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Spyro: Dawn of Light, 3-37

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SPYRO: DAWN OF LIGHT

Part 3




CHAPTER 37




"I feel sick to my stomach..." Cyril growled.  "All this time..."

"We couldn't have known," Nightshade grunted through clenched teeth, his eyes glowing a brilliant red.  "But this is indeed more than enough proof against them.  Their...attack...on you here offers a good catalyst and these papers and financial documents and mission statements are all extra fuel for their funeral pyre.  You've all done well."

Spyro sighed with relief, glancing uneasily at Cynder.  She was staring at the floor, clearly unsettled by the revelation.  "So many lives ruined by them...and for what?"

Ignitus tented his wing around her and hugged her to his side.  "Indeed...there is much evil in this world that we are blind to, just as there is much good that they blind themselves to."

"But...I don't...I don't understand...They spoke about multi-elemental manifestation...does that mean I...I was an experiment?"

"We need to read more into it to be sure, Cynder, but do not fret, you are not an experiment.  You're you.  Don't let anything tell you otherwise."  He nuzzled her head, to which she gave a shy smile of thanks.  "I will explain it soon, when we're all calmed down from this event and better able to interpret their writings."

"Yes, a calm mind is best for such things," Cyril said with a sigh.  "We will cover your questions in due time, right now things are still quite shaken up."  

"I'm utterly appalled," Volteer grumbled, rambling under his breath in a tree of synonyms.  "That this has been perpetuated for generations, propagated for some insane ancient research..."

"Yes, history is catching up to us even more it seems," Ignitus grunted.

"Hmph, history..." Tephra snarled suddenly from the side of the room, standing up in challenge.  "I fail to see how history is so deeply rooted in this; it's all you morons have been going on about since we got back.  History this, tradition that, rumors all over the place.  I'm sick of it."

"I don't quite follow your consternation," Volteer started, to which Tephra pointed with her wing at Spyro.

"I get they were researching him, and how to make more of him, which is the stupidest thing I've ever heard, but there's something going on here.  Everything's tied together and you're saying history involves Spyro and all that?  All this bullcrap with the Department hinges on Spyro?  Spyro this, Spyro that, what the hell have you idiots been hiding from the world this whole time?!"

"Tephra, I'm afraid it's not that-"

"I want answers.  I want the truth.  After the crap I saw and what Spyro just described from his raid, all their talk of euthanizing prisoners, what's it all for and why were things hidden from us in the first place??"  She remained staring intently at them as if her gaze would crumble them into carbon powder.  The guardians glanced uneasily back and forth amongst each other.  "As I thought, there's no actual truth."

"No, there is," Nightshade replied, "but putting it together is complicated.  It's...something we've had to keep quiet for so long."

"Then un-quiet it already."

Cyril grunted.  "Earth dragons, so overly blunt and tactless."  Pacing to the middle of the dojo, he sat down, the floor opening up around him.  "Young Tephra, Sidian was correct in what he told you, we Guardians investigated the matter thoroughly upon receiving such horrific news.  Unfortunately the merchants had covered their tracks too well even for our extended networks back then.  But what you were told was a rumor that arose during the days of Malefor, the Dark Master."  Several stone figures arose from beneath the dojo, hovering in the air.  "Malefor may claim to be benevolent, but he was the first purple dragon of this world, so very little was known about what it meant to be a purple dragon.  So little, in fact, that such a detriment of knowledge was responsible for his fall into darkness.  These statues are what remain of the figureheads crafted in his honor during his days of glory when he strove against the forces of evil.  The Rhynocs, the Ape Lords, the Gnorcs, and many other evil creatures, he opposed with swift and terrible retribution.  Many praised him as a Chosen One, in fact that's what his name in the old tongues meant.  The pride, and lack of direction, went to his head and he coveted power.  Over time he conspired with the Apes, who were well-versed since times of old in the dark arts.  Unbefitting for a dragon he delved into dark magic, forsaking his connection with light in order to devote himself to the practices of darkness.  This went on for years before anyone publicly suspected anything.  His demeanor changed.  During his glory days he had been a benefactor, always willing to help out, but he became secluded, arrogant, short of patience and temper.  As soon as he reached adulthood he launched an attack across the world with his powers, attempting to trigger the Eternal Night, and intent on destroying the world with the Destroyer golem.  The Guardians confronted him at Concurrent Skies, from which he was trying to summon the Destroyer."  The figures sank back into the floor, replaced with stone models of the guardians versus Malefor.  "By then his very form had been corrupted by the dark powers he abused, his mind all but enslaved.  It took the guardians everything in their power to fight him back, preparing that lone portal door to Convexity.  Due to his loss of light, he couldn't stand the Light Guardian's intense power.  Even though he dealt the fatal blow to the Light Guardian, the white dragon was able to force him back through the portal, stripping him of his material form and locking him away."

