The Search for the Sun
After about a day, it was time for the Fiore mages to set out with the Prince of Aaru. For good measure, Wendy and Chelia called Gray and Juvia to assist; Lyon would've come too, but according to Gray, he was busy with another job. When asked, both Erza and Kagura determined they would be enough to represent their guild.
Horus admitted he had no idea where he was going, but it was decided that they would start where the trail went cold for him; which was about a day's journey away. To that end, it was soon time for Natsu and Lucy to say goodbye to their child.
"Be good, baby," Lucy said, as she kissed Iggy on the forehead, "We'll be home before you know it."
"Don't worry, kid," Natsu said, as he ruffled his son's hair, "You're mom and dad aren't going to be gone long." Iggy just sniffled slightly, clearly no happy to be separated from his parents.
"Be sure you come back soon," Hisui said, "I love Iggy, but I'm no substitute for his parents."
"That's the plan," Lucy said, as she and Natsu left, "Bye Iggy! We love you!" Iggy just waved at his parents as they left to join the others, before the whole group struck into the wild blue yonder.
(sometime later)
Horus sighed, as he rubbed his forehead; this was a waste of time, there was no way they would find Ra soon, and Set wasn't a patient one. The invasion could come at anytime, and when it did, Horus didn't doubt that Fiore would buckle fairly quickly.
The prince then glanced back at the foreigners, noticing how while they were walking in a group, they were clearly divided into their own subgroups. The soldier and his wife were walking alone with their flying cat, the Council enforcers were were doing the same, while the guild members were divided into their various guilds. They were currently making their way to the mountains, where Horus had his most recent lead on Ra.
Pulling out the sun amulet, and looking at it closely, Horus considered what his grandmother, Nut, told him. She said that he was in Ishgar, and "follow the sun, and you will find the founder", and didn't tell him anything about the . She had said that in the evening, as the sun was setting, so Horus assumed it was in the West, which lead him to Fiore eventually, but after spending over a year searching, he made no real progress.
"Horus, can I ask you a question?" Levy suddenly asked, breaking the prince from his thoughts.
"What is it?"
"If you don't mind me asking, what's that magic you used when you fought us?" Levy asked, "I've never seen it before." Horus was silent for a second, as he seemed to ponder whether or not he wanted to answer, before apparently deciding he did.
"What I wield is a kind of magic based on the Netjer that is bonded to me," he explained.
"Netjer?"
"Netjer are magical beings that don't have a physical form in our world," Horus explained, "However, its possible for someone to bond with one of them, gaining their power; most Netjer possess different aspects, the Netjer that's bonded to me is the Aspect of Kings."
"So they're like Celestial Spirits, then?" Lucy suggested.
"That might be something of an oversimplification, but in the broadest sense, yes," Horus answered.
"Does anyone else have Netjer bonded to them?" Levy asked.
"Every member of my family, and the inner members of the Royal Circle," Horus answered, "Unfortunately that includes my Uncle, and its not an exaggeration to say that his Netjer is one of the most powerful."
"How powerful is 'one of the most powerful'?" Kagura asked.
"The only one who surpasses him in power is Ra himself, who is bonded to the Aspect of the Sun."
"That's not a good point of reference when we don't know how powerful Ra is"
"You have your Ten Wizard Saints, yes?"
"What about them?"
"Well, Ra is just as, if not more powerful than all of them," Horus said plainly. That surprised the Fiore mages somewhat; that was certainly no small statement.
"Such power must be hard to regulate," Levy said.
"I don't envy the Council in your country," Gajeel added.
"We don't have one," Horus said plainly, to the surprise of those assembled.
"You don't have a Magic Council in Aaru?" Gajeel asked, sounding shocked.
"Must be great," Natsu quipped to himself.
"Of course not," Horus said, "We don't have these ridiculous guilds, either."
"Really, you don't have guilds?" Happy asked.
"Certainly not," Horus answered, "We never had guilds in our country; the role of the mages should be to serve the good of the whole kingdom, not just to get paid for doing odd jobs."
"There's more to be a guild than that," Gray protested.
"Right, I'm sure," Horus answered, rolling his eyes slightly.
"Then what do you mages do in Aaru?" Lucy asked.
"Any mages in our kingdom can enroll in the Royal Academy," Horus explained, "There they can get training in their abilities, and eventually they join the Magical Order, under the direct authority of the Pharaoh."
"What if they choose not too?"
"They never do."
"That seems kind of…" Lucy couldn't think of a word for it. Honestly it seemed kind of tyrannical; essentially forcing mages to serve their ruler, instead of being free to pursue their own goals. It reminded her of Edolas a little too much. She instinctively took Natsu's hand, who squeezed slightly.
"To shift the topic," Erza said, "What is our plan when we arrive at this place?"
"This is where your help is supposed to come in," Horus answered.
"Didn't you say that your amulet is supposed to help find him?"
"That's what Grandmother said," Horus answered, "She didn't actually tell he how it specifically worked."
"Everyone stop!" As this was Erza saying it, everyone sans Horus did exactly that, "We've been walking for a while now, let's take break." Nobody protested, as they all sat down. As they sat beside each other, Lucy leaned her head on Natsu's shoulder, as she began to doze slightly; at the same time, Levy leaned her back on Gajeel's side as she started reading; seeing them, Juvia pouted in jealously.
