TLOS: AND: Defending the Temple

Defending the Temple

"Naga?" asked Cynder, confused as to what they were. "What are Naga?"

"The Naga are a race who centuries ago were banished from the Dragon Realms," said Cyril. "The stories told of them are quite…unsettling. But I don't know most of it, a lot of their legend is lost to history."

Terrador nodded. "But why have they returned? Why now?" he asked, confused and rightfully distressed at this situation.

"The Chronicler told me why," said Spyro, getting everyone's attention. "Malefor defeated them before he turned evil and his elders banished them to the Unknown Realms. They've finally heard we beat Malefor so they're here for their revenge."

"The Chronicler again?" asked Volteer, confused. "My what a startling development, it's been quite some time since he last communicated with you."

"Enough, Volteer, that's not important," said Cyril. "We can sort out specifics later, we have to protect the temple. I could never forgive myself if what happened 24 years ago happened again."

"Yes," said Terrador, as Ember ran in. "Ember, the temple is being attacked, we don't have time to explain," he replied. "Spyro, Cynder, you go with Ember to the egg chamber. I want you two to guard that chamber with your lives," he commanded. "Ember, I want you to move the eggs down the hidden passage we showed you, be very careful."

"Secret passage?" asked Sparx, confused. "What secret passage?"

Cyril smiled. "We learn from our mistakes, we've taken precautions after the last time."

"Alright, let's go-" started Spyro, only to find Cynder had already started off. "Cynder wait up!" he called, taking off after her.

Ember was confused, but nodded to Terrador. "Alright, I'll help, be careful though, ok?" she asked, taking off after the other two dragons.

Terrador nodded and sounded an alarm, calling dragons from throughout the temple to its defense before flying into battle himself alongside his fellow Guardians.

---

By the time Spyro caught up to Cynder, she had just killed two Naga and was impaling a third on her tail. She looked quite furious. "Cynder, what's gotten into you?" asked Spyro, somewhat frightened by her aggressiveness.

Cynder watched the Naga she impaled disintegrate into ash and leave behind a cluster of crystals, the other two dead Naga suffering the same fate. "Our egg is in danger Spyro," she said, looking over he shoulder. "I'm going to tear anyone who gets between me and my baby to shreds without a second thought until it's safe," she said, completely serious, material instincts she didn't even know she had now in full swing. She hadn't felt them before, but she understood exactly what they were.

Spyro blinked, then realized she was right. Their egg was in danger, he hadn't bonded with it as strongly as she had but he still cared for the baby as his own. Like any father, he felt compelled to protect it fiercely. "I'm with you," he said, nodding. "I might not have connected like you have yet, but it's my kid, I'm not going to let some ugly snakes get their claws on it," his mouth curling up into a snarl as his fatherly instincts began to kick in. Like Cynder, he'd not felt these feeling before but understood them.

Cynder smiled and nodded. "I thought you might feel that way, now let's take care of these monsters," she said, turning back and taking off, Spyro following close behind.

Ember flew in after them, finally catching up. She wasn't sure what was going on, but like any Guardian, she was more than willing to protect the temple and the eggs. As a bunch of Naga swarmed down the hall, she engulfed herself in flames and plowed into them with a Comet Dash, forcing two back before finishing them off with a powerful flamethrower-like stream of fire breath. "I might just be the Fire Guardian in training, but I'm not about to let the temple down when I'm needed," she said, now a tad more mature due to being "on duty".

Spyro nodded. "Good job Ember, you're pretty tough," he said, impressed by her strength. He was also intrigued by something about her fire. It seemed more composed and held together better than normal, as if she had greater control over it than he did. His was more of a fiery burst while hers was a more compact stream of flames that held together over a longer distance. He would've assumed it was because she was a natural Fire Dragon, but even the adult Fire Dragons he'd seen didn't have fire like she did, he wondered what it meant.

