I worriedly looked around as I approached the lakeside. Since it was night, I couldn't see anything that could threaten my life, magical or mundane. The features of the forest were hard to distinguish in the dark, but I was fairly sure there weren't any buildings or roads nearby, so there was absolutely nothing that I could use to orient myself.
Sitting down next to the shore, I took a deep breath and started thinking. I had absolutely no idea of where I was supposed to be. My first guess was the forest outside Einzbern Castle, but the lake before me eliminated that possibility.
Seeing the body of water, I then thought of it being close to...Ryudouijin Temple or whatever that place Medea bunkered down was called. I also discarded that option. Even ignoring the fact that the building was nowhere to be seen, the lake was just too goddamn big. I had never been to a lake, but I had the feeling that the one in Fuyuki wasn't so immense I would find myself reluctant to call it such.
Was I even in Fuyuki in the first place?
I spared a glance towards the massive mountain on the other side of the lake. As far as I knew, the city had only one mountain close to it, Mount Enzou, so the answer to my question was likely a big, fat no.
Getting to my feet and wiping the dirt off my butt, I walked around the shoreline. I grumbled aloud, spouting a couple profanities in Spanish while I did so. I was incredibly worried and stressed out, but after the adrenaline rollercoaster I had just experienced, I was more tired than anything else, so instead of scurrying around like a madman and screaming my head off, I just moved on resignedly.
An idea sprung to mind as walked. I checked the backs of my hands and lo and behold, tattooed in red on the left one was a strange emblem which resembled an eye.
Command Seals, fresh from the oven. I was a Master and while they asigned me to a completely different job, they still let me keep the red brands in the unlikely case I was needed; a silver lining in all this craziness.
The next course of action was clear to me. I raised my the hand into the air and focused; the sigil began to glow, illuminating everything around me and forcing me to shut my eyes.
"By my Command Seal, come for—!"
I stopped myself at the last second. Taking a look at the seals, I watched as the light faded from them, leaving them unchanged.
I sighed in relief. That wasn't a wise choice. I got the the basics drilled into my head during training: These seals were weaker than those from the original Grail War, but would replenish themselves over time. That was nice and all, but it would take 24 hours after use for that to happen, and I didn't think that my time in the Singularity would be so long, so it would be for the best if I saved them for when I truly needed them.
Sighing, I kept walking on. I spared a glance towards the far off mountain one last time. On the other side of the lake, close to the massive landform, columns of smoke rose at several different points. I guessed there was a fire deeper into the forest, but I couldn't exactly tell much more than that.
"What a mess..." I said tiredly.
After a while of aimless wandering, I managed to spot a warm orange light off in the distance deeper inside the forest. I approached carefully, making my way closer with the trees as cover.
Eventually, I spotted a building. It was a weird, cabin-like thing. The walls were made of piled stone while the roof was tiled and suspended over some logs. The style made it more obvious I was definitely not in Japan. The light came from a window. I couldn't quite see inside, so I got closer.
There were several glass display cases; I couldn't see their contents, but that wasn't important. What I focused on was movement; someone's shadow swaying back and forth, before completely disappearing.
I stayed in place waiting to see if whoever was inside would step out. It was probably better to assume they weren't friendly unless they were Mash. After some time, I grew bored and decided to stop crouching and start approaching.
"Hello?" a voice called out right behind me.
I yelped and fell on the ground in surprise. In response, I heard a startled cry. Still on the floor, I turned to face the one who caught me off guard.
At first, I couldn't distinguish them because of how dark everything was – but for a moment, the clouds in the sky drifted apart, making way for the light of the moon.
It was then that her figure was illuminated. It was the pink haired girl herself.
Though her posture was not firm like a knight, and I saw some hesitation in her eyes, there was something just incredibly beautiful about her that made me unable to do anything other than keep my mouth open and stare at her in awe.
We both kept still for a while. Her eyes were drawn towards my left hand, which held the command seals like a huge neon sign.
"Are you...my Master?" she asked.
My reply was firm.
"I am so lost right now."
It was a pretty awkward meeting, all things considered, but we couldn't afford to stumble around in conversation with how things were and we both knew it, though in different ways. We introduced ourselves and confirmed our status as Master and Servant. I hadn't seen Mash during basic training, but I quickly informed her that I went through it, so I understood what that meant, more or less.
However, the main problem we had wasn't in our roles, but in what we were supposed to do now. The good doc told her to look for for a leyline before the transmission got cut off, which was the reason she had come here, as it was supposedly smack dab in the center of the building.
We had to move a couple displays out of the way to make way for the summoning circle. That was all fine and dandy, but as we proceeded, we came face to face with the greatest enemy of all mankind, one perhaps even deadlier and more insidious than the Beasts themselves.
Ignorance.
