It was in the darkness that Null realized he was alone.

Oh, yes, he could most definitely count the shadow apes chasing him as company, or the insects crawling through the stones, but there were no other people around. No Spyro watching him carefully. No Teneris offering apologies. No Apex to share a laugh with. Just… Null. Alone. For the first time in a long time.

Krawl had given him brief periods unwatched, but never very long. Just long enough for him to activate the beacon. This was, truly, the first time he'd be left to his own devices for an extended period.

Of course, he'd rather it be when he wasn't in imminent peril, but whatever.

He was pretty sure the apes were falling behind. Their wheezing and groaning dwindled into the distance. That didn't mean he was safe. Far from it. He was in a narrow tunnel with only one direction to go. A tunnel that had been carved recently, and had no lighting whatsoever. He had no idea where he was going, what was down here, or why the tunnel was here in the first place. He couldn't even see! All he had to go off of was his sense of balance and carefully brushing one wingtip against a wall.

Seriously, who dug a tunnel through an ancient ruin and then blocked any holes with magic strong enough to withstand an assault from Spyro? What possible reason could they have for doing this? What benefit did a tunnel under Warfang-

Actually, he had an idea, but he was pretty sure it wasn't right. He was dead, right? That's what Spyro and Cynder said, and they wouldn't lie about something like that. He was dead. Gone. No more. Caput.

Malefor was dead.

…Right?

He didn't want to think about it anymore.

Something else… something else…

The stonework for the tunnel was strange. Not carved or constructed, even though it would have to have been due to how recently it was made. It was a lot closer to the natural stone of the spirit gem cave back home. That meant earth magic. Which meant orcs. Or maybe a rock troll. Rock troll was a lot scarier. He couldn't pierce the stone exterior of a creature like that. The clay and mud of an orc might even be too much.

But the apes? They were undead, made of shadows and magic. Insubstantial creatures. They wouldn't even be able to touch him without collapsing. That would be easy.

He saw a light in the distance, barely more than a hint of light.

Well, nowhere to go but forwards.

Null approached the dim glow. The tunnel widened out into a room. A proper, constructed room. With a door, and a glowing orb on the ceiling. Counters and collapsed pillars cast every corner of the room into shadow. But it was a massive improvement over the tunnel. He could see here. And there weren't any shadow apes chasing him.

The shadows lengthened, and a pair of luminous white points appeared within. A grin of white light spread across a formless face. Spindly arms reached from the corner of the room, jagged claws extending towards Null. The smell of rot permeated the air.

Actually, this might be worse.

Null lashed out at the shadowy claws, and they dissolved. The monster's grin immediately inverted as the remainder of its arms disappeared. Null lunged at the creature, only for it to dip into darkness and vanish.

A rock hit him in the back of the head. Not a large one, but fairly sizable. Enough to sting. He whirled to see that the creature had emerged from another shadow, one of its claws reaching out to snag a much larger chunk of stone. It had teleported, or something. Annoying. And now it was throwing things at him. So it wasn't entirely stupid.

Intelligent creature, probably undead based on the smell and physical composition. Well, lack of physical composition. It could teleport, and was made of shadow. A wraith, then. A powerful undead created by shamanic ritual for the express purpose of guarding a location, usually a graveyard. Not that the things followed instructions. They were capable of independent thought, and that always meant a chance of violating their instructions. This one, though, was doing as ordered by defending this end of the tunnel. Wraiths also infamously had a life-stealing touch. Too bad for this one, then, that it was fighting him.

He jumped aside to avoid another rock and lunged again. Again it disappeared into the shadows before emerging in another corner.

It was almost a stalemate, except that it could keep throwing things at him and repositioning until the shadow apes caught up. And whatever else was in that tunnel. Probably orcs. He needed to think.

Well, it was an undead. A construct of magic, holding together whatever remained of a soul. He just had to touch it to unravel its form. But that was the hard part, wasn't it? It could teleport, and he couldn't. A tailblade throw would probably miss, and then he'd never recover it from the shadows. Unless he hit. He had to hit.

He ducked under another rock, then picked up his own to throw. As soon as it left his hand, he slipped the goggles on.

The room was cast into fantastic colors, but most of them were overwhelmed with black. Shadow magic curled around everything, but especially the wraith. It was the nexus, the centerpoint of the darkness. It all flowed from a single point behind that glowing grin. Like an overgrown weed, its roots winding around the rest of the garden. A tendril of shadow mana snaked across the room, faster than anything Null had ever seen, and the wraith was gone.

Ah, so that's how it worked.

