so I just need to mention, this is where the m rating comes into play as there is going to be some slight gore in this story, and in this case it isnt incredibly descriptive but just in case anyone is that bothered by the thought of it I decided to just warn yall now, anyway have a good read :)
All that he could see was purple. Malefor had no clue how long he had spent standing there in shock, amazed and confused by the return of his power over time. Confused more than anything at the fact it had seemingly become much more powerful to the point that he had fully halted the flow of time rather than slowing it down. He began to walk toward Spyro and his aggresor intent on removing the wolf from the picture to protect the other purple dragon. As he approached he noticed several thing's around him. One of which was there was a lone arrow caught flying midair toward Crystal, the ice dragoness fully unaware of it. Deciding to help by grabbing the small projectile out of the air and snapping it in two between his claw, he pressed onward. As he walked by he slipped his tail into the ankles of several hunter's their body's being suspended in midair as they had yet to become affected by all he had done within this special space.
Just as he found himself a short distance from Spyro and his aggressor, a large pain overcame him as his body began to feel as if it was on fire. With a claw racing to clutch his heaving chest he collapsed, the area around him seeming to flicker with colors other than the trademark purple. "Crap, I don't know how long I can hold this for, how long has it been now? I can't stop..." As his thoughts raced through his head he began to stand his body trembling with each motion. Placing a single paw forward to test the water's of his body's aching he steeled himself before he began to charge forward, taking the first step in a sprint toward the midair wolf. "I still..." Another step. "Have to..." Another step and then one more before he kicked off the ground with his hind legs and leaped into the air toward his target his claws outstretched and jaws wide. "SAVE HIM!" With these thoughts in mind the leaping dragon clamped his jaws around the neck of the wolf as in that instant when his body collided with the fur of the would be killer, time returned to it's natural flow.
The familiar taste of blood entered Malefor's senses, his mouth being coated in copious amounts of red fluid from the now gushing wound. As he slammed his full weight into the wolf carrying them both away from Spyro and landing both upon the grass, several other hunter's found their balance had been compromised, their feet having been swept out from under them. In an instant for all but Malefor, the purple drake had gone from one side of the battle to the other before any could blink as his jaws had wrapped around the wolf's jugular. The dark dragon finding strength to quickly end the dying wolf's suffering pulled his neck upwars with all his strength, ripping a large chunk of meat from the beasts neck before spitting it out upon the grass beside him.
Spyro was in shock in a single instant he had seen his life flash before his eye's and had briefly realized he was going to die, when out of nowhere Malefor saved his life. The darker scaled male appearing from thin air and tearing the wolf's throat out. All the others in the group had similar expressions of varying suprise, but quickly overcame it to finish off their respective opponents, making short work of all but the leader who had been unable to comprehend what had just transpired, his men had all been slain, by children no less. To say he was furious was an understatement, however he had no time to mull over his thoughts as the attention of the group of young dragon's was upon him now. The group had all gathered, Malefor having pulled himself from the corpse of a now dead wolf and carrying himself over to stand beside the other's. He was the one to be surrounded now.
Gritting his fangs the black furred canine slammed the end of his staff into the ground a bright glow coming from the green gem atop the metal pole briefly blinding everyone nearby as the ground seemed to shake and crack before splintering as dust and dirt flew into the air, creating the perfect smokescreen for him to make his escape. By the time Ventus had cleared the obstructing dust with a burst of wind the leader was nowhere to be seen. "Come one let's find him, he can't have gotten too far!" Cynder snarled hoping to find the reason for this attack, but Spyro spoke up to halt her before she could fly off. "No we can't afford to chase after him right now, our main priority should be to head back to the city Asap and let the guardian's know what happened." Flame found himself allowing Malefor to lean on him somewhat, providing the now wobbling purple dragon some much needed support.
