Previously named Arc of Scorn
The morning light crept silently over the horizon of Avalar. The land had changed, it had changed neither for the better nor for worse, but it had changed none the less. Caves onceexplored now needed to be remarked, paths that had been demolished now needed to be re-routed throughout Avalar. For the most part, Warfang had been almost untouched by and thousands of citizens, by order of the new head guardian Terrador, had been sent out in search for their heroes, Spyro and Cynder.
It had been nearly a week since they had last seen the two dragons. Both of them crossed the Belt of Fire left by the Destroyers path, supposedly fought and killed Malefor, and pulled the world back together. Terrador, much like the rest of the guardians and the dozens of search parties sent out, believed Spyro, Cynder, and Ignitus to be dead.
There was no celebration, no cheering for their saved lives, and no positive moral for them to be happy about. Their leader was dead; his pupil possibly killed along with the once traitorous, but now allied Terror of the Skies. There was no reason for them to celebrate.
Sparx had taken the lead of many search parties. He had not slept in days, refused to eat, even though he was small and it wouldn't take him near as long to finish as the others. Any help from others was denied unless it involved finding his brother. The stress was building.
He had joked with his brother over the years, teasing him, calling him fat to make up for his size, saying witty comments to mess with him and annoy Cynder, but now that the realization of death was bearing down on him like a boulder upon his conscious. Now he wished he could take it all back.
Sparx was searching around the dragon temple aimlessly for a few hours now, one part of him wanted sleep but the other part wanted to gather another team of volunteers to help him, much to his disliking; they had already left or were not willing. Terrador was roaming around and had just found the little dragonfly. Terrador noticed his skulking and decided to walked with him. "Sparx, it's been almost a week now, don't you think you should take a break. Let us take charge for a while." Terrador coaxed.
Sparx rounded another corner of the dragon temple with the earth guardian and advanced through the hallway. "No." Sparx said plainly as Terrador followed in suite.
Volteer, the guardian of electricity, had been trailing behind them silently for a few minutes and decided to intervene with Terrador. "You do need sleep you know," He said suddenly, causing Terrador to twitch slightly from surprise. "Rest and rejuvenation is a necessity at a time like this, surely you must know that it is not healthy to be pressuring yourself like this, I remember one time when I was young I-"
"That's enough Volteer; thank you," Terrador cut Volteer off before he could continue another one of his rants. "But he is right; just go get some rest, if we find Spyro we will let you know first thing."
"Just leave me alone," Sparx shot back bitterly. He vibrated his wings faster and sped down the hallway till he rounded another corner out of sight.
Terrador sighed heavily. "What is the matter Terrador," Volteer asked. "Well, aside from the obvious, that is."
"It has been a week and not a single search party has seen either horn nor tail of Spyro or Cynder," Terrador said grimly. "My enthusiasm wasn't the greatest to start out with and now it's starting to diminish even further."
Volteer extended his wing so he could stop Terrador and smiled as he usually did. "Terrador, you of all people must know the consequences of bitter thought like that," he said with an unusual cheerfulness. "Maybe you need rest as well, hearing talk like that and from one of our bravest and strongest dragons!" Volteer raised his voice in his excitement. "Not to mention our most loyal," The electric guardian lowered his voice again when a few heads turned to see the commotion. "We need you right now Terrador, now more than ever, whether you realize it or not, but we do," Volteer smiled even wider as he finished his pep speech.
Terrador looked at Volteer. Dark bags were forming under his eyes. His eyes themselves were bloodshot and irritated from lack of sleep. He must have been up with one of the night parties, Terrador assumed. He smiled back, but only slightly. "Thank you," he said after a brief moment of silence. "I know that you are only trying to help, I am not denying that I am doubtful of their survival, but under the circumstances, even if they did survive, I do not believe they could have held out this long without food or water." Terrador lowered his head.
"Terrador," Volteer said. "You do not believe in them enough, only faith in their survival can pull us through. So what if we don't find them in another week, a month, a year? What does it matter if they are dead or not, all we can do now is search for them and hope for the very best," Volteer's smile widened. "I will dedicate the rest of my life to finding them if I must, and I hope that you will do the same."
