Chapter 55: Rouse

By Dardarax

Disclaimer: I, Dardarax, do not own Spyro, Cynder, the Temple, Warfang, the Guardians or any other character or place belonging to the Spyro franchise. On time!? *gasp!* Who'd have thunk it!? My characters are listed at the bottom!


It should've been enough. It was everything she had. Every pebble of her magic, every dust speck of her fury.

But it was never enough. All her efforts had won was a muddy, snow speckled hole in the ground and a very angry, very bloody monster.

Trembling at the edge of the crater, Tirren watched as the Shade slumped forward, dragging himself towards her.

Her legs gave out, Tirren falling to her haunches, lacking even the strength to stand. Just a few seconds, that's all she needed. Then… then she'd get back up to fight.

Her eyes shut, she drew in another shallow breath. Not enough air. How was she supposed to recover if each gasp wracked her with bloody coughs?

The Shade crawled, claw by claw, to the edge of the crater. His flickering form sagged at the edge and rolled onto his back, to lay panting a few meters distant. Shadows twitched across purple scales, surging over untainted hide, only to fall back, spluttering.

Vision bleary, the earth draken struggled to rise, yet each time mud and leaded limbs dragged her back down.

The fight… she needed to finish it. This was her last chance, the only opportunity left. If she couldn't take advantage of it…

Groaning low, the Shade rolled once more, onto his paws and staggered against a tree, harsh breath grating over the sound of Tirren's own rasps.

Shadows gave way to faerie lights, floral pink and green, only for the light to wither after knitting only a few wounds shut. Darkened fangs gnashed and the glow turned to violet, dark magic twisting broken bones and filling wounds with hard, black pus. Yet even that faltered, leaving his wings limp and his paws dragging, face only barely resembling Savron's.

Tirren knew not whether to curse or sigh in relief. Savron's body wasn't too damaged now, yet now her fight would be so much harder… she shook her head and finally found her footing. His magic was fading fast – finally – and if she could just reach him…

Below him his shadow darkened and Tirren's hope lurched and tumbled, never even reaching her chest. From out of the dark the Shade dragged a burlap sack and tore into it, scattering- Tirren's sapphire eyes snapped into focus, her gasp turning to fluid coughs. So that's where the bags of crystals went!

The Shade descended upon the feast of magic, clawing the crystals pawful by pawful into his maw. The last of the cuts and bruises faded and his shoulders squared as magic renewed rushed through him. Shadows solidified once more on his scales, though still surged and faded with each haggard breath.

Her body moved before she needed to think, falling into a charge. Dammit no!

Eyes of aetherial light snapped to her, a sneer forming around shards of crystal. He met her lunge with a swing of his tail and a step to the side.

Tirren reunited with the ground.

Looking over her, the Shade snorted, kicked her once more to make sure she stayed down and returned to the crystals.

It wasn't fair. She'd done the impossible to get this far already! Tirren groaned, curling herself into a ball around the splitting throb of her ribs. Those were meant for her! The others! The bastard had no right to them!

With a sigh the Shade stepped back, letting the half-eaten sack of stolen reserves fall away. On shaking paws the Shade turned to her, eyes alight and vibrant once more. She could only glare back at him, curses upon her tongue, but without the breath to speak them.

The Shade opened its maw to say something, only to scowl. He finally learned his lesson. Shame it had to happen now, when all she had left was dwindling time.

A bleary glance to the Temple walls showed distant movement, but was any of it help? Did anyone see them down here? With all the magic blasts, surely someone had.

Yet none came, no one soared down to help. Tirren sank into the mud, defeat weighing her bones, weakening muscle.

So, this was it. Laying on her back in the mud after all. At least she went out in a rush of glory. Her eyes misted as the Shade watched her, face blurring as he searched for any signs of tricks. How many times had he on her back, only to get knocked off? Three? Her chuckle shot her through with splinters of pain.

With a snort he shoved her over, onto her side, seized her horns and shoved her face into the mud and water, everything going dark.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. She hadn't had time to apologize yet. To everyone. Igneous, Voltlyn – for whatever was bothering her – Savron. Once hadn't been enough for him. Wasn't she supposed to talk to Wintra and Thunder, get an apology from them, maybe apologize back?

Mom and dad, brother, they'd be ruined. Terath would have to give up his dream of being a general, leave the army, learn to take over the family.

And what about the others? Were they still fighting? Hopefully Tirren had given them the chance they needed to save themselves. Save Savron.

Savron. What would happen to him after this? Would he survive the guilt?

Assuming he survived at all.

Her claws dug into the half-frozen muck. No. Don't assume. Make it happen. With a groan Tirren forced herself up, pushing back, her tail lashing, wings smacking the Shade's side. She wasn't going to lie down and die. She was an earth dragon! A student of fearsome Terrador, mightiest of the old Guardians! Guardians did not die lying down. She wouldn't either.

So long as her heart beat, she would fight. Even if it was just to make her death as difficult as possible.

With a roar she forced her head above the mud and sucked in a single rattling breath. The world spun, colours flaring.

A voice hissed into her ear, grip hardening around her horns, the whole weight of his body pushing down upon her head. "You just don't-"

Tirren didn't let him finish, twisting her head and pushing down with him. His words turned to a gasp as all resistance gave way, stumbling atop her, his grip loosening.

Her roar not but a wheeze, Tirren tore free and slammed her head backwards, impaling his chest.