Terrador chimed in as he stood up.  "Unfortunately, it would have ended there if it wasn't for his co-conspirator Ape allies.  He was close with Gaul, who would later become the Ape Lord and successor to the throne of the Well of Souls.  The guardians had thought the Well was destroyed by that combined Light Dragon battle, but years after Malefor was sealed away, evidence surfaced of the Well's lingering presence.  If the Well had been destroyed as they thought, Malefor would have been ended that day with his body destroyed by the sheer power of Convexity.  The Well caught his malignant spirit and ensnared him, a fact he was surely banking on.  While he intended to use its dormant power for himself, he also used it as a fallback.  When the guardians realized this, they made it their sworn duty to bury this knowledge away from the public eye.  The elders across the world were already trying to cover it all up, and unfortunately the temple guardians locked themselves into the easy way out by hiding everything, to instill ignorance in later generations while we searched for some way to quietly and sneakily resolve these matters ourselves.  In hindsight, it was foolish, but at the time it seemed the only answer to preserve the peace that had finally returned.  With Malefor defeated, the other malignant organizations also went into hiding.  Those who showed their faces were wiped out swiftly."

"This doesn't explain how Spyro factors in and how he's not exempt from those rumors."

"To put it in basic terms," Ignitus offered, "due to Malefor's abuse of his powers, and his near-victory in destroying the planet, many have come to associate the purple dragon with destruction of the world.  Malefor himself touted that it was his destiny; the reason he was born purple was to destroy the world.  But that was his pride and fallen vision speaking.  As you yourself have seen, one's power can, and should, be used for good.  Spyro has done all he can to refrain from wanton destruction.  He longs for a repaired world much as you do, and he has the power to restore it and heal it."  Noticing Spyro's odd glance of question, he added "Or he will in time, anyway."

"How do you know he won't turn on us all and destroy the planet?" she retorted accusingly.  "You've sheltered him, how does that make you any better than those who trained the Dark Master?  Hm?"

A heavy collective sigh echoed through the room.  "We were at fault for sheltering him, but it was a learning experience, and we did our best to guide him, unlike our forebears who simply gave Malefor everything he asked for.  They were too eager to train and raise a savior, and had no discretion with giving him knowledge of the elements and other powers.  They did not truly guide him in terms of life, as we have tried to do for Spyro and the others."

"No shortage of tribulations amongst ourselves in regards to the approach either," Volteer grumbled.  "We Guardians have never been parents, as per our sworn duty to the Temple and our stations.  I refer to myself and these three Primary Element elders, Nightshade and Rivyera were already mates by the time their induction was scheduled.  But raising Spyro and his companions has offered no dearth of quandaries for us in terms of proper application of knowledge and guidance and life-vital preparations.  But our penultimate goal was to keep Spyro on the right track, to avoid another Dark Master, and to avoid recurrence of the errors our predecessors unintentionally committed."

"Quite right...quite right," Cyril said with a nod.  "Young Tephra, we all know you are filled with hatred and vengeance.  Life has not been kind to you in the least.  Nor was it kind to Spyro and Cynder.  In this, we've realized our fault.  We were so wrapped up in keeping Spyro safe and properly trained, and dealing with a myriad of other threats to the world's security, it did not occur to us that you needed help too.  We should have tried to take you in as well and give you a home here.  It is...likely too late for that, unless you wish it."

She snorted, shaking the floor.  "Yeah, no.  Not here with you freaks and your understudies.  Do you know how many of us kids wished to be whisked away by you Guardians for a life of action and adventure?  I already knew Spyro had been brought here when he was six.  Many of us did.  Do you know how much that hurt?  To see a village outcast, a freak of nature, chosen over the rest of us?"  The elders did not reply, though Volteer gave a sidelong glance of regret to Ignitus.  "And then when I called out for help, like the legends said, who came running when they stole Sidian?  Hm?  No one, that's who.  You were playing around with Spyro's training."

