darkSpyro

Starz flapped her wings and followed Aretis, dodging the little floating jellyfish that were hovering near the ground.

"Yeah." Starz nodded. She looked around a bit. "There!" She pointed over to a giant mushroom, which had a house in the stalk, with a small wooden door, some windows and a small chimey with smoke coming out of it. "That is Cenor's friend's house."

Starz landed beside Aretis and looked up at the door, waiting for it to be opened.
After a few seconds, they heard a creak and the door slowly opened. Just inside the doorway was an old, and rather small, black dragon. He had bright green eyes, grey wings and a few red lines on his back with light grey back spikes. As soon as he saw the two dragons on his doorstep, he smiled. "You must be Starz...and Aretis," he said, in a slightly trembling elder dragon voice. "Please, come in, come in, make yourself at home."
Starz smiled back at the elder dragon and slowly stepped into the warm mushroom home. She looked around. Shelves lines the walls, filled with books and glass bottles with colourful liquids. There was a small fountain in the corner, sparkling in the yellow light which hung above it. Next to the fountain was a table with a red cloth over it. More books, and assorted bowls, lay around on the rug-covered floor. There was also a pile of pillows and blankets which sat next to the large fireplace at the back of the room.
"I am sorry about the mess," the elder dragon apologized. He paused for a moment. "Oh, I have not even introduced myself yet. My name is Tulvir."
"Nice to meet you Tulvir." Starz smiled at him.

"Would you two like something to drink?" Tulvir asked, going over to a cupboard situated on the wall above the fountain and grabbing two bowls and filling them with water anyway.
"Oh, um..." Starz struggled to reply, but Tulvir had already placed the bowls filled with water in front of her and Aretis.
Tulvir sat down in front of them. "I am not sure how much Cenor told you about me."
"He didn't say much." Starz said.
Tulvir gave her a small smile. "Then I shall. I am a darkness dragon. I have two elements, which is darkness, or rather, shadow, and fire, and I am interested in magic and potions." He gestured the small potions that sat on the shelves around the room. "Currently I am researching about the darkness mist. Cenor said that you may have some questions for me about the darkness mist, or darkness in general, and I am sure I will be able to answer."

Tulvir sighed. He stood up and walked over to a pile of books which sat on a table near the fountain. "I fear that something powerful has been growing in the land of Xabar," he replied, looking down at his books. "I am not quite sure what it is though. As for the small darkness creatures you may have encountered, those are actually innocent beings from the land of Xabar. But they have been filled with so much hatred and anger, and those emotions have converted into darkeness surprisingly, and that is why the creatures are completely black with red eyes. Usually they are grey and have yellow or green eyes." He paused for a moment. "As for the mist, I believe that the darkness level in Xabar is growing, and it has converted into a mist, and it is now crawling across the borders and into the other sections and cities of Siyalor."

Tulvir nodded. "Yes, sadly you have. And I do not think there is way to save them." He paused for a moment. "I battled one the other night. I tried to examine it after I defeated it, but it just dissolved into mist and vanished. It seems the darkness has taken over the creature's whole body and if the darkness is destroyed, the creature is as well."

Tulvir shook his head. "Luckily, no. The Emerald City army, as well as other armies, have been near the darkness mist and have not been affected or corrupted in any way."

"How what?" Tulvir asked.
Starz sipped her water and then looked at Aretis.

"How do they get turned into the dark creatures?" Tulvir asked. "I am not completely sure. But I think they were either weak and were not able to overcome the amount of darkness that was taking over them, or they were forced to carry the darkness inside of them."

"That is currently all I know." Tulvir sighed and closed the book which was open on the table. "I am trying to find out more as we speak." He spotted movement by the window. "It seems I have a visitor..." he broke off and slowly walked over to the window, keeping his eyes on the thing by it.

Starz heard the noise outside and stood up. "Who's that?"
"We are about to find out," Tulvir said, glancing back at her before opening the door. He looked down and saw a grey creature laying down outside his house. He paused for a moment and then recognized her. "Greyscale." he blinked. "What a surprise. What are you doing here?"

"That is right." Tulvir nodded and gave Greyscale a warm smile. "May I ask what you are doing here?"

"No, no, it is alright." Tulvir smiled. "Would you like to come in, Greyscale?"

Tulvir nodded and stepped aside to let Greyscale into his home.
Starz blinked and craned her neck to see the creature who was about to enter the mushroom house.

"Hello." Starz gave Greyscale a small smile. "My name is Starz."
Tulvir shut the door behind him and wandered over to the side of the one-room mushroom home to get Greyscale a drink. He put a bowl of water on the ground in front of her and looked at the other two dragons. "Now, where were we?"

"It was travelling slowly at the start," Tulvir replied. "It started to speed up, but the armies have held it back as much as they can." He paused. "As for the answer to your first question, I do not know."

"At the front lines, the mist has transformed into creatures, so it is close combat, with some magic and spells to help keep the 'mist' where it is right now." Tulvir replied.
"That's strange." Starz murmured.

"That I do not know." Tulvir closed the book in front of him. "However, Cenor thinks you stand a chance against this darkness. That is why he has sent you on the quest. Maybe you will find out how to defeat the darkness along the way, or when you arrive at the battlefield."

"So, that's it?" Starz asked.
Tulvir nodded. "Yes. Unless you have another question that I may be able to answer."
Starz shook her head. "No."
A few moments of silence past before Tulvir looked over at Greyscale. "Greyscale?" he asked. "Have you heard anything about the darkness?"

"It's a mysterious darkness coming from the land of Xabar," Tulvir explained it briefly. "Currently it's trying to cover the rest of Siyalor, but the armies from the cities of Siyalor are holding it back."

"It has been working so far, but I can tell the defenses are weakening." Tulvir replied.

"Pretty much." Starz said.
Suddenly, the door burst open, and there stood a darkness creature.
"It seems one of them heard us talking about them." Tulvir said, who didn't seem surprised that a darkness creature had just destroyed his door.
The creature hissed and grabbed some of the objects near it. It picked up a vase, threw it at Tulvir, and then picked up a small table and threw it at Aretis.
Starz jumped up and rolled across to the other side of the room, ready to dodge any objects that came flying towards her. She shot a light beam at darkness creature, and it tried to dodge, but the beam caught its arm. The creature stumbled back and hissed at Starz.
Starz growled in response, ready to fire another attack.