Ok so I want to make something clear for 'darklighteryphon' I kinda get your stance on the matter but allow me to say in my personal opinion Cynder has had literal year's of actual live combat training and Spyro while an excellent fighter don't get me wrong I never said he wasn't, is still a child as well, a child who has had to constantly push himself to the brink so many times, it's only understandable he wouldn't take a sparring match completely to heart, he's still a kid and kids don't always take everything so seriously, the reason why Cynder won and Spyro lost is simple, Spyro didn't take the sparring match nearly as seriously, not to mention he attacked an opponent he knows next to nothing about. Cynder waited and by waiting Malefor was pushed to strike first in an attempt to catch her off guard, it's just a simple matter of strategy and whether or not it was that important to them, it was a sparring match that also only served to see what the two "might" be capable of without the use of mana and they were also limited to using blunt force which means they need to be cautious so as not to needlesy wound each other, so I wouldn't worry too much as Cynder is by no means more powerful than Spyro. also it was partially practice for myself to see how well i could handle writing about any type of combat so it served that purpose as well.Anyway that will be all from me for now so lets get on with the story, last we left off Malefor was struck by a heavy wind attack from the wind dragon Ventus, lets go back a few minutes however and see a little of his perspective.
(Minutes before Malefor was attacked)
Ventus and Herc had left Warfang a few hour's back and had been using the wind drake's element to push them forward quicker than normal, cutting their travel time down by a significant amount. Herc had noticed his mate had been rather quiet the whole flight, not saying a word since they had left the dragon temple in the city. Hoping to get the quiet male to speak with him he nudged the drake with a paw causing Ventus to jolt briefly and look at the large yellow dragon with a quick glance before returning his eye's to the horizon, the large mountain already in view. "Yeah?" The gray and black drake asked, his voice monotone. "You haven't said a word since the city, talk to me Ven, what's up?" Herc pleaded with his significant other to talk to him, though the larger drake had a good idea as to why the wind drake was in such a funk.
Ventus sighed, a moment or two passed before he spoke. "I just... I need to know how any of them could have just... Let him go just like that, I don't buy for a second the guy just had a change of heart after all these year's, it's too good to be true." Herc furrowed his brow at the response before he answered. "But you heard Volteer, there's a lot about the purple dragon's even they don't know, and... I know that...You don't want to forgive him but... You can't hold onto this rage forever Ven. It's gonna kill you, slowly but it will hurt you, and that hurts me too." He said praying his word's could sway the wind dragon from his beliefs toward the purple drake who had started the war all those year's ago. Ventus steeled his eye's on the horizon ahead for a moment before they softened as the word's reached his mind, a sigh escaping his lips. "Maybe your right, I'll...try to let it go, best I can, but I still have to know why they just took his side like that, they didn't say a word about it during dinner, they intentionally avoided the subject that night and I want to know what could have made them switch side's like that, I will try to remember what you said tho-" he stopped speaking, his eye's going wide as he was met with a sight he had not been ready for.
His friend's Flame and Crystal were hugging each other close while a large shadowy creature loomed over them, suddenly he was no longer in the sky, he wasn't with his boyfriend, his mate. He was in his old house watching as a large orc chief lifted a mace above the prone forms of two adult dragon's, while he was hiding under a table in the corner out of sight. His parent's were just laying there too weak and beaten to do anything but await the imminent swing of the mace, Ventus could only watch in terror and grief as the lump of metal was swung downward and in a single burst of red blood, some of which landed all the way under the young drake's hiding spot all over his face causing him to freeze up, unable to process the fact he had just seen his father's head crushed by the orcs strength. Another moment later and the next swing came down upon his mother, more blood spraying upon the room and thus the hidden drake below the table, who could do nothing but huddle up to the corner of the wall and stifle his whimpers.
For a moment he was back in the real world, seeing this creature standing above his friend's about to attack, and the image of the orc raising it's mace once more flashed through his head again. Blinded by rage and despair, the wind dragon tilted one of his wing's back, the green markings along the mebrane beginning to glow, which Herc noticed out of the corner of his eye, the large yellow dragon moving to stop his mate from letting off an attack but he was too slow. Ventus had already unleashed a furious cry and swept his wing outward tilting his body in a circular motion as he did so, allowing the wind to gather and spin along the limb before being sent toward the large shadow. Unfortunately Ventus who is normally better at aiming his shots, was too overcome with rage and grief to properly aim his attack and rather than hitting his intended target it would have hit his two friend's instead.
