The Legend of Spyro

Warriors of the Fallen

Chapter 3 The Start of...

The fire was crackling lightly between the three of them. Spyro was not concerned, the heat was just enough to let itself be known, and the glow was bright enough to see without any real issue. What he was worried about though was the way Marshal seemed to be fiddling with that rock in his hands. It was only made worse by the fact that Marshal kept looking at the fire instead of at the two of them. While this was not the most abnormal interaction between the three of them, the way Marshal had not moved since they had eaten was.

Usually, he would have gotten up to walk around at least once. Spyro knew that Cynder was thinking similar thoughts by the way she kept looking at the two of them out of the corner of her eyes while she pretended to do some maintenance on one of her arm gauntlets.

Neither of them knew how they were going to start up the conversation they new needed to happen. And while they felt like they needed to know, they did not want to have to ask, and they were worried it would ruin the semi-working relation they had.

Spyro's attention was instantly shifted as Marshal let out what could almost be called an explosive sigh. He then tossed the rock he had been fiddling into a stick that hadn't quite yet fallen entirely into the fire. He then looked up at the two of them, "So...are you going to ask what you wanted to ask?"

That brought the couple up short and bit shocked. They both looked at him, then at each other, then back at Marshal.

Spyro was the first to speak; he tried to feign ignorance, "What ar…" The cold look stopped him and raised eyebrow of the other male. Thus, he sighed and instead asked, "How did you know?"

Marshal chuckled lightly, "You two weren't exactly quiet...or it would be more accurate to say my hearing range is very far."

"How so?"

"The same way I know where every animal within a good few miles is. Magic."

The groan between the two of them was in almost perfect sync. Spyro could easily see the light smile that floated across Marshal's face. Spyro shook his head and had to suppress the light chuckle, knowing Marshal, even as little as he did, that smile would only get worse if he chuckled.

See him having trouble, Cynder thankfully took up, "So...Magic?" How she said that with a straight face, he would probably never know.

Marshal sighed lightly, he had probably tried to insert humor, and that was not about to work on the two of them, "Yes, magic. I'm sure you noticed that first day, I primarily use wind magic. Or more accurately, I manipulate the air around us to do what I want it to do."

That seemed to confuse the two of them, and Cynder wanted that known, "You use the Air? I thought Wind Magic was just that, wind."

Marshal shrugged, "To a degree yes. But I noticed quickly, that every movement creates wind. Or more accurately…" He raised his hand and swiped it above the fire causing the particles and smoke to swirl behind it, "Every movement causes the air to shift, to either be compressed on one side or to be expanded to cover the empty space on the other. I've figured out how to use my magic to feel and identify these movements."

Spyro could see Cynder's eyes almost widen as Marshal said this. He was almost about to do the same thing. Neither of them had thought about wind in that manner.

"It takes work, power, and patience sometimes. Especially when the air is still or when not much is moving. But...as long as something is moving, sometimes even just myself, I can sense things around me. I'm sure you've noticed how handy it can be."

Spyro let out a "Hm." as he nodded. "Yea, I guess it does." Then he smirked, "You thought of Magic and nature as one and learned to read it?"

Marshal let out a light laugh at that, "You know, that sounds about right. None of us ever thought of putting it that way."

Cynder's head twitched this time, "Us?"

Marshal's breath was deep and immediate, "Yea. I know I've mentioned them to you," he motioned to Spyro, "after that one vision. In the shortest of terms, there is a reason I call the Bastard that name. I was not the only one...under his care. There were...a lot of us." He was quiet for a bit as he looked away and into the forest. The two of them were starting to get worried when he spoke up again, "I wish I could say more of us escaped than we lost...I really wish I could say that."

The silence between them was immediate. While the couple understood loss, they also knew that what they've experienced was probably only a small part of what the young man across from the fire had gone through.

The three of them sat there for a bit before Marshal sighed again, "Anyways...Magic. Yea. I can sense the air around us because I've spread out my magic as far as I can while keeping control of it."

