Plantlife had long since dominated this world. Not through means of ill will or enmity, of course, it was merely that after so many years, the plants had grown for so long that they covered everything that had once been open space. Casting its vines and branches all over the land as far as the eye could see, with no means available to remove them.

While animals did not live here, or any form of actual life, nothing would survive in such a poor environment. Unable to move properly, incapable of even making homes. A dangerous place where nothing ever changed and had stayed the same for a long time. In the end, it was a world of silence.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

That is until, somewhere, in some place that is unknown, the sound of a hammer is heard within the world. This noise was soon followed by two blooming flower buds, revealing not seeds, but two animals of some sort onto this overgrown world. Where both, yawning at their first breath of life, looked around a bit and overlooked their home.

It was just them, only them. Them and the Great Tree, which gave birth to them. It had installed special knowledge in them, with instructions of what to do, what their purpose in the Ever After was.To accomplish this task, the Tree had also blessed the two children with special gifts.

Smacking its lips, of the two small animals, the purple lamb looked at the golden deer across from him. The two looked at one another, tilting their heads and blinking. They did not know each other, not personally, anyway. Nor had they any idea what the other even did.

By some form of instinct, however, they felt drawn to the other. As if there were some bond between them both. Where despite their different appearances, the two just knew that they weren't alone in this overgrown green world they lived in for they had each other.

Neither spoke to the other, however. Perhaps they felt shy, or reluctant. Still, the bond they felt between them was there, and it wouldn't be going away. As such, following the commands given to them, the two turned away from the other. Perhaps they would speak later, given time.

For now, the small purple lamb trotted down towards the excessive wild plants that had spread all over. There was so little space, the small lamb didn't think it could even walk through it. If anything, it seemed that only the area free from this excessive vegetation was where the Tree stood. Now the lamb had to somehow deal with it.

With the magical gift it had, it could do many things. Reshape the plants. Carefully prune them. Or even just make them disappear. The possibilities were really endless all things considered. Although, not one of these ideas actually came to mind because the purple lamb, at that very moment, suddenly gained a strange feeling it couldn't yet identify at this time.

Curiosity.

Without even knowing it, the purple lamb opened its little mouth, then leaned in. Its teeth nearing the vines which all had thorns in them, a reckless act most fauna would never do, knowing instinctively that consuming such a thing would only bring pain. Yet a newborn child who had been commanded to deal with the plants wouldn't know this, especially one born less than five minutes ago. As such, nothing deterred the lamb from going in and taking a bite from the vines.

Where it munched on them without showing a hint of pain. Instead, it merely looked surprised by the way the vine tasted. Some kind of flavor it never knew before. Swallowing, the small purple lamb felt something fulfilling when finishing the vine. A feeling it liked, not wanting to stop.

It looked up though and saw plenty of vines and plants to eat. Fallen leaves as well, including bushes, trees, and so much more. It was all too much however, having only one small little mouth. If anything, the large amount of plants actually seemed intimidating to just devour bit by bit.

…In that case, why not just consume more efficiently?

Leaning its head down, the small purple lamb opened its mouth and then chomped down on nothing but thin air. In front of it, an entire area of vines was then gone, sounds of chewing were heard where a few leaves were poking out of the purple lamb's mouth. Then, for the first time in its very short life, it smiled.

"Mmm." Licking its lips, the lamb then saw that there was going to be a lot of stuff to eat. It knew it was supposed to do other things. Make things. Told how it could use its gifts to not just eat, but also make new life.

The other guy could do that if it wanted to. The purple lamb could make stuff later, not feeling in the mood of making things anyway. All it felt right now was destroying everything in front of it.

And what better way to do so than to eat it.

"Mmm. So good." It had been a looong time since the small lamb had eaten anything like this. Very long. It didn't know why, but at some point, it just stopped eating. Instead, wasting its time fighting with its brother and doing some weird experiments. That sounded so boring.

Munch. Munch. Munch.

Eating a lot of plants was much better. Especially after it ate that tall, weird, meanie looking creature. He didn't even know what that thing was. Certainly not an Afteran, because it was so mean. It must have been a defect creation of some kind, so better to eat it so that it didn't bother anybody. Though that might have been a mistake.

'Man that thing tasted awful.' Never did the purple lamb's tongue taste so bitter that he spat out a piece or two of that things soul. Yucky.

Thankfully, there were a lot of trees around here. They weren't as good as the trees back home in the Ever After, but they were alright. Especially when the little lamb began drinking the glowy (in its viewpoint) magical substance in the ground. It made him feel just right, stronger too. Like milk.

