Chapter 13: An Unhatched Egg
"Paranoia is the world. It is the attempt to make sense of what has not."
- Thomas Pynchon
Joshua Renalia rose to his feet, trembling as the HP crystals in his hands worked their magic. The blessings of the Ancestors flowed through the human, operating through his connection to them, through the Unknown Element.
But even then, Infernus refused to see Joshua as a young man with something he couldn't explain. A teenager seeking help, lost and possibly the only individual of his species here in the Dragon Realms. The Guardian Candidate preferred to view the human from tinted glasses, seeing him not as a boy who wanted to go home, but a servant of the Dark Master, determined to kill the city from the inside-out.
Joshua stood his ground in defiance. A valiant stance, facing not a pack of Death Hounds looking for a meal but a paranoid people, traumatized by the war and fearing enemy resurgence, with or without Malefor himself. His self-awareness extended for 500 meters, for as far as Joshua's Element naturally permitted. He took account of all pulses of life surrounding him.
All the armed guards in front. All the chary civilians behind.
All vibrating rapidly. All fluctuating from cool blue to an agitated red and back.
Kilat's pulse shook and squirmed under the Ice Dragon, sparkling and flickering. Like firelight against the breeze.
He did not notice the white glow of his Element coating the ironwood stick in his hands, because he couldn't afford to take his eyes off his enemies, off the people who wanted to kill him just for resembling an ape, even just a little.
Because trepidation and reprieve equally thundered in his heart, crushing his chest with a terror Joshua would never be able to describe with words even if he had Earth's most comprehensive thesaurus laid out in front of him.
So when he watched the Saviors glide down from Warfang airspace, when he saw the two most prominent dragons in the Legend trilogy literally descending from the heavens, a smile instantly appeared on the teenager's face. A gleaming speck of light materialized in the darkness: the end of this sinister tunnel of speciesism and paranoia-induced stupidity. Amazement and admiration—no—a God moment overwhelmed Joshua Renalia every second his emerald gaze took in their magnificent forms.
It was the moment he had been waiting for—he had been wishing for since his arrival in the Dragon Realms.
The moment he met Spyro and Cynder.
In his old life—a life of video games, movies, sex, high school, and alcohol—Joshua Renalia was an avid reader as much as he was a fan of the Spyro the Dragon franchise. He absorbed Wikipedia articles, TV Tropes pages, and Spyro wikia entries much more often than he'd willingly admit to his friends and his significant other.
When he wasn't busy getting off on the latest issue of FHM, Joshua's iPad typically cast his russet face in blue light, viridian eyes lazily ogling the bright iPad as his thumb scrolled down and down until he fell asleep on his foam mattress.
Spyro.
A young dragon, compassionate for others, Joshua had read. He was always willing to help others, never asking for rewards, and merely content with the joy, the satisfaction of someone smiling. Highly intelligent, eager to learn and grow, and courageous, by the end of Dawn of the Dragon Spyro had grown into a respected individual, who would choose a path only he knew felt right. A fitting destiny for the Purple Dragon of Legend, a hero embodying Change itself.
On the other hand, Cynder was once a tainted monster loyal to the Dark Master, her early life characterized by tragedy.
As time passed, her guilt and desire to overcome the misfortunes of her past—actions, choices she had no control over—paved the way for her ingenuity and autonomy. As intelligent as Spyro and perhaps even more so, she was a spirited one, unafraid to take the initiative or express her thoughts. Cynder was as much an active foil to the passive but sanguine Hero of the Dragon Realms as he was to her.
Joshua recited these profiles in his mind as he watched the two Protagonists of Dawn of the Dragon, an expression of reverence obvious to anyone who bothered to glance at his face.
Spyro and Cynder.
Oh my God!
Spyro and Cynder!
The genuine articles.
Oh my f*cking God!
His most beloved, childhood heroes of all time.
And they were so close. Right in front of him, paws gracefully stepping on the grass.
They're here.
In person.
They're really here.
In the motherf*cking flesh!
.
.
Right, in front, of him!
.
.
Joshua Renalia suppressed the urge to squeal when his heroes stopped the fight before it even had a chance to erupt. Without realizing it, the teenager left his common sense behind—abandoned the remnant doubt that had been cast when he watched Hunter accompany Paddock out of Warfang's boundaries.
For a moment the teenager was so overcome with happiness, he forgot all the terrors of speciesism. Ravenously he eyeballed the Saviors of the Dragon Realms, committing as much as he could to memory. He didn't care if he'd end up turning the both of them into his friends. They were like gods to him. Legends!
Living legends!
He felt like—he became a little boy again, ogling the lifelike graphics on the TV screen. If it wasn't for the fact his Element enabled him to smell the scents naturally floating off of Spyro's and Cynder's bodies—even associate them with that of a musky swamp and a resinous smoke, Joshua might have thought this was all a bad dream. That he still lay in bed, trapped in enough nightmares to put Christopher Nolan's Inception to shame.
One'd think, after playing the games, loitering in wikis, and surreptitiously downloading Spyro artwork from DeviantArt in the middle of the night as though each piece was no less beguiling than the pornography tucked under his pillow—after everything he had ever looked up on The Legend of Spyro and the franchise itself, Joshua wouldn't have reacted the way he did. Spyro's scales shimmered under the sunlight. The purple was so unusual—so flawless the boy couldn't help but stare. It looked… he looked so different in the flesh!
"Whoa!"
A voice—a very familiar voice shook Joshua Renalia out of his intent staring. "There's an ape at the Gates! That's not something you see every day." Emerald eyes identified the golden dragonfly circling around him—at a distance—wiry arms crossed and scratching the smooth exoskeleton. "And look, it's mostly bald!"
As soon as Sparx the dragonfly called him out, the very saviors Joshua was too busy eye-raping turned away from a conversation with the fraud that dared call himself a candidate for the next Fire Guardian. They turned to him. They stared at him. But the dangers lurking behind their lofty pedestals still were generous enough to let the human enjoy the moment. "Damn it, Sparx!" he said without thinking. "This isn't the time for your stupid jokes. And I'm not an ape. I'm not bald." Shaking his head, "I was just born this way, geez!"
Another pair of eyes just as viridian as the boy's rolled towards the insect. "Heh, looks like I'm not the only one who finds you annoying."
Spyro himself looked lost in confusion. "Sparx, do you know this…" He glanced at the young man, still uncertain. "…err, creature?"
Seeing an end to the farce Rimeer and Infernape orchestrated, and a new beginning for what would probably become an extended stay in the City of Dragons, Joshua Renalia swallowed all the jitters, all the excitement of meeting his heroes of his childhood. "I am so glad to see you two!" He said, stepping forward. Joshua only had one chance. And he—
The dream became a nightmare.
Glass shattered.
Spyro and Cynder alike tensed the second he approached them. Joshua discerned their life signatures instantly compressing into tight spheres. He couldn't feel any rippling from either of them—he couldn't read them, but even he sensed faint traces of power sheathing their paws. Enveloping the bony fingers of their wings.
Did they…
Did they see him as a threat?
Joshua Renalia remembered this wasn't the Dragon Realms he expected, and almost a few seconds too late. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on there." He pinned his walking stick underneath his arm and raised his hands, palms facing out. "I'm just trying to talk."
The Heroes remained silent. Their eyes were not friendly. Their eyes were assiduous.
Judging.
Nobody spoke. Not even Sparx, who hid behind Spyro's horns like a spineless coward.
"Look," Joshua began, emerald-green eyes panning to his intended, to his real audience. "Spyro, Cynder"—glimpsing the ire flashing from the dragonfly's pulse—"and Sparx." He took another step forward. No reaction. Good. "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."
