Act 1, Chapter 6
Several hours ago, in the Mountains of Kilon...
It was early in the morning. Denzel slowly woke up and looked around. He found himself curled up next to Tyrrany, the White dragoness's wing draped over him, just like it always is. They Purple hatchling slowly crawled out from under Tyrrany's wing, careful not to disturb his mother.
Denzel quietly snuck over to the mouth of the cave, sat down at the edge, and looked out at the mountain range.
The cave opened up high in a mountain side, over a small, barren valley. Big brown mountains rose up all around the area. The sky was a pretty light blue, and a few fluffy white clouds flew about on their way.
The Purple hatchling had started making a habit out of looking out at this view in the morning, before his mommy woke up. Sometimes, Denzel would think about the many things that she taught him.
A few months ago, Denzel found out that he and his mommy are creatures called "Dragons", which are a mighty and proud race. He learned that there were lots of dragons that lived allover the world, and lots of them were even bigger than his mommy, which scared him a little. When Denzel asked why they weren't living with other dragons, she wouldn't tell him everything. The White dragoness only said that she did something bad, and now the bigger dragons are mad at her for it, so she had to hide. Denzel didn't believe that his mommy could ever do anything bad: after all, she was such a nice dragon, and a good mommy.
"Maybe the bigger dragons are just being mean to Mommy." He reassured himself.
After watching the pretty scenery for a little while longer, Denzel heard something strange. A low grumbling sound came from the Purple hatchling's belly.
"I guess I'm hungry." He realized. "I better go tell Mommy."
The Purple hatchling turned around and quietly walked over to the sleeping White dragoness. He sat down by her side, reached up with a forepaw, and started poking her gently.
"Mommy?" Denzel asked, trying to get her attention. "Mooooommy?"
At first, Tyrrany only continued sleeping. But after a short while, she mumbled a bit, slowly waking up.
"Denzel?"
"Mommy, wake up!" The Purple hatchling said, poking harder. Tyrrany opened her eyes and glanced at her hatchling.
"What is it, Denzel?" She asked, still half-asleep.
"I'm hungry, Mommy." He answered. Tyrrany sighed.
"Alright." She said. "Just give me a moment, little one."
Denzel stepped back as Tyrrany got up onto her feet, yawning. After stretching for a short while, the White dragoness turned to walk towards the front of the cave, her Purple hatchling trotting along after her. Tyrrany came to a stop at the mouth of the cave, and sat on her haunches.
"Okay, climb up." She instructed Denzel.
Tyrrany lean fowards as the Purple hatchling climbed onto her back and up to her neck. Denzel then folded his wings around his mother's lower neck and locked his two spike wingblades together. He then rested his forepaws on Tyrrany's shoulders as the White dragoness got back onto all fours and prepared for flight.
Because Denzel was only a small hatchling, he didn't know how to fly, or even glide. So, whenever she had to bring him with her somewhere, the White dragoness carried him on her back.
Tyrrany and Denzel spent a good while flying to the north. They were heading towards their usual hunting spot. It was a large valley to the north of the cave they were staying in.
As they flew, Denzel started talking to Tyrrany.
"Mommy?" he asked.
"Yes, little one?" Tyrrany replied.
"Can I try hunting with you today?" The White dragoness chuckled.
"Hmmm.." Tyrrany pretended to think about it for a moment. "Well, you are starting to get big enough..."
"Yeah?" Denzel asked, getting excited.
"But, then again, you might not be ready to learn how..." The Purple hatchling frowned.
"Aww.."
After keeping her son in suspense for long enough, Tyrrany smiled and glanced behind to look at him.
"Sure, I'll teach you how to hunt." Denzel's eyes beamed.
"Thank you, Mommy!" He exclaimed, hugging the White dragoness's neck tightly.
"Careful, dear." Tyrrany replied. "Don't choke me."
Surprised, Denzel let loosened his grip.
"Sorry, Mommy." Tyrrany chuckled.
"It's alright, little one."
