darkSpyro

She smiled. The feather told her that he had at least been here. There were tracks on the ground. She had no idea why Nir had been going by land, but it did make it easier to find him. The tracks led into a bush. She looked inside. She could not help but laugh at what she saw.

"About time you showed up." Nir said. "I was starting to think you forgot about me. And stop laughing!"
"Sorry." Telana said. "It's just... I never imagined to see you like this."
She looked at the hatchling. It was a female. Her scales were red, with a black line starting on the top of her head going down to where her wings were, and then out on them. On each wing, there were also two additional lines going from the main line to the back of them.
"Would you, like, mind getting this lizard away from me now?" Nir asked.
"I don't really know." Telana said as she smiled. "It seems to me she enjoys your company."

She was a tiny bit afraid. But not much. There was something about this mysterious creature that made her curious. It looked a bit like mom, but also a bit like the strange bird under her. Apparently, they knew each other. She heard the bird call her a lizard. She thought about pulling of it's feathers. But that maybe would make this creature angry. It appeared as if it would allow her to keep her warm bed at least for a little bit more. Maybe mom knew something about this creature. She would have to ask her later.

She was just about to ask Nir how he became a bed when a shadow passed over the ground. She looked up, but saw nothing. She looked at the shadow again. There was something strange about it. She asked herself what, then she saw it. It was not a normal shadow. Normal shadows did not change color randomly. And normal shadows did definitely not rise up from the ground.

She tried closing her eyes. They remained open. She tried to look away, but couldn't. The scene that played in front of her was all too familiar. A dead dragon lying on the ground. Another dragon, desperately trying to awake the first. Claws piercing through scales, digging through flesh. Tears coming with the realisation that she never would wake up again. She was still haunted by memories of when she had been in that position. She still remembered when she saw the body of the one she had loved. She tried moving, but couldn't. Something was holding her down. Next to her, Nir was also held down by some invisible force. The mysterious creature, randomly chanigng colors, moved towards the hatchling. Telana saw no way out of it. She had no doubt that she and Nir would be next. The creature had now reached the little one. Claws were raised into the air, and then fell down. And again. And a third time. She could only watch in surprise. No matter how many times those claws fell down upon it, the hatchling seemeed unaffected. It then turned its head. Eyes glowing blood red looked at the creature with a fury Telana had never before seen. A light appeared. It was bright enough to make her feel as if her eyes were set aflame. Finally, they obeyed her command to close. She felt a wave of heat hit her. The next moment, the ground disappeared. Something hit her head hard.

Bloodstar opened his eyes. In the distance, he could see a massive, red beam. He was not sure, but it looked like it was coming from the moon. He felt pain go through his body. The parts of him that now were metal were reacting to something. Electricity came from them, going through his body. He knew it had to have some connection to that beam.

She felt more alive then she had done even before she had been cursed with death. She knew it came from the beam she saw in the distance. It came from the moon, how that now could be possible. She looked at the crystal that hovered where her heart once had been. Black lightning shot out from it, travelling through her body.

Fear. Hatred. Rage. Tarina felt them all. They came from that beam. Something had happened there. Something she had never heard about before. She thought about going there and look, but had second thoughts. If the feelings she picked up were correct, that would not be a good idea.

Something about the beam felt familiar. Stardeath could not tell exactly what, but there was something about it. He closed his eyes, but could still feel it.

"Do you know what that is?" The blue female asked.
He shaked his head.
"No." He said. "But it looks familiar... Tara, when I look at that beam... It reminds me of my mother for some reason."
She looked at him. If it reminded him of his mother, it could only mean one thing. She smiled. Everything was going just as she had hoped.

The only thing that could be seen within the shadows were two red eyes. They looked at the beam. If anyone was around to see them, the fury they contained would have been deadly.

Pain. Her whole body was in pain. Especially her wings. She tried getting up, but couldn't. The cliffs came closer. She knew not why, but every part of her told her to stay away from those cliffs. The problem was that she couldn't.
A shadow fell on her. She looked up. It was one of the big white flying lizards that had suns in their mouths. It looked at her. She looked into its eyes, begging it to help her. It moved. Claws fell towards her. Everything went dark.

