Spyro the Dragon: Creation and Destruction
By ValkierieDjermegandre
Disclaimer: Sigh...hey! I still don't own Spyro or any related characters that appear in this story! They belong to their respective creators at Vivendi Universal! I own Spyro's god form, his powers and any original characters including, but not limited to, Atlas! I also own the scenario and not...much...else!! Rawwrr!! Okay? Okay.
Plot: Through time, there has always been one god who has been the object of fear; one who's right hand is chaos…who's left hand is destruction…who's very breath is pestilence. Creation and destruction will clash…as forbidden myth becomes black truth…
Notes: It's here! The next part in my Spyro the Dragon God saga, Creation and Destruction. Mostly inspired by my own need for another story to write and an answer to the requests for the next part of the saga (I'm looking at Draganta the Dragonlord and Nightmare King). Hope you like this too!
Book II: Blood in Trial and Time
Chapter XVIII: Failure
The skies were stained a bloody red and scattered black clouds of various sizes rolled across the sky, giving off a threatening air. Though the air was heavy as though a great rain was coming, there was no rain and the winds were still and rung with the sounds of violence and warfare. This was his world…the Yokkureian Realm; Atlas' home and domain. The crimson dragon stood atop a large mountain with his hand on one of the many jagged rock formations, a cavern behind him that was most presumably where he had come out from. Atlas looked across the sad condition of the land, his land, and was saddened…it seemed as though every year, the conditions grew worse. The Yokkureian realm was one of emptiness…so empty was this world, that the elements saw no reason to show their presence here.
There were river banks, but it seemed as though the water itself had just left these dragons. No wind blew; the air was as still as the jagged Einsir Mountains…the only thing that the air carried was the sounds of distant Yokkurei fighting one another. No rain ever fell and no thunder ever roared from the clouds; not even lightening would come to shred the sky into many fragments. There were many active volcanoes in the Yokkureian realm but they seldom went off, except for when Atlas' anger could truly override the curse that was placed upon his realm and the same went for any tremors or any kind of seismic reaction. There was no sun or moon, only cold nights that breathed loneliness down the necks of any dragons that happened to sleep outside, which most of them did. The only element that was still active was time, however there was barely any tracking it in the Yokkureian realm. Looking at this hellhole that had been left to his clan, Atlas clutched Spyro's life force even tighter.
"I made a promise to the revolution…and I will finally fulfill my promise…" Atlas started. He began to scan the lands as best as he could from his position. "I have to find the Kikoun Shrine. Then I can draw the energy from this life force and end this nightmare once and for all!"
The God of Destruction reassured himself with a solemn nod and jumped from the mountain, hitting the ground below and listening to the harsh crunch of the dead grass beneath him. Atlas rolled his eyes at the dead foliage under his feet and started off in the general direction where he remembered the shrine being built. Even though it was his world he was walking in, Atlas was still in somewhat of a state of awe; most likely because he was in the Dragon Realms for what seemed like ages. It wasn't a pure awe of surprise he was feeling however; it was a painful awe, as in the kind of awe a dragon would feel at the sight of one of its children being slain right out of the egg. As he kept walking, Atlas soon came into a small village where a handful of Yokkureian families lived. There wasn't anything noteworthy except for a stone fountain from which no water flowed; it was only covered in vines and foliage to show its age. There were cobblestones lined across the ground and around the fountain, and small posts lined up what may have made up a fence at one time.
As the God of Destruction walked through the village, Yokkureian parents and their children cast gazes of astonishment at the sight of their God returning. It was funny; after such a long time of being in the Dragon Realms, Atlas had forgotten what his clan looked like. The Yokkurei had many defining features about them, most notably was that their eyes were never blue; they were mostly red, orange or yellow and Atlas being the rare case of green eyes. Any Yokkureians that studied magicks of any kind had satanic, inverted pentagrams painted on their right shoulders, with Atlas' being a special form because he was a master of the dark arts. Yokkureians also had larger ridges running down their backs in comparison to Pures, and their tails were longer and geared more towards destruction. They also didn't have real dragon wings, as they grew out of the dragons' backs from their own spiritual energy from the age of seven; in essence, mastery of magick often resulted in large wings. Most Yokkurei often had gems growing out of their heads, along with horns that often branched into four or five ends like tree branches. Finally, their claws and talons were always jagged and uneven; they were also transparent most times as if they were made of crystal.
