3 Chapter 3: The Start Of Something Great & Unknown Servant
" When the Great Catastrophe arrived, a Continent which covered hundreds of millions of square miles appeared next the U.S.A was divided into pieces due to the tremendous geological and plate movements by the Invasion, akin to a loaf of bread being split by kids. Numerous parts formed, while the others directly disappeared. Through vicissitudes, people today could not imagine the magnificence the grandeur of this vast continent. The location 800km west and north of my Nevermore-Town has yet to be explored; it is still unknown to us."
*Flip!*
" However, the area where Nevermore-Town was located, south of the King Mountain Range, covered more than 400 million square km. More than 20,000 reside here. It was a gathering of numerous countries, city-states, races, and other forces; however, it was merely a slim and narrow belt on the map of the whole new continent. With lofty mountains on the northernmost and westernmost regions and vast oceans on the southernmost and easternmost regions, it was the area with high population density."
*Flip!*
" After the Catastrophe, it took human beings about 10 years to find out what happened to the planet when the Great Catastrophe fell. It then took the remaining people almost 20 years to recover slightly. Unexpectedly, they found that human beings were no longer the only ruler of the new planet. Those eccentric demons and dark beings who arrived from the Abyss took human beings as delicious dim sum and slaves. Following them, beings straight mystical legends appeared all over the new world and started doing anything In their power to Survive. They made the planet dangerous and posed several challenges to the survival of human beings."
" Huh, how Interesting..." I mumbled, reading some more of my Lostbelt History.
" Interesting indeed, Master." My Servant of Ruler Class said, frowning slightly reading from behind, as I sit on a Throne-like black chair created out of some sort of black steel.
By the lake next to us is My Servant of Saber Class, watching the lake move with a blank look on her beautiful face.
" Taking Into account the History of this Lostbelt, Ruler do your think you could check out our surroundings and see If this Nevermore-Town is still there," I asked, smiling slightly.
" Of course Master. As long no fighting is involved, we'll make this Nevermore-Town the start of our Great Crusade." Ruler said, nodding with a slight glow In his eyes.
Chuckling, I smiled:" Great. Then use them well."
*Shoosh!*
" Them?" As Ruler asked, he slowly looked behind himself, finding a small army of Templar Knights, quietly waiting for him.
" Yes, your Army, Shirou." Patting his back, I smiled, even more, a happy one to say the least.
Looking up slightly, I saw Shirou's eyes flash In surprise and alarm, seeing his Rally Flag, fluttering In the wind, carefreely.
" You..." Wanting to say something, he was only met with my happy smiling face.
" You're welcome," I said, looking at the 200 Templar Knights. Then as If feeling my stare, they bowed deeply and chanted something under their breath, then looked back up, grinning under their masks and armor.
"... Thank you, Master. I promise I won't let you down, here on forth." He said to me, also deeply bowing.
' Heh, and they say he's evil... Well, I guess being already like him, works too.' Thinking such, I cheerfully chuckled at him:" I'll hold you to that, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada."
--
Watching Shirou leave leading his army of Templar Knights through the Gate: I looked over to Altera and asked," You wanna go?"
Hearing me, she shook her head and looked at me, blankly as ever," No, my Lord. I'll stay here and protect you."
" Protect me, you say? That's a tall order to live up to." I mumbled, grinning at her.
" Hn." Maybe not finding to add, Altera nodded and went back to looking at the lake.
Petting her head, I smiled at her," Protect me well, Altera." Then went back to my throne, and sat down.
Upon sitting on the throne, my eyes suddenly started closing.
' Heh... Insomnia, take that...' This happens, sometimes, but lately, it had become more and more frequent. I liked to think I was getting used to it; after all, it had been weeks or a few years since I had had a good night of sleep(being In that void and all), and even before then I had had these episodes quite often In my past life( I... think...?). And my rational brain should find nothing to worry about: I would wake up in the morning and my room is the same as ever. No one had been there except me. My door was locked, my windows shut. None of my possessions had been moved, not a piece of paper was missing from my computer X gaming desk.
