Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail, Dnd, or Pathfinder.
A/N: Okay, let's see how this chapter goes.
Check out my other stories such as Fiery Hurricane, Right Claw, Last Fire Mage, and A Child of Fire and Brimstone.
Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow if you want.
Chapter 14
Red
"Get down!", Zug yells and Wendy is brought back to the real world. Without wasting a second, she quickly laid flat on the dirt just as a stream of fire came flying over her and the other's heads and impacting into the horde of spiders that were directly in its path, leaving nothing but charred corpses in its wake. Even with the distance between her and the spiders that were scorch she could still feel the extreme heat of the flames. Her sensitive nose became filled with the smell of burning flesh and her ears pick up the intensity of the dying screams of the giant arachnids.
"What is that thing?!", Moroun bellows as he gets up.
"What do you think it is? It's a dragon and a red one at that!", Zug tells him.
"It took the big one's head off in a single pass like it was nothing!", Kolvar states, "And it's turning the tide of battle all on its own!"
Just like the elf said, the spiders were scattering everywhere, completely forgetting about Wendy and the others or even the village as they instead make a dash for the forest, hoping to elude the new monster in the woods. Even the one that had been on the rock behind them fled with its brethren as soon as the dragon began torches the lot of them.
While this was going all, Porlyusica and Roubaul's shock and amazement were currently being split between two different sources even though they were connected. One was the red dragon swooping around the village while laying waste to the horde and the other was that the spiders that were previously about to devour them scramble out of the building at the first sight of the new fiery arrival.
"Impossible", Porlyusica heard Roubaul say, "There hasn't been a red dragon's sighting in these parts in centuries. The mountains are too far away!"
"You also said that giant spiders weren't native to this region so I guess this day is just full of surprises!", Porlyusica states as she heads toward the window but stops at the last moment and shields her eyes just as another burst of flames came forth and burned alive the spiders trying to flee. The intense smoke afterward blinds and she falls to the floor in a coughing fit. Using her cloak as a fan to clear the area around her, she regains her senses enough to crawl over to the window and look out at the destruction that was being inflicted.
The headless corpse of the alpha spider laid atop of the guild hall and the charred remains of spiders littered the streets. A trail of flames lit up the paths within the village and several villagers were pouring out of their homes to douse them with buckets of water due to the threat of the spiders seemingly vanishing into thin air and the red dragon to preoccupy with them to focus its attack on the people.
"I wonder how long that will last", Porlyusica thought before turning to Roubaul, "We have to find Romeo!"
Roubaul points out to the clearing in front of the village where a glob of white could be seen due to the fires blazing all over the area. Porlyusica squints her eyes and can make out a small figure struggling to free itself from it.
"Romeo!", she cries out and she takes off toward the stairs that led to the first floor and dashes out of the building with speeds someone her age shouldn't be able to have all while leaving Roubaul behind.
Despite the severity of the situation, the village chief couldn't suppress the chuckle that came forth from his lips, "What is it with Fairy Tail's mages and them be so active even into their late years? She and Makarov are more similar than they know."
Romeo was getting himself more and more entrapped in the webbing the more he struggles and all the noise he was making in the process attracted the wrong attention as he heard a number of clicks come from behind him and he turns around and was horrified to see over a hundred glowing red eyes looking straight at him as well over a dozen of the remaining spiders had made the decision that the boy was somehow worth the meal despite the fact the dragon was still flying overhead nearby.
The boy barely had time to let off a scream before the beasts charge at him. Quickly crossing the distance between them and Romeo, the first spider was nearly right on top of him when a red blur came crashing down right on top of it. Romeo was narrowly missed in the process, but the spider's fluids and dust were sent everywhere and he was temporarily blinded by the combination of the two. But before the dust even settles, the young child could feel the immense heat being emitted by whatever landed in front of him.
But this only lasts for a moment as the Wild Mark began to glow once more and a wave of green light washes over Romeo's body and soon there afterward he could no longer feel the heat.
"Huh?", he says as he wonders what was going on but a growl quickly draws his attention back to the creature in front of him and the color of blood was the first thing that came to his mind as he gazes upon the draconian beast staring straight at him.
The horns on top of its head were swept back straight, looking like daggers in their resemblance. All along its head and face smaller horns jetted out making it similar to a mace in retrospect as it watches Romeo with its reddish-orange glowing eyes. A forked tongue slithers out of its mouth and a small snort from the dragon releases tiny flames from its nostrils that cause the boy to fall back onto the ground in surprise. It was then that Romeo realizes that the webbing around him was slowly starting to burn away as he watches the substance slowly turn into ashes before flaking away into the breeze. He suddenly felt the presence of something very close to him and he turns to see that the dragon was now directly in Romeo's face, its eyes staring straight into his.
