The Ice Caves
The winds were so strong that it had become impossible to set up the tents at night. Once the sun disappeared, the temperature dropped so much that staying still for more than ten minutes was equivalent to a death sentence.
For three days and three nights, the small expedition had advanced on the Druadach glacier at the cost of superhuman efforts. With fatigue, the gestures became more and more difficult and the reflexes became dull. This resulted in falls in the ice chaos of the glacier. Bruises and abrasions multiplied. Merlin had to constantly heal and boost his companions so that they would not collapse.
Finally, on the fourth day, the blizzard calmed down. Drawing on their last strength, the members of the expedition established a camp before collapsing.
When Shiro came out of the tent he shared with Rin and Saber, the weather was superb. There were only a few clouds hanging like a sling on the flanks of Mount Krest. According to the map - rather imprecise- the citadel of Kalysha was only 100 or 120 kilometers away. They had already crossed half the glacier! It would probably take them another eight to ten days to reach their goal... without walking at night.
With the help of the guides, the Amber-Eye Hero began to prepare a solid meal. Rin was still asleep. Knowing the Tohsaka heiress, Shiro was willing to bet that nothing could awaken her except an artillery bombardment.
The case of Saber was different. The King of Britain had a strong appetite... to say the least. After four days without eating anything but pemmican, she must have been starving! Despite their precarious situation, Shiro could not help but smile. Already that Artoria ate for four in normal times, he had trouble imagining what she could swallow when she was really hungry.
While Shiro and the guides were busy preparing the meal, Merlin sat on a crate, looking north. He seemed thoughtful, but in fact, he used his gift of Clairvoyance to detect the obstacles still waiting for them.
As Shiro turned the head, he realized that a figure in furry clothing had moved away from the camp. The two girls in the group still sleeping, it could only be Archer.
The perfect vision of the former Servant of the Bow was one of the faculties he was most proud of. As he had previously declared to Rin, he could count to the smallest rivet of the bridge leading to Fuyuki, from the highest building of the new city.
If Merlin had decided to explore the world in search of dangers further along the way, Archer wanted to secure their nearby environment.
As he went around the camp, he saw a dark spot in the glacier. Reinforcing his eyes, he zoomed in to discover a cave. This opening may have been natural, resulting from the striking of two plates of ice or some other phenomenon... but someone had raised a kind of screen to prevent the wind from entering. This rudimentary door was a kind of braiding of bands of black materials... which resembled chaurus' chitin (1).
Near the entrance, several piles of chitin were planted in the ice. Each was topped with a skull, Skulls of goats, and even that of a troll... but above all, human skulls.
Worried, Hero Emiya approached the cave.
Although he had never met Falmer, he knew that the degenerate descendants of the Snow Elves inhabited the Druadach Glacier. Cannibals and filled with hatred for the inhabitants of the surface whom they considered responsible for their downfall, they killed after long tortures all those they captured.
He approached the cave, ready to materialize his twin swords at the first sign of danger. The ancient Alaya's dog felt through his Clairvoyance abilities and his Eye of the Mind (True) skill that something, an animal or a creature, was hidden behind the chitin screen. Worried about the safety of his companions, he continued his advance, ready to react to the slightest sign of aggression from the stranger...
With agility far exceeding that of a normal human, Archer climbed a five-meter cliff in four fast jumps. Arrived in front of the screen, he had time to see a humanoid figure flee. However, as he spread the chitin screen, Archer heard the snapping of a broken rope. This sound preceded with a heartbeat the sound of a brutally released counterweight. Simultaneously, the ground collapsed under his feet. The former Dog of Alaya disappeared in a whirlwind of ice fragments.
Archer could be blamed many times, especially on his cynical and nihilistic personality. Often underestimated both by his allies and his opponents, he had always managed to win their reluctant respect. Archer was certainly not the most powerful among the Servants summoned to participate in the Fifth Grail War. But he was undoubtedly the most adaptable, the most versatile, and the best prepared for any change of situation.
As he fell into the void, his hands closed on the handles of Kanshou and Bakuya. Bending, he deflected his fall toward a wall and stuck his blades in the ice, slowing his fall.
Suddenly dropping his weapons, he kicked himself to the opposite wall. Then, turning in the air, he struck both feet against the edge of the duct before continuing his maneuver, bouncing from wall to wall... until he emerged into a huge ice cavern, far below the surface.
