Chapter 24: Recoil

"Pyotr Volkov."

Alex and Mina hesitated as they looked over the stack of papers that had just been placed in front of them. Rin returned to her seat on the other side of the wide dining room table as she revealed the name of the now-deceased Master of Archer. Four days had passed since their encounter on the rooftop of the automobile factory, each day had crawled by with a terrible slowness. Morbid curiosity had eventually won out over any other form of sense and so he approached Rin to receive personal information on the dead man, which she obliged.

As neither of them suffered serious injuries during the fight, both were up and about after only a couple of days. Physically, both were fit as a fiddle. Yet despite their good condition, a dark cloud hung over their heads and chilled the air between them. As soon as he was mobile, Alex had made his anger at Lancer's apparent betrayal of Archer exceptionally clear. This burning indignation was a driving force behind his desire to know more about the dead allomancer. Mina had given him space for the past few days, which gave him time to cool his head, but now he was finding it oddly difficult to approach her. He sensed a gap beginning to grow between them, something he desperately wanted to avoid.

Neither of their Servants were present at the moment, and with Shirou preparing some mid-afternoon snacks in the kitchen, the pair were left to contend with Rin and the papers set before them. Gingerly, Alex reached for the top of the stack and pulled some towards him with Mina doing the same once he had taken his share. What was immediately obvious to him was the large and important-looking stamps that were present all across the folder in his hands. Based on the efficient typewriter print, he guessed they were militaristic in origin.

Upon opening the folder, he found his guess to be correct. Paperclipped to the interior was an official black and white snapshot of a young man, perhaps in his late twenties, dressed in an officer's uniform. The uniform was simple and mostly unadorned; the base color was of khaki base and the whole ensemble fit close to his body, with a black shoulder strap running diagonally from right shoulder to left hip, connected to a buckled waistband. Tucked under his right arm was a cap, a short brim with its wide top slanting upwards. Alex at last recognized the set as Rin asked a question,

"I don't suppose either of you read Russian?"

They both shook their heads, prompting Rin to murmur a few words under her breath. He felt some kind of effect overtake him as he stared down at the page, the odd symbols that he now acknowledged as Russian script squirmed on the page like worms until they formed into English letters. He murmured a "thank you" and then spoke aloud to Mina,

"It all makes sense now. That's why I thought I recognized those weapons, because I had seen them before in movies and shows. They were all Soviet-era equipment."

At long last, the mist fell away. Information began to pour into the open as they read through the messy stack of documents. As they kept no order to the forms which they took, it took both of them to piece them all together.

Mina breathed heavily, "This guy was old. I have some birth info here: he was born in 1919 outside of Novgorod, grew up in the post-revolution Soviet Union, he joined the party at age sixteen, not like there was any other choice, seems he joined the Red Army at eighteen."

Alex listened as he read through his own papers, "I have some of his military career here. Seems he was going through basic up through 1939, right when Poland got invaded. Doesn't look like the unit he was assigned to was deployed during the Soviet portion of the invasion."

"What branch did he get put into?"

Alex searched briefly, "It's hard to say. The Soviets kinda destroyed everything that was reminiscent of the Old Regime, including military structure. At this time, it didn't appear that there was much other than your basic three; Army, Air Force and Navy. He was Army. While he wasn't there for the Polish front, he was there for the Winter War."

"That was the attempt by the Soviet Union to conquer and annex Finland, right?"

"That's right. Problem was, there were purges of the officer corps going on which reduced the Soviet's ability to fight. Finland fought them to a stalemate. But it seems that he conducted himself well enough to at least be recognized by the higher-ups."

Alex continued to carefully flip through the pages, absorbing their contents with reverent awe, "He was everywhere during the Second World War; Rostov, Kharkov twice, Crimea, Budapest and Vienna. Damn…"

There was nothing else he could say as he pored over military documents that told this man's life story. He had read the history books, so he was aware that the Eastern Front was a brutal and torrid affair for the Soviets. Millions died on both sides of the line, hundreds of years of history destroyed by rampaging armies and more atrocities than the human mind should ever have to comprehend. And this man saw it all.

