FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 63

Surrounding ice shifted with ominous creaks, filling the room with whispering moans of the dead. Binding magic pulsed like a heartbeat, quickly, swiftly, projecting not one, but two pulses. Their tempo differed, clearly marking the difference in their age, while both beating hearts were strong and young, only one of them still possessed any form of excitement.

If only barely.

Floating all around moans cast away their metaphorical, deathless masks. Keeping true to task of being a joining point between the seen and suspected, they retained their allure of whispers. Speaking this time with only two voices belonging to two separate hearts, two different organs sustaining two individual lives.

Feeding only one holding them callous void.

Ice vibrated under the steps of eight paws, bending under their gentle touch with a grace that would put even the most loyal worshiper to shame. Something that was cold and uncomfortable to most, felt like silk to both, traversing the corridor females. Their shaking hips seemed to dance involuntary to the rhythm of ticking claws, bodies, more direct than any word, spreading the necessary aura of royalty. Mattress of cold carried its rulers through empty castle's corridors, the smaller of the two, one with gold rings around the front paws and horns, kept looking around the treacherous, freezing mirrors.

As expected, the demons that so loudly yelled before were completely silent now. Iris wasn't surprised that they vanished, it's in coward's nature to run from danger, especially danger that hinders your chances of success by thought alone. Mother was their fright, perhaps not the one she remembered, but still a powerful creature no doubt. Her strength spreading beyond typical borders of might and magic, Mother had the keys to the only chains that her white paws were willing to wear. Despite the differences between the created images of her and the true dragoness she is now, one thing remained unchanged.

Mother knew how to use these keys, scaring demons away like she always did.

Let them speak words of falsehood, all those fuckers grew up in a peaceful world full of care and love, what can they know about true struggle. Guilt weighted her down for years, when nobody is watching, she could still trace the marks the ground left on her underbelly as she crawled all around it for all this time. She was desperate for a change, for amends, fuck, she was desperate to turn back time, however she wasn't stupid to believe that after everything all the things she fought for would be as ideal as she wished them to be. None of those idiots could comprehend how little you need to actually feel progress after years of being a prisoner to your, wrecked mind.

Nothing awaited her in that mess, so no matter how flawed or imperfect this union might be in the eyes of all the others, to Iris it was everything she wished for. When you have nothing for so long, even the tiniest, dear thought feels like treasure.

Mother knew how to scare demons away, that's a fact proven by the emptiness and freedom she now feels in her hurting head. If Mother sees a chance to enforce the barricade by bringing her in front of Spyro then so be it, if she plans on using this walking dream of willing healing powers then there is no reason to stop her. She does it all to keep the demons away, like she always did.

Like she always did.

"Well done baby girl " Blue paw landed on top of Iris' head, single toe rubbed a circle between the stumps of horns, making the girl underneath sink into the ice as if she would be melting "Solid, thick, unreachable, like our scales must be. You took my wishes seriously"

"Always Mother"

Athron smiled, paw pulled away from the head, landing on top of the barricade's surface. Each toe tapped once, playing a soft, intoned with flashes of blue melody. Frozen barricade obeyed without question, melting dexterously like a leaf under the weight of rain. Massive door revealed themselves before the duo, green bars winked like slits of demonic eyes. Rolling up, stretching into a wicked grin moments later, with a piece of them forming a handle. It glistened like a fat, dipped in saliva tongue among all these dancing lights.

The sight of it stirred more pain in Iris' head, she winced, fighting back the urge to slap it, ignoring the annoying feeling of something moving under the cloth, something that kept peeling away the scales. Demons were gone, there is no way she will offend Mother by subjecting to their screams again, not in her presence.

Be gone demons, Mother knows what she is doing.

She must.

The touch of the thing poking her head felt too much like the amputated toe of purple, walking dream.

