Conciseness danced around William's sleeping mind, always tempting him yet remaining out of reach. Slowly he noticed more and more as he awakened that something was not right. It started when he tried to wet his lips with his tongue but he found his tongue felt thinner and could stretch further than it should as did his lips, beyond which his skin didn't feel quite right; too firm and smooth. Then when he shifted he realised his entire body didn't feel right.
Then the memories came flooding back. "Oh shit. That had better be some kind of dream…" He mumbled before his eyes snapped open and began to examine the musty room he had fallen asleep in the previous night. "Great." He moaned. "That'll teach me to wish my life was more exciting."
William got up and began to stretch, beyond that he still had no idea where he was or what he was going to do. Resting his fore legs on one of the window ledges he began to examine the city. It was expansive and while not nearly as expansive as larger cities such as London, Paris or New York it was a lot better planed out and crafted by the looks of things. Considering it was practically all made of carved stone it was an impressive feat of engineering.
Tentatively he climbed up onto the ledge with the intention of using it as a jumping off point for flying. Looking down he saw he had a lot less height and by consequence time to stabilise his flight before a potentially messy landing. Not his best example of fore sight in choosing an inconspicuous place to bunk for the night. He knew a take off without a significant drop to start off with, while less inevitably deadly, would be a little trickier to master without sustaining injury. Taking a deep breath he loosened his wings and jumped. As soon as he gained a decent amount of momentum from the fall he spread his wings and glided to a nearby roof top landing roughly.
Looking back along his flight path he felt satisfied with the rough manoeuvre. It surprised him that the sudden impact of air against his wings did not hurt him more as such sudden yanking of his arms might. He shrugged the thought aside as a minor note of his new anatomy.
Looking around he still had no idea of where he was and the events that led up to the current state of this city. The most available solution to this problem appealed to William greatly; explore the city and hope to find clues. A decent challenge.
He looked around to see if he could find the largest building. It very wasn't hard to do as he was standing on top of a three story building which appeared to be the average height for a building here. The reason for looking for the largest building was that chances were it would be the main administration centre… or maybe it would be a chapel of sorts. Either way it was a starting point to knowing where he was, though the latter would be less useful in his opinion; lacking official documents.
Unfortunately this presented another problem; how to get there. He could try and fly but then he ran the risk of drawing unwanted attention. Navigating the streets would be safer but the city was only vaguely organised in a series of circles and that was only the more central district.
The solution, he finally realised, was what he was standing on. He would still need to be careful and still need to plan ahead a little but a not crippling so like with the other two options. He would simply jump from roof to roof, giving him an overview of the streets and maintaining a view of the city that would allow him to navigate.
And so William lined himself up with the adjacent building, began to sprint towards it, then at the edge of the roof top he jumped and spread his wings to maintain his brief flight that little bit longer.
He landed on the opposite building with ease and looking back over the gap he felt a burst of pride over the fact he was mastering his new body quickly. He quickly moved on however. One thing he was beginning to realise though was that dragons were obviously not hikers and his pace was significantly slower then that of a human. In fact, thinking about it he reckoned his dragon form only came up to the height of his human shoulder. Still, he padded along at a steady rate. It would be a long walk and a lot of jumps after all and he needed to balance speed and stamina.
Ignitus was glad when Spyro returned unharmed late the previous night and by the sounds wafting out of the training room he was almost finished with Volteer's early morning training session. The sound of a thunderstorm going off in the training room confirmed his theory, being the tell tail sign of an electrical fury.
Sure enough Spyro emerged from the training room, the statue behind him steadily raising itself back into place. Many would have described the young purple scaled dragon as hansom or even dashing though due to a decent sense of modesty and humility he would never say so himself. His eyes betrayed him as the kind and sensitive sort through hidden behind them was a strong sense of resolve. However he was also looking mildly pleased with himself right now, no doubt due to his successes in the training room.
Volteer was close behind babbling away as usual. "Fantastic! Flabbergasting! Exceptional work! Never have I seen anyone master an element so quickly. The powers of the Purple dragon are in no way exaggerated."
"Please Volteer, try not to over crowd him with praise; we don't want another…" Ignitus trailed off, "well, you know what I mean." He finished cryptically.
"Ah, of course Ignitus." Volteer said, immediately straightening out.
This brief exchange confused Spyro and he wanted to ask what he meant but Ignitus had already changed the subject.
"Now, to business; last night I made a rather interesting discovery in the pool of visions. The ancestors seem to think it important for me to know there is a young white dragon on the loose." He explained.
Volteer perked up once again. "What? How improbable yet delightfully surprising! There have been no sightings of a white dragon in decades! Unsubstantiated rumours of course but never…"
Ignitus cut him off. "Yes Volteer it is surprising but our primary concern is to bring him back here safely, not to debate his appearance."
Sparx took this moment to pipe up. "Hay! You already have Purple boy here why do you need him? Isn't spyro meant to be an all-powerful purple whatsit or something? Why do we need him?"
Ignitus sighed. "Yes, as a purple dragon Spyro has many powerful abilities but he most certainly is not all-powerful. Also, lacking necessary experience and training he can only access a fraction of that power. White dragons while not as powerful as purple ones have the ability to control the elemental powers of light. This skill is particularly dangerous if used improperly so it is imperative we find him for his own good and make sure Cynder does not find him and somehow use his powers against us." He explained long-windedly.
Spyro nodded in confirmation though still slightly confused. "Okay… I don't see why light can be so dangerous but I'll see if I can find him. Where is he? Where do I start looking?"
"From what I have seen of him he is currently taking refuge in the abandoned dragon city of Warfang, specifically in one of its many towers." He continued to explain.
This information sent Spyro's head spinning. "Dragon city!" He of course didn't know that dragons were the sort to dwell in cities.
Ignitus nodded. "Yes, it was constructed long ago by the Moles in honour of our actions in keeping the peace and our friendship with them. Until recently it was the centre of our civilisation but soon after Cynder began her reign of terror it was abandoned, its population scattered across the lands and retreated into hiding. The moles that used to inhabit the city alongside the dragons now live in the vast caverns below only occasionally surfacing to ensure no vile creatures have taken up residents there. Even now in its abandonment it is still a sight to behold…"
Spyro nodded in understanding, Ignitus made it feel as if he were about to tread on sacred ground. "So; how do I get there? Which way is it?" This was something he had to see.
"Fortunately it is not far from here; a couple of hours flight to the south east. Now hurry, I fear time is still against us." Ignitus urged.
"Don't worry, you can count on me. Come on Sparx…" He reassured as he began to leave.
