Humanity's Finest
Part 2: Chapter 7
As he landed on the ground Spyro surveyed his surroundings as much as he could. Sparx hovering beside him scratched the side of his head with a confused look. Before them lay two passageways. The left side was slightly illuminated, an obvious sign that someone was there. The right side was covered in darkness and you wouldn't be able to see unless you had a light source with you.
Sparx glanced between the two passageways before turning to Spyro. "So... do we go down the path where there's light? Or the one where we won't be able to see in front of us?" He whispered questionably to his brother, giving the purple dragon an expectant look while waiting patently for an answer.
It didn't take Spyro long to make a choice. He went down the left tunnel as that was the obvious and safest choice. If there was light then chances are there is a camp sight there.
"So...you're going down the tunnel with the light?" Questioned the dragonfly. When Spyro didn't reply Sparx shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent look adding lowly, "Of course, ignore the dragonfly. His opinions don't matter in these situations." before he flew after the purple dragon.
It didn't take them long to find the source. The light was brightest when they came upon a corner and when they peeked over, the two found a crudely built camp sight with a camp-fire in the middle. Along with the camp-fire there's several torches around the camp sight lighting up its surroundings. The camp was empty which was suspicious.
He needed to know if there was anyone around and if there were if they were friendly or not. If only there was someone small around then he could go over there and scout... around... As that thought came to mind Spyro's face became expressionless before he slowly turned to look at Sparx who was staring ahead cautiously.
"So...an abandoned camp ahead with a burning camp fire. There is no way that is suspicious." Sparx rhetorically said as he nodded sagely to himself. "Yep. Nothing suspicious here. What's the plan, bro?"
Spyro arched a scaled eyebrow. "Well, I was thinking of asking you to scout ahead. Seeing as you're the smallest one here you'd be perfect for scouting out the area." The purple dragon answered as he brought his gaze back on the camp sight.
"Good point- Hey wait a minute! Why do I have to be the one!?"
Spyro looked at his brother with an 'I just told you' look. But he justified his reasons again for Sparx's benefit. After retelling the dragonfly the reason Sparx huffed in annoyance before agreeing. "Alright I'll go and scout ahead," Then his face brightened. "I'm the smallest of the both of us, and no offense to you bro, but your size and weight would alert pretty much everyone."
Spyro shot Sparx an irritated look at the jab on his height and weight. Chuckling under his breath at getting under Spyro's skin, the dragonfly flew to the camp as quickly as he could. Thanks to the light coming from the fire, the natural glow that constantly radiated off of Sparx was hidden once he was in range. So as long as he stayed out of sight, but close to the light coming off of the camp fire he was practically invisible. Flying over the tents Sparx peeked his head through each of them one by one. All of them were empty but still had contents inside such as swords, shields and crudely made bombs that he and Spyro were familiar with when they were against the apes during Cynder's reign and during the eternal night. This led Sparx to believe everyone either got up and left their camp in a hurry, abandoning everything in the process, or they went somewhere and are going to come back soon.
Frowning thoughtfully Sparx went to find anything else that would tell him and Spyro where the occupants of the camp had gone. The contents were still here so there was a high chance they would come back sooner or later. Sparx then flew up as to get a better view of his surroundings, to see if he had missed anything or overlooked in his search. He double checked every place he looked leaving no corner unseen. This time he had a reason to be paranoid as there are possible apes and walking corpses waiting in hiding for someone to pass by. The probability of Spyro ambushed unaware until they were on top of him being very high.
Minutes later Sparx went back to Spyro and told him that the camp was completely empty and there was no one around; he also told his adoptive brother to keep his guard up just in case since he could be wrong.
For once Spyro agreed with no complaints.
Moving up cautiously Spyro kept an eye on his surroundings, and when he eventually reached the middle of the camp and saw that he wasn't ambushed he lowered his guard a little.
"So, no apes, and no walking dead. Where'd they go if they're not here?" Sparx questioned rubbing his chin with a mild curious look as he surveyed his surroundings again.
Spyro gave Sparx an dragon equivalent of a shrug. "Maybe this used to be a forward outpost for those who were in the warehouse and the rest of them are up ahead?"
"If that's true then we need to keep the amount of noise we make to a minimum. Who knows how many of them there are in this place? There could be an army for all we know!"
"I know that. Which is why we're not going to engage them unless we have absolutely no choice in the matter." Spyro said patently. Giving the camp another look over Spyro shifted his gaze to the dragonfly and with a quick gesture of his head to follow, he moved further down the tunnel that thankfully had torches on the walls as a light source.
Sparx was relieved by that. Normally Spyro would face off against an army that outnumbered them 5 to 1. Sure he would win but he felt that was purely out of luck. And Spyro normally didn't have a choice in the matter either. And since he was going up against an army of apes and dead people, well, he didn't want to think of the possible outcome of that. The apes, when they were nothing more but skeletons, cursed by the Dark Master to wonder the planet for all time, they were difficult to put down for good because they just kept getting back up after they were blown to smithereens. Eventually Spyro and Cynder became so frustrated they wouldn't stay the fuck down that his adopted brother literally incinerated them until they were nothing but ashes. Then he pissed on their remains – figuratively speaking of course – before he and Cynder moved on.
Cynder found the whole thing hilarious, even if she was frustrated they wouldn't stay down. She was smiling with unhidden glee the entire time Spyro incinerated their bony asses. He was tried but satisfied afterwards. But then they had to fight more of them...yeah...lets just say Sparx knew not to bring up the skeletal apes around them otherwise he would have ended up pissing both Spyro and Cynder off. He'd never been so scared in his life at the destruction. He was sure the landscape around them was reshaped with the amount of destruction they caused in their rampage.
As they went deeper in the tunnel the brothers began to notice the atmosphere was getting colder and colder. Even the torches when they went beside them in an attempt to get warmer didn't stay the cold. Oddly enough they never went out and Spyro knew from experience that fire's don't burn if they're in cold areas unless you have a shit ton of things to burn. He found it odd that the torches are still burning brightly through this cold. It didn't seem natural. At all.
