A/N: Holly Crap! I wrote a ton! I hope that you all like this. It is the book and setting up for the main conflict. Though, there is still a long way to go. I would just like to say that I did not write out the entire book that she read. I paraphrased the important bits because no one wants to read a real novel in a chapter. And I'm too Lazy to actually write that much. Thank you too all that reviewed. I don't think that we need a poll seeing as there was an overwhelming response of NaLu. Sorry Dyeni, you were completely outvoted. If anything is confusing, please just ask and I will try and explain it. And I do love reviews!

I do not own Fairy Tail!

Chapter Seven: Spells, Legends, and Origins

"Lu-chan?" Levy called for what had to have been the hundredth time that day. She had gone looking for her friend during the party only to notice that she had her nose completely shoved into a book. And here Levy had once thought that she was the only one who could get so immersed into a book that she didn't notice anything else that happened around her. Avery dangerous habit that had become safer due to a certain Iron Dragon Slayer that was now there to guard her.

Curious, Levy took a seat next to Lucy and started to read over her shoulder. Only, for whatever reason, she was unable to tell what was actually written. From what she could tell, it not only was written in a language that she was not familiar with, but it also seemed to be written in some kind of code.

Watching, she saw Lucy gasp, and then suddenly she started to flip through the pages as if she had on her gale force reading glasses. The fact that the book was glowing as well, told levy that something having to do with magic was going on. And she wanted to know what.

The Thirteen Golden Keys of the Ecliptic Zodiac

Within these pages lie the recorded history of the thirteen keys along with the spells and techniques that the holder of all thirteen may learn to use. Only the one in possession of all thirteen keys and with corresponding contracts may read what is written in these pages.

The first section of this book tells of the forging of the keys. The second tells the ongoing history of the keys and their single holder. And the final section will describe the spells and techniques that the one with the thirteen keys can master.

Section 1: The Keys Forged

In a time before the dragons descended on Earthland, there was a civil dispute going on in the celestial ream. The stars that had long lived peacefully in the skies had begun to turn on each other. Order had been long lost as the current King of the realm had dimmed past the point of no return.

Right there is the first lesson of Celestial Beings; all stars will eventually fade away. After millions of years, the first star to claim the realm had passed on. And he left the Celestial world in the hands of his two sons. Without a structure of laws, each brother took a stand and saw that they would have to fight to see which got to govern over the realm they had grown up in.

The eldest thought that they could come to an agreement, he and his twelve generals stood tall and tried to establish peace within the realm of the stars. His younger brother thought that it was unfair that he had to back off and watch as his brother gained loyalty among the stars.

He had his top general go against the elder brother's twelve. But during the battle, the general was torn due to the strong bonds between the twelve and the elder brother. Knowing that he would never find bonds like that working for the youngest, he switched sides, becoming the thirteenth general of the elder brother.

It wasn't long after the betrayal that the younger of the brothers left the realm of the stars to come down to Earthland in order to try his luck becoming the king over the humans. In his mind, such pathetic life forms that could only live for a century needed to be governed by something stronger. Something that would last for what he believed to be eternity.

He cut his ties from the celestial realm in order to forgo the pain of fading from existence due to the separation. He was powerful enough to replenish his large magic stores with the energy and radiation that the stars sent towards the globe that he had claimed as his own. He and his followers, known as fallen stars, began to try and take over the human world.

Knowing that his younger brother was up to something, the newly appointed Celestial Spirit King started to plan on ways to stop his conniving plans. Unfortunately, the stars could not stay on Earthland long without severing their ties with the spirit world. That was something that they were not willing to risk.

They found their answer in the guise of a simple blacksmith. The king descended and spoke with him. In exchange for knowledge and magic power, the blacksmith would create keys for the thirteen generals and a few of the other spirits. However, even with the immense power that the king possessed, he himself could not have his own key forged. It would be too risky for those who sought only to gain power. So he created a system of bonds and trust that ensured the spirits under contract of a key still had their own freedoms.

