Dan 1142000: Thank you for your appreciation. I see that DrunkRin is still very popular... But I can assure you that HangoverRin is the eighth and worst plague of Egypt the day after! As for the Rin-Shiro-Saber relations, I invite you to reread chapter 16. Rin jealously when she sees Saber and Shiro together, Saber comes to speak to her... and kisses her on the mouth. As the story is classified as T I did not go further in the descriptions. But I've described several scenes where someone coming to wake up our heroes discovers all three in the same bed. I also think Sunny Day is the best ending for Fate. Since we are talking about the love life of the characters... you will have noticed that Archer and Sakura always meet together...
Auri-El's Gates
Archer awoke, instantly lucid. He did not know how long he had slept. Above him, the brightness of the cups filled with eternal fire never changed, let it be day or night on the surface. His Magic circuits too busy the day before made him no longer suffer and he straightened himself up with flexibility.
The Wrought Iron Hero left the little cave where he had slept without a look back. He merely closed the eternal cup of fire and put it in a pocket before going back on his way. He had nothing to eat and no reason to linger.
He projected a trio of engraved pebbles bearing the ᛒ rune, the rune of the birch. He focused on Sakura's face. Then threw the stones infused with his magic energy to the ground, uttering "Berkana". The runes immediately began to hop up the corridor to the north.
Archer was a new one impressed by the extent of the kingdom excavated in the glacier by the Snow Elves. He walked for hours, crossing gigantic caves with vaults of sparkling ice, illuminated by the eternal fire bowls. For a while, it would have been reduced to the size of a microbe visiting from the inside a gigantic diamond.
But a little further, an even more striking spectacle awaited him. A gracious stone bridge as elegant as the Elven art could build spanned a dizzying chasm. From the depths - plunged into darkness- rose the tumult of a furious torrent.
On the opposite bank, the road had been cut to the side of the glacier, bordering the abyss. As Archer had begun to climb the long staircase cracked by the passage of the centuries, a crystal-clear sound put him in a state of defense. The instinct forged by centuries of combat allowed him to react faster than any ordinary man. His hands were already closing on Kanshou and Bakuya as time seemed to slow down disproportionately.
He blocked the surprise attack by crossing the blades and responded with an overturned kick that threw his opponent away.
The creature struck the ice wall and shook itself...
It was a monster with surprising physiology, to say the least. It looked like the skeleton of a snake floating above the ground... but the bones were made of ice. The rest of the body (skin and internal organs) was completely translucent. Around the creature, the air was condensed into an icy mist.
Archer frowned, the guides had evoked this inhabitant of the polar zones of Tamriel. It was called the Ice Specter. Despite this name, the former Servant of the bow was not facing a living dead but an animal, it is truly quite unique. His blood was well below zero. In fact, if this improbable critter had been brought under a warm sun it would have melted!
The monster shook and threw himself forward, producing the same crystalline sound that had alerted Archer. The twin blades struck with the force and speed of lightning... the Specter exploded into a fragment of ice.
A knee on the ground, Kanshou and Bakuya held at arm's length like the wings of a bird ready to fly, Archer listened, attentive. But no noise sounded any more except the wind and the last echoes of the brief confrontation.
He let the blades disappear in a blue whirlpool and then resumed his march.
The former Servant was always on his guard no matter the situation. In fact, centuries spent fighting made that he could not completely relax. Even asleep, a part of him was still awake, ready to react in case of a surprise attack.
Nevertheless, his attention grew sharper. These places were less empty than it seemed, unusual enemies haunted these ice caves.
At the top of the steps, Archer discovered a new tunnel. In front of him, the three runes continued to hop the path and the ex-Counter Guardian hurried to follow them. The ascent had brought him closer to the vault of the glacier and, fifty meters above his head, he saw daylight filtering through crevices where a freezing wind was blowing.
The passage led to a vast cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites that gave it the appearance of a Gothic cathedral cut in the diamond. However, Archer only glanced at the splendors of the place... verily all this icy splendor was beginning to weary him. Above all, he was much more worried about the tracks on the ground.
It looked like the footprints of a troll, but bigger. Given the way the tracks overlapped, two of these creatures had to stay in this cave.
Archer sighed:
"It's just me to meet a couple of marauding Grahls, when I'm lost in an ice maze and haven't eaten for two days."