But the dragon seemed familiar. It was if this dragon was a friend of his, almost as if….
"Fonaar?", he questions the red dragon and the beast does a nod before giving Romeo a slobbering lick with his tongue. But then a noise from behind draws his attention and he spins around to douse the spiders approaching in an inferno that spew forth from his mouth. The flames wash over them, reducing them to ash in seconds and causing the ones not hit by the fires to once again scatter away, but Romeo then saw a nasty grin form on Fonaar's mouth, revealing his razor-sharp teeth in a wicked smile as the dragon spread its wings. With a single flap, the dragon almost knocks the young Wild Master off his feet as he took to the skies once more to rain death and destruction onto the shatter horde from above.
Within a matter of seconds, fires were raging everywhere across the area, the forest itself dancing with flames as Fonaar rain fire indiscriminate on the spiders wherever they were, evening as his prey was crawling over one another and leaving their wounded brethren behind to a fiery and painful death.
Meanwhile, Wendy and the others could only watch in horror at what they were seeing.
"So the tales my clan elders spoke about regarding the cruelty of Red Dragons were true", Moroun began in a quiet voice as he watches the flames illuminate the night, "It knows no bounds."
"If it wasn't for the fact that a few moments ago I thought my life was going to be ended by these creatures, I would feel sorry for them", Kolvar states as another billow of fire was released on the decimated horde, "These beasts are clearly beaten but the dragon doesn't show any signs of stopping."
Zug remains silent as he takes in all that he had witnessed tonight before seeing Wendy move out of the corner of his eye, heading toward the boy while holding her sides. He then spots the old lady from earlier running out of the village to that same location as well.
"What's going on here now?", the man wonders.
Porlyusica spots Wendy running along with her, cradling her ribs and gritting her teeth as she too was dashing toward Romeo. Without warning, Wendy trips over the charred leg of one of the spiders and would have hit the ground if it wasn't for the Healing Mage being there to catch her.
The dragon-slayer looks up into the worrying eyes of the elderly lady, "That dragon is Fonaar!"
"Where are your vials? What happened to them?", Porlyusica asks, completely ignoring the first words out of the dragon-slayer's mouth.
"They broke, but that's not important! That dragon is Fonaar!", Wendy repeated.
"You must be delusional from the pain!", Porlyusica deduces as she searches her cloak for any alternate she might have had for pain suppression only to stop upon Wendy grabbing her arm in an iron grip.
"I'm not imaging things! Fonaar was cocoon by the spiders and that red dragon came out of it! I don't know how or why but he did!", Wendy explains, "It landed right in front of Romeo and when he called out Fonaar's name, the dragon acknowledged it! He even lick him!"
Porlyusica couldn't believe what she was hearing. A dragon that could change its species, that was unheard of. But she had no time to dwell on this, what was important was getting Romeo away from all this destruction.
"Take this, Wendy!", she says as she pulls out a vial full of blue liquid, "It's not as good as ones you had before but it may help with the pain!"
Romeo was still looking up at the sky as Fonaar releases stream after stream of fire into the forest, the scene reminding him of the one time he attended a church service with his family and the man at the front did a display of fire magic that frighten him so much that he clung to his mother in tears and she had to take him home.
"Romeo!", he hears from behind and turns to see both Wendy and Porlyusica coming toward him, "Romeo, get over here!", Porlyusica calls out.
Romeo looks back toward the sky where Fonaar was still flying overhead and then back at Porlyusica and the woman had a hunch about what was going through his head right at the moment.
"He's just as confused about what's going on as we are", she tells herself as she and Wendy close the distance, "Romeo, come here! We have to get you-!"
BOOM!
Porlyusica and Wendy skid to halt and narrowly avoid a claw swipe that could have easily taken both Wendy's head and Porlyusica's upper body clean off. The ladies stood absolutely still as they found themselves face to face with Fonaar who looks like he was ready to pounce on them. For Porlyusica, it was a far different experience than when she first met the dragon but for Wendy, it was more or less the same.
"No…sudden...movements", Porlyusica whisper to Wendy who nodded slowly in return as Fonaar's fiery eyes bore into her. The heat he was giving off was intense and Wendy looks down for a brief moment to see the edges of her sundress as well as her hair beginning to slowly burn away. A glance over to Porlyusica tells her that the Healing Mage was suffering the effects of the heat coming off of Fonaar as well though it seems that it was also affecting the lady physically as well as a large number of sweat droplets became to streak down her face.
