Chapter Nine: Under Siege
As the night progresses, at possibly the same hour, Glacia, at the moment, was helping Ember and Flame reorganize some heavy baskets of fruits in their village home.
During this process, Ember couldn't help but issue her gaze to the ice dragoness. Recently, she questioned where the ice dragon was from. And Glacia provided an answer for her in the form of two words: Winter Tundra, the icy cold village realm.
The personal conversation would've gotten further, but Glacia chose to leave that issue alone for the right reason that Ember understood.
She remembered Glacia telling her about her deceased parents that were killed in the war years ago, which placed her in the care of villagers. But it didn't get any further than that.
Then, recently, Ember came into thought of the ice dragoness' appearance. Glacia's appearance recently came into question pertaining to her late friend by herself and Flame, but she left that issue alone.
Years ago, before their dispute on the tragedy, she strongly confronted Glacia, due to her appearance, on the subject of replacing her deceased friend, but the ice dragoness issued a strong verbal response to those assertive comments. She has no intention of replacing Cynder or anyone else for that matter, vice-versa with her son, Blade.
Since then, it has taken a few years, but Ember was eventually convinced.
As soon as they were done with the reorganization, they all took a reprieve before Ember spoke to Glacia on a subject that recently came to mind while Flame took note of this and observed.
"Glacia?"
"Yes?"
Ember grew hesitant at this point in order to try and be careful with her words.
"Um, can I ask you a question?"
Glacia nodded in response as Ember took a deep breath before speaking.
"H-How do you sleep at night knowing that the person that you care about is gone?"
Ember nearly regretted asking that question, but it wasn't out of anger towards the ice dragoness at all. She was acting on a saddened emotion in reminisce to her deceased friends and she was almost on the verge of tears upon such thoughts.
Glacia took note of her expression before diverting her saddened gaze downward and speaking.
"It's never easy, Ember." She said before slowly shaking her head. "Hell, I almost thought about dying myself when the dreams started haunting my mind over and over again. But…"
She halted herself as she looked to Ember with a soft loving smile on her face.
"Thanks to Ignitus and Blade, I was given as much comfort as possible to deter me from that fate. Blade is my life. And I would die first before I let anything happen to him."
Ember couldn't help but look onto Glacia with such admiration. Saying those types of words reminded her and Flame so much of the purple friend that they have lost.
Ember issued a soft smile to her face as Flame, who smiled upon the scenery, stood up on his hind legs and issued his comforting hug to the pink dragoness.
Ember returned the embrace as Glacia nodded and made her leave back to the temple while the two couple watched her departure.
"Is Dawn asleep?" Ember asked.
Flame nodded.
"Yes, she's at rest." He said as he kissed her forehead gently. "Let's get some rest ourselves."
Ember nodded in response before she and Flame did the ordeal.
Blade was seated at his bed and was wide-awake. He tried sleeping, but he couldn't. The heed of warning from last night's dream has entered his train of thoughts, which frightened him at this point.
'Something's going to happen, Blade. It's something bad, something evil.' Spyro's warning echoed at the fabric of Blade's mind.
But the question on the young dragon's mind was: Why? Why would an unprovoked attack take place here at the temple?
Blade's answer to his thoughts ended in silence, yet he came up with a solution.
'Maybe Ignitus would know.' His mental thoughts suggested.
He still found it hard to believe that a dream like that could come true in an instance, but regardless, he decided to speak with the fire guardian about it.
Getting out of his bed, he made his way out of the room.
The elder guardians, which consist of Ignitus, Cyril, Volteer, and Terrador, were assembled around the vision pool for a brief meeting.
Momentarily, the fire guardian's expression grew of shock and worry upon what was told to him before speaking.
"Are you certain?" He asked.
Cyril, the ice guardian, nodded.
"Yes. We saw it for ourselves."
"How long ago did we receive this?"
"Shortly after we re-entered the temple from our commemoration to the deceased." Volteer, the electric guardian, spoke.
Ignitus was in stunned silence at this point as the other elders noticed, but stayed silence for a while.
"I prayed that this day would never come." He spoke silently to himself before addressing the other elders with a hint of strong determination in his voice. "Elders, head to the armory and prepare yourselves. I will join you shortly."
Silence and without question, the three elders issued nods of response to the fire guardian.
Throughout a period of five minutes, Blade was standing next to the door with an expression of both fear and shock upon what he has heard from the other side of the door.
At first, he was in denial about it, but upon what he heard, it grew shocking to say the least. It appears that his dream was coming true.
Slowly, he withdrew his head from the door and started retreating backwards before he slightly collided with someone.
With a flinch of fright, he turned and found that his mother, on her hind legs, was staring down at him with a stern expression on her face.
"Eavesdropping, are we, son?"
Blade swallowed a bit of saliva, yet he couldn't speak out of fear as Glacia noticed with great concern.
"Blade, what's wrong?"
Blade stammered on his words at this point as Glacia kneeled to her son's length and placed a firm hand to the back of his head in order to keep him calm.
Blade felt himself at ease, but fear was still present in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Glacia asked
Silence.
"I don't know. I-I can't explain it, but something bad is going to happen here."
Silence, Glacia shook her head in an unconvincing manner.
"Blade, nothing is going to happen. You're probably just having a nightmare."
