FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 12

"Finally home!" Sparx exclaimed, hanging in the air in front of his companions his aura burst with fresh intensity as he spread his arms in a crosswise fashion like legs of a starfish

They parted ways with the Guardians at the gates of Warfang, the old dragons laying the foundations for their plan. Volteer seeking more knowledge, while Terrador starting off with Ignus. It was decided that they should first start from the hardest part and convince Iris to join the team.

The Earth Guardian assured them that they should expect a falcon with the information about the meeting place very soon. Terrador was very determined about all of this for some unknown reason, it was that verve that convinced them that they indeed had a very small window before they will be called to duty again.

Not even Amela's protests seemed to help here, the green dragon was so adamant about his mission that he didn't want to hear about anything that might have swayed him from that. All the cheetah managed to do was to convince the people to hold back on spreading the recently acquired information and if possible pester the Earth Guardian with questions about Boven.

Either of those two won't hold for long, but the healer managed to buy them a little more free time before heading out with her own mission.

They were glad for that, as the three of them stood in the entrance of the main gate of Warfang, there was hardly anyone who threw a glance at them. People had no clue that they were on a dangerous mission and brought back possibly even more dangerous revelations, for them it was like they never left.

It was both comforting and frightening.

They were treated like normal people, but at the same time the population of Warfang was giving some truth to Cyril's point of view. They behaved as if expecting a purple hero to be always right behind the corner to protect them.

No matter, right now they had time for themselves and until the falcons arrive it would be best to get some value out of it.

"Can you smell it Twin Tails?" Sparx took a deep breath "Bias, hate, fanaticism. Home sweet home"

"Oh come on" Cynder admonished the dragonfly amusement ringing in her voice. She felt like they were a family of three visiting a town. She desperately fought back the urge to hold Spyro's tail "Grumpy much? Warfang has also some good sides"

"Yeah?" he smirked, giving the dragoness an arrogant glare "Prove it captain sandwich"

The black dragoness bit her lip, crunching her snout in a not really determined attempt of concentration "I've got nothing"

"Why captain sandwich all of a sudden?" Spyro inquired, cocking his head "I'm pretty good at translating the weird names you are giving Cynder, but I have a problem with this one"

"It's very easy bro" Sparx sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose like a professor explaining something very obvious to his students for like a hundredth time in his career "There's Cyn, on one side there is you and on the other the Creep guy who-"

"I've heard enough" he snarled, fury already beginning to boil his blood when he heard Creep being mentioned. The heat intensifying when his stupid imagination immediately began forming images that he wouldn't want to see.

He saw Creep possessively slithering his disgusting paws all over her body while she squirmed in pleasure, he was looking at him, giving him a triumphant grin.

His expression spoke volumes.

She's mine.

She's mine.

She's mine.

He wanted to tear the little fucker apart. Ancestors above, how he hated that thing.

Cynder winced, feeling Spyro's tail slapping against her own in quick succession was enough to tell her what he was going though without looking at his snout.

"That was uncalled for Sparx. This is a very touchy subject"

"Hey" the dragonfly rose his hands defensively "Poking a nerve is a business credential for being annoying"

"No, these are credentials for being a dick"

He shrugged with a roll of his eyes.

"Potato, potahto"

"Just forget about it alright?"

"Whatever you say general deviant"

"Thanks" Cynder commented, snide echoing in the tone of her voice as well as radiating from her glaring frown

"This isn't funny Sparx" Spyro noted coldly

"Hey!" the dragonfly dashed in front of his draconic brother, pointing an accusing finger at the purple nose "It's your fault that you are getting triggered by this stuff, blame yourself for giving me the bolts to shoot"

Spyro snickered mockingly, wings flaring open for a second.

"My fault? It's my fault that you're an ass?"

"Guys, guys, guys" the dragonfly looked between both young dragons alternately, making calming gestures with his hands "Let's agree to something. I'm annoying, we don't need synonyms here, it will help us all understand each other easier yeah?"

"You know what Sparx?" Spyro grunted, observing the dragonfly with gentle shakes of the head "Sometimes I wonder how I could consider us to be dragonflies from the same family"

"Because, firstly" a yellow index finger straightened up "You have something from Flare in you" middle finger joined its companion "Secondly, you are soft. Take some distance to stuff dude, you got a little vein poppin' in your butt bro. Keep going like that and you will have troubles with pooing, creepy guy molesting your girlfriend is only the beginning of your problems"

Cynder opened her mouth, paw jerked in the air, claw almost at the ready to emphasize the protest she was about to voice, but then in a moment's notice she gave up on the idea. There was no point in explaining and convincing the boys that Creep, despite his origins, has respect for her, at least something like that and doesn't force anything if it's not necessary, even when it is he seemed to learn to ask beforepaw.

