A/N: FINALLY I got it done! I lost the chapter twice, and I had a HUGE amount of schoolwork to do, but I got it done! FYI, I plan to start another fanfic named... Well I don't know yet, but another Spyro themed one will show up. Don't worry, I will still work on this one, I'm just trying to appeal to my creative interest in equal amounts, whatever that means. I planned from the start to have on fanfic with the main character having most of the control in the story (ie: this one), and another where he had no control whatsoever. Summer is coming up, and I will be writing far more more it rolls around. I hope you all enjoy the second chapter! See ya, guys!
Chapter 2:
An Evening Disturbance
"Again, Thank you for being such a kind dragon as to let me stay here," the human said to Terrador. Terrador responded gently, "Well, I hope that we have all that you need. I worry, due to the fact that your culture may be different from ours, and not to mention physical differences, thus different necessities". The human chuckled a bit, then responded, "I am cultureless. I enjoy experiencing different cultures, though. We will be fine. And, on the subject of 'different necessities', I can make do if it really comes to it. Well, other than clothes". Terrador quickly smothered his guest's uncertainty by saying, "I will have clothes made for you if you need them.
The two walked through the halls of the Temple, Terrador ahead of the human, guiding him to the room he would be staying in, and mentioning where other places were on the way, such as the baths, the bathrooms, where he could clean laundry, and where meals would be served. Once they arrived at the door of the room that the human presumed he was staying in, Terrador turned to him and spoke.
"This is one of the rooms that was added when we rebuilt the Temple. They were going to be used as Dormitories for any students we would have, as we also added various schooling related rooms, but I think one of these rooms will do you well, since the school isn't open yet, and they should already have most of the things you would need".
The human replied, "Again, Thank you".
Terrador responded deeply, "It's only what any guest should be provided. If there was more we could provide, we will try".
"Please, do not bother yourselves. Your hospitality is already good enough," the hunan said.
Terrador dipped his head, but only slightly. "We shall prepare dinner for you and the rest of our guests. Meet us in the dining hall when you are ready".
The human looked confused. "Wait, other guests? There are other guests here?"
"Yes. We invited a few of the competitors to the dinner as well, so when we talk, there will be more dragons there to give imput". Terrador said.
"It sounds like you trying to build a criminal case around me," the human chuckled. Terrador seemed distraught.
"I am sorry if that is what you think. We aren't trying to find you guilty, we just want make sure you're safe to have around here," said Terrador.
"I understand. I am going to get settled in and probably get clean. I'll see you at dinner," the human said.
"You too, human. I hope you enjoy the room." Terrador said. Then he turned around and headed into the tangle of halls.
The human turned to the door, and then pried the doors open. Normally, it would open through the use of elements on it, but seeing his incapability to do so, he pried it open with his hands. Don't worry, it was Terrador that told him to do it anyway. He said this shouldn't damage the doors.
The doors were surprisingly light, and the human quickly pulled the two doors apart. When he looked into the room, it was quiet and interestingly dull. It had the simple necessities of life for a dragon, but they were still only daily necessities. The corner had a nest, rather large, but understandable for the size of some dragons. Despite being nests, they were furnished, padded with various materials, making the setup far more appealing than a nest such as that of a bird. All he would need was a pillow.
The rest of the room was small and somewhat empty. The things that were in the room included empty, dusty shelves, the nest in the corner, and a few other things, such as a primitive larder. After that, there wasn't really much else.
He settled in the nest and rested. For nearly an hour. Then, he flung himself into getting things ready. He left to get the items he would need to clean his clothes, but took off his armor and stored it in the room before he did so. Then, after thoroughly cleaning and scrubbing his clothes, he set them to dry, while he wrapped himself in a towel, for modesty, and then went to bathe.
The baths were strange and unusual, but they had a sense of cultured quiet around them. They resembled deep grottoes, the types of which receive little to no sunlight. The only source of light was the candles, which marked the entrance and exit, and which signified where to find cleansing paraphernalia.
As he eased himself into the water, it was surprisingly warm, almost hot. It was very soothing, and as he leaned back and let himself drift, he seemed to float deeper, further and further away from the exit. He even began to worry how deep and large the bath was, that he might never be able to get out. However, his head hit a wall nearly 20 feet from the exit, and as he stood, his toes quickly found the bottom of the bath, though the water reached his upper chest.
After finishing his bath, he emerged from the water and dried himself with a towel from a rack next to the door, then put on his now clean clothes, and exited the room. He was headed towards the dinning hall.
...
The door to the dinning hall loomed over the human. He had finally found the hall after going down countless wrong and odd corridors. Why did one just lead to a sixty-foot cliff? Do dragons go snowboarding on rock cliffs? Either way, he finally found what he was looking for, and it was rather beautiful. The door was gilded with gold and adorned with various items of great rarity.
