Skylands Legends

5.1 Dark Revelations

A dark void surrounded Jet Vac. Every direction he looked he found nothing but darkness. A muddled silence reigned over the void, the only sound being the faint sound of his breathing.

Jet Vac slowly turned around looking for a sign of life in the darkened void but found nothing. He called out into the darkness, his voice coming out clouded and distant, almost like he was hearing himself speak through a wall. Nothing answered.

He spun around a few more times before deciding on a direction and starting off into the darkness. As he took his first step, he heard a voice call out from behind him. "Help me," it said, the voice sounding clear and crisp to his ears.

Jet Vac whipped around to find Eruptor standing there in the darkness. He looked rugged and tired, like he was struggling to hold himself up without anyone's help. "Help me, Jet Vac," He said before a large shadowy object impaled him through the chest and pulled him back into the nothingness.

Jet Vac took off after his friend, but as he did he felt a prickling among his feathers causing him to look up. From above fell a giant golden crown, larger than any sky ship he'd ever seen. He slid to a quick stop as the crown hit the ground with a large crash, shaking the void in its entirety.

He looked up at the golden wall the crown formed surrounding him, forming a large circular arena around him almost as large as the Colosseum at the Academy. Slowly rising to his feet, he reached out to touch the golden walls and laughing erupted around him. A manic laugh came from every direction, blocking out all of his senses, piercing his skull until it was the only thing he could think about. He tried blocking it out, but it persisted and Jet Vac dropped to his knees letting out a cry of anguish before it abruptly stopped.

He hesitantly withdrew his hands from his head, half expecting to see them covered in blood. He let out a shaky breath and slowly rose to his feet, his knees feeling light beneath him.

"Jet Vac," a voice whispered.

He turned around once again to find Eruptor lying on his back, a gashing wound shown from his chest as he lay there. His face was contorted in pain as he called for help again.

Jet Vac ran over to his fallen friend, holding his hands warily over the wound. "B-b-beware." He said, his arm falling limp to his side pointing into the darkness. Standing up, Jet Vac began walking in that direction until a purple dragon floated down and landed before him.

"Spyro?" Jet Vac asked. "Why should I be wary of you?"

Spyro didn't respond. In fact, he didn't even seem to realize that Jet Vac was there. Instead, the dragon was focusing on a small white stone on the ground. It was perfectly circular and had images of the ten elements etched upon its surface in a swirling motion surrounding a familiar rune at the center. Jet Vac took a step closer to get a better look and recognized it as the symbol for the arcane.

Spyro reached down and picked up the stone. Immediately a purple light shone from it, glowing so bright Jet Vac had to cover his eyes to avoid being blinded. 

Once the light finally faded, Jet Vac lowered his hand to find an image of himself standing before him. His image held the same stone Spyro had been holding, only this time no light was flowing from it. His image seemed to be angry at this fact, his eyes set in a cold fury as he held the stone.

The image suddenly shifted as a flurry of colors surrounded the image Jet Vac before disappearing and revealing a wolf man in a golden crown. A warm smile spread across his face, and eyes that once shone with madness now looked upon Jet Vac with compassion.

The King of Chaos offered his hand out to Jet Vac. "We don't have much time," he said. Something about the compassion in his voice almost made Jet Vac reach out to take his hand.