The sun has long since disappeared from the sky. Stars occupied the now dark sky, sending on the earth beneath an eerie light. The birds and animals were long asleep except for a few nocturnal beasts. They were keeping as silent as ever as to not wake up or scare their sleeping food. And yet, somewhere at the edge of the forest, a low voice could be heard.
A little glowing light illuminated part of the forest and its inhabitants, while it slowly floated towards an oblivious small moth, muttering something under its breath.
"…and so the hunter stalks his prey with incredible precision and tact and prepares to tackle it at the right moment… Will he make it? Will he succeed in his hunt? Or will he scare it away and—"
"Will you pleaseshut up? Some of us are trying to sleep here." Grumbled angrily one of the sleeping creatures.
While distracted, he didn't notice that his food flied away.
"AWW! Now look what you've done, Cynder! You scared it away! And I was hungry!" whined Sparx, the small dragonfly, while the other was completely unimpressed.
"You would have scared it away anyway, if you kept that up, so all I did was do you a favor." Finished the dragoness in a monotone voice before laying her head back down to try and sleep. She was and entirely black dragoness, except for her belly and wings which were bloody red. She had green eyes. She wore a pair of grey cuffs on her forelegs and ones on her neck and tail: sings of her imprisonment on her early days of life. She also had grey-to-white markings under her eyes, on her forehead, on her legs and on the back of her tail. She had 3 pairs of simple, white horns on her head and claw-like ends on her tail and wings. The dragon next to her stirred and then yawned loudly before slipping a sleepy gaze towards his flying friend.
"Go to sleep, Sparx. You'll hunt in the morning…" answered lazily the being. He was purple with yellow horns sprouting on his head in a single pair and a crest on his forehead. He had purple eyes as well and his belly was orange-colored, with pairings of spikes coming out on the sides from time to time.
Sparx wasn't at all happy, grumbling a low 'whatever' before complying and floating to a leaf nearby and falling asleep.
Spyro chuckled lightly at his friend's attitude before he himself lay down, falling back into the world of dreams.
The sun shone brightly up in the sky, announcing a new day to the animals of the valley and forest.
A butterfly flew over and landed innocently on a scaly surface but was blown away by a powerful breath before the creature on which it settled sneezed loudly.
Spyro sat up lazily, trying to open his eyes but being slightly blinded as the light touched his irises. He left his eyes closed for a while, listening to the sounds surrounding him. The birds were singing cheerfully in the trees nearby and the wind was shuffling the leaves slightly, when it passed by. Spyro felt almost at peace and never wanted to open his eyes again but his peaceful moment would not last long as a high-pitched voice pierced the forest.
"SPYRO!" before he could open his eyes to identify the source of noise, he was tackled to the ground and nuzzled by a pink blur.
"E-Ember! W-what are you…?" Spyro asked, dumbstruck.
"Cynder challenged me to a flying race! And I want you to come see how I beat her." She said happily, getting off of Spyro and starting to drag him over tot the valley. She was a pink dragon with a pair of yellow horns, like Spyro's were, only curved a little at the tips, and had a purple crest going down from her forehead and a little on her back. She had a golden necklace with a golden heart hanging from it and a little heart on the tip of her tail. Her belly was also a shade of yellow. She has an umbearable temper and can easily pass from one state to another.
'Just like in this moment.' Thought poor Spyro as he saw Ember's face passing from excited to angry in just one second of seeing Cynder.
Cynder, on the other hand, had a smug look on her face and a smirk was showing at Ember's short temper. She was holding herself high and proud, knowing that she'll be the winner. Next to her was Flame, a red dragon, much like Spyro except for the horns which were straight and 3 paired. He looked nervous and one would think, if they looked carefully, that he was sweat dropping.
Spyro went next to Flame to greet him. He sat down next to his friend and nudged him lightly to make him snap out of his stare. The red one shook his head and looked around trying to recompose himself. His partner laughed lightly and asked him what he was staring at.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. I…I was just thinking. 'Morning, by the way. Heh heh…." He laughed nervously, having been caught and looked at his pal. Spyro had a 'I don't believe you' stare and that forced him to tell. Flame sighed, deciding there was no way around this.
"I was looking at Ember and then I got lost in thoughts about her. She looks absolutely beautiful but each time I try to tell her that, she just rambles on about how she'll marry you and stuff."
Spyro sweat dropped, saying "That's Ember all right." And then became silent. Today, he wasn't in the mood to talk and he was worrying about that. He was usually social and talkative. Maybe all this has to do with last night. It's true, it was a weird one.
"Hello, earth to Spyro! Come in, Spyro!" snapped the red one and spit some fire in front of his buddy's face to get his attention, but got hit in the head by a rock thrown by Ember, while screaming something like 'Don't touch him!' or 'He's my hubby, stay away!'…
Spyro sweat dropped again and helped his friend stand…"You ok?" he asked worriedly, seeing that the hit was strong.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll live…What's with you, anyway?" "Huh?" "You spaced out. It was creepy." Shuddered Flame, while rubbing his sore spot on the forehead.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a restless night."….he was thinking about what he would've dreamt last night but couldn't put his finger/claw on it. He shrugged, dropping the subject for the moment.
"HEY!" they both heard Ember scream and averted their gaze on the 2 dragonesses that had already started flying towards the magic circle that appeared near the base of the mountain, opposite of where they were.
Of course, Cynder was having the lead but Ember was catching up to her fast. I seems she learnt the spin move in the air and she got a boost out of it and by confusing the other competitor for a short while.
