Chapter 10

Spyro felt edgy as he entered deeper into the cave. The air became so thick and heavy that the young dragon felt breathless. It was as if he had entered a low-pressure chamber. Still, Spyro pushed on further into the darkness, guided with nothing but his fire breath which he breathed occasionally to see where he was going.

"If I keep on doing this, I'll run out of energy," Spyro muttered as his fire breath got weaker. "I…I know this is dangerous but I should try and tap into my dark side's ability to see in the dark."

Spyro concentrated hard and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes, his eyes were glowing white and he could see in the dark.

"Let's hope he doesn't mind me using his powers," Spyro said to himself.

Spyro looked around and found nothing extraordinary. In any case, the cave interior looked very much like any other cave interior. He came upon a dead end and the only way forward was a crevasse with an underground river running in it. Praying that the water wasn't deep, Spyro eased himself into the crevasse and followed the stream's current. Thankfully, the water wasn't deep and Spyro was able to wade through it.

"If it weren't in a claustrophobic place, I would've brought along my picnic basket," Spyro quipped.

The air was heavy with moisture and the sounds of water rushing echoed loudly in the confined space. If Spyro were to be a little bit bigger, he would've gotten stuck and that was the last thing he wanted. So far, the cave has been merciful to him as the place was wide enough. As the purple dragon ventured deep into the bowels of the cave, he came upon a waterfall with a twenty foot drop into a circular lake at the bottom. Spyro spread his wings and glided down slowly towards an opening at the west bank of the lake.

"This opening is definitely not natural," Spyro said as he noted the smooth sides of the arch. "I must be on the right track."

Just as he stepped past the opening, he received another vision. This time, he saw Yir'usani being surrounded by glowing dark crystals and they emitted dark beams directed towards the struggling goddess. At the same time, Spyro heard Yir'usani's voice.

"Hurry, Spyro, they're seeking to corrupt my essence!"

When the vision ended, Spyro lost his ability to see in the dark. However, a thin beam of light marked the way for him and Spyro followed it. The beam did not provide much illumination but it did provide Spyro a relatively safe route with little or no obstacles. The light beam ended at a huge ravine and there was a faint glow of light at the far side of the ravine.

"I can fly but the moisture in the cave is weighing me down. I don't think I can make it to the other side. There has to be another way," Spyro said to himself.

There were several platforms floating below. Spyro has seen this kind of obstacle far too many times. All he needed to do was to activate the switch and raise the platforms. He was standing next to one and Spyro stepped on the footswitch. A clicked echoed and the platforms rose up. Spyro did not anticipate it to flip about quickly.

"Oh, this again? I'm starting to wonder if the Chronicler built this cave," Spyro noted sarcastically.

Luckily, he had not lost his ability to control time. Time slowed for him as Spyro activated Dragon Time and jumped onto the platforms just as they showed their flat side. By the time Spyro reached the other side, the Dragon Time wore off and normal pace returned.

"That was easy," Spyro remarked with a smile as he looked back at the flipping platforms.

His pace quickened as the glow grew brighter. Just when he was about to reach the source of the glow, a wall of bones erupted in front of him and stretched from one end of the cave to the other.

"Hey, never stand between a dragon and his curiosity," Spyro called out angrily at whoever did it.

"I cannot allow you to pass, Spyro. I will not have a whelp like you ruin our master's plans," a voice boomed.

"I may have already ruined some of your plans," Spyro shot back.

"No…you have not. In fact, the wheels of fate is spinning and our plan is about to be set in motion. You have delayed nothing, not even the fate of your own soul," the voice resounded loudly.

Spyro looked behind him and noticed a growling jackal with a human body. He carried two war scythes and wore relatively light armor.

"An Anubis guardian. I thought you guys were nothing but creatures that exist in myth," Spyro said with narrow eyes.