Getting defensive would only antagonize Spyro further and pour salt on the jealous wound she wasn't surprised he bled from. Sparx was a completely different thing, attempting to deny everything only made him more passionate in his taunts and teases. She decided that for the general benefit of everyone included it is best if the boys, or mainly Sparx, will use her as a practice dummy for his remarks.

"Please Sparx, don't act all high and mighty and pretend to know everything" Spyro sighed tiredly

"Bro, bro, bro" he started circling in defeat the purple head, arms flopped down, amethyst, draconic orbs following basically his every move "I thought we were over this. You are forgetting everything I've taught you"

"You didn't teach me anything!"

"I taught you plenty!"

"Name one where your intention wasn't to pick on me"

Sparx gasped, slapping both hands to his heart.

"That's not fair"

Spyro snorted.

"I knew it"

"Look at yourself now man. You look..." Sparx clicked his tongue, bouncing his head from side to side "... okayish as to remind you. Thanks to me, I'm the observant type and I knew what was coming and prepared you for it. Making fun of you was just a perk, I need some bonus for all my hard work too"

Spyro scratched his head, pretending to think.

"From what I remember, humiliating me was never giving you much problems"

"And again back to whining about the grammar. Dude, our childhood is like a fairytale, focus on the moral"

"Every laugh that came from your throat sounded the same to me"

Cynder snickered, covering her snout to muffle the sound, hearing the two of them bickering was one of her guilty pleasures. The punches they were throwing at each other were sometimes very clever and funny, she wondered if they even realized that.

"This is not the moral of the story!" Sparx cupped his brother's snout, looking straight into the draconic eyes "The stuff you learnt dude is the moral"

"People throats get sore when they laugh for too long"

"Wiseass" Sparx pushed back, folding his arms on his chest "The useful stuff you learnt"

"Hmmm" Spyro scratched his throat, looking at the sky for answers "Nope, nothing"

The dragonfly snorted, nodding at the black girl next to them.

"If not for me you wouldn't be so cocky now"

Purple brow raised in surprise to this revelation.

"Cynder?" he chuckled derisively "You were always blaming her for everything, you want me to believe it's you who made it possible that we're together now?"

"Hey, I still find it gross" he shrugged "But whatever rocks your boat man, in my defense I didn't know that you were a pervert"

"I'm probably going to regret it" Cynder swallowed, scratching her choker, she shouldn't be really getting into this conversation, knowing that Sparx has a talent for making things up, but she couldn't help herself. Learning some dirty secrets, even if false, about her mate had a certain allure

"But how Spyro's relationship with me makes him a pervert?"

"Seriously? You didn't know?" he slapped his forehead, groaning in realization "Of course you didn't, you were too busy murdering the world" Sparx nodded at his brother "Our lover boy here had hots for you even when you were bad and ugly"

"I know that"

"Of course, Twin Tails" he dashed towards the dragoness, poking her nose "What you don't know tho is that it is thanks to me that he tolerates ugly even without the bad part. You're welcome by the way"

"He's making this all up" Spyro protested "Don't listen to him Cynder"

"Honestly?" she winced, rubbing the back of her head "I'm kinda curious, even if it's a lie"

The purple drake shook his head, hiding his depression behind his paw.

"Don't encourage him"

Sparx clapped his hands, grinning victoriously, his aura glowing with a fierce, golden light.

"Too late"

*

"I'm so nervous" Spyro mumbled, standing on his hind legs one front hand was unendingly scratching the chest while the other was picking at it

"Spyro" Nina slapped away the paws gently "Stop scratching"

A shiver ran through him, he lowered his legs, but they were far from calm however, momentarily beginning to pick on each other's claws.

"Spyro!" his mother laughed, dropping a hand on the restless paws and gently prompting them to enjoy tranquility "Stop fidgeting or I'll never dress you up"

He whined.

"Sorry mom" he forced his legs down, they twitched next to his sides like branches of a tree assaulted by a strong wind

Nina scratched her son's head, fingers playing with the scale in between the flexible fins.

"I know it can be quite stressful to go out and mix between all those people. But it is an important day for every child coming of age, only once in your lifetime you build enough resistance to the fumes. After today, every next day will be as mundane as ever. It is very crucial to cherish those special moments in life"

"I don't want to be a weirdo mom"

Mother frowned, lowered herself down to cup his face in her hands.