Athron pressed on the handle, confidently opening up the door which flung their wings wide without effort, as if created solely for that purpose. Iris stiffened, years spent in all sorts of cages and cells taught her that there is no certainty in the world strong enough to be able to counter the rage of the ones who were deprived of freedom. Especially if the two of them stood above, as much as she hated to admit it, typical standards of potential talent. Especially when one has powers of a creature that could only be invented by creative, wishful minds.

Yet the door opened and whatever hate she imagined to be stored inside never took the opportunity to vent itself out.

"Water isn't too cold I presume?" One of the most charming smiles one could ever think of appeared on the blue snout.

Besides some wet flaps no other sound came from within. Widened eyes drilled into Mother's face, looking for any signs of annoyance caused maybe by Spyro's unexpected...escape?

"Have your parents never taught you that it is rude to ignore questions? It's a very nasty habit of bad education, believe me, I have some experience in this matter. So let's act all civilized in this humble castle, yes? We don't want to give bad examples here"

Claws fiddled with the bracelet on one of the forelegs. Clicking gold moaned with the voices of crying, shedding their skins ghosts. Dropping on her white paws a veil of long forgotten sense of regret. There was no escape, idiot didn't even try, he still had no idea what price such defeat demands of you.

It will be already too late when he finds that the ones he calls family collect the harshest toll.

"Sorry lady, all these bars kinda ruin the appetite for conversation, you understand" Iris' claws wrapped themselves around the bracelet, forced to a clench by the voice coming from within the gate. Voice too dumb and moronic to belong to a godlike representation of every fantasy.

Fucking flies, glowing or otherwise, she hated them all.

Luckily, Mother knew the true meaning of patience.

"These bars belong to me" Athron skimmed her claws across the mentioned surface, each tap rippled the surface like a thrown stone into the water. Green splash growing from underneath each toe stretched in perfect accordance with the applied pressure against the wall. "You'll do well to remember that, doors are not the only thing they are capable of wrapping themselves around. Bothers and opportunity are every leader's bread and butter and I keep fierce control of my weight, if this particular diet becomes too spoiled I simply get rid of it. Adjustments do spark some unplanned excitement in my life" blue eyes turned into a prism of fiery cold, sparkling like tongues of falling stars "Do we understand each other?"

Iris shivered, humbled by Mother's subtlety. To think that after everything she still considered herself as her royal, worthy of respect daughter, daughter that forgot where true strengths of powerful blood truly lie. Mother, even if in a more rougher part of her life, still possessed that crucial aspect of true power.

Intimidation.

Not the blunt and aggressive one like she did for these couple of years, but the real strength focused on the border between a bluff and a promise. Never betraying your true potential, but also giving enough hints of your own capabilities, without screaming and loud threats.

I am no longer your daughter Mother.

"Yes, everything is clear" Different voice, annoying one of a tiring weakling, a worthless trouble for many.

A loving dream for her.

"Splendid" Stars dimmed, revealing a calm, blue sky underneath "Problems do tend to pile up, isn't it more precious to lessen the burden a bit before adding more to the bottomless hole, hmmm?"

"Very wise words"

"I see that Iris inherited my good taste in company" Athron smiled, showing to the world a beauty which white eyes standing to the side no longer remembered how to follow "Speaking of daughters and good taste" paw extended to the side, offering an elegant, inviting wave "Join me daughter, we should never be intimidated by our own spoils. Always reap what you sow, thick scales are quite handy in a world full of aggression"

Iris leaned back at the sight of the blue foreleg extending towards her. Scales on it kept glittering, switching between their normal form and a blackened, belonging to a grave limb. White worms ate through the moist tissue, popping their wiggly heads from the holes with wet sounds of feet stepping on blood. Their shapes flickered as well, only round shapes of their toothy mouths remained intact, all the rest bent and wiggled, adopting sharp, familiar edges of blue feathers.

They felt right at home among corpses.

Still scared demons began to whisper, forcing the scales on her forehead to scrunch painfully, draconic flesh falling so deep that she could feel her own eyeballs rolling around under all that pressure. Among all that hum only one voice broke through stronger than all the rest, choking on feline fur it formed a familiar head on the shoulder. It's old voice rattling inside her ear holes like jingling crystals.

