FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 17

The dust settled down.

Everything happened so fast that he could barely recall anything of what had just occurred, he forgot where he was, what he was doing and who he was. Everything was as blank as an empty page of a book.

He was looking straight ahead, at a ruined, cracked wall of a building, with an indentation so big that it looked like someone had just fired a cannon at it from point blank range. Wounds on the stone looking fresh and somewhat familiar.

And that was it.

For the love of everything's that's holy, he couldn't remember from where did this hole came from, what was responsible for it, why it was so big.

Everything was a blur.

Something sizzled, pushing from the cracks like a snake lunging at its prey.

He shook his head, feeling extremely heavy pressure on his neck as if instead of his snout he would be shaking the entire world.

Another sizzle, a purple one, a quick blink.

Remnant of magic, powerful magic.

From the crack where the small bolt of magical electricity flickered pushed a black drop, thick as a blood.

He felt a slap against his forehead.

Memories rushed back inside his head with a force of a tidal wave during a storm. Everything came back to him, that sizzle Convexity, its devastating power still feeding on the world, the tongue of blackness, this was Danox, this was the thing that took him.

One and the same?

Danox, he fought with Danox.

It cannot be.

The world started spinning, he barely could feel his limbs when the nausea struck, he began to wave around as if he would be standing on a ship tossed about on the waves of the ocean.

Corner of his eyes caught the silhouette of Dark Spyro.

What that thing was doing here?

He groaned, his stomach rumbled, he could feel pressure building up from his belly and moving towards his mouth, an incoming eruption like in a volcano.

Memories banged at the door to his mind, many of them acting like burglars, breaking through places like thieves through windows, entering his brain so roughly that it didn't keep up with processing all of them.

It was making him sick.

He retched, vomiting a hefty pool of a long devoured food, unabsorbed water and splotches of blood. Fatigue, Darkness and taxing magic aren't good companions.

He arched his back, whizzing in between rough coughs, body hacking sharply forward when another disgusting yet freeing stream shot from his mouth.

There were moments he regretted he had purple scales.

This was one such moment.

After the ordeal he collapsed on his right side, toppling and smacking against the ground like a cut tree, the only spark of luck he managed to catch in all of this was the fact that he avoided falling nose first into his own pool of vomit.

Cold rocks never felt so comfortable before.

He blinked, eyelids so heavy that he barely managed to pry them open, the world a hum, the surroundings a spinning, constantly backing away reflection in a cracked, twisted mirror.

What was happening?

Why does he feel like he would be carrying the whole world on his shoulders?

"I lift the burden brother and you despise me"

The voice, the familiar scary voice.

He moved his eyes with great difficulty, orbs shifting slowly as if they would be forcing their way through thick pile of mud, the mixed, chaotic colors of the world shifting before his eyes really made him feel as if his head would be underwater.

Black paws appeared in front of him, their structure at first as liquid as everything else, with no solid form like a fountain constantly flowing with black ichor. A tainted wound, a scar that was beyond healing.

His own soul.

One of the black forelegs rose, it pressed against his shoulder, while it merely touched him he could feel an immense pressure on his shoulder, to the point that he thought that his scales will crack like a broken pot.

The paw gave him a shove, forcing him to roll on his back.

The sky above a dark, swirling sea.

Was this still Warfang?

Or he died and got shoved into the Dark Realms?

"Who is there knocking at your door brother? Knock, knock, knock"

He groaned, clenching paw against his chest, claws leaving scratch marks along the scales when his paw roughly turned into a fist. He could feel his heart burning with raw, fierce fire, bursting with fresh flames with each mimicked knock coming from the dark paws' mouth.

"You feel it, yes?"

He slammed another paw against the first one, the powerful smack kicked the breath out of his lungs, a worthless discomfort for the chance to empower his defense.

Defense.

While his heart burned, the paws on top of his chest weren't there to calm it and prevent it from exploding, no, they were there forming a shield, blocking the passage to it if something tried to break through.

The black paws touched him again, the sharp sting that struck him against the flank made him feel as if his scales collapsed.

