The morning air held a chill that clung to their skin in an uncomfortable manner. It was almost as if Mother Nature knew what was going on and could read the mood. But even though they were beginning to head up the side of a mountain, the air wasn't growing any colder. It almost felt like it was growing drier.
"Are you certain they came this way?" Erza asked the pink-haired boy male who was leading their group.
Natsu had hardly said a word after leaving camp, other than to warn them of the terrain changing. The determination in his eyes would have made most people shrivel. "There's no mistaking it. They brought Kia and Amber this way."
Lucy looked around them as they finally broke the treeline, "But what could be out here?"
"Whatever it is," Cana said, "they seem to know where they were going."
Lily floated up to sit on Gajeel's shoulder, turning to the bluenette walking beside them, "Did you find anything that mention this area when you were researching Fire Bird?"
Levy nodded slowly as she thought, "Yeah. There was something about a hidden sacred ground that their guild has."
"Sacred ground?" Gajeel's studded brow quirked, "Like Tenrou Island?"
"In a way, there wasn't anything specific about if it could grant their members any special powers or protection. The book it was mentioned in didn't have an exact location either, just that it was believed to be somewhere in this mountain range."
"If that's the case," Gray said, "why would they bring the girls to their sacred grounds? Wouldn't they have been better taking them back to their guild or somewhere they could hold them easier?"
There was a silence that crept over the group. No matter how they looked at the situation, there were just too many unanswered questions. Even for the two S-class wizards, they could only feel a growing anxiety over what they knew without having a why to back up the enemy's actions.
"Guys, look!" They all turned to the little Dragon Slayer, seeing her pointing up ahead. "There's a cave."
Natsu paused to sniff the air again. "Their smell is coming from that direction."
Erza stepped up, passing the Fire Dragon Slayer, "Then let's keep moving."
And there was no debate. The rest of the group immediately matched Titania's strides. It was only a few more minutes for them to reach the opening in the mountainside. Natsu lit his fist as Lucy and Wendy held up a few old sticks that they had grabbed on their way up.
"The air smells off," Gajeel grumbled as he waited for the others to finish. Lily sat on his shoulder, staring off into the darkness with his partner.
"What do you mean?"
The Iron Dragon Slayer scrunched his nose, "There's a faint odor that smells like rotten eggs."
The walls around him grew brighter as Levy stepped up beside him with one of the torches, "Maybe there's natural gas around here somewhere." She instantly paled at the knowledge, "Then we can't use torches, we'd just blow ourselves up."
She quickly waved her own torch, putting it out before drawing in the air with her finger, "Solid Script: Light."
The word appeared before them, landing gently in her hand as the others followed suit putting their torches out.
"Smart thinking, Levy." Gray stepped up with the others.
Gajeel rested an arm on her head, "Yeah, good going, Shrimp."
The Script mage rolled her eyes as she took a step forward, "Natsu, no matter what, no magic as long as you can smell eggs."
"But-!"
Erza, Lucy, Gray, and Gajeel immediately turned in his direction, "No buts!"
"A-aye..."
"Hey guys?"
They all turned to see Happy floating ahead of them, barely still in the radius of light from Levy's spell.
"What is it?" Carla sprouted her own wings, flying to hover beside the blue tomcat.
He turned and pointed to the wall beside him, "There's something written here."
||~x~||
"I said leave her alone, damn it!" Kia growled, her chains rattling as she tried to find the strength to move forward.
Demi chuckled as she lightly trailed her poison dagger across Amber's arm. The Blood mage bit her tongue as she tried to contain her whimpers. There was no reason for this to hurt as badly as it was. The crazy brunette was hardly breaking her skin, but the painful stinging only grew stronger as more and more knicks were left on her body.
"I said stop!"
"I will when I'm ready to." Demi took the moment to step back and admire her work. Amber let out the breath she had been holding, finding herself panting against the lack of air and the pain. The Poison-Make mage twirled her blade by one of the finger holes she had crafted with it. It was one of her creations that she hardly ever got the chance to use, so she wasn't going to let her fun end so soon.
"Oh don't worry," she took the time to turn, flashing her amused grin at the Phoenix Slayer. "It won't kill her. I'm not allowed to as long as we need you, sweetheart."
Her words brought no level of comfort to Kia, but she really hadn't intended them to. Demi knew exactly what she was doing, it was clear in those onyx eyes that were trying to tear her to shreds since their owner couldn't reach her physically.
"Back off." Kia's growl came out much lower and more animalistic this time when the brunette stepped back up to Amber.
"Demi."
The new voice caused everyone in the cell to turn to find the figure standing in the doorway. The previously bubbly blonde seemed much calmer as she rested a hand on her hip.
"Master Izai has called us."
Demi's slight look of annoyance at the interruption faded at the new orders. "Oooo," she cooed as she opened her hand for her weapon to fade from existence. "This sounds like more fun."
She turned and headed out the door, pulling it shut behind her. But not before Miriam could send her sickly sweet smile toward Kia.
"I told you that you would regret that."
||~x~||
Levy's eyes flickered back and further behind her Gale-Force reading glasses as she read through the few words that were inscribed in the wall as they walked.
Lucy walked alongside her friend, trying to take in what she could without slowing down. "What does it say?"
"From what I can tell, these drawings are telling the story of the phoenixes."
