Beta read and Cowritten by GamerCrusher55 and Shigiya.
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-???-
She could not remember what had happened.
There had only been a blinding flash, followed by an overwhelming wave of nausea that twisted her stomach. The world spun violently around her until everything dissolved into darkness.
"..."
When consciousness finally returned, pale green eyes slowly opened to an old wooden ceiling. For several long moments she simply stared upward, blinking again and again while her vision struggled to settle. A familiar room gradually came into focus. Weak morning light slipped through the window, falling across polished wooden floorboards and revealing a room so ordinary to her it almost felt unreal. There was little inside besides a neatly made bed, a modest cupboard, and an old chest tucked beside the wall. Everything sat exactly where it belonged, free of dust, untouched by time.
But it should not have as the observer knew all had not been touched in over half a year. The young blonde with gray strands in her hair remained frozen as she took in the sight only she could best recognize.
"...My room? Ah! Nggh!"
A dull ache pulsed behind her temples. One hand instinctively rose to massage her forehead while she searched for memories that refused to come. 'How did I… Why did I think this room should be dirty…no I thought that because… because… Ngh!?!' Nothing answered her efforts except another wave of pain. Feeling unsafe in her bed, she slowly swung her legs out of the bed sheets and over the side of the bed. She remained seated, breathing quietly while the wind rattled the windowpanes. The sound was unmistakable. So was the biting chill that seeped through the walls every season.
Blackmore…
She was back in her room in her hometown.
That realization brought on more questions than answers.
'Didn't I leave for London? Yeah with Sir and then we went around solving mysteries about… about… Sir?'
It hit her out of nowhere."Nggh!!" Pain, a sharp throb that pierced through her mind like a knife.
'Was all of that just… no wait, maybe this is…'
For a fleeting instant, the thought that all of it might have a dream crossed her mind. Just as quickly, she dismissed it, as a strong voice echoing from the depth of her consciousness objected otherwise. Those were not dreams that she was sure of, she had lived through them, interacted with those people, both ordinary and extraordinary and saw the outside world she had never been allowed to go and see.
All of it, so vivid the magi, the places and the mysteries. None of it could have been fake or something as ridiculous as a dream.
'There's no way I could have made any of that up…right?' She glanced at her bedside desk and saw her collection of mystery novels she'd gathered over the years, the ones she had gotten from the merchants that rarely came to her, out of the way, country town. 'That couldn't have been my imagination running wild… those were way too vivid and contained things Gray could have never thought of in a million years, because she wasn't around much of that stuff in the first place.'
Frustration only caused her further pain, thus she drifted away from her thoughts to her reality. The sting of the cold against her skin, the faint scent of aged timber filling the room, even the rough fabric beneath her fingertips all felt far too vivid.
Pushing herself upright proved harder than expected. "Hn!" Another headache forced her to stagger sideways, fingers catching the wall before her knees threatened to give out. "Hah… hah… hah…" After waiting for the dizziness to pass, she wandered toward the window and rested both hands against the frame.
The familiar landscape greeted her exactly as she remembered it.
A stretch of woodland surrounded the village, its nearly barren trees reaching toward the gray sky. Most of the leaves had already fallen, carpeting the ground beneath them in faded shades of brown and amber. The wind stirred the branches without mercy, producing a dry rustling that echoed through the otherwise quiet morning.
Knock
Knock
A series of taps against the old wooden door gartered attention.
"Are you awake, Gray? Breakfast's ready." A feminine voice echoed past her door. The moment Gray heard the familiar source, a chill went down her spine. Audibly, a third person could note it belonged to an older woman before the footsteps outside then retreated before anything else could be gleaned.
"..."
Remaining where she stood for what felt like several minutes, she stared at the closed door as though expecting something else to happen. Nothing did.
…Eventually her legs carried her forward on their own to the door. Its handle turned beneath her fingers, revealing a hallway she knew by heart. Every piece of furniture occupied the exact same place she remembered. The faded wallpaper, the narrow corridor, the worn wooden floor beneath her feet... nothing had changed.
Drawn forward almost automatically, she entered the modest kitchen. A small table occupied the center of the room with only two chairs set around it.
One of them was already occupied.
Long blonde hair flowed almost to the woman's waist, framing features that looked remarkably youthful despite the years but still carried an undeniable age to them which figured since the owner of those features was thirty five. Not particularly super beautiful, but certainly pretty enough to avoid being called ugly, her face still showed a kindness and warmth that made Gray feel a conflicted lurch in her stomach.
All in all she possessed a graceful figure and gave the impression of a quiet beauty that naturally drew the eye, most likely even more so back in her twenties.
