Eclypse: *Listening to Songs of Time* HOLY SHIT NATE YOU PERFECT HUMAN BEING
Equinox: Dude, we're on…
Eclypse: Oh, right. I do not own Spyro, The Spyro Franchise, or any media referenced in this story.
Equinox: All OCs other than the creators that are in this story are used with the permission of their creators.
Eclypse: Thank you and enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 26: Redemption
Starts from Spyro
Cynder and I were led by Apollonir and Obereon outside of the medical ward and he turned to face us.
"Alright, the both of you, listen up." Apollonir began sternly, "The elementals are very grateful for your actions not only here, but when Malefor first attacked. So while we can't give you-"
"We're going to give you a boost to your elements!" Oberon yelled
"…New elements…" Apollonir sighed, "Can you please try to contain your excitement next time Obereon?"
"I think you know the answer to that." Obereon smiled mischievously, jewelry jingling as she moved.
"Wait… how can you do that?" I asked
"Exactly the same way Eclypse and Equinox get their elements, silly!" Obereon answered joyfully, "You also have crystals, just like Eclypse and Equinox!" She pointed at my necklace.
They both formed crystals exactly like the ones they had created for Eclypse and Equinox and handed them to us. We cracked them and energy began to flow into our crystals.
New Abilities: Spyro
Meteor Dash
Flame Pyre
Comet Hammer
New Abilities: Cynder
Gale Force
Hurricane Roar
Whirlwind Dash
An intense heat blew over me, as if I was standing straight in front of a wildfire.
"So that's what it feels like…" I thought
"As the other elementals have probably told you already, we can't directly change fate, but we can give you our blessings. Both figuratively and literally." Apollonir told us
"We'll use it well. Thank you." Cynder said.
"You're welcome!" Oberon told her, "Tell the others we said good bye!" They both began to walk towards the temples exit.
"Wait!" I yelled. They both turned to face me, "Are you sure you don't remember anything else from when Malefor attacked you? Was a cheetah there?"
They both thought very hard for a moment, "WAIT A MINUTE!" Obereon exclaimed, "I remember something now. There definitely was a cheetah there!"
"Did you happen to see what he looked like?" Cynder asked
"Hmm… if memory serves… he wore a dark, tattered cloak and some kind of mask across only the top half of his face." Apollonir told us, "The mask had a design that looked like the beak of a bird. I think he also had light colored fur. That's all I remember."
"Wait! He also had a long scar coming down from his eye and onto his mouth!" Obereon yelled excitedly
Apollonir looked at her with surprise
"What?" She asked, "Just because I'm not as serious as the rest of you guys doesn't mean I'm not good at picking out the details!"
"Alright, thank you." I told them.
"Tell the other elementals we said hello!" Cynder yelled as they walked out of the temple. Once they had left, we headed back to the medical ward to check up on the others and tell them about the hooded cheetah.
"Hey guys, we're back." I greeted as we entered the room.
"What did the Elementals want?" Eclypse asked
"They gave our elements an upgrade." Cynder told him happily.
"Seriously? Awesome!" Eclypse exclaimed.
"That's not all they told us." I continued, "We have a lead on the Cheetah."
One Hour Later
Switches to Equinox
We all walked outside the gates of Scalerun and onto the large, grassy field that surrounded it.
"We cannot thank you all enough for everything you have done for Scalerun." Tempet thanked, "If you all hadn't gotten here when you did, there could've been far more casualties then there were."
"No problem!" Eclypse told him, "It's what we're here to do."
"Well, if you ever need help, we would be more than happy to assist you." He responded
"We'll be sure to keep that in mind." Spyro said, "Good bye everyone!"
"Wait." I told him, "You guys head to the campsite, I'll be right there."
Spyro looked confused for a second, but then nodded and he and the others flew off. I turned to face Tempet.