Cynder sighed but relented as her concern for her friend outweighed her urge to chase down the last hunter. As everyone began to pack up the pieces of their camp and stored the tents away which were thankfully untouched throughout the whole ordeal minus a little bit of built up frost and singe marks, Malefor began to think on thing's. "Who could his employer be? Why do they want me alive? And most of all how did they know where we would be?" As everyone prepared to take off into the sky having grabbed all they had arrived with, Malefor spread his wing's beginning to pull himself from the ground before he felt a pain shoot through his entire body and centering around his chest causing him to stumble to the ground his body too sore to take off. Multiple eyes were on him as they had all heard the slight grunt of pain escape the purple male, most concerned, one pair remaining indifferent. Spyro stepped forward, the young hero did nothing to hide the concern that painted his face. "Are you gonna be good to fly all the way back? We can wait a bit longer if you need." Malefor simply raised a paw in denial before he spoke. "No, no it's fine...just, gimme a moment." He asked once more beginning to stand, but his legs were buckling once more as his jaw met the increasingly familiar floor once again. "Ow." He muttered slightly annoyed. Hercules who was off to the side next to Ventus, began to purse his lips as an idea entered his mind.
Deciding to act on it the electric dragon stepped toward the prone Malefor, who looked at the approaching goliath with a raised brow before the larger dragon reached his claws out to him. In an instant Malefor could already see what the large yellow male was planning immediatly protesting the current course of action. "H-HEY HOLD ON A SECOND!! DON'T. YOU. DARE!" He practically growled though there was no hostile intent behind it.
"This has got to be the most humiliating thing I have ever experienced." Malefor deadpanned as he found himself up in the air now, though he was not propelling himslef with his wing's, however he was being carried along by Hercules. The smaller male being draped over his back so that his head was leaning over the large yellow shoulder, a permanent grimace upon his face at the thought of being carried in such a way. "Ah you'll get over it." The electric dragon cheerfully stated with a grin, that did little to change the purple dragon's view.
Spyro had many questions about what had occured and while he knew answers would be difficult to find he knew there was one he could probaly get from the wounded dragon right now. Flying up next to Hercules Spyro asked Malefor a question he had already been expecting. "Malefor, what happened before? What was that?" He asked the curiosity visible in his eye's. Malefor lifted his head to look at the young hero before he answered with a shaky breath. "I don't know how but... It was dragon time, but it felt way stronger." Spyro was unsure what he had been expecting but it had not been that. At this Flame decided to speak up from his position up front before falling backwards to listen closer. "Wait, I'm lost. What is dragon time?" The fire dragon asked visibly confused. "Dragon time is a power only purple dragon's like myself and Spyro have been known to possess, it enables the user to effectively slow the flow of time to escape near death situations or defeat powerful foes with less trouble."
This only caused Flame to mutter somewhat loudly. "yeesh and just when I thought you purple dragon's couldn't get any more awesome spyro nodded in confirmation of Malefor's explanation before adding to it. "The only problem is it's not something that can just be thrown around. When I met the chronicler he told me not to use it unless Ihad to, and I guess after all this time I spent not using it, I forgot I even had it." His tone became serious as he thought back to the chronicler's word's. "Tampering with the flow of time could have unforeseen consequences on the world as we know it, only reason I remember it at all now is cause Malefor reminded me." He states before turning back to Malefor.
"But I thought dragon time could only slow time not stop it, and I had no idea you could do it too." Malefor lifted a shaky claw to rub his head as all these surprises were causing a headache shaking his head as he did so. "That's the thing. I wasn't able to do it for a very long time, ever since my body was altered fully by Convexity, I was unable to use it at all, and I know how it should work but I just..." He exhaled wearily his body and mind becoming taxed by the recent event's. "I am unsure how to process these thing's right now, first of all, there is someone who want's me and not as a corpse which somehow is even more than concerning than the alternative, and on top of that, I have a throbbing headache the size of all of Dante's Freezer. "For now let's just worry about getting back and telling the guardian's of this news." He said as they continued on their journey back to the great city. At some point or another he must have allowed himself to drift off to sleep on top of the large yellow dragon who was kind enough to burden his weight, because he did not awake until they began to descend once more on the dragon temple hour's later.