But in the end, it wasn't her appearance that rooted Gray to the spot.
It was her empty… no, her hollow eyes that no longer had any of the spark she remembered. The eyes once brimming with life were now more like dark pools of faded color, accompanied by the dark circles around her eyes. It gave the impression of someone who'd worked all night only for pennies and would do it again, the next day. It was as if the young girl stood before a machine who had worn her flesh and taken her place. Memories of the past, from years ago surfaced where she would once laugh with joy and play around with both her daughter and father duo.
A cozy and warm atmosphere that had long since lost in the annals of time.
…But to be honest they were similar to the very eyes she remembered seeing as they reflected in her mirrors countless times after that day everything had changed and those very same eyes passed on from this person got replaced with a greenish hue that sickened her each time it stared back.
Without a word, the older woman continued eating her breakfast. Another plate had already been prepared on the opposite side of the table with the exact same meal set as if to mirror her own. Eggs, bacon, toast, and a steaming cup of tea waited exactly as though this were nothing more than another ordinary morning.
Unable to find any words herself, she quietly pulled out the chair and sat down. Knife and fork moved almost mechanically through the meal while neither of them looked at the other.

Nothing but silence occurred as the two ate in sync with each other. The only sounds filling the room came from cutlery touching porcelain, the crackling fire nearby, and the occasional wind pressing gently against the windows. Every few seconds her gaze drifted back toward the woman seated across from her, searching for some flaw that would expose this entire scene as an illusion.
There wasn't one.
Every strand of hair, every small movement, every quiet breath matched the mother she remembered.
"...Good morning, Mom."
The greeting barely rose above a whisper and her mother finally lifted her eyes.
"Good morning, Gray."
A cordial tone.
Simply the same quiet reply she had heard countless mornings before. Breakfast continued without another conversation. Once both plates were empty, her mother calmly gathered the dishes into her arms before glancing toward the cupboard.
"Would you mind stopping by the bakery and buying us some bread?"
Gray answered with a small nod, doing so almost instinctively despite not having been in this position for over half a year.
"I will."
The older woman disappeared into the adjoining room carrying their plates to clean, leaving the kitchen as quiet as before. Remaining seated, the young mage simply stared at the empty chair across from her feeling disturbed.
"What... is this?"
No answer came.
Only the ticking clock hanging on the wall acknowledged the question. Eventually she rose from her seat, got dressed, donned her black cloak, stepped outside, and stopped beneath the small wooden awning at the front of the house.
Blackmore Village looked exactly as memory insisted it should.
Modest brick houses lined carefully paved streets that had been maintained despite the settlement's isolation. Her own home sat on the edge of the village, a simple single-story cottage surrounded by a narrow courtyard where nearly leafless trees swayed gently in the cold breeze. Thick clouds covered almost the entire sky, allowing only faint traces of sunlight to reach the ground. The muted light dulled every color around her, making the village appear almost faded, though that had always been one of Blackmore's peculiar characteristics during this summer season. 'Wait? Wasn't it winter? Mmnnh…"
Drawing her cloak a little tighter, Gray followed the familiar roads she had walked countless times growing up. "—!" For a brief moment, her body froze, and her eyes widened in unexplained shock as her gaze witnessed all the villagers she knew as neighbors. Faces she recognized immediately appeared one after another. Shopkeepers arranged their goods outside storefronts. Children crossed the street carrying baskets. Elderly villagers chatted quietly while tending small gardens.
Every one of them was someone she remembered. Blackmore village wasn't like the big city filled with countless people one didn't know. The little over a hundred faces were easily recognizable to a resident who'd lived their whole life here.
Welp at least one thing never changed. Whenever she passed by the villagers all looked at her with awe and worship as if she was some religious figure to their fervor. A sickening feeling welled up within her.
'I… I thought I'd gotten used to this.'
Yet the more she looked around the more she noticed something was off, their figures were not illuminated by the brightness of the hidden sun in the sky, and she could see an almost invisible dark tint surrounded their bodies, from a single glance, they're faces looking normal, but the more she focused the less clearer they became to the point of nearly becoming blurry. Her head would hurt the more she tried to gleam what was before her, trying to find the source of her growing worry. Their voices would echo as if stuck within a sealed chamber and their piercing calls to her combined with everything else to give a sensation she wanted to avoid.
'They're all even more obsessed with me than usual. And the way their bodies are fading in and out, It's almost like theirs… No, don't think about it.'
She took a step back, refusing to acknowledge these… things, But that sensation only lasted for so long until she took a deep breath. Raising her hood and covering her entire face before starting to rush ahead. The blurry figures then suddenly stopped paying attention to her, moving past her just like ghosts, much to her dismay.