But the shadows had just parted finally revealing the purple scales beneath them, as Malefor stepped in the way of his attack, and turning to take the hit full on, was sliced diagonally along his tan chest, the cut running deep enough to make blood spurt over the grass as the drake let out a gasp of pain before falling over on his back, and began shallowly gasping for air, the shock from the blow making it virtually impossible to breath naturally. At the sight of the purple dragon beneath the darkness, Ventus was unsure how to feel as he descended toward the campsite, his mate rushing past him. Flame snapped his head toward Crystal and barked out an order. "CRYSTAL COOL THE WOUND SLOW THE BLEEDING, I'LL GET THE RED GEMS!" The ice dragoness rushed over and began to exhale a chilling mist over the purple drake's injury, the bleeding not fully stopping but slowing to a crawl.
Before much more could seep out Flame had rushed over with a cluster of red gems, holding the crystals over the wounded drake, he crushed them in his palm. The energy that seeped out of the crystals flew into the cut, a red glow emanating from the purple dragon's chest, as the wound began to slowly close. "He should be fine but give him more gems just in case and get him closer to the fire so he stays warm." Crystal nodded before with Spyro's assistance she moved the larger male over to the campfire, the wound having fully closed, though Malefor's eye's remained shut, his breathing returning to normal being the only sign that he was even healing.
Flame now turned his attention to Ventud who was on the verge of being torn apart by an angry black dragoness, the only thing keeping the two apart was the large electric dragon holding them both apart. Flame walked right up to Ventus and was directly in his face, his own teeth baring in a near snarl. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!?! YOU ATTACKED HIM OUT OF NOWHERE, I KNOW YOU DON'T AGREE WITH HAVING THE GUY AROUND BUT YOU CAN NOT JUST GO AROUND TRYING TO KILL PEOPLE!" The red dragon shouted toward the conflicted wind user, before Herc turned to face his significant other, his own face a display of confusion. "Ven...why did you do it? I thought you promised you wouldn't do anything rash, we talked about this..." The larger dragon could not understand this turn of event's, he didn't want to scold his mate, but he didn't wish to condone the violence that had just occurred.
Ventus unsure how to respond, began to speak without mulling over his word's first. "I...I didn't know it was him. I didn't mean to attack I swear." He looked down at the ground feeling shame from the glares he was receiving, the amount of eye's watching him were making begining to agitate him as his rage began to boil once more, he lifted his eye's to meet Flame's. "What does it matter anyway!? He killed hundreds! THOUSANDS! What is one cut? AND WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH ABOUT IT ANYWAY FLAME?!?!" The moment those word's left the wind dragon's mouth, a loud smack rang out through the air as he suddenly felt a massive pain in his left cheek, and next thing he knew he was wobbling on his feet.
Flame's clenched fist was trembling from the blow it had delivered, his own teeth clenched. "You don't get it do you? I care because they care Ven!" He yelled out, jabbing a claw in the direction of Spyro and Cynder. Ventus responded with a snarl. "Who the FUCK cares?!? Why does their opinion matter so damn much!?! WE BARELY EVEN KNEW THOSE TWO FOR A DAY!!!" The wind dragon shouted. "IT'S BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTAND WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE DIFFERENT!! THEY UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE OUTCASTS, SPYRO CAN'T TALK TO MOST OF WARFANG WITHOUT GETTING SWARMED, CYNDER IS RIDICULED FOR SOMETHING SHE COULDN'T EVEN CONTROL BECAUSE SHE WAS A CHILD!!!" Flame had snapped, allowing all his thoughts to come rushing out. "IT'S BECAUSE OF THAT I CARE, BECAUSE THEY NEED PEOPLE THEY CAN CALL FRIEND'S, REAL FRIEND'S!! NOT A BUNCH OF FAKES WHO ONLY CARE WHO THEY ARE BECAUSE THEIR FAMOUS!"
