FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 30

They were forced to take a side turn along the mountain, there was no available passage on the upper level, the hill came to an end and the only way was down. The small raise Spyro used to scout out the crater also was flopping down, slowly and steadily pursuing the goal of becoming a single level with the floor.

The path they found wasn't a traveled one, from their right was a wall of rock, perhaps passable, they would probably climb to the other side, but that would require them to get in the open since the cover on their left flank was just a scarce of randomly scattered rocks and boulders. Passing required timing with those strange, tall creatures on patrol.

Luck however had the annoying audacity to end whenever it decided and sometimes its timing was the worst thing of all. The troubles Spyro suspected to find came on knocking.

Guttural noise rumbled from ahead, just around the corner, whizzing through the cracks in the surrounding rocks, slipping through the holes and touching the scale like a steady breath of a partner sleeping right next to you.

The only way forward was through the creatures.

"Shit" Spyro mumbled under his breath, throwing his tail to the side, giving a clear signal that no movement is welcome past this point

"Why are we stopping?" Iris complained, keeping her annoyed tone of voice as quiet as possible

"Can't you hear the rasping?" Cynder glared back at the lying, blue dragoness, look full of incredulity

"Yeah, I can, what about it?"

"There are sentient creatures right in front of us" Spyro noted

The ice dragoness frowned, if her pose would allow it she would shrug.

"So what? Use your time cheats and rip their heads off"

"We don't know if these creatures are hostile" Cynder gently smacked her paw against the ground "We won't risk killing innocents"

"Those fuckers don't look innocent to me"

"Looks can be deceiving"

Iris rolled her eyes.

"Fine you pussies, I'll do it. The longer we stay here the bigger the chances those scratching motherfuckers will find us. Who gives a fuck about three worthless lives anyway"

"Iris, just-"

A massive explosion rumbled across the sky, making the whole group gasp in fear. A pillar of tremendous proportions shot from the crater and into the clouds, like a stream of puke, chaotic, uneven and so, so messy.

A red pillar of what seemed to be fire, yet of far darker consistency, almost like blood, with many objects inside, that could be anything really, from rocks to limbs, painted the sky above. Splashing against the clouds, turning some of them red.

The longer they stared at the pillar the more it reminded them of a gush of blood from a severed artery. It even smelled like that.

The guttural noises faded, replaced by clicking and hissing, the noise increasing and heading their way. The creatures heard their gasps, it was settled, they are going to be discovered.

A powerful blow of pressure struck Spyro's heart, squeezing it tightly that he felt it cracking. He knew that he was the one who can change the flow of this situation, the one on who depends the next act of this weird play.

There was no turning back, this was the first of many moments to come where he must make a decision, choose between conscience and the blunt well being of his group. Both options of course dipped in the sauce of uncertainty and luck, wicked touch of Fate could be felt anywhere.

The first instinct that answered him however was that of loneliness, he wished that Sparx was here, he always knew what to do. He always protected him from choices like this, it was depressing to realize this just now, when Sparx kept on repeating the phase of man upping for a long time.

The other thing that instinct reminded him of was Terrador's words about doing something that someone from the group might not like. Creating grudges, sacrificing values for safety.

This perspective terrified him, because if he would decide to go with Iris' idea and kill those creatures quietly, knocking them out wasn't an option, who knows how long it would last or if it was even possible, it would mean hurting Cynder. Everyone else would accept his action.

This action though would hurt his mate greatly and that was something he couldn't do, not when he swore that he will protect her. While the chance that these creatures are friendly is slim, there is still that small window that prevents coming to such a conclusion with certainty. No certainty meant pain for Cynder.

Hurting his mate is not an option, screw the rules.

There was another thing he didn't predict, or in the heat of the moment forgot about, another one of Terrador's lessons.

Confidence.

Hesitation is a time stealer and before he realized it the decision was made for him and now nothing remained for him but improvisation. Improvisation when lives are hanging on the line is as fun as having a pillow made of knives.

The beasts rounded the corner, three hunched creatures caught the group of adventures lying flat on the ground. The beasts cocked their heads, all three pointed their huge, mangled claws at them, every spider leg protruding from each body jerked forward, their stingers visibly hungry.

They started roaring.

An alarm.

Spyro and Iris reacted immediately, the dragoness releasing a stream of ice at the beasts while Spyro slowed the time.

The decision had been made for him and now he has to live with the consequences. While it seemed that everything led to this same conclusion, not being able to take responsibility for it was depressing, especially for someone who is seen and aspires to be a leader.