"We once existed as Anubis's warriors, serving to guide souls of the dead to the God of the Dead. The day Malefor destroyed Anubis, we were forced to pledge our allegiance to him. For many centuries, we were forced to do his will and we have been reaping unwilling souls to power the Well of Souls. Malefor's brief return to this realm serves only as a distraction for us while we do his plans quietly. We have been envoys, calling on the warring Fell Creatures to unite once Malefor was sealed back," the guardian said in a deep guttural tone.

"If you have been forced to pledge allegiance to Malefor, why follow him? Do you not have a will of your own?" Spyro asked.

"Alas, our will is tied to Anubis so when Anubis was destroyed, we have no one to pledge our allegiance to except Malefor for he is the one who killed our former master. We may harbor resentment for him but we can do nothing to harm him. He has…become far more powerful than you can ever imagine. Now, with the coming of the Night of Eternal Darkness and with our master's will growing stronger each day, not even you, the Chosen One, can stop him from returning to this world permanently. Even you cannot resist Malefor's dark influence that has spread across these lands," the guardian said as he pointed his right scythe at Spyro.

"I have beaten Malefor once and I will beat him again. If he threatens this world, I will stop him," Spyro growled.

The guardian gave a guttural laugh and snarled. "Fool! Malefor, like us, is but a tool used by the ruinous powers to end life in this realm. Unlike us, Malefor is the prime tool and so are you. The humans foresaw this fate but you prideful dragons refuse to heed their words. Now, with that false prophecy in the mind of dragons, they will never see destruction coming. I for one will relish in your quick downfall."

Spyro roared and dashed towards the guardian. He tried to bash the guardian but the agile guardian jumped about and avoided all of Spyro's attacks. The guardian did some attacks of his own but Spyro evaded them too. When the guardian swung his left scythe at Spyro, the purple dragon used his horns and deflected it aside. This gave him an opening and Spyro chained up multiple horn attacks at the guardian until he fell to the ground.

"You're not done yet, are you?" Spyro taunted.

"No," the guardian replied and got up, "that attack of yours is barely worth a scratch."

"Then maybe I'll just have to pound you harder. Don't regret it," Spyro said.

"As if from a deep slumber…from whose eyes do I see? Who does this cursed face belong to? I can hardly hear the vague voice calling, like a scream echoing from afar," Hunter sang while polishing his sword.

"What song are you singing, Hunter? I've never heard such music sung by our ancestors before," Prowlus said.

Hunter put down his sword and looked at Prowlus. "It's a song composed by humans during the closing years of the Third Age. It's a song of lamentation and despair but it was sung in Middle Aurelian rather than English."

"So what's the title of the song you just sung?"

"Koĭ sŭm az?"

"Which means?"

"Who am I?"

Prowlus nodded his head and went back to surveying the surroundings. The sounds of water lapping against the shore were relaxing but Prowlus just could not get himself to relax. At current speed, it would take them a while before they could reach the seas and sail for Port Town. The smaller moon was now in the middle of the night sky and the ship had already been attacked fifteen times by rogue creatures jumping out from the forest and onto their ship. Even now, their blood still stained the deck and the nauseating smell was making everyone uncomfortable.

"How's that infected canine doing?" Prowlus asked a cheetah guard.

"He seems to be asleep. I guess there is some humanity left in them," the guard answered while observing the tied up canine soldier.

"He's better thank us later for putting us through so much trouble. Make sure he's tied up nice and tight," Prowlus ordered.

Looking up at the skies, Prowlus saw Terrador looking around for signs of trouble. He looked fatigued but the earth guardian did not complain.

"Terrador, why not come down and rest your wings? You look tired," Prowlus called out.

"I would love to but I'm afraid that the boat will not support my weight. Don't worry about me, this dragon still have some youth in him," Terrador said with a rare smile.

"Don't push yourself. If you fall from the skies and crash into our boat, that'll be the death of us," Prowlus warned.

