Foreigner in a Strange Land

As Shirou Emiya's consciousness came back after… whatever had just happened to him, his mind started the slow process of putting itself back together. He… he recalled he was in his first nightmare. Which was some kind of trial people went through when they contracted the Nightmare spell. They succumb to sleep and are pulled into some grand illusionary conflict that they must survive to the end of. And he had contracted the plague-like spell himself. That was why he had gone to a local police station, so that they could… protect people from his body if he failed.

If he did end up failing and dying in here, then his body back in the waking world would become the vessel for some kind of nightmarish abomination. An aptly named Nightmare creature in fact.

If Shirou had known where that police station was and knew the procedure for this process it would stand to reason that Shirou was a citizen of that city, and yet his memories of any kind of past were non-existent. He knew he had… lived in the city outskirts for a little while so perhaps he was a native? Or was he a visitor from somewhere else who came there recently? That thought seemed more familiar somehow and yet he couldn't draw on a single memory other than the last… 3 months or so he had spent in the outskirts of the Northern Quadrant Siege Capital, yet even those memories seemed to have gaps in them. How could he have come from somewhere else if he didn't have memories of anywhere prior?

'Maybe it's a matter of my nightmare then? A side effect, or perhaps some way to elevate the challenge of the process by stripping some of my prior knowledge of things?' Even as he toyed with the thought of it though Shirou was unable to convince himself of that.

He had clear memories from the last three months regarding whole industries around training young people to face their nightmares if they ended up contracting the spell, so the idea of being robbed of that part of your preparation seemed particularly laughable. Not to mention why would his memories go back several months and then suddenly stop? If this was an inherent part of the nightmare wouldn't he either lose all his memories or the more recent ones? Why was it retaining short and long term but dropping off to a blank before the three month mark?

As Shirou tried to comb through the memories he still had trying to find a clue that could help him to understand what had robbed him of his past he came up short. In fact he was left without even an idea of how to start understanding his situation. The only thing that might be of any help to him was the partner he knew he had.

He knew her name was Rin Tohsaka, and he knew the two of them were close, much closer than two people who had only met three months ago had any right to be given some of the things he recalled them doing. He also knew that the pair of them had been studying the nightmare spell in the last three months, looking for any information they could and often spending late hours in a shabby public library pouring over data pads for any information not stuck behind massive academic paywalls.

Despite knowing that the both of them were close every memory even of her vanished beyond the three month mark. To make understanding his situation even harder, even those memories that remained were fractured and indistinct. Conversations that couldn't be understood, whole words that slid out of sentences as his mind tried to remember them. He could see the both of them sitting in the library and recalled Rin comparing it to somewhere else and yet whatever word she used was plucked from his mind and replaced with emptiness.

Despite their fragmented nature Rin's existence in his memories was enough for Shirou to focus on and as he tried to wrack his mind he recalled the most recent memory he had of her. Just this afternoon he headed to the police station in order to go through the nightmare spell first before Rin did. Rin's own symptoms were still a day or two behind his own and so they both decided Shirou could go on ahead.

The pair was exchanging far more words than he could remember but there were things he could understand like his own resilience, and being too stubborn to die. He had said that about himself and earned a… something from Rin which he couldn't remember. The sensation of it was like a zap from a taser and the emotions he had felt were strangely joyous at the thought of her being concerned about him coupled with mirth at the thought of her hitting him.

But the exact image of whatever she had done was bleached away just like half the words they had said. One part of that last exchange he could understand though was that he was supposed to be collecting some kind of intelligence while he was in here to give back to her for her own journey into the nightmare in the next two days.

Any further contemplation he might have had on the topic was banished from his mind when the stark whiteness of the void around him faded away and was replaced by the image of a vast plain of pale white sand stretching out across the horizon. The grains were painted by the deep hue of the distant setting sun and set swirling as the winds picked up. As Shirou was left staring at the vast expanse before him the sun began accelerating across the sky before rapidly plunging down behind the horizon. The endless night sky shone high above and countless stars shined in its embrace. They too were quickly streaking across the sky and even accelerating like the sun had until soon the sun moon and stars all were spinning across the sky like a kaleidoscopic dream.

