Chapter 8

The Sun Village was, to put it in simple term, gigantic. Houses, furnitures, even freaking dogs are gigantic.

Natsu was even chased by a three meter tall cat around the village, and if it weren't for Flare he would surely burn the kitty to crisp.

Well, aside from the size, the Sun Village is just like your average village. With giants doing their work, talking, eating, laughing, that sort of thing.

Finally, after quite awhile of walking, Natsu, Laki, and Flare arrived in front of a large altar with an enormous flame on it.

"Dad, I brought the guests!" Flare ran towards the flame.

Suddenly, the flame flickered and started to "transform", under the shocked eyes of Laki and Natsu, it became an enormous dragon made of fire.

"D-D-D-D—Dragon!?" Laki fell down to her butt, eyes widened in shock with her mouth wide open as she stared at the enormous creature only heard of in legend.

Natsu just stood there, silently. Clenching his fist and staring at the dragon.

Finally, the dragon, Atlas Flame, opened his eyes and lowered his head to stare at Natsu. "It's been four hundred years, son of Igneel."

"Four hundred—?" Natsu voiced out his confusion, but decided to push that question in favor of another one, "You know about Igneel!!!?"

His onyx eyes, which became dull due to the loss of his friends in Tenrou, suddenly regained its light.

Atlas Flame tilted his head, 'Is he …I see. He hasn't met the 'past' me yet, no wonder he doesn't know about me.'

"Of course. Igneel is an old friend of mine." Said Atlas Flame as he raised his head to stare at the sky, as if reminiscing, "He is the King of Fire Dragons, my king."

"Do you know where I can find him!!?" Natsu asked, with a large grin on his face.

"…" Atlas Flame hesitated, thinking of telling him the truth, but decided against it. Igneel did not tell him, so Atlas Flame has no right to say it. "I don't know."

"Oh." Natsu slumped down, sighing in disappointment, "another dead end."

Atlas Flame felt sad for the boy, so he decided to change the subject and turned his eyes to the still shocked human girl, "Is this girl your mate?"

"W-What!? Why would you think that?" Laki exclaimed, face red in embarrassment.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. She is." Natsu nodded. She is his guild mate right?

"No I'm not!" Laki glared at him, "What makes you say that!?"

"Huh?" Natsu tilted his head in confusion, ignorant on why Laki appears to be mad at him, "We're guild mates aren't we?"

Laki blinked, before releasing an "ooh", and sighing in relief, "So that's what you mean, good. But Natsu, don't ever say that I'm your mate to anyone alright? Mate and Guild mate have different meaning."

"…sure?" Natsu simply replied.

"Son of Igneel," Atlas Flame called out as Natsu turned towards him, "I can sense an essence flame from you, do you have one?"

"Oh yeah," Natsu nodded, opening his palm to reveal a chimeric beast made of crimson flame, "Got it from Mount Hakobe, I ate it since it looked delicious. Bad choice, I almost died."

Atlas Flame sweatdrop, "You …ate it?"

"Uh-huh."

"That shouldn't …you would've …well, I guess you are Igneel's son. I shouldn't really expect anything less." Atlas Flame sighed, "Well, what made you come here in my village, son of Igneel?"

"Me? Well, someone told me about an "eternal flame" in this village and I thought it's essence flame and wanted to take it, never knew it was you though. So I guess it's a flop." He then pointed at Laki, "Her, on the other hand, wanted to get some of the Will-o-wisp fruit or something."

"It's Will of Fire." Laki corrected, turning towards the dragon, "Is that alright Mr Dragon?"

Atlas Flame nodded, "You can take as much as you want …and call me Atlas Flame, that is my name. I am Atlas Flame, the Hellfire Dragon."

"Thank you so much!" Laki then went around to look for the fruit while taking out a piece of paper with an image of the fruit on it.

"Hellfire? Sounds cool!" Natsu said, before patting his chest, "I'm Natsu Dragneel, Fire Dragon Slayer and Son of Igneel!"

"Speaking of dragon slayer," Atlas Flame turned his eyes towards his student and surrogate daughter, who was sitting on the side, "This is Flare Corona, my dragon slayer."

Hearing her name, the red haired girl perked up and stared at Atlas Flame and gave a big wave.

"She's a dragon slayer as well?" Natsu glanced at the girl. "Huh, she's about the same age as Wendy."

"Wendy?" Atlas Flame asked.