Deflecting his course towards a pile of snow, Archer rolled to the ground and straightened himself up. He didn't even have a scratch.
However, when he raised his head, he grimaced...
The opening from which he had fallen was barely visible in the ceiling, at least thirty meters above him. In addition, the fault was far from the wall and climbing would not be easy because of the irregularities of the ice cave. Of course, he could Trace much more advanced mountaineering equipment than what existed on Tamriel... but without anyone to assist him, it remained too dangerous.
Ruffling his hair with one hand, an equally familiar gesture of his "stupid version", he looked around him.
His eyes revealed to him that he was not in a cave as he had first thought. It stood in a tunnel cut in the glacier and supported by pillars of cut stone. The construction was truly colossal. The ceiling was decorated with stalactites of ice, and the dripping of their melting filled the places with crystalline music.
The light came from metal cups filled with a magical and eternal fire suspended from the ceiling by chains. The play of reflections in the reflective walls like glass gave the illusion that thousands of these fires were shining, almost multiplied to the infinite.
It was a place of strange and unreal beauty.
Digging into his memory, the hero Emiya recalled the conversations with the guides during the first days of their journey. The Druadach glacier had been populated by the Snow Elves. Thousands of years before humans came to this part of Nirn, these Elves had dug the glacier and surrounding mountains to form a gigantic underground labyrinth. Its wide tunnels and caves were home to temples and cities that were now populated by their degenerate descendants and all kinds of creatures capable of living in this strange environment. Few people from the surface had ever entered this maze of galleries, let alone emerged from it.
The tunnel to his right had collapsed, the hero Emiya took on his left.
After a kilometer of walking, Archer saw that the tunnel was dividing. Having lost his sense of direction during his fall, the ex-Servant could not know where these two passages could lead. He Traced three small pebbles of stones marked with a rune (2). He concentrated on the mental image of Rin before releasing them:
"Berkana!"
The runes began to hop up and up the road, he had followed. The hero Emiya sighed, shaking his head. Of course, the runes showed the most direct path to the person we were looking for, but they lacked intelligence. The pebbles were going to hop until the hole from which he had fallen and continue to hop on the spot... because incapable to climb to the surface. So, from here, there was no other way to Rin than this shaft.
With a thought, he dissipated the runes which evaporated into blue Prana particles.
Of course, that was not good news. He was here, isolated, and without food. His companions probably had not yet realized his disappearance. Nevertheless, Archer was not one to tear his hair out and cry when life became difficult... especially when he had a mission. He concentrated and made three identical runes appear. The former Servant focused this time on the image of Sakura Tohsaka:
"Berkana!"
The runes ran down the right-hand corridor... as this was the most direct route to the Kalysha Citadel.
It was only when Shiro served the meal that Archer was found missing. As the others wondered about his absence, the Amber-Eyed Blacksmith remembered then to have seen him explore the surroundings of the camp but had no more paid attention to it.
They called without getting an answer from the former Servant of the Bow.
Merlin suddenly seemed to radiate pride. Alone of all the members of the expedition, he was not bundled up in heavy pelisses of fur. Insensitive to the cold, he still wore his mage dresses and leaned on his long staff with complicated shape:
"What would you do without me? I am like Gandalf for the Friendship of the Ring. Both the father and the guide of all... well, a Bishounen (3) version of Gandalf of course. Because, me, I am handsome and valiant like a young prince. Normal... I am the original after which we modeled the figures of all the magi of literature, films and video games. You can clap if you want!"
Artoria Pendragon narrows her eyes without saying a word, a rather violent reaction for a person so skilled in concealing her emotions.
"Merlin, if you have something to say, I urge you to speak plainly."
The Magus of Flowers bowed:
"Of course, at your command, my king." He coughed in his fist before pointing to the cave discovered by the former Dog of Alaya: "Archer fell into a trap set by the Falmers. It is fine but is in the network of galleries dug by the Snow Elves. Without a way to reach us, he decided to continue towards the citadel of Kalysha."
While Saber was thoughtful and visibly worried, Rin uttered a small cry of distress:
"You have to reach him. Merlin, how can you get to these tunnels? The cave... You can reach the tunnels through the cave, can't you?"