Fonaar growls at the two ladies, prompting them to begin slowly backing up away from the dragon, each footstep taking agonizing several seconds to lift up and place back down.
"Why is he like this? He normally has no problem with at least you being near Romeo", Wendy whisper.
"He's in a state of battlelust most likely. Dragons are known to have this and Romeo is probably the only one he can tell is a friend right now. Everything else, including us, is a threat", Porlyusica tells the girl as Fonaar took a menacing step toward them, "I wonder if I can distract him long enough for Wendy to get away."
Luckily, Fairy Tail's medical adviser didn't have to enact on her suicidal plan as an arrow strikes the enrage dragon's head, the shaft snapping upon impact but it was enough to make the dragon turn his attention to the right where Kolvar was currently letting off a volley arrows that he recovered from the dead spiders who weren't burned to a crisp and shooting them off at Fonaar. But he wasn't alone in this as both Moroun and Zug bound their way past him toward the dragon, their weapon raised and ready to strike.
Fonaar doesn't even hesitate as he inhales and lets loose a hellstorm at the trio.
"Move!", Zug screams and all three of them scatter like cockroaches to dodge the flames, narrowing avoiding them as they blanket the area they were previously standing in, turning the ground to nothing more than ash and soot.
Seeing that his attack failed, Fonaar launches himself at Zug, clearing the distance between them in a single bound and delivering two swipes with his claws at the monk, who nimbly dodge them with the grace of a ballerina before countering with a couple of whack to Fonaar's head with his broken spear. This did nothing but infuriate the dragon even more and Fonaar spins around to deliver a tail whip only for that too to be dodge by Zug who sides flip kicks over it.
Fonaar feels something heavy collide with his right side and he twists his neck around to see Moroun readying himself to swing his giant warhammer into the dragon's ribs once more. Fonaar flings his tail into the dwarf, knocking him into the air and away from him but the dragon is unable to follow up on this as more arrows collided with his head as Kolvar was dashing all around the clearing picking up any decent arrows that he could find and shooting them off while on the run, doing everything he could to keep himself a moving target.
While the battle rage on and the townsfolk were busy putting out the fires, Wendy and Porlyusica took this opportunity to get to Romeo.
"Romeo, are you okay?", Wendy asks as Porlyusica frantically looks over the boy, checking him for any possible wounds, "Are you hurt?"
But the boy was paying no mind to her as his attention was entirely focused on the sight before him as a combination of red and orange dance within his eyes. The sight of the charred bodies and burning buildings along with the smell of smoke and death were simply too much for the boy's fragile mind to deal with right now on top of the spiders' attack. So the six-year-old did the only thing that made sense in a situation like this.
He started crying.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!", erupted from his throat, startling Wendy and Porlyusica as it carried into the village and the surrounding forest.
"R-Romeo?", Wendy says.
"I WANT MY MOMMY!", he cries as a river of tears began to pour down his face and spill on to the ground.
"Romeo! Please calm down!", Porlyusica tries to calm the boy but to no avail.
"Please Romeo, everything is going to be okay!", Wendy joins in, doing whatever she could to make him settle down but his cries and screams prevail….
And caught the attention of a certain dragon.
Fonaar was still lock in his deadly struggle with Zug, Kolvar, and Moroun as the trio surround him, their weapons at the ready while Fonaar's claws and teeth were poised to strike. The situation was tense and not a sound was passing between the group as each party was waiting for the other to make the first move. Fonaar's ferocity, instinct, and fiery breath against the trio's experience, teamwork, and raw luck. The dragon was outnumbered three to one but the trio was still tired from fighting off the onslaught of the spiders.
Their advantages and disadvantages stack up evenly and whoever made the first mistake made just pay for it fatally. Everything hinge on….
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Fonaar's eyes widen in panic and he whips his head around to the source of the wailing where he spots Porlyusica and Wendy trying their best to calm the sobbing Wild Master.
At least, that's what any normal person would think with the frantic arm movement and the raised voices, but to an overprotective dragon...
Fonaar's blood-red wings spread out so rapidly that Zug barely had enough time to jump away to avoid being hit as in a single flap the dragon was airborne once more.
"Look out!" Kolvar calls to Porlyusica and Wendy, who only had time to look at him before Fonaar once more lands directly in front of them with a resounding crash and flames puffing out of his nostrils. The dragon-slayer and the Healing Mage froze where they were, Porlyusica with her hands on Romeo's shoulders and Wendy in the midst of going to hug him. Both of them stare at Fonaar who glares back with his hellish eyes in return for a moment before he slowly started stalking toward them, the heat from his body leaving burnt footsteps in the ground in his wake while all the while Romeo's cries carry on into the night with no sign of stopping.
