A little heavier chapter coming your way which will set the tone for some of the chapters that are coming around the corner during this week. Hope you enjoy and please review to let me know your thoughts!
The four mages were walking up to the doors of White Sea, the pure white hand-carved doors stood in contrast to the darker stained frame and wall and was a welcoming sight. All of them were ready to catch up with friends they had made at this branch of the guild, as well as seeing what Bickslow's guild master brother had been up to lately. Laxus had been trying every way he knew to get Kaleb's digital mission board in Fairy Tail, well, short of begging that it. The piece of tech he'd developed took into account what aspects were needed for the mission, which mage's magic was best suited for it, and reward outcome splitting. It was fucking slick and would make his life a hell of a lot easier than dealing with paper. Laxus had been setting money aside from ever mission so he could just buy the damn thing off Kaleb, but he was set back since they'd been helping clean-up the country.
"Does it seem really quiet?" Evergreen asked as they were strolling through one of the corridors to the main hall. "I mean, it's just we usually can hear something the moment the doors are open."
"She's right. It's eerily quiet for a guild this size," Laxus brought his fists up into a defensive stance as they were nearing the main set of double doors. "All of you behind me. We go in a single file in case there's an issue here. Bickslow in the back so that you can send one of the babies to Arman if necessary." Laxus kicked open the doors after he counted to three and was surprised to see dozens of mages quietly conversing amongst themselves.
"What the hell is going on Dav?" Bickslow asked a light blue haired man to his left.
"Hey Bickslow," Dav instantly smiled at the seith mage. "Welcome back to the sea. Master is up in his office and is . . . " The guild shook before the man could finish his sentence.
"Something bad is going on," a man as large as Laxus walked up to the group of fairies. "Master Kaleb hasn't been this pissed since we learned that the magic council created Face and the demons were activating it."
"Hey Beck. Nice to see you man," Bickslow extended an arm as Beck's hand grasped his elbow, forearms touching, so Bickslow could complete the warrior shake of White Sea mages. Laxus and Freed greeter the beast master mage in the same way while Evergreen and Beck shared a chaste kiss. "Any idea what's going on?"
"No idea," Beck said with a sigh. "We've all just decided to hunker down until it has passed and then I am sure he'll be calling specific mages in to be debriefed, once he's calmed down that is."
"So we should get a drink and food because this could take a while?" Evergreen asked the bi-color eyed man. His blue and gold eyes looked at the fairy mage with a smile on his lips.
"Probably couldn't hurt. You can tell me all about that oaf you're still dating." Beck placed his hand on the small of Evergreen's back as he steered her towards the bar.
"Elfman and I ended things. It was a mutual parting and for the best," Evergreen stated with a small blush high on her cheeks. She'd always had a thing for large beefy men with rippling muscles everywhere and damn it if Beck didn't fit into that category. Beck rarely wore a shirt which left the broad expanse of his chest and defined abs open for viewing. Beck proudly showed his Nutren Clan tattoo which featured the Boscan silver bear from Northern Bosco. He wore looser fitting pants with black combat boots because it was easier to move in, especially when dealing with any animal that roamed the earth. Around his neck was a multicolored necklace that held a symbol for each animal he was able to control. The stones were different colors representing different species of animals, such as blue for a shark, brown for a bear, white for an eagle, and red for a lion.
"I'd be lying if wasn't happy that you are no longer with him," Beck motioned for the barman to come over.
"You two can catch up later," Bickslow ordered a beer for himself. "Any of my siblings around?"
"Xally arrived home this morning, along with Cristoff and Vander. Emzadi left for a mission two days ago and will be gone for a month, Farron is working in Caelum, and Zen returned to the academe." The group sat at a free table with their drinks in hand. "Your father is at home and is eagerly awaiting your arrival, so I'm sure after the issue with Kaleb has been settled you'll all be taking the Thane Express to the estate for supper."
"Mr. Elan's cooking," Bickslow said as his eyes glazed over while imagining all the amazing dishes he could potentially be preparing.
"You're drooling a bit there Bix," Evergreen laughed as he seith mage whipped his mouth with the back of his hand. "So what else is new around here since the Alvarez attack?"
"Not too much honestly," Beck offered with a thoughtful look. "The war was devastating, not so much as Fiore mind you, but we had our fair share of shit hitting the fan. We rebuilt within a couple months but we had major dark guild activity due to smaller guilds banding together. We have demolished the majority of them but there's one that remains at large, Black Lady's Sight. They have flown under the radar, recruiting strong mages and are financed through the black market. Slave trade, animal trade, rare items, assassinations - if they can find money in it they will do it."
"I would deduce that Master's Kaleb's meeting would be information about this particular guild then," Freed stated with a thoughtful look on his face. "I know we can here for a vacation, but should the Master need my assistance I willingly offer it. I can't speak for my teammates though."
"That's greatly appreciated Freed," a masculine voice pierced the unusually quiet guild hall. "Beck. Thunder Legion. Would you please come to my office?" The five mages left their partially finished drinks on the table and walked up the two flights of stairs to the Master's office. The normally pristine office had papers strewn everywhere and one desk that was broken in two right down the middle. Platinum blonde hair loosely hung down his broad back, resting at the top of his well-sculpted ass that was accentuated by white leather pants that clung to every muscle like a second skin. His white leather jacket was undone showing a light purple t-shirt that molded to his chest, but his normally joyful lavender eyes held anger, pain, and sorrow.
"You going to fill us in on why you look like shit?"
"Nice to see you too Laxus. Sorry for the less than warm welcome but we have a rather large situation that was just brought to my attention, so forgive Kaleb's lack of manners." The lunar dragon slayer filled in so that his brother could compose himself a little more. He ran a hand through his black shoulder-length hair letting his shoulders sag a bit.
