Spyro, Cynder, and all other Spyro related characters are property of Sierra studios.

Draco, Contrinus, Chip and Cydra are property of my co-author, Cydra.

Matt, his merc team, the NSC and related tech, the ancients/atlanteans and malefors dragon generals are mine.

Summary: Its been a week since the events of Forgotten blood and the crew have returned to pick Matt up, only to find that 8 months have passed for him. It seems like Avalar is at peace till the actions of an old enemy result in the release of the very race that brought the ancients to their knees…

Soul Gem Saga 3: Soulless Abyss

Chapter 1: Family Reunion

It had been a week since the gang had returned from Avalar, down a crewmember. Draco was in the BiNebular with Contrinus. "Why has Chloe been acting like that? I understand why she's so sad but she needs to move on. She's ignored three comms to head back to central. I saw her mails," said Draco.

"I don't think it's that simple," said Contrinus, "Besides, I'm not so sure that's entirely mourning."

"She acts like he's just waiting somewhere, but I saw those shells hit from the fighter. It was a huge explosion," said Draco

"Well, they were reality bombs," said Contrinus, "And we know how unpredictable reality warps are."

"Yeah...but remember when we flew over the ruins when we left?" said Draco. Contrinus nodded before looking out the window facing the open bay. "Hey...is that part of the Dragon Eye Nebula?" she said before they looked at each other.

A great feeling of unease settled over both of them, especially with the space clouds looming up ahead.

A piece of debris floated near it and a bolt of energy shot out and evaporated it. The two experiments turned and ran for the bridge as fast as possible.

When they ran in, Draco yelled, "Chloe, are you out of your-" Then he noticed a heavily-singed NegaMorph. "What happened to you?" he asked.

"I heard Matt had a Positron 900 plasma rifle. I went to see if I could find it as they're really valuable and it's not like he needs it. Chloe seemed to object even when I explained that we need the money with her not taking contracts," said NegaMorph, pinching a candle like flame on his ear out.

"Just as well," said Contrinus, "I'd bet all my feathers that Matt booby-trapped his stash."

"No, he once said that he always forgets where he put them," said Draco.

"Pretty much the same thing," said Contrinus. "Right, anyways, where was I?" said Draco, "Ah yes, I remember. Chloe, are you of your mind?!"

Chloe was standing at the controls. "Take us in via region 31-d," she said, ignoring the experiments. "Aye, Ma'am." Draco walked forward to turn off the controls when a lightning bolt landed in front of him.

"Uh, Chloe, are you certain you know what you're doing?" said Draco.

"Perfectly well...touch the controls again and I'll throw you out an airlock," she said sweetly. "One minute to wormhole, Ma'am. I can see the temporal stabilizers," said a crewman

"Good," said Chloe, "No more big time gaps between trips here and back." "Looks like they only just came online...estimating time difference...8 months," said the crewman and Chloe sighed. "I hope he was ok."

--

Meanwhile, Matt was waking up from a good night's sleep. He could count the number of good sleeps he had on the Bladestorm that year with one hand. Not like he had a hand at the moment.

He woke up to see Sonya's upside-down face. "Wakey, wakey, lazy butt. You're sleeping the best part of the day away," she said. Matt yawned and jumped down.

"Ok, ok, you're not my mother," he said as he stretched his tail and wings. It turns out that dragons were like cats, they could take a nap anywhere they could.

He had been stuck this way since Spyro and co had found him under the rubble of Banshee base. Matt blamed the reality shells. There was a reason reality weapons weren't used by generals with fully functional brains and Matt was currently a living reason why.

For the first month he'd been convinced that his human form was toast and he should get used to it. Xavier and Morgan however had not been so convinced and with help from them he'd managed to get his ability to get his human form back, though it did tire him out.

Of course, that wasn't the only training he got. He was being progressively taught how to control all of his Shar-Khan powers as well as how to quell his inner demon.

He'd wondered about some of the training and he missed his sister. It had been almost a year now and he was getting settled to the fact that he was here to stay. Warfang was definitely nicer now and he'd heard that the Atlanteans had repaired and reclaimed the old city that had been around the archive, though they'd wondered where the archive had gone.

Also, with the war apparently over, everyone seemed to settle down. Bianca had traveled afar to better develop her magic. She was due to a visit back to Warfang by the end of the week. The younger dragons had a growth spurt and were very nearly adult-sized. Although Sonya wish she didn't look so much like Avarona and was determined to see if Bianca could give her some cosmetic modification when she got back.

Matt turned human to go for a breath of fresh air and nearly ran into Flame and Ember.

