Update time at last!
I'll just add in what seems to have become my usual apology at this point for how long the wait for this chapter was. University is one heck of a time-monopolizer. That, and this chapter didn't want to get written for some reason.
But, it's here. Actually, both it and the next one are. So, as a reward for your patience, there will be two new chapters in this round of updates. Surprise! :)
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 10: A New Day
"Spyro, just admit it. You don't know where you're going."
"I'm sure this is right, though. Kaver said that we just had to take the first set of stairs on the left, then the second right—"
"Third."
"What?"
"It was the third right after the stairs."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Well you could have mentioned that sooner!"
Cynder could only chuckle at the half amused, half flustered expression on her purple companion's face as the young duo padded slowly along one of the sequestered city's many tunnel-like corridors. To the two dragons' chagrin, the immaculate passages that were formed out of the towering spire's bedrock were arrayed in a twisting network that was more akin to a labyrinth than anything else, and it had only taken them moments after leaving their shared chamber to find themselves lost. In the nearly half hour that had passed since this realization had dawned on them they had been wandering the maze of hallways endlessly, trying in vain to find their way back to the route they were meant to take to reach the small guest dining hall for breakfast. So far they'd had no success.
"Well, this is a great way to start off our visit here," Spyro grunted with a small laugh. "I hope Kaver isn't getting too impatient."
"It'll be fine," Cynder replied, nudging his shoulder reassuringly with her wing and still grinning at his anxiety. "He seemed like a pretty easygoing type yesterday."
Spyro nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right. I just don't know how much longer I can last at this rate."
His stomach gave a loud rumble to reinforce his point, causing the purple dragon to falter in embarrassment. Cynder laughed, bumping him on the shoulder again.
Males and their stomachs, she chuckled inwardly. Unbelievable.
Despite her amusement, though, Cynder couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for Spyro, feeling somewhat responsible for their situation for not having spoken up when they had made the wrong turn in the corridors. However, in her defence, she hadn't known at the time that they had strayed off course. Exhausted as she was from the trip, it had taken longer than normal for her mind to clear from the grogginess of sleep, and so when Spyro had led them down what would end up being the wrong path she hadn't realized the mistake until he had spoken just now.
Oh well, she thought. Nothing we can do about that now. Besides, it could be worse.
She glanced up and to her right as she and Spyro passed by one of the beautifully-carved arched windows that opened up to the stunning vista beyond the sheltered walls of the butte, letting in the crisp, high-altitude morning air that sent an invigorating shiver down Cynder's spine as it gently caressed her scales. Had they not been pressed for time to reach their destination she would have liked to stop for a moment and take in the view, for it was indeed a spectacular one. The crystal-clear air almost glowed in the light of the steadily rising sun, highlighting the various other peaks and cliffs in the area. For a dragon there was something that just felt right about the whole atmosphere of the place, looking out over the world from above. Had she the choice and had she not grown as attached to Warfang as she was, she could easily see herself living in such a place as this.
And I haven't even seen the actual city itself yet, she snorted to herself.
Finally, after another fruitless ten minutes of wandering, Spyro swallowed his embarrassment and asked a passing guard—an earth dragon in armour just like the two that had met them at the city's main 'gate'—for assistance. Once they had received directions to the dining hall from the powerful green dragon, who looked at the same time honoured to be speaking with the legendary purple dragon and greatly amused by their predicament, they thanked him and hurried off through the corridors once more.
It took them another few minutes, but at last the walls around them fell away to reveal a small-ish courtyard nestled inside of a round cave that had clearly been worked on by earth dragons, the gently curving walls far too smooth to be natural. Three corridors led out of the courtyard at right angles to each other; the one that Spyro and Cynder had just entered from, plus two others on their left and right, each one flanked by a pair of brightly-burning torches set atop stone pedestals that provided both plentiful light and warmth within the chamber. Rounded paving stones arranged in a circular pattern formed the floor of the space, decorative shrubs of various types growing out of simple clay pots set against the walls. On the opposite side of the courtyard from the two dragons, where no corridor led out, stood a simply-built square structure formed out of sandy-brown stone, warm light spilling out invitingly from the open doorway and windows.
"Whew," Spyro panted lightly after their short run. "That's a welcome sight. I'm starving after yesterday."
"Me too," Cynder agreed, feeling her stomach twinge insistently. Neither she nor Spyro had been able to eat much the previous evening, their appetites dulled by the exertion of their flight and the after-effects of adrenaline following their close call with the Gale Stream. Now their hunger had fully caught up with them both. "Come on, the food isn't going to come to us."
Spyro grinned quickly before stepping out into the courtyard, jogging across to the entrance to the dining hall with Cynder following right on his tail. They had only barely crossed the threshold when a friendly call reached their ears.
"Well, there you both are!" Councillor Kaver exclaimed jokingly from one of the low stone tables near the centre of the simple but cozy eating space. He beckoned them both over with a wave of his wing. "I was afraid you had disappeared on us during the night."
"Sorry," Spyro apologized sheepishly as he and Cynder made their way across the room to join the other dragon at the table, sitting down side by side across from the councillor on a pair of worn but comfortable cushions. "We got a little lost trying to find our way here."
"We?" Cynder teased.
"Yes, we," Spyro retorted, also with a grin. "I didn't hear you say anything to stop us going the wrong way."
"Oh, details," Cynder said with mock exasperation, rolling her eyes at him.
Across the table Kaver gave a low chuckle before waving a paw toward a small doorway in the back wall of the dining hall, catching the attention of a serving dragon standing there who promptly disappeared into the darker chamber beyond the door. Then he turned his gaze back toward the younger dragons, pushing the empty platter that was sitting in front of him out of the way and leaning forward slightly—clearly he had eaten a good while before the young guests had arrived. Cynder noticed as he shifted his position that the formal council robes he had been wearing the day before had been replaced by a lighter, plain grey covering that only fell to his knees and elbows. His expression was just as light and informal as his attire, showing no signs that the wind dragon was perturbed by being kept waiting, something that was swiftly confirmed when he opened his mouth to speak.
"Don't either of you be too concerned about your tardiness," he told them in a warm, easy tone. "As you both already know, there's no official business that we need to worry about until late tomorrow morning, so we're in absolutely no rush for anything today. If I understand things correctly, you've both been kept pretty busy back in the dragon capital, yes? Today is simply a well-deserved day off for the both of you, then."
Cynder was slightly surprised by this news, and it looked to her like Spyro was as well. "There's nothing we need to do at all?"
"We were expecting some kind of envoy functions that we were going to have to do before the vote tomorrow," Spyro added.
"Not today," Kaver replied with a smile. "You're both still too young to be burdened down with all the nitty-gritty little details of inter-city relations anyway. All of that political back and forth has already been taken care of by the earlier envoys that both Warfang and we have been employing up until now. Really your presence here is just a formality for the treaty vote. There isn't much doubt about what the verdict of it is going to be anyway."
Cynder was again surprised by the nonchalant tone that Kaver was using. With him being a member of the city's governing council she had been expecting him to be more concerned with the formal, accepted protocols that a meeting between representatives of different city states would normally entail. She'd witnessed a little of that sort of thing with the Guardians in Warfang over the last few months. She had been expecting schedules, meetings with various authority figures, tours, briefings, or any manner of other—pointless, in her opinion—pleasantries. But Kaver was just waving that all off as if none of it was of any concern, as if she and Spyro were just any two dragons stopping by for a visit. Was that why there had been no concerns about the two of them performing this task for the Guardians, when their experience in such official matters was negligible at best?
She thought that this must have been the case, but those thoughts were interrupted when the serving dragon appeared at their table with two trays of food balanced rather skillfully on his forepaw and tail. He set them down on the table in front of Spyro and Cynder before bowing his head respectfully and departing. Without delay the two young dragons set to work devouring their meal, which consisted of some form of roasted mountain grouse and soft tubers that had a surprisingly enticing taste. Despite her hunger, though, Cynder forced herself to eat at a measured pace to avoid being rude in front of Kaver, Spyro doing the same beside her.