Spyro dashed towards the creatures, there was no other way now but to silence the roars, hope that the rest of the legion didn't hear anything. Artificial or not, killing through time stop was an ugly business no matter what, it felt almost godlike, like he would be choosing someone's fate without them knowing. Influencing and manipulating.

Writing and editing a book of life that is not for him to touch.

He didn't like that, he didn't like that at all.

His heart started to burn just by thinking about it, a dark scar that marked him forever, stinging his very soul.

He was forced to obey it.

It was an ugly feeling.

There was only a shred of comfort to be found here, in this particular moment it won't have to be his claws that make the killing blow. Iris already took care of that part, her killing reflex would be almost praise worthy if it wouldn't be so disgusting.

He moved behind the creatures, backing up and slamming into each with all his weight, shoving the frozen forms right at the soon manifesting deadly breath of winter. His punch will already break the roaring, Iris' magic will make sure that it will be deafened entirely.

It was time for the guilt to commence.

The flow of the world returned to normal with an echoing whizz, roars ended with gasps, air was filled with the freezing noise and touch of winter.

Then there was nothing.

The trio of creatures fell directly into the breath, it froze them on the spot, their hides unable to protect them, the resistance of their bodies not high enough to withstand the bulk of the magical force. Life dripped from the creatures in steady flow, ebbing away with each crack, each shard of ice appearing on the body.

The burp from the crater shrunk down, its rumbling ending with the roars of the three creatures. Blissful silence dragged a curtain over the land, everything seemed to become still, heavenly even.

"DRAGON!" that is until a deep rumble, horse and raw like sliding rocks of an earthquake cracked in the air

Spyro's heart skipped a beat at the sound of it, his eyes landing on the creature responsible for it.

One of the tall beasts, standing among the group of the small creatures was pointing the edge of its axe at him. The snake that made the other arm hissed and wiggled uneasily as if it wanted to tear itself from the socket that held it in place and lunge forward, towards him, ready to eat.

Legions of monsters turned in their direction, many of the smaller creatures rose on their hind legs, their spider legs and chest glands pulsed hungrily. If it wouldn't be so scary, this sight was almost awe inspiring, from the distance the creatures looked like saluting soldiers after a motivating speech.

Reality came rather quick when many of those soldiers dropped on all fours and started to run in their direction.

There was just too many of them.

The itching stopped, reaching its maximum level, morphing into a clench, it felt like someone would grab his wrist so tightly that he would cut off the blood flow to the rest of the paw. Paw slammed against the chest, patting across it a1 trying to wake up his supposedly clogged veins.

No luck.

Nothing else happened besides that, he doubted it was a good sign, but for this moment it wasn't bad, he would accept anything as long as it didn't hinder their movement.

It's only fair, the hordes of charging creatures moved freely and that was for sure bad news.

"Run! Run now!" Spyro exclaimed in panic "Go! Go! Go!" he jumped forward, rushing his team to get up, body bent, ready to shoot like an arrow

Luckily, the team had enough athletic prowess to get up from the floor very quickly and without giving in to panic. The group was made of special individuals, all of them with built up ego that showed in more blunt or modest way, all knew their value.

Just as well as they knew when they were outmatched. They can take on many enemies at the same time, every one of them went through that episode in their lives. This experience made their perception sharp, no matter the talent in their blood, they knew when their skills won't be much of a use.

Facing the population of a whole damn hole in the ground, without knowing just how deep it can go belonged to the bell of realization.

They started running, cutting right through the path which once three creatures occupied. Being the first in the line of runners, Spyro noticed that the path split in two , one led along the mountain while the other spiraled downhill, towards the crater, allowing easy access to anyone willing to climb up. Some of the four legged creatures were already there, besting up the path towards them.

With the benefit of having four legs working on speed, catching up with them up here wasn't a problem.

Spyro swung his tail, smacking the wall and sending some bits of rocks flying down, right at the running monsters. Split second after an arc of electricity left his mouth, striking the rocks, spreading out connection between the projectiles and eventually between the bodies nearby, current doing its work by jumping on everything that was welcoming enough.

The electricity struck the creatures, making their muscles flex as the current molested them, shaking roars left the maws, glands on the chest began leaking white liquid in thick, uncontrollable streams. The spider legs straightened up, quivered fervently until eventually flopping down, lifeless.

The weight of the dead legs dragging their hosts body, by that time life was gone from it as well. Some of the creatures fell off the ledges, bodies crushing and breaking apart as they slammed against the ground. Some however, and this was what he hoped for, slid down the path, interrupting the ascent of other creatures below.