She continued to walk onward.
Not a single person acknowledged her any further.
One by one they walked past as though she occupied empty space. No greetings. No curious glances. Not even accidental eye contact.
This was strange.
She'd been here long enough that they'd already known about her habit to hide her face with a cloak. Though she really made a habit out of it, after she left since someone asked her to do it.
'Never show that face in front of me again!'
Honestly, rather than being insulted by those words, it actually made her a bit happy and relieved. It was almost like he was asking for the person under the face, herself, rather than what everyone she'd known had wanted.
'Nngh!'
Her head ached again… 'There it is again, it shows up anytime I'm trying to think about my dream.' Shaking her head back into focus she tried to retrace her disrupted thoughts arriving back to the people who were now avoiding her cloaked personage.
Honestly she wasn't the only one who wore cloaks in this town, but some of them still should have spotted her, to suddenly not get any looks from anyone and to be completely ignored was — jarring.
'Though…it's not like they ever really looked at me in the first place, still though.'
She should have been happy that they were finally ignoring her. And yet, experiencing it again after everything she had just lived through felt strangely unsettling. Her fingers slowly curled beneath the folds of her cloak.
If anything they were treating her now like.
'No, stop it… don't even give words to it.' Giving those thoughts more power was never a good idea, Waiver and Reines always said the same thing. "Forget it, I shouldn't be focusing on that."
With that said, Gray quickly arrived at her destination, reaching the front of an equally old but well-maintained store with the words "Bailey Store" written upon the glass in black printed ink. Several products were put on display, and the bell rang as she pushed open the door and walked inside the equally somber place. Retracing the same steps she had taken thousands of times, the young girl picked up what she needed and reached the counter, staring back at a barely illuminated figure who just sat there reading a newspaper and listening to the radio.
'Did I ever even speak to him that much? At the time all I wanted was to ignore all those gazes…' This question sprung out of nowhere in particular, as she recalled that despite having made plenty of stops at this place, she rarely ever spoke to the man in question even though he did nothing but gush about her.
Her interactions had mostly only been him mentioning the price and her handing the money that was it. Though she did recall him behaving differently before her face changed, now just like so many of the others, he no longer had a stoic face towards her, starting to smile more as he spoke to her.
But each of those compliments, each of those verbal blessings and questions never felt they were addressed towards her. Just like everyone else, he was looking at someone else entirely.
But now… it was like she was entirely invisible.
"It will just be this," she mentioned with a whisper, but once more, getting no answer from the man, not even a glance as he continued to read through his newspaper. The lack of acknowledgement now felt frustrating for a reason she couldn't quite place. She should be glad, but instead it was as if some internal radar was going off trying to figure out some unseen change.
But in the end she could do nothing about it so she just placed a few coins on the counter before leaving.
The path leading onward seemingly lost more and more colour as she pushed through the door with no sound of the bell ringing this time as she pressed on. In fact, all sound around her dulled, followed by a mist that seemed to envelop the mountain.
On her way back, she tried to pay closer attention to some of the conversations, though that only prompted the ones that reached her ears to echo clearly without her being able to ignore them even if she tried.
"It's unfortunate."
"Why is he still tending to it? I get he's the only one, but he is doing a lousy job at it, I feel."
"A lousy job definitely, but there's nothing we can do about it. He's the best there is in the whole village."
The topic confused her, but she continued to listen.
"As long as he's able to perform his main duty, I have no problem against it."
"He is the gravekeeper after all. Those cemeteries aren't exactly known to be easy to keep tidy and clean. We can't have sister Illumia do such work, that poor girl is already quite busy with matters at the church."
"Agreed. Just wish there were more hands that could help the old man keep care of the place."
Sister Illumia, a name that brought several emotions within, none of them being particularly good ones. While it wouldn't be accurate to call it hate, Gray just never felt any good feelings from that woman. The latter always being hard on her for whatever small reason, being one of the few people she always tried to avoid if possible.
Especially after learning of her battle against Bersack when she first came. People from the church's shadow side were always individuals careful to be around, and Sir had repeatedly reminded her of that several times.
But something else caught her attention. The cemetery? Blackmore Cemetery? Despite her leaving this place, she still made sure to take her duties seriously and never once ignored her responsibilities. Whether it was curiosity or just denial of what was told, the blonde chose a different path and went towards the edge of the village where a quiet cemetery awaited her.
And there was only one gravekeeper in all of Blackmore.
…
Gray traced her fingers across the brick wall fence, feeling how much more dirt had built up, and looking around she could see weeds growing everywhere. "Where is Bersac?" she wondered. Continuing forward, she realized there were some changes, with new graves in the cemetery. Feeling curious, she went over to them, seeing several names she recognized and some she did not. Kneeling in front of one of the graves, out of habit she started cleaning it, removing some of the vines and debris.
