AN: Okeydokey, once again, later than intended, writing from scratch really is the hardest... but only by a little this time! Before we begin, Reviewer Replies!

Lusamine: Fret not, I'm not the type to drop the whole extended cast immediately out of the blue like that. Read on and see what I did.

AnimeMyWorld: Well you're in luck on the first, out of it on the second and third. I'm very glad you're enjoying though, I hope you enjoy this week's too.

Raidentensho: Welcome back! Are you enjoying the new Revised and Expanded Edition? Jerry won't be a Devil Slayer, but that is a neat idea. Enjoy the new chapter!

...And here we go!

Chapter 26 - The Spires of Lost Memory

==One Month Earlier==

Erza stood still while Master Precht laid his hand on her head to examine her the way he had Jerry. It was still such complete and utter madness to think that Jerry had been operating on the verge of Magic Deficiency Syndrome. It was absurd to think that someone so strong had actually been so weak, but Master Precht had proven it by enabling him to access a level of power that had made her hair stand on end just being near him. Now Master Precht's lone eye was growing wider and wider as it seemed to peer into her very soul. Erza couldn't help but wonder as the silence grew, Is my magic that restrained as well?

Master Precht lifted his hand away and conjured a stone bench to sit down, leaning his staff onto his shoulder as he sat and putting one hand on his chin to think. Erza stood, patiently and expectantly waiting for his verdict. After a moment, Master Precht looked up at her, "Erza, tell me, what do you know of your parents?"

"My parents?" Erza asked curiously, "Absolutely nothing, I'm an orphan." Then her eyes went wide with shock, "Wait! Are you saying you know something?!"

Master Precht nodded and patted the bench he had just conjured, "I believe so. Sit down child." Her heart in her throat, Erza sat, wondering what secrets the Second Guild Master might be about to reveal.

Master Precht turned his gaze up to the sky, "You may or may not know, but the reason I left the guild was to go out and search on my own for the origins of magic, to strip away all pretext and impurity and see it for what it truly is. In the process I studied and learned many forms of magic, searching for a common point to act as a key for my study. My search has led me all over the world. I've spoken with the greatest minds I could seek out and poured over tomes of magic so ancient that I had to reinforce the pages with magic to keep them from crumbling at the slightest touch."

He took a breath, "One of the magics I took a particular interest in even before I left on my journey was that of Dragon Slaying Magic. At its core, it is a shockingly simple enchantment, to change the nature of a human to that of a dragon. It's been applied to other beings as well, gods and demons and who knows what else. I actually once read a tome on God Slaying magic that I later entrusted to the current head of the Magic Council. It's a fascinating form of magic and I have discovered that it is the key to virtually limitless magic power."

Erza started slightly at the revelation, "Limitless…?"

Master Precht nodded, "Yes. It's the key to revolutionizing the entire magic world as we know it should it be used properly. Your friends Jerry Granger and Levy McGarden have already begun working on a way to turn Jerry's ability to consume light into a virtually infinite source of magic."

"That's incredible! Why haven't they told anyone?!" Erza demanded, with infinite power I could save everyone!

"Likely for the same reason I haven't," Master Precht responded quietly, "While there are certainly many good things that could be done with infinite power, there are also many who would use such a power for ill. Such a power source could and very likely would spark a war the likes of which hasn't been seen in centuries to control it."

Erza flinched and suddenly nightmarish images of what any dark wizard would do with unlimited power, what manner of horrors they could cook up, the mountains of bodies they might produce... She went slightly pale, "You make a very good point."

Master Precht nodded, "But rather off topic nevertheless." Erza looked up at him in surprise and he continued, "In my search for the workings of dragon slayer magic and its offshoots, I found a centuries old text detailing the origins of dragon slaying magic. I was able to learn much from it, and it eventually led to my discovery of the tome on God Slaying Magic and everything I've learned on the matter since." He suddenly pulled a book from an extradimensional pocket, "This is that book."

He gently handed it to her, "My apprentice Ultear was able to restore it to peak condition with her magic, so it won't crumble at a touch, but please do still treat it with care. It's one of my most treasured possessions."