An arrow whizzed past his head, followed by a tongue of flame

He snapped his body in the right direction, coming snout to snout with a charging, yet lifeless body of one of the monsters which headed straight at him. An arrow was stuck in its throat, finding a crack in the hide, a hole burned through where the heart supposed to be.

He sprung on his hind legs swiftly, latching onto the creature and spinning, sending the body flying down like a bowling ball before with another dexterous turn he returned to the original position, right in time to see another of the creatures jumping at him, its claws extended and ready to rip.

Spyro ducked under the flying legs of the creature as he slid swiftly underneath it. He threw his head back, latching onto the arm from the bottom side, near the shoulder with his teeth. Taste similar to spoiled food filled his mouth as the creature's blood gushed into his throat. Being too adrenaline driven to notice Spyro moved immediately to the next phase of his counterattack.

Snapping his head firmly, with veins bulging on his flexed neck he redirected the flying body towards the descending path before throwing himself on the ground. Before he slammed his back into the ground he released the leg and kicked his hind paws up, flexing the muscles against the creature's belly.

A strand of the white goo dropped onto his chest, it was warm, it glued itself to his scales and became thick and sticky immediately. While he was sure now that it was a spider web, a really empowered one, he couldn't shake of the weird feeling that he just got cummed on.

It was that abhorrent image that strengthened his muscles so when he finally kicked with his legs as he made a back roll, the creature he sent flying instead of landing on the descending path and sliding down, it crashed directly into another group of running beasts, sending most of them off the ledge.

Another roar and another creature jumped at him.

Wind whizzed next to him, corner of the eye recorded Cynder leaping into the air, charging straig=+=*ht at the flying creature. Her extended paws slammed against the flank of the beast, her weight and speed kicking it out from its path. She slammed the creature into the ground, in a moment's notice dragging a shadow on the nearby wall and jumping into it.

Just in time it turned out since the spider wings immediately made a thrust, instead of hitting the dragoness that just a while ago stood on the chest of their host, the stingers bounced off each other in the end.

The creature roared in anguish and wiggled chaotically, preparing to get up, but never getting the chance since momentarily Cynder burst from the earth right below the creature, magic of her jump raising it in the air.

Darkness empowered claws slashed at the spider legs, the magic infusing them severed the wiggling limbs with ease. She bit into one arm in the meantime, using the momentum of the jump she turn around.

She sent the creature flying down the popular path, the speed with which it was hurled basically stopped and ruined the first two groups of creatures climbing up, destroying the formation like a wrecking ball destroys a wall.

Iris pushed forward, her tail giving off a blinding, cold light. Without stopping she swung her tail along the ground, tip touched the beginning of the ramp. Momentarily the rocky path started to turn into ice, creating a slide from the road, a very slippery one at that.

When the ice stretched out under the many legs, the roars of the monsters turned into what seemed to be depressed whimpers. Many were unable to hold their balance, falling off the ledges, other merely dropped on the ground, yet the magical ice made nothing of those attempts, sending the flattened bodies down the frozen road, no matter how hard the creatures tried to stop it.

From between the chased off and fallen bodies on the bottom stood the tall creature, its high among the lying on the ground brethren could be compared to the high of a castle's tower where princesses are locked.

With finally some place to move, it strode forward, being near the slippery ramp with two steps. The huge axe went above its head, the creature rising it as if would be a mere stick, the weapon went down, leaving a fiery trail behind, its sharp edge smacked into the ice.

A red tear momentarily stretched out from the blade and ran through the middle of the ice platform looking like a crack in the earth during an earthquake. The wound reached the top in a blink of an eye and then the whole icy ramp exploded, millions of shards were sent flying everywhere.

Shocked gasps echoed from above as the group covered themselves behind arms and wings after the surprising counter.

"I advise avoiding these beasts" Hunter hissed, pulling out a shard from his forearm, blobs of blood pushed out from the hole "These four legged creatures operate on basic, feral instinct, in packs. It is very uncommon for a leader to rise above the pack, especially if the leader is from outside of it. Power hides in individuals like that"

"Come on guys!" Spyro urged the team, Hunter's advice serving as the whip, while he had the same opinion about these muscular monsters, it was good to be reminded of the danger, it got his head back in into the game

"Push!" he roared, jumping in front of the group, leading them confidently as he ran along the tight path between the fading walls of rock

From the front more of the smaller beasts appeared, charging right at him, the road widening, they were getting to the bottom and the world was opening before them.

