A/N: I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does. Italics denote thoughts while quotation denotes speech.
-Ch 4: Clues-
-Location: Magnolia Train Station-
As the 14 mages disembarked the train at Magnolia station, each one prepared to meet the wizards of Fairy Tail. Rize Silfiron looked around the station with an appraising stare.
"It's bigger than Kunibashi station." The wizard remarked. Rize was a well-built man who was somewhere in his early thirties. The long scar that ran down the left side of his face was was a sign of his extensive career. The massive broadsword that he carried on his back only enforced his aura of powerful experience.
"You can say that again," this time it was 15-year-old Hamiro Silverdawn, "this place is huge compared to ours." Hamiro Silverdawn was a talented young sorcerer with spiky black hair and a skull-shaped pendant. The fact that he was about to visit the legendary Fairy Tail guild had him slightly on edge. The other members of the group were prepared for any ambush that Shadowhenge could attempt to spring. The wizards retrieved their luggage and walked toward the station exit.
- Meanwhile -
Mikaeus Bloodthrone, dragonslayer of darkness, was extremely unhappy. He had been robbed of an easy victory by those meddling fools from the Burning Circle guild. Unable to contain himself, the wizard raised his hand and fired a bolt of purple energy at a nearby table, blasting it to splinters.
"Just you wait, Fairy Tail, Just you wait." Mikaeus hissed, "You'll pay for this, dammit." Suddenly, the door behind him burst open. Mikaeus whirled, hands surrounded by a nimbus of black and purple energy. The mage who had opened the door recoiled in terror.
"Master Shadark wishes to talk to you, Mikaeus sir." The wizard quavered. He knew how deadly Mikaeus could be when he was angry.
"Take me to the Master," Mikaeus glowered, "I will speak with him." The dragonslayer followed the messenger out of his room and down the hall to the guildmaster's study. He knocked on the oak wood door.
"Enter." Shadark's deep, hollow voice came from within the study. Mikaeus turned the knob and walked into the room. Shadark sat at an ebony desk, dressed in flowing purple robes. "Sit down." The skeleton intoned and gestured to an empty chair, when Mikaeus was seated, Shadark spoke again. "Your failure to destroy Fairy Tail is most disappointing, Bloodthrone, I had full confidence in your capabilities." Mikaeus felt insulted. Even if he had not destroyed Fairy Tail, he had crippled the guild's power substantially, and done damage to Natsu the Salamander. Shadark's next words hit him like an avalanche. "The Burning Circle guild has deployed a strike team to assist Fairy Tail. You must destroy these mages and prevent them from interfering with us." Mikaeus was stunned; Shadark assumed that the guilds knew where Shadowhenge was located.
"The guilds do not know the location of our guildhall they will not be able to challenge us," Mikaeus spoke up, "another assault would only mean more losses." Shadark stopped, the dragonslayer had a point.
"Then our plans shall continue as they are now, if the wizards from the guilds find us, you will do anything in your power to stop them from hindering our work." Mikaeus nodded,
"It shall be done, master."
-Magnolia-
The 14 Burning Circle wizards approached the Fairy Tail guildhall, surveying the damage that the Shadowhenge guild had inflicted. The doors were broken and a hole had been blasted in the roof. The 14 mages considered the damages "fixable". The group stepped into the hall and was greeted by the Fairy Tail wizards Elfman and Cana. A few words of identification were exchanged, and the wizards entered the guild's headquarters. Rize and Balan wasted no time grilling the mages in the guildhall. Balan stopped dead when he heard the name Mikaeus.
"So Mikaeus Bloodthrone led the attack." he muttered, "He always did specialize in wholesale destruction"
"You know that guy?" Natsu asked, trying to discover the identity of his assailant.
"Yeah, Mikaeus Bloodthrone. Dark dragonslayer, cold-blooded warrior, nicknamed 'The Fiend' because of how nasty he is. Last I heard of him he was in Crocus City, a year and a half ago. He must have gone into hiding. The guy who planned this attack must have been insanely powerful to keep Mikaeus under control."
"You mean that psycho was acting on someone else's orders?" Lucy asked, scared that there was a wizard powerful enough to get the dark maniac to follow commands.
"I'm afraid so," Balan replied, "did he mention and clues as to his whereabouts?"
"Only that he was from the dark guild known as Shadowhenge." Erza answered Balan's question, "He had a tattoo of a black sun on his neck, which must be the guild's mark." Balan turned to one of his companions, Markus Siegfried,
"Markus, do you think you could use your sixth sense to find the Shadowhenge guildhall? Any kind of trace would be sufficient."
Markus, an older man with long black hair, closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were glowing azure blue. The residual thought patterns from the dark wizards were faded, but he could make out the garbled remains of a sentence.
"Must retreat…return…guildhall…need to make it…city outskirts master… failure"
"They said something about returning to a city." Markus reported after the thought had faded away.
"Well that was frikin' useless," Hamiro groaned, "Thanks for nothing."
"Shut your damn mouth! Markus tried his best!" Kayden shouted at his guildmate, "Can't you give him a little credit?" Kayden and Hamiro were always going at each other's throats. They had almost no clues as to the whereabouts of the enemy base and were losing patience. This was shaping up to be a very long quest.
-End of chapter 4-
Author's note: I tried to make this chappy a good one but I finished it at around midnight so please forgive me for any errors. Please review, Shadowrallen =)