Almost all of the Fairy Tail members' jaws dropped at the sight of the cheerful ghost of the First Master, swinging back and forth on Al's tail without a care in the world. She giggled at their expressions, as if her being there, balanced precariously on the tail of a black winged lizard, in this strange place, was as natural as flying was to this creature, or as fire was to Natsu. Strangely, she seemed to fit into place perfectly, in the absurd scene, as if she was a part of team Fairy Tail herself, journeying on the back of the creature with her fellow guild mates.
"First Master...", Erza managed, too stunned to continue further. Gray and Lucy were equally baffled by the sudden appearance of the small, female ghost, simply staring at her with blank expression, mouths still open. Natsu, on the other hand, seemed to follow Mavis' example, treating the situation as completely normal, simply taking in everything as it came.
"Yo! First Master! Long time no see! How's it going?" Natsu greeted her casually, whilst the remaining members just opened and closed their mouths like goldfish, still unable to put thoughts into words at the sight of the ghostly girl.
"Hello Natsu! Are you enjoying Drakonia so far?", Mavis asked cheerily.
"Wait...Drakonia?" Gray asked, no longer willing to think upon the sudden appearance of the First Master, as he valued his sanity, decided to pretend like she was there the whole time.
"Please explain, First Master. We were brought here by a strange light, and we have no clue what's going on", Erza stated calmly, following Gray's example to suppress the shock of Mavis' arrival, forcing herself to ignore it. Now, only Lucy looked around in confusion, as everyone but her seemingly understood the situation perfectly well, casually speaking to the little ghost girl, balanced on the tail of a creature mid-flight, in a strange land called Drakonia..
"Is this a dream? Am I going crazy?" Lucy looked down at her hands and rubbed them together, starting at the fact that they were real. Near Al's head, the original rider turned around, thinking that Lucy wasn't the only one who was going insane. To him, the Fairy Tail members seemed to be greeting, as well as making directed inquiries to, Al's tail, which they referred to as their "Master" or something similar.
"Um, you guys back there, who are you talking to?" Dolby asked cautiously.
"The First Master. Who else would we be talking to?" Natsu grinned and pointed to Al's tail, seeming to confirm Dolby's fears: that they had all gone mad and began to worship Al's rear end.
"Right. No worries, just making sure", Dolby snapped his head back, pointedly focusing on the open sky in front of him, eyes pointed straight ahead, too scared to question any further, for fear of the absurd answers he might receive.
"Uh...that's not-" Gray began to explain, but was stopped by Erza's hand.
"Another time. It'll take a while to explain everything to him", Erza whispered to Gray, careful to make sure her voice didn't carry over to the front of Al. "Besides, right now we need an explanation of our own." This was directed to Mavis, eyes twinkling at the team knowingly.
"Alright, there's a lot to cover. I suppose I should begin with the history of this place first. This land is known as Drakonia, roughly translated from Dragonspeak to mean: 'The Land of the Dragons'. There is a reason behind this name, which involves the creation of Acnologia, over 400 years ago." She paused, collecting her thoughts, before she began the story:
In the beginning, Earthland and what was known then as Gharus, were two worlds that co-existed in the same dimension, although a sizeable distance away from each other. Wizards in both of these worlds had made connection with each other for decades, the initial contact made by accidental exercise of telepathic magic. The wizards from both lands began to communicate more frequently, learning of each other's worlds and cultures, and finding a surprising similarity between the two, with many overlaps in things such as ancient tradition, language and, most significantly perhaps, control over magic. It was theorised that the two worlds were once connected with each other, but had gradually drifted apart, and thus, a joint decision was made by the respective councils of Earthland and Ghatus, to reconnect the two worlds. In the council rooms of both worlds, each world's wizards projecting their likeness into the council room of the other, the agreement was sealed, and two portals were opened by the twelve most powerful wizards of each world, one on each land, and the gateway was finally open, their power later transferred into hundreds of the highly absorptive purple lacrima endemic to Gharus. Smaller gateways were opened up all over each world, with at least one in every town, such that the inter-dimensional gateway was solidified. The wizards who had achieved this feat were bestowed the title of Wizard Saint for their deeds, a tradition that has carried on through the centuries, and remains prevalent even today. In this manner, Earthland and Gharus were joined as one, once more.