Moving further down the two brothers noticed steam coming out of their mouth every time they breathed out; the cold was beginning to get even worse and the torches were still burning. Now Spyro began to suspect that the coldness here was not natural. Sparx like usual thought nothing of it, even going as far as to ignore the glaringly obvious burning torches that didn't seem to radiate heat anymore.
Spyro being the perspective one of the two did; he glared at the torches on both walls with suspicion. Still he moved on. They needed to know where this tunnel led them and report back to Terrador with their findings. A few minutes of walking later and the cold was beginning to affect them. Teeth clattering Sparx breathed hot air into his hands before he rubbed his arms to heat himself up. Spyro did something a little more creative: he used his flame breath to burn a unlit torch and with a source of heat warming them Sparx was more than willing to let Spyro carry it.
...What? He's a firefly. He may have arms but that doesn't mean he can hold and carry things twice his size! That's Spyro's job.
"T-this c-cold ain't n-n-natural." Sparx stammered, pressing his hands close to the fire to heat himself up.
"I kfnw. I's wred. (I know. It's weird.)" Spyro let out a muffled reply. "Thre hs gt to be an explintin for ths. (There has got to be an explanation for this.)"
"W-w-w-well let's keep on going. C-c-c-c-can't ke-e-e-ep Terrador waiting on-n-n us." Sparx stammered out as his teeth clattered loudly together.
As they went through the tunnels, the two brothers found more and more passageways in front of them the deeper they went. Whenever they went in a new one, they looked back and were relieved to see the tunnel they came out of was just the one. That made things easier when they eventually had to go back. They had to backtrack out of several tunnels they walked in when they found out the hard way it is caved in. Spyro didn't use his earth powers to remove the rubble because he didn't want to risk another cave in when he did remove it. He didn't know how stable these connection of tunnels were. That and he still had a torch in his mouth.
After wasting several more minutes backtracking out of the caved in tunnels' the two brothers went through the last one that was not caved in. To their suspicion the walls looked fresh, like it was recently disturbed.
Spyro and Sparx shared a look before continuing on cautiously. Coming out of the passage way the two found another room that had a crudely made camp in the middle. Unlike the previous one however this one was occupied. By those strangely mutated apes and the rotten corpses of the walking dead.
Frowning at the large amount of enemies Spyro set the torch in his mouth on the ground and quietly put the fire out. He didn't want them to notice him after all. Sparx the moment the dragonfly saw the corpses' and apes covered his mouth and nose when the telling smell of decay reached his nose. He almost retched in disgust at the smell as it was worse here than it was on the surface. Heck on the surface you could barely smell the decay.
Wanting to know just what they were up against Spyro slowly looked at Sparx with a unreadable look. Sparx at first didn't notice. Then he felt someone was staring at him so he turned and found his half-brother looking at him with an undecipherable look. It unnerved him to say the least.
The golden dragonfly looked at Spyro questionably, wanting to know why the purple dragon was looking at him. Seeing the look Spyro darted his eyes towards the camp-site with a meaningful look on his face. When Sparx narrowed his eyes in confusion, Spyro rolled his eyes in exasperation before he motioned his head toward the enemy camp. Sparx once again gave Spyro a confused look – making Spyro roll his eyes in silent annoyance – but looked in the direction the purple dragon motioned too, before his eyes shot open in horrifying realisation. Sparx swiftly turned to him again and began waving his arms in front of him in a negative manner.
"Oh come on Sparx! What could happen?" Whispered Spyro pleadingly.
"What could happen? What could happen!? I could get EATEN that's what could happen!" Sparx whispered out harshly as he shaked his arms comically, ignoring the fact that he was freezing cold now and was meant to be stuttering. Somehow his eyes became bloodshot as he glared at Spyro. Going out there scouting around and risk his life to know whatever Spyro wanted to know? Fuck. That. There was no way he was going to do that. "Why don't you go out there and find out what you want to know!?"
"Two reasons Sparx. One: Because I'm not small. Two: I stand out like a sore paw." Spyro deadpanned. When he saw Sparx opening his mouth to refute his claim he quickly went on. "Also, I'm more of a fighter than a sneaker. You on the other hand, are perfect for this. You're small. You can get into places I can't reach or fit into. You are not easily noticeable like I am and, and, you're the god of the llama people. If there's anyone that can do this undetected, it's you."
That is right people. Spyro did the unthinkable. He went as far as to inflate Sparx's already enormous ego to get what he wanted. Something he had rarely did.
Sparx puffed out his chest at the compliments and rubbed his digits against his chest in a self-satisfied manner. "Well, when you put it that way..." Sparx said aloud to himself, stroking his chin in a thoughtful manner before he turned to Spyro and nodded. "Alright. I'll do it. Only for the llama people though. It wouldn't do if they found out about my cowardice when you needed me."
"Yes Sparx! Now go! Go and prove to yourself that you are worthy of being worshipped as a god!" Spyro exclaimed as he gestured to the occupied camp-sight in an overly dramatic manner with his wing. With Sparx being filled with enthusiasm and confidence he confidently flew in the direction of the camp. Spyro watched silently then murmured lowly, "...dumb ass." when Sparx was far enough away not to hear him.
X.X.X.X
He can do this. He is confident. He is pumped. He is eager. He. Is. A. God of the llama people! This should be a piece of cake for someone of his stature. With him being eager to prove himself that him being worshipped as a god is well placed and with Spyro' motivation him, Sparx was clueless that he had been duped into doing something he would normally be against.
When the realisation of him being duped slowly dawned on him Sparx was already in the enemy camp and was far too late in cursing Spyro's name for tricking him. So what did Sparx do? He did what Spyro wanted him to do in the first place; scout out the camp and once he got the information go back to him.
