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Our Humble Beginnings (kurobizzle & Marsyas's Fairy Tail RP)
Everyone knows that the first guild master of Fairy Tail was Mavis Vermilion, but who else made up this strong and eccentric guild? A look into Fairy Tail's colorful history and the lives of its very first members... kuro's characters: Name: Rina Solhart Age: Unknown Guild: Fairy Tail Tattoo Location: Left Back Shoulder Appearance: Rina Personality: Fun-loving, laid-back, tomboyish, friendly, naive and idealistic. Bio: All Rina remembers about her biological parents were dark figures that had abandoned her when she was very young. Luckily, she was founded and cared for by her foster mother Tundrek; the Ice Dragon. Tundrek had always been by her side, teaching her how to read, write and above all, use Ice Dragon Slayer Magic. During her time with Tundrek, Rina learned much about the world outside her snowy mountaintop home. Once she felt she was old enough, Rina asked for permission to explore the lands. The Ice Dragon allowed her to and Rina set off on her adventure. However, Rina found out that the world wasn't all lollipops and rainbows. She learned the hard way how important money was, that there were just bad people in the world and she could not trust everyone she met. She even had a few run-ins with Dark Guilds she luckily escaped from. A year later, she found herself in front of the newly created Fairy Tail guild and was invited to join by its founder, Mavis Vermilion. Magic Type: Ice Dragon Slayer Magic Attacks: Ice Dragon's Roar, Ice Dragon's Wing Attack, Ice Dragon's Frozen Fist, Ice Dragon's Sword, Ice Dragon's Claw, Crystal Blizzard: Frozen Barrage, Crystal Blizzard: Icicle Blades --- Marsyas's characters: Quote:
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Fairy Tail. How long had it been? A few years now? Back in the beginning, Lucian had found himself in the presence of a most peculiar looking girl. She reeked of magic but the dull look in her eye made him wary. "Who are you," the strange girl asked. "Nobody, why are you asking," he replied in his soft low voice. "Well you're obviously somebody or you wouldn't be here." The words struck a cord in him somewhere as his all too familiar anger rose inside, "I'm nobody!" The girl was unshaken by his stern tone and even proceeded to follow him as he tried to walk away, "Where are you going?" The young black haired mage stopped in his tracks. Where was he going? His clothes were tattered and torn from his days as a slave. He had been running for days with no sense of direction and found himself in Magnolia Town, a fair distance away from where he started. "I don't know," he replied. "Well where are you coming from," she asked. "I don't know that either. Why are you asking so many questions?" he snapped back in an attempt to keep his emotions hidden. The small girl looked at him with a warm smile that was unfamiliar to him, "I can just tell." For some reason, at that moment when they met eyes, Lucian felt as though she understood him. Like she knew exactly what he had been through and how hard his life had been up until now. That moment was still sentimental to him but he hated thinking of it. It made him feel weak, even after all these years. Shaking off the effects of those thoughts and glancing to his side where his partner walked with him, the stoic male questioned, "How much longer until we reach this town? I don't know why you would even pick a mission that was this far away and you won't ride vehicles." They had been walking for two days now and had been attacked by monsters on several occasions but it hadn't been anything they couldn't handle. Lucian liked to tease her with his nagging, and since it was rare for him to smile or laugh and this was about as good as it got. Even back at the guild where everyone was rowdy and overly loud, always singing, dancing, drinking and being just plain happy. Lucian wasn't like that. He didn't fit in with the usual bunch, but that was one thing he loved about Fairy Tail. They accepted him. A fact he was grateful for in his own way. |
"This is the only mission that can pay off both my rent and yours, seeing as we didn't get paid the last time because you decided to destroy half the town while fighting that Dark Guild." Rina reminded with a playful glare, "Also, walking's good for us. We shouldn't depend on things like carriages or trains." Before she could let her partner poke more fun on her chronic motion sickness, the brunette noticed the area around them. She ran up the path to the top of the hill they were climbing and looked over the horizon.
