Natsu's Journal - X782

It's officially been one year since I've joined the guild! Honestly, I'm a bit on edge since the last time I was happy for a year, everyone around me was killed... No! I won't think of things like that! Fairy Tail is my family, and I'm strong now. I'm strong enough that should a threat arrive, I can protect them. Anyway, over the past year, there are several things I should note. I purchased the plot of land I previously claimed and built a small cottage. Nothing fancy, just a kitchen, a living area, a bathroom, and a bedroom. Next, and perhaps most importantly, I passed the S-class trials. I honestly had no interest, but Jane and Erza were both very persistent. Also, about a month prior to the trials, I met the person considered to be Fairy Tail's ace, a man by the name of Kael. He and Gildarts are two of the strongest, but Gildarts is never around, and I've only spoken to him once. Kael uses magic called Soul Arts, which is a type of body enhancement magic. I don't quite understand the logistics of it, but apparently, it has the ability to use life force in exchange for power if in critical situations. He told me he'd only ever used that twice though, so apparently if used properly, it's not too big of a deal. We sparred once, at the demand of nearly everyone in the guild, and it turns out he is quite the worthy foe. I believe I could have won had I used Igneel's flames, however, without them I didn't stand too much of a chance and he beat me, only taking a few hits in the process. Credit where credit is due, I suppose. I started working on a book with Levi recently. I don't know when we'll finish, but in between the missions I take, as well as my personal absences I take every few months, we work on it when we have the time. Everything she's learned and everything I know is going to be put in there, and we're both very excited. In the end, I sort of had to tell her about what happened to my dragons, though I swore her to secrecy. That makes 5 people in the guild who know my life prior to Rösch, three who know after, and one who knows about my...rampage...I told Lisanna about the dragons as well and she was so sweet about it, it reminded me of Treya. I miss her the most...I suppose only two other things have changed in the past year; I got a nickname from my first mission, 'The Mysterious Dual Salamander,' quite honestly I like it, at least better than 'The White Crown,' and I seem to have been dubbed the Erza and Mira separator by the guild. Any time they start brawling, they all look to me for assistance. The best way to deal with it is to take them on missions interchangeably, but I still manage to sneak away to do a few on my own, though most of those are bounty jobs. I know I should stop, and Happy always threatens to tell them where I go, but I just can't help it. Every time I think about the past, I just need something to throw my mind into, and the legal jobs don't help as much. I think Erza and Jane have an idea of what I'm doing, and Happy and Master Makarov undoubtedly know, but maybe I'll kick the habit for good eventually….

Natsu was happy. Happy was happy. It'd been a long time since they felt that way, but the two truly enjoyed the time they spent at Fairy Tail, and Natsu enjoyed having multiple places he could move around outside of his cloak. It was and always would be his safe zone, but it got tiring to wear at times. Sometimes he just wanted to feel the air on his skin, rather than through an old cloak from his past.

Today, Natsu was going to meet for his first S-Class mission, with none other than the guild's ace Kael. As Natsu had written earlier, Kael was a practitioner of Soul Arts. Normally, body enhancement magic would use magic to strengthen the physical body, making punches, kicks, jumps, and running speed a heck of a lot better. Soul Arts, however, was both naturally the strongest, and had the option of using life force as a magical weapon of mass destruction, should a dire situation arrive. Without even using life force, Kael had the ability to level an army with a single strike, cut through solid steel with his kicks, and create craters should he jump. Rarely did he need to use maximum power, but the option was there should he so desire it.

Over the short time the two had known each other, they had taken quite a liking to each other. Natsu, while not fully ready to speak to him about his past, trying to limit that as much as possible, still trusted and respected Kael, in both mind and body. The two spent almost all their time together, much to Erza and Mira's quiet displeasure, and found themselves with a near father-son-esque bond. His personality reminded him a lot of Igneel, always knowing exactly what to say in any circumstance. He had great wisdom, and would frequently share thoughts about the world with Natsu. Natsu loved to ponder things, and now that he had someone else to ask questions, he spent a great deal more time thinking than he ever had before, and he loved it.

"Natsu! Let's go! Don't keep Kael waiting!" Happy shouted.