As they did, the desert in front of Shirou twisted and changed. The now rapidly swirling and fading winds seemingly pushed back the expanse of the endless desert as grass began to sprout from a rapidly forming layer of soil. Soon the green dresses pushed the desert back entirely from Shirou's view and he was left standing in a field of green that was billowing in accelerated breezes so fast that it almost seemed to vibrate. For a moment he thought that time might be accelerating around him but when the decaying mass of a fallen tree began to rise up from the grass and then add itself to a swiftly reforming forest around him he realized it was the opposite. Time around him was moving backwards at a frankly insane rate. It must have been hundreds or even thousands of years ago that the rocky desert he saw was such a lush and vibrant place.

The shifting of time seemed to finally slow down as the forest around Shirou grew thick and strong, with the trees now hardy and thick enough to block the sun. The speed of the sun, moon, and stars began to slow down but just as the process properly slowed down Shirou noticed that bones began to rise up from the soil around him, along with well rusted arms and armors. Time continued to tick backwards as the bones became more and more intact and the weapons and armor regained their luster. Shirou had a strong suspicion of the reason he had ended up in a place like this now and it was proven correct when he looked down at the place his disembodied viewpoint was seemingly anchored to and found one more corpse rapidly having its time wound back.

It wore different armor from the other nine bodies around him, due to both being of a higher quality than the others as well as including some strange coverings on the head and back side that almost seemed meant to accommodate raised ears and a tail. Once the flesh began to reform and take shape Shirou's suspicions about the odd body were at least partially confirmed as an actual tail took shape underneath the armored plating in the back as the rest of the body also regained its flesh. And as the flesh was rewound the wounds that no doubt led to the death of this person were plain as day to see, giving Shirou a clear understanding of what had happened here.

One body was riddled with wounds from many sources, while the others each seemed to have been cut with a longsword blade. The very same longsword that was now shimmering with a mirror shine as it was stuck in the ground next to the bleeding body at Shirou's feet.

The rate of time's slowing was now down to a proper crawl but as Shirou felt his immaterial self be pulled into the slowly standing body below him he was wary of the fact that the nightmare was seemingly placing him into a vessel mere minutes before it had been fated to die. As a sole act of mercy the reversal of time did not stop when the vessel stood though and instead the whole of the conflict that led to its death was spun backwards, blades and arrows seemingly sprouting out from Shirou's body and pulling the wounds away from them as they did. Longsword strikes acting almost like mystic glue and patching wounds as they sailed in reverse. As the pitched fight was reversed, Shirou studied it all as desperately as he could, making note of each of the enemies who had attacked and would soon again attack him.

By the time the journey of the heavenly bodies at last crawled to a stop and time was permitted to flow once again Shirou's mind was fully settled into his armored vessel, a dark skinned young man wearing a suit of full plate armor including a helmet that obscured his face. Despite having its face hidden, the vessel was still striking due not only to the quality of the armor it wore but also the fact that it possessed a black furred tail that seemed to belong more to a jaguar than a person. And if the design of the helmet was practical rather than decorative, there were also two feline ears sitting on top of Shirou's new head. The small details of his new found and temporary appearance were not as important as the fact that Shirou's body was now standing up again and properly holding its sword. He was still lightly wounded but compared to the dozens upon dozens of injuries it had carried just moments ago in the rewound future it was a huge improvement.

Almost to signal that the flow of time was restored, a leaf that had moments ago floated up from the ground in front of Shirou's face stopped and then began to drift down. Just as a longsword crashed down at Shirou from his back right side.

He had seen enough to know that blow was coming and shifted his body as it did, letting the longswordsman's surprise blow fall to the ground before Shirou put his boot on it and swung his own sword across the man's exposed elbows. The sword bit deep and although his arms were not cut off, the blow was enough to take the man entirely out of the fight, or any fight he might ever be a part of again for that matter.

As Shirou's slice sailed through the swordsman's arms and the clearing was filled with his screams Shirou continued his spin and ducked down as an arrow that would have slammed into his shoulder instead drove itself into the tree behind him. Taking his boot off the man's blade, Shirou ducked past the screaming man and to the left, dodging the thrust of a spearman driving and driving his own sword forward and through the man's leg. With a twist and an upward slash, coupled with another dodge to avoid the actions of another swordsman, the spear wielder was left similarly disarmed and bleeding on the ground.