Null ducked his head to avoid another throw. He couldn't afford to try and walk around with the goggles on, he'd just wind up disorienting himself and getting brained by a chunk of pillar. But the wraith liked to go in diagonals, so…

Null flicked his tail, flinging his tailblade at the wraith. At the same time he searched out the snaking tendril of shadow magic and slammed his claws down on it. The impact with the stone stung, vibrations going all the way up his leg, but it was worth it. The tendril of magic severed at his touch, causing the end to dissolve into nothing. He glanced at the wraith to see the fruits of his labor.

The wraith must not have been expecting its teleportation spell to fail, because Null's tailblade landed dead center in its core. The magic composing the creature decayed rapidly, falling apart at the edges as its energy was drained into Null. It was only a few brief moments before there was nothing left of the wraith, the shadow magic wrapping around the room dissolving.

When Null pushed the goggles off his eyes, he saw what the magical core of the wraith had actually been. A withered, decayed heart, with bands of lead wrapped around it. His tailblade had pierced its outer layer and was embedded in the rotten flesh.

Gross.

Null retrieved his tailblade and made his way out of the room. He could hear the apes approaching, and did not want to be there when they arrived.

Outside the door was a chasm, with narrow paths going either direction. Buildings constructed into the walls of the chasm stretched up and down as far as he could see. The roof was shrouded in darkness, while the bottom of the chasm was too far to see. There were orbs of light on metal posts, though only about one in five actually worked. Warfang truly was built on top of Warfang.

He could attempt to fly up to a higher level, if he wanted. But something about flying out over the chasm made him uneasy. He thought he could see things moving down there, in the darkness. Probably just a trick his eyes were playing on him, but… no. That was a no-go from him.

Null picked a direction and started walking.

For being the ruins of an ancient city, this place was disturbingly populated. He had to duck into a crevice more than once in order to avoid being noticed by roving bands of shadow apes. When he wanted to hide, they never even noticed him. The apes weren't that scary, honestly. Yeah they were freaky and smelled like death, but they weren't even able to hurt him. He tested this on a lone shadow ape, and only one swipe of his claws caused the creature to fall apart into a pile of crumbling bones. One touch, and that was it.

For his whole life, Null had thought he was cursed with uselessness. Everything he had tried just… fell apart. It was only thanks to Apex that he had made it to Warfang, and only thanks to Apex that he had any sense of self-worth. He was weak, with no magic to make up for that physical weakness. All he had were his wits and his dedication to learning everything he could.

But now? Now that he knew what he could do? Null felt powerful. Now he wasn't just the scrawny dragon who read every book in the school library three times. Now he was able to hide from anything, to end a spell with a touch. Sure, he'd always been able to do those things, but knowing about them made the difference. Now he could use them, instead of having those abilities be incidental.

In the darkness beneath Warfang, Null grinned to himself.

He wasn't much faster than the apes and orcs, and he most certainly wasn't stronger. He had next to no combat skills. He couldn't overwhelm them with magical power. But he didn't need to do any of that when one well-placed slash could down anything with ease, and nothing could see him.

There was just so much down here to look at, too. When there was light, anyway. Above had some oddities, but down here, things got even weirder. One building had a door that was a portal back out of the house, making it little more than a fancy mirror. The path at one point twisted onto the wall of the chasm, and Null watched apes move seamlessly from walking on the ground to walking on the wall. He himself was unable to follow suit due to his magic immunity. One particular branch of the path extended into infinity when he looked at it from afar, the road hovering in a void as it stretched forever.

Null avoided that one.

The most interesting thing he found was a mosaic set into the wall, depicting what he could only assume was once an important part of dragon history.

The first mosaic depicted a dragon, one Null found eerily familiar. The dragon in the mural had dark green, almost black scales and vibrant red eyes, with a curved blade on its tail and a ridge of white on the front edge of its wings. The dragon was surrounded by four others, much larger than it was. The others were expelling their breath weapons, fire, ice, lightning, and earth energy all clouding around the dark green dragon. The dark green dragon was clearly injured, one wing dangling and one leg held to its chest.

The next mosaic depicted the same dark green dragon, healthy. Four dragon skeletons surrounded it, each with the same curved blade embedded in their skulls.

That was concerning.

The third mosaic depicted the dark green dragon marching through a forest. Ahead of the dragon, the forest was green and vibrant. Behind it, every tree was dead and leaf-less. The grass was blackened and dead. Rotting birds and rodents littered its path. Frost formed on its footsteps, distinguished by a lighter color of gray. Dragons with a skull brand followed the green dragon's path, walking proudly. But even they were falling apart, their scales missing in places and wings drooping. One was laying on the ground, withered to nothing but skin and bones but still smiling.

