FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 22

Time travel.

How someone would explain time travel?

Besides knowing the simple, most basic definition, general definition, people had no idea what it meant or how it felt like. All they could do was to imagine things, swirling colors, explosions of light and whizzing sounds as if a tentacle would wrap itself around your ankle and drag you into the depths of a seemingly unending chasm.

Time travel, controlled time travel where you knew what you were doing would be filled with excitement, with almost stomach turning fervor, after all you would be bending the rules of universe itself, according to your will in fact, allowing your particles to be reshaped in another dimension.

A group partook in a willing time travel and neither of them found the ordeal exciting or fascinating, didn't matter if first in the line or the last.

If they didn't know they were crossing a portal to another world, none of them would guess that they just moved possibly several thousand years back in time. The act felt like crossing a doorstep to an unknown house, you don't essentially know what you will find there, but you know it's a house.

And the truth was that a house is a house. Floor is floor.

This is why the group didn't feel absolutely anything as they crossed to the other world, if not for the sudden, unexpected lash of cold whipping at their bodies they would never suspect that they traveled in time.

Every head dropped down automatically, to the root that forced every body that went through the portal to shiver uncontrollably. Their paws and feet were covered by snow, the winter's fluff reaching to the wrists and hocks of a dragon of Spyro's size.

Even if draconic body has quite a sustainable resistance against the elements it still needs a bit of time to adjust to the temperature change. Sudden shift in heat causes a body to experience a thermal shock like any other.

"Whoa, that's cold" Spyro shivered, teeth clattering against each other out of reflex

"So much snow!" Flare howled out his excitement, without thinking jumping forward and spreading his paws in every direction

A hollow slap echoed throughout the sky as he smacked into the snow, momentarily creating an indentation of exact size in the white ground.

"Flare, this is not-"

Spyro's cautious warning was silenced by Flare's loud roar of childish joy, he immediately began rolling around. Spinning like a barrel from side to side, rubbing his back against the snow with all paws in the air as if he tried to scratch a hard to reach itch.

That wasn't the end of his fun, when he got bored of rolling around, he pranced around the group like a wild, panicked horse, kicking head and paws in every possible way, sending snow flying everywhere.

"Don't draw attention Flare!" Spyro shouted a seemingly serious order from behind his wing that he used to protect himself from the assault of flying snow

The command however lacked any authoritative tone, mouth despite the seriousness of this moment was stretched out in a wide smile

"Shut up you fool" Iris growled coldly, swinging her tail sharply, the tip on her tail glowing with magical energy

Flare yelped when the cold, blue tail smacked into his legs, his paws curled instinctively at the feeling of the sharp pain shooting through his nerves as the freezing energy attacked forcefully his warm aura.

She tripped him, making him fall flat, head first onto the snow.

"You little bitch!" Cynder snarled, striding towards the blue dragoness, paws leaving a dark trail behind them

A carefree laugh that blasted in the air like an explosion stopped the dragoness in her tracks.

Flare behaved as if nothing happened, momentarily beginning another rolling round on the snow, the rude attack by Iris ignored by him completely.

"A good laugh heals a lot of hurts" Danox commented with a smile

"Look! LOOK!" Flare let out another howl, with back still pressed to the fluffy ground he pointed up, extended claw shaking in excitement

He obviously didn't notice that it was snowing.

Snowflakes dripped lazily from the sky above, one of them landed directly on Flare's red nose.

Yellow eyes widened, focusing on the flake. Long, draconic tongue lashed out from the red mouth like a cracking whip of an overexcited torturer, it hit the scales with a wet, hungry smack.

The snowflake dissolved under the assault of the hot tongue way before it manages to trap it inside the mouth. Even if all Flare could really taste was water, this didn't discourage him at all, the chill that traveled down his throat was all the motivation he needed.

With a merry giggle sharp teeth began snapping at the falling snowflakes, constantly twirling back enlarging the hole it made more and more.

No matter the pressure of this situation, everyone looked at the happy fire dragon, even if they threw him but a glance. It is impossible to circle around such joy indifferently.

Spyro with great difficulty pulled his eyes away from the laughing dragon, through the falling snowflakes he gave the land surrounding them a careful look.

A single glance was enough to realize why there was only snow on their side of the portal.

They were in the middle of an endless snowy desert, on the horizon there was nothing but a stretched, milky fog, creating a slight claustrophobic feeling. From this perspective it looked like the world of this place had a very limited space to live in, the borders of its flat surface already crashing onto them.

There was absolutely nothing here, from the looks of it they were in the middle of nowhere and if not for the swiveling portal behind them, that was nothing but a gash on the surface of the world, he would really start to slowly panic.

Even if there was an exit he could easily open, nervousness started to creep in nevertheless as he began considering the fact that maybe worlds aren't that different from each other, geographically speaking of course.

The Dragon Realms are surrounded by unbound stretch of a sea, there is a possibility that the same can be said about this time, here however the weather might be so much different, freezing the water.

They might as well stand on a frozen sea.

This grim thought alone was enough to beat up into submission the infectious cheer Flare's fooling around stirred.

He looked down, single paw swiping from left to right, purple eyes observing the increasing in size hole with anxious interest. The snow might reach their wrists, but it didn't take long to reach the bottom, not surprising a thick layer of dark ice grew underneath.

Dark ice.

He couldn't see what was below the cold floor, this only made things that much worse, in a land of magic everything is possible and they might stand on a frozen chasm for all he knew.

"Guys, I would advise against any sudden moves" Spyro swallowed a lump that got stuck in his throat, he might be a dragon with wings, a hole wasn't really that much frightening

What was frightening was the possibility of something living down there, something big enough that wouldn't let him, or neither of them for that matter, to spread their wings.

Cynder frowned, throwing a worried glance towards her partner, she had no troubles following his lowered gaze and noticing the icy sheet below his paw. To make sure that nothing wrong is happening already her legs started to move on their own, scrubbing away the snow.

Ice.

Thick, solid ice.

Dark as her own scales.

She balked at the sound of another explosion of merry laughter, she could swear that she saw something moving underneath the cold sheet.

Like one of Creep's tentacles she saw once.

"I'll show you something Flare" she yipped, darting towards her thrashing fiery friend, she didn't have the heart to stop his cries of laughter

Red head rose up, red back remained pressed against the ice.

Warm, red back with burning wings attached to them.

She scooped a pawful of snow, sitting on her haunches she formed the snow into a ball, quickly adding two horns and a long nose. She thrust her claw into the molded together ball, creating two eyes and a wide smile underneath the nose.

"He likes you!" she grinned, presenting her work of art in extended paws, holding the created head by chin an scalp

Yellow eyes nearly shot out of their orbits.

"Oh my!" Flare scrambled onto his belly, it seemed when it came to fun, he didn't have much troubles catching the hints

With one, wide swipe of front paws he covetously pulled back to himself a heap of snow like a player who just won a profitable round in cards.

With tail wagging restlessly, Flare started building, he no longer thrashed, focused intently on his work who was just as hectic as his childish soul. Nothing made sense, but there was something sweet about it.

At least for Cynder.

