Fate/fractal
by crisis rain

12/18/2029 TUESDAY 11:39PM
FUYUKI CITY, JAPAN

Feet pounded the uneven concrete sidewalk, wearing out the soles as a figure ran through the night.

The cold winter air was stinging with a hot-blooded pulse, and her breath quickened as she urged her own body to run faster – otherwise, if she didn't, she won't be able to escape the looming shadow that was pursuing her. Her chest was aching, her eyes seeing bright spots from the lack of oxygen as she continuously ran, sprinting down the lonesome, empty neighbourhood street.

A lamplight flickered to life from above, and she momentarily caught a short rest as she leaned against the concrete pillar, shaking hands pressed against the rough surface. A wet footstep from nearby behind reminded her of her plight, and she took off once more - her tired legs pumping back into action once more.

A single thought only entered her mind - why? Just an hour ago, she was just another passerby in the streets, just another figure, another number on the map of this city.

Now, she was marked as fresh prey from a supernatural - no, from some phenomenal hunter, and if she didn't do anything quickly soon, she won't live to see tomorrow morning.

"Calm down, just think for a second." She urged herself to keep composure, but she could not deny the wild beating of her heart or how cold her blood has run from the thickness of fear she could sense in the air. A sudden sharp sound of steel hitting the pavement dangerously close beside her shook her back into action, and she spared one look of horror behind her.

A tall, looming finger with lanky arms and legs that looked like stilts walked idly towards her, its steps wide and light. Clenched between the spaces of its fingers on both hands, were curved, silver little blades - identical to the one that had been thrown at her from a distance. A black coat with lapels draped over its thin body - and oddly enough, a Victorian-styled top hat rested snugly on top of the hairless head. A single, bright eye popped open, gleaming a bloodlust red in the darkness.

"HnnhHNnnhgggGGGGhhnnn... wHEre aRE yoU goInG mY dEAR?"

A ravaged, rasping moan came floating out from the creature's mouth, its words riddled with a dry wheeze and a primal edge filled with a predatory intent. The young woman spun around abruptly, extending out a hand infused with prana.

"Thurisaz! Thurisaz, thurisaz... th, th, th, th, th..." The extended hand immediately changed into a firing posture, and a circlet of prana shot out, striking at the dreaded figure in the distance. "Th, th, th, th! Thur, thar, thur, ther, thor!" With each stressed Runic syllable, more shots are fired, the prana projectiles crackling with electricity as they are imbued with the power of Thor.

The last round of Gandr magic pellets were deftly sliced away by the fan of throwing knives in the monster's hand, and he grinned widely, baring sharpened teeth under the dim light. She swallowed nervously, before turning around to make her escape once more.

Gandr seemed to be ineffective against the enemy. Just what exactly on earth is he? She huffed lightly as she rounded past a corner, nearly toppling over the trashcans that had been left there to rot. Feet skidded on concrete once more, as she pushed her mind to bring up any other possible solutions and a way out of this mess.

'Ah! If I remember correctly...' Just right about here, there was a small shortcut to a playground park. But simply straying off the main street would lure him after the sound of her footsteps, regardless of where she went. What to do?

"Nauthiz. Nudh nadh nudh nedh niodh. Nauthis." Expending yet another portion of her prana, the girl released a wispy, wavering trail of silver light that streamed from her finger tips. A basic Runic protection spell, it would hide her image and cloak her footsteps for just enough time for her to get away. The ghostly veil shimmered for a moment, before wrapping itself around her shoulders like a cloak. The effects will last - until it disappears. For the time being, she heaved in another deep breath and sprinted off, down the narrow, dark route towards the playground park.

The looming shadow stopped when it suddenly lost sight of his prey. "WhERE... wheREEEEEEeeEE?" Another pair of footsteps caught up with the impossibly tall man, revealing that they belong to a rather young man with short, dark hair and a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. A small smirk curled upon his thin lips. "Gandr magic again, huh? As expected of Aozaki's pupil."

A bloodcurdling scream escaped the monster's lungs at the rage of having his prey escaping.

From the distance, she could hear the enraged shrieks of the monster that had been hotly pursuing her. Swallowing a hard lump of fear down her throat, she dashed the last stretch of concrete, both sides fenced with bushy overgrowth towering above, obscuring the moonlight, making it a rather dark and frightening place to the common passerby. But she wasn't a common passerby - she was a magus. Things like darkness and the night time were the veils of magic that lay hidden deep within the civilization known as "modern society".

With the faint, faraway torch of the park's lamplight coming into clear fous, she sighed almost happily in relief and made her way out cautiously, gazing around quickly, heart and pulse still beating hard.

"When the time comes, use it. You'll know when."

That was Aozaki Touko's words to her before she left London for Japan - to use the "artifact" if she should ever come under dire circumstances. Right now, she could safely say she was in a rather dire situation - that "thing" that was after her was a product of magic, alright. What confused her was that it was a spirit - possessing a flesh and blood body, making it similar to a familiar, yet at the same time, it wasn't. Necromancy? No, the body would be decayed and rotting for a 'ghoul' to take form. Too many questions, too little answers. And not much time before the effects of her Nauthiz Gandr spell will wear off.