Twinned horns split darkened scale, glancing painfully off of his ribs.

The Shade screamed.

Everything became a blur, lights flashing as something struck her head, pulling her horn free with a wet slurp. She tried to rise, to pull herself away, only for a vice upon her tail to halt her retreat, sharp pain stabbing into her as his fangs dug deep. The world spun, once, twice, thrice and then she was airborn, with her wings still furled at her sides.

The only thing she saw clearly was the tree, before she ploughed into it.

Light faded after that, the world going in and out, pain rising and falling with it. It could've been hours, or seconds. She guessed the latter, as she opened her eyes to find the Shade towering over her, blood staining once his regal scales, the hole she'd made slowly healing over.

Fire with violet smoke built in his maw, each word promising thrice fold pain for all she'd inflicted upon him.

"When they find you, they won't recognize what species you used to be."

Tirren had only the strength to huddle behind her wings as the Shade shrouded her in flame.


Igneous had only a moment to react. His legs bunched, body lurching to the side a second before the ground he just stood upon froze into a field of bone-numbing ice.

Hissing with pain, he struggled out of his roll, wing aching from the motion. A single glance back sent a chill through him, the glistening icicles impaling the air turning to stone in his mind, stained with his blood as he was crushed against them. And his back ached in response, still fresh scars throbbing.

So close.

That was all the time he had to think before the shadow rushed him again.

Inhaling, Igneous snorted a gout of flame, scorching the stone between him and the creature resembling Spyro. It didn't even slow, simply curling up and encasing itself in green glowing stone, surging through unharmed.

Shit.

With a grunt Igneous rolled again, but was a split second too late, his side grazed by the tumbling boulder. He hit the ground hard, breath blasting between his fangs, winded, again.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

Groaning, he dragged himself up and lunged forward, just in time to avoid the dragon-made boulder turning to run him flat.

They were so close to finishing this, to breaking the last of the anchors. They were together again after over an hour of nonstop fighting.

Why did it have to be Spyro?

Igneous gasped, broken wing spasming as he rolled over it and into a wall.

His fangs grit as he clawed his way back up, as he had time and time again, and with fire on his muzzle, he charged the shadow blocking their path.

Of all the dragons the Shade could have chosen to beat them down, why did he have to choose them? The two dragons who meant the most to everyone?

Igneous ducked beneath a streak of green stone magic, fire wreathing him as he blitzed through the hail of Sleet's ice and the cloud of Danrah's shadow, to ram straight into the thing wearing Spyro's face. It yelped, its small body lurching off of Voltlyn and slamming into the ground a meter away.

Igneous stumbled atop Voltlyn, breath clawing at his throat, flames sputtering on the tip of his tongue as he grabbed her and dragged her to her paws, just in time to push her out of the way as 'Spyro' launched himself at Igneous, returning the flaming Comet Dash with one of his own.

And again, Igneous was on the floor, out of breath. A desperate claw swipe drove the shadow back a step, enough that Igneous could scramble back to his paws once more and retreat.

The mannequins had been bad enough. Fighting, breaking, destroying all his friends and family, over and over and over again. But at least they'd looked fake. Sounded fake.

"Aw come on!" Shouted the 'child's' voice, young and bold yet so very familiar, "we were just starting to have fun!"

Lightning cracked, pain flashed and Igneous was, again, on the ground.

The spots cleared slowly from his eyes, but in time to see the snap of Voltlyn's lightning and the gleam of Sleet's ice as they surged Spyro's way. He was gone before they even neared him, soaring into the air with a flip, to land on the sculpture of ice Sleet had made. Then he charged, Sleet's own ice rising at Spyro's call, hurled back at the young dragon in splinters.

Sleet scrambled, but it was Voltlyn who came to his rescue as, with a grunt and a groan, she pulled him to the side and shoved him away, only to tumble herself, her trembling legs giving out.

And again, Spyro was on her, grin wide and baring fangs of shadow, laughing. "Let's try that again!"

Igneous snarled and surged to his paws, ignoring the tremble to his own legs, ignoring the pain in his wing.

Of all the dragons they could fight, Spyro was the worst. Even at his youngest.

Igneous lunged, snarling, smoke billowing as he raised his claws.

'Spyro' looked up from mauling Voltlyn, to stare at Igneous with wide, surprised, innocent eyes.

Spyro looked up from Igneous's essay with amazement. "Wow, Iggy, you wrote this? I couldn't write this advanced when I was your age!"

"To be fair," Cynder snarked, "You couldn't even read at his age, Mr Dragonfly."

"Oh shush."

Spyro's paw ripped Igneous back into reality, sending him sprawling. Spyro chuckled and turned back to Voltlyn, only to get a face full of shadow-fire.

A crack of lightning followed, driving Spyro back as Voltlyn crawled free, panting and bloody, scrambling to safety as Danrah leapt between them.

Another flare of shadow flame erupted forth, only for Spyro's own bright orange fire to beat it back, a fireball ripping through the cloud of murk.

Igneous caught sight of Danrah's eyes widening for only a moment, before the fireball detonated and she sprawled, smoking, against a wall several meters distant. His fangs flashed, eyes fixing upon the small shadow again, his breath rattling in his throat.

Dammit! They didn't have time for this. There were only a dozen chains left! And they were just down that hall! If they could just get past Spyro, make it to those galleries before the abominations showed up again, they might be able to save Sav!