"Look," I told Tempet sternly, "I get your reasons for keeping Umbrus inside the temple and, honestly, it makes complete sense why you are doing what you are doing."
"Where are you going with this?"
"Where I'm going with this is, while I understand why you are keeping Umbrus locked inside the temple, It's just wrong." I told him, "She can control her element, you just never give her a chance to show that she can."
Tempet sighed, "I wish I could, but I don't want the entire city to be destroyed if something goes wrong. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
I could see Umbrus trying to hold back tears and/or lash out at Tempet in anger.
"Then let her prove it right now." I told him sternly, "We're outside of the city, all of the citizens are either tending to the wounded or are wounded, and if she goes beserk the three of you can stop her. Plus, my friends are just over there, and considering we just defeated two elementals today…"
"Ok, ok, kid. We get it." Toxak interrupted, "You make a good point. If the rest of you are ok with it, I'm on board with letting Umbrus prove herself."
Umbrus looked up at Toxak in glee, "Seriously?"
"Same goes for me." Dismer told everyone enthusiastically, "She's never going to be able to leave the temple if she doesn't get a chance to try. Let's do it."
That only left Tempet to answer. He looked very deep in thought. I mentally crossed my fingers for good luck.
"Alright. I'll allow it." Tempet said, "But if anything is to go wrong, I'm stopping everything right then and there. It's the least I owe you for saving Scalerun."
I let out a sigh of relief. Umbrus did the opposite as she jumped up into the air in utter joy.
"Thank you so much!" She said as she hugged all of the Guardians one by one.
"Thank us after you show us what you can do." Toxak told her joyfully.
"Speaking of which, I think the best way to bring out the best in Umbrus is in combat." Tempet told me, "Would you mind sparring with Umbrus? This was your idea after all."
"Not at all." I smirked as I summoned my sword, "Besides, gives me a chance to test out my new element."
The three guardians all gave us a large amount of room and we entered inside the makeshift circle. I took a look at my Draco-Gear and saw the fire element symbol. I touched it and it moved into the center of the ethereal circle above my hand. I felt a soft heat course through my body.
"I'm not going to go easy on you just because you're my friend now." Umbrus said with a smile
"Likewise." I told her.
"Are both of you ready?" Toxak asked. We both nodded. "Alright, BEGIN!"
Umbrus immediately created her shadow tendrils and dove into the ground. A shadow began to dart at immeasurable speed across the ground, ultimately heading towards me. Before Umbrus could jump out to attack, I flew up into the air. When she reappeared, I swung my sword, but failed to make contact. It was instead caught by one of her tendrils and pulled away from my hands.
"Shit… My sword is worthless against her…" I thought to myself angrily. I desummoned my sword and attempted to fly a little higher. Unfortunately, another one of her four tendrils wrapped itself around my ankle before I could get too far. Since I wasn't able to use my sword against her, I went with the next best thing. I began to scrape at the tendrils with my claws.
"OW!" She yelled, "Hey, come on…"
"Wait! She can feel that?" I thought, "That gives me an idea…"
I channeled my element into my palms and grabbed onto the tendrils. When I did, they immediately recoiled in pain due to the sheer heat of my hands.
"Ancestors, that burns!" Umbrus cried out
"Now's my chance!" I thought. I immediately stopped flying and launched into a Comet Dash. Flames consumed my being and I began to fall towards the ground with tremendous speed, bringing Umbrus down with me. When we hit the ground, a small crater was formed.
The force of the impact may have hurt, but I had only been dazed for a second. When I got up, I could see a large, black sphere where Umbrus once was.
"Shit." I swore as the ball suddenly collapsed into four shadowy tendrils and Umbrus shot out at me. She began to slash at me with shadows and launched me into the air once more, unleashing a sudden combo of attacks which ended with slamming me back down into the ground. I landed on my back and coughed up a small amount of blood.
Umbrus landed and walked up to me and picked me up using her element, "Are you done yet?" She asked me.