"So what will we be doing today, then?" Spyro asked, pausing briefly in his breakfast.
"That depends on what you both would like to do," Kaver replied. "One of the most obvious things would be to show you around the city, but given that Sky Haven is only a small city at present that won't take long. Other than that, it's simply a matter of what you would like to see."
"What sorts of things are there to see here?"
"Plenty," Kaver answered with a proud grin. "Only a short flight from here there is a spectacular high-altitude lake atop one of the larger mesas, which has become a very popular site for the city's young ones. Then there are the sparring grounds beneath us that the City Guard uses for training, but which are also home to Sky Haven's thunderball arena, and even farther beneath that are the crystal caverns, where there are enough spirit gem deposits to support a city three times the size of Warfang for a hundred years at least."
Cynder and Spyro both paused in their meals to gape at Kaver at those last words, which elicited a brief chuckle from the councillor.
"But my point is, there's plenty available to occupy the day for us. So why don't you two hurry up and finish eating and I'll give you the grand tour to begin with, if that's what you would like?"
"Sounds good to me," Spyro said, and Cynder nodded eagerly in agreement before resuming eating at a renewed pace, excitement growing inside of her to see the things that Kaver had mentioned.
Only a few minutes later the two young dragons had completely emptied their trays, and after taking a moment to thank the cooks—a simple act that nonetheless went greatly appreciated by the dragons in the kitchen and that seemed to impress Kaver as well—they followed the wind dragon councillor out into the corridors once more. Deciding to begin their tour with a sweep around the city's perimeter, Kaver set off down the smooth passage that Spyro and Cynder had come out of earlier. Soon enough they were wandering down one of the many outlying hallways of the city at a leisurely pace, the frequent open windows on their right offering them constant views of the ever-breathtaking scenery.
"So, Kaver," Spyro spoke up after a short silence elapsed, the simple hallways offering little for their guide to tell them about. "Why was the city built in this location, anyway? I understand that it was built as a shelter, but why so high up?" He motioned out one of the windows as they passed, through which they could only barely see the ground far, far below them, an indistinct smudge behind the foreground of towering stone spires and plateaus covered in dense grass and underbrush.
"Why not?" came Kaver's simple reply, shrugging. "For one thing I believe that it adds a nice touch of character to the city that other dragon cities like Warfang, as magnificent as it is, are lacking in my opinion. For another, it is tremendously defendable and also easy to miss if you don't know it's here."
"But doesn't it make it harder to supply?" Cynder commented, looking up at the older dragon curiously. "How do you get food and water up here?"
"Water is a simple matter. The earth dragons who were among the original settlers here had the ingenious idea to carve an elaborate network of channels and small holding reservoirs into the upper portion of the butte, which while almost invisible from outside manage to capture almost all rainwater that falls on the rock and funnels it into the central reservoir located behind the core of the city. From there it's a simple matter of carrying it to where it's needed. Food takes a bit more work of course, but there is no shortage of wildlife living on the larger mesas scattered around the area that provide a sustainable food supply."
"So, things like the animals that live at Tall Plains?" Spyro asked, obviously recalling his brief journey there to rescue Cyril.
"Exactly," Kaver nodded, before adding as an afterthought, "Not including the Atlawa, of course."
The two young dragons both gave small chuckles, then fell into a thoughtful silence as each considered this information for a moment. During the pause in the conversation Kaver led them down a new corridor to their left when they came up to a T-shaped intersection in the passages, heading now toward the core of the spire. As they were walking they passed a pair of guards who appeared to be off duty for the moment, talking amicably with each other but still wearing their armour as if they had just ended their shift. One was an earth dragon, the other wind, and Cynder watched them pass with a thoughtful frown on her face before looking up at Kaver again and catching his eye.
"So, what kinds of dragons live here?" she asked him. "So far I've only seen wind and earth dragons."
"You have a keen eye," Kaver chuckled. "Yes, at the moment wind and earth almost exclusively comprise the population of the city. When it was originally formed it was by a band of wind and earth dragons fleeing from the war. Since that time there have been a couple of families or individuals of other elements that have come to call Sky Haven their home, but they are only a minute portion of the population."
"Is that another part of why the city was built where it was?" Spyro asked.
"It was certainly a convenient factor," Kaver nodded. "The first dragons here quickly realized the advantages of combining their powers for the construction and protection of the city. With their control over the stone around us, the earth dragons could easily handle the city's construction and provided a means of sealing it off if it ever came under threat, while the fact that the only way to reach Sky Haven is by air meant that the wind dragons' control of the sky gave the city an ideal means of defence."
"Like the Gale Stream," Cynder ventured, her tone hardening just a touch as her mind flashed back to the incident the day before.
Kaver gave a small, almost sheepish chuckle under his breath. "I figured that would come up. Yes, the Gale Stream is one of our primary defensive measures."
"How does it work?" Spyro asked, looking up at the larger dragon with curiosity written over his features. "And why did it attack us when we were trying to pass through?"
"In regards to your first question, it is a tremendous feat of elemental magic. Tell me, my young purple friend; have your teachings in the elements advanced beyond their direct manipulation yet?"
Spyro shook his head.
"Well, back in ancient times dragons were able to do far more with their elements than simply breathe them. Elaborate spells and enchantments abounded, dragons of a single element or groups working together able to imbue almost any object with their powers to achieve incredible results."
"Really?" Spyro asked, and Cynder could see the gleam of excitement and intrigue in his eyes.
Kaver nodded. "It is far less common nowadays, especially due to the decline in our race's numbers, but those with the proper knowledge can still achieve such feats. That is how the Gale Stream was created. The original wind dragons who lived here combined all their powers together, focussing them into a crystalline totem of sorts created by the earth dragons, which they called the Gale Heart, and wove a spell that would conjure a tremendously powerful yet focussed stream of wind that would ensnare intruders and propel them to their deaths against the rocks. Since it is the key to our first line of defence the Gale Heart is one of the most closely guarded relics in the city, protected constantly in the city hall."
"But why did it attack us?" Cynder asked.
Kaver paused briefly, a strange, hesitant look coming over his features, but finally he said, "That, I do not know. And neither do any of the other council members or guards that I've discussed it with. The Gale Stream's spell is only supposed to activate when it senses an evil presence. Evil, as I'm sure you both are aware, has a very distinctive trace. I cannot fathom, then, why you two would have been targeted by it."
There was an awkward pause following those words, and in the silence Cynder felt the first twinges of guilt inside of her. She glanced over at Spyro with a hint of shame in her expression, and he quickly looked toward her as well when he noticed. She saw only concern and support in his eyes and not a trace of accusation, but despite this Cynder felt convinced that the Gale Stream had been reacting to the Dark Master's corruption that had left its mark on her, and so it was because of her that they had both almost been killed. Kaver quickly noticed the distress she was in, however.
"Now, don't be so quick to blame yourself," he said reassuringly. "While I would be lying if I said that when the Gale Stream was first made you weren't one of the main threats in mind, I am not so sure that you triggered the spell this time. Given how long you have been free from the Dark Master's power, whatever traces of it remain would surely be too small to consider. No, I would more likely wager that something has gone wrong with the spell. It will have to be looked into. In the meantime, don't worry yourself about it. The Gale Stream knows not to target you anymore, and so there is no danger."
Cynder forced herself to give a shallow nod of her head, but inside her doubts still festered. Clearly Spyro noticed, for a second later Cynder felt him brush her flank gently with a folded wing, and when she looked up at him he offered her a comforting smile. Cynder couldn't help but smile faintly back at him, grateful for his ever-present support, and briefly she leaned her head over and nuzzled him softly under the edge of his jaw. The contact, however fleeting in length, helped to sooth her trouble, and when she pulled back her smile came more easily. The purple dragon gave a quiet chuckle. Then, after another short pause, he looked up at their guide again.
