Say, what do you expect when you lay in bed for the night rest?
I guess not ending up in black void with strange, sinister quiet whispers surrounding you.
Then there is a voice, which sounds like it comes from inside my head.
"What is your name?"
"Alexandr."
"Are you a boy or girl?"
Huh. "I'm a boy… last time I checked, at least." Why am I not so sure anymore? What a weird dream. But dreams are supposed to be weird, aren't they?
"Welcome, Alexandr." Says the voice, "You have been chosen for a mission of great importance." Uh-huh. "Your mission is to purify the world from corruption that poisons it. We have assigned a being known as the Batter to aid you in your mission." A ghostly figure of a tall man in white shirt, pants and black sports shoes and baseball cap. Suitably for his name, he held a baseball bat in his hand. "He will make sure you succeed." the image disappeared, "We will drop you in the area known as The Swamp. Find the Batter for further instructions. Good luck"
Uh, my eyes hurt… Everything fades from white as I'm trying to rub the pain out. Why do I feel so strange? What in the world is going o-"HOLY!~"
Alright, I'm officially freaked out. Not by giant mushrooms surrounding me, but, rather, by my own appearance. First, I had a MUZZLE. A lizard-like muzzle. Second, I had scales. Small, soft scales covering my whole body, with larger, tougher plates covering my chest and belly. Third, I was a quadruped. Alright, I can go on forever, but you get the point. I was no longer a human, but something else. What I did not know. A lizard of sort?
Breathe, Alexandr, breathe. Calm down, it's just a weird dream you're having. I'm pretty sure if you try hard enough you can shift back to your human form – or wake up, perhaps. Come on, focus…
Nothing happens. Oh well, then perhaps I should give in to this dream and let it do whatever my wandering mind wants me to. Most likely I won't even remember it when I wake up in the morning.
Still nothing!
Well then maybe I can move around myself?
Yeah, alright. It's surprisingly easy to move around on four limbs. Awkward, but easy. But there also was a feeling that I'm lacking something important. Ah, I'll figure it out eventually, now… Now, I think I'm just going to go with the flow, as they say. Perhaps I'm not yet practiced enough to have fully conscious dreams, but hey, it's not very often when you have control over yourself in your dreams. For now, I'll just go for the small clearing just a bit ahead. Still I need to get used to this quadruped body.
Hey, there's a person!
"H-hey!" I call them. They turn around and instantly I'm freaked out even more. It's a human male, black sports shoes, white pants and shirt and black baseball cap… And with four eyes. Two smaller ones of unnatural yellow color and black sclera look down on me, while other two of pale grayish-blue look around.
"…" I almost could hear the ellipsis in the look he gave me, "You are Alexandr." He states blankly, looking at me with all four of his eyes now.
"A-and you must be the Batter," I reply, feeling slightly awkward "Nice to meet you."
"You are not what I was expecting," he states with the same blank expression.
"I'm not sure this is what I was expecting, too" I raised my front paw, trying to make a confused gesture. He remains silent, so I continue, "I think I was told you'll help me with my mission. I'm supposed to save this land…"
"To purify this land," he corrects me, "Yes. I am. Unfortunately, I'm having less than physical presence in this world, so it's up to you to do the job." He pauses, his 'normal' eyes look around before turning back on, "This body of yours… What was your original form?"
"Similar to yours. Maybe a bit shorter…"
"This complicates things." He rubs his chin and looks around some more, "Your mission will take you into different regions of this corrupted war-torn world. There always will be a possibility of hostile beings attacking you. Do you know how to…" he paused, "What am I saying. You can't even move around efficiently in this body."
"What?!"
"You can't move around efficiently in this form, because it's unfamiliar - unnatural to you," he stated, "This clearing is safe. Practice some basic movement here. Walking, running, jumping. Sidestepping. Get comfortable with your form."
"You are right," I sighed, "And I sure hope this clearing is safe."
Time passes as I'm getting familiar with this body. What seemed to be early morning shifts to almost midday, mushrooms providing nice shade from the sun. After hours of walking, running and jumping around the Batter – who was watching me with same stoic expression – I finally felt like I'm ready to proceed.
"Alright, what's nex-woah!" He kneeled and grabbed my paw and took a closer look at it. I had four fingers, including opposed thumb, each finger ending with a sharp claw.
"You seem to have some natural weapons. That's good." He released my paw and pointed at one of the smaller mushrooms, that was slightly taller than him, "I want you to destroy it."