"Tephra-"

"No, you shut up.  If I want you to say something I will damn well ask!  Have I asked?! NO!"  She stamped on the floor and shook everything again.  Nightshade's body flickered with shadow, but a touch from Rivyera stilled him.  "My family was wiped out by that scalepox outbreak!  Who came to my aid?  No one!  My best friend was stolen from me!  No one helped!  I was cold, starving, sick, DYING!! AND NOT ONE OF YOU CAME TO HELP!!"  Hot tears of rage and buried anguish bubbled up and trickled down her face.  "I lost everything and was kicked out and beaten just for being a kid!!  So excuse me when I say that this world should burn and die and start over!!  No one, from anywhere, came to help me!  I had to go crawling to Ripto and deal with his speciesist pride and overbearing arrogance just so I could eat, so I could stand out and make any sort of difference!  Who are you to be talking about not creating another Dark Master when your inaction was more evil?!"  By now she was panting from her rage, so frustrated was she that her claws were digging deep gouges into the stone floor.  "Now tell me this, when you asses can't be bothered to look beyond your own temple at our suffering, and the only ones who showed me even a sliver of empathy were the ones who stole Sidian and turned him into a wizard parody, where am I supposed to turn?!  Who's gonna be there for me when you all are focused only on your own agendas?!"

"Are you done?" Ignitus asked calmly.

"I just asked you a question, dumbass, ANSWER ME!!"

"You turn to whom your heart tells you," he answered simply.  "Not your heated head or your raw emotions as you've done all your life."  She tried to reply but all that came out was stuttering from her rage.  "Calm down, Tephra.  You have to understand our pain at our inaction too.  We are not a force of gods that intervenes at the whims of the populace to save them from their afflictions.  The scalepox outbreak, we were doing everything possible to gather emergency supplies, but droughts struck the herb fields badly that year and the year before.  The outbreak was a terrible alignment of coincidences, and we were scrambling to vaccinate not just this side of the ocean but the others too.  Many more died in Cliffpool than did in the Settlement, though the Settlement elders are to blame for your outbreak in their failure to continue vaccinations for several years before.  We are only six Guardian Elders trying to oversee half the world.  You have asked us what we know of pain?  Do you then know how many bitter tears were shed here over every child, every infant lost because we were spread so thin?  How many times we came close to abandoning our station because of the pressure to serve and save, and having to deal with the bitter fact that for every life we save, ten more are lost?"

"I don't care."

"And therein lies your problem.  We weren't there for you, we weren't there for a great many other children either."  Tephra merely snarled in response and looked away.  

"T-Tephra..." Sidian whispered, catching her attention.  Her face softened a bit when she saw him on the verge of tears.  "P-please...you asked for the truth...can't you ac...accept what they're t-telling you?"

"No, I can't," she replied flatly, that darkness of hate in her eyes flaring up again.  "I can accept that there were rumors about Spyro, but I don't care if they're false or not, or who came up with them, I do know that Spyro is dangerous.  Therefore, you shouldn't even be here with them."

Sidian's lip quivered, tears spilling over and running down his muzzle.  "Y-you're even more dangerous with all that hate..."  Her eyes went wide as saucers, but he was already darting out of the room sobbing by the time she could try to formulate a response.

"Maybe that'll snap her out of it?" Flame asked, but Cynder and Spyro both shook their heads, looking ready to hop up at a moment's notice.

"He just made it worse..."

Tephra stood there staring at the door, at a total loss.  "Sidian..." she whispered, then punched the floor with a loud snarl.  "WHAT THE HELL?!"  She whipped around and stared daggers at the Guardians.  "Why are you idiots so damn quiet?!  Say something damnit!!"

"There's nothing more to be said until you calm down," Ignitus said with a heavy sigh.

"SCREW YOU ALL!!" she screamed and ran out to the balcony, flying off with an air-shaking roar of rage.  The elders all looked at each other sadly.

"There was little chance of it going well in any scenario..." Volteer glumly stated.  "Had Sidian stayed quiet we might have reasoned with her somewhat."

"But...what he said should sway her, right?" Flame asked, looking to the others for support but finding none.

"She's too hotheaded.  She's convinced we've persuaded him."

With a heavy sigh of his own the fire dragon seemed to sag, then pulled himself up.  "Alright, move out."

The others looked at him in surprise.  "Wait...what?"

"You heard me, you know what you just said.  She's a hothead.  She's probably gonna mobilize an attack now that we've tried to talk to her.  You heard her.  She has nowhere to turn.  That's not a good sign."

Ignitus and the others smirked knowingly and nodded.  "Alright then, you heard the dragon.  Everybody move out," Terrador ordered.  "Nightshade, you're here with me in case she attacks the Temple.  Rivyera, the children, though I don't have to remind you."  She nodded and bounded to the lower tunnels, her mate following closely to prepare the halls.  

