Chapter 12: Contagion
"Fear and euphoria are dominant forces, and fear is many multiples the size of euphoria."
- Alan Greenspan
Kilat loved Joshua.
She could not remember when she started feeling this way, or even why it happened so quickly, when they have only known each other for a few days.
Was it when he found her beneath the bushes and comforted her, a frightened child, alone and terrified out of her wits?
Was it after he saved her from death at the last second, after cursing his own helplessness, his failure in saving her and her three companions?
Or did it simply and rapidly accumulate, whenever Joshua doted over her like an overprotective mother? Whenever Kilat curled up against his side? Whenever something she said or did brought a smile to his face?
Yet for all the Electric dragoness felt for the young man, he could never truly replace the hole Lani left behind.
Yes, Joshua loved her unconditionally. It showed in the way he constantly watched out for her. It showed in how much he wanted her close to him. It showed every time he took on the role of an older brother, even a parent, without explicitly saying so.
And yes, Kilat felt exactly the same way, and loved him no differently than she loved her fellow orphan. She trusted Joshua completely. She stuck around him, almost the way a hatchling followed its parents. Not once did the child shy away from showing her appreciation whenever the opportunity presented itself. He seemed to like it, at any rate.
Of course Joshua had his own brand of care and concern. He acted differently from Lani. He believed in different things. He wanted different things. He looked at life in ways Lani never did, hailing from a culture so foreign to the young dragon child she had barely begun to grasp it.
Even so, Kilat was perfectly okay with it. She knew, if Lani still kept an eye on her, watching from his place with the great and revered Ancestors of the past, the Earth dragon would be beaming with happiness for her. He'd feel relief at how she survived that ordeal with the Apes, and he would be comforted by the fact someone as kind—as caring as Joshua Renalia took her under his wings when he had no other reason but his own yearning to make up for his failure with something he never bore responsibility for in the first place.
Even if he did resemble one of those despicable Apes.
Lani might have distrusted Joshua had he been with her back at that waterfall, but the dragoness felt certain he would've come to accept Joshua as she had, and maybe much quicker than she might have given the Earth dragon credit for. He might have even seen him as an older brother as well. Lani was not that much older than her, and he had definitely been younger than Explodon, the eldest in their group.
If only everyone else around them were more capable of looking beneath the surface—if only more of the people from Warfang were like that Red Lady, the older dragoness who saw past Joshua's primate form and saw someone who was as much a brother to the child as she was a sister to him.
Ancestors, the world never worked that way, didn't it?
Kilat glared at the Ice Dragon approaching the two of them on all fours. His nostrils flared, and underneath her golden belly, the child felt frightened shivers traveling up the young man's arms. "I..." She heard him gulp. "I am not an ape!" Joshua Renalia contested. She felt the human caress her cheek; she knew he tried to draw strength from her, to overcome the intimidation. Kilat happily obliged, and cuddled up against his torso. "Can't you see I'm with a dragon?"
The dragon guard glowered silently, while the two moles barring Joshua's path looked at each other, almost questioningly, if Kilat had the words to describe it.
"Everybody knows the Apes hate dragons," he continued. "Those sick monkeys wouldn't dare go here alone without an army to back them up."
"Yet here you are," retorted the Ice Dragon, interrupting Joshua before he could follow through.
"For the love of God—
"Maybe you're right. Maybe you aren't an ape." He circled Joshua Renalia, glacial eyes flickering up and down, sizing him up. The fearsome guard locked eyes with Kilat, and even the Electric dragoness felt shivers of fear going up her spine. She curled inward, latching on to Joshua with all her might, as if that gesture alone could persuade the guards to give the human a chance.
It didn't. "Unfortunately, after the Apes were freed from the Dark Master's curse, our border patrols started seeing 'new variants' lately. They have less hair, they are smarter, they are crueler, and they hate my kind so much more than King Gaul did. And you…" He growled. Both Joshua and his young charge recoiled at the sound. It must've been more terrifying for the human; the dragoness knew his mysterious Element enhanced his hearing immensely.