"Frog-weed infested swamps, frozen waste lands, abandoned cities… we always go to such nice places…" Sparx commented sarcastically, closely following Spyro out to the main balcony to depart.
William cleared yet another street, moving quickly but quietly to the next ledge looking around for potential tree monsters or similar. Seeing that the coast was clear he backed up a little and bounded over the gap for the umpteenth time today. Occasional he would come across a stray statue, courtyard or garden; stopping to admire it or even attempting to read whatever notations were around regarding what the feature was in memory of but failed to do so due to not recognising the language it was written in. That caused him considerable annoyance as when he did reach his destination it would mean he would most lightly have to find some way of deciphering the documents there. Any other day he might have considered it an enjoyable challenge but he felt that for whatever reason he was short on time. Then again, he really didn't have too much patience for languages.
He continued for another couple of leaps but something distracted him, specifically someone talking. "…ha, don't make me laugh, a couple of great oafs like you owning a city? What do ya' take me for? A fool?"
William decided to investigate; people meant information after all, even if he just stayed out of sight and listened. It was coming from a nearby ally way. He peaked over the edge of a roof top to see four rather improbable humanoid figures. Three of them with their backs to him were wearing crude wooden armour held together by lather and were carrying equally rough and unsharpened swords. The middle one was the largest and most lightly the leader.
"You had better be careful what you say fur ball, the mayor doesn't like rude visitors." The smaller one to the left said.
The remaining person they were threatening was, from here, the strangest individual. He appeared to be a rabbit except for the fact he was comfortably standing on two legs and wearing a gold trimmed maroon coat over a white shirt along with a satchel going from his left shoulder to right hip and a large brown sack resting on the ground, clutched tightly in his left hand. His fur was an uneven brown and he looked rather haggard in appearance but at the same time he seemed alert and well rested.
"Well then, I'll just be on my way and you fellers will have nothing to worry about." He said distastefully as he hulled the sack onto his shoulder.
"Not so fast, you came in so you ave to pay the visiers tax." The middle one said gruffly. "You either pay or we take everythin you have, includin your life."
William got the sense they were now wearing sick smiles on the other side of their heads. He cringed at the uncivilised conduct of the people, trying to heckle the poor feller. They were essentially bullies, and if there was one thing he could not stand it was bullies.
"Right… and how much would this visitor's fee be?" He asked sourly.
"How much you got?" The one on the left asked.
"Hum, let me think…" The rabbit reached down to his right were his satchel covered his side. He pulled out an old gunpowder pistol. "I got a musket ball if ya interested?" He said smirking.
"Stupid rabbit." The leader declared. "You can only kill one of us with that thing."
The rabbit growled. "First of all I ain't some sassy rabbit; I'm a hare. As for only one shot, well; I'll still kill one of ya, may be two if I'm lucky… so who wants to go first?" He dared them.
William stared at the stalemate below for a few moments before deciding to intervene on the side of the hare. Bounding over the top of the roof and impacting on the ground behind the three figures startling them. They wiped around revealing their faces and what William saw he did not like. They were some sort of cross between a baboon and a gorilla… needless to say it was ugly.
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything but it seems you chaps are intent on causing trouble…" He said sternly as he settled into an aggressive stance, hoping to intimidate them a little.
It worked… a little.
"D-D-Dragon!" The right thing cried out in meld of surprise and fear.
The leader growled at him. "Well what are you two waiting for? He's only a whelp, get him!"
As the two smaller ones approached Will his entire thought process was composed of the words: 'Oh crap!' He suddenly realised he had thought of none of the potentially harmful consequences of doing the right thing. Fortunately, judging by the weary excretions of the approaching monkey things, he was succeeding in hiding his worries.
Almost by instinct his tongue darted out of his mouth to taste the air; he tasted fear. The taste of intense sweating in the air and the look in their eyes triggered some primal part of his new body encouraged a feral grin to spread across his face causing the things to hesitate. He used this to his advantage by jumping at the one to the left who was closer and seemed more confident making him more of a threat to deal with. William succeeded in knocking him over, pinned his arms with his claws and snapped his maw at the things face, not actually biting him but causing it to drop his sword. Now his opponent was lacking an ability to strike back effectively William released one of his arms and reached under its loose armour, slashing the creature's belly with his new talons.
He was prevented from ending its life when its comrade came at him with sword held high. William rolled away to his left to avoid a swipe but this put his back against a wall. The wounded creature was between him and the other but he doubted the second thing, even if he seemed to be the more skittish, cared for his fallen comrade.
His opponent had now realised he had the upper hand and was grinning like an idiot. Considering his poor options William decided to take a risk. He reared up on his back to legs as if about to pounce but only, to his surprise, let out an aggressive roar. While unexpected, combined with the planed faint it did a good job of startling the thing. His sword was now raised across his fount to fend off an attack; right were William wanted it. Now was the risky part.
As soon as he front legs were back on the ground he bolted forward tackling the gorilla thing from under its guard. He didn't manage to get it onto the floor but that wasn't really necessary. He began to claw away at its sides where its armour did not cover him. It howled in pain and finally toppled over but still tried to swipe at Will with its arms. Timing himself as best he could he jumped onto its chest and used his claws to half strangle, half tear apart its throat.
The creature's movements slowed down dramatically and William realised it was dying. Shocked at what he had done he quickly retreated off of the body, staring dumbly as the creature drew its last gurgling breaths. Sure he had been in brawls with bullies before, even play fighting and paint balling with a few of his friends on occasion… but killing? He had never killed something that could talk before… heck, probably nothing larger than a bug.
His unhinged state of mind was broken by a howl of anger, he snapped around to see the much larger staring him angrily. "You! You killed my men! I'll make you pay fer that!"
William tensed up again, his attention now focused on the larger more threatening target. He quickly established he would have to be light on his feet as one hit from the things much larger sword would likely put him to bed… permanently.
Unnerved by the way it just sat there staring at him rather than charging and attacking he began to back away from the leader knowing he would need room to manoeuvre. Then, as reached some critical point a vial grin of disfigured teeth emerged from the things face. He withdrew a red stick with a fuse attached, struck the fuse against a peace of rough sand paper attached to his belt and threw it a Will.
The stick landed right next to his feet, recognising the unusual object as a stick of dynamite stunned him for a moment and unfortunately that was one moment too long. His thoughts racing Will knew he could not escape the blast unscathed as there was no cover in the narrow ally way. So, he took the only reaming option.
He slammed his paw down on the fuse smothering the flame. When he lifted his paw he thanked his blessings that the explosive was of such crude design that it did not incorporate a self-oxidising mixture in the fuse. His dad had taught him well when it came to weapons.
