Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail, Pathfinder, or Dungeon and Dragons.
A/N: This chapter will start the next arc in the story.
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 15
Shageyi
"So does anyone have a clue on what exactly Fonaar is?", Carla asks as she, Wendy, Porlyusica, and Roubaul found themselves watching the young dragon as he stood guard over a sleeping Romeo. The morning has come and gone yet the boy still remained asleep alongside the dragon, "I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure there isn't a dragon out there who can change from one species to another."
Porlyusica shrugs, "There are places in the world that are still unexplored and dragons have been known to sleep for hundreds sometimes thousands of years. Whose knows what types of these mystical beasts are out there just waiting to be discovered or rediscovered? Who knows how many civilizations have risen and fallen in the span of what they might have considered a nap?"
"Good point, though I do find it odd", Wendy says as she places a hand on her chin.
"What?", Roubaul wonders as he looks toward the girl.
"Well, it's just that a little while before we even left for the temple to retrieve the Savage Blade, I was reading to Romeo and Fonaar about Red Dragons", Wendy admitted, "And that was when his Wild Mark started to glow."
"Do you think there is a connection?", Roubaul asks the girl though he was also addressing Porlyusica and Carla as well.
"I don't know what to think", Wendy shrugs, "A week ago I didn't even know Wild Masters were still around and yet here I am watching one take an afternoon nap on a dragon that was just trying to kill me not even three days ago."
"Life works in mysterious ways", Porlyusica quotes.
"Speaking of which, I was hoping one of you could answer a question for me.", Wendy says.
"And what is that, child?", Roubaul asks.
"How come Romeo was able to resist the heat Fonaar was giving off when he was a red dragon? Porylusica looked like she was about to faint and I myself was having a hard time with it but he seem just fine."
"Hmmm", Roubaul replies as he tilts his head in thought, "I recall from my youth about legends where the Wild Mark allows Wild Masters to resist high temperatures for a short period of time."
"So Romeo is fireproof?", Carla questions only to receive a vigorously head shake from Roubaul.
"No, no, no, that is an entirely different thing. Romeo can resist the heat that emits from a fire or whatnot but he can't walk through it and expect to be unscathed", Roubaul explains.
"Then what about his clothes?", Wendy says as she recalls that hers almost burn away just from being near Fonaar last night along with her hair.
"I can answer that", Porlyusica interjects, "Do you remember when I told you that Romeo comes from a family of fire mages?"
Wendy nods, "I do."
"Well, don't you think that it would be practical for him to have heat and fire-resistant clothing growing up in a household like that?"
"But I thought magical items break when Romeo touches them", Carla says.
"There is a special plant that grows in the deserts of Desierto, Hell's Bane, that if applied to fabric just right makes them resistant to fire and heat, an alternative to magic spells that achieve the same effect", Porlyusica explains, "It's not cheap though and his parents have to take on more jobs than most people their age usually do in order to pay for Romeo's clothes to be shipped to Magnolia."
"Huh, I did not know that", Wendy said.
"You learn something new every day", Porlyusica replies, "Especially out here."
"Any reports from your scouts?", Carla asks the village chief, directing the conversation back to the more immediate problem.
Roubaul shakes his head, "There have found no traces of the remaining spiders that fled last night though I suspect that they may have simply retreated to the temple."
"Do we leave them be then?", Carla asks.
"Absolutely not!", Roubaul snaps all of a sudden, catching everyone off-guard and even drawing Fonaar's attention despite the distance between the two parties.
"Ahem", Roubaul coughs into his fist, "What I meant to say is; that while Fonaar may have frightened them off last night there is no guarantee that they will stay docile. Even if they were to continue their cannibalism practices there is a high chance that they will return to the village in time and I doubt we can depend on Fonaar..."special ability" again nor do we want to."
"So you're suggesting that we go and finish them off?", Porlyusica asks.
"What I'm suggesting that once the village has recover we will go to the temple and destroy it", Roubaul answers.
The medical adviser of Fairy Tail's eyes widen a bit at this statement, "That seems a little…extreme, don't you think?"
"Those creatures last night weren't natural. Giant spiders do exist, but those were certainly not it. I saw it in their eyes and I saw it in their actions, their bottomless hunger. Constantly feasting until there is nothing left", Roubaul explained, "Something corrupted those monsters, twisted them into new forms and I believe that the temple harbors whatever it was."
"But that's the Wild Master's temple", Wendy points out, "Don't you need it to train Romeo?"
