Chapter Two: A New Presence
Ignius was waiting for the group to return. When they did, he instantly snapped at Voltavus.
He didn't react. He just looked depressed, just like the other two dragons with him.
As Ignius started to get mad again, he stopped himself because he could see that something happened to his friends.
He wanted to kill Voltavus but he cared about their wellbeing more than his little problems.
"Hey Voltavus what's wrong, you guys look horrible?"
Voltavus walked towards Ignius, Spyro and Cynder were following.
Voltavus sighs then asks, "Ignius, could you come with me to the family room."
"Yea sure, but what's wrong Voltavus, seriously?"
Voltavus still had the depressed expression on his face, not responding to his question, he just keeps walking with Ignius by his side and Spyro and Cynder following close behind.
Ignius was becoming agitated and scared that something bad has happened and he wasn't telling him, but he knew that he was probably going to tell him in the family room.
They all sit, and Voltavus starts by asking,"Do you remember Ignitus?"
He only nodded his head, with a confused expression on his face.
"He was the fire guardian. He was both Spyro, Cynder, and my own mentor."
"What does this have to do with anything?"
Voltavus's eyes started stinging again, and he bowed his head, letting the tears fall to the floor, "He's… he's dead… he was lost in the wall of fire, during the war…"
Ignius suddenly remembered the way Voltavus spoke about Ignitus. He looked up to him like a father, and now he was gone. Voltavus has never, I mean never, cried, especially In Front of Ignius.
Now with no desire for revenge, Ignius moved over to his friend's side, and tried to console him.
Spyro and Cynder were over listening to him, but their eyes weren't dry. Both were tearing up, but managed to hold them back.
The rest of the day was filled with depression, and sorrow.
"Hey! Give that back!" Was all that the heroes heard when they woke.
They made their way into the dining room, when they saw Voltavus holding a small, leather bound book, just out of Ignius's reach.
"Only when you finish your breakfast!" Voltavus spoke between the laughs.
"Fine, just don't go back on your word!"
"Well, is this what you two do every morning?"
Voltavus looked over to the two new arrivals, and said, "Well, sometimes, only if he doesn't have his breakfast."
Both heroes laughed, Ignius could only let out a low growl and just sat down with his head laying on the table, looking his food with an angry stare.
Voltavus looked down at Ignius and made a proposal.
"So Ignius I'll make you a deal, you eat your food and I won't start telling our guests about your little diary."
Ignius bolts his head up towards Voltavus and yells, "IT'S A JOURNAL NOT A DIARY!"
Voltavus started to say something but was cut off.
"And you wouldn't dare read a single word out of that you thief."
"Oh would I? Well let's see, page one-"
"VOLTAVUS YOU'RE TREADING ON THIN ICE!"
"As I was saying page one, there is this elegant dragoness that I met at the market, and she has the most beautiful name, her name is fla-"
Ignius jumped up at Voltavus, trying to snatch his book back from him, he almost got it but missed.
"Voltavus I'm seriously getting mad, you better stop!"
"I'll tell you what, If you want it back, you have to spar me for it."
Ignius, with his irrational thinking, accepted the challenge.
Voltavus offered the heroes a front row seat to this duel, to which they accepted.
The spar took place in the training yard at the back of the home.
They arrived to the training yard to spar, Voltavus and Ignius got to their positions to brawl.
Voltavus got in his defensive stance, still looking amused, while Ignius was in a position ready to attack, with a determined and angry expression.
"So Voltavus, are you just gonna stand there and admire the weather or are you going to start it!"
"Well since you ask, let's begin shall we?"
The two dragons started circling around the training yard, staring at each other.
Ignius then jumped up at Voltavus to strike, but he was expecting that, so he was ready defend himself.
Ignius was thrown behind Voltavus but he got up and lunged again, this time he caught Voltavus off guard, and got a good hit to his face.
Voltavus realized that Ignius was getting more aggressive, so he started to become more defensive.
Spyro and Cynder were just watching the two spar with amusement but also were feeling nervous because the spar was getting intense.