Natsu nodded, his eyes showing a trace of sadness and melancholy, "She's uh, she's like a little sister you see. She idolizes me, calling me Natsu-nii and all that. She's also a dragon slayer, the Sky Dragon Slayer in fact."

"Sky Dragon huh," Atlas Flame hummed. 'There's Grandeeney, someone whom Igneel tried to court and failed. Well, if it's Grandeeney, and this Wendy girl treats Natsu as a brother, then I guess technically they can be considered as a mate. Their children treats each other as siblings after all.'

Atlas Flame observed Natsu, 'From his expression …did the girl die? No, that's impossible. Grandeeney will never allow it …unless this Wendy isn't Grandeeney's child.'

"Son of Igneel, can you do me a favor?" Asked Atlas Flame.

"What is it?" Natsu looked at him.

"Flare is old enough to travel outside, and I don't want her to remain here forever. She belongs outside, with her fellow humans. But I still couldn't help but worry …I want to ask you to look after her."

Natsu did not immediately answer. He stared at Flare, who seems to be busy catching a butterfly as big as a human.

"Well, she can join our guild if she like …the question is, have you consulted her about this?" Asked Natsu.

"Actually, I already did." Atlas Flame nodded, "I already told her that sooner or later, she would have to leave the nest and mingle with her fellow humans."

Natsu thought for a moment before nodding, "I'll give you a chance to talk to her. We'd leave by tomorrow."

"Natsu!!!" Laki shouted while holding a stick connected to her palm with a red fruit with flame-like patterns on it, "I already got it. We can leave anytime."

"We'll leave tomorrow," said Natsu, "Is that alright?"

"Sure." Laki nodded.

Atlas Flame stared at the wood on Laki's palm and couldn't help but ask, "Girl, is your primary magic wood related?"

Laki turned towards him and nodded, "Indeed it is. I'm a Wood Make Mage."

Atlas Flame nodded before opening his "palm" to revealing a flickering green flame.

The moment it appeared, Natsu felt his Ten Thousand Beast Flame shaking in 'fear' and 'reverence', and seems to be surrendering to the flame on Atlas Flame's hands.

"This is the Life Spirit Flame, one of the few Essence Flame in the world." Said Atlas Flame, "I have had this flame in my possession for several centuries now, and I want to give it to you."

"W-Wha—!?" Laki stared at the dragon in shock, before pointing at herself, "M-Me? B-But shouldn't it be more logical to give it to Natsu instead? I'm not a fire mage you know?"

Atlas Flame stared at Natsu whose attention was stuck on the flame and shook his head, "The son of Igneel is not suitable for this flame. The Life Spirit Flame, unlike most Essence Flame known for its destruction, is famous for its power of life."

The steam produced by this flame helps to accelerate the growth of magical herbs, and it is said that if one tosses some seeds into this flame, those seeds would quickly germinate and grow.

In other words, with this flame, one would no longer need to search for any herbs, and would be able to get boundless amounts of ingredients with just seeds.

This Living Spirits Flame is also known as the Flame of Longevity, for any person who obtains this flame would get a lifespan comparable to that of those beasts which are famous for their long lifespan.

The only flaw of this flame is that this flame is not very suitable for combat, thus it does little to increment one's battle strength.

But if this flame is used in tandem with a Wood Magic or something similar, it would dramatically boost the power of the mage.

"70 years ago, I lent this flame to a certain wood mage after we became friends. And his name spread throughout the Eastern Continent, Yamato. Even now, his legend is still passed down."

Laki stared at the flames, hesitating, "B-B-But I…"

"Just take it," Natsu patted her shoulder, "The old man insists on giving it to you, so just accept it."

Laki looked at him worriedly, "But, I think you deserve this more …"

Natsu shrugs, "Like the old man said, this flame isn't suitable for me. I'm more of a destroying type of guy, you see."

"Then …" Laki stared at Atlas Flame, "I accept it. Thank you."

Atlas Flame nodded, "I will help you assimilate the flame, you can't eat it like that idiot did, it will kill you."

"I didn't know okay?" Natsu retorted in annoyance.

Atlas Flame ignored his words and said, "Son of Igneel, entertain Flare awhile. Assimilating this flame to your friend might take awhile."

"No problem." Natsu nodded before walking towards Flare and decided to play with her.

Atlas Flame stared at Laki, "Are you ready girl?"

Laki took a deep breath and solemnly nodded.

"Yes, please do it."