The 4 Human wizards stared at Layla, bracing themselves for the long awaited truth.


"The Dragon King Festival was as a week-long proving stage for Dragons to promote themselves through battle with in their respective Elemental Broods. For example. Fire, Metal, and Wind"

Layla Looked at the 3 slayers as she mentioned their names...

"Your parents, Igneel, Metalicana, and Grandine they are all what we called Royals with in the Dragon hierarchy. They are the Kings and Queen of their respective Elements and under them there is 3 tiers of Dragon Classes that make up their Brood. These were General's, Captain Class, and Soldier Class."

"I knew my Metalicana was special" Gajeel remarked

"Igneel was the King!" Natsu said arguing with Gajeel for some reason to defend Igneel's honor.

"Grandine was a Queen" Wendy gasped

"Wait if there was royalty what does that make a Pillar like You?" Lucy asked almost scared of the answer.

"Empress, I am one half of the apex in Dragon Society..." Layla responded before adding "I was in control of all the Royals under me, effectively I was in charge." Lucy in a flash of vanity started to twinkle with confidence like it was some how her achievement.

"You mention you're half? Does that mean as an Empress you were married to an Emperer?" Wendy asked.

"Married? Ha" Layla scoffed at the idea "No our relationship to each other was nothing like that. The Emporer or more specifically the Dark Dragon Pillar was a Dragon known as Obsidian" Layla gritted her teeth flashing a sign of anger from just the mention of his name.

"As far as you need to know, I ruled one half of the Dragons while Obsidian controlled the other." Layla said to simplify the idea.

"Hey where did my uncle fit in!" Natsu asked excitedly

"Uncle?" Layla responded confused by Natsu's question

"Atlas Flame! My Dragon friend from a few days ago." Natsu said happily clarifying

"Atlas Flame was a Captain in Igneel's Brood, I believe he was the Head Captain who answered directly to Igneel's General." Layla answered

"Good on you Uncle" Natsu happily exclaimed.

Layla gave out a giggle at how innocent Natsu was before continuing.

"The Dragon King Festival" Layla said ensuring she had everyone's undivided attention before proceeding "The Dragon Festival, also had another purpose, it was a proving ground for Adolescent Dragons to make a break into their respective Broods ranks, a right of passage into the Soldier Class"

Layla paused, showing signs of distress knowing what came next.

"The young adolescent Dragons would need to defeat a Human Wizard for their right of passage..."

"WHAT!" the 4 humans yelled.

"What do you mean 'defeat'?" Gajeel said with a raised eyebrow.

"... Kill" Layla said as she started to sob forcing the words "The young Dragon had to prove their superiority to a Magic Touched Human, so they would have to kill them"

"Whats the meaning of this Momma!" Lucy shouted angrily

"Was the Human Wizard a Dragon Slayer?" Natsu asked containing his anger.

Layla wiping the tears from her eyes answered "No... This tradition is what lead to the civil war and ultimately the creation of the Slayers"

The 4 humans calmed down as they listened to Layla's Response.

"The two sides fought over the future for the Humans. My side, which included your parents, wanted to reform the festival structure by vastly improving the power of the humans. To do this I conceived the notion of empowering humans with Dragon Magic creating Dragon Slayers. The idea was that the Humans would survive the festivals and it would also give them a prestigious place with in dragon society for coexistence"

"Wait you created Dragon Slayers?" they exclaimed in shock

"Yes. I created the Core Magic to empower humans with Dragon Magic, I worked with the Kings and Queens of my faction to expand on the template allowing them to each teach their Broods form of Elemental Dragon Slaying Magic. The idea would be that the Human would be more resilient to the Brood in question as well as they could put up a fight using their associated abilities. This would also result in stronger Dragons, it was mutually beneficial and this was my factions goal for the civil war"

"So you and Grandine created Sky Dragon Slayers like me together?" Wendy asked

"That's right Wendy" Layla said with a smile.

"So if that's what you wanted, what about the other guys?" Gajeel bluntly asked.

"The other side... Obsidian's side... wanted no change, to simply continue as it was, he viewed Humans as Insects and believed they existed for his amusement. He would often observe the adolescent Dragon fights for the pleasure of watching the human die."

This added fuel to the fire with the 4 wizards as they each got angry.

"The Dragon Civil War went on for 7 years but it didn't take long for a stalemate to occur, this honestly didn't come as a surprise considering the way Dragon society was structured around balance. Eventually a ceasefire was proposed as the next festival approached."

"Obsidian and his faction agreed to my terms but stipulated that I had to use my Dragon Slayers in the festival to prove their worth. However we were not ready at that time... So I needed to come up with an alternative quickly as this would lead to a resounding victory for my faction; our goals almost achieved."

"It was going to be years before the first slayers were ready there was no way around that, but I couldn't pass up the chance to prove the possibility of the Slayers. My solution was to modify the existing Dragon Slaying Magic creating a potent version that could bypass alot of the prerequisites."

"There was some risk involved and the process would be painful, so I asked for volunteers from sympathetic Humans and their King. They understood that this would improve their way of life and chances of survival, and it was better than having no hope if we failed. The result was the creation of approximately 50 Dragon Slayers using Human volunteers infused with a New Dragon Slayer Lacrima."

"Wait Lacrimas, the Second Generation Slayers like Luxus! Lucy exclaimed

"Dont forget Sting and Rogue the 3rd generation slayers, they have Lacrimas also" Gajeel added.

"Third Generation?" Layla said puzzled.

"We refer to Rogue and Sting from the guild Sabertooth as third generation Slayers. They were raised by Dragons as well as implanted with Lacrima." Wendy said to help clarify.

"When I made the Lacrimas the idea was already something I had already considered for the First Generation Slayers as a right of passage. I had planned to use the Lacrima like a key if you will, to unlock the Dragon Slayers power. So I guess these 'Third Generation Slayers' you are referring to would be considered finished First Generation Slayers. However the humans I met with Lacrima their infusion must have been extremely premature as they all lacked the expected strength"

"Wait, Sting and Rogue are finished First Generation Slayers? Then whats that make us?" Natsu asked seeming pretty upset over the idea

"The Future" Layla said with a smile. "Out of all the Slayers of this time you 3 and Kori are incomplete works in progress, because these other 2 received their Lacrimas prematurely their developement is severely compromised. They may have gained strength from it but now they are effectively capped."

Layla stopped to stare into the eyes of the 3 Dragon Slayers present

"The power you 3 will achieve will surpass Dragons; that is why you are the future."

The Slayers looked at each other Natsu and Gajeel were excited, Wendy however was a little freaked out.

"While we are on the subject of the other Slayers..." Layla pondered

"Do you know the Elements of those two? Sting and Rogue you called them? Better yet the name of the Dragons who raised them?

"Sting said he was Holy or something like that" Natsu responded

"Rogue is Shadow" Gajeel replied

"Hmmm... Skiadrum and Weisslogia are the 2 Kings of those Elements, but they weren't raising Slayers, I guess it was recently... I may need to talk to those Slayers to get in contact with their Dragons! Also to find out why they were given their Lacrimas prematurely" Layla said a little excited at the prospect of regrouping with 2 more of her Royals.

"You can't talk to their Dragons... They said they killed them..." Natsu replied saddened by the subject.

"WHAT!" Layla shouted angrily "Why would they kill them!? Wait a minute how could they kill them...? They lack the power...?"

"That's just what they told us, that their Dragons told them to kill them, to prove their strength as Slayers" Gajeel said

Layla thought about what Gajeel said and the lack of power Sting and Rogue possessed before it dawned on her

"Oh, those idiots! They let themselves die... If they had only held on..." Layla let out a sad sigh.

"Well, of the other 2 Slayers with Lacrima that I met, the Lightening Slayer has potential so I'll help him, However..." Layla frowned before adding "I 'relieved' the Poison Dragon Slayer of his powers, he was unsuitable"

"You removed his powers?!" Wendy exclaimed

"You can do that?" Lucy said surprised

"Yes" As Layla said this she retrieved the Lacrima from her storage space, showing it to the 4 wizards as proof. All of them stared at the Purple Gem in Layla's hand before she added.

"That Man's heart had too much darkness to leave him with Dragon Powers, luckily his mastery of it was extremely poor or he could've done significantly more damage" Layla then placed the Lacrima back into her storage.

Wendy, Gajeel, Lucy, and Natsu all looked at each other as they all thought the same thing (Cobra must be pissed)

"Well moving on" Layla said with a smile dismissing everything "Now where did we leave off in my story"

"You had just made 50 slayers with Lacrima" Gajeel replied, the other 3 stared at him wondering how he remembered...

Layla took a breath knowing that the next part of her story was going to be some of the most difficult to say...

"The 50 newly empowered Dragon Slayers were ready for the festival and things were looking good for us. Despite the Dragon Slayers being much weaker than my desired goal, they were still considerably stronger than regular human wizards so it was a small victory no matter which way you cut it... But... This was when Obsidian made his move..."