Malefor: True Origin: Convexity
"You are late..."
Malefor had walked into class seconds after the bell rang. There, (magically) standing in front of the class was a round water dragon that, again, Malefor had the urge to push down a hill. However, the energy was still drained from his body.
This dragon was Fat Bastard, but his real name was...Malefor couldn't remember. In fact, he doubted he ever knew his name. Regardless, he felt the piercing blue eyes on his purple hide and he automatically had to come out with a retort. Not the smartest choice in his life, but FB had set himself up for it.
"You are fat." Malefor couldn't stop himself. The entire class laughed and FB seemed to swell in size. It was rumored he had puffer fish genes in him. It would explain the quills on his back.
"Take your seat!" FB growled as Malefor slowly climbed the stairs. Noticing that Estar was in this class, he laid down right next to her...but not before he had the final say.
"Sorry, I thought we were pointing out the obvious." Malefor shrugged his shoulders, rolling onto his back. Estar looked like she wanted to tackle him but stopped herself.
"How are you holding up?" she leaned her head down so that no one could overhear her.
"Gym was terrible..." he grunted back before briefly describing what happened. Through half-lidded eyes, he saw her expression change from concern to full-blown worry.
"You should have stayed home today." Estar briefly turned to FB, who was writing something on the board. Malefor tilted his head to see that he was still going off about the Great Draconic War.
The Great Draconic War was when dragons who were not of the same element fought against each other about a thousand years ago. This was back when the dragons were about the same intelligence as apes, however. Rumor has it that a powerful sorcerer cast a spell that made the leaders of each element fight each other. There was no definitive truth, but the evidence pointed to magic due to the residue that scarred the land.
From what Malefor understood, the war ended when a purple dragon like himself was born. The leaders all tried to lay claim to him, but eventually he made them sign a treaty. Thus, the first guardians were formed and there have been no wars since. Looking at FB's notes, he was going over a review of yesterday's class in such detail that Malefor's head hurt.
"I'm fine...just tired. I may fall asleep at any second, so if FB decides to wake me up, make a note so I know what subject we are on." Malefor waved his wing to dispel any concern.
"Fine, but you'll owe me one day." Estar smiled, patting his head. Malefor made a sour look before lightly smacking her claw away. She giggled.
"Malefor!" FB cut through his tiredness like a flaming sword through butter. "Tell me what the name of the first purple dragon was!"
"Didn't we already go over this?" he mumbled back, not caring that he sounded like a drunk.
"You were also flirting in my class, so I want to know if you were paying attention!" the round dragon waddled to the front row so that he was standing a few yards away from Malefor.
"Fine, fine...Spyro," Malefor answered.
Spyro was the first purple dragon, but no one knew what happened to him when he turned twenty three. He just went up and vanished and searches went out for at least ten years before they called the whole thing off. This, of course, led many purple dragons to be born with the name Spyro after the first. In fact, Malefor was one of the few who wasn't. It made him feel special in so many little ways.
FB seemed to be angry that he knew what was going on. Then, for some reason, he burst out: "How are purple dragons made?"
Malefor eyed him oddly. The hell caused that? "Magical anomaly. I worry about you sometimes, FB. You can't even keep on topic."
"Are you sure?" FB sneered. Malefor didn't care enough to find out the underlying message. FB hated him and that was enough.
"Nah, I really don't worry about you."
FB glared before ranting on about the Draconic War. Malefor took it as the time to sign off, but every time he tried, FB seemed to make a loud noise to keep him awake. Eventually, Malefor had no choice but to stay awake. Glaring at FB, he saw that the ball dragon seemed to grin maliciously back at him.
It was there that Malefor realized Bastard knew that he was ill again. He sat right up at that realization. Not only did he know, but Aure's class was right next door, and if he were to suddenly shout it...she would come running.
_Damn it all..._Malefor's mind raced as his heart did many flips. Estar looked at him oddly, but he didn't answer her.
"Awake, are we Malefor? Good, I wouldn't...ah...want you falling asleep during this important lesson." FB was standing right beside the open door to the next room. Malefor could faintly hear Aure.
Never before had he had so much hatred towards FB. His blood boiled with rage, his tail lashed out against the stone, and his eyes narrowed into slits. He wanted nothing more than to burst his fatness and watch him fly through the air like a balloon. Malefor wondered if that was really possible, but at the moment he didn't care. He wanted it to happen.