I chuckled, "Not yet." I breathed a barrage of flames into her face and she immediately dropped me once again.
I looked down at my Draco-Gear and noticed the momentum bar had finally been filled up. "Alright." I told her, "Let's end this."
I began to move as if I had done this a million times before. I held my hands in front of my chest in a triangle shape and a ball of pure, concentrated fire began to form between them.
New Momentum: Equinox
Fire: Supernova
I took a step back to give myself some stable footing and attacked. A huge ray of blue and white flames erupted from my hands, directly aimed at Umbrus. The flames consumed her as the bar on my Draco-Gear quickly depleted. When it was completely empty, the fire subsided and any that had affected the environment in anyway completely vanished. The smoke revealed that Umbrus had created a shield using her tendrils, but still couldn't withstand the sheer power of my attack and fell down. I walked over to her and saw that she was laying on the ground panting. She saw me holding my hand out and sighed, "Good match…" She reluctantly said as she took my hand and I pulled her up.
"Good job. Both of you!" Tempet applauded, "You fought admirably!"
"Thank you." We both said
We walked over to the elementals, Umbrus looking very disappointed.
"What's wrong Umbrus?" Dismer asked, handing her a healing crystal
"What do you think is wrong? She asked her sadly, "I lost. This was my only chance to finally leave the temple and I lost it.
Guilt began to wash over me the moment she had said that. I had forgotten in all of the fighting that Umbrus needed to win the fight in order to finally leave the temple. Maybe I shouldn't have given it my all and let her win.
All of a sudden, the three Guardians burst into laughter. Both Umbrus and I looked at them with confusion. They soon calmed down and turned to face us.
"Did you really think that our decision would be affected by the outcome of the fight?" Tempet said between chuckles.
"What do you mean?" Umrbus asked
"We told you before we started that we were doing this to judge how much control you had over your element." Dismer explained
"So…" Toxak began, "We will definitely be considering letting you go outside of the te…"
"YES!" Umbrus screamed, "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" She ran up to hug the elementals all at once using her tendrils.
"Umbrus…" Tempet choked out, "You are asphyxiating us…"
"Oops!" Umbrus exclaimed as she let go of the three guardians, "Sorry about that!"
"It's fine Umbrus." Tempet smiled.
Umbrus turned to face me. She was on the verge of tears from the sheer happiness she felt, "You have no idea how grateful I am." She said as she hugged me.
"Eclypse and I are just here to help. It's really no problem." I told her as I hugged her back, "We'll see you soon."
"Yeah, I'd really like that." She replied as she weeped softly.
"Well, the others are probably getting restless." I told the guardians, "I should probably get going."
"Alright. Again, if you all need help with anything, just send for us and we will come running." Dismer told me.
"Definitely." I replied, "Goodbye everyone!"
They all waved me goodbye and I flew off to the campsite. I began to think over the events of this week as I flew. Every time we fought something, I was scared that we weren't going to make it through. I even considered if this was all even worth it. But over the past two days I finally realized something. I finally realized the real change we were making in the lives of these people. That feeling made this all worth it.
"Hey! Equinox!" I heard Flame yell from below me, "What took you so long?"
I had gotten lost in though and realized I had almost passed by the campsite, "Sorry!" I apologized as I flew down to everyone, "Just had to tie up a loose end. I'll explain it to you all on the way."
"Alright. We just finished packing, so we can actually get going right now." Flame told me, handing me a small bag.
"Ok, sounds good." I replied, "Why are you carrying two?"
"Ember is making me carry hers…" Flame sighed, "She said that healing everyone took a lot out of her, so she gave hers to me."
I let out a small laugh, "Oh god that sucks. Well, if you get tired of carrying both I'll take one later."
"Seriously?" Flame asked, "Thanks!"
"Guys! You coming or what?" Eclypse yelled
"Yeah! We're coming!' I said picking up the bag of luggage.