His paws fell to the ground limply.

There was no point.

The poison was already there.

The sky above turned into a spiral, a tornado forming from the dark clouds above with the eye of the cyclone aimed directly at him.

"Corruption brother, corruption is at the door"

Dark Spyro's snout appeared in front of his eyes, the dark cyclone behind the black head made his evil copy look as if he would be wearing a crown formed with restless, twisting snakes.

"C-orruption?" he managed to stammer, he could barely recognize his voice, let alone hear it, for all he knew he might as well imagined that he said something

"Yes"

Dark Spyro confirmed however that this was not the case.

"I will assist" the dark figure tried to smile, but all that it managed to do was to twist its expression into a sour look like when you eat something very bitter

"This is what family does, you need to rest brother, especially after the last encounter. Betrayal reaps its spoils deep, even in one's blood. Depressing is it not brother?"

He was really tired, last encounter really took a toll on him, not only he fought in unfriendly territory, he also was mentally taxed with keeping an eye on his dark copy while being involved at the same time in a fight of life and death with Danox. Not to mention the exertion caused by using Convexity, an effort that was already exhausting, add to this the ominous presence hanging over Warfang and the effort gets doubled. .

"Not magic brother!" Dark Spyro snarled, his whole body jerked when he felt a sharp stab against his flank "The fight of blood! This was unexpected, this was surprising brother, this was sad, trust is so easily shattered, so fickle, yes?"

Trust is a fickle thing, yes.

Sometimes he regretted he had such a good, open heart, it opened many doors that should never be touched, all of them granting passage to opportunities how his welcoming behavior could be used against him.

"Terrible" ominous voice of his copy intoned

Yes, terrible.

What else was to be expected from a team formed with people that are as special as they are open to all sorts of extremities? Nevertheless, no matter how difficult these companions were, the moment they accepted to be a part of the team he embraced them with their trust.

Was it reckless?

Yes.

Was it stupid?

Oh boy, yes.

Would he do it differently when he could rewind time?

Probably not.

Sparx was right.

"You are not ready to make the hard decisions" the dark voice whispered again

I am not ready to make the hard choices.

So the hard choices will be made by someone else.

"Like Danox, familiar blood"

Danox, familiar blood.

He hurt the most.

He was aware of the malicious ways of the black dragons, he learnt it all from Cynder, while no longer evil she was still feisty, bloodlust morphed into taunting, all in all, deep down the notion to pick on people was there. He expected the same from Danox, while his approach was more melancholic, it was clear that he shared the same trait with Cynder, the nudge to provoke people ran in his blood.

"But not towards your own"

But never towards your own.

Danox attacked him, seeing him do that hurt immensely, he shattered everything Cynder and he showed him about the way of life with black scales. Of all the people in the world a black dragon has to fight with, even if it had to be almost the entire world, there are several you can't fight with.

"Like family"

Like family.

You never betray family.

So much time spent together, all this lessons, all these emotions wasted in one hour, in one day.

"A failure"

A failure.

Dark Spyro leaned over him, their noses almost touching, like two faces of shy lovers who were about to share a kiss for the first time in their life.

"A total failure"

A total failure.

He felt like the world he put together just shattered into pieces, he had one goal in his life, to teach and pass on all the good things about life and proper behavior and he failed. He failed his own blood, to see your offspring going astray, down the evil path despite everything you did to obscure it, this was the worst thing for a parent to feel.

Devastation empowered by realizing that blood of your blood hates you so much that he decides to seek the answer in violence instead of finding a peaceful resolution to sort out the differences. Was there a worse feeling than the knowledge of turning your own offspring against you?

"No there wasn't" Dark Spyro touched his chin tenderly, running a claw down his neck so delicately that he could barely feel it

No there wasn't.

His body began to shake, the touch his dark companion provoked sent chills down the grazed scales as if frost would be growing on the neck.