"No, No, M-mom, something bad is going to happen here. Ask Ignitus. He—"
Blade didn't get much of a chance to finish before the circular door opened and Ignitus crossed the threshold towards the ice dragoness, who, along with the purple dragon, took note of his alarming expression.
"Ignitus, what's—"
"Glacia, I want you to prepare everyone in the village as soon as you possibly can. Direct them, including Blade and yourself, to safety at the hatch door that leads underground."
"Wh-What is going on, Ignitus?"
Ignitus grew in silence for a while and spoke.
"There's going to be an attack on the village."
Glacia's expression slowly rose to shock upon the revelation.
"What?" She spoke softly.
Before Ignitus could speak any further, he looked down and noticed Blade's attention diverted downward with an expression of guilt while tears relinquished from his eyes.
"Young one, what's wrong?"
With his eyes etched in tears, Blade looked up to the fire guardian before Glacia spoke while looking down to her son.
"He overheard you mention an attack on the village and it scared him to death."
Silence, Ignitus grew sympathetic towards the purple dragon. So much that he was compelled to place his right claw on the back of the purple dragon's head as a sign of comfort.
"Blade, it's going to be alright. Because—"
"Ignitus…" Blade interrupted as he sniffed up his tears before speaking the words that he neglected to mention. "There's something I have to tell you. I had a dream last night and I was told that this was going to happen. Only I didn't tell you about it earlier because I didn't think that it was real or not. I thought it was just a dream."
"Blade…" Glacia started, but Blade resumed.
"I didn't ev-I didn't even think that it was anything of importance."
"Young one, calm yourself." Ignitus eventually spoke in a soft tone.
Blade managed to calm down a bit, yet the guilt remained on his facial feature as he sniffed up the remainder of his tears.
"I'm so sorry." He spoke softly.
"No one holds you accountable, young dragon. You had no idea of knowing that this would happen, so you're not entirely at fault."
Blade managed to ease himself a bit as Ignitus issued his gaze to Glacia, who issued her attention to the fire guardian.
"But it won't be long before they get here. So I want you to—"
Suddenly, a muffled explosion and cries of fear and pain were in the distance, which caught Glacia, Blade, and the fire guardian's attention at the same time a silent alarm issued inside the temple.
"Warning! Airborne hostiles on approach." A female computerized voice echoed throughout the temple before repeating the comments over and over again.
Then, a slight rumble issued around the castle, yet the three dragons in the corridor has kept to their balance.
Wasting little time, Glacia, Ignitus, and Blade made haste to the front entrance.
As soon as they made it to the entrance, they abruptly halted on the stop in witness to a startling and shocking display.
Multiple fires were blazing over village homes and flaming debris was everywhere throughout the grass patches.
But the scene that issued gasping fear to young Blade was the fiery, bloody corpse of a couple of unlucky villagers who, during evacuation from their homes, were caught in the crossfire of the explosion.
One of the female villagers was kneeled down next to one of the deceased victims screaming at the top of her lungs for her lost one.
The sight of this angered the fire guardian and Glacia to no end before another nearby explosion issued from their right side.
The three dragons took sharp head turns to that direction to find that a few of the village homes on that side has been demolished and destroyed; yet killing a few more evacuating villagers in the process.
Ignitus growled angrily upon such heinous acts as the three dragons looked up to the night sky to find a couple of dreadwings flying overhead of the village area. Each was carrying drop bombs and was mounted by, to the fire guardian's surprise, armor-clad apes.
Meanwhile, in the sky, the dragon hunter, Dargaul, was mounted on one hovering dreadwing as he looked down in observance to the carnage from up far.
Then, his expression grew in rising shock as he noticed a small purple dragon at the entrance of the temple from his distance.
Then, a thirteen-year-old memory resurfaced: A memory of a spear severing half of his head and the face of the purple dragon responsible for that attack.
Almost instantly, he recognized it.
'No. It can't be.' His thoughts spoke in denial.
But there was no denying the truth. That was a purple dragon. The question on his mind was: How was it possible after he saw to his death thirteen years ago?
His answer grew in silence. But the mere fact that this purple dragon was alive has once again fueled his undying hatred for revenge. But regardless of that, he didn't want to deter from the original plan.
The elders were coming into battle with them soon. And when that happened, he plans to issue an order to apprehend the purple dragon by any means necessary.
Back at the temple entrance…
"Glacia, take Blade inside and keep him safe. Then, come back for the villagers. I'll provide you some time. Go!"
As he spreads his wings in an attempt to take flight, Glacia's expression grew of worry towards the fire guardian.
"But what about you? You're unarmed."
"Go!" Ignitus briefly shouted.
Silence, Glacia, in spite of her worried expression, nodded in response as Ignitus took to the air towards the army of dreadwings.
As soon as he left, Glacia raced back into the temple with her son.
As Glacia entered her room, she inspected the entire area before looking down to Blade, who was beyond frightened and was on the verge of tears.
Upon notice to this, Glacia kneeled to his length and braced her right hand to the back of his head.
"Blade, I want you to hide in your basket and don't leave until I come back. Do you understand?"
"But Mom—"
"Do you understand me?!" She shouted out of anxiety.
Blade nearly flinched upon her outburst, but understood her reasons and nodded in response before racing over to his bed and hiding under the blankets for cover.
As Glacia left the room, she issued a voice command to the panel and the door automatically slid to a close before issuing a sigh of relief.
