Price of Darkness Ch. 6

Goodbye

"No!" Tundra roared after recovering from the shock.
After catching his wounded mate and avoiding one more arrow from piercing his neck as well, Tundra located and killed the ape archer with an icicle through his head. Upon seeing the ape fall out of the tree he returned his attention back to Eirlys, whom was clutching her bleeding neck. Without knowing of anything else to do, he picked her up and started flying her back to the city.
"Hold on Eirlys! Hold on my love!" He kept telling her. "I will get you to Ember! Just hang on!"
"The… the egg… save… the egg…" she gasped.
"I will save you both! Just save your breath!"
She held onto him with one of her paws, using the other one to keep pressure on the wound. Her breathing was becoming weaker, and Tundra knew it was not going to be long before…
No, he would not allow that to happen. He was going to get her help and save her life, he just had to.
With the additional weight, flying to Ember's hospital was no easy task, but Tundra still made it and rushed inside, shouting "Ember! Ember! Eirlys needs your help!"
Within seconds Ember rushed out of one of the back rooms, gasping at the sight of Eirlys. Without any words spoken she pulled a gurney over to him, allowing him to put her down.
"The arrow has gone through her entire neck." Ember stated while examining. "It has cut through everything, healing her will not be easy."
"Can you do it?" Tundra asked, the fear of losing her getting stronger.
"It can, but… never mind, let's get her into a room and get to work." She replied while pushing the gurney into one of the open rooms.
"Can I do anything?" Tundra asked as he followed.
After stopping in a room Ember said "yes, keep pressure on both sides of her neck and prevent her from losing anymore blood."
Tundra did as he was told and held his mates' neck just tight enough to stop some of the blood from pouring out. Even with his pressure, blood was still flowing out of her neck, covering his paws.
After more examination, Ember said "this is not good. Tundra, she is going into labor! She is trying to lay the egg!"
"Now?! Why now?!"
"Save… the egg…" Eirlys gasped.
"Eirlys, save your strength! We can save both of you!" Tundra exclaimed, tears pouring out of his eyes.
"I… I love you… Tundra…"
"Tundra she's not stopping!" Ember exclaimed.
"Eirlys, my love, don't do this! We can save you! Just let her heal you!"
Ember called in her grandfather, Messick, to assist with catching the egg if she were to lay it while she moved back to her neck. She cleaned off the excess blood before ripping off part of the arrow. Ember was about to pull the arrow out when Eirlys let out a loud gasp.
"I… love… yo…" Eirlys managed to say before her body went limp.
Tundra and Ember stood frozen with shock for a moment, both not believing what had just happened.
"Eirlys… Eirlys, my love…" Tundra sobbed, still holding her neck. "Eirlys… don't go! Eirlys!"
Ember watched as Tundra made multiple attempts to revive her, but she knew, but wished it wasn't true, that Eirlys was gone and nothing could be done.
"Tundra… she's gone…" Ember told him.
"No, she can't be gone! I promised I would protect her! I would do anything to keep her safe! She can't be gone!" Tundra exclaimed, still trying to bring her back.
All Ember could do was watch him in his desperate but futile attempts. He tried breathing air back into her and tried starting her heart again, but each attempt gave the same result. He eventually gave up and cried by her side.
"Eirlys… I'm so sorry…" He said in-between sobs.
Ember walked to his side and gently placed a paw on his shoulder, trying her best to comfort him.
"No Tundra, I am sorry. I should have been able to save her. I failed you." She said as she cried as well.
Tundra gave no reply and only cried. Ember looked back at Messick and saw him holding something in his paws. After a closer look she saw that it was an egg. She was shocked that Eirlys had actually laid the egg. She took the egg and brought it back over to Tundra.
"Tundra, you still have your egg." she said softly.
The ice dragon looked up at her, gasping at the sight of the egg. He stood up straight and looked closer at the egg. "Is… is it alright?" he asked.
"Yes, the egg is healthy. I can see nothing wrong with it, and it is the right weight for a healthy egg."
After a small sigh of relief he extended his paw to take the egg. He held it close, still crying powerfully. "What… What is it going to be?"
