FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 25

"Mmmhhhmm!" Cynder gurgled as she was shoved through the door, determination clearly audible in her voice

"No!" Diazen roared ferociously, slamming shut the door behind them "You won't get out of that robe! You're the only thing that might keep us alive!"

The commotion behind the door was loud beyond any reasoning, besides roaring dragons there was also the noise of golems waking up.

Spyro looked around quickly, they were in quite a big hallway, windows basically filled the side walls, opening a view to a volcanic outdoors, molten lava flowed in every direction, burgling like heated water. No wonder there were no scars on the glass, forcing your way through the windows would be suicide. Heat or an accidental blob of magma touching you would be enough to drop any creature.

If they wouldn't be chased and in danger the sudden change of scenery would surprise him. Right now it was nothing more than a crude escape route that wasn't properly trampled yet.

"The fuck were you thinking!" Diazen roared at the top of his lungs, hitting the door powerfully, the thud that followed echoed with the anger boiling inside him

Spyro balked at the sudden noise, tail making a nervous swipe.

"I-"

"You had one job you fool!" the orange eyed dragon stormed towards the startled drake, lunging at him after two steps, making a swift swing, punching the purple dragon with amethyst eyes right across his right cheek

Spyro tottered, teeth rattled inside his mouth and a piece of his lip popped like a pimple, spurting blood. Even if he was limping, he somehow managed to keep standing.

Diazen made another swing.

He growled, using his fighter's experience he blocked the incoming blow with his wing, perfectly amplifying on the totter caused by the blow, using the momentum to deflect the strike and land a perfect punch at the exposed elbow on the other leg, forcing his attacker to bend forward while he himself fell on his elbows, unable to retain balance on his weakened leg.

The only thing that prevented Diazen from dropping flat on his snout was Cynder who growled fiercely and charged into him, shoving him by the flank, making him drop roughly on his side.

He groaned, momentarily trying to push himself up, but his verve vanished completely when his eyes landed on the pair of dragons.

The purple dragon was looking at him with an emotionless look, blood was slowly dripping from his lower lip, he was standing on three legs, one risen in the air and bent. His posture, the way he showed no anger,, the way he kept a calm head even despite the obvious failure, made him feel worthless, like a bug that is being watched by some giant, giant that pities its small, meaningless existence.

He couldn't look at Spyro, he didn't want to feel like a bug. Not him. It's unacceptable.

In this simplicity was something grand, something powerful, he wouldn't be able to describe what he saw in Spyro even if they would cut him up limb by limb.

He didn't know if he was capable of understanding it.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

His eyes landed then on Cynder, expecting to find some serenity there. What he found however was the meaning of fear.

Her snout was mostly obscured by the slightly tilted backwards hood, what however stood out from the shadows were her eyes and a part of her mouth. Visible only due to the gold light coming from her muzzle.

She was growling, lips dancing in fury, nose wrinkled by a vicious snarl. Tear filled eyes narrowed and gleaming, green orbs staring at him with the ferocity of a starved beast.

She was a demon, he had no doubts about it.

The evidence was right there, with the golden light slinking through her tightly clenched teeth like a fire blazing behind slightly opening door, bringing destruction the moment they gape open. Not to mention the dark tendrils protruding from the corners of her eyes, like horns.

He had to look away or the fright would cause him to freeze to death.

"I did nothing wrong" Spyro replied calmly, licking his lips, it was quite horrible to realize that he got used to the taste of his own blood

For a second he wondered what went wrong with his life.

"N-Nothing wrong?" Diazen rasped coldly, giving the drake a full of disbelief glare, forcing a moment of silence as his sarcastic question sunk in

Then, suddenly realizing the helplessness of the situation and how both dragons are oblivious to it he started to laugh bitterly.

"I'm glad you are enjoying yourself" Spyro commented harshly and looked around the hall once more, besides the door on the far end, the corridor also turned to the left near them, stretching the hallway into unknown direction

"But perhaps you would want to get up and get us out of here"

"Out of here?!" Diazen pulled himself up, aiming his depressed, furious stare at the dragon, he would spit at him if his instinct didn't poke him that there might still be a chance to get through this

Even if all of his senses screamed that they are done for.

"There is no escape moron! Do you have any idea what have you just done?!"

Spyro looked at his numb paw, he felt as if a colony of ants would be running back and forth under his scales. The hole inside it wasn't so bad considering the size of the creepy tentacle that thrust itself into it. In fact the wound looked like it would be already healing itself, it seems that tranquilizer was not the only thing the golem's heart is capable of applying. The hole was a little larger than a single gold coin.

The tingling wasn't only of a physical nature, as he focused on the injury he felt the last remnants of his now faded Time energy poking at his magical essence like a soft touch of claw of a newly hatched hatchling.

"Found the key to the one lock my purple hide sealed" he muttered out loud

Diazen stared at the dragon as if he would be delusional.

"You sentenced us to misery! They're going to kill me! They're going to rape Cynder if she's lucky and don't even make me start about what they're going to do to Sparx! You're the only one who will survive this, you're going to get a beating, sure, in the end you will live, they have to rip that knowledge out of you"

"What knowledge?"

"Don't play dumb!" the orange eyed drake pointed at the locked door his paw was shaking badly "You did something to the Peacekeeper! We all have seen it change! How did you even do that? How could you feel that you can influence it?"

"I didn't feel a thing"

"Bullshit!" he shook his head, spitting at the ground" Fuck it, it doesn't matter anymore, we're dead anyway. You fucking messed with a golem that was supposed to be uncontrollable, those damn things make sure this place doesn't turn into a bloodbath, those fuckers are the only thing that keeps this door intact"

Spyro looked at the door skeptically, remembering quite well what happened behind them.