Given the difficulty for Saber to kill only one, meeting two in a corridor did not leave him much chance of survival. Two galleries allowed leaving the stalactites' cave. Unfortunately, the back-and-forth of the monster had blurred the trail signs. No way to know which one they borrowed last.
The runes had split. A pair stood in front of the first opening, and the last one jumped in front of the second pass.
Archer could not even opt for the shortest path to the citadel of the Snow Elves, since the two paths had to meet further. He shrugged his shoulders and chose the left tunnel. Anyway, with his usual bad luck, he was probably going to make a new "pleasant" encounter soon.
After walking a short distance, the tunnel widens into a new smaller cavern but it too is filled with ice stalagmites. Archer frowned, immediately on the lookout. Two things worried him. First, the bones of animals here and there certainly indicated the presence of a predator. Then he had a kind of snow dome in the middle of the cave. It was far too regular to be completely natural.
On the other hand, the north wall was made entirely of carefully assembled cut stones and formed a smooth surface without any trace of a gasket. And more importantly... a short staircase led to a golden metal door in the shape of an elegant arch.
Archer had reached the foundations of the Kalysha Citadel.
On his guard he advanced into the ice cave, making sure to stay as far away from the igloo as possible. If he was not mistaken the snow structure would shelter a sleeping monster that it was better not to wake.
As he reached the foot of the stairs, his fighting instinct made him turn and materialize his favorite blades. An Ice Specter had just emerged from the ground ... and the monster was much larger than the first one faced earlier. Without giving it time to approach, Archer launched Bakuya. Swirling along a spiral trajectory, the short Chinese saber struck the Specter at the base of the neck. The creature exploded in a shower of crushed ice, while the magnetized blade returned in his hand.
With an insolent smile, Archer relaxed. This kind of creature was absolutely no problem for him. He turned around and climbed the stairs without hurrying.
Standing in front of the entrance, he inspected it using Structural Analysis. The door was made of this alloy of Moonstone and Quicksilver which was commonly called "elvish". The panel opened like a harrow, going up into the ceiling. The lock...
An anxious fold appeared on Archer's forehead. It became complicated.
The door was enchanted. The relief engraving showing a blazing sun served as an opening system. Its job was to detect some sort of pass.
That was a serious complication. Emiya had all the skills to make an excellent thief. His ability to Trace the keys from the lock they were used to open would have made the kings of the robbery die of jealousy.
Unfortunately, the solar disk used as a detector gave no information about the object needed to open the door. Of course, Cadalbolg II could easily break down the door... and drop the ceiling on his head at the same time. Not a very good idea, especially if he wanted to avoid trumpeting his arrival to the occupants of the citadel.
As Archer struggled to find a solution, his entire attention was focused on the door. He forgot the igloo. The being that slept there had spent centuries without moving and without being disturbed by the Ice Specter which had settled there.
It must be said that it was not an animal, but a demon.
The Snow Elves had many enemies and the gate that Archer had just found was discreet access to their main fortress. They obviously had not left it defenseless. A demon continued to monitor this access several thousand years after the disappearance of the ancient Falmers. The presence of Archer, unable to cross the gate but refusing to turn back, designated him as an enemy of the magi who had invoked the demon from the Outer Kingdoms.
Archer turned around when he heard the igloo collapse.
In front of him was a saurian covered with icy blue scales with a toad's head. Two series of short bone spines formed like ridges above his small red eyes. Other, more massive spikes came out of its shoulders, from its hips, from its elbows. Its huge paws were just claws of horn.
The monster shouted and an icy wind surrounded it, lifting up snowflakes.
Archer widened his eyes, surprised and also worried:
"What the hell is that?"
Merlin could have told him that it was a Gehenoth... more exactly a Thriceborn. Indeed, one Gehenoth in a thousand was able to control the ice and Archer had the bad luck (one of his ordinary days, shall we say) to fall on a door defended by such a monster. Of course, there was no creature more terrible haunting the ancient Falmers' labyrinth.
"I'm the bone of my sword."
Nimbly, Archer made a side-pass avoiding the ice breath of the monster, and began to run along the wall zigzagging between the stalagmites that covered the ground. Nevertheless, the Thriceborn was rather fast and agile despite its fuzzy appearance... Certainly not enough to follow the fast movements of Archer, who slalomed between the obstacles, but enough to continue attacking him thanks to its snow magic.
