The Snare of Darkness

by DragonMaster000

The Dragon Realms have survived Nexus's attacks, but now Ragnor's wrath has been awakened. Spyro and his friends will now have to join forces with an unlikely ally in order to survive, and in the process Spyro may be forced to come to terms with a difficult truth: the truth of the purple dragon.

21. Chapter 21: Instability

I have an announcement to make in this chapter, but I'll wait until the end of it to make it. Anyone who follows me on DeviantArt will know about it already anyway. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I apologize for the long wait.

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Chapter 21: Instability

This is taking too long.

Tyrannica growled as she pushed through a tangle of branches that barred her path, a brooding scowl marking her narrow features. She emerged on the other side of the foliage onto a relatively clear game trail and without pause she set off along it at a brisk pace, eyes distractedly scanning her surroundings. The two wraiths that followed her were more vigilant, and she was content to let them watch for danger while she focussed on her thoughts.

She didn't like it when things got complicated. She had always been more of a soldier at heart, and as such liked it when there was a straightforward course of action set out before her. This sneaking around in the shadows, lurking and waiting for the opportune moment to strike was tedious and far more tiring than she thought it was worth. Unfortunately, Ragnor was adamant that timing was crucial to their success.

At least he had filled her in on the rest of the requirements for his plan. This gave her something that she could occupy herself with rather than lazing around waiting for news from the wraiths. Between the blind spot in their intelligence that was Warfang and the ongoing hunt for that infuriating Guard captain, she needed something to distract her. Otherwise her stress would lead her to snap, and then the Master's plan would be ruined.

The only other good news to be had was the report she had received from her front-line wraith units the other day. Two of the nearest dragon settlements had fallen under silent wraith control as part of her recent campaign. The wraiths' covert subjugation of the lands was progressing at a favourable pace, and as of yet there was no sign that anyone was any the wiser. In spite of her distaste for this form of cloak and dagger warfare, Tyrannica still didn't want her enemies to know where the real threat was until they had no one left to help them face it. She wouldn't make Nexus's mistake.

Ironic, she thought wryly. The dragon suited for infiltration chose open warfare, while the dragoness meant for battle chooses stealth.

A glitter of red caught her eye, and she snapped her head to the right. Through the sparse woods she saw a warm ruby glow, and immediately she veered off of the game trail toward it. Her frustration was momentarily forgotten when she rounded a stand of fir trees and was greeted by a healthy growth of red spirit gems, almost half as tall as she was and glowing vibrantly.

Finally! she exclaimed inwardly. It's about time we found a significant deposit.

She spent a moment studying the crystal, appreciating its unblemished clarity and the warm feeling of power radiating from it. It wasn't surprising that crystals were a deep interest for her, and this one was certainly an impressive sight.

A splintering CRASH echoed through the trees, the spirit gem exploding into pieces as Tyrannica's earth missile slammed into its base. Glittering red fragments showered the area, making footing treacherous, but Tyrannica paid this little mind. She glanced back at the two wraiths, waiting in unnatural silence.

"Start gathering the larger pieces," she instructed. "They may be useful later."

The wraiths obeyed wordlessly, moving past her and stooping down to collect any fragments that were of useable size and arranging them into a neat pile. Tyrannica's eyes returned to the torn up patch of soil where the gem had been rooted moments before. Using her earth element she began excavating the soil around where the gem used to be, gradually uncovering a mound of dense, lumpy mineral with a recess in the top denoting where the spirit gem had sprouted from.

Not bad, she thought approvingly.

Etherite. Though largely unremarkable in appearance, it was one of the most valuable minerals known to dragon kind. Named for the fragile crystals that grew from it, its worth was due to its ability to channel magical energy—hence how the gems formed from it. It was largely regarded as sacred by dragons due to its association with the spirit gems, gifts from the Ancestors themselves. As such, the mining of it was forbidden in the Dragon Realms.

This fact meant nothing to the dragoness. With a great heave and burst of her earth powers, Tyrannica ripped the mound of Etherite from its resting place. When it had settled she turned again to the wraiths.

"Take this back immediately," she told them. "You can return for the gems afterward."

The wraiths again offered no response. Instead they immediately converged on the mineral, using their shadow powers to phase it into nothingness, and just like that they were gone. Now alone in the woods, the indigo dragoness resumed studying the fragments of spirit gem littered around her.

"Too bad we haven't found any blue gems yet," she muttered.

As the most powerful variant of spirit gem, the Etherite linked to the blue crystals had the greatest potential for magical transfer. This high-quality material was essential if her Master's plan was to succeed, and while it was possible to refine it from the lower grades of Etherite it was a vastly energy-intensive task, one that she would like to avoid if possible.

She realized that she was wasting time, and with a quiet snort she turned to resume her patrol. She hesitated just before leaving, however, her eyes swivelling back to the fragments of spirit gem. Even with her instructions to the wraiths to return for them, it seemed a waste to just leave them there.

May as well, she shrugged.

She gripped one of the medium-sized fragments with her forepaw and held it against her opposite shoulder. Focussing on her unique powers, she commanded a spike of dark crystal to materialize on the surface of her scales, fastening itself to them and encasing the gem fragment securely inside. She repeated the process on her other shoulder, smiling at the result. Now she had two new weapons to use in the event of a fight, plus the ability to heal herself of moderate wounds. Both of which she knew would prove to be useful, and when she set off once again into the woods it was with a new sense of satisfaction, feeling the reassuring warmth of the spirit gems against her scales.

The nagging sense of irritation didn't take long to return as the momentary triumph of the spirit gem discovery wore off, though. Soon enough the scowl had returned to Tyrannica's features, the dragoness longing to just storm Warfang now and capture the two traitors herself. She knew inside that it would never work, though. While assured of her superior power, she knew that in the time it took to make her way through the city her two targets could easily escape. Even if Spyro chose to stay and fight, Nexus would undoubtedly slip away and crawl back to whatever hole he had been hiding in for six months. No, it simply wasn't an option. Ragnor would kill her in a heartbeat for jeopardizing the mission so recklessly.

Still, some type of excitement would be more than welcome at that moment.

She suddenly halted in her tracks, head jerking up and senses straining. She could have sworn that she had heard something through the trees, but it had been so faint that she had no clue what it could have been. Holding her breath, she waited to see if she could hear it again. She was just about to give up when finally it came: voices. A chilling smirk began creeping across her muzzle.

Seems like it's my lucky day.

Pinpointing where the voices were coming from proved to be difficult given how far away and faded they were, but then she hadn't been known as 'The Huntress' during her time for nothing. Like stalking prey, she gradually worked her way closer to the source in a methodical, weaving path. All the while the voices grew clearer and more distinct, and before long she had zeroed in on their source. She could now tell that there were two voices, both male, and both dragons. Her grin darkening, she crouched lower to the earth and crept toward her unsuspecting victims.

It wasn't long before she happened across another trail through the woods, but this one was much larger than the one she had been following before. This was no game trail; it was some sort of road, and from the sound of the voices the two dragons she was hearing were travelling down it straight toward her. Crouching behind a thick bush a short distance from the path, all she had to do was wait. A minute later her attuned hearing allowed her to make out what was being said.

"...I'm telling you, Dunstan, this is a waste of time," one voice declared, its tone bright but resolute. "This is obviously a case of travellers getting spooked by some wild animal after dark. Wouldn't be the first time that happened."

"And I'm telling you, Brand," a much deeper voice replied wearily, "Elder Glacius instructed us to check it out, so we're going to do our job and then be done with it. If there is something out here then the village is at risk, and even if there isn't if we skimp out on this we'll just get sent back out to double-check anyway."

"I know, I know. I'm just saying, 'something moving in the dark' doesn't mean anything. It's the woods. It's dark. Things move. It's the same thing every year when night starts coming sooner."

Around a bend farther down the trail, the two dragons finally wandered into sight. One was a molten red fire dragon with charcoal grey chest scales and horns, and the other was a muddy brown earth dragon with pitch black accents. The fire dragon was strutting beside his companion with a grin of mixed humour and exasperation, while the earth dragon was clearly older and less enthusiastic.

"Just keep your eyes open," the brown dragon sighed. "Instead of complaining about the job, you could try doing it."

The fire dragon snorted. "Why are you always so serious?"

"Why are you never?"

The red dragon chuckled, and Tyrannica smirked at their cluelessness. Still, their conversation did concern her. From the sound of things her wraiths weren't being as silent as she had expected they would be. It appeared that there would need to be some serious discussion when she returned to the stronghold.

That was a matter for a later time, though. At that moment the two unsuspecting dragons were closing in on her position, and her claws tensed against the soil in anticipation. Half a dozen metres in front of the two targets, the underbrush fell away to form a small patch of open ground. With no variables to consider in the terrain, the confrontation would be a pure matchup of strength.

Not exactly fair, but when did prey ever have a fair footing with the hunter?

Breathing slowly and regulating the pace of her heart, the purple dragoness counted down the distance in her head.

Three...two...one...

The two dragons had no warning before a wall of jagged violet crystal exploded up from the ground in front of them, cutting off their path in an instant. Three more resonating crashes accompanied the formation of similar walls on the left, right, and finally behind them, each of the walls towering high above the dragons' heads and angled in such a way that flying out was impossible without shredding their wings on the vicious points.

"What the—?!" the fire dragon exclaimed.

A predatory grin on her muzzle, Tyrannica emerged from her cover and strode toward the wall of dark crystal, still unseen by her two captives. Her steps didn't falter as she approached the looming barrier, even as her muzzle met its cool surface. The crystal almost seemed to turn to liquid at her touch, parting around her scales without any hint of resistance, and when she opened her eyes upon emerging on the other side she was not disappointed by the looks of wide-eyed shock on the two dragons' faces. Along with shock was evident fear as well, for on her way through the wall her scales had become encased in plates of gleaming crystal armour, the sharp angles accentuating her dangerous features.

"Now, what could two lonely dragons be doing wandering out here in the woods at this hour?" she asked innocently, though her fang-baring grin was anything but.

"Who are you?" the fire dragon asked shakily.

"Someone not to be trifled with," Tyrannica answered, her bearing turning icy in a heartbeat. "What are you looking for?"

The two dragons exchanged a nervous glance. A second later the earth dragon spoke up, his voice a mix of hostility and trepidation.

"How many of you purple dragons are there? This makes no sense."

Tyrannica's lip twitched in a snarl, but briefly afterward she adopted a chilling smile.

"Less now than there once were. Once there were many. Now there are four; me, your saviour, the fugitive, and the rightful master of this world." Her expression darkened. "I answered your question. Now answer mine."

The other two dragons traded another fearful look, searching with growing urgency for a way out of their predicament. When she still didn't receive her answer, Tyrannica took a menacing step forward and uttered a growl that caused her captives to recoil from her.

"Well?"

"I-It's nothing," the fire dragon stammered. "Some dragons travelling from another village were saying they saw something in the woods, so Elder Glacius got worried and ordered some searches. Nobody really believed them, though."

"Hmm," Tyrannica rumbled, expression clouding in thought. "And now?"

Neither dragon answered, fearful expressions on their faces.

"And exactly how widespread are these tales of 'something in the woods'?" she pressed.

"We don't know," the earth dragon said, a tremor in his voice but also a note of finality.

Tyrannica didn't miss this inflection and she fixed him with a studying gaze, wondering if he was simply trying to hold out on her, to say, "Don't ask again, because we won't tell you anything." This almost encouraged her to press harder for details, but in the end it didn't really matter if they said any more or not—she already knew that her wraith activity was getting unwanted attention, and in truth it wasn't all that surprising. Though incredibly stealthy, when the wraiths had to regularly linger in a single area to gather information it was only a matter of time before someone noticed something. She would just have to adjust her tactics accordingly.

"What are you going to do with us?" the fire dragon asked when the silence grew to be too much for him to bear, his fear getting the better of him.