"No wonder we were given a completely different name…however, that doesn't justify the way we're treated…" Atlas growled to himself while running his hand along one of his horns.
"Lord Atlas?! Is that really you?" Came a voice.
Atlas looked around, somewhat confused until he finally spotted the source of the call. He was a Yokkureian of a majestic silver color and he had yellow eyes. Somewhat spiky blue hair trailed down the back of his neck stretching all the way to his lower back. The dragon had shining black horns and straight marks down his cheeks, along with a white gem that graced his forehead. He had a small horn protruding from his snout like Atlas and he also had short dragon whiskers that seemed to float in the nonexistent wind. He wore a strange garment of a sky blue color that covered his chest and had shoulder pads on it, as well as extending to a cape that went down to the middle of his back. He wore sword scabbard at his sides that were of a cool golden color with blue lines running down them, and he also wore black gloves with red markings on them. He also carried a small tome at his side; it was a black book with a white design on its cover. The silver dragon walked up to Atlas and the God of Destruction looked at him for a few seconds.
"Don't tell me that you don't remember me, Lord Atlas." The dragon said. Atlas looked really hard and finally found a memory that was buried deep within his childhood.
"Heimdegire." Atlas finally said. The silver dragon smiled and let out a long sigh, "How could I ever forget you?"
"I'm glad that you remembered. Where were you all this time?"
"You knew were I was. I was in the Dragon Realms finding a way to lift this damn curse from our world. What about you? How's your wife?"
"Ahh…" Heimdegire shook his head, "She seems to get sicker by the day. All I can really do is keep praying for her, I'm afraid."
"Right…" Atlas was about to raise his eyebrow in questioning but then he remembered that Yokkureian dragons had a much stronger belief in their Gods, or God, than any other dragon clan. It often seemed like an oxymoron, but it was true. "Well, I should probably get moving. I'm headed up to the Kikoun Shrine to end this nightmare once and for all. You want to come with?"
"I wouldn't mind, my lord."
With that, Atlas and Heimdegire did a quick hand shake and began walking out of the village. As they went, dragon children tried to run up to Atlas to probably play around with him, but their parents held them back for fear of angering the red dragon. Atlas shrugged to his friend and Heimdegire gave him a solid slap on the back before they reached the village limits and proceeded toward the volcano in the distance. The Kikoun Shrine was nestled deep within a volcano in the Einsir Mountains; a very treacherous region of the Yokkureian Realm. Along the way, the two dragons tried many times to instill some kind of conversion in the trip, most attempts being from Heimdegire, but their talking didn't last long averagely; Atlas wasn't much of a talker in his current state.
"So what are the Dragon Realms like?" Heimdegire asked. Atlas crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
"They're different from here. The sky is blue and there's water flowing…but not for long." Atlas said, clutching Spyro's life force which Heimdegire didn't really ask him about.
"Really? Lord Atlas, what did you do there?"
"If you really want to know, Heimdegire…" Atlas started to tell him that he killed the Dragonian God of Creation, but he thought better of it, "…I did something that my parents and my ancestors would probably never truly accept…than again, my parents never got the chance to love me anyway…"
"You're hiding things again, aren't you? Honestly Atlas, I have trouble believing that you are seriously the same dragon that I met when we were still small…"
"You haven't had to go through the things that I have. You were actually able to see your parents when you were born…I was blinded to the world much longer than most when I was born. The only reason I knew that my mother left me was because she told me that she was going on a journey and wouldn't be back…I heard her, but I never saw her. My father died before I saw him too; I knew because…"
"Because my parents told you. You probably should have accepted our invitation to live with us…than you probably wouldn't be so messed up today."
"You forgot to factor in the general truth that I was forced to take the trials to become God of Destruction when I was merely six years old. Those trials scarred me for life…"
"Lord Atlas, I don't really care about your inner injuries. No matter how you act or what you do, you'll always have a home with me if you ever need it."
