darkSpyro

Overview:

Skylands has been sieged and conquered for the past 107 years by a new evil force: Furnace Knights. Standing twice as tall as Giants and twice as powerful as Trap Masters, the Skylanders have been eradicated, and Skylands was left defenseless and hopeless; that was, until Aurora, the niece of Eon, was sent to bring the Furnace Knights to their knees. Although, she will not do this alone. She was left a scroll of the ancients that highlighted the eighteen true Sensei: the only vigor force left in Skylands who have the power to counter the Furnace Knights' reign. Aurora is destined to find the Sensei to build a strong team to take back her home once and for all.

Table of Contents:

Prologue....................................................Post #2 (10/16/16)
Part 1: The Escape from Molkaria
Chapter 1: Arctic Encounter.......................Post #3 (10/17/16)
Chapter 2: Frigid Reveal.............................Post #4 (10/19/16)
Chapter 3: Menacing History......................Post #5 (10/21/16)

“Dear Survivor,

Skylands is in a state of despair and devastation. A new force, Furnace Knights, has conquered Skylands from end to end. The Skylanders could not prevail. Kaos had been an easy challenge for the heroic Skylanders, but the Furnace Knights have an entirely different strategy from that of Kaos. They are wise, intellectual. Each one stands twice as tall as a giant and battles twice as strongly as a Trap Master. Furnace Knights are the same species as a former Skylander, Blast Zone, but ultimately more powerful. I have been hiding in my home in The Perilous Pastures for a boundless time now. It’s so cold and I am starving. The crops have died from the polar winds caused by the radiative warfare by the Furnace Knights, but that doesn’t matter now. They’ve sieged the area and massacring all of us Mabu. I am not certain why I have not been found yet. I believe they seek to find me, for I have a limitless amount of information about the origins of these Furnace Knights.

But, there is no time. I can hear them trying to burst through the entrance of my cottage now. If you are reading this, I apologize for the deficiency of competence of this letter. This is the end for me. Good luck, my friend. I must now surrender myself to...”

“Darn... they demolished this whole village. Who knew what valued information he or she had in their cottage... it too is demolished now.” Aurora, staring at the document with chockfull pity, placed the paper in the fold of her kimono. The entire village of The Perilous Pastures had been pillaged by the Furnace Knights.

At that moment, her core objective was to search for Mabu survivors. Sadly, the Furnace Knights were not ones to leave innocents unscathed. She was discouraged by not finding any survivors, but that was not her center purpose. Her center purpose was to bring down the tyrannical force of the Furnace Knights, but she knew that she could not do that alone.

Beginning of Part 1: The Escape from Molkaira



Morning broke across the horizon. Although the sun was not visible due to the wintry, ominous clouds that enclosed the sky from all of the lands. It had been like that ever since 27 years before, when the Furnace Knights launched their first attacks with a new weapon they used: nuclear Traptanium energy. With the fatalness of nuclear energy and the synergy of Traptanium, applying this mineral of warfare to weaponry lead to a devastating environmental meltdown over almost all of Skylands.

Aurora rested in one of the remaining, stable cottages left in the remains of The Perilous Pastures for the night. Although it was cold, damp, and unkempt, Aurora found it suite compared to the rest of the debris in the area. It had been weeks since she last saw a hut that was safe for sleeping in. In previous nights, she had to sleep in the trenches of shattered fields on the large island of Molkaira. Although the past few weeks had caused her to become physically disheveled, it did not lessen her courage even to the smallest margin.

Aurora, in a deep rest, was suddenly awakened by a loud thumping on the crevice south of the cottage she currently idled in. Wondering what the source of the noise was, she exited the opening of the cottage quietly, creeping towards the south end of the hut. It was snowing pretty intensely, so the best she could do was peer at the area she heard it from. She confirmed that it was just the wind, and went back inside to acquire her luggage and continue her voyage.

Suddenly, an ice chompy prowled out of the deep snow and pounced onto Aurora, aiming to bite into her arm. She flung the chompy off in surprise and lured away from it, beginning to run back into the cottage to obtain her blades to defend herself. As she grew closer to the entrance, more ice chompies sprung from the surface, chasing her as she reached the door. Before long, she was surrounded by ice chompies, and had no choice but to flee away from the cottage.