"Alex…"

Mina's quiet whisper didn't quite reach him, he was too engrossed in a bulky envelope that were marked with the phrase, "medals and citations." He carefully unclipped the opening and removed the contents, seven medals in near pristine conditions. Alex began to read them,

"Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky First Class, Order of the Patriotic War First Class, Nakhimov Medal, Medal For Courage, Medal for Defense of the Caucuses, Medal for the Capture of Budapest and the Medal for the Capture of Vienna."

Each medal felt heavy in his hands as he gently arranged them on the table. Those decorated pieces of metal and cloth pulled on him with gravity far stronger than anything he had read so far. A part of him knew that in order to earn each and every one of these, the wearer had to undergo tremendous suffering. Alex suddenly felt ill and looked away from them, trying to ignore the unseen oceans of blood that were contained within these benign symbols of appreciation.

A new thought occurred to him, "Why are these in such good condition? And why was Rin able to get these so quickly?"

"Alex. You need to see this."

He returned to the present, "Ah, sorry about that. Lost in thought. What have you found?"

She gently slid an official-looking document towards him and he was surprised and concerned at the far-away look in her eyes. While he paused for the translation spell to kick in, Mina spoke softly,

"It's a marriage license. He married a girl named Ksenia, in 1937."

He began to skim the document, "So it would seem. Looks like she was from Moscow."

"Look at where they labeled as their joint address."

Alex found the line in question and felt a cold chill as he read the city's name,

"Leningrad."

His shoulders sagged under the weight of the that name. Neither spoke for several minutes as they sank into their shared knowledge. Leningrad, a place synonymous with suffering due to the 900-day siege of the Soviet city by German and Finnish forces. It was easy for those who looked back through the lens of time to acknowledge the horrendous conditions that befell the ordinary people within the trapped city. Yet now the pair began to grapple with the truth behind the word. With that single word, they were cast backwards to a place they could never truly know. They began to envision a dream, a dream of potential, a dream of happiness that was doomed from the very start. A dream that was destined to die before it ever began.

"Do…do we have anything on her?" Alex spoke in the quiet tone that one often uses in the presence of the deceased. Mina wordlessly placed a small number of papers between them, the topmost of which was a wallet-sized black and white photograph. Carefully bringing the photograph up to his eyes, Alex recognized the same man in the same uniform, though now he was joined by a second figure.

It was a woman, roughly a head shorter than the man and dressed in a long, white gown. Golden locks tumbled down her shoulders and curled upwards in elegant swirls, a short veil delicately placed atop her head. One arm grasped a colorless bouquet, while the other was firmly placed around the man's waist. A bright, gleaming smile was fixed in place beneath a pair of laughing eyes. The stately man at her side was smiling, in a satisfied and content manner.

A wave of revulsion overcame him and he hurriedly placed the photograph away, unable to bear them any longer. Placing his head in his hands, a few calming breaths restored his stomach to normal. Now a certain weariness took hold, though it was not particularly derived from a lack of rest.

Feeling that something needed to be said to stop the silence, Alex forced himself to look at the dates again,

"He was sent to the south in early 1941, a few months before the Germans invaded. He stayed in that theater for the remainder of the war."

"They were separated. There was no way for them to communicate either. Each had to live in constant fear, not just a fear of death, but also for not knowing what had become of the other. I can't imagine how painful that must have been…for both of them."

He didn't want to imagine, how could he, anyways? Of course, he had known the pain of separation from loved ones, but how could one compare to being lost amongst a burning world with the person he was bonded to trapped in a literal hellscape and being able to do absolutely nothing about it? A comparison could not be made, it would not be fair to even try.

"Hey," Alex allowed a small mote of hope to slip, "did she end up…"

"No," came the iron reply, "she didn't."

His heart sagged, "Ah. I see."

On impulse, both of them began to leaf through the papers at an accelerated rate while Rin looked on, her face placid and unmoved. Alex wanted these records to vanish, to be done with them forever. He began to hate them for showing him this ugly truth, for making him feel this sickness in his chest.

As he continued to examine the documents, one thing became increasingly clear,

"After the war, he really got involved with the darker side of the Soviet Union. Seems he was recommended to the NKVD, the secret police, right after the end of hostilities. When it was renamed the MGB, he threw himself into the discipline. But sometime in the 1950's, he signs onto some kind of project. What's this… Project Genesis?"

