FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 17

"So who's this guy exactly?" Sparx asked, clinging to a pair of gold horns of the vertically ascending purple dragon "I never really got the chance to speak with the dude"

"I don't know" Spyro shrugged "And believe it or not this is the best explanation that can describe Danox"

"I bet he's a weirdo right? Like everyone else"

"He's a black dragon from the future, he for sure saw and experienced things we didn't even imagine existed. His behavior might be appropriate to that"

"A freak then" the dragonfly sighed, slamming his forehead into the purple, scaly head "It's not like we have enough of them already. One more can't hurt, right?"

Freaks, in all honesty aren't all of them freaks in a way? Even him and Sparx, he's a purple dragon so that speaks for itself and Sparx done things that no other dragonfly done before him, for a creature so small he participated in things far more bigger in scale than him.

Could they be called normal?

Absolutely not.

Could they be called freaks?

Maybe.

The best way to describe them without offending anyone would be to call each and every one of them special. Perhaps this is what Flare sees, this is the spark that he talks about, in every one of them there is a flicker of power capable of changing Fate.

There were some that already went through this stage.

The big question here though is who or what the power of change will influence.

This was it, this was the spin of control, and it's up to him to prevent it from devouring the ones he protects.

Special no doubt.

"Come on Sparx, it's not like this is our first time" Spyro smiled "Just look at us, dragon and a dragonfly, name one guy who imagined a team like this kicking butts"

"Yeah, dude, but in this team there was only one freak to deal with"

"You!" Spyro interjected, already sensing where this was going

"You" Sparx finished his sentence exactly in the same time

Both brothers grinned, commenting this specific unison with a chuckle.

Sparx patted the side of the purple neck.

"Get up there bro, let's show that guy above what it means to be nuts. People think they're crazy? Pfft, they never had to deal with us"

Spyro smiled, chuckling as an amused frown crunched his forehead, pupils darting to the edge of their maneuver space, to their best ability trying to catch the dragonfly in their sight.

"Nice self-loathing motivational speech"

Yellow hand played a slapping tune against the purple head, tugging at the nearby gold fin as if it was a special type of reins.

"Onwards Plummy, my plump steed! Shroud the sunlight with your mighty ass!"

Plummy the plump steed laughed, wings went sharply down, body gaining momentum, mighty ass beating several more meters with a single, strong jerk.

"Are you guys coming or what?" Flare's fiery head revealed itself from the edge of the mountain above, burning mane dangled past the level of his eyes like big leaves of a wych elm

"We're coming!" Spyro yelled, broad smile stretching his mouth "It's hard to carry such a mighty ass!"

Sparx laughed.

"Whaaaat!" fiery head cocked to the side in confusion

"Nothing!" he snickered, unable to hold back due to his brother's constant, addicting laughter "Just wait up!"

Despite the giggles he flapped his wings harder, in an instant gaining far more speed and altitude than he ever did during the first moments of this flight.

By now he entirely forgot about Iris and the rather awkward talk with his brother or even how he is going to explain all of this to Cynder. He needed a laugh, a some way to cool down and nothing worked better than some stupid, brainless humor.

Sometimes he wondered how it would feel to be dumb and carefree, probably wonderful. This has to be the recipe for a happy life, after all you would never know when something bad would happen.

He landed on top of the mountain, joining his fiery companion, it was either his own false perception or Flare seemed to be far less joyful than them, which was hard to best due to the fire dragon's typical, childish approach to life.

One would expect that he would be making backflips all the time after learning that Iris will be accompanying them.

"Alright!" Sparx shot into the air, clapping his hands "So where's this big, bad dragon?" he looked around the outcropping "He really lives in this dump?"

"In a nearby cave actually" Spyro clarified

"Black dragons right?" the dragonfly spread his arms in defeat "Always sticking to the creepy and ugly, it's their nature I guess" he winked, elbowing his brother meaningfully

"Thank the Ancestors for that" the purple drake replied with a grin

"Flare!" the glowing ball rose into the air again, spreading his arms wide in confusion "Whatcha doin' dude? First you rush us and now you don't move?"

