Happy Thanksgiving to all my American and International friends. In the spirit of giving, I decided to publish a section of the first chapter as a preview for my new arc, Rewrite the World. You may not know it, but the events here will set the course for the entirety of the series.
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The red-haired man huffed as he tried to keep up with the horse. The horse shook in worry as it felt itself losing energy, it's insides creaking in strain.
"That's it!" The man slammed his fist to the wet ground, causing to break apart into small cubes and force the horse off of its feet.
But as the smirking youth approached the fallen animal, the water from the nearby lake began to bubble. A loud neigh was simultaneous to a wave of water rising up and slamming into the man, sending him flying away.
Luckily, a bed of ice roses suddenly appeared before he could hit the ground. Just like the ground before, they broke apart on contact with him by the time a violet-haired woman approached him.
"Honestly Gildarts," The woman said to the man with her hands at her hips. "What were you thinking?" She sighed in annoyance.
Another water wave was blocked by a swarm of paper dolls as a black haired man tsked while he came over. "Don't you know by now, Ur-chan." The newcomer said as he lowered his arm. "Gildarts-chan never thinks."
"Put a sock in it, Ivan!" Gildarts snarled back as he jumped onto his.
"You first!" Ur pinched her forehead as the two started arguing.
"Guys…" She groaned. Unbeknownst to them, the horse started to charge at them. But then a goat-man wearing a suit leaped into its path, then stopped it in its tracks.
"We don't have time to argue, guys!" A young blonde-haired girl shouted as she ran to meet them.
Ur sighed and smiled apologetically at the girl. "Sorry, Layla-chan. Are the others ready yet?"
"Irene-san and Shisou need more time," Layla responded before facing the goat-man. "How are you holding up, Capricorn?"
"I shall be fine, Layla-sama." He responded while struggling to keep a grip on the stallion, who breathed out steam in frustration.
"We can't wait for the old man and Red to get ready." Gildarts gripped as he cracked his neck.
"No other choice." Ivan countered. "Layla-chan, get goat-chan out of the way."
"What's the magic word~"
"Shut it, Gildarts-chan!"
"Okay." The young girl nodded. "Capricorn."
"Understood." The spirit let go of the rampaging beast and leaped away as a flock of paper dolls started to circle around the beast.
"Nice plan, Ivan," Ur smirked as she slammed a fist into her palm. "My turn. Ice-Make: Rosen Krone!" A set of ice vines grew from her spot towards the horse, now trapped in a sphere of dolls that was soon fortified by the vines
"Good job." Gildarts complimented. But it was for not as the sphere began to shake while the ice began to crack.
"Ah, shit…"
"Get down!" Capricorn ordered. As the five did so, Ur created an ice shield as the sphere was destroyed by a hurricane born from the inside. With frustration in its eye, the horse neighed in anger as its hard hooves stomped on the wet paper dolls, causing the hurricane to alarmingly growing out to them, but before it could hit them...
"Deus Ex!" A woman's voice shouted. The hurricane glowed before dispersing into a cloud of mist.
"Solid Script: Lightning!" A man's voice yelled as a word made from electricity struct the cloud, with large cackles echoing the air as the current traveled through the droplets before striking the creature.
"Good timing, Irene," Ur said to the approaching female caster, who was a red-haired woman that held a simple wooden stave aimed forward. "You too, Shisou."
"Not a problem, heh, Ur," Irene replied confidently, despite the apparent exhaustion as she rested her free hand on her knees.
"Save your energy, Irene." Said an approaching-middle-age man with long brown hair. He wore a long, black overcoat and kept his hazel eyes partially covered behind a pair of sunglasses.
"Of course sensei." Irene nodded in respect.
The older male then glared at Gildarts, who rubbed his head sheepishly under the gaze. "I take it the rush was your doing, Gildarts?"
"Heh heh," Gildarts laughed nervously. "Sorry, Joe-jii, but you know I can't keep still."
"Shisou," Ivan called out. "I hope you two managed to find a way to put that thing to rest already."
"Already done, Ivan." Joseph Mcgarden answered sternly. His attention then turned to the braying and steaming beast, now more enraged thanks to the electrocution. "Enough games, Crimthan. This is not your time. Go to rest peacefully, or there will be hell brought forth."
The horse only snorted as a glowing symbol appeared on its gold-coated forehead: The blue image of a standing dragon looking to the right with a black feather pen in one of its claws and a black rose in the other.
"So be it, then."
