Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Legend of the Legendary Heroes) & Fate/Stay Night belong to Takaya Kagami and TYPE-MOON, respectively
Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Legend of the Legendary Heroes) & Fate/Stay Night belong to Takaya Kagami and TYPE-MOON, respectively
The Demon who wished to become a Hero.
-Prologue: The Beginning of a New Tale-
Eternity made one forget his or her own childhood days, and eventually even one's own origins. Perhaps he became who he was -what he was- by his own hand, perhaps by the machinations of another… or perhaps he was simply born the way he was. In any case, the first things he could recall would become the foundation for all the times to come: absolute power, absolute death and a perpetual isolation from everyone and almost everything.
Even before his exile and imprisonment by the great powers moving the World, he knew that in the lands filled with warmongering countries, ravenous monsters and horrors considered divine, HE was deemed as the worst of all.
For even without trying, he mastered most secrets and created them anew.
Even without trying or willing it, existence was annihilated in his proximity.
Even the divine horrors preying upon the World deemed him so monstruous and terrible that they bound together to ensure he would never interfere with said World ever again, withering away in an almost perpetual isolation, out of the reach of anyone or anything else.
Neither resentment or hatred filled his heart right then or in the uncountable years that passed in his eternally solitary prison, but despair and hope did. Being who he was, breaking such prison was not outside of the realm of possibility, but the message was just as clear as his understanding of his own fate. He was a destroyer by just standing close to anything alive, and the World and its denizens wanted to do nothing with him.
And yet the kind monster who never condemned The World or its denizens hoped to be part of them, with all of his heart. As the solitude battered as his sanity, so did his burning desire for companionship, for belonging. To the point that acceptance and acknowledgment became the very purpose of his endless existence, no matter in what form or shape.
Then one day, monotony was broken.
The wastelands which had remained solitary forever were now visited by a variety of characters.
Some were Them, The Devourers of The World who sought his exile in the first place.
The other, had been the person who would give him purpose by calling out to him asking for his help -and doing so becoming his first and last friend.
The stranger had asked for half of his very being to succeed in his quest to destroy The World in order to save The World. There had been no hesitation from his part.
Since then, he had taken part in the demise of the world many times, always helping Him to obtain the power to end everything, in the hopes of saving it.
The first time it happened, there had been no hesitation. Being who he was, he lived far beyond anyone and experienced the struggle of mankind for finding a balance in power, with war and death as the final results of the incapacity to come to an agreement and to solve old grudges. He also watched as the corrosive their corrosive power threatened to destroy the world and summoned forth numerous armies of monsters that devoured humans without restraint; that is until humans with power raised to fight such monsters, the most powerful and famous being him. He sacrificed himself in order to give him the power to defeat them and achieve his dream to bring the world to an end. He didn´t mind giving up his life for him, as he was the first and only friend he had in an eternity of solitude, of being isolated from everyone and being trapped in a war-torn land; if he wanted to destroy the world then he would happily help his friend, even though it would mean his own doom.
For a long time, he could recall nothing else after his last spell had been cast. But suddenly, he felt as if awakening wrong from a very long slumber, tormented by a strong hangover as memories he didn't know came back to him in a chaotic whirlwind that could not be stopped, that would not be stopped.
And with a dawning horror and clarity, the horrible machinations of Fate put into motion since the moment he cast that one spell were revealed to him.
The World would not simply end, and even when it did it would not remain that way. His move o free both of his sides and his friend from a new prison had trapped them all into a cycle of death and rebirth, meaninglessly seeking success only to lose it all as deemed by the roles they had unknowingly assigned to themselves. Experiencing different lives filled with hardship and happiness, only to arrive at the same result no matter what they tried.
It was his/her destiny to be devoured by him, whether he was a villain or a savior, enemies or lovers. Sometimes the end of the World would follow, sometimes it would precede the final act of their unwilling play.
And then The World would reset so it could end in the next thousand years, with nobody remembering the lessons from the past, being nudged into their doom with none being the wiser. The world behaved as if it wanted the cycle to continue, each time destroying all of humanity and any chance to change the course history. The story repeated all over again: humans warring war against each other, countries rising and falling, heroes and monsters battling to the death for the sake of their nature and ideals; always leading to the same ending. And every time he and Him were the key pieces involved, fulfilling their roles each time and fated to become the doom of mankind and to destroy any bit of happiness in their lives.
