Chapter 10: Reflection
By: Dardarax
Disclaimer: I, Dardarax, do not own Spyro, Cynder, the Temple, Warfang, or any other character or place belonging to the Spyro Franchise. Feeling depressed? The day's struggles got you down? Sore back? A dose of ZINDY might be perfect for you! Full relief and energy twenty-four hours a day! ZINDY may not be right for everyone. ZINDY may cause insomnia, hyperactivity, ribbon obsessiveness and excessive Dawwing. Talk to your doctor about trying your first dose of ZINDY today! Alright, with that short advertisement over, I would like to mention that I do own some of the characters that will be featured in this chapter. Their names are listed at the bottom.
The crowd hushed as an eerie light shone out from under Thunder, white rays sending ripples across the crowd. Voltlyn leaned closer to the ledge of the arena, blue eyes wide in fright. Thunder stumbled back away from Lyrith, his heavy pawsteps stamping up sand as he hurried away from the shining white. Voltlyn let out a small gasp as Lyrith rose from the sand, his cuts fading away.
His scales were a bleak white, shining like a half moon through clouds. Slick, thin, claw-length tendrils emerged from his body to squirm in the air, wriggling in the direction of Thunder. Her breath caught in her throat once more as Voltlyn's eyes fixed on Lyrith's, the 'albino' turning to face Thunder with a sneer. The once deep red eyes were now black voids, dark holes that threatened to swallow the very light he now emanated. Lyr's fangs were bared in a serrated grin, a look that sent ominous shivers down Voltlyn's body.
"What, you want a fair fight now Thunder? Fine, let's go!"
Lyrith shot forward, ducking left and right in a dazzling evasive maneuver. Thunder fired off several shots, only for them to dissipate into mist before it even touched his scales. The chill seized Voltlyn even harder, a deep, primal terror gripping her limbs. Lyrith fought like a beast, heedless of the blows that came in contact with him. Magic never touched him and each hit from Thunder's bladed claws closed almost immediately. Even the blow straight to Lyr's head was shaken off as if it had never landed.
Around the topaz dragoness the bodies began to shift, eyes glancing towards the exits. Voltlyn tore herself away as the desire to run from the beast before her began to take over, shocked at what she was feeling.
"What's… what's going on?" she wondered as Lyr took Thunder's sonic blast head on without a scrape to show for it. "Why do I feel this way? And about Lyr no less! I know he would never hurt me, yet…"
Then the fury struck. An explosion rocked the stadium, lightning zipping out in all directions to melt the sand into glass and scorched pillars. The crowd ducked in time as the bolts streaked overhead, filling the air full of static. Horror swelled in Voltlyn and she quickly blinked the dazzling lights from her eyes to search for Lyrith, praying he was alright.
He rose from the sand, shaken but unharmed moments later, his gaze cast about in confusion. The terror redoubled, made worse by the fact that she should feel relieved. He'd survived a fury. Point blank. Without a scratch. It was something that defied all logic and possibility.
Voltlyn hadn't even noticed the Guardians until Lyrith ran passed them, and relief filled Voltlyn as the aura dissipated, returning him to normal.
"Lyr… what happened to you?"
A flood of bodies caused Voltlyn to squeak in alarm as a huge rush of students all but carried her off down to the exit. After a stunned moment the draken reoriented herself and shook away the daze, resolve filling her. Voltlyn pushed to the front of the horde of students and rushed for the entrance to try and see what was going on.
Thoughts whirled around Voltlyn's head, all moving too fast for her to grasp as she raced out of the bleachers to the entrance. A cauldron of emotions had also begun brewing in her gut, filled with fear, horror, concern, and self-loathing for feeling such former two. The world was a blur about her, Voltlyn hardly able to make out details as she focused on the change-room doors up ahead. Everything was moving too fast, and she only just barely registered the doors opening in time to stop herself from slamming into them.
A score of armoured guards emerged from the arena, their movements aggressive. Before Voltlyn could walk forward to try and see Lyr she, and all the other students nearby, where shoved back to make way for the Guardians, the guards shouting for the rabble to make way. Voltlyn stumbled backwards from the push, glaring up at the guard with puffed up indignantly. She didn't say anything though, turning her attention to the Guardians as they emerged. They were all clustered tightly around one another, moving in unison through the gap the guards made for them.
Voltlyn peered in between them, but couldn't even see so much as a flash of white scales. The crowd pushed along after them as they moved away and above the rabble Terrador bellowed that they will not be answering any questions at the moment and that the students should go back to their daily activities until such a time as they were ready to do so. This sent the crowd into a flurry of even more questions, none of which could be made out over the shouting of other questions.