He rapped on the door. The hushed sound of conversation quieted a little bit, but remained. The door slightly rattled as an element was utilized on it. It then creaked open, revealing Terrador and an assorted group of dragons, including the Guardians, Spyro, Cynder, Glacia, and a few others, plus a cute little hatchling on Cynder's shoulders. They all welcomed him, and he was swept into the merriment and chit-chat of the occasion, but he still wondered why the hatchling was here, and whose was it? Cynder's?
He was going to pose the question to Terrador when a dark blue drake walked up to him and "introduced" himself with a strange germanic yankee accent.
"You're the human, right? I am Kriesh, Glacia's father." He pushed forward a claw. The human grabbed it and awkwardly shook it. "I am the human; you are correct." The human spoke little more, as he was distracted by the hatchling. It was, by far one of the cutest and most heartwarming creature he had ever seen.
The human saw Cynder pick up the hatchling from the scruff of the neck when it tried to escape, and she plopped it on her shoulders again. The hatchling gripped and struggled into a more comfortable position, then nuzzled their now obvious mother and promptly fell asleep. Spyro then came up and nuzzled the hatchling, then Cynder.
"Your a quiet one, aren't you?" Kriesh asked the human. The human responded, "Ya. I guess so." For some reason, he now felt rather empty. It felt like hunger. Luckily, the Guardians had just came in. Hopefully, they would say the food was ready.
"Welcome! The food is ready! Come, and we shall feast!" said Terrador in a voice reminiscent of a sports announcer. Far too jovial.
The human speedily walked to the food, weaving around the smaller dragons and struggling to force himself through the wall of the Guardians. The dragons were taken slightly aback by the humans actions, but they quickly forgot when the human grabbed a plate and quickly, but not messily, stacked a mountain of meat, breads, pastries, vegetables, and other foods onto the plate, and quickly sat at the table, and began to consume the enormous mountain of food. Luckily, the dragons set up silverware next to each plate. Wait, what?
As the dragons filed in and filled their dishes, the human was, through spouts of stuffing his face, able to see each dragon as they came. First was the guests. Glacia, along with her parents, and a rather unwilling and lonely Ikcebus. Then Spyro, Cynder, and their evident hatchling, who clinged to Cynder's back as it was jostled around. Then The Guardians, or at least the ones that remained, moved into the room and all piled plates at least as high as the human's, if not higher. Cyril had a little less than Terrador and Volteer, though. Whether this was intentional or not, the human knew not.
He was able to notice more now than he had been when he was hungry. Only now he noticed that Spyro had more features on his body, especially the face, and that he was almost as tall as the human, and nearly two-and-a-half times as long. Yellow frill patches showed on Spyro's muzzle, not unlike a beard, while a few, smaller sets of horns were set near his original horns. Cynder was similar in size, but she had little features but somewhat lengthy horns and a few dorsal spikes on her upper neck. The hatchling was just plain cute. The body shape suggested a male. His scales where a black, but would shine purple if the light shone properly on them. He had inherited a combination if his father's horns and his mother's smaller horns. The ventral scales shone a pale ivory, along with his claws, horns, and other details. His wings had a leathery interior of light yellow, and his tail tuft was a bladed spade-like shape.
Suddenly, the humans concentration was obliterated as a yellow whelp charged in, unleashing a large but low-voltage electric burst around his body. Luckily, no one was nearby.
After the crowd calmed and the culprit became evident, Volteer boomed, "Jeschik! How dare you act so vilely as to interrupt a banquet, especially with guests!" The smaller yellow dragon shrunk to the ground, ashamed. Jeschik attempted to explain himself in a shrill, young voice as three other whelps entered the room. One a dark ash red, another a light grass green, and the last a pale blizzard blue.
"I'm sorry, sir, I just heard about a creature hurting someone in the arena. I just wanted to know whether everyone was okay." Jeschik whimpered.
"It's true, Volteer. We all wanted to make sure you all were safe." The red whelp said. Terrador said, strictly and harshly, "Ignath, this is none of your concern. The problem is what Jeschik has done and he, alone, must speak for his actions." He moved towards the group, and they all shrunk to the ground. "Whether your intentions were in our best interest, all of us Guardians have taught you one thing. What is the rule we made you all swear when you became our apprentices?"
The whelps responded in unison, "Combat is the last solution. Life is the precedent."
"Good. You all remember." Terrador chuckled. Cyril moved forwards as the whelps eased themselves up slowly, Jeschik and the others still shaking slightly. "You all are dismissed. Go home to your families and we will deal with any important issues." He said.