After some shuffling of paper, Mina offered a tentative answer, "It's hard to tell. All I have here are lots of confidential reports on his progress, but much of it has been removed. Seems that he underwent some extensive surgery at one point."

"I could fill you in, if you'd like." Rin spoke up for the first time, though Alex felt little comfort at being reminded of her presence. The sheer amount of information she had been able to acquire in such a short amount of time genuinely terrified him. That, coupled with the unnatural air of calm that surrounded her, unnerved him all the more. Despite all his misgivings, little could stop his head from indicating his desire to know more.

The Observer shifted in her seat and folded her hands atop the table, "As you wish. Know that what I will reveal to you is not the whole story, because I do not know it. As you are both aware, the Cold War period was one of great tension in the world as the two superpowers vied for supremacy in the hopes of creating a hegemony in their name."

Alex sensed Mina's disposition shift slightly at the mention of the Cold War, as if she was now more attentive than she was prior. If Rin noticed as well, she did not show it,

"What is not known to many, even mages, is the clandestine war that occurred between mage factions during the same period. Both the Americans and Soviets fielded covert groups of mages to further their own political agendas. This resulted in two things: first, the rapid militarization of magecraft for the modern world, and second, the loosening of magecraft experimentation regulations."

She paused momentarily to consider her next words, "Be aware that I don't refer to patriotic zealots or power-crazed theorists when I mean that this was a period of particularly distasteful experimentation in the magecraft world. Whole nations devoted their mages to the cause, whatever that might be. Mages are used to flaunting ethics in the pursuit of a higher goal, but there was a certain…feverishness that plagued these mages."

A bitter sensation formed at the base of his throat, "Rin, are you implying what I think you're implying?"

"Oh? And what is it that I am implying?"

He swallowed hard, "That he was a victim of experimentation."

"I don't believe the word 'victim' ever crossed my mouth," she responded in a rather matter-of-fact tone, "You can't be a victim if you knew what you were signing up for."

With no immediate rebuttal to offer, Alex could only stew in his frustration. There was no way that he could agree with Rin's take on all of this. Surely, it was more complicated than that?

"How do we know that he signed up on his own accord? How do we know that he wasn't pressured or indoctrinated somehow?"

Rin's demeanor iced over, "Does it matter?"

The words struck him like a thunderbolt, "O-of course it matters!" He didn't bother hiding the fact that his hands were trembling as he clenched them into fists. "There has to be reason behind these things, of course circumstance matters! Why doesn't she see that?"

"Why?"

It was a logical question. So logical that it could only come from one absolutely devoid of emotion, so logical that it infuriated him even further. But Rin had not yet finished her statement,

"He's dead. It no longer matters."

Lead chains latched onto his heart, dragging him down back into cold reality. Of course, he knew that, he remembered that fact with gruesome clarity. Was it wrong to try and learn more about the man who died at his hand? Is it weakness to understand his motivations or reasoning? If so, why was he doing this? He felt sick.

He was so wrapped up in his own misgivings that he did not notice a cup of tea being placed on table in front of him. Rin sighed quietly and her tone softened ever so slightly,

"There isn't much point in trying to dive into someone's past like that, especially when dealing with mages. Could he have fallen to some form of indoctrination? Possibly. But what good will that do you in the here and now? It is easy to drown in possibilities and what-if's, but I promise you that doing so will only lead to more questions than answers. Perhaps he genuinely believed in the cause, or maybe –"

"Because he had nothing left…" Mina's quiet interjection silenced the table, reminding them all that she was still present and paying attention. Try as he might, he could not disagree with her assessment. The man had not only lived through the bloodiest war in human history, no doubt experiencing horrific tragedy along the way, but that war had also cost him his chance at a family. The human psyche could only take so much pain before it cracks, and if this project promised to free him of such burdens, then perhaps he would've signed up without a second thought.

With the mood at the table darkening by the moment, Rin took control of the conversation,

"But to finish, the project labeled 'Genesis' was a Soviet effort to enhance a mage's capabilities far beyond what is typically possible for the average practitioner. Instead of trying to enhance just one's magic circuits, this project also aimed on improving the human body to such an extent to where it could handle extreme stress. In order to do this, the project decided to replace flesh with a tougher material. In short, the Master you two fought was the culmination of the project's efforts: a mechanical mage. Neither man nor mage, he was stuck somehwere in between. He went on to be a top operative in anti-Western mage operations, a mage killer. Then he just dropped off the grid when the Soviet Union dissolved, until now."