Knowing that she'd never catch sight of Lyrith, or be heard over the crowd, Voltlyn let the swarm of bodies flow passed her until she was alone in the Temple grounds. She watched as the Guardians took wing, flying up to their meeting hall. The crowd too clustered to fly along after them swarmed into the Temple to take the stairs up after them. Soon only a small scattering of dragons were left in the grounds, having broken away to gossip in hushed and strained tones among themselves.
Voltlyn gave a huge sigh as the buzz of thoughts settled to a reasonable thrum.
"What was that power?" she thought to herself, sitting down on the grass to look up at the white clouds hanging in the still sky. "Why did it emerge now? Why did I feel so scared? What does this mean?"
"Hey, Voltlyn!"
Voltlyn blinked and looked up at Sleet who was rushing towards her, looking equally as flustered as her.
"Did you see what happened during the duel?" he gasped breathlessly.
Voltlyn nodded, her throat dry. "Do… do you know what happened to him?"
Sleet paused. "Uh… no actually. I've never seen anything like it. I take it you yourself don't know either, right?"
Voltlyn shook her head. Sleet gave a small huff of annoyance.
"And here I was hoping that you'd know, since you've had more intimate contact with him than anyone else here has."
Voltlyn flushed lightly at his phrasing but Sleet didn't seem to notice. She quickly calmed herself, realizing that he was referencing the time she had delved into his dreams and not anything physical.
"Sorry, I'm just as clueless as you…" she mumbled, lowering her gaze.
"Don't worry about it," Sleet slumped down beside her. "It's not your fault you didn't know. I don't think any of us could have guessed."
"Yeah, I certainly didn't!"
Sleet and Voltlyn looked up as Savron soared down and landed beside them. He gave Voltlyn a tired grin as he folded his wings back and flopped down on the grass.
"And… judging from the expression on his face Lyr didn't either. Looked kind of… ehm, kind of stupefied when the Guardians were taking him out," Savron shook his head and yawned.
"Speaking of which, I would have thought you'd be the first one to follow the Guardians to snoop in on what's happening, Sav," Sleet raised an eye ridge. "It looked like you came from the Temple."
"Yeah. I was up there planning on sneaking into the chamber when I saw you two down here."
"Why did you come down then?" Voltlyn murmured, meeting his eyes.
Savron opened his muzzle to speak and then paused. His eyes twitched behind them for a moment before he shook his head and continued. "Well, I've been doing a lot of… spying lately and I've been pushing my luck a fair bit. If I keep it up I'm bound to get caught soon. Besides, it looks like they have actual guards in the chamber this time and I bet mom and dad will be on the lookout for me, knowing my curiosity," Savron shrugged and gave them a smile. "I wanted to come down and see what you knew. I figured if anyone would know it'd be you Sleet or you Voltlyn."
"Sorry to disappoint," Sleet gave a weary smile.
"Well there goes our plan," a voice sounded from their right. They all turned to see Tirren and Typhous approaching them with frustrated expressions. "We were going to ask you as well Sleet."
"And as hesitant as I am to agree with Savron on anything," Tirren glanced sidelong at the purple drake. "I'm going to have to go with him on this. If you don't know than the Guardians aren't likely to either."
"Why do you all assume I'm all knowing?!" Sleet exclaimed with a flush. "I'm just a student! The Guardians have been doing this sort of thing for decades!"
"Come on Sleet, we all know you're a living textbook," Savron chuckled, giving him a light nudge. "You DO know everything. Well, except for this apparently."
Sleet grumbled to himself, embarrassed. Savron chuckled at this only for his grin to stiffen imperceptibly. He turned to Tirren and Typhous, his white fangs bared in a broad, jovial smile.
"So, how'd you two enjoy the match?"
"Well, it wasn't exactly fun seeing Lyr get the crap kicked out of him," Typhous shook his head. "Though seeing him make that comeback was… both exhilarating and terrifying…"
Voltlyn turned away from them as they talked about the event was in order to look around the grounds. Most of the other students had wandered off, leaving them alone amidst the heroic statues. Her blue eyes came to a rest on the huge yellow figure emerging from the arena. Voltlyn froze at the sight of Thunder, now unarmoured, who had come to a stop in the open pathway. He was staring up at the Temple, his eyes distant.
He looked, to Voltlyn, as if all of the fight had been drained out of him. His muscular body was lax though his face was tense and his posture was drooping. Thunder's muzzle was pursed lightly, strained into a faint grimace. Thunder turned to face Voltlyn and a shiver ran through her body. Deep in his dark eyes she could see a faint sliver of fear, something that she'd never seen before. He turned and strode away, heading for the gardens.
The others noticed Voltlyn's gaze and followed it to Thunder, their conversation faltering into silence. They watched him disappear into the trees, the silence lasting even after he vanished.
