Chapter 13

        "I can't believe we're following a dog to the top of a false Eiffel Tower." El Melloi II's concerns were valid, but the man had not gotten a glimpse of the letter that the dog was holding, so of course this all seemed foolish. Not to mention that the magic professor probably still found it hard to believe that a mere mage was behind all of this.

        "If it is the only way out of this thing called a reality marble, then it would seem that we have no other choice," Gray spoke up. Neither she nor Melloi were riding Hessian any more. The Avenger was too large to go with them up the tower. Gray was bringing up the rear of the group with Gilgamesh. She had pulled her hood further down over her face out of embarrassment when Gilgamesh shot her a glance of curiosity. (Y/n) had noticed before that the king had been seemingly interested in Gray's appearance. He wondered why she had his attention, but (y/n) didn't have much time to consider the matter any further.

        "Who are we supposed to be meeting up here anyway?" Melloi II finally asked the question that (y/n) had purposely been avoiding.

        "It could be anyone. Right?" Masuda spoke although (y/n) was sure that he was well aware of the culprits identity.

        "Even if I were to tell you, it wouldn't change anything. You'll see when we get there," (y/n) muttered. He was somewhat lost in thought at the contents of the letter.

        "I have Caules hostage. You will want to come to the top of the tower to get more information. I am not your enemy, but you're allies are. Please follow my dog to our place of meeting." There message was cryptic, but it gave them enough information to provide them with their next steps.

        (Y/n) flinched when Masuda suddenly grabbed his arm. "Hey, watch your step. I still don't know what you are, so I'm not sure if you could survive a fall of that magnitude. Let's not find out, shall we?"

        "I would survive it," (y/n) decided to answer with certainty. He would probably take a serious amount of damage, but nothing had killed him as of yet, including falls of great distance.

        "That's reassuring and all, but we should keep going. The dog is leaving us behind." Melloi II pointed at the Dalmatian that was already leaving their line of sight.

        "Why didn't you fools just take the elevator? Or maybe it didn't occur to any of you that I could have a great number of treasures capable of flying us all to the top." Gilgamesh was not enjoying the dog escort in the slightest. "I would like to ask the mongrel that we are meeting just two questions before I decide on how to punish him."

        "We're almost there. Just one more flight of stairs," Gray tried to put them all at ease.

        "The fact that we even had to take the stairs to begin with is sad," Masuda sighed. "I guess it was a safety precaution."

        "This better be worth it," El Melloi II commented. He seemed to be the only one among them who lacked more than a basic amount of endurance. Even Gray did not appear to be as tired as he was.

        Before long, they had gone up the final flight of stairs and were all met with a surprise. "Caules?!" both (y/n) and El Melloi II simultaneously spoke. The confusion did not stop there either.

       "You know my student?" El Melloi then turned to (y/n).

        "Now isn't the time for such questions, mongrel. Can't you see that there are two of them?" Gilgamesh was already preparing to threaten the Caues that wasn't tied up on the floor looking terrified. Fiore was nowhere to be found which was worrying to say the least.

        "Who are you really and which of you is the real Caules?" (y/n) demanded as the dog walked up to the Caules that not the hostage. "What is the meaning of all this?"

        "I didn't realize there would be so many of you. It's nice to see the professor and Gray again though. It's been a while." Based on his words, (y/n) could tell that he was not the Caules that he had been spying on at the restaurant. The true Caules was unconcious behind the faker, bound and gagged as if he were a hostage. His sister was there as well in the same condition, but neither had come to any visible harm.

        "What the hell is going on right now?" El Melloi II began to hold a hand to his head. "This isn't just mystics at work! Somebody here has done something they've had no business doing!"

        Caules, the faker, stiffled his laugh with a nervous smile. "Yes, that would be me. I've been tampering with things that I shouldn't have, and I ended up getting this world's version of me into some trouble." Caules pointed at his real self. "I had to take drastic measures when he tried to run off with Fiore earlier."

