Confirming the goal ahead of him and the new path he had to tread forward to obtain it, Shirou calmed his nerves and thought of the future while in the midst of his dreamscape. The clouds that reached only to his ankles beneath him blew softly and revealed a flurry of dancing rose petals leading to the other two Gates he could see in the distance.
N
ow knowing the meaning behind the Gates and the looming threat of the distant future, now was the time to try and ease any tension between the Gates, and the residents of the new world.
Already, friendly relations had been established with the elves, the Warrior Bunnies, and members of the Beastmen Alliance. The only matter left that he thought to consider were the people of the Empire in this world. Considering that they'd already come to blows, pulling the rug over their conflicts was going to be a rough road.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Merlin's voice echoed, the pink flower swaying in a laid back manner. "Better yet, perhaps some assistance?"
Shirou considered it. In the shared memories he'd seen from Saber, Merlin was a brilliant advisor and tactician of the Arthurian court. Often, it was his means that granted Saber the ability to lead her knights through the most perilous of situations, and was vital in the conflict against King Vortigern. To have the aid of someone as accomplished as Merlin would be more reassuring than going in blind.
"What did you have in mind?" Shirou inquired expectantly.
The flower's limp stem straightened, as if proud.
"I am the Wizard of Flowers, but I'm also a creature of dreams. This is what allows your arrival into this space, and what will enable me to be of more aid. Through a scrying spell, I should be able to provide you with a means of surveillance outside your own senses both for practical and personal...uses. Hehe."
Strange as it was, Shirou felt as if the pink flower was winking suggestively at him. For his part, it didn't click. Instead, the more Shirou thought about it, the more useful it sounded in his mind. It was impossible to be everywhere at once, and if he could know things in advance by surveilling over a large distance, he wouldn't be caught off guard.
"How do I…obtain this power?" Shirou asked in all seriousness.
"Shirou!" For a moment, the flower inexplicably turned blue, Saber's sharp voice cutting into him.
"W-What?" Shirou stammered out, as if he'd been wronged. He knit his features, pensive. "Don't you think it would be useful for reconnaissance?"
"..."
Silence.
There was no response from the blue flower.
It was abundantly clear that what Shirou was thinking was vastly different from what Merlin was insinuating.
"Hear that Arturia. You need to lighten up! Why do you always have to be so violent? Where did you learn it from, or do you think it's okay to push around your teacher all the time?" The flower turned pink again, a series of distant ramblings echoing. "Now see here, Arturia, what's a peek here and there for your special man to satisfy certain needs and accrue skills to satisfy you beyond a mere org-"
"Merlin." Saber's tone was dangerously low, the flower turning from blue to deathly black tinged with red. "You corrupt him, I kill you."
The flower shuddered, a few petals falling off before the black returned to a smilingly sunny and regal blue. "Know that you've been warned. Now hurry on with it." It almost sounded like Saber was smiling now.
Merlin obviously wasn't laughing.
"H-How do you even do that?" The pink flower shuddered before floating level with Shirou's face to adopt a lecturing tone. "Anyways, listen closely. No matter how useful my Dream Scrying can be, it's not without its limitations. First and foremost, you must be in a deep sleep, it cannot be performed while awake. The images shown and voices heard are vague unless you know what you're looking for and where. The best analogy is a screen that shows a map of the whole world. Unless you know what you're looking for, how can you narrow in on it enough to be able to see and hear? This brings us to another limitation. I can only reveal to you what you are aware of. Unless you've visited a place before, it's hard to recreate that space in your dreamworld to show the present happenings in that area, as it requires too much energy. Alas, not everyone can be me."
In short, what Merlin was basically saying was that his Dream Scrying had limitations because Shirou wasn't Merlin. It was only natural though. The method that this scrying utilized was Merlin recreating what he could perceive through his limited precognition in Shirou's dreamscape. Merlin had to build up the entire setting with the memories that comprise Shirou's dreams. Hence the reason Shirou had to have been to a specific location beforehand. All Merlin did afterwards was insert the new variables he'd seen into the setting.
