Chapter 54: Precipice
By Dardarax
Disclaimer: I, Dardarax, do not own Spyro, Cynder, the Temple, the Guardians, Warfang, the moon of Io, the city of Detroit, the concept of cupcakes, more than five muskrats, a nuclear reactor or any other character or place related to the Spyro Franchise. Though I do happen to know the names of the relevant muskrats, as well as the names of the characters who I do own that appear in this chapter. Their names (including the muskrats) are listed at the bottom.
Pain stung Typhous's back and he winced, shutting his eyes and clenching his jaw to keep from crying out.
Breathe. Just breathe. It'd be over soon.
The spike of agony faded, the jabbing at his back ceasing and finally Typhous relaxed, letting his breath loose as Vash pulled away. Glass clinked to the floor, stained red in the faint light of Vash's glowing spiral patterns.
"That's almost all of it," Vash said with a huff and a stretch. Typhous took only a second to peak behind him at the prince as he eased the stiffness out of his body, before returning his paws to Typhous's back once more, the grey dragon turning his eyes away just as quickly. The glow of blue dream magic resumed, easing the torn muscles in Typhous's back, beginning the healing again. "The Shade really went all out on you, didn't he?"
Typhous laughed and glanced away, fiddling with his paws as he spoke. "He had a lot to work with."
Silence fell with a clink among the shards, words not coming. Typhous breathed and shut his eyes, thinking, trying to find something to say to this new friend, his new confidant. A shiver ran through him, bringing a smile. Confidant. Someone he could actually talk to, who would understand him.
If only he could find the words.
Vash found them first.
"So… how long have you and Lyrith been-"
Typhous jolted upright, all but ignoring the splitting pain in his back as the glass shards still within cut him open. "We're not together!"
Vash's eyeridge raised and after a moment he continued. "…friends. How long have you two been friends? He doesn't seem your sort."
Typhous blinked, face ripening to a bright red sheen. "Oh. Sorry, just… um… a few months. After I told him what I was… um, I mean, my secret, we started spending some time together, just as friends."
Vash snorted and shook his head, not bothering to conceal his smirk. "I still can't believe you told Lyrith, yet somehow had trouble with me. I wouldn't want Lyrith to know that about me."
The grey wind drake chuckled, but it was dry of all humour.
"It was a… better time for me. For all of us. Calmer."
The smirk slipped from Vash's face, and a nod was his only response.
Typhous almost let the silence resume, but stopped it just in time.
"S-so, when did you and Sleet start… you know?"
Vash jolted up, blinking at the question. After a moment of pondering, he huffed and shrugged, his voice low.
"A few months." His paw dragged across the ground, to kick the bloody shards of glass away. "We… are taking things slow. That… that time you found us in the room, it was only our second time- and we weren't doing anything! Just… hanging out, having fun and… um… trying a bit of cuddling."
Grin widening, Typhous glanced over his shoulder to eye his gay friend's blazing face. Gay friend. That felt so good to say! Vash hunched at his grin, his blue glow getting a bit of a warm-pink tinge to it, though his sheepish smile did not fade.
"Is that all?" Typhous teased, a thrill rushing through him as he did. "No steamy book-reading sessions? No intimate math-alons between you and your little book-wyrm?"
Vash laughed, tension easing from his shoulders. "Oh, we had plenty of those. But I figured you'd be a bit… squeamish on hearing those, um, 'juicy' details."
Typhous gasped, claw raised to his forehead, wobbling from side to side. "Oh! Such a scandal! And from the Prince of Dreams!? I might just faint!"
The dream drake snorted and gave Typhous a shove, only for both to very suddenly remember there was still glass embedded in Typhous back.
And now, in Vash's paws.
Laughter gave way to two pained gasps and a few muttered curses as Vash quickly got back to work.
Through teary eyes, Typhous slowly looked back up, his breath returning to him as the pain faded once more.
"But yeah, I figured. You two don't strike me the type to jump to that sort of thing. Not as bold as Lyrith or Tirren are, clearly."
"You can say that again," Vash said with a grunt, plucking the last of the glass from Typhous's back, "seriously, what were they thinking?"
Typhous rolled his eyes. "I don't think they were. Too busy flirting and getting drunk. They certainly didn't think about the after. It takes hours to wash grass and mud stains out fully."
Vash blinked at that. "That's… not the after problem I was thinking about."
"Clearly you haven't ever needed to, Mr. Stainless-blue-black-scales. With dark scales like that you can barely ever wash and still look fabulous."
"You know flattery doesn't work on me, Ty."
"Flattery? I just implied you're secretly filthy!"
That set Vash aback, the dream dragon having to stop what he was doing entirely to take Typhous's grin in. "... point taken."
Talk descended into more laughter, the dark around them seeming to fade, for just a moment, as all the horrors of the past month finally seemed to give way.
It lasted all of three minutes.
Vash's light dimming was all the warning they had, before pain tore through Typhous's head, like the ceiling off a building.
Which was precisely what just happened.
Through tear stung eyes Typhous stared, ears ringing from the sound of his own scream as darkness filled the sky, lit by two eyes of blazing unholy light.
The Shade's voice shattered every mirror in the labyrinth.
"Die."
The faces were the worst part of the whole thing. More than even the rattling noise, the constant surprise attacks and the staggering number of blades that these monsters carried.
Yet none of it, none of it, hurt as much as when Sleet tore the head off the love of his life, over and over and over, Vash's mannequins somehow always finding their way to him and him alone. And it never got easier.
Sleet staggered over the remains of 'Vash', only to stumble as a distressingly accurate mannequin Tirren, struck him across the side, its claws scraping his armour. The armour Vash gave him. Snow shot from Sleet's nose and he spun, to glaze everything in rime.
Everything froze, quite literally, as the atmospheric temperature dropped several hundred degrees around the horde of mannequins, coating them all in frost and sending them crashing to the ground.
Voltlyn let out a relieved sigh from behind him, in the only small patch of ground untouched by Sleet's cold.
"How many more are there?" she asked, stepping into Sleet's sight as he took a moment to catch his breath, steam filling the air between them.
"I lost count five rooms ago," Sleet admitted with a chuckle, shrugging, "it was getting a bit too distracting, though I was up to three hundred…"
Voltlyn shuddered "Two hundred and ninety nine too many."
Sleet almost let that one slide, but his budding snark got the better of him. "Wait… so you wanted to kill just one, then?" Sleet glanced her way, eyeridge raised, jokingly.
She jumped, blushed, then glared. "Well… no!"
A chuckle rattled in Sleet's throat, only to fall away, as the surviving mannequins fell into the darkness, plunging from sight in a way that they had never done before.
Oh... that couldn't be good.
He and Voltlyn shared a glance and a gulp.
Time to get moving.
In a flash, they were down the hall, leaping over the rubble, relics and displays, towards the anchor ahead.
Then they came.
From the same shadows as the mannequins, new creatures, horrors of flesh, steel and stone rose. Not creatures naturally formed, more akin to grublins but with metal grafted to-
A spear shrieked through the air, straight at Sleet's face. With a yelp he ducked, just in time, the spear speeding past his central horn to strike the stone behind with a spray of sparks and stone chips.
Oh. And they were much, much stronger too.
Not good. Very not good.
Neither Sleet nor Voltlyn slowed, not willing to grant the creatures that luxury. Lightning flashed first, with a crack and boom over Sleet's shoulder, to blast the shield from the hand of the lead monster. Opening up just enough of a gap for Sleet's ice-spear to slip through and impale the creature.
And then the one behind it.
And the one behind that.
The line of creatures ahead of them buckled, the phalanx they were forming dissolving into chaos as they were forced to fill the crack in their line. Giving Sleet and Voltlyn just the time they needed to unfurl their wings and take off, soaring over the line of creatures, into the chamber, towards the anchor.
And straight into a bank of archers.
Sleet gasped and called upon his magic, trying desperately to form a barrier of ice between them and the arrows.
He wasn't quite fast enough.
Arrows sped through the gap in the ice he created, half slipping through.
