Chapter 6: Home trouble
The group of dragons charged towards the entrance to the temple as quick as they could. Everything since the tremor and noises they had experienced earlier shaking their composure.
Their minds were running wild at what could be unfolding outside, adrenaline going crazy in the younger dragons specially to get out there.
Questions were shooting in and out of their thoughts; What caused the tremor? Was it really an explosion? Is anyone hurt? Is it dangerous at the moment?
These were all questions they wanted the answers to and needed to get as soon as they could.
It was hopeful if something had occurred then other guards or anyone capable were already at the place of whatever happened. The group comprising of Spyro, Cynder, Terrador, Pyrus and two guards.
Although his mark of honour exam for guardship was interrupted, it was the furthest thing from the purple dragon's mind.
Ensuring the safety of others would always be the first thing he would prioritise especially if anyone he is close with was involved in what occurred.
Arriving at the entrance the group felt the shine of the sun creep over their bodies and the light disorientating for a moment while their eyes quickly adjusted to being outside again.
They looked around expecting to find unrest, surprisingly they couldn't see anything around them that was occurring, it would look as if nothing had happened just from looking around. But the same couldn't be said for most of the creatures within the vicinity, a couple seemed panicked, others talking about the tremor that had occurred.
Pyrus stepped forward looking around followed by everyone else with a few creatures seemingly panicked as if something terrible had happened and worrying about what would happen next.
Spyro with his eyes narrowed looking around spotted two moles running towards the courtyard from the left.
"HELP…we need help…GUARDS we need your help" This caught everyone's attention turning towards the pair, Spyro caught up to them asking.
"What's wrong? are you two okays?"
"Yes…we are fine…its terrible, we need guards over there now" one of the mole's shouted leaning forward trying to catch his breath from the running. Pyrus needing to be quick spoke out.
"What's happened? Why were you running?"
"A few buildings are on fire, flames everywhere, there was an explosion on the street, all of a sudden flame are everywhere; over that way" shouted the second mole.
The mole pointed over down the streets where in the distance they could see a pillar of black smoke rising up into the sky above the layer of buildings.
The group upon identifying the situation at hand were frantic with worry, Pyrus kept a stable head and turned to the group.
"QUICKLY NOW! To the street!"
Wasting no time everyone took the sky flying towards the smoke, already within site not far could see a large amount of smoke, small flames were coated around the path blocking ways.
Two small houses doused in fire and burning up, small sections of the building had already broken off piling up around it.
Many different creatures were fleeing the scene mainly moles and a couple of dragons and foxes.
As they were close to landing Pyrus shouted out commanding to the group.
"Magus get the nearest water wall opened and a pool of water ready for tackling the fire; Cynder you help him out, Talex fire up a signal and alert more guards, Spyro start with tackling the small fires in the street"
"On it!"
Spyro folded his wings diving down to the street quickly, pushing his paws out in front of him to catch himself on making contact with the ground.
Running forward to meet the first flames erupting from destroyed rubble of the buildings.
As Cynder and the Magus flew on ahead towards the water wall the other guard Talex hovered himself above the street near the buildings and leaned his head upwards.
Opening his maw red mana begun to build up in his maw, congregating inward all directions in a circular motion.
An orb of red energy building with small particles blowing off it, once the charge was finished, he released the orb of mana flying upwards into the sky.
Reaching a small altitude, it suddenly exploded blasting red mana outward fuming in the winds, the signal having been fired the dragon flew back down to rejoin the others.
Spyro approached the first of the flames and took in a heavy breath, a cold feeling swelling around his maw before letting it out and a beam of pure freezing ice onto the burning flames.
At first the fire seemed to be shrugging it off melting the ice as it made contact, Spyro accounted for this and as he upped his output the cold temperature hitting the flame eventually made the difference, slowly extinguishing the flame as it got smaller bit by bit.
The fire was put out in the end with nothing but a smouldering piece of the building on the ground, having been successful he moved on to the next one to replicate the process.
Nearby Pyrus studying the two houses on fire saw fire's around the majority of the windows, the entrance itself was barely accessible with the fires around it.