"Of course this means that the events have already transpired," Merlin gave due warning. It wasn't a 'real-time' observation spell. "In your dreams, I can recreate the important events that have already occured. You may believe such a flaw is lacking, but being ignorant is worse than knowing."
Shirou paused while listening, the implication in the words setting. "It sounds like you're alluding to something?" Heinquired tentatively.
The flower's stem swayed back and forth in imitation of a nod. "See for yourself."
Pollen sprayed from the flower's center, shooting over Shirou's finger in a dispersing cloud.
In the next second, the scenery around Shirou all changed.
The clouds beneath his ankles were replaced by earthy grass and gravel, and the sky above had taken on the dim hue of the moon overhead. Further observation revealed a familiar forest, vegetation, and a massive Gate on the top of a hill.
This was the very Gate he, Reines, and Waver had arrived at in this new world.
It was here and now that Shirou realized how convenient this all was when he saw various other magi soon appear from the Gate through his inner world. Along with the magi was a hooded figure who felt vaguely familiar to him. In any case, what was important was what came after.
Shirou's eyes narrowed as Merlin continued to cast his magic.
The magi were separating.
The knowledge that these events had already happened was not a comforting one.
In the end, he could only watch on.
/-/
S
hirou shuddered at what Merlin had just revealed to him.
If these events had already transpired then-
"I need to go."
"That indeed," the pink flower agreed before continuing. "If you intend to wake up, you must wish to do so strongly-"
In the dreamscape, Shirou's figure disappeared almost instantly. The pink flower blanked.
"His drive to save others is commendable."
"Naturally," the flowers turned blue in response. "He is my sheath."
"Oh, how shy of you? Don't you mean you're man?"
The blue flower shifted into an innocent white.
Shirou's expression hardened when he woke up from his dream. His hands balled into fists, a cold sweat causing a shudder to travel down his back.
Not good.
Hurriedly, he got out of bed and rushed off despite Tuka and Caila waiting to greet him at the entrance of his tent. He was too preoccupied with what he'd seen to explain anything. Moreover, his urgency was evident in his demeanor in that he stopped for no one, even the Warrior Bunnies.
Waver had woken up early and was currently in a discussion with Reines and Tyuule in a central command tent.
A contingency of Tyuule's elite Warrior Bunnies guarded the entrance, and would allow no one to interrupt easily. In their understanding, their Queen was in the midst of a political battle with a member of the cat tribe over the relinquishing of the debts binding their Male Warrior Bunny into what was practically slavery!
Any and all interruptions to impede this vital talk would be met with strong resistance.
Shirou didn't care at the unfriendly looks the Warrior Bunnies were directing at him and simply pushed on. When the Warrior Bunnies tried to physically grab him, they found that they weren't able to stop him at all.
Shirou's use of Reinforcement made their efforts moot.
Many considered drawing their blades, but they also knew that Shirou was an ally that helped in the Bunny Kingdom's hour of need. More importantly, he was an ally of Waver and an Apostle of the Elves. If they truly tried to harm him, there would be war.
Caila and Tuka who had followed after Shirou were already brandishing Elven magic if the glow over their skin and bows was any indication.
In the end, The Warrior Bunnies could only resort to non lethal means and tried to stop him by weighing him down. They grabbed his arms, his legs, his chest, and his waist, trying to use their weight and numbers to drag him back.
"W-When were elves supposed to be this strong?!"
Shirou ended up dragging the Elite Warrior Bunnies that were restraining his arms and legs along with him. The sheer disturbance created effectively disturbed the discussions held within the tent.
Reines, Waver, and Tyuule appeared in order to see what was going on, only to frown at the sight before them.
By this point, Shirou was now dogpiled with only his head barely managing to stick out from a tangle of limbs piled overtop him.