"Die, 'shroom!" I hissed and slashed at it with my claws. Or I tried, at least. Turns out that, first, quadruped front limbs don't really work in exact same way human limbs work, and second, the mushroom was much tougher than I expected. My claws barely dented it and got stuck in its bark – do mushrooms have bark?
"Why." the Batter blankly stated before facepalming.
"Come on!" I growled and managed to liberate my claws from the treacherous mushroom, "That's a perfect and easy way to start an adventure. We all had our first times, right?"
"Well I never been a quadruped, so I can't tell how it is to be one for a first time," he stated blankly, "And I've never been on so-called adventure." he added after short pause.
"Hey, do you mind if I ask… Do you ever emote?" I looked back at him before returning to the mushroom and slashing at it again, this time with much better results.
"Waste of energy and time," he shrugged and continued to watch my attempts to defeat the mushroom.
Well it took much less time than it took me to get accustomed to motion. The mushroom was defeated in less than an hour, and I got a good idea on how to strike with my paws. In addition, there was some strange pulsation in my body, something ached to get out, but I had no idea what it was.
"Good," the Batter looked at shredded mushroom, "Now when you have some idea how to fight, it's time for you to learn the way of purification."
Battle time.
"In battle it is important to know when to strike" Said Batter, "Try attacking me now."
"Alright, if you say so," I swing my paw at him, claws connect and… nothing happens.
"Nice. Striking without a second thought. You'll make a great purifier," He nodded to me, and seeing my confusion continued, "But if you truly want to hurt a specter, you'll need to channel your purity into your weapon. It takes time, which is shown by this small line here" He pointed at the black bar in the bottom center of my vision that was filling with white… Wait, what? "This is a visual representation of your readiness. Your will to attack adversaries will cause your purity to flow through your body towards your weapons – in your case, claws. You will only see this bar when in combat. Try hitting me when it all turns white."
Alright, here it goes. I swing my other paw, this time claws leave a burning white trail behind them… And still no effect on Batter.
"Nice one. Had I been impure, I'd felt that one" He nodded again, "Now this," he pointed at red bar that appeared in the upper left corner of my vision, "Is your lifeforce. When enemies hit you, it will drain. Allow me to demonstrate" He swung his bat at me, hitting my shoulder. About half of my lifeforce bar gone in an instant. And it did hurt like hell, making me cringe and fall on my chest, placing my paw on a bruised spot.
"Augh! I think I should've wake up from that!" I hissed through clenched teeth.
"Uh… I think I overdid that a bit. Here, have this," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few slips of paper, "These are luck tickets. Use one to heal yourself."
I took the tickets, wondering where I can put them. Taking a closer look at one, I suddenly saw letters appear on it. 'You will succeed', they wrote out, and then the ticket burst into flame, turning into ash. Warmth filled my hand – err, paw, and the red bar was refilled. The pain was gone, and I felt much better.
"Umm, Batter? I don't have any place to keep them." I said. He nodded and took the rest of the tickets for keeping for the time.
"Good," the Batter nodded, "One last thing you need to learn is the Competences. These are skills that will help you in your mission. Right now, I'll teach you the Wide Angle competence." Bring it on, I thought.
"First, redirect your purity from your claws to your eyes." Alright, uh… how do I do that?.. I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate… and felt something slap my face and stick to it. Opening my eyes, I saw a piece of strange, unnaturally sickly-yellow meat, which promptly fell on the ground. The Batter shook his head, "Falling asleep in combat is the worst thing you can do. Do not fall asleep in combat."
"I wasn't sleeping, I was concentrating"
"Concentrate with your eyes open. You don't want to miss a hit from your opponent."
Alright, let's try that again. There! I feel something stirring inside me! Aha, there is my purity – I guess it is my purity?.. Well, I found some energy. Was that the same thing that was trying to get out after I was done with a mushroom? Maybe. Now if you kindly… move… to… my… eyes… Oh yes, finding it was much easier than making it move where I want it to.
"Now use your inner sight, give an unfocused look to your surroundings."
What?
This very moment I felt a sharp burst of pain below my eyes… And then the world changed for a moment. I saw everything on the clearing me and the Batter were on. And by everything I do not mean just objects, but also… their… stats?
The Batter – L50 HP ? CP ?
An incarnation of purification.
Resists ectoplasm. Weak to memories.
Alpha, Omega, Epsilon
Batter's ever-loyal add-ons.
"Uhh, add-ons?" I looked around trying to find them.
"…" the Batter looked slightly concerned, "Yes. I forgot that Wide Angle will reveal more than could be seen by simple eyes."
