Chapter 31: The Dragon Realms
The seven of them emerged in the middle of a swamp. Dragonflies flitted about doing their jobs for their society. At the sight of the dragons, the dragonflies screamed in terror and hid in their homes.
"That was a warm welcome," Clay joked.
"They are terrified of dragons, Clay," Link stated. "Imagine being as big as they are. What would you feel if a giant lizard walked into your home and destroyed it?"
"Fear obviously," Glory stated.
"The rest of you can stay here," Link stated. "I'll go looking for Sparx. When I return, I'll teach the five of you how to assume a human form."
He charged into the marsh. The atmosphere around him darkened. Link had the constant feeling of being watched as he looked around cautiously. If Sparx wasn't so reckless, he would be better off.
He eventually spotted a golden glow in the distance. He slowly approached it, but stopped when he noticed what was causing the glow. He quickly turned into human form and hid behind a tree.
The glow was coming from a large wagon, which was filled completely with jars of trapped creatures, many of them dragonflies from the swamp. He did notice a unicorn tied to the wagon, crying. The cart was being manned by two Apes. They were both wearing armor and wielded crude weapons. One had a sword while the other had an axe. They were currently trying to force Sparx into a small jar like the other dragonflies.
"Get in there, you little gnat!" one of the Apes growled. Sparx was putting up a good fight, but he was captured by the Apes.
"Just you wait!" Sparx exclaimed. "My brother would be coming after me and he would give you a world of pain!"
"Quiet, you!" the other Ape exclaimed as he balanced Sparx on top of the other jars. The pair of apes walked forward. "Do you think that's enough? I mean, she can't need too many, right? The circle of life still needs to be maintained."
"You never know with her," the other Ape answered. "She's so bloody secretive, and she wonders why we can't always do exactly what she wants."
"You should probably send the signal," the first ape stated. The second drew a strange black crystal from his armor and threw it into the air. It let off a black, fog-like smoke, and hung in mid air.
They must be summoning Cynder, Link thought. I better free the prisoners.
"Now, we wait," one of the apes stated. They both sat down
He stepped out from behind the tree, Master Sword drawn. "Let them go or else!" he ordered.
The apes whirled to face him. The one with the sword charged at him. Link blocked his strike with the Master Sword and pushed him back before swiping at the ape's leg, tripping him up. He disarmed the ape before pointing the tip of the Master Sword at his throat. Link looked at the ape with the axe. Both apes gasped in shock.
"Let them go or your friend dies," he stated.
Instead of thinking, the second ape drew his weapon and charged at Link. Link took the sword that he took from the first ape and blocked the strike. The fiery energy from the arena ignited once more as he countered with a jet of flame erupting from the blade and blasted the ape through the trees and into a rock, rendering him blistered and unconscious.
The sword wielding ape ran to check on his comrade as Link approached the cart, dropping the ape's sword.
"What took you so long?" Sparx asked. "And when did you learn how to manipulate fire?"
"Yesterday at the SkyWing Arena," Link replied as he sheathed the Master Sword and turned into his usual dragon form, not knowing that one of the apes saw him transform. "If I am right about who they are signalling, Cynder will be here any moment." He quickly pulled the cart down the path a short distance before working on the straps on the cart. But before he finished, there came a bellowing, screeching roar, and the sound of an enormous dragon landing.
"Silverchaos, Grimblade, if this is another false call, you are DEAD!" Cynder's voice screeched.
She greatly looked like the memorial statues that stood in Castle Town and the RainWing village in the present, though more demonic and aged more, making her fifteen times as big as Link was at the moment. She was completely black, save for her wing membranes and underbelly, which were bright pink. At the end of her tail and on the thumbs of her wings were sharp, silver blades, and on her front legs, neck and tail were silver spiked bracelets.
She moved over and searched the area. She eventually found the two apes.
"Grimblade?!" she said, clearly agitated, "You seriously got injured rounding up insects?"
"They had help!" Grimblade replied, and Link saw him climb to his feet. "A dragon in human form showed up and made off with them."
"Impossible," Cynder replied. "There are no dragons in this part of the Realms!"
"I'm serious!" Grimblade pleaded. "Purple, he was when he assumed dragon form! He has the Master Sword as well!"
At those words, Cynder was obviously shocked and enraged.
"Do you know what this means?!" she screeched, making Grimblade fall backwards again.
"What?" he squeeked.