The two dragons nodded. Then he noticed both were bigger than what the games led him to believe. Spyro and Cynder were as tall as him, maybe even surpassing him by an inch. They easily surpassed the only dragoness that showed him friendship rather than discrimination. They must've had another growth spurt in the past four years, Joshua realized. Guess they're not getting any younger. He ogled the vermilion adult standing behind them. "You want to know what's going on?" he asked, taking a stab at the unasked question. "Let me tell you exactly what that jerkass over there is doing—
Predictably, Infernus went between him and the two Saviors. "You're not going anywhere close to the Purple Dragon, ape." He made an attempt to intimidate the human. Joshua didn't want to admit it out loud, but it worked. He hoped his body wasn't shivering badly enough for everyone else to notice the fear crawling back into him. "Take another step and I'll—
To his surprise—to Spyro's surprise, the black dragoness weaved—circled her way around that stupid Guardian Candidate. Joshua found her pointed muzzle a little difficult to interpret, but he believed Cynder wore an inquisitive expression. It never came close to Kilat's obsessive (and cute) curiosity, yet it was nonetheless a good sign.
Finally! Someone important was going to listen to him!
"Cynder!" Spyro called after her, his voice an odd, but pleasant blend of Elijah Wood and Tom Kenny. Must be puberty. "What're you doing?"
"I'm hearing him out, Spyro,"she replied, self-assured.
"But…" Spyro fidgeted, eyeing Joshua warily. "Something feels off about him. And the guards—
"Maybe it's all just a big misunderstanding." He could hear Cynder's assertiveness flowing from her tongue. Self-assured. Experienced and mature. "This ape"—she quickly corrected herself.—"This human, seems to know us, and he's smiling. That's new, isn't it?"
Probably because every other primate they met preferred to scowl at them, hiss at them, or attempt to outright kill them.
The Purple Dragon of Legend knew his position was weak. "Well, I…" He looked away. "I guess…" For a second there, Joshua thought he saw A New Beginning's Spyro there. Clearly some things never changed.
"Also, I did hear him say your name and Ignitus's before we touched down."
Joshua blinked. She did? She heard him dropping the names when he threw a fit of indignation at Infernus earlier? Damn it. He must've slipped again! That's another complication he didn't need.
"He, h-he did?"
The Guardian Candidate grimaced. "Do what you want, little devil."
"Little devil"? Was Cynder still hated? How—that didn't make sense! It's been four years after the war. Surely her role in defeating Malefor had gone wide and far by now.
"If the ape attacks you, I will not—"
"Infernus!" Spyro chastised.
"…My apologies." Even Joshua knew his apology was empty.
Cynder rolled her eyes at the Fire Dragon's insult and pushed onward. She calmly walked towards the human, her posture brimming from grace. Joshua's heart thumped. It thumped quicker and quicker as Cynder closed in on him, her emerald gaze scrutinizing him.
Like Spyro, the video games did not turn out to be as accurate as he expected. The light looked as if it arced around her, emphasizing not the dark Byzantium of Legend trilogy but scales black enough to compete with Toothless. She had the grace of a mature, cultured dragoness. Even a human like Joshua couldn't doubt she did possess the beauty that captivated hundreds of Legend fans, motivated them to churn out one fanfiction—one fanart after another for years on end, up to almost a decade after the games' release and still going hot.
Despite the grace embedded in her footfalls, despite the calm tranquility permeating her demeanor, that did not stop the various pulses of life from tightening as the former Terror of the Skies moved away from Spyro the Dragon and sauntered towards the center, where Joshua Renalia faced the crowd by his lonesome.
Isolated.
Singled out.
Ripples of coagulated emotion swept through the crowd. While not the entirety of the group surrounding them, it included a great many, even among the other guards. Many enough to be noticeable should they all act in concert.
Joshua exhaled slowly. Cynder meant well, but the retarded bigots around them weren't taking her direct intervention kindly. He steeled himself, knowing anything could—
"You scared?"
The human regarded Cynder. Four years older, she had grown bigger since Dawn of the Dragon. The outsized crest on her forehead was no longer so disproportionate. Little by little this charming dragoness recovered the adult body she once had. The body many associated with murder. With evil.
"We won't hurt you unless you give us a reason to."
Leave it to the Saviors to be one of the more competent ones in this godforsaken place. "I know." Joshua smiled. A sincere grin, certainly buttressed by the fact he was talking one on one with a childhood hero of his. "I know you and Spyro aren't like that."
"You do?" Fascination shone in her eyes. "Hmmmmm, whenever someone meets us for the first time, usually they come in believing we're something else. They like to think Spyro's a swaggering hero ready to pounce at something all the time." She just described Classic Spyro in a sentence. Joshua almost chuckled at that. "And when they look at me, they…" Her voice trailed off. Frustration—and misery—appeared on her black, pointed muzzle.
"You're the last dragon they'd expect to have saved the world with him," Joshua noted morosely.
A pause. "Joshua, was it?"
"Yes." He didn't like where this was going. Neither did he draw any comfort from the six, sharp horns of ivory growing out of her head.
Cynder locked eyes with him. "You know quite a bit, don't you?" She was suspicious.
Oh, he knew much more than "quite a bit". He knew her life story by heart. He knew Spyro's by heart. He knew enough to be a significant liability. But Joshua didn't dare reveal that, or the truth propping it all up.
Not now.
Not even if they somehow became friends in the near future.
It would drive them mad.
"Just enough to know what you and Spyro are like," he responded. The human hoped a small, innocent smile worked to alleviate any distrust from her. "Sorry, Cynder. Being out here makes me nervous. Ever since you came to me, the people around us are—
She huffed. "Ancestors, I don't know why many still look at me that way. But I don't let it bother me." Joshua analyzed her expression. He had a hard time believing that last one. "I know you don't call yourself an Ape, but honestly…" Cynder's eyes panned up and down, assessing the human. "You still look a little bit too much like one to me."
On to business then. "That's why I'm in this mess in the first place."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not surprised." Wow, she definitely empathized with his plight. That made things so much easier! "So, Joshua, can you tell me why you're here—
"Cynder!"
Joshua Renalia whipped around at the sound of the voice. That was Kilat! What's—
A bestial growl rumbled from the Electric dragon's throat. The child he was responsible for, the child he was beginning to see as a younger sister, galloped towards the two of them. Joshua would never figure out how she escaped from beneath Rimeer's weight. He never took the time to, for she charged at them, the expression on her muzzle a most vicious mien. It contrasted the adorable, childish affection he had seen on it since rescuing her from certain death. Arcs of electricity coated every inch of her monotone, golden scales as she headed for…
Headed for Cynder!
Everything finally clicked. She saw Cynder as an enemy, still. As another one of those goddamn bigots.
He had to educate her.
"Kilat! It's fine! She's not—
The little girl ignored him. Her anger only increased as her cobalt eyes homed in on Cynder, eye-raping her as he himself had done earlier. "You killed mom and dad! My family!"
Her words knocked all the wind out of the human. No way. No fucking way! She told him the Apes invaded her hidden settlement and wiped the whole place clean. Cynder had nothing to do with this! It was had King Gaul's name written all over it. How could Cynder have gotten—
Emerald eyes landed on the black dragoness.
Her lips flattened. Its edges tight. Cynder's magenta wings drooped, wilting until they protectively curled around her lithe body, coating her in pure black. Joshua almost missed the guilt-stricken expression flushing her snout for a brief second. It vanished almost instantly.