Sleet and Voltlyn buckled mid-air, the force of the wood and steel bolts driving the air from their lungs as the arrows hammered against armour and scale, bruising and cutting and piercing.
Pain shot through Sleet's wings and he gasped, not needing to glance to the side to see the ruin the arrows had wreaked upon his sails.
Bows were dropped in favour of spears as Sleet and Voltlyn began to tumble from the sky, down, down towards the stone floor and the forest of upturned spears below.
They were going to die! They were going to die!
Mind reeling, Sleet raced through the calculations, a dozen different deaths, all equally gruesome speeding through his mind.
Quick thinking saved them. Barely.
With a gulp and a pull upon his core, Sleet spat a torrent of liquid ice upon the ground and over the front line of spearmen, creating a glistening ramp of slick ice for them to not-so-gracefully land upon and slide over. They tumbled, up and over the slick ridge, then over the spearmen, to land, with a perhaps a bit more force than Sleet calculated in the center of the room and behind the line of archers.
Considering his wings weren't broken, Sleet took this as a victory. Even if a small one.
The odds it would happen were pretty high after all.
With a grunt Sleet flipped onto his paws and glanced to Voltlyn, and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her wings splayed in a completely natural, unshattered way.
That moment of relief was all he had a chance to enjoy, as the spearmen finished turning and charged.
This time his ice wall was perfectly timed. Ice sprang up from the ground, forming faster than the creatures could clear it, trapping their leveled spears within glittering crystalized water. Sleet turned his head, and the ice circled around them, following his exhaled breath, until the whole room was split in two, trapping the monsters on the other side of the barrier.
But if Sleet had learned anything from this, it was that they wouldn't stay behind there for long.
"Okay, that should've bought us a minute at most, come on Volt, we need to- Voltlyn?"
Halfway through turning, Sleet paused, his heart leaping, mouth going dry as he watched Voltlyn struggle to her paws, her legs shaking, body hunched over, panting for each breath.
Oh no. No no no! Sleet rushed over and looked her over, looking for anything broken. Not now! They didn't have time!
Voltlyn hissed, easing her left-back paw down. No serious cuts, bruising but nothing they hadn't already endured before. No screaming pain. A sprain, probably.
"I don't know how much longer I can go on, Sleet."
Sleet's heart somersaulted, tumbling deeper into his gut as Voltlyn struggled to even get the words out, her breath as ragged and tattered as her smile.
Sleet swallowed, trying to find words, something he could say to help her. Keep her moving. Keep her spirits strong.
Because there was no being left behind. Not here.
Then, a laugh eased his mind and settled his heart, her somber expression turning soft.
"But I still have a bit left in me!" She said with a swing of her paw and a grin that was almost like the one he'd grown so fond of. The brilliant, sweet smile she'd graced their group with, these last few months.
Jaw set, Sleet nodded, smiling back with all the enthusiasm he could muster. He would see that smile again. They all would. They had to.
"Great, then let's finish this up quick," Sleet replied, then glanced over his shoulder, "shouldn't be hard. We've only got…" he eyed the dozen or more anchors that crisscrossed the distant sky and tried not to let his heart fall, "a few left to go."
Voltlyn started to reply, only for the ice wall to crack and the beat of a hundred wings to cause both students to flinch.
Okay, lighthearted banter was over! Back to fighting for their lives!
With a spin Sleet looked down the hall ahead of them, and the anchor just barely visible within. A single breath laid a carpet of ice all the way down the corridor.
A second turned the barrier he'd created into a weapon.
The beasts trying to climb over found the icy handholds turned into blades of ice, the whole wall transformed. They had no time to react. The ice wall exploded, hurling the blades in a wave towards them, instantly shredding those clinging to the wall and tearing the rest of the horde apart.
Still, too many escaped. Metal plating and the bodies of their own allies shielding them. But it was enough.
It had to be enough.
"Go!"
With a leap Sleet leapt onto the slick ice and skated his way down the hall, dragging Voltlyn along with him and guiding her across the ice with magic and a tail coiled around her foreleg.
The twang of bowstrings and the scrape of arrow against bow was the only warning Sleet had of the ambush.
Ice rose off the slick ground, catching most of the arrows as the two skidded to a stop. On each side a crowd of archers drew back a second volley, jagged iron-tipped shafts trained upon Sleet as he spun, wide eyed, to look the creature's in the face.
As one they grinned, teeth of iron nails and knives bared as their bowstrings touched cheek.
How many more times could they take this?
"Sleet! Get down!"
A tingling force pulled Sleet's armour, and by proxy himself, down, against the ground and Voltlyn, just as the arrows flew.
And swerved, above his head, to clatter against the dark metal of the anchor.
Where they stuck.
Everyone blinked, the creatures all staring at the quivering bushel of arrows that was the anchor, unbroken yet barely visible beneath the wood, steel and feathers.
Only for a lash of lightning to tear the bows from the hands of the first of the creatures.
Oh. Magnetism! Nice, Voltlyn!
Beaming, Sleet turned to take care of the other side, ice claiming their bows.
Voltlyn stumbled, her lightning-whip dance fumbling after the third lash, though enough damage had been done that efficiency no longer mattered. After all, the bows of half the creatures now sizzled on the ground.
If only they didn't have swords.
Steel on leather rang through the air as the monsters charged, howling, blades raised. At least they were easy to deal with up clo-
Arrows came from above, smashing Sleet back to the ground, marring helm and horn as the bolts streaked by.
Not good!
Winged archers soared past, arrows knocked as they made for another pass, even as the creatures below leapt across the distance, closing in like a shrinking ring of thorn and blade.
No escape.
Everything slowed, Sleet's heartbeat growing louder and louder in his ears, until even the thundering footsteps of the creatures vanished.
No. Please no. Not here, not like this.
He and Vash hadn't even really been together yet. They'd only just opened themselves up, started dating!
There was so much they had left to do!
Sparks.
Sleet's turned, with agonizing slowness, to look at Voltlyn.
Who rose into the air, carried by the glow of lightning.
Their gazes met and Voltlyn smiled as her eyes were overwhelmed by the crackle of electricity, her blue eyes now yellow pits of energy.
The creatures tried to turn, tried to escape against the throng of their own bodies, their own momentum.
And in the split second Voltlyn gave him before here Fury was released, Sleet gasped and called a dome of ice into being around him.
Then everything flashed white.
Igneous ached.
Muscles burned as he tore through the shattered halls of Savron's mind, fire and claw clearing a path through the body-choked air between him and the anchors. His wings barely held him aloft, his tattered sails throbbing in time with the burn in his shoulders that grew just a bit worse with every flap.
His breath came ragged, throat raw, chest tight, each gasp inward a struggle to fuel his fire, to keep it and him going. But he did. And would continue to do so, until he'd saved Sav.
Nothing was going to stop him.
With a bellow he careened around a corner and slammed into the line of armoured abominations, smashing into them with all the force and flame of an asteroid.
Bodies flew in all directions, charred pieces falling to clatter against his armour. Pain shot through him, but he bit his muzzle, inhaled and let the flame wheeze out.
It flickered, its blue tinge faint, but still there.
He still had it.
Though only because he was in the dreamscape.
Moaning, he forced himself forward, his fangs grit, ignoring the ache of his everything.
Didn't matter. None of it did. Not compared to saving Savron. Not compared to what he was going through. It didn't matter what the Shade threw at him, he was going to push through until the monster broke. He was going to save his friends.
No matter what it took.
The abominations rushed in from all sides, shields raised against his fire, their spears lowered.
His red-hot claws dug molten furrows through the stone. Smoke billowed from his nostrils as his legs bunched, wings unfurled. Fire lifted him skyward, above the charge, the flame forcing them back.
Then they came from the sky, winged terrors bearing down on him with blades and bludgeons.
He'd faced worse. With a choked roar, Igneous launched himself into their ranks, cloaked once more in fire, burning all in his way to cinders.
Arrows and spears glanced off him, battering and nicking, but not stopping him. They only added more pain, more anger for what they'd done to him and his friends.