At this the red dragon inhaled a deep breath of air, slowly exhaling with a tremble, before he spoke again, his voice no longer loud and angry but quiet and dripping with disappointment. "The four of us...we all know what it's like to be different, to be outcasts, for different reasons but we were all alone at one point or another." He turned to walk toward the fire where Spyro and Crystal were keeping an eye on Malefor's condition. Before he walked away he cast a final glance at Ventus, his muzzle twisted into a frown. "I would have thought you of all people would know how that feels, how it can mess you up. Also, you might not want to hear it but sometimes your not the only one with a troubled past, maybe you should think real carefully about just how bad other's had it before you start playing judge, jury and executioner." With that said Flame went and sat down next to Crystal. Ventus was unsure how to respond at this point, opting to stay silent as his thoughts became a whirling storm. Cynder having witnessed the whole thing opted to go sit back down by the fire, her eye's never leaving the wind dragon. While Malefor groaned in unconscious pain all the while, his body twisting and turning in it's sleep, the large amount of blood that had poured out of his wound as well as the shock from the attack being enough to make him lose consciousness.
Malefor's eye's flashed open, as he found himself in a very familiar place, surrounded by a bright blue and cloudy sky and an endless body of water. He looked around for a moment, not seeing anything but himself in this place, and no longer feeling the pain he felt a moment ago from his wound, he began to take a few steps in a direction unsure of why he was here. "Hello? Is anyone here?" He called out not fully expecting a response but seeing no harm in trying. Suddenly he felt a chill run along his spine as he heard an unfamiliar deep and gravelly voice speak to him from behind. "It isn't your time yet." He swiveled around to face whoever spoke only to be met with a large creature that was draconic in shape and wreathed in shadows that seemed to move and writhe as if alive. This creature was also almost twice the size of Terrador, the only thing perceivable through the darkness being it's piercing red eye's.
"Who are you?" Malefor asked taking a defensive stance, his legs spreading apart and head lowering toward the ground. However just as he attempted to ready his element's to defend himself he realized something. "I can't feel my mana?" The shadow seemed to perceive his thoughts as if it was reading his mind. "You can't feel your mana because there is no use for it in this place, and as for my name, you have no use for that knowledge either. At least not yet." The purple dragon quirked a brow at this before slowly standing up straight once more, realizing if this thing wanted to hurt him it would have done so by now. "If you won't tell me who you are, then why are you here and what is this place? I know I was here once before but I don't understand what this place is supposed to be." Malefor asked hoping this creature would answer some of his questions at least.
"This place is your mindscape, it is where your subconscious mind lies, and as for my presence here, you were about to die, I can't allow that so I have deigned to heal what those crystals your friend's gave you did not. Your time is not yet here." Malefor was about to ask what it meant by it can't allow him to die, when it cut him off before he even began. "No more questions, you will awake soon. For now I will leave you with a glimpse at what is to come. You will not remember what you see come your awakening but when this knowlegde becomes relevant you will know what to do with it when it returns." Before the purple dragon could comprehend those word's he was suddenly overcome by visions, flashing across his eye's rapidly.
At first he saw the city of Warfang before it immediately crumbled to dust before his eye's, then the scene changed and he was standing in a large circular area with wall's all around him and no ceiling. The scene changed again, as he witnessed a brief glance of the well of soul's back before it was destroyed, then he was within Cynder's fortress back from when she still served him, Concurrent Skies. But something was clearly amiss as a massive pillar of purple light surged up from the floor and into the sky. Next he saw an assortment of other less familiar locations including a small village in the valley's, one of the tallest mountains in the snow covered tundra of Dante's Freezer, and the crumbled remains of the well of soul's. Once more these places flashed across his vision, only this time Malefor was able to witness a massive geyser of bright violet light erupt from the earth in each one, as he saw each geyser break free of the stone and rock, more image's flashed before his mind. He saw himself donned in armor his body bruised and beaten as he stood opposite an equally wounded electric dragon
The vision then transitioned to a view of the wide expanse of water that was the sea, before he could suddenly comprehend a massive swirling storm in the distance, his vision moved forward toward it as if he were flying at high speeds but he could no longer feel his body or control his direction. Before he hit the wall of thunderous dark clouds everything grew bright with a strike of lightning as he suddenly found himself in a room full of shelves upon shelves of book's and a large blue scaled dragon wearing an assortment of decorative armor pieces was holding one such tome faced away from him. Before he could attempt to make out the dragon's identity his sight was returned to the city of Warfang once more watching as several more columns of light erupt from all over the city. His vision ended with a hazy draconic silhouette with large wing's spread out illuminated by what looked like sunlight from behind, the odd part was the wing's seemed to be transparent and were reflecting the light that was shining from behind it, almost as if they were made of ice or glass, he heard a female voice speak to him now. "You can decide who it is you want to be" he had heard those word's before but he could not remember when or where. Then, Malefor woke up.