After flying through the mountain range for a while, the two dragons finally came to the valley.
The valley was surrounded on all sides by several high mountain sides, except for a few narrow passes in a few of the mountains that led in and out of the valley. A large river ran throught the valley from the northeast side to the southeast. Quite a number of creatures lived in the valley, such as mountain goats, field mice, Lynxes, among other species. No other dragons ever came here, so it was a perfect spot to feed in secret.
Tyrrany came to a landing in the middle of the Valley, by a pair of trees. As Denzel climbed down from his mother's back, he spotted a few Mountain Goats grazing across the way. Immediately, he got excited.
"I wanna hunt one of those!" He shouted. The purple hatchling was about to run off after them, but Tyrrany stopped him with a forepaw.
"I don't want you going after those, Denzel." She said sternly.
"How come, Mommy?" He asked.
"You're still much too small for bigger game." She replied. "For now, you should prey on field mice. They're much easier for young dragons to catch. Okay, dear?"
"Okay.." Denzel said sadly.
...
Tyrrany led Denzel over to a spot in the valley that some field mice inhabited. The White dragoness taught her son how to stay quiet to sneak up on his prey, how to instantly jump to top running speed to outrun it, and how to snap a small creature's neck with his talons and teeth. At first, Denzel had a little trouble catching the mice, which made Tyrrany giggle. After a few more failed tries, the hatchling got frustrated.
"I can't do it!" He yelled. "They're too fast."
"Don't give up, Denzel." Tyrrany replied. "Just keep trying. You'll get it right soon."
"If you say so, Mommy."
Denzel continued trying, but still had some trouble. Tyrrany couldn't help but give the little guy some aid. To keep the mice from hiding underground, the White dragoness used her Fauna element to persuade the mice to stay above ground and in the same general area. She didn't make them stand still, though: She wanted her hatchling to catch one by himself.
And then, after several tries, Denzel finally managed to catch a few of the mice. He managed to grab ahold of three of them by their tales with his forepaws, reach down with his head, and snap their necks with his jaws, just like Tyrrany taught him. He then picked up the mice in his mouth, trotted triumphantly back to his mother, and placed them down before her.
"Look, Mommy!" He exclaimed happily. "I finally did it!" Tyrrany smiled down at him.
"Good for you, dear." She replied.
Tyrrany and Denzel returned to their spot by the trees, the Purple hatchling carrying his meal in his jaws. When they came to a stop, Denzel went to lay down under the shade of one of the trees. He proceeded to eat his mice, while Tyrrany turned towards where the goats were.
"Stay here, Denzel." She instructed. "I'll be right back in about a minute, okay?"
"Mesh Mumee." Denzel said with a mouthful of food. His mother sighed.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, dear." She scolded. Denzel gulped to clear his mouth.
"Sorry." He responded.
Tyrrany turned and flew towards the goats. In the meantime, Denzel finished his meal and relaxed in the shade of the tree. The Purple hatchling shut his eyes and listened to the sound of the world around him.
He could hear the sound of wind blowing across the sky. Many different kinds of animals wandered about their way across the valley. Birds cawed in the distance. The river water flowed peacefully through its banks. Loud monsters shrieked in the sky..
Loud monsters shrieked in the sky?
Immediately, Denzel opened his eyes and looked around, curious. He wandered a short distance out of the shade and looked up at the sky. When he saw the source of the noise, he became confused.
High up in the sky, a bunch of black...things flew across from one end of the sky over the valley to the other. There was a massive number of them, and they seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere.
"Mommy?" He exclaimed.
Tyrrany had just killed one of the mountain goats when Denzel called her. She grabbed the goat's limp body and carried it with her as she flew over to her son.
"What is it, Denzel?" She asked. The Purple looked up and pointed a talon at the black things.
"Mommy, what are those?" He asked.
When Tyrrany saw what he pointed out, she gasped in shock, dropping the goat in the process. She immediately grabbed her son and flew into the shade of the trees, confusing the hatchling.