"Alright, now I have another question," he spoke up.
"Then by all means, fire away," Kaver replied without hesitation.
"Have you been a member of the council here for long?"
The wind dragon looked surprised by this query, and he turned a quizzical gaze down on Spyro. "Why do you ask?"
"You seem a lot more laid back than all the other city officials we've met before," Spyro told him.
"And most of the wind dragons we've met in general," Cynder added, an image flashing in her mind of the chief elder from the northern refugee city that she had visited during the grublin threat months before, during Nexus's campaign of destabilization. A small scowl crossed her features. Kaver, however, chuckled.
"Well, I've been on the council for just short of a year now," he answered. "As such my influence within it is still somewhat limited due to seniority and all that, and I guess it's also why I've managed to keep that 'official' stinginess from rubbing off on me so far. I have to say that I'm a little concerned to hear that your impression of wind dragons so far is so seemingly lacking, though. We're usually a pretty easy group to get along with, I like to think. Anyone in particular that's giving you this less than flattering image?"
"Well, there are the elders you had to deal with," Spyro began, motioning with his head toward Cynder.
Cynder scoffed quietly. "Yeah. And Captain Boreas, obviously."
Kaver suddenly let out a drawn out grunt of understanding, causing both Spyro and Cynder to look up at him curiously.
"Ah, Boreas," he said, nodding slowly. "I think I understand now. Yes, he is a little bit..."
"Jerkish?" Cynder offered.
Kaver chuckled. "I was going to say serious, but I guess that's apt too. He just takes his work as a guard very seriously. He doesn't try to be abrasive."
"You sound like you knew him personally," Spyro commented. "He was from this city before he came to Warfang, wasn't he?"
"Yes he was," Kaver nodded. "Before he volunteered to serve as the liaison officer between our cities in Warfang's Guard when we established contact."
"I didn't know he was a liaison," Cynder spoke up. "Was that an issue when he chose to become a candidate for captain?"
"Not really. His liaison term was only temporary, and in his final report back to us he expressed his desire to remain a guard in Warfang permanently. The council accepted his resignation, his mate and son moved to Warfang with him, and the next we heard of him he had become captain of the Second Dragon Division of the Warfang Guard. Good for him, I say. It certainly has been quieter here since his family moved out of the city, though. That son of his..."
The wind dragon chuckled quietly to himself again, and Spyro and Cynder exchanged a quick glance.
Their conversation was brought to an end when they rounded the next corner in the corridors, and ahead of them they could see a large, carved archway signalling that they were approaching the end of the tunnel-like passages. The arch itself was quite a thing to behold. It was carved in the shape of two dragons, standing on square pedestals facing away from the centre of the giant spire as though guarding the interior of the city. They each had one wing extended, the tips crossing overhead to form the shape of the archway. Each statue was almost twice the size of an adult dragon, and as Kaver and the two younger dragons passed through the arch Cynder couldn't help but stare up at them with a feeling of mild awe. She was only snapped out of her reverie when Kaver stopped just a few paces past the archway.
"And now, young dragons," he said proudly, holding out a wing, "allow me to finally present Sky Haven to you officially."
Cynder turned her head away from the huge dragon statues to see what lay ahead of them, and as soon as she had her eyes widened and her jaw slackened slightly. An expansive cavern carved out of the solid stone was spread out in front of them, so large that they hardly felt enclosed within it at all. It wasn't the size of the cavern that impressed her, however, but rather the city that had been built within it.
Buildings carved out of the stone were arrayed neatly in a sort of spoke-and-wheel formation around a polished central courtyard in which Cynder could see several dragons wandering about. Mostly they were earth and wind dragons, but she did see a couple of infrequent flashes of colour from other elements. On one side of the courtyard, in front of a tall, wide square building that Cynder assumed was the town hall, was a peacefully flowing fountain. There were even trees and other assorted shrubbery growing from small garden enclosures lining many of the paving-stone streets to add a touch of colour to the various shades of grey that made up the rest of the small city. In the open space that stretched between the city boundary and the cavern wall was, as impossible as it may have seen, a lush field of thick green grass and the occasional tree along the outside, the grass waving in a soft breeze. Where this breeze came from, though, Cynder had no idea.
"Wow," was all she could utter as she stared out at the scene, dumbstruck by the sight of it. It looked far more developed than she had been expecting for a hidden city dug out of a lonely butte, but more than that it didn't bear the feeling of being trapped underground at all. This was no refugee shelter. This place was flourishing!
"Where's the light coming from?" Spyro asked, casting his gaze about. There wasn't a torch in sight, and yet the city was lit up as though under the direct light of the sun.
Kaver smiled. "From there," he replied, pointing with a wing up to the ceiling of the cavern. Cynder followed with her gaze, and she gasped when she saw what he was indicating. The majority of the cave's roof was made not of stone, but rather of some sort of giant formation of clear, colourless crystal. Though she didn't understand how, sunlight was streaming through it in abundance, thick rays of light pouring out of the crystal's faceted surface and onto the city and field below. Kaver led them farther into the cavern, and as they became able to look up at the crystal from a more direct angle Cynder was astounded to see blue sky through it, the image broken and distorted by the uneven surface but still clear and bright. Though odd, the effect was breathtaking and Cynder could feel a smile of wonder growing on her muzzle.
"That's incredible," Spyro breathed beside her.
"That's the work of the earth dragons," Kaver stated, still smiling smugly. "This crystal doesn't actually look straight through into the sky, but rather branches out into dozens of veins that lead out all over the peak of the spire, collecting the sunlight and channelling it here. We may be enclosed deep within the rock, but thanks to this crystal we can still look up and feel like we're in the outside air."
"It's amazing," Cynder said in admiration.
"It is indeed. And that's only the beginning of what I have to show you two. Come with me. I'll show you the council hall, where tomorrow we'll be holding the vote for Sky Haven's official union with Warfang as an allied state of the Dragon Realms. I think you'll both be impressed."
He set off in the direction of the central courtyard, and in a mild daze Spyro and Cynder followed him, barely able to tear their gazes away from the 'sky' above them. When they had finally succeeded, Cynder turned toward Spyro and the purple dragon did likewise. As soon as his eyes met hers Cynder gave a broad, sparkling grin across her features, and with a surge of excitement flowing through her she took off running after Kaver who was pulling away from them at a brisk pace. With a laugh Spyro tore after her, and together they sprang down the street after their guide, both of them filled with excitement to see what other wonders awaited them.
Whatever else the city had to show them that day, Cynder couldn't wait to see it.
*.*.*
As had become the norm for Warfang over the past weeks, the dragon city was bustling with festive activity. The streets were full, the gardens and courtyards were flooded with performers and spectators, and in the sky overhead the winged forms of dragons, griffins, and other races gifted with flight crisscrossed as they tried to skip the crowds on their way from one point of the festival to another. The city was the embodied image of excitement and celebration.
To one lone dragon lying on the stone balcony outside of his room, however, the noise and bustle was nothing but a distant buzz in the background. While his position in the centre of the city meant that the clamouring noise was almost overpowering at times, Flash had all but tuned it out as he rested leisurely out in the open air, letting the sun soak into his creamy white scales and iridescent wings. He lazily flipped a page of the book he was reading with a single talon, content to ignore the world around him for the time being. While the friends that he had made since coming to Warfang had helped him to grow more comfortable in the company of others and less reserved, the peacefulness of solitude was something that he still craved often. Some might worry that time spent alone was time not spent enjoying the festivities in the city, but Flash didn't mind. The festival wasn't going anywhere for some time yet.
His moment of privacy was regretfully interrupted when a knock sounded at his door. Flash looked up from his book, mildly puzzled by the disturbance, but then after a brief hesitation he pushed himself to his paws and entered his room through the open balcony entrance. The room within was spacious but relatively plain. Aside from the pile of thick cushions in one corner and the white banner than hung off the opposite wall with swirling, coloured accents, Flash had very little in the way of possessions to fill the room with. Mostly it was just a collection of assorted books that he had built up over the months that he had called Warfang his home, most of them read already.