"You don't have any hair at all, not like those Apes. Yet you walk too much like them. You stand too much like them. You look too much like them." His claws crushed the soil beneath them, and Kilat believed the guard was restraining himself as much as possible to retain even a sliver of professionalism when he wanted no more than to rip her older brother apart. "If it wasn't for that child in your arms, I might even think you're another new variant. I'd have bet one of my horns on it."
He loomed high above Joshua, high above even Kilat. The dragoness whimpered under his menacing gaze. "Maybe that's why you have her. You're working with Caesar, aren't you? You're trying to do something to this city—to my city, and you've gone and cut off this poor girl's wing to gain our sympathy."
"N-no!" Joshua Renalia growled himself. "NO!" His grumble could never compare to the honest and true snarl of a dragon, but the fact he steeled himself and contested it confidently made the Ice Dragon lean back, skeptical but willing to listen. "Damn it, look at me!" He pointed to the walking stick snuggled in his left armpit. "All I have is this walking stick! I don't have any weapons. I don't have any armor. I'm f*cking defenseless! Besides, look how comfortable Kilat's with me. She'd have no reason to be like that if I'm the one who severed her wing!"
.
.
Kilat loved Joshua.
She did not want to be separated from him, from someone she now considered an older brother, from someone she trusted more than these frightening, hostile guards.
"M, m-mister," the dragoness began, stammering from anxiety, from the fear of losing the human when it's only been days since they met. "Joshua's a hoo-man. He's no ape! He found me in the Dry Canyon the other day after Apes killed my friends and left me to die. He saved me."
Kilat looked up at each and every one of the guards, pleadingly. The Ice Dragon. The cheetah. The two moles. Her voice trembled but retained all of its sincerity and appreciation for the human. "He didn't need to, but he helped me. Until now he's still going out of his way to help me. Ancestors, I owe my life to him!" She almost cried. "So p-p-please, let him in. Give my hoo-man a chance. He, h-h-he—Joshua just wants to talk to the, t-the Guardians."
At her heartfelt defense, the moles glanced at each other again, their expressions no longer neutral and uncaring, but uncertain. Even the cheetah seemed to melt away at the sight of a young child begging for Warfang's strict, unmoving gatekeepers to overlook the human's uncanny resemblance to the new Apes.
The Ice Dragon's muzzle held a frown rather than an empathic look. He still wanted to pursue the young man, to persecute him for being a furless ape. But he found himself quickly losing power, all because the little girl had something to say and stood by the human.
A young girl still inexperienced in life, Kilat failed to recognize the Ice Dragon's body language. The Electric dragoness did not realize how close he was to relenting to an innocent child's wish. Had she noticed this, she would've urged Joshua to move forward and force the Ice Dragon to keep quiet. He might have had no choice but to watch the human walk past him, walk past the two moles, file his application for entry, and guarantee a meeting with the Guardians that very day.
Instead, she failed to see the signs and simply waited for one side or the other to break. In hindsight, this was the worst thing that could've happened.
The Ice Dragon grumbled. "Urrrrggghhh. I suppose I could—
"Rimeer! What're you doing?"
Another adult dragon, his scales a lush combination of vermillion and dark rust, touched down on the ground next to the massive doors of the Eastern Gate, flying in from the top of the wall. The sheer mass of this new dragon crushed the Spirit Gems underneath his feet. While he adorned the same armor as the Ice Dragon, Kilat saw his equipment included a solid, metal chest plate, on which a strange, glinting pattern of metal was affixed…
Rimeer, the Ice Dragon, bowed before the newcomer, who stood taller than him by almost two heads. "Sir, I was about to let these two through. The girl has demonstrated the strength and virtue of her relationship with her hoo-man companion. I believe they are worthy of—
"Relationship? What relationship?" scoffed Rimeer's superior, cutting him off. "Isn't it obvious? This hairless APE brainwashed the child. Make no mistake, rookie. He's here to spy on Warfang and, on Caesar's behalf, undermine the city council and the Guardians."
