Old gritty sandstone walls deflected the harsh sandy winds, dry beneath the clouding reddened sunset sky. The wind shrieked out names of another language, another when, one the two dragons huddled at the top of the village cut into the ancient tan cliffs did not understand. Bright mottled purple scales splotched with dark purple like leopards' spots quivered against the cold winds. His black eyes like the black of deep shades floating on the ivory whites of his eyes were closed against the hissing, growling winds, his deep purple horns curved back against his skull vibrated with the wind's song. A quadruped dragon that lay on his stomach, wind cut wings held tight to his sides, shielded the younger, smaller and more hotheaded dragon against the wind. Neither spoke, neither looked at each other in the sandstorm, neither liked each other.
The younger dragon, one of light pink grapefruit colored scales with maroon on every single scale tip, sat with his back against the sandstone wall staring out into the desert wastes and the power shield separating Cliff Town from the badlands beyond.
'Some town.' He thought baring his fangs to the small eddies of wind that had gotten past his companion's great purple form. Purple like garnets with the sun shining through them. 'I'm lucky he's here.' A thought he would never speak aloud. Ever. ' If it weren't for him, the cold wind would have killed me. Cursed ancients, building this place, buildings not large enough for large dragons like us to take shelter in. Stupid.'
He looked at the great purple dragon and felt the faint tuggings of worry at his blackened heart at the sight of the behemoth's rattling scales.
"Halvor," he spoke in his harsh impatient voice. "Halvor!" The purple dragon opened his eyes and raised his head at the sound of his name. The drift of sand accumulating against his neck spilled over his forelegs as he looked past his small rhino like horn at the end of his snout at the pink dragon.
"Yes Enzo?" he asked in his polite soothing voice. It was the voice of one only mildly interested, as if to say distractedly 'oh, you exist?'. Enzo thought quickly under Halvor's questioning gaze. So he wouldn't look like a sentimental idiot under the older dragon's stare.
"Have you ever seen what's beyond the power shield?" Enzo asked masking his first question of 'will you be alright?'. Halvor turned his black gaze out to the wastes beyond the shield. The outside.
"No." he sighed looking back to Enzo. "All dragons have stayed in the world where the ancients had put them. All save one."
"Well don't you remember what they looked like?" Enzo asked almost haughtily trying not to notice how badly Halvor shook. Halvor shook his head.
"No, they put us all here in stasis, in containers of crystal which we broke out of . I'm lucky to remember that much." Halvor said. Enzo had to agree, after Gnasty Gnorc froze each of the dragons, many lost great portions of their memories. Enzo lost all of his. Maybe that was why he was the polar opposite of Halvor, Halvor had his memories, therefore he had something to keep his heart from becoming corrupted, unlike Enzo, who had nothing and his heart turned bitter. "I heard that the ancients have great cities beyond the wastes, ones where we used to burn and kill, and that's why the ancients put us here. To keep themselves alive and to study us."
"Where'd you hear that?" Enzo asked peevishly.
Halvor smiled. "I made it all up." Enzo snorted his disgust at Halvor and turned his attention back to the wastes. As Enzo stood, he closed his forest green eyes against the dusty winds. Being a bipedal dragon, Enzo towered over Halvor no matter how tall the enormous purple dragon was at the shoulder, Halvor was still restricted to all fours. Something in their bone structures.
"Where are you going?" Halvor inquired mildly, his tone indifferent. Enzo opened his eyes again and squinted at Halvor.
"I'm taking my own advice that I gave to Spyro." Enzo said impatiently.
"And that was?"
"'Why don't you glide there and find out?'" Enzo said pointing out to the wastes.
"You intend to leave the Power Shield?" Halvor asked as Enzo carefully stepped over his forelegs and made to the edge of the stone roof. "You know you can't fly there. The ancients took that ability long ago before we were sent here."
