Aimless

by The Silent Insomniac

Joshua Renalia finds himself lost in the Dragon Realms with nothing but his sleeping clothes, his knowledge of Spyro lore, and a power beyond his understanding. Cut off from all he knows, the human discovers Spyro's world is alien, unforgiving, brutally shattering his naive expectations. How long can he live here before going insane? Is there a way back home? Why is he even here?

49. (BW) (1M2W) Frostbite Village 2

Author's Notes:

A belated Happy New Year, everybody! This is my first Aimless chapter for 2021.

Really glad how the world's looking like these days. Home's looking a lot less fascist now that the old baby's gone, the covid vaccines are being rolled out, and despite the specter of the new variants, I'm confident the scientists working on it can easily (relatively speaking) tweak the vaccines to fit those mutations. Here's to a better year!

Anyway, I'd like to announce that AzureDragonZX (formerly GeminiSparkSX) has become the second beta reader for Aimless. I've been impressed with the amount of detail that goes into their reviews, identifying continuity errors that Stryker missed. With them onboard, I'm certain all those nasty continuity errors will be a thing of the past. Here's Azure's message for y'all:

Hey guys, this is AzureDragonZX! I'll be joining the Aimless team as a second Beta-reader alongside Strykeruk. Together, we'll make sure every chapter Silent publishes will be as flawless as possible. It's a big honour to be working with these guys. Aimless has left a big impact on The Legend of Spyro fanbase over the years, and it's one of my favourite fan fictions of all time. Anyway enough from me, enjoy Chapter 49!

A big impact on the fanbase, huh? NGL I've never seen such a thing bwahahaha! XD

Now, here's what Stryker has to say:

Hey all, Strykeruk here. Primarily wanting to say welcome to the team to Azure who is proving rather adept at pointing out lore inconsistencies haha. We've got a good action filled chapter for you all today so I hope you enjoy it!

...I have nothing to add to that one. So without further ado, here's the 49th chapter. :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!

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Beyond the Wall: Ape Menace

Chapter 49: Frostbite Village 2

"I should've expected trouble when the coffee failed to arrive."

~ Frank Herbert, Dune (Dune Chronicles #1)

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[1M2W/LN]

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Rumble.

Claytor woke up with a start.

Remnants of his makeshift shelter scattered over his green scales. The twin moons lit up the night sky, rendering visible the countless flakes of snow fluttering to the ground.

Then he saw Sorceress Bianca glowering down at him. She shouted over the howling wind, "The Apes are here! Wake up!" She kicked at him when he didn't immediately rise to his feet. "Wake up now!"

Only then did he become aware of all the yelling in the background. Armor clanged against blades as bestial growls reverberated in the air. The campsite had turned into a battlefield during the night.

Claytor's drowsiness evaporated at the thought and shot up. "Sorceress, what happened?"

Bianca suddenly glanced to the side. She raised her hand. A magic circle materialized around her palm and a small wall of force appeared right in time to deflect a thrown axe. It smashed into the snow by her boots. "Our walls were suddenly breached!" she shouted. "Then Apes just started pouring in!"

Claytor saw an incoming ape running at him, screaming its mouth off. He sidestepped, bringing his rump off-center. His assailant missed, giving him time to whip back, smash its face in with his tail, and follow through with a stone-clad paw, crushing the primate's skull.

He couldn't believe his eyes. It was chaos in the camp. Multiple apes had stormed the place. He spotted a few leader-types in the mix, sporting menacing weapons inscribed with glowing runes. He had a feeling they could overcome the enchantments he'd asked Bianca to place on their armors.

"What happened to the night watch? I had four knights—

"All dead," the rabbit said, stone-faced. "They went after them the second they breached the wall."

Lifebringer's mercy, that meant their commander was competent. These weren't the same brute-force tactics from the war.

Bianca continued, "We're just lucky the Skylanders woke up when they did."

Claytor whipped his snout to check on the orators' wagon and saw the vehicle alight in flames. More apes were hurling torches at the supply wagons in the center, but the knights that were awake managed to keep them out of range.

"We need to fight! Sorceress, assist me!"

"At your request, Sir Claytor."

The Talonpoint Knight flapped his wings and took off. By Azeroth, the wind was strong! But still, he managed to rise high enough in the air to catapult himself into the middle of no less than ten apes close to the breach in the earthen walls.

Evoking the Earth element around his body, the dragon was as a meteor and slammed into the ground. Two apes were pulverized into a bloody mess of skin, hair, and bones. Claytor quickly uncurled himself from his cocoon of rock and, seeing a bear engaged in a contest of strength with a large ape fighter, he charged to them as fast as possible, plowing his horns into another ape that had been planning to blindside his fellow knight.

Claytor then ripped his head sideways, brutally slicing through the ape's belly. His opponent's entrails had just begun to fall out when, once more circulating his mana, he used his momentum to lash out with his glowing tail. Stalagmites shot out from the ground beneath his targets. Too blunt to penetrate their armor but strong enough to bury metal into their soft flesh and send them flying away, barreling into the others and coughing up blood.

"You'll pay for that, dragon!" shrieked another primate. He viciously swiped down at Claytor before he could counterattack. It clashed with his armor. Worse, it actually left a shallow cut on its surface.

It was confirmed; given enough strikes, it could overpower their enchantments!

The might that fueled the blow forced the knight's foreleg to buckle. Caught slightly off-balance, Claytor stumbled and had to splay his three legs to stay standing. He flapped his wings with the intent to leap back, but then he saw his opponent brandishing a throwing axe.

The bear next to him cried out, "Sir Claytor!" He shoved his own opponent, bashing his snout in with his shield. He rushed over to his Vinetar, halberd in hand, only to be met with resistance in the form of two more damned monkeys.

By the Ancestors, they were everywhere!

He could hear the Skylands orators assaulting their assailants with powerful gusts of wind. He heard the crackling of elemental ice. Weapons and armor clashed together in a sonorous cacophony. Everybody was fighting for their lives.

Refocusing his attention on the enemy before him, Claytor opened his maw. A green light shot forth. Earth mana in its purest form. Tangible like the very thing it manipulated, it slammed into his enemy's face before he had a chance to toss the weapon in his direction.

Claytor would've escaped this action unscathed if it weren't for the fact he'd been surrounded by a mass of furry, hairy bodies that stunk like rot and feces. An axe dug into his pauldron, going through the metal and piercing his scales. The dragon knight roared from pain. He whipped his paw, slicing at three apes closing in on him. There were two more on the other, and two more behind. The vintaine was being overpowered.

"Hup!" Bianca dropped down beside him. The witch shot her robed sleeves sideways. A viridian wave appeared and scattered outward with her and Claytor at the very center, sending the mass of apes hurtling back.

She gnashed her teeth. She traced solid lines in the air. An orange light trailed her movements. Blades of fire shot out and singed anyone unlucky enough to get hit. With another somatic gesture, the sorceress conjured a yellow whip. Ethereal, prickling with electricity, and made tangible by magic. She threw it at one of the bear's opponents. It coiled around a massive ape fighter no less than five times in a second.

Bianca cried out and pulled. The ape fighter, quivering as lightning coursed through his body, went airborne. She sent him careening into the apes behind them, closer to the center of the camp, clearing a path. The unfortunate ape fighter was down, hopefully dead, with his fur partly singed black.

"Claytor!" she said.

The two shared a look.

"We're regrouping!" the Vinetar shouted. "Closer to the center! Don't let them burn our wagons!" He scanned the campsite. Not everyone had gotten up in spite of the noise. The long, grueling hike they'd been enduring the past few days was the likely cause.

Claytor turned to Bianca. "Sorceress, we need to draw some attention. Do you have a spell to highlight the center?"

"I do."

"Can you also strengthen my voice?"

"Yes, but are you sure about this? They will know."

Claytor assured her, "That's fine. Let them think that way." If he could fool the enemy commander into thinking they were going to dig their claws into the ground and fight them off, that would be perfect.

"Very well." Bianca jerked her sleeve and a thin sheet of unknown metal slipped into her hands. It gleamed abnormally in the moonlight. An auric, otherworldly glow. "Show me your neck, Sir Claytor."

He didn't ask her what it was, but she noticed his inquisitive gaze and said, "This is a Clearvoice Talisman. It'll stay active for only a few moments, but it's enough time to wake everyone."

Bianca took his subsequent silence as a response and proceeded to slap the radiant sheet on his neck. A crimson orb appeared in her paws. The witch raised her arm and fired it at the sky, aiming for the space directly above the center of the campsite.

It ignited into a bright star at the same time Claytor summoned his mana and jumped, stomping on the ground and inducing a micro-earthquake that only those who were still asleep or blissfully ignoring the commotion would pay attention to.

He yelled, "AMBUSH! GET UP! GET UP! IT'S THE APES! WE'RE BEING ATTACKED!"

Claytor fired off another wave of the Earth element at the apes behind him. Bianca and a few of the knights followed him, leaving behind only those who'd already fallen. He didn't even have time to count their dead.

"FORM A CIRCLE AROUND THE CENTER! PROTECT OUR CARGO! FEND THEM OFF!"

As soon as he gave the command, the spent Clearvoice Talisman fell away from his neck, lusterless. The other shelters—tents of ice or stone—then shattered, crumbled into pieces, as the remainder of the vintaine stirred to life; those who hadn't been slain burst out, assailing the monkeys before they could creep in and slice their throats.

Claytor saw Altai emerge from their icy dome near the very back, panic etched on her muzzle. Her five friends trailed behind her, popping out from the shelter one after another. They all screamed in unison when a muscled, gargantuan brute of an ape big enough to stand eye to eye with the Vinetar shoved and pushed his way past Terrador the knight, nearly chopping his head off in the process, and dashed towards them. A guttural, heart-wrenching roar escaped his throat, his mace shining an ominous yellow.

Claytor was horrified. "Spring of Fortune! The messengers!" He spread his wings to take flight, but even he knew it was too late. He rounded on Bianca. "Sorceress! We must—

Bianca waved him off. "Focus on your duty, Sir Claytor. Spyro's taking care of it."

The moment she mentioned the Savior's name, as though directed by Azeroth the Infinite, the Purple Dragon of Legend materialized between the messengers and this commander-type ape whilst clad in the haze of Dragon Time.