"From where did this idea come from?"

Nervousness won again, hands broke from their tranquil prison and began scratching at the thighs.

"Your friends that visited us sometimes, even our uncles, they were giving me some really weird looks. Like I was a monster or something. Is it because I'm a special dragonfly like you said?"

Mom smiled warmly, the affection that radiated from her was mind numbing, he immediately forgot about stress and worry. Purple hands relaxing as quickly as the psychological trouble faded away.

"That is because you are a handsome boy"

"I'm serious mom"

"Me too" she sighed, rubbing his cheek "Every child that will be joining the festival will draw attention, this is something that can't be avoided. I'm here to make sure that at least you will look good, what people may think is not important, we answer to ourselves, this is what needs to be remembered. Because there is one thing any of us can do"

She pointed a finger at him, wagging her brows meaningfully.

He smiled, knowing where this is going. Towards one of mom's sacred sayings.

"Just be ourselves"

Nina grinned, patting the purple cheek in a kind gesture of praise.

"That's my boy. Now stay still until I'm done putting this on you, you're quite the big man now, I need to make it just right and you're going to look awesome"

He nodded, he wasn't the biggest fashion expert out there, in fact only recently he learned what fashion means exactly, but he was sure he knew what it means to look awesome.

Mom always looked awesome.

Over her pink body she wore a green dress, straps of this dress reached across her shoulders and down her frame where they tied into a knot with another pair of straps around the waist, exposing the slender back. The dress came with slim shoulder pads and sleeves, leaving only the biceps to exposure.

Eyes were in the color of the most valuable of emeralds.

The wonderful image was completed by her wings, sparkling, brilliant light green wings that constantly flapped, leaving in the air a bright, glowing aura of grinded crystal dust. It was like the wings were processing invisible gems all the time.

It was beautiful, mother was beautiful.

Green was his favorite color, he didn't know why or what is so special about it, but it was his favorite. It gave of a peaceful, loving vibe.

He knew now, that if he ever finds a pretty dragonfly girl that he will fall in love with, she will have sparkling, emerald eyes and an ability to create an aura of similar color.

"Arms up Spyro!"

He obeyed the soft command immediately.

He was a bigger version of a dragonfly than any that lived in the Swamps, there were no clothes in the shops that would match his frame. This didn't stop mother however, she ordered custom made outfits made from layers that somehow connect with each other like puzzles, so she won't have to drag clothes five times her size.

The worst was already over, on his back he wore a bodysuit of sorts that perfectly fit onto his figure, stretching all along to the base of his special abdomen, the outfit of course included holes to fit his wings through. The suit was mostly blue, here and there dipped in green, it was all bright and gleaming, imitating an aura of a dragonfly.

Right now mother was putting sleeves on his arms, similar to what she wore, reaching from the hand to elbow. They perfectly matched with the main part of his outfit.

"Straighten up for me dear, I need to put the greaves on and we're done. Not long now, I promise, bare with me for a little while longer"

After a few more tugs and clicks his legs received similar treatment as his arms, the greaves reaching as high as the knee.

To cover the flaws in the connections mother used a special type of grout that came with the custom outfit.

"There" Nina clapped her hands clean, pushing back to catch her son in the fullest, she smiled with an approving nod "You're now even more handsome than usual"

"Are you finally done dressing up girls?" the door to the room burst open in perfect accordance with the loud question.

Sparx appeared inside wearing a cocky grin an a bodysuit of dim violet.

"Sparx" Nina admonished her son, placing both hands on her hips "That's no way to talk to your brother"

"That was a compliment mom" he whined, circling the pink dragonfly, shoulders shrugging innocently "I'm more creative when we're alone"

"Nina? Boys? Are you ready?" another voice, the owner of it appeared soon after in the door, effusing a strong, blue glow

"We're ready Flash. Okay boys, wait by the door, I'll do my eyelashes real quick and grab the gift. We'll be right there" Nina dashed towards the door, wrapping an arm around the blue dragonfly in the way "Come Dad, you'll help me"

The door slammed shut, Sparx examined his brother with a scrutinized stare, circling him while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Spyro stood still, yet his head followed the moving dragonfly anxiously.

"What?"

"I'm just thinking" the dragonfly rose up, index finger rubbing a line below the lower lip, eyes never leaving the figure below "How on the mud did you fit in all of these? Look at the size of your ass!"

"You're just jealous because I look better than you" the purple, scaly dragonfly retorted, smirking arrogantly

"I see you really wanted to dress up, something must be a really tight fit somewhere, it looks like it cut out the blood flow to your peanut of a brain"

Spyro snorted, proudly throwing his head up.