Volteer sighed and walked off, ending the conversation on a rather sour note, much to Terrador's disliking. The sting of guilt swelled up in Terrador's chest making him sick to his stomach. Never before had anyone talked to him like that, not since Ignitus at least. He wanted to double over, sink to the floor and cry, cry like a newly born hatchling. Nobody had ever made him feel like this, so terrible, so worthless, and so insignificant to those around him. The world around him was trembling. Possibly because of his mixed emotions of pain and sorrow that he was bringing on himself, the temple seemed to beshaking. A slight tremor nothing more than that, nobody could feel it, nobody but him.
Terrador walked down the hall deep in thought over the short conversation with Volteer. He knew he was right, he should be more confident, maybe not as enthusiastic, but confident. He looked out onto an open balcony he was passing, clouds were forming over the horizon, and the faint blur of falling rain was making its way over the mountains in the East. The birds on the balcony had sensed the rain and descended down to their nests below. Terrador sighed again and continued on for several minutes, much like Sparx now, searching for something and nothing at the same time. Small tears began to swell in his eyes, too small for anyone to notice, but he could feel them. Heavier than any rock, tougher than any stone, his tears, but he would not let them go, not yet.
Terrador stopped in his aimless tracks whenever he felt the padding of small footsteps behind him. "Master Terrador," a voice called behind him. He quickly wiped his eyes and turned to the voice. A mole dressed in the normal head and chest plate armor was making his way down the hallway. "Master Terrador, it is about to rain Sir, I suggest that you make your way to your room."
"Th-Thank you, please, continue on your patrol if you wish," Terrador answered quickly.
The messenger saluted the guardian. "Thank you, Sir," he said and shuffled past him. Terrador turned around as the mole began to walk off. Just before the mole reached the four-way corridor he stopped and turned back to Terrador. "You know Sir, I do not know if it is appropriate for me to say this but I believe I must. This is a tough time for all of us. I do not know what ties you have with Master Spyro and Mistress Cynder, but please keep your spirits high, for the moral of course." The mole saluted Terrador again and disappeared from sight.
Terrador felt the vibrations again, this time even more fierce than before. The small tremors shook him; the ground around him, the world was shaking. Reluctantly, he took the moles advice and made his way back to his room. Only when he had reached the door did he realize. Small pebbles from the walls were falling to the floor; dust from the ceiling was falling down onto his head. He was not doing it, if he did he would have stopped, but it wasn't him, the world was shaking.
"Everyone, together now! We need to move those rocks!" A cheetah shouted through the thunder and pouring rain. His fur was soaked and his muscles were sore. Only an hour ago he had sent a messenger back to the dragon temple to tell them, to tell everyone, they had found them.
It was a week since the world ended and was reborn, how they found them, only the ancestors knew. They were piled under nearly a thousand pounds of rock and debris from the world, no food, light, or water for a week would surely mean that they were barely alive, if even that. A cheetah had noticed an irregular formation of rocks by a once marked cave, when he went to explore he heard shouts from the other side, Cynder. He wasted no time in getting the rest of his search party and began digging out the two dragons.
"Help," Cynder shouted louder than before.
A mole threw away another rock and shouted back to his superior, "Sir, we can hear her!"
"Well don't stop now! Dig," the cheetah shouted back as he dug his bloodied claws into the rocks again and began to throw them aside.
"They're alive," Terrador shouted. The messenger had just arrived bringing the good news. The messenger had quickly found all three guardians and requested an urgent meeting with them in private.
"Yes Sir, Cynder and supposedly Spyro are alive in a cave east of here, just south of the mountains," the cheetah answered.
"Are you sure it's them," Cyril asked from his designated spot around the pool of visions.
The cheetah nodded, "Please, Sirs, we cannot waste anymore time here, if they haven't died starvation or dehydration than we should move immediately!"
"Very well, Cyril, Volteer, make your way there, I will round up an escort and a team of our best healers," Terrador ordered.
Cyril and Volteer nodded simultaneously and hurried out a moment later. "Young cheetah, please go collect Sparx, he will want to be there when we recover Spyro and Cynder," Terrador said.
The cheetah bowed low. "Yes Sir, good luck," he said and ran off to go find Sparx.
"I hope we're not too late," Terrador whispered to himself grimly.
They had barley put a dent into the fortress of rocks and stone that blocked off Spyro and Cynder. Even with the combination of Volteer and Cyril, almost no progress had been made. Cyril froze another section of the blockade and swung his tail down hard onto it, shattering a very small portion of the wall.
