Prologue: Light of the Seven
Trust. Trust is truly an interesting notion, even more when in a situation like mine.
Trust means that you believe in people. If you are in danger or need help, they will lend a hand. On the other hand, there are those you cannot trust. Those who will thrust a sword in your defenseless back if they have a chance at it. Then, there are the worsts of them all. Those you don't know if you can trust.
After all, if you don't trust someone, you will expect a treason. But what if you do not know if you can trust? Then you simply cannot defend yourself.
When facing a major threat, you will have no choice but to stretch your arm in a request for help, while not knowing if it is the hand of your ally that will welcome your call, or if it is a dagger that will cut this same arm.
Let us take an example with the two winged lords. They are both loyal to the same master, but as Blackmore extended his loyalty to the True Ancestors because of their nature as children of Crimson Moon, Ortenrosse decided to instead organize a game consisting in hunting down these same True Ancestors. With that, if a project was to appear between the two, we would end up in three situations. One, would be if the project is to directly serve the Crimson Moon. We would then have an alliance of trust between the two. If the project is related to the True Ancestors in any way, then we can expect a treason. Then, the third case, is if the project is related to the Dead Apostle Ancestors. In this case, there is simply no way of knowing if one of them will end up betraying the other.
This example was for people that you can trust depending on the situation, unfortunately, there are people who will always be one of the categories. An example would be the one people call the Dark Six, truly a being that simply cannot be trusted, no matter what happens. With an unwavering loyalty to the Crimson Moon, it will however not stop it from killing every Ancestors in sight, no matter their loyalty, if it feels like it. It is impossible to know about its true thoughts. Fortunately, rumors are that its days are coming to and end.
A final example will be my bodyguard, Trassk Flahrmen. I precisely appointed him as my bodyguard because I know he is loyal to someone else than me. That way, I am already aware that, once I will stop writing this page and get out of this room, an assassin sent by his true master will be waiting for the battle of my life. I do wonder how a mere Dead Apostle would be able to defeat me, though. But as I already said, the future can always surprise us.
Well then, I hope it is not a farewell to whoever in the future will read this writing.
Thoughts on the mindset of people by the Dead Apostle Ægel, ruler of the Vale situated in Albion and surrounding what some humans started call Æglesburgh, first in the line of succession in case an Ancestor was to die without producing an heir.
A snowy and forgotten mountain under a starless night sky.
A silent stone castle forsaken since two hundred years.
A room at the top of the otherwise empty dungeon.
Inside, a wooden table surrounded by seven chairs and a deep darkness only interrupted by spaced torches.
Five people are sitting on these chairs while the sixth one is watching the falling snow by the window, his back turned in the direction of the table. He has very long curled and blonde, almost golden hair and seems to be at the end of his twenties. His clothes are very-well crafted and are typical of the French fashion of the 1770s and colored of a shining blue with some white and golden parts added above it. His eyes are entirely white with a white iris that can still be distinguished from the rest of his otherwise empty eyes.
Another man wearing a costume similar to the one of the famous captain James Cook but entirely white, with above it a white open coat and empty sleeves speaks. His abnormally long and flat white hair slightly moves with him."So. For obvious reasons, I will not stay here longer than necessary. Tell us exactly why we are here."
A well-dressed creature in black who lost his humanity long ago answers. His head can be compared to one of a crow and black wings are emerging from his back."As you all know, he is starting to become bothersome. He needs to be stopped. But she is protecting him. Therefore, we need to team up."
"And do you have a plan?" A man in red dressed in the kind of clothes you would expect from an ancient Indian prince asks an obvious question.
"I have. We will use HIM to take her away from him."
A man in with some kind of leather armor and with two short battle axes on his back joins the conversation. "But if the rumors are true, HE is under HER protection." As he says this, the man in white loses concentration for an instant before remembering that this is no place to become lost in his thoughts. Not noticing, the warrior in leather continues. "HE is clever if HE could defeat a magician, it will not be an easy task."
"That is why we are all gathered here." The creature in black continues to lead the conversation as the one who invited them.
"It can work. But we need to be able to trust each others." The man in red.
"Naturally."
"Then, who is he?" The man in red points to the man looking at the outside.
"My name does not matter." The man at the window answers calmly when speaking for the first time. His voice seems disinterested about the whole situation, yet, he carefully listens to every single word pronounced.
"I will be the one to judge of it. If you do not want to answer, then I have nothing to do here. We, all of us, are the elites of vampires. Even though several of us never met and several of us were only recently appointed, we can recognize each-other without difficulty through our reputations. As for you, I have never heard of your feats, so there is no reason to trust a mere Dead Apostle who never appeared in public until today."
"Please wait a moment, we have not finished talking." The creature tries to stop the growing tension while himself staying perfectly calm.
