Chapter 1 : The Dead City

The Fairy Tail mages were walking through the woods near Magnolia. The portal stones couldn't be opened in the city because it would attract too much attention. Everyone was still in high spirits , besides Erza. Makarov had specifically instructed her not to bring her luggage on this mission and for the first time she was going on a mission with just a small handbag.

'Don't worry so much Erza-Lucy turned to her-Master said that this job could be over in a few hours.'

'But what if we run into a situation where we need something more then what we currently have? I could barely pack anything into this.'

Nobody answered her. This was something Erza would never change her mind about. But there was no way they could travel without raising suspicion if she brought all her luggage like usual. It was better off if the people of that world did not notice them at all. For that they were wearing their most normal clothes. Hopefully the fashion there would not be that different. Even Erza would have to set aside her armor after they went there.

'More importantly are we sure we won't have any problems with our magic? We had to take that weird pill when we were in Edolas.

Erza gave Gray a slight glare for making her point of view seem pointless. But it was a direct order from the Master and there was nothing she could do about it.

'Well there haven't been any problems in the past.' - Levy was reading a book about the world they would be traveling to – 'Saying that it is deprived of magic is not quite correct. The people there simply cannot use magic as we do. At least that is what it says here.'

They reached a large clearing and Erza placed one of the crystals on the ground. After a little while it cracked into small pieces which began to fly around forming a circle in the air. Through it they could see a completely different scenery.

'By the way.' - Grey turned to Erza – 'Why were we given three of those?'

'One is a spare. This is a bit of an unstable spell. If the stone is damaged too much before use the portal will violently suck in everything crushing it while it passes through. They gave us three just in case something happens to one of them.'

'That sounds really bad...'

'Well for such a large price there was bound to be some danger. But don't worry. These things are hard. Unless you intentionally want to break it , it won't be damaged so easily.'

When the last one passed through the crystal shards vanished. Levi took a look at a map Makarov had given them.

-That must be the mountain from the map. So the vault should be in that direction.

The organisation had done a lot of research. The portal took them as close as possible to the location the stone was believed to be buried . It should be just a couple of hours walk to the area. Apparently the stone's seal prevented them from appearing nearer. As it was supposed to be far away from any major settlement , if they were lucky , they wouldn't meet another soul. But many things could have changed since the last magician had entered this world. They were about to start walking , but stopped when they noticed the three dragon slayers looked perplexed .

'What's wrong?' - Lucy turned to them

'The air smells bad.' - Natsu quickly answered

'What do you mean bad?'

'Don't know. Just doesn't smell right'.

'And the clouds.' - Wendy looked at the sky - 'They seem...unnatural. '

'You know this could just be normal for this world. Wasn't it similar in Edolas for you guys?'

'Wasn't anything like this Shrimp. But you might be right.'

The group started to move but were more cautious then they thought they would be. Indeed those clouds looked wrong. They were dark , but it was obvious that they were not rain clouds. They couldn't see the sky at all. This made it hard to determine whether it was day or night . The trees themselves seemed devout of life. No leaf could be seen on them. But it was too hot to be close to fall. If anything it felt like the middle of summer. Sometimes when they stepped on grass , it turned to dust. It was as if something had killed the land. It didn't take dragon slayer senses to know that it was definitely not natures work.

'What could have happened here?'

'I have no idea. But I suggest we hurry.' - Erza equipped her standard armor – 'The less time we spend here the better.'

Nobody disagreed with her and they picked up their pace and when they reached the area where the rune prison that held the stone was supposed to be they froze. The book described the area as a land of heaven. Beautiful large trees , a huge pond with just a small temple in the middle where the entrance to the underground vault , which was their target , was. But what the Fairy Tail mages saw was the largest city they had ever seen. It made Magnolia look like a small village. There were thousands of buildings. The ones on the outer edge were usually one – two stories tall with yards around them. But the further in they saw they rose higher and higher. Never before had they seen building so tall. There was hardly one that looked exactly the same. And they were placed orderly forming streets and much larger pathways that could easily let several rows of magic fourwheelers. Actually the dragon slayers could see several vehicles that looked similar to the ones used in their world. Even from far away it looked impressive and somehow threatening.