Ruka was a black furred wolf and an excellent combatant, a somewhat skilled mage and the leader of a pack all his own, all of them sharing his ideals of the world. Or rather he was the leader of such a pack until he decided to accept a contract from a special client. This client was willing to pay a large sum of gold for the live capture of one dark master, at first he thought they would be able to take them down even with the added challenge of the heroe's of Warfang and a few kid's. He couldn't have been more wrong, now here he was trekking through the forest having just escaped the group of dragon's all on his own, his pack having been reduced to nothing in one fell swoop. He knew deep down that it was mostly his own boldness and confidence that cost them this victory, and his packs lives, but at the same time he wanted revenge against the one who managed to turn the tide and save the life of the purple dragon Spyro. If not for him they would have been able to kill the dragon and then the other's might have followed shortly, but they would never know. "Because of that little BASTARD, and his damn trick!" As he walked he suddenly heard an odd moist sound and what sounded like a something snapping, a rope perhaphs.
Slowly making his way toward the odd sounds as they continued he came across a sight that would shake most to their core, but not Ruka as he had no sympathy in his eye's, only anger and rage that was directed toward the purple dragon who had ruined him. In a small clearing in the tree's he witnessed a large dark red mass of scales hunched over something and tearing into it with a maw filled with razor sharp teeth. It was a large dragon roughly the size of Cyril but slightly smaller than Terrador that was coated head to toe in deep red scales, it's underbelly being a deep black, white ivory horns tipped it's head jutting out and curving outward slightly to give the creature a more noble sort of appearance, it's tail was an axe shape not unlike Malefor's. It's muzzle was coated in blood as it feasted upon a poor hapless victim, only it wasn't it's own prey but rather the corpse of one of his men plucked from the battlefield not long ago, the eye's were staring off into space devoid of life as the large dragon tore out entrails and organs and began to chew and swallow keeping it's eye's on Ruka as it ate, its bright purple hues were accentuated by black marks running from the base of it's grand horns towards each eye and going over them back down it's snout before overlapping in an x shaped pattern over it's nose and jaw, similar markings flowing along it's neck across it's body all the way down it's side's reaching it's flanks. One such pattern seemed to resemble a sort of upside down hook like pattern that was present upon both shoulders as the mark flowed down it's body, converging at the tail base.
"You! You knew this would happen didn't you?!? My pack is dead because of your target!" He began to rant to the large beast seemingly having no fear for the large red scaled monster. It lifted it's blood soaked muzzle from the open stomach of it's meal before it licked it's lips with a long tongue, the red fluids being cleaned from it's maw. Then it spoke in a calm feminine tone. "Hmm perhaphs you should have been more cautious, I did warn you not to underestimate them did I not? Nonetheless your failure matters not to me as I have my own plan in motion as we speak." Ruka resisted the urge to snarl at this beast as he gave into a brief moment of impulse and made a demand of the dragon. "If you have a plan to get that jackass, I. WANT. IN. He cost me my pack!" The mystery dragoness quirked an amused brow before giving the wolf a toothy smirk. "And why pray tell would I do that little canine? I am certain I can do far better without you, if you can give me one good reason as to why I should allow you to remain involved..."
Before she finished that word she flexed a claw before leaping forward as she covered the short distance between the two in an instant, pinning the bipedal to a tree with a single claw wrapped around his throat. "...I'd love to hear it." She finished as the wolf began to paw at the large limb around his neck as he could feel it become much harder to breath. Before he lost the rest if his air he managed to choke out "I have...skills that you don't... I...Can still fight..." At this she released him as Ruka collapsed to the grassy dirt, a claw shooting to his sore throat as he began to cough as air returned to his lungs. "Very well, but screw up and I will have to dispose of you, now come along we have work to do and someone to meet up with." She spoke beginning to walk off stepping right on the corpses head as she did, crushing the skull with a resounding crunch.
