"Welcome back to life, Mr. Morgan." a voice called from the distance. One by one, he could begin to feel his body. His consciousness had never faded but it was muffled. Like swimming through molasses, everything except what he could see, feeling was sluggish and slow. His thoughts raced through the slosh but he struggled to understand what precisely was happening.
Even as his mind raced to understand what was happening, he quickly felt his senses reawaken as if his body had been connected to a power line. His skin was shocked at the cool air from the air conditioned room. The sounds that blurred together quickly smoothened out to become words that he could understand. He was smelling… things? Maybe memory will come back next.
Soon his eyes shot open and he began to see. What he saw, he did not understand. In fact, that was not accurate. There were some things he understood and some things he did not. This feeling of cognition came and went like the shores at a calm beach. It was disheartening but also strange. He could remember a time where he was aware this long but equally strange was that it felt agonizing for him to regain feeling but not understanding.
All of feelings and sensation ebbed and flowed and eventually was drowned out by a massive wave of electric fire in his body when suddenly, he found himself breathing. Even moving, when he willed his hands to move, they moved. His fingers clenched and relaxed. He looked up at the doctor who had been patiently watching for the past few seconds. That's right. He thought to himself. Seconds. All of this happened so quickly and so suddenly that everything happened faster than he could understand but now that he did understand he felt excited and had to say something. Anything!
"Hi." he croaked. NO! Not just anything! But still he felt better than ever before. He felt he could, in fact, he was going to leap but then a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him and led him to reconsider a wiser path.
"Mr. Morgan, I know you are excited but your body is still undergoing treatment. It will be at least another 5 minutes before you regain full awareness and physical fitness so I recommend you take things slow for now." The doctor spoke calmly but in a knowing fashion as if it were common for someone to wake from a comatose state to suddenly wanting to leap out of bed and even attempting to. Coma? That's right, he was in a coma. I was in a coma! Why, though? He finally paused long enough to wonder and to remember but he could not. Perhaps that was linked to what the doctor was trying to explain and so he elected to wait instead.
As he did so, he searched the room for anything else to understand. The walls were lime green, there were white cabinets all around. People wearing white aprons and blue masks walked around to other beds and people having similar conversations with them. One of these people did a strange dance and shot this strange green fire into a limp person before that person shot up like he had. Speaking of which, Who am I? He wondered. He was called Mr. Morgan, perhaps he'll refer to himself as Morgan from now on.
Morgan decided to sit calmly and study the room around him. It came as naturally to him as breathing did. The floors were a sterile, bright white and the room was spic and span, cleaned to perfection. It was strange. Morgan quickly could understand that he was in a hospital but past that he struggled. Like, for instance, why he was in a hospital. Or why he could not remember himself and even why remembering much of anything not directly in front of him was so hard.
"This is usually the difficult part of the treatment. But not to worry, the worst is over!" the doctor exclaimed. Morgan stared at him, obviously confused. The explanation did not clear things up but he thanked the doctor anyway because it was the polite thing to do.
"Thank you." Morgan croaked. His body was capable of moving but it seemed there were things that still needed repairing.
"Ah right, you'll be dehydrated." The doctor murmured behind Morgan. He snapped his fingers. "Nurse, some water, if you please." a cup of water flew right into Morgan's hand and he eyed it. Did someone throw it? But Morgan was too thirsty to care so instead he drank it and it was the most refreshing, soothing drink he had taken in his life.
"Thank you." Morgan repeated and this time his voice rang perfectly clear.
"Excellent. "The doctor smiled. "Now, I have some other patients to tend to. Please try not to move too much, I know you'll want to but it's for the best that you wait for the nurse to complete your orientation."
"Orientation?" Morgan asked, watching as the doctor collected his things and walked around the bed.
"The nurse will also handle any questions you might have." He smiled and bowed. "Once again, so good to have you back Mr. Morgan. Do try not to involve yourself in any more life-threatening events. They're quite expensive!" And with that the doctor ran off.
