The Demon Dragon: Beginnings

by BKGeno

'In normal times, evil should be fought by good, but in times like this, well, it should be fought by another kind of evil.' This is the story of that 'other kind of evil.' And he did NOT sign up for this. Hostile dragons when he should be with allies, a distant, barely understood evil, and that is just the start. Its enough to make someone want to kill. ON HIATUS UNTIL REWRITTEN

1. Chapter 1 - Beginnings

Demon Dragon - Chapter 1: Beginnings

Disclaimer: This story is an Alternate Universe/Timeline tribute to the Legend of Spyro frachise. I do not own any characters or places that belong to said franchise. Any original characters and locations are mine.

Author's Note: My first story on FanFiction. Enjoy, and leave a review if you have the time. Praise shall be hoarded, critics will be cherished, suggestions shall be considered, and trolls shall be ignored!

He stalked through the slowly darkening forest, shadows made solid and flesh. He was as silent as the wind, and his prey had no idea he was even there, death slowly closing in on them. The two deer pawed at the earth, the fall grass thin this high in the mountains. The stalking predator paused, almost within striking distance, as both deer suddenly snorted in fear, their heads coming up at something he couldn't see. He held his breath, but could only sigh in vexation as the deer bounded off. He sniffed the air in irritation, having lost the only decent prey he had come across all week. He froze as he smelt a cauldron of scents; blood, sweat, dirt, and other, less savory smells. Only one thing smelt like that, and his lips curled back in an instinctive, silent snarl.

Apes. And more in one place than he had ever encountered before. And even worse, coming almost directly toward him. He crouched deeper into the shadows, and waited, watching.

He didn't relax until the group of apes had trudged past him, not spotting the black and dark grey scaled dragon in the shadows of a nearby tree and bush. He didn't get an exact count, they were too disorganized and clumped together, but he knew there were at least twenty, far more than anyone other than a hero or a guard squad could deal with in a straight fight. At least the leader was easy to spot, one much larger than the other apes around and behind him, carrying a shield and sword and wearing proper armor that covered his chest.

He watched the apes vanish into the forest, and frowned to himself, before slinking after the group as he realized it was heading down the pass toward the town. This was no mere scouting or foraging party, they were too far south and in far to great of numbers for that. This was something far more serious than what he usually dealt with. As he got closer to the apes from behind, he started taking note of their equipment, and his unease only grew. A few lesser apes had leather armor, and all of them had metal weapons, mostly axes and swords, but a couple of spears were also present, and several bows. He suddenly froze as his senses suddenly screamed, having been getting closer to back ranks to try and get a decent count, a magic spell suddenly in his face. A heart stopping moment later, and as the apes kept marching, he knew he had been lucky. They had a mage, fairly skilled it seemed if the ape mage could march and keep up a magic spell over the group while doing so. It also explained how such a large group had managed to get this far south and west without being spotted by the town's patrols.

He stopped following, and stared at their retreating backs, and debated his best course of action. The town they were marching toward wasn't that large, mostly cheetahs and moles though the dragons there weren't exactly few in number either. And they did have a small garrison of a dozen dragon guards, along with the usual militia and town watch. But he knew exactly how far he was from the town, and the night shift would be well underway, letting the apes slip into town and do whatever they planned, likely getting out without the garrison rousing before the apes were already leaving. The garrison was to patrol the road that followed the mountain path, keeping the bandits away, not deal with ape war parties coming from the northern pass, which was on the opposite side of the town from the road.

He gave a soft sigh, and then spread his large wings. A couple running steps later, a leap and a powerful beat of his wings, and he was in the tree branches. They were out of sight, but he was faster, and in the branches, he could take less care about accidentally making noise. There was enough wind to cover the branches protesting his presence among them. He picked a sturdy one out, and landed on it, before moving with as much ease along the branches as he did on the ground, leaping from one branch to another, with his wings only rarely used to glide between larger openings. He loved following creatures like this, ground based creatures never looked up unless something landed on them, and even his own kind only rarely did, and even then they usually only did so when hunting for someone.

