CHAPTER 11

Jerrath stepped into the foyer of the building, his tail swishing nervously as it always did in situations like this. The room was overgrown with dark crystals, and these strange black tentacles streaked across the walls randomly. Here, there were also bodies of brave but foolish soldiers littering the floor, their shattered armor and weapons matched the broken frames around him. As he stepped further into the room the tentacles took notice and quickly jumped off the wall. They appeared to be made of dark energy as they whipped and slashed at Jerrath. It only took one painful, energy draining slash to teach him to avoid those things. He tried to flame them but it was only marginally effective. as soon as he killed one, three more appeared to replace them. Soon he was surrounded by the snake like energy bands as they wrapped themselves around his forepaws before he could react. He felt the energy leaving his body as more of them began to approach, trying to devour what little life energy he had left.

His vision was fading...he fought to keep from blacking out. He heard Ignitus' voice in his head as he still tried to fight off these things.

'Young dragon, now is the time for you to unleash the fire within your soul! Use the fire fury attack!'

Jerrath concentrated and a ball of fire erupted from the pile of dark snakes. It expanded and burned all of them until he was free of their energy draining clutches. He looked around gasping for breath.

'Quickly Jerrath! Ria awaits her rescue!' Ignitus said, spurring him onward through the next door. Once passed the doorway, it slammed shut behind him. He yelped in surprise as it had almost nicked his tail. Rubbing his tail tip as if it had been hurt, he cautiously observed his surroundings. There were more dead dragons in this room, and a pedestal made of dark crystals, on top of which, sat a purple flame. The door sat a few feet behind it. Seeing no dark energy tentacles or any other kind of enemy, he stepped passed the pedestal, being sure not to turn his back on it as he finally reached the door. As he went to open it, it didn't budge. He pushed harder but to no avail. While he struggled with the door, small embers jumped out of the purple flame and made their way toward the fallen guards. All five embers bounced onto the decease's foreheads and burned through their scales and into their brain as if they had a mind of their own. after a few seconds, the eyes of the dead shot open, glowing the same dark color as the flame from which the embers had spawned. They slowly began to get to their feet.

Jerrath still couldnt open the door, no matter how hard he pulled. He stepped back from the door to examine it for a weakness when he heard the clang of armor from behind him.

He slowly turned his head in fear. He knew he was the only one in the room...

The bodies of those dead dragons began to shuffle slowly towards him, the wounds that killed them still oozing blood onto the floor.

He backed up until he was against the door, paralyzed with terror.

'Dont be afraid Jerrath! Remember your training!' Cynder's voice rang into his head.

He snapped out of his daze and assumed a battle stance. He lunged at the first zombie, using his back legs to drop kick him into the pedestal, lighting it on fire. It flailed around on the floor as it burned, Jerrath turned his attention to the next four. One jumped at him, its foreclaws ready to slice him to ribbons. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the claws of his attacker and rolled onto his back, flinging him across the room and crashing into a wall. He sprang up, his confidence at its highest level. He smirked in a way to rival Spyro himself and waited for the other three to attack.

all of them emmited a stream of dark fire in retaliation. He flapped his wings and dodged the hellfire as he returned the heat, incinerating two of the attackers, leaving only one left.

Jerrath slowly landed and glared at his final opponent. He stepped around him as his attacker did the same. they circled the room until the zombie stopped. Jerrath did as well, wondering what his adversary had planned. His attacker slowly wrapped his tail around a spear behind him, without Jerrath noticing as he was focused on his face, which had a rather large gash in it, with bits of brain exposed, obviously his fatal wound. In a flash, he flicked the spear out of his tail and sent it speeding toward Jerrath. He had milliseconds to act. It missed his head by inches, but he had forgotten to fold his wing behind him, the spear ripping through his sensitive young sails and pinning it to a wall.

His enemy charged him, ready to cut him to pieces. He gritted his teeth and ripped the spear out of his wing and thrust it forward through the skull of the zombie. It dropped limply to the floor, a little bit of its blood splattering onto his face. It was strange, even though dragons were cold blooded, the blood on his face was cold, like ice. This guard had met his creator long before Jerrath showed up.

The door that had been so resistant before slowly creaked open, as if a gentle breeze blew it open. He stepped over the body and left the room. The next room was a hallway, at the end of which was a large door, made entirely of dark crystal, as if it had grown around it like an unkempt vine. He walked slowly down the hallway, not knowing what to expect, as his conventional understanding of the world around was pretty much thrown out of the window when he was attacked by the living dead a room earlier. As he got halfway down the length of the corridor, the torches lighting the way blew out, as if snuffed out by a cold winters wind. Pitch darkness enveloped him as the crystal began to glow a hypnotizing hue of purple. He was strangely drawn to it, it was like nothing he had ever felt. Then, appearing at the crystal door was a purple dragoness, her gold horns and scales shown in what he knew was no visible light. She began to sing as soon as she appeared, and what graced his ears was so beautiful, he had to fight the urge to fall to his knees and cry. It was true joy and peace in musical form. He had to be near it, he wanted to be as close to it as he could for all eternity. His thoughts of Ria, his mission, and Malefor all faded into a distant dream as he unconsciously stepped forward. After a few strides, he was mere feet away from the source of this truly wonderful voice. He was basking in her glow as well as her serenade, coming within inches of her revealing her face, which had been obscured by the a thin billowing gold cloth around her elegant shoulders.

'Jerrath dont touch her!'

Spyro's voice in his head stopped his forepaw from touching the cloth, but it was too late. The singing abruptly stopped and was replaced by an incapacitating screech. The thin gold cloth now torn away to reveal the hideous face of something that could only be spawned from dark magic. Rows upon rows of jagged teeth with twisted deformed horns, and a face that he was sure would haunt his dreams for years to come. Its eyes were blood red, and even bled themselves as it reached its claws out to claim Jerrath's very soul.

As she shot her claw out to his chest, he was somehow able to push himself away with his back legs and tail just out of her reach.

'You have to show it its reflection! Thats the only way to kill a siren!' Spyro said invading his mind once more, and taking his mind of the still ear piercing shriek, if only for a moment.

He looked around while trying in vain to sheild his head with his wings from the terrible sound. It was as if his very life force was being drained out through his ears. He saw that there was nothing in the hallway to help him except the dark crystals growing out of the room. He grimaced as he knew what had to be done.

He sprang to his feet and smashed one of them with his tailtip. Luckily for him a rather sizeable shard landed near him. He took it in both paws as it burned his scales and smoke rose from his hands. Gritting his teeth, he raised the shard to the siren as she lunged at him. she saw her reflection and began to his and wail, crashing through the crystal and onto Jerrath. Smoke rose from its body as it stumbled off of him, and staggered a few paces passed him down the hallway before melting into a pile of bones and blood, shrieking still as she did.

He had a massive headache thanks to that thing, but since the unbearable noise had ceased, he felt as though he could go on. He looked onto what he prayed was the final door, where he could confront Malefor, and save his sister. Bravely he stepped forward as the crystal doors opened by themselves, and flooded the hallway with light, blinding him as he entered the Grand elder's chambers.

This was it.

Obscenely short, yes but the next chap will be longer! and I believe after this chap there are only about 3 more to go! and this will be no hollywood ending, that much I can promise! (mine never seem to be that anyway) thanks for reading, cya!