"Huh?" Flare scratched his head

"You're our walking torch" Sparx bent his palms, making small waving motions as if he would be an elder dragonfly chasing off nagging cats "Chop, chop! Take the lead, it's so damn dark in here"

Spyro looked around, night has caught up to them, usually there was nothing exciting about it, the sky gets dark everyday, it's a natural cycle. Sparx however wasn't overestimating things, one might suspect that on top of a mountain, closer to the sky and the moons, the area would be much brighter than the flat ground below.

It wasn't.

It might be just his imagination, or ignorance about the Nature's rules and principles, but it was really dark here. This conclusion became stronger when he looked at Sparx and Flare, they both usually let out really strong lights, not invading, but powerful enough to allow traversing through a dark corridor, usually the illumination spread on the nearby walls.

Right now their lights didn't even want to bounce off the ground.

"Where should I go?" the aura around Flare grew warmer, the fiery light he was emanating grew in intensity

It still seemed like the darkness was fighting back, the light surrounding Flare was far weaker than the glow his body was producing. As a creature of fire who is used to his element, Flare felt that something was wrong, his head kept spinning around together with his body.

His heart increased its pace, he felt squeezed and surrounded, claustrophobia was slowly reminding him of its presence

He slapped his shoulder, the fiery feather on his paws spat fresh flames, the burning tears were barely visible, glowing like an almost extinguished tinder.

"What's happening?" Flare hissed, the nervousness in his voice was a combination of irritation and insecurity

Sparx extended his hand, running his fingers through the black sky. It must have been his imagination, but he could really feel the sky's black surface.

It felt like a thick tongue

Or...

"It feels like tar" he gulped, throat muscles shaking in intimidation "You see it bro?"

"Yeah" Spyro mumbled, scanning the black surroundings suspiciously, he wasn't as anxious as his companions, he met Danox already, it allowed him to make his own opinion about the black dragon

Narcissistic.

This was the word both Cynder and him thought about whenever they talked about Danox. Seeing this thick darkness surrounding them however didn't entirely calm his nerves, remembering one of Terrador's recent lessons he bottled up the uneasiness that ate him up.

Deciding that it was best not to act reckless and don't let the black dragon get to them. He was more than certain now that Danox was expecting them and in his cocky nature is toying with them.

"Just try to ignore it, Danox likes to show off"

"Just how well do you know this guy?" his brother inquired, there was a hint of surprising jealously in his voice

"I-" he balked, head nervously started to look around, paw immediately rose to tug at the nearby fin, for some reason he felt extremely guilty and ashamed all of a sudden "I don't...he gives of that...vibe, you know?"

Sparx narrowed his eyes on the purple drake, all these years of fighting and ugly experiences left a mark on his brother, he developed a special kind of weirdness, ticks, strange reactions. He matured.

All of it was mostly understandable, he hardly had difficulties reading through this special habits, in the worst case he could always at least develop his suspicion around three possible guesses that might be bugging his brother. Most of times he narrowed it to one.

Right now however he was lost, he had absolutely nothing. Something seemed off, but at the same time wasn't, it was hard to say what was truly going on. He had no clue why Spyro was acting this way.

This wasn't the worst part however.

While he didn't understand what was going on, he felt that some part of him found it perfectly natural to be in this sort of confusion.

It made absolutely no sense.

It must be this damn dark getting to them, no matter how hard you try to convince yourself you always remain scared of darkness, doesn't matter how old you become. Age only alters the way you experience fear, in the end the dark always messes with your head.

This had to be it.

"Just lead us to this guy, let's get this over with" of all the things that he didn't understand, this particular sentence was clear and full of honesty

Spyro took the lead, nodding at Flare, giving him a clear sign to keep close.

They walked for a while, seeing absolutely nothing but their closest surroundings. They didn't even notice when they all huddled up together and walked like a single organism, hearing their own beating hearts playing a nervous melody.

It felt like they walked for all eternity, he was certain that Danox' cave was very close to the outcropping of the mountain, he remembered it well. He knew where to go, he didn't have to see the ground to be able to find his way, he was sure that he led his friends in the right direction.

And yet it seemed like they walked in circles.

They were being played.

Fighting Cynder and Malefor increased his sensitivity to one particular thing, to manipulation, obvious, wicked manipulation.

Evil manipulation.

It reminded him of Corruption. Literal magical force or an emotional drive it reminded him of every shade of it.

