Phase III

M

The walk throughout the Catacombs was completely silent. No one would speak to anyone, not even Ember or Flame, who always had something to say to one another or someone else. But they knew better than to break the quiet; it was a delicate mood, and Lumiere was barely keeping it together as it was. He was just focused on following the path so that he could get them all out of the maze that had put them through both Heaven and Hell, so that he could get them all back to their families, and so that they could live full lives without having to worry about anymore mess like this. After all, they could've avoided all this had he just stayed home and trusted his sister and mother.

But after walking for about three hours, the company reached a large double-door made completely of stone, with the pattern of a tree carved into the surface. Above the doorway was a sentence written in Latin.

"Quidam secreta non solum optimus reliquit."

"What's it say?" Jinx asked Lumiere.

Lumiere narrowed his eyes and attempted to decipher the line, but couldn't do so for the life of him.

"I… can't tell," he replied in a shaky voice.

"Aeon?" Jinx asked the elder.

"The writing is too faded for my old eyes," the wyvern responded. "I'm afraid I'm not able to read it either."

Jinx sighed and asked Kage, but he replied with, "It's too faded for me as well. I'm sorry, young one."

"It looks like we need to read it to get in, though," Ember pointed out.

"Great…" Spyro grumbled.

"So… what is it, then?" Cynder asked.

"I don't know; I've not visited this part of the Catacombs in almost a century," Aeon replied. "And even if I did, I would never have gone past this door, what with the dark runes surrounding it."

The rest of them looked and saw runes of what looked to be ancient draconic lining the door and even on the walls around it.

"What do they say?" Vyra asked.

"I dare not utter those spells of darkness here, or anywhere else for that matter. They are evil, ancient spells, full of malice and hatred beyond comprehension."

"Will it… like… kill us?" Flame asked nervously.

Aeon looked at the young Fire dragon and darkly said, "You'll only wish you were dead."

Flame started shaking on the spot, but Voltia, being the curious student she was, asked, "What do they do?"

"It depends on what spell is spoken," Aeon explained. He pointed to one with his claw and said, "If that one were to be uttered, both the speaker and the target for the spell would be cast into darkness and forced to serve evil until they parish, and up until that point, they are in pain." He pointed to another and said, "If this one were spoken, you would unleash a dark, parasitic spirit that would feed off both your happiness and luck, until it is sated, leaving only a husk of a living being remaining. Often times, however, these spirits are not sated for near fifty or, dare I say, sixty years." He pointed to another, "And this one would kill you in the most horrific ways imaginable while putting you into a catatonic state in which you see nothing but your greatest fear."

"Who were they used by?" Voltia asked.

"They were only activated if accidentally uttered by poor passersby who happened upon them. They are almost never originally spoken; most dark mages write them and leave them for unfortunate souls to find."

"I see…" Voltia replied.

"Alright, how about we focus on getting this door open?" Ember asked.

"Alright, what does the text say in Latin, Lumi?" Jinx asked gently, careful not to say anything to harshly or commanding to preserve his mood.

Lumiere took a deep breath and squinted to see the old, faded text and eventually said it, albeit with a lot of errors and stuttering.

"What?" Aeon asked, as if in disbelief.

"What? What's it mean?" Jinx asked.

Aeon paused before saying, "I think it would be wiser to move on."

"Why? What's it say?" Vyra pushed.

Aeon took a deep breath and swallowed before saying, "It means 'Some secrets are best left alone.'"

The group didn't know how to take this, and instead let silence reign once again. Then, Lumiere closed his eyes and dipped his head. "This door is the only landmark we've seen in how long?" he asked everyone. To this, Aeon was silent. "What's behind this door might be our only way out."

"Might be!" Aeon insisted. "Might be! Or it harbors dark, ancient entities looking to cause trouble to the outside world!"

Lumiere opened his eyes and lifted his head, twisting it around to meet Aeon's gaze with his glowing red eyes. In a steely, commanding voice, he said, "We are going through this door. Whether you like it or not." He then turned back to the door and repeated what he said before, only this time, extremely fluently, to which he was met with a dull, creaking sound. The tree on the door started to glow white, and the door itself began to open into whatever room awaited them. Lumiere didn't hesitate to walk into the room, followed by Jinx, Vyra, Voltia, then everyone else.

The room they had entered looked a lot like the Chronicler's halls, only instead of an hourglass in the middle, there was a large crystal. A large, purple crystal that held a singular dragon.

"The Dark Master…" Spyro whispered in disbelief.

"I thought…" Cynder gasped, not able to finish her sentence before the tears came to her eyes. "I thought we were done with him…" she cried in between her sobs.

"We all did," Vyra said sadly.

All Aeon did was glare at Lumiere, who then said, "Well then let's break that damn thing and kill him."

Lumiere walked forward, but a loud voice stopped him.

"STOP!"

