As they ran, they came across a few shadow dragons and had to continue fighting to get where they wanted to be. It wasn't long before they had black blood staining their tailblades, claws and scales, and the dark blood from the shadow dragons mixed with their own blood that streamed from their own wounds. The black blood was hardly visible against Cynder's dark scales, but against Freeze's pale blue scales, the black liquid was extremely visible, and stained like ink spilled on parchment. Dead Warfangian dragons surrounded them, and the corpses of a few moles, cheetahs, panthers and leopards were also scattered among the reptilian bodies. The shadow dragons were easily winning, their immunity to not only physical attacks, but to elemental ones, made them a real struggle to beat. It took a lot more to down a shadow dragon to be able to make the kill, and even that was a struggle.
It wasn't long before Cynder, Pyron and Freeze made it to their destination. They saw Cyril, stepping backwards cautiously, trembling with fear as a dragon cloaked in dark shadows and glowing red eyes closed in on him. "Spyro, stop this now!" Cynder pleaded. "What are you doing?"
The shadowy creature that Cynder named as Spyro stopped and turned to look at her. Spyro opened his mouth, parting the shadows that was cloaked around his snout and laughed. "I'm fulfilling my destiny, Cynder. To bring the world as we know it to an end, and start over from scratch." Spyro replied, his crimson eyes staring into Cynder's soul. "You of all dragons would know that from being the puppet of my predecessor. Malefor was right; this world needs to be cleansed."
"What has happened to you? Where's the Spyro I used to know?" Cynder pleaded, tears brimming her eyes.
"That Spyro doesn't exist anymore! He was soft! He was weak!" Spyro roared, the unearthly, deep tones in his voice growing violently as he raised his voice. "The transformation has just begun. My body is changing, and to protect it, I have encased it in shadows. You can't hurt me. Once I break free from these shadows, the transformation will be complete, and I will have the body that belongs to one of my title, the Dark Overlord."
Cynder stared at Spyro with shock, tears forming in her eyes as her breath went hard. Spyro's voice went soft and smooth as he walked towards Cynder, an eerie smile forming across his lips, which was only just visible through the shadows surrounding his body, and was only really noticeable when he spoke. "The Spyro you knew is now gone, Cynder. But I think you'll like my current form much better now. After all, I remember hearing stories from that old coot Ignitus about how much you loved bringing fear onto the world! How much you loved massacres!" Spyro said, his voice rising as he broke into deep laughter. "Come and join me, Cynder! We can rule the world together! We can be one again!"
"I will never join you, you sick freak! And how dare you talk about Ignitus like that?!" Cynder roared.
Spyro ignored Cynder. "Our son is waiting." he rumbled with a soothing voice, hoping it would strike a chord in Cynder to get her to join his side.
"Don't listen to him, Cynder!" Cyril shouted, turning to look at Cynder, causing Cynder, Pyron and Freeze to gasp in shock.
Half of Cyril's face was caked in thick blood. His left eyelids were closed as blood pooled over them from massive, deep wounds around his left eye, and his horn had begun to split and disconnect from his head, which also spilled blood as the horn was splitting from the roots in his skull. A large bleeding cut also ran from the left corner of his mouth to his jawline, and it was pretty deep. Spyro laughed as he watched horror fill Cynder's expression at Cyril's bloodied, swollen face. "I'm alright, Cynder!" Cyril tried to convince her.
"You're a monster!" Cynder scowled, glaring savagely at Spyro. "How could you do this?!"
"You're right, Cynder. How could I do this without you, the former Terror of the Skies? It would seem almost rude to my predecessor, and our past relationship." Spyro chuckled. "Join me, Cynder! We can rule the world together! We can do this together! You used to love this!" He gestured to his bloodied claws and tailblade as he said the last two sentences.
"Not anymore! I hate the thought of violence! Of murder!" Cynder cried. "I would never cause another massacre again!"
"Pity." Spyro chuckled, his harsh red eyes slicing through Cynder's soul. "It seems that the entire grublin race is now extinct because of you and your pathetic Warfangian friends and citizens. You caused the massacre of grublins!"
"You sent them to their death!" Cynder shouted, tears brimming in her eyes.
"That's too bad. You were the ones to attack. It was your choice." Spyro retorted, breaking into hideous laughter.
Immediately, Spyro's expression went hard and expressionless as he lunged at Cynder, pinning her against the wall of a building behind her. Cyril, Pyron and Freeze all let out startled shouts at the speed of which Spyro launched himself. Spyro's shadow cloaked tailblade was brought up to Cynder's neck, and Cynder could feel the blade resting against her neck despite the shadows it was hiding behind. Spyro's tailblade was also much sharper than it had been; it was drawing quite a lot of blood already and it was barely touching her flesh. It would be able to do serious damage. Cynder's breathing began to speed up and sweat began to drip down her forehead, the terrible stench of Spyro's hot breath filling her nostrils, reminding her of the stench of death that she would smell day in and day out from her time as the Terror of the Skies. "I'll give you three chances, Cynder. You can either join me or not. If you decide to reject my offer all three times, then you are truly my enemy. I will not hesitate to kill you." Spyro said darkly, a sadistic smile creeping onto his face. "So, think carefully, my dear. Now, tell me, are you going to join me or not?"