Spyro nodded lightly, "Sounds kind of like what we do when we are sensing for Magic, just with your element?"

Marshal nodded, "More or less, just instead of looking for the magic, your listening to what the magic can tell you."

Cynder smirked, "You make it sound like it's not limited to Wind Magic."

Marshal smiled, "It's not. We called it Elemental Sense. Each element went about in slightly different ways, and you could sense slightly different things, but they each follow similar principles." He chuckled, "In fact, it's the same way with your other concern."

That brought the two of them up, then Spyro remembered, "Oh...you mean how you never seemed to get a scratch."

A nod, "Yup. That's more related to the other method we came up with. Elemental Arming." He held out his right hand, formed as if he was gripping a sword with his left-hand, open-palmed towards it. Then with a small breath, he moved the two away from each other, and with that motion formed what looked to them as a storm contained within a sword-shaped object.

Marshal took the sword looking item and stabbed it into a large branch near the small pile of wood they were using for the fire. It cut clean through it, after doing so Marshal opened his right hand and the sword dissipated. He then picked up the stabbed stick and tossed to the couple.

The two of them looked at it, and sure enough, the stick had been stabbed through, the cut marks even looked close to what a well made and cared for sword would do. After a look at it, they both looked back at Marshal to see him resting a rock on the back of his hand. Then he held the hand up higher, and the two of them could see it was not on his hand. It was resting about a half an inch above the hand. It looked like it was floating.

The two of them look to Marshal who smiled, "Two parts to Arming. One is creating a weapon formed of the element. The other creating a defense, you could call it an elemental armor, but even when fully formed, it looks more like a full-body suit than armor. That's not to say you probably couldn't make it look like armor, but that takes way to much Magic in any prolonged manner."

Spyro Leaned back, "Huh...I guess it makes sense. We've only been taught burst, use what magic you need then reserve. Using Active Magic for to long could leave you drained a critical time."

Marshal's head bobbled slightly, "That makes sense. If it was really Active Magic."

Cynder's eyebrow raised, "It's not?"

Marshal shrugged slightly, "At first it sure as heck can be. But most of us got so used to keeping it up so much that it sort of switch to passive sense for us. Elemental Sense 'specially. I know a few of us even got really good at the defense portion of Arming, that it turned passive for us as well."

Spyro Hmmed a bit before responding, "I don't think I even want to know what it took for you guys to learn that."

Marshal's sigh was almost explosive, "Yea...Not the best topic."

Cynder leaned forward slightly, "Then we'll do our best to avoid it."

Marshal shook his head, "No. It may not be the happiest moments of our lives, not talking about it to any of us would be an insult to those we lost."

Spyro nodded, "Well then, If you want to talk, we'll listen."

The smile they got was light, "Thank you." They were silent for a bit again, then Marshal signed again, "Anyways, I've gotten to the point that using both Sense and Arming is both muscle memory and a primary way for me to constantly burn excess magic. So, I guess for me I can call it Active Magic, that is being used passively?"

Spyro chuckled lightly, "Sounds good to me."

Marshal nodded lightly, "That's good. We were kind of going by the seat of our pants when it came to magic and its use."

Cynder smiled while Spyro suddenly had a thought, "Is Elemental Sense why you always refuse us taking overwatch?"

Marshal's head shifted from side to side a bit, "Yes and no. Yes, I have been using it as a basic Ward to help with keeping watch. But no, that isn't why I keep refusing you guys taking watch. That's more related to the fact that you two look like you need the sleep a lot more than I do…" He held up his head quickly, stopping the response already forming from the couple. "What I mean is that at the current time, you two can sleep for longer than I can. My magic is...very energetic right now, has been since those limiters got removed. I literally cannot stay asleep for very long. I've been doing what I can to try and bleed off the extra magic…"

Spyro cut in quickly here, "But there are limits given the two of us being here?"

Marshal gave a sharp nod, "If I wanted to, I could probably release it all at once right now, but the damage I would do to anything around me would probably start a new legend." He chuckled lightly as he got to the end there.