"Volteer, Cyril, to me, we guard the island," Ignitus ordered.  "Flame, you take the others in pursuit.  Find her, find out what she's up to and contact us.  Volteer and Cyril and I will be on standby if you need assistance."

"What about Sidian?" Cynder asked, but Flame and Spyro shook their heads.

"He needs time, but we will alert you to her movements so he can come if he sees fit to do so," Flame explained, to which Ignitus and Terrador nodded.  "My gut says he's the key to her."

"Cynder, you're in charge of tracking her dark power, she's got some distance on us, but Spyro and Plazyma can combine their electricity to help us overtake her," Neves instructed.  "Shimmer and Plazyma, help her with the location.  Spyro, you're our primary fighter, you're the only one who can take her earth attacks head-on.  Caelos, you're on dampening duty and collateral damage control, she might try to use concussive blasts to disorient us."

"Got it."

"Let's go," Plazyma barked, darting out ahead of the rest.  Cynder and Shimmer followed her close, the boys following at a small distance so as not to get in the way of their sensing.  The three girls hovered in the air for a bit, paws clasped together as they tried to pool their elemental senses.  From Cynder, a thin tendril of shadow started to circle around, then fixated towards the west-northwest.  "Get up here!" the electric dragoness called to the boys, then when they were near enough she and Spyro closed their eyes.  Electric sparks and arcs jumped between the two, then a ball of electricity enveloped the group and off they shot with a gut-wrenching jolt and eye-watering blast of static all over their bodies.  Shaking themselves off and wincing against the static, they landed on a cliff near the remains of Elamrof, overlooking the lands beyond stretching into the Burned Lands.  Blackened, jagged trees struggling for life against the choking ash jutted up from the gray-brown earth, small bunches of black, brown-purple, and gray shrubs and grasses littering the parched plain before a steep tectonic dive led to the blackened stone and vaporous heat of the Burned Lands, a myriad of rocky islands between a maze of lava rivers.  A short volcano loomed in the near distance, belching smoke and dribbling magma down its cone.  

More importantly near at hand however was Tephra, startled by the thunderous clap and sudden appearance of her assumed foes.  "You jackasses don't know when to quit do you?!" she screamed.  Breathing onto her paws she formed cannonballs of earth power and threw them hard.  One whizzed past them but the second smote Spyro square in the chest, the blast sending them all sprawling.  "If I cannot rely on the Dark Master or your Guardians or anyone else, I will destroy the planet myself and reform it!!  Forget domination!!"

"Not if we stop you first!" Plazyma shouted back.  

Tephra snorted and flew off over the Burned Lands, the lava rising up in random bursts as she flapped her wings and sent waves of Earth power through the air in her rage.  "She's serious!  We have to stop her!" Spyro barked, lunging into the air.  The others followed him closely, Caelos exhaling slowly and focusing his wind power to boost them.  Somewhere in the distance Spyro could feel a Dark Gem gnawing at the earth, but they didn't have time to make a detour and destroy it.  Tephra was already heading towards that lone volcano close by, the peak bubbling and rumbling and belching thick smoke and vapors.  Feeling them overtaking her, she snarled and landed on a rocky spire, her paws glowing green with earth energy, the crystal spikes on her shoulders a nearly blinding red.  

"You may have stopped Grendor's magic with your Earth power, Spyro," she called out, "but that was magic!  Now you face magic AND dragon power combined!  You can't stop me, not here in this scarred land brimming with the earth's raw fury!"  Her whole body glowed, the lava around her perch bubbling and blasting up to create dangerous showers of molten rock which slid right off her body.  

"Guys, she's focusing the Earth power into her body to create a defense!  You'll have to distract her!" Flame yelled over the wind of their flight.

"But how?!" Shimmer demanded.

"Just attack her at will!"

With that they dispersed and surrounded her.  Stamping her paw, the earth energy swirling around her scales, Tephra caused the lava below to burst up again, Neves tightly turning to avoid the scalding mess.  "Use your damn ice on it!" Spyro barked at him.  Plazyma charged her paws with electricity, the others also charging up their powers.  

"I can't use my ice here to stop this lava!" Neves shouted back, his paws glittering with ice.  "It'll melt and make steam all around us, that stuff is dangerous!  But I can do this!"  Charging his maw as well he flung his paws out and breathed harshly, creating a thick cloud of his ice power all around the spire.  Stray lava pellets flew up again, but on contact with the ice were turned into rocks which fell back down.  "Now those are small enough to be safe!"

