Eyes of the Beholder

Unknown to everyone, Spyro was contemplating the war as a whole that was going on in the Dark Realms. He felt insulted that the Ancestors had seemingly abandoned this place. He felt for all the dragons that resided on this shattered world. He was just so hateful. He wasn't even sure wht it was that sparked ire into his being. The Ancestors, for abandoning these dragons to darkness? Archion and Choryrth, for making him kill a dragon? Himself, for his abrasive actions? He simply wasn't sure, but he still hated. He knew he felt sympaty for these dragons, and he was beggining to feel the consequences of absorbing a soul, as he had absorbed some of the fondness for the Dark Dragons that Garynx instinctually. He wanted to end the war. He felt that as long as this war in this dimention continued, he could never ever feel content knowing these dragons suffered while he, the most powerful dragon in both these realms, was laying back doing nothing.

It wasn't fair. He needed a soulution.

An idea struck him, but he would have to ask Archion and Choryrth about it. While he knew they would say yes, he felt hypocritical to consider that he was doing something without their consent, and he forced himself to feel like he was better than what they had done to him. "Forgive, but never forget. This will make you better than those who made said horrible acts.". Ignitus had told him that while they were preparing to leave for the Dark Realms. He resigned himself to his choice.

After the attack, Archion and Choryrth had ordered all of their forces to consolodate on the island. Spyro felt around, and found the Dimensional Rifter in his hand. Calling them to his side, Archion and Choryrth materialized next to him.

"What do you need?" Archion asked, still wary over Spyro's new power, especially his new eye that unnerved him.

"I have a personal question. Do you want to travel to our world? Not just as copies, but your physical selves?"

Archion rased both eyes at this. Was this really the same Spyro who had previously chosen to fight instead of talking things out?

"Of course we would, but we could never leave the resistance. If we left, they would be without a leader. The only way we could do so would be if we transported the entire..." He stopped as he looked at the Dimensional Rifter in Spyro's hands, "Are you saying what I think you are saying?"

"I was thinking that if I could somehow hook up the rifter to the island, I could stop this war. If I help the resistance escape to our dimension, no more dragons have to die." Spyro confirmed.

Archion and Choryrth looked to eachother. Hope flowed through them. They could stop the bloodshed, and while they did have to leave their world behind, they were traveling to a better place.

"Okay, in theory, this could work, but it needs to be perfect." Archion said, thinking out loud, "We just need to expand the range of the rifter. What was it Ignitus said? For expanding the Rifter's range, turn the second ring until the sphere that should appear is large enough to encompass the area you want to transport." Only issue is, Loerchik is still here. We should get him out, he is still unconsious. Leutenant Crasil!" He called out. Suddenly, a dragon teleported in front of him. "Get Loerchik away from this island, and get back within the hour."

"But sir, it would be foolish to let him go and recover his strength." Crasil replied.

"This could be a chance to end this war, do as I say!" Archion demanded.

Crasil winced and ran off to act on his superior's command, and also in hope that what he was saying was true.

Choryrth turned to Spyro and said, "We really don't like doing that. But we are just hard coded to be stubborn."

About 57 minutes later Crasil and his squad returned. Loerchik had been chained down about 90 miles away. That would hold him for about 2 hours at most. Spyro was making the final preparations for the dimensional transport.

"Are you ready?" Choryrth asked. Ember stood off to the side in concentration, as her mana reserves were running on low. She continued to push out the darkness trying to seep into her soul. Spyro nodded and put the Dimensional Rifter on a podium. He turned the second concentric ring, and a white sphere expanded outward, encompassing the room. Turning it twice more, he looked out the window, and saw it had encompassed the central part of the fortress, turning it a full circle once more, the entire floating island was encompassed in the sphere. Activating the Rifter, Spyro suddenly fell to the ground. His eyes opened, and Archion noticed his abnormal eye had turned again, the white links around his eye started to glow, and several strings of light sprouted from them, and got sucked into the center of the rifter. His veins were clearly visible coming out from his eye. Archion moved forward to stop it, but Spyro held out a hand.

