A wet splotch echoed through the room. Liquid leaked through the cracks of the ceramic tiles.

Up and down. Back and forth. My trusty tool scraped against the cold surface, leaving no spot untouched.

This was not a thing I took pleasure in doing but it was a necessary one. Displeased as I was, I always believed that no job was ignoble. Thus, I put in as much effort as I could into it. I gave my best.

But…

As I wrung the mop over the bucket, I sighed. "This sucks."

I was displeased with the sudden turn of events, yet I could do nothing about it. But all things considered, this was probably for the best. I didn't trust myself to do well as a Master, and I could shamelessly admit I was somewhat of a wimp.

Lifting my trusty tools and placing them on their respective places on my cleaning cart, I stepped out of the now spotless bathroom. The moment I did so, I saw a man I would have rather not met.

Sadly, I caught his eye as well, and he stopped on his tracks and turned to face me. "Ahh, good afternoon," he greeted me genially, leaning into a small bow while tipping his hat.

"Good afternoon," I replied while avoiding his gaze, giving a small nod in acknowledgement. Turning the cart towards the direction I was supposed to go next, I began to push, but before I could even take a full step he interjected.

"Would you happen to be Alphonse Newman?" the man in green asked cordially. "I've heard quite a lot about you."

My eyes wandered towards the floor. I did all that I could to stop myself from looking at his face.

"Ahh, the meek type, I see. Please, don't worry. You are not in any trouble," he reassured me with a big smile. "I'd simply like to have a small chat, as it were."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not on break at the moment," I replied curtly, trying to get away from the wolf in sheep's clothing. "I need to go clean up Wing B."

"Wing B, you say? That just so happens to be on the way to where I'm headed." The man put his left hand on his hip. "That's quite convenient, wouldn't you say? Come now, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

Barely managing to restrain a sigh, I breathed in. Seeing no way out of the conversation, I spoke up. "Alright. And who am I talking to? I don't believe we've met before," I asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"Oh, my apologies! Where are my manners?" the man said sheepishly.

"I'm Lev Lainur, one of the technicians employed here."


The sharply dressed gentleman tried to make some small-talk with me for a while, trying to get me to warm up to him.

Instead he made me very uncomfortable. Even ignoring what he truly was and what his intentions were, I could say for certain that I didn't like him as a person. While he acted the part of the posh, kind gentleman, he was a complete creep; leaning a bit too close to me on more than one occasion and putting his hand firmly on my shoulder.

I really didn't want to hang out with him for any longer.

"Professor, if you don't mind me asking, why did you wish to talk with me?" I let the annoyance show in my voice without regard to his possible reaction.

"Ah, yes. I suppose I've delayed this long enough," he said with a hum. "I must say, you are very patient, humoring me for this long."

Naaaaaaah, really?

For all the time I spent speaking with him, I felt like I was about to shit myself. I didn't know what exactly I'd done to garner his attention, but the deeply unsettling feeling of having to deal with him got to me more than his inescrutable motive. Eventually however, my exasperation at having to deal with the man managed to exceeded my nervousness.

Seeing my disgruntled expression, the green clad man chuckled. "To be honest, I find the research team's findings quite interesting," he began speaking without any fanfare. "Out of all the Master candidates, you have the highest aptitude for the use of Rayshift technology. It was even higher than that of the magi we personally selected. You caused quite the uproar, to be entirely honest."

"The memory is still fresh in my mind," I interjected. "My ears were ringing for hours after that."

"I must admit that I never expected Romani to take care of the situation as well as he did," Lev added thoughtfully. "I myself would have issued a gag order just as he did. Magi can be a little haughty, you see. Not all of them are as understanding as I am and more than a few would have been appalled at 'some commoner' being better than them."

That was putting it lightly, but I made no note of that. I at least wasn't strapped on a table and bisected at the moment, and that's all I cared about.

"It might be...quite rude of me to ask something like this," he noted while scratching his chin, "but were you experimented on at any point in time?"

"Laying it on a bit thick..." I muttered before sighing and speaking loudly. "I see what you're getting at, Professor Lainur. But as far as I know, I didn't come into contact with mages until I joined Chaldea."

