Chapter Five: Convex through Convexity
(Seventeen days prior to Spyro's death)
Sweat of even proportions trickled from his body as fear began to pour into his mind into a mixture of uncertainty as Spyro made his way through the darkened trees and shrubs of the Shadow Forest. The surrounding landscape seemed like hidden creatures as Spyro was constantly threatened by the occasional boulder blocking his path or an occasional thorn bush which protruded poisonous neurotoxins that could kill approximately ten dragons with a single drop from the vile plants.
"This keeps getting more dangerous every time we cross a new trail," Spyro thought as he watched his father's spirit pas harmlessly through multiple barriers and obstructions such as the poisonous shrubs or trees which Spyro had to maneuver around. "I have a feeling however that this will be the last session of training." The constant palpitation of his heart ringing in his ears reminded him of the unearthly creature which lurked in the shadows for some odd reason as he continued to push on.
"Not far now my son, you have passed your stamina training to doubt," Malefor said as he looked back behind himself to observe his son climbing over a small boulder. "This final test will show me your true power." Suddenly, Malefor stopped again among a much larger open area which was patrolled by Hero Orcs and Trolls.
"I can't take them all on!" Spyro said as he stared among the seemingly large amount of enemies.
"Patience is the key to success," Malefor said as he pointed to the three largest Trolls. "Those three Trolls should be your first targets, then the rest will follow, I would rather have you use stealth to finish the Trolls off. No go; show me your true power." As Malefor disappeared, Spyro looked over the enemy mob.
"I need to go for the back of the head of those Trolls with an Ice Missile or two," Spyro thought out loud to himself. "Then use my earth element to form a barrier around the Hero Orcs which will come running for sure. Next should be a breeze, use a quick dash of lightning strikes to finish off any remaining Trolls that might have proved lucky to escape death the first time. And finally, a burst of fire to incinerate the rest with a few melee moves as well, just in case they get to close." Spyro couldn't keep from looking behind his back as he crept through the forest surroundings, trying to be silent like an ant as he neared the horde of enemies.
"Remember to focus on the largest enemies first; the loss of them can damage the moral and fighting ability of the smaller soldiers accompanying them." Malefor's voice hummed in Spyro's mind as Spyro neared the largest Troll.
"Aim for the base of the spine below the head." Spyro said as he focused his ice element to form three icicles from the ground directly behind the Trolls. With a quick twist of his hands, Spyro caused the three icicles to break from the ground and shoot straight towards the Trolls like a missile.
The sudden mortal wounds done to the massive beasts caused them to fall towards the forest floor, dead from shock and spinal injury. The sudden sound from the fall of the Trolls caused most of the Hero Orcs to be alerted, just as Spyro had hoped. As most of the Hero Orcs quickly drew near the Trolls, Spyro slammed his front paws on the ground while focusing his earth element, causing a large barrier to divide the large Hero Orc pack in half.
"What is this?" A Hero Orc asked in its native tongue as Spyro jumped from cover and into the clearing.
"Your worst nightmare," Spyro said as he used a lightning strike from his mouth to rip away the Hero Orcs climbing in from the outside area of the barrier. "Not come on and fight!" Spyro charged with his horns down to spear the largest Hero Orc while using his tail to whip away the other Hero Orcs while waiting to use his flame breath. As Spyro felt his horns drive deep into the Hero Orc's, he turned his attention to the Hero Orcs behind him, attacking with his flame breath followed with a Comet Dash into the dying Hero Orc.
"Focus your earth element; close the barrier around the Hero Orcs inside!" Spyro thought as he gripped his paws onto the earth bound barrier and began to push down, causing the barrier to close around and over the remaining Hero Orcs, killing them as their lives were crushed from their evil bodies.
"You killed my comrades, now you die!" Spyro turned to see the Hero Orc which was inflicted with fatal horn wounds to his chest.
"Thought I already took care of you, doesn't matter though, you're finished." Spyro allowed the Hero Orc to charge blindly at the purple dragon, sword drawn to its side as Spyro opened his mouth and breathed a chilling ice breath based attack. The Hero Orc was helplessly frozen in ice as Spyro ran his right index claw around the ice figure.
"You see, it is very simple to understand how and why I killed your comrades," Spyro kept digging his claws deeper into the ice figure, creating a fine scrape line around the figure's torso. "I am a purple dragon whom prophesies foretold to be the mark of freedom from darkness. I am the one who defeat Malefor twice and have lived to know the feeling of death. In short, I cannot be stopped!" Spyro then blindly slammed his right fist with great force into the ice figure, smashing it into pieces as Spyro had no idea what had just happened.
"Very good my son," Malefor said as he reappeared before Spyro and the shattered pieces of ice debris. "You never cease to amaze me yet."
"That was not me just now...," Spyro said as he regained his thoughts. "That was something else controlling me… the demon perhaps?"
"I know of your possession, you handled yourself well for what little knowledge you know of the fact." Malefor said as Spyro shook himself from that matter.
"I don't understand how all of this was suppose to help me understand my elements which I already know well enough of?" Spyro asked as Malefor smiled to Spyro's eagerness to learning.
"You didn't know about the size factor when it came to stealth," Malefor said with a soft chuckle. "All you use to do was react from instinct and impulse."
"It's saved me countless times in the past." Spyro said as he tried to defend his ways of fighting.
"Think of how much trouble you could have saved yourself and Cynder over the years, all because of size." Spyro said, shattering Spyro's defense and somewhat, his pride.
"Is there anything else I need to learn?" Spyro asked as he began to wonder when his training will end.
"There is one other thing," Malefor said, Spyro turned to face his father's spirit once more. "You can use Convexity inside of you to create a sort of map of your surroundings. Just focus your sight and energy around you." Spyro did so and was surprised how his surroundings were filled with a whole new perspective with different densities of purple and white.
"The brighter the purple, the closer your proximity is with an object." Malefor concluded as Spyro observed his surroundings.
"I never knew of this power," Spyro said as he broke his concentration from his vision and turned towards his father. "Why are you showing me this power?"
"Because on of the creatures you will face lurks in the shadows," Malefor said as he began to vanish. "Now go my son, finish what you've started. I will always be here if you need me in time."
Suddenly, Spyro felt as though a draft was lifting him from the ground. Spyro looked down and noticed that he was indeed being lifted from the ground and was being carried over the forest and placed next to Hunter gently.
"I feared I had lost you in there, who was your spirit advisor?" Hunter asked who seemed very eager to know.
"My father Malefor," Spyro said as he looked to the skies. "How long was I in there?"
"A whole day and a half I'm afraid." Hunter said while Spyro looked at the orange and purple colors among the skies as they seemed to blend together like water colors.
"Then we must depart now," Spyro said firmly. "I'll fly into the next night to make up lost time." Hunter agreed as the two took to the skies.
"My spirit advisor was my father," Hunter said as Spyro pushed on through the near dusk sky. "He guided me through the ways of the Cheetah warrior. "He was taken by Gaul when he was just beginning to take in the Dark Magic power… he murdered him when he refused to give away the location of our humble Cheetah village."
"I'm sorry Hunter for your loss… you've never talked about your father before." Spyro said in response as the two looked towards the setting sun.
"I choose not to mention anything about myself personally, only to those I care about and trust with my life." Hunter's words sunk into Spyro's head as the two continued their journey.