Fortunately, Matt had a lifetime's experience of avoid large objects moving towards (usually with the purpose of killing him) and avoided a collision. "Hey guys," said Matt, "How's it going?"

Flame n Ember smiled down at him. "Fine..."

"You know Matt," said Flame, "You'd be able to attract more dragonesses if you stayed in dragon form. The females dig heroes. Of course, the fact that you're nearly as handsome as me might help."

Matt laughed. "Nice try, Flame...only one person for me and she's in the wrong universe," he said with a smile.

Ember laughed as well and said, "Flame, you can't push Matt. Romance has to build up by itself." "Oh you're one to talk, Ms. I-Wanna-Take-Spyro-From-Cynder," accused Flame in a mocking tone.

Matt laughed again before walking past them. "Catch you later," he said, headed for where Xavier was probably preparing yet another wonderful training exercise.

As Matt walked on, he couldn't help thinking about Chloe and said, "I wonder if she's forgotten me by now?"

--

Matt's answer was appearing from the Avalar wormhole, electricity crackling around it as the temporal stabilizers on the other side went to work. The Bladestorm slowly pushed its way into the Avalar reality.

"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" said Chloe.

Everyone picked themselves up from where they'd fallen and fell over again as a ship identical to the Nighthawk shot past the window.

Then a transmission came through the computer. "Halt," said the captain on the other vessel, "Identify yourselves."

Chloe got to the comm. "This is Captain Chloe Lynch of the NSS Bladestorm..." she began.

"Oh, Chloe, I should have known" the captain cut her off in a much friendlier tone, "We've been wondering if you'd be here again. Head on down. We'll let them know you're coming."

Chloe turned off the comm. "Ok...who's coming down to planet with me?" she said

"I'll go!" said Kala eagerly. "Me too!" said PlasMorph, "I wanna see what Avalar's like." "I suppose I'd better go to keep these two out of trouble," said NegaMorph.

Draco and Contrinus stepped forward. "We're coming, I never got a chance to see Avalar," said Contrinus. Chip said, "I'd like another look around." Techo sighed, "Well, we might as well come. Someone needs to keep NegaMorph in check."

NegaMorph glared back at him before saying, "What about Megan?" "I think she's working on something in her room right now," said Xander, "Whatever it is, I can't get within 10 feet of her door without nearly sneezing my head off."

"She can come if she wants, but no zapping," said Chloe. "Ok..." said Chip, "Who wants to knock on her door and tell her?" Everyone looked at NegaMorph. "It's not like she'll kill you," said Wilson.

NegaMorph shook his head and said, "If there's one thing I've learned about magic, is that you don't want to barge in when someone's in the middle of working on a spell."

Chloe looked at NegaMorph. "You act like there's a choice...so DO IT!"

NegaMorph sighed and said, "Alright, but if I end up accidentally turned pink because of this, I'm slipping something into your bathwater." "Get going," said Chloe.

--

Matt wandered into the training arena to see Elder Cyril there with Xavier. "Ah, Matthew...I have some good news," he said as Matt wandered in.

"You're too busy to do any training today?" said Matt eagerly.

"No, but an NSC ship arrived. If Morgan's patrol is to be believed your sister is in command of it," said Cyril.

Matt just stared for a few seconds before crying, "YAAAAAAHOOOOOO!!!" Both dragons flinched from the volume of Matt's jubilation.

Matt danced around. "I knew she didn't forget me! Soon I will have permanent thumbs again!" he yelled before twitching as he lost his concentration, turning back to his dragon form. "Blitznak!" he swore.

--

Soon afterwards, the Nighthawk was hovering down towards the landing pad the Atlanteans had set up. Matt and several of his friends and allies were waiting there.

Chloe ran out of the ship first and looked around wildly. "Chloe?" said Matt, walking forward a bit sheepishly, despite the fact his dragon form was twice the size of her.

Chloe immediately ran forward and hugged her brother. A second later, she realized that she was hugging his left front leg and it was wide around as her arms would allow her to reach.

Matt concentrated and changed back...and was immediately nearly strangled as Chloe adjusted her hug accordingly. Sparx watched and muttered to Spyro, "Love hurts."

Matt eventually managed to escape Chloe's killer hug and said, "It's great to see you too sis." "What happened back-" started Chloe when there was a cry of "Matthew!" PlasMorph landed in Matt's arms and said, "Did you miss me?" "Like the stomach flu," said Matt.

PlasMorph said, "Aw...I missed you too," and yelped as Matt dropped him. NegaMorph strolled down the ramp with Megan. Matt immediately spotted something. "Why are you pink?" Matt said, trying not to laugh and losing.

