The Legend of Spyro: Rise of the Golems

Chapter 1

Rivers of lava flowed down through the mountainous regions of the lands, with geysers of lava shots out from the shore, spraying wildly around their positions. Down at ground level, the air was too thick with the ash lingering about, though the inhabitants were able to live in these harsh conditions. Unfortunately, the only times they are reminded of their once lushful and beautiful planet was when they are hitching a ride on the grass-filled and environment-like backs of the Golems that are gentle and non-threatening. Having living in the Burned Lands for years since the Golems of the Deep were resurrected, they struggled to survive in their now alternate and slowly dying world where the lava monsters still lurk around on every corner.

Within a small area in the Burned Lands, a small and young, purple dragon slowly walked through the ashy atmosphere of the Burned Lands, trailed closely by a yellow glowing light, which in reality is a yellow dragonfly. Aware of the dangers, they tried to navigate through the Lands without being spotted by any Earth Golems nearby, walking through the ruins of a demolished city. However, the yellow dragonfly was humming a song out of boredom, hoping to brighten the mood between him and the purple dragon.

The purple dragon, Spyro, hissed softly, "Sparx, keep it down. We don't know if those Golems are around here too."

"Yeah well, those Golems don't scare me." Sparx, the yellow dragonfly, said with huff, "Heck, I would take on a Golem if I wanted to."

Spyro only shook his head in response to his brother's bluff and proceeded to walk through the ruins, as Sparx continued to hum softly. As soon as Spyro and Sparx were about to enter a corner of the ruins to a clearing, a green, winged creature wearing a set of brown armor suddenly jumped out from out of nowhere, with eyes gleaming a seemingly menacing blue.

Spyro and Sparx yelled with fright, "AAAHHHH!!"

"WWAAHH!" The green, armored creature exclaimed also.

Sparx was the first to go zooming away from whatever had scared him, and Spyro followed the yellow dragonfly, doing his best to keep up with him on foot.

The green creature shouted out quickly, "Wait! I'm a friend!"

Spyro glanced back and slowed down his pace, then froze when saw the green creature lifting his brown helmet off his face, revealing a reptilian smile, and he noticed a pair of light brown wings sprouting from his back. "A-Another dragon?" He stuttered, turning around and cautiously walked towards the green dragon.

"Spyro, whadda you doing?!" Sparx called out, having stopped to see if Spyro was still close by before zooming over to the purple dragon.

As Spyro suspected, it was a young, green dragon around his age, but he was slightly taller than him. His horns were light brown along with his scaly underbelly and his wings, and he was wearing a brown set of armor: a study helmet was worn on his head, a pair of bracers were clamped around his front ankles, and a plate of brown armor was placed on his tail before his spade.

The green dragon sighed with relief when he saw Spyro and Sparx approach him, "Hey...never thought I'd see another new dragon around here...place is scarce these days..." He smiled, "Sorry about the scare, my name's Aiden. And y-you're..." He widened his eyes with shock at the sight of Spyro's scale color, "a purple dragon!"

"My name is Spyro, and this is Sparx." Spyro introduced, glancing to the yellow dragonfly hovering beside him, then arched an eyebrow to Aiden, "And...you what kind of dragon I am?"

Aiden stuttered, trying to overcome his shock, "W-Well, I thought there wouldn't...be a...purple dragon in this time..."

"Heh, well now you see one right in front of ya." Sparx smirked.

"Are we alone here?" Spyro asked Aiden, looking around cautiously and nervously.

Aiden responded with a nod, "Yeah, I guess so. There hasn't been any Golems sightings lately. And the others must be back by now..."

"There are others?" Spyro widened his eyes again, "Like me, I mean? Can I go with you?"

The young, green dragon nodded, "Sure. The others will be glad to see another dragon, especially if it's a purple one!"

Sparx buzzed in front of Aiden, "Wait a minute, green boy, how do we know we can trust you?"

"Would you rather wander around here waiting for the Golems to get you?" Aiden responded.

Sparx retorted, folding his arms, "I'll take my chances."

"Forget him, Aiden," Spyro spoke out with a smile, "we'll go with you."