"This is useless!" Cyril shouted. "We need Terrador!" He backed off and began to breathe heavily.
"I agree, our attacks are almost futile against this monstrous stone nemesis, but we mustn't give up, Cyril," Volteer shouted. He breathed in deeply and let loose another wave of electricity the blasted the wall. When the smoke cleared away all that was left was a small burn mark, nothing more than a scratch.
Volteer sat on his haunches and scratched the back of his neck. "Perhaps we do need Terrador," he admitted.
Cyril rolled his eyes. "And weren't you the one saying that we shouldn't give up," he asked blandly.
"Well, I gave it my all and it appears to have no strong affect against stone, but at least one of us is trying." Volteer shot back.
"And what is that supposed to mean," Cyril shouted. "Are you saying that I'm not doing my best?"
"Well no, but now that you mention it, you could be doing better." Volteer and Cyril were now face to face.
"Sirs, please stop," A few moles shouted from below them. Both Cyril and Volteer were too distracted with each other to see Terrador land by the wall.
Terrador looked back at the other guardians and rolled his eyes. "What a time to be fighting with each other. Those stupid fools," he murmured to himself. "All moles and cheetahs please stand back," he shouted.
Terrador opened his jaw wide and let loose a flurry of earth missiles at the wall. Each one dented and bent the wall, doing far more damage in a shorter time than Volteer and Cyril had done combined. After a minute of firing at the wall of stone a small crack was made letting a slim amount of light into the cave. The rain poured in and began to flood the floor. "Cynder, stand back," Terrador shouted. When he could sense that she was far enough away he twisted his body and slammed his tail as hard as he could into the wall, shattering it completely.
The cheetahs trained with medical aid ran in immediately and dug around the broken rocks to pull Cynder out. Her body was bleeding from the base of her horn to her tail. From small cuts to gashes a foot long she could barely stand. Both of her wings had been broken from the base, she wouldn't be flying for a long time. Her front right paw was twisted the opposite direction and the small speck of white indicated that the bone had pierced through the scales. Her scales were lighter in color, turning slightly gray from lack of sunlight. Her flesh was almost to the bone; starvation was pulling a key factor in this. Battle worn and overcome with relief she collapsed in the arms of the cheetahs that were carrying her out.
Spyro on the other hand had yet to be recovered from the cave. The cheetahs placed Cynder in the care of the other guardians and began to crawl around on the ground. It was dark in cave and without a fire to guide them, it was almost impossible to see. However, something seemed off. Spyro was not a normal dragon, he could take punishment, and a lot of it, but for whatever reason, he made no attempt to show himself, and no attempt to call out to the others.
"Sir I think I found him," One of the cheetah healers called out after a few minutes of searching, "but something's wrong, Sir!"
Terrador quickly entered the cave and felt the ground beneath him. He could feel the pulse of every cheetah in the room, but he could not feel that of Spyro's. "Move back," he shouted.
"S-Sir," The cheetah answered.
"I said move away, now," Terrador shouted with even more ferocity.
The cheetah removed himself from Spyro's side and Terrador traced his paw around his body. A large boulder had pinned him to the ground, shattering the bones and ligaments of his tail and both hind legs. He felt his body for more wounds. There was no sign of other significant damage other than those of claw marks, large claw marks. Terrador smashed the boulder with his tail and grabbed Spyro. His body was limp in his arms.
Terrador brought him outside into the light as quickly as he could. What he saw was horrifying. His body was crushed, just like he suspected from the tail down to his legs. His wings were on hinges, almost dismembered, many holes had almost replaced the membrane. The marks that he felt were worse than he first thought. What few he thought he had acquired were now dozens. Almost all had turned a sickly green color, infected from the dirt. He placed Spyro on the ground and let the healers get to him.
They didn't have to work on him, from the wounds on his exterior they could already tell, he was dead. For how long, they didn't know, but from the looks of his face, not long. He was smiling; he must have given in at last from exhaustion and pain. The sound of hearing the rescuers outside had put him to sleep, his last sleep.
"Where is he," Sparx shouted. He had just arrived with the cheetah though the rain was pouring even harder now, he refused to give in to the weight that pelted him like heavy stones. "Where is... Cynder?"
