Yoru glided down, landing on the cliffside, next to a larger Night dragon. "Hello, old friend."
"Yoru! What brings you here?" the large Night King, Sutaraika, looked down at the Night Seer. His midnight blue scales allowed him to blend into the darkness, but he was easy to spot with Yoru's night vision.
"I have news to bring. Terrible.. terrible news.." Yoru admitted. "I see devastating things ahead.."
Sutaraika narrowed his eyes. It wasn't often that Yoru sounded so despondent over a premonition. "What is it that you saw?"
"In exactly eight days time… a human wearing dragon scales will arrive on the shores of Verasil. He comes with hatred in his heart. He comes with the intent to kill every dragon here," Yoru explained. There was a faraway look in his eyes.
"A human wearing dragon scales? What in the Moon's Great Light do you mean by that?" Sutaraika asked. Humans didn't come even remotely close to matching the sheer, raw power that dragons wielded. How could one make an armor of dragon scales?
"The dragons of Ishgar have found a way to enchant their magic into humans, with volatile consequences," Yoru narrowed his golden eyes. "His magic cursed his body, turning him into a dragon."
Ah, so that's what Yoru had meant. This human didn't kill a dragon to make armor, he became one. He supposed it was necessary, considering the wars that humans had to fight daily with dragons, but even still, it was such a surreal concept to Sutaraika. "Humans wielding dragon magic.. What has this world come to..?"
Yoru smirked slightly, then his expression turned somber again, "It can't be helped now. This dragon-human will arrive on the same day the ritual will be held. If he arrives, then it will fail, for he will kill every Seer casting the spell."
"You cannot perform it sooner?"
"It'll take three more days to finish the construction of the Gate, then we'll need a day to rest, and the final days will be spent preparing the spell. It must be perfect enough to last for hundreds of years. We cannot afford to rush it," Yoru explained. "Nothing like this had been done before. The only reason we know it will succeed is because of our magic. We are able to see what all we have to do in order to ensure its success."
Yoru then lifted his head, "I have a terrible thing I need to ask of you, and I apologize. You must be the one to hold off this dragon-human. If you do not, he will undoubtedly reach the Gate. You are the only dragon I trust to be strong enough to hold him off."
"You foresaw this fight, I assume. Who wins?" Sutaraika tilted his head. Considering Yoru considered the favor terrible didn't sit well with him, but it never hurt to ask.
Yoru didn't answer, which gave the King all the information he needed.
"I see... Nobody else can hold this dragon-human off?"
"Yes, but no matter what, he'll slay every dragon here. None will survive.."
"Then what point is there? A King must be able to protect his people," Sutaraika asked. He prided himself in being able to keep his dragons safe. Not even just the Night dragons, but any dragon that resided in Verasil.
"The dragons may fall, but we will fall whilst securing a brighter future for the humans we have befriended long ago," Yoru explained.
Sutaraika went quiet for a long moment, closing his eyes. After a long few moments, he finally said, "I'll do it."
"You sure changed your mind quickly."
"A King protects his people. I may fail to save the dragons, but I will not fail the humans," Sutaraika stated. "Besides, this dragon-human will kill all of us anyway, regardless of whether I intervene or not. If our kind's fate is inevitable, then I will go down fighting. I will not allow humanity to die along with us if I can avoid it."
"You are a noble King old friend. Your sacrifice will not be in vain. I promise."
xXxOxXx
"Your sacrifice will not be in vain. I promise."
"The things you talk me into.." Sutaraika murmured, looking up at the sky as dark wings flew closer.
He refused to fear those wings. He refused to give this murderer that satisfaction.
xXxOxXx
"Hmm," Makarov looked over the newcomers, examining them, before finally saying, "Hello there. You must be the ones Erza told me about."
"Indeed, sir. We came looking for some very important people. Dragon Slayers," Yami explained.
"Yes, yes. She already shared those details with me. You're the one named Yami, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"What is it that you need them for?"
"Well…" she held up a projection lacrima, "We hail from a kingdom named Verasil."
"Verasil? The Kingdom of Dragonsong?" Levy asked, surprising Yami and even Lucy, "Wait, Levy, you know this place?" the latter asked.
"Yeah! It has such an interesting history!" Levy exclaimed, "It was one of the few kingdoms out there that coexisted with dragons!"
"Verasil was the only kingdom that actually held a successful coexistence," Yami explained. "Others like Dragnof fell when their dragons allowed toxic beliefs to take root, causing them to turn against their human friends. And Montes Secreta was attacked by the very same dragons who had sworn to protect it. It is still unknown what caused the drastic change in demeanor."