It was late morning, and the two agreed to meet Kael at the train station. Every time he rode that dreaded death chamber of a car, he swore to the great sky dragons above that he'd never ride it again, but he almost always did. It was simply far too convenient. They were headed to a town called Dahlia, named for the beautiful pink flowers that were known to grow there in the springtime, to help deal with a situation they were having. That was all the information they were given. Natsu was noticeably upset, but Kael insisted that since they were some of the guild's strongest, they should elect to take some of the hardest missions. 'I mean, who makes a request and only gives the information as 'We have a situation'?' Natsu thought to himself. 'What kind of moron would take that mission?' Well, as it turned out, he and Kael were those kinds of morons.

"Aye, Happy. I'm coming now," Natsu replied, exciting the bedroom and making his way to Happy. They had already eaten breakfast, and just finished packing, and were now ready for their somewhat confusing adventure and Natsu's first S-Class mission.

Fairy Tail Guild Hall

"Hey Lisanna, have you seen Natsu today? I picked out a mission that he'd be perfect for," Mira inquired to her sister.

"Oh? The two of you have seemed near inseparable of late. You wouldn't be having any feelings for our 'Mysterious Dual Salamander,' now would you Mira?" Lisanna asked, giggling.

"NO! I-it's not like that!" Mira wailed. "I just happened to find this mission, and since it's near a volcano, I just happened to think he'd enjoy it! That's it! Now, do you know where he is or not!"

Lisanna giggled, "Sure you don't, big sis. But no, Natsu's not here. He's going on his first S-Class mission with Kael today! How did you miss that?"

"Dammit! I wanted to be his first!" Mira grumbled.

"Oh my! Well, you have a chance to be a different-"

"SHUT UP, LISANNA!"

At The Train Station

"Well, Happy, here we are! Hell incarnate," Natsu groaned.

"Don't be so overdramatic, Natsu. Besides, Kael should be here any minute. Just have him knock you unconscious."

"That does not make me feel any better, cat!"

They didn't have to wait long, as ten minutes later the burly mage was running towards them, apologizing profusely for being so late. Kael had long black hair, the center going down to his shoulder blades, and the sides extremely short. He had short facial hair, in a 3-day stubble style, and had one silver earring on his right ear. He wore a casual outfit everywhere he went, jeans and a black shirt, only occasionally dawning a jacket. He wasn't huge and overpowering to look at, but he was definitely muscular. He stood at six-feet tall and screamed warrior.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Kael apologized. "Didn't think I was gonna take this long. You ready for your first S-class joyride?"
"Not to worry, Kael. I've not been here long. And of course, though I wish I knew what I was getting myself into," Natsu mused. "It is very peculiar that someone would write such a quest. I've never seen anything so vague. Even clients who aren't entirely sure what they need done are more specific. Perhaps it's because-"

"Alright, Natsu, that's enough for now. Let's just get on the train and figure it out when we get there."

"Right...sorry…" Natsu mumbled. "Now if only I could get through the ride WITHOUT getting sick…"

And with that, they boarded what Natsu had officially dubbed, 'hell's only son.' It would be a long ride, that being pretty much the only reason Natsu agreed to take it. It would have been a week's travel by foot at least, but should only take 6 hours or so by train. They'd arrive in town by evening, meet with the town's mayor, have dinner, and find somewhere to stay the night. They had no idea how long the job would take them, but the pay was more than Natsu had ever received even while bounty hunting at 8 million jewels. They'd split it evenly of course, but Natsu's money generally went towards Happy's fish nowadays. Now that his house was finished and his land purchased, he had nothing else to spend it on aside from food for both he and Happy, and other basic living expenses. So, he decided, like the dragon he was, he became quite a hoarder. All extra money went into a hole he had dug and had access to from a secret panel under a floorboard in his bedroom. It was a reasonably sized location, and he had a bag to prevent the bills from getting dirty or damaged, and he had amassed around a million jewels now. He was rapidly approaching the previous stash that he had given to Makarov, and had every intention of continuing until he found something reasonable to spend the money on.

Sure enough, six vomit-inducing hours later, they arrived at Dahlia. The three departed, well Kael and Happy departed with Natsu barely able to crawl behind them and set off for the mayor's office. It was closeby, for once, and they were able to make it there within twenty minutes. They kept to a light chatter, Natsu had informed Kael beforehand that he didn't want his name spoken while out on missions, nor did he particularly like being noticed, so most of their talk was trying to get Happy to stop begging for fishies. The mayor's office was nothing special, a large white building with columns out front, and stairs leading to the entrance. When they walked in, there was a simple waiting area of sorts, with magazines and a receptionist sitting at a desk.