"Arf! Arf! Woof!" The small purple lamb then paused its eating, turning to meet a small creature around its own height. A 'dog' as its brother called it. Granted, the dog had some weird stuff mixed into it, but it wasn't something to be displeased with. After all, some Afterans had weirder stuff inside them.

"Hello." In any case, this was probably the first time the purple lamb was talking to the doggie. Recalling how it looked super beat-up, so he healed them. Now it seems they were awake. "How are you doing?"

"Arf! Gruf!" The dog then spoke, a language that while not understandable to humans (cause its a creature), was crystal clear for the purple lamb.

"I'm eating right now. Duh." What a silly doggie. It should have been obvious by now what he was doing. The dog then barked a little, its snout raised to the sky. The purple lamb looked up, seeing the stars.

"I guess it is a little late." He should actually be asleep by this time. Just to have some rest if anything.

For the dog, or the chimera wolf as it really was, it merely just felt confused by the strange purple lamb it saw. Unsure what it even was, only understanding the lamb was 'unusual' and 'dangerous', as its own instincts told it to run at times.

More so since all around it there were no trees, bushes, grass, or anything. A small area of the forest had been eaten away, the small purple lamb devouring everything in its path like there was no tomorrow. Certainly, the wolf wasn't any smarter than an actual animal, yet through instincts, it knew the forest disappearing was a bad thing. As such, it attempted to 'talk' to the purple lamb about it.

"I'll just have a drink and then go to bed." Clearly, communication was a failure. The wolf's jaw dropped as it saw the lamb eating more. For some time, it seemed to be lapping up something from the ground that appeared sparkly as it flew into the lamb's open mouth.

All while the purple lamb itself glowed a bit more brighter, where it then stopped 'eating' and looked up.

"Ulp." Then burped a small, but audible, noise escaping its mouth. "Mmm." the lamb then flinched. A noise coming from its belly, one that told others it was a bad sign. "Maybe I ate a little too much." The purple lamb admitted, its cheeks puffing.

"Arf. Arf!" As for the wolf, while it had no idea what the lamb was doing, it could tell it felt bad. Maybe it just needed to use the restroom, like it did sometimes. The purple lamb didn't seem to like the suggestion.

"N-no." It told the wolf, knowing what the wolf was suggesting. "I don't need the restroom." He never had to. A benefit of being a strong Afteran. Its tummy said otherwise as it then grumbled, followed by another burp. Even a child could realize that this wouldn't be going away anytime soon. The purple lamb realized that all the good stuff it ate, which had bits of magical energy in them, was proving a bit too much for its current state to handle. It needed to get rid of some excess magic energy.

As for how, well, that was the question.

Lying down on his side, which helped calm its tummy, the purple lamb began thinking, the wolf watching him. He allowed it, as the wolf seemed quite nice. It was always good to have a buddy around.

"Ah! Buddy!" Inspiration then hit the purple lamb. The wolf now felt anxious, as the purple lamb gave off a soft glow before, suddenly, the area in front of the wolf lit up, causing the poor animal to turn its head away, shutting its eyes.

Once the light died down, it then looked back to see something…unusual.

"Strange. Unusual. Location?" It was tall. Really tall. More than its old owner, with purple 'skin' of some kind and a long tail from behind. Lanky, lean, with horns poking out of its head and didn't even seem to have a mouth. It was bizarre in more ways than one, with the wolf perplexed by its appearance.

"And done." The purple lamb nodded. "Took my older me's idea and made this guy." The purple lamb turned to the wolf. "What'cha think?"

"...arf." the wolf honestly didn't know. All it saw was a weird 'animal' that wasn't a human or anything like it or the lamb. All by itself too.

"Ah! You're right." The purple lamb, capable of understanding, found itself agreeing with the wolf. "He is by himself. He needs friends." Closing its eyes, the small lamb then got to work. Multiple lights burst out in the open clear dirt, where the light took form and modeled into a shape like the strange creature that was here.

The light died down to reveal multiple of the same creature, just as unnatural as the first. Their heads shook collectively as they looked around, got on all fours, and found themselves in a strange place after being given life.

"Unknown. Mystery. Enigma." With each of them speaking words the wolf had no idea of what they meant. It backed away slowly, feeling cautious towards the weird animals. Finding their appearance and actions unsettling to the wolf's own instincts. The purple lamb, noticing the wolf's trepidation, walked to it and snuggled on its side.

"Don't worry, friend. They're good Afterans. See." He soothed the wolf's worries with its (literal) magical words, appeasing the masters (?) concern. Now, things felt okay.

