Once the Sky Reaches the Flames

Chapter 5: Enemy Encounter!

The Fairy Tail wizards had been teleported into the heart of Nightglades' forests. Surrounding them were trees of varying heights covering the skies, as well as diverse plants and dense bushes. The shades of green filled the scenery as far as the eye could see. Waterfalls still could be heard in the distance.

"Ouch!" Natsu had somehow teleported face first into the ground, his face colliding with stones.

"Natsu!" Happy began pulling his leg.

"Natsu, are you okay?" Wendy reached out to him.

"That's a landing if I've ever seen one." Gray smirked at him. The others have teleported safely, standing on solid ground.

Natsu quickly stood up, dusting himself off and shaking his head. He then took a good look at his surroundings. "Where are we? Weren't we in that underground-cave-place-thing just now?"

Lucy facepalmed. "We teleported just moments ago, Natsu! Did your head hit the ground that hard?" She looked around, confirming their surroundings. "We're in Nightglades now."

"Oh, right! We did!" Natsu exclaimed. "Where's the Whippersnapper?! Let me at him!" Eagerly, Natsu began charging at a random direction.

Before he could go out of her reach, Erza strongly held his shoulder, almost crushing it into bits. "Don't be reckless, Natsu. We don't know what's waiting for us out here. Also, it's the Whisperer." She warned and corrected him.

"Y-Yes sir!" Natsu groaned from her grip. She let go and he rubbed his pained shoulder. That's no fun...

"Danger isn't in that barbarian's dictionary." Carla huffed, flying besides Wendy.

Erza sighed, bringing her hand to her forehead. "Let's devise a plan first." She scanned her surroundings. "Miss Celia said she teleported us to the Whisperer's location, so it must be nearby. Keep your guard up." She summoned her iron sword.

"Where do we go from here, though? This forest seems like some maze." Gray looked around, trying to make sense of his surroundings. He saw hundreds of trees and bushes as far as his eyes could see. There wasn't any distinguishable path in this terrain. It felt like they were in the middle of nowhere.

"This place gives me the creeps..." Lucy said, looking up to the sky covered by the massive trees. There was barely any light passing through them, giving off an eerie atmosphere.

"Let's explore." Erza began walking forward. "The Whisperer is sensitive to dense magical power, so I believe it'll come to us eventually."

"Guess we'll play the waiting game, then." Gray followed behind Erza, putting his hands in his pockets.

"I so do not want to meet with this Whisperer." Lucy said worriedly, walking besides Gray.

"Stick together with the group, child." Carla advised.

"Yes, Carla." Wendy walked behind Lucy and Gray.

"In the event we do encounter the Whisperer, I do not want any of you to charge recklessly into danger. We do not know what its capable of." Erza said authoritatively. "Especially you, Natsu. Do you understand?" Erza directed the question at him.

...No response.

"Natsu?" Erza stopped and spun around in place, her eyes looking for the fire dragon slayer.

"Hey, Natsu... you got some guts staying silen-..." Gray turned around, intentionally provoking him.

"Natsu... Erza's talking to yo-..." Wendy softly said and followed.