He smiled as Cynder left them. Now she can live her life. You have to win the war first. You really don't like it when I think something happy do you? I'm keeping you grounded. Is there a way I can turn you off? You said it yourself, I'm fading everyday. Can it be every second? Harsh. He looked back at Aurora, who flipped back over to face him.
"You always look so serious, even when you're smiling."
"Sorry." He tried fixing his smile. She only laughed.
"I'm not criticizing you, I like it when you think." Her smile remained
"You wanna know what I'm thinking?" He asked, edging closer.
"What could possibly be on your mind that you want to tell me?" Her smile grew as he got closer.
"I'm thinking of…" He gave her a quick kiss, making her giggle. "...doing that and that I need to find Ardere and Frost."
"What for?"
"Secret guy stuff." He laughed as he scrunched her nose at him.
"I hope you remember that one of those 'guys' is my brother."
"That's why I need him for this." She somehow managed to scrunch her nose harder. "I tell you later." He turned to her before walking out the door. "Do us both a favor and stop trying to be a Walrus." He ducked under the cushion she threw at him. "You can throw something at me but can't roar at me?"
"Eclipse!" He quickly left before another flying cushion can assault him. It didn't take him long to find them, they were roaming around the marketplace. They called it shopping but they were simply pestering the merchants.
He led them into the ruined part of the city in silence, he wanted to make sure no one would interrupt them.
The moles have been hard at work restoring the city to its full glory, but everything still took time even for the small engineers. The fires of war have long since gone out, but everything still seemed to be greyer. Buildings laid collapsed upon themselves, piles of burnt timber littered the streets, and the streets still held divots where siege tower rounds landed. This is where they would train and equip themselves for the coming battle.
Ever since Eclipse learned of the Dark Army's reformation he's been putting his mind to work. His side handling battlefield strategy and his dark side dug out the memories of forging armor. He forged both his and Cynder's equipment, apes weren't exactly the best at making dragon armor. They didn't even know how to fix their own weapons.
It was mostly trial and error and long nights without sleep. Of course she never wore most of her armor, but it was the thought that eased his mind at the time. By the time she disappeared, he considered himself the best smith in the Dark Army. Mostly because he was the only one, again it was the thought that counted.
His dark side mentioned that it would be hard, let alone expensive. Most of his designs were for larger, adult dragons; he never expected to be making armor for younger dragons. It was a team effort between the two, neither of them liked it but it was needed.
Eclipse stopped them in the middle of a semi intact courtyard and studied the surrounding buildings.
"Why are we all the way out here? There's nothing here." Ardere groaned with impatience.
"You two are two of the only dragons I trust in this city." He told them, turning to face them.
"What does trust have to do with this?" Ardere gestured to the landscape around them.
"We are at war and I want you to come out alive." He moved between them, pulling them closer. "I wouldn't forgive myself otherwise."
"What do you need us to do?"
"We're going to train here and I'm going to build us some armor." He let them go and trotted around the circle design in the ground.
"Do the guardians know about this?" Frost looked uncomfortable.
"Cyril knows, he's paying me to make the armor and to train anyone who he thinks could benefit from a little advanced course."
"Is there anything you can't do?" Ardere gave him a slightly annoyed look.
"There is, like how I seem to as amphibious as a stone." He nudged him when he passed. "Getting you to actually like me is difficult as well."
"I respect you."
"Respecting me is different than liking me my friend."
"I'M NOT YOUR FRIEND."
"My point still stands." He smiled as the flash of anger subsided. "More will eventually join us here but until then it's just us five." Once again he stopped in the middle of the circle.
"There's only three of us here." Ardere pointed out.
"And now theres four." Spyro landed besides Eclipse, two small bags on his back. "Sorry for being late. Took me longer to get everything and I couldn't find Cynder anywhere."
"No worries, I'll take the bags and get started over there," He motioned to a raised terrace to their right. ",they're all yours oh mighty purple dragon." Spyro's laugh sounded fake. "It's only a little fun." He took the bags and placed them on his back before looking back at the other two. "Good luck." He trotted off as Spyro began talking, bags bouncing as he went up the steps. His terrace wasn't anything special, but it had all the basic utilities he would need.
Cyril was hesitant to allow for Eclipse to do this, telling him that he should leave it to the professionals, but he after he explained everything the ice guardian agreed. They agreed that he would provide the necessary funding as long as he would train whoever was sent his way. He wasn't going to forge armor for everyone, only the ones that three of them agree on.
He talked to Spyro the night before about helping him with this start up 'academy' and he too was hesitant to teach. He took a little more convincing but eventually he agreed to help. The supplies he got were just the basic materials, hammers, simple metals, the sorts. Eclipse himself would need to gather the more special ingredients.