"We're here!" She exclaimed, turning to Lucian with an excited smile, "Told you it wouldn't take that long." She motioned her hand towards the town of Lupinus. It was a small, yet bustling city with a fairly large building nestled in what she assumed was the town square. "C'mon, we gotta go check in with the mayor." She said, turning to run down the hill without waiting for her partner's response. From what the flyer had said, the mayor of Lupinus Town needed some mages to retrieve something. What it was and where it was located had not been mentioned, making the mission a little more mysterious but nonetheless more exciting in Rina's eyes. |
(Just out of curiosity are you getting an exceed?) Lucian shrugged, "I had to defend myself or I would've died. Besides half the town getting blown up in the process. . . I don't see how that's my fault when you helped." The guild had taken a lot of heat from the aftermath of that fight but somehow Mavis managed to keep the council off of them. Probably because they had managed to take out one of the smaller Dark Guilds. As Rina darted off, Lucian let out a heavy sigh figuring she was just trying to avoid the topic at hand. "You have way too much energy," he announced but he was honestly relieved that they had arrived. "Yeah yeah, alright. We still could've been here much quicker and probably been done at that." Why he allowed himself to be drug around by her, he would never understand. Following obediently as Rina took off towards the town like a bullet from a magic gun, Lucian stuffed his hands in his pockets and tailed the dragon slayer at his own pace. Lupinus seemed to be a nice town. It was bustling with life, and seemed to be peaceful on its exterior. When Lucian finally got into town, which was a minute or so after his partner, he headed straight for the large building in, what seemed to be the town square. This mission didn't sit right with him. The reward offered for this mission was more than substantial but the secrecy couldn't be a good thing. It was a retrieval mission of sorts, but whatever they were retrieving was worth quite a bit to this town or its mayor. By the time Lucian managed to reach their destination, Rina was already there waiting for him with her usual jovial demeanor. "Let's find out what he wants." |
(I thought about it but the Exceeds sent their children to Earthland about six years before the canon series began. So since we're set a long time before the series began, there wouldn't be many Exceeds on Earthland. So to answer your question, no.)
"Right-o partner!" Rina replied before knocking on the door of the large building. They waited for a few seconds until the door opened to reveal a young woman with flowing red hair. "M-May I help you?" She asked timidly, hiding half of herself behind the large oak door. Rina waved at her cheerfully. "Hello! We're mages from Fairy Tail. We're here on a job the mayor sent out to our guild." She explained. "Oh that's right. Please, c-come in." The woman replied, opening the door a little wider to allow them entrance. The brunette stepped in, looking around at the wide, yet empty entrance. Only a long rug and a plaque about a short history of Lupinus Town decorated the hallway. There wasn't even a potted plant. Rina looked around curiously, noticing that there were places on the floor and walls were the dust was lighter than the other. As if things were recently taken out... Rina glanced at Lucian, letting him know that she too thought something was fishy. However, before she could say anything the woman called out to them from across the hall. "Right t-this way please." She stated, standing in front of a smaller pair of oak doors. |
(This is true. Kinda sad but oh well) The male shadowed his partner as they walked in the manor. The girl's shy attitude was odd for a servant but it happened from time to time. The interior of the manor really put Lucian on high alert. There was too much of. . . nothing in here. For all its grandeur on its exterior the interior was far too vacant. He caught his partner's glance and gave a nod of understanding. Something was definitely amiss here. Just as Rina seemed she was about to speak the servant called out to here from in front of a pair of smaller oaken doors. Taking the lead, Lucian opened the door to find a decent sized room that was obviously more well kept than the rest of the place, but it too was desolate. Looking around there were spaces on the walls where painting or portraits had been and the fireplace looked as if it hadn't seen any use lately. Sitting on the far side of the room with his back to them was a slender elderly looking male. His skin was pale and his white and curly. His attention seemed to be elsewhere entirely. Lucian looked to his partner before calling for the man, "Hey, old man! We've come to see about the item you want retrieved." The man didn't move at first and Lucian's eyebrow soon started to twitch from anger. He was about to explode but just then the old man raised his hand to silence the mage, "Calm yourself boy, can't an old man have a moment to gather his thoughts?" Pacified, now that the man had at least spoken Lucian backed down. Raising from his chair slowly, fatigue obviously effecting his movement, the man turned to face the two mages. He had a long face that was weathered either from age or worry but Lucian figured the first. He really didn't look that old from the front even though his hair was snow white and he looked old enough. Though his voice was still strong for someone that old and his eyes still had quite a bit of spirit in them. He glanced between the two mages for a moment before clasping his hands behind his back and speaking, "Obviously, I have a problem. I would not have placed such a high reward for this were it not serious. I apologize for the secrecy but it is a highly. . . delicate matter." Extending a hand of invitation the man continued, "Please sit down." He waited for the two to take their seat and did the same. "Rose, bring us some tea please," he called out to the red headed girl. "Forgive my rudeness, my name is Farren. I'm the mayor of Lupinus." (I didn't even ask you, would you prefer if I use a larger font? Or can you see everything okay?) |
(Oh don't worry, the size of your font is great!)