"This may not end well…" stated Spyro.
Voltavus whirled around with his paw and caught Ignius in the side, knocking the breath out of him.
He put as much distance between him and Voltavus as he could, but then he remembered the rules they agreed on, he could use his element.
Voltavus charged a bolt of Ethereal Lightning, and released it, directly at Ignius. It was far from lethal, but it would definitely hurt.
The green energy made the heroes jump in surprise.
They were relieved that Ignius was able to get up. When he did, he charged. He lowered his horns, low enough to hurt, but nothing fatal.
Voltavus, his mood still intact, smiled, and jumped into the air, using his element to create a shockwave underneath him, causing his opponent to charge directly into the storm.
Ignius knew he was going to get hurt, but he didn't know he would get hurt this bad.
Ignius was stunned, Voltavus dove and landed upon Ignius, crushing the smaller dragon into the ground. He wasn't done yet, he used his element and charged his scales, causing the ethereal lighting to spark across both his scales and Ignius's.
Ignius knew he lost, but he wasn't going to stop. He had to get that book back.
Ignius continues to struggle, but Voltavus continued to put more energy into the attack, causing more pain for the both of them.
Ignius was beginning to become enraged, and was starting to try and use his tail blade and horns to impale Voltavus.
"STOP MOVING!"
Ignius suddenly stopped moving, fearing the voice, void of all sympathy.
Voltavus had risen to his paws and had an apparition of himself, holding Ignius down. Both were covered in burn marks, but Voltavus's scales were torn all over and bleeding, where he used his element over his own body.
Ignius suddenly lost his anger, and replaced it with immediate sorrow.
Voltavus was bleeding profusely from in-between his damaged scales. He looked like he had fought the entire dark army and more. He just stood there with his massive body, shaking.
Voltavus had never used this much energy, it had never taken this much to stop Ignius from his little fits. Now he had to use enough to cause external damage to his own body. This was getting bad. He had never had to do this.
"Voltavus?"
He turned and saw Spyro and Cynder cautiously approaching.
"Are you okay?"
He only shook his head, and whispered,"No." He then fell over, unconscious.
The apparition of Voltavus dissipated and Ignius instantly bolted to the heroes, and Voltavus, "What happened?!" He then, though confused, ran to find the estate healers.
He returned with four dragons, two were earth, one male, one female, an ice dragoness, and a fire dragon. Accompanied by five moles.
"By the Ancestors! This dragon has done something that I cannot even begin to explain! Get him into the infirmary!" The female ice dragoness ordered. The two earth dragons instantly complied with her order.
They all went to to the estate infirmary.
"What happened?" Asked the med-team leader.
"Voltavus and I were sparing, but then he suddenly looked like he does now. I only got one strike on him!"
"Why were you two even sparing, you both were beat up worse than just sparing?"
Ignius choked and hesitated, knowing the reason for the fight, his eyes began to tear up when he started to speak, but he was cut off by Spyro and Cynder.
Cynder spoke first, "Ignius was testing out a new thing he learned a couple weeks ago and Voltavus let him try it out."
Spyro continued her sentence, "And it got a little out of hand, and now we're here."
The med team leader then replied, "Well next time Ignius, don't let it get out of hand like that, I have a feeling you were the one that escalated the fight, but from what I hear, you didn't try to hurt him out of anger."
Ignius just looked at the ground in both embarrassment and sadness, knowing he actually started to try to hurt him badly out of anger, and didn't even respond, Spyro spoke for him.
"Well thank you, and it won't happen again, also how long will it be until Voltavus is better?"
"Well it will be a couple days but we want to hold on to him to find out what exactly he did in the fight."
The dragons shook their heads in understanding, Ignius hated it.
"You know I wouldn't prefer him to be a lab rat for your research!"
"Ignius he's going to be ok, we aren't going to do anything wrong to him."
Ignius was becoming more agitated at the med team leader not complying with him.