But there was no mistaking the shame—the remorse living in her own green eyes. Even her life signature shrunk in on itself, not out of deliberate compression but in response to the emotions surely coursing through her.
She had been there.
Cynder had been there.
In her capacity as the cursed dragon of Malefor, she led the Apes to Kilat's home.
Joshua prayed to the Almighty Father that the dragoness did not do the deed herself. Yet by bringing the monkeys there she might as well have bloodied her own claws. He understood exactly where Kilat came from.
But at the same time, he knew Cynder's life story much more than the child ever did. She was not truly at fault. She had been cursed, her inner light overwhelmed by the darkness of Malefor's influence. Kilat would never know this. Kilat would never understand this if she didn't stop and give herself several hours—several days to think.
He had to stop her.
"KILAT!"
Joshua Renalia reached for the golden dragon as she blew past him in a mad dash to assault Cynder. He extended his hand, hoping to at least grab one of her feet as she passed. "Wait, you don't under—
She was too fast.
"You're not killing Joshua, too!"
The terrifying voltage inundating her body produced immense heat and a frightening hum in the air close to him. Bolts of electricity soared from her maw. One struck the ground in front of the adolescent dragoness. The Heroine of the Dragon Realms flapped her wings twice and propelled herself backwards to evade another wave of lightning.
Spyro's voice rang, distinct and rich in apprehension. "CYNDER!"
He wasn't the only one worried. Even Joshua Renalia tried to help. "Look out!"
"Wha—
Her own emerald orbs dilated at the sight of Kilat charging in at point blank, her curved horns lowered and aimed for her flank. It was too late for her to avoid the child. To do so meant giving her an opportunity to penetrate her scales, to gut her as Rimeer had torn the flesh off of Joshua and wounded the human so severely he might have bled to death if he'd fallen unconscious before drawing healing energy from the Spirit Gems falling out of that manweersmall's pouch.
So Cynder did the only thing she could. The only thing that wouldn't have killed an innocent child seeing her parents'—her family's murderer for the first time in her life, living a comfortable life with the Purple Dragon of Legend.
She brought her head down, aimed all six of her horns at the fast-approaching dragon girl. No, not six horns. Three more ran down from the back of her head to her cervical spine. She lowered them, facing Kilat to tank her blow head-on, even as the dragoness rushed with electricity surrounding her.
They clashed.
Cynder hissed from pain as she struggled, resisting the urge to succumb to the amperes of electricity running rampant in her body. But she held. Nine ivory towers held steadfast against the battery ram. The dragoness's tail lashed out at the child, but even after seeing this unfold before his eyes, Joshua Renalia was not concerned with any potential injuries. Cynder aimed for Kilat's foreleg, hoping to incapacitate. Give her a wound bad enough to slow her down, maybe stop her movements, but not so severe that it'd maim her.
Joshua Renalia was not worrying about Cynder or Kilat.
Joshua Renalia was worrying about the crowd surrounding them.
The pulses of life once again fluctuated, increasingly volatile as the Electric dragoness rushed Cynder, proclaiming both her loyalty to Joshua and her recognition of the former Terror of the Skies as a heinous criminal who's escaped justice by association.
"The child's attacking the demon!" a resident spoke.
"So she's not under a spell?"
"Maybe the Dark Master's not involved after all…"
"But he's still an Ape! We can't ignore that."
Kilat swiped at Cynder, yellow trailing her claws. The black dragoness skipped back to avoid the attack and attempted to incapacitate the child as gently as possible, this time deciding to pounce on her as Rimeer had earlier done. Kilat saw this coming and slipped underneath Cynder, rolling and bouncing back up facing her, electricity pooling again in between her teeth.
Joshua thought it was the Electric Orb again.
It turned out to be something else entirely. A blast of yellow light streamed from the child's mouth, striking Cynder's chest when she turned around just in time to receive the hit in full force. The electricity burned through her scales, through her skin. "Arrrgh!" she screamed, for once feeling something strong enough to hurt her—to paralyze her. Cynder, a living legend. The second savior. The Heroine of the Dragon Realms.
Joshua Renalia was floored. He didn't want to see his idol attacked like this. Not by someone he cared about.
"That's the Zap Cannon!" An electric dragon among the guards eyed her, amazed. He was older than the Saviors. A young adult. "What is she, a prodigy? Volteer hasn't taught that to his candidates yet!"
Cynder's voice dragged Spyro the Dragon out of his astonished stupor. "Someone help her!" Purple eyes flared. "Quickly, before she's hurt!"
One of the few dragons among the immigrants cheered. It was a child, perhaps a few years older than Kilat herself. "WOOOOOOH! Go! Rip her to shreds. MAKE HER PAY!"
The lone supporter stirred the crowd. It stoked feelings of justice, of retribution. The emotions they kept hidden in a closet, the unspent anger at getting back at Cynder for slaughtering families, for murdering dragons, for leading the Apes' constant victories in the name of Malefor—for being the Terror of the Skies, rose anew.
Residents forgot Cynder's role in ending the war. Immigrants held onto their inner hate tightly, and soon enough cheers of support soared, shouting, yelling in happy tones every time Kilat went on the offensive.
"Yeah!"
"Send that demon to hell with her master!"
"JUSTICE! WE WANT JUSTICE!"
"Spirits, what are you waiting for, young dragon? Kill her."
"YEAH, KILL HER!"
A dissenter dared to speak. "What's wrong with all of you? She saved the world too! She shouldn't—
The voice gurgled, as if fluid bubbled and frothed in the mouth.
Spyro had enough of this. Someone had already died. "Guards!" he spoke, eyes focused on Cynder and Kilat as opposed to the human teenager. Joshua admired Cynder all the more, for the way she restrained herself from using any of her elements or the more ferocious of her moves to avoid hurting an angry, but powerful child. "Break them up now. Stop the fight before someone else gets hurt!"
His words sowed chaos.
"What is wrong with you? Can't you see she's getting what she deserves?"
"You're the Purple Dragon. The legendary Hero! How couldn't you even finish the job with the Dark Master's thrall?"
Spyro roared at the cloud of people surrounding them, at the various species of moles, cheetahs, dragonflies, manweersmalls, atlawas, and the uncommon dragons. "She's already done everything to make up for her past!" He couldn't pinpoint the speaker.
An adolescent Ice dragon yelled at him. "You're just trying to cover up the fact the devil's got your wings all tied up around her!"
"Yeah, everyone knows you're smitten with her!"
"You know what I think of your love for that"—a disgusted snort—"little devil?"
A stone struck Spyro in the head.
Fruits and vegetables were also sent flying his way, followed by farming tools.
Wads of spit even flew in his direction.
The Purple Dragon growled again. "The Guardians decreed her absolution—
His words reaped chaos.
"That means nothing! The Guardians don't represent our city!"
"This is what we think."
"This is what we feel!"
"She killed my brother."
"She killed my mother!"
A manweersmall yelled, "She worked my friends to death!"
"Someone help the poor child before Malefor's devil stops toying with her!"
Four adult dragons took to the air, split evenly between Earth and Electricity. "We're on it!"
Another voice floated from the crowd. "Don't forget the furless Ape! If he's not with the Dark Master, then he's with Caesar!"
"Catch him."
"Interrogate him."
"Make him suffer!"
Spyro panned his eyes across the guards available at his disposal. There were over 30, over 40, maybe. They could still contain this madness before it spread. "Everyone! Hold them off. Stop them! Don't let them hurt Cynder." His golden wings snapped open, flapping thrice before he himself took to the air. "I'm handling this personally."