Once Rina walked into the office, she wasn't surprised to see that all the other furniture was taken out of there as well. It was the sight of the old man that surprised her more. She assumed he was the mayor but from the smell of him, he couldn't have been as old as he looked. And there was still a good amount of fire in his eyes, even though the rest of his body looked like it was ready to settle down. The girl was pulled out of her musings by the sudden outburst of her partner. She shook her head at his temper. She really needed to teach Lucian the virtue of patience. Before she could stop him from yelling out again, the old man stopped him without any hesitation. Most people were usually wary of Lucian's overall appearance and personality, but the man shut him up so easily. Rina snorted as she stopped herself from giggling right as the man began to speak. After he introduced himself as the mayor of Lupinus and told them to take a seat, the shorter girl sped to the closer chair. She flopped down on it and grinned at the Farren. "So what do we need to get for you? And from who? Do we get to kick some ass?" She asked excitedly as Rose, the red-haired girl, placed a tea set on the desk. She poured the Mayor a cup before turning to the mages. "Tea?" She asked softly. Rina shook her head. "I don't like hot drinks." She explained. Rose turned to Lucian as her nervousness came out; expected when facing the intimidating man. "T-tea?" |
Farren waited for the girl to pour his cup and watched as Lucian agreed to the tea while Rose nearly spilled the tea everywhere as she fearfully filled the younger male's cup. Once Rose was out of the way and nothing had been spilled the old man took a sip of his tea before looking between the two, "I want you to recover a compass for me." Lucian's eyebrow arched with curiosity, "A compass? You're paying us all this money for a compass?" Farren smirked, "Yes, I would like you to recover this compass. If you don't want the job I can certainly find someone more willing?" "No, we'll do it. So what's so special about this compass of yours that you've offered up so many jewels?" he questioned. Upon hearing the question Farren's smile vanished, "Tell me, how much do you two know about the Eyes of Heaven?" Lucian glanced at Rina and shrugged as he shook his head. He didn't know anything about them or least of all what any of this had to do with a compass. |
Rina didn't notice Lucian's glance as she thought about what the mayor just mentioned. It sounded familiar.... The brunette suddenly grinned as she snapped her fingers.
"I heard of that before!" She exclaimed, "The Eyes of Heaven are magic compasses right? I remember hearing it around Shirotsume Town a while back." "Correct." Farren replied as he opened the top drawer of his desk. He pulled out a large, leather-bound book laid it on top of the oak table. He flipped through the thin, yellow pages before coming to a picture that depicted an illustration of the two circular objects. Though they looked similar to one another, certain colors and details helped to tell them apart. "These are the Eyes of Heaven," He began before pointing to the blue and gold compass on his right, "This is the Eye of Fate while the other is the Eye of Destiny." He then pointed to the red and silver compass next to it. |
Lucian wasn't surprised that Rina had known about the set of compasses. Despite her rambunctious demeanor, she was quite the intellectual. She had an uncanny knack for paying attention to detail. A little quality that he silently admired but would never allude to. Leaning in as the book was placed on the table, Lucian looked on with only mild interest as Farren showed off the set of magic compasses and then looked at them. Suddenly struck with a small spark of curiosity Lucian asked sarcastically, "Nice, they're shiny! But what's so special about them?" Farren looked between the two sternly before speaking, "Aside from the fact that the Eye of Fate has been a keepsake of this house for several generations, each compass has a special ability." The old man paused as he took a breath, "The Eye of Fate, the one you'll be retrieving, can locate any object in this world no matter it's location. The Eye of Destiny can locate any person no matter the location. And when the two are brought together there is a legend that speaks of the consequences, but I'm not well versed in the legend." There was a brief pause before he continued, "The Eye of Destiny has been lost for centuries. No one who has tried to find it has been able to. It's said that the only object able to locate it is-" "The Eye of Fate." Farren nodded and took notice of Lucian's subtle change of expression after the explanation. "I see you understand the gravity of what's at stake here. Whatever the outcome, I just want my family's keepsake returned. I don't care how you two do it." Lucian's neutral face turned into what seemed like the shadows of a grin as he processed the information, "Sounds simple enough. What about you Rina, anymore questions for the old man?" |
"Just one; who has the Eye of Fate?" Rina asked with an innocent expression on her face, "You said we were retrieving it, not looking for it. That means someone else has it, right?" As much as the Dragon Slayer was itching to get out of the room and go adventuring, she needed to know all the details to make sure how much she and Lucian could let loose. She admired her partner's powers and had always considered him stronger than she was, but he was also a bit more... wild. If she wasn't careful, the two of them could do a lot of damage and say good-bye to their rent money.
