Author's Notes:
One-liner for this chapter: Spyro isn't the only one who's traumatized.
Many thanks to strykeruk for being my proofreader and editor. As usual, he is an awesome help to the quality of my writing. :D
Timestamp key: "D" for days, "W" for weeks, "M" for months, "Y" for years, "EM" for early morning, "LM" for late morning, "EA" for early afternoon, "LA" for late afternoon, "EE" for early evening, "LN" for late night, and "AD" for all day. Note that the Realms follows the sexagesimal system for keeping time, just like Earth. (In other words, 60 seconds per minute and 60 minutes per hour.)
Snip category key: There are four categories of snips. "Settling In", "City Life", "Beyond the Wall", and "The Journey Home". All four represent parallel storylines that take place within Aimless, and other than "Settling In", each snip category has at least two subtypes. Those subtypes aren't listed due to potential spoilers.
Enjoy!
The Journey Home – For Science!
Chapter 35: Breakthrough
"Friday night at the gym instead of partying? Oh yes."
- Anonymous, on Gym Quotes
[33D/LN]
Joshua's room in Residential 3F screamed exotic to him in the same way that a Japanese washitsu would impress upon an American, or upon a provincial Asian had they been given a bedroom at a dude ranch in the Midwest. To him, it gave off a quaint, antiquated vibe.
His first day here, he tested the firmness of the foot-thick futon that occupied a third of the floor space, and he found it firmer than a Korean buckwheat pillow. Joshua once counted six cushions neatly arranged on top, on the side adjacent to the wall. Each could be compared to the size of an adult human, and each was soft as f*ck. The gamer never thought he'd ever encounter something better than memory foam or goose down in his life. He would've been hugging one every night if he didn't already have a leathery, dragon-shaped pillow snuggled up to him.
A chest on the side of the room contained a thick comforter made of the same material, but it wasn't practical to use considering how hot it was in Warfang these days. Joshua had been hearing something called the "Long Winter" every now and then. He tried to forget how this reminded him of Game of Thrones. With how thick this blanket was, for sure the City of Dragons was going to be f*cking cold as balls when this shit came down. "Did they resurrect Jon? Who won the Iron Throne in the end anyway?" Joshua grumbled, "Goddammit I'm never going to find out. F*ck I hate this place."
The distracting thoughts soon went away, allowing Joshua to close his eyes and fall asleep. Or rather, he tried to. Instead, the eerie silence hummed in his ears. An itch nibbled at his heart, and it refused to grant him sleep, even one plagued with nightmares. He opened his eyes once more. Joshua regarded the quiet, dimly-lit surroundings thoughtlessly, before staring up at the empty stone ceiling.
Fifteen feet tall was his best guess. Far out of reach for a teenager like him. It served as a reminder that he was, for all intents and purposes, stranded in an alien world devoid of human life. With nothing else better to do, he made another attempt to figure out the color of the ceiling. Was it a dark shade of gray? A deep, brown hue? He couldn't quite tell.
For a second Joshua wished Warfang had LED lights. All his room had were two lampstands and a wall lamp, all fitted with crystals where the lightbulbs would normally be back on Earth. They were the same luminescent crystals out in the hallways. And they all had a shade that could be shut open or closed, but all that did was provide control over the illuminated area, not its intensity, its brightness.
The weight on his chest stirred a little. Joshua's viridian eyes fell upon a yellow dragoness deep in slumber, her head on his sternum, snout perched on his chin. He ran a hand along her smooth scales and squeezed her flews. Firm to the touch, but soft when pressed. "Kilat, my sweet, little dragon child," Joshua muttered with a smile. "You're so cute."
As if responding to his compliment, Kilat parted her mouth a little. Her warm, slimy tongue went up his lips and then his nose. It left a trail of saliva before flicking at his eyes. Kilat licked him a couple more times before she pulled more of herself on top of him and plopped her entire head on his face. The gamer chuckled, unbothered. Even if her lavender-like scent was more pronounced now, with the distinct sting of body odor, unlike a bath this was hundreds of times more tolerable.
"Heh, just like a dog." He rubbed his nose on the underside of her jaw and the dragon unconciously nuzzled him in return. Every now and then Kilat would smack her lips, lick his face, or nuzzle his cheeks. Sometimes she would stretch, pressing her paws on his temples. Other times, she would roll or curl further into him, sprawling all over his body the way she sometimes did with one of the six pillows topping their mattress.
Seldom did the dragon child speak in her sleep. It wasn't rare; it was just uncommon enough that Joshua paid attention every time he caught it.
"Hey Lani, what do you... thinkoff jof... jofwa..."
Aaaaand there it was. Kilat's mumbling trailed off into indecipherable streams of thought. She often dreamed of Lani, of Explodon, of the people she traveled with last month. She visited an alternate reality in her sleep, where her friends still lived and where Joshua was treated with a great deal more respect than in real life.
The dragoness rolled over to face her adopted brother. Her paws started batting away at something in the air. Weakly they chafed Joshua's face. He couldn't help making a scrunched expression when the little girl's paw pads—soft, smooth, and surprisingly cold—passed over his nose.
"Grh, your feet stink," Joshua grumbled. He pushed Kilat's paws away. When they resisted movement, he turned away and shut his eyes, resting his head on a pillow too big for a short human like him.
A few minutes passed before Kilat reached out and clung to him. She burrowed her snout in his hair and curled her tail around his leg. "Don't... leave..."
Joshua normally would've slept through whatever abuse he received next from this slumbering dragon child. This meant he would've woken up the next morning not knowing Kilat had been licking the back of his head and teething it the entire night.
But he wasn't asleep.
In the first place he didn't fall asleep.
Joshua Renalia couldn't fall asleep.
His eyes snapped open when he felt Kilat's tongue on his head. Joshua scowled. Goddammit, it was like sleeping with a wild animal. Usually he would disregard this shit and jump right back into dreamland, but tonight, with dark thoughts stewing in his head he couldn't take it anymore.
.
.
.
The other human sneered at Joshua. He would never forget the sadistic glee on his face or the insane yet knowing look in those scarlet eyes.
Joshua struggled at his formless bonds. His left arm hung dead at his side, still useless. His right arm—his legs—his shoulders—were all paralyzed by a force he couldn't comprehend. Kilat shrieked at him from the side, translucent like a ghost. Her voice never reached his ears and her frightened—terrified expression haunted his memories.
Then there was only white, crackling energy, and a gnawing itch that eroded his insides.
Helpless, he could only scream.
.
.
.
Joshua bolted awake at the memory. Nervous sweat dripped down his head. He took a few rapid breaths before grabbing a pillow and shoving a corner of it into her drooling maw. He shook her off of him and, flicking a tiny yellow scale off his shoulder, crawled until a meter of empty space separated them.
There was simply no way he could sleep tonight. Today's events in Proudtail Hall kept replaying in his head. It had only been a few hours since Kaos probed him—violated him in a way nobody from Earth would ever understand.
"You're nothing but a fat sheep!" Joshua imagined the Portal Master screeching in his mind. He wasn't that familiar with the idioms here, but the conversation they had around it implied he was a prize to fight over. Something to win, to seize, even if it meant facing the Saviors of the Dragon Realms.