The deadly dance that Shirou was subjecting the soldiers to continued on as Shirou made his way through their numbers. Granted the seemingly prophetic advantage diminished rather quickly and as a consequence Shirou earned a number of wounds across his body by the time everyone was left incapacitated. By the time the dust settled Shirou was left standing over a moderately sized group of mained and bleeding men and women, each one sporting a debilitating but reasonably non-fatal wound.

His own wounds were rather superficial compared to them thanks to what had to have been their own panic from his performance early in their ambush, coupled with the surprising amount of skill Shirou seemed to have with a blade in his hands. It had honestly been surprising how readily his body moved though the motions of combat once things began, though surprises aside it did give him some clue about the kind of past he likely had.

While Shirou was standing and still mobile, the enemy soldiers meanwhile were each sporting severed tendons, or cleaved muscles and were forced to the ground. One among their number stood out thanks to his slightly more ostentatious armor and the manner that he was holding himself. Even despite the fact he had lost some fingers and was pinned to the ground by his own sword stabbed through his leg, the middle aged man was glaring defiantly at Shirou with a rictus of hate on his face.

"Since you all don't seem to be attacking anymore can you tell me what is going on?" Shirou asked as he looked at the man in front of him who only grit his teeth and spat.

"First you disgusting scourge worshiping monsters run all the way out here and force us to chase you down, then you don't even have the decency to fight with honor and kill us properly, and NOW YOU WANT TO ASK ME QUESTIONS! " As he spoke the man leaned forward and reached for the sword impaling him to the ground which only forced Shirou to deliver a kick to him and force him back.

"I don't know what honor you're talking about but I'm not about to kill people if I can offer mercy instead." 'Especially if I don't even know what in the world I'm fighting for. Any kind of murder is a tragedy but if I kill them I might well be murdering heroic people without knowing it. As it is, these men and women will be spending the rest of their lives back home and away from battlefields which is probably a good thing.' As he stepped back from the man, Shirou looked down at him again and shook his head. "All the same, I can see talking things through with all of you isn't going to work though so I'm going to go."

As he began to walk away, Shirou began the process of dressing his wounds. He pulled one of the few arrows that struck him out of his arm and prepared to toss it to the ground only to notice a strange glint to it. It almost seemed to be glowing lightly but it was too hard to properly make out. Seeing no reason to ponder it more he tossed it to the ground before wrapping said arm in a strip of cloth.

His footsteps were not slow but he was also not running off in order to avoid exacerbating his wounds any further. Because of his unhurried pace Shirou was more than able to hear the screaming and shouting coming from the commander as he walked away.

"COWARD! WRETCH! SCOURGE-WORSHIPPING MONGREL! YOU AND ALL YOUR KIND WILL SUFFER FOR YOUR SINS IN AGONY BEFORE WE WIPE YOU FROM EXISTENCE."

As Shirou put more distance between himself and the irate man behind him his mind was slowly freed to wonder what was going on. He'd managed to gleam some information about the situation he was placed into from what was said. Shirou was apparently something known as a scourge worshipper which was at least a little helpful but not much beyond that. There was more to be gleaned than just the spoken words though. The first thing that came to his mind above everything else was the fact that this vessel of his didn't even seem to be the same species as those people he had just met. The inclusion of a tail and what seemed suspiciously like cat ears was telling enough but there was also the fact that he was much more durable and strong than he should have been. The wounds on his body, light though they may be, should have been enough to have him swaying and trembling from the pain and blood loss and yet his footsteps were steady and unhurried. That alone made him think this vessel he was in was not human but there were also clues based on the state of his opponents and what they had said.

The commanders had called him a monster earlier and from what Shirou saw all the soldiers from before were regular humans. That made one point of separation between them and Shirou but there were others on top of that.

Based on what he could see of his gauntlets and breast plate Shirou's own armor was of a better quality that those of his opposition but it had the look and feel of something custom made rather than standardized. The enemy meanwhile had been outfitted in the same armor, and were wielding weapons of the same design. It implied that between his own group and these unnamed enemies, the unnamed foes were the numerically superior foes. A fact reinforced by the way the commander had said the scourge worshippers had 'ran all the way out here'. Taken together it seemed like Shirou was part of an inferior group attempting to escape some larger, more well established group.