With a cry Sleet rushed past, a torrent of frost and snow blasting ahead of him, shrouding his movements, spikes of ice spitting in Spyro's direction as he made for the exit.

Crags of stone stopped all forward momentum, a stomp of Spyro's paw and a blast of earth tearing the ground at Sleet's paws and sending him tumbling into a shallow pit of spikes. Igneous winced, memories flashing once more to the walls of stone covered in spires of stone.

Sleet, however, rolled out, groaning, his armour having taken the brunt of it.

Even if they could get past and down that hall, then what? They'd have Spyro on their tail, attacking their rear. Or worse, they'd leave Vash behind to fight them both.

Stone split a chamber away, dust rising. Distant roars echoed, two towering figures striking with claw after claw, fangs meeting armour, and fire meeting blue dream magic.

The world shook again, Savron's scream lingering as a wall collapsed, Vash tumbling through it to lay in an enormous heap. He rolled just in time, as Cynder's scythe-blade-tail slashed at his throat.

And here Igneous was, standing, desperately trying to catch his breath.

He growled, embers drifting as he shook his head. They had to end it here. Somehow.

Armoured claws tore stone as the red drake crouched and lunged, crossing the distance in a skip and a breath. A breath made of fire.

Frozen wind stole the heat, but in that brief moment of steam and nullified magic, Igneous pounced, claws lashing out once more.

Spyro stumbled, gasping, red blood splattering the ground, dribbling down his cheek. He turned, his familiar face stunned, pained.

Spyro slumped, eyes distant, hollow as he and Cynder sat in the empty quiet of their room. Holding each other tightly, gazes downcast, refusing to look up, to gaze at the door above them as behind it Savron raged, screaming, rattling the chains that held his door shut. While outside, Igneous slunk away, too much of a coward to approach, to offer comfort.

A shadowed paw drove Igneous into the ground, sending him sprawling, the image of Spyro snarling, eyes blazing with fierce light. Danrah came from the side, swinging a paw wildly at his head, shadows cloaking her movement, but Spyro ducked and spun. She crashed in a heap on the ground.

Fight.

Igneous struggled once more to his paws and threw himself at the… the bastard.

It didn't matter who it was. Who this fake looked like.

His claws dug into Spyro's side, drawing blood. Then smoke filled his eyes. Stumbling back, Igneous returned the favour with his own.

All that mattered was he fought. That he saved Sav, saved everyone.

Shadowed talons shrieked against Igneous's armour, weight pushing him down. Lashing, flailing, Igneous bit and clawed and snarled, fire and metal battering the monster again and again and again.

But it did not let go, fangs gnashing, sliding off neck-armour.

Cold flashed, and through blurry eyes Igneous spied a small blue figure charging, ice forming around him.

Breath sharp against his lungs, Igneous grunted and laughed, grinning. You got him, Sl-

The creature moved faster than should have been possible.

One moment it clung to Igneous, the next it had turned, claw raised, eyes gleaming.

Sleet had no time to turn.

He fell, screaming, clutching his face, helmet clattering the ground.

And the world froze.

"Sleet!" Vash cried, surging to his claws, pushing Cynder aside. She did not let him go. In a flash she was on him again, shoving him down, claws rending his wings and back. Yet still he clawed the stone, paw outstretched, screaming Sleet's name.

Sound disappeared, Igneous's eyes fixed to Sleet's quivering body and the pooling blood.

No. His Fangs clenched. Dammit no!

The world shook, another distant scream, another crack as yet another chamber fell away into the void.

He wouldn't let it. Not another friend!

Digging past the tightness in his chest, past the pain he pulled the last lingering embers up, through his lungs into his throat. With a bellow he lurched, rushing one last time at the not-Spyro's back.

He didn't even make it all the way. Earth rising on all sides to smother the last spark of his power.

Igneous slumped in the stone grip, legs and wings sealed in rock, not but flickers puffing between his fangs. The world dimmed, darkness enclosing on all sides as the creature before him turned to grin, that twisted yet familiar face beaming with 'innocent' light as it hopped towards him, over Sleet, past Voltlyn, away from Danrah, all struggling to rise as stone slowly swallowed them too.

Not like this. Igneous looked up, dragged down into the stone until even the small Spyro loomed. He hadn't even saved anyone yet.

Claws gripped his horn, forcing his head up, baring his neck.

He wasn't pitiful! He wasn't weak! He had to fight!

Spyro drew back his claws, eyes gleaming.

Just MOVE!


The air felt wrong. Wings stretched and stinging with pain, Typhous soared, faster and faster, each beat of his wings carrying him further over the shattered husk of the museum, closer to the end, to freedom. His and Savron's.

But the air dragged on all sides, thick and unnatural, wrong against his wings. Almost as if a storm approached, only greater than any he'd ever felt. Great enough to swallow the world.

Violet lightning flashed, dividing Savron's sky. Closer than last time.

Typhous shut his eyes, breathed and felt the air around him again, feeling the wind churn with the whistle of coming arrows.

A breeze of wind fluttered around him, shrouding him, guiding the arrows away from his wings and head, to ping off his armour or buzz harmlessly by, far too close for comfort. He almost didn't feel them, the air was so thick, so heavy.

The Shade's doing. It had to be.

His fangs clenched, turquoise eyes flashing, fixed on the distant chains, binding the sky.