Or perhaps its skin had withered so much that its teeth were permanently bared. It was hard to tell with the lack of detail.

The fourth mosaic depicted a dragon to challenge the dark green dragon. The newcomer had light blue scales, with crystalline growths along their shoulders and joints and a larger crystal on the end of their tail. They were slender, and yet much larger than the dark green dragon regardless. Both dragons were locked in fighting poses. Around the feet of the dark green dragon the world was gray, but the area around the light blue dragon was vibrant.

The fifth part of the story was the simplest. It depicted only a giant rainbow crystal, with two small shapes floating inside. The shapes were too small and simple to make out details, but the colors told the whole story. One was light blue, and the other was dark green.

There were plaques beneath every mosaic, but they were scratched and worn beyond repair. The last one, though, was legible. And, more importantly, written in draconic characters.

The Prison of End and Krona

End… and Krona. Based on the imagery, End would be the dark green dragon. The one who killed everything around them. Some kind of rot dragon? Null had heard there were dragons with strange elements, that could very well be one. Right? And End killed what Null could only assume were the Guardians of that time, healing in the process. Did End steal the life from others to heal? That seemed to be the implication. Krona had been the only dragon to stand against End, and must have used their powers to seal End in crystal.

That third part was probably the part that worried him the most. There were dragons that had followed this creature of destruction, even as it killed them. Why would anyone do that? Out of some misguided belief they would be excluded from the destruction? Clearly not, if they were suffering the consequences so directly. Maybe it was just a metaphor for how assisting a destructive force did not offer immunity to it. Or maybe not.

Actually, no. He was lying to himself. The most worrying part was that End looked like him. Or more accurately, he looked like End. But Null had no magic, no rot-inducing abilities. He was utterly magicless, for better or worse. …Maybe better, if the alternative was being this.

He didn't feel too great about how things were going anymore.

Null kept walking.

Eventually, after what felt like hours of walking, Null came to a staircase upwards. He ascended quickly, finding himself in a grand hall. It was grandiose and overdecorated with tarnished gold and intricate carvings, and more worryingly it was full of orcs and shadow apes.

Orcs were earth elementals, one of the most basic and common types. Made of detritus and mud and clay. Dead roots, old bones, loose stones, and anything else in the soil were combined and shaped into a bipedal form. Some held axes, others carried crossbows, some had swords or other weapons integrated into their bodies. One held an enormous mace in one hand and a shield in the other, its body covered in a protective layer of twisted roots. That one seemed like some sort of leader, as the others followed it in unison. The apes, on the other hand, seemed not to care about any sort of orc hierarchy, moving in shambling packs as they all crossed the hall.

Null crept into a corner, hiding behind a pillar. If he was caught, he'd be cornered easily. But he didn't intend to get caught. He eyed the orcs as they slowly moved towards his side of the room.

They were searching for something. He could tell that much from how they continually looked about. The glowing orbs that made up their eyes were inscrutable, but the way their heads moved implied they were trying to find something.

What could orcs want? They were usually mindless things, standing stock still in the position they had when Malefor had died. They didn't have wills of their-

After a few minutes, the leader of the orcs stopped. It reached up to its chest with its shield arm, and the wood parted. From within, a dark purple crystal emerged to hover above its gnarled hand. A pair of yellow lights emerged from within the crystal, hovering upwards to shape themselves into a pair of slit-pupiled eyes in an indistinct face made of purple light. Just seeing them made his legs shake. He didn't quite know why, but they horrified him.

There was the answer. This was bad.

The yellow eyes looked around, passing over Null in their sweep of the room. Then they stopped, and began to look at the pillar Null was hiding behind.

Only one shot. He had to make it count.

Null flicked his tailblade at the gem, and there was the ever so faint sound of bone striking crystal. His tailblade careened off to one side, lost under some debris, but the desired effect was achieved. The orc with the mace stiffened, the crystal floating above its hand losing all color. The purple projection disappeared instantly. A moment passed, and the orc fell apart.

Then all hell broke loose.

Orcs rushed Null, and he lashed out with his claws. He managed to catch one across the chest, his claws catching for a moment on something hard. That one fell apart immediately, scattering clay and rocks across the other orcs.

That gave them some pause, and the orcs began to circle instead of just rushing him. One of them began to load a crossbow, and Null knew he had to move quickly to stop it from just shooting him where he stood.

Null took off, flapping his wings a few times to gain height before he grabbed onto the pillar. It gave him cover from the crossbow orcs, but it wouldn't help for long.

