The Lost Arcs -Fairy Tail AU-

The Fourteenth Card

A/N: in the chapter before this, the price was supposed to be 50,000 jewel and lowered to just 10,000,

"Jura!" Delaney jumped, nearly spilling her coffee as Kayra burst through the door. The girl was panting, her eyes wide. She was shaking badly, struggling for words. 

"Kayra?" Hibiki stood up, clearly concerned. "What happened." 

"Lady Maizu" Kayra managed to choke out, gasping for breath before continuing. "She's with a guild. And she's not just looking for me" 

"What do you mean?" Jura asked calmly. "Sit down. Lucy, get her a drink please" 

Hibiki stood back as Kayra took a seat on one of the soft chairs in the tea room. The Blue Pegasus mage seemed to have regained her composure as she looked back at Jura, eyes determined instead of her usually shy gaze. 

"Here you go" Lucy returned with a cup of tea, handing it to Kayra before returning to her seat. 

"Thank you" Delaney watched as Kayra settled the cup in her lap.

"Now explain yourself" Jura instructed. 

"I was in the market, looking for anything to tell us if Maizu was here, like you said" Kayra began. "An old man called out to me. He was running a stand that sould magic items. He saw my Blue Pegasus mark" The girl touched her guildmark, fingers tracing delicately over her shoulder. When he asked my magic I told him cards. He made me show him one of mine....and then said he was looking for a specific card mage. One that had two specific cards." 

"What cards was he looking for" Jura narrowed his eyes. 

"Dragon's Prison and Sacred Arrow." Kayra answered. "Two A class cards."

"So what?" Sting scoffed. "A magic dealer was after a few cards. Big Surprise" 

"That's not the point" Kayra snapped. Sting raised an eyebrow. "They're special cards...." 

"Wait. You said A class....what does that mean?" Natsu Interupted. 

"It's the way summoning cards are sorted. Most cards fit in the C and D ranks. The two lowest ranks since they're so common and most are made for every day summonings. Household stuff.. There are quite a few B cards but finding them is hard. Only a few of each are made. A Class cards are super rare. Cards made specifically for guild magic and imitating powerful spells. There's even one that mimics Fairy Tail's 'Fairy Law' spell" Kayra explained. 

"So he wanted two rare cards?" Sting said. "Still not seeing the point" 

"Kayra swallowed. "There's more. But the first point is that....well....Dragon's Prison and Sacred Arrow are cards that I have."

"Wait...what?" Kagura crossed her arms over her chest. "You said none of your cards are special." 

"Because they're not. A Class cards are powerful and difficult to use...but it's not the highest class. There are S class cards too. Eighteen of them to be exact." Kayra shot back. 

"These S Class cards....what are they that makes them elite?" Lyon spoke up from the back of the room. 

"They're cards made by the first wizards to use summoning magic. Cards that supposedly contained sealed power from each of the eighteen wizards that created them. They're extremely rare. Very few summoners can even say they've seen them...." 

"And this is important to the story how?" Sting rolled his eyes. 

"It's important because the man was using an illusion card to hide one..." She bit her lip. "And when I saw it he said only those with darkness could see it. That's when he told me about his guild and how their master was a woman searching for four mages with lost magic. One who controled shadows, one who created things out of thin air, one who could suck magic into their body, and one who could summon creatures from blank cards." 

Delaney's eyes widened as the room fell silent. 

"Shadows..." Mysta said, glancing at Lyon. "I use a puppeter magic called Shadow Reign." 

"And my Cycle magic recycles energy thrown at me and uses it against it's caster..." Delaney said. 

"I guess Creation magic pulls golems from nowhere." Kaesha shrugged indifferently, though she gave Kagura a worried glance. 

Kayra withdrew a card. "I use sealing cards to seal energy away to be used later..." She showed the face of the card she'd pulled. A forest vulcan was captured there, it's face full of rage" 

"So Lady Maizu is after the four of you?" Sting laughed. "I doubt it. He said she wanted lost magic. Card Summoning and Golem magic aren't anything special. And Cycle magic is used by the council's rune knights. I've never heard of Shadow Reign but Puppet magic is common" 

Jura ignored him. "Kayra, did he tell you the name of the guild?" 

"No" Kayra shook her head. "But I saw part of the mark. It looked like Goblin Wing. He said the master said she'd admit anyone who could bring her one of the mages she's looking for" 

"This is a serious accusation" Jura rubbed his chin. "Goblin Wing has caused trouble before hand, but their guild hall outside of Cressa was destroyed last year. I believe Sabertooth can vouch for that" Rogue gave a nod of agreement as Jura looked at him and Sting. "The Magic Council is preparing to remove them from the list of dark guilds. There's been no sign of them since then" 

"Their guildmaster was executed" Kagura's eyes had darkened. "But only a few members were ever caught. It was assumed they joined other guilds amd eradicated Goblin Wing" 

"Though if the guildmaster was killed it would make sense that they would seek a  new one." Erza offered. "Lady Maizu is notorious enough to interest them" 

"The problem is...we don't know where Goblin Wing is anymore" Laxus said, sitting up from the couch. Delaney could practically feel the static in the air as he and Sting glared at each other. 

"The old man might know" Kayra said, looking down. She sat her cup on the table in front of her. 

"He'd never trust you enough to tell him. Especially if you saw the S-Class card and didn't ask after it....or whatever you summoners do" Kaesha said spitefully. 

"But I didn't walk away from it" Delaney watched as Kayra unfastened her card holder, opening it to reveal a secretive slit in the spelled fabric. A quick reflection of candle light met their eyes as Kayra pulled a card from the hidden spot. The back of the card was gold, baring a sigil Delaney had never seen before. "This is the card he had....it cost a lot, but I could never just leave an S Class card behind" 

"Which card is it?" Lucy's voice was quiet. 

"The fourteenth card...." Kayra laid the card on the table, revealing a black figure on a pale background. "The Reaper..."

"And what's it's power?" Laxus asked. 

"Death"