Blade was safe. Now she had to get to the remaining villagers before they become victimized in these attacks.
Wasting little time, she made haste back to the front entrance.
As soon as she got there, she looked up to find that the other three guardians, armors and weapons present on them, had exited the upper automated rooftop and joined Ignitus in their air assault against the dreadwings, the rooftop hatch closing afterwards.
Then, she looked forward to find that the grief-stricken villager was still present at the same spot surrounded by the carnage.
She started to rush over there towards her, but by the time she took a step, she abruptly halted and shielded herself with her wings as a bomb has dropped at that very spot, blowing the female villager and its previous victim to pieces while earthly soils, blood and body parts were scattered in different directions.
Slowly withdrawing her wings from in front of her, Glacia bared witness to this with an expression of strong sadness, yet anger replaced that expression as she looked up to find that dreadwings were still overhead. Yet, it won't be long before the bomb-carrying ones issue another attack on the homes and the temple.
Quickly, she sprinted across the patch, passed the debris and flames, towards the remaining village homes.
Glacia started to the home that occupied Flame, Ember, and Dawn. But by the time she got there, no one was inside.
"Flame?! Ember?! Dawn?!" She called as she searched every available spot, yet there was no sign of them.
"GLACIA!!" A voice called from outside.
Glacia issued a sharp head turn to the entrance and rushed outside to find the source of the voice.
"OVER HERE!!"
It sounded like Flame.
She looked to the left, pass the debris, to find Flame, Ember, and Dawn at the entrance to Steintail's laboratory in the far distance along with Hunter and Bianca.
Inside the laboratory, every single villager, whether dragons that are young and old, or town folks, were stationed inside the place and was in the process of entering the hatch at the far rear end of the place that led to an underground safe spot where Steintail and his gifted inventors has stocked many of their replaceable resources and inventories in case something as dire as this should occur.
Sadly, many villagers were unlucky in their evacuation during this attack, which reduced them to casualties.
Flame, at the moment, was desperately beckoning to Glacia.
"GLACIA, COME ON!! EVERYONE ELSE IS INSIDE!!" He shouted as Glacia started rushing towards that area.
However, she didn't get pretty far before a bomb dropped and a wide explosion issued to the ground right in front of her while debris followed afterwards.
As time virtually slows, the impact of the blast was enough to blow her in mid-air while the fragments of the earthly soil issued around her.
As time reverted to normal, she grunted in pain as she collided and rolled on the ground before eventually coming to a halt on her back. Luckily, she didn't sustain as much damage from the explosion than she did with her collision to the ground.
Flame grimaced upon notice to this.
"Shit." Flame spoke. "Ember, stay here and watch Dawn."
Regardless of her worries, Ember nodded.
"Okay, be careful."
"And get Blade out of there please, Uncle Flame." Dawn pleaded in anxiety.
Another bomb issued on the roof of the temple as Flame took stunning notice to this and nodded.
"I will."
As Flame rushed towards Glacia's position past the many small debris created by the bombs, Hunter prepared his bow and arrow as Bianca noticed.
"Hunter, if you're going, I'm going too."
Hunter shook his head.
"No, I want you to stay here and protect everyone else, do you hear me?"
Silence, Bianca nodded as Hunter made his rush long after Flame towards Glacia's position while the others watched.
Glacia groaned in her wake from the effect of the blast before Flame eventually made it to her position and kneeled.
"Glace, you alright?" He asked as he grasped her left hand.
Glacia shook her head of the throbbing and spoke.
"Yeah, I'm fine. And now I'm ready to be pissed the hell off."
Regardless of her state, Flame helped her to her hind legs.
"Where's Blade?" Flame asked.
"He's inside the temple. I was going to go back for him as soon as I got everyone out."
"Well, you might as well go and get him out now, because—"
Before Flame could speak any further, two large armor-clad apes came from the air and got the jump on them from behind. Each was grasping both dragons around the neck with their right/left arm as the two dragons were almost in a choking fit from the strong hold.
"Flame, Glacia, duck!!"
It was Hunter. And Flame and Glacia wasted little time before both dragons issued elbow attacks to the midsection of the apes, which in turn relinquished their strong grips on them.
Afterwards, Flame and Glacia managed to escape the enemies' grasp by crouching down to the ground. And before the apes could anticipate what has happened, a single arrow, in one swift blur, was issued to the back of the first armor-clad ape's head and clean through his maw while blood splattered outwards from the injury.
Then, the bloodstained arrow resumed its approach to the maw of the second armored ape with the same result as the first, only it stayed in place of the injury before both apes fell on their backs motionless to the ground in puddles of their own blood.
Both Flame and Glacia observed themselves to find the apes' blood etched on them. But regardless, they looked at each other in surprise before they started standing up on their hind legs.
As they stood, Glacia looked over Flame's shoulder.
Flame took note of this and turned around to find Hunter, with his bow in his right hand, approached towards them.
"You guys alright?"
Flame nodded.
"Yeah. Nice shot."
Hunter issued a smug smirk on his face.
"Mmm, perks of being an archery." He said before issuing his attention to Glacia. "Where's Blade?"
"In the temple." She spoke.
"And the dreadwings are sending bombs to the roof." Flame said as Hunter nodded.