"Are you f*cking insane?" Joshua yelled, unable to accept the madness happening before them. "Spying? Brainwashing? I don't even know where the goddamn Apes are holed up! Where the f*ck are you getting all these stupid, idiotic—
A spike of ice flew just past Joshua's head. Kilat gasped, watching a red streak appear on his face. His viridian gaze froze, and slowly, he raised his hand and ran his fingers across the wound. His arms began to shudder, seeing the drops of blood.
"Watch your words, hoo-man," Rimeer warned. "Infernus has served Warfang for months, and before that, was the leader of a dragon settlement far beyond our borders. He is among the Top 10 candidates for the new Fire Guardian, chosen by the Purple Dragon himself."
Joshua Renalia ignored the Ice Dragon. "Oh my god," he muttered, staring blankly at the blood in his hands. "Jesus, Mary, Joseph…"
Kilat, however, heard every word and replied with a baleful glare of her own. "So? SO? I don't care! Infernape there could've licked the Purple Dragon's cloaca for all I know! Joshua doesn't deserve being treated like, like he's"—she sniffled.—"like he's evil!"
The Fire Dragon whipped towards her, the merciless, ruthless eyes of a hardened leader boring down on the preadolescent dragoness. "You impudent hatchling! I ought to—
"Excuse me?" called a sixth voice. Another person, this time coming from the back of the line. "Excuse me?" Kilat leaned past her older brother's arm, cobalt eyes observing a dark, brown-furred llama pushing his way to the front of the line. "Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey! What's holding up the line? I have a team of workers hauling in cartloads of vegetables and Spirit Gems from the Tall Plains."
One of the moles broke his guarded stance and jogged to meet the atlawa in the middle. "Sir," he said. "Stay where you are. I'm coming to you! You don't need to—
He finally pushed his way to the very front. "We're running on a tight schedule, and we can't afford to dawdle because you guards…"
The atlawa's voice faltered. Then he did a double take, brown eyes dilating as he spent a good amount of time checking out the only human standing in the middle, surrounded by five obstinate guardsmen. "Spirits!" he exclaimed, loud enough for everyone around him to hear. "An ape! There's an ape at the Gates!"
Murmurs suddenly swept through the crowd.
"An ape?"
"Here? An ape here? At Warfang?"
"Ancestors help us! It's the war all over again!"
"Why won't they just leave us alone, mommy? Why?"
Kilat did not notice the burgundy dragoness she met earlier glance at them from way ahead in the residents' lane, her emerald eyes widening from astonishment. She was simply too busy grimacing over the increasing mutterings reverberating amongst all the people around them.
"F*ck me!" Joshua bellowed. "For the last damn time, I am not one of those f*cking apes! I'm a human! A human being. A completely different species!"
The atlawa manager replied, "Do you think we're fools? You don't work for Caesar. You work for Malefor!"
"What the hell! He's gone! You can't just—
"There's no such thing as a human. I've never heard of 'em." He thrust a finger at Joshua. "Your unusual appearance is nothing but the work of black magic!"
Kilat crawled up Joshua's shoulder to glare at this disgraceful creature. "You're wrong! Joshua only wants help from the Guardians! He's not involved with—
He wasn't listening. "See? Do you all see that?" His finger now pointed at the Electric dragoness perched on the young man's shoulder. "Look how he's corrupted an innocent child! By the Spirits, the ape wants to assassinate the Purple Dragon! Rob us of our city's pillars while we sleep in the dead of the night!"
The murmuring grew louder. Kilat could no longer ignore the terrified, fearful expressions spreading, rippling across the crowd as though a stone of dread had been chucked into the middle of a large pond. "He didn't do anything!" the dragoness screamed. "It's not fair! Even if he looks a little like an ape, that doesn't mean he is one!"
Her protests failed to pacify the crowd. She didn't know what to do. Sweat started pooling in her paws. The young child hissed, frustrated, unable to figure out why this was happening and how to stop it before things came head to head. The City of Warfang was the last place she expected to breed feelings of dread and anxiety, not after Explodon, Glacia, and Rockclaw advertised its peace and safety so shamelessly back in Mungo Volpe.