When he reached the door he paused again, wondering who it could be that would be calling for him. Then, shrugging, he reached up with a forepaw and pulled the wooden door open, poking his head out into the hallway beyond.
"Faren," he said when he saw the lithe red dragoness standing in the corridor, mildly surprised. "Hey."
"Hey," she answered, flashing a very brief, uncertain smile. "Um, are you busy?"
"Not really," the light dragon answered with a shrug. "Just getting a little alone time in. Why? What's up?"
"Oh, nothing really," Faren answered in her usual, slightly hesitant tone, as if she was afraid she was intruding even despite their friendship. "Chinook and Enigma just asked me if I wanted to go out into the city for a while before Advanced Combat class later, and they wondered if you wanted to come too. But if you're happy here..."
Flash considered the offer for a moment, but soon afterward he looked back up and gave a quick shake of his head.
"Thanks for the offer, but I don't think so," he told the fire dragoness. "Volteer wants me to go see him before class anyway, so I'll just see you guys at the lesson."
"Oh, uh, alright," Faren stammered in reply. "See you later then."
"Have fun," Flash told her.
Faren gave another quick smile and nodded. Then she turned about and hurried off down the corridor to meet up with Enigma and Chinook, who Flash guessed were waiting outside of the residence. Once the dragoness had gone Flash closed the door and headed back out to the balcony. Then he paused in contemplation, looking down at the book that still sat open where he had left it, considering his options.
At this point he only had a little over an hour before the Advanced Combat class in the Temple's training room would be beginning. Despite the fact that the city was in the middle of a festival and the majority of classes for the young dragons of the city were canceled until the celebrations ended, the Guardians had decided to keep the occasional advanced class running to keep their students in proper form. The schedule was far less rigorous than it was normally, but the Guardians didn't want their conditioning wavering either. Flash didn't mind, though he knew that Chinook and a few of the other students did. Still, nobody complained—at least not in front of the Guardians.
With a small, resigned sigh, Flash closed the book and picked it up with a paw. Setting it under one of his wings, he turned back toward his room and headed for the bookshelf where he replaced the book in its proper spot. That completed, the young white dragon left his room and set off for the Temple, deciding that he might as well see what Volteer wanted now instead of waiting. Given how much the electric Guardian liked to ramble, Flash decided it might be best if he allowed himself a bit of a time buffer before he was due in class with the others.
The trip to the Temple was quick, even with the streets so full of bodies hurrying this way and that. Living for his whole life in a cramped underground village made navigating the crowds here no trouble for Flash. Only a couple of minutes later he was climbing the steps of the Temple, passing into it without hesitating. Finding Volteer's chamber took a bit longer, for it took Flash a moment to remember where it was, but soon enough he had successfully navigated the twisting corridors and was standing outside of the Guardian's doorway on the Temple's top level. He could hear voices coming from inside, one of them Volteer's, but they fell silent when the light dragon knocked on the wooden door with a paw.
"You may enter at your leisure," Volteer answered a moment later, his voice muffled by the thick door. Flash obeyed, pushing the door open with a paw and stepping inside the room.
The chamber was simply decorated for one belonging to such a high-ranking figure of Warfang's society. Roughly circular except for the wall facing the corridor, the room didn't convey much of a feeling of status or power. In fact it was quite modest. Plain wooden shelves ran around a good portion of the walls, except for the low desk that sat underneath one of the room's two small windows. Volteer's cluster of faded yellow and blue cushions was situated under the other, a mid-sized banner depicting the ancient emblem for electricity hanging from the wall nearby. Scraps of parchment and books littered almost every surface in the chamber, especially the desk behind which Volteer was presently seated. Across from him, facing the Guardian but looking back over his shoulder at the doorway, was a maroon-scaled fire dragon with whom Flash was unfamiliar.
"Ah, young Coronus," Volteer spoke up in a pleased tone at the sight of the white dragon standing in the doorway. "What fine, brilliant, appropriate and fortuitous timing. Please, come in."
"Am I interrupting something?" Flash inquired as he closed the door behind him somewhat uncertainly, glancing between the Guardian and the other dragon.
"Oh, no, quite to the contrary," Volteer answered rapidly. "No, as I said, the time of your appearance is most fitting. My colleague and I were in fact at this very point in time discussing the fascinating and intriguing subject in regards to which I had originally summoned you here."
Flash blinked as he sorted out this blisteringly-paced response in his mind. Once this was done, he simply said, "Oh."
"Indeed," Volteer nodded before turning his gaze on the third dragon in the room. "Coronus, I would like to introduce you to a compatriot of mine with whom I have shared a strong acquaintanceship and a great many collaborations of a diverse academic nature for several decades now."
"My name is Helios," the red dragon told him in a deep but energetic tone, bobbing his head in greeting with a smile that Flash thought looked similar to the one that Volteer quite often bore. "I have to say that it's a pleasure to meet you. I have heard much about you and your elemental prowess from Volteer here."
Again Flash blinked, surprised by this news. "You have?" He looked questioningly up at Volteer.
"Yes, Helios and I have shared an abundance of discussions and dialogues concerning your fascinatingly unique talents," the Guardian answered without delay. "In fact, he has recently been providing me with assistance in a research endeavour with the goal of isolating and distinguishing potential precedent occurrences of said abilities."
"You mean...you've been trying to find records of other light dragons?"
The young white dragon wasn't sure if he had understood the Electricity Guardian correctly—a constant possibility with Volteer. While over the years he had wondered many times about where he had come from and how he had hatched with a power that no one he had encountered in his life had ever heard of before, he had never considered it a topic that the Guardians themselves would take interest in. Why would Volteer be concerned with learning about the background of one single student of his? Nevertheless, his doubts were quickly dispelled.
"Indeed we have," the yellow-scaled elder nodded enthusiastically. "And I must say, the endeavour has proven to be the most puzzling and intriguing of mysteries."
"Quite the puzzle indeed," Helios nodded in agreement, a gleam of excitement in his eyes. "Warfang's records and accounts are enormously extensive, dating back nearly two thousand years to the best estimates, with some more cryptic works stretching back far beyond that even. Thousands upon thousands of dragons have had their names and powers captured within the wealth of historical knowledge we hold within this city. I would almost say that the city's library could rival that of the Chronicler."
He chuckled at that, and Volteer cast him a small grin as well, but Flash remained silent as he gazed up at the elder dragons, his brow furrowed in doubt and puzzlement.
"And yet despite this," Volteer continued without pausing, "we have been unsuccessful in our labours to unearth even a single confirmed, solid, unquestionable passage or account pertaining to a dragon of your particular subspecies."
"None at all?" Flash asked in surprise. "But...why wouldn't there be any?"
"We don't know," Helios answered with a shrug. "That is part of the mystery and intrigue in this enterprise of ours."
"But how can that be possible?" Flash pressed, his confusion only mounting. "I mean, I never knew who my parents were, but wouldn't at least one of them have to be a light dragon?"
"Most likely," the older fire dragon nodded, exchanging looks with Volteer who also nodded. "It is not impossible for a dragon to inherit an element from farther up in their ancestry than their parents, but the vast majority of the time it is passed directly from parent to child, yes. Either way we can be confident that someone in your family tree had light for an element before you, but as of yet we have not been able to find any mention of them."
Flash became silent, his gaze falling to the floor with a frown on his expression. Though it surprised him, this puzzling development had had more of an effect on him than he would have anticipated. The thing was that he didn't even know why, though. He had grown accustomed to being alone over the course of his life, his brother Claymore being the only dragon he could ever think of as being close to him before Spyro came along. Hearing now that Volteer and his maroon-scaled companion had been searching for more dragons like him had kindled a faint spark of hope and anticipation within him, then, only to have it unceremoniously smothered again.
"So...if you couldn't find any other light dragons, why are you telling me this?" he asked at length, slowly raising his eyes.
