Interlude: Archmage Ceremony
After the celebration that the residents of Avilion held, to mingle with the rest of the people from the other realms of the lands they called home and from the other lands the siblings had assisted, not to mention celebrate their liberation from the rule of the Sorceress, Spyro, Spike, and Ember made sure that Fireworks Factory was cleaned up and ready to go for when the residents of the realm got back to what they actually did, before the Sorceress tried to enforce her rule on them. Their new friends returned to the homeworlds that happened to be their homes and got themselves ready for what the future held for them, mostly because they were going to become members of the new Council that was being formed, so right now they were more focused on enjoying the rest of their free time before they started to fulfill their new duties, of which there would be many. Of course Bianca would be joining them, since the residents of the realms of Avilion knew that everything she had done was for their benefit, even if she had been either misinformed or used by her former mentor, but as she did that she also started the lessons that Cosmos offered her, because she wanted to learn more about magic and learning from the Leader of the Magic Crafters seemed like the best thing she could think of, especially since Hunter and Elora would be doing the same thing with the Peace Keepers. Not only that, but they also got a chance to see the siblings whenever they did their own training, where Elora and Hunter were fascinated by what Ember was able to do in her young dragon body, since all three of the siblings were a few years away from reaching their maturity, and Spyro was generally nearby, using the sounds of his sister's training session to help him out with his own training, since he seemed to be in the process of trying to master his own power.
Spike's training, however, left Bianca speechless, as she had seen the purple dragon in question when he was fighting the Sorceress, both in her own stronghold and inside the treasury, but it was another thing to see him channel the powers he had access to and use spells that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters were always surprised by, like how he used the Storm's Wrath with ease, and was getting used to the strain it put on his body, and a number of spells that she couldn't even imagine using in the future.
When the siblings weren't busy with their training, or busy with their studies in Spike's case, the three of them took some time to hang out with the hatchlings they had saved from the Sorceress, mostly because it allowed the rest of the Artisans dragons some time to rest for a time while they watched the siblings play with the next generation, something that brought some smiles to their faces. One other thing the siblings did was return to Dragon Shores after the celebration was over, where this time around Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and their friends from Avilion joined them, allowing everyone to see why the dragons liked this island so much and why it took some time for them to allow the Gnorcs to build their rather large amusement park, which one could hardly see from the beach that rested near the six portals that lead back to the homeworlds the dragons lived on. It was during that time that Nestor and the other Leaders told Bianca that a number of the other dragons, a few Magic Crafters, a couple of Peace Keepers, and a few Dream Weavers, at the very least, would be moving back to Avilion, as they knew that without dragons the magic Bianca had worked hard to return to her home would dry up again in no time and whoever was watching over the lands at that point would be forced to do something about it, and that those dragons would help everyone out to the best of their ability. Spike knew that some of the Magic Crafters had volunteered because of what rested in the treasury, they were eager to get their hands on what was resting inside Malefor's Arcanaeum, and he wasn't surprised to see that a few of the Artisans scholars would be joining the group for a few weeks, which was why he devoted himself to his studies so that the moment he was no longer tied down by what he had to learn he could join them and see what else the legendary place had to offer.
While they were visiting Dragon Shores the siblings showed their new friends the theater the Gnorcs had set up and looked over the plays that they put on for anyone that came to their amusement park, where all three of them were only slightly surprised to see a new posting, their adventure in Avalar, though not as surprised as Hunter, Elora, Bianca, and the others were when they saw what the play was about. Spike explained that the Gnorcs, who had taken a keen interest in the adventures that he and his siblings had undergone in the past, were using their own acting skills, which were decent in terms of what an Artisans actor could do, and some magical costumes to make it seem like they were the characters that they were playing, as Elora was surprised to see herself on stage for a moment, as the magical costume were so realistic it made her and the others pause for a moment. Spyro and Ember weren't too surprised by that, as they had seen what the first play had been after their second adventure had ended, though they did admit that Spike's description skills had improved since the publishing of his first book, as the play that was based on the second one was far better than the first one, and that only made them wonder just how good the third one would be once the book was published and the Gnorcs found a copy of it so they could get new costumes and everything. Spike also told Bianca that he would be sure to give her the books of their previous two adventures and a copy of the third one once it was made, just so she had the complete set for now, as he knew that once a fourth adventure came up he would be writing everything down and making sure it was all recorded for the future generations to read about, showing his friends just how much of a scholar he actually was and that he was rather good at his chosen profession, and that wasn't counting his magical powers.
