I was at the when before when. The where in the middle of nowhere. A place and a moment in existence and non-existence, unbound by time nor space, traversing the passage in-between worlds and the divide between dimensions.
It was… Blue – the colour of the ocean and the sky. Red – the colour of precious prana that flows through and from my beating heart. Green – the colour of life and all that it beautiful in the world. Gold – the colour of my hair and the shine of all that glitters. Violet – nature, that which was sweet, bitter and sour. Orange – dusk and dawn. Indigo – the colors most synonymous with my halcyon days, back then, when I spent a small fortune on the shade in form of expensive fabric that would later constitute my much-favored Star Raiment, the one I had adorned at the moment.
It looked as if all the colors of the world had gathered in place to form this beautiful, Ultimate-Magic of the stars, Rainbow Bridge - a classless form of spatial-magic the likes of which made Law seem like a card trick in scope; so divine in nature, it defied everything there was to be known of magic.
A certain people, native to the savage seas of the freezing north had a legend, a myth of a bridge that connected worlds – they called it the Bifrost.
Made of solid light, it was a bridge in between worlds that would lead me to salvation, a literal road to a new life and second beginnings.
Away from home, from Gaia, my beloved home doomed by a great scourge of Dragons.
Awash by a veritable rainbow of light in its purest form I stepped forth onto the bridge of many colors, onwards and ever forward I walked, and didn't dare look back… I couldn't, back there, laid nothing but death, despair and extinction.
I promised to myself and to those whose sacrifice allowed me to bring hope to another world to live a good life, for them and for myself - it was shallow I knew, but it was all I could do.
I promised to do better, there, in the New World over I would be better. I will live life to its fullest, and fight to protect the world in its time of need - I dedicated my vow to them, the fallen I left behind. I forswore on it and bound myself to the word.
I had on me, my battle raiment of choice – a flowing, single piece evening gown made of the deepest blue, which in truth was an armored-construct that shone and glittered, making my ensemble appear almost as if someone tore apart a piece of the midnight sky and stitched it together.
Admittedly, it stood out a little too much but fortunately the material was of my own construction, thus malleable enough to assume any form I so wished it to – even a cloak if I wanted to hide… of course it would still glimmer, but only on the inside.
Hanging by the hip in a sling and held fastened by a pure-white silken waist-sash, was a sheathed, western long-sword.
Elsewhere, sealed in a pocket-space linked to the Realm-Within-Self, I had with me a fortune's worth of magic items – most if not all of them were non-essential to my general survival in the new world, but I kept them regardless, as mementos of my past… if not to trade for coin later.
The luminous pathway glowed with each step I took. I steeled myself, readying my beating, frantic heart for that which laid beyond.
The blinking and flickering light show, spectacular and brilliant in display, served to drown out the sheer terror and absolute fear within.
Just as the E.N.D Dragon was felled by remuneration in his moment of Harmony – so too was I potentially subject to it.
Magic is both wonderful and horrible – I look around me, at the bridge of many colors that 'I' devised, created and cast and I'm reminded of all that is beautiful about the fifth fundamental force of the Universe.
I look behind me, whence I came from… my home now a derelict ruin, and I am reminded of what monstrosities lay beneath that which is beautiful. I am reminded of the cost of magic.
For the simple magics it was The Law of Equivalent Exchange - To create a fire one must have the magic to catalyze a reaction with the gases in the atmosphere to induce an effect of combustion.
For something a little higher up the curriculum, like… say an enchantment that explodes upon contact one had to consider the Laws of Cause and Effect.
For something much higher up the curve, much, much higher… one might even call it divine, such as …
Say, Law - Magic to breath like back into the recently deceased or…
...Perforate a hole straight through the fabric of space, a little bit across time and sideways into the beyond. For something like that, the remuneration wasn't just a matter of which star is in which position and how it correlates to star B in constellation so and so, or how much moisture is in the air.
No. There was an entire series of rules and regulations for that. One of which is The Law of Divine Compensation – which states how one is compensated in direct proportion to what one gives unto the universe and vice-versa.
Violate the laws of the world to bring the dead back to life and one is penalized with the Curse of Contradiction – such was the tragedy of The Black Mage, a mere cautionary tale but Aesop's fables usually have a shred of truth in their origin.
Violate the laws that govern the conservation of energy to attain Infinite Power through Harmony and the penalty is the Curse of Discord – such was the fate of the E.N.D Dragon.
