As Eric woke up from his impromptu nap, he hissed as he felt a migraine flashing through his skull before he blinked as he stared at the white ceiling above his head.
'Where…where the hell am I?' He wondered as he slowly sat upright before grunting in pain as he felt & heard his stomach rumble, the hunger nearly nauseating before he looked around and saw that he was the only one in the small hospital room he was in.
Apart from the bed he was lying on, the two empty beds on both sides of him and the bedside tables in between the beds, there was no other furniture and the blinds were open, making Eric squint as the light shining in nearly blinded him.
"Oh, would you look at that?! You're finally awake!" Eric winced slightly at the loud tone but turned his head as he heard the door opening, watching as a grinning man walked into the room & sat down on the chair next to the bed he was on.
He had to admit that the man was really good-looking, blonde hair shining like gold in the light while dark blue eyes shone with amusement and mischief. The man had on a pair of black dress pants, black dress shoes and a simple white long-sleeved dress shirt with a few buttons open, revealing his muscular upper body.
"Hello there! My name is Guy Aleus."
"Uh, I'm...I'm Eric Creed. Where am I?"
"The Quatro Cerberus Medical Room. If you're asking for the town, you're in Oak Town. We found you a kilometre away from the outskirts of the town border after a huge amount of ethernano was detected just a few kilometres further back from your position. Do you perhaps know anything about that?"
"No. All I remember is being held captive by some group of Zeref cultists and then…nothing apart from waking up in the camp with everyone…" Eric trailed off and Guy gave a sympathetic look as he nodded before he stood up and patted Eric on the shoulders.
"Well, on behalf of Quatro Cerberus, we sincerely apologize for not getting there earlier to help save everyone. However, just know that now you are safe and that you are free to stay here for as long as you need as compensation for having gone through all of that. Now, I'll certain that you're still a bit tired, so I'll leave you to rest it off and tomorrow, I'll take you to see the guild master."
"Thank you. Oh, wait. Before you go, could you please tell me what year it is currently?"
"It's of no problem. The year is X790. Will that be all?"
"Yeah. Thanks." Eric said with a smile and Guy smiled as he nodded before he walked out of the room, Eric letting out a soft sigh of relief as he felt the stress leaving his body.
'Oh god, that was close. I didn't expect for me to wake up in the middle of a fucking mage guild hall, but on the other hand, at least I'm safe here for now. Now, I need to figure out what to do.' Eric knew that he can't sit and mope around with what he knew about this universe, especially when he didn't know where he was in the timeline or if what timeline he was.
If he was in the one where Future Rogue attacked with his dragons, then that was quite alright, but if he was in the one where ten thousand dragons came through the Eclipse Gate and attacked the entirety of Earthland…
Yeah, he was taking himself out as soon as that happened, because no way was he going to get gobbled up by a dragon.
That was not even including the other events that would take place if this was the original Future Rogue timeline, such as the X791 Grand Magic Games arc, the Dragon Invasion Arc, the Tartaros Arc & the Alvarez Empire Invasion Arc.
'I'm not even considering the fact that the filler arcs and movies might even exist in this world, because I can't take that stress right now and I barely know anything about them.' First he needed to figure out what kind of magic he has and to do so, he needed to activate it.
Thankfully, even now as he sat still on the bed, he could feel his ethernano pulsing in the same place as his heart and could feel the residual ethernano slowly energizing & forcing his body back to its optimized healthy state.
Taking a deep breath & closing his eyes, he focused on an image that came to his mind when he remembered the way his father taught him on how to activate his magic.
'Your heart is the dam, your ethernano is the water, your body is the river and your mind is the switch. Turn that switch on and let the ethernano flow from your heart through the rest of your body before focusing on the image that comes to your mind the moment your magic is activated.' Eric took another deep breath before he flipped the mental switch, feeling his heart pulsing as he felt his body being energized.
However, he ignored the new sense of power as he focused on the image that came to mind, that being an image of a purplish- black sphere floating in the middle of a white void with three pure white spheres slowly orbiting around it.
Feeling his 'body' float closer and sinking into the black sphere, he opened his eyes and smirked at the sight of a near-transparent violet light surrounding his body, feeling his body floating in the air without any gravity affecting it.
As he focused, he smirked as he visibly saw the bed denting in as he increased the gravity on it more and more.
