Author Notes:
Hello everyone and welcome to the first proper chapter of my Spyro: Dragon Spirit – Awakening rewrite.
It's still pretty much the same story as my original fan fic except Spyro and Cyra meet under different circumstances as I thought it be a bit more interesting. I also tried to get rid of some unnecessary ellipses as was pointed out in my last chapter (I do admit that I did overuse them a tad); though I still kept some to show someone going into thought or trailing off in their speech.
Chapter 1: The Mysterious Portal
(A/N: Kept this title the same because I like it and I lack imagination lol)
Fourteen whole years had passed since Raku's untimely attack on the Dragon Realms. Within that time, the inhabitants of the Dragon Realms had managed to keep Raku's evil at bay through a protective, magical shield that was erected shortly after his release. Though the shadow of Raku loomed at the back of their minds, the Dragons still managed to live their lives in peace under their safe haven.
Living a world away from home under the guise of a Human, the young hatchling Cyra, who had managed to escaped Raku's onslaught, had grown into a teenager now attending Secondary School. Up until now, Cyra herself had no prior knowledge of her heritage. As far as Cyra was concerned, she lived an ordinary and uneventful life with her parents in a small village surrounded by farms and woodland.
On a particularly nice, summer afternoon two young girls were seen walking down a rough footpath in a woodland area. One girl had blonde, tied-back hair, dressed in a pair of jeans and a light-blue fleece, and the other with long, straight, brown hair, wearing a denim jacket and a pair of crop-trousers.
"So, Cyra, what're you gonna do when you get home?" the brown-haired girl asked her friend.
"No' sure. I think I might just relax now our exams are over," Cyra replied, "What about you, Leigh?" she asked.
"Aye, I think I'll do the same," Leigh agreed, "When do the results come out by the way," she asked.
"Dunno but it's not really something I want to think about right now," Cyra laughed along with Leigh, as the two girls reached a crossroads, "Anyway, I suppose I'd better get going," she said.
"Aye, well see you tomorrow if you're up to it, ok?" Leigh said, "And mind and let me know what you're doing," she added.
"Aye, will do," Cyra confirmed, "Anyway, see ya," she called and Leigh acknowledged her as they went their separate ways.
With the birds twittering and flitting through the trees above, Cyra strolled down the footpath taking in the scenery as she let relief wash over her. Now that her Standard and Intermediate 2 Grades were done, she could now look forward to the rest of her summer holidays. Yes, she would have enjoyed the freedom and the warm sun to caress her soul indeed; if only those grey clouds hadn't appeared as if out of nowhere.
"That's Scotland for ya," Cyra sighed as drops of rain started to fall. Then within no less than two minutes, a light drizzle turned into a heavy shower. As Cyra briskly to walk down the path, gravel rolling and crunching under her feet, she came to a very familiar, tired and weathered old fort. Cyra often wondered what historic events and battles that little crumbly castle may have seen as history was one of her main interests at school but the thought never occurred to her to venture inside. Today, however, she went inside no questions asked to nip out of the sudden downpour. Sighing at the sudden weather change, Cyra then took off her bag and began to rummage around for her rain coat. It wasn't until she found what she was looking for when Cyra noticed an odd, hot feeling develop near her chest. As Cyra reached inside her jumper, she pulled out her favourite amulet made of gold that bore a small, serpentine ruby dragon. The amulet in question was now glowing and emitting an impressive amount of heat.
"What? It's never done this before…," Cyra trailed off, puzzled by the odd behaviour of her amulet. Then as Cyra pondered at her strange, glowing amulet, she heard a strange humming sound at the back of the fort before a weird, shimmering glow bounced off the walls. Cyra then looked behind to find, what looked like a stone arch, with two dragons carved onto either side of the frame; a void depicting a woodland scene shimmered in the centre.
"Huh?" Cyra started, who was too lost for words really, "Ok? This is just weird…" she said to herself as she crept towards the strange almost water-like, rippling void.
"Ok," Cyra eventually said, not knowing what to make of the strange turn of events, "Right, I think I'd better get myself home or mum'll throw a fit if I don't do the chores in time," she decided before starting to turn away. It was then that Cyra found that her amulet started floating towards the strange arch by itself. As Cyra tried to move it however, the amulet just remained fixed in the same spot no matter how hard she pulled on it.
"What the -" Cyra just said, completely dumbfounded by the strange occurrences. Then as Cyra tried to take her amulet off or worm her way out from the chain, she found that she could not do this either; it was almost as though some force was preventing her from doing so. As Cyra stood there completely helpless, she then felt as though she was being physically pulled forwards. "What!? Oh! My God! It's sucking me in!" Cyra exclaimed as she felt her felt her feet being dragged along the ground before she grabbed hold of the wall beside her, "Oh! No, no, heck no!" she cried as she tried to hold her ground. But as the pull go stronger and stronger, her feet then started to float towards the void as it continued to try to pull her in.
"No! Someone, help me!" Cyra called to anyone who maybe walking along the path outside as she tried to hold onto the wall. As the pull got stronger and stronger still, the two stones in the wall that Cyra held dearly onto eventually crumbled away from the damp."Aaaaaaah! Noooo! HELP ME! AAAAAAH!" Cyra screamed as she was sent hurtling towards the arch before being completely swallowed up by the void.
