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 III: Dawn of Eternity
Chapter XXIX: Hell
After he walked through the flames that presented themselves after the door, Atlas found himself walking down a long flight of black stone stairs. As he descended deeper, the red Yokkurei found that the temperature started to increase dramatically and the scent of death was also more prevalent. After a few minutes of heading still deeper, the stairs had finally thinned out and were replaced by a strait of solid ground. There were pools of raging magma on both sides of the strait, spewing fire regularly, and blade-sharp stalagmites were rising out of the magma. The rock that made up the cavern was of a vibrant red color and there were also chains and shackles upon the walls. Atlas looked around and was somewhat intimidated.
"Where am I...?" Atlas said.
"Oh, you know, Hell." came the voice of the devil. Ryoshin appeared before Atlas from the Grimoire and the God of Destruction gave him a raised eyebrow.
"Hell? As in, the underworld?"
"Yes. That 'bad place where evil dragons go'...or so the parents and religious folk tell their kids. In reality, it's the home of all evil and a special haven for Yokkurei who are seen as 'worthy'..."
"Haven?"
"Yes...in some tales of the Yokkureian origins, we are depicted as being the children of the greatest devil...born in Hell, essentially."
"So wait...back up. Worthy? So that means that I've been seen as worthy?"
"...typical lack of interest in old myths. Scum...anyway, yes...you have been labeled as worthy...mostly with a small recommendation from the devil himself: me."
"You?! I thought you detested me!"
"I detest everyone and everything. I only gave you my recommendation because you're closest to me by way of blood. Now shut up and get moving."
Atlas rolled his eyes and decided not to argue; he had better things to do than argue with Ryoshin about his attitude. The Yokkurei walked on, with Ryoshin floating behind him, through caverns filled with magma at nearly every step. The red dragon kept moving and came across little trouble; though he bore witness to many groups of demons that looked threatening enough, the dark denizens took one look at the dragon that was hovering behind Atlas and they dismissed any hostile thoughts that they may have had against Atlas. The red dragon was happy about this in a way; he wasn't in the mood for kicking any demon ass in every other room. Eventually after walking through much of Hell, Atlas and Ryoshin came to a large door with an equally large blue skull implanted in its center. Atlas stared at the door in disillusion.
"What are you waiting for?" Ryoshin asked.
"You're impatient, aren't you? What is this door?" Atlas asked in turn.
"Go through and you'll find out..."
"Ugh, fine...can't depend on you for anything..."
The God of Destruction slowly backed up and then ran at the door at full speed, lowering his head to ram the door with his horns. The dragon succeeded in his attack and the door flew open, throwing Atlas into a pitch black space with nothing but dim, blue flames all around him for what seemed to be miles. The God of Destruction looked around and stepped forward, but backed up quickly when he found that there was no footing. Atlas put his finger to his chin in thought and then he hit upon an idea...a very simple idea. The Yokkurei turned and started to walk to his right, but then he quickly bumped into a wall that he couldn't see. Ryoshin shook his head in pity and Atlas rose from the ground, thoroughly stumped.
"Damn...what the hell is this?!" Atlas roared. Ryoshin rolled the one eye that was visible.
"Ugh, isn't it obvious, scum?! Use your brain, for once; that's why you have it, you twit!" Ryoshin harshly roared.
"Use my brain? Are Yokkureians supposed to use their brains?"
"Stop...joking...around. If you don't get out of this room, nay...finish the final rite within a certain time period, you'll be trapped in Hell for all eternity."
"What?! How much time?!"
"How the hell should I know...?"
Atlas quieted himself and sat down to think. He knew that the room was dark and he didn't have his powers...but there was a floor and a designated path through this room. It was then that Atlas hit upon another idea; he stood up and removed the seal from the Grimoire of the Sealed Heavens. Despite the fact that the room was pitch black, the Grimoire gave off an intense red aura that allowed Atlas some light as he searched through the pages. Finally, he found it; an incantation for light. The God of Destruction was lucky; even though Hinarious locked his Chakra, this incantation required little to no energy as it drew on the sole demonic aura of the Grimoire. The red Yokkurei did a few motions with his fingers and in no time, he had a bright light source hovering just above the Grimoire. In fact, the light produced a large space of illumination that revealed the glass wall that Atlas bumped into and the chasm that he almost fell into.
"Well, that makes things easier...see, I can do this, Ryoshin." Atlas said.