And thus, the keys of the celestial spirits were forged and the contract system was founded in order save Earthland from the greed of a fallen star.

Section 2: The Ongoing History of the Thirteen Keys

So far there have been only six holders of all thirteen of the ecliptic zodiac keys. And it seems that each time they have been collected, the thirteen are required to do something in order to save the world of humans.

Everett Smith was the first Celestial Spirit Mage, and he was also the one who forged the eighty-eight keys. He made the first contracts; those not based so much on trust, but on necessity. It was a time where the fallen stars were wreaking havoc among the human world, and the celestial spirits felt that it was their responsibility to straighten out the mess that the King's brother had created.

Working together, he learned all there was to know about celestial magic and he could open many gates at a time. When the time was right, they ascended towards the fallen star.

It was an intense battle. But it ended in the entrapment of the fallen prince of the stars. They could not defeat him, nor could they reason with him, so they sealed him in a prison so that he could no longer mess with the world that belonged to the humans. In doing so, they also sealed away the other fallen stars that had become his inner circle.

This done, Everett took on a pupil by the name of Azaiah. He taught the young boy all he needed to know of the keys and stressed the importance of the magic's survival.

Once his training was complete, Azaiah was given the full set of keys and was told to leave his mark on the world. Working with the spirits he helped to rebuild what was lost in the wars. He was known very well for his kindness and for all of the help that he would give to others. He was not known much for his work on the battle field, but he didn't need to be. There was a tenuous peace in his time, and he had done everything in his power to try and strengthen that peace so that it would last. Even then he was not nearly as magically skilled as his predecessor anyway.

As his life began to fade, he took on twenty-six apprentices. When it was time to pass the keys, he separated them in order to give all of his pupils the spirits he felt they would get along with the best as well as take the best care of. He knew that if the evil was ever to break free of its seal, there needed to be more than one Celestial Spirit Mage at a time so that the magic never was forgotten or lost. If it was lost at a time of great need, the man knew that Eathland would not survive the fallen stars.

As the keys spread, and more humans learned the art of summoning spirits, the thirteen golden keys were not fully reunited. As they aged, the personalities of the stars also seemed to change somewhat. The kindness that they had found in their first few masters was not present all the time. And so both the keys and the King took precautions in order to ensure their safety. Also, more of the lesser keys were forged so that others of that constellation could be summoned to the human world.

After hundreds of years, the keys finally found their way to the newest key holder. Her name was Astrid Constantia, and her time was one of great need. Four of the five fallen stars had broken from their seals. Astrid was tasked with the responsibility of making sure that the fifth seal remained unbroken so that the leader of the fallen stars would not reawaken.

She was not a young woman when she first held all thirteen keys. Her magic could only go part of the way. She managed to reseal three of the fallen, but when she was on her last battle, she was also on her last legs of life.

Knowing the end was near, she entrusted the task to her only son. His name was Jonah Constantia. He was not strong enough at the time to do any real damage, but he asked the help of the zodiac to train him. It was the first that a human had asked the keys for guidance, and it was a gesture that strengthened the bonds between the keys and their holder. That was a lesson that he learned during his training, the stronger the bonds between spirit and human, the stronger the celestial spirit can be on the human plain.

When the time finally came, Jonah and the thirteen ecliptic zodiac worked together and were able to seal the last of the fallen once again. He also made sure to strengthen the existing seals so that it would be even harder for the former stellar spirits to escape again. But there was always the knowledge that the seals would not last forever. Nothing ever does.

Once again the keys were scattered after his death. Having no successor, and not being defeated in battle, the keys themselves separated and hoped that when the time was right, someone would pick up their keys and they would once again be reunited.

Thousands of years passed before they were reunited. They were passed from and to hand, never quite becoming a full set. Until finally they reached the hands of Isadora Garthwater. Isadora was just a little girl at the time. She didn't mean to collect the thirteen keys, but as fate would happen, they were given to her right before they were actually needed.