The Shade would pay. And nothing would stop him from bringing in that payment, with compound fracture interest.
Through the smoke and crumbling walls a chain emerged, hidden behind a cloak of storm, a tornado of dark magic that descended from the sky, to protect the chain from harm. Along with a legion of monsters surrounding it. A barricade of steel plate, reinforced wood an iron-tipped pikes between him and Savron's salvation.
Igneous threw himself into it with a howl, knocking spears aside with talon and horn, breaking their fortifications open with a lowered head and a charge.
He landed amongst them with another explosion of fire. Pain lanced into his chest, his lungs compressing, heart faltering. His old wound flared up once more.
Dammit! Not now. Wait until he had a moment to rest first, you stupid useless body!
The ground jolted, quaking. Then Igneous heard it; the distant wail that accompanied the crumbling rock and stone of the mindscape.
Savron.
Igneous's fangs clenched and shut his eyes. Hold on. Iggy was coming. He was almost there.
Just another anchor to go.
And then another.
And another.
The monsters regrouped, shrieking battle cries and Igneous's eyes snapped open, to glare their way. At the monsters keeping him from getting to Sav, from saving him.
The worst sort of monster.
He'd make them pay. For hurting Sav. For hurting his friends. For driving them all apart.
It was time Igneous stepped up and did what he had to. What needed to be done.
These creatures would get no mercy from him.
His breath pained, he inhaled and then spat liquid flame once more, setting them all ablaze.
Arrows rained down, tearing into his wings, battering him to the floor. Fire solved that too, burning the shafts and those that fired them, burning them until the cinders of their corpses tumbled down into the dancing shadows his flame cast.
The abominations broke, for just a moment, before reforming yet again, refusing to just die.
The shield wall bent allowing Igneous through their lines, only to snap closed around him, surrounding him once more.
They didn't learn.
Good.
Smoke billowed in all directions, Igneous letting loose with a smog-spluttering spin. The smoke became fire a moment later as, in the confusion, Igneous lifted off, concealed from the arrows and fliers above in the cloud, only to spit a fireball straight down.
It wasn't his biggest blast. But it was enough.
Smoke swirled, caught in the draft of his wings as he lurched upwards, erupting from the smog in a wreath of fire, straight for the anchor.
Below the creatures reformed, their formation scattered, while the archers above tried to adjust their aim.
Too late. They wouldn't stop him in time.
Only they didn't have to.
Light dimmed, a shadow flitting overhead. A big one.
Igneous's eyes widened, his breath grating his lungs. Oh, that couldn't be good.
He banked just in time, swerving, wings flared, smoke billowing to cover his retreat. A second later, the whistle of something huge rushed by, churning the smoke.
Okay, that was new. Was it the Shade coming in per-
Smoke cleared, driven by a great wind, forcing him back. His eyes widened, jaw falling slack as he stared upwards, into the face of the almost serpentine dragoness before him, the flash of her claws and the gleam of her manacles the only light upon the ebon-black and blood red of her hide.
Oh. Fuck.
The Terror of the Skies shrieked and lunged.
Then everything was a blur.
Up and down Igneous weaved, between her talons and through the curl of her lashing tail. Trying to get away, anywhere from the reach of her claws.
He wasn't fast enough.
Something buffeted him from the side, armour screeching as he involuntarily changed directions, straight towards the ground.
Over the crash of his armour on stone, the ringing of his head and the roar of monsters, one sound reverberated through Igneous.
Snap.
Aching numbness rolled through him, over his back, through his right wing, adding to the ringing of his ears, the lightness of his head.
The march of footsteps dulled until the thump of his heart overpowered the advance of the monsters, dwarfed the landing of the Terror of the Skies and a second, smaller figure beside her, barely his size.
Move. Igneous gritted his fangs. Move.
He did.
And that's when it hit him.
Agony split his wing, shooting through his back and slamming into his stomach, which roiled from the hit. He stumbled, claws scraping on the ground as he slumped back down, back onto his limp wing.
The pain only got worse.
Bile surged, burning his throat, scorching his taste buds sickly sour as his vision blurred.
Damnit. Damnit damnit damnit!
The monsters smirked as they encircled him, crooked fangs agleam, the shadows of Spyro and Cynder smirking as they raised their claws high.
No. Not like this. He hadn't fulfilled his promise. He hadn't saved Savron, or his friends. He hadn't shown them what he could do. That he wasn't worthless. That he wasn't just Savron's shadow, sticking to his side and mimicking his every move.
He hadn't burned bright enough yet.
These monsters would make good tinder, though.
With a shuddering breath, Igneous inhaled and breathed inferno.
It wasn't enough. They jumped back, they snarled and hissed, but they did not burn. With a smoking snarl, Igneous inhaled, rising to his shaking claws, dug past the tightness of his chest and difficulty breathing, past the pain in his back and the churning of his stomach and drew out everything.
When he breathed next, he breathed holocaust.
Through smoke and flame he could see nothing, but their howls reached him through the roar of the firestorm and the ringing of his ears. And it sounded good. All the bastards hurting Savron, hurting him, his friends, were burning. Justice finally served.
Ice froze the smile on his face.
Flames dimmed as a gale of ice, snow and hail beat back his flame, walls of ice melting and reforming as fast as he could burn them. And behind the crystalline structure, faces refracted a hundredfold, Spyro and Cynder smirked, waiting, watching as their forces burned around them, safe behind the purple's ever-forming barrier.
And just like that, Igneous's breath failed, the pressure in his chest too great to bear.
He staggered, mouth agape, trying to breathe but finding his lungs wouldn't listen, his throat was closed off, chest squeezed too tight. His old wound, his scar throbbed.
Everything swam, eyes stinging from lack of air and the rising smoke and ash that was all that remained of the horde of monsters. Igneous barely found strength to blink as the ice wall fell and the Terror of the Skies slithered forward, her sickly-thin body crouched low, claws tearing stone, muscles coiled like springs, in preparation to pounce. While behind her, Spyro, barely more than a child, strutted, a bounce to his step, ice glistening on his snout and over his purple scales, his too-cheerful eyes never leaving Igneous.
Breathe. Igneous commanded himself. You have to breathe. Shadows touched the corner of his eyes, neither natural, nor born by the monsters before him. Probably his lack of air. You can only fight if you breathe.
His mouth opened and finally he wheezed in a breath of air.
It was too late and too little.
Cynder inhaled, fire flickering in her throat.
And all Igneous could do was wonder when Cynder could ever use fire, before it rushed towards him, heat at his front, and Spyro's cold at his back.
And all at once, the world fell away into darkness. And fell. And fell.
Until he wasn't falling anymore, but rising.
With a cry that was little more than a squeak - all that remained in his lungs-, he lurched out of the shadows and fell in an agonized, wing torn heap on the ground in a dark corner of the museum, dragged free by a grunting, panting, but familiar figure.
"D-Danrah?" Igneous wheezed, every breath pain, every movement a dagger to his back.
Purple eyes turned as the shadows closed behind them, lightening the room slightly, but only slightly. Her tiny smile added a bit more light to it, a relieved glow to her eyes. "Oh thank the ancestors you're alright," her eyes caught his limp, bent wing and she flinched, "or, well, not dead."
It was painful to laugh, but Igneous did it anyway, relief flooding through him. "Yep. That's me. Not dead. Barely."
"You look like it."
Laughter faded, mercifully and with tear stung eyes Igneous looked her way, each word a struggle. "How did you find…" he paused halfway through the question, and blinked. "Oh. My firestorm."
"Yeah, it was rather hard to not see that."
Igneous smiled, but opted not to laugh this time. "Thanks… For saving me."
"No problem. Glad I got there in time. I was planning on ambushing them once the fire faded buuuuut…"
"Probably for the best… that we didn't tangle with… them… head on."
Danrah nodded. "Especially with you like that. Speaking of which…" Danrah opened one of the pouches on her flank and produced several crystals, green and red glistening in her paw. Igneous's smile eased as Danrah continued. "Not sure how well they'll deal with the wing, but it's better than nothing."
