(A/N) I know that I said that I would not be able to post for a good week, but I've had time in the 14 hour drive(Seriously, It was a pain in the ass to sit there for 14 hours straight.) and I was able to get my next chapter done. I'd usually promise another by tomorrow but truthfully I have no idea. Other than that awful drive, it has been amazing for my trip! We headed for D.C. and it's been near non stop touring. Later we have a baseball game to go to and then hopefully I'll have some peace and quiet. But anyways I'm rambling, without further ado here is the next chapter of Rise of Hope!
A scream threw Spyro back from the endless nightmare that his mind had created and into harsh reality as he realized that the approaching spiders were about to rip them both to shreds. As the absolute hopelessness of the situation beared down on him, another voice that sounded completely foreign to him spoke inside his mind. "Have you fought to the very last breath? Are you going to give up after all the fighting and distance you had gone?" Spyro suddenly registered shock as he felt a strength well up within his body and pervade every sense of his being. Spyro rose to the sky without the use of his wings as time slowed down and then he heard the voice again. "You are not giving up now, and you will fight to the last drop of blood in your body! Now, show them their error in attacking you and unleash the fury that is contained within hell's raging inferno!" Spyro then felt the energy flowing through every inch of his body suddenly yearning for release. Spyro obliged and released the energy contained within him, unleashing a brilliant wave of fire that swept through the battlefield. As the firestorm engulfed the battlefield, the spiders that were charging him were almost immediately turned into ash. The fire showed no remorse as it torched the living and dead alike, turning the countless bodies that littered the battlefield into nothing more than dust and ash. As the firestorm died and the raging flames were extinguished, the voice spoke once more.
"Good, learn to master the dragon's fury that lies within you and nothing will be able to withstand the magnificent blaze that roars within the heart of every dragon." Spyro nodded as he slowly floated downward towards the ground. As Spyro finally landed on the earth he had multiple questions for the voice, but they had to wait as the moment he touched ground an unforeseen wave of weariness crashed onto him. As his strength was ripped away, his vision began to darken and he attempted to fight it and continue through the chambers but it was a fruitless resistance. His fatigue finally managed to force him to succumb to the darkness that now covered his vision.
Sparx remained in shock by the turn of events that had lead to his brother being an unconscious heap on the floor. He had believed that they were going to die to the poisonous bite of the attacking spiders and in his panic never noticed that Spyro had floated off the ground. He finally noticed Spyro floating off the ground and gawked as he watched flames grow out of thin air and gather around Spyro, shielding him from view and growing brighter with each passing second. When the spiders seemed to be inches from reaching Spyro's shield of flames before it suddenly erupted in a fiery blast, flaring brightly and causing Sparx to shield his eyes from the flames. He felt the flames wash over him but they didn't burn, they seemed warm and comforting as they passed him and crashed against the walls of the chamber. Sparx stared in awe as he watched the chamber have ash float towards the ground, creating a scene that was as hauntingly beautiful as it was devastating. Sparx focused on Spyro once he saw him collapsed on the ground, the ash dappling his scales with their grayish tint. As Sparx flew closer, his face was riddled with worry as he expected the worst but that quickly turned to relief as he noticed Spyro's side slowly rise and fall in a slow rhythm. Sparx reached Spyro's face and then began to attempt to wake him up. He first tried to wake him up by smacking his snout over and over again but he didn't even flinch from the smacks, due to Sparx not being able to get much of a punch to his hits and to the size of Spyro compared to him. Sparx then rose to one of his ears and began shouting at him.
"Spyro! Wake up! We need to get moving cause if we don't we are going to be spider food!" Upon hearing these words, Spyro began to stir. Taking this as a positive sign, Sparx continued to shout at the unconcsious dragon in an attempt to bring him back to consciousness. After several minutes of shouting and at the limits of his strained vocal cords, Sparx finally managed to wake Spyro from his unconscious state. As Spyro struggled to wakefulness, he could hear someone but that quickly died away as he looked around the chamber. Spyro was confused for a moment, as all he registered was the unnnatural tiredness in his body as he looked around the room before it all suddenly came rushing back to him. Ignitus, the Temple, and the battles all flashed through Spyro's mind as he ran through his memories again to remind himself why he was there. Spyro shivered as he remembered his near death at the hands of the spiders that were inhabiting this cave before he unleashed some sort of power, a dragon's fury is what the voice called it, that completely wiped out all of the attackers with alarming efficiency and speed. As he remembered the voice Spyro wondered where the voice came from. It obviously wasn't any voice that he had ever heard in his life, he knew that for sure, so he had to wonder whether the source was real or not. It was possible that it was something that he made to gather courage and to unleash that blast of fire, Spyro concluded. But before he could think on this any further, Sparx decided to get his attention.
