Chapter Nine: Undead Screams.
Chrys was the first. She slowly clambered up on top of Apus's back and sat comfortably at the front. To ensure her balance, she grasped onto a small clump of soft feathers. Fudo was next, he leaped up onto the bird in one shot, shooting a puff of magic from his foot to assist him.
"Show off." Chrys glared at the grinning dragon slayer, who was sitting comfortably behind her.
"F-Fudo... I'm scared!" Nova cried, trembling.
"Come on! Just climb to the top, then you can sit behind me!" He leaned over and replied.
To Nova, the height of the climb increased tenfold as she was slowly but surely ascending up the heavenly bird. Fudo reached out his hand and pulled her up the last two steps before she was tightly clutching on to his body, shaking and whimpering.
"Is everyone ready?"
"Yeah." Fudo answered for himself and for the speechless Gun requip mage.
"Fly, Apus!" She commanded. The Spirit spread out it's wings and flapped continously, it's body rocked back and forward making the mages feel slightly nervous (especially Nova) and tighten their grip on whatever was giving them balance. Eventually, Apus was in mid air, soaring a few metres above tree height. First, she would glide, then after seconds, she would flap her wings for more altitude. Fudo and Chrys got used to it soon enough.
Chrys looked forward. She sat, letting the soft wind caress her face and run through her green hair.
"Chrys, your hair's blowing in my face!" Fudo complained.
"Deal with it." She replied, not letting anyone ruin her moment of bliss. She then looked down at the forest that they were rapidly passing over. This is where she first met Fudo. She remembered their first argument and how embarrased she was when she first got off the train after she first saw him. A large smile automatically coated her face.
"Chrys, seriously! I have a green hair in my mouth!" Fudo enforced.
"Fine, I'll sweep it over my shoulder, but that's all I can do!" she spoke in a considerably calmer voice than her first reaction.
"You seem happier all of a sudden. It's not that long 'til we get to the first dark guild."
"Okay. Tell me when we're there so I know where to land. Who is the first dark guild?"
"They're apart of the Baram Alliance, Tartaros' branch. Their name is Undead Screams. The plan is to go in and negotiate nicely with the guild master. If they lie or get aggressive, I need you and Nova to back me up."
"How will you know if they're lying?"
"I can sense when people are lying. It's part of being a dragon slayer." he winked.
For once, Nova was being silent. The only noise coming from her was her teeth chattering. This made the whole expierience better.
"So... Where is it exactly?"
"We need to pass this small town. After that, we'll reach a large valley. We land within that valley and the Undead Screams Guild should be close."
"Okay, looks like that's it over there in the distance... Am I right?"
"Yeah. That's it. Word of warning before we enter. The valley has had a curse on it for about a decade. The only person that knows how to get in and out is the guild master, there'll be a lot of people down there trying to sell us things. We'll just have to ignore them so they don't keep bothering us. Fortunately, we won't be affected by the curse since only the residents of that time had it cast upon them and their future generations. However, the guild master has the power to surpass this spell and has the ability to teleport in and out for food and water."
"What makes you think people like them will know about the demons?"
"The reason to why they were cursed is because of their ability to navigate and hunt. They were scared that the Undead Screams guild were going to find the demons first. I have a feeling that they know were atleast one of them is."
In a matter of minutes, Apus passed over the start of the valley.
"Land!" Chrys commanded. Slowly, the bird of paradise descended lower and lower until it reached land. The untrimmed grass sunk in between it's talons as it spread out it's weight. It then spread out it's wing to act as a platform for the three mages to walk down. One by one, they did what was being signaled to them.
"Thank you, Apus." The celestial mage bowed slightly as the bird teleported back to the celestial world.
"Thank goodness!" Nova cried, "Fudo, I was so scared! Thank you so much for letting me hold on to you for the whole journey! I never want to go on that thing again!"
"You're welcome, Nova. But we're going to have to unless you want to stay in this dump." Fudo replied, looking over the un-looked after landscape, "If I remember corectly, the guild is in the town centre. I can see the town from here, it's not a short distance away." He started striding over to the small, eerie town, that looked as if someone had glued it on to the rough, grassy ladscape that was inside the valley.
"So, Fudo, what's the guild's secret weapon that looks like a big rabbit? You're an S-Class so you should know, shouldn't you?" Chrys questioned, curiously.
"That, I can't tell you. But it's strong." He replied.
"Yeah... The key word in there was 'Secret'." Nova said, walking infront of them both.
