Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail they belong to mashima
The beginning of adventure
In a realm known as Earthland there exist many fantastic things across its continents and seas. A realm of magic, mystery, adventure and also great danger. 400 hundred years ago, on the continent of Ishgar, comprising 17 countries, each with its own histories, mysteries, and people, originated a cataclysmic war that engulfed the world. Drastically changing it for better or for worse.
From the war emerged many beings of great power, but none more evil than the black wizard Zeref. An archmage of incredible power, he banished the gods from earthland severing all ties to their devine magics and opened the gates to the Nine Hells, loosing their evils upon the world, and then, he vanished. It is believed that Zeref died, but his research and creations were scattered upon the world, known as the books of Zeref and labeled as dark and taboo.
When the war drew to a close, Ishgar was left in ruins. To establish a sense of order from chaos, the Ishgarian Coalition of Kingdoms was formed and governed under the magic council. It started small, beginning with only a few kingdoms but over the centuries more saw benefit from joining, leading to the present day with 11 of Ishgars kingdoms as members.
Of these allied nations, there lies the Kingdom of Fiore. A small peaceful nation of 40 million, and like the rest of the world, a place filled with magic! Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace, for most, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some, however, magic is an art, and they have devoted their lives to its practice. These are the mages. Banded together into magical guilds they apply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore. But there is a certain guild in a certain town that soars high above the rest, one from which countless legends have been born... a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. Its name... is Fairy Tail.
In the port town of Hargeon, located at the local inn, a young woman lays in her bed. It was early in the morning, the sun beginning to rise and rays of light entering through an open window. As the young woman laid there with a blissful smile, a shimmering flash of light occurred in the room's center. From this flash emerged a large man, about 7 and a half feet tall with dark brown skin and deep black hair.
The man's appearance was more unique than it appeared, with his lower half being that of a bull's hooves and a tail and his upper being human and atop his head a pair of pristine white horns. This man was a minotaur. His clothing consisted of an armored skirt and shorts and while he wore no shirt, exposing a scarred muscular chest, he wore armor over his right arm and shoulder that was strapped to his other. Finally the man had a rough chiseled face covered in scars with piercings on his ears and nose.
For a second the man stood there watching the woman with a serene smile at how peaceful she seemed before taking a deep breath and..
"RISE AND SHINE MISS LUCY, IT'S TIME TO GET UP AND ATTEM, LETS GO, LETS GO, TIME TO GET THAT BLOOD PUMPING!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Lucy screamed in surprise, eyes bursting open and flailing about in the bed then getting tangled in the blanket before falling onto the floor.
"Come on miss lucy, were going on a morning run"
"Ugh taurus what the heck! It's barely past sunrise!" Lucy groaned in annoyance as she lifted herself off the floor. Taurus merely snorted in amusement as he crossed his arms.
"Excuse me my lady, but weren't you the one who made this part of our contract? I recall a dainty young miss ranting about wanting to be stronger as an independent mage." taurus said
"Yes, I remember," Lucy muttered with a pout. It had only been 8 months since she met Taurus and in half that time Tuarus turned her into a butt kicking machine that could hold her own in a fight.
"Let me get my boots on then we'll go"
A few minutes later the duo were outside the inn. Lucy was stretching while Taurus was speaking about their run. He explained that they were gonna go around the whole town, which to be fair, was really big. Being the main port city on Fiore's southern coast it acted as the main hub for trade between the neighboring kingdoms. The route taurus planned had them passing the train station, the local garrison, along the docks and around the edges of the town by the cliffs. It was close to 6 miles at least but nothing she couldn't handle.
Finishing her stretching lucy took off with a steady jog, "come on taurus lets go"
"Alright Miss Lucy, keep that energy, as I always say.."
"A strong woman is a beautiful woman!" "A strong woman is a beautiful woman!"
Not too far from Hargeon, a passenger train was chugging along the tracks in the direction of the city. Within the cars passengers were milling about, rising from provided quarters and either heading towards the dining car or the nearest cart vendor. In the back end of the train, one of the vendors had trouble keeping his eyes open after working the night shift, when he heard a voice.
"Excuse me!"
The vendor blinked and looked around for the source.
"Down here"
Looking over his station, he was met with the sight of a bipedal blue cat.
"Yhea Hi do you have anything for motion sickness?"
"Uh yeah, a lesser antidote, it'll be 5 jewel"
The cat reached around to the small green pack he had and pulled out the required amount, paying the vendor, before taking the vial of medicine and heading back to his seat.
"Hey Natsu, I got you some medicine if you want, it'll still be a couple of hours before we reach hargeon." the cat said to his compatriot who was sprawled across the bench looking absolutely sick to his stomach. Natsu let out a slight whimper which the cat took as a yes and proceeded to pour the elixir down his throat.
After a moment Natsu lost some of the green in his face and was able to sit up.
"Uggh, thanks happy"
"No prob"
Taking a few deep breaths, Natsu relaxed into his seat, lifting his white scarf to his nose and inhaling its comforting scent. Removing his traveling coat and leaving him in his regular garb, Natsu straightened out his vest and waist coat and brushed off his trousers.
"Hey, Happy, tir wux siofme algbo ehtah igneel nomeno tairais?"{Hey, Happy, do you think we'll find igneel this time?} natsu asked in a different language
Happy was munching on some fish he bought as he responded in the same tongue.
"jaunus yth geou"{sure we will}
"coita coanwor vakil eorikci kagh yth mahhn havent ehtaha jacion"{it's been seven years and we still haven't found him} nastu growled out, exposing his sharp teeth.
"si charis jaci ui mobi ksenya si mi definitely gonna diurzotreth jacida tzarreth!"{I hope he's there cause I'm definitely gonna kick his ass!]
"aye ushakal!"{aye sir!} happy responded to which natsu chuckled.
"You've gotten really good at speaking draconic happy"
"Of course, you been speaking it around me my whole life, of course id pick it up"
Looking out the window, Natsu watched the sun rise above the horizon as he thought about what he'd find in hargeon.
It was an hour and a half later when Lucy finished her run. Usually taurus would spar with her after cardio but that was when they were on the road so she was able to get a shower and breakfast from her inn. Taurus had vanished during the run so she was by herself right now as she went through her morning rituals. Reaching for a pouch on her belt, she pulled out a large ring that jangled with keys.
