FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 24

Cellsa blasted from her previous hiding place and into the open air, joining the rest of her group, though some distance away.

"Spread out! We cannot risk to be taken out all at once! They are using Binding magic and devices, take care of your elemental energy!" Orbis' voice rumbled in the air, the dragon pushing away from the group immediately, following the order he bellowed as first

All of the dragons present were experienced in battle enough to store their own opinions away and actually obey the orders of someone who seemed to be familiar with the enemy, after all knowledge in a fight is more crucial than the sharpest of claws.

"Dude! They shoot magic stuff!" Sparx shouted in alarm as he sprinted from his ruined cover

Orbis stretched his head back and almost instantly threw it down, spreading his mouth open and sending a green, thick beam of energy into the ground below. The earth immediately began to rattle, rocks and dirt boiling like hot lava.

Soon after the uneasy earth erupted into a stream of worms, stones and soil, spurting high into the air with the pressure of an exploding volcano after a long silence. Among the mess there were several figures there that were definitely not part of the natural ecosystem.

Even without recognizing the strange figures the new arrivals into this world from the group of dragons identified the silhouettes.

Fleshcrawlers.

They really looked like an overgrown bug, a strange mixture of a standard worm, beetle and a centipede. At first glance the creature looked like as if it was a mechanical animatronic, its entire body was covered in a brown, artificial shell where many thickened pipes embraced the construct, looking like thick, pulsing veins. Everything was painted in hues of brown that ideally masked the machine among the soil it crawled through.

The shell on it and the pair of scissors stretching out from its mouth were the things that made the creature look like a beetle. Small spikes in the shape of saws were constantly turning on the inside part of its mandible.

The detail that made the creature look like a worm was the length of its body, it possessed the thickness of a beetle but was longer than the typical bug, together with its many kicking legs it could definitely spring from the earth and while in the air its prolonged shape perfectly turned it into a deadly projectile.

There was a big, brightly green orb flashing on its side.

Despite its unnatural shape the creature didn't seem entirely artificial, the many kicking legs were definitely parts of a living creature, made of flesh and blood.

They were the size of a Death Hound and clearly were not afraid of dragons, most likely making the mechanical beasts quite capable fighters.

Orbis made the same conclusion, he channeled his magic, his whole silhouette flashing briefly green as if he would be a dragonfly. Almost instantly the tiny rocks that were lifted in the sky began to vibrate, a greenish frame enveloping them, each glowing stone was jerked forcefully as if an invisible arm would hurl them. The bricks shot with the speed of a crossbow bolt, finding cracks in the mechanical armor, most of them however hit the glowing orbs which with each hit flashed stronger and stronger until the light was so bright that it was blinding.

Then explosions happened as the mechanical shells started to crack, the energy stored within tearing the bodies of the worms apart.

Both Spyro and Cynder shivered, wisps of green and red flames wafted from the adequate nose, they could feel their elemental energies vibrating, shaking like a body in freezing temperatures, it was uncomfortable sensation of having your entire conscience being pulled out of you by chains. Similar to the feeling of falling that sometimes gets you when falling asleep, yet this one was excruciatingly tiring, painful even and what was worst, there was no waking up from it.

It's the same draining magic that the Wretched, or more likely the Chimera in Cloudas' world used against them.

"There is more!" Orbis blared at the top of his lungs, for a second stopping the shower of rocks and earth in the air as it poured back onto the ground, the low, intimidating tone of his voice seemed to frighten even Nature herself

Just when the green dragon finished his shout one of the bugs lunged from the earth, rising high in the air, it sprinted towards Spyro who was absolutely stunned by the fact that the creature could jump so high. He however had enough clarity of mind to jerk his head back while throwing his paws forward, avoiding the slapping mandibles that tried to cut him in the neck.

He ducked under another strike and thrust his horns into the belly of the creature as he hugged it, its many legs kicking him wildly, their slick structure making him feel as if thousands of spiders would be crawling up and down his scales.

The creature emitted a ringing, hard to identify sound when his claws bashed into its metallic shell, the blow causing damage to the creature, making it thrash chaotically.

It was heavy.

With a grunt he bit into the shell, its hard structure causing a sharp spike of a headache yet despite the discomfort he managed to get a grip good enough to curl his body and press his hind legs against the creature before giving it a solid kick while he gracefully stretched out, making a back flip, flying right below the clapping mandibles.