-A short while later-

He stopped at the edge of yet another clearing, this one a bit smaller than the others, and stared after the apes, curious. They had skirted around most of the clearings, keeping near the tree line, but this one they had marched into the center of it like they owned it. After a few minutes of watching the armored ape cuff and scream at the smaller ones, he narrowed his eyes in understanding, as they began pulling out rough tents and camping supplies from the packs they carried. He watched them set up the camp, and was about to move away when the leader and the mage separated from the group and started walking toward him. He froze, shutting his eyes and relying on hearing to track them. After a moment, they stopped moving forward, continuing to converse in their native language. He snuck a quick peek, noting that they were less than a handful of body lengths from him, and facing back towards the camp. He let himself relax, knowing his black scales and dark grey scars made him just a deeper shadow in a tree's shadow.

They finished discussing whatever it was that apes discusses, how many dragons they planned to kill, who had the bigger muscles, or perhaps which one had the more realistic poo smell. The mage stayed in place for a moment, while the armored leader headed back into camp, bellowing at the lesser apes and cuffing the ones that got within reach of him. The mage shook its head, or rather the hood of the robes the mage wore waggled from one side to the other, before heading toward the center of the clearing. The dragon watched for another minute as the armored ape got its group together and moving, leaving with eleven lesser apes, while eight stayed back with the mage. The leader led its group south and west, toward the town, proving his suspicion that this was a raiding party.

He watched for a moment longer, letting the larger party get out of the clearing, and hopefully hearing range, before turning his attention back to the clearing. The mage was in the center of the clearing, using the end of its staff to scribe runes into the dirt, and then it poured something from a pouch into the runes. The lesser apes were pushing and snarling at each other, but eventually four of them left, two going east, two going west, likely to check the nearby area and make sure they weren't in a bear's hunting range, or something equally unpleasant. He smirked at that thought, before carefully backing away from the clearing, keeping his eyes mostly closed, as a deep shadow with glowing red orbs wasn't something even an ape would miss. Still, while inconvenient, he had to admit that being able to see at night better than most things could by day was a nice benefit, though not being able to see at all during the day sucked.

He moved ahead of one of the two patrols, and climbed higher into the branches. He then began picking his ambush spot, a nice branch, strong enough to hold him, enough nearby foliage to provide visual cover, and nothing below him. That reduced the chance of the apes spotting him enough that he wasn't concerned about it. Eventually, the two apes stomped by, and he leapt out with an evil grin. He jumped off the branch and did a forward flip, bringing his tail mace down on the top of the rear ape's head. A sickening crunch, and the ape fell down, twitching, his head deformed form the impact.

The other ape whirled about at the noise, and gaped at the visage of terror that had suddenly appeared before it. It was barely able to scream before the monstrosity lunged, claws out and ripping it throat out, not even bothering to watch the ape die before it whirled and ran off.

He slunk through the forest, distant rumbling heralding the arrival of a storm. He moved quickly but carefully, keeping both eyes and ears out for the second ape patrol. Despite his best efforts, however, he still nearly blundered into them, because they both had stopped moving while one ape relieved itself. He shuddered at the sight of the squatting ape, desperately trying to not breath and remain quiet. He backed off as quietly and quickly as he could, before stopping behind a tree and trying to not gag. The apes didn't smell well at the best of times, but the stench there was foul enough to choke a fish. After a minute to regain his breath, he climbed a nearby tree, moving quickly and easily up the rough surface, the claw on his wings helping secure a grip and pull him up even faster.

Once among the branches, he moved close enough to see the apes, but not smell them, but was relieved to find the squatting ape had finished and was pulling up its trousers. Relieved that at least the disgusting noises and sight was finished, he waited, above the apes. Last thing he wanted was to attack and have one of them fling that... stuff at him. He followed behind them for about a minute, effortlessly bounding from branch to branch, the full moon providing far more light than he needed when the clouds let it shine.