As he scouted the camp, making sure to stay out of sight and hide behind the tents and crates, he noticed there was a camp-fire in the middle of the base. Like the previous one. Unlike the one they came through to get to here there was a stakewall surrounding the camp. For someone like Sparx those palisades were useless; he was small enough to escape notice and he can just fly over the defence.
"I wonder how long this all took to dig out?" Sparx murmured in wonder. The fact there was a stakewall down here of all things shows there is enough space and height in this particular tunnel for them to make a defence. The fact there is a gap large enough for him to fly through, but small for a fully grown dragon to be unable to, goes to show just how well thought out the location of this camp was.
What was even stranger about this whole thing wasn't the camp. It wasn't the apes with the slightly glowing eyes and veins. Or the undead humans that would wonder around. It was the atmosphere. It was cold, no, not cold below freezing. He could hear the bones of the undead and apes crack in protest when they moved the joints in their limbs after they stayed in one place for too long. While it affected them for some unknown reason it didn't affect him or Spyro. It was like there was something that was keeping the cold from affecting them because he knew no one could survive in conditions such as this. Even if there was a camp fire right in the middle of the camp that somehow stayed alight despite the cold that clearly dominated the air.
After looking around to make sure no one was looking in his direction Sparx moved to a different location. It was pretty intense too. He had several close calls and had to get behind cover the moment he saw an ape or zombie about to turn around. When he took cover he used that time to look around his surroundings and see if there was anyone looking, or moving toward his position. He was patience in waiting and when he saw the opportunity to move he took it.
He took note of the camp's layout and how many zombies and apes there were. Right now he counted nearly 100 zombies and 30 apes with several more unaccounted for as there are several large tents housing them. Surveying his surroundings Sparx noticed two apes arguing with one another. Seeing an opportunity to get more information he discretely made his way over there; when he was close enough he could make out what the two apes were saying.
"...waiting here anyway? We should be taking the fight to those dammed dragons!" Ape number one growled out. This ape had leather armour covering his torso and legs. Leaving his arms completely bare. There was ice forming on the fur on his arms but the ape didn't seem to take notice.
"Patience. The Holy One wants us to test the cities defence capabilities first before attacking in full force. Besides' I heard The Holy One is looking for something that will tip the scales in her favour." Said ape number two. Instead of wearing leather like the first one, he wore chainmail that covered the entirely of his torso and arms' and the majority of his legs. He even had a helmet beneath his arm that looked it would protect his entire face from projectiles.
Sparx was alarmed at the mention of a weapon capable of turning the tides, as it reminded him of that massive golem that threatened to rip the earth apart. He had the urge to get out of there and tell Spyro what he had learnt but resisted it, knowing they weren't done talking.
The first ape looked curious at that. "A weapon? Really? Do you know what it is capable of?"
The second ape shook his head and with a shrug said, "No, unfortunately I don't. All I know from the higher ups is that it capable of wiping out armies."
"Hmm... if that's true then why haven't we learnt of this before?" The first ape asked with curiosity in his voice.
"From what I have heard the weapon was created long ago." He gave the ape in front of him a pointed look. "I heard rumours the weapon came from an era before the dragons."
"Do you know which era?"
The first ape chuckled lowly in his throat. With another shrug of his shoulders the ape crossed his arms against his chainmail covered chest and said, "Believe it or not, the weapon is said to have been created by humans when they were still around. And if that is true then the weapon is an old relic of the past."
"Truly? And how can it be used to our advantage?"
"I have no idea. No one - apart from The Holy One - knows what the weapon is capable of. Until it is found and kept away from the attention of our enemies, no one will know."
Sparx took that moment to get the hell out of there. He had to tell this to Spyro. The other's had to know too. The enemy is looking for a weapon, created by humans that is capable of wiping out armies.
X.X.X.X
Spyro was worried when he saw Sparx fly away from the camp. He looked like he had seen a ghost. What ever the dragonfly had learnt must have scared him. He felt guilty for tricking him but knowing it was for the greater good had overridden that guilt.
"What did you learn?" Spyro asked the moment Sparx was floating beside him.
The dragonfly didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then he turned to his adoptive brother and with sarcasm coating his voice said without taking a breath, "Oh that there's over 100 of them in the camp and they're currently searching for a weapon that was made by the humans so long ago, that is capable of wiping out entire armies? Nothing much."
Spyro blinked once. Then twice. "What?"
"There's over 100 enemies in that camp." Sparx said quickly. He began to chuckle with an insane glint in his eyes, making Spyro worry for his sanity. "Oh and someone they're calling 'The Holy One' - you know the spirit you told me they are following a while back in Warfang - is looking for a weapon capable of wiping out armies." He began to breath heavily out of stress, and without warning flew up to Spyro's face' looking at him like he was a manic. "Can we PLEASE get out of here now!? We NEED to WARN the others about this!"
Spyro slowly, very slowly backed away from the dragonfly. When he was a comfortable distance from the clearly frightened dragonfly, the purple dragon nodded – much to Sparx's relief – and turned. Sparx really eager to get out of underground flew in front of Spyro to guide the way. Luckily neither of them were spotted as they made their way back and as the two made their way back in the direction they came from they noticed the air around them started to get warmer.
Unlike the apes and her undead minions Samantha did notice them. In fact she was aware of them the moment they both went under ground in her domain. She could have taken care of them, make the apes aware of their presence and her undead minions twice as active as they are now. But she didn't. The little girl wanted to know what they were planning to do and what their purpose is in her domain.
She could switch places in a blink of an eye. A useful thing to be able to do. It was how she managed to keep track of the survivors of her zombie outbreak, and watch them futilely fight off her armies and survive at the same time. It was amusing to say the least and she would give limited support to a group of survivors that peaked her interest. The crew that consisted four of her antagonists were reluctantly enough a group that somehow managed to keep her interested in them. She didn't know how but they did. They all either respected or hated one another. They came from four different backgrounds and had their own respect and hate for one another.
