Previously on The Fairy Tail Chronicles:

During a mission in Hargeon to take down the slave trader Bora, Fairy Tail mages Natsu, Happy and Lisanna met the aspiring mage Lucy. With her help they took down Bora and Lucy was officially inducted into the Fairy Tail Guild. Lucy embarked on several missions such as one with Natsu to rescue fellow mage Macao and one with another mage, Loke, to destroy a book.

Natsu, Happy and Lisanna also took part in a dangerous mission with Natsu's sister Erza, and another prominent Fairy Tail mage, Gray. Together, the four of them fought to take down the dark guild Eisenwald. Only for the Guild Masters at the Guild Masters conference to do the job for them.

We then learned about the origins of some characters and how the mysterious Mystogan and Wendy joined Fairy Tail.

Then the Fairy Tail mages received an interesting mission from the Guild Master of the rival guild Phantom Lord. The mission was to take care of a problem with demons and the feared Grimore Heart. It was on this mission that Natsu and Erza met Phantom Lord members Gajeel and Totomaru. The mission turned south when the inter-guild team encountered Grimore Heart members Meredy, Zancrow, and Lenny the Lemur. The team was mercilessly defeated by the dark guild, and forced to abandon the mission.

Now, Fairy Tail has received another important mission. One that sends the team to a very cold environment.


Chapter 18

A Demon from the Past


Gray


I wandered alone in the forest surrounding the blue-tinted house. My hands embedded in my pockets as I stared at the ground contemplating all that had just transpired a few minutes ago. The mission was like nothing I had ever had to deal with before. It wasn't just an ordinary mission, it was personal, and the requester knew it. I can't quite say I'm angry about it though.

"Gray?" came Mira's voice. Her voice was warm and tender, much unlike how she usually acts around people. It was the kind of tone she would use when her siblings were distressed or when she was around Laxus. Never had she spoken this way with me, and logically, I was surprised.

"Hey Mira...how can I help you?" I knew I was treading on thin ice.

"You can relax." assured Mira, "I understand what you're going through."

"Do you?" I responded, a bit annoyed, "That...thing...took everything from me."

Mira gave me a warm smile rather than blowing up on me, "A similar thing happened to me and my siblings when we were younger, so I do know what it feels like, and I know that you may be weary about doing this, but you can't keep running from your problems."

"You're right, but it's not that I'm scared...it took everything from me and I don't know that I can beat it."

"You aren't alone, you have a lot of capable mage's on your side now." reassured Mira, "Now come on, we have a debriefing to get to."

I nodded my head and followed Mira back to the house. Once in the house, we found ourselves in the presence of a man with bushy eyebrows and spiky blue hair, a dog man, and an elderly looking man wearing a mask. They were all crowded around a coffee table, with Lisanna, Elfman and Cana occupying one side, the three new comers occupying another, Ultear occupying another, and finally at front of the group, was a woman whom Gray knew well, Ur Milkovich.

"Nice of you to join us Gray." spoke Ur teasingly.

I gave an embarrassed smile, "Yeah sorry about that…"

Ur gave him a warm smile, "Don't worry about it, Lyon had the same reaction."

As if on cue, a man with spiky white hair and a woman with long pink hair walked through the door and came into the living room.

"Speak of the devil, good we're all here!" exclaimed Ur, "So why don't we get straight to introductions! My name is Ur, I am a Ten Wizard Saint, and the requester for this mission."

Ur motioned for Ultear to go next, "My name is Ultear...I'm a Councilwoman on the Magic Council…"

Next came the white haired man's team, "My name is Lyon Vastia, I'm a mage from the Guild Lamia Scale."

"My name is Sherry Blendi, I'm also a mage from Lamia Scale." came the pink haired girl's introduction.

"My name is Toby Horhorta!" Exclaimed the dog-man, "I'm also from Lamia!" Toby gave howl after that.

Shaking his head in disappointment, the blue haired man with the bushy eyebrows introduced himself, "My name is Yuka Suzuki, I am also a member of Lamia Scale."

Finally an older gentleman introduced himself, "My name is Zalty. I am an S-Class mage of Lamia Scale."

Mira, Lisanna, Elfman, Cana and I were the next to introduce themselves. After finishing the introductions, Ur got down to business.

