On a rooftop in downtown Shin Tokyo, there was a sudden flash and swirl of rainbow colored light. It twisted and bent in strange ways, forming shapes and depths that a normal human would not be able to perceive, and would give them a headache if they tried. However, if such a person persevered, they would see a man appear on the rooftop, in a motion that resembled nothing so much as rotating yourself 90 degrees to everything else in the universe.

It's because of this difficulty due to limited perception (among many, many other reason) that the man on the roof was one of the relatively few in existence that could travel the multiverse.

Zelretch was the man's name, and he looked of a respectively old age, but not too old as many who saw him would be quick to point out. This may have had something to do with the fact that he was also a vampire, but that was neither here nor there. The most important thing at that moment, especially to the man himself, was just how worst for wear he was.

Most assuredly he had seen worse. Such as it was, his dress cloths that were about a century or two out of style were torn, his short cape was in tatters and exhaustion was creeping into his immortal bones. Yes, he had most definitely seen worse, but anything that could push the 700 year old sorcerer that controlled the operation of parallel worlds into such a state was not to be taken lightly.

Heh, I haven't had to fight like that in ages, he thought to himself, stretching out his limbs. That's definitely a world I'm going to check out again later.' He frowned. Much later. And more discreetly.

Zelretch strode forward and looked around idly. Now, where in the Root be damned multiverse am I? In his haste to get away from those rather unreasonable fellows which put him in such a state, he had tried to jump to one of the realities that he had indexed as safe, though he seemed to have missed his mark a bit. Given the sheer size and complexity of the multiverse, the sorcerer had to leave a sort of magical mark on any universe he visited. Otherwise, he would never be able to find a particular universe again. He closed his eyes and briefly let himself go, searching the sea of possibility for the closest index he could find, and was pleasantly surprised that his aim wasn't too far off.

Ah yes, this is a variant of the one where that Emiya boy became involved with those Sekirei things. That little rascal. Zelretch thought to himself with a chuckle. Shirou Emiya, being a mage with an innate sense of justice and a way with women (if completely unknowingly), was always one of the old man's favorite sources of entertainment. When the sorcerer found a reality where the boy had found himself accidently possessing a harem of super powered alien women, Zelretch thought he had hit the jackpot. In any case, this universe was fairly close (probabilistically speaking) to the one he already had indexed, save for that he was in a slightly different part of the time stream. It would be almost impossible to tell what was different from the other universe without going over it was a fine comb, but Zelretch both didn't care and more important things on his mind.

Reaching into a dimensional pocket he used to store items, Zelretch carefully pull out the thing which he had acquired in the last dimension, which was also the thing that was partially responsible for his current state. To anyone else watching, it looked like a simple yellow-gold crystal, softly emanating light of the same color. Zelretch on the other hand saw it for what it really was, saw past the mere physical form for which it had taken no small amount of talent on his part to shape it into.

It was glory. It was power. Most importantly, it was potential.

Still, I don't see why those fellows were so insistent that I couldn't take one. He thought to himself in irritation. The container had already been broken when I got there, and there were a number of far more unsavory people that were taking half of them. I only wanted one.

His thoughts turned to how to properly study it when suddenly the crystal's soft glow began to increase in intensity. He looked at it in confusion for a moment before his eyes widened in realization. "No, no, don't you dare-!"

With a sudden, brilliant burst of light, the crystal was gone.

The Wizard Marshall stared at his empty hand for a moment before he let out a litany of curses that would have made a sailor blush. After a few minutes when he had calmed down, he rubbed his eyes with his hand and muttered to himself. "Great. Just great. I go through all that trouble and the thing picks someone as soon as I take a look at it. Now I have to find the person before they-"

Zelretch stopped as a thought came to him. "Wait, what if it picked him? The boy would probably fit the criteria, more than anyone else in this reality. The odds are still probably low…"A slow grin split the old man's face. "Who am I kidding. Coincidence and contrivance orbit the boy like women. It definitely chose him."

The sorcerer looked out over the city, extending his magic to find the young man, hoping to find the one thing he valued more over research.

Entertainment.

I was going to die.

Though I had prepared as best I could for my eventual encounter with the Mage's Association, it was starting to look like it wasn't enough. Archibald's defense was too good for me to penetrate, so I had tried to use Rule Breaker to destroy his Mystic Code. It failed when it turned out the code had far too much prana in it for me to destroy, and I had ended up wasting all of my own prana. I could still move and fight, but with no magic and no way to get past his defense, it had become a battle of attrition which I was clearly going to lose.

