So the first chapter of my new story and our heroes are about to get a very rude awakening.
Disclaimer: This story has nothing to do with Eragon, How To Train Your Dragon, Dragon Booster or any other stories involving humans riding dragons. Also, I only own my OC's and nothing else.
So let's get it on!
Chapter 1: Underground Grievances
Even in the darkest of times, there is always hope… but sometimes our fear clouds our vision. Sometimes our strength gives out… and yet sometimes when all seems lost, a light shines in the darkness and we are reminded that even the smallest amount of courage can turn the tides of war.
Deep within the catacombs of the demolished Well of Souls, an army was on the march. Grublins carrying torches led the way, lighting up the caverns for their leader, a Hero Grublin and two other Grublins who were hefting a large chest. They were so intent on their mission that none of them noticed the hooded figure hiding among the ruins.
The figure, a cheetah archer named Hunter was also on a mission. The Dragon Guardians had sent him on a task to find the three friends who were needed in this dark time. For months, he got nowhere then one of his messenger falcons had given him news of Grublins marching towards the mountains and he knew that had to be a lead. Now, as the Grublin army marched past his hiding place, Hunter jumped down and slowly followed them with nary a sound to give him away.
At that moment, one of the torch-bearing Grublins stopped and pointed down a nearby cave. "We're here." The Hero Grublin waved his huge club down the passage and they all set off into the darkness, Hunter silently behind them. Eventually, they stopped at the base of a massive yellow crystal and the cheetah peeked around to see… and he knew that at last, he had found what he was searching for.
Trapped in the crystal, like insects frozen in amber, were four figures. Three of them were dragons; one large golden dragon with blue wings and horns, its front legs over the two smaller dragons; one of them was purple and had yellow horns and orange wings, the other one black with silver horns, red wings and a blade on the end of its tail. A young human wearing silver armour and a red cape stood on the larger dragon's back, holding a magnificent sword in a two-handed grip over his head, his left arm showing a red sword-shaped mark.
The Hero Grublin's red eyes narrowed as he stared at the figures in the crystal then he turned to one of the Grublins. "Break it."
The little minion stepped forward, raised its ax and smashed it as hard as it could into the crystal's side. At once, the crystal flashed and started to shake and crack, and then voices echoed around the chamber.
"Spyro, Troy, stop!"
"No… don't make me do this…"
"Come on, guys. You have to fight it!"
"No… I-I can't…"
"Get close to us NOW!"
"CONVEIAS TEMPORUS!"
As the voices faded, the crystal finally shattered and the dragons and human slumped onto the ground motionless, the sword clattering next to them. The Hero Grublin then turned to the Grublins carrying the chests and nodded. "Shackle the dragons."
The Grublins placed the chest down and opened it. Three Grublins then each drew out a small emerald snake and placed them on the dragons' necks. As each snake touched the dragons' flesh, they coiled around the necks and shifted into glowing collars. Then the rest of the army grabbed the unconscious figures and dragged them out of the cavern.
One Grublin spotted the large sword lying nearby and went back to take a look… only to get shot in the back by one of Hunter's arrows. The cheetah then approached the shattered crystal to grab the sword and then noticed a faint glimmer of light. He knelt down and discovered the light was actually a small yellow dragonfly. Carefully, he picked up the dragonfly and lifted it to his face.
As the dragonfly slowly sat up, he looked up at Hunter and gasped in alarm. "W-Who are you?" he stammered. "What's going on? Where's Spyro and the others?"
"Shhh," Hunter hissed. "You're making too much noise."
He then picked up the sword and set off down the passage after the Grublins…
"Troy! Can you hear me? Open your eyes, please!"
With a loud groan, Troy slowly lifted his head and opened his eyes, blinking to focus. He could see his partner, Astral, and Cynder standing over him, concern on their faces.
"Are you alright?" Cynder asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Troy murmured. "Where's Spyro?"
He looked round and saw the purple dragon lying some distance away. Then Spyro let out a moan and Astral ran up to her brother's side.
