A/N: Sorry for the delayed update. I got lazy and didn't feel like reading through to get rid of grammar errors. But about a month later I got a new chapter up to enjoy. Perhaps I'll continue updating more regularly, but there's not much of a chance of that. I'm pretty lazy and I don't like to follow schedules.


Chapter 7: Captured

Anelia sat with her wings tightly folded against her sides oblivious to the early morning's chill. She sat on top of a red roofed building that over-looked Cloud Temple's eastern lands. The sun was barely over the horizon. A slim metal collar tightly adorned her neck as she was now Gnorc's personal pet. She burned with a rage that would only be sated once her fangs bathed in the blood of that monster, but she knew that would never happen. The wretched collar she wore allowed him full control over her. If she didn't do what he wanted then he would just snap his large fingers and she would die in the most horrible way she could imagine… or that's what Gnorc said. Anelia didn't want to take any chances, so she obeyed him.

Today she was on watch for any prisoners that might've escaped, but with how tightly secured the prisons were she wondered how that one person she saw when she had first arrived managed to get out. Anelia hoped that something or someone would come along soon so that she could escape herself.


Spyro and his friends had returned to their room in the palatial castle of Winter Tundra. They sat gathered around the fireplace discussing their plans of what to do next. They came to the agreement that as soon as the storm died down they would leave to find the barrier tear.

"Do you really think that Bianca has enough power to close the barrier tear?" Rali asked.

"Of course she does. She may not be as experienced as other magicians, but when the spell really counts, Bianca can pull it off." Spyro said reassuringly. However Rali still looked unconvinced.

"I hope you're right…. I want to go home." Rali was enjoying the company of his new friends, but the thought of his home mountain and the loving snuggles of his parents constantly forced their way into the young dragon's mind. He told himself over and over that once everything went back to the way it was he would see his home again. He had to be brave just like his father and helpful like his mother or else he'd be just some kid that got in the way.

"Don't worry Rali. You'll see your home and family again." Ember said in a gentle tone. Rali slowly nodded his head.

"We better get some rest. We have a lot of preparing to do in the morning." Flame said walking over to his bed. The others went to their resting places and slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

Rali was the first to wake. His eyes were still closed, but he was now aware of where he was. The room was quiet except for the soft snores of his friends. Wait… it was quiet! Rali jolted up to see sunlight filtering in through the rectangular windows of the room. The storm must've passed during the night. Rali stood and walked over to the windows and peered out at the blindingly white world. The snow covered absolutely everything leaving only the tallest of buildings still visible. The snow had piled up about two feet above the castle's main stairs outside. Rali's tail twitched as he looked outside at the white landscape. The snow seemed smooth and unbroken. The Chinese dragon wondered if they could walk on top of the snow, but it was unlikely.

Shuffling noises caused Rali to crane his head backward to see Flame staring at him, his eyes groggy.

"The storm stopped huh?" Flame asked stifling a yawn. Rali nodded his head excitedly.

"We should get the others up so we can get a move on." The red dragon said as he moved to wake his dragonfly up.

Hunter, Bianca, and Elora were nearly done with their preparations when the dragons finished breakfast. They had gathered their packs and stuffed them with food, medical supplies, and a jar of butterflies for the dragonflies to eat when needed. Spyro retrieved the orbs and put them into the omni-pocket that Elder Nestor had given to him. All the orbs fit inside without having to be stuffed. The omni-pocket remained small enough to be carried around in Rali's pack. The travelers all gathered in the grand foyer of the castle.

Bianca and Elora were both dressed in multiple layers to guard against the cold of Winter Tundra. However Hunter only wore a wool scarf positive that he would be warm enough.

"You know your short fur won't stand a chance against that." Elora said pointing out a window at the snow.

"Trust me, I'll be fine." He said. The others shrugged.

The satyr guard stood near the doors ready to let them out. He wished them luck and he opened the massive stone doors. A rush of cold air filled the foyer making everyone flinch. They braced themselves and walked out into the snow. The doors closed noisily behind them.

Bianca held up the tracking compass; the needle pointed exactly northwest.

"How exactly are we going to travel across the snow? We nearly drowned in it when we first arrived." Ember said.

"….Easy." Bianca said as she whipped out her wand. With a few quick strokes a bolt of magic surrounded everyone's feet. Hunter giggled as the magic tickled his feet.

"There, try walking on top of the snow." The group glanced among themselves wondering who they should send to walk out first. Rali lifted a massive paw out of the snow and placed it on top of the white cold surface. He slowly put more weight onto his paw seeing that it sunk barely half an inch. Rali continued to apply pressure finding that he didn't sink any further. The green dragon lifted his other paws and placed them on top of the snow and walked forward a few steps showing everyone that it was alright.

"It works!" He said as he pranced heavily around still sinking only half an inch into the snow.

"Well let's go then." Spyro said walked forward. The others followed him.

The group walked on with Bianca in the lead. She held the magic compass up in front of her making sure that she was on the right track. Minutes turned into dragging hours before the compass's needle began to spin so that it pointed to one spot.

"Why did we stop?" Elora asked. "There's nothing around here." Bianca looked at the compass and then to the ground.