"NO HE'S NOT GOING TO BE SOMEBODY THAT YOU DO TESTS ON AND STUDY!"
Cynder got Ignius's attention, "Ignius, he's going to be fine, they are only going to find out how to make him feel better, he's not going to be some 'lab rat'.
Spyro then continued, "Listen Ignius, I know you're feeling mad right now, but they are only trying to help."
"WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU EVEN ON!"
Voltavus awoke, and heard the arguing.
Voltavus choked, but managed to whisper out, "Spyro and Cynder please come here."
They both walked over to him, Ignius was following.
"Voltavus I'm so sorry, please forgive me, I won't do it anymore!"
"Ignius I forgive you, and it's not only your fault, but I need to talk to Spyro and Cynder alone."
Ignius paused at his request, but kept going towards them.
Voltavus asked him again, Ignius replied, "No Voltavus! I'm not just going to be sent away!"
Voltavus then asked his guards to bring him out, they complied and started moving towards Ignius.
"IF EITHER ONE OF YOU TOUCH ME, I WILL KILL YOU!"
Voltavus was watching, with sadness that he had to do that to his friend, basically family.
Cynder then said, "Ignius, please just go for a minute, don't make it hard on Voltavus."
The guards approached Ignius and tried to grab him.
Ignius hit one of the guards in the side of the head almost as hard as he did with Voltavus in the spar.
He then lowered his head and then swung it up to hit the other guard with his horns, the guard jumped around him and then onto him.
The hurt guard asked for more guards to help them bring him out.
"Ignius you need to stop this right now!" Said the guard that was holding his head down.
Spyro then ran over and aided the guards, and with all of them they detained Ignius and brought him outside.
Once outside, Spyro tells the guards, "If anything happens, come get me immediately, ok."
The guards nodded their heads and continued to hold Ignius.
Ignius snarled and growled at the guards that were holding him down, but he couldn't get all of them off.
Spyro began to walk away, and looked back at them with a sad look, but kept going.
He was walking inside and could hear Cynder almost ordering Voltavus to do something.
"Voltavus, you need to stay here and lay down, Ignius is fine."
"He needs me! I need to calm him down!"
Spyro then jumped in, "Don't worry Voltavus, he's fine, I was just with him, now what did you want to tell us?"
"While I'm here Spyro, I need you two to watch over Ignius, other than me he seems to be comfortable around you guys, can you please take care of him for the time being?"
Cynder spoke, "Of course we can, but how long are you going to be here?"
The med team leader spoke for Voltavus, "He won't be here for long, he will be out in a couple days."
"Also, there's something about Ignius I haven't told you, and while I'm not with him and you guys are, you need to know."
Voltavus asks everyone to leave the room, except for the heroes.
Everyone in the room complied and left the room except for Spyro and Cynder.
"So what is it that you wanted to tell us?"
"What i'm about to tell you is very important, you cannot tell anyone, especially Ignius."
"Ok we won't tell anyone Voltavus."
Voltavus sighs and tries to say something but chokes on his words, but then says, "Ignius is corrupt, he has been since our first encounter with each other, I've never told anyone this but he is still corrupted by the dark power, but it's been receded for a long time, that's why I take care of him and heavily monitor his actions, if he snaps, it won't end well."
Both of the hero's eyes widen, and their hearts began to beat a lot faster than normal.
"Has he ever snapped after your 'meeting'?"
"No, the corruption hasn't shown itself since then, but I fear that him being under lots of stress and anger from today might break him."
Cynder was still staring at Voltavus with shock, but Spyro asked, "We will calm him down Voltavus, we won't let anything happen, I promise."
"Thank you guys so much for doing this, but remember, don't tell Ignius about his corruption, he doesn't even know that he is or even was corrupted."
"We won't, We promise."
They went and brought the med team back in and left, after saying goodbye to Voltavus.
They then went to go get Ignius.
Once they returned to the main structure, they all went into their respective rooms.
The next day happened to go by quickly, with no concerns, but the next was going to be event- filled.
