Chapter Fourteen: Ugly Blood

(Eight days prior to Spyro's death)

"I feel a presence coming from Warfang, one of which brings great power," Draikor thought as he flew high above the clouds, away from the civilized land below. "It hungers for revenge for a purple dragon, Spyro; the purple pest who was in the court room during my trial; the one who killed my idol five months ago, Malefor." The voices grew stronger as Draikor landed just outside the city of Warfang's walls, out of anyone's vision as he heard the cries of the demon which was encased in crystal.

"Drai-i-iko-o-or, you've heard my vo-o-oice," said the demon as Draikor kept morphing his color of the background as he crept into the city. "I hold a great deal of knowledge and power beyond your imagination, a gift which Spyro had given up before he could embrace me as a whole. Release me, that way you and I can create glorious carnage throughout the land. I'm in the back part of the temple, free-e-e-e me-e-e from this priso-o-on."

"I want the power, I deserve the power!" Draikor thought as he slipped into the shadows behind the temple, drawing closer towards the voice's source.

"They stopped… the voices stopped." Spyro said as he shook from his sleep, noticing that Cynder was still asleep. Every joint in his body ached as a side effect from the separation which happened to him the day before yesterday as Spyro yawned in drowsiness and pain.

"I'll just leave her a note to let her know I'll be away for a little while." Spyro thought as he wrote the following on a small piece of blank paper: I'll return soon, went to Warfang while you were sleeping. Love from Spyro.

The early morning sunlight caused his scales to glisten with a brilliant display of bright purple as Spyro painfully opened his wings and set off towards Warfang.

"Spyro, you awake honey?" Cynder asked as she freshly awakened from her sleep and found Spyro's note.

"I hope he doesn't mind if I sleep for a while longer." Cynder thought as she yawned, feeling like she was sucked dry of energy.

"The crystal, it's been broken!" Volteer said as he grew worried of the carnage that could be done with the demon on the loose.

"Many witnesses say it was Draikor, we have confirmed sightings that t was him who broke the demon free," Volteer said as he re-laid the information of what he knew of. "He had a strange black aura with him and for what we know, he was attracted to it."

"It needs a new host full of rage and anger to fulfill its needs," Cyril said as he read a description about demons in a large, tattered book. "In order for a demon to grow powerful and ongoing, one soul who fits the demon's aspects shall go on to be the persistent host."

"Draikor is a murderous maniac who would stop at nothing to quench his needs." Terrador said as he saw Spyro's figure fly through and into the Dragon Study from the balcony.

"The voices from that demon have been tearing through my mind ever since we separated it from my until this morning, what's going on with this?" Spyro demanded an answer as Terrador recited the information.

"I know this comes at a shock but we should have no problem in tracking him down." Volteer said as Spyro paced back and forth in the room.

"Where did he last leave off to?" Spyro said in a panicked tone as his heart felt like a wagon wheel beating inside of his chest.

"He was last seen heading toward the Valley of Avalar, where is Cynder at the moment?" Cyril asked, now beginning to feel the same as Spyro felt.

"She's back in-," Spyro froze cold, unknowing what to say as he dove from the balcony. "She's still at the cave sleeping, I got to go!"

"This is not good," Hunter said as he entered the Dragon Study. "I overheard you talking; I must warn Prowlus in our village of this evil." Hunter turned and headed back down the spiraling stairs.

"This is chaos," Cyril said as he shelved the books which he was studying. "With those two combined, Zpharah and Draikor, they could unleash a powerful new evil."

"Any examples you can give by chance?" Terrador asked as he thought about the danger beforehand.

"He could cause a new war if he could come up with a way, create a lethal disease with the knowledge that demon can give, he could possibly enslave others to do his own bidding as far as I know." Volteer said as he looked towards the other two Guardians.

"Spyro does, but there is a problem with that matter," Cyril said as he stood from his desk. "He has a great amount of Convexity built up inside of him which he doesn't know of, the demon made sure of this. A buildup such as this could turn explosive and not be controllable if Spyro isn't mentally ready. Ever since he unleashed a Convexital energy wave to cleanse this land not too long ago, he used up so much energy that he literally deprived himself into a state of restriction. He has all this time to build up that power… I don't know if he's ready for that type of energy burst.