The electric dragon noticed a few creatures were approaching to find out what was happening, in no way was he going to allow civilians to get involved, throwing his left wing up shouting
"Stay back, it's too dangerous"
"Master Terrador could you help keep others back?"
"Of course, Pyrus, I'll take care of it" said the earth guardian pushing his way over to the crowd "Please keep at the distance, it's for your safety"
"But houses are on fire, we can help" shouted a mole looking desperate to get through, to play it safe Terrador raised one of his paws up facing in front of him, green mana radiated and he slowly swiped it from his left side to his right side.
Suddenly, a wall of earth mana energy erupted out the ground in front of the creatures coming up half way to his leg joint to act as a block.
"Everyone, stay behind this mana wall and leave everything to the guards, they will take care of everything"
With the guardian taking control of the creature situation; Pyrus could turn his attention to the building, the fires raging out of control desecrating the houses.
He knew they wouldn't have a lot of time before the danger could spiral out of control, looking towards one of his guards he commanded.
"Talex get as close as you can and find out if anyone is inside, don't make any unnecessary risks."
"Yes sir, I'm on it."
The fire dragon leaped into the air to float up to the burning buildings up close attempted to glance into any windows, trying to see past the smoke and fires to see if there was any sort of activity or movement, even though being a fire dragon and being resistant to fire it was still a danger for him.
Trying to get closer he wasn't sure if he would be able to make out anything inside the building.
Although there were multiple windows upstairs to try to peer into the fire had spread so far, it was a question of how long until the structure itself would start to give.
If there was someone inside still alive, he had to find out quick.
Nearby at the water wall, Magus had flipped the lever on the side. The dragon heads moved positions switching up and down, with the way opened up the liquid begun streaming down into the reservoir to build up a body of water.
Cynder had collected a doze buckets to fill the water with placing them in a cluster next to the reservoir, the pair ready to start lifting water over and end the emergency.
The street situation was improving with quite a few of the small fires being extinguished thanks to Spyro, there was not many left barring the bigger infernos raging closer to the scorched homes, catching his breath from exhaling the volleys of ice, the smell of the smoke and fire permeating everywhere and it was quite potent.
Taking a paw and rubbing the side of his maw as he turned towards a big torrent of flame. Debris from the building completely covered in the deadly blaze, stepping closer he could feel the increasing heat.
Brightening against his sight remaining composed he opened his maw and readied his mana.
Another string of ice erupting out of his maw shooting straight into the flames, steadying himself as he focused on one spot hoping to working it down bit by bit.
As far as his mana goes, he could go a long time before he would need to recover, it was just as well once they got to work on the main fire itself.
Near the main building still flowing himself around, Talex continued his search through the openings of any sign of movement, the flames were so spread it was near impossible to get a look in.
Moving a bit closer he built up a big breath and exhaled a huge gush of wind splashing against the window, the fires roaring around being hit but the powerful pillar of air moving the smoke to the sides also.
The wind dragon had to be careful not to put too much power in otherwise it could blow the flames across and sparks could hit anything spreading the flames further.
It did however open up a little further for him to get a better look in to see the walkway of the upper rooms, the fire had spread heavily within the inner parts of the building.
But it appeared to be no one was present but he knew just because he couldn't see anyone didn't mean the building was empty.
"HELLO…IS ANYONE IN THERE?" shouting at the top of his lungs the wind dragon desperate to find out. The noise of the flame's radiance would make it difficult to hear.
"ANYONE IF YOU CAN HEAR ME GET OUT OF THERE! IF YOU CAN'T KEEP SHELTERED FROM THE FLAMES WE WILL GET OUT!"
All he could do was hope that if anyone was in there, they heard his message, judging by the size of the buildings it would be mole's or any other small creatures that lived in them.
It would be very difficult for fully sized dragons to manoeuvre around in, in a flash an outburst of flames blew out of the building.
The pressure so great it caused a blowback on Talex, a gasp of shock bursting from his maw, regaining his posture and beating his wings the flow back in the air.