She took out the paper-wrapped parcel from beneath her jacket flap. It was relatively small, about the size of her hand, and there was a piece of parchment attached to the string that tied the package in place. A note from Touko-san, it seems.

To my beloved pupil,

If you're reading this now, that means it's time to use the artifact. Don't you dare waste it on something cheap, I spent two months worth of your paycheck on this thing. If you come back with it gone, I'll have your head, you blundering fool.

- Touko

P.S. Use a summoning glyph. And don't die before you finish it, fool.

She really wanted to laugh, she honestly did. Crumpling up Touko's sarcastic little message of love up, she shoved it into her jacket pocket and hastily set it aside, glancing about to see what she can made do. A summoning glyph, huh... Unfortunately, she was in the middle of a city in Japan. Easy access to animal blood to draw the glyph and other pagan ritual tools were out of the question.

Her eyes spotted some large pieces of sidewalk chalk that the neighbourhood children had left behind. She sighed, and picked a piece up before setting down to quick work.

Drawing glyphs were somewhat of her specialty. Because of Touko's nit-picky preferences on how she liked her Runic glyphs to be drawn almost perfectly, a simple summoning circle fashioned like how it was done during the age of the Druids wasn't too hard of a task for her to complete. But what compelled her to draw as quickly and perfectly as she can, was the fact that she was pressed for time. Touko was right - there was no meaning behind giving her such a rare artifact if she were to be found before she can even finish the ritual.

"Alright! Done." She stood up quickly after being bent over the concrete pavement for so long, taking a quick moment to admire her work. She was now standing above a six-feet diameter summoning circle, the white chalk lines boldly glaring up at the night sky beneath her feet. Picking up the paper-wrapped artifact, she unwrapped it gingerly, and a large splinter of animal bone appeared peeking from beneath the manila sheets.

No - it wasn't bone. Judging by how long-lasting the quality of this thing, and if it was as old as Touko proclaimed it to be - it was teeth. A curved tusk, perhaps from a rather large animal. But this was simply just the sharp point of it - and the sharpnes has long dulled from age, yellowed and stained with a deeper shade that seems to be... blood?

Whatever the case was, she must hurry.

Setting down the tusk in the center of the magic circle, she backed up until she was standing directly in front of the circle, and concentrated, forcing her heart to assume a steady rhythm despite every nerve in her body standing on end as her protection spell dissipated. Prana pulsed in her circuits. She raised a hand, breathing deeply.

"Ehwo, ehwo, ehwo... e e e e h w o o o... ehwu ehwa ehwi ehwe ehwo. Ehwo ehwe ehwi ehwa ehwu... e e e e h w o o o..." Chanting that single rune over and over again, the preliminary stage of the ritual was complete. She's set the stage. Now was the time to actually summon it - whatever it was - and hope and pray to the gods that some miracle would help her out of this death situation.

"Iarraim ar do shon. Tar go mo chúnamh. Tar go mo thaobh. Spiorad, aird mo ghlao, tar chugam, ar a dtugtar an ceann Aisling!"

Every nerve of her body was on fire. Every fiber of her being was burning - her circuits were surging, soaring with power. She could feel the flow of prana exiting her fingertips at the same time, a new, foreign source of magic flowed back inside. It was giving birth to a form, a shape - and her mind that was numb from the process momentarily leapt in joy at this prospect. Her prana was at its top peak when it's closer to midnight, the hour when the world slipped from one day to the next - she couldn't say if it was almost ironic how perfect the time was, regarding her situation, but still she stood, feeling as if a piece of hot iron was being forcibly inserted inside her body - the result of her magic circuits reacting to the summoning.

"IiIIiii fOuND yOUuuuuUuuuUUUUu!"

The familiar shriek nearly shook her out of her cradle of focus, but she persisted. It was almost finished... just a little more...!

Her vision was cut off by whiteness as the prana exploded into fruition, but that soon cleared away when she noticed the sharp point of a knife hurtling towards her face.

Clang!

A thin line of crimson steel blocked the oncoming attack, spinning in a perfect arch and knocking the silver knife away. But all she could see was the gleam of a blood red spear contrasting against the darkening, blue night sky, and the shower of light particles that flowed upwards, their atoms vibrating and pulsing with a glow that was ephemeral; prana, that did not belong to her. Or anyone else she would know of, for that matter.

A well-built man clad in green armour stood before her, a hand clutching the crimson spear, and gold in the other. Dusky waves of unkempt hair, a pair of tawny-amber eyes.

A beauty mark, right beneath his left eye.

He seem to gaze with a look of contempt at the lunatic monster before him as if he were some madman, before turning back to face her, his frown shifting into a look of seriousness.

"I ask of you - are you my Master?"