The Gnorcs put on a good show and revealed just what happened during their second adventure, giving Bianca and the others from Avilion the chance to learn more about Avalar, even if they would have to read some books to get the rest of the knowledge they were after, and it made them wonder what would happen when they got their hands on the third book in the series, something they would have to keep an eye out for in the future.
Other than a trip to Dragon Shores, to relax and unwind after everything that happened, the next couple of months went by with not much happening, save for Cosmos actually banning the scholars and Magic Crafters that volunteered to relocate to Avilion from entering the Arcanaeum, something that caught many of them by surprise and a few even cried out that it was unfair that none of them were allowed to see what was inside the legendary structure. Elora had to admit that it did seem like the Leader of the Magic Crafters was being unfair, but Cosmos reminded them that it was only due to Spike finding it, and unraveling the spells that allowed them to even see the structure and enter the inner area that was beyond the Archives, that they even knew the stories of the Arcanaeum were real, meaning that, as the one that actually discovered the structure, Spike was the one that deserved to start the investigation into what else might be hidden away inside the Arcanaeum. That, of course, meant the group had to wait for Spike to go through the ceremony that would let him become the youngest Archmage in the history of all dragons, something many of them were still shocked by even if they knew he deserved it, so instead the group that volunteered to head to Avilion turned their attention to making sure nothing bad had happened since magic returned to the lands, giving them time to study the lands that dragons used to call home as they waited for Spike to complete his preparations. Even Bianca, who had only just learned of Malefor's Arcanaeum and why it was so important to the dragons of the Dragon Realms, was caught off guard by the command as well, though she did understand the reasoning behind it, so she said nothing as the Magic Crafters and scholars talked with Cosmos, no doubt hoping to get him to change his mind or speed up Spike's training in some manner, despite the fact that it would be done in the near future anyway.
Bianca knew that the ceremony to become an Archmage wasn't as simple as when the Peace Keepers gathered to knight someone who displayed the characteristics of their clan and, according to Ember, even stopped a war, even though it was possible that Elora and Hunter could be knighted, and she knew that Cosmos was gathering components for when the day of the ceremony came, promising that it would be one of the greatest days in their recent history, and she found herself agreeing as she wondered what the future held for them.
Bianca huffed for a moment as she wiped some sweat from her forehead and decided to take a break from what she was doing, which had been channeling one of the four Prime Elements, as that was the name that all magic users used when they were referring to Fire, Ice, Earth, and Lightning, the same elements that Spike had used to great effect in the first battle with the Sorceress, and used her chosen element on the training dummy. The last six months, not counting the days she and the others spent hanging out with Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, Hunter, and Sol, and it was a surprise to even see a phoenix in the first place, let alone discover that they had their own island and were integrating themselves back into the everyday lives of the dragons, was spent either reading the books and scrolls Cosmos gave her, making sure Avilion was running smoothly, and practicing the new spells that were in front of her. As she thought about the others she glanced around the area they were in for a few seconds, recalling that they were standing on a plateau that rested somewhere on the edge of the island that the Magic Crafters called home, a place that either had no name or it did and wasn't important at the moment, though her focus was less on the flat area she was training in and was more on the others that were all over the place. At the moment Ember was in the middle of practicing with Titan, where both of them were currently using the Warrior's Armor skill as they attacked each other, Spyro was meditating as he tapped into his Conqueror's Spirit so he could improve his use over the skill, while Elora, Hunter, and the rest of their friends, from all three lands, were gathered in one spot as they waited to see what happened next, even though Spike was in the middle of setting up what appeared to be some sort of magical circle, one that he told no one about and she assumed it had to be related to the event that would be happening today.
As she thought about that, however, she glanced down at her hands and watched as the last couple of sparks quickly vanished from her fingers, as she had blasted her training dummy with a Lightning Bolt, but instead of using her wand to direct the spell, like she normally did whenever she cast a spell, this time her wand was attached to her belt and she had used her hands to call upon the magical power she possessed and used it to blast her target... she, who the Sorceress had deemed as 'worthless', had finally moved on to casting spells with her hands.