Archer studied his opponent carefully. His skill Eye of the Mind (True) allowed him to find a tactic to shoot down the monster even if his chances of victory were less than 1%... Luckily, in this case, his chances were better.
Folded in half, Emiya suddenly changed direction. Taking Gehonoth to the wrong-foot, he threw Kanshou at it.
The blade swirled and struck the creature between the two shoulders. The dao returned to the hand of its owner who threw the second of the married blades. Bakuya opened a new bloody line on the torso of the Thriceborn and returned to lodge between his fingers.
The monster spits out a new icy breath and Emiya only had time to jump behind an ice column that suddenly doubled in volume.
Neglecting to bypass the obstacle, the monster rushed, pulverizing the pillar. Archer just had time to jump away but was bombarded with splinters of glass-like ice. He retaliated by sending one of his swords to cut a stalactite above the monster... but the Gehenoth had already rushed forward in pursuit and the enormous crystal spear broke to the ground in a resounding crash.
Archer had resumed his slalom in the cave, snapping his tongue in a reflex of irritation. Its possibilities were reduced, the remote attack was dangerous and a short-range attack even more as icy winds were constantly swirling around the enemy (1). And Archer no longer really thought that stalking the demon was effective. Kanshou and Bakuya were barely able to penetrate the robust scales that formed natural armor. Moreover, the monster had a natural regeneration that closed the wounds in an instant.
Fortunately, these two blades constituted only a small part of his immense arsenal of weapons. While running, he murmured the second verse of his aria:
"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."
As he threw his twin swords to create a diversion, his fingers closed on a western sword. At the same time, he Traced a protect fire Mystic Code. Because the weapon he had just invoked was quite easy to Project in spite of notorious destructive abilities... But Dyrnwyn ("White Hilt") was burning of red flame as soon as it was in the hand of someone worthy of carrying it by birth or deeds. It burned completely, from tip to pommel, a somewhat annoying feature for those who were not naturally immune to fire.
Archer rushed ahead, making reels worthy of a medieval knight, aiming at the eyes, the joints.
The Gehenoth retreated before his fury, the flame weapon did its work, opening deep wounds. Howling, the monster retaliated with big slaps that Archer gracefully dodged, striking the arms in the process.
The monster turned a furious gaze to his enemy and a whirlwind of icy wind came out of his mouth. Driven back, his body heat ripped away by the hurricane, Archer was briefly slowed down... and the Thriceborn struck without hesitation. The blow tore Emiya to the ground and threw him against an ice pillar which broke under the violence of the impact. But the monster was not finished. As the former Servant rose, the blizzard surrounded him again, even stronger, even colder. Packs of ice were accumulating on his arms, hair, knees... joining... merging...
When the Thriceborn stopped shouting, Archer was transformed into a thick, icy statue.
The monster turned and began to move away. The fight was over. The warm-blooded creatures never survived the brutal freezing.
"I have created over a thousand blades."
Emiya's Magic Circuits illuminated his arms with a green glow, diffusing significant heat as he Strengthened his muscles and bones to drive away the cold. The block of ice exploded.
Panting, Archer failed to fall to his knees. However, he faced his opponent without weakening. The Gehenoth seemed surprised, he must not have been used to such a recalcitrant victim. Emiya had to take advantage of it. He stretched his arm forward:
Above his shoulder appeared a blade, suspended in the air. It had two surprising things. The first was its height. Although it had the proportions and appearance of an ancient Viking sword, it was larger than a standing man. Even more impressive, the blade had not been forged in iron, steel, or any known metal... it was entirely made of fire!
The weapon had never been handled by a mortal, Archer had just Traced a replica of Svigi Læva ("The Destruction of the Twigs") (2), the sword of Surtr, king of the fire giants of Muspelheim, the blade that shines with "the sun of the killed gods".
The weapon represented a real feat to Trace and Archer had been forced to recite the first three verses of his aria to reduce the cost of its Projection. On Earth, he could only have used such a weapon within Unlimited Bladework. Nevertheless, Tamriel was a world incredibly vibrant with magical energy and there was no counter-force degrading his power.
"Welcome back to Oblivion. Enjoy your trip! And don't hesitate to send me a postcard when you arrive!"
Archer closed his fist, catapulting Svigi Læva right onto the Ice Demon. The monster was pierced from side to side and projected back, crossing one by one the ice pillars and all the obstacles before slipping into the wall of the bottom... like a huge and ugly butterfly pinned by a collector.