Everything was for nothing, his whole life a big, damn lie. You live, you make decisions, you help, you do everything that is possible to be a good soul, a normal, moral life with unavoidable mistakes on the way of course but this is why you have hope for an opportunity to pass on the knowledge you gathered along the way, putting obstacles on the paths that led to mistakes, onto your children. Rise them the proper way, make their life easier and full of joy and lack of worry.

When you fail in that regard then you might as well consider that you threw your life into a shredder.

"I'm nobody"

He gasped, arching his back.

"Nobody!" he exhaled deeply as if there would be invisible gauntlets squeezing the word out of his lungs.

His back dropped down, as he hit the ground he felt a powerful sting rushing through his entire body, originating from the chest, he heard also a shriek, but he was quite certain he imagined it since the noise seemed to come directly from his ribcage.

Hearts and bones don't scream.

Nevertheless he gazed down his body, eyes widening at the sight, for the first time after a very long while he could sense his thoughts being entirely his own.

His neck was black and now the darkness was growing over his chest. It was reaching the spot where his heart hid.

The screaming he heard might have not been an illusion after all.

He could feel Corruption devouring his soul.

"No!" he blurted out, jerking his head up, in time to notice Dark Spyro's neck lunging in his direction, mouth parting open

The ominous teeth clenched over his throat.

His eyes shot wide open, breath was sucked back by a whizz, his paw immediately smacked against the black nose, pushing the mouth apart with all their strength, just enough to pry the fangs off before they crush any vital veins.

And crushing they did, the sound of his cracked scales echoed in his brain.

Dark Spyro growled lustfully, putting more pressure into the clamp of teeth.

He screamed, arching his body in unnatural angles as he fought against the deadly maw over his throat, he could feel some of the sharp teeth ruining his toes, despite this he sunk his claws into the flesh of the mouth, getting a proper grip, experienced survival instinct knew how to behave on its own, it doesn't need the brain's coherent orders to act in some situations.

He pulled with all his might, prying the mouth off felt as if he would be peeling his own scales from his body. It barely budged, one of the fangs touched a sensitive nerve somewhere, making him cough.

Dark Spyro laughed, the black cheeks he held shook to the rhythm of the creature's joyful explosion.

He kicked with his hind paws, whole body reacting to the life stealing pressure that was overpowering his grip. His lower side rose up, twisting in an unnatural angle, tail swung somewhere where he couldn't control it any longer. He didn't know how he managed it, whether it was the tail that miraculously supported him or his spine suddenly letting go off the muscles, allowing his body for more flexibility, whatever it was it helped him kick the lower part of his silhouette from the ground and twist it so that he practically rolled into a ball.

Hind paws stopped by the figure of Dark Spyro, one leg slipping underneath the shoulder, the other tapping somewhere else, he didn't really care where. What mattered it that when he kicked, the body of his aggressor was affected, Dark Spyro shook on his legs, the shove loosening the grip on his throat.

This is what he waited for, his claws reacted automatically to the sudden downgrade of pressure on the neck, he felt the teeth parting away. It was enough of a cue to him, with a powerful roar he sunk his claws deeper into the mouth and pushed with newly infused strength, muscles bulging in his forelegs, veins showing on the beaten neck.

He pried off the hungry fangs, hot blood dripped onto the forelegs, with one final blare he gave his attacker a push, a push that was made of a combined force from fore and hind legs.

Dark Spyro was shoved back, followed by a spray of blood the creature's fangs sucked from the neck.

He rolled onto his belly and immediately got up, slapping a paw against the neck, the wet sound that followed made him wince. He felt thick, hot blood sticking to his palm immediately, it made him feel like he would stick his paw into a recently formed pot from still warm clay.

He directed his burning with anger and tears eyes towards the black figure ahead.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he blurted out a blame, even if he deep down knew that they weren't friends with this monster, the panic still made him consider the creature as one of his companions, especially after the fact that they fought together against a common foe not so long ago

Dark Spyro examined him from top to bottom, he looked extremely pleased, blood painting his chin as his mouth stretched into a smile.

"Taking what's mine"

He gazed down his chest, following the creature's subtle cue, the thing he saw before Dark Spyro sunk his fangs into his throat wasn't an illusion, his body was really turning black.

