"This is a boring" said Nina while she waited, scratching the ground a bit, "We may not be old yet, but it is not fair: we have already beaten Malefor once and it would not be a problem to defeat him again "
"Well... if I'm not mistaken, he possessed you and then you almost killed Drago" Rayla reminded her, "Then he hit us with a series of attacks that hurt me again just remembering"
"We escaped because we all joined forces in Nina" said Drago, "Surely, if we join forces again, we can defeat him"
"Congratulations Drago on the plan" Aurora said sarcastically, "And how do you plan to enter the realm of darkness?"
Drago cut himself: it was true that Malefor's mountain was reduced to rocks and there was no magic to take them there.
"Your silence tells me you didn't think about it, huh?" Aurora asked.
"Oh! You always with your deductions" replied her brother, "You have no idea?"
"Nothing for now ..."
"So we're stuck" Flint concluded.
At that instant, the guardians, Spyro and Cynder entered the room. The young dragons formed up and waited for them to speak to them.
"Skylanders, your presence is requested in the meeting room" Thorr said.
(Seconds later ...)
"What ?!" all the young dragons exclaimed.
"How are we going to bring an ally from the past?" Nina asked, "Aren't we going to participate in the fights?"
Ignitus, in the gem in the center of the room, replied:
"While you have shown that you had great strength and unity to defeat Malefor once, things never happen twice the same way. Furthermore, the enemies we will face are not easy and you have not yet fully mastered your mana"
"But, we can use magic attacks and all that ..." Drago said.
"Drago, have you forgotten the third rule of mana?" asked his mother.
"The warrior spirit makes the mana grow. Yes, I remember ... "
"Fine but what about the special rule?" asked his father of him.
"Well ..."
Nina saw Drago quite nervous: maybe he was strong, but he lacked some… study. But, he already guessed that it would be Aurora who would answer:
"The warrior spirit can go beyond just your strength, your feelings, your abilities, your element, or your instincts. To effectively control mana, the essence of it must be found, overcoming all the senses "
Drago felt foolish when his sister responded.
"Yes, I remember ..." said Nina, "I also memorized it, but I don't understand how to do that."
"It is true that once you managed to unite your mana to defeat Malefor" Spyro told them, "But releasing that power left you exhausted, you needed more training"
"But we've trained a lot…" Flint started to say.
"It is true and that is why, before sending you off to war, you must show that you can do it" Thorr interrupted, "When you can complete your second and third test, you will be ready to come back and help us in the final confrontation. Until then, we will gather our army and fight with the Dark Ones. "
"One moment, and the first one?" Rayla asked.
"You may not have noticed" said Ignitus, "But, when you defeated Malefor, you passed the first test: perseverance."
The young dragons looked at each other very surprised at this revelation.
"Now ... your next test is that of reflection, that is, finding yourself" continued Ignitus, "For this, you must go to Dante's freezer. Beneath its caves, further down from where Spyro defeated the ice king and saved Volteer, there is a secret cave that only ice guardians know how to open: the Cave of Reflection "
"Does it mean… will you come with us, mom?" Aurora asked.
"I'm sorry, but tomorrow we must meet with the great council of Skycity to prepare for war," Edel replied, "But your grandfather Cyril will be waiting for you and will guide you to the entrance. Be careful: the cave turns into a labyrinth and it is difficult to get out of it "
"Okay ..." Nina said, a little nervous.
"Nina, don't worry, just have faith that you can get it," Cynder supported her.
The dragon regained confidence, but just at that moment, a earthshake sent everyone on alert.
"An attack ?!" Spyro said.
(Outside the temple ...)
A great army of Dead Wings and dark spectral assassins was throwing incendiary balls at the temple. Several zones ignited with the single contact. All dragons came out to confront them.
"Edel" Jhonny said, "Please, you know what to do"
"Okay, I'll take care of the fire" she replied, "You guys take care of them"
The ice dragon immediately took flight and began to use her ice breath to put out the fire in the temple towers. For their part, the others rushed and divided to finish off the invaders.