Shirou's fragmented memories were not particularly helpful but he did have memories of himself and Rin trying to learn as much as they could about the Nightmare spell before taking part in it. Due to that preparation, he knew that the secret to his escape would be based on his ability to survive until a conflict that plagued the Nightmare was resolved.

With that much in mind the supposed conflict that Shirou was to resolve seemed rather obvious. He would have to either ensure that his own group escaped or ensure that they were all wiped out. And considering his own stance on needless slaughter, the choice was a rather obvious one to make. Sparing one last look at the clearing where he had nearly met his end, Shirou continued marching forward off into the east where he knew a desert would one day stretch.

***

It had been several hours since Shirou began his trek through the woods. The direction he had first picked had been based not only on intuition given that it was the direction he first saw when he arrived here, but also based on some boot prints he had found going in the opposite direction. A quick look showed they were his, or rather his vessel's very own boots, which meant he had come from here at some point, most likely serving as bait to lead that group of soldiers away while the main worshippers went elsewhere.

If the plan was carried out as it was no doubt intended then Shirou would meet them somewhere farther along rather than having to go back and track them but sadly any knowledge of a meeting location was not included in his new body. So instead Shirou was forced to make due trudging along through the foliage hoping that he would at least not have to double back too much.

Despite the apparent dullness of this chapter of his dream Shirou had still managed to be productive. As he was walking he had ended up managing to access the runes of the spell and got his first proper look at them. Which ended up being a rather strange sight for the amnesiac man.

Name: Shirou Emiya

True Name: —

Rank: I̴̲͍̒̚n̷̛̺̓t̷̨̤͝ř̷̠͔̕ų̵̳̍̉d̴͓̱̎ē̵̝r̴̝̦̽̍

Soul Core: Sealed

Memories: —

Echoes: —

S̵͔͒̕k̵͕͐̚i̸̯̒l̷͎̰̒̀l̸̗͊̒s̴̺̉͂: —

Attributes: [Distant], [Third rate ?????], [Ancient Heritage: Feline], [Scion of Steel], [?]

Aspect: [Somber Steel]

Aspect Description: [You stand alone on an empty battlefield. You held tight to a contradictory ideal, and refused to give a single inch. And as your grips tightened you crushed everything you loved and it slipped from your fingers like sand.]

Shirou recalled some of the limited memories he had were in relation to this. He and Rin had managed to find a few free first hand accounts from Awakened individuals who described the runes that the Nightmare spell displayed for people and most of the categories seemed to line up with what Shirou was seeing.

The first line was a rather simple one, with the name of the person being displayed. The line beneath that was something that Shirou and Rin had found few records of, and the few they found were not the most informative. Some considered the true name to be some kind of prestige title given to an elite echelon of awakened, while others posted seemingly fanciful ideas about it being a glimpse into the inner workings of one's soul.

For Shirou's purposes neither idea really mattered since his was currently blank.

Below that was what should have listed Shirou's rank as the spell referred to it. The literature he and Rin found wasn't the most clear on any specifics regarding this but there was a widely understood set of eight ranks that all humans fell within. Their naming convention was a bit odd at first glance but it was pulled from the spell directly and well corroborated so there wasn't any real doubt to it. From the bottom going up were the ranks of [Unformed], [Dormant], [Awakened], [Ascended], [Transcendent], [Supreme], [Sacred], and finally [Divine].

Those rank titles themselves had a small bit of speculation involved in them, most of the upper ranks were only known based on item descriptions or aspect ranks, given that the highest rank humans known to exist were only of [Transcendent] rank. One thing that was well understood regarding ranks though was that as they increased the power of a being increased dramatically alongside it. That fact was the main reason that so many died when the nightmare creatures first appeared in the waking world. Even the small difference between [Unformed] and [Dormant] was enough to reduce the effectiveness of most weapons visibly. [Dormant] beasts were able to shrug off wounds that would cripple most wild animals on earth and so every attack against them had to be seemingly over the top to be effective.

