In the beginning, there was nothing. Not darkness, not light. Just a vast disarray of misconstrued confusion.
And then there was Talus. With eyes, one shining with a nebulous byzantium, the other of piercing gold, he envisioned a universe unlike any other: one filled with beauty, mystery, and darkness. Talus was a benevolent god, for he valued one thing over all. Freedom.
With his two mighty arms, one clad in thousands of tattoos, this god created the earth. Solid as a rock, and teeming with life. The crashing seas, their force unrelenting and ever-changing. And above all, Talus created the heavens. Inspired by the peace of the initial nothingness from which he came, Talus made the sky open and beautiful, with the his right eye to look over the night while his left kept watch by day. Thus, the sun, as well as the night sky were born.
When he was done with his work, Talus observed his creation. The beauty that he had made was unmatched, but there were things… missing. He watched the skies, for they are his to watch, and found them too empty. And he walked the earth, for it is his to walk, and found that his creation was doing no good.. It all seemed so… barren.
Thus, advanced life was born. Talus filled the earth with varieties of creatures; some good, some bad. The seas were no different. For the skies, Talus reserved for the mightiest of beasts. With hides stronger than steel, and a breath that can lead to utter destruction, combined with the ability of flight, these brutes were unmatched in strength and power.
With his creation near completion, Talus had one last task to uphold. Reflecting upon himself, he decided to make a race in his own image. They would have power, too, but none that could ever match his. He would allow them to tap into the very essence of the world. Magic. This was by far the epitome of his work, for magic was ever-changing and ever growing. It formed the basis of every establishment in this world.
XX...End Prologue...XX
It was another typical day at the guild hall. Cheery drinking was commencing all around, each large wooden table filled with arrays of different wizards, happily and groggily talking in their loud voices.
In the middle of the hall, at a table, sit Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, Happy, Lisanna Strauss, and Cana and Gildarts Clive. This was a rare occasion; Gildarts was usually out and about, doing dangerous jobs. But once he had found out about his daughter, Natsu had started to see him around more.
"So, Gildarts, ready to fight me yet?" Natsu challenged expectantly.
Gildarts, unamused, glanced over to the pink-haired dragon slayer, and just shook his head. Natsu, crestfallen, slinked over to the job board. He was running low on money anyways.
Lucy was looking over towards the bar, but saw a quintessential component of the guild missing. Mirajane. "Hey Lisanna," she questioned. "Where's Mira?"
The small, fair-skinned wizard looked over, then looked down sadly in realization. "It's almost that time of year again," She exclaimed.
Confused, Lucy pried further. "What? Where is she?"
Lisanna, avoiding eye contact, clammed up. "We don't like to talk about it," She squeaked quietly.
This wasn't like the usual, friendly Lisanna that Lucy knew. Something was wrong. There was a sadness to her words, a sort of grieving. Lucy looked over to her other guildmates around the table, but they all just silently stared into their mugs. There had to be some sort of death in this topic. She was sure of it.
The silence was breached when the happy-go-lucky Natsu came back to the table, flyer in hand. "Lucy. I found us a job. We'll leave in a couple days." Lucy looked over and agreed with him, and they all continued the friendly chatter as if the awkwardness of before hadn't taken place. But still,even as the others had tried to steer the conversation away from Mira, Lucy couldn't help but glance over to the bar and wonder where the amiable woman had gone off to. But, the day wore on, ending with Gildarts and Cana eventually passing out from a drinking contest, of which Cana won. Lucy tried to forget her questions earlier, but she couldn't get them out of her mind.
As she was walking home that night, Lucy decided to go by Lisanna's old grave. She was curious to see if the Strausses had gotten rid of it now that they had found Lisanna in Edolas. Walking into the gated yard, a mist had started to hang low above the faded green grass. Every time she had ever been in the Fairy Tail graveyard, it had always seemed so deserted. There were only a few graves within it, so there weren't that many visitors, and most of them had passed away hundreds of years ago, making it even less likely for people to come visit.
Trying to to feel her way through the mist, Lucy stuck her hands out in front of her, making sure not to bump into any tombstones. The mist didn't seem natural. There might be some magic surrounding it, but Lucy couldn't sense it. The power would be too faint to notice even if it was present. Other than the muted tones of green from the grass, there was no color that Lucy could see within this place. Then, a flash of color caught her eye. Flowers.
Strange, she thought. I've never seen any flowers left here before.
She walked over to the bouquet of orange and yellow and other warm colors, all wrapped up in a tattered old gray rag that could have been a headband. Lucy peered at the grave. It was a newer tombstone; it hadn't been there for more than a few years.
Why haven't I noticed this before? She asked herself. She looked at the writing etched into the stone, the inscription reading: Aiyum Staul, S-Class Wizard. This would have been surprising enough, but then she looked at the age of the wizard. This can't be right, it says here he was 17 when he died, but he was S-Class. And he only died 3 years ago. Well, 10 if you count the time skip. This guy was a prodigy! How have I not heard of him before?
She left the graveyard in confusion, telling herself that she would figure all of this out tomorrow at the guild's archive. Laying down on her bed, Lucy wracked her brain, trying to figure out how people hadn't told her about this Aiyum sooner. Or that there were no pictures of him, anywhere. Surely Reedus had some image of him that she could see.
Hello all! This is the author, Jeram Igneal! Thanks for stopping in on the story! If you haven't already, follow the story, it's how I gauge how well a story is going! It really motivates me to make new content! If you have any suggestions or constructive criticism, feel free to leave a review or PM me, it doesn't matter to me! Alright, 'til next time! Cya!
