Everyone looked in awe when they entered the city. It was much bigger than they expected and was quite active. Angels were everywhere and the architecture was much more rich then the ones down below.
"To think there was a place like this above us, all this time…" Jellal commented.
"Yeah, this reminds me of Crocus!" Lucy replied.
Suddenly, Natsu and Gray noticed their stomachs were rumbling. "Come on! We should find some food first!" Natsu said. Erza was the next to have her stomach growl.
"That should be for the best, although we should head for the inn first and book our rooms." She suggested "We only have so much of these coins and who knows what inflation is like here."
"Aww, but I wanna eat now!" Natsu whined.
"Quit acting like a child fire spitter." Gray scoffed.
"What was that stripper?!"
"Enough!" Erza glared, making Gray and Natsu turn away from each other sweating profusely. "Come on, let's go before we seem suspicious."
As the group walked through the town, Sheila looked at the castle far ahead that towered the entire town. She closed her eyes and put her hands together. "Please be okay, Wendy." She mumbled.
Shortly after Lucy put a hand on Sheila's shoulder. When Shelia looked at the blonde, she was met with a reassuring smile.
The group scanned the area around town. It was quite noisy and angels were either walking or flying everywhere. Jellal specifically started to look quite nervous all of the sudden.
"Jellal? Is something the matter?" Erza asked, looking concerned. Jellal shook his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"It's fine, let's just find the inn." He replied. Erza immediately had doubts but decided not to press on.
"And that's how I got the rank I am today!"
Back at the bar, Sting and the others were listening to Argus ramble on.
"Uh, that's nice and all…" Carla chimed in "but we were wanting to know about the "exciting news" you mentioned."
"Oh right, I forgot." Argus rubbed the back of his head before laughing.
"Can I kill him?" Gajeel mumbled.
"No." Carla answered quietly.
Argus points towards an open window where a large castle can be seen in the distance.
"Ya see that castle? Up by the top floor rests the ruler of this place. He's been sick for quite some time."
"Sick? Do you not have any doctors here?" Rogue asked.
"This ain't no normal sickness son. His body is practically mummy looking. He's losing his life energy." Argus answered. "However, I recently heard we had someone come in who can save his life!"
Carla immediately took notice of what Argus just said. She squinted her eyes slightly in anger and confusion. She was kidnapped, she didn't make any offers! Happy quickly patted her shoulder to calm her down. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.
"Although, can't really say I know what they look like." Argus continued "Haven't met em yet."
"I see…" Rogue said "thank you for the information."
"HA HA HA, of course! And hey, here's something on me!" Argus gave some blue coins to Rogue. "Use this to get a room at the inn nearby."
"Ok, listen you." Gajeel stood up "why're you being so friendly towards us? What's the catch?" he growled.
"Gajeel! Stop it!" Happy flew up in Gajeel's face. However he just shoved him out of the way.
Everyone at the bar turned towards Gajeel after his outburst. The others took quick notice of the tense scene. Argus waved his hand in response to calm the scene down.
"Guess it makes sense you don't trust someone you just met. HA HA HA." Argus jokes. He stood from his seat and began to leave. "Ya see kid, we here at Exahelm are a friendly bunch. Feel free to make yourselves at home." He got to the door, but then he turned his head one final time towards the group. "Try not to do anything wrong alright? We don't take people who disturb our peace very lightly, heh." He then waved goodbye and left the building, leaving the group slightly stunned.
"Tch. Was that a threat?" Gajeel sat back down, crossing his arms.
"You idiot!" Carla scolded "don't cause any more scenes! It makes me wonder how you were able to make it through Edolas."
Sting then noticed they were still being stared at by the people in the bar. "Uh guys, we should get going before we make things any more awkward."
"Aye." Happy sighed "We should hurry and find Natsu and the others."
"This seems to be the place…" Erza looked up at a building with a sign that read "inn."
"Wow, subtle." Gray joked.
They all went inside and went towards the front counter and made their reservations. Later they all went to their room where food service had also been ordered.
"It doesn't seem like we fell for any sort of trap…" Erza started "We should take this time to discuss what we know so far."
"I guess to start…" Lucy pondered, looking at Natsu. "Were you able to track anyone from the other group?"
"I wish I could." Natsu answered "But this place is too big with so many people. It's impossible to track down anyone unless I'm a couple feet away."
"Ugh, of course things are tougher for us. They always are!" Gray complained.
"It makes sense unfortunately." Erza sighed "This is unknown land to us, we should expect more mishaps."
"That tall guy, he said Wendy is in that castle right?" Chelia asked. "Would it be possible to sneak in and rescue her?"
"Or we could just bust up the place." Gray smirked.
"Ha! Now you're talking!" Natsu shot up.
"Sit down!" Erza glared at Natsu and Gray.