It was true SpyCy and the Guardians would deter most. No ordinary person would want the full wrath of the Allied Territoriies descending on their heads. But what if it was someone like Kaos? Someone as unhinged as that crazy bastard?
A shudder coursed through Joshua's body. He folded in on himself and clutched his head. Kaos said someone would eventually come for him. But who were they? How many were they? And why would they even want him in the first place?
Why?
Joshua couldn't comprehend it. Everybody he had spoken to since his arrival—Kilat, Cynder, Volteer, his guards, his coworkers down in the tunnels—they all affirmed humanity's nonexistence here. So why go after him then? Why not Spyro? Wasn't that dragon a MacGuffin too?
It didn't make any sense. Was it his Element? Was it his origin? Was it his species? Damn. There must be something about him on this planet somewhere! Kaos wouldn't have called him a...
Joshua hissed. He hammered the mattress and sat up. Goddammit! Kaos called him something, and whatever it was, he was the "second". F*ck, that was earlier this morning. Why couldn't he remember anymore?
Joshua couldn't recall a damn thing no matter how hard he tried. There was one thing for certain, and that was the most likely scenario that information on him did exist. "A myth, legend, prophecy... whatever the f*ck it is, it's real. There's definitely something and it's not in Warfang..."
Joshua raised his right hand. His only working hand. (Being partially disabled sucked balls.) A few white, glowing tendrils rose from the fingertips. They were thin. Fragile-looking. But that was okay. The fact he could summon it at will was more important. To think the trigger was as simple as focusing on another person...
His heart ached at the sight. Did he make a mistake? Should he have accepted Kaos's offer after all? Did he just sign his own death sentence today? The Unknown Element shattered into wisps. They faded away and left Joshua alone to fester in the dim, crystal light.
He couldn't help but sniffle. His eyes were wet. "I... I... I should've..."
"Joshua?"
The gamer whipped around. Kilat was seated on her haunches, her bright golden scales clothed in shadows. Joshua could barely see her eyes despite his enhanced night vision, yet he knew she was staring at him. "Kilat..."
"I didn't feel you next to me." She ambled to him. The mattress puffed almost inaudibly beneath her paws. "Are you okay?
"Yeah," he said. "Everything's fine. I, I just couldn't sleep. For, f-for some reason." Joshua watched (and permitted) Kilat to sniff him. Her snout ran along his feet and up his chest. The little girl placed both forepaws on his shoulders and brought up her muzzle until their eyes were level.
Neither of them moved nor spoke. Brother and sister locked eyes with each other. The silence was heavy. Oppressive. Even their bodies were stiff.
A minute, or what felt like it, passed, until Joshua finally couldn't take it anymore and pulled away, unable to confide his problems.
Kilat acted before he could. She slipped her tongue out and awarded the gamer with a long, unusually slow lick across his cheek. When she was done, Joshua made out the sad expression on her muzzle. "Joshua," he heard her mutter, seconds before receiving another lick.
"You don't feel fine." Kilat asked as she leaned forward on him and nuzzled his cheek, "Is everything really okay?"
The gesture reminded Joshua of Mikayla, his younger sister. His real sister back home. That girl wasn't even nine yet she always knew when he was having real problems. He could count on her support, at least when she wasn't being a brat.
Joshua's pretentious calm fell apart. He wrapped his arms around Kilat in a tight hug and wept. "No."
The dragoness said nothing in reply.
"Nothing's okay. I, I can't, I can't stop thinking about the future."
"...What do you mean?"
He hugged her tighter. She unfurled her only wing around him in response. "I, I'm scared. Kaos... he, he thinks other people will go after me. Me!" Joshua laughed in disbelief. "I don't know when—I don't know how—but apparently I'm somehow more special than Spyro of all people! Lord Jesus Christ, I can't even figure out why! Like, when and how the f*ck did that happen?" He squeezed Kilat's shoulder and massaged it.
"Are you," Kilat asked, slowly, "uhmm, having second thoughts on your decision to stay?"
Joshua shifted his head to face her, and stared into her cobalt eyes. She had a sad, if worried, expression. "I, well..."
Had he accompanied Kaos back to Skylands, for sure he'd have already met the Sky Empress by now. For sure he would've already been told what made him so special. He might have even glimpsed a way back home, since the Portal Master knew he was from another world.
He might have met members of that "Doomraider" team today. He could have received more insights on the Unknown Element by now. And hell, Joshua was really, really, really sure he would've been sleeping on a bed with his body nice, fresh, and clean from a real, honest-to-God bath with soap, shampoo, and running water.
"I am," Joshua confessed. "I'd be lying if I didn't." He felt her shift away from him, as though reproachful for his answer. "I, I know you would've preferred staying here but, b-but Kaos had so much to offer."
Kilat frowned. "Joshua, he hurt us."
"Even so," Joshua protested. "I still think it might've been worth it. You'd have gone with me, right? Kaos didn't have a problem with that."
She latched onto him more. The little girl nipped his ear, if a little too hard.
"Ow!"
"You dumb egg, of course I will! We'll always stay together. I would even follow you back home, to your people."
That wasn't something anyone would say lightly. Joshua thought she was just saying the first thing that came to her mind without any regard for the implications, like any child would. "That's not a good idea."
"Why not?"
"Only humans live there."
"I don't care."
"It's too far away. You'll never see another dragon again."
"I don't care."
Joshua scratched his head. She was a stubborn one, for sure. "I'll eventually find a wife—a mate of my own."
"I don't—
"Kilat! That means I'll have my own kids! I won't have a lot of time to be with you like this. You'll end up all lonely and sad if you—
She suddenly slapped him with her wing. "I said I don't care! I mean it. As long as I'm with you I'll be fine. Maybe someday I'll get to take care of your little hatchlings like you're taking care of me right now!" She smirked at him, tail wagging. "Won't that be great, Joshua? Lifebringer's tail, they'd have a dragon auntie!"
Kilat's answers warmed his heart. Never did Joshua feel so grateful for having the little girl in his life. He just couldn't bring to tell her about the short lifespan of humans. The young man kissed his sister on the side of her head. "I love you, Kilat. Thank you so much."
"I love you too." Kilat nuzzled Joshua in return. She rubbed her body on his head and chest. The gamer massaged the stump that used to be her other wing and caused her to purr like an oversized cat. Ah, she could be so cute.
"Why did you stay?" the dragoness asked him. "I don't like Skylands or Kaos but you know now I would've gone with you anyway..."
"Truth is, it just didn't feel right. I, I-I don't expect you to understand. Anyone else in my place would've taken the offer without hesitation but, it's not who I am." Joshua scooted backwards until he could lean back on the wall with his back on a pillow and a yellow dragoness the size of a Jack Russell terrier comfortably sitting on his lap. "I owe Cynder and Volteer my life, a thousand times over! I simply can't leave until I feel I've repaid them for everything they've done for me. I just can't. My family raised me this way.
"Back home, I have a cousin. Her name's Karla." Joshua lifted his head up to reminisce. "She dreamed of being a..."
His voice trailed. What was a good analogy for being a flight stewardess on Eva Air?
"A... ah! She dreamed of being an attendant for a famous high-flyer in my world." Ah shit. His tongue slipped. Joshua eyed Kilat and searched her snout for reactions. Luckily there were none at all. Whew! Saved by context. "It's a job everybody wants. They'll fight each other for it. Highly competitive."