Spyro then watched more Naga swarm at them, anger rising up inside him at the creatures threatening his child. "My turn," he said, lowering his head and going into a full charge. He drove his horns into a Naga's gut and flipped it overhead with all his power. Cynder leapt up and assaulted the Naga Spyro threw with a bicycle kick and launched it into another one with one last kick. Ember, quickly on the attack, let loose a stream of flames on the downed Naga to finish them off. Cynder saw more on their way and let out a high pitched banshee-like scream, projecting red sound waves from her mouth. The attack bombarded the Naga, forcing them back and stunning them. This allowed Spyro and Ember to circle them and burn them to death with an onslaught of fire breath.

Soon, that wave of Naga were dead, allowing the group to move on through the chambers. They soon entered a main hallway on the way to the egg chamber, which was empty. "This is a bit too quiet, don't you think?" asked Sparx. "I know when something is too quiet and this is defiantly it."

Spyro nodded. "Yeah, I know," he said, on guard. With a screech, several Naga emerged on upper levels of the room armed with bows and arrows and started firing, forcing the dragons to dodge. Spyro tried to spit a fireball at one but it was evaded. "These things are fast," he said, barely dodging an arrow and gaining a small scratch across the back.

Ember flew up and spun around, breathing a stream of fire and managing to burn one of the Naga to force them back, allowing Spyro to headbutt one and send it flying out the window to its death. Cynder followed up by flying into at another one and coated her tail in poison before he could recover. She then swung her tail around and stabbed the Naga in the chest, killing it. She looked up and realized another had already taken aim at her, about to fire. Thankfully, Ember flew in and blasted it with her fire and then tail whipped it out the window.

"I've got your back," Ember said, giving a smile to her friend. She might get on Cynder's nerves unintentionally, but she did considered the black dragon a really good friend.

Cynder nodded with a smile, glad to have Ember there to help. "Thanks."

"Come on!" called Spyro, after electrocuting the last Naga with a bolt of lightning from his mouth. "We're nearly there," he explained, leading down the path towards the egg chamber.

"Wow, you were really strong back there, Spyro," said Ember, with her normal dreamy tone. The brief break in action allowed her to revert back to her flirty persona. "If you're that strong, we'll protect the temple for sure!" she praised, keeping her flirtatious tone.

Cynder snarled, in no mood for this right now. "Let's just hurry!" she snapped, startling Ember as she hurried down the hallway. However, they were soon attacked again. But this time, it wasn't from the Naga but by three of the stone, demon-like monsters. They were humanoid in structure, but were quite demonic in appearance and rather frightening.

"What are those things?" asked Sparx, confused. "They aren't the snake things."

"They're standing between me and my baby!" said Cynder, angry and not giving a darn what they were. Ember's flirting had gotten on her nerves and her egg was in danger, she was at least a bit glad to have them to take her frustrations out on. One of the creatures leapt at her, attempting a slash with her claws but she counterattacked by diving into her own shadow and vanishing. As it looked around in confusion, Cynder burst up behind it and slashed it with shadow coated claws, cutting into its stony hide. Before it could recover, she let a powerful stream of poison loose from her mouth, badly wounding it. It survived the attack, however, and spun around, slashing at her several times before Cynder slashed it in the face with her tail, killing it and causing it to shatter to dust.

Ember was surprised at how angry Cynder was, but ignored it to blast another one of the monsters with a torrent of flames, then slashed it twice with her claws to force it back before being hit back herself. Refusing to be beaten, Ember did a Comet Dash into its chest and shattered it. "They're pretty tough."

Spyro nodded, slashing the remaining one several times to no effect before spitting a chunk of rock into its chest, forcing it back. He then fired another one into its head, wounding it, before doing a Comet Dash of his own and shattering it. "They're made of rock, no wonder they're so hard to kill."

Cynder shrugged. "I don't care, if its standing between us and our egg, it's going down."

Spyro nodded in complete agreement. "But don't forget Cynder, we need to protect all the eggs, not just ours."

Cynder realized this and looked embarrassed. "Yeah, I guess I forgot a bit…I'm just being a bit protective I guess."

"You're a mother, that's their job," said Sparx. "Our mom once beat up a Frog Weed until it spit me out, all by herself."

