Prologue
The ground shattered as a giant dust cloud shot through the forest, trees were scarred with rocks that darted past, following the dust as it covered a 50M radius.
The cloud began to settle, and its escape from its center finally ceased. Amidst that cloud, a scaled claw lay motionless, wings as bright as a star-clad-like shining glass lay flat as the chest of a beast remained inanimate since the beast had just fallen from the sky.
That Beast was a Dragon.
The Dragon trickled with blood from its razor-sharp teeth, its armoured body battered and beaten as the aura of magic oozed from the points where it had been hit.
The creature lay wounded and lifeless, not a hint of life remained - it was just defeated.
On the beast's chest was a woman; golden-yellow hair danced amongst the cloud of dust, her dark purple cloak was patterned with dirt as it flailed wildly in the wind, and her chest rose up and down as she planted her buckled boot onto the beast's chest.
Her fists oozed with a gold aura that slowly dissipated after a few seconds and left her bloodied fists. This was when the pain began to settle in, and she buckled backwards, but managed to catch herself.
"Ahh..." She grunted as she gently rose her hands up to inspect them and slowly opened them.
Her fingers felt crunched up, frozen, yet hot with fury as she tried to unclench them.
She sighed, "Definitely broken..."
Despite experiencing the pain in her hands, she only showed slight discomfort by twitching her eyebrows and closing one eye. She stared at her injured hands and hissed as she examined the damage of them, "Two fractures in the left index finger... middle, and pinky finger..."
As she quietly rambled to herself about her broken fingers, her contemplating was soon interrupted by the gentle tone of a blue-haired woman who held a book in her hands as she wandered around the body of the massive creature.
"You seem to be getting better at this, Lucy," The blue-haired woman admired the body of the mighty beast for a few moments before looking up at Lucy who jumped off the lifeless creature's chest and landed before her.
Lucy slightly stood a few inches taller than the blue-haired woman who was young in appearance; her slim physique yet puffy cheeks complimented the gentle smile she had printed on her face.
She wore a slightly ragged headband, along with an orange tank top, and white shorts despite looking quite petite in figure, she still had a toned body. She also wore a brown belt that had a book-carrier on the right side of her hip.
"You're still following me, Levy?" Lucy tutted as she turned her back towards the woman known as Levy, and continued through the forest ahead of her.
Levy happily followed Lucy, keeping a 2M gap between them as she watched her back whilst also looking over her own shoulder.
"I couldn't let you run off on your own, Luce," Levy responded softly, her tone having a gentle grace with every letter that dropped off her tongue, "You said it, we are friends, so we must look out for one another,"
Lucy glanced at the blue-haired mage and let out a small laugh, "You're right,"
"Also, I've gotten a new lead on our targets..." Levy started, which made the blonde dart her head up at the bluenette.
"Is this in regards to the Salamander?" Lucy raised her brows in sudden surprise, hoping that it would be.
"Yes, but not him necessarily..." Levy shook her head and watched the blonde's eyebrows fall in disappointment, "B-But, I'm sure we will be able to know where the Salamander is once we investigate this lead,"
Lucy sighed as she glanced back down at her hands, then up at Levy once more, "Right,"
The two began to walk again but after a while, Lucy began to notice the constant gap between the two. She glanced over her shoulder at the young woman who was immersed in her books. Lucy stopped in her tracks, which made Levy look up and stop also. Lucy turned to the woman with a slight scowl on her face.
She looked down at the gap between them, then back up at Levy, "Afraid?"
"A little," Levy answered honestly, no hint of confusion or cowardice in her expression and tone, "Ever since we took on this job, you've become more vicious, and unpredictable, so I assume you understand my current actions,"
Lucy furrowed her brows and glanced down at the grass beneath them.
She sighed and continued walking ahead, which prompted Levy to continue calmly.
"I've read into the Legend of Acnologia like you asked the other day. It seems he still exists, and sightings of him are still active to this day," Levy spoke up, as she poked her chin and stared into the book she was reading, "Legend has it that he was the one to bring the Dragon Civil War to an end, and defeat the Dragon Slayers who rose against that coexistence. He was a mighty warrior in his own right, but the war and ongoing changes to his body began to weigh on his mental state... it's a pretty extensive and interesting story,"
"I'm sure it is, did you happen to find any clues on his whereabouts as of late?" Lucy asked without turning her head to Levy this time.
The blue-haired woman shook her head, "No, unfortunately not, the only news I could link that to is the Fairy Guards having a close encounter with him... but I don't know how true that story is-"
"The Fairy Guards... Salamander's Guild, right?" Lucy darted her head at Levy with raised brows.
"That's the one," Levy nodded.
Lucy turned back around, continuing to walk through the forest, shimmers of light peering down on her from above, illuminating the trail ahead of her.
"Lucy..." Levy called out to the blonde who continued walking but slightly glanced over her shoulder at Levy.
"Yes?" Lucy responded with a calm tone.
"... Maybe you need to take some time off of the mission-."
"I told you that I'm fine," Lucy faced forward once more and began to quicken her pace.
"You haven't slept in two days..." Levy added, her smile turning into a frown as she stared at the back of the blonde.
"I'll sleep when I've slain the Salamander," Lucy muttered under her breath, knowing how foolish and absurd it is to declare something like that, "I promise..."
Levy sighed, "Don't promise something that you can't keep, Lucy-,"
"You just saw me slay that Dragon back there, it will be no different when I take out Salamander," Lucy held a hand out and pushed away at the leaves in her way as Levy followed close behind.
"The Salamander is one of the strongest Dragon Guards in Fiore, he will not be an easy foe to come against especially when you're tired like this," Levy argued back, coming out from the leaves right after Lucy.
They came to the edge of the forest which was an open area that led to the town of Magnolia; the beautiful haven that had Etherion pillars erected on the ground and providing a dim purple light over the town.
Levy bit her bottom lip and grabbed ahold of Lucy's arm. She knew this was the point of no return, "Lucy listen-"
"That's enough!" Lucy turned around and glared at the young woman, "The time is now, not later! If I go back to the Squadron, then the Chief won't let me go, I'm doing this now!"
Levy held on tightly to Lucy's arm, "No. The smart thing to do is to regroup and get the next steps from the Chief!"
"Levy would want me to get revenge on that bastard!" Lucy gritted her teeth as she grabbed Levy's collar and yanked her close as tears threatened to spill out of the blonde's eyes.
She was so close, so close to taking out the Salamander, so to retreat and regroup would defeat the whole purpose of searching high and low for the Dragon Guard. To Lucy, she couldn't live another day knowing that the Dragon Guard continued to breathe.
Levy stared back into the angry eyes of Lucy then sighed, "She wouldn't want you to risk your life doing so,"
Lucy's expression softened, as she darted her head to the side and looked away from the blue-haired woman, she rubbed the top of her head as she rested her other hand on her hip.
Lucy knew that she was right, but she didn't want to hear that right now.
"I'm not saying you can't, but it would be wise to return to the Squa-"
"That's enough, just transform back..." Lucy muttered but it was enough for Levy to hear.
Immediately, a glimmering light engulfed Levy's body and she ended up splitting into two mini balls of light, and once the light went away, the Spirit known as the Geminis floated on either side of Lucy.
"I would like to be alone for now... okay?" Lucy glanced at her Spirits who got the memo and disappeared into thin air.
Lucy sighed, annoyance present in her tone as she pulled the hood of her travelling cloak over her head and looked over the town of Magnolia once more.
She clenched her fists as she narrowed her eyes, "I'll slay you..."
"Salamander."
To Be Continued