Chapter 10

The next day, the vanguards walked down towards the courtyard. As they walked, they began reflecting on their lessons that the guardians had given them before today. The council, Leon, Sparx, and Elektra waited patiently in the courtyard. The vanguards bowed to the council, "Are you ready?" Spyro asked turning to Leon.

"Yes." Leon stated.

"Do me a favor and don't come back too roughed up." Elektra told him.

"No promises."

"Young vanguards, we wish you the best of luck on your mission." Vulcan stated.

"Keep yourselves, and each other safe." Gaia said.

"All of dragon kind is counting on you, don't let us down." Nitro said.

"We won't." Spyro stated.

"Remember our conversation…your highness." Anima sneered glaring at Leon who ignored him.

"We have a long way to go." Cynder said, "The sooner we leave, the better."

"Right." The vanguards said simultaneously.

"Cynder and I will carry Leon." Spyro stated. The vanguards nodded before taking off. Spyro and Cynder grasped Leon's shoulders and hefted him into the air and the group headed northward towards Dante's Freezer.

Gwar and two orc guards approached Malefore's new lair; a large dark crystal spire that threatened to pierce the sky itself. Gwar entered the main chamber and began climbing up the large spiral staircase on the far end of the room. He passed through several floors before reaching the topmost floor, where Malefore resided.

"What news do you bring?" He asked.

"Master, the spires have been completed and the machine codes have successfully been changed."

"Excellent." Malefore said.

"But, master, I really think that the human was onto something when he wrote about this legend."

"I don't keep you around to think, orc, I keep you around to fight."

"But-"

"Have the troops found the other dragon cities?" Malefore asked cutting the orc off.

"They have." Gwar said, somewhat disappointed that Malefore was ignoring what he had found.

"Good." Malefore then began to glow with convexity and, without warning; a purple shockwave erupted from him. It went through the dark crystal spire and consumed the massive army of orcs below the spire.

"By the ancestors, what was that?" Cyril asked as he looked at the fading purple light in the distance.

"Nothing good." Terrador stated before turning to a mole captain, "Increase the patrols, we need someone watching these walls all hours of every day."

"Yes, master Terrador." The mole saluted before heading toward the eastern side of the city.

Gwar dared to open his eyes when the light had died down. He gaped in surprise when he realized that he and the other orcs had become larger and glowing with power. "A gift, for my warriors." Malefore stated. The orcs outside began testing their new elemental abilities, shooting lightning bolts, fireballs, earth bullets, and ice spikes into the air. "It seems like they're enjoying themselves." Malefore observed, hearing the blasts of elemental magic outside. "Go make sure they put it to good use."

"Yes, master." Gwar and the other orcs bowed before leaving the room.

The trees rushed below the vanguards as the headed north. The sun began to set and the temperature began to drop. "Down here." Spyro said before he and Cynder carried Leon to a small clearing with the vanguards close behind. They set Leon on his feet before landing on the cold ground. "Okay…Fang, Sting, Twitch, and Zephyr, you guys go find some firewood. Flare, Crystal, and Charlotte, go see if you can find some edible berries. I'll take Cynder and Leon to hunt for meat. Sparx-"

"Yeah, yeah, stay here and mark the spot…I know." Sparx said.

"Right, we'll come back before dark."

The vanguards nodded before setting off in different directions. As Spyro, Leon, and Cynder quietly made their way through the woods, the two dragons flicked out their tongues and tasted the air. "I've got something." Cynder stated.

"Yeah, I smell it too…sheep, and their close."

"Stay low." Leon said before using his wind power to leap into the trees.

Spyro looked at Cynder, "No offense, but your father's a 'show off'." Cynder just giggled before the two crouched low under the brush. After a few, more minutes they could see a herd of sheep grazing in a small clearing ahead of them. Leon crouched in a tree on the other side of the clearing and made eye contact with the dragons and nodded.

"Get ready." Cynder whispered realizing what Leon was about to do. Leon used his wind power to blow a gentle breeze in the direction of the dragons. The sheep lifted their heads up and sniffed the air. They caught Leon's scent and took off towards the dragons. "Now!" Cynder yelled when the sheep were close enough. The two dragons leaped forward and clamped their jaws around two of the sheep's throats and bringing them down with little difficulty. The other sheep panicked and fled in the opposite direction towards Leon. He drew his dagger and dropped from the tree, landing hard on a sheep's back and breaking its spinal cord. The other sheep became confused and Spyro took the opportunity to leap onto the back of another sheep and sink his fangs into the back of its neck. He jerked hard and broke its neck, sending it to the ground.

Cynder saw a large ram and decided that it would make a great kill. Leon saw what she was looking at, "Don't!" he yelled, but Cynder didn't hear him. She leaped at the ram but it whipped around and struck her on the side of the head. Cynder flew though the air and rolled across the ground until she hit the base of a tree. The ram charged at her as she slowly rose from the ground. Leon removed a throwing knife from his belt and tossed it. The blade spun threw the air and lodged itself in the ram's neck, piercing it's jugular and it dropped dead in front of Cynder. The rest of the sheep fled into the darkness of the forest. Leon and Spyro ran over to Cynder as she shook the stars from her head.

"Are you okay?" Spyro asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Cynder replied.

"You need to be more careful." Leon stated.

"Thanks for caring." Cynder said.

