{Author Notes}
Due to the increase of workload my schedule, I've decided to upload chapters either bi weekly at the absolute best or monthly. I apologize for any inconvenience.
I frowned as I finished the last paper.
"It's done. I've helped finished all 'firing' papers. I didn't even know when the Council fires guild masters, there's an even more annoying process of filling more paperwork." I then stood up and started walking towards my… old boss… across his soon-to-be-no-longer-his room.
"It's a horrible rule, to be sure. But it's the Magic Council, they're practically second to the king." Makarov said as I handed him the last paper and he put it in a file to straighten out slowly.
"And here I thought one form of government was complicated back in my world." Ah? I was already being snarky? Was I that sad that I regressed to my natural self defense?
"Oh believe me, there are some strained issues between the King of Fiore and the Magic Council." Makarov chuckled with a smile. "Now then all that's left is for my blasted grandson to come in and sign the papers."
No sooner than he said this, the doors to Master Makarov's—I mean Mr. Dreyar's old office opened up revealing Laxus smiling wide as he came through the door.
"It's about time I get this crummy guild as my own!" The blonde cried out with a boisterous and proud voice.
I felt my chest tightening when hearing those words. The guild may have its flaws and sources of headaches, but it was usually a fun and welcoming place to be. Why would Laxus even call it crummy?
"Just sign the paper here and it should be complete." Mr. Dreyar said simply as he walked out of his seat and handed a quilted pen to the larger man.
"Man, you sure did it this time old man. The council pretty much has you by the balls this time, and not even your fancy new lawyer can do anything for you!" I was very, very aware he was passive aggressively mentioning me, but for the life of me I had to do my darnest not to react. Now was not the time for me to lose it.
Makarov seemed sigh but then said. "I suppose you're right. It'll mean you get the guild now."
It was rather simple but then I noticed something in Laxus' face for the briefest of seconds, he looked almost angry and frustrated? What?
However, his face also went back to a normal smug look as he took the pen then went over to the desk and signed the paper. "There! Now get lost, gramps!"
I saw Makarov seemingly not react to that as he walked out to the door but stopped just before the exit and turned towards Laxus. "I'll be visiting your grandmother."
That caught my attention as I saw Laxus visibly react in surprise too.
"I'll tell her you said hi." And with that, Makarov was no longer Fairy Tail's master. It was kind of sad considering Lucy and I were still the newest members of the guild. But even though we were new, we could already recognize how much we were going to miss Master Makarov.
(At that time, I didn't know Makarov had actually decided to keep something secret from Laxus that was supposed to be passed down between Guild master ownership. However, in his defense, Laxus probably didn't earn it at the time.)
"Hey brat!" Two seconds in and I now have to force myself not to run out those doors and beg Makarov to stay.
I turned to Laxus. "Yes, Master Laxus?"
"Master Laxus huh? I like the sound of it!" Glad someone enjoyed it—I felt like barfing a little after forcing out my mouth. Jeeze brain, he's a jerk but I thought we agreed with Makarov we'll try to give him a chance?! Hopefully he'll earn it later. "Get me some coffee and then gather all the other losers around the main temporary hub area! There's going to be some changes I want immediately!"
God, I have a feeling you already sent me away to a world without you to spite me, but if you're somehow still listening, can you please give me the strength to go on… and a whole lot of it please?
It didn't take long for a rather grumpy looking crowd—was grumpy really a good word to use? Apprehensive might work better— to gather around.
In the center, I stood to the side as Laxus looked at everyone with the same smug smile that got old the moment it first came up.
"Alright listen up! I'm guild master now, and there's going to be some changes around here."
Ooooohhhhh nooooo.
"For one, I heard about how you guys were almost completely swarmed due to sheer numbers." I disliked that was what he was focusing on—in hindsight—anything else would probably just have been bad. "So I think it's time to raise the amount of members this guild takes. 100 is a pretty small number isn't it? Especially compared to our rivals in Phantom Lord?"
And he's making sense. How horrifying.
"Since the guild is getting re built to be bigger, how about a little homework? You guys should go out and try to find more guild members to join in."
Why is this sounding alright? What am I missing in his under tones?
"That's all. Go on about your day."
Great, now I'm paranoid.
"You alright, Kain?" I turned to see Lucy and the others coming up to me.
"Alright as I'll be. I can't believe I already miss Makarov." I ended up sighing as I said.
"I can't believe they fired him, I mean we were always on bad terms with the Magic Council, but to think they actually did it," Gray added in.
"Yeah, the guild just isn't the same without gramps." Natsu added his comment in.
"You know what? No! After all we did to protect Fairy Tail and to stop my father, we deserve some nice R&R!" She took out a bunch of tickets and pointed them towards my direction. "While you and Master were trying to work out details of the next Guild Master for the past few days, Loke gave us tickets to Akane Resort, the best resort in all of Ishgar!"