It was sweet and lowered the risk of the ice shattering below their paws.

Her plan worked and it kept everyone happy, she made someone else happy, someone else who isn't Spyro.

That's new.

Cynder turned towards her mate, smiling broadly she sent him a knowing wink.

Spyro acknowledged the success with a proud nod, shifting his attention to the biggest dragon in their group.

"Watch your step Danox, we're on ice and who knows what's below it"

The black drake offered his typical smirk that was as alluring as blood freezing.

"My toes are known for their delicacy, you don't have to worry my friend, I always grant the softest of grazes. Force and pressure is such a tedious necessity, life has limited boons, we need to cherish them"

Spyro cocked his head, that was a quite complicated answer for such a simple warning, still he couldn't deny its specific allure. Danox' way of carrying himself, tone of arrogance dipped in a sauce of freedom of concern was confidence inspiring.

"Does one of the boons you speak of is helpful in finding the right way in unknown territory?"

"I'm afraid not, however we can always seek answer among the locals. Should I take to the sky perhaps? Let me tell you that nothing draws better attention than a black dragon of my size soaring the skies"

"Let's start with less radical ideas" purple eyes shifted to the only feline in the group "Hunter?"

If he didn't know that Hunter was traveling with them, he would take the cheetah for another of Flare's constructs. The cheetah was basically white, snowflakes were everywhere, that and they were already molding together, creating a more and more considerable burden on the furry shoulders.

A clear sign that he wasn't moving much, if at all.

His head was lowered, skull covered under a hood that cast a dark veil over his face. Hands were driven deeply inside the pockets of his coat, characteristic, fluttering cloak now dormant, overpowered by the weight of the flakes that gathered on top of it.

If it wouldn't be for the ears under the hood, twitching instinctively to the shrill sounds of the wind, there would be quite a reasonable amount of evidence to say that the cheetah froze to death.

In truth however he seemed to be focused on something to the point that he dazed off into his own thoughts.

From the way his head was angled there were only two points of focus he could concentrate on. The ground, or Iris.

From experience he knew that the snowy floor couldn't stand against Iris when it came to holding interest.

Hunter barely felt anything, he had moments like this in his scouting career, they happened whenever he heard an unexpected sound, alien sound, something that should never occur or was such extraordinary that it shaped completely his approach to the upcoming task.

He was surrounded by the unforgettable and special here, wherever he looked there was magic, in the world and especially the creatures that accompany him. He would suspect that there is no place for more awe inspiring things any longer.

Yet he was paralyzed, all he needed to do was to look at Iris.

There was nothing more special about her, she was another shiny gem in the already valuable treasure chest.

They were exactly that, treasure in this foreign world, just like the pirate sought chest they were unearthed into this land, together, united.

Together.

This was the petrifying Impulse, the realization that they were here, all of them at the same time, all of the willing for time travel arrived on the other side.

Not all of them could say the same thing, among them was a girl who her first time travel did on her own. She was hanging from a tree, unconscious and bleeding to death with a spear jutting from her chest, like a pig meant for butchering.

She was alone back then, even when this Veil proved that it prefers to invite the whole company if it gets the chance.

Iris was surrounded by bodies and her own pool of blood.

Yet he guided two breathing dragons to Warfang from that place.

Where was Ignus when his niece was bleeding to death?

Why he thinks of this now he had no idea, like always when moments of big thought like this happened. When traversing through Nature's soil hearing strange sounds most of the time meant that there was something happening besides the typical field of expertise.

Sometimes however it meant nothing, sometimes the strange noise was a culmination of many different, normal sounds occurring at the same time. A simple jump scare so to speak.

The origins of meeting this small family of dragons could be exactly that, after all who is he to understand the rules of the universe? Just because the time travel happened in this way for them, it didn't apply for every other Veil out there most likely. Spyro's and his friends adventure to Boven was just another example, not enough to draw conclusions.

Yet as he stared at the beautiful representative of the draconic race his ears kept twitching nervously all the time, unable to shake off the imagined noise of fangs crushing veins and thirsty throat gulping blood.

All of this-

"Hunter"

He twitched at the sound of his name, Spyro's voice sounding a little irritated, this was probably what scared him so much, disappointing a dragon was very low on his list of priorities yet right now it seemed that it jumped to the very top.

He moved his head, feeling as if he grew another palette of fur on top of the one he already had, the weight that burdened his neckline was threatening to snap it in half. An echoing, rustling sound provoked his sensitive ears when he moved, familiar to the sound of a shovel thrusting into the earth.

Streams of snow fell of in front of his eyes from the top of his hooded head as if a he would keep a small mountain in between his ears that spilled an avalanche.

The burdening weight he felt just a moment ago was gone, falling all around him in strands of white snow. He felt as if he became at least three kilograms lighter by making a one, small twist of body.

"Are you alright? I thought you froze" Spyro inquired, despite the slight agitation from before, his concern for his well-being was honest

"Yes, yes" he nodded, shaking off the last amount of snowflakes from his head

Hands immediately pushed from the pockets, tapping and patting at the clothes, cleaning them from the white puff that clung to them.

Disappointment.

Presenting himself before Spyro in at least acceptable form was no way enough to change the fate, but at least it prevented it from making it worse.

"I apologize, I've drifted away in personal thoughts. It won't happen again"

"Hey, no worries" the drake smiled encouragingly "It's not like we get to time travel everyday. I also needed a moment for all of it to sink in the first time"

"Be it as it may, it was highly unprofessional of me, very dangerous in an unknown and probably dangerous territory"

"Isn't our friend an adorable kitty? So meek and nice" Danox shivered anxiously "So huggable, a welcoming sight in this blood freezing climate, yes?"

"Shitscale at his finest" Iris spat "Rolling around in his own pile of crap like a pig. Not even the cold touch of snow can force you to make sense, there's no cure for a head full of shit"

Obsidian eyes scrutinized the ice dragoness, he had seen many things in his life, a dragoness of such alluring figure should engrave herself onto his memory and remain there, unforgettable. Only statues of perverse and way too imaginative artists have curves like her.

Every minute spent in her company however, or more likely every minute when she opened up her mouth made it clear for him why he doesn't remember her at all.

Ugliness, especially that of a soul, is another shade of darkness.

After so many years there was nothing exciting about seeing yourself in the mirror.

"A life without fun is a tragedy" he commented, the dark, deep voice booming with mischievous enticement "To see the world in one shade only, it is not as exciting as one might believe, it's so very, very tiresome. Beautiful creature, you remain too true to your namesake, there's no flavor to be found in you"

He clicked his tongue as if getting rid off a sour taste on his lips.

"A flower doesn't love you or hate you, it just exists" breathy voice recited

Iris snorted derisively, her mind occupied by something far more important right now than blabbering idiots, there will be time to reconcile later.

"Guys, please, bicker later, let's get out of here first" Spyro pleaded, his eyes intently observing the surrounding area "You have any idea where to go Hunter? Or we have to rely on luck?"

