A/N: The penultimate chapter of the introductory arc. I made it a little bit shorter because it's just setting the stage for the first arc's conclusion. Tell me what you think in terms of chapter length...
Special thanks to Hofund for helping edit large portions of the chapter and getting me back to writing it at all.
8 June X820, Phoenix Gear Guild Master's Quarters, Estrecho Fiore, 6:20 PM.
"And? What's this about?" Margaret asked, as coolly as she could.
"Do you...respect the New Magic Council?" Violet asked, pausing between each word as if she wasn't sure she wanted to ask.
"I suppose so," Margaret replied, perplexed but keeping her composure. "I mean, it's better than what was there before."
"Good, then I think I can trust you with this," Violet responded. "How much do you know about the renegotiations?"
"I'll be honest, I've only been Master of this guild for two weeks, I'm not sure how much I actually know," Magaret explained.
"Well, you don't have much time. Ibex Skull is attempting to storm it with a concentrated assault, in Topaz."
"Just over in the IAR?" Margaret asked.
"Exactly."
"And how do you know this?" Margaret questioned, her arms raised, prepared to cast a spell if needed.
"I'm an independent mage who takes down dark guilds; I've been infiltrating Ibex Skull for a few months because they had no competitors in the area...none good enough anyway, that is, until now," Violet explained. "But even as we speak, they're planning this."
"All right, what's going on with 'this'?" Asked Margaret, reasonably sure that the mage wasn't going to catch her by surprise.
"Well, they're planning to disrupt the proceedings and kill anything that moves in the confusion," began Violet.
"Why though? Why the big display?" Margaret wondered aloud.
"Weakens the people's faith in the council and the enforcers. If just one single Dark Guild could do this much damage..." Violet offered.
Margaret nodded. "And you want us to stop them?"
"That's the idea, but I would say it's the easy part..." Violet sighed.
8 June X820, Phoenix Gear Guild Hall, Estrecho Fiore, 6:08 PM.
"You sure about this?" Penny said, fascinated by the concept.
"Yep, y'all are behind on battles" Cal explained. "It's supposedly a tradition around here, and I think first off, we ought to let the two with a big angry grudge go first."
Erika shot right off her seat, but immediately faltered as she (very prudently) considered the fact that she lacked the magical training she would need to come out on top.
Valeria flexed her mechanical arm, complete with a confident smile and stride. "Well, let's get to it!" She declared, her arm gleaming wickedly and morphing as if answering her, and took a swipe at Erika.
"Stop! Wait!" Erika managed to avert the need to have her arm stitched back on, but was still grazed by the blade as she hurriedly ingested the fire from her lighter.
"Fire Devil's Rage!"
The resulting fireball enveloped Valeria, but seemed to do little more than impede the more experienced mage, whose arm glowed orange.
"That's a beautiful flame...for a barbecue. Beating up the local clergy isn't everything, you know," Valeria laughed as a magic circle formed above her head. "Magnen Rain."
Hunks of steel protruded from the circle, and launched themselves at Erika, who dodged rather inelegantly.
"Well, this has been fun..." Valeria said, taking note of Erika's off-balance pose, even as the steel around Erika, both the ones she had dodged and the ones still in front of her converged on her.
The short-haired woman fell to the ground, the magnets keeping her pinned.
Valeria called off the steel and looked at Cal, who had been watching with what looked like an amused expression.
Cal smiled. "Well, you two will fit in perfectly."
Erika got up, a smile on her face. "That was awesome!" She shouted, sincerely. "I didn't know magic like that existed! C'mon, tell me about it!"
Valeria was taken aback. This woman was making fun of her not ten minutes ago, and here she was, being impressed. "Wait, I thought you were going to go on about how stupid I was. You hit your head?"
"There's this thing called ribbing, you know," Erika explained with a big grin. "A bit of a roast is how you become friends with someone where I come from."
