"Gramps!"
Noah stood before Makarov and greeted him.
"What is it?"
"Noah."
Makarov had a mouthful of alcohol before he replied slightly drunk.
"What are you doing at the moment?"
"Going out to work."
Noah scratched his cheek.
"But, if Gramps has got anything in store for me then i think I can push back my plans a day or two."
"Work huh?"
Makarov nodded.
"Good, I've got an assignment for you."
"Assignment?"
Noah flinched slightly.
"What kind of job would need to be personally vetted by you?"
Makarov usually just post the requests on the job board, even those super hard jobs that are meant only for S-Class magicians on the second floor. If one wanted to take a job, they only needed to go take it down and pass it over to Makarov for approval.
Hell, Makarov posted the job by the magic council on the board and advised Noah to take it. He had never seen any request that Makarov had to personally find people to complete, much less for the job request to be seen by Noah.
"Maa, this job requires notification."
Makarov guessed Noah's thoughts correctly as he explained.
"That's because this request is personally issued by me, a sort of guild self-issued job if you will."
"A job assigned by you?"
Noah is stunned.
Makarov chugged down every last drop of booze he had on hand before adopting a serious expression.
"Actually, I am hoping you would go to the holy land of Fairy Tail, !"
"Tenrou Island?"
Noah frowned.
Noah had joined Fairy Tail for quite some time now, as such, he had heard of this island which has a special meaning for Fairy Tail.
As Makarov said, it is a holy land to Fairy Tail. Only those bearing Fairy Tail's insignia can enter the island. (Tl: possible fact check required for entrance requirement)
It has been rumored that there were fairies living on Tenrou Island ages ago. Which is why it is nicknamed Fairy Island. There is a strong barrier situated around the island making it nigh undetectable to the outside world.
Tenrou Island is also the final resting place of the first guild master.
Given the significance of the location, Makarov does not allow visits. Being a member of Fairy Tail does not justify his casual entrance into the holy land and resting place of first guild master.
Everyone in Fairy Tail knows about this holy land but Gildarts who is an S-Class magician and Makarov are probably the only ones in the guild who had ever been there.
"What's going on?"
Noah detected that this request had something more to it than meets the eye.
"What's going on at Tenrou Island?"
"It's because I don't know that I need someone to go check it out."
Makarov frowned.
"Tenrou Island is a very special place, it is surrounded by a barrier and is a place of great power so its location is not easily divined or found by anyone. Its isolation is probably the reason something is off."
"I had received a few reports of fishermen finding a very special Island in the middle of the sea. According to description, it is highly that is our holy land, Tenrou Island!"
Makarov said.
"I am suspecting that there is some kind of event going on disrupting the flow of power at Tenrou Island causing it to be visible to the outside world."
"Disrupted magic flow…"
Noah muttered before nodding.
"Gramps is hoping for me to restore the original flow of magic on Tenrou Island is it?"
"It might not be a disruption, there might be some other problems which is why I hope you can go there and check it out. If you can solve it, good. If not, you are to find out the cause and report back."
Makarov looked at Noah.
"This is a guild-issued job so the reward will also be paid by the guild, any questions?"
"Gramps, what are you saying?"
"It is a guild problem so let's not talk reward. I will head out tomorrow and check the island out."
"I see…"
Makarov didn't bother continuing the business talk, he just smiled."
"I understand, you be careful now."
Noah shrugged and thought about the job.
Noticing that Noah is thinking up a plan, Makarov left without saying anything. He trusts that he will come up with something by himself.
After a bit of time, he mumbled.
"Tenrou Island huh?…"
"—!"
Noah's heart throbbed and his brain seemed to have been hit by something, his vision went white and his eyes lost their colors.
The next moment, his consciousness drifted away…
♦ ♦ ♦
While dazed, he saw a scene.
A sea without end, and on that sea is an island with a rather odd appearance. There's a giant tree covering about 2/3 of the island's area in its center. It looked like two islands stacked on top of each other. Just from appearance, it would seem like an isolated utopia.
Underneath the large tree is a sea of forests. Within the forest is a bunch of weird lifeforms.
A pig that is bigger than buildings, bipedal dinosaurs, apes with a tongue longer than those of a snake's, birds that didn't have wings which had to rely on crawling to get around, and tons of other weird creatures. The creatures made the island seem like some kind of fantastic Shangri-la that is begging for visitors.
The scenery changed to what appears to be another location on the island. He didn't know where it was but he could clearly see it.
In front of him is a grave and on top of that grave is a tablet of some sort.
In the center of the hole in the tablet is a feather giving off golden flame, the mere sight of it brought tremors to Noah's heart.
More specifically, the feather is one that is in tatters and lacking in luster.
The mere sight of this lame feather brought intense emotional turbulence the likes of which he had never experience in his 7 years of living.
The reason is that this is something he had seen countless times before in the white realm.
♦ ♦ ♦
"—!"
He woke up suddenly and his eyes regained their focus, his brain also returned to its normal working. His heart, however, is still throbbing really hard.
"Ha… ha… ha…"
As if he had woken up from a nightmare, sweat dotted his head as he panted heavily. Holding his head, his eyes darted about.
"What… was that?…"
The sudden experience caused him to be too stunned to think properly.
"A hallucination?…"
He might be saying that but something inside him told him that wasn't a hallucination or anything of that sort.
He regained his breath and looked into the distance through the window.
"Tenrou Island…"