Telana opened her eyes. That dream. She knew it. It was not the first time she dreamed about that. She still remembered the day when it had been real. But one thing was different. This time, she had been that bird.
Something moved next to her. She tried looking at it, but couldn't. Just like in the dream, her entire body was in pain.
Something entered her vision. A young female dragon. It was red, a black line starting on the top of its head running down its neck to where the wings started, splitting up onto them, splitting twice more on each to the back of them. Memories returned to her. She closed her eyes.

"Don't worry." The voice said. "You'll be safe with her."
It sounded like mom. And apparently she was talking about the mysterious creature. They did both look pretty much alike, but there was still some differences.
"She'll take care of you." The voice continued. "I would love to stay, but I have to go. Remember, I will always love you."
So, mom wanted her to stay with this creature. Well, if that was what her mom wanted her to do, then that would probably be the best thing to do. She looked at the bird. If she stayed with this creature, perhaps she would get more chances to play with it.

She felt the young female lie down next to her. Ignoring the pain, she laid one of her wings over her. She had a feeling this little girl would attract much more attention then she would, and she did not feel as if she would be able to defend them right now.

She was surrounded by fire. But it did not hurt her. She did not even feel the heat from it. Wherever she walked, the fire splitted in two, making a path for her to walk. At least, the normal looking fire did. But not the green flames. They started to change shape. The head of a dragon. A face she remembered. A face that revealed it's owner had been terrified. Terrified by what she had done to him. She could clearly remember it. Her claws piercing his scales. Touching his heart...
She looked away. It did not help much. She was now surrounded by green flames, each one a different face, each one belonging to another victim of her.
There was only one way to go. She ran. Blue flames blocked her path. They too took the form of a face. And this one, she remembered the best. In front of her was now the face of the one she once had loved.
The flames changed shape again. Into an orb. Two blood red eyes appeared in the middle of it. She could easily feel the pure evil that it was. Yet she could not believe it.
"A nightmare." She said. "It's a nightmare. It must be!"
"No." A voice said from inside the orb. "You know it's not. It's the truth, and you know it. You know, deep inside, the truth. You know that you are alive only because I want it! You know that, deep inside, we... Are... One. As your master, I command you to burn this world to ashes!"
She walked back. The ground disappeared below her. She could not believe it. All that time she had been with him. All the moments they had shared. How they had loved each other. Had it all been planned out? To trick her into starting the war? She closed her eyes. She could not believe it. She felt as if someone had stabbed a knife through her heart. A burning knife, covered with a poison that kept her alive forever while it pained her too much to even think.

The whole world was at her command. With a few words, she could make anything happen. With just a thought, she could create both life and death. She looked at the white dragon sitting by her side. Forever they would be together. Never again would any of them be taken from the other.
He started to change. His scales slowly turned into flame. His eyes became red. Darkness surrounded her. There was no escape.

The wind was powerful enough to tear off her wings. She tried her best to keep them folded. She did not need them to be lifted in the air. Not in this wind.
Lightning struck everywhere around her. The bodies on the ground were beyond counting. Dragons, birds, anything that flew. They all had been hit by it. She was alone in the air. Soon, she too was falling. She tried open her wings. They were ripped off immediatly. She fell, and fell, and fell. It felt like an eternity. Then she hit the ground. She could not feel her legs. Her whole body was in pain.

She was surrounded by darkness. The only company she had was her blood. It all came from where her wings had once been. She would soon have to swim if she wanted to stay above it, but she couldn't. She could only move her neck and tail, nothing else.
Something appeared above her. She looked at it. It looked like a moon. It was surrounded by shadows. But a different kind of shadows. These shadows were easy to tell apart from the darkness. It looked like...
She closed her eyes and opened them again. Yes, she saw it correctly. It looked like the shadows were actually fighting the darkness.
The blood disappeared. Her body changed from flesh to shadows. Yes, she remembered now. This was how it was supposed to be. Her wings grew back. She tried moving one of her legs. It worked. Something appeared below the moon. It was the young female.

