I was gently awoken by a ray of sunlight pouring in from the window across the room. The sun was just beginning to rise, the light shooting horizontally from the horizon, through the window, and right into my face.

With a graceful "Nuunnggggghhhh," I grabbed a pillow, burying my face in it to try and catch a few more minutes before I had to get up. On my left arm, Mavis was still comfortably nestled in the underneath the blankets, unconsciously clinging to me. She was warm and soft; a very comforting presence. I breathed in deeply as I attempted to achieve slumber once again.

After a few minutes of an unsuccessful venture to get back to sleep, I pulled the covers down and off of my torso and stretched my arms to the ceiling. I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth, seeing that I had left a substantial amount on my pillow. I wrinkled my nose. Looking across the room to the other bed, I could still see that Mirajane was asleep, the blankets on top of her rising and falling slowly with her breathing. Carefully trying to not wake Mavis, I pried her fingers off of my forearm and replaced them with a pillow. At first she seemed a little disoriented, but then wrapped her pale arms around it and fell back into a deeper snooze. I smiled at her and slid out of bed, fishing around in my green canvas pack for some deodorant and the room key.

I closed the door quietly and made my way downstairs, not having even attempted to tame my bedhead. God I hated mornings that I wasn't woken by the chirping of birds on Tenrou. I couldn't even concentrate until I had a large cup of coffee. Hanging onto the railing tightly, I made my way down the stairs, trying to fight through my drowsy stupor. I got down to the small lobby to find the same couple that had been tending the inn the night before. I looked to the man and nodded my head at him in a silent greeting, and made my way into one of the large leather chairs by the fire. The lady, who was who I assumed to be the wife of the man, was sitting there too. As I sat, she offered me a cup of tea from the green kettle that sat on the coffee table. I accepted.

Sitting and sipping my tea, I began to wake up slowly. I got to get a better look at these people that Mira said looked exactly like me. And, the more that I sat there, the more that I came to agree with her. They had features that looked akin to mine, from hair color all the way to skin tone.

"So," the woman said, breaching the silence. "You're going after the job that's here in town?"

I perked up, eager to start a conversation with these people that I was intrigued by. "Yeah," I replied simply. "I've been at Fairy Tail for a while now and just needed to start earning my keep. This job seemed like the right fit."

"The right fit?" She said in exasperation. She definitely thought that I was out of my league. "Honey, this job's been up for over a decade. Wizards from all over Fiore have tried, and failed, to do this job. Just how confident are you in your abilities?"

"Let's just say that I'm not all that worried." I responded quickly. And I was right to say so. I've taken down bigger foes than some "mystery creature" that's down in a pit somewhere in this town. It wouldn't be a problem.

"Arrogance can be a fatal flaw," she said kindly. If it came from someone else, I might be offended, but she had a very genial nature about her. She was warm and welcoming, like the fire that was across the room. Looking at her, she had very similar features to the man that was tending the counter. Tan skin, white hair, and pretty tall for a woman. She was beautiful, too. Although there were a couple wrinkles on her face, they only added grace to her attractiveness. She was definitely a head-turner back in her day. The only difference between the two were the eyes. Instead of light, steely-colored eyes, hers were a deep drown. They were dark and soft, the color of tree bark after a rainstorm.

But amidst all her beauty and kind words, I could tell that there resided great sadness behind those big, brown eyes. They both had a kind of quiet solace about them that added to their elegance. Although only innkeepers, they held themselves high, and radiated knowledge far greater than their mortal years could ever grant them.

"Are you married to that man over there?" I asked politely, gesturing to the man behind the counter.

She smiled. "Yes," she responded. "In fact, we'll be celebrating our thirty-year anniversary in January."

"Congratulations! Thirty years, that's a long time! Do you guys have any kids to celebrate with you?"

As soon as it left my mouth, I knew that I shouldn't have said it. Her smile disappeared as she blankly looked down at the floor. Her mouth had curled downwards into a scowl. "Children? Once, we had child." She looked up at me. "But after his second birthday, he was stolen from us. Disappeared, really."

My eyes widened. My heart pounded. "Do you have any idea what caused it?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "It was something long ago, that had disappeared from the world, and only existed in legend. It-"

She was cut off by a monstrous roar that came from outside. I turned my head to try and peer out the window, barely able to rip my ears away from the conversation.

A voice came from the other side of the room. "What was that?" I looked over to see Mira already dressed and ready, with Mavis behind her, still rubbing her eyes, half asleep.

Not knowing, I looked around to the innkeepers to see if they had the answer.

"That," the man said. "Is the job that you came all this way for. Remember, that one that you said you weren't worried about?"

X...X...X

Mavis, Mira, and I all stood on the edge of a pit, gazing down into a dark abyss. Deep, blood-curdling shrieks came from the darkness. I looked over to them, lips curled up into a smile. "Well, this looks promising."

Still staring down into the monster pit, they slowly turned their heads to me in unison, their mouths hanging open. Their expressions were saying, Are you serious?

I materialized my mismatched demon and angel wings, as well as requipping my earring into my katana. "Well," I said. "There's only one way to get down." And with that, I hopped off the edge, free falling down into the chasm of doom. As I dive-bombed downwards, the gradients of light on the canyon's wall became steadily darker, and I was soon enveloped by the shadows. Rin, who was on my shoulder (as always), cast off a faint bluish light the made us a target for whatever beast resided in this place.

