…NOW!
That's right, people. This is where the main plot is set, and a character is brought ba- oh who am I kidding, you all saw the summary, you know its Malefor. But you don't know how he's brought back, so, you've got to read on to find out!
Oh yeah, I'm also keeping this story M rated. I didn't want to make people mad by suddenly switching to T. If I make a sequel I'll rate it T, but for now…
Disclaimer: Kratos is owned by Santa Monica, Spyro is now currently owned by Activision, and my mind and imagination is owned by me.
As the sun began to rise over the horizon, signaling a new day, its light hit a human with pale skin and chain-blades. And as the warmth began to wash over him, Kratos began to open his eyes.
His first thought was that he chose an idiotic place to sleep; he should have rested in a tree, where he wouldn't become an easy target. Then a second thought washed over him. He had no nightmares. For once in his life, after the horrible mistake, no visions had haunted his slumber. Kratos could only stare into the distance, lost in his thoughts.
The visions…they have finally ended…yet…why do I still feel this faint feeling of guilt?
The feeling wasn't of his family, it was of…others.
Kratos casted off this feeling easily. He then got up and looked into the distance. The mountain was maybe a few miles away, easily reachable. He charged up Hermes Boot's and, reaching speeds unfathomable to mortal standards, ran to the mountain.
Kratos reached the mountain in no time. Kratos looked up at the massive landmark. Its size was almost parallel to Mount Olympus itself. Knowing it was going to long time until he reached the Blade of Olympus, he sunk his blades into the rock and began to climb.
Many hours had passed, and Kratos was still scaling the large mountain. The sun had crawled overhead, but the heat was subdued by the whipping winds that threatened to pull him off the mountain. He still had not seen the Blade of Olympus, and he was nearing the top now. But strangely, the pull was only getting stronger…
Kratos pulled himself over the edge of the peak. There was a circular ring of rock around the vent he could stand on. Kratos looked around to see if he could find the Blade of Olympus, but it was still nowhere to be found. But yet, the pull was gravitating towards the middle…
Kratos let out a scowl. He should have known better. His luck was never fortunate. Yet as he neared the edge of the vent, he could still feel the Blade, so that meant that it wasn't destroyed. Though, for all he knew, it could lead down to a chamber full of magma, with the Blade submerged in it. It probably would, too.
Kratos put his hand over the vent, and felt a light stream of steam leave it. So if he had to, he could maybe use the Wings to ride the steam back out. Wasn't a fool-proof plan, but hey, it was still a plan. So he lifted on foot over the edge of the vent, leaving the other one grounded. And as he did so, he couldn't help but think of past words.
The gods of Olympus have abandoned me, he remembered, now there is no…
And with that he casted himself of the edge, falling, falling towards the center of the world.
How long did he fall? Minutes? Hours? Days? It did not matter to him. For Kratos, his only concern was that he didn't suddenly find himself submerged waist deep in magma. As the winds stretched his face and peeled back his lips, he could feel the Blade getting closer. Then, he saw it. A huge platform made of purple crystal, floating in the middle of a titanic cavern. With really no other place to go, he floated down to the platform.
When he landed, he looked around for the Blade. And, loe and behold, it was stuck a few feet away from him, seemingly having been impaled into the crystal. As he approached the Blade, he looked around for anything that would impede his progress, but nothing was there. That so, he placed his hand on the hilt of the Blade. The dormant blade then glowed a faint blue, showing it still had some power left.
Kratos put another hand on the hilt and began to pull. The Blade was becoming dislodged, with the crack where it was stuck glowing purple. Kratos pulled until he encountered a resistance, like it was being pulled back down. Kratos used his muscles and tugged, pulling it out a bit and releasing a circular blast of purple energy that knocked him back. But unbeknownst to Kratos, that blast had other effects as well…
(The Temple)
Things were quite normal at the temple. Terrador, Volteer, and Cyril were discussing projects and plans for rebuilding Warfang. Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx were there too, but just as formalities. Spyro knew that rebuilding Warfang was important, but he didn't want to do it like this. He wanted to actually go to Warfang and help the Moles rebuild, not just lay here and tell them how to rebuild it! He even requested to help the Moles build the Temple. But the Guardians wanted him here, with them. Cynder wanted to come along ("Maybe it won't be so boring with me around," she said), and Sparx…well, he had nothing better to do today.
So, all of them were either sitting or laying there (Excluding Sparx, who, of coarse, was flying), conversing amongst themselves, when-BLAM!- all the lit torches and braziers suddenly had their flames rise up a few feet.
"WHOA!" shouted Sparx, who promptly had a surprise crash landing. "What just happened?"