Taking off each one she proceeded to polish them, starting with the ones made of gold. Each key was of a unique design and held a symbol on them. These were Lucy's most prized possessions, her celestial spirit keys. These keys allowed her to summon an ancient spirit, each one connected to the 88 constellations of the astral sea. She had 6 silver keys and 3 gold ones.
Crux the southern cross, Horologium the clock, Lyra the lyre, Cetus the sea-monster, Apus the bird of paradise and Telescopium the telescope made up her silver keys.
The gold ones were of the legendary zodiac, of which she had Aquarius the water bearer, Taurus the bull and Cancer the crab.
After polishing all the keys Lucy headed out to look for the magic shop that was in town. It took awhile but she was able to find the shop known for selling magical items. Lucy's appearance for the day has her blonde hair tied to the side with a ribbon, wearing a white vest with a blue cross on the front and a blue skirt with knee high black combat boots. Finally around her waist is a belt with pouches on the right side and a whip hanging from her left.
Passing multiple shelves filled with magic items, she approaches the front desk. "Excuse me" she said cheerfully. "Oh, hello there young lady what is it that i can do for you" the shopkeep behind the desk replied
"I was wondering if this is the only shop in town that sells magic items" lucy asked
With an apologetic gesture he responded "Fraid so, people of this town are more fishing folk than magic folk, that said is there anything i can offer you"
"Oh I was just passing through to see if anything catches my eye" she say with a smile
The shopkeeper, with a smile of his own, pulled out a small device from his desk, showing it to lucy. "I just got this little thing recently, I hear all the girls your age go crazy for them, it's called ColorS and it uses magic to change the colors of your clothes" as he says this he activates the device by placing his finger on a color wheel and moving it. As Lucy was watching she saw the man's green shirt go from green to purple then to red.
While the man kept changing the colors of his shirt, a silver gleam caught Lucy's eye. As she bends down for a closer look, she sees a silver key with a symbol on its base.
" A gate Key?" she said with a surprise. This seemed to snap the shopkeep out of his demonstration. Seeing Lucy focused on the key he pulls it out from behind the glass.
"Would you happen to be interested in this little trinket"
"Yes actually i would" she replies
"Well this happens to be the key of the canis minor, a celestial spirit. Summoners use these to call frothing magical beings to do all sorts of things" he explains
Lucy already knew what it was the moment she laid eyes on it, she placed her hand on one of her belt pouches with her own keys as she stared at it.
"How much for it?" she asked. It's here that the shopkeep gets a glint in his eyes.
"That'll be 2,000 jewels"
"Say that again?!"
"2,000 jewels"
After hearing that Lucy decides to try something she doesn't do often, moving to sit slightly on the counter Lucy moves to striking a pose. Trying to use her sex appeal Lucy asks in a sweet voice "come on, how much is it really worth."
"Hmmmm…" the shopkeeper just stares.
Cutting to the streets of hargeon we see Lucy walking angrily down the road.
"I can't believe he only knocked off a hundred jewels, is my appeal really only worth that much" while Lucy was busy stewing in anger before she exhaled releasing the tension.
"Whatever, what's important is that I got it" Lucy says as she examines the silver key in her hand. Pulling out a rather thick book from her bag, she opens to a page near the middle of the book. On the page is a depiction of the silver key in her hand and a strange symbol on it. Looking at the writing next to the image she reads it.
"As one of the silver gate keys, the key of Canis Minor can be used to summon the little dog, a celestial spirit known for loyalty and companionship. Over the eons the original name of Canis Minor has been lost along with the name of its sibling Canis Major."
There was more written but Lucy closed the book having read everything in it multiple times. Looking at the cover she focused her attention at the book's title, Understanding The Stars: A Compendium of the Celestial Spirits. Underneath the title where an author's name would be where the letters A.H. Lucy gently brushed her fingers over them as she muttered to herself.
"10 down, seventy-eight to go"
At the same time, the town train station just received the latest train. Many passengers were unloading, some carrying luggage suggesting they'll be staying in town, while others were boarding the train, leaving for other destinations. Attendants who worked on the train or at the station were milling about as well, helping the passengers. One worker was trying to help a young man with pink hair, Natsu, who seemed to have collapsed in the doorway.
"Uh sir, do you need any help" the attendent asked
"don't worry he'll be fine, he gets sick whenever we take the train, guess the antidote wore off" Happy said. The attendant looked down to see a bipedal blue cat talking to him. Which of course, wasn't that surprising, there were multiple races that lived in Fiore after all.
"Um are you sure" he asked again after the man on the ground let out a groan
"Yah I'm sure, come on Natsu we finally made it to hargeon" Happy said.
"im nurti riding vi pothoc kem tenamalo {im never riding a stupid train again}" Natsu said. The attendant didn't understand what he said at all.
"you say that every time, you also reverted back to your old tongue"
Happy proceeded to drag the Natsu by his scarf and pulled him off the train before it left again. He let him rest for a minute, the green in his face slowly receding. After regaining his bearing, Natsu stood and pulled his green traveling bag onto his back.
The two were now leaving the station with happy looking a Natsu both amusement and disappointment
"Honestly Natsu, seeing you like this is really pathetic"
"thric ner{shut up} Happy, uguhh, I'm never getting on one of those things again" Natsu said, recovering from his train ride.
"Alright happy, i'm all good, let's get going" he says with a smile
"Aye sir, the tip we got says salamander is supposed to be here, so let's go find him" Happy says smiling as he follows Natsu into town.
Back in town Lucy was wandering down the street rolling her new silver key around in her hand when she heard squealing coming from a group of women rushing past her. Putting the key in her belt pouch Lucy listened in on what the women were talking about.
"Kyaa, he's here!" "It's Salamander" "Are you serious! he's really here!"
"Salamander?" Lucy said to herself "Do they mean the fire mage Salamander?"
Lucy proceeded to follow the women and finally reached a large crowd of women. Lucy pushes through to see what the fuss is. Standing in the middle of the crowd is a man with dark hair wearing a black cloak with a white shirt and red pants. Supposedly, this was Salamander.