Infernus grumbled, taking wing as well. "You heard the Savior." He raised his paw, making a circle as he referenced the crowd. "Hold the line!" Every guard around the Tenth Candidate for the Fire Guardian fell under his authority. They unsheathed their weapons. Those with shields held them in front. All sprinted to contain the burgeoning riot before the people scattered into the fray, keeping them away from Kilat, from Cynder, even from Joshua Renalia.
The few dragons responding to the call of duty charged into position. They did not fly, not wanting to obstruct Spyro's midair combat. Weak breaths of flames and ice were thrust into the crowd, aiming to disperse the violent groups—to weaken their resolve. To dismantle the collective anger and suspicion. Electric and Earth dragons stood tall behind the line, eyes alert, ready to send a stone or a weak jolt of electricity to an unruly civilian.
Among the four dragons flying directly to assist Kilat, one balked at the sight of the Purple Dragon of Legend himself taking wing to meet them in combat. But the life signature compressed itself into a ball of cold steel as Spyro spat multiple icicles at the group.
F*ck me! The whole situation rapidly descended into a mess. Joshua's mind drew blanks, his rational thoughts overtaken more and more by instinct, by the overwhelming fear of absolute death. F*ck me, f*ck me, f*ck me, f*ck me! This wasn't supposed to happen.
The whole situation should have been resolved by now. How did this devolve into a brawl to kill both him and Cynder? It didn't make sense to him. It would never make sense to him.
Two life pulses splintered away from the crowd of guards, headed straight for the combat between Kilat and the black dragoness. He turned and followed them, focusing not on the small group approaching him but on two cheetahs clad in armor. The human determined their intent the moment they pulled their swords out of the scabbards, eyes and body brimming malevolently with opportunity and vengeance.
Goddammit! There had to be something he could do. A human armed with a stick and can barely fend for himself against wild animals was no match for two well-trained soldiers. There must be something—
The Ice Dragon Rimeer rose from his haunches. On all four legs he trotted—he broke into a full sprint, his direction aimed not at the wall of guards blocking the crowd, not at the two cheetahs breaking formation, but at Cynder and Kilat herself. He roared angrily. "I've been waiting years for this moment! YEARS!"
Rimeer lifted his cerulean snout and fired a massive orb of ice at the air. Joshua watched it lob, watched it gradually approach his great heroine and the dragon he was on the verge of calling his little sister. He recognized it instantly as Polar Bomb. An Ice technique from The Eternal Night.
"Ancestors! What are you doing?" Spyro called after him, the offended tone of betrayal and shock impregnating the Purple Dragon. Joshua couldn't blame him. He just watched a dragon among the city guards assault his beloved. The legendary Hero of the Dragon Realms veered to intercept the Ice Dragon, only to swerve back to evade boulders, green light, and the occasional Electric Orb being shot at him. "Cynder, Incomi—
He ducked, his wings almost clipped by one of the four dragons. The dogfight began anew.
Joshua, in the meantime, hyperventilated as he ran towards the center—to Kilat and Cynder. In the second game, Spyro's Polar Bombs merely froze enemies, temporarily. What effect would an adult dragon's Polar Bomb have on another? He didn't want to think of it. Joshua refused to imagine his dear little Kilat receiving such a potent attack. Shit. He couldn't let that hit. He mustn't!
All rational thought left him at that moment, automatically allowing his awareness to extend beyond his own body. He extended his left hand, palm stretched. He wished so badly that he could just reach out and stop the Polar Bomb from ever landing, from hurting a hero he worshipped and potentially snuffing the Electric dragoness clouded with hate.
He wanted to help, or else it'd make things a lot worse for everyone. For him.
Then he felt it. A weak pulse of energy, of life curving the air with Rimeer's Polar Bomb. Joshua Renalia concentrated on it and blocked out everything, because he wanted to do something. Anything! He felt the frigid temperature of the Ice Element tickle his hand as he clutched the empty air, meters away from its danger.
He poured his consciousness—inserted his self-awareness into the Ice Dragon's glorified spitball, until he, too, felt the cold. Until he felt his ego boundaries encompass the flying sphere. Until he became one with it. Joshua Renalia spotted the two cheetahs closing in, and it seemed they wouldn't care if the Electric dragoness got in their way.
With a powerful grunt and an equally powerful desire to prevent tragedy, he clenched his hand and wrenched it away. He flogged the air in the felines' general direction. To his immense surprise, Rimeer's Polar Bomb literally stopped in midair, right before Cynder's eyes as she turned, heeding Spyro's warning. It stayed still for a split-second before it changed direction on its own, impelled by an external power.
Cynder gasped at the sight she had never seen before in her life. An Element stopped in its own tracks, a moment before striking her in the back. Her life signature went still from astonishment. Green eyes widened, watching as the Polar Bomb flew on its own, guided without a dragon's direction. It soared. It crashed into two cheetahs approaching her from the other side with unsheathed swords, glaring at her. Snow and freezing mist engulfed both, rendering the two unconscious as their furry bodies shut down in response to the deep cold.
Joshua's enhanced hearing, a gift of his enigmatic Element, assured he heard the dragoness gasp. "By the Ancestors, it just flew, on its, i-its own."
Joshua sensed Kilat quickly catching up to her. "Cynder, behind you!"
Cynder glanced in his direction once—uncertainty pooled in her eyes—before his message registered almost too late. She turned, and instantly lowered her head to once again tank Kilat's violent charge. But Cynder had no time to dig in, to entrench her footing. Without the proper posture and stance—without a lower center of gravity, the black dragoness slid—no, she went airborne, knocked back by the child's unstoppable momentum.
Right into Rimeer's waiting paws.
Kilat was riveted by so much anger, she did not even bother expressing surprise that the Ice Dragon guarding the Gates, the f*cking bastard that started this entire f*cking mess was helping her for reasons known only to him. He was right on top of Cynder. He sneered at her before swiping at her. Claws of ice struck her cheek, almost slashed through her neck. Red ichor fell to the ground. Blue mana imbued with the Ice Element trailed Rimeer's every move. Then the blade of his tail started to glow. The adult dug in his forelegs and jumped, twisting to the side so he could knock Cynder to the ground with his rump and slash her throat with an impromptu tail blade before the black dragoness could respond.
A fatal move, meant to disorient and kill.
A move that took all of Cynder's experience to evade.
Forced into actual combat, the former Terror of the Skies sunk into tangible, ebon smoke the instant she hit the ground.
"RIMEER!" Spyro snarled angrily.
The Purple Dragon of Legend spun in the air as he flew, creating a cyclone marked by shards of sharpened icicles, chilly gusts, and blinding snow. One of the four dragons in his midair battle went down, only for one of the remaining three to flank him. An Earth Dragon sporting two different shades of green created a ball of solid green energy from its mouth. The Earth Flail, a technique seen only in A New Beginning. He twirled in the air with enough force and struck Spyro, interrupting his moves.
But Joshua Renalia saw none of this. Instead his own emerald gaze was transfixed to his left hand. He did that? Did he seriously just do that? He attacked the cheetahs with the Ice element. He plucked the Polar Bomb out of the air. He redirected it to his intended targets. He, he actually manipulated another Element, and the worst part of it was, he couldn't remember how he did it.
Leave it to an idiot like himself to do something when he wasn't paying attention!
Curiosity did not overwhelm Joshua Renalia. Fear did. Terror did. This was not his fantasy, to be turned into a plaything of a powerful Element, one even a geek as knowledgeable with Spyro lore as him did not—could not understand.