"What's wrong, Mommy?" Denzel asked.
"Shhh!" She quickly whispered, putting a talon on the hatchling's mouth, confusing him even more. "Don't make a sound."
Tyrrany then stuck her head out a little so she could watch the black creatures fly across the sky. At first, she had worry on her face, but she seemed to calm down when the black creatures continued on their way. She breathed a sigh of relief.
But then, several of the creatures suddenly dove right into the valley, heading straight for the trees in the center of the valley. Alarmed, Tyrrany immediately sat Denzel down and, using her Earth element, summoned walls of rock out of the ground to surround the hatchling, including the top. She left top half of the front side exposed, so that Denzel could get plenty of air.
"What are you doing, Mommy?" he asked, confused.
"Just stay quiet, Denzel." She told him, frantic. "Mommy has to fight some bad monsters."
Tyrrany then turned around suddenly and started snarling at the approaching creatures, charging her magical energy.
And then, when they got too close for comfort, the Whtie dragoness attacked.
...
Malefor led his swarm of Crepsculi across the Mountains of Kilon. He had arrived several hours ago, and was making his way towards the location of the base of operations of a Gem-mining company that Bergan had told him about. It sounded like a good place to gather together a massive amount of Gems in a short amount of time. All Malefor would have to do was eliminate a dragon named Angela, and the business would fall.
In the meantime, as the Great Purple dragon made his way there, he sent Crepsculi to invade several dragon settlements that he happened to see were built into the Mountain range. Most of the time, the Crepsculi handled their job fairly well on their own, and they came in an almost unlimited supply. However, on occasion, Malefor had to step in himself to eliminate heavy resistance. Once he was done, and the resistance's lives and homes were left in ruins, the Great Purple dragon continued on his way.
As time went on, Malefor began thinking about the beings that would no doubt be his greatest opposition.
At the top of the list was Bergan, or course, followed by Runileon, and then the other "Victiumirti", as Bergan called them. They shared the same goal as Malefor: The Great Cleansing. However, Bergan claimed that they were also going to be opening a gateway for "their Lord and Master" to step onto the dying world to rebuild it in its own image: Some great being called "The Nothing".
"Whether or not this 'Nothing' exists," Malefor thought out loud, "I refuse to stand aside for some other creature to steal my glory. Once the world breaks to pieces, I will dispose of Bergan and those other fools."
Next on the list were those two wretched pieces of filth who defeated Malefor before: Spyro and Cynder. Malefor certainly had quite a long history with those two. And they would no doubt try to stop him again. And to make matters even more irritating, they were aided by that Aged Black dragon, Urobos. He wasn't as powerful as either Spyro or Cynder, but according to what Runileon said of him, Urobos was still a force to be reckoned with.
"He will have to be dealt with swiftly."
The next dragon on the list would probably have placed much higher, were it not for the fact that he was alone, while the others worked together: The young dragon Rune.
Once upon a time, Malefor had hoped to make the young black dragon his pawn, just like he did to Cynder. However, the Great Purple dragon never expected to have the whelpling turn on him and use him as a power source. And now, that same dragon was running rampant.
Malefor shook with rage. Were it not for Runileon's curse, then Rune would have been made the Great Purple dragon's pawn. Then again, it was Malefor's own ignorance of the way the resurrection ritual works that resulted in him losing almost all of his power to Rune. Perhaps both Malefor AND Runileon are responsible for the way Rune is now.
"Whatever the case," Malefor said, "If I don't kill that boy soon, he could ruin everyone's plans: Mine, Spyro's, and even Bergan's. I must find him immediately. But..." Malefor frowned. "..Where could he be?"
For a long while, Malefor continued on his way, directly in the middle of his large army. He started approaching a large Valley in the Mountain range. At first, he paid it no mind. After all, it was presumably just an empty valley. But then, Malefor spotted something odd.
About a dozen or so Crepsculi suddenly dive bombed into the Valley. Malefor cocked an eyebrow.
"Now, what's gotten into them?" He wondered.