Pyrus himself near the main door with smoke trailing through any openings and gaps, he would break the door open but an outburst of flame from the opening could topple the buildings integrity further than it already has.
"Captain I can't get any closer; the flames are getting worse, only fire dragons would have a chance that close" Talex exclaimed
"Stay back now there's nothing you can do up there, go help Cynder and Magus; we need that water here quickly"
"You got it captain" the wind dragon flying off to assist the others as Pyrus turned towards the purple dragon.
The flame was not being affected by the jet of ice being propelled at it, Spyro kept the pace going but could clearly see ice would not work on a flame of this size.
Halting his attack, he pondered what he could do next.
They had to get these fires under control before they could spread any further, but he knew his other elements would be of no use here.
Not willing to give up so easily he gave it one more try, opening up his ice attack onto the flames again.
Still having the same effect, he was expecting; nothing, the fire was fighting off the freezing volley of attacks.
Looking for anything in his attack that carried weight in this struggle even if it was little, but no matter how much he pushed the attack of ice and the intensity he was at; no amount of ice was going to extinguish the flame.
He knew energy he used at this point would only be wasted if he persisted on.
Ceasing his attack once more closing his maw, it slightly irritated the purple dragon on how he couldn't budge it.
"Captain, I can't put these flames out they are too strong for my ice breath; we need that water"
"I know Spyro, I sent Talex to help speed up on that, do what you can until they get here" replied the electric dragon.
The water couldn't come soon enough was a fresh thought in the back of Spyro's mind, if this wasn't controlled soon the fires could spread and reduce more buildings to rubble.
Pyrus ran over to the adjacent house not burning as badly as the first, the flames hadn't spread too much into the building yet.
By now anyone who should have been in should have evacuated but they needed to be sure.
The doorway open already was a good sign, the guard captain peered into the doorway looking into the big room in front of him, he could see one mole running around in a bit of a panic.
"HEY…sir are you okay?" said the dragon grabbing the mole's attention turning to him.
"Am I glad to see you; I need your help guard quickly"
"Is there anyone else in here?"
The mole shaked his head before getting on his knee's and wiping pieces of paper off the floor.
"No, my family are already out to safety; I need your help"
The mole's request for help was strange wondering what he could possibly need help with but that was irrelevant to the guard captain, his first priority was ensuring all creatures safety and this was an opportunity for him.
"Right you need to get out of here the fires will soon come through, Is there anyone else next door in the house?"
"Just a family of foxes roughly four, two adults and two children; now are you going to help me guard?"
Not liking the moles tone at the end, the dragon called to him.
"SIR, you need to get out now, the building could become unstable at any moment especially with the flames having spread to upstairs."
"I will, I just need a hand getting all our gems out." The mole said choosing to continue with what he was doing.
"Gems? sir leave them there; you need to get to safety now!"
"No way I'm not leaving it all here, after all this someone is going to sneak in and steal it all, we will need it to rebuild."
If Pyrus was able to get in he would grab that mole himself, he couldn't believe this mole's comments on someone looting his house especially with the possibility of it all crumbling down.
"Sir I'm not going to tell you again, get out now and join your family."
"I'm not leaving until I have all my gems." the mole rebuked back at the guard captain.
Opening a little hole in the floor to grab to reveal a small trove filled with gems, a small growl underneath his breath as Pyrus was a little ticked by the moles disregard for his life.
Just as he was about to shout to the mole again a voice intruded.
"Captain!"
Turning his head to see two more dragons along with a couple of moles covered in armour were on the scene.
"We got the signal sir, where do you need us?" Knight Delacon and Raxus being the first responders to the signal fired earlier.
"Delacon get that house I need to determine if anyone inside, according to their neighbour here there should be a family of foxes but we haven't been able to spot them (turning to the other dragon) Raxus just down the street a few others are on the water wall, it should be ready now; we need water here dousing these flames now"
Turning to the group of moles who also had brought a cart loaded with buckets.
"Great get down to the water wall also, get loading that water and here!"