"Say what you will, mom said I'm handsome"

"Ha!" Sparx scoffed "Of course she would say something like that, she's our mother dude. It's her job to be nice, even if it means lying" he placed a hand on his heart "Me bro? I'm honest"

"No, you're my brother"

"So?"

"It's your job to be mean, even if it's a lie"

"Ohohoho!" Sparx blabbered, darting down, poking the purple cheek with his finger "Let's see if you're so smart when we get out there, to the festival" he folded his arms, cocky smirk playing on the lips "Bet you're going stick that abdomen of yours into your butt"

Spyro snarled, deep, irritated frown wrinkling his face.

"Oh yeah? And just how do you know this?"

"Simple" the yellow dragonfly filled his nails on his chest, haughtily examining his fist every now and then "I know what I'm getting myself into, in contrary to you"

"Ha!" the purple dragonfly blurt out, mockery clicking like radiation in every drop of spit "Yeah, right!"

Sparx shrugged indifferently, concentrated only on his nails.

"I don't care if you don't believe me. You're going to embarrass yourself, not me, but I guess at this point you don't mind, making a fool of yourself is your lifestyle now"

"Just how can you know what this festival is about when everyone keeps it as a secret and today is the first day when we finally got used to the fumes?"

"Dude, I have my ways"

He narrowed his purple eyes on the dragonfly, pretty sure that he's bluffing.

"Like last time huh? Forgot about the curfew already?"

"It was your fault man, you're not only fat but also a sissy"

"That's it" Spyro snarled "I don't want your help any longer"

"Boys!" their father's shout echoed from the corridor "Where are you? It's time to go!"

Sparx casually flew towards the door, shrugging on the way.

"It's your funeral man"

The festival was exactly like one who lived in the Swamps surrounded by lively dragonflies could expect. Full of cheerful chaos and lights in all colors of the rainbow. The festival took place in the most characteristic spot in the Swamps, or at least that's what they were told.

The Blood Basin.

Even Sparx who said that he was here already, was awestruck.

The name was ominous, hardly anything had a pretty name in the Swamps, but it was just a name, it didn't give credit to the true beauty of this place.

There was a trunk of a tree in the Swamps, moist and moss covered like many things here, it was surrounded by glum water. Besides the moss, the tree was wrapped with thin, strong threads of green stems, intertwined in such a way that it looked like the tree had a wire wrapped around it. In many places, where the green connections intertwined the most sprouted a cradle of big, shining green leaves. Directly from the middle grew another stem, thicker than the rest as if all of the green connections that met here formed this single tongue. It reached past the leaves, flopping down the farther it went, at the end of it dangled a deep red bulb.

The flower that surrounded the tree was called Bloodspill.

The bulbs were everywhere, dangling above the water, giving it a dark, reddish hue, turning the dim color of the water into what seemed like real blood. It would be creepy if not for the fact that the bulbs weren't just an idle decoration.

Every now and then the bulbs glowed, as if they would eat a dragonfly, the glow became stronger and stronger with each passing second until eventually the bulb that was holding it inside shimmered brightly as if there was a sun inside it.

Then the bulb opened, lazily spitting a pristine, bright white tear, it's colors fading back into the natural deep red. The tear always falling into the basin, making it flash white, like a thunderstorm would explode in its depths. Each such explosion projected some sort of magical pulse along the tree making the bulbs flash brightly in random patterns in every color of the rainbow always maintaining identical hue during each flash.

They witnessed some of the bulbs glowing pink until they returned back to their natural deep red color.

Until another tear fell into the water.

"Holy crap, this is awesome!"

"Spyro, language" commanding, fatherly voice cut sharply

There was a scene in front of the main attraction where artists showed their skills, people danced and children played. Stalls dotted the ground, some offered wares, some gifts, others food and drinks, only the first group operated like real traders all the rest was hand made and ready to be offered to the children that joined the community and their parents.

There were also many other small stages and many other different attractions all around the place, anyone could find a spot for himself here. Songs were unending musicians performed on one stage, only to be replaced by another group the moment they got tired.

It was one big party to put it simply.

"Anyone's thirsty?" Flash asked

"Hell yeah!" Sparx exclaimed, making joyful spirals in the air "Thirsty for action!"