Cynder let out a small "hmm" before a light seemed to go off in her head, "Wait, release it all at once, like a Fury?"

Marshal got a perplexed look on his face, "Fury? I know anger can make magic a little dangerous…"

Cynder shook her head, "No, no like anger. An Elemental Fury. It's an ultimate uncontrolled attack of pure Elemental Magic. Majority of the time, it's a giant uncontrolled release of a vast amount of magical build-up."

Spyro, as he scratched his chin, jumped in here, "Thinking back on it, that burst of magic when the limiters where released could have very much been the start of a Fury. But you stopped, controlled, and suppressed it before it could go critical."

"Huh...did not know that."

Cynder's head tilted slightly, while Spyro was concerned, "No one ever taught you what a Fury was? I thought it was a part of basic magic education."

Marshal shrugged, "Was never taught anything about Magic. Everything I know, is from hard-earned experience."

Cynder looked horrified, "So you don't know anything about Basics Theories of Magic?"

Marshal shook his head, "Not really. The only theories I know, are those we've come up with to guide each other in our magic and keep alive. Ask us how to do a spell. No problem. Why that spell does what it does, nope."

Spyro chuckled, "All practical, no academic. Kind of how I started."

Cynder sighed and shook her head, saying in a high and mighty yet teasing tone, "You Barbarians, the both of you."

They held for five seconds; then their perfectly straight faces broke in light laughter.

Getting control of himself, Spyro restarted the conversation, "So, If all you know is practical, maybe we can learn from each other?"

Cynder nodded in agreement and seeing Marshal's slightly confused look elaborated, "We teach you the Basic stuff, Academics and the like. While you teach us the practical stuff, you've learned."

Spyro nodded and took over, "And not just Academics. From what you've said, your knowledge on the basic spells might be limited, while your knowledge on advanced combat-related spells might be greater than ours."

Marshal hmmed and leaned back a bit, "Probably." He closed his eyes, and he thought slightly, but quickly opened them back up and leaned forward again. "I got no problem with it. Maybe do the practical stuff during the day while we walk, academics at night?"

Cynder almost agreed, but Spyro cut in, "I think that would depend on the practical. If it's something easy to do while we walk, sure, if not, then save it for when we stop for the day."

Marshal nodded lightly, "I can understand that. Basically, figure it out as we go?"

The couple nodded in agreement.

It seemed like the conversation might stop there, then Spyro had a thought. He shifted and gripped two decent-sized sticks, tossing one of them to Marshal.

Spyro then moved a bit away, talking as he did, "How about we start with something not magical. We're probably going to get into a fight, so let's spar."

Marshal smiled as he stood up, gripping the stick and shifting into what looked to be a loose stance. "I got no problem with that. It will be nice to see how I stack up against you."

"Glad we are in agreement." With that Spyro shifted into a stance he would generally use for defense.

It was strange to Spyro how Marshal's stance was very relaxed, feet not planted, and his entire body loose. The most curious was the way he held the stick, loosely and at hanging at his side. This was in comparison to his own stance of shifted feet, firmly planted, and him holding his mock sword with two hands in front.

They stood like that for a bit, judging and planning. Then, with a burst of movement, Marshal rushed.

Spyro was mildly surprised at the speed of which his opponent was able to move. He became even more conserved when he blocked the first strike and felt the strength behind the swing. And it was not just the first strike, but each one after.

Marshal used his fluid stance to strike quickly and use that same speed to increase the strength of his hits. It was a fighting style that relied on overwhelming the opponent, wearing them down hurriedly with shock and awe. If Spyro had not have fought against swarms of grublins, it probably would have worked.

In the first minute, Spyro held his ground, working overtime to get his mock sword in place to stop the strike. The strikes came from multiple directions, forcing him to reposition his defense to cover every portion of his body. After that minute, he felt he had a grasp on Marshal's style, and decided defense was not going to work. He was not going to find openings while being overwhelmed, so during one of Marshal's strikes, he dodged instead of blocked and used that movement to get some distance.

