The inside of Moneybag's fortress was an oddity to Spyro. The grand hall that he took him through seemed normal, the light brown bricked walls where all lined up with portraits of other bears, presumably realities of him. The pale brown tiled floor was nothing to desirable in Spyro's eye, but the navy-blue rug that they walked upon intrigued him, what with its dark gray meander pattern that surrounded the near lifelike looking designs of different creatures, some of which Spyro recognized as cheetahs, dragons, and moles. It reminded Spyro of a cage, keeping everyone inside trapped in the weaves of the fabric. The rest of the long hallway was rather empty and had a lot of open space close to the walls. The main hall reminded him of the time he spent in Warfang's prison.
He couldn't help but think back to that moment, when he was back in Warfang, about to be executed, only to be rescued by Cynder. He refused to leave thinking that he'd just end up hurting her but to his own amazement, she decided to stay, accepting her own death just so that she could spend her final moments with him. A small smile formed along his lips as he thought about what happened after that, when she admitted that she had feelings towards him and as he did for her. It might have been a rash thing that they did, falling in love after spending such a short amount of time together, but with the world against them and only having each other and Hunter by their sides, it felt only natural to them.
His smile faded as he thought about the journey they have been on since then, from the moment they left Warfang, to the places they have while they hide from the world, to recent events and how his actions has caused so much trouble for all of them. Maybe if he was so hard on himself, he wouldn't be here with some strange bear and he wouldn't be a part of this collection is, whatever that is, and maybe Cynder and Hunter wouldn't be stuck on a pirate ship being taken to who knows where.
"Hey Cheer up." Moneybag's voice broke Spyro from his thoughts. "You don't have to worry about being captured in here. I have guards planted all over the place, and the walls are the strongest out there. No one will be able to sneak in and kill you in your sleep. So, relax, you're in safe hands now." The bear seemed a little too happy with himself after saying that, making Spyro feel more nervous than before.
"So long as I stay your prisoner, I'm safe then?" Spyro tried not to sound to bitter when he spoke. As nice as it was to not have to sleep with one eye open, the idea of being trapped, and alone, with a stranger didn't sound all that great to him.
Moneybags gave Spyro a hurt look. "My boy, I wouldn't call you a prisoner here. Think of it as an escape from the harsh world outside. Here, you can finally feel free."
"With the restrictions of staying here." Spyro felt this growing anger beginning to boil inside of him.
"Precisely." Moneybags paid no attention to Spyro's little outburst, keeping his joyous attitude that he had had since the purple dragon was handed over to him by the pirates. The bear rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a set of 15 or 20 keys, Spyro only now noticing that they had reached a door. To both his amazement, and worry, Moneybags used each one of the keys to unlock a lock on the single door.
"Worried that someone will break in?" Spyro joked half-heartedly as Moneybags unlocked the final lock.
The bear scoffed. "No, my dear boy, I'm not worried about someone breaking in. I'm worried that you guys will break out." He pushed the door open, letting Spyro's eyes wonder inside. The room was massive, presumably taking up most of the room in the building and was vastly different from the hallway they were just in. Unlike the boring entrance hallway, this room was filled with stuff. Glass cases lined the black walls, each with their own torch hanging above them to illuminate the thing on display. Spyro wasn't quite sure what half the things were. As they walked by, he saw what he could only describe as ornate suits of armor, strange devises whose purposes were a mystery to him, pieces of artwork, weapons of every sort of variety, and a few other displays in larger glass chambers each of which had exotic animals that he had never seen before.
"What is this place?" Spyro asked as he watched an animal that was half cat half bird walk around in its prison.
"Why it's where I keep my collection. Everything that is rare, strange, or unique, is put in here on display for me." Spyro then realized what he meant when he told him that he was now part of his collection. He gulped, feeling more nervous than before.
"So, I'm like your pet or something?"
Moneybags shook his head side to side as he thought about it. "In a way, I suppose you are." He said smiling back down at the purple dragon. "Oh, and don't worry about being lonely, I've got a few others here who would love to meet you." Spyro was confused by this at first, until he realized that they were walking towards the largest display in the room, which was a giant glass dome that reached the ceiling. Moneybags reached into his pocket and pulled out his set of keys.
'That can't be a good sign.' Spyro mumbled under his breath. When they got closer, Spyro managed to see inside. It was mostly an open area but it had a large lake off to the side that could fit a fifth of Warfang inside of, shocking Spyro even more in realization of how big the place was. There was also as makeshift cave in another corner. The rest of the area was empty except for a single bell that hung in the middle of the room. When they got even closer, Spyro noticed the claw marks along the glass.
