Spyro: Price of Darkness ch. 2

Meltor

The band of dragons charging the city of Kennith met with heavy resistance on their way. Large fireballs flew over their heads, but none had hit their target. Once at the wall they dove down and tackled the dragons on it, sparing their lives by knocking them out. Flame motioned his paw to Aden to take his team with him. Aden obeyed and led the dragons of Warfang to deal with any resistance inside the city, leaving Flame with Zachariah and his followers.
"Where would Meltor be?" Flame asked.
"He is a coward, never shows his face when a battle begins." Zachariah answered. "My best guess would be the throne room with the king."
"Okay, take your men and meet me there." Flame ordered. "I have someone I must see first."
"As you wish Master Flame." Zachariah replied before running off with his troops.
Once they were gone Flame turned to a recovering fire dragon and put a paw on his neck.
"Where can I find the prison cells?" he asked.
"In, in the main street, five blocks down!" The frightened soldier answered.
"Thank you." Flame replied before letting him go and running off to find the building.
He went down the five blocks and looked around for any signs of the jail cells. He found it down the street from where he was and quickly ran to it. Before he could reach it though a stream of fire shot in front of him. The Fire Guardian turned to see a dark red dragon with a gray underbelly approaching him.
"You must be the Fire Guardian." The dragon stated. "The name's Meltor, what brings you and your soldiers to our city so violently?"
"We are here to take you down Meltor." Flame replied. "I know of the allegiance you secretly have with the Earth Kingdom, as well as your plans to join them in attacking Warfang one day."
"Those are just silly rumors that the resistance has told you." Meltor stated. "Zachariah really wants to take the throne for himself to rule the Fire Kingdom!"
"Your lies will not deceive me Meltor. I have seen the letters from my father and believe every word of it! You can surrender peacefully now or we can do this the hard way."
With a growl Meltor said "you are not in Warfang anymore Fire Guardian! We do not play by your rules here!"
"Nor should this city be run by yours!" Flame exclaimed. "In the name of freedom I hereby remove you from your position and sentence you to life in prison!"
With those last words Flame charged at his enemy only to get several fireballs fired at him. He countered them with his own before reaching Meltor and bringing him down with a tackle. Meltor attempted to kick the Fire Guardian off but came to no avail. Flame was relentless in his attempt at keeping him down and delivering as many strikes as he could. Through his struggling Meltor was finally able to get his hind legs underneath Flame's stomach and kicked him off.
Before Flame could recover completely he saw a burst of fire coming to him. With no time to react he put up his wings and shielded his body. Meltor continued to shoot fire at the dragon, not letting up for even a second. Seeing that there was no end to the stream of fire Flame dove to his right and shot fire at Meltor causing him to cease his fire and jump out of the way. Flame stood up and faced his adversary once more, both of them circling each other again.
"Give up Fire Guardian! The only real fighter of Warfang is the purple dragon! You are nothing!" Meltor shouted.
"Then how is it that I've gotten past your defenses? How is it I am still fighting you?" Flame asked. "Just because you say it does not mean it is true Meltor!"
With a roar Meltor charged again. This time, though, Flame was prepared. While Meltor was running the Fire Guardian inhaled deeply and waited for the right moment. When he saw that Meltor was close enough Flame roared and unleashed a flurry of fireballs with heat waves. Meltor was caught unprepared and was sent flying into a building with the heat waves still shooting at him. Seeing his foe on the ground Flame dispelled the heat waves and waited to see what Meltor would do.
Among a pile of debris Meltor attempted to get up only to fall back down. When Flame walked over and looked at him he raised a paw weakly into the air.
"No… No more… I am done…" The weak dragon pleaded.
"You were done long ago Meltor." Flame stated. "You just didn't know it yet."
The Fire Guardian watched two Warfang soldiers approach and drag his body away in shackles. With Meltor's evil taken down Flame returned to his original goal, freeing his father. He approached the jail cell and took a deep breath before entering. He quickly noticed the room was pitch black and searched for a lamp, finding one on a nearby desk. Once it was lit he looked around the many cells. Seeing all of them empty, except for one in the very back corner. Flame walked towards the cell and examined the dragon inside and surely enough he looked exactly like he did but was incredibly skinny and looked weak.
"Felix?" he asked gently.
The dragon looked up at him, his blue eyes filled with trembling pain. "Y… Yes, that is my name." He whispered weakly.
After Flame opened the door and unlocked the shackles he said "you are free to go, father."
A look of shock went through the weak dragon's eyes. He remembered the letter he received a month ago saying that someone that called himself his son was going to save him.
"S… Son?" Felix asked weakly. "Is it really you?"
"Yes father, I am Flame, Infernes is my mother." Flame answered.
Felix smiled at the mentioning of her name. "Infernes, oh how I have missed her." He stated. "Is she safe? Is she alright?"
