Phew, I think this might be my longest chapter for this story so far.

I have to admit, you did pretty good on this one.

Yeah, it looks good.

Thanks guys, on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Spyro or any of the copyrighted things I use. I do however own my OCs and this story.

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Chapter 15: Taking a Shortcut

When Blane awoke, everyone else but Talea, who was still tucked under his wing asleep, was of to the side talking about something. It took him a moment to realize that Hunter was over there as well. He heard Talea mumble something in her sleep and turned his head only to find his snout against hers. She was still sleeping and Blane gave her a small kiss before he got to his feet. As he did, everyone noticed him and turned to look at him.

"Good to see you're alright," Spyro said.

"Yeah, we were worried when Cain had to take over and fly you here," Cynder said.

"I'm alright now," Blane said, walking over to where the group sat, "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting."

"Don't sweat it," Nguyen said, "we understand that you just wanted to end this battle as quick as possible."

Blane nodded in thanks before asking, "What'd I miss while I was out?"

"Well," Spyro said, "after you passed out and Cain took control we rested for a bit before we took off and flew here and rested for the night."

"And I found you all here earlier this morning," Hunter added.

"So what were you all talking about?" Blane asked, sitting down and looking around at everyone.

"Whether or not to take the secret passage through the Well of Souls or going the whole way to the sea," Cynder answered.

"If it's faster than going all the way to the sea then why not take it?" Blane asked, confused.

"Because we don't know if it's safe," Spyro answered, "not to mention if the passageway is still accessible after the mountain collapsed into itself."

"It's still worth a try," Nguyen said, "after all, what'd be crazy enough to attack the seven of us?"

"Earth golems," Spyro said.

"Not to mention the trolls, grublins, and all those other things down in the Catacombs," Cynder added.

"True, but you and Spyro fought all of those things and Malefor while chained together," Hunter pointed out.

"Yes, but-" Spyro started to say but Nguyen cut him off.

"But nothing," Nguyen said, irritated, "if the two of you could fight those things chained together then I think the seven of us will be fine."

Blane started to agree before something tackled him from behind. He managed to flip himself onto his back before he hit the ground and when he opened his eyes he saw Talea clutching his chest.

"You're okay!" she said as she started covering his face in kisses. Everyone around them burst into laughter while Blane's face started to turn red.

"Yeah," he said, trying to hide his embarrassment as she continued to plant kisses on his face, "could we, uh, continue this later?"

"Oh," she said, remembering the others were there and a blush came to her cheeks, "right."

She quickly got off him and he got to his feet and shook himself off. He sat back down and Talea snuggled herself against his side and he wrapped his wing around her.

"So, where were we?" Blane asked, turning back to look at everyone.

"Well," Nguyen said, struggling to hold back his laughter, "I think we've decided to take the passageway through the Well of Souls."

"Whatever gets us moving faster," Spyro conceded, biting his lip to keep from bursting into laughter again.

"Let's get going," Cynder agreed, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Hunter just shook his head in amusement as the dragons started to take flight.

"I'll meet you all there," he called before taking off running in the direction of the mountain in the distance. The mountain known by many names, but it is most well known as the Well of Souls…or the Mountain of Malefor.

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After about two hours of flying, the dragons landed near the head of a river that came from the waterfall coming from the Mountain. Hunter was already there waiting for them, sharpening his sword with a whetstone. He sat on a rock near the pool of water created by the waterfall. When they landed, he stopped and looked up from his blade. He stood up and sheathed his sword, placing the stone in a pouch on the inside of his cloak.

"So," Blane said, walking over to the pool of water created by the waterfall and looking up at the cave from where it originated, "We go through there, right?"

"Yep," Spyro said as he and everyone else came to stand beside Blane.

"The last time we were here was right after we escaped the Catacombs," Cynder said softly.

"Never thought we'd be going back in," Spyro agreed, "At least, not so soon."

"Let's get moving," Hunter said, jumping onto a ledge on the side of the waterfall, "we're wasting daylight."

Everyone nodded before taking flight once again and flying up towards the cavernous entrance from which the waterfall fell. Hunter climbed to the top and held onto one of the pillars of stone near the opening while the six dragons flew nearby. Hunter had one hand around the pillar while the other was held out, but both his feet were against the pillar. He looked over at the dragons and they looked at him before they all turned their gazes towards the cave. After a moment they all started going further in, Hunter jumping from the pillar to platforms scattered around and back onto different pillars while the dragons flew. It wasn't long before the group found the doorway that led into a corridor. They walked through it until they found themselves blocked by a part of the corridor blocked by rubble.