Erza gingerly accepted the priceless tome and read the title, "A History of Dragnof?"

Master Precht nodded and with a gentle flick of his hand, the book flipped itself open to reveal, "Specifically, I'm referring to its last queen and her lifelong advisor, the dragon Belserion. It was through their efforts that Dragon Slaying magic was brought into existence to aid their nation in the great dragon war now known as the Dragon King Festival."

Erza stared at the portrait and all the color started draining from her face as suspicion started growing, the puzzle pieces clicking together in her head rapid fire, "M-master…what are you implying?"

"Shortly after the war ended," Master Precht told her quietly, "Queen Irene, the woman you see there, was overtaken by one of the horrific side effects of prototypical Dragon Slayer magic, which can still plague modern Slayers of any sort. Due to her vast overuse of her Dragon attribute during the war, she became a dragon herself."

Erza's head snapped up to meet his forlorn gaze. He nodded, "Before her transformation was complete, the whole kingdom turned on her in fear wrought by the mad dragon slayer who singlehandedly ended the war and pushed dragon kind to the brink of extinction, a man who went on to be known as the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, Acnologia."

He exhaled, "They were afraid she would become an unstoppable rampaging monster like him, and after three years of horrific persecution which I am temporarily blotting out of this book for the sake of your mental health, refusing the whole time to lash out against her people and insisting that she was human," The book suddenly glowed in Erza's hands as Master Precht continued, "she transformed fully when informed of her pending execution. As a fully grown dragoness, she obliterated the entire capitol city in a single attack and flew away to parts unknown, still desperately screaming that she was human."

Erza felt slightly ill as she looked back down at the happily smiling woman and dragon in the picture. Master Precht let his words hang in the air for a moment and then continued, "There's…one other oddity about her tale which I'm afraid is very relevant."

"That's my mother, isn't it?" Erza asked quietly.

Master Precht took a deep breath, "Your body is under an immensely powerful enchantment, almost a reverse Dragon Slaying enchantment by the look of it. What's…under it…" he trailed off.

"Are you saying that I'm actually a dragon?" Erza asked quietly.

"Half," Precht answered quietly, "Queen Irene swore up and down that she was pregnant, that she was holding her unborn child in stasis with magic to protect them. Her husband through political marriage who she claimed was the father swore equally fervently that they had never consummated their union. It bears noting that the dragon Belserion was not only her closest companion but also an immensely skilled user of magic in his own right. Judging by the resemblance you bear to Her Majesty, what I just found out, and the strength of the enchantment suppressing your draconic traits…" He trailed off and a decidedly heavy and uncomfortable silence filled the air.

Master Precht cleared his throat after a moment, "You actually have an immense latent potential for enchantment magic, I'd even go so far as to say you are naturally a High Enchantress, which is one of the most feared, versatile and formidable abilities in-"

"Do you think she's alive?" Erza asked quietly.

"Almost certainly," Master Precht answered quietly, "Very few things can even hurt a dragon, and Irene was by all accounts a master mage of titanic strength even before that. There are only a very small number of things I can think of which could even hope to hurt someone of her abilities."

"Then why…? Why would she abandon me?"

Master Precht thought his next words over very carefully as he noted the faint tremble in Erza's arms, "If I were to guess, she may still be stuck in draconic form. If she is, then she may have wanted you to be able to live a happy and normal life without the knowledge of her tragic tale or the burden of having to hide a fully grown dragon to mar it."

Erza was quiet for a moment and then, "The enchantment suppressing my draconic traits… do you think it could change her back if she's still stuck in dragon form? Can you teach it to me?"

Master Precht took a deep breath, held it for a moment while he thought and then, "It might. I would have to lift it partially to look at its underlying mechanics and discern its workings. Doing so will definitely grant me the insight I need to replicate it and teach you how to as well, but doing so might partially or even completely unravel it, and there is no way to know what effects that might have on you."

"Do it." Erza ordered firmly.

"But…"

"DO. IT." Erza repeated, the light in the gaze that rose to meet Precht's leaving no room for doubt that the young woman before him was a natural born royal.

Precht nodded and rose to his feet. There was no arguing with that tone, "Very well, please lie down here so that I may examine you."