"I can glide just as well as that little twerp of a dragon any day." 'Just like I can leave my world just like he did.' Enzo added in his mind.
Almost as if reading his thoughts, Halvor shook his head. "We can't leave our worlds because of the containers the old ones put us in, the barriers react to them and repel us."
"So why could Spyro leave through the portals and be repelled by the shield. He was born after we awoke from the containers."
"Simple," Halvor smiled again. "he is small enough for the portals. The barrier keeps him in because he is a dragon." Enzo felt like a fool under Halvor's wavering stare as the purple dragon shook under the cold wind.
"I'm outa here." Enzo growled. He stepped from the flat rooftop into the wind and was thrown back momentarily as his blue and green wings opened. As Halvor watched, Enzo fought the winds with great difficulty across the village, over the chasm, landing heavily past the brink where he stood up on his legs folding his long wings against the winds.
Enzo had tipped backwards nearly toppling over Halvor in the sand ridden wind. His long amber colored claws tore into the red tiled sandstone roof and he pulled forward hard enough to launch himself forward. He rolled in the wind, wings almost fraying near the edges. His way was slow; he counted the two rooftops as they passed below him, nice and easy, one and two.
'Slow and steady Enzo old buddy.' He thought his wings stretched to their limit, tendons screaming out in agony as the winds battered at him. 'Here's the real test.' The chasm lunged up before him as he faltered in the air, he could smell the brackish stench of the thick gummy bluish purple liquid at the bed of the crack in the land. Could feel some of its spray as the wind took gobs of the stuff from the sluggish waterfall falling from the top of the cliff in slow motion into the chasm. He wiped the stuff from his eyes and kept on. He faltered again and pumped his wings once to right himself, the muscles in his chest, back, neck, and shoulders rippling under the soft pink of his scales.
'Done.' He thought completely relieved as he landed heavily on the sandy ground on all fours. He reflected momentarily at this irony, that a crawler as they were called by other dragons, should see him an upright walking dragon, on all fours. He quickly stood up and folded his bleeding wings tightly against the wind. And he lollopped briskly towards the power shield in his strange two-legged gait.
Halvor watched all of this. Watched it with the same politely indifferent stare he used on Enzo. His infuriating stare.
'Thick headed youngling.' He thought, his scales rattling in the cutting wind. Halvor rose to his feet, his joints protesting from the cold wind, the sand drifts all around him collapsing into where he was laying. Halvor dove into the driving wind; his deep purple wings snapped open as he dipped below roof level, correcting himself. At this level, he wouldn't make it over the chasm. He would try anyway; he passed over the two rooftops, his feet scraping over one of the tiled roofs. He bared his teeth as blood ran out of his grazed feet. The chasm reared up before him and all he could do was ride the wind straight into the wall. He scrabbled up, his claws tearing into the sandstone face. He slowly dragged himself up and then lay panting on the sandy ground.
He could see Enzo at the power barrier when he looked up.
'Thick headed youngling.'
Unlike Halvor, Enzo hadn't been watching what the other dragon had been doing. He stood staring out past the barrier. Entranced by the landscape beyond which seemed to have no horizon but just melded with the sky far off. He could see stars through the ground.
"It's an illusion by the ancients from long ago to keep us where we believed we were safe." Halvor said quietly walking up to Enzo's side. Enzo startled and nearly flamed the older dragon. Halvor shied away from Enzo and the two dragons stood in silence staring at each other.
Halvor broke the silence. "I think that if we push on it together, we can get out."
"What gave you that bright idea?" Enzo growled.
"I watched Spyro as he tried to get through himself and he couldn't make it on his own." Halvor shrugged.
And both dragons, on all fours with their horns pressed to the barrier, pushed into it.
A.N.: Hello all, I'm new to the Spyro category, and I wanted to do a story on my favorite dragon (Halvor) and my least favorite (Enzo). I haven't been too active on the site for a long time, but I hope to finish up my stories soon.