"Poor girl."
"Poor, poor girl."
"Look! Her left wing! It's gone."
"It's that ape. He took it from her, tricked her with his sinister black magic."
"The Dark Master's back? Is he really back?"
"Look! Look over there! At the Gates! That's proof standing right there!"
Kilat began to cry. Ancestors, why wasn't anyone listening? She was telling the truth. She had nothing to bank on but her utter honesty. Why were these people attacking Joshua Renalia like this? He was her older brother now. He took care of her. He loved her as much as she loved him. Why couldn't they see that? Why did they focus too much on his form?
Why?
Why?
Why?
"Kilat." The dragon child whipped her muzzle down, towards the human being. She must've had a horrified mien on her snout, or she wouldn't have felt him fondle her tail. "Don't cry. It's no use. I… We… There're plenty of people like them back home, too. We call them retards."
Before she could respond to his words of comfort, someone shouted above the growing din. "Kill the furless ape!"
"Chop off his head and put it on a spike!" added a cheetah from the line added, "That'll teach Apes not to mess with us!"
The crowd—the mob approached, closing in on Joshua and Kilat with loathing making itself at home between their eyes. The guards did nothing. In fact, they seemed to surround them too, cutting off the open spaces around them.
Rimeer ambled towards them. The Ice Dragon's muzzle was emotionless. Callous. "Hoo-man, by the order of Infernus, tenth candidate for the Fire Guardian and former leader of the Midnight Mountain settlement, you are arrested for the kidnapping and torture of a young dragon, attempted espionage, and attempted assassination of the Saviors and the Guardians. You can come quietly and wait for your judgment in front of the Guardians and the Warfang Council, or we can kill you."
Joshua began to panic. "N-no! You're wrong. You're all wrong! I'm innocent! You can't do this. You can't just assume I'm guilty! Don't you have due process?"
Rimeer walked onward, momentarily nodding at the cheetah for some help in restraining an uncooperative target. He did not offer Joshua the solace of a reply. The Red Lady looked away from them, her ears, wings, and muzzle all showing the signs of sorrow and disappointment. She was afraid to speak up. Honestly, Kilat never blamed her for holding her peace, even after the burgundy dragoness apologized for this choice multiple times in the days to come.
"F*ck me. F*ck me, f*ck me, f*ck me! I didn't go to Warfang's gates for this shit!"
.
.
Kilat loved Joshua.
When she threw herself at him on the afternoon they met, mourning over Lani's sacrifice most of all and the gaping hole he left behind, she doubted Joshua's concern for her too many times, far too many, in the span of a few minutes. But whenever she entertained those doubts, whenever she listened to her own disbelief, she found nothing except true safety, genuine care, and an exposed neck.
She decided to trust him from that day onward. She would stand by him, through thick and thin, because she had a feeling he wouldn't hesitate to stand beside her when she needed him.
He did exactly that when he chose to go through the Eastern Gate rather than sneaking into the city, and at great personal risk, only so Kilat wouldn't suffer from the life of an impoverished tramp.
Now it was time to stand beside him when he needed her.
"No, I'm not losing someone I care about again!" Kilat leaped off the human, feeling the energy within her come to life. She surrendered to it, letting it flow throughout her. "You won't take him away! You won't, you won't!" Electricity streamed from her snout, inundating the ground between Joshua and the guards with deadly, hurtful yellow bolts.
One of the people in the rapidly-forming mob screamed.
"The ape has cast a spell on the dragoness!"
"Ancestors, it's black magic!"
"Any dragonflies here? Someone go get help!"
"Run! Run before the child turns!"
"No! Kill the ape! KILL THE APE!"
Kilat found a small group of atlawas, cheetahs, and moles trying to attack Joshua from behind. The dragoness listened to her instincts, pooling the stinging energy of her mana in front of her muzzle. She shot the Electric Orb at the center of the group, forcing them to scatter. She repeated it again and again, trying to keep the crowd at bay.