She opened her eyes. The little hatchling gave her a worried look. She heard voices, but she could not see anyone else nearby. Black spots blocked her vision. Then she realised something. When she passed out, they had not been in a cave, but they were now. Someone must have brought them here. She hoped that someone was friendly. She heard the sounds of claws on stone. Then someone was standing next to her. But she could not focus her eyes enough to see if it was anyone she knew. She closed them. Some kind of liquid touched her head. As it reached her mouth, she felt that it was water and opened it. Only then did she realise how thirsty she actually was. She felt tiredness slowly overtaking her.

"She will be fine, just give her some time." A voice said.
"Are you sure?" Said another. "I would prefer if we could take her back with us now."
"Moving her would only make things worse." The first voice said. "You should be happy that she's alive at all."
"If you say so." A third voice said. "But seeing her like this... I don't like it. We always thought her to be... Well, invincible. Now..."
"Thial, don't worry." The second voice said. "Once she's awake, we'll ask her what happened. But until then, do not tell anyone. If they ask, say that she is doing a spirit search."
The owner of the first voice put something down in front of her and smiled. It looked like a stone, but there was a hole in the middle. Not that interesting. However, what was inside the hole was much more interesting. Hunger took complete control of her body at the smell coming from it. It had been a long time since she last had something to eat, and it looked like she could trust these voices. There was no decision at all.

"So, Kagro, who's the little one?" Thial asked.
"I have no idea." Kagro said. "But it looked like your queen wanted to protect her, judging by how I found them."
"That's interesting. She's usually not that protective of those she met this recently. At least not these days." Thial said. "Thail, sense anything unusual about her?"
"No, brother, I do not sense anything from her." Thail said. "Maybe it's because I only can sense things from those that are asleep, and unlike Telana, she is not sleeping."
"Sorry, I forgot." Thial said.
"I suggest you take a walk or something. It will take time for her to recover." Kagro said. "I will make sure she stays alive at least until you return."

"Life... Death... Those are just words." The black dragon said. "The truth is, one can't exist without the other... There needs to be balance between them... Good and evil, light and dark... All words, used to describe friends and enemies... Those as well needs a balance. And that is were you come in."
"Me?" Telana asked. She was still a little confused from waking up in the middle of nowhere.
"Yes." The black dragon said. "You have experienced this first-hand. You have served both light and darkness... You draw power from them both. Yet nothing you have, can or will do could even compare to what is in the future... To what it was chosen you must protect. The balance has been disturbed... But no matter what happens, nature fights for this balance... To keep it. And so, when it was taken out... Nature found a way to bring it back. That is what you must now protect."
"What do you mean? I don't understand. What exactly is it I must protect?"
"The young female... It has been a long time since her kind last was seen in this world. My mom is... Was very interested in their history... They are the keepers of balance... A last, desperate chance for nature to bring back the balance. You must protect her, the future depends on it. Do not ask me how I know this, but it is the truth. This world trusts you to protect it's final chance of survival... Do not let it down."
He disappeared, leaving her alone in the darkness. No, she was not alone. Not completely. There were two moons above her. Something about them made them appear to be alive.

"Kagro, you promised to keep her alive until we returned." Thial said. "I hope I'm wrong, but she doesn't look that much alive right now."
"Calm down, brother. She's still sleeping." Thail said. "If I may guess, I think she's having one of those visions. I sense the emptiness that usually is in her when that happens."
"Then what is it, sister?"
"I'm not a mind-reader, Thial."
"Sorry."
"Come on, let's go outside." Kagro said. "I've done everything I could. The rest is up to her. And it wouldn't help her if you two worried about her so much you got to exhausted to protect her if someone found out. We still have enemies apparently."