NegaMorph glared at Matt and said, "Someone thought it would be a good idea to march into an enchantress-in-training's room while she was practicing spells." Megan rubbed the back of her head and looked embarrassed. NegaMorph switched the focus of his glare to Chloe and said, "I know where all the bathtubs are."

Chloe sighed. "And I know how to make the spiderbots maul you," she said. Matt grinned. "I actually missed this..." he said happily.

Then Draco and Contrinus flew straight into Matt's arms in a friendly tackle. "Room for one more?" asked Chip as he walked over and hopped onto Matt.

Techo and Wilson walked out too and spotted Matt. "LYNCH!" they yelled and ran over to hug him and a second later, they all fell into a heap, with Matt at the bottom. "Ok...glad you're happy...please get off so I can...breathe."

Then Chris walked out and saw Matt on the bottom of the dogpile. Matt could tell what Chris was thinking and said, "Chris...don't..." Chris grinned and said, "Sorry man, but I gotta." He then jumped on top of the dogpile, which caused Matt to emit a squawk of discomfort.

"Ok...that's it," he said and transformed, the increased size allowing him to get loose. He turned back and turned in time to be knocked flying a flying hug from Kala.

"Oh Matt, I'm so glad you're okay!" said Kala as she hugged Matt closely. "Can't...breathe..." wheezed Matt, "THREE SECOND RULE!"

Kala let go and said, "We thought you were dead." Matt. "I almost was. These guys found me just in time," he said, aiming a thumb at Spyro and the others.

"I'm surprised that the reality bombs didn't affect you too much," said Chip.

Matt looked a bit embarrassed. "Kinda did...wasn't exactly human when they found me," he said.

'What? Were you turned into a slime-spewing amoeba slug?" asked Draco, "No offense to current company." PlasMorph, who had not been paying attention at all, turned around and said, "What?"

"Nope, I dunno, it's like it reversed my two forms around. I had to relearn how to turn human," Matt said.

"Sorta like physical therapy?" asked Contrinus.

"Probably...but more weird and less painful," said Matt.

Then Matt showed the gang around the fixed Warfang. The moles had been able to a great amount with the stone city. None of them could detect any sign of battle damage from the war.

Kala barely had any experience of Avalar through her own persona, so she was somewhat unnerved by the many dragons there. She also felt annoyed that Matt, who was previously more than three times her height in human form, now positively dwarfed her in dragon form.

"Most of the city's fixed now. I recommend we keep what happened at the archive within the team. Morgan and the colonists are reclaiming that city...and they wondered where the archive went," said Matt, not noticing Kala's mood.

"So, has there been any attacks at all since Malefor's been wiped out?" asked Chloe, "He has been wiped out, right?"

"Well...we never found him. We should have at least found empty implants," said Matt, darkly before brightening up. "Well, he'd have to be stupid to try and stay here or even go to Nullspace. I bet even the Empire are after his blood after they wrecked Banshee base."

"What about Raptor or Devina?" asked NegaMorph, "Is Ghoulwyrm still here or not?" "Nope, it's been months and not a sign of them. They're long gone," said Matt.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," said Megan, "I may not know Raptor or Devina, but I do know Ghoulwyrm. He may or may not reappear in this world, but he will come back to attack us."

"So? I could stomp him now...Kala?" said Matt as Kala walked off sniffing sadly.

Matt turned to the others and asked, "Was it something I said? I don't think I said anything that could have upset her."

Chloe shook her head and said, "You can be as thick as concrete sometimes."

Matt looked confused before changing back to human and running after Kala.

--

Matt later found Kala sitting on a rampant. From the wet streaks on her face's fur, he could tell she had been crying. "Kala?" said Matt, "Is something wrong?"

Kala looked at Matt. "It's not fair. Is there something trying to actively keep us apart?" she said, sniffing sadly.

Matt immediately got what Kala was saying, because he had felt the same thing himself. "I know what you mean," said Matt, "Of course, we could find a way to change you to a more suitable size and form. Heck, I'd even become an experiment to stay with you."

Kala fell on Matt and started crying. Matt just petted her. "We'll find a way...don't you worry," he said, even though part of him wasn't so sure.

--

Later, Matt arrived at the training area to find Xavier. "You're late," said Xavier, "Later than usual in fact."

"I had to talk to someone...so what's today's training?" Matt said, changing the subject as fast as he could.

"Well, hopefully by the end of today's training, you'll be able to overcome your inner demon and eliminate the possibility of you ever becoming a Shar-Virk," said Xavier.

"That's good...so...how do I do that?" said Matt.

"We start off like this," said Xavier and before Matt could comprehend what he meant, Xavier hit him with a knockout spell.

