Fairy Tail: The Celestial Priestess, Keeper of the Crystal Key (a Nalu Fanfiction)

Chapter 10

(POV Lucy)

I stood on the edge of a vast creator perfectly circular and surrounded by tall cliffs. Directly across the creator and on either side was a portal of sorts that shot high into the plum colored sky littered with stars a good thousand feet before they arched and met in the center. There must have been a fourth one behind me based on the tower of light that reached over my head to join with the others.

Sharp, jagged rocks lined the ground ranging in size from small pebbles to large boulders. But none were as large as the three sloping hills in the center of the creator. They curved together until their tips very nearly touched, making a perfect round hollow between them where a swirling ball of red and purple magic resided. This place strangely reminded me of the Celestial Spirit World, but it felt different. The air was colder and everything felt so...heavy. So dark.

Circling over the three hills were large creatures that looked like they were made of darkness itself. Their grotesque figures were the stuff of nightmares and though they made no move to come my way I shivered just looking at them.

I squinted to make out the lone figure standing at the base of the hills. It looked like a man. He was tall with a broad chest and long, black hair that reached down to his shoulders. He wasn't wearing a shirt so I could easily make out the ridges of muscle that shifted as he raised his hand to the ball of magic and that's when I felt it. The wave of pure magic energy that shot out of the ball with such force I was thrown back from the creator's edge.

I covered my ears at the loud boom that ripped through the air with the blast wave of magic. A gust of air rushed over me, pulling my hair from my two pigtails, and bringing with it the terribly familiar smell of blood and death. After the initial blast I scrambled to my hands and knees and crawled back to the edge, where I saw perhaps the most terrifying sight I'd ever seen.

A spirit, the likes of which I'd never seen, burst from the magic ball with a deep and purely evil laugh rumbling from its large chest. I could feel the darkness and death rolling off it in waves so thick it was like it was another living thing. Long tendrils coiled out of its protruding spine, whipping through the air with such force I was sure I could hear the air itself tearing. Sharp spikes lined its shoulders, hips, claves and elbows and the long claws on its hands racked the ground as it clawed its way from the magic ball.

Its skin was the color of blood, dark red and almost black in certain light, and it smelled like it too. Centered on the spirit's chest was a glowing diamond that pulsed with enormous magical energy. Finally free of the magic ball it slowly got to its feet and threw its head back in a loud roar. I covered my ears and cowered against the edge. This spirit...it was the embodiment of evil and I knew without a doubt that it would destroy every living thing in the world.

I closed my eyes and screamed just as the world around me tilted. When I opened my eyes again I was no longer at the creator's edge but in a city. Or rather what was once a city. I gazed around at the crumbling buildings, some still on fire. Slowly I got to my feet, barely registering the sweltering heat and sharp tang of death that hung heavy air as it pressed in on me from every angle.

I walked deeper into the ruins. I didn't know where I was going but something was pulling me forward and soon I was running, sprinting as fast as I could. I scrambled up a particularly steep hill, falling a few times as I climbed over large bits of rubble, and then halted when I saw what was laid before me.

A scream tore from my throat and I felt the tears begin to flow down my face as I stumbled forward through the piles upon piles of bodies. Most were charred into black husks, completely unrecognizable if it weren't for the skulls and bones sticking out of them, but others were more...intact.