"Because we had hoped to enlist your assistance in this matter," Volteer replied promptly. "While the presently available compendium of knowledge on the individual histories of the members of our race covers only an infinitesimal portion of dragon kind's period of existence, it is still an enormous volume of information for only the two of us to sift through. With your input we may just have the capacity of refining the parameters of our research efforts and therefore be able to focus our investigative efforts on more relevant sources."
Flash's response was a blank stare. Seeing this, Helios gave a small chuckle before speaking up.
"What my lightning-tongued colleague means to say is that, while we understand that you may have very little knowledge to pass on to us about your background, perhaps if you could tell us what you do know it would help us rule out regions of census data and records that we should ignore and focus more closely instead on sets of data that may prove more useful."
"Oh," Flash said slowly, considering this proposal. "Well, I guess I can try. If it'll help..."
"Excellent!" Helios exclaimed, his eyes lighting up with enthusiasm that caught Flash off guard. "Then would you like to accompany me to the library? As I understand it you still have some time before your presence is required elsewhere for your lessons, correct?"
"Just you?" the white dragon asked, cocking his head to the side and narrowing his eyes inquisitively.
"I unfortunately have prior engagements that I must see to," Volteer informed him. "So you will both have to fill me in as to the progress of your investigations when we rendezvous at the training arena. I will be anticipating the news of whatever discoveries you may or may not make in the meantime."
"We'll try not to disappoint," Helios smiled before rising to his paws and turning to Flash. "Well, shall we? Lead on, young one."
Flash remained rooted in place for a few seconds, still feeling a bit uncertain about everything that he had just heard, but eventually he nodded and turned back toward the door. He pulled it open and stepped through while Helios bid a quick farewell to Volteer, then the two mismatched dragons were on their way through the Temple's corridors. Soon enough they had reached the ornate building's main exit and had descended into the streets of the city, heading for Warfang's central library. Along the way, Flash occasionally glanced up at the large, older dragon beside him, studying him silently. Finally, he decided to break that silence.
"So...you've known Volteer for a while?"
"I have," Helios nodded quickly, smiling. "We were good friends in our youth during our studies, but when he went off to train to become a Guardian we lost touch for a time. When I eventually moved here to Warfang, though, we were reunited, and since then we've been working together on all manner of fascinating projects in whatever time he has to spare."
"Projects?" Flash asked in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Research endeavours for the most part, especially dealing with many of the more mysterious aspects of elemental magic. You would be surprised how much there is about our own powers that we still do not understand, young one. You are a prime example of this, actually. The power to control light itself..."
He trailed off with a faint chuckle, excitement shining in his coppery-coloured eyes and a boyish grin stretching across his muzzle. Flash glanced up at him oddly, his impressions of this dragon rapidly turning in the same direction as those he held of Volteer; a bit on the strange side. They certainly seemed to be a well matched pair, at least.
"I really was beside myself when Volteer asked if I wanted to help him with this newest enquiry he was looking into, because with it came the opportunity to observe not only you but the other young dragons in your class as well in action during your lessons."
"You're going to be watching our classes?"
Helios nodded eagerly. "Yes. Now not only will I be able to see how you use your powers to hopefully uncover some clues to use in our following research into your element and dragons that may have shared it, but I might even be fortunate enough to hopefully see young Spyro or Cynder use convexity as well. You see, convexity is a bit of a fascination of mine. Like I said; studying the more mysterious areas of elemental magic, and what's more mysterious than that?"
Flash's only response was a slow grunt of, "Hmm," his eyes narrowing slightly as he gazed up at the elder dragon at this turn in the conversation. The mention of convexity was something that always set his scales on edge after having seen what Spyro and Cynder were capable of doing with it in their classes. He had nothing against either of them for using it, but still he was wary of it more than any other power. Perhaps it was the fact that it was so dark in its essence and therefore was naturally at odds with his own abilities, much like Enigma with her shadow powers...
He shook his head to clear it when he realized Helios was speaking to him again.
"That's enough rambling from me, though," he said, smiling down at Flash. "Why don't we make use of this time by hearing about your story?"
"I guess," Flash sighed, feeling mildly uncomfortable about the personal direction this conversation was taking, but his curiosity about the origin of his power drove him onward. "What do you want to know?"
"Well, why don't we start as far back as we can? Volteer tells me that your egg was rescued by dragons fleeing toward the mountain village where you grew up. Is that correct?"
Flash merely nodded.
"What else can you tell me about that?"
Flash sighed again, but at length he relented and began recounting what he knew about his egg's discovery in the wilderness. There wasn't much that he could tell, unfortunately. He had only ever known what Claymore had been able to tell him, since he had been too young when their grandmother had died to remember much of anything that she had said. As it was, he told Helios about how his egg had been found in the mountainous woods along the coast, far to the north. It had been completely alone, with no signs of dragon activity anywhere nearby. Nobody knew why it had been just sitting there in such a remote, unwelcoming area, or how it had ended up there in the first place. The best theories that anyone could come up with were that either a dragon family had been fleeing through the area, carrying the egg with them, and they had fallen under attack and dropped before being either being killed, captured, or forced to leave it behind, or else that it had been misplaced by apes that had looted it from some other source, for that region wasn't too far from the ape stronghold of Concurrent Skies.
While Flash felt that this scant information was of very little usefulness, though, Helios clearly felt differently. As soon as he had learned this he ushered the young white dragon along to the library at a redoubled pace, and once there he had practically dragged his half-willing assistant through the endless aisles of ancient tomes, gathering countless texts and accounts pertaining to dragon settlements along that stretch of coastline and beyond it that had existed any time in the past several hundred years.
Only once the table that they had chosen to work at was practically buried under a mountain of books did Helios finally settle down to begin reading, and with a tired sigh Flash flopped down on an open cushion to rest his tired legs. Helios assured the younger dragon that he could handle looking through the books they had collected, and so Flash was free to simply let his body relax. Within only minutes of doing so, lying there in the nearly silent library, the light dragon felt himself dozing off. At first he fought it, but eventually he just surrendered and allowed reality to gradually slip away, replaced by fragmented images of him standing in a bright, white-stoned plaza surrounded by other light dragons just like him...
*.*.*
"Alright, let's try this one more time before we break. Just remember to keep the energy focussed in as tight of an area as you can before you release it to get more power in your flame. Are you ready?"
After taking a deep, slightly shaky breath to collect herself, Faren looked up and nodded her head without a word. Several paces away Sirius nodded his head in return before closing his eyes and concentrating. Knowing what was coming, Faren settled into a low ready stance and braced herself, trying to control the racing of her heart in her chest.
Okay, you can do this, she told herself quickly as she took another deep breath. Just focus the flames. Don't think about everyone else in the room. Don't wonder if they're watching you or not. It's just you and Sirius, just like when you were younger. Just you. You can do it. Focus the flames. Focus the—
She almost yelped in surprise when the patchwork training dummy suddenly materialized ten feet ahead of her in a flash of smoke and light. Fighting past the feeling of her heart being lodged in her throat and taking aim as quickly as possible, the slight red dragoness sucked in as large a breath as she could manage before trying to cram the blossoming heat in her chest into as tight of a point as she could manage. A split second later she exhaled it all in one fell gust, watching as a screen of brilliant red flames erupted from between her jaws and engulfed the dummy in an instant.
She felt her heart fall in disappointment and even shame when the fire cleared and she saw that the dummy was still standing. The patchy material that made up its inanimate body had been roasted to a blackened crisp, large sections crumbling away into ash, but she hadn't succeeded in destroying it. Her flames just hadn't been strong enough.
There was no time to fret about her failure, however, because only an instant later there was another flash and a second dummy appeared, this time behind her and to her left. Muscling past her flagging confidence, Faren inhaled again and rounded on the dummy, pouring everything she had into the blast of flames that leapt from her maw as soon as it was centred in her sights. Despite her efforts, though, her spirits dropped again when she saw that once more she had been unsuccessful in eliminating her target. Though almost half burned away this time, the dummy didn't disappear.
