Dark Legacy 2: Umbral Visions Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Counselling
By: Dark Legacy

Disclaimer: I, Dardarax, do not own Spyro, Cynder, Ignitus, The Dragon Temple, Warfang or any other character and place belonging to the Spyro franchise, despite what the psychotic rages tell me. I do own a multitude of characters who will appear in this chapter, and their names are listed at the bottom.

The doors to the Guardian’s chamber swung open and the staff trudged in. Behind them a dozen guards held back a rabble of students, whose questions and threats were incomprehensible over the shouts of their peers. Inferna was the first inside and she breathed a sigh of relief. The Fire Guardian turned to watch the rest of her colleagues enter while the guards struggled to keep the shouting students in line.
Movement under Inferna’s wing drew her attention and she lifted it to look down at Lyrith, whom she had sheltered the entire trip there. The white dragon’s gaze was downcast, his body tense and hunched over. A pang of worry rang through her chest and Inferna leaned down and lifted Lyr’s chin with a claw, so that their eyes met.
“Everything will be alright Lyr,” she smiled. “Why don’t we go and have a seat?”
“I’m fine,” Lyrith pulled away from Inferna’s gaze to stare off to the side. “Don’t worry about me.”
Inferna’s frowned. Lyrith’s words lacked any of the energy she’d come to expect of him. She nuzzled his head to try and cheer him up, though she received no response. The strength and conviction that she had grown so used to was gone, replaced by a deep confusion and sense of doubt. A dark frown creased his tense face.
Inferna sighed when she got no response from him and led him over to the huge table in the centre of the chamber. She took a seat on one of the large pillows and guided Lyr down onto one beside her, the white dragon completely unresponsive now. The doors to the Guardian’s Hall sealed shut and the noise of the crowd outside vanished. The Guardians took their seats around the table, eyes fixed on Lyrith.
There was a long moment of silence as they all stared at him, a sense of anticipation and anxiety hanging in the still air. Lyrith wilted under their gazes, his wide red eyes fixed on the table before him. Volteer cleared his throat and looked to the others, breaking his gaze away from Lyrith.
“Wellshouldn’twegetstartedthen? Weshouldbeaskingquestionsand notstaringatthepoorfellowlikejudges! Iforoneammost curious as to what this fascinating, remarkable, miraculous event means! If none of you have any idea of where to start I have come up with a couple dozen questions that could-”
“Yes, we get it Volteer,” Terrador cast a quick glare at the yellow dragon before returning his gaze to Lyrith. “There’s no need for that, at least not now. Besides, I believe Inferna has the right to the first question, as Lyrith is her son after all.”
Inferna blinked and looked over at Terrador. “Really? And here I thought you never took my questions seriously?”
“Normally we don’t but this time I do agree with Terrador,” Cyril shrugged. “You do know the boy best and so your questions would likely have the most insight.”
Inferna nodded and then turned to Lyrith, who was looking up at her himself. His eyes searched her face, a lost look she’d never seen before etched into it. Inferna took a deep breath and leaned forward, giving the warmest smile possible.
“Lyrith,” she asked, her voice soothing. “Do you know what happened to you during the duel? Do you remember any of it?”
Lyrith frowned and gave a brief nod. “Yes, I do, but I don’t know why.”
“Can you tell us what you do know? What it was like?”
Lyr took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he thought back on it. “I was pinned down by Thunder. He had been using some lightning magic to electrocute his armour so I couldn’t touch him. That’s why he was winning. He was taunting me and blasting me with lightning to knock me unconscious. And I was slowly blacking out. Then I was awake again and all the pain was gone. I felt so good, like I’d just woken up from a great sleep. Thunder got off of me and I started to fight back. I thought he wanted a fair fight. I didn’t even know something was wrong until I took that sound blast head on and even then I didn’t fully realize how bad it was until after the fury,” Lyrith trailed off and looked around at the other Guardians. “What happened? How did I survive the fury? How did this happen?”
The Guardians looked at one another, brows furrowed in thought.