"Well now, that really depends," she replied, her voice taking on an almost playful quality. "I could let you live, but what can you do to be useful to me if I do? How about...bring your village elder to me? It might be good to have a one on one conversation with him to...clear up a few things."

"Never," the earth dragon growled, his posture turning defensive. "I don't know what you want with him, but we're not traitors."

"No?" Tyrannica said, cocking her head to the side thoughtfully. "Well, perhaps that would be too overt. Let me see..."

She made a show of considering her options, pacing back and forth and making no effort to safeguard herself against surprise attacks while she did so. It worked just as she had hoped it would. The air of utter confidence in her superiority that she portrayed clearly unnerved the two males, and all the while she was aware of how they watched her every move with fear and apprehension growing on their faces.

"I know!" she said brightly, rounding on the other dragons and causing them both to jolt back in alarm. "You can be my spies."

"Spies?" the fire dragon repeated in shock.

"What do you need spies for?" the earth dragon asked.

"I need someone to make sure that suspicions are regulated in your little villages. Plus, it can't hurt to have some extra muscle in place if the need for...forceful subjugation arises."

"I already said we aren't traitors," the brown dragon snarled past his fear.

Tyrannica's grin took on a much more menacing edge. "I didn't say you had a choice."

She lunged without warning, the two males giving startled cries before leaping in opposite directions, frantically trying to escape the reach of her talons. They succeeded, but the earth dragon wasn't counting on the sharp spin she performed the instant her paws met the dirt. The flat of her tail blade smashed into his jaw, knocking him over with a sharp grunt.

At that moment Tyrannica felt a rush of heat as the fire dragon attempted to strike her with a fire bomb, but her dark crystal armour absorbed the elemental energy from it the instant it made contact, the blazing fireball fizzling out into a measly puff of smoke. Grinning viciously, she channelled the elemental energy her armour had just absorbed into a fire attack of her own, a fireball twice the size of the red dragon's shooting back at him. He ducked with a panicked cry, the shockwave battering him when the fireball detonated against the crystal wall behind him.

A whistle of air warned Tyrannica of imminent danger, and she flattened herself to the ground just in time to avoid the earth missile that sped past her shoulders with only an inch to spare. Her armour could absorb the energy of elemental attacks, but that didn't do much good against the solid stone of an earth missile and the crystal plates were too thin to withstand such an impact. The dragoness preferred to use speed to her advantage if she could, and this applied to her armour as well.

She rounded on the earth dragon, twisting to avoid a second earth missile as she did so. Determined not to grant her an opening, the earth dragon followed up immediately with a third at the same moment that the fire dragon unleashed a torrent of flames at her back. She ignored the flames, allowing her armour to absorb the attack while she spun around and brought up her tail, batting the earth missile straight back at its sender and forcing him to leap aside. An explosive blast of her ice power suddenly coated the miniature arena, and both males gave startled yelps when they suddenly found their paws frozen to the ground.

While the fire dragon urgently worked to thaw the ice trapping him, Tyrannica lunged toward the earth dragon. She slammed into him with her shoulder, the crystal spike she had fashioned cutting a gash across his chest plating and earning a cry of pain. Her adversary tried to retaliate with a swipe of his claws, which had been knocked free by the purple dragoness's attack, but Tyrannica pushed off of him and easily avoided them. Frustrated, he attempted to follow through with a swing of his clubbed tail, but his injury slowed him down. At the same time Tyrannica noticed that the fire dragon had freed himself and was leaping for her exposed back.

Thinking quickly, she reared up, caught the startled fire dragon by the wrist of his forepaw and spun him roughly into the path of the incoming tail blow. Both dragons' eyes widened, but there was no time for the earth dragon to stop himself before his tail club smashed into the fire dragon's ribs. The unintended victim let out a sharp roar of pain, the roar quickly turning into a winded grunt as his momentum carried him into the earth dragon and they both crashed into the ground in a heap. Tyrannica chuckled at the sight.

"Surely you two can do better than that," she scoffed.

The earth dragon gave a low snarl at her taunting, wriggling out from beneath his groaning comrade. The fire dragon also rose to his paws, but his movements were more laborious and it looked as if he had suffered a broken rib. Regardless, they both turned to face their attacker again.

"Together," the brown dragon said, and the other male nodded shakily.

With a pair of roars they leapt at the indigo dragoness, clearly aiming to overwhelm her with their combined strength. Tyrannica had no intention of giving them that chance, ducking into her control over time and circling around behind her two opponents. There were two surprised grunts when they landed with no sign of their target in front of them, and before they could recover Tyrannica had clamped her jaws around the earth dragon's tail and yanked as hard as she could. Straining every muscle in her body, she flipped her bulky adversary over her shoulder and sent him crashing into the crystal wall. The fire dragon spun around with a frantic gasp only to be met with a jolt of electricity, spasms wracking his limbs and dropping him to the ground.

A grating rumble emanated from the ground beneath her, and Tyrannica uttered a surprised yelp when a jagged pillar of earth exploded up beneath her. She rolled aside, but the crystal armour covering her left flank was caught by the pillar and shattered. The pillar itself slammed into the dark crystal wall nearby, and a sound like breaking glass rang out as deep cracks spider-webbed from the point of impact. Tyrannica was given slight pause by this—another hit like that would bring the barrier crashing down.

She rounded on the earth dragon even as he was charging up another earth missile to catch her on her newly exposed flank. Before he could attack, though, she shot out a shard of crystal from between her jaws, the centre pulsing with vile crimson energy. The shard collided with the dragon's chest and erupted in an ear-splitting blast of fear energy, causing the brown dragon to cry out in terror and scramble backward into the corner of the enclosure, gripping his head in his claws and crying out incoherently.

"You need to settle down for a minute," Tyrannica said derisively, turning instead toward the fire dragon.

Seeing her deadly gaze settle on him, the fire dragon began desperately scrambling to regain his footing, terror written on his features. He backed away quickly as the purple dragoness stalked toward him, only for a panicked whimper to escape him when he ran into the crystal wall. He searched about frantically as Tyrannica closed in on him, but when he saw that there was no escape his fight instincts kicked in.

With a desperate cry he threw himself at his assailant, aiming to close his jaws around her neck, but before he could Tyrannica had struck his chin with the pad of her forepaw, causing his teeth to snap together painfully. While he was recovering she rammed him in the chest with her horns, and finally she turned and batted him aside with her tail. He landed on top of the earth dragon again, who was still gripped by Tyrannica's fear element.

"Get off me!" he screamed, slamming a folded wing into the red dragon's injured side and sending him rolling off with a painful grunt. He had barely stopped rolling when an earth missile from Tyrannica struck the ground between them, the concussive blast sending them both tumbling away from each other.

"Spirited," Tyrannica said, stepping toward the two groaning males. "But weak. Now, do yourselves a favour and give up."

A ragged growl sounded out from her right, and Tyrannica looked to see that the earth dragon was stubbornly trying to rise to his feet. It seemed that the blast from the earth missile had knocked him back to his senses, for now there was fury in his eyes in place of fear. It looked like he was ready to attack again once he made it to his feet, but before he could Tyrannica's tail blade appeared at his throat, forcing him back against the crystal blockade. When his back hit the wall the crystal seemed to come alive, thick veins reaching out and snaring his legs, wings, tail and neck before he could resist. The crystal pulsed with violet light, sapping his energy in an instant. He struggled furiously but it was no use, and when he realized this fact he glared up at his captor.

"That's better," the dragoness smirked, turning once more to the prone fire dragon. He still hadn't risen, teeth gritted in pain and clutching his injured side. "Now your turn."

The red dragon's eyes snapped open as he heard Tyrannica approaching him, and despite the evident pain he was in he attempted to scramble away from her. Before he could go anywhere two mounds of dark crystal sprung up and encased his forepaws, trapping him. His expression turned frantic as the dragoness loomed closer, and the fear in his in his eyes sent a thrill of satisfaction through her being.

"Stay away!" he snarled, trying to breathe fire but unable to because of the dark crystals stealing his energy away.

"Hold still," she told him, grinning vilely.

She placed a forepaw on top of his head and forcibly pinned it against the ground, eliciting several muffled grunts of pain as she placed her weight on his skull. He tried to lash at her with his wing, but she quickly stepped on it with her right back paw. He struggled, but this only caused pain to flare up in the sensitive limb and he promptly ceased.

"This should be over before you know it," she said in a mock soothing voice. "Now, let's see if I remember how to do this..."

She held up her free forepaw and a small chunk of colourless crystal began forming on top of the pad, a strange energy radiating from it. Shifting her stance to hold the dragon below her by the neck, she reached down and held the crystal against the back of his skull, just beneath one of his horns. Upon contact the crystal immediately began to grow, thin tendrils working under his scales. He thrashed violently, a choked cry of pain tearing from his jaws.

"What are you doing?!" the earth dragon shouted at her, but Tyrannica ignored him. "Stop!"

"Oh, stop complaining," Tyrannica snarled to the squirming dragon, finding it difficult to focus on her task with his head jerking around as it was. Scowling with irritation, she pushed harder with her power.

There was a soft crunch, and the fire dragon abruptly fell still. A look of mild surprise crossed Tyrannica's features, and for a moment she stared down at the motionless dragon in silence.

"Oops," she said finally, withdrawing her paw and the crystal.

"Brand?" the earth dragon called out, his voice unsteady. A second later, his expression had taken on a mix of horror and rage. "What did you do?!"

"Oh, hush," the indigo dragoness said with a dismissive flick of her wing. "It's his own fault for squirming so much. Odd; I remember them being a lot stiller for that." Her eyes suddenly widened, and she mentally slapped herself. "Oh, that's right. Okay, let's try this again."

She faced the earth dragon, a sadistic gleam in her eye, and he immediately began to struggle harder against his bonds. It was futile, though. The crystal held him fast, and there was no possible way that he could free himself without his element.

"Now, this might sting a bit," Tyrannica smirked, rearing up and coating her paw with crystal again.

"No! Stay ba—ARGH!"

His cry devolved into a snarl of pain as Tyrannica reached up with her other forepaw and sent a surge of current through his body, causing his muscles to seize up and rendering him momentarily paralyzed. With his struggling now alleviated, she pressed her other paw against the back of his head and sent the crystal burying into his flesh, just as with her other captive. A drawn out moan of pain leaked through the dragon's clenched jaws, but he was unable to fight in any way. A moment later the moaning stopped, his eyes rolled up into his head and he hung limply from his bonds.

Ending the flow of electricity, Tyrannica removed her paws and released the dragon from his crystal restraints. He made no effort to catch himself as he fell to the ground with a thud, and the purple dragoness wondered if she had killed him too. When she circled around in front of him she saw that he was still breathing shallowly, though. A few seconds later, the brown dragon's eyes slowly cracked open.

For a moment Tyrannica watched as he lay motionlessly, his eyes blank and unfocussed. As time wore on, though, he began to show more signs of life, his eyes swivelling to take in his surroundings. When he spotted the purple dragoness watching him his eyes showed a spark of recognition, and he began pushing himself up off the ground. Soon enough he had steadied himself and stood at attention facing the taller dragoness, his expression void of emotion.

"It looks like it still works," Tyrannica grinned, beyond pleased with the result. She began circling the other dragon, examining his condition. "How do you feel? Any sort of haziness? No indication that your mind has been damaged?"

"No," the brown dragon answered, his tone flat. "I'm ready to carry out your orders, Mistress."

"Excellent! This day keeps getting better."

She paused beside her newest spy, leaning her head over to examine the crystal that she had embedded into him. She had purposefully made it as transparent as possible and placed it such that it was largely covered by one of the dragon's curling horns, but it was still relatively easy to spot if anyone knew where to look. They would have to get fairly close, though. Still, she frowned.

"You don't have anyone waiting at home, do you?"

The dragon nodded. "My mate, Natalla, and our daughter."

"Hmm. Well, just make sure they don't go poking around back there."

