Neal's House

An older house on the foreigner side of the district. It's a small house belonging to Neal and his mother. When Neal's father left he didn't seem to mind that he left the entire house (and a large amount of payments on it) behind. It's a simple one story house with two rooms. It looks nice enough from the outside, but the inside is surprisingly bare and humble.

It was raining as Neal looked out the window of the work shed that was in his backyard. It had crappy ventilation, leaving a chill in the air as the coldness seemed to seep in from all around him. Neal didn't mind though, the cold was just another thing that he couldn't change about his life. He just liked sitting back here in order to keep to himself. He didn't know why, it was just easier that way.

Neal was slowly drawing a potted plant that was sitting on the workbench in front of him. He didn't have too many subjects to draw, so he usually just picked whatever was around. The flower was cliché, but it wasn't like he had an infinite number of objects to pick from and he hated to just draw for fun. He always liked to copy something. It was as if he could identify something, he could understand it. It sounded stupid, but the idea brought Neal a little bit of comfort in a world where so many things were unpredictable.

Once he finished the outline, Neal felt like adding in some color. The young man stood up and walked over to the bucket that he kept his paints and various other supplies. He grabbed a brush and lifted it, before the item fell from his hand and rolled under a bench. "God damn it," Neal muttered to himself before grabbing the bench and moved it out of the way. The brush was now in sight, but something else caught Neal's eye. There was a trapdoor that the bench had been covering before. Neal had no idea that it was there.

Neal wasn't sure why, he assumed it was curiosity, but something compelled him to open up the door and stare as he saw that there were stairs that led down it. What the hell was this? Neal's father had often come into this shed to work, but neither he nor Neal's mother had mentioned this to him. Neal looked around before slowly descending the stairs.

At the base was a door which Neal pushed open. Inside, was a large workshop that Neal had no idea what to make of. "What the hell is this?" Neal asked as he walked forward. He saw a large number of strange symbols and books that looked like they were covered in Elvish or something like that. They were symbols that Neal had never seen before. Neal continued to walk forward, not seeing that he just stepped in to a strange circle painted on the ground...

Nothing happened for a moment after Neal stepped into the circle, so much nothing it almost seemed as if the entire world had paused for a moment to see what would happen next. Then there was a small popping noise, the kind you get when you stuck a plug into a socket and a couple sparks come out. Then a crackle, then a roar. The air in the room rushed inwards, sucked towards the center of the room, turning a few pages on an open book, and lightning began to crackle, jumping from thing to thing and arcing towards the center of the room.



As the electricity crackled and danced towards the center, the circle began to glow green, then with a loud whomp, the air was released, making a small shock wave as it rushed back out, buffeting into Neal as it went. The circle grew brighter and brighter until it seared itself into Neal's vision, then all the lightning that had been dancing through the cellar congealed into a silhouette and faded into the body of an impossibly tall man. A single jolt of electricity hung in the air, then traced through the floor, up Neal's leg, along his spine, down his arm, and burned itself into his hand.

The figure stood in silence for a second, then dropped to a knee. "Greetings... Master."

Everything happened so quickly, Neal had no idea what to do. The lightning, the wind, the energy of the room changing so suddenly. Neal did not know was going on, and he wasn't taking it very well. As the wind pushed Neal more towards the center of the room, he fell to his knees and tried to grab at anything that he could use to stop what was going on. Nothing was working though, he came closer and closer until everything stopped.

"AH!" Neal screamed as he felt the burning in his hand. He looked at it and saw the symbol being laced in as if it was a brand of some kind. What kind of paint fumes had Neal been smelling as of late? Neal shook his head as he pushed himself back to his feet, shaking his head as he tried to push the pain away. It was at this point that he heard the voice.

Neal slowly turned his head and saw the man on one knee. Neal's heart rate jumped up a ton as he saw the look of the man. Neal didn't like the look of him, he looked like the kind of man that would break someone in half without even having to try. With everything else that had just happened, it was too much for Neal to handle.

He quickly turned and ran towards the door, turning back once to look at the figure on his knee. By the time Neal had turned back around, his face smashed directly in to the door, causing Neal to fall backwards as he was now laying on the ground. "Ow..."

The man stayed down on his knee for a moment as Neal started to run, then half rose. "What..?" Seeing Neal's trajectory, he started to reach out with his hand as he rose, calling out, "Wait, you'll- ...Ah well." He crossed the room in a few easy strides and pulled Neal up by his collar with one hand and dropped him back onto his feet. "What kind of reaction do you call that then?"