His blurry silhouette cleared up—a sign Spyro had dispelled this unique, one-of-a-kind ability to save on precious mana—just as he barreled his horns into the primate's armor. Empowered by wind, he slammed into the metal in a mighty burst of fire. The chestplate shattered from the neck down. The ape retaliated with an upswing. His intent to strike down the great hero ended in failure when Spyro slapped one wing down on his wrist, redirected the attack away from his body, and kicked upward along with the momentum. A sharpened blade of ice had formed on his tail and it went straight through the ape's neck.

Decapitated, the commander-type fell, blood messily spurting out of his stump. Experienced in war, Spyro briefly checked on Altai and her young friends.

They had little time to rest and digest what had happened. Claytor was about to call Spyro when another section of the perimeter wall went down. It collapsed explosively, pausing the battle for a split second.

It was enough for one of the smaller apes to squeal, "Reinforcements! Brothers, flank them, destroy them, but remember Bartholomew's orders!"

The battle renewed with even greater ferocity. Altai and Nuodai had begun to fight, shooting chunks of ice at any ape within range. The other messengers cowered behind them, as they must have done when they first absconded the December Cliffs.

Yet as fierce and as driven as they were to defend their position, Claytor could see they were flying against strong headwinds. Sheer numbers overwhelmed the vintaine. More and more, they were being suppressed. Four had already died and more would certainly follow if he didn't do anything.

Spyro's voice reached his earholes, carried by the wind such that it sounded like he was right beside him. "We need to repair the walls; at this rate, they'll break all of them open!"

Right now, Claytor wished he could control the wind too. He shouted back, "I'll take care of it! Just keep the messengers safe."

"I will!"

Claytor saw Spyro talk to the six adolescent dragons in their group. He made at least a couple gestures towards the center, leading the Vinetar to guess he was planning to bring them over there, then support the vintaine. Excellent instincts! The wind and snowfall made flight impossible right now and their campsite had most likely been surrounded. Had they decided on fleeing, even the Savior would find it difficult to simultaneously protect all six noncombatants the second they left the perimeter.

Claytor gave his next command, "Bianca, rally the knights on this side. Make a line and hold it. I'll aid Terrador and the others."

The knight Terrador was currently struggling to fight off all the ape fighters swarming him. He wasn't that much taller than them; and they were constantly blindsiding him. It was only by fortune that he had one of the Skylanders and another knight to watch his back. Claytor rushed in as soon as he heard Bianca give her acknowledgement and went to rally the others.

The Talonpoint Knight jumped and pirouetted in the air. He whipped his tail down on the snow. Aglow in green mana, the earth moved the second it struck. A wave rippled across the stone and snow, and even the earth looked—acted like water. It knocked the apes off-balance. The mob on one side of the net stumbled, giving his allies some precious breathing room.

The Skylands orator reared his head and took a deep breath. Gray mana enveloped his muzzle when he lashed his snout forward like a whip, blowing out a spell that formed a dragon-sized tornado in the middle of the enemy group. Everything within a couple wingspans was sucked in—snow, rocks, what remained of their fires and last night's dinner, apes, and their various weapons—then tossed and tumbled together in a chaotic maelstrom that lasted a few seconds at best.

Claytor didn't think it would be enough to kill most in that group considering the tough armors they were using, but it gave the orator, Terrador, and the other knights enough time to break free from the encirclement and rush to his side. The Vinetar spotted a growth of green spirit gems. "Skylander!" He called to the orator. "Break the gems and recover your mana."

An ape screeched, "You won't get away!" Sword in hand, he came in from the flank. His eyes seemed to shine as he moved for the Wind dragon together with at least three others.

Seeing this, Vinetar Claytor spread his mana through the ground. He clamped down on the air and shoved his head aside as though he'd been ripping bones from meat. A somatic gesture that presaged the mountain bending to his will. The earth shuddered. A flat slab of rock burst forth underneath the snow cover and slammed into the Ancestors-damned monkey and those who rushed in with him.

Claytor recognized the orator. It was the dragon who stopped the wagon from falling off the mountain path a few days ago. "Akash! Where's your partner?" the knight asked.

Akash didn't answer him immediately. The tornado had long been dispelled and he'd noticed that some of the group had recovered and many others had rushed in to take their place. He spread his wings and twirled, sending gusts of wind strong enough to hold off their pursuers. "Up there!" he said when he was done.

Claytor glanced at the sky. One lone dragon was firing colorless salvos to enemies beyond the perimeter, his white scales visible and very much a target for those who underestimated the winds buffeting the mountain. Bullets of wind streaked across the air, pushing away the snow and betraying their trajectories.

Perhaps it was the only reason they haven't been completely overwhelmed yet.

"Terrador!" Satisfied, Claytor turned to the Warfang knight. "Come! We need to rebuild the walls, compartmentalize the place."

"Vinetar, if we run out of mana, the backlash—

"Don't worry, the others will protect us!" He gestured to the supply wagons in the center, where the Purple Dragon had successfully brought the messengers to, and completely unharmed by the looks of it. "Besides, Lord Spyro's there." He spread his wings. "Fly with me. We need to act fast!"

Claytor saw an ape stab a sword on the snow and switch to a repeating crossbow on his shoulder. Another knight saw this, obstructed his line of sight, and brought up his buckler. His armor shuddered with a clear metallic ping. The orator Akash stopped him from reloading the crossbow with a well-aimed bullet of wind. "It's okay, we'll hold the line here."

Claytor pointed to several knights who had rallied closer to the supply wagons. They were alone, unaided, for Spyro had decided to cover one side all on his own and Altai had apparently decided to support him. "Make your way over there and join them. Four groups, tight circle formation!"

Having given his orders, the Talonpoint Knight braced himself for the struggle and took to the air, with the Earth Guardian's namesake following him closely behind. They flew on a parabolic trajectory, going as high as two adult dragons standing on top of each other. They touched down next to the supply wagons.

To his surprise, another Earth dragon was emerging out of a supply wagon. Claytor recognized him as the only other one under his command. He'd been recuperating inside, having been injured during the long hike. Ostensibly, he'd been observing the ambush unfold and even he had realized the role he needed to play.

"We appreciate the help," said the knight Terrador.

"You'll need all the help you can get," the dragon replied. "I can't just lay in there and wait things out."

"Enough talking!" Claytor barked. "Reach into your mana core and pull! Build those damn walls and isolate those monkeys!"

"As you command, Vinetar!"

All three dragons focused inward and tapped into their mana reserves. Luminescent green enshrouded their scales as the rock responded to their will. They raised their necks and their forepaws, lifting great mounds of soil and stone with pure magic. The earth exploded and compacted into sturdy walls when they spread their wings and fluttered them.

They repeated the movements again and again, bringing up more walls, repairing the breaches, and separating groups of apes from each other. After all, it was easier to kill a small team of five than a mob at least fifteen strong. Thanks to their efforts, they managed to repair the perimeter and created multiple compartments—four quadrants for each of the four teams engaging their assailants, and a fifth section at the very heart of their campsite.

Sounds of battle pierced the veil that was Claytor's focus.

Sorceress Bianca's voice would cry out, presaging a blast of fire, a zap of lightning. He could hear Altai's growls, the icicles that were surely on her claws and tail shattering when they met flesh and armor. The very air gushed in loud, brief spurts as the two orators in the vintaine repelled the invaders.

Monstrous, blood-curdling screeches were met with guttural snarls. Metal clashed with metal, occasionally producing a grisly thunk when a strike hit true. The mountain itself quaked as the few Ice dragons they had freely manipulated the snow all around them, blinding the apes and striking them down with spheres of magically-hardened ice.

Spyro repelled practically every single ape in his side of the circle. Bodies littered the ground and washed it in scarlet ichor, but that did not stop the primates from incessantly, continuously throwing their lives at the Savior. Not when it meant distracting him, preventing him from supporting the others. Even foot soldiers as weak and as stupid as them knew it was utterly pointless to try and kill the Hero of the Dragon Realms.

Claytor ceased channeling his element. Small crystals sprouted from the ground near them. Green. The sight was enough to renew his resolve; the Ancestors were surely watching over them. "Spring of Fortune, good," he muttered to himself before issuing his order to maintain the walls—to thicken them every minute.

They could outlast the ambush party as long as the enemy was unable to use their archers, but he didn't think that was the only plan available to them. Surely they had a countermeasure to Claytor's response. He needed to ensure they all escaped from this alive. He couldn't afford any more deaths.

Upon checking the supply wagons, he saw Nuodai, another messenger, an Ice dragon, a rhynoc, and a bear putting on the harnesses needed to drag it. Their expressions made it apparent how unconcerned they were with the battle. They were far too busy getting ready to run.

Claytor trotted to them. "Good planning!" He praised the Warfang knights. "We don't know what they'll throw at us next. Start running when I give the order."

"Yes, Vinetar!" replied the knights.

He approached the messengers. "And you two…" A gauche expression appeared on his muzzle as he turned to the one whose name he remembered. "You're Nuodai, correct?"

The young dragon looked at him, his blue scales shining in the light of the two moons. "Yes, that's me."

"Neither of you need to put on that harness," Claytor said. "Leave it to us. I'll get a gnorc and an atlawa to pull the carts in your stead."

"No!" the messenger protested. "Sir Claytor, we can't just hide in here and do nothing! You'll need every knight in your vintaine if you want to survive this with everything intact, we're sure of it. Please, let us help." The dragon broke eye contact, shame appearing on his muzzle. "Honestly, I'd prefer it if we were the ones pulling your wagons. The others aren't as strong as Altai or me and you don't have enough harnesses. We're from here, so it's only fair that we do this!"

It was impossible to miss the determination in his eyes. Arguing this matter would simply be a waste of time. "Very well," relented the Earth dragon. "Do as you wish. Remember, we run when I give the command." The plateau had multiple hills and valleys, and he remembered seeing dense pine forests below. The road to Eyria would snake several times through there, and it provided ample cover. They could try losing the ambush party in there.

"Understood, Sir Claytor."

With that taken care of, Claytor summoned a small column for him to stand on. Not too high up that he'd be visible to all the apes trapped in the campsite, but sufficient enough for him to assess the current situation.

