Chapter 3
Rocks and boulders rolled down the cliffs and planted atop the ground loudly, shattering, sending pieces and fragments spinning and rolling around.
The march walked through a ravine. As they climbed up the uphill section and started to climb down afterwards, they were presented with a scenery before them that had yet been obscured to their eyes. A behemoth mountain in the distance covered the horizon, as if intentionally not allowing them to see anything beyond it.
Natsu looked at the mountain, then looked at its peak. The broad and wide base of the mountain seemed to awkwardly and uniquely narrow at the top, almost as if it had been crafted intentionally. The peak was pointed and sharp, and carried a ring of dark ominous clouds around it. Natsu halted as he stared at those clouds. The ring of them seemed to revolve around the peak, releasing lightning that lit up the base of the dark clouds for short seconds. Streaks of those clouds swept out away from the ring, breaking the circle, and merging subtly into the clear skies. That mountain was their destination.
Natsu had always looked at this anomaly only from a distance. Ever since he knew that this was due to the demon king living atop that strange mountain, he had only wondered what this place would be like. Even that same morning, when he was looking at this same scenery from the camp, he had only fleetingly wondered about it. Now, he was finally here.
He halted by the side of the marching line and took a deep breath. He comforted his exhausted muscles and stretched his arms and legs. There was still a bit to go on, and he was curious to see what would come ahead. He had already seen a minotaur that was far away from its home, corrupted and drawn in by the demon's power. What other mythical sights awaited him?
When he rejoined the march, he found that he started walking right next to Gray. Gray had been somewhere behind him this whole time.
"Finally found time to walk with your friend?" Gray asked teasingly.
Natsu laughed awkwardly. "What do you know of this place?"
Gray looked at him suspiciously. "Why… why are you asking me?"
Natsu stared at him. "Didn't you serve with the exploration corps for three years? I assumed you'd know."
Gray eased up for a while. "Oh right. I did serve with the exploration corps, but… we never travelled this far up north. Remember? This is the first time in 700 years that this place is empty from the demon army's patrols. He doesn't have anyone left to man this area. We are going into unknown territory. I have never been here before."
Natsu watched him, thinking. Why did he get so uncomfortable and defensive just now? All Natsu asked was a simple question.
He decided to find out what Gray was hiding.
"But… you sometimes know things that others don't. You are perceptive… and inquisitive."
Gray looked at him, unsure if that was supposed to be flattery to get answers or something else. He studied Natsu for a while, and then halted, as if coming to a decision. He grabbed Natsu's arm and pulled him aside, away from prying ears and eyes.
A female paladin from the march looked at him. "Don't break formation for too long, Gray. I have my eyes on you." She said flirtily.
Gray turned back to look at her and nodded awkwardly. "I'll join you in a short moment, ma'am. Please go ahead."
She shook her head at him. "Don't keep me waiting."
Gray laughed, embarrassed. The paladin walked on. He turned back to Natsu, both of them halted by the march as it carried on. He whispered.
"Okay. I don't know how you know this, but I have been doing some digging into this area. I hope you haven't told anyone."
Natsu watched him, amused. Gray may have been a secretive man, but it was very easy for Natsu to have him spill his secrets to him. All he did was ask a probing question and mix in a bit of flattery, and Gray was all his.
"I haven't told anyone." Natsu affirmed.
"Okay." Gray looked around himself one last time, and then continued. "I was in the old library at the castle. The one where the classified tomes and books are. I was looking for some books on greater alchemy, which the new library didn't have. I came across an old book then. A record that had been kept for centuries by the various ancient sentinels and paladins from our order that had been doing recon into this area. I read through that quickly."
Natsu was all ears. He never knew such a book or a record existed. What would Gray tell him next? He eagerly wanted to know what that book had told. Records by sentinels and paladins that had long perished that knew this area back in the peak of the Great War? That sounded interesting.
Gray continued. "The castle where the demon king resides? Where we are headed? It's called the Sand Bastion. It wasn't built by the demon king. It was built 700 years ago by the then king of Fiorre to serve as a powerful military checkpoint in the mountains up north, to check invasions through the sea and the hills. The first to inhabit the castle was a unit of elite sentinels, the best of the best, led by a sentinel captain, posted there by the king. Rumours are that the king wanted this particular unit to stay away from the kingdom, as he suspected that the particular sentinel captain heading them was trying to overthrow the royalty and take the kingdom for himself. The king left the unit to rot in this castle, to fend for themselves for years. No food, no supplies, no fortifications, no water. No further missions. As a result, the unit went into mutiny against the Table and the Crown. They deserted and broke their oaths. They turned into raiders and pillaged the nearby towns and villages for years. Before the king could send another unit to curb their mutiny and bring them to justice to be court-martialed, a portal opened."
He pointed to the dark ring of clouds over the large mountain. "There. Those clouds? That is what is left of that ancient portal. Through that portal walked the demon king–Etherious. That is the earliest record of him stepping into our world. 700 years ago. He took over the castle of Sand Bastion that is just on the other side of that mountain, ousted and killed the sentinels that hid there, and took it for himself. That's when the Great War started. That castle is where we are headed. That's all I know."
He finished, and gazed around him once again, to make sure they were safe and no senior officers had heard their secrets.
Natsu took that time to think about what had just been spoken to him. He stared at the ground, at a dry pebble that lay by his armoured feet. He had never known any of that before. He looked back at the massive ring of clouds in the sky, far away. That was… a portal? To where? The demon's homeland? Hell?