"Huh really?" I looked around for the glasses wearing mage in the area but so no sign of him. "Remind me to thank him when he comes back into the guild."
"And apparently, he's a Celestial Spirit!" Natsu shouted which Happy only agreed to.
That comment made me freeze before I slowly turned to Lucy.
"Y-Yeah… apparently all this time, he was the Celestial Leo Spirit? … And he was actually banished for accidentally killing his former contractor… and I had to use my power to bring him back to the stars all while you were doing paper work? Who knew right?" Lucy tried to laugh—only for it to grow weaker and more forced with each passing second.
Erza seemed to speak up carefully. "Kain, you're glaring."
"Am I now?" That does explain why my vision is dangerously narrowing. "Apologizes, I'm just really tired of this world seemingly always finding a way to surprise me."
Lucy brightened up and threw the tickets back out in my direction. "All the more reason to finally kick back and relax!"
I admit the idea of having a real vacation seemed to appeal to me greatly. But there was something in the back of my mind that would not let me rest now matter how much I wanted to. However, opening the idea of travel? There might be a compromise to it all.
"Lucy, I know this sounds mean, but is there a chance we can exchange these tickets for somewhere else?"
"What!?" Lucy seemed a little hurt as she grabbed the tickets back and held them like a life line. "Where else could you want to go that isn't the number one vacation area in Fiore?!"
That was a surprisingly easy answer for me.
"I want to go to Sun Village."
Everyone stared at me, but I looked back at Natsu. "I think it's time to finally see that clue we picked up from Bora before Lucy and I entered into the guild, which means going to the town of Giants."
A little later, Team Valiant and I were up in the air with Ignis.
"I want to travel like this all the time!" Natsu screamed at the top his lungs before he tilted downward and landed freely on the back of Ignis' custom made saddle.
I ended up laughing while holding out the map. "It must be nice ridding something that doesn't give you motion sickness, isn't Natsu?"
"What are you talking about, Kain? Ignis is a friend, not a transport."
"True, but sometimes, he's treated as the best transport Fairy Tail has." I rubbed the head of the red wyvern as he gave a lazy growl.
"I dunno, there's just something… right… whenever Ignis flies us on his back." Natsu said as he inhaled deeply.
"Hey what about me?" Happy pointed to himself.
"Oh yeah, I appreciate it, but the thing is Ignis reminds me so much on those times Igneel let me fly on his back," Natsu said as he looked outside of the saddle and to the endless green mountains, hills and villages, the sun shining in the sky, and how things that were around our size looked almost like ants. It was so beautiful that it was humbling. "Every time I got on his back, I could feel his great warmth beneath me, his large heart pounding with great power, how the wind around us felt like it was lifting him further and further into the sky… and when he decided to start diving! You guys have seen Ignis do it, but Igneel made it such a rush like nothing in the world could ever hope to copy—Oh wait, Ignis you really are darn close at capturing it though, buddy! Good job!"
Natsu's giant, excited smile became a little smaller. "It was one of my absolute favorite things growing up with him, ridding on his back." He put his hand to cover the sun. "To me, that was a moment full of magic without actual magic—does that make sense?" He then gripped his fist and smiled, as if determined now more than ever to find him.
There was a feeling in the air that even I could detect. There was something about Sun Village that gave off the impression there might actually be a clue to where Natsu's dad is.
And maybe… just maybe… a way for me to get back home.
When we were closing in on Sun Village, I didn't know what I was expecting to see since it was a town of giants.
But for some unexplained reason, the word 'giant' completely slipped my mind. I say this because the Village was small only in numbers, all buildings were so large, even Ignis could barely fly over them and we were like airplane levels high in the air!
Not only that, I found out why it was called Sun Village: in the center of the town, there was a massive flame that really did give off the impression it fell off the sun itself.
When we finally got off at the village entrance, we had found out by the town giant guards that ride animals were to come along with us because there really was that much space in the Village of Giants. This meant that there was no need to find a stable for Ignis this time since he would hang out with us.
But I cannot even begin to describe what was beyond the giant gate doors that made me feel like a character from Toy Story.
Sun Village felt a lot like New York, the large buildings as far as the eye could see—just without all the darn ads you'd see every other time you turn your head and the electric billboards everywhere. But that wasn't what made this place so amazing.
It was the beings! Yes, beings, not people! As far as the eye could see, I could spot so many other mythical races! I saw two Ogres wearing armor similarly styled to those warriors of World of Warcraft, they were even green as well! I noticed a group of dwarves working steam based gear on top of a giant's stand. I witness lizard people slithering around in a pack of sorts and eyeing anyone looking at them too long—
This was the place that reminded me I really, really wasn't on earth anymore. Giants, Ogres, Bird people, dwarves, centaurs… You name it they were all—wait. I don't think I've seen an elf though. Okay so most fantasy races did exist here in Earthland; it was so cool!
"I heard rumors of the Giants opening up for the public, but never like this." Gray said as Ignis closely followed behind us.