The outer walls hadn't just been patched up. They had been fortified and increased in height, with the icy environment, the strong winds, and the snowfall, along with choice interventions by the ice dragons in his vintaine, all slickening the sides and rendering them nearly impassable. The sight made Claytor chuckle. Those scat eggs will have a terrific time climbing that.

The apes that had been trapped inside and further separated after they'd raised the inner walls were quickly becoming a pile of bloodied corpses strewn across the campsite. Their numbers advantage became their downfall, as the walls had reduced their unpredictable maneuverability. His knights were doing a wonderful job slicing and smashing every ape they could find in their quadrants. The bipeds had formed a line to prevent any ape from directly attacking the dragons, who would be firing volleys of ice or stone into the rapidly-dwindling horde.

Spyro—may Azeroth bless his soul—was performing excellently. His reputation as the Savior wasn't for nothing. No longer donning the cloak of Dragon Time, the Purple Dragon had resorted to the four traditional elements, the same ones that had seen him through the Great War. Fiery suns shot out of his wings and set apes aflame. He zipped through his quadrant, appearing all over it as flashes of golden lightning, sending any primate unlucky enough to get hit into a state of paralysis.

They would strike back at him, surely, but Spyro was always ready, his horns or tail sheathed in thick, solid ice. He seemed to have a sixth sense for the fight, responding to his enemies without seeing or hearing them. Claytor speculated the famed hero was attuned to the vibrations coursing through the ground, a sensory ability available only to Earth dragons who'd mastered their element to the advanced level.

If he had any blind spots at all, Altai had that taken care of. She had planted her four paws firmly on the opening to the center, the heart of the entire site. The Ice dragoness had enveloped her scales in protective armor formed from her own element and was now shooting Polar Bombs and snowballs at the crowd. At the rate they were thinning the mob, they would be done in a minute.

The ridges above Claytor's eyes furrowed when he saw Bianca's quadrant. For some reason, it was doing terribly. Despite having temporary command over several knights, she had the least corpses in her quadrant. More than half the mob was still alive, groveling on the snow and unable to move. Squinching his eyes, the Talonpoint Knight perceived wounds and holes caused by blunt trauma or magicked energy not where they would have instantly slain the victim, but rather incapacitate them. Only the furballs with the cloaca to directly charge at his knights without regard for Bianca's witchcraft joined their comrades lying on the ground with glass eyes.

It was doubtless that Sorceress Bianca was throwing in plenty of effort at fighting the damnable monkeys, but… why were all her spells so weak? They hardly killed anything. She conjured darts of magical force that barely damaged their uncharacteristically resilient armor. The flames she materialized, the lightning bolts she shot out of her fingertips, even the invisible wave of force that responded to her arm movement… none of them possessed even half of the raw power that fueled Spyro's every attack.

Something was wrong here. What happened to those things she was showing off back in Uzali? Where was that terrifying sword she thrust on their dining table that night? Why was she among the vanguard, engaging the Apes that managed to approach them in close quarters? Why wasn't she casting stronger and more powerful spells? After all the posturing she'd engaged in the whole trip, calling herself a "Magus" (whatever that meant) and projecting an air of superiority to anyone who bothered talking to her?

Thoughts began to circulate in Claytor's mind. That Sorceress Bianca had misled them about her competence on the battlefield. That she exploited her acquaintanceship with Spyro. That intended to use them all as her shields. Her decoys even! But he refused to let darkness cloud his thoughts. Not now. The witch must have been desperate if she had to do all this, Claytor rationalized to himself. Deciding to intervene, the knight crouched, reared his hindlegs, spread his wings, and—

Suddenly, the outer wall in Spyro's quadrant completely collapsed. It was a massive breach unlike the other two from before. In its place stood a commander-type ape. He was taller than most adult dragons, covered head-to-toe in glowing plate armor, and had a manic look in his eye. The two-handed sword in his hand looked like it could cleave a full-grown dragon in two effortlessly.

He cackled. "Attack! Destroy the wagons! Kill the knights!"

The commander-type let out a rallying cry. Every single ape rushing into Spyro's quadrant responded with screeches that had the Talonpoint Knight flashing back to the few times he had to deal with multiple Temple apprentices scraping their claws on the walls and causing an infernal racket. "Aahh!" Claytor painfully winced.

Altai's muzzle fell, but Spyro gave her a word of encouragement that Claytor was too far to hear. They shared a look for a few seconds then immediately went on the offensive.

They won't be enough, Claytor assessed. He turned and stomped on the ground, trying to attract attention. Only Oxspring and Akash heeded the vibrations in the earth and instantly faced him. Claytor was surprised to note that the Skylands orator was willing to work with him. It looked like they weren't as arrogant as he first thought.

He shook off the thought and called them over. "Support Lord Spyro! Don't let them get to the wagons!"

As soon as he gave the order, both dragons flew over to Spyro's quadrant. Claytor glanced up and saw Akash's partner soaring in the sky, still firing wind bullets at apes outside the intact sections of the perimeter. He'd been joined by one of his knights, an Ice Dragon, going by their dark scales. Together they sent volleys of ice and air beyond the wall, but he had a feeling it wasn't enough. They were firing too fast, too often, and in too many directions.

It was obvious the enemy commander had them surrounded. Claytor was sure they had a plan to demolish the walls. With the sheer size and number of fighters entering the fray, he knew it was only a matter of time before they did just that. So far there had only been two of the gigantic, dragon-sized apes, but he had no idea of knowing how many they had out there. The fact even the puny ape soldiers were fitted with quality equipment was alarming. They weren't mere bandits! This wasn't any regular ambush. Ancestors! It felt like the Great War all over again.

"We don't have that much time," Claytor muttered. He turned to Bianca's quadrant. Her combat ability was dragon dung to him at this point, but he couldn't say the same thing about her utility. The Vinetar yelled, "Sorceress! I need you to—

Claytor heard Spyro yelp.

Altai shrieked, "Lord Spyro!"

Claytor quickly swiveled his head in their direction. He saw the Purple Dragon narrowly dodging the commander-type's sword. Recovering in midair, Spyro blasted the monkey with an endless stream of fire.

The ape's weapon shone. Multiple runes inscribed on it lit up and cast the surroundings in cerulean, penetrating the white haze and creating a mana shield. Claytor watched him grin and—

They made eye contact.

With a piercing shout, the commander-type took out a throwing axe and hurled it at the Savior a split-second before his magic shield shattered. The Purple Dragon evaded the weapon and was immediately rushed by all the apes flooding the quadrant. Wind burst from beneath him and pushed the primates away. It not only gave Spyro much-needed space, but also opened an opportunity for the knights Claytor sent over to come and help.

High above the ensuing melee, Akash sent wave after wave of compressed air, expending as much mana as he could and clearly without regard to the amount left within his body. The apes being flung away would collide with those behind them, but even that strategy was beginning to fail as the mass of bodies was stabilizing.

Luckily Oxspring and Altai were there to land clean, easy kills as soon as Gintomyr the Prosperous granted the opportunity. The gnorc swept his glaive at the group and sliced scores of individuals into chunks of meat without hesitation and in tandem with Altai, who had her claws, her wings, and tail sporting blades of ice. They moved fast, quickly traveling wherever Akash blew a bunch of the invaders down.

Spyro chased after the commander-type, but it only took two ape soldiers swinging their glowing scimitars at him to draw his attention long enough for the giant brute to kick him in the snout. Watching the scene from his elevated platform, Claytor braced for combat and prepared to pounce, for the massive ape had been completely ignoring Spyro the entire time and had made the supply wagons his sole objective.

Spyro had only just slain his assailants when he yelled out, "No!" Flames wrapped around him. He intended to charge the commander-type with Comet Dash, but by the time he got there, it'd be too late.

Unwilling to have his other knights abandon their quadrants, Vinetar Claytor himself took action. He leaped down from his pedestal and, his forepaws sheathed in rock, clawed at the commander-type a few wingspans away from the center. The ape was skilled, parrying his heavy blows with the blunt side of his massive sword.

He saw Spyro rushing in from behind, and promptly arced his weapon backward and into the snow, its runes shining radiantly once more. Instead of emitting a shield, he caused the ground to explode. A wall of snow rose to the air and obstructed Spyro's view. The dragon was forced to stop lest he risked striking either Claytor or the supply wagons behind him.

Claytor circulated his earth mana through his body once more. He rose on his hinds and stomped down, summoning a pillar of earth to catapult the ape into the air and far from the center. Unfortunately, the furball anticipated this. He sidestepped and instantly moved forward, lifting his sword in a tight grip and raising it like a horizontal bar. Claytor would've been cleaved in half if he didn't abandon his follow-up and crouched.

The large ape ignored him and sprinted for the wagons. Spyro's blurry form soared above the wall of snow. He quickly closed in on the commander-type with every intent of gutting him the second he dispelled time acceleration.

Claytor saw the ape take something out from the satchel on his waist. It must have been a bomb. It would be a race to see who'd get to the center first. It seemed close, and victory would go to—

Neither racer would ultimately win, for Sorceress Bianca landed right in front of the commander-type. Claytor didn't know how she got there, how she dropped in from the sky, but he was certainly grateful when she thrust both paws out and sent the would-be arsonist flying backward with an impact spell so strong he was blown back behind Altai, Akash, and Oxspring's line, dropping his weapon in the process.

Spyro touched down in front of the witch. "Thanks, Bianca. For a second there I thought I'd need to have my snout to the ailerons."

"That's why we're here, Spyro," she replied nonchalantly. "We all know you can't show everybody how well you can actually fly. Not yet."

He grinned. "I'm with you on that. I don't want to reveal all my maneuvers to whoever's leading them this early." Spyro looked her over. "How are things over there? I'm surprised you look fine—

"Vinetar!" Bianca exclaimed, effectively dismissing Spyro's concerns once she saw Claytor running to them. "What can I do for you?"

Spyro moved to return to his quadrant but the Talonpoint Knight stomped on the ground and a small mound of earth rose by his forepaw, stopping him. "Claytor?"

Claytor addressed them both, "Sorceress, Lord Spyro, we're taking the wagons and flying out of here. It's only a matter of time before the outer walls go down for good."

Spyro opened his mouth to reply but the knight preempted him, "Lord Spyro, as powerful and experienced as you are, we can't depend on you. Maybe if it was just you and a pawful of others, but not with the numbers on our side and the fact we have children, injured knights, and precious cargo to protect."