"Can I talk to you?" Erza asked, gesturing for Horus to follow him, which he did.
"What is it?" the prince asked once they were separate from the rest of the group.
"So we basically have no plan?" Erza said, pinching herself between the eyes.
"If you've got any suggestions, I'm ready and willing to hear them."
"Give me the amulet," Erza said with a gesture. After a moment's hesitation, Horus handed her the disc, which she looked over carefully.
"What have you tried with it?" she asked.
"Just about everything," Horus answered, "I even tried putting a few drops of blood on it. All Nut told me before I left was 'follow the sun'." Erza considered those words as she held up the amulet up to the late morning sun. Nothing about it caught her eye, as she chewed on her lip slightly. But as she was holding it, she noticed some light glinting off it, she then looked down at the light refracting off it on the ground. There, it formed what looked a bird with its wings spread, which was strange since that image didn't appear anywhere on the amulet. That was when it came to the knight.
"Its the refraction," the scarlet haired knight said, pointing to the image, "The bird is pointing to where we need to go." Horus looked down and inspected it, before his eyes widened.
"By the gods, you're right," he answered in surprise.
"Everyone get up!" Erza shouted to her traveling companions.
"Already?" Gray complained, "But we just…"
"I know where we need to go!"
(a couple hours later)
Using the amulet, the group eventually were lead to a small clearing on the edge of the mountains around noon.
"Well, this is where the amulet was pointing us," Erza said, holding up said amulet.
"So where the hell is this guy?" Natsu said, spreading his arms, "I don't see anyone else around here."
"I don't know," Erza said, "This is just where the amulet sent us."
"Maybe its faulty," Gajeel said, glaring slightly.
"No!" Horus quickly insisted, "My grandmother would not have given me anything 'faulty'."
"You sure about that?" Natsu said plainly. Gritting his teeth, Horus then looked into the sky, hoping to find any sign of anything, and noticed a very light glint in the sky, as his eyes widened in realization.
"I should've expected this," the prince muttered.
"What is it?"
"Ra's in the sky!" he declared.
"What was that now?" Gray asked, as he and everyone else were surprised by that statement.
"He's on a magical invention from Aaru called a sun barge. Its a kind of airship that flies very high, and literally sails on sunlight. It makes sense that he would be up there instead of down here."
"How high up, is it?"
"Beyond the clouds, obviously," Erza answered, "The question now is how do we get up there." Several people looked at Horus, who just shrugged.
"You're smart," he said, "I'm sure you'll figure it out." With that, he transformed his golden falcon, and flapped into the air.
"Well that's all well and good, but what do we do?" Chelia asked. Natsu took a breath as he folded his arms across his chest, and concentrated. Fire then gathered around his arms, and lashing them out revealed a pair of wings made from fire.
"What the…," Gajeel said.
"This is something knew I learned," Natsu answered. He then gestured, and Lucy wrapped his arms around his neck; Natsu then beat his fire wings, and took off into the sky after Horus.
"Hey!" Gray shouted, "What about us?"
"Sad to say, I never learned a technique like that," Gajeel said.
"Its not entirely preferable, but I've got this," Erza said, as she re-quipped into her Black Wing Armor, which had a pair of wings. Kagura hooked her arms around Erza's, as Erza floated into the air.
"This still doesn't answer my question!" Gray shouted again, waving his arms. He was interrupted when both he and Juvia were grabbed by Happy in his battle form.
"Hold on!" he said as he flew up. That gave Pantherlily the same idea, as he picked up Gajeel and Levy and flew up. That left the Sky Sisters.
"I could carry one of you," Carla said as she assumed her human form, "But I'm not strong enough to carry both."
"Don't worry, I think I can get up on my own," Wendy said, as she took a deep breath, and entered Dragon Force.
"Are you sure?" Chelia asked, "You said you haven't fully mastered this yet."
"Well, no time like the present to test it out," Wendy said with a confident smile. She then gathered her wind around her, before leaping into the air, the wind boosting her up. It was a technique Wendy had been practicing over the past year; by manipulating the air around her, she was able to achieve some form of pseudo flight. It wasn't perfect, but it should be enough for her to get to wherever they needed to go at the time. Chelia was then picked up by Carla, as they went after the others, with Horus in the lead.
"It comes to my attention," Lucy said to Natsu, as she held onto her husband, "Does this guy know we're coming?"
"I don't think he is," Natsu answered.
"That's probably not a good think," Lucy said.
"Eh?" Natsu answered, "I think we'll be good."
As the Fiore mages and the prince flew up towards where Ra was, from the bushes beneath them, watched the red serpent from Orochi Fin. It just flicked its tongue, before slithering back into the shadows.
Note: "Netjer" is derived from the Ancient Egyptian word for "god" or "deity". You're free to take some guesses as to what the other potential Netjer are based on how this arc is going.
Things are going to pick up here, especially as they come to meet Ra. But for the sake of spoilers, I'll just leave it at that.
Be sure to review.
Quick note: if you are into Ancient Egypt in anyway, I highly recommend the manga Im: Great Priest Imhotep by Makoto Morishita. Its definitely one of my new favorites.