This was probably the only thing he hated and was truly afraid of in his life.

He didn't come so far however to run away.

Even among trusting family you can wound someone with badly placed word, parents might have brought you to this world, they might love you deeply, but that didn't mean you can't hurt them, you just need to make far more precise stabs.

"Stop" he ordered, his companions froze in place sharply that he caught the snaps of their bones and wing joints

"Where is that cave bro?" Sparx hissed through his teeth, his eyes darting over the pitch black surroundings, the darkness felt like a slowly closing in predator, ready to devour them all

"We're walking for like forever" another hiss, there was no cocky mask on his face, his voice betraying the anxiety his heart felt

"I'm scared" Flare whined, his heart was smashing against the chest so hard that he had troubles breathing

Be a symbol of confidence, another one of Terrador's lessons resounded inside his head, admitting fear would render that lesson useless, he really wanted to say that he is afraid too, to cheer Flare up and comfort him somehow. Join with him in the suffering, it was what his heart was used to do.

This time he didn't listen.

The reason was simple, he wasn't afraid of the dark, it was the meaning of it that scared him, not the entity itself. Be it either magical or natural, darkness was darkness to him, whether darkness knew that or not was hard to tell. What he gathered from his own experience and Terrador's stories, the black dragon liked to play with the mind, it's in a black dragon's nature to be vile in some way.

Cynder was like that too, while she didn't like to torment people, it was better not to get on her bad side, she knew how to be spiteful, Iris learned that already.

That didn't mean however that you should just stand there and accept it.

Danox' darkness didn't scare him.

"Enough with the tricks Danox!" Spyro shouted into the blackness of the sky, both his companions gasped at the unexpected bear, momentarily clinging to him as if trying to silence him as if trying to stop him from waking up the monster that sleeps inside that pitch dark curtain

"I know you're there! We need to talk! Just show yourself already!"

There was silence.

Both Sparx and Flare thought that the shout reached deaf ears, both quivered uneasily when the blare finally was cut off, as if the darkness swallowed the voice, filling its never sated belly.

The silence lingered on, only empowering their suspicion.

Spyro was the only one who looked directly at the blackness, standing still and sure of himself. Eyes locked in the same place, he didn't see anything, yet he knew where to look, he knew something was out there.

The only thing that bothered him however was the fact that it didn't feel like a dragon at all.

"You need to spend time crawling through darkness to appreciate what it is to stand in the sun" intoned a deep voice from within the blackness of the night, passionate and alluring as that of a lover in a bedroom

Flare's aura flickered.

Sparx let out a startled, soft moan.

Spyro's muscles tensed.

The darkness surrounding them began to disperse, moons slowly appeared in the sky, followed by stars, it was like both were finally pushing through one of the deepest, longest and blackest clouds they had to ever deal with.

The surroundings on top of the mountain appeared before them, illuminated by the silvery touch of moonlight. The cave was revealed, the small ruins in front of it were revealed and finally Danox was revealed. The black dragon was sprawled on top one of the pedestals in the shape of a T, he was way too big to fit on the structure.

The body managed to press itself against the stone, but there was no room for the neck, tail and limbs. Head was raised and directed at them, paws together with the tail hung freely from the edges wings were neatly folded on the back. With no support for the underbelly the weight of such body would press roughly against the stone, crushing the scales.

Danox however looked to be extremely comfortable, the fins of his tail were aimed at them, gold tips gleaming like deadly, sharp spikes, tail making hypnotizing, small swings. He wasn't bothered by the limited space of his resting ground in the slightest.

Greeting his visitors with a brilliant, welcoming smile that when paired with black scales and coal eyes looked both inviting and creepy.

Sparx' eyes widened, a bolt of pure affection shot pierced his heart, so similar to the feeling that touched him when Spyro returned from the battle with Malefor.

"The hell?" he mumbled, rubbing his chest fervently, it was crazy, he never saw this dragon before, then why on Ancestors Grace is he so happy to see him?

"You brought new visitors!" Danox' smile grew wider, tail made a happy flick, if not for the completely black eyes scanning his group it would be a welcoming sight "Where's your lovely partner?"