"Guard us from that while we attack!  GO!!" Spyro shouted.  Tephra growled and shielded herself with her wings as beams of fire, ice, electricity, sonic blasts, water and Fear were thrown at her.  Cynder's attack was a new one she hadn't been exposed to and she felt her pulse racing, the high-pitch screeches sending involuntary chills down her spine.  

"Guys get out of the immediate area!" Plazyma yelled.  Caelos was hovering in the air with a look of intense concentration as he exhaled slowly.  

"What's he doing?!" Cynder demanded, utterly confused.  "Wind isn't gonna do anything to her!"

"Just listen to her!" Spyro yelled back, pushing her away.  Caelos quickly inhaled and Tephra gasped as she felt a weird and uncomfortable pressure all around her body.  Her gasp turned into a gag and her eyes flew wide in panic.  Struggling to inhale, she could only gag, feeling weak and tingly.  Where was the air?!  Why couldn't she breathe??  Glaring at Caelos, her vision blurry from the pressure change, she suddenly realized he had literally sucked the air from around her and was surrounding her in a wind barrier.  The air felt so thin, thinner even than when she flew too high in the sky, her throat felt like it was being gashed by knives.

Unable to inhale further, Caelos loosed a roar, instantly restoring the air around her and punishing her with repeated rapid sonic blasts that shook and cracked the stone she was perched on.  Gasping for breath and feeling dizzy as air rushed into her lungs again, she forced herself to stand up and roar at him, knocking him back with a focused Earth Shot.  Breathing onto her paws she clumsily slammed them into the rock, surrounding herself with a tornado glowing green with power from the rocks and lava.  Flame tried to fire his heat laser breath at her but the tornado bent it around her and fired it back at him, narrowly missing his face.  Chunks of rock loosened from Caelos's attack levitated around her and then flew in every direction.  Spyro flared his wings before Cynder and shielded her from the assault, Neves cloaked himself and Shimmer in ice, but Flame and Caelos both got pierced in the side as they tried to dodge, sharp rocks sticking out of their scales.  Plazyma screamed, electricity gathering around her, and she darted in, too fast for the tornado as she flashed all around Tephra and pelted her with rapid punches and kicks, looking almost like there were three or four of herself at any one time attacking the green dragoness.  Tephra grunted and swayed a little under the assault, but her augmented strength made her a tank, the blows doing little to her other than slightly shifting her from side to side.  Channeling more Earth power into herself she exhaled, her breath surrounding her scales.  The next blows Plazyma landed knocked her back each time as the accumulated energy made small explosions under her paws.  

"Huh...I'll have to remember that one," Spyro muttered as Plazyma pulled back.  Tephra moved to gather her earth power into her paw and throw it at the electric dragoness, but her paws refused to move.  Glancing down she found she was secured in a thick layer of ice, her Earth shielding keeping her from feeling the change in temperature.  "Cynder, help them distract her, but keep away from me."

"Why?"

"Remember last time I used earth to fight an earth enemy?"

"...You're gonna match her blow for blow?  Are you crazy?  That might destroy this whole land!"

"It's all lava anyway, Cynder, now just go!  Don't let her catch on to me!"  

Tephra tried and tried to free herself with her brute strength, but the ice held fast, and any crack was quickly frozen over again.  "You damn bastard, think you're soooo great with your ice tricks?!  GAAAAAHHHH!!!" she screamed, her eyes glowing green.  A focused Earth Shot traveled through her legs and powdered the ice with a sickening crunching noise.  A blast of chilled water right to her face made her yelp and flail, the same chilly attack pelting her with surprising, stinging force as she tried to clear her eyes.  The ice on the spire crept back up her legs and she felt an oddly familiar clammy sensation growing over her scales on her back.  Wiping her eyes she found she was trapped in ice again, with shadow creeping over her and threatening to engulf her.  "OH NO YOU DON'T!! I had enough of that from Nightshade, don't you DARE pull that crap on me!!" she barked.  With another loud yell she cast another Earth Shot down her body and then lunged up into the air, spinning and dodging Flame's breath blast and Shimmer's second attempt to blind her.  With a broad sweep of her wings she cast a powerful sweeping Shot, smacking Flame, Plazyma, Shimmer and Caelos and sending them tumbling through the air onto nearby rocky platforms looming above the lava.  Cynder flew up to her and snarled, exhaling sharply.  Tephra winced as a net of shadow was swiftly woven over her, ensnaring her.

"Surrender now!" she ordered.

