"I think you're ready to take on the Mastery Test."
Spyro blinked. He wasn't expecting to hear those words yet. He hadn't mentally prepared himself for when he would hear those words for the first time. He sat there, staring up at Ma'vhelma with his jaw dropped as he tried to figure out what to say.
"Alright enough gawking, Spyro," Ma'vhelma said, but there was a little bit of humour in her tone, something that Spyro wasn't quite used to hearing from her. "Rest up well and make sure you're here first thing in the morning tomorrow. You've learned everything I can offer to you and I think you're ready to take the test."
"I… I have no words. Thank you," Spyro stammered.
"Don't thank me yet; you've still yet to pass," the large phoenix-dragon replied. "But, I'm letting you take it because I think you're ready, and I think you will pass. Now, head back to Manzithot; rest up as best as you can. I want you ready because it will not be easy."
"I understand. I'll see you tomorrow then," Spyro farewelled with a bow, before turning and grabbing his satchel, slipping it over his shoulder and beginning the trip back to the village.
He spent the whole trip back thinking over his time at Manzithot. It wasn't an easy three weeks, and it was very fast paced, as Spyro had a lot to learn in such a short time. On top of that, Manzithot hadn't been the most welcoming towards him, but he was glad they were at least willing to accommodate him, even though they made him work even more for it. He was especially thankful for Lagaedar, who had graciously let Spyro stay with him for the rest of his time at Manzithot, and it was just good being around someone who understood him a bit more.
Spyro turned his thoughts back towards his goal: stopping Vhel-Ak'rhair… saving the world… saving Cynder. He wanted to rid the world of this great evil, to vanquish it so there would be no more massive wars and no more lives ruined en masse. He wanted to save the world, because he knew that every life in it mattered and deserved to keep going on. He wanted to save Cynder… because he loved her. She was his everything. The very thought of having a future with her kept him going. He wanted so badly to have a future with her.
He had dreamed countless times of growing old together, having kids, growing a family, spending his whole life with her. The possibility that it might not happen scared him.
Before long, Spyro had made it back to Manzithot, and he made his way back to Lagaedar's house, walking in and heading straight to the living room, immediately lying down on his makeshift bed. Lagaedar walked in from the workshop outside, ash covering his body, and he rose his eyebrow in surprise. "Oh hey, Spyro. I wasn't expecting you back so soon," he said.
"Yeah, Ma'vhelma let me go early; she wants me to rest so I can take the test first thing in the morning," the purple dragon explained.
"Take the…?! She said you're ready?!" Lagaedar exclaimed. "That's great news!"
"Yeah it is. Of course I need to pass so there's the actual doing it thing that's going to be rough but… honestly I think I got this. Ma'vhelma does. I'm a bit worried for it but… I think I'll do fine."
"You will, Spyro. I know you will," Lagaedar said, sitting down and placing a paw on Spyro's shoulder. "You are an exceptionally strong dragon, and an amazing fighter. From the three times we've sparred over your stay here, I know you have an incredibly strong grasp on your fire element, and it's gotten stronger each time. You'll do great."
"I know, I'm just… I worry. I worry about… what if I don't pass? What if it wasn't meant to be me? What if, even if I do pass this one, I don't pass the others? Or take too long on the others? What then?"
Lagaedar sighed sadly, seeing the anguish in Spyro's eyes. "This is a lot more than just saving the world, isn't it?" he murmured. "There's something personal about this, isn't there?"
"Vhel-Ak'rhair's servants… they're known as ak'rhorans. They're dragons, both dead and alive, who have been touched by his darkness. Once the Bell of Hal'rath is destined to ring, all the ak'rhorans rise up, take their corrupted state, and do what they can to revive Vhel-Ak'rhair, and cause chaos in their wake. And my girlfriend… Cynder… she's one of them."
Lagaedar moved a bit closer to Spyro, lying down to meet him on his level. The purple dragon fought against his tears, and Lagaedar could see the unadulterated fear in his violet eyes.