"But what are those?" I asked. "They help me on my mission" was the answer.
"Alright. Is there anything else you want me to teach? Oh wait, let me guess," I pointed at the slightly depleted green bar right below my health bar, "This is my energy or something, right?"
"Your Competence Points," the Batter corrected me, "Watch them closely. The Competences can turn the tides of battle in your favor, but if you will run out of Competence Points in the middle of a tough fight, or if you enter a fight without them, the outcome may not be in your favor. Here, have this," he reached his hand to me, holding another piece of meat – this one had a shining silver color. I looked at it closely. It smelled strangely sweet. "Should I eat it?" "Yes. This is Silver Flesh. It will restore your CPs." Alright, here goes nothing. I bite the piece of meat hard and chew it for a few moments. These teeth feel odd, they are not made for grinding food, more like tearing it. My mouth fills with sickly sweet flavor with slightly metallic aftertaste as I swallowed the piece of meat. I'm not sure I liked it, but my energy – or, rather, Competence Points – has been restored to full.
Competence – Wide Angle
Alexandr – L1 HP 100 CP 25
A dragon purifier in training.
"So… What now?" Alexandr asks his mentor.
"Just go somewhere" the Batter.
"So, you don't know?" Alexandr tilted his head, "A-alright… What am I supposed to do? I know I have to purify this world, but… how?"
"Find the royal guardians of this world and defeat them."
"Alright…" He shrugged and sighed, "Well, let's go… umm… That-a-way."
Well, that was interesting. This Batter guy had no idea on where to go. Alright, think, Alexandr, think. Well, there is some kind of a pathway here, so let's follow it. Sure it will at least lead us somewhere.
Like to the riverbank.
Well, at least I can try to make out my current form in the water. I mean, it's not as reflective as people think it is, but still. I walk to the water (and get somewhat unapproving look from the Batter), and take a look. Huh. So apparently I'm some sort of a horned-lizard thing. Well, I'd call myself a dragon, if I had wings. But I had none. But as is, I had quite sleek shape – almost feminine – but still looked bulky enough. My muzzle – or should I call it face? – somewhat narrow and long, ending with surprisingly blunt nose. My forehead was shallow, and generally, like the rest of the head was kinda wide. I had two large, sharp horns on my head, placed just right for me to ram something – or someone, or throw something up in the air. A pair of smaller horns – or what is it called? – were located behind my cheeks, slightly above and behind jaw joint. As for my body, as said earlier, was light, lithe build, yet it had strange sense of power to it. And my tail had a small vertical spear-like formation on it. Yeah, I could've been a dragon… If I had wings. But I had none.
The only strange thing about me was the color of my scales. They were white. And I don't mean like snow-white, no, I mean unnaturally white. 255/255/255 white. And then there was this odd tint or something, which made me look like I had a black outline, like a cartoon character. That made me a freaky stand-out on the landscape, the sore spot that immediately attracted attention. At least my eyes remained grayish-green.
"What are you doing?" I heard the Batter say, "We got work to do."
"Alright, let's go then," I shrugged and continued along with the path that led us further into the swamp, away from the river.
That was where I had my first true encounter with enemies.
Well, sort of enemies. At first I though they were just pitcher plants, but when I approached them they suddenly jumped out of the ground and hobbled towards me.
"W-woah!" I jumped back as one of those things swiped its tongue at me.
Competence – Wide Angle
Frogweed x3 – HP 15 CP 5
An aggressive carnivorous plant that feeds on insects and dragonflies.
"Purification in progress," said the Batter.
Alright, let's see. Wait to charge, and strike. My claws slice through plant fiber, tearing its pitcher with white trails. With a single strike the frogweed was destroyed, leaving me with two more plants. They swiped their tongues at me again, but seeing how they telegraphed their attacks like an hour in advance, I had no difficulty dodging them. Another swipe, another weed goes down. Nice. I think I'm getting a hang of it. For the last one, I tried and redirected my purity into the spearhead on my tail and did a quick – but clumsy – 360 turn, slapping the weed with my tail and, to my surprise, tearing it in half.
"Adversaries purified," said the Batter.
"Well that's one way to truly begin our adventure," I said, smiling at the Batter. He looked at me with the same stoic neutral expression, "What?"
"I wouldn't be as careless as you are," He noted, "You have important mission to complete."
"Yeah, right. I forgot you got zero emotions. Let's go." I shrugged.
