Sorry for the long-ass wait! I've been highly addicted to Ni-Oh, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon: Zero Dawn AND Persona 5. All of which are amazing games I highly recommend. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

With Fairy Tail now in first place, the entire guild was celebrating their recent milestone at the Honey Bone Lodge. At one of the tables, Zale and Juvia were sitting across from Lucy and Flynn, the noise around them low enough so they could talk without yelling.

"How are you doing, Lucy?" Zale asked.

"I'm fine now, thanks." Lucy replied.

"It's a good thing the match stopped when it did." Flynn sighed. "Who knows how far that Saber woman have gone?"

"I could tell you, but I doubt you'd want to hear it." Jayden spoke up as he approached the table.

"Who the heck are you? And why are you here?" Lucy asked in surprise and confusion.

"Didn't Master Makarov tell you?" Zale questioned her. "He's-"

"Please, allow me." Jayden interrupted and bowed to Lucy. "I'm Jayden Oceari."

"Uh-O-okay… what did you mean by 'you could tell us'?" Lucy paraphrased him.

"I've been in many guilds over the years, including Sabertooth."

"You were in Sabertooth?!" Lucy exclaimed in shock.

"Until I left. Didn't like the way they did things."

"Jayden is also a Dragon Slayer." Juvia stated.

"A Dragon Slayer, too?! How come none of you told me?!" Lucy shouted.

"Excuse me? Mr. Jayden?" A soft voice spoke up from behind the Water Dragon Slayer.

Jayden turned his head around and saw Wendy standing behind him. "Hm? What is it, Wendy?"

"Mr. Gajeel wants to show me and Natsu something." Wendy said. "He said it was for Dragon Slayers' eyes only."

Jayden turned to the couples and waved. "Well, see ya later, guys."

Wendy and Jayden walked away and out of the inn, leaving Zale, Lucy and the others somewhat confused.

"What do you think that was about?" Zale wondered aloud.

"I don't know." Lucy responded. "Want to follow them?"

"Is it really a good idea to tail Dragon Slayers?" Zale questioned. "They'll smell us coming a mile away."

"Aren't you curious, Zale?" Lucy asked as she stood up. "Come on, Flynn. Let's go."

"Oh-okay…" Flynn stammered in surprise.

Lucy walked away and Flynn followed close behind her.

Zale sighed in exasperation. "Alright…" He stood up and Juvia looked up at him. "I'm going, too. Juvia, are you coming with me?"

"Of course." Juvia replied. "I can't let Lucy seduce my man when I'm not looking!"

*Are you still on that?* Zale thought.

Zale, Flynn, Juvia, Lucy and even Gray followed the Dragon Slayers and their Exceeds to a cave underneath Domus Flau, where Gajeel was still guiding them.

"What do you want to show us down here, Mr. Gajeel?" Wendy inquired.

"Just follow me." Gajeel continued guiding them.

"Why can't you just give her an answer?"

"Why is it just us?" Natsu asked.

"It must have something to do with Dragon Slayers." Happy guessed.

"That's very likely." Pantherlily said.

"Even so…" Carla took notice of their guild mates tailing them. "We've also got rubberneckers."

"No rubber necks here." Gray said.

"Wouldn't YOU be curious?" Lucy asked.

"Dragging your friends into a dark cave is pretty suspicious. It would pique anyone's curiosity." Zale stated.

"Whatever. Just keep following." Gajeel scoffed and resumed walking deeper into the cave.

Eventually, Gajeel led everyone to an area where the cave became a cavern.

"This is it." Gajeel said as he stopped.

"Hm?" Natsu looked around.

What everyone saw within the cavern left them in shock.

"These are…" Wendy gasped, but couldn't finish her sentence.

"I… don't believe this…" Zale just stared.

Juvia was rendered speechless with her hands clasped over her mouth.

"How..." Flynn was unable to find the right words.

"What are these?" Gray wondered.

"The bones… of some beasts?" Lucy gave her best guess.

The sight before them was a collection of massive, ancient dragon skeletons littered all over the cavern.

"Dragon bones." Natsu muttered loud enough for his friends to hear. "A dragon graveyard…"

"These… are ALL dragon bones?!" Happy exclaimed.

"So many!" Carla said in disbelief.

"Well, this place definitely proves they existed." Lily said.

"Why here?" Gray asked.

"How should I know?" Gajeel retorted.

*Was Domus Flau built over this place by the Fiore royal family intentionally?* Zale thought to himself. *Perhaps mass genocide centuries ago? Or is there a lot more that we don't know? Does even the king himself know about this?*

"Is something on your mind, my love?" Juvia calmly snapped Zale out of his extreme state of thought.

"Just considering every possible outcome that could have happened that resulted in this." Zale answered.

"Do you think that maybe Igneel could be one of-" Happy was about to say.

"HAPPY!" Carla stopped him from finishing.

