darkSpyro

The winds were cold and harsher than ever. They tore apart the land in a careless manner like never before. The large, bosky, afro of leaves belonging to the trees with fat, tall trunks that created something almost like a long maze that almost lasted forever.

A young ebony scaled dragon sat down panting, humming a cooling but out of tune song underneath a mound her breathe. Her eyes were closed tight in a very uncomfortable way. Her red hair full of old twigs and mud from the journey were blowing like an old rag hung onto a coat hanger, abandoned in a storm. She grunted, quickly opened her tiny, beetle eyes and swifted around. Her eyes wiggled around, and then fell to one side.

“Marcus?” She snorted sharply. She moved her head up like a blind mouse. “Don’t you play tricks on me, I smell you,” She added, sniffing. She turned around again and suddenly leapt backwards. “Where are you, dragon?”

A tall, pink dragon crawled around her with a wide smirk. His paws were stretched out. Unexpectedly, the other dragon grabbed him by the chest and pulled him towards her. “Hello, Marcus,” She said. Her smirk was even wider than Marcus’s previous smirk. Marcus chuckled at how close she was, and the dark glint her eye that severed with him.
“Greetings, Szarotka,” He said. Marcus scuttled back, and bowed. Szarotka nodded, she always knew when Marcus had bowed. She did one two, but toppled over, head first into the cold, dusty grass. “Ouch!” Szarotka cried. Marcus rushed over to Szarotka and pulled her up by hand.
“We should get a move on,” He suggested. Before Szarotka could even say anything, he plucked her by the hand and ran through the ‘maze’. Everything was blurry and Szarotka began to feel sea-sick. It was like she was travelling through a space at the speed of light. She swung back and forth as he held her only by hand. Finally he stopped. The maze still hadn’t expired. He breathed heavily and let go of Szarotka.

“Still not there…” He mumbled, standing taller. Szarotka was nearly sick, but she swiftly got over it.
“It’s getting late…” She also groaned. Szarotka fiddled with her sharp nails.

“Y’know, this is why you should wear those glasses your Mother bought you,” He suggested, winking at Szarotka’s milky white bag. Szarotka spread her fingers out and unzipped the petite bag. She began to rummage through and pulled out a rusty, round pair of glasses. She rubbed the dust off the glasses and showed them to Marcus.
“Do they fit? We should be getting home now…” He said, suggesting Szarotka to hurry. Szarotka didn’t like the offer and shook her head. Her blood red hair slapped her scales side to side as she shook her head in rapid motion. She placed the glasses carefully on her muzzle, and then pushed them back towards her minuscule eyes. Marcus sighed deeply. “Have you finished? Looks like we won’t make it back tonight…” He consisted, hoping she would find a cave to sleep that night for him.
“Good idea,” She commented, eyes a little awkward. Marcus simpered, pleased she had agreed with his suggestion. “Let’s go and find a cave then,” She added.

The two dragons turned there destiny of direction to crawling into the gaps in-between the beast sized tree trunk blockage. They scrambled in one by one, each glancing around at where they turned up until the next in line copied by Marcus. A bolt of lightning stabbed the short, swaying grass.
“We need to get inside now!” Worried, Szarotka quickly speeded away from Marcus, searching. They were just surrounded by more trees. No caves, no shelter, no nothing.
“Looks like were going to have to do it the hardest way,” Beamed Marcus, unleashing the banjo in his claws from his back.
“No!” Called Szarotka, smiling too. Marcus jumped down and sat, and began to play a calming tune. Szarotka sat down to listen. The music flew in out her ears as each single key changed.
“The storm may rage on, but the page will turn on, let’s pay this wage, -and get out of this cage!” He sang completely out of tune. The soft singing of the banjo turned into fast strumming which drew Szarotka another opinion better than the previous key. She blinked her eyes hard and smiled wider, shuffling closer to hear. “Running a running an a running – home! Come on little dragon get yourself off your feet, no time to greet, leap up to home – before they catch you and kill you alone! Ahharraa ahrraaa! La la la la la la…- la la! They’ll do what they like, see for yourself, follow me and show you your way home…” He gave the banjo one last strum and whipped his hands up for a finish. Szarotka clapped.
“Lovely!” She uncovered. “Another song?” She requested. Marcus stared at her for a bit. The rain was getting heavier. Puddles were swimming pools and the swimming pools were the sea, but then again, the sea must be the ocean. Marcus noticed she had fallen asleep on his lap. He pulled her massive milky white ears towards himself to use as a blanket. The storm was getting worse. He snuggled closer to the ears and smiled lightly. He crawled underneath the ‘blanket’ and quickly licked Szarotka on her scaly face. Szarotka pulled her other ear to herself, so she had her own comfort. She snored loudly, in an irritating way which made Marcus cringe.