…

…

"MOTHER! IT'S ME! ERZA! I'M HERE!" Erza shouted desperately as she rocketed towards the draconic form circling above the pass.

I wasn't the only one blinking in shock and confusion and then Miguel grabbed me, "JERRY YOU HAVE TO STOP HER RIGHT NOW! IT'S A TRICK!"

I looked at him in alarm, "Trick?!"

"The Spire Spirits can take the forms of your loved ones! They're trying to lure her into the open for the snakes!" Miguel explained as quickly as he could, desperately pointing to the dark clouds of scales and feathers already surging out from the mountain tops towards an unaware Erza.

I snapped open a portal in front of Erza that she shot through and right into my arms. She looked up at me in shock with wild eyes and then her face colored with fury, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THAT'S MY MOTHER UP THERE!"

I turned her around without a word and grimly pointed at the now dissolving illusion of a dragon that Erza had called her mother, and more importantly the storm of flying snakes that was converging on the spot Erza had just been. "It was a trick Erza, the Spire Spirits can take the forms of your loved ones to lure you to your death," I told her firmly.

Erza was silent for a moment and then she requipped back into her normal armor and I realized she was shaking as she let herself go limp in my arms, "Those monsters…" she whispered, "H-how dare they use her memory against me like this!" She took a few deep shuddering breaths, clearly trying to control herself to no avail. "J-jerry, Levy, how do I kill spirits?"

"You don't," Miguel told her gently, "Horrible they may be, but they're also the only thing keeping those serpents from coming down here to eat us. Even if we could make them pay for hurting you like this, the mists would dissipate and then the serpents would avenge them by tearing us apart. I know you want to lash out at them for such a vicious underhanded blow, but you have to be stronger than your anger okay? If you let your emotions rule you here, then we all die."

Erza was quiet except for a few more deep shuddering breaths and then she nodded, "So, this is why we have to traverse the Spires blindfolded? The Spirits will make us see our loved ones?"

"And old enemies," Miguel confirmed, "I don't know how but they can take the images of anyone you've seen and take those forms. They can't touch you, they can't mimic voices, but between that and the way they can obscure the ground and everything in there to make it seem like there's ground or walls where there aren't…it's a giant death trap for anyone relying on their eyes."

Erza bit her lip and nodded, "Alright. Does anyone have a blindfold?"

"Hang on, hang on!" Natsu protested, "Before that! Erza, why did you just call a dragon your mom?! Are you a Dragon Slayer?! Why did you never tell me?!"

Erza sucked in a sharp breath and thought about it for a second before sighing, "No, Natsu. I'm not a Dragon Slayer. My mother was though, and my father was a dragon. My mother overused her dragon slaying magic and became a dragon after his death. I think she didn't want me to live with the burden of having to hide a dragoness, and probably wouldn't have been able to care for me as one, that's why she left me at that orphanage when I was a baby. I never told you because I only found out when Master Precht came to visit right after the Galuna job. He was the one who figured it out."

Stunned silence reigned for a few moments and then there was a sound of rapidly turning pages as Levy leafed through a very thick old history book that she had yanked from an extradimensional pocket. She looked over the top of it at Erza with wide eyes, back at the contents of the book, and then back at Erza. She opened her mouth to say something and Erza cut her off, "Levy I can guess what you're looking at, keep it to yourself please. It's unimportant. I've already discussed it more than I wished to."

Levy very clearly and very much did NOT want to keep it to herself, but Erza's tone brooked no argument and Levy put her book away rather than ask the question at the forefront of her mind. I looked at Levy, fully intending to ask her telepathically what it was because it was going to eat at both of us if I didn't.

Erza waved her hand between us and picked herself up, "No telepathic conversations about it you two. To summarize, my mother was someone rather notable who's been thought dead for a long time. It was really bad and makes me very uncomfortable and upset to think about so please do not bring it up. Natsu, Gajeel, Master Precht told me that he checked Natsu for any signs of potential dragonification and Natsu hasn't shown any signs of it, so his magic must've been created from a more refined version of the spell."