William looked up to see the slightly confused monkey thing and shot him a condescending look. "Is that honestly all you have to throw at me? Badly made tri-nitro-toluene?"
The leader simply glared at him before screaming a war cry and charging.
Will coiled his leg muscles in preparation to jump out of the way but this action was soon rendered unnecessary by a stout bang and the thing crashing to the ground in front of him, groaning in pain before passing out to die.
Looking up he saw the hare with his now smoking pistol. Will could only stare and blink for a few moments at the figure he now noticed was only about half his height. Finally he decided to speak. "Uh, thanks. Rather… anti climatic, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth." He allowed himself a sheepish smile.
A moment passed before the hare smirked and cocked his head. "Yeah, thanks to you to I guess. Clumsy oafs would have clobbered me if you hadn't come along. What do I owe ya?" He asked as he slipped his pistol back into his belt concealed by his satchel.
William was a little taken aback by his offer of payment. "Nothing, if you like… though I could use a little information." He asked as he stepped around the dead body of the gorilla thing.
The hare looked at him suspiciously as Will advanced. "What kinda information?"
Will frowned as he thought. He had no idea what passed for normal around here, so far being a dragon didn't seem to rub this guy the wrong way. "Well… I'm new around here, so how about where here is. That would be petty handy for me to know."
The hare's gaze turned from suspicious to quizzical. "You mean you don't even know when you're in your own city? This is the dragon city of Warfang! Or at least it was…"
Will was a little surprised that dragons, opposable claws or not, could build a city but for the moment that was irrelevant. "Letts just say I've come a long way. What's your name by the way?"
The hare's eyes narrowed for a moment, showing he was still suspicious. "Jack. An yours? I've never seen a dragon like you before… then again, you don't see many these days."
William hesitated; unsure if he should give his real name or not. He decided to tell Jack his middle name, not technically a lie but not really the truth. "James, my name's James… and why don't you see many dragons anymore? Judging by the size of this place there should be thousands if not tens of thousands living here."
The hare was more than a little surprised by this. "Damn, you must have come a long way if you don't know about the war. I don't know the details, I try to keep out of the main event, but it started about twelve years ago. Let's think… well, I think the first thing was the attack on the dragon temple; dumb apes smashed the place up good. Smashed all the eggs there, killed half a generation in one night."
Will's eyes widened in shock. "Genocide." He whispered and bitterly at the distasteful information. It took a moment for him to compose himself. "I take it those things are apes?" He pointed a claw at the two now dead creatures.
Jack nodded. "Yeah, the ones who raided the temple but those ones are deserters I think."
"Deserters? There's an organised army of them out there?" He exclaimed in mix of shock and almost humorous surprise.
"Yeah, Cynder's army…" So Jack went on to explain the events of the last decade and a half. He started with the prophesy of the purple dragon, something William thought to be utter nonsense, a notion Jack was inclined to believe in. He then told of the rise of the Dark Master, as his parents had told him, and how he was defeated and imprisoned somehow and somewhere. His force of apes however was never annihilated as they were without leadership and therefore considered no threat. However about twelve years ago they suddenly got organised, attacking the dragon temple and then waging war against the dragons and those who stood with them. It went well for a few years but about three years into the war Cynder, the black dragon and infamous 'Terror of the Skies' showed up. Cynder decimated the dragon forces threw a combination of personal killing skill and cunning tactics. It was also rumoured that recently Cynder had captured three of the Guardians, the unofficial figure heads and leaders of the dragon forces. This had sent almost all the dragons into hiding.
William listened intently and asked questions where appropriate but Jack's understanding of the war was limited to second hand information leaving William dejected from the lack of useful details. Essentially all he got out of it was; stay away from large groups of apes and big black dragons.
Will was now deep in thought, his situation being far from desirable. He had nowhere to go, no reliable source of food until he learnt to hunt, no way of getting home and no idea what to do next.
"So, what ya going to do now?" Jack asked hesitantly.
Will didn't answer for a moment. "Honestly? I have no idea."
"Huh, well… you can tag along with me if you like?" He offered.
Will thought about the offer for a moment. "Okay, not a long term plan but certainly better than sitting here."
This seemed to please Jack. "Great, people are less lightly to try and beat me up if there's a dragon nearby." He said cheerfully. "Even if you are just a whelp."
William snorted but knew that 'whelp' may well have been the correct term for a dragon his age. However at the same time he felt there was something not quite right about the hare. Jack turned his back to attend to his sack. William, being mildly suspicious and even more so curious, looked over his shoulder. He was a little stunned at what he saw; a multitude of house hold items were there from clothing to pots and pans and more. However he also noticed something else; they were all broken, worn out, raged or dirty.
It was not hard for Will to put two and two together. "You're a scavenger!" He exclaimed in mild surprise.
Jack tensed up. "Yeah… what about it?"
Will hesitated for a moment, thinking about it and then shrugged it off. "Nothing really, I suppose. Just surprised… makes sense though. Wondering alone through an empty city, armed."
"Yeah well some of us have got to make a living! I sneak around here once a week picking up anything useful, take it back to my hole in the ground, fix it up and sell it all to one of the hidden refugee camps. It ain't glorious but it's a living!" His defence was border lining on hostile.
William had of course recoiled. "I never said I had a problem with it. In fact recycling is looked highly upon where I come from, which is essentially what you're doing." He assured. "By the looks of the stuff your taking it would've been thrown out anyway if anyone came back. Want not waste not, right?"
Slowly Jack began to nod. "Yeah… that's right. They won't want it so they won't have to worry about it. Speaking of which…" He looked over to the dead apse. "They won't be needing there stuff anymore and I'm sure I could find a buyer for that dynamite!" He said excitedly.
Will watched as the hare excitedly started stuffing the dynamite into his satchel. It unsettled William a little that he was looting a dead corpse but desperate times called for desperate measures, it wasn't as if he was suggesting eating them. When Jack had finished Will decided to at least put the body into a more dignified position at the side of the ally. He moved to do the same with the second one, the one with the crushed throat. It was a rather unhinging experience staring at the dead body, the one he killed but he believed everyone deserved dignity in death, even the worst of people… or things.
However Jack interrupted his train of thought. "Hay, where'd the other one go? I thought there were three?"
"There are three…" He said as he turned around to see only Jack. The ape he had slashed across the belly was gone. "Or rather there was…" His tone sunk to one of deep concern. A loud yell rang out in the distance, an ape war cry. "Shit! He survived!"
"Damn it! Run, follow me!" Jack cried out as he began to sprint on all fours around the corner.
