Act 1, Chapter 10
"Wake up, Momma!" Argent shouted. He, Christopher and Melanie were crawling allover their mother, trying to get her to wake up. The two boys had climbed on top of Elza's back, while Melanie was poking the side of the green dragoness's head.
After a short while, Elza finally opened her eyes.
"..What is it, little ones?" She asked through a yawn.
"You almost slept all day again, Momma." Christopher answered.
"I did?"
"Uh-huh." Melanie replied.
Sighing, Elza moved to get up, her hatchlings moving out of the way. The Green dragoness then stood on her feet and looked at the clock.
It was almost noon.
"Oh dear.." She said, frowning. "Of all the days for this to happen.."
"What is it, Momma?" Argent asked. The hatchlings' mother shook her head.
"Nevermind, Argent." She answered. "It's a grown-up matter."
"Oh.."
Elza put her dark grey robes over herself and proceeded to walk towards the door.
"Come along, my lovelies." She said to her children. "It's time to drop you off with Tina for the day."
"Okay, Momma." The hatchlings said in unison. They then trotted along, doing their best to keep up with the bigger dragoness's pace.
As Elza led her hatchlings through the hallways, she scolded herself.
How could you let yourself oversleep TODAY, you fool? Lord Urobos is going to be furious!
The Green dragoness frowned.
I wouldn't have this problem if Albanion was around…
Times were extremely difficult for Elza, ever since she found out that her best friend and her beloved husband were killed.
At first, she was furious. She wanted to hunt down and kill the dragons responsible for their deaths. But then, she became lost in sadness. All three of her friends were now gone; Bane, Elenar, and Albanion, all gone. And there was no way to save them: Bane's body was being possessed by Malefor, and the Pit of the Fallen was heavily guarded.
None of them could be restored this time.
Elza would have committed were it not for one thing. No, three things: Argent, Christopher and Melanie.
Despite the weary and doomed world they lived in, the three hatchlings were filled with cheer and happiness. In the past five months, they have put a smile on the faces of many of the dragons under Urobos's employ, the King himself included. And the hatchlings looked so much like their father, if in different ways. And Elza loved all of them dearly.
She decided that killing herself would be horrible thing to do. No, she would live on, and raise these children the way Albanion would have wanted to.
After much walking, Elza arrived at the entrance to Tina's chamber. She knocked on the door, and got a response shortly afterwards.
"Who is it?" Tina asked from the other side of the door.
"It's Elza."
"Oh, hold on!"
After about a moment, the dark yellow dragoness opened her door and walked out into the hallway.
"Same drill as always, right?" Tina asked.
"Yes, dear." Elza responded.
"Alrighty." The Dark Yellow dragoness turned to the three hatchlings. "Head on inside, guys."
"Bye, Momma." The three hatchlings said in unison, hugging the elder dragoness's forelegs. She tenderly hugged them back, smiling.
"I'll see you later, little ones."
The three dragons then stepped inside Tina's chamber, and the dark yellow dragoness proceeded to follow them.
"See ya later, Miss Elza." She called back.
As Tina closed the door, Elza turned and walked towards the Temple's main chamber.
…
Wraith and Grail stood at the entrance to the Main Chamber. Their comrades Aegis, Lilith and Nerona were out in the city, doing there part to aid in the effort to evacuate the citizens. They were waiting on their ally Elza to appear, so that she can go aid the other Deep Shadows.
Wraith waited patiently, while Grail sighed in contempt.
"Where in the world is she?" the Dark grey dragon demanded. "She should have been here hours ago!"
"Shouting won't make her appear any faster." Wraith scolded. "You'll just have to wait, man."
Grail sighed in contempt.
"She should have known better." He growled.
"We'll talk about this when she arrives." The Dark red dragon replied.
After a short while, Elza appeared in one of the hallways, and walked up to them.
"Morning, Sleepyhead." Wraith greeted, smiling. The green dragoness sighed.
"My apologies for being late, Wraith." She said, bowing her head.
"What were you thinking, Elza?" Grail demanded. He pointed a talon at her.
"You knew that King Urobos and Lord Spyro needed all of us to help in the effort to clear the city!"
"Grail, chill." Wraith replied.
"No, he's right." Elza responded. "I may be a mother now, but I'm still a Deep Shadow."