"I've never seen so many different races in one place." I managed to say as I kept trying to see if I could spot an elf among these different races. Weird, elves are usually the first type of creatures you'd imagine in a fantasy world.
"The same here, Fiore was mostly a human country, so to see the other races here in Sun Village…" Lucy gasped as we also looked around.
"Sun Village is a mixing pot of all species on the planet," Erza began. "When Sun Village opened up, every species from across the globe wanted to see what one of the few publically open Giant towns had to offer. Even though they technically live in Fiore, the Giants are independent of both the Kingdom of Fiore and the Human Mage council."
While I was listening to her, I didn't look to where I was going and I ended up bumping into something big.
"Oh whoops, sorry—" I paused as I realized what I hit was really hairy…
To my utter surprise, I had run into a Tauren—an actual version of the tauren creatures you would see in the world of Warcraft. His fur was black as coal, his horns were long and sharp with his right one seemingly cut off long ago, but he was wearing get up that looked much like Nab's style; Native American like with feathers and head bands… and a notable runic battle axe.
"Do be mindful of your surroundings, human," He breathed in a heavy voice before turning towards Ignis and seemingly staring into his eyes. "A crimson wyvern?"
The humanoid bull looked back down at me and started stroking his beard. "Human, show me your right arm."
What? How'd he—I ended up showing him the gauntlet and as it shined off bits of the sun, the white eyes of the different species seemed to widen.
"I have had dreams," He began as he looked back at me with a rather serious look. "Dreams that even the spirits cannot make out, yet they scream the same words to the image of the crimson wyvern all the same: Do not go home."
Wha?
"Excuse me; you're making our friend feel uncomfortable." While I was still processing what he said, Erza finally stepped in between us. "I apologize, but please let us leave."
The large humanoid bull eyed Erza carefully before nodding. However, as he started to leave, he gave one last look at me. "I'd listen to the earthen spirits, boy. Their messages are always important."
"Kain, are you alright?" Erza turned to me as she put a hand on my shoulder.
"I… I don't know." I didn't realize I was holding my breath until after I gasped those words.
Do not go home? How did he know how to say that? What did he mean by that? Earthen spirits?
Spirits.
I turned as fast as my neck could allow me. "Lucy, what do you know about the Earthen Spirits?"
"I-I ah uh," The blonde celestial mage seemed to panic when I suddenly looked to her. "I um don't know what he's talking about?"
"But he said spirits, and your technically a spirit expert!"
To my shock, Lucy shook her head. "I've studied celestial spirits like the ones in the constellation. He described earthen spirits. And considering he's a Minotauren, he has a completely different pantheon of spirits that I'm not aware off."
Minotauren? That's what they're called here?
"I sensed weird magic coming off that guy," Natsu said as he looked in the direction where the Minotauren walked away.
"Use your brain, Natsu. Minotuaren aren't mages, they're shaman. It's against their culture to use magic." The resident ice make mage corrected.
This new bit of information surprised me. "Shaman? How is that different from being a mage?"
Erza was the one who answered next, "Mages and Shamans are fundamentally different. Mages rely on magic, as in the power within to draw out and affect the world around us. Shamans are basically the opposite in where you must pledge yourself to the world itself and it gives a shaman powers through gifts of the world. Shamans gain their power through prayers and rituals where as mages must hone their bodies, mined, and inner energy."
I absorbed that information. In a sense, magic here was modernized like technology, but Shaman mysticism was seen as the real unexplainable magic to mages here. That was very interesting.
But then, if there was a form of supernatural connection for shamans in this world… what were the spirits trying to tell me when they said I shouldn't go home? What did they mean by that? I wished I asked him what they meant more by that.
"It's getting late," I heard Lucy speak out and snap me out of my thoughts and made me look at the sun setting behind some of the large giant buildings. I never noticed it was setting because of how bright the main fire was at the center of the city.
"Yeah-yeah we should find a place to stay for the night." There was a throbbing in my head that made me put a hand on where I felt it. I had no idea what to do, but maybe it was best to put that bizarre message away for now.
Was it weird to be in a serious doll house? Let me rephrase that, in Sun Village there are no Motels, just toy stores—well they might as well be considered toy stores.
The place was called a Monument Moment, and by some info we learned, this was where non giants were allowed to sleep.
Now this next part was super cool: a giant with magic greeted us and lifted us to a table with wood, stones, trees, and gave us a quick rundown of what was to happen.
We had to either describe, or show a picture of a place we wanted to sleep in like a house, or a tree house, or a castle—he would actually make human sized houses for us and depending on what type of place we asked for, we'd have to pay the price for it.
"What should we base it off? Can we describe any place we can all fit in?" I asked as I turned to the rest of the team.
Natsu was the one to speak up. "No need, I've got a picture of Lucy's room right here. Just use that and make an extra big space for Ignis."
