A mysterious Earth Dragoness, a lonely evening, and a curious old man…? What do these things add up to? Just take a guess. Who knows what this woman has in store for Terrador, but maybe it'd be best if he asked the Guardians for some guidance first.
Age of Life
Chapter 3
Athenaeum
Ask for Zephra…The words trailed over and over in his mind just wondering about who Zephra was and why he had to ask for her. The library in Warfang wasn't too far from where he had been residing since the temple had been taken by Malefor as his lair, but neither was the common court house where he had been at the meeting only a few hours earlier. He hadn't been waiting for Sparx that long, but to him, so long as he was thinking about this strange, yet stunning dragoness who spoke to him, he may as well have been their waiting all day. He stood there on the sidewalk, watching the city folk go about their business, trading, moving, and the little children laughing and playing in the streets. Terrador, ever since the talk he had with Spyro about eggs, was moved to the brim about hatchlings and chicks that he could call his own. And for the first time in Terrador's life, he actually wished for Sparx to show up, this way he could get his mind off of this Emerald Dragoness, and focus on the things he should've been on.
"Yo…! Terrador…!" Music to his ear holes; Terrador looked up to see Sparx fly down to him on the sidewalk and the normal reports were given.
"Hello Sparx…did you…find anything…?" The mighty dragon had his mind on a randomizer, his thoughts spinning and moving around as fast as the world did spin, and he was amazed that he managed to, mostly, put together a full sentence.
"No…" And Sparx raised an eyelid, "But I heard you did…!" Sparx said and flew off, laughing harder than when he taunted Spyro during their game of tag in the swamp. Terrador was stunned and embarrassed, but the dragonfly was gone, the chance to retaliate was gone.
A few minutes later and he had returned to the meeting hall he was at before, and he heard his fellow Guardians' voices coming from inside. He wasn't quite sure how to tell them about this predicament, but he knew he couldn't talk to Spyro, even though he was unaware the young lover and his future mate both saw. And clearly someone had told Sparx, but either, way his friends were the last ones he could turn to for guidance, so will a deep breath, followed by a sight, Terrador walked up to the door and pushed it open. Once the doors were spread wide enough for him to enter, he saw the other two Guardians just sitting down and talking about something. All he heard out of the two before they noticed his presences was,
"Do you understand what I mean?" Volteer asked, to which Cyril replied,
"Yes, yes…of course…" Like he typically did; once they turned their heads and saw their friend, Cyril was the first to extend a greeting. "Ah Terrador…what news do you bring from the city square?" But Terrador held his expression without an even slight twitch. "Terrador…?" He asked back to the Earth dragon. Terrador shook his head and walked up to his two equals and sat down on his bum like they were. He walked with his head down, and after he sat, picked his head back up and looked towards his Ice counterpart.
"I bring news of shock…and to me…surprise…" He mumbled out, but not a nervous mumble, more like a subtle, curious, yet also concerned type mumble.
Cyril and Volteer's faces grew timid expressions, like they knew this was a tender position for Terrador to be in, but being the dragons they were, they still had a duty to the city. "Well…? What was it old friend?" Cyril blatantly let roll off his tongue, his mind speaking for him.
"Yes, what did you find out there?" Volteer added, being the redundant one of the two. That kind of behavior was typical of Volteer, but in this case, the pressure inside Terrador was building up like he had his head in a vice, and the way to word his encounter was only making it worse for him.
He sighed and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts away and stay on track, "The young ones and I parted ways once we reached the city square, Spyro took Cynder off in one direction and Sparx went off in another. I remained in the square, but then…" He stopped, and the other two dragons leaned their heads in like they were anticipating a slap in the face. "There was this…dragoness…she knew my name, and she seemed very interested in my…" Terrador scrambled his ideas together as to what to call it, but the only thing he could come up with that sounded proper without directly saying 'love life' was, "Social history…"
The heads of Volteer and Cyril retracted and their eyelids rose, not seeing an issue in his story. If anything, the two were jealous of him meeting a dragoness so quickly, but both knew that the description of the event was nowhere near over.
