Wraith POV
Wraith opened his eyes and glanced around a pure white plain. He turned. As expected, Ignitus was standing, but instead of facing him, he was reading something. Wraith strode up behind him.
"Hey."
Ignitus whirled and stared at him. "Wraith? How did you get here?"
Wraith frowned. "You summoned me, right?"
Ignitus shook his head. "No, I did not, young one. In fact, I don't think anyone has managed to contact me on their own."
Wraith shrugged. "We'll need to figure it out later. Right now, we have a big issue on our hands." He told Ignitus about what had happened that morning.
Ignitus looked shocked. "How could this be? Cheetahs don't have dark forms, and all the dragons in Warfang suddenly turning dark is not normal. I sense Malefor's hand in this."
Wraith felt a twinge of fear run down his spine. "But Spyro and Cynder sealed him in the center of the planet," he protested. "How could he turn an entire city dark?"
Ignitus shook his head. "I don't know, but when you arrived, I sensed a taint of unfamiliar energy on you."
Wraith was speechless. "What kind of energy?"
Ignitus shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that I have never seen anything like it. By the way, I have been reading your book and have discovered something interesting. Aside from this new power, which allowed you to do that teleporting trick, you also have three elements, something I didn't anticipate. I only meant to turn you into a shadow dragon and—"
"Hold on, back up," Wraith interrupted. "Are you saying that my teleporting trick is because of this new power?"
Ignitus nodded. "Indeed."
Wraith frowned. "And what's all this about you originally wanting to turn me into a shadow dragon?"
"That was my plan. I have seen your thoughts and memories, and I saw an image of a dragon that you created while you were younger, so that is what inspired me to create your dragon form the way I did. However, when I was crafting the transformation, something changed, and instead of just the shadow element, you also had pure lightning... and wind."
Wraith tilted his head. "What's the difference?"
"Pardon?"
"What's the difference between pure lightning and electricity?"
Ignitus thought about that. "I think the difference is the amount of power. Lightning is a pure type of energy and basically the purest form of electricity. It's stronger than any other kind."
"Wow." Wraith was shocked (figuratively speaking). Then he remembered something else. "So, um, not to be a bother, but do you happen to know if I'm, um, dead? You know, with the arrow in my back and the shrapnel?"
"Oh." Ignitus grabbed a blue book seemingly out of thin air, and the pages started flipping all on their own. After a moment of scanning the book, Ignitus slammed it shut. "From what I can tell, your body is currently being moved."
"By who?"
"I'm not sure. There seems to be a barrier stopping me from accessing any point beyond you waking up."
"Does the book happen to say where I will wake up?"
Ignitus shook his head. "No, it does not. I wish you luck. And by the way, your clothes are self-regenerating."
Wraith grinned. "At least I don't have to worry about finding a new pair of pants. Thanks, Ignitus." The dream faded.
Wraith awoke with a gasp. He sat up and looked around. He was on a black cot in some kind of cave with a red glow coming from the walls and a tunnel leading down. He glanced at his torso and saw that the wounds in his side were completely healed. He checked his back. There was no arrow. It was as if nothing had happened. I guess Ignitus was right about the self-regenerating clothing, he thought. Suddenly, he heard a scuttling noise coming from the tunnel. He scooted back on the cot as a creature emerged.
It was a fire scorpion at least three times taller than Wraith. But it wasn't like any fire scorpion he had seen or heard about. This one had pitch black rock as smooth as a mirror coating its body and blue fire connecting its body parts. Instead of having eight eyes, it only had two. The two that it had were slits of blue fire.
Wraith scooted back as the creature approached, memories from that horrible night crashing in on him. Then the creature did something so unexpected that Wraith thought he must be hallucinating. It stopped and bowed its head.
Wraith tried to figure out what was going on. Then, the scorpion spoke. "My apologies, Lord Darksield." Its voice was whispery, yet strong and was definitely male. "I did not mean to wake you."
Wraith was completely confused now. "Why did you call me that?"
The scorpion tilted its head. "Sorry?"
"Why did you call me Lord Darksield? How do you even know my name?"
The scorpion chuckled. "It is because of the legends."
"The legends?"
"Yes. Ancient legends told of someone from another reality coming into this one to free us all. And that someone... is you."
Wraith shook his head. "I don't understand."
The Scorpion was patient. "I will explain as we walk. Come." It turned and headed into the tunnel.
Wraith hesitated, but something inside told him to follow. He got up and ran after it. He caught up with the scorpion by a turn in the tunnel. "So, you were saying? About a legend?"
The fire scorpion nodded. "Back in the beginning, before Malefor's time, fire scorpions, or Buffalo Beetles, as we are known to the rest of the world, didn't exist. Instead, a more powerful race existed. The Dragon Blades. We were the protectors of the realms with our leader, the chosen one, commanding us. Then Malefor arrived. He instantly killed the chosen one, put us all under his spell, and turned us into what we are now.
"He forced us to serve him, to carry out his bidding. We were so enthralled by his enchantments that we could not resist. We were forced to kill hundreds, thousands. Then he made us tell him of the legend. The legend of how the chosen one's power had escaped this world and gone to another to find a new host. Malefor sent one of our kind to another world. He said it was to 'tie up any loose ends.' Only now do we know that he sent that scorpion to your world and made it kill your family. Its mission was to kill you, but when it attacked you, you somehow defeated it, and the results of your energy attack ricocheted back to our world through the portal Malefor had used.
"The blast hit just roughly eight months after Spyro came here, to Munitions Forge. The power in the blast freed us from Malefor's control. We immediately turned on him and pushed his forces out of the forge, saving civilians in the process. But they all left, leaving just us scorpions. Malefor tried to change the legend and just ended up making it come true. And so, we waited... waited for the one who would lead us into battle one final time against the tyranny of Malefor."
