Chapter Text
“...Do you love mankind, Merlin?”
The moon was obscured by the dark clouds. Yet, even with such scattered moonlight, even with these rays that barely reached the two monsters, Merlin could tell the kind of expression Ana had. The chill in the air. The rattling of chains. Her tight grip on her scythe’s handle...
Ana, no, rather, this version of Medusa-- had changed rather drastically. She used to be much harsher with the humans she met, refusing to make physical contact with them, and flatly telling them to refrain from talking to her. She put up a hard, cold exterior to drive others away. But, before Merlin knew it, that ice was about to become nothing but water, thanks to the warmth of chaldea’s master and the citizens of Uruk.
Merlin, the kind older brother figure he was, watched over this sweet development. In fact, you can even say he was enthusiastic about it. A tale about a young girl, who closed off her own heart, finding faith in the concept of kindness again… it had a sweet tone to it. Like a delectable little fairy tale.
But this tale wasn’t quite done yet. It wasn’t ready for consumption. It was still solidifying in its mold, and Ana threatened to pull it out too fast.
‘Sorry, but it isn’t time yet, Ana.’ Merlin half-heartedly apologized in his head, ‘I can’t afford to let all this ice melt when it’s necessary for the recipe.”’
“...Of course not. I’m inhuman. A half-breed sired by an incubus. I’ve done all kinds of awful things in the name of helping human society.” He sighed.
“I love the patterns mankind weaves. But I’ve never really liked individual humans themselves…” He rested his chin against his hand, “...And trying to justify it all to myself only tore me apart. It’s what resulted in me locking myself in my tower. But that’s a different story.”
Ana narrowed her eyes, but ultimately stayed silent.
“Who cares if you hide who you are until the end? It’s not going to hurt anyone. Gudako won’t care that you hid something. Doesn’t care now, right?” Merlin smiled.
“...”
...Did he still need to keep pushing?
“You know... Gudako is happier being with you now than she would be if she found out your secrets—”
“... Yes. And that annoys me.” Ana sharply interrupted, “It’s humiliating. Having you tell me this, Merlin, is the biggest shame of my life. In the end, I will kill you.”
“Humph. I’ll take that as a compliment.” Merlin smiled, knowing that he’s preserved what he needed to. Just a little more, a push, a twist, and a turn. And then, this will all progress the way he wanted it to.
“Even if you did reveal your True Name, it would only tell them who the enemy is. It wouldn’t help them fight it. Your existence would be the vital point the Goddess of Demonic Beasts didn’t expect. If there’s a time for you to throw away everything, it’s only going to be in a single instant. Watch for that instance as you fight...” He waved his pointer finger around slowly, and quickly held it to the side.
“Of course, amidst all this foreshadowing, it’s worth mentioning that I don’t want that kind of ending at all! ‘Cuz that would be boring!”
Merlin promptly held out his staff, stiffened his expression and pushed his free hand against his chest, “Sad partings aren’t my style. I prefer to deceive and disparage the enemy, and emerge as the victor unharmed!”
His comically tense face loosened, and opened one eye to observe Ana’s expression.
“That’s the most beautiful pattern humans can create. Why don’t we take a lesson from it, Ana?”
“Disgusting. You only say what’s most convenient for you...” The girl turned away from the Magus with a vague expression.
“...But I guess I don’t mind putting in some effort to make that outcome a reality,” she sighed.
The girl tugged her hood down. Merlin smiled in response.
“See? What’d I tell you. It’s the best course of action. You just have to keep quiet about your true identity, and then you’ll have a happy end you wished for.”
The magus stood up and dusted himself off.
“Now, excuse me, but I have to get going. These walls haven’t been entirely reinforced yet, you know.” He kicked the wall to his side, and a small, glowing budding flower popped out.
“Look, it hasn’t even grown its petals yet. What a pity. It can’t reinforce a wall like this...”
The moonlight shook.
“Wait.”
“...Hm?”
The girl peered at him. She had a listless look on her face, which silently told Merlin that he was a pain in the ass to talk to. But it seemed like she still had something to say… which he didn’t exactly expect.
“What is it, Ana?”
“You’re hiding something too, aren’t you?”
The magus laughed.
“Of course I am. You heard what I said, didn’t you? Inhuman. I don’t actually like humans. I’m half incubus. I’ve caused suffering for millions and I don’t feel a thing about it. Chaldea’s master wouldn’t like to hear about something like that in detail, don’t you think?”