When Malefor's eye's opened it felt as if he had woken from a long dream, though he knew it was important somehow he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was about. As his eye's adjusted to the darkness that surrounded him, he realised he was inside one of the tents they had set up earlier. Just as he was about to attempt to stand he realized he was not alone in the small shelter. Beside him was the sleeping form of Crystal, the ice dragoness laying on her side faced away from him as her breathing was steady. A brief examination of the sounds from outside told him it was rather windy as he could hear the rustling of tree branches creaking in the breeze, even the fragile tent wall's rippled and waved. As he moved to lay his head down once more and try to return to sleep he felt a slight pain shoot up his body centering around his chest, looking down at his body and squinting to make out what he could see, he realized the wind attack from before had healed but left a nasty scar along his chest reaching almost to his left hind leg and up toward the right of his neck.
Clearly the area was still sensitive so he would have to be careful. With this in mind he adjusted his position briefly and attempted to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake the female to his side. As his eyelids lowered over his vision, he began to have thoughts of whether or not he should even try to speak to the wind and electric dragon's from before. He knew that he should probably be a little angry that the smaller male had attacked him out of the blue, but he couldn't bring himself to really be upset. "I hurt a lot of people with the war, it wouldn't suprise me if he was one of them, but I do not want to be the reason this trip is ruined, when I have the chance I should at least make an attempt to keep thing's somewhat civil, if not for myself then for the other's. Flame didnt have to bring me on this trip but he did, for that I owe him this much." His thoughts continued to wander as his mind returned to a slumbering state once more, blissfully unaware of the knowledge that was buried deep within.
For the second time Malefor began to stir, this time however morning had arrived, his eye's slowly drifted open as he cast a glance to where the dragoness had been before and upon seeing she was gone and hearing the sound of a conversation between Flame and Spyro he began attempting to stand only for that same pain to shoot up his body, a particularly loud grunt leaving him as he then hissed and placed a paw lightly against the scar along his belly. This did not go unnoticed by the dragon's outside as the talking stopped and a moment later a shadow appeared against the opening flap, before he heard the telltale sound of a zipper coming undone.
When the flap opened he flinched at the sudden burst of sunlight which was quickly blocked out by the faces of several dragon's. Before he could attempt to move any further he felt a cold paw on his chest, while being cautious of the recent wound Crystal had entered the tent and gently pushed her weight on his stomach so as to force him to lie back again. "Don't try to stand, you lost a lot of blood last night. Honestly I'm just surprised your conscious, you could have died." She spoke bluntly before her hand began to emanate a cold soothing feeling that was somewhat relieving the tension in his body. He sighed before leaning his head back down sideways as Flame cleared his throat catching the purple dragon's attention.
Malefor turned his gaze toward the fire dragon, Flame spoke when he was sure he had the attention of the injured male. "Malefor I just wanted to apolo-" before he could finish his sentence Malefor had cut him off. "Don't apologize, it's not necessary, whether it was intentional or not I don't care really, you have nothing to be sorry for." He spoke his voice carrying nothing but sincerity. Flame was somewhat surprised by Malefor's word's, before he responded with an argument of his own. "B-but you got hurt, you wouldn't have gotten injured if you had just dodged out of the way, but you didn't. You even moved into the path of the attack so that it wouldn't hit me or Crystal. At least let us thank you for that much." He practically sounded like he was pleading now.
"It's fine, we can move on now, I turned out a little worse for wear sure, but nothing a bit of rest and exercise won't fix." He attempted to cheer the somewhat distraught dragon up. Spyro suddenly ducked his head out of view, it was at this moment Malefor noticed a familiar smell in the air. When the younger dragon returned he was holding something in one of his paws. Upon seeing what it was Malefor could suddenly hear his stomach growl. "Is that for me?" He asked eye's wide at the plate of cooked venison the other dragon was holding, only now realizing just how hungry he was now that there was food in sight.