"If something dramatic was to unfold in front of him, wouldn't that trigger a premature reaction to Convexity?" Terrador said as he looked over towards Volteer and Cyril.

"Well… if a death of a loved one or someone else who was close to him or anything serious to the extreme would cause him serious emotional pain… thus leading to a sort of Convexital rage." Cyril said, everyone froze in the room as they looked out towards the horizon in which Spyro had flown towards.

"Draikor, the one who everyone fears, is this correct?" Zpharah asked as the black aura formed a somewhat dragon shape as Draikor walked around his a circle with the demon in front of him.

"Yes, the new terror of the skies." Draikor said with a sickening smirk.

"I can sense a lot of blood on your soul… you like to kill for joy don't you?" Zpharah said, growing more interested in Draikor as he kept his glowing red "eyes" fixated on Draikor's cold silver-blue eyes.

"It's all I have to do… it proves my dominance… I show the world that I am the highest among the food chain." Draikor said as he licked his lips over the thought of blood.

"Spyro… the purple pest whom insulted you at your trial… there is another reason why you want him dead is there not?" Zpharah said as he observed Draikor's black and grey body.

"He killed my idol… Malefor… Spyro killed the idol that had a vision of a world where the murderers of the world had a place in society… Me. I've always been an outcast… I want Spyro dead because he is the leader of this trend of life." Draikor said as he stopped walking.

"I know how to ruin him, but first, are you interested?" Zpharah asked as he faced Draikor, hoping for a solid answer with no questions asked.

"Yes." Draikor said as he stared with no emotion shown across his face.

"I possess information not only about Spyro and his life, but also life during the war in which demons wanted to tear the first purple dragon, Cripyro, limb from limb." Zpharah said as Draikor's deathly smile crept across his face again.

"I want the power… I want to kill Spyro and drink his blood for the entire world to see!" Draikor said as Zpharah slithered towards Draikor.

"Then hold out your hand and take me, together we will rip this world into a new domain of death and violence in which Malefor once envisioned!" Zpharah said as Draikor grasped the demon's hand. The demon seemed to slither under Draikor's scales as he roared in pleasure of the power brought by the demon as his body erupted in a black coated aura which pulsated over his body while his eyes shown a menacing, blood glowing red.

"We are one… we are powerful… we are whole!" Draikor's voice was rambled and ragged as he spoke. The grass around his feet seemed to wilt in despair as Draikor looked towards the direction of Spyro and Cynder's cave, knowing what we must do next as he took flight in that direction.

Every muscle in his body ached like a thousand needles breaking his flesh as Spyro's tense body pushed onward against the wind as the day began to slip into night.

"She's with u-u-us now Spyro-o-o." Zpharah taunted in Spyro's mind as he tried to push the voice from his head.

"Shut up for the last time, leave me alone!" Spyro roared as he landed at the entranced of his and Cynder's cave. The boulder was pushed abruptly as if it had been thrown as Spyro entered the cave, horrified by the damage done to their home.

"We warned you, now she pays for your mistake!" Spyro thought he was beginning to lose his grip on reality as Zpharah laughed as he faded from Spyro's mind. Broken glass from vases and mirrors littered the floor while flowers and furniture was scattered among the floor as Spyro's eyes fell upon the note which Spyro wrote Cynder earlier that morning.

Something else was written on the back of the piece of paper as Spyro read out loud the following:

This is written in Cynder's blood.

She cried out in pain as I used her tail blade to make her bleed.

Come find us.

I fear it will be to late however.

In your wife's blood,

Draikor.

"I'm going to kill you Draikor." Spyro said as he clinched his teeth together extremely hard in anger, feeling the boiling of his blood surface as he charged through the mess surrounding his feet and out into the night air. Spyro knew Hunter would have a better understanding of the environment and tracking as Spyro held in his anger for Draikor.