LoS: Light in the Dark: Ch 5

Demetrius and his Sister, two opposing forces.


Under a pale moon full moon stood a dragoness with dark red scales. She was looking at Demetrius who still stood with his back turned.

"Don't call me `sister´!" snarled the dark red dragoness. "You know as well as I that we are not siblings."

"True, we have never been tied together by blood, but we still called Malefor our father and each other brother and sister once" said Demetrius calmly as he turned around.

"That was many years ago. I was different then, but you haven't changed I see!" said the dark red dragoness.

"Indeed you have changed, I can barely feel the darkness inside you anymore" said Demetrius with a small smile. "But what little I could feel still helped me throughout the years."

"But your aura can still be felt from miles away. I can't believe I once indulged in that revolting feeling" said the dark red dragoness with a note of contempt.

"Oh please you don't have to say it like that. We all have to choose our path in life and mine just happen to lie with the power of darkness" said Demetrius with a smile and looked at his sister. "Just as you choose a path of deceit."

"I have done no such thing. That was a different me!" exclaimed the dark red dragoness in defiance.

"Oh please, if you did not use deceit then tell me how you have stayed hidden all these years. I have not heard your name mentioned anywhere, so can I assume you did take on a new identity to prevent others from learning who you were as you have done so many times before? Does the world even know you exist?" asked Demetrius with a smirk.

"It is different now! I stay hidden out of necessity, not out of any other reasons!" exclaimed the dark red dragoness. "And some do know of my existence and my name. I have left my mark on the future already even if most might never know it!"

"Then why hide yourself anymore. Join me again and help conquer me conquer the world. I could use your power" said Demetrius with enthusiasm "then you don't have to stay hidden anymore."

"No. I have left the darkness behind and I am not going back ever again, I have my own agenda now and it is because of that I am here" said the dark red dragoness and her face turned serious as she looked Demetrius in the eyes. "You must release the Purple Dragon from his prison!"

Demetrius eyes widened for a moment and then he started laughing. "Why would I do something like that? I succeeded where even my father did not and defeated Spyro, why would I release him?"

"Because if you don't, I will lead the guardians straight to your doorstep and you will die" said a emotionless voice from somewhere on Demetrius right.

Demetrius turned his head and saw a cheetah come walking towards him. The cheetah was wearing a long hooded cloak which hid his eyes and he was carrying a staff with a shining crystal on top.

"The observer, off course you would show up when the purple dragon is involved. I am actually surprised I have not seen you sooner" said Demetrius.

The observer said nothing, but simply went to stand alongside the dark red dragoness.
"Do you understand now what situation you are in? Release Spyro or the forces of Warfang will kill you. Either way Spyro will be free, but in one situation you get to keep your worthless life" said the dark red dragoness firmly  "or I could just kill you right here if you prefer that!"

"I wonder if you could do that" said Demetrius with a smile. "But no matter, I see your little scheme now and it is more pathetic than I imagined" continued Demetrius. "Do you really think our father never figured the Observer might go against him?"

"What do you mean?" asked the dark red dragoness.

"What I mean is that our father taught me how to block of the Observers ability to trace me, to blindfold his attempts to look through my eyes. You will never find me, you will never force me to do anything" told Demetrius with a chuckle.

"You bastard!" roared the dark red dragoness and fired of several red energy projectiles which homed in on Demetrius.

But right before they hit Demetrius turned into a cloud of darkness and flew upwards, the projectiles passing harmlessly through him.

"I am surprised you really attacked me, I did not think you had it in you" sounded Demetrius voice from the dark cloud as he flew of and disappeared in the night.

"Come back here you coward!" yelled dark red dragoness in anger and considered for a moment to fly after him, but quickly realized it would be hopeless in the dark.

"This was not good, but not entirely unforeseen either. We have other means to release Spyro with" said the Observer quietly.

"Yes" said dark red dragoness and looked up towards the stars. "But I had hoped we could solve it like this, it would have been easier for everyone."

"Indeed it would" said the Observer and to the dark red dragoness surprise he gently stroked her scales with one hand as he too looked towards the stars. "It would have been easier for everyone.
But we have to get moving now, you have to get back to Warfang right?"

"Yes, thank you" said the dark red dragoness and shivered. "He is even worse than I remembered him. He deserves to die and I will kill him if I get the chance"

"Do not make hasty judgments, Ravina. You never know which choices you might regret later" said the Observer and his face darkened as he jumped on her back.

And by the time the sun rose, no trace remained of the confrontation.

Cynder slept more peacefully than she had done for many months and felt rested and refreshed when she woke. Her father was already up and after searching the cave, Cynder finally found him on the plateau outside the cave.

"Good morning, Cynder" said Ghronur with a smile as he saw her and then added "Slept well, my child?"

"Very well" replied Cynder with a smile as she walked over to lie beside him.

They said nothing for a few minutes and just watched as the light slowly moved down the canyon walls as the sun climbed higher into the sky. The canyon was peaceful, the only sounds being the distant thunder of a few waterfalls echoing through it and Cynder relaxed even though she knew she had to head back soon.

"I guess you will have to go back to Warfang soon?" asked Ghronur suddenly as if he had guessed her thoughts.

"Yeah I have to get back to my children and to Spyro" answered Cynder. "I will visit whenever I can."