"If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you're allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind"

This cannot be, this is my mother.

"If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you're allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind"

Iris shook her head, effort put into the twirls tossed her body all around the place.

Athron's eyes flashed, dropping the pupils onto her perfectly fit, stretched out foreleg. She wasn't the most ideal model when it comes to keeping promises, but the speed with which she sowed pain, without even touching anybody, surprised even her.

"If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you're allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind"

"Shut up!" Iris bit into her shoulder, fangs sank deep, crushing into hidden underneath all that flesh bone. Blood spilled from between her teeth, painting the mouth red immediately.

"Dear gods Darling. You don't look too well, maybe do take some rest and let the old me handle it, hmm?" Athron mustered all the care she could under the watchful eyes of strangers. Projected warmth of care wouldn't be able to melt the tiniest, dislodged shard of ice from the walls.

"I'm fine!" Iris slapped her paw into the extended foreleg, her draconic hand went right through, splitting the rotten limb it invited all the surroundings worms to nib at her own scales "I'm fine!" Roar jerked her head to the side, cracking some small bone in the neck. She slapped her paw against the leg once more, brandishing her claws she sank them deep into the foreleg, not allowing all that rotten flesh to slip away.

Athron let out a painful hiccup.

Mother always made such a sound when she hurt herself.

Iris blinked, the held paw changed forms, shedding it's blackened flesh it adopted healthy color of blue. Blue pierced by the whites of her claws from underneath which spilled fresh droplets of motherly blood.

Again.

No! Not again!

A rabid roar left her throat, mouth parted wide, springing towards her extended foreleg, ready to sink into the bone. Bloodied, draconic hand grabbed paw swiftly, jerking her forcefully it forced her legs to stumble. Fangs hungry for treacherous flesh missed, their home forcefully jerked towards the opening of the door in front of the eyes. Mother's paw slammed against her rump, forcing it to the floor while the other leg landed on the bleeding shoulder. One of the claws irritated a vulnerable vein in the neck, keeping it in a lock more fierce than any chains could ever muster.

"At least she's bleeding and bandaged, I suppose that makes it kinda right, no?" Sparx mumbled through the fingers covering his mouth.

Iris stared ahead, unable to move she focused her sight on the slit between the purple and black shoulders in front. Flashing with pale green walls at the end of the room flickered like glowing, grinning teeth.

"She looks so miserable" Spyro commented.

"There goes all the fury. Bro seriously, that chick betrayed us, could you at least once act like a grown up dude and don't fall prey to pretty eyes?"

Cynder took a deep breath, picture in front of her eyes was way too familiar to blame Spyro for his typical cry of golden heart. In every other situation she would support Sparx, it's about time Iris' learns about borders and consequences that befall you when you cross them. Some things cannot be so simply forgiven, causing pain should never be treated like a privilege, no matter how troubled one can be. Unhealed cuts are the wounded soul's problem, you need to realize that untreated injuries tend to bleed on souls that never hurt you.

It all made sense, but only when Iris's influence was the problem. This wasn't the case in this moment.

"Spyro is right, she does look miserable" Cynder added her own comment.

"No way" Natural light around Sparx' body flickered "She got you too? Come on guys, what's in that sneaky chick so interesting that it gets BOTH of your heads all messed up?"

"Regret" a delicate whine left the black throat.

Both brothers stiffened, neither of them truly needed any eye contact to realize the hidden meaning behind the spoken words. Anger and fury is one thing, such ugly feelings have moments when they are relatively justified, especially when it comes to dealing with Iris. A dragoness devoid of any sense of moral dilemmas should deserve all the hate she could get, specifically when she directed that soulless approach towards them more than once already.

Both brothers however were also familiar how tragic consequences recklessness could brew. If the purple scaled sibling would listen to the call of shortsighted advice all those years ago, today there would be only the two of them locked in this room. In a world full of ambiguity it is hard to decide what is wrong or right. Iris probably more than deserves all the pain and trouble that befalls her, but in truth, this ordeal wasn't really about her.