He turned back to Gary, who was watching the knights pass by, as if trying to figure out if the two of them standing by while everyone else marched on looked suspicious. He was right to be afraid. This information that he held… it was a breach of chain of command. He had learnt it while snooping around, not from a source that legitimately told him that intel when he had needed to know it. He could be in great trouble if someone found out. And now, Natsu could be in trouble if he were to somehow blurt that out as well. Excommunication, or maybe even worse. The chain of command was considered to be important and sacred in their order. What Gray had committed was nothing less than heresy.
"Didn't the library proctor catch you while you were reading those records? You could have been in trouble." Natsu asked.
Gray looked at him, silent for a while, and then laughed. "No. You have to plan ahead. I entered the old library when he was on break."
Natsu narrowed his eyes. Something about his explanation… felt wrong. Something in his answer was out of place.
Didn't Gray himself say he had come across that book accidentally? That he was looking for a book on greater alchemy when he came across that record? But now he was insinuating that he had planned ahead to go into the old library to read it? Did he intentionally try to find that book? What was Gray hiding from Natsu? Why would he intentionally learn a well kept secret and put his knighthood in danger? Why did he need that information so bad? Was he being untruthful to Natsu, of all people? His best friend?
Before he could ask Gray to explain this doubt, the female paladin from before walked up to Gray. She had her helmet off, clutched around her arm. Natsu watched her glowing pale face and her sharp green eyes. Her golden hair bounced as she walked, and her thin red lips procured a sly smile. She was quite pretty.
"I told you to not leave me behind, Gray. You're breaching a direct order?" She pouted.
Gray smiled, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry, ma'am. My friend and I were just catching up. Have you met him?--Natsu, come here."
Natsu sighed. He didn't want to be social right now. He had more pressing concerns—why would Gary be hiding something from him?
The woman looked at Natsu. "Your friend, huh? Bet he isn't as handsome as you are."
"Oh, he is quite good looking. You'd be shocked. And, he is a flame user. The rare kind." Gray retorted.
"Oh my… really?" The woman brought her hand to her lips and smiled excitedly. "So, Natsu. Why don't you take your helmet off, sir knight? Let me look at your face. Let's see if you really are as handsome as your friend says."
Natsu grinded his teeth. What was Gray trying to do? Before he took off his helmet, he looked at Gray once, and his mischievous and sinister smile. Natsu then knew immediately that he was definitely trying to get rid of that woman's advances by planting her atop Natsu. That told Natsu all he needed to know. That woman was probably a menace.
Natsu slowly took his helmet off, his long salmon hair dropping over his head from under it. His sweat covered face felt the coolness of the air on it as the breezes contacted it. It might have been for a useless reason, but taking off his helmet did feel nice in the warm heat of the afternoon. He couldn't have taken it off by himself, as he was on duty, but since a senior officer like herself had commanded him, he was bound by order to do as she said.
She studied his face, interested. She walked closer and narrowed her glowing green eyes, as if critical. She then sighed. "You were right. He is quite handsome. Like you. But. You can't get rid of me that easily, Gray." She turned to him and poked at his helmet. "You'll always be my first choice. If I ever find out that you're a bastard that just wants to play games with me, then maybe I'll go after your friend here."
Gray sighed, smiling tiredly. "At least I tried."
The woman covered her mouth with her hand and laughed loudly. "It isn't that easy to get rid of me, Gray. My fallen enemies know that, and soon, you'll too."
She grabbed Gray's shoulder and the two of them walked ahead, laughing and joking. Natsu sighed. How did he get caught up in this? He put his helmet back on, ceasing the contact of the cool winds on his face, and tried to look for an opening into the march to join it again.
"Natsu, come with us." He heard Gray's voice. "She's telling me something interesting."
Natsu turned his head and looked at them. They were heading in the same direction as the march, but a little away from it. They both turned to look at Natsu, awaiting him. What was she telling him? Was it really something interesting? Was it worth enough for Natsu to hear that woman's sharp and shrill voice again?
He caught up with the two, and the three resumed walking. At first, her and Gray whispered amongst each other, and Natsu had less than no idea what they were talking about, but soon, the female paladin sent an arm around Natsu's shoulders and pulled him closer to her, with Gray under the same position on the other side.
"Come on, Natsu. I'll tell you about the place we are headed to. Gray said that you were interested to learn. And I like handsome young boys that are ready to learn. Because… I can teach them a thing. Or two."
She laughed again.
Natsu didn't really enjoy her heavy and commanding arm around his neck. But he did want to learn about The Sand Bastion. Other than what Gray had told him, of course. He knew Gray and this woman seemed to be friends–with the woman obviously wanting more from Gray, but Natsu knew that Gray hadn't told her about his snooping in the old library. Natsu had a suspicion that he and Gray were the only two knights that knew that history.
"So… as I was saying," The paladin began, probably continuing her discussion with Gray. "I have been to the castle once. On a recon mission when I was a knight, long ago. It was with my knights captain, some paladins and a sentinel. We were supposed to look around the place and report it's status back to the Table. I don't know why they dragged me along, despite me just being a knight. I guess I got lucky. The same as you two boys right now. You're lucky to have been assigned this mission. Many other knights that are back at the castle would give anything to be here."
Natsu looked at the ground. He wasn't too sure of that. Or atleast, he didn't have the same sentiments. The other knights would give anything… to be placed on a risky mission? To face the greatest threat to humanity to ever exist head on–the demon king? He didn't know about that. The closer he walked to that castle, the deeper his fear got. He had always been more afraid and anxious than the others around him. Was it his lack of self confidence speaking?
The woman continued. "So, anyway. When we traveled through here almost 15 years back, it wasn't as easy as it is today. The war was still going on, and the demon had plenty of his army left to spare to patrol this ravine and the surrounding valleys–unlike today. In today's date, most of his army had been crushed. What remains remains holed up in his castle."