So, Malefor picked up the pace to see what the fuss was about. As he did this, more and more Crepsculi started pouring into the valley. The Great Purple dragon would have stopped them, had curiosity not gotten the better of him.
Malefor came to a landing at the southern edge of the Mountain walls around the valley and looked into it, trying to spot what had caught the Crepsculi's interest. When he spotted it, Malefor's eyes lit up with surprise.
In the center of the valley, was a young White dragon. Whoever it was, they were fighting back against the invading black beasts with a ferocity Malefor had rarely seen in other dragons. The White dragon was attacking with a barrage of various elemental strikes, going between Fire, Earth, Lightning, Wind, Ice, and several others at an alarming rate.
Malefor didn't know whether or not this dragon was Rune. Either way, he couldn't have this stranged destroy too many of his Crepsculi. So, the Great Purple dragon leapt into the air and dove for the White dragon.
As Malefor got closer, he saw that it wasn't Rune who was killing the Crepsculi. No, this White dragon was female, with black hair and four horns.
"Interesting.." He said to himself.
Malefor came to a hard landing just a short distance from the dragoness, who was still in the middle of killing the attacking Crepsculi. As Malefor walked fowards towards them, the Crepsculi stopped attacking and backed away from the dragoness. At first, she was confused, but when she saw Malefor approaching, she immediately understood, and prepared to attack him, snarling. Malefor could have sworn he had seen this dragoness before somewhere. It was right on the tip of his tongue...
And then, he looked into the dragoness's eyes. Blood red eyes. Bergan's eyes. Immediately, Malefor recalled who she was.
"Ah, you must Bergan's daughter, Tyrrany." Malefor said, coming to a stop before her. "Your father has told me quite a lot about you." The White dragoness snarled at the Great Purple dragon.
"You must be Malefor.." She sneered.
"And how did you come to that conclusion so soon?" He asked.
"You have the same eyes as my brother did when he..transformed." Malefor chuckled.
"You are a smart girl, just like your father claimed you are." Tyrrany growled
"That man can rot in the Underworld for what he did to me!" She bellowed. "And YOU can rot for what you did to Rune!"
"Ah, you must be referring to how Bergan tricked you into flying into a frenzy and murdering your dear mother." Malefor replied, ignoring the matter about Rune. "Bergan has explained all of his deeds to me and the other Victiumirti." He started walking closer to Tyrrany, the White dragoness backing up to the trees behind her.
"I must say, Tyrrany, that I completely understand if you wish to exact vengeance on your father. There are some deeds that even I find deplorable."
"Is that a fact?" Tyrrany asked sarcastically. Malefor ignored her tone.
"Because of your father, you have become an even greater outcast among the dragon race than you were as you came of age. Now, the whole world sees you as the daughter of the man who is bringing the world to it's end, and also the one who murdered the Queen of the Dark dragon race. Both Light and Darkness want you dead."
Tyrrany sneered.
"What do you care?" She demanded. "You're HELPING him bring the world to its end!"
"Correct. But, I and a few of the other Victiumirti are planning to replace this cold, oppressive world with a better one. A world with dragons that don't try to slaughter each other based on appearance or alignment. And we aren't going to kill every last dragon that we find: If any dragons bow down and swear their alegiance to us, they will be spared.." Malefor pointed a talon at Tyrrany, causing the girl to flinch. "..you may be included among their number, if you're willing to comply."
"..You want me to swear loyalty to Bergan and the rest of his goons?" Tyrrany snapped. "FAT CHANCE! I'd rather cut deep gashes allover my body and go jump in a massive pile of salt and barbwire!"
"I'm not asking you to swear fealty to Bergan: I'm asking you to swear fealty to me." The White dragoness cocked an eyebrow.
"You?"
"I do not believe that Bergan deserves to live to see the new age. YOU, on the other hand, are much more worthy. If you swear to obey me, then I shall do two things for you in return. First, I will give you the power needed to strike down anyone who attempts to kill you for being Bergan's daughter. And Second, I shall provide you with the opportunity to get revenge on Bergan for doing the things he's done. What say you, Tyrrany."