Suddenly steam poured from the falling creature's sides, some of the plates from its sides dislodged themselves from the shell, revealing a purplish, wrinkled flesh underneath from which immediately sprouted several long tendrils.

They shot towards the purple drake, their wet surfaces feeling like tongues, they wrapped themselves around each leg and gave the drake a tug. His wings started to beat wildly, successfully stopping the undesired pull.

Spyro quickly found out that those tentacles weren't there to pull him down, but for the creature to lift itself up, it immediately took advantage of the leverage the struggling dragon created and sprang upwards as if shot from a sling.

Spyro's eyes widened when he noticed the quickly approaching creature and its tirelessly moving mandibles, his magic instinctively kicked in, ice covered his body in an instant with a layer of impenetrable frost, turning his scales diamond. The mechanical beetle crashed into the block of ice, the impact making the gears inside it rattle, the rough collision stunned the creature, the grip on the purple legs lost their strength.

The purple drake took advantage of it immediately, with a roar breaking the barrier surrounding him, icicles shooting in all directions, several pierced the shell, sticking out of the armor like daggers from a stabbed corpse.

Spyro grabbed the sticking out parts and with one swift spin hurled the kicking beast away from him trail of flame painting the sky during the turn when a small fire started up inside his mouth. He sent a fireball right after the mechanical bug, the ball of flame hit it before the wiggling tentacles could recover.

Explosion of fire cracked across the sky which was followed by another boom soon after. The mechanical worm cracked, the flames reaching spots that triggered its doom, ring of greenish energy dispersed the remaining flames in the air, the magical gust extinguishing them in an instant.

"Shit" Spyro whizzed, wiping his brow, his heart still beating quickly after the surprising fight

Their enemies didn't want it to calm down however.

Many more of the Fleshcrawlers sprung from the earth, their prolonged shapes stretching in the air like icicles. Knowing what to expect now all of the dragons started blasting with their magical powers at the rising creatures, managing to break several while the explosions that followed kicked away the others that tried to get the drakes.

Steam filled the sky moments later when the thrown away mechanical bugs sprouted their slick tentacles which quickly stretched upwards, from above looking like a sea of waving hands of some excited crowd.

Many of those tentacles shot after Cellsa as she was the only dragon closest to the area from which the enemy approached. Several of those wet tongues managed to touch the soft scales of the dragoness yet whenever they tried to strengthen their hold on her she always slipped away, her scales brushing off the grope with immeasurable grace.

The rather raw and chaotic slaps could not compete with the lithe sways of the draconic body, Cellsa danced in the air, twisting the tentacles, making them slap against each other and lose momentum while she maneuvered in between them while giving the more annoying ones a deserved zap.

While his sister avoided the attacks Orbis lacked the necessary dexterity, a pair of the tentacles got a hold of his tail, trying to tug him down but the dragon's strong frame paired together with even more powerful beating wings prevented him from losing balance. It did not matter for the mechanical bugs however that managed to get the necessary leverage to lift themselves back up.

The green dragon immediately reached out for another of the slick tongues that freely flapped in the air, he pulled at it with all his might, feeling the tension on his tail changing its point of pressure, slipping as he forced the machine that was rising change its course.

He directed it at the second one that renewed its attack, making both collide with each other in midair, the tentacles released their grip, making both mechanical worms wiggle in the air. Orbis sliced through his enemies with a thick elemental projectile, shielding himself behind his wings when the draining rings of the explosion stretched out in his direction.

Remembering the command the dragons limited their use of Elemental magic, attacking only those foes that were gaining any sort of advantage, the rest they simply kicked away and slashed through the flapping tentacles to keep the bugs falling straight onto the ground.

After the initial surprise the fight was going well, each of them had to struggle with a few of the more annoying worms that managed to reach them, but they all had enough experience to shrug the attacks off and when the machines could not wrap their wet tongues against the draconic limbs they simply fell down like rocks into deep water.

The itself seemed to not damage the Fleshcrawlers at all, they immediately rolled onto their many legs, sprinting back and forth across the terrain blindly.

And then suddenly from the bushes several thick arrows flew by, glowing strangely at the base.

The arrows were lobbed, aimed at nobody they fell randomly onto the ground where the bugs were sprinting about. Orbis shout began to rise but it was cut off suddenly by a shrill siren the arrows emitted, each projectile ended with a glowing orb that pulsed in quick rhythm causing strong vibrations in the air that sounded like an unending wail.