She trained with the keys, not knowing much about magic at the start. But all of her keys could tell that she had great potential. Within a few years, she had mastered most of what they could teach her, and she could summon the entire ecliptic zodiac at once. It was feat that had not truly been mastered since the keys were fist forged by Everett.

Fate had given her the power, and they keys just at the right time. All five of the fallen stars had found their way out of their seals. And they were now so much a part of this world that they renounced their celestial identities and had created new ones.

The four that served what used to be the prince of the celestial realm were named Ezekiel, Ambrosia, Lazarus, and Sophronia. Finally, the most powerful of the fallen stars, had given himself the name of Mordachi. Together they formed the five fallen stars, and together, they began to reap destruction on Earthland. They wanted to eliminate any chance that the stars and humans had at resealing them again. They wanted to rule over the humans with a fist of iron.

Isadora was told of their reawakening. She knew that she had to act quickly. But the army at the time would not believe that such a little girl could hold the key to seal away the evil that had descended upon them.

And so, with the help of the spirits she had under contract, the girl moved in the guise of a solder. She dressed as they dressed and acted how they did No one noticed who she was as she slowly used the army to get to the place where she could seal the fallen stars. As they were stationed to become the front line of defense, Isadora slipped out during the night to seal away the evil. She as a very stubborn girl and she would not wait for the platoon she was in to go forth the next day. In her mind that would risk too many lives that could otherwise be saved.

She managed to catch the fallen stars unaware and she quickly began to fight alongside the zodiac in order to defeat them.

The zodiac was not prepared. They did not know that over the years of being sealed away, the five fallen stars had gained immense power somehow. The keys didn't think at the time that while they were under seal, they had been gaining power instead of staying at the same level that they were at before.

The battle lasted all night, and in the end, she was only just able to seal them back into their prisons. Only this time, she made sure to imprison them in a way that t would be impossible for the light of the sun or the stars to shine on them. She hoped that this way, the seals would last long enough to weaken the fallen stars as much as possible.

She scattered her keys then. Before she died, she made sure that the keys were hidden in a way that only a worthy mage would be able to use them. Over time, some of the keys fell into the myths and legends of the land. With no one to witness her fight, it was never recorded in the history books. Some keys were sealed, and others were hidden.

Eventually, as time went on, the spirits began to be treated more like tools and less like partners. The pride of the Celestial Spirit Mage was dying out. And so was the magic. There are significantly less of these mages now than what there have been in past years. It is no wonder that the keys are being put into one hand again.

Only in recent years have some been found. Finally, after almost a thousand years, all thirteen of the keys have found their way into the hands of Lucy Heartfilia. Her history is still unfolding.

Section 3: Spells and Techniques

There are five Techniques that a Celestial Spirit Mage can use.

The fist is just the simple summoning of the spirit. Focusing their magic, the mage becomes a vessel that is used to open a pathway to the spirit world so that the spirit can appear in Earthland. This is the type of magic that most Celestial Mages use in order to perform magic. It is widely known and implemented.

After summoning a spirit, the spirit then uses the key holder's magic in order to fuel their own attacks. Though this form of magic is widely considered to be weak, it actually takes a great deal of magical energy to summon a spirit, and for each minute that the spirit is in Earthland, the magical drain only increases.

Multiple summons at a time is a very difficult thing to master. Depending on the strength of the spirit, I can double or even triple the amount of magical energy that is consumed. If not done properly, or attempted without the magical energy that is required, this could mean a complete drain on the mage's power supplies which can lead to death.

In order to expand their magic, and to prepare themselves for calling out multiple spirits at a time, a Celestial Spirit Mage must continuously work with their spirits and work on enlarging their magical container through mediation.

The second technique that can be used is a partial summoning. In using this technique, the user is able to save magical energy while still gaining power from their spirit. This method uses an incantation to create a vessel out of the Celestial Spirit Mage in order to channel certain powers into their own bodies so that they can use them. This is a less known technique that requires complete trust from both the spirit and the mage in question.

While working in the technique, the mage will say the partial incantation that the spirit gives them. Their outward appearance would then change and they would also be able to use the powers of that the spirit lends them.