"I don't know," said Terrador. "Spyro, did you cause that?"
"No, Terrador," said Spyro, "I have no idea what just happened." Terrador stroked his chin.
"Mmmm…this is suspicious…what do you think, Volteer?"
"Well, even though this seems like an extraordinary random event, I can assure you, there are many explanations. Number 1: Spyro did cause it, but doesn't know he did. Number 2…"
As Volteer went on a rant of possible explanations, Cynder looked out the glass-less window to see a peculiar sight.
"Spyro," she whispered. Said drake looked at her.
"What, Cynder?" he asked.
"Was steam always coming out of Mt. Malefor?" she said, pointing at the mountain where they defeated Malefor. True to what she said, steam was coming out the top, going out into the twilight sky.
(Note: Mt. Malefor is not to be confused with the Well of Souls. Mt. Malefor is where Spyro and Cynder defeated Malefor. The Well of Souls is where Malefor's soul was released. Each shall be named abruptly.)
"I don't think so…" said Spyro, looking at the far off mountain, unaware of what was taking place inside it…
(Kratos)
The blast had knocked the Ghost of Sparta off his feet and into the air, but he didn't fall off the platform. Getting back up, Kratos went back to the Blade, except that when he approached it, something happened. A phantasmal dragon flew out of the crystal and roared, flying across the platform and spewing white fire onto it. Kratos dodged, but when he looked at the Blade, it was covered in the fire, but it would not vanish like the rest. Almost knowing it would be deadly if he touched it, he instead focused on more pressing matters.
He turned to the spirit, drawing out his Blades of Exile. Though mortal weapons could never touch it, his Hades-forged weapons could cut through the damned as easily as normal flesh. It roared at him, and Kratos roared back, challenging it to a duel. The specter accepted, and flew towards Kratos.
Imagine its surprise when the Ghost of Sparta's blades connected to the intangible being. They caused it pain, and caused it to take a crash. Kratos ran over to the soul, stabbing at it with his blades, making it wince in pain each time. Finally, with stab to the head, the soul relaxed, resting but not beaten. The flame around the sword disappeared, and Kratos toke this opportunity to try to pull it out again. But again he met resistance, and when he pulled it out to a certain point, it again released a blast of purple energy, knocking Kratos off his feet and unleashing a disaster upon the world…
(Temple)
Back at the Temple, Volteer was still talking (By the Gods, does he ever shut up?) about possibilities to the fires.
"Number 24: A magical backlash somehow affected all flames in the world by-"
"That's quite enough, Volteer," said Cyril, who had taken enough of Volteer's lecture.
Volteer got a sheepish look on his face. "I was rambling on again, wasn't I?" he asked. However, before anyone could respond, their attention was quickly grabbed by the sound of thunder outside. Looking out the empty-glass windows, they saw storm clouds come out of no where, lighting crackling between them. Suddenly, a downpour of rain came in through the windows and in seconds, everyone was drenched.
"Can anywhere explain where that came from?" Sparx asked as they exited to the hallway.
Volteer opened his mouth to explain it in very scientific terms, but a withering glace from Cyril caused him to close his trap.
(Kratos)
It seemed that the blast rejuvenated the spirit, for it immediately got up and began to battle again. It covered the Blade of Olympus in flames and flew up into the air, spewing flames at Kratos. Kratos rolled out the way, but the specter flew wildly around the platform, breathing fire this way and that. But when it lowered itself for a powerful attack, Kratos seized his chance and leapt and stabbed at it, leeching on. He continued to stab the sprit until it fell to the floor, resting and causing the flame to disappear again. Kratos ran to the Blade…
(The Temple)
The dragons were still shaking the water droplets off them when a third disaster struck. The ground started to shake, and loose bits of the ceiling came dropping down. Terrador knew what was happening.
"Earthquake!" Terrador shouted, as the ceiling overhead came down on them. Terrador raised a dome of earth around his fellow Guardians. However, Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx were left unprotected.
Spyro, desperate to protect his friends, shouted "Get close to me!" to Cynder and Sparx. As they did so, Spyro erected a dome of earth to protect his friends, something that was beyond his capabilities at the time. When the rubble had finally stopped falling, the Earth powered dragons broke their domes, with Terrador looking at Spyro with a face akin to pride. However, Sparx, as usual, broke the mood.
"Great. Just great." Sparx said, getting soaked by the rain. "Right when I'm about to get dry, this happens. Does Mother Nature just hate me today?"
"Sparx, we have more pressing matters to attend to," said Terrador.