The closer they got to the city the stranger it seemed to them. From far away they didn't see any sign of people. Thinking back they hadn't encountered a single animal on the way either. And here the land looked even worse then the area they had appeared in. After a few more steps Wendy suddenly stopped and clapped her hands together. Each member of the group then became surrounded by what looked like a liquid.

'Wendy what is this?' - Erza looked over her arm and how the liquid moved with her

'The air here...how did I not notice it earlier...'

The other two dragon slayers suddenly understood what she meant.

'It's poisoned...the air is poisoned...'

'What!? Are we...'

'It was much weaker back there...if it was like this we would have been dead already. This spell will keep us safe , as long as the poison level does not increase too high.'

Now that they were inside the city they couldn't look at the buildings at all. From far away they had looked imposing and somewhat glorious. A feat of engineering to create such tall structures. But it was a disaster. Every single window was broken , cracks in most walls. Some building were threatening to fall. And if that happened it would lead to a chain that would destroy most of the city. It almost felt like a death trap. Even if these tall buildings were not in danger of collapsing now that they were under them the mages felt crushed by them. It was depressing.

'By the way.' - Lucy stopped – 'How are we going to find that temple?'

'The records say it used to be in the northeast part of the valley. Since the people of this world had no way to break the rune prison it the underground vault the stone will still be there even if they did excavate it. It will take longer to find then we thought though. It is a shame I did not bring my digging equipment.'

She cast them an annoyed look at which they flinched a bit even if they were not to blame for the master's directions. The group made their way to the northeast. They had mentally prepared themselves to spend several days looking for the area that the temple was. But it only took them a few minutes after entering the area. To their surprise it was still standing , surrounded by a wooden wall. A piece of land untouched by the city's rise. There was a sign in front of the gates that led inside , but even if it was in a language they understood , the writing was beyond recognisable. But judging by the stands with what looked like souvenirs , the temple was a tourist attraction.

The temple itself was was not that impressive. It was small and could only hold about twelve people at once. It looked like what a small old religious society might use for prayer. Four obelisks in front of the entrance. The symbols on them long destroyed by the passage of time. Stone walls and a half broken in roof. Glass had been placed where the stone was broken to keep the rain out , but that was now shattered as well. Inside it was setup as a complete tourist trap. There was no way that that furniture was part of the original temple. An attempt at a restoration. What grabbed their attention was a hole in the middle of it. Once there had been a hidden door there , but the ground around it had ruptured and that door had most likely fallen below. There was signs that probably told people to stay back but that was of no concern to the mages. There was a single rope that allowed them to travel below. Unless this was the way people travelled from floor to floor in this world this area was definitely off limits to the general populace.

Although the book referred to this as an underground vault in truth it only held the stone they were after. Why it was brought here in the first place was not said. The hole entrance led to a tunnel that opened up to a large clearing. A stone bridge connected the tunnel to an island surrounded by a huge chasm. The stone was supposed to be on an altar in the middle , but to their surprise it was not there. Levy immediately went to it.

'The rune prison is still up.'

'Then how come it is missing?' - Lucy went next to her

'Look. The entire island is tilted compared to the entrance...My guess is that over the years this islands supports must have eroded tilting it. And the stone simply...fell outside the rune prison. Whoever designed these runes never thought about something like this occurring.'

'So what you are saying is...It may have fallen down below?'

Everyone looked down the chasm. They could not see the bottom from the darkness. Natsu prepared to send down a fireball but Erza immediately and harshly stopped him.

'They said that the stone is fragile to magic. If it is down there and you hit it we won't get the reward!'

'How are we going to get down there anyway?' - Lucy leaned in further 'Looks very deep.'

'Me and Charla can just fly down there.'

'I wouldn't recommend it. The book says that this chasm is some sort of trap , but it doesn't say what kind. To be honest half the things here may be just speculations and crazy ideas.

'We should be careful then. Well I did bring ropes but...I wonder if they will be enough. Well we might as well try...'

Erza was cut short by a call from the other side of the tunnel. Gray and Wendy had remained outside to watch out for trouble. They didn't expect anything to happen in this deserted city , but it didn't hurt to be careful. Now he was calling them to come. When they climbed the rope and stepped outside Grey was staring at the sky.