She took a deep breath and seemed to have regained her composure, "Right then. Sorry for running off like that everyone, are we ready to proceed?"

"I think I'd like to go without a blindfold, at least at first," I admitted, "I've begun to suspect some of my memories have been either buried or erased, maybe the Spire Spirits will take a form that jogs my memories."

Erza nodded, "I'll hold your hand then. You saved me from running off, I'll help you with this. Oh even better…" her hand seemed to blur for a second and I heard a click as something fastened around my wrist.

I looked down in surprise and then gave Erza a raised eyebrow, "Erza, I appreciate the sentiment, but do you really think a pair of handcuffs will hold me?"

"Well not if you try to get out of them, but these are for your safety," Erza replied, "Or…" her face fell a little, "I mean, if you just really don't want to hold my hand…"

I immediately caught her hand and laced our fingers with a smile, "I didn't say that."

"Get a room," Gajeel groaned from where he'd already tied everyone else together, "Are we going or not?"

I thought for a second and then, "Hang on…" I stepped up to the edge of where the mists were coiling and closed my eyes as they seemed to reach out to grab me. I knelt down and exhaled as I set my hand flat to the ground, stretching my telekinesis to sense the ground and spires as far as I could. "Now then…" I breathed, "Earth Make…PASSAGE!"

A stone wall lined path erupted leading into the depths of the mists. I straightened up with a grin, "Now we can't be led off the path because the path has walls." I gestured to the now incredibly safe route as the Spire Spirits wailed in frustration, "Well, shall we?"

"If you can make a corridor all the way through," Gajeel mused, "Why can't you just make a portal all the way to the other side?"

"Because the mist is interfering," I declared grimly, "I don't know what it is, but since my Portal Magic is a derivation of my Celestial Magic, and given that we're headed to the City of the Sun where the Celestial Spirits were first bound, it wouldn't surprise me at all if these mists and the serpents above were truly meant as some sort of defense against Celestial Wizards in particular. My Telekinesis and Earth Make are unaffected, but…"

I raised my hand, cloaked it in my Void Shroud and did my level best to vacuum the Mists in. Though the air between my hand and the Mists was vacuumed up straight away, the Mists themselves didn't even swirl funny. I held up my hand and flexed it, "Every aspect of my magic derived from my Light and Celestial Magics is useless against these Mists. Erza, if you hadn't flown over the Mists, and gone in instead, I wouldn't have been able to portal you back."

"Beyond that," I added as I straightened up and clasped Erza's hand again as the reality of being suddenly stripped of much of my arsenal settled over me, "I wasn't able to reach the other side with my Earth Make. I don't know how far these spires stretch on, but it's a winding route that's safe, and even beyond that it's several miles to the other side. Miguel, any idea how far we're going?"

Miguel shook his head, "We didn't have a wizard except for Zoltan, and we had to go slow. I know it took us nearly three weeks last time to go on foot. Of course, we took a few wrong turns as well. Nobody died in here, but it was a very close thing a few times."

"Well, ever how far it may be, we'll make it a little quicker this time," I tossed a card out it grew to the width of the corridor I'd made and long enough for us all to ride on, "All aboard."

Natsu hopped on first, he'd been put out front with Gajeel, they had the sharpest eyes and noses. Miguel hopped aboard next, "I don't know what possessed me to try this journey without wizards. Magic seems to solve everything!"

"Not everything," Lucy corrected as she climbed aboard, "Even magic can't fix 'stupid'."

I thought about that for a second and swapped a glance with Levy as she climbed aboard ahead of me and Erza, "Could we fix stupid with Archive?"

"We could fix the book learning and raw data aspect of it," Levy mused, "But I think wisdom is something that can't be downloaded."

"What's the difference?" Happy asked from Natsu's shoulder, "If you can make people smart then doesn't that make them not stupid?"

"Not necessarily," I replied, "I've known plenty of people who were very intelligent but still didn't have sense enough to pour piss out of a boot with instructions on the heel."

"Hey, Gray wears boots right?" Natsu asked excitedly.

"I will help him beat your ass if I find out you've gone and pissed in someone's boots Natsu," Gajeel declared sharply.