Nodding, Igneous took them, along with the last few remaining that Vash had given him, and savoured them as he crunched them between his fangs.
The pain eased, but his wing still flopped at his side.
"About what I thought," Danrah mused with a sigh. She glanced up, and around, then hissed into the shadows. "Vash, you there? Can you fix this?"
Igneous blinked and looked around. No answer came.
Danrah huffed and stomped her claw, muttering. "Still not here. I hope…" her words wavered, "I hope he's alright."
"I think, considering his power, he's probably doing better than any of us."
The shadow princess's smile twitched, but did not shine so bright any longer. "I don't know. He can be an idiot sometimes. Jumping in way over his head."
"I think, at this point we're all pretty guilty of that."
Her smile returned. "Fair point."
Slowly, painstakingly, Igneous rose to his claws. The ground shook again, rocking, accompanied by a distant, heartrending scream. Igneous shut his eyes and focused only on keeping upright. Not on the voice. Not on who it belonged to. Not on what he must be going through.
Movement beside him drew his gaze, a strange softness encompassing his wing, which stung and jolted with pain at the touch. Eyes tearing, he glanced Danrah's way and blinked in surprise.
Eyes focused, she exhaled a drift of shadow onto his wing, dark fire coalescing around it, forming a shadowy brace, a cast that held his wing tight to his side, numbing the pain with clinging shadow-flame.
He inhaled sharply, breath finally returning to him. "That's… how did you?"
She glanced his way, eyes glistening knowingly. "A trick I learned from dad. We…" her eyes dimmed, head drooping, her gaze cast low. "I'm not really a warrior. No true shadow royalty is. It's not our place. We master shadow magic, but not how to fight with it. But rather its spiritual significance and all the forms it can take and how to use it to help others." Her smile returned, faintly. "Of course I learned a bit of how to fight anyway. Because why not? But… compared to you?" She shook her head and sighed. "You're stronger than I am, Igneous. So supporting you is the best possible way for me to contribute. Besides getting us around, of course." She stepped back and overlooked her cast, nodding slowly before meeting his gaze.
"Just… don't keep getting hurt like this. I can only maintain so many shadow-constructs before I drop."
Igneous nodded, his expression set. Of course, he had enough of being injured lately.
Danrah opened her mouth to reply, smiling, only for another quake to silence her, the distant wail of pain causing both her and Igneous to flinch.
"W-we need to find the others," she said, swallowing, "it's the only way we have a chance against-"
A terrible shriek rent the sky, accompanied by the sound of vast wings beating.
Both Igneous and Danrah gulped in unison.
"Them."
"Right. But how are we supposed to find-"
Thunder clapped, shaking dust and debris, rattling sky and floor alike. Igneous's head snapped in its direction, pulling only slightly on his wing in the process. Danrah followed suit a half-second later.
The thunder was echoed again, as the second and final flash of lightning was accompanied by an equally vast boom. The whole skyline lit up by the storm, whose fury was condensed into a single point that burned Igneous's retinas.
Well, that answered their question.
Without a word, they stepped into Danrah's shadow.
Convexity met Earth over the broken swampland.
And Convexity won.
The world spun as Tirren hit the ground, her fury-forged stone armour barely absorbing the blaze of violet flame that struck her down.
Oh ancestors that hurt!
Snarling, Tirren dragged herself to her paws, only for another blast of convexity to send her careening into the undergrowth and through a tree.
This was not how it was supposed to go.
Her vision spinning, Tirren watched as the Shade advanced, through the smoke and mud, ablaze with dark light. Violet magic poured off him in waves, incinerating the grass around him, turning it all to dust and stone.
Stone her magic could not reach.
Her volley of earth bombs never reached him, the volatile green magic exploding mid-air against a shimmering amethyst wall.
Like a handful of pebbles against a cliff-face.
It had all happened so fast.
Through her fury, Tirren reached into the mud and earth below and pulled. From beneath the Shade stone spikes sprang, aiming for each of his limbs.
They never even penetrated his scales, stone disintegrating an inch from his hide.
This was supposed to be her comeback!
Claws digging furrows in the earth, Tirren leapt to her paws and charged, head lowered, bringing the full avalanche of her might upon him.
Only for him to swat her away with a snort and a blast of convexity.
This was supposed to be her chance to turn the tide.
So why couldn't she touch him!?
She rolled with the hit, through the muck and grime, her stone armour regenerating as mud and pebbles collected on her body.
And the rumble of her fury quieted to a groan.
No. No! She wasn't done yet! She still had fight in her!
Even if only a few more minutes at most.
A swipe of her paw tore the ground apart, hurling it in a shower of mud-spikes at his side.
He blocked it, but the splatter of the mud against the barrier, blocking his vision, gave Tirren just enough time to breathe, then exhale.
With a snarl he lowered the barrier, for just an instant, so the mud would fall and he could see once more.
Allowing the earthbomb she just spat to sail through.
It detonated with a shower of dirt, mud and pebbles formed from the magic, filling his contained bubble of convexity with shrapnel and debris.
If only that was enough.
Tirren snarled, fangs bared as the barrier wobbled, but righted itself, the dust clearing to show Savron, glowering within, bloodied by otherwise unharmed, the scrapes and bruises vanishing to the pink-green glow of fairy magic.
Every little bit helped, Tirren told herself, again, wishing she believed it.
It had to.
Violet light shone and Tirren rolled, as another blast screamed through the air past her, annihilating the tree behind her and scything through two more. He turned his head to follow her dodge, cutting a swath through the forest, narrowly missing her.
Mushroom trees fell with a crash to the frost-caked mud, giving Tirren just enough cover to leap out of view and race further into the swamp, away from the helpless bodies of her friends, leading the raging, snarling, cursing monster astray.
Tirren dove behind a boulder for cover.
It exploded, convexity drilling straight through it.
Pain. Scorching, searing pain flashed before Tirren's eye as she was hurled to the mud, howling, a leg burned by violet flame and torn by stone shrapnel.
Damnit! Damnit damnit damnit! Breath tearing her throat, she hauled herself up, ignoring the limp, ignoring the pain, and ignoring how everything spun around her.
A plan. She needed a plan!
The Shade came out of nowhere, a burning claw raised.
Once more everything spun, blurring together as the ringing in her ears rose to a crescendo. Mercifully the pain waited to split her side until after Tirren struck the ground, starting slow and swelling until it threatened to tear her in half.
Broken rib. Has to be. Tirren rolled to her paws, only to gasp sharply, her paws failing beneath her. No, two. Definitely two.
The Shade's unbearable voice worked its way through the ringing of her ears and the throb of her head, as he came into view above her.
"I told him I would do all I could to keep you alive, you know that? I swore. But Savron simply wouldn't let me."
Tirren wished she could laugh. But it hurt too much to do so, each breath tearing her lungs apart.
The Shade snorted and lashed out, kicking her side. Any humour at the Shade's bullshit disappeared into the encroaching darkness, the escape from the pain.
It'd be so easy. Just slip in and it'd end. The pain, the fight… no! Tirren jerked back from those thoughts, holding onto the pain, the taste of blood, the feel of the disgusting mud. This was not where she'd die! Not lying in the mud failing to save the others! No, if she were to die, it'd be on her paws fighting.
Ignoring the Shade's chuckle at her wobbling legs, Tirren stood and drew in a breath. Their eyes locked and his sneer slowly faded.
Tirren's pained roar was pathetic, her attack more so. The groan of her fury weakened as yet another boulder hurled from her maw, smaller than the last. Convexity reduced it to a heap of pebbles before it ever reached him.
In an instant the Shade was upon her, fangs of smoking violet tearing into her stone scale, his claws ripping dirt armour and cracking rib. Through the pain she tried to fight, tried to push away, yet the strength would not come. Her thundering avalanche dwindled to a roll. Enough power to keep her steady, but nothing more.