If things were operating as Shirou and Rin had read then Shirou's own rank should currently be [Unformed] given that he was in his first nightmare. Rather than that, or any of the known ranks for that matter, Shiruo's rune was displaying some strange and unreadable words that he couldn't properly grasp. Staring at them gave him a strange sensation, as though he should be able to see them and understand them clearly but everytime he did their rune would shift or twist out of place. Almost as though the very thing creating the runes for him to read was working to prevent him from understanding them.

The rank of Shirou's soul core seemed to be strange as well, given that it would normally match his overall rank and should have said [Unformed]. Instead it was described as sealed, which implied he already had a soul core formed.

The next two sets of runes were not of great importance to Shirou considering they were blank. He had not yet gained any [Memories] or [Echoes] to draw upon, but that would hopefully change as his nightmare progressed.

What was strange though was the next line below those two, [S̵͔͒̕k̵͕͐̚i̸̯̒l̷͎̰̒̀l̸̗͊̒s̴̺̉͂]. It was something that none of the books or first hand accounts Shirou and Rin had read about made a mention of and it had the same headache inducing interference to it that his [Rank] did. Shirou wasn't able to make heads or tails of what it could be and given that it was still blank he didn't have much to go on either.

Below those were Shirou's listed Attributes. They were a well debated topic among the digital forums that were available to read through with many arguing over their origin. Any kind of truly detailed study was out of reach of impoverished outskirts dwellers but the rough consensus that he and Rin had found was that these were often based on innate characteristics of a person. The difference between them and aspects was frankly not the clearest, a fact made worse by many attributes offering abilities themselves. Regardless of their origin or underlying mechanics though their existence was not in doubt for Shirou, although that sadly didn't mean that their functions were any clearer. Like all the accounts they had read from those few awakened willing to share, the descriptions of Shirou's attributes were flowery and not all that clear.

[Distant] Attribute Description: "You are a distant entity, far removed from this world. You bear echoes of things that should not be, yet you carry on despite them. You have forced your way into the spell and been accommodated by it, but are not loved by it. That said it is nothing if not fair."

Nothing about this attribute made sense to Shirou and the most he could figure was that it was somehow related to his unreadable rank and category. The description of it though was still certainly a troubling thing to see attached to his soul. He had heard repeatedly that the spell was fair to be sure but the implication of having it resentful of his presence was worrying.

[Third rate ?????] Attribute Description: "You were once counted as kin to a select group. Even if you were in their lowest rungs and looked on by them as little more than trash, you still managed to learn some simple tricks."

This was one of the instances where a word was outright omitted rather than being blurred and mind numbing to read. He had no real clue what in the world it could mean or what his simple tricks were and so was forced to simply ignore it all together for now until he could learn more.

[Ancient Heritage: Feline] Attribute Description: "The vessel you inhabit is not of this world. It carried with it a twisted heritage from a land beyond the boundary and differs from normal humans in ways both good and ill."

This one was a rather clear explanation for the strangeness of his borrowed form, though the complete lack of detail on the differences was rather unhelpful. The simple added appendages were clear enough to understand but the mention of unknown ills left Shirou confused and somewhat nervous. If he was stuck in this body and had no idea of what weaknesses it might have he would be at a rather steppe disadvantage.

[Scion of Steel] Attribute Description: "Your existence began in a blaze and was shaped like a blade in a forge. You possess a strange acumen for arms and armor, particularly bladed weaponry."

Scion of Steel lacked just as much context as the other did but at least it was kind enough to offer some sort of explanation that Shirou could link to a real tangible outcome. It was certainly true that during his fight Shirou had found himself shifting between his and his enemies weapons with a degree of ease, or even having the subtlest inkling of where the steel was moving around him as he made his way through the clearing he arrived in.

[?] Attribute Description: [Neither the flames of an evil God, or the machinations of a twisted weave can strip your soul of its first and purest instinct. You may forget, but even when wrapped in steel and drowned in molten metal, your soul will still remember what you are.]

And then lastly came the real mystery. No name given and no details of any kind other than some somewhat relevant mentions of memory and remembrance. It was certainly something that was related to the vast chunk of memories missing from Shirou's mind as well as the smattering of holes in what remained. Despite that fact the mention of the flames of an evil god were a rather foreboding thing to be included in here and made the idea of digging deeper somewhat unappealing for now.

