Chapter Seven: Declination of Solace
________________________________________________________________________
(The Next Night)
The second day strolled by towards the early night as Spyro was positioned on his haunches droning his emotionless stare out passed the glass-less window into the night, his eyes reduced to red cracks due to sleepless nights, while under the observation of Flame and Ember, the others, namely Hunter, Bianca, and Sparx, being absent from the temple upon the situation, yet will be informed of progress upon visitation momentarily.
Throughout the whole day, the purple dragon has not once left his position, much less the room or spoken a single word to anyone for that matter, which issued his close friends into worries and concern, especially the two dragons that were observing him at the moment.
"By the ancestors, look at him." Ember spoke. "He hasn't been able to sleep since last night. It's like he's not even acknowledging anything around him anymore."
In silence, Flame took a deep breath and spoke.
"Well, it's like I said, Ember, he needs time to himself for a while to cope with this. Come on, let's go."
As Flame walked off, Ember started to follow, but halted as her worried gaze diverted to the purple dragon inside the room.
It pained her greatly to see her friend in this kind of state. So much that the situation compels her to go and provide solace towards her friend. But Flame's words from last night told her otherwise. Spyro does need time to himself to cope with this.
Baring that to mind, Ember, with great hesitant, decided to make her leave in hopes to provide the purple dragon solace later on from the devastating events of yesterday's tragedy.
(One Hour Later)
An hour has passed, yet the purple dragon of prophecy remained secluded in his web of silence. His expression undeterred from its emotionless state without the purpose of acknowledgment to anything or anyone around him.
From the outside, he was devoid of emotion. From the inside, he was conflicted.
He couldn't feel anything anymore. It's as if half of him was gone the moment the life of his beloved was taken by the cruel hands of fate.
He thought he could cope with this, but he couldn't due to complications. How can he cope with the loss just one day short of the incident?
Cynder was his whole, now he only had half a heart. Now he only had half a soul. Now he only had a deep frown etched on his face to no end.
Seclusion and inner pain was his only comfort now. He didn't want to be disturbed by anyone at all, whether it is the elders or his close friends.
In the past, loneliness was his greatest fear in life, yet, at this moment, it has become his greatest form of comfort with no intention of release.
Recently, thoughts and voices of that day have littered his mind with endless results.
Although he kept to his previous stance throughout these thoughts, he was poisoned by inner turmoil.
The thoughts of his beloved's cries, her agony, her pain, the horrifying revelation in regards to that tragedy, the sheer anguish that he felt, and the nightmare that he experienced.
Every one of these events persisted in his mind to no end and it has pained him greatly. Yet, in some way, beyond that emotionless exterior, pain was his ultimate comfort, pain was his solace. And he would defy anyone who dares to take it away from him.
Suddenly, the constant tortuous voices in his mind were halted in interruption by the sound of one soft tone.
"Spyro?"
At first, the purple dragon failed to acknowledge the voice's existence, yet he issued a glance to the left to find Ember paddling slowly towards him, anxiety clearly present on her face.
As Ember halted her stop, Spyro slowly diverted his gaze forward.
"What do you want?" His voice held a dark tone, yet his expression grew undeterred.
Slightly startled by the response, Ember grew in hesitant silence for a second before speaking.
"I…I just want you to know that…you're not alone in this. Okay?"
"You're wrong."
The abrupt response came of a surprise to her as Spyro resumed, his emotionless face and his dark voice intact.
"I am alone. I feel that way, and fate always saw it that way."
In disbelief upon those words, the pink dragoness shook her head. True, she had her strong bitterness about fate upon its involvement in last night's tragedy, but she had sense enough to know that solace would comfort a grieving soul, not isolation.
"You don't mean that."
Spyro heard her, yet kept his stare towards the outside area with an inner sense of anger in his vein.
"Don't tell me what the fuck I don't mean."
"I'm sorry, just please take it easy."
"The mother of my child is gone. My unborn child is gone. Both are dead in a way I could never envision. And you're telling me to take it easy? Get out."
Although the response grew hurtful in spite of the expression on his face, Ember chose not to deter from him in her attempt to provide him solace as she approached further.
"Spyro, please…don't do this to yourself. Because Cyn—"
Suddenly, to her gasping shock, a harsh backhand was applied to her left cheek, which diverted Ember's attention to the right side.
