I took a few library novels with me in hopes of deciphering the problem at bay here, but I am POSITIVE I know what it is.

It is mana cyphering, a burning of souls in order to collect mana for a large problem

At first that wasn't a real deal since that could very literally mean anything, but then I realized something – the cyphering itself is untraceable. Originally we just thought it was some sort of plague-manifesto that latched onto the host through their magic circuits before corrupting and eventually killing. Cyphering, on the other hand, is the extraction of said energy and the movement of it to another body.

Characteristically, the mana cyphering is proudly done by a so-called "noble" family and is done with arrogance, leaving their family crest and their particular scent everywhere at the scene of the crime.

But that has not been the case…

So the cyphering is occurring on a wide-net scale, like a fisherman dragging the ocean floor. Just like when fishing, the net here has holes in it to allow the "insufficient" humans free – why go through the effort of draining someone of their mana if they hardly have any in the first place – and has yet to cast a net strong enough to hold the real mage families.

The first form of mana cyphering was developed by a "Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern," a German woman at the head of a great family, the Einzberns, 200+ years ago. Apparently the family had an ancient healing ability, lost it, and was looking to gain it back plus a little more.

The journal has a number of pages ripped out, but it looks like this woman as well as two others – a man, something along the lines of "Schweinorg," which I'm guessing is German or Prussian – and a "Tohsaka," who looked to be Japanese. They got together to find this magic the Einzbern family lost long ago, and apparently the ritual is used today. Always in Japan, since the Japanese man was the one who provided the land necessary for the transmutation.

How, or why, is unknown. The next several page are gone. The bottom of the first of the torn is still on the binding, so I have at least SOMETHING to work with.

All I need to do is invert the spell that was cast. That's it

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It requires a blood sacrifice

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3 chickens min

3.48 M Fusicoccin

Oak tree slab

Height at 9:26

This is it.

I have something to appeal to the spirits.

Here's to everything that ever could be and all the things that will be.

There's a lot in German, some in Japanese, and a lot in awkward English that I can't quite understand. Pentagrams, circles, hexagons, and triangles dot each page like some bar code, with a lot of scribbling and massive amounts of circling around consecutive things.

I page through emptily, looking for something worthwhile; the blood I "offered" it has yet to sink in to all of the pages. Unsure of what I'm supposed to do, I grab the book by the binding and shake it, as if it'll quicken the process.

Out drops a small pack of cocaine and a flake of some old-ass tree.

Well, it doesn't smell like cocaine, I reason, taking a tentative whiff of the bag. I sharpen my nose… harder... harder… it almost smells like the preservatives for those dissecting animals in lab sciences. But what gives, Takao? Why the hell are you carrying this around with you?

I sigh and lean back again, scratching my head in frustration. How could my brother have lived this life without me? How did he shoulder so much burden, without me noticing? I can't imagine how he felt about being underminded so much at school, after fighting so hard to get in there. Then to spend weeks on something, just to be told to go home… I don't blame him for doing just that, but I'm pretty sure the instructor meant back to the "Mage's Association."

I moan outwardly and fall forward, forearms resting on my thighs.

How did this happen.

How could someone as good as him fall to such a horrible fate?

I wonder if fate's a real thing, you know? I bet Takao could have decoded it, being the smarty he was. Not only would he be able to shake hands with fate, I bet he'd be the first to challenge it. Yeah, that's Takao for you – easy to underestimate, but hard to forget. That's the print he was going to leave on this world.

What are we supposed to do with fate? I mean, Takao was one in a million, and now he's gone; if the world is going to steal someone that precious to people, then who among us normal people has a chance of living our own lives? Its not like a lot of us will ever amount to anything more than a few simple mistakes. Its like being at sea our entire lives and slowly beginning to sink… and while you aren't totally afraid… you also don't… care, all too much. Fate is the hole someone falls into when they grow up. Fate is the future that can't be escaped.

Life isn't a board game. Existence is nothing more than a cellular science. There's no chance of any of us becoming anything. If there's anything I've learned from Takao's death, it's that.

I slowly sink down from my sitting position on the bench and lie down on the hard surface. Its not totally cold enough to scare me back home, but its not the most comfortable thing to fall asleep on. I wonder how the homeless do it.

I flip over, face down, and push the moleskin and plate in front of me.

It looks like he wrote some crappy poem. Then again, this is magic. There's the chance that its a funky spell, but…

Something compels me. I read it, at first in my head as I muse over the English, but then out loud.

A wolf walks through its kingdom in the silence of the day, the peace of its conquer ringing quietly in its ears. It rules the forest and everything to exist within it; it's a poem that has yet to be alienated by man.

But the wolf's ears sway, and its feet fall into place behind it as it chases an usual sound. It is an innate behavior – curiosity, respectfully - and to abide by curiosity is to thrive. The wolf slinks and roams its domain, weaving between the trees and the hedges and the many creatures that occupy each.

It hunkers down low, the wind whistling between its sharp ears. Before it kneels a killer unlike any other; a beast of burden, one who's eyes have seen the ultimate demise of life itself. It turns slightly to acknowledge the king it has so wrongfully trespassed against, but turns away, ignorant of the forest's master.