Gray intervened. "And… us knights don't have to fight? Is that true?"
The woman laughed. "I thought you'd be glad at the prospect of fighting a demon, Gray. A young knight like yourself? You should be eager to prove to the Table that you're eligible for a promotion. But yes. Leave the work to the sentinels and the paladins. Don't put yourself in the harm's way, you two. We'll fight whatever has to be fought off. You two just sit back and watch."
Natsu quietly thought about that. He really hoped that that was true. If he ever were to die, he didn't want to do it today. Not before achieving something in his life. And not in the least die to one of the demons. He had heard that they presented a horrible and painful death to their enemies. He was afraid of that possibility. Even the thought of that.
The woman continued. "So, the castle. We can see the mountain up ahead that the castle is on. But it's on the other side, hidden from us. When I visited this place before, we had to hide from the enemy patrols and slowly painstakingly make our way towards it. In the dead of the night. We never could infiltrate the castle, but we got to look at it from a… distance."
She slowly fell quiet. As if remembering something she didn't want to. Natsu and Gray both looked at her, wondering what suddenly happened to her behaviour of excessive and prideful talking?
"This ravine that we are walking through. The demons… they used to sell human slaves here. They would whip and lash them in the open, make them fight other humans till death, and then bid on them. Mothers would fight sons, fathers would fight daughters, brothers and sisters against each other. It was… horrible. Kill your own beloved… or die. Just up ahead the ravine, they would sell human meat. The smell was… horrible. It smelled of death. Horror. Agony. Pain. Misery. It were the worst sights that I have ever seen in my life. They still burn into my memory day and night. I have been long trying to forget everything I saw on that day. But… I can't."
The chatty woman fell completely silent, thinking deep. Gray and Natsu just stared at her. She slowed down her walk as well, her helmeted head facing down at the ground. Natsu continued gazing at her forlorn figure, almost feeling sorry for having had an unpleasant and unlikable view of hers in his mind just now. Maybe her grieved and afraid figure brought on empathy for her inside him. She was just human, just like him. Coming with all the faults and shortcomings of humanity like other humans did. But that didn't mean she wasn't afraid and frightened like him. That didn't mean she wasn't a human… like him.
He wanted to say something to comfort her, but Gray took that lead.
"I am… sorry you had to see that. I can't understand what you're going through. But… it's all coming to an end, right? They will pay for everything they have done. We will make sure of that. Right?"
The woman looked up from the ground and smiled. She then continued that smile into a grin.
"You know how to comfort a lady, don't you Gray? All the more reason why I am so interested in you."
She laughed again, pulling the two men closer to her chest. Natsu knew she wasn't comforted completely, but she was just hiding her pain for their sake.
Gray walked on awkwardly because of her tight grip around his neck. "Why don't you tell me how we will get to the castle. What can we expect?"
She laughed and continued. "Well, first of all, you can expect me to chat the ears off of you two. Prepare yourselves. Second, the ravine doesn't continue until the mountain. We will have to take an ancient mining tunnel under the mountain to get to the other side. On that side, we will climb up a staircase up the mountain upto the castle courtyard, assuming the staircase is still intact. Then again, Sentinel Laxus made it through to the castle to lay his siege. I assume it's still in good shape."
Gray looked ahead at the large mountain before him, as if he would be able to see sentinel Laxus somewhere atop it. Somewhere on it. Somewhere on the other side. Somewhere far away.
"Sentinel Laxus… the hero…" he mumbled, thinking about that man. That man, even though extremely well known and iconic, had such a stain of obscurity and mystery about him. Where did he come from? What was his history? How was he so powerful and… unique? What did one need to do to become the legendary Hero? Was he really a reincarnation of the old gods? Did he know the gods personally?
"So… what do you think of the Hero?" Gray asked the paladin.
She looked up, pondering about the man in question. She smiled blissfully.
"Well, he is extremely strong and good looking, isn't he? And he is… special. He is different. He isn't like us. He isn't like the other knights here. Neither paladins nor sentinels. He is in a league of his own. And that doesn't mean that he reached there through hard work. While it's true that we can get to heights never before possible through hard work, that's not the case with Laxus. He was… destined to be who he is. Destined to be strong and fierce. Stronger and fiercer than others. To have such skill and power, you definitely need a blessing from the gods. A blessing of the celestial order. Of the cosmos. Of the stars and the space. And they say once Laxus's work here is done, once the world is safe and the demon king's energy and his minions and his presence itself has left our world completely, and when Laxus is no longer needed—he will return to the stars. I really hope I can see him returning to his home, wherever that is. What a spectacle that would be."
Natsu stared at her. He had almost guessed that she would be commenting on his good looks. But what she said next had him thinking. Laxus was a popular icon in their world, with numerous conflicting stories surrounding his origins, his birth, his mission, his legendary powers, his true intentions... He had heard a lot of them, and that only added to his very unfathomable speculation of that man's true nature. But he had never heard the tale that this woman was telling. Never had he heard that Laxus lived in the stars, that he was a part of the unseen cosmos, of the planets and the space. That was probably just another floating rumour to add to that man's name and identity.
Natsu thought about this further. How much distance was there between him and Laxus? Laxus must truly be a god. Tiers above him. So far above that Natsu couldn't even see him. Not even his back. What must Natsu achieve to acquire that man's status? Kill a dragon? Defeat an entire army by himself? Or… maybe kill the demon king himself? Was Natsu that capable?
He shook his head. Not even in his dreams.