"Seconded," Erza added, "That's beyond childish Natsu."

"Seriously? Why would you even consider that?" Lucy asked, the revulsion almost as clear on her face as in her mind.

"In short: no, magic cannot fix stupid," I declared as I pulled Erza aboard and set the card in motion, "Off we go!"

In the end, despite the danger it would otherwise have posed us, even having forgone the blindfolds and going slow due to how twisty and turning the route was, what took Miguel's party nearly three weeks took us only a little over two and a half hours. In that time, I found out what Igneel and Metallicana looked like. I learned what Lucy's mom looked like, and Erza and Levy's as well. None of us were sure who the dark haired woman in white was, or the black haired boy with her, but given that they were with a big pink haired man, we were pretty sure that was Natsu's birth family. We saw a few other people as well, including Miguel's parents and grandmother, nearly my entire family and many of my friends.

Nobody could identify the blonde haired woman with green bangs, cat ears and a tail racing us along the top of the ramparts, the raven haired queen with the elf ears watching us from atop one of the spires, the green haired man in the chariot behind us or the flying man in the black body suit with chalk white skin and a golden spear, but they definitely weren't from my world. Right? So why did I feel like I knew them?

There were two that caught my eye the most though, yes, even more than the dragons.

First was the blonde girl who'd met me on the doorstep of the afterlife. I only caught a glimpse of her, she was gone before I could get a good look on her, but it was her. I knew it was, and if Erza hadn't had a hand on mine and the other physically holding me down when she realized how close I was to flying off, I'd have gone after her. The Spire Spirits tortured me with glimpses of her the entire rest of the way, and they were infuriatingly good at only being glimpsed out the corner of the eye.

The other I knew by my own impossibly sure description, but for all that I couldn't remember why, it sparked an insatiable urge to lash out at the Spire Spirits for daring to bear the visage of the King of Heroes. I hurled a blast of telekinetic force at that particular spirit and forced it to dissipate as the spire behind it broke and tumbled to the valley floor. I didn't see any more dare to wear King Gilgamesh's face, but I would've struck with enough to cause an avalanche if I had. I didn't know why, but the idea of them using the King of Heroes' visage filled me with as visceral a rage as any I'd ever felt.

Tonight, I swore to myself, tonight I am FINDING that memory block, because there's no way I'd be having feelings this strong about people I've never met.

…

…

As we finally flew clear of the Mists, I suddenly became very glad that my card was not relying on the ground below to maintain its elevation, because the ground was quite suddenly rather a long way down. Even with the ground falling away to several hundred feet below us, the mountains still towered over us on every side of the wide valley we had popped out over the top of. There weren't many clouds over head, but the ones that were there were soft and puffy white.

My heart pumping a little harder from the surprise of the ground just falling away like that, I formed the sides of my Card Car to make absolutely sure nobody fell off. "Dr. Whistler, are there any other surprises like the great huge cliff you'd like to warn us of?!"

Miguel scratched his head sheepishly, "Um, giant birds with teeth and scaly bull-rhino things with beaks and shields on their heads and massive not-dragons that walk around on two legs because their front arms are tiny?"

I did a double take, "Miguel, are you telling me there are dinosaurs running around?!"

"Ah, what's a dinosaur?" Miguel asked.

"They were the dominant category of animal before the last Ice Age, giant animals with warm blood and scales. We think, they've been extinct for millions of years in the world I came from," I explained, "If I had to guess, I'd call them an evolutionary ancestor of dragons, minus the intelligence and magic."

"Would now be a good time to mention that most of them seem to know at least some rudimentary magical abilities like breathing fire and shooting around like giant cannonballs?" Miguel asked.

"Yes, now is a good time for that," I agreed dryly, before taking a deep breath to steady myself. It's okay Jerry, magic dinosaurs. You've seen weirder. This is just another day. "So where is it we're headed now? Didn't you say that you had left about half of your remaining team here while you headed back to Fiore to get help?"

"Ah, well since we're up here, I'd like to fly around and see if we can spot anything first, the evidence we found was in the valley down below around the bend of the valley up there," Miguel pointed to the east where the valley curved nearly seven miles away, "That's also the last place we had our main camp set up at the bend of the river."

