"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Long before Fiore was even named Ishgar... no, long before any of the continents were named. A period of time existed two millenia ago, a time where the world was still building itself, a time where not much is known.
But, what can be told is a myth, a myth that had been long forgotten, pretty much wiped out of existence altogether. This myth is of a certain war occuring a total of two-thousand and thirty-six years ago.
The war was known as the Slayer War, just as the name suggests, it was a war between the users of the ancient slayer arts. But, the war in fact only consisted of six individuals... the very first slayers.
People in present time believed that the practice of slayer magic was within the past five hundred years. No, they had no idea just how far back that the magic of the slayers really was, two millenia ago, more specifically.
All six of the slayers were strong, each carrying their own unique slayer magic, taught to them by powerful beings from an unknown time. The slayers would go to war, all for one objective, to obtain the power which they all call 'The Grand Core'.
Their powers and strengths all immensely powerful, all of them wielding the power which could demolish entire continents if they wished to do so.
A power which in their legend was said to have the ability to increase one's power immensely just by consuming it. None knew if it was even true, but even if they didn't want to, they had no choice but to go to war against one another.
This was because it was destiny, a prophecy foretold to them by their respective teachers, the ones that taught them their magic. That the slayers would one day go to war against each other, the winner being granted the power of the Grand Core.
The war... no, it was pretty much just a single battle. The battle lasted for months without end, all six of them fighting non-stop, no sleep, they had to use their magic as an alternative source for food, and continued to fight until all other sides had given up.
But, that didn't happen. All side persisted and push on, all fighting to their absolute limit, this was what caused the battle to come to a stand still, with their power drained, their final attacks sent them all flying into different parts of the land.
This ended with them all going into a deep slumber, sleeping for many hundreds of years, regaining their strength to continue their destined battle.
Two millenia have passed since that day, now the world has been quite peaceful... well, much more peaceful than before. The golden age of magic where all kinds have been discovered, some more useful than others.
And of course, even more slayers were born. None close to the original six, but still powerful in their own rights during their time.
In the middle of an open field, a certain salmon haired dragon slayer was walking along the grass, beside him was a blue cat that was flying with white wings that was sprouting out from its back.
This was none other than Natsu Dragneel and his partner Happy, they are members of the famous Fairy Tail guild in the land of Fiore. Natsu was wearing a large tattered dark cloak with a scaly scarf wrapped around his neck.
"Are we almost there, Natsu?" Happy's loud voice asked. The salmon haired dragon slayer turned his head towards his partner and grinned.
"Yep! Crocus is just ahead of us! We'll be back to Fairy Tail in no time!" Natsu stated. Happy smiled as he nodded in excitement, Natsu and Happy had gone on a training trip for the past year and are now returning to their loving guild.
"I wonder how everyone is doing, we were away for a long time." Happy wondered. "I bet Carla's going to be impressed with how strong I've become!"
"Sure, Happy." Natsu grinned. His face showing excitement to see his friends once again, though he stopped and sniffed the air, confusing Happy. "Hold on..."
"Is something wrong, Natsu?" Happy asked.
"Careful, buddy. I can smell something, something strong..." Natsu warned. Happy looked around trying to see if anything was near them, but to no avail. "It smells... like a dragon!"
"A dragon?! You mean there might be a dragon somewhere around here?" Happy asked in shock. He had certainly not expected Natsu to say that, Happy's face showing fear as his eyes darted around.
"No. We would have seen it if there was. I'm betting that there's a dragon slayer around here!" Natsu grinned. He then sensed a huge surge of magic power as he turned around. "Woah!"
"What is it Nat- Woah!" Happy cut himself off as he turned around as well. They were both now looking up towards the sky as something was glowing green. "Natsu! What is that?!"
"That's it!" Natsu yelled with excitement. Happy looked confused by his statement. "The scent is coming from in there!" Natsu stated. They watched as the light stopped glowing, revealing something that made their eyes go wide.
They looked at the floating figure of what looked like a twelve-year old boy, his body completed surrounded by wind as he was slightly curled into a ball. They watched as the winds slowly dispersed, resulting in the boy falling towards the ground.