"I wonder what it was like," Tirren murmured finally, looking back over to the others. "To have seen that up close?"
"Well if you're so curious why don't you go and ask him?" Savron glanced to Tirren with a snark laden smirk. Tirren glared at him.
"Yeah, that sounds like such a great idea. Go and talk to the guy who's hated us for years about something so terrifying that made him fury on one of our friends."
Voltlyn nodded in agreement, her throat dry. She'd much prefer to avoid talking with Thunder than follow Savron's suggestion.
"Speaking of which," Typhous cast his gaze about the group. "What do you suspect the Guardians will do to him, after he furied like that?"
"Huh, good question," Savron mused, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"Well, using a fury in a duel is automatic disqualification," Sleet stated. "With potential suspension and expulsion if it causes significant damage to the other party. Given the circumstances and the fact that Lyrith clearly was unharmed, I doubt he'll get more than a slap on the paw and disqualification."
"Oh… that's disappointing," Tirren huffed.
"He… he should probably be punished more," Voltlyn stammered. "It… it looked like he was trying to kill Lyr, or at least do him harm."
The others agreed vehemently.
"So, got any idea where we could go to figure out more about this?" Savron looked to Sleet hungrily. "My curiosity is killing me! I need to know what Lyrith did!"
"Well the forbidden section of the library might have something, but I doubt we'd be let in there,"
"And DON'T even think about dragging us along if you do decide to sneak in!" Tirren exclaimed as a grin spread over Savron's face. "If you want to get in trouble with the Guardians, fine, but we're not having any part of that!"
"Aw, come on Tirren!" Savron pouted, trying to give her a look of innocence. "I would never get you in trouble for sneaking into the place! I was thinking I'd go in myself to find the books so we can read it outside!"
"Absolutely not!"
"But here I thought you loved to read new things!"
"I do, but not things against the rules! Though I suppose I shouldn't be angry at a dolt like you, Sav, of course you'd want to do something that stupid. I'm just shocked that you're interested in doing some actual reading."
Voltlyn watched them bicker for a while before the argument devolved into Tirren bonking Savron over the head with her pack full of books. She, Sleet, and Typhous stood back to watch the green dragoness chase the purple away, their shouting growing distant.
"Well, I suppose I should take comfort in the fact that some things will never change," Typhous chuckled weakly. Sleet gave a sage nod and Voltlyn giggled as the two vanished into the Temple. Then the smile faded from her face.
"Sleet, are you sure you've never heard of anything like this before?"
The small, three horned ice dragon shook his head. "No. I haven't. None of the sub elements I've read up on matches it. It looks… alien. Those tentacle things on him really set it apart from the other kinds of elements out there. You'd think I'd remember something that could do that."
Voltlyn shuddered, remembering the hundreds of tendrils stretching off of Lyr's white scales. The wriggling movement and the way they stretched out towards Thunder, as if possessed of a mind of their own.
"Well, you may not have heard about it, but maybe you have some theories," Typhous shrugged.
Sleet took a deep breath and nodded. He listed off what he had gleaned from the battle; that Lyrith portrayed healing and magic negating powers. He explained the fact that it was only now visible now implies that it was either unlocked, or newly gained from an outside medium. Sleet considered for a moment if there had been clues leading up to this event, but concluded he couldn't tell just from this. There was much he had to research in order to know anything like that.
"Now, I can't start giving any decent hypotheses until I've had a talk with Lyrith, so this is mostly speculation," Sleet looked up from the ground. "But I don't think that Lyr's powers are any sort of traditional elemental magic."
"Why do you say that?" Typhous cocked his head, curious.
"Well, for starters if Lyr was a typical sub-element dragon, his powers would hold some connection to the two parent primal elements," Sleet explained. "For example, the rare memory dragon can use his magic to alter the minds of those around him to suit his purposes. The memory dragon is born from a union between a Feran and a light dragon. Ferans have fear magic which influences the mind and light which can create illusions. Both of which are mental powers that change perspectives. It makes sense."
"Are you saying you don't know what kind of parents Lyr might have been born from?" Voltlyn queried, her eyes wide in surprise.
"Admittedly there are a lot of combinations I still need to work through," Sleet shrugged. "But yes. So far none can match. The closest one I can think of is poison, which is a body element that can be used to cleanse poison from the body, which could account for the unnatural healing factor but then the magic negation comes into play. Lyrith has shown to have two separate powers appear with no obvious correlation. Light dragons can create barriers of light, illusions, and blasts of light but all of them are connected to the manipulation of light. Lyr's powers are healing and magical distortion. Neither connects in any obvious way. So, while poison could be an influencing factor in his healing that doesn't explain the magic negation."