"It's a girl." Messick told him.
"A girl… My daughter…" He looked at his lifeless mate for a moment before looking back at the egg, saying "I can't keep her."
"What do you mean?" Ember  asked.
"I cannot take care of her, not by myself."
"Tundra, I know you planned to take care of your child together, but the truth is that she is no longer here and you still have a daughter to take care of."
"But without Eirlys, I am nothing. I have had no experience with raising a child, we were supposed to raise her together!"
"Would she want you to give up so quickly?" Messick asked. "Would she want you to throw away what your love for each other has created?"
After a moment of thought Tundra said "no, she wouldn't. you are both right, I will take care of my daughter. Our daughter, Eirlys."
Tundra held the egg close to him while looking at its mother. Ember and Messick walked out of the room, allowing Tundra a moment to himself. Once the door was closed Ember sighed before saying "her parents will not take this lightly."
"They will move on soon enough." Messick told her. "It will take a while, but things will return to normal someday. They did for me at least."
"I sure hope they do. Statica will try to hunt down every ape if she has to."
"I would too if my daughter had been killed by them."
"But she simply can't. She is a Guardian, and as one she must keep her composure, for better or for worse."
Messick nodded in agreement before asking "shall I send for them?"
Ember thought for a moment before saying "I recommend you go and tell them before bringing them here, the surprise will be less."
"Very well then." Messick stated before walking out of the building, leaving Ember alone.
She went into another room and closed the door before breaking into tears. "I could have saved her!" she kept telling herself.

Murghus and Glacia decided to take a break from flying just after midday. Eira had slept most of the flight, but was now wide awake on her father's back. They landed in a small clearing in a forest, a perfect place for two dragons to rest and for the other to run around chasing the butterflies that were flying.
"Don't wander off too far Eira." Glacia told her.
"I wont, mother." Eira replied before trying to grab another butterfly.
The two parents watched their daughter play around a bit with smiles on their muzzles. It wasn't long before Glacia lightly yawned and laid her heads down to rest. Murghus stayed awake to keep an eye on Eira, but could feel his drowsiness affecting him as well.
"A few minutes couldn't hurt." he said, his eyes feeling heavy.
Murghus finally laid his head down next to his mate's and fell into a light sleep. Meanwhile Eira was still full of energy and chasing around a large yellow butterfly. The frightened butterfly flew farther into the forest, causing Eira to follow. The little dragon chased the butterfly just beyond the point of where she could see her sleeping parents. After a while the butterfly flew up beyond her reach and out of sight.
Eira pouted but shrugged it off and decided to go back to her parents. Before she made a single step, though, she saw something on a tree next to her. The curious dragon looked closer and saw it was a red liquid that streaked across the tree.
"Blood?" Eira thought out loud.
Curious as to what had left this blood, Eira decided to look around for anymore. She found more on the grass close to her, still wet. She found more drops and followed the trail it made, still being aware of her surroundings though. It did not take her long before she reached the source of the blood. She found a small black dragon limping several feet ahead of her, still unaware of her presence. Eira could see the blood dropping from his head and could hear its whimpers of pain.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked him lightly.
The dragon made a small yelp and jumped in surprise, turning to look at her.
"Who… who are you?" he asked as he backed away.
"It's okay, I wont hurt you, I want to help you." She calmly told him. "My name is Eira."
The black dragon examined her for a moment in an attempt to figure out if he could trust her or not. He noticed her scales were blue, not black, and she did not seem familiar or looked like someone that would harm him. The thing that caught him the most were her eyes. He looked into them and felt safe, a feeling he had long thought to be gone.
"Z… Zoidius… my name is Zoidius." He finally told her.
"Hello Zoidius, it is nice to meet…" Eira began, but was cut off by Zoidius collapsing to the ground.
Fearing the worst Eira quickly ran back to her parents and shook her father's leg until he woke up. "What is it sweetie?" he asked after a yawn.
"I found a dragon in the forest! He's badly injured!" Eira exclaimed.
Murghus wasted no time in getting up and saying "take me to him."