"Yeah, well.." the Dark Red dragon said. "..The fact that you slept in again can't be helped now. And besides, you're awake now. So, just head out and help the others."
"Yes, sir."
Elza turned and headed for the front of the Temple. Wraith sighed.
"I'm still not used to that." He said.
"Neither am I.." Grail said with chagrin.
"Something the matter?" The Dark Grey deep shadow glared at his companion with his one red eye.
"Of all the members of the Deep Shadows," He replied, "Why would Albanion choose you to take up the mantle as leader?"
"Hey, I was just as surprised as you are, Grail." the Dark Red dragon replied. "But, he wanted me to be the next leader of the Deep Shadows, so I gladly took up the mantle."
"He made a mistake."
Wraith's eyes lit up at the comment.
"What?"
"It was madness enough for King Urobos to allow you to become a Deep Shadow at such a young age in the first place. For Albanion to make you the next leader blows my mind."
"Is there something wrong with me being the leader of the Deep Shadows?" Wraith asked, an eyebrow raised.
"You have proven to be the most foolhardy leader of the Deep Shadows to date. You allow several soldiers and guards slip in their duty, you openly behave like a teenager, and you never discipline anyone for their failures."
Wraith glared at the older Deep Shadow.
"Just because I'm not as old as some of the others doesn't mean that I'm instantly les competent."
"'Less competent'?" Grail scoffed. "That would imply that you have any competence at all."
"Where do you get off saying that?" Wraith snapped. "That's insubordination!"
The Dark Grey dragon laughed.
"So, you only enforce your authority when you're being insulted." He stated. "I can't imagine how you behave on the battlefield."
The Dark red dragon growled.
"This discussion is over." He sneered. "Get your ass out into the city to aid in the efforts. I need to stay behind and make sure all of the Temple workers are ready to leave."
Grail scoffed again.
"I'll go, but not because I respect your orders. You have proven that you don't deserve my respect."
And with that, the Dark Grey Deep Shadow marched towards the front of the Temple.
Wraith stood where he was, sneering.
"What a dick." He said to himself. "As if he needed another reason to badmouth me."
The Dark Red dragon shook his head.
"I need to get to work. Gotta make sure that Tina and the kids are ready to leave soon."
Wraith turned and walked down a hallway, preparing himself mentally for the had work that would come today.
It would not be enough.
…
"A magic spell?" Denzel asked.
"That's right." Tyrrany answered.
Tyrrany had done her best to explain why she changed hide colors to her son without confusing him or telling him something he shouldn't know. She explained that the White dragon was her brother Rune, and the blue dragoness was her friend Nellie. When the two dragons arrived, they surprised the White dragoness, so she wanted to take Denzal and run. Howver, they quickly esplained that they had come to help Tyranny by teaching her a magic spell.
"What does the spell do, Mommy?" The hatchling asked.
"Well, Denzel, the spell is used to change a dragon's hide color to something else, as well as their mane, horns, and other things."
"Why do you need the spell, Mommy?"
Tyrrany smiled.
"With this spell, we'll be able to go to new places."
"New places? Like what?"
"We're going to be travelling West, to a great big city called Glenhaven."
"Why?"
"Well, I think it'll do you some good to get out of these boring old Mountains."
"Okay."
After the goat's body had been eaten from and disposed of, Tyrrany got ready for flight. As Denzel climbed into position, he started asking more questions.
"How long will it take us to get to Glehavey, Mommy?" The dragoness chuckled.
"It's called 'Glenhaven', dear." She corrected. "And it should only take us a couple of days if we hurry."
"Why do we need to hurry?" Tyrrany froze.
"We need to hurry because..."
This was a more difficult question to answer. The real reason was because Runefor was about to destroy the Mountain range, and Tyrrany and Denzel needed to flee to avoid dying in the destruction.
But Denzel is only a hatchling. He couldn't possibly understand.
"Because what, Mommy?"
"Because..." Suddenly, the dragoness got an idea. "Because I really want to go to Glenhaven."
"Why?" Tyrrany sighed.
"We'll never get there if you keep asking why we're going, Denzel." The hatchling frowned.
"I'm sorry, Mommy."
"It's okay, little one."
And with that out of the way, Tyrrany spread her wings and flew into the air. She then turned to the West and took off across the sky, heading for the Arcus desert and the ancient city of Glenhaven as its center.
