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CHAPTER START---
After a day and night of non-stop travelling, Oberon, Wizard Saint Osian, Prince Rixian, and a small group of Rune Knight Captains cross a barren, inhospitable valley.
On both sides, the earth is blackened and lifeless, deep chasms where massive trees once occupied are perfectly preserved, the occupants succumbing to the Death Magic black fog that lingers all around them and becomes dust.
Oberon remains his usual self while everyone else is protected by the glowing white mark hovering above their left hands, warding off the Death Magic. Crossing a few more large hills, they stop at the highest point in this area and look to the horizon.
There they see a massive mountain, reaching so far into the heavens that clouds begin forming halfway to its peak, the dormant volcano that supports the capital of Hacot. A dead stone city built into the side of the mountain, now standing as a monument to the unthinkable losses this nation has suffered.
Where once the prosperous city would support the people by collecting gold and gems pushed to the surface by the mountain, now, even at this distance, they could see it's only a reminder of death.
Between them and the mountain is nearly one hundred miles of rocky terrain, once grassy fields and lush forests, now a clear line of sight over the terrain around their target. The black fog grows thicker and more intense as they close in, occasionally making it difficult to see ahead, but they'd grown accustomed to the fact that they were the only living things roaming the land.
"We should stop here," Osian says as they find an area with large caves facing away from the mountain, covering them from whatever may come next. He focuses on the seas on either side of the mountain, disgusted at its pitch-black appearance. "Yeah, whatever we're looking for is definitely inside. We'll set up the regrouping point here."
They all get to work immediately. The Rune Knights set up their Communication Lacrimas while the two monks that joined them set up Runes around the cave.
After completing their ritual, they focus their Magic Energy into the runic matrix and form a dome within the cave, a weaker version of Jura's mentor, Wizard Saint Avin Etis's Magic. A Barrier that can block Magic phenomena from affecting those within.
"This will last a day," they say, and everyone relaxes slightly while setting up the gear.
"Before we head in I'll leave my enchantment on all of you here," Osian says. "If anything should happen to me, it'll last long enough for all of you to get back to Ishgar, assuming things stay as they are. Contact the Magic Council, they'll know what to do. If we aren't out in a day, leave without us."
The men from his kingdom swallow their protests, used to such commands on their expeditions with their king.
Rixian moves around the area inside the barrier, placing Rune Markers on the ground. "All things considered, could be worse."
One of the men laughs bitterly. "Like being stuck in a dark underwater cave hunted by giant pufferfish?"
"Don't remind me," Rixan shudders at the thought. "Marching through empty land like this feels like a dream compared to that mess."
Oberon and Osian meditate in silence for a while after eating, refilling their Magic Energy before the next stage of the expedition.
"Have you made any progress on my Magic?" Osian asks the boy, speaking quietly while the others work or rest.
"Some, but only about halfway there."
"Impressive. And the Death Magic?"
"Definitely the work of Zeref. I've dealt with more than a few of his weapons by now, I can tell."
"Your inability to be affected by his Magics does make you the best person to deal with them. If we encounter something powerful, stay back until Rixian and I get more information on it. We'll feed you what we have, then you can help us end it."
"Understood."
After another hour of rest and a full meal, Oberon, Osian, and Rixian get their equipment and leave the others in the safety of the Barrier.
Oberon immediately lifts them into the air and rockets across the landscape, heading directly to the desolate city. Its size is many times larger than any city in Ishgar, built from the coast on three sides of the mountain climbing up the sheer cliff sides. Only the direction they come from was undeveloped before the tragedy, used for fields and crops.
"Where do we enter from? The top?" Oberon asks.
Osian shakes his head. "Let's try the mines first before jumping into a volcano. Dormant as it may be, I'd rather not chance it."
Rixian agrees. "If needed I'd just Teleport us back to my runes within the Barrier, but we should be careful of the direction any situation takes us. That cave is near my maximum range without line of sight."
"Lucky," Oberon mutters. "Invasive Magics like that are really bad for me."