"Shut up, Nova. It's not as if you know either. By the way, are all the members of Blue pegasus like Ichiya's team?"
"Not really, but quite alot of them are. Well, all the boys are, apart from me." Fudo answered.
"Hmm... Okay." Chrys replied, half paying attention to the figure that was drawing closer and closer.
"Hey! You! I have weapons for sale!" The man shouted over.
"Not interested!" Fudo shouted back.
"Don't say that, Fudo, he could have a gun somewhere in there!" Nova whispered.
"Nova, Don't. They're thugs. They'll trick you into buying something worthless." He whispered back. But before he could stop her, she was trotting over to the salesman and browsing through merchandise.
"I won't be long!" She winked.
"Well, while she's at it, I may aswell look too." Chrys added, joining Nova.
"Idiots!" Fudo said under his breath, walking over cautiously.
Chrys looked in the trolley, there were guns, swords and arrows. The list was endless, It looked like they were good quality too. Fudo said not to go near salesmen, but the merchandise looked too tempting to resist. Nova had her eye on a pistol worth 5J. But one thing that stood out to the celestial mage were two knifes with magic infused into them, she wasn't sure what type, but curiosity got the better of her.
"I'll take these." She stated, handing over the money.
"What do you think you're doing?" Fudo shouted at her.
"Relax." She said as the salesman handed over the weapon.
"H-Hold on... What guild are you with? Hehe, looks like we have a Legal guild in town. Not just any, but Blue Pegasus!" The three mages got a better look at the salesman. He looked like a zombie. He was so skinny that his cheek bones stuck out like that of a starved person and his pale complexion enhanced the dark cirlces underneath his eyes. His black, greasy hair reached down to his bony elbows and when he smiled, his teeth were like sweetcorn.
"I'm part of the local guild, and we don't take kindly to goody-guilds like you. I'll be taking those knifes back, thank you!" He said in a voice that made him sound as if he'd been smoking for the last 200 years. He reached out his skeleton hands to snatch the newly bought knifes off Chrys. Just before he could grab them, she hid them behind her back.
"Give me them!" He cried, positioning himself into an attacking stance.
"You Idiots! I told you to stay away from him, he used magic to make you buy those, Chrys, now you've just brought attention to us." Fudo snarled as he also prepared for a spell.
The salesman reached into his trolley and pulled out an axe.
"I'll get you for this!" He shouted, swinging it in Chrys's direction. She leaped out of the way, causing the salesman to fall off balance and and hit his trolley. His face turned from bad to worse as he growled in fury at the three disruptive mages.
"I'm going... To kill you!" He shouted.
"Way to go, guys." Fudo exclamed, "Cosmic dragon, Star attack!" he waved his arm horizontally from one side of his body to another, making white, star-shaped fragments go shooting towards the unaware weapon salesman. He tried to block using the blade of his axe, but there were to many of them to avoid. The more attacks landed, the more the salesman got pushed back from his original position.
"Requip, Machine gun!" Nova shouted as a large gun materialized in her arms. She loaded it with extra bullets from her belt and started firing. The bullets had the same effect as the stars, that eventually knocked him over. It was his turn to attack now.
"Axe magic, blade rush!" He Chanted. His blade suddenly increased to a condsiderably bigger size and shone a tone of red. It looked strange for such a small guy to be holding such a large weapon. He was standing up slowly, barely managing to carry such a heavy object. Chrys saw this as an opportunity for her attack.
"Open, Gate of the huntsman, Orien!" She pulled out a shiny silver key and twisted it. The faint sound of a door bell could be heard as a magic circle appeared and a tall man in a green laderhosen stepped out holding an old fashioned gun. In his Rucksack, he had many more weapons such as a bow and arrow, and a cross bow.
"What'cha want me to do today, little lady?" He asked in a strong American accent, fixing his large, brown belt.
"Kill him!" His master yelled in panic, as the zombie-like salesman stood up, ready to strike.
"I'm on it." He said, wriggling his eyebrows. He stood infront of Chrys, his ginger hair waved in the little wind that was passing over the lip of the valley. He loaded his gun and started firing large bullets toward the enemy, who was now throwing himself forward, the heavy axe grew bigger and bigger the more he charged. Droplets of blood formed on his limbs from were the previous attacks hit him, but it didn't stop him from swinging the massive blade across, hitting one mage after the other. The three piled together on one side of it, each feeling the sting of metal sinking into their skin. They all let out a blood curling shout as they hit the floor. Nova and Chrys lay down, holding their sides. The only one that stood up was Fudo. He looked down at the two girls and the de-materializing spirit.