The information presented Morgan with a number of conclusions. The doctor had said "back" numerous times, leading Morgan to believe that he had died. But if he had died, how was he brought back to life? No such medicine existed. Things were strange and Morgan's mind grew fuzzy from trying to understand the various threads of information being pulled simultaneously.
SNAP!
A snap of fingers woke Morgan from his momentary discombobulation and he stared at the nurse standing in front of him.
"Name: Alex Morgan. Status: Alive, possibly forced into comatose state from a stray gandr. " The Nurse read off the information from the clipboard as if this were routine. "You're in luck, Mr. Morgan, everything about you seems alright. Your treatment is clear and we'll keep you here another 15 minutes for monitoring before letting you go. Do you have any questions?"
Alex froze, mouth agape, thinking of what to say.
"What?"
"Mr. Morgan, how much do you remember prior to your visit?"
"Nothing at all," Morgan or rather, Alex answered. Morgan sounded better so he might stick to that for a while. "I'm a little confused."
"Yes." The nurse frowned. She pulled the curtains to create some space for her to relax and talk. "I can see that. Mr. Morgan you were a Master candidate in the recent fragment war between other Masters hoping to claim a piece of the Holy Grail. Do any of these terms ring a bell?"
Alex shook his head and the nurse nodded before placing her clipboard down on the bedside table.
"This region is recovering from a Holy Grail War. We're from Clerics Without Borders. We can fix what's wrong with your body but I'm afraid that whatever is wrong with your mind cannot be healed by the magecraft we are capable of. Your memory loss could be attributed to all sorts of causes but it's a specific kind of magecraft, I can't do much without knowing the spell." She paused as if hoping Alex would understand but he was barely keeping up with all the terms.
"Anyways, you're doing relatively okay but things are rough outside the clinic. The most recent fragment was claimed by the surviving master has already departed but I would recommend laying low until things really calm down outside."
"I'm sorry, there's a war going on? Who's fighting?" Alex asked. The nurse gave Alex a sad smile.
"Everyone is, dear." She pointed to his hand and Alex could see faint red splotches all over the top of his right hand.
"Am I injured?" Alex asked, pressing his left thumb against the strange markings. They felt hot to touch but only mildly so. They also felt strangely familiar to Alex but he did not understand why. "It doesn't hurt."
"The way I hear, it's not supposed to. Those look like the remnants of Command Spells, it's what makes you a Master candidate."
"A master of what?" Alex asked.
"Wow, this spell really has its grip on you." The nurse gave Alex a tired joke before sitting down on a nearby chair. "For the past 18 years, the world has been caught up in varying degrees of Holy Grail Wars. The grail itself is like a container that collects magical energy. This energy can be used to grant a wish or so I hear."
"That's why everyone wants it." Alex concluded. The nurse nodded before continuing.
"It's also why you got hurt. Ever since magecraft was revealed to the public, the world has changed in many ways but with wars happening all the time, sometimes I don't know, I wish things never changed."
"When did the wars start?"
"Sometime after 2005. I don't know why though before you ask me. All I know is that fragments of the grail are all over the world and they act up, spilling magical energy everywhere. This energy is unstable enough to create a fragment war where Master candidates try to claim the fragment through battle which is why it's called a war, I think."
"I see." Alex replied, hoping to continue the conversation. But that's where it ended. The nurse didn't seem to know anything else. She claimed to stay well enough away from the violence to have never witnessed it herself personally.
"In fact, I was hoping you could tell me something about these heroic spirits since you must have seen at least one." the nurse chuckled but then she shrugged. "Or maybe I guess not. You were in the wrong place and the wrong time. Either, Mr. Morgan, you're a master candidate. You're branded with the mark that will lead other masters to target you wherever you go now."
"Why would I be targeted if I'm not fighting?"
"Servants are supposed to disappear after a war's over but that doesn't always happen since things are so messed up. More often than not, the end of a fragment war severs the contract between the Master and Servant. My understanding is that Servants can run around with their stockpiled magical energy but they'll run out eventually without a master. These rogue servants can form contracts with other Masters or Master candidates and therefore be dangerous wild cards in any fragment war."