"Verasil was different, but only by sheer luck," Percy admitted. "We could've easily suffered the same fates as the others, but we prospered. We became the Kingdom of Dragonsong, a title we still hold with pride today, even if we no longer have the dragons with us.."
"Dragonsong, eh?" Gajeel asked, crossing his arms, "Well, I like the sound of that, personally. I happen to know a thing or two about music myself."
"You are one of the Dragon Slayers, correct?" Y'Shirin asked.
"Yep. You're looking at Black Steel Gajeel, the Iron Dragon!" he boasted proudly. Y'Shirin nodded, "Then it makes sense. Dragons are- erm.. were.. musical creatures by nature."
"Really?" Wendy asked, invested by this new knowledge.
Y'Shirin nodded, "Yep! However, moving on.. We're looking for Dragon Slayers because their magic is the only thing that can open Dragon's Gate," he explained, then gently elbowed Yami.
She held up the lacrima, using it to project an image of nine orbs surrounding a large door with an image of a dragon engraved in it. "This is the Gate, and these are the locks keeping it shut. We were told seven of the… keys... were here in Ishgar."
"You'd be right. I can name the smaller seven off the top of my head," Max examined it, "But I honestly couldn't tell you the last two."
"We can't either," Percy said, grinning as if it wasn't a big deal, "But we have a hunch that they're in Verasil."
"Could you point us to the Dragon Slayers here?" Kiku asked.
"Well that part's easy," Lucy said, "You've already met Natsu and Wendy, and Gajeel just introduced himself."
"And then you have Laxus over here!" Evergreen bragged, "He's probably the only one you really need, honestly."
"Four of seven in this one room?" Yami asked incredulously, looking shocked. The other three looked equally as perplexed, having been completely blindsided by this new information.
"Well! That was certainly easy! I had thought finding them would be the hard part, but this was easier than just getting here!" Percy commented, having gotten over his shock faster than the rest.
"Are you able to locate the last three?" Y'Shirin asked.
"Yeah. Sting and Rogue of Sabertooth, and then Erik of Crime Sorciere. We'll contact them, but I can't promise they'll be willing to come down," Erza said.
Yami looked troubled by that, but Erza could swear she saw something akin to relief in her eyes, "Surely we could persuade them? This is important. There's something in that Gate that must be powerful if someone needs Lost Magic to open it."
"So powerful magic, right?" Natsu asked eagerly. "You can count me in!"
"Well, we're not sure what's in the Gate. All we know is that the person.. or people.. who locked it don't want just anybody getting into it," Y'Shirin explained. "It could be magic, sure, but it could also be something else."
"So you want me to send my children out into a Kingdom across the sea for something that you don't even know yourself?" Makarov asked. Yami slowly nodded, "I apologize for the inconvenience, and I can understand the distrust, but this was a request by our King. He's hopeful that whatever is inside the Gate could help our Kingdom continue to prosper."
She then bowed, "And I can safely assure you, they won't be in danger, if that's what you're afraid of," she assured.
"And we're fully capable of taking care of ourselves, Gramps," Laxus stated. Freed, who was standing by Laxus's side, nodded fervently, "Indeed! And nobody said that they had to go alone. With the Thunder Legion there, nothing will be able to harm them!"
Evergreen giggled behind her fan, "As if anything can take on the Thunder Legion."
"Yeah! I don't doubt that we'll be able to handle it!" Bickslow exclaimed.
"Yeah! And the rest of us would love to see this Kingdom!" Lucy exclaimed. "I bet they have beautiful stories!" she swooned.
"Stories, we have plenty of! Songs, pictures, books, you name it!" Percy agreed. "We even have a massive mosaic in the midst of the Kingdom that shows off a very big part of our history."
"Indeed, but it's our songs that we are truly proud of," Yami said. "That's why it's called the Kingdom of Dragonsong. Back when the dragons were still…. around, they created such beautiful songs with humans. Most of which we still sing to this day."
"Wait, the dragons could actually sing?" Gray asked. Yami nodded, "Of course! Dragons had the most beautiful voices! Or… so we've been told…"
Lucy decided not to comment on Yami's hesitation. "Will you guys have a ship big enough to carry everybody?" she asked. "I'm sure if we can convince the other three to come, their friends will want to come too."
"We won't be going by boat," Yami said, then grinned, "We'll be traveling by airship."
"Airship?! Like Christina?" Lucy asked, effectively confusing Yami. She quickly added, "Christina is the name of the Blue Pegasus airship."