"So much has changed."
Did she miss this place? The thought had crossed her mind, but she quickly shook her head. 'No.'
She knew full well the implications of leaving this place and what that would mean. After all, if she especially had left this place then…But still, coming back and feeling like an outcast in her own village affected her more than she would have wanted to admit.
The girl continued cleaning some of the graves, smiling upon seeing some of them now much cleaner. 'Ghosts will have less reason to haunt if you respect their burial sites.' Looking at the place around, she realized that unlike in the past, she did not feel as scared, but there was some lingering discomfort given it would be nighttime soon. Come to think of it, shouldn't she have felt the presence of…'Hnngh!'
Again before her mind could come to a conclusion it was assaulted and pushed to a different course. 'There probably were and she just passed them already.'
She couldn't stay here forever or else spirits would emerge again. Not to mention, one of the rules of the village was no one was to go in the cemetery alone and always needed another person to accompany them.
As a gravekeeper's apprentice, the former white haired girl believed in her own wellness and that everything would be okay, but best not to push her luck.
Shaking her head, she turned to leave, but just as she made her way to the village she realized there was a clearing where a single new grave was almost hidden away from view. In idle curiosity about who had passed on, Gray went over there to check it.
"Why is it so far away?" Unlike all the graves that were put in one spot, this one was far away, hidden in the corner as if no one wanted it to be associated with the rest of those who were buried. It was in a bigger mess than the others. As she tried to clean it up and remove some of the vines, she saw that even the grave itself was not well maintained. The tombstone was just a piece of rock with no smooth edges that was just placed there. As she did so, she saw that there was at least something inscribed on it. There was no name, but there was a date.
"Born June 17th,1988. Died, July 17th… 2003?"
Practically fifteen years and one month later.
Gray was shocked. Getting up as she felt another wave of dizziness washed over her. She recognized those dates, the first one being her own birthday, and the other one being the same day she left the village.
Panic set in as she started breathing harshly, taking several steps back from the grave as if scared by it.
A natural coldness surrounded her body, and she felt as if an iceblock settled into her stomach freezing her insides.
Turning to run away she noticed it was already too late.
She looked into the distance to see several almost humanoid figures appearing out of the mist around some of the graves, growing closer to her. Realizing what they were, she looked up to see that the sky had suddenly gone dark.
Gray immediately wasted no time as she started running away. "Ah!" Even as she tumbled a bit she never stopped running no matter how clumsily it was.
"Youch! It hurts!" she cried out as she got hurt tripping over a tombstone, only to pick her bleeding knees up and continue to run. She kept running and running until she saw her house in the distance and barged inside. She leaned against the door, trying to gather her breath before making her way to her room, where she felt safer. But as she opened the door, she no longer saw the empty and almost clean room. Instead, she saw a dust-filled room, covered in dust and cobwebs. The bed was covered in dust, the mattress was gone, and the cupboard was left open with nothing inside, an abandoned room that looked like it hadn't been touched in years.
Just as she first thought it should be.
"What is going on?"
Gray looked over her shoulder. "Mum?"
No answer came when she called. Instead, something struck the wooden floor behind her with a metallic clang.
The girl spun around and hurried to the bedside. "—!" Resting there was a familiar silver cube. Or what remained of it. One entire side had been melted into a twisted lump of metal, while deep cracks spread across the rest of its surface. The frame had split open as though something inside had forced its way out before the heat consumed what remained. Trembling hands carefully lifted the ruined device.
"...A-Add?"
She refused to believe it at first, wanting to be just a trick of her eyes. Just something that could have happened because of her paranoid thoughts at the moment. Yet the more she looked, the less likely all of this started to become.
"Hah... hah… hah…" A growing sense of panic spread through her chest. Almost instinctively, one hand reached toward the belt where the Intelligent Device was normally secured inside its cage.
Nothing.
Her fingers searched again.
Still nothing.
Eyes slowly drifted back toward the broken cube resting in her hands.
"Add... please..." Her voice cracked before she could continue. "You can't leave me... I... I don't know what I'm supposed to do without you. Please... no... no... no..."
Every second spent inside that room made the walls seem tighter around her. Clutching the shattered remains tightly against her chest, Gray rushed through the house and burst outside. The village rules no longer mattered. Everyone had always been forbidden from wandering outside after sunset, no exceptions, yet none of that entered her mind anymore. All she wanted was distance. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere she could think. Cold night air struck her face as boots pounded across the dirt road until a warm glow appeared farther ahead. Only when she drew closer did she recognize the source — the church with its doors still open.