An example of this can be described with a mage and the leader of the zodiacs Leo the lion. A pair of orange lion ears would appear on the head of the mage, and their clothes would shift into something that resembles business clothes. For a man that would be a suit, or a woman, the same only more feminine. Also, they would be wearing sunglasses. Then if they wished to, the mage could call upon Regulus and use the light magic the same way as Leo would.

Only through training with the celestial spirits can a mage perfect this technique, and it is mostly forgotten because of the lack of trust between the spirits and their key holders these days.

The third technique is more of an ability type magic and not a holder. There are a set of three spells that a Celestial Spirit Mage can learn. The most powerful being Urano Metria, and the least powerful being a form of enhancing ones melee fighting that does on have a proper name. These spells have mostly been forgotten through the ages.

The first of the spells that is enhancing ones physical capabilities on the battle field is often referred to as Stella Accessurum. In order to master this style of fighting, the mage must focus their magic and then have it flow through their veins with their blood. It will cause the user to have a slight glow about them. And during a fight, it will add strength and damage to hits, as well as make the body more durable to enemy hits and magical attacks. However helpful this technique is, it is not as powerful as the Regulus that the lion constellation uses.

The second is called Stellam. It is the power of a single star instead of the eighty-eight. Using spell, the Stellar Spirit mage is able to produce a beam of power from their hand that can strike an opponent with the power of a single star. To cast this spell they must simply say the incantation and focus their magic in one of their hands.

Finally, the strongest spell that a Celestial Spirit Mage can learn is Urano Metria. It harnesses the power of the eighty-eight stars and focuses it on a single person. In doing so, that person is usually drained of magic and of the strength to fight. I order to cast the spell, the mage must recite the incantation listed below while feeling the power building both inside of them and outside as the stars manifest.

The incantation is:

Survey the Heavens, Open the Heavens...

All the stars, far and wide...

Show me thy appearance...

With such shine.

Oh Tetrabiblos...

I am the ruler of the stars...

Aspect become complete...

Open thy malevolent gate.

Oh 88 Stars of the heaven...

Shine!

Urano Metria!

The fourth technique that a Stellar Spirit Mage may be able to master is the art of Slaying Stars. This is considered a lost magic due to the fact that only the holder of the thirteen keys is allowed to learn it, and even then it is by chance and choice, and it can take years to learn. Also, it is only by the discretion and experiences of the mage and their spirits on whether they can even begin to learn the art of slaying stars. And even the name has a fault. Even if their title would be a Star Slayer, the magic they learn really only slays Fallen Stars.

So in essence, they would be The Slayer of Fallen Stars, but, for convenience, the one who learns this magic is called a Star Slayer buy the people who inhabit Earthland.

However, how one learns this magic is widely unknown. As it was, only three of the past holders of the keys knew this magic, or had the chance to use it. The legends claim that a Celestial Spirit mage must come face to face with a Fallen Star in battle and survive in order to unlock this power that seems to stem from something within themselves.

After this power is unlocked, the thirteen ecliptic zodiac and the other spirits can help in training with the mage and helping them manage the power that is unlocked. Nothing more is known about this magic.

The fifth and final technique that a Celestial Spirit Mage in possession of at least one golden zodiac key is known as the Forbidden Technique. If the spirit and the mage have complete trust in each other, and have a bond that is next to impossible to break, there is a way that the mage is allowed to summon the Celestial Spirit King. In an act of pure faith in one another, they must break the golden key together. This is a technique that has never before been done, and may never need to be. It is reserved for only dire situations, and even then it must be an emergency among them.

The breaking of a golden key will forever close that path between the celestial world and Earthland. It would be saying goodbye to that spirit forever. For an unbreakable bond, to become separated forever is by far too great a sacrifice up to this point for a mage to go through with this technique.

Lucy finished the book and closed the cover. She still didn't notice that Levy was sitting next to her as she thought over what she had just read. Loke had told her that it could help her in more ways than one, and Draco had agreed with him.

