The Darksield Chronicles

Chapter 19: The Past and a very short Return

Cynder POV

Cynder watched in surprise as Darksield shot a massive hail of fiery comets surrounded by lightning at the Dreadwings. She never knew that he could do something like that before. Then Darksield encased his fist in shadowy fire and unleashed a massive attack that incinerated the apes.

She gasped when he surrounded his tail in lightning and cut down both golems with a single stroke. When the fire scorpion appeared, and he turned to face it, she thought he would be able to take it down with ease.

But instead of seeing him facing the creature and taking it down, she saw horror, agony, fear, and pain shoot across his face. He backed away and collapsed. Aurora apparently sensed something was wrong because the fire scorpion disappeared. Aurora ran forward, as did Cynder and the others. They formed a ring around Darksield. Darksield was curled in a fetal position, eyes scrunched tight. Cynder thought she saw a tear running down from one of his eyes.

She reached out with her fear power and tried to connect with him. What she got was a massive backlash of fear, pain, and agony. She stumbled back. Aurora glanced sharply at her. "What is it?"

Cynder shook her head. The amount of pain she had received from Darksield was overwhelming. She didn't understand. How could the sight of a fire scorpion do this? "He's in pain," she said quietly. "And he's afraid. I tried to connect to him with my fear element but..." She took a shaky breath, then continued. "But when I connected, I was hit with a wave of fear and pain, more than anything I've ever felt before."

Everyone stared at her.

"How could a fire scorpion do that to Darksield?" Flare asked. "He wiped out a whole wing of Dreadwings with one attack. How could one fire scorpion cause him to pass out?" No one knew the answer to that question.

Aurora pointed at Flame, Spyro, and Cynder. "You three take him to the infirmary." They nodded and grabbed Darksield. On the way to the infirmary Cynder was plagued with questions. They passed Volteer in the hall walking down somewhere with Cyril. Both of them looked shocked.

"Spyro? Cynder, Flame?" Cyril asked. "What are you three doing down here? And what happened to him?"

"No time to explain," Cynder said. "We need to get him to the infirmary."

Volteer nodded and grabbed Darksield. "I'll carry him," he said as he hoisted Darksield onto his back. "Lead the way."

Thirty minutes later, they arrived at the infirmary. It was empty. They set Darksield down on one of the beds. He was starting to shiver violently.

"Now do you mind telling me what happened?" Cyril asked irritably. Flame and Spyro filled him in while Cynder and Volteer checked Darksield over for any wounds. They found none.

Just when Flame and Spyro finished explaining things to Cyril, Darksield jolted awake with a scream. "NO!" Then he glanced around the room. "What happened?"

Cynder stepped forward. "You were fighting, and then you passed out. Why?"

Darksield took a shaky breath. Then he looked toward Cyril and Volteer. "Can you leave the four of us alone, please?"

Cyril looked like he was about to protest, but Volteer steered him out the door.

"Okay, so what happened?" Flame asked.

Darksield took a shaky breath. "In order to explain what happened, I need to explain something else." He took a deep breath. "You guys know what solar flares are, right?"

They all nodded.

"Can you imagine the destructive power of a solar flare multiplied by a hundred?" he continued.

They shook their heads. Cynder had a bad feeling about where this was headed.

"A long time ago, back when I was five years old, plans were completed to build a weapon that could redirect a solar flare and aim it anywhere on the planet. The guys who made the weapon thought they knew what they were doing. They didn't.

"The weapon worked alright, way better than they thought it would. It started drawing in solar flares from the sun instead of bouncing them off solar shields and shooting them at Earth at random times, each solar flare a hundred times stronger than a regular solar flare. They lost control. The weapon was too close to the sun, and they couldn't send anyone up to fix it. Luckily, the intervals between solar flares were long, so it gave us time to recover, time to rebuild.

"In time, things started to get better. People adapted, building structures that they thought would withstand solar flares. Nothing worked, but we didn't give up. Then it all changed.

"The flares started coming faster and faster in random locations all over the world, each stronger than the last.

"One solar flare hit near my home. My father went to check it out. Then something climbed out of the place where the flare had hit. It was one of those fire scorpions."

Cynder gasped. "But that's impossible!" she protested. "Fire scorpions only exist here!"

Darksield shook his head. "I don't know how it got there, but when my father went to check it out it-it..." He stuttered to a stop and clenched a fist.

Cynder picked up on what he wasn't saying.

"You mean it..." Flame trailed off.

Darksield nodded, took a deep breath, and continued. "I watched from a window as it finished him off. I ran downstairs to warn my mom, but before I could, the house exploded. I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up, my whole house was destroyed. The creature chased me into the woods and backed me into a corner with no way out. From there everything goes fuzzy. Screaming and an explosion are all I remember of that night." He stared down at his talons.

Cynder was horrified. She wasn't sure what to say.

Before she could say anything, Darksield's head jolted up. "Get down!" he roared and jumped at them, knocking them all to the ground a split second before a hail of ice spears shot through the windows where they had been standing earlier.

Darksield POV

Darksield shot to his feet and spun around. Retreating from their failed attack were the two ice dragons from before.

He growled, "Oh no, you don't." He teleported right in front of them and slammed them into the air with his tail. Before they could hit the ground, he launched a shadow comet at them. The resulting explosion blew them back the way they had come. Darksield charged after them and pounced, pinning both to the ground.

Cynder and the others ran around the corner and skidded to a stop. From the opposite side of the corridor came Terrador.

"What happened?!" he roared.

Darksield stepped back from the ice dragons but kept his tail pointed at them. "They attacked us, sir. I was in the infirmary with Cynder, Spyro, and Flame when these guys tried to kill us with ice shards."

The two ice dragons glared at him. "We weren't trying to kill all of you, just you and that monster." He pointed at Cynder.

Darksield shook his head. "I already told you. Leave. Her. Alone. And if you try anything else, I swear by the ancestors that I will make you pay. Understood?" He didn't wait for their response.

He nodded at Terrador. "Do with them what you will." He turned and stormed down the hallway past the others.

Now, hethought. Time to take care of something I should have a while ago.