"Luck I'm afraid" Hunter rearranged his hood and quiver, fingers of the hands that returned back to the warmth of the pockets clenched and unclenched in steady pace, keeping themselves warm "The weather makes it impossible to pinpoint the right direction. I can assure you however that our way back is secure, I have enough experience to track our way back even in the most direst of conditions. Modestly speaking of course"

The purple drake let out a downtrodden sigh.

"I was afraid so" he inhaled deeply and made the first step forward in this new adventure "Okay team, let's go. Stick close and no flying, let's not draw attention. And watch your step, it can be slippery in some places"

"Come on Flare" Cynder swiped with her tail, sending a small wave of snow crashing against her red friend's flank

He twitched as if he was electrocuted, startled eyes looking at her.

She gave him a wink.

"Time to go, there's still plenty of snow on the way, you can roll in it all the way if you want"

"Nah" Flare jumped on all fours, accompanying Cynder as they followed Spyro "It gets kinda cold near the ice, my toes are itching funny"

The group moved towards the mist, Spyro who did everything in his power to keep the team together realized that there was something missing among the noise of crunching snow. He looked behind his shoulder, his team was missing one member, Iris remained by the portal, looking at the magical, dancing line, it reflected from her diamond eyes, creating a bluish slit in her pupil.

"Go, I'll catch up" he turned back immediately, retracing his steps

The group gazed after him in surprise.

"Spyro?" Cynder called out his name, he wasn't aware that one word could ring with so many emotions, if he really tried he would probably find a feeling named after every letter of the alphabet

"I'll check up on her real quick"

He approached the blue dragoness carefully, no matter how hard he tried though, his paws still made a crushing sound as they sunk into the snow. She didn't seem to mind his presence obviously since it was impossible not to hear his approach.

He licked his lips, Iris seemed to share the same fate like Hunter did, lost somewhere in her own thoughts. The difference between her and his feline friend was that she looked fantastic while covered in snow, natural. This was probably the silent, special trait of every ice dragon, white just composes well with their light, blue scales, what however made Iris stand out from the crowd was her wings and breathtaking beauty.

In her natural element she looked absolutely godly and no matter how deep in love he might be with Cynder he couldn't deny the temptation telling him to touch the girl in front of him, scrub the snow and groom the feathers of her wings, feeling every bump and curve on the way.

Females might not have the physical power and raw, straightforward thinking of a male, but they have undeniable grace and unmistakable strength of seduction. After all most of the times it is the boys who fight for the attention of girls. If you combine those mentioned previously traits with a beautiful example like Iris and you get a powerful manipulator that can't get rid herself off admirers and it's only up to her which she decides to use, or how many more she wishes to follow her.

Or how many she pits against each other for her own amusement.

The subtle dominance becomes so much stronger when the female is aware of her power, the level of danger escalates beyond the threat of the most brutal of dictators.

To the point where there is a high probability that wars could be waged because of a women.

Why females are called the weaker sex again?

Iris was definitely aware of her tempting and provocative features, he could feel it in the change of her aura. The whipping cold was replaced by a shy, inviting chill, begging for a warmth of a strong body.

Even when she looked far less fierce without her usual cloak of emotions, he was far more afraid of her in this state than he could ever be of her hateful devilry.

He simply didn't know what to expect, either from her or what was more scary, from himself.

"Iris..." he begun shyly, so glad that Cynder didn't hear him right now, she would have his eyes if she noticed that he gets enthralled by Iris "...is everything alright? We really have to go"

"You did it" the pupils of her eyes kept running up and down the hovering slit of the Veil ahead as if was a dress for the biggest party of her life.

"I've told you I'm genuine, I didn't lie about the portals and I'm not lying about needing your help either"

"How far back in time can you open those portals? Only to the previous era or farther?"

Spyro frowned, he didn't consider such an option before, everything is happening so quickly that he didn't have true free time to focus and think about everything that happened.

"I can't really say how far back we can go, we have to figure it out ourselves, the only creature that could say for certain where we are is the Chronicler but that's...umm... a dead end. I think though that time and place doesn't matter, if there's a Veil I can open it"

"These Veils always lead to the place and time where they were opened?"

"From what I know, yes. It's like with reading a book, you start always from the page on which you finished"

He heard snow crunching below her paws, obviously her claws clenched in what seemed to be anger.

Or anticipation.

Whatever it was he was quite certain that she didn't like the answer.

"Can you create a portal by yourself? Suck the power from this thing for example like the purple leech you are when it comes to elemental energy and decide how far back you would want to go in time in a particular era?"

Spyro bit his lip, nervously rubbing one of his forelegs, the cold touch of his paw against the scales was nothing compared to the unavoidable disappointment he will cause Iris.

"I never thought about it this way, I-I don't know, maybe? I-I-I don't know how to do it now, I-I-I'm pretty new to this whole time traveling thing"

Iris growled.

Of course the fool didn't know, how could he when he is a male who only keeps the blood flow going to his dick? She would rip the idiot's throat out already for toying with her like this, she expects competence from her subjects, not doubts and uncertainty. Especially not in this matter, not when her mother's life is at stake.

He was lucky that he was purple.

The stories and legends she read about purple dragons were of course full of shit like the big, black scaled fucker right here, they were fairytales for retarded children after all. Heroes from such stories are overly perfect and pure, with no flaws.

It takes adulthood to realize that the heroes in these stories are males and males are pigs with nothing but flaws.

Adulthood also makes you realize that in every tale, no matter how stupid, is a grain of truth and Goldie here had the magical purple power of a hero in him.

This is why she was willing to tolerate his presence.

This is why she was willing to tolerate his incompetence.

Accept his learning curve.

Accept her fate she swore she will never allow to happen again, but there is no other way. He's just a brainless guy like all the rest of them, no matter how deeply he thinks his in love with someone else, he was still only a male and every male is drawn to the same thing, desires the same thing.

And she was all of their wishes and dreams.

For mother.

This was her chance to make everything right.

At least this time the whole humiliation might be worth something.

She unclenched her claws, the cold snow chilling the scales in between her toes seemed to travel through her whole body and housed itself inside her brain. The weird feeling of emptiness and clarity in one was not of this world, she felt as if her mind was empty, utterly empty.

Like blowing a nose after a fierce sneeze.

Making anyone the master of his breathing and nose once more.

Her mind was just like the nose, belonging to nothing else but her, whatever bacteria crawled inside before was expelled.

She hadn't sense such clarity in a very long time.

The only thing that troubled her more was the devouring her soul doubt, making her wonder if what she feels is actually a good positive sensation in the first place.

"I've expected more" she mumbled a disappointment

"I know, but-"

"It will do for now"

Spyro could feel his eyeballs hurting as they tried to accommodate his constantly growing eyes.

Did she just really say everything was okay?

Did he really just hear her voice devoid of any hate and only ringing with disappointment?

A voice of a normal person?

His mouth was opened, actually his throat articulated a sound, yet it wasn't words that came out of his maw, but a croak that sounded as if he would be choking on his own fist.

It was already working.

She let out a downtrodden sigh, eyes falling on the snow below, once she really liked white color.