“No, the other thing. About you locking yourself into your tower.”
“Oh, right... I said that.” He cupped his chin. “Well, what about it? Would you like to know how it’s like to live there? Haha, I do appreciate your company, Ana, but—”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. I’d rather die than step into your living quarters.” Ana scowled. “I’m talking about you justifying your own actions to yourself, and you subsequently locking yourself in that tower.”
“...I don’t see what’s so odd about it.”
Ana’s face was covered by her hood. Merlin silently cursed the lighting and her fashion.
“...So you aren’t even aware of it…” she sighed.
This is why interacting with fellow half-human entities was annoying. He couldn’t harvest complete emotions from them. He had to rely on methods like reading faces and tone of voice to figure out what to say instead, and some vague, incomplete frequency that he can’t parse.
“Of what, exactly?” He pressed, hoping to get some sense of what this girl was trying to prove.
“Your human side surfacing.”
Merlin paused.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Ana’s cloak swayed with the wind. “I thought you were just lying and playing around. You talked about how you don’t have emotions, how you don’t feel them when you see the suffering of others, and how your own personality was just discharge from emotions you’ve consumed. But the more you talked, the more I started thinking.”
An uncomfortable sensation formed under his stomach.
“How human are you? Where does ‘Merlin’ start, and where does it end?” She continued, “How much of you is really you, and how aware are you of that… I just started wondering about it.”
The wind whistled, and blew away the last remnants of the night sky’s clouds.
The moonlight no longer wavered, and instead, confidently painted the walls with white. It took a while for Merlin’s eyes to adjust, but before him, he could now clearly see the girl. Her hood was blown off, and it exposed her bored expression. If he were to assume the wind was enough to blow away his own hood, then...
“But you’re not reacting much to what I said, are you? I guess that’s expected. That’s what our kind is like, after all. I guess I’ll never know the answer to that question… maybe it’s the same for you.”
She walked away.
Merlin’s lip twitched, but, in the end, nothing came out of his mouth.
Under this uncomfortably bright night, the magus was left alone with his thoughts. In the space Ana’s words left behind, something else surfaced. He felt… something. A distant feeling. Something obscured behind thick, cloudy glass. He could reach out to it, he could see it, the shapes, the colors, everything... but even if he pressed his hand against the wall like this, there was always a gap between him and “it”.
It was so close... yet so incredibly far.
--
A certain bishop that lived in the 1600's once said that the world was entirely subjective. What we observe and nickname as “The World” is not, in fact, the world itself, but simply our ideas of what it’s like. Objects only exist as far as they’re perceived, and the human perception is flawed by default. Therefore, an external world does not exist; only a subjective world that is a culmination of our ideas and thoughts.
However, this brings up the question. If “the world” is just limited to our ideas and perception, then what happens to what we do not perceive? If, for example, the subject leaves a room and stops perceiving that room, does that room no longer exist?
The bishop answered that the room still, indeed, exists. It is still being perceived, and the consciousness doing the perceiving is God himself.
In other words, in case no subject is around to observe [unknown thing x], God will take up the mantle and continuously perceive [unknown thing x] to keep its existence intact. And, as you can imagine, with the large amounts of [unknown thing x]s in this wide and vast world, this is a very heavy task. God is certainly a very considerate omniscient being. Humans can rest easy, knowing (or rather, not knowing) about God’s atlas-like burden of ceaselessly keeping all of the subjective world’s secrets safe from neglect-induced spontaneous combustion.
But, there is one thing this bishop and other philosophers failed to account for.
That, perhaps, this god did indeed exist. But he wasn’t very considerate. Nor was he ceaselessly protecting all of the subjective world's secrets from exploding. Neither was he a God.
That, maybe, instead of being a very considerate higher power, the entity perceiving the unperceived was a scumbag residing in the reverse side of the subjective world.
Underneath the current modern era is a refuge for the past. When the Age of Gods was usurped by the relentless advancement of mankind, the rest of its inhabitants and it itself retreated to a place unaccessible by the modern era. And, tucked away in this turbulent layer of the world is Avalon, a paradise cut off from the world.
It is also, subsequently, the living quarters… or, rather, the prison cell of a certain near-omnipotent scumbag white-haired magus.
Amidst a warm landscape full of greenery, blooming flowers, gentle sloping plains and a beautiful blue sky that stretches beyond the horizon of the furthest hill— was a tower. An incredibly elegant and tall tower. It was so tall, that the passing clouds bumped into its roof.
