The legend of Spyke chapter 1

Many years have passed since Spyke was found by the two red ravens who treated him as if he was one of them, although he could not fit in at all but everybody thought that he was just a strange black raven who just happened to have horns.  Due to this feeling, Spyke was used as a target of many jokes by many of the inhabitants of the place.  He had a great relationship with his sister, Cross, who was a small red crow that grew up with him.  Unlike Spyke, who was always in some sort of trouble, Cross was sensible and friendly and would always try to help Spyke with the problems that he would often cause.  Out of all the other ravens, she is the only one that tries not to cause any problems.  Neither would her parents.  But the rest, however…well, best not to mention it…

Recently, Spyke had made some scratches on the trunk that a Raven used as his house.  Due to the harsh force of impact, the tree fell down.  This highly irritated the raven who came to throw his anger at the young child.

“Damn kid!  I have had enough!  Look what you’ve done!  Now what am I going to do for a house?!” the raven screamed at Spyke.

“Well, if you had chosen a harder trunk then this would not have happened,” Spyke retaliated.

The raven growled.  “If it wasn’t because I knew your parents already, you’ll see.”

“Spyke!” a female voice called.

A red raven with black-tipped wings approached at full speed.

“Cross, if you came to give me a hand, it’s not necessary.” Spyke warned.

“Yes it is necessary!” she yelled.  “I always have to pick up the pieces every time get you get into trouble.”

“Look,” the raven began.  “You better watch your brother otherwise soon, if he were to get into trouble again with me I will become extremely angry.  Is that clear?”

“We understand sir,” Cross answered.  “Right Spyke?  Huh?”

To their surprise, Spyke was already walking away from them as if nothing had ever happened.

“Spyke!  Do you mind not leaving when you are being spoken to?” the Raven asked angrily.

Cross flew over to Spyke when he flew over one of the small ravens.

“Spyke, if you keep on doing these jokes, I may not be able to help you in the end,” Cross noted.

“I don’t care Cross,” Spyke answered.  “As long as it’s fun, I will keep on doing it.”

Cross sighed.  “Well, if you say so.  And speaking of fun, take this!”

Cross hit Spyke’s head with a wing and flew away at top speed.

Spyke smiled.  “So that’s how it’s gonna be, eh?”

Spyke began running after Cross.  Both were racing, the only difference was that Cross was flying into the nearby forest while Shade and Shadow watched.

“I hope they’ll be okay,” Shadow said.

“Don’t worry, Shadow.  Spyke is very tough and close to Cross, I doubt anything will happen to him,” Shade answered.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Spyke was still chasing Cross, trying to keep out of sight.

“You’re never going to catch me brother!” she yelled.

“We’ll see, little sister!” he called back.

They continued racing until he had finally caught Cross in his talons, causing them both to fall to the ground, laughing and tired from the race.

“Thank you Cross…that always makes me feel better,” Spyke thanked.

“Well, I’m your sister…at least I know how to have fun,” Cross responded.

“Do not interrupt me while I talk,” a mysterious voice said.

This voice surprised the both of them.  Then they heard more than one voice, as if there was a conversation going on.  Spyke, followed by Cross, approached two bushes and pushed them apart to see what was happening, although it would have been better had they not done this because they stumbled upon a group of apes talking with a group of skeletons with blue armor.  The one with red armor was the leader.

“We do not care about what you think of your master!  We have heard strange rumors about=2 0a black dragon in this place!” the ape leader shouted.

“A black dragon?” Cross whispered.

“Shh,” Spyke said.  “Listen.”

“We have also heard these rumors and have been sent to see if they are real,” the skeleton leader explained.

“They may be, pile-of-bones,” the Ape leader answered.

“What are you talking about?” the skeleton leader asked.

“Well,” the ape leader began.  “Years ago, our king attacked the dragon temple that is outside of these lands and we took two dragon eggs.  One is now fighting with the guardians, but the other we lost that day when he fell into the river that runs into here.  We believe that he is in here.

“Fell into a river?” Cross whispered.  “That could mean…”

“Well I think that is difficult because if what you say is true, then there are two black dragons in this valley.  And the master has ordered for the death of these two dragons at all costs.

“Two black dragons?!” Cross shouted.

“Cross!” Spyke scolded.

The skeletons and the apes heard these screams and believed that someone had been listening.

“Oh-oh,” both Spyke and Cross said.

“What was that?” the ape leader asked.

“It came from there!” an ape pointed out.

When the ape leader turned to see what had happened, the skeleton leader un-sheaved his sword and decapitated the ape leader.  He fell to the ground before the horrified eyes of the apes and the two observers.

“You, get rid of them!” the skeleton shouted.  “You two, come with me!”

The two watched as the skeletons left the battle and approached them.  They tried to flee as fast as they could, but when they turned they saw two skeletons fall from the sky, cutting them off while the leader approached them from behind.

“Heh, speaking of the devil,” the skeleton leader smirked.

When one of the skeletons tried to catch Spyke, Cross flew in front of the skeletal face of the soldier to give her brother time to run away.  However, when he managed to run away, the skeleton threw his spear into the ground and raised his sword to kill them.

“Cross!  Get out of the way!” Spyke yelled.

Spyke opened his mouth and gave an electric shock to the skeleton, making the electricity run through his body.  When it stopped, the skeleton fell down and was burned, leaving only ashes.  The other skeleton and the leader were amazed to see what Spyke had done.

“Catch him!” the leader ordered.  “I am going to alert the death lord about this!”