"The Bell rang," Spyro continued, "and I watched her take her corrupted form right before my eyes. She attacked me and then flew away to who knows where."
Spyro paused as he swallowed the lump in his throat, wiping his teary eyes and taking a deep, shuddering breath. "Vhel-Ak'rhair took my girlfriend from me," he whispered darkly, sniffling. "So yes, this is very personal to me. Saving the world matters, one hundred percent. But saving my girlfriend matters more to me than anything else."
The purple dragon turned towards Lagaedar, studying his face. The ex-guard's expression was hard to read; it was painted with fear, concern, worry, and also a little bit of disgust. The worst thing of all was that Spyro wasn't sure what the disgust was about, whether it was about what Vhel-Ak'rhair was doing, or about anything to do with the fact that he and Cynder were together; he wasn't sure how much impact Cynder had had on Lagaedar's life as the Terror of the Skies, and Spyro was now afraid that Lagaedar would be one of those dragons who would hate on Cynder simply because of her past.
"Yes, I'm dating Cynder," Spyro scowled, getting defensive. "Yes, I would put her above the whole world."
"Spyro, it's okay," Lagaedar interrupted before Spyro could get too far. "It's okay. I understand. I was like that with Tera."
Spyro's face fell, before nodding and looking away from Lagaedar. He suddenly felt like he'd crossed a line.
"I was a guard, but I would put Tera above everyone and everything else. If I ever heard that Tera was in trouble, I would be rushing out and going straight to her. She was my world. But I couldn't save her when I needed to, and I was right beside her," Lagaedar murmured. "But, she gave me Firi, the most beautiful gift anyone could ever give me. My beautiful daughter is all that matters to me now. Family is important, and so I understand that feeling of putting the love of your life above everything else."
"I… I don't know what to say," Spyro croaked.
"Don't say anything. The best thing you can do is get out there tomorrow, give this test your damn best shot, pass it, and then go onto the next one. Save the world. Save Cynder. Do for Cynder what I couldn't for Tera. Please."
Spyro blinked, feeling tears well up in his eyes at the sheer emotion behind Lagaedar's voice, and hearing the huge amount of support he was giving him for everything. He nodded. "I will. I won't let you down," Spyro said.
"Thank you," Lagaedar whispered. "Now, rest up well. I need to get back to work. And then after that, I'll prepare dinner and make sure you're fed well ready for tomorrow. You'll need the energy."
Lagaedar pat Spyro on the shoulder, before standing up and walking back out to his workshop, still sniffling slightly and wiping his eyes with his wing tips.
"Thank you," Spyro whispered.
"Good morning, Spyro," Ma'vhelma said as Spyro entered Magma's Crypt. "I trust that you rested up well?"
"Yeah, I did," Spyro said with a smile, placing his satchel at the entrance of the cave and walking up towards the large phoenix-dragon spirit standing in front of him. "So, what's the Mastery Test going to be?"
"Well, there's two things I want to test you on: your ability to manipulate fire in a safe way, and your ability to use everything you've learned in combat," she explained. "Now, of course with fire manipulation you know you can use it in combat, but it can also be used outside of combat. Firstly, I want you to be able to light a furnace, use that one lit furnace to light two other furnaces, and then put them out. At the same time, I want you to hold a ball of lava above your head."
Spyro blinked. Everything he seemed fine with except holding the ball of lava above his head. That seemed like she was just asking for his face to be burned off if something went wrong. At the same time, he knew this first part was all about control and focus, and so trying to multitask would definitely be a way to try and practice his control over multiple things at once. It might even help him a bit more while in combat too.
"The furnaces are sitting outside. Grab your lava ball from the lava pit and then let's go," Ma'vhelma instructed.
Spyro nodded, taking in a deep breath before he reached out with his mind, feeling the lava pit in front of him. Slowly, he let a ball of lava rise out of the pit; it wasn't massive, but it was quite a decent size. It was just larger than the size of his head, so one could say it was pretty big.
