The Darksield Chronicles

Chapter 9: Return to the Temple (With a few detours along the way)

Wraith POV

Wraith stretched. Today was the day. Today he was going to end this. He stood and looked around. He had slept in. It was almost sunset. Time to get going, he thought. He started swinging from branch to branch until he was at the final tree. Just before he jumped, he noticed a little blue dragonet on the ground below, crying.

Compassion filled his heart and he swung around on the branch, changing the trajectory of his fall so that he landed a few feet away from the dragon. "Are you alright?" he asked gently.

It looked up at him before pointing at the tree behind him. "My kite was stuck up in that tree, Mister. I can't get it down. My mommy made it just for me."

Wraith nodded. "Wait here." He started climbing the tree. He got up to the branch where the kite was stuck. It was blue with a yellow ribbon attached. It was really good workmanship. Wraith grabbed it and jumped down, landing easily. "Here you go," he said as he handed it to the dragon.

The dragon grinned. "Thanks, Mister!" Then he ran off. Wraith grinned. It felt good to help others. He was about to leave when he saw a group of adolescent cheetahs beating a small pink dragoness with a heart-shaped pendent on its neck.

In hindsight, he probably should have left well enough alone. He stepped into the crowd and after a few punches and kicks, all the bullies were running away. He knelt next to the dragoness and helped her up.

She nodded. "Thanks." She looked closer at him. "Wait a minute, weren't you the one fighting my Spyro?"

Wraith's eyes widened. "Gottogo." He teleported onto the roof of a house roughly a block away from the temple. He cursed himself. He should have recognized that dragoness as soon as he saw that heart-shaped necklace. It was Ember, Spyro's admirer/stalker.

He groaned. He hoped that he wasn't about to have her on his tail. He almost felt sorry for Spyro. Almost. He shook himself out of his thoughts. He had to get to the temple. He started running.

After 30 minutes of running, he arrived at the temple. He didn't bother with trying to get in through the gate. He teleported inside. It was strangely empty. He walked down the hall. "Hello?" he called. Silence. He looked around but couldn't see anyone. This doesn't feel right, he thought.

Wraith turned around. He concentrated. All around him, he could sense beings. His eyes widened. Before he could get out of there, torches flared all around the room, revealing a ring of cheetahs along with Terrador, Cyril, Spyro, Hunter, Volteer, and Flame. It was a trap.

Three of the cheetahs fired arrows, but he drew his sword and deflected them. Spyro launched a bolt of electricity, but Wraith stabbed his sword into the ground and redirected it. Everywhere he looked he was surrounded. He saw Hunter hesitate before releasing his arrow. Across from him, he saw the red dragon that he now recognized as Flame hesitate before shooting a fireball at him. Wraith backflipped and dodged both attacks. Terrador launched a boulder at him, but he cut it in half. He was starting to get desperate. He couldn't keep this up forever. Everywhere he looked he saw attackers.

Cyril launched an ice spike just as Cynder walked down a staircase. Wraith was so distracted, he didn't see the ice spike coming until it hit his right shoulder. It hurt a lot. He gritted his teeth. He wouldn't go down like this. He saw Cynder's eyes widen.

"Wraith!" she called. "What are you doing here?" She tried to come forward, but Spyro held her back along with Volteer. He nodded at Volteer. He couldn't concentrate while worrying over someone else getting hurt. He turned his attention back toward the fight just as an arrow skewered his left thigh. He collapsed. "Hold!" Cyril shouted. All the cheetahs backed away, keeping their weapons aimed at him.