The two staves began to glow and the group of men were surrounded by a high wall of flames. Then men frantically looked around for an opening but the wall of flames was unrelenting. Suddenly, Meliodas began to feel a bit drowsy. 'Sleep magic?' Meliodas thought as he let out a large yawn.
In the wall of flames, the men inside collapsed. The flames around the men died down. Their clothes were singed and they were all passed out on the ground snoring. In front of them, between the two staves, a figure began to appear, seemingly out of thin air. The figure had a dark blue cloak and a green mask, with three more staves on his back. He picked up the other two staves and placed them on his back.
"Yo!" Meliodas greeted. He broke free of the rock formation that had him surrounded up to his head, causing it to crumble onto the ground. The figure turned around and looked at Meliodas, and remained silent.
"You must be Mystogan right?" Meliodas asked.
"Yes I am Mystogan."
"I'm Melioda-aaaa!" Meliodas yawned mid sentence. "You think you can turn that sleep magic off?"
Mystogan nodded and took one of the staves off of his back that was glowing. He tapped it on the ground and the magic in the area began to fade away. Mystogan, despite never having met Meliodas, was familiar with his name as it was brought up that he had stopped the Jupiter Cannon by himself. Mystogan looked at Meliodas and continued to analyze him. 'He seems strong. He was able to resist the effects of my sleep magic, as far as I know, only the master was able to resist it…'
"So I'm guessing your mission here was to deal with these guys?" Meliodas asked. Mystogan remained quiet and nodded in response.
"Well if you're done here, you think you can help me with something?" Meliodas continued. Mystogan nodded. Meliodas paused for a moment to think about how to explain his situation when he remembered Makarov's words saying they may have something in common.
"Well to put it simply, I'm not from here and I'm trying to get back to my world. You think you can help me out?" Meliodas asked bluntly. Mystogan's calm eyes widened with shock at Meliodas's question. 'This child...he can't be from Edolas can he? No...that's impossible...' Mystogan quickly regained his composure and remained silent. Meliodas tilted his head and looked at him curiously.
"You okay?" Meliodas asked.
Mystogan took in a deep breath and sighed.
"Does the term "Edolas" sound familiar to you?" Mystogan asked. Meliodas looked at him confused.
"Never heard of it." Meliodas replied.
"Then it appears your situation is different from mine. I will be of no help to you." Mystogan said. He turned around and began to walk away.
"Wait, you definitely know something!" Meliodas said as he leaped past Mystogan, landing in front of him. Meliodas looked up at Mystogan and stared at him. "Sorry but I can't let you go that easily. Mystogan stopped and looked at Meliodas.
"I see. And I'm guessing Master Makarov told you to come find me." Mystogan said. He had a suspicion that Makarov had an idea of who he really was but never acted on it.
"Yup." Meliodas answered.
"We may be more similar than I originally thought...but this is not something I can just give you the details of right away." Mystogan said as he began walking away. As he started walking, he heard footsteps approaching him from behind. He turned around and saw Meliodas following him.
Mystogan said nothing and turned back around. He started walking again as Meliodas trailed right behind him. Mystogan continued walking for another few moments then stopped.
"How long are you going to keep following me?" Mystogan asked.
"Oh, we just so happened to be walking in the same direction is all." Meliodas replied. Mystogan nodded and shifted directions, walking towards the right. He heard footsteps behind him and turned around. There he saw Meliodas still following him.
"I changed my mind, this way is faster." Meliodas said with a cheeky smile. Mystogan shook his head and began running, only for Meliodas to run right after him. Suddenly, Meliodas felt magic coming out from one of Mystogan's staves and Mystogan's body transformed into mist. Meliodas stopped running and looked around. 'Huh...where did he go?'
--
Shortly after becoming mist, Mystogan reappeared several kilometers away, his mist body rematerializing again. Mystogan looked around and saw no trace of Meliodas around him. He began walking again but heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Mystogan turned around and his eyes widened as he saw Meliodas walking behind him.
"Yo!" Meliodas greeted him with a cheeky smile.
"How did you…?" Mystogan questioned.
"You can try and hide all you want, but you can't hide from me. These eyes can spot an exposed pair of panties from over a mile away." Meliodas replied with a cheeky grin. Meliodas's answer briefly shook Mystogan's composure, causing him to almost lose his balance as he continued walking.
"Besides." Meliodas continued. "You're the closest thing I have to a lead since I've been here. I won't let you out of my sight so easily."
Mystogan sighed and he glanced at Meliodas.
"If you want information from me so badly, then I'll help you. But in return, you'll have to help me."
"Sure thing."
Mystogan nodded and continued walking, with Meliodas next to him. The two of them didn't say a word to each other as they walked through the forest.