More confusing still, the entire village appeared to have gathered there.
"What...?"
People crowded the courtyard, filling nearly every open space. Faces she had known since childhood stood shoulder to shoulder beneath the lanterns, quietly facing the church entrance.
'Nobody is supposed to be outside after dark... Why are they all here?' Another thought immediately shoved that one aside. 'It doesn't matter. I just need to leave. Somewhere else. Somewhere away from everyone.'
Without slowing down, Gray turned toward another street.
At least...
She tried to.
Her feet ignored the command, the body continued straight ahead. "Huh?" Confusion quickly gave way to fear. Every attempt to turn left or right ended the same way. Muscles refused to obey. Legs carried her forward with slow, measured steps despite every desperate order screaming through her mind.
'No... stop!'
Nothing changed.
'Why am I walking over there? I don't want to!'
Panic mounted with each unwilling step until the crowd came fully into view. Familiar faces gradually emerged from the sea of villagers. Her mother stood near the entrance wearing the same gentle smile she always had. The village priest waited nearby with his hands folded together. Beside him stood someone Gray did not recognize, their features hidden beneath the night's shadows.
Then every head turned. Hundreds of eyes settled upon her all at once. Even the shopkeeper from earlier slowly lifted his gaze until it met hers. Not one of them looked surprised and every single face wore the same smile.
Some smiled softly.
Others smiled so widely their expressions no longer looked natural.
Several villagers quietly lowered themselves to one knee. Others clasped their hands together in prayer, gazing toward her with reverence usually reserved for saints and kings. The sight rooted an icy knot deep inside her stomach. It felt rehearsed. Practiced. As though every one of them had been waiting for this exact moment.
Her mother approached first.
"There you are." Warm fingers gently wrapped around Gray's hand. "I've—no, we have been waiting for you."
She tried to pull away.
Nothing happened.
The body followed obediently while her mind screamed at it to run. Every instinct urged her to wrench free and flee into the darkness, yet the arm remained limp inside her mother's grasp as she was quietly guided through the church doors where more villagers waited inside.
Every pew was occupied.
Every pair of eyes watched only her.
The old woman slowly stepped behind the altar, her warm, wrinkled smile reaching Gray as she spread both arms in welcome. Her mother squeezed her hand once before speaking with unmistakable joy.
"We are blessed by your return... Lord Arthur."
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.
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"Huh?"
A-Arthur?
The title struck harder than any physical blow. Before Gray could even process it, applause filled the church.
"Our prayers have been answered," the old lady announced, approaching her with many giving her space. The oldest resident of the village, with many calling her grandmother out of respect. Her voice carried through the sanctuary and garnered her attention. "Little one, you have no idea how much blood sweat and tears have gone into this… this blessing left by our black madonna. Generations devoted themselves to this day. Centuries of faith. Centuries of sacrifice. None of it was in vain. At long last, our king has returned to us."
The applause only grew louder.
Palm after palm struck together in perfect rhythm until the church echoed with endless clapping. None of the villagers spoke over one another. None broke formation. They simply smiled... and applauded... and stared at her without blinking.
"No!" The words tore from her throat. "No! You're wrong! I'm not Arthur!"
Nobody reacted.
"I'm… I'm not Arthur."
She tried to explain, hoping this to be a simple misunderstanding and prove them wrong. Just delusional people taking things too far and seeing things that were not there. Yet her voice got drowned and no one reacted to them.
"I'm Gray! Do you hear me!? I'm Gray!"
Her voice echoed through the church. Not a single villager acknowledged it.
The applause continued uninterrupted. More people dropped to their knees. The shopkeeper bowed his head deeply, lips moving in silent prayer as though pleading for salvation from the figure standing before him. Every smile remained fixed in place, unchanged no matter how desperately she protested.
"No! Listen to me! Let me go! LET ME GO!"
Still nothing.
Without any command from her, her own feet carried her forward through the center aisle. She reached the altar before finally stopping. Resting upon it was a magnificent golden sword, its polished surface reflecting the countless candles burning throughout the sanctuary. Before Gray could resist, both hands reached out and wrapped around the hilt.
Cold metal met colder steel, a sensation so revolting she wanted to just throw it away. Everything felt wrong, but more than that, a creeping confusion seeped into her mind.
Eyes slowly lowered.
Her hands...
They were no longer bare.
Heavy silver gauntlets enclosed both forearms, identical to the armor she had seen worn by a certain Servant. They had not been there moments ago.
"I... wasn't..."
Her heartbeat thundered so violently inside her ears that it drowned out the applause.