"It's fine, I just need to feed it power." Spyro forced out against the pain. Forcing all his soul into the Rifter, it started to glow. The sphere solidified, and suddenly, the superstructure dissapeared from the Dark Realms, leaving no trace of it's existance.

Spyro awoke in the swirling colors of the void. Infinite dorways blew past him. Fading in and out of conciousness, and struggling to point the Rifter in the right direction, Spyro forced his tired body to direct the course of his massive carry on. Passing the center of Convexity, he turned the rifter in the direction of his realm, and permeated the shell that tried to prevent his travel.

Ignitus paced back and forth throughout the study of the White Isle. Mulling over his discovery of Spyro's godly heritage, he pondered over why Spyro's memories were only starting to kick in now. Normally, even if they were abandoned, most dragons had dreams of their time in the egg. He had determined that somehting was preventing it, but why were they starting now. It wasn't the darkness, as he had had his first dream the night...

That was it! Ignitus could have hit himself for being so dense! The Omni Symbol! It was a sign that prevented mind tricks and memory alterations. Malefor had used it to prevent Spyro from the effects of the Fear Crystal that Hatsukati had used while inhabiting the body of Luin.

Before he could go to document this discovery, he felt a giant cramp in the back of his head. The Dimensional Rifter had been used. This time however, it was larger than when Spyro and Ember had left, that had just been a small twitch. He had expected this of course. Spyro would be Spyro after all, and that was why he had tought him that option of the Rifter's technique. Rushing outside, he was still a little taken aback at the structure that loomed before him. The veritable superstructure of a fortress loomed over the ocean, engineered to absolute perfection.

"Chronicler 42069. Dark Dragons have reached our realm, dispose of them at once." Came the voice Ignitus knew as Htuvir, Ancestor of Knowledge.

"Well, I happen to know that these dragons have come to our realm at the behest of an Ancestral. If they get out of line, I will deal with them."

Flying up to the fortress, the Dark Dragons seemed to tired to say anything to him. They had just gone through a transference of dimensions. Their souls were not in danger of changing like Spyro and Ember's were in danger of in the Dark Realms. Dark energy did haunt their souls, but they still had life energy in them, sustaining them enough to function. Walking by way of instinct, he walked through until he found Spyro, Ember, and the two dark dragons Spyro had as his associates. Archion and Choryrth, he could decipher now that their physical souls were here. He looked over to Spyro, who lay on the ground, unconscious, and held in his hand, the Dimensional Rifter. Taking the Rifter from Spyro's hand, and tucking it away, he raised his eye at the scar that went over Spyro's right eye. Opening it to see if there was any damage, he jumped back as Spyro's right eye had changed. He recognized the design, he thought depressingly. He knew full well that Spyro's powers were developing, but to this extent, this could be dangerous.

Spyro stirred, and Ignitus noticed the eye return to it's normal amythest. Spyro's eyes fluttered open, blinking a bit at the sudden amount of light, he forced his bdy to move upwards, and now Ignitus noted he was at least a foot taller then he first was, now up to about Ignitus's neck in terms of size. Ember lay off to the side, a clear crystal clutched in her paw. He noticed she was twitching, but thought nothing of it. But inwardly he thought, "That was wierd, it was like just seeing her caused a hint of disinterest. Must see later.". He made a note to himself and focused on the now fully awake dragon in front of him.