The sound of birds chirping in the air reached her ears after being plummeted through the air by what felt like a terrifying underwater luge ride.
"Uh… What the heck was that thing…?" Cyra groaned, dazed and confused as she sat up from landing hard on the ground; she noticed straight away that something was amiss. As Cyra made to rub her eyes, she gasped in surprise as she found herself staring her 'hands' which were now adorned with blue scales with sharp, black talons. "What the heck!?" Cyra exclaimed as she looked at herself to find that she was in fact covered completely in blue scales. Along with her reptilian skin, Cyra also had yellow plate-like scales on her chest and stomach, along with a set of wings and a tail. "Oh! My God! I'm a freaking dragon!" Cyra cried in disbelief.
"Ok, I must be dreaming," Cyra said, stimming her temples as she tried to rationalise her experience; her stinging graze from her arrival, however, proved otherwise. "Ok. If this isn't a dream then where the heck am I anyway?" Cyra asked herself as she looked around the strange forest she arrived in, "That thing that sucked me in... It must've been a portal of some sort," she surmised as she looked around before finding an arch a little distance away. As Cyra made to stand up, she then found that her joints could no longer support her like before and opted for dropping down to four legs. Cyra then walked up to the portal to find to her horror that there was no void.
"Oh! No …!" Cyra said in disbelief, not believing her luck as she rushed up to thoroughly examine the portal, trying to find some way of getting it to spring back to life again, "Crap! Now what do I do?" she exclaimed.
"Ok, ok, ok. Let's think. If I can't get back that way, then I guess the only thing I can do is go and find help," Cyra muttered to herself, "Well, suppose I better get moving before the sun sets. I'd hate to be out here at night," she said with a short sigh. Cyra then set off through the forest in the hope that she can find some sort of civilisation to help shine some light on the situation.
After at least a few hours of walking, Cyra was still none the wiser about her whereabouts as she found herself still trudging through the same forest.
"Wow. This is one big forest," Cyra said as she gazed up at the orange sky of dusk, "I hope my parents are alright," she said as it started to dawn on her how her friends and family may react to her being missing. As Cyra continued to walk through the seemingly never-ending forest, she started to hear what sounded rustling and the odd couple of twigs snap through the dark trees and forest-floor. Feeling anxious, Cyra picked up the pace, hoping to see the end of the forest soon if at all.
As Cyra walked briskly through the trees, trying to escape the many sounds of animals that reached her ears, a series of grunts and growls surrounding her made her blood run cold. As she followed the almost orange sky into an opening in the forest, she stopped to get her bearings once more; it was then when a moving shadow caught her attention. It was then that what looked like a wolf emerged from behind a tree, growling and bearing its teeth at her. Now downright scared for her life, Cyra backed away from the wolf's advancements, not daring to breathe a word. In the silence of the forest, Cyra continued to slowly back away from the hungry wolf, eyes glaring into her soul. Then as if her day couldn't get any worse, a loud snap from a twig under her feet echoed through the forest. Then as sudden as a flick of a switch, the leader of the pack unexpectedly charged towards her with Cyra only just rolling out of the way in the nick of time. Cyra then with being backed into a corner, instinctively sliced the wolf's cheek with her claws. Howling at the searing pain, the wolf backed off, allowing Cyra to get up and out of the way. Incidentally, this only made the wolf angrier and the pack of wolves continued chasing Cyra relentlessly through the forest.
"Ok. Not a smart move!" Cyra exclaimed, mentally slapping herself, "Wait… I have an idea," she said to herself before dodging a pounce of a wolf. Cyra then, as the wolf double-backed, took a deep breath and… nothing. Cyra then tried a second time which only resulted in a belch of smoke at the most; this really was not a good time to realise it wasn't something you could learn in a few seconds. "Ah! Screw this!" Cyra cried before continuing to gallop through the forest once more with a horde of hungry wolves snapping at her heels, dodging tree trunks and rocks as she went.
Cyra just could not believe her recent turn of events. It was only less than six hours ago that she was sat in a chemistry exam at school and now she was galloping through a strange forest with an angry pack of wolves chasing after her. And to top it all off, she was a Dragon who couldn't breathe fire.
As she continued to dodge and swerve through the many unexpected twists and turns of the forest, Cyra notice the volume of trees gradually becoming less as her surroundings brightened. It was then as if by magic, Cyra suddenly burst out from a line of trees into an open grassy field. "Yes!" Cyra cheered as she was liberated from that god-awful forest, but her troubles still weren't over as the wolves still chased her out into the field.
Forever running for her life from the pack of determined wolves, Cyra then caught the sight of something ahead. As she neared it, it seemed to be a structure of some sort; a roof in fact.
"Oh! Finally!" Cyra sighed in relief as she neared the area of civilisation but as she was about to leap over a small river into the area, she suddenly felt as though she smacked right into brick wall. "What!? A force field!?" Cyra said in disbelief as she felt the invisible wall, "Oh! God no! Someone please tell me I'm dreaming!" she begged once more to the invisible force behind her escapades.