Terrador dare not admit it but he was really tired. His wings were trembling badly and he knew that if he tried to land on the boat, it would not support his weight and sink. He then surprised everyone on board by landing on the right bank of the river.

"Terrador, what're you doing?" Hunter called out.

"I just need to catch a breath. I'll catch up with you later," Terrador replied.

"Don't fall behind. We can't protect you if those creatures attack you," Hunter said.

"I'll be fine. I can fend them off myself."

The boat turned left at a river bend and disappeared out of sight. Terrador found some wild herbs growing by the river bank and crushed them into paste. He massaged his aching wings with it.

"Oh….yeah…Dragon's Tongue never felt this good before," Terrador said with a relaxed look.

While Terrador massaged his wings, he did not see someone creep up towards him. Just as Terrador was about to wash his hands, something smacked him in the back of his head.

"What in Ancestors was that?" he asked himself and turned around.

He found himself looking at a golden dragonfly.

"Well, well, if it isn't big ol' Terry. How're ye doing?" Sparx said in a friendly way.

"Sparx, I hadn't seen you for a long time," Terrador said.

"Yeah, well, I was feeling lonely because Spyro isn't here. Dunno what you did to him but after he left, I figured that it's better for me to travel the world and smell the flowers," Sparx said.

Terrador raised an eye ridge at that statement.

"I didn't mean smelling flowers literally. I miss Spyro but it's no point wasting time staying in the same place thinking about him. I hitched a ride to other continents," Sparx explained.

"You decided to take a world trip when the world is in danger?" Terrador growled.

"Hey whoa, easy there big boy, someone's gotta make do of the time. You see, I was afraid at first, alone and unwanted in a distant land," Sparx said dramatically. "I couldn't find any of my kind in other nations but I met a dragoness kind enough to take me in. She was a traveler and boy was she a hottie…ahem, according to dragon standards of course," Sparx said with a blush.

"Yeah, and I'm King of the Aurelian Empire," Terrador snorted.

"I'm serious, man. If you don't believe me, she's right here to prove it," Sparx said.

"As if I…"

Terrador stopped midsentence when a dragoness emerged from the forest. She was visibly annoyed at Sparx but her eyes widened when she saw Terrador.

"Terrador!"

"Collette!"

The two embraced each other and Terrador was visibly pained and happy at the same time.

"Whoa, you two know each other?" Sparx interrupted.

"I knew her since we were hatchlings, Sparx," Terrador said. "I never thought I'd see her again after I became a guardian. Last I heard, she told me she was going to marry a dragon warrior."

"I did but that was ten years ago. He died in combat with the orcs before he got a chance to marry me. After Malefor's demise, I travelled the world to ease my mind. I met Sparx wandering around the city of Antares," Collette explained.

"Okay, I admit it. I got a bit lost and I don't know how I ended up on the ship sailing to Antares. Still, you got a nice gal, Terrador. She's as kind as a lamb," Sparx said.

"I'm not all that nice, Sparx," she said with an evil grin.

"Eep," Sparx squeaked.

"Ha ha, that's the Colette I know," Terrador said with a laugh. "It's a fancy meeting you out here in the middle of nowhere."

"I could say the same to you. So what're you doing all the way here anyway?" Colette asked.

"Well…it's a long story so I'll make it as short as possible. You see, Warfang has been conquered by our Fell brethren. The temple guardians have scattered and with the imminent return of the Night of Eternal Darkness, the world may soon come to an end. Spyro is not here to save us anymore so we're on our own," Terrador explained sadly.

Colette gave a sad look because she knew the guardians were the closest friends Terrador had since graduating from the dragon academy. Sure they looked like a mismatched team but they always did things together and Terrador was always the one to play tough guy. To see him broken like this…

"C'mon, big guy, let's not get sad. We're still alive and you're back with your childhood friend. What more do you want? A new castle?" Sparx asked with crossed hands.

