It was about a ten-minute flight to the city of Jorgarath. The sky was dark, filled with black clouds as Dark Peak continued to spew out more dark missiles, now in countless different directions. On the odd occasion, one would head towards Jorgarath, but the missiles were now spreading out in different directions, ready to attack other cities or to take refuge in the wild ready to ambush an unsuspecting dragon with their guard down.
When they reached Jorgarath, there were already many dead, and many trying to fight for their lives, their blood streaming everywhere, staining the snow in the cold, small city dark red. Bodies of hatchlings were sprawled out on the snow as well as many adult dragons, and children were being buried underground to hide them from the shadow dragons. Cyril let out an enraged roar at the devastation his hometown was in, and dropped to the ground, severing the heads of two shadow dragons with a forceful, quick swipe of his icy tailblade, sending black gore flying everywhere. Cynder, Terrador and the guards they brought with them landed as well. One of the guards landed in the black blood that pooled out of the neck of one of the shadow dragons Cyril had killed, almost falling backwards, sending blood spraying everywhere as he kicked out to regain his balance.
"Cyril! Thanks for saving us!" an ice dragoness cried, raising from her cower. Obviously, she was in the middle of being attacked when Cyril appeared, even more believable at the sight of the blood running down her face in huge, excessive amounts. Cynder then noticed the amount of blood streaming from her left eye socket and realised that the dragoness was missing the eye that should be inside it.
"Go! Run!" Cyril shouted, sounding more desperate than Cynder had ever heard him, and the dragoness turned and ran.
"Cyril, where are the supervisors or council of Jorgarath?" Terrador asked. "We need to find them to make sure they're safe and that we can help them take back the city!"
"They're at the Ice Castle over there!" Cyril replied, pointing to a large frost-covered stone structure in the distance.
"Well to the Ice Castle we go, then!" Terrador scowled, running off in the direction of the Ice Castle.
As they ran, they sliced through the many shadow dragons that leapt at them, either killing them or wounding them so they couldn't follow, cutting off paws and wings and clawing at the shadow dragons wildly. Cynder took down three shadow dragons before she was tackled by two more, causing her to fall away from the group of Warfangian dragons. "Cynder!" one of the guards shouted, running over to help her.
"I'll be fine! Go with the others, I'll catch up!" Cynder shouted as she threw off the shadow dragons, stabbing one of them in the chest with her tailblade, spraying black blood all over the once white snow.
"No! We need you! Warfang needs you! We can't afford to lose you, so get up!" the guard refused as he released a beam of electricity at one of the shadow dragons, stunning it as it fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
Cynder stood up and finished off one of the shadow dragons, and turned to pin the other shadow dragon to the ground while the guard finished it off. Three more shadow dragons leapt at them, and Cynder leapt into her shadow, running underneath a shadow dragon before leaping up into the air, skewering the shadow dragon on her horns as the shadow dragon screeched in pain, before falling silent. The black gore showered onto Cynder's forehead before spilling down onto her nape, back and shoulders, gleaming on her dark scales. She threw the shadow dragon off her horns and gasped as she saw bright purple mist fall from the wound her left horn made. She looked down at the dragon and saw in the chest wound a flickering purple glow. Filled with curiosity and confusion, she walked forward and dug her claws into the shadow dragon's wound, prying it open forcefully to get a better look inside, and gasped when she saw, amongst the black blood that gushed out of the wound, a thick ribcage, encased in yet another ribcage, much thicker than the one inside, and saw a purple crystal inside the inner ribcage, next to the heart. The purple crystal had lost its glow and was completely smashed, and all of the dragon's systems stopped, and Cynder gasped as she realised what gave the shadow dragon its life. The heart may be punctured and blood being lost, but it's the crystal that keeps the dragons animated. Cynder thought, slicing through the dragon's neck and looked up it. The crystal's power flows through extra 'veins' as such, that run up the neck and seemingly into the brain; I can see a few going into the dragon's heart.