"Never in my life!" Cynder croaked through clenched teeth. "Why the hell would you even give me chances to join you? Because I'm not ever going to join you! I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU EVER AGAIN!"
Spyro brought his tailblade back from Cynder's neck and began to step back, before lunging forward again and bringing the tailblade down across Cynder's right foreleg, leaving a clean, yet savage cut, which began to flood with blood almost immediately. "Chance one gone. Two chances left, Cynder. I genuinely want you by my side; we could rule together. But that'll have to wait until another time." Spyro said, turning and walking off.
Cynder fell to the ground, her foreleg aching with insane amounts of pain. She let out a scream as the pain began to worsen. "Are you alright, Cynder?" Cyril asked as he ran up to Cynder.
"His tailblade is deadly sharp. It's sharper than mine, which is something I never thought I'd… I'd ever say. The pain keeps… intensifying… getting worse…" Cynder said, beginning to break off as she released another scream of agony.
Spyro's otherworldly roar sounded again, and Cynder cursed as she forced herself to her paws. She flew up into the sky, blood dripping furiously down her foreleg, leaving droplets of blood of the ground. She didn't even check to see if Cyril, Pyron and Freeze were following her, but, knowing them, Cynder believed they were, although she didn't really care if they were or not. Cynder flew towards Spyro's roar, and gasped when she saw a young earth dragon standing in front on Spyro's shadowy figure. "RUN!" Cynder screamed, as air built up in her throat ready to release a huge gale of wind at Spyro.
A shadow dragon leapt up at her from out of the ground below her, and grabbed her, pulling her down. Cynder lost the air in her wings, and she, as well as the shadow dragon, plummeted to the ground. The shadow dragon was already wounded, its black blood mixing with her own. The dark blood stung profusely as it spilled over the wound on her leg, and she grit her teeth as she bit back the cry of pain. Cynder and the shadow dragon landed on the ground with a thud, and a few of Cynder's joints were dislocated under the weight and pressure of the impact and the shadow dragon on top of her, pinning her to the ground. The cry tore itself free this time. Cynder struggled under the shadow dragon, but the shadow dragon's already blood-stained claws dug into her flesh, drawing more blood and keeping her on the ground.
Cynder then heard the earth dragon she had seen earlier speak, and what she heard shocked her. She looked around to see the earth dragon a few metres in front of her as he spoke. She couldn't see his face; his back was turned to her. But the look on Spyro's face and the malice in his ruby eyes put fear in Cynder's heart. "The time has finally come! Take me, Spyro! I'm all yours!" the earth dragon cried, puffing his chest out, his voice quivering as if he was holding back tears.
Spyro burst into laughter. "What is this? Surrender? I must let you know, my only reward for those surrendering will be death. They don't deserve to live." Spyro said in amongst his laughter.
"What about an alliance?" the earth dragon asked, causing Spyro's laughter to stop immediately as his glance fixed on him, the expression in Spyro's eyes changing from dark humour to immediate anger. "I've waited for the moment I could meet a master of darkness. For so long, I've only ever thought of becoming a warrior of darkness, and fighting for the only victor in the war for life and death."
"What the…?! Where is this coming from?!" Cynder screamed, only to be cut off by an agonising howl that tore from her throat as the shadow dragon on top of her raked its claws down her back, slowly, and agonisingly, spilling heaps of blood.
"I must say, this is unusual. Tell me, what is your name, young dragon?" Spyro asked, a thoughtful look on his dark features.
"My name is Drachen, Spyro, sir." the dragon replied.
"And tell me, Drachen, why all of a sudden, there is a dragon willing to come and ask to come to the dark side? After all these years from resistance and fighting against Malefor, only now does someone see what the victorious side really is." Spyro said with a hint of sadistic laughter.
"I saw during the Dark War all our world was made out to be. It was a world of death, caused by the powers of darkness. I realised that I could not preserve the lives of those I loved, and my own life, by resisting the darkness. I needed to join the dark powers to save myself. I figured, what was the point in living in the fear and limitations the enemy puts on you when you could be the one inducing fear and placing those limitations, when you could be living a free life in doing so?" Drachen explained. "I wanted to join Malefor so badly. Until you and Cynder destroyed him and ended the Dark War. I was so angry I murdered my family, blinded by my rage. I was driven out of Warfang because of that. Until recently, I'd been living alone in the forest, filled with constant rage and grief. For eight years! That was until I saw the dark forces shooting out of that mountain and into Warfang, and I knew this was where I could get my chance of becoming a dark warrior."
Spyro stared at Drachen and chuckled softly, before breaking out into big roars of sinister laughter that made Cynder's blood run cold as she struggled underneath the shadow dragon pinning her to the ground. "This is brilliant!" Spyro exclaimed, his voice rising with glee. "First a dragon who is willing to give himself to the powers of darkness, and now he's already an experienced murderer! All I have left to say is… WELCOME!"
