AN: Hello and thanks for waiting so patiently with me. I have recovered from a three month writer's block and things are sort starting to calm down with school and such. Thanks to all of those who are still sticking with this story. I was planning on making this chapter longer, but I have decided to split it up into two or three chapters. I can't promise when the next chapter will come out, but I'll try to put something on my profile that states how my progress is for the chapter and if I plan to post that week. I'll try to update weekly. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. As always please R&R, very few people review and I'm possibly ending this story if no one is interested.
Chapter 8: Battles for the Celestial Caves
A guardian fell to the ground with a large hole in its stone body. Spyro stood above the guardian and destroyed another one with a powerful Earth Shot. The shattered statue fell to the ground but more guardians took his place in combat.
Cynder fought beside him felling many of the guardians as they slowly pushed forward against the unrelenting tide of guardians. Cynder let a wave of shadow mist flow from her mouth, enveloping a group of guardians. The mist faded and the stone bodies lay on the ground before her.
The horde of orcs behind the two slowly pushed forward against the wall of guardians. Luckily for the defenders they took down a handful of orcs before falling themselves. Despite the lack of support from his troops Spyro continued to cut deeper into the enemy's ranks with Cynder beside him.
The guardians fought valiantly Spyro could not deny, as one that lost his arm to Spyro's claw, swung its shield striking Spyro's head. The purple dragon growled and set the statue ablaze with powerful flames.
Another guardian rose up to strike Spyro down, but Spyro had no intention of letting that happen. He focused his earth power and ripped the guardian apart and the parts of his body hovered in mid air, then fired back at the army of guardians. A few did barely noticeable damage while the other bits simply bounced off their stone bodies.
Not too far off in the distance between the swinging swords and slowly advancing stone army, Spyro could see larger glowing guardians making their way to the battle. They looked much like the elemental champions he had fought a few years ago when he first visited these isles.
Spyro barely avoided a sword that was directed at his head. The purple dragon threw himself onto his back legs, let loose a vicious roar before biting the guardian's neck and throwing him across the battlefield. Spyro smiled at this, none could stand before his awesome power, none could stop him.
A salvo of fireballs flew over head and crashed in the orcs not far behind him. Spyro defeated another guardian and caught a glimpse of a mass of spirits behind the guardian lines, casting fireballs into their enemy's ranks. Spyro remember dealing with these spirits, they were hard to surprise due to their amazing senses. Spyro had always managed to avoid these spirit fireballs they created when he attacked them years ago, but they were always a pain to deal with.
Spyro reached into his powers of earth and forced the earth before the spirits to shake violently as a great wall shot up blocking them from the rest of the defense. Spyro smiled at his deeds knowing that he had just tilted the odds into their favor.
The Great Guardian and his force of elites turned to look at the battle as the ground began to shake. They watched as the earth rose up, blocking their view of the distant battle. The Great Guardian led them on to their position, the Hall of the Celestial Caves. They entered and set themselves up to block the invaders from entered the sacred hall.
The Great Guardian stood behind the lines of elites and said to himself more than to his fellows, "Now we wait."
The orcs surged forward in a large wave that crashed upon the guardian line without doing much damage. Many of the orcs were cut down by the guardian's superior weapons. The larger orcs though held up better, taking at least two or three guardians before they themselves were felled. One orc in particular near Spyro managed to break through the line and swung his great blade wildly shattering the bodies of the guardians that were struck.
The great orc took several blows from advancing guardians that managed to evade the blade. Those who did land strikes against this crazed orc though found themselves to be the next thing to die. Spyro was quite impressed when the orc destroyed a guardian with just its fist.
The ranged weapon orcs began to fire off rounds of black arrows infused with dark energy making them lethal to the guardians. These evil projectiles also caused slowing of the enemy, corruption of the body making them immobile and even possession of evil energies creating a truly frightening warrior to even the orcs.
One such of these possessed guardians took four arrows before converting. The savageness and demonic strength quickly overtook the guardian driving it to madness. The defiled guardian swung his sword in a great arc, cutting down many of his former kin.
Spyro advanced further into the enemy's ranks nearly reaching the earthen barrier that Spyro erected. Spyro stopped for a moment and looked at the battle around of him. Surprisingly the guardians were being cut down by the numerous orcs per guardian. Luckily the army that Spyro commanded was still large enough to move onto the next target without the assistance of the other armies converging that would be here within a day's time.