It took all her strength to keep upright, braced against him, pushed back paw-step by paw-step, enduring each strike so as not to topple, to expose her belly to him again.
Her paws touched rock, one of the boulders her power had called up long ago. Tirren braced, ready to counter with her footing found.
She wasn't even given that, as he opened his maw and all her hopes disintegrated in the beam of convexity that follow.
For what had to be the thousandth time she struck the ground. Her broken ribs pierced and cut her insides as she rolled, digging deeper and deeper until she finally hit a tree and stopped, the pain nearly dragging her into the darkness completely.
And when the light returned her legs would not move, paws grasping the muck with feeble talons.
No. Get up.
Just get up!
"Just… stay… down…" the Shade panted, emphasizing each word with a kick.
Stone scale broke and her stalwart mask went with it.
Her scream rattled stone as her ribs gave way, and the jagged shards of bone dug deep.
Something inside her burst and it suddenly became very hard to breathe.
"Finally." He growled, his visage blurred through in her blood and tears.
From a great distance Tirren watched him move atop her, his claws dug into scale once more, his fangs brushing her neck.
"You could have lived," the Shade said,his breath hot on her neck as he pulled away the plates of stone there, "had you submitted. You could have escaped that too, had Savron. Just remember all your death did was drag things on."
Breath came short, coughs splattering blood on his neck. No. Not. Like. This.
Finally her paws responded, answering his ultimatum with a retort of her own. Power jolted through her leg as her claw met his face.
He staggered back, cursing, but it was all the room she needed. With a gasp she called upon her fury and once more sealed herself inside a protective shell of stone and dirt, too small for him to shadow jump in, too dense for him to destroy in a single blast.
Too feeble for her to use it to fight.
He said something out there, calling her a coward, laughing at her attempt to escape, but Tirren ignored it. She pushed it aside as her mind clawed its way up the rapidly crumbling cliff-face of her consciousness, trying not to fall into the abyss of darkness her body so desperately wanted to succumb to.
There had to be something she could do. Some way to bring the fight back in her favour.
Nothing was hopeless. She could do something, anything, to help the others with their fight.
Even if it meant this would be her last.
Tirren swallowed, tasting blood.
If she couldn't overpower him. Then there was only one way to get through his guard.
Her fury drifted, the tumbling boulders of her magic settling, until only the scattered dregs of the avalanche rolled on.
Barely enough power to keep her armour up. Barely enough to move a couple of boulders.
But it would have to do.
Ignoring the tear of her ribs, her hacking cough and the tremble of her legs, Tirren let the boulder crumble and absorbed it into her stone armour, bolstering it. The Shade, halfway through charging a blast of Convexity, raised an amused eyeridge as she breathed, then charged, singing a warbling battlecry.
He rolled his eyes and adjusted his aim.
Tirren didn't stop, not as convexity slammed into her, stripping her of the last of her armour and burning her scales. She did not stop not as he raised a barrier to halt her charge.
With the last of her breath she roared, lunging at the barrier.
She pulled on the fury, dragging out the last of her power.
And held it back.
The glow around her died and her trembling paw bounced off of the purple barrier with a tap, not even a crack grazing its surface.
All her momentum collapsed, her body crumpling against the ward, pain flaring as her broken form crashed against the immovable barrier.
She almost blacked out there.
Sagging, she slumped to the ground, eyes fallen, fixed to the mud as he stared.
And did precisely what she knew he'd do.
Laugh.
"And thus your rebellion ends," the Shade said, with a shake of his head.
Around him the barrier fell, violet magic dissipating with a hiss as he stepped through and-
Kick. Tirren buckled, body rolling with the force of his blow, darkness closing in fast.
"An impressive display," he continued, as he came to a stop above her and reached down, closing his claws around her throat, talons drawing blood. "But not nearly enough."
He leaned in close, smirking, until their snouts touched.
"For that, I will give you the honour of having final words. What message, should I give to Savron and the others?"
Slowly Tirren looked up, and met his gaze.
"Surprise."
Her eyes flashed green and all her fury erupted forth at once.
Mud and dirt sprayed in every direction, Tirren hurled bodily away from the point of detonation, to land limp a meter distant from the crater her magic had created.
That had to do it. Tirren thought, as she struggled to keep her eyes open, the pain dragging her towards the abyss.
That had to be enough.
The smoke cleared and her heart plummeted.
As within the crater, the Shade rose.
There was barely time to leap away as the Shade's paw crashed into the glass floor.
There was absolutely no time to avoid the shockwave of convexity that followed.
Numbing pain battered Typhous against a wall, where he writhed upon the floor of broken glass. Convexity poured in waves through the corridor, drowning the wind dragon, soaking into scale and blood. Through swimming eyes Typhous watched as the fringes of his wings changed, stone creeping along the edges of his membrane, then his scale, his body petrifying before his very eyes.
Azure light split through the Shade's violet night, dream magic damming the hallway, halting the flow of eldritch power.
Broken mirrors split and crumbled, the walls of the hallway disintegrating as the blast was diverted elsewhere. The pain renewed, tearing Typhous's head apart and in desperation he clutched it, curling into a ball.
That only made everything worse.
Typhous's petrified flesh split open, stone cracking and crumbling, to expose raw nerve.
Vash said something, but the ringing of Typhous's head turned everything he said to gibberish. Glass splintered, to dig more shards of pain into Typhous's head as the Shade shouldered his way into the hall, battering walls aside with each stride. The translucent blue barrier lit up with maroon undertones, until the blue magic faded to near nothingness.
Warmth encompassed Typhous, dragged him up, back to his paws. The world spun, a whirlwind of pain and scattered thoughts. Stone-flesh cracked and split as Vash pulled Typhous close. Voice indistinct, Vash cursed and began hauling Typhous away, the movement of his paws finally bringing the wind dragon back to reality.
Together they pushed through the dark halls, picking up speed until everything blurred past. Each stride split stone-flesh, sending tremors through Typhous. But there was no time to stop, to even whimper. They had to run. They had to run.
The barrier fell and with a roar the Shade poured through the hall after them, a tide of shadow and violet rage made manifest.
Blockade after wall after cobbled fence was thrown in the monster's path, but none did more than slow it for mere seconds before it burst through and resumed the chase.
Through twisted corridors and shattered halls they ran, Typhous barely able to focus on setting one paw in front of the other, let alone search for a way out.
Darkness broke, light bounding from the mirrors to cut right to the eye, as sharp as the broken glass underpaw. Halls of glass gave way to rooms of mirror and crystal, furniture, paintings and trinkets soon smashed as the Shade burst through the walls, convexity turning all to dust.
Stumbling at Vash's side, Typhous could do nothing but run and endure, chest heaving with each gasp as Vash muttered alongside him.
"Where… would they… be… think… always attached to… insecurities… look for Savron… look for-"
From out of the walls the corpses of their friends poured, desiccated carcasses armoured in broken glass and twisted metal spikes. Their eyes burning violet, they charged, their howls like nails upon cold glass.
Vash cursed and slammed his paws down, dragging Typhous to a standstill. Blue power encircled them, warding them from the razor claws of Lyrith and the countless familiar monsters behind him.
There was only a moment to breathe, before convexity smashed against the barrier's side, to encompass it in a spiderweb of cracks.
With a groan, Typhous glanced to all sides, eyes seeking some escape, somewhere they might go. But he found none. Abominations encircled them, pacing the edge of the barrier, claws raking, tails pounding it, probing for weaknesses as the Shade strode in, muzzle smoking violet.
Through the pounding of his head Typhous tried to think, but nothing would come, bleeding through the holes cut in his memory. Without forward motion, everything began to spin, all the pain and exhaustion finally catching up to him. He blinked, forcing himself to focus, to at least keep his vision from blurring. What were they going to do?
"Ty, I need you to trust me."
Typhous blinked and turned to Vash blearily. Their eyes met, Vash's hazel gaze barely visible through the mist clouding Typhous's vision.
"I'll hold them off. I can keep them here for a few minutes. Go, find the anchor and break it."
"But I can barely-"
"Right. Here."