But amid the din he heard Kilat snarling angrily. He remembered where he was. What was happening. He still had so much to do before he would be granted the peace to investigate the Unknown Element, and everything else lurking behind it. Yet just as Joshua focused on Cynder, Rimeer, and Kilat—just as he decided to go over, stop Kilat, stop this stupid fight, and bring this godforsaken mess back to simple conversation, the human being realized a group of at least ten people had snuck up behind him during his dazed torpor.
He heard the swing of a weapon coming behind him.
Joshua looked back and saw a sickle coming his way. He rotated and backpedaled to avoid it at the last second. He brought his ironwood walking stick up to deflect it if he couldn't.
In the end, he was too slow. Too inexperienced. Too green.
The blade dug into his armpit as he gyrated. It almost hit an artery. "AGGHH!" he shrieked, feeling the farming implement cut through. No HP crystals within reach. His Element reported the nearest Spirit Gem was about fifteen paces away, and he didn't have the time to even check if it was a red one to begin with.
Joshua grimaced, cupping his side. Blood flowed profusely. Ten moles glared at him, with their beady eyes and their buck-toothed snouts. They came for him. Of these ten farmers, one had a sword in its hands. Perhaps stolen from one of the guards.
They all attacked.
Joshua brought his stick to bear. He parried the sickle and the sword as much as he could. Many of the tools they used did not cut, but smashed. The stick in his hands felt close to shattering, weathering every blow non-stop. But the human being could not stop everything coming at him. He protected his head with his left arm, and instead of having his head crushed into paste, the limb broke. Fractured bones brought intense pain, magnified enough by his Element to make him stop in place.
"OH F*CK—
One of the moles bashed his leg in with a sledgehammer. The bone also fractured, and down Joshua Renalia went.
The mole with the sword dashed to him, lifting his sword, fully intending to impale Joshua's head through his eyes.
"No-no-no-no, no!" Joshua did the only thing he could and raised his stick. He then swiped at the group with his stick, hoping to parry.
Yet all ten opponents saw the attack coming. They slowed down, waiting for Joshua's last-minute attempt to repulse a finishing blow to pass by undeterred and offer them an opportunity to disarm the furless ape for good and end him.
None of them expected a white, crescent-shaped blade of light to materialize in its wake. It hurtled towards them, moving at a speed so fast they barely had the time to register its sudden appearance. All ten were struck, and all fell instantly. It bypassed clothes. It bypassed armor.
It bypassed everything they wore.
Rather than ten dead moles, the mob was simply reduced to a groaning, sniveling mess. They vomited collectively. Some defecated in their pants. None could stand. None could move. They could only wriggle and squirm and roll back and forth in their own filth.
"W-w-w-w, w-what did he do?"
"My, m-my legs! I can't feel my legs!"
"I feel—BLEH!"
"The world's gone upside-down! Where's, where's the furless ape?"
"Can't walk. Everything, topsy-turvy. Feel, like hurling. Entire… body, in shambles. Numb. Numb everywhere."
"Black magic!" A random civilian from the distance screamed. "The ape's using black magic!"
"He really IS a servant of the Dark Master!"
Fifteen paces were too far for someone with a broken leg and on the verge of bleeding out. Remembering what he saw in the farmers' fields earlier today, Joshua Renalia dove into the barf-coated grass, making sure to avoid getting any of the foul fluids on him. He endured the revolting smells to pat down each and every one of the moles curled within his reach, unable to get up. It took almost a minute before he found a large fragment of a Red Spirit Gem in a pocket.
It was intact. And it was active.
It began to gray out as soon as he grabbed it. Yet as soon as it started healing him, Joshua Renalia felt the potency had been diluted. Was there a consequence for using the Spirit Gems too much, too soon? He scavenged the groaning, incapacitated moles for some more HP crystals, but this time around he paid significantly more attention to everything around him, lest more opportunists try to take his head and succeed.
Joshua Renalia found enough Spirit Gems to mend his bones. He almost bit his tongue off, stifling the girly scream trying to ram its way out of his throat. Healing hurt like a bitch. His skin prickled as it grew back. His own bones cracked, scrunched, and sizzled as the power of the Ancestors reset them, accelerating regrowth and renewal alike.
As soon as his leg felt good enough to walk, the Spyro fanboy swapped his stick for the sledgehammer, recognizing the ironwood comprising the handle. It was a reasonable upgrade, one that wasn't too much heavier than the walking stick he'd had since the Dry Canyon. Then he walked away from the ten moles, walking towards the Cynder and Kilat. Kilat's life pulse was easily recognizable, giving him the impression of buoyant bubbles fizzing in a carbonated drink. Cynder's, even more so, if only for the fact he felt a strange "taint"—a wrongness—permeating the Heroine. Traces of Malefor's alterations, maybe?
Joshua Renalia smashed in two clusters of HP and Mana crystals and absorbed them. "Hm, so the effects got weaker," he observed, the difference in the red Spirit Gem's temporary healing factor apparent. Once again, another anomaly the video games never addressed.
While closing in on the child, adolescent, and adult dragons fighting, Joshua Renalia watched Cynder dodge another direct attack from Kilat. She inhaled and released a powerful breath, imbued with one of her four Elements. A powerful gust of wind shot out before the Electric dragoness could react, slamming into the child. She was sent flying back. Far enough to the point Joshua could now reach her if he started running right now.
And ran he did.
He ran.
Ran as Cynder sunk beneath the shadows once more in reply to Rimeer's ice breath inundating the space in her general direction. The Savior moved quickly in the darkness, reappearing behind the Ice dragon in mere seconds. It took all of Joshua's self-control not to shudder as Dawn of the Dragon came to life in front of him. Like in the games, Cynder shot out of the smoke pooling beneath the adult's four paws.
The dark puddle became jagged spikes, penetrating Rimeer's underside in several areas. The black dragoness did not hesitate, returning the guard's insidious betrayal in spades. She flew and pounced on his rump, raking her shadow-empowered claws across it. The Ice Dragon roared from agony.
"No," Cynder uttered. "Not yet. I am not done yet, traitor!"
Rimeer made an attempt to fly, to buck her off before she could do any more. Cynder reacted instantly, leaping from Rimeer's posterior. She reared her right claw, her wings, and her tail, coated them in green liquid, and as soon as she got within striking distance of the adult's neck, swiped at him. The corrosive poison on her claws and its brute strength shattered the back of his helmet. The fingers of her magenta wings softened him up, weakening the azure scales. Her tail was the final blow, slicing through Rimeer's skin and injecting poison directly into the dragon's bloodstream.
The venom was potent enough to act immediately; Rimeer fell and stopped moving. But he was far from dead. The Unknown Element told him that much. Cynder clearly knocked him out and ensured his recovery would be agonizing until someone gave him the appropriate Spirit Gem.
"Infernus," Joshua heard her call.
No reaction from the Guardian Candidate.
"Infernus!"
No reaction again. The Fire Dragon swooped low, sending a massive breath of fire to placate the crowd rioting all around them.
"INFERNUS!"
Cynder gave up at the third attempt, an affronted expression forming on her muzzle. "Ancestors, I hate that dragon."
"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Her head turned to the voice. Roaring, Kilat ran towards her again. She sprinted on all fours. No longer did she use her Element. Whether she ran out of mana or conserved it for close quarters, the Electric dragoness stormed angrily, her round cobalt eyes reduced to nothing more than frightening slits. Cynder sighed, reaching into her large stores of mana to conjure her Wind Element—
"Damn it, Kilat! NO!" To her surprise—to Kilat's surprise, Joshua Renalia caught up to the livid child and, in one wild gambit, lunged. Dropping his sledgehammer, he tackled the young dragoness to the ground, wrapping his lean arms tight. Her scent—a faint smell of lavender—wafted into his nose as the boy rapidly clenched his embrace and rolled.