He nearly decided to just do a flying charge when he finally spotted an ideal ambush point ahead. Far enough ahead to get in position before the apes got to it, far enough above to not be seen, and even better, it was far enough in the shadows to make them careless. He got to the branch in question, and faced away from the apes, gripping tightly with his hind claws, and then leaned forward. He felt that familiar, delightful weightlessness as he swung down, and then swung under the branch. He let his body finish swinging, and listening the apes approach, assuming they still didn't see him. He was far enough ahead they wouldn't notice the shadows shifting, thanks to the slowly rising winds. He allowed himself a mirthless grin as they approached the ambush spot, right behind where he was hanging. Then they were under and past him, and it was time.

He swung forward, and on the back swing he released his grip on the branch, twisting as he did a back flip so he was facing the apes, and then did a front flip, more because he could than out of need for the extra force. The ape took the tail mace on the top of the head, shattering its neck though not crushing its skull this time. The other ape apparently either didn't notice or was deaf as a post, as it didn't react to the second ape's demise at all. The shadow drake simply lunged forward, knocking the now startled ape into the ground, and ripped its neck apart with his claws.

The dark dragon took a moment to open the ape with the broken neck's throat, ensuring it really was dead, before heading back to the ape's campsite. A quick glance showed the mage in the middle of the clearing, still drawing with its stick, but the other four apes had put up five rough tents in the time it had taken him to kill the two patrols. He frowned and back more into the bushes as the four lesser apes got a covered fire going, the rumbling in the distance warning of a coming thunderstorm. He considered the issue before him, how to kill the mage without having to deal with the lesser apes first and getting blasted by magic, before he decided that simpler was better. With nothing to hide in, behind, or up, he would have to just go for it.

A minute later, he was a fair distance from the camp, and gave his wings a couple flaps, loosening the muscles up a bit more. A running jump later, and he was airborne, powerful beats of his wings taking him up. It was a bit of work to fly at night, no thermals and lots of down drafts and areas of unmoving air in the valley, but he didn't need to go far. It still took a few minutes to find the clearing again, as the clouds from the promised storm arrived over the valley proper, the first drops of rain falling. He frowned as he heard yelling before he got to the clearing, and it only deepened as he realized it was the mage. He didn't speak ape, but he could guess why the mage was yelling. The patrols hadn't returned yet. It had only been a couple handful of minutes since they had gone out, but apparently they were only supposed to do a single circle in the forest and come back.

The black dragon thought fast, though as the four lesser apes started gathering their weapons, he realized he needed to move now, or he would be hunting the apes in the forest. He hissed in irritation, and flapped a bit higher, before folding his wings, diving down on the greatest threat. The apes couldn't be allowed into the forest, one might slip off to warn the group that had gone to the town.

He plummeted at the oblivious target like a rock, and the second before he slammed into the target, he flared his wings out. His hindlegs flung forward, he slammed into the ape's back, dragon claws raking, driving the ape into the ground and snapping several bones as he skidded to a halt. He quick slash with his claws, and the mage had an open throat, the blood gushing out quickly cutting off the mage's death scream. Done with the mage, he looked up at the four horrified apes, who were gaping at him in uncomprehending terror. They stared at their leader, as if expecting him to stand back up and resume screaming at them, and at the black shape crouching on their leader's back, fiery orbs where its eyes should be, hissing in malice.

The ape on the far left was shaking in abject error so badly it actually fumbled its bow, before it turned and sprinted back to the north, screaming in terror. The shadowy dragon let it go, the ape was heading home, away from the raiding group, so it was no longer a threat. A sudden flash of light, and then the sky crashed, as the three apes brought their weapons up. A spear on the right, an axe on the left, and a bow in the center. The shadow's eyes narrowed at the sight of the bow, and charged them.

The sight of a charging dragon was enough to get the apes to act, and the spear and axe apes stepped together and in front of the bow ape. The bow ape frantically scrambled for an arrow from its hip quiver, as the spear ape set its weapon to receive the charging dragon. The axe ape, however, decided to counter charge the dragon, screaming in defiance as it rushed forward. The dragon gave the apes an evil smirk, before it suddenly vanished in a flicker of light, just as the axe ape swung its weapon. All three apes froze in confusion, before the bow ape screamed in mortal agony, its belly ripped open by the shadow dragon's claws. It stood over the ape, and ripped its claws down the ape's back, before throwing the ape aside, and lunging at the spear ape.