Looking up instinctively, her gaze met the polished surface beneath the statue of the Lady Madonna.
For the briefest instant...
The reflection was no longer hers. A blonde woman stood where Gray should have been, clad in regal silver armor while holding the Sword of Promised Victory with effortless familiarity. Long golden hair framed a face that should not have existed within the reflection.
Then came the eyes.
Those calm and almost cold orbs looked directly back at her. Completely devoid of the uncertainty, fear, and desperation consuming Gray herself. The image vanished almost immediately.
When she turned back toward the congregation, every villager had already lowered their heads in prayer. Hundreds of quiet voices blended together until individual words became impossible to distinguish. The sound crawled through the sanctuary like an endless chant, pressing against her thoughts from every direction.
Pain erupted inside her skull without warning.
Both hands flew toward her head as the world lurched around her.
"Nooooooooo!"
{Break}
Snow crunched beneath their boots as the pair followed the narrow dirt path winding through the forest. Tall pines stood motionless on either side, their branches weighed down by thick blankets of white. Jagged rocks poked through the snow here and there, while the trail climbed gradually over uneven hills before disappearing deeper into the woods. There were no birds perched among the branches, no rustling animals hidden beneath the brush, not even the sound of wind weaving through the trees. It felt less like a forest and more like an imitation of one.
"Where the hell are we?" Shirou groaned, wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead despite the cold. "I was sure the village was somewhere along this path."
He continued for another minute before stopping beside a large rock and dropping onto it with an exhausted sigh. Stretching his legs, he rubbed the back of his neck and looked down the seemingly endless trail ahead. "I swear I've been walking for hours."
Standing nearby, Rider regarded him quietly before answering. "It has only been thirty minutes."
"...Seriously?"
"It has."
The reply made him stare blankly into the distance for several seconds before letting out a defeated groan.
"Then why do I feel like I just finished running a marathon?"
Rather than answering immediately, the Servant surveyed the surrounding forest once more. Every tree looked identical to the last, each bend in the trail blending seamlessly into the next. Nothing appeared out of place as far as he could tell, yet something about the landscape refused to sit right.
"It is affecting more than your sense of direction," she observed. "Mental fatigue can be caused by a supernatural factor."
He eventually lay flat on his back, staring up through the branches where pale winter sunlight filtered overhead. "What even is this place? It can't be real... but it feels real enough."
"It is a bounded field," Rider explained while continuing to watch the forest instead of him. "An exceptionally powerful one. I have never encountered anything on this scale before. The fact that something like this was hidden inside an ordinary apartment in the middle of town is far more surprising than the field itself."
He turned his head toward her.
"Is it really that impressive?"
A small nod followed.
"I doubt even someone like Caster could construct something of this magnitude in a short time. Creating it would require an enormous amount of magical energy, and maintaining it would demand even more. Under normal circumstances, such a thing should be impossible."
"I figured as much."
After a brief pause, she added, "Someone unfamiliar with bounded fields could easily mistake this for a Reality Marble, but it's incomplete nature speaks otherwise."
"Reality Marble..."
The words lingered in Shirou's mind as he slowly raised a hand toward the sky. Thin rays of sunlight slipped through the gaps between his fingers before disappearing against the white snow below. Everything looked perfectly normal, yet the longer he looked, the stronger the feeling became that the scenery surrounding them existed only because something wanted it to.
"I'm still not convinced whoever... or whatever created this is actually trying to kill us," he murmured. "At least, not directly. If that's true, then wandering around aimlessly isn't getting us anywhere." Lowering his arm, he looked over at his companion. "Can you try something for me? Go straight down this path at full speed and see what's waiting ahead."
Without questioning the suggestion, Rider inclined her head.
"Very well."
Her figure vanished almost instantly, disappearing up the snowy trail in a blur far beyond what any ordinary human eye could follow.
Shirou watched the empty path where she had disappeared.
One second passed.
Two.
Three.
"Shirou."
"Wah!"
The familiar voice came from directly behind him. Every muscle in his body tensed as he spun around — only to see Rider standing exactly where they had started, completely uninjured and looking no more disturbed than before.
His eyes widened.
"...Why are you back already?"
"I did not return."
Eh?
"I continued forward exactly as instructed. After several seconds, I found myself standing behind you." Silence settled between them for a moment as Shirou processed what she had just said.
"...So the path loops." Damn it, he hoped that was not the case.
"It would appear so."
"Hah... this just keeps getting more annoying."
Rather than dwelling on it, Rider immediately tested another possibility. Without another word, she turned around and sprinted in the opposite direction. Snow scattered beneath her feet as she disappeared among the trees once again. This time several moments passed before she returned at a normal pace.