"There are plenty of temples in the world, that was just the closest", Roubaul says, "Plus everything we could have gotten from there we already have."
….
"So you're truly going to go through with this? Destroying the Wild Master's temple?", Porlyusica questions.
"If it will ease your mind, we will travel there and observe for ourselves whether or not the temple is corrupt", Roubaul answers, "If I am wrong about the corruption being there, then I will leave the temple be but if we discover that the spiders are still using it as a home then we should make plans to destroy it along with the remainder of the creatures."
"Are we taking those three with us?", Carla points over to the town center where Zug, Moroun, and Kolvar were standing around off in the corner, having an intense discussion.
"Hmmmm", Roubaul ponders as he rubs his chin, "Their aid was greatly appreciated last night and I would prefer them over Fonaar at this very moment."
"True, but I hardly doubt they're going to do such a task out of the kindness of their hearts", Carla says, "They're adventurers and adventurers are always strap for jewels."
Meanwhile, near the village center
"Why are we still here?", Moroun grumbles, "We should have left already."
"We don't know where the spiders may be hiding so the village is the safest place to be", Kolvar answers.
"Bah! There were only a dozen perhaps two at best that escape, we can handle that! Dwarves have faced worse odds and won!"
"They have faced worse odds and run too", Kolvar pointed out.
"What was that?!", Moroun screams as the elf and dwarf descended into the typical argument that their kind usually got into while Zug simply looked on out toward the direction the spiders fled last night. A thousand thoughts were running through his head but the most prevalent one was the one sticking out in his mind ever since he walked around the village this morning.
"Why were only two buildings damage throughout the entire battle by the spiders?", he thought as he recalls only seeing the guild hall damage by the alpha and the seamstress building damage when the spiders charge into it. Both buildings escaped the fire caused by Fonaar when he was a red dragon, another mystery he hopes to have an answer too soon enough, but they were the only ones that showed signs of battle while the others were simply set on fire and it wasn't even all of them. So why just those two? The whole village was overrun by spiders and surely they must have sensed the people hiding inside of the other buildings.
He also notices that no one was grieving whatsoever and the severe lack of human bodies told him that not a single member of the village was killed last night. An impossible accomplishment after Zug witness first hand the array of forces that were stacked against them. He also recalled that it seemed that the spiders were simply going after him, his compatriots, and the girl while ignoring the hunters of the village.
Something wasn't right about this place and he wanted to know what it was but he doubts he was going to get anywhere by asking questions straight up.
No, Zug needed cunning and he needed time and the only way he was going to get that was by staying in the village a little longer than he expected to.
"Hmmm," he says as his companions argue in the background, "I think I may be able to get us some coin."
This instantly stops Moroun and Kolvar who were about to draw their weapons on each other as they turn their attention to the human monk.
"Eh?", they both say.
"If I'm right, then the people here know where those spiders came from and there's no way they're just going to let them stay there", Zug began, "They will no doubt want to clear out the nest."
"Um, it wouldn't be a sanction job by the adventurer's guild", Kolvar states, "That means they can pay us whatever they want at the end of it and it doesn't look like this village has much to offer."
"They have a magic guild with a dragonslayer. They must have a good amount of coin on them", Zug argues.
"That's just it. They have a dragonslayer and a dragon here. Why would they want to pay three adventurers when they have the means to deal with the problem themselves?", Moroun says as he scratches his beard.
"Just let me do the talking", Zug says as he takes off toward the hill where Wendy and the others were sitting.
Meanwhile, Fonaar was thinking about what happened the night before while Romeo slept on his side, the boy's arms wrapped around his tail as he snores softly. Last night, Fonaar was hell incarnate, his fiery breath devastating the horde as easily as if he was breathing fire on a pile of leaves. Nothing stood in his way last night, not the horde, not their alpha and no doubt the dragon-slayer and the others would fell to his power as well if his attention didn't get diverted to Romeo.
Fonaar shook his head as that unpleasant memory came back to the front of his mind. He was consumed by rage and fury, wanting nothing more to destroy everything in sight. He could still feel faint traces of the scorching fire surging through his body from time to time, its warmth a grim remainder that his transformation last night wasn't an illusion. Dozens of charred spiders corpses still littered the ground around the town along with the large patches of burnt grass and trees. Fonaar was surprised that a massive forest fire didn't occur but it seems that a higher power decree that it start raining around that time for some reason, thus eliminating that possibility.
