Lucy walked along in absolute wonder. She and Hestor had arrived the day before at the Academe Celestine and she'd spent the night pretty much unable to sleep, the magic there...it was in everything, the school had Stellarium laced through it's foundations, celestium in it's light fixtures, it was designed to support and strengthen Celestial magic and it's users.
Built into the upper base of the tallest mountain on Earthland, the Stargazer, the school was actually massive, far far bigger than it looked from the outside.
The town of Cellis that sat beneath it along the shore of the Grass Sea was even full of the magic that was stronger here than anywhere Lucy had been save the Celestial world itself.
She drug her fingertips along the ancient stone of the wall as Dean Kalperden led her and Hestor into a section of the school set behind the teachers wing. It was not accessible to any but the professors and Dean of the school, students were not allowed ever, but Hestor was a graduate and Lucy, to her dismay, had never been a student.
As he felt the warm tingle of the magic in the stone her heart tightened...her mother had gone to school here as a girl...she had tried to talk Lucys father into letting Lucy go, but he'd always refused, stating a magical education wasn't what he wanted for her.
She didn't want to hate her father...but moments like these when her heart pounded and throat tightened thinking of all she'd been denied because of him...it wasn't easy.
"So, with so few practicing Celestial summoners out in the world, and few children showing an aptitude for the magic set, the Academe constructed what we call the Vault of Keys." Hestor said, following the dean and glancing back at Lucy as they reached the end of a long hallway and started up a slowly curving staircase.
"It is well secured, as you'll see. The Academe watches celestial movements, tracks starfalls, when a key comes down if it is in the open, they commision mages to collect them and send them here from all over Earthland. Each key is studied, cataloged, and kept here safely until a mage believed compatible is found." He said and sighed,
"Of course...with so few Celestial Summoners...there are more keys in the vault than ever before." He added, the sadness in his tone not lost on Lucy or the silent Dean, it was a sentiment shared by everyone here.
Lucy looked up "Does the Academe seek out compatible mages? I mean...I know a couple of Celestial Summoners who have very few keys." She thought of Yukino, who really only had Libra and Pisces now, she'd sold or traded her others after she and Sting had become mated.
"No, a Celestial Summoner must seek keys Miss Heartfillia, if the desire and willingness to work for them isn't there? Neither then is a real aptitude for the magic. You know well how much work and commitment is required for our magic, we would never simply hand over keys just because the magic types were compatible. No...we host the spirits testing potential keyholders, so even if the mage is drawn here seeking a certain key, they'll still have to prove their worth, still have to work before that key is in their hands." The dean told her.
"So...even though the key is safe in the vault...a mage would feel it's pull?" She asked.
Hestor smiled. "Indeed. Kaleb and White Sea actually have helped in recent years with that, a team of Jewel mages came out and worked her for an entire year on updating the vault. Now? The magic signatures of every key here can reach out as well as they do when they're out in the world. Special filters in the containment and defense systems handle that. Presca? He comes out here every time a key is about to be placed in the vault, analyzes its magic energy signatures and sets its place in the vault so it's reach is not harmed."
She smiled, shaking her head, she'd had no idea any of this was here….nobody anywhere talked about it. Her mother had told her it was beautiful and that she had loved her time there.
They climbed for almost twenty minutes before the staircase let them out into a grand foyer that had large sections of the solid rock wall behind them cut out allowing light in that flooded over two large metal doors laced all through with glowing celestium.
The dean waved a hand and the doors opened, soft light and the distinct smell of stardust, heavier than she had ever smelled it again, except in the Celestial world itself, wafted over them and the Dean strode through the doors.
That was when Lucys whole brain about shorted out. Walking through the doors she was immediately greeted by celestium cubbies, rows of them, within every one...hung a key. There were pedestals where keys hovered under Stellarium infused glass, some had crackling containment fields holding in obvious poisonous gas...fire...one key sparked and snapped purple bolts against the field over it.
Every color...metals she didn't even recognize.
"I...oh my Gods...is that Orion?" She breathed, looking at a platinum key drifting within a silvery mist under a glass dome.
Hestor smiled "It is, it's a generation key, and Orion reserves the right to choose a mage, the Academe professors ask once a year if he's found one. He's very picky." he sniffed. Like any celestial mage, he'd about give an arm to possess a platinum generation key, any of them, the keys bonded to a bloodline and blessed it going forward allowing children born to the line to be genetically more receptive to Celestial magic.