"Why do you have a picture of my room!?" Lucy's voice rang out when she glared at our resident fire dragon slayer who was holding out a picture of Lucy's room.
To my surprise, Erza spoke up next. "What? We all have one. See?" Gray, Happy, and she then pulled out a picture of Lucy's room.
"THAT'S NOT NORMAL GUYS!"
I put a palm on my forehead as the giant used a special tweezers to take the picture from Natsu then use a special magnifying lacrima glass to see the thing on it.
"So just this place, but bigger to fit you all, eh? No problem!" The giant began much to the protest of Lucy.
Still it was really cool to see Giants could also use magic. I guess that made sense considering all the other people here and their abilities. I wonder what kind of magic is really out there in Earthland? Man it sounds exciting just thinking about it!
Which reminds me, one of the complaints from my friends said that Fairy Tail originally had horrible world building devices. But here I am wanting to learn more about the world I'm currently in. I wonder why? Maybe the author couldn't really capture what a real world is supposed to be like?
Real world…
My home…
…
But seriously though? Why was I warned not to go home?
Lucy pretty much claimed her 'old' bed when the room was made. However, instead of her usual view, we were pretty much put on a shelf. I will not stop saying we were like toys because we were like toys to them. Toys that paid them to this but you get the idea.
After a nice sleep, we all decided to split up to fully explore the village in the morning.
Natsu, Happy, and I were going to ride Ignis and head towards the Eternal Flame in the center of the village. The flame gave a weird scent ever since Natsu saw it.
Gray was going to look around the bazaar for anything interesting, which I argued if everything was giant-sized it was automatically going to be interesting.
Which left Erza and Lucy try and talk with some of the giants in more residential areas.
We decided to travel by air, the group I was with. While there were other species that seemed to have their own idea of flying over the crowd, we soon made our way towards the Eternal Flame which was heavily guarded.
All the while we were getting closer, Natsu started sniffing the air more and more. "Kain, we need to get closer! It's faint, but I think I have Igneel's scent!" He said as he pointed excitedly towards the flame. The last time he smelled his dad's scent was in the Isle of the Undead when he fought a younger phantom of his father. So there's a high chance of him remembering what his father's scent was.
However, there was a problem as there were many giant guards protecting a large building where the flame could be seen behind an elaborate, big—by even giant standards—glass dome. It looked like no one could get in.
"The Eternal Flame is the Giant's sacred flame of the village. They're not letting any non-giant near it." I responded as I recalled the few small brochures that was placed in our newly constructed room as a form of exposure.
Natsu just pointed back at the flame. "But I can smell something like Igneel even form here! We gotta get in somehow!"
I had Ignis fly over to some of the guards. "Uh, hey? Can we see what's inside the dome please?"
To my utter surprise, the guards did not react. Was this just like Buckingham Palace where the guards are told to never react under any circumstances?
"He asked you a question, you oversized punk!" That was my cue to get Natsu to calm down and try to explain to him that they were just doing their job.
"But we gotta get in there!" Natsu repeated.
I felt for him, I really did. "Do not forget, we're technically in International Territory, Natsu. If you try anything violent here, it won't just affect the guild, it'll affect the human race when it comes to political relationships with other species and races!"
Natsu grunted, in layman's terms it basically meant he was not to destroy anything here like he would have in a normal town, even more so than usual.
"Wait," A loud voice made us look back to one of the guards surrounding the dome. He looked surprised as he asked us again, "That name, repeat it once more small, brown-haired human."
Was he referring to me? "Do you mean… Natsu, Natsu Dragneel?" I repeated with utter confusion. But my stupor only grew when the giant's eyes widened further after just hearing his name.
"Watch them, I'll get Ithca." The guard said to others nearby before leaving quickly at a pace. The other guards were watching us with wide eyes as if we were something we had never seen before.
Felling weird at all this new attention, I turned to Natsu. "Have you done anything to giants before today?"
The fired dragon slayer shook his head vehemently. "What no! This is the first time I've seen Giants too!"
"But why do they seem to know your name?"
There was a loud stepping noise as we turned our attention to see an even taller giant than the guards protecting the flame. He had big blue eyes the size of satellites and hair and beard as white as Gandalf's.
"Natsu Dragneel?" The elder giant asked as he looked over towards us.
The fire dragon slayer raised his hand. "Oh me, old man!"
"Natsu!? That was rude!" I screamed at him automatically. "You need to be more respectful!"
"Ha! It's fine, tiny!" The elder bellowed with booming laughter. "You four come with me. We'll go through a different route."
The elder giant went ahead and I got Ignis' reins ready and flew after the elder. "How do you know Natsu, sir?" I said in a loud voice near his ear.
"Ha! Call me, Ithca. As for your question, I don't but a very special guest has told us you were coming." The way he said 'special guest' made it feel like there was an inside joke only he knew about.
"Special Guest?" Happy and Natsu looked over to me as I shrugged my shoulders.