"That might not be necessary" said Ghronur with a small smile and Cynder looked at him. "I have been thinking about all of this. For years I have been hiding away here in grief, with no reason to ever leave this place. But meeting you, learning that you were still alive, it has given me a reason to once again take an active part in shaping this world" continued Ghronur. "I will be heading back to Warfang with you and then we can fight this `Demetrius´ guy you told me about together and find a way to release your mate. I am not sure how much I can do but…"

Ghronur did not get any further before Cynder embraced him with her wings and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, father" said Cynder her face positively beaming.

They ate a quick breakfast and Ghronur sealed the cave as they left and destroyed the plateau to hide the entrance before they headed off towards warfang.

Along the way they happily continued they conversation from the day before, Ghronur this time asking Cynder to recount what had happened in Hyrule and what exactly Hyrule was as his sister had not been very thorough in her description of what had happened.

About halfway back they passed over a large valley and it was then Cynder suddenly got a strange feeling and fell silent.

"Is something wrong?" asked Ghronur quickly when she suddenly stopped talking and looked at her.

Cynder did not answer. The feeling reminded her of herself when she had been under the darkness control and it made her shiver. But the feeling was not coming from her; it was coming from something above them.

Cynder turned her eyes upwards and Ghronur followed her gaze. At first there was nothing to see besides thick grey clouds, but suddenly a black shadow appeared in the clouds and a moment later Demetrius burst from the clouds heading straight towards them.

Despite the strange feeling to warn her Demetrius still fell upon Ghronur before Cynder could even react.

Ghronur had seen Demetrius coming towards him and had turned in the air to try and get clear. It had not succeeded, but at the very least he had managed to turn so his claws and head were facing Demetrius. Locked together the two dragons fell towards the ground, clawing and biting each other as they went.  

Cynder dove after them with anger and fear building in her chest. She did not want to lose her father, not now! As if reacting to her feelings a strong wind built behind her sent diving at great speed towards the two dragons that were steadily approaching the ground.

"Release me you fiend or we will both be crushed against the earth!" roared Ghronur who had seen the danger.

"You will, but not me" replied Demetrius smiling and delivered a quick slash across Ghronur's chest with his right front claws.

Ghronur reared away in pain and tried to break loose, but Demetrius held on with an evil grin.

But then just before the two dragons hit the powerful winds enveloped them from underneath and slowed their fall. Demetrius immediately turned his attention upwards where he saw Cynder approaching at unmatched speed.

Ghronur saw Demetrius distraction and seized the chance to push away from the black dragon and land safely on the ground.

Cynder fell upon Demetrius with a torrent of dark flames streaming from her mouth, but Demetrius had already evaporated into a dark cloud and moved out of harm's way.

Cynder landed next to her father. She could that his stomach was bloodied from several wounds and he was also bleeding from a wound near the right wing, but how dangerous the wounds were she could not tell. "Are you okay, father!?" asked Cynder concerned.

"Don't worry about me, I have survived worse than this" replied Ghronur with a smile and used his power to cover his wounds in a bandaging layer of rock and earth. "There, that should stop the worst of it."

Laughter drew their attention and Cynder turned around to see Demetrius standing on a rock nearby. Cynder snarled and moved between Demetrius and her father. Anger was boiling within her now Cynder could feel how the elements she controlled were reacting to the anger with a powerful wind gathering around her and the feeling which had warned her was now more powerful than ever.

It surprised Cynder at first, but she quickly realized that it was probably her control which was evolving, shortly said an Elemental Transaction. And that meant she had to be careful of her feelings.
In response to this realization Cynder took a deep breath and the wind died down a bit, but only a bit as the anger she felt could not be hidden completely.

"You must be Demetrius, am I right?" asked Ghronur suddenly with a serious tone.

"Indeed and you are Ghronur, father of Cynder and Blizero´s mate" said Demetrius. Blizero, who if I recall correctly, died in this very valley."

Ghronur froze and looked around. He had not noticed it before, but now he noticed it, he could recognize that valley anywhere. But how did Demetrius know?

"What do you know of my mother's dead, what do you want here!" demanded Cynder.

"I wanted to kill your father, but now that is impossible I will settle for the second best thing, a bit of storytelling" said Demetrius with a fanged grin. "Did you know that it was you who killed your mother?"

Cynder froze on the spot and slowly turned her head towards her father, but her father was staring at Demetrius as horror stricken as her.

"I witnessed it, I actually arranged it all. I knew who your parents were from scrolls recovered during the raid on the temple and I knew they would pose a threat to you and me through their connection to you. So I tracked them down and watched as you slew your mother and your father, or well I thought you had killed him, but as we can see it was not quite so" told Demetrius with a chuckle. "But now I will leave you, I think you have a lot to talk about, right?"

With that final comment Demetrius turned into a cloud of shadow and disappeared through the valley, his laughter echoing of the cliff walls.

Cynder did not try to follow him; she just stared at her father.  She could already feel tears pressing their way into her eyes. "Is it true?" asked Cynder finally. "Did I really kill my mother?"

Ghronur said nothing at first, but quietly embraced her. Cynder could see that he was crying already.

"No you did not kill your mother" said Ghronur and after a few seconds added "I did."