Spyro pushed forward hoping to end one of many battles on the way to the Temple of Time. He thrust one of his horns into the neck of a guardian and swung his head at another, cracking its chest. The impaled guardian fell off his horn after cracking its comrade's chest up. Spyro proceeded by unleashing a large shockwave of ice and snow thus freezing the guardians. Spyro quickly followed up by releasing a tremor through the ground, shattering the frozen guardians.
Spyro smiled and looked at the large earth wall he had created and thought it was time to knock it down. He could feel through the earth that the spirits on the other side were trying to break through it with little success. He drew upon his earth powers once more and forced the bottom of the wall to crack causing the wall to lose support on spirits' side. The wall slowly shifted away from Spyro and his force and began to pick up speed as it leaned further and further towards the spirits that were doomed. Moments later the large earth wall crashed on top the spirits eliminating them as a threat for the rest of the battle.
Dust and other debris were flung up into the air and the forces of Malefor were forced to stop until the air was clearer. Once Spyro could see a few feet in front of him he called for the forces to advance and so they marched on towards their next target, the Hall of the Celestial Caves.
A great rubble shook the Hall of the Celestial Caves violently, but the guardians inside remained as they were, resolved and steady, shields forming a wall and spears forward. All was quiet for some time when finally the war cries and wild howls sounded as the forces of darkness approached the hall.
A moment later Spyro came into view of the defending warriors. Spyro smiled, but the Great Guardian had faced greater evils than this one and so his reaction was as cold as the stone warriors he fought with.
Spyro's eyes suddenly began to glow purple and his scales darkened. Spyro opened his mouth, but no words came, instead a beam of Convexity energy appeared, annihilating many of the warriors in the first two rows.
The Great Guardian hurried to preserve his group, "Stand warriors, this darkness is nothing to the light of the Ancestors."
The Elite Guardians moved forward and at that time, the army of evil and darkness began to pour into the hall. Spyro himself remained back while the forces moved forward into the hall. He was soon joined by Cynder who alerted the reinforcements of their position.
"I was wondering when you were going to go all out," Cynder stated as she looked at the battle in front of them.
"Not yet, that's for the Chronicler and our master," Spyro replied.
Cynder simply nodded and watched the orcs and elite guardians destroy one another. The ancient spears felled many of Spyro's warriors and the aged stone shields protected them from nearly all attacks made by the orcs. Again the dark arrows proven effective against them. The elites though required multiple arrows and a fair amount of time before possession or corruption occurred. Those that did corrupt, which was very few, turned on their own brothers in arms and felled at least the elite next to him before it was skewered by three or four elites near the corrupted.
The Great Guardian was not pleased with the sight before him, many of his fellow spirit warriors were dying. The ranks were thinning too quickly and the enemy was gaining momentum. The Great Guardian stepped down from his place behind the elite guardian ranks. He picked up his large shield which was covered in runic symbols, spelling out ancient prayers of protection to the Ancestors. He drew his great sword also bearing runic symbols which cited a prayer of guidance. The sword's blade reflected the white energy that gathered around it, adding to its strength.
"Clear me a path," the Great Guardian voiced.
Despite the sounds of battle every guardian heard the order and did as told creating an isle for the Great Guardian to join battle. The entity approached the front line and swung his great blade in an arc in front of him felling many orcs. Many of the warriors threw themselves at the Great Guardian and all that did were slaughtered. The ranged orcs took their shots that the Great Guardian only to find that their arrow were ineffective against the being's body of energy.
The Great Guardian cast aside his shield and threw his free hand forward unleashing a stream of white energy that cut through the ranks of orcs. Many of the orcs in the front ranks attempted to flee but many were cut down by his ether blade or his divine energy blasts.
More reinforcements arrived and were now sorely needed as the Great Guardian continued to cut down any foe. To Spyro's delight this force had a good number of Wyverns which quickly swarmed into the hall racing towards the Great Guardian. They fired off small fireballs that struck the Great Guardian, but had no effect on him. They swarmed around him and made quick strikes against his energy consisted body and retreating before he could land a strike.
The Great Guardian endured these strikes trying to develop a successful tactic to use against them. He had to worry as well about the orcs pouring into the hall once more. He waited realizing the best course to take. The orcs were nearly on top of him when he created a mass shockwave of energy that flew from his body at great speeds killing most of the evil creatures that were close to him. Sadly a few wyverns escaped the blast and so he decided to finish them off. He leapt into the air quickly rising up to their spot in the hall and swung his blade, cutting on in half and quickly ripped his blade out and swung again severing a wyvern's head from its body. He began to descend and touched ground a few moments later. he looked up to search for the last wyvern, once he spotted it he raised his hand and let loose another beam of energy, destroying the corrupt thing with unnatural accuracy.