Still, though, it disturbs Fonaar to no end how close he came to killing Porlyusica and Wendy last night and how it was only thanks to his concern for Romeo that he stop. He has come to actually enjoy the older human female's company despite her attitude and he has started to….tolerant the girl if only because Romeo seems to like her. No doubts their deaths would have been devastating to the boy especially if they were of his doing.
The growling of his stomach draws Fonaar's attention to the fact that he hasn't eaten in about a day and that he exerted an unbelievable amount of energy last night during the battle. His hunger pangs were so loud that they even started to stir Romeo awake from his slumber as the boy lets out a yawn while letting go of Fonaar's tail and stretching his arms. He opens his eyes and stares into the glowing yellow eyes of his companion and smiles.
"You hungry, Fonaar?", he asks as he rubs his snout and receives a slight nod from the dragon in return, "How about we go find you something to eat then?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Fonaar's tail wraps around Romeo and the lad was gently lifted off the ground and place on Fonaar's back as the dragon gets up and starts walking toward the forest.
"We're going to get Fonaar something to eat! See you later!", Romeo waves back at Roubaul, Porlyusica, Wendy, and Carla. The Potion Mage moves to scream at them to come back only to be stopped by Roubaul.
"Let them go, they need to spend more time together without other people around", he explains before turning to his left, "Besides, it seems our guests would like a word with us", as he makes eye contact with an approaching Zug.
In the forest
"Hey Fonaar", Romeo says as the child and dragon duo made their way through the woods, the boy looking intently at every flower and tree they walk by while Fonaar was constantly scanning his surroundings, taking in every sound and sniffing the air every few moments. After a moment of performing this task, he gives a grunt in response.
"You're not still sad about last night, are ya?", Romeo asks.
Fonaar comes to a stop and cranks his neck backwards to look at the human on his back with a slightly sadden expression.
Romeo reaches his hand out and pats Fonaar on his snout once more, "There's no need to be sad, you save everyone last night because you changed."
A low grumble escapes Fonaar's jaws.
"Ah, don't be like that. You weren't going to hurt me or anyone else", Romeo reassures him, "Though you have to tell me your secret on how you change into a red dragon!", the boy glees.
Fonaar lets out a growl.
"What do you mean you don't know? You're the one who changed into one!", Romeo shouts.
Fonaar merely grumbles once more before suddenly turning his head sharply to the left and sniffing the air and Romeo watches as a small smile appears on his face though thankfully it was far less sinister than the one he made last night.
"Lunchtime?", Romeo asks and Fonaar nods his head as he takes off running in the direction that the scent came from and all the creatures of the forest quickly made themselves scarce as the new alpha made his way through.
Sleek, smooth, moving through the forest at incredible speed while barely making an audible sound, she was fire and death rolled into one unstoppable force. Her teeth razor-sharp, her claws able to cut through steel, her breath easily able to melt rock and her smooth yet harden scales such a shade of red that the blood of those she has slain blended in with it perfectly. With all these, Shageyi was a walking, flying and fire breathing instrument of destruction and she was on the prowl.
Her keen senses assist her in spotting a raccoon that was perch on a branch about three hundred yards from her position but Shageyi merely snorts at the thought of eating such a filthy creature. She was hungry but she wasn't that hungry, but if worthy prey wasn't found soon she would starve soon enough.
"The game here is not as plentiful as it was in…." she trails off as she casts her blood-red eyes skyward to watch the clouds go by for a moment she thinks back to her home far in the north in the mountain ranges of what the humans called the country of Seven. There she was the queen of her domain despite her young age. All who came through her territory either offer treasure as tribute or paid with their lives in a storm of fire and claws. She has even claimed the lives of a couple of idiotic mages who bit off more than they could chew when they thought she was just a simple guild request.
"Foolish", Shageyi says aloud to no one in particular as a sadistic glee appeared on her lips, "For them to think that fire magic would work on a magnificent red dragon such as I, humans are truly such simple creatures", as she remembers back to how she was even able to gorge one of the mages on her pair of smooth horns on her head, his dying screams filling her with such jubilation.
Her boastfulness soon turns to bitterness as she then remembers back to that dreadful day when a larger and more powerful female red dragon, Hamagei, enter her territory and decided to claim it for herself. Knowing she didn't stand a chance against the older female, (Shageyi was prideful but she wasn't stupid), she fled as fast as her wings could carry her to the south, leaving her lair and all of the treasure she had gathered behind. Along the way, she passed through a large number of other much stronger dragons' territories and thus she was limited on what she could hunt due to the time constraint she had before the owner sense her presence.