"Now play nice in there." Moneybags said as he unlocked another twenty or more locks on the large metal door in front of them. The moment he opened the door, he kicked Spyro inside before quickly locking it. Picking himself off the ground, Spyro noticed that he was in a small glass tube with two doors inside, the one he just came in from, and another one in front of him, this one not having any locks on it. That's when he heard Moneybags voice again and noticed that he was standing just on the other side of the glass. "Just go through those doors and you'll be at your new home. I hope you enjoy your stay here. If you need anything just ring the bell." Before Spyro could say another thing, the bear left.
Spyro felt confused, nervous, and worried about everything that was going on. He turned and looked at the red door that separated him from the glass dome. He felt his arm shake as he reached for the handle and pulled it open. Much to his surprise there was another small glass tube which led to another red door. "A little anticlimactic." He walked along through the tube and opened that door, this time leading into the dome.
Inside the dome wasn't all that special, if anything a little dry compared to the rest of the place. Moneybags did mention that Spyro wasn't going to be alone, and he wondered where the others were. "Hey, we have a new guy!" came a feminine voice. Coming from the cave was this odd colored dragon, her body a strange pink color, though something about it was off putting to Spyro. "Hey, my name is Ember, what's yours?" she asked as she approached him. If he had to guess, Ember was around his age, maybe even a couple of years older.
"H-hi." Spyro felt nervous when Ember walked up to him, this being his only real interaction with someone outside of Cynder and Hunter, since he left Warfang. "Um, my name is Spyro…" Now that Ember was closer he could make out of couple of her features better, the first being the realization that the reason her body was an odd pink was because she didn't have any scales, and that it was her flesh that he was looking at. He gave Ember a curious look, but she didn't seem to notice to much. Ember looked back behind her, towards the cave she just came out from. "Are you coming out or not?" she called to someone. Another female's voice called back.
"I'm coming, I'm coming. Can't a girl just get some time to rest and relax?" Spyro could hear someone moving about in the cave, pushing something aside before getting up. He could hear the person walk around, each step she made making a echoing clop, like a sheep's footsteps on hard ground. Out from the cave was a strange creature that Spyro had never seen before. She had brown hairy legs like a goat and a tail that nearly reached the ground. While that half was seemingly normal, her upper half baffled him as she had no fur on her, instead having a cream skin color with a green shirt that only covered her chest and stomach, which made Spyro question why would she even wear that if she wasn't going to wear any pants.
"Girl, you don't do anything else but that, what are you talking about?" Ember shot back at the Faun.
"That's not what you said last night." The faun gave Ember a cheeky grin, before addressing Spyro before Ember could retort. "Names Elora by the way, it's nice to meet you."
"Um, yeah, it's nice to meet both of you as well." Spyro gulped, not used to being around such strange and nice people. "Oh, my name is Spyro."
"We know." Ember rolled her eyes. "No offence to you, but Moneybags hasn't shut up about you the past few weeks. I swear, it's like he's in love with you or something, he just went on and on about wanting the purple dragon in his collection." Ember did her best impersonation of the bear, making Elora giggle.
There was a strange, bellowing sound that came from the water and the surface of the water began to ripple as something started to surface. Much to Spyro's fear and surprise, a giant blueish-green turtle like creature with half a dozen fins and a fish like torso rose from the water. Spyro felt smell in comparison to the large beast, even from a distance it towered over him. It opened its mouth and bellowed something again, making Spyro's ears ring.
"Easy now, he isn't going to hurt you." Elora spoke to the beast who in response looked over to the faun and said something else that Spyro couldn't understand.
"You can talk to it?" Spyro asked amazed. Elora nodded.
"She can, Elora here is a nature spirit and thus can communicate with all living creatures." Ember explained, leaving Spyro puzzled.
"That's… odd… how'd you all wind up here?"
"Why don't we go take a seat, it's a long story." Elora said as she walked back to the cave. The Leviathan's voice boomed as it called out to Elora. "Don't worry big guy, we'll talk loudly."
Hey guys, sorry this one took so long to post. I really don't have an excuse for this one, I just didn't feel like writing this chapter for a long time. That being said, I promise to get the next one out in two weeks tops. Sorry again for making you guys wait for so long.