While waiting for an answer, he strode across the room, examining the various items strewn across the room by the shock wave of his summoning. "Bit messy, but otherwise this is a good workshop. The two of us should win this handily."

Neal was still trying to recover from the blow when he felt himself being easily lifted. He looked just in time to see that the guy had done it with one hand. Now Neal wasn't heavy, but that was still impressive for someone to do. Who the heck was this guy? Why was he here? All of these questions came to Neal's mind as he just stared at the man. It didn't seem like the guy had any ill will towards Neal, otherwise why help him up?

When the guy started talking, Neal grew more confused. "Workshop? Reaction? Win?" Neal questioned as he rubbed his head which was starting to hurt from both the stress of the situation and the blow he had just taken. "What are you talking about? How are you even here? And who are you?"

The man stooped to pick up a thick book off the ground, held it up to a light by the back cover, letting it hang down open, and was in the middle of flipping through the pages when he stopped mid motion. After a moment, he turned his head slowly around to look at Neal again. "Are you joking?"

He paused again, then shut the book and set it down on a shelf, patted the cover once, and walked back over to Neal. "You did summon me, didn't you? I mean, this is a workshop, and," he reached out and grasped Neal's hand, bringing it up to look at the mark on his skin more closely, "you do have the seal, so you clearly must be a mage."

"How the hell could I have summoned you? I've never even been down here before!" Neal insisted as the guy came forward and seemed to want to rationalize what was going on. Was this some kind of an elaborate joke that Neal just didn't get? He doubted it, there were far too many strange things going on for this to just be some random joke. Still, Neal figured that he'd try to hear the guy out. Maybe something else was going on.

"I didn't summon you. I just walked down here and everything went to hell and you showed up," Neal insisted. "This mark didn't appear until you showed up either," Neal added before looking around. "Besides what's a mage? You mean like a sorcerer or something?" Neal questioned before a sudden thought came to his head.

"My father used to do work down here all the time. This must be his place...or it was here before we even bought the house."

He frowned, Neal looked and sounded serious enough... Still staring at Neal, the man brought his hand up to his mouth and absently bit his thumb. After a moment he gave his hand a quick shake, flicking a few drops of blood from his thumb out onto the floor, then sighed. "Oh dear... You really don't know anything then."

He glanced around the room, then pulled a chair out from under a scattered pile of books and papers and pushed it towards Neal. "Sit down then." He reached over to take another book, this one full of some foreign writing, and handed it over as well. "Right, you'll just have to accept this, but someone, I'd guess your father from what you said, was a mage. Like a sorcerer, or a wizard, a magi, whatever you want to call it. A person who does magic. Usually the knowledge gets passed down the generations, so I don't know why he didn't teach you before he died. Anyway, we can deal with that later, the important part is that if you've summoned me, you're part of the war now, so we have to be prepared."

"You're sure you can't do any magic?"

Neal glanced over as the man bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood just to flick it on the floor. Seemed a bit wasteful, but Neal didn't feel like questioning the giant of a man that was standing in front of him. He didn't look like the kind of guy that you wanted to piss off if you could avoid it. Neal had enough to worry about without adding this guy to the list.

Neal sat down when instructed to, as he once again didn't feel like upsetting the man in front of him. Neal crossed his arms around himself as it was even colder down in the workshop. He glanced up now and then and started to listen to the man as he spoke. Neal tried to be patient, but the more the man spoke the more confused Neal became.

"Yeah well, my dad never thought much of me. So I'm not surprised he didn't say anything if it was him," Neal muttered loud enough for the man to hear. Neal and his father hadn't gotten along in a very long time. It wasn't surprising that there was still a bit of resentment there. What else was Neal supposed to feel?

"Of course I'm sure I don't know any magic. I think I'd notice if I started breathing fire or something," Neal said before standing up. "Look this has been great and all but you should just go. Mages, wars, this symbol on my hand, I don't think I want any part of this," Neal said before motioning to the circle. "Can't you just go home or something?"

"Hmm..." The man let Neal's comment about his father go without further comment, at least for the moment. Then, his expression changed from the frown and concern it had been locked in since his summoning, cracking into a smile, and he let out a deep belly laugh. After it had died down, he reached out to pat Neal on the back with enough force to pound a stake into the ground. "Go home, ha! No, it doesn't work like that. You're stuck with me for the duration, or until one of us dies. And if its me, you won't last long after."