"What happened?" Estar whispered to Malefor.
"He knows about my illness and is going to tell Aure if I fall asleep," he hissed back, watching as FB turned away for a moment.
"He really is a bastard...but at least we haven't-."
Whatever Estar was going to say was cut off by a loud 'YO!' coming from the entrance of the class. Malefor turned his gaze to see the ice guardian, Dante, standing there with his wing raised into the air in a mock salute. FB was fuming at the interruption, but a few of the students were giggling at Dante. One of the older students winked at him.
Dante was a light blue dragon with icy wings, horns, and claws. His horns were jagged, almost in a zigzag shape. Ice grew on his shoulders and down his back, clinking against each other softly. At the base of his tail, a spiked ball of ice threatened to bash down the frame of the entrance due to him swishing it back and forth like a canine.
"Dante..." FB started. "What calls for you to interrupt my class?"
Dante fixated on him with icy blue eyes. "Well, I kinda need you and the rest of the guardians. Oh, and Malefor. We found something and want the council there. Malefor...Malefor we need for another reason that may or may not be related."
Malefor's heart leapt into his throat. Did he also know he was ill? How the hell did everyone know that he was sick? Did everyone see Josiah take the crystals or did he blurt out to the guardians to act casual? Aure wasn't acting frantic around him, so maybe she wasn't informed. Either way, the minute of revelation was approaching.
Awkwardly, Malefor stood up and moved as fast as he could to Dante. At that moment, Aure poked her head through the other entrance.
"Is there a reason why my class is giggling at you, Dante?" Aure asked, eyeing Dante before focusing on Malefor. He waved at her. "Malefor, what did you do now?"
"...Yes." Malefor answered. Aure raised her eyebrow but didn't press further.
"Oh, he didn't do anything yet." Dante was about to explain something, but FB decided it was time to be...a fat bastard.
"He was falling asleep in my class! I'm sure you all know what that means, right?" FB snapped.
"That...he's tired?" Dante glanced at Malefor and made a gesture for him to stay calm. "Believe it or not, I would fall asleep in your class in a heartbeat. No one wants to listen to you be...well, a bastard."
Dante started to walk away after that, motioning for the three of them to follow. Malefor was right beside him, eager to put distance between him and Aure. He was too terrified to even look at her now. She was directly behind him. Her claws clicked almost in sync with his, as if she were trying to find any uneven clawsteps.
Then, she nipped at his tail to get his attention. "What?" Malefor hissed, finding it impossible to keep up with Dante.
"You're sweating, out of breath, and tired." Aure came up beside him, her eyes bearing right into his soul. "Now, what did we have before that made you like that?"
"Sex?"
"Very funny..." Aure flashed him a quick smile, "Seriously, this is how you acted when you were ill."
"Aure, I just had gym. Calm the hell down." Malefor started to pull ahead, acting as if he were tired of her. It was normal of him to just take off, but she caught back up again.
"I want you to promise me that you are not lying and you are completely and utterly fine." At Aure's words, Malefor looked and saw Dante pretending like he wasn't paying attention. The only reason why he knew that the ice guardian was listening was because he was tilting his head back.
"Define fine."
"Healthy, not sick, not dying from an illness that we can treat but you won't allow us to because you are incredibly stupid when it comes to others worrying about you." Aure bared her fangs as if she was going to attack him if he didn't promise.
Yet, he couldn't bring himself to lie to her exactly. He told himself that he would, but it was harder than expected. Instead, he decided to tell half truths and pray that she didn't press the subject anymore.
"Fine, you caught me...I have a cold." Malefor answered after a moment, flashing a goofy smile. "I just didn't want you to start going crazy over me like you usually do."
"Ha ha..."
The rest of the walk was actually peaceful now. No longer did he have to worry about her bashing his face in and dragging him to the infirmary at the first sign of being ill. Admittedly, that would be funny and he had a few lines he could yell, but in the long run....in the long run, it would suck. Quite badly. Next time, there would be no escape three days earlier.
For some reason, Dante lead them into the main temple. Malefor had only been here a few times in his life, but each time it was as magnificent, if not more so, than the last. It was made of orange stone that was shined. The ground felt so even; soft yet hard at the same time. It was cool against his claws, making him note how warm he really was. Thankfully, no one really checked.