"Ladies please contain yourselves there's no need to get too rowdy" Salamander says as he strikes a few poses making the women swoon with hearts in their eyes. While doing so he happens to glance in Lucy's general direction.
'He looked at me!?' Lucy thinks as she pulls her hands to her chest and a blush appears on her face. "What's going on, why is my heart beating so fast, is it because of him, Salamander." Looking at him again a pink glow starts to appear in Lucy's eyes.
"Could it be, is he the one.." pink hearts started to form within her eyes but just as they were about to completely form..
"IGNEEEELLL"
The hearts in her eyes break and the pink glow recedes as a new commotion draws Lucy's attention away from Salamander. She watches a guy with pink hair stumble through the crowd and looks at salamander. There's a moment of silence before…
"Who the heck are you?" natsu says rudely in a disappointed voice
Natsu and Happy were in the area and barged into the crowd when they heard people screaming the name salamander.
Salamander, surprised by this question, responds "Who am I, I am salamander surely you've heard of me" as he says this he does a few more poses before looking back at Natsu who was walking away, ignoring him. "Hey?!" Salamander yelled in shock of being ignored.
"How dare you!"
"This is salamander, show him some respect!"
"He's an incredible man dont ignore him!"
The women proceeded to attack and berate Natsu in a comedic way while happy and Lucy stared at the scene. Shaking her head, Lucy regains her focus and looks back at salamander seeing he has two rings on his right hand beginning to understand what has happened.
"Ladies please, he probably didn't realize, here boy, have my autograph." Salamander says as he hands Natsu a paper with his signature.
"No thanks i'm good" natsu says as he waves him off
Natsu's then attacked by the women again. Ignoring this salamander prepares to leave as he summons a spiral of purplish-red flame beneath him that lifts him into the air. "Red carpet"
"Sorry ladies but I must be going now, I have business to attend to at the port, I'll be having a party on my boat tonight and you're all invited!" he says as he flies off with all the women cheering for him before dispersing, probably to get ready for tonight.
"Who the heck was that guy" natsu says as he rubs his head
"A total scumbag," Lucy says while approaching Natsu and Happy.
"Thanks alot for the help back there, how about I treat you guys to some lunch, we can talk more there."
Natsu and Happy, having not eaten since they got off the train, replied with a "sure" as Lucy leads them to the nearest diner. While they get seated and order food Lucy decides to introduce herself.
"I'm Lucy, who are you guys?" she questions
"Im Natsu and this is Happy" Natsu replies as he and Happy begin to chow down on their ordered food like animals, well, happy is a cat so he gets a pass.
"Natsu and Happy huh." 'Well there goes the jewel I saved' Lucy thinks as she watches them eat before she speaks again.
"Well evidently that salamander guy was using a charm spell on the ladies in town hypnotizing them to become infatuated with him. Charm spells can attract people against their own will, but magic items like that have been banned for years, he must have gone through a lot of trouble to get his hands on them, the creep. I was in the process of falling under the spell myself before you guys barged in, so thanks a lot."
"No problem" natsu replies with his mouth full
"See, i'm a magic user myself"
"That so" Natsu says somewhat interested in this strange girl buying them lunch
"Yeah, It's how I was able to tell he was using magic. See i'm an independent mage which means i'm not a part of the guild league, I've had to pick up a lot of tricks to get by for the past year. I've been thinking it's time I do, especially if I want to complete my goals. Though I'm not sure which one to join, I do have one in mind. Sorry, started rambling there, anyway tell me about you guys."
While lucy's been talking, Natsu and Happy have been usually making small replies and wondering how long she's gonna keep talking while continuing to eat, sharing a few glances. Natsu became intrigued when she mentioned joining a guild.
"Is that so, well good for you." Natsu says
"Thanks, so you guys came to this town looking for someone, right? you were shouting someone's name when you barged in'' lucy questions
"Were looking for Igneel" Happy replies
"We heard a rumor about a salamander coming to this town so we came here to see him, but turns out it was somebody else" natsu says in a disappointed tone
"Yah that guy didn't look like a salamander at all"
"Bet that guy couldn't even breathe fire like a real dragon"
Hearing the conversation the two were having, Lucy had a question of her own.
"Wait dragon? Isn't a salamander a fire lizard with multiple limbs? and your friend Igneel... apparently looks like a dragon?" Lucy asked as she leaned forward, letting her arms rest on the table. Her question pulled Natsu's attention back to her.
"No you got it all wrong, he doesn't look like one, he is one" he says plainly, as if it's that simple
Hearing this, Lucy's mind begins to work overtime as it does when she's reading a good book or learning something very interesting. The image of a dragon appears in her head, the way they're described in legends and history books shes read. They apparently came in all shapes and sizes, some big, some small, with wings or not. Apparently they went by different names too, subspecies she supposes. The most common one depicted was the one most commonly thought of when someone said dragon. A massive lizard with four limbs and two leather batlike wings, covered in scales. That being said the only things she could respond with was.
"HUH?!"
"Aye, igneel is a real life fire dragon" happy says
"HUUH?!"
Of course despite history and legend, dragons are extraordinarily rare creatures, even in a world of magic. There hasn't been one seen in so long people of this age don't believe the dragons even exist.
"Why would a fire dragon show up in the middle of town!? If he was really here news about a dragon being sighted would be on the front page of the newspapers" lucy exclaimed
"Uuuhhh?!" Natsu and Happy's shocked faces show that they didn't even consider the thought.
"Seriously, that's totally insane if you didn't consider that. Anyway, this igneel, why are you looking for him?"
Natsu looked excited when he spoke. Lushi, he thinks she said her name was, didn't even dismiss the idea that Igneel was a real dragon. 'She believes me!' Natsu thought as he started talking.
"Well Igneel disappeared seven years ago out of nowhere and I've been looking for him ever since."
'Seven years, huh, ain't that a coincidence' lucy thought as she listened to Natsu rant
"I've searched everywhere, even traveled to a few of the other kingdoms, Thought i had a really good lead on him up north in Iceberg but onlything there was a bunch of Ice trolls"
"You said he was a Fire dragon right?" Lucy asked as she discreetly under the table placed her hand on the silver key of crux, the southern cross. Upon touch the key glowed slightly before an old book appeared in Lucy's hand.