Eira led him back to where Zoidius was laying, thankful to see him still there. Murghus checked his pulse and said "he's still alive, but very weak. I do not have the skills nor supplies to help him here."
"What are we going to do daddy?" Eira asked.
"We shall take him to Pyry with us. Warfang is too far away now to go back." he told her.
Murghus laid down to allow Eira to get Zoidius onto his back. Once he was safely on, Murghus got back up and led Eira back to where Glacia was waiting.
"What happened?" she asked.
He told her everything that had happened and added "Eira will keep him warm while we pass through the Pyry blizzard. After that we will get him to the healer."
"Alright, we best get going. He does not look that healthy."
After Eira climbed onto her fathers' back and held onto him tightly, the two dragons took off and continued their flight to Pyry at a quicker pace. During the flight Murghus couldn't get something out of his head.
'Who is this dragon, and why does he smell familiar?'

"Faster, Drysic, faster!" Demetrius roared at his son.
Ever since Zoidius' disappearance, Demetrius put Drysic through harder than usual training sessions. He wanted Drysic to be ready to fight sooner, he was tired of waiting. Drysic was finally old enough to be taught to fight and he was going to make sure he was the best he could possibly be.
"Yes, father." Drysic replied before readying himself again.
Demetrius summoned another shadow being about twice the size of Drysic, but that did not alter his stance at all. Instead, Drysic waited for the shadow to attack before rolling out of the way and striking the shadow across the neck with his tail.
"Better. Now, take a few moments to rest." Demetrius told him.
Drysic nodded in reply and walked out of the dojo to get a drink. On the way he walked by his sister, Minarik, and said "you're missing out on some great training."
"You know I don't do fathers' training. I, unlike you, use my head in a fight." she replied.
"Your head will be no good against a full grown dragon!"
With a sly grin Minarik focused her power to get inside Drysic's head, quickly getting past his mental defense and gaining control. "You say you can beat an adult, and yet I can so easily make you do whatever I want you to do. Like…"
Drysic struggled to resist, but Minarik forced his body to bring up his own tail-blade and put it against his own neck.
"Minarik! How many times must I tell you not to use your powers against your brother?" someone asked from behind.
Minarik released Drysic from her control and turned to see her mother standing in the doorway. "He was asking for it!" she told her.
After a moment Zarona grinned and said "that's my girl."
Minarik grinned as well and watched their mother walk away before turning back to the recovering Drysic. "Still think the mind isn't valuable?" she asked him.
Drysic only growled in reply and walked away. Minarik laughed and continued walking in the opposite direction. She continued to walk until she spotted Dante walking towards her with another dragon she did not recognize at all.
"Minarik, have you seen your father around?" Dante asked her.
"He is probably still in the dojo." she answered.
"Thank you." Dante replied while walking past her.
As he walked Minarik watched the dragon that was following him. He was a full grown black dragon with yellow scales under him with what looked like a white axe on his tail. As the dragon walked by he looked down at Minarik, giving her a little wink before moving on. Minarik was left in confusion of both who that dragon was and why he blinked at her, but she couldn't care less about either and moved on.
Dante led the dragon into the dojo, telling him to wait there as he walked farther in to find Demetrius meditating in the middle with dark flames circling him. He walked up close to his master, but Dante knew better than to disturb him in his personal time. Instead, he just sat and waited patiently. He didn't have to wait long before the flames were extinguished and Demetrius was moving again.
"What is it you want Dante?" Demetrius asked.
With a bow, Dante said "Master, I have been searching all across the land as you have requested."
"And? Have you found anyone?"
"Yes, master. I found one dragon living not too far from here."
"You have?" Demetrius asked with some excitement in his voice. "Show me."
Dante looked behind him, as did Demetrius, and watched the black dragon approach them.
"So, you are the legendary Demetrius?" the dragon asked as he approached.
"I am, and who might you be?"
"It is an honor, sir. My name is Nimrod."
"Nimrod? And why have you not found me earlier?"
"Forgive me, but I had some of my own issues to deal with."
