[PROLOGUE I : THE BOY AND THE BLACKSMITH]

The white-haired blacksmith hammered away at a chunk of steel.

As sparks flew from the metal at each strike, they briefly lit up the dark smithy, which had no source of illumination except from the fires of the forge.
The blacksmith bought his hammer down on the steel one last time, before bringing it closer to examine. Seemingly not satisfied, he thrust it back into the coals of the forge, and waited for the metal to heat up. Once it was glowing red-hot, he bought it back to the anvil and proceeded to hammer it again.

At the other end of the smithy, the door creaked open. "Teacher, you busy?"

The blacksmith simply shook his head before he put the steel back into the forge. With one hand, he beckoned to visitor to approach, before taking out the steel and quenching it. "Does this mean you've finished that blade of yours, kid?"

The boy who walked in appeared to be in his late teens. He looked fairly normal for someone his age, apart from the noticeable white streaks in his hair, and the unusually worried expression he bore. Sakurai Ryuga was the sole apprentice of the blacksmith, and he had come to show his mentor the blade he'd just finished. "Yeah, I was just done with the final touches this morning, but I thought I'd not bother you until you were done."

The blacksmith put the steel on a rack to cool, and walked over to the boy, who'd unwrapped the blade he'd bought. Picking it up, the blacksmith swung the blade with precision a couple of times, before looking back at his student. "So far, so good. However," he smirked, "This is where the real test begins."

The boy winced. Previously, his master had somehow been able to point out serious flaws in the structure of his blades, which while barely noticeable, would end us hurting the wielder. However, this time, he was confident in what he'd made, but he couldn't help but be nervous as his teacher held up the sword at each end.

The blacksmith's arms began to glow faintly, before a pattern of lines began streaking down from him shoulders. They continued down onto the surface of the blade, pulsing for a few moments, for a few moments, before disappearing. "Magic circuits", thought the boy. "Teacher's ability to let him see the structure of the blade, down to the very core, is what lets him see what my eyes cannot."

All was silent for a while.

"Hmmm. I suppose this is a good blade. Well done, Sakurai.", said the blacksmith, as he handed the sword back to his student. However, the boy didn't seem as happy as he should've been. Letting out a sigh, he gently placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Is there something that's troubling you, kid?"

Sakurai Ryuga looked up, yet his mind seemed to be elsewhere . "They've called me back to London. The Clock Tower."

"Wasn't that expected? After all, you're nearing the end of your time as an apprentice mage under me. You have to go back if you want to become a full-fledged mage, you know?"

The boy shook his head. "It's not that – They're calling all the apprentices back because there's going to be a new Holy Grail war."

At the mention of the Grail war, the blacksmith's eyes grew wide. He quickly looked around for a chair, and sat down on the nearest one, placing a hand over his face. "I thought that Lord said he'd finished dismantling the Grail and the ritual, so why now?"

The contrast between his mentor's usual easygoing attitude and his troubled face at that moment caused the boy to snap back to his senses. "I don't know what happened, but all they've told is that there's a new Grail War. It's going to happen in Paris, and the masters for the war are going to be picked from the apprentice mages registered under the Association."

The blacksmith sighed deeply. "Well then, I suppose we'll need to get you prepared, in case the worst happens. Leave the katana here, and I'll get started on something that will be of use if trouble befalls you. Now be off, kid - Don't you have a trip you need to be packing for?" The boy nodded, before walking out through the door. Left alone in the smithy, the blacksmith sighed. "I hope none of those kids around die this time."

"It's already been twenty years, huh. What would you have done if you were here, Saber?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so i completely forgot to mention this, but yes - This, ladies and gentlemen, is the first work that I've decided I will see through to the end, no matter what happens to me or my soul. So anyways, a chapter shall come out once a month - twice a month if I don't have a block of cement for a brain at that point of time - and any and all suggestions / feedback are welcome, because I need that dopamine, folks.

So there it is, I present to you, the first out of many prologues before the actual Chapter I begins!
And yeah, this means y'all can expect Prologue II by somewhere between Christmas and New Year's Eve. Assuming I haven't gone and done something stupid by that point. Probably.

NOTE: I DO NOT OWN FATE STAY/NIGHT OR ANY OF THE RELATED ENTITIES OWNED BY TYPE-MOON (yet, because I'm just an extremely broke college student).