"What was that?" she intoned, words almost lost under the thick layer of her accent that she morphed into a sensual purr

Now instead of white she sees black and brown, just as if the world would be a never ending paper that someone constantly uses to wipe his ass.

"W-What did you say?" he rasped

She turned around, making her way across the snow, throwing the purple fantasy an intimidating glance. It worked as a charm as she expected, she could feel the tremors of his bucking knees traveling along the white ground.

"I'm giving you the benefit of a doubt. This is a great privilege"

She walked past him, withdrawing her gaze from him, brushing her flank against his body as she walked by. She was unmoved by the jolt of the electricity jumping from her body onto his own, expecting his flesh reaction.

This was Spyro, a purple dragon from her childish fantasies and yet his typical twitch made her sick.

"Don't make me change my mind" she whispered, the accented voice sounding like a passionate coo

She stroked his chin with her tail, his head propped up automatically. His teeth crushing lips as he hissed a surprise, hiss that turned to a short yelp when almost the whole tail grazed over his chin, until the very tip. Tip that stopped and jerked up, the sharp tip poking the underside of his jaw, one, strong move enough to penetrate his snout to the very brain.

He gulped impulsively, the bulge of saliva running down his throat putting more pressure onto the deadly tip. The swallow making his chin gently impale itself on the cold spike of Iris' tail, several tears of blood dripped from his chin.

"At Zisfa" Iris accented and her morphing voice finally reached the level of richness and pleasantry where it totally got rid off the Common accent

The melodic tone of her words was enthralling, like a voice of a siren echoing across open sea.

"Spyro!"

He jumped at the sound of the blaming, commanding shout, as he spun around he noticed gentle tendrils of snow flying from his body.

Just how long he was standing here?

Cynder's reproachful glare told him that it had to be a while.

Iris followed the group, two steps behind the last tail.

He was a big tail size behind everyone, Cynder however was right in front of him judging by the deep marks in the snow she really stomped her way here.

"Sorry!" he squeaked, pouncing into a reserved run "I've kinda got lost in my own thoughts"

"Oh yeah?" she snarled at him, lip twitching in anger "What exactly where you thinking about? Walk me through it "

He skidded to a halt, he really liked her temperament, the fierceness was attractive to him, but sometimes this trait can become very irritating, especially when jealously comes to play.

"It's Iris alright?" he sighed, there was no sense it trying to be subtle about anything, she wouldn't buy it and it spared him the ordeal of getting pulled by the tongue "I don't know what's going on, but she seems different"

"More prettier maybe?"

"What?"

Cynder snorted in irritation.

"Oh please, don't act dumb, she's wrapping you around her claw and you're applauding her for that"

He licked his lips, the irritation he felt earlier grew in power, yet he kept his calm despite the stupid accusations, explaining to himself that this is Cynder after all, a girl who didn't experience much good in her life and when she finally did it's no wonder she's possessive about it.

Yet even the most cool headed of people have their patience limit.

"I don't know what you're talking about. You're my mate Cynder, I will never betray you"

"Dude" she growled, leaning closer, green flames burning in her eyes "You're standing in the middle of nowhere after a quick one on one with Iris"

He looked around, instinctively once more measuring the distance between him and the group. Call him stubborn, but he still believed that Cynder was overreacting, he might have stayed back, yes, but he wasn't sure charm had anything to do with it.

For some reason though he couldn't voice his thoughts.

"I know you're not going to betray me when it comes to sex. But I can't stand and watch how that bitch is toying with you and you are allowing it to happen, it pisses me off. This already feel like a betrayal to me"

"Come on Cynder, it's not like that"

"I don't care what you think, that slut is dangerous, I won't watch you allowing her to poison you. Change it now or Iris will be the least of your worries, you don't have a helmet and I pack a punch"

He grumbled a held back growl.

"Okay, I'm sorry, you're happy now?"

"Satisfied" she replied, the tone of her voice sharper than the horns on her head "I will be happy when we bury that blue pain in the ass under a big layer of snow" she looked down, she was making little steps in place with her paws, feeling the ground like a cat that prepares its sleeping spot "We have snow already"

"Careful" he stepped forward, renewing his march towards the group "Your Lightbane is showing"

She rose one of her legs, trail of darkness stretched to the ground from underneath the surface of her paw as if she would step into a bucket full of paint.

She couldn't believe just how much she liked the idea.

She shook her head fiercely and with an angry snarl swiped her paw to wipe off the splotch of darkness. It was disgusting to even cherish such a thought, Iris might be a cold hearted monster deserving some spanking, but she didn't deserve to be killed in cold blood, no one is.

She had enough victims like that on her young conscience already. Lightbane is dead and she will stay dead, there is absolutely nothing she ever wants to have in common with that monster. Her temper is her own, that's final, there was enough darkness in her life, she will decline politely any more.

She frowned deeply.

It seemed that not everything shared her point of view.

The splotch of darkness remained where it was.

It never happened before, her magic never defied her will like that. She came to a quick conclusion that this is impossible, as a wielder of elemental energy there was absolutely no possibility to lose contact with inherited magic.

She shook her head fiercely, as a result feeling her eyeballs rattling inside her skull.

When she opened her eyes the darkness was staring back at her, with massive, bloodshot reptilian eyes. She could see the dark slit enlarging as it absorbed her figure. She didn't manage to inhale enough breath for a scream and the eye was gone already, shooting forward, black tendril moving underneath the ice.

She didn't imagine it.

Something was there.

"Drawn to the noise" hollow voice echoed next to her

Her head momentarily snapped in the direction.

Creep stood in front of her, his form adopting the shape of a purple dragon rapidly, yet only a half managed to form, the rest was a slick, dripping, undulating black goo as if he jumped out of a bath without toweling himself.

"Life Abolisher. Gorger of Essence. Monster. Demonic entity. Failed experiment and destroyer of ambition. Ocean sized, too massive to conquer" the last parts of the swiveling darkness disappeared under the coat of purple scales. Too dangerous to fight Sugar. Risk of losing life too great. Retreat"

The thing in the form of the tendril under the ice no longer skulked, but shot forward obviously attacking. Spider-webs of cracks began forming on the icy sheet.

It was moving towards her mate.

"Spyro!" she screamed out a warning

He growled in frustration, firmly placing his paws on the ground, do girls really don't know how to give it a rest? He already apologized to avoid unnecessary argument for who knows what and there he is, being yelled at for another overrated problem.

"What now?" he exhaled prolonged, tired breath as he turned around

The annoyance disappearing momentarily when he noticed Cynder's frightened stare, in fact irritation morphed into nervousness when he spotted the snowy ground vibrating wildly.

The noise of cracking ice filled his skull.

It was very close and approaching far quicker for a normal dragon, no matter how experienced, to react swiftly enough.

He however wasn't a normal dragon.

Instinct kicked in automatically, activating his Time powers as he jumped back. Thudding echo of breaking ice filled the cyclone of slowed sounds around him. Something he had never seen before happened, as he landed on the ground the ice sheet was still intact despite the noises, spider-webs were being painted on its surface.

However the thing that came out of it was moving faster, its moves were still slowed by his magic, yet the pace was still relatively fast, like a trod through water reaching to your waist.