"Spyro! What the hell was that!? One wouldn't move for anything and the next you exploded in a fireball and destroyed the place! What happened man?" Spyro winced slightly as he listened to his brother express his anger and worry.
"I have no idea Sparx, one moment I thought I was a goner and the next it just happened." Spyro replied, not willing to admit to him that he followed the instructions of a voice in his mind that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and caused him to unleash a firestorm.
"When we get a chance Spyro, we are going to have to figure out just what happened and what else is going to happen. This is just too weird, especially considering that just a few days ago I was wondering why you had wings when you couldn't even fly properly." Sparx admitted, while Spyro couldn't help but agree with him. Everything has changed so quickly and he had no idea what to do about it. He was told that he was a prophesized dragon that'll make a mark on history, but he didn't know what to do that could make a mark or if he even wanted to make one. Spyro sighed before attempting to get back to the task at hand. He had to continue through the tunnel and make sure that it was clear so they could finally enter the Temple. As Spyro pulled himself onto his feet, he nearly collapsed again as his protesting body which was tired beyond belief. He had no choice but to continue on, against the protests of his body. He slowly walked down the next tunnel, hoping that this lead back to Ignitus and not to more creatures to fight. While he wasn't hurt immensely, a few bruises from the chaotic melee, he knew that he was too tired to fight properly. He could barely walk without his paws demanding to rest each time he took a step. If Spyro encountered any more enemies, he knew that he most likely wouldn't be able to win. As he neared the tunnels end he saw that it would open up into a far larger chamber than the others that he had gone through. Spyro hesitated at the end of the tunnel, still sheltered within it's protective shadow. He couldn't poke his head out to check the chamber without most likely being spotted and from where he was it was impossible to see most of the chamber since the tunnel came in at an angle that allowed most of the chamber to remain out of view. Spyro steeled himself as he tried to keep himself from inventing new horrors that could be in the chamber ahead. In a rare moment of clarity, he shook away the thoughts and prepared to meet the problem head on. Ignoring the weakness in his body from the exhaustion that he has given himself no time to recover from, Spyro burst from the tunnel with claws ready to tear any resistance to shreds. Instead what he met was a surprised Ignitus, who seemed to have been waiting for him.
"Spyro, you've made it. I was growing worried since it had been a while since the door had opened but I didn't see a single trace of you when I walked inside." Ignitus said, the traces of a smile seeming to grace his face. Spyro couldn't help but smile slightly himself, glad that he wasn't completely focused on how hopeless the situation was. Spyro then decided to ask a question that he hoped the guardian would be able to answer, but he couldn't ask it yet as his brother was still in the room and would most likely write it off as something that Spyro simply made up in his head during his panic. Ignitus noticed the confusion written on his face and was beginning to ask Spyro what the issue was before suddenly being interrupted by the apprearance of multiple apes. Spyro immediately tensed himself as he prepared for the upcoming brawl but suddenly his legs, having their exhaustion ignored for far too long, decided that they would not work anymore and he felt himself collapse onto his side as he struggled to make his protesting muscles listen to him. Ignitus watched the young dragon struggle for a few moments before he felt his own anger and determination well up inside of him. He could stand aside no longer and continue to mope in his pity. Ignitus didn't know how, but Spyro had instilled within him confidence and pride again. He'll finally begin his attempt to return some pride from his failure years ago and protect Spyro to the best of his ability.
"Spyro, stay where you are for this. I'll show you exactly how a guardian handles a battle." Spyro watched as Ignitus positioned himself between him and the apes. The apes, which numbered at least 20 or more, laughed at the larger dragon and their leader decided to taunt him.
