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The mention of their guild's name not only surprised them but it also caught their curiosity. They wondered how she knew about them. Harpies lived a life isolated from civilization and mostly didn't involve themselves with matters of the outside world. "How do you know who we are?" Laxus asked, a little suspicious.
Rai turned her total attention toward the lightning dragon slayer. "You look oddly familiar..." She mumbled while tilting her head to the side. "But to answer your question, I once met some of your guild members many years ago but I mostly engaged myself with one person the most. Her kindness and cheerful self is what I remembered the most. Back then your guild was one of the few humans that accepted us as an equal, even when people didn't trust us at all." She gave them a little smile. "However, as the harpies' leader I must ask what are your intentions of being here? As you should know, we cut ties with your kind a long time ago."
"We got a request from a town nearby that had been attacked by your people." Laxus said, making Rai frown at his words.
The older harpy looked back at her daughter with a scold on her face. "Aella has nothing to do with it." She quickly said before the harpy jumped into conclusions. "It wasn't entirely her fault."
"What do you mean?" Rai asked, confused at the brunette's words.
"When we found your daughter she wasn't herself, something was like controlling her. After she got consciousness, she didn't remember anything of what happened." Freed gave a further explanation of what Rose was trying to say.
Rai became more serious at the words coming from the mages and sighed. "Follow me." She simply says before turning around without giving them any more explanation. The mages exchanged a look, not sure what the harpy wanted with them, but they still followed her down a long set of stairs that guided them deep down the mountain to the village.
𖥸
Rai had taken them to their clinic, the place was filled with harpies laying down in bed while a few were chained to their beds - who were hysterically trying to escape from their restraints. Each of their eyes were empty as if life had been taken away from them, sweat dripped down their body even when they shivered from a nonexistent cold. They had black veins running through their visible skin - just like Aella was the moment the mages found her - and they were losing their feathers which were piling up around their beds. "I was afraid that our internal problems would affect the outside world. I was trying my best to keep it on the low but I guess that is impossible at this point." Rai said while looking at her people with worry evident in her eyes. "We are not sure what is causing it, but it all started when those weird vines started to grow outside this mountain. We tried to eliminate them, but the vines grew back again."
