The air was cold and frigid. The mountains that a woman named Ur and her two students, Gray and Leon, were residing were far away from civilization. Currently, Ur's students were facing down a demon named Deliora, who had killed Gray's family and destroyed his town. Gray, who was unable to defeat the demon that haunted his dreams, was laying on his back, propping himself up, looking up at Leon, who was preparing to use an Ice Spell that was known as Iced Shell. Suddenly Ur was slapping Leon, angry that he would even think to attempt to use Iced Shell. Feeling the demon closing in, Ur stood up. She turned her back to her pupils, and started to prepare to use Iced Shell.

"Don't worry Gray." Ur said softly. "I'll erase your nightmares."

As Gray and Leon stood behind their teacher, they started to realize what she was about to do. It was then that they noticed a red glow in the sky. Looking up, they saw the clouds were indeed burning bright red. The two pupils looked to each other, and simultaneously ran forward, grabbing their teacher's wrists.

"What are you two…?" It was then that she started to see the glow too. She allowed her pupils to lead her further back from the demon. After several seconds, Ur turned from the glow, picking up her pupils, and started running. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her while holding two children. After a few minutes, she stopped feeling vibrations in the ground. Wanting to confirm her suspicions, she stopped and turned.

There, in all his fierce glory, stood Deliora, looking at the sky. After several long seconds, he opened his mouth and roared a challenge to the sky. The glowing red light in the sky got brighter and brighter, until suddenly a massive pillar of flames erupted from the sky, engulfing Deliora and some of the surrounding mountains. When the flames had finally died down, the mountains that had been caught in the flames still stood, perfectly unharmed, just gray instead of their usual variety of colors. Even Deliora still stood, also gray instead of white. Ur took a step forward and the ground crumbled away. She looked down and found that only the gray part of the ground had crumbled away.

She leaned down and felt the gray powder, trying to see what it was. After only a few seconds, Ur had deduced that the gray powdery substance was ash. Ur snapped her head up and observed her surroundings with new eyes. The gray was all ash. Incinerated in the pillar of fire and heat that was so intense, it turned even stone to ash, instead of melting it. And yet, for all its heat and fire, she and her pupils felt no heat, nor were they burned, which meant that it was all contained within the borders of the great pillar of fire. Ur stood up now, horrified. She was scared for her pupils lives and was willing to give up her own to save them from Deliora, yet at the last second, a being had come along and burned him to ashes, as well as the mountains in the surrounding area. Ur tried to imagine the amount of magical energy that such a feat would take and she shuddered. The being that had saved them had used more magical energy than necessary, using almost twice as much as the spell must have originally cost, and it did so to save her and her students. She shuddered again, still incapable of processing the raw energy required for the task.

Then, suddenly Ur's world went black. When she opened her eyes, all she could see was fire. Almost immediately, a great and terrible voice spoke out.

"Will you repay your debt?"

Ur was so dumbfounded that her savior was speaking to her that she didn't speak for several seconds, but eventually she worked up the courage to give an affirmative.

"Yes, I will repay my debt."

"Good." The voice said, and Ur's world was filled with light again. She collapsed to the ground, causing her pupils to run to her aid. At first, she smiled at their concern, but soon she frowned, knowing the voice had saved her, asked her to pay her debt, heard her agree, and then left. It was then that she felt something she had not felt before the talk with the being. There was a faint pulling sensation in her head. Compelling her to head south. She knew in that moment it was the debt asking to be paid, so ignoring her pupils protests, she got up and headed south, bringing her pupils with. She stopped after about a hundred feet, feeling a strong wind. When she looked back, she saw the mighty Deliora, locked in his eternal roar of defiance. When the wind reached the ash, it took it along. Ur stayed and watched, waiting to see if it really was true. Sure enough, the "gray" mountains were blown away, along with Deliora, who collapsed after his left leg was carried away with the wind.

(Two weeks later)

Ur and her pupils had been walking for weeks, the pulling sensation getting stronger the closer she got to her destination. It was so strong of a sensation that it kept her awake last night. The group was currently walking in a forest, Ur trying to find her way desperately, knowing and feeling that she was close. Suddenly, she emerged into a clearing that held a cave. In the cave was a tiny burning sphere of fire.

As soon as she laid eyes upon the sphere, it descended to the ground. The flames in the ball started to burn brighter and brighter. Eventually, they began spinning and moving to a single point. When the flames were gone, there sat a seven year old boy. The boy had on a white scaled scarf and very ripped shorts. Soon, he boy started to stir and awaken. The boy sat up, looking confused. He ran out of the cave and into the clearing. The boy seemed to understand that he was intentionally left alone. Ur could not stand to see the boy's sad face, so she approached him.

"What saddens you child?" she asked

"I think my father left me here."

'Maybe my task is to help the boy find his father' Ur thought, so she replied with "Tell me his name and I will do my best to help you find him."

At this, the boy seemed to perk up. "His name is Igneel."

"Igneel? That is an odd name." she murmured, thinking the boy could not hear her. She was surprised when he started yelling

"It's not odd. He is the King of Flames! His name is mighty and powerful!"

When the boy yelled that, she could not help but to think of the final moments of the Land of Ash and its beast. Her curiosity aroused, she asked "Is your father arrogant, or is that what you call him?"

The boy seemed upset at this, and looked as if he was about to start crying. "It's what the other dragons call him! Stupid lady!"

Ur froze. There was no way. Dragons had been extinct for centuries. And yet this boy claims his father was the king of the fire dragons? And that OTHER dragons called him that? Dragons? As in multiple? It was not possible. All dragons went extinct hundreds of years ago. And yet, here was this boy, who claimed otherwise. And as she thought back on the Land of Ash, she could only think of one race that could do such a thing. Could a dragon, more specifically, the dragon that had saved her and her pupils, be this boy's father?

But as Ur looked upon the boy and her own pupils, who the boy had just realized were there, she thought it did not matter. The pulling sensation was gone. The boy was the debt. And she thought she had an idea of where to take him. On her travels to find the boy, she had heard of a guild that was becoming popular recently. One of the few guilds that claimed to be a family. It seemed like as good a start as any.

"Boy, what is your name?" she asked kindly

"Huh? My name? It's Natsu."

"Do you know magic, Natsu?"

"Yeah"

"How would you like to go to a place called Fairy Tail?" Ur inquired

"It sounds funny, but I like funny. Let's go!"

Ur, her pupils and the boy all shouted

"FAIRY TAIL, HERE WE COME!"