26- Legacy (Finale)
#31 of The Legend of Rift Book III: Downfall
20 Years Later...
"Hey! No fair!" A drake shouted. His dark green scales scales matching his location as he ran through the forest. "You had a huge head start." He grumbled as he stopped, looking for his target. He yelped and rubbed his head as a pinecone hit him from above.
A feminine giggle told him all and he looked up, a bright white and black dragoness with an arm full of pinecones. She laughed as she saw the unimpressed look on his face. "Skoros, dear. You wouldn't be able to catch up even if you had a head start. You're too... heavy footed."
"Is that another way of saying fat?" Skoros huffed, slightly hurt by her comment. "I'll have you know that I'm the lightest earth drake in the city."
The dragoness smiled. "I swear I did not mean it like that. You're built like this tree." She patted the oak she lay in "Strong and stocky, muscles just begging to be squeezed."
The earth drake shook his head. "You're horrible Neala."
Neala smirked and stretched, hopping down with grace as she landed face to face with her companion. Her deep blue eyes brought a blush to his face. "Say that again please? I couldn't quite hear you from up there."
Skoros clammed up, stuttering. "N-nothing Neala, just... you look absolutely gorgeous."
The dragoness smiled warmly. "Aww, so sweet. But you still lost the race. Now you owe me something." She giggled as the drake frowned.
"I don't really have anything worth giving you." He sighed, wishing he could give the world to the pretty dragoness before him. A laugh caught his attention.
"Oh you silly drake." Neala chuckled. "What I want is right in front of me." She grew excited when his eyes widened, then facepawed when he raised a pinecone. "For Ancestors sake Skoros! I want you!"
His jaw dropped. "Me? Why me? I'm not anything special... considering what we'll be today. Why not one of the others? I know you and Solar are really close."
The dragoness rolled her eyes. "Solar is one of my best friends, but that is all she is. I'm not like my parents with that. You've been my best guy friend since school, and I've had my eye on you for years. You're strong but sensitive. Wise and naive. Caring almost to a fault. I really like you."
Skios couldn't believe his ears. Here was the dragoness he'd been chasing all his life confessing her attraction to him. "Gosh, Neala, I really really like you too. But don't you think this is the wrong time to- mmrf!"
His eyes nearly popped out of his head as the dragoness silenced him with a deep kiss. He struggled for a moment of shock before relaxing and returning it. His nerves were calmed, smiling with a cheeky grin as she pulled away.
"Today was the perfect day. I planned it for months, silly boy." Neala giggled. She looked up at the sky, a slight panic washing over her. "Oh dear, we need to get back to the city! We're late!"
Rift yowled softly, rubbing his face as his blue eyes opened. It may have been late in the afternoon, but he enjoyed his nap. He smiled as he looked around, Sithris on one side, Kara on the other.
The fire drake nudged them gently, waking them from their rest. Kara was quick to open her eyes, while Sithris whined in disapproval. Rift chuckled and licked his cheek. "I know, but we napped enough. We gotta go soon."
"I don't know if I want today to happen hon..." Sithris shook himself, reluctantly waking. "I know this is our daughter's big moment, but you..."
Rift stopped him with a small nod. "I know hon, but this is something we've been working on for a very long time. They'll do fine."
"And I'll still be there to set them straight if they don't." Kara laughed, picking up a small box.
Sithris sighed. "You already made that joke, can't set things straight when your mates aren't. You need some new lines."
The Wind Guardian huffed. "So rude Sithy! Keep quiet next time or I'll make some new lines in your face." She giggled. "Then again, the only one that seems to make new lines Is Rift when we show him how much of a sub-"
"Hey!" Rift cut in, cheeks flushed. "Not when Silvus could be here at any time. I prefer him not to hit me with a stick for you two discussing this." He groaned as he stood up, moving the bandana back around to its correct orientation. "Let's get some food before we go."
Sithris and Kara both licked their lips at the idea of a meal as they followed the orange drake out to the kitchen. They sat at the table for a few minutes, eyes widening in excitement as he handed his mates each a slab of cooked venison. The dragons ravished their meals.
Sithris groaned and rolled onto his back. "That really hit the spot hon." He looked over at his orange mate and scowled. "Really? All that meat and now this?"
Rift yipped at being caught, maw open with a large wedge of cheese dangling above it. "I um... It attacked me and I was defending myself."
"Yeah Sithy, you should have seen it. It was all like Rawr! And Rift was all 'Not today.'" Kara snickered at her mate's failed excuse to consuming the dairy product.
Sithris sighed and shook his head. "On a normal day, I'd have you put it back. But considering today, have at it, pest."
The orange drake grinned, tail wagging in excitement as he stuffed the large wedge in his maw, chirping as he happily chewed. With one gulp, he sighed in content. "Cheese and venison, can't go wrong with that." He groaned and walked onto the living room.