However, the only resident of this tower was not looking over the pleasant scenery with wind caressing his long locks of hair. Instead, he was at the very bottom floor of the tower. In a bland rocky prison cell. It was not especially accommodating. The only “furniture” it had was a rock that protruded in the middle of the room, and a window high above it.
But, for an entity such as Merlin, this is all he needed.
Here, in this cell, was the closest, and at the same time, furthest, equal to empiricism’s failsafe god. He was sitting on the protruding rock with a slightly bored expression, and kept a close eye on the window.
The light from the window dimmed and flickered. Warm sunlight did not radiate from the window, instead, behind it lay a rather intense scene. The scene playing out in front of Merlin was quite a brutal one. A golden-haired archer, clinging onto shaky chains. Behind him was a deep void. In front of him was a young man being used as his anchor.
The tension of the scene was quickly cut off by a sharp, blunt sound. Merlin let out a rather bland, “oh!”. An arrow was gracelessly jammed into the gold Archer’s forehead. And, in the distance another archer, clad in red, had just released his fingers from the bow string.
He wasn’t very interested in the “5th Fuyuki Holy Grail War” all that much. While watching it’s various universe counterparts was a great past time, he wasn’t invested in anyone in these events all that much.
Well, except for one person.
The screen suddenly gleamed brightly. Merlin lifted his head up, his eyes focused, and there, he saw her.
Golden hair. Blue dress. Silver armor. Upright posture.
He gulped.
Before he knew it, he was sitting upright, and dumbly staring at the screen.
Beyond the window, the knight raised her sword, and swung it down. A blinding ray of light destroyed the troublesome wish-granting device, permanently severing her connection to the world.
Artoria began to fade. The finiteness of her existence finally caught up to her. Tiny golden lights, as beautiful and ephemeral as shooting stars in the sky, enveloped the girl, and left nothing but thin air behind.
She was smiling this time too.
Merlin narrowed his eyes, and muttered, “Was it for herself…? Or was it...”
His voice trailed off.
That nagging feeling was back again. That weird ache that clung to the bottom of his heart. Every time he saw Artoria, it slithered into his chest.
Merlin frowned. The sensation was uncomfortable to dwell on, so he refused to reflect on it any further. He threw his arms backwards, and mocked a yawn. His elbows crackled upon being stretched.
“Well, Cath Palug! That was quite a show, wasn’t it?” He cheerfully hollered.
A squirrel-like creature was seated next to Merlin the entire time. It’s eyes were narrowed, seemingly expressing displeasure.
“Now, now, Cath Palug. It wasn’t that bad. After all, Artoria did reject the grail like she did in the other timeline. That’s one reason to celebrate, isn’t it?” Merlin stood up, and pointed at the screen with his staff. He smiled proudly at the creature.
Cath Palug shifted its head. It stared blankly at Merlin.
The Magus raised an eyebrow, confused by the bland response, and looked over to what exactly he was pointing.
It was not Artoria’s disappearing form like he intended. Instead, it was two humans on top of a hill. One had jet black hair and a red turtleneck, and the other had orange hair and a tattered plain t-shirt.
“Hm. That’s not Artoria.” He cupped his chin, and walked closer to the window, “But… they were the ones accompanying her the entire time, were they not?”
Cath Palug was in the middle of attempting to occupy Merlin’s previous seat, but nodded in response.
“Yes… If I recall correctly, the young man is Shirou Emiya and the young girl is Rin Tohsaka.”
Merlin waved his staff in a circular motion, and the window zoomed into the two teenagers. They were no longer obscured by the light of the sunrise, and their expressions were much more clearer.
“My my... they sure are staring at each other, huh?” Merlin commented.
“Fou!”
“What is it, Cath Palug?” He turned to face his furry friend a second time.
“Fou, fou! Fou fou.”
“And?”
“Fou.”
Merlin stared at the creature for a few seconds, until an imaginary light bulb popped over his head.
“Oh, yes! Right. Love. They’re in love with each other. This is expressing love. They’re staring at each other like that, in front of the sunrise, because they’re in love.”
“Fou fou.”
Merlin smiled at Cath Palug, then faced the screen again, but this time, with a different expression.
“But… hm…. That young man with the orange hair. Didn’t he like Artoria last time? So it’s the girl with the twintails in this timeline?” He crossed his arms.
