Hi again! Thanks to all the readers that have been following the story so far :D
(Also I changed the ending of first chapter a bit since I have something exciting planned for later)
Oh, and a lot of the places I mention in the story are actual places in the anime/manga so you can have a look at them if you want (well unless I need a more exciting name :P)
Thank you all for the favorites, follows and comments!
Erza squinted as her eyes adjusted to the dark room. The sound had come from the back and as much as she wanted to requip into her battle armour, she feared that any fighting would damage the room.
"Erza? Thank God it's you!" A shirtless Gray stood up behind a few crates.
"What are you doing here?! Only S class mages or people with special permission can access these archives!" She said as she punched Gray on the head.
"Oww come on! Keep your voice down would you." Gray replied in an irritated voice as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
From the outside of the door there was a distinct voice calling, "Gray samaaaa! Juvia has found your shirt! I was just outside hereeee!" Juvia's voice rang through the hallway.
"I hope Gray sama isn't hiding! Juvia will definitely find Gray samaaa!" Juvia sounded as though she was close to the door. Gray dived behind the crates again and just a few seconds after the door was opened.
A hesitant Juvia peaked into the archives room. Erza looked at Gray's pleading eyes and sighed.
"Juvia, you're not permitted in this room." Erza spoke in a sturdy voice, feeling slightly guilty for lying.
"Juvia knows she's not allowed in this room, but Juvia's looking for Gray sama and thought he might be here…." Juvia trailed off.
"Perhaps you should try waiting downstairs by the entrance of the guild hall? I'm sure Gray's still in the guild so he'll have to walk past there sooner or later." Erza suggested.
"Juvia thinks that's a great idea!" Juvia smiled as she left for the guild hall, still carrying Gray's shirt.
After the door closed and Juvia was out of earshot Gray let out a loud moan.
"That's the fifth shirt this week! I won't have any left at this rate!" Gray looked very grumpy.
"Well she does seem to be able to actually find your clothes – and you usually end up loosing them anyways don't you." Erza shook her head as she looked at Gray.
"What are you doing here anyways?" Gray's attention was back on Erza who had what looked like some sort of a mission slip in her hand.
"It's an important mission I want you, me, Natsu and Lucy to go on." Erza said plainly, there was no point in dragging out the explanation just yet anyways.
"WHAT?! No way! I'm not going on a mission with Natsu!" Gray's voice became increasingly louder.
"Keep your voice down or Juvia's going to find you." Erza glared at Gray.
"Besides, this mission if for Lucy." She continued, hoping she wouldn't have to drag him along like last time.
"For Lucy? What do you mean?" Gray was now very much interested in what Erza has to say.
"Well the mission is about…." Erza began explaining.
Elsewhere in Dawn city, four mages were entered a bar in hopes of gaining some information.
Dawn city had grown considerably over the last couple of years, becoming busier and more exciting with every passing day. There are many mages living in the city but almost none with much fighting ability – so when there were strange occurrences taking place, they submitted a mission request.
Now when people say strange occurrences, it doesn't mean that someone saw a ghost – although the initial reports did seem to describe it that way. Most of the reports started around two months ago and told of some creature lurking in the shadow at night. It was describing a very ominous scene if anything, almost as though it was taken out of a movie. Through gossip it became something of an urban legend, and what the local authority thought was simply people who had a little too much to drink.
Life continued very much the same until a few weeks later, when four men were found heavily wounded in a street. This couldn't be dismissed quite as easily, and from examination it was discovered that the wounds were from an innate magic.
The next day, the newspaper published the story describing the incident and claiming a master criminal was on the loose. Tensions rose and at dusk as the sky turned an amber red, a loud scream echoed into the distance. There was a mass panic as people began to run, the fear in the air was palpable.
There was a woman lying on the ground covered in blood, just behind her stood something that had never been seen before. Letting out a large screech, the creature which looked like darkness personified escaped into the shadows of the fading sunlight.
To say the city was unprepared would be an understatement, Dawn city was if anything known for being a peaceful area. The people had little experience with monsters of any kind and feared the worst was yet to some. After one person had been killed and four still in hospital the only option they had was to ask help from one of the guilds.
Back at the bar, the four mages waiting patiently for their information broker to meet them, hopefully being able to help them solve the mystery.