"She couldn't come" Spyro apologized, shaking his head in disappointment

Sparx balked, wide eyes turning at his brother, his natural glow dimming as he tried to wrap his mind about what just happened. It didn't seem like much, but it made him nervous nevertheless.

Did Spyro just humbled himself in front of some random dude?

"Terrible news you bring me" black paw seemed risen towards the dark neck, claws curled and ready to scratch

The leg bounced off however just when it was about to touch the throat as if getting burned. Paw slammed against the gold chest, patting a slow, comforting melody, keeping the pace of a naturally beating heart.

"I hope that the absence is not the consequence of your mission going wrong. It would be such a pity"

"Cynder is well, every one of us is, the mission was a success"

Black paw froze in mid air, right before it was about to tap against the gold scales again.

"Did you made a step in saving the world? You closed the portal?"

"No, it's not that easy, there are-"

"Hey there!" Sparx cut his brother off, ending his very honest confession by pushing forwards, letting out a blinding flash that made the black dragon blink, followed soon by a pair of amethyst eyes

"The name's Sparx, am I also so popular in the future like I am now? It's very crucial that I know this, kinda getting bored with impressing all those folks you know what I'm sayin'?"

A flicker of white sprang across the obsidian eyes as they turned at the dragonfly.

"What is behind your eyes holds more power than what is in front of them"

The dragonfly frowned.

"What?"

Danox slithered ungracefully from the structure he was lying on, basically dropping flat on the ground. The brain however didn't have time to record the awkward moment since he momentarily raised on his legs, standing tall and opening wide his big wings.

A dark shadow seemed to grow from behind him, interlining the edges of his body and rising like a flame from a burning circus ring. Making him seem so much bigger.

It was an creepily majestic sight.

"Naturally that I've heard of you" the dark, booming voice announced, the shadowy outline sunk back into the natural frame of the dragon

"Spyro always spoke highly of you, from what I know you lived a good life, helping as much as you can until finally age caught up to you. You lived a good life and passed away with dignity, while I never heard of any stories about your exploits, Spyro always told his children about you"

Danox bowed, wings dropping respectfully down.

"It's an honor to meet you"

"What about me?" Flare asked, feeling a little bit of childish jealously "Did you hear about me?"

The black drake smiled warmly, it was a charming sight, perfect and worthy of an artistic passion, sadly there was no one here to sculpt it.

"Unfortunately no, it wounds me to say this because you seem like a very interesting creature. While you might have been a very good friend to Spyro, I, in my low stature, never got the chance to meet you. There's not much I can tell you besides the things you already know"

Flare's aura dimmed, while he wasn't depressed and believed what the dragon said, here and when they first met, he was sad to not hear anything about him being a good friend.

"You don't say" Sparx huffed, eyeing the dragon with narrowed eyes, it was really unfair considering that he was wrong about Cynder, but he just couldn't help it, black scales on newly met dragons made him suspicious, even more so when those dragons say compliments and nice words, exactly what you'd like to hear.

This is not what meeting Cynder taught him.

He was especially mistrustful when he felt guilty about this weird suspicion, guilty towards a guy that he sees for the first time in his existence.

Technically.

Because deep down he felt as if he knew the dragon all his life.

That only made things so much worse, making it hard to keep the pain and guilt hidden behind the mask. Still, he had a feeling that it didn't matter in the end, the reflection in the obsidian eyes was twisted and without risen defense, naked, he felt exposed.

The question was if the owner of those eyes is aware of this image.

"Finally, year after year of playing hero and legend I bite the dust in peace you say? I even manage to grow old?" Sparx nodded mockingly, approving his own train of thought "I know I'm good, but I never thought I'm THAT good"

He wasn't sure if his perspective changed, if his body moved a little or if it was just a simple trick of the mind, but he saw his reflection in the black eyes move.

Twist.

As if in visible chains would wrap itself around it and squeezed, tighter and tighter, the reflection bulging, growing larger, flesh turning red. He could hear it hissing like a boiling pot, it was ready to burst, it was going to explode any seconds now.

Another squeeze.

This was it.

Danox blinked.

When the black eyelids opened, the reflection was still there, slightly in a different position than before. It seemed that he had to move.

The black drake offered him another one of the alluring smiles, it would be nearly perfect, divine, if not for the eyes.