The child needed to open a way out. It had to be her. Joshua lacked the ability to reliably tap into his Element, and even if he didn't, its potency was too frightening to actually consider for something as simple as crowd control.
"Stay away from me!"
The two armored moles lunged at Joshua Renalia. He brandished his walking stick, barely in time to deflect the spears coming his way. Their steel blades chipped the ironwood, and the sheer strength behind the attack pushed him back.
An Atlawa bystander took action, rushing the human from behind.
Joshua spun as if he had eyes on the back of his head—Ancestors, Kilat almost forgot, the Unknown Element allowed him to sense life from all directions!—and struck the furry llama in the neck. It did not truly hurt this everyday hero, but the impact brought him down long enough for the human to turn right back around and avoid being skewered by two spears.
"Joshua!" Kilat spat a breath of lightning at the moles. Thousands of volts struck one and immediately arced to the other, attracted by the conductive nature of their armor. "Now! Attack now!" It hurt them, only slightly, but the brief paralysis gave the human enough time to retaliate.
Rimeer was suddenly upon her. A large, looming shadow of an adult Ice dragon bearing down on a preadolescent less than half his size. He twisted his rear, lashing out with a tail covered in ice and radiating a freezing mist. Instincts screamed at the dragoness to avoid getting hit by this at all costs.
Joshua's warning magnified the anxiety coursing through her. "He's trying to paralyze you! Don't ever let his attacks hit!"
The child went prone, collapsing all four of her legs. Rimeer's massive tail curved past her; he would've struck her successfully if Kilat had never lost her left wing in the first place. She rolled a split second before the Ice Dragon unleashed his ice breath on her exact position, which left behind a clump of frozen grass.
She directed the electricity within into her sharp talons, her hind feet bending to propel her towards her gargantuan opponent—
"I'm sorry, little girl."
Rimeer abused every advantage his adult body had over Kilat and swatted her with a forepaw with blue mist trailing behind it. He did not have any of his claws extended, not when he viewed her as a hapless victim. Kilat yelped from the blunt pain as she spun across the dirt road, dazed but not yet out of the fight.
"Shit! KILAT!" Joshua howled her name. "Don't you hurt her!" The Unknown Element responded to his distress, and for a brief moment, white wisps followed the walking stick in his hands, the same way a miniscule amount of a dragon's Element could be manifested in physical attacks. They were barely visible underneath the bright sun, but Kilat saw it as clear as day, only because she was paying attention.
Joshua sidestepped the two moles and ran closer towards them. His stick struck the two and suddenly they were down, incapable of movement. Their bodies looked unhurt, clean and devoid of blood, but the confusion plastered on their faces clearly indicated something had happened. Something they couldn't explain. Something that penetrated their armor. Something that tipped the scales to his favor.
It lasted for a single moment.
Because as soon as there was empty space between him and Kilat, Joshua was interrupted mid-sprint by the hulking form of Rimeer barreling down at him, horns down, covered in icy mist. It didn't matter if the human sensed him coming. He wouldn't have been able to do anything about it, not at the speed the Ice Dragon had been dashing.
Kilat shrieked as her cobalt eyes slowly bore witness to those two massive horns skewering the human and the force of the charge lifting Joshua into the air and flinging him into an observing mole watching the fight from apparent safety. The child heard multiple bones break. Instead of seeing the bag of crystals dropping from the farm harvester's hands, Kilat felt her second wind coming. She rushed to assist her older brother. "NO!"
She crushed a green Spirit Gem growing close to her and sprinted towards Joshua. The cheetah guard ran in and obstructed her path, a shield in his hands, ready to bash and knock her out cold. She lowered her head and pointed her own horns at the enemy in front of her, channeling her electricity into her charge.
The dragoness slammed into the cheetah's shield, her power enhanced by her own Element.
Bolts of lightning exploded all around the helpless cheetah, while the charge itself caused the metal to crumple behind the full weight and force of her thick, curved horns. Kilat kept going after the attack, not bothering to even check whether or not the guard was electrocuted to death. Joshua populated her thoughts. She imagined him suffering, the way she imagined the Apes must have tormented Lani after she escaped.