"Could it not be the other element?"
"No, the two parent elements always blend into a single power, not two," Sleet huffed. "And before you point it out, Thunder has two, yes but one is primal. One is always primal in that situation."
Typhous sighed. "So we're back at the start, hm? We don't know anything about what could have happened?"
"Yeah," Sleet shook his head sadly. "Sorry."
Voltlyn let out a puff of breath and shook her head. "How… how about we stop thinking about it for now. Pondering isn't getting us anywhere. If something comes up let's follow up on it but until then let's wait for… for Lyrith to explain."
Both Typhous and Sleet nodded in hesitant agreement.
"Alright, I'll go and do some reading," Sleet said distantly, trotting back over to the Temple. "I'll talk to you all tomorrow."
Typhous and Voltlyn waved to him. Then the grey turned to the topaz dragoness with a strained smile.
"So, Voltlyn, do you still want to go see the Art Club today?"
Voltlyn paused, her eyes widening. "Oh! I completely forgot!"
Typhous chuckled weakly. "I figured. I nearly did so as well. Want me to show you the way?"
"Definitely! Just let me pick up some of my paintings first…"
…
Voltlyn stood back as Typhous knocked on the door with a clenched paw for the fourth time, tapping the tip of his tail impatiently as he waited for someone to answer. The door to the art club was, unlike most of the other doors in the hall outside the grand hall, made of carved wood. A detailed relief of Spyro's battle with King Gaul was engraved into the wood, the depictions flowing from the top left down in a spiral towards the center of the door, in which was carved Spyro, Cynder and the dragonfly Sparx frozen in a time crystal. Voltlyn examined the carving, marveling at how long it must have taken to create such a wonder.
The lightning dragoness' appraising gaze was torn away as the door opened to reveal a plump water dragoness behind the door. She gazed at the two with half lidded eyes, the sea-weed coloured orbs scorching them up and down. Then she turned to Typhous and gave a stiff smile.
"Ah, good. You're back. You have more work for us?"
"Typhous cleared his throat and gave a hesitant grin. "Why yes I do. That's one reason I came here, Soaque. The other however…" Typhous shifted to the side to give Voltlyn the floor.
Clearing her throat Voltlyn stepped forward, raising a shaky paw. "H… hello. My name is Voltlyn and… and I was hoping to join your club…"
Soaque tilted her coral horned head and met Voltlyn's gaze, ignoring her outstretched paw.
"You were that dragoness who used to follow Torch around, weren't you?" she asked after a few seconds. Voltlyn paused, her expression cracking. Typhous' eyes widened and he stepped forward to intervene but Voltlyn spoke first.
"Ye… yes I was, once," she said, straightening her back. "But I'm not anymore. Is… is that a problem?"
"Of course not," Soaque's muzzle twitched. "Torch and his gang used to be frequent customers of mine. Up until the rape thing I had nothing against them in the slightest. Nor do I have anything against those who opposed them. I was simply making an observation."
"Oh," Voltlyn wilted slightly, memories of Torch returning to her. "I… I see…"
"Come on in. No point in standing about outside. Besides, you might just add a spark to the place."
Voltlyn paused, about to reply only to blink as she realized that could have been a joke, though her entirely neutral voice implied otherwise.
"Was… was that intentional?" Voltlyn wondered as she stepped inside, dragging the trolley of paintings she'd brought with her in after her. Typhous shut the door behind them and followed along behind.
"I apologize if I brought up bad memories," Soaque sat down at a table in a corner of the club. "I was simply aggravated by the interruption. We were busy doing a showing for our newest member and the ceaseless knocking was starting up a gale of rage," she looked over to Typhous with narrowed eyes. "Though I am quite glad you've arrived. I'm in need of a helper who can help me with a musical project I have in mind."
"Oh?" Typhous raised an eye ridge.
"Yes, an air head like you will serve as a perfect substitute drum."
Typhous smiled and rolled his eyes. Soaque's bland expression never changed. "Maybe later. First how about you give Voltlyn's work a look over."
"Fine. STALAC!"
Voltlyn jumped as Soaque turned and shouted the name at the top of her lungs. The door to another chamber in the club slammed open a few moments later and the head of a brown earth dragon poked out. His two grey horns protruded forward out of his head at a forty five degree angle and were as straight as lances. His tan coloured eyes met Soaque's seaweed eyes and he smiled.
"WHAT IS IT SOAQUE?" He bellowed back as loudly as Soaque. "DO YOU NEED SOME MORE TEA OR IS THIS A BETTER REASON FOR INTERRUPTING MY GROUP SCULPTING SESSION!"