Valeria decided that wherever that was, it would not be in her travel plans. "It's not really like that for me, I've not had too many friends in some time."
"Well, you can start with me, if you'd like. Everything has to begin somewhere," Erika said, extending her hand.
Valeria could see that there was no malice or intended subversion in Erika's manner or voice. This was as genuine as it got. Valeria shook it. "Deal," She said, "just don't smoke too close to me.
Erika sighed in an exaggerated, joking manner. "All right, all right..."
8 June X820, Phoenix Gear Guild Master's Quarters, Estrecho Fiore, 6:20 PM.
"Okay, let's see if I have this straight. Dealing with one of the most notorious Dark Guilds in the region is the EASY part?" Margaret managed, slightly worried at Violet's words.
"I assume you're aware of the New Balam Alliance?" Violet asked Margaret, who nodded.
Violet continued. "Well, as you may have guessed, Ibex Skull is allied with one of the three members in the alliance. That is, Lost Horizon."
"Lost Horizon?"
"Yes. I'm afraid I don't have all the details of their operations, as I don't have the clearance and trying anything would raise too many questions, but what I do know is that Lost Horizon has endorsed this mission, and has sent a few mages as aid," Violet went on. "Specifically, a mage who is an Angel Slayer, by the name of Altair, mentioned fighting one of your people. As a result, Lost Horizon now believes that your guild presents a credible threat to Ibex Skull, or at least their current most important operation. They have also been given an unidentified mage on loan, who wears a black cloak. There are three others on the way."
"So what I'm hearing is that we're up against something big, and it won't end even after all this mess," Margaret affirmed.
"I'd say so, yes. As far as I know, Altair and Lost Horizon behind him is the biggest threat, he's one of Lost Horizon's strongest and is quite powerful, one of the 'Ten Great Captains', the others are going to be underlings, weaker but not by too much. Not sure about the guy in the cloak though..." Violet finished.
"All right, and you're hoping we'll take them on? AND win?" Margaret asked.
"Yes. Lost Horizon will consider it an affront, but you'll have the Council backing you up if they try to attack. If anything, the Council will owe you a very big debt."
"Deal...though I'm not sure where you get that confidence of yours." Margaret sighed, with a smile. When they got through this, IF they got through this, it would pay big if nothing else. "What do you suggest I do?"
"Get your strongest people together, and make sure you're in Topaz by 3 PM on the tenth of June. I'll try to botch my job, it should be easy after that...well, easy to figure out what to do next, at least," Violet explained. "I'll head back now, please make sure you're ready," she finished quickly, as she slipped out of a window.
8 June X820, Ibex Skull Guild Hall, Ishvan Autonomous Region, 6:50 PM.
"What's going on, Castor?" Violet asked the short, bowl-cutted mage in the velvet suit.
"Altair's reinforcements, they're crazy," Castor said, motioning to three figures whom Diego was questioning at the master's table. One was dressed as a pharaoh, with no shirt, exposing his "dad bod," and an odd white and red crown. Another seemed to be an intense-looking woman with pink hair in intricate tails and a gothic dress not far from Sherry's. The third was cleaning a knife, with slicked back hair and a leather jacket, with a slightly faltering smile on his face.
"What do you know about them?" Asked Violet.
"Well, as far as I know, all of them used to be masters of their own dark guilds, small ones, but still," Castor explained.
Violet sighed inwardly. "Well, it's clear that our overlords aren't taking too many chances with this."
"Well they could have sent captains," muttered Castor.
"Not really," Altair explained. "Half the time, our forces are on different contients; Lost Horizon is a bit decentralized, it's a two-edged sword, as you see here."
Violet sighed with minor relief. "All right," she thought, "things could be worse."
8 June X820, Harveytown Station, Southern Fiore, 7:00 PM.
"So wait, when is the next train?" Wynn muttered, as the schedule shifted, displaying different times and towns in era after era.