Alex nodded as the information came together. In fact, he might have enough to understand his role in all of this.
"So that leads me to thinking you might have seen at least one as a candidate in this part of town."
"Where are we?" Alex looked over and asked.
"Oh wow, if you don't even know that then I'm definitely not getting more from you, haha!" the nurse laughed. "We're in Primm, Nevada. You were found in the remains of the parking lot of some old gas station. Like I said, lucky. This part of the country has a lot of rogue servants and wild masters."
"That's why you're here?" Alex asked and the nurse nodded.
"That's precisely why we're here. Hoping to make things better with one life saved at a time."
"That's good." Alex smiled. "Thank you for saving me."
"You're welcome, Alex. Now let's get you up and out of here, we got another dozen people waiting for the same treatment.
Alex's clothes from the attack were destroyed so he was allowed to pick whatever fit him from the lost and found. He settled on a thin long-sleeve hoodie, a pair of loose fitting jeans, and a pair of old sneakers. He walked out of the lost and found and approached the lobby when suddenly the building shook.
"What's going on?" a nurse that rushed over asked.
"They're at it again." the receptionist murmured.
"Another war? This soon?" the nurse asked.
"No. It's two rogues battling for control over the parking lot."
"Give me a break. We have patients to treat."
Alex watched as the staff members resumed their normal work schedules as if this were routine. Whatever was happening outside, it was enough that the room was shaking like it was under a long, continuous earthquake. Alex felt his hand burn hot since he realized there were rogue servants just outside and the red markings seemed to grow hotter with every burn.
Should I go outside to stop it? He asked himself. Probably not. He didn't have the first clue about being a master let alone magecraft or any of the important stuff. A sane person would have stayed put.
Alex found himself outside of the clinic before long. The burning sensation on his hand felt more like his skin itself was on fire and he couldn't stand the feeling anymore. In the distance two hazy figures launched at each other in something Alex guessed to be a battle. They clashed here and there and moved impossibly fast. Alex was sure it was a battle he was watching but really, the only thing he could see was the dust devil the activity was creating.
The heat on Alex's hand boiled to a point where he tried to cool it by shaking it and waving it but nothing he did helped. He thought about what the nurse had told him. Perhaps the heat and his instincts were related to the battle between the two rogue servants.
They had to be pretty pitiful servants to be fighting over ownership of some parking lot though, Alex thought to himself, looking over the desolate state of the empty lot.
He thought of what to do and how to "claim" the Servant as the Nurse had told him. He tried to point at them. Nothing. He tried shouting at them. Nothing. Eventually, there was nothing he could do but sit down on the hot sidewalk and try to endure the heat from his hand and the sand whipping at him from the fight.
"This is pretty pathetic." he said to no one in particular. "I wish I could stop this heat from my hand."
Suddenly, the red splotches emitted a neon glow from his hand like some kind of sci-fi laser and turned the top of his hand to a red field. His hand burned like nothing before and it took all of his willpower to keep himself from screaming and biting his tongue from the bone wrenching pain as the red splotches seared themselves into giant mass. From the red came two giant stairs, one white and one blue.
The searing pain stopped and only then did Alex realize he had doubled over on the sidewalk, screaming in pain from what was essentially a non-consensual magic tattoo session. Alex collected himself and wiped the brow from his sweat.
He also realized the environment had cooled significantly and the moon was steadily hovering in the sky. Did I also get knocked out by that?
"Hey, kid." a voice called towards Alex. Alex searched for the voice but could find no one. In fact, he noticed the dust devil was gone. Perhaps the rogue servants had taken pity on him and left for other places to fight!
"Please, let us materialize in physical form. It'll be easier to explain." Another voice called to Alex, this time clearly from his left ear. Alex looked over and found no one.
"Who's talking?" Alex wondered to himself.
"Oh no, I've had this happen before." the first voice lamented. "This kid is a rookie master."