The spear ape died as the dragon crushed its throat with its jaws and then wrenched its head back and to the side, before it turned to the axe ape. He contemptuously spit out the piece of throat in his mouth, as the ape took a deep breath, and then charged with another howl. The dragon sneered at the charging ape, before suddenly blinking as his expression went blank, and throwing himself to the side with an expression of panic. A thin trail of pain lanced across his hindquarters as an arrow buried itself to the fletching in the axe ape's chest.

The dragon didn't bother watching the ape fall onto the arrow, whirling around and snarling in fury at the bow ape, who sat unsteadily in a puddle of its own innards and blood. It gave him a bloody smile as it notched another arrow, blood flowing freely from its mouth as it brought the bow up. The dragon lunged forward, just as the arrow was released, and felt the arrow punch through the membrane of his wing, just missing his head and then shoulder. He slammed into the dying ape, one claw knocking aside the bow, while his fangs flashed in the dying light, ripping across its throat, finishing it off.

He jumped backwards, and spat out the taste of ape, before heading back and finishing off the axe ape, just to make sure it didn't try and attack him from behind. Done with the campsite and apes in it, he turned and headed for the forest; he had some things to do before the raiding party got back. First, something to clean his mouth out, bark if necessary, and then he would start collecting the rest of the ape corpses. A sudden crack of thunder made him pause and wince, before he shook his head in irritation.

-several hours later-

It was well after midnight, near as he could figure in the moderate rain and lightning strikes, before he finally heard the raiding party returning. The clank of armor was distinctive even in a raging storm. He uncurled his wings and swung upwards, having been hanging from a branch with his wings around him, tail curled against his stomach. Done making himself less visible, he still refrained from turning toward the noise, tracking through his hearing when the thunder let him. Instead, he waited near where he thought they would pass, instead of risking being seen early and losing the chance to ambush them.

It didn't take long for the apes to appear, the armored ape passed almost underneath him, choosing to go around the other side of the tree. After a few more feet, the large ape turned and snarled at the lesser apes behind it, cuffing each one as they passed, the sound of its meaty fist impacting almost as good for locating them as using his eyes. One, two, three, four impacts in rapid succession, though one was accompanied by a terrified half whimper, half snarl that made the shadow's head twitch. A brief pause, and then a fifth impact, this one followed quickly by a hiss of defiance, and then a scream of pain in draconic as another impact was heard. He waited for a bit, and was just about to start moving when he heard an ape snarl at something distance, and was answered by a distant yowl back.

The ape turned and lumbered off to the sound of clinking armor, toward the clearing with the campsite, as another ape came huffing and puffing forward, clearly out of breath. It actually paused under the branch the shadow was on, trying to catch its breath, as the dragon rolled to the side and dropped. He had just righted himself, and was halfway down to the ape, when the reason for its exhaustion, the earlier draconic snarl, and the whimpering became apparent. It was carrying a young dragon on one shoulder, about half the size of the ape. The same shoulder he was descending towards with claws out stretched, as a matter of fact. He bit his tongue to keep from snarling in horrified surprise, and snapped his wings open, just getting enough wind under them to slam hard and loud into the ground just behind the ape in a sloppy glide.

The ape whirled at the sound, sword clearing its belt as it spotted him turning toward it. The ape's expression of utter shock explained the lack of a warning howl for the other apes, but even as the dragon lunged to attack, the ape recovered and swiped at the approaching phantom, inhaling to scream a warning. The slash was more to force the dragon back or dodge than to hurt, but instead of heeding the descending blade, he dove forward and under it, taking the hit to his back to slam his forehead against the ape's gut. It gasped as he impacted it, its lung emptying with a whoosh, but it still managed to slam the blade edge into his back. The blade hit to the side of his spine, just missing the all important wings and flight muscles, making the dragon grunt in pain. He recoiled from the blow instinctively, but didn't feel the burn of actual damage, his back plates having turned absorbed the blow, though he had felt one of the plates crack slightly. His headbutt had caused the ape to double over, trying to keep its sword on him, get its breath back, stumble back from him, and keep a grip on the young dragon on its shoulder, and it failed at doing all four.