"Are you sure you don't know where we should go?" I asked the Batter, "It's close to dusk and we've got nowhere yet, only met more of those weed-things." He only shrugged with the same stoic expression as usual. I sighed, "Yeah, right. Be that way."
"I hear something" he suddenly stopped. I stopped too and listened really hard. Yes, someone was nearby. Although it wasn't speech as is, more like some yelps and howls, but it kinda seemed oddly… sentient.
"I have a bad feeling about this," I mumble, and the Batter nods, "Let's proceed with caution."
And of course, we only make a dozen of steps and all caution turns out to be for naught.
Several creatures dropped down on us out of nowhere – well, from the top of the giant mushrooms surrounding us. They seem to be baboons, only wearing some rags and some of them got pieces of armor on them. One of them, the largest one, must be their leader, says with an evil smile, "Well-well-well, what do we have here? Another one of them lizards," he chuckles, his deep, threatening voice makes me hiss instinctively defensively. I really hoped that I'm not dealing with proverbial monkeys with grenades, "Too bad someone already tore your wings off, whelp. I'd very much enjoy doing that myself… Get him!"
"Purification in progress" came the Batter's voice. The creatures charged at me, and I barely managed to dodge them, making them collide as they tried to pounce on me.
Competence – Wide Angle
Ape Grunts x10 – HP 50 CP 10
Cannon fodder for the Dark Army
Ape Lieutenant – HP 150 CP 50
A commander of ape squad
"Batter, there's too many of them for me to deal with!" I yelp quickly, I only see five of ape grunts, but there are five more somewhere nearby, "I can't fight ten-on-one fight!" I wait a moment and slash at nearest grunt. White streaks tear through his body, throwing him off-balance, and I heard the sound of tearing flesh. Disgusting. While he struggles with his wound, other four apes charge at me, throwing punches at me. My scales provide surprisingly good defense, despite being softer than I thought dragon scales would be, but still some of the punches are quite painful. Come on purity, charge faster, I though while trying to avoid getting hit too much. Another slash, another ape stumbles. Two apes somewhat incapacitated, eight more to go. Oh and commander is there too, but all he does is yells orders. Oh. Oh!
I jump over the group of apes, one of them barely missing me mid-pounce, another manages to hit my knee – ouch, I felt that – and run towards the commander. I feel purity in my claws, and I slash at him, tearing through cloth and iron and flesh. He lets out a pained yelp, growls and… Wait, when did he get a club?!
The world went grayscale around me, my vision was filled with colored dots and my head rang. All the air went out of my lungs in a loud "GHHHHH" as his club connected with my chest. For a moment I felt weightless, and then another impact brought me back to my senses as I collided with one of the mushrooms. I coughed and wheezed, that wasn't good at all. I felt the Batter kneeling next to me, showing something in my paw… Oh, right, the Luck Ticket!
'Success is inevitable'
Much better. I jump back on all fours, just in time to take a pounce from one of the grunts. He tried to cling to my back, but I'd have none of it. I jumped and that got him off my back. Now, let's try clawing their leader again, but this time let's try not get hit by his club. Avoiding his grunts, I once again closed my distance to him. I slash at him and miss, white streaks passing an inch too far from his body. He swings his club, but I somehow manage to dodge to the side, him hitting another grunt and sending him flying.
"Homerun" I heard the Batter through yell of thrown ape.
My heart beats so fast and hard, it's a surprise it didn't break through my chest plates yet. I watch the leader close, and dodge his second swing. My purity is ready again, I throw another slash at him, and, while it connects, he manages to connect his club with my chest. Again.
"GHHHHH" I say as the air gets pushed from my lungs and I'm flying away and collide with the ground this time. I feel tears in my eyes. And again, I feel Batter's hand giving me another ticket. However, this time he holds me down. "That's the last one I have. It seems that I overestimated your fighting abilities. I suppose you should take the coward's option."
"What would that be?" I ask standing up.
"Flee."
"Oh." Realization struck me, "Alright, I'd love to have some more fun with you guys" I say out loud as I jumped to the side, making an ape fall flat on his face, "But I have milk boiling over!" With that I dashed off the path and into the mushroom thicket.
"Get him!" I heard the commander's pained roar behind. I must've got him hard there, "I will inform Cynder about this whelp!"
Once there was a singer who said 'You'll become a composer should life force you'. I never though I could run so fast and swift. Perhaps it has something to do with this body – my spine feels like a spring that aids in propelling my body in the right direction. I'm just surprised that Batter is able to keep up with my speed. What actually keeps bothering me... With all that pain I went through, shouldn't I already wake up?