"You'll have to try better than that," Tephra growled, exhaling too.  Cynder yelped as she suddenly felt weightless, the break in concentration dissolving her shadow net.  Tephra grabbed her out of the air and threw her at Neves as he came up to try to freeze her wings.  The ice dragon caught Cynder clumsily, nearly falling out of the air himself.  A gleam in her peripheral vision was the only warning Tephra got before she was pelted upside the head with a powerful heat beam blast, the force sending her spinning.  With a sweep of her wings she screamed and dove at Flame, but then braked in surprise as he vanished.  Multiple Flames and Shimmers seemed to waver in and out of sight all around the platform.  "ENOUGH GAMES!!" she roared.  "You think this is a game?!  Can it with the mirage tricks!"

"Game's almost over," came a voice and a rush of power.  Tephra screeched as a bolt of lightning crashed from the sky onto her back.  Her magic and Earth augments canceled the damage but the electrical power still attacked her muscles, making them clench painfully.  

"GRAAAAHH!!!" Tephra roared again, her body glowing brightly with combined earth and magic energies.  All the lava around her suddenly bubbled all at once with violent bursts, sending a thick shower of molten rock into the air.  Plazyma's lightning jump crackled as she gathered the others and bolted them all to safety just in the nick of time...all but Spyro, who stood there finally facing the green dragoness, the lava shower falling over them both and sliding harmlessly off their scales.  "And where have you been during this fight?" Tephra demanded with a stamp of her paw that rocked their terrace loose, sending it floating down the river of magma sweeping it away.  

"I was hoping you would stand down and see reason, but I know now that you won't do that until you're forced to realize that your earth powers and your hatred won't get you what you want."

"So you're here for a one-on-one?  Good, it's finally my chance to completely smash you."

"Isn't that Gnasty's job?"

"YOU-" she screeched, then roared and blasted him with an Earth Shot.

"What's he got planned, Cynder?" Neves asked as they observed from a distance.

"I don't know...but if you guys were wondering how our fight went with Grendor or Ripto, you're probably about to find out."

Glaring at the purple dragon just standing and taking her attacks head-on, Tephra growled fiercely.  "Have it your way.  My power is infinite here."  

"Funny you say that...so is mine."  

Tephra balked as Spyro's presence suddenly amplified, a thick pressure surrounding her as if the air were retreating in fear from him.  Her pulse raced with a rush of fear that she couldn't explain.  It suddenly felt very much akin to her first meeting with Ripto, when she was just a child and could feel his overwhelming malice and magic capacity.  Spyro's, however, kept growing in intensity, the rock around him glowing green and power swirling into him, a purple flame starting to form all around him.  It wasn't just earth power he was focusing this time, this was far different from his battle with Grendor; back then she had seen him through the crystal scrying orb focusing and cycling the earth's power, but as he stood before her she could feel other elements as well, all melding together stronger and stronger.  

"What...is...that?!" Flame yelped.  "I can feel it all the way over here!!"

"Cynder...is he...delimiting himself?" Neves asked in awe.

"Yeah.  This is what happened those last two fights.  But this is way beyond even what he put against Ripto."

"Is this just his natural power?!" Plazyma whispered.  "Or is he pulling from the surroundings too?"

"He's not even fully unleashed, but yeah, he's drawing from the stone and lava to make a point," Neves stated, squinting.  Ice formed over his glasses and along his muzzle, making a makeshift set of binoculars.  "No wonder he never fights to his full potential..."

"He went all-out against Ripto, but I think he's even stronger now..." Cynder muttered, staring at the speck of purple dragon against the blackened stone.

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!!" Tephra screamed, punching the ground.  "HOW ARE YOU SO DAMN STRONG?!  YOU CAN'T EVEN USE MAGIC!!"  She darted in and swung at him, catching him upside the face, but he used the momentum to spin around and lash her with his tail, upending her.  She snarled and lashed back with her tail, knocking him aside, her body still covered in Earth power.  Standing back up, he shook himself off, then stamped on the ground with all his paws, that flare of power ramping up yet again and much stronger than before as he tried to intimidate her.

"Life isn't fair, Tephra, you of anyone should know that!" he replied, catching her paw with his and pushing her back.  Gathering more power into herself from the lava, she lunged in at him and headbutted him, sending him flying like a cannonball, crashing through the dead trees and skidding into the lava.  With a bright glow he used his light abilities to jump out of the melted stone and land back on the tiny island quickly, molten rock dribbling off his overpowered scales.  

"Think you're so special...well then stop THIS!!"  Hunkering low to the ground she breathed slowly and the whole area started to rumble and quake.  Spyro too crouched and bared his teeth with strain, the rumbling toning down to a vibration.  Up on their cliff, the others stared in awe.