The captive dragon writhed and rolled to the side as the ape's grip loosened, and managed to get free, landing heavily on the ground. As the captive rolled away from the ape, the dark dragon pulled back and then thrust its head forward again, this time catching the ape square in the face with his forehead. The dragon saw stars as their heads connected, but something cracked wetly in the ape's face. The ape dropped its weapon with a wheezing gasp, managing a single step backwards before it collapsed to the ground. The dragon quickly pounced the downed ape, and with a single, quick, violent shake, snapped its neck. Done with the ape, the shadowy dragon turned to the young captive, and began undoing its binding, though before he undid the mouth, he put one paw over their muzzle, while his other pantomimed for silence.

Once the young dragon was free, he pointed to the ground, and then back toward town. "Wait. Others. Then. Go."

The young dragon glared at him, unable to completely hide its horrified awe or its defiance at being ordered around, but he ignored it, turning and running after the rest of the apes. He almost smiled as he found them, frozen at the edge of the clear, staring at his additions with horror. He let his eyes run over the arranged ape bodies, most of the lesser apes in a circle like they had surrounded something, arranged near the mage's circle. The mage was 'standing' one borken end of the mage's staff in its throat, the other in the ground, holding it up, while the lesser apes had had their weapons embedded in their heads before being broken at the handle.

He stalked as close as he dared to the mesmerized apes, before crouching in a deep shadow. After a few more minutes, the ape leader hissed in rage, before turning and pointing at two apes that had small bundles on their shoulders, and snarled something to the entire group of apes. The large ape then drew its sword and shield, and started into the clearing. After a few steps, it noticed that it was still alone, and turned to snarl at the three apes without captives. The three 'lucky' apes clearly didn't enjoy having to go into the clearing, but drew their weapons and followed the larger ape regardless.

The drake watched, waiting for the four in the clearing to move further away, enough for him to get the two captive hatchlings free and out of the way, though he would have to deal with the two apes watching them. He was almost ready to start moving when one of the apes glanced back at the forest, nearly spotting the dragon as he took a step forward. He froze in the shadow he was in, half behind a tree, and waited, barely even breathing until the ape turned away. He held back a sigh of relief, and moved forward again. He had to move quickly, get to the captives before the main group got back. He knew he could deal with them all, but not at once. So he had to be clever, and keep them guessing, and always strike where they didn't expect it.

As much as his instincts screamed for a slow, cautious approach, he knew he didn't have time. He shoved his impulse to hunt them aside, along with the pain from his wounds, and the gnawing hunger from his interrupted hunt earlier. He moved far more quickly and less quietly than he normally would, the rain now falling in a steady manner, promising to hold for at least the night, maybe longer. He got behind a tree within lunging distance of the apes, took a deep breath, concentrated for a second, and then sprinted around the tree. He almost made it to the hostage when the back ape heard him, and whirled about, an expression of anger on its face. The ape's face quickly twisted to one of confusion, and then one of terror as he leapt, as it realized he was a dragon and attacking.

The dark dragon's tail mace caught the ape in the side of its head, crushing its skull and snapping its neck, the other ape's head whipping around as it drew an axe at the sound. It managed to yank the axe up into the dragon's jaw, stunning him slightly with the unexpected impact, but managed to retain enough of his awareness that he tackled the ape to the ground. He landed on top of the ape as it tried to get its axe in place, screaming as the dragon clawed at it, and brought the axe down in a final, desperate attempt to drive it off. The axe had little power behind it, the angle was bad and the pain was distracting it, so it hit and skittered off the dragon's neck, only bruising the flesh beneath it. He finished mauling the ape to pieces, and lunged at the hatchlings, knowing the other apes had heard the death scream. He got the netting off the closest hatchling, then ripped its forepaws loose of their bindings, before moving to the second one, pausing only to bat an arrow aside with his tail mace without even bothering to look at it. The first was freeing itself, and the apes were gaping at the dragon that had appeared behind them. He gave the apes a toothy smile, before ripping the netting and binding off the second hatchling, this time removing the hindpaw bindings as well. He then jerked his head backwards and turned toward the apes. "Go."