William wasted no time following him. "I hope he knows where he's going…" Will muttered as he sprinted round the corner in tow of the hare. "You do know where you're going right?" He called out.
Spyro was awe struck when he saw the city. On the horizon it looked like it was some kind of rock formation but now he was closer he could only stare wide eyed at it. He almost forgot to flap his wings to maintain altitude.
"Big place…" Was all Sparx could manage.
Spyro nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you said it." He looked over how huge the city was; it looked like it could hold thousands of dragons, no easy task considering their adult size. He could honestly say he had never seen anything so large that was made by people opposed to nature.
"Finding that white thing in there will be impossible! We'll be here for years!" Sparx complained.
Spyro focused on the city as he got closer and noticed Sparx was indeed right. The city was a maze of streets and buildings of all sizes. "Only if he's hiding and I don't see why he would want to do that…"
An ape's war cry caught his attention.
"Well there's your reason to hide." Sparx said snidely.
Spyro began to accelerate towards the noise. "Come on! We need to check it out!"
Sparx gowned in annoyance. "Yes please, let's fly towards the things that are shouting violently and no doubt want to kill us!" His voice was laden with sarcasm.
As Spyro sped towards the direction of the noise he spotted a few groups of apes were now roaming the city. There was another war cry and they began to all converge on the same location. Spyro decided to follow, using the occasional tower to cover his approach from sight.
Eventually he overtook them, wanting to get to where ever they were going first. Soon after the sounds of battle reached his ears, irregular dragon roars the screams of apes and even a loud bang echoed off the surrounding buildings. Seconds later he saw what was making the noises; at a wide dead end street two figures, one large and white the other tall, red and brown, were fighting off a small horde of apes.
As fast as Spyro could he dived down from the sky, ignoring Sparx's pleads and moans over going into battle. Using his fire elemental powers he spread a carpet of flame over a swath of attacking apes before looping back around and landing behind them. Not wasting a moment he leaped onto the nearest one and began to tear it apart with his claws. He delivered a nasty head butt to the next apparently breaking it's spine as it didn't get up.
Another loud bang like before distracted him and he turned to see the brown and red figure, a rabbit he though, holding a smoking gun pointed in the direction of a now dead ape. Spyro didn't waste time wondering why he was helping them but did catch a glimpse of his surprised face.
The white dragon was fighting rather haphazardly showing his inexperience but seemed to be doing well as Spyro saw no major injuries.
He sent a bolt of electricity at an ape to his left before despatching him with a quick swipe across the stomach. Then he rammed another ape into the wall, mauled another with his claws and butted another into the air finishing him off with a jet of fire. It continued like this for about a minute and he was slowly pushed backed into the ally way with the other two.
Then he heard someone call after him. "Hay purple boy!"
He turned to see the rabbit holding a pile of familiar red sticks.
"I throw them you light em!" He called out.
For a second Spyro didn't get his meaning, he tossed the dynamite into the air scattering them over the apes.
"What ya waiting for? Light em!" The rabbit called again.
Then his mind clicked as the idea snapped into place. He nodded and blew a wide but thin flame across the large group of apes. It wasn't enough to do anything more than singe their fur but the dynamite? The cascade of explosions sent the majority of the apes flying only for gravity to slam them back into the unforgiving ground. Spyro and the white dragon quickly dispatched the few that survived the blast, the rest scarpered.
Then, there was silence, the sound of the explosion still ringing in his ears. He calmed himself as he breathed heavily.
"Watch out!" A new voice called and he turned to see an ape that had played dead leap at him but there was no time to react as the sword that was already half way through swinging at him. Then a bolt of yellow blue electricity slammed into the side of ape causing his muscles to spasm and loss control. Unfortunately for Spyro electricity had no effect on momentum and the ape still crashed into him. The ape however was still stunned by the shock and it took little effort on Spyro's part to roll on top of him and bit at his neck killing it.
He spat the coppery tasting blood out in disgust and began looking around for any signs of life. He saw only the white dragon looking rather shocked and confused and the rabbit a little further off quickly stuffing powder and a shot into his pistol.
Spyro began to move towards the white dragon who was still staring into space. "Hay… are you okay?"
The white dragon looked up at him for a moment, locking Spyro's indigo eyes with his cool blue eyes. It was the first good look he had got of the white dragon. He was indeed strange being mostly white with blue covering his wings and chest. The seven straight and sharp horns over his head were yellow, as were his claws, spinal ridge and barbed tail spike, which clashed with the icier colours in a fashion that was rather eye catching. He was also a little sleeker then Spyro and his neck was longer and more snake like compared to his own. Then he simply turned away and began walking towards the rabbit.
The white dragon sat there until the rabbit finally looked up from loading his pistol. "What you lookin at?" The rabbit asked.
The white dragon's reply was rather calm… at first. "Oh nothing, nothing other than an ignoramus of a fool." Then his voice jumped up a notch. "Just you, you idiotic raving rabbit! 'Follow me, follow me, I know where I'm going.' You lead us strait into a dead end!"
"Well it's not my fault you didn't kill that thing properly! And don't forget, I'm no bloody rabbit! I'm a hare! Get it right. Besides, I haven't even been this deep into the city before." The hare said in defence.
The dragon growled. "You said you knew where we were going!"
"And you've been holding out on me! Why didn't you just smoke em all with the lightning in the first place?" The hare stabbed back.
The dragon gave an indignant huff. "Well I didn't even know I could do that till five minutes ago! And what about that dynamite? Where was that?"
"Well I didn't have anything to light it with!"
Sparx was the first to tire of the argument. He flew up in between the twos' faces and shouted. "Are you two done yet? Cause I really don't want to be around when they come back!"
The pair were stunned for a moment by the interruption. The white dragon was the first to snap out of it. "My apologies, I got a little… carried away. My thanks for the assistance but if you don't mind me asking; who are you? I mean, you two that is?" He said politely, correcting himself hastily at the end.
"Uh, my name is Spyro… and this is my brother Sparx. Who are you?" He stated hesitantly.
"My name is James." He gestured towards the hare. "And my acquaintance here is Jack, he's an… adventurer, of sorts that is." Will explained, clearly dressing up the hare as something more presentable than who he really was.
The hare stared at William quizzically. "Adventurer?" Will's response was a sharp look telling him to play along. "Right… yeah, I'm Jack. Don't mistake me for a rabbit of I'll box your horns off. I'm a hare." He threatened rather casually.
William cleared his throat again to bring attention back to him. "So, may I inquire to why you decided to assist us, a pair of total strangers?"