"Well that's the thing..." Grace sighed. "We'll need to determine when we're getting off, as well as where. Thankfully, there's a service for that," Grace explained as she walked up to a box office, Zavid and Wynn confused, but in tow.
The attendant at the counter looked, above all else, tired. She was blonde, wore overalls and a simple green ball cap, and simply seemed overwhelmed. Something told Grace that the change in time had affected her profoundly.
"What time do you need?" She sighed.
"We need to get to June 8th, X820," Grace said.
The attendant handed her three tickets. "We hope you had fun in Harveytown," She managed, wiht a halting strain in her voice.
Grace could feel the tickets pulsating with energy, as she handed one to each of her companions. "All right, let's get back to the guild."
Zavid, Grace, and Wynn embarked, and went on to the train station's first platform. The tickets themselves seemed to create a 'zone' of sorts. The station itself seemed to stabilize, as the setting became modern to Zavid and Grace, and yet foreign still to Wynn.
"Is this what your time looks like?" Wynn asked, as she looked at the brick set against electrical-lacrimal signs, vending machines, and plastic seats.
"More or less," Zavid affirmed, as a train approached. "Trains have become fairly important since the X700s or so. Konzerns, or railway companies, have become essential for travel."
The train stopped, and the coaches' mechanical doors opened. Zavid and Grace effortlesly climbed the stairs into a coach, while Wynn attempted, but was immediately shot back, reality flickering for a brief moment.
Zavid and Grace ran off the train. "Shit, she's trapped here," Zavid sighed.
8 June X820, Ibex Skull Guild Hall, Ishvan Autonomous Region, 6:50 PM.
"Well I don't see how this matters much..." The pink-haired dark mage sighed as Diego brought out the same briefing material.
"Marianne," Altair began.
"Yes Altair?" the pink-haired woman asked.
"Kindly shut the fuck up." He muttered, with his most pierceing look possible.
"I'm not so sure. What if Fiore turns against the council over this?" The leather jacket wearer said, giving Marianne a confused look.
"That's the idea Jack," The chubby Pharaoh agreed, with a yawn.
"Exactly, Oz," Altair affirmed. What is key here is that we seem effective, and that the council in turn seems powerless to stop us. As a result, the goal here is to kill, and to kill as many as possible. Thankfully, Gildarts Clive, Fiore's Representative on the Council, is currently at their main headquarters, so we didn't think there would be much trouble..."
"Before a few days ago, we didn't really have much competition for it, but as Altair noted, Phoenix Gear seems to be getting stronger. While we have no reason to believe that they know about our plan, we've brought you on to be safe," Diego explained. "The issue here is that we don't know, so we're making sure we're ready fo what, if anything, Phoenix Gear throws at us."
"And that's where we come in," Agreed Oz, with a dark smile.
8 June X820, Harveytown Station, Southern Fiore, 7:00 PM.
"Wait, I thought that you could leave as you wanted," Zavid Muttered, after another attempt to board the train failed.
"I thought I could too, I can manipulate how this town's curse affects me, after all," Wynn agreed.
Zavid glanced over at Grace, who was herself reverting to her appearance which Zavid recognized as modern. At the moment, she seemed to be around 40, with a bit of white in the deep blue, and visible smile lines. "I don't suppose we could leave her behind? We do need to be back at the guild soon."
Zavid scowled. "She saved our lives, and you want her trapped in here, possibly forever? Plus, what if that thing she was talking about is still around? Shouldn't we have someone who knows about it on our side?"
Wynn's downward expression perked up. "I think I might know why too!" She said, with a sudden burst of confidence.
"Oh?" Zavid offered.
"Right, so I think I might have been in there from a long time ago, and so my energy signature is from then, instead of when this train is taking us, so what if I modified it that way?" Wynn asked.
"Seems as good an idea as any," Agreed Grace. "We came from X820."
Wynn set to work, the strange characters briefly enveloping her body. After a few seconds, she emerged, seemingly unchanged.
"What did you..." Zavid wondered aloud.