Later that night, the duo stopped in a small clearing. Mystogan set up a small campfire and sat down next to it. He remained silent as he watched the flames.
"You want some ale?" Meliodas offered as he took a seat next to Mystogan. Mystogan shook his head and Meliodas shrugged as he popped open the bottle and began drinking from it.
The night went on and the two of them sat down in silence, with the silence only being broken by the occasional sound of an owl hooting or the sound of the flames cracking.
Meliodas finished drinking his bottle of ale and hopped up onto a nearby tree, leaning back on the trunk as he sat on a branch. He looked up into the sky and saw only clouds. Meliodas looked back down towards the campfire and saw Mystogan with his eyes closed.
Early the next morning, just before sunrise, Mystogan woke up. He looked up at where Meliodas was perched and saw him wide awake, still looking up at the sky. 'Was he awake all night?'
Meliodas noticed Mystogan standing up and jumped down from the tree. With his stave, Mystogan put out the smoldering campfire with water magic and the two of them began walking deeper into the forest.
"So what exactly is it you need help with?" Meliodas asked, breaking the silence.
"There is a dark guild that has been poaching a rare species of bird in this area. The bird is known as the Ashen raptor. It's an endangered species whose feathers shine a brilliant rainbow color under the sunlight due to some magical property. In addition, their talons, beaks, and meat also sell for a high price. They only appear during sunrise."
"I see...so we're going to find the raptors first and wait for the poachers to show up. That doesn't seem too bad. But what did you need me for?" Meliodas asked.
"The raptors are extremely aggressive. They will attack us while we are trying to deal with the poachers. I can deal with the poachers but you will need to hold off the raptors. Do not kill them."
"Sounds simple enough." Meliodas replied. The two of them continued walking in the forest as the sun began to rise. Eventually they reached an opening in the forest that led to a vast field with many high cliffs. Up on the cliffs, the ashen raptors could be seen. Their feathers let off a rainbow hue from the sunlight as they basked in the sun. The raptor itself was very large, nearly six feet tall. They had sturdy, powerful legs with sharp talons colored red and a small yellow beak with a black tip. On their chest, were large zig zag white markings.
Below the cliff, Meliodas could make out the figures of at least a dozen suspicious characters. On their clothes, they all had matching insignias that looked like black pumpkins.
"I'll deal with them now." Mystogan said as his body vanished into mist. Meliodas nodded and jumped up towards the cliff, landing right next to the large birds of prey.
The birds immediately turned around away from the cliff and focused their attention on Meliodas while Mystogan confronted the poachers below the cliff. The largest one in front of Meliodas let out a deafening screech and charged at Meliodas with its talons.
Meliodas quickly weaved side to side, barely dodging the talons. Several other of the large birds charged in at Meliodas until Meliodas found himself surrounded by four of them and dodging in between their talons. 'Mystogan told me not to kill the birds but…'
"Divine Thousand Slashes!"
Meliodas drew his sword and cut through all four birds simultaneously. A large cloud of feathers flew into the air with a rainbow shimmer. The birds let out a loud cry and immediately started running away down the other side of the cliff. 'They'll grow back.'
Meliodas sheathed his blade again and sighed. He looked around him and saw the ground was covered in rainbow colored feathers. He kneeled down and began picking them up, placing them into his requip inventory.
Mystogan appeared as a cloud of mist and materialized his body on the cliff right next to Meliodas. He looked around the cliff, surprised that none of the raptors were there and the ground was covered in feathers.
"Yo!" Meliodas greeted as he continued scooping feathers.
"What did you do?" Mystogan asked.
"You mentioned their feathers are worth a lot. So I cut them off the birds and they ran away. They're birds so they'll grow back. And they don't seem to rely on flight for fighting or hunting so they won't be defenseless. Besides I need more booze money."
"I guess…but I don't suggest you sell those. Those feathers are a black market item. Legal guild mages will get in trouble for it." Mystogan shook his head and watched as Meliodas finished collecting the feathers. "Well regardless, you've been helpful so -" Mystogan stopped mid sentence and looked up straight in the sky, much to Meliodas's confusion.
"ANIMA!" Mystogan yelled out in the sky abruptly.
"Anima?" Meliodas questioned, confused by Mystogan's uncharacteristic outcry. Mystogan ignored Meliodas's question and immediately placed one of his staves on the ground.
His stave began glowing and Meliodas began to sense a weird pressure coming from it. After a few moments, the pressure faded and the stave stopped glowing. Mystogan mounted the stave back on his back and continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.
"I appreciate your help, Meliodas."
"Sure thing!" Meliodas replied with a grin, not mentioning what had just happened. It was most likely related to Mystogan's secret and sooner or later, it would get revealed if he stuck around him anyway.