"You're late" Sortiara huffed when she opened the door to let me in.
"Less than five minutes" I gave her a slight grin. "Forgive me; bus was running late."
"Whatever. I take it you brought the stuff?"
"I have it" I nodded, following her into the room we had last night's talk.
"Hey" Johnathan greeted me when I stepped into the room behind Sortiara.
"Hey" I sat down where I had last night.
"Einzbern stuff" Sortiara stretched out her hand. "Hand it over."
"So pushy" I laughed, opening up my backpack. "Yeah, here ya go. Don't know if you'll get anything useful from it, but it's all I got. Original page, translated page, alternating order."
Both the kids looked surprised when I pulled out the folder of pages. Very clearly, it wasn't what they had been expecting.
"You don't have a book or anything" Johnathan asked as Sortiara took the folder.
"Nah" I waved my hand dismissively. "Most of the books were unsalvageable entirely. Of the few that I could salvage, none of them in their entirety; only certain pages. So, I tore the pages I could read out, stored them in this folder here, and smuggled them back here to America. Not much, but it revealed to me the existence of the Holy Grail War."
As Sortiara and Johnathan began to look over the pages, I pulled out my camera and got it recording. Thankfully, it blended in well with my jacket, so it should be next to impossible for them to detect it, should they even have the awareness to look for something like that.
"Not just that, it seems" Sortiara glared at me, eyes poking just above the pages. "You never mentioned last night you knew about the existence of Akasha, or Heaven's Feel."
"Well, you didn't ask about that. You asked what I knew about the Holy Grail War, so I told you what I knew about the Holy Grail War. As you can see, it's not much. Same with this Akasha thing. Or 'root of the world' as the Einzberns refer to it as. Speaking of though; it really exists? This… root of the world?"
"…Yes."
"Beautiful" I let out a little sigh in wonder. "All the knowledge of all the possibilities of the world. To a lesser extent, that's basically godhood."
"It is the goal of every magus to reach the root for basically that reason" Johnathan explained.
"See, I was thinking along the lines of Heaven's Feel being more like an add-on to the Holy Grail War. Though, thinking about it, considering you people make the distinction between magecraft and magic, I take it magic is a higher… tier, of sorts, than magecraft?"
"…That would be correct, assuming I'm understanding your use of terms."
"So then it's the other way round, isn't it? Heaven's Feel, being this 'Third Magic' thing, is the actual intent; the actual ritual. The Holy Grail War is the add-on; the means to gain the amount of magical energy required to perform Heaven's Feel."
"You're sure this is everything" Sortiara raised a questioning set of eyes from above the pages she was holding.
"Absolutely sure. Though, if you two don't believe me, I can always show you my room and stuff; doubt I could hide anything from competent magi."
"Right…" Sortiara didn't sound entirely convinced, but she returned her eyes to the pages.
"Question though: what is the difference between magecraft and magic anyways?"
"That can be a bit… complicated" Johnathan scratched the back of his head. "How much do you know about the Age of Gods?"
"Age of Gods? What?"
"Right, so from the beginning then… Magic was the term for the miraculous like feats certain humans were capable of performing back in the Age of Gods. Now, the Age of Gods is the time back when the old gods, otherwise known as Divine Spirits, were able to interact with the mortal world freely, and humanity actively felt their influence in society."
"So… basically, back in the ancient days of mythology?"
"Basically."
"And, like, all the gods from all mythologies?"
"Yes."
"…Ok… So, this Age of Gods ended when, and how?"
"How the Age of Gods came to an end is simple: people stopped believing in them. Divine Spirits lose their power as they lose followers among the mortal population; lose enough power, and you can't manifest. Now, this happened over a long period of time, starting all the way back with the ancient King Gilgamesh."
"Right… Despite being two-thirds divine, he did go about trying to break humanity away from the influence of the Mesopotamian deities. So, he's the first to start trying to push humanity out of the Age of Gods?"
"Correct."
"Clearly didn't work all that well, seeing as people just created more gods" I laughed. "But ok, so that's where the breaking starts. Where does it end?"
"Hard to pinpoint the exact end, but generally, it is believed that the end of the Age of Gods coincided with the fall of Camelot."
"…Camelot? As in Arthurian legend Camelot? That Camelot?"
"Yes, that Camelot."
"So King Arthur actually lived."
"Not just King Arthur" Sortiara cut in. "Lancelot, Gawain, Tristan, Merlin, Morgan; they all lived."
"Holy shit… And here we normal people just dismiss them as legends and stories… But ok, so that's the end of the Age of Gods, but where did all those Divine Spirits go? They just… vanish?
"Vanish? No. Things like Divine Spirits, or the fey, or dragons, or whatever else ended up in the reverse side of the world" Johnathan explained.
"…The what now? And did you say dragons and fey?"
"It's not just Divine Spirits that got sent, or banished, to the reverse side of the world. Long story short, think of it like a prison, or holding cell, for things humanity no longer believes in. Not that it's actually like that, but for the purpose of what you need to know, that's basically it."