Shiro passed an arm around his friend's shoulders, surprised to see that she trembled... and that the cold had nothing to do with it. It was only at this moment that he remembered Rin's expression when the last command mark had faded from the back of his hand in the Einzbern forest. Rin Tohsaka always sought to give her the image of a pure Magus ready to do anything to achieve her ends. Except Rin was a caring person. Once she accepted someone in her life, she never stopped caring about that person. If one of her friends was in danger, she would want to help him. But we were talking about Rin, there... For her, helping a person often meant overwhelming him with ironic remarks or kicks in the buttocks, until he took the right path (the one she designated, of course).
Merlin looked at the Magus with a slight smile:
"Unfortunately, I have explored the nearby galleries thanks to my Clairvoyance, alas there is no passage to the Druadach underground from this Falmers cave. Even if they let us pass... which is far from being taken for granted."
As everyone looked at him with the same anxiety in their eyes, Merlin shrugged his shoulders:
'Come on, Archer is a resourceful person, we have to trust him. The underground universe he has reached is warmer than the surface and there is plenty of water. Our friend is not in immediate danger. There is also life and therefore food. If anything, it will reach the citadel before us."
The Magus of the Flowers paused for a moment to take a dreamy look:
"I mean... if he doesn't meet an Ice Demon."
The name was not reassuring and Artoria regarded her former court mage with irritation:
"Merlin, what are you talking about?"
The Caster struck the ground with his staff and a scroll appeared in his other hand. He deployed it with a dry gesture. It was a sort of poster representing a humanoid monster as drew by the hand of a clumsy child.
If not detailed, the drawing still allowed recognizing a kind of saurian standing on its hind legs. Its scaly skin was blue, its body was muscular. It had small red eyes and its head was adorned with two series of short horns. There were bony points everywhere, especially on its chest and wrists. The larger ones came out of its shoulders. As for its feet and hands, they were reduced to three powerful claws.
"Here's a Gehenoth, also called Ice Demon, it's a monster created by Bethesda Softwork for the mobile game The Elder Scrolls travels: Dawnstar, released in 2004."
As his other companions looked at each other, uncertain, Saber sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose:
"What are you still talking about?"
As one heard a broken glass sound rising from the celestial vault, Merlin had a small crisp smile:
"Oops, I broke the fourth wall again."
Archer had just walked for six hours without stopping. The ground covered with slabs cracked by time was equal and the advance easy. Cups of metal burning with eternal fire were still hanging from the ceiling. This brightness reflected by the ice illuminated the labyrinth of Druadach. At times, he had to bypass a stone pillar lying on the ground or piling up ice that had fallen from the vault. But, apart from that, the ancient underground world of the Snow Elves was in an excellent state of conservation.
Unfortunately, what was true for this tunnel was not true for all the others. The effects of four thousand years of abandonment were felt. Thus, the hero Emiya arrived at the crossing of two underground galleries... except that a river had invaded the passage that cut his path. The icy and fast water bubbled with foam, chasing real icebergs.
Given the violence of the flow... and its temperature, trying to swim across it was death assured. But Archer was no ordinary man.
His Magic Circuits awoke as he transformed his Od into Prana, drawing bright green lines on his arms. Reinforcing his muscles and bones, Archer leaps with superhuman speed and reflexes. Falling on a first iceberg he abandoned it immediately for a second before jumping on the other shore.
The eternal brightness reigning in the ice caves distorted the perception of time. It was impossible to guess what time it might be on the surface. Still guided by his runes, Archer traversed a complicated network of tunnels. At times, he discovered titanic rooms in which the ruins of abandoned cities remained.
The dimensions of this underground world invited to humility. It seemed that the Snow Elves wanted to build a monument capable of defying eternity. However, it inspired bitterness in Archer. The greatness of their civilization, the power of their magic, had not resisted invaders having crossed the seas from the continent of Atmora. Hunted, persecuted by humans, the Snow Elves had disappeared from the surface of Tamriel. Refugees in the depths to escape their executioners, they had been enslaved by the Dwemers.
As he passed through a small agglomeration of some geometrically shaped buildings, alternating buttresses, and terraces lined with columns, Archer felt a smell of roasted meat.