Spyro lowered his head, pointing his horns forward and charged, magical essence flowing through him, a dust of fire was kicked in the air, cone of burning air surrounded him. He made serious impact, just like a comet, giving the ability's name its much deserved credit.

He struck the first creature before it could truly comprehend what was happening,, horns impaling themselves into the still working shoulders of the running legs. Instead of running with the pinned enemy he decided to discharge the accumulated energy. With a burning flash the hit monster was sent flying back, body hot and so fast that it could be taken for a cannonball.

The creature crashed into its companions behind, the force with which it was smacked was an unstoppable power, power that took many others together with it, those unlucky to be in the flying creature's way. For a moment the noise of snapping bones became louder than the growls and howls of the legion of monsters.

This small carnage created a path which the group took immediately, sending basic projectiles and breath magic on the way down to keep the creatures away and avoiding depleting themselves of elemental energy too much.

It was working, the slowly increasing width of the terrain provided perfect accuracy, the beasts just didn't have enough room to avoid the incoming deadly breaths of four dragons and several arrows for good measure.

For beasts so scary looking they surely died easily, not only that, but it also seemed like they didn't have any resistances at all despite their thick hides. All in all everything was going well despite the sheer numbers of enemies around.

Then Fate decided to play one of its tricks.

The hilly terrain opened up suddenly, the narrow, yet constantly widening path opened up like legs of a excited lover. A gallery opened before them, a big, flat terrain with sandy, mostly barren wasteland, yet due to the fact that it was surrounded by Nature's natural terrain, patches of grass braved the sand here and there, together with rocks and some barren trees. Their twisted empty branches creaking in the air, whispering like a group of people before a show. Black branches their only audience and witnesses.

And there was a lot to see.

The creatures were swarming the opened up gallery, an entire horde has cut off their way, body against body they squeezed against each other, waiting their turn to get on the path. Hundreds, maybe thousands creatures growled from below, among them stood the tall creatures, their slimy arms wiggling and swirling around, snakes at the end hissing madly.

It was like they just fell into an ant hill, with the difference that these particular ants had deadly claws and weapons.

Hundreds, thousands....a lot, a mass of hungry flesh that just waited to devour them, all it needed now was a mouth to form from the thick hides, it would be that final brush of paint that would give much flavor to the image of being in deep shit.

"Stoooooop!" Spyro howled, sparks of electricity jumped from his opened mouth, remnants of his abruptly ended breath attack, he slammed his claws into the ground, killing the speed he accumulated in a show of sparks and scratching noise, muscles on his back legs bulged from effort

"Shit!" Cynder squealed

"Fuck!" Iris remained not far behind

Hunter commented the situation with a polite grunt.

Flare however didn't know what happened and before he realized that the group was slowing down it was already too late for him to put the claw breaks on to their full potential. While he was successful in slowing down, he was unable to force himself into a complete stop, which made him collide directly with Spyro's butt.

To avoid falling down, Flare pushed his upper body up before his entire weight slammed into Spyro. Upper body smacked against the purple back, chin landed on the neck and hind paws kicked the purple thighs.

The purple drake wiggled on his legs, but managed to retain his upright posture, mostly it was the adrenaline that prevented him from feeling the slam into his body. If there wasn't a horde of monster right in front of them, he would fall down in any other case.

"Whoa" yellow eyes bulged out, joining all of the others in their size

All those things crunching and scratching against each other reminded him of the moment when he passed through the complex and took a quick glance through the window. He remembered a batch of prisoners that just recently arrived in the prison, they were squashed together like those creatures and just like the beasts there were those several special heads that stood out from the group, directed it.

He remembered the moment so well that he could imagine the burning creatures speaking, saying the words he could recall with the effort of lungs processing air.

Left, then right, first to whine will serve as cinder. You're worthless, remember that"

There was always supervision, even the heads had control, prison full of ready to be disposed meat always had supervision. While it was not important where the fodder goes, it was important to see that your pawns are capable of controlling it, and finally it is important to find out what exactly the fodder turns into after it is massacred.

His friends were too shocked to notice anything, their eyes were huge and mouths hung open. In this very moment there were no differences among them, no sense of pride, all were equal, all were scared.

He forgot a long time ago how it felt to be afraid of dying, guess you forget about stuff you don't have any contact with. Not even the bath in magma from which he was luckily saved changed that.

This indifference allowed him to see past the veil of emotions and spot something that completed the experience of years of imprisonment embedded into his flesh.

The Supervisor.

Among the bodies, surrounded by more those tall creatures stood a figure, on a rock, the burning hair of the creatures below reaching its waist. The figure was different from the rest, the typical traits of a supervisor shone from it, drawing his trained attention like to a Beacon.

