Legend of Spyro: Stormfront
Chapter 15
Spyro positioned his satchel on his side with the help of Cynder. They were filled with a few necessary supplies, and a few crystals just in case, and a few other items for travel. As far as the Guardians knew, they were going on a trip to see Spyro's parents and that was all. Spyro and Cynder felt that it wasn't quite worth worrying them yet about something they had no idea about.
"Thanks Cyn. Let me help you with yours." Said Spyro as passed the loop over Cynder's head.
"Thanks Spy." Cynder responded looking at him.
"Spy? That is a new one, I like it." Said Spyro looking into Cynder's green eyes, he always felt like he could get lost in them, and his troubles would drift away. Spyro roused himself before Cynder would notice his staring. "So we have one day at the dragonfly village, and then it is off to the White Isles."
"You better get Sparx, Spyro it is almost time to go." Cynder told him.
"Ya, your right." In truth Spyro had been dreading this moment. Sparx and he had still not made up over the hospital incident, however if Sparx would never let Spyro live it down if he went without him.
Spyro walked off the balcony of their home and through the curtain into the bedroom where Sparx's nest was. He stood underneath the little glowing home and called out, "Sparx it is almost time to go."
"Ya I know, ummmm… listen, I'm sorry about what happened the other day. For mom and dad's sake can you forgive me?"
"Don't worry about it Sparx, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."
At that moment the little golden dragonfly flew out of his nest down to his foster brother and held out his fist. "Bros?"
"You bet." Responded Spyro, who in turn fist bumped Sparx, sending him a flying a feet and nearly hitting the wall.
"Okay bad idea, maybe next time you can hold out your fist and I bump yours Spyro." Said Sparx, head still spinning from his mid-air tumble.
Cynder turned her head from the curtain that separated the balcony and the bedroom. "Good to see those to made up." She thought to herself and walked up to the edge of the platform. Spyro and Sparx soon emerged from the bedroom Sparx hovering beside Spyro.
"Alright, everyone ready?" Spyro asked. Sparx latched on to Spyro's horn.
"Yup, nothing to do but sit back for the inflight nap." Sparx told the group, Cynder giggled, while Spyro only gave a sigh.
"Alright let's go." And with a mighty flap of their wings the purple and black dragon took from their balcony. Warfang soon passed out from underneath them, and nothing was left except for the vast wilderness between them and the new dragonfly home. Luckily it was only a small detour from the ocean that led to the White Isles.
"Listen Spyro, when we get to mom and dad's place, I'm going to spend the whole week there, and you can pick me up on your way back." The dragonfly told the flying purple dragon.
Spyro was shocked, never had Sparx not wanted to go on one of his adventures with him before. "Why Sparx? You've always gone with me."
"Well the truth is Spyro, dragonflies don't live that long… mom and dad are getting up in years. They probably need me around the house."
Spyro's face soon became sullen; he knew that dragonflies lived nowhere close to as long as dragons, but so soon… the thought of losing his parents was sickening. "How much time?" Spyro asked Sparx.
"Well the oldest dragonfly I've ever heard live too is twenty-six Spyro." Said Sparx still holding Spyro's horn while they flew.
Spyro did the math quickly in his head, he was sixteen young for a dragon yes, but to a dragonfly… his parents were nearing their twilight years.
Spyro then brought his thoughts to Sparx; he remembered all the times he had with him in his head. Flashes of his early life flew before him, when he was young without a care in the world. Where there were no wars, no death, only peace… but then he learned how to breathe fire and next thing he knew he was fighting, constantly fighting. Then the time crystal, three years locked in it… "How much of Sparx's life had he taken from him? Sure three years was not that much to a dragon, but to Sparx... a significant portion of his life was spent locked away in a crystal.
The thought horrified Spyro. "Sparx I'm so sorry."
"What for Spyro?" Asked Sparx oblivious to the dragon's thoughts.
"I took so much of your life from you in that crystal, how can you forgive me?" Said Spyro, looking as solemn as ever, knowing that he had stolen so much from his brother.
"Don't worry about it Spyro, I chose to go with you. It isn't your fault, and to tell you. I wouldn't miss a minute of what we have done together." Said Sparx trying to cheer up his best friend. "Now stop falling behind Cynder, or I'm going to get old before we get there."
A few quick flaps from Spyro's wings and he was caught up with Cynder.
Cynder looked at them questioningly, but didn't let her curiosity get the better of her.