Even when his beloved friend found a loophole and managed to remember everything in his last incarnation, the board was set in such a way that, indeed, The World itself sought its own destruction and rebirth. That scenario, showing such potential, was eventually rendered into another dead end.
The immortal and invincible monster sealed away by the guardians and devourers of The World who remembered only solitude was able to hold despite the fragile state of his spirit. The monster who had experienced humanity over and over again, screamed in despair as he remembered.
He no longer wanted to repeat the cycle. He loved his friend, but he also loved many more people since his last incarnation. But the same love drove him to despise The World, and himself. Just as his first friend and constant companion, he grew tired of the prison called The World, one they had been trapped in by seeking to escape another, one which they could not escape even after destroying it. He was done with the maddening cycles, with enforced prophecies, and with their futile attempts at escape.
Somehow, he attained this terrible clarity, but somehow he also knew that as soon as this brief respite was over he would forget and blindly follow his predestined path. If such a thing awaited him at the end of this unexpected dream of clarity, he would rather be forever trapped in the void, not harming anyone and not meeting anyone who would be harmed because of his existence and the cruelty of Fate.
Otherwise… how would he break free of such fate?
Then it happened. The darkness of the void shattered just a little, allowing him to see a crack filled with many colors, like a rainbow.
When he curiously approached said crack, he was shocked by the feeling it gave. There was something sinister, akin to a presence at the end of wherever it led; but the pull that came from the rift didn´t have the same feeling as the one which signaled his return to The World, to Menoris.
Where did it lead then?
This was the first time something like this happened. He was always brought back to Menoris, fated to repeat the tale of the Demon and the hero with seemingly no way to stop it. However, if this rift was calling to another place different from the world of Menoris, beyond the boundaries of space and time in his own world… then, perhaps… perhaps this was finally his chance!
He could alter the Fate of the people in his world , freeing them from their predestined fates and escaping the thread of destiny which bounded him and him to destroy everything.
He knew he was responsible for many deaths and for denying humanity a chance to reach for something else aside from conflict and war. This was running away from the many sins he had accumulated, but it could also give them all a chance for something else!
This burning hope rekindled by the unexpected phenomenon, not unlike his first encounter with The Hero, was the final straw in his decision. Given an opportunity away from the damned prophecies, all of them may be able to do better, to live better. Even though the cycle had shown that they always found a reason wage war, it also showed the will of many humans to survive, to protect their loved ones, and to live in a measure of harmony with others; such were some of his greatest friends, and some of the people he met in the eyes of his hosts.
Even though there seemed to be darkness at the end of the road, if this new world was not controlled by some will of self-destruction as his then a better future was awaited the bold. He may not be able to see what would become of Menoris if he was successful, but he could witness, unbound by destiny, a different sort of world, perhaps a kinder world. He really wanted to see that, to take part in that.
He did not waste more time. As the crack appeared to be closing to make way once more to the endless void, he pulled whatever strength he had in his being and passed through it.
Such was his haste and anxiety that he never paid attention to another presence crossing the gate just after him. One who derived from his power, and who followed the very purpose which gave him despair. Born from the needs of Him, of his friend desire to destroy the world and them, and his willingness to annihilate humanity to do so.
And so, the being known as the Lonesome Demon and the curse known as Alpha left the world that at some point was called Menoris, to land into the unknown.
"Why am I not surprised?" Thought the Lonesome Demon with a sad sigh as he watched the scene he had stumbled upon. Many humans were already dead or close to, and whatever was responsible for it had left its mark on the land itself; it was same evil feeling that came from the crack in the void. Buildings laid in ruins and the hopelessness of the situation was almost breathable. It seemed that death was probably common in this place and the ones responsible were not limited to humanity.
His thought were confirmed when he felt as if The World was denying him. It seemed that his existence was not taken kindly by whatever authority controlled this world and he needed a way to block its influence before actions were taken to vanish him back to the void to repeat the never-ending tale. But a host was not something easy to find: usually some human performed a ritual to bind him and there were none in this world who knew of him; worst, he could not communicate with anyone to instruct them in the ways to do so. Aside from the fact that his knowledge in that area of magic was limited (something surprising and somewhat amusing considering his true name), he was in an spiritual form, an ability usually used in life to travel in the astral plane from his world, and the only way to manifest in this new one; and time was running down.