Once he had lifted it over his head, he watched with awe as Ma'vhelma stepped out of the lava pit, making her way out of the Magma Crypt; Spyro had never seen Ma'vhelma leave the lava pit. As was to be expected from a creature like a phoenix, she walked majestically and with power emanating from her; it was a little overwhelming. If Spyro was only just starting out learning fire manipulation, he would have already dropped the ball of lava onto his head.
Spyro followed Ma'vhelma, and walked a little bit further around the corner before they came to an opening where three furnaces stood. Spyro came to a stop in front of the first furnace, and took a deep breath ready to breathe fire into it. "Hey Spyro," Ma'vhelma interrupted. "By the way, I would like you not to light it with your fire breath. And you can't use the ball of lava either."
The purple dragon groaned a little, before he sat and had a little think, before reaching out with his paw. He channeled his fire element into his paw, letting loose a small stream of fire into the furnace. It caught fire and was lit. Spyro breathed a sigh of relief; two to go.
Knowing he needed to use the flames in the first furnace to light the other two, he kept his paw focused on the furnace, feeling the fire burning inside it. He motioned with his paw, allowing a small floating stream of fire to snake its way out of the furnace and into the air. He traced it down towards the second furnace, the fire stream following his claw's every move. With that, the second one was lit.
He celebrated a little, before feeling a lot more heat towards his head. He was starting to lose hold on the lava ball above his head, and it was slowly falling down towards him. With a small squeak that he just barely contained, he pushed it back up into the air.
Spyro kept his paws stretched out towards the second furnace however, making the same movement he made earlier to light the third furnace with the second furnace's flames.
"Great, now put them out," Ma'vhelma instructed.
He reached out, sensing the flames burning inside all three furnaces. He slowly made them dwindle, the flames shrinking ever so slowly. Suddenly, however, the furnaces exploded in a large cloud of fire and smoke. Spyro leapt back a bit, not expecting the sudden explosion. He could feel the ball of lava shuddering above his head, and did his best to focus on it to keep it steady.
Questioning what had just happened, Spyro turned to Ma'vhelma. She seemed unfazed. She shrugged and said, "Put it out."
So she had done this; clever.
Spyro had to hide his smirk as he turned back around to the furnaces burning with a roaring inferno. It looked much like the burning buildings during the Siege of Warfang during the war. Spyro assumed Ma'vhelma was using this to help him extinguish a flame of a much larger magnitude than a candlestick or a small furnace.
The purple dragon reached out towards the inferno and took a few moments to feel the flames. They were massive and angry… hungry and destructive. He was a little bit scared and overwhelmed by the size of the fire but he stood firm, bringing his paws in a little bit in an attempt to try and make the flames shrink.
He could feel the fire battling against him, roaring with determination and power, but he fought on, gritting his teeth as he tried to make the fire smaller. He and the fire were at a stalemate for a good half a minute, before Spyro felt it finally start to shrink. He shrunk it a little bit, before a large pulse went through the flames and the inferno got bigger again. Not expecting it, Spyro jumped back too. He managed to keep his hold over the inferno, but in doing so, he lost the ball of lava.
Quickly, he reached out with his mind and caught the lava ball; it was just a few centimetres over his head. He slowly lifted it back up again, before returning to focus on the blazing inferno in front of him.
Breathing heavily as sweat dripped down his face, he slowly felt the flames shrink once more. It was a bit of a long fight against the flames, as it grew and shrank and grew and shrank, but eventually, Spyro had gained the upper hand. After about two minutes, he was finally able to get the inferno back to the size the fires were inside the furnaces.
Ma'vhelma, however, had told him to extinguish the flames, so he kept going. The fire had nothing to fight back against him now; the flames were too small. With that, he made the fire smaller and smaller, before they were now the size of a candle's flame. Then it was gone.
The phoenix-dragon stood there, nodding her head. "Had a bit of a close call there, but you did good. Destroy the lava ball too," she said.
