Chapter 7

I leaned over the lifeless body and checked for a heartbeat. There wasn't one. Well, there wouldn't be. That was his heart that I had punctured with my electrified claws. I didn't even stop to think about how I had suddenly used electricity, even though I had lost the ability years ago. All I knew was it worked. It had given me the perfect revenge.
"Oryps!" Tyrannus shouted, horrified, "You killed him!"
"He deserved it!" I snarled, "Did you not hear me say what he did to me?!"
"I know it was wrong, but calm down," Tyrannus said, backing away.
"Never tell me to calm down!" I swung my tail at him, smacking his snout so hard that it left a bruise. He cried out and retaliated. I dodged him and attacked as fiercely as possible. Hell has no fury like that of a violated dragoness. Tyrannus was unable to ward off my attacks, and his body soon hit the floor, the life leaking out of it in the form of blood.
I looked at the lifeless body of Malefor, and hatred rose in me like a cobra. I ripped into it with my claws, not holding back. I slashed and tore, relishing in the feel of the scales and muscles tearing apart under my paws. I knew he was already dead, but I wanted to destroy the body. By the time my anger had abated slightly, the body resembled nothing more than a reddish heap of flesh, scales, and organs oozing all over the floor.
I considered doing the same to Tyrannus, but didn't. He would be allowed to live. If he survived the countless wounds I had inflicted upon him.
The graphicness of what I had done did not bother me in the slightest. Neither did the blood running down my forelegs.
Screaming my remaining anger toward the heavens, I turned and rushed from the room, head low, never looking back.

I was blind to everything around me as I ran. I shot through the magnificent halls, past the kitchens, past the treasuries. At eighty miles per hour, nothing could stop me. Somehow, I navigated my way outside without crashing into anything, though I left a long line of bloody paw prints as I ran.
Once outside, I ran past the stunned onlookers, through the crowded streets. Everyone who was wise got out of my way. Others were knocked aside as I barreled past them.
I found the way to my house, ran up the front steps. I flung the door open and sprinted inside. Right then, all I wanted was the presence of my husband and daughter. I ran up the stairs and into our room. Jacob was in there, sitting on the bed and blankly staring at the wall. He heard me coming and looked up. He barely had time to move before I had tackled him, knocking him down against the bed. I buried my face into his shoulder, trying not to cry.
"Oryps!" he exclaimed. "What happened? Why didn't you ever come back? Why did you join Malefor and take control of everything?"
I didn't answer, holding him tightly and letting my tears finally spill out. All the hardships and anger from the past months just came out. He didn't ask any more questions, instead holding me on his lap as I cried. His front legs embraced me gently, and his wings enveloped me. They were warm and velvety. It was a feeling I had missed dearly.
"When you feel better, please, say something," Jacob finally said. "I need to know what happened."
I finally pulled my face away from his shoulder, looking at his dazzling silver eyes. After sniffing a few times, I said, "It wasn't my fault. None of it was my fault. Malefor captured me and forced an obedience spell on me like he did to Cynder. I couldn't resist doing everything he said, following his orders to the letter. We took over the realms together. Malefor, Tyrannus, and I. We were unstoppable. Everyday, though, I yearned to stop this madness and come back to you and Voltis. But I couldn't. The spell prevented me from doing so. And yesterday, Malefor said he needed a male heir to replace him once he's dead. It had to be his son. But he didn't have a son. Not yet anyway. He said that I had the perfect traits to be passed on. A mix of him and me would be very powerful."
"Oryps, are you saying that he wanted to mate with you?" Jacob asked, sounding terrified.
I nodded. "I refused, of course. I would never let such a thing happen! He told me to leave, then. I did. I went back to my room as soon as possible, eager to get away from him. The fatal mistake was in not locking the door. He came in at some point during the night. I know, because I heard him. I woke up, because I'm a light sleeper. You know that. He came toward me, and then he cast this horrible spell over me that made me lose consciousness. And then... I know he.... he..." My eyes started watering again. I couldn't say it. Instead, I resumed my sobbing against Jacob's shoulder.
Jacob didn't speak. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He was probably furious. I know I would be. I felt like I deserved for him to be mad at me.
I became aware of a gentle rocking back and forth. I opened one eye and looked up at Jacob. He was humming quietly, swaying me gently from left to right. It was exactly how he used to calm me down when we were teenagers. When something upset me, he would always hum the same lullaby and hold me like this.
"Oh, Oryps," he said softly. "My poor little Oryps. I'm so sorry that all of this happened to you."
"You aren't mad?" I asked, wiping my eyes.
"Why would I be mad?" Jacob replied. "You never did anything of your own accord. You were forced to. Why should I be angry with you for something you had no control over?"
"Because, I should have been able to stop myself," I said, sniveling. "I should have fought him. But instead, I let all of this happen!"
"Oryps, I'm sure you did fight. And you probably fought well. But he's a purple dragon of unimaginable skill in magic. It would have been a miracle to throw off control like that," Jacob pointed out. "And as for what you said happened last night, I must say that yes, I'm angry. But not at you. At Malefor. If you want, both of us can go to the castle. We can kill him together. Would that make you happy?"
"Don't bother," I muttered bitterly. "I already killed him. I killed him first thing this morning when I woke up. What he did was so horrible and wrong that I lost control. He lost his will over me and was unable to stop me, and I ripped him apart. To sum it up gently."