"They don't seem to be a force to be reckoned with, I mean the whole gallery jumped after us"

"Because you made a mistake! Spoiled your treasure! Why do you think all those dragons were there? They were waiting for a worthy mistake. Golems will hold some of them back, some of them will be held back by Cynder, mere thought about her will stir doubt, especially after your idiocy. But if the hood drops and they're going to find out she's just a normal dragon..." Diazen shook his head "All will come for the power that allows to influence the Constructor's entities"

"We've been through worse, we need to go"

"There is nowhere for us to go!" their orange eyed companion cried out, flames shooting from his nostrils "We're dead! Those guys will get us, or the golems will, or..." he snorted in defeat" Doesn't matter"

"I know how it looks, but get a hold of yourself Diazen" Spyro challenged the dragon with a confident stare, deep down he was surprised himself that he manages to keep a cold head despite the rather grim circumstances

"The longer we stay here and argue, the worse our situation becomes. I'm not letting my friends die, tell us where we need to go and if you have any motivation left, you might also tell us how to get there"

He wanted to punch the idiotic dragon again, due to depressed anger forgetting about how he felt about him. One look however into the amethyst orbs was enough to remind him of that earlier insight and force him to change his course of action immediately.

He wouldn't have a chance in this fight, even if Spyro was limping on one leg.

He again saw that odd power, that calm and modest strength, invisible to most he was sure, but when you grow up in a place like this, where everything is fake and straightforward you start to sense honesty.

Ironically craving the one thing you doubt existed.

Spyro might be a fool, but something told him that he has bigger chances of surviving this, or even turning the tables at some point if he would stick with the moron.

Diazen pointed at the window.

"There" as everyone turned their attention in the direction he pointed, he joined them near the window, tapping his claw against the glass "Into the Core"

From here the Core was nothing else than a massive, volcanic, fiery crater in the ground. Magma and tongues of fire were swirling around the slope, it was like staring into a massive, burning wormhole.

Above the hole however they could clearly see a rectangular building that most likely connected with the rest of this strange complex.

Diazen nodded, noticing where their attention went.

"There's a lift there protected by elemental shield that will take us straight to the Core and the Constructor"

Spyro frowned, lowering his gaze to look at his wounded paw again. He had used Time, somehow the golem triggered that ability in him, during that moment he heard only one name.

It gave him some sort of personal satisfaction when he remembered who exactly said that name and how his idea will go against everything that particular someone said.

"We're not going there, we need to find the Wanderer"

Spyro looked up, scanning the walls, looking for some kind of disfiguration in the shadows.

He spotted none.

He liked that nevertheless.

"What?" Diazen snapped, looking at his purple companion as if he would be a lunatic of some sort

"Take us to the Wanderer"

"You're delusional, you have to be. Whatever you did to that golem fried your brain"

Spyro sighed.

"Stop insulting me for a moment and answer me. Can you take us to the Wanderer or not?"

"There is no such thing!"

A frown appeared above the purple eyes.

"Huh? There has to be someone like that"

"You lived here all your life or I did? I'm telling you, a thing like that doesn't exist"

"It makes no sense" Spyro mumbled under his breath, looking at his paw once more, closing his eyes to remember every single detail, he was missing something her, something obvious

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but we don't have time for daydreaming"

He ignored Diazen's snide remark, focusing entirely on the very moment when he felt his Time powers. There was the golem, he tried to calm it, but something went wrong, it glued itself to him, then it come awake he saw life in its eyes and then...

Creep.

Wanderer.

Creep called out the weird name the moment the golem showed signs of life.

His eyes widened, attention focused at the burning wormhole outside.

And some of those golems according to Diazen are controlled by something called the Constructor.

Wanderer is the Constructor. It has to be, Creep works in its own cryptic ways, most of the time it is impossible to understand it without Cynder and even she has difficulties.

This was the answer to this mystery, he was sure of it. However this revelation wasn't without consequence, the answer birthed another mystery.

Why is Creep afraid of the Constructor and told them to stay away from it, or told Cynder to be precise, when it is possibly the only way how they can get out of here?

Spyro gently punched the window, cursing himself for the lack of time.

"What's the fastest route to the Core?"

He noticed Cynder raising her head, offering him an inconspicuous glance of surprise. He understood her clearly, his unexpected change of heart must have been surprising. If the thoughts circulating in his head weren't his own he doubted he would make any sense out of them either.

Especially when he couldn't share his ideas with his friends around Diazen.

"Fastest?" Diazen snickered "Follow the main halls and get straight to the lift. Problem is however that we can't use that route, it is not allowed on a daily basis to visit the Constructor. The entities make certain that rule is followed. There is also another way there that would allow us to avoid most of the artificial guardians, one that I was prepared to take before things went to hell. Now we're in deep shit. We cannot use the passage since I'm quite certain many will expect us to do so, the taunt is even more agonizing since one of the entrances is right here. We can't also use the main road since the golems will turn us into pulp in no time. Not to mention other risks, so yeah we're fucked"

"I can't believe this complex can be so small, there have to be other entrances somewhere around here to different rooms or halls. How on earth would all those dragons know we want to get to the Constructor?"

"Land of opportunity. That and you made sure to capitalize quite obviously on our destination with that golem trick. This world is how it is, it's inhabitants aren't dumb however, otherwise there would be no one left alive"

"Shit" Spyro hissed, it seemed like there is no easy way out of this

Diazen nodded bitterly.

"My thoughts exactly"

His attention landed on the glass again and the Core in the distance, distance that wasn't shrinking for quite a while now. The longer he stared at the rather intimidating picture the more he realized that it was always like this, their lives always were about improvisation and reaching their goals. Fighting with Malefor was no different, they also didn't have a plan besides the most basic one, they knew they had to stop him.

History repeats itself right here, they need to reach the Constructor and the only way to do it is to get to the Core. Everything else will sort out itself, hopefully for the better.

"Lead on" Spyro said, eyes remaining locked on their destination "We'll see what happens"

Diazen couldn't believe what he just heard, that purple guy had to be a lunatic, there is no other way to explain this.

A very irritating lunatic.

"Did you hear what I just said?" he hissed impatiently

"Yes I did and I'm asking you to go on with your original plan, by standing here we gain nothing. Danger is unavoidable, so we might as well face it and get it over with"

There was a moment of silence, orange eyes kept drilling into the purple hide, silently cursing him in every possible combination of wordplay that was impossible for the tongue to articulate.

"I hope you fight as good as you are insufferable" he hissed through clenched teeth, how he wished to sink his fangs in that neck right now to stop it from voicing any more nauseating idiocy

"We can hold our own, but don't expect us to kill any dragons"

Like this for example.

Diazen's eyes grew so huge that they nearly popped our from their orbits.