But this darkness didn't feel… natural. I felt it. In its weight. This canyon was once a spout of natural magic power, but it had been clogged by these heavy shadows that polluted it's very existence. In an effort to dispel the poisonous shade, I channeled light magic into my katana, and spun around, casting light into the darkness that illuminated my surroundings, faintly clearing the cave but not making completely unscathed by the spell.

My illumination did let me see a bit of what was around me. Certain corners were still shrouded, but the sun was casting a harsh light down onto the orange and brown rock that was below my feet. Mira touched down beside me in her Satan-Soul form, carrying Mavis in her claw-like hands. We tensed up, ready for a fight. I knew that whatever was down here, we could take.

Something caught my eye. Out of the misconstrued fringes, I saw two figures emerge. There was a man and a woman, walking side by side. They were both tall and slender, with jet-black hair and matching sunglasses. Their strides matched exactly, coming forth in unison. They were each draped in emerald robes, flowing down to the ground seamlessly. They were...beautiful. No, that's not the word. Enchanting. Intoxicating. They had very sharp, chiseled features that added to the oddness of their appearance. They were humanoid, but definitely not human.

"Ssssso," the woman said. "It looksss like there'sss some more wizardss here for the job." She cracked a toothy grin, two fangs protruding from here smile.

"Great," I muttered under my breath. "More snake people."

Mira glanced at me in partial amusement, thinking back to Bora.

"People?" The male said calmly, shockingly picking up on my remark. "Oh, we're not people, young one. Thiss is just the form we take when we introduce ourselves to lovely mages such as yourselvessss. You see, it's just easier on us to have your attention here, while our children come up behind."

Just as he finished his sentence, something slammed into my back. Hard. I looked up to see a large snake above me, green scales glinting in the sunlight. It had yellow eyes that pierced my vision, leaving me feeling cold. I had seen these things before. I had encountered them once before, in my days after Tenrou.

"Don't look them in the eye!" I called over to Mira and Mavis. "They're basilisks! Their gaze is lethal! If you have a staring contest with them, you're going down for a long nap!"

Mira nodded and looked down, summoning a protective orb of dark energy that started to sprout tendrils of purple magic towards our adversaries. And there were a lot. Everywhere I looked, I saw writhing bodies moving about the cavern, looking for an opening to strike. Looking back to the pair that had been talking before, I saw that they had disappeared, replaced by to behemoth snakes, with bodies the size of freight trains.

There were so many of them. This job was going to take some extra firepower. I looked on my shoulder to Rin. "It's time buddy," With that, my nymph friend glowed brightly, turning into pure light magic, and raced down my arm to form a blade of energy; formless, shapeless, and extremely powerful. Dual wielding my katana and my light sword, I charged the two super snakes, taking out dozens of the smaller ones along the way.

I can't lie, it was tough. These things were putting up much more of a fight than expected. Every attack that I gave, they either dodged or blocked, countering my every move in harmony with each other's movements. They were like Yin and Yang, complimenting each other's moves with their own and fighting ten steps ahead. I was beginning to break a sweat after fighting for a couple of minutes with these two behemoths.

I looked over to Mavis to see her fighting many of the lesser snakes, expertly taking them out with precision and accuracy. Her ability to look at the beast was impressive and fortunate, because without her, I would have been overrun. I was barely holding my own as it was. I blocked the snakes' teeth as they both gnashed at me ferociously.

"Enough of this dance," I growled through gritted teeth as I stared into two snapping, fanged mouths that were only restricted by my dual blades. Summoning all my strength, I pushed the pair back a few yards, enough to give me time to conjure a strong enough spell. Swaying my arms around in sequence, black energy exuded from my entire being. I looked at the two reptiles after I had accumulated enough magic, and thrust my hands forward, directing my magic into them. Their scales turned black as they shot upwards into the sky, thrashing in agony. I could hear their screams as they endured my torture magic. Their very nerves were being killed and reborn a million times over, just to make them feel the very pain that they had inflicted on so many other wizards. As they hit the ground, they wriggled back to the shadows, calling out to someone, or something.

"It's him," they said in weakened unison. "The son of the god has come, Master."

As I puzzled their call, I saw a powerful wave of clear magic burst out from where they must have been, radiating out into the atmosphere. It wasn't just a statement. It was a summoning. As smaller basilisks tore at my clothes, I readied myself for the true beast to show itself.

I tried to sweep off as many reptilian menaces as I could as I awaited the arrival of my opponents, but they were too quick and too numerous. Their small mouth ripped the seams of my jacket, and down into my navy shirt. Substantial holes were made, but my skin was never pierced. Since I was on a high magical level, I always had a layer of magic that protected me from harm from lesser beings such as these. I had only met one thing that had made a mark on me, in all my years.

And with that thought, from on high, came a bellowing roar that shook the heavens. A shadow engulfed the once-lit cavern as the basilisks' master came down from the sky. I knew exactly what it was, and I knew that I had to get us out of there as soon as possible. In a quick effort, I cast a teleportation spell out towards Mira, who still had her eyes closed in here magic sphere, putting her back in the inn.

And just in time, too. It had come crashing down. One of my only fears.

"Speak of the devil," I said, readying my swords.