Hearing their orders acknowledging the captain; Raxus and the mole's carted off the buckets ready to be filled.
Delacon being a fire dragon and more resistant to the fires could approach, he got to work on busting the door down to provide access knowing a family could potentially be inside in danger.
"Spyro I need you here!" called Pyrus to the second house, he could hear a few creaks in the building.
Alarm started set in for the captain, the building could start tearing any moment as his attention focused back to the mole, having a small bag and loading it up with the small gems he is desperate to save.
"Sir this is your last chance, get out NOW!" his words seemed to fall on deaf ears as the mole took no notice of what he said and continued on bagging it up.
Spyro come next to the captain narrowed his eyes seeing the mole's disregard for his safety of something like money, more snaps and creaks sounded and an implosion of fire shooting off from the upstairs rocked the building.
Not willing to prolong this any further Pyrus looked to the purple dragon.
"Get him out of there!"
The purple dragon without hesitation leaped in through the doorway still being able to fit through. He took his left paw and wing and grabbed the mole.
"Come on, you're out of here now," Pushing him away from the bag the mole struggled and pushed back.
"NO DAMMIT, I'm getting my money out of here!"
"Sir money is the least of your worries right now; you need to get to safety and be with your family."
Pushing the mole out of the room and up to the door way with the mole resisting every moment.
He tried to loosen himself off the dragon's grip using his own hands and gripping Spyros' claws on his shoulder.
"LET GO OF ME NOW YOU DUMB GUARD!"
Spyro was amazed by the mole's attitude, he was willing to risk himself for the sake of gems even going as far as the insult the one's ultimately helping him.
More creaks could be heard and the sound of flames intensifying more, getting out of the house the purple dragon relaxed his grip on the mole and said to him.
"Now get to the safety line with your family over there where the green dragon is"
Pointing towards the line of earth energy Terrador created with all the other creatures behind it safe from the dangerous situation, instead the mole turned back towards the purple dragon.
"I need my gems; I demand you get them"
"That's not going to happen, YOU need to get to safety now and that is what's happening sir"
The mole glared his eyes towards the purple dragon like he was ready to challenge him. Its like logic had completely left the room in his head.
It was foolish to test a dragon, never mind one of the mightiest dragons.
"I don't care dragon, let me back into my house right this instant, you guards are here to serve the public and so serve me and do as you are told"
Spyro looked to his superior stood beside him now that the mole was out of the building.
It was hard for him to process someone was that desperate over a few gems; willing to risk their life for money, in the back of his mind there was a small temptation just to pummel some sense into the small creature.
No matter how much he was tempted it would end badly for his potential role as a guard as well as despite the attitude it was his duty to keep him safe, but he wasn't going to be playing around with this mole any longer.
Grabbing him again on his shoulders and this time taking off the ground flying over to Terrador and the other creatures.
"LET GO OF ME NOW, I NEED TO GET BACK IN THERE."
Ignoring the shouting from the mole, Spyro flew just past the mana wall created by the earth guardian and lowered the mole to the ground, once loose the mole span around so quickly pointing at the purple dragon.
"I WILL SEE TO IT YOU PAY FOR THIS!"
"Ensuring your safety is what I have just done mole, it isn't worth risking your life to carry some gems just for the building to fall down on top of you."
With that said Spyro beat his wings to head back across to continue to assist the fire-fighting efforts, as he flew by the guardian signalled him an approving nod pleased with the purple dragon's performance and composure.
Arriving back at the scene Delacon was manoeuvring out of the building after having gone in and scoured the first section "I can't find anyone captain, it doesn't look like anyone is in but it is pretty hard for me to manoeuvre, too small for me to get around"
"That's fine Delacon just get back out… For now, I want you to control the spread of the fire until the water gets here should be any moment soon"
"It will be much easier for me to manoeuvre around in there. I can check the upper floor for if there is actually anyone inside" volunteered the purple dragon.
As luck would have it his smaller size would give him the benefit of moving around in the building much easier.