"Are we there yet?" Cried Sparx in an annoying tone.
"We won't get to mom and dads until tomorrow Sparx; we are going to have to make camp for the night." Spyro told the badgering dragonfly. Spyro then looked towards the forest that was passing below him. He took a deep breath of the fresh air, the smells of the forest filling his nostrils. The trees stretched as far as the eye could see; only interrupted by the occasional creek or lake, which all trickled toward the ocean many leagues farther south. He scanned for sign of a clearing that would be easy for Cynder and himself to land and take off from. He soon found a suitable spot, and looked over to Cynder and cocked his head towards the clearing.
Cynder nodded and they made a swooping turn and dived towards it. They pulled out of their dive and both made a perfect landing to the small ring of open ground that was surrounded by forest.
"I'll gather wood for a fire." Stated Spyro, Cynder only nodded. She was tired from their long day of flying and her wing joints were very sore. Despite being one of the fittest dragons alive, by nightfall she was panting and sweating profusely. Spyro however seemed to be breathing normally and not a single bead of sweat ran down his gleaming dark purple scales. She felt a small twinge of envy for not having his endurance, but at least she was a faster flier still… she hoped.
"Well I'm going to bed Cynder." Sparx stated who dived into her satchel that lay on the ground next to her.
"Good night Sparx." Cynder told him. She was quickly greeted by the sounds of snores.
"I wish I could fall asleep that fast." Cynder said aloud to herself.
The bushes in front of her then began to shake and quiver. Spyro emerged a full load of sticks in his mouth .He put them down in a pile and blew a strong steam of a purple tinted flame on them. The dry kindling burst to life in the torrent of Spyro's flames.
"Since when are they purple?" Asked Cynder never having seen Spyro make purple flames before.
"I don't know, I never really noticed it until you said something." Responded Spyro who lay down next to the fire, Cynder doing likewise. In truth he knew when they became purple. He found out the night of the incident after he left Warfang but he didn't want to talk about himself. He then began to wonder about his parents and how they would react to him tomorrow. He hadn't seen them in a while, and nor had they seen him. Many things had changed since he had last met them a year ago. Would they get scared of what their child who had become a murderer?
Cynder looked over at Spyro, he looked deep in thought, however there was a hint of something else, it looked like fear.
"Spyro are you alright?" She asked in a worried tone.
Spyro stared at the ground for a second, and then looked at her. "I'm scared."
Cynder tried not to let her mouth hang open. Never had Spyro ever said to her that he was actually scared of something. He had always been brave, not even at death's door had he been frightened.
"What from?" Asked Cynder anxiously.
"What my parents will think of me…how their son has grown up to be a murderer." Spyro said solemnly.
"Spyro you know full well that Sparx and I would never tell them what has happened, unless you wanted us too." Cynder said reassuringly.
"What about how I look?" Spyro asked looking over his shoulder at his deadly row of back spikes.
"Just tell them it's a natural phase in dragon adolescence or something, they wouldn't know." Cynder told him.
"Maybe I should just tell them…" Spyro said looking into the fire and imagining his parent's reaction.
"I'm sure whatever your mom and dad know about you they will still love you Spyro." Cynder said gazing towards the wayward purple dragon.
"I guess your right… we should get to bed we still have a ways to go." Spyro declared laying his head down, secretly still imagining his parents disowning him or throwing him out of the house for what he had done.
Spyro opened his eyes to be greeted harshly by the bright sun. He attempted to roll over and get to his feet, but his legs were weighed down by something. He tried to get his feet out from under the object, but the attempt was useless. He then looked to see what was blocking his movement, to see a black scaled lump on top of his legs.
"She must have done this during the night." Spyro thought. He then tapped Cynder on the head with his wing gently. "Cyn it's time to get up, off me preferably."
"Hmmm… what." Cynder opened her eyes lazily. She quickly jumped up off of Spyro when she realized how close she was. Luckily Cynder's black scales couldn't show the huge blush she made.
"Sorry Spyro." She said looking a little ashamed.
"Don't worry about Cyn. Come on let's wake up Sparx and get on the move." Spyro said picking up his satchel.
Cynder went over to hers, too hear more snoring. She poked the outside of it with her paw. "Sparx time to get up."
"I'm up, I'm up..." Said the golden dragonfly. Several punches could be heard and into the leather bag. "Little help here?"
"Of course." Replied Cynder who lifted the opening of the bag open so he could fly out.
