Chapter Two: Family Matters
The wind offered a soft susurration, whistling through the branches. The days were growing colder, the leaves turning from green to red and gold, blanketing the ground in a gentle cascade. Ben had always loved watching the changing of the seasons with Alex. Sadly, his current worries left him no opportunity to enjoy the weather. He had known something about his sister's condition had changed, that some trouble had been weighing on her, but her efforts to dissuade his concerns had concealed how much she had deteriorated. Monthly visits to the hospital, her breath growing a bit more labored with each week, the doctors insisting that she rest, refraining from her previous athletic activities. Alexandra Ashira was wasting away, slowly but steadily. And Benjamin Ashira, her brother, was determined to do something about it.
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"Ben, will you stop staring at the monitors and get over here?" Alex demanded good-naturedly? "If you don't, I'm gonna smack you with this pillow."
Ben smirked in response, but within he maintained his concern. The rhythmic beeping of the various monitors set up in Alex's hospital room was a constant irritant in the background. The decorations themselves were bright and cheerful. A soft white and sky blue wallpaper, a Queen size bed with multiple cozy sheets, multiple doctors and nurses who were nothing but kind and patient…
"So, how did the Ravens do?" Alex inquired, asking after her beloved Softball team.
"They won, 5 to 4. I told you they'd be alright," he replied.
"If I was there, it'd be 5 to 2," Alex replied.
Alex had confessed she hated the place the day after she arrived. She truly appreciated that the staff were doing their best to make her feel welcome, but she had never enjoyed being treated as fragile or helpless. The constant care the various medical staff took whenever they were around her only served to remind the young woman how fragile her condition was.
A coughing fit left the young woman nearly doubled over, sucking in one painful breath after another, then eagerly accepting Ben's proffered glass of water to swiftly gulp it down.
"Ben, come on. You know I've gotten through way worse than this…" Alex's attempt at a reassuring smile was marred by the frustration he could see swimming in her eyes.
The disease that continued eating away at her body was a hereditary condition. It had claimed Alex and Ben's mother Letta also twelve years ago, and their father Simon had been killed in a car accident six years later. From then on, it had just been the two of them, Ben and Alex, taking care of each other. The mere possibility of losing his only remaining family to the same disease that had taken their mother was unthinkable.
"I'll find a way to help you get through this," Ben swore, clasping his sister's hand in his own. "Till then, you do what you do best: you're a fighter, always have been. So you keep fighting…"
For a moment, Alex gave him a look of uncertainty, perhaps even suspicion, but then she nodded, squeezing his hand in turn.
"You'd better not do anything stupid," she ordered. "Or I'll have to track you down and really smack you for worrying me."
"Of course…" Ben lied with a pained smile, already worrying whether he'd even see his sister again.
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The faint sound of chalk being scraped against the stone tiles echoed softly through the room. "There, that should do it," Ben thought to himself. The summoning circle lay finished before him, ready to call forth a hero of the ancient past. The relic Ben had acquired was the shaft of an ancient arrow, though oddly enough it did not bear a single drop of blood despite its unmistakable use. He had attempted unsuccessfully to determine the bowman that had fired the arrow, but it was determined to be a catalyst of notable quality. He simply had to hope whoever was coming would be able to help.
"Is this really the best way to help?" He could not stop himself from wondering. Yes, the Holy Grail would almost certainly be able to save Alex, but it went without saying that others would be just as desperate to obtain the mighty artifact as he was. There was a chance, a very big chance that he could end up being killed. Then no one would be able to help his sister. He gritted his teeth and slammed his fist down against the floor.
"I have to try. I can't just sit back and watch as she withers away to NOTHING!!! If it costs me my very life to save hers…so be it" he finished aloud. He made his way to the edge of the circle, and with a deep breath, he made his choice.
"Let Silver and Steel be the Essence. Let Stone and the Archduke of Contracts be the Foundation. Let rise a Wall to catch the alighting Wind. Come and follow the forked Road leading unto the Kingdom. Fill, fill, fill, fill and fill. Repeat five times, and destroy each when filled."
The great sigil carved into the ground began to glow a fiery red, unleashing a great storm of wind.
"I announce: Your Body is with Me, and My Fate shall be with your Sword. Submit to the Grail's beckoning. If you will submit to this will and reason, then answer!
I hereby swear: I shall be all that is Good in the World, and I shall defeat all Evil in the World!
Seventh Heaven, clad in the three great words of power! Come forth from the Circle of Binding, Guardian of the Heavenly Scales!"
A great flash of light and fog erupted from the circle, forcing Ben to shield his eyes. When the glare began to fade, he looked again, and stood speechless.