Terrador turned to Collette and said, "I'd be happy if this world wasn't about to come to an end. Collette, it's dangerous out here. I don't know how you got past those creatures in the forest but we better find a safe place in Port Town."

"I think you underestimate me, Terry. I was attacked but if you call a bunch of crazed warthogs and cannibal deer dangerous, I seriously doubt your ability to fight," Colette teased.

Terrador's face was red with embarrassment. He never liked it when Colette questioned his fighting capabilities…and he dare not admit that she had beaten him many times when they were younger.

"Yeah well, the environment is dangerous and I'm not as youthful as I was many decades ago. I was supposed to follow a boat to the Shining Seas but my wings gave way," Terrador said.

"So it seems," Collette said while looking down the river. "I guess we better go catch it then."

"I'm with you, sister. The forests give me the creeps," Sparx said.

As much as Terrador did not like Sparx's sense of humor, he was the only thing that reminded him of Spyro. After relaxing for a while, the three took off.

Spyro had the upper hand in the battle against the corrupt Anubis guardian. After fighting it for a while, Spyro found an attack pattern which he can use to exploit and knock it off balance.

"You know, for a creature claimed to be powerful, you're not exactly a good fighter," Spyro commented.

"That is because I'm merely holding back. I'm only buying us time," the Anubis guardian said.

Spyro heard the dragon goddess's cry of pain mixed combined with the roar of a dark creature. The purple dragon began to panic and nturned to glare at the Anubis guardian.

"Yes, the corruption is almost complete and when it is done, we will have an agent in the heavens to prevent divine intervention in this realm. Go on, Spyro, stop that if you can," the guardian taunted.

Spyro knew that time was running out and he cannot waste anymore time fighting the Anubis guardian. Instead and ran towards the bone wall and rammed it hard.

"Try all you want, dragon, but you can't break it," the Anubis guardian remarked.

Again, Spyro decided to tap the strength of his dark side. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Spyro could not risk the heavens being invaded by dark forces. Cynder is there and if he cannot save her in this realm, he will at least make up for it by saving her in paradise, even if it means using his dark powers. Spyro's body emitted a dark aura and once again, his eyes turned white and with a mighty roar, he dashed towards the bone wall at ungodly speeds with dark flames emitting from his horns. When his horn charge made contact with the bone wall, the entire wall shattered into a million bone fragments from end to end.

"No!"

Spyro ignored the guardian and ran towards Yir'usani. She was chained to a stone pillar and black conduits ran around it, giving out a malicious glow. Spyro almost did not recognize the goddess for her corruption had advanced to a stage where her appearance started to change. She was putting up a valiant resistance though, fighting back the darkness that tainted her.

"Hold on, I'll set you free," Spyro said.

He pulled at the steel chains, burned them, bit them and even tried freezing them but the chains were obviously no ordinary chains for if they were, they would have broken by now. Spyro tried to look for the end point of the chain but to his surprise, the chain has no end at all.

"What the hell is this trickery?" Spyro wondered.

"Spyro, hurry! I…can't…hold on much longer!" Yir'usani cried out.

"Geez, how am I supposed to get rid of these chains?" Spyro wondered angrily.

"There's no way you can break the chains that I set, dragon. Face it, you're just wasting your time," the Anubis guardian said when he caught up with Spyro.

Spyro looked at the guardian's twin scythes. If he is the one that bound Yir'usani, he should be the one that can free her as well. Those scythes look like the answer.

"Yeah, maybe I'm not doing this right," Spyro said. "Don't mind lending me one your scythes."

Spyro bashed him and whacked the guardian with his tail. He succeeded in knocking the guardian off balance and with a claw swipe, Spyro knocked on of the scythe out of the Anubis guardian's hands.

"Finders keepers," Spyro said as he grabbed the scythe.

Spyro slashed the chains with the scythe and sure enough, the chains broke and the dragon goddess freed herself but she could not shake off the taint that crept into her essence. Spyro saw that the pillar was the one supplying the corruption so he whacked it, burned it and bashed it up. The pillar cracked and shattered into hundreds of pieces under the constant attacks.