"Wendy, pick...up...Romeo", Porlyusica tells the girl.
"What?", Wendy questions while her eyes never left Fonaar.
"Pick Romeo up and move back with me. Even with your injuries, the boy should be nothing for you to carry", Porlyusica repeats.
"Why?", Wendy asks.
"If I'm right, Fonaar won't attack us while Romeo is with us", the Healing Mage answers.
"You want to use him as a shield?!", Wendy says before remembering that she was putting Romeo between her and Fonaar not too long ago for her own safety when she read the draconomicon to the boy, "Oh right, who am I to criticize?"
"We don't have many options at our disposal, Wendy, I would like not to be cooked alive. So will you please pick Romeo up and move back with me?", Porlyusica says.
With only the slightest hesitation Wendy gently yet quickly picks up the sobbing boy and starts to move backward alongside Porlyusica all while the enrage Fonaar follows them, snarling and growling as small flames were now coming out of his mouth along with the occasional slither of his tongue. His slitted eyes narrow in anger as he stalks Poryusica and Wendy and every now and then he let out a roar.
"Don't have to know dragon tongue to know what he's saying", Porlyusica says to herself as she briefly spots the adventurers moving in behind Fonaar while the dragon's attention was focus solely on her and the kids.
"What do we do now?", Wendy asks.
"Hope that Romeo stops crying long enough to tell Fonaar to stop or pray for a miracle", Porlyusica answers, sparing a glance to Romeo who was hugging onto Wendy for comfort but his tears were still going strong.
"I want my mommy!", he cries.
"But that doesn't look like its happening anytime soon", Porlyusica points out.
"Well, we need to think of somethi-", Wendy tries to say right before the worst thing that could happen in this exact moment….well happen.
The dragon-slayer's foot hits the leg of a dead spider who wasn't burned and Porlyusica watches in horror as the girl trips and falls backward to the ground, releasing Romeo upon impact and the boy rolls away from her; not far but just far enough to create an opening and that was the exact thing Fonaar was waiting for as he pounces on top of her in blood-red blur. Porlyusica was powerless to do anything and Zug, Moroun, and Kolvar were simply too far away to get there in time, even as the elven archer readied another arrow, he wouldn't make it in time
Wendy could feel the last breath she was ever going to take get caught in her throat as she looks up into Fonaar's jaws which open up and showed off all his rows of serrated teeth which were going to slice into her flesh. Without time even to say a prayer or let out a cry for help, Fonaar lungs his jaws downward toward Wendy's head and the girl instinctively closes her eyes while hoping that her end would be quick and mostly painless.
...
One heartbeat goes by and she felt no pain.
...
A second heartbeat went by and still nothing.
...
The third heartbeat has Wendy wondering if it happened so quickly that she didn't even feel it.
...
It was the fourth heartbeat that she started to slowly open her eyes…
And found herself shock beyond belief at what she was seeing.
Fonaar, mouth still wide open and only an eyelash length away from her face, was paying no attention to Wendy at all, instead, he was looking over at Romeo who was now hugging his knees while rocking back and forth to calm himself. Zug and Moroun have stopped in the midst of their dead sprint toward the dragon and even Kolvar was holding his position, an arrow notch and drawn back ready to fire.
"I want my mommy! I want my mommy! I want my mommy!", Romeo repeated, ignoring the tense situation that has developed around him.
The dragon spares Wendy one last glance and their eyes lock for a tense moment before he closes his mouth and moves over next to Romeo. Before anyone could move to stop him, a bright silverish white, the same one Wendy saw before Fonaar burst out of his cocoon, engulfs the dragon's body, blinding everyone in the area.
Upon the light dying down, Porlyusica lowers her hand and stares in amazement as what was once the fiery incarnate Fonaar was now the same one she met a the cave behind her house. With scales matching the color of ash, Fonaar looks down at Romeo through his yellow eyes for a moment before wrapping his body around the crying boy in a protective snuggle, giving him comfort as he unwraps his legs and presses up against the dragon, hugging his side while still letting his tears flow freely.
Wendy slowly sits up and stares at the two for a moment before turning to look at Porlyusica who could only give her a confused shrug before glazing over at the adventurers.
"Well…do we still attack him?", Moroun asks.
"I don't know", Kolvar answers as he slowly brings his bow down, "Part of me says we should while the other part says we shouldn't. It would be like attacking a female bear protecting her cubs; stupid and not worth the trouble."
