Chapter Four

That night, I had a strange dream. I dreamt I was in a cave. It was dark. I was alone. Water was rising around my ankles. It was very cold. I ran to the back of cave, and hit solid rock. The rocks were cold and slimy, but there were also sharp. I cut my hand on the wall, but I couldn't see it. I ran a direction which I thought was left, but I was scared and it was so, so dark. I ran into something, and not gently. It was hard, but the surface was smooth. It felt like wood. A boat? Even if it wasn't, wood was buoyant. I could float. It was then that I realized how cold I was. There was a sharp pain in my stomach. I lay my hand on my stomach, and my hand came away warm and wet. Icy water lapped around my ankles.

I sat up in my bed, gasping for air. It took me several minutes to realize that I was no longer in that cave, what with how dark it was in my room. I was sweating, and the window was wide open. My feet felt like ice. I rubbed my eyes and dropped my head into my hands, and just sat there for a moment. Then I covered my feet with my blankets. I stared at them, hidden in the blankets and covered in moonlight. I was awake now, and there was no changing that. So I decided to get up and walk around outside.

It was a chilly night. I could see my breath fogging out in front of me, as I stood there on the street. I started walking, but I didn't know where I was going. I just walked until I came to a park, and I stood in the frosted grass, staring at the stars. I heard something behind me, and when I turned around to look, I saw Happy there, flying at about the height of my head. I turned back to the stars. "Hey, Happy. What are you doing here?"

"Mira asked us to go by the guild and get a book for you that she found. She didn't know where you lived or how to contact you." He said, and landed on my shoulder. "She said she thought it might help you. I don't know what it is though." He pulled the book out of his little bag, and handed it to me. "By the way, why are you here? It's late, and it's cold out."

"I don't know." I said. I didn't feel like explaining my nightmare. "Just felt like a walk." I replied softly. "Where's Natsu?"

"He's around." Happy said, looking around, then flying up again off my shoulder, all the while giving me a look of concern.

I sighed, and turned toward the road to head home. Or what counted as home, now. Happy asked where I was going, and I replied: "Back to bed. Maybe I can sleep now." But I didn't really feel like sleeping. I knew somewhere inside me that what I had seen wasn't a just a nightmare. It had been real, for her. When she'd been sealed away, they never explicitly said how she was sealed. One assumed it was through magical means. But what if it wasn't? What if the barrier was physical? With sudden inspiration, I ran home.

I tossed the book Mira gave me onto the counter, spraying dust on everything within a five foot radius (usually it was my sister who cleaned things, but I hadn't seen her for a few months, so I had just kind of forgotten to clean a few things). Then I took out my books and looked again at the atlases, then took out the one I had grabbed on natural disasters a couple weeks ago, just because I was morbidly curious, I guess. I flipped to the floods section, and found nothing. Then onto the mudslides and avalanches, and found nothing. As my inspiration began to slip, I found an entry on an earthquake that rocked the land, and brought with it a monstrous tsunami which entirely changed the landscape.

In the year 412, the earthquake Rao shook the countryside where the natives had lived underground, causing many tunnels to collapse and a sinkhole the size of modern day Magnolia was created on the oceanfront; upwards of 1,000 people were killed in the rubble. A few hours after the earthquake a tsunami hit the side of the land, and carved out the rest of the tunnels making them collapse as well, and killing all the people left inside. It's unknown at this point exactly how many were killed in the tsunami and how many were trapped in the rubble, left to starve or drown under what was now upwards of 200 feet of water. Even to this day, the cliffs along the northern coast continue to deteriorate, causing environmentalists to continue to study this area.

I stared at this passage for a moment, and then looked back at my atlases. The upper coast of Fiore had a strange bubble on the top where a river began, and an outcropping of rock to the right of it. Now I was intrigued. I finally had a lead.

The next day, I once again found myself at the library. This time, I was referencing history books. I was looking at the year 412, as mentioned. I finally found a passage about it, saying pretty much the same thing, only it had something none of the written legends did: a name. Lilly, I thought to myself. There was a very strong water magic user in that village when the earthquake and tsunami had hit. In the aftermath, no one could find her, and all assumed she had died. But from what I read and that nightmare I had, she'd been injured badly, and when the tunnels collapsed, she had been trapped inside. If she hadn't known water magic, she probably would have drowned. As it was, she hadn't eaten anything in 300+ years, so who even knew if she was alive? But I had a lead.

I ran full speed to the guild hall to present my findings, only to find that Natsu had gone on a job that morning. "Sorry, Elia. He should be back soon though. It was a fairly easy job close to Magnolia, so she should return by tonight." Mira said, smiled at me. "I'm glad you found something!"

"Me too." I said sleepily, and went to a table to wait for Natsu, Happy, and Lucy to return. I was tired from the night before, and slowly began to fall asleep…

Before I knew it, Natsu was shaking me awake. Lucy and Happy were both there too, and I realized how late it must be. But! I had to show Natsu my findings! So I quickly pulled my stuff from my bag and began to go over it with the three of them, explaining how I'd come up with my idea, including my nightmare, where I thought she might be, and what exactly happened to her.

Natsu nodded solemnly. "That's pretty grim. How did she get hurt?"

"The original legend said she was nearly killed by Acnologia. Which I guess would make sense. You guys bear witness to just how powerful he is. I have no doubt he could've caused the earthquake that made the tunnels collapse and kill so many people. And then the tsunami afterwards could either have been from him, or it could have been from her. Or her dragon I guess." I said, scratching an itch on the top of my head. Then it hit me: "What if the dragons were fighting, but the natives, hidden in the tunnels, assumed it was an earthquake and a tsunami? What if Lilly was injured in the fighting?"

"Who's Lilly?" Natsu asked, confused.

"My history book said there was a girl who used very strong water magic and was often with a bright blue dragon. She was remarkable in her strength because the tribe only used element based magic,so there were a lot of water magic wielders, but she was surpassed them all by the time she 10, or so the history book said. Anyway, my thought is that she and her dragon were fighting Acnologia when she was very badly hurt. She then made her way to the tunnels for whatever reason, maybe to help save the villagers, and that's when they began to collapse?"

Lucy looked at all my notes and books spread out on the table. I easily took up most of the table. "Yeah, that sounds about right. So you think she's over here somewhere?" She indicated the inverted bubble on the map that I had noticed earlier.

"Yes. I actually wanted to pinpoint the location of the ruins of the tribe and see if I could somehow go there and look around."

"I'm coming with you." Natsu said. "We could help you. And she might know where Igneel is, or might at least have a clue." He said.

I nodded. "Well, from what I've been able to gather, they lived right about here." I said, pointing to an area along the coast where the river began. "If I'm right about Acnologia being the cause of this, then I'll say she's right around the beginning of the river."

"You're pretty good at this Elliott." Natsu said.

"Elia." I scowled.

"Yeah. So when can we go?" He asked, staring at me beseechingly.

"Well… whenever, I guess. I've got no jobs lined up, and you just finished one, so you guys should be good, right? Maybe… a couple days? Enough time to pack up some provisions and other things we might need?" I said.

"Ok with me." Lucy said. Natsu nodded.

"Aye, sir!" Happy said, jumping in the air and throwing his tiny paw ahead of him in the air.

"Ok then. We leave in two days for the Fiore coast to wake the sleeping legend." I said, and with that, I slammed my book shut with a big grin on my face.