"If what Volteer said was true, this should also be one of the spires we had to destroy." Cyril mumbled as he trudged up the seemingly never-ending stairs up into the gloom overhead. Lightning streaked across the windows, as if they were conducting across the outer surface of the tower, leaving unbearably loud thunder in its wake. The stairs were slippery with moss and Cyril had almost fallen to his death once or twice when he trod on a patch of slick moss that he hadn't anticipated.
Although he had tried to fly when he awoke, he soon came plummeting back to the ground as a horde of indistinct shadowy creatures descended upon Cyril, screeching and clawing at his scales.
"Well, they don't seem to bother anything on the ground…" Cyril remarked to no one in particular as he surveyed the masses of bat-like creatures slumbering beneath the staircases above; a living, breathing mass of darkness.
Cyril suddenly had an idea and leapt off the edge of the stairs into the unfathomably dark hole in the middle. Millions of pairs of yellow eyes opened as Cyril hastily formed an ice platform in the middle. The yellow glow slowly subsided and darkness fell once again. Breathing a sigh of relief, Cyril stomped his forepaws on the ice and was launched upwards by an ice pillar that had erupted from the platform.
Soaring upwards, the yellow glow once again forming around him, Cyril created another platform and landed quietly, causing the eyes to close once again.
Repeating this movement several times in succession carried him further up the tower than he would have in the same time it took had he been walking and, within minutes, Cyril was face to face with an impenetrable ceiling.
Stepping off the platform and onto the steps, he walked the remaining distance until he was in front of a massive door adorned with burnished copper fittings around its frame imitating a lightning bolt streaking around the door which crackled with electricity when Cyril's claws rapped the surface of the brass door, sending an empty echo reverberating through the spire.
Noticing the unusually loud echo, Cyril gulped and prayed that those winged beasts wouldn't awaken.
His prayer was replied by a chorus of screeches coming from below followed by the flapping of thousands of wings.
Reacting quickly, Cyril froze the electrical door and rammed it off its hinges, sending it careening into the room beyond and landing on the metal floor with a loud clang, causing even more screeches to join the already deafening chorus of thunder and screeches.
Erecting a glacial door at the entrance was just enough to hold back the tide of monsters which crashed into the ice continuously.
Knowing his impromptu solution wouldn't hold for long, Cyril entered the doorway at the other end of the room just as the ice began to crack from the strain of thousands of bodies striking its crystalline surface.
In the adjoining room, Cyril was greeted by a yellow hatchling snoring peacefully in a metallic cot in the middle of the room that was lined with strange tiered spires jutting out from its four corners.
The hatchling opened an eye and stared at the newcomer before yawning and stretching luxuriously before placing its forepaws on the rim of the cot and fixing Cyril with a pair of youthful, not infantile, eyes.
"Hmn? Who are you?" The hatchling asked curiously, cocking his head to the side in amusement.
"More importantly, who are you?" Cyril replied cautiously; clearly everything was not as it seemed, as Volteer had told him.
"The name's Jolt, pleasure to meet you, Mr…?" The hatchling hopped out of the crib, climbing onto one of the spires adorning the structure and perching on its tip like an eagle watching its prey.
"Cyril. But really, what's your real name, Jolt?" From what Volteer told him, each of the so-called "Guardians" of the structures were actually dragons under Malefor's influence. If what Petros said was true, as Volteer had told Cyril, this was no exception.
"What are you talking about? My name's Jolt! Maybe a little lightning'll get that through your thick skull…" Jolt proceeded to charge the rod with electricity before launching an orb of blue lightning towards Cyril, who deflected it with an ice pillar. Even then, the pillar shattered, raining shards of ice onto Cyril and creating an electrically charged cloud of vapor, as evidenced by the small bolts of lightning shooting through the pale mist.
"Ice versus electricity?" Jolt sighed before launching another orb towards Cyril, who dodged it by leaping to the side. "Does Eratos really think I'll have trouble defeating you?"
As if in reply, electricity began coursing through Cyril, who roared in pain as the plasma shot across his scales. Unknowingly, Cyril had dodged into the floating electrified mist and that same electricity was now burning its way through Cyril's body.
Cyril leapt out hastily, his left forepaw twitching erratically from the remaining electricity as he panted painfully, lungs nearly paralysed from the excess voltage.
"Oh dear, looks like you're outclassed, Cyril, maybe you should take a nap!" Jolt laughed before once again charging the rod and, this time, firing a constant stream of plasma towards Cyril, who began running around the room, muscles occasionally disobeying him as he avoided the lethal electricity.
Suddenly, thousands of dark shapes began streaming into the room, startling Jolt and Cyril at the same time. Screeching madly, they began clawing both Cyril and Jolt in their rage from being awoken from their slumber, yellow eyes burning with anger.
Even though Jolt was his enemy, Cyril couldn't bear to see the young dragon being attacked and ravaged by the beasts. Firing orbs of electricity randomly, Jolt had begun to panic and was trying to find a way out as the winged beasts tore off small chunks of his flesh.
Cyril breathed ice all around himself, freezing the black storm in its tracks. Continuing this, Cyril slowly made his way to Jolt, creating a tunnel of ice towards the unfortunate dragon.