"Your right, Terrador," said Volteer. "With this incident I'm afraid the completion of the Temple will be pushed back until a full analysis of the damage is taken."
Sparx looked at Spyro with a 'What the heck did he just say?' face.
"It'll take longer to build the Temple now," Spyro simplified for him.
Sparx rolled his eyes. "Why doesn't he just say so?"
As the Guardians rambled on, Spyro looked up at the open ceiling, which displayed the image of Mt. Malefor far out in the distance.
"What's next?" he asked himself. However, he would regret even thinking those words, as the unspeakable happened…
(Kratos)
The dragonic sprit fought even harder now. Kratos had the block and evade every other strike. He slashed at the spirit, but it wasn't going down as easily as the other times. It was like the spirit needed to defeat Kratos, or else something bad would happen. But this didn't matter to Kratos. He threw his two blades, impaling them into the ethereal flesh. He pulled back, straining to pull the specter down. Kratos closed his eyes and tugged one more time, feeling the blades come toward him and…nothing. He opened his eyes to find that his enemy had simply vanished. The fire around the Blade of Olympus was gone, so it must have been defeated.
Kratos pulled on the Blade, almost having it completely out… when a force dragged it all the way back into the crystal again. Not one to be denied, Kratos pulled with all his might. As he was, it seemed he was drawing in the energies inside it, making him stronger. Finally, with a final tug, he wrenched the Blade free of the stone. He put it in his inventory and looked at the way out of there. However, something from the crystal caught his attention. The crack where the Blade had been began to expand and widen, and in it glowed purple energy. Sensing the energy was about to explode, he put his Blades of Exile between him and the crack, to block whatever was coming.
His prediction was correct, as the energy exploded and a large silhouetted figure came out of the crack, flying upward. The blast knocked Kratos of his feet, but using his instincts, he rode the blast upward using his Wings. However, it wasn't easy getting out, as he had to avoid large chunks of rock that flew down at him.
As he was nearing the top, Kratos saw the large figure, but could only make out its shape in the steam. So, pulling out the Blade of Olympus, Kratos approached the being. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as their faces meet. It was purple, though a darker shade than the one he had seen in the temple. Its head had three horns, two at the side and one on top. Its reptilian eyes were wide open in confusion.
"What the fu-" However, before it could finish, Kratos lopped off its top horn (admittedly, he was aiming for its neck, but his aim was thrown off by the rising steam). The horn flew out of the vent, where they were fast approaching. The beast flew straight up, hovering over the volcano and sprouting words that could be heard for miles around. However, Kratos did not stay to hear them. The steam had completely melted the feathers off the Wings, leaving him flightless. As gravity took hold of him, he braced himself for impact…
(The Temple)
As if no time had pasted at all, the dragons felt the ground rumble, though at a lesser extant than last time.
"Aftershock?" asked Volteer. Terrador shrugged his shoulders. However, they're attention was grabbed by what was happening at the mountain. They saw a figure rise above the steam and couldn't believe what they saw.
"No…" whispered Spyro, his voice filled with fear. "Not him…" His prayers to the Ancestors had gone unanswered, and the nightmares he had been having for months came true. He was back again.
"I am free once more!" Malefor, the Dark Master, shouted, and flew off to start a new reign of darkness.
(Kratos)
Kratos was bouncing off the side of the mountain, breaking rock with each hit. After a while, he finally landed on a rocky platform sticking out of the mountain. Though no normal man could have survived that, Kratos was a Spartan and a killer of the gods, and got up without much trouble. He looked out at the distance, rain trailing down his bone white body. Maybe with the Blade, he could find a way to return home. He spread his Wings… only to discover that all the feathers had melted off, leaving only the cast behind. He tossed it to the ground and began to walk to the edge of the platform. However, more Orcs popped out of the ground to face him. He took his Blades of his back, only to discover that they too where destroyed. Putting them back, he pulled out the Blade of Olympus.
Sudden anger took a hold on him, along with him seeing in a taint of purple, and he rushed towards his enemies. He stabbed one in the stomach and swiped up, tearing it in half from the waist up. He stabbed another in the head, forcing bits of brain out. Again and again, he preformed brutal acts on the Grublins, and when he was done, no part of them could be recognized. As he calmed down, he inspected the Blade more closely. To his surprise, it was no longer a light blue, but a dark purple, like the energy he had seen. Deciding to ponder on it at a latter date, he put it back in his inventory. Before he could leave the scene, however, he heard a sound coming from behind him. He turned around to see…
(The White Isle)
At the White Isle, there lives a lone dragon. Few know of him, and even fewer believe. He has bright blue scales and goes by the title 'The Chronicler'. However, it wasn't always like this. His name was once Ignitus, Fire Guardian and mentor of the purple dragon Spyro. He had died getting them across the Ring of Annihilation, but his sprit was saved by the previous Chronicler, who chose him as his successor. And as the months rolled by, he watched Spyro and Cynder's progress, wanting to see the young dragons, but knew that as the new Chronicler, he had a job to do.