Sparx flew to the downed dragoness. She cracked an eye when she saw the little dragonfly. "Hey you," she whispered, she tried to laugh but in turn she coughed up small specks of blood, "How's it going?"
Cynder tried to lift a wing to give Sparx some cover from the rain but cringed as the bone tried to move. "Cynder, where is Spyro," Sparx insisted.
"He should be right behind me, why," She replied.
Sparx looked behind her. A small group of the huddled up healers blocked his body from sight. He quickly flew over to the group. "Where is Spyro," he asked. He had caught a glimpse of his brothers purple scales. They however looked at each other and back at Sparx. They moved themselves together tightly so they could block his body from sight.
Terrador cleared his throat. "Let him see, Cynder as well," he said sadly.
"What's wrong Terrador," Cynder asked. The cheetahs that had removed her from the cave picked her up and turned her towards the group. "Terrador, what happened," She repeated.
The cheetahs covering Spyro's body were reluctant but they obeyed his orders and moved away allowing Sparx and Cynder to see him. Both Cynder and Sparx's eyes widened in horror, Sparx slowly made his way to his brother's corpse. "Sp-Spyro," he whispered. "Hey buddy, wake up man, this isn't funny."
"Sparx, Cynder, I'm sorry, he's gone," Terrador said sadly.
"Spyro," Cynder whispered to herself. "Spyro?" She tried to crawl closer to him; to see him clearly but the damage done to her body prevented her from moving. "SPYRO," She screamed through the rain. She thrashed back and forth unable to get her anger and frustration out. The darkness within her body started to become present as she continued to scream his name. It took several cheetahs to hold her down, and even then it wasn't enough. Her body began to grow larger, sleeker, returning to its corrupted form. After several minutes of screaming she had finally calmed down. Her body had fully grown again, but her mind was still focused on Spyro. Ignoring the pain of her broken paw, she limped silently over to the cheetahs that surrounded his body and sat in the mud before them.
"Everyone back off," Terrador whispered fiercely. The cheetahs did not hesitate; each one moved several feet away as the dragoness stared blankly at Spyro.
"Who was shouting? What's happening," Cyril asked. The two guardians had been completely blind to the situation until then. Only when he looked upon Spyro's body did he realize. "Oh no," he said. He and Volteer were completely taken aback from the sight of their dead hero and the return of the corrupted Cynder.
Cynder lifted her head. "What happened," She repeated, "WHAT HAPPENED! You let him die, that's what happened! You could have saved him if you weren't off bickering like hatchlings. What was it that you were fighting over? Something stupid, I suppose? And now because of you two Spyro is dead! If it weren't for the need of you two as guardians, I would probably kill you both," Cynder screamed. Even through the rain her tears were seen.
"Cynder, we- we're sorry," Volteer said quietly.
Cynder however kept her voice raised. "Don't apologize to me alone, answer to his brother," she pointed to Sparx.
Sparx was hovering over Spyro's body. He didn't look at the guardians or Cynder. He didn't say anything; all he did was silently mourn over the loss of his only brother. He was all that he had had left. He didn't know whether or not his parents were dead from the belt of fire or from the planet shattering into pieces. The anger was put off for the time being, all he wanted to do now was be with his brother.
"Sparx… I… we… we're so sorry," Volteer and Cyril both lowered their heads to bow to the dragonfly.
Sparx raised one of his hands to silence them. "Don't," he said plainly, "not now."
"Sparx please forgive-," Cyril began.
"I said don't say anything," Sparx screamed. His little body was now red all over. "I want you to take him back to the temple and give him a burial, now! I want you to dig his grave with your own claws, maybe after that I will accept your apology but not until you know how I feel!"
Cyril looked at Terrador. He was angry, angrier than he had ever seen him before in his life. He looked over to Volteer who was rounding up a few moles and cheetahs to help carry him in a makeshift cloth. It was going to be a long walk back to the temple.
The rain had not let up, in fact, it had gotten even worse. The sound of thunder boomed throughout the land, lightning striking in several places, an appropriate condition for such an unnecessary loss. It took five moles to carry the weight of the fallen dragon in the cloth gurney. Cynder limped behind the group, refusing the help Terrador offered her. She could no longer stand to be in the presence of the guardians, she hated them all.
