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Chapter 70

Edolas

Light completely overtook my eyes blinding me as the force of air whipped and lashed my face. I could feel my cheeks being stretched a little as I kept eyes shut. Then as quickly as the force came, it quickly disappeared along with the light and I was able to open my eyes. Then I felt a new force of wind on my body coming from my belly. I looked down and I could see the ground rapidly coming straight at me getting closer and closer. It didn't take me long to realize that I was falling and I wasn't the only one.

"Holy crap! We're falling!" yelled Gajeel. "I would definitely kill for a flying cat right about now!"

"Hold on Gajeel!" I shouted. "I'll get us out of this mess! WATER DRAGON WINGS!"

At my command, a pair of water wings sprouted from my back and I immediately flew to Gajeel to try and save him, but suddenly as quickly as my wings appeared, they suddenly vanished and I was once again falling.

"Wait! What happened?! Where'd my wings go?!" I cried wondering.

Then I suddenly remembered. I completely forgot what Mystogan said about my magic not being to work due to Edolas' not having the magic Earth Land does, but thankfully I also remembered that he gave us something to counteract that effect. I hurriedly dug into my pocket and pulled out the bottle of X-balls. I opened it and quickly popped one into my mouth. As soon as I swallowed it, I felt the magic power surge within me.

"Let's try this again!" I spoke. "WATER DRAGON WINGS!"

Once more, a pair of water wings came forth from my back. This time they stayed. I swooped down towards a screaming Gajeel and scooped him up by his arms just in time. He was a tad heavy, but I was able to get up in the air.

"You OK, Gajeel?" I grunted flapping my wings.

The Iron Dragon Slayer whipped his head back and forth surprised that he wasn't falling anymore before looking up at me.

"Wait a minute! You have wings!" he exclaimed with shock. "Since when the hell can you fly?! Are you coping Salamander's and that rookie's cats or something?!"

"If you're talking about Happy and Carla, no I am not," I spoke.

Then I took notice of our surroundings. The first thing I was able to see was endless blue sky filled with clouds. But instead of seeing towns and villages from the Earth Land I knew, I saw several various different sized floating islands. Some were islands that were just large mountains while others had small mountains, some trees, and even had some wildlife here and here. And on the ground below a large forest laid seeming to spread for miles.

I felt amazed by this strange yet somehow beautiful scenery. "So this is Edolas," I murmured. "What a strange yet nice place."

Then Gajeel suddenly screamed catching my attention. "Hey! Look where you're going! You're gonna crash us into that rock!"

I looked up and I immediately saw a rock looming in front of us. With a startled scream, I immediately swooped down below and avoided the large rock just in the nick of time.

"Whew... well that was close," I spoke with relief.

"Can you not try to kill us while we're flying?" Gajeel snapped. "Seriously!"

"I"m sorry! Geez! There's no need to be rude," I spoke.

I then dipped down on the ground until we touched down on the ground safely dispersing my wings.

Gajeel then brushed himself off and looked around. "So this is Edolas huh?" he spoke. "Kinda looks like a weird place if you ask me."

"I agree. This place certainly isn't like any place I've seen before," I spoke. "So now that we're here, we might as well start looking for where our friends and Magnolia are

"Do you even have an idea on where to start looking?" asked Gajeel. "We're practically in the middle of nowhere."

"Not really," I said thoughtfully looking around. "I suppose we can start by looking around to see if we can find our way around here. Maybe I can fly up and try to see if there's a town somewhere close by." I then handed Gajeel the bottle of X-balls. "In the meantime, take these. You're probably gonna want your magic at this point."

Gajeel looked at bottle having his doubts, but he took a pill anyway and put it in his mouth swallowing. I then spread out my wings once again and with a might flap took off towards the treetops above. Once I was high enough, I began searching the area to see if there was any village or town. I could see nothing, but the islands floating, the trees, and the river in the sky, but nothing like a town.

Then suddenly, I heard a tremendous crash like something falling just below me. I looked down and saw a cloud of dust. I immediately swooped down thinking that it was some kind of enemy cloaking my hands with water ready to attack, but then I saw the reason for the noise and dust. Gajeel was standing by a fallen tree with his hand transformed into a large jagged steel blade.

"What the heck are you doing, Gajeel?!" I almost screamed.

"What's it look like? I was testing to see if my magic was working," said Gajeel. "Seems to be working just fine."

"Couldn't you have done that without chopping down the tree?" I asked in an angry tone. "Are you trying to attract attention?!" I then let out a sigh trying to calm down. "Look, we can't just go around causing destruction willy-nilly. Especially since that, we're in a territory that we have no idea about. Could you try to avoid causing any more destruction?"