Farren had a surprised look on his face before he gave a wry smile and shook his head. "I truly am glad it was you Fairy Tail mages who answered my request." He stated while he closed the leather book, "You are correct. If you haven't noticed by now, my office and entire Town Hall is quite bare. For the past few years, I have been dealing with a Dark Guild named Skull Heresy. To make sure no harm comes to this town, I've had to give an offering every so often so they don't attack us. About a week ago, a few mages from Skull Heresy came and raided my office like they always do. And as usual, I hid the Eye of Fate in a small, black book. But by chance, they grabbed the book before I could stop them. I'm not sure if they even found out what was really inside, so I need you to retrieve it as soon as possible." "Want us to get rid of that dumb Dark Guild too?" Rina asked excitedly, hoping for the chance to kick some ass. However, the old man shook his head while taking a sip of his tea. "I couldn't ask you two to do something so dangerous. All I want is for you to get it back." "But we're pretty stro-" She was cut off when Farren slammed his tea cup onto the saucer, making her jump at the loud clank. "I highly advise that you do not, under any circumstances, be seen. You do not know what these men are capable of." He ordered, a fire in his eyes the brunette didn't think he had in him. She guessed that it must have been fear driving him, but couldn't shake off the feeling that the mayor was really angry as well, which was weird to her. Why would he be angry at them? They were only trying to help... Rina took this chance to glance at Lucian, unable to find the right words. |
Lucian listened in quietly as Rina took over the speaking and wasn't surprised when she asked if they should eliminate the Skull Heresy. He'd already planned to do that anyway though since there was a mandate from the Magic Council that allowed them to wage these wars freely. But the reaction she received from Farren made him suspicious. Why would the old man have been so upset about that? If anything, he'd lost his entire family fortune to them and he should be more eager to have this threat removed from his city. Maybe it was simply fear but for some reason it seemed like it was more than that. He locked eyes with his partner as she looked lost and shook his head, "Let's go." There was no need to press the matter. Before he turned around to leave Lucian paused for a moment and looked back to Farren, "Where do we start looking?" Farren who seemed to be troubled again thought about the question for a moment then replied, "I believe they have a hideout in the forest to the northeast of town. You can start your search in that area." Lucian gave a nod and walked out but something about that last look in his eye bothered the dark mage. He still seemed extremely worried even though the two of them were going to get back his compass. As the two walked he had kept quiet piecing his thoughts and ideas together. Once they were a good distance away from the mansion he turned to Rina and spoke, "There's more to this than the old man lets on." He knew she was thinking the same thing, and as long as she was curious they would have to find out what was really going on. "But we can worry about that when the time comes. What do you know about Skull Heresy?" It wasn't one of the Dark Guild's he was familiar with. There were so many sprouting up lately that it was almost frightening. So much so that the Magic Council issued a mandate, declaring war against the Dark Guild so that their numbers could be thinned out. It was a rare occurrence that something like this happened but, it was the type of environment that Lucian had come to thrive in. |
Rina quickly followed after her partner, relieved to get out of the now tense-filled office. Before she walked out the door, she took one last look inside. Her dark pink eyes wandered towards the timid assistant standing next to the mayor's chair, wondering if she had anything to say about all of this. She locked gazes with Rose for a brief moment and was surprised to see no emotion in her dark eyes. The door closed on her before she could comprehend what she just saw, but decided to ignore it and follow Lucian outside.