"Yes, she is living in Warfang and still awaits your return."
"We best get going then! I have kept her waiting for over twenty years! We have a lot to catch up on!" Felix stated with sudden energy.
"We'll go once I finish up my business at the castle." Flame told him. "Meltor has been taken care of, but the Fire King is still going to need a good explanation about all of this."
"Of course my son! Your letter did say you were the Fire Guardian, which I must say makes me proud of you beyond belief!" Felix said.
"Thanks dad. We'll talk more on the flight home."
Felix nodded in reply and followed his son outside, where s surprising scene awaited them. They saw the perimeter surrounded by the dragons of Warfang mixed with several of the Kennith soldiers surrounding the building. Flame looked around in an attempt to see what was going on, spotting General Aden among the group. Once he got a nod from the General Flame felt his heart relax a bit.
"So you are the Fire Guardian?" One of the fire dragons asked.
After a better look Flame noticed the dragon that had asked him that question he noticed he was wearing golden armor and fit the description of what the Fire King looked like.
"Yes, I am Flame. Are you the Fire King, Infernotus?" he replied.
"Indeed I am." The dragon replied before walking forward. "And it is most unfortunate we had to meet this way."
"In what way?" Flame asked.
"Because of this misunderstanding. Had I been aware of Meltor's lies I would have visited Warfang more often. I have grown very fond of your city with its design and security. I wish my grandfather had our city like that before Malefor took over. Our two cities would be much closer then."
Flame was at first confused as to how he knew about Meltor, but he saw Zachariah standing close by and realized that he must have already told him.
"Right, I remember learning about that. Because of how close your city was to Warfang Malefor targeted it first to get closer to us."
"Correct, as well as the belt of fire to prevent Warfang from attacking him." Infernotus told him. "But enough about that, now I want to talk about the plans you have for us Master Flame."
"Well, your majesty, I was hoping we could form an allegiance between our cities once again. The Earth Kingdom has declared war on Warfang, and we want to unite the other three elemental cities to…"
"Say no more Fire Guardian!" Infernotus interrupted. "Just show me where to sign!"
"Uh, well, I have not exactly written up a document yet." Flame replied.
"Which is why I had Moltyus write one up during the battle." Zachariah told him. "He should be done soon."
"Excellent! Have it sent to me immediately!" Infernotus ordered. "Until then, I invite all of you to join me for lunch! My cooks are the best around and will prepare the most delicious meal!"
"I could live with a good meal." Felix stated with a light chuckle. "Though I'll pass on the bread, I can use a lot of meat."
"Then it shall be done!" Infornotus exclaimed. "Come, I will show you around my home!"
Once the king walked away the warriors of Warfang looked at Flame to see what his reaction would be. After a moment Flame followed the king with his warrior's right behind him. Infernotus showed them around the city, but all Flame could think about was finally seeing his father for the first time. He could not wait to tell him about the life he has had with his daughter and loving mate. Over everything though, all he wanted was to live in peace with his entire family.

While Cynder was taking a nap in their room Spyro sat in the yard with his daughter napping in front of him. He watched her with a heart filled with joy, and confusion. Of course he was overjoyed to have a daughter, but with the events that had happened with Phoenus he didn't know what he was going to do. Luna may be a rare dragon, but her powers are completely unpredictable like her brothers were. He could not tell if she was going to have the same spasms as Phoenus had. She was far too young to determine what kind of power she possessed.
"Hello Spyro." A voice stated, awakening him from his thoughts.
He looked to his right and saw his mother standing several feet away. "Hello mother. What brings you over here?" he asked.
"Well I saw you sitting out here in the yard with little Luna and I could tell you had something on your mind." She answered before lying down next to him. "Now, what is troubling you my son?"
"I just cannot figure out what to do. I thought that what I was doing with Phoenus was right, but it ended up being wrong." He told her. "I do not want to ruin Luna's life as well, I don't think I could live with myself if I did."
"I see. Well, I have never actually been a true parent as you never lived with me for more than a month, but what I have learned from watching Infernes is that parents will make mistakes and it is up to the children to forgive and move on. Nobody is perfect, not even the purple dragon."
"I know mother, but Phoenus won't accept my apology." He told her. "I could see the hatred in his eyes. Even if he was possessed by Demetrius I knew that the anger was not fake."
"That may be so, but he will someday see what he is doing wrong and come home. It may take a certain event to show him, or he may need to have some sense knocked into him. Either way, it is going to happen."
"I hope so." Spyro stated with a sigh.
Icis gently reached over and nuzzled his cheek lightly before saying "he is your son. I am positive he is thinking of you just as much as you are of him."
All Spyro could do was slightly nod and look down at the sleeping hatchling in front of him while praying to the ancestors to bring his son back to him.