"Pathetic," Archibald said with a sneer. "As if a third rate magus like yourself could ever hope to affect my Mystic Code. Now you're nothing but a brute with some swords."

I blocked the quicksilver tentacles as best I could, but without my increased speed and stamina, it was impossible. As I brought my blades up to block an overhead strike, I felt another one pierce me through my middle. A massive bloom of pain ripped through my body, and as I screamed I could feel blood gushing out of my mouth. I collapsed to the ground, my swords slipping out of my grasp as I felt the quicksilver blade withdraw from my body.

It was all I could do to press my hands to my sternum, for all the good it would do. Through the pain, I managed to see Archibald standing over me with a smug grin on his face. He said "A much as I want to kill you now, it will greatly improve my standing with the Clock Tower if I bring you back alive. Besides, I'm sure that you'll wish I killed you by the time they're through with you."

The world started to go black, and my thoughts turned to my flock and family, who would never know what had happened to me. I thought of my lovers Rin and Saber, who would be devastated to learn of my fate. They would lose me, but I kept them safe. Though this was my end, at least I did some good.

This is not your end.

In the darkness, a light bloomed. It was distant at first, but it slowly grew in intensity. Time seemed meaningless as words formed in my mind.

You would sacrifice yourself for the sake of others. You would stand alone against the darkness to protect the weak. You would suffer to let others have a chance at happiness.

Someday, your fight will end.

The light had grown to become everything, a brilliance that was greater than all. Then, the pain began to recede.

But that is not this day.

Slowly by surely, the pain was gone and replaced with something else. Something glorious.

You shall be the salvation of the helpless. You shall bring light to where the darkness hides. You shall be the sword which will strike down the corrupt, the hateful, and the wicked.

Shirou Emiya, you shall be a Champion of Justice.

I could feel power flowing through me, giving me new strength. As I opened my eyes to see a confused looking Archibald, I realized that the light was in me, pouring forth from my very soul. It felt like…

Like a Sun.

Now RISE.

A pillar of golden light erupted around me, and Archibald barley managed to jump back before my rising punch could connect.

"What?! Impossible!" he exclaimed as the quicksilver swirled around him once again.

As I stood there, I knew that the wound in my sternum had healed. I could feel this new power flow through me, like magic yet not. This was something more potent, alive, like the fires of Creation itself. I felt it touch my magic circlets, not quite flowing into them, but still interacting with them somehow.

Instinctually, I put my hands out to my sides and with a little force of will my blades flew into my hands. The fact that I shouldn't be able to do that seemed irrelevant, my newfound power almost whispering to me what I could do.

With a snarl, Archibald launched another wave of attacks at me, but it was useless. Without knowing why, as I went to block the power surged through me and I found myself moving even faster and with more skill than I usually could, parrying the blades without effort.

When my thoughts turned to attack, a golden light enveloped my sabers and my final parry severed the quicksilver tentacle in half, some of it splashing to the ground as I did so.

The magus sputtered "No! You can't do that! That's impossible!"

He didn't say anything else, because in a blink, I was on him, my blade coming down on him in a vertical slash. I was blocked by the quicksilver, but only just as the golden glow allowed me to cut through the shell somewhat. I became a blur, moving and attacking faster than I ever had. He tried to retaliate, but it was no use. With every strike he made I had moved to a different part of the shell, hacking away at it. With each hit, the quicksilver became a bit slower and weaker, becoming damaged from my blows.

Soon it became too much and the shell broke completely, falling to the ground inert. Archibald was only just able to realize this before I brought both blades across his midsection, nearly cutting him in half as I did so. He fell to the ground and looked around in fear for a way to escape, but found something else instead. "W-w-what is this?!" he screamed as he looked back at me. "What are you?!"

Indeed, the battlefield had changed somewhat. A brilliant light emanated from my person, and around me were ethereal swords, planted into the ground. It was incredibly similar to my Reality Marble, and I could even make out the distinctive shapes of specific weapons, though they were made out of a translucent, golden light.

"I am Shirou Emiya." I said as I moved towards him. He stared in fear of me, looking at the glowing sunburst on my forehead which I somehow knew was there. "And I am the Dawn."