CHAPTER 10

Realizing he was serious Spyro quickly solidified and tackled the young dragon to the ground, pinning his tail down with his own.

"Jerrath what the hell is the matter with you?!" he said mere inches away from the tearful drakes face.

"Why the fuck do you care?! Why are you doing this to me? What if I'm not strong enough to fight Malefor? Everyone I care about is dead! Who gives a fuck what I do now?!" He growled in Spyro's face.

"Your sister isn't dead! She is Maelfor's slave as we speak! Is that what you want for her? To spend the rest of her days trapped in her own body?" Spyro snapped back firmly.

Jerrath held his glare and his injured arm as Spyro continued.

"I know your father's death hurts, but taking his way out wont fix anything."

He simply lay there, pinned under the heavier dragons weight as his tears silently spilled from his light grey eyes. Spyro's expression softened as he let him up. He realized what kind of dragon Jerrath was. He wasn't a born hero expected to save the world, and trained practically since birth to fight. He was just a scared kid, who lost his parents. Just like Spyro had been when he left the swamp all those years ago. He became transparent like his mate and Jerrath managed to get up with only three working paws.

"You hurt your paw Jerrath, let me see it." Cynder said stepping closer to him.

He withdrew slightly, earning a look of annoyance from the ebony female.

"You know I'm not going to hurt you."

He reluctantly held it out and she held a forepaw over it. The same healing white light as before shone from her marks and onto his paw. In a matter of seconds his broken bones were set and mended. He clenched and unclenched his paw and set it back down.

"Stop hurting yourself, I cant heal you all day you know." She said stepping back beside Spyro.

"Malefor went to Warfang. We think he is going to try and capture the Guardians elements to try and revive himself." He explained.

Jerrath nodded, then had a rather obvious idea.

"Wait a second, you can interact with the living, why don't you two just stay solid and fight Malefor yourself?"

"We can only help you in a desperate situation, like this one. The longer we spend in that form, the longer it takes to recover so we may do it again. We probably have to wait a while to help you after this ordeal." Cynder answered.

"Oh...well I guess I should get going then?"

Spyro nodded as they both disappeared back into the spirit realm.

"Good luck Jerrath. We have faith in you." He said as he turned to face the northern sky.

With one flap of his wings he was off, climbing high above the clouds to catch the jet streams. He stopped flapping and just let himself be pushed by the fast winds. Save for the air rushing past him, it was quite serene. He was above the highest layer of clouds and they stretched as far as he could see in any direction, obscuring the ground completely. He was alone with his thoughts for the first time since...well as long as he could remember. He had never needed a reason to be alone like this before...back when he was just a carefree young dragon. Now he was left to consider what he would have to do to get his last living relative back. Spyro had told him that Malefor's evil was limitless, and that not even the most underhanded tactic was too low for him. Jerrath closed his eyes as he glided through the air. He would have never guessed he'd be fighting some kind of ancient monster two days ago, but the fates are fickle mistresses...

On the horizon, he spotted a column of smoke punching through the picturesque cloud layer. He figured that was Warfang, and began his descent. After breaking through the clouds, he saw that he was flying over burning houses, and shattered lives. He scanned the village and a jet of purple fire gave away Malefors position. Jerrath flew straight through the fire and smoke landing right in front of his 'little' sister. She was a lot bigger than any dragon he had ever seen, male of female. She was currently being fought by a few of the city guards, but they were being killed one by one, as if Malefor was just wasting time before he got on with his real plan.

"Ria!"

The huge dragoness turned her now long and elegant neck toward the source of that voice.

"You are quite brave to approach me youngling." Malefor said.

Jerrath was confused, it looked like an older version of Ria, but he knew his sisters voice, and that definitely wasn't it, though it did sound like it.

"R-Ria is that you?"

"Hahaha Ria isn't here at the moment, but if there is something you would like me to pass on I'll make sure she hears it!" She said swinging her massive tail around and slamming into Jerraths ribs, flinging him through a straw hut and out the other side. As he tumbled to a halt, he put a hand on his side.