Intelligence and cunning.

The figure had Hunter's height, it was wearing a massive, plate armor, orange and red like the flesh of the burning creatures. White spikes protruded from the elbows, other small ones adorned the shoulders, small gems were inserted into the front of the armor, emeralds, giving the figure an ominous, authoritative presence.

The figure had its arms folded on its chest, massive gauntlets with big spikes on the hand and green gem in each knuckle covered the Supervisor's hands. With the burning heads around the figure's waist it was impossible to see below the waist yet he could still spot a huge axe hanging from the Supervisor's back.

Despite all that weight the figure was carrying, its stance was relaxed and contemplative, something that was more openly projected by its head.

A weird head, yet not ugly as the rest of the monsters.

The Supervisor was clearly male, maw stretched out, almost draconic, yet the only visible scale was running from the top of his nose and towards the top of the head, at the end separating into three strands and stretching out to the back of the head into three horns. The same scale circled the top of the eye at the edge of each stretching out to the side and curling into a horn, the tip of which was facing the mouth. Scales silver as the moons.

Small, green veins glowed on the cheeks.

The three horns were in between two, furry feline ears, their coat shaded in dark colors, a gentle border between deep brown and dark. The ears were folded back thoughtfully, their tops glowing with a gentle, green light.

Creamy, glowing eyes with black slits observed the unfolding scene.

The same fur covered the creature's chin and neck, getting more thicker and fluffier the lower it went. Flare could only guess how it looks like later on since due to the armor protecting the Supervisor only just a small part of his neck was visible.

"We must break through the wall or we'll get surrounded! We won't hold out for long with two waves attacking us from both sides!" Hunter shouted, imprinting the idea in everyone's mind

"Cynder! Can you teleport through?" Spyro shouted, growls started to resound from the back the creatures were cutting their way out

"Help me Flare!" he bounced and wiggled, shaking the dragon on top off him before releasing a breath of flame at the charging monsters

Flare bent on his paws next to the purple drake assisting him with his own magic.

The dumb creatures were unrelenting, no matter how many of them they turned to ash, more kept pressing against the scorching fire. The taller ones showed more intelligence, stopping just at the edge of the flames, allowing their smaller, dumber brethren to weaken the fire with their flesh.

Cynder ran up to the wall on their side, she jumped at the rocks, patting with her paws and sinking claws into cracks to find an opening large enough to see through. Even if the wall wasn't so thick anymore she couldn't find anything worthwhile there, her shadow didn't work without seeing the other end.

She was quite certain however after feeling the stone that with some effort there is a possibility to create a hole. Lots of dust kept wafting from the rocks as she touched them, many of the edges crumbled under the pressure of her weight.

"I can't slip through guys! I don't see anything and I'm worried that these things might be also on the other side!" she bounced on the rocks, giving them several more taps "But I think I might get through with some wind magic! I could use a paw though!"

Spyro stopped breathing, mind opening doors to thought and planning instead, they are getting overwhelmed, they need to get out of here fast. One dragon on each side won't be enough to hold the beasts, some will eventually slip by.

Wrong.

With normal breaths they won't be able to hold them back, dragons had also special skills used as last resort.

It was too dangerous to let Flare do it, besides his fire breath is stronger than his, it would complete the wind ability of Cynder nicely, giving it that melting touch.

"Iris" he looked at the scared dragoness, his call making her jump "Do you know Fury?"

The girl didn't respond at first, looking at him as if he was a ghost from her deepest nightmares, only after a short while her pride finally woke up, replacing the softness of scale on her snout with angry wrinkles, maw turning into an indignant snarl with fangs gleaming from underneath the lips.

"Of course I know it" the irritation in the response was choking

"Good" Spyro threw a glance at the ramp behind them, some of the creatures were already running down at them, burning head of the tall monster growing in the eyes, their advance slowed by Hunter's well aimed shots

"Hold the back, I'll take the front. Flare help Cynder, wreck that wall. Hunter be ready and help the two if anything gets through the hole. Go!" he gave Flare a pat in the back before stepping forward, magic pulsing in the veins

Iris ran up to her position, allowing to be commanded, this time, it was a lesser disgrace than ending as a chew toy for some stinking beasts. Survival had its own rules.

The air rippled with so much magic that Hunter's fur stood on end.

Cynder and Flare started to work on the rocks, their combined efforts taking effect immediately, stones crumbled and clouds of smoke filled the air.

