Cyross stood upon a high ledge in an underground tunnel. This ledge was where Kaos stood when he wanted to address his minions. Cyross smirked as he looked down at the crowd taking in their pathetic appearance. Most of them were covered in dirt and had matted hair. One elf had dark circles around her eyes, as if she hadn't slept in months. There was one female however who didn't share her companions matted looks.
The female had pale orange feathers and dark violet eyes. She had a long fiery tail, and smooth, elegant looking talons. Cyross bit his tongue in shock as he realized the female he was looking at was a phoenix dragon. He had always thought that the only phoenix dragon in existence was the skylander Sunburn. Cyross turned his gaze away from the female and continued to analyze the crowd. A tawny mud faced gryphon soon caught Cyross's attention.
Cyross looked down at the pathetic gryphon and smirked. She was no doubt the filthiest of this lot. Cyross smirked at the gryphon, until she turned to face him. Cyross's breath caught in his throat as he noticed the scar on the gryphon's right eye.
"Gildara…" Cyross murmured in shock. Memories of his old life swept over him as he looked upon one of his enemies….
Cyross's flash back
Cyross sat on a smooth boulder that rested in the clay ground of a canyon. Many griffins stood beside Cyross, each one of them yelling threats. A hateful mass of snarling rose in to the air, and Cyross smirked as he looked toward the center of the canyon. In the center of the canyon, a small female gryphon sat her ice blue eyes wide with terror. Despite how far away he was from her, Cyross could see shudders running through the gryphon's body.
The tawny female had a large gash over her right eye, and many other gashes decorated her wings and face. Her bloodied wings were bound to her back by thick metal chains, and the gryphon's paws were stapled to a ragged wooden platform. An old dark purple feathered gryphon calmly walked up to the tawny gryphon and spoke.
"Gildara, you stand here today because of a grave crime you have committed. You have murdered an innocent family, four children and there mother, this behavior has demonstrated to us that you are a threat to the clan, and that you are also not worthy to live amongst us."
Gildara began to hyperventilate as she heard those words, tears and blood filled her eyes, and she stared desperately around the canyon, as if she were looking for someone. The old gryphon stepped forward, and removed the chains around from Gildara's feet.
"Gildara, you will live the remainder of your life as an outcast, if you ever come near our canyon again you will be executed at once, and you will bear a reminder of your sins. The chains you where can only be broken by a gryphon of the high council, and the council members have all agreed that that they will never break your chains…"
Gildara collapsed on top of the splinter filled wooden platform, and wailed. Her high pitched cries of agony cut the jury like a knife. Cyross smirked in satisfaction as he watched Gildara get what she deserved.
"NO!" A voice in the distance called out. Cyross's mouth gaped in shock as he saw a gryphon land beside Gildara. This gryphon had sleek black feathers and striking emerald eyes, her wings had a shade of midnight blue on them, and she wore a glistening metal visor over her long tufted ears. The gryphon's stomach bulged for she was close to laying her eggs. The newcomer shot a defiant, yet fear filled gaze at the jury.
"Sonny, what are you doing here?" Gildara choked out."
"I've come to set you free…" Sonny murmured soothingly to Gildara. She then walked up to the chained gryphon and wrapped her wings around her. Sonny stared at the jury and spoke.
"You make a grave error by sentencing Gildara to exile, she did no wrong, Cyross accused her of a crime she did not commit."
Whispers erupted from the crowd as they heard Sonny's words. Cyross felt his feathers burning, and he broke in to a cold sweat as anxiety flooded him. What in the name of the skylands was Sonny trying to do?
The old gryphon judge stepped forward and spoke to Sonny.
"Sonny, I do believe your mind has been addled…"
Sonny broke away from Gildara, and looked the judge straight in the eyes before speaking.
"With all do respect your honor; I do know what I am saying. If you saw the murder of the family you may know that there was another gryphon there besides Gildara."
"Yes, Cyross was there, he said that he caught Gildara standing over the dead family with blood all over her claws…"
"How did she get the blood on her claws? And more importantly, why is she covered in scratches?"
"Sonny…" The old judge muttered in a warning tone.
"Your honor, unbeknownst to Gildara and Cyross, I witnessed the murder of the family." Gasps erupted from the crowd, cutting off any other words Sonny wanted to say. Cyross felt himself trembling as he realized what Sonny was doing. The bitch was going to tell the crowd what she saw! Which meant that he was now ruined in this land…
"Order! Order! Sonny you will explain yourself at once!"
"Gladly your honor. Like I said I was a witness to the murder, Cyross speaks the truth when he says Gildara was standing over the gryphon family, however there was no blood on her claws at the time, in other words she didn't kill the family!"
Gasps once again erupted from the crowd, until someone cried out, "Who killed the family!"