The green bushes rustled, and out popped a deep black blur, almost like the dark sky. He was holding a large tool. A weapon! Marcus lifted his head up, aware of the shadow lurking beside the bush. It sauntered towards Marcus and Szarotka step by step. Marcus pulled Szarotka away with him as he ran out for cover. Causing her to wake up. There was no way out. It began give a clearer view of the figure. The weapon glided down and the free claw grabbed hold of the end part, the killing part. Szarotka screamed and toppled over Marcus.
“Cooker!” Said Marcus, glad he had earned trust from the ‘figure’. He pushed Szarotka away from himself. As a result, Szarotka screamed herself. The dim light revealed an orange dragon, holding a super-sized, soup stained spatula. His pure black main was blowing in the wind. He seemed tired and urging to turn back. He switched on a tiny torch that shone a slightly brighter light than the dim light of the moon.
“Greetings, Powder,” He laughed, slurping the remains of soup on the shiny spatula away. Marcus growled, but also grinned.
“Hello,” Szarotka said, lugging leisurely, aiming to Cooker. “What brings you hear? You didn’t need to come Y’know; we were finding our own way back,” Szarotka added, concerned about Cooker. Cooker nodded before speech.
“I hear you, but I was sent by the Chief to find you lot. You two have been missing for two days. Boss ain’t gonna be pleased with you missing two, almost three days of significant education. He told me the consequences…” Cooker stopped blathering as Szarotka slapped him. “Ouch!” He remarked, slightly dizzy. Szarotka sniggered, lingering at the back. Cooker cleared his throat. “As I was saying, Chief said the penalty is that you shall both spend extra hours of the education unit,” He announced. The two groaned in disappointment and followed Cooker as he set off. He paced along the rows of trees surrounding the group, forcing them to hustle in and out of the small gaps, always with some kind of complaint due to the answers revealed as they leapt in the gaps in between the tree trunks.

“Finally!” Chirped Szarotka, eyes opening slight, ‘gleaming’. She stuck her neck in a gap like a giraffe. “I smell a cave in the distance!”
“Interesting…” Lied Marcus scorning. He crawled up to push Szarotka in the tree, but a branch caught him by his pure black mane. Szarotka laughed, but noticed that another tree branch from the same tree had grabbed hold of her purple hat. She promptly glided her chubby paws to her face and silently wept, but of course it had just started… Her paws flapped away and her weeping turned into crying. Tears turn into puddles that were rapidly filling up the area. She let out loud shouts in her crying and began to swim in the flooded area of her tears. Cooker and Marcus began to doggy paddle his way through the gap painfully as the water washed at their snouts preventing them from calmly swimming.

“Please avoid me from drowning, oh great prince,” Cooker hinted, struggling to stay in the same area without drowning or moving out of position. Marcus grabbed Cooker’s arm as he searched through his soaked through rucksack. Pans, spoons, forks and many others clashed together like a steel band. Cooker gradually plucked a large white straw out. It had pink stripes swirling around it. Just as he was about to suck Szarotka’s sea up, he perked up in surprised to see a strange, knobbly hand. Out of the blue a chestnut tree branch blocked one way, and then another branch flopped down, blocking all the possible directions.
“No!” Marcus yelled at the top of his lungs. The branch was too hard to push out of the way. Cooker sunk, raising his hand as it slowly sunk down. Szarotka was too busy crying to notice. The last glimpses of the orange scales were gone. Marcus stared down for a moment, ignoring Szarotka’s tantrum. Finally, he noticed he was drowning. He gulped, and then got hold of himself by shaking his head. Gripping onto one of the branches, he got the shock of his life…

“Fear not little dog!” A deep, feeble voice chortled, stroking Marcus. The branch lifted up to show a wrinkled, bark face. The tree finished chuckling and cleared his throat. “I shall get you and your dog friend out of this!” He sang. Marcus shut his eyes. It was hopeless trying. A tree couldn’t save the save. There was a slurping noise and all the water had gone. The tree smiled. Szarotka had stopped crying, but was back to weeping quietly. He tapped her on the back. She turned around.
“Who was that? Yuck, it stinks!” She remarked, poking her face in the completely wrong direction. The tree chucked again and dropped the hat on her head with no problems. “I smell my had again! I made it disappear and appear; I’m magic!” She boasted proudly, prowling with a puffed up chest, around in a repeating circle pattern. After that, she began to dance in a weird fashion. The old tree glanced at Marcus, who was stood thinking.
“You seek out for your friend?” Asked the tree, opening its eyes wider. Marcus’s pointy ears folded down.
“Nope, I see Chief’s consequences,” The tree smiled wider.
“So this ‘dog’ is a dragon, hmmm…?”
“Correct,” Answered Marcus. The tree moved its branch, and tapped its long and pointy finger on its lip as it pondered. The old tree choked. “Are you ok?” Solicited Marcus, apprehensive.
“Yes, of course - I remember when I was a dragon, back in that day… Mantle ruled...” He congested and coughed more.
Szarotka ran over to Marcus and the tree.
“I’m sorry whatever you are, but I couldn’t help but overhear, who is Mantle?” Szarotka said hastily. The tree was silent for a while. Szarotka began to fidget with her sharp ice-nails. The tree sweat-dropped.
“-Mantle… erm… is a great, powerful dragon who ruled before your father. Sadly he went missing…” He slurred. Szarotka was suspicious, be decided not to bring up her opinion for now.
“How do you know about this?” Requested Marcus, titling his head to some extent. The tree nodded.
“You see, dragons are not dragons when dead, and resemble someone they truly are, depending on who they act as in the very moment, you see, the harshest death a dragon can have is die being not the one the dragon is…Because once I was a dragon, but I did not die as myself…”
Before anyone could say anything, the tree vanished. All the other trees in the forest vanished too.