"You've really pissed me off." Fudo growled, his eyes narrowing and his pointed teeth on show. "Cosmic dragon, Wing attack!" He chanted, running ruthlessly along the dying grass and towards the axeman, arms out spread. A pink aura envelpoed itself around them and took the form of wings.
"Take this!" He shouted as he slashed the weapon salesman and knocked him down to the floor. He wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. "Hey, are you all okay?" The cosmic dragon dashed over to the wounded and knelt down.
"I'm f-fine..." Chrys said, standing up slowly.
"Same here..." Nova added, joining her.
"Why did you do that? I told you not too!" He scolded once he realized they were fine. "He was using magic to make you want to buy the weapons! Obviously, you just can't ressist temptation!"
"I'm sorry, Fudo! I'm not smart enough to realize these things!" Nova cried.
"Oh... So that's why I bought those random knifes..." Chrys said, surprised she was fooled, "Nova... What're you doing?" She then said, looking over to find the Requip mage raking through the trolley and picking up any available guns.
"You've got to take while the taking's good! Besides, he won't notice!" She said smuggly, taking yet another gun from out of the kart.
"Stop it, Nova. Remember, we're here to negociate with the guild, not to annoy them." Fudo sighed.
"Okay. Fine." She droned, walking back over to the rest of her team mates.
The team advanced over the rough terrain and finnaly reached the town in the middle. The guild hall was the biggest building in the place so they could tell where it was straight away. The town was a dump. It was dry as a bone and infested with sales people. It appeared that was the only way to make money around here. The houses were merely build from wood and stones. The luckier ones had slight fills of concrete. But that was all. Chrys couldn't help but feel sorry for them as they they passed through on their way to the massive building. It looked nothing like that of Blue Pegasus's, the walls were made entirely of stone and concrete and had a thatched roof. The guild mark of an outline of a tombstone with an arrow pointing through it hung on a flag pole near the small wooden door at the front from which they entered. The interior didn't look much better. The only things in the room were two tables and their baran request board. Most of the members sat on the floor. They all looked up when the three mages walked in.
"Excuse me, we would like to speak to your master." Fudo said. Hiding his guild mark.
"Why?" the creaky voice of the man sitting on one of the two tables asked.
"It's private." He replied calmly. Each member looked almost exactly the same as the one from before.
"Hmmm, okay. Come this way." He lifted up a bony hand and bekoned him into a small room at the back. Chrys and Nova started to follow. "No! One person at a time!" he shouted at them.
"Okay. I guess we'll stay in here until you're finished..." Nova gulped, looking at all the intimidating faces of the Undead Screams guild.
Fudo entered the door at the back. It looked small enough to be a toilet.
"What do you want?" A tall figure asked from the corner. He looked completely different from the zombie-like guild members, he looked younger and had short, black, spiky hair. Fudo guessed this was the master. The creaking of the wooden door shutting could be heard from behind him.
"I came here looking for information on the four object demons of Zeref." He stated.
"If I knew anything, why would I tell you?" The master replied.
"Me and my team are locating and defeating them."
"It's about time. What guild are you with?"
"I need to keep that confidental."
"Tell me what guild you're with."
"Tell me the information."
"All the information is in this book." The master of the undead screams held up a large, hardback information book named 'The book of Zeref'." Tell me which guild you're with, so I can pass jugement on you.
"Okay. I'm with a legal guild. That's all I can say."
"Torrent of wind." He chanted. A gust of wind came flying from the palms of his hands and blew of Fudo's black coat.
"Ah, Blue Pegasus. In that case, I'll hand you this book. That is only because of our town's curse that is not letting them leave. We would have all the power in the world if they hadn't taken away their freedom."
"I'll take it." Fudo said, amazed by their cooperation.
"On one condition. You don't tell a soul. If you do, I'll hunt your guild down and kill you."
"I can agree to that." he said, shaking the most healthy-looking hand he'd seen all day.
"Let's go!" he called out to Nova and Chrys, who were standing in the hall awkuardly as the guild members stared at what people from the outside looked like. They happily followed him outsideand into the centre of town.
"Open, gate of the bird of paradise, Apus!" Chrys called, clutching a winged, silver key and twisting it. Out flew Apus, ready to take them wherever they needed to go next.