"Like the job you have with the Moles?"
Joshua paled. He nearly retched at the mere thought of all that nasty shit he had to work with. "Kilat, only moles would fight each other over manual scavenging."
"But it's like that for them? Something they all want."
Not exactly, Joshua wanted to say, but if he said that she'd never shut up. "You can say that," he compromised. "Anyway, it's something you need special education for, and years of it."
"Sounds as hard as becoming a Guardian Candidate or a Councilor."
"Maybe. Either way Karla ended up qualifying for her own, uh, 'apprenticeship' at this school. But then..."
"Then what happened?"
"Her dad—my uncle—fell ill. He couldn't walk straight. He needed help around the house. Their family had a farm but he had to stop working long days there. When Karla found out about it, she gave it all up and decided to stay home, so she could help my uncle."
Kilat's jaw dropped. "But why? She worked so hard for that job she wanted. Wasn't her mom around to—
"My aunt died a few years before that. Sudden illness." Cardiac arrest, to be specific, but a dragoness from a land of high fantasy wouldn't know shit about modern medical science.
"Oh."
"You're probably thinking why my dad or my other relatives didn't step in." Her tired but furious nodding made her thoughts obvious. "It's because it hadn't gotten to the point where they needed to help, thanks to Karla, plus my uncle wouldn't want that. He'd be ashamed."
"There's no shame asking for help," Kilat said.
"That's what I think too."
"But why didn't Karla do that then?"
"Because my uncle paid for her education. He clothed her. He took care of her since birth. He also comforted her after my aunt died. She owes him everything, so out of sheer gratitude she decided to abandon her dreams and take care of him."
Kilat scrunched her muzzle out of confusion. A few seconds passed before she let out a sight and nuzzled her brother. "I really don't understand you hoo-mans. Everything you just said, that's what parents are supposed to do in the first place. Mother and Father would rather see me fly high and live a long, happy life than chain myself to their nest until Alona's call.
"At least I'm, I'm starting to see why you decided to stay."
"I'm glad you do," Joshua said. "Still, I can't help feeling like I made a mistake. You heard what Kaos offered me: training. A chance to learn more about my Element and master it. He also said I'd be treated with much more respect over in Skylands, not like here where..."
Where almost everybody other than Cynder and Volteer treated him like dirt on their paws.
Joshua fixed his posture. Lifting Kilat up by what would've been her armpits had she been human, he placed her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah," he not as much said as he told himself. "I bet I'd return to Warfang as a total badass after a few years living in the Empire." The gamer envisioned the bigots in this goddamn city prostrating before him, licking his feet and kissing his ass, fully regretting treating him like shit when he was inexperienced and weak.
Kilat suddenly pushed herself off of him. "Joshua, no! You don't know that! How do you know that's what'll actually happen?"
"Kilat, Kaos said—
"He could've been lying! Or Skylands has problems we don't know about. Maybe,maybe the 'protection', 'training', and 'respect' you'd actually get wouldn't be as good as he made you believe. That doesn't sound like a nice flight for someone 'other people' will go after.
"You can't trust him even if he's also hoo-man, Joshua! Stop thinking too much on things that didn't happen, that could've happened." She looked away from him, her snout forlorn. "Don't, don't be like me. Please."
When Joshua realized the implications of that, his heart melted. "How often do you think of them?"
"Every night." Kilat did not speak again until enough time to pour a glass of water passed. "I miss Lani, Joshua. I miss him so much." The little dragoness leaned on him. "He always had this stupid, happy grin on his snout, and it never went away no matter how tough things got for us. Every day—every night he'd rub my wings, boop my shoulder, and tell me, 'Every day we live is another gift from the Ancestors'."
Joshua nodded at her to go on. It sounded like he had to mature early, for both their sakes. Someone had to be strong so neither of them lost any hope of living, of clawing back any semblance of happiness during life in hiding. No shit he'd have done the same thing, had he been in their position.
"Honestly, Lani's the one who wanted to go to Warfang. He's got family here for sure. Every time we talked about"—she stopped to take a breath—"relatives, he was very certain of that."
"But what about you? You also have family here, right? That's why you went with Lani. You told me."
Kilat turned to him. Her eyes bored right into his. "I, that's, t-that's partly true, but... Alona, I'm less certain of that than him, actually. "
"You didn't want to stay in Mungo Volpe by yourself, huh?"
"Uh-huh." Kilat buried her muzzle into his tunic. She clutched at the shirt. "Now he's gone, while I'm the one in Warfang." The child nuzzled him some more. Joshua couldn't help hugging her back. "I think to myself so many times, I could've stopped him, from, f-from turning back and made him keep running with me. I wouldn't have eaten those berries! And-and-and we, we could've met you together, Joshua! I know, I know he would've liked you once he got past the whole 'hoo-man' thing."
"The Incident might not have happened at all either," Joshua muttered. Two dragons defending him could have had a more profound impact on his introduction to the city.
"That's right! There're so, so many things that could've happened instead. But I... I can't change what happened back there. Even if they didn't actually kill him in that stupid forest it wouldn't change anything."
It might be worse if they brought him to their mountain stronghold, thought Joshua. The gamer tactfully said nothing.
"So don't be like me, Joshua! You chose Warfang. You can't take that back. You don't even know if that evil wizard was telling the truth! He might not even be hoo-man!"
Joshua dismissed that possibility immediately. "I know what I saw. But, you're right, there's no use worrying about things I can't do anything about anymore." He held the little girl's shoulder. He rubbed her right wing, and the stump that used to be the left. "Why not look for Lani's family?" The young man offered. "Tell them about him."
"I will, but not until you're okay!" Kilat cried out, a paw slapping his shoulder. "You're my brother too, and I won't leave you alone until then, I swear!"
They held the silence for what felt like five minutes, ogling each other. Neither moved an inch, until Joshua decided on his reply.
"...Tell you what, Kilat. When I get out of this shithole—when they'll let me live as I please in this city, let's go back there, to Sunburst Woods. We'll give Lani, Explodon, and those other dragons the peace they deserve and properly send them off to your Ancestors." That, and look for clues—anything that could give him insight on how he came to the Dragon Realms in the first place. He raised his hand, palm up. One thought, concentrated on the spheres of life around him, and a weak, shimmering light wrapped around Joshua's bare russet skin. "If we run into any Apes out there, by then I should be skilled enough to watch your back."
Something came to life in her cobalt eyes. "You promise?"
"I have your neck."
"Good. And I have yours!"
Joshua smiled. "I love you."
"I love you too," the child said. They embraced each other. Kilat snuggled up on Joshua and gave his cheek another slow lick. She yawned. "I'm, going back to sleep. What about you?"
"Not yet. It's—I just can't. I don't feel like it." He stared at his hand. The Unknown Element had dissipated when they hugged earlier. But Kilat still followed his gaze. The little girl didn't visibly react; her sphere of life remained inert.
It remained mostly inert.
"I have to get stronger," he said, hoping to answer the questions surely materializing in the reptile's brain. "I—a-after today, I, I-I need to stand on my own. I can't—I just can't keep hiding behind the wings and tails of other people."
Kilat's pulse quivered slightly. It churned almost imperceptibly; Joshua would've missed it if he hadn't focused on her. The dragoness rolled her eyes back to his direction and ogled him.