Spyro swallowed what would've been his reassurance and instead asked, "So what's the plan?"

"Gather everybody to the supply wagons, blow up the walls from inside, and flee to the forests as fast as we can. It's the only one I can think of."

"That's risky from the point of takeoff," Spyro countered. He explained, "These apes have weapons better than whatever they had when I attacked the Well of Souls. Our wagons won't last out there! We'll be trapped in turbulence and before we know it, it will have become a storm."

"Your Grace, we're already hovering between a storm and a mountain," Claytor replied. "We're flying blind at this point, but that doesn't mean I'm leaving everything to Gintomyr."

He glanced at Bianca. "Sorceress, your magic… it can strengthen our wagons, can you?"

Spyro spoke before she had the chance to respond. "I'm heading back out there!" He hunkered down and prepared to charge.

"Stay safe!"

"Remember what I said, Spyro!"

Both Claytor and Bianca bid the Purple Dragon farewell together before returning to the task at hand. The rabbit was the first to speak, "Vinetar, to answer your question, yes, I can grant the carts some magical protection. But you must realize something made in haste won't be as impervious as you'd expect."

"I don't care as long as it gets us all out of this storm!" Claytor retorted.

"Understood," the witch said. "I'll work on it right away."

The Talonpoint Knight observed the robed figure saunter into the heart of the formation. The five performing final checks on the harnesses glanced at her when she strolled into their midst. Bianca did not pay attention to them, her eyes only on the task of warding the vehicles.

Claytor gave the campsite another quick scan. For now, nothing else required his direct attention. Spyro's return to his quadrant—the only one with the irreparable breach—acted as a tailwind for their defense, making it manageable even with just a few warriors. Better yet, some knights from the other quadrants had transferred over there, further relieving the pressure from that side of the battle.

A brief respite before the turbulent gales would come and besiege their flight.

Claytor, sensing the urgency in his scales, followed after Bianca, the doubts he'd cast away returning in full force. When he arrived, the rabbit had done something completely inscrutable. All five wagons had at least three candles surrounding them. Red, green, and a bluish-white—the colors of the three celestial objects that graced the skies reddit-to-black. Tiny flames blazed at their tips, yet somehow they belched out copious volumes of translucent, odorless smoke. Copious enough to completely envelop the wagons within.

Meanwhile, Sorceress Bianca was carving mysterious runes on the wagon's sides, her fingertip aglow in magic. "What's this?" Claytor asked, honest curiosity entering his voice. He'd never seen spells performed this way, ever. Not even by the few magicians back at Talonpoint Keep. He sniffed the air. It smelled like crisp and oddly sharp, electrifying—the scent of the night sky during the Eternal Night, that time of the year when both moons turned black. "It smells odd…"

"Hardening Incense," answered Bianca. "They burn fast but anything exposed to their smoke will develop slight elemental and physical resistance for at least ten minutes."

"And these sigils?" Claytor analyzed the gibberish writing etched on the wagons. He couldn't understand a single thing, let alone figure out what they did or how they worked.

"Minor Runes of Mending." Bianca's voice was rote, verbalizing as though she had uttered the words hundreds of times. "Any damage these carts incur will self-repair over a few seconds as long as they have mana and the damage doesn't exceed a certain threshold."

Claytor hummed thoughtfully. "I never heard of magicians performing things like this."

"That's because inferior mages only focus on spellcasting," sneered Bianca. "Rune magic and incense are too esoteric for them to study."

The condescending tone in her voice had Claytor scoffing at her. It went completely against her pitiful display of "power" earlier tonight, and the fact people had already died soured his mood. "Hmph! If you're so great, why weren't you massacring those apes? Lord Spyro said you were strong, but all I saw was an 'inferior mage'. You didn't even bring out that sword—

Bianca angrily cut him off. "Call me an 'inferior mage' one more time, dragon. I dare you." She stopped working on the wagons, straightened her posture, and glared at the Vinetar. She challenged him, a full-grown adult dragon, with both arms down and no weapon in sight. The rabbit was just slightly taller than Joshua Renalia, with a slender build beneath her billowing robes.

Bianca didn't look like a threat, not in front of a dragon twice her height and surrounded by at least five allies. They both knew this. Yet Claytor could hear her calm and steady heartbeats. The Sorceress even spoke with a straight, fearless voice. "Do you really want to have this conversation now, hmm? Why don't you call Spyro back here too? Ask him why he didn't just use Convexity to disintegrate these soldiers?"

Bianca's words had a sarcastic tone to them, but Claytor sensed the danger coiled within. Immense danger. Intuition honed from years fighting in the Great War prickled his scales. She was in control here, not him. He remembered how she summoned flagons of Glimmer from thin air. There was so much about the rabbit he didn't—he couldn't comprehend. Claytor didn't want to find out what would happen if he poked her wings to the extent she started breathing hellfire.

The Vinetar took a step back. "Sorceress, I didn't mean to breathe hailstones on you," he said, placatingly. "Consider what I'm balancing on my wings and let me fly low, please."

A few seconds passed. Bianca huffed. "Be grateful I don't want Altai or her friends to die here, Vinetar." She resumed her work and engraved more runes. Claytor noticed she added at least two to the harnesses. "I will continue helping you, but don't forget: drawing attention to myself is the last thing I want."

Claytor accepted her reply and said nothing else. Fluttering his wings, the dragon knight summoned Terrador as well as the other Earth dragon recuperating in one of the supply wagons together with the rest of the injured. They discussed the retreat plan in greater detail, with Claytor describing how they would push the walls back to hurt as many apes as they can and create the largest possible space in the shortest amount of time.

The Talonpoint Knight was going over the general conditions and particular landmarks of the road that descended from Dragon Rock with Nuodai and his friend when Altai and Akash both retreated to the supply wagons. They broke any spirit crystals they could find. Akash continued to shoot their respective elements at the burgeoning crowd in Spyro's quadrant while Altai rushed over to the Vinetar. "Sir Claytor!" Altai frantically shouted. "There's too many of them! We're being pushed back. Even Lord Spyro! What do we do now?"

Bianca cried out, "I'm done! Vinetar, the wagons are ready!"

"Wonderful timing, Sorceress," Claytor praised her. "Terrador, Akash, have the vintaine tighten the line. Tell everyone to rally here. We will make our escape—

A loud crashing sound overwhelmed his voice and cut him off. To his horror, more sections in the outer wall collapsed. Two commander-type apes were responsible for it, their massive greatswords glowing ominously in the murky white haze. He couldn't find what took down the other sections.

"Move!" Claytor ordered. "Move now! Pull back to the wagons!" He began summoning more walls, cutting off the center as best he can without shutting out the other fighters.

Nervous sweat moistened his paw pads. They were running out of time. The enemy commander was about to make a move before they did. They needed to escape now, but first, they had to set it up. Claytor had the injured Earth dragon stand by him. Assist him in raising more stone walls.

A large dragon with oversized wings suddenly crashed beside the wagons. Claytor turned and realized it was a Wind dragon from his ashen scales. Akash's partner. The one who'd been striking at their attackers from a distance. He was bleeding. Scales have fallen from his hide in several places. Claytor couldn't turn his eyes away from the large wound on his flank. "G-got hit by, b-by… giant ice," he softly muttered. "Great danger outside, V-Vinetar, Claytor! Need to…"

The orator fell unconscious.

"Someone carry him into one of the wagons!" Claytor ordered. "Check his injuries!" Worry filled his heart. An Ice dragon was with him earlier! By Azeroth, where'd he go? He wasn't in the air anymore. He had disappeared—

A whistling sound reached his earholes. Claytor didn't have time to react.

Thwock!

A transparent arrow made of clear and solid ice fell on the injured knight next to him and struck his head. It easily penetrated the helmet and his thick skull, bursting out from the base of his horns. Blood gushed out and the Earth dragon fell over. His eyes and maw were wide open. The knight had died instantly. He didn't even have a chance to think, even speak.

Blanching, Claytor almost lost his scales—almost panicked. That arrow was meant for him.

Ready or not, they had to act, and they had to act now. Claytor whipped his head to Spyro's quadrant, where the Savior was holding the line, slowly but surely being forced back. The apes were closer than ever. Even without looking, he knew that the other knights were faring worse than he did.

"Lord Spyro, get over here now!" Claytor cried. His eyes then sought for the only Earth dragon left alive. "Terrador, I need you! Where—

Somebody gasped next to him. "Azeroth! He's dead." It was Terrador.

"It was meant for me," Claytor said, referring to the bloodied arrow.

Before the Guardian's namesake could reply, the Savior touched down beside them, a grim look on his muzzle. A thick, solid wall of ice and stone tightly encompassed the wagons in a circle, and all could hear the apes screaming behind them.

"You ready?" Spyro asked, briefly glancing down at the nearby corpse. "I'll take over for him."

Claytor wordlessly accepted his offer. "On my command!" he declared.

All three channeled the Earth element and concentrated the mana in the depths of their cores. They spent ten seconds accumulating magic and then…

"RAVAGE THEM!"

A rumbling earthquake shook the mountain slope as the walls surrounding them from all sides splintered into pieces and powerfully hurtled outward. Massive blocks of death showered the Apes, demolishing their ranks and eviscerating most of them. Only those at the rear survived the initial wave intact but now they were buried underneath the combined weight of their squirming allies and the large, immovable boulders that had pummeled them so.

Claytor had intended for this attack to clear the battlefield, and it was a success. The campsite was now free of these furry, barbaric primates. Most of their attackers were now lying down far away from them, dead, heavily injured, or otherwise incapacitated. A few were still standing, but by the time they recovered, the caravan would have already escaped.

Unfortunately…

One group still stood in their way, right on the very road they were supposed to descend. Claytor watched a massive figure strike down the wave of earth that had swept the apes before him. Completely disregarding the welfare of his own allies, it slammed boulders and bodies alike to the side using a gigantic weapon.

Obstructing the vintaine was a four-armed biped. Four apes stood beside it, with bows raised, ready to shoot. An Ice Dragon laid behind them, dead and butchered into pieces, his enchanted armor now in shambles.

Four-Arms was covered in thick fur. Thicker than anything he'd ever seen on a biped. Claytor found himself staring at the curved horns on his head. This was definitely not an ape.

