Retreat to Fiore (Fairy Tail)

1 - A foreign land

Beneath azure skies, the vast and idyllic landscape of Fiore continent shined in all its splendor. Passengers aboard the train towards Magnolia city had plenty to appreciate. On their left there were vast green forests, filled with unique creatures and dangerous monsters. On their right, they could see tall mountains with snowy capes stretching to the sky.

Fiore continent, as if determined to show off its beauty, placed a magnificent river in the path of the travelers. As train moved across the stone bridge, kids stuck their faces to the windows, their eyes glittering as they observed large river with crystal clear water, rushing beneath them.

Within a rear carriage, a young mage in his twenties sat alone. He was observing picturesque beauty surrounding him with a heavy heart and a frown on his face. His messy, medium-long silvery hair moved along the air currents within the carriage.

In contrast to his bright hair, his unusual dark purple eyes narrowed while he looked into the distance and shifted through his memories. His gaze held an edge of threat and a hint of mystery, which made people weary of him when meeting him. Despite this downside, Elrion Sravadar had to confess that his unusual eye color also allowed him to bluff his way out of some tough situations - which proved useful indeed, as he is almost unable to fight.

This very morning, he was completely at the mercy of two skinny, creepy and weak looking thugs. This event forced Elrion to realize how powerless he truly was in the grand world out there. If they had decided to rob him instead of allowing him to enter their dark guild, that would have been the end of him right then and there.

He sighed, unsure whether to count himself lucky or unlucky. Earlier today, he had placed his life at stake, so he could escape his home country via long distance teleportation. To achieve this he had to cooperate with suspicious dark mage smuggler who inspired doubt to all who laid eyes upon him. Elrion still shivered when he remembered that wide-eyed, dirty, dark mage with crooked yellow teeth and stinky breath. He slapped Elrion's back and de-materialized him across several countries and an ocean all the way to another continent. In another hand, the dark mage still held onto the half empty bottle of alcohol. Magic and alcohol, rarely produce desirable results when combined, especially when magic in question de-materializes people (and, important detail, is also supposed to put them back together at the destination).

At that point, Elrion would not be surprised if he appeared at the bottom of the ocean - IF, he even appeared somewhere at all! Yet, contrary to his uninspiring appearance, old smuggler came through. As he should, Elrion thought, remembering the unjust price set onto him by the smuggler. The price was pretty much all he had with him, minus the bare minimum to survive at the destination. Greedy and petty guild master even took the cheap watch from Elrion's hand, just in case it was more valuable than it seemed.

Thinking back over his last 5 days, Elrion shook his head. Even entering that dark guild had been risky, and using long teleportation service from them was a downright desperate move. Not to mention all he had to go through to even reach their guild in the first place with military on his heels. Yet, despite all odds stacked against him, he did it. He has escaped, and now, a new life awaits him.

That is on the condition if he can even survive here in the first place. A sobering thought crossed his mind as his gaze moved over to the medium sized bag on the seat next to him. Its size and contents were a sobering reminder of his changed life circumstances. Mere two weeks ago he was within his paid-off medium-sized house with fully equipped workshop. And now, he is homeless nobody in an unknown land and his meager funds would only stretch for a month or two at best. The looming possibility of ending up on the street was a thought he never had to seriously entertain before.

His blood boiled whenever her remembered all of this was caused by the greed of the two people he called his friends. The cheap magazine held in his hand crumbled as his grip subconsciously tightened. He still saw their faces as they were explaining to him how they had betrayed him, but "it was not their fault as he really left them with no choice". He sighed again. No point in dwelling on them. It is far more important what I do from here. - he thought to himself.

Unfolding the colorful magazine in his hands again, Elrion started to read it further. So far, he had yet to find what he was looking for, and his spirits fell further with each page he crossed. Magazine was filled to the brim with articles related to most powerful and recognizable mages in Fiore. There were also lots of information about the guilds they belong to, and their most notable recent accomplishments. Apparently, a month ago few mages even destroyed some powerful old demon called Lullaby. They also destroyed some very important building in the process, but that was of no concern to Elrion. Even the pages of beautiful mage girls in quite provocative positions in skimpy clothes and bikinis were skimped over.

As he flipped through the pages, he kept pondering his current situation. "Still not a single word about mages which prefer to stay out of battles or magic inventors. Is there even a place for someone like me on this continent?"