Kilat's four paws went airborne. The growl she released was so unlike her it terrified Joshua, reminding him of the Death Hounds that have nearly eaten him alive. "It's me, Kilat. It's me! Joshua!"
She did not turn her muzzle towards him. How could she even hear the desperation, the fright in his voice when the little girl concentrated only on the dragoness who was once the infamous Terror of the Skies? "She killed my family! She killed Lani's family! She destroyed my home. Now she wants to get rid of you too!" She yelled at him. "Let me go! I need to protect you."
"I need to make her pay!" Then she tried to bite his fingers. "Joshua, I said let go of me—
"NO!" he raised his voice. "No, I f*cking won't. You won't hurt Cynder, you hear me? Stop attacking her! STOP IT! Don't you dare raise a claw at her."
Kilat froze.
Only now did the child turn her muzzle towards the human. Joshua's heart almost broke at the sight of Kilat's tears streaming out her eyes. "Why?" she asked. "Why, Joshua? Why, why are you siding with that butcher?"
"Because it won't do anything," he reasoned. "Because it won't bring any of them back."
"I don't care! I just want, I just want"—she sniffled.—"I-I-I, I just wanna hurt her! Until I'm happy!"
"That's not fair to Cynder. You—
"Not fair?" she shouted at him, right to his face. "NOT FAIR? You know what she did to me! To Lani! To everyone! You'll just let her get away with this?"
"You don't understand—
"She worked for Malefor, and enjoyed it! Ancestors, there's nothing to understand—
He sensed Cynder approaching them. Spyro had downed another dragon, and Infernus had decided to join him. Chaos ruled the land outside the walls of Warfang, as the riot devolved into a maelstrom, clashing with both the guards and each other.
God damn them all, he didn't have time for this crybaby shit! This mess needed to be resolved before it got any worse.
"Shit, Kilat, I can't deal with this right now!"
"Ehhhhh!"
"Eeeeeehhhhhh!"
The disappointment and acrimony settling in her eyes couldn't be any more damning. She whined, "Ehhh, Joshuaaaaaa..."
"Jesus, Mary, Joseph!" he groaned. "Cynder's not an enemy. Don't attack her again!"
For the first time since they became friends, the dragoness growled. She snarled, baring her teeth at the human. A wordless protest. A rebellion.
Joshua Renalia suppressed all the dread shooting up at the sight of the child's jagged teeth. Fearlessly he brought his hand to the back of her head. Slowly he leaned up and kissed Kilat on the snout, between her nostrils. It was the first time he ever performed this gesture of love while she was awake. Her life signature rippled. She was perplexed; it had been her first time experiencing this. "Please," Joshua entreated. "Trust me." He brought her forehead down to his, dredging one of the oddest things he's ever heard her say to him. It couldn't have made more sense in any other context. "I have your neck, Kilat. Just listen to me." The boy stroked the back of her head, again and again. "I'm begging you."
The dragon child withered on top of him. She sobbed. Kilat's voice was a medley of confusion, of grief, of resentment. "Why? Why are you doing this? I, I don't—I don't know what's going on in your head. I want to bite you so much but I, I—
He shushed her. "I'll explain when we get out of this," he said. "I promise. Okay?"
"…okay…"
The young man sat up. He found Cynder watching them, her pulse bearing the signs of fading volatility. She herself had calmed only recently, perhaps realizing Joshua did not pose an immediate threat. "Thank you," Cynder verbalized. She couldn't be more grateful.
He held onto Kilat a little more tightly. He didn't trust her enough not to go berserk again. "I'm sorry. I didn't know anything about her family."
Joshua got to his feet, arms still clasped around the Electric dragoness. Cynder backed away, life signature tensing up. Her wariness did not escape him. Right. If this was truly his fantasy, the Savior wouldn't have responded this way. Her eyes wouldn't have narrowed from distrust.
The human teenager slowly turned around. He deliberately showed his back to Cynder. "I just knew she was a war orphan. I've always thought it was just the Apes that made her this way." He needed to show the Heroine who saved the Dragon Realms with Spyro that he trusted her.
He shifted Kilat in his arms and picked up the hefty sledgehammer from the grass. A Red Spirit Gem had been growing next to it. Man, the Ancestors work fast. He plowed the weapon into the brittle crystals. "Here," he said, kicking the shards towards Cynder. "I know you need it. Sorry, I would've carried them over to you, but if I put my hands on them I'll end up absorbing the energy."
In turn, he needed her to understand she could trust him, too. He certainly didn't want her as an enemy.
"Like a dragon," she muttered.
"Yes. Just like a dragon."
"That's impossible."
Joshua snorted. "I told myself the same thing."
He eyeballed the surroundings. In truth, he and Cynder didn't have much space. The guards were beginning to contain the madness of the crowd, with the most troublesome among them unconscious or being brought into the city. Spyro and Infernus have taken down the third dragon together, and it was probably a matter of time before the both of them joined the black dragoness. And knowing Infernape, he probably poisoned Spyro with his bullshit about me.
Joshua had two minutes to get Cynder on his side. Three, at most.
"At least you're reasonable," she said. Cynder cocked her head towards the thinning crowd. "Not like those idiots over there. Plenty of them in Warfang."
Kilat stiffened, growing anxious. Joshua fought the instinct to step back when Cynder decided to cross the five-foot chasm separating them. She walked over to the human, who had to raise his head to maintain eye contact with his personal hero. Cynder brought her muzzle close to his face and sniffed him. Twice.
"You have her scent." Her breath was as foul as Kilat's. It was official. Dragons had no concept of dental hygiene in the Legend continuity.
"Yeah. I ran into Kilat at the Dry Canyon, on the way here. She was alone, dying. I—well, it's a long story, but I didn't have it in my heart to let her be. I started taking care of her after we met. Mistook me for an Ape at first, but, I can't really blame her."
"Do you—
He nodded, anticipating her question. "She's looking for her relatives. Also wants to learn more about her family if she can." Joshua leaned down and nuzzled the child's head. She did not return the gesture as she used to. Still angry. Clearly has no plans of talking. "I know that she'll at least have a much better life here in the city." He sighed. "Me, I'm actually here for the Guardians. Hmmmmm, probably Volteer if I had to be specific."
"Why?" she asked, assessing him.
"I, I need help," he finally confessed. Joshua deflated at the thought of his conundrum. "I desperately need help, and I believe—I know they're the only ones I can turn to."
"Is it that bad?"
"Potentially. I'm stumped at what's happening to me. I don't know what it means; I'm praying the Guardians will know something."
"Hmm, I'm not sure what you're trying to say."
"Let me put it in this context. Imagine Spyro suddenly capable of breathing Wind and Shadow just like you. He'd have a lot of questions about himself and what that may lead to."
She put the puzzle pieces together faster than he expected. "So something's bothering you, you need help to cope with it, and you want to know if it also means anything more than what it is."
Cynder sat on her haunches. That only brought her head level with his, and he was still standing! "That sums it up about right."
Green eyes ogled him. "So where are you from?" Ah, was she probing him now? For information on other hidden dragon settlements?
"Kilat's from a village of foxes and, another species I can't remember. She was raised there as an orphan. It's isolated, from what little I know, so she didn't know much about the war until three dragons dropped by the village."
"And that's when she decided to move to Warfang?"
"I suppose. Obviously she didn't tell me everything. But I think those dragons are from a settlement. A shame they died just before Kilat and I met."