'Thank you grandpa crux' lucy mentally thought to the spirit of the cross
'Of course my dear, you can youse my pocket library anytime' a older voice replied mentally
Setting the book on the table in front of her Natsu and Happy, she started flipping through the pages while speaking.
"Lets see, lets see, fire dragon, fire dragon, when you say Igneel is a dragon what type do you mean?" lucy asked as she looked at Natsu
"What do you mean?" Natsu said with a clueless look
With a sigh lucy explained "dragon is usually a catch all term for draconic creatures, which fall into seven main species, true Dragon, wyvern, amphithere, wyrm, lindwyrm, long dragon, and drakes"
"Wow, I had no idea there were so many types of dragons. Did you know all this Natsu?" Happy asked
Natsu sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he responded "Igneel may have talked about this before, I don't really remember if i listened to him."
"So what makes them all different?" happy asked her
"Well the main way to tell is by the number of legs and wings. A drake has 4 legs and no wings while a wyvern has 2 legs and 2 wings. A true dragon, as they are usually called, has 4 legs and 2 wings. There are more subspecies that branch from the main 7 though."
"Igneel was a true dragon then" Natsu confirmed
"Ok that makes this much easier" Lucy said as she flipped to the page she needed "Here we go, fire dragons also called chromatic red dragons due to prominent red scales are especially strong draconics capable of breathing fire. Most red dragons are extremely territorial and will make their nest in lands with intense heat, such as volcanoes. It makes sense that you wouldn't find him in the northern iceberg, you would have been more likely to find an ice dragon if they were still around."
"Damn, I knew I shouldn't have listened to the old man"
"Look on the brightside Natsu, now we just have to search a bunch of volcanoes!" happy cheered
"Yhea, thanks lugi, now we have new places to look!" Natsu said with smile towards lucy
Lucy smiled back though twitch a bit at Natsu called her lugi "Its lucy, Natsu, and it's my pleasure, Im searching for someone to, well a lot of someones"
"Who are you looking for, lucy?" happy asked
"Oh just some old family friends, I gotta get going, I hope to see you guys again it was nice to meet you"
Getting up and setting the rest of her money on the table to pay she starts walking toward the exit, the hostess thanking her for dining but then noticing her shocked expression on the hostess face. Turning around she sees Natsu and happy on the ground bowing in her direction.
"Thank you for the food and the info" "aye, thank you" the two yelled really loud, drawing attention from other customers.
"Cut it out this is embarrassing" Lucy exclaims "Honestly, there's no need, were cool, you guys helped me out earlier"
"Feel kind of bad, we weren't even trying to" Natsu whispered to Happy
"Aye, we owe her something" As if a light bulb went of in his head Natsu got an idea
"Oh I know" he say as he pulls out the autograph salamander gave him and tries to give it to Lucy
"Here this is for you for"
Lucy, seeing the paper, responds with a violent "No way!" before calming down.
"Feel free to burn it, see ya around guys"
A bit later at the local park, Lucy is sitting on a bench reading the latest sorcerer weekly, talking out loud.
"Oh boy, looks like Fairy Tail went overboard again, a whole bandit camp wiped out but seven buildings destroyed, ha ha haa" lucy laughs "Honestly those guys are too much"
Turning the page to see the centerfold images, they reveal a white haired beauty in a bathing suit doing cute poses. This woman is Mirajane of the mage guild Fairy Tail.
" Wow mirajane is so beautiful, wish i knew how to become a member, do you have to apply or maybe interview with them?" Lucy says to herself as she thinks about the idea of joining a fairy tail.
"It can be as simple as just asking, can it?"
"Actually it can" a voice says behind her
"AAHHH" Lucy shouts in surprise and looks to her left to see salamander emerging from the bushes like a creep.
"I couldn't help but overhear that you want to join Fairy Tail, see i've been looking for you, I wanted to personally invite you to the party on my boat tonight" he says while lifting his hand to show off his rings. Lucy notices and calls him out on this.
"That charm ring won't work on me. That spell has a weakness and its awareness, it won't work if the person knows it's being used"
"I figured you for mage when I saw you earlier, don't worry the invitation still stands."
Lucy gets up from where she was sitting preparing to walk away.
"Forget it I have no interest in any party of yours, besides using an illegal charm ring isn't really doing you favors in my book."
"Can you blame me, a guy likes to feel popular at his own party you know"
"Your just a creep, goodbye" Lucy says walking away
"You want to join fairy tail" Lucy stops and turns her head to look back
"you've heard of the famous salamander of fairy tail right, well that's me" salamander says with a smug look
"You're saying your salamander of Fairy Tail!" in the moment of surprise Lucy let her guard slip and a pink glow starts to form in her eyes
"That's right just come on down and be sure not to mention the charm ring and ill put in a good word"
"I'll be there!" Lucy says quickly as the pink glow in her eyes flare
"That was easy, well, I'll be off" salamander says as he summons his flames and takes off. The moment he's out of sight, Lucy snaps out of her daze, becoming angry. "Dammit, I got pseudo charmed." she says
"But he says he can get me into fairy tail, hmm, there's something off about this situation"
Lucy starts to think over the situation and wonders what she should do.
'I could easily go to the local garrison and inform the rune knights about salamander and his illegal charm ring but if he's really a member of fairy tail…'
With a determined look, Lucy walks off "I know what i need to do"
Later on night has now fallen on the port town of Hargeon, the moon has now risen over the ocean. The towns folk seem to have settled for the night though the port seems to be rather lively. At the edge of town overlooking the port, Natsu and Happy are relaxing by the cliff edge wall.
"Man, that was a good meal," Natsu says, patting his stomach. They had stuck around the restaurant for awhile before getting kicked out.
"Aye" happy responds while looking at the sea noticing a ship leaving the port
"Hey, you think thats the boat that salamander guy is having his party"
Upon hearing the word boat Natsu turns green clutching his stomach and mouth as if he's about to hurl.
"Oh come on it's not like we're going on board it.." Happy begins to say before cutting off as they hear a group of women not too far from them talking loudly.
"Woha thats salamanders boat isn't it!"
"Uh, who's salamander?
"You've never heard of salamander, hes this super famous wizard thats in town right now"
"Yah and he's a member of the fairy tail guild"
After hearing that Natsu and Happy both look out to sea towards the boat.