"Excuse me," Kael requested, standing in front of the receptionist. She was a pretty brunette, wearing a casual button-up shirt with a skirt. "We're here for your, uh, situation. The request was sent out earlier this week by the mayor."

"Oh! Thank goodness! Yes, I'll let him know you're here, please wait a moment."

With that she was gone, standing up to titter into the mayor's room.

"She was pretty, eh kid?" Kael nudged him.

"I suppose so," Natsu mused, still not really paying attention.

"C'mon kid, you gotta get around somehow! Nothing better than while far from home!"

"As much as I admire your wisdom and battle strength, your attitude towards the opposite sex disappoints me," Natsu replied.

"Man, you're no fun at all," Kael pouted. "I was just messin' with you. Live a little!"

"Perhaps someday...However, that day is not today…"
"Excuse me," the secretary said, walking over to the two mages. "The mayor will see you now."

"Excellent!" Kael replied, and marched towards his office.

His office was also rather plain. A few windows were behind where he sat, which was at a black padded chair in front of a long wooden desk, with two chairs set out on the opposing side.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" the mayor said, rushing up and shaking their hands. He seemed rather strange, especially considering everything from the appearance of his building to the secretary was completely textbook normal. He was a short man with glasses, was almost completely bald, and wore a suit that had a purple jacket. He seemed to run everywhere he went, always in some sort of overdramatic rush, hopping out of his seat when they walked in, shaking their hands violently, and rushing back over to close all of the shades to the windows, before hopping back into his seat.

"Of course, Mr. Mayor, glad to be of service," Kael said, sitting in one chair while Natsu stood for a moment before joining him in the other. "I'm Kael, and this is my associate, N-"

"Salamander. You can call me Salamander," Natsu finished, cutting Kael off.

"Of course! How could I not know two of the strongest members of Fairy Tail! The mighty ace Kael, and the up and coming monster of flames, The Mysterious Dual Salamander! How exciting!" The mayor was so bubbly, it was almost frightening. Never had Natsu seen someone so excited about anything.

"Right, of course," Kael started, eyeing Natsu slightly. "Now, the request you sent was rather vague. Mind filling us in on some of the details?"
"Of course, Mr. Kael, right away!" The Mayor quickly got up, locked the door, and double-checked that all the windows were shut before returning to his seat. "Now listen carefully. The Festival of The Short Moon is a sacred event held every February in accordance with the full moon. It's a wonderful event and the whole town gets involved. This year, we have quite a... situation…"

"Which is…" Kael pressed.
The mayor sighed before proceeding. "The sacred wolves have escaped!"

"The sacred huh?" Kael asked. He had expected a dark mage threatening the town, or some terrible disease, not a few lost wolves.

"Wolves! The sacred wolves! You see, every time the festival comes around, we have a special mage come in who uses beast taming magic. He was here a few weeks ago, and well, I may have accidentally allowed them to escape…"

Turns out, every year Dahlia had two major festivals, celebrated with sacred animals. This one would involve two special wolves, who were mated to each other and had somehow developed magical powers. At the full moon, they would both howl into the night sky, and the townsfolk believed this would bring them good luck and prosperity for the coming year. It was also said to ensure the blooming of the Dahlia flowers, wherein they would have their second major festival, after their town's namesake. The magic of the beast tamer would cause the wolves to be very docile and obedient to the caster, and this particular beast tamer was a master and had set up a special area encased by runes that would continue the spell effects until the end of the festival. Supposedly, the mayor forgot this and tried to bring the wolves into town to try to raise more money for the festival. The runes were still active and would continue to be active, however, the problem lied in getting the wolves back.

"Please! I could lose my job and my reputation forever if we don't get them back in time!" the Mayor begged. "I'll do anything I can! Just bring them back unharmed in time for the festival."
"Why didn't you just ask for a beast tamer, old man? I'm sure someone would have taken you up on that offer."

"I can't let rumors spread! If someone found out about it, they'd realize what happened!" the Mayor was in full panic mode now, checking and rechecking the windows and doors.

"Well, don't sweat it. Me an' the kid've got this," Kael replied grinning. "Right, mystery man?"

"Indeed," Natsu replied, standing and preparing to leave. "Though I might suggest, Derrick, you refrain from making such careless mistakes in the future."