"BOTH ACTUALLY," Soaque shouted even louder. "GRAB ME A CUP AND THEN COME OVER TO EXAMINE THIS GIRL'S ART. SHE WANTS TO JOIN."
"FINE BUT CAN WE STOP SHOUTING NOW? MY THROAT HURTS."
"NO. I FORBID IT."
Stalac rolled his eyes and dipped back into the room he was in. Voltlyn winced and pulled the claws from her earfrills, her head still ringing from the shouting. Typhous did so as well, though his expression was much more pleasant than Voltlyn's. Soaque turned to them, her expression still neutral. "Now then," she cleared her throat. "While we wait, for what reason do you want to join the art club, Voltlyn?"
"Well," Voltlyn glanced down at the table briefly, before forcing her gaze back up to Soaque. She wouldn't allow herself to be shy about this. "I've been… I've wanted to join a group for some time now. I'd like to become more involved in the Temple so I wanted to… um… So when Typhous told me about the art club I thought it would be a perfect place for me to join and… and make some new friends. Oh, and to also improve my painting of course," Voltlyn smiled. "I haven't gotten many chances to have other artists look at them, so I could really use some criticism."
"Well you'll get plenty of that here," Soaque cracked a smile. Voltlyn blinked in surprise and looked again, only for the smile to have vanished. "ah good, you're here Stalac."
The brown earth dragon sat down beside them, carrying a pot of tea and four cups. He placed it down in the center of the table.
"Two new members in one day Soaque!" he chuckled delightedly. "Our club must be rising in popularity! Soon we'll be so swarmed with applications that we'll need four rooms to contain them!"
"That would be quite difficult to maintain, Stalac," Soaque shook her head. "But it would be pleasant to get that kind of attention. We might be able to request a better budget if we did."
"Yeah…" Stalac sighed dreamily. Then he perked up and examined Voltlyn, his eyes squinted. He leaned in close and fished around in his satchel for a few seconds before producing a monocle, which he placed against his right eye.
"Ah yes, Voltlyn, good to meet you," he grinned, reaching out and taking her hand to shake enthusiastically. Voltlyn smiled back, though was perturbed at how close he had gotten to her. She glanced over to Typhous who was giving a reassuring smile. Out of the corner of her eye Voltlyn caught sight of some dozen other dragons poking their heads out from behind the three other chambers connected to the room.
"So then, we are most excited to have you here, Voltlyn," Stalac let go of Voltlyn's paw and put his monocle away. "And while I'm sure we'd be delighted to have you in the club you must know that we need to examine your work to ensure you can contribute to our club in some meaningful way."
"Of course," Voltlyn nodded emphatically. "I… I figured you might say that so I brought some of my best remaining paintings to show you what I can do."
Typhous leaned close and whispered to the two. "I've been helping her sell of a lot of her other works. She does have experience believe me."
Soaque and Stalac nodded, muzzles pursed as they gave her another look.
"Alright, set them up and we'll look them over."
Voltlyn bowed her head and got to work, using some of the tripods in the area to put up the four paintings she had brought along with her. Once she was satisfied with their placement Voltlyn stepped back to let them take a look. Soaque and Stalac rose and approached the paintings, the later producing his monocle again once they were close. They sat there for a full minute just staring, eyes flickering over the painted work of a swan avian male sitting at a lake looking down at the water sorrowfully.
"Hm… I like it but I'm not sure I get it," Stalac frowned, peering even closer at the painting.
"Well the symbolism of the lake is quite deep, Stalac, so I expected the meaning of the painting to soar over your head," Soaque glanced his way with a flat expression. Stalac rolled his eyes and muttered something about puns under his breath.
"Well, it's…" Voltlyn started but Soaque turned to look at her firmly.
"Do not explain. Your work must be able to stand on its own without your help. Sit there quietly and…"
"HeySoaque, Stalac, Iheardshoutingandscreaming whenIwasshowingTantiusaroundand… oh hi Voltlyn!"
Voltlyn and Typhous started at the geyser of speech that had erupted behind them and turned to find Zindyala, or Zindy for short, standing behind them. She was a young, somewhat chubby, sunshine yellow lightning dragoness with electric blue eyes. Her two backwards curving horns dipped down at the tips and were decorated with a multitude of coloured ribbons. Similar ribbons were tied about her ankles and neck. She walked with a heavy limp, a sight which caused Voltlyn's cheerful face to sour briefly. Zindy had once been such an energetic dragoness, but the attack on the Temple by the rogue feran Ramolous had left her crippled and unable to move at more than a slow walk.
"GoodtoseeyouagainVoltlyn! What'reyoudoinghere? Areyougoingtojointheclubtoo!?"