In the corner, a fountain of pure water sprung up from the floor. Whenever the guardians needed to cool themselves off, they would step inside and just...well, stand there. At least, that's what Malefor thought. He'd find out within the next month. He had to succeed: after all, he WAS a purple dragon.
Glancing around, he saw that each guardian had a pedestal that represented their own elements. For example, Josiah's pedestal seemed to be made of molten fire and Terra's had plant life growing on it. The two guardians in question waved at him. Malefor waved back before wincing at the fact that Terra couldn't see it. How soon he forgets that piece of information...and he lived with her!
"Is there a reason why I am here?" Malefor asked, feeling incredibly underwhelmed as the other guardians approached their pedestals.
"Yes, there is." Josiah spoke for the guardians. "In fact, there are two reasons for you being here. The first one is that we have found a new element and we wish to know if you could absorb it."
"Oh, so I am just your test subject." Malefor frowned. "Somehow, I saw that coming."
"Yes, well..." a yellow dragon said in the back, keeping a small box under his claw. Malefor knew that this was Elektren; the electric guardian.
Elektren was a weedy dragon that Malefor could have knocked over by breathing on him. At least, that's the appearance Elektren had. Malefor could very easily see his ribs and the bony structure, but the lightning dragon was perfectly healthy. He was just...different. Like Dante, his horns also zigzagged, but they were purple in color.
Elektren's yellow eyes darted to Malefor before everyone else in less than two seconds. "Malefor, are you well enough to absorb a new element?"
"I just have a cold, so yeah."
Once again, Elektren cast his gaze on everyone before sighing and opening the box. Malefor half expected a radiating light, but to his surprise, nothing came out. In fact, Elektren seemed afraid to take it out of the box, instead motioning Malefor to come over to it. Shrugging, Malefor did so and peered inside.
There, sitting there as if expecting him, was a small orb of swirling black energy. "The hell is that?"
"We have dubbed it Convexity. We discovered it when we moved some old ruins while building Warfang. It didn't seem to react to our touch, but we are not certain of what it does." Dante walked behind Malefor, bending down to take a look again.
Frowning, Malefor shut his eyes and concentrated. He heard Elektren and Dante move away, but the loud clawsteps of FB started to distract him. Eventually, he too was shut out and Malefor opened his eyes. Everything was swirling with different colors. Red, blue, green...it was so distracting yet so beautiful. Murmurs came from Aure and Josiah, but he already knew the conversation.
Malefor was now covered in runes of different elements and colors. On his chest, Malefor had a rune depicting all of the elements crashing into each other over his heart. Malefor got a few chuckles from that before, as it was sort of symbolic. Yet, at the same time, he didn't want to be in this form in public. He was extremely vulnerable in this stage and any blow from any source could kill him.
Taking a small glance with his eyes, he looked down at the small orb with multi-colored eyes. Each of the colors represented the elements as well. It made him wonder what would happen after he absorbed Convexity. For some reason, staring at it gave him chills. He sensed raw power, but it was extremely unstable. Almost as if use would cause it to run rampant.
Pressing his claw onto the orb, a black glow surrounded his body and slowly sank in. The orb grew smaller and smaller as more of the aura sank in. When it was done, Malefor looked at his chest and gasped; in the middle of the clashing, a black circle rested. Oddly, he didn't feel any different. Other than that symbol and the occasional dark vision, nothing felt odd.
"Well?" FB growled after a moment.
"I feel...nothing." Malefor started to walk around, testing to see if it helped him physically. It didn't, as he was still as slow and tired as ever.
"Wonderful...a complete waste of time!" the water dragon complained. Aure smacked him lightly.
"Try using it." Terra suggested.
"Maybe later...but as of now...I just want to sleep. Is it too much to ask for me to, y'know...collapse here?" Malefor yawned, covering his maw with a wing.
"Well, you should be excited." Josiah announced happily, earning a raised eyebrow from FB, Aure, and Malefor. "In fact, we have no idea what this element does, so it would be beneficial to have someone here to tell us more about it."
Malefor blinked a few times before realization dawned on him. "Are...are you saying...?"
"Congratulations, Malefor; you are our newest Guardian."
Yeah, I intended on Malefor being a guardian. Kinda has to be in order to get a few things across. Let's see how he deals with this new responsibility and how Convexity works, shall we?