"Bianca, I must say that you are doing quite well in your efforts to learn magic from us." Cosmos commented, as he had been telling the truth when he said that he wanted to help her tap into her inner power and bring it to the surface so she could cast greater spells, and he wasn't the only Magic Crafter to want that after the others had seen just how well she had improved over the last six months.
"Thank you, though it certainly helps to have instructors that are supportive of what I'm doing," Bianca replied, though at the same time she thought back to the last time she had any sort of magical lessons and stopped herself from letting a frown appear on her face, because the event in question wasn't a nice one, which was understandable given who her old mentor was, before she focused on Cosmos again, "unlike the Sorceress, given that she liked to make it seem like I had almost no skill and that I was lucky that the level of skill I did have was enough to keep me from being removed from her service service entirely... come to think of it, she only taught me a few basic spells, and the rest I had to learn on my own since she didn't spare a lot of time to teach me."
"Ah yes, the sign of an instructor that doesn't want to be surpassed," Lucas stated, as the Keeper of Secrets had come to see what was going to happen with his own eyes, because once all of this was done and recorded, and everyone was rested, the next thing he had planned was a trip to the Arcanaeum, as he knew Spike would be itching to figure out what else might be resting inside Malefor's fault and the secrets that it had to contain, before he returned to the matter that they were talking about, "You have a degree of magical talent, while currently not on the level of Cosmos or even Spike, that did worry the Sorceress when you first approached her to become her apprentice, meaning that, due to her paranoid nature, she didn't want to encourage your growth anymore than what was strictly necessary, out of fear that you might grow to the point where you would try to usurp her stolen throne. Anyway, we are more than willing to help you tap into your true potential and to help you reach the heights of your magical power, just like how Titan offered to help Elora and Hunter out with their training... and that's not mentioning the fact that the Professor has been helping the Machinists out, so we should be able to reveal who the Leader is fairly soon."
"Everyone has been doing a wonderful job lately," Bianca said, because that was the truth of the matter, all of them were doing well and no one was falling behind, as Elora and Hunter took their training seriously, especially since Titan let them move onto the weapon forms that the Peace Keepers would be teaching Ember the moment she matured in about two and half more years, and, from what she heard, the Processor and Agent 9 were hard at work with the sixth dragon clan, even though they were taking a break to be here today, before she glanced at Spike, "So, when does the ceremony to become an Archmage actually start?"
"Soon, we're just waiting on Spike to finish setting up the summoning circle." Cosmos replied, gesturing to the magical circle that Spike had been working on since she and the others arrived in this area, where Bianca could see that there were a number of runes etched into the ground, or at least that was what she assumed since she hadn't gotten that far in her studies yet, before the Leader glanced off to a table that had been set up nearby, in preparation for this day, "It took us a while to get everything we needed, but there are bits of every wood, metal, stone, and gem gathered her, so Spike will be able to craft his staff from the available materials and then, once he gives it a good test run, we can bestow upon him the title of Archmage... who knows, maybe he'll look for an apprentice once this is all over."
Bianca, while having the feeling that Cosmos might be referring to her, since she was the only other magic user that could even be considered an apprentice at this point, decided to say nothing to that statement as she watched Spike put what seemed to be the finishing touches on the circle that he had been making, as he took a step back and studied all of the runes he had created, making sure that all of them were correct and that he wouldn't have to tear them apart and start over, before he nodded his head in satisfaction, which seemed to be the sign that everyone was waiting for as Titan called the practice session to a stop and everyone gathered near the sitting area.
"Spike, are you ready?" Cosmos asked, though at the same time many Magic Crafters would believe that to be a rather foolish question on his part, simply because the purple dragon in front of him was one of the strongest magic users in the entire world, that they knew of anyway, but he wanted to be sure that Spike was ready for what he was about to do and that they weren't moving too fast for him, regardless of what he had done in the past.
"Yeah... I'm ready." Spike stated, as this was what he had been preparing for ever since he learned that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters intended on making him an Archmage, learning the spell that would allow him to craft his staff from all the materials that had been brought to this area, even though there was still a slim chance that he could summon an existing staff to him and prove his worthiness to wield the staff of someone who came before him, hence why there were runes in the circle that addressed that fact.
"Very well then, you may begin whenever you feel like it." Cosmos replied, to which he stepped away from the circle, so his magical energies didn't interfere with what Spike was going to be doing, which was also why the others were sitting away from the circle, and quickly joined the assembled group that would be watching this rather historical event, as this was one of the few times that an Archmage was elevated to such a position at such a young age, but Spike had proven that he was ready for such a thing.