Then, the air shifted again, blowing back against him. Typhous inhaled sharply, eyes flashing down, to the museum, heart stilling as from below a cloud of bodies rose, hundreds of monsters taking flight on rotten wings. A dark bank of bodies and claws between him and the chains.

He snorted, claws clenched. As if that would stop him. For Savron he'd fly any storm, be it lightning or steel. He might not be good at fighting, but he was a wind dragon and a student of the Temple.

The skies were his.

A thought and a surge of magic sent the air around him spiraling, catching his wings and launching him forward, through the volleys of arrows and spears, towards the coming stormfront.

Lightning flashed, scorching the air with violet heat, thunder nearly knocking Typhous aside. It was getting closer. The Shade slowly finding his target. Still, the grey dragon wouldn't make it easy.

He dove, beneath another shower of arrows and bolts, weaving through, catching the shards of death with a curl of wind and knocking them aside. The storm approached, growing larger, a thousand monsters blotting out the horizon with dark bodies and glittering steel. Each packed so tightly that they barely had the wingspace to fly.

Not much room to maneuver through. But he'd manage.

Jaw set, he sped up, wings beating, wind blowing at his back, faster and faster and faster until everything was a blur except the wall of dark bodies before him.

He met their howl with a roar of his own. Then they were upon him.

And he into them.

A gale of claws and blades tore into Typhous, and he tore right back. Wind battered the monsters away, a hurricane of shattered metal forming in Typhous's wake. Those he could not dodge he cut through, blades of wind cleaving through all.

Even as the storm thickened, the cloud of creatures closing in, Typhous didn't let his momentum falter, his eyes focused on the distant light ahead, the glow of violet chains.

He was coming, just hold on.

Arrows peppered his wings, most shunted aside by his shroud of wind, yet not all. Pain shot through him, fraying wing, gradually slowing him. He just pushed harder, conjured more wind to hurl him faster.

Through narrowing gaps he sped, between bodies and blades, a needle slipping through gaps in the sheet of bodies that barred his way, leaving a thread of destruction behind him.

Heart pounding, Typhous dared not look away from the light ahead, every ache amplified by the shrieking wind, the addition of new cuts and bruises. Each moment rending mind and heart with terror as he sought the end to the horror.

Yet his smile was never wider, straining face until it beamed bright against the dark press of bodies.

He… he was doing it! A whoop burst from his lungs and with it a blast of wind knocked foes from sky.

Against the cacophony of the storm, the drum of Typhous's heart picked up and with it a strange energy took hold. Blood and wind rushed through the wind drake's ears. Nothing could stop him. Nothing would stop him.

Wings strained, muscle burning hot, core clenched tight as he pushed faster and faster until even the monsters were but a blur.

Savron needed him, his friends needed him, and for once he would be there for them.

And if these bloody jerks thought they would get in his way, then it was time he taught them a lesson.

Shadows closed in, the last of the monsters gathering on all sides. Beyond them, open sky and the battle below.

Just a wall of horrors, steel and spite to block him? Typhous snorted.

He met them, a hurricane personified. Wind blades tore them to shreds, scattered them as dead leaves to a tornado. Nothing stood in his way.

Core aching, Typhous shot through the open hole in the cloud and into free sky once more, to look out over the broken museum below and the shattered purple sky above.

Ahead shone the chains, glittering strands holding the sky and land together.

And binding the Shade to Savron.

Heart soaring, core throbbing, Typhous lurched forward, wind and wing speeding him on. Arrows and lightning ripped the air around him, but none could stop his flight, his dance through the skies.

Stormclouds boiled, churning as they reached down in swirling cyclones to block his path, swallowing the chains in a ward of wind, magic and lightning. A last ditch effort to protect them.

Against any other dragon it might have worked. But this was just another storm for Typhous to fly, and in Savron's skies he would not fail. He couldn't. Not for Sav. Not for Vash. Not for his all friends.

He would fly this malestrom, and nothing the Shade could do would stop him.

With a roar he let loose his challenge, his Fury following suit.


A boom silenced the skies.

Shivering on the ground, bloody and beaten, Vash cracked an eye open, the shadow atop him freezing, its fang's advance towards his neck halting. Their eyes turned skyward, the two locked together, claws and fangs still entwined as they sought out the noise.

Around them the fighting ceased, Spyro turning away from Igneous, to gawk as the skies opened above, violet clouds rent asunder to reveal brilliant stars above, a streak slicing them apart like a claw.

Vash's heart leapt, a smile dawning upon his face as he watched a gray comet tear through the sky, trailing a tornado in its… no, his wake.

In a blink Typhous reached the anchors. Within a second, half of them were gone, the gray comet tearing through them, Typhous's fury ripping their wards apart. Everything lurched, a scream rising, fury and pain shattering stone and glass. A scream belonging to none of them.

Cynder and Spyro were on their claws, scrambling to rise, wings unfurling, their gazes panicked. And in that moment, Vash lunged, his fangs finally finding Cynder's throat.

A chain broke between his fangs, her body dissolving, losing her shape. A moment later an anchor crashed lifeless to the ground, crumbling to dust moments later.

Snarling victoriously, the dream dragon clawed his way back to his paws and turned to the Spyro, claws aching to tear the one who hurt Sleet to ribbons.

Only to find another anchor smoking on the floor, lightning crackling over it, shadow-fire clinging to its edges as Voltlyn and Danrah helped Sleet and Igneous to their paws.