"Alright, come on. Let's get Blade out of the temple—"
Hunter didn't get much chance to speak any further before a few large sword-wielding armored apes has dropped down to the ground from each dreadwing creature and surrounded them in a wide circle.
Each was growling towards them in a hungrily manner as Hunter, Glacia, and Flame braced back against each other while keeping an eye on every one of them.
"—Before they show up." Hunter bitterly finished his response while keeping his expression of fear in check with strong determination.
"Nice timing, though." Flame spoke, determination etched on his face as well.
While they were surrounded and distracted, a number of small armored spear-gauntlet wielding apes, to the three dragon's unawareness, has made their way inside the temple to carry out their orders in search for the purple dragon.
Blade remained at his hidden spot visibly terrified as the muffled explosions echoed from outside the temple while the recent rumbling issued inside from the damage to the roof.
He thought about going out there to help, but was too frightened to do so.
Suddenly, a vision has struck the core of his mind.
'I'll do it. I'm ready.'
Blade issued a sudden gasp from his maw upon that vision.
It was the dream.
He remembered saying those words to Spyro in his dream. But how can he defend the realms if he doesn't know how? Then, it dawned on him.
'My training.' His thoughts spoke.
If the attack on the village was any indication of his dream coming true, then maybe his training was part of that vision as well. Then, he thought about the town folks, the guardians, his friend, Dawn, and his mother, which instantly prompt his anticipation.
Slowly, fear extinguished itself from his face and was replaced with strong determination. He has to save them and his mother. He has to try. He must try.
Quickly, he made his way out of the basket and started towards the closed door.
He started to approach the nearby active panel at the lower left side, but halted when he saw shadows under the wedge of the door that passed the room by.
He thought about calling out to whoever was on the other side, but decided against it. For all he knew, the bad guys were probably inside.
Regardless, he approached the panel and placed his forepaw on there while the scan procedure issued.
Afterwards, the door opened and Blade started out the door before the small entourage of armored apes has spotted him from the right side of him.
Quickly, they aimed their arm-gauntlet at the young dragon and fired javelin spears in his direction.
Upon the wide sight of the speedy projectiles, a fearful gasp issued from the purple dragon's maw as he shut his eyes before time virtually slowed.
While the spears pierced the air around them during their approach, time quickly reverted to normal.
Suddenly, to the small armored apes' startle, the adamantium spikes on Blade's body, excluding the ones on his forearm, started extending before dividing into two. Then, as if they were rubber, they took on curve shapes from the left and right that engulfed the purple dragon's body into a protective dome-shaped shield that repelled the spears off to the side, impaling every one of them into the opposite direction of the sidewall.
The purple dragon grew oblivious to this as the spikes quickly retracted back to their original position before Blade slowly opened his eyes and frantically observed his bodily feature.
He was still alive. And upon that notice, he grew confused. How?
Straying from his thoughts, he looked to find that the small armored apes have shook from their own startling stupor moments ago and was advancing towards his position.
Slowly, Blade's expression grew of strong determination before he felt an amount of energy coursing through his body at each passing second.
It almost startled the purple dragon, yet he knew what this power is.
Before the small armored apes advanced any closer, Blade grinded his teeth and opened his maw.
Out of his maw came a howling flame attack that, upon contact, engulfed the armored apes in a blaze of flames.
As the apes screamed in pain and ran around upon the burning sensation, Blade took note that one was running towards his position in an attempt to attack before following suit.
But as the flaming ape lunged at the purple dragon, Blade evaded by rolling his body clockwise underneath the lunging creature.
After he regained himself, he instantly used his horns to knock another flaming ape in the air. Then, he leaped up, his wings supporting, and used his hind legs to throw a drop kick to the ape, who was hurled against another flaming ape before both were impaled by a single spike of a nearby statue on the lower side wall while blood splattered afterward from the injuries, staining their armors.
Blade landed, on all four, from a recent somersault upon that move and looked around to find that the other apes were burned to a crisp and motionless to their death.
Yet, Blade, who was panting, kept a steady posture before making his way to the entrance.
In the sky, Cyril managed to dismember a dreadwing of its head by use of the sword, blood splattering afterwards, before the corpse fell to its demise.
He was going to continue further before a loud screech of another dreadwing caught him off-guard from behind followed by a spear attack by the dreadwing's rider to his unprotected upper back, which issued a cry of pain from him as blood splattered from his injury.
Regardless of the pain, Cyril turned around and retaliated with a full-blown ice breath to the dreadwing creature, encasing it and the rider in ice shortly before eviscerating them to blood-splattering pieces with his sword.
Paying no heed to the dreadwing's blood splattered on his armor, Cyril reached and yanked the spear from his back while grunting in pain from the removal.
Throughout the scenery, the battle grew intense, graphic and furious as all three elders, including Ignitus despite his lack of armor and weaponry, each issued their own breath attack and combat skills to the enemies simultaneously taking in the recent harsh attacks – whether it's puncture wounds or lacerations -- from the opposing side of the battle.
But regardless of it all, they kept the air assault going for as long as possible in order to keep everyone safe.
Recently, the dreadwings issued bomb drops to the temple in order to put it to ruins, but despite the explosive assault, the half-crumbled temple stood still while the guardians momentarily took care of these bomb-droppers, preventing their efforts of destroying their home.
As the bloody air assault rages on, all four elders grew oblivious to the fact that they were being observed from a far distance.