"The fire's have spread fast in there and it is very hot, it would be very dangerous for you Spyro"
"I have a strong fire too sir, I would have a resistance to fire like Delacon" although most dragon's have better resistance to heat and wisps of fires, it is still hazardous to most of the species.
Certain members of the race such as fire element-based dragons have a much better resistance to fire and that would go the same for the purple dragon being able to control fire also.
The captain was left to ponder this decision, although the purple dragon did speak truth in his ability it was still a dangerous suggestion; the building could lose stability at any time. this he had to go with it.
"Very well Spyro go for it" that was all the purple dragon needed to hear approaching the entrance to the building, seeing specks of flames drape from the building as the violent roars of fire and smoke spread throughout the house.
Readying himself to enter took the time to brainstorm himself getting through to cut around the fires along the floor, wall's or any items in there, just as he was about to enter, he got interrupted.
"You find anyone get them out but if it becomes too much you get yourself out of there immediately" spoke Pyrus a little concerned for the purple dragon.
"I understand sir, I will do my best"
Having been given the approval of his superior the purple dragon peered in one last time. This was a dangerous situation for any creature even a dragon.
Taking small steps forward moving into the entrance. Already the heat could be felt by him, the pressure slowly beginning to play on him.
Angling his body bringing his wings down to his sides and keeping his tail aligned in the direction of his body arching it on the turns, pushing himself around the blazes arriving into the main room, the flames having burnt down a lot of the items and furniture.
Bringing a paw up to the side of his head, small specks of hot ashes flying off the infernos.
Brushing against his scales and features, tiny pings stinging the dragon, luckily his resistance made the feeling just about bearable to him.
He dreaded imagining an electric or ice dragon in here. There was barely anything left of the room there was either stuff burnt to a crisp or in the process of burning.
Scanning the room over it was easy to tell there was nobody present but he couldn't rule out the whole building yet though. Finding the stairway rounding upwards like a slope clearly built to fit smaller creatures they too had small flames creeping about them. Making his way towards them and ascending upwards keeping his wings folded against his sides at all times.
The breathing in such a place was becoming a tad tougher for him to manage, a few coughs escaping his maw with the dense smoke in the upstairs area looming placing a paw over his muzzle to try to block some of it out.
Even dragons could struggle against it but nowhere near as bad as other creatures.
But smoke from flames this large can affect such mighty creatures also even with a flame of your own.
He wasn't going to let that stop him though as he reached the top, he could see two room ahead of him with small archways, trekking into the first one he found the same as downstairs completely burnt up and no sign of any creatures.
A quick double check was enough for him before slipping out of the room, he could hear creaks and the sounds of tears all around him.
Looking down at the flooring he could hear it also, this all meant one thing to him, the house wasn't going to hold together for much longer prompted him to turn towards the other room alight with fire also.
"HELLO…IS ANYONE HERE?"
Calling out hoping to get a response, even that was a long shot at working. the overwhelming whistling of the fires drowned out most other sounds, carefully stepping into the other room, he looked around to see the same as he did in the other room.
Completely empty with everything burning down; the bed made of fabric and straw was barely recognisable to him nearly completely eviscerated, checking over the room he couldn't see anything or anyone.
Being nowhere else in the building, it was safe to conclude that no one was in the building, and perfect for him as he could get out now before it becomes even more difficult for him.
Striving out of the room he looked to his right with a small hallway with a window a much quicker escape route for him.
A combustion of flame exploded to his left knocking him into the wall dropping down to the floor on his side, he could hear the ringing in his head with his eye pupils narrowed in and his vision blurred up, in a dazed state from the sudden blast with specks of tiny flame and ash dropping on him.
Stinging could be felt on scales and his breathing heavily exclaiming out large breathes, it was a struggle for him to think straight, but he had to gather himself before he could get in more serious danger.
Shuffling his legs and getting his footing back he slowly lifted himself up and shaked his head trying to get the funny feeling out of him.
Turning towards the mirror again he begun to move himself though not fully coordinated in his movement at first.
His breathing still heavy with more coughing building up as he breathed in the smoke as well, his pupils' regaining themselves he charged with his body in perfect sync. Taking a huge leap onto his front legs before jetting himself smashing through the window straight out into the street.