As Troy got shakily to his feet, Cynder joined Astral and whispered to her friend, "Spyro, Spyro, open your eyes. Get up!"
Spyro sat up slowly and looked around at his friends. "Cynder, Astral? What happened? Where are we?"
"I don't know," Cynder admitted as she looked up. "It's all a blur."
"Yeah, me too," Troy said as he joined his friends. Desperately he tried to think back, but all he could remember was crumbling rocks, a faint voice in his head then a flash of light and then… waking up here. It was then he realized that Spyro and Cynder had grown quite a bit since that moment. He looked over at Astral and noticed a few changes on her too. The secondary horns on her cheeks had grown significantly longer and the sword-shaped mark on her chest had almost completely faded away.
As Spyro got to his feet, he screwed up his eyes in pain. "We must have been out for a while. My head's pounding…"
"Shhh, wait," Astral hissed, her head cocked to one side. "That's not your head. I can hear it too."
Troy listened and sure enough, a loud drumming noise was echoing around them. "So can I. What is that?"
Suddenly, a light flashed up in one corner, making them jump. "Sparx, is that you?" Spyro called out.
But then more lights flashed around them and suddenly they became aware of their situation. "For once, I wish it was," Astral murmured.
They were standing in the middle of a wide platform over a pool of lava, and all around them, strange creatures were grunting and cheering. They looked like they were made of tree branches and grass, their red eyes glowing with malice as they waved their clubs in the air.
"What are they doing?" Cynder asked worryingly.
"Let's not stick around to find out," Troy replied grimly. "Come on."
He started to lead the dragons away, but suddenly Spyro and Astral felt something catch on their necks and stumbled back with a cry.
"What is your problem, guys?" Cynder cried out, turning to look at her friends.
It was then that Troy gasped and pointed to her neck. "Um, guys, you might want to look at this."
Spyro and Astral spotted the green, snake-like collar on Cynder's neck and followed the glowing chain back to a large stone disc on the floor and round to two similar collars around Spyro's and Astral's neck.
They all said the exact same thing. "Oh, this can't be good."
Suddenly, there was a loud roar and Troy and the dragons turned to see a large creature waving its club in the air. "They're awake. Don't let them escape!"
At once, the grassy tree-creatures disappeared into the ground and popped back up on the platform. Quickly, Troy reached for his sword… but felt nothing in his scabbard. "Oh no, I've lost Draconis!"
"You'll just have to fight without it," Astral cried, smashing one of the creatures back with her tail.
Spyro grabbed one of the creatures with his teeth and swung it by its leg around his head, knocking other creatures back. Cynder grabbed another creature in the same fashion and swung it side by side, knocking two others down like she was hammering nails in the floor. One of the creatures pushed past the dragons and pounced on Troy. Quickly he raised his shield up and smashed it in the creature's face then pushed forward, plowing through the others and knocking them off the platform.
Just as it looked like Troy and the dragons were winning, the other creatures dived into the ground. Suddenly, a giant magma-like hand with crystals embedded in it emerged from below and grabbed onto the edge of the platform. It was quickly followed by a gigantic magma-monster that threw back its head and let out an ear-shattering roar.
At once, Astral ran up and grabbed the disc in her claws. "We have to break this thing! It's holding us back!"
Spyro and Cynder also grabbed the disc and together, the dragons pulled hard, eventually breaking it apart. As they did, the chain broke loose, but it was still flashing between the dragons' necks.
The monster raised its hand and brought it down to crush them. Troy leaped out of the way and the dragons flipped backwards moments before the fist struck the ground. Then Astral charged forward, unknowingly dragging Spyro and Cynder with her, bashing her horns into the beast's huge crystal-filled hand. Once they'd recovered, Spyro and Cynder added their own attacks in as well. Troy ran over and started hacking away at the crystals with his shield. After a few hits, the monster pulled back its hand with a roar of pain.
Spyro let out a sigh and turned to Cynder and Astral. "This chain is slowing us down; we can't fight it!"