In Demetrius' castle Phoenus sat on top of a tower and watched the sun set in the distance. The memories of watching them with his family flushed back into his mind, making him sigh happily. In an instant, though, his thoughts went to how his father lied to him and made his suffering worse, causing him to growl with hatred.
"He lied to me! I can never forgive him for that!" he said to himself.
He climbed off of the tower and glided down to where his room was and landed on top of his bed. He laid down and quickly went to sleep, hoping to have Spyroena give him more dreams of Granite. To his surprise he instead was playing with his father in the park as a hatchling.
"I do not want to dream of this!" He shouted in the dream. "Spyroena! Take me back to Granite!"
"No Phoenus." Spyroena stated before appearing in front of his vision. "You say your father lied to you, but why would someone that cares for you as much as he did do that?"
She moved out of his way and allowed him to see his younger self laughing happily as he played with Spyro.
"Take me away from this fantasy! I do not wish to see it!" Phoenus barked.
"This is no fantasy Phoenus, this is inside your memory." She told him. "You may not remember this because you were so young, but I have found it and decided to show you."
"I would prefer it if you didn't." Phoenus growled.
"Phoenus, look at your father. He is happy to be with you, as are you with him."
Sure enough Phoenus could see the happiness in both of their faces, Seeing this brought tears to his eyes and he looked away.
"He told me everything will be fine! He told me that what we were doing would make the pain go away!"
"I know Phoenus, and that is what your father thought as well. He just wanted to see you happy again like you were here." She told him.
"I highly doubt that." Phoenus stated.
"Why would he want to see you hurt? You were everything to him."
"Oh how wrong you are." A dark voice stated from nowhere.
Phoenus and Spyroena looked everywhere for the source and could not find it. While they looked everything around them went black and all that remained was Phoenus and Spyroena.
"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Spyroena asked.
"I recognize that voice." Phoenus stated.
"Yes Phoenus, it is I, the one who freed you from your curse." The voice said again.
"What do you want?" Spyroena asked.
"First, I want you out of here." He answered.
Instantly Spyroena gasped as she was lifted up and thrown out of the dream. When she was gone another image appeared in front of Phoenus. This time it was a mighty purple dragon with ghostly white eyes.
"It is I, Nukpana, and I have come to show you what is really going on." He stated.
"What do you mean?" Phoenus asked with a slight hint of fear in his voice.
"I am going to show you what your father is up to right now, to prove how he has betrayed you." Nukpana told him.
Phoenus watched as the darkness disappeared and his old home came into view. Nukpana led him inside the house and into the living room, where Phoenus could see his father on the floor with a little dragon in front of him.
"Is that…"
"Yes, she is your sister."
Phoenus looked over the little hatchling in disbelief. He had only been gone for a month and he already had a sister that he never knew about! What surprised him more was how his father was smiling while watching her.
"He has already moved on!" Phoenus roared. "He doesn't care about me anymore! He only cares about that pathetic hatchling!"
"Oh he does care about you still Phoenus." Nukpana stated.
"How so?"
"Just listen to what he is thinking." Nukpana answered before waving a paw.
After he did that Phoenus could hear what his father was thinking.
"She is so beautiful and perfect! I am sure she will turn out much better than Phoenus did." Spyro's voice said. "She will grow up without any knowledge of him, and once she is strong enough she will take him down herself, so that I will not have to."
Phoenus felt his heart sink inside his chest and tears began to form in his eyes.
"No… He, he couldn't have said that… He couldn't!"
"But he did Phoenus." Nukpana stated. "He is going to use that child to defeat you in his place."
Phoenus looked at the ground and let the tears fall, saying "he doesn't care about me."
"Not anymore he doesn't." Nukpana said more gently. "When you failed to get rid of the curse he began to see you as a failure as well. He now only wants to focus on your sister."
Phoenus stopped his crying but still took deep breaths. "No." he stated before looking up at them again. "She is not my sister. He is not my father! I will make them suffer! Starting with her!"
"Excellent! Use your anger against them and any other dragon that stands in your way!" Nukpana exclaimed.
Phoenus nodded and said "when she grows older, I will find her, and kill her in front of his own eyes!"
"All the more enjoyable!"
"I will show my 'father' the real cure, and how weak his element is!"
All in time young one." Nukpana told him. "You still have a lot of training to do with Demetrius. Only with him will you be strong enough to defeat them!"
"Yes master, I will not fail!"
"I know you won't. I can see a great future in front of you Phoenus, one filled with glory."
"Thank you master." Phoenus said with a bow.
"You are welcome young one. Now get back to your dreams and don't forget your goal."
"Yes master." Phoenus stated.
Nukpana's vision left Phoenus' dream, allowing him to get back to dreaming of what he wanted. World domination with his queen by his side.