He then walked out, a mildly confused Kael in tow, and a pale white mayor behind.

"How and why did you-" Kael started once they had left the building.

"I looked into this place the moment you picked the quest," Natsu replied leading the way towards the outskirts. "He runs a business in the underground. Gets a ton of money that way. Still, he's a stingy bastard. To this guy, 8 million is nothing, but he was still planning on begging the townspeople to pay more for the festival."
"Hehe, you've got guts kid," Kael said, shaking his head. "Though that doesn't change anything. Maybe that'll knock down his uppity attitude a bit though."

"I doubt it."
"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Natshuuuuu," Happy whined. "I thought we were eating first! I want fishies!"

"Wolves hunt at night, Happy," Natsu began. "We need to get a move on now if I'm gonna pick up their scent. If you want, you can pick up some fish at the market and meet up with us later, but if not, we're in a hurry. Eating can come later."
"You're such a meanie!" Upset as he was, he wasn't planning on leaving the two. 'Someone's gotta keep Natsu in check!' Happy thought to himself.

The sun had just finished setting when they got to the area and started to hear howls. Natsu started by sniffing around the enchantment area and managed to pick up the scent of two wolves. They spent two hours searching, following the howls, Natsu desperately trying to get a lead, but they had no such luck. They decided to call it a night, Happy was already long asleep when they set up camp.

"It's strange," Natsu thought, setting out his bedroll. "It seems as though no matter how far we travel, the howls don't get any closer."

"Well, the old man did say he used magic," Kael thought, settling down himself. "Could that be why?"

"I don't know, it's hard to say."
"Well, keep thinking on it, kid. You'll figure something out eventually. From what I hear, you always do." With that, Kael promptly fell asleep.

'I suppose so,' Natsu thought before he, too, settled down to a peaceful slumber.

The next morning, Natsu arose earlier than his two companions and decided to take a look around. He was still perplexed by his inability to locate the wolves. Honestly, he was shocked this was even an S-Class mission. Granted, tracking may be a bit difficult for an ordinary mage, and he had no idea how strong the wolves were, especially since they had to bring them back unharmed, but still… Someone with his caliber should have found them almost instantly, and between his and Kael's strength, this mission should have taken only one evening. So why didn't it?

'Is that?' Natsu thought to himself, sniffing rapidly. He quickly relocated, finding cover behind some thick brambles and trees. 'I know that scent…'

Sure enough, minutes later, a short man with glasses entered the forest, rapidly scanning the area for anyone who might be watching.

"Ah, the night sure was elegant yesterday," the short man mused.

"I was quite taken myself," another man said, who had jumped down from a nearby tree, much to Natsu's surprise.

'How? I couldn't even…' Natsu thought to himself.

"Well then, if you are ready to proceed, I shall return to the town at once," the short man said, slowly.

"Indeed," the taller man said.

And that was it. The shorter man took his leave, and the taller one did as well, both heading off in opposing directions.

'Something's definitely going on here…I better get Kael, and quickly…'

He waited a few moments until he couldn't sense any trace of either man before quickly dashing over to his slumbering partner.

"Kael!" Natsu sharply whispered. "Kael! Get up!"

"Hrmmm?" Kael mumbled, sleepily.

"Happy! Both of you! This is important!"

"Natshuuuuu," Happy whined, stretching. "Why are you up so earrrrlyyyyy."

"Both of you, listen up," Natsu spoke sharply, recalling the events to the two of them. Kael was now rapt attention, and deep in thought.

"That is interesting…" Kael murmured. "There was clearly something going on, but who was the other one?"

"I don't have a clue, I've never seen or smelled him before, but the shorter one was definitely him," Natsu explained.

"But what are they doing?"

"I think we should pay a visit to town," Natsu suggested. "Perhaps we can get more information on this festival and the 'magic' these wolves use."

"I like the way you think kid, hell yeah! Let's stick it to the man!"

With that, they were off. Suspicions were high, senses alerted and keen. Within an hour, they had made it back to the village. Natsu decided to do some undercover surveillance, and Kael decided he would pay a visit to the mayor and get some information out of the little weasel.

'So…' he thought, entering the mayor's office. 'Tryna play games with Fairy Tail, are we?'