"Then.. yes.. It is like that," Yami said, a bit awkwardly. "Can we get into contact with the other Slayers?"
"We can contact Sting and Rogue easily… Erza, can you contact Jellal?" Lucy asked, turning to the redhead.
"I can try, but I'm not sure he'll answer. He might be busy.."
"Is there any way to talk to these guys in person?" Y'Shirin asked. Erza paused to think about it, then said, "If possible, we can request that they come to speak with you. Until then, it's probably best that you wait in the Magnolia Inn for now," Erza said. Upon seeing Yami's concerned expression, she assured, "It shouldn't be long. Don't worry."
"Alright.. Contact us when the others arrive," Yami said, turning to leave.
"Let's go sightseeing! I always wanted to visit Fiore!" Percy exclaimed. Yami sighed, "Alright. But try to stay out of trouble, Percival."
"I always do! You should be saying that to Y'Shirin!"
"Okay, come here!" Y'Shirin wrapped his arm around Percy's neck.
Kiku cackled as Yami got between the two of them, "Down boys! Not in the Guildhall!"
Lucy giggled as she watched them leave. If she didn't know better, she would assume they were a part of the Guild themselves.
She sat down, wondering what the near future had in store.
xXxOxXx
Sting didn't get nervous.
He was the White Dragon of the Twin Dragons, as well as the Guildmaster of Sabertooth. He took on Acnologia with the other six Slayers and they came out of that fight alive and mostly intact.
But there was something about this request from Fairy Tail that left him on edge. Four people from a land called Verasil walked into their Guild and just demanded to see Dragon Slayers? He remembered something about a gate, but what gate existed that couldn't be opened by anything other than Dragon Slayer magic? Why did these people need all seven of them? It just didn't make sense to him. His main concern was just what waited behind that gate. If it was anything like the Eclipse Gate, then Sting thought it was better left closed.
Sting ran his hands down his face tiredly as he listened to Jellal and Rogue talk over the lacrima. "I don't know how I feel about all of you going across the sea to some Kingdom I'm just now hearing about to open a gate that I'm also just now hearing about," the bluenette explained. "We don't even know what's behind it. Erza said they didn't know, but I don't know how much I trust them."
"We won't be alone. These people said there was nothing wrong with everyone else joining us for the sake of safety. It's the vagueness that I personally don't like," Rogue said. "A gate focusing on dragon-related stuff? Sounds too much like the Eclipse Gate for my liking. What if we summon more dragons into the world that we're forced to fight again?"
"Hopefully, that won't be the case.."
"Eh, if it happens again, we're stronger this time! We can fight some dragons! We fought Acnologia!" Sting stated proudly.
"Natsu beat him," Rogue reminded, sounding bitter, "After he thoroughly beat the rest of us silly."
"Yeah, but you all survived!" Lector exclaimed, "And you grew stronger since the Eclipse Gate incident! That's what matters, right?"
"Fro thinks so too!" Frosch said happily.
"Dragons are still very powerful creatures," Rogue reminded. "If we open this gate, and it ends up releasing dragons, who's to say it won't be worse than last time? And as far as we know, this isn't a time-related gate like Eclipse was. We wouldn't be able to send them back just by destroying it."
Sting could've sworn he saw Rogue's eyes dull slightly. He remembered the Eclipse incident far more vividly than the others did, and Sting couldn't blame him. Afterall, the main instigator of all that destruction was Rogue's future counterpart. Sting was certain he'd feel the same way if that future Dragon Slayer had been his own counterpart.
He couldn't blame Rogue for not trusting it.
But at the same time, there was something about this whole mess that made him pause. Something tugging at the back of his mind telling him that no matter what, this needed to happen.
"What does Cobra think?" Sting asked.
"I haven't asked him yet. He's currently out with the others right now," Jellal admitted. "I plan to as soon as they come back."
"I say.. I say we agree to it.." Sting said, after a moment of uncertainty. "We've faced worse situations before, right? If everyone in Fairy Tail is on board with it, we should be too! I'm not letting them go alone in this."
"Yeah," Rogue nodded, "I feel better with them around."
"Fro thinks so too!" Frosch happily agreed.
"Yeah! Whatever happens will happen whether we're there or not, right?" Lector asked, "And if we're there, that's just a higher chance of us winning when we take on whatever's there!"
"If you guys are so certain," Jellal said. "I'll go discuss this with the others once they get back. I really hope you know what you're doing. Take care," he finished, before turning off communications.
"Yeah.." Sting nodded.
He really hoped he knew what he was doing too.