The dragon simply nodded his head again. Satisfied, Tyrannica circled around until she was facing him once more, her expression turning serious. It was time to get down to business.

"Now, remember what I said before. I need you to start winding down tensions in your village, and reassure your elder that there's nothing mysterious going on in the area. The last thing I need right now is for some band of curious dragons stumbling across my operations. Understood?"

The dragon nodded.

"My wraiths will be waiting for you to contact them with information on your progress. Keep your ears open for any other useful news you might happen across."

"And what about him?" the dragon asked, nodding his head to his deceased comrade. Tyrannica let out a thoughtful hum.

"That is a problem. You'll have to come up with some way of explaining his death without rousing undue suspicion."

"How?"

"I don't know," she growled, becoming irritated. "Get creative."

For a third time, the dragon nodded.

"Good. There are some red gems a short distance back that way. Go get yourself fixed up, and don't worry if you see wraiths there. They'll know not to attack you." She turned to leave, but suddenly had an afterthought. "If you can, see if you can't recruit some more...volunteers for this task. But do it discreetly."

He bowed his head obediently and turned to the body of the other dragon, setting to work hoisting him up onto his back. Satisfied, Tyrannica turned about and removed the crystal barriers surrounding her and her new servant, her crystal armour disintegrating at the same time. Once all signs of the struggle had been erased she resumed her patrol, wondering if she would encounter any more potential 'recruits' for her operation. She smirked faintly at the corner of her mouth.

If things kept up at this pace, it wouldn't be long before there was no one left to resist her master's return.

*.*.*

Hunter could never remember Warfang feeling so tense.

Even during the war against Malefor and his armies when hope had all but vanished, the city's inhabitants were still united by the threat that loomed over them all. There had been strength in the darkness in the form of their reliance on each other, a precious sliver of solid ground to root themselves on during the storm. Now, though, the battleground was within the city's walls, the citizens threatening to turn on their leadership and each other.

The feeling extended into the chamber in which he now sat as well, along with Meadow, Prowlus and the other dignitaries from the Greater Races. They waited in one of the Temple's private conference rooms, the enclosed space offering a more private place to conduct official business compared to the relatively open Assembly Hall. The only real risk of eavesdropping came from the small windows along the curved outer wall, but these were high enough off the ground outside to be relatively safe from onlookers and could be covered by thick shutters for added security. The window that Hunter and Meadow sat beside was open, though, allowing a soft breeze to blow in from outside.

Stifling silence was prevalent in the chamber, hushed murmuring the only thing to be heard as the different species present spoke amongst themselves. Hunter was watching the scene from his seat, trying to gauge the stances of each of the dignitaries. The moles were the most clearly agitated, appearing to be at a crossroads between worried about Nexus's presence in the city that they share with the dragons and put out by the fact that the Guardians hadn't shared this information with them sooner. The owls appeared grave for their part, like they were disappointed with the actions of the dragon elders.

The Griffin ambassador and his aides were the most difficult to get a read on, though. His eyes were sharp and cold, but betrayed no indication of what he might be thinking. For the most part his gaze was fixed on Cyril, the great blue dragon resting in a corner of the room and waiting patiently for Terrador to return.

The Guardian had apparently had quite a difficult time trying to diffuse the anger of the protesting citizens outside the Temple. The incensed dragons, moles, and even several other visiting species would have none of the ice dragon's assertions that that a full public address would be made later that day to clarify the situation, demanding answers immediately and even going so far as to insist that Nexus be brought out to be openly persecuted for his crimes on the spot. It had eventually come to the point that Cyril had been required to order the guards to disperse the crowd. Now squads of armoured dragons were sweeping through the city, ensuring that none of the demonstrations in progress devolved into outbreaks of violence.

"These truly are strange times," Meadow said, breaking the silence that had hung over the two cheetahs for several minutes. "People seem to be switching from friend to foe and back so often now that it's hard to keep track."

Hunter gave an affirmative grunt. "It's at times like these that it's easy to see why the chief distrusts dragons so much. This sort of trouble always seems to be attracted to them."

"It really is unfair in that regard," Meadow nodded. "What is it about them that makes them such subject of misfortune?"

"Power," Prowlus grunted stiffly, and Hunter looked behind him to see the darker-furred cheetah had just walked over and was now leaning back against the wall, arms crossed against his chest. "Where there is power there are those that want to take it or abuse it. The dragons have had no shortage of either, even if the race as a whole wants peace."

Meadow gave a faint, thoughtful hum. "Their power is something that I've always admired and feared if I'm honest. Now it's even more the case. Two purple dragons of the same age? It defies prophecy, and it's frightening when I think of what they're capable of."

"Another of the dragons' flaws," Prowlus grumbled. "We know purple dragons have the power to destroy worlds, and yet the Guardians allow one who has shown himself to be hostile to go unpunished for his crimes. Their arrogance will be their undoing if this continues, and we will all suffer for it."

"I don't think that's entirely fair," Hunter remarked. "I would rather see Nexus imprisoned myself, but there is still Spyro to keep him in check."

"He's hardly more than a child," Prowlus snorted. "How sure are we that he can be trusted with this task?"

"After what he did for our village, his trustworthiness is still in question?" Meadow asked, his tone one of genuine surprise.

"I'm aware of what he did, and the debt we all still owe him," Prowlus acknowledged. "But it still bears asking: How do we know he can handle this job? We don't know what sort of influence this 'Nexus' may have on him. Spyro is young, and impressionable. I've seen him around the Guardians. In matters of importance he's one to let others do the thinking for him. That makes him dangerous to have around someone as manipulative as the stories make Nexus out the be."

Hunter and Meadow were both silent, unsure how to answer the chief's statement. Hunter was doubtful, even if he didn't say so. If Spyro was able to stand up to Malefor with the fate of the world on his shoulders, the cheetah was confident he was up to this responsibility as well. In the time that he had known Spyro, he had always come through.

Even so, Nexus's involvement in this whole matter unnerved him tremendously. Nothing was as it seemed with him, and to hear that he was not only alive but in Warfang itself was nothing short of alarming. When the dignitaries in the room had learned that the notorious purple dragon was actually in the Temple at that very moment, they had insisted that they needed to see for themselves that the assurances of his cooperation were true. Now that Nexus was on his way to them at that very moment, Hunter could feel the tension in his body rising. He found himself constantly reaching for the bow that was set against the wall beside him, reassuring himself that it was still in easy reach.

A couple of minutes later, the moment came. The sound of heavy pawsteps in the corridor drew the attention of the gathered representatives, and Terrador strode through the doorway. All eyes were quickly drawn away when there was movement behind him, though, and in that moment the room went deathly silent.

Nexus's features were blank as he surveyed the chamber upon entering, his hard red-tinged eyes sweeping over each of its occupants one by one. There were sparks of recognition in those eyes when they passed over the Griffin councillor, as well as Hunter and Prowlus, but for the most part they didn't betray a hint of emotion. When his gaze settled on Hunter the cheetah's body stiffened instantaneously, his paw firmly gripping his bow. Even with his emotionless mask he exuded a sense of power that set everyone in the room on edge. This was a dragon that could kill them all at a whim, and they all knew it.

"Please, everyone sit," Terrador said, the rumbling bass of his voice sending tremors through the silence. "Let's get started."

Nexus was the first to comply, his posture taking on a relaxed air that did nothing to alleviate the intensity of his gaze. One by one the dignitaries followed suit, and finally Terrador did the same. The only one who didn't sit was Spyro, the other purple dragon looking fully alert and taking up a watchful position by the wall, only a few paces away from where Hunter and his tribesmen were seated.

Despite the Earth Guardian's words, it was several moments before anyone gathered the courage to speak. It was the moles that finally took the initiative to break the deathly silence, the leader holding himself up straighter and drawing in a large breath.

"Well, let's hear it then," he said. "What can you say to defend your presence?"

"And answer carefully," another mole warned. "The Guardians may have placed you under their protection, but they don't have unilateral control over this city. We can still choose to throw you out if we don't like what we hear."

Nexus's brow arched at this, and he glanced up at Terrador and Cyril with a glint of intrigue in his eye. The Guardians' faces were stony, and Hunter thought he could detect a note of indignation in their bearings. Was it that they didn't like the moles undermining their authority? If there was dissention between the moles and the dragons, that wasn't a good sign.

"So?" Prowlus grunted when another moment passed in silence. "Start talking."

Nexus turned a faint scowl on the chief before inclining his head in acknowledgement. He glanced around at the gathered dignitaries, considering his words.

"Well," he started slowly, his voice sending a chill down Hunter's spine, "what do you already know?"

"Only the basics, it would seem," the leading mole councillor answered. "We know that there is a purple dragon that is named Ragnor, and that you were previously his servant. We know it was under his oversight that you attacked Spyro, Warfang and the other settlements months ago, and that you apparently fled from him after he ordered you to kill Spyro and you refused. We know that now he is gathering an army of new monsters called wraiths, and that you intervened when they attacked Spyro and Cynder, which led to you being here now. What we don't know is the why behind it all, what the purpose behind all these attacks is."

Nexus bobbed his head, considering his response. His gaze swept over the gathered dignitaries again.

"I guess the simple answer is because he can. He's the most powerful dragon to ever exist, more powerful than Spyro, and definitely more powerful than Malefor. Because of that he feels that it's his natural right to conquer everything he can reach."

"So, greed?" Prowlus asked, arching a brow.

"A bit oversimplified, but yes."

An uneasy silence hung in the wake of Nexus's words, the councillors exchanging questioning glances. Hunter did the same with Meadow. It seemed like such an unsatisfactory reason for all this death and suffering. There was more they weren't being told, but Nexus didn't appear to be ready to divulge any more.

"So, you're here for protection," one of the owls finally offered.

"No, I'm here because the only smart thing to do is combine our strength," Nexus corrected. "We're facing a dragon that had the Dark Master terrified, so having two purple dragons to fight against him is better than either one of us trying on our own."

"But what is he after?" the lead mole spoke up, confusion written on his face. "That's something that still doesn't seem clear. If he wants conquest, why aren't there armies marching on this city right now? Why was the only attack we know of so far so secretive, staged out in the middle of nowhere? If he's as strong as you say then he shouldn't be afraid to face us all directly, so what is it that he wants?"

Hunter leaned forward. This was a question that had been on his mind as well, and he was eager for an explanation. Nexus's features darkened, and the cheetah thought he saw a look of hesitation masked in his eyes. It seemed as if the purple dragon had an answer, but was reluctant to share it. At length he sighed.

"Us," he said, jerking his head toward Spyro as he spoke.

"You," the Griffin repeated, gazing at Nexus with a particular intensity in his eyes. "Because you turned against him? And what of Spyro? Because he's the city's champion?"

"Because he knows we're the only ones who pose a real threat to him."

"Then why should you be sheltered here?" one of the moles spoke up, his features hateful. "Given your crimes, it wouldn't be unreasonable to deny you sanctuary and leave you to fend for yourself against this 'Ragnor'. Why should it be our problem?"

"And what will you do after I'm gone?" Nexus retorted. "Turn to Spyro and Cynder?"

"They saved us from Malefor."

The purple dragon scoffed. "Malefor was a hatchling compared to Ragnor."

"So you say," the mole shot back.

"So I say," Spyro interjected, taking a step forward.

All eyes snapped toward him, as if everyone had forgotten he was standing there for how quiet he had been. Hunter's brow arched curiously when he picked up on the edge of anxiety that his draconic friend held in his bearing. Was he afraid of Nexus being banished from the city? The dragon that had put him through such extreme torment? It was surprising to say the least, and he leaned forward expectantly for an explanation. It was short in coming.

"Cynder and I were able to hold our own against Malefor, but against Ragnor..." He shuddered. "Even with five of us fighting, including Nexus, we barely made it out of the Well of Souls alive. I didn't even think Nexus had survived. It's only thanks to him that the rest of us got out. Without his help, even with Cynder at my side, I don't stand a chance against Ragnor."