Encroach upon a higher dimension, approach divinity in mortal flesh as it were, through forced entry no less and the penalty was anyone's guess… I must be the first person in existence to have successfully done such a thing, as such, my fate was as yet unknown to me, but I held no illusion of making it through this ordeal curse-free.
Such thoughts weren't my most immediate worries at the moment, I was still in transit thus had yet to pay the toll. Whatever it ended up being, I suppose I could only pray and hope it was something I could live with at the very least.
With haste I stepped into the Light. The bridge of many colors warped and faded from my vision and for a moment I could swear I was swimming in light as part of the spectrum itself, for a single moment I had become one with the light and the Light with me in turn.
Without the caster to sustain it, the bridge collapsed and then in another instant everything returned to me in full.
When the light faded, and my sight returned, I was in a strange new land.
The journey between worlds was successful and without much problem, if not a slight bit disorienting to the senses. Conveniently, I had materialized in an empty alleyway, away from prying eyes that would otherwise have made a spectacle of a shimmering pillar of light spontaneously appearing out of nowhere… that had then proceeded to evaporate a good square meter of concrete footing beneath me.
I had been worried that as a foreigner to this world… this particular frequency in the spool of strings that was the cosmos, I would be unable to weave prana and use magic, but my worries disappeared when I managed to do exactly just that.
To test that theory, I'd conjured a sphere of condensed prana to my finger tips and it had manifested at a mere thought and a glance, as it naturally should. I was a little faster, more efficient in my draw of magic but that was to be expected – prior to the journey, I had theorized that the prana enriched atmosphere of the New World would greatly amplify my own magic, allowing me to draw it directly from the atmosphere with ease like a direct current where once I exclusively drew it from my body like alternating current.
A most interesting phenomenon, one that needed further testing and proof.
~ Vault ~
It was on that high note that I called forth my Vault, a pocket-space magic linked to the space within the soul – it had been a concern of mine crossing the threshold of dimensions, to lose my connection to the Vault would have been a rather massive setback to what I had planned. Contained within was enough gold to make a fortune, not too large a fortune that it would draw unwanted attention were I to unwisely exchange it all at once but just enough to make something of myself in this new world.
A light blue leather purse full of coin slowly materialized from within a spinning circular formula of golden energy with a lock and key design in the centre. The bag fell into my awaiting hand with a jingle of coin hitting coin.
From within the secluded alleyway, I peered into the market-place district that I had 'landed' next to, in an effort to find my bearings.
The first thing I noticed about the New World was the noise.
The New World was very crowded. The noise was something I hadn't even noticed I missed, what with dragons running rampant and burning anything that so much as breathed I had almost forgotten how crowded marketplaces tended to be in times of peace, I had forgotten the sound of civilization and it was through this crowd that I would have had to swim through just to get anywhere.
With a snap of my finger I changed my Star Raiment, shifting its form to a two-part adornment consisting of a shorthand bodysuit that covered the torso and groin for ease of movement with an ankle length cloak over it and a cowl to cover the face.
I had been of the mind to go with the form of a local style of gown, a plunge-neckline that showed the décolletage with a cut out going from hip to ankle – something I had seen worn by a particularly stunning redhead in full red that passed by, muttering to herself something about 'blondes' and 'breasts'.
From my eavesdropping I found that the locals spoke a language so very similar to common-speak with slight differences here and there, insignificant enough differences that I was able to pass of as a foreigner with a poor accent when I exchanged gold for local currency.
I did have plans to live here for the foreseeable future, so I made sure to remember the local Mint.
A single gold token, weighing exactly thirty grams and of decent purity to boot, exchanged for roughly a hundred and twenty-five thousand Jewel in local currency.
With a full pouch exchanged, my reserves of local currency totaled five million Jewel. An impressive sounding number, but a sure sign of inflation If I ever saw one… that, or different monetary standards between worlds. I put that debate on my list of things to research later, a slowly growing list with two things marked down so far.
A single apple cost on average of fifty Jewel, the full price fluctuating high and low depending on who you ask or buy from. Going up the chain of necessities, plain clothing cost on average eight-hundred Jewel for a top and the same for casual slacks. A high-end apartment housing was somewhere in the range of a high seventy-thousand Jewel Studio to a low Ninety-thousand Jewel Penthouse, rent.
Crunching numbers in my mind and… I had enough bonds on hand to last me three years in a high-end apartment, not accounting for food costs that is. Not ideal, but acceptable.
