The legend of Spyro: A new beginning ch. 7.
Raising his assault rifle Drake, followed by a few of the marines entered the room right behind Blitz and Smith. What they found confused them more than anything they had ever encountered. Sitting on pedestals radiating multiple different colors were several 'artifacts' that corrosponded with many of the elements Spyro covered. One stone was such a deep black that the area around it seemed much darker than the well lit room should be. Another was the crimson-orange of a flame. The icy blue icicle that refused to melt spoke for its self. The deep sapphire blue of water, among many others which captivated the dragons.
The humans on the other hand couldn't make heads or tails of what they were seeing. Though as the dragons approached the stones several of them began to glow which made the soldiers wary. "Any idea what's going on Ma'am?" Drake asked looking at Catherine. "No idea Spartan. Without more extensive knowledge on the people that lived here before & on the dragons themselves the best I could do is guess." Catherine replied watching as even the dragons backed away which in turn caused the intense light to dim. "Very peculiar, I wonder if strange phenomenon are a normal occurence around them." One of the science team questioned aloud. "I have a better question." Another of the science team started. "What the hell is that thing?" She stated pointing to a solitary item suspended in the middle of a shaft of light.
Spyro shook his head, there was no way what he was seeing could be real. Volteer had told him about them but he couldn't believe they were real. "The trial stones, every last one of them. Whatever is in here, they didn't want just anyone to get it. We have to lock the door again, we don't have all of the dragon's necessary to pass them, if they were even meant for us. These could be some modified version." Spyro stated with a scared expression.
"Are you certain?" Cori questioned from Star's helmet speakers. "Once we leave, we might not be able to get back in." The A.I. informed them, worried that their choice might leave them vulnerable when the time came that they might need it. She could tell that the stones scared the young dragon but couldn't understand why. As far as she could tell they were just colorful rocks, but Spyro had called them 'trial stones.' She had nothing in the data banks about these stones which confused her. If they were something that made a species as powerful as the dragons fearful of them why wasn't there any research done on the subject?
One single marine scoffed at the dragons fears. "You're seriously afraid of a bunch of colorful rocks?" He stated antagonistically as he walked into the room and towards the trial stones. "These things are obviously just a trick, to keep some lucky bastard that just happened to stumble onto this place out." He said stopping in front of the sapphire blue water stone. "Well what do you know." The marine began. "I was ri-" Before the marine could finish his statement, a pulse and a brighter glow from the stone told them everything the dragons needed to know.
Drake turned to the dragons. "What just happened to Mason?" He asked, not taking his visor covered eyes off of Spyro. "I don't know, to the best of my knowledge the trial stones only affect dragons, these must be different somehow." Spyro replied, concern in his voice for the marine. "Can one of you help him?" Catherine asked looking on in horror. Spyro shook his head. "Out of our entire group, none of us use water as our element." Spyro answered looking down at the metal floor. "Meaning we have no way to help him, unless the stone will allow two humans to pass its trial." Drake stated walking up to the stone.
As expected, nothing happened and the dragons knew why. They would need to come back with a dragon that matched each element and they would have to work with a human, possibly having to know each other to some degree in order to pass the stones tests. Moments later, Mason was thrown away from the stones and though he was alive he was unconscious. "I agree with Spyro on this one." Cynder stated stepping in front of the doors and pressing the red 'close' button.
Walking up to the marines helping their unconscious friend Star tapped one of them on the leg causing him to turn to face her. "Is he going to be alright?" She asked, concern plain in her voice. She hated seeing people hurt without reason.
The soldier nodded. "Yeah, Mason's an idiot at times. Hopefully this teaches him a lesson." The soldier replied watching the medic do his job. He had known Mason a long time and had lost track of how many times his attitude had gotten him in trouble both during and outside of the covenent war.
Drake turned his attention to the newly armored dragons. "Spyro, change of plans. We're going to follow you back to wherever it is you came from. If whatever is in that vault deserves that kind of protection we need to be ready for anything and waiting here isn't going to help." Drake stated over an open comm channel.
Spyro nodded his head once before speaking. "I agree, but I want to rest here one more day, just to make sure that everyone is well rested for the trip. I promise you'll need it, it took us three days to get here and we were flying." Spyro stated seriously. He knew that it would take them considerably longer given their inability to carry all of the UNSC personell and equiment that would now be accompanying them.
The next day Mason still hadn't awoken and as a result had to be carried. Luckily Blitz volunteered to carry the headstrong man. After all, If they were all going to be working together in the future he would have to learn about them and what better way than to study an unconscious one.
As they walked he noticed that the humans skin gave to the slightest of things, it made him wonder how they fought with each other besides the strange weapons they carry. Dragons had scales that offered some protection from a fellow dragon but wouldn't last long in a prolonged fight.
Stumbling over a small rock, Blitz caught himself and corrected his load before continuing on. "Hey, Spyro, how do you think the old guys are going to respond to us bringing a foreign army with unknown capabilities into the most important city in the dragon realms?" The black dragon questioned over a private channel as he walked beside Spyro.
Spyro sighed, he had no idea how they might react but he knew for certain that they weren't getting through the front gates with their weapons. "To be honest, I doubt they'll be too happy but I think after they hear both sides of the story they'll at least help us to help them get back home. But after seeing that thing in the middle of that room I don't think they'll leave before finidng out what it is and that might be the worst thing to happen to us. Neither group knows what it is and the only one that might know won't tell us." Spyro took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "This is one problem I wish I wasn't a part of." He stated before cutting off the channel.