Spyro smirked at the near drooling male, finding it hilarious how much his demeanour had changed when good food was involved. "It is. We figured you'd be hungry when you woke up so we saved some for you." As he spoke he handed the plate to Crystal who was still seated next to him, who took it into her paws before she grabbed a slice of meat and began dangling it over his face with a shining grin. "Come on, open up for your treat, the damsel in distress wishes to reward you." She taunted causing the purple dragon to deadpan at her before he suddenly ignoring the sting of pain in his body shot up in order to chomp down on the juicy meat, causing the ice dragoness to whip her hand back lest her fingers be caught in the male's jaws. Using his somewhat upright position he placed his paws onto the ground as he began to sit upwards eventually flipping off his back and into his haunches.
Now sitting upright, Malefor began to chew the slab of venison before within moment's he had swallowed what remained. Casting a glance at Crystal with a slight grin he spoke. "Maybe watch who you tease from now on?" He suggested. "But where would the fun in that be." She groaned. "Hold on, you shouldn't be getting up your still-" Cynder found herself being interrupted by the purple dragon. "I am perfectly fine. Beside's I can't stand holding still for too long, spending so much time not being able to do anything and going straight into a jail cell soon as you have control again will do that to you." He insisted, his word's reaching the black dragoness and getting her to back off as she knew she probably wasn't going to make him change his mind, though she didn't think he should be walking about just yet.
As Malefor slowly placed one paw in front of the other to walk out of the now somewhat cramped tent, he felt his balance wobble for a moment before he regained control. The group of dragon's parted silently as Malefor still feeling somewhat dazed from blood loss decided to take a seat by a nearby tree, leaning his back and moving his wing's out of the way so he may rest against the warm bark. Noticing out of the corner of his eye that the wind dragon from before was sitting by the water's edge a ways away glancing at him every now and then, and that Flame had seemingly walked off into the forest for some reason. Just as he began close his eye's to enjoy the quiet air of this tranquil environment, he heard a rustling of grass and a large thump next to him. In his thoughts he began to consider who it could be that must have taken a seat next to him. "Can't be Cynder or Crystal they aren't heavy enough to make that much noise, couldn't be Spyro I can hear him eating what remains of the venison I did not consume. And it isn't Flame because I saw him walk into the forest. So, that leaves only one possibility." He thought narrowing the choices down.
When he opened his eyes to look upon his company, he was met with the yellow and black scales of the large yellow dragon he had seen with the smaller male. "Is there something I can do for you?" Malefor asked the slightly larger male, quirking a brow as he spoke. The electric dragon sighed as a claw rubbed the side of his head which had turned away from him. "Um yeah... We haven't met yet. My name is Hercules but my friend's call me Herc. I know we might not have gotten off on the right foot last night, what with...uh, that whole thing, but I just wanted to say it's nice to meet you." Herc said holding his paw out to the purple dragon as a sign of kindness. Malefor looked back at the wind dragon only to see the male in question was staring at him much more intensely now that the dragon offering a paw to him was here.
Turning his gaze back to Hercules, he reached out his own forelimb before he grasped the large claw in his own before giving it a firm shake, the action causing a slight smile to form on Hercules maw. "A pleasure to meet you as well Hercules." He spoke slightly craning his neck downward in a sign of respect, before lifting it once more to lighten the mood with a small joke. "Just please tell me you don't all greet people with a wind blade to the chest or at the very least warn me next time." Malefor spoke with a small good natured smile to show the larger male he meant no harm with his word's. The somewhat morbid humor managed to cause a chuckle to escape from Hercules jaws for a moment before he stifled it with a paw.