"Alright then." Aiden nodded with a smile, "There's a group of us hidden in the north side of the Burned Lands. We must hurry though, we don't want to be sitting ducks." He placed his helmet back on and stood up on his paws, walking past Spyro and hurriedly running across the clearing.

Spyro and Sparx looked at each other, before they quickly ran after Aiden through the ruin-filled clearing, hoping to see other creatures who are in the same situation as they are.

As soon as Aiden, Spyro, and Sparx made their way across the clearing of broken pillars, the four-legged shadow of a large creature stepped out from behind the ruins of an old building nearby. The creature's body was made mostly out of molten rock and its underbelly was composed only of magma. On the top side of its body, grass and lush greenery grew vividly on the back of the creature, showing that it might had been living above ground long enough for plant life to grow on its back where the heat is not too severe. Its eyes gleamed like orbs of amber, though they were lifeless and displayed only anger and rage, and its tail ended with a molten rock, feathered-like spade.

It was an Earth Golem.

In the shadows of the ruins, the Golem lowered its head and started sniffing the ground, trying to catch the scent of any living creatures that might be nearby. As its head poked out from the shadows of the ruins and into the faint sunlight while focusing on sniffing, the lava monster stopped in its tracks as it caught the whiff of something familiar close by, lifting its head to the direction to where the scent was coming from. With a soft snarl, the lava monster leapt forward and ran across the clearing, tracking down the scent through the ruins and following Spyro and Aiden's trail...

00000

"So, Aiden, why are you wearing armor?" Spyro asked curiously, after walking a few miles with Aiden and Sparx on their journey through the Lands.

Aiden was ahead of Spyro and stopped in his tracks near a fallen pillar, turning his head back to Spyro with a smile, "Best be prepared for anything, you know? From above, behind, or in front. Plus the armor helps deflect the hard attacks the Golem, so it wouldn't hurt as bad."

"What are the others like?" Spyro questioned, "I mean, the other dragons or...other creatures?"

Aiden replied, "Well, there are some creatures. Like cheetahs, fauns, moles... But we take care of ourselves and be careful not to attract attention, like drawing Golems to us and such. And-" Suddenly, the young, green dragon stopped dead in his tracks and sniffed the air carefully, despite the air being thick with ash. He turned his head to the right and sniffed again, only this time, he caught the scent of something. Something most unpleasant. The green dragon widened his eyes and looked around nervously and cautiously. "Golem! Over the pillar, quickly!" He instructed softly.

"H-How can you tell?" Spyro stuttered, "The air's too thick down here."

Aiden hissed, "No time to explain, move!"

"Way ahead of you, green boy." Sparx responded, already hovering above the fallen pillar.

Spyro hesitated, but he decided to take any chances in just standing here. The purple dragon then leapt up onto the pillar and jump down the other side, with Sparx following after him.

As soon as Spyro made his way over the fallen pillar and ran ahead, the glimpsing form of the Earth Golem stepped into view behind the cover of the ruins, spotting Aiden in its sights. Through its eyes, the lava monster caught a glimpse of Spyro's body heat before he leapt over a column, as well as seeing a glowing, yellow light disappearing ahead. Now it sees the Aiden's body heat standing motionless, and the Golem knew that it was another living organism. Without warning, the Golem lunged out from the shadows of the wreckage and immediately charged towards Aiden with a guttural snarl, baring its sharp teeth that were composed of molten rock.

Aiden gasped with fright a the sudden sight of the Golem, before he jumped over the pillar and quickly leapt off of it to follow Spyro and Sparx up ahead. The Earth Golem ran up to the fallen column and leapt over it with ease, trailing after Spyro and Aiden at full pursuit with a deep bellow.

Spyro scurried away as fast as he ever could with Sparx flying by his side, eventually coming out of the edge of the ruins to an area where a small river was flowing through. Aiden soon caught up with the two, and they all sprinted down the river bank to hopefully lose the Golem.

"Wait!" Spyro suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking at a small waterfall created by the river, before he ran towards the stream. The purple dragon stepped up to the edge of the bank and put his paw under the small waterfall in the stream, creating a space to reveal a small cave laying underneath a slabe of stone. He then removed his paw from the waterfall and turned back to Aiden. "We can hide in here. Come on!" He said quickly.