Really, I should've learned from my past mistakes not to think too hard when moving. I heard Batter yell something like "Watch it!", and next thing I know my body collides with a tree, once again the impact leaves me breathless for a moment and knocking me off my feet.
And then the bloody tree moves.
It turns around, and I see something resembling a face. Angry face. It reaches behind its back, pulls out a very, VERY big club. Scratch that, that's more like walking stick made out of whole pine tree. It gets ready to swat me with it.
Fear. Paralyzing fear strikes me at this moment. Wake up Alexandr, I think as I watch the giant moving his weapon down on me. Wake up, wake up, wakeup wakeup wakeupwakeupwakeup…
Just a second before the impact I fee something push me hard in my flank, throwing me away from lethal strike.
Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup was the only thing in my mind, why wasn't I…
SLAP!
That sound brings me back to my senses – somewhat.
I open my eyes and see Batter looking down on me – with same stoic expression. There is a piece of that sickly-yellow meat he threw at me earlier today, during our training. "W-what?"
"You were mumbling 'wake up' at very fast pace. I thought some Belial's meat would help."
"…" I could hear gears grinding in my head. I took that meat slapped on my face and take a bite of it. I don't feel any different. Oh crap. "Batter…" I ask him, my voice begins to tremble, "T-this… I… I'm n-not dreaming a-all t-this-s, am-m I?"
"You are very much awake and lucid. Pure, even."
"S-so… If you wouldn't push me a-away there… I c-could've d-die?" I ask looking at the tree-thing, who seemed to loose me from its sight.
"Yes. But…"
I couldn't hear the rest of his phrase. I COULD HAVE DIED THERE. The realization struck me like a thunder. I am not sleeping, this is not a dream, and definitely not a safe adventure – heck, I'm not sure if I even want to call it 'adventure' anymore!
Oh and while I had this realization, apes found us. 'Us' being me, Batter and the tree-thing.
No thanks. Knowing that I can die I'd rather take the coward's option, thank you very much.
Batter was trying to tell me something, but I didn't listen. Right now I need to get away from the chase and find more of those 'luck tickets' so the danger of dying is not as close.
But where do I find them? Maybe Batter knows. I should probably ask him when it's safe.
And then my leg slips on the mud.
O good, I never ever learn, do I?
The slippery mud sends me tumbling downhill, past mushrooms, straight through shrubbery – I'm going to feel those scratches – and then I hear someone gasping.
"Augh!"
"Oof!" And it seems that I come to a stop thanks to that someone being that one immovable obstacle in my path. Well, not so immovable, seeing how I've toppled whoever it was, the impact left me dazed.
"Get off me!" I hear young, energetic and gentle voice coming from somewhere below me. Whoever it is, he does his best to throw me off. I'd gladly comply, but with the entire struggle I'm having hard time deciding where to move. Finally with one swift kick in my belly – ouch – the one I toppled managed to get me off him. Then it was my turn to be pinned down.
"Woah, woah, wait up bro" I hear another voice, deeper and somewhat little bit nasal, "I don't think this is one of them apes."
"I see that now, Sparx," first voice sounds and I feel pressure being released from my back. I slowly get up, my stomach still hurts a bit after the kick, and my legs are shaky from all the running.
Before me stands a dragon, definitely a dragon, seeing how he's quadruped, covered in scales and has wings. His scales are vibrant purple; the scale plates on his neck, chest and belly are golden. His muzzle is short and stout, head rather large and round, with big amethyst-colored eyes. A pair of ridged golden-orange horns tops his head, curling a bit to the back with tips pointing up top. There also are fins on his head, going all the way down to his tail, which ends with a pine-cone shaped growth. His wings are small and skeletal in appearance, with bright orange membranes. And he's somewhat shorter than me. He must be a very young dragon then.
"So what such a pretty lady like you doing here all alone?" says the second voice – apparently Sparx. I wanted to say that I'm not a lady, but all that came out of my mouth was a pathetic "Hhh…"
"Oh you're speechless, I see. Can't blame you though, it's not often you meet a handsome guy like me"
I look around franticly trying to find the source of the voice. Instead, I find something I'd rather not see. Apes coming from the mushroom grove.
"HHHH!" again, pathetic wheezing escapes my mouth, pointing behind the dragon.
"Purification in progress" again, this comes from the Batter.
Oh come on. Alright, let's estimate our chances for victory here.
Competence – Wide Angle
Ape Grunts x8 – HP 50 CP 10
Cannon fodder for the Dark Army
Spyro the Dragon – HP 200 CP 100
A dragon raised by dragonflies. Breathes fire.
