9:50 am, The Temple of Hephaestus at the Acropolis
Aaron groggily opened his eyes, sunlight pulling him from his dreamless sleep. He sat up slowly and painfully; resting his head in his hands. Here, he noticed an ugly scar on his chest, red and discolored. He touched it tentatively, and was rewarded with a stinging burn that spread through his nerves from the point of contact. The pain caused him to double over, but his folding chest only worsened the pain and he had to straighten his back tensely with a muffled grunt.
'What happened?'
Putting his pain aside, he analyzed his surroundings. He recognized the inside of the temple, the chalk summoning circle still in the room's center and his black munitions crate still in the far corner from himself alongside his satchel. He also noted the clothes laying across the floor. One set was the uniform he stole, folded neatly by the bed, and the other set was.. his. They were laid unfolded so that they would dry, but were still clearly wet despite the time... what time was it?
Red flushed Aaron's face as he recognized his underwear among the drying clothes. Peeling back the blanket, sure enough, he was completely naked. This was how he slept normally, but, having no idea what happened while he was out, he was still left confused and embarrassed.
-Blanket?
Aaron was on a white cot spread on the floor, a green wool blanket wrapped over him. It was strange and almost paradoxical: despite being such basic items, they were both ornate with gold trim, and unbelievably comfortable, far more comfortable than any cot on a stone floor had any right to be. It made Aaron think of a king going camping.
Aaron sighed. This was surely Rider's doing.
Aaron tried moving quickly so that he could get dressed as soon as possible, but his body rejected the sudden movement, causing him to fall back onto the cot as his knee popped far louder than it should.
"Gah!"
Aaron clutched his knee tightly and gritted his teeth. Getting up again, he internally cursed every aspect of his miserable life as his overly-thin body stiffly shuffled over to the damp boxers. The cold wetness caused him to shiver as the itchy fabric clung to his skin, but he already felt more comfortable.
His weekend escapades meant that there had been more than a few times he had been caught in his boxers, and he was long passed the embarrassment of it. His stomach turned imagining Rider undressing his unconscious body.
'Where was Rider?'
"Rider!"
"Good morrow, mine Master,"
Aaron turned around to see Rider sitting against the wall by the munitions. Aaron found himself grimacing as he wondered if Rider had been watching him the whole time.
"-Though, may I recommend thee keep thy voice quiet? There art tourists about. Few, but a number regardless."
Aaron eyed Rider, "Where were you a second ago?"
Rider chuckled quietly "Worry not, dear Master, I wast keeping the perimeter until which moment I had heard thy pain."
Aaron's stomach hit the floor. "So... a few seconds then?"
"Aye. I bethought if't I would reveal myself whilst you were undressed, mine Master may not be comfortable, so I waited for thy summons." He chuckled again,"T'would seem my judgement wast correct."
Aaron groaned in his awkwardness, his face somewhat pale, but he ultimately just waved his hand with a pained, "Whatever." and moved to get dressed.
Thankfully, the boxers weren't so damp that the wetness soaked through the pants of the guard's uniform, though Aaron still felt uneasy. Not because Rider had seen him naked, he was past that for the most part, but because Rider watched him intently while he dressed. This would've been awkward under any circumstances, but Aaron's stiff, aching, and popping body made him feel especially pathetic.
As he went to put on the white t-shirt that went under the uniform, he was reminded of the charred flesh. That's right. Something had happened last night. Suddenly, Rider's stares made perfect sense.
"Hey, Rider..."
Aaron wasn't quite sure where to start.
"Thou art inquiring into the events of last evening, yes?"
"..Yeah.. something like that."
Aaron was searching his memory, trying to puzzle the pieces of his spotty recollections.
"Begin with what thee last remember."
Aaron closed his eyes and focused.
...
The rainy night came back to him, and he was suddenly standing on the precipice of the Acropolis once more. The image shifted, and he was instead standing in the ruins of the Temple of Zeus, it's two standing corners towering above him. The earth below him rumbled and shook, the columns of the ruined temple threatening to topple. Cracks appeared as the earth began to rip itself apart, a blue light glowing as if from the very core of the planet.
The Earth exploded. Blue-white energy burst forth from the crust below, encapsulating the whole of the horizon, burning his flesh as the columns evaporated like steam. In front of him, from out of the white nothing, was a face. Strong and regal with an inhuman dignity, conveying the majesty of storm clouds rolling over a distant mountaintop. He calmed for a moment, before the visage shifted into something demonic. A raging beast; the animosity of nature itself. It roared with the righteous anger of what could only be called a god.