Not to mention some inkling that there was something to that attribute even deeper than his own first guess. It was hard to express in words but something about it seemed to hint at something more deeply tied to his soul than anything else he knew of.

That left the final part of his runes and the component of it that was considered by many to be the most important, his Aspect. It was intended to be something rather general for one's first nightmare. Things like [Warrior], [Soldier] or [Knight] were commonly described in this initial of trials, but after completing the Nightmare it would change into something much more unique and tied to the individual. It was this second awakened form that one would carry with them for the rest of their life but that didn't diminish the importance of the initial one. It was this first aspect that would serve to grant abilities to any aspirant during their first nightmare to help them through it. That said though Shirou's own didn't seem to follow that established pattern and instead appeared vague and opaque, with no explicit mention of ability, or powers to speak of.

Aspect: [Somber Steel]

The aspect description itself painted a grim picture about someone who stood alone on a battlefield. With no details beyond that it was hard to figure out what it really did, although Shirou could attest that the vessel he was inhabiting was certainly fierce and fit. Even discounting the tremendous boon that came from watching a fight rewind in front of him, most would not have been able to move like he did or fight well enough to incapacitate so many people.

But the rest of the aspect seemed meaningless. The simple fact that Shirou had spared those people and allowed them a chance to return to their families was proof positive in his eyes that he would be more than able to save people. Even if he couldn't quite understand why that fact mattered so much to him.

***

Aside from a brief bit of time spent reviewing his runes and getting familiar with them, the rest of Shirou's time was steadfastly focused on continuing his trek.

He still didn't have much to go on direction wise other than an instinct from the beginning of his nightmare but even with that trying to move at night wouldn't be possible. Without the sun to keep him on the same course he would quickly get turned around. So with that in mind he stopped at the first clearing he found once the sun went down.

What he cobbled together would in truth not really be considered a campsite so much as him using the last few strips of cloth he had to make a simple rope so he could climb a tree and sleep in the branches. With no one to keep watch he somehow knew that sleeping on the ground would be too much of a risk, not to mention the fact he had no equipment with him anyway. A quick climb up a sturdy tree was enough to get him off the ground, and after lashing his makeshift rope around his chest and the tree trunk he was able to sit and shut his eyes confident he wouldn't roll off the branch.

Before Shirou could even settle in and shut his eyes though the sound of rustling leaves echoed out from the forest the leaves near his tree. Shirou's eyes squinted through the gloom of the night as he zeroed in on the rustling leaves and grass, as whatever was making those sounds moved towards the clearing. Seeing that whatever it was seemed to be heading towards him Shirou untied the rope and grabbed his sword. He had been lucky so far to avoid any nightmare creatures but that kind of luck wouldn't hold, not to mention the other possibility of more enemy troops coming.

As the sounds grew closer Shirou sat up on the branch and readied his sword to jump down on top of whatever was making those sounds. With any luck he would be able to kill any beast that might be there or disarm any possible threat in a single strike.

When the rustling was right below Shirou and he saw the shape moving through the grass he stepped off the branch and fell down on top of it, forcing what turned out to be a person down onto the floor of the forest before pressing his blade across their neck.

As Shirou's mind settled from the brief surge of adrenaline and he got his first clear view of the person beneath him his eyes widened and the questions he planned to ask slipped his mind entirely. Rather than a beast of an enemy soldier Shirou was sitting on top of a very young brown haired girl dressed in light silken robes. The girl looked to be around fourteen years old by Shirou's own reckoning and the robes she was wearing seemed to be well embroidered and stitched, with a number of different colors being layered together purely for visual flair rather than practical need. Even more surprising that the clothes she wore, or even the very fact that a girl her age was in the forest alone at night, was the fact that like Shirou's own vessel she had a tail just like a cat's as well as a pair of feline ears on the top of her head.

The sight of those traits along with the clear fact the girl was nothing like he had expected was enough to distract Shirou from even speaking or issuing a demand as he held the blade to her neck which left the girl staring up at him with an absolutely horrified expression in her slitted yellow eyes.

Or at least that was how things started off before she flicked her gaze across his body and settled on both his helmet and a broach he was wearing on his chest. The sight of them seemed to be enough to make her even forget the fact she had a sword to her throat and instead caused a smile to bloom across her face.

"Ozen! You… you made it out alive!"

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