Plus the banter between them is always amusing.
It was always interesting to see events that wasn't influenced by her presence unveiling before her very eyes. It made her campaign a little more challenging.
Shaking her head of those thoughts Samantha brought her attention back to her forces. Now that her camp was discovered she had to reinforce it quickly. She would also have to punish those apes for unintentionally revealing a part of her plan to their enemies. She tutted to herself in disappointment as they should have known better than to speak out loud even if they are deep within her territory. She should have expected it though' they were apes and weren't very intelligent by human standards even if she did technically 'upgrade' them with element 115.
She won't tell them of their blunder. This foul-up was their fault for not keeping their lips zipped. She'll let them solve their own problems. She's been giving them enough help by lending them her zombies.
She brought her attention back on to the humans who had taken up residence in the village the apes had attacked. While interested as to why there were cheetah's there, it quickly wore off when she realised they weren't hostile toward them. No fun there! She arched her eyebrows in amusement when Richtofen was gleefully searching through the Mark IV tank she had sent them.
After watching the humans for a time the child willed her ghost like appearance back to the excavation sight back on Dante's Freezer. Cynder was sleeping' and ignoring the activity around her. The apes were digging through the ice and snow, trying to make their way in to the remains of the ship. The undead dragons that were there are doing their duty; patrolling the space around the excavation sight by the earth and sky. Everything, right now, was going according to plan. If this all played out like she hoped it would then Richtofen would meet his demise.
If she had to wipe out several other species to do it, then so be it. She promised her father she would kill all who are a part of Group 935 and Richtofen was the only one left. If the other humans just stopped helping him and left him to fend for himself, she would've left them alone and stop her control on the undead. But since they are helping him she doesn't have much of a choice.
They knew or had their suspicions on what Richtofen had done. Edward's companions even said she had a grudge against him! Why wouldn't they allow her to take revenge against her sworn enemy!?
As her thoughts became more and more negative she didn't realise it was beginning to have an effect on the weather around her. It was beginning to snow and the temperature beginning to drop.
Samantha however was quick to realise this and reined in her temper before it got too out of control. Because of this, instead of snowing heavily like it about to, there was only a small amount snow flakes' that wouldn't build up into snow. The second they touched the ice and snow, they either melted into the ice - somehow - or were absorbed into the snow.
Tapping her chin thoughtfully Samantha looked at the clouds above her. "Interesting. Mien feelings has a direct effect on zhe weather itself? Zhis requires testing..." She mused loudly to herself. She was alone. There was no way someone was going to overhear her unless she wanted them too.
She wasn't going to do it now. May be somewhere else far, far away from prying eyes. She didn't know what those dragons were capable of, but she knew they were dangerous. The purple one even more so. She had witness the first purple dragon utilising all the elements. She had witnessed Malefor the Dark Master become corrupt with the desire for more power, and turning against his own race using the apes and baboons to form a surprisingly effective army that brought his own kin to the brink of extinction.
Then this generations' purple dragon appeared, and threw a wrench in all his plans. Malefor then decided to be a sore loser and tried to destroy the world by summoning a giant golem when he was close to being beaten. Only for this generations' purple dragon and his friend – who was under her control as of now – to beat it, throwing another wrench in his plan for destroying dragon kind.
She was there for all of that. She didn't take part because it wasn't her problem. It wasn't her fight. Then she witnessed Dempsey being found in the remains of Der Riese, close to Warfang and the return of Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen. Then it became her fight. She sent the remains of her undead forces still at Der Riese against Dempsey at first. He got away with the help of the dragons.
She didn't send her army after him. Knowing her forces were too few back then and had to build up her forces somehow. Then Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen appeared weeks later (or was it months?) and with such ferocity that she didn't know she had sent her army against them, only for them to escape to Warfang. That was when she decided to build up her armies once more and discretely sent out several groups of zombies to find the corpses of the dragons that fell against Cynder when she was corrupt and experimented on them. Then she found the apes; rather the ones who weren't slaughtered by Spyro and Cynder when they were making their way to Malefor for their final battle and removed the curse that was placed on them.
The apes thought she was a god and started calling her 'The Holy One' when she was clearly not a god. She wasn't delusional enough to proclaim herself as a god. She was going to turn them into zombies when their usefulness ran out. She is going to do it slowly at first. Give them a false sense of security and make them believe in her prowess that made her seem like one. Then once she gave them the needed modifications to their bodies' she would remove all their intelligence and annihilate their will. With the ones underground being modified to suit her needs, a part of it had already been completed. All she had to do now was remove their willpower and intelligence and they would be nothing more but soulless monkeys. Effectively killing them in a sense without actually doing the deed.
They are still useful to her right now and until their usefulness had run out she planned on keeping them around a bit longer. Even if she was sorely tempted on removing them from play so she wouldn't have to deal with their stupidity.
But no; what she had planned involved the apes and if they died in the process? Nothing for her to worry about. She can just revive them again, but as her undead minions, and set them loose on their own brethren. She did it to her own people all those centuries ago and there was no stopping her from doing it again.
"So much planning. So little time..." Samantha sighed to herself out of sheer boredom. She closed her eyes as she began to hum a song softly to herself. It was one of her favourites, one she heard being played in Der Riese when she was sending her all against Richtofen and his allies. It was called... Beauty of Annihilation. Yes. That was it.
X.X.X.X
Cynder opened her eyes and lifted her head from the ground when she heard a soft hum sound out of nowhere. She recognised the one humming as the one the apes love to call 'The Holy One'. To her surprise the girls humming was dulling out the current song that was running for what seemed to be the hundredth time.
Getting up the dark scaled dragoness walked out of the tent and surveyed her surroundings. The apes, armed with icepicks and shovels, were beginning to make their attempt at digging through the ice and snow. The undead dragons are doing their job at guarding the camp-sight.