--

Matt came round with a groan. "Dammit...that wasn't fun," he moaned, getting up and looking around. It looked like the Chronicler's dreamscape except it was just one large arena. He looked down to see he had his ion blade and a get up similar to Morgan's combat armor.

"Oookay, where am I?" asked Matt.

"You're here to face me," said a familiar voice behind him. Matt spun to see a red-eyed version of himself, wearing the black armor of a Shar-Virk. "Draconus...great," Matt said, backing up out of slash range.

"So, this is where it's all decided," said Draconus idlely, "Whether you become Khan or Virk, whether you control this body or I. Think you're ready to take the test?"

"You really think they'll let you run amok if you win?" said Matt, pulling out his blade and testing the balance.

"Oh, they won't be a factor for very long after I come out," said Draconus, a sadistic grin on his face.

"Get on with it then," said Matt. Draconus nodded and lifted his blade to his face in the classic swordfighting salute. Matt wasn't fooled by that and was in time to block the sudden lunge.

Matt became really grateful he had allowed Morgan to talk him into taking sword-fighting lessons to improve his skill with the ion blade. Though he wondered in the back of his head that by learned more about sword-fighting, he'd allowed Draconus to become more skillful.

Matt was proved right as Draconus blocked a trick that Matt had been taught by Morgan. "You know, you should just let me win. I am definitely more suited to have your body."

"Um, I was born with this body, so the answer's automatically no," said Matt before he tried feinting a technique Morgan taught him before going with his usual slashing.

Draconus dodged the slashes before delivering a nasty punch to Matt's face. "You're nothing, you can't exist without me," he taunted.

"I've been able to handle myself pretty well before you even came into being," said Matt, "So I don't think you're as necessary as you say you are. Come to think of it, I think you're obsolete."

Draconus laughed and delivered a slash that Matt barely avoided. "I dunno who I'll kill first when I'm out of here: maybe your little reptile friends...or maybe your sister...no...I think I'll visit your little furry friend first...make some fur gloves," said Draconus cruelly.

Matt glared at Draconus and said, "That's never going to happen. You've shed blood for the last time. Now I'm going to put you away forever."

"You'll have to put me down to put me out." laughed Draconus. "Oh, how I'll make miss Kala scream..." he said, taunting nastily and dancing just out of Matt's reach.

Matt snarled and sent a wave of plasma energy at Draconus's feet. As he was moving backwards to avoid being burned, Matt leapt into the air and prepared to bring his ion blade down on Draconus. Draconus smirked at Matt's amateur move and held up his ion blade to block it.

But instead of the blades clashing, Matt swung his sword so it hit the hilt of Draconus's sword between where his hand grasped it and the blade.

Draconus yelped in pain and dropped his ion blade. Before he could move, Matt nicked the back of his legs, forcing him down. "I'm making sure you never hurt anyone...ever," said Matt, his blade aimed for a fatal slash.

Draconus glared up at him and said, "I don't believe you have the courage to do that. If you really give deliver the final blow, then do it."

Matt looked ready to do just that before stopping. "No...you aren't worth my time," he said, turning away. He could hear Draconus taunting him as he walked away.

Then Draconus's voice began to grow fainter as the arena started to fade away.

--

The next thing Matt knew, he was waking up on the training area's floor.

"I don't think I passed. He's still in here. I was hoping for some peace n quiet," he said, getting up unsteadily.

"On the contrary," said Xavier, "You passed with flying colors." When Matt looked confused, Xavier explained, "Many people believe that it is by destroying your inner demon is what frees you from them. But doing so makes you just like them. Showing compassion is what separates Shar-Khan from Shar-Virk."

Matt sighed. "Is there a way to get him to shut up though?" he said, getting a smirk from Xavier.

"Well, unfortunately, they still linger in you. All beings are born with inner evil," said Xavier, "But they eventually get bored and you'll be able to coexist peacefully." "How long would that take?" asked Matt. "Oh, I'd say roughly a century."

Matt's eye twitched at this before he broke down in tears.

Xavier patted Matt on the back, something that left Matt sprawling on the ground. "Not to worry, we Shar-Khan live much longer than normal humans. Not to mention we retain our prime for a very long time."

"I can't feel my spine," said Matt from the floor.

"Erm, I'll send for your phoenix friend," said Xavier.

"Ok...I'll just lie here..." said Matt.

--

In Avalar's orbit, one of Morgan's patrol ships was making another circuit. Suddenly, they detected some kind of disturbance ahead. But the visuals showed no activity at all and the disturbance was dismissed as being a shooting star or a glitch.