I spent the next hour roaming about the market-place, familiarizing myself with the local culture and picking up useful tidbits of general knowledge. Battering was the same anywhere you go but It was interesting to observe the practice with an inflated currency – the word 'million' wasn't something I was used to hearing used so often, it was baffling and took me a while to adjust. The civilian and mage dynamic was another fascinating thing I noticed, it was eye-opening – the mages here were regarded with a mixture of both fear and respect.
By hour's end I had learnt enough to pretend, emphasis on pretend, to be a foreigner with a vague idea of where I am.
It wasn't enough though. I needed more. I still had no idea of where 'here' was even called.
From the corner of my eye I found a bookstore situated in front of a fountain, wedged in-between a craft shop and a convenience store.
It was a small thing, probably family-owned and doubled as a magic store.
I had intended to learn the mechanics of this New World's magic at a later date but now that I had a chance to do so earlier, I wasn't going to stall.
The store-clerk of the modest property, Alissa(name pinned on tag), was an exotic beauty of olive tan skin with a thick white mane of hair, talkative and quite fetching to the eye – I'll admit and tell no lies when asked, there was just something about sunlight reflecting of sweat as it rolled down dark skin that caught the eye.
I wasted no time at all in initiating conversation with her, it was awkward at first as I wasn't buying anything, but I made my foreign status known and my intentions to gather as much general knowledge as I could very clear, something she was happy to indulge me with thankfully.
Out of courtesy and as payment for the girl's trouble, I ended up buying a few books. The earliest revision of the World Map, a very expensive tome with a self-updating Directory of most known magic types, a few story books in varying themes and a few 'nick-knack' magic items to experiment on and with.
To my surprise I found the little shop in possession of an extremely powerful dimensional-beacon marker the locals called celestial-gate keys which I promptly bought from her, with a twenty percent discount thanks to a fair bit of smooth talking on my part.
After a nice chat with the lovely, exotic beauty Alissa, I made my way to the town square where I sat on a bench that was right beside a beautifully sculpted fountain made of white marble and grey granite.
A passion that I had all but forgotten was reignited within me as I sat down in peace and read.
I couldn't, not for the life of me remember the last time I had done just that. Researching forbidden magics in a bunker didn't exactly count as book reading. To read for the sake of reading was a cathartic experience, one that I had all but forgotten.
The books were helpful in my pursuit of knowledge. I didn't read the map in its entirety as one should, but I did use it as reference.
The planet's name was Earthland – a good starting point.
I was in a little Port-town called Hargeon – located in the Kingdom of Fiore – one of many countries that formed the Ishgar peninsula – which were in the westernmost continent of Earthland called Alakitasia.
And in regard to magic I learnt that, for the most part, Earthland magic was vastly different from that of Gaia.
Of particular interest was that all manner of magic under the New World sun, without exception, can be learnt and be used by anyone with – one; time to spare and at the very least a brain, two; money to buy a tome or 'lacrima' from which to draw the magic from or to learn from regardless of status, whether it be common magic or a lost type. Three; the will to put in the effort required to actually learn and master the magic i.e. sufficient Willpower to actually use the magic.
Old world magic on the other hand functioned under set rules – most common of which was the price of power. Some of the most powerful magic that I was familiar with always had a condition or price attached to them, with the severity of said condition proportionate to the level of said magic.
Another difference was the concept of 'Unique Magic' – a magic that was exclusive to one person and that person only. This kind of magic tended to manifest in a form of the user's projection, most often as a reflection of their psyche or something close to heart which in my case was StarDust magic. An alien concept here in the New World, but a very well understood principle in the Old World.
Onto even more notable things, something that I was particularly drawn to, was the existence and formation of Guilds. Power bases that functioned outside of government jurisdiction. That particular bit obviously came with its fair share of problems, problems that tended to manifest whenever you give too much freedom to a group of too-powerful people without any way to control them.
Most of these problems could be attributed to one apparently 'legal' Guild which stood out for reasons too numerous to count in one sitting.
Fairy Tail – something something collateral damage, something something Laxus punched a Duke, something something… Gildarts pulled an Island from the sky – truly, the absurdity and the lack of restraint was a riot to read of and a nightmare for the authorities I imagined.
According to an excerpt I ripped from a 'Magnolia tourist guide-book' – Fairy Tail was the number one guild in Fiore, has been for ten years in a row and was home to two interesting individuals with the most interesting names.