By the time both Spyro and Iris hovered in the air, eyes burning red and blue, wings pressed together and wafts of magical energy in the same respective colors kept them aloft. The sky turned blood red and the air freezing cold, within several more seconds a controlled, apocalypse broke loose.

With a roar Spyro released a wall of fire down the path and into the open terrain, its flames rising high, provoking the sky to open. Meteors broke through the clouds, big, blazing, red chunks of rocks started crushing against the ground, turning everything into pulp or ash after the explosion that was unfortunate enough to be in the way.

Iris let out an audible blare as she discharged the energy, feeling as her body was being torn apart. A gust of freezing air was sent up the ramp, the ripples pulsed with light blue chill, covering the rock and ground with a shroud of cold. Every creature that was touched by it turned to ice statue on the spot, those that managed to avoid the wave were hurt by the sudden rain, clouds started to cry, yet instead of liquid tears, their drops turned into shards immediately, raining spike after deadly spike at the earth.

Spyro landed on the ground, maintaining the flow of energy he carried himself down into a smooth landing, exertion crunching the muscles, yet as a seasoned warrior and a purple dragon no less, he fought through the discomfort bravely.

Iris didn't have his perks, control of elemental powers was shut down, instead of landing, she fell on the ground with a thud, the fall kicking the breath out of her lungs, forcing her to cough roughly, tearing apart the vocal cords.

She tried to get up, but the shaking legs had nothing of it and slammed her back down. She pushed up and fell down so many times that her chin got scratched and turned red from all this hitting.

Hunter ran over to the dragoness, flipping the bow on his back, ignoring her no contact policy he reached out for her, pressing his hand against her flank he steadied her before sliding one hand below the neck and the other under the lower hind leg. While the situation was far from safe and brain too busy focusing on survival, his male instinct still managed to send an excited pulse after feeling the soft, round body, telling him that he is holding a true descendant of the perfect Ancestors in his arms.

He rose up with a grunt, he was lucky that as a scout he had strong legs, lifting such dead weight from the ground was no small feat. He might be able to carry dragons of this size in his arms, but that didn't mean that they were light, the power has to come from somewhere after all.

"Iris?" Spyro ran over to his friends "Are you conscious?"

"Fucking Fury" the blue dragoness groaned, breathing heavily "I hate it"

"Are you all right?"

Iris curled her claws against the arm holding her, weakly pressing her claws against the flesh.

"If you grab my ass Kit" she took a deep, raw breath "I'm going to bite your arm off"

"Good" despite the spite in her voice it made him smile, a wonder in this situation, still it was far more better to see Iris in her bitter self than to leave her or anyone else at the mercy of these monsters

A thud broke through all this noise, in the company of the sounds of growls, howls and crashing magical energy the effect of a collapsing wall of stone was like a shoe falling on the floor.

"We're through!" Flare exclaimed triumphantly, momentarily getting into the dust to check out his work from up close

Cynder channeled her poison breath immediately, wars and battles taught her that cherishing victory too soon is an act worth of damnation, Spyro showed her this the hard way. She grabbed the red tail and pulled back with all her might that she could hear a gentle snap in Flare's spine, his sharp yip was nothing compared to the alternative.

And the alternative was much worse.

Just when she pulled him back a clawed paw made a slash, shooting from the dust like a hungry snake. The claws cut across the air, slashing just inches from the yellow throat scales, the cut air irritating the scales.

Cynder breathed a poison stream into the mist, cackles and rasps started wafting from the hole as the green death started collecting.

With a roar one of the four legged monsters ran into the open, immediately attacking Cynder, claws going into motion. She reacted immediately, deflecting the easy blow with her wing, opening the creature, her sharp claws momentarily took advantage of it, slashing at the neck of the creature, making a short work of the scale there, black blood gushed onto her paw.

A splotching sound followed soon after, she gasped when a thick rope of something sticky slammed into her extended paw, the force smacked her leg into the nearby wall. She pulled, ready to fight, but when she tried to move her paw jerked her back and pinned her against the wall, making her eyes go wide.

She was stuck for fuck's sake.

A roar burst from the dust, soon later a figure jumped out from the fake mist, running straight at her, the beast licking its maw.

Flare charged the creature, slamming his horns into its flank, squeal escaping the monster's mouth as he slammed it against the wall. He withdrew his horns and slashed with his glowing with heat claws, slicing the creature across its snout, melting it away, claws sinking into the flesh like a rock into a pile of snow.