"The most delightful surprise in life is to suddenly recognize your own worth" he cited, rich, dark, deep voice swaying like the most inspirational speech

"Do you always speak in quotes?" Sparx folded his arms in irritation

"It's my nature, I could also ask you a question about your habits. For example, are you always so quick to judge?"

"I'm allergic to bullshit"

"It's good to hear that it's not hypocrisy, we might have missed the pleasant opportunity of meeting each other"

Sarcasm.

So familiar.

Hand momentarily shot to his mouth, covering and rubbing it, feeling the betraying lips stretching into a small smile.

"How about we change topic and talk about the thing due to which we met up here?" Spyro interjected, feeling a great deal of unexplained disappointment weighting down on him

It was weird because it wasn't directed at anyone in front of his eyes, but himself, he felt that he did something wrong, he sensed that he could do better.

Dear Ancestors.

He had no idea what went wrong or what to correct.

"We will have the time to rip our throats later" he continued, head devoid of any coherent thoughts

"I don't want to rip your throats!" Flare whined, the cry was soft, but in this moment where co conversation was serious and dipped with caution, a clear, straightforward answer was like a thunder

Every head turned at the burning dragon, bluntness in this environment was as eye catching as a woman entering a building site full of men.

"I don't want to hurt Iris, Cynder, or you guys! We're friends!"

"Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary, great minds with the ordinary" Danox recited

"It was just a manner of speech Flare" Spyro apologized with a wince, we won't be ripping our throats out"

Reptilian eyes glowed hopefully.

"Really?"

"Yes"

"Are you sure?" Sparx mumbled quietly, stern gaze landing on the black dragon

The golden tips of the horns on Danox' head seemed to shimmer arrogantly, he wasn't a stranger to bias, it was a very simple method of provoking people.

Having fun.

There was nothing that could bother him about it.

So he replied to the accusing question with a smirk. Making the dragonfly slightly more uncomfortable. He felt him twitching even if his glowing body didn't move.

"Nobody is going to hurt anyone" Spyro looked up at the drake "Working together is about cooperation"

Danox' head snapped to the side, meeting the amethyst stare, he was clearly no stranger to wit, momentarily catching the unspoken phrases pulsing in between the lines.

What Spyro didn't expect to see was the moment of emotion sparkling the obsidian orbs, they spoke of surprise mixed with...

Fear?

"This should be interesting" Danox intoned in awe "A purple dragon comes to me, the monster incarnate as goes the popular opinion in the streets, to strike a bargain? Purple dragon, creature of purity seeks assistance of the Dark Realms?" black eyes gleamed in amusement" My, my, I'm honored I suppose, I never knew the future Spyro from this...delicious side"

"I'm not the future Spyro"

One of the moons had to flash a bit brighter because a line of white flew across the black eyes.

"That you aren't"

He took a deep breath, ignoring the remark.

"The Veils hide far more than we anticipated, to stop them from spreading we need to give our best and as it turns out you fall under the category of best. There is no other black dragon in the world that is of your age. I want to ask for your help, will you join us?"

There was no doubt about it now, Danox was genuinely surprised, the question was why, in all his narcissist freedom he had to expect that sooner or later someone would ask him for more open involvement in saving the world he was sent to protect.

Danox always acted as if he knew what to say and behaved appropriately to that part, he knew this tactic all too well, all he needed was one meeting.

One meeting to get to know him.

One meeting.

How?

The black dragon spun around, his snout contracted by a thoughtful wince, an unusual sight, just as seeing the drake's sharp tail tip making a swing from behind his hind legs, carrying a fresh line of blood on its tip. The side of his left thigh wielded a cut similar in size to the blade tip.

It was deep.

Sparx hissed, pouting his lips in a display of pain.

"You got excited a bit too much there" he pointed at the wound

Danox looked at his tail, swinging the tip in front of his forelegs.

"This?" he twirled the blade around, blood gleaming under the moonlight "This is life"

"I'm pretty sure cutting yourself isn't a welcoming part of anyone's life, the thing that now drips from your leg is very important you know? Losing it makes you dead, even Flare knows that, right Flare?"

The burning head snapped in the direction of the dragonfly, yellow eyes were full of innocent ignorance.