"Let's go with the part that says we shouldn't", Zug says from behind them, drawing a look from his companions, "Because right now, I'm in no condition to fight anymore", he says as he fell to the ground and look up at the sky, "Huh, looks like rain."
It was the tiny droplet hitting her head that directed Porlyusica's attention upward where she could make out the formation of heavy clouds with the help of the moonlight.
"It was a clear night when all of this started, there wasn't a cloud for miles", she thinks to herself right as the downpour started, drenching the entire area in water and easily putting out of the fires that were still raging on.
Roubaul then appears next to her without making a sound, startling the old woman, "Where have you been?"
"Forgive me, I was busy directing the efforts of putting out the fires around the village", he answers as he moves to help Wendy up.
"And your hunters? Where were they when we needed them the most?", Porlyusica then asks.
"Who do you think was putting out most of the fires? Besides, you and Wendy seem to have the situation under control now", Roubaul replies.
The medical adviser shakes her head in anger as she helps the young girl, "Are you okay, Wendy?"
"I will be once I lay down. Carla is going to-", she started to answer before stopping, "Oh gods, where's Carla?!", she screams.
"She was sleeping in the guild hall when the alpha attack!", Porlyusica remembered as she, Roubaul, and Wendy all turn their gaze to the battered building.
"CARLA!", Wendy screams out and she makes a run toward the building, ignoring the pain coursing through her body and leaving the two elders in the dust.
"Carla!", she screams once more as she pushes open the doors to the guild hall and bolts for her room, "Carla!"
"Why are you yelling?", the cat calls out as she sits up in her bed and rubs her eyes, "I'm trying to sleep here."
Wendy leans on the door and slowly slide down it to the floor, a tired smile plaster on her face as weak laughter escapes her lips.
"Wendy, are you okay", Carla asks from her place across the room, "Have the spiders come yet?"
Meanwhile, Zog, Moroun, and Kolvar were keeping their distance from Fonaar while still keeping an eye on him, watching the dragon as he uses one of his wings like an umbrella for the boy who had finally stop crying and was now sound asleep on the beast's side.
"I have to admit that this is all pretty anticlimactic", Kolvar says from the trio's position underneath the trees, keeping watch behind the group for any more spiders that might decide to come back.
"Aye, tell me about it, elf. I was hoping for a grand battle that my clan would sing songs about for generation", Moroun grumbles while keeping both hands on his warhammer just in case.
Zug merely shakes his head at the antics of his comrades as he looks up at the rain as it came pouring down, "How convenient that it suddenly decided to rain tonight despite there being no signs of it whatsoever beforehand. Is this merely coincidence or perhaps the work of a higher power?"
A couple of miles away from the village a teenage girl of slender build with long azure blue hair was making her way through the forest, her pink umbrella keeping her dry from the rain. A dark and gloomy aura projected around her and she could be heard grumbling to herself.
"Drip, drip, drop. Juvia can't believe that the train left early without her and now she has to walk back to Oak Town", the girl says, "Master Jose is going to be mad at Juvia for being late coming back from her job. Drip, drip, drop."
A shuffling sound from the surrounding area causes her to stop in her tracks and she looks to her left to see a multitude of glowing red eyes staring back at her from inside the treeline. She then glances over her shoulder to see at least a dozen giant spiders in the middle of the road eyeing her as if she was a slab of meat. A couple more pour out onto the road from in front of her and within moments, she was cornered on all sides by the arachnids and Juvia faintly notices that more than a few of them were missing limbs.
"Hmph, Juvia did not know giant spiders were native to this area", she says as she folds her umbrella up and holds it with her left hand, "It also seems that Juvia is going to be even more late getting back to Phantom Lord", as she stretches out her right hand, "But only by a little while."
The remaining mob of spiders charges at the girl who remains calm despite the onslaught of fangs and legs rushing toward her.
"Drip. Drip. Drop. Water Jigsaw!" as a storm of water that was formed into blades sprang out from her hand.
A/N: Surprise cameo that no one saw coming. Well, we know almost nothing about Gajeel and Juvia time in Phantom Lord so I'm free to use them as I see fit before the guild war though I have a storyline plan out in advance should I decide whether or not to make her show up at the village later on.
Also for comparison for the adventurers' trio: If you're into DnD you will probably understand this better, but they are around level 19 by comparison, meaning they're experienced and skilled but a fully healthy Wendy would clock in about around a level 30 by comparison, Natsu in the upper 40's.
Check out my other stories such as Fiery Hurricane, Right Claw, Last Fire Mage, and A Child of Fire and Brimstone.
Please leave a Review, Fav, or Follow if you want.