As this White dragoness sought out safety, many other White dragons would bring about ruin and death.
…
Ever since King Urobos gave the orders for the citizens of Warfang to start preparing to evacuate, almost the entire city was in an uproar. If the great King Urobos and Lord Spyro, two of the most powerful dragons alive, decided it was time to flee, then surely it was suicide to not heed their warning.
Hundreds of citizens were in a panic. Cheetahs and Moles shut down their businesses and emptied them of their inventory practically overnight. The Dragon citizens packed up only what they believed they needed, and stormed out of their homes, cowering near the inner rim of Warfang's outer walls.
Several members of the Deep Shadows had taken charge of several groups of the citizens, and were doing their best to organize them on separate parts of the city. Aegis and Nerona were gathering the Moles together, Lilith was putting a stop to the infighting that started spreading between the Cat citizens, and Elza had recently appeared to calm down the female dragons who had become increasingly protective of their new eggs.
Urobos and Spyro stood on the roof of the Temple, awestruck at the sight before them.
"I never would have imagined they would pack up to leave so fast." Urobos said.
"Well, you are their King." Spyro replied. "They are subject to your will."
"Yes, I know that. And in the past, my people have been very loyal to me. However, never before have they followed my orders so quickly. And to flee their homes, of all things."
"Well, it may be because of me." The Purple dragon chuckled. "The fact that I, the Legendary Lord Spyro, have agreed with your decision, must surely mean that it's the smart thing to do."
The Aged Black dragon laughed.
"In any case, I'm glad that we were able to get this finished so fast. We need to get these people out of Warfang, and who knows when the army of White dragons is going to arrive."
"Aye." Spyro replied.
As time went on, more and more citizens lined up at the Southern Wall. The Moles and Cats had gathered all the supplies they'd need, and were waiting patiently. The dragons, meanwhile, had even less supplies: They would be able to travel to Glehnaven in much less time.
"We'll need to find as many Water dragons as possible and have them stay behind with the Moles and Cats." Urobos stated.
"Why is that?" Spyro queried.
"Although the dragons will be able to fly over the Central Ocean with little trouble, getting the Moles and Cats across will be much more difficult. So, we'll need Water dragons to manipulate the Ocean's water, thus providing safe passage for the Moles and Cats to travel from Island to Island. It will take much more time for them to travel, but they'll be able to get to safety nonetheless."
"We'll need several of the Deep Shadows to stay behind with them," Spyro replied, "So that the citizens can be kept organized."
"Aye." The Black dragon agreed. "I'll summon Wraith to have him select the Deep Shadows who'll stay behind."
But just as Urobos was about to do so, two dragon sentries flew up to the two aged dragons. The sentries were in a panic.
"YOUR HIGHNESS! LORD SPYRO!" One of them shouted.
"WE'RE DOOMED!" The other one exclaimed. The two sentries came to a landing and tried to catch their breath.
"What's placed you in such a frantic state?" Spyro demanded.
"Yes, explain yourselves." Urobos added. One of the sentries managed to calm down enough to speak.
"Not too long ago, as several of us were patrolling the outer Wall and scanning the surrounding Outskirts, we spotted something approaching from the West. At first, we couldn't tell what it was. And then, through the use of our telescopes, we saw that it was... it was..."
"WHAT?" Spyro demanded. "What is it?"
"See for yourselves!" The other sentry answered.
Both sentries handed each of the old dragons a telescope. Curious, Urobos and Spyro turned to the West and looked through the devices, trying to spot whatever it was that frightened the sentries.
At first, they saw nothing. But then, they gasped. Off in the distance, a storm was approaching.
A White-hided storm. And it was moving fast.
...
At the same time, far off to the SouthEast...
On the northern part of the Mountains of Kilon, at the edge of a large mountain, was a Village of Cats, Moles, and Dragons.
The Village was calm, as it usually was. The many Dragons, Cats and Moles went about their usual routines. The males tended to their work patrolling the village's gates, tending to the livestock, or other such things. The females looked after their children, and handled other matters that homemakers dealt with. All was well.
The most memorable thing about this Village was the fact that it sat before a large Mine in the base of the mountain. Mining Gems from the mountain was this Village's main occupation. It was mostly handled by the Moles, although Earth dragons handled some of the more difficult tasks, like carrying the massive amount of mined Gems back to the Village.