"And it's still night time." Cynder mused dryly to herself as she looked up toward the sky with a soft frown. Dante's Freezer was several miles away from the mainland. Far enough away from Warfang and her allies. And with her swallowing the key to get herself out of those god forsaken chains that Grim put her in, she couldn't run away with the girl knowing her every move.
She frowned even more upon remembering that accursed ape. She hadn't seen him in a while. Actually, now that she thought about it she hadn't seen him ever sense she ate that key.
"Hopefully he went off somewhere and got himself killed." She murmured darkly. She grinned sickeningly to herself as images of a dying Grim being devoured by Samantha's undead dragons filled her mind. She quickly caught herself and shook her head to cast the images aside before she began to cackle like crazy.
Samantha smirked a dark smirk as she hummed, having heard Cynder's murmuring even from where she was. The reason why Grim wasn't around was because she dealt with him a long time ago. She did it discretely of course and no one heard his screams as her zombified dragons tore him limb from limb before grouping up with the apes and Cynder. His remains were currently in the stomach of several zombified dragons. She didn't bother to raise him from the dead, as she made sure there was nothing left of him to resurrect.
She never liked Grim. He was cocky and arrogant; she knew it wouldn't be long until he had the guts to rebel against her. So she took him out before he had a chance to. She made sure her prototype undead tore out his throat so he couldn't scream. Hearing him gurgle on his own blood was music to her ears.
She blinked a few times at that trail of thought. Then her eyes widened in shock. "Mien God, am I becoming like uncle Edward?" She mentally questioned herself in horror. She did NOT want to be like Edward Richtofen in ANYWAY.
Cynder meanwhile went back inside the tent. It was still dark out and it would be a while until the apes managed to break through the ice. She dropped on the ground after she found her body heat, or what remained of it. Closing her eyes the dark scaled dragoness was able to quickly fall back to sleep.
X.X.X.X
It felt like hours had past but both Spyro and Sparx had eventually made it back to the surface where Terrador was waiting along with Volteer and Cyril. The warehouse was cleaner and emptier than the last time they saw it but they shrugged it off, knowing with how long they were gone they were bound to have taken away the spoiled grain and wheat.
"You have been gone for nearly four hours young ones. Were you able to learn anything down there?" Terrador asked.
Spyro and Sparx shared a look before looking up at the Earth Guardian. "We learnt a few things. One; they have two camp-sight's down there. With the first being abandoned. The second one we found down there was much bigger than the first." Spyro replied before going into detail on what they had learnt from the time they were down there.
The three remaining Guardians, as they listened, became more and more worried the more Spyro talked. When they learnt of them searching for a weapon that is capable of wiping out entire armies, they grew even more concerned. Volteer was scowling which is a feat in itself considering the type of dragon he was.
"What you have told us Spyro is grim indeed. Do you know where they are searching for this... weapon?" Cyril asked and sighed in disappointment when both Spyro and Sparx shook their heads. The ice guardian turned to look at Terrador and said, "Terrador we must be cautious from here on out. Given the news these two fellows have told us we cannot make any room for mistakes."
The earth guardian sighed in resignation."I know." He told Cyril as he looked at the ice and electric dragons tiredly. "Our forces are stretched too thin and with villages allied to us and our scouting parties still unaccounted for, all we're capable of at the moment is defending this city and any villages the closest to us."
Volteer furrowed his brows in a thoughtful gesture. "What about Dempsey and his companions? They are - technically and positively speaking of course - the only ones who have the experience on combating these undead beings. And if what we learnt from the apes is true, then they are following a being who can raise and control the dead to a small degree."
"They weren't seen in Warfang ever since we mysteriously ended up here a day ago." Terrador grumbled out with a heavy frown, bringing everyone's attention back to him once more. "And if they're not here then they may still be at that village we were investigating."
"That is if they haven't been moved somewhere like we have." Spyro had to point that out to them. He knew they couldn't just assume Dempsey, Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen were still in the same place they last saw them. That would be foolish. "And if they have been moved, then they could be anywhere in the realms."
"And let's not forget about those undead dragons. They'll be a huge problem in the future." Sparx pointed out with a raised finger.
The Dragon Guardians, including Spyro, solemnly nodded in agreement. They couldn't remove their undead brethren from the equation, as they were most certainly going to be involved in future battles to come.
"Indeed they will be young dragonfly. This is why the city is arming itself and increasing the number of soldier's stationed within. We cannot recall our forces already outside of the city limits as they'll be at risk of being attacked by our now known enemy."
"Indeed, with the last dragon temple being destroyed in Spyro and Cynder's final battle with the Dark Master, we have no other places to retreat too." Cyril said before he frowned slightly. He sighed before sitting down on his haunches. "I'm afraid if this city falls to the enemy there will be no other place for us to take refuge."
Baring his teeth at the thought Spyro stared at the ground. Then his eyes widened when he remembered a place that was well out of the way from civilisation. The Chronicler. He has a complex that when he was trying to get in was well guarded. It took him several hours trying to find a way in, that involved him solving some complex puzzles, to him fighting several large monsters and dummies that took a lot of effort to put down.
When he relayed this to the others they looked thoughtful for a moment before they shot the idea down. When the purple dragon respectfully, with an underlying annoyance, asked to know why they couldn't go to the Chronicler, Volteer as the one with the most knowledge explained that the island the Chronicler lives on is never reported to be in the same place twice. So if Spyro were to go to the last place the island was seen, it would no longer be there.
Plus the island is always isolated and in the middle of nowhere, and there are plenty of places in the Dragon Realms that are isolated and in the middle of nowhere. Without the Chronicler to tell them where to find him, they would be wasting valuable time and resources.
Spyro reluctantly agreed to that, as he would not have been able to find the island without the help of the vision provided to him in his dreams, or the location that Volteer told him.
"So the Chronicler is out. And the remnants of the army that fought off the Dark Master's forces have to stay here, reinforce the city while preparing for any attacks simultaneously." Sparx shook his head in astonishment before looking between the three Dragon Guardians. "You guys have your work cut out for you."