"I took about 700 years into my 'personal time,'" she explained, with a wave of her arm, as the three embarked on the train, only to be ejected again.
"Oh come on!" Wynn shouted, finally annoyed.
9 June X820, Phoenix Gear Guild Hall, Estrecho, Fiore, 10:30 AM.
Margaret looked on with interest at the five new mages Adenna was taking on all at once. She understood that her companion was one of the stronger mages, but given what was on display here, she was more optimistic about her guild's S-Class than ever before.
"Hurricane Buster!" Marina Shouted, as a small storm cloud flowed out from both of her arms, sending the punishing wind and rain outward, which Adenna seemed to almost flow through, as she prepared her own counterattack:
"Buddy Bloom Burst!" Adenna countered, as a sunflower-like construct sprouted from the ground, pointed directly at Marina, and sprayed explosive seeds in a brilliant burst, downing the other redhead.
"Feather Mayhem!" Ashelia declared, transforming into her bird-like form. The feathers slashed wildly around Adenna's flower, and though the work could be called sloppy, the sunflower was torn to shreds.
"Rose Thorn Rush!" As Ashelia came in for a strike, Adenna took another stance and ensnared the blonde mage with her spell, who also fell to the ground.
"Comet Dash!" Lunick flew in, with an uncontrolled rush of light magic, ready to blitz. He seemed to make it work at first, with Adenna on the ground, then, it burst to reveal that who they thought was Adenna was simply a doll made of moss.
"Nice try!" Adenna laughed as she seemingly rose from the floor, and gave Lunick a solid kick to the head, taking him out as well.
"Snow God's Blackout!" Came a soft voice, as the area was suddenly taken over with black snow.
"Not as bad as it was..." Adenna Muttered, as she held out her hand. "Sporalysis," a yellow powder emerged, and seemed to shake Penny enough that she called off her magic, and Adenna in kind conjured a thorn bush around her.
That just left Nao, what exactly did he have?
"Fairy Pulse!" He shouted out, as a few specks across Margaret's vision seemed to flicker, and for a brief moment, everything was golden light.
Adenna still stood after the blast, but she seemed to feel that strike, if nothing else.
"Damn it, thought that would work better..." Nao sighed.
Adenna smiled. "It was a good effort," she affirmed, before trapping Nao in a hollow root system, the same she'd hidden herself in not long before.
Margaret left her seat. "That was great, you all gave your best," She said, with a big smile. "Adenna's one of our strongest mages, so there's no shame in losing to her, that said, I need to talk to her specifically for a bit, help yourself to anything around, but stay close," the master explained, while she and Adenna went into the former's office.
"What's up?" Asked Adenna.
"Do you know anything about a dark guild called Ibex Skull?" Margaret questioned.
"Yeah, they're a moderately strong dark guild about 6 or 7 miles north of here. Why are you worried about them now?"
"Last night, someone told me that they'd be attacking the Council Building in Topaz tomorrow, trying to kill everyone at the renegotiations. We're supposed to stop it, we are a legal guild after all."
"I understand, and we need a team together," Adenna said, with a steely resolve.
"Right, do you know who we can get on short notice?" Margaret asked, knowing her companion always watched the requests like a hawk.
"The good news is all of the mages except for Zavid and Grace are out on pretty short-term jobs right now, so we can get most everyone together by this afternoon, I have a date tonight, but I'll get myself to bed early enough for tomorrow, I'll also pass this on to the Rune Knights to see if they can help."
"Great. Adenna, you're a life saver," Margaret sighed, as she got out some paper and began furiously writing an explanatory speech.
9 June X820, Harveytown Station, Southern Fiore, 11:00 AM
"How does this keep happening?" Zavid wondered aloud, as he awoke to find Wynn still attempting to board the train, Grace still asleep several feet to his right.
"Well, I have one more theory, but it's a long shot..." Wynn Sighed.
"And what's that?" Zavid asked.
