Thank you peoples who have reviewed so far. Sorry it took me so long to update, technical difficulties! (Begins smacking computer angrily)
Scuse me. NEWAYZ, enjoy Chapter 2. M¥§T!¢ ¢#££§£
Spyro returned to the cave later that night to find a great many of the Dragon Folk, young and old, snoozing peacefully on the lush, thick carpet of grass that had grown since they had last been there. He spotted Kolder a good deal away from the rest of the group, tossing pebbles that had fallen off of the wall up at newly forming stalactites.
"Whatcha got there?" Kolder murmured, not even moving as the rock he threw ricocheted off of the cave ceiling with a loud ping.
"I don't have a clue," Spyro admitted, scratching the back of his neck with his rough claws. He looked at the orb up thoughtfully as it lay in his paw, and lowered it gently to the mossy ground.
Kolder groggily got to his feet, looking wide-eyed at the object. "That's no regular orb," he exclaimed drowsily.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," agreed Spyro. "It was the thing I found on the water. He peered momentarily into the depths, which were swirling gently with an orange flame.
Kolder arose with a look of wonderment on his face. Carefully, he picked it up in a ruby paw – and instantly dropped it.
Spyro followed the orb with his gaze as it rolled across the grass, then shifter his glance to Kolder's face, which was frozen in a silent scream. At first, Spyro could see nothing different about him. But then, he saw it, on Kolder's paw. It was hard to see under the camouflage of Kolder's ruby scales, but on his paw, some of them had melted and drooped, revealing a shiny red burn.
"Ouch," said Kolder weakly, cradling the back of his paw in the soft cradle of the tall grass. He had a look of shock on his face.
"Wha-what the…what happened?" Spyro asked, puzzled.
"What is that thing…get that thing away from me!" Kolder croaked.
Spyro quickly snatched the object from among the plant life and peered at it almost questioningly, looking for anything peculiar about it. Of course, the object itself was unbelievably peculiar. He let it roll along his scaly arms for a while, but it caused him no pain.
"This doesn't make any sense." Spyro let the sphere fall back to the earth with a thud. Thankfully, it wasn't fragile. "Well, we're going back to Summer Forest at dawn, are we?" he inquired, twirling the ball around like a lopsided top.
"Yeah, where else would we go?" Kolder replied, the same mix of fear and confusion plastered onto his face. He was still quite shocked by the ferocity of the burn.
"When we get here, be ready to go straight to Winter Tundra, so be ready."
"Why? What are we going to do there?"
"What else? We're going to go visit the sanctum."
After the triumphant defeat of Ripto, Bianca had painstakingly fixed the nearly ruined castle with a fair amount of magic. She had also sensed tremendous magical energies radiating from the site, so she refurbished the place and made it into her own private sanctum, where she often spent hours alone immersing herself in ancient, dusty spellbooks. Far and wide, tales of her great magical feats had spread. She was the person to go to with any sort of magical trinket.
"Oh, neat," Kolder replied, trying to suspend it in midair so that it would stop hurting. "Maybe she can do something about this burn."
"I don't think that will be necessary," Spyro said, gesturing towards the mouth of the cave. Dyllin was zipping about in the air frantically, zooming towards Kolder a fast as it could.
"Bzz-bzz bzz bzz bzzz bzz bzz. Bzz bzz bzz," the dragonfly said.
"It's okay, I don't mind that you were late," Kolder said. The dragonfly flew up close to him, but nothing happened. His wings flapping sadly, Dyllin shook his head. Kolder muttered, "It's okay, little guy. You tried." Suddenly depressed, Dyllin flew back out of the mouth of the cave.
"About that," Spyro began, picking up the sphere and tossing it into the air recklessly. "Don't show that burn to anyone."
"Why not?"
"Why not?!? You think that they wouldn't notice it? They'd definitely wonder where you got it. We'll have to definitely keep this thing a secret between ourselves and Bianca.
"But what's the worst that could…" Kolder trailed off into nothingness, gazing to the right of Spyro.
"What?" asked Spyro, alarmed.