Terrador nodded. "Indeed we do. I only hope that our unconventional human allies are having as much luck as we are. I must be off to gather a strike force. Having an enemy literally underneath us is something we cannot allow." With that said the earth dragon walked out of the building with Cyril in tow.
"Aren't you going with them Volteer?" Spyro asked, gazing at the electric dragon with a curious expression.
"My fellow elemental users can patrol their section of this marvellous and grandiosos city without my stupendous leadership guiding them." Volteer said very quickly, making the two before him have to strain their ears to carefully hear his sentence completely. Sparx gave Volteer a deadpan look when he finally understood what he said.
"Or maybe...maybe you just want to avoid your duties, and are using us as an excuse!" Sparx exclaimed in declaration as he pointed at the electric dragon with a wide-eyed look. A look that practically screamed 'I'm on to you!'.
Spyro looked at his brother with a gob-smacked look, while Volteer was giving Sparx a disapproving frown' with a twitching brow to go with it. It was somewhat comical to see someone like Volteer with a frown and a twitching scaled brow/
Spyro shook his head. "Or may be he is here because he wants to keep the two of us company?" He said while giving Volteer an expectant look when Sparx wasn't looking.
"Oh... Oh-yes, yes of course I was. Indeed!" Volteer exclaimed when he realised what the look Spyro was for. It was to give him an excuse and to make Sparx stop with his theories before he took them too far. "I am merely here to keep you both company! Ancestor's knows' both you and Spyro need it!"
"Uh-huh..." Sparx didn't believe him and swiftly looked at his brother. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion when Spyro was whistling innocently to himself while looking anywhere but him. He swiftly looked at Volteer who was staring down at him with a fanged smile. He slowly edged away from the electric dragon as he felt a little uncomfortable being near those long, shiny, sharp fangs. He already had been eaten once and that was an experience he wasn't willing to go through again. "Spyro what're we going to do now that we know there's a possible army waiting down below?"
"What we always do; fight when they come for us." The purple dragon answered easily. It was something he did all the time since he found out he was not a dragonfly and that he was adopted. Why would this be any different?
Meanwhile as Volteer was conversing with Spyro and Sparx, Terrador and Cyril had gathered a small group of grown dragons and had them meet in the town square in front of the warehouse they left Spyro, Sparx and Volteer in.
The group had four dragons. Frida who is the leader of the fire dragons patrolling the city, an ice dragon named Frost ironically, who is near the same age as Cyril himself but only a few years younger. Quake who wanted to bring the fight to the enemy, and lastly an electric dragon named Alec.
Terrador and Cyril were in front of the four, giving them serious looks that told them whatever they were going to say wasn't going to be pleasant and worrying.
They had no idea how right they are.
"I'm not going to sugar coat anything here; nearly four hours ago, Spyro had discovered a small force consisting of apes and undead successfully infiltrate and destroy, and possibly contaminate the food within the warehouse behind me." The Earth Guardian paused a few seconds to let his words sink in, before continuing. "After sending his dragonfly companion out for aid, he engaged the enemy. And managed to kill many of them during the clash. Thanks to Sparx we managed to gather a small force to reinforce the boy. It was there after we destroyed the infiltrators, we found a massive hole in the middle of the building."
The dragons' widened their eyes in alarm and Cyril took that moment to continue where Terrador left off. "Indeed. We then sent Spyro off into the tunnel to gather any information, while imploring him to avoid any enemy confrontation if possible, and return as quickly as possible. What he told us upon returning is... shocking."
Quake frowned, heavily, at how disturbed the Ice Guardian looked. His scaled somehow seemed to close colour if that was at all possible. "What did he find out?"
"He found two camps." Terrador answered with a grave frown. Which told them just how serious he was. "One of them was abandoned, although Spyro had his suspicions that the first one he encountered was an outpost used by the infiltration force we dealt with. The second one however is much larger and had over 100 enemies occupying it. He also learnt, the one leading the apes, and controlling the dead, is looking for a weapon from the human era that is capable of wiping out entire armies."
Frida narrowed her eyes in confusion. "But if their looking for a weapon the humans made, wouldn't it have been lost to the ages of time? Retaken by nature?"
"Naturally yes, but given this new mysterious leader of the apes is said to be a spirit of all things, capable of raising the dead it would not be surprising if it was able to find and somehow reconstruct this weapon. There's a chance that the weapon was preserved through time, waiting to be found again. It was how the human, Dempsey was found after all these years sleeping in that run down facility."
"And the place was still running with electricity. Impressive for a building that was in ruins and almost reclaimed by nature." Terrador added with hidden admiration. Cyril was barely able to discern the admiration in his voice; because he had been with Terrador, Volteer and Ignitus for years he was able to pick up traits that others would over look. And even then he was barely able to recognise it.
"What is our mission?" Frost asked getting everyone back to the reason why their here in the first place.
Terrador gave the four dragons a hard look. "Your mission everyone, is to go in the tunnel inside the warehouse behind us and wipe out all opposing forces." He explained to them. Giving each and every one of them a fierce look as they took in his words. It was a pretty big step, and Frida had not been in a major battle since the failed invasion of Warfang. "We would have our human ally accompany you in this mission, but since he is missing..."
"So we go in, kick some ass, and get back out?" Alec said aloud questioningly, not really expecting an answer from his two superiors. He smirked when both Cyril and Terrador answered by nodding their heads in acknowledgement. "Seems like fun!"
The other three nodded in agreement, although without putting as much enthusiasm into the motion of their head moving as they could.
As Terrador and Cyril were relaying the situation to the three dragons and one dragoness outside of the warehouse Spyro, Sparx and Volteer's conversation with one another had taken a rather odd turn. From talking about combating the enemy when they showed themselves, to talking about their daily lives.
Suffice to say it was Spyro and Volteer against Sparx and if anyone were there to hear them, they would have been gob smacked at how fierce the three were debating.