"Considering how few bloodlines remain in our magic, I am endlessly surprised the generation keys here continue to turn up their noses." He added and Lucy and the dean both stepped back as Orions key snapped a bolt of starlight against the glass, Hestor narrowing his eyes. "Carrying on…"
They wandered the vault then, the dean allowing Lucy to look to her hearts content, she could have spent days there happily. A theme she started seeing, were the cards beneath each key. The card identified the key and it's main magic type then was signed by the mage who had installed it in the Vault...a lot of them had Hestors signature on them...including Orion.
"You've handled so many…" Lucy said, looking at him as Hestor was smiling fondly at a copy of Lynxs key.
"Like Arman said, since Kaleb became guildmaster, he started having the keys included in rewards brought to me, it's my duty to study them, type them and get them to the Academe until they can be placed with the right mage." He said and then his smile fell as his steel blue eyes drifted over all the full cubbies and cases.
"There have never been so many keys here...not in the entire history of this school." He said.
They were all quiet, knowing what it meant. There were not mages to hold the keys anymore...not like there had been.
Part of that, was due to mages in her own guild...people she cared for now and thought of as friends...the Oracion seis had killed...hundreds.
"Has Princess Hisui ever come here?" She asked.
The Dean smiled "No...she is not welcome. The spirits refuse to allow it and we uphold their commands." He said firmly.
Lucys eyes widened in surprise, she knew Hisui was on thin ice...the Eclipse Gate had not endeared her to the spirit world at all, but...outright banned from the only fountain of knowledge for the magic.
"It goes beyond her to...no person from her bloodline will ever be allowed here, nor will any key placed here ever be remanded to that bloodline that has been within the vault…" Hestor said.
"By order of the Hall shortly after the Eclipse gate, I believe that was the first time you fully manifested the Hall wasn't it Hestor?" The Dean asked.
Hestor sighed...not a pleasant memory...he'd been knocked out for four days…
"Yes it was."
Lucy shook her head, turning in a circle and Hestor drew a breath, glancing at the dean who nodded. The silver haired mage strode to a case and touched it, his magic causing the dome over it to dissolve in a shower of sparkling dust.
He reached in and pulled the key from the velvet it laid on. Turning he regarded Lucy seriously but with a soft expression.
"You put a precious spirit into my hands, and while I still hold you should not have contracted him in the first place? I am deeply grateful. I found this key when I was 16, it is one of the stars of Draco...Adro...the last person contracted to it...was Ganier Pradesh. I talked with Arman, and the Dean...the magic is compatible to yours, it won't feel uncomfortable at all for you...if the Dragon is willing…" He held the key out and Lucy stared at it with lips parting slightly a hand going to them as her eyes moved over the beautiful pearlescent key.
"Oh Hestor...I...I didn't expect…" She said.
"Nonsense, it's a trade of keys, take it woman so we can go outside and see if the dragon accepts you." Hestor snapped and narrowed his eyes when she looked like she was teetering about to possibly hug him.
"No hugs…" He added sternly and Lucy smiled shakily.
"But you hugged me...you even kissed me…" She pointed out.
"I'm Boscan I was sealing a deal. You're Fioran..." He retorted, puting the key in her hand and carefully stepping out of her reach before nodding to the smiling Dean.
"Shall we?" The Silver haired mage prompted impatiently and Lucy smiled, clutching the key to her chest and following Hestor.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"I said NO! God Damn Erza...don't make me possess you, I'll fucking do it, I'll make you go down in the middle of the fucking guildhall strip naked and sing the Boscan anthem I swear." Bickslow snarled, slapping Erzas hand off his shoulder and glowering at Evergreen who was smiling far too widely behind her fan.
She'd set him up...hi own team mate, so much for being another sister to him...though Emzadi looked smug and had probably helped. He'd been doing a great job of dodge-Erza and then got the message that Freed and Evergreen wanted to take a job, he'd jumped on it, eager to escape the Guild and Erzas endless hunting of his person since she couldn't get hold of Lucy and now, knowing where the Celestial mage was, knew she couldn't go physically grab her like she usually would do. No, the only person who had contact with Lucy was Bickslow.
Erza was persistent as hell too, she wanted to see her friend, wanted to congratulate her...even if her new mate was a damn annoying son of a bitch that stood between girls and their friends. Kaleb could reach Lucy too, but every time she got near him she forgot where she was and ended up blinking in a totally different part of the guild with no memory of the last several minutes or how she had gotten there.