Reines regarded Shirou with pinched brows.
Something about him was obviously different. There was a type of determination and fire in his gaze that hadn't been there before. In fact, the best way to describe the look in his eyes back then was 'lost.' Now though, it was much more. Much greater. Still Reines didn't pin Shirou as the sort to force his way into anything he didn't feel strongly about. In which case-
"Is there something wrong, Emiya?" Reines inquired, her features sharpening. This better be important, as she had been in the midst of hashing out terms with Tyuule.
One glance at Reines, and Shirou knew that he'd be in hot water with her if she deemed what he said inconsequential.
He needed to get Reines and Waver to intervene in restraining the Magi that had crossed over, as Shirou knew that his influence in the Clock Tower was subpar. He had neither the authority, nor ability to straighten out those that had already crossed through his inner Gate without resorting to force and potentially making an enemy of the Clock Tower.
Then there was the magi he'd seen that had already made the difficulty between getting the residents of the Gates to cooperate even harder. This needed to be stopped sooner rather than later.
Sadly, Shirou couldn't just rely on himself in matters outside force.
In this game of politics, Waver with his position of a Lord and the backing of the El-Melloi family would have a greater means to shift the situation into something more favorable.
The problem now was convincing them.
Telling Reines about a wild magus on the loose would likely not interest her, as one or two errant magi making their way through the Gate were already factored within Reines's expectations. After all, it was inevitable for stray magi to appear when the Clock Tower discovered what was beyond the Gate.
So then what could he-!
Shirou suddenly perked up in thought and realization.
In the end, he already knew the words that would garner the most of Reines's attention all at once.
"Gate," he said the first word, then the second while the Warrior Bunnies were still trying to pull him out of the tent. "Sophia-Ri."
Two words.
Two words and Reines's face blackened immediately.
(Omake)
O
f the many magi that had chosen to cross through the Gate of the Sealing Designate with the members of the Sophia-Ri family, not all were affiliated with them. Sure, a vast majority had ties with the Sophia-Ri and followed their arraignments, but some magi were just different.
Lone wolves you could call them; they who preferred to keep their knowledge to themselves above all. They were often scorned by magi with long family lines, as the vast majority of their research was relatively new and untested. Their backing and research methods were also quite limited in that their Magic Crests were more often than not, First or Second Generation with little to no inherited magic circuits.
No matter. Some were just bold enough not to care, believing in their path of research beyond any doubt.
One such magus trudged through the underbrush of the forest, kicking up leaves from black combat boots that crushed small twigs underfoot. He was expressionless, short brownish hair neatly swept back behind his ears while his chin was constantly turned up as if he looked down on everything. His lips were thinned, his gait measured.
He wore a dark trench coat long enough to drag behind his heels over an old european-styled hunting vest that was dark in color. His pants were of similar design, a type of trouser matching the overall impression of a silent and menacingly dark figure.
A heavy pair of aviator sunglasses hid the color of the yellowish hued red eyes beneath.
His name was Wesker Arlet, a cold and callous man befitting of an unaffiliated magus pursuing the height of his family's craft.
His family believed that the closest way to the Root was through the imitation and understanding of those closest to reaching it, or barring that, a level of existence that could touch the threshold.
The template Wesker envisioned was that of True Ancestors, and the renegade Twenty-Seven Undead Apostle Ancestors. They were beings that were the closest to the existence known as magic both in their means and their abilities. By researching and understanding them, no- by imitation and evolution, a new path could be opened!
Of course, his research wasn't without its difficulties.
One need only observe how Lady Barthomeloi, the Queen of the Clock Tower, regarded the Undead Apostle Ancestors to know his research would be taboo. More so when Wesker considered the type of experimentation and subject types required.
The sudden disappearance of a population, or the emergence of failures similar to a Dead Apostles undead minions would insitage the Tower without a doubt.
