Chapter 2: Questions Without Answers
The silence that followed my introduction stretched like a taut wire between us. I watched as Olga exchanged a meaningful glance with Dr. Roman, their expressions unreadable but tense. Whatever they'd expected from me, "Aion" apparently wasn't it.
"Aion," Olga repeated slowly, as if testing how the name felt on her tongue. "That's... unusual. Are you certain that's your name?"
The question caught me off guard. Of course I was certain—it was the first thing that had felt right since I'd opened my eyes in this impossible place. But the way she asked it, with that particular mixture of clinical interest and barely concealed concern, made me wonder what significance the name might hold in this world.
"Yes," I said, meeting her gaze despite the uncertainty gnawing at my chest. "It's my name."
Dr. Roman stepped forward, clipboard in hand. "Well then, Aion, how are you feeling? Any dizziness, nausea, unusual sensations?"
Unusual sensations. I almost laughed at that. Everything about this was unusual. The warmth in my chest that pulsed like a second heartbeat, the way the air itself seemed to hum with energy, the fact that I was apparently talking to characters from a video game—all of it was so far beyond unusual that I didn't even know where to begin.
"I feel..." I paused, searching for words that wouldn't sound insane. "Different. Stronger, maybe? And there's this warmth—" I pressed a hand to my chest, where that golden heat seemed to pool beneath my ribs. "It's hard to explain."
Roman's pen scratched across his clipboard. "That's normal for someone who's just undergone the summoning process. Your circuits are adapting to the increase in mana density. It should stabilize over the next few days."
Summoning process. Mana circuits. The terms felt familiar—echoes from countless hours spent reading about the world of Fate—but hearing them spoken as medical fact rather than fictional concepts left me reeling.
Mash leaned forward slightly, her violet eyes filled with concern. "Do you remember anything about before? About how you came to be here?"
The honest answer was too complicated—too impossible. How could I explain that I remembered dying in a hospital bed in another world entirely? That I'd been reborn into what I'd always believed was fiction? That everything I knew about this place came from a game I'd played obsessively during long nights when sleep wouldn't come?
Instead, I settled for a partial truth. "It's... fragmented. I remember being somewhere else, somewhere cold and sterile. And then nothing until I woke up here."
It wasn't entirely a lie. The hospital room where I'd spent my final days had been cold and sterile, even if it existed in a completely different reality.
Olga nodded curtly. "Retrograde amnesia isn't uncommon in cases like this. Your memories may return with time." She turned to Roman. "Have you run the full battery of tests?"
"Still processing the results, but his magical output is..." Roman paused, flipping through several pages on his clipboard. "Well, it's unlike anything we've seen before. The energy signatures are completely unique."
"Unique how?" The question came out sharper than I'd intended, but I needed to understand what was happening to me. The warmth in my chest seemed to pulse in response to my agitation, and for a moment, the air around us shimmered with an almost invisible heat haze.
Both Olga and Roman noticed it—I could tell by the way their eyes widened slightly, the way Roman's pen stopped mid-scratch across his notes. Only Mash seemed unfazed, though she did shift slightly closer to my bedside.
"We're still analyzing the data," Olga said carefully. "What's important right now is that you rest and recover. Mash will stay with you to monitor your condition and help with any questions you might have."
The dismissal was clear, but as they moved toward the door, I called out. "Wait. Where exactly am I? I mean, I know you said Chaldea, but..." I gestured vaguely at the high-tech medical equipment surrounding us. "This isn't exactly a normal hospital."
Dr. Roman turned back with what might have been a sympathetic smile. "Chaldea is a research facility dedicated to protecting humanity's future. You're part of that mission now, Aion. We'll explain more once you've had time to process everything."
And then they were gone, leaving me alone with Mash and a thousand questions that I couldn't ask without revealing far more about myself than would be safe.
Mash settled back into the chair beside my bed, her posture relaxed but alert. "Are you really feeling alright? You don't have to pretend to be strong, you know. What happened to you—the summoning accident—it was... intense."
"Summoning accident?" I latched onto the phrase, hoping for more information.
She nodded, her expression growing troubled. "We were attempting to summon a Servant to help with our mission, but something went wrong. There was an explosion of light, and when it cleared, you were there instead. Unconscious and badly injured."
So I hadn't been summoned as a Master—I'd somehow replaced a Servant entirely. The implications of that were staggering, and not entirely comforting. If I'd taken the place of a Heroic Spirit, what did that make me?
"The mission you mentioned," I said carefully. "What kind of mission requires summoning Servants?"
Mash's hands tightened in her lap. "Humanity is in danger. Time itself has been fractured, and history is being rewritten. We're the only ones who can fix it, traveling to different points in time to correct the anomalies. It's called the Grand Order."
The Grand Order. Even hearing the words sent a chill down my spine, because I knew what that meant. I knew about the Singularities, about the battles that lay ahead, about the threats that would emerge from the shadows of history itself. But I also knew that I wasn't supposed to be here—that there should have been someone else in my place, someone stronger and more qualified to face what was coming.
"And you think I can help with that?" I asked, genuine uncertainty coloring my voice.
Mash met my eyes, and for the first time since I'd awakened, she smiled—small and uncertain, but real. "I don't know. But Director Olga seems to think you're important, and Dr. Roman's tests suggest you have considerable magical potential. Beyond that..." She shrugged slightly. "I suppose we'll find out together."
Together. The word settled into something warm and solid in my chest, distinct from the strange energy that continued to pulse there. Whatever this world held for me, whatever trials lay ahead, at least I wouldn't be facing them alone.
That night, long after Mash had fallen asleep in her chair—despite my protests that she should return to her own room—I lay awake staring at the ceiling and trying to make sense of my situation. The runes embedded in the walls pulsed gently with each beat of my heart, and I found myself wondering if that was normal or another sign of whatever made me different.
Tomorrow, I would have to start making choices that could affect not just my own fate, but the fate of human history itself. The thought should have been terrifying.
Instead, for the first time since I'd awakened in this strange new world, I felt something that might have been hope.