The first was Salamander – The Fire Dragon-slayer. An in-detail read through revealed that the man used a special magic tailored for the express purpose of slaying dragons, one seventy-seven known in existence.
Then there was Titania – the Queen of Fairies. If 'dragon-slayer' turns out to be more than just a fancy epitaph, then 'Fairy-Queen' might well be more than coincidence… I hoped.
I remained seated for a while more to let the information sink and rest my weary self a little. I am more than a little familiar with epitaphs and titles and know how one earns them, for hope's sake I prayed that these two held some semblance of truth of them at the very least.
The existence of a Dragon Slayer, even if by name, proved the existence of dragons in the New World.
With that grim thought in mind I had a goal.
Where there be dragons, there are Dragon Kings – and kings are celebrated with only the grandest of gatherings, blood and wine spilt are a must for such… and when the Dragon Kings celebrate, the END follows.
My first goal was to find a way to stop the Festival from ever happening as it did in the Old World… which would only delay the END from coming but with the time gained I could use it to gather allies, these so called 'Dragon Slayers' and assist them in stopping the END from ever reaching Harmony.
My second goal was to establish a power base, a home away from home as it were - I briefly toyed with idea of joining a guild to avoid the extra paperwork involved but I dismissed it entirely. No, that wouldn't do at all… If I was going to do anything with hopes of seeing any real progress, then I needed to work at my own pace without the obstacle of red tape in the way.
I would still work within the law... but if the situation demanded it, then I suppose one does what one must in desperation. The New World's governing body was hopelessly corrupt, something I was conflicted on - on one hand, a get-out-of-jail ticket could be bought by way of gold; on the other; corruption was never good.
I was in a good place when it happened. The oddest thing ever to happen to me.
I had been walking about, without much of a destination in mind, just getting my head together and trying to iron out the little details of what to do in this new place when a ditzy brunette crashed into me.
She was squealing so loudly I recoiled at the intensity of her shrill voice and pitch.
Through my temporary loss of earing I did manage to make out what she was so excited about, something that quickly became the heart of conversation the closer to the town square I got.
Salamander - the dragon slayer was in town. What luck.
I had been content with meeting the man at a later date, but this was an opportunity one just didn't let slip.
I needed to have a private audience with the man, find out how on Gaia he stumbled upon such a wondrous magic and hopefully align myself with him and his fellows in the very likely case of the END - an inevitability I was just starting to accept.
It didn't take long to find him, Salamander seemed the type to surround himself with flocks of women fawning over him apparently if the crowd of vapid hens was anything to go by, with a preference of the scantily clad.
It was a weakness that I'd noticed was consistent amongst those of great power, a vice I myself was privy to but never much indulged in.
With a snap of my finger, my Star Raiment changed and shifted into a mini-dress that clung to the hips tightly and fitted to form with swirling decorum in patterns akin to constellations. To not Intimidate the man, I withdrew my blade in my Vault with a wave and the weapon disappeared in a shower of dust.
The dress was admittedly overkill but I did have competition a hundred strong, literally - I had to distinguish myself from the masses somehow.
With practiced flourish I sauntered my way towards the man, he wasn't exactly my type what with the blue hair and stupidly exuberant posing he seemed to break into, but mama told me if I want anything I got to flaunt what I got from her.
With each step I took, I took it with a furious sway of the hips and to seal the deal I swept away a bit of hair that had momentarily obscured my sight back with a sneaky flirtatious flutter of the lashes.
The crowd parted in my presence, allowing me easier passage to Salamander who looked simply gobsmacked. Had it been anatomically possible his eyes would have shot out their sockets with the way he was looking at me, he wasn't even being subtle as he ogled at my breasts and leered at my legs.
~sigh~ Men, what can you do.
The closer I got, the thicker the air seemed to become. Percolating the air was a sense of wrongness… an absolute revulsion that assaulted my senses in periodic pulses of magic.
With narrowed eyes I then noticed something odd about the man. It was the way he would occasionally brush the hideous signet-ring he wore in his right hand with his left, at first, I had dismissed as a personality quirk but the timing was suspect.
Every time he would brush the ring, it would release into the air a very subtly spread charm to anyone unfortunate enough to look into his eyes.
