Author's Note: So, I know this isn't typical of me... I promised myself to release one chappie each week during weekend... Oh man, screw it (told it's rated T just in case xD ). I know this is kinda boring, but it's essential to the story, so please just bear with me. *puppy eyes*
Chapter 3: Light in Darkness
A week later at the guild
This whole past week no one has dared to interrupt Levy in her study of Natsu's mysterious tattoo, but everyone was itching to hear what she found out about it. After all, if they find out how Lucy knew where Igneel is (if he really is there), then they could find some kind of clue to her current location... So it was no surprise that the one who did ask was the boldest member of the guild – Natsu.
"So Levy, you found out anything?"
"Yeah... This tattoo is unlike anything I've ever seen." she rubbed her tired eyes and looked up at Natsu towering above her table. "Where to start... Well it was created by magic, we all have seen that. But unlike other tattoos created by magic, this one is also storing magic of its own instead of becoming a mere ink. That would mean that it's principle is very similar to the guild marks." She glanced down at her own Fairy Tail mark. "I think there is some reason that is so."
Natsu was trying really hard to understand what she meant by that, but the meaning just wouldn't come to him.
Levy sighed. "That means that it has some kind of a function besides it being a written text." Now the fire mage was grinning like an idiot and nodding. She really hoped he understood.
"Now let's go to the text. There are three layers of text in that tattoo. It was really hard to figure that out because each layer is written with the same colour, but once you insert the right amount and kind of magic power into it, you can see the layers perfectly. I'm sure you remember the way it shone when I used fire magic on it... ." Again that grinning nod.
"Each layer consists of one sentence. The first one is 'Water goddess is always waiting for her love, captured she is by the Fire god's wrath.' This one was hard to read because it was written in one of the almost forgotten ancient languages... I'm sure that it is supposed to tell us where we ought to go... There are three persons mentioned: Water goddess, her love and Fire god. So I looked up folk tales of people who used to write in this language and found out that it was commonly used only in three fourths of Fiore. That would be quite a large area to cover so I investigated the tales some more and found something incredibly helpful. Gods in folk tales of these people weren't representations of the elements, but places!" chirped Levy excitedly. Natsu was starting to look as if he was beaten to death by Erza. "All in all, the Water goddess was representation of the biggest river in Fiore – Valeeca. Fire god represented the biggest mountains of volcanic origin – Roisens and lover of water goddess was Air god, who represents nothing else than the highest peak in Fiore – Poage. All of these are in south-western part of Fiore and they meet at five places." Now it was Levy's turn to grin. But when she looked up from the map she was using to show Natsu where they were headed, she found out that he was long since lying on the floor soulless from unexpected amount of information he received.
"What about the other two layers?" asked now hyped up Gray who heard the whole conversation since he was sitting at the table next to hers. Levy paled a bit. "Second is 'Otherworldly stars to the ground fall, grounds up to the skies go.' I really don't like this one. It's weird if you think about it. Apart from the word otherworldly, which could be there just to mislead the reader, there is another disturbing fact - that the ground and skies changed places. It means that the place where we will find Igneel is utterly different from everything we know, so I think it means that we'll have to cross over to another world..." "Like we went to Edolas." said Gray thoughtfully and Levy nodded.
"The third was the easiest one to decipher. 'Life of the light shall watch over you, once you back down darkness will await you.' It could mean that when the tattoo lights up, we are near our destination. The darkness bothers me, but I can't think of anything right now. I also suspect that the light will protect and help us along the way since it says that it will watch over us..." Now everyone at the guild shivered. What kind of world will it be, if it says that they will also need help from a tattoo?
Two hours later when the fire mage woke up, Team Natsu and Team Levy finally decided on a date they would leave Magnolia in search of Igneel and (hopefully) Lucy.