"What?" he rasped, suddenly out of breath

Spyro looked at the startled dragon, his heart aching with past murder caused by this very portal and his ignorance about avoiding it. This was the only way to make amends in this current situation for his actions.

And his soul be damned if in his name he forces Cynder to kill any more of her kind and reopen the traumatic wounds.

"You heard me, we will participate in a fight if it comes to that, but we will not be killing anyone of our own specie"

"Are you fucking insane?! You want to let your enemies get up because of some stupid moral code?! This is not a place for sentiments!"

"But this is a place where you value treasure and I have one that I swore to take care of"

Cynder balked.

He used his awakening, wounded paw to scratch his neck as he slowly turned his head towards his mate, looking around the hallway as if examining it. He threw her a swift, inconspicuous glance.

She was looking at him from underneath the robe, she was smiling softly and due to the small light coming out of her mouth he noticed her eyes glimmering with tears. One look was enough to tell that there was a drop or two mixed in that shimmer that had nothing to do with discomfort with having Sparx in her mouth.

The soft giggle that came from the hood as she looked away was like the most beautiful music he has ever heard.

Yes.

He did have a treasure to fight for.

"I have no fucking idea what is wrong with you" Diazen snarled, annoyed and nervous as he was never before "Good luck protecting whatever treasure with your fists only, you're going to be torn apart. Me alongside you"

"If you don't believe in us then stay here" Spyro limped to his mate's side, grazing his body against her the robe she wore, he hated the feeling of it, he really wanted to feel her soft scales, in all this mess some pleasure, even a tiny bit, would be much welcome

At least he could nudge her and point her in the direction he was moving, she followed him obediently.

"We're going to the Constructor"

Diazen laughed mockingly.

"You will never find your way without me!"

"Arguing with you doesn't help us either. This one step we just made brought us closer to the Core than all your earlier spite. I'm betting my horn that we would have found our way on our own during all this time we wasted on bittering"

That impudent motherfucker.

Too bad it was already too late, because he would gladly see his limbs being bitten off.

Diazen snorted, venting out his frustration. His paws were tied and he absolutely hated this feeling.

"Follow me" he stormed forward with an angry growl "We're going to use the side passage, the illusion covering it is just right here. All we need to-"

A part of the windowed wall at the end of the hallway started to flicker suddenly.

Diazen froze in his tracks, eyes widening and heart skipping a beat.

"Oh no"

The flickering wall disappeared, revealing an entrance made of granite black as night. It wasn't nearly as surprising and intimidating as the six purple dragons stepping out of the revealed tunnel.

Spyro recognized the two of them, it was the pair that vanished from the gallery.

Two males and four females.

All those dragons were nearly their age, except a single female that was close to reaching her adulthood.

"Well, well, well, you found yourself an interesting sidekick Diazen, some really special tricks we saw you showing off" the oldest dragon spoke, she was missing one of her eyes, she had a beautiful ruby inserted in her left eye socket.

Her single black eye evaluated Spyro hungrily from top to bottom.

"Surprising considering you lost everything and are just a bug not worth stomping. Quite peculiar you found assistance, I don't believe it's the other way around, you have nothing left to offer besides your ugly mug"

"Or do you?" she cocked her head, one eye drilling into the squirming dragon "Worms have a tendency to slither in every hole"

"Forget about him" another female spoke up, licking her lips "Let's take what we came here for and be done with it"

"Ah yes" the single eyed dragoness yelped, nodding her head as if she would be reminded of someone's birthday "We will be taking your Source. Hand it over and we're just going to feed you your claws. Protest and you wished you would have to deal with that small digestion problem we're offering"

"If you want it, you're gonna need to take it" Spyro replied harshly "Just a warning before you decide to throw your lives away, at least three of you are going to die if you attack us"

Diazen looked at the purple dragon, he momentarily forgot about his hate towards the dragon. He was once more impressed by his wit, he clearly remembered what he said about Cynder and the robe and came up with a lie, only he knew that Spyro had no intention to kill and that under the robe is a simple dragoness.

And yet he sold it out to them, sounding confident as if the lie was the most truest of truths.

He was reminded of the power radiating from the dragon once again and it was enough to wash away his fear to some degree.

"You're bluffing dickhead" one of the males snapped, he wore a metallic helmet on his head that reminded Spyro of a very specific grazing muzzle suited only for dragons "No Source gives such power that let's you drop three purple dragons"

"No Source also allows to influence the Peacekeepers. Oops!" Spyro yelped a fake surprise, covering his mouth for a second "That already happened didn't it?"

Diazen's kept staring at Spyro, if he was gay and wouldn't be annoyed by him so much he believed he would fall in love with him right in this very moment. Being outnumbered in a place like this was a death sentence, tearing your confidence away.

Spyro showed no fear, in fact he was courageous beyond any imagination and he topped that determination with sass.

Power.

There was power in that guy.

It only made him wonder what a dragon like him had to face to not be afraid of a killer's squad made from six purple dragons.

The group of dragons ahead exchanged confused and intimidated glances between each other.

Only one female remained untouched, her body was covered with strange, pulsing, red veins. She was watching her companions with disgust wrinkling her snout.

"Don't tell me you believe this bullshit!"

"We all have seen the golem" a male voice muttered, it was difficult to pinpoint who exactly said it from the two males

"So what? As if this would be the first time one of the rocks behaved weird! The guy was lucky enough to be in the right place, in the right time" she grinned as she scanned her group and aimed her gaze soon later at the greatly outnumbered neighbors "Or unlucky"

"That's right" a different female stepped forward, she had weird legs, all four of them, it was like another layer of scales would be under the main purple ones, making them thick beyond comparison to anything, especially rendering it impossible to put against feminine curves

"Enough of this crap, we're taking the Source and your heads after that" the girl marched forward

Cynder stepped forward immediately, looking from underneath the hood at the approaching female, giving her the same gaze she offered Diazen earlier. Column of yellow light burst from her mouth.

"What the hell is that?" one of the young male's squealed, surprisingly he was normal, lacking any visible alterations to his body or clothing

Nearly the entire group yelped and backed down,, even the previously storming dragoness retreated a couple of steps.