Lumiere looked to behind him to see no one there, but the only signal to the fact that the voice wasn't in his head was that everyone else was looking around with wide, startled eyes.

"Kirk?" Lumiere whispered.

"Yeah, it's me!" Kirk's voice echoed. "And I am not about to let your dumb ass break that damn crystal and unleash Hell on Earth again!"

"Who is that?" Vyra asked.

"Then what do you suggest we do, huh?!" Lumiere yelled back.

"Leave that damn thing alone and get the hell outta here!" Kirk shouted.

"Why?! Why can't we just kill him?!" Lumiere screamed.

"Because he's too powerful to kill!" Kirk shouted. "You can't kill a creature of darkness like the Dark Master! His body may be mortal, but his soul is eternal!"

Spyro flinched at those words.

"Then we kill his body!" Lumiere suggested angrily.

"And risk unleashing an even worse beast?!" Kirk yelled back.

"What the hell do you mean?!" Lumiere snarled.

"Lumi…" Jinx spoke, "maybe you shouldn't shout at the mysterious invisible voice."

Lumi sighed, but threw an arcane gesture towards the ceiling in hopes that Kirk saw it. In response, however, Lumiere felt a jab at his conscious, as if someone had stabbed it with a sword; it was a difficult feeling to comprehend, much less describe as anything other than pure agony. He clenched his eyes and fell to the floor with a scream just as a bright light filled the room. Everyone covered their eyes with whatever they could until the light faded. When they all looked, there was another white dragon standing over Lumiere, though unlike his smaller counterpart, this dragon was completely white except for his eyes, which were sky-blue. His wings were oddly feathered, as was his tail, which were both black, he had two sets of horns, one normal and the other like a ram's, and upon his brow was the Symbol of Chryosis.

Everyone took a step back as he took a step towards them.

"Do you have any idea just how stupid you are?" the dragon asked Lumiere, who was still writhing in pain. Suddenly, the pain stopped, and he could feel all his limbs again. He stood up, but he was quickly grabbed by the throat by the white dragon. All around them, apes began to appear from out of nowhere, no doubt concealed by some form of magic. Lumiere choked for a breath, but the dragon held on tight.

"Who… are… you…?" Lumiere managed.

He was hefted off the ground by the newcomer as the apes cheered and cackled. The white dragon leaned close and whispered, "I'm sorry," before throwing Lumiere across the room. He collided with a wall, making it cave in with the momentum behind the throw. Lumiere groaned, stuck in the wall and gasping for breath. He tried to wiggle loose using his wings, but a fierce, intense pain traveled all the way up his back when he tried, and he had to bite back another scream as the apes advanced on him.

"Stay away from him!" Jinx yelled.

She tried to move to help him, but the new white dragon flapped his wings and landed in her path. The apes weren't at all gentle pulling Lumiere out of the wall, and when they did, they all but threw him to Jinx, who growled in response.

The white dragon regarded them for a second catching Aeon's eye, whose own were widened in shock.

"The Bone Master!" he cried.

"I see you remember me by my old alias," the white dragon replied. "But now, you can call me Angelus."

"Angelus?" Kage asked, before taking a look at Angelus's wings. "Angel?" he translated.

Angelus chuckled and looked at his wings before saying, "That is what my name translates to, yes. And where I was from, they used to call me the Angel of Death."

"What do you want?!" Jinx screamed at him.

Angelus regarded her for a minute. "I'm here for prisoners."

"Prisoners?" Spyro asked boldly. "Prisoners to who?"

"The Dark Master," Angelus replied. "He is not as idle and helpless as he seems at the moment. He uses his dark conscience to relay his orders through me. And for now, his orders are to gather six prisoners."

"You will not lay a claw on them," Aeon said, pushing Jinx back and stepping in front of all of them.

"It would be wise to move, elder one," Angelus said.

"It would be wise to back down," Aeon replied.

Angelus looked disappointed and said, "It is death, then. A shame."

Quick as lightning, Angelus appeared in front of Aeon and pushed him back a couple feet, making Aeon lose his footing. Aeon growled and got back to his feet to charge at Angelus with his claws outstretched. Angelus only smashed Aeon's head with his tail, which made the feathers there become matted before returning to normal as the tail and its owner turned back around to face the now-downed elder wyvern.

"You've lost your touch," Angelus said with sympathy. "It really will be a shame to kill you." Angelus got close to Aeon and whispered, "As zísoume to pnévma sas kai na sas kathodigísoun oi prógonoí sas." As he said this, Aeon's body began to glow blue and green, before it slowly began to disintegrate. "Pigaíno. Na eíste me tous progónous sas kai na xekourasteíte kalá." Aeon's eyes went wide as he watched himself dematerialize, his glowing essence being carried away by the wind, before it lost its glow. When nothing was left but his head, he adopted a calm look and gazed into his son's eyes one last time, before the old wyvern was no more.