"I'm free!" Sparx shouted into the bright blue sky.
"Alright let's get going we don't have much time to spend in the first place." Spyro stated eager to see his parents, forgetting his fears of the night before.
Sparx zipped over to Spyro and landed safely between his horns ready for the flight.
Spyro and Cynder got a running start and took flight south, towards the dragonflies' new home and the ocean.
"Hey Flame where is Spyro I want to spar him again." The green earth dragon named Quake called out to him while he was walking one of the many busy streets of Warfang.
"He went to visit his parents in the swamp remember? He won't be here all week." Flame responded over the cacophony of sounds produced by the stalls, and various inhabitants shopping.
"Dang it… I did forget." Quake replied in turn. "Hey do you want to spar?" Quake asked a hopeful expression on his eyes.
"I got nothing better to do, might as well. Let's go." Flame replied eager for a good match.
"This is as far as we can go in the air." Spyro yelled out to Cynder midflight. The dense canopy of the area prevented them from landing directly at the dragonfly village. They would have to land a distance out and tromp through the mud for a while to reach it. They landed in an area just with enough room for Spyro and Cynder to safely touch down in. Immediately Spyro and Cynder sank into the thick mud, scales covered in filth. The putrid smell of the swamp filled their nostrils.
"Remind me why they chose this as their new home…" Cynder asked, not having been on the trip last time. Then, to think of it, she had never met Spyro's parents before… she hoped they would like her.
"It reminded them of the old swamp the most, as well as being hard to locate and get too." Spyro replied.
"I see that…" Said Cynder pulling her left front paw out of the stinking mud. "I'm going to have scrub for a week to get this stuff out of my scales." Cynder said eyeing her leg with disgust. "How did you ever live in this environment?"
"Well mostly I never really noticed it…maybe that is because I grew up with it." Spyro responded.
"Smells like home to me." Sparx said taking flight and zipping around the area in excitement.
"Come on let's get going before I sink any further." Stated Cynder as they began the arduous march to the dragonfly village. To tell the truth she hated the swamp. She hated the dirt, grime, and crudeness that it required. She much preferred the clean sparkling streets of Warfang to its mud. But they were only here for one night before they went to the White Isles, and she would do anything for Spyro.
About an hour later the group was still trudging through the swampy ground.
"Ugh, could you guys go any slower?" Sparx asked buzzing freely around above their heads unhindered by the thick mud.
"Sparx why don't you try walking through this…" Cynder responded.
"Uhh, no thanks I like flying." He responded landing a few trees ahead of them waiting for them to catch up.
Suddenly Spyro fell forward tripping over a vine covered in thorns landing face first into the mud. He removed his head from the gunk to reveal his face covered in a thick plaster of mud.
"Smooth Spyro." Sparx called out to him.
Cynder giggled as she watched Spyro shake his head trying to clear his face of the mess. "Still feel like home?" Cynder asked.
"Little too much like home." He responded eyes still shut to prevent anything from getting in his eyes. He looked back at the vine with a glare, and followed it to its origin, to find that it was tied, and not growing naturally.
"Humph, that was put there on purpose." Spyro stated.
"Why, how do you know?" Asked Cynder starting to walk over to him.
"Look at the vine; it is tied to that tree over there." He told her, watching her gaze follow the vine to the tree, and seeing another vine tied to the same tree branch off in another direction.
"I wonder what it is for, an alarm perhaps." Cynder said.
"Seems like it. I wonder what they could be afraid of?" Spyro responded.
"Who knows we'll find out soon enough." Spyro said turning back in the direction of the village.
They began to walk, but as soon as he put pressure on his paw he recoiled from pain.
Spyro lifted up his paw to see a thorn protruding out, and a small gash bleeding. "Cynder could you grab a red gem out of your pack, I don't want this to get infected."
"Sure Spyro." Cynder used her long neck and retrieved a small glowing red gem from her satchel. Careful to not take its energy to herself she gave it to Spyro.
"Thanks Cyn." Spyro applied the gem, but something was different. The red color bled out of the gem into Spyro's paw leaving a clear crystal in his paw. Spyro felt a small amount of his energy drain. "Where is it going?" He thought to himself. He felt it draw down to his paw and then towards the crystal. The crystal began to absorb the energy. It purplish black ink seemed to jet into the crystal until it was full.