What were they supposed to say in response to that? Should they be shocked? Appalled? Impressed? The ceiling itself seemed to press down upon their shoulders. They had learned too much.

Mina abruptly pushed herself away from the table and stood, the sound of her chair scraping across the floor grated on Alex's ears. Excusing herself under the desire for some fresh air, she exited the room with intent. Her sudden departure left Alex feeling isolated among a sea of doubt. Unsure of what to do, he looked across to Rin and Shirou, who had taken a seat next to her without Alex recognizing it. While Rin remained difficult to read, Shirou looked on him with a somber understanding that hinted at familiarity. A gentle smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he gave a slow nod of approval. Alex quickly nodded his gratitude and removed himself from the room, following after Mina.

He found her outside on the front step, knees drawn up to her chest as she stared out into the open expanse that lay beyond the bounds of the house. Quietly mimicking her posture, Alex set his eyes forward, resisting the urge to speak. Afternoon was well and truly upon them, though neither deigned to remember when their ordeal had begun. Gentle rays of sunlight warmed their skin while a soft, earnest breeze rolled through the tall grass. Under any other circumstance, Alex would have declared the day idyllic, and perhaps even perfect. But no matter how hard the sun shone or how softly the wind sang, Alex could not shake the chill within his chest. They remained like this for a time, each acting as a mirror into which the other could see themselves reflected. Some say that silence is golden, but in moments such as this, Alex was not one to remain taciturn for long,

"How're you holding up?"

It was a foolish question in all actuality, seeing as the answer was as clear as the crystal sky. Still, the act of asking was as necessary as hearing a response. If nothing else, it would serve as a tether to the here and now. Her shoulders rose and fell in an empty sort of way,

"As well as I can, I guess. You?"

"I'm doing alright, all things considered."

Liar.

She definitely did not believe that the confidence in his answer was genuine, and neither did he, if he was being honest. If he wanted to tell the truth, he would've told her that he felt as though he was being torn apart, that he was developing doubts and regrets, that he could barely sleep due to the nightmares that plagued him every time he closed his eyes. This much, he decided to keep from her, knowing full well that she was plagued with misgivings of her own. And so they sat side by side, feigning positivity through their shared lies.

With their first words spoken, the fog parted and conversation began to flow with the ease that they were accustomed,

"I haven't seen Saber around much as of late, don't tell me she's up to something?"

A smile flitted across Mina's face at the thought of Saber getting into mischief, "She's doing well, just had to take some time to recover from her duel with Lancer. According to her, it was one of the roughest fights she's ever experienced."

Alex definitely believed that to be true, especially seeing what Lancer could do up close and personal. He wanted to know as much as possible about the masked Servant that had been dogging them for weeks now, for whenever he recalled her visage it brought only anger and resentment.

"Did she learn anything new? Something that could point us to her True Name?"

Mina shook her head, "Nothing we didn't already know about her. She's fast, agile and deadly with those spears of hers. It's obvious that she's an accomplished warrior, though since she rarely speaks it's hard to place her based on speech patterns or accent. Lancer is a real enigma, but maybe you could actually help in that regard."

She looked at him expectantly, causing him to think hard as to what she was getting at. It took him longer than it really should have, but eventually, he figured out what she was waiting for.

"Ah! You're referring to what I saw when she ambushed us on the sphinx!"

"Duh. Glad to see at least some of your head is still screwed on right, Sparky."

A troublesome smile broke through his demeanor, "You should know better than to expect much of anything from me."

They shared a laugh and the air between them relaxed somewhat,

"Right, so what I saw. Honestly, I almost doubted my own eyes when it happened because it was so absurd. But looking back on it, there's no doubt in my mind that Lancer is capable of some insanely powerful rune magecraft."

"What makes you say that?"

He was thoughtful for a moment, "Well, the thing about runes is that the whole point behind them is to shorten the time needed for casting spells. When I use my runes, I typically don't need to chant an incantation or draw any overly complicated symbols in order to achieve the same result."