He casually ducked as a rogue fireball shot over him, impacting the wall behind him. "If your going to fry me, can you at least light the forge first?" He yelled over to them. He smiled when Frost started laughing at Ardere shortly followed by Spyro.
"Why don't you get your sidekick to light it?" He shouted back, Spyro stopped laughing.
"I'm not his side-"
"We both know that purple flowers can't light forges." He ducked when another fireball was launched at him. "Besides he can't hit a stationary target."
"Shut up!"
"I'm only teasing Spyro, calm down." His laughter made Spyro frown more. Ardere pointed at him and laughed. He went back to work when Spyro swiftly tackled him.
He laid out all the contents of the bag, studying each carefully. They were mediocre tools at best but they would have to do for now. He began placing them in the respective stations and for once he felt his other side smile. We have much work ahead of us. Nothing I can't handle, as long as you hold up to your end of this. I keep my word. He snorted. It was one time and it was a mistake. Start building a list, the sooner I can collect everything, the sooner the real work can begin. I've already started. Good.
He watched Spyro go at it with Ardere and Frost and for a moment he thought about doing this after the war. Making this into a guard academy or having his own blacksmith shop, maybe even both. It was only a matter of time before the war would end and the future would open up. You need to focus. Right. He could think of his future life later, now he has to focus on getting everything else prepared.
He laid out a large scroll on his makeshift workbench. Could you draw the designs? They're our designs, of course I can draw them. His counterpart got to work as soon as he released control of his forearms. Eclipse watched in amazement at the speed the designs were drawn on the scroll. His counterpart didn't speak during the process, leaving him alone to figure out who this was for.
His counterpart had searched through all the dark memories, slowly recreating the designs. He wondered what it was like or what made it so special to have his counterpart work so hard to recreate it's plans. He also found it strange that he had no recollection of the fabled suit of armor but he did lose parts of his memory when he died.
"How are you doing that?" He rolled up the plans and glared at Spyro.
"It's not me it's him." He answered, rolling he scroll back out. "This was apparently the armor I would've wore if I completed it."
Spyro gave a sharp whistle. "Wouldn't want to face you with that on."
"It's going to take a while to build but it's do-able." He ripped it off , rolled it, then replaced it with a new sheet.
"How many are you making?"
"Of that design? One." He rose an eyebrow to his answer.
"Only one? Eclipse, it could give us the edge we need."
"Spyro." He turned to him. "The suit of armor is tailored to enhance my abilities otherwise it's just like any other armor. I'm planning on making special sets for Ardere and Frost that do the same thing with their abilities."
"What about me and Cynder?"
"You two already have three sets of armor, you don't need another one." He smiled at him. "Besides, how can I make armor to enhance four different elements?"
"Good point."
Cyril dropped down next time them with a soft thump. For a moment he looked between the armor designs and the two sparring dragons. "Already at work I see." Spyro returned to the dragons, leaving him and Cyril to speak.
"It's not like we know how much time we have." They both watched Spyro give instructions to the dragons.
"I spoke to Terrador and Volteer. They agreed that this was a good idea, gives you three something to do that benefits the city."
"You say that as if your still on the edge."
"Because I am," Cyril looked at him. ",this is a bigger responsibility than you might think Eclipse. Training warriors isn't exactly a job for someone of your age." He understood his concern.
"I've been trained to be an assassin from a young age. Spyro has saved the three of you and the world twice. Then Cynder has been bounced between the dark and the light for her entire life. I don't think we're exactly like others our age." Eclipse pointed out to him, meeting his gaze.
"I suppose you're right." He sighed "That's besides the point however, the scouts have returned from the caves. You're going to want to hear their report."
"Should I tell Spyro?" Another stray fireball went over their heads.
"Leave him be, he has his work cut out for him it seems." He wiped bits of stone brick off the top of his head. They took off into the sky and started flying towards the council chamber.
"You're the last one?" Volteer's voice radiated his disbelief. The guardians sent a five member scouting party into the caves, assisted by three cheetah pathfinders. There was only one survivor. Most of them died in the caves with the fourth scout succumbing to his injuries minutes after he made it behind the walls. Spyro was the only one not in attendance, he was still training Ardere and Frost.
"I'm afraid so sir." The scout confirmed.
"Just call me Eclipse, I'm still not old enough to be a sir." Eclipse stared at the hastily made map of the cave system, subconsciously connecting it to his own mapping efforts. "Is this all your team could gather."
"Yes. I apologize for not getting more."
"There's no need to apologize… what's your name again?" He asked, a little embarrassed.