Vash's wings drooped, hazel eyes dimming with relief, the hair-like tendrils upon his head flopped as he sagged. They were alright.

Sleet shook as Vash looked him over, one eye clenched shut, blood dribbling down his face, now marred by a rake of claws having torn his eyeridge apart. The pitiful few life crystals Vash could conjure were only able to stop the bleeding, not restore what was lost.

"I'll be okay," Sleet mumbled, wobbling from side to side, "I'll be okay…"

Again the ground shook, trembling, nearly knocking their paws out from under them. This time, however, it was accompanied by a very different sound.

Snap.

Nine exhausted eyes turned upwards, to the sky, mouths falling open as they watched the chains begin to break on their own.

Another broke, then another, violet chains shattering under the strain of holding the sky and land together.

They looked at one another and grinned.


All Savron wanted was the darkness.

Every time he was broken, every time his ears rang with the snap of his bones and his muscles turned white hot with pain, the darkness at the edges of his eyes would close in, offering mercy. Offering blissful nothingness.

But every time it crept in, swallowed his sight until only a tiny speck of light was left to glimmer, it halted. Refusing to finish, to take him. To let the pain end.

Then magic would flow through him, easing the agony, restoring his body.

All so it could start over again with a snap.

Throat ragged, Savron couldn't even find strength to scream as his wings shattered for the dozenth time. Had it been only a dozen? Or was it two dozen? Three? It felt like so many more.

He choked, bile dripping through his fangs, mixing with tears and snot. It was all he could do to open his jaw and drag in a breath before the next limb snapped.

Everything throbbed, burned, until only the brief flash of pain told him what had just broken. He'd lost all other sensation hours ago. Or had it been minutes?

Above the monster snarled something, voice barely audible. Demanding. Savron shook his head, though he couldn't even remember why.

Why was he fighting this? Why did he keep asking for more? There was a reason. An important one. But what was it? He couldn't remember through the pain.

Chains dug, cutting off his air, cutting through his scales. The Shade sounded disappointed, angry. This time he broke three limbs, at four different points. The darkness came, but again it didn't take Savron away.

He had to hold on. Keep refusing. Until it ended. Whenever that was. However that would happen. Trust. Though in what? Nothing had come so far. Nothing had stopped it. Not even the darkness.

The pain faded again, bones fusing back together, sound returning, just a bit, with it.

"Just take the power," the monster said, snarling, his voice hitched, "take it! Take it you stubborn fool! At least there will be something left of you for the ancestors if you do!"

Savron shook his head without even thinking.

Above the Shade roared, breaking both of Savron's forelegs with an unconscious clench of his claws. The purple dragon choked, breath dragging in through his torn throat, struggling to scream as his vision flashed white, then black.

"Do you not understand what I'm doing!?" The Shade's face filled his eyes, but it was so dark Savron could barely make him out. "Do you not understand the peril you and your idiot friends are in? What happens to a soul if they are claimed by the ancestors without a mind? I have given you chance after chance to take the easy road, to accept my blessing. I'd even have let you stay in control had you accepted right away! But you had to be stubborn about it."

Another twist. This time Savron managed a scream as his tail was tied into a knot.

"Why!? What does this gain you!?" Another crack. "What does sacrificing your mind and friends win you?" Savron's hind leg bent in three directions. "You can't stop me! Death can't stop me! You're merely delaying the inevitable! Why. Do. You. FIGHT!?"

Savron's eyes fluttered as they met the Shade's, wishing he remembered the answer.

"At least your father would've done the sensible thing, had I managed to claim him instead. He would have bent knee had I held Cynder hostage. He has done it before. I can almost respect him for it. Yet you. Keep. Fighting!"

The last of Savron's limbs fell limp and twisted. But this time the Shade didn't restore them, didn't renew his pain, merely grabbing and twisting everything that came in reach, until there was nothing but mangled flesh and bone hanging limp from his side, Savron screaming in his grasp.

"Why!? WHY WHY WHY!?"

Savron's throat gave, blood pooling in his mouth with each breath out, the darkness so mercifully close this time.

Then it stopped, the Shade gasping for breath, its deep unnatural voice wracked with shudders. The pain stopped with him, magic flowing once more, restoring him, healing his limbs, leaving only tingling numbness.

"Just take it." The Shade ordered, thrusting the shard of crystal into Savron's face. The monster swallowed, each billowing breath blowing against the back of Savron's neck. "Take it. For everyone's sake."

Through dim, hollow eyes Savron stared at the gem, at the crackling power within. The answer to his agony, the key to the darkness he so craved. A nod would be all it took, a nod and a touch of his claw to end everything. To let the darkness finally engulf him and take him to rest. Death or sleep mattered not, so long as it was peace.

In the corner of his gaze he saw the Shade's stare, wide eyed, mouth ajar, waiting pensively, his body trembling. Barely held together by chain.

Savron swallowed and opened his mouth, dry, bloodstained lips cracking.

"No."

The Shade slumped, gaze turning down.

"Never before have I met a purple dragon as foolish as you. It makes me wonder…" He snorted and sighed once more, before rearing up, claws once more grasping Savron's wing.

"Then I will continue, until you either see reason or die. At this point, either option suits me."

Savron's eyes closed, the young purple falling limp once more, tense and waiting as he felt the claws brace around him.

There was a snap. Only this time it wasn't just his wing.

