King of Fakers Chapter 5: A Charge of Kings.
The rustles of the hooves of horses, charging forward... slowly turning, the sand below became even finer dust, grinding by the wheels.
A glorious bright scarlet and otherworldly gold wrapped into the perfect eye catching and war built chariot.
Upon the reigns stood a blonde haired woman with marvellous green eyes, that gave love to all those that looked upon her.
It was a race, a sport and a event. The charge of the chariots raged forth creating a storm one could only see in the depths of a desert.
Dressed in a thin veil like red the Empress greeted her adoring public and rode on to victory.
She could hear laughter and cheers, happiness and joy in every word spoken, in every action taken and every glance, blazing from the souls of her people.
She enjoyed those days very much... and in her mind, the sounds slowly changed into crackling maddening fire, screams of outrage and death.
Tides of people roaring for her death, chasing her from the home she loved so much and the people who were by her side disappeared without a trace.
Just like the ravages of time, everything would be reduced to dust, a shadow of what once was.
Yes she admits it. She was and is, and perhaps always would be a tyrant, but a hero never regrets.
A hero is a person who lived their lives the way they wished to their best, following the images in their hearts, chasing what can never be theirs.
Laughing, crying, fighting and living... heading down an endless path that reached nowhere and yet everywhere all at once.
The dark unknown abyss stretched forward, adorned in the dress of eternal tomorrows. Until there would be single answer.
Only those who have lived and died find it. It might not even be what they desired... but it would be something that they had known all along, somewhere in the depths of their hearts and would they regret it? No.
Would they do it all again? No. What was done was done, never regret a thing, or you risk betraying yourself.
Could they wish it was better, yes surely, but they would never do so. Or else everything that makes them them falls apart.
Tears welled up in the Empresses eyes, she wanted to enjoy the light of the sun just a little more... the love of others, even in only for a fleeting moment, just even... if only a minute more. She wanted to treasure everything she held close to her heart... and hold it just a little closer.
To be able to see this image again and again, just to remain with her even if it was a remnant of the past. It was important to her.
Because... at her last breath, at her last moment... surrounded by flowers and what she and countless others had spent their lives working on to reach the unattainable concept, perfection. The dagger like sword edged in close to her neck. A finely crafted golden blade and a blade that shone like the morning sun of the days a man enjoyed the most. She did not shake. Yet her heart shook.
All alone, with no one by her side. This would be her last moment. How she hated that this is what was burnt into her mind.
What a... very distasteful piece of art... but maybe she just couldn't enjoy it, but she admitted. This was part of her life... but she would never ever regret it! A tiny smile.
The blade came to life.
Shirou awoke with a jolt and fell out of his bed and smashed into the one next to it... as well as the person sleeping on it.
A muffling barrage of annoyed sounds and groans as the beams of sunlight hit dead on onto their eyes.
It took a moment for them to stand back up and recover from the groggy state of sleep.
"What was that for? How dare you leap upon me while I was asleep... and in such a uncivilised and brutish manner!"
Shirou could only think... "She looks pissed."
The aura of anger however could be dissipated with a single secret word he had learnt from his daily dangerous life... the ultimate technique to stalling and changing the mood of any man, woman or child in the world... even the King of Heroes and the Fake Priest could not stand against it!
"I'm going to cook breakfast now, Saber." Shirou closed his eyes and made a huge welcoming and soothing smile, grinning like an idiot.
"What do you want?" Spoken so very sweetly. Saber blinked for a few moments... as if she just tasted something delicious.
"Oh... hm... I would like to sample the food of this country..." Her mind wandered for a second.
"Success." Shirou had won, the power of hunger, the primal instinct to satiate it. It hadn't failed him once. In one way it was his greatest weapon.
He made a small tiny smile and laughed.
"Shirou! I desire to venture among the public and the amusements of this world in physical form for all to see! Take me immediately."
Saber pointed to the door, standing almost perfectly straight. Shirou remained silent for a moment, he then walked over to a table, lifted a newspaper, rolled it up and smashed it upon the little girls head. "Everyone calls me an idiot... but you, you're something else."
Even Shirou would be able to tell that a person dressed like Saber would stand out no matter what, as a Servant to others first and because of her transparent skirt he was pretty sure the police would try to arrest her for indecency.