"Hmph...we'll see..." Ryoshin scoffed. Nevertheless, he was quietly proud.
Despite Ryoshin's show of indifference, Atlas smirked and walked the path that was gradually being shown to him. He occasionally started to stray off the path and come close to falling, but he kept his direction together long enough...in time, he reached the other side and wiped his brow. The God of Destruction walked forward a small bit and came upon an azure blue dragon skull; though somewhat disturbed, Atlas walked toward it and came quite close to touching it, but he backed off and decided to examine it for a bit longer.
"Is there a problem?" Ryoshin growled.
Not wanting to spark another argument or a sarcastic comment from Ryoshin, Atlas went ahead and placed his hand upon the skull; upon doing so, a dark blue light flowed from the skull and into Atlas' body. The red dragon felt a sharp pain in his heart, but it vanished quickly and a large gash ran down the top of the skull. This signified that the trial of wisdom was overcome and the pitch blackness that was behind the skull and its pedestal opened up to reveal that there was a door there. Atlas smirked as he could see more of the path through that door; without looking back, the Yokkurei walked through the door and down a narrow hallway, soon coming to more stairs. The God of Destruction walked down the stairs, finding that the temperature was increasing slightly, and he found himself in a deeper section of the underworld.
The room that Atlas was standing in had small islets with bridges over a sea of flaming magma. The molten rock released flares over the bridges that threatened to burn them. There were also Orichalcum crystals rising from the magma that radiated with evil energy and the red caverns seemed to turn into a harsh black color as the caverns stretched on. Atlas shook his head to rid himself of any doubts and pressed onward, not willing to let any discouraging thoughts come through his head and get him thinking about leaving. The Yokkurei walked across each bridge with caution, being careful not to get burned by the random flares being spewed by the sea of magma.
"Hey Ryoshin...how deep are we...?" Atlas asked.
"Sigh...let's see...judging by how hot it's getting, I can make a guess and say we're on the third level of Hell..." Ryoshin growled.
"Third level? When did we get to the second level?!"
"The trial of wisdom, which you recently completed, probably qualified as the second level..."
"Well, that would make sense...wait a minute! I already took the trials of power, wisdom and courage when I gained my powers in the first place! Why do I have to do this again?!"
"We're in Hell, scum; this place has its own rules. Didn't you notice that the wisdom trial was different this time?"
"Sigh, fair enough..."
Atlas folded his arms and kept walking, soon reaching the blackened cavern. At that point, it became harder for Atlas to see, but the light was well enough that Atlas could see the giant yellow skull seemingly floating in midair. The God of Destruction smirked and ran at the door, bringing it open with his Yokkureian horns; on the other side, he found himself standing on a large pillar, with whole seas and falls of magma all over the area. Orichalcum crystals ripped through the seas of magma and whatever land that was present. Atlas crossed his arms and looked on at the literal Hell that presented itself to the God of Destruction.
"Well, this is awesome..." Atlas said.
"I wonder how you should pass this one..." Ryoshin said.
"Hmm..."
Atlas wondered too. He scanned the area intently, but couldn't find anything that would offer him any assistance; the magma spelled death for anything that dared to dive into its sea. The Yokkurei looked at the sea of magma and then looked at his hands; an idea was in his head but he couldn't produce it. Ryoshin looked at his struggling descendant and decided to offer him small bit of advice.
"Well, I can see that you won't be able to figure this out for yourself, so I'll give you a hint..." Ryoshin growled.
"You? A hint? Wow, this must be Hell..." Atlas sarcastically said.
"Hmph...ignorant bug. Anyway, the one thing that you have to remember is that these trials assume that your powers as the God of Destruction are ready to use..."
"Well, that helps. I'm actually here to get my powers in case you've forgotten that!"
"Hmph...it's not like your natural abilities don't apply, either. Nature itself exhumes just another form of Chakra..."
"Chakra...?"
Atlas let the idea pass through his head momentarily...than he hit upon an idea. It would be a dangerous stunt and if he turned out to be wrong, he would surely die...than again, nothing else he had done lately was exactly safe. The red dragon backed up and firmly balled up his fists and put them out to his sides. He then ran toward the end of the ledge and made a mighty leap toward the sea of magma. Before he hit the molten rock, the Yokkurei made some motions with his arms and put his arms out in front of his body; as soon as Atlas was two inches above the magma, the molten rock parted and bended to the God of Destruction's will as he used this force to shift along the sea of magma.
