(A/N) This one took longer then expected due to my brother finally arriving home and me going to catch up with him and simply mess around. Its nice having him back but a bit of a pain to deal with him. Anyways without further ado, here is the next chapter of Rise of Hope!
Spyro awoke to find that it that the sun hasn't risen yet, leaving his home in a twilight gloom. Spyro looked over himself to find that the swelling had gone down but his sides were still tender. It also appeared that Nina and Flash had come inside during the night to wash off the mud and to check on his cuts. He smiled at how much they had cared for him before an immediate sense of guilt overwhelmed him. He knew that he would have to leave everything behind, so Spyro debated leaving immediately to spare the heartache of seeing his foster family most likely attempt to stop him. His determination was already wavering and should they appear he didn't know if he could leave them. Shoving the doubts towards the back of his mind, Spyro quietly walked past the house and started down the trail before pausing. He looked back, with his doubts returning full force and have him reconsider the insane idea. Again he shook off the thoughts and turned away to continue along the path to a home that he has only heard of. As the house faded from view, one last doubt tried to keep him at bay.
"So you are just going to leave then? No goodbye, not even gonna bring along your bro?" Spyro flinched as he heard the last voice he wanted to hear. Spyro then turned to face Sparx and hesitated. He knew that Sparx was right to be accusing, especially since he was leaving without so much as a goodbye. He knew how bad that seemed but he couldn't face them with this decision. But before Spyro could reply, Sparx had noticed the hesitation on his face and interrupted by saying, "I thought we did everything together, but you know me. I always wrong with these things. Good luck finding the other dragons Spyro." On that note, Sparx flew away, heading back toward to his home. Spyro couldn't form any words at that moment, only gawking as Sparx left him alone before finally managing to form words that now couldn't reach him. For a moment, Spyro contemplated chasing after Sparx and apologizing for even attempting to leave him and his parents behind. But he knew that if he did, he would never know where he actually came from or exactly who he was. He knew that he was a dragon but he felt that there was something more that he must find, something that could fill in the large gaps that he had in his near non existent knowledge on dragons. Those thoughts rooted him to the spot as they managed to stifle the voice that had been screaming at him to abandon this deranged quest. With a heavy heart, Spyro turned away from the only home that he had ever known and began his quest to discover who and what he was and to hopefully find dragons just like him.
Spyro trudged down the trail, not knowing exactly where he was heading but knowing that if he followed the trail he would find civilization. Hours seemed to drag on for eternity as his mind continually rewinded to those moments with Sparx, the look of betrayal and the hurt in his voice as he berating the purple dragon for leaving everything behind. As he wallowed in his pity, he was suddenly ripped away from his depression as he saw a shadow flit across his stopped and watched, searching for the source of the shadow. Nothing else seemed to appear and Spyro almost dismissed it as his own paranoia before he heard a sound that made his blood turn ice cold. A hollow mocking laugh cut through the air, shattering the silence and placing Spyro on edge. As he attempted to locate the source of the voice, more and more voices started to join the first in mocking him and instilling an overriding fear into the very core of his being. As the laughter seemed to drill into his mind, he began imagining the shadows morphing into countless apes that were watching him and ready to swoop in and tear him limb from limb.
This became too much for him and he immediately began sprinting in a blind panic, not knowing where he was going but wanting to escape the apes that seemed to be all around him. Even as he ran the voices seemed to keep pace, continuing their torment on Spyro as he continued his blind dash of fear into the unknown. The voices eventually faded away but Spyro continued running long after the voices had stopped chasing him, eventually simply collapsing into a heap as he gasped for air and choked back a cry of fear. He didn't know how long he stayed there before he finally managed to pull himself together but once he had he noticed that the sun had reached midday. As he calmed himself, he felt his stomach gnaw at him but ignored it at the moment. After that incident he could barely pull himself together and finding something to eat would be impossible since his shaking would alert anything that he was attempting to hunt. After pulling himself onto his feet, he continued to walk being thankful that his fearful run had enough sense to stay on the path. He reached an open area before being stopped by a very familiar voice.
"Hey Spyro I wanted to talk to ya for a second." At the sound of that Spyro had to contain himself and spun around slowly to face the dragonfly. As soon as he had Spyro's attention he continued, "So me and the old man were chatting and the subject of you came up. We talked about it and eventually decided that brothers need to stay together, even if one of them has some weight issues. So what do ya say? Ready to continue with this crazy quest?"
Spyro could barely keep the quiver out of his voice as he answered, "Of course Sparx, I wouldnt imagine anybody else on my side." At this Sparx couldn't contain himself any longer and launched himself at Spyro, attempting to wrap his arms around Spyro's snout in a tight hug.
"Good cause what would you do without me?" questioned Sparx, breaking the silence that had fallen over the two of them. Before Spyro could shoot back a witty retort, an unnatural roar blasted them from all around. Both of them immediately began looking around for the source of the noise before Sparx yells out, "Lets get out of the open, I don't feel like dying already from whatever that was!" Sparx shot away towards a cave entrance on the far side as Spyro caught a glimpse of what he believed had created that ungodly sound. The creature's silhouette was a long slender build with wings that seemed to occupy a large amount of the space around it. The wings themselves seemed full of holes and it only added to the ghostly appearance of the creature. Spyro didnt catch much more detail, not that he needed anymore on the frightening creature, as he sprinted for the cover that the cave seemed to provide.