'Gravity Magic, eh? Not too bad' Eric frowned in thought as he stared at his hands, dismissing the feeling of power and grunted softly as he fell back onto the bed while he felt the ethernano container on the same place as his heart slowly filling back up.
That took so much more ethernano than he had expected it to take as just keeping himself afloat had taken nearly over three quarters of his ethernano to fuel.
Damn, that means he's going to have to train a shit ton in order to just master the basics of Gravity Magic let alone try and recreate the spells & moves he's seen of Gravity Magic in all the fictional pieces of work that he's read/ watched/ played.
'Oh, well. Tomorrow, I can worry about all of that stuff. Today, it's time for some rest and relaxation.' Eric thought with a shrug before he laid back down on the bed and closed his eyes.
Hey, they said he can stay as long as he want, so there was nothing wrong with sleeping for another day before he starts trying to find a new job.
After the years of slavery and hard work, he deserved it.
Waking up from his second nap, Eric sighed as he laid on his new bed with his arms behind his head, looking up at the ceiling.
'Well, it's already been a day since I got here, so I guess it's time to meet the owner of this place.' Eric thought as he sat up and tried to stand up from the bed. The keyword being 'tried' as he felt his legs trembling under him for a few seconds before the trembling stopped & he slowly began moving around. Waiting until the tingling sensation in his legs finally stopped, he sighed as he looked down at his attire before blinking as he stared at the small dresser just near the door.
'Wonder if they have something in my size.' Eric thought with a hum as he slowly limped towards the door, opening it and not surprised to see only white long-sleeved shirts and black pants in the closet.
Looking at the closet floor, he gave a deadpan stare at the black boots lying there before shaking his head as he reached in & took out an outfit to wear. '
Hey, at least I make it look good.' Eric thought with a smirk as he looked at his reflection in the mirror next to the closet.
While he was a bit skinnier than he remembered, which was probably from the years of being a slave, he could still see a bit of muscle definition here & there from working hard labour and his long mane of black hair & deep crimson eyes with slitted pupils made him look like a feral wolf.
The fact that he had canines that were sharper than that of the regular human didn't help one bit.
'Eh, at least I look good enough for those girls that like men with a feral look to them.' Eric thought with a shrug before he turned to the door, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves before he shook his head as he grabbed the door knob and opened it.
"Maximum effort." Eric quoted his favourite superhero as he walked out of the room, staring at the hallway he was in before he blinked as he heard the excited roar of men echoing through the hallways.
'When trying to find your way to a place, just follow the sounds of partying and fun.' Eric thought with an amused smile as he began walking towards where he had heard the sound originating from, the sounds growing louder and louder until finally, Eric finally walked through the door at the end of the hallway and was assaulted by a cacophony of noise.
"Another four beers!"
"Here, too!"
"More food over here!"
"Hey! I won that match!"
"The fuck you did?! I saw you cheating!"
'Yep. Just like my dorm house in uni.' Eric thought with a nostalgic smile as he stared at the chaos in front of him, watching as a dozen or so women in waiter outfits walked around while serving beer, whiskey, rum & food to the dozens of men sitting around in the tables & playing games such as cards, checkers and he even saw a few men playing chess in the background.
"Oi! It's the new guy!" Eric heard someone shout and he blinked as dozens of eyes looked at him in unison, leaving him standing there and staring at them for a few seconds before he finally got the courage to speak.
"What's the fuck's everyone looking at?" He asked and a few snorts echoed through the large guild hall before a single voice spoke up.
"All right, idiots! That's enough bullying the new guy. Go back to your games and shit!" A loud voice exclaimed and they all grumbled but did as the voice asked as they turned back to their tables, leaving Eric blinking in surprise at the sight of Guy along with another man walking towards him.
The other man looked to be approaching his early 40's as he only had a few wrinkles on his face, with his hair styled in a straight cut that almost reached down to his shoulders and his eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses. Wearing a plain dark grey T-shirt accompanied by pants of a matching colour, the man also wore a black hat that had a wide brim & a torn top pointing backwards, with a dark red collar sporting massive rounded spikes around his neck.
"Hey, Eric. This is Master Goldmine, former S-Rank mage of Fairy Tail & current guild master of the Quatro Cerberus Guild."
"So, you're the survivor my boys found outside the city?" Goldmine asked as he held out a hand and Eric smiled as he gripped the hand firmly while nodding.
"Yes, sir."
"Haha! No need for the sir, though I have to say it's refreshing to have someone in the guild with at least some respect unlike the rest of the idiots around us."