Hunter looked over at Nexus with a new feeling of surprise, and in the purple dragon's eyes he saw a similar glint. He was gazing back at Spyro as if he had never expected him to defend him this strongly. Hunter himself was shocked. He knew that a greater threat could unite even the most bitter of enemies, but for Spyro to defend the dragon that had turned the whole city against him something significant must have happened to change his perceptions of the dragon. Even now he could see Spyro casting the other purple dragon almost imperceptible glances, a strange light in his eyes. It was a look Hunter had seen before in people who had had everything they believe shaken.

What could the story here be? he wondered, exchanging a glance with Meadow who appeared likewise suspicious.

"So, I guess that leaves you short on options," Nexus spoke up eventually. "What's left? Throw Spyro out of the city along with me to save yourselves? Even if you did, you would only be delaying things. Ragnor isn't just going to turn around and leave you all to your happy lives once he's through with us. Warfang will fall to him, followed by the rest of your homes."

"You make it sound as if resisting him is impossible," Meadow commented uneasily.

"Alone, it is. The only chance is if we all fight him with everything we have. That includes having me on your side."

There was a tense silence as everyone considered the young dragon's argument, gazes turning distant and thoughtful. Despite his personal feelings, Nexus's words did make sense to Hunter. It looked as if many of the other officials were less convinced, though. The moles especially appeared unhappy with Nexus's reasoning, and once again it was them who broke the silence.

"I still don't see why this means you should be allowed to roam freely in our city. Even if we could trust you, by your own admission you're the main target of Ragnor and the wraiths, so you being here puts everyone in this city in danger while he hunts for you. Why not send you, Spyro and anyone else who will fight to a camp somewhere and you can make whatever preparations you need there?"

"That would be too easy for the wraiths to infiltrate," Nexus replied immediately. "They could just sneak in and assassinate us. A crowded place like Warfang makes it much harder for them to move unnoticed."

"Plus, it would be unwise to leave Warfang vulnerable," Terrador added. "In the face of the threat that Nexus and Spyro describe, my fellow Guardians and I don't think we should be dividing our lines of defence."

"That only matters if Warfang becomes a target, which his presence makes it," the mole argued, jabbing a finger at Nexus.

"Weren't you listening to what I said?" Nexus asked, striving to keep his tone even despite the anger in his eyes. "It will be a target whether we're here or not. Sacrificing us will just delay the attack. It won't save you."

Another grim silence fell over the chamber.

"I feel that we aren't seeing the whole picture in this situation," the owl councillor finally said, his gaze sweeping around the assembly. "All we have here are words, but the Guardians tell us that you actively demonstrated the capabilities of the wraiths using the Temple's training room. If you were to do the same with this 'Ragnor' dragon, then—"

"No."

The owl reared back slightly, surprised by the harsh refusal. A number of the other dignitaries appeared likewise startled. All eyes focussed on Nexus, who bore a chillingly intense expression.

"Why not?" the head mole councillor asked.

"In the Well of Souls Ragnor almost succeeded in killing me, Spyro, and his friends with a body that he created out of nothing but his shadow element from across an inter-dimensional void. Just imagine how much more dangerous he would be if I created an actual solid body just waiting for him to take control of it. He wouldn't even be restricted to the training room, because he could just sustain the dummy with his own power. We might as well just hand the city over to him on a platter. I won't do it."

Those words seemed to have an effect, the gathered officials trading uneasy glances. A brief silence followed, broken by the Griffin councillor when he turned his gaze on the Guardians.

"If the danger is as grave as we're being led to believe, why has it been kept secret?"

"We didn't fully understand the threat ourselves, so it would have been rash to announce it to the public so soon," Cyril replied. "You can see how they have reacted to Nexus already. If they were told that there is yet another all-powerful purple dragon out to destroy Spyro, Nexus, and everything else in his way, there would be outright panic. With the city this crowded, that is invitation for too many serious accidents."

"Then why haven't the festivities been called off, at the very least? If Warfang is at risk of becoming a battleground then you are risking the lives of not just your own citizens, but every visiting race by inviting them to stay with the celebration. They should be sent home."

"Whether they stay or go may not change much if we're to believe what we're told," Hunter interjected, speaking up for the first time in the assembly. "Warfang will be a focal target when an attack is launched, yes, but remember that the wraiths outside the walls were bold enough to attack Spyro and Cynder on the road, the two dragons that defeated the Dark Master. What's the say that they won't do the same to any travellers that happen to cross through the wrong area?"

"That may be true, but you're comparing the risk of an attack on the road with the alleged guarantee of one here."

Silence fell once more, and in that time Hunter's eyes shifted between the Griffin and Nexus. The two parties were now staring each other down, studying each other, all while waiting for the verdict of the other officials. Hunter tried to gauge the stances of the other councillors in the room, but it was difficult to read them. He realized that it could easily go either way.

"Your concerns are well warranted," the mole leader said finally. "We will certainly be discussing the situation with the Guardians to decide on the best response to give in this situation. I am inclined to believe that calling off the rest of the festival would be the best course of action, but in regards to Master Cyril's concerns I agree that it should be done carefully." His eyes shifted to Nexus. "And we will also be discussing the arrangement you've come to with this one."

The griffin let out a terse grunt. "From what I've seen and heard so far, Warfang's definition of 'carefully' is 'slowly'."

A faint snort followed after the councillor's words, unnoticed by most. Hunter looked to see that Nexus bore a grimly amused expression, appearing to agree with the Griffin.

"All I will say is that I hope to see some sort of action taken promptly while the safety of my countrymen is on the line. I won't sit idly by while griffins are kept oblivious to the potential danger to their lives. If you don't cancel the festival or inform the public of the current situation in due time, I will be forced to alert the other griffins in the city myself. I hope it doesn't come to that."

Holding his head up high and shuffling his feathered wings against his flanks, the griffin councillor rose to his feet. He was joined quickly by his aides, the three of them turning toward the doorway.

"Now, if you'll kindly excuse us, our king is expecting my report on the treaty negotiations soon, and up until now I haven't been able to give him a decisive answer one way or the other. In light of the handling of this situation, I wouldn't hold my breath for the griffins signing on. Good day."

Without another word the three griffins strode out of the chamber, leaving surprised silence in their wake. Hunter exchanged another look with Meadow, the other cheetah's eyes mirroring back the emotions that Hunter himself felt. He knew that the relations between griffins and dragons had been tense ever since the Dark Master's rise to power all that time ago, the Griffins losing a great many lives in the initial battles, but he hadn't expected them to turn away a renewed offer of friendship from the dragons now. Chief Prowlus looked less surprised, while the expressions of the owls and the moles were masked as they thought about what had just transpired. A moment later the leading owl councillor hopped forward, drawing the attention of the Guardians and moles.

"I understand that this is a very complex situation that you're facing," he said, his tone sympathetic. "However, I have to agree with the griffins in that the responses to these dangers have been less than ideal. I'm afraid I can't endorse a treaty between our races either, however we will remain in touch and pass on any useful information we come across if we can."

Terrador nodded his head, as did the leading mole.

"That is appreciated," the Earth Guardian replied. "And I'm sure we all understand. These are much more uncertain times than we had hoped they would be."

"Indeed," the owl acknowledged. "I wish you luck."

Inclining his head one last time, the owl and his subordinate departed from the chamber much as the griffins had done. The moles followed soon after, the leader reiterating to Terrador and Cyril that they wanted to continue the discussion as soon as possible. Eventually only the Guardians, the two purple dragons and the cheetahs were left.

Prowlus was eerily still for almost a full minute, his eyes moving from one dragon to the next with unnerving intensity. They settled last on Nexus, the purple criminal holding his gaze without flinching. From where he was sitting, Hunter could see the chief's claws digging into the fur of his forearms as he stood with his arms crossed, a clear sign of tension and that his self-restraint was edging toward the breaking point. At this sight Hunter tensed as well, his hand once again drifting to his bow unconsciously.

"Personally, I think you're all fools," he said gruffly, finally breaking the silence that had become stifling in the meantime. "In my tribe, a threat to any one of us is a threat to us all, and as such every cheetah in my village has a right to know of it. The secrecy that you conduct yourselves with here is one of the very things that makes dragons untrustworthy in my eyes."

"With all due respect, Prowlus—" Cyril began stiffly, but the cheetah cut him off with a raised hand.

"I'm not here to tell you how to run your city," he continued. "Judgement is a right that I know I don't have here. All I can do is speak the truth as I see it, and for everyone's sakes I hope that it doesn't fall on deaf ears."

He pushed himself off of the wall, dusting off his cloak and holding himself up straighter. Hunter and Meadow took this as a sign to stand as well, Meadow grabbing his staff off the wall and Hunter shouldering his bow and quiver.

"My tribe stood with Warfang in the final days of the war against the Dark Master, and against this one's atrocities as well," the chief said, pointing at Nexus. "Part of it was as payment to the debt we had to Spyro and Cynder for saving us from the grublins, and part was because Warfang's wellbeing is beneficial to our own. Even with these new developments this doesn't change, and so despite my own reservations I will not turn my back on your city."

These words came as a shock to the dragons, even Nexus's hard mask faltering for a moment. Hunter was also slightly surprised, for his chief would have been justified to renounce their alliance with the dragons. Still, his words held truth in them and spoke to the judgement that had earned him the rank of chief.

"But," the cheetah said sharply, causing the dragons' expressions to become anxious once more, "my tribe is not alone in this matter. The Feline Nation is seeking to rebuild itself after the Dark Master's reign, and our voice is just one part of it. As a result I can't guarantee our support."

"We understand," Terrador nodded after a short pause. "Are you able to tell us what the felines' decision might be, then?"

"No," Prowlus answered, shaking his head. "One of the things I wanted to inform you of in this meeting is that I will be leaving tomorrow for a gathering of our nation's tribal leaders. I will bring up Warfang's situation in the gathering, and they will decide what our response to it will be. Meadow will be coming with me as my aide, while I've instructed Hunter to stay here in the city to keep me informed of any new developments."

Spyro seemed to perk up at this news, looking toward Hunter quickly, and the cheetah offered a brief smile and a nod. Obviously this must be a trying time for the young dragon, and having another friend close by must be a welcome relief for him.

"How long will you be gone?" Cyril asked.

"That, I'm not sure of," Prowlus answered with an indifferent shrug. "That depends on how many matters are brought before the gathering, and how long it takes to reach a consensus on them. If you wish I can try to keep you updated on the gathering's progress through Hunter, but I make no promises."

The two Guardians nodded their heads after a short pause spent in consideration.

"We appreciate you bringing this matter to your people, then," Terrador said. "We wish you safe travels. Do you need any additional protection on your journey? Your status might make you a target for the wraiths."

"That won't be necessary," the chief answered, a glint of distaste in his eyes. "Some of our warriors will be accompanying Meadow and I. I've chosen some of our best. They can handle any threats we encounter along the way."

"But against wraiths?" Cyril asked doubtfully.

"The information you've given us has been reviewed extensively by our men. We are prepared."

The Guardians and Spyro traded uncertain glances, but eventually it seemed that they realized they weren't going to be able to persuade the chief to accept additional escorts. With a resigned nod, Terrador turned his gaze back on the cheetahs.

"Good luck, then. Remember, we're ready to offer our assistance if you have any need of us."

Prowlus was silent for a moment, his expression guarded, but finally he nodded his head.

"I'll give you dragons this," he conceded. "For all your arrogance and carelessness, you are faithful to your friends. We'll keep your offer in mind, but I don't expect we'll need it. Now, we had best go prepare for the journey."

"Watch your backs."

Prowlus and Meadow faltered, looking toward Nexus. The purple dragon was watching them with an expression that was difficult to read, almost like he was studying them.

"What?" Prowlus said.

"If you get attacked by wraiths," the dragon elaborated. "Make sure you're alert in case they try to sneak up behind you, because they will."