"And they just, what? Sit there? …Or float there?"
"Exist there, in some capacity or another" Sortiara cut in again. "You'll be hard pressed to figure out exactly what is it; we don't even really understand it ourselves."
"…I see? Maybe… But ok, so the end of magic came with the fall of Camelot, is basically what you're saying."
"Pretty much."
"So, then I guess my next question is how did all that stuff work? Like, how did… I guess the world, decide when it was time to banish things? Like, we still have mythology and stuff; not like we just forgot all about them."
"Ah, now we're getting into what I like to call different states of the world" Johnathan answered. "The world, or I guess saying Earth would be more accurate here… The Earth reshapes it's laws, so to speak, based on the dominate belief of the dominate specie on its surface."
"It reshapes it's laws?"
"Doesn't really sound right, does it" Johnathan laughed, as if he was a bit apologetic. "Basically, during the Age of Gods, humanity lived alongside the truth; alongside things like true magic, Divine Spirits, fey and dragons and the like. Some time around Camelot's fall though, humanity adopted the belief of searching for the truth, rather than living alongside it. Thus, the more mystical aspects of the world lost the capability to remain manifested in reality, and were lost to the reverse side of the world. Camelot was the last bastion of the Age of Gods."
"Searching for the truth… That would all point towards the emergence of science and scientific pursuit becoming the dominate focus, or belief, of humanity, no?"
"…That's… an impressive conclusion to draw" Johnathan sounded a bit taken aback. "Correct one too; it was indeed the methodology of science that changed the rules of the world."
"So then, because we left the Age of Gods, magic and mystical shit got way weaker, so instead of calling it magic and being called mages, you all call it magecraft and call yourselves magi, or a magus?"
"Yep."
"So, the peak of its scope, or the peak of its capability, is what determines if something is magecraft or magic, and because it's been thousands of years or so, there's basically nothing that remains that can reach the scope required to be called magic… What a fascinating lesson on the history of magic!"
Man, there was just so much to unpack here! Like, basically everything us normal people think we know about our history is just flat wrong! How did this all remain hidden from us, for such a long stretch of time?
"Ok, I think I'm good on the history of things for now… Back to the Holy Grail War: can the grail grant any wish, or can it only be used to open a way to the root?"
"It can grant a wish to the winner" Sortiara finally stopped looking at the pages and properly joined the conversation. "The Holy Grail War may have been originally created to only serve as a means to gather the energy for Heaven's Feel, but it is a ritual in its own right. Besides, how else would you get Heroic Spirits to cooperate and participate if there wasn't anything for them?"
"But they don't know the true purpose, do they?"
"Nope, they know nothing about Heaven's Feel. Best they never learn about it either; who knows how they'll react if they ever did. You won't have noticed, I bet but neither Saber nor Lancer are currently here. Had to make sure they wouldn't hear about anything related to the true purpose the Einzberns had for this."
"And you two are after the root as well?"
"No, we both have actual wishes we want to make. The root is nothing by comparison to us."
"As for the magi of the Association, they only want the root" Johnathan jumped in. "However, they don't know about Heaven's Feel either. That was a closely kept secret of the Einzberns, the Makiri and the Tohsakas."
"Doesn't seem like its a secret now though" I noted.
"We only know about Heaven's Feel because our parents became two of the new founding families, so to say. Otherwise, we'd know nothing about it as well."
"And they managed to steal the knowledge of this ritual, how, exactly?"
"The Holy Grail War may have been founded by three families, but they're all tied to the Association" Sortiara explained. "The Association kept records on each Holy Grail War fought in Fuyuki. After all, it was other magi with ties to the Association that filled out the other master spots, outside of freak occurrences."
"Like me?"
"Yes, like you, for example."
"Finally special in something, I suppose" I flashed a slight smile at the two of them. "But how did your families get the information to recreate the ritual?"
"For one, our parents didn't fully recreate it; they made some modifications to it" Sortiara was quick to point out. "Secondly, my father used to be a part of the Association; it was easy for him to get access to those records."
"Used to implies he left at some point."
"More like he got exiled" Johnathan noted.
"The Clock Tower is full of bullshit rules, politics and priorities" Sortiara growled. "Fleeing to America was the only real option left."
"Fled" I asked, somewhat surprised. "So, this big and powerful association didn't bother to chase him down?"
"The only magi who come to America are those who need to evade the Association, for two reasons. First one is because America, and North America as a whole really, is severely lacking in leylines, and thus ambient magical energy. You know what-"
"I know what leylines are" I confirmed.
"How?"
"They're commonly used in fantasy stories, girl" I sighed. "Even if its not a perfect reflection of the real thing, I'm sure it's close enough I don't need a full lecture on them."
"…Very well then. Regardless, that's the first reason. In total, North America as a whole only has eleven leylines running through the entire continent."
Eleven? Only eleven in total? And seven of them run through this very city? How fucking lucky do you need to be for that to happen? What the fuck was that shit?!
"I take it that's not a lot?"