Scampering in fear, Aurora reached a bungalow and immediately entered it, closing off the entrance behind her. She was safe for now. Although, once she caught her breath, she noticed something peculiar about the interior of this bungalow; something that made it different from the previous buildings she had searched. There was armor hanging on a mantle, along with a helmet, fish meat, and a stack of burnt firewood residing the center of the room. This firewood had been used recently, and the aroma of the cottage did not resemble rubbish and abandonment; it resembled inhabitance. In astonishment, Aurora began fidgeting with the helmet on the mantle.

“Are you finding yourself anodyne under this roof?” Aurora heard from behind her, causing her to jolt in revelation and shift to peer at the entrance. Standing there was a large, robust, well-armored penguin man with a welcoming expression on his face. Despite this quality, Aurora still stared in shock, despondent and unwary.

“W-who are you?” Aurora managed to sputter out after a prolonged silence in the room. Her lip trembled, for her lack of defenses left her hopeless for if this individual was futile.

The penguin man lured closer to her, still with a glance of assurance on his face. “Me? Well, Miss, I am Pentious, the dweller of this bungalow; well, at least at the moment. I observed you fleeing from chompies just a moment ago, am I correct?” he asked, with his stiff body becoming more tranquil when recognizing her innocence. Aurora nodded, still as wide-eyed and silent as can be. “Well, if that’s the case, let us head back to your cottage. Hop on my back, for my armor and blades will defend us,” he said sternly.

Aurora climbed onto Pentious’s back, still filled with uncertainty. The face of this barbaric-looking penguin looked unexplainably familiar to her. She remained motionless as Pentious plundered through the snow, slaughtering ice chompies left and right with his shrill blades, which were attached to his flippers. Ice chompies appeared to be no challenge to him, shown by the confident smirk that coated his face. “Huh, your cottage is closer than I thought, young girl!” Pentious shouted, as he grew closer to the snow-covered cottage. He then stormed through the entrance, placing Aurora down gently on the ground.

“T-thank you. By the way, my name is Aurora. I had no idea there were so many chompies in this area... I-I thought it was abandoned!” Aurora muttered, shivering from shock and the bitter cold aroma of the room.

Pentious just chuckled and smiled down at her. “Ah, silly girl. Molkaira is bursting with ice chompies. It’s been like that ever since the polar winds came in many years ago. It probably isn’t safe for someone as small as you.”

“Hey, it's Aurora! And I’m not that small! I’ll have you know that I’m only 15 years old!” Aurora shouted, pouting gruffly soon afterwards.

Pentious chuckled once again. “Yeah yeah, 15 years young. Hey, if you are not staying in this area, perhaps you could follow me. I was planning to leave this village at the break of dusk tonight, for that is when all of the ice chompies lay their head to rest... perhaps the only time they do it,” Pentious laughed hysterically. “Would you be interested in coming along?”

Knowing that she had very little options left, Aurora couldn’t deny this offer. Besides, she knew it would be best to travel in numbers, since she had no prior experience to being in Molkaria. The bitter cold and overflowing amount of ice chompies could and would take her in a matter of time. Aurora began to acquire her weapons and luggage to leave the area.

It was now 17:20: about the time the sun set in this deserted district of Skylands. Aurora had all of her necessities and luggage loaded into her backpack, but was still violently shivering from the extreme cold of the evening winds. Pentious, on the other hand, was not affected by the temperature of the atmosphere. He had left his luggage and spare armor in his bungalow for safe keeping. Besides, he was more concerned with Aurora’s protection right now.

Aurora began to shiver so stridently that it began to worry Pentious. “Why is this temperature causing you such discomfort? Haven’t you been in this region for weeks?” he questioned.

“Yes, but... I ran out of food the night before last. I have no energy left to keep me warm,” Aurora whispered, fighting to speak each word through her shivers.

“Ah, I see.” Pentious grinned over at Aurora. “In that case, I do not have any clothing for you. Although, I know of an area where there is quite a plentiful supply of food; fish, in specific.”

“I would greatly appreciate any sort of food right now. I’m beginning to starve, I believe,” she sighed. She then squinted over at Pentious. “Hey, how come you didn’t bring any fish you had already prepared? I saw plenty of it hanging in your bungalow!”