Why can't I get this? she cried within her mind. Sirius always makes it look so easy!
Another dummy appeared, and with a groan Faren prepared herself to attack again.
The next several moments passed in a blaze of flame and smoke. Faren scrambled to keep up with the pace of the test, all the while aware of her brother observing her from beyond the training ring. It was only his fourth day working with the Advanced Combat class in the temple, having stepped into the role of instructor alongside Terrador, Cyril and Volteer when he had been appointed Guardian, but he had settled into his new role surprisingly easily. As was only to be expected, he spent most of his time focussing his teaching efforts with the small handful of fire dragon students in the class—only three, in fact. So far, he had proven to be a very effective teacher. He tried to spend time with each of them individually for a short period in each of their classes, helping them to advance in areas where they usually struggled.
In Faren's case this area was the strength of her element, for she was still well behind her fire dragon classmates when it came to raw power despite her impressive accuracy and technical grasp. The exercise that she was attempting now was one Sirius had devised in an effort to help her along. In a testament to just how well he knew his sister, he had granted these training dummies with enough elemental resilience so that the power it would take to destroy them was barely a hair more than Faren could usually achieve. This, in combination with the very narrow window that she had in which to hit them before they vanished again, meant that she was forced to push the limit of her power with everything she had in her effort to pass her brother's test.
A minute later, the test reached its end. Faren stood in the centre of the training circle, lightly panting as she glanced around at the results of her work. Seven badly singed dummies stood in an uneven ring around her out of the twelve that had appeared during the course of the test. Realizing just how many she had failed to destroy with her fire, Faren felt her shoulders droop with heavy disappointment.
"Better," Sirius said, his expression neutral as he studied the remaining dummies before dismissing them. "You're still a little bit inconsistent, but there's progress. Next time just try and pay more attention to keeping the power in the heart of your flames steadier and that should help."
Faren released a quiet sigh, watching with a subdued expression as the charred training dummies dissolved into clouds of pale smoke that rapidly dissipated in the air. She was trying her absolute hardest to do as her brother told her and focus more heat into her fire, but at times she felt like she wasn't advancing as quickly as her older sibling was hoping.
"Okay, Sirius," she said as she padded out of the ring and over to his side. "Sorry."
The new Guardian's expression softened slightly, a brotherly smile appearing at the corner of his mouth for a moment.
"Cheer up, sis," he told her, nudging her with the tip of a folded wing and causing her to look up. "I know you'll get it. You just need to keep practicing. I'm sure Flash or Cynder would be happy to help you work on it during some spare time if you asked. Try them sometime."
Faren was silent for a short while as she considered this suggestion, hesitant to bother her friends with such a request but knowing that her brother was probably right. Eventually she gave a tentative nod and said, "Yeah, okay. I'll think about it."
"Good. Now go on and rest up. There are a few minutes left before Terrador should be starting up the next round of exercises."
Faren nodded again and turned toward the edge of the training room as Sirius padded off toward another one of the fire dragon students. Then, keeping a wary eye on her surroundings to make sure she didn't wander into harm's way, she began moving away from the training floor to catch her breath. Soon she had found an unoccupied space by the wall and sat back on her haunches, her green eyes scanning across the room and the other dozen students practicing within it. While nowhere near as large as the arena in the Tournament Dome, the Temple's training room was still quite spacious with enough room for four small individual training rings in addition to the main one that encompassed most of the chamber, allowing multiple groups of students to work on different exercises at the same time.
Just at that moment Faren noticed movement in one of the two doors leading into the chamber, and when she looked over toward it she saw Flash and a fire dragon that she didn't know step through it. Flash soon caught sight of her and wove his way through the room until he had reached her side, sitting down facing the rest of the room with her.
"You're late," she commented uncertainly, and Flash responded with a slightly flustered huff.
"Yeah, Volteer's friend Helios there kept us in the library a bit longer than he was supposed to."
He jerked his chin toward the other newcomer, who was now standing on the opposite side of the room and conversing excitedly with the aforementioned electric Guardian. Faren studied him for a moment with a feeling of mixed surprise and understanding.
"Oh, okay," she said finally. "So what did Volteer want to talk to you about?"
"They're looking for more light dragons."
Faren was shocked by this news, not to mention the bluntness with which it had been delivered, and she turned a wide-eyed look toward her friend.
"They are?"
Flash nodded. "Yep. That's why Volteer wanted to see me. He wanted to ask for my help."
"Well...did you find anything?" Faren asked slowly, still processing this news and wondering why Flash seemed so indifferent about it.
Or maybe he's more excited than he's letting on, she thought. This has to be a shock for him too, doesn't it?
Flash shook his head in response to her question, and Faren sagged slightly in disappointment—while she was still struggling to come to terms with this unexpected development, she had been growing cautiously excited for her friend as well.
"No, nothing yet. Helios seems to think he found some possible leads though. We'll see. So, did I miss anything important in the class so far?"
"Oh," Faren stammered briefly, caught off guard by the rapid shift in the conversation topic. "Well, no, not really. We've just been practicing on our own mostly up to now. But Sirius said that the next exercises will be starting pretty soon, so I'm just waiting fo—"
"Hey!"
Faren squeaked with fright and bolted several feet away from the new voice that had come from right beside her, ending up half hidden behind Flash and peering back toward the intruder with her heart hammering in her chest. When she saw who it was who had spoken, though, she faltered in surprise.
"Sorry," Voltra said with a sheepish expression on her face, settling back on her haunches a few paces back from the pair and facing them. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"Voltra," Flash said, a surprised look on his face. "What are you doing here?"
"I was invited to try out for the Advanced Combat class!" the yellow dragoness declared excitedly, a broad grin spreading across her muzzle. "Master Volteer came to my house yesterday and told us personally. It was a real surprise!"
"Really? You're joining the class?"
Voltra nodded rapidly, beaming. "Yeah! I was never expecting it, but Master Volteer said that the Guardians had heard about how well I was able to keep up with you guys in that thunderball game, and they wanted to see how I would do in the class. My parents couldn't believe it!"
She paused briefly at this and looked back toward the training room's main doorway, giving another bright smile and waving with a forepaw. Faren followed her gaze in confusion and saw that she was waving to a male electricity dragon that was there speaking with Cyril. Faren noticed that the male's colouring and the shape of his horns was strikingly similar to Voltra's. Then she saw that he was missing the upper half of his right horn and she realized that this must have been Voltra's father. The adult dragon smiled and waved back to his daughter, then returned to conversing quickly with the Ice Guardian, no doubt asking a few final questions in regards to the young dragoness's new class.
"I'm so excited," Voltra giggled, and Faren looked to see that the other dragoness was practically vibrating with giddy energy. "I can't wait to see what kinds of training you guys do here. Is it really hard?"
Faren opened her mouth to reply but no words came out, Voltra's sudden appearance leaving her still recovering from the start. Fortunately for her, Flash stepped in.
"It can be sometimes," he said with a shrug. "Just listen to what the Guardians tell you and if your skill level is high enough then you should be fine."
Voltra gave him a questioning look, tilting her head to the side.
"If my skill level is high enough? I thought that was what being in the class was for; to get your skill level up."
Faren thought she detected a slight edge in Voltra's voice, which was understandable considering that what Flash had said could easily come off as arrogant, but she knew that it was just his blunt manner showing through. She only hoped that Voltra wouldn't take it too personally until she knew him better.
"Yeah, it is," Flash nodded, unconcerned, "but if your ability isn't high enough to start with then you won't be able to keep up. I'm just saying, it's an intense class."
"Hmm," Voltra said slowly, relaxing gradually. "Yeah, I guess that does make sense."
Flash nodded again. "You have to remember that it was made around Spyro and Cynder at the start, after all."
"Speaking of which," Voltra piped up with sudden eagerness. "Are they here? I haven't seen them yet, and I was really hoping I would get to see them in action when I got here."