In fact, it wouldn't help for more than a few seconds, as the orcs at the bottom began scaling the stone pillar. Their hands and feet passed through the stone like it was nothing on the way in, then held firm while they pulled themselves up. He kicked one in the head, losing a claw in the process as it snagged in the gnarled roots that made up the orc's armor but not managing to dislodge the elemental.

This wasn't working. He didn't have the skill or strength to fight multiple orcs at once. The apes, sure. They couldn't touch him without immediately perishing. But orcs worked differently.

Null flew to the next pillar, tucking in his wings partway through to minimize his size and dodge a crossbow bolt. He clung to the pillar, then repeated the process immediately.

The orcs had difficulty aiming at him, it seemed. He didn't set off their tremor sense, and their eyes had difficulty focusing on him. That didn't make stray bolts any less dangerous, but it did give him a slight edge. Enough that he made it to the other end of the hall without getting shot.

The first creatures to reach him there were shadow apes, which he dispatched easily. Just a touch, that's all it took. When the orcs started closing the distance, he ran towards the door.

He made it to the exit just as a far larger threat made itself known. Enormous mossy stone limbs pushed through the doorframe with minimal effort, and a pair of red eyes looked at him from under a heavy brow. The rock troll roared at him, swinging at Null with one of its cumbersome limbs.

Null only just managed to dodge, feeling the rock fragments from the missed attack bounce off of his scales. He couldn't kill a rock troll. Few things could. The only time Apex had ever killed one had been because the troll was badly damaged, its heart crystal exposed. This one was intact, with no opening to access the source of the troll's lifeforce. It filled the doorframe, keeping Null from slipping past.

Well. Spyro had said this was a bad idea, and he'd been right.

Null flew backwards to stay out of the troll's reach. He was out of options. He couldn't run forever, he couldn't fight the troll, and he couldn't fight this many orcs.

That's when something… weird happened.

He only just saw it out of the corner of his eye, but he knew he saw it. The ceiling darkened in one corner, like shadows were seeping through. The black spot grew larger and larger, subsuming the stone as it did. Was it another wraith? Something worse? Either way, he was in danger.

Two shapes emerged from the shadow, phasing through stone to enter the hall. The first was large, lithe, and athletic, bladed on the tail and the wings and composed of shadows. The second was immediately recognizable.

Apex was here. Apex was here and he was flying towards Null at rapid speeds.

Apex shot past him to slam into the troll, a wall of wind following him to knock the troll a couple steps backwards. But like with the revenant, its stony exterior was immune to wind magic.

Black tendrils began to snake across Apex's scales as he reared back. The wind dragon's mouth opened and electricity crackled between his teeth. Blast after blast of lightning slammed into the troll at point-blank range, shearing through stone and igniting moss. Apex didn't let up until the troll was nothing but a pile of rubble, lightning crackling over the stones.

The other dragon was just as deadly, spearing orcs and ripping them to shreds with invisible blades. Her tail decapitated a shadow ape at the same time she spewed acid on a pair of crossbow-orcs, ending all three at the same time. Cynder - as Null quickly figured - took out every single orc and ape in moments, leaving the room full of old roots, crumbling bone, and clay.

And then Null landed from his dodge, blinking in shock at the scene before him.

Cynder shook herself, casting off the shadows before serenely walking over to Null. She looked down at him with concern on her face. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Null nodded, staring into space. "Yeah, I'm unharmed."

Cynder looked over at Apex, who looked like he was back to normal. But his claws were crackling with lightning, arcing across his scales and anchoring in the ground around him. Apex looked at Cynder with a frown. "I, uh, don't know how that happened."

"That's okay. We'll talk about it later." Cynder smiled briefly, then a serious expression came over her face as she looked back at Null. "How did you wind up down here?"

"I fell through the floor, and then there were apes, and a wraith, and…" Null swallowed, furrowing his brow. "How'd you know I was here?"

"Apex had a vision."

"But… I'm not supposed to be visible to magical sight."

There was a moment of silence as Cynder seemed to process that, then she shook her head. "Not important right now. You said you fell through the floor?"

"There was a purple barrier replacing part of the floor, and it was disguised by an illusion." Null took a deep breath. "The orc leader, he, he pulled out his heart crystal and there was… there were these eyes." He looked up at Cynder, wide-eyed. "Cynder, what does that mean? Those horrible yellow eyes…"

Cynder looked scared. Genuinely afraid. That was enough to terrify Null. She took a shuddering breath, looking down at the destroyed orcs. One of their heart crystals had been left intact, crackling with dark magic. She gave her answer after a moment.

"It means Malefor's back."

A/N:

It's Warfang all the way down.