"And so…? What's the problem?" A wanting Volteer asked. But Terrador looked to him and said with fear in his eyes,
"She invited me to the library later this evening, I'm not sure if I should go…it may lead to…regretful actions." The tone of his voice changed from fear to uncertainty, and his head fell like a stone.
"Well you heard what Spyro said old friend…" Cyril began, and Terrador picked his head up and listened, "Our time has come, the world is a peaceful place now. Should you find a mate and settle down, no one would have a problem with that. And the way I see it, neither would she, whoever she is. Even if said actions are undergone, there's no reason that once you have children you have to give up fighting and battling. After all you said it yourself, it's all you know, you'd have to let up on the consistency of how often you do it, but no one should give up their entire lives to see someone else's through."
Volteer then joined in, "It's true that one must be willing to sacrifice themselves for their family, but character is what makes us all unique, should you have to give that up…the woman wouldn't be right for you at all."
"And we all must remember that love is only true one time in our lives, and we have to know when to plant our roots. Should we wait too long, our family will perish, and the bloodline shall cease." Cyril was trying to say in a clean way that you know when you're readying to have children, and if you don't that's your choice, but make sure it's what you want, because if you change your mind, you'll surely regret it.
With a mental pledge, and yet another sigh, Terrador turned to leave, walking with doubt and feeling like his legs were shaking. His friends weren't so quick to let him leave with his current outlook. "Where are you going old friend?" Volteer asked. Terrador only turned around looked to his Electric counterpart and said,
"Home…one can never think too much…"
Meanwhile, as if the stars were aligning perfectly, Spyro and Cynder had to make a stop by the city library while Sparx was off somewhere doing his own thing, promising to meet them afterwards. Inside the building, Cynder was sitting on a pillow on the ground, reading an open book in the silent serenity a library offers, and the book was taking her to a different world. And so the boy refused his father's orders, and married his true love after all. The End…She sighed with bliss and a fuzzy feeling after finishing the story. The feeling sprouted from her knowing that the boy in the book was just like Spyro, always doing what he thought was right while still trying to please everyone. Spyro was still searching for his desired book in one of the rows, and when he reached up to take a book down to see if it was the one he was looking for, Cynder walked towards him and startled him with her voice in the stillness.
"Spyro…" It was still a whisper, as it was a library, but the sudden noise made him jump, ever so slightly. "Sorry…" She said quietly, but no damage had been done besides a little shock.
"It's fine…" He began in an equally quiet voice, "Did you want something?" He asked in a sweet little voice.
"No, I was just putting this back." And she put the book back into place and the shelf, causing some dust to rise. Clearly, the library needed some work done, and Cynder let out a small cough.
"Are you okay?" He asked her with his tender, yet calm voice. Cynder swallowed a few times, and took a deep breath.
"I'm fine, just a small hitch. But I know if it had been worse, you would've been right there to help me."
"You know I would've…" And he placed his right forefoot on her cheek and caressed her face in his palm, making her place her own foot over his and grasping it. Their eyes met, and a smile blossomed on their faces. But a sneaky scoff trailed through the room at their actions, and both broke from the moment to turn around and through the rows of shelves, they saw an adult dragon.
Both walked over to the dragon past the books and the pillow Cynder was previously sitting on, and when they reached their company, they noticed it was a female. Spyro tilted his head to the side as the woman looked to them and raised an eyelid and turned her head like she was waiting for an answer. "Yes…can I help you?" She asked.
"We were just curious why you scoffed before? It seemed a little rude." Cynder made the point, but the female rolled her eyes and looked back towards the book shelf she was near.
"Pardons…you're Spyro and Cynder…correct?" Any dragon in the city knew these two by now, so she figured she'd acknowledge that fact.
"Yes…we are. Who are you?" Spyro might've been a hero, but he was still raised better than that, so he remained formal.