They locked eyes once more. Studying her gaze, Joshua felt disapproval. He also felt understanding.
And sadness.
Kilat kept quiet. She brought her muzzle up to Joshua's face again. He felt her warm, golden scales stick to his skin as she nuzzled him. He winced as the smell of halitosis washed over him when the little girl gave him another slimy lick on the nose.
"Don't stay up too late, please," she requested, her wing touching his forearm.
"I won't."
"Okay." The child got to her feet and walked back to her spot on the mattress. Joshua watched Kilat circle around and knead the futon like a large, yellow tabby cat. "Good night."
"Sweet dreams," Joshua answered with a smile.
Kilat returned it with one of her own before finally curling in on herself to sleep.
Joshua fell into deep thought within seconds of Kilat falling asleep. She was right. He shouldn't dwell on what had already passed, and he mustn't paralyze himself over issues far above his head. Plus, he had time. He didn't know when these people Kaos mentioned were going to move, but surely he had at least a full year, or two.
Or even more, he prayed.
Time to get stronger.
Time to figure out the rules in using his Element.
Time he had a little bit of right now.
"Okay, Joshua," the gamer spoke to himself. "Let's see if I can figure this out. What can the Unknown Element do again...?"
Joshua Renalia reclined on the mountain of pillows behind his back and stared up at the ceiling. He racked his mind on past events. He revisited both the first week he spent in the wilderness east of Warfang and what he could actually recall from the day of the Incident.
"There's the time I saved Cynder from a Polar Bomb..."
Outright manipulation of the other Elements, check.
"But I can't produce them on my own."
He remembered how he looked like a fool in Proudtail Hall trying to produce his own fire, electricity, or ice like an Elemental Bender in Avatar.
"I slapped Kilat's Electric Orb away when we first met."
Element deflection, check.
"And there's what I did to the Death Wolves."
Instant one-hit kills upon contact. That was one of the most powerful and most terrifying aspects of his Element. It was unblockable, undeterred by either armor or walls, and it didn't matter whether Joshua punched the target or placed his hand on them. It also seemed to be something he could do regularly, once he attained a certain level of... "something".
The thought of using the Unknown Element this way caused the gamer to shudder. Death was final. Absolute. Once it was done, it couldn't be reversed. Perhaps when he was younger—more naive—still clueless to the intricacies of life—he might have welcomed such a power with open arms. Now it was a cause of worry. Joshua wouldn't wish death on anybody, not even Spyro. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally kill someone, or multiple people at once. Pulling off a Lelouch would make this life even more hellish than it already was.
Joshua pushed himself away from the morbid thoughts and lifted his hand. He imagined a white sheen spreading out before him, as though casting a net. Forming a screen. "I made something like that before." It was a shield—an aegis that dispelled the other Elements.
He easily remembered the other forms the Unknown Element had taken back then. A blade of energy. A beam of light. A shroud centered on himself. Joshua felt his head ache when he attempted to retrieve his memories after Cynder hit him with Phantom Fright. It was all a blur to him, filled with grotesque images of Malefor and the Dark Army assaulting Earth and annihilating everything he knew and loved. The gamer persisted in the endeavor. What else? What else could his Element do? There must be—
.
.
.
A massive, white orb of energy, shining ominously in the field.
Immaterial spears shot out from within, flying to almost every combatant with terrifying precision. They burst into bolts of lightning, sentencing nearly everything it struck to instant death.
Bodies dropped. From the air. From the ramparts. Flesh covered in black, foul rot. Eyes and mouths forever frozen in pain and horror indescribable—
.
.
.
A sharp hiss escaped Joshua's mouth. He choked—forced himself to swallow back the bitter vomit rushing up his throat. He collapsed on the bed, his only hand clasping his mouth. Oh my God! the gamer thought. What the hell was that? God-f*cking damn. That's how all those people died? Jesus f*cking Christ! He didn't—he couldn't remember this!
Agony stabbed at his heart. Tears dripped down his eyes. Holy shit! That was a horrible way to go. All because of a f*cking misunderstanding! Joshua clutched the bedsheets. This couldn't happen again in the future. It mustn't.
"Never again," Joshua vowed. "Never again." Slowly he pushed himself back up. A quick glance at Kilat. She was still asleep. Thank God. He did not want her to see him like that.
He took deep breaths, basking in the silence and dispelling all the stress until he felt tranquility settle within him. Joshua recalled what he confirmed yesterday before Submaster Kaos barged in his business. Successfully channeling his Element required his sixth sense, his ability to detect life and visualize them as spinning, swirling spheres of clouds and light, and his ability to extend his sense of self over them. So how did it do what it was supposed to do? How could he make the Unknown Element distinguish between hurting someone and defending himself?
Dragonkind operated on instinct. They did not think on what their Element did. They felt it. Their brains were innately wired with the knowledge of what Fire, Electricity, Earth, Ice, or whatever did and how they could manipulate the mana within their bodies to express the effect. Electric Orb compressed lightning into a small, volatile sphere. Comet Dash and Volt Tackle both put raw power into the legs. Ice Tail flowed along the eponymous limb and formed a sharp, translucent blade, the edge imbued with extreme subzero temperatures.
Joshua Renalia was not blessed with this natural feeling—with this instinct. He wouldn't know how any of those translated to the human experience. Simply describing the sensations he felt when tapping into the life—the soul of another person was impossible. But what if... what if he didn't need that feeling? What if intent was enough?
"Only one way to find out," he said to himself. Joshua fell into the same, dream-like trance he always did when he reached out with his ego boundaries. Spheres of life emerged in his senses. All were a cool, serene blue, spinning slowly as their owners slumbered in peace. He focused on the one closest to him. Kilat's, obviously. The gamer stretched out his sense of self and enveloped the foreign soul, but he didn't dare dive into it. That was another experiment for another time. For now, he conjured the image of taking a tennis ball and throwing it at the pulse, just for fun. Kilat would wake up and feel ticklish. She'd roll over, paws twitching all over, slapping at him. He could almost hear her high-pitched giggling.
Joshua held on to this picture as strongly as he could while he pulled his focus back into the real world. He almost gasped. A tiny, purplish-white sphere the size of a tennis ball hovered above his right hand. The sight shocked him so much the sphere flickered in and out of reality as he momentarily lost his grip on the picture in his head. When he regained control—when the orb stabilized before his viridian eyes, the rules he inferred from the whole experience finally came to surface.
Rule #1: The Unknown Element affected only living things.
Joshua conjectured that one yesterday morning, although he believed this wasn't exactly etched in stone. It did not explain why he could sense Spirit Gems or tap into the other Elements. Neither did it provide any input as to why he managed to "punch a hole in the world", which was Cynder's crude description of what was probably his Fury. At the very least, it approximated the practical limits of his power.
Rule #2: The Unknown Element operated on intent.
In other words, it moved according to a given purpose. Whatever the Unknown Element did was deliberated upon. It would kill if he wanted to kill. It would control another Element if he wanted to do so. It would hide him if he wanted to be hidden.
It was an interesting hypothesis, Joshua had to admit. Very intriguing. So his Element functioned like Green Lantern's Power Ring? Seriously? How ludicrous! Something potentially game-breaking would come with several drawbacks—power always came at a price—but that wouldn't change the fact the conjecture itself sounded unreal to him.