Dargaul looked on to the battle and, to his dismay, it looked like he was on the verge of defeat. But a sadistic smile was plastered on his face as he looked down and signaled his large armored minions, whom were mounted on four vehicles that consist of huge prison cages on the back and a weapon that deploys harpoon arrows on the front, to commence the next phase of the attack.
With nods of response, the large armored apes commenced on the ordeal.
Meanwhile, Blade made it to the entrance to find a sight that issued his disgust and surprise.
On the ground, aside from the bloodied corpse of the deceased dreadwings due to the air assault, were two bloodied, yet motionless bodies of the large armored apes; both were soaked in their own heap of blood.
The other large three were also motionless in their own blood whether they were shot with a straight arrow to the midsection, burned to a flaming crisp with a severed armor, or harshly lacerated to the throat by their own weapon.
Then, he nearly flinched when he saw the sight of his mother impaling a large ape, who was momentarily convulsing upon the bloody laceration to the neck, to the midsection with its own weapon while blood followed afterwards, rendering him motionless.
The sight of the display nearly disgusted the purple dragon, but regardless, he was relieved that his mother, his uncle, and Hunter were still standing in one piece.
"Spiky!!" A voice called
Blade took a sharp right head turn to find the dragonfly, Sparx, flying towards his position with a panicked, yet worried expression on his face while his sparkling glow illuminated around the purple dragon.
"Spiky, you shouldn't be out here! You should be with us hiding!"
Silence issued from Blade and upon hearing those words, memories of his dream resurfaced in his mind.
'I'll do it. I'm ready.' Blade's own words echoed through his thoughts.
Upon that reminder, the purple dragon's expression grew to one of stern determination.
"No." He spoke, sternly.
The comment took the dragonfly by surprise.
"No?"
"That's right. No! I'm done hiding!"
"But this place is going to Hell! Have you looked around you lately?!"
Silence issued from Blade while the constant wails of the battle issued in the sky before he eventually spoke.
"You know what, Sparx? I have. And I'm not liking it one bit."
"Blade!!" Glacia called upon sight of her son as Blade diverted his attention to her.
However, before she could dash over to him, two rider-less dreadwings landed on the ground on their left side and immediately issued loud screeches that were powerful enough to halt their advances, deafen their ears and submit them to the ground.
As the dreadwings kept to the attack, Glacia, Flame, and Hunter covered their ears and grinded their teeth in pain upon the loud sound attack as they were forcibly kneeled to the ground.
"MOM!!" The purple dragon shouted.
Blade grew horrified upon this sight as well as his dragonfly before the purple dragon issued a growl of anger from his maw while directing hateful glare to the dreadwing creatures, oblivious to the fact that the adamantium on his forearms were extending from curves to a horizontal position and was directed to the dreadwings.
Sparx took note of this with a measure of surprise.
"Whoa-ho, Spiky! What's—"
"LEAVE THEM ALONE!!" Blade screamed.
Suddenly, the silver spikes on his forearms issued a shimmering glow before two silver projectiles shot out from the purple dragon's forearms at a quick pace.
Almost instantly, the dreadwings were each impaled to the side of the head by these projectiles, which caused them to instantly halt their constant attacks as blood splattered from their injuries upon contact.
After the attack seized, Hunter, Glacia, and Flame fell to the ground unconscious.
As the dreadwings fell motionless to the ground with their blood spewing on the earthly soil, Blade, along with Sparx, momentarily grew stunned upon what had just transpired.
Instantly, Blade looked down and saw that the alloy on his forearms were back in their original position.
'What the hell was that?' His thoughts questioned.
His answer came in silence.
Yet, shook the thought off and wasted little before heading over, on all four, towards his mother's side.
As he got there, he started to wake her up, but to no avail. Sparx did likewise with Flame and Hunter by slapping them across the faces with his small hands. Yet, the results were the same.
"Sparx, check their heartbeats."
Sparx complied without question as he flew over and checked all three of their pulses. To his relief, they were still active.
Blade took note of this with anxiety.
"Well?"
"They're still alive, but unconscious."
Blade exhaled a breath of relief.
"Oh, thanks God."
"Blade!!" A voice called.
Blade looked over to the right side to find Ember, on hind legs, and Dawn, on all four, rushing past the fiery debris' towards their position with each expressions of worry on their face.
As soon as they got there, Ember kneeled down to her friends.
"Are they okay?" Ember asked while cradling Flame's head with her left hand and checking Glacia's heart pulse with her right.
"They're fine. Just unconscious." Blade confirmed.
"So what do we do now?" Sparx spoke. "We won't be able to carry them all back to the safe spot."
"Bianca! She can use her magic to revive them." Dawn suggested.
Ember nodded.
"Good idea."
Meanwhile, in the air, as the battle was coming to a near end, Ignitus issued a fireball attack to a single dreadwing, which was enough to set the creature ablaze and plummet down to its death.
"Ignitus!!" Terrador called.
Ignitus turned to Terrador's direction before snagging a sword, which was thrown to him, in his left hand while the earth guardian issued an earth breath attack to a dreadwing creature. Upon the attack, the creature strongly recoil in a stagger before Volteer followed by, with a vicious swing of his sword, decapitating the creature in half, blood splashing afterwards.
Ignitus twirled the sword in hand, and then turned counterclockwise and took a downward swing to an oncoming dreadwing, cutting the creature in half, blood splattering afterwards, while the two dismembered parts of the creature descended to the ground.