"Yes, Sir." the whelps mumbled. They turned, heads down, and slowly walked out of the room.
A rather short time passed in silence. No one spoke. Then Terrador cracked the ice by turning to the human and saying, "I apologize for the bad behavior of the whelps you just saw."
The human waved a hand. "No, don't apologize. Their kids. They don't know who I am, and they don't know any better." he said. He was, surprisingly, sitting calmly, rather than stuffing his face, or talking about the situation to others.
The human then, after a period of quiet, asked, "Who are they? I mean, what are they here for?"
Terrador smiled. "They are the apprentices of the Guardians. They will replace us as we go. The yellow one was Jeschik, if you didn't already overhear that. The blue one is-" He was cut off by Cyril. "Chryvha. Thats her name." His face turned red of embarrassment. Terrador continued. "The green one is Daggen. And the red is Ignath." Terrador's voice then dropped lower. "Ignath has been, by far, the hardest to tutor, since we no longer have a Fire Guardian among us." His voice was solemn at the end, and Spyro's expression turned grimmer as he hung his head down.
The human said quietly. "I'm sorry for your loss, but the universe marches on, whether you follow it or not." The rest of the dragons looked at him. The guests worried that he would be slapped, hit, or imprisoned, or at least given a lengthy harangue by Terrador and the other Guardians. However, these expectations never came to fruition.
Terrador looked at the human and said, "You speak words of great wisdom, far beyond what your body would display. I agree with you. We must remember the past and those who have sacrificed themselves, but we must move on and be happy. We set up a banquet. We shouldn't ignore that! We will feast!" The dragons gave a light cheer, and they all got to eating. The human assumed he too could eat, and he was right, but only for about three minutes.
Next to him, on his left, sat Glacia and her parents, while on the right sat Spyro, Cynder, and the Hatchling. Across from him sat the Guardians. Cyril took to speaking with the main guest.
"I do hope the traditional foods we have offered you are enjoyable." He said.
The human set his food down and said, "This food is great!" Cyril was pleased with this and said with an earnest smile, "Great!" The human then began to speak before much else could be said. "I know this sounds completely idiotic, but what is this?" The human motioned to a collection of pasty white and blue delicacies.
Cyril answered his questions, then more were asked from both sides. Pleasantries abound in their joyous discussions, and both learned much about each others culture and attitudes. Cyril was by far the most annoying the human in the end, but he was still bearable, while Terrador was his favorite, as they both shared traits and attitudes on the world.
As time progressed, the human, though still thoroughly enjoying himself, became tired and a bit tense. He stated that he was sorry for his shift in attitude, but he sensed something that was both confusing and slightly frightening to him. However, he didn't really specify what it was exactly.
The room quieted slightly as the human said, " Okay, THAT isn't normal!" His face contorted in confusion.
With a burst of greenish-gray ethereal smoke and a coagulation of whispered obscenities, a faintly shimmering form emerged from the air adjacent to the table.
The human quickly shot up from his chair, pushing the table slightly, and approached the figure cautiously. The creature was revealed to be a form of specter or wraith. Whispers seemed to emanate from the diabolical creature.
It began to speak, sounding as if it spoke with a hybrid voice of nearly ten-thousand.
"You are a trespasser upon my master's lands." It motioned towards the human. The human instantly turned a slight red in the skin.
"HIS lands?! You master should watch his dirty mouth, 'cause this land is not fucking his." The human's rage boiled. The specter was caught off-guard when the human gripped it's throat.
The creature struggled helplessly against the human's death grip. It then began to attempt retaliation with it's own hands, and the two began brawling.
Dragons were out of their seats, but not moving, as they knew not what to do to help. The human ended up regaining control over the specter, and he threw it onto the table. Food and plates, and drinks all fell to the ground, and the dragons, including Kriesh, struggled to get away from the specter as it thrashed about and began to shred apart. The noises it made were akin to a mix between a pig and a dragon roar. It was completely vile and nearly every dragon there tried to close their ears,
The human leaned in towards the specter, and a few flashes, bright enough to be the sun, flared in between the human and the specter. More pieces of the specter flew away, dissolving and distorting into dust, and then into nothing. The sounds came to a halt.
The dragons stared at him, wondering how he had accomplished it. Killing a specter is hard, even to dragons. How had this creature just done it like it was no challenge at all? And who created this specter? They are extremely hard to create, so who made it? Spyro, Cynder, and the rest of the group showed this same curiosity in each other's eyes.
"How did you do that?" Spyro asked, dumbfounded.
The human just moved over to his seat, sat down, and then said, "You want to know? Well make your selves comfortable, because this is going to take a long time."