An evil chuckle filled a damp, dark cave hundreds of feet underwater. A large dragoness walked through the narrow walls of the cavern, her paws splashing in the cold puddles of water. If one could see her face, they might've recognized it as uncontained joy, a feeling of true success.
The dragoness walked up slowly to her chained prisoner. Also a dragoness, the helpless creature hung on the wall, her shackles holding her high above the water, painted with her dried blood. She was barely breathing, her chest moving up and down ever so slowly. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to see her captor, fearing she may have just finished with her… dosage, and had taken little time to clean the blood off of her face.
It was Karaia.
She'd never returned to the temple on the night of Ignitus's attack, the day she was supposed to return. For the past week, she's been here as a prisoner. She was feed almost nothing, and due to the horrid smell of blood inside the cave, she couldn't have eaten much anyway. She bled from multiple spots on her body due to her treatment by Figura. She'd seen what Figura could do with her blood, and she was terrified of just what her intentions may be.
"You don't look so well," Figura noted. Her voice was mocking and sarcastic. "You thirsty? I'm sure I've some seawater or old blood around her somewhere.
Karaia was too weak to even so much as glare at the shape shifter through closed eyes. Instead, she remained silent, her head hanging sadly.
Figura smiled. "Don't worry, my dear. It'll be all over soon." She turned around and walked to the pool in the front of the dark cave, the water pitch black and half frozen over. "For you at least…"
The shape shifter laughed out loud, the sound echoing through the cave and causing the ice shards above to shake.
She jumped into the frigid waters, changing into a squid again, and swam up to the surface, which was impossible to see due to the darkness of the waters.
Karaia wept silently, fearing the worst for her friends.
Ignitus snapped awake when his door was knocked on. His body reacted with a sharp pain, forcing him to lie back down again.
"Come in."
In stepped the orange dragoness Karaia. She came over to Ignitus's bed and smiled down to him. Right off the bat, Ignitus felt uncomfortable, or more so.
"H-hello young dragon. How are you feeling?"
Ignitus frowned. "A little better now, thank you." She's acting weird, he thought, noticing her body dripping wet. On top of that, she'd seemed to have grown in size, maybe as tall as Eozack now. He shook his head, and looked back at the dragoness.
"I've heard of your… incident. How unfortunate." Her voice was full of sympathy.
"I'll be fine, I promise. Then we'll find a way to deal with Figura."
The dragoness's eyes widened. "The shape shifter? What do you plan to do with her?"
"Yes, the shape shifter. We plan to-"Ignitus stopped. How did she know that? Did Eozack tell her? No he couldn't have, she must've just arrived. "How do you know about her?"
"Ah, the other male dragon…."
"Eozack?"
"Yes, Eozack had informed me some time ago." Karaia smiled.
Ignitus nodded. He glanced out the window, squinting due to the sunlight. It was a cloudy morning, not the sunlight poking. The rising sun gave the room and reddish orange hue that created a feeling of warmth and calmness. Karaia looked out the window as well, but immediately got bored of it.
"Well, it seems you're alright, so I will be leaving now."
Ignitus looked back to the dragoness, who exited the room and closed the door. He felt that she'd changed somehow, yet he couldn't figure it out. He couldn't think of it much more however, as he yawned, growing tired once again. He settled in his bed, and soon went back to sleep.
Figura continued down the halls of the temple. She hadn't expected Ignitus to have recovered so well, hoping he'd either die or be too weak to be a Guardian. Now she had a problem, since Ignitus is clearly suspicious of her, and the fact that he isn't dead means she cannot take his form, which meant getting the dragons alone would be harder, especially if this dragoness has work to do.
She scowled as she turned a corner, passing and confusing moles and cheetahs that also lived and worked in the temple. She stopped and looked at a particular cheetah, which stood directly in front of her, chatting happily with a younger dragon. His face was covered by his brown hood, and down his back a crimson cape, pinned on by what looked to be a yin yang symbol. In his paw, he held his quiver and arrow by his side, as if ready for a fight at any moment.
The cheetah caught sight of her, and pulled off his hood, revealing furry pointed ears and intense green eyes. He bid the dragon farewell and walked up to Karaia.
"Good morning, Karaia. How are you today?"
Karaia scoffed, walking past the cheetah quickly. "Whatever…"
The cheetah was surprised, but shrugged the snub off. "Mrs. Karaia? Are you feeling well?"
Karaia stopped, and looked at him over her shoulder, trying to hide her irritation. "I'm busy. Leave me be."
The cheetah's eyes narrowed. "You have duties to attend to, ma'am. I advise you that you see to it that they are done."
She sighed. "What is your name?"
"Hunter. I am a proud member of the Cheetah Clan, stationed here at this temple. Have you forgotten in such a short time?"
She growled to herself. "Then allow me to attend to them, Hunter. I mustn't waste time."
"Follow me, then, as you have a lot of work to do today."
With obvious reluctance, the shape shifter turned and followed the cheetah, coming outside of the temple and disappearing into the crowd of creatures.
Gaul awoke in his uncomfortable makeshift bed, high in the trees in a dense, green forest. The ape leader groaned and stretched, feeling his bones pop into place. His breath alone had been rumored to be strong enough to kill dragons, but that was a theory he wasn't willing to test.
The moon sat above him, surrounded by millions of stars. The forest was nearby a mountain range, the mountains so massive that when the sun or moon was positioned behind them, it casted a shadow that covered hundreds of miles of land. Had Gaul cared, he would've admitted the place was stunningly beautiful.