That Cynder did not take the bait stunned Joshua. "And what about you?"
"Me? What about me?"
"Apes don't just 'take care' of dragons, especially if they're alone and dying, Joshua," she explained. "I know that's what you did, but I've never heard of an ape species that does that."
"Other humans would've helped her," Joshua countered. "We, we don't like it when we see someone suffering."
That piqued her interest. "Warfang will want friends like that. Where is the nearest human city?"
Shit. She just had to ask about his origins. "I don't think it'll be on any of your maps," he deflected. Damn it, what was he going to tell her? How far he was from home that he no longer knew where he was? How his cities probably did not exist on this planet at all?
"We're updating our maps every month," she retorted.
F*ck. He couldn't give her the story he told Kilat. That was just stupid. It would only fool a child like her. Adults, even adolescents, would definitely be far too perceptive. But he couldn't go back on what he told the golden child in the first place, not when she was awake and listening. "Trust me," he lied. "If you haven't met us yet, then we're just too far away to—
To his relief, Sparx's voice cut him off. "Hey, Baldie!"
Joshua eyed the dragonfly coming to him directly. Spyro's adoptive brother must've figured it was safest, staying near Cynder and the "furless ape", as everyone else called him, since they weren't fighting at all. "I'm not bald, damn it!"
"No fur, little hair. That's bald in my book."
Joshua rolled his eyes. "What, ever."
"Look, you ape—hoo-man—thing! I saw you take down those moles. You made some sort of white light appear and suddenly they all fell sick." Sparx buzzed around him, perplexed. "And before that, I watched you reach out to that ice cube, before it hit Miss Grouchy here in the face."
Cynder frowned. "Sparx, call me that again and I'm keeping you in my mouth for an hour. I'll show you grouchy." She stuck her tongue out to make a point.
The dragonfly shuddered at the display, then flew to Joshua's other ear. The distance, he must've hoped, kept him out of Cynder's immediate reach. "Baldie—
"I also have a name, you know."
Sparx kept going on. "You made that ball of ice change direction. You made it hit the two cats trying to get the jump on Miss"—Cynder glared.—"On her."
"Wait a second!" The black dragoness jumped. "That was you? You're the one who saved me from that Polar Bomb?"
"Yeah, it was. That damn dragon's the reason this madness started in the first place. Like hell I was going to let him—
"B-but, how? How? You, you can't control someone else's Element! That's just not possible."
"I thought so, too," Joshua admitted sheepishly, before chuckling. "Cynder, remember that problem I needed help with?" She nodded, acknowledging him. "It's related to that. There's—
His time was up.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Anger undulated from a vivacious pulse of life flying swiftly towards him.
Joshua Renalia moved. Good Lord, how he moved. He broke into a short sprint and leaped into the air, the sudden move stunning both Sparx and Cynder.
Had he been late for even a moment, Joshua would've been dead by now, everything from his chest up crushed into paste. Spyro the Dragon appeared right where he'd been in a flashy display of flames, scorching heat, and a powerful boom. The sheer force of his disruptive appearance sent Joshua sprawling to the ground. Kilat herself was flung out of his embrace.
Joshua cursed, "What the f*ck!"
"Spyro!" Cynder chided. "What're you doing? He wasn't doing anything—
"Just because he's not doing anything doesn't mean that furless ape isn't a threat."
Joshua picked himself up from the ground, grabbing his new hammer. "You, y-you got to be kidding me." He was right about to say something in reply when he glimpsed the hostile glower Spyro the Dragon was sending him. He withered beneath it. Where was the kindness? Where was the empathy? Where was the Spyro who'd talk and give others a chance first?
"You didn't need to be so violent," Cynder reproached, as equally shocked as the human. "You could've killed him!"
"That was the plan." Spyro remarked coldly. Then the Purple Dragon of Legend stepped forward. He planted himself between him and his loved ones. A green glow—the light of the Earth Element illuminated his pink maw.
Yet Spyro's hostility was not the only problem.
"See? What did I tell you? This Ape works for Malefor!"
Green eyes widened as the vermilion dragon swooped into view. Infernus rained fireballs at him from above, while Spyro spewed orbs of Earth—boulders—like bullets. As much as he detested the Guardian Candidate, he had a precise aim; Joshua would've been dead if he hadn't already been following his and Spyro's attacks with his unique Element.
"What?" Cynder exclaimed. "No! Joshua's not—
"On a first-name basis already, I see," cackled the Fire Dragon. "Consider yourself lucky we got here before he could corrupt you!"
Spyro's delusion was worse than he thought. Joshua Renalia ogled the Infernus hatefully. "Infernape, you f*cking bastard!" He evaded another volley of attacks, sidestepping in time to evade a boulder before it crushed his leg. Joshua lunged out of the way of a fire breath coming from above, heart palpitating madly. "I'm trying to resolve this peacefully! How could you loop Spyro in with your—
The Hero of the Dragon Realms did not let him talk. He switched to Electricity and, at a speed much faster—more efficient than Kilat, hurled a chain of Electric Orbs at him. Driven by emotion—by instinct—by his own anger towards that damnable fraud of a Guardian Candidate, he latched onto one of the glowing, yellow spheres as he did with Rimeer's Polar Bomb and, as he ran sideways in an attempt to dodge Spyro's attacks, chucked his hand towards a spot he cannot see.
The precise location of Infernus's pulse of life.
One of the Electric Orbs abruptly changed direction. It careened towards Infernus, catching the Fire Dragon off-guard when it struck, when he received the attack in full. The tiny globe burst into a massive sphere of lightning, causing the paranoid bastard to fall from the sky, paralyzed long enough to crash into the ground.
"By the Ancestors!" Cynder yelped, completely astonished.
Spyro growled angrily. He began cycling through all four of his Elements. Balls of fire. Mortars of ice. Flying boulders. Blasts of compressed electricity.
Not once did Joshua Renalia go on the offensive. "Spyro!" he pleaded. "Don't!"—he eluded a fireball—"I just want to talk"—he barely slipped past an icicle, receiving a cut along his arm—"Shit! I'm not here to hurt anyone! Spyro, forget what f*cking Infernape said. I just need your—
A glowing rock flew at him just as he avoided another Element. Too fast. It was moving too fast! Spyro must have entered Dragon Time to sneak in this attack, and the human had no other recourse but to get his arm broken rather than his head. In a blind panic he raised the hammer, placed his arm directly behind the handle, and made an attempt to block—to deflect the projectile. He prayed to God it wouldn't snap—to his immense shock, the rock was sent to the ground instantly. It didn't even hurt him.
But another boulder landed, right on his solar plexus. Joshua Renalia collapsed in a heap as all the air rushed out of his lungs. A wave of nausea overwhelmed him, and he saw a fireball coming right for him. "Oh my God!" The teenager raised his arm again, tried to recall what he'd done twice now, tried to think.
He moved his hand, expecting to redirect the fiery ball of death away.
He failed.
Joshua screeched in utter fear and rolled in a last-ditch attempt to get away from ground zero—
Flames burst close, too close to Joshua. His clothes were set ablaze. He was on fire! Intense agony erupted over every bit of him the fire lapped, the fire consumed. The teenager rolled, frantically patting down the conflagration before it spread. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit—
Another blast thundered in his ears.
Earth once again came his way. Joshua Renalia made another attempt to redirect it, and he failed again. His own Element refused him. Damn it!
The human gaped at the rock as it approached him. He realized in the back of his mind that this was it. He was going to die right at the Gates of Warfang, slain not by a wild animal, not by a bigoted retard, but by his own hero, deceived by a ruthless paranoiac.