His enthusiasm dropped a bit as he stared at what was recovered from his armor. "Today is the day." He reached over and grabbed a satchel. Looking at the chest plate, he found the large polished spessartite garnet embedded in the center. With a grunt, he pulled it out, placing in the bag, as well as the small box Kara brought in. "Shouldn't Neala have been back now?"
Sithris walked in, concern on his face. "Yeah, she wanted some alone time with Skoros..." His eyes widened in horror. "I shouldn't have said that."
Rift rolled his eyes and chuckled. "She's 26, older than all of us when she was born. She's old enough to find a mate. Poor Skoros though, he'll have his hands full with her."
Kara joined them and smiled softly. "Still feels like yesterday when we were staring at her egg while she hatched. Not by much, but they were simpler times."
"Yeah..." Rift sighed. "I miss Zapras, he'd be so proud of Neala." Sithris and Kara were silent, both pulling Rift into a hug. A portal opened behind them as an armored-up Silvus stepped out.
"We're ready to begin guys. Everyone else is there... Where's the two young ones?" The Light Messenger worried. "We can't keep the other's waiting."
The door slammed open as a tangle of white and green tumbled to the ground. "Sorry! It was my fault. I didn't realise how late it was." Neala exclaimed.
Silvus shook his head. "Of all of Sith's traits you had available, you picked his inability to be here on time. Try not to do it again. Now, we need to go."
The dragons found themselves at the Ancestor's Rise, where all the Guardians were represented. Twenty years later, and it was still unchanged, the majority of Guardian orbs still dull.
Rift smiled as he looked to the side, seeing the Messengers all in their armor, new and old alike. He bowed to them, smiling as they bowed back. Most of them he had helped to train, getting them ready for a multitude of adventures. Beside them, stood Kardia, with a blue and green drake next to her. His eyes were a bright amethyst like his father.
Last were five of the seven new Guardians, with his daughter and Skoros making up the other two. One of them, a scarlet dragoness, ran up to him. "Master Rift, I'm not sure about this. You should stay."
Rift shook his head gently. "Solar, sometimes a dragon goes through things in their life that impact their future. I've been Guardian for twenty-nine years, short by most standards of Guardians. But I've been through the ringer. It's time I move aside. You have learned everything I could teach. This is your time."
The fire dragoness nodded slowly and gave him a hug, moving back with the others. He returned to his mates, joining in their hug with Neala. He smirked at her reddening cheeks, knowing that she was simply acting around the others. "We have something for you."
The plasma dragoness perked up at that, watching as Sithris reached into Rift's satchel and handed her a small box. She stared at it for a moment, admiring the shiny exterior before her curiosity won out. Inside, a pair of bronze goggles with green lenses.
Sithris smiled with pride, his own pair sat comfortably on his head. "They have all the same enchantments mine have. You may be a Guardian, but you will always be our little tinkerer."
Neala put them on her head, pulling her parents into a big hug and feeling a few tears fall. "Thank you so much. I will make you guys proud."
Kara grinned and pat her back. "I know you will, and I'll be there to make sure you do." She looked to Rift and Sithris. "You are always welcome home."
"Everyone, I need your attention please. I need all current Guardians with me, and new Guardians at your respective orb. Rift will stand next to Solar." Silvus announced, watching as they all got in place.
The fire drake looked at his cousin, a mix of sadness and relief. "Will it hurt Silvus? Giving up my power I mean."
The silver dragon shook his head. "When Solar becomes Guardian, she will immediately gain her Guardian powers. You however will still have yours, for a time. It will eventually fade away." He sighed. "Are you sure about this Rift?"
The orange drake nodded slowly. "It's time, I'm just glad my last few years were spent training the young ones and changing the Guardian rules to allow dragonesses and mates."
Silvus sighed and nodded. "Before you go, thank you Rift. You were one of the best Fire Guardians."
Rift smiled and stepped beside Solar, pressing a paw on the fire orb. It began to glow, blue flames swirling for a moment before it finally went dim. Rift's time as Guardian was done. He smiled at everyone, stepping away and over to Sithris.
Rose stepped up to Silvus and smiled to the room. "Thank you Rift for your service. Thank you friends, family, Messengers, and Guardians for being here today. Twenty years ago the Realms were thrown into chaos as Queen Shara executed Guardians and innocents alike. Today we mark the beginning of a new era. We have never had so many new Guardians at once. So while normally this would be more private, I felt it would be good to celebrate the new age. Seven new Guardians will join our current nine to mark the first time in generations that all elements are represented."
Neala stared at the Plasma orb, feeling entranced by it as she had decades prior. This time though, it called to her, seemingly inviting her with a warm glow. She shook herself, turning to smirk at Skoros staring at the Earth orb.