Both Savron and the Shade reared, howling, voices joined in unified pain. Though it was Savron who recovered first, falling limp in the Shade's grasp, panting, staring back with distant, dimmed eyes as the monster behind him stretched.

Another snap. This time definitely not bone. A strand of violet chain disintegrated in the distance, shattering under its own weight.

The Shade's scream rose.

Everything elongated, the Shade's limbs tearing as the chains pulled free of his body, the sky and the ground each fighting over the shadowy puppet caught between them. The hole in the sky above pulled and yanked on its chains even as the anchors below pulled back, the strain of holding up all of Savron's mind simply too much.

Savron could only watch as chains began to snap and tear, either out of the museum stone or from the Shade's shadowy flesh, with chunks of transparent meat going with them.

The Shade's howled, screaming in agony and all Savron could do was laugh.

Serves. Him. Right.

All at once Savron fell limp, his body loosening in the Shade's grip as the monster desperately clawed the air, trying to reach the chains. He was too late.

The chains tore free completely.

Savron winced as the Shade wailed in agony. Agony he could totally sympathize with, but chose not to, a grin instead creasing the purple's haggard face.

If only he had the strength to laugh.

Behind him, the Shade writhed, holding Savron in one hand, clutching at his ravaged body with the other, shadowy flesh hanging in ribbons off him, dripping white ichor. He tried to rear up, tried to pull himself back together, but for each torn scrap the Shade clawed into place, another fell into the crumbling museum below.

Around them the shield of convexity crumbled and the army below dissolved into disarray, turning on each other in a cannibalistic frenzy.

"No!" The Shade screamed, ragged breath blasting from his torn maw and throat. "Keep… hold. Keep… it… together." With the severed remains of a paw he reached into his chest and pulled, dragging an anchor from his chest, his whole form shrinking at the act. "You are in control. You can make this last."

Savron shifted, trying to move, trying to wriggle free, but found no strength to move, everything part of him aching at the memory of pain. It was his chance… he could escape. If only he could move!

With a growl the Shade lifted the anchor and threw, hurling it to the ground below, a new, fresh chain of convexity uncoiling as it fell.

A blast of flame shattered it before it even touched the stone.

Savron's heart leapt, his eyes widening as five figures rushed from the crumbling stonework, four on wing, and one very, very familiar face carried by the largest, fire blazing in his jaws.

Igneous, Vash, Danrah, Voltlyn and Sleet! They came for him. They actually came!

Through tear streaked eyes Savron met their gazes, raising a frail paw towards them as he called their names.

His friends were here. He didn't need the darkness any longer.


Fire and smoke, there was nothing else. Tirren drowned in the ash of her own body blowing past her, muffling her scream. Tears evaporating on her cheeks, offering no respite from the heat. All she could feel through the pain was the terrible numbness that followed as her scale and skin burned black and peeled away.

Writhing upon the baked mud, Tirren could think of nothing except escape, except the dark, except to plead for it to end. Oh ancestors, make it end!

Then, it did.

Heat, light and pain faded, though the last did not disappear, still throbbing through the numb. But the smell still lingered. Oh ancestors the smell.

Sobbing, she coughed, spitting out her own ash, her eyes rolling back open, to look at the blurry world around her and the ruin of her wing.

White bone stood stark against charred, once-green scale, and the scraps of membrane that still clung to the bone, glowed red with the Shade's embers. Raw tendon was all that held the skeletal wing aloft and soon even that gave out.

Tirren staggered, her stomach churning, trying not to think. About the pain. About how she'd never fly again.

Don't think.

Don't think.

Movement. Her eyes fluttered open, to peer over the scorched grass of the mud she'd fallen in, tracing the motion of the purple figure across from her, struggling to stand.

Struggling…

Purple…

Tirren blinked, ash drifting from the motion.

Was… the Shade…?

"No!" the Shade snarled, his voice sounding so, so far away. "Keep… hold. Keep… it… together..." Snarls devolved into unintelligible grunts, guttural gasps as he slowly clawed his way back to his paws. "You are in control. You can make this last…"

The Shade's dark scales flickered, barely keeping their corrupted sheen as purple slowly started to show through the gaps, his power fading.

Was this… her chance?

Tirren tried to move, only for pain to send her reeling, stomach heaving, threatening to upend itself.

No, she couldn't… it hurt to much, everything hurt. Everything she could feel that is.

Her eyes drifted once more to her wing, laying in the mud, her once proud sails reduced to charred tatters. And from there, her eyes turned to the black marks along her legs and flank.

What could she do in her state? Stand, maybe, if she found the stomach for it.

Throat dry, she swallowed, her vision drifting to the Shade, leaning against a stump.

But something was better than nothing, wasn't it?

Especially if she was going to die anyway.

Gritting her fangs, Tirren breathed, swallowed, then planted her aching, burned leg into the mud.

Across from her the Shade's eyes flicked up to her, but she didn't pay him any mind, as she rolled onto her belly and found her strong paws, rising onto them.

The Shade's voice rasped, slow, seeming to struggle with each word.

"You… just… can't… stay… down…"

Tirren grinned, and winced as pain shot along her face. Oh ancestors, even her face was burned.

"And you… can't take no… for an answer…" she croaked, wishing desperately for water.

Blood stained fangs flashed, the Shade's sneer stretching his face into a hateful mask.

"I'm glad… I didn't… rut you… you'd never have shut up."

"Considering… that I plan... on haunting you… don't expect that… to change."

With a howl he charged, going straight for Tirren's throat.


