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 XXI: Resurrection I
"You must gather up all of your resolve and venture into the Spirit Realm once more…into the Graveyard of Reason."
As soon as dawn broke the next morning, as much as it could considering it was still slightly raining, Atlas took off from the Dragon Dojo intent on charging into the Spirit Realm. Despite his weakness which still lingered from him traveling in the storm five days ago, the red dragon knew that he had a limited amount of time to accomplish his mission…less destruction rule the Dragon Realms. After catching a ride to the Magic Crafter's Home and charging past the villages and into the mountains, Atlas was starting to question his ability to save Spyro and pull him away from the closing claws of death. But then Atlas remembered Tomas' words.
"I mustn't falter. If I want to break into the Spirit Realm without any kind of special magick, I have to have no regrets." Atlas growled.
Because Tomas was worried about the Yokkureian's condition, the elder gave him a garment much like Heimdegire's, except it was black instead of blue and had white markings and the cape was somewhat longer. Atlas was moving at an impressive speed despite his loss of Godhood and he hopped mountain peak after mountain peak, until he reached a wide peninsula. He knew the he was getting close to the border when the weather suddenly switched over from the sunny skies of the Magic Crafter's Home to a gray sky and a light coat of snow. Feeling that he had traveled long enough without stopping, Atlas felt that he deserved a good rest and settled down on top of a tall boulder. The Yokkureian tried to scout out a path to follow, but it looked like the peninsula went on for eons.
"Hmm…I wonder how long this damn plain stretches…" Atlas said to no one.
"It goes on for a while, really…" came an apathetic, female voice.
Atlas looked down and saw the being that spoke to him. She was covered in a white robe with a black scarf and red markings. She had a hood over her head and wore a mask over her face that resembled a Phoenix head. Atlas looked at her curiously; who was this girl? She sure as hell wasn't a dragon…
"Who're you?" Atlas plainly asked.
"My name is Agni. I'm a member of the A.X.I.S Organization. I'm pretty sure you've met our leader, Rhatara…" Agni plainly responded.
"Rhatara…? Oh yeah, the blue dragon that saved us from getting the axe. So, why are you all the way out here?"
"I could ask you the same, Yokkurei."
"My name's Atlas. To answer your question, I'm going to the Spirit Realm to pull Spyro out of the Graveyard of Reason. I killed him, but that was the dumbest thing I've ever done…"
"I see…but to the Spirit Realm? By yourself? With no magick? 'Tis a fool's errand…"
"Whatever, I have to do this. I have to redeem myself in some kind of way…besides, I owe him a favor or two anyway…"
"A noble mission. How odd; I thought your kind were savage beasts."
"We are, but we have a reason behind it, ya know? Despite what most think, Yokkurei have hearts too."
"I see…what would you say if I were to offer to fly you? Could save a lot of time…"
"Hmm…why not? I mean…wait a damn second, how the hell can you fly?!"
Agni said nothing and just turned her back to Atlas as she removed her mask. A bright red flash followed and Atlas was truly surprised. A bird of flaming wings and eyes emerged in Agni's place. There was a bright plume of fire raging from her head and she had purple lines running all across her body. She wore a long green bead necklace that floated in the air behind her and she also had two horns poking forth from her beak. Her talons shined like the hardest metal just like her ruby red feathers and bright yellow crest. She had a beautiful multi-colored plumage coming from her backside and two long ribbons also flitted from that plumage; they too were multi-colored. Her legs were a brilliant gold and she also wore a small metal plate on her forehead that arced back somewhat. She turned toward Atlas and looked at him with her azure blue eyes and Atlas noted her long black eyelashes.
"Any doubts now?" Agni said.
"Nope. Let's go." Atlas answered.
Only a slight distance away as they were headed to the border themselves, Terra and Hinarious stood on a flat mountaintop apparently resting. Terra stood at the edge with his headphones equipped and his eyes closed, while Hinarious sat behind him, feasting on a dragon fruit. The Sage Dragon looked up and noticed Terra's actions.
"Why are you using your headphones? You were the one the suggested we rest." Hinarious questioned.
"We may have a problem. Atlas is over there." Terra said. That statement made Hinarious hack out the piece of fruit he was chomping on.
"What?! How is that fool even here?! I crushed his spirit and chakra; he has no power!"