Apprehensive, Kilat committed herself to seeing through to his safety. Nothing more, nothing less.
Rimeer once again faced her. The golden dragoness readied the strongest Electric Orb she had ever made and spewed it in his direction, yet this time around the cerulean dragon answered her offensive with an orb of his own, lobbing a sphere of blue mist in its direction. Both globes burst in an opaque screen of lightning and snow, blocking even Joshua from her line of sight.
Kilat rushed undeterred. Once more, the preadolescent summoned her inner electricity. But rather than unleashing it from her muzzle, she allowed it to radiate from her body, emit the lightning from every pore and hole and nerve within her. A golden coat of electricity surrounded her, pulsing and revolving around her, which she hoped would prevent any of her enemies from immobilizing her. Not until she got to Joshua.
Unfortunately, Rimeer had been waiting for her when she finally shot past the point of collision. Instead of avoiding her attacks, he took Kilat head-on. He pounced on the dragon child, pummeling her muzzle and withstanding the electric shocks until the current surrounding her dissipated from sudden loss of control. This time he pinned her down, forcing her to watch Joshua as he slumped down to the grass.
"Amazing," he briefly remarked, awed. "I've never seen a dragon as young as you pull off the Volt Tackle like that before."
She snubbed him. "Let go!" Kilat kept squirming, struggling to squeeze herself out from underneath the Ice Dragon's body. "I said let go! JOSHUA!" Her eyes registered the blood pooling out of the boy, his slumped form on the ground, just a step or two away from a red Spirit Gem. "Joshua! Get up." Tears fell from the child. "Get UP!"
"The ape is dying, little girl," Rimeer said in her ear. "But don't worry. You'll thank us for it later, when the magic finally wears off."
"What magic? What magic?" she hollered, discharging electricity. She couldn't do it through her scales again, not with the uncomfortable pressure the Ice Dragon dug into certain areas of her body, disorienting her focus. "There's no magic! Joshua's right. You're all crazy!"
She heard Infernus speak. "Knock her out, Rimeer. We do not need any more drama from a stupid, talkative child—
A collective gasp rose from the crowd of residents and travelers surrounding them. A grown woman shrieked, and she saw a strange type of mole, one that looked less tech-savvy than the kind defending Warfang. Joshua would have called it a manweersmall had she asked about it earlier, while they were walking to the Eastern Gates. The dragoness watched its large, elongated snout open wide in a panic and release another scream as she broke off from the crowd, sharp claws, gray fur, and all.
Kilat's weeping tapered off, her azure gaze registering the human being slowly getting up with a few red crystals in his hands. Several dragonflies were flying in from inside the city walls, circling the entire spectacle like witnesses. "Impossible!" One said on arrival. "Only dragons use Spirit Gems!"
More guards poured out of the Eastern Gates, their armor bulkier, their blades seemingly sharper and more dangerous—a much higher quality. Kilat lost count at fifteen, and three among them were dragons that weren't quite adults, but nonetheless larger than the Red Lady. Rimeer shifted his position atop her, obviously ensuring she had much less room to wriggle and writhe.
Infernus declared, "See? This is proof the furless ape is a ward of the Dark Master! No mere ape can harness the power of our Ancestors so easily."
They had it all wrong, Kilat wanted to say. Joshua had his own Element. He—Ancestors, she couldn't speak! Rimeer's weight on her body barely allowed her to breathe.
"Why do you keep assuming the worst, Infernus?" Joshua said. It came out not so much as a question as it was a plea. "Can't you just think that I can absorb the Spirit Gems naturally? Are you so dumb you'd prefer something so extreme instead of a stupidly simple issue? I just want to talk to the Guardians so I can understand what's going on with me. Nothing else!"
Infernus replied, "That's how we survived in the Midnight Mountain, ape. We evaded all of the Dark Master's reconnaissance because we always assumed the worst."