Marshal turned to look at Spyro with a smile on his face, "Not bad."

Spyro's smile floated across his face, "You hit hard; I'll give you that. Now, let's see if you can go defensive." And with that said, Spyro shifted his stance and charged.

Spyro's preferred method of attack was similar to Marshal's, just more fluid and less stopping power. Where Marshal would put all of the striking power into each hit using the rebound to keep moving, Spyro would only use glancing blows, never stopping his movement. This allowed him to reposition during a strike to try and get a better hit in.

Spyro quickly found that Marshal was more than capable of keeping up, and even worse, returning the favor. Their mock swords would glace, and if Spyro did not shift fast enough, he would find he either had to dodge or block a strike from Marshal.

Spyro found the odd spar exhilarating; he had never faced someone who could combine both the skirmishing styles and brute force styles of combat like this. Marshal made it look almost effortless. Having to work like he was not to be forced back was something he had not had such an issue with before.

When he faced Cynder's Corrupted form, it was much a battle of who was more mobile and could take the most cuts (he was fast because of his size, but she was able to take way more damage yet had less staying power). Then when went up against Gual and then again against Malefor, it was all brute force, even blocking their attacks hurt them but to do any damage you had to be in the danger zone and fast attacks did almost nothing to either one of them.

Marshal was neither, he could take and hand out brute, but was more than cable of fast light attacks. Spyro was sure that he was going to lose eventually, if only because Marshal would be able to bruise Spyro no matter his strike, while Spyro would only be able to give the man welts, and nowhere near enough to mean anything.

As he started to realize this though, the third member of their group decided to get in on the fun.

Spyro was just as shocked as Marshal was when Marshal suddenly found himself getting his legs swept out from under him, landing on his back and getting a stick being held by Cynder pressed against his chest.

Cynder's smile was bright, "I do believe that's a kill?"

Marshal took several deep breaths before letting out a laugh, "Got me there. I guess that's a lesson for me to know, fighting one of you, means fighting both of you."

Cynder chuckled as she helped Marshal back up, "Maybe. I just figured one v one is boring for someone, why not get involved."

Spyro walked close to the two of them, "So what, two vs. one, or free for all?"

Marshal's smirk was concerning, "I say take it by ear." And before either of them could reach, he used his stick to toss some dirt at their eyes. They quickly brought up their weapons to try and defend. Without realizing it, Marshal had gotten behind them and smack both of them on their backs.

Cynder yelped, before turning and glaring at Marshal, "Oh, it is so on. Get back here you puffball." With a quick jump, she was on him.

Marshal smiled as he blocked her strike, "Just try and keep up, dark sinker."

Spyro chuckled, then suddenly had to block a strike from Cynder.

"And what are you laughing at purple boy."

The three of them went to bed that night bruised, tired, and with smiles on their faces. And a lot more respect and understanding of what each of them were able to do.

An: Another shortish chapter. And one with no special outtakes. There wasn't anywhere it was needed, and nothing really expanded on. That's what I'm trying to use those for anyways, filling out the lore of the world basically. If someone has questions, I can easily include a few sections to try and expand that part of the lore.

By the way, I hate chapters filled with nothing but talking and hardly takes up any time in the world. And yet, I had to create one such chapter. The hardest part was figuring out what to type. I hope I made the interaction believable, not just for this chapter but also in line with future chapters.

And yes, I know next to nothing about sword fighting, so when doing such section they are going to be as generic as I can make them.

I'm hoping that once I figure out how to start the next chapter it will come out quickly. At the very least I plan to get time to move a little bit faster with that chapter and hopefully get closer to the actual plot of this story. Only problem with that is that in doing so it will collide with where Double-Jointed Dragon is. If that happens, I have to hold off of this one so as not to spoil either story more than necessary. It's fun…

Anyways, I do hope you are enjoying. Please comment! And until we meet again, Happy Reading.