"Not dressed in that." Saber turned with a rather ferocious glare... with what seemed to be a hint of a pout. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Her voice rang with beautiful high tones... that ended with a deadly threatening ring to it... Shirou remembered that he should never directly comment on what a girl is wearing negatively.
Rin had taught him that the hard way. He shook his head as he dispelled the image of being repeatedly shot with minor magical strikes from his friendly neighbourhood magus.
"Think. The reactions of other people... it would be stupid for you to go out like that, remember other Masters are around too."
The glare weakened but remained true. "I don't see why you people kick up such a fuss about such things! If anything you should revel in joy for seeing my magnificent form...! But, I understand. I shall follow your customs..." her eyes drifted away for a few moments as if she was remembering something, almost hurtful by the expression in her eyes.
"Okay... I'll be back in a minute I'll search around for spare clothing around the house. Just wait a minute and don't do anything."
Shirou was back after a few minutes, he was carrying what appeared to be something similar to a habit. Saber's glare was now particularly ferocious.
"No." "What?" "No, absolutely not!" "Wait, why?" "I said no!" Shirou sighed, he would let her win for now, he was bored anyway so he didn't particularly care right now so he headed back to look for more clothing.
Shirou had returned yet again, this time he was holding a pair of black jeans and a red sweater. Saber didn't look adverse to it... she began to take her clothes off. "Wait!" He had no time to argue, fumbling he ran a small distance and covered his eyes. Despite all his teachings he was nervous about such things, but he was the type to only realise this in events like this. In other words he was dense unless it was outright stripping.
After a minute he slowly turned around. Saber seemed at least a little pleased with her garments. Shirou was not.
The shirt being red was not transparent but... since Saber wore no bra, Shirou could see the shape of her breasts easily. He fumbled and tripped.
"You can't go out like that!" Shirou looked away as he shouted. Saber now showed signs of extreme tension and annoyance.
"Why! You were the one who were graced with choosing the garments of a ruler such as I! Why do you regret your decision?"
Shirou tried to calm down. "It's obvious isn't it? Y-your chest is kinda... sorta showing from under the shirt!" Saber blinked a few times and made a small hearty laugh. "Ah, this culture is far too restrictive. Why be ashamed of the beautiful forms of the body? It is a natural unique artful wonder!"
Shirou's mind at that moment burnt out due to the image of tons of half naked people flaunting their... assets.
"Gah!... Uh... gurgh..." Saber blinked again and smiled. "Ah, to coin a modern term you people have... I believe I have broke you?"
It took a few minutes for Shirou to fully recover, he got up turned his eyes away and narrowed them for a minute then sighed.
"Fine, your dressed well enough to walk about at least, people may stare but they can't really raise a ruckus about it... I guess."
Saber made a triumphant raise of her head and a light nod. Shirou then locked his right arm around her left arm.
"...What are you doing Shirou?" The voice was slightly threatening but more confused. "Your a king right? Image is important wherever you go right?"
Saber shrugged and then they exited the home.
The morning was absolutely beautiful, Saber stretched her arms and made a wide grin. She stopped in her tracks and paused for a second...
"Hm, Shirou do you have any idea what the most entertaining and enjoyable thing to do in this land of yours is?"
Shirou thought for a few moments... "Well, I guess Rin is fun." Saber lifted an eyebrow slightly.
"That girl is the most exciting thing in this world to you? I see..." Shirou lopped his head to a side for a moment.
"Well many people can be boring, most just seem to always be the same. The way Rin is... it's rather unique." Shirou looked Saber in the eyes. "Thinking about it I don't know anything about you. So why don't we found out about each other then?"
Both quickly making a passive shrug began to walk down, Shirou wasn't really thinking about where he was going, while the girl in red simply followed the boy.
They ended up at the same area yesterday where they had fought Berserker. It was barred off with yellow police tape, the walls that had been pounded to near dust seemed to had been the main part being examined by the three or so officers around there.
"Well I'm glad I had the chance to fight him." Saber turned to Shirou with no sign of tension. "A man who was like a monster to the great empire of my ancestors, to fight him with my own two hands was indeed an exhilarating event!"
The nearby officers stared at Saber, Shirou pulled her back a little behind a nearby wall. "Like I said you gather a lot of attention... anyway, that means your Roman?"