Gaul was only a day's travel away from his dream, his key to power, the uprising of the apes. He was set back however, by a nasty thunderstorm. From what his soldiers told him (the few that were actually intelligent), the storm that had hit them was a hurricane, a fairly strong one. The ocean was to the north of him, the mountains to the south, and where he needed to go was east.
The problem was that all the land was now flooded with water high above of the trees, meaning that all Gaul would see looking down was blue and black. Apes couldn't swim, sinking like rocks the moment they hit water too deep. They would have to keep moving through the trees, but Gaul feared that the temple would be flooded, if it even existed that is.
He stood on one of the trees branches, placing his hand on the trunk for support. Regardless, this wasn't for just him, it was for all of his brothers and sisters stuck serving those wretched Guardians, having to attend to their every need and want, for them to become all powerful.
Gaul growled at the thought, his magic jewel blood red. His growls awoke his sleeping comrades below.
He glanced down at them, not wanting to wait much longer. "Get up, my brothers. The journey isn't at its end just yet."
The apes lazily shifted and turned in their own makeshift beds of vines and hard branches. They made no move to get up.
Gaul growled again, spit dripping from his mouth. "GET UP. WE MOVE NOW!"
The apes got up quickly, standing straight and ready for action. Some of them were unlucky, however, tripping over the many branches and falling into the pool below. Some of the apes laughed at the others fatal misfortune, pointing with fingers covered in dirty fur and warts.
Gaul sighed. "Idiots…"
Gaul turned west, and took a mighty leap to a smaller tree, clearing the massive gap with ease. The others followed, grabbing onto branches in the nearby trees. They had to keep moving however, as Gaul was on another tree with each second that passed.
Gaul hadn't eaten in two days, his stomach growling loudly as he jumped and jumped. He'd considered drinking the water below to at least fill his stomach for some time, but after witnessing the effects it had on his apes when they'd drunk it, he'd changed his mind.
He didn't care how thirsty or how hungry he got. He wanted, no he needed this temple's power, and he'll stop at nothing to get it.
Ignitus examined the orange shard that the young dragon had brought in only a week ago. Ever since they'd first seen it, he'd been astonished with it, taking time out of every day to study it, trying to learn anything new.
He was now presented with an extremely daunting task. He must find the other shard pieces, however many there are, and connect them to wish someone back, who they do not know yet. Spyro refused to tell them, no matter how hard they tried.
Ignitus placed the gem back down in its holding case they had specially made for it. Outside, a storm raged, the wind blowing hard against the temple as the rain crashed down on the roof and down onto the ground. Spyro walked inside the room, jumping each time the thunder boomed.
"Good Afternoon, young one. How are you on this rainy day?"
Spyro didn't answer, as again lightning flashed and the thunder sounded, the temple shaking lightly with the explosion.
Ignitus chuckled, and went to a nearby chest. Spyro walked up behind him, curious. The red dragon opened the brown chest, and reached inside. He didn't search long, and out he pulled a small red crystal.
Ignitus placed the red crystal down on ground, and continued looking. Spyro grabbed the red crystal, and then he grabbed the wishing crystal.
The two gems began to glow, their intense light shining brightly. Spyro dropped them immediately, and sprinted behind Ignitus.
"What is happening?"
"I don't know!"
The two gems began to levitate, their glow never faltering.
"Stay behind me, Spyro!" Ignitus didn't know what the gems were doing, but clearly they were reacting to each other.
Electricity sparked all over the room as the gems stopped floating.
Ignitus looked behind him to find Spyro gone. Worried for him, he did a three sixty looking, until he looked up to see the dragon floating at the same height as the crystals, his face filled with shock.
Before Ignites could react, the crystals shined their lights at Spyro, his body engulfed in their brightness. Ignitus couldn't look for long, and he shielded his eyes with his wings as the temple began to shake as if there was an earthquake. It became so violent that he struggled to stand, and small pieces of the roof fell on top of him.
The Guardians quickly came into the room, their faces full of alarm. Their bodies were covered in dust, but otherwise they were alright.
"What is happening? I-is.. that Spyro?" Cyril asked.
Ignitus unshielded his eyes. "The crystals... they reacted to each other, a red crystal and one of the wishing stones. They started floating, and their energy..." he squinted at the barely visible draconic figure, stuck between the crystals."Beams of light appeared and caught Spyro. I dont know what they're doing to him."
The walls were cracking now, about to give way at any moment.
The temple was ready to fall on top of them.
Suddenly... the room went dead silent. The rumbling and light of the crystals ceased, in fact, both of the crystals had fallen to the ground harmlessly.
The Guardians rushed to Spyro, but they stared at him in pure astonishment. His purple scales had darkened, and his legs now larger and muscular. His teeth had sharpened, and his horns had grown to a few inches. Finally, his wings were much bigger, and his snout had lengthened.
It took a minute for it to fully register, and the Guardians jaws dropped once again as they realized: Spyro had aged.
The now older dragon raised his head groggily, and opened his eyes to look at his friends. In a deeper voice he spoke, "Well... this is interesting."
Yeah, yeah, I know, really late update again, and short too. I wanted to get this out earlier, because I'm trying out writing on a mobile device now, and so far, the next chapter is well into production. Spyro is older now, and it won't be long now before he meets Cynder, but THAT will come after Gaul. See you guys next time