The rain seemed to pelt them like stones falling from the sky. Harder and harder it poured down onto the group returning from the wreckage. Cyril hovered over Spyro's body keeping him moderately dry while Volteer swarmed around like a bee absorbing the charges of lightning that struck down. Miles away however, one strand of lightning danced across the sky. Back and forth it zapped across the sky on a path directly for the group. Faster and faster the wave of electricity sped up. Volteer saw the lightning coming and launched high into the air to meet it. However the strand of lightning dodged Volteer completely. The electricity was so strong it broke off and struck Volteer, overcharging his body causing him to explode. He fell from the sky in a heap of smoke and fire. Too distracted by Volteer, the group of moles carrying Spyro did not have time to move away from the path of destruction aimed right towards them.
Cyril's wing was pierced by the massive bolt of electrical energy. He screamed in pain as the lightning exploded around him. The explosion sent dirt and mud flying through the air. The electricity had hit Spyro's body directly, sending surges throughout his body. Back and forth the voltage went, from his tail to the tip of his horn. The voltage was so fierce it had managed kick start his heart. He did not wake but he began to breathe slowly, then faster and faster as his body became accustomed to the repeated process again. His heart was faint, but it was beating again. The moles however were not so fortunate. Instead of life, they were greeted with death. Their fur was burnt away and their bodies began convulsing from the electricity.
Suddenly, the rain cleared. Volteer's body was recovered from a small crater left from his quick descent. He was unscathed for the most part, but a little "Shocked," as he put it. The cheetahs checked over the dead moles. Five more casualties added. The dust cleared from the main explosion revealing Cynder asleep next to Spyro and his brother together. Amidst the chaos, nobody had seen Cynder run in to recover the body, only to realize he was alive again, or heard Sparx's screams of joy as he saw his brother breathing. The two had then succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep.
"Is everyone alright?" Terrador shouted.
"Sir, come take a look at this," one of the cheetahs answered. Cynder had returned to her normal form again, nose to nose with Spyro. Sparx had taken his usual position on Spyro's horn. Next to the trio was another figure, caked in mud. A yellow dragon, appearing to be no older than Spyro was unconscious next to them.
"What is that?" Cyril asked. He cringed slightly as a gust of wind blew onto his damaged wing. Sensitive to the wind, he kept it held it to his side. Blood was seeping from the freshly torn membrane and was covering his blue scales in a scarlet red coating.
"It's a dragon Sir, and master Spyro is breathing again," one of the cheetahs answered.
"Wait, what," Terrador asked, now by the cheetahs side, "But how is that possible, I thought all the dragon eggs were smashed on the Great Awakening and didn't you say that he was dead not even ten minutes ago?"
"Well apparently this one wasn't," Volteer said. "It seems this one must have escaped somehow, and that would mean that there might be others as well." Volteer scratched his chin in thought. "And not to mention the strange phenomenon to see Spyro alive again. May I take a look at him," Volteer asked.
"Well, shouldn't we be worrying about that yellow dragon," Cyril asked. "Right now he just killed five moles and damaged my wing; we should have him arrested on the spot." He insisted revealing his wing to the others.
"Not now Cyril, and Volteer, you may look at him later," Terrador said. "We just tripled our load, Spyro is in a terrible condition as it is and he needs medical attention. I want to be ready to go in less than thirty seconds," he ordered.
Cyril was irritated with who he was carrying. Cynder was asleep under Terrador's arm and a group of cheetahs were on Volteer's back. In Volteer's arms were Spyro and Sparx resting on his horn. Cyril was forced to carry the yellow dragon on his back while the others flew.
Volteer was carrying the heaviest load but he managed to arrive at the front entrance to the dragon temple before the other guardians. "Go prepare bedding for both Spyro and the yellow dragon, I am going to check our stock and see if we have any more crystals left."
Volteer bent over to let the group of cheetahs off his back. They quickly ran inside and as soon as they had entered they returned with another large cloth to carry Spyro in. Volteer placed Spyro onto the cloth gently and nodded them off. The cheetahs moved as fast as they could back inside the temple with the injured purple dragon.
A few minutes later Terrador had landed by the temple entrance. Cyril was lagging behind by a few miles and it had begun to drizzle. Needless to say, he wasn't happy.