I was thankfully, made aware of the charm almost immediately long before I made eye contact with him so I was sure I wouldn't be affected - that was under the assumption that Charm worked the same here as it did in the Old World that is. By definition, Charm was a magic that amplified an already existing attraction to someone, of which I had none, but kudos to the man for trying.
"Are you the one called Salamander. Salamander of Fairy Tail?" I asked him, my voice amplified by an enchantment of my own, one that compelled the queried party to answer truthfully to any 'yes' or 'no' question.
~Enchantment: Tattletale~
As it would turn out, the one thing I excelled at above all else and possibly others was one of few things that remained constant in both the New and Old world.
The art of Enchantment is old and esoteric in both worlds, though without a proper grasp of history and research I might just be wrong about the school of magic here in the New World, but that hardly mattered. What did matter was that Enchantment-Magic was expressed the same way here as it was in the Old World.
All one needed was a scholastic mind, a knack for the magics written and a lot of Prana or 'Etherion' as it was called here, which I had a lot of before coming here and still have now.
The man slicked his hair back and fixed me a lecherous leer that simply made my blood run cold as he answered – many swooned at the display as yet another layer of Charm was applied to the hapless and unknowing fools, while I inwardly recoiled in disgust.
All the while, he remained oblivious of the magic I had cast on him.
In his mind he answered with an affirmation and an invitation to a party aboard his luxurious yacht.
Truthfully, he spoke "No, I am not," with a glazed look in his eyes and rigid posture as he fell under my spell.
Pieces of a puzzle I had been trying not to form in my mind came together suddenly. Why else would a sleazebag pose as a celebrity to lure young women to a discreet location under the pretense of a 'good time' – using Charming Mind magics to boot. The vision I had conjured before was perhaps a bit too farfetched, I had blamed the paranoid bit of my mind for that, but I had to make sure.
"Could you tell me who you really are?" I prodded further – layering another enchantment into my voice, one that compelled weak minds.
~Enchantment: Compel~
"I… I am P-Prominence Bora, Exile of Titan Nose," the man answered, though he was slowly regaining cognition the longer I held him under the enchantment. Of course, I could have prolonged the investigation by overpowering Tattletale and Compel, and there really isn't much of anything he could've done to combat my greater willpower – an invasion of the mind it may be but the man deserved every bit of suffering for his misdeeds, unfortunately, I very much doubted the local authorities would appreciate vigilante justice in their turf, especially from an unaffiliated mage who technically didn't exist so far as they were concerned.
I was going to have to refrain from fraying his mind and leave him to the authorities after this.
"B-Bora," a scantily clad youth in orange repeated his name fearfully, terror etched across her as the Charm wore away with awareness returning.
"Slaver," another voice spoke, her face twisted in horror and disgust, her words like venom as she spat out a string of curses.
Like a row of dominoes, the women broke out of their Charm induced daze one by one, some of them, mages, recognized the man and those that didn't, the civilians, were promptly made aware of the man's identity.
Bora, not Salamander, frantically looked about in panic, eyes wide and posture guarded as he came to the realization that he was cornered.
"Move back…," a scale-armoured brunette commanded as she pulled out what looked to be twin daggers made of rosy-pink crystal from thin air, "… a lowly slaver the bastard might be, but he was a B-Class mage before his fall from grace."
~Crystal-Make: Rosy Daggers~
The brunette intoned, calling upon her 'Make' magic as she did so. The crowd parted to form a ring around the two, mages at the front and civilians to the back.
Bora, to his credit didn't immediately panic further in the face of confrontation, he seemed to calm and gain some confidence from it as he looked around him with keen eyes and a calculating gaze.
His queer gaze fell upon the powerless masses and the buildings immediately around, the rosy brawler with Crystal Magic was far too angry at this juncture to read the man's intent, much less notice the discreet tendril of magic violet flame snaking around the ring of bodies surrounding the two.
Fortunately, I did and acted accordingly. A little bit of my star-raiment unraveled – a palm sized patch's worth of cloth dislodged from my skirt's hem-lining. The blue cloth burst into nothingness, disappearing from sight as it turned to dust that glittered with the light of the sun and magic as each granule floated about lazily in the air.
"Crystal Make you said… fancy stuff that, expensive too if I'm not wrong," the man said easily as he circled the perimeter with confidence that was unsettling from a cornered man, "You know who I am but I'm afraid I don't quite know you… Its custom is it not, to introduce oneself before fighting, non, mademoiselle," he added, articulately and with a saucy wink that she reciprocated with a repulsed shudder.