Both cheetahs appeared surprised, and Prowlus especially looked like he suspected some sort of trick. There was no deception in Nexus's bearing, though, his posture entirely relaxed, and eventually the chief simply nodded. With that he and his ambassador departed the chamber, but Meadow paused at the door.

"Good luck to you all," he said. With that, he disappeared after his leader.

Silence descended over the room for a minute after they had gone, Hunter watching the dragons as their gazes turned distant, thinking over all that had just occurred. Spyro especially looked uneasy, his gaze darting between the Guardians and Nexus. Seeing this, Hunter walked over to him.

"What troubles you?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm just worried about how we'll stand up against Ragnor and the wraiths if we don't have any allies to help us," the purple dragon sighed.

"Carefully," Nexus spoke up, causing Hunter to start slightly and turn to see that he had approached from behind him, now standing barely two feet from the cheetah's side. The proximity set the seasoned warrior on edge, but Nexus looked entirely unconcerned. "We need to be careful with our movements. You and I are going to be the spearhead for any attacks against Ragnor's forces, but we can't leave ourselves vulnerable in the process."

"Then maybe we should make it a priority to observe your training whenever possible," Cyril commented, drawing all eyes to him. "I won't deny I've been the most opposed to granting you any leeway and risking Spyro at your claws, but you've kept to your word so far. If we're present to see what your capabilities are together, we'll know better how to employ your skills in the coming battles."

Nexus gave an approving nod of his head. "Sounds like a good plan."

"Speaking of which, what were you two doing when I walked in on you earlier?" Terrador asked curiously. "It didn't look like any training I have ever seen before."

"You're welcome to come see for yourself," the purple dragon answered, rising to his paws. "Spyro and I need to get back to work anyway." He looked toward Spyro and jerked his head. "Let's go."

Nodding, Spyro rose to his paws and followed Nexus toward the doorway of the chamber. After exchanging a quick glance the two Guardians rose as well, and Hunter followed a few paces behind, his curiosity at what this mysterious training entailed driving him onward. His reservations about Nexus aside, one thing was certain: The powers of two purple dragons combined was something that he could only imagine. If their strength alone was so formidable, the two of them together must be staggering.

Little did he know just how true those words would turn out to be.

*.*.*

Spyro's limbs were shaking, and with a quick, deep breath he attempted to settle them. The weight of exhaustion was pulling on him and made his legs unsteady, but he needed to be able to sense his surroundings without any kind of interference. Though the training ring around him appeared still, he knew his opponent was there somewhere.

He thought he detected a trace of movement behind him through the floor, and out of the corner of his eye he could have sworn he saw a momentary flicker of shadow. He immediately spun around, taking up a defensive stance, but there was nothing there. An instant later he heard the telltale whoosh of someone emerging from the shadows just off his left hindquarter, but before he could turn around to face the threat the flat of a cold metal blade struck him across the side of the head, drawing a grunt of pain and causing him to stagger away.

"Still too slow," Nexus called out from the sidelines. "Focus!"

Biting back a retort, Spyro turned his attention back to his surroundings. The battle had been going for several minutes now, and he had yet to land a single blow on his enemy while he already had several bruises forming from her attacks. His frustration was rapidly mounting, which wasn't helping him in the least either.

He heard movement behind him again and spun around without delay, swinging a forepaw around to try and deter the incoming attack. Enigma sidestepped under the blow with practiced fluidity, her stony expression unwavering, appearing completely unfazed by the near miss. Her own forepaw shot up, the punch landing solidly on his ribs and causing him to gasp sharply. When he lashed out with his wing she rolled out of harm's way and immediately vanished into the shadows once again, leaving the ring silent once more.

"Steady," Nexus coached him. "Anticipate where she'll be."

Spyro tried to do just that, but Enigma's tactics made this difficult to do. She was patient, and she had demonstrated a surprising level of endurance with her element. Cynder would have run out of stamina by now if she tried to stay in the shadows as much as Enigma already had. Clearly she'd spent a lot of time developing these reserves of strength, and she gave no indication of tiring.

This skill granted her the luxury of choosing to attack only in the exact circumstances that guaranteed she could land a hit. As soon as Spyro left himself open to an attack, however fleetingly, she was there. Until that opportunity arose she simply lay in wait. It was as much psychological warfare as physical, and to Spyro's aggravation it was working.

Unless..., he thought suddenly. Can I use that against her?

He heard her again, this time to his right, and without wasting an instant he jumped in the opposite direction. He gasped as the tips of her claws still managed to nick his shoulder, but it was barely a scratch. By the time he was back on his paws she was gone again, but this didn't alarm him as much as it had before. Her strategy had become predictable.

Listening carefully to the earth for the minute flicker that Enigma created while in her shadows, he shifted his stance so that his left flank was partially exposed; an easy opening for attack. At first nothing happened, but soon enough he sensed a ghost of movement from that direction. Steeling himself, he prepared to retaliate.

The instant he heard Enigma emerge from the shadows, he whirled around with his balled forepaw held high. The shadow dragoness's eyes flashed with surprise, and she hastily aborted her own attack. A split second later she was gone, Spyro's paw striking nothing but swirling shadow and missing his target by a hair. He growled in frustration. Thinking quickly while he still had his opponent on the defensive, he sent a powerful surge of electricity into the floor and only a second later Enigma was forced to abandon her shadowy cover, emerging with a faint gasp a few paces to Spyro's left.

Determined not to let her slip away again, Spyro pressed the attack. In the end it didn't seem to matter, though. Most likely realizing that he would just use electricity to force her back into the open if she tried to escape into her shadows again, Enigma met him head on. She held nothing back, using every ounce of her speed to her advantage as she wound her way past his defences and planted a solid headbutt on his chest. Winded, Spyro staggered back a step. This proved to be a mistake as the black dragoness followed up with an easy tail strike to his head.

Growling in mounting frustration, Spyro forced himself to collect his bearing as his opponent lined up for another attack. This time he was able to head her off with a blow to her chest before deflecting a follow-up swipe of her claws and retaliating with a balled forepaw to her ribs. This was where her smaller frame cost her, for while her speed was deadly she couldn't weather the same hits that the purple dragon could. She gasped heavily from the blow, quickly backing away and favouring her side as pain spread from it. She attempted another tail attack, but Spyro shrugged it off and immediately responded with a strike from his left forepaw. Enigma broke away with another grunt, his attacks taking a clear toll on her.

A jolt of pain shot up from his left foreleg, and Spyro's jaw clenched tightly as he tried to keep it from showing. It had been throbbing since before his fight with Enigma had begun, the relentless training of that day pushing him past what the wound could tolerate. This was already his third battle since the training session had started an hour ago, Chinook and Flash having been his previous opponents. It seemed Nexus had decided that matching him against multiple different fighting styles would help make him a more versatile fighter, and had asked Spyro's friends to join them for the day's training.

They had agreed quickly enough. They had apparently been talking about practicing together anyways, since the Warfang Tournament was scheduled to start in only a few days—after the meeting with the ambassadors, the Guardians and mole councillors had decided to abide by the other races' advice and call off the bulk of the remaining festivities. Some events were left running, however, the Warfang Tournament among them. It seemed that with the threat of war looming over them, the idea of an organized locale for a multitude of dragons to practice their fighting prowess was a favourable one to all involved.

Bringing his mind back to the situation at hand, Spyro found he couldn't deny that Nexus's methods were having an effect. It had now been a week since the Guardians had awarded full access of the training room to the purple dragon, and in that time he had pushed his student through a relentless battery of challenges and exercises. They would alternate daily between physical training and working on their mental link. Already Spyro could feel his endurance and strength improving, and his connection with Nexus was easier and easier to establish. They could remain linked for hours at a time by this point, and with some help Spyro was starting to learn how to initiate them. It was the most unusual and unsettling thing he had ever experienced, yet at the same time it felt almost like it was always meant to be there.

The brutal pace of training was exacting a heavy toll on him, though. His entire body ached as if he had been caught in a landslide, and twice during the week he had been seized by debilitating fits of pain in his leg. Now the limb bore a constant, unnerving tingle that served to remind him from day to day that another bout of pain could come at any moment. Even worse, his limp had started to return. Now, as he squared himself to Enigma the throbbing that had been building over the course of the day intensified, and he realized that if he wasn't careful he would trigger another attack.

Enigma charged at him again, darting from side to side as she ran and holding her bladed wings up in position to strike. Spyro watched her approach, calculating his response, but just before she reached him he had a better idea. Freezing time, he slowly circled around to his left and used his tail to hook Enigma's forepaws, pulling them out from under her. When time resumed its normal course she let out a startled gasp and crashed hard into the floor, rolling to a stop on her back a few feet away. Quick as she was, she was unable to regain her feet before Spyro coated his tail with an icy blade and placed it against her throat. The dragoness went rigid, eventually nodding her head in surrender. Relieved, Spyro relaxed and offered a paw to help her stand.

"Good fight," he said to her, trying to steady his ragged breathing. "It's always tough to keep track of you."

"That's the idea," she responded, though she bobbed her head approvingly. "Still can't beat you though."

"Maybe one day," he chuckled breathlessly.

Nodding again, Enigma turned and strode out of the ring.

"A decent job I guess," Nexus commented, a small scowl on his lips as he watched from the side. "I would have liked to see you do it without Dragon Time."

Too tired to protest, Spyro merely nodded. At the same time he dropped heavily into a seated position, his wings and head drooping and his chest heaving. Nexus grunted and turned his head to the group of watching dragons, which included the Guardians, Cynder, Flash and Faren. Chinook and Voltra were engaged in a low-strain sparring match in one of the other rings, but it looked like they had paused when they'd noticed that Spyro's battle was over. Tythos was also present, sitting next to Sirius and Faren, while Hunter stood observing the training from a position leaning against the wall.

"Let's have Cynder next," Nexus commanded.

"What?" Spyro blurted before he could stop himself. Nexus cast him a disapproving glare.

"You aren't even going to let him rest?" Cynder asked incredulously. "Look at him! You can't really be expecting him to keep going at this pace."

"I do expect him to keep going, actually," Nexus replied, his eyes dark. "I expect him to keep this pace up until he collapses, and then I expect him to keep going after that. He stops when I say he does."

"That isn't how we conduct training here," Cyril interjected, anger flashing in his eyes. "You're liable to push a dragon to his death that way."

"Well, as long as I'm in charge of his training that's how this is going to go. That's how I was trained, and that's how I'm going to teach him. If you don't push a dragon past his limits he'll never reach his full potential. You can't build up the perfect warrior until you break him down first."

The Guardians all fixed Nexus with withering stares, their disapproval tangible in the air around them. Spyro's friends all exchanged uneasy glances, worried for their purple companion and made anxious by the Guardians' intensity. Nexus's scowl deepened.

"If you doubt this training method then I'll be happy to demonstrate how effective it is."

"He needs a rest," Sirius stated firmly, ignoring the threat.

"Oh, sure," the purple dragon scoffed. "And next time he gets tired in a battle we'll just ask the enemy to leave for a few minutes so he can have a breather." He snorted derisively, turning to face Cynder again. "Now do you want to help or not? If you do, you'll be doing him the biggest favour by getting in that ring and letting him have it."

"Yeah, some favour," Cynder grumbled. She remained sitting with her blistering glare locked with Nexus's. It wasn't until she met Spyro's gaze and he gave a shaky nod that she finally relented. With a pronounced sigh she stood and slowly walked into the training ring, reluctantly taking up a position opposite Spyro.

"You shouldn't let him do this to you," she told him, as if in a final bid to make him reconsider.

Spyro shook his head weakly. "He's trying to help."

That was something that had come as a side-effect of his time mentally linked with Nexus. While his methods were certainly brutal—some could even say heartless—the feelings he had picked up from Nexus had started to erode the misgivings that Spyro held about him. His goal truly was to prepare Spyro for the toughest battles of his life, and so he would try to follow his instructions. Still, this was becoming more and more difficult to do.