Marcus opened his eyes wide as Cooker crawled up towards the two.
“Cooker!” The two dragons both exclaimed at both time rates. Cooker raised his arm with the spatula. “We thought you were dead!”
“Ahoy!” He greeted. The sky was getting lighter. It would be morning soon. “Looks like our journey back will be easier now,” He said, very optimistic. Szarotka and Marcus nodded to show there opinions. Cooker gripped onto his shining spatula tightly and began to march forward towards the fading sinister sky. The two followed him, eyeing the tree-less fields. Even though the journey hat was made easier than before by the tree, it was still miles off to the village.
“I wonder about that tree,” Szarotka said, time-consuming.
“Ahh… Jane, so inquisitive, so panicked, so golden…” Marcus muttered inaudibly, contentedly gaiting the same directions as Cooker. Szarotka perked her pallid ears up, turning her head around to get a glimpse at Marcus. Marcus blinked hard, regretting what he muttered. Szarotka growled.
“Don’t you dare call me Jane! It’s a repulsive name! Call me Szarotka; it’s more pretty and wordy,” She snapped stretching her legs to flirt with Marcus.
”Come on, and Szarotka you should respect your first name, so you should be proud when people call you by ‘Jane’, as of the fact it is your name…” Cooker said, settling the two down. Jane Szarotka scrowled at Cooker, rolling her eyes. Conversely, Cooker did not notice.
“I agree with Cooker, I’m sick of calling you by ‘Szarotka’, your name is ‘Jane’,” Protested Marcus. Jane (or Szarotka on the other hand), grumbled and stormed away from Cooker and Marcus.
“I don’t care,” She fibbed. Cooker sprinted, aiming for Jane. He huffed, set in front of her and therefore halting Jane’s paths.
“Now, do you really need to have a strop because other dragons don’t like to call you by ‘Szarotka’?” Cooker was silent and stared at Jane. “No,” He said before she could answer, he folded his arms. Jane didn’t say anything and followed Cooker along with Marcus to their destination…