"This means you have failed the Dark Master in ways you can't even imagine!" Cynder replied. "I almost pity you!"
"He can't have gone far," Grimblade stated. "He went that way last I saw." He pointed in the direction of the cart and Link.
"Look, brother, you need to get these straps loose as fast as possible," Sparx exclaimed.
"I know, Sparx," Link replied as he slashed through the straps. As he set the unicorn free, however, he heard Grimblade and Cynder approaching.
"There he is!" Grimblade exclaimed. Link turned to face them.
"Tell the Goddess' reincarnation that I will free her," he said, giving Cynder a knowing look as he flipped the cart over, smashing all of the jars. All of the insects that were trapped in the jars swarmed around Cynder's head, making her stop and attempt to swat them away.
Link sped away from the cart with Sparx following at his heels.
"How did you know that they were summoning Cynder?" Sparx asked as Link leapt into the air and spread his wings
"They talked about whether she would be satisfied with the amount of dragonflies they caught," Link replied. "Malefor and Gaul are male and would have been referred to as such."
Sparx nodded in understanding. "But isn't freeing Cynder from the Mirror's control our top priority?" he asked. "Why are we fleeing?"
"We aren't strong enough to fight her yet, Sparx," Link replied. "We must follow what the legends foretold in order to free her."
They eventually returned to the world gate. Luna and Tsunami had obviously went hunting while they were gone. Luna tossed Link several dead ferrets.
"Why are you smaller now, Spyro?" Glory asked.
"It comes with being able to turn into a purple dragon," Link replied. "Purple dragons can assume the size of an elemental dragon of the Dragon Realms or a dragon from Hyrule relative to his age. Elemental dragons at around my age are at the size of a small horse while Hyrulean dragons of the same age are larger than Clay."
Glory nodded in understanding. "That makes sense."
Once everyone had finished eating, Link and Luna stood in front of the dragonets in their human forms.
"The path ahead of us is perilous," he stated. "Cynder might know of my existence, but she doesn't know about any of you. You must learn how to handle combat when in human form."
"Why?" Clay asked.
"To better defend each other," Luna answered. "Dragonets your age learn how to assume human form and use the transformation to not frighten humans."
"You can say that a certain serpentine dragon named Volvagia caused that fear to spring up because of his appetite for Gorons, the race known for their resistance to fire, muscular strength, and disguise themselves as boulders," Link stated.
"When I first transformed into a dragon, I pictured soaring through the air with majesty. But when I wanted to be human again, I imagined the Hero of Time fighting the manifestation of Demise's curse, Mandrag Ganon. Picture yourselves in the Hero's boots, fighting an enemy with immense power."
Link watched as the dragonets shrank. Their leathery hide turning into smooth human skin, hair erupting from their scalps, and clothes blanketing their shoulders.
Glory turned into a hylian girl with long, brown hair wearing a garb reminiscent of the Sheikah.
Sunny was a Gerudo-Sheikah mix. She had the height, hair, and skin tone of a Gerudo while she had the piercing red eyes of a Sheikah. She was wearing armor similar to what Urbosa wore, but had the Sheikah garb as a layer under the armor.
Tsunami was a Zora with scales identical to her own when she was a dragon. She was wearing battle armor similar to the guards at Zora's Domain.
Clay was a very muscular Goron with rich brown skin and a youthful face. Strapped to his wrists were gauntlets of bronze.
Starflight, however resembled a Sheikah with amber eyes. He was wearing armor that was reminiscent of the ancient machinery of the Sheikah. The blue aura radiating from the armor reminded him of the garb that Hyrule's Champions wore.
"It might take some time getting used to walking on two legs instead of four," Luna explained. "I recommend practicing for a few hours. Once you believe that you are ready to learn about combat, come and talk to us."
A few hours have passed and the dragonets thought they were ready for combat. Link smiled. "Clay, I ran into your father earlier today," he stated. "He is rather proud of you. He has watched you grow from afar since you hatched. From the palaces of the gods, he has watched you. He forged something for you himself." He pulled the sword Hephaestus gave him out of his pouch and handed it to Clay.
Clay's eyes widened at the sight of the sword. It's bronze surface gleamed in the sunlight. "My father made this from..." he stopped. "My father is Hephaestus, isn't he?"
Link chuckled as he nodded in confirmation as the dragonets swarmed Clay, congratulating him on being a son of Hephaestus.
Luna smiled. "You are destined for greatness, Clay," she stated. "The same goes for all of you."