The former Servant sighed and rose up painfully. The Gehenoth was finally consumed.
He had a happy smile:
"I understand better why the original is supposed to kill Odin during Ragnarok."
Of course, the degraded version he had drawn was much less powerful and did not have the divine attribute of the one Surtr used, but... he was only a Faker after all...
Approaching the body, Archer noticed a detail he had missed. The monster had a gold pendant representing the sun around the neck. The jewel suffered without weakening the heat of the flames. This was enough to make him recognize as a magical object of a certain power. Archer picked it up and examined it in his own special way.
The next moment, the former Dog of Alaya raised the medallion in front of the door and the solar disc embedded in the elven metal panel lit up, recognizing the pendant of a Knight-paladin of Auri-El.
Archer was finally able to enter the citadel of Kalysha.
Beyond the gate of Auri-El, Archer discovered a corridor of cut stone lit by fire bowls hanging from the ceiling by golden chains. The first thing he noted was the much milder temperature than that of the ice caves.
For the first time in days, he was able to remove his mittens and unbutton his fur coat.
Emiya advanced slowly, watching.
But he heard nothing but the eternal fire that blazed in the bowls. The corridors had been empty since immemorial time.
A monumental staircase led him to a landing, where he discovered the frame of a door flanked by a lever. Out of caution, Archer inspected the room. The ground was covered with bones, various debris, and strips of shredded fur.
Archer searched the debris accumulated in the room and found a backpack and a rope pulley still usable. Then the Wrought Iron Hero lowered the lever, bringing down an elven alloy door that closed the room.
Emiya nodded his head mechanically, hardly surprised that the mechanisms of the old citadel continue to function after millennia without maintenance. The Snow Elves seemed to have built for eternity.
He resumed the ascent of the stairs which continued after the landing. Each stairstep was largely worn out in its middle testifying to the countless generations of inhabitants who went up and down these steps.
Archer was quite confident. He had arrived at the heart of the citadel and enjoyed the effect of surprise. This was his only advantage. It was crucial that he remained unnoticed until he spotted Sakura and found a way to escape the glacier with her.
The rumbling of his hungry belly reminded him of most urgent concern. Hunger... Saber was right, hunger was the first of the enemies. Despite the circumstances, he had an amused smile. Unfortunately, it was not a joke. He really had nothing to eat. Finding the kitchens or food stores before he was too exhausted to fight was a vital necessity.
While Archer was thinking, his steps had taken him to a new level. The stairs did not go up and two corridors started from this point. The runes had stopped in front of the openings. Once again, they had divided up. Two on one side, one on the other... the passages led both to Sakura. Too bad the runes can't tell which route was the safest.
He took the left passage. As it was indicated by two engraved pebbles, it was perhaps shorter.
After only a few minutes, Emiya discovered another of these doors of gilded metal that closed the rooms of the citadel. Like the one he had previously found, it opened by raising a lever next to it.
Unfortunately, the mechanism had suffered from the passage of time. After rising by only sixty centimeters, the panel adorned with the solar disc of Auri-El stopped in a great cracking.
Lying on the ground, Archer discovered a room still furnished with shelves supporting vials and small bottles covered with frost. No one was to have entered this room since the disappearance of the Snow Elves!
For Emiya the review of the old potions was child's play:
"Trace On!"
The Magic Circuits on his arm activated as he resorted to Structural Analysis. He identified a healing potion that he transferred into his new backpack, a speed potion and a sleep potion joined it. On the other hand, Archer despised the vial of poison. Not out of humanity, but rather because of the powers of the weapons he could Trace made him look down on such artifices.
The former dog of Alaya advanced for a few minutes along a corridor covered with bas-reliefs describing the invocation of Gehenots by elven magi. At the end of about ten meters, another elven door appeared in the wall. He simply raised the usual lever to reveal a large empty room... with the exception of a stone chest.
Emiya approached to examine the lock and Trace the corresponding key. For an ordinary adventurer, the enchanted elven helmet that lay in the trunk would no doubt have been of great value. But the former Servant shrugged his shoulders. He had better in Unlimited Bladework and saw no interest in taking on a useless object.
At the end of the corridor began a new staircase that went up to the top of the Citadel. As he climbed the steps, Archer felt that he should now be on the surface. However, in the absence of windows facing the outside, he could not be sure.
