When Cage is talking, [color=aba000]Gold[/color] is English while [color=00aeef]Cerulean[/color] is Japanese.

*****

[h3]~El Casa de Cage, Ukatan, Japan~[/h3]
[i]Thursday (12:40 A.M.)[/i]

In an attic of a house of a once-famous Hollywood action star, a strange symbol drawn in chalk lay upon the wooden floor. A few boxes littered the room but they were nowhere near the strange symbol. A single person paced back and forth in the attic, on one hand a piece of paper and the other, an old sheathe for a katana, a Japanese sword. He repeated the words in the paper silently, sometimes his mouth moving. He needed to engrave the incantation into his mind and memorize it. He never had to do these kind of things in the United States. In the West, only a few quotable lines were said before taking action. He had no idea why the Japanese were so fond of long lines before engaging into battle. They were awesome, that he was sure of but to him, they were sort of taking too long.

Patrick Edward Culiar, or 'Eddie Cage', is a declining action star in show business who had been asked to perform by the Ukatan University Filming Club in a short action movie they were shooting. The actor did not take a second to answer. It was a chance to show off his totatlly-non-special effects skills to the viewing public. They were now shooting the climax of the film in which Eddie needed to summon a samurai spirit to aid him in battle against the evil sorcerer Shung Tsang and his minions. Eddie thought the summoning ritual took a little bit too long to be realistic but he was not the director. So long as he get to show his moves, he was cool with it.

The actor clapped his hands together and rubbed them. This was his last practice take for the night, the one he would recite the summoning incantation completely. "[color=aba000]Alright. Let's do this.[/color]" Eddie went in front of the 'summoning circle' where the spirit should spawn and compared it to the back of the paper which contained a smaller drawing of the circle. "[color=aba000]Okay. Got that down.[/color]" He then took a look at the incantation itself and gave it one last read. The actor nodded and put the paper down on a box.

Inhaling, Edward Culiar held the old sheathe in front of him. The sheathe did not come from the Filming Club however. It was actually Cage's who received it from a part of the payment when the actor worked for a small, indie Japanese director who wanted Eddie as the action choreographer for the film. It was lucky for the Filming Club for Eddie to have it though. They thought they were going to pay a good amount of money to rent a sheathe from the local museum when the actor mentioned he had an ancient katana sheathe they could use.

Cage got into character and imagined his foe Shung Tsang with his evil Kartakan minions in front of him. His summoning ritual was his trump card. Patrick Edward Culiar recited the incantation to summon his samurai ally:

[center][color=aba000]May silver and steel be the essence.
May stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.
May a wall rise against the wind that shall fall.
May the four cardinal gates close.
May the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate.

I declare it now;
Your body shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your blade.
Submit to the call of the Holy Grail.
Answer, O Lady of War, if you would submit to this will and this truth.

An oath shall be sworn here.
I shall attain all virtues of Paradise;
And dominion over all evils of Inferno.

Yet you shall serve with your eyes blinded by pride.
For you would be one shackled in madness.
I shall wield your snares.

From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power,
Come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance![/color][/center]

Then, something very unexpected happened. The summoning circle in front of Culiar began to glow, growing in brightness at a tremendous rate. "[color=aba000]What the--?![/color]" Cage used the sheathe to cover his eyes from what he had unexpectedly done. "[color=aba000]The hell?![/color]"

A sharp pain then tore through Cage's body, along with a pounding headache as the sheath he held become hot. It was too hot to the touch to continue holding the ancient item and it forced him to drop it. "[color=aba000]Argh![/color]" He could see a shadow of a figure before himself: long flowing hair, standing straight up and the sheath coming up to its left hand. Cage felt like his strength was being drained as a dark purple aura came up from the circle itself and began to flow around the figure, causing it to cry out in pain. Its voice was female, but quickly was joined by a chorus of demonic under tones.

The woman was howling, beginning to move to grab at her head, but stopped before doing so. She took the sheath in her left hand, a katana to match in her right, screaming now not in pain, but in anger and desperation, a mighty roar that sent shivers down Cage's spine. The woman, bound in a kimono, began to move the sword's tip and the sheath's entrance. This began to draw the aura into the sheath, her shouting slowly becoming the only one of the voices before slamming the sword home into its sheath. The room fell almost dead silent along with the disappearance of the pain and the drain on the young actor, the only noises being the female's breathing and the male's own breathing as well.

