9 days before the war, 10:15 pm, a mountain villa north of Athens

Aisha Alghul sat on her sofa, sipping her honey-laced herbal tea. A man stood at the bar by her kitchenette, close to the door. He was a necromancer from the East, not that you'd know that from looking at him. Equipped with sunglasses, even at this late hour, he wore a leather jacket with dark denim pants. He was the image of a biker from the American Midwest: his brown mullet, broad shoulders, and rugged, bearded jawline painted over his Japanese ethnicity to the point that she wondered if it was some kind of disguise. She eventually realized that he simply gave no thought whatsoever to his appearance, a fact that somehow made him both more and less respectable in her eyes. 

Kairi Shishigou began to conclude the findings that he had been going over for some time now, "...So, in other words, it seems that your theories are correct, assuming that your sources are accurate."

He looked back down at the papers, notes and diagrams, in his calloused hands. "Though my knowledge of evocation is, admittedly, limited..."

He paused here. Evocation wasn't his strong-suit: he was a necromancer. Though it was true that evocation and necromancy overlapped in certain respects, they were completely different disciples: evocation being the calling and summoning of spirits- spiritual matter, and necromancy the manipulation of corpses- physical matter. More than that, his employer, being a necromancer herself, and from a world-renowned family no-less, certainly understood that, and yet she still acted as if his frustrations were wholly illegitimate. More than that, she hired a mercenary, a warrior mage, for a job that consisted of recon and research. Needless to say, he wasn't particularly pleased with Miss Alghul, but pay was still pay... enough pay to offset his frustrations.

"... The leylines covering about a 160 kilometre radius from Thebes are very similar to those in Fuyuki, Japan, meaning that they can probably be used for the ritual described in your notes."

A smirk crawled across her wiry lips as she noted the subtleties of the mercenary's voice. He was a compulsively honest man, an extremely rare specimen among mages, but all that meant is that there could be no doubt that she knew exactly who she was talking to.

Setting her teacup down, she stood, allowing her leopard-print lounge-wear to straighten itself against her form as she moved. The tall, slender, Turkish woman began to pace slowly around the room, towards the fourth wall made entirely of glass, reinforced both physically and visually with magecraft of course, overlooking the city of Athens below. Even at this late hour you could still make out the Acropolis, jutting out from the flat cityscape against the starless sky.

His attitude was clear to read: he was an independent type, more than willing to criticize his employer, or even quit a job if it didn't suit his interests. She could hear the tiredness in his voice and tell that he was already frustrated, and so she probably wouldn't earn more service from him without the right bait. But, that was a good thing in a way, it meant that he was motivated by more than just money, a fact that she could use to her advantage...

She stopped suddenly and turned to Kairi in a purposefully girlish manner, her long hair, normally straight but now tied in a messy bun, bobbing as she did so. She allowed their eyes to meet, as much as they could given his sunglasses, knowing that he was reading her just as she was him. Even from this distance she could make out her heterochromial eyes, emerald right and brown left, in his glasses' reflection. 

Her confidence grew at the sight of her own face, "Tell me Kairi," she began, "what do you know of the Holy Grail War?"

Though confused, his interest, at least, was piqued. "It's an evocation ritual from the far east that summons familiars to fight each other for supremacy, where the winning mage is granted one wish." He responded matter-of-factly with an 'of course I know' attitude, but with a spark of intrigue all the same. "It was restricted to Fuyuki in secret for many years, before the most recent one went awry. Now mages from around the world are trying to recreate the ritual..."

He cocked his head with a smirk, "-And I suppose you're one of them, right?"

He didn't need an answer.

"And what if I am?"

"What if you are?" He replied dismissively, almost sounding disappointed. "I'm just here to get paid for a job well done."

"Come on, Kairi." 

As she spoke, she moved towards him in womanly fashion, one more small, seductive touch she had added to their little meeting. Given her domain of magecraft, she saw it as hypocritical to use others' bodies without being equally willing to use her own; a philosophy she shared with the mercenary across from her, though with a different context in mind. She also knew that Kairi had lost a daughter many years ago, so there had to be some loneliness in his heart, right? She could take advantage of that. People, at their core, were all the same, and especially men. 

She leaned against the back of a sofa placed adjacent to the first and crossed her arms, turning her head with a playful grin, "You can't tell me you aren't at least slightly interested? Surely you have something you would wish for?" 

He stopped and considered his next words very carefully. "You are a necromancer aren't you? You should know the dangers of a Monkey's Paw." 

His tone was sharpened to make his words as pointed as possible, speaking with disdain.

Aisha was aware of Shishigou's nature, but his brashness still caught her off guard. People didn't talk to her like that often.

He continued, "-Besides, if the original couldn't serve its purpose, then shitty replicas won't either, and I'm not going to throw my life away for some damn cup that only brings destruction."

He turned away from her, swallowing some emotion that had unintentionally risen to the surface, "Miracles don't exist, Alghul, everything comes with a cost."

She pretended to consider this, but all the while her thoughts raged in her head, 'As if I haven't thought of that already. Who do you think I am? Does he really think the head of a family as ancient and renowned as the Alghuls wouldn't consider something so simple?'

She was being patronized and she hated it. She allowed some of this frustration to show as a smug, almost teenage expression, taking advantage of all the youth she had left in her 34 year-old features, but otherwise tried to hide her simmering anger. She was going to recruit him as an ally, and this string of conversation opened some interesting opportunities for her. 

"So," she began, continuing the playful act and raising her chin, "What's your cost Mr. Shishigou?"

"Nothing worth my life." Lighting a cigarette, he turned to exit. "I'll expect the money you owe in my account by Tu-"

"I asked what your cost was."