"Well thankfully no, not everyone does that." His expression then adopted a more saddened look, his tone becoming apologetic. "Hey so, I'm sorry to ask this but if it's not too much trouble, please don't hold what happened before with Ventus personally. I-I know I'm not really in a place to ask for that kind of thing right now but I promise he didn't mean it, he...he was just..." His sentence trailed off there, causing Malefor to become somewhat confused and more than a little concerned for the sudden change in demeanor of the previously chipper dragon he was just talking to. "He was just angry and afraid, I know." Hercules was about to respond in suprise at the former dark master hitting the nail on the head but before he could open his mouth Malefor continued to speak. "It's not my place to ask what caused him to lash out at me like that so I won't make you tell me why he did it, but I think it may be best for everyone to forget it ever happened and move on."
Hercules was shocked at the suggestion, having expected a little bit of anger or even some sort of indication that the purple dragon was upset, but he had not been expecting him to just forgive and forget at a moment's notice. "Forget about it? But...you got hurt, at least let me make it up to you somehow." The yellow dragon requested not wanting to feel indebted to the purple male who was being surprisingly kind despite his reputation and having every right to be furious right now due to the sudden attack from the other night. "Really there is no need for that." Malefor responded not wishing to trouble the yellow male in any way. Ignoring the Malefor's insistence to let the matter go, Hercules began to think aloud on what he could do for the purple dragon. "Maybe I could buy something when we get back to town, perhaphs I could take some of my arena winnings to do it, or I could make something at home for you to eat but I don't really know what you like..."
His muttering was interrupted when a violet talon tapped him on the shoulder. When he looked toward Malefor he was somewhat startled by the small friendly smile adorning his face. "Please don't do any of that, it's not that big of a deal, if you really wish to make it up to me somehow then how about this?" He said hoping to dissuade the larger male from doing something he believed to be completely unnecessary. The purple dragon offered his right claw to Hercules this time and offered a simple solution. "How's about you and I just shake claws and try to be friend's and leave it at that, that would be more than enough to make me happy?" Hercules seemed to be mulling it over internally before he shrugged and took hold of Malefor's claw with his own in agreement.
"Alright I guess that's fine for now, but if we're going to be friend's don't hesitate to ask for a favor if you ever need something." He voiced it as if it wasn't a request but an order. Malefor nodded in response before he heard Flame call out to him, the fire dragon having returned from wherever he had gone and taking a seat next to where the remains of the fire from the might before lay. Casting a friendly smile at the electrifying male he slowly stood up and began making his way toward Flame, his body already starting to feel much better and less inhibited by his wound, to the point he had little to no trouble walking normaly once again. "If it weren't for those red gems and our natural healing factor this would likely have taken month's to heal if it ever truly did." He thought to himself, inwardly thanking the ancestor's for blessing dragonkind with such strong bodies.
Once he found himself next to Flame he sat back on his haunches beside the red scaled dragon, before speaking. "You called for me, Flame?" He asked curious as to what the young survivor could want from him. "Yeah, I wanted to tell you the plan real quick, we were planning on staying one or two more night's out here but me, Crystal, Spyro and Cynder all talked and agreed it would best if we just head on back to Warfang so you can have some time to rest up at the temple." Malefor almost did a double take at this reveal suddenly sitting up straight and looking at the red dragon as if he had grown a second head. "What? But what about those two? We can't really just leave when they only just arrived can we? The distance to travel here is absurd for them to come all this way only to leave in a few hour's." He asked gesturing to Hercules and Ventus who were now sitting side by side under the tree Malefor had just came over from.
Flame shook his head before he responded. "Either way I don't want to risk anything happening, it would be best if we head back so you can be looked at by a professional who can honestly say that your fine." "But I feel fine Flame, I already feel much better now than I did when I woke up, really you don't need to cancel all your plan's for my sake. You were planning this trip fo-" before he could finish his thought he went silent as his eye's widened. Flame was about to ask what was wrong when suddenly Malefor stood up on fours and opened his jaws wide as a bright yellow glow began to seep from his throat before a massive bolt of electricity surged forth from his maw toward the shadow covered wood's. The sudden attack caught the attention of everyone else who had been previously minding their own business, as now all their attention was directed toward the purple dragon who had just shot off a bolt of lightning with no warning.