Ignius woke, and immediately felt hungry. He went to the dining hall, to see both heroes already awake and eating. It was early morning, because the sun had just broke the crest of the nearby mountains.
"Good morning, Ignius. We have taken the liberty of making you something for breakfast, hope you like it." Said Cynder.
Ignius was truly grateful of their concern over him, and he felt just a little more safe with them near.
"Good morning to you both, how was your sleep?" He said as he sat down at his place.
Cynder spoke first,"We both slept well, thank you. How about yours? Anything worth remembering?"
He sifted through what he could remember of his dream, and shook his head once he realized he couldn't find anything.
The breakfast went by quite quickly, and the party of three went on out to the markets. The heroes have been in the city for a while now, at least two weeks, so the people of Warfang were trying their best to get a few words out to their heroes.
A couple of Voltavus's Elite Guard were accompanying them.
The news of Voltavus's injury spread like wildfire. All who heard were there to throw their words of hate at Ignius.
"You're no better than the apes!"
The guards immediately pushed the encroaching crowd back, causing some civilians to fall.
"Why do you defend that evil beast!"
Ignius was trying to be like Voltavus and the heroes, attempting to ignore the angry crowd.
"Voltavus should have left you to the apes!"
This statement was the last straw. Nobody was going to second guess Voltavus's actions. Not even the Guardians would do that.
"LEAVE US ALONE! WE HAVE DONE NOTHING TO YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW!"
The crowd instantly fell quiet. Now nobody was willing to speak, for fear of death.
Cynder stepped towards Ignius and asked,"Are you oka-"
She was cut off by a heavy paw.
Ignius had suddenly swung around and punched her in the side of the jaw. The sheer force was enough to draw blood, but she has had many years of combat experience. She only staggered.
Spyro had his attention focused elsewhere, but he heard the collision. He wheeled around, and saw Cynder, recovering from the strike.
His evil side was struggling to get free, and the anger only weakened it's mental prison.
He realized what was happening, and tried to stop the darkness. He was grabbing at his head, and roaring in pain.
It was no use.
It broke free, and forced its control onto the body of the purple savior.
Ignius had succumbed to his own darkness and corruption.
Spyro's dark form used his wings to lunge at his opponent, Ignius.
The latter didn't see him coming, and was knocked to the ground.
He recovered quickly, and tried to strike Dark Spyro, whose experience was much more than that of his enemy. He blocked the strike, and countered, his claws digging into his scales.
Ignius let out a loud growl, then dug his tail blade right behind his left foreleg. He instantly felt the pain, and was pushed away.
Dark Spyro, once thrown off, took to the sky to strike from above.
The dark hero blasted the ground with dark convexity, leaving the area charred.
He used his wings to propel himself towards his target. He hit with bone-crushing force.
Ignius started yelling, and stoking up his flame, but it wasn't normal fire.
Cynder, still in shock from the near instant turn of Spyro, looked to Ignius and could see a green flame forming. He was preparing to use it.
Spyro got into a leaping position and dove in Ignius's direction to strike him again, but he leapt into his strike zone.
Ignius let out a loud roar and a green flame spewed from his mouth, enveloping Dark Spyro, causing immense pain. This didn't stop the evil form, though.
Ignius ran to attack, but was struck from within the smoke by the dark convexity of dark Spyro.
Ignius was covered in the dense convexity. It burned hotter than anything he had ever felt. It was eating away at his flesh, and would burn through his body in a matter of minutes.
Ignius was writhing in agony, but his darkened mind dulled the pain, drastically.
Dark Spyro had ethereal fire burns all over him, but were masked by the heavy shadow veil that covered his scales.
Dark Spyro had knocked Ignius off of his paws, and had his tail blade slicked with dark convexity. He plunged his tail blade into the chest of his adversary, who was shocked by the sheer force of the attack.
Ignius wasn't going to escape the final blow.
Voltavus had been on his way to the estate when he was informed of the fight between Spyro and Ignius. He took to the sky.
He made it to the fight before either was killed.