"They're just...standing there?" Flame asked.

"Come on, enough with your ups and downs in intelligence," Plazyma quipped, lightly smacking his head with her wing.  

"But I don't get it, what's going on?"

Rolling her eyes, Shimmer sighed, then sent a knowing smirk at her boyfriend when he caught her eye.  "Tephra's trying to do something big with the surrounding land and Spyro is pressing her power back."

"This isn't a good place to be..." They turned to see who was talking but felt something shoot past them towards the warring dragons.  On their blackened platform, Tephra and Spyro glared at each other, Tephra struggling her hardest to break her power through Spyro's projected defenses.  Spyro was having a rather difficult time, her enormous Earth power and the added magic were threatening to wreak complete havoc through the ground and the lava around him.  He felt as if he were holding up a wall against a swelling tide; if any lapse of concentration struck, the land could very well explode!  Gritting his teeth harder he closed his eyes, feeling the earth crying out against the struggle.  

"Tephra, can't you feel you're hurting the world right now?!" he demanded.  "Your power's going berserk!"

"I DON'T CARE!!" she snarled, their platform cracking under her paws.  "Why do you insist on stopping me?!" she demanded.

"Because you're only focusing on yourself and your selfish goals!  Think about how much actual good you could do instead of destroying everything you hate!"

"The only way to fix this world is to destroy it!!" she snarled in reply.  "FIGHT ME PROPERLY!!  STOP FIGHTING MY POWERS!!"

"If I do fight you seriously, I'll probably kill you.  I can't do that."

"If you think you can talk me down and intimidate me with your power, you're dead wrong, twerp," she spat back, circling him.  "I'll never join you or your pathetic band of outcasts.  Sidian is MY friend and you WILL return him to me."

"Sidian has set his own goals and you're refusing to respect that, what kind of friendship is that?" Spyro growled back.  "All you think about is yourself, you ungrateful idiot."

"I HAVE NO ONE TO TURN TO ANYMORE!!!" she shrieked.  "Your masters betrayed me!!  The Dark Master and Ripto and Gaul all used me!!  The Department sees me as a specimen!!  Other earth dragons abhor me!!  WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO TURN?!" she demanded, tears cascading down her face.

"To us," came a voice nearby.  She whipped around to see Sidian standing there, her focused power snapping back into the lava and causing several tall waves to ripple away from them.  

"Sidian..."

"You can turn to us, Tephra, you can help us!"

Her lips curled with rage.  "Why.  Should I.  EVER.  Help those who were never there for me when I needed it the most?!"

Spyro shook his head.  "Sidian came here for you.  So did we."

"You just came to stop me!"

"To stop you from ruining your life and the lives of thousands of innocents," Spyro replied.  "You said the memo of euthanizing those prisoners made you angry?"

"That's the kind of crap I'm trying to get rid of!!"

"But isn't that exactly what you'd be doing by following Malefor?  You'd be euthanizing millions of lives just to start everything over!  That's no different from the Department!"

"IT'S DIFFERENT BECAUSE I'M DOING IT!!"

"YOU CAN'T SAVE LIVES BY ENDING THEM!!" Sidian screamed at her.  "No one has any excuse!  One doing it is never any different from another!  They want to change the world, you want to change the world, but killing doesn't do that in any age or for any reason!!"

"GETTING RID OF HATRED IS A GOOD ENOUGH REASON!!"

"Then get rid of your own hatred first!!" Sidian shot back, making her mouth snap shut as she remembered the argument that made her leave the Temple.  "Are you gonna kill yourself because you're so full of hate?!  What the hell kind of world are you gonna create if you can't let go of your own hatred in the first place?"

"SHUT UP!!" she screamed, stamping her paws, the whole area around them shaking under her rage.  She yelped in fright as she was yanked to the ground, suddenly feeling incredibly heavy.  Try as she might, she couldn't undo the gravity binding her.  Sidian's eyes were glowing, as were the tears running down his face.

"You're not my friend anymore if you think death and destruction are the answer to your problems," he whimpered.  "What happened to the kind and gentle Tephra I fell in love with?  I want her back!!  I want the Tephra that loved the earth and its wonders!  I want the Tephra that made such beautiful jewelry!!  But if this is what you're going to be, then I don't ever want to see you again!  You're choosing darkness over me!!"

The gravity field broke, but she lay there stunned, staring at him, her mind at war.  