On the ground, while Bianca was nearly finish with the revival of her friends, Sparx looked over and noticed, with a hint of sheer disgust, the dismembered body parts of the dreadwing crashing to the ground at the far distance.
Instantly, Sparx covered his mouth to avoid a nauseated reaction to the sight.
"Ugh, dreadwings, blood, and internal organs, oh, my…"
Back in the air, the night sky was free of the dreadwings and their riders as Ignitus, while panting heavily, swallowed a bit of saliva.
'That appears to be the last of them.' The fire guardian's thoughts spoke.
"Never sneak up on an opponent from behind." He spoke before turning around. "Terrad—"
Suddenly, Ignitus issued a grunt of pain, which forced him to subconsciously relinquished the handle on the earth guardian's sword.
The sword descended and impaled itself to the soil as Terrador and the other two guardians took note of this with gasping, horrified shock.
"No." Terrador spoke softly, his expression intact.
Silence issued around the sky as Ignitus, his breathing labored with his expression of pure shock, subconsciously looked down to find the bloody bolt of a harpoon arrow present at his midsection while the rest of the weaponry was through his body. Then, he slowly looked up to his fellow guardians.
However, before he could speak a word, he was yanked backward by the pull of the harpoon's connection cable towards a far distance.
On the ground, Bianca, who moments ago issued her magic to revive them, started carrying Hunter by the shoulder while Ember did likewise with both arms on Glacia and Flame with a little difficulty.
Right now, they started over to the laboratory where the entrance to the hatch was located with Blade and Dawn trailing behind while avoiding the carnage of the village.
By now, to the other's knowledge, everyone else in the lab was already underground.
"IGNITUS!!" A voice bellowed from the skies.
"Terrador?" Blade questioned as he, along with the others, quickly looked up to the sky to find, to their horror, that the fire guardian fell victim to a harpoon attack and was being yanked along by a connecting cable towards the other side of the far-off hills.
"Oh, my God. IGNITUS!!"
Instantly, Blade took off towards the hills with Sparx quickly trying to catch up.
"Blade, wait!" Dawn started before rushing behind.
Out of fear and anxiety, Glacia, Ember, Flame, Hunter, and Bianca called out to them, yet it grew on deaf ears due to their distance.
So, regardless of their condition, Glacia and Flame broke free from the pink dragoness' grasp and rushed over to catch up with them while Ember followed close behind.
Hunter started to follow as well, but not before telling Bianca to head back to the safe spot with the other villagers.
Bianca nodded, then issued a kiss to the cheetah's lips before rushing back for the laboratory.
In the air, the other three guardians made haste towards the other side of the hills where Ignitus was snagged.
But by the time that they got there, they saw that the helpless fire guardian was quickly bounded to a crucifix in a single cage next to four other cages, the last one being without a crucifix. The harpoon was absent from the fire guardian's midsection, as the fire guardian's lifeblood freely drains from the injury.
Then, to their sheer anger, they saw the large number of armed armored apes guarding these prison cages and a few rider-mounted dreadwings in the sky.
Then, they heard clapping in the distance before slowly diverting their attention to a shocking sight that they thought that they would never bare to see again.
"You." Terrador spoke in a dark manner.
"Yes, me."
Then, the powerful screech of two dreadwings was issued in the guardian's direction.
Meanwhile, Blade, while panting heavily, kept to his running pace, tumbling on the ground along the way, as he hurried towards the hills despite his name being called from behind.
During his run, he momentarily saw the other three elders head to the direction of the hills before coming out of his eyesight and hearing two loud screeches.
As soon as he and Sparx eventually got to the hills, Dawn behind them shortly after, both dragons' expression grew of shock -- their eye-pupils shrunk -- upon the sight that they saw.
Down the long, steep hill, there were a few prison cages that were composed of strong wood; four of them each withheld the four unconscious elder guardians bounded to crucifixes.
Strong cables were attached from four dreadwings' hind legs and the four cages while four large armor-clad apes were each mounted on these creatures.
Blade, his expression intact, looked to each elder dragon and found that only Ignitus suffered a punctured wound to his midsection by the harpoon while the others were unconscious, which gave the purple dragon the knowledge that the dreadwings were held responsible for that upon using their screech attacks.
Instantly, the dreadwings took to the air with their captives with slight difficulties before a huge portal issued in the atmosphere.
"IGNITUS!!" Blade screamed in terror.
In the air, Dargaul, upon the screaming voice, sharply took a look behind them from a far distance as his minions entered the open portal.
His face cringed with anger upon seeing the purple dragon on top of the hills.
'Such incompetent.' His thoughts spoke in reference to the few small armored minions he recently sent to apprehend the purple dragon. It appears that they didn't get the job done.
Yet, an evil chuckle escaped his maw upon noticing the fear in the little dragon's eyes.
'That's right, be afraid, little one because I am coming for you.' His thoughts spoke.
But he didn't get much of a chance before an echoed voice called him out of nowhere and halting his advances.
Before he could survey the area for the source of the voice, an illusionary image of Flaron's head appeared right in front of him with a stern expression on his face.
"Dargaul, excellent work. Now for your next objective."
Suddenly, a large basket of multiple yellow crystallized items appeared.
The dragon hunter's expression grew of confusion before Flaron spoke.