Still, there was only one way to verify the theory. Joshua Renalia trained his gaze on the sleeping dragon-child curled in on herself, an arm's length away. He hesitated. What if he was wrong? What if he hurt her by accident? What if he killed her? The image of his adopted sister, a dragoness he loved as much as Mikayla and Seth, resembling the Death Wolves and many of the corpses at the Gates was horrific. He couldn't risk it—
The miniature globe quaked. It dimmed, almost popping out of existence.
"No!" Joshua squawked. He immediately killed off the picture of his dead sister and returned his focus on the cheerful, happier portrait of a golden dragoness rolling around with a big smile on her snout. Whatever emotion he was feeling—the diffidence, the terror, the uncertainty—he ripped it out from his heart the same way a heartbroken fool killed off happy thoughts at the onset, any and all. The little ball floating above his hand once again materialized. It held a stable form.
There was no other way.
He had to believe.
He had to trust.
.
.
.
He had to have faith.
"Lord God Jesus Christ," Joshua Renalia prayed. "Thank you for leading me to the right conclusion. I trust you."
He couldn't begin with a position of doubt. He had to start from a position of faith. From a position of hope.
And with that, it took only one fearless thought to send the orb flying towards his sister.
Joshua could've made the thing soar at the speed of a bullet. He could've been a little smarter, giving it the formlessness of fluids. In the end, the form or speed never mattered.
The gamer faced this tribulation with nothing else but faith in that mental picture. Just like Abraham in Genesis 22 of the Bible, Joshua put Kilat up for sacrifice and prayed.
When the orb struck Kilat's flank...
When purplish-white light illuminated the room in one blinding flash...
When the reptile he struck snapped up and writhed, squirming all over the mattress...
.
.
.
.
.
.
The Lord delivered.
Kilat suffered from a terrible bout of tickles. She rolled back and forth several times and kicked at the pillows, laughing. "Hahahahaha!" The child chortled gleefully, pawing at anything in reach. "J-J-Joshua! S-stop!"
Her eyes were shut. She didn't know her brother was nowhere near her paws. Neither would she ever learn of the great risk Joshua Renalia had just taken. "That, t-tha-th-that tickles!" Her torture didn't end.
"Joshuaaaaaa!" Until the dragoness trilled out a high-pitched whine, cried his name, and shattered the photograph in her brother's head.
What a surreal experience. Kilat was not only alive; she also reacted almost exactly the way Joshua imagined it. Seeing his sister wake up to what she thought was shits and giggles brought Joshua a breathtaking sense of relief, one that overshadowed his satisfaction at finally making real progress in understanding his Element.
Joshua was so lost in stupor that he never realized Kilat had pounced on him until she rammed her muzzle on the gamer and nipped his nose. They were literally snout-to-face, again.
"You," Kilat wheezed between heavy, dogged breaths, "Is this why you didn't want to sleep yet? You, you think you're so funny, huh? Huh?"
All Joshua could offer up at this point was a big, shit-eating grin. "Uhmmmm, I'm sorry?"
"Not, funny! I was sleeping!"
"Ehhhh..."
Kilat blew a raspberry. "'Ehhhhhh' this!" She then splayed herself out on top of the teenager and laid her entire body mass on top of him. Joshua let out a grunt. Oh boy, she's heavier than I remember!
Kilat poked at sensitive areas on Joshua's skin. It took her only a few seconds to turn the young man into a giggling mess. "You think I don't know where your tickle spots are? I give you a bath everyday!"
"O-o-okay! You—hihi—y-you made your damn—huhoooo!—f*ck Kilat, don't stick your paws—pfffff*ck! Goddamn it, I'm sorry!"
The child abruptly stopped. Her muzzle sported an annoyingly satisfied smug while she watched Joshua pant and gasp for air. "Well? Is there anything you'd like to say to me?"
"I just said I'm sorry!"
"Anything else, brother?"
"Kilat, I didn't mean to do that to you while you're sleeping. It's just—
"It's just what? You couldn't resist? You couldn't help yourself?"
"No! Look, check this out!" He channeled his Element again, letting it cover his right hand in white.
The light attracted Kilat's attention. She turned around a split second before Joshua gently—very gently—tapped her flank. "Whoa! You can finally—pfffft!"
Kilat bit her lip. A corner tilted upward; she was resisting the urge to smile and let it out. Her leg twitched once, twice, thrice... before it tapped Joshua's thigh repeatedly like a dog being scratched on the belly.
More time passed; Eventually, Kilat couldn't take it anymore. She let out one giant "HA!" and flopped on her side, away from the glowing hand.
Joshua grinned. For the first time, he felt like things were slowly falling into place. "It's official: I can really channel my Element now! I don't know how far I can go with this, but..."
"Oh we can figure that out later! If that's what you've been doing while I was asleep then... well, I take back what I said!" Kilat got on her feet. She yawned again. The little girl was sleepy, but that didn't stop her excitement one bit. "So what can you do with it? Show me something."
"Uhhh, the truth is, tickling you with a shiny orb is pretty much all I can do right now." Joshua rubbed her head as an apology.
Her snout made another yawn. "You're boring."
"Come on, kid, I'm just being practical. I don't want to hurt you."
"Not everything you do directly affects me," Kilat said. "Remember that time you did the Volt Tackle too?"
"Errr..."
Her tail wagged. "We were playing boop! I was zipping all over you, then suddenly you just did Volt Tackle yourself and crashed in the wall!"
"I remember that... when was that again?"
"Egeria's horns, I don't know! Our first week here, I guess?"
Joshua said, "Okay, so yeah, I did that. What's your point?"
"Maybe you can control Electricity too?"
Joshua ogled the dragoness. He already knew he could manipulate the other Elements, but was she serious? "Do you actually believe that? I can't produce my own electricity. Besides, I'm obviously not a Purple Dragon."
Kilat replied, "I know, I know. I can't believe it myself. But! I'm open-minded." She grinned. "Only one way to find out for sure."
Joshua nearly rolled his eyes. Just a minute ago he'd been saying those words to himself, and that time, her life was on the line.
"Don't make me do anything that can hurt you."
"Ground yourself, Joshua. I know where I'm flying. I've got the perfect exercise for you!" Kilat yawned again, and shook herself awake.
As he watched the little girl pace around the room, looking for a good spot near the corner, Joshua felt concerned about her staying awake. "Go to sleep after this, okay?"
"Only if you're sleeping with me for real."
"Oh for—! All right, fine."
Another minute lapsed and Kilat finally settled near the sliding door, but not before going over to the closed lamp by the bedside and shifted the opaque, wooden lampshade so the luminescent crystal hidden inside could brighten up the room. Her muzzle swept from Joshua to the opposite corner. "Okay, here's what'll happen. I'll form the Electric Orb and shoot it at the other side. As for you, do your best to stop it."
"I'm probably going to screw this up..."
"That's why I'll aim for the corner! If you fail, at least nobody gets hurt!"
"It might wake up the guards outside." Being chewed out by a bunch of grumpy knights wasn't something he wanted.
Kilat ignored Joshua, although there was a high chance she didn't hear him either. "Whether turbulence becomes a storm or you soar into the clouds we ARE sleeping after this. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Got it?"