"I don't care if he is or not. This is just cruel. I can't stand watching him do this to you."

A small, grateful smile worked its way across Spyro's muzzle, but his eyes retained an imploring look to them.

"Please, let's just get this over with."

Cynder was still for a long moment, grappling with herself, but eventually she released another reluctant sigh and lowered herself into a fighting position. Her expression was pinched with concern all the while, though, and Spyro could tell how much it was tearing her up inside to face him in this state.

Trying to push aside the weariness that clung to him like chains, Spyro settled into a ready stance of his own. A sharp twinge shot up his foreleg when he placed weight on it, but again he strove to hide it. If Cynder knew the discomfort he was in she would use it against him. Despite her concern, one thing that Spyro had learned early on about her was that she didn't hold back in training. If anything, she'd think she was doing him a greater favour by ending the fight quickly and perhaps finally earning him a chance to rest.

Knowing his fatigue put him at a considerable disadvantage, Spyro attempted to seize the initiative by lunging at her without warning. Her eyes widened for the briefest of instants before she spun away from him, his paws striking the ground hard right where she had just been and causing another painful jolt up his leg. Continuing the motion of her spin, Cynder brought her tail up and Spyro barely managed to duck underneath the blade. He was forced to rear back as the black dragoness followed up with her wing, slashing at him with the bladed joint. As soon as his forepaws touched the ground he lashed out at her again, but she nimbly jumped out of the way.

Her eyes never left his through this entire process, and in them Spyro could see that she was searching for a reason to end the fight. He gritted his fangs determinedly, refusing to quit yet.

The battle continued for several agonizing minutes, both dragons attempting to hit their opponent but having a hard time of it. By this point they were so used to each other's fighting styles that they knew exactly what to watch out for, making it a challenge to get past the other's defence. Cynder had the clear advantage though, Spyro's exhaustion playing heavily in her favour and slowing his movements, but even so she only managed to land a few glancing hits on him and he wasn't backing down easily.

Cynder jumped to her right, strafing around him in a circle and aiming to force Spyro to turn in one place to keep her in sight, but the purple dragon had other plans. At the exact moment that she landed he sent a harsh tremor through the floor using his earth power, causing her to stagger. Immediately he was upon her, swinging for her head with his wing. She ducked and tried to strike back with her own bladed wing, but Spyro blocked it and lunged forward with his horns. He managed to catch Cynder on the flank, knocking her back a step.

While she was recovering he swung his tail around to sweep her legs out from under her, but she was too quick and jumped over it. At the same time she whirled around in the air and brought her own tail up, and Spyro had no time to react before the flat of her tail blade had smacked him soundly on the side of the head, sending stars through his vision. A gust of wind knocked him back a foot, and by the time he looked up Cynder had disappeared. He realized that she must have used her shadow powers, and he growled in irritation.

Not again.

Wanting to avoid a repeat of his previous battle at all costs, Spyro wracked his mind feverishly for a solution. Not a second later he thought of one, and without hesitation he coated the floor around him in a thick sheet of ice, trapping Cynder's shadowy form underneath. If he was right the ice would severely hamper her movements, and more importantly stop her from emerging from her shadows wherever she wanted. Her only choices would have to be to make her way to the edge of the ice patch several metres away, or break through. He turned slowly on the spot, the ice warping and latching onto his paws with each step to keep him from slipping, waiting for her to make her move.

Only a few moments later he heard a splintering crash behind him, and he spun around just in time to see Cynder erupting up through a gap she had blasted in the frozen surface, emerging amidst a plume of shadow and countless glittering fragments of ice. When she landed she barely managed to keep her footing on the slick surface, and she looked decidedly unhappy.

"That's cold, you know!" she exclaimed, a faint trembling in her voice.

Spyro smirked despite his exhaustion, his discomfort momentarily forgotten.

"Of course it is. Don't pull any more tricks and I won't have to do that again."

A devilish gleam appeared in her eyes, and Spyro's superior grin vanished in a heartbeat.

"I'll show you tricks," she growled.

She moved so quickly that Spyro was barely able to follow her. She jumped to her right with a powerful spring of her hind legs, her talons ripping chunks out of the ice, and when she landed her paws glowed bright green from her poison element, eating through the ice in an instant and granting her a solid footing on the stone beneath. Before Spyro had even turned to face her she jumped again, straight at him, taking a trick from Chinook's playbook and rocketing herself to incredible speed with her wind element. Spyro's yelp of surprise was cut short as she crashed headlong into his chest, her horns driving the air from his lungs and sending him skidding backward. Rolling over top of him and springing off once again, the dragoness proceeded to ram her tail blade into the ice to halt her slide and delivered a powerful kick to her opponent's exposed flank, stopping his own skid with painful effectiveness.

Sore all over from Cynder's not so gentle hit, Spyro forced himself to react and gathered up a powerful charge of electricity in his body. He expelled it in a shockwave and heard Cynder grunt in surprise, and knowing this was his opportunity he shoved her away from him and lashed out with his tail. The blow connected with the black dragoness's thigh, knocking her leg out from under her and dropping her into a half-lying position. He tried to hit her again with his forepaw before she could get back up, but she somehow managed to block with her wing and he barely managed to duck her retaliatory swing. He jerked back as her other wing blade whistled past his chest and managed to deliver a punch to her shoulder with his left forepaw, but she repaid the strike in kind not an instant later. His fatigue was really catching up to him now, and she evaded his next three swings with ease. Then, after stunning him with a sharp kick to his neck with her forepaw—though it wasn't hard enough to hurt him—she gripped him firmly just above his right wing joint and swept his legs out from beneath him with her tail, slamming him ungraciously to the ground. Unintentionally, his left foreleg ended up underneath him a split second before he impacted.

Blazing pain exploded up from the limb with the force of a lightning strike, and Spyro's roaring scream echoed through the training room so unexpectedly that everyone in the chamber jumped, including Nexus. Spyro's eyes snapped shut and his jaws clenched so tightly it felt like his teeth would snap. He tried to roll off his crippled limb, but this only caused another jolt of searing pain and he groaned sharply, gripping his foreleg with his other paw.

"Oh, damn!" Cynder exclaimed, her voice shrill. "Spyro, I'm sorry! Are you okay? How bad is it?"

Another strained groan served as her answer, the purple dragon weakly pushing Cynder back as he tried to get his paws under him again. He slipped on the ice, and snarling with frustration he slammed his right forepaw down on the ground and shattered the frozen coating with a burst of his power. With that accomplished he was at last able to stand, holding his left foreleg tightly to his chest. Cynder rushed to his side and used her shoulder to help steady him, and almost as quickly Voltra surprisingly appeared on his other side, concern filling her eyes. Gratefully accepting their help, Spyro rested his wings across their shoulders and hobbled to the side of the training ring, toward the other non-draconic observer of the training session.

"Easy now," Geldric the mole coaxed his patient as he hobbled to an open space by the wall. "Easy. Just take deep breaths and try to relax for me. Let me see."

Spyro tried his best to obey the mole's instructions, but another strained groan leaked from his jaws as he lay down and his leg flexed in the process. Geldric cautiously took the leg in his paws, stretching it out and examining it closely. The purple dragon winced as the diminutive physician probed the scarred tissue with his fingers, sending lances of pain through the leg as he tried to judge the amount of tension in it. Only a moment later he gave a grim sigh.

"You're overworking this leg far too much," he said, giving his patient a reproachful look. "The muscle simply can't handle this sort of strain."

"I know," Spyro sighed in response. "But I—"

His next words were cut off with an involuntary snarl when Geldric drove one of his thumbs down on a particularly sensitive part of his foreleg. Pain exploded from the spot, robbing Spyro of his breath. He opened his mouth to make an angry exclamation, but it died in his throat when a small amount of relief replaced the pain a second later. Geldric saw his puzzled look.

"Pressure point," he explained. "This is one I found a few years ago. It forces the muscles in a dragon's leg to go slack."

An intrigued look crossed Nexus's features as he sat watching a short distance away, and he drew closer with a curious light in his eyes.

"Where was it?" he asked. "That might be useful."

The mole hesitated, gazing at the other purple dragon warily, but eventually he relented and pointed out the location. Nexus gave a small nod, noting the spot and adopting his cold, unforgiving countenance once more.

"Hurry this up," he said, fixing his gaze on Spyro. "We're wasting time."

"Are you insane?" Cynder exclaimed. "You can't expect him to keep training now!"

"I do, and he will. He knows what's on the line here."

"I'll tell you what's on the line here," Geldric cut in irately. "The continued use of his leg is. In this condition there is no way he should be fighting. If he keeps going at this pace it won't be long before he won't even be able to walk on it anymore, and by that point the effects will start becoming permanent."

Spyro faltered at this statement, a chill running through his veins, and he looked down at the scar with a new sense of apprehension.

"This has to stop," Cynder declared, a mix of anger and fear blazing in her eyes. "Damaging him like this won't help anything!"

"He can't just practice fighting in the best case. There will be times when he needs to fight while his leg is acting up like this. If he doesn't learn how to do it now he'll be an easy target in a real battle."

"But just look at what you're doing to him!"

"Me?" Nexus said, eyes narrowing. "Let's keep the facts straight here. I'm just trying to teach him to cope with his weakness when the pressure's on. You're the one that made him this way."

Dead silence fell in the chamber, the only sound being several sharp intakes of breath. Cynder looked as if she had been slapped, eyes wide with disbelief, while various levels of shock registered on the faces of the room's other occupants. The silence was shattered barely seconds later when Cynder uttered a shriek of fury, her forepaw crashing into Nexus's jaw so suddenly that even he didn't have a chance to react. He staggered back, trying to shake off his delirium and instinctually dropping into a battle stance. Cynder's entire body was trembling, her eyes burning with a rage that Spyro had only seen from her once before, on the night when she had given him the crippling scar. He fully expected her to press the attack, to do everything in her power to make Nexus suffer, but to his surprise she did the opposite. Without saying a word she turned about and stormed out of the chamber, tail lashing at the air behind her. When she had gone, breathless quiet once again pervaded the air.

"No way," Chinook muttered after a long pause, and Spyro looked to see that he had an expression of utter disbelief on his features while he stared after where Cynder had gone.

All eyes turned toward Nexus, who was reaching up with a forepaw to wipe a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth. He shook his head once more to clear it, then gazed around at the dragons, cheetah and mole surrounding him.

"After the number of times I've explained myself, I don't think I should have to do it again," he growled. "We don't have the luxury of time. The wraiths could attack at any moment, and if Spyro isn't ready to fight them we're all dead."

"Yes, but at the cost of his leg?" Tythos spoke up. "How can he help you fight if you push him to lameness?"

"You're underestimating him," Nexus told them simply, causing Spyro to look up in surprise.

Nexus turned and began padding over to him, causing Spyro to recoil apprehensively. He winced as the action caused another twinge in his leg. The other purple dragon stopped a few paces from him.

"I'll let you decide," he said. "If you don't think you can keep going we'll stop, but keep in mind that saving yourself pain now might by pointless. A working leg doesn't do you any good if you don't survive to use it."

Spyro hesitated, looking down at his leg and feeling a terrible sense of conflict swelling within him. After his time spent linked with Nexus so far he held no more doubts about the threat that was levelled against them, but at the same time the thought of the pain that he had just experienced was almost sickening. The very idea that if he continued training like this he would be doomed to live on three legs was terrifying.

But Ragnor terrified him more.

"Geldric," he said quietly. "If my injury does get worse from training, would there be any way of fixing it? Could I get the use of it back?"

The mole let out a lengthy breath, his eyes turning distant as he thought over his answer. Eventually he glanced up to meet Spyro's gaze again, and the look in his beady eyes smothered the hope that the purple dragon had been reaching for.

"It may be possible to mitigate some of the symptoms," he answered at length. "But the damage will have been done. My fear is that you would end up living in constant pain, and that it would take extensive therapy and treatment to keep it manageable."