"Cynder will be pleased to know that we have found you. You won't escape and we will enjoy beating your miserable body into the dirt. We can't wait to see how much of a price your wings will catch with Cynder." The apes grinned and laughed with their leader as he continued his attempts to demoralize Ignitus. Ignitus simply ignored them as he prepared himself for battle. After some more threats and taunts, the leader suddenly stopped and let out a howl as the apes rushed the dragon. Spyro gasped as he watched Ignitus faced down the horde and as soon as they had gotten close, he unleashed a wall of flames from his maw that swept over the apes. While some had managed to escape the blaze, all of the apes closest to Ignitus were burned to a crisp as the apes closer to the back of the group jumped out of the way of the flames but didn't escape unharmed. Many of the surviving apes had burns now covering various parts of their body. The leader, who had lead the charge, was nothing more than bones and ash from the devastating inferno and this caused the other apes to hesitate as a few attempted to encircle the dragon. At this hesitation Ignitus swung his tail at the apes attempting to encircle him and sliced their bodies into various pieces as blood, guts, and bits of flesh and bone flew from his precise and deadly strikes. His tail eliminated the apes at his sides with at a surprising speed that shocked the other apes. As the apes stood there in shock, one of them seemed to suddenly gather his courage and charged recklessly at the dragon with his comrades suddenly jumping into the pursuit. Ignitus raked his claws through their ranks, cutting them down without mercy as he also shot his head forward with lightning strikes to various apes as he ripped away heads from their bodies or limbs from their sockets. He sliced through the attacking force rather quickly and was left with a few apes here and there that lost all sense of duty and fled from the draconic killing machine.
"That Spyro, is the strength that we Guardians possess." Ignitus said as Spyro looked on in shock. He had ripped through them with seemingly no difficulty and he was surprised that someone like him could be beaten. This thought caused Spyro's blood to run cold as he imagined the strength of their leader, Cynder. Cynder had taken down 3 of the Guardian and had lead an army to conquer the islands, he could only imagine the amount of power that this dark nightmare commanded. Ignitus ripped Spyro away from his waking nightmare when he turned to him and said, "Are you alright Spyro? You collapsed and seem to be having trouble getting back up." Spyro shook away the monster haunting his mind and said, "No, I'm alright Ignitus. I'm just a bit exhausted from the fighting. I'll be alright, we still have to clear the temple."
"No Spyro, I doubt that you will be able to continue the fighting for the temple. Rest here since it's clear for now and I'll be able to clear the rest of the temple." Ignitus didn't wait for a reply as he turned and exited through the doorway behind them deeper into the temple and leaving Spyro to his own devices.
"At least the big guy is finally doing something instead of moping about and we can get some good sleep." Sparx said as he settled himself on Spyro's horn. While Spyro didn't want to admit it, he could desperately use the rest and it was likely that he wouldn't get any more for quite a while. Spyro curled in on himself and tried to get some rest on the broken floor as the sounds of battle drifted past the broken doorway. As he slowly drifted off to an uneasy sleep, his mind deemed it fit to remind him of the many nightmarish creatures that plague his mind.
The scenes of devastation were everywhere. His home and the dragonfly village were burning to the ground and giving light to the destruction all around. Spyro couldn't move, only watch as the screams of those trapped inside reached him but he couldn't move from his spot no matter how hard he tried. As he struggled against the invisible chains that held him to the ground, he heard a sickening crunch behind him. He whipped his head around quickly but couldn't catch the source of the noise. Whatever had held him at that moment decided to give way, allowing him the chance to move toward the source of the noise. As he came closer, the crunching got louder and soon seemed to be all around him. As he turned the corner of another building into the town square, he was horrified at what he saw. He saw Ignitus who had his stomach ripped open and various gaping wounds littering his whole body with various bits of bone poking through the horrendous damage. His skull seemed to have been partially crushed with one eye left wide open in absolute terror. Even in his horror, Spyro could hear another crunching sound and now could identify where it came from. A figure rose from behind the corpse, scales dark as night and constantly shifting almost like shadows. The eyes were white and dead of all emotion and the wings seemed to span the area of the square and was easily enough to envelop him in their dark embrace. As it's eyes focused on Spyro, he could feel the bloodlust and glee rolling of the creature in waves at the prospect of a new victim. Spyro could only stare, rooted in terror as the dark monster wrapped it's wings around Spyro and shrouded him in suffocating darkness. The last thing Spyro felt was something wrapping around his body and slowly crushing him in an unnatural grip.
(A/N) Scary stuff am I right? Even before setting off on his quest, the pressure is already hitting him hard. Hopefully I'll be able to get another chapter off in a few days, so cya later with the next installment of Rise of Hope!