Mina nodded sagely, "Got it. Runes are the lazy man's magecraft."

Alex bristled, "Hey! I will have you know mages have been using runes for thousands of years!"

Another slow nod filled with deep learning, "Got it. Humans have been lazy for a very long time. Should I take notes?"

He puffed out his chest, "Obviously."

"Oh, just get on with it."

"Right, sorry." He cleared his throat and collected his thoughts, "The thing is, runes still need to be drawn. It doesn't matter how; they still require substance in order to be effective. The problem is, when Lancer fended off Ozymandias' attacks, she didn't draw anything."

Concern and confusion appeared in her eyes, so Alex hurried to clarify, "What I mean by that is that she actually managed to touch those beams of light. When she did, a rune inscribed itself upon it and negated it entirely. That's what she did to his portals through which the beams emitted, too. When her spear struck them, she overwrote his hieroglyphs with her own runes and caused them to disappear."

"That's…that's just…oh damn that is impressive. And terrifying. Okay, mostly terrifying, but still."

"I couldn't agree more. Should I also mention that a rune of negation is super difficult to accurately draw? Runes are finnicky like that, one wrong move and you end up turning your arm into a cabbage, or something like that. Hey, don't laugh! This is serious stuff, you know!"

Still, he couldn't help chuckling along at the absurdity of the example, "But in all seriousness, that rune was exceedingly potent and complicated. And to use it on the pharaoh's magecraft should speak volumes as to how strong her runes are."

"So, what you're saying is that Lancer is not only capable of facing down both of our Servants at once, but that she is also a potent user of runic magic?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

She huffed in frustration, "That certainly makes things harder, not like they weren't rough enough already."

Alex was in no position to disagree, "At the very least, there is one thing we learned from that?"

"And that is?"

"We can at least narrow down what region of the world she originated from!"

Her eyes lit up with understanding, "That's right! Runes were really only used in Northern Europe!"

"Exactly. I couldn't tell exactly what style it was, but runic magic was prevalent in Scandinavia, the British Isles and northern Germany. It's still a lot of ground, but at least now we have somewhere to start looking."

"That is true, though the prospect of facing down a runic warrior is…a bit scary. And to top it all off, you got jumped by a bian user who professes herself as a Master. There's so much to take in…"

"Yeah, the fuck was up with her? Like, its fine and all if chains are your thing but keep that to yourself! She creeped me out. I almost wish we had the time to deal with her right then and there, but we had bigger problems."

Mina chuckled at his exasperation, "Not a fan of chains, eh Sparky? Good to know."

He glowered at her, despite the warmth in his cheeks.

She sighed quietly and slump against the banister, staring out into the tranquil sky for some answer to a distant problem that was all too close for comfort. Alex marveled at the way the sunlight caressed the outline of her face, the warm light seeming to brush away the dark lines beneath her eyes and rejuvenating her complexion. It would not have been too much of a stretch for him to say that she positively glowed in that moment.

The moment was a short-lived one as Mina became aware of him and raised an eyebrow, "What is it? Something on my face?"

He turned away much quicker than he should have, "Nope. You're good, just spaced out for a bit."

"Well, alright then."

Absent words floated from Mina after a moment of quiet, "You know Pyotr's wife? I noticed that she received a medal posthumously, for her actions during the Leningrad siege. Did you find it?"

"No, I didn't see one."

"Huh," she said nothing, then added as an afterthought, "I wonder if he kept it…"

The sunlight warmed him as they lapsed into silence, his mind wandering around this moment until he allowed himself to forget his troubles. The days spent running and hiding, the hours filled with danger and death evaporated beneath the watchful sun. Unwittingly, his eyes closed as he leaned himself against the other banister, soon to be carried away by the moment.

Was it selfish of him to want this to last forever? Most certainly, or so a part of him believed. Another part asked why, hadn't he been through plenty enough to demand a respite? A third part condemned the other two for ruining the quiet and to just enjoy the day while they could. Silence reigned.

