The morning came far too early. At the first sign of daybreak, the four started their 3 km journey up the mountain.
"If this artifact is only 3 km up the mountain, what's stopping anyone from going to get it?" Natsu wondered.
It wouldn't be long to figure it out. They came across the entrance to a cave at exactly the 3 km mark. There was a large stone in front of it, covered in markings.
Gray and Natsu cracked their knuckles, attempting to move it with brute strength. It didn't take long to realize that it wouldn't work.
Lucy leaned forward to examine the markings, "These are Celestial markings," she said slowly.
"The Celestials have their own language?" Gray asked.
She nodded, "But I'm not very good at deciphering it. Sure wish Levy was here."
Erza unburied the lacrima in her backpack and called up Fairy Tail, asking for Levy. They drew the lacrima back, giving Levy a good picture of the rock face.
"It's a gate," Levy confirmed, "but I'm not great in Celestial text either. I can make out 'Celestial Princess' and 'glory'...and it looks like the word 'summon'. Give me a few minutes, guys."
While Levy worked on the translation, Lucy showed Cana and Master her keys.
"I don't know what to say," Master said slowly, "except please be very careful, my children. I'm as uneasy as you are about this."
Freed studies the rock with Levy now in the background.
"Have you tried placing your hands in those triangles?" Mira asked. It was the first time any of them had noticed the triangular markings. In fact, Lucy could swear they weren't there a moment ago.
"The keys...Cana said slowly, reading her cards, "The spirits are fine, but they're panicked. They're trapped in the Celestial world and can't get to you. They're safe though. Something bad is going to happen soon."
"Who do we give the artifact to if we can get to it?" Erza asked.
Cana spread new cards out, flipping the last over carefully, "Not that man," she confirmed.
"Can you do a reading on him?" Natsu asked, "Dude Anthony or something like that?"
"Duke Antoine," Gray supplied with an eye roll.
Cana sprawled her cards out once more, her eyes widening, "Oh my Mavis."
Instantly, everyone stopped. Freed and Levy glanced backward at her. Master moved closer. Erza, Gray and Natsu leaned closer to the lacrima.
"What is it?" Lucy asked slowly, unsure if she wanted to know.
"Duke Antoine," Cana said slowly, "He's not human...he's a demon."
Everyone went silent in shock.
"Why would a demon want a light artifact?" Gray wondered.
Levy bounded up to the lacrima, holding out a book with a picture on it.
"Is this the artifact?" she asked.
Everyone nodded. It was the same as the holographic image the old man had shown them.
"This is the starlight egg," Levy said, "It's the only one in the world. It houses a celestial being that was locked away by a demon centuries ago."
"What celestial being?" Lucy asked.
"That's all the information that's here about the egg itself," Levy paused, scanning the book, "But it says here that the demon Anwick sealed it away to prevent the being from rejoining the Celestial world," she looked up to the lacrima, "He buried it never to be seen again."
"That makes no sense," Erza said slowly, "This egg was literally 3 km up a mountain close to a town...that's hardly buried away."
"Except Kahling is a reasonably new town," Master cut in, "It's less than a century old. They cut away parts of the mountain to create the valley in which it's situated. I remember when they did it - they created the town for mining purposes. After the mining and the removal of mountain face, they may have inadvertently exposed the rock face hiding the artifact."
"Can you run a history on Antoine?" Gray asked, "Even if he's a demon, there must be some documentation on him."
"There's nothing," Levy said after several minutes of scanning, "And other than the name Anwick, there's no more to the story."
"Well then!" Lucy sighed, stepping closer to the rock, "Nothing left to do but move this boulder."
"We'll keep in touch," Erza said to the lacrima before shutting it off and placing it in her backpack.
Glancing nervously at her companions, Lucy reached out with her hands and placed them into the mysterious triangles. The rock began to glow. With horror, Lucy realized her hands were being absorbed into the rock.
"NO!" Natsu yelled, grabbing her waist to attempt to pull her back. Lucy's body illuminated with light and repelled Natsu, sending him flying several feet.
Lucy, oddly, was not panicking. The rock continued to absorb her until she was completely gone.
"What...the...hell?" Gray stuttered. The 3 wizards looked at each other, unsure of what to think.
Natsu slammed his hands into the triangles, only to be met with solid rock.
"LUCY!" Erza yelled.
Gray slammed into the rock again with an ice shield. The shield shattered on contact. Natsu threw a Dragon Roar, which simply dissipated on the rock. Erza re-equipped into her Nakagami Armour and attempted the slice the rock apart, but again, nothing happened.
"We can't get in," Erza breathed
There was no response. No evidence that Lucy was alive or otherwise. No way into the rock. Lucy was on her own.
Inside the rockface, Lucy found herself in complete darkness. She felt through her backpack until she found the flashlight she carried, praying the batteries weren't dead. Thankfully, the light shone enough that she could see somewhat.
The lack of life in the cave was oddly unnerving. She'd expected maybe spiders or bats or (god forbid) snakes to be lining the freakishly small tunnel, but it was completely devoid of life. There weren't even cobwebs. She shuddered, wishing she could have pulled Natsu or Gray through with her.
"Okay, Princess," She said out loud, "Time to put your big girl panties on. You can do this."
She edged down the path carefully. It seemed to go on forever. She estimated some half hour later, she finally came to an open room. The movies always had artifacts encased in shrines or a golden casket or some kind of booby-trapped alter. There was nothing like that in this room. It was as untouched as the path leading in.
"What am I looking for?" She wondered out loud again, shining the light around the otherwise pitch-black room.
It was a tiny room, maybe 6 ft across and 5 feet up. She had to stoop a bit, refusing to go to her knees due to the sharp rocks strewn about the cave floor.
She glanced about for around 10 minutes before finally seeing the dull glint in the rocks on the edge of the cave. Taking a deep breath and feeling extremely claustrophobic, she ventured toward the slight glint. She put the flashlight in her teeth to hold it on the object as she reached to dig it out with her hands.
There it was. It looked more like a vase than an egg to her at first, until she'd dug it out enough that she could hold it in her hands. It was small and very dull. It didn't look golden at all, but then it was covered in dirt.
"Hello Mystery Spirit," she said softly, "I don't know who you are, but I wish I had a sign that it's the right thing to do to bring you up."
She shuddered suddenly.
What if it's not the right thing to do? What if this artifact is better left here, protected since it was obvious only a Celestial Wizard could come here? What if by bringing it to the outside world she unleashed a horror that would end the world?
She shook her head. Celestial beings weren't evil. The egg itself would not harm the world. It was more likely the demons after it would harm the world. Even though the egg had stayed safe here for Heavens only know how long, she knew a demon wanted it. If Lucy left it here, he'd find someone else to get it for him. That was another strange thought. She and Yukino were the only two Celestial Wizards that she knew about, other than Hisui. Yukino had married Sting about a year back and rarely used her magic anymore and she couldn't remember that Hisui had any spirits at all.
"I need a sign," she said out loud again, "I don't want to bring you up and unwittingly end the world."
She waited. The egg did not move, it did not shine, it didn't offer any kind of sign that she would consider an affirmative answer.
She remembered Loke's partial warning before he'd disappeared with the flash of light, "DO go get the artifact tomorrow, but whatever you do, don't give it to Antoine. You need to summon me as soon as you've got it and let me take it."
"Loke," she whispered, bringing out her tarred keys, "Loke, please tell me what to do. I couldn't summon you if I wanted to now."
Her tarred keys didn't offer any comfort either, so Lucy finally sighed, wrapped the egg up in a small blanket she'd brought for the occasion, and started the trek back up the small cavern.