An animal then arrived. A bear to be exact, having wandered around and smelled something of. It's nose having led it here with the mammal seeing the irregular gathering of different animals that were together.

The strange creatures created by the small lamb saw the bear.

"Danger! Threat! Fear!" All of them then called out, with one of them pointing at the bear accusingly.

"Attack! Eat! Destroy!" Then immediately jumped at the bear with hostility. They moved without question, struck as if attacking was the only thing they could do. Not even giving the bear a chance to go away on its own.

"Ru-uaghhh!" All of them dogpiled the bear where the wolf, to its horror, heard tearing sounds and wet splats. A wild shriek escapes the mammal covered by the strange creatures until no more sounds are heard. The wolf was terrified by the horrific action taken!

"See." All while the purple lamb didn't neven so much as blink at the sight. "They're good Afterans. Doing their job fine." If anything, he looked proud of what was done. As if he were a parent feeling prideful their child got a good grade on their homework. The creatures, the Jabberwalkers, then stand up with blood all over them, along with a few entrails. The bear's body was beyond mutilated and looking unrecognizable on sight.

The smell of blood hit the wolf causing it to shiver. The wolf, while it was a creature that would eat meat, especially those it killed for a meal, its appetite right now was lost on seeing the Jabberwalker group. It's body shaking, as it felt as if it should be running away. Not wanting to be near these monsters that gave off a dangerous feeling.

Feeling its fellow animal shaking, the purple lamb rubbed the side of its head to the wolf, as if to calm him. "There, there, little animal. It's alright." Hisd eyes sparkled and the bloodied Jabberwalkers were now spic and span, with not a bit of blood on them. "There. I cleaned them up. Now they won't smell bad anymore."

It was clear the lamb, as 'kind-hearted' it may appear, was far from something that could actually understand what others' feelings were. Not that it could be helped, seeing as the wolf, through the most unusual of circumstances, becoming a Master of all things, was no true Master in the end. It didn't even realize that this uncanny little lamb was, in truth, its personal Servant for the Holy Grail War.

As for the lamb…

'Should I make more Affterans? It's kinda boring just having only the Jabberwalkers.' In truth, he didn't care for the war at all. If anything, the purple lamb didn't even seem to realize that it was even in a war. Perhaps they didn't receive the proper information like the other Servants. Or maybe, like any child, they utterly ignored the details and other important information the Grail told him about this world. Though, it was more likely that while he did know about the war, he had decided to ignore it all together.

Fighting other Servants. Being made to follow the commands of a stranger. None of that would hold any interest to the childish purple lamb in general. Ultimately, the purple lamb, Servant Lancer, held no interest in doing anything other than what it wanted to do. Which was eating and alleviating its boredom in whatever way it could. Although…

Looking around, the nameless lamb noticed the entire area was becoming devoid of any plant life for it to feed on. Only dirt was around, making everything feel so…empty. Aside from it, the scaredy-cat wolf, and the Jabberwalkers, there was nobody else around. Just them.

"Hmm." By this point, its brother would, you know, be doing something to make the land look all nice and pretty. Making a house, putting in a bunch of new plants, or even just reshaping the environment in general. That way, the Afterans created could do their own thing in the new acre they lived in.

Granted, the purple lamb could do those things as well, but, admittingly, it wasn't as creative as his brother, the golden deer. It usually left the reshaping and house-making to him, only helping on occasion now and then. But his brother…

"..." With a small sigh, the lamb looked up to the sky. It already knew it wasn't home, with his brother and all the other Afterans back In the Ever After. Even without the grails input, the fact that the Tree was nowhere to be found or felt in the area had told the lamb it was not in the Ever After. He was very, very, very far away from home..

He also knew that he wasn't…itself, either. It was tough to explain, but the purple lamb had memories of getting bigger. Transforming. Experimenting.

All of which ended when he and his brother went through a special gate at the Great Tree, where all memories were cut off from there. Like its life ended at that moment, but it knew it couldn't have died, he and his brother. For some reason, though, he just couldn't see any further memories after that moment. Of what occurred after stepping through the gate.

Huffing, the purple lamb laid down, their wolf companion doing the same but looking away from the Jabberwalker group. Said group entered the forest to wander, which the purple lamb allowed. Not like they wanted them to be stuck in one place forever. As for himself, well, now that he was no longer eating, he was now wondering what it should even do.

It was summoned far far away from home, with no real goal in sight. This wasn't the Ever After, where he was born to eat stuff so new life could take its place. This was some weird place where there were only trees around. Was this place overgrown as well?