A young woman with long black hair with heavy dark red highlights walked up to the group. She had bright brown eyes with a gentle smile dancing on her face. Her slender physic complemented her fair skin well and many heads turned to look as she walked past. She was wearing a white sleeveless crop top and a rather long fur-trimmed red coat with a light pink collar, accompanied with black short shorts and black boots reaching just short of her knees.
Even from where she was, she could see one of them had become wide eyed as he gave her a once over.
"You're staring too much!" Evergreen said as she elbowed him.
"Come on it's not like you can blame me." Laxus replied, as his eyes focused on the girl in front of him.
"I do hope this is the broker – we're running late as it is." Freed mumbled.
"Awww come on! This place looks way more interesting that I thought it would be." Bickslow added in as he gestured towards the girl.
Evergreen rolled her eyes at them, instead choosing to go over the mission flier once again. For some reason the leaflet said that the requirements are for a S class dragon slayer mage. Dragon slayers weren't very common – and for an S class mage it was very limited number of people indeed...
"Hi there! I'm the information broker you requested. You're all from Fairy Tail right?" The young woman looked at them expectantly with a bright smile.
"Yeah, I'm the S class dragon slayer. And you are?" Laxus gave her one of his lady killer smiles.
"I'm Ruby Cillia, it's wonderful to meet all of you! I'm a mage myself actually." Ruby replied, taking a seat next to Laxus.
"You are? Which type of magic can you do?" Laxus asked as he arched an eyebrow.
"I use Light and Darkness magic, it's rather complicated because of its different properties." Ruby replied.
"Really? Now there's a rare type of magic." Bickslow said, peering past Laxus.
"Well it was passed down my family apparently, I haven't mastered it yet but I hope to one day." Ruby replied, suddenly feeling a bit shy – she had tried her best to learn the spells but with no teacher it had always proven to be a challenge.
"If I could remind you that we are here on a MISSION!" Evergreen glared at the group. "Now Ruby, if you would be as kind as to tell us the information we need we'll be on our way."
"Oh right of course. You wanted to know more about these creatures that were seen that day. I did some digging in the national archives and found an ancient lore that seems to de…." Before Ruby could continue Evergreen cut in.
"What?! So you're telling me that this INFORMATION is based on some fairy tale!" Evergreen fumed, at this rate they would never finish the mission.
"Come on Evergreen, we haven't heard what she has to say yet" Freed said in a calm voice.
"We know that many forms of dark magic can be re-cast if someone gets their hands on the incantation spell." Laxus added in.
"Since when do you do your research?" Evergreen was surprised, Laxus hardly ever prepared for a mission beforehand.
"Um... guys? I think this would actually be pretty useful." Ruby interjected. Once everyone was looking at her again she continued. "The archives described a similar attack had taken place in the past, the creatures were also described as living shadows. Here's the interesting part – it says that the creatures primary form of attack surrounds magic that can absorb its opponent's magic, and that the attacks form regressive wounds." Ruby said as she explained what she had learned.
"Wait so how do we know that this matches the current monster's we're facing?" Bickslow looked sceptical, even if the data was accurate it wasn't certain that it was the enemy at hand.
"Well the thing is that after looking at the medical records of the victims, the wounds actually match exactly. In other words we noticed that in each individual they showed a loss – or drainage – of magical energy and their injuries were wounds were also regressive." Ruby added, she looked fascinated by the historical accuracy of the information she found.
"When you say regressive wounds, you mean a form of magic poisoning that almost eats away at the wound right?" Laxus asked.
"Yes, exactly. These is caused by the wrong magic type mixing in with the person. If the people aren't mages the wounds are more severe." Ruby said with a concerned look on her face.
"Alright I think that's all we need. Rumor has it they were spotted at just before nightfall near a field just outside of the city." Laxus replied as he got up to leave.
"Do you think I could come along as well? It mentioned that only certain types of magic are useful against these monsters…." Ruby stood up as well, looking at Laxus expectantly. However it wasn't him that answered.
"This is an S class mission and you certainly don't look qualified." Evergreen eyed the girl who certainly looked around their age but didn't seem to have much magical power. Seeing Ruby's forlorn face she added. "I'm sure you'll get there one day, maybe you should join a guild?"
"Well, good luck on your mission!" Ruby smiled at the group as they exited. Laxus had a grumpy look on his face.