He heard the woman beside him chuckle. He looked at her lifted head and heard her mocking tone.
"Not everyone considers Laxus the legendary Hero, though." She said.
Natsu found himself getting interested. "What do you mean? That there are others that could be the Hero?"
She laughed and shook her head. "I wouldn't say too much, dear Natsu. I don't want to get in trouble should someone hear. But, I'll say. Erza is one such person that doesn't believe in Laxus completely."
Natsu's eyes widened. Erza? How did he come across her mention here of all places? This was too strong a coincidence that she was mentioned in a random direction of a random conversation when all Natsu had been doing the entire day was thinking about her.
He exhaled, interested. "What… Do you mean?"
The female paladin knocked the top of Natsu's head lightly. "Erza used to be a paladin before being a captain. She was in my unit. We had some chats back in the day. She had some… interesting ideas in that head of hers."
Natsu narrowed his eyes curiously. This woman used to know Titania personally? Natsu had been of the idea that Titania was so far ahead and so far away from him that he couldn't even get close to her, not even to someone that knew her closely, even. But he was walking right by an ex-unit mate of hers. This could be a good opportunity for him to know more about Erza, he thought.
"What… What was she like? When she served with you?"
The woman looked at him teasingly. "Hmm? Why the sudden interest, Natsu? Could it be that you're thinking of another woman right in front of my eyes? I won't forgive cheating, you should know that."
She looked up ahead and thought. "Well, let's see… she was strong and brave, obviously. I can't even count how many times she has saved me from grievous injuries. And even death. She is selfless and caring to a fault. She would literally jump before you if she thought you were in trouble or danger. If anything, she deserved that promotion more than anyone else. She is sincere, dutiful, loyal and determined. And hardworking. Someone like her should already be a sentinel at this point. But–"
She raised a finger, and looked at Natsu. "Do you know why she isn't? It's because… there are rumours that she opposes certain ideas of the Crown and some of its decisions. She is not too fond of the diplomatic and non-transparent approach that the king sometimes takes. She considers some of the actions of the Crown and the Table to be… a bit too mindless and selfish. She doesn't see the benefits of a move or an action if it costs too many lives in the process. She lets her emotions and caring attitude towards other soldiers get in the way of her favour with the king and his court. She has been opposed to many of the king's decisions for a very long time. The king knows of this, and keeps her away from the castle as much as possible. And even halts her promotion in fear that she gains too much power and influence. They say that's why she isn't a sentinel when she needs to be. She must truly care for the truth and transparency if she lets her glorious promotion go to waste for it. She is admirable."
Natsu kept watching her, hoping she'd continue, as he was finding all of that too interesting. But she stopped speaking, appearing as she was herself thinking about what she had just said. Natsu looked ahead at the ground, where he kept placing his foot as he walked.
So Erza cared about what happened to the soldiers around her, and opposed the king's decisions that put them in trouble. And that's why she hadn't been promoted to a sentinel's rank in a long time? That sounded plausible. He knew of the ugly politics that infested the higher tiers of their order of knights. To think that Erza was a victim off that was… infuriating. He felt anger on her behalf. How could someone treat her that way when all she wanted to do was to keep her soldiers safe? It was ridiculous and laughable how far some people would go for their own desires and powers. Natsu had always thought that he alone was a victim of the top brass's ugly games, who treated him like garbage and disposed of him whenever they wanted to, but to know that Erza was the same as him—a victim, really warmed his heart in some way. He wasn't alone. She wasn't as far from him as he had thought. She was in his shoes, at least.
The march halted walking, and one cursory glance around Natsu told him why. The ravine ahead of them was blocked off. It appeared like a landslide had taken the path away, but the landslide itself appeared… ancient. Trees and grasses grew over it, some trees looking hundreds of years old. Creepers and roots climbed over the dust and mud covered rocks like parasites hanging off for dear life. It didn't appear as if the landslide had happened recently. Was this where the trail ended? Had they reached the end? Where was the way to the mountain base? Did they make a wrong turn somewhere? Did they come to the wrong place?
The woman paladin beside Natsu pulled Gray and him back towards the march. "Our chat ends here. We can't appear out of formation now."
She pushed Natsu behind another knight in the march, and when he looked around, she was already gone and Gray was somewhere far behind him. What was going on? What was the urgency that she, who liked to talk so much, would end their conversation in such a hurry? He looked ahead again.
As if on cue—as if the female Paladin had foreseen it coming, a paladin-proctor walked by the march, checking the formation to make sure no one was out of line and breaking it. When he made sure that everything was fine, he returned back to his position. So the female paladin knew that a proctor would check the formation soon?
There was silence, breaking which, Gildarts appeared from amongst other sentinels, and stood facing everyone.
"The trail ends here. Or atleast, the trail that is visible. We just have to take a more unconventional route from here on."
He looked to his left, and two sentinels that stood there by a big boulder drew their massive warhammers and started to strike it. On the third strike, the boulder shattered, leaving dust in the air and bouncing fragments of stone and dried mud rolling on the ground. Some of those fragments came rolling right upto Natsu's feet. He stared at them, and then looked back up. Where the boulder was a few moments ago was now a dark hole going deep under the landslide. The boulder had been hiding that tunnel. The dust in the air settled, and Natsu saw clearer now. He narrowed his eyes, trying to peek into the darkness, but it just looked like a black gaping hole, nothing more. Natsu just assumed that his eyes had adjusted to the sunlight too well now and he couldn't properly see into the dark for the moment.
How did Sentinel Gildarts know that there was a tunnel behind that unassuming looking boulder?
As if to answer his question, Gildarts faced them again.