The Light Messenger continued. "Candidates, you have proven your abilities and wisdom through years of experience and training. Now, place a paw on your orb and let the power of Guardians flow."
The Rise began to glow as many of the orbs breathed new life. Neala looked to her parents questioningly. When they nodded, she pressed her paw on the orb.
Immediately the sphere came to life, glowing brightly as she saw the figures of the former Plasma Guardians surround her. They said nothing, but smiled, fading away as the orb floated brightly. She stared at her paw, feeling the wisdom and strength of her predecessors throughout her entire body.
Rose grinned, her brother doing the same. "You are all Guardians now. May you bring peace through the Realms, and don't overwork your Messengers. Sorry Silvus." The room laughed as he poked his tongue out. "You may now all do as you wish."
Hours passed as dragons socialized, enjoying probably the only time in their life that everyone was together. Finally, Rift pulled Neala into a big hug. "I'm proud of you. You'll be a fine Guardian."
The dragoness smiled. "You were a pretty fine Guardian yourself dad. I take it you're heading out now?"
Rift nodded. "Yeah, I need to visit somewhere for a bit."
Neala hugged him again. "I'll visit home whenever I can. You be safe dad."
The orange drake smiled and walked to his cousin. "I'm ready to go cousin."
Silvus pat his back and summoned a portal. "You take care Rift. I'll see you when things are sorted." Once the drake had walked through the portal faded away.
Recommended Song: Daniel Lanois- That's the Way It Is
Rift closed his eyes and took a breath, taking in the scent of a place long ago called home. He opened his eyes, finding the lake had changed. After twenty years, it had become greatly overgrown. The short green grass now almost his height. The cave had crumbled, a victim of age.
The lake itself however was a clear as it had always been. Little ripples covered the surface as the sun reflected off the surface. The drake stared at it for several hours, reflecting on everything that happened throughout his life. He took a deep breath, slowly releasing it as he found a large patch of sand, digging a little hole deep enough for him to be content.
Flapping behind him told of visitors, not needing to look to see who they were. He reached into his satchel, staring at the gem that once sat in his armor. He smiled as he looked around, finding Sithris and Kara standing beside him.
He said nothing, slowly placing the gem in the hole and covering it back up. The sunset had to have been the most perfect that he had ever seen. He groaned softly and laid down on his belly, his mates joining him.
Sithris licked his cheek. "Now that you're no longer Fire Guardian, what are you planning to do?"
Rift smiles softly, placing his wings over his mates. "Guardian of Dragon's Claw like my dad maybe." He looked up at the sky, seeing an image of his parents smiling at him, a warm glow emanating from his bandana. "But I have plenty of years left for that. For now, just enjoy my life with the two greatest mates a pest could ask for."
He felt both mates lick his cheek, before leaning against him. He cooed in comfort. The three watched the sunset, smiling at each other. Rift knew then, this was his legacy.
THE END
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Over a year of planning, and about four months to write, this story was one I was set on finishing before I started uploading. Unfortunately, I have no patience, which led to me posting multiple times a week.
It's weird to think back on my time writing about that ridiculous orange and silver dragon. The Fire Within, like my Bolt story before it, wasn't even upload-worthy. Some characters were somewhat similar. Keltin was the same as he was in Crushed Dreams and Resurrection, which is thanks to him being directly based off an unnamed person who I've had near physical altercations with. Tygor was also mostly left unchanged, but had a very minor part. Kara was originally Zara, based off of my ex. Her name changed early in Resurrection due to breaking up, and the character by that point was too ingrained in the story to completely remove. Void and Ravine also didn't exist, with Spyro and Cynder being Rift's parents.
I still remember the weeks of designing Rift. I knew from the start that he would have orange due to my obsession with the color. He also would need blue eyes, as it is the one physical trait I like about myself. The biggest question was his second color. My original plan was for him to have black scales, with orange as his secondary. This didn't last though as I felt it really didn't fit him. I then thought to Halo, where I used silver as my primary color. Plus, it was my favorite metal. A couple more days passed and I settled on reversing his colors, making him the orangy derp we know now. His name was the most difficult portion. I spent weeks searching up dragon names, never being happy with what I found. While I didn't have any idea of where his story would go, I knew I wanted him to have a sort of mysterious power that activated once he was pushed too far. That power would eventually be reworked into Supernova. With mysterious as a key part of him, Void came to mind, but it didn't seem to quite work. Rift popped up right then and it clicked. I was also playing Skyrim at the time, so I decided that Rift would be short for Riften.
The Fire Within was, to be blunt, worse than laxative-induced excrement. It was based on my initial writing style, where 200 word chapters would be long chapters for me. Like my Bolt story before it, and up through Resurrection, I had no plot figured out, with chapters being written as they came with no actual overall story. It wasn't the way to write, but just like Rift, I've always been more the spontaneous type.