And then suddenly more plates fell of the bugs, revealing some sort of a cannon on top of their backs that immediately blasted a stream of fire at the sky.

Iris screamed in pain when one of the blasts scorched her thigh, with several flaps of her wings she pushed up, spinning around, pulling the air closer towards herself, making it spin around. The temperature in the sky dropping considerably as she flew, with great difficulty avoiding the blasts.

Cynder as one of the dragons that didn't posses any bombarding attack that could interrupt the worms had to focus on dodging the rays, her scales were burning from all sides but she did all she could to draw the attention to herself, something that became considerably easy when Iris passed nearby, the freezing air around the dragoness stopped the rays from reaching them, the shield of freezing magic cutting off the rays at the end.

Spyro used the opportunity to dive down at the worms, wrapping himself in a boulder he smashed into the ground below, the shockwave that was created ruined the glowing pedestal and threw back the nearby mechanical creatures. The one he struck exploded on impact, the draining explosion made his round form flicker, he could sense the hungry stings sipping his energy, yet the solid shape he took prevented him from receiving the brunt of the force.

Orbis followed in his wake, crashing into another nearby group of the Fleshcrawlers.

Sparx who observed the battle from the side quickly realized the pattern, whatever those glowing orbs were they were somehow charging those mechanical things and allowing them to spit flames into the sky. Without hesitation he dashed quickly towards the nearby pedestal, the bugs didn't pay any attention to him, even when he put his hands on the glowing orb which was small enough for him to pick it up.

Without thinking he dashed towards the closest, fire spitting worm and hurled the glowing ball right into the opening in its back. The flames ended abruptly, the mechanical unit was hit by a spasm and froze in place, its many legs stopping their wild kicks. The glowing sphere on its side dimmed almost completely.

All the nearby Fleshcrawlers that were near the pedestal ceased their assault, their strange cannons running out of power.

Sparx however had his eyes locked on the thing that he stuffed with the magical ball, instinctively backing away.

Which turned out to be a good idea since the creature began to puff out, as if the flesh the shell was on started bulging. Its body started to turn hot red, the orb flashed lively and began to spin chaotically like a restless eye of a mentally ill patient.

It was going to blow.

Sparx' wings picked up the pace with tremendous effort.

Seeing what was happening Spyro began a wild sprint towards his brother, flames bursting from underneath his kicking paws.

The mechanical beast cracked like an egg, the imploding force that filled up its insides burst with a thunderous rumble, it was an explosion that couldn't be compared to the ones they faced previously, its strength shaking even the earth itself.

A combination of red and green rings stretched out from the origin point, blazing like a sun. It tore through the rest of the mechanical worms, while their armors withstood the crushing force at first, their vulnerable orbs had no such resistance, the explosion tore through them, making the creatures burst into pieces. The individual implosions were deafened under the raw assault of the combined shockwave Sparx accidently triggered.

Iris immediately reacted to the blazing hurricane cracking from below, the moment her scales stopped being scorched by the flames she threw her body into a swift spin, hugging herself tightly as she straightened up. The cyclone of cold air and snowy petals she created around herself obeyed its mistress, spinning quicker with each passing second around the turning dragoness, becoming more solid and cold as if the girl would be an automatic mortar and pestle.

At some point the cold nibbled even at her own scales.

She used this specific cue to spread her feathery wings with a ferocious roar and then with a powerful forward slap send the freezing mixture of cold and snow towards the ground. It was a veil of ice as if a queen would spread her majestic dress, the curtain left a trail behind it so deadly cold that some unfortunate flies ended their lives by being turned to a cold block.

The veil left a sparkling trail behind it, drawing a one of a kind rainbow across the sky as if it would be a tail of the body that crashed into the earth, body surrounded by such a strong shield of frost that one would mistake it for a ripped piece of a glacier from the end of the world.

It fell right next to Spyro who sprung forward and snatched his brother, curling into a ball while folding his wings around himself protectively as the momentum he gained pushed him into a slide. The crashing barricade of ice spat shards in the dragon's direction, poking him with its freezing aura, yet despite the irritating side effects the veil served its purpose, it blocked off the main surge of the explosion from reaching the brothers, giving Spyro enough time to get up and renew his escape.