As he had expected it took Spyro and his now much larger group almost two and a half weeks to make it back to the furthest outskirts of Warfang and another day and a half to get to the gate. No one was surprised when they were stopped at the gate and asked who they were and what their intentions were in Warfang. Removing his helmet Spyro revealed himself to the guard. "We need to see the Guardians, I promise that no one in my group will cause any problems." He assured the guard who, reluctantly, opened the gate to allow the heavily armed and armored group to enter.
As they made their way through the city, the large group noticed the hushed whispers of the civilians and the way parents hurried their children inside hoping to keep them safe from these strange new creatures. "I don't like this Spyro, everyone thinks we're here to hurt them." Star stated, her tone sad. "There has to be something we can do to put them at ease." Star spoke to herself.
Blitz turned to her with an unseen smile on his face. "I'm sure they are scared but, it's more than likely of our new friends more than it is us." He reassured her hoping that she would stop fretting. "Besides, we won't be walking around in this stuff all the time so no one will have a reason to be afraid of us here in a little while." He informed her with yet another unseen grin.
The stairs to the temple now behind them, the group breathed a sigh of relief. Finally they could get some much needed rest and relaxation if even just for a night. Pushing the doors open the dragons led the humans to the room the three guardians should be in, the pool of visions room. Filing through the double doors that led into the room they quickly found that it was barely big enough to fit everyone.
Cyril was the first to speak. "Who are you and what do you want?" He questioned cautiously, preparing an ice blast just incase things took a turn for the violent. He took notice of the coloration of the strange four legged creatures but, he wasn't sure if it was the four they had sent out or if these were something else.
Removing their helmets Spyro, Cynder, Blitz, and Star revealed themselves to the guardians taking them all by surprise. "I know you three have a lot of questions, but for right now can we please get a few rooms so we can get some proper sleep?" Spyro questioned, hoping they could sleep soundly for one night before going over everything that had happened.
Terrador stepped forward. "Absolutely, but no one is to leave the temple until we talk about your new friends." He answered looking straight at the tall armored figure with the strange creatures. "I will place guards to ensure that no one leaves and I ask that you leave all your weapons here." Terrador stated, his tone making it sound more like an order than a question. He had no idea what these strange pale skinned creatures were capable of, but the less dangerous he could make them during their stay the better. After all, none of the guardians wanted to start a fight, especially with Ignitus's new threat hanging over their heads.
Drake turned to look at Catherine leaving the decision up to her. "We need some way to defend ourselves if something goes wrong. We'll leave most of the large weapons and keep the small ones, is that acceptable?" Catherine questioned stepping toward the large green dragon. She may have been intimidated by his size, but she wasn't going to allow them to strip them of all their protection.
Terrador looked to the other guardians, both of them nodding their heads . "Agreed, place them neatly by the pool, after that I will show you all to your rooms." Terrador replied looking at Spyro and the other dragons that had just returned. "We expect a full report on your mission and your new equipment tomorrow morning, understood young dragons." The earth guardian ordered in his usual stern tone of voice.
Cori decided to make her presence known to hopefully lighten things up a bit. "Unnecessary, I can tell you everything that happened while they were away. Star, pull me." Cori ordered earning a confused look from the young dragon. Sighing she reworded her request. "By that I meant for you to take my chip out of your helmet please." She informed the white dragoness receiving an acknowledging 'oh' from her as she pulled the chip out and set it on a low shelf, allowing Cori to project herself at full size in front of the guardians.
With a small nod of her head Cori greeted the guardians. "Greetings, Guardians, My name is Cori. I am what my creators call an A.I. I have been on this planet for... Let's just say a very long time." Cori began, noticing the yellow and blue elder dragon almost litterally buzzing with held back excitement. "I know you three must have a lot of questions, but for now let me just explain the armor. It was a gift from me to these four young dragons. The material used to craft it is highly advanced and should offer more protection than the enchanted armor you all are used to. I gave it to them because my creators used to work closely with your species and because I hope to reestablish a working relationship with you now." Cori stated with a hopeful tone to her synthetic* voice.
Things had gone from strange to straight out of this world for Terrador and Cyril, Volteer on the other hand was in heaven. Fianlly something, or rather someone he could talk to and learn from. Maybe even about the time before Malefor and possibly the events leading up to his turn to the dark side. So many things he could ask her about , and the possibility that Cori, as she called herself, had the answer caused him to shake with anticipation.
Cyril was the first to speak. "While that's all well and good, we will need time to think about these new developments." The ice blue scaled dragon answered taking a step forward to nudge Terrador. "Our guests are ready to turn in, you should show them to their rooms." Cyril suggested before turning to Volteer. "Do try to keep your exuberance in check." Cyril requested, knowing what Volteer could be like when he found something new to study.
A/N: Hey everybody, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I finally found the poll system and I posted one on my profile. In the new year I plan on working on one and only one of my stories. So I leave it up to you to pick which one that will be. voting will be closed on the tenth of January so cast your votes and as always please let me know what you think. Last but not least I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! :)
*Synthetic: Man made