1 [Origins]
•[Please read Author's note at the end!]•
"Icarus! Get over here!" A voice yelled from inside a house.
"Coming!" A young boy yelled back while pushing himself off the ground after completing his short morning exercise.
The boy quickly rose to his feet while wiping the build-up of sweat off his brow before rushing inside the house.
Slowly walking towards the voice from earlier the boy quickly organized his thoughts,
'It's been about 5 years already....5 years ago I awoke in the body of a three-year-old boy! If that wasn't strange enough, it was someone I had recognized! Sadly, it wasn't the main protagonist of some harem anime where everything somehow goes right for him with his bullshit nuke-proof plot armor, but the character from a small but well known Greek tragedy! Fuck! I was reborn as Icarus! The boy who died after flying too close to the sun on his wax wings!' Icarus sighed before reaching the door to his father's workshop and opening the door.
'Thankfully, there were some benefits to being reborn as the oldest example of knowing your limits.'
Icarus entered his father's workshop as the crazy bastard turned to him with a smile on his face, "Ah! Icarus! Come quickly! I need you to assist me with this!"
'Case in point, my father, the genius inventor Daedalus. Thanks to him having a decent level of fame and more importantly income, I don't have to be some poor beggar boy who works in a brothel.' Icarus felt a shiver crawl up his spine at the thought as he approached his father.
"Hm? What do you need help with?" Icarus asked as he scanned the workshop full of items, paper, and devices. Daedalus seemed to be working with a large furnace, he held a pair of tongs connected to a crucible inside the furnace. He turned to Icarus before pointing at an object nearby,
"Bring that over to me," Daedalus spoke once more as Icarus quickly ran over to grab what appeared to be a metal mold of some sort, it was in the shape of a small circle and had a flat bottom.
He hastily brought it over and placed it nearby as Daedalus pulled the crucible out before pouring the contents into the mold.
'....glass?' Icarus thought, unperturbed at the thought of glass being used much earlier than it should have been, after all, why would this bother him when...
....magic is real here.
"καθαρίζω!" Daedalus chanted as he watched the air bubbles form in the glass due to its poor production method begin to visibly disappear as the glass gave off a small glow before it became clearer and purer.[1]
Daedalus took a step forward and thoroughly inspected the glass before giving it an acceptable nod and continuing with his craftsmanship.
Icarus sighed at being so blatantly dismissed before stepping back outside and continued his exercise routine. He began to think of the plan he had established while doing some sit-ups on the grass outside the house, 'I have already established my goal in life, now I just have to achieve it.'
He ran through his memories of when he learned that he was in the world of an anime/game, the time his father explained magic to him. It instantly gave him hope of his goal, returning to his own time, as he had already accepted never returning to his true home.
As much as Icarus may come to like it here or how much there is here that he can enjoy, it still isn't the same, it isn't his home.
The people, culture, food, entertainment, everything is different.
'....I guess I'm a bit homesick.' He thought as his workout continued.
He was prepared to never return to his time again and had accepted it. Even with his plan he still accepts that he may never go back to his time, but will try to nonetheless.
Him trying to return regardless with an almost impossible plan was just how he's always been, he never had the best life, always having to defy his poor circumstances and slowly overcome them.
'Even if I do have a chance to make it back, I shouldn't let it cloud my vision. I wouldn't want to remake my legend and fly too close to the sun.' Icarus thought before finally finishing his workout.
Icarus' body in this life is much stronger than his past life, as magic in this era is much stronger than it will be in the future he saw in the Fate Series.
Icarus sighed thinking about the future, even if he makes it to the Throne of Heroes in the future he will have to be summoned in a decent timeline, not only that, it will only be a copy of himself and not truly him.[2]
'Hah, might as well enjoy life while I can.....unfortunately this is highly unlikely. This world is much more dangerous than even the modern era Fate Series, with Phantasmal Species and Beasts roaming about in this period. Let's not even get into how I have to deal with the most troublesome gods in the entirety of mythology likely fucking with my life!' Icarus thought before continuing.[3]
'Too bad I have barely learned any magic!'
'Daedalus is a crazy bastard, and not in a good way. He is genuinely fucked in the head. Yeah, he might be an inventive genius, but he has numerous personality issues, a massively inflated ego, a fierce jealously towards those who accomplish inventions better than his, and a general disregard for human life. He still cares for me a bit but it's best to leave him eventually.'
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"Alright Icarus, it's about time I've taught you to learn more advanced magic," Daedalus spoke to me.
"Sheesh, about time," Icarus responded back.
He gave Icarus a flat stare before asking a question, "What did I tell you about magic?"