"Let me put it this way: Fuyuki in Japan had three leylines alone, and it was just one city."
This one has seven though! Do you people just not know this, or what?!
"So, not a lot then. Got it. And the second reason?"
"Country of God. Mean anything to you?"
"…The Catholic Church."
"Bingo. Due to the first reason, the Association never really bothered with getting people set up in North America when it was first discovered. As such, the Church took the opportunity to establish a firm control over the continent. Combine that with the fact that there's no good place to set up a workshop for a magus due to a lack of leylines, and voila; no reason to ever set foot in this place."
"Even to hunt down wanted magi…"
"Exactly. Now, the Association hires freelances for that kind of dirty work all the time, but my father was never really considered a major threat to begin with, so they never bothered even with that. They just let him walk."
There was a lot more I wanted to ask, but before I got the chance Sortiara sorta just… froze in place. I gave her a quizzical look, but then right after realized she must have been doing that telepathic communication thing with Lancer.
"Looks like the searching is finally paying off" Sortiara grinned, suddenly bolting from the room.
"What did they find" Johnathan called after her.
"Assassin, they think! Saber is trying to force him towards the elementary school nearby! Lancer's waiting outside, so come on and get moving already!"
"Got it!"
While the two of them wet and grabbed their things, I stopped the recording and grabbed my bag. By the time they both got to the front door, I was ready to go.
"Oh no, you stay here" Sortiara growled.
"Yeah… no. Not happening" I grinned. "If you people are chasing after another servant, then there's probably going to be some kind of battle going on. I'm not missing out on this. Besides, I did say I would help identify the servants; can't do that from here, now can I?"
"Grr… I don't have time for this" she snapped. "Fine, you feel like dying, it's on you. Don't expect the two of us to babysit!"
"Never planed on it."
I was never an active kid. My idea of a good time was sitting in front of a computer or a TV, not playing sports or going on leisurely bike rides through the neighborhood. So, suffice it to say out of the four of us running down the dimly lit streets tonight, I was the one slowly falling behind. A short sprint and I'm fine; I could do that much. But more than a hundred meters… man, forget that shit…
"This… sucks…" I huffed, trying to adjust my backpack.
"Come on, boomer" Sortiara chirped. "This is nothing. How can you be that out of shape?"
"Do I look like an athlete to you, woman!"
"Want me to carry you" Lancer asked as he materialized beside me.
It didn't sound like he was joking, or mocking me either… I honestly had no idea what to make of that. I did take the moment to get a good look at him though, now that he was in his armor. It didn't look anything too fancy. Steel plates, in a very typical medieval style; the red color was a bit odd though. He also had a red shield with a yellow cross on it. A coat of arms, but I was unsure as to who it belonged to; was simply too plain for me to place. The lance he held in the other hand though… that looked like a real beauty. A shaft that gleamed like silver, to the point I actually think it was made of silver. Closer to the point, the shaft split and had a coiled pattern, like that of intertwined snakes. Then there was the point itself; gleaming with a deadly grace I hadn't seen before.
That spear must be a Noble Phantasm of some sort. There was just no way that was a normal spear… But I still can't place the design. Medieval, yes, but there's no way that's a historical spear. Damn, I'm not great with medieval legends…
"Yes… but also no" I huffed, forcing my legs to pick up the pace.
"Ah, you'll be fine" Johnathan shouted over his shoulder. "Only a bit further to go."
He wasn't wrong about that. It was only a couple of minutes later that we found ourselves at the elementary school. Saber was waiting for us, already materialized, looking just as he had last night when I first ran into him and Johnathan.
Damn, I can't place either of them… This might be far harder than I thought… Why couldn't they be ancient Greek, Egyptian or Roman! Then I'd be able to name them easily!
"Master" Saber bowed as we can to a halt. "Assassin is waiting behind the building."
"The fact he isn't trying to run or hide is suspicious" Lancer commented. "This is most likely a trap."
"We will be fine" Sortiara grinned, sounding pumped, though if that was from the thought of the upcoming fight or the run, I couldn't be sure. "Between you and Saber, how could we possibly lose?"
"The vote of confidence is appreciated, master. Very well, if you wish to spring the trap, then as your knight I shall bring you victory" Lancer smiled.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go beat up Assassin."
"Wha- Wait, Sortiara" Johnathan called out, but to no avail. "Oh, I hate it when she gets fired up like this."
"Women like her can indeed be... troublesome" Saber nodded, as if he understood perfectly well himself what Johnathan was feeling. "Best to not fall behind though; while Lancer was certain this was Assassin, I admit I still have some reservations. Even for an Assassin, this one felt too weak."
"No way this isn't a trap then… Quickly, Saber. To battle!"
"As you command, master."
As the two of them took off after Sortiara and Lancer, I quickly pulled out my camera from my backpack and started recording.
"A battle between Heroic Spirits" I muttered as I ran after them, seemingly forgetting my own tiredness from the new excitement welling up inside me. "I wonder… Just how beautiful will this battle be?"