Her only relief was Zen, who was about the most amazing man she'd ever met, the big Archangel could wield as many weapons as she could and did so with immense skill, sparring with him was her only hold on her sanity anymore, at least until she got to talk to Lucy. Evergreen agreed with her too, that Bickslow keeping them apart was heartless!
Bickslows eyes turned green glaring at Evergreen and she smirked, pushing her glasses up her nose so the lenses fully covered her eyes and sticking her tongue out at the Seith mage.
"Gods...NO, Erza for fucks sake, she's happy! She's learning, she just got a new key yesterday and is all up and thrilled and has been training with Hestor and some of the professors there, she works from sunup to sundown and just calls me before she goes to sleep!" Bickslow shouted in the redheads face.
Erza grinned "Perfect, when does she call? I can be there!"
Bickslow made a strangled sound at the back of his throat, threw another dark look at Evergreen and jumped, tucking his legs he flipped over backwards landing on his babies and shot out the window, Erza grit her teeth running after him.
"Just let me have five minutes!"
Kaleb turned, watching his brother fly out of the guild and almost collide with the side of the building across the street in his haste. Drawing a breath he glanced at Thane
"I'm not here." he said firmly.
Thane smirked, rolling his eyes and hurrying from the office, locking the door behind him before taking his place at his desk, it was only a few minutes before Erza Scarlet was running up the stairs.
"Thane! Can you have Kaleb find out when Lucy is typically going to bed? I need to know when to be in Bickslows apartment tonight…"
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Vander drew a breath, dark eyes taking in the area. He'd gotten his gear, the cases of food, and had staked out a spot against one of the islands Tall "mountains" the Islands of the Grass Sea varied in size and shape, some had mostly flat surfaces, others...like Husen, was rocky, with peaks that reached a few hundred feet high. He'd made his camp in an alcove of one of the taller ones, seeing serpents flying around some of the peaks.
Sitting now on the edge of the outcropping outside the alcove he was staring over toward a cluster of trees. He could see fresh fruit still grew on some of them, if he closed his eyes...he could even remember the taste.
The serpents were part of the island, and they were omnivorous, they would sink their fangs into fruits and drink some of the juice to refresh themselves and those were the fruit the clan picked and ate...with the venom in them in trace amounts. It built up in every members blood over time, the more they took in, the more colors would appear in their eyes...Vanders were the color of a rich red wine, with bits of dark blue and purple around the edges of his iris' because of the venom he had injested pretty much since his conception, drank from his mothers breasts and then eaten from the fruits and meats the clan ate.
Clan Husen of the rainbow eyes...the serpent clan. He'd read all there was available in books, even taken time to talk to two of the elders still living. They had been so happy to meet him when he was 12, Arman had brought him to see the elders, hoping his son would decide to try his Rite of passage. The books all said it was important, and the white haired woman especially that day...she'd haunted him.
Her eyes swirled with every color, the pupils a rich purple. Down both of her arms were tattoos, across her shoulders two large ones...on the back of her right a turquoise serpents face looked upward, its body spiraling down her body. Over her left breast another serpents face, this one golden, wrapped down her body.
Lounging in a bay window was a thirty foot Havati of gold, and not far from it, another one of Turquoise…
"You're Emaldias Son...you look like her...you've the blood eyes of a Shadowquip...I had thought none had lived…" She'd said.
"He barely did. Madame Gestia, I am Arman, we've spoken many times, I was wondering if you knew if the Rite of serpents was something the Shadowquips particularly benefited from?" Armans voice was light, captivating, held a soft tenor to it and Vander had noticed his fathers magic at work.
He'd wanted to go see the serpents, entranced by them as they had lifted their heads and given him sleepy looks before settling in their sunbeams again.
"I don't know, so few ever survived to be old enough for it, I never saw one that made it past 10 years of age before the clan had to put them down." She had replied and turned her eyes back on Vander.
"He should do it...all Husen should hear the songs of Serpents, should feel their fangs through their hearts and know the fire of the venom in their bodies." She'd said and had grasped Vanders chin in a surprisingly strong hand.
"You are death boy...an angel of voids...a plague on the mortal world waits behind those eyes of blood."
Arman had ended the visit then, pulling Vander up into his arms as tears had filled his eyes.