Back With Natsu

Natsu had an idea, or more likely a feeling, of what was happening. The mayor didn't just lose the wolves, he had them taken. You don't just forget something like a rune circle, it's painfully obvious.

'Knowing that greedy little gremlin,' Natsu thought to himself. 'He probably wants to sell them or something stupid like that. But why would he hire mages to find them? He could have easily played it off as if they were stolen, or better yet, declared that the magic runes were faulty.' It didn't make any sense to the puzzled dragon slayer, so he continued on his search.

His first stop was a local tavern. He wanted some local input on the festival, and he had just the furry companion to charm some willing townsfolk. He sat down and ordered a whisky, and waited for Happy to make his entrance. They'd done this a bunch of times already, during his bounty hunter days Happy was quite the little devil when it came to getting information, so they had the plan down pat. After five minutes exactly, Happy flew in catching the eye of most of the customers.

"Hi, Mister!" Happy said to the bartender, whose eyes were wide in shock. "You got any yummy fishies?"

"Uh, no, sorry kitty cat…" the man replied slowly.

"You don't?" Happy pretended to well up with tears, earning a few sympathetic glances from the locals.

"Sorry, cat. It's a tavern, no fish here," the man said, finally realizing he wasn't drunk nor was he dreaming.

"Well, (sniff) ok…" Happy said, 'holding back tears.' "Well, do you think you could tell me about the festival instead?"

Glad that the creature had stopped crying, the bartender happily replied to the cat. "Sure thing, little guy! Every year in February, we have a festival to honor the full moon. It's called the Festival of the Short Moon."

"Why is the moon short?" Happy asked, giggling. "That's silly."

"It's not the moon itself that's short!" the man explained smiling. "You see, it's because February is the shortest month of the year. Many villages have festivals to celebrate the coming of the new year, but we celebrate in February."

"How come? That seems weird," Happy continued.

"Hmmm," the man thought for a moment. "I'm actually not quite sure. If you're really interested, you can check the library. The lady that works there, Mrs. Darnèe, should know a lot about its history. All I can tell you is that the festival is a lot of fun! Plenty of music, dancing, the sacred wolf song, and-"

"FISH?" Happy asked excitedly.

The man chuckled. "I'm sure you can find some fish there if you look."

"Aye, sir!" Happy exclaimed, and zoomed out the door.

"Strange creature, that one…" the bartender mused, returning to cleaning the glass, unaware of the cloaked dragonslayer that had been very attentive to their conversation.

Returning to Kael

"So," Kael asked, leaning back in his chair away from the mayor. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about this beast tamer."

"Of course Mr. Kael!" the mayor replied, giddily. He was just as happy and excitable as the previous day, almost as if nothing had ever happened at all. "His name is Tanner. At the end of every January, he comes into town, accepts a small payment, and then sets off to bring back two sacred wolves. There are many wolves in the area, so they can be hard to find, but he has a special eye for them."

"You mentioned that these so-called 'sacred wolves' could use magic. What kind of magic can they use exactly?"

"It's a type of earth magic, though I'm not entirely sure what it's called. He mentioned it once or twice, something about reconstructing the earth into various shapes to protect itself."
"So it would be correct to assume you've never actually seen them use magic yourself."
"That would be correct, yes. I must be frank though, what does any of this have to do with returning the wolves in time for the festival? My reputation is on the line here!"
"I just have a few more questions...This Tanner fellow...Where does he come from and what does he look like?"

The mayor described Tanner as a strange-looking fellow, with green hair and tattoos of various beasts on his arms. He told Kael that the man was quite tall, but still slightly shorter than the mage.

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason…" Kael responded, taking his leave from the office. "I have to meet up with my associate soon, we'll be sure to let you know if we get any more information on those wolves of yours."

Later

The two met up at a restaurant near where Natsu had been gathering his information. It hadn't been long, but both had discovered rather interesting details, which they shared.

"I didn't get a good look, and his body was covered, but the height seemed to be about right. Not to mention, I couldn't even smell him," Natsu mentioned following Kael's information. "It could be a coincidence, or it could be that that taller man was in fact our beast slayer. If he's half as good as he sounds, he'll be able to fully mask his presence. Animals have a much better perception than we do, so he'd need it to get anything done."
"That is strange. From what I've heard, there's nothing and nobody you can't track down with that nose of yours. Missing something like that can't be a coincidence," Kael replied, thinking deeply about the information. Natsu hadn't dug up anything entirely new, but he had a lead, and that was something to start with. Not to mention, Natsu had a good theory which Kael agreed with, but they needed both evidence and reason. While it did seem likely that a man such as Derrick would try to steal the wolves to make some easy money, why call in mages? It was perplexing, to say the least, especially since the request had been marked as S-class.

