#envenge

His self gave only two names: Angra Mainyu. Avenger. No Shirou Emiya, no Einzbern lady, no Holy Grail. No other presence he had to tangle and dance with this time to be called someone. Weird. 

He sat up on the bed and took a deep breath. He looked at his hands; their shape was one he had grown used to and comfortable with. This was the body of Shirou Emiya for sure (changed after his influence), yet there wasn’t any Shirou Emiya in him. Just like in Chaldea but different. More solid. He didn’t have the sensation that he was going to vanish if he was pushed the wrong way. 

He felt something build up inside him. Joy, perhaps, so intense that made him shake but in his case emotions tended to mix up –everything always intertwined with hatred. 

“Ah, no. No, calm down”, he told himself. He didn’t want to burst that newfound body yet. It would be such a shame, totally not worth it to lose himself for a spark. 

He got on his feet then, never one to stay resting in one place. He was hungry. Very hungry. Starving, if he had to say so himself. 

It didn’t take him long to find the kitchen and assault the fridge like a ravenous wolf, not paying much attention to what sort of nourishment he brought to his mouth, nor giving in to the thought that the food might have an owner. Some minutes later, satisfied but not full, he sat in the floor, licking his fingers as he thought on this strange circumstances.

It was strange for Angra Mainyu to not have the answers, but he wasn’t especially concerned by finding himself in this strange place, no Master in sight. Eidolon offered him freedom and entertainment, and he would take them without questions. 

Curiosity was what picked him next, making him wonder how it was outside –if it was as cold as it felt. One step out of the bunkhouse made him realize that, indeed, he would freeze to death in seconds if he even dared to venture away with nothing but the clothes he was wearing. 

Going back to the shared room, he put on the clothes laying on his bed, their white color an unusual contrast on him but the warmth was welcome. He eyed Tawrich, its dark and misshapen edge an ugly form against the sheets, but decided against taking it with him. He didn’t want to show himself as someone dangerous, not for the moment. He was not out for the hunt today. 

The harshness he saw on the environment once he stepped outside, roaming the streets of Eidolon, reminded Angra Mainyu of the village where he grew up. It was not only the snow, but the sensation of being completely forsaken beyond the ice. Stuck between civilization and the wilderness, doing everything necessary to survive. 

Even the bonfires had a certain reminiscence in them. Fire was said to scare away monsters, acting both as a protective and destructive element. As he watched the people reunited around the flames, sheltered under the shades of nearby buildings, Angra Mainyu wondered if in that place they saw it that way too. And if so, what they were trying to protect themselves against? What evil were they trying to keep away?

Trying to find those answers he found something else instead. At first he thought it might have been a mirage, an illusion caused by the brightness of the flames. But on a second glance, getting a little bit closer, he discovered he had not been wrong. No, it was impossible that he didn’t recognize that man from the start.