'What's the matter?'

'A minute ago I saw something small fly above us.'

'And then I heard something coming our way.'

'Something?'

'It almost sounds like wheels. And footsteps coming up behind them. Around twenty people total.'

Gajeel nodded at that.

'They'll probably be here in a few minutes.'

Natsu and Gajeel's hearing was sharper compared to Wendy's. Probably because they were older. It seemed this city was not as abandoned as they thought.

'So what do we do Erza?'

'I know that we are supposed to keep a low profile , but we have been seen. The people coming may know something of use to us. I know it may be a bad idea but I want to talk with them.'

After roughly five minutes an armored jeep followed by twenty people in yellow hazard suits stopped close to the city's one and only tourist attraction. The old temple of worship to whatever god corporal Maren did not care to know. One fo the drones had seen two people standing in front of it. His squad was closest and was ordered to investigate. Another wild goose chase. They had cleared the city several times already since coming. No mutants , injured or survivors from their attack. Probably some clothes that had flown and confused the drone's sensors like last time. Still orders were orders and he was proud to call himself the most trustworthy corporal in the Kaserid assault forces. Only he and his driver were riding in the jeep. The backseats were filled with extra oxygen tanks should one of the soldiers's run out. But when he and his twenty man got to the temple he was terrified. There were indeed people standing in the open waiting for them. And what shocked him was that they were not wearing any protective gear at all. This close to the hitzone nothing should be able to survive for more then a minutes exposure. And what shocked him most , strange even to him why this had stuck in his mind , one of the women was wearing medieval styled armor.

When the strange vehicle stopped the one in charge , or at least who the mages thought was in charge as he was wearing a red suit compared to the others yellow ones , gave a signal with his right arm and the other twenty made a halfcircle around them , pointing strange metal objects at them. The leader stepped out of the car pointing a smaller onehanded version of those metallic objects at them. Erza tried to speak up first , but was interrupted.

'Code Farhen'

'What?'

„Not one of ours then."

There could have been some hidden units that he did not know about , but all Kaserid units under the princes command had to know the codes in case they met friendlies that were uninformed. They could still be with some of the other royal branches but even if they were it didn't matter. Unexpected survivors ,republic forces or other Kaserids. Anyone who did not know the codes was to be executed on the spot. The professor would determine how they were alive with no protective clothing afterwards.

'Kill them!'

Two thoughts passed through Erza's mind at that moment. One. They used the same language , or at least it was close enough to understand each other. The second was that waiting for them had really been a bad idea.

'Reequip!'

In a second she equipped her Adamantine armor and everyone stood behind her as the metal objects that the people were holding started firing at them. Although they looked different they acted exactly like the few guns in their world. Although none of the mages had seen ones firing that fast. The barrage did not last long. Worried , amazed and terrified sounds were heard from the people who attacked them. Of course. They had probably never seen someone transform their clothing so fast. Their weapon attacks had no effect on her armor. She could hear their leader calling them to circle around. Compared to his soldiers he was keeping his cool.

'I'll quickly knock them out!'

'Natsu stop!'

Erza stopped him before he could charge forward. It was not because of the enemy being able to harm him. They were still too stunned to fight. It was just that Natsu's attacks would probably damage their suits. They did not look that durable to her. And then the poison would harm them. She didn't want this worlds people to think of them as bloodthirsty invaders.

'Grey. Freeze them in place , but be careful not to damage their suits.'

'Got it. Ice Make! Prison!'

After he touched the ground in a second ice had formed over their attackers hands and feet preventing them from moving. Some of them were outright screaming now. The sight of two flying cats had helped bringing them to panic. Only their leader and his driver were unaffected standing atop their vehicle.

'Now then.' - Erza said as she reequipped back into her normal armor. - 'Can we talk peacefully?'

The helmet hid his face completely but judging from his shaking he was biting back anger. He tapped his ear and screamed while firing.

'Requesting reinforcements now! Level Primus! Mutagens detected.'

The fire from his weapon was much slower and each of them managed to dodge his random shots. Both him and his unarmed driver started to fall back. With a sigh Erza turned to Grey.

