A/N: Hey guys, Rhapsode here. Just starting off by saying that this will be cross-posted with my AO3 account, Arkus_Rhapsode. Next, I do not own any of the properties here. The original creator of many of these characters is Hiro Mashima. I also wanna be safe and mention that this work was is inspired by the Marvel comic book: Secret Wars.
Most importantly, this work has been Beta Read and Edited by Maximillian Havisham. If you're a fan of FT or RWBY, I heavily suggest you check him out. You can find him on under the same name.
All that said, please enjoy.
Chapter 1: A Dying World
Only a few miles outside of the Royal City, King Mystogan and his 4th Royal Army Commander, Sugarboy, rode on the back of the white Legion. The large winged beast hung in the air so that Mystogan could look down on the land that he had spent so long trying to reclaim from his magic obsessed father, Faust. But this land was nothing like it was eight years ago.
"I can't believe how bad it's gotten." Bemoaned Sugarboy, his discontent words falling on the ears of his King.
Edolas was, at one time, a wondrous land lush with phenomena such as a river in the sky and mushrooms that grew to the size of houses. The craggy landscape had greenery growing underneath each sharp stone, and flora bursting with colors of such array, they looked as if they were pulled out of a child's coloring book.
However, those sights had become a thing of the past. Now, Edolas was sickly and grey; it's fruit trees were rotting, its rivers had dried, and the corpses of its once fantastic beasts littered the land. The very sight made the King's heart ache.
"Set her down, Sugarboy." Ordered the blue haired king.
His commander gently landed the flying beast on the lifeless earth.
Leaping off the back of the Legion, Mystogan felt the dead land through his gloves, his head hanging low in solace. A single tear traveled down his cheek.
"How could this happen, Sugarboy? It makes no sense."
The knight in pink armor massaged his cleft chin, but no answers came to him. "I haven't the foggiest, your Majesty. All I know is, I go to bed at night praying those eggheads you have working on this come up with an answer soon."
Mystogan grimaced at this response. He wasn't one who believed faith in prayer was pointless. Hell, he remembered the many nights he prayed for his own safety when trapped on Earthland. He knew of its power, but now wasn't the time for prayer, his land and people both demanded action.
Mystogan felt a jitter under his legs the moment he rose. "Do you feel that…?"
Another shake. "MOVE!"
Jumping onto the closest leg of his Legion, Mystogan braced himself as Sugarboy yanked the reigns of the white beast as hard as he could. With a few quick beats of its wing, the creature was airborne. Even hovering over the land Mystogan and Sugarboy felt the vibrations from underground.
The land began to split and break, hot lava bleeding out into the field.
"This just keeps getting worse!" Yelled Sugarboy, his voice a combination of exasperation and fear.
"We've never had anything like this happen so close to the Capital-" Mystogan was interrupted when the Legion suddenly swerved to avoid the carbon filled air that followed the lava plumage.
"Can't stay here! Gotta move!"
Sugarboy pulled the reins, forcing the white Legion to return towards the direction of the Capital. Mystogan crawled the saddle as they fell back to the Royal City. Not speaking a word as the lava faded from view.
EDOLAS ROYAL PALACE
UPPER FLOOR
"Yes, hello? Yes, we'll be sending more rations down as soon as we can. Yes, hello? No, there's no such thing as 'not enough volunteers'. Yes, hello? Right, we'll send troops immediately."
Answering distressed squad captains had become a regular thing for Hughes nowadays. As Edolas started to fall apart, the Royal Commander found his talents were best suited for coordinating calls of the many troops still out in the field.
FInally experiencing a brief moment of silence, Hughes sat back in his chair and closed his weary eyes.
"Aww, I thought King Mystogan was gonna make everything amazing after that whole Anima business. Maybe I should've just jumped ship with some of those Exceeds and gone to Earthland. Wonder what Earthland me is like." His pondering was immediately put on hold when the calls began again.
Outside the communication center, Mystogan briskly passed by many of his overworked soldiers enroute to the meeting hall. The sight of his defeated men weighed on his mind almost as much as the state of the kingdom. How many of them had families that were becoming consumed in the recent series of catastrophic events? He tried not to think of it any longer than he had to.
"MYSTOGAN!"
Erza Knightwalker's commanding timbre echoed throughout the hall, startling the weary soldiers. She blocked the King's path, her dirtied Ten Commandments spear resting on her shoulder. No doubt she had been using it much more frequently these days.
"What the hell is happening out there? I'm spreading myself thin enough as it is hunting down Faust loyalists, but now I have to deal with the ground spitting up lava?!"
The tattooed king was silent for a moment. "I wish I knew." was his weary wearily. "It truly does feel like this is far beyond our capability to handle."
Knghtwalker's scowl deeped. Mystogan had won of the hearts of the people by beating a demon lord with his bare fists; he was a symbol of strength in a world that had lost it, but now all he did was stand idly by and watch his land fall to pieces. It was pathetic.
"You 'wish'?!" Knightwalker tightend the grip on her spear. "You're the king! Your duty is to ensure that all of us live in peace and prosperity! You promised we could do that as humans!"
Mystogan could detect the shakiness in Knightwalker's voice. She was every bit as scared and frustrated as he was. The sight was sobering to say the least. It was moments like these where she truly was identical to her Earthland counterpart.
"Lord Mystogan! Lord Mystogan!"
Coco - the ever-excitable assistant chief of staff - ran circles around the king and Knightwalker, her face more frantic than usual.
"I have news from the science department! The heads want to meet with you right now!"
"Tell them to come to the Meeting Hall."
"Yes, sir!"
Coco sped off to relay the message.