"Alright, alright," spoke Gajeel. "Geez. You're naggier than Levy is."

"Let's just get walking," I said. "Someone will have most likely heard that noise and we can't afford to be seen. At least not yet."

The two of us then started walking through the jungle of trees. As we walked, we passed by various and strange animals and plants. So far we didn't anything as far as people, but I was hoping to find at least some form of civilization sometime soon. Hopefully, when we did, I would be able to find our friends and rescue them.

We continued to walk for quite some time and still not being able to find anything or anyone. Soon we came to an open area just above a cliff with the flying and bending river gurgling and rushing just next to us.

"Damn it. This sucks."

I looked back at Gajeel happening to hear him. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I can't smell a damn thing around here," spoke the Iron Dragon Slayer. "I don't know what the hell it is about this place, but something about it is messing up my nose. Can't even who what's what around here with all these new scents."

I then took a sniff with my own nose. What smelled was strange. It was a mixture of various different smells probably coming from the plants and the animals. I've hardly had the chance to use my nose which was decently as good as any other dragon slayer, but even I could tell that Gajeel was right.

"You're right. I don't even know what I'm smelling," I spoke. "It's gonna be difficult for us to find our way around here if we can't use our noses. Maybe I can use my Aqua Sense spell to find any signs of life or at least a town somewhere."

"Aqua Sense? What's that?" puzzled Gajeel. "Some kind of Water sensing spell or something?"

"Something like that. It's a spell that allows me to sense water and magic within a target," I explained. "If there are any people close by within my sensing area, I will able to see where they're at. However my limit is about a couple miles, so I was going to use the river to amplify the spell so I can search farther than my normal limit."

I then dipped my hand in the river and closed my eyes. My body began to glow in a light blue as I saw the strange blue shapes in my mind via the river. Most of the things I saw were large blobby shapes representing the local creatures that roamed around the area and the long wavy blue line represented the river.

So far, I couldn't detect anything that was in the form of a human. Then I took notice of a peculiar blue shape that was on the move. It was big like the other creatures, but it had large wings, a rather long tail, and was moving at an incredible speed. I wondered which direction it was going at first, but then the creature suddenly turned direction and that was when I realized that whatever it was, it coming right toward our location.

I opened my eyes taking my hand out of the water and immediately looked up at Gajeel. "We gotta hide! Now!"

"What is it?" asked Gajeel. "Did you see something?"

"Just do as I say!" I spoke urgently. "Hide! Now!"

I grabbed Gajeel by the arm and pulled him along while running until we got to some bushes. At that moment, something flew right above our heads making the wind whip at the trees in the area. The creature was large and had a pig-like appearance, had smooth, dark fur, four paws with five talons on each other them, a flat, pointed head, and large, round, beady eyes. It also had very sharp teeth fused to its maw with a strange beard of sorts, two very large black horns, and on its back a pair of black wings, and a long, whip-like tail.

The beast flew right past us before turning around landing on the ground with an earth-shaking thump. Then something from on top of the beast landed on the ground. It appeared to be a young man who had strange arrow-like eyebrows, messy dark purple hair with one thick lock of white hair near the front right side, wore a strange white uniform consisting of a long coat with gold trim and metal shoulder guards over matching pants and a dark green shirt, decorated with an olive green crisscrossing line pattern.

"That's weird. I thought for sure I saw some people around here," the man wondered. "I was hoping to ask them about that fallen tree a few miles back."

I immediately looked at Gajeel glaring at him mouthing the words 'I told you so.' The Iron Dragon looked back at me giving me a glare that said how was he supposed to know. The boy with purple hair walked forward getting closer and closer to our hiding place. Gajeel slowly started to get up no doubt ready to fight and I tensed up my hands ready to summon my blades. The man grew closer and closer and just when I thought we were about to be discovered, we heard a shrieking noise. The young man stopped and looked up to the source of the sound as did we from our hiding place.

From above, another creature just like the one the purple haired man was riding on, landed right next to it. On top of it was two people who jumped off the creature and landed on the ground. The first was a young man that was tall, had blue eyes, blonde hair in a pompadour style, and wore pink armor with black briefs. The second person that landed appeared to be a young woman with flowing red hair wearing a dark blue scarf around her neck, black armor comprising of a revealing, halter-type breastplate with light-armored gauntlets and greaves on her forearms and forelegs matching in color and also wore a dark bikini bottom with a piece of cloth obscuring her hips. As soon as I saw the woman face, my eyes widened in shock. For that woman's face was exactly similar to a certain red-headed girl in our guild, only this woman appeared to be a bit less than friendly looking.

"It's... it's Erza!" I thought. "But... how is she here? I thought she was sucked up by the Anima."