It was about hypocrisy.

They were proclaimed heroes for their actions, while the price of such title might not be what they both truly expected it still didn't change the fact that the path they trampled led them to this specific treasure. Treasure that among all theses honors and praising hid a black scaled gift both of them needed. Iris didn't guarantee such a triumph, nevertheless she stood on the same path, wearing identical pain as Cynder did all those years ago. She was a familiar obstacle on the path that brought them heroism.

If that path made them heroes, what would they become if they would turn away from it now?

And to think that all souls in this world strive for successes, oblivious to its true weight. Unaware just how hard it is to carry it.

Malefor's downfall didn't seem like a total stupidity anymore.

"Look who came to visit you!" Athron grinned widely "Iris here might look a little worse for wear than the last time you saw her, but I assure you that our little family reunion breathed new strength into our veins" a long, full of surprising pride breath stretched the blue chest "We only know each other for such a short period of time and I already feel that something just clicked between us, just look at the three of you! Isn't this a wonderful display of a true bond?" blue shoulders wiggled as if shaking off a touch of chill from the spine "I can tell that we're inseparable, we'll do anything for each other. Isn't that right my dear baby girl?"

Called out baby girl didn't answer however, usually piercing, capable of stealing souls eyes stared blankly ahead. If not for the slowly moving, processing each breath slowly chest many would think that a corpse sustained by invisible strings sits before them.

"Isn't that right my baby girl?" the same, cheerful tone leaving Athron's mouth effectively masked the move of her sinking into the open wound claws.

"Yes Mother" the exploding pain didn't even falter Iris' stature. Remaining ideally stoic, maintaining the same demeanor as the dragoness holding her she didn't allow even the tiniest hint of discomfort to break through.

To say that the trio eyeing this famous familiar reunion was skeptical would be a massive understatement. While not all of them truly remembered how it was to grow among loving embrace of parental care, they spent enough time with each other to at least suspect how a true family bond should look like.

Such plain depression stood in total opposition to what to everything they had learned. Especially when Iris was the one who pressed about the meeting herself.

No matter how much one can be wounded and evil, nobody seeks masochistic torment out of one's own free will.

"Splendid love" A brilliant smile stretched Athron's blue lips, if the eyes above shared at least a scrap of its warmth the trio of friends were certain that she wouldn't need to use words to convince them to fulfill her every whim "My dear daughter explained to me that you do not value time wasting. This is a trait I personally greatly appreciate, there is more than enough dull riffraff around here to give me a headache for a lifetime already. It's a nice change of pace to converse with someone fluent in the ways of perspective spoils and...danger." The chuckle that left the Queen's throat would drown more souls in its sweet embrace than any potential flood caused by the most vengeful god "I do so enjoy a little thrill, my stature hardly allows such...opportunities to arise"

They have faced all sorts of villains, from the cocky to the very blunt and among them, always, the most dangerous was the one wielding wit and charm than brute strength. Single glance at the Queen was enough to tell that she had the two first in abundance.

They understood danger all too well.

"We are familiar with the difficulties royal bloodline can cause" Spyro responded calmly, gazing upon the pair of diamonds that did everything in their power just to not meet his eyes.

"Wonderful" Athron was also fluent in ambiguous glances, clenching her claws against the young shoulders in between her chest she straightened the pretty body right onto the subtle rays of the purple eyes. She leaned in closer, wafting tentacles of chill from her mouth kept the eyelids in place, preventing them from hiding the precious diamonds behind their protective cloak "Isn't it beautiful my daughter? Mutual understanding is such an underrated little thing , why fill your tongue with useless praises and threats when a glance is everything that's needed for perfection? A silent plea can be stronger than any bloodthirsty promise. Windows, what wonderful devices they are, don't you agree my sweet child?"