"Well I've only aged a month since going under, and I woke up in whatever this place is. What if I was asleep for longer than 700 years, and I'm being read as trying to enter the past instead of the future?" she offered.
"We've tried everything else, we may as well."
Wynn covered herself with runes once more, and stepped out. "My best guess is around 200 years, I hope this works..." She sighed, as Zavid woke Grace, and the three entered the train. This time, it worked, the three entered the train.
Zavid looked down at his tickets. "This is odd..." He muttered.
"What?" Grace asked, as she looked over at the tickets, a good ten years older than the last Zavid had checked.
"According to this, the ticket is good onto Pergrande, rather than just to Crocus. More than that, the transfer is in Topaz, of all places..."
"Well, at least we're gone from that place," Grace sighed, as she turned her head away from Zavid and Wynn.
9 June X820, Phoenix Gear Guild Hall, Estrecho, Fiore, 4 PM
"All right, thank you all for coming!" Margaret said, from the elevated portion of the main hall, where she stood, Adenna by her side, looking out at the crowd of around 70 mages. The progress was excellent, Ptarmigan was a life saver.
The young master paused for a second, finding the atmosphere tense. She quickly launched into her speech.
"I wish we were together under some happier news. I know that this may sound frightening, but there is a dark guild presence in the region, and they will attempt to undermine the council and everything legal guilds stand for. The only thing that stands between that is us. Tomorrow, we, as a guild, must go to Topaz, and protect the council at all costs. I know I'm just a girl from Iceberg, but I believe that our hearts are united in this. Here is a guild that threatens our way of life, and the peace we work every day to keep, and I believe I speak for everyone here when I say we must take action!" Margaret declared, as she took her seat, as a slient pall fell over the crowd.
At this point, Adenna stood up. "I will fight with you, master," she said, with a warm smile.
Hazel rose in the same moment, guilt plain to see on her blushing face. "I'll do what I can."
At this point, the rest of the guild rose, and even Esie, coward that he normally was, walked up to Margaret, and for once, smiled. "I'll do it, master," he affirmed.
"All right, now time to talk strategy..." Margaret began.
10 June X820, Outside of Council Action Building, Topaz, Ishvan Autonomous Region 2:30 PM.
"And to recap, we don't have access to the building itself, we're just occupying the streets; hopefully, we'll stave off their forces before they'll even reach the building, and the Knights have the inside locked down," Margaret reiterated, as she turned back to the building, and cast a dark blue shroud of light over it, before noticing a shadow block some of the sunlight. Instinctively, she looked up, and immediately regeretted it. "Wyverns..." She sighed.
"We may as well get walking back to Estrecho..." Zavid sighed, as the three disembarked from the train, and into the crowded Streets.
"I wonder what's gotten people so alert today," Wynn mused, as she looked through the city streets at the Rune Knights and Mages filling the area.
"Say, aren't these mages ours?" Grace, finally in a more recognizable state, muttered. "And who are they?" She asked, pointing a few blocks away, at Ibex Skull's first line of defense.
A/N: Two whole months... I'm sorry, life stuff just sort of kept piling up, and I had to keep putting off progress on the story. I've finally gotten it in recognizable form, and here we are. Hopefully, chapter 8 will be a bit quicker. Once again, special thanks to Hofund for keeping me motivated and editing some of the chapter. Lastly, the previous contest winner is... Nobody. No one sent an OC. I'll hold off on that OC for a couple more updates to avoid it getting stale, and I'll add a whole new contest. This one is big, so I'm hoping people get excited about it.
Next Contest: The rule forbidding children of canon characters doesn't apply to this contest. In fact, your submission must have been raised by Erza and Lucy. They can be any gender, but must have been adopted as a toddler, and been in a dangerous place before then. They must also be 20 years old, and wield a planar magic. I'll give you more information about Planar Magic if you want to hear more.
Various Lost Horizon Mages created by The Impostor.