Spyro looked a bit disoriented, but quickly settled into the fact that he was home. Looking up at Ignitus, he said, "Oh, yeah. Forgot about that for a hot second." reffering to his new height. Raising to his feet, he observed his surroundings. He found his doubles, and shook them a bit. Reveling in the fact that they no longer felt like smoke when in his own realm. Archion was the first to wake. His eyes narrowed and squinted at the bright light of the sun shining through the windows. Looking to Spyro, and then Ignitus, his mind started to put two and two together. Wiggling his talons a bit, he almost wept that he could feel the stone beneath his feet. Every ridge, every groove, instead of the featureless feeling when he was only here by Spyro's Dark Form. His muzzle cracked into a wide grin. Abandoning all face, he shook his twin up. Coryrth woke, with Archion standing over him, tears of joy running down his face. Looking around, he was immediateley accosted with an unusual embrace from his twin. Returning it, and remembering the previous events, putting it together, he smiled wide and wept freely. Spyro felt his heart pulse a bit faster knowing he had been the source of their happiness.

"So many years of fighting, and to leave at the hands of what was supposed to be their greatest enemy, they are euphoric right now." Ignitus said. Spyro nodded, as he felt the relief wash over him from their bond. He slowly heard a sound like air wooshing in his ear. He realised, the dragons were cheering. Cheering for homself, eachother, and their new life.

Cynder was walking down the hall when she encountered Flame. "Oh great. This is not what I need right now. More threats and outbursts saying..". She never got to finish that thought, because she was shocked still by his next two words.

"I'm sorry." Flame forced out.

Cynder's mind had to have reset. Something must have gone wrong, because the one dragon who she was sure would never trust her, was apologizing? It

made no sense.

Flame forced his continuing words, "I am so sorry for the way I treated you. I was treated as a weapon, while you were treated and used like a weapon. Even worse, you could do nothing, yet did everything possible, and saved my life. I have no excuse for my behavior, other than my anger. That is not acceptable. I am truly sorry." He forced out his words, and his head pipped toward the ground in shame. He expected no forgiveness, but he needed to get that out. Bracin himself for her riteous anger, he instead felt a calm breeze on the underside of his head. A small tendril of air moved his head up so he could meet Cynder's eyes. He was surprised to see overwhelming sympathy and empathy in her eyes. Those green emeralds shone, and told a speech more effectively than any voice could. When she spoke, her voice cracked.

"I understand anger. I was made from anger. I was born with it in my fear element. When I was freed, I was so terrified, I lashed out at the one person who understood me, the one dragon willing to give me a chance. He was willing to forgive. I pushed him away, told myself his promises were fake, all so I could get a perspective and keep it. And yet, he came back, and still said the same things again. This time, I listened. My actions as the Terror were unforgivable, and I wanted to forget. But over these last few days, I remember something Ignitus went tirading on while he was stuck in my former fortress. 'Forgive, but never forget.' Now, I see my name, the Terror of the Skies, not as a symbol of my past, but of my power. The one who I was stuck in is no longer existing, but I had to deal with the consequences. I forgive you, because no matter how many bad things I did to Spyro while corrupted he forgave me. And for all the things you have said to me, I will forgive, because all dragons deserve a second chance." She finished.

Flame felt the flame in his heart reignite. His weight had been burdened. He no longer feared or hated the Terror of the Skies, but was her ally. The one who deserved his hatred was the Dark Master, who made her carry out his orders. Holding his had out, Cynder took it and shook it. Hostilities dampened, and bonds were formed.

Kratom was having fun, but he decided that enough was enough. He had destroyed nearly 60 percent of the buildings who had lived, the dragons had called in the remaining shadow users left in their colony to move them out. Opening his portal again, he started to move toward it, but heard a voice behind him.

"Tsk tsk. Such callousness." said the voice. Whipping around, he saw a teenage dragon. Not much bigger than Spyro the last time he saw him, but still a foot taller. Fire dragon, based on his scale color. Scars and burns signified this dragon had been in battle before, and his tailblade was the shape of a festering flame, sort of liked a warped trident. Underscales of blue indicated his non-dominant ice power. A little known fact, hybrids had an underscale color matching the natural color of the non-dominant type. He noticed a fire symbol brand, maybe a member of a gang of sorts? Silver horns adorned his head. This dragon had a respectable muscle mass, but not nearly enought to match Wrath. He smirked and turned back to him.