Sonny seemed to shrivel in that moment, all her strength and courage turned to dust. She tried to speak but the words caught in her throat. Sonny coughed multiple times, but still couldn't get her beak to move.
"Who killed the family?" The judge asked.
Sonny coughed out a name, but no one was able to hear, so the judge spoke.
"Tell us now what you saw, or you will be out casted!"
Sonny murmured her words softly, but they grew stronger as she repeated them, soon her voice gained so much power that it filled the canyon.
"Cyross killed them! He blamed Gildara so he wouldn't be punished! He is the traitor, not Gildara!" Sonny's surge of strength ended, and she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Gildara walked over to where the dazed gryphon lie.
"Why did you speak up for me?" Gildara asked in astonishment.
"You're my best friend Gildara; I couldn't let you get punished for a crime you did not commit. Please tell me why you didn't speak up for yourself…"
Gildara looked down in sorrow before speaking.
"I didn't want Cyross to be killed or exiled; I know how much he means to you…"
"You mean how much he meant to me. He is nothing to me anymore!" Sonny muttered bitterly. Tears rolled down the gryphon's face, causing her eyes to glow with sorrow. Gildara wrapped her wings around her friend in an effort to comfort her. Meanwhile Cyross had his own problems to deal with…
"Traitor!"
"Coward!"
"Murderer!"
"I say we exile him!"
"Blind him!"
"Burn him!"
"Make him suffer for his crimes and his lies!"
All those words and many more assailed Cyross's ears, as the crowd roared at him. Each gryphon glared at him with a look of pure hatred on their faces. Cyross felt his feathers burning, and turned away, suddenly he felt a cold chain warp around him. Cyross turned to see the judge staring at him, bitter disappointment swimming in his jade gaze.
"Well it seems that the cat has finally caught the mouse. We see clearly now Cyross and we see that you are to blame for the death of an innocent family!"
"Bite me." Cyross growled, unable to think of a better reply. Despite all the insanity that was happening, Cyross felt an eerie sense of calmness fill his soul. Is this what a creature feels before its death? Cyross wondered.
"You will now where the chains of your sins Cyross! There will be no freedom for you!"
In that moment a burning fury erupted inside Cyross. How dare these bastards try to chain him! how dare they say he was in the wrong! Cyross felt his paws tremble violently, and a flash of red light poured in to his gaze. he leapt at the old judge, his eyes blazing with hatred. Cyross raised his claws and slashed at the judge's throat. Blood spilled fourth causing a puddle around the old gryphon, his beak gapped open in a plea for help, or perhaps an exclamation of shock. The crowd murmured in horror as they watched the judge fall before them, the judge collapsed in his blood and tried to speak, but was cut off as blood gushed out of his mouth. Soon the light faded from his jade eyes, and the old gryphon was no more.
Cyross didn't allow the crowd to recover from their shock before franticly beating his wings. Satisfaction filled him as he felt himself rise in to the air, and he felt the weight of the chains vanish. Apparently the chains weren't locked correctly, but Cyross didn't care. The powerful gryphon rose in to the air and shrieked letting his powerful voice fill the canyon. As he departed from his old life, Cyross made a promise to himself.
"Sonny, Gildara, I swear to God that you will pay for what you have done today, and that you will pay with your lives…"
The memory ended abruptly, and yet Cyross still felt its powerful impact. He felt himself shaking slightly, and he stiffened his legs in order to stop himself from trembling. Cyross glared resentfully at Gildara until he felt a bony hand touch his shoulder, he looked down to see Kaos glaring at him.
"You said you had away to defeat the skylanders! Care to enlighten us Cyross?" Kaos growled at the gryphon.
Cyross didn't reply, instead he spoke to crowd.
"As I said, I know of many exits and entrances in the skylands. All of you need to be trained first before we can launch a successful attack though."
Murmurs of displeasure echoed around the room, and one elf cried out.
"What do you take us for? Untrained idiots! We know our way around a battle, we've been fighting the skylanders far longer then you have!"
"Oh, is that so? Then why haven't you defeated them yet?" Cyross questioned, sharp edged sarcasm coating his tone. The elf shut her mouth and stared at Cyross as she heard those words, many of the crowd started to snigger.
"Tenbra I would greatly appreciate it if you would shut up and let Cyross explain his plan!" Kaos snapped at the elf. Tenbra glanced away, unable to meet her master's glare.
"As I was saying, you need to learn how to properly fight your enemies, and I will be the one to train you, considering whomever you learned from was an inept teacher."
"Kaos isn't an inept teacher!" Tenbra snapped.
"Oh so your portal master taught you all, eh?" Cyross muttered.
"Yes!" Tenbra responded fiercely.