It was a brownish, thick, tail, tentacle, or however else someone can call dripping with water huge and thick, slimy limb. It was very, very long, a sharp spike was protruding from the top of this thing, blade longer than an adult dragon.

The inside of this strange tail was filled with a gaping mouth that stretched vertically, probably to the very end of the tentacle. The disgusting maw was filled with thousands of razor sharp teeth that clattered unceasingly as if eating air itself.

The maw was pushed back into the slimy figure, at the sides of it were attached what seemed to be greenish, dripping with saliva suction pads in the shape of a flower crown. They even had their own, black stalk, it was moving, protruding vertically from the tentacle, constantly pushing back and forth in a vertical dimension like a pump.

The rows of the disgusting pads ran on both sides of the mouth and reached as far as it went. The stalks were pushing the pads way farther than the mouth was, clearly used to catching prey and holding it until the sharp teeth turn it to shreds, bite after small bite.

On the back of the shooting tail was a mane made of ice, just like the teeth running most likely along the whole thing.

It was massive, the creature wielding such a limb must me enormous.

He didn't have the opportunity to dwell on it however, his grip on Time faded and everything returned to normal. The explosion that followed as the ice shattered threatened to melt his brain. The only thing good in this chaos was that the ice hidden underneath the snow was very strong and broke only where the creature applied pressure.

If the whole thing shattered, they would have a big problem.

The tentacle above reached high in the air, swaying as if drunk, water dripping everywhere.

Another explosion followed soon after, combined with the loud scream of shock coming from the group ahead.

Two such tentacles cracked the ice near them, thanks to the distance and Cynder's startled shout from earlier they had time to react before the huge spikes turned them into shish kebabs. Not all of them however managed to avoid contact with the tendrils.

Danox, as being the largest of the team wasn't so lucky, while he avoided the deadly spikes, the pumping pads on one of the shooting tentacles grabbed a hold of his flank. They began momentarily sucking him in and it seemed only thanks to the momentum of the dodge that he managed to unglue himself from the pads.

It was still difficult from the looks of it, making Spyro believe that the black drake would split himself in half.

Danox looked at his flank with cold indifference, body covered in water and sticky, green goo that felt like warm shit dripping from his scales.

"I forgot about this monster" he mused indifferently.

The tentacle near Spyro twirled in excitement, enlarging the hole from which it protruded.

The tail that tasted Danox' flesh however became hyperactive, in a flash pushing through the hole to the very limit, not up to the sky though, but in the direction of the black dragon. Danox didn't had enough time to react, the black, massive tail wrapped itself around his body, even from here Spyro could hear the hungry suckle of the pads and the fervent clattering of all the little teeth as they began consuming the air more hungrily.

Danox was there for a second, embraced by a disgusting tentacle just to be gone a second later, dragged by the thick tail under the freezing water.

"No!" Spyro screamed, earth magic circling through his veins, a green ball forming inside his mouth

The tentacle near him perked at attention like a sensitive ear of a dear that heard a snap of twig in the bushes.

He spun around, the green ball stretched out from his mouth, magical, green chain glowing with powerful light. His move was perfectly timed, the moment the tentacle dived down to grab him, pads smooching out fervent, hungry kisses, the green ball connected with the massive tentacle, slicing through it with ease until it collided with the stalks holding the pads, formed obviously by stronger structure than the outside of the tentacle.

Parts of the icy mane shattered, the slimy tail crashed onto the ice, its massive body shattering the vulnerable floor and sinking into the cold water.

"Distract it!" he barked out an order, his roar echoing like a thunder

In this moment of danger there were no distractions, no personal goals and feelings, everyone listened, it was surprising how danger of death brings people together. The group listened to the order as if they were a team fighting together for many years, each of them unique and with their own special set of skills, waiting for the right guiding sign.

They all found it within the purple dragon.

Despite their feelings, in this moment, they all began to fight for their vanished team member as if he was part of the family.

Cynder jerked her body upwards, clenching her front paws above her head and bringing them down to smash at the ice. The already formed cracks became deeper.

"Do not Sugar!" Creep blared out, with a dark puff appearing right on the way of her risen for another pound paws "Monster attracted to sound! Run! Do not call!"

"Nobody dies on my watch!" she growled, throwing her intertwined into a fist paws at the Ice again

Her paws ran right through Creep, rippling his frame like a mist.

A small hole appeared in the middle of the spider-webs of cracks, a small stream of water started bubbling through it.

One more strike.

Paws went up again.

"You must listen Sugar, why you do not listen?"

"Because we are one" with those words the paws smashed onto the weakened ground, ice shattering and disappearing into the darkness of the sea

"Help me feed this thing Creep" she opened up her mouth, channeling her poison power, streams of green breath sunk into the water

With a dark puff Creep reappeared next to her, she could feel his brown eyes burying themselves into her snout.

"I like you Sugar"

With that he disappeared, turning into a trail of green smoke that connected with her breath. The pool of green liquid gathering on top of the water grew considerably, poison becoming stronger and spreading quicker, sinking deeper into the sea.

Sea that if to believe Creep, and there were no signals telling otherwise, is a playground for this damn thing.

The remaining three didn't stay idle either, Hunter combining the speed from his experience as a scout and natural cheetah's abilities started nocking arrows in a blink of an eye. Iris reacted swiftly as well, jumping towards the feline she taped his bow and quiver with her paw from underneath each glowed a bright, blue light.

The tentacle shot down towards them.

Arrows were released one after the other at the maw their tips solid, bricks of ice.

Flare reacted instinctively, releasing a strong fireball at the moving limb, the projectile was moving so fast that Iris could see a burning silhouette trapped within the sphere, speeding inside like a hamster.

It flew right in front of the falling tentacle and exploded, the burning shockwave kicking it up. It was then when the arrows found their mark, due to the solid tips they shattered the small teeth protecting the gullet and impaled itself into the disgusting palette of the monster.

It instinctively started to devour the arrows. The beast's hunger knowing no limit.

Iris' tail tip pulsed with steady light, this was what she was hoping for. She pushed herself on hind legs, slamming her paw against Hunter's arm and forcing his bow down.

"Enough" she said, she clenched her paw tightly around the arm, there was a small explosion inside her ice tip, as if a tiny dynamite would explode within

Shattering noises came from the tendril, each empowered arrow blew up, turning into freezing liquid that slid down the hungry gullet.

The tail swirled in the air for a moment, before with one swift thrust it retreated back into the water.

The ground shook under their paws and feet as if a small earthquake would quake the world.

None of them were experts when it comes to underwater monsters, but they were quite sure that was a deep rumble of frustration.

In this moment of shaking something else shot from the water, right from where Danox was dragged under it a shadow shot in the air. A silhouette of smoke in the form of the black dragon, they had no troubles that the misty form was Danox.

The ghastly shape stopped in the air, hovering above the water it materialized into flesh, showing Danox in his true form. He didn't discard the dark energy completely though, it stuck to his tail tip and claws, dripping like paint.