And with that, large tendrils of dark energy shot out of Spyro and buried themselves into Drachen's chest, shoulders and forehead. Drachen howled in pain as he was lifted off the ground by the dark tendrils. His eyes, nostrils and mouth began to glow an eerie purple colour as his scales blackened before Cynder's very eyes. Dark energy began to form around Drachen and swirl around him. The crevasses in between his scales began to emit bright purple light and his claws, fangs and horns began to grow into even more lethal weapons. They didn't become uneven and horrifically jagged like those that the shadow dragons wielded, but they were long and deadly enough to strike fear into an opponent's heart. His fangs curved inwards and saliva began to drip down his jaws.
A deafening high-pitched screech suddenly tore from Drachen's jaws, causing Cynder to scream in pain as the painful screeching increased in volume. Cynder heard others shouting in pain around her, but the screams were drowned out by the deafening screech that seemed to go on forever. Trying not to concentrate on the sound, Cynder screwed her eyes shut and grit her teeth, screaming through her gritted teeth.
Suddenly, the screeching stopped as Drachen fell to the ground and the dark tendrils retreated back to the shadowy cloak that surrounded Spyro. Cynder calmed down and took deep breaths as she opened her eyes and gasped when she turned and saw Drachen lying on his side. He had turned around so that Cynder could see his face. A deep growl emanated from his throat.
Drachen's eyes opened sharply, and sinister purple eyes similar to those the shadow dragons possessed stared from his eye sockets. He stood slowly to his paws, and began to slowly, carefully, eerily, pace towards Cynder. Saliva dripped from his jaws as he opened them threateningly. Cynder let out a shout of distress as she clawed at the ground, but the shadow dragon increased its hold on her, causing more blood to seep out of her wounds. "Cynder!" she heard Cyril shout from behind her.
Cynder felt the weight on top of her disappear as the shadow dragon fell sideways, its head encased in ice. Cynder struggled to her paws, but was tackled by Drachen. He reared, opening his mouth ready to bring his jaws down around her neck, saliva pooling around his bottom lip, but was cut short as Spyro let out a roar. "Drachen! Enough." he ordered.
Drachen stepped off Cynder, a confused expression on his face. "I'm sorry, my master. Did I do something wrong?" Drachen asked, his voice deeper than it had been moments ago.
"No. I think we've done enough here. We've taken some lives, shown what we can do, and taken in a new ally. You." Spyro explained. "We will retreat back to Dark Peak for the time being. We'll figure out our next move from there. We don't want to take things too quickly."
Spyro opened his wings as he flew up into the sky. Drachen was about to do the same, but stopped as he saw only some of the shadow dragons follow Spyro. A few of them were downed, wings dislocated or missing, limbs twisted and wet black blood glistening over their dark scales. "Master Spyro? What about the wounded shadow dragons?" Drachen asked.
"I have no need for those who are merely soldiers who are downed or wounded. We don't need to waste resources on them. Kill them. I can create more at Dark Peak." Spyro replied and flew off into the distance.
Drachen opened his wings and ascended into the sky, his purple eyes glowing white as he summoned huge violet tendrils of energy from the ground that shot through the wounded shadow dragons' chests. When Drachen called the violet tendrils away, and left, flying after Spyro, the shadow dragons flopped onto the ground, dead, spilling immense amounts of black gore. Cynder looked beside her and saw the shadow dragon that had pinned her to the ground earlier, lying on its side with a burning hole in its chest and coming out of the other side of its back. Black blood spilled from both sides of the dragon's body, and the sight and stench sickened Cynder.
"What the hell has Spyro become?" Cynder breathed.
Got Chapter 55 done quicker than expected, so this chapter came out pretty quickly compared to a lot of the other ones. What do you all think of what Spyro's become? And how was the first action sequence of this story? I definitely believe the one I'm working on right now is so much better (but it's the climactic battle so of course it's going to be better), but I'm still pretty happy with this one, however this chapter didn't contain as much of the action as last chapter did.
To 'Derick Lindsey', hopefully this was a good enough scene for you on revealing what Spyro has become. Yeah with Nina and Flash being absent from Broken Perceptions, I decided that I did want them to appear in this one. Not telling you when, though. But yes, I don't think it's going to be that much of a surprise that the news of Spyro's corruption will be broken to Nina and Flash (Sparx too), and again, it's not really that much of a surprise that they're going to take it badly. I'm looking forward to getting that scene up, because I was somewhat happy with that scene; I'll need to fix a few things up once I come to editing it, but it's pretty good.
To 'lord typhlosion', they aren't actually normal shadow dragons. Got a bit of dragon history coming up in later chapters/parts as well, but I can say that all of the dragons of the dark elements (shadow, fear and poison) have been long extinct. But they're not zombies. You could call them some kind of mutant if you wish, but even then, that's not really what they are. Their real name will be revealed in a few chapters' time (yes, they have a special name).
Thanks for your support everyone, and I guess I will see you soon, however long the next chapter of Demonised (or Bitten) takes. A bit of an emotional chapter coming up next, so yeet!