A few hours later
By the time we got to the city, the sun had already set. It was around 10:00pm when we saw Warfang. We were exhausted.
"Oh thank the ancestors." Flame gasped as we saw Warfang approaching in the distance. He had decided to hold onto both of the bags, despite still wearing his heavy armor.
"I can take a bag from here." I told him, "Seriously, you really shouldn't push yourself so hard."
The moment those words left my mouth he threw me one of the bags he was holding in his claws. I just barely managed to grab it before it fell.
We began to make our descent to the center of Warfang, which was where the Temple was. There was a long stone pathway which we could use as a runway to land. We found the Guardians waiting for us at the end of it.
"Welcome back!" Cyril greeted, "I assume you were all successful in stopping the attack at Scalerun?"
"Yep." Eclypse told him, "Not only that but we found two more of the Elementals there as well. Obereon and Apollonir."
"Absolutely Astounding!" Volteer proclaimed, "They weren't too much trouble for you all I hope?"
"Volteer, they can tell us about this later." Terrador told him, "They have had a long journey to Scalerun back and probably want to go and rest for a while."
"YES. WE WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE THAT." Flame panted.
Switches to Eclypse
"Alright then." Terrador agreed, "You should all head to your rooms and gets some rest. You still have classes tomorrow."
"Shit! I forgot the tournament starts tomorrow!" I thought
"Oh, and before I forget." Cyril said, "Spyro, Sparx is waiting for you in your room."
"Alright, thanks for telling me." Spyro thanked as we all headed inside the temple.
We walked towards the residential wing of the temple. No one spoke a word as we were exhausted from the past few days, and the flight back did not help whatsoever. On the way back, Equinox told us how she had managed to help with Umbrus's situation. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long until we get to see them again. We also talked about how we were going to find the hooded cheetah. We couldn't just put up wanted posters around the city, because if he knew we were looking for him, it would be even more difficult to find him.
Eventually, we decided we would talk to the Guardians about creating a scouting party to look for him. It would allow our group to continue fighting the Elementals without having to stop looking for him, and it wouldn't tell too many dragons about the situation.
"Eclypse!" Spyro yelled. I had been so lost in thought that I had almost completely passed by my room.
"Oops, sorry" I laughed, "I was distracted."
"It's fine." He told me, "I'll see you tomorrow."
I placed my hand on the stone tablet in front of me and the door slid away, revealing my room with Arc inside.
"Eclypse!" He exclaimed happily. He closed the book he was reading and got up, "You're back!"
"Yeah, got a new element while I was out. Equinox too." I laughed
"Seriously? Which one?" He asked me
I switched from Ice to Wind on my Draco Gear and focused on the book behind him. It rose off the ground and into my hands.
"Wind." I told him, "Not gonna lie, this is pretty fucking awesome." I began to spin the book around above my hand.
"Hey! Give that back!" Arc protested as he grabbed the book in his maw.
"So, anything happen while I was gone?" I asked him.
"Hmm, Notin muu." He mumbled through the book in his mouth. "Clases as nor'al." He put the book down on his bed. "So, how was the trip?"
"As much as I would like to tell you," I began, "I just flew around three hours while carrying a very heavy bag of supplies, right after defeating an army of Grublins, fighting two gods. So imam go to sleep if that's ok."
I flopped onto my bed and fell into a deep sleep right as my body hit the matress.
*Sings* School and Sports are making me lose my mind!I have no time for freakin anything! Anyway, how have you guys been? I know it's been a while, and I feel guilty about that, but once again school takes priority over the fic (Unfortunately). Also, if you haven't seen Zootopia yet, GO WATCH IT. OH MY GOD I WENT TO SEE IT WITH MY BEST FRIEND AND ITS AMAZING. Anyway, be sure to R/R! I'll be sure to get the next chapter out before the end of next year ^-^ (I'm joking of course, it'll be out in a week or two.)
-Eclypse