“From what I could tell,” Cynder coughed, looking at Lyrith sidelong. “That aura of yours was negating all the magic that came near you. The bolts of lightning and sound roars he was firing kept dispelling every time they got near you. The same was with the fury. The blasts of lightning went around you, as all of the ones that got close just… vanished.”
“They weren’t negated, Cyn,” Spyro frowned, stroking his chin spike thoughtfully. “When Ramolous was using his antimagic our powers were negated. They just stopped and vanished. Whenever the magic got near Lyrith, it was… dispersed. As if the of the spirit energy in it was pulled apart before it could touch him. There was almost a sparkle in the air around him whenever the magic got near him.”
Lyrith nodded along, his eyes unfocused in thought.
“Soitisn’tantimagicthen… interesting,” Volteer murmured, his claws tapping against the stone table rhythmically.
“Almost assuredly not,” Cyril declared with a firm nod. “It was clear almost immediately that that wasn’t the case.”
“Why do you say that, Cyril?” Terrador raised an eyeridge, all eyes drawn to him. “Was there something else you saw?”
“Indeed there was,” Cyril smirked. “If you would recall, there was a point that Lyrith was struck across the head by Thunder. Lyrith’s head was uncovered and Thunder’s gauntlet had bladed claws. Said claws hooked into the back of Lyrith’s neck and drew some very nasty wounds, enough that the sand was covered in blood.”
Lyrith frowned at that. He remembered Thunder hitting him but only across the horns. There hadn’t been any pain at all to say he’d been hurt. The nods of the Guardians however told him that they didn’t share his assessment.
“Yet, if you were to look at him now,” Cyril gestured to Lyrith. “You would see no scars. I had a brief talk with Aquina on the way back to speak my concern about his wounds and she told me that neither she nor her clinicians treated any injuries on him as he had none.”
There was a murmur among the Guardians. “So it is clear to me that there must be some healing factor present in Lyrith’s ‘magic.’ Something that Antimagic certainly does not possess.”
“I remember being hit by Thunder,” Lyrith cut in, his voice low. “But I don’t remember being cut. There wasn’t any pain at all from that injury…”
The Guardians paused at that, staring at Lyrith with blank faces. Inferna swallowed, trying to wet her dry throat. The memory of him rising from the sand, glowing white and alien to continue the fight against Thunder sent another shudder through her body. It had taken all of her strength to not rush down there and try to shake him out of it. Having to call the guards had been one of the hardest things to do in her life. Now, with Lyrith sitting here beside her, looking more vulnerable than she’d ever seen him she just wanted to pull him into a hug and hold him there until he was better. It was only the knowledge that he’d want to face this down himself that kept her at bay.
“Lyrith,” Inferna murmured, leaning close to him once more, forcing a smile. “Do you know if anything like this ever happened to you before? Can you remember any time where this might have happened to you?”
Lyrith shook his head, his eyes glazing over in thought once again. “No, this was the first time I can remember…”
Inferna looked over to the others, not sure what to say next.
“Well, it’s possible that it’s simply taken this long for his powers to manifest,” Spyro mused. “I was older than normal when I first manifested fire.”
“That seems unlikely though,” Cyril shook his head. “First of all you were still close to the proper age when it happens. Typically manifestation of magic happens around the ages of eight to ten. Yours happened at the age of thirteen. Lyrith is eighteen now, well above the age and, more importantly, has the colouration of an albino. Scale colour is generated while still in an egg and depends on the kind of Spirit Core a dragon possesses.”
“So what does that mean?” Inferna demanded, glaring at Cyril. “How does that matter at all?”
“It matters because scale colouration can’t change after a certain point of egg development,” Volteer said, his voice purposefully slow. “So either Lyrith was born an albino and given magic or he had magic and his core was crippled as an egg.”
Lyrith stiffened at the first, his mind drawn back a year in the past to a dingy lab in which he had been held prisoner. The face of a twisted half dragon stared into his and told him of how he could grant him the power his birthright deserved, if all he’d do was take the crystal in front of him.
Inferna noticed a shudder wrack Lyrith and frowned. She leaned down to him to ask what was wrong but Lyr noticed first and glanced up at her. “I’m fine I’m… I’m just thinking,” he said shortly, pulling his eyes away from hers. Inferna frowned, knowing he was lying but deciding it best not to pry in front of the others.