The dress of ice was eating away at the flames, effectively extinguishing them, yet the ring of explosion was wide and big, it was slowly overwhelming the ice blockage from the front while some parts of it were arching around, heating the surrounding terrain and creeping towards Spyro and Sparx.

It was then when Cynder put her own magical powers to use, she started to turn in the air, forming a cyclone around herself, the vicious tornado reaching all the way to the ground where it scooped up the freezing aura of the ice vail and spread its freezing touch around her running friends below. The combined magic of Wind and Ice were a perfect match, both sipping from the potential of the other, minimizing the threat of the dangerous explosion.

A fact that escaped the notice of both responsible girls.

Spyro and Sparx weren't the only ones who got caught in the blast, on the other side of the battlefield the shockwave stretched out towards Orbis who due his distance from the flying females could not benefit at all from their assistance.

His tail and claws immediately flashed green at the sight of the explosion, he tapped each glowing part against the earth, which began to vibrate while his claws stretched out magically, forming an elongated shape of a shovel, similar to the paws of a mole while his tail sprouted a greenish shape of the blades on his tail tip, which started to spin, resembling a drill.

He immediately dived, the welcoming earth inviting him freely, his magical paws and tail made short work of any opposition the ground could muster up, he sank into the dirt as if it would be water, his new magical tools working with great effectiveness. Orbis disappeared under ground, holding his breath he waited for the dangerous wave to pass through, he could feel it traversing across the land, each rock vibrating wildly when the explosion crossed the terrain above.

"Holy crap dude!" Sparx exclaimed, squeezing from his brother's embrace, admiring the destruction around

The explosion destroyed each and every Fleshcrawler in the nearby vicinity.

"Haha!" he flexed his biceps "How do you like that you overgrown snails!"

The triumphant roar was quickly silenced by a sharp whizz, from up above both Iris and Cynder screamed when unexpectedly a short, shot from some weapon chain wrapped itself around the girls, tying their wings and squeezing them together.

It flashed bright green, its shocking, draining touch both painful and tiring. They started to fall down, trying to desperately wiggle out of the clench, both could feel the chain sewing into their flesh, sucking out more and more of their elemental energy.

Iris froze her claws with the intention to slice through the bond, but the moment she touched it she screamed, feeling as if her palm would melt off.

Cynder was in no better shape, yet she managed to channel her Dark energy enough to sip from Creep's potential and blinked as Danox did, puffing out of existence, for a brief second turning into an insubstantial shadow.

The chain slipped from her body loosely like clothes before a steamy night.

Without the chain around her she felt as if she would breathe new life into her soul, she immediately used the new found strength to dash towards Iris, grabbing her by her ankles, pushing forward by sole instinct alone than actual confidence in her magic arsenal.

It worked however, the moment she channeled her powers once more the shadowy form she became stretched out also onto Iris, while she didn't become near as invisible as her it was enough for her body to lose its physical form for a tiny dust of time.

Without nothing to hold on to the chain dropped down numbly like a shot down bird.

And then finally the shooters and the ones responsible for the invasion climbed onto the raises and stepped out from their covers.

The bulk force of the Moonborne has arrived to witness the destruction themselves.

First impression that came to mind was that they were a very ragtag band.

There was no common clothing pattern among them, usually when you hear about a certain faction you imagine them to have some sort of a dressing code, a way of depicting themselves like the many cheetah tribes do in the Dragon Realms.

The Moonborne however were quite different.

Some of them wore very heavy armors with all sorts of mechanical parts that seemed to move on their own, some were dressed so tightly that it was hard to tell if the artificial bodies they had on top of themselves was actually clothing or real body modification. Each armor was different, having some unusual bumps here and there as if they were hastily built together with whatever scrap that was useful.

Other among them wore some standard clothing, more suiting a city citizen than a vagabond fighter, neither consume however could be called a true outfit. Just like the armors this clothing was also made out of anything it seemed, there was hardly a piece there that could be found that matched with some other element of the attire. Most of it was random and in different hues, once again putting quite a dent in the intimidating aspect of the entire faction.

Finally among the warriors were those that wore hardly anything, merely some short pants and all sorts of straps and bands wrapped around them that could serve as an additional backpack to strap things to. Those were the fighters who valued agility and evasion more than blunt resilience.

The weaponry they were carrying followed the same rule like the clothing. They could recognize typical swords and hooks among them but in truth even those similarities didn't change the fact that the weaponry was no more confusing and chaotic than the outfits.

