It was a world where the sun never shone. Atop one of the highest mountains, the area was eternally wrapped in a heavy storm. Sometimes snow, sometimes thunder, sometimes hail, the most extreme weather raged endlessly on that mountain peak. On no day of the year could the blue sky be seen; it was a world as cold and desolate as the depths of the sea.
Yet despite these conditions, a lone facility endured the forces of nature. With walls as white as the snow outside, its interior was always lit. At all times, the lights inside protruded through the few windows of the building and cut through the sunless world outside. The shadows that often ran past the lit windows moved quickly. Always huried, always bustling, the human figures dashed in an out of sight. Moving here and there, never ceasing even past the fall of night. Continuing to struggle no matter what.
“Well, this seems to be the final list for better or worse. 48 candidates in total, scouted across the globe.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a lot or too little… is this okay? There are a few normal people mixed in here too.”
“It’s fine. For the betterment of the world, such things can be allowed.”
“Even if they die? If they fail?”
“You’re such a pessimist you know that? It’s fine. We have that trump card too.”
“I’m actually more worried about the trump card than the muggles.”
“Ah, shut up, will you. I’ll handle it when the time comes. Let’s just be happy for now that we found 48 potential masters.”
“… you think they’ll join us?”
“They will. Definitely. Humans are not that dumb.”
"When it really matters the most, mankind is an expert and not dying. It's our one and only specialty."
How ironic was it that it was in this place separated from mankind where the fate of humanity would lie?
Fate/Trite and Trivial Trifles
Chapter One: The Common Sense of Man
================================================
===============================
Sven Mcfareed
Chaldea Surface Level, Residential Area Corridor
3:46 PM
Your eyes are greeted with the sight of white. It takes a moment to realize it’s a floor.
You awaken to find yourself collapsed on the ground. Your body had been sprawled across the marbled floor beneath you. You seem to be in a corridor. On your left is a wall, the same colour as the floor, lined with equally spaced doors. On the right, windows that reveal a snowy landscape and gray sky. Nobody else is around.
You’re drenched in sweat. Your body feels strangely tired, not exhausted or beaten but simply slightly fatigued, and your throat is dry. Most of all, you have trouble forming thoughts quickly. Your consciousness seems to flick on and off for a few seconds.
You recall the events leading up to your awakening. You were at Chaldea, a secret organization for elongating the survival of mankind. Upon arrival, you had been hurriedly greeted by staff and then rushed into a series of rooms where you were strapped into chairs and had electrodes and such put on you. The last test, in particular, was rough on your mind. After you had been released, the fatigue finally took over and you collapsed on the ground.
You’re not sure how much time has collapsed since you’ve collapsed and nor are you certain what the rest of the facility was up to. You do, however, vaguely remember being told that their would be a mission briefing later that day.
Eleanor Larkholm
Chaldea B2, Simulation Room #2
“You’re free to go now. Don’t forget the mission briefing at 5. The Director is very strict about punctuality”
The voice of the man in the lab coat signals your freedom. Electrodes are taken off your body and head, and the door to the testing room is opened. The other Master Candidates who had been taking the tests alongside you got out of their chairs and made their way towards the door.
You had arrived earlier that day and had just settled into your assigned room before you were called upon and dragged into a series of tests.
You notice your colleagues leaving the room. Some of them seem to be walking unstably; others were gripping their heads. You feel completely fine though, with maybe the slightest bit of lightheadedness.
As your colleagues leave the room, you notice that several of them are being formally greeted by staff members who seemed to be waiting there for them. The staff members, dressed in office uniforms, seemed to engage the masters they were talking to humbly, adding in bows and such in their conversation. Many of the other Masters, though, aren’t met by anyone and are left to their own devices; you happen to be one of them.
Either way, you have just been given about an hour of free time and have nothing much to do. The sight of your colleagues, some walking away, some chatting with each other, and the winding corridors that comprise Chaldea’s infrastructure expand before you.
Swallow
Chaldea Surface Level, Foyer
Things seem to be getting busy lately.
It has been perhaps 3 days since you’ve arrived at Chaldea. It seems that all the staff there has gotten acquainted with you and has accepted your presence as natural. In their magnanimity, they had even provided you with their idea of luxurious accommodations: a three story, polysynthetic house made to look like similar to a large log mansion, an automated food and water dispenser, and free reign to roam the facility.
However, this morning, more people other than the staff that have come to know you have started to arrive at the organization. They made quite a ruckus as they all came in, sometimes one by one, sometimes in a wave of bodies and chatter.
You are not sure what’s on the schedule today, or rather you’ve never had a schedule you had to follow. One thing was certain though. The arrivals of these new people signaled that something was about to start soon.