"He's right," Astral agreed as Troy climbed onto her back. "We'll have to move in unison; follow my lead!"
"Why should you lead?" Cynder cried out.
"Uh-oh," Troy interrupted, seeing the monster raising its hand again. "Take cover!"
Acting quickly, the dragons spread their wings and leapt off the platform, barely escaping the monster's fist.
Cynder gulped at their close call. "Okay, good idea, you lead, Astral."
The dragons swooped past the monster as it turned to grab them. Troy gasped as a huge hand reached out to him and Astral. Then suddenly the monster pulled back and grabbed its eye that was sparking with dark energy. Its tail swung out and knocked down a pillar as the monster dived back into the lava.
As the dragons landed back on the platform, Troy looked around for any sign of their rescuer. Then out of the shadows, a small flash of light came zipping over to them. "Hey, Spyro, guys you're alive!" it buzzed joyously.
"Sparx!" Spyro cried out in delight, recognizing his adopted dragonfly brother. "It's good to see you too! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, little stiff… voice keeps changing, but I'm good," Sparx murmured.
"Hey, this reunion is really touching and everything," Astral interrupted. "But shouldn't we get going? Unless you want to wait for that thing to climb back up; I'd hate to think what it would do to Sparx."
The dragonfly folded his arms and glared at the Golden Dragon. Troy looked over to where Sparx had zipped out from and spotted a mysterious figure standing on a nearby podium. "Who is that guy?"
"I don't know," Sparx replied. "All he said was 'shhh, you're making too much noise'."
Cynder chuckled slightly. "I like him already."
Spyro, Cynder, and Astral flew onto the fallen pillar and ran across to where the figure was standing. Troy looked at him closely. It was a cheetah about Troy's height, wearing a long red cloak and holding a longbow in one paw. Troy realized that he must have shot an arrow into the monster's eye and saved their lives.
As they approached, the cheetah turned and smiled grimly at them. "Troy, dragons, how do you feel? Anything broken?"
"Shaken a little bit," Spyro replied. "But not too badly, thanks to you."
The cheetah let out a deep sigh. "I am relieved; I had feared I might be too late. My name is Hunter."
"Hunter…" Troy repeated slowly then he remembered something. "Wait a minute…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled scroll then read the last lines written on it. "I look forward to the day when we can meet. Signed, Hunter of Avalar."
"I see you kept the letter I wrote," Hunter beamed.
"That was from back on the Skavengers' ship," Astral recalled. "You've been tracking us…"
"For far too long, my friends," Hunter confirmed, leading the group out of the arena. "When you three didn't return to the Temple, the Elder Dragon, Ignitus sent me to find you. That was nearly three years ago…"
"WHAT?" Troy cried out. "Three years?"
"But… that's impossible," Spyro added.
"Yes, I'm sure this news comes as quite a shock," Hunter sighed, turning back to the group. "Forgive me for the brevity of my explanation, but this is not the place to account for missing time."
As if on cue, the caverns shook and the ceiling behind them collapsed, blocking off the entrance to the arena.
"We are not safe here," Hunter said grimly. "Follow me."
As he set off down the tunnel, Troy, Sparx, and the dragons cast nervous glances at each other.
"Can we trust this guy?" Cynder murmured.
"He did save our lives back there," Astral reminded her. "And he knows Master Ignitus, so he seems trustworthy…"
"His note also said that we have allies in these dark times," Spyro added. "I think he wanted to join forces with us."
"Listen, guys," Troy said. "We don't know what's been going on since we apparently disappeared and right now, Hunter might be our only source of information. We'll go along with him for now and learn what we can…"
"Come on, guys," Hunter called out from further down the catacombs. "It's too dangerous to hang around here!"
Troy turned back to his friends. "He's got a point there. We'll have to stay with him, for now…"
With that agreed, Troy and the dragons set off after the cheetah into the tunnels, just as a loud roar was heard behind them…
And here I'll stop. So now everything is set for the next part.
Next chapter, our heroes traverse the dangerous catacombs, relearn their old skills and face the deadly Golem again and again.
See you then