Luck smiled to him once again, however.
In the midst of the disaster, walking between the ruins of the city and the dead, a lone boy kept going forward. He seemed more dead than alive but nonetheless he didn´t stopped as if following some desperate hope, a dream of survival. But when he finally fell to the ground, the demon understood that the boy had given up. It would have not changed anything for the outlander, if not for the fact that a man had come to help the boy just as he was reaching for the sun.
The man then proceeded to pull something from his own body, an object which radiated a holy aura of magic and power that the demon could only compare to the Hero Relics in his world. And it was an aura of hope and safety which told him that the boy would be saved.
This was it! The only other way for him to enter into a contract with a host was if his/her mind and were in the closest possible state between the different aspects of the world: life/ death, consciousness/dream. At that point the natural resistance of the hosts to the transfer was almost nonexistent, though it didn't destroy them. It merely made them more capable of handling the strain of sharing their soul with more than one existence.
Once again, the Lonesome Demon took his chance and entered the body of the boy just as the mage was putting the relic inside him. And once again, while he was not paying attention, the curse named Alpha followed after him, the same idea in mind.
Two people had found salvation that horrible night.
A man who desired to become a hero, but followed the path of the bloodshed, coming to the conclusion that one life saved meant another was lost and therefore the closest he could come to the dream was to sacrifice the least possible lives for the sake of many more. When he was already breaking under the weight of his choices, he found some people to cherish and to hold on to, as well as a promise to fulfill his dream without more sacrifices. Sadly, such promise was empty, a deceit which he paid with the lives of his loved ones, those of many innocents and in a near future, his own. But just as he had finally broken and given up in finding survivors of the great fire, a lone boy who was barely alive came into his field of vision. By saving that boy he could for the first time achieve his dream without bloodshed, and he could somehow atone for the last of his great mistakes.
A red-headed boy, who paid a heavy price in order to survive as long as he did. Memories lost to the hellish fire. Emotions lost slowly as they became obstacles in the pursuit of survival, both the good and the bad ones, the ones related to others and the ones related to oneself. Until finally hope found no ground to sustain itself and disappeared, making the boy finally fall. When he had given up, he reached one last time for the sun, and it was at that moment that he was held by a man who cried in happiness and thanked him for being alive. Such happiness became an anchor for the boy to remain alive, filling his empty being with the desire to achieve that state and coming to the conclusion that the way to do so was to save others. He gained a purpose to live.
They would meet once again days later, when the man would formally introduce himself to the boy and offer him to become his family. And the boy would become Emiya Shirou, one whose purpose was to follow after his father's ideal in order to find happiness and to atone for his sin of surviving while others were denied that chance.
As the boy was healed by the powerful relic from the Fae, the man known as Emiya Kiritsugu didn't notice a change in his eyes. For a moment they showed the symbol of a pentagram: the mark of the bearer of the cursed eyes, the Alpha Stigma.
This was the beginning of the change in the wheels of fate. Their presence and the presence of the new existences within him would forever alter the balance of that world and the life of many beginning with the boy himself.
A/N: This is my first work on fanfiction and a crossover at that. Important elements of Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu crash into the Nasuverse, into the story of Fate/Stay Night and will impose change of the rules employed in such world. I always thought that Densetsu had great potential and it was sad that the only way to enjoy it completely is through the light novels, as the anime was finished just when the "happy" balance of Menoris was falling apart and the story was becoming more and more interesting (kind of like Inuyasha before the final season was aired years later). The fic takes some of the relevant elements of the story and works with them in order to induce a different plot in Fate.
Some would probably question the personality of the Lonesome Demon/Devil. Well I decided to give him the gift of memories in order to allow him to reflect on the fate of the world and both his role and the roles of others, specially the Black Fallen Hero. It gives this character a mayor role than being a reference point of what awaits the one who enters in contract with him.
As you may have noticed, I edited this chapter, taking into consideration more details from the Light Novels, especially those focused on Sion. This is not without a reason, but is as much as I may be able to do for this week.
Hope this excites you after so long.
See ya!