Chapter 4:

The Chronicler

The Heroes moved into a circular room which dipped down in the center before it revealed a heavily locked door beyond. Spyro's mouth twitched as he looked at that area and then at Cynder next to him.

"If I remember this, then one of us must face their worst fear before we may go on," he said. Everyone looked at each other, wondering who would do it until Crash stepped forward.

"It's about time I started being a real help to the team," he said, shifting his Bazooka against his back. "See you later mates." He stepped into the circular area and felt himself being transported to a different place.

Crash's feet settled down onto cold flat earth in an area surrounded by open space. He looked over at the other side to see a silhouette hovering over another one. The one on the ground was whimpering while the other did something to it. Crash approached and after several paces recognized the standing form as the one of Neo Cortex, after all no one else had a head that big. Cortex turned to face Crash with a wicked grin. He stepped aside to allow Crash to see the other form, which he saw as Coco's form heavily bound and severely burned and cut.

"Hey, what were you doing to her?" he growled to the dream Cortex.

"This," grinned the man, taking his blaster from his pocket and firing at Crash. Crash dodged several of Cortex's weaker blasts, which he knew would infuriate Cortex. As expected, Cortex charged up a more powerful blast and fired it. These blasts were more powerful but because of that they were slower, which Crash took advantage of by spinning into it and hurling it back at Cortex. Cortex was hurled back and over the edge of the platform they were on into the blackness until he disappeared from sight. Crash sighed, Cortex had always been way too easy to beat up; the guy never changed his style.

"Okay, I beat my worst fear, can I go now?" he called out to the nothingness surrounding him. Nothing happened. He looked down at the fake Coco's mutilated form, a shudder forming along his spine. But that solved his problem, his worst fear wasn't Cortex, of course it wasn't, his greatest fear was seeing Coco hurt. Crash knelt down next to his sister and started rubbing the solid part of her forehead. She moaned and looked at him, a smile forming on her face.

"Hey Big Brother," she croaked.

"You're okay," he sighed in relief. Coco shook his head.

"Crash, I'm not okay, I can feel it. Crash, I'm dying." Crash looked at her for a moment.

"You, you're not serious," he stuttered. Coco nodded.

"Crash, the test wasn't just about being able to see me hurt; the test is one of accepting your greatest fear. My death is your greatest fear, so in order to pass through the test, you have to let me go," she said. Crash was shocked.

"Accept your death? I-I could never do that, you're too important to me." He clenched his eyes shut. "You're all I have left, Crunch isn't much help, and Tawna left long ago so how do I accept your death?" Coco cracked one smile.

"You just have to." And with that, the image of his sister shuddered and became motionless. Crash clenched his eyes shut, rage burning through his every pore, and with a yell of rage became the dark monster the Crystals had created. The rage burned for several minutes as dark electricity burned around him before it all faded and he was left as normal Crash. He sighed.

"I will never accept your death, Coco," he addressed the corpse on the ground. "But one thing I will do is track down those who did it and make sure those who did it will never do it to another soul. For I am a Hero, and that's what Heroes do." The shudder that was still plastered along the false dead Coco's face was replaced by a smile and her voice from some spirit rang through his ears.

"I wouldn't expect anything else, Big Brother." A white flash rang through the dream world and everything was gone.

Crash awoke in the middle of the circle to see everyone standing around him. The girls, Crunch, Jak, and Spyro had looks of concern on their faces while Daxter and Sparx looked faintly amused.

"We got a live 'un," Daxter called jokingly from Jak's shoulder, earning himself a sound slap across the back of his skull.

"Shut up Dax," Jak growled as his friend picked himself off the floor he had been sent into by Jak's blow. Sparx hovered nearby Daxter.

"Sheesh, some guys just don't have a sense of humor do they?" Sparx said. Daxter smiled at the dragonfly and placed and arm around where Sparx's shoulders would be if he was Daxter's size.

"Sparky boy, I believe this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Crash rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Come on, let's go in and see this Chronicler guy for ourselves," he said. They all followed Crash's lead and walked into the next room which was dominated by a huge hourglass in the center and shelves covered in thick volumes.

"Chronicler," Spyro called out in the room. The soft padding of feet announced the arrival of an electric blue dragon from another room. This dragon had an hourglass pendant hanging from his neck but other than that was a normal dragon.

"Spyro?" the dragon called in an all too familiar, hoarse voice.

"I-Ignitus?" Spyro said in shock. Former Fire Guardian and Purple Dragon looked at each other in shock then laughed out in joy.

"I thought you and Cynder died when Malefor was recaptured."

"I thought you died when you escorted us through the Burnt Lands," Spyro argued.

"It seems we were both wrong, though."

"Hey look," Jak said, as he was getting annoyed at the constant obstacles. "We just want to know what Erol and Cortex are doing here." Ignitus' muzzle stretched down so that it was level with Jak's face.

"You do not think that those two alone could take over the universe? Even with the aid of the Hora quan*?" he asked. "No, only one person could possibly aid Cortex and Erol in universal domination."

"Who?" Jak asked. Ignitus gave them all a meaningful look.

"Malefor of course."

"But," Cynder began. "But, how could they get him out again?"

"Malefor is contained in a prison of Light, if it is consumed by too much Darkness, then Malefor will be able to get out," he explained.

"How do we stop it?" Ignitus looked over at the three Heroes.

"If you get to Malefor before Cortex and Erol do, you can seal the prison and not even the amount of Darkness they have in their arsenal can break open the prison." Jak nodded and looked at the others.

"Let's go guys," he ordered, walking off to the exit. Spyro smiled at Ignitus before following Jak's orders. Ignitus looked after them all and said in a whisper:

"So long Heroes, may the Ancestors light your path."

*Hora quan is the Metalheads' true name as stated by the Precursor Idol before the second boss battle in Jak II

Author's Note: You know the drill; Geek out.