They flew onwards, missing the wormhole closing. The small ship that had come out slowly flew forward. On board, Taleth glared at the small crew. Janeth and Seleni looked as uncomfortable as him but the small concase class patrol ship had been the only one they could steal.

"I can't believe we're stuck in this little sardine can because that jerk blew up our battleship," moaned Seleni, "And if that wasn't bad enough, we have to do deliveries to complete the disguise. Can you think of anything more undignified?"

"Look, it's not a disguise. Though why Ghoulwyrm wants these power crystals is beyond me. Let's just get this done. It's nice to see that Avalar seems to be peaceful again..." said Janeth.

"Mhm," said Seleni sarcastically, "I'd give it a week at most."

Taleth glared. "We are not here to destroy...and especially not the home of dragonkind..." he said angrily.

"Whatever," said Seleni, "They'll probably be doing it themselves."

"True...just get ready..." Taleth said, turning to the pilot. "Stay in orbit...let's get this done."

--

Meanwhile, in the opening of a cave into a dark mountain, Ghoulwyrm was pacing back and forth anxiously. "What could be taking them so long?" he said, "It couldn't be that hard to get here, could it?"

Three people walked into the cave. "Ghoulwyrm, that's the name you have right now, correct?" said the leader.

"Taleth, it's been centuries," said Ghoulwyrm, "How's the Shar-Virk Hoard or whatever you're calling your organization these days?"

"Badly. We lost our ship to some jumped up little hatchling goodie-goodie," said Seleni, before looking at her comm., "Hey, my holo-unit's busted. That was a gift to Malefor."

"Yeah, I'm not that surprised," said Ghoulwyrm, "And I'll bet my lightning rods I can guess who it was that blew up your battleship."

"You've met, Captain Lynch then," said Taleth in an amused voice.

"More than once," said Ghoulwyrm, "The man's a thorn in the side of pratically everyone I ally with, including my own."

Taleth looked for a minute before laughing his head off. "Oh, this is classic," he said.

"Keep on laughing," said Ghoulwyrm, "Cause I think you'll be interested in knowing that Matt is living here on this planet."

Taleth stopped laughing in mid 'ha'. "Oh crap," he said before reaching for his comm.

--

Meanwhile, the ship's steward was roused out of the book he was reading when WARDEN said, "Sir, I just detected an unidentified ship nearby."

"What? Lemme see," said the guy in an annoyed voice. He'd just reached his favorite bit. He looked at the view. A flickering shape could be seen. "Just a phase ore asteroid, take it out," he said.

--

Taleth's pilot jumped up as the targeting alarm began to wail. At the same time, the comm. began to turn on. "Get out of orbit...circle around...get out!"

The pilot didn't listen, watching with horrified fascination as an NSC destroyer with the words 'NSS Bladestorm' on it circled into view. "Oh drack," swore the Shar-Virk just as the Bladestorm's main cannon fired.

--

Taleth got the first parts of the explosion through his communicator before it became completely static.

Ghoulwyrm couldn't resist being smug. "Are we having technical difficulties? EEP!" he said, jumping back as Taleth transformed to his full dragon form and snarled, "I advise you SHUT UP!"

Seleni groaned and said, "Don't me we're stranded on this backwater planet."

"This is where our abilities came from. Look, the only Shar-Khan alive are that idiot merc and his sister. We can stroll into Warfang and get a teleporter from the catacomb facility," said Taleth.

"Uh, regarding that topic," said Ghoulwyrm, "I don't suppose you recall the lost colony."

"You mean the blasted colony." said Seleni smugly. Taleth said, "Yes...I also recall I didn't order you to nuke it."

"Well, er, you're not going to like this, but they weren't as blasted as you thought they were," said Ghoulwyrm.

Taleth sighed. "I thought that human who attacked Devina was familiar. Don't tell me..." he muttered.

"They apparently used a warp gate and brought them all here to this time," said Ghoulwyrm, "They've been settling down where the archive used to be."

"Well, just as well we're not going there. As for you, here's your stupid power crystal," said Janeth, tossing it to Ghoulwyrm.

Ghoulwyrm caught it and said, "So, don't suppose you have any backup plans for leaving here, do you?"

"Like I said, the old Catacomb facility had several old shuttles. We'll just steal one," said Seleni.

"Oh, it won't be that easy to sneak down there," said Ghoulwyrm, "The dragons will probably be keeping a close eye on that place. Those Apes are still lurking around down there. Even Malefor's death wasn't enough to end his curse."

Taleth looked at a heavy looking rock and sent a psy-blast that pulverized it to dust. "I think we'll be just fine," he said smugly

Oh boy…Matts alive and well but it looks like troubles arrived…Tune in next time.