Eventually we were lead to a giant's house and ended up being lead to an underground route that was lit up by torches that were the size of normal buildings.
While flying for some time, we eventually came to the end of the large tunnel and saw stairs leading back up. As we followed Ithca up those giant stairs through Ignis, we found ourselves in front of the very, very bright Eternal Flame of Sun Village.
"Oi! You stupid freeloader!" To my utter surprise, Itcha was shouting at the flames as if it was a person. "You've got guests!"
"Freeloader?!" If I was surprised by Ithca's action, I became dumbfounded when a large voice echoed around us in response. "I helped built this damn village in the first place! To me, you're the freeloaders!"
Suddenly, the flames seemed to start to move—revealing a demonic like fire face, large wings and a tail made of pure flames, and a body…
"Natsu…" I whispered as the image clicked in my head. Even though I've only ever seen pictures, my mind was still coming to the conclusion that I was absolutely seeing the real deal. "The Eternal Flame of Sun Village is a fire dragon!"
"Whoa!" Both Happy and Natsu seemed to gasp as they looked towards the now formed Fire Dragon lazily lying around inside the giant's dome.
The fire dragon slowly tilted his head towards us. I was surprised that this dragon was just as big as a giant. "Natsu Dragneel, it's been a while hasn't it? Or is the proper term, yet?"
"What? We've met before?" Natsu tilted his head in confusion.
"Yes and no." The fire dragon began. "Hmm, let me introduce myself, I am Atlas Flame, the last of the fire dragons."
I quickly asked something off the dragon. "What do you mean, you've met Natsu before? And what did you mean by… yet…?" My mind was a huge fan of sci-fi shows, the use of future vocabulary was tickling my mind with something even more far-fetched than being in a magical world and talking to a dragon while riding on a wyvern.
"I don't quite know how it works," The Fire dragon's voice echoed around us at the time. "But I met Natsu through the use of time travel. I can sense that this Natsu Dragneel is younger than the one I first met in your immediate future."
I slapped my head. "Time Travel!? Really!? That's a thing in this world too!?" I shouted as I turned to Natsu. I was already getting headaches on a weekly basis, and to find out one of the most logic-destroying plot device exists here and will happen to us was horribly annoying.
"Wait, we're going to meet you again in the future?" Natsu asked the flame dragon.
"That is all I can say on the matter. The few things I do understand about time is that it's best not to reveal everything otherwise some things may not end as well as they could have." The Fire dragon began. "So, Natsu Dragneel, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you before our pre-determined meeting?"
The fire dragon slayer swallowed. I could tell there was something about him that I never saw before. He was hesitant. So far, coming to Sun Village seemed to be his best clue so far, but was there a part of him that was just afraid that this would be another dead end?
"Hey Atlas!" Natsu began, trying to find his usual courage. "Where's Igneel!?"
The Fire dragon became oddly silent before he sighed. I instantly knew the answer before he even opened his mouth.
"I'm sorry. I do not know where my friend, Igneel, went into hiding."
The look on Natsu's face was one of utter defeat. It must have been heartbreaking to feel so close to his dad than ever before… but find out he was still right back at the beginning.
However, I was not going to let this happen to him. "Natsu, wait. Something Atlas said caught my attention."
I turned to Atlas next and asked with a loud voice. "You said hiding! And I just now realized you were hiding your existence as well! The fact the Giants have opened their village to the public… you've created a political web that practically prevents anyone from attacking here without risking the wrath of many other species!"
I shouted again, trying to drive my main point. "Why are all the dragons hiding in the first place!?" I got the impression that dragons here were something like gods, powerful, natural creatures that practically controlled the elements. So why were they near extinct and those few remaining were nearly impossible to get to?
Atlas's head lowered before he seemed to look towards Ithca.
"I'm bloody curious too about why you never left this damn spot." The giant said.
After a rather strange amount of silence, Atlas Flame looked back up to us. "That is a long story… and our greatest shame."
I signaled Ignis to land on the ground, this was going to be a long story, so I didn't want him getting tired flying all the time.
"I would like to ask a question towards Natsu before I begin. What has my friend Igneel told you about his life?"
"Huh?" Natsu did not expect such a question. As he thought about it more he started to realize something. "Wait… he never really talked about himself."
"I see." Atlas seemed contemplative with Natsu's answer. "I do not blame him in all honesty. I shall begin the story of how dragons, once many and easily the strongest race in Earthland, were hunted to near extinction and now must hide like rats in fear of their everyday."
I looked towards Natsu and Happy. We were about to find out something very big.
Everyone stayed silent as the fire dragon began a very, very ancient tale.
I shall start at the very beginning. In the world of Earthland there were only two species: the dragons and the elves.
Dragons were the elements: raw, untamed, powerful.
Elves were considered the spirit of the world. They had mind, culture, society, and potentially everything the other species now have.
However, because of our differences, the Dragons and Elves soon went into ageless war that shaped Earthland to what it is today.