"Boys remember, this might be a festival of fun, but don't forget about manners" Nina noted

"Yes, mom" both brothers acknowledged simultaneously

"This is your moment, enjoy yourselves, don't do anything reckless. We'll be right over there with the rest of the parents" blue finger pointed at one of the stalls where quite a sizeable group of dragonflies occupied

"Have fun and be careful boys" Nina blessed each son with a kiss on the cheek

"Ugh! Mom!" the brothers recoiled back, quickly rubbing of the moist touch of motherly lips, scanning the surroundings in slowly growing panic, hoping that no one saw that

"And remember that we are watching you" Flash glared sternly at his children

Pleased to see that they had no troubles with understanding the message.

"Yes, dad" brothers replied in unison, they depressed whines as they nodded with anguished winces perfectly showed their understanding

"Perfect" Flash and Nina left their children to their own, naturally limited, privacy

"All right dude, let's get this show started!" Sparx made one round around his brother before dashing up, taking the festival into the embrace of his hungry craving for attention

"H-How?" Spyro scratched his leg nervously "I don't know what to do"

"It's simple man, just look at all those people, we just mix with them and do what they do!"

The purple dragonfly looked ahead, swallowing a very bitter gulp of saliva.

"T-There's so many of them"

"Oh boy" Sparx arms slumped down as he depressingly dropped down to the level of his brother "Is this your sissy side talking again?"

"No!" he protested, yet eyes never left the crowd, beads of sweat already shimmering on his forehead

It was a yes in fact, he didn't really know why, but big groups of people always scared him. Whenever someone visited their house, they sometimes brought their children over so they can play with each other in the house or the NJ window of safety outside before the fumes got to you.

These children were always giving him weird stares, he wasn't really bothered by it at the beginning, he just wanted to play. As he got older however he was becoming more aware of the whispers and looks as he walked among people. It was traumatizing, he felt that wherever he went he was the center of attention, he could feel eyes burning curious traces on him.

It was overpowering.

He didn't draw so much attention when he was far away, but the moment he got close everything changed, people that didn't care about his looks were limited, mostly every conversation began with questions, the desire to find out why he's such a strange dragonfly. Those questions were always the same, he got tired of them at first until eventually he began to fear them.

They made him look like a freak, all he wanted to be was a normal boy growing up, there was no way he will ever be able to deal with all this attention.

Sparx sighed audibly, shaking his head as he slapped his hand against the forehead.

"You're so much fun"

That fear however was a special trigger, a trigger that Sparx had a talent on letting it on fire with his unending taunts and whines of displeasure.

"I've told you that I'm fine!" he snarled, he was really growing some sharp teeth, he could feel them stabbing his tongue

The yellow dragonfly sniffed audibly.

"Oh yeah, I believe you, the smell of piss fooled me"

"I'm fine!"

Sparx pointed at the stalls where most of the parents grouped up.

"Mom and Dad are right over there, if you ask nicely I'm sure they will wipe you"

"Screw you!" Spyro growled, spinning around, ready to go back home, but stopping after two steps, he really wanted to take part in this festival, there were so many things to see, but then again there was Sparx and his constant mocking of this stupid fear

Curiosity can wait.

He made another step until he felt a tug on his swinging wildly abdomen.

"Come on bro, I was messing around!" Spar flew in front of the angry face, spreading his arms out in confusion "You don't know what a joke is anymore?"

"You make it hard to tell what is what" the purple dragonfly grumbled

"Alright, look, since you're such a thorn in my side, how about I'll leave you there and you stick with me for the rest of the day, huh? We're going to fool around together, that way people will focus on the more cooler of us, aka me"

The offer was tempting, too tempting, past experience already taught him that when it comes to Sparx, things usually have a second bottom.

Spyro narrowed his eyes on his glowing brother.

"What is in it for you?"

"Hello?" he poked the purple forehead with his finger "Attention, duh. Fame. You draw them in with your fat, ugly mug and then I spread my charm, you will be forgotten wearing the same fat, ugly mug. Everybody wins"

"From the sound of it I'm the biggest winner here"

"Ok, Smartass, you're in or not? I won't be here forever, I have fame to catch"

He looked behind his shoulder, there was no way Sparx was doing it out of the goodness of his heart, he was his brother after all. He might have no bigger game now, but he was certain that he will find one soon enough and he will be the one regretting it.

All of this was a clear sign that he shouldn't get himself involved in this and disappoint everyone by leaving.

In that very moment Bloodspill flashed purple.

He didn't need any more convincing.

"I'm in"

As it turned out there wasn't much to regret, in fact he forgot about worry completely. He followed Sparx and his brother kept his part of the deal, taking the attention from him before the questions started to be insufferable.

They participated in a game after game, did some dancing, some eating and drinking and also took part in a smoking event. Some ingenious dragonfly turned the fumes of the swamps into a mild, hallucinogenic agent that he stuffed pipes with.