"Thank you, Heimdegire. Although to tell the absolute truth I probably won't be putting that favor into practice; I am a God, after all."
"Yeah, well it's the gesture that counts, Lord Atlas."
Atlas nodded in agreement and both dragons kept walking. At the best of times, Atlas thought of himself as a weird case. He really did lie to Spyro and Heimdegire back when he made that statement to the silver dragon. In truth, he had forgotten about Heimdegire who was the only Yokkureian friend that he knew. After he had taken the trials and Twilight was burned into his heart, Atlas had separated any happy memories from his mind; he was forced to. The red dragon was silently ashamed of himself, but he didn't show it as he and Heimdegire finally reached the foot of the Einsir Mountains and the volcano that housed the Kikoun Shrine.
"Well…here we are. Let's go." Atlas simply said.
Heimdegire nodded and both dragons headed into the mountain. The interior of the Kikoun Volcano was typical of its kind; there were rivers of magma and loose footing here and there, and there were also crystals of Orichalcum ripping out from seemingly everywhere. The two Yokkureians walked in near silence, only really speaking to warn one another about any loose rocks in the ceiling falling from random but small tremors. After five minutes of navigating their way through caverns, Atlas and Heimdegire finally made it: the Kikoun Shrine. The shrine was nestled in the center of the crest of the volcano on a rock island. There was magma all around it, except for the path separating the island from the cavern. The shrine itself was made of Grigon stone, a rock that was magma resistant and there were Orichalcum tiles across the floor of the shrine. In the very back of the shrine, there was a small alter that was also made of Orichalcum with small purple and green lines tracing all around its boundary.
"This is it…the shrine. Those lines that run down that thing are connected to the chi waves of our world…those streams of energy that were damaged because the supreme judge…" Atlas growled.
"So, what are you going to do now that we're here?" Heimdegire asked. Atlas chuckled at his cluelessness.
"This, obviously." Atlas showed Heimdegire his prize from Spyro and gave a dark smirk as he told him nothing of the object's origins. "This will hopefully repair those streams so that our world can flourish once again…
Heimdegire said nothing after that and let Atlas walk toward the shrine alone. The crimson dragon had small doubts within the depths of his heart; was this truly the right thing to do? Was the only way to restore the Yokkureian Realm to substitute life for life? Atlas shook the doubt out of his head as he walked the Orichalcum floor, which showed his own reflection. The Deity of Chaos looked down at the altar…there was a small hole that seemed to be made for the precious treasure that he held. However, just before Atlas could set it down…
"Are you sure you want to do that, Atlas Twilight?" came the voice of Hinarious. Atlas looked around intently but didn't find the Sage Dragon…until he looked behind the altar again.
"You! What do you mean 'do I want to do it?' You told me that I needed to use the life force of the God of Creation! I did everything that you told me to do!" Atlas cried.
"Huh, huh…" Hinarious couldn't help but laugh to himself. "That's right…you did everything that I told you to and you know what? You fell right for the alligator's ruse!"
While an insane grin took Hinarious' face, the Sage Dragon thrust his fist forward and into Atlas' chest. The God of Destruction went careening across the floor of the shrine, finally coming to rest at the entrance, with Spyro's life force falling onto the altar just short of the small depression in the stone. Heimdegire, seeing his friend in danger, immediately dashed for the shrine and knelt by Atlas' side. The red dragon looked up and noticed Hinarious placing his hand upon Spyro's life force, drawing a thick black essence from it.
"What are you doing?!" Atlas cried once more. Hinarious looked at him curiously, but then noted that he was still wearing his black robe.
"Ah, yes…I had forgotten about that. Time to end this charade." Hinarious said. He gripped his hand upon the robe and ripped it off of his body, revealing his normal garment underneath. "That better?"
"Hinarious?! What the hell?!"
"Oh Atlas, that's your biggest weakness. Yes, you're big and strong. You could destroy the universe if you wanted. However, you are truly a fool among fools! You let your drive to restore your world force you into doing, quite frankly, the dumbest things! You are a quality idiot, Atlas!"