Claytor heard Altai yelp in fright. "Ancestors, what's a yeti doing commanding apes?"

Four-Arms laughed in a baritone voice. "I am astounded at the way you bested my soldiers with that technique! I confess I expected an attack of great magnitude, but I regret not anticipating this amount of damage."

Claytor did not reply to Four-Arms. He had no reason to speak with the enemy. Instead, the knight analyzed them, seeking an opening.

Spyro whispered to him. "Sir Claytor, Bianca and I have your neck."

"Thank you, Lord Spyro. Be ready. We run when I say so."

Four-Arms howled in mock shame. "No response? How shameless! After the infinitesimal courtesy I just provided, you should reward me with a retort. Even a simple one would have sufficed."

The yeti stretched his back, ignoring all the hostile, wary stares everyone in the caravan sent in his direction. "Very well, I will conduct a self-introduction to fill this dreadful silence." Four-Arms stepped forward five paces, enough to put a slight distance ahead of his retinue of archers.

Claytor overheard Akash mumble to himself. "Twin Moons, I think I've seen him before. But, b-but where?"

Four-Arms continued speaking, "Friends and allies alike call me Bartholomew." He grinned at them. "I believe a few in your group have encountered me sometime in the past. I work for the true Ape King now, and he has entrusted me with the duty to prevent any form of help from reaching the December Cliffs."

Bartholomew then raised one arm and pointed at them. Pointed at Claytor, as though he knew who was giving the orders here. "Knights of the Allied Territories! Relinquish your cargo and those six young dragons in your protection." His eyes fell on Bianca. "Oh! And give up the pretty little witch, too.

"Accept my demands and I will permit this caravan to turn around and depart Icy Peak unharmed. We shall even escort you back to Uzali! My soldiers and I wouldn't want to miss a chance to fraternize with the Savior himself, after all."

Bartholomew waited graciously for them. Not once did he even gaze at his poor soldiers trying to get back up from the vintaine's last attack. It annoyed the knight even more than his unreasonable demand. Claytor asked Bianca for another Clearvoice Talisman. As soon as the rabbit slapped it on his neck, he shouted at them. "Suck an egg and lick the scat off my cloaca, Four-Arms! You'll have to kill us all first!"

The yeti had little to say in response. "As you wish, Sir Knight." Bartholomew then waved at the archers behind him. "You heard the dragon," Claytor heard him shout. "Fire at will!"

Claytor roared out in response, "Raise shields!"

Both the vintaine and their guests moved instantly. Both Claytor and Terrador raised earth barriers as fast as they could. The Ice dragons pulled up screens of ice from the compacted snow by their feet. Even with the protective walls in front of them, an arrow fired off by one of the apes managed to pierce their defenses.

Altai flung herself to the ground when she heard the same arrow penetrate the hastily-raised barrier. With her forepaws hung over her head, she squealed as it whistled past her. "Eeeek!"

Claytor was stunned to see Bartholomew conjure four arrows of the clearest, hardest ice crystals he'd ever laid eyes on. They were the same as the one that had nearly impaled him in the head minutes earlier.

The yeti threw the projectiles at them—at their wagons. He hurled the sharpened crystals with enough power to easily pierce Bianca's wards and destroy their vehicles.

Before they reached the wagons, Spyro fluttered his wings and evoked a dark, murky portal in the air. Two arrows flew into it and were never seen again. Akash raised his head and blew out a terrifyingly powerful gust from his mouth. His action impeded the icicle's trajectory. Wobbling, it was flung back slightly, landing harmlessly on the snow below.

Then, a sharp, pained yowl escaped the Skylander's maw. "Arrrrg! Howling gales!"

The fourth icicle had found its way into Akash's wing. It dug deep into it, penetrating the membrane in an instant. Claytor was just about to ask how in the Realms that happened when the orator whipped his head towards Bianca, who was standing in front of a wagon with her hand raised and a translucent wall of force before her.

Bianca's expression became awkward. "Ohhhh." She cringed. "I apologize! I didn't expect it to just bounce off—

"My wing! You hurt my wing!" Akash cursed her. "Stupid incompetent rabbit! You could've used a different spell!"

"It's fine, dragon! I have a spell to accelerate your natural regen—

"Kill them!" Bartholomew interrupted them, exploiting the distraction they caused. "Kill them all! But leave Spyro and the Magus alive!"

The four-armed yeti charged at them, leading the four large apes who'd discarded their bows in favor of swords and spears. Worse, the survivors of the massive attack earlier had recovered and they, too, rushed in, attacking from their flanks.

"Go ahead and try!" Spyro met the enemy commander midway. He swooped in from low altitude, searing flames pouring out his muzzle. The battlefield became warmer in his wake, the fire so potent it melted the snow in its path.

Bartholomew smirked, holding out a glowing orb in one hand. It cast a brilliant azure light throughout the campsite ruins and ensconced his body in an immaterial shell. In a second, it congealed into a robust suit of armor with the orb nestled in the middle of its cuirass. Made entirely of magicked ice, thick and incredibly sharp spines adorned the pauldrons, the plackart, the cuirass, and all four of the yeti's vambraces. "Ha! My Blizzard Battle Armor is impervious to your flames, Savior!"

Raising his arms in defense, Bartholomew ignored Spyro's flames and pressed his attack. Spyro was taken aback by his action. He had yet to conceive a suitable counter when the yeti was upon him and attempted to backhand the dragon. "Now get out of the way!"

Spyro instinctively hopped backwards to avoid the blow, only to realize too late that he'd underestimated Bartholomew's reach. A mace borne of the same magicked ice materialized in one hand and it smacked the Purple Dragon's flank, launching him to the side and opening up a path to the nearest wagon. A clear path, considering that all the other knights of Warfang were busy defending the line from the pawfuls of skilled, heavily-armored apes.

Seeing this, Oxspring abandoned his comrades. The gnorc haphazardly sprinted into Bartholomew's path, brandishing his glaive. Claytor joined him, touching down beside the gnorc and, channeling his element, summoned a stalagmite with a sharp tip aimed for the yeti's core.

"Hmph!" Bartholomew snorted. The very ice beneath their feet seemed to collude with the yeti, for it burst in an explosion of fresh snow and launched him airborne. He evaded Claytor's attack and landed with his feet encased in ice. Sliding across the frosty landscape, he closed the gap and swiped upwards at him with his fearsome weapon. The Earth dragon ducked and veered off-center, only to find himself caught in the yeti's other arms.

Vinetar Claytor growled in agony, feeling the vambraces' spines pierce him, penetrating both armor and scale. Blood seeped out of the wounds. Terror gripped Claytor when the orb nestled in Bartholomew's cuirass let out a brilliant shine. He panicked at last and went still, practically staring at tornadoes.

Oxspring roared. The gnorc dashed to the yeti and, narrowly avoiding having his face crushed beyond recognition by a thrown mace of ice, swung his glaive down at Bartholomew's face.

Only then did Claytor notice the yeti's composed grin. Too late for the Vinetar to urge the gnorc to abort his attack, he could do nothing but watch a gargantuan ice boulder appear from thin air and slam into Oxspring's body. It sent the gnorc flying to the supply wagon, his front armor crumbling into pieces, barely saving his life in the process.

Oxspring crashed into the vehicle and landed several paces away, face down. His momentum overwhelmed Bianca's wards and damaged its rear half beyond repair. The ice boulder that followed him burst violently into shrapnel when it reached its intended target, eviscerating both the wagon and the poor knight pulling it.

"Ancestors, no!" Claytor paled.

Bartholomew laughed. "Worry more about yourself, Sir Knight!"

Luckily, before he could do anything, a cord of magic wrapped itself around the Vinetar and dragged him out of the yeti's grasp. Claytor landed gracelessly beside Bianca's boots. The robed sorceress raised her hand, summoning multiple magic missiles and fireballs and launching them all at Bartholomew.

Claytor had only just risen to his feet—heaving a sigh of relief when he learned none of the injured were in that one wagon—when he saw the yeti not only endure Bianca's spells but also raise two hands, conjuring balls of ice and firing them at her in rapid succession.

Bianca summoned another wall of force, only for the frozen spheres to overtake her casting and slam into her chest. Rather than collapsing in on herself and dying on the spot, the Magus fell to the ground on her back, wheezing.

Spyro reappeared behind Bartholomew, his body cloaked in Dragon Time. The yeti seemed to have anticipated this and conjured a massive slab of ice to prevent the dragon from impaling him with his horns. Instead of dispelling the magic as he did earlier, the great Hero of the Dragon Realms maintained his time acceleration and did everything in his power to overcome Bartholomew's defenses.

By then, Claytor had made his way to Bianca. He didn't have a clue as to how the sorceress survived the attack relatively unscathed, yet instead of pulling her up like he would a fellow knight, all the Vinetar had for her were questions. "Don't you have stronger spells? Use them already! That yeti—

Bartholomew snarled. "Using Dragon Time is unwise, Savior!" He took out a sheet of metal from his waist pouch and threw it in the air where it hovered above the campsite. "I've prepared this Timebreaker Plate just for you!" Silver runes engraved on it bathed the wagons in light. Claytor couldn't help gasping in shock when Spyro's fuzzy silhouette stabilized and his form became clear.

Spyro loudly gasped, "I'm moving at normal speed again? H-how?" He glanced up, seeing the magic artifact floating above him. "What's—

"Armed and dangerous!" Bartholomew cried. "That's how!" The glowing orb in his chestplate shone once more, summoning ice spears in all the yeti's hands. He stabbed at Spyro, only for his attacks to fail when the Purple Dragon fell into a pool of black shadows. "Curses!"

Spyro continued to engage the enemy commander and stop him from attacking the remaining wagons. Bianca rose to her feet, shaking the snow off her robes. "Anything stronger and my spells will kill everybody but Spyro," she said, explaining herself to the Vinetar. "They're meant for devastating the battlefield, not surgical strikes on a single opponent."

Claytor heard her but deferred his reply. Spyro could only fight the yeti for so long before the scat egg found a way to create another opening to destroy more wagons. He was far more prepared than Claytor had expected, and the formless nature of that glowing orb in his possession made him difficult to predict.