"Yes, Kilat! Jesus! I completely understand what you're saying. You don't have to f*cking repeat it like—
"Eyes straight, ailerons flexed, Joshua! I'm not doing this again."
Joshua couldn't remember what the idiom meant, but Kilat's tone of voice, the magic stirring to life inside her sphere of life, and the last thing she said all pointed to the moment they've been waiting for. The gamer immediately took a ready stance; he raised his arm and trained his gaze on the child prodigy before him.
Time to get this shit over with. "Do it."
As it turned out, Joshua didn't have to give any signal. The dragoness was already in the middle of forming a small compressed orb of lightning in her gaping maw. Her sphere of life shivered—thrummed with power. It grew brighter and brighter, luminosity intensifying until it hit a certain tipping point.
Kilat's mana easily reached critical mass. When she spat out the Electric Orb, her signature abruptly dimmed and a tiny mote of light detached from the sphere of life. Ball lightning soared three feet above the floor, at a speed slower than usual.
Joshua used his hand as a focus point, consciousness traveling along its direction. In this split second, he connected with the Electric Orb and extended his sense of self over it. The gamer flooded his mind with the command to stop, to fly in front of him, and hover harmlessly in the air. Simultaneously, he reached for it. Seized it without hesitation.
At that moment an intense buzz of electricity ensnared Joshua. It coursed through the human, thrashing throughout his body. Pain he never felt before assaulted his head. "Oh f*ck!" he cried out, only to realize he couldn't speak. His vision blurred just before involuntary convulsions began.
In hindsight Joshua could have endured this if he been expecting it; the shock was not enough to kill or seriously incapacitate him. Since he was caught off-guard it was sufficient in disrupting his ability to continue. Thus, on reflex Joshua relinquished the Electric Orb. The very decision stopped the numbing sensation of electrocution, but not Kilat's ball lightning. Rebellious, it continued its path, struck the wall, and exploded audibly, releasing a net of electricity the same way it did in The Eternal Night.
Joshua did not see any of that since he collapsed on the floor moments before Kilat's attack smashed the wall. The little girl herself paid no attention to the damage. She forgot that one breathtaking instant the yellow globe went still for one second and instantly bounded to her brother's side.
"Joshua! Joshua!"
He was barely conscious. "Ohhh..."
Kilat's paws touched his face. She looked him over, panic etched on her muzzle. "Joshua! Speak to me, please." Where he would normally feel the cool, soft surface of her pads, he sensed only pressure. "Oh no! Your nose is bleeding!" The worried child licked him again and again, sweeping her tongue across his face as though her saliva was a miracle cure-all just like the magic infusing the spirit gems. She even went as far as thrusting the slimy muscle into his nostrils and crudely spitting out any blood that got on it. All in all, it was a touching gesture, although Joshua would have appreciated it more if Kilat didn't do any of that and simply left his face alone.
The sliding door separating the two from the rest of the Temple whirled open. Seriphos walked in, a grumpy scowl on his face. "By Azeroth the Infinite! What is going on here?"
The familiar figures of Balagog and Copeland peeked in. Unlike Seriphos and his nasty exterior, curiosity filled their gazes. While the gnorc looked as dumb as usual, had Joshua seen them he would've been surprised to actually perceive the emotion on the leopard's muzzle.
Copeland yawned. "We heard a loud noise." He growled a little. "What did you do, boy?"
The taciturn Balagog said nothing, as usual. He merely remained vigilant, hand gripping the pommel of his weapon just in case it was needed.
Coloumbrin was nowhere in sight.
Kilat ignored them all. "I'm sorry, Joshua. I'm sorry." Her licking continued uninterrupted. "I shouldn't have forced the flight. I'm really sorry..."
Joshua groaned. His face felt slick; the overbearing smell was starting to bother him. He opened his eyes. They were sticky. It took effort to open. "It's, i-it's okay." Weakly, the gamer raised his hand and placed it on Kilat's snout, stopping her morose display of affection. (Thank god!) "I'm, fine. I'll be... just let me rest."
"Are you hurt?" Kilat straightened instantly. Her tail went up at the same time her only wing flared. "What happened? You were shaking. Shaking really, really, really bad. It's like I actually hit you!"
His sister swept her snout across him, from top to bottom. Joshua could hear her sniffing madly. Even her pawpads touched him everywhere. His face. His arms. His legs. His torso. Everywhere. He wasn't mad at her since he might have done the same in her place. But Jesus Christ, she was acting like a dog!
"Just caught me by surprise," he mumbled. "It's, okay..."
"No, it's not okay! We can't do this again if you—eep!"
The Earth Dragon keeping guard over Joshua yanked the child prodigy off of him. "Leave him, Little Wing. Let the real experts look at him."
Copeland walked over to Joshua and knelt beside him. He sniffed at the boy and touched him, inducing a static shock. He recoiled instantly and, realizing the act left more than a sharp tingling in his fingertips, scowled. "Yuck! He's drenched." He flicked something away. A sickening glop echoed from the floor.
"Don't mind it. It's a natural instinct," explained Seriphos, the finality in his tone muting any other question the knight might have had.
Copeland could only shake his head in disapproval. "Disgusting," he murmured quietly to himself, loud enough only for Joshua to hear. "Huntress-damned Dragons. If they aren't thinking with their wings, they're thinking with their mouths like ferals..."
Avoiding any further contact with the human, Copeland scrutinized him the same way Kilat just did. However, Joshua could see experience in the leopard's eyes. He sensed calmness in his inner sphere. In a sharp contrast to his sister, his diagnosis literally arrived in seconds. "The kid will be fine! He's just a little dazed. Body shows few signs of minor electric shock."
"What did you do, Little Wing?" Seriphos questioned Kilat. "What happened? It sounded like an Electric Orb went off in there!"
She fidgeted in place. Her tail curled around herself. Kilat actually took the thing and squeezed it for security, looking more like a little human girl and her stuffed toy. "Well, uhmmm... uhhhh..."
His scowl deepened. "I don't have the patience for this, Kilat!" Seriphos stomped the floor. The sound combined with his glowering muzzle caused Kilat to shrink even further into herself. "If you don't answer me right now, Ancestors help me, I'll throw you out of this room and bar you from ever sleeping in here again!"
"Hey! You can't do that! Lady Cynder said I'm free to—
"I don't care! Bring it up with her, I dare you."
Kilat pouted in defiance of the dragon looming above her. After a brief moment of tension, the child deflated. "...we were practicing."
"Practicing? At this hour?"
"We couldn't help it! Joshua finally learned to channel! I wanted to see what he could do and-and-and-and I, I-I was really curious if he could control my Element like everyone's saying in the airstreams! But-but-but I didn't want him to hit his head again like before so I used an Electric Orb instead—
"So an Electric Orb did blow up just now?" Copeland inserted. He whistled. "That's intense."
Seriphos paid no attention to his colleague. "And neither of you could wait until morning? It's the middle of the Ancestors-damned night! Everybody's sleeping! Your brother isn't a prisoner here; you two could've been a little more considerate for us!"
Kilat bowed her head. "I'm sorry... but I, I didn't want Joshua to wait another day..."
"If you really didn't want to wait another 27 hours, we could've escorted you to an unused lecture hall tomorrow. We can easily send a messenger to the Office of the Keeper and talk to his Under Steward!"
"Well we—I didn't know that."