Spyro wondered if he would be able to shift his gaze away from that white cage if Athron wouldn't provoke them right now. The longer he exchanged glances with Iris the more he doubted if he would have any choice in the matter. He noticed a gulp stretching Iris' throat, he spotted the emptiness of her eyes, the prism that hid the tormented, attention stealing girl was no longer there. Iris, true Iris was looking at him in all of her faded glory.

He saw all too well how her pleading, lost eyes remind him of Cynder's during the foreshadowing events of The Night of Eternal Darkness. Back then all it took to wipe away the magenta Taint that people believed Cynder to be was to simply turn his back on her. He was certain that Iris right now was on the same crossroad.

The only difference was, that today, he wasn't quite sure what exactly he would be wiping away.

"Yes Mother" Iris agreed. Spyro noticed an odd, alien flicker in her eyes that didn't fit there at all. If Iris wasn't known for her callous approach to life he would easily mistake it for tears.

Tears that stood far, far away from happiness.

"Beautiful" Athron's lips stretched into one of the most appealing smiles a living soul could ever experience. The sound of clapping teeth echoed through the cracks in the lips, booming like the hum of a well deserved applause. "It's so nice to know that all things come together, mutual understanding is such a powerful tool, don't we all agree?"

"We do" Spyro responded, glancing over at his friends in a silent commune of souls. Despite their justified reserves towards Iris and general trustworthiness of her loving parent, they displayed no signs of protest, all too familiar how well they have been played.

No matter how ambiguous Iris' current plight might be, it was no secret that after battling Cynder and almost dying she learned her lessons and sought information about her potential enemy. As a walking book of their history he was familiar with her approach all too well, despite their efforts to keep his relationship with Cynder a secret, Iris was the one who effortlessly saw through the illusion.

And white he can't have any secrets from her, Iris in the same manner cannot hide anything from her brilliant mother. There was no vile satisfaction behind inviting the young girl to meet them, it was there of course, ice dragons are known for their provocative nature after all, but the crucial aspect was to use history against them.

It was working. Working to the point that he began to wonder how many other small bumps Athron has already prepared.

"Let's get down to business then, shall we?" the Queen left her daughter at the doorstep, casually stepping into the luxurious prison cell. Her blue eyes, shining like the tips of polished spears eyed each prisoner from toe to horn.

They all quaked under this supervision, sensing as if the stare would reach deep behind their skin, groping each organ and tissue like the hands of a way too ambitious surgeon. They didn't have much opportunities to truly allow the Queen to examine them, yet seeing as her eyes seemed to evaluate their existence like they were some clogs of a machine she definitely put all effort she could into the limited timespan she had. Rulers aren't known for their rush, they demand patience and proper planning, yet Athron seemed more than satisfied with what she got.

Her examining stare pulled away from them as quickly as it came. Tremors remained however, all of them had a strange feeling of something being stolen from them, replaced by a chilling touch of a never melting snowball.

"Skyward is a place of dangerous superstition, locked in constant warfare it pits sanity against madness in a constant struggle for domination. This skirmish is so vile that it blurs the lines where one fighter ends and the other begins. Rulers of this world are the third party in this battlefield, struggling to inject some manner of stability into this bile of chaos, stability that so many falsely mistake for selfish ambition. You my dear guests stir that dangerous soup very, very strongly, I can already hear the whispers of doubt running across these walls, spoken from lips that not so long ago vouched for their loyalty"

Athron drummed her claws against the ice, sickly green spread across the room, flashing to the rhythm of individual music sheets. The entire room was filled with the noise of a starting up engine, it fluctuated and ripped into different whispers, humming with incomprehensible mess of quiet voices of different tones, ranging from those very lively to basically mysterious. It was not for their ears to decipher, yet it didn't change the fact that the uneasiness it caused was enough to make them feel like they were locked in a bubble of air filled with the echo of thousand of voices.

Athron knew everything that was going on around her palace.