“Dear me, little changes can cause such astoundingly vast changes in one’s decisions. Not that I’m offended. It’s impossible to dislike Artoria, after all! She’s a charming young woman. Full of youth, vigor, attitude and all else. Perhaps she just wasn’t so interested in him this time around…”
Merlin swiftly turned around.
“...But I don’t see what all the fuss is about! What’s so good about that orange-haired boy, Cath Palug? Tell me.”
“Fou.” Cath Palug fou’d.
“So what if he can cook?” Merlin raised placed his hand against his chest proudly, “I can cook too, you know!”
“Fou… fou fou. Fou? Fou.”
“I’m simply looking out for the alternate timeline Artorias, that’s all. What if they chose the wrong man, Cath Palug? There were timelines where she managed to attain a physical form and lived with him and the rest of his family...”
“Fou.”
“My cooking is not that bad.”
“Fou fou.”
“That’s not what Gawain and Bedivere said when I fed them my special home-made soup, you know.”
“Fou… fou fou, fou fou.”
“They were definitely not lying to me! Their faces were wrinkled with joy! In fact, they told me it tasted great.”
“Fou.”
“There’s no reasoning with you is there?”
“Fooou. Fou fou.”
“I am not a lonely, shut-in who wants to live with Artoria and her new family. What kind of person do you think I am? Now, I may be a shut-in, but I am not lonely.”
“Fou.”
“Hah! I’ve already lost count of how many centuries I’ve resided in Avalon. I’m not going to falter anytime sooner, my dear companion.” Merlin smirked, and set down his staff on the ground.
“...But still. Human love, hm?”
The light streaming from the window flickered again. The young man had lost his footing, and nearly fell onto the ground. The young woman quickly slung his right arm over her shoulder, and kept him steady. They looked at each other, laughed, and walked past the temple gates.
“Love is absolutely fascinating, isn’t it, Cath Palug?” Merlin mused, “A human spends time with someone, and slowly begin to realize they mean more to them than anything else in the world. But that human they love ends up becoming something like a flame. Alluring to one’s eyes, and comfortingly warm. Yet, they can easily burn them any time, with just one slip...”
Merlin raised his hand towards the light of the window, a smile on his face. And, with that, he began to twirl around. His coat and locks of hair were suspended in the air, and the window’s light lost track of him. The flower petals on the floor revolved around the monologuing magus, making him the center of this little universe.
“And thus! They enact a dance with fire. Not too close, but not too far! They cannot bear to stray, but the heat would overwhelm them if they wander too close! Yet, life refuses to make it so simple! There are jagged spears behind your back, threatening you to get closer! Or perhaps the flame burns you, and you choose to never approach it again!” His eyebrows furrowed exaggeratedly.
“Oh, love. It’s what drives humans forward, isn’t it? Familial love, love for oneself, platonic love, but most entertainingly, romantic love! Oh, how truly exciting! But…”
He shifted his weight onto his right heel, did one last twirl, before placing the tip of his fingers on his forehead and sighing.
“...Alas. I can feel no such thing! I am half-incubi, and half-human. It’s clear that my human side is weaker against my other one. A being such as me, will never experience the joy of true love. My ability to empathize is non-existent. Just like how I feel nothing while watching a tragedy, I feel nothing towards any human being. Oh! The weight of this burden is heavier than the weight of the bottom of the ocean carries everyday…”
He turned to face the other direction, and switched to his other hand instead.
“Truly! What misfortune. Love is such an interesting concept, yet I can never experience it. Instead, I choose to observe endeavours of love from the Reverse Side of the World… ”
Merlin fancifully spread both of his arms, and faced the vaguely cat shaped bundle of petals in front of him, seated on top of the protruding rock.
Suddenly, the bundle shook, and revealed itself to be Cath Palug, who was covered in a bunch of petals. It was not delighted.
“Ahhh! Cath Palug! My one and only companion!” The magus speedily kneeled, and held the creature up by the underside of its arms.
“Do you...” He looked at it, eyes gleaming with fake tears, “...love me?”
The creature’s claws jut out from it’s paws, and a frightening growl bubbled from its throat. The tears at the edge of Merlin’s eyes quickly receded.
Cath Palug immediately lunged at the magus. Its claws dug into the side of his cheeks, and wildly ventured from there. Even if he was an all-powerful mage, Merlin was still afraid of the sharp mini-knives reaching less than suggestable places. Due to this, he lost his footing, and fell onto his butt.