"I don't give my name to scumbags like you mate… I ain't that easy," the brunette quipped back a retort.
The man was buying time and the girl didn't seem to have noticed, it didn't matter though. Bora opened his mouth, about to speak or taunt her perhaps, when she suddenly burst into action faster than he could keep up with.
Rose colored Crystal daggers held in a cross guard, she dashed forward and slashed at the man with great enough force the daggers drew blood from his hastily erected arm guard then shattered against his magically fortified forearms.
A non-mage would have been split in half by that blow, but mages were made of sterner stuff – another similarity I noted about the nature of magic here in the New World and the Old World.
There was a yelp from the crowd as a body was rag dolled violently into the fray, landing directly into Bora's arms, held by the ankle in an iron grip by a length of flesh-searing-flame as the man in question jumped back in retreat.
~Prominent Flare: Slave Collar~
A violet ring of flame manifested around the hostage's neck, hovering above the skin carefully, but never quite making contact.
The rosy brawler stopped in her tracks, an incantation quite literally at the tip of her tongue.
None of the present mages made to act.
The coward had taken a hostage.
The bastard smirked proudly as he held the poor hostage closer, all the while playfully flaring the magically constructed collar around her neck in a rather impressive display of control over the element.
Unfortunately for the man, and rather rudely of him – he had forgotten about me in the midst of all the chaos.
StarDust: Shackles
The dust, unseen by most, congregated once more around the man to form shackles of the deepest blue, shimmering with white like stars. The first of the shackles was a circular band enchanted to bind and disrupt the flow of magic. It unclasped itself open faster than Bora could react as it attached itself to his right hand by the wrist.
Enchantment: Oppression
The second was another circular bangle, slighter bigger than the last, that clasped itself to his left leg by the ankle loosely as it rooted him to the spot with its great, crushing weight – anchoring him to the spot.
Enchantment: Anchor
His newly acquired hostage slumped to the hard floor in a heap as the Prominent Flames sputtered out.
The man himself took a second too long to realize something was wrong, in new found panic he took one step backwards and found himself rooted aground, unable to move his body meaningfully.
For another second, he spent in dumbfounded, horrified thought, as he found the source of his current predicament which he bent down in an attempt to inspect and most likely pry off.
Which would have been a futile effort of course – the shackles were made from StarDust, a conceptual material with a similar makeup to that of a dead star's heart; nigh-indestructible, impervious to most damage with a natural weight to it that affected anything with lesser mass than itself by creating an oppressing well of gravity… on a microscopic scale of course.
To my understanding of New World magic, my unique StarDust would be considered a 'Make' magic centered around the manipulation of Stellar-Energy infused earth, which wouldn't have been too far of a stretch even though it was completely wrong.
The shackles glowed a midnight blue as the enchantments placed upon them weighed him down and bound his magic from being released respectively.
He struggled, heaved and puffed gruffly as he tried desperately to pry off the ankle-binding that anchored him aground. His face turned a shade of purple tones lighter than his shirt as he tried to force his magic to work.
He shouted obscenities followed by a slew of colourful threats and insults that wouldn't have made a sailor blush, he did however manage to offend every woman present though. For his efforts, I increased the weight of his ankle bindings, which eventually became too great for him - A mistake on my part, which the man paid for dearly when it started affecting the flow of blood in his leg, which I had failed to notice as it turned red. In moments he dropped like a sack and lost consciousness, deprived of oxygen and drunk of his own magic as I cancelled my Enchantments.
A group of law enforcers, Knights, happened by when they noticed a large crowd of unruly, scorned women murmuring amongst themselves and swooped in to quell whatever they assumed was about to happen. By keeping their ears keen and sharp they identified the impostor and took him away for imprisonment – an officer who had seen the shackles unravel to dust and return to me had insisted that myself and the rosy brawler collect the man's bounty, it wasn't much but I accepted anyway, it would serve to add to my growing coffers of Earthland mint.
"Yo - Goldie," a voice greeted from behind me as I was making my way out of the town square. It was the rosy brawler who had un-equipped her scale armor, trading it in for casual clothing in form of black slacks, a designer shirt of some brand and an oversized, red leather jacket.
"Thanks for the assist back there," she said as she matched my pace, apparently going my way, "… didn't get the chance to introduce myself with the Knights and all in the way – name's Ruby, Ruby Rose."