"Toss the basket in the air. Momentarily, the crystals will fall and rain upon sections of the land, starting with this village, draining energy from anything and anyone it touches. When the task is done, you'll receive more crystals for the other realms."
Regardless of his expression, Dargaul nodded before the illusionary image disappeared.
On the ground, Blade and Dawn, along with Sparx, has made it to the clearing at the bottom of the steep hill as they looked up towards the dragon hunter's position.
Blade and Dawn's expression grew hardened with hatred toward the hunter upon his actions.
"Whoever you are, you give us back Ignitus and the others!!" Blade demanded.
Dargaul, who momentarily grasped a hold of the basket of crystal, issued an evil chuckle from his maw, but his expression instantly grew of confusion upon the purple dragon's words.
But regardless, his expression slowly grew stern with hatred.
'Perhaps death and resurrection has diverted his memories. No matter. I will deal with him shortly.' His thoughts spoke. 'You may have forgotten about me, purple dragon, but I have not forgotten about you.'
Then, as he strayed from his thoughts, his attention was suddenly diverted to the top of the hill.
His expression loosened upon seeing the familiar face of the ice dragoness along with a few of her friends.
Glacia's expression grew of gasping shock and disbelief upon the sight of the hunter that claimed the lives of many and the life of one dragon that she loved.
"You." Her voice softly whimpered before an image suddenly appeared at the fabric of her mind.
A memory of the torturous injuries that she had to endure at the hands of this hunter's minions thirteen years ago during her capture.
Dargaul's eyes narrowed to a glare, yet an evil smile masked his face.
"You."
Regardless of their previous expressions towards the hunter, Blade, Dawn, and Sparx's confusion were visibly piqued.
"Uh, Spiky? Who is this guy anyway?" Sparx asked.
Blade slowly shook his head.
"I have no idea, but…"
Blade trailed off for a minute in his thoughts before resuming.
"For some reason, it almost feels like I've known him before."
Both Dawn and Sparx slowly looked to Blade strangely before the malicious voice of Dargaul has caught their attention.
"How pleasant for all of you to present yourselves. Sadly, I have to depart from your lovely village. And upon that note, allow me to provide you with a deathly gift."
Instantly, he tossed the large basket of crystals in the air as those that were present looked on with intent.
The basket was soared in the dark skies until it disappeared from sight. Then, a single glint in the sky issued before crystallized spikes rained down from the skies.
With an evil chuckle, Dargaul entered the portal, which closed after entrance, before the numerous stalactiform of small crystals started making contact with sections of the earth.
Upon contact, the crystals, to the other's notice, started pulsating before gathering the life energy from the land as the rain of crystals resumed.
Many were headed to Blade and Dawn's position as Glacia, with a gasp of fright, took note of this.
"Blade!!" She shouted to him.
But Blade and Dawn, at the last moment, managed to dodge from the incoming stalactites while Hunter, Flame, Ember, and Glacia managed to take cover behind a huge boulder.
Glacia looked down to where her son and Dawn were positioned to find that they were dodging the stalactiform of crystals as quickly as possible.
But it won't be long before it eventually comes in contact with them.
Quickly, Glacia got up and, with her wings spread out, took to the mid-skies towards Blade and Dawn's position.
Flame and the others took notice and inched over from the boulder a little.
"Glacia, be careful!!" He shouted after her.
Suddenly, upon that mistake, a small stalactiform impaled itself onto his right upper hind leg.
"AAH!!" Flame screamed in agonizing pain while resisting the urge to pull the spike loose from his injury.
"Flame!!" Ember shouted out of fear as she rushed to him, simultaneously avoiding the impact of the raining crystals.
Hunter followed suit and when they got to him, they pulled him back under the protective boulder and saw that the pulsating, bloodstained crystal was embedded into the muscle section of his hind leg.
As Flame breathed heavily, his lifeblood gushed from the injury as Ember desperately attempted to remove the crystal spike from him.
"N-No, No!! E-Ember, don't!!" Flame managed to shout before grunting from the rising, yet excruciating pain. "Ah, God-fucking-damn it!!"
Meanwhile, at the exact same moment, Glacia, who was still in flight, managed to snag Blade and Dawn in her embrace simultaneously dodging and evading the shards of raining crystals as she landed near the edge of a cliff on her hind legs.
Afterwards, she placed both Blade and Dawn down onto the ground as the three dragons looked behind them to find that the crystals were still raining upon the land, yet, judging by the speed, it wouldn't be long before the energy-draining crystals reach their position.
And upon that knowledge, Glacia mentally came up with a dreadful solution.
Mentally, she struggled trying to find a better way out of this, but there was none. If she took flight with Blade and Dawn in her grasp, there is a chance that they wouldn't make it to the hatch in time.
And even if they did survive it, they wouldn't get pretty far to the hatch due to the fact that these crystals would drain any life out of anyone that goes near it.
There was no other choice. She has to do it.
Meanwhile…
"Flame, you're losing a lot of blood!! I have to—" Ember started out of anxiety.
"If you—If you touch it, it will drain you!!" Flame spoke while breathing heavily from the constant pain. "Do NOT touch it!!"
A couple of stalactiforms ricocheted or shattered off the strong boulder as Hunter and Ember, minus the injured Flame, cowered upon the noise.