Spike waited for everyone to be positioned where they wanted to be, so they had a good view of what would happen once he started the spell up, and made sure that his satchel and hat were resting with his siblings, mostly so they weren't in the way, before he stepped into the center of the magical circle and focused his mind as he drew upon his powers, this time focusing solely on it and nothing else. As soon as he did that the runes in the circle started to glow as they powered up and their magic joined the spell that he was weaving, where the magic started to wash over the plateau everyone was on as it sought out the materials Cosmos had prepared ahead of time, placing them in areas that had runes underneath them so that way the spell knew where to go and where not to go, or at least that was the working theory that he and the rest of the Magic Crafters had been using since this spell was first created so long ago. Spike knew that this wouldn't be a fast process, as the spell was designed to create the best staff for him out of the materials that went into every staff that had been built since the time of Malefor, and only Akilesh was different from those that followed it, in what way no dragon knew since none had been told what went into making it, but Spike pushed that thought from his mind as he focused on his spell and watched the magic as it moved around the area they were in. After a few more seconds a pair of magical orbs appeared in the air in front of the area Cosmos had been working on earlier and started to truly search the materials that had been left for his magic to pick from, as they were magical assistants, in a sense, that were created by the spell to help whoever used it locate the best items for their personal staff, so he and the Magic Crafters weren't surprised to find that the pair of orbs had appeared, rather it was a sign that things were progressing quite well.
Of course none of the magic users, save Bianca, were surprised when the pair of orbs vanished and all the materials they had been lifting were set back down where they had been earlier, nor where they surprised when the runes glowed far brighter than they had been earlier, not bright enough to actually blind someone, which was why Spike, even though he hadn't matured yet, forced himself onto his back legs for a moment and adopted a two-legged stance as he reached out with what would be his right hand in the near future. This was common when this spell was in use, as the magic user, upon seeing the orbs disappear, would use their magic to call forth the materials that the magic had selected and all of the pieces would lift out of their respective piles and start to take on new shapes as they were modified to fit a new staff, and it generally took a few minutes for someone to complete this task, though it did give him an idea of how Cosmos' staff had been put together. As soon as the staff was completed, and the magical circle died down, the magic user would be tasked with testing the weapon out and making sure it was as perfect as it could be, which it would be since there were no stories or records of a failed staff, as while the dragons did have pride in certain things something like failing to make a staff would have been passed down for the following generations, so all he had to do was wait and see which materials would be lifted from the table Cosmos set up ahead of time. What did surprise them was that none of the various items the orbs had looked at earlier seemed to be moving, rather they all seemed still as the runes continued to work their magic, where Spike had to determine that this was one of those staffs that remained hidden from the sight of everyone until the weapon was ready to go, why they were never able to figure out and there were two such weapons in the history books, so that was what he figured was going on.
A moment or two later, after holding the same position that he shouldn't be holding, Spike felt the magic that was in the air shift, to his right to be exact, and braced himself as the staff the spell had created for him appeared, hence why he started to close his claws around its' shaft, though as he did that he noticed the shocked looks on the faces of Cosmos and everyone else that was in front of him, to which he turned his head for a moment... and found Akilesh, of all things, in the air to his right, and his claws were in the process of gripping the shaft.
The instant his claws wrapped around Akilesh's shaft, and he determined that it was actually a combination of metal and wood instead of just one of them, the sheer power that was resting within the staff flared to life and rushed out of the weapon with a force that pretty much forced Cosmos and the others to back away as two things happened, the first being that a large purple cloud of magic formed a circular barrier, of sorts, between Spike and the others, preventing anyone from evening rushing to his aid. The second thing that happened, as Spike soon found out, was that the power of the staff dug into his arm and coursed through his body, in the manner that it was trying to overwhelm him and cause his body to break from the inside out, as if to prove that he didn't have the power or skill to wield the powerful staff, but even as that happened he did his best to focus his mind as he battled the raw magical might of Akilesh. Fortunately what the staff was doing to him didn't affect Talon at all, as his dragonfly was with the others, near Spyro and Ember, and he seemed just fine at the moment, not taking any damage from what was going on, to which Spike focused on the challenge he had called to this area, even if he was surprised by what was happening, and worried less about everything else. That wasn't all that was happening at the moment, as the power of Akilesh seemed to be digging into the ground as well, as he could see cracks forming around the circle he was standing in, while the sky itself appeared to be darkening, displaying just how powerful this weapon was and why, when they first found it in the Arcanaeum, he had stopped the others from touching it, even if part of him had wanted to study it the moment they had discovered it.