Erza and the man with pink armor went over to the young man with purple hair, the young man of which was a bit surprised upon seeing them.

"Erza. Sugarboy. What are you two doing here?" he asked.

The man in pink armor who was identified as Sugarboy let out a hum before responding. "That's something that we were about to ask you, Hughes," he spoke. "But if you must know, Erza and I were tracking down that troublesome guild, Fairy Tail. But sadly they managed to escape before we had a chance using a teleportation spell."

"Aw, no way!" groaned Hughes. "You mean those stupid fairies away again?! "

"I'm afraid so," replied Sugarboy. "If it was me, I wouldn't waste all that magic power in one shot like that. But then again I gotta give them some credit. However troublesome that dark guild is, they sure are a resourceful and fleet-footed bunch."

"You shouldn't praise those insects," scoffed Erza coldly. "If they're buzzing around, you should squash them immediately."

"And yet we've never managed to catch them," spoke Sugarboy. "But I'm not worried. They can only teleport so much. It's just a matter of time, that's all." He then looked at Hughes. "In any case, we have tidings of joy Hughes. The Giant Anima Plan was a success."

Hughes' eyes went wide with excitement as he grinned ear to ear. "No way! Really?! That's awesome!"

"Yes. It's almost hard to believe, isn't it?" continued Sugarboy. "I would have told Knightwalker too, but I wanted to wait till we met up with you first."

"And what of the Earth Land's Fairy Tail?" asked Erza. "Has it been destroyed along with its wizards when they were sucked into the Anima?"

"To put it precisely, it has been "absorbed"." explained Sugarboy. "The entire town of Magnolia, as well as its wizards and people, are enjoying their stay as part of a giant lacrima just above the Royal City."

"Splendid," Erza said flashing a dark smile. "Then Edolas' should have ample magic power for quite some time."

"Speaking of the Royal City, the king wants all captains of the magic warfare units to return there," Sugarboy hummed. "I believe that he wants to go over some things regarding the lacrima."

"Man! I can't wait to see it!" Hughes spoke eagerly. "What are we waiting for? I wanna see it myself!"

"Calm yourself, Hughes," chided Knightwalker. "You're acting like a child."

"Well can you blame me? This is huge!" spoke Hughes as he leaped onto his creature. "No scratch that, this is awesome!"

Erza Knightwalker then hopped on top of her creature as well with Sugarboy following suit. The two beasts then flapped their wings and then took off into the air until they disappeared from sight. When we were sure they were gone, me and Gajeel came out from our hiding place having to have heard everything they had just said.

"Did you hear all of that?" I asked letting out a shaky breath.

"Every single word," replied Gajeel. "So that's happened to our guild. Should've known they'd be carted off to some crazy place like that. Just our luck."

"Yeah... I know... not to mention that woman who looked like Erza. She looked just like the Erza that we know, but she wasn't," I said. "Not only that, but I heard then mention that there's a version of Fairy Tail in this world and it's a dark guild."

"Well at least we know one thing," said Gajeel. "We now know where to start looking. They called it the Royal City. I say we get on over there and check it out."

"Sounds like a plan, but where should we go?" I wondered. "I mean we have no idea where we are or if there's a town close by."

The two of us then looked around trying to see anything that could help us. Then I saw the very thing that we needed. On a road a few feet away from us was a small road. And on that road was a small cart being driven by a strange beast. The driver was a young man with short brown hair with a young woman who had long black hair.

The two of us immediately went over to the road and I was just about to wave at the man to get him to stop, but then Gajeel came up to them first.

"Hey! You two! We need a ride! Mind giving us one?!" he called out.

The two took one look the long black haired man and they screamed in terror. With one whip of the reigns, the cart rolled away as fast as its wheels could carry it. Gajeel and I stared dumbly at the carriage as it disappeared.

"What the hell was their problem?" wondered Gajeel. "I was just going to ask them for help."

"Who knows? Maybe they were scared of you for some reason," I shrugged. "We'll catch the next person that passes, but I'll stop them this time."

We then waited for another person to pass by. Soon enough, another cart came rumbling in the distance. This one had a driver that was a little old woman. She appeared to be pretty young for her age with only a few wrinkles on her face and she also was pretty fit. She also had long greying red hair tied in a braid.

I waved at the woman signaling her to stop. As soon as the woman saw me, she gently pulled on the reigns making the beast that was pulling her carriage come to a stop.

"Who are you two?" she asked carefully looking at us.

"Sorry to trouble you ma'am, but we're travelers not from around here," I said. "We were trying to get to the Royal City, but we somehow got lost. We were hoping that you could give us a ride or at least point us in the right direction."