Spyro had to think for a moment. He should probably tell the truth but at the same time he knew it would sound kind of creepy to be told he had been sent to find the white dragon because of a vision in a pool of water. In the end however he decided the truth was best. "Actually I was sent to find you, well I didn't know exactly who you were but… it's complicated."
William frowned and tensed up making Spyro uncomfortable. "If you cannot explain the situation easily then you obviously do not understand it very well yourself. You will need to do a bit more convincing to get me to come, unless you plan to take more… drastic action." He said wearily, his gaze focused on Spyro.
Jack taped Will on his forward shoulder and Will leant down to listen more closely but not taking his eyes off of Spyro. Jack began to whisper to him. "James, he's purple. Remember what I said about the prophecy and stuff? They're meant ta be incredibly powerful; you'd not wana to pick a fight with one."
Spyro could not hear the whispers but he could see the effects. William simply grew more cautious, his eyes narrowing. "Well? What say you? What happens now?" He snapped a little more warily.
Spyro had to take a moment to collect his thoughts but did so quickly, delaying would only cause unneeded suspicion between him and the white dragon. "I was sent by the fire Guardian Ignitus to find you. He saw you wondering the city in the pool of visions and was concerned. After all you are a white dragon and you're meant to be powerful. That sort of thing attracts unwanted attention around here, trust me." He said gesturing to one of the apes.
William seemed to relax a little but was still looking at Spyro suspiciously. "So, where is this Guardian? And what's so special about him?"
"Well Ignitus is waiting at the temple for me to return with you and, well… he's a Guardian. It's his job to look after the eggs of our race, along with the other Guardians that is." He explained as best he could. "I think there's more to his job but I don't know all the details."
William still seemed rather disgruntled. "Fine, I'll go with you. It's not like I have any better options right now." He sighed. "Very well, lead the way."
Despite the lack of positive attitude the decision pleased Spyro greatly. "Okay! Follow me…"
"Actually, wait a second." William turned to the hare who was looking around, wondering what to do next. "Hay, Jack! You want to tag along?"
Jack looked quite surprised. "Wh, why?"
Will shrugged. "Well, it sounds like free food and a warm bed; I thought that might at least get your attention. That and I need someone to watch my back if this purple feller and his friends turn out to have less than pure intentions."
Jack grunted. "I'm a hare, I can eat grass all day for free if need t' and I already got a place to sleep. You're going to have to do better than that."
"Right, and you just happen to have a privet express train leading to your nice warm bed that bypasses all the angry apes in the city you just got us lost in? Well good for you!" He pointed out cheerfully as if it were a fact. "But…" He added a little more enticingly, moving closer so Spyro couldn't hear him. "You said this temple was attacked and abandoned right? Judging by how much our purple acquaintance here knows he's only just moved back in, correct? So chances are there are plenty of things lying around people won't have noticed and won't miss because."
Jack began to nod and then smile. "Alright, you've convinced me! Just one problem; I can't fly."
Will furrowed his brow for a moment. He looked down to his back; the bony ridge that ran down his back was fairly flat and blunt so it would be no obstruction to potential passengers. "Well… I suppose I could give you a lift. Hop on then… no pun intended."
Jack stared at him, rather stunned by the proposition. "You, want me, to ride on your back… while you fly?"
William rolled his eyes. "No the idea is you sit there while I dance around and you yodel to your heart's content. Honestly I have no other ideas on my mind as of present especially with an army of apes crawling around." He said in an affirming tone that in no way ravelled the sarcasm behind them if it weren't for the absurd content of the sentence. The strange and questioning looks he received from all made him roll his eyes. "Oh just jump on already!"
Hesitantly Jack did so and took up a comfortable position behind William's serpent-like neck.
Spyro nodded in approval. "Okay, let's go then." The purple dragon turned and took a short running jump into the air, flapping his wings hard to gain altitude.
Will paid close attention to Spyro as he took off, gauging his movements and copying them in his head. He flexed his wings in preparation with a determined face.
Jack seemed to pick up on this. "Hay, uh… something wrong?"
Will twisted his head around so he could look at the hare clinging to his back. "Oh no… it's just, well, the second time I've ever properly flown."
Jack's eyes went wide with surprise. "Wait, say what?"
Will cocked his head to one side in thought. "Thinking about it it's also the first time I've taken flight without already being in a state of free fall, this should be significantly more tricky… well, taking off that is." Will began to charge forward.
"Ah, stop, no I…!" The Hare cried as Will did so.
Jack tried to protest further as Will jumped into the air, vigorously flapping his wings in determination but Jack's voice was lost in to the wind. While excited deep down William was silently begging this would work and he would not be humiliated in the process as his new friend was no doubt was expecting. After a few moments of trying to gain stability William finally managed to level out and start looking a little more dignified, occasionally flapping his wings a couple of times to make sure he continued to gain altitude.
He looked around for Spyro how was circling not far away. He redirected himself and when he was in shouting distance Spyro turned away to lead him towards the Temple.
After a moment William noticed a sobbing noise and looked back to see Jacks panicked face. "Please, I don't want to die on the incompetent flying lizard…" He moaned quietly.
Will narrowed his eyes at the, possibly unintentional, insult. He may be inexperienced but incompetent? He decided to prove the moronic 'rabbit' wrong. Will pulled into a steep dive, levelling and using his momentum to regain some height before begging an erratic but controlled spin. From there he rapidly ascended, the poor hare's claws digging into William's shoulders. He then began to corkscrew down to Spyro's level before straightening out and gliding over to him.
Spyro was looking rather stunned at the aerial acrobatics display. "What was that for?"
Will looked at him rather blankly. "I'm sorry, what was what for?" He said in mock ignorance.
"That, that flying! It was… rather intensive, and… impressive." He admitted.
Will smiled contently at the statement. "Why thank you. As for your question Jack had some misconceptions regarding my aptitude at flying. I simply wished to correct his misinterpretations regarding my ability."
Spyro looked back to the jittery hare clinging to James's back and gave a lopsided smile. "Right…" Something told Spyro this white dragon was going to be a handful to deal with. He appeared to have a vocabulary as wide as Volteer's but fortunately spoke at a pace where it could actually be understood. He clearly had a streak of mischief in him and his sense of humour while subtle was sharp. His accent also made him stand out, clear and crisp yet a little singsongy at the same time. "So, James, where are you from?" Spyro asked, trying to spark up conversation.
His expiration visibly shifted to one of discomfort. "That's… a long story. It's complicated and… I just don't want to get into it right now. How about you though? I thought I heard you say that glowy friend of yours was your brother. Now I'm no biologist but I'm pretty sure reptiles and insects are… incompatible."