"The courier that sentinel Laxus sent had informed us of this tunnel. An earth paladin from Laxus's unit sealed it behind them. The frontline took this tunnel to the base of the mountain two days back, and so will we. The tunnel is too narrow to fit sentinels, so I will lead them over the landslide and reconvene with you at the base of the mountain. I'll choose a paladin captain to lead you all through the tunnel."
As if already having made the decision on who to choose, he continued. "Paladin Captain Titania. Walk forward."
Natsu's eyes widened. He leaned his head to look at her from beyond the long rows of knights and paladins that stood before him. Here she was again. Everytime he got even a little close to getting her out of his mind, she would somehow remind him of herself again. She was sitting unmoving in his thoughts.
He watched her walk forward from a group of paladins, and stand before Gildarts, her head facing up to him.
Natsu stared at her closely. So that was Titania, he thought. She looked no different than other paladins when in her armour. But on the inside, beneath her armour, Natsu knew that she looked very different. She looked unique. She looked… breathtaking.
Gildarts faced her. "Good, Paladin Captain. I trust you'll succeed. I have faith in your capabilities. I leave my soldiers in capable hands–yours, and their own. Look after them."
Titania nodded. "I'd be honoured to assist you, sir Gildarts."
Natsu enjoyed listening to her voice again, no matter how muffled it was under her helmet.
Gildarts nodded, and turned around. He climbed up a rock and headed over the landslide, his heavy feet thumping on the ground, shaking the floor, dust rising up around his position. Soon, he vanished over the edge, and was on his way towards the mountain. Other sentinels soon joined his tail, all the esteemed men and women in their heavy Cloak armour rising up over the landslide with no difficulty climbing it with their heavy ornaments. Their thumping and the ground vibrating under their immense weight soon ceased, and all of them had vanished. What was left was subtle and menacing howling of the empty winds in the dry ravine.
Titania watched the empty space where the sentinels had just vanished to. Natsu stared at her lone figure standing ahead of everyone. She looked… anxious. Was she afraid of this responsibility? Natsu made sure to not disappoint her. He couldn't disappoint her. Doing that would be like a sharp piercing stake through his heart, for some reason.
Titania turned around and faced her knights and paladins, that were her responsibility until they all met with the sentinels on the other side. She took a deep breath, and spoke in her soft yet commanding voice.
"I can't explain our strategy better than how Sentinel Captain Gildarts explained it. But… I'd like to emphasise one thing again. Please hear me."
She paused for a moment, as if letting the howl of the winds subside. Whatever she wanted to say must have been important.
"I care about each and everyone of you. Deeply. More than anything else in the world. More than my rank, more than my responsibility, more than my duty. I won't bear even a single loss. I have never been much emotional with what I have had to say, but I will try my best today. So please heed my words. I… can't lose any of you. I can't imagine it. I want all of you to return home with me, safe and sound. I want each one of you to live. As I have said before, each of us has worth. Not just as knights, but… as human beings. As people. And I will not see that worth and that human value slighted in the least. I won't handle it. I will do my best to protect everyone here, even with my life. But… if I fail, I want you to try your best to take care of yourselves. Ultimately, you are your own strongest protector. I don't want to see even a single one of you acting recklessly and endangering your lives. Am I clear?"
"Understood, ma'am!" Everyone resounded.
Erza nodded, and then drew her longsword and her shield. She turned and headed into the tunnel, disappearing from view. The knights started to fill in after her.
Natsu watched the rows of gleaming armours disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel, but his mind was elsewhere. Whoever had captured his mind—yet again, had already entered the tunnel.
He was thinking of Titania. Not to say that he hadn't been thinking of her the whole day. He was going over her speech just now inside his head. To know that she cared about him the way she mentioned… was a pleasing thought.
'I care about you deeply. More than anything else in the world. More than my rank, more than my responsibility. More than my duty.'
Those words echoed in his mind, fresh as if he was still listening to her repeat the speech in her soft and formidable voice. Her voice was alive inside his mind. She may not know his name or his identity, or his rank. She may not know who he was, or that he existed at all, but Natsu knew one thing for certain–that she cared about him. That he mattered to her. That he had worth to her. He knew that every word she had uttered was the truth. And he believed her. He felt special knowing that she cared for him that much. He would feel even more so if she… somehow, someway, got to know him personally. To be that close to her angelic presence, her warm and kind demeanour, her unfailing care for everyone around her… that would be an achievement in itself.
The miles long tunnel hike was over before Natsu could know it. He didn't know where all that distance had gone to. It was as if the miles had warped into a few mere feet. What was a hike that should have prolonged for hours in the darkness and the cold, the knee deep underwater ponds with freezing cold waters, the sharp and piercing stalactites hanging off the roof of the narrow tunnel, the crystals gleaming mysteriously in the dark providing them with light… all of it had lasted only minutes. Was the demon's mind warping magic at play here again? Or was Natsu so deep in Erza's thoughts that he had completely failed to pay attention to the passage of time and distance itself? Both could be possible. A mixture of the two was a very likely possibility.
When Natsu stepped out into the sunlight, the warm embrace of the sun so long obscured from him warmed his wet jumpsuit and shined and gleamed off his wet armour. He exhaled in relief as shivers subsided down his spine for the last time as the freezing effect of the tunnel's darkness was fast to vanish. Now, all he was surrounded by was warmth, fuzziness and comfort. It was like being wrapped in wool after a blizzard.