She had a slightly annoyed look on her face, but it quickly softened up as she looked down at herself. "[color=ed145b]I'm.... breathing... walking in this world again.....[/color]" she said, the knowledge of the grail hitting her like a ton of bricks. "[color=ed145b]You... you're my master, you bear the command seal on your hand, do you not?[/color]" she asked, a mixture of excitement and fear in her voice, one that spoke of wisdom and confidence. She herself was in a white kimono with red accents, rather similar to the samurai warrior he was supposed to summon. She let out an air of confidence and wisdom along with restraint to herself.

Cage, panting from the unexpected pain, looked at the woman with long, flowing black hair and blue eyes dressed in a shrine maiden's clothes who asked strange questions. "[color=aba000]Excuse me? Who are you? And what just happened[/color]" Cage asked in a surprised and exasperated tone but then it clicked to him that the woman spoke in the local language so the actor asked again in the same panicked tone. "[color=00aeef]Who are you? Where the heck did you come from?[/color]"

Rationality began to return to Eddie's mind. He thought this was some sort of elaborate prank by someone. The Filming Club perhaps? Cage would understand if they did. It was always fun to get one in on ol' Cage.

"[color=ed145b]I am Berserker. Your servant.[/color]" she said, the female standing before him with an air of mystery around herself. She took a step forward and began walking around the boy. "[color=ed145b]You don't seem like a mage... but I can feel the mana being used to support me. To participate in the Grail War... you must also have a wish...[/color]" She said, picking at him and trying to figure out just exactly what he was. She closed her eyes and began to explore around herself, visualizing the house and the exterior of it, all the while the actor getting a headache. After a couple of seconds she opened her eyes and the headache went away from Cage.

"[color=ed145b]Tell me master, what era are we in?[/color]" she asked him, turning around and looking at him again. "[color=ed145b]I will try and explain this to you, because your apparent presentation of lack of information is making me believe you don't know what you've gotten yourself into...[/color]" Berserker said with a serious look on her face.

Berserkers. Servants. Mages. Wars. The seriousness of the shrine maiden. These words made Cage give out a hearty laugh. "[color=aba000]Okay, okay.[/color] [color=00aeef]You can drop the act guys. But I've gotta say, you've done very well. Congratulations to all of you.[/color]" The actor said while looking around the attic. No reply came and Cage was impressed at the non-existent pranksters' dedication. "[color=00aeef]Guys seriously, come on. The jig's up.[/color]" Still no reply. The actor was beginning to have doubts about his claims. "[color=00aeef]Fine. Be that way if you want. I'm not playing along anymore.[/color]"

Cage turned to the shrine maiden who, in his opinion, did a very well job in acting. "[color=00aeef]Hey, you got nice acting skills. I'm sure you'll make it far in show business.[/color]" He complimented her. "[color=00aeef]What's your name? 'Cause I'll be giving you a call when I need a good co-actor.... actress.[/color]" Cage asked, still believing the entire event to be one big ruse.

Berserker sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "[color=ed145b]Fine... I shall prove it... But before that at least let me explain the situation you're in.[/color]" She said to Cage, crossing her arms and giving another serious look. "[color=ed145b]You must now at the very least believe your life is at risk. You're now in a war for the Holy Grail, to achieve a single wish of your own desires and one of my own desires. We are competing against six other pairs comprised of a master and servant.[/color]" Berserker continued and began to pace back and forth in the room and finally decided upon a test.

"[color=ed145b]Give me the location of something in this house that only you would know the contents of or what the item is.[/color]" she asked him, hoping for him to give her something locked away.

Cage was surprised at the sheer amount of effort the shrine maiden was giving in keeping up the act. It was either that or she was telling the truth and Eddie was now part of some war that involved another six pairs like them but the actor was sure that was not the case. Though that belief was steadily breaking. "[color=00aeef]Alright.[/color]" Cage took up the shrine maiden's challenge. "[color=00aeef]There's something in my bedroom that contains stuff that only [b]I[/b] know since if anyone else did, it would be terribly embarrassing.[/color]"

Berserker closed her eyes and expanded her spirit once more, a minor ache entering Cage's head as she searched throughout the house, rather amazed at how different dwellings were compared to her own. Lots of things she didn't recognize. However, coming to his bedroom, she found his bed and looked under it. Seeing a small box, she looked inside of it and quickly scanned what she could. "[color=ed145b]Why... you people... this was a serious... why are there humans drawn with animal traits in a box under your bed on paper?[/color]" She asked him, looking through them and turning a rather deep shade of red.