The rapid shift of focus unnerved Spyro a little but he decided to play along. "Well I grew up with him; our parents were Dragonflies like him. I even thought I was a Dragonfly to until recently."
"How odd, and you suspected nothing despite the obvious physical differences?" William asked quizzically.
Spyro shrugged. "Not really. The first time I suspected something was when I almost toasted Sparx using my fire breath for the first time."
"That must be an interesting story, have too much to eat one night or where the circumstances more, dire?" Will joked.
It enticed a smile from Spyro. "He was been used as a lantern by an ape, kept throwing dynamite at me."
Sparx finally butted into the conversation. "Hay! That was no laughing matter! First the frogweed, then the monkey that wouldn't stop shaking me then my own brother almost roasts me alive trying to 'save' me." He proclaimed angrily.
Will smirked. "I take it he's always like this?"
"When he's not gloating or insulting you." Spyro affirmed.
William gave him a knowing smile. "I know the feeling; I have a sister and trust me when I say girls are worse."
"Really? Where is she?" Spyro asked.
James became uncomfortable again with the subject shifting to him once more. "She's… at home, and right now home, for me is a long, long way from here."
He ended on a bitter note that deterred Spyro from asking more. The rest of their trip was spent in slightly awkward silence.
Eventually they came to the temple. William was at first only mildly impressed by the structure. Then he took note of the location; how they built such a structure in the middle of a swamp of all places raised a number of questions about how on earth it was built.
Spyro began to come in for a landing; he was still uncomfortable with them and only just avoiding falling head over heels but at the cost of receiving a mouth full of dirt. James's landing appeared to be better coordinated if still a little ruff.
Ignitus was of course there to meet him as was Volteer who was looking as excited as ever. When William landed Jack wasted no time jumping off and putting some distance between himself and the, in his opinion, insane white dragon. Ignitus began looking over the younger dragon and William returned the sentiment, carefully taking in his appearance.
William strode forward confidently towards the two. "I assume you are Ignitus? One of the guardians, correct?" He questioned the red one in an attempt to assert himself. He refused to come off as timid.
"Yes that is correct young one. If I may ask, what is your name?" Ignitus replied warmly. Examining the young one in front of him who, as in his visions appeared a little older than Spyro.
"I go by the name James. I also find myself inclined to ask you what your intentions are in bringing me here." William replied, starting to sound a little edgy.
"Primarily your protection. These are dark times, those who were once a violent minority and a mere annoyance now roam the lands freely, hunting dragons and spreading chaos." He explained grimly.
William nodded. "So I've been told… and experienced."
This unsettled Ignitus. "You have been attacked? When? Where?"
Spyro stepped forward to explain. "When I found them in Warfang they were being attacked by a large group of apes. He and his friend were backed into a corner so I helped them fight the apes off."
Volteer was looking concerned. "It is most disturbing indeed that the apes are daring to venture into the city despite its deserted and decrepit state. Most unsettling indeed, but it is important that we are informed of their movements and that they are beginning to grow bolder in the face of our fall." He blurted out.
William nodded, having grown a little more comfortable in their presents. "Yes, a sentiment I can understand. In times of war information is paramount."
This took Ignitus by surprise. "You are versed in the ways of war? One so young?"
William shrugged. "A little more than most children where I come from; I do my research, of course it also helps that my father is a soldier… well, was really, he's moved on now."
Ignitus nodded in understanding. "That is most interesting. May I ask where you are from? Is there a chance the dragons where you come from could assist us?"
Once again William was made uncomfortable. "I come from a long way away, a very long way away. Even if I knew how to get back there quickly I doubt the people there would be fast to help you. To be frank no one there has heard of you and neither have I before today, I need more information before I act and so would they but they have their own problems as well." In truth there was a higher chance of interference then he let on but most lightly under the incentive of gaining access to the resources of this world. The fact that humans were in fact a form of ape, taxonomically speaking, and the fact he was actually one would put him in hot water.
Volteer moved closer to ignites to have a little more privacy. "This boy speaks with wisdom beyond his apparent age. He is an odd one indeed."
"Yes, but he does not seem to wish to part with information easily. It seems he is slow to trust." Ignitus replied, just loud enough that the others would hear; he did not want to breed unneeded suspicion. He then looked back to James. He was clearly not as willing to trust as Spyro and seemed more mature in attitude so he decided to treat him as such. "You are welcome to take a room in the temple to sleep in and join us in our meals. You are no prisoner so you may leave whenever you like but I would recommend against it, at least for the moment. If you require knowledge or training it is our duty as Guardians to offer our knowledge and experience to the young so feel free to come us for help."
Will nodded his head in appreciation. "I thank you for your hospitality but what of my friend?"
Volteer cocked his head in surprise. "Friend? What friend is this?"
Slowly Jack stepped forward from behind William. "Er… hi. The name's Jack." He said sheepishly to the two ginormous dragons. "And, I'm a hare, not a rabbit. If one more person calls me a rabbit today…" He blurted out. "Rabbits don't even talk or walk on two legs for cryin out loud." He murmured quietly afterwards.
Ignitus looked over the hare carefully. He had a feeling this was a little bit of a shifty individual though was clearly no serious threat. "It is not our way to turn away those in need, but as he is not a dragon he will have limited access to the temple."
"Uh, thanks! I guess." The restriction seemed to annoy Jack a little but not considerably so.
"Spyro? Would you kindly show our guests to a pair of rooms and show them around the temple?" Ignitus asked.
Spyro nodded eagerly. "Sure thing! Come on, follow me!"
William began to stride after the excited young dragon, Jack also in tow. It did not take the long to reach the dormitories.
"So, here we are. You can take any room you like really… except that one! That one's mine." He explained and added hastily pointing to the only one which doors' were ajar.
Will took a few moments to look through each of the rooms. They were mostly the same with a balcony on the opposite wall from the door, a raised platform with a dish in it filled with cautions and a curtain around it that Will assumed was a bed and a dragon sized book case, fire place and desk to the right of the room. It seemed rather luxurious if repetitive.
Spyro watched and began to look a little nervous as James was taking so long to choose a room. "There… is another wing on the other side of the temple if you don't like these… though I think there meant to be for girls. There's also some stuff in storage you could add, I'm sure the Guardians won't mind." He offered.
William settled on a room three doors down from Spyro that had fed curtains and a range of pillows, sheets and blankets. "No thank you. This'll be fine for now."
Jack peeked into the room Will had chosen. "I'll bunk with you." He began to move into the room but a raised white foreleg ending in a claw stopped him.