Standing up to follow, the wolf began to ask questions. "Where are we going and what is this plan? Should we not be going to Warfang where they are heading?" He asked confused by the direction they were heading. She chuckled briefly before she elaborated. "We will soon enough, for now there is something I must retrieve for the first step, something that will allow us to infiltrate the city with no trouble whatsoever. As for my plan, well telling you anything would spoil the suprise. Do not worry, if you stay loyal to me I will allow you to have your revenge when he has served his purpose." The wolf breathed in before he exhaled his demeanour calm and collected once more. "That's all I needed to hear." The mysterious red and black dragoness grinned before she spoke once more. One single thought went through the dragoness's mind at this time. "It's only a matter of time before I shatter whatever fragile sense of peace those fools think they have." A large tooth filled grin emerged from behind her curling lips.
Arriving in Warfang Malefor found himself waking upon feeling his ride hit the ground, the vibrations caused by landing being sufficient to rouse him from slumber. As Hercules lowered his torse to the ground allowing his passenger to gently slip off his back, Malefor looked around noticing it was already dark when they returned. For a moment it seemed Ventus was about to leave before he was halted by his mate. "Hold on we should tell the guardian's what happened first..." Ventus quirked a brow as the yellow dragon sighed in response. "...Everything that happened, ok?" Ventus was hesitant but he did not wish to cause his mate any grief so he silently nodded before following the entire group inside. As they made their way towars the library where they knew at least Volteer would be Malefor could feel the eye's of anyone who still happened to be awake and roaming the temple fall on him, sensing some less than pleasent intentions with the glares. "They all want a piece of me now that I'm injured, heh typical. They won't dare come at me when I am at full strength." He thought as he leaned on Spyro for support, his own legs still somewhat shaky as his body desired rest.
Upon arriving in the library the group was met with the sight of all three elemental master's conversing with one another, before Terrador who was facing toward the door opposite his companions, gasped out upon seeing the wounded purple dragon enter with the other's. Standing to his feet he practically rushed over to the wounded dragon the other two guardian's following shortly. "Your injured, how? What happened?" He spoke quickly as Malefor attempted to dismiss the concerns of his wound with a wave of his paw. "Don't worry bout it, looks worse than it feels, we have a serious problem though, we were attacked by a pack of wolves an-" at the mention of wolves Cyril snarled before muttering to himself as Malefor could only make out two word's. "...damn mutts."
He resumed his train of thought beginning to fill in the guardian's on what had occured. "They attacked us out of nowhere, said they were being payed to do it, some employer who want's me for something I guess, I don't know. What I do know is their leader was able to escape and we have no clue if he has any other subordinates or if the pack was there in entirety." Terrador mulled this over scratching his chin with a claw before speaking. "This is unsettling, it seem's as though just when we believe we are finally going to have some peace and quiet, someone comes along to stir up trouble. No matter, we can discuss this another day, it's getting late and you have all been through an ordeal." Just as everyone was about to depart the library and return to their room's or home's Malefor felt a large claw be placed on his shoulder. Looking up he saw the earth guardian with a concered expression. "How did it happen? Your wound I mean, if you need I can get something to help you with the pain."
At those word's Ventus flinched before casting a glance at the two. Malefor didn't even blink before he spoke. "Sword slashed me, it stings a bit. If you could get me something to dull it tomorow that would be great yes."He lied about the source of the wound, asTerrador raised a brow at this but nevertheless nodded before he strode back toward the other two elder dragon's as they began to speak amongst themselves. Malefor made his way out of the library slowly down the hall as he found himself next to Spyro and Cynder, where said black scaled female was begining to cause a scene. "When are we gonna be allowed to just relax? I mean come on, haven't we been through enough?!" The black dragoness griped an exasperated sigh escaping her.
Malefor wished he could laugh this situation off but he didn't have the energy. "If only. Hey look, I should probaly let you know I could feel the eye's on me since we arrived, I don't think I should stay in my room tonight. There is really no telling what someone may do knowing I'm injured right now." He muttered quietly so as to not draw attention from anyone who may be passing by in the halls. Spyro raised a brow at this before he responded. "But where would you sleep then? In a different room?." He suggested though the former villian shook his head in response. "No, I think it would be best if I went somewhere other than the temple for a bit, atleast until my wound becomes more tolerable." Cynder was against this course of action in an instant. "Now hold just a minute, your hurt where are you gonna go? There isn't exactly an alternative you know." Malefor pursed his lips at this. "I'll figure something out just trus-" he was cut off by a voice that he only recently became acquainted with. "You can come with us for the night if you like." The kind smile of Hercules was approaching him from the side, the wind dragon Ventus waiting at the far end of the hall.