"Oh crap!" Natsu yelled. He quickly ran towards the boy and caught him in his arms, Happy quickly followed as he flew over. They both looked at the unconscious boy in Natsu's arms as Natsu looked at him calculatingly.
"Natsu, is this the person you were smelling?" Happy asked.
"Yeah." Natsu nodded. "He definitely gives the scent of a dragon, he's a dragon slayer, no doubt!" Natsu grinned. He was excited to see another dragon slayer besides his other friends. "Though, something is strange."
"What do you mean?"
"It's just that... he smells like Wendy." Natsu stated. Happy blinked in surprise at this, they all just looked at the boy who began to slowly open his eyes. The boy blinked before looking at Natsu. "Uh~, you okay?"
"... Yeah." The boy answered. He looked around in confusion as he noticed Natsu holding him. "Can you, put me down please?"
"Oh, sorry about that," Natsu replied. He released the boy who landed on his feet and began to look around at his surroundings in confusion. "So... what's your name?"
Natsu and Happy could now see the boy in full view, since he was standing. He had straight white hair with blue bangs along with blue eyes that were slightly rounded, his skin was fair and he had a lean body.
He wore a blue t-shirt with a hooded short-sleeved loose open white vest that reached halfway down his upper body, he also had on tight black jeans and tall white combat boots. They noticed that the boy blinked before answering.
"My name is Raith Infrane, nice to meet you." Raith introduced. Natsu then held his hand towards the boy who accepted the gesture.
"The name's Natsu Dragneel! Nice to meet you!" Natsu grinned. He then gestured towards Happy who waved with a smile, Raith didn't look surprised at the cat though. "And this is my partner, Happy!"
"Aye! Nice to meet you, Raith." Happy stated.
"So, I was meaning to ask," Natsu called. This caused Raith to look towards the salmon haired individual.
"Yes?"
"How come you smell like a dragon? Are you a dragon slayer like me?" Natsu asked. Natsu had a good feeling about what his answer would be.
'Interesting, I see that more dragon slayers have been born since then...' Raith thought. He then smiled softly as he answered. "That's right. I'm a dragon slayer just like you said. More specifically, a Sky Dragon Slayer."
"Awesome! I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer!" Natsu stated. He then looked at Raith with interest, confusing the boy. "I never would have thought I'd meet another Sky Dragon Slayer."
"Another?" Raith blinked.
"That's right." Happy was the one that answered. "We have a friend which is also a Sky Dragon Slayer, that's probably why Natsu told me that you smell similar to her. You're a Sky Dragon Slayer too!"
"I see... so there's another Sky Dragon Slayer..." Raith mused. He had certainly not expected that, but he was certainly interested. He wondered how this person would compare to his abilities. "Anyway, do you guys know where I am?"
"Huh?" They both muttered. They blinked at the boy who seemed to not know where he even was. Natsu was the one that answered. "You're just outside of Crocus."
'Crocus? A city perhaps... then that means there is probably civilisation.' Raith thought. "Crocus, huh? Is that some kind of city?"
"What?! You don't know?!" Happy asked shocked. Natsu and his partner were honestly shocked, this boy seemed completely clueless.
"I'm... not from around here," Raith stated. I mean, he wasn't exactly lying, no was he telling the truth. "I'm new to this place. In fact, I don't even know what land this is."
"You're not joking?" Natsu asked. They dropped their jaws as Raith nodded his head in response. "Then I better catch you up to speed! You're currently standing in Fiore."
"Yeah. And as we said before, you're just outside of the walls of Crocus. One of the biggest cities in Fiore." Happy added. Raith nodded his head in understanding.
'It would seem that the world has certainly changed a lot since I went into a slumber...' Raith thought. As Raith was in his thoughts, Natsu seemed to get an idea as he got Raith's attention.
"Hey," Natsu called. Raith stopped his thoughts as he turned to the Fire Dragon Slayer. "You don't know where you are right now, right? You're completely new to Fiore?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Then why not come with us?!" Natsu grinned. Happy seemed to understand what Natsu was doing and nodded. "We're currently heading towards Crocus, we're members of the Fairy Tail Guild!"