"Maybe not on top of the snow…" She said before looking over to Spyro, Ember, and Flame.

"You think you guys can torch a hole in the snow? It'd be a lot faster than digging."

"Sure." The purple dragon said walking over to the spot Bianca indicated. He, Ember, and Flame loosed a steady stream of fire from their jaws that quickly melted the snow. It was only a few minutes of flaming before then top of a portal arch was visible. Before long the entire portal was uncovered, but it was inactive.

"Well this is just great." Flame said.

"Don't get all upset just yet. We do have the orbs needed to reactivate the portal. Bianca grabbed the omni-pocket out of Rali's pack and fished out three orbs. She placed them in front of the deactivated portal and chanted a quick spell, and with a quick stroke of her wand the portal glowed to life. The clear image of Cloud Temples was displayed in the portal. Bianca replaced the orbs back into the omni-pocket and gave it back to Rali. Without hesitation she stepped through with the others following behind.


Gnorc sat on his large throne in the main temple. His eyes were closed as he dozed lightly, but the sound of wing flaps alerted him. He glanced to his left to see Anelia perched in a large open window like a bird.

"What is it?" Gnorc said with mild disinterest.

"That purple dragon you spoke of and companions have arrived." She said referring to Spyro.

"Gnorc's eyes fully opened and he turned his head to face Anelia completely.

"He's here? He's a bit early, but the sooner the better. With him I can proceed with my plans." He said with a smirk.


Spyro and his friends looked around Cloud Temples in shock. The place was in shambles. It didn't look that bad from the picture in the portal, but when looked at first hand the place was a complete mess.

"This is awful." Hunter said as he looked around. The others agreed.

"We have to be careful here. Since this place is under the barrier rip the magic can be unpredictable and dangerous." Bianca said with a stern voice as she warned the others.

They stayed quiet as they walked up to the smashed front gate. Hunter studied the talon marks that were scattered across the stone. He ran his hand over a set of marks.

"What ever made this must be a pretty nasty creature." He said.

"And there must've been a lot of the seeing how many marks there are." Elora added. As Elora finished her sentence everyone felt and uneasy feeling churning in their stomachs.

"As long as whatever made those marks isn't around anymore who cares. We should get a move on." Flame said as he walked toward the open gate.

"Lead the way fearless leader." Spyro said. "And if what ever made those marks is still around it'll eat you first." He said poking fun at his friend. Flame did nothing but growl and mumbled something about Bianca being in the lead since she had the compass.

The group pressed into the city on high alert. They wound their way up and down city streets encountering nothing and no one. The strange chill the four dragons had experienced when they first arrived in Avalar returned, but the feeling was much stronger this time.

"Do you sense that?" Ember asked the others. They were silent for a while until Hunter answered, "Yeah, I do." Ember looked up at him to see the fur on the back of his neck bristling slightly. The cheetah had an arrow in his hand just in case while Bianca held her wand firmly in her hand. Elora's hand rested on the handle of a dagger that she had brought with her.

"It could be a side affect of the magic fluctuating." Bianca suggested.

Suddenly the compass's needle began to spin wildly much like it did when it was first activated. Bianca stared at the instrument as it spun without showing any signs of slowing. The others crowded around her asking what's wrong, and why the compass wasn't working, and other unhelpful questions. While their attention was on the compass, not far from them, several pools of black began to form just out of sight behind garbage cans or buildings. Slowly shadow beasts rose steadily from the inky black pools their red eyes focused on the travelers. The black pools disappeared beneath their clawed feet. They began to advance on the group who were still focused on the compass.

"I told you that the magic could be…." Bianca said still fixated on the compass, but when she was aware that no one was listening to her, her sentence cut short and she lifted her head. They were surrounded by shadow beasts. Hunter loaded an arrow and Elora drew her dagger. Spyro crouched and tensed ready for a fight. Rali lowered his head and bared his sharp fangs.

"Looks like we've got company." Flame growled.

"Who are you?" Spyro demanded. They replied by lunging at the travelers with screeching roars. Spyro lashed out at a shadow beast that was coming after him with his horns. Spyro fell through the dark body landing roughly behind it with a bewildered look on his face. The shadow beast turned to face him and seemed to smirk. The purpled dragon dashed for the beast again and attacked with a jet of flames from his mouth. The fire passed through the shadow beast leaving it uninjured. With a blur the beast rushed Spyro slashing him with its sharp talons causing the dragon to growl in pain. Spyro shook the drops of blood off his face and bared his fangs at the shadow beast in front of him trying to come up with a plan.

The others weren't fairing any better. Hunter tried to take the beasts down with his arrows but they were just as useless as Spyro's attacks. The cheetah nimbly dodged a beast's claws and countered with his own. Hunter raked the beast's side but his claws only passed through the living shadow.

A thick tail clubbed Flame across his side as he tried a leaping attack on a shadow beast. The red dragon fell to the ground with a thud pain spreading through his body. He gritted his teeth against the pain and quickly stood. Two shadow beasts loomed over him causing him to back up. When one attacked he jumped out of the way just trying to dodge attacks.