"That's just fire you cowards" a feminine voice rose up, last one variable that made the group, it belonged to a dragoness with what seemed to be four wings. When she stood in place only two main ones were visible, but during even the slightest of movements an alteration of the main wings appeared, not following like a shadow, but moving completely on their own, like splitting two slices of cheese from each other, in conclusion making both thinner and a separate slice

"That's not fire" the girl with the crystal, red veins explained, staring at Cynder cautiously "What kind of freak is that?"

"One that will wreck you if you make another step closer!" Diazen roared triumphantly, he really needed to feel that spark of dominance

"Somehow I doubt it" the one eyed dragoness spoke up, if it would be so strong you would never have taken control over it. Not after your last failure, your own pet attacked you worm. You fuckers are lying, we all know what you want Diazen. I don't know where did you find this fool, but if he is afraid of you and believes that you can control a powerful Source then he is a moron. You both are a fraud, I'll have fun tearing you apart!"

The dragoness charged with a roar.

Cynder opened her mouth wider, the light coming from her mouth grew in strength.

"Something is wrong!" the squealing male cried out again

It didn't stop the dragoness, nor any other dragon for that matter. They threw themselves after her, their moves not so steady and steady as the first one, reacting instinctively than with actual determination.

"Scare off the guy in the back Sparx" Spyro whispered, his throat rumbling a threatening growl

Cynder opened her maw to the fullest, letting an awkward roar of her own that had a masculine echo to it.

In that very moment a glowing, wet blob popped out of her mouth, screaming like an entire legion of apes.

Sparx dashed forward, flailing his arms around and screaming at the top of his lungs. For everyone else it might have been a blare of a starving monster, but for him it was a therapeutic roar, venting away all that fear and uneasiness he had to go through in Cynder's mouth.

He directed all of it at the one single male in the back.

The attacking group groaned and grunted in surprise and confusion, scattering in every direction to avoid the shooting ball of light.

The lone male in the back shrieked like a slaughtered animal and momentarily tucked his tail in between his legs and sprinted back into the tunnel. For him the approaching ball was like a miniature, blazing sun that he was sure will run cleanly through his skull like a sword.

"It's the sun! Sun! It's the sun!" he screamed as he ran away, the glowing, shouting blob following him into the tunnel

"What the fuck was that thing?!" the double winged female exclaimed

The fear circulating among the group was pushed into the background when they heard feminine coughing, it was coming from the Source.

Cynder choked on her own roar, with Sparx gone from her mouth she could breathe again normally, her lungs couldn't let such an opportunity go to waste and immediately forced an inhale. The throat however cannot do two things at once. The double breaths collided with each other, her body unable to deal with the sudden chunk started to defend itself, spitting some of it in spasm of choking cough.

Her throat burned so badly that she couldn't help herself but to get a hold of it, the swift move snapping the binds that kept her robe. It slid down, revealing her black, scaly, feminine leg.

"It's just some chick choking!" the only male remaining shouted "Get those losers!"

They weren't impressed at all by the color of her scales, the coughing smelled of weakness and indolence and that was enough to bring their murderous courage back up.

Hesitation was gone, they adversaries attacked immediately.

The oldest of the group was first to reach them, she lunged in Spyro's direction, brandishing her fangs, ruby eye glimmering like freshly splattered blood.

Even if not in top shape Spyro dodged the incoming blows easily, she slashed at him fervently, not caring about her own defense, a typical mistake of those too proud and too used to their prey squealing out their horror and covering themselves in panic at the simplest roar.

He sidestepped swiftly using only three legs to do so, opening up his flank to swing at the dragoness.

The blow connected with ease.

He didn't feel much, he used his still slightly numb leg to attack, it wasn't a strong blow, but it was enough to make his attacker falter. The rest was solved by a shove, he slammed into the dragoness with all his might.

She tottered, fighting for balance as she was pushed right in front one of the charging dragons, make their adversary stop as to avoid colliding with the dragoness.

She would regain her balance if not for Cynder, the black dragoness made a swift spin, pressing her tail tip to the ground, blade sending sparks as it scratched across the floor. Cynder bounced her tail up just when it was about to reach the other dragonesses legs. She tripped her without any difficulties.

Groaning, their attacker dropped on her side, with the momentum still present from her struggle for balance she fell right on the path of her next two companions.

The formation of their attackers broke even further.

In the end only one dragon made it through with the initial assault, the empowered, creepy legs of the dragoness gave her enough strength to lunge farther than it was possible for a normal dragon.

She jumped over the tail of her fallen comrade and sprang directly at Diazen.

He covered himself behind his wings just in time to deflect the sharp strikes of her claws. She was strong, the two slashes he blocked really left a dent in his defense. His wings quaked from side to side, depending from which direction the strike came.

A crack appeared in his defense, due to raw strength of the blows he couldn't keep his wings together.

He channeled his elemental energy immediately, spitting a tongue of red flame right at the crack, where was the muzzle of his attacker. He spread his wings apart to allow the flame to gain on width.

The dragoness covered her snout with one of her enhanced leg, the flame connected with it, instead of lashing at her draconic face, the flames stopped. A fiery, nearly transparent barrier stretched down and up from the paw like an umbrella, swallowing every bit of flame.

This was a fire shield Ignitus once used.

Spyro started to feel the familiar notes of one specific tune, so popular amongst his kind most likely.

The dragoness opened her mouth to counterattack, yet before even the tiniest flame managed to slip from her mouth Cynder already slammed into her, making them both fall on the ground.

While the girls were rolling around the floor, which would be exciting to see in different circumstances Spyro believed, he focused on the fallen four, charging his electricity powers.

Yet he never opened his mouth.

The song was still playing in his mind.

Those currently fallen wear his scales, they could hear the music too most likely and there is a whole lot of them in this place. Many would benefit from his skills.

Which meant that they would become so much powerful if he wasn't careful and considering how friendly this current bunch is, it was a very bad idea to share tricks with them.

Part of him was saddened by this, this was the moment when they could turn the battle in their favor, by a great amount. One chained zap would do wonders here.

He bent down instead, tail making careful, slow swings, muscles bent and ready to act. He watched them get up, one by one.

Or at least he would if he wasn't interrupted.

Diazen was the only one in their party that lacked compunction, he immediately fired a fireball at the recovering dragons.

Spyro dropped on the ground, covering himself with his wings, blazing whips lashed against his membranes.