Then as she looked behind after trying and failing to find an opening in the force field, Cyra found herself caught between rock and a hard place as the pack of wolves hurtled towards her.
"Aw, craaaap…!" Cyra said to herself, as she could do nothing but await the oncoming storm of wolves that were now less than twenty feet away, "Nooo…!" she cried as the leader of the pack leapt straight at her. Then as sudden as a blink of an eye, something rammed into the wolf in mid-air before it reached her. As Cyra looked properly, her saviour turned out to be a young dragon with purple scales; he looked to be around her age. The young dragon then turned to fight off the other wolves by dodging their attacks and charging them down before incinerating them with his fire breath. The young dragon then turned to a very bewildered Cyra as howls of many wolves called from the forest.
"C'mon this way" he said quickly, "Or there'll be pack of fifty by the time we get there," he added as she ran after him around the invisible force field. An even larger pack of savage wolves, of around fifty like he said, then charged out of the forest with their sights set on them. Cyra and the young Dragon then ran to the back of a small castle and in through a stone arch as quick as they could. The two young dragons then ran through into a large hall filled with intricate architecture made of marble and stone, complete with a shiny tiled floor.
"Phew! Now that was a close one," he said whilst walking through a doorway into a corridor as he really didn't fancy fending of a pack of fifty or so wolves.
"Yeah, I'll say," Cyra sighed in relief, gasping for breath after her dilemma in the forest, "Thanks a lot for that, by the way" she added gratefully as she honestly thought she wasn't going to make it that time.
"Hey, no problem," he replied nonchalantly, "I'm Spyro by the way," he added.
"Oh. I'm Cyra," Cyra replied.
"Cool. Anyway, what were you doing out in the forest?" Spyro asked, "It's really dangerous out there you know. And why didn't you just roast them?" he added.
"I uh don't know how…," Cyra trailed off, a little embarrassed by that fact.
"Huh? Really?" Spyro replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I'm not actually a Dragon you see; I'm a Human," Cyra started, "Well, at least I was until I was somehow teleported into that forest," she added.
"Ah. Ok, I getcha," Spyro replied as things pieced together, "Where did you actually come from then?" he asked.
"A place called Scotland," Cyra replied but she was met with a blank expression, "Earth…?" she hinted which did not alleviate his confusion, "A different planet, apparently," she added.
"Well anyway, welcome to the Dragon Worlds I guess," Spyro said before they walked through a large threshold into a large open area. The area in question was a field filled with beautiful, lush, green grass with a gravelly path winding under the strip of land where they stood. The place was alive with sound of twittering birds and the waterfall to their left crashing on the rocks below. At the back of the area there stood a hedged maze and lone portal stood shimmering on a small hill to their right. Intricate architecture and various tunnels could be seen carved into the outer wall of the area; the whole area had a magical, natural feel about it, only enhanced by the now setting sun.
"Wow, you live here?" Cyra said a little speechless as she had never seen such a beautiful, peaceful place before.
"Yup, sure do. This is Artisans," Spyro replied, sensing the feeling of awe in her, "Cool huh?" he asked with a small smile.
"Yeah, it sure is," Cyra replied.
"Oh! Wait, I almost forgot," Spyro said as he recalled something, "Nestor said he was looking for you," he added.
"Eh? What for?" Cyra asked.
"Beats me but it must be important," Spyro replied, "C'mon," he added as she followed him down into the lush field; perhaps her sudden change of circumstances won't turn out to be so bad after all. But little did Cyra know; this was only the tip of the iceberg.
Meanwhile, in a land of shadow where the ground has never so much as seen the light of day, a vortex of clouds full of dark energy span eerily in the sky above, as if it was sucking the land dry of whatever goodness remained. Alone in the land of darkness stood a dark, misshapen fortress, looming in the clouded night sky. Any sane individual would do well to stay clear of the evil that lurks within; but then again, Raku was anything but sane.
"Hm… I feel a disturbance in the air," stirred a voice from a cloaked figure, sitting on a roughly carved throne. The throne room itself was a large, dull room, adorned with many evil statues, carvings and instruments of torture; it seemed to pulse with a heavy, evil energy.
"Grimtooth, what is your making of this occurrence?" Raku asked as a grey, bipedal dragon walked up to him, who had not long entered the room, "I sense that you have something that you wish to tell me?" he hinted.
"That is what I came to discuss with you, my lord," Grimtooth replied, "There has been a disturbance in the magickal network. Darkfang reports that the energy surge lead to an old, disused portal in the forest outside of the Artisan Province," he added.
"I see and have you come by any other information?" Raku asked, intrigued.
"The portal was inactive when it was located," Grimtooth replied, "There was disturbance in the forest, however. The wolves were agitated and there was the faint scent close to that of a dragon but it definitely wasn't one of our own. I should also add that this portal was close to where we found that Dragon and Dragoness fourteen years ago," he added.
"I see," Raku replied as a great, ugly smirk played on his face, "So the day has finally come where she returns to her homeland," he said more-so to himself, "Grimtooth. Ready the altar, I have a little task for you" he added with a wicked grin as Grimtooth bowed to his master.