Shirou had read up quite heavily on history and legends preparing for the war... also because his simple nature loved it, the tales of heroes fighting for what they desired.
"Ah, yes. I haven't given you any information that would make you guess my identity..." Saber once again drifted for a second. "Oh... I do hope Hercules is competing! He would definitely be a fearsome opponent! Oh and Meleager would be a sight to see! A shade shining in the darkness!"
Shirou was slightly taken aback at the sudden theatrical flare that burst from Saber. "Hercules... Meleager... well they would be fun to fight I guess. Oh! Mother could be a good challenge."
Saber brows furrowed and her expression seemed to freeze over in truly pure confusion. "The King of Knights... King Arthur!" Saber's face seemed to twist in a face of extreme hilarity mixed with the similar look a distraught and confused puppy has when they arrive in a new place for the first time.
"Did... you just say your mother is King Arthur?" Saber could barely speak the words as she had been completely discomforted by the information, reasonably like anyone else who would react to hearing such a thing from a red haired Japanese teenager.
"Oh... right. King Arthur is actually a woman named Arturia and she is the wife to my father King Gilgamesh of Uruk." Saber continued her face of incredible disorientation.
"...T-this is a r-rather amusing joke! Hahaha..." She looked at Shirou whose eyes were blazing with the same passion and fiery fighting spirit from the night before. "Your actually serious aren't you? Don't you think someone would notice that King Arthur was a woman?" Shirou shrugged.
"Maybe they lacked common sense?" A silence as Saber finally began to comprehend something. Her Master wasn't a normal person and that she should not even remotely treat him as such. "Oh I would also enjoy battling Uncle Enkidu, it would be nice to see him. Utnapishtim may be an interesting guy to talk too... I wouldn't mind fighting people who lived their lives to the fullest."
"People usually only live once. They should enjoy what they have and treat it the way they want. If your immortal or something that is a special thing that you yourself have, a miracle for you. And if you have such a thing treasure it. If not treasure what you have. If you want something take it."
Shirou's words came out strongly, clear cut and precise, they felt as if someone laid a firm hand playfully on your own heart. "For Greek heroes... Odysseus may be a good battle, taking the support of those who aid you and challenging what opposes you... even the Gods themselves."
Shirou's mind was in a pleasant place and his smile reflected that. "Well let's get going."
After wandering for a while they arrived at an video game arcade, to be honest it was the only thing Shirou could think of... until he remembered something. Today was a school day and the arcades forbid people his age or younger from playing unless it was far after school hours.
However before he could finish his rather small realisation Saber stole Shirou's wallet and launched herself into the place and threw a coin down a slot almost at random.
Her hands frantically moved and became incredible blurs of skin and red, the left arm twisting and turning in rapid fluid motions and the right hand slamming a combination of buttons in a carefully planned out sequence in a reckless manner.
"Continue?" Rang from the machine on the opposite side every few seconds as Shirou saw frustrated young adults try to combat the empresses divine finger tips with their silly mortal tricks.
It was futile... no matter how many yen coins were thrown into the opposite side... no matter how many attempts or new challengers... the empress remain victorious. She would not need to leave the machine until she was defeated...
Until Shirou walked over and sat on the seat and began to play, what then commenced was... actually rather stupid. It started as a incredibly fast paced game that would probably leave anyone in awe over how anything can program can move that fast.
That was precisely the problem, Shirou was now abusing his structural grasping. The machine wasn't keeping up with them. It was actually near the point of breaking. "Eat this!"
And then the machines had a minor explosion. The girl and the boy now has a small amount of dust and smoke clouding their faces, they looked at each other.
The boy and the girl then decided to do the logical thing and ran.
"Well that was entertaining..." Any sign of dirt on the empresses face were now gone. "Perhaps we should have slowed our pace. Then they may have momentarily caught us. There is no point in deviancy if there is no fear or threat of getting caught."
Shirou's lips pursed into a smile... until he realised that he probably would be banned from there for all of eternity. He was about to raise his voice in uproar but he instead just sighed. It was too early in the morning to shout.
A young black beauty waited by a cold beach, the sky was grim yet not dark, carrying but the faintest light in it's midst. Her eyes are devoid of shadow, yet the only shine in them is the reflection of the deep blue ocean, just like the large mirror of air above her head.