"NOOOO!" Kage screamed, his wail of agony being carried throughout the halls of the Dark Catacombs. He launched himself at Angelus with nothing but rage and bloodlust in his eyes. "Et fragmen stercore!"

Angelus caught Kage midair by the neck, choking him as he did Lumiere, before slamming the black wyvern down on the ground, leaving a decent-sized dent in the stone floor.

"Meióste," Angelus uttered.

After that, Kage stopped moving as well, and the rest of the company thought him dead until he let out a choked wheeze.

"You'll… pay… for this…" Kage wheezed out.

Angelus turned from the black-scaled wyvern and faced the group of young dragons. "You," he said, pointing at Toxia. Toxia stared back with wide eyes as apes all around them converged and grabbed at her, only to meet their swift end by Cyclone's tail-blade or claws, until Angelus once again said, "Meióste." Cyclone dropped the the ground in a heap, as did everyone else, their muscles suddenly feeling like lead. Still, Toxia tried her best to fight, thrash against, and bite at her captors as they pulled her from the group.

"You," he said, pointing at Voltia. "You, you," he said, pointing at Flame and Incindia, who tried their best to wriggle out of their captor's arms. "You," he said, pointing at Spyro. That was like a brick to the head for the small company, as the purple dragon was their best hope against the Dark Master. But that was nothing for Lumiere compared to the next selected prisoner. "And you," he said, pointing his black talon directly at Jinx.

Jinx's eyes went wide with fear as the apes grabbed her by the arms and Lumiere let out a strangled, "No!" She was barely able to look back at him, but once she did, Lumiere was filled with rage as he saw the helplessness and vulnerability in those scarlet eyes. "Nos dimittere!" Lumiere spoke. And with that, their movements were restored to them. He didn't know how and he didn't know why, but he knew exactly what to say and how to say it to best combat these apes and Angelus. "Repello!" he directed at a group of charging apes, who then went flying back into the wall with several cracks! reverberating throughout the room upon their collision.

"Siopí," Angelus directed at him. Then, mentally, he said, 'You have the most drive of anyone I've met, I'll give you that, kid.'

'FUCK YOU!' Lumiere shot back in his mind.

'Lumi!' Jinx called. Lumiere turned his head to see the apes carrying everyone back into the Catacombs, along with the crystal.

"Mmph mmph! Ngh! Mmm!" he mumbled. But, in his mind, he said, 'Dimitte me!' After that, he found that his voice was restored when he let out a loud war-cry and charged through all the apes between him and Jinx.

"Pétra, desméfste se énan toícho ekeí," Angelus said, focusing on a spot in front of Lumiere. A small wall formed in front of him and tripped him, making him go skidding. "Meióste." Once again, Lumiere found that his limbs had been restrained by an unseen force, and he was pinned to the ground. "Sfragíste tin eísodo." The door to the room closed after that, and everyone waited to see what Angelus would do next. He looked to Lumiere with sorrow in his eyes and said, "I see you care a lot about her… about them all. I will allow you one minute more with them before we must take them away."

"Why?!" Lumiere screamed.

"I'm sorry, kid, but this is the way it's gotta be," Angelus said. He turned to the apes and said, "Grab the crystal and let's go. They've earned their minute."

The apes released the six dragons and let his hold on them go, allowing them to run back to their friends. More apes grabbed the crystal and put it on a wooden cart, allowing them to roll it instead of tiring their muscles with the weight of the crystal.

"One minute," Angelus promised.

Jinx all but ran to Lumiere, who was still on the ground and in immense pain, both physically mentally. "Lumi!" she said, embracing him on the ground and crying into his stomach. Lumiere could only find the strength to put on arm around her neck, pulling her closer as he sobbed quietly. All around them, the others were hugging tightly, before once again gathering around Lumiere and hugging each other quietly. Lumiere somehow found the strength to heft his tail in the air and lift his paw up to it. In a split second, he slashed the palm, making him wince.

"What was that for?" Ember asked, confused.

Voltia, however, recognized immediately what he was doing and hefted her own tail to her paw, slashing it like Lumiere. After that, it was Spyro and Cynder who caught on and slashed their palms as well. Vyra and Flame did this too, followed by Toxia, Cyclone, and Jinx. Ember and Incindia were still confused as hell, but Ember did as the others did.

"What is this for?" Incindia asked.

Lumiere only looked at her, but with that look, Incindia felt compelled to follow suit, and lifted her tiny tail blade to her paw and slashed, making her yelp a bit. Lumiere grabbed Jinx's hand and rubbed his blood into her soft pads. Jinx did this to Spyro, who did this to Cynder, until their hands formed a tight circle of family and comfort.

"Maiorum, nexum et sanguine nobis animam meam…" Lumiere said quietly.