"I'm telling you living with my mum and dad was a LOT better than out here. At least things were peaceful back then!" Sparx protested hotly as he crossed his arms defiantly against his chest, trying desperately to sway Spyro to his way of thinking. But Spyro was proving to be stubborn when it comes to his opinions.
"I know that. But I think things have been more exciting ever since we both made our way out of the swamp." Spyro patently replied back. To him Sparx was whining and wanted to get his own way. When he couldn't he would whine again until Spyro either gave up, or he gave up. "I admit missing mum and dad, but I wouldn't trade this for anything."
"And what about the times where you almost died? Where I got EATEN! Where I thought you got yourself crushed by that bell when rescuing Terrador? What about the time when we both were captured by those scavengers?"
"I survived. I got you out before you were eaten. I was fine and I got us both out of there."
"...Point."
"Besides with the fighting I've done during our adventures, from fighting Dreadwings and apes, to rock golem's, I am a pretty formidable opponent."
"Yeah. Until you get your head so far up your butt that you don't see the enemy coming up behind you until the very last moment." Sparx deadpanned at the purple dragon. Volteer was taking this all in stride, watching the two bickering with one another childishly. It reminded him of the days when he was younger, and watching over the batch of eggs in the dragon temple' before Malefor's apes attacked.
The two halted their bickering when they heard the doors open. Volteer, Spyro and Sparx turned their heads and found Terrador and Cyril walking in with four dragons following them. Spyro recognised Quake as he was the one who was with Dempsey before being told to get reinforcements, and the two gave a brief nod of respect to one another.
Alec whistled in surprise as he saw the large hole in the ground beside Spyro. "That is one big hole." He couldn't help but comment upon seeing it. Quake, Frost and Frida quietly nodded in agreement. It was one big hole.
"The enemy is down there?" Quake asked as he walked to the edge in curiosity before looking at Spyro for confirmation. When the purple dragon nodded Quake began nodding to himself with a thoughtful frown.
"It is pretty dark." Frida commented as she walked to the edge on the other side of Quake. She looked over the earth dragon to stare at Spyro, "How'd you manage to find your way through this?" She asked with genuine curiosity.
Spyro gestured to Sparx. "Sparx is a natural light source." He answered as if it explained everything. It did. Sparx even now was giving off a natural glow. In the dark he is like an never ending torch.
Frida nodded in understanding as she and the others were looking at Sparx in a new light. No pun intended.
"Now that we're all here, I need to know if you four were doing anything beforehand?" Terrador asked looking at Quake, Frida, Frost and Alec with an intense look. "Because once you do this there will be no chance for you to continue whatever activities' you were doing until this is complete."
The four volunteers shared a look before looking back at the earth guardian. "Neither of us had anything to do before you got us." Alec paused for a moment, looking thoughtful before adding. "Unless you count us patrolling different sections of Warfang as 'something to do'?"
"We have nothing to do so, yeah, we're able to do this without any worry." Frida said with Frost and Quake nodding in agreement with her.
Terrador smiled a small but proud smile at the group and nodded to himself with a low but heard-able grunt. The four took that as an excuse to begin their mission and without a word, the four spread their wings and leapt into the hole one at a time.
There was a welcome silence in the room before... "How long do you think it will take them to realise they won't be able to see down there?" Randomly asked Sparx.
X.X.X.X
Dempsey frowned as he took in his surroundings. He didn't recognise anything; it seemed out of place for the most part. The best way for him to describe what he was seeing was endless space, with random floating platforms here and there. Along with giant, strange squid like creatures that just gave him the creeps.
Looking around he also realised he was also alone. And weaponless. No knife. No guns or grenades. Just like the time he was captured by the Japanese. Except he wasn't submerged in malarial water. Nor did he have a bobby pin or a metal of honour hidden somewhere in his own body. So that was a plus.
Frowning a bit Tank Dempsey cupped his hands to his mouth, "Hello? Is there anyone here?" He bellowed at the top of his lungs. Much to his confusion what he received in response was his own voice, echoing back at him. How that happened he has no idea since there is literally no walls for the noise to reflect back at him. Sighing Dempsey scratched the side of his head before lowering his arms to his side. He looked around his surroundings again before deciding to walk off in a random direction. Maybe if he started moving around in this weird place he found himself in something would happen?
When he reached the end of the floating platform that he was on, the ground began to shake. Cursing Dempsey began to stagger as the earthquake like shakes, almost made him lose his footing and he quickly backed off from the edge. He did not want to know how long he would fall down for if he were to somehow accidentally fall into that endless chasm. He blinked and arched his brows in surprise when he saw a path being formed in front of him that connected to another platform quite a distance away. However the path stopped barely halfway to the other platform.
"Huh...interesting." Mused the marine. Looking at the path cautiously he placed his right foot on the path, then the left, then the right again until he was confident enough that nothing was going to happen. It wasn't until he was a fair distance away from the platform that the path he was on began to collapse behind him. He was about to curse when he realised the collapsing paths stopped a few feet away, and out of curiosity Dempsey looked to the other side and found the path in front of him began to grow.
A theory began to develop in his head. Something that he wanted to try out. Taking another few steps forward Dempsey stopped and looked behind him and saw the path behind collapsing. Looking ahead he saw the path in front of him grow. He realised what was going on now. The more he moved the more the path behind him began to shorten, but the path in front of him began to grow.
"Very interesting..." He said aloud as he began to walk casually, as if he were going for a stroll in a park. "I wonder what else this place has in waiting for me?"
When he stepped to the platform he was being led too, Dempsey looked behind him in alarm as the path behind him collapsed the second he stepped off of it. Frowning in worry the marine scowled before looking ahead. His frown deepened when he saw a structure before him. It looked similar to one of those ancient medieval castles, only it looked like it was about to collapse in on itself. In front of it lied a pool of some kind, but it was undistinguishable from where he was. For a reason that was unknown to him, something was compelling him to approach the pool.