His staff slipped out of his hands and fell elsewhere. Merlin, busy with his panicked pleas, didn’t notice his favorite staff leaving his reach. As soon as it hit the floor, a strange sound rumbled from it, and it began to tremble.
“S-Stop! Hey, Cath Palug! Come on, I’ll feed you your favorite berries later if you want-- Ah, ow! Not there! Not on my cheek! Ah! Ah—”
The scenery behind the window began to rapidly change. The staff spun around like mad, and, with every spin, the scenery changed. It rapidly flashed between the what if’s of the 5th Fuyuki Holy Grail War like a television with a broken remote.
“A-Ahh…?”
“Fou…?”
It began to ominously levitate upwards, and so did the flower petals in the room. The tales beyond the window began to shift so fast that the window’s reinforcements shook. It was showing off all the colors, the heavy emotions, and the disjointed dialogue of every possibility for the war every passing second. The room quivered and shook with the staff and the flower petals until…
The staff fell onto the floor.
Merlin and Fou paused their spat, and sighed in relief.
“Why, it’s never done that before… I mean, I’ve dropped it plenty of times, but still…”
“F-Fou…”
The window crackled to life one last time, and the tale it pictured left the room nearly pitch black.
“—Come now, Caster.”
The small moment of relief from the staff’s frenzied antics was cut off. Instead, it was replaced with unease. Beyond the window, inside a sinister cavern, stood two men. One tall with unruly hair and ancient robes, and the other with a small braid and peculiar clothing.
“...No. Solomon, King of Mages. My contractor. My one and only friend.”
Merlin and Fou both sat on the ground, filled with incredible unease… and curiosity. The magus scrambled to pick up his staff back up, but didn’t take his eyes off the screen once.
“Knowing you, your wish will be a righteous one. Say it with pride.”
“That’s him, isn’t it?!” Merlin whispered, “The current Grand Caster! In a Holy Grail War to boot!”
“Fou fou…” The creature nodded.
“............”
Solomon softly smiled, happy with the free reign given to him. He opened his mouth… and then closed it. He seemed like he was about to say something for real a few seconds later, but he ended up not saying anything again. He raised his hand with a rather enthusiastic face… and then it slowly turned into one of deep thinking instead...
“That King Solomon is taking his sweet time thinking this decision over, huh?”
“Fou!”
“What? I’m just telling the truth!”
“... Wh-What was it you mentioned earlier, Master? Being incarnated and living a second life...?”
“Oh, so you’re going for that… knowing your origins, I suppose that’s no surprise.”
“Well, yeah.” Merlin scoffed, “He had the most boring life out of all the kings in all of human history. Lived a life being dragged around by God, never following his own desires, never going through any real entertaining tragedies...”
“FOU!”
“Okay, okay! I’ll keep quiet, sheesh...”
“Yes, I… I believe that one is my final decision.” Solomon sighed.
The air stilled.
“Really? You sound a bit hesitant, my friend. This is a pretty important wish. You should be more sure of yourself.” His master crossed his arms.
“Well… I mean… it’s just… It’d be tough to find a proper living space and maintain it... and I’m not used to this era… not to mention the legal troubles I’d have to go through...”
Merlin frowned, and pointed his staff at the screen.
“...This is dragging a little too much....”
“Fou?”
Merlin took a deep breath, focused all his mana into two points and flicked his staff to the left.
All of a sudden, the discussion between Solomon and his master began to speed up. Their movements were choppy, and their voices’ pitch became higher. Merlin’s eyes had an eerie, inhuman glow to it that lit up the dim room. It only became brighter the faster the tale went.
Fou scratched Merlin’s arm.
“Ow! I’m just getting to the good parts, alright?! I wanna see Solomon’s wish in action! It’s not everyday you see a puppet gain a will of its own!” He whisper-yelled, “Wait, wait, right here, right here! This is it!”
The room darkened.
Beyond the window; a huge ball of light, heavy with mana, was diminishing very slowly. Solomon’s master walked out of it first, with a rather content look on his face. Bills of money began to expel itself from the side he came from.
“Wow… take a look at that. Even the exact currency I asked for...”
In just a few seconds, thousands of bills were at his feet. They were all neatly folded, and tied with rubber bands. Solomon’s master’s eyes widened in delight.
His expression suddenly straightened out, and he shuffled back a little. The bills were starting to reach the tips of his bloodstained shoes.