A deep claw mark from the harsh attack was visibly seen as Ember, with a slow, shivery left paw, braced the wound on her face and flinched upon the stinging sensation before slowly issuing her mortifying gaze to the eyes of the purple dragon.
Spyro took note of this with full view, yet his cold, emotionless purple eyes didn't deter much to the pink dragoness' shock.
"Don't you ever speak her name in my presence again." He spoke, darkly. "Now get…the fuck…out of my sight."
In strong hurtful silence, Ember slowly turned and made her departure from the room while Spyro issued his gaze back towards the outside area in his own seclusion without acknowledgment to her departure.
Meanwhile, inside the courtyard, Ignitus and Flame, who were on their haunches, stood before the monument while speaking on the subject regarding the purple dragon.
"You should have seen him, Ignitus. I mean it was almost like he was not even there anymore, like a part of him is gone, failing to acknowledge anyone's existence or his own. He hasn't even been getting rest as of late. How can he shut himself off from us like that? How could he shut himself off from the world?"
In silence thought of the questions, the fire guardian diverted his gaze downward before speaking.
"Perhaps he needs time to adjust. It was once said that when someone that you care for has been taken from this world, you could never go back to who you once were before. But it is like you said, young one. Spyro needs time to himself until he is ready to accept our solace."
In silence, Flame considered this with a nod before paddling off from the courtyard, his talons and hind foot softly stomping the tile floors.
As Flame entered his quarter, he took note of Ember positioned on the cushion with tears staining her eyes.
"Are you okay?" He spoke out of concern.
Sniffing up her tears, Ember took note of his presence before nodding.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm…"
But she halted her statement to wipe the tears from her eyes. Afterwards, she resumed.
"I'm just a little conflicted, that's all."
Standing on his hind legs, he made his approach to her before kneeling at her side.
"Anything I can do?" He asked.
Ember shook her head slightly.
"No. Thank you." She responded before diverting her gaze away from him.
Flame issued a slight smile before it loosened to a frown upon sight of a visible claw mark on her left cheek. Slowly, he reached with his right paw to the wound.
As soon as the touch applied, the pink dragoness flinched upon the stinging sensation, which greatly concerned the orange dragon upon notice.
"Ember, how did this happen?"
In silence, Ember softly, yet delicately caressed the scar wounds with her left paw before issuing her tear-stained eyes to the orange dragon. She thought about issuing a lie to protect her purple friend, yet she wasn't keen on resorting to such methods.
"Flame, please don't hurt him."
Slightly confused, yet concerned, Flame spoke.
"Ember, hurt who, what happened?"
"I-I walked into the room. I know. It was foolish of me to do so considering what he is going through and—"
Flame's expression grew of disbelief upon this, yet before Ember could resume, he halted her by the gesture of his left paw.
"Whoa, wait a minute. Wait, did he—"
He started to ask, yet he has gotten his answer by the teary expression on her face before a sense of anger slowly took its form on his expression.
Spyro, who momentarily stood on his hind legs, was positioned at the glass-less window with his arms interlaced on the sill, staring blankly out into the outside world.
Then, he heard paddling footfalls quickly entering into his room, approaching closer at each passing second.
"I thought I told you to—"
He turned to face to what he would assume to be a pink dragoness trying to reach out to him, yet he was caught off-guard by the sheer force of a head butt attack to his midsection.
As Spyro grunted from the force of the attack, he was arched across the room and collided with the nearby cabinet, which violently rattled upon contact, before falling to the floor while the contents from the roof of the cabinet fell onto the ground beside him.
Coughing and panting, Spyro, while caressing his midsection, stared up into the eyes of an angered orange dragon, who slowly positioned himself on his hind legs while glaring down into the one responsible for the unprovoked physical attack on the pink dragoness.
Panting with the emotionless expression intact, Spyro strained himself to stand onto his two hind legs and grew successful.
Afterwards, he stared into the glaring eyes of the orange dragon known as Flame before slowly approaching towards his position. Pain was an apparent sense on his midsection, yet it was a pain that he embraced. A pain that he enjoyed.
"Is that all you got, Flame? Hmm? You want to try again?" He asked ever so calmly, yet Flame provided no response at the moment as Spyro spreads out his arms in a welcoming gesture. "Come on. Give it to me. Give me every—"
Spyro grunted as a right hook from the orange dragon was applied to his facial feature, yet the purple dragon welcome this sensation as he chuckled delightfully much to Flame's disgust.