Wraith was silent as he tried to digest all this new information. So, it was Malefor who had killed his parents. Rage filled inside him, but he fought it back down. Later... He would use it later. He thought about what the scorpion had said. "Where are you taking me now?" he asked.
"To see the commanders of all the fire scorpions in this world," the scorpion replied.
Wraith nodded. "I see. By the way, what am I supposed to call you?"
"Call me Sandstorm, Lord Darksield."
"Why do you keep calling me that?"
"Because that is the name that the legend used."
"There's no need for that. You can call me Wraith."
The scorpion nodded. "Very well. Let us go."
They continued in silence. After about thirteen minutes of walking, they came to a section of the tunnel that had an open side.
Wraith glanced out and gasped. He was looking upon the remains of a once mighty city inside of a massive underground chamber. The city was mostly destroyed, but Wraith could still see some buildings standing tall. And walking among the streets were hundreds of scorpions, each of them as tall as Sandstorm. "What is this place?" Wraith asked quietly.
Sandstorm gestured toward the city with his tail. "Those are the remains of the last Dragon Blade city. We have lived here as long as I can remember. It is all we can do to survive." He nodded sadly toward a group of smaller scorpions, and Wraith noticed how skinny they were. Their flames glowed weakly. "The hatchlings barely have enough food to survive," Sandstorm continued as they resumed their way down the tunnel. "They are barely able to maintain their flames. When their fires die, they die as well."
Wraith was shocked.
With nothing to say, they both continued in silence. Finally, they arrived at a door. The door was easily twice as tall as Sandstorm and had several strange engravings on it. Sandstorm pushed the door open, and they entered. Inside was a massive chamber with streams of blue fire falling down into crevices in a massive ring around the chamber. And sitting in the middle of the chamber in a semicircle were three fire scorpions. They turned as Sandstorm and Wraith entered. As one, they dipped their heads.
"Lord Darksield, we are pleased to make your acquaintance," the scorpion in the center spoke.
Wraith nodded. "The pleasure is all mine. And please, call me Wraith."
The scorpion in the center nodded. "Very well. Now to business. I am Horizon, commander of the scorpion army." He gestured with his tail at the scorpion on the left. "This is Blaze. She is in charge of operations here in the forgotten city."
Wraith dipped his head as a show of respect.
"And this," Horizon continued, "is Magma, leader of the armed forces within the city."
Wraith nodded at him as well.
Horizon stood. He easily towered over Wraith and was at least twice as tall as Sandstorm. "Would you mind telling us how you had come to be when we found you outside of Warfang's borders?"
Wraith nodded and started telling them the whole series of events. He left out the dance part and the fact that Ignitus was the Chronicler. When he finished, no one spoke.
Then the scorpion on the left, Blaze, spoke up. "So, what do you need from us?"
Wraith stood tall and faced them all. He knew what he had to say. "I need your help to get back into Warfang and free the dragons from Malefor's power."
The scorpions shuffled. Even Sandstorm looked edgy. Magma, on the other hand, looked like he was going to erupt. "Absolutely not." He erupted. "They abandoned us when we needed them the most. Now they get to feel what we felt."
Wraith glared at him. "And that's my point. You all know the feeling of hopelessness when you are forced to do things that you would never do. Look at your hatchlings. Do you really want to put the dragons through what you went through and force their hatchlings into the same situation as yours?"
The scorpions all shifted uncomfortably. "Of course not." Horizon said.
Wraith pointed at him. "And that's why I need your help. Malefor corrupted you, and now he's trying to do the same to the dragons. You had no one to help you. Now, you can make a difference."
"But the dragons are stronger than we are," Magma protested, "and they have allies."
Wraith glared at him. "What if your hatchlings were in danger?" he snapped. "Wouldn't you do anything to protect them? Of course, you would. Who do you think Malefor will go after, after he's gotten all of Warfang under his control? He will go after all the free creatures in the dragon realms until he eventually comes to you and enslaves you all over again. Do you really want to put the hatchlings through all that?"
The scorpions were all glancing nervously at each other.
"No scorpion would follow your plan," Magma scoffed. "They would never believe that you are strong enough to lead us against the dragons. I certainly don't."
Wraith stiffened and slowly turned to face him. He drew his sword. "Is that a challenge?" His voice was deadly calm.
Magma glared at him. "Yes."
"Magma," Blaze protested, "you can't go through with this."
Magma locked his jaw and arced his tail up. "I can, and I will. What do you say Wraith? Are you brave enough to face me?"
Wraith nodded.
"Very well," Horizon declared. "If this is to be a duel, then it shall take place where our ancestors dueled to settle matters." He turned toward Blaze. "Tell all the scorpions that we shall be taking the army to the proving grounds above the city."
Blaze nodded. "It shall be done."
Magma turned toward Wraith. "I will see you this afternoon. This charade will end soon enough."
Wraith nodded. "Very well. If I win, you will give me the support of the scorpion army. If you win, then I will have to find my own way. Agreed?"
Magma nodded. "Very well. I shall see you again, on the field of battle."
Wraith turned on his heel and strode away, Sandstorm following.
"Do you know what you just did?" Sandstorm whispered. "You just challenged one of the most fearsome warriors known to scorpion kind."
Wraith shrugged. "And that will matter all the more when I beat him. Can you take me to the proving grounds? I need to see what kind of field I will be fighting on."
Sandstorm nodded. "Very well. Follow me." He started up another tunnel. Thirty minutes later, Sandstorm said to him, "You are either very brave or very stupid."
Wraith replied. "An old man once said, 'one part brave, three parts fool.' He had it right."