I thought I could throw this out here too in case there is someone that didn't see it on SV and SB but who would be interested in doing it.
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
Albert Einstein
She floated through the emptiness of an eternal void. There was nothing here that she could see and nobody she could speak to, just herself alone. Not that there was much to speak, only to remember the pasts and broken promises. There were so many things that had gone wrong in her life, yet she couldn't help but be satisfied.
The memory was still fresh even though she couldn't say how long she had been floating through this empty void.
-------------------"Then I'll show you a miracle.
It's an application of the magic I showed you earlier, but this one's amazing.
This is the sorcery everyone wanted to see, after all."
Yes, this time she had not been the doll, the puppet of another. She had fulfilled her own wish and protected her little brother. A serene smile adorned her face even as she couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen now. She was no longer scared, and she could only hope that Berserker had found peace, even if they would never see again. It was still surprising to her that she was still self-aware, for she had expected herself to fall into nothingness long ago.
It was then that something happened.
Steps echoed through the nothingness and the silver-haired girl turned her ethereal head to look at what was going on. There stood a man clad in black, grey hair covering his head and possessing a beard. His eyes were as red as her own and for a moment she wondered if he was also a Homunculus, but then she decided that he didn't have the makings of an Einzbern creation. And more than anything else, these eyes possessed both the humanity that was not normally found in Homunculi and something old and inhuman which made her shudder for a moment.
No,
this man was something else.
The unknown man smiled at her and spoke, his voice was deep, deeper than her step-brother's voice, but bearing similar warmth to it.
"I have to say, this is unexpected." These crimson eyes peered at her, seemingly checking her for something and finding her suitable. "There is always some variation, but for you to actually be compatible was rather unexpected."
Ilya scowled in confusion at the older man and made her unhappiness known.
"And what exactly do you mean mister?"
The man's smile turned to a smirk and he answered with a question.
"Girl, do you know how the Einzbern lost the Heaven's Feel?" Ilya blinked in surprise at the unexpected question, but before she could formulate an answer the man continued on. "Magic by its very definition is something without limit, so how is it possible for the bearer to die if the Magic itself deals with resurrection? Well, of course you could be attacked as a surprise. Even Magicians are limited by their own nature as mortals, so if they are already dead, they cannot use their abilities to bring themselves back. Still, why would someone like that risk his life in battle if he doesn't have an heir?" Ilya frowned, that was a good question. She wasn't really the scholarly type, but really there was nothing better to do in this place anyway. "The answer is simple, he didn't." The girl pouted and looked more closely at the unknown man.
"But you said there is no way for him to die if he isn't killed in a surprising way." The man chuckled and tapped the non-existent ground with a walking stick. "Yes quite right. The bearer of the Heaven's Feel could easily just switch to another body if the old one is beginning to fade away. In the end, he just grew tired of waiting for a successor to appear." Ilya couldn't help but look in disbelief at the man when he spoke these words. "Ah, they probably didn't tell it like that, but it is the truth. He continued to diligently search for an heir, for centuries and centuries, but no one can live like that forever. Someday he wished to leave and so he did. Who knows, maybe the Einzbern even deluded themselves into believing there was another reason for their loss of the 3rd."
The man stepped closer to Ilya, who was still floating through the nothingness. "But Magic will not die so long as it cannot be achieved with mundane methods. Thus, the Cup of Heaven was only waiting for someone to bear it. Still, who would have expected a child like you to inherit that one's power?"
Ilya's jaw dropped and if she had still possessed a body, she would probably felt quite the pain from the action. Her eyes popped out as she looked at the grey-haired man. "Y.. You... You cannot be serious." Once again the man chuckled only. "Oh, I do not joke about such things. While your control is still lacking, the very fact that you are here is proof of your capabilities."
At that, the silver haired girl raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with me being here?" At this, the other man bowed to her. "It is simple, you are currently refusing to fully die, something only possible because you are the possessor of the Heaven's Feel. As you were fully expecting your death, your instincts took over and made sure you wouldn't return to the sea of Akasha to be recycled." Ilya couldn't help but dislike that word. 'Recycled' It sounded like she was a broken item that should be taken apart and turned into new things.
"Still, without a body you are in pretty big trouble, after all, with your lack of skill you cannot just make yourself a new body from nowhere. It is not even the area governed by the 3rd in the first place. So I thought this old man could help you out in exchange for seeing something interesting."
At that Ilya somehow knew that something bad was going to happen.
"Well then kid, see you again and try to do something good with your future."
At that point, the empty void behind and around Ilya seemed to
twist and turned into a glowing Kaleidoscope of immeasurable lights glittering in countless colours. Her mouth opened even further than before as she screamed when the tip of a walking stick touched her and pushed her only a tiny bit back.
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This is an idea for an Ilya that has by chance the right nature to become the heir of the Third Magic and was thrown into another world by Zelretch to grow a bit in her capabilities. I got originally inspirated by the Quest "
Faction of Hope" by night_sentinel on Spacebattles. I got the idea of a Civilization Quest involving the Heroic Spirits of the Nasuverse in some way. It came mostly about due to the
Historical Servant Thread on Spacebattles and the
new thread that was made on Sufficient Velocity.
I thought: "All these Servants are never going to be used and some of them are positively awesome." And I thought: If there was a person that could call these Servants up (With permission of the author of said Servant) and bring them into a civilization style game, wouldn't that be cool. They could be quite literal "Hero Units". So I wondered how such a story could come to be and the idea for a Ilya that had the potential to become the next Master of the Third Magic came to mind. One which saved Shirou, but stubbornly refused to fully leave the world due to her instinctive grasp of the Heaven's Feel. She would then be discovered by Zelretch and sent out into another setting to make a name for herself and grow up into a proper Magician, to avoid the Einzbern or another faction trying to use her for their own. She would have the souls/templates for the Servants used in the 5th Grail War inside her and with enough power would be capable of granting them new bodies. (If she also finds a Master to work as a anchor.) Other possibilities would be trying to teach the locals magecraft, researching for further hero templates, conquest, diplomacy etc...
I have unfortunately a distinct lack of any freaking idea on how to do this. I lack ideas or any clue on how to stat various stuff and my skill in Quests is amateurical at best in the first place. I also have no real clue where to send her to make a good civilization quest out of this. So really, I would be very very happy if anyone woulds show interest in doing this in any way. Because I just plane and simply cannot do it in a way where I wouldn't think I am doing an absolute shit Job.
After searching through a couple Empire Quests that were mentioned by another person, I came to the conclusion that this is too complicated for me to do. And I fear that I would start it, only for me to Abandon it after a couple posts as I have done with most quests of mine. I have no knowledge how to Balance stuff or anything similar, and also lack knowledge of any suitable Setting to send Ilya to. Enuff said. If nobody takes it I will be sad, but I can accept if People have other things to do. Thanks to anyone that has read up to this Point.