"Aye! We had left for a training journey for the past year, and we're just returning to them now!" Happy explained further. "Why not come with us?"
'Guild, huh? I suppose it must be some sort of organization or group of people... they seem friendly, so, why not?' Raith smiled in his thoughts. "Sure, why not? It's not like I have anything else to do."
"Awesome!" Natsu shouted. He then swung his arm over Raith's shoulders and grinned. "This is awesome! We're coming back to the guild, and with a new recruit to boot!"
"Aye!" Happy agreed. Raith smiled in amusement at their antics, he certainly doesn't regret meeting Natsu and Happy, they seemed like nice people.
"I know! How about a battle!" Natsu stated. Raith looked up at the taller male and blinked. "I want to see how strong you are, I could sense that huge amount of magic power you have, I want to see how well you can use it!"
"Hm~, why not? I accept your challenge." Raith grinned. He could tell Natsu was pretty strong, while he wouldn't pose a threat towards Raith, he still had to give credit where it was due. "Let's see if you can keep up."
"That's what I should be saying!" Happy went away from the two as he kept a good distance, just to stay safe. "I'm ready when you are!"
"Alright, Natsu. Come at me!" Raith grinned. Natsu grinned back as his fists burst into flames, Natus began running towards Raith as he jumped up before swinging his right fist at the boy who just stood still.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu announced. When the attack collided with Raith, it caused a massive explosion that caused a dust cloud to appear. "Alright!"
Natsu and Happy watched as the dust cloud dispersed, they were shocked to see Raith standing uninjured in a crater that was left from the force of Natsu's punch. Raith grinned before seemingly vanishing from sight.
"What the, where did you go?!" Natsu shouted. He looked around trying to find the Sky Dragon Slayer, but to no avail.
"Right here!" Raith stated. Natsu looked up to see that Raith was directly above him, he noticed Raith not using his magic as the boy sent a punch towards the stomach of the Fire Dragon Slayer.
"Gah!" Natsu gasped. Natsu was sent skidding across the ground a couple of meters away, Natsu held his stomach before grinning and looking up. "Damn. Even without your magic, you're really strong, aren't you?"
"I guess you could say that," Raith smirked.
"Wow... he's fighting Natsu like he's nothing, even though we trained really hard." Happy muttered. He looked at the fight in disbelief, from a single punch, Natsu seemed very weakened.
"I'll tell you this, Natsu. You are indeed strong, but I'm no normal Sky Dragon Slayer." Raith stated. This made Natsu blinked in confusion as he heard the young boy's words, Raith grinned as Natsu widened his eyes as Raith's body released a powerful surge of magic power with streaks of green wind flowing upwards.
"What do you mean?" Natsu asked nervously. He could feel the immense magic pressure coming off of Raith, it was staggering. 'This guy... he's giving off a stronger vibe than old man Gildarts ever could!'
"I'll show you!" Raith ran towards Natsu with insane speed, the incredible speed completely caught Natsu off guard as Raith was already in front of him. He saw that Raith's fist was covered in dense, powerful green winds. "Sky Dragon Emperor's!"
"Emperor?!" Natsu and Happy shouted. Raith grinned at their surprised and shocked looks as he sent his fist forwards towards Natsu's face.
"Drilling Fist!" When Raith thrusted his hand forwards, an incredibly powerful gust of wind exploded. The area was completely destroyed as the ground around them cracked and the sounds of things snapping could be heard.
Natsu had his eyes wide as he could now see with the winds calming down, Raith's fist was mere centimetres away from his face, Raith could be seen grinning as he pulled his fist back from Natsu's face.
"N-Natsu!" Happy stuttered. Natsu looked at Happy in confusion, he saw Happy pointing his shaken paw behind him, Natsu turned around and widened his eyes.
He could see that the ground was completely cracked and multiple trees were completely uprooted, the snapping sounds obviously coming from when that happened. Natsu turned back
to Raith and stared in shock.
"Haha~." Raith chuckled. He crossed his arms as he smiled at Natsu. "I think this is where we should end it off, Natsu. We can battle again some other time."