When the glowing yellow energy burst out around the darkness, the brief surge of light it produced was enough to illuminate the many red eye's in the shadows that were now surrounding them. Upon seeing they were no longer alone the entire group quickly converged in the center of their small campsite watching all angles as they saw they were surrounded on all side's by these creatures. "What are they and how did they sneak up on us so easily?!" Cynder hissed confused as to how this number of enemy's could get the jump on them without being seen much sooner. Malefor said one word in response to the question. "Wolves" suddenly when it seemed like they would have to choose between fleeing or fighting they heard the rustle of grass as two black furred paws treaded across the ground toward them. Turning his gaze toward the large black wolf now standing a ways away Malefor was desperately trying to think of a way to get everyone out of this alive but was not having much luck as the sheer numbers the hungry pack of animal's possessed was overwhelming.
"I must say I am a little suprised you detected us that quickly, usually no one is able to see us coming until they are already bleeding out on the ground." The large wolf spoke in a confident and smooth voice. It was at this moment Malefor noticed something horrible about this wolf, the creatures fur covered body was wrapped in the bones and skin of slain prey, but the claok he wore was made of a dull colored sheet of green scales whole his head was topped by a large skull that had been fashioned into a sort of helmet. The horrifying part was Malefor could tell from the begining that these thing's were made from the remains of dead dragon's. "You know your a hard person to find Malefor." He spoke using his name with a grin. "You were looking for me?" The purple dragon asked in response as he narrowes his eye's.
"But of course, our employer was very adamant about finding you." Malefor was confused by this information, his thoughts running wild as he spoke back to the wolf "employer? I guess I should be flattered that someone hates me enough to hire a bunch of dragon slayers to kill me." Casting a glance at the pack of wolves who had yet to pull themselves free of the forests natural covering of darkness he responded to the obvious leader of the group. "Well how about you go tell whoever it is that payed you to come kill me themselves if they wamt me dead that badly?" He suggested not really expecting the gang of bloodthirsty beasts to do such a thing. The black furred bipedal allowed his black lips to curl back in a grin before he spoke once more. "Oh I'm afraid you misunderstand me. We aren't here to kill you, our employer has promised us a very large sum of gold to capture you alive. Your friend's on the other hand have no such luck unfortunately for them. A good thing as I would love to trade my green cloak for a nice shade of purple." He lifted a paw and snapped his clawed fingers before the masses of bone and scale covered fur stepped out of the darkness on command standing with weapons ready, some wielded dagger's and swords while other's used spears and bows. All of them were adorned in the bones and scales of their victim's.
"WHOEVER BRINGS ME THE SKULL OF WARFANG'S HERO GETS THE LARGEST CUT OF THE REWARD!!" The leader shouted at the top fo his lungs causing the group of dragon slayers to charge forward with a yell. Malefor ignoring the still prominent sting in his chest shot forwars toward the leader claws outstretched with lethal intent, while the rest of the group began to engage against the mass of warrior's. Upon reaching the hunter's leader Malefor found his claws had met the rough metal texture of a large staff that had been affixed to the black wolf's back. The leader having blocked the purple dragon with it before shoving back against the dragon and taking a few steps back. However before he could get too far the purple dragon was on him, his claws swinging through the air and occasionally making contact with the leaders staff. The whole time Malefor tried to find an opening to strike, the wolf was grinning at him with large yellow fangs as he only defended and dodged, not once attempting to attack the purple dragon.
As Malefor faced off against the leader, Cynder found herself dealing with four wolves of her own. One had launched himself at her dagger in paw while the other three closed in on all other side's attempting to box her in, while a fifth wolf waited off to the sidelines with an arrow notched thinking the dragoness would have nowhere to go but up. None of them had expected the black scaled creature to turn into a hazy black smoke as the four dragon hunters phased right through her smoky black body before slamming into each other and falling to the ground in a heap having accidentally killed each other with their own weapons when they collided. Turning her now white eye's toward the wolf holding a bow she inwardly smirked before launching herself at him, becoming tangible once more as her white fangs were soon coated in a green substance. Before the unfortunate wolf could attempt to dodge the speeding dragoness, her poison tipped fangs were hooked into his shoulder as her weight slammed him into the ground. Froth began to flow from his maw as he convusled on the ground not even paying any mind to the blood seeping from his shoulder.