"An excellent use of Yokerra Rajenken. However, do to your state, you can't keep this form up for very long..." Ryoshin said.
Atlas knew that Ryoshin was right and he confirmed the theory when he noticed that the magma was burning his skin in various places. Black bruises were being burned into his scales at nearly every other second; Atlas was putting a severe strain on his body by attempting this move without his Godhood. The God of Destruction streamlined his body slightly to increase his speed, despite the fact that this action made him more susceptible to being harmed by the magma. Soon Atlas had another problem, however; there was a lava fall ahead of him. Atlas cursed to himself and prepared to make a leap to the other side. As soon as the red dragon got close to the edge, he put all of his strength into a jump that allowed him access to the other side, but he didn't know if he'd be able to initiate Yokerra Rajenken again in his current position.
"Dammit, what now?!" Atlas roared.
Despite the odds, the Yokkurei knew that he had to try what was available to him. He did the Rajenken motions as fast as he could, still keeping them clean, but did it come to any avail? Atlas soon started falling and he pushed his arms forward once again, but his body made contact with the magma. The Yokkurei held in his roar of pain as his foot was severely burned, but his concentration payed off when he started moving across the magma again. In maybe four minutes, he reached an island that held the pedestal that in turn held a golden dragon skull. Atlas saw the land and jumped accordingly, hitting the ground with a resounding thud and not moving afterward to catch his breath. Atlas was breathing very heavily and his body was scorched in various places, his foot being the greatest blunder.
"Ugh...huh...huh...man...this is nothing...short of Hell..." Atlas struggled to say. Ryoshin crossed his arms and looked at the suffering Yokkureian.
"Power always comes at a heavy cost...although, considering that you have no use of your wings or advanced magic, this is especially hard on you..." Ryoshin said. "But you're going to have to deal with it...unless you want to remain powerless..."
"Ugh..."
Atlas said nothing afterward and started to dose off. It was a strange idea on his part to fall asleep in the underworld, but he didn't care; as far as Atlas was concerned, he deserved a good rest. Naturally, Ryoshin had complaints against Atlas' choice of action; however, he knew that nothing he could say would be able to get the Yokkurei up now. As his descendant slept, Ryoshin started to feel sorry for him about the decision he had to make.
"...I may as well give him one..." Ryoshin growled, and he pulled out his sword...
After ten minutes of rest, Atlas awoke and found that he was completely ready to go...he also found that there was something strange about his foot. He could have sworn that he burned it on scalding hot magma, but he found that he could move it just fine. Not only could he move his foot just fine, but he could also walk on it like nothing had ever happened to it. As far as Atlas was concerned, it was weird...but then he looked at the cloaked Yokkurei sitting on the ledge. Atlas gave Ryoshin a soft smile and the devil turned and looked at him with a harsh scowl.
"What?!" Ryoshin spat.
"...Nothing. Let's get moving." Atlas said, hiding his theory. "There is no way that he would have healed my foot...no way..."
Atlas put the idea out of his mind and moved forward, coming at the rest of the gold dragon skull. He already knew what to do, so he did it; the red dragon put his hand on the skull and a yellow light passed from the dragon skull and into his body. Once again, Atlas felt a sharp pain in his heart and it seemed to stick around longer this time, but it disappeared and the wall of magma behind the skull parted...revealing another flight of stairs going down. The Yokkurei hardened his resolve and moved forward...walking down the stairs into the next level of Hell.
After the stairs and another increase in temperature, Atlas predictably found himself in another, deeper section of Hell. This place had ruins; columns, old stone decrepit buildings, spires made out of the same stone that made up the walls and paths of the underworld, and cauldrons that looked like they were forcibly knocked to the ground as their contents had long since hardened. Most of the buildings looked like they had been stomped on and there were plenty of giant sized footprints going through the area, not to mention there were claws marks in the walls. Magma was seeping through small fissures in the ground and there were larger rivers of it flowing through the general area. Atlas took a moment to examine the area and then walked on, minding the stray magma and fissures in the ground. There were also stray magick incantations floating through the air like spirits.
The red Yokkurei felt somehow nostalgic walking through the depths of the underworld; he didn't know why, but he somehow felt that he was here before...a long time ago. Despite his strange feelings, Atlas kept quiet about them...there was no real purpose in starting another discussion with Ryoshin. After walking through the town, and somehow coming upon huge bones sticking straight out of the ground, Atlas came through a small cavern and into an area which looked like an old smithy. There were hammers and tongs, many types of steel and other material (most of which Atlas couldn't identify) and lots of chains. What caught Atlas' eye, however, was the presence of a whole heap of bones that were presumably dragon and demon bones. The Yokkurei walked further and found that near the bones, there was also a vat of fresh blood.