Much to the displeasure of the parents.

Still Sparx managed to snatch a few without anyone knowing, with a group of other children they snuck out in the back and smoked the tiny pipes. He had to take far more puffs than the other dragonflies, but when he finally reached the magical limit the world changed shapes completely, he could bend everything as he saw fit.

All he had to do was to extend his hand and draw, the world was dripping from underneath his fingers like clay, adopting forms of his desire.

It was amazing how narcotic adventures bring people together, the group of kids no longer treated him as a freak, but as a member of the pack of cool dragonflies. Pack that under the leadership of Sparx lost track of time in the fun, giving of course reports to Mom and Das occasionally to calm them down.

It was a great day.

"Spyro, tell me something" a dragonfly by the name of Wox spoke up, sipping juice as orange as his aura

"Yeah?" Spyro stretched on the ground, the group deciding to take a break from the excitements of today's day, he was tired and was taking the most of the breather, relaxing by observing the dancing crowns of the trees above

"Why you don't glow?"

He frowned, sense of the question eluding him.

"What?"

"Why you don't glow? Every dragonfly comes with individual light package, you tho' have nothing like that. Why?"

He licked his lips, looking for the answers in the sky, finding nothing but the expected result.

"I don't know"

"What do you mean that you don't know?!" Sparx exclaimed coming into view in front of the purple eyes from the direction of the forehead, appearing to be upside-down to his brother

Spyro's eyes widened, he was completely bewildered.

His brother shook his head, tongue clicking in disappointment.

"Seriously, sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall"

It wasn't funny, but some girls in the group giggled nevertheless.

"The truth is people, sometimes dragonflies are hatched different, with out the light and it makes them look funny like Spyro over here. That doesn't mean he's weird or anything like that tho', shit happens"

"And how do you know that huh, egghead?"

"Hey, Wox!" Sparx pointed at the orange dragonfly "Do I ask how you have so much juice on you to open a stall every second day selling the stuff? No? Then don't nag me alright? We have our sources and let's leave it at that"

Wo grumbled, taking a disgruntled sip of his favorite juice.

"Fiiiine"

"The truth is, Spyro has a rare disease"

"What?!" the purple dragonfly flipped on his belly, scrambling back up, almost tripping over the maze of his own legs "I'm sick?"

"Ill, bro, ill"

"Spyro is ill and your parents told you nothing about it?" one of the girls in the group asked, she was glowing pink

"Probably to avoid this" Sparx nodded at his brother

Spyro's eyes were bulging, he was shaking all over, practically pale, tongue hung from his mouth, almost devoid of color. If fear could be presented in a physical shape, this would be how it would look like.

"Relax man or you're going to pop an eyeball"

"Oh y-yeah?" the purple brother snapped "How would you feel if you found out that you're deathly sick?"

The yellow dragonfly chuckled, scratching his head in pretense of focus.

"I can't remember saying anything about death"

"You said-"

"Chill dude, alright?" yellow hands rose up defensively "You're not dying, the disease is harmless, that's why Mom and Dad probably decided to not tell us anything, because you would freak out. After some time you will glow like the rest of us"

Spyro visibly calmed down, eyes glowed with hope.

"Really?"

"Yeah"

"Spyro is still bigger than us, what if that disease makes him a freak too?" another one of the boys asked

"No it doesn't, Spyro looks like that, because he's fat"

"Hey!"

The whole group giggled.

Spyro looked at the ground, blushing.

Sparx shrugged innocently.

"Hey man, that's on you, I've told you many times to munch on a salad, but you didn't listen"

"Shut up" his purple brother grunted

Sparx dashed down, giving a comforting slap to the purple shoulder.

"Chin up man, I found a way to make you feel like a dragonfly, it will last only for a few days but it's better than nothing right? You can do it again after a month if you want, you're in?"

"You found a way, but your parents didn't?" a skeptical voice rose from the group

The yellow dragonfly met the gaze of the annoying sceptic.

"If you knew our old folks you wouldn't ask this stupid question. They prefer to live by the rules of nature and all that crap. I say this festival is about doing something finally for the first time, isn't that's why it was made? Spyro never glowed, so let's make him glow, even if it will last only a while who cares, first time is first time"

To glow like a true dragonfly.

Sparx always came up with all sorts of ideas, he never could tell which is stupid, made up, or good, he however felt that his particular one is brilliant. This festival was about first time, basically it was the first breath of life for every child that developed resistance to the fumes. To feel like a dragonfly, the perspective was too tempting to pass up, to feel normal even for a while, that was what life is in his opinion.