What.
Sparx the Dragonfly – HP 100 CP 100
Spyro's adoptive brother.
Okay.
That was something.
And while I was busy using wide angle on the battlefield, Spyro already charged at the apes, indeed breathing a jet of flames at them. "Let's hope I'm friendly fire-proof" I thought to myself, cringing internally from how bad the pun was. Without any back thought I jump at nearest ape and lash my claws on him. He flies back and don't move anymore. I switch to next target, picking the one running around with his tail on fire. In the corner of my vision I see Spyro throwing ape into the air using his horns. I should try that sometime, but now let's just deal with attackers. And another slash leaves ape with burning tail lying unmoving in the mud. I begin to feel sorry for them, but this has to be suppressed now. When the next ape fell to me (courtesy of Spyro charging poor shmuck and hitting him with horns) he dropped a pouch full of some strange red crystals. Before I knew, the crystals scattered from the pouch and those that fell near me were dragged to my paws and disappeared with red glow. And all the sudden, I feel much better, pain is gone and my throat feels no more like dried sandpaper.
"Adversaries purified," I hear the Batter's voice again.
Huh, that was quick. Spyro sure made me look bad there. Why was I chosen for that mission then? I can't even…
"Hey, are you alright?" says Spyro coming to me, "Sorry I kicked you. You scared me when you jumped on me."
"I-I'm fine," I say, my voice is raspy from all the events I've been through, "S-shaken, but fine"
"Wait-wait-wait, what?" I hear Sparx's voice again, full of shock. A small ball of yellow light flies into my view. Oh. Sparx the dragonfly. "You… You are a DUDE?!" I indeed see a glowing dragonfly, pointing finger at me, his eyes bigger than his head from shock, mouth agape.
"Yes, I am. You got problems with that, sparky?" I snarl and cough. Okay, this is not a good time to be snarling.
"…" I could hear him saying ellipsis. His hand slowly drops and he continues staring at me.
"Sparx, let him be. He must have been chased by those apes," Spyro turns to his brother and then back to me, "I'm Spyro, and this is my brother, Sparx. Who are you?"
"Nice to meet you, Spyro, Sparx," I nod and take a few more breaths. I think I'm not as shaken now. "I-I'm Alexandr. And this is Batter," I point at my mentor with my paw.
Spyro tilts his head a bit, "There's nobody there."
"But he's standing right here!" I look at Batter.
"You are the only one who can see me" He replies, resting his bat on his shoulder, "As I said, my presence in this world is limited. But I can see and hear them."
"Oh. He says that only I can see him, but he can see and hear you." I say.
A short silence followed.
"Great. Not only he's a guy who looks like a girl, but he's also a loon" Sparx shakes his head and facepalms.
"Oh don't say you never had an imaginary friend?" I ask in a teasing tone, "Especially since I got no real friends…"
"We can be your friends," Spyro suggested, "well, we can at least try. Uh, mind if I ask, do you know what I am? S-since you are a first being we meet that's not trying to kill us…"
"You look like a dragon to me," I shrugged, "Oh. Don't tell me you thought you are a dragonfly?" He looks away for a moment with uneasy smile, "Yeah. I'm not judging, pal. It's alright." I pause, feeling awkward. Socializing never was my thing, "Where were you two heading?"
"I'm trying to find who I am," Spyro said, "I don't know where we're going. We just hope to find someone who knows something about who I am and where I'm from, but so far we only found apes and swamp giants. And you are?"
"I'm on a holy mission to purify this world from corruption!" I say somewhat proudly, "Oh..." Suddenly I look down on the ground in shame, "I just realized how stupid that sounds."
At this moment I could feel both Sparx and Batter glare at me.
"Bro, I'm telling you, he's a loon!" Sparks hisses, waving his small arms, "He has this imaginary friend and thinks he has some holy-doly mission. I say we just leave him here and go."
"We can't leave him all alone, Sparx," Spyro shakes his head, "And he doesn't look dangerous. Or crazy."
"I'm right here, you know," I grumble.
"If you want, you can join us," the purple dragon invited. "Bro, don't. You're going to regret that" said Sparx.
"Sure, I'll join you" I nodded, "It's safer to travel in group."
You have joined Spyro and Sparx party!
"Yeah, whatever" Sparx shugged.
Somewhere amidst the endless black void, a tiny white figure limps, looking around franticly, stopping every now and then to catch its breath.
"Where did he go?.." it mutters in weary, hissing whisper.