'Might as well find out.' The purple lamb thought as he smiled, standing up with the wolf looking at its actions. Wondering what the lamb was even trying to do. "Okay, then." Breathing out, the purple lamb made its decision. It looked down at the wolf and said, "Hang tight little guy."

The wolf suddenly felt a foreboding across its fur.

Crack.

It stood up just like the purple lamb, where it realized it might be best to run. Escape from this spot before something dangerous happens. Its ears were already alert and its tail raised high, its fur standing on end.

Cr-ack!

It was already too late. Its body buckled and the wolf found itself lying on the ground. Caused by the force pushed down on it as the entire ground suddenly rose with both Master and Servant going along with it. The earth rose up, all that magical energy now being put to use as the small purple lamb used their magical energy to reshape the environment and to gain additional height.

It wasn't long before the forest now had a tall pillar made of rock looming over the entire forest, where everything all around could be seen. From this height the forest and the space all across it, to a great light up ahead was seen by the lamb and their wolf companion.

Blinking, the purple lamb then realized it wasn't a great light, it was a bunch of different lights that were escaping big buildings, the type his brother would make on occasion. Only there were way more of these buildings, a lot more.

"Well that looks like a fun place to be." the small lamb looked at its Master. "What says you?" The wolf didn't respond, on account of whimpering and coverings its eyes with its paw. Terrified at how high it was at. Realizing the wolf won't respond, the purple lamb looked down to see how the Jabberwalkers felt about it.

"?" It saw the Jaberwalkers playing with a bunch of creatures that seemed similar to the one it ate. They were shouting, moving, holding metal sticks…guess they were playing with the Jabberwalkers. It shouldn't interrupt their playtime.

"Welp. Off we go." With their magic, the purple lamb then floated up into the air. Intending on heading off to the strange buildings and seeing just what was going on over there. Not that it would be alone.

"Arf!" Barking, the wolf was floating up as well, its legs moving frantically, only to touch thin air and nothing more. With a final whimper the wolf was taken with the purple lamb, the two flying off to the city, the entire uprooted ground then collapsing as it no longer had magic to support it. Crushing all the trees in its path and producing a lot of damage to the forest ground.

Childish laughter and whimpering whines heard across the night sky.

It was finally starting. The six Servants had been summoned, with all the Masters, false as they may be, having done their roles dutifully. Certainly there were a few anomalies here and there, especially with the introduction of the unknown Servants, but that was alright. In the grand scheme of things, everything was still going along fine.

All that was left was for the true ritual to begin. All for the sake of humanity.

"Not!" Laughing, a young girl with white hair found herself holding her stomach as she laughed. Sitting on a bed, she gazed at the crystal ball she had, observing with joy. Her eyes seemed innocent, as she watched everything going on with happiness. Underneath such 'innocence', however, was something far more disdainful behind those eyes.

Though such a reveal wouldn't bother Francesca one bit.

"Man, helping make this war really was worth it!" If it meant gathering so many fools and even unique Servants, then Francesca can die with a smile. Where afterwards she'd grab her own corpse with her new body and dump it in someone's backyard for an extra chuckle or two.

In any case, so far, things haven't been disappointing one bit. A Servant that looks like a lamb, a girl with a fashion style she approved of, a stuck-up scientist and a giant doggie alongside others. It was just a shame that no fighting has occurred between them at all in the first hour of this war. You'd think that with the final Servant summoned, that adorable little lamb, things would start heating up. Though that might change with that female Servant heading towards Orlando's so-so serious police station. Maybe someone will die there.

"And that's not even getting to the real fun." When even more Servants were summoned later on. The ones here were already great, so the next batch will be even better. Granted, there would still be another hour before she could start the summoning ritual, but that just meant time to watch if any bloodshed would happen. Oh, she sure wished she could watch the upcoming battle with someone else.

Of course, Faldeus was probably running damage control cause he's boring. Orlando, a stick-in-the-mud. Plus, for some reason many people didn't want to hang out with her. How rude.

Either way, for now, she's content with watching how the opening act starts out. Then the real chaos can begin soon after.

The final Servant, Lancer, aka the God of Darkness (Lily) has arrived. Though, in this situation, it's more like the nameless purple lamb. After all, by this point, the God of Darkness summoned isn't even the God of Darkness at all. Just an adorable Afteran that sees eating stuff a priority than anything else.

Though its behavior is rather troubling, on account that it was made to destroy things. In any case, now we can start on with the show. Until Next Time.