“An egg’s magic can be crippled?” Spyro asked with a frown.
“Most assuredly! While still developing as an egg a dragon is at its most vulnerable magically,” Volteer explained giddily. “Exposure to certain kinds of magic while in this state can have all sorts of odd effects on the dragon once hatched,” he gestured to Cynder. “Cynder for example was affected by Convexity while an egg and she gained the ability to use three new elements in addition to Shadow, her natural one.”
Cynder gave a curt nod, her muzzle pursed tightly at the reminder.
“It is not unheard of for a dragon who might have once possessed an element to lose it and become an albino if the right circumstances are presented. An element conflicting with one’s natural born one that is forcibly entered into the egg is liable to cause conflicts and negate the dragon’s ability to use magic entirely.”
“If that’s the case how would Lyr’s magic have come back then?” Inferna frowned, looking up from Lyr.
“Now that’s the mystery, isn’t it?” Volteer smiled. “Because that is something we’ve never heard happening before. Isn’t that marvellous? Exciting? Amazing?”
“So… so you think I might have had magic before I hatched?” Lyrith looked around at the Guardians, his muzzle dry.
It is a shame you did not inherit his powers.
“So… you don’t have any idea what kind of magic I might have?” Lyrith asked after a moment’s pause.
“Not as of yet,” Terrador grumbled. “But we have only seen a small amount of what you can do so far and we haven’t had time to do any research into the matter. There are hundreds if not thousands of documented sub-element dragons, so surely we can find one that’ll match up with what we’ve seen so far. We simply do not recognize it ourselves.”
Lyrith took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Alright… that’s good to know…”
“Until then we should be arranging your classes,” Cynder said, her eyes meeting Lyrith’s. “You’ll want to begin learning how to harness your new magic as quickly as possible.”
“You are most right, Cynder,” Volteer bubbled, giving her a huge grin. “We should get to that right now.”
The Guardians all gathered together to begin discussing while Inferna stayed back with Lyrith. The lost expression that had been haunting his features had mostly vanished, to be replaced with a familiar confidence and a look of hope and excitement that Inferna hadn’t seen since she’d brought him to the Dragon Temple.
Carefully, Inferna brought her wing down over Lyr’s back to embrace him and, much to her surprise he didn’t object.
The Guardians finally dispersed and Cynder approached the two with a large parchment. She handed it over to Inferna and Lyrith and pointed out what Lyr will be doing when classes started. Much of Lyr’s old choices remained but a few had been replaced with private lessons with Aideen, the Temple’s wizard and expert on all things magical. He would be meeting up with her as of the start of classes to try and figure out what his magic was and to learn the basics of how to call upon it.
Lyrith nodded as they spoke, his eyes running over the now packed schedule in Inferna’s claws. The Guardians then got together and decided how they’d go about researching this mystery. Volteer would go over the first two volumes listing all the forms of magic that were documented while Spyro would go over the third. Cyril and Cynder would go over some of the books on Dragonic fairy tales and legends in search of something similar to this in case it didn’t appear in the list of known powers. Inferna would keep note of Lyr’s progression in his powers as well as any other manifestations that it might take, while Terrador would record all that they learned as well as all the sources they have checked to keep them from accidentally backtracking.
Lyr’s eyes began to droop as they spoke, a sweeping sense of exhaustion flowing over him. With much of the overwhelming confusion gone a deep weight settled on the white dragon’s mind and his muzzle cracked open into a broad yawn. Inferna noticed Lyrith’s struggle to keep his eyes open and turned to the other Guardians, asking if she could take Lyr to his room for some rest. They were permitted to go, though Cynder held a quiet conference with Inferna for a minute before letting them leave.
Once dismissed the pair exited the chamber through a backdoor and took flight from the outside of the Temple to avoid any crowds that might be moving through the halls. Lyrith staggered into his room and slumped down on the bed. Inferna smiled and stepped into his room, shutting the windows behind her. She wandered over to the bed and sat down next to it. A red eye cracked open and Lyrith looked up at her grumpily.