I rubbed my forehead while looking at our progress with the summoning circle we drew on the floor. At the center was Mash's shield, the main component and most important element of our setup. Aside from that, and the outline circling it, there was nothing else. Mash didn't know how to do it, and while the subject was covered in the last stages of basic training, I hadn't managed to memorize the pattern. I was able to manipulate my magical energy, so I could certainly place the magical circle, but I didn't know what it was supposed to look like beyond vague impressions.
So in the end, we ended up with a piece of junk that didn't work.
"Hijo de su reputisima madre," I growled quietly as I paced around the room.
"Um...calm down Master," Mash said while rubbing her left arm in nervousness. "There's no need to use profanity."
"Wait, you understood that?" I looked at her in embarrassment. "Ah, shi...fu...ugh. Sorry."
Scratching my head, I began to look around the building. She said this place was a museum, but also a visitor center, so I definitely should be able to find something…
"Mash, be honest with me. What are our options?" I asked while still searching for what I wanted. The girl didn't answer and instead grabbed hold of her shield, following me as I approached a door deeper into the building. She tried to find a way to start talking, but couldn't find one for a while.
Eventually, she answered.
"We don't have many, Master," she said grimly. "Our attempts at using the leylines haven't been successful, but we can still try some more. Aside from that, we could do some reconnaissance or try to gather intelligence on the cause of the distortion in some other way, though that would mean leaving the site."
I grunted in affirmation as I glanced at a door with a window on it. On the other side, I could see a small kitchen, and at the corner I saw a red fridge with a Coca-Cola logo on it.
"There we go," I murmured and went inside.
"Master? What are you doing?" Mash asked in confusion.
"Grabbing something to drink," I replied flatly while opening the fridge. Fortunately, there were many products besides Coke. "I'll be having Sprite, you?"
The pink haired girl blinked quietly and stared at me weirdly. My words were a complete non-sequitur to her, apparently. She took a long while to process my statement, simple as it was.
"Umm..." The girl fidgeted a bit, holding her right arm with her left. "Master?"
I pondered what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I didn't want to come across as flippant, so I had to give it some thought.
"The options. There's another one you didn't mention," I explained. "We can stay here and wait for communications to get restored on the other end."
"That's true, but wouldn't it be better to be more proactive?" she argued hesitantly.
"It would, but only if I was actually a competent Magus," I countered. "I am horribly unprepared for this. I don't even have a Mystic Code on me."
Breathing in, I looked aside for a moment before continuing.
"Look at it this way: it's like being stranded in the mountains during a snowstorm. If you don't know what you're doing, you're better off staying where you are instead of trying to get back to safety. That's our situation," I summed up. "Trying to set up the circle is just a waste of energy, Leaving might expose us to danger, and we'd have to get back to it in the end anyways. Better to stay here and defend our position."
Mash nodded, seeming to understand the logic to my words. I turned the glass bottle of lemon-lime flavored soda in my hand meaningfully, repeating my question non-verbally. She stayed quiet for a while.
"Soft drinks are bad for one's health, Master," she pointed out flatly.
"Everything is, Mash," I commented dryly. "As long as we don't chug two liters daily as though it was water, it's fine."
The silence resumed. No one said anything for a minute.
"What flavors are there?" she asked.
I smiled.
Unbeknownst to the aberrant young man and Servant, the world did not stand still along with them. The flames continued their spread unimpeded, though their importance was minimal compared to the source of the distortion that caught the attention of the Chaldea Security Organization.
Though the lapse in judgement was made, it could easily be forgiven. Even if they had intervened, the results would have been the same.
Deep within the forest, two figures stood amidst the flames. A third lay on the floor; it was hardly a thing that could be considered human. Humanoid, perhaps, but no more than that. All of its features were obscured to the point that it was little more than a silhouette of a person, one wearing a long robe and displaying a long mane of hair. At several points of its body, whatever composed its flesh had collapsed, making it look as though the creature had melted.
This being chuckled darkly and not long after, it began to dissipate, turning into fine dust particles that glimmered as they were blown away by the wind.
The two that were left did not speak a word, not for a long time. But eventually, the man broke the silence.
"I'm sorry...I have to go. If that man is here, then I must face him."
Though he muttered an apology, it was not entirely sincere. The woman knew this but didn't begrudge him.
"It could be karma that brought the two of you together to this age," she mused, lowering her head. "If that is so, there's little I can do to stop you, Archer."
"You won't stop me?" he asked as he turned to face her.
"I am fully aware nothing I do will deter you from this course of action," she said softly "I may have trouble dealing with these fractured creatures, but if it could help bring you peace, I see no problem in fighting them on my own."
"I see..."
In truth, the man felt thankful and perhaps a little guilty for his selfishness. His actions were unbefitting of someone who claimed the title of 'Hero', but if 'he' was truly here in this strange place…
There was no more need for thought. Muttering an apology once more, Archer left the woman alone as he headed westwards, to meet the man he could not abide.