"I should explain a bit more thoroughly, this is the Holy Grail War, and I imagine we've just kicked it off, considering how late I was summoned. Must be why it was you. Anyway. The Holy Grail picks seven mages, and helps them each to summon a great hero from the past," here, he pointed to himself and gave Neal a large grin, "that'd be me. And then, once everyone is there, we fight to the death! The winning pair each get a wish granted. Got it?"

"Stuck with you?" Neal questioned as he got his back pounded on. Ow, this guy was seriously abnormal. People could be strong, but Neal felt like they couldn't be this strong. By now the shock was fading away, and Neal was realizing the reality of the situation. He couldn't deny that something...supernatural was going on. The world didn't/couldn't work like this. Whatever this guy was saying, he was likely telling the truth.

"Woah woah woah!" Neal interrupted as the man finished. "Fight to the death? That's insane I didn't volunteer for this!" Neal continued on. "Why the hell should I fight in some war that I don't want any part of?" he questioned. "Can't we just surrender or drop out or something?" he questioned.

Neal couldn't risk getting killed. His mom was already on her breaking point, if Neal died in something like this she'd never recover. Who would take care of her then?

"Teeeechhhhnically, yes, if you used one of your command seals to release me from my contract with you, then you'd be out of the war. They'd still kill you though. The way it works is, only a spirit, like me, can touch the Grail. So in order to win, you have to kill the rest of the servants, so only yours is left. As I'm sure you can tell though, I'd be rather hard to kill. If someone killed you though, I'd only last maybe... two days, before I ran out of energy and faded. I have that long to find another master and make a contract with them, but that only works with someone who used to be a master already."

He gave Neal another grin, and patted him on the back again. "So, if they kill you, I'm out of luck, unless I can find someone else. And if I die, or you let me go, you could get back into the war if you found another servant, which is why they'll definitely kill you. Anyway, if you win, you get a wish, any wish, granted by the grail. Can you really say no to that?"

Well, when your situation was spelled out like that who wouldn't ooze with confidence right? Neal was feeling sick to his stomach right now. People he didn't even know were going to be coming after him to try and kill him? What the hell kind of a messed up game was this? At least the man offered some comfort by insisting that he would at least protect Neal since he would also lose if Neal was killed.

Great. That was just what Neal needed.

"Any wish huh?" Neal asked more to himself than to the man. He thought about it for a few moments before smiling. He supposed he could do some good with that wish, after all he and his mother did need the money. He turned back to the man and put on a very tiny smile.

"Well...guess we'll be working together," Neal said and extended his hand. "The name's Neal. I don't see how I'm going to help you though...I wasn't lying when I said I don't know any magic."

The man stayed quiet while Neal was mulling over the situation, it was obvious he was thinking about it. Once done, he reached out and took Neal's hand, giving it a firm shake. "Fionn Mac Umaill. But call me Lancer, best not to let anyone else know who I am." With that, Fionn straightened up again, and reached into the bag on his side. After riffling around inside it for a bit, he pulled out a short knife, then handed it over handle first to Neal.

"This is an Athame, a kind of ritual dagger. After we sort out the security, and I get a feel for the area, I can get you started on some basic magic. You won't be much of a match for any trained magi out there, but we can get it so that you don't get pasted right off the bat." His image shimmered for a moment, looking semi-transparent before it re-solidified. "Alright, I've shifted into the Otherworld now, only you'll be able to see and hear me. I can't interact with things like this though." As if to demonstrate that, he stepped through the door, without opening it, and headed for the surface.

"Nice to meet you Fionn," Neal said back. He wasn't going to try and pronounce the rest of the name, as Neal was certain that he would butcher it and end up offending the large man. That was likely the last thing that Neal wanted to do. If everyone else was going to try and kill him, he would need this guy if he was going to survive. When the knife was offered to him, Neal took it gently and it became very clear that he had never held one before based on the way he held it alone. He looked it up and down though, admiring the craftsmanship that was clearly put in to the weapon.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Neal remarked as he looked the dagger over and over again. Eventually he turned and saw Fionn move through the door. God, this guy was full of surprises wasn't he? Neal shook his head. "Things are going to get crazy," he said before going and following the man.

"What kind of magic do you plan on teaching me?" Neal questioned.

"Couldn't say yet..." Fionn's voice trialed down the stairs behind him as he emerged into the main floor of the shed. "The books down there might be able to give you a primer on standard stuff, or if your into that sort of thing we could try some alchemy.... Oh, did you do all this?"

By the time Neal made it up Fionn was holding the drawing of the plant up and looking between it and the real plant with one eye closed. "Well boy -how old are you anyway- how fast would you say you are on the draw?"