There was a note of admiration and longing in her tone as she spoke, as though the prospect of seeing the two legendary young dragons in actual combat was something that she could have only dreamed of before, which wasn't really a surprise. After all, Faren could easily remember her own shock and awe when she had first encountered the pair, even if it had been hidden behind her fear.
"Sorry," Flash told her, breaking both dragonesses out of their wandering thoughts. "They left the city a few days ago. The Guardians said it was some kind of job for them. They won't be back for a little while."
"Aww," Voltra groaned, her wings drooping slightly. Then she let out a small sigh. "Well, I guess I can wait until they get back. Actually, it might be better that they're not here. This way I don't have to worry about embarrassing myself on the first day in front of the two most famous dragons in the city."
She gave a light chuckle at this thought, and beside Faren Flash smirked briefly.
"So, what happens now anyway?" Voltra asked a moment later, looking around. "How come you guys are just sitting here?"
"We're waiting for the group lessons to start," Faren forced out past her lingering nervousness.
"Group lessons?" Voltra repeated, cocking her head to the side.
"Yeah," Flash nodded. "Teamwork training, basically. The Guardians usually split us up into groups from two to four, then pit us against basically any kind of situation you can imagine."
"Anything?" Voltra asked in surprise.
"Oh yeah," a new voice cut in without warning, causing Faren to jolt again. A second later she gradually relaxed when she saw Chinook and Enigma approach from behind her and Flash, joining the group. "Flash, tell her about the time Cyril set the four of us up against that pack of death hounds."
"A pack of what?" the yellow dragoness blurted, looking alarmed.
"I was actually going to tell her about the time you and Enigma got matched up against one of those huge, ugly-looking ogre things," Flash said, glancing at Chinook.
"You're joking," Voltra gasped.
"It actually went down pretty easily," Enigma commented with a shrug. "At least after Chinook blinded it with that dust he blew into its eyes."
Chinook gave a large, proud grin at the memory. Voltra, meanwhile, was glancing back and forth between the four other dragons with a look of awe on her features. However, there was also growing apprehension in her eyes.
"Sheesh," she whistled. "I sure hope they don't throw anything like that against me today."
"Oh no, you don't have to worry about that," Chinook said with a dismissive wave of his paw. "The only thing newbies have to do on the first day is the Gauntlet."
Voltra faltered. "The what?"
"The Gauntlet," the wind dragon repeated casually. "It's what we call the test that new students go through so that the Guardians can judge their skill level."
"Oh," Voltra said in a hesitant voice, clearly made uneasy by the less-than-friendly name this test bore. "So, uh, what do I have to do?"
"Fight waves of progressively harder enemies until you drop," Enigma answered flatly.
Voltra gave a quick laugh, as if she thought the shadow dragoness was joking, but when she noticed the way that the others were all looking at her she faltered again.
"Seriously?" she asked incredulously.
"Yep," Flash said.
Voltra was silent for several seconds, looking more than just a little worried about what she was hearing, but then she gave another nervous laugh.
"Well, okay then. I guess if that's the way things work here I'll give it a shot. So when will I have to do this thing?"
Chinook glanced around the chamber quickly before saying, "My guess would be right about—"
"Attention, everyone!" came the booming sound of Terrador's voice without warning.
"Now."
All activity within the training room quickly ceased, the eyes of every young dragon turning toward the bulky Earth Guardian without delay. Once he was certain that all of the students were listening, Terrador addressed them all in his usual commanding tone.
"Before we begin the group training phase of this class, I would like to announce that we are lucky enough to be welcoming a pair of new classmates into the Advanced Combat course today. Only one has arrived so far, but I expect that the other will be along in due time. For the moment, the other Guardians and I would like you all to offer a warm welcome to your new fellow trainee."
The gazes of the students all shifted to Voltra, and after only a brief anxious pause she lifted a forepaw and waved, putting on a bright smile that even her nerves couldn't dampen. A few of the nearer dragons called out quick hellos to her, others nodding their heads in greeting, but many remained silent as they simply studied her, sizing her up and trying to gauge how much competition she would present. Faren knew that while the students of the Advanced Combat class weren't hostile, they were all driven to try and rise to the top of the class—even if the class's obvious leaders, Spyro and Cynder, would be very, very hard to dethrone from that position. A new classmate was one more dragon they would have to best to get there, then.
"And now I'm sure you all know what comes next," Terrador continued, catching everyone's attention again. "Voltra, if you would, please step to the centre of the ring so that we might begin your evaluation trial."
Voltra hesitated for a second, a look of anxiety crossing her angled features, but finally she forced herself to walk out into the middle of the training circle. The other students all hurried to clear the area, backing away until they were seated against the walls of the room, watching intently. On the other side of the chamber the Guardians, along with the fire dragon Helios, all sat together with their gazes fixed upon the new student.
"This test has no time limit and no restrictions," Terrador began once the young dragoness was in position. "You can use any attacks and techniques that you wish to defeat your opponents, both physical and elemental, however we would encourage you to use a mix of both to allow us to judge your abilities as thoroughly as possible. The test will end either when you become overwhelmed by your enemies, in which case we will immediately stop the battle ourselves, or when you feel that you are unable to continue fighting. Resorting to a fury qualifies as such a case. Do you have any questions?"
"I'm not going to get hurt in this thing, right?" Voltra asked with a nervous chuckle.
"We will be monitoring the test closely to ensure that doesn't happen," Cyril assured her. "And in the unlikely event that you are hurt in some fashion we maintain a supply of health gems here for such situations."
"You may rest assured that your safety and security will in no way be jeopardized during the course of this evaluation," Volteer added hurriedly.
"Okay," Voltra said, nodding her head slowly and taking a long, deep breath. Then she settled into a low stance. "I'm ready. Pretty sure, at least."
Terrador gave a faint smile at the corner of his muzzle. "Very well. Then good luck. Now, begin."
As soon as he spoke a trio of training dummies materialized in flashes of light and smoke, taking on the form of small ape soldiers armed only with their claws and teeth. A look of surprise and fear flashed quickly across Voltra's expression as the dummied charged toward her without delay from all sides, but then she quickly collected herself and leapt into the air before they could catch her between them. Immediately she cracked her jaws open and unleashed several brilliant chains of electricity that coursed across the apes' bodies, causing them to spasm uncontrollably and groan in pain. Then, while they were still paralyzed, Voltra dove down and raked her talons across the chests of two of them, finishing the third with a charging strike with her horns. All three dummies dissolved quickly into clouds of smoke, defeated.
"She's quick," Flash commented as he watched the battle closely.
"Yeah," Faren agreed quietly, watching in stunned silence at how rapidly the yellow dragoness was able to move.
Voltra hardly had a chance to steady herself after landing on the stone ground before the next wave of training dummies appeared. This time five dummies materialized around her, taking on the form of small grublin land soldiers armed with long-bladed staffs. They wasted no time before surging forward with horrible, grating shrieks with their staffs brandished high above their misshapen heads.
Voltra was just as quick to react as she was the first time. In much the same way she had done during the thunderball game, she overcharged her muscles with electricity and dashed toward two of the grublins on her right, reaching them in the time it took to blink and lashing out with her talons and fangs. An electric orb explosion sent a third flying through the air and caused it to smash against the hard stone wall, and two quick swipes of her tri-bladed tail dealt with the final two.
The next two rounds proceeded in much the same fashion, Voltra using her surprising agility and unexpectedly diverse repertoire of elemental attacks to fend off her multiple assailants. The training dummies never stood a chance against her, with only a couple of glancing blows having found their marks against her so far and with Voltra showing no signs of slowing down.
It was at that moment that the Guardians seemed to decide that the fun and games were over with. As the next round began only three dummies began to form, but these grew to be much larger than those coming before them. Eventually they settled into the shapes of medium-sized ape warriors, their powerful shoulders and arms holding up thick steel blades and shields, fierce scowls on their faces to complement their imposing statures. Voltra balked at the sight of these new foes, drawing back a step anxiously.