He didn't come out unharmed from the confrontation with the monstrous tentacle, body carried wounds caused by the many teeth that got the chance to feast on his flesh. Scales were gone, on the eaten out holes meat pulsed lively, with no water to cool the wounds they pushed out blood in steady rhythm.

"This is LIFE!" Danox roared, the sky darkened after his excited blare , blood trickled down the corner of his mouth

The tentacle that was devouring him shot after the dragon, its moves sped up by annoyance after losing its meal, blood and black scales dotted some of the clapping teeth.

Danox literally teleported out of the way of the incoming spike, puffed from existence in a ball of smoke, he reappeared with a blast of darkness next to the stretching out limb, already in pose which allowed to swing his darkness imbued tail blade at the creature.

Everyone expected Danox' tail to be fused with magic that would allow the blade to sink deeper into the slimy flesh and cause more harm to the monster, none of them expected to see the darkness embrace the blade entirely and outstretch forward, tripling the now shadow covered blade in size.

The dark scythe reached farther than the thickness of the tentacle, Danox' shadowy tail tip cut sharply, with one swipe slicing through the upper part of the mouthy tentacle, cutting through everything as if it was butter.

The tentacle froze, clearly surprised by the fact that a part of it was severed.

Danox didn't have such hesitations, his tail shrunk to normal, the claws taking the role of dominance now, growing accordingly. He sunk them into the sides of the flopping down piece of the tentacle that he cut off, grabbing hold of it he made a swift backflip, thrusting the massive spike into the gullet of the tendril, shattering teeth and pads in the process.

The tentacle froze, the usually excited pads and teeth stopped moving, the tendril acted as if it just ate something very sour and found out that it didn't like the taste. Paralyzed in this position, the tentacle retreated back into the depths, the impaled into it its sliced off part crashing more ice on the way down.

There was absolutely no blood. The creature wasn't bleeding.

"Finally a challenge" Danox sighed longingly, smiling, splatters of blood painted his fangs

"Nice moves!" Cynder congratulated her companion, excited to see as a Dark elemental dragoness that there is still much for her to learn

The black dragon clapped his paws, gaining the attention of the team.

"I would advise to retreat, let this small victory not fool you, we can't defeat this monster, it's the size of the Realms. The longer we linger, the lesser are the chances for survival and I would hate to see you all die. We caught the creature by surprise, it didn't expect resistance, we need to take advantage of that and run. When it wakes up fully, we're in trouble. Alpha predators are lazy, believe me, I know, but when they wake up..."

A powerful roar erupted from the depths of the sea, it felt as if the whole world started to shake and if not for the fact that Spyro stopped a collapse of the world already he would believe that it started all over again.

"They don't hold back" the black drake noted gloomily

"No time!" Creep howled, his blare nearly melting Cynder's brain

The agony didn't last long however, merely a second and then she felt nothing, just to feel the snow under her paws once more. In confusion she looked around, glancing behind her shoulder instinctively, she noticed a shadowy form dispersing near a hole in the ice where water was polluted by poison.

Her poison.

Did she just teleported like Danox did?

"I like you Sugar. Listen! Listen to Abomination! Danger!"

"Nice moves guys!"

Her head snapped upwards, Danox yelled at her from the sky, grinning broadly

It was not the compliment that startled her.

Did he just say guys?

There was a deafening explosion from behind them, Spyro momentarily looked back to see plates of ice being thrown into the sky as the ground shattered. A massive, basically the size of a mountain icy mane of fins protruded from the water, tentacles they fought earlier, too many to count, wiggled wildly at both sides of the huge main, smashing against it with their own backs and creating an overpowering, drumming noise that silenced thoughts.

Whatever part of its body the monster underneath them moved, it was right now heading straight at them, basically a hungry mountainside with ugly spoons was swimming at them.

"RUN!" he roared at the top of his lungs, releasing a whip of electricity towards his companions in the distance

The magical bolt cracked and exploded with a sizzling thud, it was enough to draw their attention and make them aware of his intentions if they wouldn't hear his roar.

They started to run and so did he, leaping over the hole the hungry tentacle made, charging his body with electrical energy while in the air. Before he began his true escape he dipped his hind paw that was wrapped in cocoon of electrical arches into the water.

The entire water flashed yellow for a moment.

The world let out another rumble as if trying to shred its shell with its own artificial hands.

The mountain chasing them railed , tentacles smacking against it harder as it stopped for a moment to gather its focus.

In the meantime Spyro heard a roar from underneath him, in the brief moment of illumination he noticed several hundred objects that looked like reptilian eyes, but in truth were huge pores hiding sharp, black blades within, some of those pores were poisoned by Cynder, drooling with green goo, others were perfectly healthy and ready to skewer the one who irritated them further.

Spyro slowed time again, gaining enough seconds to jump into the air, many of the blades near him thrust up, the crate of spines that pierced the snow looked like a back of an overgrown hedgehog.

This thing was dangerous, really dangerous and he learned now that it was a bad idea to remain in place when this thing was pissed, who knows what kind of deadly arsenal it wields. He was thankful for his Time powers without them he would be stabbed by those things for sure.

And his wings.

There was no chance to survive against this thing while on the ground.

"TO THE AIR!" he roared once more, rivaling the monster's rumble in raw lungs strain

Another electrical whip cracked in the air.

Both Iris and Flare jumped, spreading their wings they glided towards Hunter, grabbing the cheetah under each arm they lifted him up. Surprised to see Iris joining him in this endeavor to help a friend he gave the dragoness a brilliant smile.

She ignored it.

Ice cracked, tentacles shot from the water all around them, the usual hungry tendrils accompanied by some other slimy limbs that looked like a massive snail's antennae. The only difference was that from that antenna was sticking out a long, reptilian, green tongue.

One such tentacle sprouted right near them, flicking its hungry tongue all around as if tasting the air.

There was an orange bulb within it.

Hunter's sharp scout eyes noticed it immediately and he realized instantly that the tongue was not only tasting the air, but also serving as a distraction and protection for that strange bulb.

When it glowed and the tongue lashed out in their direction Hunter realized that this bulb served as an eye.

"Oh shit" Flare cursed, the greenish tongue was covered in the same sticky goo like the pads, they were defenseless against it while they were holding the cheetah

Danox dived down swiftly, avoiding a slap from one of the tentacles, he shoved his way between the two dragons, sinking below the cheetah's legs pressing his back between them, black wings pushing both younger dragons away, freeing them from the burden off weight.

The tongue no longer able to catch the whole meal, decided to opt only for a snack, it lashed towards Iris, slamming itself along her back, trapping her wings near the joints.

Iris roared in fury, thrashing around to break free but her attempts proved to be unsuccessful.

The tongue pulled back sharply, dragging the dragoness with it, back first into the hole in the feeler , blue, outstretched paws flopped in the air numbly.

"Pull the tongue away near the mouth Flare!" Hunter roared, rearranging himself on the black back that roughly slammed against his crotch, the adrenaline pumping in his veins numbing the discomfort of crushed testicles.

In a blink of an eye was ready to fire.