"Magi. Singular: Magus," the man corrected, seemingly on reflex. "It was a question that needed to be asked, you see. From what I've heard, you grasped all the concepts we explained during basic training surprisingly well."

"I like that kind of stuff. Stories about magic are a something I enjoy checking out once in a while." The half-truth leaves my lips like butter sliding on a pan. "It's a lot of new concepts and things, but I can understand it with ease."

Lev nodded at my words. "I see. I'm certain you would have made a good Master."

What little joy I found in my deception instantly evaporated.

"Ah, do forgive me," he apologized when he noticed my grimace. "You did not take kindly to being reassigned, I forgot about that."

"No, it's fine," I quickly replied to his half-assed attempt at saying sorry. "I have a job and I will be paid. That's enough for me."

"There is no need to lie, lad," he offered. "I know how frustrating such things can be; I often found myself in similar circumstances in my youth. Please, if you need to vent, I am willing to hear your grievances."

Listening to him, it was hard to believe that he was possessed by a literal Demon of the Ars Goetia. Creepy habits aside, I could see how Olga could have seen him as a confidante.

Letting out a loud sigh, I decided to go along with his act. I really couldn't say anything that would bite me in the ass and there was only so much I could repress.

"It pisses me off a lot," I said bluntly. "This whole Servant thing isn't just interesting. It's fascinating."

"In what way?" Lev prodded at me, trying to get me to spill everything.

"Everyway. The explanation of the FATE summoning system is full of magibabble which went over my head, but it's some impressive stuff. That aside, the existence of 'Heroic Spirits' as a whole, and the fact that they can even be summoned is just—"

I cut myself off before I could run out of air. Taking a moment to myself, I collected my thoughts.

"Caesar. Francis Drake. King Arthur. Richard the Lionheart. Cu Chulainn. Moctezuma. Arash Kamangir...all those figures of myth and history could be summoned," I summarized everything as best as I could. "I could meet with them. Try to understand them on a deeper level than some history book would ever let me. Maybe befriend them, if things went well."

"The very idea boggles the mind," he continued for me.

"I didn't ask for a job because I wanted that." I grasped my head with my left hand. "But the second I had all the basic information about this whole thing, I jumped at the chance. It isn't exactly something that anyone can do." I slumped over my cleaning cart. "I've already resigned myself. I was angry about it but now I'm just disappointed...no, I guess depressed is a more accurate expression."

"It was the opportunity of the century...and it was ripped for completely arbitrary reasons." I slapped the side of the cart weakly. "Got kicked out of my quarters, had this thing handed to me, and was told to get to work. I didn't take it kindly, as you can imagine."

"I see..." The man looked at me with a thoughtful expression. "Don't fret, young man. Heroic Spirits come in all shapes and sizes; I'm all but certain that at least one of the summoned Servants will be the jovial sort who would spend time away with anyone they meet. You might still have a chance at it."

Letting out a sigh, I straightened up. "Maybe, but knowing my rotten luck I'd rather not get my hopes up," I said weakly.

Lev stopped walking suddenly. Looking at his face, I saw he was gazing intently at something down the corridor.

Turning to face the same direction, I saw her for the first time.

Pink hair. Glasses. A white zip up hoodie with gray sleeves. A red tie.

Mash Kyrielight in the flesh.

For a moment, I could do nothing but stare at her in awe. I didn't know what to say or if I even should have. Either way, the long silence was broken by the green clad man.

"It seems I have something to do," he said with a sigh. "Well then, it was nice talking to you, Newman. Please resume your duties."

I kept standing around, unsure of how to proceed, what to say, what to do. I decided to follow Lev's order and get moving.

Which meant getting closer to her.

I bit my lip for a second and walked forward, each step making my body tense up more and more.

How do you react when you meet someone who you know far better than most people they know, despite never meeting them before? When you meet someone earnest and kind who you could see yourself befriending, despite having no prior interactions?

I tried to filter out those thoughts. I wanted to sing something which I knew the lyrics to, but I knew I couldn't be so overt, not at the moment, so the idea was doomed to failure.

As I kept going down the corridor and Lev called out to Mash, I saw another person with her.

A girl wearing the Mystic Code assigned to all Masters. For women, at least, the ensemble consisted of long white boots, black tights, a miniskirt and a white coat with a belt and two straps, one above and one below her bust.