"We need to get him back to the hatch! We can't stay out here!" Hunter suggested.
"What about Glacia, Blade, and Dawn?!" Ember spoke out of anxiety for not only Dawn's safety, but for Glacia and Blade as well.
Silence, Hunter, with an expression of dread, looked over to the direction to where Glacia was headed, but lost sight of her, Blade, and Dawn due to the distance.
"Wherever they are, Glacia knows her way to the hatch!"
"But what if she doesn't make it?" Ember asked while struggling to hold back the tears in her eyes.
Silence, Hunter's expression slowly grew solemn while his eyes were downcast.
"Then, with these crystals out here, there's nothing we can do."
Ember didn't get much of a chance to react before, to her startle, another round of crystals ricocheted off the boulder.
"Come on, let's go!" The archer spoke.
Hunter wasted little time in carrying the wounded orange dragon while Flame wailed in pain from the move.
Afterwards, the three started back towards the laboratory where the hatch door was located while constantly dodging the multiple small stalactiforms raining from the sky.
Meanwhile, at the cliff…
"You want us to WHAT?!" Sparx asked, while straining on his last comment upon a suggestion that Glacia has came upon.
"I want you to jump!" She responded, mostly to Blade and Dawn than to Sparx.
Fear and worry once again consumed the purple dragon's face.
"B-But I can't fly yet."
Glacia shook her head.
"Don't worry, the water's current will break your fall."
"But what about you?" Dawn asked.
"Don't worry about me. Now jump, please! It's not safe out here!"
Blade shook his head in protest while keeping his tears at bay.
"No! I'm leaving you."
"Blade…" She spoke with desperate sternness.
"NO, MOM, I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU!!" Blade bellowed while tears forcefully streamed his eyes.
Glacia, Dawn, and Sparx were taken aback by Blade's emotional outburst as the purple dragon's tears fell from his eyes while his head hung.
Glacia took note of this, yet she understood the reason for this reaction. He was afraid that he would lose his friends and the only mother that he has. He was afraid of being alone.
With a sigh from her breath, the ice dragon slowly kneeled down to her son's length and placed her right hand under Blade's chin, slowly diverting the purple dragon's teary gaze to her comforting eyes.
"Blade…" She spoke softly. "It's okay to be afraid. But you don't have to be afraid of anything, because you are my son. You will never be alone. You understand? You will never be alone."
Those words brought great comfort to Blade, yet the tears remained.
"Will you come back for me?" He asked, softly
Glacia grew silence for a moment, but before she could speak, she grunted in pain while, to Blade and Dawn's gasping startle, blood splattered from her chest and staining the bodies of the two young dragons.
Blade, Dawn, and Sparx looked upon the display in horrified shock as Glacia, with a slight grunt, subconsciously looked down to find the long energy-draining crystal pierced through the left side of her abdominal area.
As her breathing labored, Glacia, fear and worry apparent in her face, looked to the two young dragons in front of her while strongly trying to keep herself conscious from the injury.
"Mom? Mom?!" Blade desperately shouted out of anxiety and fear.
"G-Go. J-Jump." She managed to speak as blood was nearly leaking from her mouth.
But before Blade could strongly protest on the idea, a sharp stalactiform made its impact right in front of Blade and Dawn.
The harsh impact of the crystal detached the edge of the cliff, which forced both Blade and Dawn to fall.
"MOOOOOOM!!" Blade's voice screamed in agony during the fall as it echoed to the skies shortly before the purple dragon's head was bashed on a sharp cliff rock to Dawn's noticed with a hint of strong anxiety.
"Blade!!" She shrieked.
On the cliff, Glacia, despite her harsh injury and her slowly depleting energy by the impaling crystal, managed to crawl weakly towards the edge and looked down towards the ocean with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.
"I love you, my son." She spoke softly before her body gave out into a motionless state.
As their fall resumed, Dawn constantly started calling the purple dragon's name, yet no response was issued from him. Even Sparx tried to snap Blade from his unconscious slumber, but was issued the same results.
Looking down, to Dawn and Sparx's shock, they saw that they were closing in on the ocean, yet the surface of the cliff was still visible at this time.
'Oh, no.' Her thoughts dreaded with worry.
"Can you fly?!" Sparx asked.
"No!" She shouted, her expression of worry intact.
And she had reasons to worry. She didn't know how to fly as well and neither does Blade. For that reason, she shut her eyes and awaited her end.
But no impact was issued. Slowly, she opened her eyes and found that, to her confusion, they were in the air flying through the night skies while the wind flows over their bodies.
'What the…'
As she looked up, she saw that Blade was the one that was in flight with her in his grasp. But, to her shock, he was still unconscious with a bloody gash on his head from the impact of the sharp rock.
Mentally, she, including Sparx, questioned how that was possible, yet passed that thought off for the time being. They were safe, at least for now.
A/N: Phew! Oh, my…all the violence, all that bloody, graphic intense violence! My God, that's long!! Over 8740+ words! Even better than the 6000 I had for 'Together.' Honestly, you have no idea how long I had to prepare, edit, and re-edit this thing. But heck, it was worse it. And yes, I told you it would be tragic. But the question remains: What will happen next? Is Glacia truly dead? Will Flame be okay as well as the others? And what of the elders?! You know what? I better stop rambling! Until next chap! Ciao!
Next Chap: Another spiritual entity issues Blade his next training.