“What do you want now?” he asked through a wide yawn.
“I was hoping we could talk, Lyr,” Inferna murmured, her voice soft. “About all of this. This can’t have been easy for you.”
Lyrith let out a low groan and dropped his head onto the pillows. “You can say that again. First getting the tar beaten out of me by Thunder and then dragged all the way up to the Guardian’s Hall to endure an hour of them blabbing. Joy.”
Inferna cracked a smile but then shook it away. “Lyr… how do you feel about this? What’s on your mind right now?”
The white was silent for several deep breaths, his gaze focused on the wall to the side of Inferna. “Sleep,” he said finally as he curled up on the bed.
“Lyr.”
Lyrith sighed. “I… I don’t know, mom,” he turned to look at her. “What am I supposed to think? All my life I’ve wanted this, struggled with not having it, learned to live without it and then suddenly I’m given it without any idea of how or why. Am I supposed to be happy? Am I supposed to be glad that I have this? That all those years everyone was wrong about me?”
Inferna’s face grew stark as Lyrith trailed off, his snow-white features marred by a dark frown and wide eyes. The Guardian’s eyes searched his face, a deep sadness swelling up in her chest at the tenseness of his body and the look of apprehension in his gaze. She leaned down and gave his cheek a nuzzle.
“Lyrith, this doesn’t change who you are. Just because you only now awakened your magic doesn’t mean you have to change as a dragon. It just means you have something new to define you. And as for what you should be thinking, I don’t know. I think you should be happy, since it’s something new and interesting that you get to explore about yourself.”
“But that’s not true is it?” Lyrith met her hazel eyes firmly. “I could see your fear when I was changed. You were all terrified of me, of this power. You still are, aren’t you?”
Inferna pulled back in surprise, her expression hurt. “Lyr… I…” Lyrith held the gaze, refusing to budge. Inferna sighed. “Alright. I was afraid, yes, but I was afraid for you, not of you. You were hurt badly and then you changed into a form none of us had ever seen before, displayed powers we never knew possible and survived a lightning fury unscathed. I… we were terrified that something had happened to you, like with Savron.”
“Yeah, right,” Lyrith huffed. “And you want me to be happy about these powers then? Happy about powers that you thought might be malicious? Maybe you should lock me up like you did with him until you’re sure, because it might very well be for all you know!”
Inferna flinched at the harshness of his voice. She didn’t want to tell him that that was essentially what Cynder had suggested moments before they left.  She held his gaze however, refusing to let him know of the quivering guilt settling in her chest. His blood red eyes were narrowed but strained in doing so, as if forced to be such. His eyes searched hers under the cover of his furrowed brow and his wings held tightly to his body.
She took a deep breath and let it out. She swallowed back the dryness in her throat. “Lyrith, are you sure you don’t know where the source of this power came from?”
Lyrith froze, his brow furrowing. “What do you mean?”
“When Volteer brought up the possibility that the magic was given instead of unlocked you got this terrified look about you,” Inferna said, her gaze holding his. “Like you knew what he was talking about. Is that what you think happened Lyrith?”
He stared at her for a moment, silent as he processed this. Then he shrugged nonchalantly. “I was still getting used to the idea of my powers. I was just processing both options.”
Inferna held her gaze firmly, not believing him in the slightest. Lyr shifted under her gaze, his own face stony.
“Lyr…” Inferna muttered, eyes narrowing. “You’re not helping yourself by being stubborn. Do you want us to help you with your powers or not?”
Lyrith held his silence for a few seconds longer before sighing. “Fine. Yeah it rang a bell.”
Inferna waited patiently for him to continue, but he refused to do so without urging. Finally she coaxed him to continue with a few more firm words.
Lyrith continued with a groan. “Remember back during the war with the Ferans? When I went missing and I had to be rescued from that crazy sorcerer’s lab?”
Inferna nodded. That had been a very stressful time for all of them. Not only had there been a war going on, but Lyrith had vanished during one of the battles, knocked unconscious and dragged away for unknown reasons by Jaxar, a half dragon sorcerer. They’d only found Lyrith days later after the siege on Grasbronda, the capital of the Ferans, and he had been reduced to a comatose state by poisonous spiders.