The owner of this mining trade, as well as the ruler of the Village, was the Earth dragoness Angela.
Angela had a Light green hide and a yellow underbelly. Her build was burly, but still feminine in appearance. Her Dark yellow mane was neatly tied back in braids. She had two thick, silver horns, which curled like Ram's horns. Her eyes matched her horns in color. She dressed in a fine red cape and several pieces of fine jewelry.
Around six months ago, Angela had been seduced by Bergan and nearly signed her company over to him. However, when word spread that the Purple dragon had ressurrected six evil dragons and began his campaign of death and destruction, the Faeshrine Trading Company's normal business practices came to an end, and the deal collapsed.
Despite being able to resume her normal business, Angela's workers began questioning whether there was even a point in Mining anymore, since the end was coming close to its end. The Earth dragoness reassured her people that there was nothing to worry about: The Legendary Spyro and Cynder were no doubt going to save the world soon. This made them calm down, but not completely.
On this particular afternoon, it was business as usual. Angela was preparing to head for the mines to inspect this month's progress.
"We should be close to meeting quota soon." She said as she stepped out of her wooden hut. "With any luck, we'll have enough to ship all the way to the Aeshos Valley this month."
As the dragoness headed towards the Mine to the north of the Village, she focused directly on her destination. As did all of the other villagers.
They should have looked up at the sky that day. If they had, they would have been able to flee in time.
High in the sky, fast approaching the village, was a Black storm. It was not a storm of rain or sleet. It was a storm of monsters.
A storm of Crepsculi.
A good while later, the black beasts descended down to the Village, their hissing slowly filling the air. They attacked every being they saw: Dragon or Nondragon, Male or Female, Adult or Child, it didn't matter to them.
At the center of this storm of beasts was the Great Purple Dragon Malefor.
Malefor didn't even have to life a talon; His army of Crepsculi took care of almost all of his dirty work. His main target was the dragoness Angela.
"If the wench isn't among her people in the village," He thought out loud, "Then she may be in the Mines themselves."
The Purple dragon had commanded his Crepsculi to capture, not kill, the dragoness Angela, in case Malefor was wrong. He then flew off to the north, in search of the Earth dragoness.
The Crepsculi proceeded to decimate the village and its people. No matter how well they fought, the villagers were unable to deal significant damage to the army of monsters. For every one that was slain, another took its place in the battle.
As the uphill battle commenced, something happened that none of the Crepsculi of Villagers noticed.
A cloud of Purple smoke appeared in the center of the Village. Out of it stepped two dragons, connected by a snake necklaces.
It was Runefor and Nellie.
The White dragon chuckled at the sight of the wanton death and destruction.
"Look at them all!" He shouted. "Theyr'e fighting like the animals they are!"
"This is horrible.." Nellie grimaced.
"If by 'horrible', you mean 'horribly hilarius'!"
Runefor laughed out loud, while Nellie stared down at the ground in shame. She wanted to help the villagers, but there was nothing she could do.
The White dragon's laughter caught the attention of several Crepsculi, and they flew after him. Runefor quickly summoned his sword and jumped into the air, slicing the lot of them into pieces, which faded into dark energy. He laughed again.
"Pathetic!" He exclaimed. The White dragon looked over at Nellie. "Let's go. We don't need to waste time here...yet."
"Where are we heading?" Nellie asked.
"We're headed for the Mines." Runefor answered. "There's a certain someone I've been meaning to say hello to there."
And so, Runefor took off for flight, Nellie following closely behind. As the White dragon laughed at the destruction, the dragoness sighed in sadness, completely unable to do anything to save the villagers' lives.
...
Urobos and Spyro couldn't believe it.
The White dragons were attacking TODAY.
How could Desysto have planned his next conquest so soon?
The Aged dragons had little time to ponder this.
"The army is only a hundred strong at the most." Spyro said. "Our forces outnumber them six to one."
"Even so, they are an army of WHITE dragons." Urobos replied. "If they are as powerful as Tyrrany and Rune are individually, we cannot win. Plus, they're only children: Killing them would be a Pyrrhic victory."
"We have no choice." Spyro responded. "We either fight back, or let them kill us all."