How could they hurt a shadow? This was something that they all pondered. It was especially mind boggling since the beasts could hurt them. There must be a weak point. Rali took to the air trying to evade the beasts that were coming after him only to discover that his flight was difficult. The magic level in the area was dropping again, and without the world's magic giving him a boost, Rali would have to depend on his own. His erratic flight only got him a few dozen yards away from the others. Rali stood alone against the three beasts that faced him. He growled defensively as the beasts neared. He froze when one charged. It was like fighting the wyvern all over again. Rali was consumed by his fear unable to move. Time seemed to slow as the shadow beast leapt into the air in order to use the talons on its feet as well. Inches closed between the beast and Rali when something clicked in the young dragon's head. With a savage roar the young dragon lashed out with his own claws right before the beast's attack could connect. The monster was sent flying backward into the dirt with a screech. Rali was still holding his paw in the air staring at the beast he just downed. A sudden feeling of empowerment washed over the Chinese dragon. The two other shadow beasts stared at their fallen comrade and then at Rali who was charging them. His fangs slashed through the beast, but his attack didn't hurt the beast like the last one did. Rali backed off before the beasts could retaliate. One beast rushed him again going in for a low attack, but Rali was more prepared this time. When the beast's attack was only a foot away from connecting Rali slashed it with his large claws knocking it sideways onto the ground. That's when Rali saw their weakness. They were vulnerable to attacks only when they were attacking themselves. They had to solidify in order to do harm. Rali had to warn his friends of this before it was too late. However more pools of black formed around the young dragon and shadow beasts emerged cutting him off.

The others were managing to keep just out of reach of the sharp talons and teeth, but not without any injury. Elora got a deep gash on shoulder and Hunter had slash marks on his chest. Ember and Flame both had bite wounds and Spyro still had the slash wounds across his face. They were all back to back forced into a group. That's when they noticed that Rali wasn't with them. Bianca glanced away from the beasts in front of her to see an aqua green shape out the corner of her eye. Rali was surrounded.

The beasts seemed to halt their attack on the group just keeping them from getting away until one lunged for Elora. The faun's eyes widened in shock and the grip on her dagger tightened. When the beast was nearly on her she plunged the dagger into its head, causing it to hang in the air. Black, ink like blood flowed down the dagger before the beast suddenly vanished along with its blood. Still in shock Elora fell backward. It was with that the mass of beasts resumed attack on the group with a rage glinting in their eyes.

Rali fought off the beasts as much as he could, but they just kept coming. He managed to banish two shadow beasts back to the darkness, but the others he couldn't mortally wound. They jumped and slashed, bit and roared. Rali was outmatched with the number of beasts he faced. They backed him up against a building restricting his movements. That encompassing fear washed over him again, but this time he really thought that he would die, that he would never see his parents again, that he wouldn't be able to help his friends anymore. The last thing he remembered was crying out before his world went dark as he was swamped with beasts.

"RALI!" Spyro yelled as he heard the young dragon's cry. He tried to charge through the wall of beasts only to be clubbed to the ground with a thick tail. He coughed and tried to stand but a sharp blow to the side of his head sent him rolling across the ground. He glanced around for his golden companion, but Sparx was nowhere to be seen. He could hear the others fighting, but suddenly he fell unconscious.

Hunter, Bianca, and the others were left. They dodged and weaved to get around the flurry of claws and teeth. Flame was slashed again across his left shoulder. He could no longer see his friend Spyro who became lost in the sea of beasts that surrounded them.

"We can't win like this!" Ember cried as more beasts appeared.

"If Elora can somehow manage to kill one of those things then we can to!" Hunter said as he loaded an arrow. He ignored his friends' cries as they told him to leap out of the way of an oncoming beast. As it raised a clawed hand to slash the cheetah Hunter let loose his arrow that lodged in the beast's chest. It coughed and staggered backward, inky blood dripping on the ground until the shadow beast disappeared. Hunter didn't waste anytime loading another arrow. He whirled on a beast that was charging from behind him with its jaws wide open ready to bite with its fangs. It stopped just a foot and a half in front of Hunter with an arrow protruding from its head. It fell into a black heap on the ground and disappeared like the other fallen beasts did. Hunter had figured out their weakness, that their vulnerable when attacking.

"Only attack when they get close!" He commanded. Everyone changed their battle plans ready to take the remaining beasts on when they began to back away. Slowly the monsters backed until there was considerable distance between them and the heroes. They returned to the shadow pools and vanished.

"Aww, and I was just getting ready to rip them a new one!" Flame said with a hint of disappointment in his tone.

"We'll have time for fighting later. We have to find Spyro and Rali." Elora said clearly worried about her friends.

"We have no idea where they are or if they're even…" Ember's sentence trailed away.

"Don't worry. Those two are too tough to be taken down by those things." Hunter said reassuringly.

"But before we set out to look for them we should heal our wounds." Bianca said. She figured that using a healing spell could be dangerous because of the erratic magic so she unclipped a few vials of healing potion she brought with her from her belt. She handed one to each of her friends.

"It may sting, but just drip some into the cuts." She said. Once they were finished Hunter stood up.

"We should get a move on." He said, and with that he began to walk away with the others following behind him.