"Wow! She's good!" remarqued Flame. Indeed, she was, but Spyro was focused on the other dragoness. He was entranced by her fluid body moves and her agility. He was thinking how hot she was, how powerful she was and how she must be when—'Why am I thinking about this? It's true she's really beautiful, but I love her only as a friend, right?' He had to admit though, his heart kept fluttering each time he saw her and he always blushed when they were close, not to mention the butterfly feeling inside his stomach, when near her.
Cynder saw him staring and winked seductively at him. He blushed a deep scarlet, looking away. Ember silently fumed, flying behind her.
In the end, the black dragoness won, obviously. All 4 of them continued playing after that, all day long under the caring eyes of their mentors.
Terrador, Cyril and Volteer were watching them from the temple, thankful that everything was peaceful… for the moment.
"The sky is agitated…" commenced Terrador. He was a grand green dragon, touched by the age. His horns were turned backwards and were a brown color along with the crest, chest, wings, which were torn from the many battles he took part in and tail. He had multiple brown scales sticking out of his shoulders and had green-to-blue eyes.
"Indeed. I sense a disturbance in the air. Something bad will happen and we must be ready for it." His blue friend answered. It was Cyril, a blue and purple dragon, controlling the ice element. He seemed restless and tense, like he was about to attack something.
"Calm down, Cyril. It is indeed quite exact, true and appropriate to say that there is something bothering the nature but it would be inappropriate, exaggerated and most preposterous to jump to conclusions so soon." Behind Cyril there was Volteer, the electric user, resting his old limbs and watching the 2 other bicker about weather conditions. He was yellow with blue horns curving upwards towards the tips. He had blue eyes and his chest and wings were blue as well.
"Oh, keep quiet, you old dragon." Huffed annoyed, his blue counterpart. "Now, now, Cyril. We do not want to create a scandal, now do we." Retorted Terrador, turning to his friend. "You've been like this ever since Ignitus's death. I know you are greatly bothered by his leaving, but we are as well and we do not act this way."
Cyril sighed, lowering his head and telling them that he had great respect and admiration for their passed friend and that the only thing he could do was keep the Valley safe, as a gift for his departure. That is why he was so tense all the time.
"Indeed… we all mourn the loss of our good friend, but I do not think he would want us to overwork to keep Avalar safe. I think he would wish us to relax and let time flow on its own. We do not have much time left overall and I would prefer if we spent it quietly and relaxing." Concluded the green elder. The other 2 nodded in agreement and fell silent, watching the 4 younglings continuing their activity undisturbed.
The sun was close to setting and ending their fun day. Spyro looked at the sky and noticed it was getting dark. He turned back to his friends and announced them that he would take a last walk through the forest before night fell. They nodded and returned at playing catch with their favorite dragonfly.
In the forest, Spyro was deep in thought. He was thinking of the night again. Something was off. He couldn't remember the dream he had and yet he knew it was a warning. Something was indeed off. And he had a very bad feeling about it.
A black paw left a large pawprint in the ashes covering the ground. Paw after paw, a large dragon was making its way through the dead lands and towards Death Mountain. Its partner, a blue and purple wyrm, followed closely, not wanting to lose his mistress out of sight.
The dark, thick air that surrounded them gave off the stench of death and burnt trees. The scenery was made of only 3 colors: black, red and grey. Charred trees decorated the coal black cliffs from place to place. The only live colors were the black that adorned the back of the head of the dragoness, going down the back of her neck and back, stopping at the base of the tail and the tip of her tail, and white covering the rest of her body. She had pieces of jewelry on her horns, tail and back legs. On her forelegs and wings she had bracelets adorned with sapphires and on her neck, she held a spiked collar with a blue stone hanging from it. Her eyes were of 1 color each: the right was red and the left was green.
Her tail was kept low and brushed the ground from time to time while swaying from side to side as she walked. She passed next to a lava geyser and it exploded, throwing lava up in the air, scaring her partner. She didn't seem, fazed though. They continued on, through the dead lands until a low rumbling was heard in the distance. Entra looked up and saw that the volcano was having one of his usual eruptions. She shrugged it off and continued to the base of the volcano where she expanded her wings and took to the sky, heading towards to top.
Her partner followed closely behind, unnerved by the aura surrounding the place. "M-mistress, are you sure this is a good idea at all? We would be better off at home… If you don't mind me saying."
"Yes, Cross. I do mind you saying. Because we wouldn't be." Was the stern response Entra gave off while avoiding some lava falling from up high.
Cross sighed, then attempted again "Well what will we do after all this is over?" trying to get Entra's attention once more. She sparred him a brief glance before returning her gaze on the way and answering "We will show our new guest his room and make him feel comfortable. Then I will rule the world at his side." At this moment, a grin was plastered on her face and an evil glint present in her eyes.
Upset with her answer, Cross insisted on the subject. "But why is he so important, mistress? I mean…" he shrunk at her fiery glare "…you barely even know him…" the creature finished in a whisper. "Hmpf… I know him better than you would ever. He was my mentor…" Cross stared at her with wide eyes "M-mentor?" "Shut up and tell me how hot is in there?" She pointed towards the volcano's highest point.
He took out a small device from his belt and typed in some numbers. His name is Cross because of the 2 belts strapped around his tiny shoulders in a cross. "Hmm… The core is about 500 degrees hot, as well as the top. But there seems to be a chamber in the center, about the normal temperature. It seems that the crystal covering the walls are enchanted and are able to keep the room nice and cool even in the most extreme temperatures. And it's about…there!" He pointed to an area covered half in crystals, above them.
"Perfect…" Entra landed on a ledge nearby and Cross right behind her. She walked to the crystals and touched one. A sparkle of magic passed through her paw and up her shoulder and she felt cold and dark magic channel through her. "This is definitely the place." With a swift strike, she cleared open the path to the interior and walked in.
"You will reign this world alongside me, Malefor…"