Gray peeked over his shoulder, "What do you mean by their story?"
Levy's eyes stayed trained on the wall, "Up until now, they've just been telling the story of how the phoenixes came to be, born from the ashes of a devastating volcanic eruption."
"Until now?" Cana asked.
"Yeah...," Levy's voice trailed off a little. "In the last twenty or so feet, it's starting shifting into how they fell."
Juvia slowed down to walk on the other side of Lucy, "How they fell?"
Gray added, "Like how they became extinct?"
"Yeah, but it doesn't just talk about that. It has started mentioning the creation of the Phoenix Slayers and why the phoenixes bestowed them with their pow-" The bluenette paused as her step faltered, causing the rest of them to stop with their only lightsource. But the stall only lasted for a moment before Levy started moving forward quickly. Her glasses seemed to glow as they were pushed to go at full speed as her heart rate rose with what she was reading.
"What is it?" Carla asked from Wendy's arms.
"Yes, did you find something else, Levy?" Erza asked.
The Script mage held up a hand to signal that she had heard their questions, but couldn't answer them right that second.
"Do you think it could have anything to do with why these people wanted Kia in the first place?" Lucy rested a finger against her chin as she thought out loud.
"Does it, Levy?"
All eyes flicked to the Fire Dragon Slayer. Natsu's fists were clenched at his side, frustration laced in his tone, though they all knew that it wasn't directed toward the girl reading at the speed of light. His sister had been missing for a little over a day and he still hadn't gotten to knock anyone's teeth in for it.
That was when Levy gasped. "That's it!"
"What is?" Lily floated over from Gajeel's shoulder.
"Okay to sum everything up: the phoenixes understood how dangerous their powers were in the world and feared what they could do to it. That fear grew when some of them began to lose their sanity from dying over and over again, so they decided to pass their powers onto gifted humans that could watch over it while also being able to stop them if and when they lose control over their own minds."
"Like the dragon slayers?" Wendy asked.
Levy shook her head, "Not exactly. From what I can gather, the phoenixes didn't teach the slayers their magic, they would pass part of their life and magic onto these humans. It would grant them power while also weakening the phoenixes so that they could be able to die one day."
"So they were so worried about destroying the world that they essentially offed themselves?" Laxus asked.
"In a way, yes." Levy nodded as she continued to lead the group further along, but they all suddenly stopped when the carvings ended with the wall.
The tunnel had opened up to a larger cavern, a singular slab of stone resting in its center. It rose up at least fifteen feet in the air, but still was a few feet from reaching the stalactites that clung to the ceiling. None of them needed to know how to translate the writing to understand what the large pictures at the top were: a large bird over a topless mountain.
Levy quickly walked over, speed reading the large block of text that covered the rest of the stone below the pictures. Her hand went to her mouth, "Oh no."
"What?" Natsu moved to stand next to her. The fear that had been growing inside him did not settle any from that reaction.
Happy fluttered down to lay on Natsu's head, his voice soft, "Levy?"
"This stone talks about a ritual that can be cast to reverse the bestowal of power."
"Reverse the be-stew-what?"
"Bestowal, moron," Gray grumbled at the pink-haired male's ignorance. Before they could start butting heads, Levy had continued.
"It says that in order for the ritual to work, the flame of a slayer must be mixed with the ashes from the original birthplace of the phoenixes, that those elements could be combined when the moon overtakes the sun."
Wendy tilted her head to the side a bit, "When the moon overtakes the sun?"
"A solar eclipse," Carla answered.
"Wait," Cana's eyes widened slightly, "isn't there supposed to be a solar eclipse later today?"
"But what will happen to my sister?"
Lucy, who had been deep in thought, suddenly gasped. "The Ash of Mt. Tagimoucia!"
"What's that?" Erza asked, not wanting to address Natsu's current question.
"It's a story about a wizard who was gifted incredible fire magic by the gods. She would travel the land and help people, but one day she stumbled upon a town that was able to be destroyed by an erupting volcano. Using her magic, she was able to hold the lava at bay to save the villagers."
"Wait," Levy turned, pushing her glasses up to rest on her head, "doesn't that story end with life being restored to the land from the ash that fell from the eruption? The mage's power not only stopped the destruction, but turned it into a miracle before she vanished?"
"Yeah," the blonde nodded, "What if that legend wasn't talking about a wizard at all? What if the life that was restored from the ash of the eruption was actually talking about the birth of the first phoenix?"
Something clicked in both their brains at the same time, "The sulfur smell!"
A few of their companions just stared as the two continued working through all of the new information outloud. Wendy blinked, "You mean the rotten egg-like smell?"
Lucy and Levy both turned to the girl, "Yes!"
The Script mage continued first, "Sulfur is a common element found in and around volcanoes. And from all the writings and the legend, it's very possible that this is Mt. Tagimoucia!"
Everyone looked between the two and the large tablet, the realization hitting each of them in different ways. Erza and Laxus locked eyes, their hearts beginning to beat faster.
"Are you sure about this?" Erza asked flatly, her tone not going unnoticed by a majority of the group.
"Y-yeah." Levy nodded, "Erza, is something wrong?"
But she wasn't the one to reply. Laxus turned from the group, heading to the opening behind the giant stone, "We need to get moving now."