The sound was barely audible, but it was there, and getting louder by the second. It sounded like three people screaming at the top of their lungs, occasionally cursing.

Gradually, the sound from beneath the earth got nearer and nearer, until finally the surface of the ground broke and a figure burst out into the air feet-first, so covered in dirt he was barely recognizable, with three other people; one under each arm and another, smaller one clinging to his back. The bizarre thing was that the one carrying the other three seemed to have a drill instead of legs. However, the drill quickly changed back into human legs in midair, allowing him to flip over and land on his feet.

The smaller one who was riding on his back took several moments to catch her breath, before she raised a small fist and struck him on the back of the head. "Gajeel, never do that again!"

"Geez, sorry," said Gajeel, dumping the other two unceremoniously on the ground and crouching so that the small girl could jump off. "Didn't realize that you'd rather walk around for hours trying to find an entrance that might not even exist."

One of the two lying on the ground sat up and spat out a large lump of dirt. "Is it over?"

"Yes, Al," the other one answered. "It's over."

All four of them stood up and took in their surroundings. The town seemed to be deserted, but if you were to look closely, eyes occasionally peered out of the windows of the surrounding buildings. Even though it was daylight outside the dome, on the inside, it appeared to be night, making it difficult to see.

Levy frowned up at the roof of the dome. Something about it unnerved her. Maybe it was the fact that it was deep blue and dotted with stars when it was supposed to be morning.

Or maybe it was something else.

As the other three started to walk deeper into the town, Levy stood there and kept looking at the "sky".

"Hey, Levy!" Bisca called over her shoulder. "Hurry up!"

"Wait a minute!" Levy looked away from the "sky" and toward the wall of the dome. Yes, it was just as she thought. "Guys, those aren't stars."

"'Course they're not," Gajeel replied. "They're just supposed to look like 'em."

"No, they're not." This got the attention of the other three. They stopped and turned toward Levy. "They're eyes," the bluenette explained.

The other three stared at the wall of the dome. When they looked more closely, each pair of eyes was surrounded by a dark blob. Said "dark blobs" were making up the entire dome.

"Well," Alzack said quietly. "The job request did say that the town was being held hostage by evil spirits…"

Gajeel looked up. "Holy shit."

"I know," Bisca whispered. "There's so many of them…"

"That's not what I was saying "holy shit" about." He pointed upwards. "Look."

They looked up.

Levy's eyes widened. "It's as if they're going through mitosis!"

It was true. Somewhere, near the top of the dome, some of the blobs seemed to be splitting to form new blobs, which were… getting larger? …No, they weren't getting larger. They were just coming closer.

"Think they're going to attack us?" Bisca asked, requipping a machine gun.

"No," Alzack replied sarcastically, pulling a revolver out of the holster near his hip. "They're a welcoming committee who are coming to show us around this town."

"…Really?"

"What do you think?"

As the spirits came closer, they kept dividing until it seemed as if there was an army heading toward the Fairy Tail mages.

"Homing Shot!"

"Sunlight Shot!"

"Iron Dragon's Roar!"

"Solid Script: Fire!"

The smoke left by their attacks gradually cleared to reveal that either their magic was having absolutely no effect or the spirits were dividing at such a rate that it didn't matter how strong their attacks were, the army would just keep getting bigger and bigger.

Levy backed up slightly. "It's not going to be any use. We have to run."

"What?!" Gajeel turned toward her. "You gotta be joking. We don't run from–"

His speech was cut short as the swarm of dark blobs reached them and surrounded them, letting out spine-chilling shrieks as they slashed at the wizards with surprisingly sharp teeth and claws. The air was so full of the spirits that it was hard to breathe, to see, even to hear anything other than screaming.

Alzack felt an arm wrap around him and lift him off the ground, dragging him through the swarm, toward what he desperately hoped was an exit. He shut his eyes to prevent those things from clawing his eyes out, and prayed that they would make it out alive.

At the same time, a warm hand grabbed Levy by the wrist and pulled her close to the owner of the hand. Whoever it was picked her up and ran. There was no sense of direction; it was impossible to tell which direction was which. They just… ran.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed. Here, it always seemed to be night. Hell, it could be night even outside the dome by now. But the good thing about this was that the sounds the spirits made had grown quieter and gradually faded into the distance. That meant they had escaped. He felt a hard, rough surface against his back and realized that he was leaning against a tree. There was a soft thud as whoever it was who had saved him sat down nearby. For a while, there was no sound except the two of them panting.

"They're gone, y'know," said a voice. He recognized it as Gajeel's voice. "You can open your eyes."

Alzack opened his eyes and stared at the dragon slayer. He was covered in scratches, bite marks, and bleeding cuts. Judging by the various pains all over his body, Alzack guessed that he probably looked similarly beat-up. "I thought you said you weren't going to run," he commented.

"Changed my mind."

The guns mage nodded. He could understand that. He looked around to find that the two of them were surrounded by trees. "So… where exactly are we?"

"Well, ya see, this town ain't shaped like a circle. So when they put this dome around it, they got part of the forest in the dome as well. That's where we are."

"What about Bisca and Levy?"

Gajeel shrugged. "Dunno where they went. But it's fine. They're capable."

Levy was resting against the side of a concrete building, panting. Both of them were covered in cuts and scratches, but they had escaped those spirit things. That was good. And she was with someone she trusted: Bisca. That was also good. They were in the middle of a town neither of them knew a thing about. That was not good.

Bisca leaned against the wall next to Levy. "Well, we're safe."

Levy nodded. "Yes. But I wish we had a map."

The greenette sat down next to her and patted her on the head. "We'll see if we can find one."

There was silence for a few moments. "Where do you think Gajeel and Alzack went?" Levy asked.

"I don't know," Bisca replied. "But I'm pretty sure they escaped as well. They'll be fine. And so will we."

Levy hoped Bisca was right about that.