The Wrought Iron Hero believed that hunger was playing tricks on him. But he had already spent much longer without eating without suffering from hallucinations.
No, it was a sign of presence... human? In these ruins, there was certainly no other human than him. Only on Tamriel, humans were not the only ones to control the fire.
Silent as a shadow, tracking the appetizing smell, Archer slipped between the small one-room houses that lined up in the shadow of a temple crowned with a gilded bronze statue representing Auri-el, the sun-god of the Elves.
In a half-collapsed priest's cell, two characters were active around a rudimentary roasting-jack. Humanoids certainly, but not really the kind of creature we'd like to meet... Small, bent, twisted, their skin was gray and rough, and their stringy hairs were rare and white like that of albinos. Thick wrinkles disfigured the thin, narrow faces. But the worst was the eyes. The eyelids were almost completely closed, allowing only an empty look to filter through... that of a blind man. Only their sharp ears recalled that their ancestors had been Elves.
As for clothing, they wore only strips of leather wrapped around their arms, a loincloth, and pieces of armor made up of roughly assembled pieces of chaurus chitin.
So here come the Falmers, the descendants of the Snow Elves. Enslaved in the depths, they had lost sight after centuries of mistreatment who also distorted their souls and bodies.
There was little chance that the creatures would welcome him peacefully, but Archer advanced into the entrance of the room without hiding, his arms along the body, his hands empty...
The Falmers, however, were blind and turned towards him as soon as his steps resounded. No doubt they perceived their environment by a form of echolocation, like bats.
As for non-violence...
It would be for another occasion. The two monsters started screaming. One of them took a bow and arrows of chitin, while the other drew an equally primitive sword.
With one thought, Archer brought forth the Bridal Blades. Careful to interpose the Falmer who attacked him on contact between him and his companion armed with a bow, he jumped aside at the moment when the swordsman hit a blow. Archer went whirling away... Multiple wounds appeared as if by magic on the bust of the humanoid who fell to his knees, his hands tightening his throat from which came boiling blood. His comrade had fallen, the second Falmer let go of the rope of his bow... but Archer had already changed position to throw Kanshou and Bakuya. The swirling blades cut the humanoid into pieces.
The fight lasted less than fifteen seconds.
Ironically, the Wrought Iron Hero thanked the two dead Falmers for the meal they had so kindly prepared for him. Once his hunger satisfied, Archer then began to search the room. But he found nothing interesting. The possessions of the counterfeit creatures consisted of two dirty mats and hideous chaurus' chitin trinkets. None of this was of any interest.
The former Dog of Alaya sat down in front of the fireplace and only at that moment became aware that the fire was burning in a half-sphere of metal under the spindle. He carefully took the cup, but it was barely warm... Lifting it up to his gaze, Shiro Emiya used Structural Analysis to discover the nature of the object:
"Trace On."
It was a portable version of the eternal fire bowls hanging from the ceiling, illuminating the halls of this titanic labyrinth. A second cup was next to the one he was holding. That was the complementary part of the first. He screwed the two parts on each other, extinguishing the flame.
The darkness did him good. He realized that he had trouble keeping his eyelids open.
Reluctant to sleep in one of the Falmer's vermin-infested benches, the hero Emiya Tracing a futon and lay down.
His last thought was that he had survived his first day in this ice maze. He had even found food and an eternal way to light himself and make fire. It was now enough for him to do so well tomorrow... After all, the key to long-term survival was to survive one day after another.
Artoria, Rin, Shiro, Merlin, and their three guides had resumed their walk on the glacier after Archer's disappearance. For another six days, they had advanced in spite of the icy winds and the blinding brightness of the sun reflecting on the ice chaos that surrounded them.
The sleds were moving quite quickly, and their passengers were not complaining, the blizzard had spared them and they had become accustomed to this difficult progression. However, what they did not yet say was that they still had to face the worst ordeal of this odyssey.
The citadel of Kalysha stood on the mountainside about thirty kilometers away. The clear stone walls and wind-eroded spires were only the emerged part of an immense complex.
The Snow Elves had deployed all their architectural knowledge to build this wonder and the highest arcane of their magic to protect it. In fact, the citadel could be described as Mystic Code, a very powerful magical object whose creation had mobilized the most famous Magi from this period.