Tyrrany glared straight into Malefor's eyes. The dragoness's gaze was filled with animosity.
"I don't need your charity, or anyone else's." She said coldly. "I'll get my revenge on that man on my own. Go fuck yourself, Malefor."
The Great Purple dragon glared at the White dragoness.
"What?" He asked, incredulously and angered.
"And by the way," She added, "My name is HOPE!"
Malefor snarled.
"You think you can just spit in my face?" He bellowed. "After I gave you the opportunity of a lifetime and asked for little to nothing?"
"You promises are empty." The White dragoness responded. "You may have been able to fool Rune in the past, but not me."
Malefor snarled even louder. It was all he could do to keep from attacking the White dragoness out of rage...
And then, The Great Purple dragon saw something odd.
Off to the left, behind Tyrrany and near a tree, was a bizarre, geometric rock formation. Inside that rock formation, Malefor could see two tiny, Blood Red eyes that were filled with fear, looking up at him. When Tyrrany noticed Malefor's gaze, she gasped.
Curious, Malefor walked towards it. Tyrrany immediately jumped in front of the rock formation, desperately wanting to protect what was inside.
"STAY BACK!" She bellowed. This only increased Malefor's curiousity.
As the Great Purple dragon walked forwards, the White dragoness opened her mouth and attacked with a blast of Convexity. Malefor did the same.
As the two beams moved back and forth, Malefor walked up to the Tyrrany. No matter how hard she tried, the White dragoness couldn't overpower Malefor. When he was close enough, the Great Purple dragon struck the younger dragon to the side with a forepaw. He ended his Convexity attack just before he hit the rock formation: If he destroyed it, then he wouldn't know what it was.
As Malefor reached down with a forepaw for the rock formation's top, Tyrrany pounced onto his foreleg, attempting to maul him. However, Malefor struck her with a Blast of Earth breath, sending her flying backwards onto the ground. He then grabbed hold of the top of the rock formation, ripped it off, and looked inside.
Inside the rock formation was a small, infantile, Purple dragon. It stared up at Malefor, frozen in absolute terror. At first, he didn't undestand why it would even be here. But then, Malefor saw that the hatchling had the same red birthmarks on his sides as the ones on Tyrrany, as well as several other similar features.
Malefor laughed as he came to realization. He turned away form the infant to look at Tyrrany.
So, you have produced a child." He chuckled. "Interesting. Very interesting indeed."
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Tyrrany screamed frantically.
"Do not worry, Tyrrany." Malefor responded. "I won't harm your infant, nor will I abduct him, if that's what you think I might do." The White dragoness got back onto her feet.
"I don't believe you!" She screamed. Malefor sighed.
"Then watch me."
The Great Purple dragon turned away from the infant and walked back the way he had come earlier. As he did this, Tyrrany ran to her child to protect him.
"This certainly changes matters, now doesn't it?" Malefor asked, turning to face the White dragoness. "Just in case you're wondering, I don't plan on telling Bergan about your child, or anyone else. Your secret is safe with me."
Tyrrany snarled, holding her child close to her. Malefor chuckled.
"This won't be our last meeting, young dragon. We will me again. And until then, my offer still stands. By agreeing to swear fealty to me, you just might be able to live in a safer world for your son to grow up in." Malefor spread his wings and took off into flight. The Crepsculi followed suit.
As they flew away, Malefor turned and said one last thing to Tyrrany.
"Think about it, Tyrrany: You'll be doing it for your son."
And then, Malefor and his minions flew off into the distance, over the edge of the mountain side.
They were gone.
...
Tyrrany waited for about ten minutes after Malefor left, all the while not saying a word. Denzel didn't say anything either: He was still afraid of the Giant Purple dragon.
After she grew tired of waiting, Tyrrany turned to look at her hatchling, anger still etched into her face.
