Awaken the Stars Song

Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks for the reviews that let me know this experimental dip into a new genre is well received. **Because of Wendy’s first Guild bringing ancient magic craziness to light in the anime, expect insane, powerful ancient mages since it fits with cannon concepts.** Also using genuine “Celtic Mythology” variety immortals with almost translucent skin gargoyle structure wings for the “Pedigree” Fairies, not ‘Disney’s Tinkerbell.’ {Ancient dead language spoken}

CHAPTER 5

    The combined power drain of active seals and the deadly corrosion caused by the black magic infiltrating her soul was killing Lucy in ways no mortal could comprehend. Fear clogged Loke’s throat as he and the other Celestial Spirits did all in their power to thrust the black power into the void above them, plus tug the astral chains back to create slack before Lucy’s body was lost in the void. Worse, the chains’ strain on her soul core could still do deadly harm and shatter her beyond reincarnation capability. Lucy’s soul was most likely developing fissures as her chains were attacked by the Abyss Lord. If her soul core shattered from the combination there was no way for Lucy to ever reincarnate with this death. Her soul seat was everything the process of being reborn required.
    Loke cursed as his feet slipped forward despite digging in his heels.
    “What the fuck’s that coming out of Luce’s chest??” Natsu demanded, edgy fear tainting his voice.
    “Metalicana told us earlier that chains would appear if Bunny Girl was about to die. They gotta be what he was talking about, Dumb shit. Just focus on keeping your hold on her body and let her Spirits handle the damned rope spells already. They’re better suited to the job since we can’t physically grab the damned things!”
    “I want to fight whoever’s attacking Luce, Metal Freak! I’m not doing anything to save her by pulling on her legs like this!”
    “Shut the fuck up and don’t you dare even think about letting go of Blondie’s legs, Flame Thrower! If you let go we lose her body and then we’ve got no chance at all of saving her!” Laxus bellowed.
    Blinding light flared overhead as an explosive concussion of wind came close to knocking everyone off their feet. Virgo proved their best anchor which did not surprise Loke in the least. Her connection to the earthier aspects of star power made it possible for her to stabilize all of them and refuse to give ground. A glance at the fierce expression on the Celestial Maid’s face made Loke glad he was not the one who had angered Virgo.  Although Loke was considered the most flexible fighter in most situations, Virgo was the most vindictive and meanest when she got mad. From the glance he had gotten, Virgo was far beyond mad at the moment. She had a murderous aura rising around her body. Not even Erza could match the maid’s death glare which was directed at the void hole in the sky.
    More curses flew into Loke’s ears as he sought to focus on pouring his power into the chains and cleaning the taint as he hauled back with all his weight to pull the chain in his favor. The chain began retracting and he got yet another step closer to Lucy’s body. Perseus the Hero was also making small headway at cleaning and pulling his chain toward their Princess.
    Makarov’s voice almost undid Loke’s concentration. “What happens when Lucy’s silver colored soul comes out of that protective sphere, Dragons?”
    Loke refused to look back. He knew if he saw Lucy’s soul breaching the suspended animation spell, he would panic. Panic would insure that he lost the most important human he had ever met. If Lucy would simply change her mind and allow it, Loke would wrap himself around his beloved Celestial Mage and never let go while she was alive. If Lucy asked it of him, Loke was certain he could give up flirting with women so long as he could keep flirting with Lucy instead. Loke would do anything to save Lucy without a second thought. Regret did not enter his head when it came to throwing himself against anyone who threatened his beautiful, and warm hearted master.
    “The poor woman’s dead already. Her soul core’s breaking as it’s being ripped from her body! All we can do at this point is sever the chains and attach them to the spares.” Nadhasti was almost on top of Loke as she snapped the nasty response.
    “Fuck you, Nadhasti! You keep your fucking Fairy controlled paws off of Lucy! She’s not dead, and we will save her!” Loke twisted his upper body close enough to roar in the woman’s face.
    “Have you lost your mind? Her soul seat’s fracturing under the strain. I don’t give a damn about whether or not you can handle the truth right now. We’ve got to keep the Abyss Lord form getting loose and she’s no longer able to feed the Blood Seals. Zayden and Skuhldra and I can shore up and feed the Seals long enough to attach them to new Star Singers. If we cut the chains now, we can stabilize the prison dimension in time!”
    Before Loke completely lost it and let go of his chain to slug the cold blooded wretch, his king reached down and grabbed the tiny hybrid by her furs. His Majesty tossed Nadhasti away from the astral chains. “Leave Lucy Heartfilia alone. Loke’s right about our old friend. Princess Lucy isn’t dead yet, and we will find a way to save her life. We Celestial Spirits owe our old friend a debt far greater than you can imagine. Risking the prison leaking some of the Abyss Lord’s power to save our beloved and most powerful ally is a worthwhile risk we will take!”