Around this time, I had plenty of issues at home. My dad was badly injured in a wreck, and my mom flipped out and moved to the eastern U.S. I was only in my sophomore year of high school, and it was just my dad and I holding on by a string. We became really close during that time, but it was rough.
I ended up stumbling across A Newcomer by the Constitutionalist. I had seen plenty of the traditional human suddenly ends up in dragon realms stories, but the more realistic and dark aspects of it intrigued me. After some back and forth conversations, he agreed to bring a revised Rift into his story if I made a one shot for his origins.
Rift's entire backstory was scrapped and redone as well as his quirks and personality being exaggerated. Crushed Dreams was created and it was a one shot I was greatly proud of. It finally broke the 1000 word barrier and I had clear reasoning to why this version of Rift is a dick for his first few chapters of A Newcomer. People liked the oneshot, and The Constitutionalist agreed to Crushed Dreams being Rift's perspective of A Newcomer, with me scrapping The Fire Within altogether.
Once The Constitutionalist slowed down on A Newcomer, I became more eager to write. With his permission and my knowledge of the ending, I began Resurrection, putting off Crushed Dreams for when I felt there was enough content to write. Resurrection was a tough one, requiring Zara to become Kara due to my relationship with my ex coming to a close, and lack of direction. I knew the broad idea of the ending, but no idea of how to get to those points. Resurrection was put on hiatus.
A few months into college and I felt a small resurgence in my desire to write. Two oneshots were written, a lemon with Rift and Kara, and a Thanksgiving special. I also cracked 3000 words with a chapter of Crushed Dreams, albeit covering three chapters of A Newcomer. My writing would disappear for many months, with focus going to my film screenwriting. I would come up at that point with more plot for Resurrection, specifically, Rift's attempted suicide, and his final showdown with Keltin. A major difference at this time to when the chapters were written was Tygor's inclusion. He was originally supposed to accompany Rift through the story as just a friend. Unfortunately, later events with his real life counterpart would change that.
July of 2015 saw the true beginning of my life; when I met and became friends with Thomas, or his online name, Sithris. Our friendship quickly grew and he agreed to help co write Resurrection, with his dragon now accompanying Rift. Over six months passed before we actually finished his introduction chapter, and in that time, we became closer than friends, we were now in a relationship.
For a couple more years, we would slowly write more and more, eventually with me retaking full writing responsibility. Early 2017 was when I told Tygor's real life counterpart about Sithris and I being together. His reaction unfortunately was greatly different than I had expected, and our friendship deteriorated.
Sithris would fly over to America from Australia and it was an immediate mutual agreement that we would forever be together. Another eight months, and I would finally finish Resurrection. I wish I could be proud for finishing it, but many things in life hit at that time. My college began going under, Sithris was denied a visa to stay with me, and I had severe stomach problems that have only recently been found to be a dead gallbladder. During all this, I flew to Australia to be with Sithris. That time led me to adore the land down under. Once I returned, I finished my college, began planning Downfall, and flew back to Australia for three months.
Most of the plot was planned from the start. I knew I wanted Rift to be turned, for an evil queen, and to explore a bit of Ravine. I have to say right now that Shara WAS NOT based on Game of Thrones. I had Shara designed a year before the last season aired.
After a brief return back to America to get things in order, I went back to Australia, where I've happily been living since February of 2019. I also accomplished my dream of marrying Sithris, making each day better than the last.
Downfall was specifically set to begin writing over a year after Resurrection was finished. This allowed time to situate my new life and to write two other stories; Scorching Ignition, which shows Rift's journey to become Fire Guardian, and Beginning of the End, a oneshot teasing Downfall.
Book III was a project I was unsure I could work. At this point, I only completed one long story, and it had taken five years. This story was to be fully written before any part was posted, conclude both the Legend of Rift and Forgotten Legend series that SilverFury23 and I had merged into one universe, and be written the way I wanted; harsh and violent.
I am greatly proud of how it came out. Written in a few months instead of years, better structured, and breaking the 4k word barrier. I gave this story my all, and the series has been a huge part of my life. For all the controversy the Legend of Spyro series has had, it gave me a basis to form my life.
So where do we go from here? The Constitutionalist has told me he hasn't given up on A Newcomer. So when he posts, I will happily update Crushed Dreams, and the occasional oneshot. But on top of that, I'm happy to be announcing that I will be rebooting the Legend of Rift as a fully original novel, set in it's own universe with new characters and conflicts.
Enough of my rambling, thank you all so much for reading and supporting my stories, it really means the world to me. Thank you the Constitutionalist and SilverFury23 for bringing me Into your storied. Thank you Sithy for becoming the most important thing in my life. Thank you Darklighteryphon for always reviewing. And thank you all for reading.