The Black dragon sighed. He was backed into a corner in this arguement.
"Ready the dragons for attack." He declared. Spyro nodded.
"Aye."
The Purple dragon flew off from the Temple roof and shouted as loud as he could at the many dragons of the city.
"HEAR ME NOW, MY FELLOW DRAGONS! OUR CITY IS UNDER ATTACK! RISE UP AND DEFEND IT!"
Almost immediately, the many dragons flew into the sky. Several hundred dragons, Light and Dark alike, filled the air above Warfang, and turned to the Western Wall of the city. In the meantime, the Many Cat citizens who were trained in combat took up arms and rushed ot the Wall, ready to join in the battle.
During this time, Urobos had flown ahead of the other dragons, and was waiting at the Western Wall. As the Warfang dragons flew past him, and the Warfang Cats marched underneath him, the Black dragon was greeted by his Deep Shadows: Aegis, Lilith, Grail, Nerona and Elza.
"What's going on?" Aegis demanded.
"It seems that Desysto has decided to attack us earlier than we expected." Urobos answered.
"Damnit!" Grail exclaimed. "So much for fleeing quietly."
"Shall we aid in the battle, sir?" Nerona asked.
"Yes." The Black dragon replied. "Go, quickly!"
All at once, the five dragons flew off the Western wall, heading out to take command in the army.
Urobos was about to join them, but realized something.
"Wait." He said to himself. "Where is...?"
Suddenly, he gasped.
"Cyrus!" He shouted. "And Wraith and the other children as well!"
The Aged black dragon immediately turned around and flew back to the temple.
The Battle was about to begin.
...
Many Moles and Dragons lay dead at Malefor's feet.
When the Great Purple dragon attacked the Mines, he encountered a great amount of resistance. Not that it mattered: The dragons were hardly able to put up a decent fight for their lives, and the Moles fell like ants being crushed to death by a wild boar.
As Malefor traveled through the mines, he searched for his target: Angela. The Purple dragon had seen her retreat to the very back of the mines, trying to evade her inevitable death. Many of her workers threw themselves at Malefor to protect her: It was in vain.
After travelling into the farthest reaches of the mines, Malefor finally found his target. The Earth dragoness had fled into a new mineshaft that was being dug: A shaft that produced Purple Gems. The Great Purple dragon smirked. Once the dragoness was dead, he would need to remember to have the Crepsculi or some corrupted dragon dig up the Gems.
As Malefor stepped closer towards his target, Angela tried striking back with a barrage of Earth blasts. A waste of time: Malefor was able to deflect all of them.
"What do you want from me?" She screamed.
"Nothing." The Great Purple dragon answered. "I only need you out of the way."
"Why?"
"I need to make this Mine my own. And I can't have you getting in the way."
As Angela continued trying to injure Malefor, the Great Purple dragon continued deflecting the blasts. Eventually, Malefor had gotten close enough to Angela to strike her across the face, sending her flying across the mineshaft.
As the Earth dragoness crashed into the ground, Malefor walked up to her, charging his Magic. Angela turned to attack again, but the Great Purple dragon struck her in the chest with a blast of Convexity. The Dragoness shrieked in pain as a deep hole was burned into her ribage.
Malefor grabbed the dragoness by the neck and lifted her into the air. She was caughing up blooe.
"Your pain will end shortly." he said coldly, charging another blast...
And then, out of nowhere, a blast of energy struck Malefor against the back of the head. He roared in pain and fell to the floor, dropping Angela in the process.
"WHAT?" He bellowed, getting onto his feet. As Malefor righted himself, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching and low chuckle. The Great Purple dragon turned around to face the stranger. His eyes lit up in surprise.
It was Runefor.
"Hello there, Malefor!" He chided. "Long time no see!"
The White dragon was closely followed by a young blue dragoness. The two were connected together by an ethereal chain attached to two black snake necklaces.
Malefor focused his gaze on Runefor, their matching demonic eyes locked on each other.
"You..." The Purple dragon sneered.
"Surpised to see me?" Runefor asked. "You didn't think that I'd never take the time to pay my old 'master' a visit, did you?"
Malefor snarled
"You betrayed me." He growled.
"Only after you claimed I was useless." The White dragon shot back. "But that's in the past: Today, I'm a free agent."