Spyro then knelt down and folded his wings against his body as he slowly crawled through the waterfall and jumped into the cave, turning around to see if Aiden and Sparx followed him. Sparx flew through the waterfall and hovered beside the purple dragon, shaking himself of the water.

"Come on, Aiden, there's plenty of room." Spyro encouraged, his voice echoing in the small cave.

Outside, Aiden was kneeling down, peering through the waterfall and seeing Spyro and Sparx behind it. As he was about to step inside the cave to join them, the large growl of the Earth Golem erupted violently nearby, as Aiden quickly lifted his head and looked up towards the path he, Spyro, and Sparx came through, only to see the Golem emerging from behind the parts of the ruins and charging towards him, still in hot pursuit. Not risking Spyro and Sparx's lives by letting the Golem get to them in the waterfall, the young, green dragon quickly turned and ran away alongside the side of the small river. The Earth Golem trailed after Aiden, passing Spyro and Sparx as it was unaware of them hiding behind the waterfall.

Once the Golem disappeared into the distance, Spyro cautiously peeked his head out from behind the waterfall, letting the cool water the stream flow down around it and wondering if Aiden will be alright.

"What's greenboy doin'?!" Sparx asked.

Spyro replied calmly, "He's leading the Golem away. Hope he'll be alright."

"Against a Golem?? Not a chance." Sparx retorted, crossing his arms.

Spyro glared back at the yellow dragonfly and growled softly, "Sparx..."

Several minutes later, Spyro started to get worried about Aiden's safety and took the risk to leave the safety of the waterfall cave to find the green dragon, despite Sparx's warning of them being attacked by another Earth Golem. The purple dragon cautiously explored the area for any signs of Aiden, looking about nervously and peeking around any corner of the Burned Lands. Afterwards, he climbed up a small mountain of debris to get a better view of his surroundings down below. Spyro carefully stood up on his hind legs and scanned the area. He then caught a glimpse of a green streak scurrying through the ruins, and when he saw the familiar set of armor, the purple dragon shouted, "Aiden!"

Aiden looked up and saw Spyro atop the debris and called out reassuringly, "I lost him, don't worry! I couldn't let a Golem find us behind a waterfall. Let's get going."

Spyro smiled upon seeing Aiden was unharmed and began making his way down the moutains of debris towards the green dragon. However, as the purple dragon stopped to jump down a steep section of the debris, his eyes suddenly widened with dread at the sight of the Earth Golem appearing from behind an old building, spotting Aiden in the open and began advancing towards him. "Aiden, look out!!" He shouted.

Aiden blinked his eyes in slight confusion, before he turned his head around only to widen his eyes in shock that the Earth Golem had quietly stalked up to him from behind. Before he had time to react, the lava monster opened its jaws and quickly snapped them around the young, green dragon, sinking some of its sharp, molten fangs passed his armor and pierced into his scales.

"NO!!" Spyro cried out desperately, hurriedly leaping down the debris before he finally landed on solid ground again, running towards the retreating Golem. As he ran, the purple dragon watched helplessly as the Earth Golem leapt away, carrying away the nearly unconscious Aiden in its jaws. The young, green dragon was struggling to breathe from the pressure of the Golem's bite; his eyes wide with terror and pain as he struggled to release himself from the jaws of the Golem.

Spyro eventually caught up with the lava monster and he tried a futile attempt to stop by grabbing on the Golem's feathered tail spade. Feeling this, the Golem lashed its tail about from side to side, successfully whipping Spyro off and sending him hurling towards a wall of stone, slamming him hard enough to sprain his right wing on impact. Spyro cried out in pain and laid limp on the ground, as Sparx flew over to him to see if his brother was alright. The purple dragon glanced to the yellow dragonfly, then quickly stood back on his paws and looked back to the Golem only to see the lava monster disappearing into the distance, carrying Aiden away to who knows where.

Spyro breathed with disbelief,"No..."

He lowered his head with regret and sorrow as he stood there, wincing in pain from his sprained wing. The purple dragon knew that he had lost a fellow dragon, and his only way to find other survivors within the Burned Lands...