“Dear me… well, it’s not like the Clock Tower would mind, but still.”
On the other side of the ball of light, something else was being expelled. It was slow and steady, unlike the increasing pool of money opposite of it. Glowing white all over, it’s form was ineffably brilliant yet far from shapeless… it struggled to release itself, as if the grail was testing its tenacity.
It grunted, and heaved. Thick, heavy liquid clung onto the form, oozing from the light. It shook it off, and the liquid splattered onto the floor, mildly disintegrating it. All that was visible of it was it’s eerily featureless “head” and “shoulders”.
The ball dented. “Something” was grabbing it from within.
“H—Haaa…gh…”
It groaned wearily, giving Merlin the impression that it was suffering immensely. With just one hand, it lifted itself up, and brought its torso and other arm out of the ball. It awkwardly reached for the ground, patting what looked like it’s “hands” all over the rocks, until it fell out of the ball entirely. It shrieked.
As soon as it picked up on the fact it was on the ground, it started clawing at it’s own head. It’s movements were sloppy. It’s arms shuddering while fingers dug into its face carelessly. It scratched so far in that the “head” began to disturbingly dent. Merlin started started questioning if it actually had anything under there...
After a few seconds, the form tore it’s face apart, and revealed a new one lying within it.
Long, flowing pink hair, green eyes, and a soft countenance.
With the kind of face he had, he was unmistakably the King of Magic... but with his other features changed so drastically, he was basically unrecognizable.
“Hm? Caster? Are you over there?”
Solomon’s Master began to walk to the other side.
“Wait-- Wa- wai--” Solomon coughed and hacked, his spit replaced by disturbingly large amounts of the glowing liquid, “Uoughh..”
“What was that? Did the wish mess up?” His master pressed.
“No, no! I-It’s the opposite, actually, but.. just... just don’t come near me..!”
“...”
The thick, glowing film that covered Solomon’s body melted. Just like candle wax, it slid off of his new body, taking old parts of it along with it. Due to his old skin being ripped off, large portions of his body were left as exposed muscle. Beating and pulsating. They must’ve been burning with pain at the loss of its own parts. Solomon bit his lip, watching as pieces of his organs squirmed back into place.
“H-Haagh…”
“You know, Caster, if it’s being naked you’re worried about... it’s fine. There’s nothing to be ashamed about one’s body.”
“That isn’t it!”
Merlin snorted.
“Huh? Are you sure? With the kind of tone your voice has, I’d think that was the case…” Solomon’s master raised his eyebrow.
“No no no no no no no! That definitely isn’t the case, Master!”
“...Guess I won’t be getting any cloth then…”
“...Wait, wait a moment… I’d… actually, um...”
“Haha, I knew that was the case. Don’t worry, give me a second to look for something in the rubble.”
“...Thanks…”
The former King of Magic sighed. He adjusted himself, and sat on the rough ground. His skin was slowly weaving itself back into its proper place, and it seemed like the pain has become easier on the poor man.
Solomon’s shoulders relaxed, and a serene smile made its way onto his face.
The ball of light behind him was slowly fading away into a tiny speck. The last of his magecraft, his clairvoyance, his noble phantasm… everything. They’ll evaporate with the grail. Once it was one-hundred percent wholly gone, this man would be free from the shackles of his fate, and can roam the earth as purposelessly as he wanted.
And thus… with a small, bright flash... it was gone.
Merlin narrowed his eyes, and cupped his chin with his hand.
“Something doesn’t feel right.”
“...Fou?”
“There’s still something missing… I can tell even from here that he still has those eyes.”
Clairvoyance.
An extremely powerful ability for a servant. It sharpens your visual perception to an inhuman degree. At C to B rank, you could count how many bricks there are on a road miles away from you. This was more common amongst archers, as this was a skill initially meant for them. But, once you push past B+ and reach ranks above, you start to see more than just details, and the skill becomes less of that of an “archer’s” but that of a “caster’s”.
In fact, one of the requirements to becoming a “grand caster” was extremely potent clairvoyance.
Above B+ rank, clairvoyance starts to take on a newer and more dangerous form. For some servants, it was future sight or mind reading. But for certain casters, it was near-omniscient awareness of everything around you.
Merlin, one of the leading candidates for Grand Caster, had Clairvoyance that could see the present in its entirety. He’d heard of another candidate that could specialize in seeing the future, but had never met them personally. On the other hand, King Solomon, the current Grand Caster, could see both the past and future in clear detail.