"You are something only dreams and stories told about" blue eyes skimmed over the purple scales "Others are things never experienced before, dressed in black they promise future of destruction, led by an unknown lantern they mistake it for the sign of downfall of all enemies" piercing pupils greeted Cynder and Sparx simultaneously "Superstitions strongly destructive to stability, chances for other glory seekers to fulfill their deadly plans. I'm sure you're familiar with what I'm talking about, after all you allowed me to rip away a twin faced thorn already"

Sapphire orbs ran over the trio once more, trio that exchanged glances between each other only to return back quickly with a well expected answer. Athron smiled without even realizing it, it was a rather pleasant turn of events to speak with someone smart enough to understand the trivia of work covered by curtains.

"I require of you to unearth more such worms, they are a danger to my city, threatening to ruin its stability in the face of countless enemies. I will discover who they are exactly, yet I have my suspicions already that you might know more about this topic than even I do. You see, there is no place for coincidence in Skyward, everything here is happening for a reason and it will be a matter of your own choice in whose claws you'll decide to put your faith into. My daughter vouches for you so as a loving mother it is my obligation to obey. Find me the ones who try to undermine my city, do it in my name and I will grant you freedom. I advise against betraying me however, this pool you see, as much as it is comfortable offers me some manner of insurance in case of...unpleasant events. I'm sure you feel it's chill already"

The group exchanged glances between each other, the longer their eyes connected the more this mentioned frost sitting inside their chests began to stab harder. They were familiar with Binding magic, it had a way of reacting like a well programed device to things out of its scope. However all of them believed that it was one of a kind artefact, touched by Malefor's vile ingenuity no less. Yet they still could feel familiar influence of the mentioned insurance.

Is Iris' mother really that powerful?

Or was it all just a well prepared bluff?

They instinctively sought answers in the pair of diamonds that among the ones holding the reins of rule in this place had any semblance of honest sympathy towards them. Iris had nothing to offer, conflicted by her own personal troubles she could give only the most hateful of answers.

Everything was possible.

"Why do you need us to clean a mess you're more than capable of handling yourself?" Spyro voiced the most crucial of questions.

"Finally some flair" Athron grinned, rubbing the young shoulders below, completely uninterested in the fact of having her paws being dipped in blood "If my daughter is anything like me I knew she wouldn't fall for a piece of sweet scale alone, there had to be a spine under there. So nice of you my dear to preserve our exquisite taste" she kissed the blue head right between the horns.

Iris seemed to sink into the icy floor.

"I'm sure you're more than aware that you're quite the celebrity around these parts. Do not even try to insult me by trying to convince me otherwise, I don't take offense lightly. With that out of the way, my plan is to show my loving society that you're part of my influence. My tools and loyal subjects, having the proclaimed herald of destruction working by my side would be much more beneficial than a moment of fleeting heroism after being done with you. This world doesn't care about such trivialities, it understands only raw strength. Wars and battles are merely its food, nobody likes starving. Complacency is a comfortable limbo where everyone feels at home. A home however needs a host and I desire to be the most proficient among them all"

Having them locked up in a cell with a deathly trap was enough of an evidence to admit Athron's villainy. All of their meetings with representatives of wrongdoings however had one thing in common - motivations bordering on falsehood. Among the prisoners was one who with his perceptive eyes saw more than everyone else, yet even his locked behind a glow eyes were unable to see any double meaning in the Queen's words.

She seemed strangely honest.

Sparx rubbed his chest, spreading out the chill wiggling behind his skin. With each additional stab doubting more and more if all this honesty is really as valuable as Coriza claims it to be.

His silence was all that the other two companions needed, being a servant, no matter if having a visible chain around your neck or not, was far from being ideal. Yet it still beats being locked up in this place for the rest of their days and if Spyro's theories about them not being true judgmental forces in this game have any merit, it would still be more valuable to at least have an eye on the main actors of this unwelcome play.

"Where do we start?" Even though only the purple mouth moved, the voice that rang from the throat could as well belong to every member of the trapped trio.

An understanding that awoke a cheerful flash of icy flames in the most appealing pair of blue eyes.