"W-what…?"
"I led you on from the start. When you first met me while taking the trials to become a God, I planted a little seed in you called 'Desire'. I let you believe that you could restore your world if you took the life of the God of Creation, my biggest threat by the way, to get you to wipe Spyro out. I didn't have to lift a finger. You are the weakest of dragons!"
"I'll show you weak!"
Truly angered beyond any limit that he could possibly have, Atlas roared savagely to summon his six Shinigami Ryoku, also practically tearing the shrine down with the dark aura that he emitted. It was then that he noticed a seventh Shinigami Ryoku; he guessed it was Spyro's Adamatinacor. Hinarious laughed out loud and pulled out his staff; he held it up and his ether covered it, transforming it into his own signature weapon. It was as simple as a fencing sword, with a guard that had angel wings upon it and the point was sharp beyond belief. There was also a tie running from the bottom of the handle. The Sage Dragon put one hand behind his back, charging at Atlas with amazing speed. Heimdegire was about to draw his own swords, until Atlas stopped him with but a signal from his hand.
"I'll kill him! Stay back, Heimdegire…" Atlas growled in his godly voice.
The red dragon reached for Tsubasa of the Torrential Winds and it transformed into a bow. It was made of many spiraling lines of solidified winds and the points of the bow were topped with lightening bolts. Clouds surrounded the portion where the arrow would fly and it seemed that there was a method for Atlas to separate the sections of the bow. However before the dragon could even fire an arrow, Hinarious had already gotten too close to him. The Sage Dragon poked Atlas lightly in the chest with the point of his sword and Atlas stopped in his tracks as though he had been punched there. Hinarious then raked Atlas many times with the weapon until he carved five gashes into the God's scales; Atlas shook himself out of the assault and readied a lightening bolt that served as his arrow. He let it fly and expected it to run right through Hinarious, but his jaw dropped when he witnessed Hinarious stopping the arrow with the point of his sword.
The Sage Dragon swiped his sword and sent the bolt into the magma falls only a few meters away; a great explosion followed with a flux of intense lightening energy. Hinarious jumped at Atlas and slashed him diagonally across his chest and then decided to finish the job.
"Lock! Kinshai Rakaisu!!" Hinarious raged.
The Sage Dragon lightly stabbed Atlas in the chest and he caused the God's Shinigami Ryoku to appear. Hinarious made some erratic movements with his sword and then pierced Atlas' flesh with his sword, immediately shattering his Shinigami Ryoku. With his aura broken, Atlas collapsed to the ground on his knees and soon his whole body was down. Hinarious smiled darkly and looked down at Atlas.
"Oh look…I really can defeat you with one hand behind my back." Hinarious cruelly said.
"D-damn…you…!" Atlas strained.
"Atlas…I will say it again. You are weak. You think that you have willpower on your side, but you actually have the weakest soul of any God that I have ever seen. Even you should have known that using the life force of the opposite God would not work!"
"You…you lied to me…you…you used me!!"
"Yes, I thought I already said that. And in case you didn't notice it either, you didn't even put up a fight. I so easily defeated you and it's almost sad. Well, that's all for today; I should be getting on my way. Thank you for being the idiotic pawn of the month, Atlas Twilight."
Hinarious gave one more shallow smirk and disappeared in flash of white light, leaving Atlas with the emptiest of feelings in his heart. Heimdegire tried to help Atlas off of the ground, but the God of Destruction pushed him away as he dragged himself to the altar. Atlas placed his hand on Spyro's life force; he didn't know what Hinarious had taken from it, but it didn't lose its brilliant and sincere glow. Black tears started rolling down Atlas' eyes…he thought that he had finally did something helpful for his world but he only failed once again…and Hinarious tricked him at that. The red dragon buried his face within the arm that he wasn't using to hold Spyro's life force. The God of Destruction silently sobbed into his arm as the many falls of magma flowed behind him, giving rise to an event that none had though possible: Atlas Twilight's spirit had been broken.
End Chapter Eighteen…next chapter, Broken…