"What?! No way! I can still fight!" Natsu declared. Natsu had to admit that he was immensely shaken by the insane power displayed by their new friend, but he still wanted to finish the fight.
"No, we should stop for now. You want to see your friends, right?" Natsu blinked at Raith's words as he nodded. "Then let's hold it off for today, we can battle each other again some other day."
"Okay..." Natsu groaned. He was upset that he didn't get to finish the fight, but stopped nonetheless. "But, you have to battle me again!"
"I know, I promise."
Natsu was now walking alongside Raith with Happy flying beside them, Raith had his hood now over his head, covering his eyes but leaving his mouth still visible, Natsu did the same with his cloak.
"Where exactly are we headed?" Raith questioned. He had just decided to come along with Natsu and Happy since they invited him to their guild which was apparantly called Fairy Tail.
"We're heading for Domas Flau, you see that huge colosseum?" Natsu asked. Raith looked towards where his spiky haired friend was pointing and nodded his head. "That's the place. It's currently hosting the Grand Magic Games!"
"Grand Magic Games?"
"Aye! A competition!" Happy said cheerfully. "It's a competition where guilds gather and participate in different games to decide the number one guild in Fiore!"
"Number one, huh?" Raith muttered. He was quite interested in the subject, the idea of a competition sounded pretty interesting. 'Wow. It sounds really similar to the battle I'm in... except it's not just a full on brawl...'
"Come on, Raith!" Natsu's voiced called. Raith snapped out of his musings and looked forwards to see Natsu waving at him. "Hurry up!"
"Calm down, I'm coming!" Raith said grinning as he quickly caught up. "So, what are we going to do once we get there?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Natsu grinned. Happy seemed to understand as he gave a cheer. "We're going to crash the party!"
"Aye, sir!"
"Say what?"
"Are we really doing this?" Raith asked. He had his hood still covering his face, Natsu also was doing the same with his cloak as they were walking down one of the hallways inside of Domas Flau.
"Of course! We're already here, so might as well!" Natsu grinned underneath his hood. Raith just shook his head in amusement as he gave a small chuckle. Happy had gone off into the crowds sometime ago as they were walking.
"Well, then let's get his done," Riath stated. He could hear the loud cheers of the spectators in the arena just ahead of them, they seemed to be cheering for a certain group of people that he could see up ahead.
They both then began walking into the light of the sun with their faces still hidden, they saw that the crowd all turned to them with confused looks. Whispers and comments could be heard from the crowd as they walked.
"Who're they?" One of the audience members wondered. Two certain blondes up in the stands also noticed the two walking as they watched.
"What is this? The whole stadium seems to be in abuzz... Just what is going on?" Chapati wondered. His voice being carried over the speakers, he then widened his eyes when he saw Natsu and Raith walking. "What in the world is this?! There seem to be two suspicious people making their way into the arena!"
"What the hell do you want?" The person who seemed to be the leader of the guild the boys approached demanded. The person held a scowl on his face as his hair was incredibly spiky and a large scar was seen on the right side of his face.
"An invader?!" The voice of a blonde girl up in the stands cried out. This person was none other than Lucy Heartfilia, a member of the Fairy Tail guild. The blonde beside her seemed to gasp in shock. "I'm sensing incredible magic power... from the both of them..."
"Eh?" Jason, the person beside her muttered. He then saw Lucy turn to him and shout, which confused him.
"We need to evacuate everyone from the premises!" It was too late as they all felt a wave of hot steam and also strong currents of wind blowing past them.
"You know... you both have got some serious guts to be picking a fight in the imperial capital." The leader stated. The person with slicked back hair then spoke.
"Don't tell me that they're the ones..."
"It can't be!" The person who held a wooden club of sorts that was set ablaze on the top, he also was wearing a mask or helmet that covered his entire head.
"So, are you Fiore's number one guild?" Natsu asked. Raith just stayed quiet with both arms dropped to his sides as he just listens. The guild that they were standing in front of seemed to raise their eyebrows at this.
"Who the hell are you two?"
"Oh, us?" Natsu grinned under his hood. He then turned to Raith who looked up and seemed to understand, Raith grinned as well as both of them covered one of their fist in their respective elements.