There was maybe one or two of the dragons groaning in agony from the group, the rest made no sound, or their sound was muffled since another noise overpowered the echo.

It reminded him of Steam, the evil train engine sucking on the dust from the forge.

For such a big fireball, the lashes didn't last long, he uncovered himself just to see a ball of fire encircling the group. The flames were circling them faster and faster until the sucking noise reached a crescendo and just like that the flames were gone, sucked by the girl with the red veins.

Veins that now glistened intensely.

The dragoness roared, there was a brief crack of snapping glass and before they knew what's happening, the hallway was filled with the rumbling sound of blazing fire.

A fire wall was sent flying in their direction.

Spyro's eyes widened, the only thought that crossed his mind with a big chance of protecting his hide related to elemental energy.

He didn't resist the nudge.

Yet instead of giving his opponents more possibilities to counter them with, he used their own weapon against them, simply by instinct. Before he knew it he created a magical barrier around himself.

It was weak and chaotic, the flames pierced its transparent surface in some places, wiggling inside the sphere like worms, burning his scales. He clenched his teeth and ignored the pain, compared to what he's been through in his life this felt like a mere cut.

Diazen wasn't so lucky, he roared in pain as the wall crossed through him, Spyro tried to move to assist him, despite the douchebag he is, but he was too far away to reach him. The only thing he managed to notice when the wall flew past him was Diazen covering himself with his wings and strangely flickering in the fire, as if a part of his body would become fire itself.

So similar to what Flare is capable of doing when he splits or turns into his burning alter ego.

The fighting girls were untouched by the flames, at least they learned that this dragons respect friendly fire.

Cynder was once more slammed against the floor, she groaned in pain and frustration, the dragoness was much more stronger than her, impossibly strong for someone of her age.

It was all because of this weird legs.

The purple dragoness attacked, springing her neck directly at her throat. Cynder lacked strength, but she didn't lack dexterity and flexibility. She quickly withdrew one of her paws and pressed it against the chin of the snarling muzzle, slowing it down.

This move opened room for the dragoness, one of her powerful legs kept on bending, slamming into her magenta chest over and over again.

Cynder yelped, letting out a blare of pain that was as real as it was distracting, with this weird, strong paw smacking against her chest she was sure that at some point she will spew out the food she ate through her entire life, followed by the bones from her ribs.

Her attacker was so busy on hitting and forcing her way to her throat to notice that she managed to free her tail. Despite the ferociousness of her attacker, the purple tail of the girl was no threat, there was no tip at the end and the tail in general was much shorter than hears.

She could only imagine what happened to it, judging from the nasty scars on the tail it was nothing pleasant.

Cynder retaliated, she twirled her tail in such a way that the sharp blade cut through the strong thigh of her opponent, in the vulnerable place near the knee. Her attacker rumbled a painful growl, stopping her punching as her legs bent and she fought to retain her dominant position.

This was the moment when Cynder attacked again, thrusting her tail tip into the purple rump, making sure it won't go too deep.

The dragoness screamed, impulsively balking.

She gained space.

Cynder kicked her rump up, momentarily bending her back in the most unnatural of ways and thrusting her hind paws straight into the dragonesses exposed throat, claws on her draconic feet gently piercing scale.

Her opponent started to choke and wheeze for breath, one of her fores slammed into the black, hind leg.

She groaned loudly, she felt as if the strike nearly shattered her bones, to escape from the pain she pushed her thighs down and then with all the strength she could muster kicked.

Her opponent was thrown back, mostly due to the shove, but also because her body instinctively demanded to escape from the grip that was strangling the life out of it. Those two things combined made her much lighter than she was in reality.

Cynder immediately used the moment to roll on her belly and get up, one leg wobbling due to the pain pulsing through it. She instantly wanted to spin, to face her aggressor, but she never got the chance.

A hot shockwave threw her forward, with a surprised grunt she dropped flat on her stomach, hitting her jaw against the floor, chin shooting up, almost making the lower set of her teeth plunge right into her nose.

It was like something just exploded behind her.

She looked behind her shoulder just to notice the purple dragoness splitting her paws apart, a trail of flame in between them. She just clapped her paws and sent a shockwave so much similar to the one the Keepers use, but of a greatly smaller caliber.

The trail of fire that she saw never disappeared however, it got stuck to her front paws, flames burst also from her hind ones. She was like some sort of a dark mare Cynder sometimes read about in fantasy books.

Flaming hooves of which were headed straight at her.

Green eyes widened, those massive, burning legs were heading straight at her spine, she was quite certain they would break her in half, she would snap like a twig under a metal boot.

And ignite for the effect.

Immediately her elemental magic kicked in, before the legs reached her, the shadowy splotch beneath already embraced and swallowed her whole.

The purple dragoness slammed her paws into the ground, cracks appeared in the floor, tongues of flames gushed from underneath her legs. She stared at the ground with huge eyes, not believing what she was seeing.

The ground was empty.

She was so transfixed by the sight that she didn't notice the splotch of darkness moving under her.

Cynder popped from the shadow, striking the dragoness right in the belly, the magical force with which she shoot from the ground threw her opponent into the air. While in the air she used her empowered by darkness paw to punch the female. With a loud thud she silence the grunting dragoness, the punch stealing breath from her lungs.

The strike forced the purple scaled girl to spin, Cynder immediately bit strongly into one of the strong paws, blood filling her mouth when scales cracked under the force of her teeth. Taking advantage of the momentum her jump gave her, she spun around, holding onto the paw until she finally released the dragoness.

Hurling her right at her grouped companions.

"How the fuck he do that?!" the lone male exclaimed, staring at the mostly unharmed purple dragon, his eyes kept on fluttering rapidly, trying very hard to show that this is just an illusion

It was not.

The dragon used the same power one of his companions mastered.

"Who-" his voice was cut off by the surprising, sharp gust of wind

It was quenched even further by the rumbling noise of crushing and groans of pain coming from his female party. He turned around to see them all over the place, the double winged dragoness was the only one that was scrambling from the ground, thrown to the side.

All of the others were trapped under the girl with the big legs, her body on top of them.

Spyro didn't waste time, taking advantage of the confusion he jumped into the fray, before the male managed to turn his head to check what he was up to, he already aimed a punch at him, striking him right in the nose.