"Well, Louen is the next city down this road," spoke the old woman thoughtfully. "And I'm heading back there myself, so why don't you boys hop on and I'll give you a ride. These woods can be pretty dangerous if you're not careful. There's lots of monsters in this forest. In fact, I'm surprised that you two haven't run into one just yet."

"We're just lucky I guess," I spoke as I climbed in the cart. "Thank you very much for helping us."

Gajeel then climbed in as well and then with a whip of the reigns, the carriage was on the move again. As we rode along, I felt grateful that we were able to hitch a ride, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel worried about everyone in the guild. If what those royal guards were saying was true, then the Anima turned them along with everyone else in Magnolia into a giant lacrima. It also made me wonder why me and Gajeel were the only two people that had survived getting sucked into the Anima. Could it have been because that we were dragon slayers? If that was true, then there was a possibility that Natsu and Wendy may have survived too. If they had, where were they? Were they even in Edolas right now?

"So many questions and yet no answers," I mumbled to myself.

"So what business do you boys have at the Royal City?" asked the woman. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Well... you see..." I started.

"We're looking for our friends," Gajeel cut in. "We think that they're somewhere in the Royal City."

"Ah. I see," spoke the woman. "Well if your friends are anywhere, they're sure to be somewhere in Louen. Hopefully, you'll be able to find them."

"Yeah... I hope so too," I spoke as I looked up towards the sky as the cart rumbled and rolled along.

The cart kept on rolling while we sat there in silence as the old woman drove the cart. We passed through the forest and were now in a desert. As we rolled along, the woman gave us some cloaks to wear to shield us from the sun which worked out for the both us. They both kept our faces hidden and it kept me cool, so I wouldn't get dehydrated. Soon enough, we could see the town of Louen and eventually came into it. The place seemed to be a bit run down with the buildings looking dusty and old, but the people living in this town went about their daily routines either selling food or living their lives.

"What's with this place?" I heard Gajeel ask. "It's like the entire town is poor or something."

"It's been like this for years now," spoke the old woman. "This town used to be a place where you can trade magic as a necessity, but then the King placed a ban on magic making it illegal. Just possessing it is a crime. He even went as far as to send his royal army to hunt down magic guilds."

"You're kidding..." I spoke looking at the woman.

"I'm surprised you didn't know," said the old woman looking back at me. "I would have assumed that you knew already since you're travelers."

"Well... we haven't been here before," I said quickly coming up with an excuse. "We come from a different town and this is the first time we've seen this place."

The old woman looked at me her eyes narrowing somewhat suspiciously, but she shrugged her shoulders and went back to looking at the road. Then, she gently pulled back on the reigns and the cart came to a stop just outside of a building.

"Well, this is as far as I can take you boys," spoke the old woman. "You can keep those cloaks since this is your first time here. It can get really hot at times, so you'll need them."

Gajeel and I then got off of the cart, thanked the old woman, and then went on our way.

NO POV

Meanwhile in the Royal City, quite a distance away from Louen, in a throne room, a lone old man stood sitting on his throne. He was a tall, slim elderly man with long gray hair with a long bear to match. He wore garish robes different places in shades of brown and a hat which was reminiscent of something a bishop would wear.

Then someone burst into the room. It was a young girl with light brown hair tied in a ponytail hanging on her shoulder. She was barefooted, wore a yellow dress over a dark blue, skin-tight bodysuit and also had white gloves on both hands. She also had a face a bit similar to a puppy's.

"Your majesty!" she cried. "Your majesty, your majesty, your majesty, your majesty!" She ran darting all around the room before screeching to a halt just in front of the old man. "I've just received word that the Giant Anima was a success! We will be able to extract the magic from the giant lacrima within four days' time as scheduled."

"It's not enough..." spoke the old man. "It's not enough, Coco."

The girl who was named Coco ran around the room before running back to the old man stopping again. "I'm sorry your majesty, what did you say just now?" she asked.

"I said it's not going to be enough, Coco," repeated the old man.

Coco then started running once again going around the room. "But Faust my king," she spoke as she ran. "With all due respect, the lacrima in the Royal City contains an entire Earth Land which should have more than enough magic power to keep Edolas supplied for the next ten years."

"I won't be satisfied until my kingdom of Edolas is free from all restrictions," spoke the old man darkly as he stood up. "My kingdom of Edolas will not be allowed to be finite of magic power and there's only one way that can happen..." He then stood up with a look of madness on his face as he stood up throwing out his arms. "In order to be free, what we need is a source of magic power that is everlasting! And I won't stop till I get it!"

He then let out a throaty and loud cackle as it echoing throughout the throne room.

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Dragoman out!