Back in Magnolia, Juvia was at the guild hall, eyes peeled for any signs of Gray. Jet and Droy were frantically running around the guild hall, searching under tables and in closets, until Jet got into the kitchen and started looking in the cupboards.
"Can I help you?" A slightly worried Mirajane looked at Jet as he frantically searched the kitchen.
"Me and Droy left for a mission last week but when we got back there's been no sign of Levy!" Jet looked genuinely concerned, to which Mirajane gave a slight chuckle.
"Are you two really that stupid?!" Cana almost yelled as she rolled her eyes. After gulping down another sip of beer she added, "Why on earth would you search for her in a CUPBOARD?!"
"Well she's pretty small you know." Droy replied, still not seeing the point.
"So what's the deal? Are were one of you gonna ask her out or something" Canna wasn't being serious at all, but Jet and Droy turned red, looking at each other and then looking back at Cana.
"NANI?! No wayyyy!" Jet and Droy replied in perfect unison.
"Well I think someone may have beat you to it." Mirajane added in, a conspiratorial smile (the same one she had given Lucy when she was setting her up with Natsu).
Just before Jet or Droy could retaliate, the doors of the guild hall flew open, a grumpy Gajeel and a cheery Levy entered.
Cana met Mirajane's eye and started laughing as Jet and Droy rushed over to where Levy was.
"Where were you? Why did you go with HIM? Why didn't you tell us?" Jet and Droy fired a round of questions at Levy, who looked slightly nervous for being put on the spot.
Jet eyed her slightly torn sleeve, noticing a small bandage on her left hand.
"What? How did you get injured?" Jet panicked as Levy shook her hands trying to wave it off.
Jet and Droy then glared at Gajeel, looking like they might kill him.
"Come on it wasn't even a dangerous mission I swear! We were asked to collect some rare plant in the forest." Gajeel replied.
"Yeah, this is just a scratch from one of the plants and Gajeel patched it up immediately." Levy explained as she looked at Gajeel, He was so sweet, I think I almost gave him a heart attack when he saw that I got hurt. She thought to herself.
"Yeah, well whatever" Gajeel replied, still looking a bit grumpy. Levy just sighed in response.
Jet and Droy looked a little surprised, looking between Levy and Gajeel but still not able to piece together what was going on between them.
"Well I gotta go see master real quick ok, be back in a bit." Gajeel walked towards Makarov's room as Jet and Droy continued to fuss over Levy.
As Gajeel entered master's room, he noticed a bunch of papers on his desk.
"Got a lot of paperwork?" Gajeel asked as Makarov jumped back onto his chair after sifting through another pile.
"Yes, I'm trying to find out which mission Laxus went to most recently." Makarov shook his head, Laxus often left soon after he came back to the guild from a mission, most of the time not even stopping to say hello in the middle. "You just came back from a mission didn't you?" He asked, looking up at Gajeel. "Did something happen?"
"Well… I saw something in Occultatum forest…" Gajeel trailed off, it was hard to describe just what he saw... or rather what he has sensed.
"Well, what was it?" Makarov frowned, he had a bad feeling about this. "That place, I believe, was where Zeref had awakened one of his demons – but that was a very long time ago. It should just be a normal forest now though." Makarov added.
"Yeah well that's what I thought when I took this mission, but when I was there I sensed a very high magic pressure – on the level of a wizard saint actually.
Makarov looked exceedingly concerned, remembering what another guild had reported last month that was the main topic to be discussed in the upcoming council meeting.
"I think it was a medium sized creature, just a bit taller that the average human actually, from what I saw it has what almost looked like a strange pattern carved on its back, It released concentrated dark magic that formed a sphere around itself which dissipated soon enough, but the nearby area had… almost like it had become tainted with dark magic. It looked insane!" Gajeel recalled the destruction he saw, the range of the monster wasn't that large but the damage to the area was unlike anything he had ever seen.
"Well are you sure it wasn't a person? You said it wasn't that tall - perhaps it was another mage that you had crossed by?" Makarov furrowed his brows and closed his eyes as he thought about the implication this might have.
"No, it definitely wasn't a human. It smelled nothing like a human actually..." Gajeel started wondering if he had sensed something like it in the past, but couldn't think of anything.
"Well you may as well explain the whole mission to me, it seems I'll have to report the incident to the council anyway." Makarov looked pensive as he finally opened his eyes.
I suppose contacting Laxus will have to wait.