"One question." William said sternly. "Do you snore?"
"What? No! What do ya take me for? A pansy rabbit!" Jack burst out, apparently offended by the question. Also, he apparently didn't like rabbits.
William lowered his foreleg and simply shrugged.
Jack proceeded to nick a couple of cushions and a blanket from Will's bed/nest and stuffed them into the bottom of the book case then promptly got into the makeshift bed.
"You know, that ain't such a bad idea. I'll go catch forty winks myself. Seen all this before anyway." Sparx said before flying over to Spyro's room and slipping through a large crack above the door.
"So, how about that tour?" Will asked as he shut the door.
"Sure, follow me." He said happily, eagerly trotting off down the hall.
The way William had taught himself to move his new set of feet resulted in considerably less than Spyro's plodding which, in a strange way, amused him. However he noticed that even though his legs were a little longer and he was taking larger strides the way he insisted on moving his feet, heel to tow, actually resulted in him falling behind so he had to do a short sprint every minute or so to keep up. This in turn amused Spyro similarly. After all, why go to so much hassle just so he would not make so much noise?
Despite their shenanigans they soon arrived in the main room where the giant statue stood. "So, this is the training room, you need to come through her to get to most parts of the temple so you'll be seeing it a lot."
Will frowned. "Training room? Are you sure? There's not really enough room in here for that."
"Oh! That's because the stature recedes into the floor." He explained cheerfully.
William's eyes went wide. "You're kidding me. That has to be one hell of a pulley and counter wait system! I need to see down there some time…"
The comment surprised Spyro, he had never really wondered how it worked he was just amazed that it could. Looking back he was surprised he hadn't thought the same thing sooner but still, he had only been here a few days and had other things on his mind. "Well chances are you'll see it soon enough. The Guardians will want to see what you can do… that is, if you're interested in training. You were doing pretty well back there so you may just want to practise."
"You flatter me." William said flatly. "It was my first time in a real fight… the first time I… I…" He stiffened up in discomfort, remembering the empty looks in the eyes of the apes he killed. Yes they made it so it was either them or him but it was still killing.
Spyro grew worried at the sight of the dragon looking into empty space. "Are… are you okay?" He asked tentatively.
Will snapped out of it. "I'm sorry; it's just the first time I've killed… I've been in fights before, one tow to tow with a gang of bullies and who hasn't stepped on the occasional bug? But that, that was something else." He was standing still, properly assimilating the memories for the first time.
Spyro nodded solemnly. "On my first night in the temple it kept me up too. Just, remember, it's not your fault. They came after you." He tried to affirm.
"Came at me? Yes. Not my fault? I suppose that's up for debate, after all, I was stupid enough to step out in front of them while they were threatening someone and crack a witty one liner that was bound to get me in trouble." He said with a sense of grim amusement. "Either way I'm smart enough to understand it isn't something I'm going to get over in one night."
"It's still not your fault. They could have chosen to back off and it sounds like they would have killed that person if you hadn't interrupted." He argued sombrely. "I'm guessing that person was Jack, right?"
They simply sat there awkwardly before Will broke the silence. "Yeah, it was. So… what else is there to this place?"
Spyro was more than a little relieved for the change of topic. "Yeah, of course there is! Come on then." He led him into the next room where a basin of water sat built into the floor. "This is the pool of visions. I'm not completely sure what it does but it allows Ignitus to see… important things."
"Yes, you said Igntus used it to find me? I can't say I enjoy invasion of my privacy much." William commented sharply.
The comment made Spyro aware that James was still suspicious of them. "Well it's not like he can see people at will. It just shows bits and pieces."
Will approached the basin and used a wing to waft air towards him. The action puzzled Spyro but what Will was actually trying to accomplish was detect any strange smells in the air that indicated the presence of a hallucinogenic. Of course he had no idea what a hallucinogenic smelt like or how fast it acted so in retrospect the action was rather foolish.
He shrugged the idea of the impossibility of it being magic off, remembering not more than an hour ago he had shot a bolt of lightning from his mouth. 'That's a point; I thought dragons were only supposed to breath fire.' He thought before once again shrugging the thought off and moving on. "Okay, where next?"
"Well there's the atrium, that's this way…"
Spyro spent much of the few hours showing James around the parts of the temple he knew. James was sceptical at most things he found around the temple, especially the spirit gems though Spyro managed to prove he was speaking the truth by telling him to hold a few of the red ones to heal James's minor wounds.
He became extremely disgruntled at the sight of the 'latrine' and began muttering about grossly primitive pluming. Considering their plumbing system was simply a stream running through part of the temple divided into three parts, drinking, bathing and personal relief in that order, Spyro could not help but admit it was simple but effective even if James didn't think much of it.
There was a large amount of excitement when they found the library which Spyro had not actually seen yet. However that excitement was quickly dashed when he discovered the text was written in a different alphabet to the one he was used to.
"So James, you like reading then?" Spyro asked as William browsed the books almost longingly.
The question held Will in place for a moment before he answered. "Not so much reading but the knowledge gained from doing so. Knowledge is power; with it you can better understand the world around you and you yourself. If you understand yourself and the obstacles you face, be it thinking enemies or your environment, you can overcome them all the easier."
Spyro gave a quizzical smile. "How old are you?"
Will paused again, this time out of tame suspicion. "Fourteen. Why do you ask?"
Spyro shrugged. "With the things you say I half expected you to say you were forty, not fourteen."
William chuckled at the small joke. "Yes, I do sound rather cryptic don't I? For the reason I refer you back to my previous statement. Through information passed down, by whatever means, I can better understand situations that have occurred before, the thoughts, feelings and emotions of those who triumphed or failed and from this information better understand my own obstacles and make better my own attempts. I can learn without having to experience failure; a smart man learns from his mistakes and a wise man learns from other peoples'. Following through?"
Spyro nodded slowly. "Yeah, more or less… but you still have to experience some things for yourself. You can't learn everything from books."
Will shrugged. "Perhaps. Books are a flawed method of communication so until we find a better way we'll just have to make do. So, where to next?"
"Uh… there's the gardens but there pretty much overrun in more ways than one. So I think that's it." A peaked out a nearby window and saw dusk was upon them. "It's getting dark to."
William followed his gaze to the window and saw that the sun was indeed near setting. "Yes, we should probably retire for the night." Then a deep growl interrupted them. However this growl came from no monster or approaching enemy… but rather William's stomach. He shifted nervously. "On second though I haven't eaten since yesterday morning."
"Okay, the kitchens are this way. I could use something to eat myself." And so they began making their way to the kitchens.