Spyro nodded, before moving the lava ball in front of him. With a single movement of his paws, holding them out at a great length before clapping them together, the lava ball shrank quickly. It was a lot simpler with something that was much smaller. Overall, Spyro was very happy with how he had gone so far.
There was just one part of the Mastery Test left, and it was something that Spyro was also very unsure about. It was a combat round, and Spyro didn't even know who or what he was going to be fighting.
"Now, for the combat round," Ma'vhelma said. "I want you to fight me."
Spyro blinked. He wasn't sure if he was ready for this, but he nodded anyway. Ma'vhelma was large and intimidating, and quite literally made of fire, being part-phoenix. Spyro also knew just how good she was with her elemental powers, since she was already a master of the fire element. She just smirked, knowing what was going through Spyro's mind.
"If you manage to hit me… let's say three times, you win, and you pass," she said. "Just know that I won't go easy on you."
"I… I understand," Spyro replied, adapting a firm battle stance.
He had barely taken his stance before Ma'vhelma's wings shot open with a massive gust of air, before she rose into the sky and with one large flap of her wings, sent hellfire raining down on Spyro. He reached up, trying to hold all of the fireballs plummeting towards him in place. He sent them back up towards Ma'vhelma, but she dodged them, before calling the fireballs back to her, allowing her to absorb them.
A comet dash overtook her form next as she rushed towards Spyro. He barely had a change to dodge, using his own comet dash to do so. Ma'vhelma whirled around, swinging her wings and tail around. Spyro got smacked by her tail, sending him flying into the rock wall several metres away from him.
Spyro tried to pull himself out of the rock face as quick as he could, and yelped when he saw a massive wall of fire bursting from Ma'vhelma's body towards him. He raised his paws to try and stop the fire rushing towards him, and a small portion of the wall of fire came to a halt as the rest of it roared around him. Spyro could feel the fire pushing against his hold, and he knew he couldn't hold it much longer.
He let out a large surge of energy from within him, pushing back against the fire with all his might. It shot back towards Ma'vhelma, but dissipated about a metre away from her.
Spyro rushed forward, ready to attack her, but she punched him to the side, sending him falling back to the ground. Luckily, he caught himself, only just managing to keep himself in midair. He rolled around, before proceeding to create a large swarm of lava balls and throwing them straight at Ma'vhelma.
The phoenix-dragon hybrid dodged them, but only just; Spyro's hits were getting closer, even though almost all of Ma'vhelma's were hitting her mark.
Ma'vhelma attacked with a few large swipes of her claws, but using the comet dash, Spyro was able to dodge them easily. Spyro launched himself into the air, ready to deliver a punch to her face. She just stood there. Just as he was about to deliver the blow, Ma'vhelma's body shone with a blinding white light, and Spyro felt pain throughout his form.
Flustered and in pain, Spyro was tossed to the side and to the ground, and he suddenly realised that he was slightly on fire. He absorbed the fire, feeling the pain go away, but he realised this energy had a different feel than most of the regular fire that was around the village and that Ma'vhelma created in their training sessions.
The fire felt like Ma'vhelma.
It made sense since she was made of fire, so maybe the fire she used to attack Spyro was her own fire.
An idea popped into his head. He then burst into the sky again, activating his fire aura as he too turned into fire. He shot straight through the bottom of Ma'vhelma's chest and out her back. He felt her fire, and began to absorb some of it. She cried out as some of her life force was stolen from her.
Positioning himself above Ma'vhelma, Spyro opened his wings and let out all the fire that was part of his fire aura, including the fire he absorbed from Ma'vhelma. She staggered backwards, a little overwhelmed from the amount of fire raining down on her. Spyro then rushed down as she was distracted by her dizzy, discombobulated state, and delivered a strong blow to her nose. A cloud of fire burst out from where Spyro punched her.
Her head shot down from the force of the blow, but she recovered as quick as she can, whirling around and smacking Spyro in midair with her tail. He shot backwards for a bit, before spreading open his wings and catching the air, bringing him to a standstill.
