Ok I'm nearly done with this story. Only two chapters left after this. I hope everyone enjoys and please everyone review. Reviews have been at an all time low for Spyro stories. Let's get out of this ditch so please review my works and other author's works.
Chapter 12: Power"My lord, my lord!" a Shadow of Katsumoto shouted as he entered the war tent.
Shadedulath looked up from his map of the area and asked, "Yes?"
"The enemy is approaching," the envoy replied.
Shadedulath immediately rose from his seat and hurried out of the tent. Delrothban, Spyro, Cynder, and Shadedulath's guards followed.
Shadedulath, Delrothban, and the guards were fully armored in the customary armor. Heavily scale mail and underneath was a suit of chain mail. The greaves that protected the lower leg were in place as well as the vambraces that protected the forearm, the rerebraces that cover the upper which then joined with the pauldrons or shoulder guards.
The dragons broke off with the envoy to armor themselves up. The others though continued towards the defenses.
Marthaeter laughed at the grey dragon before him, "I know you aren't here to just talk to me, so tell me why are you here?"
"To fix a mistake I had caused a long time ago," the Chronicler answered.
"You didn't assist in defeating my minion Malefor when he nearly controlled the entire realm, but now that I begin to take parts of the northlands you come to fight me," Marthaeter commented, "It doesn't make sense."
"I'm acting now because it is my fault that you are alive to invade this realm," the Chronicler roared, "And tonight I intend to fix that mistake."
"I look forward to seeing that," Marthaeter said with a smile.
"I guarantee you won't be smiling after it," the Chronicler replied.
The battle began as the enemy approached the wall. They were within the first perimeter of poles and the archers fired arrows. It wasn't until the enemy passed the fourth pole out when the hail of arrows crashed into the creatures. The strategy worked. The farthest the bow used by the Shadows of Katsumoto could launch an arrow was around four hundred meters. The five hundred meter marker simply told the archers when to fire.
The archers drew another arrow and launched them again having similar effects. The enemy forces passed the two hundred meter marker, closing in on the wall. The Shadows of Katsumoto prepared themselves for defending the wall, to the death if need be.
Shadedulath was now with them, standing at the front of the formation as their ancestors had done. The rear lines had their bows ready for additional ranged attacks while the others drew their swords or prepared their spears. As was tradition, none carried shields. The belief is that you must fight with only your skill of the blade, the weapons you had on you were the only defenses you had.
The enemy closed the last hundred meters fairly quickly and tried to climb the walls. The forces that clashed with the Shadows of Katsumoto were cut down with a few deadly strokes.
The beautiful curved blades of the katana gracefully flew through the air at the command of their master, making a harmonious tone as it cut through the air and flesh. The 'tangs' of bows releasing added to the tone with the whistling of the flying arrows thrusting themselves through the wind.
Shadedulath thrust his katana into the first of the creatures that was very similar to the creature the Chronicler killed at the gates of Marthaeter's liar. Shadedulath ignored the unusualness of the beast and continued on, driving his wakizashi in the throat of the demon. He ripped the blade free and swung both weapons at a large black dragon.
The dragon was about to bite down on Shadedulath, but his blades entered the side of the dragon's skull, killing it. Hotakata was fighting beside his lord to prove his quality in battle.
Hotakata was engaged in a duel with an intelligent version of a zek. The deformed humanoid wielded a large two-handed scimitar. The zek swung the sword down on Hotakata, who evaded the blow by moving to the side. He simply thrust his katana through the zek's head and continued on with the battle.
A pair of demon hounds advanced towards him. This caused a problem for him since he only used his katana in a style that required both hands to use it. Suddenly a sword ripped through the body of one. The second looked back only to see another blade that cut through its neck. Hotakata bowed as he saw that his lord, Shadedulath had assisted him. Shadedulath bowed his head in turn and continued onward.
Delrothban had no trouble in slaying the creatures that he formally worked along side with. He knew their weaknesses and strengths. He bypassed all their defenses and cut straight into their hearts.
His both his katana swiftly cut through limbs and torsos with ease. Many fell before the former dark ambassador of Marthaeter. The others around him were surprised at his skill in which he was fighting with and a few even refused to be near him in combat since they felt they were not worthy to be next to him in battle.
Along the walls the conscripts continued to fire arrows into the mass of darkness below them, desperately hoping to free their home from evil again. Despite the arrows that flew from the wall more creatures poured from the Portal of Shadows.
