Have you ever dug into a topic in an attempt to better understand it, only to find yourself then completely lost when it comes to said topic? That's where I was at this point, when it came to the Fuyuki incident. The more I dug, the more I poured over my notes and expanded my archive on the topic, the more lost the… essence, let's say, of the subject became.
"The gas leak explosion explanation is bullshit, but why would the Catholic Church be trying to cover up something that occurred in Japan to begin with …" I muttered to myself, shifting and scrolling through files of notes on my computer. "They give the explanation, but the money flows to Japan from Germany, not Italy; not the Vatican…"
I closed a few files and continued skimming. That stuff I could easily confirm to be true; tracing the trail of money to Germany wasn't hard at all. The confusing part came to light in trying to learn more about the supplier, or suppliers, of the cash.
"Einzberns… Nothing on the Einzberns in Germany… Wealthy beyond measure, clearly, but no digital footprint to speak of. No paper trail even; no record of land holdings, bank balances, nothing… So, then they're just sitting on all this money…? But then, where are they even in Germany? Completely off the grid, but how…?"
Close more files. Keep on skimming. The unending cycle of note reviewing. Fun stuff, yeah?
"Yet, in Japan of all places, they have a castle. Massive castle, middle of the forest, around Fuyuki. European in architectural style too; can't have been cheap by any means, but can't find any records of construction. Nearly completely off the grid too; only one record of a landline being put in back in 94, same year as the Fuyuki incident. Can't be a coincidence that they have a relatively permanent presence where they're funding a cover up, yet why do the Einzberns need a whole castle right outside of Fuyuki to begin with…?"
That's where I had been two weeks ago, at the end of a few good months of digging all I could manage to find online. So, I organized a little trip to Japan last week, specifically to Fuyuki. Spent the week in the area, examining the location of the incident, the amount of presence the Church had (on the surface, not much at all; just a small chapel that seemed abandoned. Yet who knew what kind of influence they still had in the area behind the scenes of government?), and, finally, the castle of the Einzberns.
It had been fairly out of the way, deep in a forest on the outskirts of the city. In ruins too; as if a great battle had occurred. Parts of the exterior were crumbled and broken; interior a dusty and scarred mess. It clearly had been abandoned for a while, but for exactly how long I couldn't say. Maybe it hadn't been in use since 94? Maybe it had just been a few years or so ago that the Einzberns had abandoned it. Either way, it was odd: who just abandons an entire castle in the middle of a forest in Japan.
Couldn't place the damage either. Looked as if bombs had blown the place to bits in areas. In others, as if a medieval style battle had occurred; things hacked and slashed to pieces, mostly inside the castle. Yet I couldn't find any news reports on anything of the sort occurring in the area from around the time of the Fuyuki incident, or after it. Visually speaking, nothing about the place had added up when I was there. Well, until…
"That's when you come in" I muttered, reaching across my desk and grabbing the folder of pages.
Until I found what had appeared to be some kind of library, or book storage room. Most of the books had been damaged beyond legibility. Some of them just didn't make any sense; written in either a language I didn't know, or some kind of cypher I'd never seen before. Considering what I did manage to find though, I was leaning towards a cypher, because some of the books had been written in German. Again, mostly illegible, but the pages that I could read I had carefully torn out and stored in this file for safekeeping (and for smuggling out of the country, back to America).
Now, my German was rusty; hadn't used it for anything in years before this little… project of mine. That said, what I did manage to translate thus far was utterly fascinating, if not unbelievable.
"…Akasha…" I carefully handled the damaged pages as I slowly read through what was still legible. "Provided my translations of the pages are correct, the 'root' of the universe itself: a place or existence outside the very concept of time, where all possibilities and events are recorded. Only reachable by ways of one of the five 'magics'. As to what these magics are, only the third is named… something called 'Heaven's Feel'… Certainly sounds religious; could the Einzberns be part of the Church then? Possible, but a religious sounding name of some theoretically existing 'magic' doesn't prove that on its own…"
…Still, best to make a note of that as a possibility. Time to open a new file on my computer…
"As to what Heaven's Feel is, we're looking at some kind of ritual, I'd guess; a means to open a 'gate' to Akasha. How to set up the ritual… unknown. How to start the ritual… also unknown. However, the completion of this Heaven's Feel requires a vessel referred to as 'the lesser grail' to be… merged? Combined? Reached? Heh; wish I was better with German… Regardless, some kind of… meeting… between this lesser grail and something referred to as 'the greater grail' needs to occur. What the lesser grail is supposed to be remains unspecified, but this greater grail is formed by absorbing the magical energy of seven 'Heroic Spirits' upon their deaths, in… I want to say it's another ritual…? Something called a 'Holy Grail War'."
Holy Grail War… As in, like, the Holy Grail? From Arthurian legend? That could be related to the Church; after all, it is called holy for a reason. But it likewise could not be. Could just be referencing Arthurian legend, or maybe the Knights Templar conspiracies? After all, it's not like the Holy Grail actually exists, or ever existed. But then, why name what appears to be a magic ritual after it? Is this greater grail the Holy Grail on its own in this ritual, or is it something else until it merges with the lesser grail? Maybe it's the lesser grail that is the Holy Grail, and it just absorbs the magical energy the greater grail accumulates? That is, of course, working off the assumption that this magic shit was all real to begin with.