"Fairy tail huh, Happy, that salamander guy, did you get a good look at his face?"
"No i was watching you get beat up by a bunch of chicks, but that's usually normal for you"
"Shut up, happy! Anyway Lucy said that guy was using illegal magic right?"
"Yeha, said it was a charm ring. It falls under the type of magic taught at the arcane magic schools, it's supposed to be a caster only type of magic since it allows the magic council to monitor the users of it. The charm rings must have had some really high level enchantments on them to be made illegal"
"Yhea and if that guy is a member of the guild and is using illegal magic items, it gives us a bad name." Natsu said with a serious face
"Well as much as the one you give us anyway. Let's go" Happy said as white feathered wings sprouted from his back. With a few flaps Happy was in the air and grasping the back of Natsu's pack and lifting him in the air as well. Soon the two were off, flying over the city and towards the harbor.
Meanwhile and just a bit earlier
Lucy had just arrived at the docks wearing a maroon dress and her hair tied in a bow along with a group of other women also dolled up. Salamanders boat was a large one with an open deck set up with decorations and tables and above that was a secondary deck connected to the main interior quarters that stuck out over the main deck held up by pillars. At least 30 or so women were congregating around the tables with some rather brutish looking men around the rails. It was then that salamander made his appearance.
"Ladies so glad all of you could join me, fill free to mingle, my crew will take care of your needs" he said, gesturing to the brutes.
Lucy stood not too far and glared at salamander while he spoke. He noticed this and seeing her glare, let out a tsk, before making his way over to her.
"AH my dear so glad you could join me, if you don't mind i'd like to invite you to a private drink on the upper deck whaddya say?"
The other women seemed to glare at Lucy for being invited instead of them. Lucy shrugged them off and responded "I'd love to salamander, let's talk one on one" she said with a smirk.
Salamander seemed to frown before hiding it with a smirk. The boat by now has weighed anchor and is making its way into open sea as Lucy followed him inside the ship and to the upper deck.
On the upper deck, inside, Lucy took a seat across from salamander, who grabbed some champagne glasses.
"So Lucy was it, it's so nice of you to join me here, have a drink" Salamander says as he uses magic to lift the drinks he set out for him and Lucy and offers her some.
Using magic to levitate the glass towards her, Lucy felt a sense of drowsiness in her. Reaching towards where she hid her keys and touched one of the silver keys. Placing a finger on Apus, the bird of paradise, Lucy felt the drowsiness leave her.
"Hmmph, what do you think you're doing?" Lucy says in a firm tone as she slaps the drink away "You're trying to use sleep magic, I saw your other ring" Salamander lifts his hand to rest his head, while showing his rings. The charm ring had a heart on it while his second looked like a closed eye with ZZZ above it.
"Your quite a handful aren't you" salamander says
As he says this the wall behind Lucy slides open revealing a bunch of thuggish looking men. Some of them have sleeping women draped over their soldiers. Lucy recognises them as the women attending the party.
"What's going on here!?" Lucy says angrily as she gets into a defensive stance.
"Welcome aboard my ship, it is wise to behave yourself until we make it to Bosco, you wouldn't want to make me angry."
"Bosco, why?" Lucy was beginning to grow concerned, the unconscious women putting her on edge.
"Simple you'll fetch a nice price in bosco as a slave" salamander says in a nonchalant tone
That just pissed Lucy off, Bosco was a country just a little northeast of Fiore. One could get there by crossing the border or by sea, going along the coast. What concerned her the most was that bosco had a dangerous criminal underworld that hasn't been stamped out yet. While the country openly condemned slavery its kingdom did nothing to stop it, leaving it to the coalition and magic council. If these women were taken, Lucy knew there would be little chance for them to ever be free again.
"You really plan to take all these girls" Lucy asked, eyes flickering between salamander and his men. Her comment just made the men laugh.
"That's our salamander all right."
"Got a big haul this time, right boss"
"Why you!" Lucy growls as she reaches toward her hidden keys to pull out a key. The key in question appears to be made of gold, shining brightly as though having been polished. Along the keys shaft appear to be waves engraved and the handle is in the shape of a pot. On the handles base is a symbol reminiscent of waves.
Before Lucy could do anything, salamander reacted quickly. Leaching a small whip of fire, knocking the key from Lucy's hand, before catching it in his.
"This is a gate key, so you're a celestial summoner, only the wizard contracted with the spirit can use this." Salamander inspects the key noticing it gold sheen
"This is one of the gold zodiac keys, they say there's only 88 keys in the world with twelve being gold, especially rare. Too bad the spirits are apparently no stronger than your average mage, so I have no need for this."
With a flick of his wrist, salamander tosses the key out the window, off the boat and into the sea.
"No, shoot this is not good" Lucy's worry begins to grow. Not because she's defenseless, having chosen to leave her whip behind, but because she'll be in for it after this is resolved. Turning back to salamander with a growl in her throat.
"Using magic to take advantage of others, you're the worst wizard alive"
Suddenly, the ceiling is destroyed as something crashes through. This catches every one by surprise, as the dust clears to reveal a pink haired man in a crouching position. Lucy recognizes him, considering she bought him lunch.
"Natsu?!"
As Natsu prepares to get up, the boat hits a rough wave, rocking it. Natsu quickly turns green and collapses comedically. From the hole in the roof a blue cat with white wings flies through and notices Lucy.
"Oh hey there Lucy, what are you doing here?" Happy says as he floats over
"Oh happy! This bastard claiming to be from fairy tail is planning to kidnap all these girls and take them to bosco, wait, since when do you have wings, ah nevermind that fly back to port and alert the rune knights" lucy says quickly getting over the shock of Natsu and Happy appearing
"Wait what?!"
"Nevermind just go"
"Ok, hold on" Happy says as he wraps his tail around Lucy's waist carrying her through the hole in the roof.
"Huh, wait what about natsu?"
"I can't carry two people"
Having seen this all happen, Salamander breaks from his shock and confusion, and begins to bark orders.