The fantastic power of Kalysha was accessible only to the master of the citadel and controlled from his throne. This explains in large part that Shinji Matou hardly leaves this room.
Shiro Emiya would have found it difficult to recognize the one he had long considered one of his rare friends. Wearing a dress covered with mystical glyphs and a richly decorated tiara, he was busy searching among his "toys": magic staffs, wands, scepters, and spellbooks all more powerful and incredible than each other. These wonders constituted his payment...
Knowledges that he was unable to assimilate, let alone use properly, objects that he merely activated awkwardly without understanding them.
Do you know the biblical parable: "Do not give the dogs holy things, and do not throw your pearls to swine, lest they trample them on their feet, and turn and tear you"?
Shinji Matou was the perfect illustration of this sentence.
All wide-eyed, laughing like a maniac, he thought he had finally become a true Magus. Except Shinji was actually just a tool used by far more powerful than him.
"Master!"
The call from Medusa made Shinji turn around. Furious at being disturbed, he was about to insult the ex-Servant when he realized that they were no longer alone in the throne room. A third silhouette had materialized while his back was turned. Yes, a silhouette... but nothing else... a human form entirely made of shadow like a tear, like a breach in reality that would lead only to nothingness.
Kalysha's master swallowed nervously and his scratched voice seriously lacked confidence when he spoke:
"Angra Mainyu... what... what are you doing here? What do you want?"
Forgetting his role as "Grand Magus", the teenager had retreated. A voice at once mocking and strangely impersonal replied:
"You're having fun, Master de Rider? You got everything you wanted? Do you even remember why I made you the master of this citadel?"
Forgetting his fear Shinji straightened up:
"Of course, King of Daemons, you want my help with your rebirth."
"Well, you haven't forgotten. And it's time for you to pay your debt. Look!"
A scene formed in the air before Shinji's eyes. It was like a window in a circle of darkness. Through this opening, he saw the dogsleds of the small expedition that went in search of Sakura. Despite the heavy furs worn by the arrivals, the adolescent with blue hair immediately recognized them:
"Tohsaka... Shiro... It's their fault. It's their entire fault. It's because of them that I lost any chance of getting the Grail. This Tohsaka bitch even dared to reject me when I had done her the honor of choosing her... and Shiro this fake friend... he has me... "He paused to phrase it differently"... by some miracle, he managed to beat me!"
Acvanger laughed:
"He also gave you this second life."
But Shinji did not calm down. With a quick gesture, he cut the air from his hand:
"He's the reason I died. It's his entire fault!"
Angra Mainyu was hardly impressed by his vehemence:
"Kill them, all, kill them, kill... everyone... Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Having shouted these last words, the dark monster quickly faded. An instant later there was nothing left.
With a very bright look, trembling, and excited by the evil presence that still permeated the air, Shinji ran to his throne.
There was no warning sign.
At one moment, the sleds were running on the glacier, pulled by the white-fur dogs. And then, the next moment... everything disappeared in an unbearable golden light.
The blast of a titanic explosion seized the crews of the dogsleds and threw them to the ground, sending them to roll among the ice pitons that broke under the violence of the elements unleashed.
Saber had the reflex to materialize her armor. She leaped to catch Shiro, who was sliding towards a crevasse that had just formed in front of him, and then seized Rin.
The former Servant placed them in the shelter of an ice cliff that had suffered little from the explosion. Turning around, Artoria Pendragon widened her eyes. One of the mountains in the south-east had a huge impact. The snow that covered it only a few minutes ago had completely disappeared and golden flames were still burning around a large mark of molten stones.
Merlin had managed to protect himself from the blast. Unlike Rin, Shiro, and Saber who were still shocked he had perfectly realized what had happened:
"We are being attacked, it is a very powerful magic weapon. The shot comes from the Kalysha Citadel."
If an individual more mature and less messy than Shinji had sat on the throne of the citadel, everything would have ended at that moment. But Angra Mainyu used the tools at his hand, the people who let himself be seduced by him...
Unable to focus for long on the study of a subject, Shinji Matou had not spent enough time understanding how the throne functioned, how he transmitted his orders to the statue of the god Auri-el at the top of the highest spire of the citadel. He just used that power awkwardly.
The shot was approximate, missing its target by several kilometers.
With his forehead covered in sweat, Shinji trembled while concentrating on the mental image he had of his target.