I nodded, "Well let's go see what we see then."

The valley below was thick with jungle, but unlike the K'iche on the other side of the Spires, this jungle looked alive with life and didn't set my nerves on edge just to look at it. It was, honestly exactly the sort of isolated jungle I'd expect to find dinosaurs wandering around in if I were to go looking for such, and the archaeopteryxes flying up to investigate the new thing in the sky did not disappoint. They were the size and color of crows and had little dinosaur faces. I don't think anyone could ever consider one 'cute', but they were certainly interesting to see.

"Happy, you stay close to me," Natsu cautioned as the flock swooped about, eyeing us curiously. Given Happy's reputed durability, I'm not sure the warning was merited. Happy was durable enough to take a kick from Erza and supposedly able to break the sound barrier flying, I doubt an archaeopteryx could do anything except piss him off. Then I saw one sneeze out a little fireball and retracted the thought.

"Are these what you would call dinosaurs Jerry?" Miguel asked, "The Count de Mufintopin called them Scale-crows."

"A fine name for them," I nodded, "Yes, these were theorized to be the ancestors of modern birds."

"That would explain why they taste like chicken," Miguel mused as they decided we weren't food and flew away.

We flew on down to the bend in the valley where Miguel had indicated the camp was and quickly spotted a clearing on the banks of the river that wound through the valley. We flew a little ways around the mountain that marked the curve in the valley and I tilted my head in curiosity as I saw the the valley didn't just turn. It forked around what seemed an awful lot like a single long mountain, taller than all the rest.

Miguel sighed, "Well, that's disappointing. I'd hoped that we'd be able to see the Great Tree of Apollo from up here."

My head snapped around as the Sphinx's words echoed in my mind, "The what now?"

"The Great Tree of Apollo," Miguel repeated, "The Count's journal spoke of a great tree at the center of Mattachu, as tall as a palace and as big around as an entire village. He claimed it has leaves of shining gold and glows, burning with the warmth of the sun even in the depths of night keeping the city and valley warm the year round. It was winter when my party arrived in this valley last time, and it was just as warm as it is now."

"Well, if it's that big, we shouldn't have much trouble spotting it right?" Erza reasoned, "So we can just fly around up here, and if it's really there and still standing, then we should have an easy time spotting it."

"Hey Jerry, can you take us up higher?" Lucy asked, "Maybe if we get higher we'll be able to spot it. I mean, a palace sized golden tree ought to stick out right?"

I looked at the mountain that the valley appeared to circle around thoughtfully, "Yes it should…"

I took us up, up, and up even higher, and once we were up over the top of the mountain, I was far from the only one whose breath caught in my throat.

It wasn't a mountain. It was an ancient super volcano, and nestled in the crater… gold. So, MUCH, GOLD.

The legend was no lie, every surface gleamed with gold reflecting the sunlight in the city cradled in the ancient crater. There were a dozen large terraced pyramids scattered throughout the city at regular intervals. Smaller, blocky buildings in neat rows composed the rest of the city, all except for the city center, and shining electric blue garlands were draped over every edge.

In the center of the city was a massive gaping void, perfectly round with a dozen shimmering silver waterfalls pouring into it. Even at this distance, I could easily hear the steady roar of the falls. Floating in midair over the void was a large platform of glowing white stone, tethered to the earth surrounding it by immense golden chains. Unless I missed my guess, every single link of the chains was as thick as a hundred year old tree. Growing from the center of the stone and surrounded by a gleaming golden palace, grew a massive tree.

The tree was bigger than anything I had ever seen, as Miguel had said, every leaf was gold and the bark was bronze. It was so big it looked as though a fully grown dragon could easily roost in it and pretend to be a sparrow if it wanted. The whole thing seemed to glow with a light all its own, even beyond what the metallic leaves reflected, and its presence was such that I almost missed the immense crimson bird flying away in the distance.

Most of all though, I could hear the city. The minds within it and the babble of commerce and life. This was no ruin. This was a thriving, living reality! I reached forward and clapped Miguel on the shoulder…

"Congratulations Doctor, Mattachu is real."