Even as he fought the power of the staff Spike could see that Bianca, Elora, the rest of his friends, and his siblings did try to rush over to where he was standing, though Cosmos and the others had to throw down a barrier between Akilesh's magical veil and the area that they were currently standing in, no doubt to protect them from the dangers of what might happen next while trying to contain the vast energies of the staff so they didn't tear apart the plateau, though Spike was sure that such a thing might occur either way.
After a minute or two of struggling against Akilesh, and battling the power that was within it, Spike had a chance to see the veil between him and the others intensify, preventing him from seeing the others and vise versa, meaning he had to turn his full attention to the staff and focus on nothing else, even though it was rather painful as the magic dug into his arm and tried to overpower him. As that happened, however, Spike felt the presence of something, or rather someone, watching what was going on at the moment and noticed that the area around him seemed to expand, like he was being moved to a different reality, or that was just an illusion spell the staff was casting to mess with his mind, before the barrier itself enlarged the area that it covered. That was when he noticed a light purple cloud off in the distance, or that was what it seemed to be right now, that was shaped like a dragon that was standing on two legs, an adult dragon to be exact, but he couldn't make out any features as he stared at it, where he quickly determined that it was either a construct formed by the staff's power or it was an echo of the last one to use Akilesh, as in an echo of Malefor himself. Whatever it was, as it was hard to tell what it really was without any distinguishing features, seemed to be observing him as he fought the power of the staff, though that was followed by another source of power appearing in the area around where Spike was currently standing and he turned to face it, or at least he tried to and could only shift his head to the side a little, displaying just how much power the staff actually had that it was taking most of his concentration to keep it from expanding and potentially hurting the others that had come to witness the ceremony. The other individual, as he discovered, seemed to be a near copy of the first individual, where they were both dragons as far as he could tell, since he couldn't see any features on either of them, but this one seemed to be a mix of the light purple light and a dark purple light, unlike the first one that seemed to be all of one color, as if revealing a duality of some kind.
It was in that moment that Spike realized what the second individual was, as according to all of the stories they had on the first Archmage ceremony, as in Malefor's to be exact, the first purple dragon had created his staff and then sealed a being of power, an elemental that represented the power of the Aether, inside it, though the story also claimed that the creature had been a problem for the residents of Avilion, though he guessed this was confirmation that the stories were true, or at least to a degree. If this was an elemental that contained the dual nature of the Aether, the strongest magical force in this world, it explained why Akilesh was so powerful and why only Malefor was capable of wielding it, because the entity that had been trapped inside the staff required a master of the four Prime Elements to even overcome it and the power it commanded, and he suspected that one had to have an understanding of the fifth element, the Aether, to even overcome the elemental's true power. Still, even as Spike thought about that, he forced his mind to focus on what he had to do and opened himself to the magic that was within him, which was both a good idea and a bad idea since it opened the door for the power of the staff to surge through his power and rapidly accelerate the process that had been started when he first grabbed the weapon, but it was the only way for him to do what he needed to do, as the ceremony also required that the Archmage that was undergoing it had to cast four powerful spells, or rather seals that demonstrated their power over the Prime Elements that all magic users tapped into, and that was what he needed to do, only this time he was going to demonstrate his true power to the creature that was contained within Akilesh. From what he could tell the area that he was in had to be separated from the part of the Magic Crafters homeworld that the ceremony was held in, as the ground that was below him was reddish colored and was mixed with a black color, while the sky was more iridescent, but while it would have been nice to look around the area he focused his mind on what he was going to do.