Happy looked at Natsu, who was just looking at the skeletons.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Happy apologized.

"Naw, he ain't here." Natsu said.

"Our dragons vanished 14 years ago…" Gajeel stated. "These ones look they've been here a hell of a lot longer."

"Besides, Oceari spends most of her time in the sea." Jayden added. "She wouldn't come to a place so far from sea."

"Milkyway." Wendy spoke out of nowhere.

"What was that, Wendy?" Lucy turned to the young girl.

"Milkyway." Wendy said again. "One of the ultimate techniques that Ms. Porlyusica taught me. It calls upon the voices of dragon spirits as they flow through the heavenly river. Up 'til now, I thought for sure it was an attack, but… it's possible THIS is its purpose. Milkyway could let us hear the voices of these dragons' spirits."

*If it says it lets her speak to dragon ghosts, then of course it'd be a support spell.* Zale thought since he knew saying that aloud would have been incredibly rude.

"If we listened to the soul of a dragon buried here, we might be able to find out what this place is." Wendy stated. "Maybe even what happened to our dragons when they vanished."

"It's worth a shot." Juvia said.

Wendy grabbed a nearby stick and started drawing a magic pattern circle containing a series of characters inside it on the ground.

"I knew it!" Wendy exclaimed. "I thought it was an attack spell, so I wrote this character wrong!"

"What're you doing, Wendy?" Natsu asked.

"Have you been listening at all?" Carla scolded the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"She said it's called Milkyway." Happy told him.

"That should do it!" Wendy smiled upon finishing the circle. "Everybody, stand back a bit."

As everybody backed away from Wendy to give her some space, she got on her knees and raised her head and arms to the skies as a green ethereal light shone from the circle.

"Oh wandering dragon spirit!" Wendy chanted. "Bestow your voice upon me! MILKYWAY!"

An even brighter light erupted from the circle and gleamed like a beautiful galaxy. Streams of the magic light began spreading out over the graveyard in search of a dragon's spirit, causing the bones to shake.

"Eeeee!" Lucy shrieked and hid behind Flynn. "The bones!"

*Just look tough, Flynn.* Flynn told himself in his head. *Take every advantage to look good in front of Lucy.*

"I wonder if Wendy's really okay?" Gray questioned.

"I search for the soul of a dragon!" Wendy continued chanting. "An ancient will that wanders these caverns… So small…" Her eyes shot open. "I found you!"

Wendy clasped her hands in prayer and the lights from Milkyway converged in a single spot in front of her.

"Whoooa…" Gajeel looked in awe.

"THAT is a soul?" Lily gasped.

The lights started to take shape.

"Wendy?" Happy walked up to the Sky Dragon Slayer.

"It looks like she's concentrating." Carla stated.

A large, imposing and scaly being was taking form within the light. Everyone, aside from the focusing Wendy, stared at the ethereal figure as it took the form of a large, green dragon that roared when his materialization was complete. It was so terrifying that everyone screamed like little girls except for the actual little girl.

"Ahahahaha!"

Everyone stopped screaming upon hearing the dragon's hearty laughter.

"The faces of frightened humans never cease to make me laugh!" The dragon chuckled.

Those that were just screaming were now baffled and in disbelief made evident by their blank and confused expressions.

"I am called Zirconis, the Jade Dragon!" He announced in his booming voice. "It seems someone's called my soul back… No doubt it's Grandeeney's magic. Where are you?"

Zirconis looked around until his eyes spotted Wendy, who was still kneeling and praying to keep the spell active.

"Oh, how adorable!" Zirconis lowered his head to her level. "Did such a tiny Dragon Slayer manage to revive me?"

"Hey!" Natsu got between Zirconis and Wendy. "Stay away from her!"

"No! I will eat her!"

"You jerk!" Natsu shouted.

"It was a joke!" Zirconis backed off with another laugh. "Humans are so stupid! Look at me! How can I eat when I'm nothing but a ghost?! Ahahaha!"

"So this guy's a… prankster?" Lucy rhetorically asked.

"Not a 'guy', but a dragon." Gray responded.

"Not even that." Gajeel said. "A ghost… I guess…"

"He's awfully… laidback…" Juvia murmured.

"If I came back as a ghost…I don't think making jokes would be first on my itinerary…" Zale commented.

"Maybe he's just relieving the stress of being dead for who knows how long." Jayden shrugged.

"Let's be specific!" Zirconis continued. "I am Zirconis, the Jade Dragon!"

"YOU JUST SAID THAT!" Gray shouted.

"What happened here?" Carla inquired.

"There are a lot of dragon bones here…" Happy said.

"We've called your spirit to find out why." Lily explained.

"I have no interest in speaking with humans. Leave!"

"How about cats?" Happy asked.

"In that case… About four hundred year ago…"

"That was unrealistically easy…" Flynn mumbled.