Spyro tried to rush towards her again, and she let out several large streams of fire at him. He dodged the first two, but the third one enveloped him, and he didn't have time to switch into his fire aura to absorb the fire, so he felt the fire's heat searing at him as the inferno swallowed him whole.
He dived to the ground, rolling around for a few seconds to get the fire off him, before he quickly maneuvered back to his paws. Before he knew it, Ma'vhelma had shot a multitude of fireballs towards him. He jumped and weaved through the onslaught of fireballs coming his way, only just barely dodging some of them.
Spyro conjured his own fireballs and threw them at Ma'vhelma. She also dodged the majority of them, but ended up absorbing a few as well. She then spread open her wings, and akin to a fire fury, released a massive burst of fire that shot out of her body in a large sphere. Spyro knew he wasn't going to be able to dodge the attack, as he was too close to move out of the way in time. Instead, he proceeded to activate his fire aura once more, doing his best to absorb as much fire as he could. He absorbed the majority of it, but her fire fury was too strong for him.
The purple dragon was forced out of his fire aura, and he was thrown backwards from the force of the fury. When the fire dissipated, Ma'vhelma stepped closer towards Spyro, half expecting him to have been knocked out. But Spyro was still very much awake, groaning in pain as he struggled to his paws.
He knew he had already landed two hits on her. He just needed one more to pass. Once he had recovered, he rushed towards her. Ma'vhelma sidestepped, before grabbing him by the tail and throwing him down to the ground. He winced in pain, before quickly taking to the skies once more.
Ma'vhelma once more released an onslaught of fireballs towards him, but Spyro burst into a bomb sprint as he closed in on her. He managed to dodge all of her attacks at his high speed, managing not to self-destruct from losing control; he'd finally gained control of his adrenaline. He flew in a loop around Ma'vhelma's head, before diving towards the ground. As he did so, he let the energy stream detonate, sending a large line of explosions running down the energy stream, destructing in front of Ma'vhelma's face.
She staggered backwards, a little disoriented from the explosion, but smiled at Spyro once she recovered. "Great job, Spyro. That's three hits," she said.
"I can keep fighting. I can beat you properly, I know it," Spyro panted, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Even though you may be a Master of Fire now, there is still much for you to learn. Even in our mastery, we don't stop learning. And I have many centuries more experience than you do. I am much stronger than you realise," she replied. "But, you've done what I asked, and have passed a similar test that I did when I first gained my title as a Master of Fire. On top of that, you have many more elements to master, and I know it will get harder by the time you step into elements you are unfamiliar with. Take the rest of the day to rest before you leave for your next destination."
"I… I understand. Thank you, Ma'vhelma," Spyro said with a bow.
"And thank you for being a good student. It's been tough, but you pulled through these last few weeks and managed to learn all that I wanted to teach you. Farewell, young Master."
Spyro blinked as she returned his bow. He smiled softly. "Farewell," he replied, before turning and beginning to head back to Manzithot.
"One last thing!" Ma'vhelma said. "Each element, teacher and test will be different in terms of the learning process and what you need to do. Don't use my lessons as an expectation because I assure you the others will be very different, especially since the elements are very different."
"I'll keep that in mind!" Spyro said.
With that, he and Ma'vhelma went their separate ways, and Spyro knew that he was one step closer to being able to fulfil the prophecy.
"I take it today's your last day here then?" Lagaedar asked.
"Yeah, I'm heading off to Concurrent Skies tomorrow," Spyro said, rolling up the list of locations and teachers that Ignitus had given him and putting it back into his satchel. "Up next is the electricity element."
"I wish you the best with that; one of my cousins is an electric dragon and he was certainly interesting to watch as he learned his element. It's quite an unpredictable element."
Spyro just nodded, knowing how tricky it was to gain control over it when he first learned it. Even now, he didn't have the best grasp on controlling his electricity. He just picked a direction and breathed out; it was very random whether the arc of his lightning breath would go where he wanted to or not. Sometimes it would arc slightly off course and do its own thing.