    “You fools don’t have the right to risk this world’s fate to fawn over a mostly dead female!” Twin voices shrieked in tandem.
    The pair continued to shout, but were speaking in the ancient tongue. Nadhasti was the only word Loke fully understood, although he had enough recall of Reagaltiel’s knowledge to understand they were up to something very detrimental to Lucy’s survival. However, Loke was resistant to allowing the dead’s memories to surface enough to swamp his mind. Unlike the other Celestial Spirits, Loke found the ancient memories from before he came into being too traumatic, so forced them into confinement. Remembering the ancient dead tongues of thousands of years ago was necessary though if he was going to protect Lucy’s life.
    A feral growl escaped Loke’s throat as he lifted his eyes to where the deadly duo hovered. They were becoming a very dangerous problem since they had chosen to be murderous in their whimsical desires. He saw a much larger hand grab onto the chain he was fighting to purge. “Loke, I can manage both chains. I’m entrusting Lucy’s survival to you. Stop them before they can force their desires upon us all.”
    “They won’t touch a hair of our princess’s head, Majesty.” Loke answered as he released his chain and ducked under the massive arm of his king.
    Natsu must have heard them because the Fire Dragon Slayer was cracking his knuckles with a savage expression as he moved with Loke towards the Fey Mage who was singing in a soft voice, power flashing from her fingertips. Nadhasti was levitating above the ground a power encircled her in loose spirals, lifting her even higher. She was almost beyond his jumping height already.
    “I’m fired up now. Now I can do something to save Luce.”
    Loke felt a smirk cross his lips despite feeling a bit pessimistic about their chances. Natsu simply had a way of bringing out hope in others. “Be sure to use your power wisely. None of them are human which means they are extremely tough opponents. Fairies are damned near indestructible, and truly immortal. Their half breed children are as hard to take down as enraged  prime aged dragons.”
    “Don’t bullshit me, Loke!”
    “I can only wish I was bullshitting, Natsu! The Fairy race was the most powerful, and deadliest of all the magical races that existed in Earthland. They aren’t anything like us no matter how they look. Fairies don’t have emotions like love or compassion. They amuse themselves by enslaving and abusing people of different races to escape boredom! They don’t understand friendship either. Cold blooded doesn’t begin to cover the kinds of shit the Fairies pulled for their own entertainment when they ruled this world. To stop them from killing Lucy s going to take everything we’ve got and more.” Loke spoke as he kept pace with the jogging dragon slayer.
    “We won’t lose ‘cause Luce needs us.” Natsu flashed his trademark grin and slammed his fists together. Fire sparked to life as they charged toward Nadhasti.
    Loke knew they had to make it before whatever spell she was casting was complete. The biggest problem would be getting high enough to hit the Fey mage before Nadhasti’s cast was completed. Ancient Fey magic was primal, unfettered by the same rules of the modern magic bases. Loke could use the ancient Star Singer power if he wished, but rarely drew so much from external sources. Feys and Fairies inhaled external energy and converted it as if it was simply an extension of their own selves. Fairies and Feys sometimes killed other life forms by draining their life force as magical power. Drawing power from everything without any awareness of their actions was part of their nature. Insects, plants, and even small animals would start dying within minutes if Nadhasti, Zayden, and Skuhldra used their magic simultaneously for more than a few minutes.
    Increasing Loke’s growing horror, Nadhasti’s bands of power began to solidify into a blocky archway that swirled with tempestuous magic. Nadhasti was opening a very large gate and that took an immense amount of power to stabilize. With her Fairy pure blood masters also using their combined One Power magic to combat the void, the drain on the elements, and even lesser creatures around them would begin happening soon.
    But, to where, or to whom was the gate intended to connect Loke wondered? Before he and Natsu could attack, the gate blasted out a considerable amount of power which knocked them off their feet. The power blast meant that Nadhasti’s gate was already open so they were much too late to stop whatever was about to arrive. It had blasted them back instead of dragging them in which was typical of an ancient gate. Modern magic tended to create an actual physical looking door which was a two way entrance into another place. One way only was the law with Nadhasti’s magic if Loke recalled his ancient lore well enough.
    Twisting in the air, Loke managed to insure he would roll back onto his feet the second he stopped tumbling. Like himself, Natsu was quick to get back to his feet, ready to begin a second charge.
    Natsu lunged toward the Fey mage without considering what the gate’s opening even meant. Loke yelled as he turned toward the gate’s opening. “Natsu, be careful of the ancient gate. We don’t know what’s coming out of it yet!”
