Prologue — Day 2: Shirou — Fate/Alter

Shirou Emiya knew that he was dead.

The blue-clad man thrust his red lance at Shirou's chest. The lance shot forwards like lightning. It was a strike that would certainly pierce Shirou's heart. Rather, it felt like it had already pierced his heart. The outcome of his heart being pierced was certain; the completion of the thrust was a mere formality.

There was a flash of golden light. The sound of metal striking metal and being repelled. The blue-clad man let out a curse and jumped backwards as someone stepped out from behind Shirou.

The stranger, who seemed to have appeared out of thin air, was a beautiful girl. She had golden hair and shining green eyes. However, her clothing was not a fine dress befitting such a beauty. Rather, she wore the steel plate armor of a knight. And though she didn't appear to have a weapon, she began advancing without fear or hesitation towards the blue-clad man wielding the cruel red spear.

The girl held her hands out in front of her as she walked, as though miming holding an invisible sword. Then, to his surprise, Shirou realized that she was indeed gripping the hilt of an invisible weapon. Though he couldn't see it with his eyes, he could picture the length and breadth of the sword perfectly in his mind. It felt like he had seen it somewhere before, though he couldn't place it exactly; as though it was a vision from a half-forgotten dream.

The blue-clad man grimaced. He too could tell that the girl held an invisible weapon; however, unlike Shirou, he didn't seem able to intuit its length. And without knowing how long the blade was, he couldn't be sure of the girl's reach. He didn't know whether or not he was within her striking distance.

The girl suddenly stepped forwards, swinging her invisible blade. The blue-clad man instantly jumped backwards, trying to pull back to a safe distance. As he reached the apex of his leap, the air around the sword began to swirl. The confined space of the toolshed was filled with a sudden whirlwind. Then, a huge amount of compressed air exploded from the tip of the sword. The gush of wind struck the blue-clad man like a physical impact, sending him hurtling backwards. He smashed through one of the toolshed's windows and landed crashed inelegantly to the ground outside. He quickly rolled to his feet and raised his spear into a defensive position as if by reflex; then, after a moment's consideration, he turned and fled.

The girl lowered her sword. For a moment, Shirou thought he saw a gleaming golden blade grasped in her hands; then the wind died down, seeming to compress itself into a sheath around the blade, and the sword was once more invisible.

The girl seemed unfazed by her sudden appearance and her fight against the blue-clad man. She simply turned to face Shirou with her clear, calm eyes.

"I ask of you: are you my Master?" the girl said.

"Uhhh... what?" Shirou said, incapable of anything more eloquent under the circumstances.

"Again, I ask of you: are you my Master?" the girl repeated.

"I don't understand." Shirou said. "Where did you come from? What's going on?"

The back of Shirou's right hand throbbed. Raising it to see if he was injured, he saw that a strangle, tattoo-like design had materialized on the back of his hand. The girl also saw the design and lowered her head in acknowledgment.

"I have come forth in response to your summons." the girl said. "From this time forward, my sword shall be with you and your fate shall be with me. Our contract is complete. I, Servant Saber, hereby swear to help you attain the Holy Grail."

Shirou stared up at her face. He didn't understand a single thing about what had just happened, and there were a thousand questions he wanted to ask, but all he could think of was how beautiful a girl the knight who had saved him was.

At that moment, the toolshed's door was kicked in. Shirou and the girl calling herself Saber instantly whirled to face the entrance. Shirou's immediate fear was that the blue-clad man had only reigned retreat, and was now returning to finish the job. However, standing in the broken doorframe was an entirely different man.

He wore dark blue pants with a black belt and a long black coat that left his muscular chest exposed. His right eye was covered with a large black eyepatch, like a pirate. The letters "DSMK" were tattooed just above the top edge of the eyepatch. Most distinctively of all, the man's right arm ended in a stump just slightly below his shoulder.

"You!" the man said, pointing at Shirou with his single arm. "Are you the dipshit Master who summoned me? Did a pretty crappy job of it, if you ask my opinion. It seems that our contract isn't complete; I'm not receiving any prana from you at all. And would it have been too much trouble to summon me with both arms? I don't mind the eye so much, but missing my right arm is really going to cramp my style a bit. I think it would've been in your best interest to summon me at full strength, given that I'm lending you my sword and you're entrusting me with your fate and all that."

He crossed his arms — which is to say, crossed his left arm over to the stump of the right — and stared at Shirou as though expecting a reply. Before Shirou could even begin to understand the situation, let alone come up with an appropriate response, Saber stepped between them and brandished her invisible sword.

"Who are you?" Saber demanded of the intruder. "What do you want of my Master?"

"What the hell do you mean by that?" the man asked. "That young man is my Master, and I'm the Servant who has answered his admittedly botched summons to fight by his side and obtain the Holy Grail. I am Servant Saber!"