Yet this time the darkness wasn't growing.

Now when he woke up from the strange stupor that made him think about improbable things that forced him to think that Danox' attack was some sort of deep betrayal, the darkness seemed to stop spreading, in fact he noticed that the edges of the black veil upon his gold scales began to shrink ever so slowly.

The damn thing tricked him, it wanted to Corrupt him, but it failed. He felt this dark presence enough times on his soul already that it just couldn't pass unnoticed, especially when he himself wasn't the one who was letting it in willingly.

It made him hate the thing so much more.

He threw his head back up, eyes flaring up with immense abhorrence for the monster in front, the expression somewhat calming itself a little when he noticed that Dark Spyro was also bleeding from its neck.

He couldn't see his own damage, but the wounds on the black neck ahead looked like they were caused by draconic teeth.

The black throat ahead really looked like his own, color included.

"I will triumph brother" Dark Spyro strode forward confidently, trickling blood from the neck announcing each step with a quiet smack against the street

"Why are you attacking me?" he backed away, flexing his muscles, preparing for the inevitable fight "We just fought off Darkness together!"

"We fought off the mistake that would kill us both. We didn't fight Darkness brother" Dark Spyro increased the tempo of his approach "I am Darkness!"

The creature lunged forward, slashing with its deadly claws, the amount of strength and dexterity put into the swing showing clearly that this was no sparring match, this was serious.

Dark Spyro was known for his unnatural speed, dueling this creature was basically impossible, it would ruin even the most talented fighter in a one on one battle, there was no way to keep up with its speed.

And yet somehow he dodged the strike with ease, for some reason Dark Spyro was not using his unnatural speed, attacking him in the most normal way possible, like any other foe would do.

Logic demanded that he shouldn't be complaining and yet it all was too strange for him to simply ignore. If his dark copy really wanted to possess him, then why would it hold back?

Another swing, the other black paw was thrown in the air this time, he reflected the blow with his wing. The moment the claws thudded off of the membranes though the world was thrown into another wild spin, making him sick again, the colors of the world turned into stretched out, unreadable chaotic lines as if there would be a hand in the distance that grabbed all of the colors and pulled them fiercely back.

Moving the wing back felt like trying to shove a mountain out of the way.

Fatigue.

It was eating at him and he knew that Convexity was responsible, he didn't have enough time to recover before Dark Spyro attacked. He was certain that he was waiting for it, that thing was never on his side, it might have even lied about this Darkness stuff, being the main puppeteer, even if not, then for sure a loyal helper of the main force.

It fought together with him because Danox broke out of control, leaving the big dragon run rampant was too dangerous for its existence. This and only this, nothing more and nothing less.

Just as he expected the creature was nothing but an evil stain on life itself.

"Watch for your steps brother" Dark Spyro chuckled, among the flashy colors he noticed the glimmer of sharp claws

He won't let this thing win, it can do whatever it wants only when he will be long dead and withered, it caused enough havoc in his life.

He ignored the swing of the monster, instead going in with his own attack, roaring furiously he threw a powerful slash at the creature, the black monster didn't react, clearly not expecting him to move so swiftly after showing such strong signs of exhaustion.

The thing never understood sentient emotions, that is why it is nothing more but a fake.

Either Dark Spyro missed or the adrenaline boiling his blood was so numbing that it blocked out the pain completely, whatever the case may be the thrown strike by his opponent never connected.

His however did with a full force.

Dark Spyro got hit across the cheek, claws sinking deep that he could feel some of the tips grazing against bone, it threw the black head to the side so fiercely that it almost looked like that he beheaded the creature. Shower of blood splattered across his purple snout.

He got him.

Despite the exhaustion he got the thing.

WHO'S THE MASTER HERE?!

The triumphant blare however was quickly silenced, the feeling of triumph lasted maybe two seconds before it was replaced with something very bad.

Pain.

Very strong, bad pain.

His snout flared up with unexpected agony, his whole draconic face felt as if it was bathed in flesh eating magma.