"This is where the golem nearly got me," Cynder said, shuddering. Spyro wrapped his wing around her for comfort and she snuggled closer to him.

"We might as well start moving this rubble," Nguyen said, walking over to the pile and grabbing a large rock and starting to move it.

"That won't be necessary," Hunter said, causing Nguyen to stop and turn around to look at him, "watch."

Hunter placed his hand on the wall and where he put his hand began to sink as a secret button was pushed. As the button continued to sink, creating a grinding sound as it did, a door way started to open next to it. A huge gust of cold wind came out of the newly opened door, causing the group to shiver slightly, but not because of the cold but the eeriness.

"Woah," Blane said, looking at the door.

"How did you know about that Hunter?" Spyro asked, surprised.

"I found many secret passages while searching for you and Cynder," Hunter explained as the group started to walk through the door and into another, extremely dusty, corridor, "this being one of them."

The group continued in silence as they walked through the corridor. As they walked they had they strange feeling that they were being watched by someone with dark intent. They all brushed it off as being paranoid and continued on before stopping in a place that was familiar to Spyro.

"This is where I was when I came out of the portal from the White Isle," he said, walking to the center of the room, "if I remember correctly the portal should be right about-"

He was cut off as a huge creature bowled into him. Cynder cried his name while everyone else looked on in shock. The creature was pitch-black and it had wings instead of front legs. The creature was monstrous and held Spyro on the ground with the large talons it had on its large back legs. It hissed and looked over at the rest of the group, as if daring them to try and stop it from eating Spyro. Cain materialized next to Blane, except now he looked more like an adult dragon compared to a teenage one.

"I'll take care of this thing," he said, his voice deep like an adult male's.

"Cain, wait!" Blane shouted but it was too late. Cain had taken off towards the creature that had pinned Spyro and tackled it, the two of them beginning to thrash about on the ground. Cynder and Hunter rushed over to Spyro, who was struggling to get to his feet, while Blane, Talea, and Nguyen made their way over to where Cain was fighting the creature. Blane saw the creature's talons make contact with Cain's chest before he felt a searing pain in the same spot. He grunted and looked down to see he had three long deep gashes on his chest, the same place Cain now had gashes.

Talea and Nguyen noticed him stop and turned around, Talea shrieking, "Blane, what happened?"

"Seems when he gets hurt, I do too," Blane grunted, continuing to walk despite the pain in his chest, "That's something to remember."

Before Talea and Nguyen could react, Blane charged towards where Cain and the creature were still fighting. As he charged he gained a few scratches and cuts as Cain was hit a few more times by the creature's claws, but he didn't slow down. Cain saw him coming and, realizing what he was planning, managed to maneuver the creature to where it would be hit and knocked off of him and into the wall. Just as Blane began to leap at the creature, he set himself ablaze in white fire so large he was nearly the size of a full-grown dragon and shaped like one too. He collided with the creature's side, causing it to shriek in pain as it was also covered in flames before it collided with the wall. The wall crumbled and covered the creature's body in rubble. Blane stood a little ways away from the pile of debris, panting from the amount of energy he'd used. He turned his head to look back at everyone but found himself feeling like he was being pulled through an extremely small tube before finding himself in Ignitus' study on the White Isle.

"Looks like I found the portal," he said to himself, looking around for Ignitus. He heard Ignitus' voice coming from another room and followed it.

As he got closer he was able to hear what he was saying, "…ey will be here soon, Dex, you have to hide!"

"No," another voice said, who Blane assumed was Dex, "I want to meet him!"

"You can't," Ignitus said, "it was one thing to bring you here so you could help them get here, but quite another for you to meet anyone from this time."

"But this might be my only chance to meet my dad!" Dex begged, "Please just let me talk to him!"

"I'm afraid I ca-" Ignitus stopped as Blane accidently knocked over a table that had a few books on it, causing them to fall to the ground loudly. Blane looked at the books before looking back up at the door he'd heard Ignitus' and the other voice from only to see Ignitus standing there with an unfamiliar dragon. The dragon was black with a golden plated underbelly. He had a golden line under both eyes and there were two golden markings that looked like starbursts (no, not the candy) on each shoulder. His wings were gold with black membranes and his eyes reminded Blane of Talea's; they were amber. He looked like he was about the same age as Nguyen, but his body was similar to Blane's. He had a look of surprise and excitement on his face, while Blane was just surprised.