"And I also want to wish you the best for the rest of your task. You've got this, Spyro," Lagaedar added. "You're already one step of the way there; you can do this. You'll get Cynder back, I'm sure of it."
Spyro smiled. "Thank you. Thank you for everything. I wasn't expecting anyone to be kind enough to give me a place to stay here without needing to spend more time and energy working for it. And I also want to thank you for the pep talk you gave to me yesterday."
"It's my pleasure," Lagaedar replied. "Now, rest up well; you're going to need it. In the meantime, I'll prepare a meal for us all."
"You don't need to, Lagaedar. A normal meal will suffice."
"No, I want to do something special. After all, you are the legendary purple dragon, and I'm apparently the only one who knows of you. I feel like I kind of owe it to you just for being the purple dragon. And for saving the world and giving us all another chance at life. I really do appreciate that. And I really appreciate that you're doing your very best to do it a second time. I just want a good life for me and my child, y'know?"
"Yeah, I understand. I was studying to be a teacher before all this, so I know what it's like to want the best for a bunch of kids," Spyro said.
"It's very different when you have your own," Lagaedar replied. "I'm sure you'll come to realise that when that happens."
Spyro blushed a little bit. "I… don't think I'm ready for that yet. Plus… I kinda need Cynder back for that," he said, before his blush became even stronger.
Lagaedar chuckled. He then turned and left, leaving Spyro to himself in the family room where he had been sleeping for the last three weeks. Spyro couldn't get what Lagaedar had said out of his head. If—no, when—Cynder was freed and Vhel-Ak'rhair had been vanquished… would he even be ready for kids? He'd never even thought of that concept before.
What would it be like, having a child to call his own? Someone that wasn't just his student, but his child?
He shook his head, wanting to stop thinking about it. That potential all hung on the hope that Cynder would be okay, and that she could be rescued. He was doing his best to be optimistic, but there was always that fear lying dormant in his gut that she might not make it back the same. Even if she survived, what if she came out different than she was before the Bell of Hal'rath rang? He didn't want to give himself false hope, as much as he wanted to think forward to a future with kids.
Spyro sighed, lying down on the ground. He knew he needed to rest his mind as well, so he could be fully recovered and ready to go for his next round of elemental lessons.
He ended up falling asleep, exhaustion from the Mastery Test catching up to him. Lagaedar woke him up for dinner, but he went back to sleep shortly after eating; they did have a massive meal. As he returned to his slumber, he dreamed only of Cynder.
And with that, Spyro has finally mastered his first element! We're starting to get some progress now!
...
Dragon of Mystery:Yup that does tend to be how things go in stories like this lol; there'll be more where that came from lol. Also I'm glad you like Lagaedar; he's only in it for a short time but I felt he was kind of important just to ground Spyro in a bit of familiarity in a place like Manzithot, and also to provide a few extra viewpoints on things like the war and all that. I think it was good bringing him in.
Pyrus Dragonoid: I'm really glad you've been enjoying this so far! I'm doing my best to write as much as I can, and at the moment I've been trying to achieve a chapter a month, but depending on how I go maybe even two (I've been doing a lot of writing recently). I definitely plan to keep working on this and I'm looking forward to giving everyone more chapters.
Plague Doctor 2035: Thanks for the review. I'll do my very best to make the story not play out like a video game; it's the whole reason why I've done my best to condense a lot of it since I knew having nothing but training scenes would be quite repetitive. Of course I'll still need to include some but I'm also wanting to focus on a lot of the social and mental aspect of Spyro's quest and his surroundings, and a few extra things on top of that as well.
...
Anyway, this will likely be my final chapter for the year, so I guess I'll see you all next year with some more chapters! It's been amazing getting back into writing this year and seeing everyone enjoying what I write; thank you all for reading! Merry Christmas everyone, and I'll see you in 2024!