He turned back to the opponents, and took a quick stock of their weapons; armor with sword and shield, another sword, a bow, and a spear. He gave the apes a smirk, as he noted the three lesser apes shifting behind the armored ape, who was snarling at the dragon in utter fury. He just glanced at the armored ape, and then turned his attention back to the lesser apes, his smile slowly turning into an evil smile. The three lesser apes shifted even further away, as they looked at the eight bodies right behind them, and then at each other. As one, they turned toward the armored ape, and then dragon, as the armored ape snarled at them, pointing at them with his sword and then at the dragon. That action made the three exchange another look, before, as one, they threw down their weapons and ran for the woods to the north, not even bothering to scream, saving their breath for running.

The shadowed dragon hissed his amusement at the armored ape, who watched the lesser ones go with its face unmoving, beady eyes half closed before it sighed, and turned back to the dragon. It snarled at the drake, and then began slowly sidling forward, keeping the large, round steel shield up and between its chest and the dragon, with the sword tip resting on the edge of the shield. The dragon's smirk vanished as the ape showed its intelligence, rather than roaring and charging like most would, and the dragon began to circle the ape, who stopped advancing but turned to keep the dragon in front of him. Rain and thunder were coming down rapidly now, the trees on the far side of the clearing barely visible as they circled, neither foolish enough to lunge first and leave themselves open to a counter attack. The ape had too much evidence in front and behind it to take the risk, and the dragon had too many scars from other apes already. Neither, however, was willing to leave without first removing the other's head.

The dragon finished his second circle of the ape, and couldn't think of a way around the shield with all the rain coming down, the water would make flying far to hard and obvious, and his other options were limited. So he stared at the ape for a moment, before suddenly charging straight at it. The ape recoiled as if stung by the berserker charge, but quickly rallied itself and stab with its broadsword, thinking the dragon might be feinting. Instead, the dragon dove under the blade, but was still clipped by it as it glanced off his forehead, and rolled under the ape, nearly getting bashed backwards by the shield. As he finished the roll, his swiped at the ape's leg with his tail, catching it in the knee which gave with a loud, sickening pop, before the turning ape caught him with the sword in the side.

He rolled a couple of feet before he managed to get upright and out of range, and felt his legs protesting the move after the heavy blade had thrown him, but the dragon knew the only reason the ape hadn't split him was because the pain of the shattered knee had robbed the blow of most of its strength. The blow had still managed to crack to of the plates on his side, and loudly at that, so he feigned a limp as he resumed circling the ape, even though it had only winded him a bit. The ape was nearly immobilized by its knee, but it could still turn, and now the ape was enraged by the injury.

He got almost a quarter of the way around the ape when a lightning bolt suddenly arced from the nearby forest and caught the ape in its side, its armor sparking as it fell over, robbed of muscle control. Having not expected the sudden help, the shadow drake still lunged forward, his tail coming about to slam against the ape's elbow, making it release the sword, and then against its face. The first blow to its face only enraged it further, and it tried to swat him with its shield, but he jumped over the ape and landed on the other side, and began slamming the tail mace against the ape again and again. After five blows, the large ape was most definitely dead, its head pounded almost flat. The dragon turned to the forest, to see the young dragon that he had rescued first standing at the edge of the trees. The young dragon seemed to be on the verge of shouting excitedly or passing out, staring at the leader ape. The two hatchlings were standing behind the young dragon, though they couldn't see much with the youngster in front of them, spreadng their wings.

The shadow dragon stalked over, and looked down at the suddenly terrified dragonlings in front of him. His glowing eyes, heavy plates on his back, and the odd scale colorations and patterns looked like something out of a nightmare. He had eight fangs, and moved in utter silence. He stared down at the dragonlings for a moment, before he suddenly crouched down, looking them in the eye from their height. "Get. Home?"