Pentious, as always, laughed hysterically. “Ah, yes. You did see that, didn’t you! Well, that was just bait for when I try to fish away the chompies, heh-heh.” He then took a deep breath, preparing a more serious appeal. “Allow me to explain. I am a penguin, as you can see, but no ordinary penguin; I am from the Penjoujhin Race: a powerful people. We Penjoujhins can not only contend with extreme cold, but we can also go months without eating. It’s an evolutionary trait, I would say, from our race being around for thousands of years.” Aurora just stared at him idly after that. Pentious’s description of his ancient race befuddled her. It wasn’t the facts that he gave her that conveyed concern, it was the fact that his depiction was oddly familiar to her.

“Those words, they sound so... familiar.” Aurora then halted with her eyes locked onto Pentious. She then began to dismantle her luggage from her backpack. After digging through a hefty pile of supplies, she then grabbed the scroll that was granted to her by her uncle, Eon. She began to examine it thoroughly, reading through the ancient codes and illustrations that she had attempted to interpret in the past. Occasionally glancing up at Pentious, she noticed that an uneasy expression began to appear on his face.

“W-what are you doing, Aurora? We have to get going! N-night does not persist endlessly, are you not aware?” The agitation of Pentious was even more apparent now.

Aurora then stopped, slowly placing the scroll into her backpack, placing it on her back and looking over at Pentious. She was no longer shivering now. “I suppose you are correct. We should get going. Besides, the night doesn’t last forever, right... King Pen?”

She then began to bow to Pentious, but everything went black before she finished.

Aurora opened her eyes to a dark, damp cavern. She came to the conclusion that it was still nighttime, for the only light in the area was a bonfire lit about a body’s length away from her. Slowly coming to her senses, she saw a large figure across from her on the other side of the bonfire. It was Pentious, with a disturbed, irate expression on his face.

“What do you request from me?” Pentious asked, staring at Aurora with resentment covering his face, but fear covering his mind.

“What? What are you talking about?” Aurora asked in response, still coming to her senses.

“Obviously you’re trying to lure me into something. The scroll. The name. No one is supposed to have knowledge of that! I knew that mysterious attire was a ruthless insignia.”

Aurora, realizing what he was asking, scratched her head and stared down at the cold ground, thinking of a way to tell Pentious. “Well, I’m sorry... It’s just, I have been out on a quest to, as improbable as it sounds, end this fatal crisis in Skylands caused by the Furnace Knights. My uncle, Eon, died years ago from a catastrophe caused by them. Days before he died, he gave me this scroll and told me that it would help me find the 18 Elite Sensei of Skylands so I wouldn’t have to do it alone-”

“Eon, huh?” Pentious interrupted. “... I’ve heard legends about him; about his power and fortitude that he had before he retired from being a Sensei himself. I am not certain if he was elite in his ranking or not, but he seemed like a very respectable man.”

“Yes, that he was... But, tell me, King Pen-”

“Do not call me that.”

There was an extensive silence after that. The only thing audible in the sullen cave was the sound of dew dripping onto the ground. The two both looked away from each other, both lost in thoughts and anxiety. The silence was eventually broken by Pentious.

“Just... do not call me that. Someone as adolescent as you would not understand. The Sensei... are all hiding as of now. It has been this way for decades. After we heard about the calamitous fate of the Skylanders, we were in despair. We did not know what to do; we had to retreat! We were no match for the Furnace Knights! Once they caught sight of us, they were out to capture us! The only way we could prevent that from occurring was to spread across the deserted areas of Skylands, to disperse across the lands. I took shelter in this district, for the Knights have not returned here since they destroyed this area years ago. I was the only survivor... I was a coward... I should have defended the civilians who died that day. It haunts me, all of those frantic faces that I saw that day as I retreated once again, just as I did that day when the Sensei first dispersed. This was indeed the cavern that I retreated to.”

Aurora glanced at Pentious blankly, but was filled with sympathy towards him. “I would not blame yourself for the death of those civilians. It was not your primal responsibility to defend them.”

Pentious sighed and bowed his head in disgrace. “Oh, for only if that was true... You see, those people were Penjoujhins-” Pentious stood up with his eyes closed, tilted his head downwards with a grieving appearance, and took off his helmet, revealing a mysterious tribal symbol. “and I was their king... King Pen.”

The king was now kneeling in revelation.