When the leader left, the other skeleton moved toward Spyke who was still shocked at what he had done.  When he saw the other skeleton approach, he opened his mouth again to launch another electrical shock, causing the same thing to happen as the other one.  When he collapsed, Cross flew towards him.

“Wow,” Cross gasped.  “Now that was a shock.  But next time, try to aim better, you almost electrocuted me.”

Then, Cross saw something weird happen to Spyke.  He launched a thunderbolt from his mouth.

“Spyke?  Did you just launch a thunderbolt from your mouth?” Cross asked.

“Yeah…I think so.  I don’t know how but I think I did,” he answered.

“If mom and dad were to find out about this, they would fall in shock,” Cross noted.

“Yeah.  We better go before the walking corpses come back,” Spyke said.

When Spyke and Cross reached the village, they explained everything that had happened to Shade and Shadow who did the only reasonable thing when they heard what happened.

“You threw a thunderbold?!” they shouted.

“Yes I did,” Spyke answered.  “I don’t know how but I did.  On our way back, I tried to see if I could do it again but I couldn’t.”

“I knew this would happen someday,” Shade whispered to herself.

Spyke was shocked.  “Are you saying that you already knew?!”

“Yes, indeed,” Shade began.  “Spyke, we have not been entirely truthful to you, you are not a red raven.”

“What?!  What do you mean?!” Spyke shouted.

“I found you years ago by the river close to here,” she explained.

“You found me in the river?” Spyke asked confusedly.

“Wait a second.  Are you talking about the river close to us?  The apes mentioned something about a river where they dropped an egg.  You’re not saying that…” Cross began.

“Yes, Cross,” Shade said.  “Spyke is the dragon that they were talking about.”

“T-th-this is impossible!  That means that I’m not a deformed raven, but a black dragon!” Spyke stuttered.

“But that means that the skeletons are looking for you again!” Cross said.

“I am afraid so.  They will come back and tear this village apart to look for you,” Shade thought.

“Well,” Spyke began.  “I guess I’m gonna have to find them.”

“No Spyke!” Shade exclaimed.  “What you have to do is get out of here as soon as possible.  If you stay here then we’re all doomed!”

“I don’t care!  Whether or not I am a raven, you are my family and I will not let those things come near you!” he argued.

“I said no!” Shade repeated.  “Drakath knows that by nature we are harmless!  If we are attacked then the other races of the valley would reveal us if there seemed to be no reason for the attack!  If you are not here then they can’t attack us!”

“So where are we going?” Cross asked.

“Cross, you’re not thinking about…” Shadow began.

“He’s my brother!” Cross argued.  “He needs help on the trip!  Plus, two eyes in the air are better than two on the ground.”

“Very clever,” Spyke commented.

“Well, so be it.  Somewhere in the valley, close to here, is a dragon temple.  It is said that there lives a powerful dragon.  Maybe he can help you,” Shade suggested.

“Well, what are we waiting for?  Let’s go!” Spyke said.  But when he turned around, he saw his nest of siblings before him, watching what was happening.

“I assume you already knew, huh?” Spyke asked.

“No!  We knew nothing!” they all replied.

“Mmhm,” Spyke said, not believing them.  “Well come on, Cross!”

“Coming.”

The dragon and the bird went by some of the ravens confused as to why they were watching them and talked amongst themselves.  Spyke could hear some of their conversations.

“Do you think it is best?” one raven asked.

“I don’t know,” another answered.  “But we may have some peace at last.”

“That’s what the skeletons said  that were looking for him.”

“I hope that when they see that he is not here, they’ll leave us alone,” a third raven thought.

Spyke stopped listening to the conversations and continued to leave the nest area, more red ravens watched as they arrived at the exit.  Cross noticed one smiling suspiciously so she approached him.

“Why are you laughing?” she asked.

Cross noticed that Spyke was throwing sparks until it ceased.  Then, a little while later, there was a lightning bolt that turned one of the nests into charcoal, leaving the red ravens surprised not knowing what had happened.  Cross, knowing what had happened, hit Spyke’s face with a wing.  When everyone found out what had happened, they cried out in laughter.

“Look at what you have become, damnit whelp!” the kids shouted.

Spyke laughed at their reactions of his joke.

“Goodbye!  Hasta la vista!” he called out.

Spyke and Cross moved away from them as they heard the shouts of the other ravens.

“Come back soon, tadpole,” one called out.

“Watch when you get caught, you’ll see,” another one said.

“Bon voyage, guys!” a raven yelled.

“Come back whenever you want!”

As they moved away, the cries became less audible until they could hear no more.  When they disappeared from view, Shade placed a wing over Shadow, watching the skyline.

“Do you think they’ll be fine?” Shadow asked.

“Absolutely,” Shade answered.  “Both are strong, I’m sure they’ll make it to the temple safely.”

I hope so Shade,” Shadow whispered.  She remembered all of the good times that they had when Spyke and Cross were very young.  After remembering those memories, a tear appeared in her eye.

“I hope so…

Meanwhile, Spyke and Cross walked to the dragon temple to listen to the dragon.

“Spyke, do you think we’ll be okay?” Cross asked.

“Don’t worry,” Spyke calmed her down.  “If anything happens, I’ll just give a good shock and problem solved.

Cross smiled.  “I knew I can count on you Spyke.”

“Get used to it, because now, our adventure begins,” Spyke smirked.

“I just hope this little adventure lasts,” Cross whispered to herself.

Meanwhile, in the dragon temple, a huge black dragon was watching the sky when he felt a presence near the temple.

“Eh?  What is this presence?  It seems that a dragon is coming here, but I can’t tell his power.  Is he a black dragon?  Or perhaps even…a purple dragon?” he thought.