Disclaimer: I do not own 'Fairy Tail' or the backdrop this story is based off of, and neither do I own any characters that might appear in this story that wasn't created by me.
Acknowledgement: This story is based off a fanfic for 'Fairy tail' called 'That's a bit optimistic' written by 'InsertDecentNameHere', whom I would like to thank for giving me permission to write this story.
WARNING: Since this story is a separate project, spoilers to 'The Phantom' may or may not be present.
Chapter one: Memories are like the shadows of a fire
[Imagine cool song]
Marvin walked through a torch lit hallway of his guild's building, his boots echoing softly off the thick brick stone walls and floor. It was still day light outside, but the guild's hidden hideout was located at the side of a mountain, with most sections of the guild actually inside the mountain itself, so it was necessary to use torches to keep the place well lit.
Still, the flickering flames could not keep the persistent shadows from lingering in these dark corridors, and if Marvin wasn't familiar with the layout of this particular section of the guild, he would have been lost in the endless fake turns and dead ends designed to confuse and deter any unwanted visitors.
The going wasn't easy, though, even if one knew the way. The main hallway had turns and bumps in the roads, giving the place an abandon atmosphere. This was also a trap – the path looked so unused that any intruder wouldn't in their wildest imaginations believe that this was the right way.
This, however, made the path extremely troublesome to use. The walls closed in than retreated away from each other at random intervals, and the roof and floor seemed to follow suit, widening and narrowing the corridor, sometimes so much that even Marvin, with his height of 5 foot 7, had to bent down just to squeeze through.
Not for the first time, Marvin questioned his reason for doing this: do I really want this? Aren't I happy with the way things are right now? Isn't my life now enjoyable? Peaceful?
Perfect?
Yes, he realised. The answer to all of these questions was yes. He pushed on though, regardless of the consequences to his now blissful life. He wouldn't forget; he couldn't forget his reason for doing this, not with the flames all around him.
Not when the flames compelled him to remember…
Sixteen years ago
Midnight, in a house in the middle of the woods.
"Please, we need more time!" pleaded a man kneeling on the floor. He looked to be in his mid 30s, with dark brown hair, dark eyes, and the start of a beard. He wore a grey shirt, brown leather pants, and an apron, the kind blacksmiths used to protect their cloths from catching fire.
That, however, wasn't going to protect him from the double edge sword that erupted from his chest. A thin man with black wild haired lean in and whispered into the surprised man's ear, "I hate people who beg," before pulling out his blood stained sword. The man, however, was already too far gone to hear as he collapsed onto the stone floor of his house.
His wife started to scream, but the brute restraining her from behind reached around her neck and snapped it like a twig. She fell, tears flowing, onto the cold floor, slipping into the even colder embrace of death before hitting the ground.
"I warned ye not to scream," said the brute, a giant of a man with a strip of green hair down his otherwise bold head.
The brute looked around and asked the thin man, "That all of em?"
The thin man nodded, "Shell we call for the boss?"
"The 'boss' is already here," said a rich voice from the door.
It swung open and they both turned to regard a tall, fragile looking man with a grey goatee and moustache. He wore a tight, dark purple overcoat, with an elaborate collar and ended inches from the ground with two forges coming out the back end. He had an equally purple tall hat on his head, and had a golden monocle on his left eye. His hands were adored in stainless white gloves, and he had a black cane with a golden handle in his right hand.
All in all, he looked like the spitting image of the stereotypical English man.
He walked inside, his custom made black leather boots not making a sound. He looked around the house, his violet eyes scanning the room. He regarded the bodies of the two former owners of the house like they were nothing but trash, and said to the two, "Cover that up. We don't need the boy seeing that and remembering this in the future."
His two henchmen moved to obey, while he focused on the closet set to the far wall of the living area.
He nodded to his two henchmen when they were done and gave a simple, emotionless command, "Burn it down." He then walked over to the closet as the two started trashing the place, throwing the wooden furniture into a pile. He opened the closet and squatted down to regard the youth inside.
He had short hair that was as white as his mothers, and deep yellow eyes that seemed to see more than he should. He was sitting on the closet's wooden floor, hugging his legs.
"Hello there," he said while smiling at the small boy. "You must be Marvin. You dad told me about you. I'm Lawrence, a friend of your father. Has he mentioned me before?"
The boy shook his head, and Lawrence's smile widened, "That's okay, now you know who I am. You father asked me to take you away from here. He asked you to follow me."
"Where papa?" he asked, his voice uncertain, the voice of a frighten child.
"Your father and mother went to a faraway place, and they asked me to take care of you."
The youth seemed to think it over, most likely still doubting his story.
A whistle from the brute and the growing heat at his back signalled to Lawrence that the fire was now growing, and they had to go, now. Worst, the boy had caught a glimpse of the flames, and was starring at it intently.
Lawrence played his trump card, "Your father said that if you come with me, you can have all the candy you can eat."
The boy turned to regard Lawrence, his face brightening up, "Can'di?"
Lawrence nodded, "Yes, candy."
The child beamed and cried out happily, "Ya, can'di!" He reached his tiny hands towards Lawrence who laughed, "You can't walk yet, can you? Alright then." He pulled in youth into his arms and carried him off, careful to shield his eyes from the flames and the cloth covering his parents.
With the boy secure in his arms, Lawrence and his two henchmen walked away from the raging inferno that was the boy's house, the fire so intense it caused their shadows to lengthen into strange shapes. He looked down at the boy, into the boys eyes, and in the fire's glow saw in them confirmation of his feelings.
The boy was full to the brim with magic, causing his eyes to glow slightly.