Of course, it didn't last, only a fool would have believed such a thing. The silence was broken not by sound but by vision. Images of fire and smoke leapt high within his mind's eye, the flames twisting into grotesque images of screaming mouths and bloody limbs. Perhaps there were many, or maybe only one, he couldn't tell. The vision lasted but an instant, there and gone before he could open his eyes to shatter the dream. But for the brief time he was imprisoned, he felt the heat from the fire and the smoke choking the air from his lungs. The terror and hatred within the burned eye sockets of the victims were all too real and they lingered as afterimages behind his own sight. The sun beat down with an almost unbearable heat.

"Hey, Mina?"

"Hm?"

The distant murmur of a response told him that she was probably in the midst of dozing off, but he had one last thing that he absolutely needed to say,

"Are we doing the right thing?"

A shadow crossed her face as a lone cloud intercepted the sun's path, darkening the sky around them. Mina righted herself and opened her eyes, though they remained distant in their sight. Her head titled to stare at the covered sun, even though there was little to divine in a sky with only one star. When she did at last speak, it was naught but a faint whisper that only belonged to a lone speaker addressing the open sky. It was a sound that he should not be allowed to hear under any other circumstance,

"I don't know."

Her almond eyes then turned to address him, forgetting the sun, "I don't think I know anymore. Maybe I never did. What do you think? Is there even a right thing to do?"

How was he supposed to answer? The truth was simple, he had no idea, which is why he asked in the first place. Perhaps he was being unfair by posing the question to her, it was a terribly weighted question after all. "Though perhaps", the thought occurred to him, "I'm just asking the wrong person."

Soon after the notion crossed his mind, a great rumbling shook the earth beneath their feet. They sprang to their feet, eyes scanning their surroundings in an attempt to find the source of the tremors. Alex prepared to summon the khopesh, "Are we under attack!?"

"No idea! The Bounded Field hasn't been penetrated, as far as I can tell!"

Before he could offer another possibility, the quaking grew stronger as a wave of heat spread from within his chest and spread outwards through his extremities. A sudden burning sensation pulsed once through his system, nearly sending him into shock. It came and went in seconds, yet its sudden onset sent him staggering to his knees and left him thoroughly disoriented.

Mina immediately rushed to his side, "Alex! What is it? Are you alright?"

Several seconds passed where the only sounds he could make were tired gasps, though that too passed after a minute. Raising himself to a seated position, he gestured that he would be alright and recalled, a bit painfully, that this was not the first time he had felt something like this before.

"I'm okay, really, thanks though. My mana just got drained."

"Ah, well if that's it then – wait what!? How!?"

There wasn't much need for him to think on the question, "Ozymandias just did something big, and he used my magical energy to fuel it. It reminds me of how I felt right after he activated his Noble Phantasm during the fight with Berserker.

Mina was incredulous, "That's insane! If he's under attack, we need to get to him. I'll summon Saber immediately." She brandished her Command Seals, one of which began to glow as she called on their immense power. Alex quickly grasped her wrist to stop her from spending one of her precious Seals.

"Don't worry, Mina. He's not in any danger."

She slowly lowered her hand, though the expression on her face indicated that she did not immediately believe him,

"Why do you say that?"

He shrugged, "I can't say for sure, its just a feeling. Trust me on this."

Her brow furrowed as she scrutinized his face for telltale signs of lying, but seemingly found none. Apparently satisfied with her analysis, she backed down, "If you say so. He is your Servant after all, so I guess you would know better than I. But if he isn't in combat, then what did he do?"

Alex didn't know yet, but he certainly wanted to find out. Tapping into the invisible connection that tethered Master and Servant, he sensed that the pharaoh was fairly close and quite stationary. He pointed off towards the east, "He's that way, not too far either."

A flash of apprehension crossed her face and then faded away just as quickly, "Shall we go see what the good pharaoh is up to then?"

"Of course."

Alex led the way as they walked away from the estate, the sun having reemerged from behind its cover to once again bathe the fields with its gentle flame. The landscape around the estate transitioned quickly from plains to tall hills, some could be considered small mountains depending on the angle that one approached them from. It was at the crest of one of these hills that they laid their eyes upon the source of the recent disturbance.