"An amateur? Can that happen?" the second voice questioned. He seemed just as confused about the whole thing as Alex was.
"Yes. Looks like you're both new to this whole thing, here. Master, just try to imagine us taking shape. At the same time, imagine filling a cup with water."
"Do I need to know what you look like? What if I imagine something dumb?" Alex asked.
"No, we can take care of that ourselves." the first voice replied. He seemed to dislike being stuck with what he called a rookie master but he also appeared to enjoy being relied upon for advice.
"Hmm, so we can influence our appearance? I'll take that into consideration then." the second voice announced.
Alex tried his best to think of the two images simultaneously. It felt like half his brain was imagining water from a pitcher being poured in a white mug. The other half was trying to will an image of a grizzly bear into existence.
Suddenly, a white mist appeared in front of Alex and from it shot out two human figures. The two exploded into existence as if Alex had willed them to do so. Both look shocked and completely surprised.
The figure on the right turned out to be a casually dressed boy that was possibly Alex's age. He had fallen over from the materialization so he stood, dusted himself off and immediately began to fix his hair. He was dressed in simple jeans, a black tank top and a leather jacket. His messy hair had to be slicked up with some kind of hair product.
The figure on the left proved to be a far older man who was completely uninterested with his appearance. In fact, it seemed like he materialized while still wondering exactly how he should present himself. Standing before Alex was a rather furry man with a blue military uniform and riding hat. He was chewing on a wooden pipe before he took it out and studied its quality. When apparently satisfied with it, he went right back to chewing on it.
"You know, you coulda held back a little on the materialization. I said 'fill the glass with water' not a flood." The figure on the right was the first to speak. Despite his small stature, he was quick to voice his complaints. His voice revealed that Alex had been wrong about his impression. The Servant who was now speaking was likely younger than him.
"Whoa, hi. You came out of nowhere." Alex replied, ignoring the servant's earlier comments. "What's your name?"
"Rule number one about being a master, you don't call us by our names. Until you get that, I'm not telling you my name." the servant retorted. Alex noted he seemed to have an attitude problem and decided he would try a different approach in the future for talking with this servant.
"Well, what do I call you?" Alex asked.
"Caster." the servant replied.
"Pleased to meet you, Caster." Alex reached his hand out to shake Caster's hand. Caster seemed surprised by the gesture but slowly returned the handshake. Alex then turned to the other servant.
"Hmph, I would rather not keep my name a secret but if Caster will not reveal his identity, then I shall keep mine." the figure spoke candidly. Alex got the sense that despite the military appearance, Caster was only the experienced one of the three. "You can call me Rider, in the meantime. This is my first summoning so I'm afraid I am out of the loop as people say these days." Rider smiled as if proud of his joke. He turned to Caster, seemingly for approval, but Caster seemed disinclined to give him the satisfaction.
"Okay, well it's been a pleasure to meet you all." Alex stated. "But why did you guys stop fighting? Is this what happens when one of you wins?"
"I actually have the same question." Rider piped up. "Caster, do you have any idea what happened?"
"Rider, how have you survived this long without knowing any of this? The Grail should have filled you in on some of the details during your summoning."
"I remember no such grail nor any briefing. In fact, I have no clue where we are and I should greatly appreciate such information if you have it." Rider replied crassly but Alex sensed no ill will from him. Rider genuinely seemed to be completely out of the loop but not too worried about it. He stood confidently with one hand in his pocket and the other rubbing his fingers against the wooden pipe as though it helped him think.
Caster looked at everyone in shock. In fact, his youth made it appear though his eyes were going to pop out of his head. Alex thought about commenting so but Caster began speaking before we could.
"Alex, you are our master. You should have some Command Spells to show for it. Turn over your hands." Caster explained. Alex followed the instructions and showed them the top of his right hand.
"Huh, did you already use one?" Caster asked, inspecting Alex's hand thoroughly.
"One what?"
"A command spell. Usually, masters form a contract with the servant and get three Command Spells to get them to do anything you want." Caster continued. He was especially perplexed by the red field and the two multi-colored stars sitting in the middle of Alex's hand.