Wesker's research just wasn't feasible in a world where magecraft was so heavily guarded from the common masses. Either he'd be persecuted by Lady Barthomeloi, or he'd be done in by Enforcers…but here?
This was an opportunity he just couldn't pass up.
At first, he'd been curious when a Reality marble was found in a human, as it related to the True Ancestors said to possess their own in the form of Marble Phantasms. The free research material was just too much a lure to ignore. Low and behold, the sequence of events led him to where he was now.
It was a sign. To have led him here where he was free to conduct his practices! It had to be!
He'd already accomplished his first goal and widened the distance between himself and the other magi from the Gate by several kilometers, the muscles in his legs rippling with augmented muscles.
One look, and it was clear that Wesker was no longer simply just a human magus. No, he was much more. In the ultimate pursuit of his craft, he'd come to the conclusion that he could not do with the weakness of mere human flesh, and chose to achieve the closest likeness to that of the Ancestors.
Magic is only considered magic if it couldn't be replicated by modern means, and the undying body and abilities of the Ancestors were borderline magics.
In his case, the Arlet family's research was still nothing more than a craft.
Wesker's craft specialized in body modification, something akin to a Chimera Maker. He'd infused himself with varying strands of phantasmal residue held for research in storage departments of the Clock Tower, and worked on from there.
Still, the basis of cell division and replication was an aspect of Wesker's craft that was replicable, hence a craft. Physical enhancements were also fairly common.
No matter, Wesker was already planning the path to the Root, and this new world was the starting template.
Once he decided he was far enough away, Wesker surveyed the area around him for a suitable location.
First and foremost, he had to make some sort of make-shift workshop to conduct his research away from prying eyes.
A cave situated at the side of cliff-face and surrounded by shrubbery drew his immediate attention. From first impression, it appeared to be the den of some large mammalian animal, but from the traces of blood and splintered wood nearby, it seemed abandoned after a fight of sorts. In any case, it would serve its purpose.
Entering the cave, Wesker wasted no time setting a bounded domain to enclose the space, and then proceeded on to furnish his workshop to his liking. In the end, it was crude, but manageable enough.
Instead, what piqued his interest were the signs of movement his bounded field had picked up by a fifty-meter radius around the cave's entrance.
Wesker furrowed his brows. He'd thought himself alone in a remote area, but this didn't seem to be the case. Animals perhaps?
No.
From the feedback and impression Wesker could infer from his bounded field that the introducers were humanoid. Given that most magi would turn away or acknowledge the presence of the bounded field Wesker had erected, he was quick to deduce that those approaching weren't fellow magi.
Gradually, a smile crept up to his lips as a new notion appeared in his mind.
Ah, how convenient. Perhaps he'd encountered new world human research subjects?
With a thought, Wesker found himself moving through the woods at a monstrous pace until he reached a small clearing where his query fell within view. .
"This is Alpha Team to Bravo."
The sound of a radio echoed as a man in military garb pulled an earpiece's receiver closer to his mouth and continued speaking. Near him, a dozen other men and women in the same military garb took positions around the perimeter. Unknown to Wesker, but this was a team sent from another Gate's Japan on a specific mission.
"We're on route to rendezvous with Recon Six. We'll take over protective detail from there before trying to make contact with codename 'Arthur.'"
Wesker raised a brow, noting the almost modern design of the humans in front of him, but not thinking much of it. Test subjects were test subjects. What mattered wasn't what they were wearing, but what their flesh would reveal. That being the case…he didn't bother waiting.
Wesker directly jumped in front of the unit, startling them with his sudden appearance, but horrifying them in the next.
Appearing behind the person nearest to him in the blink of an eye, his arms hooked around an alarmed woman's fragile neck, and effortlessly twisted it one-eighty. For the sake of proper material, he would do his utmost to avoid extensive damage.
A sickening snap echoed followed by choked gurgling. The rifle that the woman was holding in her arms clattered to the ground before the rest of the body followed.