Unlike the previous waves that simply converged as a swarm, these apes advanced with measured, deliberate strides. Voltra spun about rapidly in the centre of the ring, anxiously trying to keep an eye on all three apes as they closed in around her, and a heavy silence had fallen over the students as they watched in anticipation for what would happen next.
Voltra was finally forced to act when the ape directly in front of her rushed forward suddenly, swinging its sword high into the air. With a startled yelp Voltra curled up into a tight ball and emitted a powerful surge of electricity from her body, yellow-white bolts lashing out from the resulting energy sphere and locking the three apes in place. Then, to the astonishment of much of her audience, she shot out a focussed chain of lighting from her mouth at the nearest ape that acted like a form of giant whip, wrapping around the ape's shield before she clamped her jaws around the other end and pulled with all her might. The ape was yanked off of its feet and thrown into one of the other dummies, getting it tangled in the long whip of energy as well. Voltra then sent a surge of power through the whip, gritting her fangs from the effort as she electrocuted her two foes. With final, strangled cries, the two ape dummies dissolved into smoke.
"That's a new one," Chinook spoke up in an awed tone, looking thoroughly surprised by this move from their new classmate.
There was no opportunity for anyone to reply, because just then before Voltra could even straighten she was nearly knocked off of her feet as the third and final ape struck her across the back of her head with its sword hand. The dragoness gave a pained grunt and staggered, but she regained her senses just in time to duck below the ape's next swing and between its legs, ending up behind it. Without delay she spun around and swung her tail upward. From the sidelines Faren caught a glimpse of electricity arcing between the three points of her tail blades before Voltra drove them into the ape's back with a shrill cry. The ape convulsed wildly for a second, then fell limply to the ground and vanishing as Voltra pulled her tail free again.
"Okay, this is starting to get tricky," she panted from the middle of the ring, flashing a strained grin toward the Guardians.
"It gets better," Terrador answered with a grin in return.
Voltra yelped as another wave of dummies appeared around her, and she quickly faltered when her eyes fell upon the mixed ranks of eight medium apes and armoured grublin soldiers wielding battle axes.
"Uh oh."
Faren could hardly look as the apes and grublins bore down on the already tiring dragoness, ready to tear her to pieces—even if the Guardians would never allow that to happen. Voltra battled with unflagging determination that clearly impressed the watching Guardians, and Faren and her friends as well, but it was clear that the lightning dragoness had reached the limits of her ability. She dashed around the ring at a frantic pace, dodging as many blows as possible and returning more, but the bruises and small nicks she had sustained by this point were wearing her down and Faren could feel anxiety growing within her as she realized that Voltra wasn't going to be able to win.
Just after Voltra managed to dispatch the last of the apes with a point-blank blast of electricity to the heart, she grunted sharply as a grublin on her left brought the long haft of its axe crashing across her left flank. She staggered and nearly managed to keep on her feet, but a follow-through jab with the butt end of the axe haft forced her to the ground. With a triumphant screech the grublin swung its axe around viciously, and with no chance of escape Voltra could only duck behind her wing with a fearful cry, waiting for the blow to land.
It never did. Slowly, hesitantly, Voltra peeked out from behind her wing and faltered when she saw that the training dummies had all disappeared. Immediately she let out a long sigh of relief, and on the sidelines Faren likewise released the breath she had been holding. Even though she knew the Guardians would never allow anything to happen to one of their students, that didn't make it any easier for her to watch other dragons fighting when it got that intense.
"Is it over?" Voltra asked uncertainly as she slowly rolled up to a standing position.
"It is," Terrador nodded.
"So how did I do?"
"You showed promise to be sure," Cyril responded, a thoughtful look on his expression. "There is work to be done on your positioning and situational awareness, but that's often to be expected for a new inductee into the class. Your grasp of your element is rather impressive though, I must admit."
"Oh yes. Absolutely," Volteer said eagerly. "Definitely. Unquestionably. I even noticed and observed a couple of techniques employed that even I have only rarely seen before. I believe unreservedly and wholeheartedly that we will be able to teach you much, my young dragoness."
"Great!" Voltra beamed. "So I passed? I can be in the class?"
A smile slowly worked its way across Terrador's muzzle as he watched the dragoness's enthusiasm, and he nodded his head once.
"YES!" Voltra cheered, bouncing up into the air and punching a forepaw up triumphantly. "Oh, thank you! I won't let you down!"
"Of that I have no doubt. We will not lie to you; it will be a struggle at times, but if you put in your best effort each day there is no reason you shouldn't be able to excel. Welcome to the class, Voltra."
Voltra grinned the widest that Faren had seen yet, her eyes alight with joy and excitement, and after bowing her head to the Guardians in thanks she turned and hurried over toward Faren and the others as the other students began to rise and group together, discussing what they had just seen. Then Voltra reached the small waiting group and Chinook immediately patted her on the shoulder with a wing in congratulations.
"Nice work out there," he said with a large grin. "Those were some pretty neat moves you have there."
"That electric whip is something I hear not many electricity dragons can do," Enigma commented as she observed Voltra with a studying gaze, her expression masked as usual. "You have skill."
"Thanks," Voltra beamed. "Ancestors, I just can't believe I got in. This is the best day ever!"
Chinook laughed. "Sure looks like it from here."
"Ehh," Flash grunted suddenly, causing the others to pause and shoot him confused looks. "Not so fast, there."
"What is it?" Voltra asked with a puzzled frown.
Instead of answering, the white dragon merely pointed with a wingtip at the nearest doorway into the training room. Faren followed the gesture and jolted in shock when she saw the heavyset greyish-green scaled, dark brown chested earth dragon standing there observing the room, easily recognizable from the thunderball arena. His expression was set in a hard frown, his eyes holding a cold light. Faren shuddered at the sight of him, drawing farther behind her friends.
"Why is he here?" she asked in a quiet tone.
"Is he the other new student?" Voltra asked in a surprised tone.
As if in answer to her question, Terrador strode over to the other younger earth dragon at that moment with a welcoming expression on his face. He stopped in front of the adolescent and studied him for a second before speaking.
"Slate," he said. "Perfect timing. If you would like to take to the centre of the ring, we can begin your preliminary evaluation. Are you ready?"
Slate nodded without hesitation, a determined glare settling over his thick features.
"Excellent. Everyone! Our second new arrival is here. If you would make some room again, we can get his test underway."
The students hurried to comply, moving back to the walls of the room again. Slate then began padding toward the centre of the room, his strides heavy a filled with nothing but fierce self-assurance.
"Seriously?" Chinook grumbled as he watched the earth dragon. "The Guardians want him in the class? Who even told them about him in the first place?"
"I did."
All eyes snapped around toward Enigma, looks of surprise and shock registering in everyone's expressions. Enigma seemed completely unfazed, however, returning their gazes impassively.
"Why?" Chinook said finally.
"When I was talking to them after our class the day after the thunderball game, when I told them about Voltra's ability, I mentioned that he was powerful," the black dragoness answered with a shrug. "I didn't know that they were going to consider him for the class, but I guess they thought he was worth taking a look at."
"Great," Flash groaned.
"Well...maybe it won't be so bad," Voltra said in an effort to lighten the mood. "Maybe we'll just be able to do our own thing and leave him to do his, and it'll all be fine."
By that point Slate had reached the centre of the ring, and when he had he spent a moment to sweep his gaze around the room, taking in the other students watching him intently. Then his eyes fell upon Faren, Flash, Chinook, Enigma and Voltra. Almost immediately his expression darkened when he recognized the three of them that had been in the thunderball arena, a dark sneer crossing his features.
All at once it became very clear just how wrong Voltra was.
"Or not..."
I'll be posting the next chapter tomorrow evening. All that's left to do is proofread it, but I need to go to bed right now. Thanks again for your patience, and also thank you all for pushing this story past the 100 review mark since the last update! You guys are the best! :D
Until next time.