Cynder savagely cut open the shadow dragon's head and saw the dark purple 'veins' running into the shadow dragon's brain. That's why they die when they lose their head, because the crystal needs to be connected to the brain. But a simple throat slit may cut one vein, but the others will still be active. Cynder thought, eyes widening. I understand how these guys work, now!
A scream interrupted her from her thoughts. Oh no! The guard! she thought as she turned around.
Her heart sank at what she saw.
The guard lay on the ground, pinned by three shadow dragons who savagely clawed at him. Cynder couldn't see the extent of his wounds, but she saw immense amounts of red blood pooling out from underneath the shadow dragons, staining the snow. Cynder let out a roar and slammed into the side of one of the shadow dragons, sending it flying into the other two, knocking them off the broken guard lying at her feet. "Don't worry about me, Cynder. Go get 'em." Cynder heard him croak.
Without looking down at the guard, Cynder leapt over him and clawed at the shadow dragons, waiting for the perfect time to stab them in the chest. One shadow dragon reared on its hind paws, towering over Cynder as it roared, baring its crooked, uneven fangs. Cynder growled as she plunged her tailblade into the shadow dragon's chest, causing it to stagger. She fiddled around inside the shadow dragon's chest, causing the other two shadow dragons to rear in fear. One of them let out a low, shaky growl. Cynder didn't know what it meant, but she could guess what the shadow dragons were thinking. She knows our weakness.
With a loud bellow, she yanked her tailblade out of the shadow dragon's chest, sending a fountain of black blood gushing over her and down the dragon's chest as it toppled over, dead. "I figured out where your weak point lies, you fiends!" Cynder roared as she lifted up her tailblade, covered completely in black blood, with a shattered purple crystal skewered on it.
The two shadow dragons yelped in fear, running off into the distance. Cynder watched them run. They then leapt onto another ice dragon. A low, painful groan tore her out of her murderous thoughts, and Cynder turned and looked down with a gasp at the guard that lay in front of her. His chest had been torn open, revealing the entirety of his snapped ribcage and the punctured lungs and heart, spilling rivers of the dark red blood that his heart failed to pump to his body. His left eye had also been cut out, and his hind right leg had been sliced clean off, lying beside him in a fountain of blood. His remaining eye was staring sightlessly into the sky, as she realised the groan she heard would be the guard's last.
Cynder then remembered the others, knowing that they might need her. After relocating the Ice Castle, she ran off towards it to see a pile of dead bodies, most of them Jorgarathian dragons, in front of the large courtyard that stood in front of the Ice Castle. Cynder noticed Terrador, squirming underneath two shadow dragons. The vision of the dead guard that had decided to stay back and fight with her was still vivid in her mind, and, not wanting that to happen to Terrador, she leapt at the shadow dragons, knocking them off the earth guardian. His left shoulder was covered in his own blood, and blood spilled from the right corner of his mouth. Terrador let out a startled gurgle, blood spilling from his lips and hanging in large repulsive strings between his jaws as he did so, as Cynder wrestled on the ground with the two shadow dragons. She swung her tailblade about wildly, and Terrador shuffled backwards to avoid getting wounded by the flailing tailblade. Cynder swung her tailblade through the neck of a shadow dragon, sending its head flying, leaving a trail of thick, black blood as the head slid across the ice. She threw the body off her as she continued to roll on the ground with the other shadow dragon. She put both her forepaws on the shadow dragon's shoulders and managed to get into a position where she could pin the shadow dragon to the ground, and get away from the jagged claws and the gnashing fangs. When she pinned the shadow dragon to the ground, she rose her tailblade, and then brought it down into the shadow dragon's chest, hearing a snap and feeling the first set of ribs snapping around her tailblade. She worked her tailblade through the second ribcage, ignoring the terrible screeches that came from the shadow dragon's jaws, and felt the crystal against her tailblade. The shadow dragon felt the tailblade against the crystal inside of it, and its eyes widened, shaking its head pleadingly. Cynder forcefully plunged her tailblade into the crystal, shattering it with an audible crack, and ripped it out of the dragon's chest, causing the shadow dragon to let out an unearthly wail before falling silent, it's black tongue lolling out of its mouth.