At the peak of a high ridge, overlooking the valley that led one's sight towards the glittering expanse of Seoul, sat a massive temple complex that looked as though it was torn right out of a tourist's brochure of Luxor. The complex gleamed white from the limestone that it was built from and flickered with firelight, though no braziers or sconces could be seen from their current vantage. Columns lined the single pathway that led through square entryways to an open ground, beyond which lay the most impressive structure in the complex. A full-scale pyramid that easily towered over 150 feet into the air acted as the crown jewel for the entire complex. Alex could feel an intense magical signature radiating from the pyramid, which seemed to glow with a silvery light of its own, separate from the rest of the stonework that surrounded it.

Alex was rendered speechless by the majestic structures laid out before him. The sands of time had suddenly swept him millennia into the past so that he might bear witness to greatness long lost to memory. Even from a distance, he felt his knees tremble underneath the sheer immensity of the gleaming pyramid. Likewise, Mina sucked in a breath of air as she too, marveled in the sight before them. She was the first to recover her senses,

"Well. That is…impressive."

"Yeah." He murmured under his breath, "It really is."

Squinting her eyes, Mina seemed to take a more studious look at the structures. It didn't take long for her to come to an astonishing conclusion,

"Holy shit…is that what I think it is?"

"Huh? What is what now?"

"Alex, I think that's a Reality Marble."

He returned her amazement with a blank stare, as he had never heard the term before. Mina did her best to piece her thoughts together,

"I can't say I know much about them, but I have read a few things where they were mentioned. It's like a Bounded Field, in that it alters the boundary between time and space, creating a kind of barrier. Except a Reality Marble takes this to the ultimate extent, in that it completely cuts off a portion of reality from the normal flow of space-time. In short, it's an entirely new world that only obeys its creator. An ultimate manifestation of an individual's will, one so strong that even the world must bow to it."

Alex heard what she said, but he only barely understood. Of course, there was no possibility for him to understand as he knew not the question nor the answer. Greatness stood before him, yet there he stood rooted in place, insignificant.

Mina continued to marvel, "Only the strongest mages of antiquity could ever hope to approach this kind of magic, I never once dreamed I could lay my eyes on something so spectacular. But this must have taken an extraordinary amount of magical energy to activate, it can't be easy on you if this is being maintained as well as it is."

There it was, the one point he hoped that she would forget about. A Servant can only utilize abilities so long as their Master provided enough magical energy to them, which was quite apparent to Alex by now. The only thing that nagged at him was the fact that the connection between him and Ozymandias was no more taxed than usual. If anything, it felt slightly weaker, as if the connection was an afterthought for the pharaoh. Discounting the initial loss of mana at the supposed onset of the creation of the temple, none of his own energy was being taken to maintain the structures.

Should he have taken this from a purely practical standpoint, this should be a blessing. Not having his capacity for magecraft being drained by such a terrific amount and ensuring that an obviously powerful boon for his Servant functioned was most certainly a good thing. Yet he could not possibly see things from that viewpoint. The moment his thoughts turned to this fact, the words of Archer echoed in his mind and drowned out any rationality,

"I need him as much as you need that boy right there."

He could only remain stationary for so long with such thoughts reverberating in his head, and so he took a hesitant step forward.

"Wait. Where are you going?"

He squared his shoulders, "I need to see him."

She seemed hesitant to just let him walk away, "Are you sure that's a good idea? We have no idea what's in there, or even if he'd welcome us."

"Maybe not, but he'd allow me."

He winced internally at the stone in his words, but he was in no place to take them back now. Somewhere deep in his gut, he knew that this first step was one that he needed to take alone.

If she was wounded by his words, she did not show it, "As if I'd just let you walk into a Noble Phantasm like that all alone, even if it is from your Servant! Too much could go wrong."

There was no need to turn around or hesitate any longer, "Be back soon."

A cold wind blew against his back as he began to make his way up the path that led into the temple. He successfully resisted the urge to turn around.

The golden rays of the setting sun slipped past the crests of the hills around him, only to be refracted into glittering shards by the structures that loomed before him. Ascending the pathway was not an arduous task by any means, for it was neither steep nor treacherous. Yet by the time he reached the first gate, he found himself to be nearly out of breath. Surely, it was due to the awe-inspiring features that lay sprawled out before him. How could he not stand, mouth agape, at this ancient wonder now reborn in the midst of modernity? He paused briefly at this first gateway, an open path with no obstacles lay before him which would invariably lead him deeper into the complex. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his resolve and passed through the gateway.