"We're just the challengers!" Raith finished. They then both thrusted their fist forwards towards the group, this resulted in a wave of fire and green wind to shoot out and knock the entire guild backwards.
"They attacked!" Chapati shouted.
"W-We have to gather wizard who can fight!" Lucy shouted. She was trying to shield herself from the fierce elements, but to no avail.
"Ha~!" Raith and Natsu shouted. They released their own elements from their bodies that completed engulfed the stadium, Natsu produced the fire while Raith produced the winds that blew the fire all over the place.
"What is this?!"
"What heat!"
"Hot-hot-hot!"
Comments from the audience were heard as the blazing hot fire engulfed the arena, the wind seemed to have also heated up thanks to the fire that Natsu had produced. They all seemed to be trying to cool themselves down.
"Ladies and gentlemen... It's so hot that our clothes are..." Chapati muttered into the microphone. This was when the clothes of Chapati, Yajima, and the audience began to melt. "No... Even the entire stadium is melting!"
"What is this?!" Lucy wondered. She was covering her chest as she had also noticed her clothes melting away, she then looked at the two sources. "Wait... heat? And that wind, it feels like Wendy's magic, but still different..."
Natsu held both of his arms to his sides as he gave a large grin, his hood coming off at the same time as his long spiky hair was revealed. Raith was remaining neutral as strong green winds were circling around his body, his hood still covering his face from view.
"N-Natsu?!" Lucy shouted in shock. Jason could be seen beside her giving a massive open smile as he screamed 'Cool!'.
"Natsu!"
"Kabo!"
The voices of the announcers were also heard, the voices carried large amounts of excitement. Clearly happy to see a friend of theirs. Raith looked around and sweatdropped. 'We might be overdoing this...'
"It's been a long time, Lucy!" The voice of Happy could be heard from the blonde's ears, she turned around in surprised, only to see the cat flying behind her.
"Happy! What's..."
"Natsu seemed to be insistent on fighting the winners of the tournament, he even seemed to drag Raith along with him." Happy sighed. Shaking his head as he also carried a small smile on his face.
"Raith?" Lucy blinked. She turned to look at the field.
"Aye! That's a new friend we met not too long ago, he's really strong! You'll be surprised at what his magic is!" Happy stated. Not telling her what magic that Raith seemed to utilise, much to the girl's annoyance as she was curious. "Natsu just dragged him into the fight."
"But... the guild is already exhausted..." Lucy sweatdropped. She saw the entire guild that won the Grand Magic Games this year on the ground with their clothes melted off and laying down on the ground with gaping mouths.
"Should we calm down, Natsu?" Raith asked. Natsu looked at him and waved dismissively with a smirk.
"Nah! We're just getting started!" Natsu replied. Raith just chuckled at Natsu's antics, Natsu then looked towards the field. "Anybody will do! Come and get us!"
They both watched as a mob of mages from multiple guilds began to swarm around them, they then began to charge towards the two as they only just grinned at the groups. Natsu lit his fist ablaze before completely knocking away a big chunk of them.
Raith responded by crossing his arms in front of him and thrusting them outwards, this resulted in a massive circle tornado to blow around him, the mages that got caught were all spun and launched towards the other defeated groups.
"Eh?!" Lucy cried out.
"They're going too far..." Happy sweatdropped.
"Somebody stop them!" Cheers of agreement were heard from the other wizards as they all charged, Raith and Natsu gathered their magic and combined it into a single blast that sent the wizard flying away.
"The arena!"
"This heat!"
"Th-They're monsters! We need to run!" One of the wizards cried out. They all seemed to agree before running into the hallways of the stadium, attempting to escape from the two dragon slayers.
"Aww. You went completely overboard, Natsu. And you dragged Raith along with you." Happy sighed as he shrugged his shoulders. Natsu and Raith both stopped releasing their elements from their bodies as the heat and the winds all calmed down with steam still coming off the arena ground.
"Huh?" Natsu muttered. Raith looked at him and saw him looking upwards, Raith followed his gaze and saw that he was looking up at Lucy. Natsu then grinned as Raith just smiled softly with crossed arms at him.
"Hey! Long time no see, Lucy!"