Spyro jumped forward turning into a boulder he span into the mist, crushing everything on his path in the meantime Flare released Cynder from the trap, burning the sticky web away. Both dragons took a defensive stance near Hunter, protecting him until the mist fades, with Iris in his arms the cheetah was an easy target.

Spyro cleaned the path successfully, running over the creatures, they hardly tried to avoid him, instead of running straight under the weight of his rolling boulder form. After so long he was used to the ugly sound of shattering bone, yet here the noise wasn't a periodic discomfort, it seemed even to be endless.

The creatures threw themselves at him, without regard for their own lives, treating him as if he was meant to kill them. It looked like suicide, brainless or not, being aware of so many ended lives was overwhelming, yet he kept on going, had to for his friends.

Fighter of Light my ass.

Heart began to burn, scars reminding him of their existence.

He really needed some water right now, not only just a dive into a river, but the whole river, from one bank to the other.

And then suddenly a sharp pain exploded through him when something massive struck his rock form, before he could realize what is happening, he was being lifted into the air, something pulling at one side of the boulder.

It was a sharp edge of a huge axe.

The tall creature got him.

The rush of adrenaline was so strong that it silenced the ringing agony, opening up enough room for the thought of getting away from here to slip inside, the moment it inhabited his head the rock around him disappeared, popping like a balloon.

While he wanted to discard the rocky silhouette, he didn't want it to happen so rashly and surprisingly. There was no control there, it was gone, just like that, as if something...

One thing was silenced and another suddenly woke, the itching sensation began to burn, so fiercely that it reminded him of the sun, especially the one that was glowing above the desert he was unfortunate to travel.

Draining.

His magical powers were being drained.

He hit the ground with a grunt, too surprised to even use the paws to minimalize the impact, the slam kicked the breath out of his lungs, chin bouncing off the left hoof of the tall beast.

A loud hiss caught his attention, the snake that made the second arm attacked while the host recovered from the situation.

He reacted immediately, forming an electrical orb around himself, the drain intensified, making the barrier flicker. The snake struck with its fangs, the current forcing it back, the barrier around him disappeared. He took advantage of the snake's recovery process and shifted his position, using the Electrical Arc ability on the arm.

It flickered just as the orb, the weak strike did not suspend the snake in midair as he hoped, instead blasting it a little farther away.

The world swirled around him, sounds of growls and hisses filled his skull, he tried to move, but the slightest movement caused such a strong vertigo that he thought he will puke soon. The tall monster has recovered and its small brethren were closing in.

It looked dire, but luckily he had friends as well.

A blazing whip cut the air, it wrapped itself around the snake. Flare roared as he put all of his strength into the jerk, the tall creature tottered on its legs, with one arm holding a huge axe and the other being pulled it could keep a steady position and fought for balance.

The snake wailed in agony.

It was silenced when Flare's roaring took on a more otherworldly tone, the whip exploded with harsher flames, some of the sparks fell on the purple body, the heat waking the strength in them that Spyro didn't believe was there anymore.

With a sharp cut, the slick arm was cut in half.

In this very moment Cynder's ghastly orbs exploded nearby, the concussive force paralyzing or toppling the incoming creatures in their tracks. She followed the action with her Siren Scream, the beasts that avoided the orbs had no chance against the magical wave, momentarily scattering away in whines.

The tall monster mostly remained untouched by the Fear magic, instead of running away, it fell on its knees, body trembling as it shook the dread away.

Spyro didn't waste such an opportunity, his friend's assistance being the motivation he needed, maybe the creature was doing something to his magic, but the adrenaline didn't follow such hindrance. That particular strength was his and his alone.

He pushed up, slamming the dropped head with his wing, the blow was so strong that it jerked the maw to the side, the creature raised its healthy arm in the notion to defend itself, yet he made sure that it never gets there, blackening his claws with the monster's blood as he slashed the arm down.

He leapt at the beast, taking advantage of the opening he reached for the exposed side of the neck, sinking his teeth deep into the flesh, claws getting a painful grip on the thick chest. The blood that gushed into his mouth had a foul taste of garbage, if not for the moment on which life and death mattered, he would throw up right here and there.

The bite and his weight toppled the creature on its back it let go of the axe, its head tilted automatically backwards. It was the opportunity he didn't let to go to waste, withdrawing his teeth he sunk them again in a more vulnerable spot with a loud snap of his maw.

The creature thrashed, kicking its hooves and bending legs, its arms started flailing as expected. He was prepared for that, pushing his wings open, making the hand with talons bounce off fruitlessly of his natural shield. The other arm was nothing but a blood geyser, too short to touch his wing, yet the pressure of the blood flow was strong enough to bypass the wing shield.