Warm blood gushed onto his fist.

He lowered his head, not slowing down even for a moment, he charged into the dragon, throwing his head up, horns sinking into the flesh as he lifted the male up.

Screaming, the propped dragon started to flail his legs, Spyro chomped onto one of them and made a swift spin while leaping into the air, he hurled the dragon at the end of the hall.

He landed immediately and just as quickly dashed towards the rising dragoness, his horns again dug into flesh.

The girl screamed as she was shoved onto the ground.

Spyro jumped on her, wrapping his paws around her to force a roll while biting onto her shoulder, with the gained momentum and in the right moment when he found himself below her, he jerked his head and kicked with all of his paws.

Throwing his opponent away and slamming her into the windowed wall.

As expected the glass didn't break.

The girl left a splotch of blood on the window as she slid down and thudded on the floor.

Killing was not an option, unfortunately wounding them bad enough to discourage then from continuing this battle was the only way to end this.

He felt elemental energy being charged up.

His body reacted automatically, spinning around swiftly, while he was doing the turn he noticed the biggest dragoness leaving the trap and preparing to unleash a torrent on fire in his direction.

Due to her size she had no troubles getting up from the body trap.

She has troubles with her element however.

Golden tail tip smacked her powerfully across the cheek, merely black smoke pushed from the purple maw when it was thrown to the side. He slashed at the female, in between her screams of agony he cut her with his claws, making sure to wound, but not severely.

When he was done he made another spin and struck the dragoness once more with his tail tip, this time from the other side.

The weakened female fell on the ground like cut tree.

By this time the two remaining dragonesses started to pick themselves up, something, as it turned out, they had difficulties with doing since Cynder immediately charged into them.

A roar echoed from the far end of the hallway, Spyro turned around, ready to protect himself, he turned to face the helm wearing dragon running at him from the distance.

Even from here he knew that he won't have troubles in melee combat with this opponent, his trained eye already could catch every imperfection in his movement, caused by nothing else but frustration and fear.

He was quick on his paws, he could give him that. Spyro bent down on his legs, ready for the unavoidable clash of claws.

The metallic helmet glimmered brightly, as if it was the moon itself. He couldn't get his eyes off of it.

And then he yelped in pain, pressing paw to his nose. He felt as if someone just head banged him, eyes momentarily were filled with tears and sight became unbearably blurry.

He instinctively looked down on his paw and gasped, he blinked several times, smacking the paw against his nose several times and simply couldn't believe what he was seeing.

There was no blood on it, which was impossible since he was sure his nose was broken.

Or maybe not?

He started to sniff, surprised by the fact that the pain was going away and especially by the fact that he could inhale normally.

The roaring never stopped.

He looked up again, on the charging dragon with the glowing helmet.

It changed colors, or perhaps it was just the light from the volcanic surroundings behind the glass. Now red and yellow danced on top of its surface, like dusk and dawn on the sky.

A painful scream burst from his throat unexpectedly, the surge of ache pushing the upper part of his body into the floor. He groaned in agony, sliding his chin to chest, he felt as if his shoulders exploded, like somebody would stick dynamites in them.

Just like previously, there was nothing, no blood or wound, even if he expected to see gaping holes the size of both moons in his flesh. The pain started to fade the longer he stared at his body, to the point when he already felt the normal work of muscle.

It was very weird, no wounds heal that fast, even with Spirit Gems.

He shook his head, rising up to prepare himself for the confrontation, judging from the roaring the dragon was really close now.

He wasn't wrong, the helmet wearing drake was practically on top of him.

The helmet glowed pink now, there was nothing special about it, but he simply had to look at it, it's weird color was just begging for attention. Especially because it was a part of a battle outfit.

His leg bent suddenly, pain shot through his bones, forcing another scream from him. This was it, he was too focused on the dragon and failed to see that he was attacked and now someone just sliced his foreleg in half.

Despite his better judgment his amethyst orbs landed on the leg, the blare of agony ceased its wail, replaced by a gasp of surprise. His leg was brand new, nothing absolutely changed, even the pain lessened its hammering power.

A click of claws resounded very near.

Instinct kicked in automatically, without looking up he made a swift dodge, just in time to avoid a breath of fire and some sets of male's claws, not all of them though, some managed to cut his left flank and thigh.

He looked up at his opponent, as expected it was the male with the helmet, it once again had a different tint, this time it was-

He gasped, jumping back immediately to avoid the cone of flame that unexpectedly cut through the air in between him and his opponent.

"Don't look at the helmet!" Diazen roared, his voice was raspy "Whatever you do to him will mimic the pain on you!"

Spyro impulsively threw his head to the side, something snapped in his neck after such a vicious move. The discomfort was nothing compared to the revelation that came soon after, from the side the double winged dragoness was attacking, sending projectile after fiery projectile during her charge.

He spun swiftly, dodging one bolt, blocking the other with his wing and letting the other graze him, choosing the lesser evil since the girl lunged at him, slashing wildly. He dodged that with ease, sliding along the floor to a spinning stop, finally having both of his foes in front of him, keeping his eyes low to avoid the enchanting lure of the helmet.

Cynder was occupying the other three.

For some reason none of them paid any attention to Diazen.

And then out of nowhere he felt claws cutting a straight line across his whole flank.

He tottered on his legs, his enemies took that for a sign to attack.

Groaning his pain away he focused on his adversaries, just in time to notice something very strange happening. The double winged dragoness lacked the wavering reflection of her wings, like the mirage of a quickly flapping dragonfly wings.

This didn't mean it was gone however, the reflection simply separated from its host. He saw the ghostly, nearly transparent silhouette of the dragoness joining with the main body.

His warm blood dripped from its claws.

The joining finished quickly, right in the middle of the charge, the dragoness was once more in possession of dual wings.

With a growl Spyro ran straight at them, with the enthralling helmet it was hard to properly focus on the battle. Diazen however gave him an idea, since all those dragons use fire for some reason, there was no risk in putting his elemental prowess in the most basic form of fire breathing.

He spat a cone of flame at the dragons, the female retaliated in the same way. Both tongues of fire crashed, exploding and filling the air with fiery tendrils. Every dragon blocked the elemental strike with their own wings and then clashed into one struggle.

