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The Legend of Spyro (and Company)

Darkness Falls

Chapter Two: Fly on the Wall

Sparx darted out the window and toward the three gliding figures on the mountain slope opposite that of the Dragon Temple. The Temple itself sat in a valley between four colossal, snow-capped mountains. The trio of dragons had taken a mountain pass that had put them in a sort of gulley between the mountains north and east of the Temple. Sparx flew as quickly as he could, buzzing frantically toward his partner and new-found friends. The guards at the Temple would certainly recognize Spyro, but if these other two were known to be thieves and criminals... "Come on, Sparx, come on!" Sparx growled to himself. He pushed himself. The group was still a ways away, but closing in on the Temple grounds. The guards were sure to notice them soon. He could imagine them on the rooftop, wildly pointing and yelling and preparing an attack to detain these strange trespassers. The Guardians were extremely secretive about the location of the Temple; anyone who stumbled upon it or otherwise invaded its ancient, sacred grounds had to be arrested and interrogated--even if they were with Spyro. The Guardians had too many enemies to let the location of their safe haven go public. "Spyro!" Sparx cried, his voice barely audible above the din of jungle creatures. The sun was now nearly directly above; the trees all around were alive with buzzing and birdcalls. Spyro landed on a branch and caught his breath. He was exhausted from the madcap pace they had to keep in order to get to the Temple. The fast pace was twofold: the obvious reason was to get back and get the amulet in a safe place as soon as possible. The second was to lose whoever or whatever was tailing them. It had only taken them this long because they had taken several back ways and had turned around and left false trails in an attempt to lose their pursuers. The physical cost of all the backtracking, sprinting, and acrobatic flying had been immense. Spyro panted heavily, smiling as he saw the Temple come into view. He also saw a small golden dot rushing toward them. "Sparx?" he breathed. "Sparx!" he called. "Keep your voice down!" Sparx buzzed when he was close enough to be heard. Cynder and Drake alighted on branches near Spyro's and listened intently to Sparx. "What is it?" Drake asked, checking over his shoulder nervously. He took a deep breath and steadied himself on the branch, exhausted. "The guards!" Sparx panted. "We have to get you guys into one of the escape tunnels. If they see you, we'll have a problem." "Why's that?" Cynder asked, confused. Spyro sighed. "I should've thought of that. The Guardians are super secretive about this place; if they find out that I led two of Gaul's minions in..." "Ex-minions," Drake pointed out, checking over his shoulder again. "Whatever. Ignitus might understand, but the others...Especially the guards...Oh, man," Spyro muttered, hitting his head off the tree branch. "Stupid, stupid." "What'll they do?" Cynder inquired, sure that whatever they were put through wouldn't be as horrible as Gaul's castle. "Arrest you. Make a big deal out of it. Be annoying. It's way more trouble than it's worth. Ignitus is an amazing judge of character. It's best you see him first. Once he gives the OK, you won't be torched for wandering the halls 'after hours'," Sparx muttered. Spyro chuckled. "You still mad about that?" "That guard was unnecessarily rough," Sparx growled. "I can still smell my eyebrows burning." "You don't even have eyebrows," Spyro laughed, digging into the tree limb as he almost fell. "Not that you know of," Sparx pointed out. Spyro rolled his eyes. "Let's get into one of the tunnels. If we trace them back, we'll end up in the Temple and hopefully won't run into any overzealous guards." Spyro and Sparx led the way, Spyro sniffing along the ground, trying to pick up an old scent trail. It was horribly difficult; every time he thought he caught on to one of the Guardians' scents, he lost it to a jungle smell. Finally he caught a definitive scent trail--Terrador's--and followed it about fifty meters "Here!" Spyro shouted, digging in the dirt. He grabbed hold of a trapdoor and yanked it open. "Come on, let's go." Drake peered over his shoulder one last time, then dove down the hole after Cynder, Sparx, and Spyro. "Dark in here," he remarked, stumbling around in the shadows. "Shut that door," Spyro commanded quietly. "And stay quiet. Just go straight. Follow Sparx." Drake nodded and caught Cynder's eye. He winked at her, then reached up and closed the trapdoor. When he turned back, the others had vanished into the inky darkness of the tunnel. Drake held up a paw in front of him, but saw nothing. He sighed and followed Sparx's luminescent golden figure. "You were right," Spyro heard Cynder say from behind him. He turned, but to no avail. He saw absolutely nothing. "About what?" he asked the darkness. "The tunnel. It's perfectly straight. It's odd," Cynder commented. Spyro chuckled. 'She's trying to make conversation,' he thought giddily. 'No, she's not, you idiot,' another voice in his head said. 'What is going on?' a third voice rumbled. He groaned. 'This is all so confusing,' he thought. "Spyro? You there?" Sparx called from a few feet ahead. "Yeah," Spyro muttered distantly. Cynder giggled. "Go on then, you're leading the way," she teased. "If he doesn't hurry up, I'll lead," Drake growled. "What's your problem?" Spyro asked a little offended; he nonetheless upped the pace a bit. "I just wanna get somewhere safe," Drake mumbled. He sighed. "If this place even is safe." "As safe as can be," Spyro assured. "Why do you think we're sneaking in?" "Because the guards are annoying?" Sparx put in. "Shut u--oof!" Spyro whined as he walked headlong into the end of the tunnel. He looked up and managed to make out a few cracks of light a few feet above him. "Excellent," he said, smiling. "Up we go, then." The others followed Spyro as he burst through the hatch, ramming it with his horns. "Ouch," he muttered, rubbing his head. Cynder giggled and hit him on the nose with her tail. "That's not what they mean when they say 'Use your head,'" she teased. Spyro grumbled