And yet, after getting home from a long exhausting day, instead of settling in bed to rest, I stalled. I read, I gamed, I wrote, even going so far as to engage a conversation with my landlady, an old widow whose hearing had been steadily declining for years.
If I were completely honest with myself – and I took pride in my honesty – I would say I was dreading going to bed. Oh, I wish I would fall asleep in minutes, surely would fall asleep in minutes, surely. But I would have preferred(Not really) tossing and turning for hours, unable to catch any rest, rather than relieve what I knew would happen.
Eventually, the moon rose high in the sky, above my fantasy tree and my new candle became little more than a puddle of melted wax in the middle of the plate, and so I got comfortable on my throne(somehow).
On the edge of my vision, darkness crept in, mocking me. A tickle behind my eyelids and a soft ringing in my ears assured me that it would happen again tonight. There was no fighting it - I closed my eyes and waited.
And waited.
I could feel myself falling, sinking. My fingers were growing numb, my body quickly shutting down, but my mind was still running, aware and awake, allowing me no sleep at all.
Before long, whispers came from the to me, and immediately I felt my heartbeat flutter, then speed up, irregular and painful, becoming uncomfortable as it dug against my ribcage.
I was falling asleep, I knew I was. I simply had to sleep, and it would be over.
The whispers were louder and louder, and in greater number, standing around my throne, towering over my sitting up the body. I tried to turn my head, but as always when the whispers came, I found I could not move. My head, my hands, and my feet were like lead. ' Muscle atonia', I thought vaguely, before the-half-dream state overtook my last rational thoughts.
And still, in the bright landscape, the beautiful sinister presence looked down on me breathing on my skin, caressing my hair, caressing me for interminable minutes. Surprise struck me as I kept trying and trying to move away, to push the shadows away - calling out, screaming... But sound never leaving my lips.
Then, suddenly, it stopped...
It was as if time itself had stopped. The date has stopped at 31st December 23:59, and would not move for a while, from the clock In my old room.
" Oh, your wake, Darling~" The unknown lovely girl at my side smiles beautifully. The name couldn't be remembered. Though the lights of the observatory have dimmed, tonight the sky was bright.
As if deep space had fallen before my eyes.
" It's quiet. There doesn't seem to be anyone else here besides us. Isn't that lovely, Darling~?" Her sweet voice whispers softly, tickling my neck.
Her relaxing fingertips. Memories blocked away. The time which resides. The name can't be remembered.
" Fufufu~ please look. The stars are so beautiful. Just like you and me, Darling~!"
When opened my eyes and up looked at the sky, it was all too late. The vast abyss... Three red stars... Maddened constellations of winter...
A planet devoid of all life, is all I can see...
' Am I on the moon?' As I questioned this, I heard a Psychotic laughter ring out.
" Fufufufu~ Ufufufufu~ Fufufufufu~!" The unknown Servant at my side smiles. The name can't be remembered. Not hers or my own(My past self that is).
That is me every night. That rearing cage in the interstice of time and space. A honeymoon in which I'm trapped, and can never escape, feeling absolutely nothing, nothing but vast clear beautiful emptiness.
Because, as stated by law, emptiness is an unrestrained realm. Free from Binary Opposition. It is the heart that contemplates all the laws of the world and the world's existence in its present. Distant is the sky, pale in colors. That exquisite figure stands upon an indistinguishable realm as far as I could see(?). Gazing afar towards the whereabouts of the stars and planets.
That love is an ephemeral dream. That dream is the remnants of eternity. The unrealizable, the sparks of a transient encounter, that I am still gazing upon it.
...As if on a snowy night, looking faraway into the void-space...
--
" Master?" Snapping my eyes open, I found Altera standing In front of me, looking kind of worried.
" Yes, Altera?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.
" Are you ok?" She asked, checking my forehead.
" I'm great, truly I am," I said, masking my sleepiness with a cheerful smile.
" I'm glad then." Nodding, Altera went to standing by me, watching the lake.
' Oh... I wonder who that was In... wherever I was. She seemed nice, loving even... To me?' I asked myself:' I wonder why...'
~~