"I think you should head to the library. Too many people there for me," Natsu suggested, standing. "I want to take another look around the forest to try and find our missing beast slayer…"

"Sounds good to me kiddo. Be careful out there," Kael said, giving Natsu a fist bump before they parted ways.

'Dammit, Derrick…' Natsu thought.

'What are you planning?' Kael questioned to himself.

The Library

"Excuse me," Kael asked. He had entered the library and walked over to the desk, which was currently being tended to by a young blonde woman. "I don't suppose you would know where I could find someone by the name of Mrs. Darnèe, would you?"
"Of course! She should be coming back from her lunch break any minute. Why?"

"I'm not from around here, and apparently she knows a lot about the festival of yours. I'd like to hear a little bit more about it."

"Oh! Well, I'm sure she should be able to help you! Mrs. Darnèe knows everything there is to know about the Festival of the Short Moon! Glad to see you taking an interest!"

Kael noted she was almost as bubbly as the mayor had been. 'What is with this town?' he thought to himself.

Sure enough, he only had to wait around 15 minutes before an older lady entered the building. She had gray hair that went down to her shoulders and was a bit on the plump side. She looked to be all smiles and wore a pair of glasses. The older lady and the blonde spoke for a few moments before the blonde woman gestured to Kael, who waved and started to walk over.

"So you're interested in the festival I heard? That's very kind of you young man, so nice to see people interested in our festivities," she said.

"Young man? I'm in my 30s!" Kael laughed.

"Oh, pish posh! When you get to my age everyone's young!"

The two shared a laugh, and she led him over to a table where the two could talk.

"So, young man, what's your name and what would you like to know?"

"Thanks very much, Mrs. Darnèe, this means a lot. The name's Kael, and I'm interested in everything you can tell me about how your festival first started. I think I understand what happens during the event, but I find it strange that no one seems to know about the history."
"Yes, well, let me see here…" she stood and walked over to a nearby shelf, searching for a few moments before pulling out a book. It had definitely seen better days but was still intact and legible. "It all started around 150 years ago, just before this town was first started..."

The Founding Of Dahlia

A small group of settlers was found near exhaustion on the ground. They had been walking for days, with almost no food and barely enough water to survive. They had all lived in another village previously, but it was a cruel and terrible place to live. It was run by a corrupt group of mages that practiced dark magic, and they used and abused the citizens for their own sick and twisted desires. Children were often sacrificed, if someone was unable to work they were more often than not killed, and everyone was extremely poor.

One of the men who lived there went by the name of Sigmund. He and his wife Dahlia had recently had a child together, a young girl they named Lily. Soon after, however, his wife was stricken with a terrible illness that killed her and it began to spread. The dark mages declared the young child cursed and ordered her execution. Unable to save his daughter, the man was stricken with grief, and almost took his own life. He claimed to have been stopped by the ghost of a beautiful young woman who was holding a very young girl in her arms. The spirit smiled at him until he dropped his blade, and then as quickly as she had come, she was gone. The man took it as a sign and decided he would take as many people as he possibly could, and escape the tyranny of that village.

Within a month, he was ready. He had a group of roughly two dozen people, all armed with shovels or stolen spears, and were ready to make their escape. Just as they had reached the outskirts, they were met with the town's guards who were ordered to slaughter them en masse as a lesson to the other villagers. Still determined, Sigmund led the charge, engaging the fully armed group of mercenary guards. They managed to win, but still took heavy losses. He once had a band of 25 people, and it was now down to nine, and most were seriously wounded. Determined to escape, they took anything they could from the unconscious or deceased mercenaries and headed off to a better life.