Igneel and I were newborns during the last leg of the Dragon-Elf War. Eventually, even we grew up preparing to fight the elves.
The dragons had been fighting longer than even the oldest of us could remember, and we could live a very long time. But it seemed like the Dragons were finally winning. Dragons would kill elves faster than elves could kill dragons. Eventually it finally caught up as their numbers started dwindling very fast.
With one last push, led by Igneel himself, we destroyed the last Elf Kingdom and razed it to the ground, making the dragons the sole winners of the war and by rights of victory: we had owned all of Earthland.
I believe that was our first mistake: believing Earthland was ours after defeating our life-long enemy.
For a time, Dragons practically lived as kings. Taking whatever they wanted whenever they wanted and the only time they would be crossed would be if they accidentally crossed another dragon.
However, your father, my friend, Igneel hated this. He hated how the newer species born from the endless fighting between elves and dragons, were treated even less than what they were.
You need to understand. When we were young, we had dreams of joining the main broods and crushing the elves beneath our feet. Igneel was the cockiest of us all and the most talented.
However, when the two of us finally saw how fighting was to be in actual war, Igneel was disgusted with himself. He was forced to fight not mindless drones who wanted to destroy us, but living breathing beings with friendships and ideals like us.
Yet… it was either them, or him. He loathed fighting despite being the strongest of us, he hated every second of that war where he had to kill so many elves…
So when he tried to get dragons to treat the lesser species with respect, he was met with scorn. Some of the dragons believed him, but that might have been worse.
There was a split between the dragons: some that wanted to defend the lesser species, and others who believed they had won the rights to the world and they were not sharing after years of hard battling.
Igneel's quest for peace… had ironically started a civil war between dragons. It shattered him in those days and I had never seen him so despondent and defeated.
However, it only grew worse from there.
Some of the dragons on Igneel's side tried giving their magic with a human kingdom. It worked too well.
… Forgive me, am I scowling? I apologize: that particular memory always stokes my anger when I realize that there was a traitor among the dragons Igneel trusted. If that bastard didn't die during the dragon civil war, I would have hunted him down and bit off his neck myself!
*huff* *huff* I am sorry.
I will explain. You see, Igneel was elsewhere—he was trying to get me to join his cause of protecting the lesser beings. I was actually Neutral on the subject. I had no desire to truly care for the lesser beings, but I was not foolish enough to join the other side to fight against Igneel who was far stronger than me. But while we were having our arguments, the other dragons in Igneel's side were tricked to teach their magic to their chosen humans without his or Igneel's other trusted lieutenants' presence.
This was orchestrated by a dragon no one trusted—I even begged Igneel to reconsider letting him join his side, but damn him and his gentle soul! He was willing to give that bastard a chance!
Excuse me… please. Just remembering what he did… it was always too much for my friend.
I will continue. The dragon's name was Logos. He was the last of a rare element even among the dragons; he was a Dragon who could eat souls. The elves had long ago hunted the soul dragons to extinction. However, Logos was convinced that none of the other dragon broods bothered to save his people and that they let the elves kill of his brood as a form of jealousy. This idea made him hate all the other dragons with a passion.
I was always convinced that he only joined Igneel's side because it would allow him to kill the most dragons.
It was him. It had to be him. While Igneel and I were still arguing, one of Igneel's scouts came to my lair and had said that the enemy dragons had found the Igneel's army resting near a human kingdom they had been stationed, I forget the name or I never bothered remembering it. Igneel was sure he had scouts to make sure they weren't tracked, but in the back of my mind, Logos more than likely gave the message to Igneel's enemies to where his army was stationed.
As we came back, Igneel and I saw it: war between dragons. It was horrible… to see even dragons once from the same brood fight each other as if they were strangers. Igneel must have felt the worse. He wanted to unite dragons and lesser beings, not tear them apart like that.
And that was not the worst part. Logos had done something to the humans with dragon magic. They became far more unstable, and one among them killed the rest of them and took their magic for his own.
It was the human Logos taught his magic to. That particular human despised dragons almost as much as Logos did and the human started using Logos' soul magic to drain his defeated allies to gain more powers for himself! With more and more dragons dying, Logos's student stole more and more souls until he himself became powerful enough to turn into a dragon and start massacring all the other battling dragons.
Igneel, against all my cries, flew in towards Logos' student with a desperate attempt to save everyone.
I flew in after him, but not before…
Igneel's soul was ripped from him.
I was able to save his mind and body from being fully taken, but Igneel was weakened… and crying… I had never seen my friend so weak in that very moment. I never wanted to again.
I had to get him out of there. While Logos's student was attacking more and more of the dragons, I escaped with Igneel against his wishes.
I hid him in a safe zone outside my lair before I raced back to find Logos myself. I was going to get back at the bastard that did all of this.
To my utter frustration, Logos was already dead—WITH A DAMN SMILE ON HIS FACE!