Between the powerful thunder of agony another portion of enlightenment struck him, clearing some fog out of his mind.

Hitting this thing meant hitting yourself.

This realization made him react instinctively, he smacked a paw across his draconic face, the moment he touched the scales he felt as if he would be touching a very soft pillow. His toes wiggled automatically, they moved so smoothly over his snout, feeling absolutely no bone, the scales being like a water filled balloon.

Cheek pulsed like a heart.

He removed the paw from his face, he had to tug a little since it got glued to the surface of his snout, he didn't have to look to know that it was covered completely in his blood, the crimson liquid dripped from his draconic palm in steady flows.

A paint of disaster.

"That had to hurt brother" his ominous counterpart hissed, tone clearly radiating mockery

"You are not trying to hit me" he gazed up, narrowing his burning eyes on the figure ahead, its right cheek was in ruin, scales hung loosely and blood trickled freely

A print of a paw could be visible on the bloodied, black scales.

The thing was trying to exhaust him.

Without checking he knew that it matched his own and the deep indentation proved clearly that the wound was created by a serious blow.

The sight reminded his body of fatigue once again, paws began to shake as if suddenly someone would cut off the fuel to them as if they would be pumps of a train.

He remained standing, trying to keep his posture balanced yet despite his best efforts the increasing swirling of the world was just too much to be able to keep a straight posture and not to project any hint of discomfort. His opponent could clearly see that he wasn't in best shape right now.

It didn't matter though.

Dark Spyro knew that way before the symptoms appeared.

"You were always perceptive"

"No more games" he snarled weakly, legs finally giving away, making him drop roughly on his butt, despite the discomfort letting go off the pressure of fight was a relief beyond words

Together with him slumped a splotch of blood trickling from his snout which he could clearly see hitting the ground right under his copy's legs.

Dark Spyro cocked his head, the cocky grin turned into an irritated wince.

"This is not over brother"

He smiled, his mouth burned after the ordeal, especially from the wounded side, even a delicate line of blood managed to slip in between the teeth at the corner.

It was worth it nevertheless.

"Oh yes it is" he raised his head towards the black figure, feeling its doubt and anticipating the incoming question

"Because I say so"

Dark Spyro growled, thrashing wildly as if he would be shaking water off of his body. He punched his chest, the blow making him cough roughly, it felt like a hammer would smash against his lungs.

He punched again.

This time he felt nothing.

"I'm not the only one who wants to feed" the creature stomped with its paw, from underneath it spilled a pool of blackness, exactly like the one he stomped into the ground after Danox' disappearance

"I so hate to share"

From the pool stretched out a tendril of darkness, it rushed in his direction, Spyro gazed at it lazily, taking it as another provocation. The tentacle had to sense his lack of engagement or it never planned on lunging towards him in the first place. It took a rough turn, shot towards a nearby wall and lunged at it, where it created a big splotch of darkness.

His eyes widened, heart sending a powerful spike of nervousness.

The black hole was extremely similar to the one's Cynder uses when she shadow walks.

The magic felt familiar, even more than that, it felt like a part of him, he felt that if he only focused the hole would obey him, which was strange because he was a purple dragon, with no ability to wield Shadow magic.

The confusion was short lived however since momentarily a powerful cold hand of dread gripped his spine. His worst nightmares came alive, the similarity he noticed wasn't a coincidence, Cynder appeared from the hole, not with the normal, controlled grace typical for her, it looked like she was pulled.

And the unrolling coil of blackness from around her that a second later returned to the dark hole, making it vanish entirely only proved his observation to be accurate.

He opened his mouth, ready to call out to her, yet no words could leave his mouth, some force was pulling them down.

Fear.

Last remnants of will clinging to strands of hope.

"Hello Sugar" Dark Spyro intoned, his dark tail flicking back and forth in happiness

He shivered at the sound of the nickname said in such a sweet tone by lips that he hated. As the cold quakes ran over his body he realized that his counterpart's joy wasn't triggered by the sight of Cynder, it was triggered by the fact that the black monster wearing his flesh was fully aware that this sweet talking will stab him directly in the heart.