Each weapon looked like they would be put together from random junk that could be found scattered around in the world. Metallic pieces of different shapes and sizes put together in such a fashion that made the weapons look almost otherworldly, each carrying an attached blade of different sizes that made the weapons hard to categorize.

Every member of the Moonborne wore two sets of weapons, one for close and one for range combat. It was the latter that made them stand out as a dangerous force. While following the same random pattern the ranged weapons were clearly the thing that calculated this race military prowess.

Each bulky, each intimidating, even the slings that fired the chains were massive and honestly looked more like a portable bolt thrower than a toy. The size, the alien shapes and the never ending flashes of magical, green light that kept pulsing around the weapons and inside their maws made them look like an arsenal from another world.

The shape and thickness of the ranged weapons put only one word on the tongue with which they could be easily described.

Cannons.

They were wielding cannons.

Moonborne had clearly a knack for technology, their technical brilliance and innovation was what definitely made them a respectable force in this world, or at least a race that one needs to be cautious around.

If weaponry alone was not enough of an argument to consider the Moonborne as a worthy threat, they had one additional perk where the Fleshcrawlers were merely a foretaste.

Their striders.

Many of the Moonborne were sitting on the back of a creature that couldn't be described with only one word, as horrific as it may sound, the beasts themselves were also a construct of drunk innovation, far more drastic than the Fleshcrawlers that were a mix also, but at least they kept true to their origin specie, a thing that couldn't be said about the striders.

There were two types of them, one massive, roughly the size of an adult dragon and smaller ones, having the shape and height of an overgrown rat that was at least a head higher than a dragon of Spyro's size.

The bigger creatures were covered in metallic plates like basically everything else in the Moonbrone's arsenal, however in the case of the striders, their armored plates were there mostly for protection, instead of being a part of their flesh.

Flesh that was unhealthily purple and pink, as if pressed to hard together, slices of it seemed to move on their own. It was hard to say what exactly they looked like, because all of them were completely different from each other. Some of those big creatures looked like big bucks having sharp antlers, prolonged snouts but then their maws were filled with razor sharp, predatory teeth and a pair of tongues, split in half like that of a snake.

The rest of the unhealthy flesh was covered in strands of fur in many different colors and shapes, having no logical pattern.

Despite the strange characteristic, this buck like creature was relatively normal compared to some other examples. One of the striders had long, devilish horns, walked on four legs and yet there was a pair of massive, clawed arms stretching out from its chest, constantly slashing at the air as if the wind alone would irritate it while having a round, teeth filled mouth of a drilling worm.

Others had two heads of two different animals, so deformed that it was impossible to tell what it was exactly, in fact it was some sort of a miracle that the creature could see.

The striders were a haphazard mess including the small members of the pack as well. However the hulking rats some of the Moonborne were raiding were relatively normal and mundane compared to everything else. Just like their bigger cousins they too had metallic plates that were merely armor, the exposed parts were fluffed with brown and dark fur, mouth were twisted in the grimacing expression, having the shape of a rat with two big, front teeth dripping light green saliva. Their stretched out bodies were finished with a twirling, naked tail.

Rats.

Hulking rats.

Armored, obedient, hulking rats with teeth so big that they wouldn't have troubles tearing off a limb.

And finally the attention turned to the Moonborne themselves, them taking the last spot in the attention line was no coincidence, even if they were a new race when it came to Spyro's group they still did not trigger much shock, being rather boring and common compared to everything else.

At first glance Spyro's team mistook the creatures for some feline relatives to cheetahs, but the sight of their big, fluffy tails quickly dispersed the notion and their sharp muzzles made sure that a similar idea never crosses their minds again.

They were canines.

Wolves, jackals, foxes and all sorts of other breeds were among them. Some had very big ears, others powerful bodies, even some several, or one big, full of fur tail. Some were small and graceful, others huge like a mountain. Each a predator of its own class, male and female equal in their intimidating aura. There were so many of them that it was hard to focus on one dog like creature and describe the race based on its features.

Pups.

Now they knew why Iris called them like that, the Moonborne was a race of canines.

While possessing no mutated parts of welded armor plates in their bodies, the canines were just as mixed, if there were several tribes among the ranks it was difficult to pinpoint how many of those creatures belonged to a specific one since the tribes seemed to be made of a mixture of different canine species. Wolves didn't stick with wolves, foxes didn't stick with foxes, it seemed like they all intertwined with each other, obviously basing loyalty to a tribe on something else than breed alone.