When he was next to Jolt, Cyril reached out a paw and grabbed around blindly when his hands suddenly hit scales instead of feather. Clenching his paw, Cyril dragged Jolt out of the lethal storm and into the ice tunnel.
Without hesitation, Cyril blasted a massive storm of ice missiles, cutting a way through the black hurricane and blowing a hole in the metal beyond, causing sunlight to come streaming in. The beasts screeched and shied away from the sunlight, leaving a pathway completely clear of darkness.
Cyril ran through the light and leapt out of the hole. Almost immediately, he was buffeted by gale force winds, forcing him to dive down wards. With his wings still slightly paralysed from the electricity, Cyril decided to get down the faster way. Holding Jolt close to his body to prevent him from freezing, Cyril sent himself into a downwards drill, freezing the air around him as he descended.
Never before had he tried and Absolute Zero from such a height. Halfway down, Cyril was literally a spear of ice as he continued, holding tight to the half-unconscious Jolt. When he impacted the ground, hundreds of massive ice ribbons erupted, larger than any he had ever made, in addition to a wave of glaciers spreading outwards, which was totally unexpected. Also, the frozen air that had surrounded him unfolded into a frosty flower, Cyril and Jolt dead in the center.
"Are you alright?" Cyril asked as he surveyed Jolt's body, which was obviously almost shredded to ribbons with streaks of flesh showing through the bloodstained scales.
"W-Why'd you save me? You should've l-let me die…" Jolt stammered as he pushed away Cyril's paw and tried to squirm out of Cyril's grip, prompting several cries of pain as the open wounds rubbed against one another.
"I could've… but it wouldn't have sat right with me." Cyril explained as the ice shattered silently around them.
"I know your name's not really Jolt. It's just an alias Eratos used to keep hold of you." Even though this was just a wild guess, Cyril knew he had hit his mark when Jolt began crying.
"So, can you remember your name?" Cyril asked as he gently held Jolt, or whatever he was really called.
He merely shook his head as he held Cyril. He hadn't felt this kind of feeling for an extremely long time and he actually forgot what it was called.
"N-No…" Jolt sniffed as he buried his head deeper into Cyril's chest, who had begun flying back towards Warfang.
"…nothing at all?" Cyril questioned further as they continued the long flight.
"Alright, then, how about this: Du you know anything about what Eratos, or Malefor, is planning?" The shocked expression on Jolt's mutilated face told him everything he needed to know.
"H-He's planning something?" Jolt stammered, eyes wide with fear.
"I-I, I remember t-the l-last time, the last time, the…" The hatchling began stammering uncontrollably as he recalled the circumstances of his birth; all of it came streaming back to Jolt.
Being born into a slave family, Jolt's parents were working as dragon slaves for Eratos' grand ambition, mining ores for the construction of multiple structures which he would use for something "special".
In addition to that, Eratos also said that one of them would be chosen to help him fulfill his plan. Naturally, he chose the youngest amongst the slaves; Jolt and Petros were among the hatchlings he had taken forcefully from their parents, never to be seen again.
The treatments he put them through were horrible and almost all of them had died painfully except for 4 of them; Jolt, Petros, as well as a pair of twins.
"Seraphy and Shader…" Jolt whispered ominously as he shivered, recalling the pain all of them had been put through.
This was understandable, as Bolzan had explained once; the treatments forced one to remember everything, regardless of whether it was good or bad. Even though some of Bolzan's memories came from the dragon blood in his human body, most of it actually came from the light and darkness pumped into him.
"He threw me into that tower and put some kind of gas into the room and I immediately began obeying his every command. Until you found me…" Jolt whispered, beginning to cry again, prompting Cyril to cuddle him again.
"Don't worry, little one, you're safe now, I promise…" Cyril whispered as Jolt broke down once again. Suddenly, a loud rumbling could be heard behind them and Cyril turned to find the tower collapsing in a massive thunderstorm.
When Cyril looked back at Jolt's now open eyes, he saw that they no longer seemed tormented into a forced adulthood. Rather, they were filled with the spark of curiosity commonly seen in newly hatched dragons.
Thank you, Cyril…
Jolt's voice rang in Cyril's head as the baby dragon began to cry from the pain, startling Cyril.
Owww…It hurts bad…
He realized that Jolt was actually communicating with him telepathically as he cradled the wailing infant.
"Don't worry; we'll get you some help. Just hold on for a while longer, Jolt, alright?" Cyril cooed as he continued his flight, ignorant of his own injuries.
I-I want to tell you something, Cyril."
"Yes?"
My name's not Jolt…
"So what is it?"
It's…
The baby dragon sniffled and frowned, deep in thought, calling back memories long forgotten.
Hikari!
Hikari squealed in delight at remembering his own name as Cyril smiled warmly.
"Alright then, welcome to the family, Hikari!" He proclaimed as thy continued their flight towards Warfang. Along the way, they met up with Volteer and, after a quick introduction, a healer quickly got to dressing Hikari's wounds, who wailed in pain with every touch of the antiseptic; apparently not everyone could hear his telepathy except for anyone close to Cyril, since Volteer could also hear Hikari and was wincing in unison with every cry of pain.
Well, I hope the rest of you will return safely, we've got some welcoming to do!