The first blow from the male Spyro absorbed on his wing, as he dashed in between them he took a swing at the female. She blocked the blow while counterattacking with her wing. Spyro ducked under it, shoving himself into the purple dragon to push him away as the tail tip very similar to his own made a swing at him.

It missed, giving him enough time to grab onto the girl's tail and jerk it up, the axe shaped tip rose just in the right moment to block the winged strike from the copy.

He spun around with the agility of an experienced warrior, not only surprising his opponents with his readiness, but also with his prowess and adaptation against unfavorable odds and new tactics.

His opponents didn't manage to react in time, Spyro threw himself at the female first, slashing at her rump, his claws connected without issue. During the screaming he parried an attack from the male, shoving his paw away with the use of his wing, before lowering his head down and charging into him. Gaining as much speed as possible.

The dragon punched him as he jumped away from his horns, he was mostly successful, yet one of his golden horns still managed to hit his thigh. His opponent faltered on his legs, his knees bending after the strike, struggling to keep his balance, going against the wishes of his thigh that just wanted to lie down and rest.

Spyro let out another breath of flame, not aiming it at anybody, but simply pitting something in between him and his opponents, especially the boy to block the influence of his weird helmet.

The dragoness used her own breath, yet she missed due to the fact that Spyro jumped right into his own fiery cloud. Accidently and due to bad luck the magical helmet reflected in one of the bigger sparks, just for a moment, yet it was enough for him to feel a bolt of pain in his thigh.

He wavered on his legs, but kept on standing, he was expecting his opponents to take advantage of his shaking defense, but surprisingly they did nothing. When the fiery mist dispersed his eyes landed on the dragoness, in this very moment she had opened her eyes, he noticed the flicker of her magical reflection dancing inside her orbs.

Not dancing.

Fighting.

The mirage of her wings was gone.

He sensed danger.

Spyro immediately spun around, fighter's instinct screaming deafeningly that he was being assaulted.

He threw his claws up, just in time to parry the ghostly figure's own blades, for a transparent creature like that, that seemed almost non existent, the cling and screeching of claws was very real.

There was no real finesse or grace in the silhouettes attack, it was just swinging its artificial paws at him wildly. It was easy to dodge and parry the berserker rage, the only downside of this was that he actually had to pay attention to the mirage.

Something that his opponents counted on.

They charged simultaneously.

If he had elemental powers on his disposal this would be so much more easier, sometimes wit and his conscience can be really annoying.

All three attacked at the same time, no matter how good he was, melee combat had its limitations, one of them is the inability to block a combined strike of all his opponents at once.

So he never tried focusing on that.

Instead he lunged into his enemies, slapping the image with his wing on the way, yet it didn't work as he hoped, for some reason he could feel the copy's claws, but when it came to actually striking it there was no effect.

It was like trying to catch mist in your paw.

He managed to only reflect the incoming cuts just by a small margin since momentarily he had to swing his natural shield at the jumping male to parry his strike. He ducked under one feminine paw, the second however connected with his neck, he didn't leave her without a gift at least, slicing her paws in revenge.

The mirage kept on throwing slash after slash, he used the dragoness crunched body as a leverage, jumping on her and leaping behind the image. What he didn't expect was the mirage reflect the magical helmet, one look was enough to change everything.

He felt as if his every bone crushed, strength leaving him momentarily as he awkwardly dropped on the ground, barely holding himself up. Something he regretted doing since soon after three claws ran across his snout, cutting right through the cheek and barely missing the eye.

Adrenaline has one perk however, the pain isn't that much bothering during fighting, he barely felt the cut, not even the feeling of his insides after the glance in the helmet's reflection was that much hindering.

It was like he was untouched and full of strength all the time.

The mirage came at him again, its form not so consistent as earlier, fighting and focusing on the image takes quite a toll on his feminine enemy.

He traded blows with the mirage, claw against claw, in the meantime swinging his tail at the charging girl, making her jump back. When he was busy with two enemies his third opponent found an opening and sunk his teeth into his back.

Spyro roared, thrashing wildly, muscles pumping more strength. With one fierce strike he broke the copy's guard he jumped right through it, forcefully reaping the mouth of the male from his body, part of his flesh was left in his enemy's mouth.

On his way he slapped the male with his tail, opening his chest as a result, he thrust his tail tip into exposed scales, making sure to not go too deep.

The helmet wearing dragon gasped, clutching his bloodied chest and the tail sticking out of it. Spyro pulled his tail away, making a swift spin and jumping through the reflection again before it could rearrange its position. As he crossed the mist a fountain of blood gushing from the chest of his opponent splattered on his snout.

Roaring he jumped at the female who flinched at the mere sight of his bloodied, snarling expression. Unable to focus her defense was weak, she rose her paws, but Spyro had no troubles smacking them away.

His opponents clearly didn't have any serious fighting experience, they obviously never fought with an opponent of his caliber, they were constantly surprised by his endurance and persistence and the ability to find weakness in what they believed to be their perfect weapon.

They were clearly abusers, he met type like them already, they are only powerful against those that can't defend themselves. He was sure he would go unscathed from this battle if he knew what he was up against, surprise from new powers and the benefit of numbers can only last for so long after all.

He proved that by wrecking the girl's defenses with one strike of his claws, blood shot from her cut legs. Spyro wasted no time and lowered his head, diving under her and throwing his head up, slamming the blunt side of his stern horns into the girl's chin, forcing her neck to crane up.

He bit into her throat, she let out a muffled, sad gasp, every predatory creature was aware that such a bite was a death sentence.

He could rip her throat right here, his teeth broke through the soft feminine scales with ease, one crunch was enough to steal her life away.

It was so disgusting to hold his own kind by the literal thread.

He let her go, the girl's warm blood dripping from his tongue and chin, instead of punishing her further he simply rammed into her making her flip and drop on the ground, back first.

It was going way too long, it was time to end this.

"Enough!" Spyro roared yet for some reason he couldn't hear himself, some other roar muffled his blare and it was coming from behind the door they just locked behind themselves

Cynder was too busy to hear anything, her battered and bloodied body aching in every spot, Nevertheless she was in much better state than her enemies, while she carried bruises and cuts, the group of females bled profusely.

They didn't know how to fight with her, her repertoire of magical strikes was too unknown, too alien for them to keep up and contrary to Spyro she didn't have to hold back with her element.