*Huff. Huff*
I'm sorry. Did my burst fire hit any of you? No? Natsu handled it? Forgive me.
As much as it pained me to admit it, Logos had won. He created a human that hated dragons so much, he became something like a god with all the powers he stole that day and now hunts all other dragons into extinction.
I… and seemingly Igneel now hide from Logos' student, who I now hear goes by the name, Acnologia. And some time later, I was able to hide myself by turning myself into a giant flame to hide my dragonic presence. Then the founders of this Village found me on a winter season and built refuge near me.
The rest is in this village's history.
Atlas's tale… it was not what I had expected it to be.
"Igneel…" I looked back to see Natsu with an unreadable face. "He wanted peace?"
"He tried so hard for it. He didn't tell you his past because I believe he didn't want you to inherit his sins." Atlas responded somberly.
There was also something else that was unsaid but felt by the two touched by Igneel. A sense of pity and heartache that someone they both saw as so strong... would have such a guilt-ridden past.
This was obviously a lot for Natsu to take in. He never knew Igneel's history and now he knew it. Was it better that he never knew? I didn't know… but to know you father was technically one of the causes that dragons no longer exists… that must weigh heavily on him.
Through the silence, I started to make a motion to start talking again. "Thank you for answering our questions." It wasn't necessarily where Igneel was, but finding out why he is might have been the next best thing for now.
"Anything for the son of my brood brother." Atlas said. "Now, I must ask you keep my place secret. No one must know that I am here."
I nodded, understanding what it would mean if something far stronger than the Dragon Race itself were to catch wind of a surviving dragon in a densely populated area. "We understand," I looked back at Natsu who seemed deep in thought. "Thank you for your time."
"No, thank you. It's been a while since I've used my real body." The fire dragon said as his form started to turn back into a normal flame. "And I do enjoy better company than these blokes."
"Tch!" Ithca scoffed before looking to us. "Alright, tiny folks, go on! Get! Even a few giants know there's a secret route to the inside of the dome." The giant motioned as I got Ignis' reins and made him fly again.
However, there was something that I thought I heard Atlas mutter before we left. It was really faint, but it sounded like something like 'the end'? Considering what just happened though, I'd just have to keep my ears open for something like that.
Eventually we left the area, but Happy was still worried for Natsu. The blue cat looked at me as if I could help somehow. I really didn't know how, but maybe…
"You okay, dude? I can tell that was a lot to take in." I spoke out as I started to direct Ignis towards the Giant Bazaar and find Gray.
"I just… never knew Igneel was like that. He was always so… strong and sure of himself…" Natsu began with a look that was never usually on his face, doubt. "I never knew anything about him."
I frowned at seeing the usually boisterous, proud, and brave friend of mine look so lost. "That was his choice to hide his past from you. Whatever you do with it is your choice, but if you'll take my view? I think he was ashamed of his past. I don't think you should hold it against him for hiding it."
Natsu looked down with obvious contemplation. "Let's find Erza and the others. I'm hungry."
"Yeah… lunch does sound good right about now."
As we flew towards the Bazaar, we were surprised at everything seemingly going to hell. Magic I hadn't seen before was flying all over the place and some of the giants were trying to move other non combatants around the area.
"What the hell!?" I cried before I made Ignis swerve to the right to avoid a magical construct of a giant bird trying to eat us. "Ignis, move!"
The red wyvern started moving faster as we flew past the chaotic bazaar area.
"Aah! Kain, down there! Near that giant fruit stand!" Natsu pointed as I followed. It looked like some dwarves, ogres, and snake people were fighting, but among them? I spotted Gray with some blue haired girl fighting off some of the other species.
I fished my pockets quickly and put on my flying goggles and shouted to Natsu and Happy. "Both of you hang on to something! Natsu get ready to grab Gray!"
With that, Ignis dove down at insane speed as I yelled out, "GRAY, HEADS UP!"
The ice mage looked up then quickly said something to the girl as he grabbed her waist—making her squirm before we swooped in and Gray grabbed on to Natsu's hand as we then flew out of there before more fighting could break out in that area.
"It's great to see you guys!" Gray sighed in relief as he and the girl who seemed flushed and very familiar were helped onto the saddle by Ignis.
"M-My beloved Gray touched me…"
"Huh?" Natsu and Happy looked at the girl before they pointed at her in shock. "Aaah! It's Juvia of the Element Four!"
"What!?" I yelled as I looked at the girl. But before I could even ask why Phantom Lord was here, Gray quickly caught my attention.
"Guys, chill! She's not here to harm us! She saved me when I was attacked!"
"Oh! Gray my beloved! Standing up for me already!" I raised my brow as I swore I saw hearts in her eyes when she looked at our resident ice mage.
"Wait," I began as I looked towards her. "What do you mean attacked? Who would be stupid enough to start a fight an international neutral area?"