"Sadly, I got next to nothing on this Holy Grail War ritual thing itself. That said, as to how one can summon one of these Heroic Spirits, that in of itself seems to be yet another kind of ritual. Even comes with a nifty diagram of a 'summoning circle' for such a thing. At least, I hope that's what this drawing is showing, because that's the assumption I'm working off of here currently… A catalyst is recommended for a more specific summoning, implying one is not explicitly required, but as to what a catalyst is… again, nothing… Who, or what, are Heroic Spirits? Unrecorded? How does one kill a Heroic Spirit? Unrecorded, but considering the bigger ritual it's a part of is called a war, presumably other heroic spirits. But then, does that mean a Holy Grail War requires seven people, or can one person summon seven Heroic Spirits and force them to fight one another? Also, how does one go about killing the seventh Heroic Spirit then?"
…See what I mean now, about losing track of the essence of the subject? I went from trying to unravel a mystery as to whether or not the Fuyuki incident was covered up or not, if the gas leak explosion explanation was true or not, to… whatever the hell this is supposed to be? Magic… real, actual magic. That's what my search led me to. That's what these pages are telling me. That real, actual magic, in some way, shape and/or form, exist out there. Somewhere. This entire time. And the vast majority of humanity didn't even know it.
It was ridiculous. Of course magic wasn't real, I wanted to say. This was all nonsense. Yet, I also couldn't deny, magic explained a lot. After all, magic was… well, magic. What couldn't it do? Could it cause a massive explosion or fire that burned a good chunk of Fuyuki city? Probably. Could it create stupid amounts of wealth? Probably. Could it enable what I assumed was an entire bloodline of people, mages to be precise, to live essentially off the grid in all forms? Probably. After all, its magic.
"Now… assuming that all this is real…" I began to muse, carefully returning the pages to the folder and closing my computer files. "Two questions would still remain. One: did this Heaven's Feel ritual, off the back of a Holy Grail War, succeed, or did it fail, in order to cause the disaster of 94 in Fuyuki? Two: what is the connection between the Einzberns and the Catholic Church?"
I checked the time on my computer. It was already just past four in the morning. Time for me to get some sleep.
"If all this is real" I let out a sleepy smile as I turned off my computer and flopped back onto my bed. "If this magic stuff really does exist out there… just imagine all the beauty there is to be witnessed…"
"Right, now where was I" I yawned, jolting awake as my phone alarm started ringing, six on the dot. "Uh… right; Holy Grail War."
After turning on my bedside lamp for light and disabling my phone alarm I flopped out of bed and back into my chair.
"So, current working theory: In order to reach Akasha via the ritual of Heaven's Feel, the ritual of this Holy Grail War thing must first be completed, in which another ritual of summoning a Heroic Spirit must also first be completed" I talked to myself out loud through more yawns as I booted up my computer and logged in. "Thus, step one is to figure out how to summon one of these Heroic Spirit things. Considering it appears to be some sort of ritual spell, I'd imagine some form of chant would be required, alongside whatever materials and the like to set up the circle as shown by the diagram. Sadly, it would seem that neither the chant nor the material requirements are listed. That said, considering all the religious ties to this shit, it might very well require a prayer, rather than a chant… Hmm… Where did I put my copy of the bible…?"
When I finally found my copy of the bible it was already 6:30 in the morning, showing me that I really should tidy my room up a bit; taking around half an hour to find one book was ridiculous. By the time I finished combing through anything I thought could be relevant as to a chant or prayer used for a Heroic Spirit summoning, it had just passed twelve in the afternoon.
"Ugh… nothing seems to properly match with the notion of summoning spirits, let alone heroic ones" I grumbled, nibbling on a Pop Tart I'd open up some time earlier. "But of course nothing would; since when has religion ever made even basic sense? So maybe it does involve religion, and maybe it doesn't. Nearly six hours later and I'm still stuffed…"
I tossed the bible backwards onto my bed as I turned my attention to my computer, waking it up from the sleep mode it had entered long ago.
"Try a different track of thinking then, and solve the issue on materials for the circle first. Nothing listed, but humans are nothing if not unoriginal. Considering the pages are written in modern German, it's contents can't be that old. Turning to either works of fiction or history, you're looking at ritualistic circles being formed from one of two things, generally speaking: chalk, or blood. Chalk would be easy to get hands on… blood not so much. Especially if it requires human blood in large quantities. Animal blood though… that would be a bit easier… Play it safe first, I think: start with chalk, move to blood if that doesn't work. Would still need to figure out a chant and/or prayer though to test it all with. Best to go with some of each; chants and religious prayers. Can most likely find some things suitable for both online. That would only leave the logistic of this experiment then: the where of creating this circle, and the how of getting an adequate amount of chalk and/or blood over to said location…"
That threw me for a loop for a good moment. I didn't really go out much, at least not around town. It wasn't like I lived in a big city or anything: only thing to really do around here in terms of a nightlife was drinking at bars, and drinking alone was the pathway to alcoholism. Well, so I'd been told… As such I simply didn't drink. Not that I thought I could set something like this up at a bar; wherever it was going to be made, it had to be in a discreet location.
"Let's see then…" I muttered, pulling up a map of the city. "Tut tut tu… No good, no good… Maybe here? …No, wouldn't be wise to set up something like this in an alleyway; would catch too much attention if someone else spotted it…"
It was in that moment when I spotting a place that would be perfect for such a thing.
"Glenwood Park… Yes, that's perfect! Relatively out of sight at night, especially if done in the wooded section of the park. Also has a baseball diamond with a storage shed/green box thing. Surely they would have chalk for the diamond in there… meaning I wouldn't have to buy any or transport any over a large distance out in the open, drawing unwanted attention…"
Well, that settles that! Tonight then, at Glenwood Park, stage one of this experiment into the world of magic would begin!
"Now I just need to find chants and prayers… Oh, should actually get my camera charged, for recording purposes. Check flashlight too; doubt phone would provide enough light to see what I'm doing. Also, cutters… just in case the green box thing has a lock. Right then: shopping for cutters first, then finding some chants and prayers, and then, finally, I can get this party started!"