Flare with a roar of pained fury let out a powerful flame, heat of which made them sweat immediately. He grabbed onto it, turning into a whip that he swung at the tongue, the blazing heat wafting from it, even from this distance, burned scale and fur.

He wrapped the whip around the base of the tongue, with the intention to sever it at the core instead of pulling it, yet despite the searing heat his magical attack wasn't strong enough to slice the tongue, the substance covering the tongue nullifying its blazing effects.

The whip grabbed hold of the tongue however without hesitation he pulled, using all his might to do so, determination strengthening his rather frail for a dragon physique.

He was successful, the jerk was enough to make the long tongue lose its direction and momentum, it flopped in the air chaotically, drawing random, circular lines in the air. The chaos saved Iris, as the tongue retracted it didn't manage to pull the dragoness into the orifice, instead slamming her along its side wall.

A painful groan came out of Iris' mouth.

Hunter didn't give the monster the time to rectify its mistake, releasing an arrow straight at the glowing bulb. His aim was true, arrow hitting its mark with ease.

The world trembled once more, the beast in the depths letting out another irritated roar, the bulb popped like a balloon, orange slime drained out from the hole.

The swinging tongue dropped down limply, like a leg of a crippled person. Iris fell down, still glued to the tongue, the tongue however spared her the pain of an impact since this time it was the slick thing that hit the antenna now.

Antenna that started to sink rapidly and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't break herself free.

Danox teleported towards the dragoness, leaving Hunter sitting on a cloud, for a second not realizing what happened. The cheetah instinctively looked down and like in a fairytale he blinked in surprise several times and it was in this moment when gravity started to work.

He tried to scream, but the shout ended abruptly with a hiccup when his butt hit something solid, the body of the black dragon materialized in front of him, it took him a while to realize that he was sitting on the blunt side of Danox' tail tip, black tail extended to its very limit.

Danox reached Iris, immediately grabbing her four extended legs in his two big paws and pulled, one powerful jerk was enough to free the dragoness from the trap accompanied by a noise similar to a stretching paper.

The hungry orifice vanished under water, the dead, sticky tongue taking some of Iris' feathers with it to the depths.

"Can you fly?" he asked, the pull making their noses nearly touch each other, black eyes burying themselves into the white ones

She could feel her own breath rebounding off his snout.

Her reflection.

This can't be her reflection.

One of her eyes was missing.

"It's your fault!" her own reflection roared at her with a strong, male voice

Familiar voice.

Her wings spread open automatically, even if she could feel the slime causing discomfort to her joints she ignored it, anything was better than to stare at those eyes.

"Yes" she turned her eyes away and flapped her feathery wings that lost their charm due to the holes and goo covering them

Danox let go off the girl, flicking his tail up, making the cheetah fly back on top of his back. Hunter felt his skull emptying its contents, hands automatically grabbing hold of the black scales, everything else was just a drumming echo of terror.

The three dragons dashed forward, renewing their escape.

The chasing the group icy mane got closer.

More tentacles sprouted from the water.

"We won't outrun this thing if we keep fighting those tails!" Cynder shouted as she and Spyro put another one of the tendrils back into the water

"You will survive. Run. Rest is unimportant" Creep pleaded, she felt another surge of energy boiling inside her despite her will

She blocked it off.

"I'm not leaving anyone" she growled, Creep's influence lessened in strength

"Cyclone combo Cynder!" Spyro shouted, "It will slow us down, but we will still be moving, maybe quicker since we're going to keep these things off everyone's back!"

"No!" Creep protested, despite the fact that his hollow voice was unable to project emotions from his flickering body Cynder could tell that he was afraid and concerned for her life

Ready to save it no matter the cost.

If she just lets him.

"Wind is weak! Useless! Risk too big! Do not listen! Save your life!"

"You want to protect me, I get it" Cynder licked her lips "But I have to do this, I've done enough things for myself through my life without thinking for anyone else. It's their turn now"

"Mistake Sugar" Creep's smoky aura wiggled unevenly, flashing shyly unable to decide if to stay visible or disappear

"Let's do it Spyro" she decided

A groan of dissatisfaction echoed in her head.

Cynder sped up her flight, when she gained enough momentum she pumped elemental energy into her veins, straightening vertically she folded her wings closer and started to spin around. Faster and faster, wind began to howl, snowflakes dragged towards her, making circles around her, making the magical air whiter and whiter.

Spyro joined soon after, adopting the same pose as his mate he unleashed his own magic, shards and spikes of ice started to form around him. The double cyclone hurling the projectiles at immense speed, the magical whirl deflecting every strike of the tentacles.

The beast roared again.

The mountain of deadly fins and thrashing tentacles sped up even further.

The tentacles slowed however, their plan was working to some degree, the tails unable to reach the dragons through the cyclone of deadly energy.

"Let's get close to them!" Flare shouted, the group reacting immediately to his idea, seeking safety near the cyclones, keeping enough distance to avoid getting hurt. The tentacles due to their size were unable to reach them, even the tongues didn't risk it.

"This is too slow" Danox noted, observing the terrain ahead, the mist dispersed, he could see solid ground in the distance

At least he thought so, everything was covered in snow, but at least something other than ice began to appear and there were no tentacles in the distance.

Hunter's experienced eyes measured the distance between the land and the incoming beast, its size quite clearly won't be bothered by such magic. This conclusion confirmed his worst fears.

"We won't make it in this tempo, the monster will catch up, we need something else"

"Why these two idiots didn't tell anyone they can do such a thing?" Iris grumbled in annoyance "I'm working with fools" icy breath began wafting from her nose "I must push away, with these two spinning like retards I'll be able to slow down that thing, don't allow these disgusting things to touch me"

"What's your plan?" Flare inquired hopefully, his voice carried an unnatural hint of deepness to it

"Are you alright friend?" Hunter asked the fire drake who literally seemed to be on fire, every parts of his flaming body was blazing with the intensity of a hungry fire, even if cold aura of Spyro's magic was surrounding them, he could still feel the heat coming from the dragon

"Yes, it's cool" Flare coughed, aiming the back of his head at the group "Friends are more important"

"I don't have to explain myself to you" she stretched out her wings, feathers fluttering in anticipation "Go!" she roared

"Improvisation" Danox grinned "Me like"

Iris dashed forward, behind her flew her three companions.

The tentacles that sprouted in front of the group stopped trying to get to the strong, spinning dragons and opted for something that seemed like easier prey. Without the protective magic surrounding them, the tendrils dived down hungrily, cravingly reaching for flesh to catch.

"There's too many of them" Hunter grumbled, releasing an arrow at one of the tongue filled antennae that got too overly hungry and forgot about protecting itself, silencing the hungry tongue instantly

"Keep the left side clear burning boy, leave the right one to me" Danox flicked his tail up, thrusting his blade tip

To Hunter's surprise the blade seemed to impale itself into the sky, the black drake flapped his wings, gaining flying speed, his tail seemed to rip the fabric of the world like a curtain, creating a black, swiveling hole in the place of the sky, right above them and on the path of the diving tentacles.

There tendrils flew right into the hole, vanishing within as if the black hole above was a deep pocket. The opening in the fabric of the world closed soon after, severing the tentacles by the length that dived into the ominous portal.

