Work Text:
Guiding Ache
X772, afternoon of May 14th - [Irene's POV]
She stood in place, still and quiet with her eyes fixed on the horizon where the sun was making its descent through the blazing red sky. Ash hung about and floated to and from the ground around her, smoke poisoning the air. Beside her heel, burnt and ragged, was a child's doll with blue button eyes. Under her heel was a matching ribbon stained with plum colored blotches.
She had been brought here by rumors and concerned whispers. Although Rosemary was a rural, isolated little orphans' village near the southern coast of Fiore, it did sometimes trade with villages to the north or with merchant ships from Caelum, but recently there have been no news or sight of people leaving Rosemary and ships go further along the coast, speaking of a lack of civilization.
Were she anyone else, she may have chosen to ignore it, but Irene Belserion had a connection to Rosemary Village much as she refrained from speaking of it. Years ago she had walked from village to village until at last she had found herself at the steps of Rosemary Church. In another life she had begun succumbing to madness. In this life, she had already overcome the difficulties that drove her to the precipice. She also had a reason to live.
Were she to take a guess based on surface information alone, as seen through the eyes of a human, she would say it's been less than a week since this village has been laid to waste. Evidence and her observations and intuition as a dragon in human skin however told another tale.
"There's nothing left." Heine observed, probing a pile of blackened planks with the toe of her boot. "Everything's been destroyed."
"There aren't any people left either." Juliet frowned and unnecessarily lifted her skirt as she daintily stepped over what may have once been a charred corpse.
The scent of blood was muted by the stench of death hanging about the once-village. It was strong and yet overshadowed enough to indicate that this attack had not been recent, despite the lingering smog. Additionally the ethernano was distorted, as though the land was still caught in battle.
It's more than likely that the passage of time was closer to eight months.
"It seems the attackers were a group of around two dozen mages; amateurs wielding power they do not understand, but more than affective against ordinary people."
Both turned to her in surprise, eyes wide.
"What?"
"How could you tell?"
The High Enchanter kept her eyes on the horizon. From where she stood she had not only a lovely position from which to watch the sun make its way across the sky, but also a sea view. Although beneath that beauty lay something more ominous. There was a story here, known to the land, the dead and the soon-to-be.
In lieu of answering her attendants, Irene tapped her staff against the scorched earth, the residue magic responding to her command and immediately forming images that re-enacted the events of the village's destruction. Her suspicions proved accurate, showcasing a night time raid several months in the past. Heine and Juliet watched the spectral performance in awe, attention jumping from one point to the other in seconds as they tried to take it all in, but her eyes followed the movements of only one of the specters as she committed its actions and fate to memory.
"Were they only after the children?" Heine wondered, watching as Juliet crouched down and poked the wispy image of a boy being hauled out of his dead mother's arms.
"Why would they want them?" The later questioned as the child was knocked out and passed on to someone else.
"Probably to sell on the black market, dummy."
"Possible as that may be, I doubt that was their goal." The attackers wore no armor, instead a uniform bearing resemblance to modernized robes. From that she could deduce that they were more than likely cultists. Followers of his Majesty, if their crest was anything to go by. The magic fell away as she ended the spell, turning away from the sun and shore. "You'll need a boat."
They turned to her in surprise, simultaneously making known their complaint.
"A boat? But Lady Irene, you'll get seasick!"
"What do you mean by 'you'?"
"I will be taking the skies. You require a means to accompany me, or would you prefer to remain among these poor souls?"
"No!"
"We'll come!"
She walked several feet away before stopping, a sudden chill running down her spine. She glanced about, enchantments at the ready. A quick magical scan revealed nothing in the proximity, yet her senses told her a threat was close. She turned back to the beach and this time the chill that she felt was accompanied by a stinging sensation near her heart. It was familiar and it is was decidedly unpleasant.
"Change of plan." She focused her magic into her staff, allowing it to glow within her enchantment for a moment before the light faded entirely. Wordlessly she stored her staff away with spacial magic and looked out upon the open sea. "You are to wait here until I return."
Before they had time to protest, Irene released the enchantment holding her in her current shape and transformed, woman becoming dragoness. A flap of her feathery wings carried her to the clouds, scattering smoke and ash from where she lifted off the ground. In an instant the discomfort of her human form fell away, replaced by a simultaneous sense of freedom and suffocation.
She followed her instincts, using the ethernano in the air to direct her to where she desired to be. Soon there was an ache in her chest, a pull to turn east and so she did. It wasn't long before she found herself flying right into a thick mist. She pushed through, the magic woven into the fog no match for a dragon.
When she emerged a twisted spire stood before her, incomplete and glistening in the light of the setting sun.
Flames danced along the shore, illuminating a battle between man and creature, slave and master.
The phantom of a blade sliding through her flesh caused her a brief moment's stumble mid-air, but it confirmed what she had expected as a familiar magical presence suddenly flared to life not too far off.
"Erza."
She circled the tower under an enchantment, the only visible part of her the great shadow that fell over the beach, casting the shore into darkness.