The Legend of Spyro: Ascension
"The fate of two worlds lie in the balance. For every division we conquer, unity prevails."
Prologue
The Dark Gate
Letter to Spyro:
Spyro, you have done me proud. Not only did you save the world, you lived to see another day. I regret that I am not able to congratulate you personally but know that I am still with you and it makes me happy to see you finally able to smile. The burden that you carry is gone for now but evil never rest until its objective has been fulfilled. I do not wish to get you involved with all the saving the world since you have been through a lot already but you and Cynder are the only dragons that can help preserve what little peace we have right now. Malefor may have been defeated and his Dark Army scattered but even the King of the chessboard is subject to the higher powers. Sometimes, an apparent problem is not restricted to our world only. Seek out Terrador. Tell him that you are looking for the Convexity Gate. He will know what to do next.
Best of luck, Spyro, may the Ancestors look after you…may they look after us all.
Some things refused to go away.
The place that was once the Well of Souls was nothing but a ruined mountain but so great was the malice of Malefor that his evil will retained even after his defeat. Now, two years after the restoration of the world, the Well of Souls remained a place to be feared. It was an era of peace but the mountain's evil influence was still prominent, albeit greatly weakened. Nothing but leafless trees and shrubs grew around the area and every once in a while, screams and howls from creatures unknown could be heard coming from the Well.
Despite dark legends and myths that surrounded the mountain, it was subject to exploration by adventurers and archaeologists. Intricate tunnels and earthen pathways dominated much of the Well along with endless pitfalls that stretched so deep into the earth that a dropped stone could never be heard hitting the ground below. While adventurers sought excitement, the archaeologists were after artifacts and the fabled Convexity Gate, a dimensional gate that supposedly allowed one to travel into Convexity.
A group of archaeologists from Warfang conducted an expedition to the Well in search of the Gate. It was unfortunate that they never learnt that Malefor's evil influence was not to be trifled with…
"I don't like this one bit," Talmia muttered as she ducked underneath a spider web. "Honestly, I'd rather sleep in the Ancient Grove than visit this accursed place."
"Would you rather that we spend our lives dusting old pottery? I say this is a good opportunity for us to look into the legend that is the Convexity Gate," said Eidlon.
"More like a snipe hunt. We don't even know if this Gate even exists," Talmia said.
While Talmia's doubts were well-founded, the other reason she was against an expedition the Well was because she was afraid. She heard many stories about the Well and knew about its evil past. The Apes were attracted to it like moths to a flame and many other dark creatures resided in it. Even though it was destroyed many years ago, the dark aura of the Well lingered like a stench that refused to die with the winds of change. It was like an eternal evil taint in an otherwise peaceful realm.
The expedition of five dragons had explored the tunnels of the ruined Well for an hour already. There was no map to pinpoint where they were supposed to go and the compass they brought along had malfunctioned. Eidlon raised an eye ridge when he saw the compass needle spin like a pinwheel. He shook the compass but the needle continued to spin. Without a functioning compass, the group was running blind so they decided to mark their path with a chalk.
Many tunnels and passageways were collapsed and some doors were inaccessible. They tried breaking down the doors but it was reinforced with dark magic. In other words, they could not be destroyed simply by brute force. Not one in the group had any knowledge of how to dispel magic so they decided to find alternate routes. As they descended deeper into the Well, the air began to grow heavy. It was as if a great blanket was covering them. Talmia gasped for air and from the corner of her eye, she saw Eidlon and the rest of the team struggle to breathe.
"Talmia…Talmia…this way," a soft whisper called out.
The fire dragon thought Eidlon called her name but when she turned to look at him, she saw him passed out. The heavy air was unnatural. It began to feel like they entered a vacuum and the torch that Talmia brought with her flickered and died. She tried to breathe fire at it to light the wick but no fire came from her mouth. Her energy was being sapped. Dragons have good night vision that allowed them to see in the dark at a range of twenty meters. The tunnel they were in clearly stretched beyond that and Talmia couldn't see the end of it.
"Talmia…Talmia," the voice continued to call out to her.
"Are you guys…calling me?" Talmia asked her teammates in a breathless tone.
There came no answer. She noticed that the others had collapsed alongside Eidlon. She felt panic rise within her and her heart started beating rapidly. Talmia started gasping like she was short of breath but nothing helped. The air was clearly cursed because if they were in a vacuum, she'd be dead by now. Just when she thought she was about to faint, a purple orb of light floated past her eyes. It danced about in front of her face like a playful sprite and zipped into the dark tunnel beyond. At the same time, Talmia felt the air lighten up. She could breathe normally again. The first thing Talmia did was check on the rest of the group but they were still out cold.
The purple light swayed left and right, as if beckoning the fire dragoness to follow it. Somehow, Talmia felt compelled to follow it. The light illuminated parts of the tunnel and it left a trail of purple sparkles in its wake. "Talmia…follow me…" the same hollow whisper called out again. This time, it seemed like it came from the light. Talmia followed it slowly, mesmerized by the little orb of light. She accidentally stepped on Eidlon's body and it woke him up. He groaned a bit and felt pain at the part where Talmia stepped on him.
"What in the Ancestor's name…" Eidlon muttered. "Talmia…where're you going?" he asked when he saw Talmia walking away from the group. "Hey…hey…wait!"
Eidlon got back to his feet and followed Talmia. It was odd that she walked like as if nothing happened at all. No matter how many times Eidlon called out to Talmia, she never answered him nor did she stop when he told her to. To Talmia, she was following a purple light but to Eidlon, she was wandering in total darkness. Eidlon wondered how she managed to avoid pits and low ceilings like she knew the place. It made Eidlon worried and he felt disturbed by the way his friend acted. He started to regret dragging Talmia into the expedition but he would regret more if anything befell her.