"What is wrong with you?" he shouted. "I swear to you, I'm not here to hurt the Guardians, or the Saviors! I'd never hurt them! I'm not one of those stupid Apes! I'm human!"
One of the new guards snarled. "You're lying!"
"All non-combatants," the large, armored Fire dragon pronounced. "Retreat into the city or get as far away as possible. This Ape's been revealed to be a servant working directly under the Dark Master! With his cover blown away, I fear he may start using deadly magic from this point onward."
Joshua cursed him, disregarding the civilians scattering into the farmland or ushering past the guards into the protection of the city. "You f*cking son of a bitch! I'm only here to talk, maybe even move into Warfang! I don't really know! I'm alone, and I just want help." Kilat felt the anger in his words, but for all the ferociousness in his cadence, the Electric dragoness saw his quivering legs betray him. His walking stick intermittently and faintly glowing white. Whether fright or ire or both moved him, Kilat could care less. Because he needed her. By the Ancestors, he needed her beside him. "But you're so damn blind you'd rather think I'm working for Malefor or those monkeys!"
Infernus growled, but Joshua was too emotional to care now, throwing out one name Kilat never heard him mention. "Spyro would never choose someone like you to replace Ignitus! I could think of a hundred reasons why you'll never live up to him."
"I've heard enough," rumbled the Fire dragon. "Rimeer, take care of the girl now. Everyone, on my count, we will charge and destroy—
A new voice interrupted him, spoken with enough authority that Infernus dropped everything. "What is going on here?"
Kilat's eyes dilated. The Purple Dragon was flying down from the sky, followed by a black, slender dragoness and a golden dragonfly. She saw the youth in his features, in his purple scales and the unwrinkled skin of his reddish wings. He was not that much larger than the Red Lady, and he still stood a head or two shorter than the other young adults among the guards.
Rimeer grumbled. A low growl no one else but Kilat heard. "She's here…"
"We were doing a routine patrol around Warfang when we saw the commotion from the sky. I wanted to check it out. Infernus"—he eyed the Ice Dragon, purple orbs scrutinizing the golden dragon beneath his belly—"Can you tell me what's happening? Why does Rimeer have a child pinned under—
"Whoa!" a baritone voice bellowed from the dragonfly, to Kilat's shock. A dragonfly couldn't speak that loudly, could it? "There's an ape at the Gates. That's not something you see everyday. And look, it's mostly bald!"
The Purple Dragon and the black dragoness accompanying him turned immediately and ogled Joshua, just as the young man replied with something akin to relief forming on his face, "Damn it, Sparx! This isn't the time for your stupid jokes. And I'm not an ape. I'm not bald." He shook his head, a little amused at the insect. "I was just born this way, geez!"
The black one leered at the dragonfly, her grin visible. "Heh," she chuckled, "Looks like I'm not the only one who finds you annoying."
Sparx the dragonfly did not say anything. He hovered closer to the Purple Dragon's golden horns, wary of the human. The Hero of the Dragon Realms ogled the flying insect, an expression of confusion on his muzzle. "Sparx, do you know this… errr, creature?"
He shook his head.
Joshua Renalia moved again, but unlike before his posture exuded some level of comfort. Kilat felt waves of relief emanating from him. From her point of view, they were honestly and truly done for, but if her older brother could still see a sliver of hope right now, then perhaps he knew the situation far better than she did.
"I am so glad to see you two!" he said.
The Purple Dragon stiffened at his approach, legs tensing up, preparing for any sudden moves. Joshua instantly raised his arms, placing the stick back between his armpit. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on there. I'm just trying to talk. Look, Spyro, Cynder... and Sparx... my name is Joshua. I know you've never seen me before, but I'm a human, okay? That's what my species is called." He shot Infernus a vindictive look. "Let me tell you exactly what that jerkass over there is doing—
The vermillion dragon put his feet down between the teenager and the Savior. "You're not going anywhere close to the Purple Dragon, ape." Tongues of fire flared in his maw. "Take another step and I'll—
"Cynder!" The Hero's voice cut her off. "What're you doing?"