"What?"

Sparx rolled his eyes with a defeated sigh.

"Blood dude, losing blood makes you dead"

"Really? It always made me really weak"

Now it was time for Sparx to look confused, there was however no innocence in his look.

"What?"

"Losing blood makes me weak" Flare repeated

The dragonfly rubbed his forehead, who could have thought that naivety would grow problematic for him as he grew older.

"And tell me this, what comes after that weak part?"

The fire drake shrugged.

"I dunno"

The glow the dragonfly was emanating died down, following in the wake of the slumping shoulders.

"Why I'm even trying"

"What's meant to be will always find a way" Danox recited, his voice was like a rumbling bell ring, sending an announcement to anyone who was willing to listen

He was among the listeners.

"Do you know what you are asking for Spyro?" the blade tip vanished behind the dragon who currently had their back facing them "Are you aware of the consequences of this offer?" he licked the tip, red tongue savoring the blood "The taste might be foul"

Black head turned around, coal eyes stared coldly ahead, red tongue ran over the lips, licking off tongues of blood from the mouth.

"For some at least"

He smirked, a red dot of blood stained his right fang.

Spyro winced, letting out a soft grunt of abhorrence. He wasn't a stranger to blood, as a predator and a fighter he bled and was bled on many times, after so much time at least twenty percent of his organism's liquid demand was supplied by drinking blood alone, from all sorts of sources.

That and it was a natural behavior for quadrupled creatures like dragons to clean themselves by using their tongues, there was nothing wrong and creepy about it.

About the blunt act that is.

The callous enjoyment that painted Danox' snout was what disturbed him, licking your own wounds is a necessity, not pleasure. The black dragon broke that rule, the clear satisfaction in his smile proved that all too well.

Sparx was right, it seems that he attracts all sort of crazy.

Why on Ancestors Memory is he still shaken by it he had no idea.

"What consequences?" he wondered

"It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it"

"I'm not afraid of traveling with a black dragon as my companion, I've been doing it for a long time"

"Fanaticism and dedication run rampant today, their attention on me Your adventures with a single black dragon can't be compared to the perspective of traveling with two, with me having a certain...infamous reputation among the devoted of this world"

"Cynder is a victim of this superstition too, I got used to it"

Danox smiled, it was a polite smile of an adult at a joke spoken by a child.

"I'm a special creature, it is impossible to get accustomed with what I bring, comparing scales plays no role here. There is nothing like me out there in the world, the stir I create is one of a kind, you will have difficulties to avoid being swallowed by the whirlpool"

"We can handle it" Sparx retorted, the plain arrogance combined with the natural distaste towards the dragon was infuriating "We know how to deal with cocky bastards"

"Very well then, there are another two matters to point out. One, I work badly in a group, I have special...tendencies that need to be taken care of, or, for the sake of everyone, some others need to be avoided. Don't be alarmed when I disappear, don't look for me, I will find you"

Spyro shook his head with a frown.

"What kind of tendencies? I won't be endangering this group for no reason, if it's going to cause problems I want to know about it"

"I'm a messy eater"

Both brothers exchanged confused glances, finding no reasonable answer in each other's eyes. Impulsively they turned to Flare, he however wasn't looking at them, concentrated on the conversation he seemed as if everything would be making perfect sense for him.

"What that has to do with anything?"

Black eyes stared back coldly.

'Everything, this is all I'm willing to say on this subject, it is a very personal matter. You won't see any threat if I follow my own path, that you can be sure of"

"Look Danox, I'll be honest here" Spyro swallowed, giving the black dragon a confident stare "I don't like this, it all sounds too mysterious and creepy. This is not how I expected you to behave"

Sparx jerked his body forward as if someone would poke his back with the tip of a dagger.

What the hell did he just say?

"You wanted to avoid trouble, this is how you're going to do it and I'm offering it willingly" black eyes turned at the burning dragon "There is enough interesting company as it is, extra would cause...excess of taste. You do not need more flavor, otherwise the dish might become too appetizing and irresistible"

Flare's eyes widened, he noticed the look but the meaning of the spoken words eluded him. He cocked his head in confusion.

"Are you talking to me?"

An alluring smile stretched the black lips.