"So I can tell you to do anything I want three times?" Alex asked. "Like what kind of anything?"
Caster made a face and dropped Alex's hand, apparently having lost interest.
"Technically, not anything, it just gives us a power up to follow your command and if we don't want to do it, it's really tough to ignore the command. Just save them for an emergency and we'll be fine." Caster explained before observing Rider carefully.
"Okay." Alex shrugged. "So am I your master, Caster?"
"Obviously. The magical circuit connection was established by the contract and I materialized thanks to the flow of energy so thanks, I guess. So I know you're my master but what we need to figure out now is you, Rider."
"Hmm?" Rider asked, as if he were only paying attention now that he was addressed by now. "How can I help you, Caster?"
"Why is it you were bound by my master's magical energy? You should be a rogue servant right?" Caster asked, eyeing Rider suspiciously. Rider puffed on his pipe, a little wisp of smoke flew out as he did so, surprising everyone because he hadn't lit it with a match nor put anything in it.
"The answer is simpler than you think, Caster." Rider explained as he studied the pipe. He turned it upside down to see if anything fell. When nothing did, he replaced it and puffed some smoke once more. "Alex Morgan here is my master as well as yours."
"No way." Caster replied in shock.
"Is that strange?" Alex asked. He wasn't sure what to think. Rider was seemingly cavalier about the revelation while Caster was grabbing at his hair.
"It's not impossible but usually humans don't generate enough magical energy to handle one servant. You're handling two without any issue." Caster studied Alex more, as if trying to understand his existence now instead of his appearance.
"It's more than that, Caster." Rider continued. He smiled a bit as he stretched. It was as if he was getting a feel for his body. "How do you feel? Because I feel quite good compared to our sparring session earlier."
"You're right. We've been powered up." Caster agreed. "Alex, your magical energy output is really something special." Caster smiled in awe for the first time since they all met. Alex returned the smile.
"So what's this mean?" he asked.
"For now?" Rider answered. "Nothing. The next cycle hasn't started yet."
"But we can test out the magical energy outputs, maybe we can do some crazy stuff that we normally couldn't do." Caster excitedly speculated.
"Like our Noble Phantasms?" Rider grinned.
"You read my mind, General." Caster sly returned the gesture. Alex felt out of the loop but he was happy the servants were now getting along.
Rider raised his hand into the air and seemed to concentrate his energy into his palm.
"I imagine we'll need some transportation." he smiled, opening an eye at Alex. He quickly frowned though. "Hmm, we'll need more than just a horse though." A flash of blue lightning shot out from Rider's eyes and into the sky. The energy was replaced with a horse and buggy with Rider opening the door and gesturing towards Alex. "Have a seat, Master." he said before frowning again. He seemed displeased.
"Do you not like the term Master?" Alex asked him as he entered the buggy.
"No, I'm not particularly fond of the term but I will endure it during our contract." Rider answered politely.
"Well, you can just call me Alex if that's better." Alex responded, having made himself comfortable in his seat. He offered a hand to Caster to help him in as well but Caster sat himself without aid. "Both of you." Rider raised his eyebrows in surprise but gave Alex a warm smile.
"I'd like that, Alex. Thank you." Rider spoke gently before entering the buggy and taking the reins. "Everyone comfortable?"
"Yes!" Alex exclaimed.
"No." Caster complained.
"We ride!" Rider cheered and whipped the leather reins. The horse charged forward and the buggy began to zoom off of the beat-up road and into the open desert. They kicked up a storm as they went. While the buggy shook and jumped as it collided with rocks and sand, the ride itself was very comfortable thanks to some magecraft assistance from Caster.
"You guys never answered my question!" Alex shouted over the noise of the buggy shooting through the desert terrain. Caster looked over at Alex from his side of the buggy while Rider glanced back from his driving posture."Who won the fight?"
"Isn't it obvious, Alex?" Caster asked.
"I did." they both answered in unison.