In the circle stood a man, a bit shorter than Ben in height and easily thrice his age with tanned skin like leather, sandy white hair and blue eyes. He was adorned inexplicably in modern military garb, and bore something across his back that looked like an assault rifle of all things.
"Was the catalyst not what they said," he wondered with some desperation, "what do I do now?!"
"I ask," the man declared in a deep, strong voice, "are you the one who summoned me?"
"Uhhh," Ben replied with no shortage of uncertainty, but his true response was cut off.
"Yeah, that's what I would like to know, sorry." The voice was youthful, with energy but a bit of awkwardness.
"Hold on, wha-" Before Ben could see who had spoken, something happened almost too fast for his eyes to track.
The older man had unslung the weapon upon his back, which Ben would later recognize was a highly advanced looking crossbow. In the space between a breath, within a blink, between a heartbeat, he had brought the weapon to bear, loaded a bolt neatly into place and fired. The red shaft ripped through the air with a speed that took Ben's breath away, aimed squarely at the speaker's shoulder, but it never struck home. The instant before it might have made contact, the assembled individuals heard something like a growl or a reptilian roar, and something lashed out at even more ridiculous speed to snap the offending bolt out of the air.
"That was incredible. There's no way anything besides a Servant could have deflected that shot, and a fast frickin one at that." Between the fog that hadn't fully lifted and the sheer staggering speed with which the action was performed, Ben was only able to catch a small glimpse, but he could swear he saw a flash of black, leathery scales.
"Woah woah woah woah woah!" The speaker cried out "Let's try to avoid any more brandishing of any…weapons and stuff."
"Fascinating," the older man in front of Ben stated, "There are not many with speed enough to deflect one of my shots. Your friend must have grace to rival the Divine."
"Yeah, he doesn't really like when people point weapons at me or other people he likes. He's the protective sort," the other speaker replied, finally stepping into the line of sight with his hands raised.
He had fair features, around the same age as Ben himself, with freckled skin brown hair and inquisitive green eyes. He bore a combination of a green tunic, and black and brown leather armor, but his most distinctive feature was his left foot, which had clearly been replaced with a strange metal prosthetic. The foot itself bore resemblance to a horseshoe, connected by leather straps to the limb proper. For an outfit that otherwise would not look out of place straight from the Medieval Age, it was astonishingly advanced.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot," the youth offered in a gesture of peace and reconciliation. "I'm Rider X, here to participate in the Holy Grail War. Sorry if my arrival left you startled."
"No, the fault is mine," the older man replied. "It would pain this old man's heart to have injured a youth like you without need. I am Archer, also summoned here. We shall both be at your service, Master."
Ben was at a complete loss for words. TWO SERVANTS, BOTH SUMMONED BY HIM?! How many more would be waiting if things were already going so far off the rails he could barely follow anymore.
"Alright, stop! Just! Let me catch up!" Ben cried out in frustration. "You're both my Servants, here to help me with the Holy Grail War?"
"Yes," the newly identified Rider X declared. "We can both sense the flow of magical energy between us and you."
"Okay. You said you're Rider X? Suggesting you're not Rider?"
"Correct," the young man replied "There should be another Rider class Servant native to this world, along with two apiece for all the other Classes." He winced in apology. "Sorry, kinda still wrapping my head around the idea of multiple worlds, so my expertise might not be as useful as you'd hope."
"He's…certainly not what I expected a hero to be like, but in a way that's comforting," Ben mused. "Feeling his way through uncertainly, but not shying from adversity. Sounds like me, to be honest…" He had no way of knowing how events would progress going forward, but neither Rider X nor Archer seemed like bad people. The latter had stood at ease once he and Rider X had assured each other they both meant no harm. His eyes were cracked, but Ben had the distinct impression that he was still laser focused on both of them. That shot he'd performed had Ben convinced him shutting his eyes wouldn't impede his shooting in the least.
"Alright, I've got no idea how we're gonna win this war, but I'm glad to have you both. I'll be counting on you." He tried for a smile and stuck out his hand to shake. After a moment's hesitation, Rider X took it.
"Yeah, likewise," he replied.
Archer smirked and returned the gesture as well. "After a heartfelt request like that, what could an old man like me do except do his best to comply with his Master's commands. Very well, I'll be watching out for you both."
I'm the midst of their camaraderie, Ben remembered something.
"Uhh, Rider X, does your…friend, intend to introduce himself?"
Rider X paused, as if debating that very question. "He's…undecided for now. He'll introduce himself when he's ready."
As if to punctuate the young man's statement, they heard another of those not-quite roaring sounds. This one seemed almost…annoyed? Resigned? Ben couldn't help but be struck by how human-like the vocalization was.