The Dragon Slayer took a deep breath of fresh air as the two of them walked farther from the town and towards the forest they were directed to. Being away from Lupinus helped clear her mind as she thought about what had just happened. Hearing Lucian express his thoughts helped to confirm she wasn't the only one thinking something weird was going on. "Hm... I've heard about them. Other than the fact that they're strong, they should be like any normal Dark Guild." Rina began to backtrack in her mind to when she first heard about Skull Heresy. There have been so many Dark Guilds out there nowadays that it was hard to remember which was which. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. "Wait, I remember them causing a lot of mayhem a few years back. Mavis-chan used to complain about them when I first joined. But out of nowhere, they suddenly stopped doing their normal pillaging of towns. They pop up once in a while nowadays but aren't as active as before." The brunette turned to Lucian, "Do you think we should be worried?" Although the two of them have faced a good amount of Dark Guilds over the course of their partnership, Rina always felt it was necessary to have the Dark mage take the lead when dealing with them. He was a better strategist after all. |
As they walked and his partner spoke Lucian took in the information as he thought about the best way to approach things. If they had went silent for a while that was usually a bad sign. They were probably biding their time for something, which wasn't good. Somehow there was this lingering feeling that this mission wouldn't pay enough for the trouble they were about to get into. "I don't think we have any reason to worry right now. It wouldn't do us any good anyway, but I have a feeling getting the Eye of Fate back won't be easy." He wanted to make sure Rina stayed calm. If she got worked up now, it would be bad for them later. There as they reached the forest the two took the trail leading to the general vicinity of target location. "Keep your eyes out for another trail. I don't thin they'd have a hideout right where someone could find it if they've been hiding." A thought occurred to him when he remembered what Rina had told him a little while ago, "You said that Skull Heresy went underground a while back right?" He waited for her nod then continued, "Do you think this compass has anything to do with it? I just wonder why they would decide to continue to prey on this one town instead of raiding as many as possible without a good reason." He was still bothered by the way Farren had acted and the look on his face before they left. He seemed eager enough for help but something was amiss. "That old geezer didn't tell us everything," that much was certain and it pissed him off. |
"I got a bad feeling from his assistant too..." Rina mentioned as she looked around the forest floor for any signs of disturbance. She thought back to Rose and how she looked like a nice, shy person but by the end of their talk her personality suddenly changed. She had the eyes of a hardened criminal, something Rina was sadly familiar with.
"I think both of them are hiding something." She added before raising her eyes to the sky. She sniffed the air a couple of times, catching a hint of something that wasn't nature-y. Looking towards the direction of the scent, she saw a bush that looked disfigured compared to the ones around it a few feet away. She headed towards the bush and knelt down, seeing that some of its branches were broken. After moving a few leaves and more branches, she saw the dirt was worn out. "I found something Lucian!" She called out, pushing the bush away to reveal a hidden path. |
Lucian hadn't been doing as much looking as he should have with all the silent thinking he was doing. So when Rina called to him having found something, he was happy that someone was focused on the matter at hand, cause he hadn't been. Rushing over to the hidden path he took the lead, assuming his partner would follow behind him. The two of them walked down the trail for a few minutes before coming to a small clearing with what looked like an old temple or at least it resembled the structure of the old stone Cathedrals. He could tell it was ancient because the architecture matched those of some of the older ruins he had been to during his past, but it was obvious this place was being used. The area was forcibly cleared out likely by fire magic and then doused with water. The plant-life in the area was nonexistent now and all that was left was a dead field of dirt. Glancing at his partner he walked a little closer to the Cathedral and noticed the Skull Heresy emblem then looked to Rina, "Be prepared." He didn't think they would be dumb enough to put their emblem out front but maybe there was a purpose. Walking to the entrance and placing his palms flatly against the twin tower like doors, to his surprise the two doors opened on their own seemingly reacting to his magic. The inside looked. . . abandoned to Lucian's surprise. The place seemed like it actually was once a church. It had benches made of wood evenly spaced throughout but they were so old that the wood had molded and some of the benches were already broken. There were four sturdy stone pillars surrounding the benches and serving as the support for the place. At the center there was an idol of a God that had been worshiped long in the past. Vines and moss had engulfed everything and served to add an ancient mystique to the place. "This place doesn't look like it's been touched in centuries," he relayed to Rina. Looking around at the dusty old rugs and tapestry that were hanging about, he honestly had to say that the place seemed abandoned. "There's gotta be something here." |
Rina was distracted by the swelling feeling of sadness inside her chest as she looked at what remained of the clearing she and Lucian stepped onto. All around the guild building of Skull Heresy was death. Nothing was left and the brunette had a good feeling it wasn't because of natural causes. Seeing what people could actually could do to nature almost brought tears to her eyes. However, her partner's quick remark brought her back to her senses.