"Wh...what is this?!" Atlas said.
"This place...it's a smithy. What did you think it was? The very smithy where the Shinigami Ryoku were forged..." Ryoshin said.
"The Shinigami Ryoku...?" Atlas scooped some of the blood out of the vat with a nearby spoon and let it slowly spill back into it.
"Yes. The Shinigami Ryoku were made with a combination of demon bones, dragon bones, and the fresh blood of the Shinigami...said to never ferment..."
"Well...that's wonderful..."
"Yes...but such techniques have long since been forgotten and deemed forbidden by most...an act of devil worship. Though despite that this was considered 'Black Alchemy', forging weapons this way produced much stronger and durable weapons than any way that they are forged now. However, the weapons were made with evil intent...thus they would destroy their user if he did not bare an evil soul."
"..."
Atlas said nothing else in response and kept moving through the black smithy. He rounded cauldrons and many old weapon prototypes that breathed evil energy. The Yokkurei kept his mind on the sloping path, however, as he soon came to a door with a red skull implanted in its center. Atlas was momentarily hesitant, but he then put his hand on the door and pushed it open...he was quite surprised that the door actually yielded. The God of Destruction walked through the door and found himself in a room that was nothing more than a large circle. Steel bridges connected the circle to two doors and large, sharp dragon bones ripped out of the ground along the diameter. There was a single crest in the very center and chains coming from the ceiling and various walls of magma surrounding the area were attached to the outer rims of the ground for no real reason.
Atlas was curious but figured that this was the final trial, so he walked forward nonetheless. The red dragon trekked to the center of the platform and just waited...and waited. He waited for what seemed to be ten minutes, but still nothing happened. Finally, the Yokkurei became impatient.
"Sigh...okay, what the hell? What is this trial, anyway?" Atlas said.
"Ahh, the trial of Power...one of my personal favorites..." Ryoshin said.
"Well, that's great Ryoshin...but what's the freakin' trial?!"
"If you intend to keep whining, then I'll tell you...for this trial, you must successfully let your savage Yokkureian blood take over; you must battle and drink the blood of the great demon, Faust..."
"What?! I'm gonna have to drink the blood of a demon?! That doesn't even sound feasible!"
"Okay, I'm only going to say this once: you either shut your mouth, battle the demon, drink its blood and complete the trial...or you can turn around and throw yourself into some magma, because we've gone too far to leave. What is your choice, scum?"
"...well, when you put it that way..."
Atlas let out a long sigh and strode forward, doing his best to ignore Ryoshin's harsh, but true, words. The God of Destruction started to get closer to the door on the other side...but he stopped as soon as he heard heavy footsteps. Atlas stopped dead and looked on; the doors that he thought were locked were slowly opening, allowing a being to come through. The beast seemed to have been made up of two bodies merged into one. The top half was a dragon-like body, but of an armor-like property; it had four silver curved horns, a horn poking forth from its snout and bony horns rising from its neck area that resembled the curve of a crown. Two horns protruded from its cheeks that curved toward its front and were gray in color. It had two shoulder pads that were designed like skulls and a large tuft of white hair flowing from the back of its head.
It had an armored core on its chest and the arms that stretched from the shoulder pads had armored sleeves and the demon's long fingers and claws could be seen. One ripped dragon wing extended from its right shoulder blade and four long sharp bones ripped out of its left shoulder blade, covered in hardened blood and small serrated blades. The second, lower half of its body resembled the body of a behemoth, except it also had an armor-like property; two horns curved forth from the waist area that was the second demon's neck and an armored behemoth head extended from what would be the top demon's crotch. The beast had long fangs that dripped of poisonous venom and it also had curved bones ripping from the thighs of its legs. Its tail was long, thick and ended in a crescent moon shaped blade; long ridges prodded its lower back and ran along its tail. It had long claws and talons that seemed to be made of a diamond-like material. Strange, glowing runes were all over its lower body and some portions of its upper body. Both heads had black eyes and solid red pupils...and both heads looked at Atlas with a menacing glare, as the God of Destruction looked back with one of utter disbelief...
End Chapter Twenty nine...next chapter, Darkness...