I own nothing.
Year X786
It was a rainy day in Magnoliga, the weather a fitting ambient for the sad mood that has loomed over the town since the past two years, since the core members of their resident guild Fairy Tail have disappeared along with their sacred grounds on Tenrou Island by the work of the fearsome Acnologia, the black dragon of the apocalypse.
On the forests East of the town a young boy could be seen sobbing inside the remaining of a hollow trunk, he looked to be around 8 years old, had dark purple hair in a short cut and big purple eyes that where a little red from his crying, he was dressed on a simple teal colored shirt, white shorts and brown shoes. This boy is Romeo Conbolt, son of Fairy Tail´s fourth master Macao Conbolt and the youngest members of Fairy Tail since his joining last year. After a fight with his father over the situation of the guild he ran and went the a place where he could be alone for a while, but it started raining so Romeo searched for a refuge and found this old trunk in the middle of the forest where he could rest a little and calm himself.
"Why, why don't they fight back?" he said to no one while trying to avoid crying.
Why where the members of Fairy Tail not defending themselves against Twilight Ogre, the very thought of that name makes him growl a little.
How could those thugs be still considered a legal guild? They were extorting his guild and his father was letting them!, it was bad enough that they have to leave their original guildhall to those idiots to pay their debts but now they were demanding payment as if they owe them their lives!. They even paraded around Magnolia as if the owned the place and charged their clients lots of interests even for the simplest of requests.
Romeo knew his father was in a stressful situation, acting as master and trying to keep the guild alive was not easy now that quests very limited for them, but why did he allowed them to step on their pride?.
"If only Natsu-nii and the rest where here…" he said sadly, Romeo, unlike most of the guild, hasn't lost faith in that one day their others members would return and Fairy Tail could go back to being what it used to be. He knew that they were alive somewhere, he just knew they head to be. But what would they find when they returned? A guild in ruins and their members living in despair?
He could not accept that, but he didn't know how to save his guild from keep going downhill, he wanted to get stronger and help them, but his father had only been teaching him the basic spells of his Fire Magic to let him join Fairy Tail and said he was too young to learn more, he was angry at that, Natsu and many others, even Wendy, had started to learn their magic when they were younger than he was.
He felt more tears staring to gather but Romeo thoughts were interrupted when he heard noises outside of the trunk, reaching outside to see the source of the noises he noticed it had stopped raining and now the forest a little too quiet for his liking.
He stepped outside in time to hear a branch breaking so he looked ahead and fear started to rise on his chest as he saw several pairs of red eyes shining from inside the bushes not far from hi, small shadow emerged from the bushes tor reveal a pack of wolves who looked very hungry and aggressive.
Romeo started to panic and without thinking he started to run far from the wolves, who howled and started to chase the little boy.
"Somebody help me!" he yelled as hard as he could, but he realized he went too deep into the forest and there was probably no one near him to hear his cries for help, his father might be looking for him but it was very probable he wouldn't find him in time. He knew that the old lady Porlyusica live on this forest but he didn't know where, his best chance was to keep running and try to find a high place like a rock where the wolves couldn't reach him.
He kept running as fast as his small legs could carry him but he was starting to get tired and the wolves where getting close, one of them was almost on him so he started to gather his magic on his hands like his father showed him and formed a very small fireball on his left hand, so he quickly threw it behind him on a large trail of leaves he passed over and to his momentary relief the pile ignited blocking and path of the wolf and letting him gain some ground before they could get around the fire.
After another couple of minutes of running and throwing some more fireballs to slow the wolves he was getting to tired to continue but noticed he was on an area with less trees and that he was getting close to the base of a mountain meaning he could try to climb on the rocks to get to safety.
The howling of the wolf pack getting close again renewed the fear inside of him and caused him to trip on the roots of a nearby tree and fall with force on the ground. Romeo tried to ignore the pain of the fall and tried to get back up but a great pain erupted from his right ankle making him cream loudly and tears to start falling again from his face.
He looked behind him and his eyes widened in fear seeing that the wolves had finally caught up with him, meanwhile he didn't noticed that he finally reached the base of the mountain where the entrance of small cave could be seen and current of wind where started to leak from the darkens inside the cave since the loud scream Romeo did.