Getting his vintaine to assist Spyro was out of the question; a little over one-third of it was dead. If he allocated more knights here, the line they were holding precariously would crumble.

"Sir Claytor!" Altai called out to him. The Vinetar turned and saw the adolescent waving one of her wings. "We need to fly out of here! We can't wait any longer!"

Egeria's Wings, she was correct. Only Akash and nine other knights, including Terrador, remained. Both Oxpring and the other orator were down, but at least they weren't dead. Now was the moment to flee. Claytor turned towards Spyro, worry etched on his snout. But if they moved, Bartholomew might do something in response.

"I'll handle it," Bianca's voice floated into Claytor's earholes.

He turned around, bewildered. "But Sorceress—

"I haven't done much for your vintaine, Sir Claytor, but assisting Spyro and buying time for all of you is something I can at least do. I have your neck."

"Aren't you the type to avoid risk?" Claytor asked the rabbit.

Sorceress Bianca chuckled. An arrogant smirk appeared on her muzzle. "I am. Now go! Get out of here!" Right after saying those words, she sprinted to the Savior. A scepter inlaid with a jewel slithered out of her sleeve.

Another weapon, Claytor observed. Bianca obviously had plenty of tricks in her arsenal. For a moment, he was relieved he'd stopped provoking her earlier. The thought came and went. Claytor ran over to Altai, wincing as he felt his wounds drain his strength. Gritting his jaws, he endured the pain.

When he arrived at the center, he gave out the order to execute the plan and rush into the forests below Dragon Rock. Once Akash and Oxspring were loaded on one of the remaining wagons, he joined the rest of his vintaine and led them down the road, unleashing his Earth element to knock the apes back and clear the way. The other knights emulated him, flanking the four wagons and repelling all who tried to attack.

"Lord Spyro! Sorceress Bianca!" Claytor called out to the two fighters being left behind in the campsite. "We're leaving!"

Neither dragon nor rabbit responded to him, for they were focused on the fight. A look of shock appeared on Bartholomew's face when he caught a glimpse of the wagons hastily departing the battlefield.

"You do not have permission to leave!" Bartholomew bellowed. He repelled Spyro and Bianca with a wave of magic. Two pillars of ice emerged from the ground to imprison both of them at once, but they dove to the side to evade it. Having created some space, the yeti glided across the snow. A massive icicle as large and as tall as an adult dragon appeared above his head. "Now fall! Perish beneath the might of my Frost Pearl!"

Claytor's snout blanched at the sight. What the armored yeti summoned with the shining orb paled in comparison to everything else he'd thrown at them. If that thing struck them, it wouldn't just squash them like insects. It might even cause the cliffside path to collapse as well.

There was no time to react; neither was there any way for the vintaine to defend themselves. All they could do was run. Claytor barked out a command to go faster, to circle around Bartholomew as fast as they can go and down the road past him. Exhaustion and fatigue be damned, the Talonpoint Knight told himself. Every dragon, even those pulling the wagons, flapped their wings as they sprinted on all fours.

"Your entire unit moves quite languorously, Sir Knight!" Bartholomew chortled. "Accept your death. There's nothing you can do!" He swung his arm down. The Frost Pearl securely embedded in his armor shone brilliantly. His gargantuan thorn of ice emitted a wave of light once before it soared towards the vintaine to pound them into dust.

Spyro shouted from behind the yeti, "Not while I'm still flying!"

The treacherous winds that prevented flight bent away in deference to the Purple Dragon of Legend. Spyro flashed across the air as an orange, black, and yellow streak, enveloped in the energies of three different elements. Easily and seemingly effortlessly he drilled through the giant icicle. It burst into pieces when he emerged from the other side, each fragment of the large construct sublimating into vapor before touching the ground.

Spyro was not finished yet. He landed right between Bartholomew and the departing vintaine, his landing empowered by mana. Large rocks sprung from the ground, encased in the green haze of the Earth element. Letting out a powerful snort, Spyro roared, unleashing his mana and shooting all at the four-armed yeti.

"Mere pebbles!" Bartholomew's hands moved as though he was conducting an orchestra. The Frost Pearl rapidly discharged bursts of light. Lances of clear ice materialized simultaneously with each emission and shot down everything Spyro cast at him. His conceited grin faltered for the first time as soon as the rocks shattered into dust, for each and every one contained the scarlet orbs of the Fear element.

Phantom Fright, a technique known to explode and stun victims with concussive illusions. A signature move of Cynder's from the last days of the Great War.

Immaterial, the attack passed through any ice Bartholomew hurriedly created in defense. They exploded around him and he screamed, two of his hands clutching his head. With a clear opening, Spyro made his move, quickly gathering electricity in his maw and shooting out a stream of yellow death. Claytor's hopes of seeing the Zap Cannon kill Bartholomew were dashed when one of his free hands brought out an ornate scepter that had been discreetly hanging from his waist, inlaid with rare jewels and inscribed with magic runes.

He raised the ceremonial rod and injected mana of his own into it, calling upon its power. Six magic circles compressed into a six-layer shield came into existence in front of him and clashed with Spyro's destructive attack. Had the Zap Cannon been from any Electric dragon, even the Guardian himself, merely half of the six layers would have been destroyed. Coming from the Purple Dragon though, all but a single layer disintegrated.

As soon as he saw this, rather than pressing the attack Spyro sunk into a pool of darkness and vanished from sight.

Bianca caught up to them at this point. The rabbit raised her bejeweled wand at Bartholomew. "Spyro's not your only opponent!" she cried. Countless ethereal blades magically formed above her and rushed towards the yeti on Bianca's command.

Bartholomew noticed her attack and growled. The Frost Pearl in his cuirass radiated its brilliant azure glow just as he summoned another giant boulder and launched it at the whirling wall of blades. Before he could follow up with another attack, a murky shadow appeared behind his last magic shield.

Spyro shot out from within, horns covered in thick ice and aimed straight for the yeti. The darkness itself accompanied him, shaping into a myriad spikes that looked capable of damaging his armor. Simultaneously, Bianca sailed over to the side, right into Bartholomew's blind spot. "Take this!" Her wand condensed spheres of compressed air and bombarded him from the side.

Sluggish due to Phantom Fright combined with his attention being split between two skilled opponents, Bartholomew was simply unable to respond properly. In the vast majority of scenarios, this would have resulted in the yeti's demise. Unfortunately, with Bianca's attacks traveling faster than Spyro's, Claytor knew with disappointment what was mere seconds from occurring.

The barrage of wind bullets struck Bartholomew. Repeatedly they pummeled the unarmored parts of his body, bruising him, battering him down, and hopefully breaking his arms in some places. However, as Claytor expected, the sheer overwhelming force propelled the yeti sideways and out of Spyro's direct line of attack.

Spyro saw this and aborted his approach to avoid getting hit by Bianca's spells as well. He beat his wings powerfully, causing the wind to launch him high and above the rabbit's salvo. He floated down towards Bianca and hovered a full dragon's height above her. "Bianca!" Claytor heard him complain. "You nearly hit me!"

Bianca gasped in shock. "I'm so sorry, Spyro! I didn't expect you to just charge at him."

"You could've coordinated with me a little."

"And alert Bartholomew? I was flanking him!"

"Dragon dung! I remember you had a spell that allowed you to transmit your voice directly to me."

"Well…"

Claytor paid no mind to their little argument and focused on leading the caravan's escape. They blitzed past the space between them and Bartholomew and traveled down the mountain. Thankfully, the lamp posts that ran along the path were undamaged, their dim crystal light illuminating it just enough for all of them to scramble down without literally hurling themselves off the cliffside.

When they were far enough and just about to exit the area, the Talonpoint Knight looked back. Bartholomew had risen to his feet once more, holding two gargantuan clubs of ice. With an angry gnarl, he pointed in the caravan's direction. Rather than having the Apes assist him in his fight against Spyro and Bianca, he gave the order to pursue them instead.

A commander-type ape took charge and led many of the accursed monkeys down the road, chasing the caravan. Two more, both wounded from earlier, stayed with Bartholomew to help with his fight. Claytor beckoned the pullers to sprint even faster. "They're chasing us! Hurry! Hurry!"

He had Terrador stay back at the rear. As soon as the last wagon passed him, Claytor ordered the knight, "Terrador, bring it down!"

Channeling Earth, the dragon knight collapsed a small portion of the path. He turned and immediately followed the vintaine, beating his wings so as to increase his speed and keep up with them.

"Faster, everyone!" Claytor urged them. "Faster! The sooner we get to the forests, the sooner we can get them off our tails!" If only they could fly out of here. Had the weather been calmer, they could have split into two different groups, with the bipeds sprinting down the mountain path and the dragons air-lifting the wagons directly into the pine forest—they barely had enough for this task, even after accounting for those who'd been injured. Regrouping would have been easy since they could meet along the roads close to Eyria.

Venura, Spring of Fortune, never showed prejudice or favoritism in moments of chance, of probability. Because of the weather, tonight all they could do was run for their lives.

The path down Dragon Rock was rife with peril. At times it fell steeper than the road that led up the slope and ridges of Icy Peak. There were sudden turns where an untimely fall meant certain doom, and even places untouched by the light of the crystal lamps—yawning gaps of total darkness that possibly concealed hidden dangers.

Somehow, despite their best efforts to obstruct the road, the apes caught up to them. They carried torches of fire and magic, some in their mouths and others with their tails. They sprinted after them on all fours, leaping recklessly over the rocks and unseen gaps. Claytor had already seen a few plummet down the edge of the cliff. Their torches grew smaller and smaller until something suddenly snuffed it out. It was a terrifying height. Still, Claytor could only shudder whenever he remembered that the very plateau December rested on was much higher than that.

Claytor, Terrador, and two of the remaining Ice dragons perched themselves on top of the runaway wagons. They hugged the roofs of each cart, clinging to it with their wings and tails. From there they assisted wherever they could. Extended a rod of earth here, created a wave of snow there, covered patches of sharp, slippery limestone boulders with a thick, secure sheet of ice… anything to speed up their descent without compromising safety.

The Vinetar couldn't tell how long they'd been scrambling. With most of the flight spent in darkness, the moonlight weak and feeble, and his ears paying rapt attention to the clamor behind them, he could do nothing but live in the moment. Every problem had to be solved right away. No planning, no deliberation. Everybody moved on instinct.