The most striking thing about her was her bright orange hair, held in a single pigtail on the left side of her head. Upon spotting her, my mind completely blanked out. I was barely able to keep a straight face as I continued on my way while the Magus chatted with the two girls.

When I was completely sure I was out of sight, having turned a couple corners, I started to run, not paying any mind to the water spilling from my bucket. My breathing turned heavy and I felt my heart beat so fast I thought it was going to burst from my chest and start trying to outrun me.

Once I was far enough, I locked myself into one of the janitorial closets. My teeth clattered as I hugged my knees, desperately trying to calm down but not managing it.


My state of mind at that moment was something that could be easily described as "a panic attack". The individual thoughts that I went through were too many, too varied and too disarrayed to properly act in any way.

I'll spare you the details and just go over the conclusions I came to after I managed to get my bearings. First of all, that Ihad to get my bearings quicklyin the first place. If I wasn't wrong, then I had about an hour until the orientation was over and the Rayshifting experiment began.

Or maybe it was an hour until it was over, giving me less time before the bombs went off. I wasn't too sure about my timeframe, but I had no time to waste.

Second was that I needed to get to a safe spot. As far as I knew, there were two bombs. One near the main generator and another in the command room. The safest place was Roman's favorite slacking spot, i.e. my old room, now most likely the orange haired girl's room. I knew the way, and by God I hoped I could reach it in time. I didn't know how far the damage extended, but I knew that I spent enough time shivering in fear. I couldn't stay like that.

I breathed out, trembling slightly. Wing B was definitely out of the way enough that I would probably survive if I headed there, but I really didn't want to leave it at probably, and started heading towards my old room. Each step I took was painfully tense; by the time I reached the spot where I started running, I was so strung up I was actually feeling sick.

Of course, my luck being what it was, that was the exact moment when I saw the Director of Chaldea herself.

"Hey you!" she called out rudely. "Where is Romani?"

I blanched when she spoke to me. I wasn't good at dealing with temperamental people when I was in a bad headspace. In any other circumstance, I would have dealt with her without any problem, but with the way things were, I wasn't able to reply quickly and let out a small squeak before composing myself.

"Huh!? Ah? D-Doctor Archaman?" I stumbled with my own words. "I haven't seen him."

Olga clicked her tongue and kept moving, giving me a wide berth. I had hoped that she would keep ignoring me, but she stopped and looked at me once more. When she focused on my face I turned away.

"I remember you. You were the one chatting with him a few days ago," she said with a small scowl.

"Yes," I admitted while remembering the specific moment she mentioned. I was cleaning the hallways next to the sickbay when I found the Doctor himself. Olga cut our conversation short when she found us out. "Last Thursday, actually."

"Well, do you know where he's gone off to?" she said, less as a question and more as a demand for an answer. "I just know you two have been slacking off together lately, so don't try to cover for him!"

I wasn't exactly able to question how she had found that out, but I honestly didn't doubt the Doc accidentally let that fact slip at one point.

"Give me a moment..." I looked down and rubbed my forehead with a hand, covering my face. "I think he mentioned a place...his hideaway…"

He was in my old room wasn't he? That was what I thought about saying, but I had no guarantee he was actually there. I arrived a while ago, so he changed slacking spots, but I did get kicked out of it and he had found out. I wasn't sure if he was there.

At that moment, I considered myself lucky for my bad habits when it came to social interaction. If it wasn't for my hand, she might have seen the shock on my face when I realized something.

Doctor Roman may or may not have been in a safe area.

"Wait, he wasn't helping with the Rayshifting experiment!?" I blurted out without thinking.

"He was just making people slack off, so I kicked him out. But Lev insisted on recalling him to check a couple things and he's not answering" She bristled at my question and crossed her arms in irritation. "Now quit dodging the question!"

"He's most likely in Master Room 48. If he isn't there, then the infirmary," I answered quickly. "I can check the latter, just in case he's not in the former."

"Hmph, alright. Make yourself useful like that and tell him to head for the command center!" she demanded while her expression softened up the slightest bit. Turning around, she began walking away. "Do not make small talk with him, understood?"

"Yes, understood!" I called back. "I won't."