"Hey! That ain't fair, master!"
"Am I wrong?!" Goldmine shouted back and Eric shared an amused smirk with Guy as the rest of the guild grumbled but didn't deny his words, making the man shake his head before he grinned at the young man.
"So, I hear from Guy that you're a former captive of the Zeref Cult?"
"Since I was eight, yes." Eric agreed with a nod and Goldmine frowned as he nodded.
"Well, I want to apologize for not saving you and your friends sooner, but it appears that the Zeref Cultists had a few Jutsushiki users in their midst that hid the camp from all kinds of sensing. It's only after that huge pulse of ethernano that I'm certain was felt all over Fiore that we finally noticed the camp right near our gates. By the way, I know you told Guy, but I have to ask again. Are you certain you didn't see anything that could have been the source of it?"
"Like I told him, one of the other captives got hold of a lockpick and got the handcuffs off of everyone. Then, there was a battle between those that can fight & the guards and then…I woke up a few days ago in the middle of the camp with everyone dead."
"Hmm, well, at least that's some information. Ah, where are my manners? You must be hungry. Guy, why don't you go and get him something to eat & drink from the bar on me while I go and write down Eric's statement for the council? After that, we can start to discuss your stay here, okay?"
"And here I thought I'd have to pay for the food." Eric said and Goldmine chuckled before he watched as Eric and Guy walked towards the bar counter while conversing, releasing a sigh of relief as he deactivated his magic.
Thanks to his Truth Magic, he was able to feel that the young man was speaking nothing but the truth to him, which was a relief as he didn't know if their guild would be able to take down someone that released enough ethernano that was on the same level as his old friend Makarov.
Don't get him wrong.
He was certain that with Guy, Bacchus & Warcry, they would be able to subdue the young man, but he didn't want to think of the casualties that would have taken place during such a battle.
'Now, all there's left to do is write that report. Hah, I can see now why Makarov hates paperwork.'
"I didn't think a bowl of rice would be that nice." Guy said with a smirk as he sat at a table opposite of Eric, watching as the man demolished his 20th bowl of rice & eggs with vigor. Eric just rolled his eyes as he finished swallowing the last of the rice before letting out a sigh of relief as he placed the bowl next to the others.
"I've only had a sandwich with ham & cheese along with a glass of water three times a day for my entire stay in that camp, so believe me when I say, this tastes like five star food to me."
"Haha! I suppose so."
"Yo, Guy!" A voice exclaimed and both turned towards the sound of the voice before Eric blinked at the sight of a rather tall & muscular man with straight black hair that was slicked back & kept in a bun.
He appeared to be dressed in nothing more than a pair of very baggy dark maroon pants that ended just below his knees and large flame motifs that were on the legs' outer edges with a pair of dark, plain Chinese-looking shoes. However, while his upper body was bare, his arms & shoulders were covered with some sort of dark blue armour that joined together on the upper part of his back and were topped by a wide arched armoured collar.
"Hey, Bacchus! How was the mission?"
"Eh, good. It was only a few dozen Blizzard Wyverns, so I was able to easily take care of them. You a new recruit?" He asked as he turned to Eric, who shook his head before he clarified.
"No, I escaped from a Zeref slave camp that were all wiped out just outside of town and is just staying for a while until I figured out what to do next with my life."
"…Cool. Is the master here? I need to give him the file he wanted."
"In his office." Eric could only blink as Bacchus gave them a nod before he continued walking, turning to Guy who chuckled.
"You caught him at a good time. If he was drunk you would have been questioned about everything that happened until the sun went down or he ran out of alcohol."
"…Lucky me." He muttered and Guy chuckled before Eric grinned.
"Hey, Goldmine was paying for everything, right?! Chef! Can I have one of everything on the menu, please?!" Eric exclaimed and Guy sighed as he heard the chef shouting back in affirmation.
'The master is so going to kill us.'
"…How the hell does one person eat up twenty bowls of rice & eggs, five plates of ribs, three plates of wyvern steak, four plates of dango and three plates of mochi?"
"I was hungry?" Eric said/ asked with a sheepish smile and Goldmine sighed as he shook his head, ignoring Guy's stifled chuckles and Bacchus' snickering before he nodded.
"Forgetting that, let's get back to the matter at hand. What to do with you from now on."