'Please.'

'Yeah yeah.'

Just as he was about to capture the other two the mages heard a noise from behind. Turning they saw five large bird like flying metal contraptions were headed towards them.

'It's that thing I saw earlier.'

Connected to both it's wings were weapons that immediately opened fire on the mages. They were even more rapid firing them the ones the soldiers were using. They barely had time to take cover behind the temple walls. After they passed above them Natsu destroyed two with direct fireballs , while Gajeel took down another two by jumping in the air and slashing with his iron sword.

'More soldiers are coming!'

'How many?'

'Can't tell. Too many footsteps. They are all around. That guy is commanding them to surround us!'

Erza took a look in the direction that the soldiers leader had retreated. Indeed he had his left hand pressed against his ear just like when he had called for backup. Not that she doubted Natsu's words.

'This is bad. We shouldn't stay here any longer. We'll fall back.'

The last of the Kaserid seeker drones was blown up by the blackhaired man who had surprisingly stripped his upper clothing in the middle of the battle. An ice bazooka had appeared in his arms and with one clean shot he had taken it down before it could open fire on them again. Unknown to them they were being watched. One of the few active cameras in the city was there and a man with glasses hidden in the shadows was watching them from far away. They had began to retreat. The last thing he saw before they had left the camera range was how the blackhaired girl had summoned the wind to knock over a jeep. Slowly he reached for his phone and dialed a number.

'The ones at the shrine. Bring them to me.'

Just making this call was a huge risk. Bringing them a probably greater one. But it was a risk he needed to take. These people could be the answer he was looking for.

Even with the dragon slayer's hearing the mages were barely able to dodge their pursuers attempts to trap them. They had no idea where they were going , while their commander was brilliantly focusing the soldiers to cut them off. No more flying contraptions appeared , but they noticed heavily armored vehicles with large cannons on them. Natsu and Gajeel were irritated that they couldn't fight back. But it was starting to look impossible to escape and fighting back was slowly becoming the only option. Erza turned to the dragon slayers but they shook their heads in unison. They were completely surrounded. It was strange. From meeting nobody to this. It must have been pure luck that they didn't meet anyone on the way to the temple in the first place. They could use a portal stone but it was doubtful that the organisation would give them others to try again if they fled so fast. Compared to the other possibility of fighting them under these conditions it did not seem like such a bad thing.

Before she could decide what to do she saw people from inside one of the nearby building waving them in. Like the ones pursuing them they were wearing similar fullbody suits but theirs were white.

'If you want to get away come with us.'

It did not take them long to decide that it was better off following them. Unlike the others those guys at least were not firing at them. Even if it was a trap , they would be able to fight their way out of it quickly with their magic. They entered the building and followed the one that called them as they went down a stairway into a basement. There were five of them and the fact that they were armed with similar weapons to the ones outside did not go unnoticed. Removing a large metal box they revealed a passage that led further down and ushered them in. There was a ladder for them to climb down and after three of them had gone on ahead the mages followed. The last two pulled the box over the passage entrance as they descended. It led to what looked like a sewer.

'We're below the actual sewers. Don't worry the kaserids don't know about them and have no patrols here.'

The mages had no idea what „kaserids" meant but the man probably thought that their confused stares were about the fact that these undersewers were not known to them.

'Old constructions. Only those that have lived in this city for a long time like me know that they exist. Now please follow me.'

They started walking.

'You used to live here?'

'All five of us.'

'Must have been a long time ago seeing the state above.'

'Long time? It's been a week since it's been like this.'

'A week?'

'Yeah. A week since they brought down that nuke on us.'

'Nuke?'

'Do you live in a cave or something? The Kaserid Dynasty declared war and their first move was to nuke our capitol. They were nice enough to give us half an hour to try and evacuate some of the citizens. Not that it was enough to do much...'

He looked them over. Letting out an annoying sigh he continued.

'Well looking at you you might actually really do live in a cave. And the radiation having no effect on you with no protective gear... Honestly I don't care. The kaserids don't like you and the prof wanted me to take you to him. That is all that interests me.

Without saying anything else he continued leading them through the undersewers.