"… Lucille. Lucille Rockefeller," I introduced myself. I briefly considered using a pseudonym just in case there was a parallel version of myself running around with the same name but decided against it, I took great pride in both my names.
"Lucille huh… Imma call you Lucy for short. You don't mind do ya Goldilocks."
"Not at all…," I admit, no one ever really called me by my full name, yet, I still introduce myself in full regardless.
"Where ya' off to?" she asked, hunching down a little to match my height with her hands in her jacket pockets.
I paused in thought, not because I was wary of sharing such information with a stranger – I was but that wasn't why. I genuinely didn't know where to start nor what to do first.
For the longest time, my only priority had been to survive but now that I wasn't in the Old World anymore I had a chance to live and protect my newly found livelihood.
"… I don't know – you wouldn't happen to know where I can register a new guild would you?" I asked the girl.
The girl, Ruby, seemed shocked but only for a moment then she smiled widely in… excitement as she spoke.
"I'll take you to Era if you want – I was headed to Fiore anyway, but only under one condition."
"… that is?"
"You're an Enchantress aren't you?" I nodded, "– that means you're strong, stronger than me too, which is good. I'm an unaffiliated mage who's kinda low on Jewels, with a killer thirst for adventure," she smiled wryly as she added.
"…" I let her continue, I wasn't sure where she was going with this.
"I'm getting this feeling ya know, in my gut and its telling me to stick with ya for an interesting time…"
"…"
"I wanna join your guild is what I'm saying."
Oh.
"Oh…"
"Of course… I should probably wait until it's all official right," she took my hand in hers and dragged me some way, "let's go talk details while we Lunch."
"I haven't had fish in a while," I suggested - this was a port town, close to the ocean and a nexus for imported goods, there was bound to be good seafood.
"Good thinking Lucy… man, I could kill for some fish and chips."
"Lead the way. My treat," I said, letting her lead the way as she manhandled my hand all the while.
A pink haired boy accompanied by a blue winged-cat stumbled into the aftermath of what could only be described as a riot.
He calls out to his long-lost father in the crowd, his grief overcoming all common sense for the moment. His desperate plea goes unheard by most save one. There, he meets her, a fellow seeker with hair like thistles of dry straw, eyes like the ocean and beauty befitting an angel. He knows the way and she follows, onwards to the place where the fairies dine, drink and dance.
Ruby, lovely and beautiful Ruby turned out to be quite the ravenous maiden with an appetite to kill for. She had, at my behest, led us both to a quaint little restaurant by the dock-area, famous for its 'sushi' – whatever that was. The cook, an old man with a comically tall hat who smelt of oil and fish, was rather nonchalant about her beastly manners, he seemed… appreciative even.
"Dragon Slayer magic huh… why so interested," she answered with her mouth full when I asked of her to tell what she knew about this fascinating magic.
"How could I not be interested… Its magic with the express purpose of killing dragons," I answer.
"… ah, yeah, nah. Salamander's magic ain't made to slay Dragons per-se, common misunderstanding really. Its draconic in nature and its origin, but its sourced and fueled by human magic – to use an an… anagog…"
"Analogy," I offer.
"… yeah, that – it would be like trying to power up a magical-orbital-bombardment-satellite," the New World's version of a Mana Artillery rail-gun I believe, "with five-Jewel toy batteries. If Salamander fought a real dragon with his magic, even at his most powerful, he may as well be throwing pebbles at it."
Manners aside, the girl was knowledgeable.
"So… It's not really Dragon Slaying magic then – more along the lines of channeling Dragon Magic then," I asked.
She hummed in thought, scuffing down another greasy chip just as my order of sushi arrived.
"Kinda… Salamander's magic is more Dragon-Fire Magic than it is Fire-Dragon-Slaying magic as advertised…," the wording was important then, "he won't ever be able to slay a fire dragon with his magic, much less harm 'a' dragon," again, she emphasised – dragon, singular, alluding to the dragon referring to the species as a whole, "even if he ever gathered enough raw Etherion to equal a dragon," she answered with a reply that left more questions in mind.
"What do you mean by that… 'he won't ever be able to harm a dragon'?"
Sushi was raw fish, I found out.
I probably should have looked at the menu first before I ordered because my order turned to be a massive platter, family sized and looked more like a colour chart with all the shades of red(salmon) all the down to pink(tuna) and white (god knows what that is). Two sticks are employed in the eating of this dish as I soon learnt from Ruby, who dug into my meal without question… I didn't really mind, raw fish didn't quite appeal to me as it did to the locals - mine was a cultured tongue, though rations and vegetables had become staple in my diet sometime within the past few years, something I planned to remedy.