"How do we do this?" Spyro asked, whole body clenching in determination

Sparx grinned, patting the purple head proudly.

"You need to eat a Bloodspill tear"

"Wow!" the group exclaimed in shock

"My parents told me that I shouldn't eat it!" Wox noted

"I've heard it tastes like unripe apple!" the pink dragonfly added

"Yeah, yeah" Sparx discarded the worries with a wave of hand and roll of eyes "Standard yada, yada, overprotective bullshit and nothing else"

"How do you even know it's going to work?" a curious voice echoed from the group

"Sources. Besides didn't you see the flowers? They change colors right? The effect doesn't last long because of all the water there, we don't have that much liquid in us, so the effect will last longer"

"Crap, that makes sense" Wox commented

The rest of the group supported that sentence by letting out messed, incoherent murmurs and grumbles.

Sparx grinned, putting hands on his hips and puffing the chest out.

"Of course it does" he turned towards his brother "You're ready to start the show?"

Spyro's abdomen wagged anxiously.

"Let's do it"

The yellow dragonfly rubbed his hands together.

"Time to dance"

It turned out that Sparx literally meant dancing, the group got on stage, on one on the side ones and started to make a commotion in the spirit of the festival of course. For now the group seemed to completely forget about his weight, keeping low to the ground and pretending to be dancing with him, they hid their true intentions behind his big as for dragonflies standards figure.

They kept this pose for a while, making sure people get accustomed to it to lower the chances of causing suspicion. Sparx as an expert in judging such situations was designated to be the one who snatches the tear.

He completed the task without any difficulties, due to the mess on the scene people didn't seem to notice that the pool didn't change. If there was someone among the crowd that did, they ignored it, fascination doesn't last forever, people get user to things very fast.

"Here!" Sparx whispered excitedly, opening his hand in front of the purple face, they were currently in the middle of a spinning routine

Spyro was mesmerized by the sight that he didn't even feel any sort of vertigo after making who knows how many turns in one direction. The crystal was formed like a tear, completely white and glimmering as if it would be a part of a start fallen from the sky.

"Eat up!" he jerked his hand up

Spyro withdrew his head, wincing in hesitation.

"You sure it's safe? Parents said we shouldn't-"

"You want to glow or not bro?" Sparx hissed through his teeth "Munch it now, I feel that it's melting already!"

He broke under the pressure, extending his tongue, rolling it around the tear and flipping it inside his mouth. He swallowed it without biting, it was tasteless, as if he would swallow a scrap of paper, the tear already began to dissolve in his throat, the moment it had contact with his saliva.

Their spinning slowed down, every eye who knew what was going on turned at them. Sparx stared directly at him, nibbling his fingers in nervous anticipation.

"And bro? How do you feel?"

He smacked his tongue several times, nothing changed, what was tasteless remained tasteless.

"Normal, am I glowing?"

"Nope, maybe we-"

Spyro yipped sharply, eyes huge due to shock.

Something was happening, he felt as if a crate of tiny teeny-tiny dynamite exploded inside his belly. The wave of explosion rumbling all the way up to the top, towards the throat.

He burped loudly, a tongue of blue gas shot from his mouth.

"Woah!" Sparx pushed back fiercely, startled by the blue thing shooting from his brother's mouth as well as the sound itself, it was louder than the music and conversations

Everyone directed their eyes at the scene.

The festival went silent.

And remained like that until another burp came, longer and louder than the previous one.

A stream of green air wafted from the purple mouth.

It was enough to trigger the crowd, people began yelling and running away, parents screaming their children's names. Probably Mom and Dad were also somewhere in that noise, it was hard to hear anything besides the general commotion and Spyro's serenade of unending burps.

He rumbled again and again, spitting out all colors of the rainbow and many other combinations, playing as loudly as the most devoted of musicians.

He didn't stat in place, panicking Spyro pranced all around the place, not knowing what to do with himself, something that couldn't be said about his stomach. It was playing an unending concert through the colorful burps.

One concert like that was enough to make this festival the most memorable one in the whole Swamps.

*

"The end" Sparx announced with a grin "Cool story, eh?"

"This story sucks" Spyro grunted, annoyance in his voice cementing the value he had for this particular memory

The dragonfly waved his hand dismissively with a snort.

"Eh, you never had a good taste"

"No, not true, this story sucks. It only shows that I was your test rat, you had no idea what swallowing the tear would do, your so called sources didn't exist. You used me as a dummy for every stupid idea you had. Only now we know that eating that crystal made a mess out of my elemental energy, I didn't know how to breathe magic yet, it forced it from me. If I knew how to breathe fire I would torch the place down, instead I was...I was..."

