He is a red headed child, currently 7 years. He also have bronze colored eyes. It was at night. Some may wonder why he, an infant, is at street so late at night.
The reason for such is simple. His family was just murdered. How you may ask? Shirou was in his room. A children's room. Nothing fancy or out of ordinary. He was sleeping when he was suddenly woken up.
A loud noise of a weapon. Then something hits the floor. Scared, but curious nevertheless, he got up from his bed, and slowly opens the door. What he saw was… his father dead body. A bloody hole in his head. His eyes soon lands in his mother. She was being raped by a man.
A strange man with a gun. The look of terror in her eyes was painful to watch. But the fear that crept inside his little body was even more painful. She stared at him, her eyes saying just a single sentence.
Run!
Thus, without looking back, little Shirou got to his room, closed the door, and simply got out using the window.
Remembering how pathetic he was, he couldn't help but curse himself. He was trash.
Trash!
Trash!
Trash of the worst nature!
His self berating stops when he felt something warm. Not… it was burning. He wasn't paying attention, but suddenly everything around him was set ablaze.
His breathing becomes erratic. His little fists clenched. He needed to get out of there.
He run.
Step after step, he got close to the end of that hell. But… even closer, it was like the flames wouldn't stop. He continued to run.
After each step, his feet were hurting more. After each breath, more and more smoke getting inside of him.
And after what seemed like hours, finally something that wasn't bright and hot was caught in his vision.
A pair of blondes. One was wearing a sultan attire. The other looked like a female dark knight. Each of them sending blow after blow against one another. The knight in dark trying to cut the man with golden locks.
The latter was wearing a smile of sorts. The air ripples behind him shooting what seemed like energy.
The former, however, was cutting through the energy projectiles with a blade so black that seemed like swallow the light. She didn't wear the same playful smile the blonde man had.
Behind those two, Shirou saw two men. Both fighting. One was wearing priests clothes and was throwing swords at his enemy.
The other had a gun.
A cursed gun! The same weapon that took my parents
While those thoughts passed Shirou mind, he couldn't help but to hate the man using the guns.
He was somewhat glad when the priest was able to injury the gun wielder.
"Kotomine, look what had you done!" ─ The gun wielder screamed. Infuriated beyond words.
The priest however, just smiled. Some may see like he was happy seeing the evil he caused. But… to Shirou, the priest looked genuinely happy.
That smile was something that only a strong man could wear. Shirou understood that. The strength of the priest became even more obvious when he stabbed the gun user in the head, using one of those black swords.
The sword who prevailed against the weapon.
Shirou was awestruck. The insight he gained from that smile would be something that becomes his foundation. His very essence.
Only the stronger deserves to be happy.
It made sense to him. His family died because of his weakness. He lost everything because of said weakness. So wouldn't it be obvious that, if he became strong. So strong that nothing could hurt him, he would be the happier person in the world?
A few seconds later, the female knight began to disappear in blueish particles.
The two remaining men seemed to talk, before the one named Kotomine seemed to finally acknowledge his presence. He looked at Shirou eyes.
The emptiness of his eyes scared the red headed kid… but instead of running away, of looking away, Shirou looked at Kotomine's hollow eyes, and asked one thing.
"Please train me!"
The alarm clock ringed out. Shirou, simply opened his eyes. Today would be the day. The day he beats his father.
He got out of his bed. His room was as plain as it was when he was a kid. He got out of his night attire and went to his usual training gear.
His training gear consist basically of a priest attire. Nothing fancy. No protect equipment. His father always told him that if he wanted to become truly strong, then he should bear the pain.
Of curse, cleaning his attire is also his responsibility. From brushing off the dust to sew up the cuts it usually got.
Shirou got no problem with that. Neither with the physical combat stuff. The only problem ever had was his Thaumaturgy.
While Kotomine Kirei was an maginificent teacher in martial arts (Shirou's opinion), he couldn't quite understand why he had so much hardships when it came to magic.