It was a normal day for him. He organized books, read about the lives of some dragons, and checked up on Spyro. He knew he shouldn't still cling to Spyro like this, but he had a sort of special connection to the young drake…
Suddenly, all his torches' flames leapt a foot in the air. Ignitus leapt back at this sight.
"What was that?" he asked himself. He looked in his books for an answer, but while he was doing that, he noticed the sky outside had gone stormy for no reason. However, in a short while, another disaster struck. The ground began to shake, knocking many books off the shelf. After it stopped, Ignitus opened a portal to gaze at what was causing the problem. It opened up to an image of Mt. Malefor.
"What's going on?" he thought. Then he saw it. Malefor, rising out of the mountain top! But, wait, what was this? Ignitus zoomed onto the small figure going down the mountain and stopping on a ridge. Ignitus closed this image and prepared to open up a more direct approach…
(Kratos)
He turned around to see a large cluster of green crystals rise out of the ground, like the one he saw in the Catacombs. However, even more amazing, a dragon's head appeared above it.
"Spyro? Cynder? Is that you?" asked the dragon. Again, that name: Cynder. Kratos approached the crystal, broken blades in each hand.
"I am neither," Kratos responded to the blue scaled dragon.
When the head turned to face Kratos, it's eyes nearly popped out of it's sockets.
"Holy Ancestors! Who-What are you?"
Kratos crossed his arms. "I might ask you the same question."
The dragon took a breath and said, "I am the Chronicler, recorder of dragon history for nearly all of its time."
Satisfied with it's answer, Kratos answered back.
"I am Kratos, Ghost of Sparta and Slayer of the Gods of Olympus."
The Chronicler looked confused. "Olympus…is that where you're from? I have never heard of such a place."
Kratos scoffed. "It is in another world, though I do not now how to get back. I was transported to this world without my consent."
The Chronicler rubbed his chin. "Mmmm…well, Kratos, I may be able to help you if you answer me this: do you know what released Malefor? A big purple dragon?"
As a Spartan, Kratos was taught not to lie, so he answered truthfully. "I'm afraid that I have accidently released him getting the Blade of Olympus."
The Chronicler was shocked, to say the least.
"What! Do you know what you have done? You have doomed the world once again! But wait…" he inspected Kratos more closely. "You look capable. Maybe you could help defeat him. You owe me this."
"I owe you nothing!" shouted Kratos.
The Chronicler thought it over. "Okay, how about this: if you help defeat Malefor, I'll help you get home. Deal?"
Kratos scuffed at this. "Similar adversaries have said similar things, and only betrayed me in the end. How do I know you will hold up to your end?"
While the Chronicler chewed this over, he eyes fell on Kratos' broken blades. He suddenly had an idea.
"Show me your blades," he said. Hesitantly, Kratos held his blades to the crystal. The Chronicler closed his eyes, and the blades began to glow blue. When the light faded, Kratos beheld a pleasant surprise. The blades had been repaired, and had changed design: the hilts were now dragon heads, and it was silver with blue glyphs.
"I give you the Chronicler's Claws as pre-payment for our deal."
Kratos did not like the name. It felt like he was a finger on the paw of the Chronicler, swiping with the Claws. So instead, he dubbed them the Blades of Fury, for the incident he had moments ago.
"Than it is agreed," Kratos said. "Malefor will be defeated, and you will take me back."
"Agreed," said the Chronicler. "Also, I gave the Claws the power to slow time, though not forever. This will hopefully help on your quest."
As the image faded, the Chronicler shouted one more thing.
"Go forth, Kratos, with the Fury of the Dragons!"
When his image faded completely, Kratos sheathed his blades and looked out to the dark horizon. The journey would be long, and the destination far off, but he would get there, no matter what the cost would be.
Dark Odyssey
Dark Odyssey- Release Malefor and truly start your journey.
Finally, done with this chapter! As you noticed, some things have changed: Kratos no longer has Icarus' Wings, the Blade of Olympus is now purple, and the Blades of Exile have become the Blades of Fury. Keep this in mind please.
The next chapter will revolve solely on Spyro and Cynder, to make up for how little they have appeared so far. So no Kratos next chap.
Review, or you will not live to see the end of this day!