Spyro nodded. "I remember that one," he said, continuing on, not wanting to waste more time. He felt just as protective as his mate did, but was a tad more composed about it. Cynder was dealing with more than just her material instincts so she was a lot more aggressive at the moment than he.

---

They soon came across more of the stone monsters at the door to the egg chamber, which was presently sealed in response to the attack, a defense mechanism installed when the temple was built. There were three total, two like the ones they'd already faced and one larger one that was armed with a sword and shield, which he was using to beat at the door to try and get in. "Get away from there!" yelled Spyro, now angrier that he knew for a fact the monsters were after the eggs. He was even angrier that it was his and Cynder's egg that was in there as well.

The larger one snarled and turned. "Purple Dragon, your head will get me a reward," it said, voice low and grating.

"Oh great, a talking rock monster," said Sparx.

Cynder snarled, low to the ground with wings outstretched in a threat. She was furious that they'd actually come after the eggs and now even angrier that it'd threatened her mate. "Listen you, I'm in a very bad mood right now. My egg is in there and if you don't get out of my way, I'm going to tear into you so fast you won't even have time to finish you next sentence!"

The monster laughed. "Try and stop me, you-" He was cut off by Cynder doing exactly what she'd warned him she was going to do-tear into him. She pounced onto him and slashed him fiercely with her claws. Spyro, now angry himself, joined and the two knocked the large rock monster to the ground and attacked him with fury only known by parents protecting their children.

Ember blinked, somewhat confused due to her naïve nature, but blasted one of the other monsters with fire and started fighting it to distract it.

Sparx blinked, looking at the other one as it tried to sneak up on Spyro and Cynder as they fought the bigger one. He picked up a small rock and threw it, hitting it in the back of the head. "Hey ugly! Leave them alone!" he yelled, but regretted it and screamed as it charged after him. Sparx proceeded to run for his life around the chamber.

The bigger monster kicked the two dragons off him, already covered in cuts and gashes despite his rocky hide. Spyro leapt at him and received a bash of his shield in response but allowed Cynder dive into her Shadow again and blindside the creature from behind with a slash. Angry, the stone warrior spun around and slashed at her with her sword, managing to inflict a gash on her chest. Before he could follow up, Cynder ignored her wound and breathed a blast of shadowy fire into his face, choking and blinding him. Spyro took advantage by blasting the creature from behind with a bluish-white mist, freezing it solid. Cynder finished the job with a poisonous slash of her tail to shatter the monster completely.

---

Sparx panted as the other monster chased him into a room, that is until the creature's wings got stuck in the doorway. Sparx then noticed the switch for the door and smirked, pulling it and slamming the heavy stone door down on the creature's body, shattering it. "Oh yeah! I got you! Don't mess with Sparx!" he yelled, then realized he didn't know how to open the door, as it was one of those that needed a dragon using its elemental breath to open it. "Uh…how do I get out of here?"

---

Ember finally finished her opponent off with a burst of flames and panted, heading over to Spyro and Cynder. "We did it…" she said, then gasped. "Cynder, you're hurt…" she muttered, watching blood drip from the gash on Cynder's chest.

"It's ok," said Cynder, cringing now that she noticed the wound. She took a red gem from the remains of the lead creature and shattered it with her tail, the shards absorbing into her chest and healing the wound. "Now let's check on the eggs," she said, turning to the door.

Ember nodded, glad it wasn't serious enough to need more than a gem to heal. She blasted the door with her flames and caused it to open. To their relief, the eggs were all safe. "Thank the Ancestors the door kept them out long enough for us to get here," she said, looking over the eggs.

Spyro and Cynder moved over to their own adopted child, both smiling down at it. "Thank goodness you're ok," said Cynder, nuzzling it affectionately.

Spyro nodded, joining in. "I know, I was worried," he replied, happy. "Thank goodness it's safe."

Ember walked over to one of the Ignitus statues and pressed in on its foot, causing a hidden doorway to open. "Alright, I'll get to moving the eggs to the safe room," she said, starting with the eggs closest to the door.

Cynder nodded. "Take good care of the eggs…" she said, looking back to hers. "Momma will keep you safe, ok?" she promised, worried about the fate of her child.