The bright and blinding gleam of the sun around him started to make sense as his eyes adjusted to the light, and when he blinked a few times to hasten the return of his vision to him, he focused on whatever was right before him. It was a tree. Green and flourishing, leafy and lively. It's leaves danced in the winds, clattering and fluttering, rocking and shaking. The tree was beautiful–centuries old, with thick and fleshy branches and trunk. Was this the hidden valley behind the mountain? This beautiful place? This green and naturally bountiful grassland? How did the demon's magic not yet corrupt this natural treasure trove?
Natsu soon realised—that it did. A strong gust of wind rocketed past him, almost moving him from his spot, breaking him out of his daze and his trance. He almost tumbled on his feet due to the gust of wind. When he regained his balance and stepped back to his original position, he opened his eyes properly and saw clearly for the first time since leaving the tunnel.
He looked around him, exasperated. Gone was the warm sunlight just now, gone was the warm and comforting caress of the winds that felt just recent, gone was the chirping of birds and the clattering and dancing of the leaves. Gone was the beauty and fantasy of a few minutes prior. What was before him was a wasteland. Wide, open and lonely plains, grasslands with dying drooping grasses the faint and dull shade of brownish orange, and dead trees planted atop the ground in a strange pattern, as if the tombstones of a once beautiful grassland. Mountains surrounded the valley in the far distance, covering up the horizon. They were dull and grey, lifeless and ominous. Skeletons of deer and boars studded the wasteland, peeking through the tall dead grass at him. He was being watched. Every element of this wasteland was his enemy. Every bit of this wild and untamed dead stretch was his adversary. He felt unwelcome here. Uncomfortable. As if… he was in a place where he shouldn't be.
He looked around himself, trying to find even a single glimpse of beauty around him, but all of that was long gone. It was all only a whisper of an ancient past. What was now left was death and rot. The evidence of the horrible spell of time having spelled past everything around him.
Reality hit him fast, and he could now hear the uncomfortable chatters and whispers around him. Knights stood scattered around him in clumps, talking in hushed whispers and bated breaths. Natsu could tell that they had been subjected to the same misleading sight as him just now. What was happening? Was it a trick of the demon's?
Titania walked before everyone in a hurry and gathered their attentions. The hushed whispers silenced, and all eyes and ears were on her.
"I know about the confusing vision you all just had. I had that too. You're not alone. But remember, it was just a trick of the demon's power to mislead us and frighten us. Be reminded again that we are in his territory, and just because he is at a loss for fighters doesn't mean he doesn't have his own magic and strength to fight us with. Keep calm, keep your mind on your duty and your goal, and you will remain resistant to his temptations. Now, I have received word already that Sentinel Gildarts has led the sentinels up the staircase already to scout for enemies ahead. We were supposed to follow after them a few moments ago already. We must reassemble and climb up the stairs as well. Keep after me, everyone."
She was in a hurry, and disappeared back into the crowd. The knights started to follow her. Natsu still stood dazed and perplexed, his heart racing with confusion and anticipation.
So this was the demon's power. He would be lying if he said that his spirit to fight the demon wasn't completely broken. The demon's magic was working. There was a deep heaviness in his heart that pulled him away from his goal and duty. Something told him that he shouldn't continue. That desertion was a better choice than to continue.
He looked around trying to find Gray. Maybe that guy could snap him out of it. But Gray was nowhere to be seen. Was he as disturbed and shaken by the demon's tricks just now? Or was he calm and collected like always, and was already following Titania up the staircase along the mountain? Natsu knew the latter was true. But where was he?
Following the other knights and paladins, Natsu reached the staircase. It looked old and withered, with mossy overgrowth over the steps and cracks, and patches of the stone architecture breaking off. It was built over 700 years ago. The withering was sure to take its original glory away. It was wide–as wide as fifteen knights across. Natsu caressed it's cold and rough structure, the edges of the surface tickling his palms. He looked ahead, up the staircase to see where it led to. It was built against the slope of the mountain, an easy way to climb up it. But a few metres ahead and above Natsu, a deep fog covered and shrouded the air. It was a thick curtain of whiteness that seemed to hang over the air, obscuring the heights of the mountain and the stone staircase pathway.
Natsu didn't know where he was going. He couldn't see where he was going. All he could do was follow behind the knights before him and watch his steps as he climbed up the miles long and miles tall mountain. The castle was hidden in the fog somewhere up there. Somewhere up there was sentinel Gildarts leading the rows of 300 sentinels up the steps. Somewhere up there was the demon king, waiting for the final step of the great war to reach its conclusion.
Natsu took the first step, and felt shivers crawl up his spine.
Natsu grabbed the hilt of his longsword, wary and afraid, ready to pull it out to fight the behemoth that stood before him. The monster was shrouded in the fog, and all Natsu could see was his silhouette, massive and formidable, almost twice his height, horns curving around its head. It appeared as if the giant demon stood facing away from him. There was silence in the air, only cut by the whistling of the strong winds that paraded around them high up in the mountains. They had climbed for hours, and nothing of note was experienced other than the thickening fog as they marched further up the staircase to the castle. The fog was heavy, and breathing in it was difficult.
A hand coiled around Natsu's wrist that gripped the hilt of his greatsword. He turned his head halfway to find a paladin's helmet nudged close to his shoulder.
"Don't draw your weapon." She whispered. "That's just Sentinel Captain Gildarts ahead of us. He has noticed something. Something is not right. Don't be fooled by the demon's tricks and attack your own."
She straightened back to her original position. Natsu still stared at her half visible figure behind him, his shaky hand still gripping at the sword. He couldn't be pacified at that moment, even though she had just tried. He looked back ahead at the towering figure a few feet before him, shrouded in the fog. That was sentinel captain Gildarts? Why then did it look like a demon to Natsu just now? Sentinel Captain Gildarts shouldn't look like a demon to him–he was one of the most welcoming and kind people Natsu has met. Was the demon trying to trick him into believing that his own brothers and sisters were his enemies? Or was it the fog?