As Cynder began poisoning wolf after wolf with her claws and teeth, Flame was standing back to back with Ventus as they were surrounded by a large group of enemy's. Casting a glance at each other they nodded seeming to read each other's mind's before Ventus spread his wing's outward and Flame opened his maw to allow the telltale glow of fire to form within his throat. As the wind dragon's wing membranes glowed with a green energy the air around them began to swirl around them, in no time at all a powerful invisible current was wrapped around them. Before the wolves could attempt to push past the wind or find a way to breach it, Flame expelled a massive plume of red hot fire from his jaws, the attack being sucked into the current of air before Ventus using the air as a way to control the fire's began to shift the wind around them. The air current carrying the flame with it as all the hunters surrounding them had been burned to a crisp before the wind dragon directed the air toward several other wolves, taking great care as to weave the attack around the battlefield and only hitting the enemy target's and directing the current away from the other dragon's.
Crystal and Hercules had performed their own joint attack on a large number of the hunters, Crystal exhaling a large cloud of cold air toward an approaching group before her electric partner charged the fog with electricity, the moisture caused by the icy chill making a sufficient conductor for the energy current. The group of gray and black furred bipedal's was rendered motionless on the ground in no time. Spyro was fending off the largest group of them all, each of the beasts motivated by the promise of an extra reward for the death of the purple dragon. Spyro had just thrown one of the hunters from the ground using his horns to fling the smaller animal upwards before he fell to the ground in an umoving heap. Another attempted to jump onto his back and stab Spyro in the neck, only to miss as the purple dragon of legend bucked about to throw the offending creature off. The wolf inevitably lost his grip and was flung back first into a tree, his spine snapping as a result.
Malefor was able to witness the quick work the other's made of the wolf pack, a smile coming to his face as he stalked in a circle around their leader looking for an opportunity to strike. "Looks like your employer is gonna need a refund cause your men might have been able to kill a bunch of civilians but they won't be so lucky against us." Malefor taunted causing the black furred wolf to snarl in agitation. Suddenly the leader's lips curled back in a grin as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "Perhaps you are right, but maybe instead of fighting me you should have been looking after your friend's!" He cackled as he pointed a claw toward Spyro's direction. For a brief moment Malefor was confused, until his eye's widened upon catching a glimpse of the white fur in the branches above Spyro. There was a wolf preparing to jump down on his head with a spear in hand.
It seemed Cynder had caught notice of the danger the young hero was in as well, because she had yelled out to her friend in that moment. "SPYRO LOOK OUT ABOVE YOU!!" She screamed praying her word's would reach him, and they had. However by the time Spyro had looked up, the wolf had already jumped, his spear poised to skewer his target's head. Malefor saw an image flash before his eye's, unable to look away as instead of Spyro and the wolf all he could see was himself leering above his old friend Anise her form trembling and dripping blood from the neck. In that moment Malefor clenched his eye's shut and loosed a cry from his throat that shook the field and caught the attention of the other dragon's. "NOOOO!" He roared as in an instant the world flashed a dim violet hue, as time almost began to slow and the roar of the battle grew silent.
When the former dark lord opened his eye's again he was met with a shocking sight. The wolf leader was standing completly still before him, his maw still twisted in a disturbing grin. The electricity that Hercules was shooting from his maw moments ago was stuck, frozen in midair. Finally the purple dragon saw very clearly that the spear brandishing hunter who had leapt from the tree was frozen in place his weapons tip mere inches away from Spyro's eye. All the surrounding creatures were frozen in place, but not by ice. Malefor could only gaze on in shock at what he had done knowing very well what this amazing power was. "This is dragon time..." He muttered to himself believing he had lost the use of this ability long ago. There was but one single difference to what he had done now and when he used to wield the power of time in the past.
Time had not slowed, but instead it had frozen completly.
ok... so not sure i did this one the best way but... well here it is. honestly the hardest part at times was trying to figure out how to describe the visions and the fight scene which i didn't want make too long because i was trying to convey the sense these wolves were not a super massive threat as they were a sort of means to an end, but yeaa... oh boi this one kinda tired me out, i really gotta work on how i write those bits. but anyway before i go i just want to say that the amount of freetime i have has decreased immensely so I have no idea when the next chapter will be done, it could be a few days, it could be a week. Hell it could even be a month. point is as always i hope someone enjoys reading this and either if nothing else i enjoy writing it all the same, it feels great to get your thoughts out at times.