Prisma LxL

Summoning

Chapter 1

Summoning

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Within a forgotten and dark cave, a light briefly replaces the natural darkness. Bats, who were not expecting the light, flew away in panic. The ceiling rumbled a bit from the sudden movement of bats. And where once the only thing in the main clearing was spikes on top and the puddles of water below, two circles, which had appeared side by side together, appeared.

Two people soon materialized, one from each circle.

The first thing the two individuals noticed was the presence of the other individual.

One knew the identity of the other and the others didn't know the exact identity of the first.

They stared at each other dumbly before the first one, a tall, dark-skinned, and white-haired man, spoke. "Are you the one who summoned me?"

The other one, a short, pale, and white-haired girl dressed in a pink frilly magical girl costume,  gave him a confused look. "Um... I thought I was the one who was summoned..."

They both blinked at each other in utter confusion and bewilderment before battle-hardened instincts kicked in and the man jumped away, summoning a black bow. The girl followed suit and readied her wand.

A tense silence was birthed between them. They were both ranged fighters so there was no need to charge in. Instead, it was more like a tense gun battle. Whoever drew first won but they were still uncertain as to what was happening and as such both of them refused to be the one to initiate hostilities.

The man cleared his throat, causing the girl to tense. "Archer-class servant, and you are?"

The girl blinked in surprise but mimicked Archer. "C-Caster-class servant..." she blurted out, instantly sweating as she started to think that perhaps that was the wrong answer.

Caster's head spun as she tried to figure out what was happening.

A minor conflict raged within Archer, his mind conflicting on which emotion he should be in. On one hand, he should be relieved at seeing his beloved sister's face and the other, he was debating on how to exploit her holes and swiftly put an end to her existence.

His relief won out and he slowly put down his weapons but remained tensed as Caster kept her wand up.

Caster, seeing Archer lower his weapons and raised his hand in surrender, followed suit with putting her wand beside her.

"So... Truce?" Archer asked, his weapons dissipating in motes of mana and his arms crossing.

Still feeling uneasy, Caster nodded.

Archer frowned a bit at Caster's unease. "So... Do you feel any connection to your master?"

Caster uneasily, and very hesitantly, closed her eyes and concentrated.

Archer did the same.

Nothing. After a minute of searching, they found no connection to their summoner.

With that confirmed, Archer decided to test the waters for his next theory. "Are you a... Counter guardian?"

His muscles tensed up in anticipation of the answer. To him, this question was beyond personal. For someone who had lost everything in the pursuit of his ideals, he craved for those things he had lost.

"Y-Yes..." Archer's fist clenched in silent anger before letting it dissipate in order to not frighten his fellow Counter Guardian. "I-I assume you're one as well...?"

Caster's voice, her face... It belonged to his sister, his dear sister who had died when her body had failed her. Her sister died without him seeing her through as he was out pursuing his ideals.

By now, the only one prepped for action was Archer as Caster seemed to have gotten some comfort that perhaps they were allies in their goal to protect humanity. She had presumed that because they were both under the employ of humanity's collective consciousness, Alaya, there was no reason for him to hurt her.

Yet, in Archer's mind, his mind was seething. This was his sister, perhaps a different version that had never met him, but he seethed in the fact a version of his sister was under the employ of Alaya.

"Did you receive any orders from Alaya?" he asked coldly, his tone sending shivers down Caster's spine.

Caster, who was feeling a chill from the man who looked like a more masculine version of Kuro, nervously tried to wrack her mind as quickly as she could lest she earns the ire of the man.

"N-No... I-I thought you were my t-tutorial on how to be a 'C-Counter Guardian'..." Caster admitted. "A-Although I guess you aren't, are you..."

Archer blinked in confusion, the terms 'tutorial' foreign to him.

Caster, sensing his confusion, rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "T-This is my first time being summoned as a Counter Guardian..."

Behind her sheepish face, the gears of her mind turned as it tried to figure out what was happening.

Archer too tried to comprehend what was happening as he too had not received any knowledge pertaining to their 'mission.' Hell, he didn't even know if there was a mission, to begin with!

"Your first time?" Archer asked uncertainly. "This is your first deployment?"

Caster scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "I guess so..."

Archer sighed heavily as he moved to the center of the clearing and inspected the two summoning circles. A sword appeared in his hand, which lit aflame, and stabbed it into the ground, lighting the room.

Archer noticed the way Caster tensed when he summoned the sword. It was a nameless sword that he had given the property of fire to so it certainly had no part in history. He put that aside for now and earnestly studied to the circles.

Caster recognized the mage craft anywhere, Kuro's 'tracing.' No, scratch that, it wasn't Kuro's as it belonged to the Archer-class servant that was embedded in the Archer-class card... Oh.

At that moment, they both knew each other's identity without uttering a word that could be used to identify them.

Shirou Emiya.

Illyasviel von Einzbern.

Chapter 1 End

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