Malefor quirked a brow at this as he had surmised the two were a couple judging by how the yellow male had spoken of the other dragon, unsure if he had even brought this up to the wind dragon before offering he asked a question. "That's very kind of you Hercules, but I don't want to impose and certainly not on your..." He cast a glance at the wind dragon who was paying them no mind, his expression impossible to read. "...mate?" He delicately said hoping for confirmation, receiving the answer he seeked in the form of a nod from Hercules. "No it's no trouble really. Actualy it was Ven who suggested it." This certainly suprised the purple dragon as it seemed just the earlier that day that same dragon had been trying to burn a hole through his skull with a glare.
Cynder spoke up, voicing her concerns as this seemed a tad to good to be true. "Hold on, why would he do that? Look Herc, don't take this the wrong way but I can't see Ventus having the best intentions by doing that. Why would he want to suddenly help someone he clearly hates?" She asked hoping for some sort of clue as to the cause for this strange change of heart. The large electric dragon quickly looked over his shoulder down the hall at his significant other before returning his attention to the group of three. "He didn't say anything, but I've known Ven for a long time. I can tell he's doing this because you lied to Terrador about your injury. If I had to guess he doesn't feel right just leaving after you did that." Malefor thought about it himself for a moment before Spyro spoke up. "Speaking of I wanted to ask why you did that in the first place, was there a reason for that?" The young warrior asked somewhat confused by the twisted story his fellow purple friend had told.
"I did it because right now we can't afford to just pointlessly run around condemning each other, not when that wolf is still out there along with whoever hired him." He went quiet for a moment as he furrowed his brow in thought before speaking once more. "I have a bad feeling that something big is going down, it's like a pit in my stomach telling me that we haven't seen nearly enough of the picture to understand what's happening." Spyro frowned at this as it was a feeling he could relate with. "I know what you mean, I feel it too, so in the future we all need to be cautious, of who we trust, who talk to and where we go. Most of all Malefor." He stated looking at the three other dragon's, before Hercules spoke up. "Right." Turning his amber eye's to meet the dual hued irises of his possible house guest. "So, how bout it, wanna come with?" He asked a small part of him hoping the purple male would say yes, as he desperately wished to get to know the purple dragon better.
Mulling it over for a few moments, Malefor nodded in response as he bid the black dragoness and purple hero a goodnight before slowly following the yellow dragon down the hall where Ventus awaited. Upon approaching the quiet male, Malefor saw the wind dragon cast a wary glance at him before he turned to walk down the hall not saying a word to either him or Hercules. Upon reaching the main entrance and stepping outside Ventus quickly boosted himseld into the air with a single flap of his wing's, Hercules monetarily preparing to follow before he felt Malefor tap him on the shoulder. "If It's not to much trouble to ask, could you perhaps carry me one more time? I don't know if I'll be able to fly right, this wound may have taken a bit more out of me than I cared to admit. I don't mean to be a hindrance or anything." The yellow goliath simply smiled as kindness practically radiated from him, lowering his torso so the purple dragon could sling himself over his back as shortly after they were up in the air once again.
After a few minutes of silent flight the large dragon landed gently outside an average sized two story building. After returning his own feet to the ground Malefor found out it was a restaurant of sorts when the duo led him inside and he was greeted with the sight of many table's and booths meant for all sorts of differently sized creatures ranging from an adult dragon to a young mole. As he was looking around at his surroundings, Hercules snapped him out of his thoughts by placing a claw on his shoulder and gesturing for him to follow to what he presumed was the establishment's kitchen. Upon entering he saw a staircase off to the side next to the large brick oven. Witnessing the hint of a white and black tail tip disappearing up the stairs followed shortly by what sounded like a door being opened and shut, he followed his guide up the stairs.