He drug Ignius away from Dark Spyro's claws.
He then recovered, and leaped to his feet, facing Voltavus.
Voltavus then tackled him to the ground, then saw his ethereal flame about to be used again, so he pushed his head to the ground and held him down.
"IGNIUS STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" Voltavus shouted.
Ignius continued to try and fight off Voltavus, and was making progress.
"Cynder take care of Spyro quickly! I can't hold him here forever!"
"Ok, but you have to give me time!"
Voltavus nearly snarled at her. He knew she wanted this to end as much as he did, and felt sorry for snapping like that.
"Ok but please make it as quick as possible!"
Cynder nodded her head and made for Spyro.
"Voltavus, I can see that you're afraid."
"I'm not afraid!"
"Of course you are, your afraid of many things right now, you're having a good bit of trouble holding me down, you know once you lose your grip, I'm going to kill them!"
Voltavus tensed up and let out a low growl.
Ignius chuckled, "One, you're afraid because you know what it will probably take to bring 'Ignius' back."
Voltavus didn't say anything, but looked up to see Cynder calming down Spyro.
"Spyro please, I'm not hurt, it's ok, please snap out of it!"
Spyro showed that he was beginning to calm down.
"And two, you're afraid that you know you have to tell them what has to be done, you don't like to think about that in general."
Voltavus then eased his grip and looked down at the ground, with a sad expression.
Cynder then whispers to Spyro, "I need you."
Spyro's eyes widened. His consciousness was fighting for control over his own body.
"We need you back with us! I need you, please come back…"
Spyro's dark form receded and he hugged Cynder with all his strength, and whispered, "I'm so sorry I let this happen Cynder. Once I saw what I saw, I couldn't stop the anger!"
Ignius then told Voltavus, "Just end my life Voltavus. spare everyone the pain that I'll cause..."
Voltavus staggered at his request, so did the oncoming heroes that just heard him.
Spyro had burns that charred his scales and the flesh beneath them. He was supported by Cynder, because of the deep wound from Ignius's tail blade. It severed some of the muscles behind his left forleg, and he could barely use it.
Voltavus could only stare at him in horror and pity, hearing Ignius speak like this killed him.
Cynder holding a limping Spyro, approached the two.
Ignius becomes enraged when Spyro and Cynder move closer and tries to get up again, and almost did.
Voltavus used his whole body to pin him this time, then quickly asked Cynder for help.
"Ok Spyro i'm gonna have to set you down. Don't move!"
Spyro nodded but continued to watch them detain Ignius.
Cynder held down his head so he couldn't use his ethereal flame on anyone.
Voltavus used his strength to hold his back down to just pin him entirely.
"So how do we get him out of his corruption? There has to be a way!" Cynder asks.
Voltavus started to feel tears in his eyes, Cynder and Spyro could see them through his helm.
Spyro wanted to get up and help but his wounds were too severe. He could barely stand the burning sensation all over his scales.
Voltavus was beginning to sob, seeing that Ignius was too far gone, and he knew what they had to do.
Cynder wanted to console Voltavus, but she couldn't let Ignius up.
"The last time Ignius was corrupt, I had to-." Voltavus choked on his words, horrified at what he was about to tell the heroes.
Cynder didn't say anything, just stared at Voltavus with a sorrowful look in her eyes.
"Last time he was like this I… had to beat him out of it."
Cynder gasped at Voltavus's method of bringing Ignius back. Spyro closed and felt stinging in his eyes. He felt as if this was his fault.
Cynder was holding back tears, knowing she would either have to hold him down while Voltavus brought him back, or she would have to help.
"Cynder, let me do this. I know neither of you want to.
Cynder's eyes were glistening and said, "Its ok, I know you really don't want to do this."
Voltavus nodded, then lifted his right arm but stared down at Ignius, tears forming.
He then closed his eyes and slammed his paw onto Ignius's head.
After the first blow, he began struggling furiously, but not for long.