The dark liquid splashed against his back and the back side of his neck and head, the stench was unbearable as well as the sensation of the blood on his body itself. It wasn't the first creature that bled on him, however this was the first creature that made him feel as if the whole sewage system of a small city would pour onto him.

There was a pop, fangs found and severed the artery, black bile flowed down the corners of his mouth in streams, the flailing of the pinned monster becoming less and less fervent, to the point that the arms eventually stopped moving and flatly dropped on top of his wings.

Fading life.

He was too familiar with the signals to not see it.

A crunch and a gush of blood later, his enemy was defeated.

"Over there!" Hunter shouted, nodding in a direction where he spotted a ledge leading down, narrow enough to serve as a perfect defense spot if necessary

Here in the open they were easy targets, not only that but they can't keep standing in one position forever, the chaos the fury magic was calming down, they have no chances against such masses of enemies.

"Go!" Cynder pushed Flare, making him move together with Hunter while she ran up to Spyro, ignoring the gore covering his body she reached out to him and helped him get up

He was panting, usually white fangs were pitch black.

Not to mention the stench, Spyro reeked horribly.

The beasts recovered from the Fear magic, their howls and growls becoming more steady and controlled.

"Forest!" Flare reached the ledge first, looking down he scanned for any sight of enemies, spotting none besides quite a sharp and rough descent in the form of rocky steps, lots of jumping was ahead of them, but it looked safe

"Put me down Kit" Iris demanded

"Go Flare!" Cynder ordered, catching up to the team with Spyro

The fire drake began his jumping descent, Iris followed after him, then Hunter and the last two dragons, surprisingly none of the creatures attacked them.

They reached the bottom without troubles, momentarily turning around and looking up at the ledge, expecting the creatures to leap at them just in a few seconds, the noise they were making was deafening.

One of the monsters appeared on the ledge, rising on both legs it glared down at them with its creepy eyes, the glands pulsing like hungry mouths.

It either tried to provoke them or it simply watched.

"Back away, slowly" Hunter suggested, keeping his eyes locked on the beast as his boots crunched the slowly growing grass as he moved closer to the trees

All of them expected a trap to spring soon, yet they reached the forest without issues, the single monster observing them all the time, frozen like a statue.

"Run" Spyro whispered and the team turned around, rushing into the green patch and the cover of the trees, a few steps was enough to obscure the view of the deadly mountain

No matter how tired they might be, all of them inhaled new energy when the possibility to escape with their lives intact was so close. They survived, they all knew that and it was that what made them keep going. Nobody knew just how deep exactly they ran inside the trees, but it had to be deep since the light could barely pierce the green thickness of the leafy crowns.

"They're not chasing us" Cynder noted, her tone was a mixture of happiness, relief and an immense amount of disbelief, her running speed turned to jog immediately and then finally to a complete halt

The rest of the group momentarily did the same thing.

Green eyes stared into the darkness of the thicket, watching for movement that they expected to come, yet not even the slightest jerk could be seen.

"Why they gave up?"

Every single member of the team stared into the same darkness, their labored breaths the only sound in the woods.

Iris winced, her sniffing nose crunching under the assault of the stench wafting of Spyro.

"Maybe they don't bother chasing us and are setting up a trap, won't be hard to find us with the way Goldie stinks"

Spyro looked himself over, the gore covering his scales was disgusting, just like the taste in his mouth, as much as he tried to disagree with Iris, he couldn't deny her point, they are easy to follow.

"I believe we won't be worrying about the lack of unknown company for too long" Hunter whispered, ears standing on end, sharp eyes scanning the darkness

It took a trained eye and one familiar with Nature to notice the difference, notice that there was a slight bump in one of the thicker bushes, unusual for that specimen, especially in a windless environment like this.

He had a strange feeling that this stranger is the one responsible for that strange shadow he believed he saw when they descended the big mountain for the first time. Instinct told him that it was that presence that managed to escape their line of sight in the last moment.

The question was why the presence didn't intervene when it had the chance.

"They are out there?" Spyro hissed, claws scratching the earth, muscles having a hard time remaining natural and pretending their obliviousness to danger

"We are being followed by one creature only"

"They gave us a tail?" Cynder furrowed her brow "I didn't know they had the wits for that, didn't strike me as the most clever of things"

Hunter licked his lips, clenching and unclenching his aching fingers.

"It is not one of those creatures"

The tension among the group grew to choking levels.

"What is it then? Spit it out Kit" Iris commanded

Feline ears flattened on the skull.

"A dragon"