"That is indeed what she is here for, Zindy," Soaque turned to face the small lightning dragoness with a sigh. "Now do you mind we're trying to decide if she's a worthwhile addition."
"Oh, okay," Zindy nodded. "CanIshowVoltlynaroundthen? Iknowyouhatetobe interruptedsoifIdothen youwon'thavetoworry abouther-"
"Yes, fine, just go," Soaque rubbed her forehead with a paw. Voltlyn yelped as Zindy grabbed her paw and guided her forcibly across the room. Voltlyn, surprised by how firm and steady she walked compared to before, followed along obediently. Voltlyn's pleased smile faded some, however, when she noticed the tremble in Zindy's step. She glanced back one last time as she exited the room and caught sight of Typhous waving farewell.
Zindy let go of Voltlyn's paw and skipped weakly over to a wall of portraits and tapestries where another dragon sat. Voltlyn shook out her paw, pained from Zindy's tight grip. Then her ocean blue eyes settled on the feran standing across from her. The crimson dragon met her gaze and gave a small smile, his flawless white fangs gleaming.
"TantiusthisisVoltlynandshe'sgoing tobeanewmemberoftheclub justlikeyou!"
"Really? What great news!" he grinned and strode over to Voltlyn, extending a paw. "I am Tantius Pyrrius, at your service miss… ?"
"Voltlyn," Voltlyn murmured, extending a paw of her own hesitantly. He grasped her paw firmly and gave it a hearty shake. Zindy rolled her eyes and muttered something about nobody listening to her too fast to be properly heard.
"Most pleased to make your acquaintance, Voltlyn," he gave a small dip of his head. "I am quite relieved that I will not have to be the new member all by my lonesome. I was rather anxious about fitting in here all by my self."
"You don't have to worry about that, Mr. Tantius," Zindy beamed. "You have me to help you with that!"
"I do at that," Tantius smiled down at her, before returning his orange gaze to Voltlyn.
"Well, I'm not in just yet…" Voltlyn admitted, glancing down at the ground.
"Don't worry about it!" Zindy snickered. "I'm sure you'll get in! You're paintings are amazing!"
"They're not that good," Voltlyn mumbled under her breath.
"I'm inclined to believe Zindy," Tantius raised an eye ridge. "She's shown remarkable skill in identifying techniques even at her young age. Tell me, what sort of style do you model yourself after?"
"Well," Voltlyn kicked her forepaws together lightly. "I… I try to follow the style of Yorik Gorski but I also like Vand's work as well…"
"Ah, Yorik Gorski," Tantius smiled. "Intense realism. While it isn't the popular style currently it is still quite a sight to see done right. It takes a great deal of skill to accomplish. I'm eager to see what you've done with it, if Zindy's enthusiasm is to be believed."
Voltlyn looked up at him, surprised to hear such an informed response. Whenever she brought it up with her other friends they just gave her blank stares. A smile bloomed on her face.
"Well, if I get in I'd be glad to show you the paintings I brought with me."
"It would be a pleasure," Tantius returned the smile.
Voltlyn took a closer look at the feran, her curiosity piqued. He was larger than her but appeared short given the apparent age of his face. His body was well toned but not nearly as well muscled as Lyrith, Tirren or Igneous. Her eyes stopped at the three long scars marked across his left flank, noticeable against the polished surface of his scales. Her gaze flickered up to meet his face and noticed two more such scars, though far less noticeable, etched across his snout. Most shocking of all was the bite that was taken from one of his ears. Voltlyn wondered how she hadn't notice them right away.
Tantius caught her stare and shook his head. "A few minor injuries from some court duels I took part in. Nothing particularly interesting about the stories, unfortunately."
"Oh…"
"Anyway, you clearly are well educated in your painters, Voltlyn. But what's your opinion on Juliu-"
The door to the small gallery banged open and Soaque, Stalac and Typhous walked in. Typhous was beaming earfrill to earfrill which sent a thrill of relief through Voltlyn.
"We find your paintings most satisfactory," Soaque declared, her gaze fixed on Voltlyn's. "It does need a bit of refinement but we feel it would benefit us immensely to have you in our club. Do you accept?"
"Of course!" Voltlyn let out a cry of glee.
"Excellent!" Stalac smirked. "You settle in then. Zindy, you're welcome to continue showing these two around. We have some business to discuss with Typhous."
Zindy turned to the two, smirking. "See! Told you so!"
"I didn't doubt you for a minute," Tantius chuckled. "How about you show us your paintings after the tour? I'm quite intrigued."
"Sounds wonderful," Voltlyn sighed, joy swelling through her.
She and Tantius followed Zindy through the small gallery and workshops, chatting vibrantly with one another the entire way.