All of their wounds started tingling with a warm sensation, and if one looked closely enough, their hands could be seen glowing. After the short ritual was over, Ember asked, "What was that?"

Lumiere looked at her and said, "Now, we're all bonded by blood. We're now all of blood, brothers and sisters."

A look of realization crossed Ember's face, and they all let each other go and looked at their wounds, only to see long, thin scars with the words "sanguinis ab vtero" able to be faintly seen on the outline.

"What's this mean?" Voltia asked, gesturing to the barely-visible words.

"Bonded by blood," Lumiere replied.

They all smiled with tears in their eyes, hugging and nuzzling each other, before Jinx asked, "How did you know all those spells?"

Lumiere lost his smile and was about to answer, but was cut off by Angelus saying in a low, solemn voice, "Time's up."

They all looked at each other with dread, fear, and sadness in their eyes, which were accompanied by the obvious tears. However, instead of being torn away, Angelus only waited patiently for them by the entrance to the room, where a few apes were standing there with iron shackles. At the sight of them, Flame gulped audibly, but they hesitantly moved towards Angelus. When they reached him, he only gave a reassuring smile.

"Hey, don't think about it like prison," he said. He looked to Lumiere and added, "Think of it as a temporary vacation." He looked to a random part of the wall and said, "Et exitus revelare." A little doorway opened, which led into a hall lit by dim torchlight. "Go on, and remember Lumiere; she'll always be with you."

Lumiere growled at Angelus, which only earned a sigh as the white dragon turned away and led the others back down the hallway with their friends' new bonds' jingling being heard throughout the halls.

"C'mon, we have to get back and tell the others; hopefully we can launch an attack on their camp or whatever," Vyra said comfortingly.

"Jinx…" Lumiere whispered, anguished by the loss of his girlfriend.

'Lumi!' he heard in his mind, making him perk up.

'J-Jinx…?' he asked shakily.

'Yeah, it's me!' Jinx replied. 'Look, don't worry about us; just go and get help, or at the very least live your lives the best you can.'

'No!' Lumiere snapped. 'We are not leaving you down here!'

He heard Jinx sigh. 'Alright… do what you need to do… my shining light.'

Lumiere paused for a moment before saying, 'I will… my crimson gem.'

And with that, Jinx cut off the mental connection, leaving his mind silent once again. Vyra came up and nudged him, causing a jolt of pain to travel up his back. He yelped in pain, making Vyra jump.

"Lumi! What, what is it?" she asked frantically.

Lumiere tried to move to get up, but found that every little move he made cause him a great amount of pain, and he found himself suppressing tears.

"I… I think it's my back… I think it's broken…" he groaned.

"Fuck…" Vyra cursed under her breath. "Alright… alright, this is gonna hurt, but I promise that it'll be worth it in the long run."

Vyra grabbed his paw and fought the urge to pull back when Lumiere let out a cry of pain, before grabbing his other paw and lifting his heavy body off the ground, with Lumiere screaming in agony all the while.

"Cyclone, can you carry him?" Vyra asked.

Cyclone, who had been barely holding it together, only nodded and walked over so that Vyra could place Lumiere on his back. Just then, they heard a groan emit from the near-center of the room. They ran over and saw Kage sitting where he was left by Angelus, though he looked to be in a lot more emotional pain the physical pain.

"Are you alright?" Cynder asked him, obviously barely keeping it together herself, as were they all.

But Kage didn't even bother to keep his emotions in check. "He's gone… he's really gone…" he whispered before starting to sob quietly. Everyone who was able to gathered around him and hugged him comfortingly in what capacity they could, seeing as how Kage was a lot bigger than all of them. "He's gone… he's gone…" Kage repeated over and over in between his anguished sobs. He sniffed once and let out a particularly loud sob before saying, "It's my fault…."

"No, Kage, it's not your fault," Vyra said.

"Together, we could've defeated that bastard… but I just stood by… and did nothing…."

"Hey, look on the bright side," Ember said, "now he's with your mother and his Ancestors. He's at peace."

"Not with the knowledge that I failed him…" Kage whispered.

"You didn't fail him!" Cynder yelled suddenly, making them all jump. "Do you have any idea what I've been through?! The things I've seen?! The things I've done?! You don't know how hard it was for me to sleep at night! But when I was finally rescued by Spyro, I felt like I had a chance, only for that chance to be shattered when the Well of Souls came crashing down! I felt like a failure then! And even now, when the one I love most was taken from me, and I couldn't do anything about it, I felt like a failure! But y'know what? We didn't have any control; it was Angelus controlling us! He's to blame!" Cynder then adopted a more gentle tone and said, "So why don't you avenge your father instead of wallowing in your own self-pity, and kill that no-good bastard?"

M

Shit just got real. If you're confused, I don't blame you. Hope you enjoyed the Phase III opener, and have a good day/night!