Which was a good thing considering the fact that not even a single one of the Moonborne seemed to be a pure breed, all of them were definitely hybrids, half bloods just like Iris.

One would expect that such a ragtag band would have difficulties maintaining discipline and chain of command, each tribe had to have its own chief of sorts after all with different ideas for a fight and their own agendas in mind. However no matter how hard they looked it was impossible to spot any sorts of leading figures among the canines, they expected to spot at least three or more in such a mass of bodies, yet there was no one like that visible.

Or so they thought at the start.

Only after a hard moment of concentration they finally spotted a figure that stood out from the rest, riding a massive strider the figure was surrounded by some other big specimens and their riders, clearly some sort of a royal guard.

The figure had his fist raised in the air and it was quite clear that the Moonborne awaited for the signal to strike.

Despite what one could expect, the leader himself was nothing spectacular at first glance, it was a male with a lean, yet fit body shape, making him look miniature in comparison to some other hulking Moonborne members around.

He was a jackal, covered in brownish fur with specks of black here and there, one such splotch covered his slender muzzle. Even from here they could see a pair of red, predatory eyes flashing at them from the distance as if they were reflecting the rays of the sun. The thing that betrayed that he wasn't a purebred was his big tail, more fitting that of a wolf, together with a greyish, thick fur around his hands that surrounded his wrists like bracelets, the tips of fur on the tail and both wrists were colored red. In between his blackened ears was a fiery, red hair that glowed just as strong as the pair of blood, red eyes.

He was wearing almost no armor, light, leather straps were attached to his shoulders and parts of his lean chest, pieces could also be visible on his legs, reaching to the knees until they finally morphed into dark pants. There was some sort of a mark visible on his exposed chest, right where the heart was, the glyph was glowing red.

The raised in the air fist was cracking with energy, light green like that of the medallion that shackled Spyro and Cynder in the past.

With the Moonborne horde visible the fit jackal seemed to be the only one having red hair and eyes, in fact no one of the other members of the canine race had any red color, not even on the tips of their fur like the jackal did.

For some reason the red hue had some importance to the Moonborne, which wasn't that much surprising considering that only a single member among them wielded it, not to mention the fact that the reddish color was simply too bright and sharp to be of natural origins.

Despite the pressure from the Fleshcrawlers just a moment ago, a pressure that announced that the Moonborne won't stop at nothing to get what they want, already having their mind set on attacking, the horde hesitated for some reason. The group could see the glowing, red eyes of the jackal studying them carefully.

A thick tension of anxiety filled the air.

"What are they waiting for?" Cynder whispered to Iris, her green eyes running over the horde of canines and their beasts

"I don't know" Iris responded quietly, her merciless tone cutting like a knife

"You said they're Pups, you know their race"

"The Pups I knew didn't look like that, they didn't..." her chilly voice wavered, Cynder could hear the blue girl swallowing a thick gulp of saliva "...they didn't have power"

Iris announced depressed, her white eyes running over the horde, noting everything with sad, practically lifeless gaze. Formidable beasts, strong weaponry, numbers and a peculiar leader, the Pups she remembered were nothing like that, mere nomads scattered around the world that eventually began to serve like the dogs they were, those that survived that is.

These Pups had nothing in common with the ones from her memories. They were strong and confident, even in the face of a group of dragons, one could only wonder what kind of force would render such a proud race to the scattered flock from her time, whatever it was she was certain that it was powerful.

Far more powerful than they are right now.

Usually she would be mad at the perspective of being weak, she would scream and roar her hate for the obstacles that were being thrown at her, but she wasn't stupid, she had faced so many impossible and unwinnable scenarios in her life that she could tell when one was actually being played out against her favor.

They had no chance to win this battle.

And it sucked whatever strips of life she had in her still.

Mother was so close, perhaps a hill or two away, so near that she could almost smell her and then this happens as if having someone finding your diary where you stored all your thoughts and hopes only for that someone to rip it apart in front of you.

No more hope.

No more thoughts.

No point for anger, it was over anyway.

Just a plain space of unending, life draining oblivion.

Fuck.

"We don't have to fight!" Spyro yelled, rising his paws in a defensive gesture while his big wings kept him aloft "There's no need to spill blood! Just let us go!"