When she was out of my eyesight, I turned away and bolted. There was no time to waste, not even a second.

I bit my lip in anxiety. The Doctor might not be safe and that was something I couldn't afford under any circumstance. If he died in the incident, then Goetia would win instantly.

Without Romani Archaman, Beast I was completely impossible to defeat.

My steps were all heavy and messy, hurting my feet because of how hard I was forcing them onto the ground. My breathing turned ragged and my left side hurt because I was breathing from my mouth as I went to my destination. I had to make sure he was alive. I had to make sure he stayed that way. I had to make sure everything went as it should have.

Upon arrival, the automatic door slid open. Letting me take a good look at the inside of the room. Beds, cabinets with medical supplies, IV stands, machines of all kinds, curtains…

But no people.

I shivered at sight of the immaculate infirmary of Chaldea. There was no time. None whatsoever. I grasped at my head in frustration. For as easygoing as Roman was, he always kept to himself and didn't actually share any info on where to find him.

I leaned against a wall to catch my breath. My body screamed for me to stop exerting myself, to lay down and rest, to just take a break and then head back to my old room. But I knew better than to listen to it. What was a strained muscle compared to death?

Taking a step out of the room, I began trotting.

And was interrupted by a horrifying sound which made my eardrums tremble.


I coughed loudly and I wasted no time in unbuttoning my uniform and slipping my right hand out of it so that I could cover my mouth and nose with the sleeve. I just laid down on the floor, taking off my glasses and shutting my eyes as hard as I could; it stung, but I couldn't do anything other than wait.

After a while, when I thought the dust had cleared a bit I got on my knees and opened my eyes, wiping them because of the lingering pain and putting my glasses on again. I took in my surroundings as quickly as I could and let out a gasp at what I saw.

Further down the corridor, the path was blocked by rubble. A ways back, the doorframe of the infirmary was crushed to pieces by more debris. Looking between the two locations, the one I was heading towards and the one I came from, I felt an emotion start spreading from my chest to the rest of my body.

So I laughed.

I laughed at the situation before me. It wasn't because I was amused, not even one bit. No, I washysterical. My laughter was shaky and shrill, almost like an electronic toy while on its death throes.

If I had left any earlier I would have been crushed to death. If I had dallied any longer I would have been crushed to death. It was only by sheer dumb luck that I had avoided being turned into paste.

I put my palms on the floor as I continued to guffaw uncontrollably, but eventually I breathed in some dust and started coughing instead.

The stress of the situation was too much for me. I was just some rando who had a decent life without high danger situations thrust into his face, so should that have been a surprise?

I couldn't quite reach a state of mind which could be considered anywhere near "calm", but I managed to get close enough to it to actually start trying to act.

The path towards my old room was blocked and so was the way to the command center, although the rubble on the latter was slightly...no, substantially less dense. The roof caved in for sure, but most of it was on the infirmary; there were some spots where I could see the other side of the hallway, and a lot of them were generously large too. As a matter of fact, right next to the wall was a large slab leaning against it and the floor and making a large triangular hole.

I wasn't sure of what to do though. I didn't want to push my luck and leave through there, but at the same time I wasn't sure if the roof above me would cave in. I wasn't sure what counted as standard procedure in my situation.

I thought about it and decided to stay right where I was until someone reached me. The second I made that choice, I heard a groaning sound above me, as if concrete was slowly cracking.

My previous thoughts were immediately shelved and I crawled under the rubble as fast as I could. Once on the other side, I heard a loud crash and saw a cloud of dust come out from where I came from. At this, I decided to run away as fast as my feet could carry me, deeper into the building and approaching the command room.

If I remembered correctly, it should be a straight shot there, provided there was no debris, so if I could make it there quickly, I would be able to get to safety.

Eventually, I reached a dead end. There was a corridor which circled around the command room, but both of the routes I could take to the exit were blocked off. I desperately looked around for any openings like the one from before, managing to spot an orange light through some of the cracks on one of the piles of rubble.

Taking a closer look, I noticed that the wall into the command room had actually been breached. I decided to take a gamble and try to move the rocks out of the way and dig my way inside the room. I had enough time, I believed as much.

My hands ached as I desperately moved the debris out of my way. I had to take a break midway through, but I made it in the end, making a big enough hole for me to crawl into.