"All those books?" Neal questioned as he kept walking up the stairs. "There are like a hundred books down there how will I ever get through all of those?" the young man asked as he kept moving up. By the time he got up, he was starting to see what Fionn was doing.

"Well yeah, I scribble in my free time," Neal added as he was curious as to why Fionn was so absorbed in the work that was going on right now. He narrowed his eyes out of curiosity, wondering what the guy was up to.

"I told you the name is Neal. I'm twenty-two," Neal said. He had been working to help pay for rent for four years now. He didn't enjoy being talked down to, especially not by some guy that he had just met. As the question about his drawing was posed Neal scratched the back of his head.

"Well...I'd say I'm decent. It's really just something that I do in my free time. I've never done a speed test before though," Neal admitted. "Why are you asking?"

"...22 huh..." Fionn glanced back at him over the drawing, with a slight frown. "And you're about average height for someone your age?" After looking at the drawing again he set it down and started to move around the shed, looking at the other pieces of art.

"Well, if its like this, Rune magic might be the way to go. I know a fair few runes myself, don't use em often, but every Hero needed to learn some back then." He reached over and grabbed a pencil and a blank piece of paper, then drew out a few symbols on it and handed it over. "See, first one there is for Fire, that one is strength, and so on. If you put some magic in when you make them, the knife'll help with that, then say the name, you can get the effect. If you can get the hang of drawing on the mana, you might be able to do pretty well."

Yeah, Neal had a feeling that this relationship was going to get a lot worse before it got any better. "Yeah, I'm about average size thanks," Neal muttered before rolling his eyes and looking away. God who was this guy? Did he really think that that was an appropriate question to ask? Neal decided to just drop it, the guy could still likely crush Neal's skull if that's what he wanted.

"Rune magic?" Neal questioned before looking down and gazing at the runes that were drawn on the pieces of paper. What were those going to do in a fight? "Why aren't they doing anything for you?" Neal questioned as he looked at the piece of paper.

"Seems like it's not that useful," Neal said before taking the pencil and drawing the exact same symbol in just a few seconds. "It's just a shape, what's that going to do?" Neal asked as he looked away and towards Lancer. "It's just a shape," Neal said.

However, Fionn would notice that the rune that Neal started to draw was starting to glow orange around the fire rune that he wrote. The paper was heating up, and smoke was starting to rise up before the paper started to light on fire.

"Guess they just don't make em like they used to then..."

Fionn leaned in slightly to look at the drawing of the rune, and grinned slightly. "Well, I didn't put any magic into them when I drew them. Now then, lets take this..." He scooped up the paper and strode out the door, "somewhere a little less flammable," he held it out at arms length a good ways from the shed and looked back at Neal. "Now, say 'Ansuz'."

Thankfully, Neal didn't hear the first part of that statement that Fionn made. He wouldn't have taken it super well considering everything that he was already trying to deal with. Neal just followed Fionn outside as he didn't see what the paper was doing yet. "You want me to say Ansuz? What good with that-"

Neal cut himself off though as the paper in Fionn's hand suddenly burst in to flames and burned within his hand. Neal jumped in surprise and just stared at what had happened. "Oh my god....did I do that?"

Fionn whistled softly to himself while Neal accidentally ignited the rune, and held on to the burning paper until it was in danger of falling into the ground. He brought his other hand out, then smothered the smoldering paper between his hands, and let the ashes fall to the ground. "Well, looks like you've got the hang of putting magic into things already, that'll save some time. Though controlling the amount will probably be the next step. The workshop down below should be a good testing ground, if it was built properly it should contain anything too powerful you might be able to make."

"Do you have any maps of the city?"

Neal was still reeling from what he just did. He heard Fionn, but it mostly went out Neal's ears. He had just lit something on fire without even trying. Good god, why had his father never told Neal the truth? He didn't understand, there was a whole other world that Neal knew nothing about and yet he had to just understand it. He was being tossed into a game that he wasn't quite sure how to play. It was dangerous though, but a part of it seemed like it would be exciting.

"Maps? Oh yeah, hang on," Neal said before running inside. It took a few minutes but eventually he came back out and handed the map to Fionn. "Are you looking for something specific?"

"Well...." Fionn took the map from Neal and headed back into the shed, then spread it out on the floor. "Right, first thing first, where are we on here? And then where do people live, where would visitors stay, what areas would people usually avoid during the day or at night? Anywhere else you can think of worth pointing out. Basically we want to figure out where to search for other masters, and what might make a good battleground to pick a fight in. That sort of thing."