The dragoness snapped her head in the direction of his hated image, eyes black like her scales.

"We are not finished" his mate replied coldly

This was the moment when the world around him died, in the response there was no sign of Cynder's personality, it was wholly Creep speaking. He immediately figured out why this response caused such heart withering dread in him.

There was no more light in the tail tip that Cynder turned into.

There was no more Cynder.

His heart was racing, each beat a pain, as if there would be a clever chopping at his body.

This couldn't be happening, this must be another mind trick, another provocation. He would know if she would be in danger, that was his role as a mate, he would never allow her to die alone. There was nothing that could stop him.

Or so he thought.

"Necessary" the ominous head of his copy directed itself at him, the monster looking extremely displeased "Brother doesn't want to give up"

Black eyes of Creep shifted in his direction, seeing his own reflection in them made him want to scream in fury and cry in agony at the same time.

"Struggle is futile. We live now"

"Where is Cynder?" he hissed through clenched teeth, eyes burning from the accumulating tears that irritated the nearby wounds

"Sugar will not-"

"What did you do with Cynder?!" the hiss morphed into a low, murderous growl, exhaustion fading away, defeated by infused with desperation adrenaline

"Sugar will not-"

"CYNDER?!" he roared at the top of his lungs, pulling himself up swiftly, paw stomped against the ground, the impact so strong that cracks appeared on the surface, the entirety of his black leg pulsing with thick, flexed veins

Creep stood there stoically, once again opening his mouth to spill some sort of crap he didn't want to hear. Not because he hated the creature and just wanted it to shut up, he sensed deep down that after another or two sentences coming from that mouth his heart will crack from depression.

Then suddenly a black light flickered on the tail tip.

"Spyro! Help!"

A squeal, a beg, familiar and feminine.

Cynder.

Creep glared at the disobedient tail, his neck moving so fast that it looked like he was ready to bite it off.

"Silence!" darkness pulsed from underneath the black paws

"He took over! Too strong! Weaken him!"

"SILENCE!" Creep blared out, smacking the tail against the ground fiercely that vertebrae showed up, pushing from underneath the scales

"Attack! Don't hold back! He-"

Black tail smashed against the ground once more, the black like extinguished with a whizz after this strike.

The sight of the fading light was like a war horn to him, in his head he could hear his mate's wail of anguish.

He didn't roar, he didn't scream, he didn't growl, he did not announce his charge, remaining entirely silent. The entire world was gone, he could barely feel his own limbs, all he felt was a short whizz in his head something that he took for a delicate blast of wind flowing through his emptied skull.

This was however not wind, but his own voice.

Voice saying only one word.

Sorry.

He reached Creep in few seconds, even before the monster was able to turn. He attacked without hesitation, shielding the claws he started to punch, quickly, strongly, beyond natural possibilities of any dragon.

Swiftly moving paws leaving black trails in the air.

He didn't care.

He punched at the monster who was wearing Cynder's scales, he saw her head being thrown from side to side with each punch, felt blood splattering on his legs. Her blood, he could recognize it anywhere.

There goes his promise of never hurting her.

Each punch squeezed tears out of his eyes, they flew freely down his snout, burning their way as if they would be magma stones, tears of guilt were never a light burden.

Smack.

Smack.

Smack.

The noise of his punches, strong and quick, but each followed by less and less determination. The body he was striking was so soft, putting no resistance at all, becoming more bruised and beaten with each strike.

And each deeper punch was shattering him.

"CYNDER?!" he let out a wailing roar when the last punch he had the mental strength to throw landed against the body in front, he hit her right in the mouth, he could feel her bloodied tongue leaving a mark on his black toes

He grabbed onto her shoulder tightly, dragging her head in front of him, her eyes were squinted, snout covered in blood, massacred.

How?

How for the love of the Ancestors?

He threw several punches only and she looked like as if he would bash her face with a chair.

He began to cry, squealing like a slaughtered animal when he began to shake her, trying to wake up her swollen eyes to make them look at him

If they will be black after all of this then this is over, there is no point to fight further.