"Cynder! Are you alright?!" Cyril cried, running up next to Cynder.
"I'm fine." Cynder said. "I know what the shadow dragons' weakness is."
"Tell us inside!" an elderly ice dragoness with bloody cuts on her face and shoulders shouted, running into the Ice Castle.
Cyril and the guards that were still alive followed her. Cynder helped Terrador to his paws, before following them. Terrador closed the large door behind him and locked it so no shadow dragons could get into the Ice Castle too easily. "Warfangians, we're glad to see you here!" the elderly ice dragoness said. "My name is Shargran, and I am the dragon of authority in Jorgarath."
"It's good to see you're all well, Mistress Shargran." Cyril said, bowing his head in respect. "I'm so very sorry this is happening."
"Care to tell us why? I thought Malefor was destroyed." Shargran said, turning her head to Cynder. "And tell me, where's the purple dragon of legend who saved the world with you?"
"It turns out…" Cynder started, with a hysterical chuckle, filled with anger at the ironic statement. "…that Spyro is the one behind this attack."
"You mean to say that the purple dragon turned into the next Malefor?!" Shargran exclaimed.
"Yes, Mistress." Cynder replied. "He's created these shadow dragons, and they're looking for this 'Sound Gem', if I remember correctly."
"Sound Gem?" Shargran questioned. "What's that?"
"That's just it. We have no clue." Terrador said, shrugging. "Cynder had this auditory vision, or whatever the hell you want to call it, that warned us of this siege, as well as telling us that Spyro was searching for this 'Sound Gem'."
"Well… we're just as helpless as we were beforehand…" Shargran murmured with a groan of annoyance.
"But I did make a good discovery just now." Cynder interrupted.
"Really, Cynder? What was it?" Cyril asked.
"Inside the shadow dragons' chests, they have two sets of ribs. One ribcage, the outer one, is really thick and tough. It surrounds the one on the inside as protection to it, and the contents inside of it, like the lungs and heart." Cynder explained. "But inside that second ribcage, next to the heart, is this glowing purple crystal, that I've managed to bring with me."
Cynder raised her tail, showing the dull, shattered purple crystal that was still skewered on her blood-stained tailblade. Cynder heard a few guards gasp and saw Cyril and Shargran exchange a shocked glance. Terrador's eyes flickered from the shattered crystal, to Cynder, then back to the crystal. "Continue. What importance does this crystal have?" Terrador asked, voice hollow.
"To me, it seems that it is the shadow dragons' life source. You've noticed how the shadow dragons seem to continue to bleed and bleed and never die, right? I think that their heart is just something that allows them to be at full strength, and they just slow down when their heart stops or they lose blood." Cynder explained. "But this crystal, this once glowing, energised crystal, is filled with dark energy, and is connected with purple tendrils that act similar to veins to the heart, keeping it pumping despite being punctured, and pumping the energy through its body, and to the brain, to keeps its body functioning normally. That dark crystal is what keeps the shadow dragons animated. So, when it is shattered or destroyed, it stops working, and is unable to provide life for the dragon. And the veins that connects the crystal to the brain run up the neck, and so when they are beheaded, like the strategy we've been using all this time, the crystal loses all connection to the brain, meaning that the body can't move, and eventually, without the connection, the crystal dies out as its power seeps out of the sliced veins and into the air. That's why a slit throat doesn't work, because it only slices a few veins in the front of the neck, but those in the sides and back of the neck are still connected, keeping the shadow dragon alive."
Cyril, Terrador and Shargran stared at each other with shock. It was a while before anyone spoke. "You found out all that?" Terrador asked. "How and when?"