At the top of the citadel, the statue of the god Auri-el held the representation of the sun in his hands. The gold disc was getting brighter and brighter.
Even at a distance, Saber saw clearly the golden point of light that was born. Excalibur in one hand, the legendary King of Knights stretched out her arm:
"Avalon"
The sheath of her sword appeared before her fingers. Her eyes folded as she surrounded herself with a prismatic light radiating from all the colors of the rainbow.
Better focused, the ray of sunlight hit right on its target... but Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia was a Noble Phantasm who gave an "absolute defense" against any attack, a shield enveloping his possessor in the realm of fairies.
The flow of the attack broke on this perfect defense and was reflected like a mirror. Beams of golden light bounced back, falling randomly in the direction of the citadel, opening craters in the ice or striking the nearby mountain, fanning the glacier for miles, and raising geysers of vapors.
"It's impossible! How could they survive my power?"
On his throne, Shinji was furious. The mental effort he had made to control the second attack had almost drained him of all strength, but anger stimulated him. To see these pathetic insects resist him was absolutely outrageous. It was an insult to his power. He was going to show them.
Shinji Matou once again closed his eyes... this time gathering enough power to strike was going to take time.
Avalon was the most powerful Barrier type Noble Phantasm. This Noble Phantasm had only one flaw, its difficulty of use. The user had to remain motionless and the effect was brief. In other words, it was an impregnable but ephemeral fortress.
Moreover, like all Noble Phantasms, it was fed in Mana by its possessor. Now, Artoria had become a mortal again... and had far less Mana than the Servant Saber of the Fifth Grail War. Panting, she leaned on her great sword. There in the north-east, the golden light had reappeared. Another shot was being prepared. This attack had to be stopped... except she could barely stand up.
Merlin straightened himself, running towards the Amber-Eyed Hero:
"Shiro, Artoria showed you several Noble Phantasms used by the Knights of the Round Table? Is the Galahad Shield one of them?"
The young man struck his eyelids but immediately understood where the Servant was going:
"Lord Camelot? Yes, of course. But I can only create a much-weakened version. I would never..."
"You don't have time to doubt the capabilities of your Reality Marble. These limitations are in your head, especially in the case of a Noble Phantasm like the shield of Galahad. The power of Lord Camelot depends on the heart of its user. As long as the defenders of Camelot have the courage, faith, and will to fight, the white walls of the king's castle will never fall. Focus on that and let me help you."
As Merlin closed his eyes, his hands gathered on his big staff, a golden light appeared under Shiro's feet.
Passing his tongue on his dry lips, the Blacksmith with the Eyes of Amber came to post himself near Artoria. He closed his eyes and extended his hand before him. Green bright lines appeared on his arms. Concentrated, suddenly calm, it decomposed the different phases of reconstruction of an object by the Magecraft known as Tracing:
Judging concept of creation
Hypothesizing on structure
Duplicating material composition
Small flashes were formed around his tight fingers. A bluish mist began to form around Shiro.
Imitating the skill of making
A wireframe model appeared in the air, it seemed like a cross with a curved disc in its center.
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth
Reproducing the accumulated Years
Excelling every manufacturing process
Shiro Emiya then opened his eyes hypnotizing himself by focusing on his incantation:
"Trace, On !"
The Noble Phantasm of Galahad suddenly acquired materiality. Black, dense, almost as big as a man, it had the shape of a Latin cross whose branches extended a broad circular shield.
Far from it, Shinji had accumulated enough power and was preparing to shoot certain of having the most powerful weapons.
He prepared to shoot.
Who was going to win?
The sword that could slice the mountains?
Or the unshakable shield?
(1) The chaurus is a giant insect found in the marshes of Skyrim and also in the caves. Like many creatures from the north of Tamriel, the cold does not bother him. It is even found on glaciers.
(2) Ironically, it was Rin who taught Shiro the basics of Runic Magecraft. Given the low power of his Magic Circuits and that his Origin was an element as exotic as "sword"; Shiro Emiya was limited to the forms of Magecraft not involving the elements.
(3) Bishounen, a "beautiful man" in Japanese. The term is mostly used in Otome games... you know, these inverted harem games where girls play a beautiful princess and she has to "capture" a beautiful prince.