'He will make an excellent apprentice," thought Lawrence as he walked towards his carriage, the thought that he had just murdered two innocent people for their child didn't once cross his mind, replaced instead by one of a small boy less than six months old using magic.
A boy with deep, yellow eyes.
Two years later…
On a mountainside overlooking the fishing town of Syra
Three years old Marvin stood next to his magic mentor, Lawrence, on one of the many mountains that surrounded Syra. A cold autumn breeze swap across the mountainside, forcing Marvin to pull his fur coat closer around himself. His master was wearing his usual purple overcoat, but the frigid air didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. The winds bent the grass blades as they passed, heading towards the sea.
There were little to no clouds that night, and the full moon was visible in all her glory, out shining all the stars in the dark sky. That, however, wasn't the reason why Marvin could so easily make out the shapes that were the townsfolk.
It was ten o'clock, but the town was still buzzing with excitement. Everyone was rushing, some out into the harsh forests lining the mountainsides, others out to sea on their fishing boats. They were all rushing towards different locations, but they were doing so for the exact same reason. It was the same exact reason why Marvin could see them even from the distance he was at, and why the moon seemed to glow red.
The whole town was on fire.
No one had made a move to stop the flames, though, not even when it had just started. It wasn't so much as they didn't want to, however; they simply couldn't, not when these fires were inextinguishable.
And certainly not when the cause of the inferno – a raging beast the size of a mountain– was still rampaging in the middle of the town.
Through the flames, Marvin could catch glimpses of the being: large bone-like protrusions outlined the full length of its spine. It had four massive arms with hands as large as houses, each ending in five talon-tipped fingers. A large blade-like protrusion adored each of its elbows. It had no legs; its waist connected instead to a serpent-like tail.
Its body was covered in scales, with eight spider legs erupting from its side and covering its muscular chest. Four leathery wings sprouted out of its back, and an array of spikes circled like a crown atop a wolf-like head with a mouth filled with razor sharp canines. Other then the spikes on its head, the talons of its hands, and the spider legs of its chest which were all ivory white, the rest of it were different shades of black, as if it took in the light and refused to release it, imprisoning it forever.
Except for its eyes, which Marvin thought were its most noticeable feature. They were crimson, as red as blood itself; those eyes alone made Marvin shiver more than anything else.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" his mentor said, gesturing towards Daímotheós, for that was the quartergod's name.
Instead, Marvin looked out to sea. Indeed it was beautiful – the moonlight shining off the ocean surface, the stars that glittered like diamonds overhead, the majestic mountains all around them, all visible from their vantage point, affording them a panoramic view of the area.
"It is, master... but should we be admiring the scenery right now?" Marvin asked, misunderstanding his mentor.
"Quite right, my boy; indeed we shouldn't," replied Lawrence, misinterpreting Marvin's comment.
He took one last look at the scene before him, before descending the slope towards the town, "Right, you stay here, my boy, while I deal with the beast."
"But master, how are you going to fight that?" asked Marvin, concern saturating his voice.
Lawrence stopped and turned slightly to face his apprentice. He reached into his overcoat's pocket and pulled out a blank tarot card.
"Watch, Marvin. Watch and learn," and with that, he jumped up into the air, his overcoat trailing behind him.
With that one jump, he landed twenty feet away. He repeated the jumps four additional times before he landed at the town's main entrance. After adjusting his attire, he walked in.
Marvin didn't know what happened next. All he could see was a huge complex of purple magical circles that had appeared above the monsters head. They bathed the beast in violet light, and he could hear the quartergod howl in anguish, as if resisting the rays. After a few seconds, the light intensified from a bright purple to a brilliant white, and Marvin had to cover his eyes or risk going blind.
Finally, after a couple minutes, the light started to abide. As the glow faded, Marvin opened his eyes to find the monster gone. It had simply vanished, and in doing so had taken the flames with it, leaving behind the husk of what was once a vibrant town.
He saw something drop his way, and realised when it landed that it was his master. He ran over as Lawrence dusted off his overcoat.
The first thing he asked when he got near was, "Master, master! What happened to the big, scary monster? What did you do to make it go away? Come on, tell me!"
Lawrence laughed and showed Marvin a tarot card. It was the blank card, only it wasn't black anymore; a monster was drawn onto its front. A monster that looked eerily similar to the one that had terrorised a small fishing town not two minutes ago. The bottom of the card had the words 'Daímotheós' written onto it.
"Wow!" shouted Marvin in excitement, "How did you do that, master?"
"That, my boy is a new tarot technique I created," said Lawrence while winking at an awestruck Marvin, "It allows me to seal a creature inside a tarot card. I call it 'Sealing', and you can learn it, too."
"Really master! I can learn how to trap big bad monsters inside cards as well?"
"Why, yes. But you first have to master the basics of card magic and become a powerful mage. Can you do that?"
Marvin nodded earnestly, "Yes, master. I'll become the most powerful tarot mage in the whole of Earth land!"
Lawrence laughed and tussled Marvin's hair, "I know you will, kid."
'That's why I chose you to be my apprentice,' he finished in his thoughts as he turned to walk away.
Marvin followed suit, thinking he great master had saved the lives of the townsfolk, when in truth Lawrence sealed the beast for his own personal reasons.
Such thoughts, however, were impossible for the youth, who saw Lawrence as the man who saved him from his parent's murderer.
For that was what Lawrence had told him, and Lawrence wouldn't lie to him.
With their backs to the town, the pair walked away. And so no one was there to see the meteor shower over the horizon, as if the heavens were moaning the lost of… what?
The lost of the town; or the lost of a child's happiness?
[Imagine cool song]
And that ends chapter one! Like it or hate it, please review!
Also, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