Ignius was getting more calm and more quiet after every blow, Spyro bowed his head in shame for himself, and sympathy towards the orange drake.
Cynder had stepped back, tears hanging onto the corners of her eyes.
Voltavus landed one final blow onto Ignius's head, he was unconscious, he laid limp, and the corruption had receded. Voltavus, then got off of him.
He wept.
Cynder was concerned for both drakes. She didn't know who to help.
"Go take care of Spyro, i'm fine, he needs you more than I do." Said Voltavus.
She nodded.
She quickly padded over to Spyro and laid with him and tucked her head into his arm, telling him it was over and Ignius was fine now.
"Cynder, this is my fault. None of this would be happening if I didn't take us out to the markets. Then you took the blow for me. Now he was just beat almost to death because of my decisions…" Spyro whispered.
"This isn't your fault, Spyro. You couldn't have predicted that this was going to happen. Ignius is going to be fine, and so are you. We are taking you two to the infirmary right now!"
Ignius was unconscious, and Spyro could barely stand.
"How are we gonna get them to the infirmary?"
Voltavus spoke,"I'll carry Ignius. Spyro, can you walk?"
He didn't even try to take a step, "No, I can't walk without help."
Voltavus realized the crowd was still growing, and his voice boomed,"To all who witnessed the events that occurred here, do not speak of them! If you do, I will find you! Now everyone, leave! Return to your homes!"
Cynder was at Spyro's side to support him.
"Thanks, Cynder. I couldn't have made it two feet without you."
She smirked at his attempt to lighten the mood, but it quickly faded. She had to carry half of the large dragon. She was, by no means, weak, but he wasn't exactly light.
They made their way to the infirmary, Spyro was still having trouble moving but Cynder's help made it not as bad as it could be.
Spyro asks Voltavus, "So what are we going to tell Ignius when he wakes up and sees all of us injured and he has no recollection of it?"
Voltavus thought about the question and replied, "For now let's just worry about getting you three helped out."
Cynder replied almost instantly to Voltavus, "I'm fine, we really need to worry about them."
"That's true, but you were hit hard enough to draw blood, I atleast want to see if you have some form of brain damage so we can help you before it worsens."
Cynder replied to Voltavus in a stern voice.
"I'm not putting myself before them, I'm not limping or even dead, so I'm well enough, until they are treated by the healers first, I'm not going to accept treatment."
Voltavus liked her determination and deep care for the wounded dragons, he then shook his head and agreed with her.
They then arrived to the Infirmary, and the healers rushed to them, at the sight of the two heavily injured dragons.
The med team leader asked Voltavus what happened to them.
Voltavus replied, "I got there when they were fighting, I got Ignius and pinned him, while Cynder got Spyro out of his dark side-"
He was cut off by the med team leader.
"DARK SIDE!"
The med team leader took a deep breath and asked again, now more assertive.
"What happened!"
Cynder spoke for Voltavus.
"Voltavus wasn't there until near the end of the fight, I was there since the beginning, what happened was we were taking Ignius out into the city to cool off, but word of Ignius and Voltavus's spar spread fast, and Ignius was ridiculed for it."
Voltavus looked at Cynder, and asked what did they do to him.
She replied, "The people were shouting at him that he was no better than the apes and that Voltavus should have just left him there with the apes, Ignius was trying to be like you Voltavus, I could tell, he was trying to keep his cool, but-"
Voltavus cut her off, with an infuriated voice asking, but what, because Cynder paused when she was about to say what happened.
"He snapped, I went to ask him if he was ok, and he span around and hit me with enough force to down a much larger drake. I didn't expect that at all, I felt my face and I was bleeding, that's when Spyro turned to see me recovering from the blow, that's when his dark side took over and, they fought."
Voltavus was mad because of the people being the cause of the fight, he wondered why did they antagonise Ignius like that, he was never mean to anyone that he could think of.
"Well now that's out of the way, help them, and if we ever have to leave, make sure we know if they are doing better."
The med team leader replied. "You have my word Voltavus, we will take good care of them."