"If I may also interject on this discussion," Volteer spoke up, stepping closer. "Spyro, the other Guardian and myself have, over the years and decades that have spanned the duration of our duties and offices, witnessed innumerable instances of the difficulties and trials that battlefield veterans have been beset with as a consequence of the strains, tolls, rigors and stresses placed on their physical wellbeing. It is an onerous, trying existence, and one that should not be inflicted upon a dragon so young."

He leaned his head down closer, a look of deep concern in his eyes that was a stark contrast to the buzzing energy that he normally exuded. Spyro was struck by just how strongly the elder dragon felt about the matter, seeing an unfamiliar side of the Guardian that he had never really spent much time to get to know on a deeper level.

"Spyro, we say these things because you are very important and dear to all of us," the yellow dragon continued. "Perhaps we do not display it as evidently as we oftentimes should such that you do not realize it, but it is true. Ignitus was not the only one that held you in a fonder regard than simply being his student."

The mention of his deceased mentor caught Spyro off guard, and he looked up at Volteer with a new feeling of confusion. His eyes darted to the other Guardians, all of whom were either nodding their heads or looking on with anxious expressions. His other friends appeared just as concerned about him. Chinook, Voltra, Faren. Even Enigma was allowing a hint of worry to show through her mask of coldness, and Hunter was twisting his bow in his hands as he looked on from the side of the chamber, an action that Spyro had seen him perform on occasion when troubled. They were all worried about him, he realized, in the same way they would be worried about someone in their own families.

Family...

His eyes drifted over to Nexus, the dragon that called him a brother. The recent evidence from their training supported the claim, but it was still something that Spyro had a hard time accepting. Even so, as the dragon with the deepest understanding of the danger they were up against, his opinion was something Spyro couldn't just ignore. The other purple dragon noticed Spyro looking at him and met his eyes grimly.

"No one is going to fight this battle for us," he said with a shrug. "If that leg acts up against the wraiths, there won't be any backing out to rest. You'll have to push through it. We can either test your ability to do that now, or we can trust that you can handle it if and when it happens out there. It's your choice."

Spyro heaved a helpless sigh, hearing the truth in Nexus's words that he couldn't simply ignore. This fact made him no less fearful of the potential consequences of pushing himself too far, but then again he had been faced with obstacles that were just as dire in the past and his only choice had been to fight his way through them. It was the same thing now. The best thing he could do was not think about what might come in the future and only focus on surviving the battles before him.

Resigning himself to his decision, he nodded his head slowly and tried to subdue the fearful racing of his heart.

"Good," Nexus grunted, bobbing his head approvingly. "Then get up. Since Cynder walked out, your next opponent is me."

Spyro blanched, the blood in his veins turning to ice, but after forcibly swallowing past the lump of fear in his throat he pushed himself up to his paws and limped back into the training ring, teeth gritted against the fitful throbbing in his leg. He settled into the best battle stance he could manage, his left foreleg only able to take a fraction of the weight that it normally would. He knew already that this wasn't going to end well.

"Now, listen closely," Nexus told him as he took up his own ready stance. "This situation in battle will be the worst case scenario. Your enemy will surely know about your weakness, and they're going to try to exploit it. You'll have to deny them that chance. Your strategy has to be purely defensive, covering for that weakness in any way possible and only striking out when the enemy makes a mistake. Understand?"

Spyro quickly nodded his head, not trusting himself to speak past the unease that constricted his throat. Nexus returned the nod, his eyes turning cold.

"Begin."

He surged forward almost quicker than Spyro could react, angling for his left side where he was weaker and confirming in that moment that he wasn't going to go easy on his student in his predicament. Spyro retreated, ducking his body low and bringing up his wing to shield himself from the impending blow. Nexus's forepaw slammed into the toughened membrane but wasn't able to reach anything else. Undeterred, he delivered two more powerful blows that caused Spyro to turtle farther behind his wing for cover, and immediately afterward Nexus seized his opponent's moment of vulnerability.

Pivoting around to his right, Nexus hooked his wing underneath Spyro's and forced it upward, peeling away his defence. Before Spyro could do anything Nexus's tail had slammed into his chest, knocking him back roughly through the air and forcing the breath out of his already bruised chest. Spyro dug his claws into the stone to stop his slide and looked back up just in time to see Nexus lunging for him again. Thinking quickly, he spun around in a tight circle and brought his tail up. Nexus was forced to dive under the blow just as Spyro had hoped he would, but he also recovered as quickly as Spyro had feared and lashed out with his talons. Spyro barely managed to get his wing up in time, narrowly deflecting the blow. He struck out with the talons of his right forepaw, but Nexus blocked with his wing much like Spyro had and immediately shot his opposite paw forward straight into Spyro's chest, knocking him back another couple of steps.

The assault continued unrelentingly, Nexus forcing Spyro to give ground constantly as he kept up a ceaseless string of precise attacks. Several broke through his defences, wearing the already exhausted dragon down further than he had ever been before, but even so Spyro did manage to score a couple of retaliatory hits when Nexus left a rare opening during one of his attacks. They hardly slowed him down, though, and the blows just kept coming. With each hit that he suffered, Spyro felt his previous resolve fraying. Though he wanted to prove that his injury didn't make him useless in battle, the pain that was growing throughout his body, burning like fire was sapping his strength and his will.

Spyro grunted sharply as Nexus brought both forepaws down on top of him in a particularly hard strike, the jarring impact sending a painful jolt through his leg. Ducking under a follow-up slash of Nexus's wing, Spyro rocked forward and attempted to catch the other purple dragon in the side with his horns. Somehow Nexus managed to twist out of the way just in time, knocking Spyro's head down against the stone floor with his forepaw and forcing him back with a harsh blow to his shoulder. Spyro saw his opponent lashing out with a forepaw and shielded himself with a slab of stone from the floor, shattering the barrier with an earth shot a mere instant later in the hopes of catching Nexus with the debris. To his dismay Nexus had somehow managed to deflect the brunt of the shrapnel with the tough membrane of his wing, shrugging off the rest despite the scratches that were left in his scales. A balled forepaw crashed into Spyro's temple, dazing him, and before he knew it Nexus's tail had slammed into his side and knocked him to the ground. His eyes snapped shut as another wave of pain shot up from his leg, pushing him to the edge of what he could endure.

"You aren't doing enough to deter me," Nexus admonished. "You're trying to soak up the hits instead of using my momentum against me. All I have to do is wear you down and wait for your defence to slip."

"I'm trying, but there's no chance to do that with you!" Spyro answered, frustration loaded in his tone. He picked himself up off the floor with a grunt. "How in the name of the Ancestors are you so fast? I can't do anything before you're already reacting to it."

Nexus paused, looking over his counterpart with a studying eye, but finally he said, "I cheat."

Spyro blinked. "What?"

"Basically," Nexus said with a shrug. "I'm using Dragon Time."

"But..." Spyro stammered in confusion. "But your movements don't seem like they're being sped up."

If anything, Nexus looked disappointed by that response. "With all your other powers, is there only one way to use them?"

Spyro gazed at him blankly, confused by the question. Nexus groaned.

"Slowing time around you is only one of the things Dragon Time does," he clarified. "Clearly it never occurred to you that you can do more with it. In this case, I'm using it to speed up my perceptions without affecting anything else."

Spyro blinked, caught in a mild state of shock at what he had just been told. He tried to grasp the implications, but he found that it was a difficult thing to wrap his mind around.

"I don't understand," he said, cocking his head to the side. "How does that work?"

"Well, in this case instead of slowing down the world around me—which takes a ton of energy as you know—I'm using the power to speed up the way I see it. Basically, it means that when something happens I don't have the reaction delay that other people would. I recognize things the instant they happen, and with practice this means I can respond to a threat in the time it takes for someone else to even realize that there is one."

Though still grappling with this news, Spyro had to admit that it did explain a lot. If it was true then it made sense why he always felt like Nexus was one step ahead of him when they fought. His mind suddenly flashed back to the first time he had been contacted by the Chronicler and what the ancient dragon had said:

"Master this ability, and you will be able to see things almost before they happen..."

All of a sudden, those words made perfect sense.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" he asked.

"Because I didn't want you using it as a crutch," Nexus answered. "The technique's power drain is small, but it is there. You can't use it all the time, and if your natural reactions aren't fast enough that means you would still be vulnerable to surprise attacks. This is meant to supplement your natural skills, not replace them."

Though irritated that this information had been kept from him, Spyro still nodded in understanding.

"So how do I do it?"

It took a couple of minutes, but soon enough Nexus had explained the process to his counterpart in a fashion that Spyro felt he understood. It sounded strange to him, forcing the power to turn in on himself instead of letting it flow naturally out into the world, but Nexus assured him that it was surprisingly easy to do once he had a feel for it. Spyro was hesitant to believe that something that sounded so unintuitive could be easy, but regardless he closed his eyes and focussed. He tried to direct his inner control over time to merge with the way he sensed the world around him, and almost immediately he noticed the quiet whispers of his friends turn faint and sluggish, much like when he normally used this power but less distinct. This wasn't what Nexus had described, though. He focussed harder. A moment later the ambient sounds around him returned to normal.

He opened his eyes in confusion, looking around but not noticing anything different. He could feel a miniscule trickle of power being pulled from his waning reserves, but as far as he could tell it was going nowhere, doing nothing to assist him. He turned a questioning look at Nexus.

"I don't know if I did it," he said.

A flash of light appeared in his vision, and Spyro jerked his body sharply to the left as Nexus unleashed a narrow bolt of electricity without any warning whatsoever. The bolt cut through the air mere centimetres from his shoulder and wing, heat washing over him and causing his scales to tingle sharply. He immediately dropped into a battle stance, glaring accusingly at his attacker.

"What was that for?!" he demanded.

Nexus smirked, causing Spyro's eyes to narrow.

"Would you have been able to dodge that normally?"

Spyro faltered, only realizing then the feat that he had accomplished. He glanced around and saw that most of the room's other occupants were staring at him with looks of astonishment, and he shuffled his paws with a faint sense of discomfort.

"I wasn't expecting it to be that easy," he said, looking back up at his teacher.

"I told you it would be," Nexus shrugged. "The hard part comes when you need to keep it active in a fight. Let's see how you do, shall we?"

"What?" Spyro blurted, unnerved by the dangerous edge that had crept into Nexus's tone. "Now?"

Nexus didn't reply, instead rolling his shoulders and stretching out his neck to work any stiffness out of his body that had accumulated from inactivity. When he settled into a ready stance it was with a chilling look of single-minded focus written on his expression, and Spyro gulped nervously when he realized that his opponent was going to go all out in this round.

"Wait," he stammered, a thrill of panic running through him at the prospect of a full on battle against the toughest foe he had ever faced one on one, all while he could hardly stand. He backed away a couple of steps. "Just hold on a min—"

His protest was cut off with a startled yelp when Nexus suddenly closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, his Dragon Time power rendering the charge of over a dozen metres almost instantaneous. Seeing the other purple dragon poised by his right flank with his claws raised, Spyro reacted without thinking and ducked away to his left. Nexus's strike missed him by a hair, but he followed through undeterred with a low sweep of his wing toward Spyro's feet, a coating of stone covering the leading edge. Spyro hopped over it with room to spare this time, Nexus's movements seeming oddly slower than they normally did. Was he holding back after all? Or was the Dragon Time technique actually working already?

The question was jarred from Spyro's mind when he landed from his jump, the shock of impact sending a stab of pain up his leg and shattering his concentration. He stumbled, and in that split second Nexus's horns crashed into Spyro's chest. The exhausted purple dragon was knocked backward with such force that he was flipped over onto his back, landing on the unforgiving stone with a thud that drove whatever breath he had left out of his lungs. He coughed feebly, numb pain spreading through his body.

"Focus," Nexus scolded him. "You should have been able to see that coming."