As Spyro ran deeper into the cave, he stopped suddenly when he was confronted by a view that he believed he would never see. Another dragon was lurking in the cave and he seemed to stare intently at Spyro, slightly unnerving Spyro but not deterring him. The dragon had 4 horns on the top of his head, along with flame-shaped spikes that rolled down his back before ending in a flame pattern that covered the last few inches of his tail. His scales were a bright orange while his underbelly was a muted whitish color. The most defining feature was the size of the dragon. It easily stood at least twice as tall, if not more, than Spyro and easily tripled his wingspan. As Spyro stood in awe of the dragon, it decided to speak and said, "You're…. You're alive! But its too late, much too late." This pulled Spyro from his gawking as he asked, "You know me? Where do I come from? Who exactly are you? Exactly what are we? What am I? How do you know me and what are we too late for?" As soon as he heard that, the other dragon became surprised and asked, "You mean you have no idea?"
"Does it sound like he even has a clue?" Sparx remarked sarcastically. The dragon then began to explain, "You're a dragon. It was my job to protect you and all the eggs. There were four of us, Guardians that is, and our job was to make sure that all the eggs are hatched. It was the Year of the Dragon and our survival depended on the eggs. But the Temple and Grotto are gone, overrun by -" The dragon seemed to pause at this moment and thats when Spyro decided to launch his barrage of growing questions.
"Temple? What Temple are you talking about? Can I see it? Where I came from, I mean." questioned Spyro. The dragon shook his head disapprovingly at this and said, "No no, who knows what lies within the temple know or whether or it's still able to stand? You don't understand, when they came after you-" At this Spyro intervened again by asking, "They? Who are they? and why are they after me?"
"Because the prophecies spoke of a purple dragon, one is born only once every ten generations," he began to explain, "and that dragon is you." Sparx decided to then voice his opinion on the matter, "Wait, this guy? Spyro is one special once in a purple thing?" Sparx laughed at this and continued, "I think you might have messed that one up. Wooo, thats a little… bit of a stretch there. Ive heard some doozies in my day, but that one takes the cake." The dragon ignored Sparx and said,"Spyro is it? Well i can assure you that I'm telling the truth. The Dark Armies attacked with the intention of destroying all the eggs and killing the rest of us. They nearly succeeded but still continued to lay siege to the other islands. We were at war as for many years we constantly battled back and forth throughout the islands. The three other Guardians and I led the forces into battle after battle against our ruthless mercenary for. As we began to turn the tide, they unleashed Cynder. Cynder was…. is monstrous, horrific, and ferocious. A black dragon that fills the sky with terror, an unstoppable force of nature-" Sparx then interrupted again by saying, "Yeah.. You had me at ferocious but listen, it sounds like the thing that was chasing us earlier, Spyro." Spyro nodded as the dragon affirmed, "Yes, she still searches for me.. and years ago I watched as one by one the Guardians were picked off the battlefield by Cynder like ripe grapes from the vine. Without the other Guardians, our cause is lost. Only I, Ignitus managed to escape, not that it matters anymore. Cynder now rules all and I simply sit and wonder what I could have done and would have been." An awkward silence fell over the three as Ignitus sat with a far off look in his eyes, reliving the terrible moments that lead to the loss of the other Guardians.
"Wow… Sounds.. fun. I wanna hang out with this guy." Sparx said, in an attempt to lighten the mood of an already dread filled atmosphere. Spyro locked eyes with Ignitus, his tone questioning and determination burning in his eyes as he said, "Yea why did you give up? I just finally found out who I am and you tell me its all over? That I have no home or family or family left?" Spyro paused for a moment as he felt his anger course through him since he wanted to see his home and he wouldn't stop now or even become discouraged simply because of one dragon that felt fit to stay in his melancholy forever. Spyro barely held back the anger in his voice as he continued, "I've come too far to give up now! I wanna see where I came from and I wanna know about myself and how I fit into all of this!" Ignitus and even Sparx was shocked from the sheer determination and strength that flowed from each word. Sparx recovered enough to try to dissuade his brother.
"Hold up savior boy, were you not listening to this guy?" Sparx argued, "He's talking about flying dragons, war, and horrible… this is bad stuff alright? I dont know if we're hearing the same things here." Ignitus nodded and said, "Yes, Spyro, it's not as simple as that. Its true that the prophecies spoke of a purple dragon destined to put his mark on this age, but the prophecies did not foretell the devastation that surrounds us now." This didn't dissuade Spyro as he wasn't willing to back down and said, "Maybe you're right, but I'm willing to try. I want to take the first step!"
"Youre actually going to go along with this lunatic?" Sparx questioned. Before Spyro could retort Ignitus suddenly caved to Spyro's demands and said, "Very well then, We'll go. You deserve to see your beginning before it all ends." Ignitus then turned and proceeded deeper into the cave, leaving Spyro and Sparx to follow. As Sparx followed he said, "Am I the only sane one here? He's telling us we are doomed alright?" but Spyro didn't pay attention to him. With determination guiding his every step, Spyro proceeded onward determined to see his home and to reclaim it from the evils that lurked within.
(A/N) Don't forget to R&R everyone! Cya all in the next chapter of Rise of Hope!