    The pink haired Slayer was too focused on reaching Nadhasti it seemed. Just as Natsu dipped into a crouch to catapult himself to reach ancient mage, a whirlwind of rainbow hued power shot out of the brilliant shimmering gate with the force of large battering ram. The impact slammed into Natsu, flinging him away like a tiny rag doll. A string of curses exploded from Loke’s lips as he flung himself to the side before the magic attack could take him out also.
    Vaulting back onto his feet, Loke was angrier than he had been for centuries.     Resigned to the inevitable, Loke began to shift his focus to shunt energy from all the stars that he could. Dropping into his blended core, the Lion spirit opened himself to the pieces of all whom had died to create his existence. Memories flooded Loke’s awareness that were not actually his own.
    Ancients never thought about after effects or consequences, nor moderated their magical power use when they cast a spell.  Everything magical so many millennia ago was grounded in using one hundred and ten percent raw power from the moment an ancient mage began casting any spell. The idea of moderation never entered an ancient mage’s mind. Conserving power was never considered because the idea had yet to be invented. Rules based upon morality were unknowns for the most part.
    The common practice was for multiple mages to create the Gateway Clearing spell before stepping into any new territory rose unbidden. It was created by fusing powerful mages dominant elemental strengths into a single large as the gateway, corkscrewing physical attack. The attack’s purpose was to throw anything close to the gate away to insure a safe exit for everyone inside the gate who could not see what they were about to be confronted with once they stepping into the new area.
    Gateway Clearing was the worst possible spell for Natsu to get his very first bone shattering taste of how vicious ancient mages were Loke felt. It would be very hard for Natsu to get up after getting hit with what amounted to a massive hard swung wrecking ball’s raw force. Even if he did stand again, Loke knew he would be suffering shattered bones that would make physical attacks very difficult, if he even had enough bones left to get back on his feet. Gateway Clearing was a demon slowing tactic from the ancient times before the inter-dimensional gates were finally closed for good. Demon Banes were the ones fondest of using gates combined with such tactics.
    Processing the information in a matter of seconds, Loke drew on the maximum tappable power he still had at his disposal and crouched to attack. Three figures shot out of the gate and into view. As the memories warned him, five ancient mages leapt out in a defensive pattern to insure the way stayed clear for others to exit the gateway. All were dressed in primitive furry pelts haphazardly tied together. Their borderline stone aged, very large honed bone based weapons and caveman looks still shocked Loke despite being aware he had to expect this primitive looking group. The most startling of this wild looking group was a massive Centaur warrior bearing what amounted to a deck clearer class bone and flaked obsidian axe that had to weigh close to one hundred pounds.
    Orders were snapped in the ancient tongue, but this time Loke understood what was said because of opening himself to such recall. {“Meluzinia, check to see if Sertatsie’s here. If she’s present, get us five balls of instant information transfer magic because this may be a real emergency. Winhermeare, insure this gate hasn’t been opened because Skuhldra is up to her fucked up power trips again. She may have bullied Zayden into letting her use Nadhasti against her will with the thought of getting to the Star Singers in Time Suspension to fix everything to her liking, instead of following our rules.”}
    The shorter of the females snapped open her wings. Loke repressed a desire to groan as he had mistaken the wings some kind of stiff cloak. The petite female leapt into the air, wing beats creating a small whirlwind of swirling dirt around the gate. Just what they did not need right now, Fey hybrids who had managed to mature with their wings intact Loke thought on a sarcastic note. Things were shaping up to become a true nightmare of the kind none of the modern mages had ever conceived was possible. 
    {“Want me to punish that pair if she’s breaking the rules?} The tallest, reddish skinned female with matted hair asked of the woman who was snapping orders.
    {Not if she doesn’t make a wrong move, Winhermeare. My eyes are seeing quite a mess of magical tug of war already however, so I think there is a solid chance that the rabid little minx might be somewhat following the plan. Though I’m certain she was counting on getting She Wolf out of sleep instead of me.”} A sharp nod in response from the very tall woman was all the response given before the red skinned Fey leapt forward so fast that she literally vanished from Loke’s sight.
    The leader of the group whirled toward the Centaur who had noticed him and started pawing the ground. Loke knew Sagittarius was a fusion of Centaur and human Star Singer memories and forms. Yet this male was the largest specimen Loke’s core memory banks had ever encountered. A massive black and white draft horse’s body was topped by a lightly furred, and hulking muscle man’s upper body. As was their way, a single pelt covered the magical being’s forward genitalia which could not be retracted, leaving the rear horse genitals in their retracted state.