"Just earlier. I destroyed a crystal earlier and saw purple mist from the crystal come out of the wound. I did a little digging and opened up the wound I made, and I had a look." Cynder said. "But ancestors, all that gore I had to go through. I hated it. But I needed to know what this strange thing was."
"And we're glad you did." Cyril said. "Now we know so much more about these shadow dragons."
Suddenly, there was a loud banging sound. Every dragon inside the Ice Castle jumped, turning around to look at the door. There was silence for a while, until the banging sounded again. "Open this door!" a rough voice roared.
"Who was that?" Cyril asked in a hushed voice, not knowing if the dragon behind the new voice was hostile or not. "Doesn't sound like anyone I know."
"It's not anyone from Jorgarath, I know that much." Shargran murmured.
"It's not Drachen, and it's definitely not Spyro." Cynder said, her voice shaking.
"By order of the Shadow General, open up!" the voice roared again as there was more banging, and cracks appeared in the door, causing Cynder, Shargran, the guardians and the guards to huddle up protectively around one another.
The banging sounds were more steady and even. It sounded like someone was ramming their shoulders into the door to open it. Then, with a loud smash, the doors flew open, revealing a large shadow dragon. Its teeth and claws were slightly more even and orderly than those of a normal shadow dragon, and its eyes shone with a much deeper purple colour than a normal shadow dragons'. The markings on its forelegs were exactly the same as those of a normal shadow dragon's, however they also covered a large majority of his body. It even wore a metal headpiece that was dark and sinister, and wore extra pieces of armour that protected it. The thickest looking piece of armour was around its chest, where the purple crystal was buried inside. The shadow dragon opened its mouth, and out came a deep, masculine voice. "I told you to open the doors, did I not?" the dragon asked, baring his teeth in a hideous smile.
"What?! A shadow dragon that can talk?" one of the guards cried.
"I am not just any shadowclaw, you insolent fool! I am Shorok, the Shadow General, leader of the shadowclaws." the shadow dragon boomed.
"So they're calling themselves shadowclaws." Cynder muttered to herself.
"But isn't Drachen the leader of Spyro's dark army?" Terrador asked. "Drachen's his second-in-command!"
"Silence, fool! He may be the leader of the dark armies, but I am in charge of the shadowclaw division!" Shorok roared.
"There's more types of dragons, then?!" Shargran exclaimed, fear edging her shaky voice.
"There soon will be." Shorok growled, before pacing towards the Warfangian dragons and the Jorgarathian leader, licking his lips with a wet, black tongue, before raising his voice once again. "I have been sent here with my army of shadowclaws to find an item that Spyro wants."
"The Sound Gem." Cynder muttered in realisation.
Shorok turned his head towards Cynder as a sinister smile tugged on his lips, revealing the straighter, yet just as sharp and terrifying fangs that filled his mouth. "So you've heard of it." Shorok said, walking closer towards Cynder.
Cynder began to shake, pacing backwards before bumping into Cyril. Her breath hardened, and she felt fear grip her like a vice, inescapable, and with the reek of death threatening to take her, causing tears to well up in her eyes and sweat to flood down her forehead, which was still drenched in shadowclaw blood. Shorok's gaze was like a magnet; she could not tear her own gaze away from it, no matter how much she wanted to look away. She was forced to stare into the hideous purple eyes that shone out of the black, inky darkness of Shorok's sclerae and scales, and her blood went cold. Inhaling hoarsely, Cynder answered Shorok. "I've only heard the name before. I don't know what it is, and I don't know where it is."
"LIAR!" Shorok thundered fiercely, lunging forward and putting his tailblade up to Cynder's neck with incredible speed, causing the dragons surrounding Cynder to scatter.
Cyril, however, stood his ground, and wrapped a wing around Cynder. He could hear Cynder's petrified whimpers as she breathed heavily, her body trembling under the pressure of intense fear. "No, she's not a liar." Cyril said firmly. "I've known Cynder enough to know that she doesn't lie. She's done enough of that as the Terror of the Skies. She wouldn't continue to do so in her right mind."