"Is there anyone in the dungeons as of now," Terrador whispered so he wouldn't wake Cynder.
"Not that I know of, why," Volteer responded.
Terrador sighed heavily. "I suppose that would be for the best to keep him in there until we know who that yellow dragon is," he stated.
"Are you sure you're not doing this so Cyril won't complain," Volteer said as he rolled his eyes.
Terrador chuckled silently. "Partially, but first things first, I want you to take a look at that dragon as soon as he gets here. He might be hurt and I don't want any more casualties on our end."
Terrador and Volteer looked back and saw Cyril climbing the last steps to the temple. The yellow dragon was lopsided on his back. "Where do you want him," Cyril asked bitterly.
"The infirmary for now, and try to keep him out of sight, we don't want for him to attract to much attention until we know who he is."
"Right, protect the one who killed five of our guards," Cyril said and rolled his eyes.
"Just go, Cyril," Terrador growled.
Cyril rolled his eyes again and walked off with the yellow dragon. He made his way into the temple without another word and headed to the infirmary as he was told. Terrador however remained outside with Volteer, staring back at the mountains from where they had just come from.
"Is something the matter Terrador," Volteer asked.
"I just can't believe it's all over," Terrador said with a relieved sigh. "No more fighting, no more wars, I just can't believe it."
"I cannot fathom this either," Volteer said in agreement. "So what do we do now?"
"We do what we were supposed to do a long time ago," Terrador said. "We open the Dragon Temple to the public as a school and a home for those who are in need," he looked down at Cynder that back to Volteer. "Although, I don't know how much they will enjoy it."
"So, how do we go about this," Volteer asked so fast it was almost unable to tell what he said. Electricity was buzzing around his feet as he shuffled them in excitement. "How are we to bring this news to the dragons that are still in hiding?"
Terrador scratched his chin. "Well, we could do what we have been doing, search parties, letters throughout Avalar, going from settlement to settlement until we finally get responses," Terrador said, "but, I do think we have had enough excitement for a while." Terrador looked away as he yawned. "We should rest for the time being. Tomorrow… tomorrow we will worry about what is to come." Terrador and Volteer turned to the temple and began to walk inside.
Volteer nodded. "I cannot disagree with you there, Terrador," he said.
Volteer walked passed Terrador and into the temple. Terrador made one final glance back towards the mountains. Finally, the world was still.
Hundreds of miles away in a good sized crater surrounded by burn marks and ash; a black dragon lay unconscious and bleeding severely.
Apes large and small were surrounding the body, hooting and howling in excitement from a new, easy kill. They banged their weapons on the ground as one of their leaders approached the body. The ape gripped the horn of the black dragon and shook it until it woke up.
The dragon's eyes snapped open. It shot its tail forward from under his body like a stinger. The tail blade impaled the ape in the center of it's stomach. The ape had to let go of the dragon and from pain, blood began to stream freely from the open wound and it's mouth. As the dragon was in free-fall it spun around, twisting his tail causing the blade to slice through the ape's insides. Blood poured from the hole and the ape's entrails spilled out onto the floor, shortly followed by the ape himself.
The dragon walked casually out of the crater towards the remainder of the apes. As the dragon walked on the grass, it began to decay and whither. The soil turned gray and the grass broke off like brittle glass under the dragon's weight. The black dragon looked up towards the other apes, his eyes flashed yellow then back to their normal emerald green.
"Why are you afraid," the dragon asked innocently. A twisted, sadistic smile grew until it seemed to split his face. "Is it because you had failed me countless times? No, that can't be it. Oh, I know! It's because you betrayed me when Gaul had failed to capture Cynder and kill Spyro, you thought it was best to go into hiding and abandon the cause, maybe that's the reason."
The apes looked at each other, to afraid to even mention his name. "But, it is as I said before," The black dragon pounced an ape that began to run away. He bit into the ape's throat and pulled back, ripping the muscle and flesh out. The ape gripped his throat as he began suffocate from lack of air, drowning in its own blood. The ape vomited up specs of blood onto the black dragon as it crushed its chest in with its paw. The dragon paused momentarily, eying every ape in the area and continued. "I am eternal."
Please forgive me for such a late chapter. But now that I'm getting back into the mood of writing, expect more chapters. Please visit my profile to receive updates of progress on chapters and other miscellaneous things.