"… dragons have an almost-absolute resistance to elemental magics. They also kinda eat the stuff and draw power from it so... y'know," she shrugged, then pointed to a yellow blob on my plate hungrily, "… you gonna eat that."
"Then why call it Dragon Slaying Magic then," I was curious - if Ruby, who was an unaffiliated mage knew this then this must have been common knowledge, one would think if people knew then they'd at least change the name to be more appropriate.
"Because, while it can't be used to slay actual Dragons - Dragon-Slaying magic is lethal against Wyverns, Drakes and Greater Lizards; the remnants of the Great Dragons' Exodus," the girl said.
Wyvern… Drakes… Greater Lizards – never heard of them. I voiced my thoughts to her and she answered.
"All three are designated S-Class Danger Beasts and they look Dragon-ish in appearance – whenever one appears, Dragon-Slayers like Salamander and Thunder-God Laxus are always front and centre of the subjugation."
The good news… if it could be called that was that I later learnt of the eventual fate of all New World Dragons. The mysterious exodus and extinction of all the remaining known Dragons that occurred some seven odd years past. The good was that this world was almost void of Dragons.
The bad news was the 'almost' – 'almost' implies that some may … no, some definitely still remain. The even worse news came in the form of a question.
Dragons are powerful, territorial and prideful creatures. They're so powerful that retreat is never really an option to consider when they fight – it's do or die for them. They're territorial enough to never even think of settling elsewhere once they have their stake on land and so prideful they'll sooner fight at risk of guaranteed death than flee.
The sudden disappearance of all dragons, happening all at once in the same year was likely no mere coincidence when one takes into consideration the nine dragon corpses found in various parts of the world since then – the Undead Dragon King's corpse in Arcifa not accounted for.
These creatures, great and powerful creatures, had met something greater than they by such a large margin, those who fought it were killed and the rest fled in fear.
It got even worse when I thought of it more.
I knew of only one creature capable of such a thing, a beast so unimaginably powerful it was a danger to Dragons as a species enough to be able to kill them all to the last with terrifying ease and drive them all to extinction.
In the Old World he was called the END Dragon, Dragon of the Apocalypse, and with good reason too – single-handedly, that… thing had reduced an entire planet into a derelict smouldering ruin, sterile of life within a month.
The New World had its own version apparently. I learnt of its name from an urban legend.
Acnologia – The Black Death.
It must have been an odd sight, to see me quivering in dread and fear, almost curled into myself when I once stood poised and fearless.
"… you alright Lucy," Ruby asked, she was worried… about me, for me - how nice it was to have someone like that after so long spent solo.
That moment of weakness didn't last very long, logic dictated that my chances of encountering the Black Death so soon after arrival were slim.
I had plenty of time to prepare, to ready my defenses and gather allies.
On the topic of allies, a guild seemed to be a step in the right direction.
"It's fine… just remembered something," I said to her, trying my best to be reassuring, she smiled a little at that and all was well for a time as we ate in subdued silence, broken occasionally when she saw me eyeing the food suspiciously while she offered advice.
Bellies full and a meal paid for, we both stood outside the restaurant. Silence reigned as Ruby waited for me to… act, deferring to me quite easily.
I broke the silence with a question, of sorts, "So… Era."
"Have you ever been on a train… you don't look like the sort," she asked.
'I didn't look the sort to have been on a train' – a curious observation from my… companion, I supposed and a correct observation too. Before the Dragon King festival, I was but a simple merchant's daughter raised on an estate for most of my life; any travel I did was by horse drawn carriage and later in life when I divorced myself from my heiress' duties, I travelled mostly by Beacon Gates – a mode of instant travel that utilized Beacon markers that would send one to the location of a complementary marker
I knew of trains, yes – I was sheltered but I didn't grow up in a cave, I'd just never been on one before. From the way she spoke I figured this was no ordinary train. And indeed, it wasn't, apparently. She grinned the smile of a mad man at me as she pulled out a pair of tickets from her great bosom, an enticing sight to be sure, but the smile was a little unnerving and put me on edge.
Lucille 'Lucy' Rockefeller is an Elseworld version of Lucy Heartfillia like Edolas Lucy Ashley.