    Loke did not have time to ponder how he knew Centaurs had two set of genitals or why that was normal for the species. At this moment all Loke had the luxury of considering was that the monster before him easily weighed in the range of a solid ton and a half. Centaurs were fast moving, powerful, damned flexible on their four bone crushing hooves, plus very smart. Their eye sight was better than an eagles, and they did not miss their intended mark.
    Thinking fast was Loke’s only option since he could not retreat to the Celestial realm with Lucy’s life on the line. A memory surfaced of how obsessed Centaurs were about their dignity which Loke latched onto as his best ray of hope. Give the beast a reason to think he was about to do something that went against the species main drives, and Loke stood a chance of creating real havoc amongst the ranks to come.
    Forcing himself deeper into the core data from the many people he had been born from, Loke hoped he would get the inflections of the guttural ancient tongue right as he spoke with all the contempt he could muster. {“So, the fucking Fairies aren’t happy butchering a single already helpless innocent by themselves and have called in their burliest backup!”}
    The Centaur backed up a step as his deck clearing sized axe whipped into position to cleave Loke in half once he charged with a livid expression mottling his face. Their leader jumped between them with a hand up and power flowing from her fingertips to form a net weave.
    {Reagaltiel? What in the name of the thrice blasted tree are you doing here?”} she demanded as the Centaur dropped the axe back and relaxed his stance.
    Images from Loke’s gut wrenching nightmares surfaced. He was looking at the one person that could not possibly be alive. Not only did it seem the Sacred Saint was alive, somehow Vraylinish had two arms. A quick glance at the one showed that this woman was missing the taboo tattoo she should have been sporting, which meant Loke could assume he was dealing with an imposter.
    {My name’s Leo. I’m the Celestial Spirit of Regulus and the rest of the star constellation that bears the same name. My duty is to protect the Celestial Mage who is battling for her life at this very moment. Your friends forced us to divide our strength, but we Spirits won’t let you kill our Princess just because it suits your cold blooded whims!} Loke spat out.
    All the fury Loke could muster was pitted against the sense of shock and other dangerous emotions that tried to claw to the surface. To prevent himself from losing his focus the lion spirit  increased the golden spheres covering his hands. Loke refused to falter when the young woman he knew to be the greatest light in Earthland had her life on the line. Not even his created soul core’s memories were allowed to interfere with his contracted vows. Lucy had saved his life and gotten him a reprieve from death. Loke had vowed to protect Lucy from all harm and he was doing a lousy job of it so far.
    The winged Fey dropped to the ground near Vraylinish, or the Sacred Saint’s imposter as the case might be, and handed over a small sphere of magic. The possible imposter lifted the small sphere to the heavy leather headband adorned with raw chunks of un-smelted gold and course stones upon her brow. The moment the sphere touched the raw precious metal and course sewn sinew bound stones, the light was sucked in.
    The look on the woman’s face changed dramatically after several seconds. The Centaur was following their leader’s actions and had also pushed a light ball into a similar circlet which likewise disappeared into his mind if Loke were to guess what they doing.
    {So that’s what’s happening. Meluzinia get Winhermeare her information so she knows how to deal with Skuhldra. I’ve got to save an innocent. Call out the twenty elites, and we’re going to need our best healers. Bring out She Wolf, and a single member of each Star Singer bloodline so we can begin to get some astral chains moved to their correct bloodlines as fast as we can without killing the bonded. RoMordian, we need a perimeter protection set up around the Star Singer’s position where none may harm her further. Leave Skuhldra and Zayden to Winhermeare’s judgement. NOW GO!”} The woman was snapping orders rapid fire yet again.
    Whirling back to face him, Vraylinish surprised Loke by speaking in modern language. “You have my sincerest apologies for Skuhldra’s bad behavior. Of course we will save your Star Singer’s life if at all possible. As she’s holding so many astral chains, then we’re going to have to move fast, and find a way to stabilize her soul core. First, I need to use Star Storm to cleanse to corrosion away from her astral chains so we can get her soul stabilized. Once the healers are out of their sleeping spheres, we can try to heal her soul core. Let’s move.”
    The others were already in action as Vraylinish grabbed his wrist and began running toward the scene of the fight between Celestial Spirits, Fairies, and the Abyss Lord’s black magic. The woman continued speaking, “Tell your friends to remain calm so I can get what needs done completed faster. We don’t have time to fight. I am aware now that you do not recall who I am, so try to have some faith in me. I did not vow to spend all eternity fighting the Abyss Lord and losing all that I loved in the world thousands of years ago to lose to that monster now!”
    “Fine, but you don’t have to drag me around. I can run on my own god damn it!” Loke snapped as he ripped his arm free and began yelling to get his king’s attention. “This group is here to help. They’re going to try and save our Princess, Majesty!”

~~oo0oo~~