Malefor decided to break the somewhat awkward silence by thanking the large yellow dragon for his kindness. "Thank you again by the way, Hercules. You and Ventus had no obligation to allow me into your home this way and I appreciate it greatly." He spoke his gratitude being noticed by the large yellow dragon. "Don't mention it, it's the least we can do." He said with a smile glancing back at the purple dragon following him up the stairs and now down a short hallway with two doors on the left side and a few window's to the outside on the right, aswell as an entrance to what appeared to be a roof exit up some more steps at the end of the hall which spiraled upward. Walking down the hall and seeing the occasional painted portrait hanging upon the wall, he saw Hercules had stopped at the first door and promptly opened it in front of him before speaking to the purple male. "Here ya go, you can stay in the guest room, we don't really use it for anything unless someone comes to visit, so it's all yours." He said with a smile.
Thanking the electric dragon once more he was about to enter when a claw upon his shoulder stopped him, looking back at his host, he saw a great amount of concern lining the yellow male's face. "Be honest with me, are you alright? What with everything that is happening, it's ok if you need to talk about something you know. I understand how difficult it is to trust people with your troubles but if you ever feel the need to talk about anything just let me know." He offered secretly hoping the purple dragon would begin to open up to him. Malefor opened his maw to respond with an "I'm fine." But before the word's left him he thought back to how he became the dark master, how perhaps it could have been avoided had he just communicated with his friend's about his troubles. Deciding to throw caution to the wind for once a frown grew on his face as his dual colored eye's became somewhat unfocused as all his recent thoughts came to the surface.
"Truthfully? No, I am panicking right now. There is somebody out there who has it out for me or want's something from me and I have to worry about people who would likely stab me in my sleep if they were given the chance, and on top of everything else I have a very large and aggravating wound in my chest that burns hotter than a blacksmiths forge. I am very much far from ok, but I need to be because I just can't afford to be out of sorts at this point." He spoke raising his voice just a tad as he let his feelings flow. Malefor sighed as he spoke his mind for the first time in a while. Half expecting to look back at the yellow scaled dragon and see dome form of judgment, he was not expecting the sudden comforting paw upon his shoulder nor the concered face that stared back at him, Hercules spoke, his tone so calm and collected it inspired him to breath easy as he had gotten at least some of his troubles out in the open.
"Thanks for telling me, glad to know you trust me enough to do so. But think of it like this, you won't have to do anything alone. You have friend's, like Spyro and Cynder. Flame and Crystal have already started to become pretty comfortable around you, so take comfort in those thoughts every now and then, it might make you feel less helpless." He said his word's wisdom clearing the doubts Malefor had about the future somewhat. "Have a good night, breakfast is usually pretty late in the morning so feel free to sleep in as much as you need." He said before he turned to walk away toward his shared room with Ventus. As he took a few steps a thought came to Malefor's mind. "He never said how he feels about my presence, should I ask?" He considered just forgetting about it and turning in for the night, but quickly cast that plan aside as he calles out to the larger dragon. "Hey if you don't mind, you never mentioned how you feel about the whole situation, about me. Can I ask why that is?" He attempted to voice his word's tentatively so as not to annoy his host.
Hercules turned to face him once more before scratching his chin with a claw in thought. When he finally answered Malefor was somewhat surprised by his answer. "Well, truthfully I am a little concerned that you night not be so kind, maybe your just playing us and we don't realize it." He spoke almost hypothetically though the word's still stung somewhat. "But... I think from what I've seen in such a short time that your not that bad a guy. I mean you did something to help another even when you had no reason to. What I am saying is, I am still not sure how to feel about you but I want to believe I can see you as a close friend someday. Does that make sense?" He asked quirking a brow at the purple dragon, pleased when he received a small nod in response.
"Yes, that does actaully make sense, have a pleasant sleep Hercules, you and Ventus." He wished the two a goodnight with a friendly smile though only the yellow male would be around to hear the word's. As Malefor entered the guest room he was met with a very simple arrangement, a comfortable sleeping area made up of a variety of pillows, sheets and blankets, a dresser and a wardrobe againts the wall, the only source of light being a thin glimmer of moonlight shining through the curtains. Stepping over to the bedding he allowed his body to rest upon the soft cushions, curling his body in a half circle as he lay gently upon his belly, taking care not to apply unnecessary pressure to his wound.