Rixian rolls his eyes. "All the most talented people in the world seem to focus on the few things they can't do…"
They fly around the city and to the main mine, noticing that the Death Magic is far denser while flowing out of this entrance.
"What if we just seal it up?" Oberon asks.
"Won't work," Osian says as they land and begin walking through the tunnels. He uses white flames to purify the area around them, clearing the black clouds of death. "The ground water is already infected, we have to take it out at the source to stop the entire effect. We'd just be stalling the inevitable."
Within minutes they're descending multiple deep mineshafts, finding themselves many miles beneath the mountain. So close to the source that the Death Magic is no longer a fog but a gaseous wall that blocks anything beyond arm's reach.
Osian draws his blade and taps the ground, sending white flames flowing across the tunnel floor and walls in every direction, leaving a faint amount of the fog for them to use as a guide to the source.
"That's strange," Rixian mutters, keeping his voice low. "I can't feel anything."
Osian raises a hand, stopping everyone in their tracks. He closes his eyes and focuses for a moment, then sighs. "Damn, I was so focused on maintaining our protection I didn't notice. Until Oberon nothing has ever been able to do this to me, aside from Avin's Barriers."
"I don't think it's hiding really," Oberon points to the trail of black fog ahead. "Sensing Magic means you are connected to another source. But this thing doesn't give any Magic Energy to you, it only takes, so the flow doesn't go both ways. No sharing, no sensing, it's just greedy."
Osian looks at the flames on his sword. "And I'm the bulwark guarding us, I see. But that adds many more layers of complexity to this Magic, it's unnatural."
"So is everything else it does, that's the nature of Death Magic," Rixian says as he draws his pistols. "We should be on guard. The mine cart rails stop ahead, meaning the tunnels do to. Whatever we're after is up there."
Oberon sighs. "I really hate mineshafts, but evil stuff love to live in them…"
Moments later they get to the end of the tunnel, only to find a massive chasm punched through the floor at the end, large enough to fit all of Magnolia inside and too deep to see the bottom off even with their light sources.
They look at each other for a moment, then Osian kicks a single stone into the pit. They wait for a while, and don't hear a single echo of the impact.
"Really glad I can fly right now," Oberon says as he lifts them and they descend deeper into the earth. Above them is solid bedrock in the ceiling, while below them is an abyss that they fall into for minutes before reaching the base.
At which point, they see it. A massive Barrier of black and grey Magic Energy, etched with Runes and glyphs of ancient dead languages that very few could read. But at a glance, Oberon could easily read those markings.
However, he and his allies were too preoccupied with the inhabitant of the Barrier.
Lying asleep within, is a massive grey scales Dragon. Slightly smaller than Acnologia from Oberon's memory, 30m -90ft- tall at the shoulder when on all fours. However, its face was half crushed, both forelimbs were also smashed and improperly healed, bones piercing flesh and scales that had also healed around it.
Its tail is missing, appearing to have been smashed and burned away near the halfway point, and its left wing is in tatters with broken bones showing by its deformed structure.
The entire Barrier and the Dragon within were shrouded in such thick Death Magic fog that by the time the trio arrived in front of it and cleared the fog to see, it was too late. The Dragon exhaled a strange grey and green mist as its eyes slowly opened.
Oberon was petrified, frozen in place as the memories of his family and village rushed to the surface. Osian observes the creature, seeing that its nose appears smashed, but the scales near the back of its head are twitching.
'Hearing, not smelling?' he wonders, and Rixian hears his telepathic question and responds as trained.
He grabs the frozen and terrified Oberon and activates his Teleportation Magic, warping to a rock nearby, behind cover but close enough to see and hear what's going on with his dad.
But as he arrives behind the rock, he looks to his side and sees that Oberon didn't come with him. Osian notices that the boy was left behind and roughly shoves Oberon as the boy is frozen in the air, sending him hurdling toward Rixian before he snaps out of his stupor, causing Osian to drop to the ground in front of the Dragon.
And its dull grey eyes finally, fully open, staring straight through the Wizard Saint in front of it…
CHAPTER END---
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