She followed after him towards the door of the looming towers of Skull Heresy. The place itself gave off a creepy vibe and Rina wondered if it was just an aura or something else. A loud slam of the doors opening brought her attention to Lucian who had opened them accompanied by a rush of air. Rina took in a breath before immediately slapping her hands over her nose. "Ugh it smells disgusting in there!!" She shouted nasally. The scent of molding wood, urine, animal feces, and rancid food reeked from the inside of the guild, but from all that foulness she could detect a hint of death. "You're right, people have either died or left long ago." She agreed with him, pulling off her headband and tying it over her nose and mouth. It helped relieve her of some of the smells, but only a little. Once she wasn't so distracted, she took another good look at the inside to make sure there were no traps. Seeing as her eyesight was better, she felt it was her responsibility to make sure the coast was clear. From where she stood at the foot of the front doors, she saw no visible traps anywhere near them. However, Rina saw something that resembled markings near a tapestry depicting a bloody battle between two warring armies. She pointed to its location at the far right of the room. "There aren't any trap but there's something over there." |
Ignoring the putrid stench of the place as he looked around silently until both of them were satisfied that the place hadn't been tampered with by traps and the like, Lucian folded his arms over his chest in thought. He couldn't seem to figure out what was going on until Rina pointed out that there was something over by the statue of the Old God. Walking over to the structure he could feel a slight draft at his feet. "There's a draft coming from around here," he announced to his partner. Immediately he started looking around for a button or lever. Maybe there was something to pull that would open the chamber beneath. "See if you can fin-" he paused as the idea struck him. Reaching for the idol of the God, he pulled it forward and before he knew it, the alter was sliding backwards revealing a stone staircase leading below. He glanced to his partner and took the lead. There was no way that they could've seen the dim light from the torches so he was glad Rina was inherently perceptive, picking up on the breeze. As they passed by the first torch he dislodged it from its holster and handed it to Rina then took the next one for himself. They walked down the stone corridors until they came to a four way where Lucian paused. "Which way?" |
Rina hesitantly took the torch from her partner, feeling slightly uneasy near her opposite element but swallowing it immediately once Lucian descended down the steps. As she followed the taller male, the Dragon Slayer Mage looked around the walls of the staircase, noticing that these walls had less dust on them compared to the walls of the main room above them, as if someone had recently been in that same hallway. She also began to wonder why there were torches lined up when it seemed as though no one had been at the guild building in ages. Did someone want them to find the compass?
Rina was pulled out of her thoughts when she almost collided Lucian. Luckily she was able to avoid lighting him on fire and glanced in front of him to see why he stopped. To her surprise, the corridor split into four. "Hm...." She went around Lucian to get a better look at the corridors. All of them were dimly lit but two were much dustier than the others, meaning nothing interesting could be at the end of them. Rina walked over to the hall closest to her left and sniffed. She could smell a faint mixture of dew, pollen, and wildflowers. That lead to the outside. Rina then headed to the corridor at the farthest right and took a whiff. It smelled damp like the rest of the area but with a hint of decomposing flesh. Someone had tried to past through here and didn't make it. "Someone died here, maybe for something really interesting." She stated as she pointed to the entrance, "Wanna check it out?" |
Lucian nodded and walked around his partner once again taking the lead. The corridor was dark and the air around moist and damp. To be honest if he were normal it may have given him the chills, but darkness was his element, and he could actually see perfectly fine in it. The only reason he took a torch was so that Rina didn't get lost following him. They'd been separated before. Their boots made a soft clacking noise against the hard stone floors and echoed softly down the corridors, which worried the God Slayer slightly. They didn't have the element of surprise at their disposal, but then again he wasn't sure they would need it. The two of them had taken out several bands of Dark Guilds recently in their travels and he presumed that this would hardly be different. The only thing was that his gut said differently, but Lucian could only hope that this would be simple. They continued down the corridor and after a while Lucian picked up the scent of rotting flesh and blood. Extending his arm forward and tilting his wrist so that the torch was as far out in front of him as he could manage, he came to an abrupt halt. There was a man. He'd probably been down here for about a week from his smell and the condition of the body. His skin was pale and the insects of death were enjoying their meal it seemed. His body had puncture holes all throughout as if he had been savagely shot to death. "Do you sense that," he asked, calling back to Rina without taking his eyes off the man. There were magic traps here, or at least there were. Either way he didn't want to investigate too much further, they just needed to find whatever was at the end of this tunnel. Oh and get the blasted compasses back. |
Rina followed behind Lucian at a safe distance, once in a while looking behind her. She didn't feel like they were being watched, but she still felt a sense of paranoia inside the dark tunnel. It was definitely a creepy place to be and she wished they could find the compass and get out already. She missed everyone back home at Fairy Tail...