Mystogan bowed his head to Knightwalker and continued for the Meeting Hall. "Get some rest."
"The promise you made…" she muttered, her head hung so her bangs shadowed her eyes. "Don't…Don't make that a lie!"
The King said nothing and continued on.
EDOLAS ROYAL PALACE
MEETING HALL
Once reserved for Commanders during Faust's time, Mystogan's expansion of staff position in his first few months as king had made the Meeting Hall a place where even a lower-ranked minister had the chance to speak in private with the King.
He sat in his seat at the head of the long meeting table, awaiting the arrival of the heads of the science research and division: Levy McAllister and Precht Gaedearg.
Levy was once a member of the dark guild, Fairy Tail, as well as its chief engineer. After years of running from the monarchy, Levy was understandably hesitant at the prospect of joining the establishment she had spent so long fighting.
However, after being offered access to near limitless resources and the chance to make a difference on such a large scale - as well as a full pardon for her guild - her defenses finally fell. The deal was sweetened when Mystogan also told her that she'd no longer need to deal with Lucy Ashley - though she still found herself thinking about her every once in a while.
Precht was somewhat of an anomaly to the young king. A cleanly shaven man, with short, white hair was slicked back all the way, he gave off the vibe of a man half of his age. The most defining feature on his long, chiseled face was a scar that travelled down his and across his closed left eye.
Precht was the creator of Dorma Anim, as well as a teacher Mystogan's father, Faust. Not long after his father took the throne, Precht was locked away in one of the deepest dungeons in the castle for fear that he may tell dark mages the secrets of Dorma Anim.
After enduring years of hardship at the hands of the King and his men, he was finally released by Mystogan and offered a chance to serve the kingdom once more.
Precht and Levy had done wonders together and had advanced the kingdom in ways never before seen in Edolas, but now all their time was spent searching for the cause - and more important a solution - behind Edolas' failing health.
"Your Majesty." Levy began professionally. "Precht and I believe we have something you must see."
"Hopefully a cure for all this trouble." Replied Mystogan staunchly.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple, your majesty."
Precht flicked a small seed on to the ground. It grew rapidly, encompassing the three in a large bud, before retreating into the earth.
FOREST OUTSIDE THE TOWN OF LOUEN
UNKNOWN RESEARCH FACILITY
Wriggling its way through the crust, the transportation bud began to sprout outside of a large, clear dome somewhere away from the capital. The vehicle itself was based on biotechnology Levy developed for the Fairy Tail guild with the help of her teammate, Droy. It was instrumental in helping them escape the clutches of Knightwalker back in her days as the Fairy Hunter.
The facility they had arrived at was hidden from most thanks to the winding wilderness surrounding it, or at least it used to be. Now it had decayed just like the rest of plants in the kingdom.
"What is this place?" The tattooed king questioned when he spotted the dome.
"This, my lord, was a secret facility Levy and myself had constructed about a year ago." Explained Precht. "We exhausted every possible resource we could trying to find a solution to the world's peril, but eventually we were forced to accept that the cause was far beyond the strength of humans to fix."
Those final words forced the King to look away in shame.
"That's when we had come to the conclusion that if we can't figure out a way to save this earth, then we could move to another!" Levy revealed.
Automatic lights activated when the trio entered the dome, revealing a menagerie of different mechanical components.
"So you're proposing we move the entire population of Edolas to another world?" The King prompted. "How?"
"With this!"
Precht pressed a button on a nearby console, opening a swirling golden vortex in the middle of the room. The King's eyes went wide in fear.
"Anima?!"
"I know how you feel about this, my lord, but-"
"I specifically ordered to never open these things again!"
"Hey, lofty head!" Levy interrupted. "It's not like we were stealing magic here! Its a mini Anima. We did our research. We were planning on using it as a multiverse transporter."
"That is until we discovered this..."
Precht motioned to a wall of video monitors. Each one displayed video records of multiple worlds similarly ravaged by nature similar to the phenomenon in Edolas. Endless blizzards, torrential downpours, erupting volcanoes, massive tidal waves, tornadoes, swarms on the levels of ancients plagues, air becoming too carbonized for the population to even breathe, and numerous other catastrophes. The sight was almost enough to make Mystogan sick.
"It's as if the entire multiverse is sick." Precht said in a defeated tone.
"We're one of the luckier ones." Levy said somberly. "Some universes, like Earthland, are starting to bleed into one another. Scared populations all crossing over into other doomed worlds. It's...horrifying."
Mystogan watched the footage on the screens. It was chaos. A boy wielding a giant sword fought back legions of mechanical soldiers. A giant werewolf shielded children from the debris of a crumbling building. He even saw members of his former guild fighting for their lives as Fiore fell around them. He clenched his fist until it shook.
How could he be so spineless? Each one of these worlds were facing much greater problems than he was, but they continued to fight in spite of it. All he did was run and hide. It was frustrating. But no more.
"Are you saying we should give up?! That there's no hope?!" Mystogan grit his teeth and pointed to the monitors. "I am the king of Edolas! I refuse to just sit here and watch my world die?! If they are going to fight, then so will we!"
A long silence hung in the air. Precht and Levy could see the fire in their King's eyes. There was no changing his mind. They gave one another a solid nod and Precht stepped forward.
"There may be a way…" He said.
"What is it?!" Mystogan was desperate. Anything had to be better than doing nothing.
"We open all of the Anima portals we made and absorb their magic."
Narrowing his gaze, Mystogan turned to the golden vortex. It was a gamble to be sure, one he never wanted to take again, but it could be the only way to save their world.
To be continued...
That's all for now. Thank you for reading and if you like what you read, please fav/follow. And if you can, please leave a comment, I'd greatly appreciate it.