"You never asked, that's why!"
"Why would I? I don't have a reason to—
"Little Wing, I understand you don't trust us, but we have been dutifully carrying out our responsibilities since the Council assigned Joshua his room. If we truly wanted your 'hoo-man' dead, we would've killed him weeks ago!" Seriphos then muttered to himself, unaware Joshua was the only one who could hear. "Besides he's actually not that bad..."
"Ehhhhhhhhhhh..."
Joshua coughed several times. He lurched over to his side and spat a loogie on the floor. "L-lay off Kilat, will you? Please? She's still"—another cough—"She's still just a kid."
"...Fine," Seriphos acceded. The big dragon finally yawned. "But no more noise tonight or else I'm separating you two for a week. Understood?"
"Y-yes sir..."
Seriphos walked out as soon as he heard Joshua's answer. At the door he turned around and beckoned for the leopard still standing next to Joshua. "Copeland, move it. Let's get back to sleep."
"You go ahead, Seriphos. I have something to say to him." Copeland knelt and ogled Joshua. They locked eyes. "Joshua, does all this have anything to do with what happened yesterday?"
"Weren't you there? You saw what happened, sir."
"Of course I was. That's around the end of my shift when I'm not working extra time."
"Then you already know why. You heard what he said."
"Yes, but I didn't understand much. I'm a knight, boy. I don't meddle in affairs of magic and geopolitics."
"Kaos... before he left he, h-he said a lot of people will eventually go after me. I've done a lot of thinking today and I'm pretty sure it's all because of my Element."
"You're talking just like the dragons. Many seasons ago the Guardians also made a big deal out of Lord Spyro for a similar reason."
"Sir, I am not a dragon."
"Doesn't matter to me either way," Copeland said. "You're saying people will hunt you down like rare game one day?"
"Yes, sir."
"You know you're in the center of Warfang, under the protection of the Master Volteer and Lady Cynder."
"Yes, sir. I'm aware of that—
"Judging by your first cycle here, I'd actually bet some coin on you eventually winning over Lord Spyro and the other holdouts."
"I know what you're trying to say, okay? But I can't hide behind other people forever. Sooner or later I'll actually have to fight."
"I think you need to get your left arm fixed first."
Joshua frowned. "Sir... Copeland, why are you asking all this anyway? You aren't usually this friendly to me."
Copeland opened his mouth to answer, only for Balagog to cut in from the still-open doorway, catching both by surprise. "You, didn't leave," the gnorc spoke in his slow, guttural voice. "You, stayed, here."
The leopard turned back to Joshua. "Exactly what Balagog just said. And that, means a lot here. You don't know it, boy, but your decision yesterday moved a lot of people in Talonpoint Keep." He went quiet for a second and mulled over his next sentence. Copeland eventually sighed and said, "Just to let you know, the Warfang Council and the Guardians tried to suppress the information. But news is spreading fast across Warfang. In a few days every dragon, mole, atlawa, gnorc, rhynoc, and feline in the Allied Territories will know a Portal Master visited the furless ape.
"So I understand what you're doing. We all do. But you must be smart about it. You have plenty of time before these 'enemies' of yours start preying on you. Remember, predators only move when the conditions are right."
"But—
"Great Hunt, Joshua, just go to sleep! You and your sister need it." That was the end of the discussion. Any retort Joshua had on his lips died long before he could verbalize any of them. Copeland ambled over to the door and shut it behind him until the latch clicked and secured it in place.
Kilat was quiet. Joshua watched her slowly walk back to him. His heart couldn't take the utter look of guilt on her muzzle. The human sat up, reached out to her, and pulled her close when she was in reach of his right arm.
The dragoness practically wrapped herself around Joshua the soonest she could. He laid down on the futon, hugging his sister like a large, warm, scaly pillow. His eyes were level with hers. Silently, she ogled him. Joshua's only hand traced the contour of her body, from tail to snout and back. His fingers followed every curve and slid over every tiny bump and dip on the smooth scales. Kilat couldn't help whimpering and whining as she relaxed at the touch. As Joshua repeated the movement (and he would go on until they finally fell asleep), he watched her close her eyes to focus on the feeling. He could hear her purr.
"Are you okay now?"
"...Yeah..."
"I'm fine, Kilat. Sorry if I made you worry like that."
The little girl squirmed and snuggled up to her brother. She nuzzled his cheek. "What happened?" Kilat finally asked. "You just raised your hand at my Electric Orb and... Ancestors, you suddenly fell."
Joshua gazed up at the ceiling. With the lampshade still open, the light from the lamp basked the room unobstructed, clothing it in dull white. Electricity circulated throughout his body in that one instant he thrust his ego boundaries into the glowing sphere and grabbed it—seized it with his very self. He couldn't fully wrap his head around that. Was that supposed to happen? Did he undergo something like this when he controlled Rimeer's Polar Bomb too?
He racked his brains trying to retrieve the memory he saved Cynder and Kilat from that treacherous Ice Dragon, yet all he could remember were ten moles assailing him with farming tools-turned-improvised weapons.
"Joshua?"
Joshua shelved those thoughts away. "Yes, Kilat?"
"What are you thinking? You looked lost in the clouds."
"...I'm just wondering if what I felt was supposed to happen," he said.
"Why? You were tossing back and forth. It, it didn't look right at all."
"I wasn't expecting anything in the first place," Joshua said. "Maybe that's why? I simply grabbed it and tried to have it stop in midair. I thought I wasn't going to get any feedback as—
"That's not how Elements work! You can't just grab another one!"
"Not normally," he corrected. "But that's what my Element can do."
"Can, you explain that?"
"I-I can try." As Joshua said this he yawned. His head still ached like a bitch, and one of his nostrils was still clogged as if he had cloth balled up in it. The pounding in his head were as constant zaps of static and thwarted every attempt to compile his thoughts. He groaned from the mere effort. "Ugh. Y'know what, let's just, talk about it tomorrow, alright?"
Kilat wriggled some more, wedging herself even closer to her brother until there literally wasn't any space between them. "How's your head?" his sister asked, laying her head on his chest. Perhaps listening to the rhythmic beating of his heart.
"It's fine," Joshua replied. "But I... I can't really think right now."
"I'm sorry. I should've listened to you."
"And I should've insisted. Don't worry over it; we all make mistakes." His fingers, dancing on her scales, deviated from their steady rhythm. Joshua gave Kilat's wing membranes gentle strokes and soft pinches. He also gave her stump a good rub, kneading his hand on what remained of solid bone.
"D-do that again, Joshua. It... It feels good."
Joshua returned his gaze to the ceiling, letting his hand meander around on the little girl's skin. She quivered, stretching herself out even more. There wasn't any mistaking the huge smile on her muzzle. Joshua felt at peace. "Looks like I'll be taking a day off tomorrow," he muttered to himself.
Nydec and Gaudog wouldn't get mad at him, the gamer hoped. They would understand, right? Moles were diligent workers, but they surely weren't slave drivers.
A fully relaxed Kilat licked his chin one last time for the night. "Good night, Joshua. See you in the morning."
"You too, Kilat. Good night. For real this time."
Joshua Renalia fell asleep on the spot and inadvertently buried his face on Kilat's neck and wing. It would be a restful sleep, free from the troubles and worries that had been tormenting him the whole day. He would dream of his best childhood memories.