(Spyro's PoV)
For Spyro, it was not the first time the temple had been attacked in front of his nose, so the battle took it quite seriously: he could not allow that special place to be destroyed again.
As he took flight, a great horde of Dead Wings-mounted spectral assassins surrounded him and attempted to strike him with smoking marsh-green bombs. However, as he had grown, he had gained experience, and this time there was no force field to weaken him.
"Blaze Fury!"
In a second, he had dodged the attacks and released a powerful blaze that knocked down enemies in less than a minute. But, as in the city, it seemed that for every enemy he defeated, two more appeared to back him up. In a careless moment, an assassin was about to damage him, but Cynder stunned him with a cry of fear.
"Deadly roar!"
She immediately to hel him.
"Do you need help, Spyro?" she asked him.
"We haven't fought together in a long time, Cynder" Spyro smiled, "It will be like old times."
"The difference is, we are not chained"
Wildly flapping his wings and puffing with all his might, Cynder caused a powerful gust of wind combined with a cool breeze from Spyro. The result was a powerful icy blizzard that froze everything in its path.
"And, this teamwork is just as I remember it," Spyro cheered, bumping legs with Cynder.
But their victory was short-lived: suddenly, a swift shadow crossed the sky and struck Spyro. Cynder helped him stay in flight when he almost lost his balance.
"What was that?" Spyro asked.
There was a growl like someone who is upset. Then, a kind of dark portal appeared in front of the two of them, and from this came a black dragon with various scars and tattoos on its body. Something told them that he was one of those new dark generals.
"Who are you?" Cynder asked, keeping up his defense of her.
"I'm not interested in telling you who I am" he replied in a rude way, "The only thing I want is to kill them all to go back to my damn life again ..."
Generating force in his body, dark electricity began to accumulate in his front claws, creating even larger claws cast from his very darkness.
The stranger lunged at them, and Cynder did the same. Although Cynder had more experience with darkness, when he tried to spit poison at him, it passed through his body, as if he were a ghost. Before realizing why the attack failed, the enemy passed her by giving her a blow with their claws that caused heavy damage.
"How…?" Cynder wondered as he touched his injured side, "I couldn't touch him ..."
"Cynder!" Spyro yelled, rushing into the dark one.
The purple dragon released a bolt of lightning, but it also passed through his body like a ghost. Spyro paused for a moment and analyzed the situation:
"Our attacks go through him, but he becomes tangible to attack us ..."
But before he could continue thinking, the dragon streaked across the sky and raised both claws at Spyro. This, preventing his attack, stopped them before hitting him.
"That is all…?" asked the enemy.
Spyro did his best to hold it back, but his claws gave off such negativity that it resembled the touch of a dark crystal. He wasn't weakening, but he was hurting him.
"I won't be able to resist much longer ..."
Cynder recovered and attacked, but the enemy became intangible again and smashed through Spyro. The dragon stopped her attack inches from Spyro's face.
"Oh sorry" she said, "That was close."
"Don't worry, Cynder," he replied.
They both looked back at the dark enemy.
(In the meantime…)
In the outer courtyard, the young dragons were facing a small group of wraiths who had managed to enter the temple.
"Take this!" Drago yelled throwing a fireball at one of them, "Is that all of them?"
Nina had just hit another of the wraiths with her tail. Beside her, Flint had crushed a couple more.
"I think it's all ..." he said exhausted.
"Nina, look there! shouted Aurora.
Nina saw her parents in trouble.
"Mom!" she screamed.
In that instant, the dragon turned around, noticing them. An evil grin spread across his face, showing sharp teeth.
"You have been very easy to beat" he said to Spyro and Cynder, "But I spare your life ... although I want to check if the bones of dragon children are as fragile to break as those of humans ..."
"What did you say?!" Cynder yelled indignantly.
"Children are just filth in my world, they are useless for anything else" he scoffed like a sick man, "I liked hearing their bones crack with each blow. Well, it's time to test my new claws, how will they sound like a dragon child? "
The dragon just started laughing and quickly flew towards Nina, who was on the defensive. However, Thorr blocked his way.