Telana opened her eyes. She was lying on something soft. She was thirsty. And hungry. Why did her thoughts wander around like that? She tried lifting her head. Something held it down.
"I see you decided to wake up for real." A voice said. "About time... I was starting to get worried."
The voice was familiar. She knew it, but she couldn't focus her thoughts to give it a name.
"Well, that doesn't matter." The voice continued. "You're awake now, and that is what's important."
Her vision started to clear up. So did her thoughts.
"Kagro?" Her voice was weak, she noticed. How long had she been out?
"Yes." He said. "The twins found you. And before you ask, you've been out for a month."
"A month? But... But how?"
She had been out for a month? What had been happening back there now again? She remembered about something hitting her head. And a dream. Yes, the dream about that bird. She had been the bird that time.
"What did I hit anyway?" She asked.
"According to them, a branch." Kagro said. "But I doubt that is what put you down. No, you was hit by something else. Some kind of attack."
She tried thinking back. What else had there been?
"The light..." She said. "There was a light... It was so bright... My eyes were burning. It... It came from the hatchling..."
"The red and black one they found with you?"
"Yes. I... She's not something you'd find every day... There's... There's something about her... Something important... Wait, where is she?"
Her question was immediatly answered by something moving at her side. She looked back at Kagro. His eyes told her exactly what he was about to say, that she should rest some more, that there would be time for questions and answers later. She closed her eyes. She might be queen over her clan, but considering she had been out for a month, she had to do as he told her. It would feel good to sleep some more anyway.

She wanted to scream. No sound came. She depserately tried to get their attention, but no one looked at her. She flapped her wings madly and tried screaming again. Again, no sound came, and again no one looked at her. It was as if she wasn't there. All she could do was standing there while it all happened. She was in a large cave. Around the middle were white dragons ,too many for her to count, standing in a circle. In the middle were three white dragons, two males and one female. She knew all three of them very well. One of the males looked at the female, as if they shared some kind of secret, and then joined the others in the circle.
"I couldn't help but notice." The female said. "That you on more than one occasion have failed to follow my orders. Why?"
The male still in the middle looked at her.
"Becuase it was the right thing." He said. "Haven't you noticed what has happened to us? What we have become? Killing their young like this... What else will you have us do? Banish them to a world doomed to die?"
"Silence!" The female almost roared it out. "There is a time and place for everything. Right now, right here, you are summoned to answer to why you are not doing as I command! If you want to challenge me as a leader, you will, by our law, have to wait until after this summon is over!"
"Are you so blind? This is not you, Tel..."
"SILENCE!" She interrupted him. "When being summoned, you will address me as your queen! Now, becuase of how well you have served me in the past, I am willing to give you one more chance... Your last one. I have informed Silver of what I want you to do. He will watch you and report to me how well you do."
She tried screaming again. She leaped towards the female and attacked her. She did not react. Again, it was as if she didn't exist.
"As you wish... My queen." The male said. The circle split up, creating an opening. No one noticed the tears streaming down his face as he walked out. No one but her, and there was nothing she could do to change what she had done in the past.

The body was laid down on the ground. Everyone kept a distance to it, while still trying to get a clear view. As a result, a large circular area around it was empty. A white female dragon slowly walked up to it. Tears formed in her eyes.
"No!" The female said. "This can't be! It's impossible! Wake up! Wake up!"
She placed her claws on the body of the one she had sent to his death.
"Wake up! Now!"
Claws pierced through scales. The body did not move. He was dead. She had sent him to his death, killing him. She had sent the one she loved to his death.

She opened her eyes. No tears came, she didn't have any left. Something red and black entered her sight. It was the young female. Her face showed signs of a shared sadness, as if she knew that they both had lost something.

The road split in two. One of the new roads went to her right, the other to her left. Both led to different places. On her right there was darkness, on her left there was light. Between the roads there was nothing. Two female dragons entered her vision. From the darkness came one that was black, while from the light one that was red. They landed on the road leading to where they had come from. She looked at them. There was something familiar about them both. She forgot about that as she noticed something different. Or rather, the lack of difference. Both of the two dragons standing before her were the same. Their colors were the only difference between them. The ground disappeared below her.