"What possessed you to seek me out?"
"Oh, I just happened to be in the neighborhood. I gave my sister a visit, found you were around, so I decided to pop by to say hello."
Runefor reached over and grabbed the blue dragoness's shoulder with his left forepaw. The girl flinched.
"You probably remember Nellie here: She was there when I turned you into a fuel source."
"How did you create those necklaces?" Malefor demanded.
"Oh, it's a trick I learned from you." Runefor chuckled. "I would have made them Green, but Black goes better with my complexion."
The White dragon glanced behind the Purple one at the Green dragoness still lying on the floor, coughing up blood.
"Oh, we forgot all about your friend there." Runefor said, smirking. "Well, let's take care of her, shall we?"
The White dragon waved his paw, and an instant later, a purple cloud of smoke appeared around Angela. Before Malefor could react, the Earth dragoness had vanished. The Great Purple dragon roared in rage. Nellie stepped back in fright, but Runefor just grinned.
"HOW DARE YOU INTERVENE!" The Great Purple dragon bellowed.
"Well, maybe if you killed her when you had the chance, I wouldn't have been able to spoil your plans, idiot."
Immediately, Malefor lunged at Runefor, the White dragon dodging to the right, dragging Nellie along with him. The Purple dragon then turned and started attacking with a multitude of Convexity blassts. Runefor and Nellie took to flight, dodging around the attacks.
Eventually, Runefor flew directly at Malefor, intending to strike him in the face with a Convexity beam of his own. The White dragon waited for one of Malefor's attacks to end, and then shot a Purple blast directly at the Great dragon's face. As Malefor reeled back in pain, Runefor took advantage of the situation by flying towards him, summoning his sword to stab him to death.
However, Malefor was no fool: He teleported away just as Runefor's sword went flying fowards. The White dragon ended up stabbing his sword deep into the side of a wall in the mine.
"Fuck!"
As Runefor came to a landing to grab hold of the sword hilt, Malefor reappeared to his side, and struck the White dragon so hard that he went flying across the mineshaft, dragging Nellie along with him. Both young dragons crashed violently into the far back wall of the Mine.
Nellie groaned in pain as Runefor struggled to his feet. Meanwhile, Malefor was walking towards them, charging energy.
"You think I'll go down so easilly?" Runefor yelled, getting ready to attack.
The Purple dragon fired a blast of Convexity at the White dragon, who dodged out of the way. The Convexity struck the wall, causing massive chunks of it to fall down, revealing several massive clusters of Gems.
Purple Gems.
Malefor gasped.
"More Gems." He said.
When Runefor saw them, he instantly got an idea. He then chuckled.
"Fury Gems, eh?" The White dragon asked. "Wonderful."
With a snap of his talons, Runefor created a wall of purple fire between Malefor and the two young dragons. The Great Purple dragon tried to blast through it, to no avail.
"What are you planning, Runefor?" Nellie asked weakly.
"Watch this." He answered, grinning.
The White dragon grabbed hold of the Gem Clusters, and proceeded to absorb their power.
"The thing about Fury Gems it that they're very similar to Convexity Crystals in the sense that they increase a dragon's power." He said. "The more Fury Gems, the greater the power. So, when there's a lot of Fury Gems in one place..."
Runefor started giving off a Purple Aura. Purple Lightning cackled allover his body. His eyes glowed a deep Purple.
Nellie became frightened again, and tried to step back as far as she could. Meanwhile, Malefor had given up on breaking through the wall of fire, and proceeded to watch Runefor.
"What is going on?" He demanded.
Suddenly, a massive amount of Purple energy exploded out of Runefor, filling the entire area behind the wall. The figures of the White dragon and his companion were completely hidden.
After a while, the wall of fire vanished, and the energy behind it became a thick layer of Purple smoke. Still, Malefor couldn't see either of the two young dragons.
"Where are you, boy?" He sneered. Malefor watched the smoke, waiting for something to happen..
And then, suddenly, a massive blast of Convexity came flying out of the smoke, sending Malefor reeling onto his back. As he hit the ground, malevolent laughter filled the air. The grounded dragon lifted his head, and saw the smoke vanishing.
He saw two dragons. The one on the right was the young Blue dragoness. And on the left, was a White dragon.
A fully grown White dragon.