The figure that was supposedly Gildarts turned his head to his right and looked at something. It appeared as if he was studying something that was hovering right next to his head. That object—whatever it was—was feet above Natsu's height. From Natsu's position, it only looked like Gildarts was studying the empty fog, but Natsu could tell that something was right next to him.
Gildarts drew his massive greatsword, and looked ahead. From the deep fog ahead, Natsu heard his low rumbling voice echo around.
"Onwards. We have reached the castle. Ahead of us is the castle courtyard. It's empty. No enemies in sight. We will spread out in the courtyard and assume defensive positions. We will wait to make contact with Sentinel Laxus's unit."
A paladin captain ran past Natsu, downstairs to spread Gildarts's order to the back of the line. Their army was so massive that there must have been soldiers still at the start of the staircase, all the way back, miles below. It was a difficult job to get the order to all of them clearly and without misinterpretations. Natsu turned his head to look at the messenger run past him and disappear into the fog. He then looked ahead again. He tried to look through the fog at the castle that they had reached, that was supposed to be right before him, sprawling, but all he could see was only a few feet ahead of him due to the heavy fog.
The march started slowly inching forward. Natsu climbed up the last few steps to reach a concrete platform where the steps ended. Was this the courtyard? Natsu looked around, but could only see the old concrete floor right around his position. It did look like a massive empty area from where he stood, but he couldn't tell what was beyond these curtains of fog.
He looked up to try and see what Gildarts was looking at that was right next to his head. He saw something dangling above the ground, at almost Gildarts's height. It was a human skeleton hung off an old rope to the arches of the gateway to the courtyard. He halted and stared at the skeleton. They had truly reached the castle. The fact that he couldn't see anything around him made him ten times as anxious as he would have been had he been able to see.
Soon, the knights, paladins and sentinels assumed the ordered positions over the vast empty courtyard. Hundreds and thousands of armour clattered around Natsu as everyone took their stances. The edges were supposedly occupied by the paladins, knights in the middle, and the sentinels in the front of each row of knights. It was a defensive position, meant to fend off effectively against threats that could jump at them from the fog.
Natsu's heart thumped audibly, atleast to him. It pressed and knocked against his chest, filling him with dread and anticipation of an ungodly kind. He was finally here. The demon's stronghold for centuries. The demon's home. The seat of power where he orchestrated all his dreams and nightmares. All his war crimes and outrage against the creatures of the world. The place where the demon king would meet his fate. Or where, in the worst case scenario, Natsu would meet his.
Gildarts turned his head towards the right, and then left. All he saw around him was the fog. That fog was mysterious, he thought. Heavier and denser than normal. Breathing was difficult in that fog. It seemed to be too heavy and layered to be of the natural kind. It almost seemed like a… mist. A magical mist. Was it placed there on purpose by the demon to confuse them?
He tapped on a sentinel's shoulder that stood beside him. She turned to face him.
"Make sure no one breaks formation. I will go around alone and look for anything that will suggest to us what the hell is even going on. Enemies, intel, Laxus. I will be gone for a few minutes, scouting around. Take care of them."
The female sentinel nodded. "Understood, captain. Be safe."
Gildarts then detached himself from the main party, and headed forward for almost 15 minutes into the blinding fog until he came right across the castle wall. He placed his hand on it, and looked up. He was again met with the fog hanging a couple feet above his head. By this time, he was convinced that the fog wasn't natural. Something otherworldly was going on here.
He knew what to do. He stood back and shut his eyes, and focused on his breathing. He recited a silent prayer, and when he opened his eyes again, gone were his normal human pupils. They were replaced by a straight lines across his eyes, gleaming emerald green cutting through the haze of the fog. His eyes resembled that of a fog-dweller at the moment. He blinked a few times and clenched his armoured fists to fight back against the stinging headache that pulsed down his nerves from his head. After that pain was gone, he looked around and blinked once or twice again, and now he could see through the fog well enough. He still couldn't make out what lay in the very far distances, but his vision was clearer than before. He turned around and gathered a look at the party assembled about a hundred feet behind him. They all still stood in their positions, confused and blinded by the fog, but everything seemed to be fine.
He looked across the courtyard, and realised that it was bigger than he had thought. A vast open area, so big and wide that even with his advanced fog vision spell, he couldn't see anything end to it. He had been in this valley on recon missions multiple times before, but he had never climbed up this castle. This was as much his first time up here as it was for a knight in the assault force that stood behind him.
Looking around, he came across something… peculiar. It was nudged a small distance from him in the direction that he was looking. It appeared to be a spike that was dug into the cobblestone floor. What was a lone metal spike doing in the middle of an empty courtyard? Was it a banner pole? It was too short to be one. He looked at its base, and then ran his occasionally blurry vision–due to his fog vision spell–up the pole. At the top end of the spike was… something. Something was impaled on it. Even through the fog, that object looked familiar somehow. Beyond a generic familiarity, it even looked personally familiar.
Curious, Gildarts slowly edged closer to it, ready to draw his sword within a moment's notice. The closer he got to the pole, the more dangerous this entire situation felt to him. Majority of the threat alarms inside his head were ringing and howling red. Something was very wrong about this entire impasse.
His gaze studded at the object that was hanging a little off the top of the pole, he found himself halting for a moment. He knew exactly what that object was.
The dirty bloodied metal on it gleaming under the shrouded sunlight, the screws and bolts on it, the inscriptions and insignias on it. It was a sentinel's helmet. A sentinel from the Ordeal. A sentinel from his order. Where did it come from? What was it doing there? Did the helmet have a head inside it? Was a sentinel dead?