“And I mentioned how he wanted me to absorb a crystal of his that would grant me powers?”
Realization hit Inferna like a pillow stuffed with bricks. “Right! But you told me you didn’t accept it,” Inferna’s eyes narrowed. “Lyrith… did you lie to me?”
His red eyes rolled in response. “No I didn’t accept the offer, Mom.”
“Then why bring this up?”
“Because when I declined I struck the crystal and it… zapped me with dark magic.”
Inferna’s eyes shot open. “It what? Why didn’t you tell us about it!?”
“Because it didn’t matter. Until now I didn’t think it would have any long term effects on me. It just sort of… stunned me and then it was gone. It was barely a spark.”
A groan escaped him as Inferna began an inspection of his body, his angry complaints ignored entirely as she poked and prodded him as if to look for a wound.
“I said stop it!” Lyr swatted her paw away for the third time, glaring at her. “Why are you even doing that? If there was a wound it would be long gone by now!”
“I’m looking for any sign of Convexity taint,” Inferna replied, finally stepping back. “Or other marks of the influence of dark magic. Can you tell me exactly what it looked like?”
Lyrith huffed. “Black or something. I don’t know, it was sort of sudden.”
Inferna huffed, her shoulders sagging. “You’re a lot of help, Lyr.”
“You’re welcome,” Lyrith said with a smirk. “Anyway, do you think it’s a danger to me? I haven’t felt anything strange up until now so…”
“Well, if it was just a spark it’s probably not going to corrupt you,” Inferna mused, a claw placed on her chin thoughtfully. “Besides, a spark would be more like a convexity attack than a transfer so it wouldn’t corrupt you anymore than being adjacent to Savron’s dark form.”
Lyrith gave a brief, relieved nod.
“And as for whether or not this could be the source of your powers…” Inferna tapped her claws on the stone floor rhythmically. “Well, it’s possible, but given the amount of power and the fact that you didn’t accept it, I find it unlikely that it would be enough to give you the power we saw today. Still, I’ll discuss it with the others as a possibility,” she leaned down and gave Lyr another nuzzle. “Thanks for being so ‘forward’ with me, Lyr.”
“No problem,” Lyrith grunted, his eyes rolling.
“If you want to tell me anything more, Lyrith, remember that you can always come to me.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lyrith grumbled as he lay down on the bed of cushions, curling up to get some rest. Inferna smiled and stepped out of the window they’d come in through, closing it shut behind her. Lyrith watched her take off a few moments later, her slim body silhouetted against the waxing half moon. He breathed a long sigh and picked up the blood red journal lying beside his bed and flipped it open. The white dragon lifted his quill and took to writing, losing himself in the memory of what had just happened.
…
Deran slumped to the ground and wiped a paw across his forehead, panting in exertion. He looked around at Inferna’s room, the once disastrous chamber now all but spotless. The heaping piles of books, trinkets, magical objects and assignments were now all neatly stacked up and organized. The earth dragon drew in a long breath and relaxed his sore body.
A few moments later Deran stood and lumbered once again over to the orderly desk, only for Deran’s eyes to freeze upon shining suit of chainmail that lay upon it. His eyes flickered over the detailed helm, the greaves, and the claws, before he jerked away, body tense once more. He stalked around the room, searching every nook and cranny for more dust or garbage for him to put away. The entire time he kept his eyes averted from the desk.
The sound of the door opening caused Deran to turn and sigh in relief as Inferna stepped inside. “I was wondering when you’d show up,” he smiled in relief, walking towards her.
Inferna gave a weak smile in return only to look about her room in surprise. “Deran! Did you really have to clean my room? I liked it as it was…”
Deran chuckled an apology. “Sorry. But I couldn’t stand it. Something had to be done.”
Inferna grumbled under her breath and stalked forward, head low. Deran’s own strained smile cracked at this and he gulped. Then he pushed it back onto his face, intercepting the Guardian of Flame with a hug.
“Speaking of which, why don’t we have a room to share?” he joked, nuzzling her neck. “I mean, everyone knows about us, what’s the point in hiding it?”