"Very well, at least you are here now. I do not know if Dante has told you or not, but I am in need of your services to release my father, Malefor, from his imprisonment."
"And what are your intentions?" Nimrod asked.
"If you fear of us trying to destroy the world again, fear no more, for we plan to take over now, starting with Warfang."
"Good, because I am not anywhere near done with my personal goals." Nimrod stated.
"And those are?" Dante asked.
"Nothing much, just to produce an actually powerful offspring."
"I guess you have had some failures?" Demetrius asked.
Nimrod nodded and said "many, actually. Most died before they hatched, some died when I tried to train them, but one has survived."
"Where is he?"
"I do not know, his mother helped him escape one night while I was, busy, with someone." He answered. "By the time I had learned of his escape he was already long gone."
"I guess a whole days flight does give him an advantage." Dante stated.
Demetrius was confused when he heard Nimrod suddenly start laughing. "What is so funny?" he asked.
"My son couldn't fly!" Nimrod answered after calming down. "I ripped his wings off several years before he ran away!"
Now Demetrius' confusion turned into shock. He had no care for the well being of any dragon, all except for his mate and kids. He had done some harsh things to Zoidius that he never regretted, but he could never have even imagined pulling off his own sons' wings.
"Why did you rip his wings off?" Dante asked.
"He tried running away once, but I caught him and that's how I punished him. After that he seemed to have become stronger, so I didn't bother killing him."
"Where do you think he is now?" Demetrius asked.
Nimrod shrugged and said "probably Warfang. I've heard his mother tell him stories about that city."
"And what powers did he have exactly?"
"On good days I was able to get him to use shadow abilities, sometimes even darkness."
This caught Demetrius' attention. If his son was still alive, then they just might have the last dragon they needed. "And his mother?"
"She's alive, but currently carrying another egg."
"Alright, I have something special planned." Demetrius stated. "Dante, go get Phoenus and introduce him to our friend here."

"Ready mother?" Spyro asked.
"I am." Icis replied.
"Alright, let's go say hi to dad." Spyro said as he led her out of her house.
She followed him to where he usually took her to each month, the vision pool in the council chamber. They had made it a tradition for him to open a connection with Ignitus once a month, so to avoid interfering with his work as little as possible. He also flew her to the White Isle. every now and then, taking over the duty of chronicler for a day to allow them to spend some time together.
They arrived at the council chamber and sat around the pool as they always did. Spyro used his powers to summon the image of Ignitus, busy at work as he always was.
"Hey Iggy." Icis said with a smile.
"Hello Icis my love." Ignitus replied. "How are things with my beautiful dragoness?"
"Same as they've always been, boring without you." she told him.
"I keep telling you that you should find another dragon to keep you company."
"And I keep telling you that's never going to happen. I've made my vows to you and I intend to keep them until the day I day."
"That is why I love you so much." He said. "Spyro, I actually have something I wish to tell you."
"What is it dad?" he asked.
"I decided to do some more research on Malefor's past to find anything we could use against him or Demetrius."
"Did you find anything?" Icis asked.
"Yes, and no." Ignitus replied. "I did find something, but it is not something that can be used against him. In fact, it could be used against us."
"What is it?" Spyro asked.
Ignitus took a moment before saying "I have found, that Demetrius is not the only child Malefor has had. There is one more."
"What?! Is he still around?"
"No, Spyro, she is not still around. She died many years ago. The reason we don't know about her is because Malefor didn't even know about her. Before he turned evil, Malefor was in a relationship with another dragoness that wasn't Demetrius' mother, Karyma. She was a fire dragoness, and also the daughter of the Fire Guardian of the time.
"They separated just before he was banished, but to her surprise she had become pregnant. Since Malefor was banished she knew he could never raise the child, so she attempted to convince her next mate that it was theirs."
"What happened to the child?" Icis asked.
"She grew up with a normal life with her mother and stepfather with no knowledge of the Dark Master being her father. She ended up having a family, and continued the lineage until…"
"Until what, dad?"
Ignitus sighed and said "she is my ancestor, Spyro. You are related to Malefor."