"If both of you are worried then this must be serious so spit it the fuck out already," the seith mage stated from his position at the back of the team. He didn't like the looks either of his brothers were sporting, which meant something nasty was going down.
"Beck explained that we are having issues with the dark guild Black Lady's sight?" Kaleb inquired receiving head nods confirming what he already knew. "Turns out they have discovered a new way to make money. One that is proving to be discerning on many fronts."
"Vander found them gathering items for some kind of a ritual and stole the list off one of the corpses," Cristoff pulled the list off the corkboard it was pinned too and handed it to Freed. "We can't seem to figure out what the items needed are for, but they are unpleasant, to say the least." The rune mage's eyes were overly large as he started scanning the items on the list.
"Fingerbone of an infant, wings cut from a live bat, pearl stolen from a dead woman's neck. What the fuck kind of twisted shit is this?" Laxus glared at the list, wishing it'd burst into flames.
"We don't know," Kaleb calmly replied. "I'm hoping that Freed would have some insight."
"I'm sorry Master Kaleb, but this is beyond anything I have ever seen," Freed was about to hand the list back to Cristoff when a hand tapped his shoulder.
"Can I take a look," Bickslow asked in a low voice. Freed handed him the piece of paper and watched Bickslow read over the list a half a dozen times, eyes widening when it finally all clicked. "It's a spell to tear a soul from a body. We're not talking about your run of the mill soul either here, nor would we be talking about a nice deity being awakened from this."
"What do you mean Bix?" Evergreen asked with a slight waver in her voice. Bickslow was rarely ever serious but when he was you knew that it was an 'end of the world' situation.
"Seith mages can manipulate souls in bodies, transfer them from a body to an inanimate object then control them to do our bidding. We can trap souls on this plane or help them move on and it never leaves traces of magic on whomever we've touched with our figure eyes," Bickslow began to explain with closed eyes and his arms crossed, a grim look on his face. "Each soul has a unique identifier, generally a color that can easily identify you to any seith mage. The deeper the color the more powerful the mage. There are two colors that are the most coveted by a seith mage, white and gold. Cristoff and Kaleb's souls are the only white ones I have ever seen, their power drawing in from natural sources of light making them incredibly powerful."
"And a gold soul?" Beck asked in the quiet group of mages.
"I have never seen a gold soul in my entire life," Bickslow shook his head slowly. "They are rumored to hold the strongest magic in all the universe and have the ability to bring the dead back to life. The items for the spell is to bring the body of someone back from the underworld and they'll need a dark seith mage to transfer the soul from the living to the dead. If this dark guild has a seith working for them they are probably already extracting souls to sell on the black market. You can implant a soul into a lacrima and if the soul has magic then so does the person receiving it."
"Like the dragon soul in the lacrima implanted in my head," Laxus uttered with awed understanding. "I someone were to kill a dragon slayer or someone with a rare soul color, then they could have the ability to bring Achnologia or Zeref to life again."
"Correct," Bickslow grimly replied. "You have to be born with seith magic, it's not a magic that can be learned. We either have a very new seith mage in this dark guild that's rising or . . ."
"Or we have an older mage that escaped Bosco's seith genocide twenty some years ago," Cristoff's wide eyes glanced at Kaleb's equally wide ones. "Neither of which is good for us. You know we are going to have to tell father at supper tonight, he'll know something is off the moment we all walk into the house."
"He'll need to be told regardless so that he can inform the King," Kaleb sighed, again. "Think you can take us all back to the estate Cris? Thane is doing several other tasks for me and I don't want to disturb him."
"Pft, of course I can."
"Good," the Master of White Sea cracked a small smile. "None of you are part of this guild but your help would be invaluable. You will be compensated for this mission but remember the decision is strictly up to each individual. I will need an answer tomorrow, so if you're in we will meet here at 9 am sharp." Cristoff gathered his powers and moon jumped all of them to the dining room at his father's house.
"You accursed children!" a short balding man yelled from his place on the floor, glare in full effect. "How many times have I told you not to pop in unless you're entering the main hall!"
"Sorry Mr. Elan," Cristoff reached a hand down to their head chef. There was no need to make the man angry or else you'd be deprived of your favorite goodies for as long as he felt you deserved to be punished. Their father allowed it too since they didn't follow the rules, cruel punishment indeed.
"You brats just be grateful that nothing was spilled and that I adore the lot of you," he brushed his hands on his white apron. "Go and wash up. Supper will be finished in ten or so minutes." He pivoted and headed back towards the kitchen, disappearing behind the swinging doors.
"Hey Cris, I have one question," Evergreen began to ask the blue-eyed man, "Where did you receive the information about the souls from?" Cristoff looked towards his brothers and held his hands up in front of his body.
"This one is all you, Master." Kaleb rolled his eyes as he brother bowed out.
"A group of mages took a job tracking down some missing person cases. They stumbled across a soul trading ring within our borders and decided to reach out directly to me before their own master." Kaleb paused there, gauging everyone's reactions so far. "I was on the com with them shortly before the four of you arrived. The information was relayed and there may have been a difference of opinions."
"Which was what?" the fairy mage asked with an eyebrow arched.
"The redhead wanted to go charging into battle and I denied the request. The bluenette was worried about the legalities of trying to fulfill their mission request due to crossing border, which I put her at ease about. And the blonde demanded to be part of the team that was going to take out whoever was responsible for all the death and chaos."
"If we were back in Magnolia I would swear you were talking about Erza, Levy, and Cosplayer." Bickslow started to laugh at the absurdity of that idea. The looks hiks brothers were sharing told him otherwise. "Well fuck."