"There is another presence over there. I can't read it correctly, however…"
"Terra! We're taking a detour. We're going to drive Atlas into the ground for good…"
Hinarious was clearly angered by Atlas' presence as he simply chucked the remains of the dragon fruit over his shoulder and stormed over in Atlas' general direction, with Terra close behind. The Sage Dragon had a nagging feeling that Atlas was going to try to bring Spyro back to life and he would prevent that at any cost…
Meanwhile, Atlas was feeling proud as the wind whipped at his face furiously. The Yokkurei was riding on the back of the A.X.I.S phoenix Agni and he was enjoying every minute of it. The red dragon was feeling quite confident; this chance encounter had increased his chances of getting to the Spirit Realm in a shorter space of time…before Spyro would have his soul bound to the afterlife. As they glided through the icy winds, Atlas started to feel a strong, negative aura…and that was finalized as an enormous fireball screamed through the air, toward them. Agni noticed the attack and brought her wings up, causing the fire attack to dissipate immediately.
"What the hell was that?!" Atlas screamed. His question was answered when he witnessed Hinarious screaming through the air toward them with a fire in his eyes. "Dammit, what is Hinarious doing here?!"
"Rhatara told me of him as well…" Agni said.
"Good. Then you know he's not good for our health…"
Hinarious made a mighty leap forward and shot another blast of magick at the duo, who promptly dodged thanks to Agni. It was then that Terra jumped into the air and started to spin around as he floated, drawing a huge amount of electricity into his foot and bringing it down on top of Atlas and Agni. Upon the former's warning, the latter banked to her left and slimly avoided the attack. As he watched Hinarious and Terra chase them in a rage, Atlas hit upon an idea.
"Sit still, fools!" Hinarious screamed.
"Yeah, that's a good idea, jackhole…" Atlas grumbled. "Hey, Agni! Fly low!"
"Are you joking? I thought we were trying to get away from them." Agni said.
"Fly low, dammit!!"
Obeying immediately, Agni spread her wings and banked toward the snow covered ground; flying low enough to just hover over the ground. Atlas started to question himself about the nature of his plan, but then he remembered the other gift that Tomas gave him: a sword. It looked like his Shinigami Ryoku's sealed forms in design, except there was nothing truly defining about it. It had a blade made of silver and a bronze hand guard with silver spikes on the bottom side. Its handle was as long as the six foot blade and was wrapped in a comfortable blue ribbon that dangled off past the crescent moon-like end. It was a simple weapon that only served to give Atlas some sort of defense against insane adversaries like Hinarious. The red Yokkurei dragged his sword through the snow and swung it towards Hinarious and Terra.
The two dark ones were slow to react and were briefly stopped by the powder snow barrage. As soon as they were distracted, Atlas immediately ordered Agni to speed off as fast as she could with such an overlord-like tone that she complied without any words. Terra was severely angered by such a simple tactic and used an equally simple tactic to rid himself and Hinarious of the powder snow; the silver bishōn summed up all of his power and released a powerful stream of flames from his fist, turning the powder snow and the surrounding snow into water. Atlas looked back and noticed Terra and Hinarious already catching up to them.
"Damn! Can anything stop them?! Grr…I'm gonna have to get serious. Fly low again! And be ready to fly off really quick!" Atlas ordered.
After avoiding a water attack and a lightening attack from Hinarious and Terra respectively, Agni flew low once again. She was surprised when Atlas jumped off of her back and rolled along the ground to soften his fall, baring his sword against his foes. Hinarious wore a dark scowl as he jumped past Atlas, but not before growling a sentiment to the Yokkurei.
"I'm not done with you yet, Yokkurei…" Hinarious growled. He went after Agni and left Atlas against Terra.
"Yeah, funny how you can say that when you're running, jackass…" Atlas grumbled.
"So, we meet again…" Terra said, drawing Atlas' attention. "You should have stayed in your place, Yokkurei…"
Atlas said nothing as he scowled at Terra, showing one of his long, jagged fangs. He was very sick of everyone calling him "Yokkurei"…he had a name. All he could think about at the moment was tearing Terra to pieces and then feasting one whatever was left of him. Terra was apparently thinking something along the same lines, as he started to draw a dangerous amount of lightening to the foot that he was lifting into the air and swinging about. Atlas looked at the silver wolf drawing so much power and his heart rate increased as a bead of sweat made its way down the side of his head; he didn't know if he could anything. His plan revolved around the idea that he had one Yokkureian power that he could use that Hinarious could never take away…it was bred into his blood. The natural channels in a Yokkureian dragon's body were always open and ready to allow any new forms of energy, chakra, to flow through the body and either be trained and learned, ejected from the body, or both. However, allowing new chakra in was a dangerous move that could kill a Yokkurei if done improperly.