As they travelled Spyro began to review his thoughts on the white dragon next to him. He had a confident air about him, very sure of himself almost to the point of being arrogant. He also spoke like an adult; speaking with well thought out sentences, usually pausing before he spoke and often using irritatingly foreign words that he had only heard out of Volteer until now. Then there was his history; every time he had tried to bring it up he grew uncomfortable and brushed the subject aside, evading it completely. 'Obviously he's hiding something but what? And is it dangerous? Or perhaps there's some memory haunting him?
'Could he be aligned with Cynder and her forces? But then surely he would have thought of a good alibi to cover himself.
'Was he from some distant refuge of dragons that didn't want to be found? But then why was he here?
'Could he have some sort of traumatic past that he would prefer hidden? But he certainly seemed fine being as confident as he was.'
However Spyro's train of thought was soon lost when they reached the kitchens.
"So, what would you like? Bore? Chicken, pheasant?" He asked as he opened the cold room.
William thought for a moment. "Do you have any venison?"
"Huh?" Spyro tilted his head in confusion.
Will rolled his eyes. "Deer." He clarified.
"Oh yeah! We have plenty of that." He soon emerged with a pair of large chunks of meet, the venison for James and some boar for himself.
William felt an uneasy feeling wash over him as the meat slapped to the floor in front of him. He knew for a fact that a human's apparent inability to eat raw meat was slightly exaggerated; as long as it was fresh it was largely alright but to eat possibly days old meat off the floor? He turned to see Spyro holding his slab of meet and tearing away at it with his maw. It reminded Will that he wasn't exactly a human right now.
Unfortunately the hesitation was spotted by Spyro. "Don't tell me you've changed your mind?" He joked.
Will shook his head. "No, it's just… I don't often eat meat raw. Or off the floor." He felt a little snobbish saying it out loud the way he did but settled down to eat the meat anyway.
Carefully he tore away a strip of the venison. Almost agonisingly slowly he slipped it into his mouth. It was strange, cold, soft and slightly slimy but at the same time it tasted quite good. He would have preferred it warm but decided food was food and let the juicy raw meat slide down his gullet.
Spyro watched out of the corner of his eye as James continued to tear off small strips of meat with his claws. He did it so carefully it seemed as if he were doing something far more delicate then eating. It seemed rather un-dragon like but he reminded himself that James was from a long distance away so where ever he came from they probably had radically different customs. That and to be honest he had only met three dragons in total, four if he counted seeing Cynder once.
Soon they finished and began to make their way back to their dorms. As they walked William asked a number of questions on the topic of general information regarding the temple and surrounding lands. There were also a number of personal questions though William was careful not to be too intrusive.
They stopped by his door. "Well, it has been a pleasure talking with you Spyro. I look forward to making more conversation."
Spyro smiled politely. "Yeah, it's been good. See you in the morning."
William gave a friendly nod. "Indeed. Sleep well." He turned and continued on to his own room.
Spyro stared at him for a few moments before continuing into his room where Sparx was soundly sleeping. In the middle of his nest. Carefully Spyro picked up the cushion he was sleeping on and swapped it for one of the ones nearer the edge. He allowed himself a smug smile at getting one over on his brother before collapsing in the middle of his nest of cushions.
As soon as he did there was a knock on the door and he rolled his eyes at the typical situation. Reluctantly he got up and walked back over to the door. Opening it he was surprised to see a large red dragon who was obviously better at moving quietly then his size indicated.
"Ignitus." He greeted, a little surprise seeping into his expressions.
"Spyro. May I come in?" He asked curtly.
Spyro nodded. "Yeah, sure. Come in." He made way for the much larger dragon.
When they were both inside and settled Ignitus began to speak. "So, what can you tell me about our guest? Do you know where he is from yet?"
Spyro shook his head. "I'm afraid not. He's avoiding talking about it but I just can't figure out why."
Ignitus nodded sternly. "We all have secrets Spyro. You would have to live a pitifully short or dull life not to accumulate a few important ones. What else can you tell me about him though?"
Spyro thought for a moment. "Well, James was very interested in the library but he said he couldn't read the books, it's a different language then what he's used to. He's also quite surprised at a lot of things like the spirit gems; he didn't think something like that was possible. I had to show him to get him to believe they were more than just crystals. He also knew nothing about the war or even that much about dragons." He said voicing his surprise.
Ignitus nodded in affirmation of assimilating the knowledge. "Curious. He must have come from somewhere isolated from the rest of the dragon race not to know of such things. You say he is eager to learn?"
"Yes… but I think he was more interested in learning from the books. He's not fast to trust and I think that includes Elders." He admitted hesitantly.
He pondered the idea. "Strange… but understandable, some Elders have abused their positions before. Is that all?"
Spyro thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes Ignitus, that's all."
"Good, good. Now get some rest young Spyro, I have a feeling you will be needed in the morning." With that he turned and left the purple dragon to get some rest.
In his new room William settled into his new bed, nest or whatever it was supposed to be called. Either way it was more comfortable than what he had used the previous night. A warm comfortable bed was in his view one of the necessities of civilised life. As he began to rest he began to review the day's events as he did the previous evening.
So far he had not yet accumulated enough information on Ignitus or Volteer to accurately judge their character aside from the latter being a thesaurus devouring motor mouth.
Spyro on the other hand, he had plenty of interactions with him on the tour. Polite, mild mannered, friendly, trusting all while obviously a capable fighter. The only thing that unsettled Will was he seemed… simple, naïve in a way. After all, Spyro was obviously just a kid… but so was he. Spyro was right, there are some things you can't teach and true wisdom was one of them. All of his was borrowed be it the direct quotes or rewording of great minds he was still just borrowing it. William had no idea how he would survive his time here and what his disappearance would put his family through. Silently he began to sob and wine quietly, in a manner that was unfamiliar to him, out of a building despair. He could handle being alone, he had been most of his life but his family? Not knowing where he was or how they could get to him? Contact him? He was cut off.
He turned his attention to the invisible amulet hanging around his neck in a feeble attempt to distract himself. The markings around it bore no resemblance to the alphabet he had seen in the library. He briefly considered removing it but a glimpse of Jack sleeping in the book case deterred him. While many from his world would have considered his current form that of a monster ironically the people here would probably see his original form as that of a monster due to his resemblance to an ape. For now he would have to bend the truth.
Slowly he curled up and eventually fell asleep.
Well, that's the second chapter all wrapped up. I hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I did righting it. So, tell me what you think, I'm eager to know how I'm doing.
This story has been edited on the 20/04/2012 just so you know. All changes are minor in nature so no worries if you've read this before.