But she also remembered that they told her that she may not realize what the lessons were that she needed to know right then and there. So she shrugged it out of her mind as she accepted that there was probably going to be something later on in her life that she would face and then she would be reminded of what she had read about in the book.

"Lu-chan, what were you reading?" Levy asked as she looked at her friend. Her intelligent eyes peered at her friend in pure curiosity. Never before had the bookworm come across a book that was impossible for her to read. It almost hurt her pride that she couldn't crack the code as she looked over her best friend's shoulder.

"Hmm," Lucy said as she looked to her right and finally noticed that Levy was sitting right there net to her. "Oh, um, it's a top secret book that is only allowed to be read by the one who holds all thirteen golden keys." She answered with a nervous smile on her face.

Levy gasped as she heard what her friend had said. "What was in it?" She asked excitedly.

Lucy looked at her blue haired friend with guilt in her eyes. She knew that she wasn't supposed to tell anyone what she had just read. So she answered truthfully "I'm sorry Levy-chan, but I think that it would go against Celestial law if I told you. Please forgive me." She truly did hate that she couldn't tell her best friend what she had just learned about her magic.

Levy pouted, but she understood where her friend was coming from. There were some books out there that were not meant to be shared with everyone. So she distracted her friend by asking about the book that she was writing. She was still hung up on that cliffhanger that the blond had given her before the incident with the pillar of light.

In the Mountains:

As the thing that had gotten free looked up to the sky, he smiled a smile that was filled with so much malice; one might think that he was trying to take the sky down. It had not been long, but already the rays of the star known as the sun was helping him regain his strength.

He was still sitting there as four figures walked up to him. Each looked so very different from the next, and all seemed to share a paleness that came from being entrapped away from the sun for centuries on end.

The shortest of the four ran up to his sitting frame and exclaimed "Mordachi, finally all of our seals have been broken! We are together again!" Her dark red hair held black highlights as it glinted in the sun. Her eyes were entirely black, without the white of a human's eye. And her cheekbones were highly angled, giving her an even more inhuman look.

"Sophronia, learn your place," The other woman of the group growled. Her hair was the contrast to the other ones, being green and white. But the eyes were the same. Her features were not as angled, but almost rounded.

The men behind them stood straight and without moving, one with a head of long blue hair and the other with one of spiky brown. The blue haired one looked as if he could have come from under a rock where one might find a lizard. His equally black eyes had an oval of green with a slit in the middle that showed his reptilian nature. The other had pointed features, almost as if they were going to stretch out to become a shout of some sort. He also had claws that came from his fingers.

"Her excitement is warranted, to think that we were almost apart for a thousand years. That was the limit of that little mage. It is a shame that she is no longer around. I would have put her in her place." The man named Mordachi said.

Everything about him was pale. He did not share the darkness that the others had, on the contrary, his hair was pure white, and so were his eyes, with the exception of his pupil and the pail outline that was the iris. He was even dressed in white armor. And on the breast plate of his armor was painted a golden crown. The one that he believed was meant to be his and not his brother's. And he had come up with a plan over the years of imprisonment that would give him just that.

"We should descend on the Heartfilia girl before she becomes a problem." The man with the blue hair and green eyes spoke.

"No, Lazarus. I have a better plan for the little Mage. But first she must gain in power. She is no good to me as weak as she is now. I plan on using her." Mordachi said to his second in command with a sadistic lit in his voice.

The man tilted his head before smirking himself. They were all smirking. They knew that if there was a way for the prince to win, this time it would work. This time, it had to work. There would be no more chances after this.

Mordachi laughed at the thought in his head. He was going to be sure to make the little Celestial Mage go through hell and back only to be manipulated into his plan. He would win this! And he would use Lucy Hartfilia to do so.

A/N: Thank you all for reading. Once again, if you have any questions feel free to ask. And please review and tell me how I am doing. I know that I just made up the entire history of the spirit keys and just dumped it on you. But I really like the story that I came up with. Thanks! And if you didn't know, the thirteenth general was Ophiuchus.