"Hmm, you're really quiet today Atlas…oh well, ready to die?" Terra said.
Once again, Atlas said nothing as he racked his brain to remember the stances for each element and type of chakra. The stance for lightening came to him first and he was lucky considering that this is what Terra was using. The red dragon put his sword down and pointed three fingers toward Terra with his left hand and pointed the same three fingers in the opposite direction using his right hand. He kept his sadistic thoughts in his head as he silently preyed for this to work, for if it didn't…this would be the end of him. For a moment, Atlas' devil's script gave off a vibrant and violent energy, but Terra didn't let such a small detail bother him.
"This is the end for you…" Terra growled.
Without looking back, Terra swung his foot with all of his strength and sent forth a storm of lightening that came out with a deafening thunderclap. The jagged spikes of energy screamed toward Atlas so fast the he didn't have time for regrets as it made contact with his body. Terra smirked darkly; he had won and Atlas was dead…or was he? The silver wolf wore an expression of such surprise as he witnessed Atlas still standing with Terra's lightening attack screaming around his body…it was the exact same situation that would have happened if Terra had been struck by such an attack with his headphones on. Granted, Atlas body was reeling and he looked as though he were in a great deal of pain. His hair was flaring in a vertical fashion and the lightening was raking across his body, opening several wounds. However, the Yokkurei held fast and in time, it happened; Atlas' wings blew up to a glorious size of fifteen meters and gave off a brilliant light that rivaled the sun and also released serpent-like flares like it.
Finally, Atlas briefly gained control of his body and spread his arms out to his sides; now he had to solve the problem as to figuring how he wanted to discharge the energy. He knew that keeping foreign chakra in his channels was fatal and he knew that he should have thought about this before attempting this move. As the lightening started to arc in a more berserk manner, Atlas briefly lost control of his body and the sounds around him started to fade. Many thoughts were racing in his head as he clenched his fists to his sides and bent his knees to a small extent…before his pupils shrunk like a sadistic serpent's. Atlas began to growl loudly and bare his fangs, before letting out a savage war-cry, followed shortly by him completely redirecting Terra's energy through his maw, now Atlas' own chakra. The energy transformed into a storm of savage, purple lightening that was led on by an enormous orb of lightening chakra that crackled, roared, and clapped as it tore through the air at a blinding speed. Terra couldn't react at all and was torn up severely by the stray chakra; how did Atlas redirect his attack and amplify its power? A daunting explosion followed the impact and lightening snaked out in every direction, charring the ground.
When it was over, Atlas nearly slumped over himself in fatigue and his hair came down out of its usual style, covering his eyes somewhat as he breathed. He was silently impressed with himself, but what was that energy that he used? The red dragon looked up and gazed at the destruction his action caused…it gave him a good feeling to look at the burning earth and crackling fissures. His happiness melted when he heard screams, however. He looked over toward Terra and the silver wolf was writhing in absolute pain; he was clutching at where his heart would be and rolling around the ground while letting out random, high-pitched screams of stabbing pain. Atlas said nothing as he watched him; that bastard deserved it after what he had done to Djermegandre.
Meanwhile, Hinarious was still trying to kill Agni, but he missed with every spell he cast. He was about to throw another at her before he heard something that made his spine crawl. The Sage Dragon ran in the opposite direction and soon ended up where he started, except that there was one grave detail added: Terra was on the ground. Hinarious didn't pay Atlas any mind and ran up to Terra, picking him up into his arms.
'Terra!! What the hell happened?!" Hinarious screamed.
"A-Atlas!! H-he…arrgh!! Aghh! It h-hurts!! W-why does i-it h-hurt so much?! A-aaghh!!" Terra tried to say, amongst the stabs of pain.
"It hurts because you messed with me…not to mention I seem to have shattered your headphones…" Atlas growled.
It was true. On the ground where Terra was hit, were the remains of his headphones. They were damaged beyond repair and were starting to turn to dust. Hinarious was about to draw his sword and lock more than Atlas' chakra, but Terra pleaded with him to take him somewhere to treat his injuries…otherwise, he would surely die. Hinarious eventually complied and merely left Atlas with a threat as he vanished in a bright white light. The God of Destruction was silently thankful; he knew that he couldn't take another battle. Atlas collapsed to his knees and wiped whatever blood from his body that he could before sinking his claws into the snow. His body was ragged and he was smoking with stray chakra…what was that energy that he just dispelled?
End Chapter Twenty One's half…to be continued…