Shirou could only blame himself for that. He soon saw that, while his aptitude for combat was highter than most, his talent in magecraft was close to zero. He continued to walk down the hall. Soon, he come to met his teacher in front of the altar. Behind him was Rin Tohsaka.
She was talking about something called the Grail war. It looks like she was overanticipating it. The war would only begin in a few months.
Shirou sighted. Tohsaka could be a real handful sometimes. Said girl soon looked at him. Her eyes softed a little. He was probably the closest person Tohsaka could call a friend other than her sister.
"Hi there Shirou. How are ya doing" She called him, smiling softly.
Shirou smiled at her too. Approaching to her and her father, he soon blocked a reinforced kick using his hands.
"Damn. You never let your guard down?" She asked playfully.
"Never around you, Tohsaka." He answered, letting her leg down.
At that moment, Kirei turn around. He looked at both his pupils, smiling. To Shirou, that was perhaps his greatest objective. He still couldn't fathom the emotion of that smile. He was broken, after all.
"Shirou, come with me to the basement. I've got someone who could help your Thaumaturgy." The older Kotomine said. Shirou smiled.
"He finally agreed?" The red-headed asked. He knew that, since his element is sword and his origin is also sword, he can't use normal thaumaturgy. Kirei was only able to taught him reinforcement, with Shirou only noticing recently that he is able to use structural grasp.
While both types of magecraft have very limited usage, he found a way to actually become strong, even with such a high-specialized thaumaturgy.
Projection. However, according to Kirei, while he didn't have a full knowledge in the manner (Something Shirou though as a lie), Rin also wasn't exactly found of the idea to help her long time rival.
In other words, the third resident of the church is by far the only one who could help Shirou with this ordeal.
"Yes, he did. However, Gilgamesh only did so because the things where, and I quote, too much boring currently."
Yes, that is correct. The third resident of the church was the Caster of the last war. The one who saw everything. The wise-king. He was willing to teach Shirou magecraft.
This was perhaps his best chance to improve. He needed to make a good first impression.
His thoughs where, whoever, interupted by Rin.
"Hey Kirei. It's not fair that only Shirou got to learn from Gilgamesh. I also want a chance to improve." She said pouting.
"Rin, we both know that, while your Thaumaturgy is in the finest, Shirou needs help. I know you want to be the best in everything. However, you can only gloat about being the first, if there is a second. And there can only be a second if there is some matter of competition, don't you think?" Kirei said, with a light chuckle.
Rin huffed. She then proceeded to walk out of the church. Shirou found the whole situation amusing in it's own way. While many would be rather intimidated by Kirei, Rin wasn't afraid of confronting the fake priest.
Kirei turned to Shirou. He was staring into the young magus as if to see any hint of hesitation. After some time, he smiled.
Kirei soon guided the red-head to the basement door. When they got there, Kirei took out an old looking key then, just before he could open the door, he turn out to Shirou. His one and true apprentice… he wondered, what kind of entertain would the kid show to him in the next few months.
With both of the two executors nodding towards one another, they then proceeded to the basement of the church.
There, the wise-king was sitting. His legs crossed and a cup filled with whine in his hands.
He seemed content. Shirou knew better. He knew that, while not exactly a violent person, Gilgamesh was not one to be trifled with. He was a king, and like every king, he had his pride.
Gilgamesh's scarlet orbs soon gazed directly at Shirou's bronze ones. His eyes demanded respect. But at the same time, they showed wisdom beyond what a normal human could attain. His pupils where in the shape of slit, something that only showed how much inhuman the king of heroes really was.
"Tell me boy… are you ready to learn magecraft?" He asked, as if to measure Shirou determination. The boy smiled.
"I am, my king." Shirou bowed to Gilgamesh, in a way to show respect to the wise-king. The blonde man smiled wickedly.
"Good… you didn't even wavered. Let us see how much you are able to maintain this determination."