something under his breath and looked around. "Oh. Good." "What?" Drake asked, clambering out of the hole and shutting the trapdoor. They were in the middle of a brown stone corridor, lit poorly by torches evenly spaced along the walls. The ceiling was out of sight. "We're just down the hall from Ignitus's study. Sparx said he left from the window, so Ignitus should still be in there," Spyro said hopefully. The three meandered down the hallway, following Sparx as he led the way to Ignitus's chamber. They ascended a spiral staircase and wound up in the study, with Ignitus glaring out the window opposite them. Spyro cleared his throat. "So. You've got guests?" Ignitus rumbled without turning around. "Y-yes," Spyro stammered. It wasn't like Ignitus not to look at who he was speaking to. He was earnest like that; he always looked you in the eye. "Oh, calm down, Spyro, I'm not mad. In fact, from what Sparx told me...I'm glad," Ignitus laughed, his laugh booming off the walls. "So...you're not mad we're here?" Cynder asked. "Of course not," Ignitus said. "Even if you're just flies on the wall, you worked for Gaul. Anything you can tell us about him would be immensely helpful. We've been meaning to do something about him for years." "Then why haven't you?" Drake fired, his eyes ablaze. Ignitus was taken aback by the golden dragon's spark of rage. "We don't know where he is. How he works. Anything. We know his minions do all his dirty work and that he is a powerful magician. We know he is evil. Beyond that...we have little. Witness descriptions from ages ago, when he actually went out and collected things on his own," Ignitus explained defensively. "Collected things?" Spyro asked. "I know he wanted this necklace..." "Oh, you actually got it? Excellent," Ignitus said, taking the necklace from Spyro. "Great! Mission accomplished--with bonuses!" "What does he collect things for?" Spyro asked again, jumping in front of Ignitus as he turned around and started to walk away, holding the necklace up to his face. Ignitus sighed. "We have reason to believe...that Gaul wants to bring Malefor back." Spyro grimaced. "So you two were actually right." Drake nodded. "You think we'd lie? Please. I'm sick of lying, for one." Cynder whimpered. "Me, too." Spyro shied away from them, a little ashamed for doubting them. "So what's that necklace do?" Ignitus raised an eyebrow at his student. "It, eh...Hm." "What?" Spyro asked. "I don't know how to say this without scaring you," Ignitus explained. "I can handle it." "It was Malefor's," Ignitus sighed. "It was what?!" Spyro howled. "'I can handle it,'" Sparx mocked, laughing. Spyro glared at the necklace with a newfound hate. "It houses immense amounts of Dark Magic," Ignitus said. "Gaul probably wants it because it can be used as an anchor for Malefor's spirit." "What do you mean?" Sparx asked. "There are innumerable spells that can call upon spirits using an object that belong to the spirit. Especially memorable objects or objects that the spirits store energy in. But there are certain spells that, with certain other spells woven in and with certain magical objects, can actually bring spirits back to their mortal bodies. Of course, you need their mortal bodies...Which means Gaul knows where Malefor's body is," Ignitus said gloomily. "What?" Drake shot. "Gaul wouldn't be attempting this spell without knowledge of the location of Malefor's body. He needs it to bring Malefor back. Everyone knows of Malefor's defeat and the Prophecy, but no one knows exactly where the Guardians hid Malefor's body. His spirit has undoubtedly roamed free...but Gaul will need to reach it somehow. There's only one time that the spirits of the world are communicable without a massive myriad of powerful spells--spells Gaul doesn't have the time or manpower for," Ignitus explained. "The Eternal Night," Cynder whispered. Ignitus nodded gravely. "The Eternal Night." He swung around the large stone slab that served as a table in his study and unrolled an old parchment map. "We need to find Gaul's castle and stop him before the Eternal Night," Ignitus said. "When is that?" Spyro asked nervously. Ignitus growled, deep in his throat. "Two weeks." "What?!" Sparx yelped. Ignitus nodded. "It happens once every few centuries...the moon aligns...just right. Immense power is released, mixing the spirit worlds and mortal worlds. All kinds of spells are cast that night--good and evil. But ...You're just not ready. None of you are, and I don't care what you two have been through." "I know I'm ready to kill Gaul," Drake hissed. "But you're not strong enough to," Cynder said sympathetically. Drake simply growled and shook his head. "I know." Ignitus looked at the young dragons before him. "There's much to be done. You four must be prepared...We may have to use the Eternal Night to our advantage," he sighed. "What do you mean?" came Spyro's inquiry. The purple dragon raised an eyebrow at his mentor. "Being the purple dragon, Spyro...Your powers will be amplified that night. Beyond your own control, doubtlessly. You will become victim to your own power--if you let that happen. If we can teach you to control your abilities in the time granted to us, we may be able to use the Eternal Night against Gaul before he can contact Malefor," Ignitus said. "If he just contacts him, it doesn't matter, right? We can stop Gaul whenever we want, as long as it's before he casts the spell that revives Malefor," Cynder asked. "No. Malefor will be able to cast the spell himself, if he knows where his body is," Ignitus said. "He doesn't know where his body is?" Sparx asked, awestruck. Ignitus shook his head. "The Guardians hid it both to spirit world and mortal world. If he knew where his body would he could simply reattach himself to it with the right spell." Spyro was in shock. "So...We absolutely need to stop him before he can talk to Malefor then?" "Yes," Ignitus confirmed. "If Malefor gets word of his location..." He shuddered. "The Eternal Night...What till then?" Drake asked. "We will train you. Prepare you to fight Gaul. Prepare you to control your powers, Spyro. You two...You have to help him. He can't do this alone," Ignitus said solemnly. Spyro nodded. "So...Two weeks." "Two weeks," Ignitus said.