There was time only to gasp as Vash turned and crammed a fist-sized life crystal into Ty's face. Typhous stumbled back, whimpering through the stone as Vash seized hold of him and gestured down a hall.
"Go there. It'll lead you to them. Now RUN!"
The barrier fell and the crowd rushed in. Vash gave no room for objection as, with a glow of azure, Typhous was lifted up and hurled over the horde into the distant hall.
This floor was, unfortunately, covered in yet more of Typhous's bane: glass shards. Pain shot through Typhous as he hit the ground at a roll, skidding into a mirrored wall. Thankfully the petrified surface of Typhous's scales proved some small boon, warding away much of the glass. The life crystal handled the rest.
The rippling of Typhous's vision settled, though thought would not return, his head still throbbing. Pain flared again, for just a moment, as the walls crashed together behind him, the passage back to Vash sealing shut, leaving Typhous once more in darkness.
It was difficult to stand, but he didn't let that stop him, not the trembling of his legs or the slash of pain across every inch of his scales. His eyes searched his body in the mirror's reflection, watching as the cuts and split stone of his scales slowly heal over as the swallowed crystal took effect. Fighting with these injuries wouldn't be fun, but at least he probably could now.
Through the thick crystal of the wall, distant roars sounded to the beat of claws on scale and magic against body. Typhous's fangs bared and he let loose an undignified snort. Vash had trusted everything to him. Break the anchor… it was the only way to end the Shade's influence, that was what Vash had implied, right? The only way to escape his mind and help Savron.
There wasn't a worse choice of dragon to entrust with that. None weaker, or more pathetic.
Even still, Typhous wouldn't let Vash down.
He charged down the hall, wind propelling him the whole way.
From the walls stepped more monsters, but they didn't so much as slow Typhous, who weaved through their net of claws and blades. Running not away from his destiny, but towards it.
He was coming, Sav. Just wait a bit longer.
The light of the hall warmed to an amethyst glow and Typhous alighted upon the chamber's threshold. One glance inside set his face ablaze. Oh… bugger. This was his secret obsession room, wasn't it?
Well, there was no turning back now. With a deep breath he stepped inside.
Eyes searching, he scoured the chamber for any sign of the anchors. Not so much as glancing at all the images of Savron, of the secret thoughts he'd harboured, the fantasizes or the dreams.
Not so much as a single peek.
It didn't take long to find it.
Embedded in the deepest, darkest corner of the chamber was a single anchor. Guarded by Savron.
Typhous bit his muzzle.
'Savron' sneered and sauntered forward, his muzzle peeled back in disgust. "Really?" He scoffed, gesturing to the room with a wing. "You've made a shrine to me? I knew you were pathetic but-"
Typhous didn't let the fake finish, stoppering the bastard's shit-spewing hole with a paw.
Splinters of mirror dug deep as 'Savron' face collapsed into broken glass, but Typhous didn't let it slow him as he leapt for the anchor's chain. He heard the shouts of other monsters behind him, but the snap of the chain cut them off, as did the rush of wind as Typhous was dragged into the portal above and out of the nightmare of his mind.
It was time Typhous came to the rescue. He'd done it once, so very long ago. It was time to see if that had been a fluke.
Just hold on, Sav.
Blue. For a while that was all Vash could see. Endless Blue stretching from horizon to horizon. And the Blue ached with Violet wounds. Colour trembled with strain, pain soaking deep, deep into his scales. And so Vash trembled with it.
But he had to keep going.
Breathing in the Blue, Vash extended his senses once more, out into the empty abyss between sleeping minds. New colours formed as he left Typhous behind. Turquoise, grey, green and maroon, shaded the Blue, giving form to ideas and thoughts: dreams. He brushed each colour with a thought, Sleet, Danrah, Voltlyn, and Igneous's colours all free of the Violet that had ensnared them.
Now only two colours remained tainted.
Only one of which Vash had the strength to reach.
Again, Vash breathed in the Blue and then delved into the indigo one last time.
And all at once the colour became shapes became images became reality.
The Idea of Vash slipped through a crack in Savron's sense of self, emerging into his mind and into chaos.
Things had somehow only gotten worse since he'd left.
With a glance he surveyed the dreamscape, his conscious awareness taking in all the details, the meaning behind every stone and monster. Displays symbolizing Savron's memories lay broken and torn, the walls and floor crumbling away beneath them, the very foundation of Savron's understanding of the world collapsing into madness. Abominations formed of rage and hate and determination and some strange self-righteousness rampaged through the carnage of Savron's psyche, destroying what little remained. All the while those anchors, those coiled puppet strings of spite and vengeance pulled Savron's mind ever closer towards the maw above, the great hole in the sky through which two terrible eyes peered.
Savron's mind was collapsing in on itself. Ravaged to the point almost nothing remained.
In another hour, there might not be a Savron left to save.
The dream prince's resolve tightened, anger trembling through him as his real-life stomach threatened to upend itself.
This wasn't how dream magic was supposed to be used.
With a roar Vash surged forward, magic rippling around him, giving him shape, substance in Savron's dream, so that he could tear through the legions like paper.
It wasn't supposed to hurt. It was supposed to heal. To nurture, to protect. It was the magic of artisans, of scholars, of lovers!
Yet again, time and time again it was used for this. What could've been beauty, intimacy, and shared dreams was mangled into torture and control.
Joy turned to fear. Dream to nightmare.
It was because of dragons like this that Vash's childhood had been so horrible. Because of dragons like this that Vash's people were driven out of civilization. That his very magic was seen as an abomination, rather than the thing of beauty it should be.
With a thought a squad vanished, the knotted magic of hate and fury undone with a quick snip of power. Power wielded with care and precision, not allowing for collateral damage.
Like it was supposed to.
Another horror of dream magic lurched, the dark anchor stretching the ground, prying stones free to allow more creatures to crawl forth, formed out of pain and malice, given shape by Savron's distant scream.
Vash stuck, aiming a razor of thought at the chain.
It bounced, glancing off mental wards of nightmarish convexity. Again, as it always had. Vash clenched his fangs.
So, the easy way was still out. He'd have to get his claws dirty like everyone else.
With a wave of a claw he banished the newly formed abominations back to the pits of the Shade's foul imaginings and then surged forward, not needing to flap his wings, or even move a limb, his body simply speeding forward at his thought.
Talons flashed, hooking the burning links. Pain shot through his arm, dark magic branding him. He followed through anyway, tearing the chain asunder.
The backlash was immediate.
Violet lightning ripped from the sky, surging through the chain and exploding upon the anchor, blinding Vash. Chain links tore through him, carving flesh and charring bone.
Only an instant of preparation saved Vash, dream magic dulling the pain and rushing through him, to protect his vitals.
Even still, he screamed.
Blood bubbled in his mouth as he tumbled to the ground, writhing.
Damn the Shade. He must've felt Vash enter Savron's mind, knew what he'd do and prepared for him. Trapped the anchor to kill when broken with dream magic.
With a groan Vash hauled himself up, the last of his wounds closing over.
Hopefully none of the others had been caught in such a trap. Luckily they were harder to track than he, with Vash tugging on the same mental fabric the Shade was. Vash practically glowed with power in the dark of the purple's mind. Breath wheezed from Vash's lungs and he winced. Though he was only a faint glow now.
Only a trio of magic crystals left and half his power remaining.
The others had to have it worse.
Speaking of the others… Vash shut his eyes and extended his senses outward, seeking other minds. Where could they…?
A shockwave ripped through Savron's mind, nearly bowling the dream prince over. With a gasp he steadied himself and looked in its direction, his eyes widening as a second flash followed, accompanied by a thunderous boom.
Well, he had a bit of an answer, then.
His mind raced forward, ahead of his body. Sleet and Voltlyn, still alone, their minds faint, ready to lose conscious. Voltlyn worse. They were just two flickering colours surrounded by a vast dark of- Vash's eyes snapped open, his chest seizing. No!
