Aika didn't remember dying. Only waking up—cold, starving, and alone beneath a sky too blue to be real.
Earthland.
That was the name the dragon told her.
A world of magic.
The first time she saw Caeltheris, the sky split open like silk. Blue wings shadowed the earth as a dragon descended—scales shimmering like stars trapped in sapphire.
She thought she'd be eaten.
Instead, the dragon had bowed her head and whispered, "So... another soul has crossed the veil."
Caeltheris, the Dragon of Equilibrium, was unlike any creature Aika had imagined. She did not breathe fire or crush mountains. She watched, listened, and taught.
In her solitude, Caeltheris had studied magic deeper than most mortals would ever dream. Among them was her greatest creation—Balance Magic.
> "Magic is the shaping of energy," she said. "But what if you could not only shape it—but share it? Steal it. Divide it. Equalize the chaos?"
She called her masterpiece Divine Divide.
It was not a spell, but a state—a magic that could be summoned like armor. Wings of white light would grow from Seraphina's back. If she willed it, she could halve the strength of anyone she touched—and transfer that strength to herself or an ally.
> "Divide," she would whisper, and glowing runes would spiral through the air, splitting power like a blade through cloth.
Caeltheris warned her: "This magic is not for conquest. It is for balance. For peace."
For seven years, Seraphina trained.
Then, one day… Caeltheris was gone.
No roar. No sign. Just vanished—like mist on the wind.
Seraphina waited three months.
Then she stopped waiting.
---
She found the boy in the forest, picking a fight with a bear.
He had spiky pink hair, fire flickering from his palms, and he yelled with the confidence of someone who'd never once won a chess match.
"Come on, ya stupid bear! I eat flames for breakfast!"
The bear snarled. Seraphina sighed. Then, with a whisper of light, wings erupted from her back—sleek, feathery, and edged with blue magic.
> "Divide."
The bear's strength dropped like a rock in water. Its muscles shrank, its energy drained, and it slumped unconscious.
The boy's jaw dropped.
"THAT WAS AWESOME! What kinda magic was that?!"
Seraphina gave him a side glance. "It's called Divine Divide. A form of Balance Magic."
"I'm Natsu Dragneel," he grinned, completely unfazed. "You're strong! You should come with me! I'm going to join Fairy Tail!"
She almost said no.
But then he said, "I'm lookin' for my dragon, Igneel. He raised me."
Her breath caught.
A boy… raised by a dragon too?
Her silence lingered.
"…Fine," she finally said. "But only because I'm curious."
---
And so, Seraphina followed the fire.
Toward a rowdy guild of misfits.
Toward the mystery of her magic.
And perhaps… toward the truth of why all the dragons were vanishing.