"I am sorry we troubled you." He'd said and had quickly carried Vander from the house, walking even as the two serpents had suddenly moved, both swiftly coming alongside him, baring long dagger-like fangs and hissing. In those moments he had been terrified that he was about to lose his father, the threat had felt very real but only toward Arman, somehow he'd known the serpents wouldn't harm him...but they would kill his father to get him.
They hadn't, Arman had pulsed with magic, the serpents had hissed again and recoiled and they had gotten out the door, his fathers bodyguards, assigned to him for a long while after his wifes death because King Altiene had feared for Armans safety until the Ambassadors own children had proved to be the best protection possible, the bodyguards had sealed the door, the old woman had been laughing.
"DEATH! He is DEATH you stupid man! Leave him to his clan! To the serpents!" She had cried.
Vander shook his head, angrily wiping his eyes, even more angry as tears wet his hand when he did so, he grit his teeth and stood, shadows swirled around him, slithering over his body and shredding the normal clothes he'd been wearing, replacing the jeans with the familiar skin tight shadowleather he usually wore. Wrist supports formed and soft boots but he didn't bother with a shirt before he was running and leaping from the cliff.
He stretched a hand out, pulling shadows from the lofty branches of the nearest tree and using them to whip his body high back into the air where he twisted, long black swords filling his hands and as he came down he rammed them into a tree, arresting his descent enough he could kick off the trunk and flip backwards leaving the swords to vanish in swirls of shadows still in the tree then finally landing silently on the dark soil.
He crouched for a few minutes, letting his senses stretch, his magic reach out, he felt them...like he had felt that old womans...Havati...
He had to...do... something with them, what he had no fucking clue, but it wasn't going to get done with him sitting around revisiting memories and crying like an idiot. Action was always the answer.
He pushed off, running through the trees, after a few moments, the physical exertion started to pay him back with blessed clarity and cool detachment as he let his body work, then the run was all that mattered, pushing his body, feeling his muscle work, controlling his breathing, he started to sing and stumbled, choked, his throat catching as he started to try his usual breath control work and he let himself go down, slamming his fists on the soft soil as he did and snarling, hating the way the sound grit.
Those THINGS had done this to him, that creature burning his throat and abusing it so bad even now Cristoffs magic was still tickling in his throat, he almost had his voice back...but two full months later...there were still scars within it Cristoff was working to heal.
He knew it would...Cristoff swore it would, and his brother wouldn't have done that if he wasn't certain he could repair every trace of damage, but still, here he was, alone, on this island where the worst moments of his life had happened, and he couldn't even fucking sing.
"Fuck this shit." He growled, shoving himself back up, ignoring the dirt that clung to his sweaty chest, clapping what was on his hands away and taking up a less ruthless jog. He felt shadows hitting water, hot water...the island, like most, had a molten core, the light center part of it what let it float on the Grass Sea. A soak in a hot spring sounded damn good.
He was about to turn, alter his direction a little when he heard a sound and abruptly stopped, going still.
His eyes weren't his only sight, he'd always been able to see through shadows, a part of his magic normal shadow mages didn't have, it was why he actually fought better blindfolded, without his human eyes distracting his full perceptive abilities. That ability showed him...a slender black form...it's tail wrapping and unwrapping along a branch it hovered by...its wings were nearly silent...and had been the sound he'd heard, along with scales humming on bark.
He saw it, saw several angles of it through the shadows, it was behind him up to his right about 20 feet, one move and he could send a dagger through its head...but he wasn't here to harm any of them...had no desire to...deep inside him he had always been fascinated by them, it was why he had additional tattoos, like the one curling around his right bicep...it was black, with red rimmed scales...like this one that was watching him…
What shocked him was, more than seeing it...he felt it...knew...it was female, she was about 8 feet long...and she was curious...and felt him...like he did her.
Drawing a breath he turned and looked up, meeting crimson eyes set in a black and red face that was decidedly draconic. He remembered Nurem, Cristoffs Dragon mother, the Havati didn't have that type of shape to her head, no, hers was longer, her snout blunt so a forked tongue could slither out and taste the air.
Slender spines framed the tops and sides of her eyes and her cheeks, two longer ones looked almost like ears curling backwards from where ears would go, tiny tufts of silky black hair at the tips.
"You're beautiful." He said softly and smiled when the serpent cocked her head.