"Dragons had ruled the entire world. We soared through the skies at our leisure. We roamed upon the earth. We traversed the vast oceans and lived in prosperity. Everything in this world belonged to Dragonkind. Humans were nothing more than snacks to us, heheheh! But there was one dragon foolish enough to object the rule of Dragonkind. He spouted nonsense about building a world where we coexist with humans. Thus, a war broke out between the dragons that agreed with him and those who opposed him. I fought against him."

"'Against'? You mean…?" Lucy asked.

"I only like humans when they're my dinner!"

Natsu snickered. "So right now, you're talking with your food? Heeheehee!"

"Quiet, you annoying little ant!"

"So a civil war broke out between the dragons…" Flynn began writing in a notebook.

"Why are you writing this down?" Zale whispered.

"So there's an actual historical record, of course." Flynn answered.

"So, what happened with the battle?" Carla asked.

"Ahem, the battle hit a stalemate. The clash of dragon against dragon tore the land apart! But eventually the human peace faction struck a very foolish deal with them. They bestowed upon the humans magic that could slay dragons and had them join the battle."

The revelation left everyone in shock. Even though Wendy was still busy sustaining the spell, she could hear every word Zirconis was saying.

"Dragon Slayer Magic?" Lucy guessed.

"THAT'S the origin of Dragon Slayer Magic?" Happy asked.

"The power of the Dragon Slayers was unbeatable. It was only a matter of time before the dragons who wanted peace would emerge victorious… but they made a miscalculation. They had given the Dragon Slayers too much power and the slayers started killing even those dragons who wanted peace with mankind."

"Guess their gamble didn't pay off…" Zale grumbled.

"And among those humans was one who bathed in far too much dragon blood." Zirconis looked like he was sweating from recollecting a frightening memory. "I lack the courage to speak that human's name. This 'man' slaughtered more and more dragons and bathed in their blood! Eventually his skin turned to scales… his teeth turned to fangs… and his human body warped into that of a true dragon."

"A man turned into a dragon?!" Lucy was shaking in fear.

A thick cloud of dread left everyone speechless as Zirconis continued telling his story.

"That was the end of Dragon Slayer Magic. All of the dragons that lay here were slain by that man. Though once a human, he became the Dragon King! That battle gave birth to him. The Dragon King Festival! That king's name is… Acnologia!"

The degree of shock everyone felt when they heard this Dragon Slayer's name was more prominent and palpable than anything they have felt tonight.

"That…" Lucy gasped.

"Was human?!" Gray questioned.

"That's impossible!" Gajeel said.

"Zale… isn't that the dragon…?" Flynn asked without looking at his friend.

"Yeah… How could that… monster have been human?" Zale responded.

"Here's the thing about the scariest monsters…" Flynn said. "They are human… and we can become these things at any moment…"

*Sadly… I know the feeling…* Zale thought on Flynn's words.

"He managed to wipe out nearly all the dragons. And that was four hundred years ago. All that's left is to tell-"

Zirconis's spirit vanished and his voice could no longer be heard.

"Hey!" Natsu exclaimed.

"He vanished!" Juvia gasped.

"We still got questions!" Gajeel shouted.

"Wendy!" Happy and Carla rushed to her side as she finally released the spell.

"It's no good…" Wendy said. "His spirit has completely vanished from this place. To put it religiously, you could say he's gone to the next life."

There was a heavy silence for a few seconds.

"That was a pretty overwhelming story." Gray spoke up.

"That's putting it mildly!" Lucy was still shaking.

"Wait!" Natsu seemed to start panicking. "So if you use too much Dragon Slayer Magic, you become a dragon?!"

"I don't want that!" Gajeel yelled.

"What do I do?!" Wendy shrieked.

"The motion sickness is bad enough!" Jayden exclaimed.

"Men becoming dragons is not possible." A strange and unfamiliar voice spoke from behind them along with the sound of metallic footsteps approaching.

"Who's there?!" Wendy asked as she and everyone else turned.

"I'm afraid I eavesdropped on your on your conversation." An armor-clad figure walked toward them. "And it seems to confirm the historical research we've done. I assume you are familiar with the demons of the Book of Zeref. Acnologia is close to that. The theory is that Zeref transformed a dragon slayer into Acnologia."

"Zeref did?!" Happy asked in surprise.

"In other words…" The knight smirked. "The first step to defeating Zeref, the cause of all this, is to capture Acnologia."

The knight was a dark-skinned man with a blocky nose, fluffy black hair and beard and accompanying was a surprisingly familiar young lady in a royal uniform.

"Who are these bastards?!" Gajeel growled.

"Defeat Zeref?!" Natsu gasped.

"Yukino?!" Lucy shouted when she recognized the young woman.

"How many more twists are going to happen today?!" Jayden clutched his head.

A/N: I'm so, so, so, SO sorry for procrastinating this story for so long and letting my video game addiction deter me from my writing duties for two months! Let me know if this is inexcusable, regardless of how incredible the games I've played have been! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!