The stench of death grew stronger and Rina turned her head forward again just in time to see the dead body punctured with many holes. The bandanna on her face couldn't stop the smell from reaching her nose this time and she quickly covered her face to avoid vomiting right there. She had to focus, especially when Lucian had pointed out the lingering magic in the air. Gulping down her disgust, Rina regained her composure before looking around the area. From the dim lighting she could see faint areas on the wall where the dust had settled and saw a faint line near the dead body. She walked forward cautiously towards the indentation and gently touched the wall. The line started vertically a little below her hip before going vertical and she soon realized it created a tall rectangle on the wall. After give it a slight push, the mage found a fake wall that slid down, revealing a set of barrels. Rina flinched and jumped back to defend herself, but upon closer inspection saw that the barrels had already discharged its ammunition. Most likely on the body. Turning back she could see the same thing on the wall opposite of her. "That's one trap down. I don't know if there are any others down there..." She started before something on the body caught her eye. She leaned forward a bit, the smell almost knocking the concentration out of her, but she kept it in as she inspected the body. Sure enough, there was something black on the decomposing chest. Rina quickly moved the body's shirt away, hoping to avoid any bugs, and widened her eyes. "That's the Skull Heresy symbol! This guy was one of their mages!" She exclaimed, her mind registering the new information. So they hadn't disbanded like she had first assumed. |
Lucian watched intently for anything suspicious as Rina checked the place for the traps he spoke of. By the time she had discovered the hidden areas on the wall, he was sure they they were still alone in the corridor. The barrels she found had trace hints of magical energies still on them. It meant they had been discharged long ago which matched the body they found. The God Slayer assumed they would run across a few more before they made it out of here. Not the most pleasant thought, nor did it really bother him. Death was death. He'd seen enough of it in his childhood to make him immune to the emotions that normal people had regarding it. When Rina found the Skull Heresy mark on the dead man's chest, it confirmed that they were headed in the right direction. "At least we're on the right track," he told her with a hint of indecision in his voice. He was still bothered by this mission and the way their 'client' had behaved before they left. Still, they had a job to do and Mavis would be mad if they just suddenly gave up. As would Rina, when they didn't have the money for their rent. Sighing aloud, the male pressed forward knowing his partner would follow close behind. As he suspected, they ran into several other Skull Heresy members who had met their fate in the corridors of this labyrinth. What he hadn't suspected was all the turns and traps that had been down here for so long. Some of the bodies they found were fairly fresh, within the last few days, and that meant that the guild had just found their way down here. Not to mention that they were using their guild mates as path-markers. It was disgusting. It also meant that there was an alternate entrance. It explained why the real entrance hadn't seemingly been touched even though the earth out front was scorched. They'd tried to force their way into the temple but it hadn't allowed them entrance. Odd. Rina's nose had lead them through most of the maze but at this point both of them could clearly hear talking and chanting. The voices had been getting louder and louder as they progressed from the time they originally heard them. And now they at the point where they didn't need light. There was a room that was well lit around the corner. Lucian slowly crept up to it. "Get rid of the torch," he ordered in a whisper. When he peaked around to see what was going on, everything looked as though they were getting ready to perform a ritual or something. All the members were in robes. They had a magic circle drawn with chalk on the ground and a tall block of wood serving as a stand right in the center. On top, there it was, the silver compass! |
As soon as Lucian and her left the first dead body, Rina had thought that would also mean the smell of death would disappear. However, the deeper they went down the corridor, the stronger the scent. She soon realized why as the duo passed their second dead body, and then their third. She stopped counting after the fifth dead body, feeling utter disgust towards Skull Heresy. What kind of guild would purposely use their own members to test for booby traps, knowing that there was a chance they could get killed? They were truly the lowest of the low. However, she said nothing and kept following the trail of bodies and soon picked up what seemed to be like... chanting.
