Chapter 4: Mission from the Wizard
Riya stands alone in the vast, rune-covered chamber that belongs to the infamous Zelretch. The air is dense with mystery, the walls lined with magical devices and ancient tomes, humming softly as if whispering secrets. The weight of everything he's learned presses down on him – every female Servant's soul is now sealed inside him. He jokes to himself, mutters under his breath, but deep down… he's barely holding on.
Zelretch finally addresses him with his typical air of cryptic confidence. No time for grieving, no room for denial. The world is unraveling. And it's Riya's responsibility to set things right.
The wizard explains that a singularity has formed in the world known as Fate/Apocrypha. The Great Holy Grail War there has fallen into disarray. With no female Servants to balance the factions, the Grail's power has grown wild and erratic. Time is bleeding, events are out of sequence, and the very structure of that reality is beginning to collapse. The Grail, still active, is too dangerous to leave unchecked.
Zelretch's proposal is clear, but impossibly ambitious:
"Enter that war. Survive. Claim the Holy Grail—and use it to begin constructing Chaldea from the ground up. You are the only one who can. Whether you believe it or not."
Riya hesitates. He doesn't know how to fight. He hasn't even awakened the full extent of his power. He doesn't understand why he was chosen—or what it means to carry so many souls inside him. But he also knows this: standing still won't fix anything. And deep in his gut, there's a growing need to act. If not to save the world, then to finally have something that's his.
As Zelretch opens a swirling dimensional gate—unstable, violent, flickering with the magic of a broken timeline—Riya steps toward it. He doesn't know what's waiting for him on the other side. He doesn't have a plan. But something inside him stirs.
The chapter closes with Riya staring into the war-torn light of the portal. His hand clenches. His voice is quiet but sharp:
"Let's go fix a broken world."
And with that, he disappears into the singularity.