Normally, Shirou would have been delighted to be able to sleep after such a busy day, but, a few weeks ago, that changed. When he was a child and was adopted by Kiritsugu, he never stopped having nightmares about the fire; unless he took the magical medicines that his father prepared for him, however, ever since he met Muramasa, his dreams changed, he stopped having nightmares about the tragedy and started dreaming about swords. But, that only lasted until a few weeks ago, suddenly, the memory of the fire reappeared, and more and more strongly, every night was worse and today seemed to be no exception.
Shirou was in the middle of the fire... and everything was reproduced as he remembered it: The air was laden with smoke and ash, the sparkling sound and heat of the flames, and the smell of burning meat. The first thing he saw was that flaming hell, the fire that took everything from him. And he was standing in the middle of it, in the distance, he could see it, the reddish-black mud moving fast as it consumed everything.
Once again, that voice called him, "S-Shirou, please help me."
But he couldn't see whose it was, so he began to walk without control of his own body as if he were in a trance. With much effort, Shirou clenched his fists tightly. Just like he did that time, he forced himself to ignore everything, to ignore the screams, the pleas, the fire, and the pain. He ignored everything while wondering only one thing:
Why? Why do I keep coming back here!?
What he never expected was someone to answer him...
"B-Because... t-that... I... d-desire it..."
"What?"
Listening to that beautiful voice, so sweet and innocent, in the middle of that hell, he felt a chill. Looking for its origin, the redhead turned to where he thought it came from...
The mud began to change at great speed. What looked like lava began to take on organic properties, and little by little, what was nothing more than black and reddish mud had transformed into the vague shape of a person.
"W-Who are you?"
This had never happened, in any of his dreams had it happened! And this terrified him.
That creature began to move, it seemed to try to smile at him. "I am… am… I w-want to… f-fulfill your w-wish…"
"My wish…?"
"W-We can d-do it. We will b-bring the grail to this w-world once a-gain."
The thing approached slowly, and, for every step it took forward, the redhead took a step back. But it seemed that it was impossible to escape from that being.
"Th-There's still time, don't worry, th-they will try one more time, there is no do-doubt."
The thing was about to touch him, but the moment its fleshy red hand was about to do it, he fell out of bed, waking up.
"Kiddo, are you okay!? You're sweating, and you look pale."
The apprentice blacksmith could not speak; he knew that if he did, then he would throw up.
After calming down a bit, he was able to say, "I had a very, very bad dream."
"Are you kidding me!? You are perspiring! Also, it looks like you might have seen a monster or something!"
"I did it. I don't know what that thing was, but it was terrifying."
"Do you think it was just a dream? Or, did you feel something else?"
The young man lowered his gaze. "I'm not sure, but it came from within the mud, and whatever that thing was, it was very scary. It also said something very strange…"
"What?"
"It wanted to fulfill my wish..."
This confused the blacksmith. "Your wish…?"
Shirou nodded. "Although I don't know how that thing could help us create the ultimate sword."
Muramasa was silent for a few moments. "I am not very informed about beings that get inside people's dreams, but I know they exist, of that, I have no doubt, even so, if that thing was born from that accumulation of curses..."
"Accumulation of curses?" the confused boy asked.
The sword would have nodded if it could. "That's it is. I was sealed when all the disaster happened, but even from inside my seal, I could feel it... That was an insane amount of cursing, as I'd never felt before, and kiddo, I am a blacksmith who has created many cursed swords, believe me when I tell you that, never in my life, have I felt anything like it..."
This surprised the boy. "W-Wait! Does that mean the fire wasn't from a gas leak!? Was there magecraft involved!?" Shirou was trembling. What was this he was feeling? Was it anger? Was it fear? Or was it both? He couldn't put it into words, however, just knowing that it was a magus who caused the Fuyuki fire made him realize many feelings that he did not know he possessed.
"Of course! Did you really believe that disaster was not related to magecraft? I thought Kiritsugu would have told you..."
"No... he didn't tell me anything. Maybe... maybe he didn't want to remind me of those moments. Before, he used to tell me that when he saw me for the first time, I looked like a puppet whose strings had been cut..."
"That could be a good reason." A momentary silence covered the room. "By the way, kiddo, shouldn't you prepare for your classes?"
"¿Eh…? ¿¡Eh!?" seeing how much time he had wasted, Shirou rushed as fast as he could.
For a moment, he was grateful that there were no set uniforms. He was dressed in a white and blue shirt along with black pants. And Before leaving, he also grabbed a jacket and his katana and ran out of the room.
Shirou ran until he reached a bus stop, where he took the one that would drop him closest to the British Museum, the hidden face of the Clock Tower. Later, he crossed the necessary barriers to reach the facilities where the departments that made up the institution were located.
"Which class do you have first?" asked his ancestor.
"Today I have three classes: General Fundamentals, Mineralogy, and finally, Modern Magecraft Theory," he replied panting as he reached the room where he would have his first class.
The boy entered the large auditorium where his first class would be given. This was full of several magi from various countries around the world, and although most were European, they were all young magi whose ages were between the ages of thirteen and sixteen.
The boy was careful about where to sit; because, he was known that, within the Clock Tower, There was a certain preconception and discrimination among the magi of the Tower towards foreign magi.
Finally, he found a free seat next to a girl who appeared to be Asian just like him.
She was a young girl similar in age to Shirou. She had long brown hair as well as blue eyes. The girl wore a purple-blue jacket, along with a white blouse and shorts, and besides, she also wore glasses.
She gave a slight nod as a sign that she recognized his presence, a gesture that he returned. They didn't talk much, because the girl was uncomfortable and quite nervous, so he didn't want to bother her even more.
The two of them waited for a few minutes until the professor entered the room. He was a tall, stocky man who possessed large muscles, in addition, he had a semicircular chin, as well as a beard and blond hair. Besides, the man wore a gray suit with vertical stripes, he looked like a politician.
He was one of the Lords of the Clock Tower, the leader of the Democratic Faction as well as the head of the General Fundamentals Faculty. His name was McDonald Trambellio Elrod.
The burly man silenced the room with his mere presence and began his lecture without delay.