"Nathora."
"There's no need to apologize Nathora. You and your team did the best you could." He praised. "Get some food and rest. Come find me here in the morning."
"Thank you s-" She paused. "Thank you, Eclipse." She quickly left and Eclipse went back to the map. Silence filled the room, everyone simply looking between each other.
"One survivor. One out of seven of our best." Volteer thought aloud. "Ancestors, what are we up against."
"We should be grateful that she managed to escape." Terrador patted him on the back.
"She brought us nothing new!" Eclipse slammed a fist on the table. "I already knew every path on that map, I could've drawn that map with better accuracy. They died for nothing." He sat and bashed his head on the table. "I should've gone with them."
"We couldn't have known that Armavir would find them." Cyril attempted to comfort him
"We shouldn't have sent them." Cynder finally spoke up. "I have reason to believe that Spyro just wanted to get rid of Eclipse." Everyone looked at her.
"Why would he wish that? Surely your ju-"
"Because he's jealous." Terrador interrupted.
"I'll have a talk with him but we can't be going off of what he could and could not be feeling." Eclipse lifted his head off the table. "Right now we need to focus on how to deal with this." He gestured to the map.
"Eclipse is right, Spyro's issues with him needs to wait till after we win this war." Terrador placed his front paws on the table. "He knows we'll be expecting him now."
"He won't be making another mistake like this one. At least not in in the foreseeable future." Cyril joined the two at the table.
"We should attack him now and finish this war before more lives are lost." Volteer paced the length of the table. "It would be better to go on the offensive before he puts our own homes at risk."
"He's expecting us to launch an assault, many lives would be lost. Besides we don't have enough trained soldiers for a reasonable attack."
"Just send the three of them." He motioned to both Cynder and Eclipse. "These two could probably handle him just fine and with Spyro they will surely defeat him."
"You would send a strike team to engage an army? Are you mad or is your mouth going faster than your head again?" Cyril locked eyes with him.
"They don't need to eliminate the army, all we need is for them to strike Armavir down. You said it yourself Eclipse, if Armavir falls then the army will dissipate!" Volteer defended himself while looking to Eclipse for support.
"Even if we go on this mission." Eclipse looked up at Cynder then back down. "There's no guarantee that we can get to Armavir let alone kill him."
"Well we can't sit here and let Warfang be sieged again! The city is barely holding on as it is, another siege will surely break us!" Volteer insisted.
"We did it once we can do it again!"
"How are we going to survive this one? If it's anything like his siege," Once again he gestured to Eclipse. ", we will NOT survive."
"As long as those walls are up, we still have hope!"
"Do you forget that we almost lost the wall?"
"Do you forget that Spyro and Cynder saved the city?"
"QUIET!" Terrador silenced them. "We will NOT send our three greatest fighters on a suicide mission just to avoid another siege."
"Thank you Terrador." Cyril nodded towards him will Volteer looked at the world map.
"I know the three of you have taken it upon yourselves to train some of the younger volunteers." Cynder looked confused. "How many will you take?"
"With the three of us." He looked back on Cynder, slightly wincing. "Twelve more? Spyro is already training two and I'm planning on recruiting Nathora to the program."
"I'll gather them up and bring them your way." Cyril left quickly afterwards.
"If someone told me I would be fighting my own army or training a handful of younger dragons three years ago, I would've ended them." Eclipse stated with a sigh. "I hope this is the last war I need to fight."
"Don't we all." Terrador agreed with his own sigh.
"What is this program I'm supposed to be teaching?" Cynder looked between them.
"I proposed to the guardians the idea that me, you, and Spyro would take a small amount of younger volunteers to train. In return we would be funded in full and I would be allowed to forge armor for some of the recruits." Eclipse explained, coming around the table. "Spyro was suppose to tell you before we started today but you were too hard to find."
"What makes you think I want to be a teacher?"
"Because I've spent enough time with you to know that you don't want untrained young ones going into battle and dying." Eclipse looked into her eyes. "Cynder, c'mon. This is a way for us to save some lives that would otherwise be lost."
"How many would I be in charge of?"
"Five," His left eye changed red. ",trust us. We can make this work." She stared into his different colored eyes for a long moment, resisting the urge to get lost in them. Would this be worth it? How do we know that they will even survive with our help? She wondered what started this idea, and why the guardians agreed to it. "What do you say? Will you join me and your goofball of a savior and prepare these kids for war?"
"I don't have a choice do I?" She asked with a small smile.
"You always have a choice when it comes to me."
"Fine." She gave him a playful shove. "I guess I can add teacher to my ever expanding resume."