"You understand?" He tried, the serpent blinked...another thing that set Havati apart, they had eyelids, blinked them, and hers even had short black eyelashes. How he knew this was a female he wasn't sure...but it was.
She moved, sliding her tail from the branch and hovering a little lower, there was no fear in any of her body language, this was the most venomous creature on Earthland, there was still no antivenom that worked against Havati, and many poison mages had tried over the centuries.
He drew a breath, results never came from standing still...he held a hand out and the serpent cocked her head again, red eyes darting to his hand then back to his eyes for a few minutes as her wings sent soft breezes of air over him, cooling his sweaty skin and pushing his hair back from his face.
"Come on gorgeous...give me a chance...I need one of you to..show me something…" He said softly, almost spitting the last word because he had no fucking idea what was supposed to happen.
The serpent cocked her head again and suddenly glided down, so close now as she lifted her head over his outstretched hand her scales on her underside brushed his fingertips before a strong stroke of her wings moved her back a bit.
She cocked her head again, her eyes were the color of fresh blood, slitted in gold, it made them odd against her mostly black face and body...but beautiful nonetheless.
"Never had a woman turn me down yet…" He said quietly and she moved again, head turned, lips parting and he saw long black fangs a second before they sank into his forearm.
He grit his teeth, refusing to scream as fire shot into him, dropping to his knees but the serpent didn't let go, no, she held on, working those fangs deeper into his flesh until he felt the ridges along the top of her mouth rubbing on his skin, felt the lower fangs actually touch the upper within his forearm.
He clenched his teeth, slowing his breathing by will, demanding his body calm instead of racing the agonizing venom through him too fast.
"Sweetheart...I am not going to fucking hurt you...but holy fucking shit…" He grit out and the serpents eyes met his, she blinked at him, then withdrew, opening her mouth and the fangs slid out of his flesh, blood running down his arm now and he realised it hadn't been until the serpents lips had left his arm...she'd drank his damned blood.
She swallowed, and in a few wingbeats, was up above the tree and gone and Vander was gripping his bleeding arm panting and looking up after her.
"Fuck me and leave me huh? I can respect that." He huffed out. Looking at his arm he grimaced. No Cristoff...no Xally, he had healing drafts in his pack and a first aid kit, but he'd just had his arm bitten by an 8 foot Havati...he blinked, grimacing again as pain flowed through him. The burn was bad, but if he was honest...it wasn't as bad as those things had put him through…
"Ok...bleeding everywhere...glad the Havati are the apex predator here...if I had to deal with wolves or some shit I'd be fucked…" He said, forcing himself to stand and holding his arm he pushed his magic to work, shadows forming a snug bandage over the wound and once he had that well in place, he turned, staggering a little and hissing.
"Shit...feel like I just spent the night at a club drinking shots and whisky…" He chuckled, little bitch packed a punch…
He started walking, moving toward water, feeling the venom in him. He knew he had resistance, but it had been a lot of years since he'd lived on this island… His father had special chocolates made for him, an Alchemist at the citadel did them, laced with Havati venom, and he ate them from time to time, sort of enjoying the weird dreams he'd get, and the odd high.
He smacked his lips a little rolling his tongue in his mouth at a familiar hot citrus taste that had bloomed in his mouth...now he could fucking TASTE the serpents venom...probably not a good thing…
He found the spring though, he was now soaked with sweat, his hair dripping and he'd let his pants turn to shorts so he just slid right into the water as soon as he was certain it wouldn't scald him.
He let the bandage dissolve along with the remainder of his clothes and sank down submerging for a moment before pushing back up and shoving he hands up to force his hair off his face and squeeze some of the water from it.
A soft sound caught him and he froze again...looking up and to his right to a familiar looking serpent.
"You know honey, I like some pain now and then but this sucks…" He chuckled, shivering in spite of being in steaming water.
The serpent slid down, coming all the way to the ground where she slithered across the stone surrounding the spring then just looked at him for a few minutes. The two stared at each other, man and beast.
Vander shook his head, peering around the area, mildly surprised his senses were not too bad with the load of venom he'd taken. He narrowed his eyes on the serpent.
"You're just hanging around to see if I croak aren't you?" He chuckled and the serpent cocked her head at him.
He rolled his eyes, looking up at the sky as night settled in and the bioluminescent plants started filling the air with a vast spectrum of colors.
"First night here and I already have women biting me...I've still got it…"