Romeo, ignorant of the cave now behind him, was trying to crawl backwards and away from the wolves when from the pack emerged a larger and more feral looking wolf covered in scars, the Alpha of the pack. The beast started to lick his snot in anticipation, showing his big and yellow fangs, taking its time to lurk around his now injured prey.
"STAY BACK!" Romeo yelled while gathering what little magic he could muster and threw another small fireball at the Alpha who simply jumped to the side and let the fireball fall to the ground and disappear.
A small tremor started to shake the entrance of the cave while the commotion outside took place and a pair of big shinning eyes started to glow from the darkness.
The Alpha now jumped high in the air and open his maw to attack Romeo, who now closed his eyes and tried to cover his head with his arms 'Dad, everyone…' as he felt that his life was over, he thought about his father, about the last time they saw each other before he ran away after their fight, about everyone in the guild, he was letting them behind without being able to help his guild and prove his worth as a mage of Fairy Tail, he thought about the Tenrou group, how he wanted to see them again and welcome them once again to their guild restored back to glory, a place where they could be a family again. 'I'm sorry…' a final tear felt from his cheek as he awaited for the end.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW!"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
Romeo opened his eyes wide in shock when he hear a big roar and explosion behind him just in time to see a big dust cloud covering the entire area. Coughing and trying to shield himself form the dust heard howls of pain around him followed by a sickening sound of something being swallowed.
'What is happening?'
As the dust settled and he slowly opened his eyes he first thing he saw was the pack of wolves running in the distance, disappearing into the forest, after that he noticed that the area he was sitting was too dark and that there was a sound of breathing emitting from above him.
Slowly he turned his head up just for his eyes to Widen like never before and his mouth to be open resembling a fish out of the water, for the image in front or better said above him was leaving him both amazed and terrified:
A dog.
An extremely large dog!
An extremely large and monstrous looking dog that swallowed the Alpha wolf if the remaining of fur coming from its maws where any indication!
Romeo didn't even thought about moving, he was rooted in place, whether it was of fear of a now even larger beast that could eat him or amazed by how it took out the large wolf in one chomp he couldn't tell, he could only take on the appearance of his "savior".
It was at least 5 meters tall and maybe 8 meters long with long legs and slightly short tail, big head with big maws and sharp looking fangs, its body covered in thick, dark purple fur, expect for parts of his legs, face and back that seemed to be covered by skin colored scars, and a mane of thick white fur around its neck, all in all it looked like a beast of immense power and ferocity.
The enormous hound finally lowered its head, white glowing eyes making contact with big purple ones and just as Romeo was about to try and make a move either of running or screaming, the big creature erupted in a small explosion of smoke that covered Romeo.
Coughing a little, Romeo closed his eyes until the smoke quickly dissipated allowing him to look at the place where the creature stood just to once again today open his eyes to epic proportions and having his jaw hit the ground if that was physically possible.
In front of him was a small dog, although it was still a little bigger than him, with the same fur colors and scar marks on its face and legs, the head now looked bigger in comparison to the rest of the body, its eyes seemed to be closed and was now panting, showing its big teeth's and tongue hanging outside the maw, this gave him a quite goofy, creepy and kind of cute look, at least that was what Romeo thought for half a second until he felt something wet hitting his face and was brought back to reality.
"H-Hey stop t-that!" shouted Romeo while trying to remove the strange creature that was licking his face and standing on top of him, it seemed the dog understood him as it jumped back and stood in front of Romeo looking at him as if expecting something to happen.
Romeo looked back at the dog and didn't know what to do, this day has been pretty crazy and exhausting so far, he tried to get up just to be remained of his splintered ankle and fall back while hissing in pain.
"Ouch! Dam it I need to get back to Magnolia".
"Woof! Woof!" Romeo looked back at the small dog, it was barking happily and pointing its head at the now semi-collapsed entrance of the cave which Romeo assumed was were the dog came from.
"You want me to go there?" Romeo asked the dog, he didn't think it would understand him but to his surprise the dog barked again in what he guessed was an affirmative tone.