A band of large dragons took to the air and assaulted the wall's defenders with their fire and claws. The militias were horrified and many took cover behind the wall while the few Shadows of Katsumoto remained on the walls holding back the enemy with their bows. The wall Shadows of Katsumoto began to stick the dragons full of arrows as they tried to convince the conscripts to return and fight. Three dragons fell from the skies and the conscripts slowly returned to their positions to assist in killing the evil dragons.
"I just don't get you," Marthaeter said, "I thought that you would like to have more power, like me. I have unlimited power. I could give power if you simply would join me."
"You have yet to see true power," the Chronicler growled. He glowed white and vanished.
Marthaeter turned to a pool of water and looked into it, watching the battle in the realm. A sudden flash of white light drew his attention to the front of the defender's forces. He could hear the army behind the Chronicler shout, "The Lord of Time!"
The Chronicler once again glowed white. A sphere was white energy was building itself up around him. The Chronicler roared and the white energy sphere expanded greatly out towards the enemy until it had enveloped most of the army. After which the energy faded away and the massive army that once stood before them had been nearly wiped out.
As suddenly as the Chronicler had appeared, he disappeared with a flash of light. Marthaeter turned around as he saw a flash of light illuminate the dark room.
"Quite impressive," Marthaeter replied, "I see you have developed your powers, but have you developed your mental abilities since we last met?"
Marthaeter threw his mind at the Chronicler's expecting their to be a defense of some sort, preventing him from entering the mind of the ancient dragon. Marthaeter then tried to control his mind since he was already within the Chronicler's mind. It efforts were spoiled though. He couldn't grasp the Chronicler's mind. No matter how much he tried, the mind would not bend to his will.
Marthaeter looked at the Chronicler and noticed that the Chronicler wasn't doing a thing to stop him at all. Suddenly Marthaeter was thrown out of the Chronicler's mind with a force he had never experienced before. It greatly overpowered his own, which frightened him.
"Why hasn't he attacked me before if he had such power and how did I not know about this?" Marthaeter thought.
"I didn't attack you earlier only because I didn't know where you were hiding," the Chronicler said as he read Marthaeter's thoughts.
"How did you find this power?" Marthaeter demanded, "How did you find it when I could not. Tell me…"
The Chronicler interrupted him growling, "You will never say my name ever again."
"Tell me how you got this power or I will use your name," Marthaeter roared.
"That is something that you will have to learn on your own," the Chronicler replied.
"Damn you…" Marthaeter cursed as he was about to utter the Chronicler's name.
A beam of white light hit Marthaeter's jaw causing it to explode. The bottom half of the jaw was blow completely off and chunk of the top jaw remained. Marthaeter gurgled as he was surprised and choked on his own blood.
"I warned you and now you have paid the price," the Chronicler stated, "If you want to now how I gained this power, it was from the five thousand years of mental training. You can only learn so much with out losing your mind."
Marthaeter looked up at the grey dragon in fear of what was to come next.
The Chronicler frowned, "You could have been a great dragon Marthaeter, but you had to have your power. You could have improved our great race, but you destroyed it in your lust of knowledge. You are our race's greatest failure. I'm sorry that you had done so to make it this way. I'll spare you any more pain. Good bye, old friend."
With that said the Chronicler fired another blast of white energy killing Marthaeter. The old, grey dragon looked around at the dead room again. He wanted this place to regain its elegance and beauty it had in the past. He knew only one way to do so and it would require much of his power.
The dragon flapped his wings a few times to get himself airborne and flew outside. He flew straight up so he was directly above the fortress. He let loose a mighty roar and white energy raced out of his body onto the barren land below.
The rocky ground absorbed the energy and plants began to grow. Old riverbeds were refilled with crystal clear water that flowed down into lakes and valleys. In a matter of minutes the creatures of evil in the area were destroyed and life had returned to the Chronicler's homeland. The dark storm clouds above parted and disappeared allowing the warm sunlight to fall to the ground adding to the rapid growth of life.
The Chronicler smiled as he saw the land he remembered and loved come back to into existence. Trees finished growing the there adult stages and blossomed with flowers and fruits. Nature had reclaimed what was lost to darkness. The Chronicler remained where he was for a few minutes simply soaking in the scene around him. The sun felt good against his scales. For too long had he remained indoors or in the Celestial Caves were the sunlight doesn't reach.
The ancient dragon felt something that he hadn't felt for many years. Happiness and hope for the future. With that he teleported himself back to the realm where a conflict was being resolved.