Purple dragons are incapable of absorbing Dark, this particular purple group was also very poor when it came to adaptation to the circumstances in battle. She didn't have much trouble to come to the same conclusion as Spyro, she outclassed her opponents, a deep void separated them and she enlarged it even further with her elemental prowess.

The one eyed dragoness roared desperately, her ruby eye glowing fiercely. She released a breath of fire, not a standard one, aimed blindly. She could control the flame, it twirled and twisted, forming a straight blazing spike that was heading right at her.

Cynder started to run, freely, by now nothing remained of her robe. She ran straight at the glassy wall where a splotch of darkness was already forming, she didn't jump into it immediately, not before she left some parting gift for her enemies.

A ghastly orb inconspicuously rolled in the direction of the group, pulsing with her Fear element.

"Watch out!" the girl with the veins screamed

Cynder vanished into the shadow, the tongue of flame following her splattered on the window.

The one eyed cried out in fury.

The orb exploded.

It was too far too stun anyone, but not far enough for the concussive force to have no effect. The dragoness with the ruby eyes was too distracted to rise her defenses, the globe exploded and hurled her across the hall. The other two weren't so careless.

The veined girl covered herself with her wings, the force however was strong enough to shove her away, slamming her into the windowed wall, the blow lessened greatly by the protective membrane.

The girl with the enhanced leg remained in the same place, with flexed muscles and tightly pressed wings to her body she was unmoved by the explosion. Merely cracks appeared in the floor below her where she was pressing her paws.

A splotch of darkness moved underneath her.

"Move!" the girl near the wall yelled

It was too late.

Cynder popped from the ground, lifting her enemy into the air, once again reducing her to the fate of a ragdoll. She bit into the feminine scales and hurled her at the girl clutching to the wall.

Painful roar filled the hallway when the oldest dragoness began her charge, it was a very reckless move, you never let emotions dictate your actions in battle or you fall.

What the purple dragoness was doing right now would cost her life, Cynder could already imagine all the possible scenarios to kill her, all it took was one stupid attack.

Instead she charged her Fear element and let out a horrid shriek, her Siren Scream was aimed directly at the running dragoness.

The purple girl froze when the red rays touched her, just like that, single eye nearly popping from its socket, mouth dropping into a soundless wail. To say that she was terrified would not give it enough credit. Droll began to flow from her mouth in bloody drops, she was paralyzed in terror, Cynder could only imagine what she was going through right now.

It must feel absolutely horrible to be petrified by fear.

"-ough!"

Cynder balked, she was quite certain she heard Spyro's commanding blare, she turned around, looking for him, her gaze didn't remain long on his strong, intimidating, bloody figure for long.

All her attention was drawn to another rumbling roar and a door exploding from the way they came.

The golem that Spyro touched ripped the door apart and immediately began its rumbling charge, the enforced windows squealed with each massive stride.

The construct was unnaturally gleaming with purple energy, it wasn't a prominent change, but for them who fought with more than one Keeper already, this really stood out from the construct's typical fiery aura.

"Run!" Diazen roared

Both Spyro and Cynder looked up, surprised to see him, he was here all this time and yet he barely participated in the battle. In his defense he really seemed to be shaken, the wall of fire evidently scorched his body.

They began to run in the direction of the paralyzed dragoness and the door at the end of the hallway.

"SPARX!" Spyro blared out at the top of his lungs, running as fast as he could towards the tunnel where his brother chased the dragon

"Time to end this"

Both Spyro and Cynder stopped, they looked at each other and then on the golem which cut distance through the hall in mere seconds.

It was moving its mouth, it was, speaking.

"Time to end this" the cracking, rumbling, sound was coming from its mouth and it was so similar to Spyro's voice. He would sound exactly the same if he would yell from an empty well

The golem wasn't after them, it stopped near their enemies, kicking the double winged dragoness. Part of Spyro's heart shattered, she might have been his enemy, but hearing the ugly, rattling noise of smashed bones was simply too strong to be ignored, especially if this was his own kind that was being hurt.

She smashed into the windowed wall, she spew out blood and perhaps a bone from her mouth at the impact. She thudded into the ground, the noise didn't resemble a falling body at all, it was like throwing a pile of wet clothes on the earth.

Dragons are resistant to many things, at least those from his world, this purple dragons didn't seem to be evolved like that, one kick was enough to shatter many bones.

The girl coughed up more blood, Spyro felt pity for her, with defensive instinct kicking in he jumped towards the girl.

Or tried to.

He felt a strong pull on his tail that forced his rump on the floor.

With a furious snarl he turned around, brandishing his bloody teeth.

"We need to go" Diazen met his gaze, he was afraid "Now"

The ground shook after a powerful thud.

Spyro looked back just to see the defeated dragoness raising her wavering paw in the air, the upper part of it flopped down like melting ice cream. The golem made nothing of her weak defense, punching her into the ground blow after blow, blood shot in every direction, splattered like water by uneasy, kicking feet.

He felt guilty, he could have ended her life, she would go down like a warrior, with grace and respect. There could still bury or cremate her body. Nobody deserves to die like this, nobody deserves to be turned into a pulp.

He hated the golem, even if he felt it fought on their side.

Draconic figures appeared in the doorstep of the ruined door.

"We need to go Spyro, it's too late to help them" Cynder intoned sadly

"Quickly! Into the tunnel" Diazen dashed forward

"No way!" he jumped back at the unexpected shout

A glowing figure shot from the tunnel.

"There's a whole lot of purple dragons in there!" Sparx pointed at the tunnel, he was panting heavily, fatigue however was rendered unimportant when his sight landed on the scene in the hallway

"We go straight to the Core" Spyro rasped, making his way to the door

"That's suicide!" Diazen protested "You have bigger chances fighting with the dragons! There are golems on the path to the Core!"

There was another thud and another scream of the next fallen dragon.

It was Boven all over again, this time however he can do something about it. Not here, not now, but behind the door he can get the aftertaste and when he gets his Time powers back, he will get his revenge in the Core.

Constructor wanted him to come, then he will come.

"Good" Spyro hissed, flicking the blood that covered his eye and opened the door

A door that undoubtedly led to another bloody chapter of this gruesome adventure.