Spyro smiled but rose from his unborn child. "Cynder, we've got to watch the door, none of the eggs will be safe if the room isn't guarded."

Cynder nodded, tearing herself away from her adopted egg. "Yeah, let's do it…"

---

The two dragons went outside and locked the door behind them. "Spyro…think the eggs will be ok?…Think our egg will be ok?" she asked, worried sick as she looked back at the door.

"If we both do our jobs, the eggs will all be safe," Spyro said. While he'd feel better if they were helping Ember move the eggs, it made more sense to do it this way. If no one got into the room, no one could hurt the eggs. More importantly, if they kept the fighting in the hallway, the eggs wouldn't get shattered in the crossfire. "Ember is doing her job, if we do ours the eggs will be fine."

Cynder nodded, somewhat reassured, she then saw a few Naga slinking towards them. "Alright then, let's do this…" she said, taking a fighting stance as they charged, blasting one back with a powerful gust of wind from her mouth. She followed up with several claw slashes to finish it off.

Spyro nodded, letting loose a blast of ice and freezing several of the Naga solid, following up with a Comet Dash through them to finish them off. The Naga kept coming but Cynder used her scream to stun them, allowing Spyro to electrocute them with a bolt of lightning from his maw. "Nice job, Cynder," complimented Spyro. "If we keep this up, the battle will be won in no time."

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the chamber and a gigantic Naga, at least three times their size, slithered into the room, four arms extending from his sides as opposed to two. Blue armored covered his midsection with two swirling shoulder spikes extending out, the spikes and a diamond shape in the center of his chest golden colored. His top arms each wielded a sword while one of the bottom arms held a hand ax and the other sported a wrist blade. The look was topped off with a strange serpent-like skull worn as a helmet.

Cynder sighed, looking to Spyro. "You had to say that, didn't you?"

"Ah, Purple Dragon, I've been looking for you!" said the massive Naga. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am General Grendel, second-in-command of the Naga army. I can't wait to hang your skull on my trophy wall!" he said, then looked to Cynder. "And Lady Deadlock will certainly reward me greatly when I present her with your head."

Spyro couldn't help shivering slightly as Grendel threatened to hang his skull on a trophy wall, but then got furious as he threatened Cynder. "You think you can stop us after we've killed off everything you've sent our way so far?"

Grendel chuckled. "So you've beaten some basic Naga and a few Gargoyles, I'm a completely different thing!" he snarled, finally giving a name to the stone creatures. "Prepare to die!" he yelled and let out a fierce roar, swinging his massive tail down at them, forcing them to dodge. He swung his hand ax around, forcing Cynder to spin out of the way. Spyro blasted him in the back with fire but his armor guarded him, allowing him to spin around to slash at him with one of his swords. Spyro managed to dodge the slash but was bashed into a wall with Grendel's tail. Cynder snarled and landed on Grendel's tail, slashing it with her tail blade, earning a roar of pain before being backhanded off his tail. She managed to regain her senses in time to dodge as Grendel spat a stream of green poison from his fangs.

Cynder snarled and replied with a stream of her own poison breath, only to be dodged by the surprisingly agile Naga and have his tail smack her against the wall. Spyro rejoined the battle, blasting Grendel in the tail with his fire breath and getting a roar of agony. Grendel snarled and tried to slash him repeatedly with his wrist blade, managing to get a few nicks on Spyro before lunging at him with a bite, forcing Spyro to hold his jaws open, keeping his jaws inches away. He managed force the Naga's jaws open enough to breath a torrent of fire down his throat, causing Grendel to release him and scream in agony.

Spyro and Cynder regrouped as Grendel coughed from his now burned throat. "This guy is tough," said Spyro, concerned.

"There's got to be some way to make him hold still so we can get a good hit on him…." said Cynder, looking around. She was desperate to find anything to stop this monster, knowing her child was right behind the door and in danger if she didn't.

Spyro did the same and saw the doors in the hallway, which like the one Sparx had used had heavy stone doors. "I have an idea, just be ready, ok?" he asked, getting a nod from Cynder.