"He's dead? Are you sure? Because we've assumed he was dead before and he always came back," Jacob said.
"I'm sure. I ripped his body to pieces until it was nothing more than a large lump of goo. As for Tyrannus, I just sliced him up and knocked him unconscious. Someone will deal with him," I said.
"I must say, Oryps," Jacob said, trying to smile, "Your taxes were not very fair. But you're going to drop them now, right?"
"Oh yeah. I am," I replied, trying to smile too. I failed at that, however. The memories were so vivid and terrible that they made me want start howling in misery.
Jacob kept holding me. "Please, stop crying, dear. I don't like it when you cry. It makes me want to cry too. Don't make me tickle you."
"Oh, don't," I mumbled, looking away. I felt his claws on my sides and batted them away. "Cut it out. I'm not in the mood, Jacob!"
"You're never in the mood," he replied, grinning. His claws scratched my sides quickly. I stifled a laugh and pushed his paws away. He put them on my neck, rubbing near my collarbone.
"Hey, come on!" I protested, smiling despite myself. "Stop it!" He pulled his paws away.
"There's that beautiful smile I was looking for," he said. "Did I ever tell you that your eyes are gorgeous even when you're crying? They look like the most precious pieces of gold in the world."
"No, you haven't," I replied, blinking away the remaining tears. I pulled Jacob's wing toward my face and used it to wipe my eyes. He yanked it away, looking indignant. But he was still beaming. Somehow, he always finds a way to cheer me up. I guess that's why I love him so much.
A small sound caught my attention. I perked up my head, looking at the doorway. It was Voltis. My daughter!
"Voltis!" I cried, pulling away from Jacob and running over to her. I scooped her up and held her close, feeling her warm scales, and the soft blue fur running down her spine. It really was her. "You've grown so much since I last saw you! Oh Voltis, I missed you so much!" She was about a foot tall, and from snout tip to tail tip she had to be about twenty inches. That was much larger than when I had last seen her. And it had only been four months!
Voltis squirmed in my grip, pushing at my chest. She twisted around so that she could get a good look at my face. "Mommy?" she said in a tiny, high-pitched voice.
I nearly gasped. She could talk! "Yes, I'm your mother. Oh, I missed you, my sweet." I held her up to eye level, looking at the perfect silver eyes she had inherited from her father. She leaned forward, putting her delicate little paws on my snout. Her black claws, so much like mine, held onto my scales. She was adorable!
"She's never said anything before this," Jacob said, looking surprised. "That's her first word."
"Aw. Her first word is to her mother," I said, nuzzling her. "I love you so much. And I will never leave you again."
"Mommy," Voltis laughed, pulling on one of my spikes with her teeth. Jacob and I laughed too as she let go of the spike and pawed at it. She was so much like me. So energetic.
"Oryps, do you want to go over to Spyro and Cynder's place? I'm sure they would like to hear your story. Then we can fix the damage that Malefor and Tyrannus caused," Jacob suggested.
"I was behind most of what happened too," I said. "The blame is as much mine as theirs."
"No, it's not. Because this is the difference: They chose the path of evil. You were merely a pawn, forced to obey them," Jacob said firmly. "So don't blame yourself. Come on."
Still holding my daughter, I followed him out of the bedroom and downstairs. We headed across the street, over to Spyro and Cynder's house.
I looked across the city to where the castle was visible. Just a day ago, I was the queen of that castle. But no longer. I was going to make things right. I was going to repent for all that I had done. I would pray to the ancestors as soon as possible to forgive me for this and help me correct what was done.
Cynder answered the door. "Hey Jacob." She sounded weary. Then she noticed me. "Oryps! You demon!" She lunged at me. I turned away so that Voltis wouldn't get injured, and the black dragoness hit my back hard. But I remained standing easily.
"Cynder, stop! What are you doing?" Jacob shouted, pulling Cynder away from me. "She's on our side now!"
Voltis started crying. I cradled her, talking to her softly. After a while, she quieted and clutched my front leg tightly.
"She betrayed all of us!" Cynder shouted. "She joined the dark master and enslaved all of us! We thought we knew her, but we were wrong about her all along! She's evil!"
Her words stung more than they should have. But I stood tall and replied, "Well in that case, for the first twelve years of your life, you were a monster who pillaged our towns and kidnapped our guardians just so you could drain all their energy. Then you used that energy to try and bring back Malefor. And you killed countless dragons in between. So who's the demon now, you she-devil?"
"I wasn't in control of myself!" she snapped. "I was forced to do all that! In case you've forgotten, there was an obedience spell on me!"
"Exactly!" I yelled. "I was under his control! He used that same spell on me and made me helpless to resist him!" I slammed my foot down so hard that the stone of the porch cracked.
Cynder looked at me in shock. "Oh, he did? I'm sorry, I didn't know! I thought you had joined him willingly."
"I didn't," I said, looking away from her face. "I had no choice. He would have killed me. So I joined him and Tyrannus. And what happened after that was not by my own will." I couldn't help but notice the vicious slash mark that was across her chest plates. The one I had made when I fought her a few weeks ago during one of the rebellions. Numerous other scars covered her upper body and face.
Cynder opened the door and stood aside. "Please, come in. We would like to hear about everything that had happened from the point of view of someone who had a paw in it all."
Jacob and I accepted her invitation and entered the house. Once situated comfortably, with Spyro sitting nearby looking critical and Syne sitting on Cynder's lap looking content, I told my side of the story to them all.