" After them, we can't let them report this to the rune knights or the Magic Council" he yells as he begins to cast a spell. Slashing his hand horizontally in front of him he creates a magic circle
"Prominence whip"
From the magic circle, multiple purple flames shoot out, aiming to knock Lucy and happy out of the sky. Happy takes action dodging each flame with skillful flying. Some come close, the heat they radiate strong but happy's seen stronger. With a few streams curving to cut him off he dives beneath, letting them crash into each other and making an explosion like it was a firework.
"What about natsu and the other girls" lucy ask gaining her bearings
"We got a problem lucy" happy says ignoring her question
"Huh what is it"
"My magic just ran out" he says as his wings disappear, dropping him and Lucy into the ocean.
Meanwhile back on the ship, Salamander is tense after watching them escape. "Damn, that cat is quicker that he looks" 'If word gets to the damn council, Boscos guild league we be on the hunt for us, we need to go now'
"Hey guys, don't forget about me"
Salamander and his men turned around to see Natsu leaning on the doorway with a fierce glare while still looking a little sick. Salamander orders some men to beat up natsu. While Natsu is getting beat up rather comedically, Salamander turns back to the ocean before ordering the rest of his men to tend to the ship.
"Forget about them, continue making way to Bosco"
As the men continue to beat up Natsu he manages to catch one of their kicks. Pushing it back he aims a question at salamander
"You say your a member your a member of Fairy Tail" nastsu says while glaring "I gotta ask you something"
Back in the ocean Lucy is watching the boat sailing off, trying to think of something to do. As she stares she feels a familiar energy near. Looking around she notices a pulsing golden light on the seafloor and dives beneath the wave. Holding her breath she swims closer to the light, hoping it's what she thinks it is. Upon getting closer she sees a familiar golden key that begins to float towards her on the ocean currents. Taking the key in hand she swims to the surface.
Happy, who was recovering after falling, was floating on his back when he saw Lucy breach the water near him.
"Here we go," Lucy says as she lifts the key in the air. The key begins to glow with golden light as she infuses it with her magic before she stops herself.
"Ah, maybe I shouldn't summon her right now. She might be a little mad"
Putting the golden key back on her keyring Lucy instead takes a silver one designed as if wrapped in tentacles.
"By the terms of our contract I ask you to come forth, from the sea of stars to the material plane, I open the astral gate of Sea Monster, CETUS."
As Lucy chants her incantation, happy sees the stars in the sky begin to shine brighter. The water around them begins to ripple as a hum fills the air. In front of Lucy, just above the water a magic circle begins to form with multiple glyphs and runes. At the center of the circle the same symbol on the key appears. As the circle is finally formed and Lucy finishes chanting, a powerful bell tolling is heard. DING DONG
With that reverberating sound the center circle splits open like a door. From this opening, water begins to pour forth into the ocean as a massive glittering cloud of star dust emerges. The cloud condensed and shone before diving beneath the waves.
"Um Lucy, was something supposed to happen?" Happy, who was watching asked.
"Give it a second happy, He needs to grow to full size"
"HE who!?" Happy asked in fear as the sea around them began to toil, the waves becoming rough and violent. Looking into the water a glowing light is seen before a giant shadow makes its way up. Happy tries to paddle away while Lucy remains calm.
With a massive ploosh the water surface in front of them is broken as a massive creature emerges from the depths. The first thing seen in its head, though humanoid it has two fins where its ears would be and a frill on top of its head then running down the spine of its humanoid torso. The creature opens its eyes revealing two glowing yellow orbs and smiles, showing its shark-like teeth.
Emerging even more from the depths its torso is revealed along with its four scaled arms each with fins near the elbow. As happy freaked out lucy smiled at the creature who used its lower right arm to pluck the two from the water.
"AHHH IT'S GOING TO CRUSH US!" Happy screamed before Lucy whacked him upside the head.
"Calm down Happy this is Cetus, one of my celestial spirits, he's going to help us not hurt us"
"That's right little one, I would never hurt my little lady," Cetus said, still smiling, which frightened Happy more.
"Now Lucy, what do you need?"
"You see the ship over there, I need you to stop it, there's a bunch of bad men on it that plan on doing horrible things to the women they've captured!" Lucy told him. Cetus's smile became sharp and his brow furrowed.
"Hurting innocent women, eh, that just won't do" Cetus said still with a smile but an underlying anger could be detected in his voice.
Lifting his other arms, they began to glow a light green before he slammed them underneath the waves. Lucy watched as the same green glow appeared in the water around the ship and sat cross legged in cetus palm to watch the show.
Back over on the ship Natsu was fending off salamader's men despite the green in his face, much to salamander's anger.
"You're really pissing me off boy, men hurry up and kill him!"
Before any of the men could try to attack Natsu again the boat was rocked violently and halted in the water.
"What the hell did we hit some rocks" one of salamanders men said as they looked over the rail before seeing a green tendril burst from the water wrap around his neck and pull him into the sea.
The other crew members shouted in surprise as 14 more tentacles emerged from the waters. Some were grabbed and pulled into the sea while others were lifted into the air and slammed back into the deck. A few tendrils wrapped around parts of the ship and constricted breaking the wood. A few tendrils tried to attack salamander who blasted them back with a few firebolts.
All the unconscious women were gently put into a few lifeboats and moved away from the ship and any crew that tried to stop them were whipped back.
"What the hell, there aren't supposed to be any krakens in these waters let alone in this sea" salamander yelled
Natsu was also wrapped in a tentacle as well and was trying to break free.
"Hey you better let me go or I'll turn you into fried calamari!"
Lucy and Happy watched as Cetus's tendrils crushed parts of the ship and battered the would-be slavers. Patting cetus's palm lucy called for his attention "I think that's good cetus, go ahead and send them back to shore"
"With pleasure" Cetus said as all the tendrils wrapped around the ship and lifted it 60 feet in the air then chucked it towards hargeon port. They all watched as the ship flew through the air and crash on the beach destroying a few docks and a warehouse.
"Whoops, got a little too into it" cetus said as he pulled his hands out of the water and his elongated tentacle fingers returned to normal, before scratching his head in a sheepish manner.
"UUGGHH, this is gonna suck to explain to the rune knights, Cetus, set us on the beach then you can go" lucy said as she hid her face in her hands
"Wow lucy, not bad, you'd fit right in with us" happy said as cetus placed them on the beach near the wreckage and moved the lifeboats with the women onto shore.