The outside world faded away in the face of this resurrected wonder of antiquity. Walking through a wide courtyard, he passed dozens of sandstone pillars that were each intricately carved with scenes of battle and victory for the pharaohs of Egypt. In each, the triumphant pharaoh rode in his chariot, crushing the bodies of the fallen underneath him. The grotesque depiction of the dead seared into his mind as he turned away and kept moving. He kept his eyes forward from then on, focusing solely on the silver light emanating from the pyramid.

Many ancillary buildings sprouted off from the main courtyard, tempting him with possibility. He forged onwards despite them. At last, he stood before the mighty structure that called to him, its singular entrance open between two massive statues that clearly depicted the resident pharaoh. Alex didn't hesitate this time.

Stepping over the threshold, he found himself within the pyramid proper. He knew only a little about how the ancient pyramids were constructed, so he had no idea what to expect on the inside. He had heard that they were constructed like labyrinths, built to resist raiders and thieves that would steal the great treasure within. Yet the reality of this structure completely subverted his expectations. There was nothing confusing at all about the interior, there was only a singular hallway that drew him forward.

The air within was cool and dry, but not in the least but refreshing. His footsteps echoed through the silence, bouncing quietly off of the high ceiling and into the darkness. He had barely made it ten feet before twin braziers roared to life on either side of him, causing him to jump backwards in surprise. The flames cast dancing shadows underneath two large statues, both of which Alex recognized. One was the jackal-headed god, Anubis and the other bore the head of an ibis, representing Thoth. He breathed a sigh of relief and chided himself for being so jumpy, though on the other hand, the statues were awfully lifelike.

As he righted himself, more braziers flared to life along the pathway and brought illumination to the dark. It was then that Alex realized that there was a multitude of these carved statues, each set into a decorated alcove at regular intervals. Alex assumed that each represented a deity of the ancient Egyptian pantheon, though he only recognized a few others beyond the first two. He cautiously stepped past each one, keeping a wary eye on their stone features as he did so. The corridor seemed to stretch on far longer than it should have, each step seemed to only increase the distance between him and the impressively large, ornate golden doors at the far end.

At some point or another, his stamina began to flag and fail, forcing him to a brief halt. He doubled over, hands on his knees as he fought to regain his composure. The amount of pressure being exerted from the statues seemed only to increase the farther he stepped, to the point of being overwhelming. Ordinarily, he would think nothing of them, that it was his own mind that was getting in his way. But he knew enough to know that this place was anything but ordinary. Every footstep a trespass, every movement barely tolerated by these silent guardians. Instinct screamed to him that this place was rife with danger, that this was not a world in which he belonged. But for better or worse, Alex had a goal in mind and he was not about to be dissuaded by an exceedingly long hallway.

He stood upright and squared his shoulders, setting his goal foremost in his mind. As he took his next step, a warm breeze sighed through the corridor and before he could blink, Alex stood directly before the golden doors. The sudden transition nearly took the wind out of his sails, though he quickly took the change as a form of acceptance. As he raised a hand to the golden doors, a wave of oppressing dread swept through him. Images of crushed bodies and piles of burning corpses filled his mind, giving him a moment of pause.

There was no doubt about it, beyond these doors, the pharaoh named Ozymandias was waiting. Alex knew that the man in question was equally merciful and cruel, wholly beyond his understanding. He knew that now, and he had doubts. Doubts that clouded his sight and slowed his thoughts, doubts about the future and what the future held. One wrong word, one misstep in those chambers could spell his demise. It would be easier to turn around, pretend that this excursion had sated his curiosity and forget this fool errand.

As if he would do something so terribly rational.

At his touch the gilded doors parted and swung inwards, clearing the path forwards. He threw up his hands to protect his eyes from the brilliant light that poured forth from the interior as a warm gust of air ruffled his clothes. The wind carried with it the scent of cypress and burnt incense that lingered in the air as Alex's eyes adjusted to the new lighting. From somewhere beyond his sight, a singular command boomed,

"Enter!"

He grimaced slightly, of course he was expected, that much did not surprise him. Any thoughts he had about turning back vanished in an instant, he had but one option now. Taking a reassuring breath, he stepped through the doorway and entered the heart of the pyramid.