"Magic is used when one invokes mana to make the impossible, possible. Mages use magic by manipulating the mana in the air. Every Mage has an element and origin, most people have 4 elements that originated from Arche, these elements are Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth. Meanwhile, Origin is the starting point that defines one's existence and directs one's actions throughout life." Icarus replied, summing up what Daedalus had spoken to him from before.
Unlike in the future, people in this era don't have magic circuits, they have no need for them as they can take mana straight from the world instead, completely outclassing modern magi.
The magical energy in the world is so heavily saturated that people are directly affected by it, causing humans of this era to have much more powerful and resilient bodies.
"Tell me how one's origin affects them," Daedalus questioned once more.
"A person's origin causes their actions to become along the lines of an inherent compulsion that could be called a person's instinct rather than a conscious decision. If a person becomes awakened to their Origin, it becomes nearly impossible to stray from their Origin if it's even possible in the first place. It becomes an impulsive behavior one would follow as though it were an absolute order." Icarus responded while thinking about the events of Fate Stay/Night with Shirou's Sword origin causing him to become nothing but a puppet to his borrowed ideals.
"Good. I see you remembered what I told you, as expected of my son. Now, do you have any more questions before we get into more detail?" He asked.
Icarus couldn't help but respond with a question that had been bugging him, "Yeah...where did you learn all of this?"
Daedalus replied with a grin, "Well, we learned this through the city's oracle. We live in Athens, named after our city's patron goddess, Athena."
'Ah, I see, so that clears some things up.'
"Now, I've only taught you some of the basics of magic that we used in my inventions, these basic's are mostly used in day to day life or to change a basic property of an object."
Icarus nodded along with him to listen further.
"Now as you know, I am an extraordinary inventor, not a fighter. The magic I use is mostly to imbue properties or enchantments towards an object to better help with my inventions."
Icarus listen further as he continued rambling.
"The way we invoke some of this magic is through words. Remember, words play a heavy part in using magic. Such as Divine Words, with these words, people can give the world orders directly to manipulate mana into magic." He said with a smile.
Due to his words, Icarus recalled bits and pieces from when he had read the TYPE-MOON Wikia page in the past.
Since he's currently living in the Age of the Gods, the 'World' has not yet separated from man splitting into 'Gaia' and 'Alaya', causing reality to not follow the laws of physics but on mystery instead.[4][5]
"Father, I already know all this, can we get into more advanced magic!" Icarus spoke in exasperation.
"Alright, alright! Anyways, for the spells I have taught you so far, the words are long and complex. I want to teach you ones you must have a firm understanding of to direct enough to use in a single Divine Word."
"Like the purification spell you used this morning?" Icarus responded.
"Yes, just like that. Instead, I will help teach you to use that magic, as unlike the others I have shown you this one uses a singular divine word." He answered back.
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•[Author's Note Below]•
Alright, so this is my new Fanfic that takes place in the Nasuverse (Fate Series) during the time of Greek Mythology.
MC is transmigrated as Icarus, and I currently have no plans for a harem.
Keep in mind that this will be a bit AU as I am changing the timeline a bit to fit the story and expect more changes to happen throughout due to Icarus' actions.
Leave suggestions in the comments below.
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[1] καθαρίζω — Greek word meaning "Purify."
[2] Throne of Heroes - a place existing outside of both the Word and the time axis. The Throne of Heroes is also occasionally referred to as the Ring of Deterrence, referring to how it is mainly used by the Counter Force. People who have done substantial or legendary accomplishments are freed from the constraints of time itself and removed from the ring of reincarnation and placed within the Throne.
[3] Phantasm Species — the common term used to refer to all non-human creatures that are found in legends and fantasy.
[4] 'World' refers to Gaia, or the collective unconsciousness of mankind Alayashiki.
[5] a 'Mystery' is a sliver of power of many different types that comes from the Root.
("Magic" can be differentiated from "Magecraft" in that the consequences of its use are ostensibly "impossible" or "miraculous." The end output of a spell that creates fire is within dictates of the world because something as mundane as lighting a match can yield the same effect.)
Think of a spell to create fire before fire was learned to be created through non-supernatural means as much more 'mysterious' and in turn powerful than a spell to create fire after the knowledge.
Mystery accumulates over time and grows stronger with age, so the spell created before fire was learned would be much more powerful in the modern era than one after due to it having more 'mystery'.
During the Age of the Gods, Magecraft was close to Magic in effect, making Magecraft synonymous with Magic, but the gap between them has since widened. With the advancement of science, the number of things that "could be done" increased, causing Magic to diminish.