The cut off pieces fell limply on the other side, dragged by gravity straight down onto the ice.

Such power, it made Hunter glad that this incredible dragon was on their side, it also made him wonder why he didn't use the same ability, or similar set earlier? Was he holding back?

Flame dashed right towards three incoming tentacles, after two strong flaps of wings he made a roll in the air, escaping from the path of the moving tendrils. His burning silhouette appeared in his place, still flying towards the enemy, the beast unable to tell the difference, or simply not caring, continued its invasion.

The moment the tentacles hit the burning form it exploded, searing flames scorching the beast's gullet and melting teeth, the limbs sinking back into the water in defeat.

One of the tongues reached him, in time he managed to form a protective fire shield around him, the sticky tongue flapped and clapped against his body, drooling all over him, due to the scorching flames however it was unable to grab a hold of him.

He didn't have such problems

He pulled the tongue by one of its reptilian strands and let out a stream of fire along its length, directing it at the orifice of the feeler . The shield not only surrounded him, but also turned him into one, shedding scale and turning his entire form into fire just like his wings.

The breath trailed against the paw holding the tongue and when it was leaving the surface of his body his flaming silhouette was being sucked by, becoming one with it as if his body would be shoved through a meat grinder.

He became the tongue of flame, sliding directly into the mouth of the hungry tentacle, there he became pulsing brighter and brighter until he finally exploded, sending a powerful, horizontal shockwave through the sky as if a dozen crates of dynamite would explode.

The rumble was deafening.

It torn apart the antenna completely, sending its pieces flying everywhere, Flare right in the spot where it was once, his body becoming scale once again with each pulse the fiery parts of his body sent out.

The boys gave Iris enough time to pursue her own plan.

She withdrew from the spinning dragons for the appropriate distance, rising in the air she straightened up vertically, spreading her feathery wings.

"Grit your teeth! This is going to hurt!"

Spyro and Cynder looked back at the flying dragoness, there was way too much satisfaction in this warning blare for their liking.

"You stop spinning when I say so!"

Iris arched her body backwards, inhaling an extremely deep breath that greatly puffed her chest out. Her wings froze in place and yet she kept hovering in the air, powerful ice magic began radiating from her. Every snowflake was being drawn towards her, at the edges and all around her wings ice started to form with cracking sounds.

Feathery wings moved backwards, gathered snow around her which seemed both natural and magical creaked in strained agony, like a bowstring that was tautened for too long.

In one swift motion she jerked her body down, sending out a freezing stream of ice at the turning dragons, her big wings made a flap, a blizzard was sent flying their way, dotted with sharp, shards of ice.

Spyro and Cynder closed their eyes, the intention to protect the lives of everyone far stronger than the fear of Iris skewering them just for fun. To their surprise however the shards passed right through them, as well as did the freezing blizzard, not all of it of course, no matter how much she would try Iris was unable to control every piece of the breath. Some of the shards pierced their bodies, some of the freezing whips lashed against their scales, but it was not intentional attack, it wasn't something that a dragon of their fortitude couldn't withstand.

But Iris was right, it did hurt and the groans of pain coming from their mouths only proved that.

Iris flapped her wings in steady beats, sending wave after wave of cold magic their way.

Maybe they would try to avoid it if not for the fact that at some point both of them glanced ahead and noticed something amazing. Iris' move perfectly combined with their cyclones, their magic speeding up the icy projectiles to speed of light, basically turning them to shredding, piercing projectiles that kept exploding on contact due to Iris' mastery of the element.

The lashing out tentacles fought desperately against the assault, but were unable to control their movements due to wind and the blizzard that kept covering them. Blizzard that got wider, faster and longer as it ran past their tornadoes.

Their magic pushing the white, freezing curtain right towards the approaching deadly mountain, wave after wave it kept slapping against it, matching its width and high, covering it with a white puff. Making it whiter and whiter, yet never to the point of overpowering it completely, the beast was simply too strong to be paralyzed.

Their combined magic was enough however to slow it considerably, what was once a swift pursue of a healthy predator turned into a sluggish slither of a wounded, limping wolf.

"Go!" Iris shouted, her voice commanding, yet tired, sleepy almost

Her head was hanging low wings making deep, long flaps as if they would be pushing only due to the mental strength of their owner through the numbness of fatigue. Her body kept thrashing around with each flap of wings, never remaining in one place.

You didn't have to be an expert to know that this effort took a great toll on her.

"Iris!" Flare yelled in worry, his voice a strange mix of his usual squeaking and roughness of a stiff paper

"I got her" Danox grabbed the exhausted dragoness in his paws

"This is our chance!" Hunter yelled, setting out another arrow loose "We can make it!"

The dragons who served as the barricade stopped spinning, Spyro slowed time immediately, already feeling the magic taking its toll on his essence already. He had enough juice though for this last, short move. He took Cynder's paw into his and pushed, dragging her slowed body behind him until they reached the rest of the group, staying back with all those tentacles there was a very dangerous idea.

Time returned to normal and Cynder who was already familiar with her mate's abilities had no trouble regaining her balance and catching up with the tempo of the rest of the group.

The beast shook off the slowing effect rather quickly, but to everyone's surprise it no longer chased them.

"It stopped" Hunter noted bluntly, so relieved to relax his burning shoulders

"Drawn to sound" Cynder heard Creep's voice inside her head

"It's-"

"Drawn to sound" Danox interjected

She felt her heart skipping a beat, did he just heard Creep? Did he just read her mind?

"How do you know?"

"Oh? Oh no, I just remembered a book I've read some time ago about various monsters, this creature was depicted there. Don't get me wrong though, if it wanted it would chase us, but since it lost it's best tracking system it doesn't want to bother locating us, especially when we showed it that we are no easy prey. Predators are capable of provocation"

"I see ground!" Flare exclaimed excitedly, his voice back to its normal innocent safe

Which now, in this moment of brake Spyro found quite surprising, considering the fact that earlier all that was needed was a small skirmish, without much effort to sent him over the edge.

This wasn't however the only thing he was surprised about.

They just got here and they already had to fight for survival against probably invincible foe and they were victorious. Triumph however wasn't as satisfying as the memory of this group working together, despite the differences they had their backs during this fight, despite their true motivation.

He had a feeling that this is why Terrador wanted him to recruit all of them, not because to test his leadership powers, it was there too of course, but probably to boost his own confidence in his abilities as a leader.

He knew what it meant to be a purple dragon.

The Guardian knew that this special individuals are more talented than everyone else, with their own experiences and skills and contrary to common soldier they didn't need commands to act.

All they needed a guidance, a reason to fight.

He was the reason, every single one of them expect something of him, every single one of them doesn't want to disappoint him for better reason or worse. Perhaps they didn't fight as friends, but they fought like companions, like a unit.

The time for friendship will come hopefully, after this fight he was certain of two things.

One, something spectacular is forming, with him being at the beginning and end of this formation being the one that keeps it together.

Two, when the merging will be complete, whatever thing that decides to declare war on them will regret it.

We are one.