        "Hold on a moment. Slow down. You're saying you came from a different world?" (y/n) was starting to understand how Melloi II was feeling. He turned to look at the professor. "Is that...possible?" he asked the man.

        "Aren't you the expert for whatever is going on here?" (Y/n) shrugged. Melloi II sighed and pulled out a cigarette which didn't explode this time. "This is crazy. Theoretically, there is somewhat of a possibility for a multiverse. It's better to explain it as different branches of one time line existing on separate plains." He glared at Caules. "But crossing over into those separate worlds could cause catastrophic results for everyone. You should know better, Caules."

        (Y/n) looked to Gilgamesh who was deep in thought. "Do you think that you are connected to them?"

        The king blinked at him, not expecting the boy to privately address him. "What makes you ask that? Do you truly believe this mongrel?"

        Having two of the same person present in the same space was more than proof enough. "These other worlds, if they do exist, could have something to do with those memories that I see whenever we use the spell to unlock your clairvoyance. What if they are more than just your memories?" Gilgamesh did not seem to be entertaining his explaination.

        "I do not think you are wrong. You've made good use of the wisdom I've given you, but there is something about all of this that doesn't add up." Gilgamesh eyed the false Caules with a slight tilt of his head. "Answer me correctly, or I shall strike you down where you stand, mongrel." Caules provided his full attention the moment the gate of Babylon went active. "If you are aware of the risks of your actions, and you have taken the time to plan out this meeting, what is it that you want from us? Tell me what your motive is."

        The false Caules presented them all with an expression of concern. "This world may be in danger. I barely escaped my own world alive. I was forcefully sent here by a group of servants that I had befriended. I was once a master in a holy grail war." (Y/n) involuntarily tensed up at the mentioning of the holy grail. He had heard of such wars, but had never expected to meet any survivors of one. First it was El Melloi II, and now it was Caules from another world. "I am only contacting you to warn you. Otherwise, I'd have tried everything in my power to stay under the radar and live peacefully until this world meets its end at the hands of that man."

        "What man?" Masuda wondered. "You've done nothing but give us vague descriptions that all seem to be pieces of a dangerously complex problem. Do you really think you have the time to tell us everything now?"

        "Whether or not he has the time doesn't seem to be the problem," Gray interjected. She shared Caules' look of worry. "I think something bad is about to happen to all of us here. Or at least, it was. Why else would he have brought us to this place without giving notice?"

        "But Caules isn't strong enough to create a reality marble," El Melloi pointed out. "It is to my understanding that they require large amounts of magic, almost the same that is required to summon a servant without a catalyst. That alone is near impossible for those with high amounts of magic." The smoke from his cigar blew off in the wind. "Just who are you really?"

        "I'm Caules, I assure you. And yes, all of you are in danger. At first it was just the agents from Tokugawa that I was worried about, but then you and the professor wandered into this mess." He sighed. "Time here in this reality marble passes differently than in the outside world. I didn't create it on my own. I had to gain help. All of you will want to hear everything I have to say without a doubt, right?" He tried to give a smiled of reassurance, but few of them took the sign well.

        "For someone scheduling a meeting unannounced, you sure are rude. How dare you have your guests climb a tower and not offer them a place to sit," Gilgamesh complained.

        "I'm sorry, but this is the best I could do. I didn't have much control over this reality marbles design. It just modeled itself after the last place I had been." The false Caules sighed. "Now, where should I start...?" he mumbled to himself.

        (Y/n) immediately grew suspicious at the mentioning of Caules' creation of the magic space. "You should start by telling me who you work for, and that isn't a request." If this Caules was the one linked to the Y.G Clan, then that meant that there was more to this mission that it appeared to be. Though he was curious, (y/n) could not afford to lose sight of his original objective.
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Hope this isn't getting too confusing. I'm making cross references to a lot of different fate works as I'm writing this. Until next time you amazing readers!

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