On ragged wings they flew, up and up, towards the one who caused it all, Voltlyn leading the charge.

Wind battered them from all sides, conjured by the dragon shaped vortex of dark magic that flew ahead of them, the now empty skies still heeding the his call.

Voltlyn was so utterly done with him.

Trembling her claws clenched and she sped up just a bit more, not caring if her wings ached or she broke away from the others. Not for this. Not when she could save someone else from another domineering, manipulative, egotistical dragon who thought they were owed the body of another.

She was here, Sav. Hold on.

Above the monster's voice boomed, the wind itself turning inward, towards him as he drew in breath.

"Begone!"

From above, a hundred twinkling stars of violet light burst into being, then came rushing down in a meteor shower of death.

Luckily, they had a Vash.

Explosions tore the sky as convexity comets collided with whatever Vash came up with to defend them. Voltlyn let out a whoop that could only have come from an exhausted mind and sped forward, through the smokescreen and into the air beside the Shade.

Convexity blazed through the sky and Voltlyn narrowly avoided, the unnatural heat scorching scale and wing as she dove past it. She answered with lightning, arcs of electricity flashing and cracking between her and the monster, who took the hits with a snarl and a glare her way.

Allowing the others to blindside him. Shadowfire and ice smashed into his back, followed by a short blaze from Igneous as he coughed up a ball of flame as Vash carried him past the Shade.

With a roar the Shade arched his back, shadow flesh rippling like water from each impact. In his grip Savron cried out, claws clenching tight around him.

Not on Voltlyn's watch!

With a tiny roar she rolled and changed direction, swerving straight for the monster himself. Crack! Lightning blazed from her maw and sliced one of the beast's arm clean off.

Everything jolted, the whole world shifting, as though a taut string had just been struck.

"ENOUGH!"

A gale cast Voltlyn a side hurling her away from the monster. The others cried out, similarly blown away, wings flailing to catch themselves. When she did, Voltlyn whirled to strike again, only to pause, her eyes widening as she beheld the Shade.

The monster hovered, trembling, his wings flared and shoulders tense, all the confidence and arrogance gone from his face. Replaced with furious desperation.

His one remaining claw twisted and everyone froze, their wings flapping hard to halt their advance, Vash's gasp sounding in the silence. Savron dangled, limp in the beast's grip, the Shade single paw wrapped around Savron's neck, talons grazing his throat.

"Strike and he dies."

Voltlyn's heart lurched. Oh no.

Across, Vash glared the Shade's way, sneering. "You'd die too."

The sneer the Shade returned chilled Voltlyn's blood. "This small part of me, yes. This fragment, this shadow. But I am merely a piece of a greater whole. I can afford to sacrifice myself if it means the death of Spyro and the traitor's spawn. You, however…"

Ice seized Voltlyn's chest, coating her heart in frost. No. Please no… not like this!

Desperately, Voltlyn looked to Vash, praying the Shade was not right, that what he implied couldn't be true. But Vash looked away, refusing to meet her eyes.

Her frozen heart cracked, then fell in a rain of crumbling hail.

Was this really the end? Was there no way to save him?

"Vash… please…"

Voltlyn flinched, looking away, unable to meet Savron's broken gaze as he looked to Vash, then the others, his eyes wide and pleading.

There had to be something they could do… anything!

"Now." All eyes turned to the Shade, brows twisting in anger as a smirk once more crossed his face. "You'll tell Savron to take the crystal. You make him take it. Because if he doesn't, you'll all die."

Igneous snorted. "You'll kill us all anyway."

The Shade laughed. "No. He takes it and you all go free. It's in my best interest, after all."

Voltlyn swallowed and turned to the others. Glances were shared, the others shifting on the wind, hovering over an abyss, trying to choose between continuing forward, or the alternative.

"Now choose."


Trren had barely the strength to dodge.

Claws came at her face and Tirren narrowly ducked in time. Spinning drunkenly about, she tried to get her paws back under her as he came again, charge stumbling, right into her side.

The world spun, as purple filled her vision, along with the flash of fang and claw. With a howl Tirren struck back as she hit the ground, the pain of her wing slamming down nearly knocking her out her right there. But she wouldn't let it. Not this time.

Screaming, Tirren tore bright red lines across the monster's face, his chest, his stomach, kicking and clawing with everything she had as he laid into her, tearing at her as they grappled. Fangs snapped, too close to her neck for comfort and she pushed back, forcing him off.

She didn't even manage to rise again before he was atop her once more, and the chaos of claw and fang and horn erupted once more.

Pain. A paw struck her face and everything jolted to the side. But she didn't stop, didn't cease her struggle. There was nothing else, after all. Hot blood warmed her talons as she dug them deep, straight into his gut and his howl shook her. There was a spark of feeling in her side. What was probably supposed to be pain as he rent her flanks, but compared to all the rest of it Tirren could do not but laugh breathlessly.

A strange look entered the monster's eyes, his luminous orbs widening, but Tirren didn't care, knowing only that it was weakness she could exploit to help save her friends.

Lunging, she took his throat in her jaws, her whole body heaving off the ground to smash into him. He screamed and struck back, before she could bite and then pulled free, with only a small tear to show where her fangs had dug.

She struck the ground for the millionth time - It had to be a million now. The dirt here was so familiar! - and she flailed herself back onto her paws and charged, not caring how each step was an eruption of pain, or how her limp wing jostled. There was only the dark purple and the fear in his eyes.