"Come on, Flame." He spoke calmly, yet darkly as he slowly started to rise up. "Is that the best you can—"
He didn't get much of a chance to look in his direction, much less finish his words before the orange dragon applied his tail swiftly across the face of Spyro, who grunted upon impact.
As Spyro was breathing, Flame hastily grasped the purple dragon by both shoulders and forced him up against the cabinet with such force, it almost did a number on the purple dragon's wings while simultaneously rattling the cabinet.
"You want more pain? Is that what you want? Huh, you want more pain?!" He seethed in a shout as the purple dragon, to Flame's notice, kept his undeterred facial expression.
Regardless, the orange dragon anticipated what was going on and ceased his attacks as a request from the pink dragoness before speaking.
"You listen to me, and you listen very carefully. Cynder is a friend to all of us."
"Don't you say—" Spyro started, anger apparent in his voice, yet his expression remained before Flame intervened, slamming the purple dragon's back and head against the cabinet while applying his words.
"Shut the fuck up!! You shut up." He retorted in a seething tone before resuming in his normal tone. "She means so much to all of us and it has devastated us greatly upon this tragedy. Don't you dare make the mistake of thinking that you are the only one that lost someone, you understand me?"
Abruptly, he relinquished his hold on him as Spyro kept his silence and emotionless stare to him. Both young male dragons' distance were apart as silence was briefly greeted between the two.
"Now look, I understand that you are hurting inside. Hell, we all are hurting from this."
"You don't—" Spyro started, yet he was halted there by the seething tone of the orange dragon.
"I said, shut the hell up!"
Then, his normal tone returned.
"Now, if you want to be isolated in darkness and mental conflict while looking to the outside world, fine! Y-you want to take your anger out on God and the ancestors for this, fine! Do whatever the fuck you want!!" He spoke before gesture his index finger to the purple dragon. "But that does not warrant you to put your hands on Ember the way you just did. It doesn't. And if you try it again, so help me ancestors, I will put you down to this ground from which you stand in a bloodstained heap, do you understand me?"
It pained him to say those words to his friend, but it was to be said. Ember is a friend of his and it mortified him greatly to discover that the purple friend that he has known since childhood inflict harm to the one female that was only trying to help him ease his suffering. It was unacceptable and was disallowed in anyone's presence, especially his.
He expected an answer, yet the only answer he has gotten was silence from the purple dragon, his eyes slowly blinking early so often during the speech. Then, as Flame lowered his index finger, he recently grew aware of the purple dragon's emotionless expression, which disgusted him upon such sight, yet anxiety was in its place.
"My God, Spyro, don't you even realize who you're hurting? Do you even remember what you did outside last night?"
Spyro grew unresponsive as Flame's expression slowly cringed with irritation upon notice.
"Or do you even give a damn anymore."
A long silence issued between the two dragons and before Flame could speak any further, the purple dragon spoke first.
"If you are finished, I would like to be left alone."
Tears were threatening to relinquish from the prison of Flame's eyes due to his failed attempts to reason with him. He tried to endure the tears, but failed in the end.
Spyro took note of this, yet grew unfazed by it.
"You know, I've always admired you, Spyro. Throughout my childhood, I have always admired you." His voice broke as he spoke. "But if you're going to keep doing this to us the way you're doing, you'll not only be hurting us or yourself, you'll be hurting her as well. And if that is what you truly want to do, than goddamn you."
It pained him ever so greatly to say such words, yet he resumed as he shook his head while retreating backwards away from the emotionless purple dragon.
"Goddamn you, you deserve to be alone."
With that said, he turned around and made his departure from the room while Spyro slowly made his way back to the windowsill to resume his blank watch to the outside world.
(One Hour Later)
" 'He who believes in fate, is guided, not by the intuition of the mind, but by the essence of the heart, towards one's true love. Thus that true love becomes his soul mate.'" Flame quoted as he looked to the fire guardian.
Recently, Flame explained the incident between him and Spyro that happened short of one hour ago. Although Ignitus grew displeased with the incident, the orange dragon explained why, which disturbed the fire guardian greatly.
Regardless, they remained on subject of the matter as Flame spoke while Ignitus listened with intent.