The first element Spike called upon was the one that most magic users, including himself and Bianca, first used when they started to learn how to wield magic, which just so happened to be the element of Fire, hence the reason the symbol for the element appeared above him as he channeled his power, rapidly creating a massive fireball above his head, the Emperor of Fire spell, and used his magic to direct the spell at his target. Due to the nature of what the Aether elemental was doing, using its power to dig into his body so it could either knock him out or detonate the magic he possessed, it was also unable to move from the spot that it was floating in, meaning that the Emperor of Fire was able to reach Spike's target in a matter of seconds, only to slam into a shimmering barrier not a few seconds later, showing him that his foe had taken a moment to protect itself from harm, but that was just fine with him since the spell hadn't exploded yet. In fact, that was exactly what Spike wanted, because in the heart of the massive fireball rested the true spell he was supposed to be using, the Fire Seal spell, and once he was able to breach the elemental's defenses one of the four seals would be in place, but he wasn't about to stop there, since there was no telling how long the struggle would go on for, and that was why he was going to use all four of the Prime Elements against this foe. As soon as the massive fireball was in position Spike switched to the second spell, Earthen Daggers, which allowed the user to do something similar to what the Sorceress did during her fights with him and his siblings, when she created her Stone Armor, as in he was able to shift the earth around them and create two massive dagger-like projectiles, ones that could supposedly break the top of a mountain, but instead of them both being on one side of the Aether elemental Spike made sure one was to his foe's left and right, sandwiching it between the two Earthen Daggers and putting some strain on the barrier it had made. After that he manipulated the moisture that was all around them and created what appeared to be a multi-headed serpent creature made of ice, an Ice Hydra to be exact, a spell that usually caused an area to freeze over when it exploded up its target, but thanks to the barrier that his foe was using the Ice Hydra remained intact.
The problem with these three spells were that they were similar to the Storm's Wrath spell, as they were some of the most powerful spells that he and the Magic Crafters knew about and they were pretty draining on their own, so he was pushing it at the moment, but as the Aether elemental's barrier shuddered for a moment Spike tapped into the final spell that he had hidden, summoning the power of the Storm's Wrath once more as it barreled out of the sky and slammed into the barrier his foe was using. For a moment nothing happened, which was about what Spike expected, though not even a few seconds later the shimmering barrier shattered before his eyes, something that would have surprised the elemental if it was like him and the other dragons, but instead of wasting time Spike made sure that the four elemental spells struck his target with the last of their power and blew the area around the Aether elemental up. Of course none of the four spells had enough power to do a lot of damage, since most of their power had been transferred into the barrier, but they had done their job as the four seal spells were finally revealed, where he was sure his foe would have raised an eyebrow to express its surprise, if it had any, which was why Spike coughed for a moment as he went on the offensive with his spells, before his foe had time to recover. The Fire Seal, being the closest of the four, was the first one to latch onto his foe, but as that happened, and the seal became active, the Aether elemental's power surged through the staff and went into Spike's arm and body, inflicting more havoc on him in the process, as if his foe was punishing him for trying to tap into the power that was contained within the staff, but he stopped himself from screaming as he pushed forward. The pain intensified as Spike activated the second seal, the Ice Seal, and it wrapped around his foe's body like the first seal had done, though this was the elemental's way of showing him that for every seal he used the greater his own torment would become, to punish him for even trying to tame the power within Akilesh, and he fought through another bout of it as the Lightning Seal was added to the others.
It was when the Earth Seal was finally applied to the elemental that Spike finally screamed in pain, as the elemental decided to send a much bigger wave of power into his body, where this time around he felt his scales breaking under the sheer amount of power that was coursing through him, as it was nothing like he had felt in the past and he hoped that Talon wasn't being affected by this. Though as all that happened, and it seemed like the seals weren't enough to do the job, Spike did his best to fight the pain as he recalled one final sealing spell, one that could only be cast by those that had truly masted the Prime Elements, and he called upon his power once more as he forced his left arm to rise so the palm could face his target, where he silently hoped the elemental didn't summon a barrier while he did this. What appeared in front of him had to be the symbol of the Aether, which looked like curved hooks that had one opening facing the right and the other facing the left, with the former being on top and the latter being on the bottom, but while it was interesting to see Spike wasted no time in applying the final seal, the Aether Seal, to the elemental, who was only now realizing just what was going on as it spotted the final spell. As soon as the final seal was added to the others another wave of energy surged through his body and he expected something to snap this time, like the arm holding Akilesh or one of his legs, but what actually happened was that the pain disappeared as he witnessed his scales healing before his eyes, while the rest of his body was restored to its former glory, making him wonder if he was successful. The answer came not a few moments later as he felt the power of Akilesh flow into him for a few seconds, like it was his to command now, and he was sure that the echo that was in this odd realm had sensed the change in the air, as he felt something pushing him forward as he focused on the Aether elemental for a few seconds, where he understood what he needed to do.