The bomb detonated with a bone rattling boom, hurling chips of stone in all directions. Mirrolus turned away from the blast, shielding his face from the shrapnel. It rang against his armour like a thousand tiny bells, scarring deep into the metal. The golden dragon hissed and turned back to face where the bomb had struck. A deep grove had been blasted out of the wall of Aurscalis Keep and the scattered remains of the soldiers who had been standing there, bloody golden limbs strewn about the grey stone.
Stomach churning, Mirrolus turned back to face the horde of apes marshaled far below at the foot of the mountain. The catapults were lowered to accept another payload of explosives. Mirrolus' brown eyes flickered up to the swarm of Dreadwings above, flocking over the battlements. Blasts of white light shot from a squad to his right, three beams that blazed holes clean through the wings of the Dreadwings, to send them tumbling to their deaths. A squad of eight more Dreadwings rose from the ranks of the army below, armoured and carrying a gargantuan metal box teaming with ape warriors. They soared upwards, chains strained in their claws as they lifted it up higher and higher until it was nearly level with the walls of the keep.
Mirrolus grimaced and looked to his squad behind him, all of whom were busy with blasting Dreadwings from the sky to notice the threat.
"Dammit. Gaul and his pet really decided to put on a show for us, didn't he?" Mirrolus stepped up onto the house sized block of stone that made up part of the battlement and watched the box approach. Several apes stood atop it, each carrying large crossbows to fire upon the dragons of the wall. Mirrolus glanced down at the army below and his eyes settled on train of apes carrying explosives from the stockade they had hidden in the shadow of their mountain fort. He wondered at the odds of this working but decided to try anyway. If it was going to succeed he'd have to do it now.
He glanced up and took a deep breath, focusing his magic as tightly as possible. He swept his head from right to left, a narrow beam of light streaming from his maw. It sliced through the chains the Dreadwings held, melting through the thick metal like a mole's blowtorch through ice. The apes let out a scream as their box plummeted to the ground to crash onto a catapult. Mirrolus sighed.
"Missed the explosives stockade. Damn."
"Still, taking down one of their last catapults is a big blow," one of the soldiers behind him chimed in.
"Yeah. If we keep this up we might actually be able to beat them back. That'll put a stopper in Gaul's march on Warfang. If only they'd sho…" Mirrolus was cut off by a scream and shout from behind him.
"Take cover! She's here!"
Mirrolus' eyes widened and he brought forth his magic to conjure an illusion of himself. Then he dove out of the way and drew his magic up around him to vanish from sight. A second later a dark shape swooped down from the sky and snatched at the illusion, her serrated claws finding nothing. The rest of the squad scattered as the huge black dragoness flew by. One wasn't so lucky and was jerked up into the air as the slim but powerful figure caught her tail in her claws and flew back up into the sky.
The light dragoness shrieked as she was carried bodily away, blasting light at the dark shape but to no avail. Cynder, Terror of the Skies, took hold of her throat with her other paw as they rose together and began tearing the screaming dragoness apart.
Mirrolus' face twisted in rage as the dragoness finally fell away from Cynder's claws, her silver armour twisted and rent and her golden body shredded into bloody chunks. The Terror of the Skies swung back around for another pass, her green eyes filled with burning malice.
"Finally," Mirrolus sneered, crouching into the ready position. "I was wondering when she'd deign to appear."
For a split second his body flashed bright white, his wings unfurled as he took a step. Mirrolus appeared alongside the black dragoness, head turned to face her. Cynder's eyes flew wide as he opened his muzzle and loosed a blast of light right against her chest. Behind him the image of himself faded away and a massive sonic boom shook the wall, bowling his squad over.
Cynder let out a scream of agony as the light burned her scales, throwing her off course. Then her body twisted and, before Mirrolus could react, her scythe blade tail came sweeping for his neck.
…
Mirrolus' eyes opened and he stared up at the roof of the tent above him. Idly he raised a claw and traced it over the long, wicked scar that ran from the base of his neck all the way down his chest.
"We'll finally get the chance to meet again, Cynder," he murmured as he rose shakily from his bedroll, his joints creaking. "But this time on an entirely different kind of battlefield."
Mirrolus pushed his way out of the tent and winced as the bright light of the risen sun struck him head on and he groaned, shaking the dazzling pain from his mind.
"Ah! You're finally awake sir!" one of the soldiers came to a stop to give him a salute. "We've prepared breakfast and have everything packed. Except for your belongings, sir!"
"Why didn't you wake me sooner?" he huffed, looking around at the spry golden dragons about him, all of whom were already in full regalia.
"Because an old drake like you should be getting his nap time," a brightly clad golden drake chuckled as he filled his plate with sausage. "Don't want you to be any grumpier than you have to be, you old coot."