'This is crazy, I can't go into the home of the even bigger creature that could eat me at any moment' he thought but Romeo didn't see any better option, and maybe if the hound hasn't eaten him yet it doesn't eat humans or is full of the wolf from a moment ago.
"Okay, umm, could u help me?" He asked the dog that seems to understand him while pointing at his injured leg.
The dog came close to Romeo and lowered itself by his side, Romeo, although still wary, was fascinated with the dog and the wariness was slowly fading away, he extended a hand and started petting the dog on its back, earnings happy barks from the animal. A smile formed on Romeo face, maybe it was a friendly creature after all.
After a minute of getting comfortable around the hound Romeo decided to mount on top of its back, the small dog seemed to have no problems carrying the boy and started to march towards the entrance of the cave.
When they started to enter the cave Romeo decided to use the little magic he still had and formed a small glowing sphere around his hand to illuminate the path inside the cave, it was not a very big tunnel, just enough for them to transit without needing to crouch, but it was really deep, as the dog has been marching for around a minute and the end wasn't in sight yet.
But for some reason, Romeo wasn't scared anymore, even after that has been happening today, even while being near death and going deeper into an unknown cave on top of an unknown and scary beast, since he entered the cave he started to feel strange.
He felt at peace
He felt as if he was walking through the forest on a sunny day without and nothing was wrong in the world; even his ankle didn't seem to hurt much anymore.
So lost in the strange feeling he didn't notice a light at the end of the tunnel until they passed through it making him close his eyes from the sudden change of lighting.
When he opened his eyes, one again on this say was he rendered speechless at the sight before him.
"Whoa…"
A natural chamber, as big as the former guildhall of Fairy Tail, the light filtered through the ceiling giving the place a kind of mystical aura, there was vegetation on the ground and vines covering the walls of the cave and various stream of water that seemed to come from the many boulders covered in moss on the place were feeding a big pond in the middle of the chamber, on the middle of said pond was big rock, acting like and island were a lonely oak tree stood.
What caught Romeo attention was what was lying on the tree, as soon as his eyes caught up this object the strange feeling he felt before came back stronger than ever, as if he was being called by it.
A spear.
It looked ancient, a long broad spear with two outturned lugs at the base of the head and circular opening between them, the spear didn't look rusty or old, but it was covered in vines and moss, only the shinning of the blade revealing it was not part of the tree.
The hound brought Romeo to the edge of the pond in front of the spear and allowed him to rest back on the ground.
"Is this what you wanted to show me?" Romeo asked the dog while still looking at the spear only to receive no response, he looked to his side where the small hound stood to see it was looking too at the spear, its head low and ears deflated, even if he was very young he understood right away was that look was.
Sadness, the same sadness that he felt every time he remembered those hat went to Tenrou Island and never came back, the same look he had when looking at the sea on those times he went to Hargeon town to learn of jobs with Bisca and Alzack, the look of hope of maybe seeing those close to you again but not getting what you want.
"That spear was from someone you knew right?" the dog didn't answer, instead it walked to Romeo and nudged his side. Romeo patted its head a little in sympathy before he heard a voice resonating in the cave.
"He is a very loyal hound".
"Eeeeeeeeeepp" after making a totally mainly shriek, Romeo started to look frantically around the cave to see where did the voice come from but didn't saw anyone other than the dog.
"W-Who's there?" he stammered while trying to stay close to the dog in case something else happened today.
"It seems Oslow has found someone worthy at last" Romeo looked around once more until his eyes posed on the spear on the tree, there was a shining around it, small balls of light that flickered and danced around it while the leaves of the oak seems to blow with an invisible wind.
Romeo wasn't as surprised or as he thought he would be seeing this, he knew everything was possible on a magical world like the one they live in and from the tales Natsu and other told him about his adventures, a mage must be prepared to see all kind of strange things.
"W-Who are you?" he asked carefully to the shinning lights "a-and who is Oslow?"
The lights then started to float from the spear to the edge of the pond, Romeo backed away just to fall again due to his injure, the lights then surrounded Romeo, glowing even more brightly and before he could try to get them off of him, he felt a warm sensation on his right leg, and then the pain was no more, he blinked and looked down as his ankle to see it was no longer bruised, he touched it and felt no pain, he finally decided to stand and looked up to see the lights that had healed him dance around the hound who was jumping around and barking happily.