She was falling. She tried open her wings. She couldn't. She was bound by chains. On her side were visions rising. No, the visions did not move, she was falling faster than she had ever thought possible. Each vision lasted less than a second, but she knew them well enough to know how they would play out. She closed her eyes. It did not help, she still saw them. Something grabbed her. She stopped falling. There were no visions around her. She turned her head. The two dragons with different colors were holding her. The black one broke the chains with a single bite. The red one said something she could not hear. Her claws touched ground. The red one spoke again.
"Wake up." She said.


"Telana, wake up." Kagro said.

She opened her eyes. The place looked different, but still familiar. Then she realised it was her own cave. Had she been moved while she slept? She had no memory of that happening with her being awake, and it would make her dream make more sense.

"What..." She begun.

"There's nothing more I can do." Kagro interrupted her. "It seems to me you're very close to, if not already, fully recovered from whatever it was that happened to you. A few nights more, and your memory will be only thing left from it. Well, except for your new little friend here."

Something touched the side of her head. When she looked, the little hatchling looked back at her with a smile.

"You were right about her." Kagro continued. "There is something unusual about her. Sometimes, she clearly shows how young she is and how much more she has to learn. Other times... It's as if she has... I don't know what, but something, some kind of... Greater knowledge hidden inside her."

The hatchling showed no signs of hidden knowledge as she explored her new surroundings.

"And what makes you think that?" Telana asked.

"When you were asleep... I asked her if she had any name. I didn't expect her to respond, not even to listen to me. But she did. She looked at me. Her eyes... At that moment, when I looked at them... It's... I don't know how to explain, I've never felt like that before. But anyway, she looked at me and shook her head. She then looked at you as if, no, I'm not kidding, she looked at you as if she expected you to just wake up and give her one."

The hatchling suddenly was next to her head again. This time, she saw what Kagro meant with a hidden knowledge. She never had or would again feel like she did when she looked into those eyes. She felt as if something, somehow, was touching her mind. The hatchling wanted her to give it a name. Her thoughts raced ahead in all directions. They all stopped at the same thing. A young, red and black female, sleeping beneath a moon, surrounded by shadows fighting against darkness. She remembered that, it had been one of her dreams. Was it something more? Vision or not, she could not think of anything else.

"You want a name?" The hatchling answered her question with a smile and a nod of her head. "Well, I think I have one... It's the only one I could think of, I don't know if you'll like it or not, but..." Their eyes met. "Shadowmoon."

From the look in Shadowmoons eyes, it was easy to see that she did not like her new name. She loved it.

The hatchling had survived.
How, he had no idea, but he knew that it had survived. It had all been so simple, yet his minion had still failed. It had killed the parents, but somehow failed to kill the hatchling. And it was the hatchling that was the real target. With the hatchling alive, his plans were already falling into ruins around him. He looked outside, into the night. A night that now was his enemy. So be it. Even if the world itself decided to become his enemy, he would not loose to it.


The world was burning.
Wherever she looked, there were flames. But these flames were not normal. These flames changed colors randomly, just like the creature that had attacked them before. She knew that these similarities were not there by chance. She knew that she had do something, but what? She had been completely powerless against that creature, and she knew it would be no different with these flames. Yes there was something familiar with them both.
A pair of red eyes appeared in front of her. The flames surrounded her, but did not hurt her. She looked at the eyes. The hate they showed made it clear to her who their owner was.


The creature that looked like her mom did not sleep well at the moment. It was not the first time. She could feel that it was scared. She walked up to its head. Maybe she could make it feel better. When she smiled at it, it usually smiled back. At other times, she had not seen it smile that much. But it was sleeping now. Maybe she should woke it up. She put a paw on its head. Her body was filled with pain.


She opened her eyes as she heard the scream. Something moved at the cave entrance. She looked around. Both Shadowmoon and Nir were gone.