The stripper of Fairy Tail rubbed his neck. "I have no idea, but it was some guy with a metal jaw who seemed to be looking for Erza."
"What? Gray, start from the beginning." I said as I started to motion Ignis to get away from this place quickly and head towards the area Lucy and Erza left.
He explained while he was still just looking around the place, Juvia came up to him with intention of wanting to join Fairy Tail. Juvia explained that even with Phantom Lord soon getting back together, Voyu Carliso told her to 'follow her heart' and she did.
That explained near nothing but then Gray went back to saying that while they were talking, some large man wearing green with a metal jaw and an eye patch walked up to him demanding to know where Erza was.
"He was with a guy who looked really blocky and then they seemed to get a telepathic link that they had found her. I wanted to stop them, but then they opened fire on me. I instinctively avoided the attack and the blast hit a Cobraum—those snake folks—and they reacted violently and assumed I was the one who attacked them. The bastards got away when the fighting started to escalate."
"Why are they after Erza!?" Natsu asked with obvious anger.
There was another bad feeling in my stomach as I remembered the words of the Minotauren Shaman. I really hoped this wasn't related. "I have no idea. But I have a bad feeling about this! Ignis faster!"
{Author Notes}
Hey everyone! We're starting a completely new take on the Tower of Heaven arc!
Haha. You guys know the drill by now: things are going to be different than in cannon. I've got some fun ideas I can't wait to show this time around.
Here's the first one since it might be hard to notice: I changed the location of the Tower of Heaven.
I don't think it's really ground breaking, but I thought about it for a bit and I wanted to change locations of the Tower of Heaven. It's closer to Sun Village now and I gave it a good reason why it's there now. (I hope)
Plus it kinda mixes things up a bit so that savvy readers won't completely guess what's about to happen. (I also hope)
Now there's a lot about this chapter I want to discuss. Let's start with the introduction of the other races.
I'm so excited now that I've finally brought them in.
My favorite magical worlds are the ones with more than one race! World of Warcraft, Starcraft, even some of the Lord of the Rings, there are so many other species than humans that are just as interesting to explore. (And yes, I might explore the Machinas species here eventually. Though that's down the lane because I don't really know how to tackle them for now.)
Okay, I'm moving now to the next point: Atlas Flame and a new take on the Dragon King Festival.
What really can I say about this? For one, I have established a completely new lore here in Muggle Among Mages. One involving my take on why the Dragons ruled so arrogantly: they did so because they defeated their lifelong enemy and believed themselves the deserving winners of that war. I think that gives them more reason why they area against CO-existence than their cannon counterparts. Why share something with someone less when you worked hard to earn those rights?
Elves now 'exist' and I have a lot of ideas on these guys and why they were considered the opposite of dragons.
What else? Ah yes, the introduction of the character Logos, The Soul Dragon. The Civil War between dragons has always interested me. Yet there's barely anything much about it. In fact, my wiki visits showed me that there's more darn focus on the "Human" side of that war with Irene, Erza's mom.
So I retconned it somewhat. I put more focus on the dragons instead of Irene since I firmly believe humans aren't all that.
As I was constructing the new story, an idea formed in my head when I read somewhere Acnologia had somehow stolen the souls of Dragons—how? From what little I could gather, he might have been one of the humans who was chosen to be the first of the dragon slayers. But considering how much he hated dragons, who would teach him or who would he be willing to learn from?
What if… Acnologia met a dragon… that hated dragons as much as him? Logos was then created, with the power to potentially be the strongest of dragons, and the one to help Acnologia into killing all dragons, he didn't care if he was going to die as long as he brought his entire race with him.
What do you guys think? I've been talking with you guys more often with my thought process, because I've been told that some people like my ideas. I thought by explaining more of them, I would give future writers some ideas in their story as well.
Now… Atlas Flame. I always thought of him as a very interesting character. Before he was killed off by Gray's dad (Bull Shit! Gray's dad wasn't even that tough dammit!) the idea of a real dragon existing that wasn't one of the seven hiding in the slayers was amazing.
He's also considered a friend of Igneel, and sometimes considered like a brother for Igneel or an uncle of Natsu.
So, I wanted to explore that relationship. What if Atlas Flame and Igneel truly were brood brothers? They are both fire dragons so I wondered how they could meet and imagining that, I sorta made Atlas Flame as Igneel's best friend. I might one day write a spin off about the two of them—might not—If I did it would include Logos and Acnologia and how they interacted and met in my brain.
Wait. I should take a break in my thought process for now.
"I was very heavily inspired to recreate the lore of the Dragon King Festival thanks to MiraLake." This writer wrote a very original story worth reading, His Backstory.
You guys should really read it and give it support. It's an original idea that deserves more credit than it has.
I'm serious. Read it and support it.
And… that was it. I tried my best to do a condensed version of what I did and why I did it. So here it is.
Anyway, thank you all for sticking with my notes on the story. Thank you for reading!