With a thought he pulled on Savron's mind, marrying thought and place together, weaving connected memories into a rope bridge spanning distance. With a surge he was across it and across Savron's mind in five steps.
The first thing that struck him was the cold, his breath misting, concealing his vision. The next thing was a club, swinging down from the side.
Vash cried out and stumbled, vision swimming as another monster followed up, rushing forth with spear leveled.
A vicious thought turned its spear into a sausage and its legs into pasta. The rest of it became sauce a moment later.
What? He was hungry. He'd been fighting non-stop for over an hour now!
A snip of power unbound the rest of the nearby beasts, only for Vash to stumble, his legs trembling at the exertion.
But it was worth it. Sleet was in sight.
Standing firm, or as firm as an adorable, trembling, scrawny dragon could, Sleet held his own against the horde, holding his place over Voltlyn's prone, battle worn body, panting out blast after blast of ice.
Every bit the hero Vash knew he could be.
With a grunt and a push, Vash added to Sleet's wall of ice, turning it to frozen steel and then slipped through the cracks in thought, to sweep Sleet off his paws.
Sleet's little gasp eased every ache and pain and his blush warmed the chill air.
"Ancestors Sleet!" Vash laughed, pulling him into a tight hug. "How did it take you two years to get into advanced combat class?"
Sleet's blush grew even brighter, until Vash feared his cute ice cube would melt on the spot.
"W-well…" he mumbled, eyes downcast, "didn't really know how to… um…" he shook his head, then glared up at Vash, changing the subject. "What took you so long!?"
Vash shrugged, hiding a smile. "Oh, you know, saving dragons from their own terrors, bringing them in to help fight, unveiling and helping them work through their innermost demons. Kind of distracting."
Sleet puffed up indignantly. "I somehow doubt it's more distracting than a host of approximately infinite monsters attacking from all sides."
"I don't know, you didn't see the crazy thoughts that-"
A weak chuckle brought them both back to reality. "You two are so cute."
Vash's flush abruptly matched Sleet's in intensity and the two of them combined very nearly melting the protective frost surrounding them. Hastily they unwound from each other's grasp and hopped away from Voltlyn, who gazed up dazedly, smiling their way.
"Oh, uh, s-sorry Voltlyn," Sleet coughed, hunching, "s-sort of forgot you were… uh… there."
Vash tried to smile, but ultimately gave what Danrah usually called his 'I'm trying to swallow my own tongue' face.
"It's… good to see you're alright, Voltlyn. How're you holding up?"
"Awful," she said with a chipper chirp, still smiling, "I hurt all over and everything's turned bright pink. I don't think that's normal. But-" She beamed merrily up at them. "You two are balm for my soul!"
"Oh!" Vash stiffened, then rushed forward, to look her over.
He winced. She was in bad shape, wounded all over and almost completely drained of magic. She'd been fighting the longest and it showed. With a groan he pulled some life and magic crystals out of Savron's head, but they could only do so much. Most of her injuries were already engraved on her real body and there was almost nothing left of Savron's magic for him to siphon. Still, she ate them gladly and stood, wobbling.
"Better?"
She nodded, her smile sagging, though still bright. "Yep."
Vash and Sleet shared a glance. "And, uh… could you… keep what you saw a secret?"
Her smile widened once more and she put a claw to her snout, nodding. "If I remember anything, and I likely won't, it's my secret."
The crack of ice and steel broke their relieved grins, hauling them screaming back to reality.
Oh shit! The monsters!
The wall crumbled, steel giving way as a battering ram tore through the sheet of metal. Then the monsters were through.
With a snarl Vash spun and breathed, blowing on the fragile ideas and intent behind the sturdy flesh, blood and steel. The front line halted, stumbling as the ideas drifted away as sand on the wind, all drive and will erased from their bodies, now little more than empty husks. Empty husks blocking the way.
The puppets slammed into their own line and faltered, the front-line toppling while the back tried desperately to shove their way through.
It gave Sleet just enough time to drag Voltlyn to her claws and for the two to turn and loose a hailstorm upon the creatures once more. Lightning and ice bringing the force low.
Another wall shook, steel denting inward, a battering ram striking it like a gong. Then another rang, steel splitting.
Sleet's voice cracked, his breath rising as he looked to all sides and saw each assaulted.
"W-what're we going to do, Vash? We're surrounded! We can't get to the anchors like this!"
Voltlyn nodded grimly, her eyes as hollow and sunken as her face.
Vash breathed and extended his senses, biting his muzzle in concentration, trying to think as the hole was filled with more beasts and the walls were struck again.
Through the halls and passages his mind raced, seeking a chamber empty of beasts, close enough to the anchors that… there!
He grinned, eyes opening as he heard Sleet and Voltlyn's roar, to find them forcing back the next wave without him.
"Here's the plan, we just need to get to-"
Shadows opened in the corner of the metal walls and Danrah and Igneous tumbled out, the former landing with far greater grace than the latter. She rose, dusted herself off and helped Igneous up, only to notice the trio staring. She shrank for a just moment, only for her eyes to light up.
"Vash! You're okay!" And then she was on him, forepaws wrapped around his neck, cutting off his much-needed air.
"Yes… good to… see you too…" the dream prince choked, desperately trying to pry his sister off, while Sleet and Voltlyn smirked on the side. Their smirks quickly faded as a third wave drew their attention and their magic.
Finally, he freed himself and stumbled back, groaning, rubbing at his throat. His brown eyes turned to Igneous, Vash's gaze widening as he saw the shadowy cast plastering his wing to his side. One probe with his dream magic caused him to wince. Too late to heal it. He'd have to go on without for now.
Damn Iggy, you just can't catch a break.
"Danrah, can you move us all?"
She blinked and looked down at herself bashfully. "Well, I should have enough power to do that. Though I'll need a breather after." She paused, blinked and started to say something teasing to him, like she always did, but there was no time. Vash cut her off.
"Good."
With a thought Vash shoved the image of their momentary safe haven straight into her face via her mind.
"There. Now."
She didn't respond, the shadows simply swallowing them whole.
The landing was rougher than usual, Vash stumbling out of the murk and collapsing in a heap, the others doing the same, only on top of him. Unfortunately, Sleet was at the top of the pile, so this wasn't a heap of dragons Vash enjoyed.
He bit back his complaints as the others rose slowly, flopping off with a series of groans. No, don't mind him, take your time, his lungs were only fusing with his ribcage.
Finally, the last clawed their way off and Vash rose, on wobbling legs, to look around. The ruins of Savron's last childhood family picnic was in flames around them, the shouting figures of Sav and his parents shattered upon the ground beside a smoldering collage of smiles.
Vash's smile faded at the sight, but he swallowed back his thoughts and focused on the now, the goal, the only thing that mattered.
He focused on the clear hallway ahead and the glowing chains descending from the sky above of them.
All trapped, all warded from assault by air. Only the point right where the anchor and chain connected was vulnerable. Only a fury capable of breaking through such power. And there they were, with neither the time, nor the power to shatter more than a few.
The museum shook, stone crumbling, memories and foundation alike splintering as yet another wail of pain shattered the sky.
Vash's fangs clenched, claws digging up rubble. In the corner of his eye, he saw the others do the same.
They're coming. Just hold on.
"We don't have much time," Vash shouted, turning to the others with fangs bared, "in another minute the monsters will regroup and cut us off. We can't let them stop us. I don't know how much longer Sav can hold out…" Or survive.
Their nods steadied Vash's heart and he met theirs with one of his own. "We keep the momentum going. If they surround us again, cut us off, it's over."
Visors clanked down, concealing grim faces. As one they turned to the hall.
A shadow passed overhead and Vash's heart plummeted.
It was over.
Two shadows descended, one vast and encompassing, the other small but so deep no light could escape.
The Terror of the Skies hovered, wings beating as she floated above their only path to victory, while Spyro settled on the ground before them, his cheerful purple eyes burning with malevolent power.
Then the purple advanced, an off-putting skip to his step as he made his way over, smoke drizzling from his snout.
