What could it mean to "make a difference" in the world? Could it be just helping people? Inventions? Or just living your best mentally?… This is a very complicated question to answer properly, I think. But nevermind that, it's probably some pandemic nihilism on my end. 2020 is reaching its end, and the world doesn't seem to look any different from last year. I wonder for how long this quarantine is going to last.
I look at myself in the mirror. Brown skin, brown eyes, black hair with some fading white streaks on my left side. I consider myself to be a very average woman for my age, at least. I lean out of the balcony of my apartment building, looking down at the pitifully small traffic below with a sigh. Unfortunately, I was one of the many that were laid off work during the pandemic so I've been out of a job for almost a year. I managed to stay afloat by using my travel savings account (not that I can travel for a while anyway) and some freelance work I do being an artist on social media. Unfortunately, that's not the only reason why I'm trying to earn money.
They say an empty mind is the devil's workshop, so without anything to do, I obviously turned to the internet for something to do. Unfortunately… I came across a mobile game on my phone's app store, called "Fate/Grand Order" and instantly got hooked. The character designs are amazing looking, and while the story's a bit too complicated for me at times, I'm still accompanying it. To the point I've probably spent around $50 on gacha pulls. I'm not on the level where I have to take loans yet, I still have some self control. The new chapter of the second arc, SIN, just came out yesterday, though I didn't have time to start it, I accepted too many art commissions again. Speaking of, I should go back to work.
I get out of the bed, and sit down at the chair next to my old computer. Been having it for 10 years at this point, but honestly, it still works like a dream. I turn it on, and after a few minutes of loading, I open up my commission queue, pick up references, and start drawing on my phone using its proprietary pen. Been drawing like this for years, and I can feel I've gotten much better at it.
Although it's getting late, and it's getting quiet, so as soon as I finish and post my commission, I get out of the chair and turn on the small, flat screen TV I got for my birthday from my parents a few years ago. I get a little sad when I look at it. My parents were said to have passed away from the first COVID wave while on their France trip. I shake my head softly, I can't go back to how I was in February. Only now I've started to heal. Thankfully, the sound of the TV slowly started to ease my worries. But it quickly turned sour. Been seeing this on the news websites for weeks, but to see them on TV was still appalling to say the least.
Another wave of mass murders, this time in Belgium, taking over 50 lives in the span of an hour. This isn't the first time. This has been happening for over a month now, where multiple people across the world were murdered. Sometimes by guns, but most of the time they recall very weird wounds, such as big knife slashes, really deep stabs, arrow impalings, and even weird blasts over their bodies, like localized mini bombs. It's been estimated that almost a thousand people were killed those ways, leading speculation this may be some kind of terrorist organization, but weirdly they never showed themselves. No clues, no names, no motives. Just massacres.
I shake my head again, feeling the anxiety sink in my body again. This may be a bit unhealthy, but the best way I found was to open F/GO and farm some missions as usual, to get my brain to calm down. However, this time, as I opened my phone, I couldn't find the icon for it anywhere. Did I delete it by accident? Panic seeped in as I scrolled through the app gallery looking for it, but as I did so, I noticed something strange. Deep down at the last icon from my installed apps, after the numbered ones, there was an unlabeled app. It had no title, and its icon was just a red eye in a black background. Was this a virus? Eh, I've already lost my game, and my important information is on my computer anyway, so what's the worst that could happen?
As soon as my finger hovered over it, a blinding light covered my field of view, making me shield my eyes and drop my phone in the process. Dancing lights flowed around me, as wind came out of nowhere, breezing with a calming scent of vanilla. The light slowly started to fade away, and in its place, as I was opening my eyes, a man came to view.
White skinned, dark short wavy hair with grey tips, dark grey eyes, in a constant tired expression. He wore a black coat on top of his mint green vest, a darker green tie underneath, with a green carnation flower on the left side of his coat lapel. Black long pants, long boots, but my vision was clearly followed to what's on his single gloved hand. A cane, with a sharp end, and at its handle, it was a pure gold, shaped like a comedy mask, its eyes glowing with a thick emerald green, and flowing with… a strange energy.
The man set his eyes at me, while my mouth agape. "Caster, Oscar Wilde". He said, his voice calm and monotone. "I'll take the assumption that you are my Master. Very well, I'll do my utmost to protect you."