Aisha Alghul stood there with a flat expression, arms at her sides, all pretense utterly disposed with. "Anything you ask, I can give it to you, once I win that is."

He turned and smiled, the precise meaning hidden behind his sunglasses, "So, you're done with the act, eh?"

"I want you as an ally, Kairi," she sighed, "I hope you'll forgive my little charade," she rolled her eyes with an honest note of defeat, "I should've known better than to try such a cliche on a professional such as yourself, though I hope you understand that it wasn't a total farce."

She smiled, this time with cruelty and arrogance, her true self shining through. "I was hoping I could tempt you with the company of a woman that understands you, but I have other things to offer too." 

She untied her bun and let her hair fall, it was straight and reached past the small of her back, "Secret knowledge, advanced necromantic techniques. Even, taking things full circle in a way," She moved her hands as she spoke, her arms and shoulders moving to emphasize her words, "-marriage into the Alghul family, to me. To increase the strength of your lineage, as well as your personal influence, and all the wealth you could ever want and more, even if you don't accept the literal proposal."

He laughed.

She grimaced, veins bulging in her forehead, 'Why is he laughing, is something funny!? What's wrong with this damned moron!?'

Having disposed with her previous act, she allowed her anger to show, hoping that it would clearly demonstrate exactly how serious she was.

"And what makes you so confident that this ritual will work?" He asked with curiosity and a shit-eating grin.

She returned his malevolent smile. "I'm glad you asked, give me just a moment." 

She walked to a door on a wall to her far left, disappearing down a flight of stairs, before reemerging less than thirty seconds later with a thick folder in her hand.

"Come now, Kairi, sit." She took her original seat, as well as a large swallow of her tea from the coffee table. Opening the folder, she spilled its contents out between the two couches, and spread them with careful consideration as Kairi sat down across from her.

Taking her cue, he silently flipped through the various documents. There were two different subjects covered across the many papers. The first set of documents gave details of a set of leylines found in India, ones remarkably similar, though clearly distinct, from the ones he had been hired to study. He surmised that the former were probably an incomplete or faulty predecessor of the latter, and later notes made by various employees of the Alghuls seemed to confirm this. 

He stopped and glanced quizzically at Aisha, sunglasses now off. "If you already knew so much, why hire me?"

She sat straight up with her hands in her lap, equal parts elegant and pompous, "I wanted a second opinion, someone that I could trust."

He raised an eyebrow, "You don't trust your own men?"

"I don't trust anyone, especially those close to me."

He met her gaze for a few more moments before returning to his reading, taking long draws on his cigarette as he read. The second set of documents was specific analysis of the leylines, their purpose and origins. 

One specific note caught his eye: "The secret of divinity?"

"We believe that these leylines may be conducive to the creation of gods and other divine spirits. The imperfections in the Indian circle may be the cause of the relatively odd appearance of their gods, or even the demons that run rampant in their myths."

"And you believe this because?"

She sighed, not because it was a stupid question, but because she didn't like being talked back to. "The setup of the leylines are reminiscent of the magical flow we've found in divine relics from the Age of Gods. I believe that, if we were to search long and hard enough, we could probably find similar circles in various places across the globe, each with unique imperfections that led to the diversity of the pantheons." 

Despite the annoyance her diatribe started with, as she continued, she spoke with increasingly romantic fervor. This information was invaluable, and was likely the largest discovery made within the last century of magecraft, and she had discovered it.

"And you chose leylines here because you think they're the most perfect?"

"Of course I would choose the leylines of what is perhaps the largest and most powerful pantheon known to man."

"-And because you don't want a goat's head along with your godhood, right?"

"Or to become a demon." She smirked with confidence, continually impressed by the level-headedness of her contemporary. "Now that you understand, would you like to reconsider my offer?" She leaned in, "Help me, and our victory is all but assured, Shishigou."

He leaned back to reestablish the distance between them. "And why's that?"

Her smile glowed with malice, "Because, there won't be any other mages. Grail War participants need not be willing, you know. If a Grail is summoned, seven masters will be chosen, even if they don't know a damn thing about the ritual, or even magecraft in general."

He groaned and stood up, extinguishing his cigarette on the bare coffee table. Without another word, he walked towards the front door to exit.

Confusion, surprise, and sudden anger strained her voice as she rose sharply to her feet, "What are you doing!? Where do you think you're going!?"

He waved his hand dismissively over his shoulder, "You're opening a can of worms, Aisha, and I don't want any part of it."

"Really!? Despite all that I can give you, you still leave!?" She continued to follow him out the door.

"I am thankful for your explanation," he said as he put his glasses back on, "I now know that getting out of here is the best thing that I can do for myself." 

His boots cracked across the gravel driveway as he moved to his rental car.

Aisha's desperation faded into hatred towards this man who had not only spurned her, but had done so with such arrogance. He was just a mercenary, who did he think he was to speak to her like that, he who knows nothing? 

Standing at the threshold she looked out and declared with a murderous gaze, "I hope you're prepared to deal with the wrath of a goddess, mercenary."

"Whatever. Just try not to die." 

Making it clear just how little he thought of her ambitions, he climbed into his car and drove off, heavy metal blaring from the rental as he did.

She returned inside and slammed the door. Taking deep breaths, she picked up her tea as she walked out onto the patio overlooking Athens, using the moment to calm herself.

She allowed a cruel smile to creep across her face as she looked out to the Acropolis, her thoughts moving from murderous rage to malicious glee, "You'll regret that, Kairi." She took a sip of her tea, feeling the warmth of the honey massage the back of her throat. "Soon....

"... I will climb Olympus."

.