Those were happier times.
A time when he visited new worlds every other weekend.
A time when the only dragon he knew was purple and lived as colorful dots of artificial light.
Author's Notes:
Lots of adopted sibling fluff between Joshua and Kilat in this chapter. I hope it'll be received well. It doesn't come very often.
BTW that story about Karla? That's real. Karla's a real person. She's not directly related to me though.
Anyway, sorry for the delay. Real life is taking up my time once again. Work's getting a lot more intense. Aside from tasks at the workplace, I'm starting to have trips being scheduled all over the place. On top of that, the wedding planner's starting to make increasing demands on my free time and my fiancée's also demanding that I work out more often. (There's also the fact I'm spending what's left of my free time binging on Spyro: Reignited Trilogy ever since it's been released on the PC—Classic Spyro's so f*cking cute arrrgh!)
And OMG! Aimless breached the 100,000 view count while I was writing! I knew it was getting there a while back, but I seriously didn't expect that to happen until I cranked out the 35th chapter. Holy shit! Really, thank you all so much for supporting my story. Sure, one decent piece of fanfiction doesn't make ripples in the real world—or in my actual life for that matter—but it means a lot to me that the effort I put into something for shits and giggles is doing pretty well. Again, thank y'all so much.
See y'all in the next chapter.
Replies to reviews:
TheKazostkyKicker. LOL. Well, with how biased Warfang people are, I understand why you expected that. But I doubt they can stretch things so idiotically far… Thanks for the review!
Bizzleb. Hello again! Good to see you. Glad you're still following Aimless.
I couldn't resist throwing out the reference, to be honest. I was also rereading Key to Destiny at the time soooooo that kinda got stuck in my head. (Yes, I reread my favorite stories from time to time! I don't give a damn if they're riddled with clichés and overused tropes. If it's written well, it's always a fun ride.)
And thanks for that comment. A lot happened in the last chapter, and it must be absolute torture for Joshua. He's a hardcore SpyCy shipper. Nothing could be more nightmarish than causing his OTP all sorts of problems, without even intending it.
It's been hinted previously in the "Keeping Time" snip, but yes, Vara saved his ass.
SonicDJM. Thanks for the review, Sonic! And I don't want to answer your question. Sorry, dude, but that's spoiler territory.
Hfort307. Hey there, didn't expect you to come back to the story until the timestamp went past 40 days. By timestamp, I mean the thing I have at the beginning of every chapter (and on the chapter title) that denotes how much time has passed after Joshua's arrival in Warfang.
HITR fics are "human in the Realms" fics. Y'know, stories that invoke the "Trapped in TV Land" trope, just like this one. A lot of them either completely do a 180 on Spyro (complete with reasons like "his dark side" and whatnot) or have their MCs instantly loved by the cast.
You can gleam the reason for this paranoia in previous chapters.
Anyway, thank you for reading.
Chaoscontrol108. Hello again, and thanks for the review!
Yep, a lot was happening in the previous chapter. World-building, events outside the walls, SpyCy having a fight, one (ultra-rare) badass moment for Josh-O, and Vara's reappearance. I'm glad to know you loved it. It's satisfaction from readers like you that keeps me going.
I'd say you're on to something, with what you wrote. o(^▽^)o
SKDaGamer. Great to see you again and thank you so much for your review.
Writing it was difficult. I kept getting writer's block. It was very frustrating, so I'm glad it's over (for now). And yes, Spyro's trying to do right by Cynder.
I can see that happening too. Hopefully Joshua will someday repay the favor. Help the Warfang people see Cynder isn't so bad either. (Now that's an idea for a chapter sometime later…)
Gotta love how Vara treats Joshua. Endless mocking and teasing. Fun fact: I based her personality off of two IRL friends of mine… one of whom is coming to my wedding. (Not exactly looking forward to it though.)
Velocicopter. Thanks for the review!
Hey, considering that Joshua stayed in Warfang instead of leaving, you know he has strong resolve.
Joshua deserves a badass moment of his own every once in a while. He can't keep eating shit forever. I actually have a few "writing exercises" on file that feature an older—and more competent—Joshua actively using the Unknown Element in combat. They're fun to read. Stryker would agree. XD
And he now owes Vara another favor. Whew boy. Makes you wonder what she'll make him do the next time…
LoNeWoLf (guest). There's more of that coming, y'know it. Not the fighting, mind you, but the reality checks Spyro keeps getting. I'm still thinking what'll be that one moment when he finally realizes he's been making a huge mistake.
…Eh, something I don't have to concern myself with for at least a year. Aimless is still in Joshua's first month after all.
Sol1234. Thanks for the review!
Civil war? Hmm…. Nah, doubt it.
Drama? (ಡ艸ಡ)
GuestWhat (guest). Thank you for your review, dude.
You're right that it has to stop before something irreversible happens. And obviously, Cynder will find it even harder to be with him after this fight they just had. It was the first time they got to the point of trying to hurt each other too, so that's a huge step backward.
Well, we'll see what will happen to get Spyro to snap out of it.
Anyway, yes, it's a different approach to him. Hopefully I can handle Spyro better as the timestamps go up.
Piston24. Hehehe, I was on a writing spree at the time. I also wrote a short story featuring Joshua and a character who hasn't been introduced yet. (You can find that on my dA).
Joshua's progression with the Unknown Element started on Day 32, actually. He already had a few days to play around with it, so he already has a few tricks up his sleeve.
Trust me, it's a strange thought too. The story's been running for over four years and we're just approaching Joshua's first month in Warfang. The timestamps will start increasing rapidly once we go beyond the initial setup phase. There's plenty of content to go around, and eventually I'll stick to more plot-relevant chapter categories. When will I get there? Who knows. Hopefully I won't give up by then.
Iceman3423. Whoa! I totally forgot to reply to you on DM. Sorry!
Anyway, yes, that's the reason why I went with this story format in the first place. The first ten or so chapters past the change in format won't make much sense to a reader, but the long-term payoff is awesome. There's the overarching story and the little details that get connected piece by piece, and there's also the whole "freedom of choice" the reader gets from it. It's great! And as a writer, I'm liberated too. I mean, I can switch topics/storylines whenever I'm getting bored. (And that will become even more prominent after Day 60 on the timestamp.)
Hehe, you're in for a treat next time Vara shows up then. She'll reappear soon.
Betrayed666. My head will hurt if Joshua's in Reignited. The world jumping will drive me nuts! I can see him getting along with Classic Spyro though. They're both snarkers, oh boy.
And it's a terrible idea for Joshua to bring any attention to himself. The less people are looking at him, the better. As for what Kaos found out about him… there won't be a chapter dedicated wholly to that. It's something that's going to be revealed slowly, since there are power plays going on.
4Dragons. IMPYYYYY! So glad you finally found the time to read my story! XD Finally, someone other than Toodles! (Now if only I could get the rest to read too…)
I am really happy you're enjoying the story format. Having multiple threads going on simultaneously is hard, but doable. Toko's done it. Goldie's done it (not on FFN). It takes hard work and much planning to pull it off.
Yeah, perhaps my work on each individual scene or detail needs improvement, but in the end, it still worked out pretty well and the whole chapter shined brighter than each individual scene/segment.
I hope you'll like this chapter too. XD
Thanks for the review!