'Doesnt feel broken...' He thought dragging himself up. This may be a little harder than he thought.

He staggered back to his much larger sister and she stopped and turned back to him, releasing the soldier she had in her hand by flinging him across the city.

"Still alive are you? How commendable." Malefor grinned.

"I know who you are Malefor!" He shouted.

Her expression changed to one of amusement. How did he figure that out?

"Hmmm...you are quite the clever dragon. How did you come about knowing my name?" She asked.

"Spyro and Cynder told me all about you!" He growled. Upon hearing those names, her face twisted into an expression of fury.

"They were both weak!" She roared as she unleashed the same purple beam of energy she used on Alexis at her brother. He quickly dodged the attack and shot a jet of fire at his sister. It hit her dead on, she shook it off and waited for the smoke to clear.

Jerrath saw her eyes pierce through the smoke before any other part, giving him his target. He launched himself into the air, and then with a flap of his wings, shot himself at her. As he sped towards his sister, he blew a shield of fire around himself, something Ignitus had taught him during the night. He crashed straight into Ria's chest, knocking her onto her back and singing her chest scales. He landed in front of her as she scrambled to her feet, Malefor now enraged that someone had landed a hit on him.

"Spyro and Cynder also trained me to fight you!" He said, his nervousness now replaced by an ever increasing amount of confidence.

"You cant beat me! Only the purple dragon can!" She said charging him. He charged at her as well. They both jumped into the air. Jerrath blew a fireball into his right forepaw and continued to rocket through the air toward his baby sister. As he was about to deliver a crushing blow, he looked into her glaring eyes as they grew closer to him. The face of the snarling adult dragoness was replaced by the innocent wide eyed smile of the Ria he remembered. His expression softened to one of disbelief as his fist lowered. There was no way he could hit her possessed by evil or not, she was still his little sister. How could he willingly try to hurt her? Even during training, when he thought of having to hurt his own sister on purpose made him sick. Just as soon as it had appeared, the image of the former cute and helpless little hatchling Ria vanished. He was utterly defenseless. He got hit so hard in the face by her fist that he literally saw stars and flashes of light before crashing into the dirt.

xXx

'Jerrath! Jerrath you must wake up!'

That voice...it was very familiar. He opened his eyes and saw no one around him. It must be in his head. He raised his head up off the ground and noticed a massive throbbing coming from the left side of his face. He tenderly put his paw up to it and barely touched his cheek before recoiling in pain. Blood was on his paws as he lifted himself onto his haunches, tears from both the extreme pain and the situation at hand stinging his cuts. He couldn't do this, there was no way he could go on...He just wanted to give up.

'You have to keep moving!'

There was that voice again.

"Spyro?" He said aloud.

'Yes Jerrath. I know its hard but you cant give up now!'

"He's too strong! How am I supposed to fight that?" He sobbed in frustration.

"He said it himself, only the purple dragon can beat him!" He added in pain.

'Listen to me Jerrath, I know you didn't ask for this to happen. I never asked to be the purple dragon either, but you cant fight fate. This is your destiny Jerrath, now grab it with both paws!' Spyro said trying to rally his young apprentice.

'If you do it for no one else, do it for Ria.' said a female voice he recognized as Cynders.

He dried his tears as the cackle of flames were the only thing to break the silence in which he sat. He got up onto all fours and scanned the horizon. Where had Ria gone?

Then he remembered what Spyro had told him. She needed the guardians powers to revive Malefor. With that in mind, he flew on his tired wings to the masive temple structure, which now had giant dark crystals growing out of it as a trail of dead and wounded guards led up to the smashed door.

"How long was I out?" He wondered aloud approaching the threshold. He was more scared than he had ever been before, almost unable to move his feet forward. He could only pray he wasnt too late to stop her.

Shorter than normal I know, but I didnt want to keep u guys waiting after that evil cliffhanger of mine. cya!