It's been a long night, and this service sucks and my messages can't be sent – Set it off - Missing You
I have nothing to write so I'll suggest songs!
Chapter 9: The Breakthrough and The Finding
It was early morning when Natsu woke up, not in his grand bed at the manor, but on the clothes of the dead in a cave. The cave that he once lived in for the beginning of his life with his father, who had been taken from him – ripped from him like a band-aid. His back was painful and his arm hurt whenever he moved it and he knew it was because he wasn't used to it.
The fire that had been burning all night had gone out, maybe it was early this morning it had extinguished as it was still slightly warm. The cave had no breeze inside, and it made sense because when summer came it was always hot in the cave, and Natsu found it hard to breathe a little.
He began his running, a run that he hadn't done for an eternity in this cave, knowing well that he would be running for hours in the tiny, heated cave. His feet tapped on the ground, causing an echo as he ran. He made his footsteps heavier and lighter, trying to get a loud echo and then a little one.
After his run, he walked over to the weight his father had made for him, it was lying on the floor, untouched. He had forgotten the last time he had picked up this weight; he had forgotten the last time he had ever used it.
He let the image of his father being taken flood his mind. This gave him an unwavering determination.
He didn't use the weight, he didn't have the time. He knew Gildarts would come for him and that the man already knew where he was, just not what he was doing. Just this once, for the first, and last, time in his life, he would train where his father did.
He felt inhuman sitting in his father's training spot, he felt like a God, or a Saint ranked person or beast. His father's training spot was right in the centre of the cave, there was nothing around him.
'My father said that to break through to the second rank I would have to understand the earth, but the earth is vast and to understand it all would take years. Maybe there was a second meaning to what he said.' Natsu pondered to himself, slightly sulking as he came up with futile ideas.
He had nobody to guide him, and no one to teach him how to think for himself, and self-teaching himself things like how to think for himself when someone was always holding his hand through it, made things a little hard.
'Understand the earth...' He said to himself, and soon it became his mantra. After an hour the boy's face had become more scrunched and his frown had seeped further down his face until he had a mental breakthrough.
'Maybe it is similar to the moment in the forest, but this time understand how it works and moves!'
The boy began meditating immediately, which would train his spiritual energy and the earth element magic in his veins. His legs were crossed, and his back was ramrod straight. His eyes were fluttering slightly, and his mouth had turned from a frown into a straight line, with his hands firmly planted on his knees.
He watched the brown dots closely, at first they seemed very still and hard, never moving from a fixed spot unless Natsu willed them to. But, if he paid close attention enough, he could see that they faintly moved.
The vibrated slightly and seemed to grow a little bigger and a little smaller, which would go unnoticed to someone who wanted to use the earth as a defence. He focused on the dots, watching them move. They were alive.
He would now have to try something, something he has never tried before, using this new piece of information. He opened up his eyes, scratching his neck as he wondered what to do.
'I could try to see if I could expand them myself, but that would just be like the small spikes I created with my father. Maybe I could try splitting them and thinning them out to make a larger surface area. With this, I could create cracks in the earth that someone could fall into.'
Natsu had never been taught how magic worked, only that he could use it at his disposal. But he knew this: If at rank three he can use certain spells that required a certain element to be near him, then the earth spells were that. But he had seen Igneel create a fire without having fire around him.
He could use spells as a rank three fire Mage now, but he could create fire when there was no fire around him, and he wanted to know how he did this. But at this moment he wanted to break through to the second rank as an earth Mage.
'I shall use this information to learn how the earth defence spells will work, as I already know attack. Then this will allow me to only need to meditate to break through to the third rank.'
He closed his eyes, moving the little brown dots towards himself, he then split them apart equally. The raising them out of the ground, he placed them on his chest, like the chest plate for a piece of armour. Instead of crumbling like it did last time, it solidified on his chest. If someone were to poke him it would probably chip, and a punch would break it completely, but it worked.
He felt the energy he felt every time he broke through, but this time it was an uncontrollable burst of energy. The ground began to shake; rocks from the side of the wall began to tumble down like boulders and rained on Natsu.
It lasted a few second, but once it was finished, dust covered Natsu from head to toe. He coughed a little from the dust he inhaled and rubbed his eyes so that he could see clearly...
He trudged around the room, salvaging different objects, like the bags his father made. Most of the bags were empty, but there was a small pouch with different magical beast crystals in it, and a large one with a change of clothes.
He wore these two, the large one went around his bare chest and hung on his side, made from a black leather, and the pouch hung from his hip on the other side. The pouch came with a thin belt, and it had other hoops on it, so taking the knives that were lodged in the hem of his trousers, he placed them onto the belt.
He looked around once more, a crack catching his attention. He must have opened it up with the burst of energy that came to him; he felt intrigued by the hollow opening as no other holes had opened up in the cave.
He walked towards it, kneeling down near the crack to see if he could peer into it. It was extremely dark, and so using is finger as a torch, he lit a small fire on the tip of it. Moving his hand towards the inside of the crack, he could faintly see a box.