But finally, after weeks of near-constant travel, she found this forest which so far seemed to belong to nobody. While the food here was more limited then what she was used too she had more time to hunt around seeing how she couldn't sense any draconic auras in the area.
"It's not a mountain cave and the food may be severed depleted but since there are no other dragons around this might be an ideal spot to set up until I can take back my home", she states as she moves up a cliff edge that allowed her to see a good portion of the forest, "Yes, this would be a fine place for me to rule over till the day I am strong enough to destroy that she-devil!", Shageyi told herself before a shift in the wind allowed her to catch a most peculiar smell.
Her primal instincts, handed down to her from a bloodline that stretches back far beyond any of the mortal races comprehension, instantly locked onto this scent. Through her nostrils, she pinpointed the exact direction and distance of her prey using its very scent against it. With her keen hearing, she determined that her target was in a calm state, thus its guard completely down and unaware of its looming demise. And with her dragon's eyes, she spotted what was soon to be her first meal in over a month.
"Human male", as she slides her long tongue over the rows of gleaming sharpen teeth inside her jaw, "Been a while since I had one of those and a small one at that", she snickers as she takes in the short stature of the purple-hair human boy that was currently sitting in a nearby meadow some two hundred yards away doing what seemed to be him drawing figures into the dirt, "And where there is one human there are bound to be more."
Without a moment's hesitation, she leaps off the cliff and swiftly expands her wings to allow her to glide down to the forest floor and despite her over a thousand-pound bodyweight she barely makes an audible sound as she lands. In her mind, she fathoms that she could have easily just taken flight and snatch the human male up before he even knew what hit him, but it had been a good while since Shageyi had stalked her prey and she wanted to make sure she was still at the top of her game.
"Food always tastes better when you have to work for it anyway", she tells herself as she folds her wings and starts her hunt, moving through the thin area of forest that separates her from the meadow in which her next meal awaited her. Breezing through the bushes, her scaly skin silently gliding next to the leaves, Shageyi kept her body low as she entered the meadow. Her body completely submerges into the grass with only the very top of back being seen above the grass line, she stalks toward her target, who was still looking the other way.
Partway through she stops and smells the air.
"Hmmm, the boy is truly alone. Unusual but not exactly rare for a young member of his species", she thinks after a moment and press on.
Every movement of her body was calculated. Every step she took was already thought out in her head to determine the best place to place her paw to avoid making a single sound. Every swing of her tail planned in her intelligent mind moments before it even occurred. With just a glance of her eyes, she could tell which grass was dried up enough to make a noise upon being stepped on and avoid them with all the grace of a cat despite her size as she contracted her body to a smaller size in order to avoid detection.
"Not like this human can detect me even he tried. Their senses are so inadequate, it's almost depressing", Shageyi smiles as images of her future kill play out in her head.
First, she would bite off his arm, a little appetizer before the main course if you will and devour it as he watches on in horror if the shock didn't kill him first. Next, she would use her claws to tear open his stomach and savor the look on his face, as he watches his internal organs spill out on the ground in front of him, once more if he was still conscious. Finally, once her bloodlust and hunger were almost beyond control she would take his head in a single bite, quickly ending his suffering before feasting on his remains.
The more foolish members of her race would have set the body on fire in order for it to taste better but Shageyi wouldn't waste her precious flames on what she considered an afternoon snack.
"Now for the rest of the humans when I find them..." she thought as she began to drool a little and a grumbling escape from her stomach as well.
The human boy suddenly snaps his head up and began looking all around the meadow. Shageyi instinctively drops to the ground just right before he turns his gaze in her direction. For what seems like an eternity, the female red dragon didn't move she didn't even breathe, she just laid down flat on the ground using her hearing and smelling to figure out what the human was doing. The human child's heartbeat surprisingly wasn't beating rapidly and Shageyi couldn't smell a whiff of fear coming off of him.
"Idiot! Imbecile! Pathetic excuse for a daughter of Tiamat! You almost mess everything up because you couldn't control yourself!", she berated herself.
"Fonaar? Fonaar?!", the human cried out and Shageyi cocked an eyebrow in confusion upon hearing this.
"Charge? Why is he saying charge?", she wondered before shaking her head, "It's time to end this", and with that, she readies her body for the final act of the hunt as she rises off the ground in preparation to pounce.
Only to find herself staring into the yellow eyes of an ash-colored dragon who wasn't there before and who was now lunging at her.
A/N: Dragon vs Dragon fight next chapter.
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.