Wassup, people? Patience never really suited me so, here's the first chapter!
Bolzan strolled through the forests of Avalar, savoring the feeling of the warm sun's rays stroking his scales as they peeked through the leaves playfully. A gentle breeze wafted through the forest, rustling the autumnal leaves that still remained on the trees, a dance of orange and red.
It had been a month after Malefor's demise and things really seemed to be settling down. Miraculously, Warfang was still standing after the attacks, albeit badly damaged. Up till now, they were still rebuilding the city with the Guardians heading the recovery efforts.
The Cheetah Village was almost completely untouched, owing to the valiant efforts of the Cheetah warriors. Now, many Cheetahs were helping out with the rebuilding of Warfang. The village was a fun place to be in now, according to Spyro and Cynder's kids.
They'd shown no signs of distress whatsoever and were still as fun to be around as ever. Spyro and Cynder had also reconciled, now living the life of peace they had always wished for.
Peace, at last… Bolzan thought to himself as he walked deeper into the forest, letting his heart lead the way. He had recovered from his wounds completely and was now living happily with Spyro and Cynder as always.
After a while, the trees thinned and a cave loomed a short distance ahead, jaws agape as it beckoned to Bolzan to enter its maw.
For some reason, Bolzan complied and walked ever deeper into the caves, making his way through the absolute darkness that his night vision could not remedy. Not once doubting his route, Bolzan sauntered ever deeper into the dark abyss until he came upon a wall.
Without another thought, ancient words rattled off his tongue and the wall reacted, runes glowing ominously.
He stopped abruptly and a monster stepped out of the, now open, gate.
Without a second thought, Bolzan disposed of it easily with a blast of light, incinerating the monster where it stood.
Snapping out of his trance, Bolzan looked around his surroundings, confused how he'd gotten into this cave system.
A familiar voice beckoned to him and Bolzan walked deeper into the abyss, allowing the arms of darkness to embrace him, pulling him deeper into the shadowy warmth.
In an instant, Bolzan found himself in a barren wasteland, absolutely disoriented and confused. The gates closed behind him with a mighty crash and, no matter how much Bolzan pushed or attacked it, it wouldn't budge.
"Damn… What the hell just happened?" Seeing that there was no way back, Bolzan shrugged and pressed on into the war-torn world. Subconsciously, Bolzan was making his way towards the ruins on the distance, led by the beckoning voice.
"Lightning! Where're you going?" Lightning turned at the sound of her sister's voice and she smiled.
"I'm going out for a walk. Tell Snow he'd better not start dinner before I'm back again or I'll really kill him." Lightning replied humorously.
"Alright. Come back soon, 'kay?" With that, Lightning turned and left New Oerba out into the wilderness that was the Archyle Steppe.
It had been a month after Cocoon had fallen, thanks to Fang and Vanille who had sealed the collapsing Cocoon in crystal to save its inhabitants.
Fang… Vanille… I hope you're still alright. Up till now, Lightning still hadn't completely gotten over Fang and Vanille's sacrifice and she was certain that none of her friends had gotten over it as well.
She saddled a chocobo and was soon zipping across the steppe, running past the packs of Gorgonopsids and the lumbering Long Guis, avoiding the Goblins and Wyverns as she made her way to the Mah'habara.
"Alright, stay here and wait, alright?" She dismounted and left the chocobo waiting outside the entrance to the Mah'habara.
She liked coming here to train, and refine her fighting skills. Anyway, it helped take her mind off the rebuilding efforts.
After the fall of Cocoon, the inhabitants had begun rebuilding their lives on Gran Pulse, with many colonies forming throughout the steppe with a few in the highlands and the Yaschas Massif.
Although these weren't exactly sprawling cities, they served as homes for those who had lost theirs.
Right now, Lightning was living in the town of New Oerba, amongst the most developed cities in the new world. It was built on the original Oerba, Fang and Vanille's hometown, as a tribute to their sacrifice.
There weren't any towns in the Mah'habara that she knew about and this made it a prime spot to train. Yet, when she entered, she walked down a path she had never been down before, leading into a deep, nigh inaccessible part of the Mah'habara.
She sidestepped the monster hordes, taking out those she was unable to avoid as she made her way down the dimly-lit earthen corridor.
As she made her way deeper into the Mah'habara, she eventually came across a massive white gate sealing off further access.
Tracing the symbols that adorned the circular structure, ancient words rolled off her tongue as the door shone brightly and the gate opened slowly, revealing a shadowy oblivion beyond.
A goliath stepped out of the darkness and bore down on Lightning, roaring angrily. Even without her l'cie powers, Lightning was still a force to be reckoned with and, several gunshots and sword slashes later, the monster lay dead at her feet.
She turned towards the abyss and something called out to her to enter the shadows, to relax in its warm embrace.
She walked in and was instantly pulled into the shadows, moving through the midnight-black tunnel.
She exited into a war-torn landscape, devoid of any life as the darkness that had enveloped her vanished, leaving her standing there, dazed.
She snapped out of her daze and looked around to ascertain there wasn't anyone here. When there wasn't any movement, sans the swirling of grey dust borne by the near-dead winds that crept across the landscape.
"Where am I?" Lightning mused to herself, heading out into the barren world, gunblade drawn.
The ruins in the distance seemed to be a decent place to start looking for signs of life and she headed towards it cautiously but steadily, aware of the small indentations in the dust, evidently made by a certain four-legged beast that were headed towards the ruins as well.