I own nothing, feedback is appreciated, enjoy!

Chapter 1

"The world around us consists of two independent yet intertwined realms, the mortal and the spirit. The mortal realm (also referred to the 'real world') is the human realm, where people will spend their lives until they die and are reborn again. In this continuous cycle, people are allowed to thrive, pursue their own personal goals and live their lives as they choose. The spirit realm is a magical realm in which creatures of mythical nature reside, while mortals can only interact with the mortal realm these creatures have the ability to interact with both realms.

While not inherently magical, human souls can accumulate magical energy from the spirit realm within themselves and 'break free' of the reincarnation cycle in the mortal realm and enter the spirit one. This magical energy requires a strong soul to hold it, such souls normally have a defining characteristic – something that defines their very soul this could be almost anything; be it strength, bravery, intellect or simply a strong belief in something. The magical energy absorbed feeds on this characteristic and amplifies it when brought to the spirit realm.

Despite the differences in characteristic the magical energy gained will always take the form of wings on the human granting not only flight but the ability to control said magical energy. As these wings are a reflection of an individual's soul; no two will have the exact same appearance, but the magic they can harness might be identical, for example, two souls may have control of fire magic but have unique appearances and traits. Through natural observation (and for lack of a more intelligently sounding name) humans who have gained wings and traversed into the spirit realm are called 'winged' or 'winged ones'.

However, not all winged gain this power with good intentions. We call individuals who have been consumed by darkness and gained power through evil deeds, Demons. Such traits as selfishness, malice and deceitfulness also attract magical power – as such we must always remember magic is neither good nor evil; it is those who use it who are. Fortunately, such evil beings are clearly marked by black wings and black eyes with red irises. Compared to the winged a demons survival requires them to constantly quest for power and continuously consume magical energy.

As such demons are renowned for hunting humans in the mortal realm. Particularly they target humans with the potential to become winged; they take the energy for themselves by absorbing their magic and through this process are granted greater power. Consequently said human's soul is then lost - never to be reborn in the mortal realm or enter the spirit world. History dictates this was the norm of our world some ages ago. For centuries humans lived in fear of vastly powerful demons who slaughtered without mercy consuming without limit. Although the winged existed and fought against the demons to protect humankind; they were vastly outnumbered and outclassed.

Legend says that when humans faced extinction and the winged could fight no longer, an angel-winged soul was brought to the spirit realm to rectify the world. Said soul held unimaginable power and had a heart which was as pure as it could be - they alone defeated legions of demons and sealed a large portion of demon energy in an alternate dimension behind a locked gateway. The key to which has been lost over the years – for good reason it would seem.

As a result of the battle, the winged became the dominant force in the spirit realm we see today. Under the 'angel winged one' they vowed to become guardians for the two planes, to prevent another rise of darkness. For the world to be in balance demons would always exist but now, with their strength restricted they no longer posed the same threat to the world. In the aftermath two main laws were put into place, to keep the balance:

No winged would interfere with the mortal matters of the mortal realm

The winged will do all they can to protect the humans from demons

A spell was cast so humans would forget the winged and the demons and never would see such beings in the mortal realm; allowing them to continue without fear of what had been and without witnessing further conflict. Before too long groups of winged formed guilds and assigned them to protect the surrounding areas and the human settlements within them. As the winged grew in number and the humans flourished under their new protection, the spirit realm flooded with magic; from which, creatures such as fairies, nymphs, yetis and drag-"

"DRAGONS! What does it say, Luce!" A pink mob of hair blocked Lucy's face from the book she was rather enjoying up to about five seconds ago.

"Hmph! Natsu I can't read with your head in the way!" Lucy growled clearly irritated. She really shouldn't be surprised; this was a regular occurrence with Natsu in regarded to anything to do with dragons, food or fighting. He seemed to direct all focus and willpower, the minute any one of them was a viable prospect. However, for as annoying as it was, Lucy did find it kind of endearing how passionate the man was.

Lucy sighed and stretched her long wings; they had a reasonable wingspan and a huge arc giving them the shape of a near crescent moon lying on its side. The deep dark blue pinpricked with a million stars was contained on their surface; the soft glow they gave off illuminated the dusty basement and its treasure trove of lost things. As she turned to where Natsu was now crouched, she gave another breathy sigh. He had hoarded book from her hands to the basement corner and was staring at it intensely. As she stood up she saw his fire-red wings softly rustle clearly agitated at the mention of dragons. Despite his interest in the book, Lucy wasn't convinced he was reading, his eyes weren't moving and if looks could create fire, the book would be ashes by now.

"Quit it!" She panicked and snatched the book out of the man's hands in a desperate bid to rescue it. For good measure, Lucy left a reasonable dent in the side of Natsu's skull with said book.

"Ow! Luce! What the hell?!" The pink haired man turned to now pout at his partner only to find she'd rapidly escaped out of the trapdoor to the basement they were in. Not one to be left behind Natsu swiftly followed his draconic wings flared as he escaped the decrepit house they had been exploring. He took to the sky, large wings held wide.

"We got to get back to the guild" Lucy called hearing a certain someone's grumbling a mile away – she knew he wasn't that mad anyway. "I'll read more of the book when we get there and see what I can find out about these dragons," She cheerfully added hoping to sweeten his mood a bit.

"OK!" He immediately perked up at the thought; with a powerful flap of his wings Natsu overtook Lucy and flashed a bright white fanged smile

"Last one there buys dinner!" He challenged and raced off.

Dumbstruck, Lucy rapidly regained composure and darted forward, "H-Hey Wait! Natsu! I can't afford to feed you again this week!"