His eyes were immediately drawn to the sphere lying on the ground, which had burnt the grass it was laying on to a fine, darkened ash. A ring of flames had formed around the orb, only about an inch tall. Both Spyro and Kolder backed away nervously as the flames quickly spread, some breaking off from the ring, others changing direction. With a quick flash and a bang, the flames dissipated, leaving a strange, charred symbol, engraved into the sizzling ground.
Neither of them spoke for a while.
"Yeah…we'd…we'd better…" Kolder muttered in disbelief. Unlike Spyro, he had not seen many extraordinary things in his days.
Spyro smiled. He knew that if Kolder hadn't been convinced before, he certainly was now. But still, it was a mystery that amazed even him just a bit. He had never seen anything like this. It was far too beautiful and amazing to be a gem, far too mysterious and rare to be an orb. It was something…different. And he could definitely sense something incredibly…magical about it.
"Yeah," Spyro said. "Be ready in the morning. And if anyone asks, we're just going to visit Bianca. Don't even think about telling anyone about this thing."
"…Okay," Kolder replied. "But do you really think it's…necessary to be so cautious?"
"You never can be to careful. Remember my journeys...each of them was made to defeat a person who held an object with untold powers. But, due to some lucky occurrences of villains who thought that it was unnecessary, or they were unable, to use the powers of the object to their full extent, I was able to get away unscathed. It was luck that they were cocky. But I don't think I want to keep relying on that chance. Remember...Gnasty Gnorc's Staff, Ripto's Scepter, the Sorceress' Wand...It is a wonder that I am still alive.
"With an artifact like this," he continued, gesturing towards the object, which was now filled with an agitated sort of electric yellow, "There's always someone who wants to meddle with it. It probably holds untold powers, as we've seen. And I'm not too thrilled about the concept of going on another adventure to stop some imbecile who has gotten his hands on this, especially if it is a fellow dragon. And without the allure of gems," Spyro added as an afterthought.
"You're right," Kolder agreed. "But, can I see it for just a sec? I'm not gonna burn myself again or anything like that." Spyro didn't object, so he trotted towards the object. He extended the nerveless claws on his uninjured arm towards the orb.
How dare he? A dark voice arose in the confines of Spyro's brain. I didn't give him permission! Does he have no respect! After all, I was the one who found it in the first place. Who does he think he is?
Before he could stop himself, his arm instinctively shot out and grabbed Kolder's ruby arm. His mind reeled. Where did that voice come from? he wondered to himself.
"Umm…Spyro?" Kolder squeaked, his hand struggling to free itself from Spyro's unusually iron grip. "You could have just said no."
Spyro struggled against the mysterious force in his own mind, forcing his hand to open and release Kolder. Kolder gave Spyro an odd look. But when Kolder scooped up the sphere in his nerveless claws, Spyro, let out a silent scream inside.
What in the world is wrong with me? he thought. It's just a stupid ball. I don't even know what it is or where it came from!
But the powerful force nearly overpowered him, and it was all he could do to keep himself from lashing out at Kolder.
"Hey! What's wrong?" Kolder asked, noticing Spyro's body quake violently.
"I...I'll be fine..." Spyro muttered. "We'd better just get to bed." He wanted to get far away from Kolder, just in case he cracked.
"It is pretty cool, isn't it," Kolder whispered in an awestruck tone, turning it over and over, watching it shift colors quickly and frantically, and then slowly and calmly. He was careful to not let it touch his bare flesh. After a while, he rolled it to Spyro, colliding with his claws with a small tink. "We'd better get to bed, Spyro. It's like one in the morning." And with that, he turned over on his side, and within a few minutes, he was snoozing peacefully, despite the burn. Dragons are surprisingly resilient.
Spyro gave an involuntary shudder as he awkwardly trudged over to a remote corner of the cave, carrying the orb, still fighting the mysterious force inside his head.
Why did I ever bother to pick you up? he wondered at the object, which glistened at him innocently.
What do you mean? the voice inside his head said as if in reply, suddenly eerily calm and gentle. You know that you're glad you found me. After all...of og aie'h vugfola...it is your destiny... The gentle voice suddenly hissed, and fought him no more. Trembling, his head pounding with questions, his every muscle suddenly becoming aware of how weary he really was, he collapsed onto the grass, orb shielded in the grass to him.
Before long, he slipped into troubled, feverish dreams.
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