"You want to die, runt?" He snarked at the new dragon, "Join the masses of dead thrown into the fire?" He figured he could bend this dragon easily. What slightly shook his confindence was the fact that this dragon's body did not appear to breathe. He was moving, but his chest did not inflate and deflate like a nrmal dragon. He could be just concealing his breathing to unnerve him, so he steeled his nerve. What broke it again was the fact that the dragon appeared to be smiling.

"Oh no, simply putting a band-aid where it is needed. In this case, you are the scrape, and I have come to put you in your place." said the dragon calmly.

Kraton broke out into hilarious laughter. "OHoHOhOH...You...you SERIOUSLY think YOU can stop ME? AHAHAHAHHAHAA!". When he finally recollected himself, he smirked, "That was funny, but that was a bad thing to have to put on your tombstone." Charging his favorite element, earth, he channeled his magic though the ground, and a spike shot up toward him. Not even moving Kratom closed his eyes, to hear the scream of pain from this dragon. He waited for a few seconds, it didn't happen. He opened his eyes, and what he saw made him stand still. The spike had gone through him, but it didn't seem to have any effect. Not even a spray of blood. Shooting a spike behind him, impaling the dragon through the wing, not even a flich was given. Shooting several earth spikes, none of them seemed to have any effect.

"Who are you...WHO ARE YOU?!" Kratom yelled out.

"A dragon who would appreciate it if you didn't roar right next to him." Said a voice behind him, he turned and saw...the same dragon. A mirror copy, right down to the brand, and underscale color. Leaping back, Kratom fired electricity at him, but like the earth, it did nothing. Turning around to check on the other one impaled on the spikes, he noticed a semicircle of the dragons circling him. Turning every which way, he was surrounded by the copies of the dragon. Decideing it was best to flee, he retreated on the top of a nearby mountain, where he could make sure every clone was accounted for. He did not know what this was, but he decided to end it.

Suddenly, he felt a pain in his lower back, a calm but chilling voice resembling the ones of the clone, as if speaking right into his ear, "Wrong move." The voice spoke as if observing a chess match. Jutting out from his chest, a blade of fire speared through his back and through his chest, somehow missing all his important organs. Using all his strength to look back, he saw the dragon, and from that brief contact, he knew this was the real one. The clones at the bottom flickered like mirages, until they fade out, and he saw the village become hazy. He tried to fire spikes at the dragon, but found he couldn't feel the earth. He tried to fly, but his wings felt as if they were never there. Falling backwards, he pummeted toward the chasm at the foot of the mountain. His vision cleared and saw the village almost as if he never attacked it. That was the last thing before he lost consciousness, and the swirling of an opening portal.

Spyro watched as the Dark Dragons worked together, to rig the floating island to move toward the mainland. They really were well oiled machines. Ignitus looked on as the final preparations were made. Ignitus had given Spyro a scroll, but instructed to only open it in a safe place, and once he learned it, he would not be able to unlearn it. Archion called to Spyro from the beach, where he and Choryrth had created a miniature sand castle/fortress similar to their floating one. "Could never make one in the Dark Realms, the sand is too sharp.". Spyro laughed along with them. They had been indulging a bit in the simple pleasures of life in this new dimension, catching up on some of the childhood experiences they missed while commanding the resistance. Crasil flew next to them, and smiled.

"Preparations are finished sirs." He said, saluting.

"You know what, just call us by our names Crasil." Archion said easily.

"Sure Archion." he replied, smiling and flew off to the island.

Archion and Choryrth boarded the large island with Spyro, and they looked into the setting sun, as they all looked off to a brighter future.

HOLY CRAP! The Dark Realm Saga is done. Now time to deal with the next Origins Saga! (Dies internally) I hope all you wonderful people have a fantastical day. PEACE OUT!