Hello everyone. Today, Dragnarok, in order to to defeat Eldritch, must learn the final element, Aether. And he'll be taught by an unlikely teacher.
Before we start, I want to address something.
kyrogue23: The Eldritch Arc will be around 15 chapters, give or take. As for how dark, well, when I think of how dark I want to make it, I think of a certain white cat.
Anyway, let's begin!
Season 2.5 Opening( I Will Not Bow by Breaking Benjamin)(I do not own the song)
Opening his eyes, Drake found himself in his mindscape, where Spyro, Cynder, and Ignitus were watching over him with worried looks.
"Drake! Are you alright?" Spyro asked with worry.
"Been better." Drake said as he got onto his feet. "Who was that guy? Took me out like it was nothing."
"I can answer that." A familiar voice spoke up.
Following it, everyone saw that it was Malefor.
"Right, he was the one that brought you into my world." Drake said with a bitter tone. "Care to explain that?"
"Long ago, when I teaching the Apes a way to harness the power of the gems, I heard a voice, begging for a higher power to help it." Malefor said, telling his tale. "Linking to the source and answering the call, I saw it was a creature, a human. He begged me to help him, as he lost everything. I, for one, could care less about his sob story, until I realized he was communicating from another world, one ripe for me to take. So we came to a agreement, I would give him power, while he'll let me into his world and pledge his loyalty to me. He agreed."
"And I'm pretty sure that man was Eldritch, right?" Drake asked.
"Indeed, but he went by a different name at the time, Ifrit." Malefor said before gaining a angry scowl. "However, I soon found out he was using me as a tool for revenge, just like those conniving Apes!" Malefor took a deep breath to calm down. "When I was forced back into the Dragon Realms, Eldritch tried to follow me, but I prevented him from coming, leaving him to the mercy of the other humans as punishment for his treachery. After that, I cut all ties to him."
"Okay, so we've got a background to work with." Drake said before turning to Ignitus. "I need to stop him!"
"I'm afraid it wouldn't be that simple." The Chronicler said in a soft tone. "Eldritch has powerful dark magic at his disposal, as well as other abilities we don't know he has."
"I think I have a solution." Malefor said, having all eyes on him. "Drake here is capable of learning the element of Aether, right?"
"Indeed, but I am unable to teach him." Ignitus said.
"Well, I could teach him." Malefor said, getting shocked looks.
"Wait... You want to... help us?" Spyro asked in a shocked tone.
"After everything that happened between all of us?" Cynder asked in the same tone.
"Don't get ahead of yourselves. I'm only doing this to punish Eldritch, as he clearly didn't learn his lesson." Malefor said.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Ignitus said.
"Friend is too strong of a word here..." Drake muttered before looking at Malefor. "Okay, we have a deal, but I have my eye on you."
"Of course." Malefor said as a purple door with purple crystals surrounding it. It opens, letting out a light of the same color. "Now then, shall we?"
"Transform Me!" Once Spyro and Cynder were absorbed into his wristbands, Drake let's out a roar as he turns into Dragnarok. "Unleash the Dragon!"
And with that, Dragnarok charges into the door, which let's out a blinding light.
As the light dies down, Dragnarok found himself in landscape made entirely out of crystal, most of which were purple and black.
Dragnarok then noticed a pad in front of him, but before he could step on it, Malefor stopped him.
"Before you start, I have something to give you." The Dark Master said before a flash appeared. When it dies down, Dragnarok saw that he was wearing black armor with purple highlights. "This is the Dark Armor. It will allow you to handle the Aether element in small but controllable bursts."
"Thanks." Dragnarok said before stepping onto the pad.
Once he stepped on, the draconic hero felt the element flow through him, but thanks to the armor, it was kept at a safe level. When it stopped, a purple aura was around Dragnarok.
"Excellent. Now get to the end." Malefor ordered.
And with that, Dragnarok was on his way.
While traversing the crystal landscape, Dragnarok had to deal with Elemental Crystal Brutes (Purple this time), Crystal Bears, Crystal Flowers, Crystal Ball Spiders, Conduits, Jackals, Stone Trolls, normal Trolls, Troll Horsemen, and Ogres (The latter three were wearing black and red armor).
All the while, solving puzzles, some involving the remains of the Crystal Ball Spiders.
Finally, Dragnarok reached a arena-like platform, where a pile of crystals were waiting for him.
Suddenly, the pile begins to pulse for a bit before forming into a dragon. The crystal dragon roared before charging at the draconic hero, only for him to dodge.
Dragnarok retaliated by firing a barrage of Aether spheres, breaking pieces off the crystal dragon.
The crystal dragon roared in pain before firing a barrage of crystal shards from it's mouth.
Dragnarok, seeing no room or time to dodge, creates a Aether force field around himself to block the attack. Once the barrage ended, Dragnarok countered with a beam of pure Aether.
The draconic hero keep firing the beam until the crystal dragon couldn't taking it anymore and exploded into millions of shards that were soon reduced to dust.
"Marvelous! You really are the perfect host!" Malefor said as a bright light blinded the draconic hero.
When the light died down, Dragnarok found himself back in his mindscape.
"So... I've learned all the elements." Dragnarok said as looks down at his hands.
"Yes and no." Malefor said, causing everyone to look at him. "I seen your fights, and while you do have control and creative use of the elements, you're just scratching the surface of your powers."
"What are you talking about?" Dragnarok asked.
"That you, halfling, still have much to learn." Malefor said. "But we'll deal with that later, as we still have Eldritch to take care of."
"Indeed, it is time for you to return to the waking world." Ignitus said before a bright light began to emerge, forcing Dragnarok to close his eyes.
Opening them back up, Dragnarok found himself laying on a bed. Hopping onto his feet, he saw that he was in Fu's shop.
"Thank goodness you're up." A voice spoke up.
Following it, Dragnarok saw that it was Chris, Crash, Aku Aku, Fu, and Ashley, all looking relieved.
"How long was I out?" Dragnarok asked.
"Five days." Fu said, shocking the draconic hero.
"What?!" Dragnarok shouted.
"You may want to sit down, a lot has happen when you were unconscious." Ashley said with a grim tone.
And that's that! Dragnarok can now use the element of Aether, got new armor, and has entered a uneasy alliance with Malefor.
Also, I want to note that, like Malefor said, Drake still has much to learn. So there will be one more Trial in the future. I won't say much, but I will say this, it's going to be different from the previous ones.
Next time, we see what has happened the past five days and Dragnarok will fight a creature Spyro and Cynder are familiar with.
See you next time!