Before the Dark One faced the Earth's Guardian, he felt something strange in his body: Cynder, who used his Shadow element, had pierced him at an almost imperceptible speed. Stunned by it, Thorr took advantage and launched a ground missile at the enemy.
Although the Dark One prepared his special ability, something had happened: his body was no longer intangible and he received the attack in full.
"Damn it ... how did it happen?" he wondered.
Cynder stepped in front of him.
"You are not the only one who becomes a ghost" she told him, "But... You are a monster, how dare you hurt a child? I never thought there would be a human like that "
"So, it's our world" laughed the Dark One maniacally, "I'm not the only one who loves his work. If I see a child, I use it as a simple instrument or as something to earn money ... "
"Then you are nothing more than an abuser ..." Jhonny said approaching with the other guardians, who had just defeated the small army and now surrounded the enemy to prevent him from escaping.
"Wow… half human… they told me about you… are you coming to kill me? Do you hate someone like me? "
"I really hate yours, but I'm not going to do justice as if we are in my world. That will not correspond to me ... it is all yours, Spyro "
Spyro, recovered, faced the dark dragon.
"I will not just stare" said the Dark One, "Try this ... Satanic salamander!"
The enemy spat a kind of black salamander from its mouth that divided into several at once, it was grotesque because things were moving and they had wild eyes. But he had no idea who he was messing with.
"And you prove this ... Ether Fury!"
Spyro's Ether exhalation had improved years ago, more specifically after the battle against Simian. Although, during the battle on the mountain, both he and the rest of the guardians, the force field did not allow to use his powers one hundred percent, this time there was nothing to stop him.
Like the fire guardian's exhalation, the attack turned into a dragon, but at the same time it split into several more. Furious and powerful, the dragons rushed towards the enemy's attack and overcame it, destroying the enemy in the process. There was only a cry of pain from the Dark One before disappearing.
Spyro, after the attack, felt a bit dizzy, but Cynder held him up before he slumped. Everyone was able to rest… for now.
(1 hour later…)
They had all gone back inside. Fortunately, the remodeling of the temple had made it more resistant to an attack and, in addition, everyone supported in the defense of it.
"Two less, eleven left" Ray commented, "Wow, it wasn't a joke that they aren't trusting each other with every battle, what if they all came together?"
"I wouldn't want to put myself in that situation," Thorr said.
Cynder seemed somewhat upset about that last battle.
"Is something wrong with you, Cynder?" Edel asked.
"Well ... I still can't believe that guy wanted to hurt a child" she replied, "What kind of guy was he?"
"One of the worst kind" answered Jhonny, "He was sick, but not because of something so trivial: his desire to do harm was stronger than his conscience and it clouded his mind. He's the type of guy who doesn't care what he has to do to satisfy his desires. Then he gave his heart to darkness and finally perished for the decision he made "
"You make it sound very thoughtful ..." Spyro mentioned.
"It is a cruel reality that he lived all the time in my world. But now, let's put that aside. Young dragons, are you willing to carry out your mission?"
Nina, Drago, Aurora, Rayla, and Flint stepped forward.
"We are ready" they all said.
"Well, we have faith in you" Ignitus told them, "You must pass the reflection test to find the essence of your mana. And remember: you must obtain it on your own account, not from someone else"
"Okay" they said.
"Well now…" he continued saying that to Spyro, "Spyro, Cynder, Johnny, Edel, Ray, Thorr… speak to the Great Council and gather the armies. With what has happened today, we will never know when the enemy will attack and each battle seems tougher than the last "
"Alright Ignitus ..." said Spyro, "I think we will have a lot to do tomorrow ..."
And with that, everyone went to rest for the next day's challenges.
Author's Notes: Well ... two of the Dark Ones have already fallen. What do you think will be the next? If you are following the story, remember the names of the enemies and guess who will attack next. On the other hand, what do you think the Great Council is?