Kilat watched the slender dragoness slink around the adult Fire Dragon, approaching the human of her own volition. Her movements were careful, but non-threatening. This Cynder at least showed some willingness to trust Joshua. Thank the Ancesto—wait… Cynder?
Cynder?
"I'm hearing him out, Spyro," she said.
"But… something feels off about him and all the guards…!"
"Maybe it's all just a big misunderstanding," she reasoned. "This ap—this human, seems to know us, and he's smiling. That's new, isn't it?
"Well… I… I guess…"
"Also, I did hear him say your name and Ignitus's before we touched down."
The circumspection in his stance relaxed. "He, h-he did?"
Infernus scowled. "Do what you want, little devil. If the ape attacks you, I will not—
"Infernus!" growled Spyro, wings flaring open at the insult.
The Fire dragon submitted to the youth, clearly showing just who he answered to. "My apologies," he said. Everyone who heard him speak knew he meant none of it.
Unfortunately, Kilat had long stopped paying attention to the scene unfolding before her. "Cynder?" she muttered, wondering why the name felt so familiar. "Cynder, Cynder, Cynder…? Ancestors, why does that sound so…"
Rimeer, released from his stupor by Kilat's stillness and way she tasted the dragoness's name on her tongue, lowered his snout towards her. "Yes, little girl," he said, his posture shifting. "That is indeed Cynder. The Terror of the Skies." His voice carried disdain. Suppressed fury.
That dragoness was the Terror of the Skies? The same dragon, who led the Apes as they rampaged across the known reaches of the Dragon Realms? As they slaughtered every dragon encampment they encountered and enslaved all the other races?
A memory almost long forgotten flashed in the child's eyes. She remembered a tall, slender dragon looming above the bloodied bodies of her father and older brother, as she and a band of Apes cornered her mother and her two surviving siblings. She'd never forget the six ivory horns sprouting from her skull, the magenta coloring her wing membranes and her underside, or the platinum necklace wrapped around her throat.
Cynder, the Terror of the Skies.
The dragoness in front of her, the same dragoness walking to Joshua at this very moment, looked almost exactly like she did in Kilat's dreams, in her buried memories. Kilat did not understand—did not care to understand why she was so small now, or why she did not bear the metal collar on her neck. The Electric dragon did not understand why the Purple Dragon of Legend associated with an embodiment of evil, with a true servant of Malefor.
All she saw was the Terror of the Skies herself closing in on the human who became her older brother, looming above the young man's head.
.
.
Kilat loved Joshua.
She had lost her entire family to the Apes, murdered by the black dragoness herself as they threw themselves at her in an act of sacrifice.
She had lost Lani to the Apes seven years later, dead in another heroic sacrifice.
She refused to lose anyone like that ever again.
Kilat renewed her struggling. Rimeer's new posture gave the golden dragon enough wiggle room for her to curl inward and bite the Ice Dragon's underside. "Ow!" he blurted, jumping off of her.
Kilat saw the window of opportunity and made use of it. She evoked the electricity charging—rippling through her body. Lightning burst from her scales as Kilat bolted away from Rimeer, not noticing the knowing smirk on his muzzle.
"Cynder!" she yelled at the black dragoness, enraged.
"Kilat," Joshua called to her. "It's fine! She's not—
She heard nothing. "You killed mom and dad! My family!"
"KILAT!" Joshua reached out to her, but she proved too fast, speeding beyond his outstretched hand with electricity pooling in her snout.
She saw nothing, not even the guilty expression flaring on her target's muzzle. "You're not killing Joshua too!"
Author's notes:
Ugh, I'm not feeling all too impressed with the battle scene in the middle of the chapter. I think it could've gone better, and it does feel a little rushed. I hope it can pass.
Either way, our favorite characters finally (and literally) drop in on the chaos… but it looks like Kilat's family wasn't exactly killed by the Apes. So much for a peaceful resolution.
Anyway, exam day's in two weeks! No more procrastinating now! :D