"That's what you said to him, which in turn, trailed from him to me. I did believe in fate most of the time, but after what happened last night, after Ember and I searched that entire area with nothing but dead-end results, I'm not sure as to what I believe in anymore, Ignitus. And Spyro, look what that night did to him. Ember told me she has witnessed three expressions on his face, all of which scares her to death. Last night when he was in his dark form, he had this vicious, deadly look in his eyes—a satisfying intent to kill anything that came his path--in response to his emotions. Then, when he left the courtyard to his quarter, he had a vengeful look in his eyes in his attempt to get his talons on the culprit held responsible. Not that I blame him for that. Mentally, I wanted my talons around the neck of the culprit, too, for what they've done. N-Now when fate got involved, he became this…this complete stranger. No emotions on his face, none. And then, he puts his talons on Ember because—"
"Because she mentioned her." Ignitus cut in.
A breath escaped Flame's maw as he diverted his gaze forward, yet irritation was present on his facial feature. He didn't know whether the fire guardian was defending Spyro on that subject, but refrained himself from getting into that issue.
"That, I understand. But he isn't the only one affected by this, okay? And he had no right—absolutely no right to put his hand on a female. Yet, he chose not to have a care in the world anymore. Declination of solace, Ignitus, that's what he's doing to us. He doesn't want any comfort from us, none. He would rather dwell in isolation and taking his grievous anger out on our ancestors in the heavens for what has happened rather than seek any form of comfort from us. He even wanted me to inflict pain to him."
Then, his attention went to Ignitus, who issued his gaze to indicate that he was still listening with intent, yet grew surprised by the last comment.
"Are you certain?" He asked as Flame nodded.
"Yeah. You know what he said to me when he-when he got up from my first attack? He said, 'Is that all you got, Flame? Hmm? You want to try again?' He wanted me to give it to him and he spoke so calmly of it, too. It's almost like he enjoys pain. He somewhat embraces it, l-like it was the only line of comfort for him. By the ancestors, I'm lucky enough to have stopped when I did before he could persuade me any further. I mean, yesterday, I couldn't bring myself to tell him about Cynder, but he figured it out anyway and it frightened him to no end. That was fear for losing her. And now, this happened, pain was his embrace in the wake of last night. I mean, it's almost as if he's—"
Flame halted his statement upon a sudden thought occurring to him at the moment as his eyes widened in anxiety.
"My God, what if--you don't think he's—"
Ignitus shook his head in uncertainty, yet he anticipated what the orange dragon has reference to.
"I am not certain of this, young one, but I can only hope that it does not come to that."
In silence, Flame diverted his gaze forward in relative thought.
"I hope so, too. I hope so, too."
All was silence between the two as they started staring at the monument before them. However, both grew unaware that a pink dragoness at the doorway was observing them.
Ember's expression grew of anxiety upon what was said between them as her mind etched in thoughts. And judging by everything that has happened, she couldn't help but wonder: Could her purple friend be thinking of doing something drastic? She didn't know. Yet, regardless, she retired back to her room in hopes to discuss it with Flame later on.
(Five Minutes Later)
Five minutes has passed as Flame paddled in the room to find Ember resting comfortably on the cushion with her head rested on her forepaws.
Approaching her position, he sat down on his haunches and muzzled along the side of her face to issue her attention.
"You okay?"
Ember nodded.
"Yeah. You?"
In silence with a frown visibly seen on his face, Flame's wings flickered as an indication of a shrug and spoke.
"I don't know. I really don't." He spoke in a saddened tone.
Upon this reaction, Ember decided to speak on the matter that was discussed earlier.
"Listen, Flame, I, um…I heard what you said with Ignitus. Now I can't say that I disagree with you on your reaction to Spyro's behavior. Believe me, I have experienced that first paw. But do you really believe that he would go this far into this depression that he's in?"
In silence, Flame shook his head.
"Truthfully, I don't know, Ember. I mean, we both witnessed Spyro's mood changes both mentally and emotionally since yesterday's incident, including today. But in any case, there is nothing we could do right now."
"So what do you suggest?"
"I suggest we take my advice and leave him be until he is ready to accept solace from us and cope with the loss. And maybe then, he'll apologize for his actions."
In silence, Ember nodded in agreement as she and Flame issued their rest for the night.
Originally, I was going to post this chap on Christmas day as a Christmas present to you wonderful reviewers, yet it was too late. But regardless, Merry belated Christmas to you all. There is only one chap left. Keep on the lookout. Ciao!
Next chap: Spyro comes upon a revelation that will inspire him to make an impossible choice.