"Don't touch my brother!" Kilat skated in front of him. She skid to a stop, and used her horns to obstruct the boulder. It shattered on impact, yet the child hissed from pain. Enduring an attack from the Purple Dragon? That couldn't have been painless.
"Kilat! Thank God—
"I'm still angry at you," he heard the little girl say. "But I don't want to see you die." She turned to him, her cobalt eyes wavering between anxiety and outrage. Kilat was just as conflicted, just as tense as he was. He wanted to hug her, to bury his face in her golden scales. "You've got Spirit Gems growing next to you. Hurry up and use 'em!"
Joshua gulped and did not answer, doing exactly as she told him. He wondered why the Ancestors were helping him, but he'd rather not look a gift horse in the mouth at this point.
"No. Spyro, no!"
The Hero roared. "Cynder, get out of the way!"
"He's not even trying to attack you!"
Sparx hovered close. "Hate to say it, brother, but she's got you there."
"You too, Sparx?" Spyro glanced between him and his beloved. "Didn't you see what the ape did? He used my attacks to shoot Infernus down. He repelled one of my rocks with his bare arms." He was confounded, unable to comprehend why Sparx and Cynder were stopping him. "And look! Look at him now. He's using the Spirit Gems—
"Just like a dragon," Cynder said. Joshua would not be able to see her muzzle, but her life pulse shrunk a little as she spoke.
"You, you know about—
"He was explaining his situation to me before you two interrupted us!" she frowned. "He's here to see us. He wants to talk to the Guardians! Because he needs our help."
"But, b-but Infernus told me he's an agent of Malefor. What if he's—
"Since when have you been listening to that guy?" Sparx cut him off. "He's got a thick stick up his tailhole. I thought you hated him."
"If it has anything to do with the Dark Master, I'm not taking any chances."
"Just look at him," Sparx retaliated. He gestured towards Kilat and Joshua, and the human looked like he was about to piss in his own pants "He looks more like a sheep scared out of its wits. Does that look like someone serving the Dark Master to you? I know he looks just like one of those new apes, but he's, he's kind of sociable and"—he sighed—"maaaan, this just isn't like you, Spyro! What's gotten into you?"
Cynder padded to the Purple Dragon. She nuzzled him. "Dear, look, listen to me. Give Joshua a chance. Let him speak. We, we don't need any—
"It is infinitely better to destroy an unhatched egg before anything within spreads death and destruction across the lands." Infernus quivered as he arose on all four paws. He ogled Joshua, his stare boiling with the vehemence of a true Fire Dragon. "He is working for the Dark Master. We must kill him before he masters that strange power. It has the mark of evil."
The former Terror of the Skies glowered at the Guardian Candidate. "Infernus, stay out of this. You don't know what you're talking about."
"Spyro, your mate has been compromised. Listen to me."
Both Cynder and Infernus scowled. Hate from one and condescension, if not distrust, from the other. "Compromised? I know what I'm saying, you stupid—
A boisterous roar shattered the conversation. The Electric dragoness surged towards them, running at the fastest she could've ever done. "Shut up, Infernape! Stop talking. Ancestors, this is all your fault. Joshua's hurt because of YOU!" Electricity enveloped Kilat, crackling as she tore across the gap between them with force and power.
The golden girl gathered a potent amount of electricity in her snout. In a second she unleashed the yellow beam of Zap Cannon at the Guardian Candidate himself.
But Infernus took to the skies with the grace and speed of an experienced flyer. Her attack missed, landing a little too close to the guards pointing their weapons at the crowd, having successfully contained them at last after their numbers were thinned and the troublemakers arrested.
He dove towards Kilat, moving faster than she could react. Before she or Joshua knew it, he was right above her. The Guardian Candidate did not hesitate to swat the little girl aside, putting all his strength and his Element into the attack. Kilat smashed into a tree at least a hundred meters in the distance, well past the line of guards and the mobbing crowd.
She was down.
"KILAT!" Joshua clamored, scared. Terrified for her life. He turned to Infernus, not knowing a white glow had begun to cover his hands. "F*ck you! She's just a child! You're a candidate for the next Fire Guardian! How could you do that? Are you a fraud? Jesus Christ, why?"
"I put the little girl out of her misery," Infernus stated. "When she wakes up, she will be happy to learn she is no longer under your control, ape." He smirked, glancing at Cynder. "I'm certain Cynder can see herself in the child's situation." Then he turned to Spyro, who looked uncomfortable at seeing the Fire Dragon attack a child despite the supporting argument. "Come, Spyro. Let's finish this."
Cynder's wing cracked in front of the Purple Dragon with a loud snap. "Spyro, please. Don't. I know he's innocent. He isn't what you think he is—
The Savior looked at her, a sad mien on his muzzle. "I'm sorry, Cynder. But, but there's something wrong about him. I can feel it crawling under my scales. I just want to keep you and everyone safe. I can't, I can't ignore something that's troubling me this much."
Sparx disapproved of this. "I think you're making a bad call, bro..."
"I'm sorry."
Joshua watched as Spyro moved past Cynder's wing. She did not follow him. The black dragoness stayed on the sidelines, taking neither Joshua's side nor her partner's. Happy as he was by the fact he at least swayed Cynder and Sparx towards the willingness to listen to him, that did not change the fact Spyro practically vetoed her, erring on the side of caution like any leader would. Spyro and Infernus stood next to each other, side by side. Joshua Renalia looked at them, fearful. He gripped the sledgehammer so tightly he thought it might snap in his fingers.
Joshua did not want to fight either of them, and even if he fought back with all his might, he did not even expect to win, let alone take down Infernus. Up against a 19-year old Spyro and an adult dragon skilled enough to be considered a possible successor to Ignitus? Those odds weren't great.
He was f*cked.
Author's notes:
I want to apologize for making such a long chapter. Roughly 3200 words pretty much retold the arrival of Spyro and Cynder from Joshua's point of view, but I felt this was necessary as, well, I believe the nerdgasm "I GOTTA SQUEEEE" moment was obligatory, as Joshua is supposed to represent the gamers/fans who love to insert themselves into the Spyro universe. I hope his fanboying was entertaining at least.
Without a section dedicated to Joshua eye-raping Spyro and Cynder as they arrived, the chapter length would've been 8,300 words long, which falls below the maximum limit I've imposed on Aimless. Definitely above the target average, but still not past the limit. Hopefully you found the crowd's continued madness convincing. Writing about crowd behavior and herding is difficult, I must admit.
Again, I apologize for the long chapter. I am trying very hard not to make Aimless end up like my main story, which usually features 15K chapters at a minimum. It's not a direction I want to go to. I actually had to cut off some sections from the end here since trying to make the chapter fit the 19 bullet points I laid out for it would've resulted in a 15K chapter. =_=
Moving on, so we're on track to catching up to Aimless's opening scene (see chapter 1 if you forgot) by the 15th chapter. Right as I intended. :)
For now, Cynder doesn't want to take any sides, Sparx is completely in Joshua's camp, and Kilat has been KO'd. Joshua is alone against Spyro and Infernus without any help... but we know how that's going to end. XD
And forgive me if Spyro, Cynder, or Sparx sound OOC at any point. I'm relatively new to the fandom and I don't have that good a grasp of the canon characters. :)
On a personal note, I am finally done with my exams last Saturday! It was nuts. A day-long affair, and I'm sick of seeing math and economic concepts. :| I won't find out if I pass until August, but I hope I do. I'll be so glad to get three letters to my name.