Natsu had never seen his father with a box, and he didn't know why it was in the wall of the cave, but he wanted to know what was in the box.
He put out the flame on his finger, and then reached into the darkness, grasping onto the side of the box that was cold to the touch. He shuddered, feeling the cool, smooth metal in the palm of his rough, hot hand.
He pulled the box out, and it was extremely long, he measured it against himself. It must have been up to a meter long, against Natsu who was 1.3 meters in height. Even though the box was bigger than him, he still wanted to take it but he wouldn't be able to with its height.
He opened the box, praying that whatever was in it was smaller than him. But to his surprise when he opened it he found two sheaths and a sword. The sheaths were both as black as night, and one was on the side of a person but was only like a holder.
The sheath that would go at a person side was only half of the sword in size and the other half was cut off meaning the sword would be exposed on the other side. The other sheath was to be put on a person cheat like a cross, one strap going diagonally one way, and the other one the opposite, and held the full sword.
He took off his bag, placing the side sheath inside, and putting the other one on. Then he looked at the sword.
It was black down the middle, and the blackness stretch all the way to the tip of the sword, following its form. The edges of the sword were a silver and red mixture, bu the handle is what caught Natsu attention the most.
The handle and the cross section of the blade were made from black scales, but the cross section seemed to have a dragon's head on it, with jade green eyes. He picked it up, feeling the hefty weight of the sword, he could barely pick it up but it seemed to be the size of a normal sword.
Being a warrior of the third rank, Natsu could pick up anything more than 100kg, but this sword weighed more.
Suddenly the dragon's mouth clapped down on Natsu hand and he yelled in agony. The dragon continued to crush Natsu hand in it unbreakable jaws, whilst Natsu scream in horror, shock, and pain; his face dripping in painful sweat.
He felt the dragon pumped something into his veins, causing him an excruciating pain.
The dragon stopped. Happy, who had been asleep until Natsu's screaming, came to his master, hissing with a rigid back.
"I am apart of you now, child," A rough voice sounded, but he couldn't find a person in sight and they sounded very close, "I am in your head like your beast will be when it can speak with you. I am the dragon of life and death, Dezeus, I was once used by Igneel, the dragon of fire, and now I am bound to you, human, I suggest you do not listen to my next command, or I will consume you. Sleep now, child."
Natsu sheathed the sword, still hearing it's words telling him to sleep. But he refused – he felt like something dangerous would happen if he fell asleep now, he had to be strong and get home.
He began to climb the rock wall, feeling as though it was much easier now. He managed to get to the top quickly, feeling his head getting lighter and lighter, but it still felt like a building had collapsed on him.
"I am testing your spiritual energy, child if you fall asleep now I will take your life energy and kill you." The deep voice chortled, this caused Natsu to become even more headstrong.
He began to run through the forest, a rustling following him, there was a beast almost the same speed as him. With his speed, they would be out of the forest soon and he would be able to see the manor house about an hour after that if he could get the beast to a clearing he wouldn't risk burning down the whole forest down.
He jumped out of the forest, the beast next to him jumping out as well.
"A Vaglur?" Natsu questioned aloud.
A Valgur was a beast that could reach the ninth rank through its years without any need of consuming other beasts cores. It was a dog-like beast, with a large upper body and powerful scratches from its long, sharp, needle-like, claws. It seemed to be just a Valgur of the third rank, so Natsu and the beast would be even in battle.
He pulled out the sword with both of his hands while chanting a short spell. The beast pounced before Natsu had finished, but he was prepared and swung the sword towards the beast, feeling his head become heavy from the need to sleep.
'Do not fall asleep. Dezeus will consume me.'
He finished his spell, and dropping the sword into one hand, he shot out a large fireball with the other, hitting the beast in the face with the ball of flames. The beast winced in pain as its face slowly melted away, and shortly after the beast pounced again.
Natsu wasn't prepared this time and simply raised his sword, the beast plunged onto the sword and stopped moving. Natsu had had a stroke of luck.
He rolled the beast off of him and then sheathed the sword. He ran; he ran so fast and so far that his legs burned and he began to feel out of breath, but his house was in sight.
"Gildarts!" He yelled, screaming for Gildarts as hard as he could. He yelled so hard that his throat burned and his ears burst from the noise.
As he came closer he saw many heads turned towards him, including some white-haired heads. He fell at the feet of the man who treated him as his son, blood dripping from his eyes.
"Only a little bit more, child," Dezeus' voice rang clearly in his head, a slight tinge of sympathy in his voice, "If you stay awake for another minute I shall tell you stories of Igneel, he spoke highly of you before he passed."
"Natsu, what is wrong?" Gildarts spoke, but Natsu could only shake his head in pain from the heaviness of this energy.
Natsu lifted his head, watching as Gildarts picked him up and the people that had been with im looked dumbfounded at what was happening.
"What is happening to Natsu, father?" Cana asked, worried for the boy she called her brother.
"A heavy energy is pushing his spiritual energy."
Natsu passed out...