Her numb head finally showed some signs of life, neck stiffened and the swollen eyelids fought to lift the swollen curtain, one eye failed, but the other lifted itself up, with difficulty yet in the end he managed to spot the detail he was looking for.

The eye was green.

"Cyn?" he squealed gently

"Fool" she responded, her voice low and ominous

Creep.

The noise made him gasp, it sucked the entire energy out of him, his entire soul was collapsing like a deconstructed building.

Creep smacked his paws away, his roughly swatted claws leaving bloody marks on the shoulders. His corrupted mate placed both of her paws upon his shoulders and sprung forward, rising above his head.

He felt paws wrapping themselves around his belly, her hind legs disappearing behind his head, she was making a roll.

He was lifted from the ground, the world was thrown into a spin, her tail flashed in front of his eyes at some point and then he felt a powerful blow against his chest.

A kick?

A magical blast?

He couldn't tell, all that mattered was the fact that he was sent flying across the street, directly into the crushed building Danox was thrown into.

He smacked against the wall with his back, his entire frame turned horizontally, black paws wiggling numbly in the air. He was aloft and yet he was not falling as if he got glued to the wall.

Below him bubbled a pool of darkness.

A mist of exhaustion covered his eyes, confusing his perception of the world to the point that he could no longer tell if the splotch below was vomit or really a magical substance.

He couldn't unglue himself from the wall.

What was wrong with it?

He couldn't really say, his restricted posture didn't allow him to see much, the mind numbing pool was everywhere, it might as well stretch along the ruined wall, being the thing that he got attached to.

Pointless knowledge when Cynder was dead and he failed to save her.

"You didn't fail anybody brother"

Wet smack of paws followed the surprising, confident voice, sound of someone walking across water. It was Dark Spyro who approached him, staying ankle height in the black pond, nothing remained of his previous mocking tone and aggression, he was acting really supportive all of a sudden.

"Fear is a trickster"

The pond bubbled, the wall of darkness that held him tight like a web of a spider wiggled anxiously, depression that was eating him away slowly fading, forfeiting under the growing pressure of confusion.

"What are you doing?" there was a yell, from the pond stretched out a black, wet form of a dragoness, appearing right next to his dark counterpart

While the silhouette was completely made out of black, swirling mass he still managed to recognize the figure, he had many years to get familiar with it.

The creature was wearing the figure of Cynder.

The voice though wasn't entirely feminine, while it carried the tones of female touch it was far from being named girly. It wasn't Creep either though, the voice was a chaotic mixture, a tornado of every voice he ever heard put together.

"Mind trick brother, you mortals are so sensitive"

Mind trick.

"Silence!" the ominous dark monster roared, the pond exploded like a tide crashing over the rocks, the pull upon his body ending together with it, making him fall into the pool with a smack.

While he imagined the paws walking over water, the surface of the black mass was far from resembling it. It was wet, yes, but also sticky and smooth, he felt like he would be lying on a massive, moist tongue instead of drifting on an open sea.

He propped himself on his forelegs, something below the murky liquid was grazing over and between his toes, tenderly, as if tasting him.

"I will do what I want" Dark Spyro responded calmly, not even bothering to give the creature a glance

Were they fighting?

"This is not how we shape our future!" the creature roared once more, black tentacle shot from its mouth, swinging in the air wildly like an anxious tongue

"Yes we are brother, because we are not one"

His dark counterpart snatched the swirling black tongue, squeezing it tightly, so hard that the end of it swell like a cheek full of water. This was the time when Dark Spyro decided to greet the presence of the creature next to him by glaring at it with its dark eyes.

"This is my existence"

Dark leg jerked fiercely, ripping off the ominous tongue, it never hit the ground though as it should be expected, the moment it got torn off it dematerialized, black dots and shards sinking into the black, scaly flesh.

"We had a chance!" the infuriated creature kept blaring, Spyro's head began to hurt from all this noise

"You are primitive, only consuming. I am more, you end here, I will live and triumph. I will take over, my presence is known in every action, every guilt, every evil hubris, I feed and I grow, flawing perfection. My brother will fall, but I will be stomping him into the dirt, not you. I am Darkness, you are nothing"

The pool rippled once more, this time the entire unsteady form of the black monster followed in its wake.