Grendel snarled, finally over his choking fit from having fire blasted down his throat. "You'll pay for that, dragons!" he roared, swinging his ax and being dodged.

Spyro flew up and blasted Grendel in the face with flames. While his skull helmet protected him, it still got Grendel's attention. Spyro flew into one of the rooms and blasted Grendel again, earning an attempted stab from one of his swords, which got Grendel's hand into the room up to his wrist. This allowed Spyro to trigger a switch and make the door slam down on Grendel's forearm, trapping it. Grendel roared in pain and tried to pull his arm free to no avail. As he tried, Spyro began blasting his hand with his fire breath, earning a worse roar of pain.

Cynder, taking advantage of Grendel's position, let loose with her poison breath on his snake-like lower body, earning another roar of agony. Grendel retracted his wrist blade and started prying the door open with his lower arm and tried to slash Cynder with his ax but was dodged. Cynder flew passed as he slashed at her repeatedly and spun, slashing Grendel's arm with her tail. Grendel roared out in fury and raised his sword, slashing at Cynder. Cynder, however, dodged at the last second and caused the enraged Grendel to slice off his own forearm.

Grendel staggered back with a roar of agony, clutching his stomp as his severed forearm dissolved into ash. "This isn't over! I'll get you!" he yelled, slithering off in defeat.

Spyro used his fire breath to open the door. "Did we win?" he asked, looking around.

Cynder nodded. "Yeah, Grendel ran for it after I tricked him into cutting off his own arm," she explained. "Looks like we won."

Spyro nodded, joining Cynder in the center of the hallway. "I hope Ember got all the eggs out by now, I'm worn out from that fight."

"Which is exactly what I wanted," said the same voice the blue head possessed. Before they could react, a combined blast of fire, ice, and electricity erupted from the shadows and struck them both, causing them to scream in agony as the powerful attacks hit them. They fell to the ground, severely hurt. Before they could react, a rather cheery faced female electric dragon head burst out of the shadows and bit down on Spyro's back, drawing blood. A matching, fierce eyed fire dragon head erupted from the shadows and bit down on Cynder in the same fashion, lifting them both up in front as a collected and smug ice head emerged from the shadows. "You've fallen right into our trap."

Spyro looked up weakly, recognizing the blue eyes of the ice head from his dream. "It's you…are you…"

"Deadlock?" asked the ice dragon. "Why yes, I am."

"So am I," replied the electric dragon, disturbingly cheerfully despite her voice being muffled by holding Spyro in her mouth.

"As am I," replied the fire dragon.

The two slammed Spyro and Cynder together and threw them against a wall harshly. Deadlock emerged from the shadows, revealing that all three heads sprouted from the same dragon. The electric head's side of the body matched an electric dragon while the fire head's matched a fire dragon, the center matching an ice dragon's and each set of spines running side by side down her back, her wings black with a red membrane. Three spikes sprouted from her tail tip, the electric part's being dark blue while the fire side's was a deep red and the center one an icy blue. She was also at least twice the side of a normal dragon, likely to accommodate her three in one nature.

"We're Deadlock!" announced all three heads at the same time, allowing the two dragons to gasp in shock at the fact Deadlock was a three headed dragon before letting loose another triple blast of fire, ice, and electricity and blasting them both into a wall. As the two heroic dragons fell unconscious to the ground, Deadlock laughed evilly.

"It was never our aim to kill you, what we have in store is much worse," said the ice head.

"We just wanted to weaken you enough that you'd be defenseless," said the fire head.

"Now, sleep while we take care of what we need to," said the electric head as Deadlock started towards the door.

Cynder groaned, trying to rise, barely hanging onto consciousness as Deadlock's heads opened the door with their breath. "No…please stop…" she begged, unable to bear the idea of something happening to any of the eggs, especially her own. Unfortunately, she couldn't manage anything and lost consciousness completely, falling limply to the ground.

Deadlock chuckled. "Time for our revenge, the dragons will have no idea what hit them," said the ice head, an evil smirk crossing her face as the tri-headed dragon entered the room.