He tried to fire an electric lance at her to stun her so he could subdue her but the heavy air did not allow him to do so. Eidlon felt lightheaded again but he shook his head to prevent himself from passing out a second time. He tried not to lose sight of Talmia and he stuck as close to her as possible. The two dragons descended down an earthen ramp that led to a rusted gate that exuded a dark purple aura. It had neither a keyhole nor a lock. Eidlon assumed it was lever-operated but he searched around for a lever and found none.
"So…you found a gate" Eidlon said in between pants. "I dunno how you did it…but I guess we should…mark this place. We should go…get the others…"
He leaned against the wall as the feeling of lethargy overtook him. His eyelids grew heavy and Eidlon started to sway a bit as he felt ready to faint again. Suddenly, he heard several loud clicks echo throughout the hall they were in. When the clicks stopped, silence. Then, sounds of gears rotating and grinding against metal were heard and they were as loud as the industrial machines at Munitions Forge. The gate before Talmia sunk into the ground as soon as Eidlon heard the sound of rattling chains.
Talmia continued walking, her eyes wide and lifeless as if she was under a spell. Eidlon tried to follow her but the gate was raised just as he was about to reach it. "Farakt!" he cursed angrily before slumping to the floor as his breathlessness overwhelmed him. Talmia continued following the purple light, not knowing that her friend had followed this far and was left behind now. The light had a familiar feel to it though she could not put a finger on it. It felt comforting yet ominous at the same time. Talmia soon found herself in a great circular chamber of earth and bedrock. The purple light had dissipated and she snapped out of her trance.
"Whoa…how'd I get here?" she wondered aloud when she noticed she was not in the tunnels anymore.
In front of her was a bridge of black steel with arches that sported horn-like protrusions. It was connected to a circular piece of land at yonder where a faint purple-blue glow of light caught her attention. The bridge was suspended over a chasm of darkness and Talmia was sure it would lead to certain doom if she slipped and fell. She didn't want to risk crossing the bridge but her curiosity got the best of her. With no light source to illuminate the path in front of her, Talmia made slow steps forwards and crossed the bridge. The bridge was narrow and had no guardrails. One wrong move could spell death.
Talmia tried to flap her wings and fly across but something was pushing her down. She had no choice but to cross the bridge. The bridge creaked and groaned as her body weight strained the rusting steel joints and supports. It flexed when Talmia reached the middle. She was tempted to cry out in fear and turn back but it would be a bad idea. If she ran, there was no telling whether the bridge would collapse or not. It took Talmia twenty minutes and a lot of guts to reach the other side of the bridge. After setting foot on dry soil again, she breathed a sigh of relief.
The glow of light she saw actually came from a portal. It was larger than a full grown dragon and the structure looked like the claws of dragon. The claws were bent inwards like a death grip ready to grip down on anyone that tried to stand in the middle. The middle was occupied though and it was the source of the purple-blue glow that Talmia saw earlier. The vortex rotated slowly like a galaxy with spiral arms and Talmia heard voices coming from it. She vaguely heard the words "Destroyer", "Great Cleansing", and "I love you" coming from amidst the chaotic whispers that seemed to stretch across time.
"Is this…could it be…that this is the Convexity Gate?" Talmia asked herself with her eyes wide open. "By the Ancestors, it is true!"
She could hardly believe her eyes. The fabled Convexity Gate was real after all. The professors at Warfang University would definitely love to see it and she could finally earn herself some extra credits. She needed to get out first though if she were to report back to them. Talmia also wondered what the vortex was. She was tempted to stick her hand in it but had second thoughts before she did so. What if it sucked her in? What if it took her arm off? The vortex may seem harmless but Talmia knew to expect the unexpected, especially when dealing with things she never knew about.
"Talmia…I know you're here…I have been waiting for you…"
It was that disembodied voice again. "Who are you? What do you want from me?" she asked aloud.
"I…am…who I am," the voice answered in a raspy whisper. "I am the one who will bring about change…I am the will of infinite power."
Talmia didn't like it one bit. It sounded evil and it sounded like it came from the vortex. She wanted to turn around and leave but the vortex suddenly grew in size and was soon as large as herself. Instead of a purple-blue glow, the vortex became a screen that showed images of the past. She saw two dragons – one purple and the other was black – face off against a dark purple dragon. The two younger dragons seemed familiar though their identity eluded her. The large dark purple dragon, however, was the one dragon she feared the most. It was the dragon that sent the Apes to kill the other dragons of the Realm, including her parents.
"Malefor!" she exclaimed with eyes wide with fear. "You were supposed to be dead!"
The voice laughed in a mocking manner and said, "Defeated but not dead…I have much to accomplish…and my defeat…is but a setback."
"No…this isn't true…you brought me here, didn't you? If you want my help, I'm not going to! You hear me, you evil fiend?!" Talmia shouted at the vortex angrily.
"I didn't give you a choice."
Suddenly, dark opaque tendrils erupted from the portal and grabbed Talmia. They wrapped around her maw, neck, wings, and legs with a vice-like grip. She struggled to free herself from the dark tendrils but they overpowered her and dragged her into the vortex. Before she was fully dragged into it, Talmia managed to let out a loud cry of help. No one was there to save her though and just like that, she was pulled into the vortex. The vortex shot out a beam of energy upwards that punched through the ceiling. It continued upwards until it broke a hole in the surface.
"This isn't over yet…this is the beginning of the end," the voice of Malefor echoed throughout the chamber.
I plan for this fic to be interactive. Once in a while, I will present to you readers a decision to make and I will write a chapter according to the decisions you made. I do not own anything from the Legend of Spyro except for the original characters.