It couldn't have been from his unit. The assault detachment had just reached the castle. There hadn't even been enough time for someone to grab a sentinel, behead them, and then display their head on a pike in the middle of the courtyard. Had there been any hint of such a fight, Gildarts would have known.
That only left one explanation in his mind. Gildarts halted his walk, almost a few feet away from the pole now, and thought about it. That sentinel's head must have belonged to the frontline unit. Laxus's unit. They had been here 2 days before Gildarts. There must have been some fighting that took place between the demon's army and them. They must have lost a sentinel to the battle. There were 150 sentinels in that unit, including Laxus. The helmet, or maybe even the head in there if there even was one, could belong to anyone from them.
Or… that head could possibly belong to sentinel Laxus himself. He must already be dead. It was a possibility. A dire one, but a possibility nonetheless. If the world had gone completely crazy, and every idea and every belief that the Ordeal believed in this whole time was untrue, that was a very strong possibility.
Gildarts found himself exhaling sharply at that thought. A few moments ago, when he hadn't reached the castle yet, that thought would have felt laughable to him. There would have been no way for someone to kill Laxus. No one could even harm that man. But now, when he had reached this ominous and doomed place, and breathed in its heavy and dreadful air that was slowly starting to corrupt his mind and senses, that thought didn't seem so foreign.
Was Gildarts correct after all? Was what his mind telling him, but his heart disagreeing with it true? Was it… Laxus?
He shuffled the last few feet to the helmet, and grabbed the visor on it. He took a deep breath, and lifted it.
He saw eyes. Eyes that were looking up, torn up wide, tears that had escaped them in numbers creating clear tracks across the blood and ash painting the cheeks. The eyes were red and bloodshot, pupils contracted in horrible pain and agony, and each of the collapsed and bleeding blood vessels clearly visible over the white cornea. Gildarts knew those eyes. He knew that man. He knew that sentinel. It was Laxus.
He grinded his teeth and clenched his other fist. He could feel himself shaking all over with rage and shock. He slowly pulled the eyelids down to shut the eyes, so that Laxus didn't see anymore of the horrible world that theirs was. So that he may rest in peace. So that… he absolutely didn't witness the horrible and terrible fate that Gildarts's instincts dictated him to bring to the demon king.
"This isn't the end, Etherious. It is simply the beginning of your doom. Your death. A horrible and painful one. Much more so than what you brought to my student and brother at arms Laxus here. Your end is imminent, and it will be a slow and painful one. You shall know what pain truly means when one day, he shall stand before you. He will rise from the flames, carrying his glorious greatsword, and he will make sure you pay for every life you have crushed with your bare hands. Heed my warning carefully. The hero shall rise from the fire, and put and end to you. Your end is already here, approaching fast, crushing beneath its heavy feet all of your sins and your crimes. Hear the screams and cries of agony of everything that you hold dear as it all burns in the blazing purifying fires. Your end will be a sight to behold."
He exhaled in fury, clenching his fists, and then swiftly returned back to the assault unit. Everyone was still safe. But one thing was clear–this wasn't the time to fight Etherious. That day would soon come, but it wasn't today. The longer they spent in the castle here, the greater a risk they were all in. They had to retreat now. If that damned demon could do that to Laxus, he could only imagine what the state of the rest of his soldiers here would be. He couldn't let that happen.
His fog vision dissipated. He was covered and surrounded by the fog again. That mysterious fog. That cryptic curtain of hazy whiteness around him. He stared deep at the fog, and suddenly, everything went silent. All the whispers from the knights, all the hushed chatters—all of it muffled. What he heard now was quietness. He could see each individual particle of the fog before him. They danced and vibrated, crashing against each other and bouncing off, merging into others to form bigger droplets, and sometimes splitting into many smaller ones.
"This isn't fog." Gildarts mumbled.
He closed his fist around a few of the droplets and rubbed his thumb and his index finger together. It was thick and sticky, unshakably aligning to his skin. He brought his fingers to his helmet to take a whiff of the mist, and all he smelled was a pungent gasoline odour. That odour reminded him of the alchemy classes back at the castle that he had taken during his paladin and knight days.
"This is definitely not natural fog. This is asper." He said with a hint of exasperation. "The oil that phoenixes secret from their skin to burn their fires. It is 100 times more potent than raw oil and gunpowder that is used in our weapons. And…"
He looked around. Everywhere he saw, the fog was there as well. The mist of asper. They were covered in it. They had been covered in it for hours now. By this time, asper had probably settled deep in their bodies and their blood–being the highly penetrative substance that it was. It probably layered their organs and their bones by now, filling up their lungs and their hearts. They were all packets of asper at this point. All that was needed to set them ablaze into one of the most painful deaths ever imagined… was a hint of fire.
"NATSU!!"
Natsu was startled when he heard that. He looked to his left, and saw a paladin running at him through the fog. In the slowed down time, Natsu recognised her to be the same woman that was talking to him and Gray earlier when they were on their way to this castle. Why was she running at him? Why was she breaking formation?
The woman came and hugged Natsu, as if shielding him from something. Her silent and still body jolted once, as if something had hit her back. Her tight grasp around Natsu's neck slowly weakened, and she fell limp on the floor, her back faced upwards. On her back was embedded a flaming arrow that was probably headed towards Natsu. She protected him from getting hit. But… who shot the flaming arrow? Why was a flaming arrow aimed at Natsu?
Soon, the mist caught fire, and all that Natsu heard were the screams and shrieks of pain around him.