"There is no loop behind us," she reported. "Only the road ahead returns to the same point. Something is preventing further progress."
Shirou rested both elbows on his knees and lowered his head, trying to recall everything he had studied over the past few months.
"Luvia had a section about bounded fields in one of the books she gave me." His fingers tapped absentmindedly against his leg while piecing the information together out loud. "Most of them are anchored to a physical object or a formation etched upon some surface. If you locate the anchor and destroy it with enough magical energy, the bounded field collapses." A frustrated sigh escaped him as he glanced back toward the endless trail. "The problem is finding it. In a place this large, the anchor could be anywhere. Searching for it blindly would be next to impossible."
Rider's gaze drifted upward. A flock of crows circled above the treetops instead of continuing in the same direction the two of them had been following. After observing them for several seconds, she lightly pointed toward the sky. "I have an idea."
Curiosity immediately replaced some of Shirou's frustration. "Oh?"
"If there's a village nearby, they might lead us there. Look carefully. They aren't flying along the route we've been taking."
He followed her finger and frowned upon realizing that she was indeed right. It wasn't uncommon for people to follow birds and signs like these to find settlements. Having heard about this in the past, it merely remained a speculation — he wouldn't lose anything putting it to test right now. "You might be onto something."
Changing course, the pair began following the birds through the forest. It did not take long before Shirou noticed something deeply unsettling about them. Their shapes were inconsistent. One moment they looked like ordinary crows, the next their bodies blurred into drifting black smoke before becoming solid again. Several appeared almost transparent, as though they were little more than reflections cast onto the world itself. A few vanished entirely for the briefest instant before reappearing several meters farther ahead, continuing their flight as though nothing had happened.
"...That's not normal."
"No," Rider quietly agreed. "Those aren't living creatures."
Their pace gradually slowed upon seeing two figures standing further ahead between the trees.
The taller of the two wore a long coat that reached below his knees, sturdy boots, and held a cigarette loosely between his fingers. Beside him walked a considerably shorter young woman with long pale-blonde hair beneath a distinctive hat, her dress immediately standing out against the dull forest around them.
Recognition struck almost immediately.
"...Isn't that the same man I saw at the café? Waver?"
"Yes." Her attention remained fixed on the pair.
"I don't recognize the other girl though she appears to be his colleague. But why would they be here?" Shirou scratched his cheek while studying them. "Maybe they got caught inside this place too."
So he said, but he had not seen either of them back inside the apartment. Were they outside? Though as he got closer, their muffled voices reached his ears.
"T̸̶̸h̸̶̴is… ̶̸̸i̶̸̷— ̶̸̶e̶̸̸x̸̵̶h̷̷̷a̵̵̴u̷̴̷-t̷̶̴i̴̶̷n̴̴̷g̶̵̶."
They were barely comprehensible, yet from the way he was leaning against the tree made it clear that the man was not exactly fit enough to traverse the path without some rest. The woman ahead, spoke the same kind of jumbled up words that reached his ears. She seemed more capable and that slight teasing smile and look on her face stood out more than anything else.
"—G̴̷̶e̴̶̸a̷̷̶v̵̴̴e̷̷̵k̷̷̸e̴̸̸e̶̵̵p̷̴̷e̵̷̴r̷̴̶."
Gravekeeper… he heard that word from Gray before. So they were looking for her as well. 'Are these memories? It can't be recent. This place is not Japan.' It would be more accurate to call it barely audible gibberish, but he managed to understand the general intent behind these people. They were also looking for the village and with how the girl kept looking above, following the crows was indeed the answer.
"Something feels wrong." Deciding there was little point standing around guessing, Shirou jogged toward them. "Excuse me!" he called. "Can you hear me?"
Neither figure reacted.
Their pace never changed.
"Hey!"
Still nothing.
The silence unsettled him far more than outright hostility would have. Closing the remaining distance, he reached for the man's shoulder — only for his hand to pass straight through if the body were nothing more than holographic projection. The sudden loss of balance nearly sent him stumbling face-first into the ground before he caught himself.
"What...?"
The two strangers continued walking as though he had never existed. Several more figures gradually appeared ahead of them, but unlike the first pair, their forms lacked detail. Faces were little more than blurred outlines while wisps of black smoke drifted constantly around their bodies, making it impossible to distinguish any features.
"They aren't physically here," Shirou murmured.
"Most likely projections," Rider concluded after watching them for another moment. "Not weapons, but memories. Records of the past."
With no better lead available, both continued following the silent procession through the woods. None of the figures ever acknowledged them. They simply walked along the narrow path until, without warning, every single one dissolved into the surrounding air. No flash of light. No sound. They were simply gone.