No. It wasn't going to end like this. They'd push through here too. They had to.
Vash breathed deep of the Blue and the Indigo, his eyes opening to the underlying foundation of Savron's mind. To the joy, disappointment and longing imbued in every picnic image, to the belief built into every brick and stone, the belief that heroes were real and that they always prevailed. To the black hatred that festered within the perversion of those heroes, loathing so dark it blotted out everything around them.
They could do this. They could.
"You all take Spyro," Vash growled, lowering himself, breathing in the magic again, drawing on that hope, that belief, that optimism that infused Savron and then pulled it in. "I'll get Cynder."
Eight eyes widened and turned his way, Sleet stepping forward.
"Vash! You can't take her alone! Our only hope is to ru-"
Vash roared. "Then run and get to the anchors! I'll hold them as long as I can!"
He drew deep and called on what little remained of his power, letting the Blue flow through him.
Vash heard not their response as the world lurched, shrinking around him. His heart pounded in his head, throbbing painfully as he swelled, muscles growing, scales thickening, armour expanding. The glass around him shattered as he roared again, beat his wings and took flight, scythe-like-claws aiming for her sickeningly long throat.
They met with a clash in the skies above.
Typhous emerged into Savron's mind in a shower of yet more broken glass. Because it just never ended.
The world spun as the chain tore out of his claws. Museum, purple, dark sky, museum, then purple again. His wings flared, catching the air, his inborn connection to the wind stabilizing him almost instantly.
And then found himself face to face with the Shade.
Typhous had barely enough time to beat his wings and dive as the Shade exhaled. Convexity blistered his back, searing wing and back-spike as Typhous plummeted straight down as fast as he could.
Swerving he dodged just as the beam swung down, to engulf the air he'd just been in a moment before. Then the Shade's barrier rushed up to meet him.
With a yelp Typhous clenched, readying himself for an impact.
It broke jarringly easy, though, as with everything today, in a shower of razor-sharp shards, cutting flank and wing as he hurtled down.
Once more his wings caught him and he veered up, to sail away, wings beating frantically to escape the monster holding Savron-
Wait.
The wind drake banked, swerving back around, to circle the Shade, the barrier restored. His eyes met the shadow's, the Shade shrunken and hunched, glowering through the violet glow as he pulled Savron's wings and-
Typhous's, stomach lurched, bile burning his throat as he watched those magnificent sails bend and snap. Savron cried out, though barely twitching in the monster's claws, his limbs dangling limp and… and broken.
No. No!
Typhous flew at the bastard. Everything red and blurry, hot-wetness burning his cheeks. He roared and struck the barrier, a typhoon at his back. He glanced off, the world spinning as his momentum carried him away.
Whirling about he lashed again and again, striking the orb from all sides, veering around blasts of purple flame and between arrows shot his way. But none of it mattered. None of it phased him. All he could see was Savron and his pleading eyes.
"Ty," he mouthed, shivering as his wings and legs restored themselves, "help me."
"Sav!"
Claws scraped flutily against the barrier, unphased by the gray dragon's attempts to get back in.
"SAV!"
Savron's paw twitched, as if trying to reach for Typhous. As if pleading him to come.
"Help me."
The Shade sneered, wrapping its claws about Sav's wings, his eyes never leaving Ty's.
"I'm coming! Just hold on, everything will be-"
The Shade's claws twisted. Savron screamed and Typhous screamed with him.
Again and again Typhous beat on the barrier, with wind and claw and tail but nothing worked, nothing brought him closer to Sav. He could only watch as, limb by limb, the Shade broke Savron. Never looking away from Typhous, never dropping that smile.
There had to be a way in. Typhous dove beneath an abomination as it charged him, the beast splattering against the burning barrier. There had to be a way to save Sav. That's why he was here. That's what he came to do.
He circled, heedless of the gathering storm of monsters, or the bolts of violet lightning and the hails of arrows. Armour and wind turning all away that reflex could not avoid.
Savron was hurt. He couldn't leave him here. He'd already suffered so much! There had to be a way there had to, there had to!
But nothing he had could break through the barrier! Nothing but his fury. But he had only one of those. It would be enough, but what about Savron? Would he get caught in it? Would it even hurt the monster?
Pain. Barely noticeable. Typhous glanced down and blinked at the arrows sticking out of his wing. He snorted and kept flying, the pain nothing. Not compared to Sav's.
Not compared to his heart.
But it was the only way. But was it? He didn't have time to think Sav was hurting!
Bones snapped.
Bile rose again, every silver-gray scale of his shuddering. Typhous flapped above another blast of convexity, closed his eyes and breathed-
Thunder rocked the skies, lightning flashing so bright it shone even through his eyelids.
Typhous's blue eyes fluttered open and he inhaled, gazing at the distant crash of lightning, still rumbling down from the sky, radiating in all directions, scorching everything nearby.
They were still out there, fighting. But why weren't they here? Why weren't they rushing the Sha-
Then his gaze found them. In the distance. Tiny streaks of purple rising into the sky, into the void above, then back down in warded, unbreakable lengths to coil about the Shade, filling him with churning purple links of fire.
The Anchors.
Of course.
Two blades of wind lashed out, and failed to snap the chains that linked the Shade to whatever it was above. And Typhous's heart fell.
He didn't have a choice.
He started to turn, wings stretched to race their way, only to pause as Savron's gaze caught him. Typhous's chest lurched, heart clogging his throat as those two, beautiful green eyes dragged him back, pleading, begging for help.
Ancestors, he couldn't leave him. He couldn't let this continue.
Wings snapped, bones cracking like dry twigs.
Savron was hurting and desperate and scared and Typhous couldn't abandon him like that again.
The purple dragon, struggling so desperately not to scream finally gave, wailing as his wing was twisted around, bone grinding against bone. And the Shade watched, sneering through the barrier as arrows buzzed the air around them.
There had to be a way to save him!
There was no way to save him.
He… he just had to break through the barrier!
It's too strong.
He had to stop the pain!
He had to stop the Shade.
With a scream Typhous struck the barrier once, twice, thrice, putting everything he had in his pitiful, frail body into it. But there wasn't so much as a crack, aside from the Shade's smile splitting wider.
More pain. Arrows digging between the links of his armour, but Typhous felt only numbness, heard only a ringing in his ears as Savron buckled, in the monster's grasp, his forelegs snapping next.
Paws bleeding and battered, Typhous flapped back, his chest heaving, breath burning his ragged throat as he stared at Savron, unable to look away.
"I'm… I'm sorry."
"Ty… please…"
Typhous flinched, Savron's voice drifting through the barrier, weak as a breeze.
"Please… make it stop."
The world blurred, until Savron was not but a broken purple smudge.
"I'm sorry, Sav," Typhous whispered, a flap of his wings turning him. "I'll… I'll be back. I promise."
"Ty!"
The grey dragon's breath tore, the desperation in Sav's voice ripping it out of him. But still he stretched his wings, heedless of the arrows and beat them.
"Ty! Don't leave me! Please!"
Eyes streaming, Typhous fled through the skies, toward the anchors, leaving his heart behind.
Dardarax's Characters
Danrah, Igneous, Lyrith, Savron, Sleet, Tirren, Typhous, Vash, Voltlyn
It's been a year since I last posted.
Whew, that's... a bit longer than I originally planned. I don't regret it though, I've learned a lot during that time, done a lot of great writing. While much of what I've written during this time has yet to be published, it has all helped me develop into a style that I'm really happy with, unlike a lot of the styles I've done Dark Legacy in, in the past.
But I think it's time to come back and finish DL 2. Besides this one I have two chapter roughs almost finished and in need of only a bit of revising before they can be published. In light of that, I'm announcing Chapter 55 will be published on May 18th, two months from now, so I have ample time to get it done, while also keeping myself on the deadline.
Things are finally wrapping up in this battle, though there will be stuff after to look forward to. =)
It's good to be back.
Also, don't think I've forgotten my disclaimer promise:
The Relevant Muskrats
Jamie, Lucifer, Rachel and Santoya.
