VERiTY (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

14. Hidden Survivor

Deliora was long gone, but the scar remained.

Eir looked on sadly, spotting a crushed house with a shattered dog statue at its gates. There was no sign of life-- and though there was a lot of dirt, mud and rain-- there were also no dead bodies.

"This is Toby's house... so two streets down, I'll find Yuka's school... right?"

Perhaps someone had come and buried them. There are signs of rubble being shifted around... Eir is evidently not the first mage to be commissioned to check out the state of this city.

He picked up a dog tag, and it read Milo, and at the back, not lost, he's just smarter than us. Sincerely, the Horhortas.

Eir stared at it. What kind of joke is this? Well, maybe Toby would want it as a memento, so he pocketed it and continued on his way.

When he looked out into the horizon, he found a cliff overlooking the scenery.

There were a multitude of sticks over the top, used as markers of makeshift tombstones. So that's where they were all buried... he'll have to go over to pay his respects later.

He walked along the town.

Thunk!

And then he stopped.

"What is this...?" he moved his foot from the strange metal lid on the ground-- and crouched down to remove the rest of the debris. There's a stubborn pillar in the way, so he lifts a whole roof off the part before he has to move a few bricks...

Argh, what a pain.

He picked up a branch, and braced it against the ground-- before spinning it like a top. "Enchant: Wind, Rotor!"

And then everything went flying, shattered wood and splinters flying every direction, and Eir barely turned away before one nasty piece took out his eye. The wind had shredded away most of the biggest pillar while busting out the smaller pieces, so all that was left to do was to break through and force the rest of the way in.

"Maybe I should have planned that better," he muttered to himself.

He didn't want to slash it and damage the metal in case it was important, so he used a twig-- but said twig was just splinter hell. Thank god for long sleeves.

It took a little longer, and it was dark out by now, but he managed to clear the way and find himself looking at something that resembled a manhole lid.

"The sewers? No..."

There's no label on it. No company, no town association or anything-- in fact, it's not made of iron or metal.

"It's not metal."

It clunks when you knock it-- but it's smooth and cold, like stone. The colour's all over the place, too. Opaque, but it's gray, white, and black, and even silver in some parts...

"It's rock," he realized, "granite?"

There were no words on it, just symbols drawn in a circular array, and the emblem of a lock branding proudly in the centre. He put a hand on it, and the magic circle came to life, silver markings floating a little above the lid so Eir could inspect it.