"Aye!" They both sat down.
"First of all, we can't sneak in. Don't you remember what the master said about him?" Erza explained. "He has Vision Magic. He'll spot us effortlessly.
"Plus...didn't he warn us about "disturbing the peace" or something?" Lucy added.
"Oh right, what a creep." Gray scoffed.
"What did he mean by that anyway?" Sheila pondered. Erza then glanced at Jellal who was sitting on the bed, deep in thought.
"You can explain to us now." Erza assured, getting the attention of Jellal.
"S-sorry." Jellal sighed "Tell me, did any of you notice anything odd while going through town?"
"Odd? I mean there's a lot that was odd." Lucy commented.
"I guess I did feel some sort of heaviness." Natsu commented next. "I just assumed it was the gravity."
"What are you getting at?" Erza asked.
"Well," Jellal coughed "I think I may understand that warning more clearly…"
Everyone stared at Jellal with feelings of stress. Jellal started to grit his teeth while sweating a little.
"I believe every single citizen here, bears some sort of magic power."
The entire group gasped immediately.
"Shit." Gray put his hand on his face. "Does that mean we'd be up against an entire civilization?!"
"I don't know if they have any fighting ability compared to the soldiers." Jellal tried to assure "But we should be more than cautious. If we act recklessly we could end up in a war."
"We've fought an entire nation before." Natsu noted "And we won. What would make this any different?"
"There's only so many of us here." Jellal countered "Besides, Flore can't handle another war so soon."
"There's also the fact they're innocent civilians." Erza continued.
"Why did this have to happen…" Lucy whimpered. "I can't even imagine the stress Wendy could go through."
"We will find a way to save Wendy." Erza reassured. "We've handled these kinds of situations before. For now we should get as much information as possible to know our enemy. Therefore we'll be able to strategize our move."
"In the meantime, we should also hurry and reunite with the others." Jellal mentioned. "We don't know if they also have this information, and it could be bad if they cause anything."
"Indeed." Erza agreed. "Everyone, let's get moving!"
"Right!" Everyone yelled out in agreement.
Hahlos flew downwards on the second floor of the castle. He landed on the balcony and walked on in. He went towards the library where he assumed Stark was in. The castle was quiet as ever with not a sudden noise was heard. He made it to the door to the library and opened it.
"Stark. It's me." He announced. He immediately spotted Stark sitting at a desk by a window. A bright light was shining through the window as he sat quietly reading a book.
"You should really close those curtains." Hahlos suggested. "It'll make it easier for you to read."
Stark closed the book and set it down as his eyes gazed towards Hahlos. "I'm fine, I can still read. Now what is it?"
"I've come to give you the report you sent Balrus for. I volunteered to give it to you." Hahlos answered. "However we should inform the others as well."
"The others huh?" Stark scoffed "Arya doesn't even believe me and Argus is out stuffing his face. Good luck getting the others here, just tell me."
"Oh? But isn't that Argus right out there?" Hahlos pointed at the window as Stark looked and saw Argus walking towards the castle entrance.
"As for Arya, she'll believe me."
"Tch. Wonderful." Stark rolled his eyes.
"Come, let's head towards the meeting room." Hahlos requested.
"W-where am I?" Wendy was walking in an empty black void. She looked all over but spotted nothing. Suddenly a bright light shined in her direction as she looked away. Once she looked back her eyes widened as she saw Natsu standing there with his trademark smile.
"Natsu!" Wendy beamed as she ran over towards her friend. She then gave him a big hug. "You came!"
"Of course Wendy!" Natsu smiled as he patted Wendy's head. "We're friends after all!"
Wendy buried her face on Natsu's chest, taking the moment in.
Suddenly she started to feel a sudden heaviness as Natsu started to fall over. She looked up and saw his eyes pupil-less. Natsu fell over as Wendy backed up.
"Natsu? NATSU?!" She started to shake his body but he made no movements. "What's wrong?! What's going on?!"
"He's dead." A deep voice was heard as Wendy's head shot up. She saw a black figure with pink long hair in front of her.
"D-dead?!" Wendy stuttered, tears welling in her eyes. "You're lying! Wh-who are you?!"
The man stood silently. His dark blue eyes glowed.
"You will be a part of me. Your loved ones will meet the same fate if you do not comply." The figure then summoned a long spear.
"Wait. S-stop!" Wendy yelled out as the figure thrusted his spear towards Natsu's back.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Wendy shot up from bed, breathing at a fast pace. She looked around the room and noticed that she was still in the castle.
"It...it was just a dream…" She sighed in relief. Although she was still shaken up from what she dreamed about. She looked out the window and noticed it was still day time. She rubbed her head as she got out of bed.
"I think walking around the castle will calm me down…" she thought.