Not only that, but clairvoyance users can recognize each other just by looking at them.
And, right now, Merlin could tell that even the grail struggled to sunder such a deep, powerful connection with fate from Solomon.
‘...What would it be like to lose clairvoyance?’
The magus had always wondered.
And, as if destiny took it upon itself to answer him, an uncomfortable noise rang out from the window.
Solomon’s expression darkened, and he began to cough uncontrollably. His shuddering hands pressed themselves against his lips, but it did little to help him. His chest spasmed and heaved. His voice became rough and choked up. He violently hacked and wheezed, struggling to vomit out, what Merlin presumed, to be an ocean’s worth of power. He quivered like crazy, tears forming at the corner of his eyes from the stress, until…
Something fell out of his shaking lips, and glimmered. It landed on his palms, covered with glowing liquid and spit.
“My... ring...?”
The world drowned.
Immense pressure that landed within the tale far, far from the cell crashed into it like a wave, overwhelming Merlin. A profound, deep emptiness that shook his entire being, and long-winded warnings that carved itself into the back of his eyes. Siren songs that were on a pitch so high it could burst someone’s eardrums. A hopeless plea, the sound of an ocean crying, piercing screams and shrieks, rumbles of a world that had given up. Lightning that struck the back of his head. A thunderstorm that invited itself into Merlin’s eyes.
He had a distant feeling that something was wrong. Yet, it couldn’t reach him. Explanations. Reasoning. Causes. Effect. They were hopelessly obscured behind a foggy glass wall. Yet, somehow, he knew they were there, waiting to be parsed.
He pushed his ear against the wall, and closed his eyes. If his eyes did little to help, perhaps his other senses will.
There, he heard it. A black ocean that stretched endlessly, rumbling, and slowly collecting itself. The closer it got, the more immense the rumbling became. The waves became bigger. Faster. Stronger. It’s slow place turning into a fast, unstoppable surge.
‘Ah… it was not an ocean .’
The glass cracked.
‘It was a tsunami.’
“Fou? Fou fou! Fooouuu!”
The bright light in Merlin’s eyes flickered, struggling to shut itself off. The moment they dimmed, and the Magus regained his senses, he gasped and struggled to regain his breath.
“What...”
“Was that…?”
Solomon was shaking, breathing at nearly the same pace as Merlin.
The only difference was that Solomon wasn’t just struggling to breathe, his lip was bleeding. His upper teeth were dipped in blood, and his face was contorted with fear and despair. His new, human body was finally completed, but as soon as it became so, something else shattered.
But as for what that something was… no one else but Solomon knew.
Merlin slammed his staff down onto the floor. The tale beyond the window paused, and some light in the room was restored from the half-translucent form the tale took.
“...I’d like to ask the same question, King of Magic…” Merlin held his face, and exhaled sharply.
“Fooou…?”
Fou tapped the magus’ leg with his paw, and mew’d, seemingly worried.
“...I’m fine, Cath Palug. It just seems like… for the first time in centuries... I’ve learned something new about my abilities.” He wearily pushed the tips of his fingers against the borders of his closed eyes.
“Please remind me not to ever, ever, ever , watch another Clairvoyance user with Clairvoyance... ever again. I believe I’ll dub this phenomena as ‘secondhand clairvoyance’. Rare, and also a thorn in my side.”
It had only been minutes since he accidentally shared Solomon’s vision, but his memories of what he “saw” had begun to evaporate. When it comes to secondhand clairvoyance, it seemed to work like “first caster who saw it” will be the “only caster who sees it”. At least, until Merlin was put in a position to witness it himself.
He only knew of the present, not of the future. Certainly, with his intellect, he can predict the future with the massive amounts of evidence he can gather. But he cannot investigate what he doesn’t even know, much less remember.
Merlin opened his eyes, and gazed at the window.
“And, in less than just 5 minutes… I can barely remember what it is I saw. All I know is that it strained my body, and that it definitely strained both his body and mind.”
King Solomon, the King of Magic.
He was shaking, alone and cold in that cavern, with no one to rely on. His master was surely going to come back any time… but even in his company, no, even in the company of anyone, no matter how many, no matter how close, Solomon will never leave that spot for the rest of his life.
That was the sort of impression Merlin derived.
“...How interesting.”
The corners of the magus’ mouth curved, forming a devious smile.
“I’ve always wondered what sort of tapestry a dethroned king could weave.”