Then the road started a series of switchbacks, crisscrossing down the mountain. The snowfall no longer reached them, and a thick fog blanketed the slopes, diffusing the dim crystal light. The caravan was assailed by arrows and spears alike, their throwers clearly tracking the dark shadows that the fast-moving wagons cast in the fog.

From there, the apes' audacity soared to greater altitudes. No longer content with simply throwing projectiles at them, they started deviating from the path and slid down the slopes with the intent of intercepting them. Those who didn't literally roll themselves dead blindsided the knights from the high ground.

While they failed to kill anyone in the vintaine, they managed to inflict casualties on them. Loading the injured into the wagons only served to slow them down and allow the more dangerous group of apes to close in on the caravan. The one led personally by a commander-type ape.

Even Claytor didn't escape unscathed. In a most harrowing moment, a medium-sized ape had unexpectedly landed on the same wagon the Vinetar was riding on. In a clash that lasted a minute at most, the wagon had teetered over several times due to the intense fighting. Claytor nearly lost an eye from the brawl, and his flews were sliced open. The sharp blade of his opponent had almost nicked an artery in his foreleg on top of that. The dragon eventually succeeded in slamming the monkey off the wagon and down the slope, at the cost of a stab wound on the unarmored section of a hindleg.

Disaster met them again later, at a time when they were so close to the forest—when the crowns of the pine trees were level with the road. One of the wagons popped a wheel, with the axle breaking off and the wheel itself tumbling into the darkness. Worse, the knight pulling it—an atlawa—sprained his ankle.

In their haste, they fashioned the broken wagon into a sled, but it cost them too much time. The apes had caught up to them a minute after they entered the pine forest. Several leaped into the trees and swung from bough to bough, inevitably pulling ahead of the caravan and landing in front of them.

The caravan came to an immediate stop. The knights of Warfang brandished their weapons and, with a roar from their Vinetar, engaged the apes in combat. Exhausted from their attempt to escape, the knights could scarcely defend themselves. Many had started receiving injuries, evading sure death only because of their sturdy armor or desperate maneuvers by their comrades.

Altai and the other messengers stepped up to bear some of the burden. Even the cart pullers joined them, stripping off their harnesses so as to enter the fray and join the fight.

In the end, their efforts were in vain. Running had been the only option they had, and with that cut off, death was inevitable.

Claytor attacked the commander-type ape ferociously, but his mana was running low. His channeling was sparse, with the Talonpoint Knight using the Earth element to supplement his claws and fangs instead of the other way around.

Against an ape who could stand eye to eye with a fully-grown adult dragon, who wielded an enchanted weapon that operated on an external source instead of a mana core, Claytor's ferocity accomplished nothing, serving only to tire him out further.

Until he tried to sheathe his claws in sharp rock one more time and froze to a stop, body shuddering in mid-movement. Claytor collapsed to the side as he recognized what had just happened—he'd run out of mana long ago, but he kept using his magic, not realizing he was overexerting his mana core until he ultimately suffered a backlash.

"A-ancestors!" sputtered Claytor. He couldn't raise his body anymore. The commander-type loomed over him, licking his lips in excitement. Ready to slay the dragon in front of him.

"Sir Claytor!"

"Vinetar!"

The knights and messengers exclaimed in fright when they saw him fall. They tried to come to his aid, but the few apes that were there had the skills and the equipment to keep them busy.

Claytor could only look at his destined murderer in the eye.

"You ran very far, lizard," the commander-type said. Lightning flashed, and the sky was swathed in light for an instant. "Impressive, but ultimately futile." The ape raised his sword for the finishing blow. "Now die!"

The finishing strike never made it to Claytor's neck.

For Spyro had arrived.

The apes didn't stand a chance. Draped in intense lightning, it took only a second for the Savior to burn a hole through the commander-type's enchanted armor and instantly kill him.

Morale flew high as soon as the Savior himself reappeared amidst them. Cloaked again in Dragon Time, he swooped in and slew every single ape he could see. Blades of ice halved one soldier. Earth spikes impaled another. Flames roasted heads, and a tornado of both wind and electricity devastated the entire group.

Many tried to run; none escaped.

When Spyro was finished, he stood at attention, eyes and earholes focusing on all movement around them. Everyone remained silent as they waited for more trouble, their only companion the rustling of trees in the wind and noises made by the native wildlife.

A few seconds passed.

"That's all of them," Spyro finally declared. "It's finally over."

Claytor could barely express his happiness and relief at seeing the great hero save them at the last second. Legs quivering from immense fatigue, the Vinetar had only managed a shaky, unstable stance when Altai touched down in front of Spyro and practically spoke for all of them.

"Ancestors praise you!" the young dragoness screamed at him. "You saved us!" She exclaimed as she rose on her hinds, wrapped her forelegs around Spyro's withers, and furiously nuzzled the base of his neck. "Thank you, Lord Spyro. Thank you. Thank you! If you hadn't gotten here in time, I, we, we…!"

She started to choke. Tears dripped down her muzzle. Altai couldn't let go of Spyro and embraced the dragon tighter than before.

"I'm glad I got here when I did," Spyro spoke in agreement. "When I saw what was happening, I thought I was too late and that most of you had already been slain."

Claytor limped over to them. "That likely would've been our fate, Lord Spyro, had we not made it this far. Azeroth must have been watching over us the whole time; there were so many things that could've gone wrong, so many ways this could've ended tragically." A genuine smile appeared on his muzzle for the first time tonight. "To tell you the truth, I'm, I'm grateful you joined us on this mission."

He gestured to the entire vintaine, or rather, what remained of it. "If you weren't here, I'm afraid everybody would've died tonight." Claytor closed his eyes and, distributing his weight the best he could, gave the Purple Dragon a deep and reverent bow. "I speak for the entire vintaine when I say this: from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much, Lord Spyro! You truly are the Hero of the Dragon Realms."

Spyro's expression turned awkward. He cringed and, scratching his cheek with a wingtip, said, "Y-You're welcome, Vinetar. But, can you please stop this now? You know I don't like this sort of treatment."

Claytor laughed. "Of course! Of course! I simply wanted to express my gratitude."

Spyro gave a warm smile in return. He then swiveled around to assess the caravan, count the remaining wagons, and see how the knights and messenger dragons were faring. "What now, Sir Claytor? Do we proceed to Eyria?"

The Talonpoint Knight hummed thoughtfully. "No. Not yet. We should wait until daybreak. I'm contemplating on heading deeper into the forest and camp where the trees are thickest. Cover the wagons, set up underground shelters, and then—

"Hey, wait a minute!" Altai exclaimed. "Lord Spyro, I just realized: you're all alone!" The dragoness rounded her head and searched everywhere for the only person who'd ever spoken to her at length. "Where's Miss Bianca? What happened to her?"

Spyro replied, "I left her behind."

Altai's jaw dropped. "Lifebringer's cloaca, you did what?" she shouted in surprise, eyes dilating widely.

"Altai," he said in a censorious voice. "Don't beat the wind. It's not as if I did it on purpose." Spyro then clarified, "Bianca figured out the apes might've had a chance at catching you all despite the tailwinds we gave you. To be honest, she's the one who told me to fly after you."

Claytor jolted at the mention of Bianca's actions. That witch sacrificed herself? Her of all people? Who knew she possessed the cloaca for that? His opinion of Sorceress Bianca increased greatly upon hearing Spyro's explanation.

Still, he had to press for more details. He never expected that fight to progress that way. "What happened up there?" Claytor inquired.

"Bartholomew's tough. He was a lot to handle, especially when he had a few of the large apes join him in the fight. Bianca and I could barely defend ourselves."

"'Barely'?" He couldn't believe that. "But you're—Y-Your Grace, you're the Purple Dragon! We all saw the kind of power you wield."

Spyro glared at Claytor. "I know, and I'm sure you've read the scrolls in Hookfang Library talking about the way Cyn and I ended the Great War.

"If I wanted to, I could've annihilated that yeti and all the apes in his command. But if I did that, my mana reserves would be low." He explained in a resolute voice, "I need to be ready for unexpected threats at all times, so I can't waste all my mana on everyone we fight."

Claytor understood his logic. Multiple dragons, himself included, had run out of mana at some point during tonight's encounter. Nobody expected a fighter as strong as Bartholomew to lead an ambush. What if there'd been another one in reserve, observing from the shadows, ready to step in if needed? The Earth dragon shivered at the thought. "You make a valid point," he said.

"Besides, I don't want you and your vintaine to start depending on me for everything!" Spyro chortled. "I'm still only one dragon, Sir Claytor. I'm not all-powerful."

Claytor chuckled at his remark. "Do not worry, Your Grace. We can and we shall carry our own weight when we fly."

"I know. We all hiked together."

Altai had a forlorn expression on her muzzle. She was worried, no doubt recalling the power Bartholomew displayed earlier. "Lord Spyro, will… will Miss Bianca be okay? I-I hope she isn't dead."

Spyro playfully booped Altai's snout.

"Hey!"

"Raise your snout, girl," Spyro told Altai. "Knowing Bianca, she won't die that easily." He turned around and gazed up at the moonlit silhouette of Dragon Rock. "I'm not pulling your tail; a sorceress like her is full of tricks. We'll definitely see her again in Eyria."

Altai forced herself to uncurl her tail and smile. "O-okay…"

Claytor coughed. "If we're done here, we should start moving. Altai, do you and your friends know where we could safely set up camp?"

The dragoness straightened her posture. "Y-yes, Sir Claytor, we do! Actually, we aren't that far from the campsite we used two weeks ago."

"Excellent! You lead the way."

Claytor mimicked Spyro and stared up the mountain, thinking about Bianca and reflecting on what transpired up there. The Vinetar felt his muzzle burn with shame. He accused her of misleading them—using them as her pawns. He was wrong about her.

Voluntarily facing Bartholomew and all those apes alone? Even if she got out of that alive, her survival would doubtlessly come at a steep price.

"Alona bless you for your sacrifice, Sorceress Bianca," Claytor muttered, sending his thoughts to the Ancestors. "I must apologize to you when we meet again. I owe you that much, at least."

---

Author's notes:

Finally reached the end of the chapter! Total word count for CH49 clocked in at about 14K, which is pretty amazing given my penchant for "showing too much" and that I covered the entire fight from start to finish.