Following the sound, Rina soon caught sight of a faint light illuminating the end of the hallway. As they got closer, she saw that it lead around the corner. Lucian had been in front of her and told her to get rid of her torch, which she happily did with a quick blow of her icy breath. She set the large stick back down on the stony ground and followed her partner's gaze around the corner. Her eyes widened at the sight of Skull Heresy, dressed in dark robes and surrounding a magic circle. Sitting in the middle of the circle was a wooden platform, the Eye of Fate resting on top of it. The Ice Dragon Slayer mage did a quick head count of their enemies. There were about 30 or so, with most of them around the compass while a few lingered outside of the circle. Why weren't they grabbing the thing yet? Were they worshiping it? What for...? That's when she caught sight of a smaller circle surrounding the platform. It looked like indentations on the floor, but as Rina focused more on it she realized it was a circle created by magical runes. She knew a little bit of what it read, but the familiar symbol of Skull Heresy was written on the lines. "I don't think they can get the compass yet." She whispered, "There are runes surrounding it. Do you wanna see what they do or rush in now?" |
"There's probably some magic used to seal the abilities of the compass. I can't think of any other reason that they'd be here chanting." Pausing for a moment as he glanced back around the corner to get a quick look at the layout of the room and the number of enemies. There was about 30 and it looked like their leader was waiting for the seal to be broken. He stood at the front of the room his arms folded. After some mental calculations he spun his head back around to his partner whispering, "We go now. Lets not give them a chance to unlock the Eye of Fate." Talk time was over, and with that he dashed around the corner, blasting three of the cloaked men with a beam of magic. Almost within a blink of an eye he closed the gap between him and the next figure landing a solid fist to the gut. Caught by surprise, it took the hooded figures a while to realize they were being attacked. Though once they did, everyone save three of them, turned on the two Fairy Tail Mages and attacked. Though after fending off a few more of them, Lucian felt like something was wrong. None of them used magic and they were ridiculously weak for a even a Dark Guild. Something's off. Still he had to continue defend himself even though there was little chance of them losing to these people. The one's that worried him were the three that stayed back and were watching from afar. . . |
Rina sprinted behind Lucian, parting ways a second later to deal with the other half of Skull Heresy mages. She released a blast of ice at the first cloaked figure before kicking the next closest one. It was after the third blast of magic that she realized none of the opponents coming after her were using magic. And a simple punch or kick was able to knock most of them down. She wasn't that much of a weakling, but it usually took a lot more to knock out normal dark guild mages.
The sudden appearance of two beefy arms around her brought her back to reality as she grabbed the enemy behind her and flipped him over her shoulder, ripping the cloak off of him in the process. Doing so revealed a bulky, half-naked man, unconscious from the flip. Rina looked over his body and raised an eyebrow before turning him over. She didn't want to go searching into his pants but she could assume from what she did see that there was no Skull Heresy mark on him. He was a normal guy. Before she could think this through, more enemies came after her. She made quick work of them and noticed from the dwindling crowd of opponents that three cloaked figures were standing to the side. An idea suddenly popped into Rina's head. As another enemy came at her, she aimed her fist to punch him, but quickly changed directions and aimed her hand at the trio, sending a blast of ice at them while kicking the enemy coming at her. Instantly, one of the cloaked figures raised an arm and summoned a blue shield of magic, deflecting her attack. Rina smiled to herself. "How insulting. Don't we deserve something better than your lackeys?" She asked, punching an incoming enemy to prove her point. One of the group members stepped forward; the one who had blocked her attack. "You are right. We didn't think that old man would hire Fairy Tail mages to do his dirty work." A soft voice replied as they pulled off their cloak, revealing a feminine-looking boy, his long orange hair tied in a braid and wearing a blue robe, "My name is Tokin, and I am more than enough for the likes of you two." |
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