The adult seemed hesitant, but caved in shortly after and spoke, "My name is Zephra. I was categorized under Deadly Class as a student. So I'm just here looking for a book on socialism, I need all the help I can get. If you know what I mean…" Spyro didn't understand, but Cynder, being a female as well, understood completely.
"If you're looking for romantic help…I'm sure we could give you a talon. We are a couple after all…" Cynder said proudly and turned her attention to Spyro, to which he only nodded and Cynder moved her focus back to Zephra.
"Okay fine…you got me…" She sighed, just like Terrador, and explained, "What do you do when you meet someone who's too much like yourself? So much that it makes you mad because you don't like what you see? But at the same time, you like that person because they're not you?"
"A little more…please…" Spyro said leaning in, needing more information than that.
"Like…" Zephra had no idea how to describe her situation, "I met this man earlier today, and he's really strong and proud. But like I said, I was in Deadly Class as a child, that means I was a loose cannon while in school. So I've never had any experience with relationships. In fact, I was too focused on fighting that I never pondered the idea of romance and family for myself, so now I'm a socially awkward solider with a date, and no idea of how to go through with it." Spyro was intrigued by her story, having no idea that this man was Terrador, who shared the same emotional stress as she did.
"You know, you remind me of someone I'm really close with…" Spyro said to her, "He's been fighting and training his whole life and has developed a fear of intimacy, and a closed mind to the idea of family. But from what I heard, he met someone who threw him for a loop, and it made him see that having relations with someone can be a moving experience. This is just my opinion, but by the way he acted after his encounter with the woman, he seemed like he knew a few things he didn't before. In your case, I'm thinking that you think this man is so much like yourself, that this whole date will be unsettling and awkward like you said. What you need to understand is this…though sometimes two dragons may go into a situation apart, if you both have the same feelings inside, you'll come out together. Take myself and Cynder for an example, when this war started, she was my sworn enemy, and she tried to kill me multiple times. But…after I saved her, and after she saved me too, we grew to see that together, and only together, could we achieve victory and complete our mission. Through this, we found love, and now here we are…"
Zephra took in every word and tried to muster a solution based on his advice, though he seemed like he spoke in riddles. "So what you're saying is…I'm nervous about meeting this man here, because I think he's too much like myself, therefore I'm concerned I'll blow it. But, if I just open up to my surroundings a little and use them, coupled with confidence and support, I'll be good?" It was a complete guess, a completely wrong guess.
"No…" Cynder said to Zephra. "What he was trying to say is that it doesn't matter how you come into it, whether it would be separate or apart. So long as you leave together, you'll be satisfied and happy with the outcome." While Cynder explained what Spyro really meant, the Purple Dragon himself had had a wandering eye and his gaze met with the spine of the book he'd been searching for on the shelf next to him in the same row as Zephra. Cynder finished talking and looked over to see Spyro holding the book, "Oh…that's the one you were looking for right?"
"Yes…" And he put the book under his arm and looked to their 'pupil' of love. "This is what we came for…may we go now…if it's no trouble?" Spyro asked genuinely.
The female was thanked by their words, and gave her the advice she needed to meet Terrador, and with a hearty smile, she nodded. "Thank you Spyro, and you Cynder. I hope our paths can cross again, this way, I can thank you. I wish you both the best…" Zephra said and smiled to them, and they smiled back.
"May your…date…go well. I hope to see a serene Zephra in the future. Find happiness for yourself, as we have." Cynder said and looked to Spyro.
The two then turned around, and after a few exchange words, left the building with the book in their possession. Both were silent, not knowing what to make of what had just happened, but the title of the book Spyro took was repeating in his head, it was oddly coincidental to what had just happened: Consummation: Your First Night.
Does anyone know what that word means? Well it's very important. Happy Election Day everyone! Even though I personally don't like either of the presidential candidates this year; I shall not let it interfere with my FanFiction time. So Zephra is the name of this dragon crushing on Terrador, she's an adult Earth dragon, and believe it or not, Zephra is a name I came up with, and it is derived from an Old Gaelic word meaning, 'of the Earth'. Neat, right?