"You're of no use to me dead." Leon stated coldly, "Now come on, we need to get these back to camp." He grabbed the ram and another smaller sheep and hefted them both onto his shoulders. Cynder and Spyro grabbed up the other two sheep and the group headed back to the camp.

"Over here." Charlotte said, finding another bush filled with red berries. This area of the forest turned out to produce more fruit than the dragons had had ever seen. Flare's makeshift satchel was nearly full of different colored berries.

"This should be enough." Crystal stated as the two dragoness' began picking the berries and placing them into Flare's satchel.

"Thank the ancestors, this thing is getting heavy." Flare complained.

"Oh, man up!" Charlotte said playfully, issuing a giggle from Crystal.

Flare was about to snap at his sister, but a sharp drop in temperature caused him and the two females to shiver, "What was that?" Crystal asked.

"Wait, you felt it too?" Charlotte asked, surprised that the ice dragoness was affected by the cold.

"That's weird." Flare said. Then a shadowy figure emerged from the darkness and caught the dragons' eyes. A hooded man approached the dragons and stopped a few yards from them.

"Leon?" Crystal said, surprised, "Aren't you supposed to be with Spyro and Cynder?" Leon didn't answer.

"…Is something wrong?" Charlotte asked skeptically.

"Yes." Leon answered in a warped voice.

"Is it did something happen to the others?" Flare asked worriedly.

"No."

"…Then what's wrong?"

"What's wrong…is that you dragons are still breathing." Leon said maliciously before releasing a bolt of dark lightning.

"Watch out!" Crystal yelled as the three dragons dodged in opposite directions.

"What the hell is your problem?" Flare yelled at him.

"You are." Leon replied before firing a ball of shadow fire. Flare tried to dodge again, but his satchel slowed him down and the fireball hit his flank. The fire breather screamed as he flew through the air and smashed against a tree. Seeing her mate crumple to the ground infuriated Charlotte, and she leaped at Leon, but yelped when she passed through him. Leon reached around and grabbed the dragoness' ankle and slammed her into the ground.

"Get away from her!" Crystal yelled before shooting ice spikes at Leon. The ice passed through him and he lunged forward and grabbed the ice dragoness by the neck. His hand was freezing cold as it crushed the life out of Crystal. She attempted to strike his arm with her tail, but it passed through him. Flare slowly rose to his feet and came to his senses when he heard his mate's scream. He lunged forward, but like Charlotte, he only passed through his body. Leon released Crystal and leaped backwards away the dragons. The dragons rose to their feet and all three of them took a defensive stance beside one another. Shadows spread out around Leon's feet and the dragons gaped as a dark scaled dragon rose from the shadows and looked at glared at them with glowing white eyes.

"Spyro?" Charlotte asked as she studied the dragon. Then three more dark scaled dragons rose from the shadows and the vanguards became frozen in fear as they gazed at the dark versions of themselves.

"We have to get out of here!" Crystal yelled.

"Go!" Charlotte yelled before releasing sparklers that blinded Leon and the dark dragons. The vanguards rushed through the woods as fast as they could and headed back towards the camp.

"What's taking them so long?" Spyro asked as he, Cynder, Leon, Twitch, Zephyr, Sting, Fang, and Sparx sat around the fire; Leon sat against a tree and kept his distance from the group.

"Maybe they got lost." Sparx suggested.

"I doubt that." Twitch said. Just then, the other three vanguards ran out of the darkness of the woods and stopped in front of the bewildered dragons.

"What happened?" Spyro asked jumping to his feet.

"Leon…attacked us." Charlotte panted.

"What!" Fang exclaimed before glaring at Leon.

"I did what?" Leon asked, genuinely confused.

The three dragons gave him a look of sheer confusion, "What the hell were you doing!" Flare yelled at him.

"I haven't done anything…yet."

"He was with us the entire time, there's no way he could have attacked you." Cynder explained.

"It had a hood and black armor just like him!" Flare explained, "Besides, do you think I did this to myself." Flare said, turning to the side so the vanguards could see the burn mark left by the shadow fire.

"Well, you've clearly been attacked by something." Zephyr said before healing the wound.

"It was him!" Crystal yelled, "I'm not sure how he did it, but it was definitely him. He summoned these…shadow dragons that looked like us…he even had one that looked like Spyro." Spyro's mind flashed back to his nightmare.

"You can believe what you want, but I know I haven't attacked anyone this night." Leon said calmly.

The three dragons glared hatefully at Leon, "How do you know it wasn't another human?" Twitch asked. Leon looked over and raised his eyebrow at the lightning dragon, "Oh, right." Twitch said, getting the hint.

"I don't care what you guys believe, we know what we saw." Flare said before dropping the singed makeshift satchel. Several small clinks drew the vanguards attention, and they gasped. The once colorful berries had now turned into smooth, round dark crystals.

"What the hell?" Flare said, completely bewildered. "They were berries, I swear."

"What do you make of this?" Spyro asked turning to Leon.

Leon rose to his feet, walked over, and picked up one of the purple jewels, "I've never seen anything like it." He said, studying the crystal. He then drained the crystal of its power, turning it jet black, before crushing it into dust in his hand, "Still, I wouldn't suggest eating them."

"Obviously." Fang said, giving Leon a quick glare.

"Well, I guess the sheep will have to do." Spyro stated.

Leon put several handfuls into his satchel. "What are you doing?" Cynder asked.

"Best to not waste them." Leon explained.