He could feel the eyes of the canines turning at him, the red orbs of their leader put a small illumination on top of his purple nose. Even the striders craned their necks forward and sniffed at the air, picking up his scent, the sniffing was done by those creatures that possessed some manner of nose that it.

The beasts started to grumble and whimper, tossing their heads about, it seemed as if his scent would irritate their nostrils, almost provoking them to sneeze.

Some of the creatures tossed about chaotically, forcing their riders to calm them down.

The glowing eyes of the jackal observed the reaction of the surrounding monsters, for a second his gaze fell on his own massive mount, for a second he adjusted in his seat as if spotting something worrisome until eventually red gems returned to the purple draconic face.

A moment of choking silence had fallen onto the recent battlefield, not even a chittering of a bug could be heard in the grass.

Spyro looked around uneasily, turning his gaze to Cellsa and Orbis, unsure what to do, what is happening, or if his words were even understood.

The siblings paid him bo heed however, concentrated eyes focused on the horde, something that was not unexpected from the green dragon, yet now even his carefree sister took the situation serious.

And he could feel in his gut that it was a terrible sign.

The jackal rose one finger to the sky, green speckles of dust glimmered above the fingertip.

And then from behind the raise, from the valley that was beyond their sight the group noticed many greenish orbs being lobbed into the air as if from some catapult.

The rain of spheres exploded above the valley the group was in, showering the ground with green droplets of magical rain.

The dragons roared in pain when the droplets started to burn them like hot coal, elemental energy vibrating in their veins.

And then the fist when down, with a tremendous roar that sundered the earth in some places the horde charged.

Orbis thrust his shimmering paws into the earth and then quickly threw them up as if pulling out roots from the ground. Pillars of earth shot from the soil where a part of the horde was charging, the sudden earthquake swallowing several of the riders while throwing about and stunning some others.

The tear in the earth didn't reach however, Orbis' magic faltered under the assault of the rain.

Cynder was the only one that managed to avoid the draining rain, she dived straight into the ground and sank into the hole of shadow she morphed for herself. She burst from the ground right in the way of some incoming raiders, the magical force lifting the unlucky ones into the air with her.

She snatched one of the aloft rats and flung it at the row of running beasts while she herself dropped in the back lines, using her Siren Scream she scared the nearby rows of shooters that prepared to aim their otherworldly weapons.

More spheres bombarded the battlefield.

Both Iris and Cellsa attacked the coming hordes with their own powers, there was no use for the advice of reserving your potential in the face of such enemy. They too however were being punished by the draining rain, their magic flickering on and off, managing to stop only a handful of the raiders.

The shooters in the back rows started fairing at the flying dragons, however their projectiles no longer had the greenish hue, but light blue. The projectiles were hurled above the dragons, they kept exploding with small shockwaves, tossing the drakes about with the intention to shoot them down from the sky.

Spyro quickly assed the situation and came to a conclusion that no matter how much power they use, how much fury they won't be able to defeat them all, the Moonborne are far more better prepared than they are for this battle.

His eyes focused on the leader.

"Distract him Sparx!" he commanded while he himself blasted a cage of electricity at the incoming force

Cynder channeled her newly learned dark powers, summoning a legion of shadows that immediately charged at whatever was lobbing those damn orbs.

Only Spyro and Orbis were on the ground, while the pressure of the exploding spheres was irritating it did not cause much harm, something that couldn't be said when it came to Cellsa and Iris. The two girls were unable to hold against the rough bombardment and were shot down from the sky.

Dusts of earth were kicked in the sky in the spots where they crashed.

Sparx pushed forward, towards the jackal with red eyes who remained on the high ground, observing the unfolding battlefield.

Spyro observed his brother with the corner of his eye while he pushed himself into a spin, swiping with his tail that glowed like a cone of ice. He sent a stream of freezing ice in the direction where Iris crashed, freezing some of the riders that got dangerously close while pushing back some others.

Orbis protected his own sister on the other side of the battlefield, roots sprouted from the ground, whacking and grasping the raiders that got too close to the electrical dragoness.

Cynder was creating havoc among the ranged Moonborne with her fully charged poisoned breath.

"Hey you ugly face!" Sparx slapped the red eyes jackal across the slender mouth

The canine blinked, throwing his head back in shock just to receive another slap, from the other side this time. He began to flail his arms around, trying to slap his invisible attacker like some sort of a mosquito.