"Alright, now that we are all introduced, let's get down to why we are here." began Ur, "A demon from the Book of Zeref, Deliora, was found a few miles away from the city bordering the canyon known as Devil's Keep. By my own, and a few researchers, estimations, Deliora will be approaching the city in a matter of a few days. Now Deliora is a very powerful demon and stopping him will be very difficult, even for the likes of me."

"So then how are we supposed to stop it?" asked Cana, "If you can't stop it, then what chance do we have?"

"That's where the Devil's Keep comes into play." explained Ur, "I heard rumors that a massive amount of Devil Slayer Magic was sealed away there during a titanic battle between man and demon in the past. Supposedly the Devil Slayer sealed his magic away there to be used in the future should the need arise. I checked it out myself, the legends are true, but the only way to access the magic is to use Ice Magic to draw the power out. If we can get Deliora to the Keep, Ultear, Gray, Lyon, and I can tap into the magic residing deep in the canyon and end Deliora once and for all."

"And you think this will work?" asked Gray.

"What, scared?" Lyon taunted, "Ur and I can handle it alone if you're too scared?"

I was going to retort, but Ur quickly cut in.

"It'll work," Ur reassured me, "All we need to do is evacuate the city, try to lure Deliora around said city, and get him to the canyon."

"You really think it'll work." questioned Mirajane.

"Jeez, do any of you have faith?" mused Ur.

"Look, I DEAL with demons, I know how they are and how strong they can be." responded Mira, "I know what I'm getting into. Do you?"

Ur chuckled, "Well don't you have some spunk. And if I didn't know what I was getting into, would I have planned all of this out?"

Mira gave a heavy sigh and crossed her arms around her chest.

"Ur must be really strong...the only people Mira-Nee doesn't argue with are Laxus and Master Makarov...at least when he's upset." Thought Lisanna and Elfman.

"Don't worry yourselves so much," assured Ur, "Now then, we're going to split up for a bit. Me, Mirajane and Zalty will go ahead and try to hold off and redirect Deliora around the city. Meanwhile, Ultear, Lyon and Gray will go to the Devil's Keep and ready the trap. Everyone else will help the city officials in evacuating the city. When Deliora nears, everyone aiding in the evacuation will help in luring the demon to the canyon."

Everyone remained silent, accepting Ur's course of action.

"You three…" Ur said, referring to Gray, Lyon and Ultear, "Will remain at the Keep and activate the magic once Deliora is in place to bring a swift end to the mission."

"How do we activate it?" Asked Lyon.

"All you have to do is use your ice magic on the surrounding landscape and that should be enough to draw out the demon slaying power." explained Ur, "It's really not that difficult, the land itself is fused with the magic."

Lyon looked to me and Ultear with an arrogant smile.

"You two up to it?"

Ultear and I nodded our heads.

"Alright then!" yelled Ur, standing up, "Let's get this started!"

We all left the house and Ur gave us all directions to our locations. The Devil's Keep wasn't very far from Ur's house, so Lyon, Ultear and I took off at once.

We boarded our snowmobiles and took off to the east. We maneuvered ourselves carefully through the forest, but once we were out, it was just one large snow plain. In the distance we could vaguely make out the shape of a mountain. According to Ur, that mountain range actually forms a valley on the other side, and that entire valley is what makes up the Devil's Keep. It's not so much a Keep as it is a landmark.

With our destination being straight ahead and with no obstacles in sight, Lyon and I decided it was best to go full throttle across the plain. We left Ultear in the dust as we sped across the plain towards the mountain scape. We felt like we were making great time, until we found ourselves inside a forest. Looking around, we realized we must have veered off course as the mountain was no longer in sight.

"Did we seriously lose a mountain?" I thought aloud.

"How do you lose a mountain?" asked Lyon.

"Do you know where we are?"

Lyon remained silent. Evidently he was also lost. Somehow, despite traveling through a plain, with the mountain right in front of us, we still got lost.

"Well, we can always just…" began Lyon as he looked behind us. The forest wasn't thick in the least bit, it was more like a small wooded area. We could easily see the plain. And the blizzard that was engulfing said plain.

"Well there goes our tracks." remarked Lyon.

This was bad. Ultear was out there alone in the middle of the blizzard. Lyon and I dismounted our vehicles and looked around the wooded area we found ourselves in, hoping maybe Ultear had followed us here. We had no luck.

We reconvened at the snow mobiles and stood there for a few seconds without saying anything before we heard a new voice.

"You boys lost?"