With the seals in place, and the elemental unable to move, Spike, no longer pinned down by the power that had been threatening to destroy him a few moments ago, turned Akilesh on the elemental and loosed a beam of purple energy that returned it to the staff, putting it back in the prison that Malefor had created for it, before he sighed and waved the staff once more, dismissing the magical barrier that had separated him from the others and allowed him to return to the area that the ceremony had been taking place in... where he huffed for a few seconds as he turned his attention to the others, finding that no one had been hurt by what just happened.
"...no way..." Argus commented, as he and the others were stunned by what they were seeing, because while none of them had been able to see whatever had happened on the other side of the barrier, and they tried to get a good look at what was happening, they certainly heard what seemed to be a battle and heard Spike's screams of pain, hence the reason why Spyro, Ember, and their friends looked like they were ready to beat something up, but with the barrier disabled they were allowed to see what was going on, even if all of them were shocked by what they saw, "Spike... did you...?"
"Tame Akilesh? Yeah..." Spike replied, where he stared at the staff for a moment, still caught off guard by the fact that he had summoned it from the room in the Arcanaeum that Malefor had left it in, though he was exhausted from what he had been through and it was a miracle that he was even able to stand, something that was likely going to be corrected in the next couple of moments as he turned towards Cosmos, the rest of the Magic Crafters, and the scholars who had come to record this special event, "I think I did... though I hope you'll forgive me for what happens next, as that took a lot out of me, way more than what I was expecting it to."
Cosmos barely had time to nod his head as Spike collapsed on the ground in front of them, where everyone rushed to make sure that he was alright and that no harm had been done to him or his body, though he and the other Leaders were proud of what the young dragon was able to do, just like they were proud of what he and his siblings were able to do, and he knew that Spike had more than earned the rank of Archmage, even though he was sure that they would find another reason to be proud of the siblings as they faced what the future held for them and their friends.
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Well can't say malefor didn't do things by halves when it comes to objects of great power. Holy hell was that painful to imagine. Only thing that could have been better was if echoes of the elements of harmony appeared to create a sixth seal using the previous five as a basis to better contain the entity in the staff but that's my opinion.
Excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I particularly liked the thoughts on the play based on the trio's second adventure during the gang's downtime, descriptions of the gang's overall progress (especially Ember's reflection on the weapons she will one day learn how to use, as well as how Bianca using a lightning spell without her wand), Cosmos's insistence on putting off a more formal exploration of the Arcanauem until after Spike is ready to lead it himself (much to the protests of the other scholars) and the description of the Archmage ceremony. And, plus, yeah, Akilesh put up a DARN good fight (which was described in good detail), but I LOVED seeing Spike winning that fight through a combination of training and sheer willpower.
All in all, I'm very certainly going to be looking forward to more of this.
well then. i definitely was not expecting this. i had been planning to make a rather short comment today but then you went and did something like this. you are truly magnificent at subverting expectations. The first half of this chapter was ok and stayed ok right up until spike started doing his thing. After the summoning started the chapter got turned right up to 11. The little dragon boi has definitely earned a good rest after going through all of that. though this now makes me wonder if the other two will be getting anything as well. Absolutely amazing chapter, looking forward to whatever comes next. Keep up the fantastic work
Geez this chapter started out so calmed till it went all out for Spike there!!!
You really went all out for Spike's Archmage ceremony, his fight against Akilesh was intense from start to finish & I loved every minute of it!
The little scholar has sure come a long way, can't wait to see what future chapters will bring for our dragon trio at this point!!!!
You keep saying for what the future holds! I WANT OT KNOW WHAT! Part of me thinks we are going to see some of the legend of spyro charcaters soon, but... I don't know. I don't know what comes next, or at least what story. I hope we will get Iggy, Terry, etc, but I don't think so. I just want to KNOW!!!
I think we have two or three more interlude chapters until the next story begins in earnest. And believe me, I can't wait for any of the chapters.
Yikes that was painful to imagine as the Elemental is tearing Spike apart from the inside.
Excited to see what segments for Peacekeeper training for Elora and Hunter, and the Avilion Council first meetings.
nice work
10166780
Thanks for the heads up.