The wolf flexes its claws, digging into the ground, as the breeze shuffles through each raised hair on its back. It is the last of its kind, a soldier of a time long forgotten, with nothing but its duty to the forest keeping Death at bay. It growls, excited by the opportunity of a true challenge, but weary of the possible fate life will hand over.

Oh, how easy it would be to let everything to fall to the chaos. What is a forest, without a master dictating the birds and the bees? What is a civilization, without a law guiding its participants?

Both the man and the wolf now face each other, fully aware of the adversary's abilities.

And the wolf relaxes, hackles lowered and eyes wise. It will not attack the man, but it will not leave him alone either.

He knows the anticipation for war, he knows the looming threat on the balance of the world; where man has fallen ignorant in the last few thousand years, the animal kingdom recognizes the monstrosity building in the heavens.

The wind carries the sent of battle. Destruction is sure to follow in the next twenty-four hours, but the total extent of spilled blood is unknown.

The wolf sits beside the man, watching over the hill just as the man beside him. He knows a heroic spirit when he sees one.

May Fusicoccin and the bark of the oak be the binding

May the water and the scavenger work the root

May white be the flash of Death

May fall the wall against the rising winds

May the wings of the holy cardinals lift the pearly gates

Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate.

The flesh of the undecided may return to sleep

And my flesh the burn of your re-arrival,

Return to the Holy Grail, return the truth you longed to breath.

I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven;

I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell.

Holy Grail Servant, Return to your holy domain.

The power sparks and tree bark explodes at the final line, igniting in a crimson mess before evaporating in some indigo hue. A diagram on the page next to his poem reacts the same way, and within a heartbeat of speaking the last line, a violent wind bursts from the book itself. I can feel my energy bleeding away, despite the situation I've put myself in. The cup seemed to react to the incantation through reaching out to my own sixth-sense and supplying the need of the book with its own energy. But that's not the lasting impression.

You know that feeling when someone's watching you… somewhere? That is called the sixth-sense by a lot of people, or the ability to sense someone creeping on your personal space. Once I uttered the last line, I can physically feel someone prodding my mind, my most personal space, ticking away at it with a razor-sharp fingernail.

Ra-ta-ta-ta-tatata….Oh my, what have we here?

Shit! What the hell? I scream and clench my head, hair in fistfuls as I try to shake off the throbbing pain of someone crushing my skull from the inside. I sit up and try to stand but fall back down, my scream falling into a cry for mercy.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die, and no one's going to miss me.

The pain fades slowly away, and my hands fall dead beside me as I drip with sweat. The atmospheric pressure has shifted. Something… something's happening. Something's wrong.

I….I…. I need to get out of here.

But I feel so weak, so weak and tired. Maybe I can just sleep for a little while… yeah, let's… lets just…. ignore the pain.

I reach out slowly to put Takao's moleskin back in my inside pocket and the cup in another. I almost don't notice the fact that the cup took some of my throbbing away while I held it in my palm… I…. I can feel… the peace, the relief. This… this is nice. Almost motherly… but nice.

My eyes are only half open, but they're wide enough to notice the flickering instant the cup morphs into something it isn't –

- at first, I just thought it was a pack of ravens behind me. They started up from in the distance, somewhere between existence and the nameless void, and beat at the wind relentlessly. Some cry, some simply watch with their beady eyes as they divebomb at me.

I turned around to see whatever the fuck was being so loud behind me… its… its hard to… to fall asleep with so much… so much noise.

I saw them, beady eyes and black beaks, a second before they sparked into knives.

In this instant, I can see nothing but the void crashing into me.

I can hear nothing but the tremble in my heartbeat.

I can feel nothing but a single drop of sweat caress my cheek.

Oh

My

God

The cup instantly lashes into a three hundred and sixty degree shield, fully equip to defend its master. The knives crash into the violet forcefield, and the shadows all around me shake in rage.

NOW

I roll off the bench, belly up as a knife impales the wood I was just lounging on.

Okay, now I'm awake.

I scramble to my feet to run, to pray, to do ANYTHING, but fall time and time again.

I'm racing against time itself. Everything is in slow motion, yet its… its happening so damn fast.

I'm plumming down the hill, screaming and pounding the pavement beneath me as fast as I can. My foot catches a crack in the ground, and I trip. It's as simple as that. I land on my chin, biting my tongue mid-scream. When I tumble to a stop in the middle of the street, an eerie silence greets me.

What

WHAT IS GOING ON

A collection of shadows pools not six feet away from me, rising into a visible mass. It looms as it collects, almost building itself sideways as a leg steps towards me.

Then another one.

Then another.

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This is it.

I'm going to die.

I… I'm so sorry Takao. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have snooped, I should have just staid home.

I… I'm so sorry.

I'm updating a little quickly 'cause we're right around the corner from finally getting everything in order; we have one more after this before we're up-to-date with the original oneshot. As always, please do comment! This is getting a few hundred views a day, I'd appreciate hearing from some more of you :D