"Leave Tenbra! I will speak to you later!" Kaos snarled. Tenbra stood still for a moment, confused at being sent away, but one look at her master sent her scrambling.
"I will take a group of you and show you the layout of the skylands. You will have to learn the terrain at night as well so the attack can be more effective, we want the skylanders to be beaten in one attack because we have the element of surprise. If we don't chase them out in one attack then we loose that advantage. Also we should launch miniature raids so they are occupied and can't concentrate on fighting against us. Make sure to do as much damage as possible on the smaller raids, we don't want the skylanders to recover easily…" Cyross instructed.
"Won't we loose the element of surprise if we launch small raids?" Lizark asked. Lizark was a dark green wingless dragon with bright yellow eyes, his eyes often turned violet depending on the time of day. He had a long leafy tail, and ragged claws.
"We won't loose the element of surprise because we will disguise ourselves as bandits. The skylanders will have no clue who they are really fighting." Cyross responded.
Lizark nodded his head in acknowledgement, pleased that they had some sort of plan.
"Now follow me, and I will show you how to defeat the skylanders!" loud cheers erupted around Cyross. The gryphon smirked in pleasure at how easy this group was to manipulate. Cyross's smirk fell off his face when he realized that one voice in particular wasn't cheering. The battle scarred gryphon looked down to see Gildara creeping away from the crowd, a leaf like lizard following her.
The meeting was dismissed and the crowd dispersed. Cyross felt a cold anger churn inside him as he watched Gildara vanish. Cyross leapt off the cliff he stood on and wandered away, plotting about ways that he could torture Gildara.
Kaos wandered through the halls toward Tenbra, fury churning inside him. It was bad enough to know that the stranger thought his minions were weak, but it was made a hell of a lot worse by Tenbra blurting that he was the one who trained them! Kaos growled with resentment as he reached Tenbra.
"You wanted to speak to me master?" Tenbra asked calmly. It was clear to Kaos that the young elf had no clue what she had done wrong. Kaos didn't reply, instead he grabbed Tenbra roughly by her ears and dragged her away to his room.
"Master what…" Tenbra gasped, before Kaos cut her off.
"Silence you wretched little bitch!"
Tenbra shut her mouth, and was painfully dragged across the floor. Kaos opened a metallic door, and threw Tenbra through it. He then walked in after her. After closing and locking the door, Kaos turned to face Tenbra and was satisfied to see the expression of terror on her face. Kaos glanced around his room and realized what Tenbra was so terrified of.
The elf sat frozen, staring at two shapes that were crammed in to a small metal cage. Both shapes had many open wounds on their faces and bodies, blood was dripping form both figures, forming a puddle around the wretched duo. Tenbra shuddered as she recognized Glumshanks and Sai.
"Glumshanks, Sai, what happened?" Tenbra asked in a strained voice, neither one responded to her question.
"They disobeyed me Tenbra. Since they were to busy fooling around, I decided to teach them a lesson."
"But… they didn't deserve to be locked up in a confined cage. Why won't you let them go free?"
Kaos clenched his fist as he heard Tenbra's question, he had to restrain himself from lashing out at Tenbra in that instant. Kaos paused to calm himself down before he spoke to Tenbra in a voice full of malice.
"There is one more part to their punishment before I can let them go free…" Kaos growled softly. He stepped toward Tenbra and raised his hands. Dark magic radiated around his fist, and then leapt towards Tenbra. Once it found its prey, the tendrils of dark magic wrapped around Tenbra, causing her to shudder.
Many welts and blisters grew on the elf's body, some blisters that grew to large popped under the power of the dark magic. Tenbra' ears flicked as more dark magic wrapped around her. The young elf started to choke violently, and mouthfuls of blood gushed out from between her jaws. Tenbra's flesh cracked, and fell off of her, exposing some cartilage and bone. The victim of the grotesque spell fell to the floor and clutched at her head, she then began to shriek loudly.
Tenbra's screams echoed off the metallic door, and dusty walls of his room, and yet Kaos did not care. He glanced away from Tenbra, and noticed Glumshanks and Sai trembling. Kaos smiled coldly at them. Tenbra's shrieks continued to escalate, until finally Kaos withdrew the dark magic. Tenbra lie still for a moment, and then her whole body became racked with spasms. She weakly pulled herself to her feet and stumbled to the door. The wounded elf tried to open the door, but it was locked. Tenbra realized with horror that Kaos had cast a spell on the door to keep it shut.
"Master…" Tenbra choked out. Her hands started to tremble violently, and she fell to the floor again. Kaos sent tendrils of dark energy to the door, the tendrils also drifted over to where Sai and Glumshanks were imprisoned. Two sharp clicking sounds echoed through the grime covered room, and the doors swung open. Tenbra stared blankly at the open door, too dazed to go through.