Peeking into the inside of the room, I saw that the cavity was actually located a fair bit above ground level. Not enough to hurt myself badly if I fell, but I wouldn't be going back through that spot. It was fair enough for me, since I only wanted to get inside so I could leave through the main door.

I hesitated for a bit, but I eventually jumped down. I felt my whole body vibrate painfully when I hit the floor. Before I could have a moment of respite I heard the thing I least wanted to hear.

"Generator operation stopped. Power level critical An automated announcement rang out with a dull, monotone voice. "Switch to the backup generator. Error. Please make switch manually."

"No!" I screamed as I stumbled on my feet. If I ended up locked in here then I'd have to go to the Singularity, which was a risk I just couldn't afford taking.

The muscles on the back of my knees hurt, I attempted to run but only managed a trot. The exhaustion from before and the fall were bad enough to make a run impossible. I shut out everything around me as I made my way to the exit.

But by the time I was halfway there, it had closed down.

I got on all fours and laughed once again, this time much weaker than I had before.

"Warning all observation staff. Chaldeas' state has changed."

I ignored the announcement and got to my feet, looking around listlessly. It had taken me a while to register how hot the whole place was, which didn't come as a surprise, all things considered.

Above me, I could see a model of Earth. It glowed bright orange and red, as if it was the sun itself. That must have been Chaldeas, without a doubt. I had seen it before, when it was bright blue. The change it went through was incredibly discomforting.

Looking down, I spotted a person off in the distance, trapped underneath some rubble. I approached them slowly, taking deep breaths as I resigned myself to what was about to happen.

Once closer, I could distinguish the person as Mash herself. A pool of blood began to form underneath her.

"Ah...you're..." Mash seemed surprised at my presence here. She tried to say something else but I stopped her.

"Save your strength," I said weakly, pushing the rocks aside. It wasn't so much that I couldn't move it before the rayshift started. The pink haired girl kept quiet as I freed her, grunting in pain a couple times. She was losing a lot of blood.

Motes of light surrounded us both. It was starting.

"Could you…" Mash spoke hesitantly, looking aside with a sad expression before staring into my eyes. "Would you mind...holding my hand?"

I granted her request without thinking twice, even going so far as to hold her up with my other arm and wrap her in a hug.

In the end, the girl and I were the only things left in my perception. Everything else in the room vanished; the fire, the rubble, the voice of the system announcement, Chaldeas and all of the world.

Everything but her warm hand and her breaths disappeared. Nothing else was left. The existence of all else vanished entirely. The moment seemed to stretch into infinity as I felt something pull at my soul, my very being.

Time itself stretched as we approached the event horizon. A second for me was a second for the rest of reality, but this soon changed, being cut down by half into 0.5 seconds.

The world perceived 0.5 seconds, while I perceived a full second. This reduced time was further cut down into 0.25 seconds.

The world perceived 0.25 seconds, while I perceived a full second. This reduced time was further cut down into 0.125 seconds.

The world perceived 0.125 seconds, while I perceived a full second. This reduced time was further cut down into 0.0625 seconds.

0.0625 seconds turned to 0.03125.

0.03125 seconds turned to 0.015625.

0.015625 seconds turned to 0.0078125.

0.0078125 to 0.00390625.

0.00390625 to 0.001953125.

0.001953125 to 0.0009765625.

0.00048828125.

0.00024414062.

0.00012207031

0.00006103515

On and on and on.

Ad infinitum.


I awoke to the smell of fresh dirt.

With a heave, I got on my knees. Looking ahead of me, I could see trees, stretching on for miles.

I coughed a couple times as I got to my feet. I was...in a forest of some kind. For some reason. I could only guess I had Rayshifted here...

I began to panic. The only forest that came to mind in Fuyuki was the one next to the Einzbern castle, which was just too far away from the city and dangerously close to the machine of death known as Berserker.

I looked all around me in fear, eventually looking directly behind me.

There, I saw a lake. The trees kept going around its shoes, encircling it completely. In the distance I could see smoke over the treeline, as well as an absolutely massive mountain.

"Where..."

I shook and fell on my knees for the third time that day.

"Where the hell am I...?"


Yellowstone

The Sea of Wood and Flame