Cynder recognized it immediately… a dark crystal. She was soon greeted by a sound she was all too familiar with, the haunted whisperings of the dark crystals. She felt her energy being tugged out of her body towards the crystal.
"Quick smash it!" Spyro yelled as he threw it up into the air.
Cynder used her honed battle abilities she jumped and did a front flip. She struck the crystal mid-air with her tail blade returning it to dust.
"Why did you do that?" Cynder yelled accusingly as she landed back into the quagmire paws sinking several inches.
"I don't know. I didn't even know I could do that…" Spyro responded turning his paw over and over examining it.
"Great now purple boy is making dark crystals too… what's next the destroyer?" Sparx jokingly called out to them.
"Very funny Sparx, now let's keep moving." Spyro responded continuing their march through the mud.
Soon the ground became drier and much less muddy, and the going became much easier.
"The village should be just up ahead." Spyro called out, yet he was worried he should have seen some dragonflies by now. They emerged into a small clearing with many trees with hollows in them that served as the dragonflies' homes, yet not one dragonfly was to be seen.
"Mom, dad!" Spyro called not wanting to think the worst, Sparx doing likewise.
"Spyro?" A very familiar motherly voice replied.
Spyro snapped his head in the direction of the sound. At the edge of the clearing a fallen hollow tree was laying on the ground. A pink dragonfly shot out at the end of the log.
"Spyro!" It called.
"Mom!" Spyro replied.
Nina was about to embrace her adopted son but stopped when she noticed his face covered in mud.
"What did you do to yourself?" Nina questioned.
"Purple boy tripped over a vine and face planted into the mud." Sparx declared jokingly still laughing to himself about the incident.
"Flash, tell everyone they can come out, it's Spyro!" Nina yelled to her husband.
Suddenly a mob of dragonflies burst out of the end of the log all gathering around their purple hero.
Flash came up and patted his son on the head. "Good to see you Spyro, my boy."
"You to dad." Spyro replied looking up at his foster parents.
"Hi, mom, hi dad." Sparx said. Who quickly was embraced by his mother as well.
After a few minutes of revelry they noticed the black dragon off to the side also covered in mud.
"Hello and who might you be?" Asked Nina flying over to inspect the black dragoness.
"I'm Cynder." She replied slightly nervous.
"Ohhh, so you're the dragoness that Spyro has told us all about. Good to meet you Cynder." Nina said with a courteous bow.
"That's me." Cynder responded with a little blush, luckily her scales hid it.
"Flash dearest, come meet Cynder." She called over to him.
The blue dragonfly buzzed over to a few feet Cynder. "So this is Cynder, nice to meet you."
"You two are tired and dirty from your trip, there is a clear stream that runs next to the village you may wash yourselves there." Nina told the both of them.
"Finally a bath!" Cynder called ready to be free of the mud that had now hardened to her scales.
The two dragonflies watched as the pair of dragons walked towards the stream.
"Did you notice that Spyro looks different than last time?" Flash asked scratching his head. "He looks…"
"Yes, I did..." Nina responded. "But he is still our son, whatever he looks like we will always love him."
To panting dragons walked out of one of the many sparring rooms in the academy.
"Good… battle… Flame…" Quake told him completely out of breath.
"Ya… you too… Quake." Flame responded just as out of breath as Quake. "But… I still…. won…" Flame said trying to puff out his chest, but couldn't hold it for more than a second before having to gasp for breath again. In truth he had barely won, only pulling out the win a split second before Quake would have had his claws to his neck. Quake had really improved since Spyro had taught them how to fight. He still remembered Quake getting nearly knocked out cold against Spyro that first day, but somehow that thick skull of his saved him. Quake had actually head-butted him in battle and left a large bruise on Flame's forehead that he was sure would be there for at least a week.
"I'm going to have a pain of headache tonight." Flame stated finally catching his breath.
"Uh-oh… I better go." Quake said looking over Flame's shoulder towards the other end of the hallway.
"What is it?" Said Flame who turned to where Quake was looking at. He saw Flare stalking down the hallway, anger evident on her face."Aww-shit." He had forgotten the date he had with Flare tonight. He turned back over his shoulder to look for Quake for support or to hide from the incoming dragoness, but to only see a clubbed green tail quickly turning the corner of the next hallway. He looked back towards Flare the fire in her eyes visible. He was in for it this time…
So the subtle hint dropping began in this chapter. I wonder if anyone will spot it? Also, their are a few announcements in my profile, so if you are curious feel free to take a look.