"There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable"

"Is it just me or those this dude have a food fetish?" Sparx looked around his companions, one hand directed at the black dragon

"I like to eat, I have an insatiable hunger" smug smile spread the black lips as Danox gave the dragonfly a teasing smirk "It requires lot of will to contain" a purr rumbled inside the dark throat that sounded like a rumble of a hungry belly

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think Iris will be a far better company than this guy" Sparx withheld the stare, deep down feeling he had to do it for some reason

Or maybe it was just for his own pride, to show the dragon that there is at least someone here who is irritated by his bullshit.

"Such quick to judge, a pity, there is another consequence and I personally think it outweighs the other two by an immense margin" coal eyes landed on the purple dragon "Triviality"

"Elaborate" Spyro nudged

"Look at me Spyro" big wings stretched themselves out, chest puffed out proudly "What do you see?"

Perfection and pride.

The two adjectives shot through his head immediately, he could feel the words crawling onto his tongue, ready to be voiced, yet they never left his mouth. For some reason the teeth in his mouth just didn't want to part and release the tongue.

"I'm not sure how to respond..." Spyro licked his lips, the words coming from his mouth were hollow, barren like a wasteland, heart started to ache, feeling betrayed "...an adult black...dragon?"

Danox laughed.

"Precisely! This means I wield power that that is beyond everyone's understanding, especially the creatures from the past. You my friend, will get bored to death, by inviting me you erase the word _difficult_from your lore book. There is nothing that can stop me while I can stop everything. Every opponent that will be stupid enough to face us will perish. You're mission with me at your side becomes carefree and sooo much tedious"

Spyro observed the dragon, weighting his words and creating conclusions, of all the possible companions he expected Iris to be the most problematic to convince and possibly make him confused, sorrowful and many other things that would make him question his ability and decision making.

Besides the pain her recruitment went smoothly, while she will undoubtedly cause problems, he knows what to expect and despite everything holds hope for success.

In Danox' case however there was nothing, empty, blank space of nothing. He should be able to tell if the addition of this particular member will be benefiting or not for the group on the ground of skills and general attractiveness.

Nothing, there was nothing.

Even Danox didn't seem too excited about the perspective of working together, despite being sent to do just that.

"I get the feeling that you kinda don't want to move at all, this isn't how I imagined this conversation would go. In fact I get the weird feeling that you're trying to dissuade me from the idea and I don't really know why"

"Pssst bro" Sparx gently nudged his brother "Maybe listen to your hunch?" he whispered

The black dragon remained stoic, at least when it came to pose, black eyes blinked and he could notice another spark of emotion in them which could only be described as nervousness.

Everything returned to normal in a moment's notice.

"Not at all, I will assist, even if I'm a bad team player. I don't want to dissuade you from our cooperation, this is why I believe avoiding my involvement in the missions is the key, but if you insist I'll join you. Let's save this world together then"

Spyro nodded in acknowledgment.

"Great, I'll send a falcon with the details, but I think we should be leaving somewhere around tomorrow's morning"

Danox bowed, playful smirk stretching the lips.

"As you command sire" despite the smile, the tone was full of royal revere as if he would be addressing a true king

Exchanging awkward goodbyes the group parted, at some point Spyro looked behind his shoulder, but he no longer could see the dragon. The thick, dark fog they encountered earlier began to fill the air once more, obscuring the dragon and the landscape behind.

For a second he thought that this was all some strange dream, for a second he didn't remember why he was here in the first place and what just happened.

Nothing.

This single word branded him like cattle.

"This was a weird meeting" he huffed, the words that came out of his mouth were in the tone of a sigh, a prolonged sigh, depleting all of the air his lungs managed to accommodate

Some would call it a breath of relief.

"Hell yeah!" Sparx dashed in front of his brother, poking the purple nose with his finger as he flied backwards, keeping with the pace of the walk

"What got to your head to tell that dude about everything? He's a priest or something that you need to confess to him or what?

Purple head jerked back in surprise.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid bro, you were going to tell that dude about every damn detail we found behind that portal"

"No I wasn't!"

Yellow arms folded on the chest.

"Yes, you were"

"No!"

"Man, if that guy didn't have obvious dude's features I would say you were spitting out everything to Cynder while she holds you by the tail"

Spyro's mouth opened, snout contracted in an obvious sign of incoming protest, yet in the end no words came out from his mouth.