The orcs swelled forward as more entered the hall and the Great Guardian again began his killing spree. Spyro's entire present force was destroyed and the only ones left in the hall were Spyro, Cynder, the Great Guardian, and about twenty or so elite guardians.
"To the Temple and our master," the Great Guardian commanded.
The elite guardians complied and stepped onto the pad and vanished moments later. The Great Guardian turned to face both Spyro and Cynder.
"You both would be wise if you gave up this siege and repented for your sins and deeds," he said.
Spyro growled, "And if we don't?"
"Death will come for you," the Great Guardian replied as he headed towards the pad.
"Come back here and fight you coward," Spyro shouted as the Great Guardian stepped onto the pad. Spyro and Cynder both hurried to the pad as the Great Guardian vanished. They got onto the pad and waited to be transported to wherever they would arrive.
The blinding white light faded as suddenly as it came and they were able to see again. The scene that unfolded before them was a beautiful sight, a crystal disc suspended in space. A vast blackness enveloped the space around the disc like a black curtain in the far distance, allowing only small points of light to shine through. There were not a great deal of stars visible, but enough to feel like they weren't alone. A bluish taint seemed to hang around the disc and glowed a bit providing the light in the space.
The Great Guardian stood at the far end of the disc watching the two before saying, "You look with wonder, evil ones would not do such a thing, there is still time, repent for your dark deeds, see the light."
"You don't understand…" Spyro started.
"Then you understand why you must die then," the Great Guardian stated as he charged forward with his sword ready to strike.
The sword swung at the two, but they managed to avoid the deadly blade. The Great Guardian was quick to follow up and went after Cynder throwing a fist made of energy and ancient stone at her. He struck her and she was thrown towards the edge of the disc, unconscious. The Great Guardian stood over her and positioned the tip of his sword above her body preparing to deliver the killing blow. As he was making the downward motion a powerful force threw the Great Guardian off balance and the next thing he knew he was struck with a blast of purple energy that threw him into the middle of the disc platform.
The Great Guardian got back to his feet trying to figure out what had caused such a powerful attack until he spotted Spyro standing protective in front of Cynder's form. His scales were slightly darkened and his eyes glowed white. The Great Guardian made a note of this and decided to take extreme care with Spyro unsure what else the dragon may be able to do.
Spyro glared at the Great Guardian waiting for his next move. The Great Guardian took a step sideways away from Spyro general area and one step forward. The entity slowly advanced, step by step all the while watching Spyro for his reaction to his slow but steady advance.
Spyro's reaction was constant, the glare of glowing eyes. It was not until the Great Guardian was twenty feet from Spyro did he begin growl as a warning. The being stepped back and Spyro stepped forward. The Great Guardian took a step forward each time Spyro did, neither wanting to make the first move.
Spyro grew bored of this and decided to make the first move. He let loose a blast of Convexity energy that the Great Guardian cut through with his sword, splitting the beam down the middle, leaving him unharmed. Spyro fired off three more beams of this powerful energy all of which the Great Guardian cut through. The ancient guardian advanced through these attacks making his way towards Spyro. Spyro decided to switch up his actions and combined the power of Convexity with the power of his elements.
The Great Guardian grew closer and Spyro decided now was the best time. A purple fireball covered the ten feet and exploded on impact with the ancient being's chest. The Great Guardian staggered backwards trying to get clear the smoke from the explosion. It was when he finally cleared of it that he saw Spyro diving through the smoke and into him.
The purple dragon crashed into the guardian before he could react or evade. The two hit the floor and were slightly dazed by the collision. The Great Guardian was first to get back to his feet and retrieved his sword which had left his grip. Spyro was slower and by the time he attempted to stand the ancient spirit was striding over to him.
The Great Guardian finished the distance between them quickly and stood before Spyro, looking down on him with unnerving eyes of pure energy, judging him for his actions and deeds.
The Great Guardian spoke saying, "You shall learn what it means to serve the darkness and you will get what you deserve…"
There you go. I hope everyone liked it. Please if you want this story to continue on review me so I know that people are interested. If you so desire you can PM me as well, just tell me what you think, I'm open to criticism as long as you are helpful. Thanks.
The Light is Coming! – Draco Arc Nova