...
Aaron gasped and sat up with a start- triggering the pain in his chest and sending him back onto the cot. Rider's cold, armored hand held him down from the shoulder, gentle yet firm.
Realizing what had happened, Aaron covered his face with his hands.
"I passed out didn't I?"
"Aye. Apologies, but does that befall thee regularly?
Rider's voice held obvious concern. It struck Aaron as odd, even fundamentally wrong. Why was this guy so worried about him when they just met the other night?
Oh yeah. Rider needed him to get the Grail. That was why he was worried about him.
"No, no. It shouldn't."
Aaron shook his head and Rider removed his hand. Whatever that thing was. It had attacked him, and Rider had fought him.
'How?' he wondered, 'How could anybody stand up to that?'
"You.." Aaron pondered his words carefully, "You fought it, didn't you?"
"Aye."
"Did you win?"
"Nay, but neither was I felled, so all is well."
Aaron rolled over on the cot, facing away from Rider to hide his paled expression. "Rider..."
"Master?"
"If-" words he barely remembered found their way to his tongue, "-If Berserker comes back, we run. Got that?"
"If that should be your will."
"How did the fight end?"
"Servant Caster made his appearance."
Aaron turned around quickly; another shot of pain ran through him, but he ignored it as best he could, "Did Caster beat that thing?!"
'How could the spellcaster beat something like that?!'
"Nay. Berserker retreated."
"Berserker... retreated?" A retreating Berserker was the definition of an oxymoron.
"Aye."
Aaron's voice shuddered from shock and pain, "And what if he hadn't?"
"I know not. Apologies."
Aaron stood, shaking. Rider seemed to pause here, as if ready for Aaron to collapse again. "Then my order remains the same. Berserker shows; we go."
"Aye."
"Right."
Rider was still kneeling. "And what shall we do 'till the next exchange?"
His words brought Aaron back to reality, "Well... first I need to inspect the leylines here- see what I can do to make this place a proper workshop. Then... then I need to put up some wards to protect our stuff. I don't know after that."
"Thou need not fret, mine Master. Do whatsoever thou must, and I will ponder as to what the future may bring."
Aaron stared at Rider for a moment. He couldn't figure this guy out. "Anyway, I guess I'll get on that. There's shit to do."
Rider began to stand, "I agree wholeheartedly Master; however, I have a selfish request."
Having never made any kind of request, he had Aaron's full attention.
"Though a healer I am not, neither am I a fool. I would like to at least inspect your condition more thoroughly."
Aaron cocked his eyebrow. "You wanna give me a physical?"
"Something of that sort, aye."
Aaron was going to contest it, but he could feel Rider's gaze intensify, and somehow got the impression that he didn't have a choice.
He groaned and submitted, "Fine."
Over the next several minutes, Rider moved around Aaron's body, poking and prodding at his muscles, or the places where muscles should have been. He had Aaron do various exercises, push-ups, jumping jacks, and the like. Aaron was tempted to complain at first, but realized that his body's rejection of the exercises proved their necessity. Nevertheless, he managed to push through Rider's meddlesome physical. Well, at least he thought so.
Heaving from the physical stress, he already felt the sweat stinging his wound. He swore the wet underwear was already causing chafing. "There. We're done, right?"
"Not quite." Rider moved some paces away and held up Aaron's watch.
He patted himself down, "Wha-when did you-?"
"Not important. You have exercises for your magecraft, yes?"
"Uhh.. yeah?"
"Tis very simple. I simply wish for you to perform your basic routine."
Aaron didn't have a routine. He didn't really care enough to practice- at all, and much less regularly, but he wasn't going to admit that to him. "Right, fine."
Aaron stood up straight and reached his arm out. "All I'm gonna do is adjust the polarity of my hand directed towards the watch. You should feel a pull."
Rider nodded.
He found himself hesitating- wondering if he might end up breaking the mechanism in the watch, or if Rider's armor would interfere, but he pushed forward regardless.
"Right."
Aaron focused on the watch in front of him and built up the magical flow in his outstretched hand before opening those channels to create the outward effect-
A shot of lightning jolted from Aaron's palm, striking the watch with perfect precision. Rider let go of it as soon as the jolt began to fly, and so the watch spiraled in the air and crashed against the far wall.
"Well then."
Aaron looked at Rider with wide eyes, failing to understand what had just occurred. "Did you know that was going to happen?"
"Of course not. No one knows the future- well, that isn't exactly true, I suppose."
Aaron stared down at his hands- what had happened to him?
What did Berserker do to him?
....