Cage's eyes widened and his face flushed when the shrine maiden expressed disbelief at the actor's hidden collection. "[color=aba000]Okay, okay![/color] [color=00aeef]Looks like you know what's in there.[/color]" The actor could not believe that this shrine maiden found his secret stash of guilty pleasure by closing her eyes and giving him a headache. Now that he thought about it, every time the shrine maiden did something, like when she appeared out on the summoning circle, Cage felt his head ache. It was not severe and completely minor save the time she was being summoned. There was no way the random headaches were normal. Cage wondered if everything happening was actually true.

Cage sighed deeply and covered his face with a hand. "[color=aba000]Okay.[/color] [color=00aeef]I'm buying what you're selling. For now.[/color]" He told the shrine maiden. "[color=00aeef]It's late, and I need to get some sleep for school tomorrow. Just... let's talk about this whole 'Grail War' tomorrow, okay?[/color]"

"[color=00aeef]And the whole 'animal people' is just between us, alright?[/color]"

---

Cage lead his Servant out of the attic and into the house proper. As a rich Hollywood star, Cage had bought himself a large house that was conveniently near Ukatan University. The actor's home has a sizeable living room with a long couch in front of a flatscreen T.V. with a glass coffee table in between. The bathroom was big enough to easily fit three people and filled with several unlit scented candles. The kitchen was no slouch either. It was complete with everything a home kitchen needed: A refrigerator, a stove, an oven, a sink, a dishwasher, a utensil holder and a round wooden table with four chairs occupying it.

"[color=00aeef]So that's my house. I probably didn't need to show you since you easily found... 'that' but I figured I should anyway.[/color]" Cage told his Servant. "[color=00aeef]If you wanna wash yourself or need something to eat or drink, you know where to find them.[/color]"

"[color=00aeef]Before I get to bed, you have any questions?[/color]"

"[color=ed145b]Since I'm going to wind up having to protect you from whatever may happen... we need to head to one of the tailors near by to pick myself some more time period-esque clothing. And how are you a mage? since you seem to lack the understanding of what the concept of what one is, it can be anything that a normal human would be incapable of doing, including throwing fire from their bodies and many.... super powers.[/color]" The Servant asked him, looking around at the bed and other things in his room. "[color=ed145b]Also... what exactly do you do?[/color]"

After the barrage of questions, Cage proceeded to answer them in order. "[color=00aeef]The tailor thing will have to wait since it's the middle of the night and I don't want you picking anything weird. I've got clothes you can use for the time being. They're a little manly though.[/color]" 

"[color=ed145b]Yes, that is rather... acceptable.[/color]" The female commented on the tailor situation.

Cage went to the next consecutive questions. "[color=00aeef]Well, I can throw weird energy and empower my moves. Does that count as being a 'mage'?[/color]"

As for the last question. "[color=00aeef]And lastly, I'm an actor. I appear in films especially the action ones. Lately I've come under a lot of criticism that my moves are all special FX so I'm going around the world to prove each of them wrong. [/color]"

"[color=00aeef]The name's Eddie by the way. Eddie Cage.[/color]" The actor introduced himself. "[color=00aeef]And you are?[/color]"

"[color=ed145b]What my name is, Tomoe Gozen. However, you are never to call me that or reveal my name to anyone, for it could put our plight in jeopardy. Instead you shall call me Berserker. As to your status as a mage, that is magic and is dangerous for the public to know of... we'll talk about it tomorrow among other things.[/color]" the woman explained to him before looking around his room a bit more.

"[color=ed145b]You should rest, I shall stand guard over you and apologize in advance for any possible pain I may cause you.[/color]" Berserker said to Cage, taking up a stand near his door way, ready to head around the house and patrol need be.

"[color=00aeef]B-but, I've been doing that 'magic' since I was five. Nobody seemed to mind.[/color]" Cage said. "[color=00aeef]Well whatever I guess.[/color]"

"[color=00aeef]And 'stand guard over me'?[/color]" Cage was not sure if he wants someone watching him while he slept. "[color=00aeef]You sure you're not tired yourself, Miss Gozen? I mean, you're arrival here surely took a toll on you right? You could sleep on the bed or--[/color] [color=aba000]something.[/color]"

"[color=ed145b]It's your safety that I need to worry about, so please get some rest, Master. I'll patrol the house silently. We'll discuss what needs to be in the morning.[/color]" Tomoe said to him and gave a bow before leaving through the door but leaving a crack open.

The actor fell on the bed as if he was dropped there. He was tired and he was not sure if everything that happened that night was real or if he was actually just dreaming. Maybe that was it. Maybe he was actually just dreaming and after a nice snooze, everything should be back to normal and there wouldn't be a shrine maiden watching him while he slept.

Or not. If that was the case, Cage was going to have a real, nice talk with the Filming Club concerning props.