Closing his eye's to allow the realm of dreams to take him he drifted off. Though sadly his sleep would not be so peaceful as he had been hoping.
Malefor's dream started pleasantly enough, he found himself in a field of white flowers beneath a sunny blue sky, chasing after his childhood friend's with a content smile upon his face. With no warning at all the blue sky turned dark and cloudy as the flowers around him wilted. Looking back to where he had just seen his friends, he saw Terrador as the earth dragon's body truned away to face him with a look of pure hatred adorning his face, the green scales turning to a colorless stonelike texture. Not wishing to see his friend in this manner he whirled around to face away only to be frightened by the face of the deceased fire dragoness, Anise. Blood dripping from her eye's and maw in copious amounts as a purple mist plumed from the ground beneath her feet enveloping her form as Malefor could only clench his eye's shut to block out these sights.
When he suddnely felt a sharp pain in his chest that forced his eye's to burst open, he was met with the grim sight of a silver blade embedded in his torso. He could feel blood filling up his maw before it was spat out, as his trembling eye's moved up he saw the blade was connected to a long black scaled tail and that tail was connected to something he wished to never see again. He was met with the visage of Cynder, or rather the Terror of the skies as she craned her lengthy neck downward to snort a puff of air into his face, his frightened eye's met her pure yellow orbs. The tail in his gut twisted causing him to let out a cry of pain as it was wretched from his body and he was given a clear view of his still beating heart as the organ was lifted up by the sharp appendage until level with the monstrous dragoness's maw.
Her jaws opened wide before they snapped shut on the vital organ, her entire body exploding into a large cloud of black smoke the moment her teeth clenched shut. It enveloped the purple dragon blinding him entirely as he began to fall and yet even though every instinct was yelling at him to fly he wasn't able to use his wing's. When the sickening feeling passed and he was now in what could only be described as a vortex of smoke, he could see the wound where he was pierced had disappeared though before he could even attempt to be relieved he heard several voices whispering in the darkness. He couldn't make out their word's nor could he tell hoe many there were, and just when he thought it couldn't get any worse a chilling and malevolent laugh could be heard.
The purple dragon whipped about hoping to see the cause of such a chilling noise, but was suprised when he felt something grasp one of his ankles. Snapping his vision downward he was met with the disturbing sight of a detached dark violet claw latching onto his left hind leg, no body in sight. Attempting to shake it off did no good as soon another talon of the same color appeared from the smoke and latched tightly onto his right leg as well. His body was quickly besieged by many more floating limbs appearing from the surrounding darkness that began to grip and wrap around him. Shortly he could barely even move much less yell out as even his muzzle had a claw wrapped over it. His attempts to struggle and break free wwre short lived however, as he saw the mist begin to move in front of him. The plumes of smoke twisting in unnatural ways as they began to take on a shape. It was horrifying to watch as the cloud was starting to contort and move in a way that made it seem alive.
When it had fully taken shape, Malefor could only stare in silent terror as he was met with a massive vision of his own face but at the same time not his face. Two large yellow eye's swelled to life in the cloud as they peered directly through him straight into his being. This was not him, it was the dark master. His dark self opened it's large maw leaning it's smoky body inward to hover slowly and menacingly over the restrained dragon who couldn't even bring himself to struggle anymore. In one single moment just as the Terror of the skies chomped down on his heart, he was consumed in an instant.
Then he woke up.
Malefor's head shot upwards as his body was glistening in sweat, his once calm level breathing reduced to exhausted panting. Realizing he had dug his talons into the blankets below him, he flexed the sharp nails before delicately removing them from the offending sheet. Within a few minutes of heavy breathing he managed to calm himself as his nightmarish panic slowly began to fade, being replaced with a lingering sense of dread. It was at this moment he realised something. Light was flowing in through the curtains, morning had arrived. "He said rest as much as I need, but I doubt I could go back to sleep after a nightmare like that..." Deciding to get his body moving about he began to stand up and upon noticing his body felt less sore, attempted to do a bit of stretching. Placing his claws out in front of his muzzle and his flanks in the air like a cat he began to groan until a resounding pop could be heard. Sighing in relief he stood up straight and stepped outside the room, quietly shutting the door behind him just incase anyone was still asleep.