For a time, the bond between the two lands allowed them both to prosper. The free trade of resources that one land lacked and the other had in abundance, allowed for a mutually beneficial situation. New flora bloomed in the worlds, that the natives had never laid their eyes on, and creatures from one world seemed to crop up and flourish in the other. Magic, too, advanced in leaps and bounds, with the combined research of wizards from both lands, and soon, populations from the foreign world began to settle in the other, and the boundaries of the lands slowly disappeared. After about two centuries, Earthland seemed inseparable from Gharus, and vice versa: the two lands seemed to be more like slightly different countries than separate worlds. However, there was one important thing that Earthland had, and Gharus lacked, and that was dragons.
The dragons had left the human race alone for aeons, minding their own matters, as the humans minded theirs, treating then likewise. After all, dragons saw the humans as no more than food; not a sentient race. However, a certain dark wizard from Gharus, whose obsession with dragons brought darkness to the land, in the form of powerful demons, bent on destroying all living creatures, stirred the dragons from their peaceful ignorance. A war between dragons broke out, as they took sides: between dragons who hated humans and wished to exterminate their race, using the dark wizard as an example of their evil, and dragons who wished to befriend humans, and bestowed upon humans Dragon Slaying Magic. This was the Dragon's Civil War.
However, the new magic granted to the humans by the dragons had the adverse side effect of the gradual transformation of the user into a dragon, the more they used the magic. One Dragon Slayer, driven mad by the transformation into a dragon, slaughtered the great creatures indiscriminately, growing in power with each life taken, until he emerged as the King of Dragons: Acnologia. What few dragons who remained alive were either in hiding, or served as one of Acnologia's followers: dragons and transformed Dragon Slayers who obeyed the colossal black dragon's every whim, and in exchange, Acnologia kept them alive, as a source of entertainment. One transformed Dragon Slayer in particular, originally from Gharus, of bright white scale and red claws and wings, seemed to catch his attention. She was fearless in battle, and obeyed his every command without question. Acnologia named her his Queen and with her, he sired a brood composed of three chromatic dragonflights: red, white and black. These three dragonflights are still very important in Drakonia today. No longer human, nor completely dragon, Acnologia killed many dragons and humans alike, till he grew tired of Earthland, setting his sights on the adjoining world: Gharus.
On Gharus, Acnologia and his followers wreaked havoc, incinerating the world in an armageddon of silver flame. It was here that Acnologia claimed his throne, melting a massive plateau on the tallest mountain of the Gharus mountain range, to the north of the land. Acnologia, content that his power had no equal, set out to train the black dragonflight, who he believed shared his blood the most, being of the same colour scales as his own. This dragonflight grew vicious and power-hungry, fed by their father's example, and often terrorised the other chromatic dragons in Acnologia's dragonflights, believing them to be inferior. The Queen of Dragons, overcome by the sadness of seeing her homeland destroyed, as well as anger at what Acnologia had done to the black dragonflight of her brood, caused her to snap back to her senses, and realize the destruction she had helped cause. She escaped with the rest of her children, to Earthland, seeking the help of the remaining dragons, as well as the humans that still would listen to her, begging forgiveness.
Both races had suffered enough by Acnologia's claw, that they felt the pain and resentment that resounded from the former Dragon Slayer, as she proposed they put and end to the black dragon's reign of terror. The twelve wizard Saints of Earthland at the time, as well as a force of just under one hundred surviving dragons, were transported into Gharus, by the master lacrima, where the majority of the gateway's power was stored. Through this power, the attack force was transported to Acnologia's throne, where they attacked the black dragon whilst he slept. Acnologia, overwhelmed and seconds from being sealed, let loose a massive roar that shook the heavens themselves, as white fire soared out of his maw, raining down on the lands beneath them. Several dragons and three of the Wizard Saints were killed instantly, and the fire poured into the residual gateway that the wizards and dragons had used to arrive at the throne. The flames were so potent that they not only managed to cross the gateway, but also destroyed the master lacrima on Earthland, severing the connection between the two worlds. The force of the roar was so great, that hose dragons at the head of the attack force, were blown back into the portal along with the fire, causing the force to lose some of their strongest members. This, paired with the loss of three of the Wizard Saints, allowed Acnologia to slowly break free of the magic that chained, and threatened to imprison him, for eternity.
The Dragon Queen sensed the waning power of the wizards, and realized that a sacrifice was needed to be made in order to stop the mad dragon. She threw herself at his colossal head, breathing fire into his eyes, as his claws ripped into her, threatening to tear her apart. Still, she held on, determined to put a stop to what she had helped start. The massive dragon flailed about, crushing several smaller dragons in the process, as the Queen urged them to complete the spell, which would trap her along with the corrupted Dragon King. They reluctantly complied, knowing it was for the good of both worlds and the life that resided in it, sealing the two dragons within the mountain, for eternity. This battle came to be known as "The Dragon's Ire", due to the fearsome rage of Acnologia that had almost lost the wizards and dragons the future of the two worlds.
