Awaken the Stars Song

Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

Igneel glided upon a brisk updraft high above the world of humans. His wings continued to flex between wing beats to maximize each current's use. Extending his magical senses to find his son yet again, Igneel curbed his growing impatience with the lack of response. His irritation was barely containable as Igneel wondered why his human had yet to answer him. Igneel was sure that his connection to Natsu had not lessened over the years. Although infrequent, Igneel never ignored any contacts Natsu initiated. Of course when Natsu called to him, Igneel found his son most needed reminders of keeping a dragon's pride within himself. So what was wrong with his adopted son?

Even as high above the communities of humans as Igneel remained, he knew that Magnolia was the city he was fast approaching. Sensing Metalicana's magical aura, and another dragon, Igneel wondered if something had gone awry with Metalicana's message delivery. His eagle sharp eyes saw nothing that implied any kind of destruction had happened. So what was going on that Natsu was not answering his mental calls? Had Natsu fought Metalicana or the strange dragon that Igneel sensed? Distance had never been a barrier to their communication, so that was not a plausible explanation for Natsu's silence. The lack of response from his son could only mean Natsu was badly injured, or currently lacked enough magic to answer. The thought ignited Igneel's protective side which enhanced his anger. Whomever was to blame for Natsu not answering was going to pay for any harm that was done to his son.

As the anger burned through his midsection, Igneel began to dive toward Metalicana's position intent on discovering what had happened. Nothing added up to Igneel's thinking. Shifting his muscles so that his sails became massive breaks, Igneel circled in tightening spirals as he closed on Metalicana and the other dragon's position. As expected, Metalicana's thought reached him. 'So you've finally arrived, Igneel. Try not to destroy anything when you get here. Things are a real mess because the Fairies have returned from their Suspended Animation and started causing trouble within minutes of awakening.'

Igneel felt his fire magic expand dangerously. All dragons knew the ancient lore about the crueler clans among the Fairy race. 'Which clans have come back, Metalicana?'

'The ones that Vraylinish chose to take under wing, Young King.' A not so familiar female dragon's voice flicked through his mind.

'Who are you?' Igneel demanded as he zoomed in on the break within the tree line where Metalicana was resting. A broken down house stood at the edge of the clearing and Natsu's scent filtered into his nose.

'Sertatsie is staying behind the magic Guild that our fledglings now belong to. She's the one speaking, Igneel.' Metalicana responded as the fire dragon did a final approach to land near the other male by making a hard break with his haunches and out thrust front legs.

"So, the Ancient Queen is also here. Why do I have a very bad feeling about what news I'm going to get?" Igneel wasted no time on pleasantries as he turned his head to look at the other male and growled aloud.

Metalicana snorted. "I sensed you trying to call your fledgling, but he can't answer due to the spell he agreed to have cast on him by the blasted Fairies."

Igneel felt his anger writhing through his magic. "What kind of spell did they use on my son, and why can't he answer me?"

Sertatsie's mind orb flashed into the clearing and she responded. 'Two males are now Soul Bound to the Star Singer that I sensed earlier. They are in a deep sleeping state as they seek to save her life. Without both of the males sharing their life force, the female could not contain Abyss Lord any longer, Igneel. One of them is your Dragon Slayer. However, things have not gone smoothly because of various problems with the Orion bloodline being so close to extinction. She Wolf may be Fey, and have more than one Soul Bond, but their combined power is scarce able to feed the multiple chains that have attached to her during their time suspension. The Singer your son chose to bind himself to has five chains on her soul core which is about to break under the strain. Another has arrived, but we do not yet know how many chains she is struggling to feed. One of the other lineages has arrived also, but only has to maintain the one Astral Chain since she is not related to the Orion lineage. If only three Orion bloods still exist, plus the girl from the other lineage, times are indeed desperate.'