"I thought Malefor would have taught you better than that, having the legacy that he did. But then again, his fall was easy and quick, showing that he was weak!" Shorok scowled, before letting out a low, gravelly chuckle that made Cynder's blood run cold. "But I believe you do know. I can feel it. So, tell me, Cynder. Where is the Sound Gem?"
"I don't know… where it is." Cynder whimpered, feeling the pressure of the tailblade against her neck increasing.
"Stop lying to me, Cynder." Shorok said, a sinister smile creeping up onto his lips as he dug his tailblade deep enough into her neck to cause a small amount of bleeding. "Tell me where the Sound Gem is. I'll give you one last chance before I cut out your throat."
"She doesn't know where it is, okay?! Let her go!" Cyril shouted.
"Don't order me around, you worm. I asked her the question." Shorok thundered, spittle flying from his lips. "Tell me where the Sound Gem is! My patience is running short!"
"I'm sorry, Shorok, but she genuinely doesn't know." Shargran said sternly.
"You foolish old coot! You've only just met her, and you trust her enough to say that she 'genuinely' doesn't know?! You know what she's done!" Shorok chuckled.
"Yes, I do. She saved the world. She broke free from Malefor's curse and destroyed him." Shargran replied, stepping forward.
"She was a murderer before that! One who killed in cold blood! One who killed because it was fun!" Shorok said, grinning evilly. "You can't trust someone like that."
"She's not like that anymore." Shargran retorted. "It's public knowledge now."
The smile disappeared eerily from Shorok's face. "You're right. She's not." he scowled. "But I am."
Quick as a flash, Cynder felt Shorok's cold tailblade leave her throat, and air rushed back into her windpipe. But before she knew it, Shargran had toppled to the ground, blood streaming from her throat in hideous amounts. She didn't even let out a scream, and Shorok moved with so much speed that it happened in almost the blink of an eye. Cyril let out a scream as Shargran fell dead, and leapt at Shorok. Shorok batted him away with the flat of his tailblade, sending him flying into the wall with a slam, knocking the ice guardian unconscious. Terrador released an earth missile at Shorok, but Shorok leapt into the shadows, dodging it, leaving the earth missile to bury itself into the neck of a shadowclaw standing behind him. But, as Cynder said, only a few veins around the throat were cut, and the ones around the back were still intact.
Shorok leapt out of his shadow and attacked Terrador, bringing his claws down in an X shape around Terrador's eyes. Terrador moved back quickly, dodging Shorok's jagged claws by a tiny fraction. The claws still managed to score a bit of flesh around the eyes, but Shorok didn't bury his claws deep enough into Terrador's skull to cut through his soft, delicate eyes. Shorok reared for another attack, and Cynder saw the chance. She leapt into her shadow and ran at top speed underneath Shorok, leaping up underneath him and knocking him over, throwing him to the floor with her horns.
The Shadow General scowled as he shook his head, struggling to his paws. "Shadowclaws! Get them!" Shorok growled.
With many deafening screeches, the Ice Castle was suddenly filled with shadowclaws. Cynder was immediately attacked by four shadowclaws. She felt her limbs cracking under the crushing weight of the shadowclaws, and she fought hard against them to try and stand back up, the vision of the mauled guard returning to her mind. With as much power as she could muster, she threw the shadowclaws off her and leapt into the air. A fifth shadowclaw leapt at her from behind, knocking her out of the air. Cynder slammed headfirst into the ground, and felt her jaw twisting unnaturally. Luckily for her, it didn't crack, and she immediately got the sense that a shadowclaw was going to leap at her, so she lifted up her head so the added pressure wouldn't break her jaw. She felt the weight of two shadowclaws landing on top of her as she lifted her head, and she looked backwards to see that one of them had Terrador's earth missile protruding out of its throat, glossy black blood flooding out of the wound. It reared its neck, and Cynder realised it was going to try and kill Cynder by plunging the other half of the earth missile into her neck. Cynder twisted and turned underneath the shadowclaws on top of her, and they fell to the ground as they lost their balance. Cynder leapt to her paws and grabbed a hold of the earth missile sticking out of the shadowclaw's neck. She yanked hard on it, pulling the clump of rock out of the shadowclaw's throat, as well as causing a flood of inky black blood. Holding the gore-streaked earth missile firm in her paws, she swung the missile around and brought it down on the rest of the shadowclaw's neck. She felt the earth missile hit the ground, and heard a sickening snap as the earth missile cut through the shadowclaw's neck, cutting the head clean off its shoulders.