At a landing, the former Servant wrinkled his forehead before something unexpected. The runes had stopped climbing the steps and were jumping in front of a bas-relief section. He stopped to put his hand on the wall. Once again, he uses Magecraft to analyze his environment. Under his closed eyelids, Archer saw this sector of the citadel like a wireframe model... and a hidden room was behind the wall, exactly behind the section of sculpted wall in front of which the pebbles were hopping.
Examining the bas-reliefs, Archer discovered a tiny lever hidden in a molding.
With the sound of the stone scraping the stone, an opening was revealed.
The room in which Hero Emiya entered was bathed in a supernatural cold. His instinct warned him that he was in a dangerous place. In front of him was a stone door frame in the middle of the room. However, the interior was only a blue spiral.
Archer's eyes narrowed as he once again used Structural Analysis...
"An Oblivion Gate!"
These portals were passages to the Outer Kingdoms, the domain of the Daedras Princes. His Magecraft had revealed to him the use of the door but also its history. It was thanks to this gap between the worlds that the Snow Elves had once invoked the Gehenots. The magic circle traced on the ground was a powerful ritual charged to bind all being crossing the blue light's gate.
Bypassing widely the Oblivion Gate, Archer entered a huge Auri-El's temple. The titanic statue of the sun god dominated the central nave between double-column aisles. The floor was covered with paving forming a complex design combining crystal plates and black rock slabs.
Archer instinctively avoided the dark cobblestones and when a false move triggered the shooting of a hidden crossbow, he thanked his premonition.
At the other end of the temple, he discovered a climbing staircase at the right of the statue of the god. The steps led him to a coarse tunnel. The runes continued to guide him forward. Nevertheless, seeing a peephole near a stone door controlled by a lever, he opened the eyepiece and discovered that his observation post allowed him to spy...
Two Reachmen dressed in fur and feather clothing, the face invisible behind a mask of bones adorned with deer antler, roamed the passage. Each of them had a bone-point spear decorated with feathers. They spoke in a Breton dialect unknown of Archer, but their behavior left little doubt as to their occupation. These two men were simply sentries in patrol.
An ironic smile grazed the lips of the former Alaya Dog. The runes had allowed him to discover a network of secret passages which constituted in a way the reverse of the scenery. For once, luck was on his side.
Closing the eyepiece, the Wrought Iron Hero resumed his lead.
Tirelessly, the engraved pebbles jumped in front of Archer, leading him always higher. He had lined corridors, climbed stairs. Several times, the runes had despised doors allowing exiting the secret corridors.
Eventually, the runes stopped in front of a hatch in the ground. Archer knelt down to find a peephole. Opening the eyepiece, he discovered the room located under the corridor, a prison cell, and sitting on a narrow bed, a young woman with long purple hair.
Archer's gestures were quick, almost feverish.
He traced an ordinary dagger which he planted between two stones slightly unsealed, took out the rope which he had picked up a little earlier, tied it to the handle of the weapon. Then he opened the hatch with a small lever, before throwing the rope pulley down.
An instant later, he jumped into the prison.
The young woman had risen, surprised by the sound of the opening of the secret passage. Her eyes widened as she recognized the man who had just emerged:
"Archer-san!"
Hero Emiya smiles mockingly:
"To serve you, Sakura Tohsaka."
He would probably have added a few words of derision, too cynical to be quite serious in the role of the white knight that flies to the aid of the beautiful princess. But Rin's younger sister's quick reaction left him no time. With tears in her eyes, she snuggled up against Archer's chest:
"I knew Shinji had lied, I knew Neesan, Shiro, Saber, and Archer-san were still alive!"
Troubled, Archer could only close his arms to the charming burden that would cling to his neck. Mechanically, he stroked her hair while raising his eyes to heaven:
"I think you have a lot to tell me, Sakura. What has happened since Rider kidnapped you?"
Retreating a few steps, the young woman nodded bravely, smiling behind her tears.
This was the beginning of a long story.
(1) In TES Travel: Dawnstar, the game where the Thriceborn appears, the character played by the player has an artifact called Starfrost which contains the "winter powers" and which protects him from this monster's ability in the final fight.
(2) Strange name if any, it is an image of the fire typical of the poetry of the Scaldes (the Scandinavian bards). Note that the sword of Surtr is also known as Loganda Sverð i.e. "The Flaming Sword".