Chapter 21

Trouble at Devil's Keep

Gray

"Who are you?" Lyon asked.

A man stood before us. He had short, black, spiky hair pointed backwards. He had some stubble as well, but the most prominent feature was the large scar running from his hairline to his ear. He seemed oddly familiar, but for some reason I couldn't place it.

"My name is Silver." The man replied, "And who are you two?"

I raised my eyebrows at the name Silver. It was a name I recognized.

"I'm Lyon, and this is Gray."

"Gray?" Silver repeated in confusion.

"Yeah," I replied, "Gray Fullbuster."

"Hm," Silver looked as though he was studying me, "What are you two doing all the way out here?"

"We're trying to reach Devil's Keep." I told the man.

"We got separated from our friend though." Lyon added.

"You lost someone?" Silver asked, taking his attention away from me, "You didn't lose them in the blizzard, did you?"

"We did." I told him, "We need to find her. She's a council woman and I don't think she's known for being a powerful wizard."

Silver's eyes widened, "You left a woman all alone in a blizzard!?"

"We didn't mean to!" Both Lyon and I replied frantically.

"Finding her is going to be extremely difficult in the blizzard. I could help you, but I don't have a vehicle."

"Thanks, but we can handle it ourselves. Gray and I are well prepared to tackle a blizzard. Hell, Gray already stripped."

I looked down and realized it was true. All my clothes were littered on the ground and I was left in nothing but my boxers. I quickly collected my clothes and put them back on, cursing my stripping habits.

"Do you always do that, son?" Silver asked.

I recoiled a bit at being called son, but managed to collect myself and finish throwing my clothes back on.

"Uh, yeah." I replied, "It was a part of our training with Ur. Kind of just stuck."

"Oh, I see," Silver looked somewhat impressed, "Either way, the more help you have, the better, right?"

"We, really don't."

I cut Lyon off before he could finish turning Silver down, "We would be happy to have your help. You can ride with me."

Silver smiled, "Happy to help."

I was just about to board my snow mobile when Lyon stopped me, "Actually, maybe you should ride with me, Gray."

I saw the look in his eyes, it wasn't very trusting at all. Silver didn't seem in the least bit offended by the statement.

"Well, shall we go?"

Ultear

I arrived at the mountain separating the plain from the Devil's Keep and was making my way up said mountain. I was making good time. I looked back and saw there was still no sign of Gray or Lyon. I gritted my teeth. Under normal circumstances I would have went back for the two boys, but the now raging blizzard meant I would only be putting myself in danger. Plus, I knew they were well trained to handle such low temperatures.

I reached the top of the mountain and got off my vehicle. I pulled a pair of binoculars from a pack on the snow mobile and looked back down at the plains. That was when my lacrima began ringing. I looked at the who was calling me and instantly dropped the binoculars and picked up.

"Is everything alright, Meredy!" I asked the moment I connected.

It was unusual for the girl to call me out of the blue like this. She was usually self-sufficient and able to take care of herself. Furthermore, her calling me could cause problems on my own mission.

The pink haired girl on the other end had red eyes and a quivering lip. She shook her head no. I didn't even need to ask what was wrong. She never walked around without her earmuffs on.

"What happened, dear?"

"My earmuffs." She whimpered.

"Was it Zancrow?"

"I didn't do anything!" Came the voice of Zancrow off screen.

"You didn't destroy his scarf!" Meredy cried in anger at the boy off screen.

"I can't help it if his shit's fireproof!"

"Meredy," I called to the distraught pinkette, "Do you still have the remains?"

Meredy nodded her head yes.

"I'll fix it when I get back. Don't worry, it'll all be fine. Okay?"

Meredy nodded her head, still visibly upset. I walked forward a bit to get a try and get a good look at the valley I was about to enter. It worried me a bit that I couldn't feel any magic whatsoever as I reached the peak of the mountain range. With how powerful and spread out Ur made the magic out to be, I expected that I would be able to feel it from up here.

"Hey Meredy, what can you tell me about Devil's Keep in Iceberg?"

"Um, there's supposed to be a huge amount of Ice Devil Slayer Magic there. Master was planning on extracting some of it for a key. Why?"

It felt weird hearing Meredy explain something in her normal voice. She normally spoke in a robotic voice, especially when relaying information like that. I didn't mind hearing her normal voice. It was a nice change of pace. What did worry me is that I was not feeling any of the magic from here.

"I'm at the Devil's Keep right now. And I don't feel any magic whatsoever."

Gray

Lyon and I rode through the blizzard keeping a close eye on Silver so as to not get lost. The storm seemed to be lifting a bit as the snow fall decreased greatly. Off in the distance we could hear the roar of what we could only assume was Deliora.

"You two are brave coming out here while that thing's raging around." Silver yelled to us.

"We're trying to kill it." Lyon told him.

"That's why we're trying to get to Devil's Keep." I added.

"Looks like our mission is the same then. That thing killed my family. I'm guessing the same happened to you two?"

Lyon and I fell silent. Although I couldn't hear him, I had a feeling he muttered, "Thought so."

"You two know about the history of that place?"

"No."

"They say almost four hundred years ago a famous devil slayer tried to kill the most powerful demon Zeref had ever created."

"Did he succeed?" I asked.

"There are conflicting accounts on how the battle went. Some say the Devil Slayer won, other's say the demon won."

"Was it an ice demon?" I asked.

"No, he was known as the Hell's Fire Demon Dragon. Allegedly, he was dragon slayer turned demon."

"Who do you think won?" Lyon asked.

"Me? I think the demon won, and the devil slayer sealed his magic in the land before he died. If you do some research into the Demons of Zeref, there are accounts of the Dragon King doing battle with a powerful fire Demon. Never outright stated to be him, but…"

"It's a safe bet." Lyon replied.

"Who won that one?"

"Good news is all of those accounts say the Dragon King won and killed the demon."

We continued our path towards the Devil's Keep, hoping to run into Ultear there. We had just emerged from the blizzard and we about to begin climbing the mountain, when the sound of a snow mobile approached us from the right. Looking over, we saw to our relief that it was Ultear.

"About time!" She called as she drove up next to us.

"Sorry, we got a little lost."

"And you picked up another friend it seems."

"My name is Silver, nice to meet you."

"Ultear, I wish to say the same, but we have a huge problem. I was just at the Devil's Keep, and I found no traces of magic up there at all."

Silence fell upon our ground as the blizzard raged behind us. With Deliora slowly approaching our position, we were left with a feeling of dread. Without the Ice Devil Slayer magic, we won't be able to kill Deliora once and for all.