She was dressed in nothing but a large coat of white feathers, covering her child like body from toe to neck. She was kneeling and just staring towards the endless dying horizon. The girl knew very little, she knew that she was born here and that the tiny white creatures feed and cloth her.
Sometimes she would walk into the water, only to fall back at the cold touch and lacking the courage or will to continue on... but she kept her gaze going as far as she could see. There was something she wanted and the beauty knew that it lied beyond the sea!
Then she heard a sound. A sound she only heard when she got closer to what was always so far away. The sound of footsteps... then something beautiful which reminded her of the sound she made when red liquid dripped from her fingers or feet, from when they touched the sharp stones in the sea... for the first time she was hearing another voice.
She wasn't alone in this world. Something else like her existed... and truthfully many did. Her black hair danced to the heavens as she turned and looked... she had never really cared for what was behind her before... and she saw that the world was far bigger then she had ever imagined.
Something like her and not like her, something older yet surely kind as well as larger walking white creatures, the youth tilted her head and began to follow the man.
And so she took her first step into the world she truly belonged too.
Tohsaka Rin was quite worried. For the last few days her mind has been put into shambles. Shirou's attitude... well she might have half expected it from her mind, but it was still off putting. And just remembering the deadly glares by Shirou's 'father' and the man in black made her spine feel like it was turned into ice, burnt down and then smashed into a thousand pieces.
And now on top of that these realistic dreams... Rin swore that every last detail was perfect. She rose from her bed and scanned around, she made a tiny hop off and rubbed her eyes a little... and then she saw only shadow.
"Guess who?" A small silence. "Caster... I need... wash...face first... I don't... mornings." The shadows parted into bright light. "Oh then... you need to wake up... so have this."
A huge surge of icy water practically exploded in the red girls face and drenched her body in daggers of cold, chilling and awakening every nerve she had.
"Caster!" Rin was definitely now awake... as so was her Servant. Colder then anything, warmer then anything, more darker and more evil, yet always kind and strong. Her entire body shone with the radiance of a ruler and the heart of a warrior.
"Caster...?" Semiramis stood still as her brows narrowed her lips seemed to twitch a little in the upper right. "Fight or run? Rin... choose now. If we run we probably won't ever come back to this place. Home or survival? Tohsaka Rin or the magus?"
A clear look of confusion then her body shivered. "Rin... a Servant is charging right at us in the middle of the day. He's fast and... the very mansion is beginning to feel different. You're my Master. So the final judgement is yours, if you leave we'll have to fight tooth and nail to get it back. If we fight, then many innocent people will die."
The shades of cold blue came to a shocking lightning jolt and hardened into glass like stone. "Run... but we'll come back here! I won't let someone do what they want with my home... but I can't let everyone around here to die."
Normally magi wouldn't care about minor casualties, but two reasons made this situation different. First, a great many people were active right now, many just starting their days or beginning work or school. Secondly... Tohsaka Rin wasn't an ordinary magus.
His eyes surveyed the basement of the house, peering from corner to corner noting every detail. His dark figure bent down and withdrew a book from the shelf, opening it and reading carefully, his eyes squinted in a look of a old sadness with a hinge of annoyance. "So even in this time... so far in the future, such things we'll happen. Bonds can still be broken with a twist of a wrist pointing to a direction, leaving you to the wilderness that is the world."
Reading at an inhuman speed he tried to focus... "It seems my ability with such things is minimal as I am. Of course I can't learn things so quickly but I can feel it... a strength I never felt before. It shouldn't take too long to read this all. Then I can fix a few things, win this war... and I guess I'll just see how things go from there." His pale like glance found a book he knew all too well.
A black book with a golden cross. "Oh how I have loved and despised you at many times. I see that even magic cannot deny you."
He picked it up and smiled a little as he read some of his most well known lines, he then placed it back upon the desk.
This time his sight glanced at a small crystal horse, his pure fingers gently moved across every ridge and incision to make the sculptures form.
"This place is very beautiful, it's warm reminds me of when I was a child... as well as the bitter cold nights. Only a few rooms in this house have been used..." His thoughts drifted away leading to a tiny sigh. "All the more reason why I shall win."