Four days later, they reached a clearing surrounded by barren trees. They were starving, dehydrated, and freezing cold. Just as they were about to give up hope, two wolves approached. Too exhausted to defend themselves, they surrendered to the wolves. The remaining men used whatever strength they had left to protect their friends or wives, while the wolves watched in awe at the desperate travelers who had resigned themselves to fate. It was that beautiful February night, that the full moon emerged from the clouds. The two wolves started to howl, and it was the most beautiful thing the travelers had ever heard. The two were in perfect harmony, howling a song that made them feel almost warm. Soon after, the ground around them started to shake, and they once again accepted their demise, glad to at least be given one last glimpse at happiness before passing. It was then, that the ground shifted. It began to form around them, creating a shelter from the cold. It was reminiscent of a small cave, built from hardened earth, that rose to surround them. The people were in shock. Not only were they not dead, but the wolves appeared to be attempting to aid the travelers. One of the wolves left and returned moments later with the carcass of an elk, and he dragged it over, giving it to the weary travelers. Sigmund was in shock, and as he turned his head, off in the distance, he saw a single flower in full bloom. It was a Dahlia flower, somehow alive and blooming far earlier than it should have been, and he decided then and there that he and everyone around him would live on.

They built a fire, cooked the meat, and were finally able to rest easy. The next day, they all unanimously agreed. This would be where they'd build their new home. So that's what they did. They used the wood from the surrounding area to build homes, once the elk had been eaten they used the spears they had taken from the mercenaries and hunted, they found fresh water in a river that was relatively closeby. They did it. They were finally able to find the happiness they had never known.

None of the villagers ever forgot the wolves that had saved them and given them hope. The village was named Dahlia, because of the single flower Sigmund had seen that he believed was given to them by his deceased wife, but they decided to hold a festival every year in honor of the wolves that had saved them. Every February during the full moon, all of the citizens of Dahlia, which was growing rapidly every year, would come out to celebrate and feast around a fire in the center of the village.

Around 10 years ago, the previous mayor had met a young beast tamer who had just moved into the village. He offered the mayor to bring some wolves into town so everyone would be able to clearly hear their song. The mayor was hesitant at first, uneasy about potentially bringing harm to the town's sacred animal, but the man insisted that due to his special type of magic, they'd be obedient to his command, so nothing but a simple approach would be needed. Initially, he declined, but apparently, the beast tamer had told the people of his idea, and they rallied in support. It was always said that anyone who was able to hear their song would have good luck and prosperity in the coming year, so moving them close enough so the whole town would hear would certainly help them. After this, the mayor had little choice but to agree. Ever since then, the festival has continued. The beast tamer comes into town to accept payment for his services and retrieves the sacred beasts for the festival.

Story End

"Wow," Kael said. This was a lot of information. 'How does no one know about this?' he thought to himself.

"Indeed, young man. It tends to be a lot to process, I'm not surprised that no one was able to tell you the whole story."

"I...suppose you're right about that..." Kael replied. He decided not to tell her that no one seemed to know anything about it, let alone just bits and pieces. It was far too strange. "Well, I appreciate the information. Thank you for your time, Mrs. Darnèe."

"Of course, young man. I hope you'll enjoy the festival! Take care!"

With that Kael departed. He had a much better idea of what was going on now. 'Now, if I can find out what happened to the previous mayor...'

The Forest

Natsu and Happy had finally arrived. He was much faster with just Happy and made it to the forest in half the time it had taken the two to return. He was set on finding something, anything that pointed to information regarding the taller man he had seen with the mayor.

'A footprint, a scent, some clothing, anything at all!' Natsu thought as he scoured the area. All he could find was the mayor's scent, which was everywhere. 'He could certainly make an effort to be more discreet,' Natsu mused.

An hour went by with no luck, and he was about to return when he suddenly heard what sounded like a cry from a wounded animal.

"Nat-" Happy was instantly shushed by Natsu's hand over his mouth, as he instantly found cover in the brush. That was all they heard, but it was something, and Natsu was going to find out what it was. He slowly and quietly made his way closer to the noise he had heard. Twenty agonizing minutes later, he saw it. Two wolves, both severely wounded, were chained up to fences. He recognized the metal that made up their chains as magic suppressing. Both wolves were beautiful, almost glowing, and were twice the size of any normal wolf. They both had blood all over their fur and looked to be on the verge of death. They couldn't move at all because of how short the chain was, and their jaws were chained shut. Resting in a hammock nearby was a man. He was facing away from Natsu and seemed to be asleep, but he had green hair and almost no scent whatsoever.

'I finally found you...' Natsu thought, glancing at Happy. Happy was horrified, and the two were set on doing anything and everything they could, for both the wolves, and the town. 'Well, this just gets more complicated by the second!'