Everything lurched as Tirren lunged at the dragon, who tried to stumble into a dodge, only to falter. She collided with all the force of a trebuchet stone and the two went down together. Only this time, she came up on top.

She blinked, brain trying to process this information. The sight of him on his back for the first time, the ground beneath him more than she could comprehend. Instinct came back as his claws struck and the world spun again. The two rolled along the ground, grappling, clawing every inch of scale that they could reach.

A gasp ripped Tirren's aching, blood-filled lung as he rolled her over her ruined wing. Everything went white, then black, then purple and he was on top of her again.

That didn't last.

With a lurch she smashed her head against his and earth dragon stubbornness won the day again. A push laid him flat against the earth again, Tirren ignoring the spinning, the stars, along with everything else her body felt. Because none of it mattered. She had the Shade flat on his back.

Now it was her turn.

He lashed at her with claw and tail, wing and fang, ripping her stomach and flanks to shreds, yet Tirren rose anyway, paws upraised as she screamed her righteous fury.

And brought her paws down.

He buckled, body lurching as she struck his stomach, his swipes growing flimsy as he let all his breath out in one choking gasp.

She didn't let him breathe again.

With another scream she rose up, rearing and struck down.

His eyes rolled back, body curling as his ribs creaked beneath her paws.

Her everything spinning, growing dark, Tirren lurched back up one last time, braced herself and came down with roar.


Everything faded. All Savron could see through his fading, misting eyes was the faces of his friends as hope drained away. The Shade's words echoed in the empty skies.

No. It couldn't be. Not after all of this. He shuddered, his body wracked with the echo of pain, barely able to breath through the grip around his throat. Don't let this be the end. Not for them.

The claws tightened, closing off the last of his air. Another demand hissed through the Shade's maw, indecipherable through the ringing in Savron's ears. They weren't going to have a choice, were they? Either he goes, or they all do. No chance to fight back, no struggling this time. He bows, or they all die.

His dim, blurry eyes turned to the crystal floating in front of him, crackling with dark lightning, burning afterimages into his vision.

Give in. It was all he could do.

"I said, choose!" The Shade's voice came, so distant now as the darkness closed in, covering even the faces of his friends. They fought so hard for him.

They moved in the dark, but if they spoke Savron couldn't hear as he choked, struggling to breath as the Shade slowly crushed the life out of him, his talons ever present around his neck.

The only light was that of the crystal, shining, a dim hollow glow that kept him awake as he stretched a claw out towards it.

Then the light vanished.


Below her, the Shade lurched, heaving up, his eyes bulging in his head as Tirren's third strike hit home, square into his stomach.

Their eyes met, for just a moment. Then, all at once, he puked.

Vomit gouted from his maw, spraying Tirren, knocking her back as he splattered her. Tumbling she hit the ground, trying to cover herself with a wing as he drew in a hard breath, then turned over and retched again, into the mud, emptying his stomach into the filth.

Tirren's vision spun as she watched, with grim satisfaction as he heaved in the muck.

Only for a glow to catch her gaze, shining from the mess he created.

Her breath caught, mind clearing as, from within the puke, a violet crystal shone.


Savron blinked, his claw trembling halfway towards where the crystal once was. Through the darkness, Savron saw his the Shade's jaw drop.

"No."

A grin dawned on Savron's face, a laugh struggling to break through the grip around his throat.

"No! No no no!"

The others moved as the Shade turned away, screaming at the void, howling in fury. The Shade's forelegs bunched, his claws digging into Savron's throat.

Typhous got there first.

He appeared in the clap of a sonic boom, his fury's tailwind carrying him from below, faster than a blink. Wind and claw sheared through smoke and shadowed flesh, severing the Shade's foreleg from his shoulder.

Savron fell.


Silence. Both Tirren and the Shade stared at the glow, mouths agape, barely comprehending.

"No."

Tirren turned, to look at him as he broke the silence, the Shade's bloody claw extending to gasp at the mud and bile, just out of reach.

"No. No no no…" he whimpered, each word weaker than the last.

His quivering paws stretched, to claw one final time at the muck.

Then, they went limp, his paws sinking to the mud.

Savron's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he went still, with only the rise and fall of his chest left to animate him.


Savron laughed, his numb claws stretched skyward as he tumbled down and away, free of the Shade. Finally, finally free.

He cheered, watching as above Voltlyn, Danrah and Sleet blasted the Shade from all sides, shadow, ice and lightning obliterating the bastard as he screamed. What a wonderful sound it was.

The last thing he saw as the dark finally claimed him was Vash and Igneous, his friends rushing down to catch him.

Savron's paws stretched to meet them.


Tirren stared at the unmoving Savron, her eyes clouding. She… she'd done it. They'd done it. Trembling she lifted a paw, only to tumble as the last of the adrenaline, the only thing keeping her going, burned out. The world spun as she lay at Savron's side, her thoughts turning to her friends, hoping they'd get out, that they were safe.

She'd know soon enough. Darkness closed in. But she was so, so tired. Just a few moments of rest and she'll get help.

Sapphire eyes closed and Tirren stilled.


Dardarax's Characters

Danrah, Igneous, Savron, Sleet, Tirren, Typhous, Vash, Voltlyn

Kept my promise! There were a few problems posting this one, but I think it turned out pretty well. =)

Chapter 56 will be posted on July 20th!