So he did. When he reached the pool, he quickly looked around and when he was sure no one would suddenly appear out of nowhere, he stared down and tilted his head with a curious frown, his reflection following his action. The water was a pale blue, and had a mist like aura coming out of it.
"I was wondering when you would appear, young human." Said an unknown, masculine voice in front of the marine.
Dempsey understandably taken by surprise jumped back in shocked surprise as he let out a shocked yelp. He was so focused on the pool he hadn't heard anyone approach. Such a thing like that would get him killed in a real life situation. He instinctively reached for a weapon, only to remember he was weaponless. Mentally cursing Dempsey scowled and looked ahead. He dropped his scowl and adopted a confused look as he took in the being in front of him.
Greyish blue scales. A dark blue cape hanging over his shoulders with golden armament covering most of his neck; lastly there was a large blue crystal hanging from his neck.
As Dempsey scrutinised the dragon in front of him, the dragon likewise did the same but with much more subtlety.
Short cut blonde hair with the top being slightly longer than the sides. A light green jacket with rolled up sleeves with matching pants. A dark shirt underneath said jacket, a cartridge belt over the jacket itself with a sheath for a missing knife attached to it. Shin length leather leggings with dirtied combat boots.
As the two finished examining one another, both human and dragon stared at one another unflinchingly. Then the dragon got himself comfortable by sitting on the ground and stared expectantly at the human with small amounts of amusement in his eyes. Something Dempsey had looked over.
"So..." Dempsey began at long last over several minutes of awkward silence. "...you were waiting for me?" He finished questionably.
The grey blue scaled dragon nodded. "Indeed. For a small while now. Sorry about bringing you here without any warning by the way."
Dempsey frowned in confusion. "What do you mean...?" He gasped clutching his head. Recent memories suddenly flowed into his head. Him discussing the threat of the apes and undead with Hunter of Avalar and the others and what their next plan of action should be. Apart from the complete obvious. Then the memory of him feeling dizzy and unsteady reached the forefront of his mind, and then he collapsed and ended up here. "God-damn it! The hell was that?!"
The dragon grinned a little with amusement at Dempsey's antics. "That would have been the delayed memory influx: meaning you just got your recent memories." He explained as he lay down on the ground.
"Does that happen every time in this place?!"
The dragon, with a small chuckle, shook his head negatively. "No. Hopefully, this will be the first and last time for you."
"Oh..." Dempsey stared at the dragon in awkward silence with the dragon staring back at him with an almost amused smile pulling at his maw. "So...what exactly am I doing here?"
"Oh usually there should be some kind of big revelation' that concerns your quest to stop these undead beings from returning to bring all life to an end once more and bringing information about a weapon that is capable of turning armies into the undead in a blink of an eye." The dragon said a little too casually as if he didn't say anything that threatened all of life as they knew it.
"Wait, what?" Was Dempsey's smart reply. A revelation concerning his quest to stop the undead from returning? A weapon capable of turning living beings into mindless flesh eating zombies?! "What the hell do you mean there's a weapon capable of turning entire armies into the living dead?!"
The dragon suddenly turned serious and began looking at Dempsey with great intensity. Something that surprised the hell out of him. "Samantha, the spirit that is controlling the undead, is searching for a weapon capable of turning living into the dead." The dragon warned, his tone telling Dempsey that he was not joking around and that he was completely and utterly serious about what he was saying. "Where she is looking for the weapon is in Dante's Freezer. An island that is entirely covered in ice and snow and well out of the way from the mainland."
Dempsey frowned as he blinked. "That's... pretty informative. How do you know all this? What's your angle?" He demanded, giving the grey/blue scaled dragon a suspicious look.
"I am known as the Chronicler." The dragon, now named Chronicler said. "My job is to record all events throughout time. Tragic or not. Past or future. As for my angle? My species were nearly brought to extinction not too long ago. I am merely giving you a hint on where you can go to prevent this from happening." The Chronicler rose to his feet and approached the pool before staring intently at it. Dempsey followed his gaze, and to his surprise he began to see an image forming on the waters surface. "For if Samantha discovers this weapon, then not even you and your allies will be able to turn the tide against the undead, and eventually all life will be eradicated." As the Chronicler spoke, the images began to change rapidly with every word coming out of his mouth. Showing the mainland becoming overrun with zombified dragons, with them infecting and devouring everything in their path. To Warfang becoming invaded and the Dragon Guardians falling before the onslaught.
Dempsey stared at the pool with his mouth agape. He was shocked beyond all words. Was this a possible outcome of the future if they didn't stop the girl in time? If it was how were they going to stop it!?
"Take this knowledge and act on it. Prevent this hollow future from happening."
Dempsey looked up from the pool and opened his mouth to reply. But before he could get a word out he was forced to cover his eyes as a blinding flash of light appeared out of nowhere, illuminating both him and the Chronicler.
"Prevent this hollow future from happening!" Was the last thing he heard before the light consumed his entire being.
Author's Notes
Dear GOD this took a while. Still it was enjoyable. And was totally not a chore that it was the last several times before I shelved it.
And this chapter is almost Spyro centric! Unthinkable?! But totally part of the plot. I had to keep those pesky plot holes from occurring, or try to avoid making too many of them as humanly possible. Since I know how many of you will complain of me not explaining "how they came to be!" or "how did an entire army of undead spawn out of nowhere and began killing everyone they see?" so I came up with this.
The weapon Samantha is looking for in Dante's Freezer is actually one of the Wonder Weapons you can get in Call of the Dead, but instead of it being able to do what it does in that map (not telling you cause of spoiler's but if you have played the map, and gotten the weapon, then you would know what I'm talking about) imagine what would happen if it was reversed. Hell would literally break loose if it was reversed enginnered to do THAT and to take on entire armies instead of a single individual, everyone would be fucked. I'd kid you not.
This author's notes has gone on long enough, Spyash2 Out!