"Hello Blane," Ignitus said, managing to hide his frustration.

"Who is that Ignitus?" Blane asked, narrowing his eyes, "And what were you two talking about in there?"

"This is-" Ignitus began to say but the other dragon cut him off.

"I'm Dex and I'm -mmph!" the dragon was unable to finish as Ignitus covered his mouth with his wing.

"Not important right now," Ignitus finished forcefully, looking at Dex with a secret message in his eyes before turning to look at Blane and asking, "What happened to you?"

"Cain fought a some creature, I think it was a wyvern, but long story short if he gets hurt so do I," Blane explained, deciding to ask Dex what he was about to say later.

"A wyvern? Things certainly are getting worse," Ignitus said to himself before asking, "Where is everyone else?"

"They should be here right about," Blane began to say as the rest of the group began to fade into view as they came through the portal back at the Well of Souls, "now."

"Blane!" Talea said, rushing over to him and pressing against his side, nuzzling him. He wrapped his wing around her, breathing in her comforting scent.

Dex watched the two of them, softly saying, "Mom…"

"Quiet Dex!" Ignitus hissed, "It's bad enough they've seen you; they can not, under any circumstance, learn who you are!"

Dex nodded reluctantly before Ignitus turned to look at the group. He saw Blane and Talea, who were still nuzzling one another; Spyro and Cynder, Spyro leaning onto Cynder for support as he had a few broken ribs and his right foreleg was broken as well; and Nguyen and Hunter, both of whom had a few scrapes and cuts.

"It is good to see you Ignitus," Hunter said, bowing his head slightly.

"And it is good to see all of you," Ignitus said, "before we continue with anything, I think it would be wise for you all to go get yourselves patched up."

Everyone nodded and Ignitus directed them towards the infirmary. Everyone but he and Dex left and when they were gone, Cain began to fade into view, still in his adult form.

"I see you have unlocked your true form," Ignitus noted.

"Yes, but that's beside the point," Cain said, narrowing his eyes in anger, "It was stupid of you to tell Blane the prophecy, for any reason."

"He had a right to know," Ignitus said defensively, "He's destined to sacrifice himself to prevent Ragnarok from causing anymore destruction."

"Yes, but that may cause more problems!" Cain shouted, "Believe me, I would know!"

"Yes, I am aware of your past Cain, but Blane needs to know what will happen or some things may never happen!" Ignitus said.

"You mean like little Blane junior over there?" Cain asked angrily, causing Ignitus and Dex to look at him in surprise.

"How did you know?" Dex asked, stunned.

"Besides the similar features, Talea's eyes, and the fact that he called Talea mom and he never met his dad?" Cain asked sarcastically, "I can read minds! It's one of many benefits of being part of someone's mind."

"Will you tell them?" Ignitus asked.

"Not unless you tell everyone else the prophecy," Cain said, "telling Blane was enough. Actually, it was more than enough."

"They are on their way back," Ignitus said, hearing the sound of claws on stone, "go back to your and Annabelle's room Dex, enough damage was done by you meeting them."

"Alright," Dex said reluctantly, walking down a separate corridor than the one the everyone else had gone down and were now coming back through.

"Another thing Ignitus," Cain said as he began to fade.

"Yes?" Ignitus asked.

"I think you told Spyro the truth about his parentage," Cain said, his voice echoing as he faded from view completely.

"Perhaps you're right Cain," Ignitus said, despite the fact that Cain was no longer there, "I think it's time I told Spyro the truth."

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Wow, you kinda made me a bit protective of the group.

How many times do I have to tell you that you and the Cain from the story are two completely different people?

A few more times.

By the way, when do I get to be put in the story?

I might put a character called Wolf in the story, but he won't be you Wolf.

So does that mean soon?

Maybe.

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On a side note readers, I'm afraid I have some bad news. I will not be able to place any of your OCs in this story. However, I am planning a sequel and I might have some luck and be able to place some of them in. I am sorry to those who answered my OC request hoping to be put in this story. I'm still new at writing fanfictions so I really don't have much experience as of yet. But this is a learning experience and I'm hoping that I will learn more as I progress.

Knowing most of you didn't read this,

This is Jacy, 'Dual Minded Wolf', signing off.