"I decide whenever I leave, and this moment is now. Goodbye, gentlemen, and good luck to kill this guy." The man in red is the first to raise the tone. He starts to leave.
A sudden sound of wind can be heard as if something was thrown across the room.
The man in red stops. The sound of something hitting the ground. The man in red collapses.
A light sound of feathers is coming from the creature in black as he returns to his previous stance. It seems the incoming attack he sensed was not directed at him so there was no need to prepare for a battle.
Everyone except the man at the window is looking at the tanned man who hasn't spoken yet. He is slumped in his chair, his two legs on the table. His large coat is still moving because of his previous movement. Under the open coat is a body covered in complex stylised tattoos.
The man in white gets up and goes closer to the headless body lying on the ground.
After verifying something, he gets up and addresses the slumped man while putting his hand on the pommel of his sword.
His voice is as empty as always, but there is no mistake that he is ready to fight.
-How did you kill him?
-He was weak.
-Do not lie to me. He was an Ancestor too, none of us would ever be able to kill him that easily.
The man in leather joins them. "He's telling the truth, the attack was strong, but not enough to kill an Ancestor. It's his target who was weak."
-It does not make sense, the Vetala is older than anyone in this room.
-But did you ever see him battle?
-That is a good point. But that causes another question:
The creature in black agrees with the one who is usually his foe: "where is the prophecy of the Rose?"
-This newcomer...Prometheus, he was not warned either before getting killed two years ago.
-Then we can conclude that the prophecy has stopped occurring. This confirms that DEATH is a danger.
"In any case, so this is how much you consider the matter important. Killing someone who tries to leave." The man in white talks to the creature while watching the slumped man. After all, the slumped man would have never done such a thing if the creature in black would have been opposed to it. The risks would have been too big.
"Yes, this is a capital matter."
"Well then, I propose to continue this meeting tomorrow. I do not like such manners, but if I came here in the first place it is because I was sharing your point of view. And we all already know of each-others abilities so a treason would only result in a disaster." The man in white looks around the room.
They accept the proposition of the white knight. The two black and white nobles who were sitting in an elegant manner leave along with the fighter in a leather suit.
There is now only the slumped man and the man at the window left in the room.
The man at the window starts. "Do you trust them?"
"Not in the slightest. Do you?"
"Of course not. But we still need to work together. These are times of great danger. The Ancestors are falling one by one. This is the only way."
"So this is why you appeared after all this time? I don't trust liars."
The man answers while watching outside. "Of course it is because of him. He is too dangerous. 3 died in 6 months after his appearance. Two followed during the next year. Now it has been what? 8-9 since? Most were replacements for the others he killed but still. The only reason we are not all two feet under yet is because he only wants to protect her."
"Counting yourself among us eh. Well you would be one of us if the Church even knew of your existence along with those that were not around this table. But you really do fear him, do you."
"Of course I fear him. He could destroy the 5 of us here without difficulty if he tried. This is why we will need support. He is not a fighter, he is a killer. He could attack by surprise and take all of us out in an instant".
"I hope you are aware that the others might do like you and bring new players?"
"I hope so. I would be disappointed if they do not fear for their life after what you just did."
"Fear...I didn't even know you Dead Apostles were able to have such feelings." There is in his voice a sort of disdain, as if even though he is an Ancestor, his nature is different from the others.
"Me neither. The only time I was afraid was...yes...when I saw the real power of the Princess." The man at the window murmurs.
The man in the coat answers with a smile "Which one?"
The man at the window smiles too and leaves the room without answering.
The other man looks at the window from afar, before getting up. He then starts to leave the room too.
Just as he gets out, he notices that the man with the leather armor is outside the room against a wall and humming something while watching the two getting out.
"Oh, there won't be many coming home
Oh, there won't be many coming home
Oh, there won't be many
There may not be any
But there won't be many coming home
If they all came back but one
He was still some mother's son
And there won't be many coming home."
So. Here is the prologue to my second story ever, which will be Tsukihime-centered.
Reading this note might be important before continuing so please do so if you wish to continue.
Firstly, this fan fiction is a sequel to my other one, Fate Crimson Air. However, apart from this prologue I tried to write in a way so that people who have not read it can still understand most of what is new.
Secondly, this fanfiction is set is an alternate universe (that readers of Fate Crimson Air are already familiar with) in which several of the TYPE-MOON works managed to take place one way or another. In Lie To Me I will mostly use the Tsukihime lore so it should not bother you much. It is set in the old Tsukihime timeline (with Melty Blood and Kagetsu Tohya taking place), but I will add some content of the Remake if it does not contradict the old lore.
It might heavily spoil every Tsukihime related TYPE-MOON work so please be careful. It will also more or less reference other TM works.
Apart from that, I don't have much to say so please remember that I'm a new writer and that English isn't my first language. Don't hesitate to tell me what you think of it and I hope that you will enjoy your read.