"...So then it was an illusion?"
"It is the most reasonable explanation, but perhaps we merely arrived at this memory's end."
Shirou lingered where they had disappeared before something near his boot caught his attention. Bending down, he picked up a discarded cigarette butt one that still looked relatively fresh.
"This wasn't here by accident." He rolled it between his fingers before tossing it aside. "Whether those people were real or not, they were leading us somewhere."
The path eventually opened onto a clearing where a large windmill stood alone. Relief washed over him almost instantly.
"Finally."
Without wasting another second, Shirou hurried toward it while scanning the surrounding area. The place was eerily quiet. No livestock wandered nearby. No voices drifted through the air. Even the wind seemed strangely absent.
"I'll check inside."
Fingers wrapped around the wooden handle before pulling the door open.
Darkness.
"—!?"
Not the ordinary darkness of an unlit room but rather something that completely caught him off guard. The entire interior had been swallowed by an endless black void that possessed no walls, no floor, and no visible end. A violent pull immediately dragged at his body as though something deep within the darkness had seized hold of him.
"What—!"
Instinct took over instantly and he threw himself backward while Rider caught his arm and pulled with enough force to keep him from falling inside. The heavy wooden door slammed shut a heartbeat later. Shirou stared at it, breathing harder than he cared to admit.
"Phew… nearly fell into that thing. What the hell was that?"
"I don't know. This bounded field is not perfect, so best to stay careful. There is no telling where a wrong step could take you."
He agreed with her instantly, unsure of the consequences of falling inside, best to just avoid going inside buildings then unless he was sure it was safe. Rider continued. "Regardless of whatever lies inside this place, if a windmill exists here, then the village shouldn't be far away."
He nodded, still glancing uneasily toward the closed door before looking back into the forest.
The crows had returned.
Without making a sound, they circled above another path. Following them once again eventually led the pair to a weathered house built from packed earth and aged timber. Time had worn away much of its exterior, yet it somehow remained standing. The birds descended one after another, gathering around a solitary old man whose thick feathered cloak almost made him resemble one of the crows themselves. None perched on his shoulders. They simply circled him in complete silence.
'I didn't even sense him.' Like a ghost, he just appeared out of nowhere. Had it not been for the crows, the boy doubted he'd even known about his presence until his eyes would find him. Even Rider did not seem to notice him and was visibly more tense than before.
The old man slowly raised his head and his eyes settled directly on Shirou.
"...He's looking at us."
"It doesn't feel like he bears any hostility," Rider observed after studying him for several seconds. "I sense no intent to attack."
Taking a cautious step forward, Shirou called out, "I'm looking for a friend. Her name is Gray. Have you seen her?"
Truthfully, he expected no reply. Instead, the old man let out a rough chuckle that sounded as weathered as the house behind him.
"Gray? Clocktower mages, ah, I see." The name lingered on his tongue before one bony finger slowly pointed beyond the cottage. "Follow that path." His arm remained outstretched. "It will take you to the church."
For several seconds, neither Shirou nor Rider spoke.
"...He's actually answering."
"Perhaps not entirely." Rider kept watching the old man without lowering her guard. "If this bounded field recreates fragments of someone's memories, then he may simply be one of the people connected deeply to them. The man and woman from the café could fall under the same category."
That possibility sounded plausible enough. Shirou gave the old man a small nod before turning toward the indicated path. Only then did he glance back… the old man was gone.
The birds had disappeared with him.
Boom!
"Hm?"
Before either of them could make sense of it, the earth beneath their feet trembled. Both turned toward the horizon where a column of fire suddenly burst upward beyond the trees, followed almost immediately by thick black smoke climbing into the sky.
"The village!"
As soon as he started forward, the old man's voice drifted through the forest once more.
"You should hurry."
It came from everywhere at once.
"There is not much time left."
Shirou searched the surrounding trees but found no trace of him. After exchanging a brief glance with Rider, both immediately broke into a run.
Branches whipped past as they pushed through the dense forest, weaving between roots and undergrowth while the smoke ahead grew darker with every passing minute. The trees finally began to thin, revealing rows of buildings beyond them. A weathered sign welcomed visitors to Blackmore, an otherwise peaceful English countryside village with neatly paved roads and well-kept homes. Under different circumstances, it would have looked almost picturesque.
Instead, his attention was immediately drawn toward the church rising near the village center.
Flames climbed into the sky around it.
Standing before the burning church was a lone armored figure with a sword already in hand.
"...Saber?"
The blonde slowly turned, no recognition appeared on her face and only a guarded, almost hostile expression met Shirou's gaze as the blade rose into a ready stance.
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Taimanin with 3, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.