Spyro looked up to offer a retort, but his eyes widened in shock when he saw Nexus's tail swinging down to pound his vulnerable stomach while he was down. Spyro tapped into his Dragon Time, wavering as the drain taxed his already strained endurance, and rolled to safety. Once he was back on his paws he forced himself to focus on his power, boosting his perceptions once more.

Unfortunately, he was a second too slow. By the time he opened his eyes Nexus was already within claw's reach and Spyro had no time to move out of the way. Nexus's balled forepaw struck the side of his target's muzzle hard enough to knock him off balance. Once Spyro regained his footing he wiped a stinging spot at the edge of his mouth, and when he pulled his paw back there was a thin smear of blood on it. Anger kindled inside of him, and he glared up at the other purple dragon.

Nexus charged again, but the instant he jumped forward Spyro was already countering his attack, cracking his jaws open and releasing a close range earth shot. The blast caught Nexus dead centre and knocked him back through the air, and he was forced to dig his talons into the floor to stop from sliding. Spyro pressed the attack, jumping forward and swiping at Nexus's chest with his talons, but the other purple dragon jerked away and blocked with his wing. Spyro quickly lined up for another strike, but at the same time Nexus shot his wing forward and forced Spyro to dodge out of the way. Backpedalling, he narrowly managed to avoid two more attacks before noticing that Nexus's last swing had left his side partially exposed. Without hesitating he moved to exploit it.

Almost faster than he could blink, Nexus had swatted his forepaw aside and delivered a resounding punch to his head. Spyro staggered sideways, head ringing from the impact, and for a moment he was too dazed to do anything other than sway on the spot. He shook it off as quickly as he could, realizing how vulnerable he was. He frantically tried to restore his time sense, but just as he felt the drain of power resuming Nexus slammed his tail into Spyro's forelegs, knocking them both out from under him and causing pain to explode up his wounded limb.

The strength of it was overwhelming, rendering him temporarily immobile. A kick to his flank sent him rolling across the floor, and through the haze he knew that he was completely vulnerable like this, but he couldn't see how he could protect himself until the pain subsided. If only there was a way to distract Nexus...

An idea sparked in his mind immediately. While Nexus stalked toward him for a finishing attack, Spyro forced open a connection between them and channelled all his pain into it. Nexus cried out in surprise, his left foreleg giving out without warning and nearly causing him to fall to the ground. He barely managed to catch himself, but with his leg seizing up from the ghost pain that Spyro was inflicting on him he had to struggle to push himself back upright. By the time he had succeeded Spyro had recovered enough to also regain his feet. With a sharp grunt Nexus forcibly severed the connection, glaring up at his counterpart.

"Resourceful," he said, looking both annoyed and impressed. "But you still aren't protecting yourself well enough."

Scowling and fighting to keep his frustration in check, Spyro squared himself to Nexus once more. He winced as he placed weight on his injured foreleg, the limb shaking from weakness. He knew he couldn't last much longer at this pace, but Nexus was showing no signs of stopping any time soon.

I can't do this, he thought, a swell of helplessness rising inside him. How am I supposed to keep fighting when I can hardly stand? This is crazy!

Despite his inner protests, Spyro reluctantly amplified his senses again when he saw Nexus settling into his battle stance. It seemed the other purple dragon was going to attack whether Spyro fought back or not, so he had to at least try to defend himself for as long as possible.

The next minute was the most brutal training experience that the young hero had ever endured. Nexus pulled no punches, exploiting every advantage he had over his flagging student. It was all Spyro could do to catch the heaviest blows with his wings and right foreleg. His left leg was all but useless at that point, and even if it hadn't been he still would have been too tired to mount any considerable resistance. His new time sense did allow him to spot a number of opportunities for return strikes that he never would have noticed before, though. something that surprised him even in the franticness of the moment. Capitalizing on those openings was another matter with his movements so inhibited by fatigue, however, and only a couple of blows got through. Those that did hardly slowed Nexus at all.

Just when he was becoming certain that he would collapse under the assault at any moment, Spyro's augmented senses allowed him to notice a fleeting anomaly. Nexus had just managed to deflect a wing attack from his opponent, leaving his chest open for attack for a split second. However, when Spyro shot his right forepaw out in as hard of a punch as he could manage Nexus tilted back at the last possible instant, catching the blow just beneath his chest. Confusion seized the weary hero. While a hit that strong to the chest would be painful, it was still better there where the plated chest scales were toughest rather than lower on the body. Why would Nexus not want to be hit on the most armoured—

His eyes caught upon the deep crack that ran diagonally across Nexus's chest scales, the largest and deepest of the purple dragon's many scars. Suddenly he understood. Just like the wound on Spyro's leg was extremely sensitive to attack, that scar on Nexus's chest must be the same way.

That was his weakness.

Jaw set in determination, Spyro tucked his head in as Nexus lashed out with a renewed flurry of blows. He was forced to give ground as the other purple dragon broke through his defences, wincing at the new bruises forming on his ribs and shoulders and trying to ignore the pain as he calculated his move. When Nexus reared up and lifted his left forepaw to bring it crashing down on top of his foe, Spyro saw his chance. With reflexes that would have been beyond him before this training session began, he caught Nexus's forepaw with his own and drove his left paw forward straight for the chink in his armour, electricity dancing across his scales. He braced himself for what he knew would follow.

The punch landed with enough force to shunt the two purple dragons away from each other, the charged electricity discharging with a violent flash. Immediately Spyro felt an unimaginable eruption of pain shoot up his leg, and he fell to the ground with a strangled cry as his body simply gave up on him from the punishment. At the same time Nexus uttered a choked gasp, likewise dropping to the ground with wide eyes. He gripped his chest tightly and a string of hollow spluttering sounds escaped him as he tried to breathe past his seized muscles. All the while Spyro lay groaning through clenched fangs on the cold stone floor, painfully regretting his action.

The Guardians quickly descended upon them. Sirius was the first to reach Spyro's side, gently helping him stand with Cyril close by, ready to offer assistance. Terrador and Volteer kept their eyes on Nexus, gauging his condition in case he needed any help as well but wary about approaching him. Eventually both purple dragons were back on their paws, albeit only three in Spyro's case. He wobbled precariously, too exhausted and battered to properly support himself. Sirius quickly beckoned for Geldric and the mole scampered over, using his shoulder to help prop his patient up and guiding him toward the edge of the room once more.

"You should have dropped out of that fight much sooner," the physician scolded with a grim sigh, stumbling slightly under Spyro's weight. "Can you move it?"

Spyro attempted to stretch his leg away from his chest but immediately cringed, a hiss of pain leaking through his jaws. He shook his head.

Geldric sighed again, looking to Spyro's friends who had approached out of concern.

"I need someone to help me take him to the infirmary. This leg needs attention."

"I'll be okay," Spyro protested tightly. Despite the pain he was in, that in combination with his sheer exhaustion made it so that all he wanted was to return to his room and collapse. A trip to the infirmary was beyond the limits of his patience at the moment, but Geldric would have none of it.

"If you don't let me treat that leg it will completely seize up, and you won't be able to use it for days. Trust me, Master Spyro. I've seen enough debilitating war injuries to know what I'm talking about. Now, will you let me do my job?"

Spyro bristled at the word 'debilitating', but in the end he was too tired to argue and he knew that the mole was right. He relented, but he still wasn't looking forward to the discomfort that the coming treatment would cause.

"I can help you take him," Voltra offered quickly.

"Me too," Chinook added.

"Thank you, but one will suffice. Miss Voltra, is it? If you could take my place here, that would be most appreciated. This young dragon may be in good shape, but he's still more than an old mole can support easily."

The yellow dragoness let out a quiet giggle, and Spyro rolled his eyes—as if he didn't get enough fat jokes from Sparx. Fortunately the jibe was short lived and Voltra stepped up to relieve the stout physician of his burden. A bit self-conscious about the situation, Spyro nonetheless accepted her support and braced his wing against her back and shoulders.

"Why can't you treat him here?" Nexus spoke up, appearing to have mostly recovered from the punch he had received, though there was a slight wheeze in his voice.

"Because the supplies I need are at the infirmary, and because it's a more comfortable location that will help him relax," Geldric replied. "He won't be doing any more training today regardless."

"Is that what you think?" Nexus scoffed. "He isn't done yet."

"Yes he is," Terrador interjected. "You've pushed him more than enough for today."

"He has more in him," Nexus insisted, scowling. "You just aren't giving him a chance to realize it by babying him."

"Nexus, enough," Spyro cut in, his voice laced with mounting frustration. Before he had been ready to follow Nexus's council, but the pain he was in now was unbearable. The only thing he could think about was getting it to end as quickly as possible; the idea of any more fighting was sickening. He turned, forcing Voltra to turn with him. "I can't train any more right now. There's no way I can fight you like this. Can't you just let it go?"

"No," Nexus shot back, his eyes flashing with anger. "You agreed to let me train you, so you're going to do it the way I decide. It's as simple as that. You're done when I say you're done."

"I'm done right now," Spyro snapped, his own anger rising as his pain got the better of him. "Cynder and the Guardians are right. I can't fight Ragnor if I kill myself in training. I thought I could keep going but I was wrong, so it's just going to have to wait until next time. I'll be back for mental training tomorrow, but right now I need to rest."

His position stated, Spyro nodded to Voltra and the yellow dragoness quickly helped him turn back around and begin hobbling toward the door. She showed great care with her charge, making sure she didn't push their pace farther than what Spyro could manage, and the purple dragon was grateful for her consideration as he clumsily hopped along on three legs, Voltra bearing his weight without complaint every other step.

"Spyro!" Nexus called sharply after him, but Spyro didn't look back. "You get your tail back in this ring right now! I made it perfectly clear to you what this training was going to take out of you. I expected more from you than to chicken out when things got a bit tough!" When Spyro still didn't acknowledge him he gave a low growl, his patience snapping. "You think I got to just walk out when my training took a toll on me? This sort of insolence would get you killed in the Dark Realms!"

"We're not in the Dark Realms!" Spyro shouted, glaring back over his shoulder. Voltra and several of his other friends jumped from the uncharacteristic outburst, but Nexus only looked furious. "And I'm not you! This is more than I can handle right now, so just drop it!"

He resumed limping, Voltra keeping pace by his side, albeit more tensely. Silence hung in his wake for several seconds, but eventually another angry snarl rang out behind him.

"You're risking everything!" Nexus shouted after him. "You expect me to just sit here while you risk my life with your weakness? Don't you walk away from me! Do you hear me? Spyro!"

Spyro didn't speak another word in reply. Teeth gritted against the pain still shooting up from his foreleg with every bump and jolt, he and Voltra turned into the Temple's corridors and headed for the exit, Geldric scurrying along beside them and all of them anxious to leave the oppressive tension behind them. As they walked, however, a gnawing sense of unease and restlessness clung to Spyro's gut. He knew putting off his training was risky, but in his present state he had no other option. He simply couldn't keep going like this. With a heavy sigh, he began to wonder if this time he had finally taken on more than he could handle.

He only hoped for the sake of everyone that he was wrong.

---

So, like I said at the start of the chapter, announcement. If it wasn't obvious from how long recent uploads have been taking me, I've been in a serious writer's slump for the past several months. As a result, trying to sit down and write this story has been extremely difficult and at times frustrating. This is the first time this has happened to me, and because of it writing just isn't as enjoyable for me as it usually is.

Because of this, I've decided to take a break from writing this story. I'm not abandoning it, but it may be quite a while before I work on another chapter (even longer than the now usual wait between posts). I don't have a set time in mind. I'm just going to wait until the writing bug bites me again, and hopefully return to this story with the enthusiasm I had for the series when I first started posting The Broken Line.

In the meantime keep an eye on my DeviantArt page, since I'm going to focus on working on some of the artwork that I've left sitting in planning for ages, including the character poster series I started.

Thanks for your patience, and your understanding.

Until next time.