Cynder growled as she attacked the other shadowclaw that had pinned her to the ground, swinging her tailblade swiftly through the air, cutting through the shadowclaw's neck and beheading it. Before the shadowclaw's head could hit the ground, Cynder released a powerful gust of wind, sending the disembodied head soaring into the chest of another shadowclaw that was creeping up behind Terrador. She heard Terrador thank her, but she didn't have time to reply as the third shadowclaw lunged at her. She lunged too, and the two dragons locked forepaws and stood on their hind legs, pushing with all their might to knock the other over. Cynder felt as if she was going to win, but suddenly felt her hind legs disappear from underneath her as the fourth shadowclaw swept its tail underneath Cynder's hind paws, knocking her over. Before the rest of her body could hit the floor, however, the shadowclaw picked Cynder up by the hind left paw, biting down hard. Cynder let out a shrill scream as the pain hit her like a mallet. She ripped her paw out from the shadowclaw's jaws, which hurt a lot, sending her own blood spraying everywhere as she heard the tearing of her own flesh, and stood on three paws, before lunging at the shadowclaw that had bitten her paw. She sunk her own fangs into the shadowclaw's neck, and when she fastened her teeth in enough, she yanked her head sideways and heard a loud crack as she broke the shadowclaw's neck. But it only swayed before it began to stagger forward, its head lolling at a crooked angle. Cynder swung her tailblade at the shadowclaw's throat, and sliced through the remainder of its neck, sending it falling to the ground dead.
Through the other two shadowclaws that begun to close in on her, she saw Shorok stalking towards Cyril's unconscious body. Cynder let out a strangled cry as immediately one of the shadowclaws threw her to the ground, pinning her by the throat. Her windpipe constricted, and her chest began to burn painfully. Suddenly, a guard, wounded very badly, lunged at the shadowclaw, knocking it off Cynder. Cynder drew in a hoarse breath as oxygen flooded her lungs. She got to her paws and stared at Cyril. "Go to him!" the guard shouted from behind her. "And use this!"
The guard threw a red gem at Cynder, and immediately, she picked it up in her wounded hind paw and screeched in pain as the cold crystal surface touched her burning wound in her mauled paw. But soon the pain was gone, and her paw was healed almost completely, leaving only scars. She turned back to say thanks to the guard, but he was tackled by the two shadowclaws she was fighting, as well as an extra one that he may have been fighting earlier. The guard must have guessed that she was about to turn back and help him, because he shouted out at her. "No! I'm fine! Go to Cyril! He needs you more than I do!" he insisted before letting out a cry of agony as there was a loud wet snap, followed by a spray of dark blood on the floor.