As he slowly made his way down the stairs he began to smell a rather pleasent odor rising up from the kitchen. Figuring it must be breakfast he decided to see about getting a meal for himself. However he was met with a suprising sight, as he had been expecting to see Hercules down here. Instead he was face to face with the wind dragon who gave him his newest scar, Ventus. The wind dragon was standing next to a large pot both claws wrapped around a wooden spoon as he slowly stirred the contents, his green eye's slightly narrow as he trained them on the task at hand not even sparing a glance at the new arrival.
Noticing some silverware set up at the bar in the main area where the front door was located he opted to take a seat at one of the swiveling cushions. Lifitng himself up onto the chair with a slight grunt, he simply waited quietly and patiently. As he was doing his best to be a polite house guest he was suddenly overcome with embarrassment when within a few minutes of waiting around, his stomach began to growl as his body began to noisily request food. Snapping his wide eyed gaze up to the window into the kitchen he saw the green eye's of one of his host's staring back, the emotions behind them impossible to read. Within a moment the wind dragon returned his gaze to the large pot.
Not long after Malefor began to lose himself in thought about the recent event's aswell as trying to think about where to start actually teaching Spyro and Cynder. "Should I teach Spyro about using wind first, or perhaps show him how to create his own golems? Both could be useful to him, there's also the matter of what I should teach Cynder as she has element's even I know little about. No one ever told me teaching would be this hard, maybe being guilty wasn't such a bad fate after all heh." He thought with an inward chuckle at the morbid joke, though his demeanor shifted when a small glass bowl full of a light brown liquid and what appeared to be chunks of food within it was placed in front of him. Turning his eye's to the wind dragon who had now taken a seat next to him with his own bowl and another next to it likely for the non present electric dragon.
As the purple male began to slurp the soup and consume it's contents, he soon heard a clink as within a few minutes Ventus had already finished his soup and was simply staring at the empty bowl with narrowed eye's. He was about to finish the rest of his meal when he finally heard the black and white dragon speak. "Herc is asleep if your wondering, he was pretty tired from yesterday." He spoke with a tone that sounded neither angry nor hateful, but there was something behind the figurative mask the wind dragon had on, Malefor could sense it. Ventus continued to speak. "You know something? Before we ran into you guy's the other day, he asked me to try talking to you, to get to know you before I just judged you." Malefor was still unsure if he should even say anything as he really did not wish to get into any sort of conflict with the other male, but even so Ventus continued to speak.
"I didn't mean to attack you, OK? It was an honest to ancestor's accident, I thought you were attacking my friend's, so I lashed out. But I didn't realize it was you until I was able to see under those shadows. So..." He breathed in deep, cutting himself off momentarily before resuming. "I believe I owe you some form of apology at the very least." Turning to face the purple dragon he bluntly stated. "I am sorry." He said surprising Malefor with the amount of sincerity that leaked from within his mask. Turning to face away once more he went on as the mask had become air tight once again, not allowing emotion to seep through and give away any thoughts. "Also while we have some time until Herc gets up, I am gonna take his advice." Turning his whole body to face the purple dragon, Malefor was finally able to see the slight bruising upon his right scaled cheek. He had heard from Herc on the flight back that the smaller male had been punched by Flame. This had certainly suprised the former lord of darkness as he never believed the fire dragon would take to defending him so boldly.
Staring straight into the twin colored eye's of the dark master with his own mossy greens, Ventus said two word's that for some reason gave Malefor a brief moment of concern.
"Let's talk."
whoooo ok, I need to say I really enjoyed picturing and coming up with that nightmare sequence there as the thing with dreams and nightmares is anything is possible and there is always room for symbolism in there hehehe, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as I managed to get enough time out of the past few day's to put it together and I only hope it conveys the thoughts I intended. looking forward to a MERRY HOLIDAY SEASON EVERYONE ;)