"Grumpy old coot am I, Lumos?" Mirrolus smirked and strode over to the beaming gold dragon. "It's not a good idea to insult your senior officer like that," the elderly gold dragon grabbed hold of Lumos' plate and tipped it back into his open muzzle, stuffing the whole meal into his face all at once. Lumos' eyes bulged at this, his muzzle falling open in amazement as swallowed it down.
"That's Ambassador Lumos to you, Mirrolus," he shook his head to clear the amazement. "You're NOT my senior officer.
Mirrolus raised an eye ridge and sat down beside Lumos. "What part of senior officer don't you understand? I'm older and an officer, therefore I'm more important. Senior. Officer."
Lumos sighed. "Not this again."
Around them the other soldiers had stopped to watch the two bicker, amused and confused looks crossing their faces.
"Yes this again, Lumos," Mirrolus grinned cheekily. "I don't know why none of you seem to grasp this simple fact."
"I'm starting to see why all the other members of Lady Shimaria's court refused to come along on this venture," Ambassador Lumos sighed remorsefully.
"Only starting to see?" Mirrolus frowned. "Lumos you offend me! And here I thought we were friends!"
"Mirrolus, can it, would you?" Lumos huffed finally. "You're starting to get out of paw."
Mirrolus took a deep breath and sighed. "Fine. I apologize Lumos. I'm just… anxious is all."
"The great and mighty Mirrolus anxious?" Lumos asked with a raised eye ridge. "Whatever for?"
Mirrolus glared at him. "You wanted me to shut my yap, Lumos and yet you're still ribbing me back. Do you want to open the can again?"
"Fine! Fine!" Lumos said with a raised paw. "I get it. Serious time."
"Your father was never this bad," Mirrolus muttered.
"You were saying?"
Mirrolus looked up from the fire and over the jungle stretching out to the north. "We're two week's flight away from the Dragon Temple," Mirrolus sighed. "And I'm going to be out in the open, watched at all times as we negotiate. It just… isn't right."
"It is strange, admittedly. Leaving the shadows that we've lived in our whole lives," Lumos shrugged. "But if we are to succeed we have to make sacrifices. If this makes you uncomfortable then I'd hate to see how you'd react when we do reclaim our rightful legacy."
Mirrolus shuddered. "The spot-light is not a place for a dragon like me. Makes the scars and battle wounds all the more obvious."
Lumos glanced down at Mirrolus, his eyes tracing over the hundreds of jagged wounds that crisscrossed his body. "So that's what this is about."
Mirrolus frowned. "What does that mean?"
"It'll be hard for me too, you know. Facing them."
Mirrolus huffed and turned his gaze to the plains that they had set up camp in. His eyes stopped at his tent, which was very nearly finished being dismantled. Mirrolus scooped up some more sausages and gave some to Lumos.
"No, it won't be. You only have to talk to them."
"Sirs, we'll be ready to move out in ten minutes," the soldier from before stopped and saluted. "Master Inquisitor! We have your armour ready. Do you want us to help you don it?"
"No," Mirrolus sighed, rising to his paws. "I can do it."
"If you say so sir."
Lumos followed Mirrolus over to the tent. Mirrolus began strapping on the plate, his movements precise and efficient. There was utter silence between the two for a long time, Mirrolus' eyes fixed on his armour and Lumos' on Mirrolus' back.
"Can you do it?" Lumos broke the silence, his voice low. Mirrolus paused, turning back to Lumos.
"Do you know how many of the Dark Master's lieutenants and generals I've killed during the wars, Lumos?" he asked after a short pause.
"I don't know," Lumos shrugged. "All I've heard were rumors. But the lowest number I can remember was three dozen or so."
"Then you don't need to ask me that question," Mirrolus put his helmet on and pushed passed the thin golden drake. "Let's go. I'd like to stop by Grasbronda sometime today to pick up some better food. That sausage was too dry."
Dardarax's Characters
Lyrith, Voltlyn, Savron, Tirren, Typhous, Sleet,
Zindy, Tantius, Soaque, Stalac,
Lumos, Mirrolus
Thanks to Goldengriffiness for the great disclaimer joke! :D
This is a nervous chapter for me. It was difficult to write and I'm not sure how well it turned out. I knew this chapter needed to be done though, and you all seemed to agree after the last one. xD I just hope I did it passably. Next chapter will get to a subject you all want to see (at least, I'm sure that's the case anyway). That'll update on November 15th, two weeks from now. =) Though, a small word of warning, due to the fact that this is now assignment season, it is possible that my next couple chapters will have to be delayed. As of now they will remain on the two week schedule, but if a change has to be made, I will warn you all ahead of time in a Deviant Art Journal and a Profile warning.