"You brought this on yourself!" the jackal turned, red eyes finally flaring up when they noticed the glowing creature that kept striking him

He was totally surprised by it.

The raiders broke through the fading magical protection around Iris and Cellsa, they surrounded the females in a circle, making both girls spin and snarl at the beasts and raiders alike who growled and roared at them in turn. Neither daring to attack for the time being.

Both Cellsa and Iris turned around lively, digging holes with their claws as they bounced around in their traps, jumping back and forth from the snapping mouths of the creatures and poking spears. The Moonborne waited, valuing their own lives too much, or waiting for the draining rain to weaken them further.

Spyro noticed the jackal turning his head at Sparx, he used that brief moment of distraction to channel his Time powers which did not stop the time completely under the draining rain but only slowed it down. He took the opportunity anyway and darted towards the jackal, he could see his royal guards rising their hands, their beasts roaring menacingly when they noticed the approaching dragon.

The jackal did too.

Spyro was on top of him already, throwing the lean canine off of his mount and pinning him to the ground when the flow of the world returned finally to normal.

"Call them off!" Spyro roared, snatching the canine by the throat, his claws poking the tender flesh there

The jackal thrust his free hand upwards, stopping his mount and the guards from trying to attack the pinning him dragon.

The sounds of the fight were still going strong.

Claws tightened around the neck, making the jackal tilt his head back.

Burning purple eyes stared right into the red ones.

"Last warning" the drake brandished his fangs

"Interesting" the jackal whispered, his voice serene and calming wildly with odds with the menace in his eyes

As it turned out the jackal used the small window he had in the fluctuating time flow to prepare for the incoming assault, a reddish chain stretched out from the tip of his tail, magical in nature it wrapped itself around the drake swiftly and tugged him backwards, the draconic claws leaving bloody marks on the neck only.

From her corner Cynder noticed what was going on, she sprinted into the rows of the Moonborne while being coated in venom, spitting ghastly orbs of Fear near the group that surrounded her mate, while at the same time coating the eyes of the nearby shooters with her shadow magic.

The chain immediately turned bright green, Spyro felt as if his powers were thrown into a tightly sealed vial. He kept thrashing wildly, muscles bulging under the magical bond. Purple breath on Convexity kept wafting from his hissing mouth.

The confused Moonborne mistook friend for foe and started to fight among each other, some of the ranged warriors aimed their weapons at their companions below that surrounded the dragons, others immediately fired at their leader.

The jackal yelped, throwing himself at the ground from the incoming ray of magic, his loyal mount immediately got in the way, blocking the bolt with its own body, roaring in anguish.

The canine growled, removing a devilishly glowing dagger from his belt and crawled towards the purple drake, yet he was immediately pushed back by the speckle of the weird breath the dragon kept breathing, it burned his fur like sun itself, not to mention that it seemed to eat through the bond.

He needed a less dangerous target.

He threw his hand, blinding flash of red light exploded inside his palm, the flash was so strong and unexpected that it dizzied even the jackals own protectors.

One last chain stretched out from the tip of the fluffy tail, swinging swiftly to the side, with ease snapping the stunned Sparx from the sky and bringing him close, right next to the blade of the dagger.

The dragonfly stiffened when he felt the steel on his body, his body dimming in fright.

Spyro's eyes widened, his entire body tensed, the trails of Convexity wafting from the corners of his mouth curled upwards, giving him a peculiar mustache.

The jackal stared directly into the purple orbs of the drake, his glowing eyes speaking volumes. The dagger kept scratching his brother's flesh deeper and deeper with each tap of running paws in the distance.

He understood the threat perfectly.

"Stop!" he commanded, his burning eyes aimed at the jackal

Cynder skidded to a halt obediently, ceasing her elemental influence on the nearby Moonborne as she did so.

The jackal looked genuinely surprised.

"Very interesting" he purred smoothly, thrusting his glowing hand forward, speckles of magic wrapped themselves around the chain that held Spyro

The green bonds holding the purple drake flashed brightly, with such intensity that the jackal wavered on his legs for a brief second. Spyro opened his mouth in a silent scream, the trails of Convexity puffed out like candles, the surrounding world started to feel distant and alien, losing focus and colors.

His head dropped on the ground without a sound.

Somewhere in the far distance, might be even in another world, he heard the shouts of his brother.