Silence stretched for a second before-
"Bastard!"
A shot was fired.
It was such a predictable response, and yet the inexplicable occured.
Wesker's body blurred in the eyes of Japan's Alpha team, and the bullet passed on through before Wesker appeared, having dodged.
A second bullet.
The same result.
A third.
Nothing.
"O-Open fire!" The rest of the team now began firing.
Wesker's form was practically a blur of dark smoke at this point, his speed beyond the limitations of humans.
"W-What the hell did he just do?"
Bullet casings lined the ground everywhere by the time the firing stopped to reload.
Wesker sneered, lips curling in disdain. The inability of weaker lifeforms to comprehend the ingenuity of his craft was only normal.
The human body is a vessel of complex mechanisms and synaptic spaces that transmit electric current through the nerves to perform actions. Reflex pathways themselves can be performed on a subconscious level before the mind could even process the signal.
It was the autonomic system, a type of elevated reaction speed or heightened reflex maneuver.
Magnify this response through the body modification research Wesker specialized in, and he'd achieved a level beyond human. Rather than reinforcing his body, he elevated his body in a bid to achieve a physique similar to that of an undying Apostle's.
His body would react to danger before he was even consciously aware of it.
Still, this was getting annoying.
Appearing next to another person, he clenched his fists and punched, caving in someone's chest and sending him flying into a tree, frothing at the mouth.
Wesker pulled out a vial attached to a syringe from the pocket of his trench coat, and tossed it like a dart at a soldier's exposed neck.
"Argh!" Veins bulged; skin turning purple before turning deathly pale.
In Wesker's research of dead apostles, one aspect was the clearest.
The use of blood as a medium.
Within the vial was the diluted blood of a dead apostle that Wesker had been researching to minor results. At the very least, the undead created would not target him and heed basic commands. Regardless, in the eyes of the Clock Tower, he was touting a thin line here, but all in the name of his research. So long as he was still of the living, that boundary hadn't been crossed yet.
"Aizawa, hang on!"
Panicked, a friend moved in to help the man Wesker had administered dead aspotle blood into.
A horrid choice.
Before the friend could even react, the infected was already sinking his teeth into exposed flesh while clawing violently through proactive gear.
Dead apostle blood was generally used by a dead apostle to create servants that could spread the blood into the populace through infection from bites. In more western terms, it was akin to a-
"Z-Zombie?!"
"Alpha team get away from Aizawa!"
The friend who'd tried to help and got bitten soon succumbed to the same 'virus,' under everyone's eyes.
That's when it clicked while looking at their former comrades, and then towards Wesker.
"H-Hold on, look at him closely!" Someone screamed in stunned horror. "Doesn't he resemble someone? You know that video game?"
Dead silence, even in the midst of tension.
"W-Wesker?"
"Resident Evil?"
"I-I didn't sign up for this shit!"
"Enough, focus! Shoot their heads! We have no choice!"
Under Alpha team leader's command, two bullets were quickly fired, but it was too late. Their moment of inattentiveness cost them. Their former allies had already begun attacking, each bite spreading the 'virus.'
Mayhem ensued, but watching it all, Wesker himself was the msot taken aback.
"You know my name?" Wesker grew perturbed but quickly grew disinterested when the response was only 'you monster' or 'you're not real!'
Sighing, Wesker decided to get things over with.
Appearing by the remnants of Alpha team still struggling to survive, a quick twist of the neck served to keep the experimental subjects relatively intact. However, the captain who held out till the end was knocked unconscious rather than killed.
After all, live specimens had their own form of research benefit.
Thanks for reading!
Next update: Fate Legend
P a treon. com (slash) Parcasious
Book links:
Fatedlegacydark. ca
The Lonely Peak
New Book: Out on Amazon (Remove dash on link)
Survivor's Log Reflection: Amazon.c-om/dp/B08VDDGN7Z?