Cynder ran to where Cyril lay. He had just begun to gain consciousness, and immediately freaked out when he saw Shorok closing in on him. Cynder leapt onto Shorok, and almost effortlessly, he threw her off. Cynder landed with a thud on top of Cyril, and he roared in pain. Cynder quickly scrambled off Cyril, and Cyril sat up, groaning in pain. Cyril opened his mouth to speak, but instead, a scream tore from his jaws as his face was engulfed in shadow fire. Cynder let out a shriek of protest as this happened, but she was held back by a shadowclaw, just like when Spyro corrupted Drachen. The sense of déjà vu was terrible. Cynder saw bright flames appear in amongst the black fire as Cyril's bandage caught fire, and Cyril shouted in pain. When Shorok pulled back his attack, Cynder gasped at the state of Cyril's face. The large flesh wounds he had suffered in the attack on Warfang had been reopened, and were a mix of red, brown and black as his flesh burned and peeled in amongst the fire he had been exposed to. A few popped blood vessels were shown through his peeled flesh, and blood poured from them. The exposed flesh was raw and overly exposed, the scales that normally protected the flesh had been burned clean off the flesh, scattered in black, crusty scales around Cyril's body on the ground. Cyril's left eye was half open, and his sclera was bright red as some blood vessels inside his eye popped like the ones around his face. The bright blue iris stood out against the red, and the eye was watering like a fountain. Cynder's heart broke at the sight. Cyril inhaled weakly, speaking hoarsely. "What does this get you, huh, Shorok? No one here knows where your stupid Sound Gem is. This won't get you anywhere!" Cyril scowled, pausing to hiss air through his teeth as his tears began to drip down into his hot, bloody, burned flesh. "All this will be for nothing, because no one knows where the item you're looking for is."
Shorok stared at Cyril for a moment before turning back and glaring at the fight scene before him. Two more guards had died, their blood spilling onto the ground, mingling with the black pools of blood that came from his own shadowclaw warriors. Terrador was wounded as well, as blood gushed from his wounds. He groaned with annoyance, before barking out a loud order. "Shadowclaws, we've wasted our time. Let's move out, and hope we find the Sound Gem somewhere else."
He turned back to Cyril as the shadowclaws began to retreat. "You'd better not be lying when you say you don't have it or you don't know where it is." Shorok threatened, his voice low and dangerous. "Because if you are lying, then you will be the first one I kill, and trust me, it will be a beautiful display of bloody, gory fireworks."
Then Shorok left, and the three remaining guards, as well as Cynder, Cyril and Terrador, were left alone in the Ice Castle. "Now what?" Cynder asked, tears pricking her eyes as she scanned the bloody, terrible aftermath of the battle. "Especially for Jorgarath? So many are dead, including their leader."
"If her son's alive, then he's next in line. If not him, then his siblings. If not them, their sons, and daughters. Basically, any one of Mistress Shargran's relatives." Cyril said, standing up, his legs shaking, hissing again as his face throbbed painfully, the wound from the siege on Warfang reopened, and worsened, thanks to Shorok's shadow fire attack. "At least one of those options should still be alive. We'd better go find one of them and tell them that Shargran's died."
Here you go, my first chapter that is over 5000 words! Not as proud of this action sequence as I am with some of the other ones, especially the climax of Demonised, but it's still fairly good, considering this particular chapter was originally written back in November last year.
So these shadowclaws now have a distinctive name, and Cynder's discovered their weakness. What do you think about it? Unique, interesting, or just downright crappy? I'd love your feedback on some of the new things I will begin to introduce, because I stepped out of my comfort zone a lot with this story, and spent a long time figuring out bits and pieces that make this story seem more realistic, with histories and world-building, and creature anatomies for the dark dragons Spyro's creating.
Unfortunately, no reviews to respond to (been a while since I posted the last chapter so I'm not sure what's going on there), but as long as you're all enjoying the story, that's all that matters.
Also, I'm still incredibly shocked that my other Legend of Spyro fanfic, Broken Perceptions, is still getting a whole crap-ton of views; it's at 42.8K views, and I'm really surprised the view-count is still growing at quite an exceptional rate. It's also on the second page in the archive when sorted by favourites (third page when the M-rated fanfics are included), and damn, I'm really impressed at that. If you haven't already, you should go check out Broken Perceptions, because it's obvious by how it's going that people are enjoying it, so you might too.
Finally, I have a poll on my profile page that is kind of important for the future of Purple Legacy, so if you could all take a vote, it'd be really helpful.
Anyway, see you all later! Bye!