The village gate opened. It swung back and forth, until it finally stayed open for the group’s entrance. Everything was slow and quiet. Suddenly Chief Shenum barged towards the dragon with an angry look on his face. Jane and Marcus huddled together, cringing. The shadow towered above them. He grabbed hold of the two dragons by the scruffs of their necks and stomped over to the rest room. He ultimately let go of the two and clenched his fists in a bloodcurdling and intimidating manner.
“You two whipper-snappers have neglected imperative education! The entire assessment was missed. You know how important your education is nowadays, you can’t grow up like scoundrel buggers like Mantle and corporation, our would is a burden much more than it already seems,” He threatened, shaking his fist. Chief Shenum glared for a moment. He wasn’t like this all the time. He wasn’t exactly liberal; he just seemed to be particularly angry than the two expected him to be.
“Since when was there a test? We never had any notice about it, and you usually gave us two weeks to be prepared for the previous mocking tests,” Marcus said, eyes glinting. Chief Shenum sighed deeply in disgust of his manners.
“No!” He yelled at the top of his voice. “I told you it was an important job, not some lousy mocking test! The entire class are going to have to seat it again because of you two rule-breakers! Never, I tell you have I have to repeat a important test like this, never! Before I want you dirty dragons out of my sight, you will have to experience the first part of the consequence,” He added, padding away to his king room. No one but Chief Shenum himself had actually set eyes on the king’s room. It was right at the end of the resting rooms. Everyone expected it to have all gold and precious objects; some thought different and guessed it just had a large nest and a large book of his many rules and manners. Most of the people garbled on about the massive gold objects, forgetting the fact he probably had a rule book ten times as big as the amount of gold they described (which is a lot).
“He’ll be back,” Said Jane, scuttling towards her nest. She settled down calmly. Marcus padded towards the nest beside her and as soon as he set foot in the warm, cosy nest he shuttered his eyes down and fell into a deep sleep.
Chief Shenum burst out of the King’s room to see the two dragons in a sleep. He rumbled under his breathe. He had a large scroll in his claw, which he creased as he clenched his fist once more. The two were falling even more into a deep sleep. Jane stretched her long arms, the massive fingers on the paws slightly spreading apart. Chief Shenum whipped towards Jane and whacked her with the scroll.
“Ow!” She remarked, standing up. She work Marcus up in the progress. His first sight was Chief Shenum’s angry face.
“Dad?” He asked, hoping for break-fast. He noticed they had not been asleep for long. He put his head down in shame.
”Son, I have to punish you as well as Jane,” He said. He walked out, and the other two dragons followed him into a small hut. The two had never entered before. It was nothing special though. It simply had a shelf full of books, a stash of dragon toys in the corner and a large door to another room in the hut.
“I want you two to stay here and play with the toys,” He said, pointing the toys in the corner. Chief Shenum entered the other room. He was so tall they didn’t even catch sight of an a insignificant glimpse. The door slammed. Marcus and Jane hurried over to the toys. Marcus pulled out a cerise wooden train from the pile, as Jane pulled out a large soft doll. The doll had two little button eyes with a gaunt red string underneath the big purple ball that was supposed to be a muzzle along with a set of green horns.
”Don’t you think we’re a bit old for playing with toys?” Marcus raised, pushing the toy train at a snail's pace.
“No,” Jane replied, she made the doll fit on top of the train. She held onto it so it didn’t fall. Marcus carried on moving the train. “Anyway, Oscar and Mia have not had permission to go in here, and there company…” She added. Marcus sighed.
“But remember, they said they don’t care about what Chief Shenum said,” Marcus worried. Jane sighed herself.
“No, there probably lying. Your so goody, goody,”
“So are you,” He said. The conversation ended and two started playing again. Little did they know that Mia was watching over from a small secret den inside…
Mia laughed and snorted, and rolled on her back as her amber eyes stared in the darkness as the two played. Marcus made loud train sound effects, but they didn’t hear Mia’s loud laughing. Marcus quietly coughed, distracting him making sound effects. Jane heard Mia.
“I think I hear Mia!” Cried Jane. Jane’s face wen’t red and she dropped the doll. Marcus lifted his hand away from the toy.
“Where is she?” Marcus said, looking around. Jane stood still, eyes twitching. Marcus jerked his neck forward. To his disappointment, he couldn’t find where Mia was. Mia lurked in the darkness, staring, and still laughing. Jane was still frozen. The bells rang and startled all of the dragons, despite they rang every time at 6.00 clock in the morning. Mia rushed away from the hideout to get to school. The village was often considered a city with the school, the market, the church and more. However, Chief Shenum didn’t like the villagers to call it a city; he said that the dragons were a close but small centre of population in the middle of an unfound island by the outside dragons. Chief Shenum had always been worked up about the younger dragon’s education, religion and generally rules. Younger dragons often named him O.W.W.E.R.A.G.R (which they pronounced Owerager, which means ‘foolish one’ in ancient Shenum dragon language, which also stands for what you thought.

Marcus and Jane were tired since they were travelling through a forest over the night and only got five minutes of sleep. Now that Mia had left, and the room was empty, and a perfect opportunity to fit in a few second nap… or maybe five minutes… or ten…

“Get up you lazy rascals!” A female voice shouted, nudging Marcus and Jane with both arms. Marcus opened his eyes, yawned and puckered his lips with a large smile.
“Break-fast?” He asked, eyes-gleaming. The female dragon blinked hard and mumbled. She scribbled in the exercised book she had out with a feather. She nodded twice, and then looked up at Marcus and Jane. Jane was still asleep, but she was focusing on Marcus. Mia was peeking through a hole in the wall outside, Marcus scrowled at her. The tawny eye blinked hysterically, obviously laughing.
The female dragon scribbled in the book again, and looked over her glasses.
“I’ll be back in one little second,” She said, making her way back to the other door. She slammed the door, which woke Jane up. She slowly moved up and sniffed. Mia had entered the room! Jane didn’t notice, and stood up like a bear. The other dragon entered the room again, and locked the door.
“Oh… There are three of you? Chief Shenum told me there were two…That’s rather funny, but anyway, I want you two – I mean three to answer these questions for me,” She said, perking her glasses up. She pulled out a mysterious device. It was very thin and silver, almost like a book. She opened it up and buldged her eyes.
”Now tell me,” She said, eyeing her audience. “Do you have anyone you dislike, just list them and tell me, even if they are here, I can sort it out.” She said, cooling the three dragons. Mia sweat dropped and glared at Jane. Jane forced a smile.