Peace returned to Gharus and Earthland once more, however the cost was great. Many lives were lost, cities reduced to ashes and the two worlds were torn apart, the magic required to build another gateway, lost to time. However, both worlds gradually rebuilt. The Wizard Saints, trapped in the world of Gharus, helped rebuild the magic council in Gharus, destroyed along with everything else during Acnologia's rampage, and helped the humans establish good relations with the dragons. The dragons colonized the mountains, making settlements of their own, allowing their own communities to grow. Over time, these colonies learned to live alongside the humans, and relationships between the two races flourished. For the first time in history, dragons and humans worked together, following the example set by the human wizards and dragons who had risked, and lost in some cases, their lives to defeat Acnologia. Gharus, once a land devoid of dragons, was renamed to Drakonia, and was forever known as the Land of the Dragons.
However, what became of Acnologia's brood? The Queen of Dragons, scared that her children might be oppressed in Earthland, due to their bloodline, hid them in the mountain range to the south of the newly created Drakonia. It was here that the two dragonflights separated: the red dragonflight migrated across the sea, eventually landing in a dense jungle, where they made their home. The white dragonflight remained in the mountainside living in seclusion to this very day. The black dragonflight, corrupted by Acnologia, remained in the northern mountain range, killing any dragons or humans that ventured near their residence. However, what is most interesting about these dragons was that they didn't remain dragons for long. Since their parents were originally human, human blood still flowed through the veins of their bodies, changed by the Dragon Slayer magic. Over generations, resistance was formed to the transforming magic, and more children began to be born as humans. Slowly, the dragonflights transformed into human populations, with one significant difference: their bodies retained the power to transform into a dragon at will. The Three Dracanei Tribes came into being.
Ten years ago, the capital of Drakonia was taken over by a group known as the Order of Humanity. The group is comprised of individuals that detest dragons, and seek vengeance against the dragons for Acnologia destroying Gharus in the past. Ironically, the reason they were able to achieve this was due to the help of The Black Dracanei: descendants of Acnologia's black dragonflight. However, such knowledge is only possessed by the dragons and the other Dracanei tribes. Over time, as dragons and humans grew apart once more, the Dracanei were simply thought to be humans with an extraordinary gift of transforming into a dragon. Thus, this allowed the Black Dracanei to manipulate the human communities into believing that Acnologia was just an ordinary dragon, and had no relation to them at all. This sparked hate amongst humans for dragonkind, as wounds older than themselves rekindled the old hatred of their ancestors, resulting in the Order. The Black Dracanei, who worship Acnologia in secret, have only one motive: to destroy dragonkind, as revenge for imprisoning the great black dragon. Currently, a tyrant council composed of the Black Dracanei and several human puppet leaders, rulesa the country from the capital. The dragons are becoming restless as their kind is persecuted by the humans, who are fed lies by the Black Dracanei, and war is imminent. This is the situation right now.
Mavis finished the story and beamed at the team, pleased that she still remembered all of it. Lucy's head buzzed as she struggled to take all the information in, as Natsu lightly snored, leaning on her. She had been so engrossed in the story that she hadn't noticed Natsu, who had lost interest after the first few sentences, doze off on her arm. She blushed and shoved him off her arm.
"Natsu! Can't you at least pretend to be interested? The first master went through all the trouble of explaining that to us, you know", she scolded.
"Huh, wha-", Natsu jerked awake, completely unaware of the situation around him.
"Never mind", Lucy slapped her forehead with her palm, scrunching her eyebrows in frustration. "Sometimes..."
"That still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. How did we get here? How did you find us? And what are we supposed to do over here?" Erza pointed out to Mavis, who smiled at her knowingly.
"I've been fortunate enough to travel here once when I was alive, which allows my ghost access to parts of this place. As for who brought you here, it's the person who sent you that purple lacrima and imbued it with the spell for retuning here; quite a complex one, as well as one of the Lost Magics. Not many people can travel from world to world like this. You should consider yourselves lucky!" Mavis giggled good-naturedly. "The person told me you would be coming, and so I thought I should fill you in on some details before you go out on this job."
"Job?" Gray asked, confused, resulting in Mavis smiling at him and pointing to his pant pocket.
"The request you read earlier. You should be able to read it properly now, as the magic hiding its true message dissipates once you enter "
Grau pulled out the crumpled piece of parchment, which had somehow reduced itself to a single sheet, with the dragon's claw mark on the centre. Above the claw were three words, written in bold print.
STOP THE WAR