"Are you Tephra, or are you a tool just like Ripto and Gaul and the Department?" he demanded angrily.  "I chose not to be a tool anymore, Tephra, and you can too, but you're choosing to let your hate decide everything for you and hat makes you a tool of the Dark Master!"  He winced and grabbed at his head, then growled and shook himself off vigorously.  "YOU STAY OUT OF MY HEAD YOU BASTARD!!"

"I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON MY DREAMS LIKE THIS!!" she roared, lunging at them both with a rabid fury in her eyes.  Spyro tried to hit her back, but she ignored the blow and plowed him aside.  Sidian yelped and dodged, running back a few feet to avoid her.  She whipped around and snarled at him, bristling.  "You abandoned me twice and come here to say you're here for me, yet you betray me and call me a tool?!"

"I CAME HERE FOR TEPHRA, NOT THIS HATEFUL IDIOT!!" he yelled back at her, sobbing.  "Your dreams are even more evil than those bastards who sold me away!  How can you be so damn blind?!"

The ground around him cracked and then shot up with jagged stone teeth, boxing him into a cage.  "I've had enough of this inane babble," she growled.  "You're coming with me and we're starting this world over together."

With a loud roar his eyes flew wide and he lunged at the stone, instantly shattering it with a sweep of his claws.  The green dragoness cried out in confused panic as he threw himself at her, his claws eating right through her Earthen augments and tearing at her scales.  The sudden pain and panic caught her completely off-guard and she scrambled at him, trying to force him back, but he kept coming at her, biting, scratching, kicking, a whirlwind of sharp attacks.  Not even her magic shielding could withstand his fury, as he was still infected with Grendor's dark magic remnants.  Bloodlust shone bright in his eyes, an intense desire to kill, and it scared her senseless.

"Sidian!!  Calm down!!" Spyro ordered, but the dragon was beyond him, deafened in his good ear by his racing pulse pounding in his head.  "SIDIAN!! STOP!!" Spyro yelled, using his wind power to amplify his voice.  The black dragon paused but only for a brief moment, his paws glowing with cyan earth energy.  With a loud screaming roar he punched her and blasted her with an Earth Shot simultaneously, sending her hurtling backwards end over end until she skidded to a stop, knocked unconscious from the force of the impact.  Spyro stared in shock, then bolted over to the black dragon rearing up over her with killing intent in his eyes.  "SIDIAN."

With a shudder rippling down his body Sidian whimpered, that hungry gleam instantly leaving his eyes as he cowered before the purple dragon.  "Spyro I-I-I'm s-sorry..."

"What did you do to her?"

"I just...I...I knocked her out..."

Laying his paw along the dragoness's neck, Spyro sighed in relief.  "She's alive.  Good.  I thought you'd totally lost it."

Sidian whimpered, his eyes tearing up again.  "I almost did...Spyro...if I hadn't heard you...I might've..."  He shuddered and then gagged, nearly throwing up from the sharp realization.  

"You still need training.  Now do you see why we kept you behind with Dune and Sandra?"

"I-I...yeah..."

Cynder alighted by Spyro and glared at the dragoness laying there.  "Is it finally over?"

Shaking his head, the purple dragon groaned.  "I don't know, Cynder...I really don't.  I don't know what to do now.  We can't just leave her here, but if we take her back to the Temple she might get worse again."

Shimmer and Neves weren't far behind, landing and quickly looking Tephra over.  "This...isn't good," Shimmer grumbled, her paws on the green dragon's forehead.

"What's up?" Neves asked, coming over to her, but she flared her wing out at him.

"Don't get any closer...something's not right here.  There's an intense magical imbalance...it feels like her body is drawing power.  But there shouldn't be a reason to do that..."

"Is she...gonna be okay?" Sidian whimpered.

"I don't know...it...feels like something is coming undone.  I can't really tell.  It feels like her body is covered in a haphazard mash of magic layers."

"We should get her to the Temple then..." Neves grumbled.  "Escalation or not, if something's wrong, we don't have the knowledge or materials here to deal with it."

Tephra was fading in and out of reality, her ears picking up their dialogue but her mind off on its own, everything felt scrambled.  From the back of her own mind she watched as her whole life seemed to unravel and shatter before her.  "I don't...understand..." she weakly mouthed, unnoticed by any of them as they debated how to transport her.  Why were they still insisting on treating her?  They were her mortal enemies, why did they care?  The confusion finally tipped her over the edge and she slipped into darkness again, losing all awareness.
Second of the three chapters I had done up during October.
Slowly, veeerrrryyyy slowly wrapping things up I think.

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darkdruid1206's avatar
Typo




but you're choosing to let your hate decide everything for you and hat makes you a tool of the Dark Master