Inferna was silent for a moment, before she raised her head to meet his gaze. A forced smile of her own appearing. “Because it’s more fun to have to sneak into each other’s rooms, than it is to simply be there?”
Deran snorted and placed his forehead against hers. “You may think that, but I’d rather we have one to our own, like Spyro and Cynder.”
“Do you really want to deal with that mess every day of your life?” Inferna smirked, nodding to the now clean floors. Deran’s grin broke once again, though this time for a laugh.
“I suppose you’re right…”
Inferna shook her head joining in. Then her joviality faded away and she sat down on her haunches, her head turning to the portrait above the desk. Deran followed her gaze. The portrait was brand new, having only been delivered a week prior. During one of Inferna’s escapades about the realm she’d found and brought home a brilliant painter to create their first family painting. Lyrith stood front and center, looking utterly miserable in the lavish outfit Inferna had forced him into. He and Inferna stood behind him, one wing each draped around his flanks to frame him in the picture, the two’s forepaws clasped as if preparing to dance. The forge master had to give credit where it was due; he captured the image perfectly, not even trying to hide their son’s obvious discomfort at having to stand for over an hour like that.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Deran asked, turning to look at her.
Inferna nodded, her eyes clouded.
“What happened to him?”
“We don’t know.”
“What?” Deran blinked in surprise. “You don’t know? How is that possible?”
Inferna looked up to him with a sardonic smirk. “Again, we don’t know.”
Deran gave a frustrated grunt. “Then how do you know it’s bad?”
“It’s bad because Lyrith is distraught,” Inferna sighed. “And the only ideas we have as to how he got the powers are… disturbing.”
Deran guided Inferna over to her bed and helped her to her seat, his gaze never leaving hers.
“Explain.”
Inferna sucked a breath in and began. “We’ve got two ideas so far. The first is that Lyr wasn’t lain an albino but was turned into one later on. That somehow a considerable amount of magical energy was forced into his egg which damaged his spirit core.”
“Oh…”
“It wasn’t brought up but… it’s most likely that someone did that to him on purpose. Which raises a whole host of questions,” Inferna shook her head.
“Like why.”
“Exactly.”
“I have a feeling the second one is worse.”
Inferna smiled wanly. “You could say that. Secondly, Lyrith’s powers could have been introduced by an outside force. That he was laid and had hatched an albino, but had powers given to him later. But…”
Deran waited patiently, drawing Inferna close to him in a firm hug. She accepted it gratefully.
“But that’s the one Lyrith seems the most concerned about. Lyrith told me that the sorcerer, Jaxar, had tried to give him powers through a massive fury gem. I thought it was impossible, that it’d kill an albino who tried that but…”
Deran’s eyes widened. “He didn’t accept, did he?”
Inferna shook her head. “He said he didn’t. But admitted that it zapped him with dark magic when he touched it.”
The forge master was silent for a time, pondering this. “Will you tell the others?”
“No,” Inferna shook her head vehemently. “I don’t want them freaking out over some suspected dark magic. And I certainly don’t want them to have more reason to send guards after Lyr to watch over him. So I won’t tell them, at least not until I can clarify one hundred percent that it didn’t affect him.”
“But what if it did?”
Inferna opened her muzzle and frowned. She couldn’t find any words. Deran leaned close and rubbed his muzzle against hers.
“I agree, Inferna. But you need to think about these things,” he looked into her hazel eyes, a paw against her cheek. “What do we do if it turns out he is? If he becomes like Savron?”
Inferna gulped and looked away, eyes shut tight. “I… I don’t know.”
The two were silent for a long while, unable to meet each other’s gazes. Deran sighed. “Never mind. Let’s talk about this another time,” he rested his head against hers. “It probably won’t matter. It wasn’t much, right? I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“Right,” Inferna nodded, smiling. “My first investigation didn’t show anything so… it’s nothing. We shouldn’t even consider what to do unless it comes to that,” Inferna buried her head against Deran’s. “I just can’t think about him like that.”
They sat together for a long time, holding one another close. They didn’t budge, even as the rising sun started to peer at them through the window.