"Denzel, we're leaving." She said sternly. The White dragoness sat down for her haunches. "Now." The Purple dragon gulped.
"Okay, Mommy."
Slightly afraid, the Purple hatchling reluctantly climbed up onto his mother's back to get into position for flight. Once he was done, Tyrrany took off without a hitch.
But she wasn't heading back to the cave they were living in: Tyrrany was headed East, away from both the cave and the direction that Malefor left in.
"Where are we going, Mommy?" Denzel asked, confused.
"Away from where HE can find us easilly." Tyrrany answered. She had tried not to let her anger show, but she wasn't completely successful.
After flying aimlessly for a good while, Tyrrany spotted another cave in the side of a mountain, flew into it, and came to a landing.
Afterwards, Denzel climbed down from his mother's back and looked around at the inside of the cave.
"Where are we, Mommy?" He asked.
But Tyrrany didn't answer. Instead, she stormed off into the cave, ranting to herself.
"Who did that jackass think he was? I don't need some asshole sending his GOONS after me and then turning around and basically telling me to bend over and kiss his feet!"
As the White dragoness walked back and forth at the back of the cave, her Purple hatchling slowly approached her, still slightly afraid.
"Mommy, who was that man?" Denzel asked. Tyrrany turned to look at him.
"That man was someone named Malefor," She answered, "and he's a bad man."
"Bad? How bad?"
"Very bad." Tyrrany turned and walked towards her son. "A long time ago, Malefor did lots of mean things to other dragons. He was stopped, but now he's come back to do it again."
"Why was he the same color as me?"
"Purple is a fairly common color for dragons. It's only a coincidence."
"Co-ins-dense?" Denzel asked, trying to repeat the word. Tyrrany chuckled.
"It's a word that means that two or more things are the same for no real reason."
"Oh..." Denzel replied. He looked away from her for a moment, clearly nervous about something.
"What's wrong, little one?" She asked, concerned.
"Mommy, can I ask you something else?"
"Of course, dear." Tyrrany reassured. "What do you want to know?"
"Mommy...who's Bergan?"
Tyrrany sighed. She didn't want to tell Denzel about his Grandfather, but she didn't want to lie to him either. And she knew better than to say she wouldn't tell him, or he'd keep asking.
I guess he'll find out eventually, she thought, but I can't tell him too much. Oh well..
"Bergan is the name of my Daddy." She said. Denzel looked at her, confused.
"'Daddy'?" He asked. "What's a daddy?" Tyrrany's eyes beamed.
Thank the Ancestors! He's changing the subject!
"Every dragon has two parents, Denzel: The Mommy, a woman, and the Daddy, a man. My Mommy was named Elenar, while my Daddy's name is Bergan."
"Do I have a Daddy?" The hatchling asked. Tyrrany smiled.
"Of course you do."
"Then, where is he?" The White dragoness sighed.
"He's far, far away from here." She answered, slightly saddened.
"Why?"
"Well, do you remember how I told you about those bad things I did?"
"Yeah."
"You see, your Daddy was the only one who didn't think I was to blame for what I did. He didn't want me to go into hiding: He wanted to protect me from the other dragons. But, he wouldn't have been able to, so I went away."
Tyrrany looked away from Denzel to wipe some tears from her face. The Purple hatchling walked up to her, able to tell she was sad.
"Are you okay, Mommy?" He asked, concerned.
"I'm alright.." She answered. "I just miss him."
"Well, why don't we go see Daddy, then?" Tyrrany sighed.
"We can't, little one." She answered sadly. "The other dragons are still mad at me."
"Oh..." Denzel said, looking down at the cave floor. "Will I ever get to meet my Daddy?"
Tyrrany pulled Denzel close to hug him.
"Maybe someday, my little one." She answered. "Maybe, one day, I'll finally be able to show my face to the other dragons. And when that day comes, you'll be able to meet your Daddy, and we can all be a family." Denzel's eyes lit up.
"Really?" He asked. Tyrrany smiled.
"Really."