I, Lucy Heartfilia, was not having a good day.
Why, you may ask?
It's quite simple, I was confused as hell.
Now, I'd gotten used to weird stuff ever since joining Fairy Tail, with fantastical adventures coming up almost every day. Not a day could go by without something exiting or scary happening, but this day may have been the weirdest of all.
Facing off against Zeref and his empire was scary sure, but I'd gotten used to that. So, my friends and I battled it out to protect our city, Magnolia, and all its citizens, as well as to stop Zeref from achieving his goal. That seemed to work pretty well. Natsu had faced him head on, and I rewrote his book to keep him alive. That was only one enemy we had though. Acnologia was a different beast entirely. I had thought he was trapped, but he broke out, and before we could even finish the battle against Zeref, we now had to deal with Acnologia too. We couldn't do anything against him, it seemed hopeless. Once again, he seemed like he was about to destroy Magnolia, much in the same manner he did to Tenroujima. Yet, for whatever reason, that's when the world seemed to disappear around me, and I knew nothing anymore.
Later on, I woke up in the spirit world, and my spirit friends told me a simplified version of what happened. Zeref had succeeded in his plan to go back in time, and in doing so, he destroyed our world. He did also prevent Acnologia from destroying us too, and instead of killing us, we were scattered to different worlds. My guildmates could be in any other world now. Who knows, maybe they ended up in Edolas, where friends could protect them. All I could do was keep faith that they would all live on elsewhere, even if I could never see them again. Yes, that hope was all I had. "They aren't dead," I thought. "They're in a better, more peaceful world, much like I am." That may have been the only reason I didn't break down on the spot. Somehow, though some foreign feeling, I knew they were safe. As for myself, well the spirit King had noticed the breakage in the worlds and intercepted me, as least for a short while, he couldn't do it indefinitely. Eventually, I would also have to go to a new human world.
Oh yeah, I guess what the Spirit King told me should also be counted among the day's weirdness, well, I'll share that now.
"Old friend, it pains me to have to meet like this"
"Moustache man, good to see you too"
"You could never let go of that one could you. Anyways as my old friends have explained to you, Earthland as you knew it is no more. Some version of it exists in the past sure, but you live on in the present. I have but an hour before you are sent off to a different world, one that has humans in it. It's another magical world, much like yours, but there, everyone can use some magic."
"Everyone! you mean that." I butted in. "That's amazing, I could never imagine that in Earthland."
"Yes, every world has it's differences, and that's one of the characteristics of where you are heading. Much like your world, everyone still uses magic based on one element, however, in this world that element is decided at birth, and it's impossible to learn magic of a different element.
"That's so odd, so no one has a choice over their magic there." I responded.
"It's not like that choice is too common in Earthland ever, though its less rigid. But other worlds do exist too, and every one has its own system. In some, magic has no element and anyone can use any style. Others are much like the present day Edolas, lacking magic completely. there's even a world out there where magic never existed, and the people rely on advanced technology instead. I'm sure your friends are scattered across those worlds now." spoke the King again, with a hint of sympathy in his voice.
"So many different options, I could just imagine Natsu in a non-magical world where he can't just destroy everything he sees. Actually, knowing our luck that's probably exactly what happened. I hope he can find some happiness there."
"I'm sure they will be. But you will have to live for the future Lucy. Don't forget your precious memories of your friends, but don't let it stop you from making new ones."
"I won't" I said resolutely.
"Now, I will need to give you a few tools to aid you. unfortunately, the keys you used are linked to Earthland, they are the keys of that world. In the new world, you can't take them with you. You will have to find this world's keys. To assist, I can use my magic to ensure you aren't completely powerless. I can ensure you have one of the new world's keys when you land. the question is, which one?"
"Only one key, but how can you make me choose between my friends?"
"it's not permanent, the keys for all your friends exist in this world, and to help I will grant you a spell that allows tracking of keys. I wouldn't want to separate you from your spirit family. But my power is limited, and you should start with one so as to not be completely defenseless."
Ok, she could set off and find her friends again, but the King was right. She needed some magic to defend herself, she also needed someone she could rely on as a human-like friend to help her mentally, more so than the other spirits. The choice was clear. "Loke, I'll start with Loke." she responded.
"Alright then, I'll arrange it. though I do suggest finding Aquarius fast. After all, her key in this world wasn't destroyed, only the Earthland copy was. As for other business." He said, now holding a book in his hand. The book was beautifully decorated, with drawings of the night sky on both covers, and lines depicting the various constellations. The trim and spine were all golden, giving the book a bit of a glow. The front cover had an intricately designed arrangement of stars lining up to a central piece, a simple 5-pointed star in gold, surrounded by white. "This book is known as a grimoire, used by the mages of the land you are heading to. The front symbol usually symbolizes your Kingdom, in this case, the star is for the land of the spirits. You're much like a child to some of us, so it's well deserved. Inside, you'll find a page containing every spell you've learnt to cast. New pages will fill themselves in as you learn new spells or find keys, so for now it's a bit empty." He said, handing over the book. Lucy accepted the book with two hands.
"It's beautiful." she said while opening the book and scanning the pages. "Oh look, it's Loke's summoning, and there's his star dress. I also have urano metria and that key tracking spell you gave me."
"It's all complete with what you've learned that book will grow with you. With that said, it's time you get going, new adventures await you, and last time I checked that usually gets Fairy Tail mages exited."
"I still don't know what to think of this without my friends, but you're right in saying I have to live on. I'll thrive there, so that I can see my guild again one day."
"It's good to see your spirits raised, go on and do us spirits proud."
"You got it, moustache man"
The king simply returned a smile, and then I faded out.
Now this would have already been weird enough for one day, but of course, it couldn't end there.
The next thing I knew, I was on a beach. It wasn't very crowded, and it appeared to be close to nighttime. I checked my belt and noticed one key on my keyring, as well as a new holster containing my grimoire. Okay, so everything was there as promised. behind me, I noticed a crashed boat on the sand. I checked it out and found a sleeping bag and a few food and water rations. Well, it really painted the picture of who I was well, a castaway in a foreign land I found out was called the clover kingdom from a sign at the edge of the beach. So then, I had no money and no place to live, and way to get a job. The boat made sure everyone knew I was a foreigner, so I may not have been too well liked. I decided that since it was so late, my first day could be spent walking around, then I'd set up camp at the crashed boat and sleep the night there. I could meet the residents tomorrow. Today's craziness deserved a good night's beauty sleep.
The streets of what I soon learned was the capital of the clover kingdom was reminding me a lot of Crocus. Every building was at least three floors high, with the upper floors mostly being apartments and plenty of market stalls in the bottom. I soon entered what looked like a central market square, where I caught sign of some food stalls that were still open. The food of course looked foreign to me, and even if I wanted to try it, I had no money. Well, getting some income was at the top of my to-do list. I should find out if there's guilds here, that would make life so much easier. Oh well, that was for another day.
Two more hours of wandering, a few stares on the street, and maybe an inappropriate comment of two by a leering man, I had found my way across the city back to the beachside where the crashed boat was. Tomorrow, I was definitely going to meet some locals, hopefully, there will be nice people. But before that, I need to put some of the crazy behind me, it's a bit too much for even a Fairy Tail wizard to handle. With that, i zipped up my sleeping bag and drifted off staring at the night sky, thinking of my spirits in the sky.