Sparx was right. He would confess everything to Cynder.

The battling expression relaxed, turning to that of shock dipped in the sauce of confusion, Sparx' face followed suit, adopting the same form of brotherly union.

Exactly in the same time a bulge of saliva ran down their throats and despite their size difference the wet ball was exactly the same in both cases.

They were speechless, bodies unable to act, however their souls weren't held back by this sort of thing. They communed with each other, chanting two words over and over again.

Perfection and pride.

Perfection and pride.

Perfection and pride.

"Danox seems cool, I like him" the carefree voice of Flare brought both brothers back from their trance

"You like everyone dude" Sparx rolled his eyes, knocking at his head as he rose up, feeling a little headache rattling in there

"That's not true" the fire drake shook his head confidently "I don't like worms. I like Danox because even if he smells kinda like a purple dragon he has black scales, is beautiful as Iris, strong as Cynder, smart like"

"Wait, what?" Spyro leaned closer, frowning deeply to concentrate fully to avoid mishearing things "He smells like a purple dragon?"

"Yeah, kinda like you but not quite"

Both brothers exchanged another dumbfounded glances.

"I know it's going to be difficult" Sparx flew down, cupping the red snout in both hands "But focus" he begged, the question seemed rather important to him for some reason "What do you mean by not quite?"

Flare bit his lip, he concentrated, making a small circle with his pupils, in the meantime he puffed a streak of his burning hair back onto his forehead.

"Well..." both slits returned to their places, falling down and clenching into the natural spots in the eyes like a pair of fitting keys with a satisfying click "He's like a weird muse you know? Having everything, but not really being into it. The trait I mean you guys have. I feel like he can be a friend though, the only thing is I don't know if he cares"

Sparx pushed back with a grunt.

"You understand any of this?"

Spyro shook his head.

"Not really"

"Yeah..." the dragonfly huffed

"So guys!" Flare prompted excitedly, fiery tail making happy swings "Who are we going to visit next?"

"There's no one else" Spyro clarified "We're going back to Coriza's place to check up on the girls and then rest till the big day tomorrow. Some sleep in good company will do wonders I think"

"Sleep?" the bright aura dimmed visibly as Flare looked around the black sky with what only could be considered as nervousness

"You know what? You guys go, I'll see you tomorrow"

"Huh?" purple head cocked to the side, eyes bulging in shock "Cynder and Coriza, we're going to them" he pronounced slowly

"I know, I just...must...ummm" the burning body suddenly exploded with new, bright, fresh flames, making both brothers jump back "I need to see Iris' uncle, he really wanted to talk to me, so...ummmm... See ya guys!" he waved and without waiting for a response, he dashed into the darkness, vanishing in a flash of red line almost instantly

"Okay, this is officially the weirdest night of my life" Spyro commented callously, watching the fading, burning line as if it was the most delicious looking plate of meal

"Basically a trash bin" his brother mumbled seemingly out of nowhere

"What?"

"So many vibes, so many characters. So many, never-ending quotes. All this acquired like knowledge, but not wasted. This speaks of a huge brain dude. Intelligence level Ancestors plus"

"If you're trying to say that Danox is smart then I agree. He had to read a whole lot of books in his life. Being well read is not a crime"

"But being a black dragon is"

This sentence was like a slap to the snout, hurt so much more when spoken by your own blood.

"Okay Sparx, tell me what you are thinking about, now"

Sparx didn't seem to even acknowledge his existence, rubbing his chin he stared far ahead, gaze distant.

"Even Dark has to have a limit, magic, do you remember the saying to not overstep your bounds? Yeah" the dragonfly blinked, focusing on his brother, he was back from the train ride of his own thoughts

"How did that thing inside Cynder called Danox again?"

Spyro winced, he always felt disgusted and depressed when Creep was called the thing inside his mate.

"Abomination"

"Yeah" his glowing brother gulped "I hate to say it, but I would consider trusting that thing"

Spyro didn't ask why, he wanted to, but just couldn't, in fact he couldn't focus on anything else besides one single sentence Sparx' idea stirred. For some reason it sounded very important.

He's like a weird muse you know?