Over with the crashed ship, Salamander and his men recover from the throw. While Salamander and a few thugs managed to get by with scrapes and bruises, more men were unconscious while others had some broken bones and were bleeding. The unconscious women have woken up but appear to be completely unharmed. From atop the wreckage natsu emerges no longer looking green. Lucy and Happy just made it over to the wreckage just as natsu began to speak.
"All right, don't know what the heck those tentacles were about but I've got a bone to pick with you!" Natsu said, pointing at Salamander "You say you're part of the fairy tail guild?"
"Yah what's it to you, go get em men" salamander responds
"Let me get a closer look at your face," Natsu says as he removes his overcoat, leaving him in just his vest.
As a couple of thugs rush at Natsu, Lucy yells for him to look out but Happy tells her not to worry, sitting on her shoulder eating a fish he pulled out of nowhere.
"I probably should have told you this earlier but natsu's a mage as well."
As the thugs were about to attack, Natsu was quicker. With a quick right hook, Natsu's fist connects with the first thug pushing into the second with enough force to throw them to the side.
"My name is Natsu and i'm a fairy tail wizard, and I've never seen you before"
With this declaration natsu proudly shows the fairy tail guild mark on his right arm. This causes all the thugs and Lucy to freak out.
"Seriously, natsu's a member of fairy tail!" lucy exclaims as she stare at the symbol
"That mark on his arm, this guy is the real deal Bora" a thug with an eye patch says as he looks toward Salamander with worry. "You idiot, don't call me that" salamander or rather Bora says with worry. After hearing that and taking another look, Happy has a realization.
"I know who he is now, that's Bora the prominence, rumor has it he was kicked out of the titan nose mage guild for bad behavior"
"I dont know whats going on here and I don't care if you're good or bad or whatever. I won't let anyone dirty fairy tail's name" Natsu says as he moves forward
"Oh and what are you gonna do about it, stop me" bora says preparing a spell circle.
"Prominence typhoon"
A large wave of spiraling purple flame emerges from the circle. Crashing into Natsu setting the wreckage aflame and causing an explosion. The women take the chance to run away from the ensuing fight, while some townspeople have shown up to see what was going on and what destroyed the docks. Lucy attempted to rush forward to help but Happy stopped her.
"That's the way it goes, the bigger the talk the weaker the man, hmph" bora says as he turns around to leave before hearring a shout from the flames.
"Bleegh, this is so gross, are you sure you're really a fire wizard, cause these are the nastiest flames i've ever tasted." Within the flames, Natsu can be seen shoveling flames into his mouth. This causes everyone to freak out.
"Thanks for the grub poser," Natsu says as the flames are extinguished. Happy then decides to speak up.
"Fire magic doesn't work on natsu"
"I've never seen anything like it" lucy replies
"Now i've got a fire in my belly, and its raging to get out" slamming his fist together natsu creates a magic circle. In the center the image of a dragon's head appears. Cupping his hands together like a funnel, Natsu takes a deep breath before…
"Fire dragon's roar"
A stream of fire emerges from Natsu's mouth, passing through the magic circle becoming bigger and more powerful. Aiming towards bora and his men a large explosion occurs that can be seen from the edge of town. As the dust clears, it reveals that all of Bora's men are down for the count covered in burns but still conscious. A purple spiral flame rises in the air revealing that bora dodged the attack.
"Hey bora, I think i've seen this guy before, that pink hair and scaly looking scarf, there's no doubt about it, he's got to be the real one, he's…"
"Salamander" Lucy finishes as Natsu is seen through the smoke. She watches as Natsu summons flames in both of his hands and goes on the offensive
"Hoping you guys are watching cause this is what a fairy tail wizard can do"
Bora begins to freak out, firing off his own attack.
"Red shower"
A rain of fire shoots down on Natsu, who rushes through dodging the attack before summoning a magic circle beneath him then jumping 50 feet in the air, boosted by the circles flames. At the top of his jump he knocks bora from his flame spire, throwing him from the beach into town with a strong punch.
Lucy is trying to make sense of what just happened.
"So he eats fire then attacks with it, but how does he do it, is it a spell?"
"He has dragon lungs to breathe fire, dragon scales to dissolve fire, and dragon claws to attack with fire. His brand of magic allows him to take on the qualities of a dragon, its an ancient spell that rarely used anymore" Happy answers
"Seriously that's incredible"
"Aye, they say this magic was used to deal with dragons, it called dragon slayer magic, Igneel was the one who taught it to him"
As they talk, the fight between natsu and bora rages through town. Bora emerges from the rubble as Natsu lands on a building across from him. He quickly uses his flames to gain height rising in the air. Gathering his magic bora releases a large stream of fire across hargeon, trying to hit natsu.
"Flame Prominence"
The widespread attack was dangerous having destroyed multiple buildings throwing smoke and dust into the air. Natsu was able to avoid it. Through the smoke, half his face covered, caused an illusion of his left eye glowing red as natsu stared down bora, his scarf blowing in the wind. Bora's fear was growing by the second as he hasn't been able to land a single hit, gathering his magic again he creates a large fireball two meters in diameter, he launches it over his head and down towards natsu.
"red flame skull"
Unfortunately for him natsu was able to catch it in his hands, barely making him budge, then slurps the fire down like noodles.
"Now that was a hefty meal, your not doing too bad but i'm about to cook you like a smoked fish"
"Your gonna do WHHAAT?!"
"Get ready" natsu says as he charges his flames
"Fire dragons Iron fist"
Natsu then launches himself at bora once again, flames engulfing his fist. As he approaches bora reels back in fear, as Natsu comes closer and closer for a split second bora sees the visage of a red dragon overlaying natsu's form, this causes him to scream in fear cause in the next moment it's gone and Natsu is right in front of him. With a well placed punch right in the face, Natsu blast bora backwards, destroying a couple roofs and walls before hitting Hargeon's bell tower knocking him out.
"Don't be silly Natsu, you smoke fish with smoke not fire" happy says
Lucy looked amazed. "That was incredible, but… he overdid it!" and she was right about that.
Multiple buildings had been destroyed because of the fight. Rubble was everywhere and there were still some fires here and there.
"Aye"
"Oh shut it cat"
With so much destruction across Hargeon it drew the attention of the local rune knights. The rune knights are the military branch for the kingdom and part of the arcane army, which had multiple brigades like the eldritch or echo knights. The army answers directly to the Magic council who govern the united kingdoms of Ishgar as well as the Fiore monarchy and the governments of the other countries. While magic guilds can be found in most cities across the kingdom, knight brigades are placed in almost every major city in the country. Lucy was a little relieved to see the soldiers approaching as they began to clear the damaged parts of the city of civilians. Taking to the beach the knights began taking boras men into custody, no doubt to be questioned. Lucy was about to go over and give her own testimony to the knights when she felt her arm get pulled.
"Oh crap we gotta get out of here!" Natsu yelled as he dragged her away
"Whoa, hey where the heck are you taking me"
"Just come on, you said you wanted to join a guild dont ya? Then join us at fairy tail" Natsu says
This surprised lucy as she looked at Natsu, with him looking back with a smile
"So let's go" "Alright!" she says with a smile of her own.
As Lucy was dragged out of Hargeon by Natsu and Happy, she was able to grab the rest of her things from the inn she was staying in. After the most exciting day she's had in awhile, something tells Lucy that this was the beginning of a new adventure.
While Lucy Natsu and Happy made their escape, a new figure appeared on the beach. It was a tall man wearing well decorated armor and a billowing cape, and upon sight of him all rune knights in the area saluted him, much to his chagrin.
"At ease men, continue with your duties, make sure all the civilians are safe. Captain report." the man said
The rune knight captain approached the man with a clipboard and some papers.
"General Kane it's a surprise to see you here sir" the captain said, and indeed it was for this man was one of the 8 generals that commanded the Arcane Army and reported directly to the Magic council. When the ishgarian coalition of kingdoms was formed so too was the Arcane Army and the 8 arcane generals commanded each division and helped to enforce the laws of the collision.
"I understand, i was just in the area, now report"
"Yes sir, earlier today we received a tip about a man going by the name salamander possessing an illegal charm ring. We gathered information that he had enthralled many women to join him on his boat for a party. Questioning the men, and eye witness reports weve determained that Bora, salamanders real name, and his men were going to kidnap these women and sell them to Bosco's slave trade. The boat had already left port when we arrived to confront them but a sea monster rose from the ocean and attacked them before sending it back to shore. From there a fight with a fairy tail wizard and bora proceeded to wreck the town."
General Kane simply sighed upon learning that Fairy tail was involved.
"I'll have to inform the council about this, '' he said as he moved towards the wreckage of a building some knights were attempting to move. Raising his hand he tapped a rune that was engraved into his armor that glowed. The soldiers watched as the general grew to 20 feet tall and effortlessly moved the rubble.
"All right everyone let's get this place back in tip top shape" General Kane said to boost morale as he thought to himself ' Fairy tail huh, Saint Makorov really needs to keep those kids in check.
All right first chapter, honestly as an amateur writer i'm a little proud. though i do wish for comments and feedback and any questions that i could answer about the story. Specifically at the end of each chapter ill have a little section where ill discuss my thought process and the changes ive made, so here we go.
1. the lore, in my little prolouge i add more lore to the world. With the gods being so underused in the original story i wanted to do a little more on that. So based on zeref being curse by a god i thougt it would be a really cool idea that the reason gods arn't prominent is becuase zeref sealed them away from earthland. And with the gods sealed away, holy magic is rare meaning their have been no clerics or paladins in 400 years.
the other bit i added was the nine hells. How was zeref able to create demons of his own if he did not study them first? eh? mira's demon souls and the demons on galuna island are seperate from zeref so it makes sense to me.
Now also on the nine hells, i plan on using the idea of multiple realms. The celestial spirit world is already proof of it so why not. Ill be taking insperation from dnd's planes of existance with earthland being a matieral world, edolas will also be a material world, i have a lot of ideas for that arc.
I also have an idea for a original fay realm arc and it would happen during the 7 year timeskip.
2. more lore about the magic coucil. I plan on really fleshing out this organization because despite them being the 'highest authority in the magical world' i feel that wasn't really explored. It may just be my own niech but i really enjoy stories and worlds with a diverse lore around everything and really enjoy world building. So to make them more interesting i added a little more structure to it all with the coalition of kingdoms of which the council governs and also added the arcane army, of which the 'rune knight division' is apart of.
also, Present my first original character 'general kane' of the 8 arcane generals. as i will be using a lot of inspiration from dnd as well as pathfinder, Kane and the other generals we will eventualy meet will be based on fighter subclasses from dnd. as the term rune knight already existed i figured, why not, kane is basically a level 15 rune knight.
3. main character changes, starting with Lucy. ok so, lucy will definetly be stronger in this than she is in cannon which als has to do with the chages to the celestial spirits. Lucy ran away a whole year before she joined fairy tail, she should have difinetly been a capable mage from the start.
now i also gave lucy a goal in this, to find all 88 keys, which we never got to see. honestly lucy is my favorite and i feel her magic was incredibly under explored and while i like stardress it will not be a thing for lucy in this story. so her power ups will naturally be gaining more spirits, and already started by giving her three new originals
Cetus the sea-monster, Apus the bird of paridise, and telescopium the telescope. I decided to use cetus first becuase he fit the role aquarius filled originally. as for his appearence, thing of the kraken from the original clash of the titans movie but the face more human.
now the canon spirits. Tuarus, gods he was such a dissapointment when ever he was used, for being the physically strongest spirit he got knocked around alot and was a complete joke most of the time. the only time i ever liked him was in the eclipse arc where he fought natsu. so changes i made were to his design and personality, making him more like a personal trainer for lucy and his perverse nature changed to the idea that strength is real beauty. to make it more interesting im going to treat him as a high level barbarian.
on to natsu, not to much of a change right now aside from him knowing draconic and having taught happy, but him knowing will be very important to lucy wich will be reaveled next chapter.
Though ive never written romance nalu and the othe ships will be something i will focus on, and oh boy do i have ideas on gajeel and levys relationship. you know how gajeel being a double agent for raven tail going nowhere, well its definetly gonna go somewhere.
I think thats all i got for now so see you next time