"This is not what was promised!"

"I have fulfilled my end of the bargain" Dark Spyro turned towards him, in its dark eyes he saw his beaten silhouette, the obsidian orbs were gleaming with mocking victory

In this moment he put it all together, all of this was fake, Dark Spyro was always the servant of this Darkness, only now he grew bold enough to betray it.

His copy smiled.

"You never cared, you fought together with me because you would die. This is all false"

Dark Spyro extended its paw towards him, a gest of invitation.

"My promise, opening, never said how big it would be. Serve your purpose, you don't know any other way" black eyes glanced towards the creature "You will fade anyway, give me what I want. Give me presence, give my brother burden"

The creature protested no longer, it momentarily turned, striding towards him, the moment its leg touched the edge of the black pool it disappeared, sinking into the wet mass.

Mass that immediately covered him entirely, crashing over him like a rising tide burying a ship.

He expected pain, burn, or any other soul and body twisting experience that would made him regret he was alive, but surprisingly there was no such thing. He felt exactly like he would take a dive underwater, pressure changed, sound echoed and his entire body became somewhat numb.

He couldn't tell that if this was really what was happening to him, or it was fake just like the rest of it all.

The fight with Danox, the big dragon's aggression was the only real thing, he was never fighting as a team with Dark Spyro, it was only a matter of coincidence, fake partnership.

As to be expected.

What he didn't expect was the consequences.

Now he wasn't so sure anymore if Danox attacking him wasn't just part of the plan, plan set on tiring him by making him use Convexity. Dark Spyro acted like he cooperated with the force ruling over Warfang from the very beginning.

It was a trick.

Just like Cynder, just when he was giving to desperation she appeared, pretending to be Creep and in need of help. The illusion shoving desperation away and pushing him harder against the limit.

More weakness.

And now this, once again saved from desperation just for the opportunity for this darkness to envelop him.

For what?

What happened?

He feels nothing.

He looked around chaotically, patting at the ground.

Solid, rough ground.

The pool was gone.

"What did you do?" he growled, throwing his head up to glare at his dark, live reflection

"Me brother?" Dark Spyro jerked back, genuinely surprised

"I did nothing"

"Answer me!"

His reflection picked up a shard of glass from the nearby broken window, a hefty chunk that would serve quite well as a small mirror. One side of the glass was completely dirty.

"I did nothing brother"

He stopped in front of his lying head, before he could rise his sight to challenge the monster, but its paw was faster, it moved down, offering him the glass, dirty side turned towards him.

"It was you in the end brother"

He grabbed the mirror, for some reason immediately turning it around, his entire focus shrinking to that one spot, to that one reflection that was visible in it.

His heart skipped a beat.

He recognized it immediately.

It was him.

Yet he had no purple scales anymore, instead he was entirely black, covered in misty, dark aura and wielding a pair of otherworldly white eyes.

He was a horror.

He gasped, dropping the glass, shock pushing him up onto his haunches. He looked himself over, patting at his body fervently in hopes that he will dust himself off after all this has to be another trick.

The black scales though remained in place.

He was wearing corrupted flesh.

He was Darkness.

"No!" he blared out, lunging forward immediately, ready to punish the one responsible

There was no one in front of him however.

Dark Spyro was gone.

It was you in the end brother.

Did he exist at all?

This was a mess.

He shook his hurting head fiercely, the twirling of the neck making him back away.

A loud crack echoed in the air.

He looked down, his black paw standing on the glass his mirror into the nightmare.

He lifted it up, only to notice that the shards weren't thrown about randomly, they were forming letters, they were forming a sentence.

It felt like an unspoken prophecy, the shade that no one wanted to know.

Including him.

Despite everything he couldn't turn his eyes away and read it, his whole body trembling as if every scale would participate in the act, his mouth moving automatically, reciting what was written below.

"We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell"