Here I am again! I know last chapter was slow, quiet, and short, but I can't have a new crisis every chapter, now can I? If I did, then excitement would become boring. I think we'll just relax, and give our characters a bit of a break, but fear not, my good readers, and stay your blades of hate towards me. It wouldn't be an adventure story anymore if the climax wasn't still to come!
…or will we?
Chapter 12
We flew, and went through the motions day by day, each day bringing a new feeling, or new discovery. Each night brought my fear back as I prepared for another dream which was never to come. At least, not until the sixth and final night of our traveling. As I lay beside Tina beside a small pond, close as I could be to her and as relaxed as I could be without being dead, I wondered if those dreams were ever going to come back. It had to be the night I believed them to be over that they return.
When the dream began, everything was bright and blurry. It felt new, slightly cold, but warm at the same time. As my vision cleared, I was able to see my surroundings. I was in a room in a temple, similar to the one I'd seen in a different dream. I was laying on something soft, and almost like my mattress back home, but different.
"He looks just like you," A soft female voice said
When I searched for the source of the voice, I discovered two large blurred figures standing over the bed I was laying in. One was red, and the other seemed to be some kind of pearl white color, but I couldn't make out their faces.
"Except the spikes," a gentle male voice replied
Who are these two? The dream quickly switched to a completely different scene. This scene began with immense amounts of aching and burning pain, and the sound of a baby's voice crying out. This went on for a while before I was able to see anything, and when I could see something, it was a wooded area; trees everywhere, and it looked like the place my parents took me camping every summer. As I looked around, I saw that everything was moving around me, or rather, I was being moved. I looked in the direction I was moving, and in that direction I saw two people, humans, whose faces were also blurred. I could tell that they were a man and woman, maybe in their late twenties or early thirties. I was placed in the arms of the woman.
"You must care for him…he is all I have. My son, I am so sorry, I must send you away. You will return when you are ready," that gentle male voice spoke
"What is his name?" the man asked
"Convexity…his mother chose it. You must give him a different name, more suitable to your people," the dragon replied, sounding sad
There was a pause, where only breathing was audible.
"Vexx…Vexxer Charles," The woman said
Right as my name was spoken, the faces of the two humans became visible, and I saw the faces of my parents. In hopes of identifying the dragon, I looked at him, but I only saw a blur of red.
"Goodbye," he said, and in a flash of light, he was gone
I woke from my dream right then, feeling more confused than ever. What woke me was Tina moving around beside me, stretching as she too woke from her slumber. As she stood and stretched, I shook my head, trying to clear my head. Convexity? What is Convexity? Seeking the answer to that question, I stood and made my way over to Spyro.
"Hey Spyro, does the word Convexity mean anything to you?" I asked
He looked stunned by my question, and hearing the word also made Cynder perk up from where she was laying, still trying to doze.
"Convexity was the name of the portal to the realm where Malefor was held. The Portal of Convexity," Spyro replied
"Where did you hear about it?" Cynder asked
I was about to reply, but Tina silenced me from behind.
"Did you have another dream?" She asked
"Yes…it's so strange," I replied
"How long have you been having these dreams?" Spyro asked
"Pretty much since I got here. They started as glimpses of images and sounds, but they get clearer each time I have one," I said
All three of them had expressions of pure thought on their faces. This went on for almost a minute, with nobody speaking, before they all exchanged knowing glances and looked right at me.
"You really need to get in to the chronicler. I think he's trying to communicate with you," Spyro said
"Will he have the answers I'm looking for?" I asked
"That and more. Let's get moving," He replied before standing
Together, we all took to the skies. We all were flying double time, me surprisingly ahead of everyone, but I wanted to get to the city more than anyone. Whatever this guy is trying to tell me, it better be good. My dreams were making me wonder who I was, and where I was truly from. My name is Vexxer Charles, I'm from Colorado in the United States. My parents are John and Julie Charles. I kept repeating this in my head, trying to force myself to believe it, but I didn't know what to believe. This went on for hours, until I saw a huge structure in the distance: a wall!
"Guys, is that…?" I began
"The Dragon City of Warfang," Spyro finished
"Home of every remaining dragon," Cynder added
Finally! Two week of traveling to get here, sheesh. I slowed and allowed Spyro and Cynder to take the lead, seeing as they knew the city, and I didn't. With them in front, we all landed at the front gate, which was closed and had two moles standing guard. If only they were standing. They had both sat on the ground back-to-back and were snoozing the day away, something I thought was strictly American. We approached them as noisily as possible, but these two wouldn't wake. Eventually, Spyro just cleared his throat, causing both moles to jump awake and try acting as if they'd been awake the entire time. One of them, who had his helmet off as he slept, put it on backwards, blocking his vision, before standing and saluting us. He must have thought we were his boss.
"Sir!" He said loudly before being hit by his counterpart
"Idiot, don't solute," the other yelled, making the first correct himself and apologize, "not these…uh…who are you?"
"Spyro, and this is my mate, Cynder, and our friends Tina and Vexx," Spyro replied
There was a moment of silence before the second mole took in a long gasp, followed by backhanding the first again.
"What are you doing?! Show some respect, solute them!" He yelled, making the first repeat his initial action, mirrored by the second
"That isn't necessary," Spyro said, making the moles relax
"Spyro, you've been gone so long, where have you been?" the second asked
"We decided to take a leave of absence after the war. It's a story for another time, right now we need to get inside," Cynder rushed
"Of course right away. Open the gate!" He yelled
A few seconds later, the big wooden gate began to open. Before it even finished, Spyro began walking forward, so, wanting to stay close to him, I quickly followed alongside the girls. I was amazed when we entered the city; it was huge! The main gate opened into a courtyard, which had multiple ways to exit into the city. All of the streets were alive with activity from the moles.
"Wow, they've done some renovating," Spyro said
When we stepped into the center of the courtyard, every single mole fell silent. All their attention was drawn toward us, or rather, the other three. I didn't draw much attention, but the seeing Spyro and Cynder return, and return with another purple dragon, was definitely a head turner. There was only one audible noise, and it was a very fast talking voice coming from the road to our right, and its source was entering the courtyard. When I looked, I saw a dragon, accompanied by four moles, and this dragon was fully grown. I could tell by its voice that it was male, and I was surprised when it spoke in an English accent. His scales were light blue, and he didn't even notice us as he and his group walked by.
"I need all work going towards reconstruction. Your work with explosives must be put on hold while we're fixing the buildings you accidentally destroyed," He said
"Hello Cyril," Spyro said
"Hello Spyro," He replied, before continuing his business
He simply continued talking to his companions, and walked down another street and around a corner, out of sight. I looked at Spyro, dumbfounded. He simply smirked.
"Give him a minute,"
A few seconds after Spyro said this, a loud and powerful gasp could be heard from the street Cyril disappeared down. Then, from around the same corner he walked around, he came bounding. As he turned the corner, he actually slid and smashed into what looked like an empty merchant's cart. The impact didn't even faze him as he stood and ran back out into the courtyard.
"Spyro! My goodness, you had us all worried sick!" He exclaimed, before letting his gaze fall to Tina and I, "And who is…waaahh!"
He jumped back upon seeing Tina.
"Tina…what are….why are you…" He stuttered
"Hi, Cyril," Tina said, smiling up at him
He only looked worried, scared, and confused. After a moment of silence, he let his head fall low so he was eye level with Spyro.
"Spyro, do you have any idea who this is?" He whispered, though we could all hear him
Tina's head fell low upon hearing this. They really were judging her based on her parents, and that angered me. Ok, really dude? Her father does not decide who she is!
"We have EVERY idea who she is, actually," I blurted, drawing his attention to me
"Who is-" he began, but was interrupted
"Cyril, we need to talk with the other guardians, in private," Cynder said
Hearing this, Cyril looked around and saw that everyone in the surrounding area was listening and watching. With a nod, he then led us down the center road. Spyro walked beside him, while the rest of us followed behind.
"So how have things been here?" Spyro asked
"Well, after rebuilding the city, Terrador was selected to be head guardian. The moles have never been happier, but we do get the occasional attack by some left over group of Grublins," Cyril replied
"I see. What about Volteer?" he asked
"He usually stays in the main temple here in the city, doing his studies on Science. Ludicrous stuff, if you ask me. Uh, Arlin," Cyril called out, and a moment later a mole ran up to him, "Go and fetch Terrador. Tell him to meet us in the temple,"
With that, the mole ran off. No more words were spoken as Cyril led us deeper into the city. I didn't know where we were going, until I looked around and saw that a few blocks ahead, elevated higher above the other buildings, was a temple similar to the one I saw in my dream, but different. We were taken into a corridor which led to some stairs, which took us up into the temple.
"Spyro, take the others and wait by the vision pool. I'll go find Volteer," Cyril said
Spyro nodded and led us through a doorway into a large circular room with a small pool in the middle.
"Alright Spyro, now what?" I asked
"We have to wait until the rest of the Guardians get here. They are the only ones who can tell us where the White Aisle is," He replied
I sighed in frustration. I wanted so badly to get the answers I traveled so far for. Accepting what I would have to do, I relaxed and looked over at Tina. She seemed scared, and sad. I knew exactly why, too. The way Cyril looked at her, the way all of those moles looked at her, was what she had been hiding from, the reason she lived alone for so long.
"Spyro, can I talk to you for a second?" I requested, and walked out of the room
He followed me out of the room and out of earshot of the girls. When I was certain we were in private, I stopped and turned to face him.
"What's up?" He asked
"I need to make something very clear. The way the people in the city looked at Tina, the way Cyril reacted when he saw her, was unacceptable. That is the very reason she has been hiding away for so long, so I want you to make sure that when the guardians arrive, they treat her the same way they treat you," I said forcefully and to the point
He looked at me, confused, but after a moment, he spoke.
"I'll do what I can," He replied
I nodded, and together we went back into the vision pool room. When we entered, I took my place at Tina's side again, mere moments before a deep and powerful voice was hear from the front room.
"Cyril? Volteer? This better be important," We heard, before a very large and stalky green dragon entered the room. The very first dragon he spotted was Spyro. His reaction was much less warm than Cyril's was. "Spyro, you've returned. Welcome back. And Cynder, I'm glad to see you well"
"Thank you," Cynder replied
"And to you as well, Terrador. I wish our return was under better circumstances, but we've come across something," Spyro added, looking directly at us
At first, when Terrador looked, he seemed like he was going to explode. His eyes widened, and his mouth fell wide open as he prepared to say something, but he was silenced by the sound of Spyro forcefully clearing his throat. Terrador glanced over at Spyro, who shook his head in disapproval. Getting the message, the green dragon corrected his posture.
"Tina, you've returned as well. And who is this?" He asked, looking at me
"The answer to that is a very long story. I'll tell you when Cyril and Volteer get here," I said
"Alright then. We wait for Cyril and Volteer to arrive"
Sorry, something went wrong when I tried to upload this chapter the first time. I don't know what happened, but I will be trying again now. Sorry for the mishap!