"Farting from your mouth" Sparx laughed

Spyro narrowed his eyes on his brother, fury burned in his eyes.

"This isn't funny, the kids tormented me after that day, laughing and calling me names"

"Oh yeah! Fartmaw!" the dragonfly laughed again, smirking triumphantly when he was done "My idea! It really caught on"

"You are a horrible brother"

"Oh stop whining already. Laughs were there, true, but the important thing here is the moral"

Spyro ridiculed the sentence with a snort.

"Moral? There's no moral! It was supposed to show how I learned to tolerate ugly. Where was it?"

Sparx dashed towards the drake with a taunting grin, elbowing the shoulder meaningfully.

"I'm sure you've seen your face in the mirrors when you were burping, it didn't change much after that day"

He growled, the teasing really getting on his nerves.

"This. Story. Sucks"

"Not everyone seems to share your point of view" his brother threw a yellow thumb behind his glowing shoulder

Spyro looked there and his expression immediately relaxed when he noticed Cynder.

She was sitting on her haunches, tail folded on the ground in front of her, front paws crunching and rolling it excitedly, as if it was a wet towel, mouth opened and eyes large and fascinated. She was basically worshipping them, staring in their direction like a child stares at a bag of sweets.

She was amusingly adorable.

Spyro chuckled.

"Cynder?"

She blinked, light of reasoning returned to her eyes, the amazement was still there however.

"You never told me any of your childhood stories before"

"I'm sure you can see why"

"It's wonderful" she gasped in awe

Spyro's brow raised in surprise.

"Oh?"

"Ha!" Sparx clapped his hands victoriously "Told ya you had no taste!"

She smiled dreamily.

"Brotherly feud aside, hearing you talking about childhood memories is...I don't know...inspirational, you know what I mean? I picture a world where fun and peace rule and the worst thing that happen is a stupid prank everybody forgets after a while"

Sparx leaned against his brother, looking at Cynder and shaking his head coyly.

"Chicks right? They girl everything up, it's like as if she had no childhood or something and was busy murdering people" he straightened up, biting on his forefinger "Wait a second..."

Spyro slapped his brother with his claw in the back.

"Ouch! Hey!" the dragonfly yelped

"You're lucky" Cynder noted with a smirk "I would tie your wings"

"Sorry Cynder" the purple drake winced, rubbing the back of his head nervously "We shouldn't have mentioned anything, we didn't think, making you sad wasn't our intention"

"I'm not sad"

The other brow jumped up, she wasn't modest, she was honest, practically beaming.

"No?"

"No, I'm hungry. Remember the dream I told you about? I had another one not so long ago, I saw my mom there, I think. Creep showed me another dream"

Spyro groaned, snout twisting in disgust.

"That thing manipulates your dreams?" Sparx inquired

"No! It's not like that. I think thanks to Creep somehow I start remembering my former life before the corruption. This is not important right now though"

"Not important?" yellow eyes slumped in defeat, he looked at his brother in disbelief "Can you believe it bro? She is remembering her life and it's not important"

"Or Creep is showing Cynder what she wants to see" Spyro commented, burying his stern gaze into his mate, silently ordering this option to be considered

"Guys" Cynder swallowed, rising one of her paws in sign of surrender "This is not about me, I hear your concerns, but you need to look at a bigger picture here. Corruption, apes, nothing but evil and darkness right? What if my dreams are a sign that nothing is black and white and there is light to be found in the deepest of pits?"

Sparx shook his head, more charmed than annoyed, the trace of a smile on his face betraying everything.

"No wonder you get along with Cor so well"

"This is nice and all Cynder" Spyro acknowledged with a nod "You know more than anyone else that I'm not judging easily, but where are you going with this?"

She scratched her choker, thinking on her answer for a long time, the claw becoming as sharp as a recently crafted spear. Images flashing before her eyes, she thought about Malefor, his world destructing needs and rumors about him being different once.

She thought about herself, her murderous, bloodthirsty past and horrors and how she discarded all of that and opened up to even allow love in her heart.

She thought about Brill, his devotion to fighting evil and his reasoning for that, his respect for the holy and the people.

She thought about the apes, their greedy lust for power and blind obedience, then she thought about her dreams where everything was normal and different.

She didn't know where she was going with this, not really. She however felt that there is chance for something and it shouldn't be ignored.

"What if...there is good to be found where we least expect it?"