"Get out of my sight Tenbra, and take these others with you!" with those words Kaos grabbed Glumshanks and Sai, and shoved them towards Tenbra, he then shocked all three with a bolt of dark magic.
"Clear out of here!" Kaos snarled. The three minions stumbled weakly through the door, and staggered down the hall. Kaos left the room as well, and followed his minions out.
Cyross and a group of Kaos's minions sat in the branches of a tall oak tree. This oak tree stood in front of the West entrance in to the central skylands. Dark green grass lined the ground, and the oak trees roots jutted slightly above the grass. A slight breeze blew through the trees, causing the leave to rustle softly. A few fireflies drifted lazily over the sleeping flowers.
Cyross looked up and saw a bright full moon, and stars shining in the inky sky above him. He briefly wondered if he should have waited for a night with no moon, or a foggy night, but he figured that these fools should learn how to conceal themselves in any situation.
Cyross analyzed the ground for a while longer, looking out for any sign of the skylanders. Once he was certain that there were no enemies in sight, he signaled to his group that it was safe to journey on. Upon receiving the signal, the group leapt out of the tree they were in, and landed roughly on the branches of another oak tree, causing the branch to shake, and spew its leaves to the ground. Cyross winced as the rustling leaves struck the ground, and the branch continued to shake and bang against the trunk of the tree. If his group kept this performance up, then the skylanders would locate them in no time at all.
"Okay, I have come to the conclusion that you guys need to learn how to make your steps quieter. If you march through the skylands as loudly as when you guys struck these tree branches, then we will be discovered far too easily." Cyross exclaimed, in disapproval.
"How are we supposed to make our steps quieter?" An elf by the name of Flametosser asked. Flametosser had short, frizzy orange hair and dark green skin. His eyes were a pale lavender color, and he had small tan freckles lining his face.
"You simply land without putting to much weight on the tree branch! Are there anymore idiotic questions?" Cyross snapped. No one spoke.
"None, good now come on." Cyross said, signaling for the group to follow him. Cyross wondered if putting up with these idiots was worth it, but the thought of getting revenge on Sonny, made him tolerate what he had to do.
The group continued to land on various tree branches, until they entered some trees in the skylanders territory. Cyross signaled for everyone to climb down, and creep along the grass. The battle scarred gryphon cast his gaze around, and was horrified to see a skylander walking along the ground.
"Hide!" Cyross hissed to his group. Once everyone was safely hidden, Cyross decided to observe the skylander. He noted that the skylander looked like a male version of the phoenix dragon he observed.
"The hybrid…" Cyross hissed under his breath. Training would have to be delayed until this skylander was on his way.
Sunburn padded wearily through the forest, his thoughts filled with turbulent betrayal. He knew he was being stupid, and that Sunbright didn't betray him, After all how could she have betrayed him if she was never with him? And yet misery had filled Sunburn ever since he departed from her company. A cold aching loneliness tore at Sunburn's heart, yet he knew he shouldn't feel so alone.
He had friends, Sonny, and Spyro, were his best friends, and Sonny's children were like family to him, and yet he wished he had a family of his own, and that there were other phoenix dragon hybrids.
"They say that I'm special because I'm the only phoenix dragon, but do they even know the price one pays for being one of a kind?" Sunburn murmured, a tear dripping down his cheek.
The distraught hybrid continued to wander until he came across a small puddle. Sunburn looked at his reflection, and loathed it. He loathed how there were no other phoenix dragons besides him and Sunbright, he loathed the aching loneliness that gnawed at him. He tried to talk to Sonny and Spyro about the ache that was slowly consuming him, but they just told him that he would find somebody some day, and that he would always be special to them. His friends' words did nothing to assuage his pain; the fact was their words only aggravated the cold ache in his chest.
Sunburn gasped as his breath caught in his throat. His grief was getting worse. Sunburn collapsed by the puddle, and began to weep, his chest heaving as waves of grief and agony washed over him. His body became racked with shudders, and he screeched. In that moment he wanted to die, he wanted to end the agony he felt. Sunburn felt as if a chunk of ice was caught in his chest and throat, making it near impossible for him to breath.
Sunburn rested his head on his paws, and prayed that the misery he felt would end. All through the night the hybrid stayed in that position, yearning for someone like him to come in to his life.
"God help me," he murmured, "Please let there be someone out there for me, please end this ache I feel…"
With those words, the hybrid was claimed by sleep.
Authors Notes: and you get to see Kaos abusing his minions, how's that for interesting? Yeah the ending of this chapter was lame. I seriously need to come up with better ways to end my chapters. Sunburn seriously needs to take Cymbalta or something. _