Pyrus and Delacon spotting him straight away as the purple dragon unfurled his wings as he landed down on the street with the sound of thumb crashing down skidding his claws, the breath of fresh air was a pleasing feeling to him.
"Spyro are you okay?"
He heard Pyrus call out behind him, taking a quick moment to gather himself together standing up straight on all four, turning around to respond to the electric dragon.
"Yes, Pyrus I'm fine…I couldn't find anyone in there, it's empty"
"Well that's something at least, good work Spyro"
The purple dragon nodded back responding. Just on cue the moles with the cart returned back this time loaded up with buckets filled with water, plenty and hopefully enough to get the job done on putting out the flames.
"Were loaded up, ready to start getting these fires doused"
"Good work, now everyone gets to work and extinguish these flames"
The captain ordered out to everyone, two guards Pyrus had sent earlier to get the water had returned too flying up with buckets of water in each front paw.
Hovering themselves over the building tilted and forced the liquid to rain over the roof, sizzling noises could be heard crackling throughout, steam shooting up off the roof with the water raging down the roof and dripping down the sides.
Spyro turned and grabbed a bucket and flew himself over to the house, taking to the wall throwing the water all over splashing off and killing flames coming out the cracks in the walls.
Already he could see the effect just a few buckets were having, he turned back to the cart spotting Cynder grabbing a bucket with her right paw and turning to him.
"You ok Spyro?"
"Yeah, especially with this water to make this job much easier."
A smile erupting on the dragoness snout, flying and spraying more water over the house, Steam pilling off all over and the flames already having dying from around the outside, all that would be left was to finish the inferno in doors soon at this rate.
It would seem the worst was over now and even better it appeared to be with no casualties or serious injuries, Spyro hadn't spot any bodies while he was in the burning house.
Despite the complaining of the mole earlier It wasn't as serious as it would have first appeared, the other dragon's and moles collecting water buckets and spraying water all over the smelting building and into some of the windows to make a start on the inside.
But everyone shouldn't relax yet until it was truly over, these infernos could have gotten worse at any point and spread further, so it was lucky they responded so quick to get it under control fast.
All of a sudden Spyro spotted to his right down the street an illuminating brightness blinding to his vision, bringing his wing upwards to try blocking it out, following the sound, an echo of an explosion.
Catching everyone's attention and bringing pause to their actions. It wasn't far from where they stood and already, they could see smoke rising up into the sky quick.
"Another one?"
Pyrus spotting this had to react quickly, while they were getting this situation under control, they need to ensure they keep it that way.
They still have yet to discover what had caused the outbreaks of the fire and with another one potentially to contend with it would be a question that would need answering.
"Talex, Delacon we can finish this up, get over and find out what's happened."
"Were on its sir."
The two dragons took flight heading towards the site of the second explosion, they would need to be quick to keep everything under control before it all could spiral into chaos "Pyrus sir, Cynder and I will head over there too"
"Yes, I'll leave that one to you four, with the water wall active you shouldn't have much trouble keeping the flames in check. Make sure any creatures in the area are kept safe first before tackling whatever has happened."
The purple dragon nodding to the electric dragon before turning his gaze at Cynder who nodded at him too. The pair moved away and headed themselves towards the site of the second occurrence.
Fortunately, there were enough of them left behind to see that situation to the end before there was no telling what had befallen at the next place or what even had caused these disaster, one thing was for sure, they would need to find out soon.
And there we have it. Finally, I got this one out of the way. Now we can get to the more exciting part. I found this one pretty difficult to word together. Just how I was gonna make this situation seem dangerous to these powerful beings. Just improvising I guess but you always find these ways.
Anyway, all I have made a decision to this story I think you will approve of. This will no longer be a prelude to the main story. I am bringing it forward into a full story. I will adjust the title when the next chapter is done.
Btw if anyone has any questions feel free to just drop it in the reviews and I will answer but please keep them either to myself or strictly story related otherwise message me directly.
Thanks a lot guys and I will see you next time.