"Who am I is no longer important, young boy, just know that I have been here waiting, waiting for someone who might be able to carry my legacy, and Oslow here might have found that someone" the voice said once again from the lights that surrounded the now identified Oslow.
"Legacy?" Romeo asked.
"Yes, so I ask young one, do you want power, power like the world has not seen since eras long forgotten?" the voice responded.
Romeo eyes widened at that, power? A great power? Can those lights really grant him his wish? There was only one answer for such an offer.
"Yes! Can you really grant me the power I need!?" he asked in excitement.
The lights when quit for a moment before asking "Why do you wish for power?" this time the voice carried an air of wariness, Oslow was at the side, also looking interested in what Romeo had to say.
Romeo´s eyes gained a new shine right away, the light of a determination that you wouldn't look for in such a young child.
"To protect my family and friends, to been able to make a difference when no one else will!" he looked down and the feeling of tears once again began to surface at the thought of those who still need to come back "To never lose those I care about again!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
The cave was filled with silence for a while. Suddenly, the ground started to shale and the whole cave was illuminated with a white light that forced Romeo to cover his eyes.
"Splendid answer young one!, its seems you can be someone of great good in the future, but I warn you, the path now before you won't be an easy one, you will need all of that determination of yours and maybe more if you expect to master the powers that I will now bestow upon you!
Romeo opened his eyes to see the spear, now clean of all vegetation, floating in front on him, but it wasn't the only thing floating in the cave, he realized that his feet no longer felt the ground and looked down just to see himself, Oslow and the spear floating various meters about the pond.
"Whoa!" Tried to balance himself in air, Oslow was happily floating by his side, clearly exited of what was happening. The lights now started to spin around Romeo and the spear and Romeo felt the spear calling out for him, to grab it, and so he did and the lights started to speak once more.
"What is your name boy?"
"Romeo, Romeo Conbolt".
"Very well Romeo Conbolt, I recognize you now the new wielder of the ancient treasure of nature, the Spirit Spear Chastiefol!" declared the voice.
"Chastiefol…" Romeo tested the name, a small smile formed on his lips, the name sounded natural to him already.
Romeo now started descending on the ground, with Chastiefol now in hand.
"I have one more favor to ask you Romeo Conbolt" said the voice as the lights began to disappear one by one. "Take Oslow with you, he is a Black Hound, and ancient spirit guardian of my people how has been guarding the spear for countless years, he will be a loyal partner to you on the path that now lies before you".
Romeo looked in surprise at the hound "Really? You want to come with me?" asked Romeo only to get a happy bark and various lick on the face courtesy of Oslow "Ha-ha okay I take that as a yes" said Romeo before turning once again to the lights who had almost disappeared "Thank you, I promise I will make good use of this power, but who are you and why did you chose me to carry the spear?" asked Romeo to the strange being that has given him such amazing gift.
"I told you is no longer important who I was, but I guess you can call me, Harlequin".
Romeo nodded and gave the lights a final toothy grin, much like a certain dragonslayer does, "Thank you, Harlequin".
The lights finally disappeared, Romeo now stood with Oslow on the silent cave looking at the spear on his hands.
"Umm, how can I take this back home without my dad freaking out?" As if the spear heard his question it shined a light blue light and before Romeo eyes transformed into a big green pillow with a black leopard pattern.
"Wow! So cool!" was the answer that you would aspect of an 8 years old after seeing cool magic.
"Okey, let's go to your new home Oslow, to Fairy Tail!" said Romeo, excitement clear on his voice and his new partner barked happily at his side.
They started to exit the cave, all the while Romeo was wondering out loud what does Oslow eats and if his not going to transform while inside the guildhall, none noticed the small flicker that still remained floating high above the ground as it watched them go.
"Good luck, new Fairy King".
And done!
Wow, i never tought i could write so much for my first chapter on one of my first stories but inspiration finally struck me so i hope it happends more often.
Feel free to coment, constructive critisism is always welcome, and flammers can coment too, i feed on your delicious hatred!