All in all, I'd like to think that I did well on pacing here.

For those who are keeping track of the timestamp, Frostbite Village 2 is set in 59D/LN. It still technically falls under 1M2W considering that the Realms operates on a 41-day month and an 8-day week.

Anyway, just to let everybody know, I have been listening to what the reviews are saying. I get that there are people who are starting to get impatient with the storyline, so I took the liberty of rearranging my outline for the next twenty chapters such that they will make meaningful progression as far as the "serious Aimless" is concerned—these are namely the Beyond the Wall (BW) and The Journey Home (TJH) categories.

This means that most of the planned slice-of-life content had been pushed back as a result. For those of you who've been wanting to see this story explore how Joshua is living his life in Warfang, who he meets, and how he spends time with friends, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you'll just have to wait. And for those who are following the story for more than Joshua's daily life, then congratulations—y'all are gonna get your wish!

Note that I cannot postpone the seemingly episodic slice-of-life content forever. Every writer has chapters/story arcs that they're really excited to get to, and I am not an exception. The story arcs I'm really anticipating the most here (which are classified under TJH and BW) require some progression on the slice-of-life side. Just making sure that y'all know that.

Anyway. Let's go over the replies to reviews…

djax80. Holy shit! I can't believe I haven't PM'd you a direct reply to your review in the last chapter. *bows apologetically* Sorry!

I'm glad you found the Blink/Joshua VS Korahnir/Levanelle/Mellanus fight flawless in terms of visualization.

What Joshua would have done to Korahnir... you ever noticed that recurring gag where I've been having every single dragon melt at Joshua's touch? Well, Joshua obviously knows about this (and is uncomfortable with it) so he was going to use his element to create the opposite effect. Imagine Harry Potter's Cruciatus curse firing off multiple times for every second Joshua's fingers are touching Corey's scales. The pain would've been unimaginable for him, so he would definitely stop trying to mess around with Joshua after that.

Kilat POV... yes, I'll eventually have one. Man, so many people are missing that little girl!

chaoscontrol108. That sort of thing is par for the course for a medieval society. The classism is very prominent. I'm glad you're able to get through it.

Thanks for your feedback, esp. on how Joshua/Blink/Cynder were done. I was trying to portray that Cynder has matured from where she'd been during the Legend trilogy.

anon (guest). There's some stuff I would've liked to say in reply, but I don't want to clog up my space with politics talk. You want to chat about it, you know how to reach me. (FYI, I'm a moderate.)

AzureDragonGX. I know I don't need to throw in my reply to you here now that you're my second editor, but... just letting you know that I went ahead and fixed the errors you saw in Moving Up 2 (Vara and Levanelle) and Moving Up End (Cynder and Blink).

Guest #1 (guest). Heh, you'll have to wait a very long time to find out.

Guest #2 (guest). When Joshua enters that "trance" or "meditative" state, he sees the world in his sixth sense. Animals, plants, and people all become spheres of life (the brighter and bigger they are, the more "presence" or sapience they have), and he's able to observe, even manipulate them. This should already be clear to you, since you're this far into the fic.

axzknapp. If you think about it, on Joshua's side of things, the story's going full circle towards Chapter 29 (Keeping Time). XD

Merry Christmas to you too!

BTW, it might be Kilat getting the swear jar, not Joshua. Kilat doesn't know she's actually cursing when she imitates him saying the word "fuck", "cunt", and "shit". Well, Joshua will try to fix that later on and I hope I'll get a chance to make a quick chapter out of it.

That One Guest (guest). Time will tell, man. Time will tell.

Bizzleb. Yeah, that was the first real fight Joshua has had since the action in the beginning.

BTW, I hope you didn't find the previous chapter as bad as some readers have. They didn't have so much a problem with Blink/Cynder/Joshua or the combat as they did with Levanelle's beliefs. It's a sensitive topic, so I hope it didn't put you off.

Anyway, yes, Joshua's gotten much better now compared to the last time he was in an actual fight. Wait 'til he gets training! XD We'll come full circle with his realized potential in Chasing Leads eventually.

And it was great writing out Joshua and Cynder venting their frustrations. XD

Hoped you like this chapter too. This one was nothing but combat from start to finish! I'm praying I did Spyro's status as the Purple Dragon justice.

EndlessPossibilities57. Oh, the following that Aimless had in the early days was HORRENDOUS.

You're getting like 2.4 reviews per chapter with Fated. That's the number I was hitting until after my 10th chapter (and the 50K word count), when it started rising to the current level. So don't worry man, just keep going and don't lose motivation.

Thanks for the review and I hope you liked this chapter too.

LoNeWoLf (guest). Sorry to read that, Lonewolf. What made it hard to read? Was it Levanelle's beliefs?

There are people who do think like that today, and that kind of thinking/worldview is more ubiquitous the further back you go in history.

SKDaGamer. Huh, looks like I forgot to PM my reply to you too. Or was it on Discord?

Goddammit. I don't recall. LOL.

Anyway, I just slapped you with a chapter chock full of action. XDDD I hoped you enjoyed it.

Ball Nerd (guest). Massive review, damn! And you know what, I have to admit, you made pretty good points especially about the narrative flow and the story's excessive focus on Joshua.

Re: the narrative, well, you hit the "aimlessness" of the story right on the head. The whole four parallel threads is one of the reasons I gave the fic this title, and it was patterned after the Infinite Loops genre that I saw going around years ago. It's true that there's the possibility that growth or progression of any sort won't be visible, but that's why I put a timestamp to begin with.

Re: Joshua. This is pretty much all I heard from you. In a nutshell, you're saying "everything revolves around Joshua", whether it's the worldbuilding, the events happening in the story, the side characters, even the literary purpose of his element, and you hate it how he's annoying and immature.

Of course the story is centered on him. This is an isekai fic, and he is the main character. He hasn't been given much opportunities for growth either, narratively speaking, so it's not surprising that Day 1 Joshua is no different from Day 40 Joshua. People don't change that fast. They only do if something truly significant/memorable happens to them, and I haven't given him much of that since he was brought into the city.

To be fair, I have started branching out from Joshua via more "Beyond the Wall" chapters, so as to show that there's more to the world than just a sandbox for the kid to play in.

As for that last question (on the "specific problems that warranted this story"), I basically skimmed all the "bad" human fics set in the Post-DotD setting and also took note of the common tropes in Post-DotD. I came up with the story based on that. Lazy, right? Aimless basically snatches all that low-hanging fruit, and I'd like to think that's why it's gotten this far in the FFN archives. It's actually frustrating, even to me, but hey, if it works and I've got a market gobbling it up, why not? Someone else will come around to create that story you just described, anyway.

Earthpatriot117. And yet another person I missed. That makes three now :( Sorry if I didn't get to reply directly to you before.

Unfortunately, as I wrote in my A/N, mundane, slice-of-life content like that has been put on the backburner. We won't see something like Joshua and Cynder eating together (or hey, having coffee together) until much later on. I'm gonna concentrate on the real story first so... you'll just have to wait along with the others who're following this fic for the city life stuff.

And thanks for the review, btw!

Piston24. Hi again, and thanks once more for your comment.

You make a good point re: Joshua's Element. Well, if you got suggestions for the nickname, I'm open to them! Joshua will be giving his power its name around CH60, but that won't change what other people might choose to call it.

The previous chapter marked an end to the moving up process, but at least it's shorter than all the chapters taken to get to Teacher's Pet 2, which was the turning point. And yes, there's a degree of linearity—I can't avoid that—but that's why I organize the story arcs in a certain way. We'll get filler every once in a while, but even those are good to read.

Angstcannon. Thanks for the review, and your glowing feedback on the fight scene.

Ah I wouldn't say "darker side". He's just pretty pissed off and wanted to do something to dissuade him from bothering him again. See my reply to Djax80 if you want to know what Joshua was thinking of doing to Corey.

Guest #3 (guest). You're interpreting it wrong. It comes off that way to Blink, though.

DiabloPProcento. Hey Diablo! Thanks for the review. Glad you loved the chapter.

Those three bullies totally got what they deserve XD We'll find out what happens to them in a future chapter.

Aaand yeah, Spyro's gone! But we all know where he went if you've been paying attention to the previous chapters. And this one too, since he's in it. :P

Luckily for you, I had every intention of finishing the Moving Up series of chapters, so you didn't have to wait that long. :D

Hope you liked this chapter too!

Guest #4 (guest). That's what happened in the offscreen bullying event Cynder was referencing. Kilat absolutely demolished the bullies there. I wanted to get into it (and from her point of view too) but I need to get the story moving along so... ^^;

Henchman1997 (guest). Thanks for your comment! The English in your comment is actually pretty good for something you shat out using a translator. Thank you for reading my work!

Re: #1. I'll be having chapters coming from her point of view soon. ;)

Re: #2. I actually don't follow Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, but I do follow One Piece. Been reading it since the manga was covering the Skypiea arc. I love how Oda designed his story and his characters. The Ripple ability closely matches how the Unknown Element works in the tangible world, and Observation Haki can be considered a model, though it won't be a perfect match since Joshua can't distinguish specific emotions.

Re: #3. Aimless already has plenty of characters imported from the Classic verse. You've got Blink (A Hero's Tail), Gavin (barista dragon from Reignited), Darius (playwright dragon from Reignited), Gnasty Gnorc (Spyro 1, under a different name), Moneybags (Ripto's Rage), Ember (A Hero's Tail), Bianca (YOTD), and the Sorceress (YOTD). One of my beta readers is suggesting I toss in Flame (A Hero's Tail) as a one-time or two-time cameo—I'm still undecided about that—and I've just added my take on Bartholomew (YOTD) in this very chapter, so you know Bentley (also YOTD) must make at least one appearance too. Who exactly are you hoping to see? I can't just import everybody, y'know.

SindragonV2. Too bad Cynder has no one to receive hugs from. Oh well.

Mizon Remenman (guest). As I mentioned to Henchman, I'll be having chapters from her point of view soon. I've already put her POV chapters into my new chapter outline.

Guest #5 (guest). Because he feels a dangerous aura from Joshua. Spyro made this clear during Cynder's flashback in Convention End.

---

Aaaand that's all, folks!

Thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter.