Chapter 24: Lucy's Dragon
Atlas Flame leads Lucy to a particular spot. "Where are we?" Lucy asks the flame dragon. Atlas Flame turns around to look her way, "I understand that you're a celestial wizard. Are you not?" He assumes instead of an answer. Lucy widens her eyes, but calms down quietly. "Yes I am. Why?" She asks another question. Atlas Flame leads Lucy into a cave. "Being a celestial wizard, you must know all the constellations from the Celestial Spirit World." He starts off. Lucy nods, "Yes, there's the 12 spirits of the Zodiac and the others are the remaining constellations." She tells him. The flame dragon nods back. "True. And you know that there's a dragon constellation." He turns a corner of the cave with his fire to light the way. "Yes, but there's no silver key to unlock its gate." Lucy explains so far.
Atlas Flame comes into the opening within the cave. Lucy gets in front to see what the opening looks like. She gasps at the sight. "What is this?" She looks up in the ceiling. "This here is the Dragon constalletion, Draco." Altas Flame answers casually. In the middle of the room is a pedistal. "And that there, it the key to open its gate." He adds. Lucy walks up to the pedistal carefully, not to demage anything nearby. The key isn't silver like the other keys that open the gates of the constellations, it's pure white like a star itself. The symbol on the key is that of a dragon with its wings in the background. "If there wasn't a key to open his gate, it must've end up here in Draco Orbits." Lucy states the observation. Atlas Flame nods back. "You see Lucy Heartfilia, Draco was the first dragon who came into this world, and naming it after himself." Altas Flame tells to her. Lucy didn't see that coming. "Draco prefer to live here instead of Earthland like the other dragons?" She looks up to the dragon. Atlas Flame nods his head. "You are aware about what happened 400 years ago, the dragon disappearance and all. Draco was the first to notice about the disturbances. So, he looked for a world where dragons could live in harmory without any humans of any kind." Atlas Flame tells her so far.
Lucy nods again. "So did the Celestial Spirit King helped Draco back then?" She asks in a stern expression. Atlas Flame sighs, "The Celestial Spirit King was skeptical about Draco's idea about a world." He explains so far from he knows so far. Lucy looks closely to the sides of the pedistal. It has ancient writings on it. "Why would the King be skeptical?" Lucy looks up to the flame dragon. "I believe those ancient writings have the answer to that." Atlas Flame prefers that writing to give the answer instead of himself.
Lucy looks closely to see the writing in a familiar way. "It's in a language that only celestial wizards are able to read. I believe that you can read it as easily as in plain sight." The dragon tells her. And the dragon was right. The words, the phrases, everything in the scripture is easy. Lucy begins to read it so the dragon can hear her.
Here stands the great dragon of the night sky, Draco. Because of such massive power of its own, it created a world that the Celestial Spirit King reluctant to assist the great beast. They combined their strength to create a new world only for dragons to resign as Draco becomes the guardian that watches over the dragons.
Lucy widens her eyes in surprise. "So, Draco is the guardian of this world?" She looks up to Atlas Flame. The dragon nods. "This world is called Draco Orbits. It's named after the Creator of this world." He explains the origins. "Then why did you bring me here?" She aks the point. Atlas Flame smiles, "I have the feeling that you're the only one who can weild Draco's power. But the question is this. Are you worthy to do so?" Atlas Flame gives his answer as he lights up the room with his fire. Within second the pedistal glows in a hue of blue and purple. "This is your test, Lucy." Atlas Flame roars out.
The pedistal rises up to open up a tunnel. Lucy doesn't want to ask anymore questions, so instead she jumps into the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel is outter space, with stars, planets, and meteors all around. "This can't be the Celestial Spirit World." Lucy states as she looks around her surroundings, as well as floating around in midair. "Indeed, it isn't the Celestial Spirit World." A new voice agrees with her. Lucy looks around the sky, looking for a particular constellation, Draco. Looks up in the northern section of the sky. She spots the group of starts that sparkling in a yellowish glow. Then the lines connet to each other, forming an iimage of a dragon. "It's been awhile since I've seen a human." It speaks as the glow intensifies. Lucy nods, "Yes, Draco. You are the great Dragon spirit of the Celestial World." Lucy tells him. The glow beams out of the constellation and takes into its other form. The glow dies down to reveal a white bluish dragon, almost identical to Igneel. "Are you certain that you can weild my powers, young one?" Draco growls to her. Lucy smiles up to him, "Well, you should know about the number of keys I have in my disposal." She replies as she reaches to her belt, to show Draco her pouch. Draco shows a hint of intriguement in his green eyes. "Oh really? Then I need to know which keys you have." He smiles back.
Lucy throws her golden Zodiac keys and silver keys into the air, letting them float around her. Draco looks at each of the carefully. "Now open up all of your keys." Draco demands the young Celestial Wizard. Lucy concentares her magic power. The Keys glow in respond to the open their gates to allow her celestial spirits to enter the area. The zodiac spirits appear before Lucy. Draco keeps his smile. "Ah, I see you have most of the zodiac gates. Impressive. He looks to see the silver spirits appear before him. "Nicely done." He speaks seriously to Lucy. "So, I hear that you're friends with a few Dragon Slayers." Draco assumes the relationship. "More in particular, the fire Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel." He smirks at her. Hearing that made Lucy blush in crimson red. "Natsu and I don't have anything like that." She said to him. "Draco smiles as he puts his huge paw onto Lucy's head. "Don't worry. I don't like talking about a person's personal business." He glows in a yellow color and envolopes Lucy's body. "After seeing the spirits' pasts, on how much they helped you through the times. I'm deeply honored to make a contract with you." Draco purrs his growls. The dragon dims down to create a key like no other. Lucy opens her hand as the light reaches down to it. The key isn't gold or silver. It's a pure white like the star itself. "I must warn you though." Draco speaks to her. Lucy looks up to him. "What is it?" Draco flies down to her. "The key I gave you is for you to use on only dire situations. I'll tell you at a later time. For now, be grateful that you've gotten my key. No celestial wizard before you have ever had the chance to encounter me." The Dragon explains as he glows Lucy's body and take her back to where the pedistal is.