"Can I ask why we are in the backyard of the guild? Or why these guys are all here?" Eric asked as he looked at the large grassy plains he was currently standing on as well as the crowd of guys that had spontaneously decided to go out to the backyard of the guild as soon as they saw the four of them heading in that direction.
"Well, they're here because they're bored idiots, but we're here because we're going to test whether or not you're ready to become a mage."
"Wait, what?!" Eric's head snapped back to Goldmine and the man smirked before he turned to Guy.
"Well, this is mostly just a test to see if you're capable of performing physically & mentally as a mage."
"I don't think so, considering I just escaped captivity."
"Then, you're going to have to find some other way to pay me back for not only healing you but also feeding you."
"You're the one who said the food was on you!"
"Yeah, and I thought you would eat perhaps three bowls of rice, not twenty!" Goldmine exclaimed, to which Eric grumbled as he pouted before he groaned as he looked at them.
"Fine! What do I have to do?"
"Nothing at all. All you have to do is release the full extent of your magic & Guy here will take care of the rest." Eric blinked at Goldmine's words and as he turned to Guy, he was shocked to see a large golden holographic screen in front of him with five others on both sides of him and another dozen or so floating around Eric himself.
"These will help me determine your physical health, your mental stability and how much ethernano your body currently has."
"…Huh, so all I have to do is release my magic, right? Not activate it?"
"That's right. Feel free to let loose any time you want." Guy said with a nod and Eric grinned as he nodded, taking a few deep breaths as the crowd calmed down before he focused on the switch…and flipped it.
The next instant, the ground within a five metre radius around him cratered as he activated his magic, both Guy's hands & eyes a blur as he typed at a rapid pace while reading all of the information that appeared in front of him.
"Woah, not bad." Eric could hear Bacchus hum and he took a deep breath as he kept the aura going until the feeling of exhaustion began to settle in & quickly cut off the flow of ethernano, sighing in relief as he felt his container slowly filling back up while the sense of heaviness around his body disappeared.
'That could be useful for some kind of gravity training, because in this world, you have to train both body & mind to make yourself stronger, right? Or is that from Naruto?' Eric wondered with a frown before he shook his head free of those thoughts, deciding to leave them for later as he looked up at Goldmine, Guy and Bacchus & awaited their words.
"Physical Health: A bit malnourished, but with the right diet plan, that is easily fixed. Mental Health: Slightly unstable, but only time can fix that as going to a therapist would just aggravate his mental state more. Ethernano Container: It's a bit shaky from finally getting to be used after twelve years of not being used, so for now, moderately releasing his ethernano from his container three times a day for thirty seconds for the next thirty days should help his container become stable. I'll give you the short summary." He said as he typed on the keyboard and Eric blinked as a bar appeared in front of him before it began to fill up, his eyes widening as every bit of medical information about his body flooded his brain before the information download stopped just as the bar was full.
'…I need to learn that magic. If that thing can help me keep track of all the memories in my mind, oh baby~' Eric thought with a grin as he shook his head, looking up as Goldmine frowned with a hum before he nodded.
"Guy, I want you to make up an optimal & effective dietary plan for Eric for the next month. Bacchus, while he's doing that, I want you to make a full training plan to get Eric back on his feet in the next thirty days & send it to Guy. Eric, I want you awake at 0800 tomorrow morning because you and I are going to do a little training montage to fix you up."
'Am I actually going to join Quatro Cerberus and not Fairy Tail? …Yes. Yes, I am.' Eric thought with a grin as he nodded, Goldmine chuckling as a grumbling Bacchus & a smiling Guy walked back into the guildhall along with the rest of the crowd before Goldmine spoke up.
"So…where do you want your guild mark?"
A/N: I bet everyone was surprised when Eric woke up in Quatro Cerberus instead of Fairy Tail, right?!
Yeah, I decided that since there are already so many stories of SI's in the Fairy Tail Guild, why not focus on the ones cast off to the side?
I do have a few other Self Inserts in the making for each of the other guilds as well as a few Dark Guild self inserts and one that joined the Alvarez Empire, but those are far in the future.
Perhaps in the next year or so when I am capable, I shall upload, but until then…
Enjoy, read, review and until the next one…
Ba-Bye~!
P.S. If you want, go check my pat re on KingCrimsonNova, which is seven weeks ahead on this fanfic and ten weeks ahead on the Unholy Wolf. Don't know if the site name showed, but if it didn't, go to P*tr*on and search the name KingCrimsonNova for the extra chapters.