Saber was now a flame like no other quite, beautiful and really really pissed off. "Shirou I'm going to knock some sense into those actors and whoever the playwright is!" That wasn't a request but a warning... a promise of violence, to Shirou this was a meagre issue. To Saber... not so much.
"I don't see the problem-" He stopped mid sentence, he could feel it... "She's serious." Shirou's mind racked itself for thoughts on what to do. "Look, you're my Servant right? Don't do anything stupid or I'll have to use the command seal to stop you." The last sentence was a crushing blow and a carefully concealed poison. To Saber the idea of being forced to do whatever someone else wanted without question! It was absurd and humiliating.
"Anyway, you enjoyed the show didn't you? I saw your face, yeah you got angry a few times but... you really liked the fact you were even there. We should start looking for enemy Masters and Servants now that it's dark." Saber sighed and slightly lifted her toes up to try to get to perfect eye level with Shirou.
A roar of thunder and rain separated them apart, but there was not a drop of water... "Ah it's gonna rain soon? We should get going then." The voice of a random bystander, Saber and Shirou turned to the east. A tug on their souls as they could feel something there. The sound the people had heard wasn't actually an impending storm but rather something else entirely.
They ran toward it, the sound of ferocious inhuman cries of lighting. Shirou knew what this sound was... the sound of hooves and the wheel of a chariot heading into battle.
He knew it as the march of a warrior king, the man who leads men to the glory and riches of life... as well as a pitiful end. He knew the sound now, from the dreams he had of Saber, he had no time to question it further. He just knew, two monsters laid ahead, a chariot and a warrior.
It began to come close, it's charge was about to begin. Saber threw herself a few feet ahead and kept her sword low, ready for a swift and powerful upwards swing, that was the best way to deal with a steed that bared its fangs upon you.
Shirou closed his eyes as his feet launched itself it leaps and bounds, he could hear his own heart beat madly as the feeling of battle began to race through his mind, his body, his very soul.
Then it really did begin to rain, but he didn't care about what gives life to what gives life, what he was aiming for was soon to be upon him. He wanted to win no matter what, to become that image. It floated like a haze of heat, the dreams of sand or the shadows of the mind, blurry and covered in violent light.
The image of a ruler dressed in gold, of all the people in the world to survive that living hell... he was chosen to live. He was going to enjoy every second of the life he was given. Not only for himself but for what he cared about. In Shirou's mind the very prospect of death was very far away, like a distant land he had seen once a long time ago... as if it as a whole other lifetime.
"Shirou!" The red haired youth's eyes exploded forth, passing by the tears of the sky and to what was before him. Saber had been outmanoeuvred, the speed of the shining golden chariot. Attached to it were two mist like ghostly horses their voices bended the very world around them with a thunderous storm like jolt, one black and the other grey, tears of blood flowing from their eyes.
Shirou knew already, a vague idea of what they were when he sighted the chariot. "So even the beasts style themselves as Kings!"
Shirou's mind became a pitch black for the second before impact. Then several fading burnt letters came to life in the darkness, the faded words became clearer and clearer. A black metal curved blade surrounded in a field of flowers... flowers made of blood, sweat, tears, songs and love. To Shirou this man at least acted the part of a King... he was so close yet so far.
The blade came forth from his mind and into the world anew. Saber recoiled even in the split second this was all occurring, the sword is Shirou's hand made her uneasy and... afraid.
Shirou hated and loved this sword, it was a sword made for a king to slay all the other kings of this world. To change the time and fate of the world... in other words a sword that started the emergence of dragons... the birth of heroes and men who desire to rule all the land!
A wide smile on his face as the ghost like steeds were but inches away from him, having leapt into mid-air and poised to strike! "Slash..." The horses neighed in protest and began to turn their huge bodies away... but they were to late! "The Kings... Like Logging!" A blur of black in the midst of the rain, meeting with the flesh of ethereal savage yet beautiful monsters of another land... what saved them was a lance of red.
Authors note:
Yeah sorry for a short and rather crappy update... I very much appreciate all the favourites, alerts and review I have received over 100 favourites! The 100th favouriter is... vincentduvent.
Anyway, I'm sorry for giving you this weak and unedited update. I promise to be far better in the future. Also thanks to everyone who exposed problems with the story and formatting that I have overlooked. I shall fix those... probably next week after school.
I promise you I won't quit this story no matter what! So take this update as an assurance of that!