30 years later
A woman smiled as she finished writing a sentence on a sheet of paper. She was a modest-looking woman with long ginger hair and kind green eyes. She sat in a small workshop, with one wall covered by a bookshelf filled with numerous children's books.
'If this story works well now, imagine how it will be when it pops up in real life.' She thought cheerfully. Once she placed the sheet under a pile of paper, she carried it to the bookshelf and gently placed it on top. But she suddenly felt a heavy gaze on her that caused the air around her to be thicker.
"H-hello?" She asked meekly. When there was no apparent response, she turned around and nearly had a heart attack when she saw a man with long, dark brown hair and wearing a white cloak over his body, standing face-to-face with her.
"Greetings, Miss Dahl." The man said coldly.
"W-who are you?" Dahl questioned nervously. "Why are you here?"
He seemed to have not heard her as he reached over her and grabbed one of the books from the shelf. "Hmm," He said as he opened the book and looked in it. "you are quite the amazing author. My children quite enjoyed your work."
"A-are they fans, then?" She asked as she tried to sneak out of her office.
"Yes, actually." He answered without looking up. "They always ask my wife to read them. I'm sure that Joseph Mcgarden would have been proud as well."
At this Dahl stopped in her track. "Y-you knew of sensei?"
"Wasn't he, what do you call them, a Wizard Saint?" As this happened, a small knight and dragon appeared on top of the pages. "Many would have known of him."
"Yes. But, how did you know that he was my teacher?" What's going on? I haven't heard about sensei since his death years ago. "And why are so interested in him?"
"Let's just say he had just as many enemies as he had students." The man mused. "Speaking of him, I wonder if-" When he looked up from the book, he saw that she had vanished. "She wants to be difficult, huh?"
Dahl managed to escape from the room and was now scurrying through the cabinet of her living room. "Where is it? Where is it?" Eventually, she found a communication lacrima and pulled it out. She smiled frantically as she prepared to place her hand on it, but suddenly a trident composing of interconnected, sea green runes appeared and swiped it out of her hands.
"I'm sorry," the man said as he caught the sphere in his hands, then crushed it in his immense grip. "But I prefer to keep the authorities out of this."
She rambled through her own pockets and pulled out of a piece of paper and a pen. "Pop Up Script:" She shouted frantically as she wrote on the paper. "Knight!" The words then floated off the paper before combining into the shape of a full-size knight, then pulled out its sword and charged straight towards the man.
As the two fought, Dahl raced to the door. But before she could even grab the handle, she collided into an invisible wall. "A Jutsu Shiki!" She gasped. The sound of paper being shredded made her look at the sight of the man forcing his trident through the knight's armor, causing the latter to collapse into numerous, ink-coated sheets.
"Poseidon Scroll's," The man said as he wrote in the air, with green runes shadowing his hand movement, "Kathará." The runes formed into a large net that launched at Dahl and entangled, forcing her to the ground.
"What do you want?!" She cried in fear as the man knelt down to her.
"Where is it?" He asked. At her confusion, he continued. "Did Joseph Mcgarden gave you an artifact?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" She screamed. "Mcgarden-sensei didn't give me anything of the sort!"
He was silent for a few seconds before speaking. "You are clearly telling the truth. You do not have what I am looking for."
At this, she sighed. "But I must apologize," Her breath remained trapped in her mouth as he continued and pulled out stone covered in white runes from under his cloak. "For I have other orders regarding you." Dahl squirmed in fear as he brought the runestone to her forehead, and when it made contact, she let out a banshee-like shriek before falling silent, then collapsing to unconsciousness as the mark from the stone was now on her forehead.
With the woman out cold he put away the stone, now clear of markings, and pulled out another covered in red runes and held it towards his mouth. "Mission was a failure. Miss Dahl did not possess any of the pieces. Have the two moved out yet?
"... Good. Even if they are longshots, the investigation may prove fruitful.
"... Do not worry, Chieftain, I know of three left that could suffice. And the best part is that they are all in one guild.
"... I am aware of their strength. They held such a reputation seven years ago. So we will come to them at our strongest. After all," he let out a faint smile. "It would be a good welcome for Fairy Tail, especially for our fellow letter mages."
At this, his body broke apart into numerous green runes, everything from his feet to his cloak.
A cloak that contained a blue dragon symbol…
That's it for today. Hope you enjoyed it. Stay toon after December 15th for the first chapter of the rewrite the world arc.
Also, check out my new poll on my profile, where you select your three favorite arcs from Alternate Tail.
And in other news, the Alternate Tail series has its own TV Trope page. Just search TV Trope Alternate Tail on any browser and you'll find it.
See ya soon!