"That should do it," Spyro said with a satisfied grin.

The essence of Yir'usani cleansed quickly and Spyro thought she smiled at him and gave him a wink before dissipating into tiny particles. Spyro seemed unimpressed.

"That's it? Not even a thank you?"

"You fool, you've ruined our chances of invading the heavens!" the Anubis guardian snarled.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Spyro remarked sarcastically. "I thought you said I had done nothing useful. Perhaps that little thing I did would tell you to shut up the next time you try to insult someone."

Spyro rammed into the Anubis guardian and pushed him over the cliff. The Anubis guardian fell into the chasm and was gone forever. Spyro looked down and gave a snort.

"Perhaps bottomless pits have their uses too," Spyro remarked.

Suddenly, the cavern started to rumble and rocks fell from the earthen ceiling.

"Oh, c'mon, why does it all have to end with the cave caving in?" Spyro exclaimed.

Spyro couldn't fly across the chasm and the floating platforms never resurfaced from the chasm. The purple dragon shook his head.

"It's funny to think that after surviving so many dangerous enemies, you'd be killed by a cave in," Spyro said to himself.

One portion of the ceiling crumbled and revealed a hole to the surface. The light from the morning sun was very welcoming and Spyro said a silent prayer of thanks before flying out through the hole. After exiting the hole, the entire mesa sunk and threw up a dust cloud.

"Good riddance for that godforsaken place. Let's see if Yir'usani is back at her shrine," Spyro said.

True enough, when he returned to the shrine, the whole spirit of Yir'usani was there beside her statue. Her smile was so warm that it felt like spiritual sunshine and it soothed Spyro's darkened soul.

"Blessed are you, young dragon. You have saved my being from turning into an agent of darkness. Forgive me for not thanking you earlier," Yir'usani said.

"It's nothing actually," Spyro said bashfully as he was awestruck by her unearthly beauty.

"I know what you want, Spyro. I can see that your soul has been tormented and slowly being corrupted by your dark side. I cannot fully cleanse your dark side but I can hinder its ability to take control of you," Yir'usani explained.

She emitted a white aura and Spyro felt something materialize around his neck. When he looked downwards, he saw that he was wearing a golden amulet, just like the one Ignitus gave him earlier but more elaborate and heavier.

"Behold, this is the Locket and Sanctity. Only the ones who are in dire need of it will receive it. As long as you wear it, your dark side can never take control of you. Be wary though, your dark side can still communicate with you so do not let it entice you into doing anything that will endanger your life. The locket is a very fragile thing so be sure to keep it away from sources of corruption such as Convexity Pools, Blood Fountains, Dark Runes and any flora and fauna tainted by darkness. Once the locket is tainted, it will shatter," Yir'usani warned grimly.

"So what about the Night of Eternal Darkness? Isn't that a source of corruption as well?"

"Yes, it is so it is advisable to stay away from it. Go indoors when it happens and ride out the storm. Once it is over, seek out my shrine again and I will absorb your dark side into the locket. That will free you forever from the curse you now have.

"Couldn't you do it now?"

"Alas, darkness is picking up momentum and I cannot guarantee that your future will be that hopeful. If you follow what I say, everything should be fine. I cannot cleanse you now because the power of darkness in this world is too strong and I cannot fully work my powers in the mortal world."

"The world hates me, doesn't it," Spyro said.

Yir'usani chuckled. "No, we all go through trials. We just need to use the best method to overcome it. Take care of yourself, Spyro, guard that locket and return to after the Night of Eternal Darkness. May the blessings of the Pantheon be upon you," she said and her spirit became a thin wisp and flew to the heavens.

Spyro stood there and stared at the statue for a while before leaving the place.

"Yep, just another day for Spyro the dragon. I better return to Colton and check on the dragoness. I hope she's fine," Spyro said.