The next few days went well for everyone, especially Darius. That is until battle training.

The group was in the training hall, going over a new flight scenario when the doors suddenly burst open. A green dragon slowly marched in, his eyes red with fury. Spyro stepped in front of everyone else. "Hey buddy the hall is reserved, no one else is allowed in right now."

Instead of replying the green dragon launched a red bolt of energy from his tail. It wrapped around the purple dragon and threw him across the room. He hit the wall and the energy bound him to it. The others immediately went on the defensive. The attacking dragon locked eyes with Darius. His voice was slightly twisted by the energy but still recognizable. "Well Darius it's been a while. But now I have enough power to not only defeat you and achieve my revenge but to completely annihilate you!"

Everyone gasped. Luna spoke up, "K-kain? What happened to you?"

"Why my dear I have gained an all new level of power. It's called chaos, and it's such an amazing feeling. Once I'm done with the fool I'll show you first hand." Kain replied in a seductive voice. Luna sneered in disgust and sidled closer to Darius. Upon seeing this Kain glanced between the two and made the connection. "HA! So you two ended up together, eh? BIG MISTAKE!" At the end of his little speech he unleashed a wave of energy from his body and threw everyone against the walls. Then he charged Darius head-on and took himself and the black dragon strait through the wall.

\ \ \ \

Am massive crash caught Layla's attention. Smoke and dust rose up from the direction of the training hall. She spread her wings and flew off, scanning for any sign of what caused the disturbance. What she saw amazed her. A dragon cloaked in red energy was lashing out at another black dragon with tendrils of the energy. Then the black dragon caught her eye, and she mentally gasped. 'That's him! Malefor will kill me if he dies. I have to act fast.'

She dived into the cover of a nearby alleyway to watch the fight. She grabbed the stone and began to channel her energy.

\ \ \ \

Darius struggled to stand. He was covered in dust and bruises but thankfully no breaks. Kain was just a few feet off, laughing and unharmed. "Ha! So you have some fight in you then! You will pay dearly for causing me so much pain!"

He whipped his tail around and hit Darius with a rather large bolt of chaos. The power ripped through him like electricity mixed with fire and darkness. He screamed in pain and collapsed again. No one had ever seen power like this before, though it reminded Spyro of convexity. The others picked themselves up and dived out of the hole to assist the black dragon but Kain stopped them with a solid wall of energy. "NO! This is our fight! No interference!"

The wall became a dome that covered the whole of the courtyard. Darius grunted in pain but stood tall. "If you insist on fighting, then you're in for one hell in a fight." He got into a defensive stance and the two began circling like wolves. Kain Snarled but Darius never so much as blinked. Then suddenly Kain leapt towards Darius, Claws outstretched and ready to rip through his opponents flesh. Darius focused on the claws and at the last minute, aligned himself with the shadows he controlled. Kain passed harmlessly through him. Kain was surprised to say the least and hit the ground with his face. The impact made him see stars and he slowly got up. As he turned his attention back to Darius, he was met with a shadow-engulfed claw to the face. The shadowy acid began burning Kains flesh, but the chaos prevented any real damage. Kain smirked in twisted delight that Darius horrified expression. "You did not think that you could beat me so easily did you? You are a fool. No one and nothing can beat me in any more, not even Malefor." Darius thought fast. He knew this was going to end badly. He had to end this, either by killing him, or calming him. Kain began swing large arcs of Chaos around, like the arms of an octopus. Anything they touched was destroyed. Darius ducked and weaved, but one caught him in the side stunning him a second, another in the back sent him to the ground. He could only see red; Kains maniacal laughter filled his head. Then something snapped in him and he felt more power than ever. With a roar of fury he unleashed a wave of dark energy and blew Kain off his feet. His entire body became encased is shadows and they began to grow, until he was twice his size. Kain became very frightened and yelped as a ball of acid struck his side. His wards couldn't block it. Darius launched long tendrils of shadow that wrapped around Kains limbs and pulled him closer. Darius stared at him with bright yellow eyes. "Kain! You are a fool to fight me! In the end one of us will die and either way it will be a waste! Malefor is still a threat and we are squabbling like two hatchlings! We need everyone's help to stop him…Kain, I am sorry for the pain I caused you." Darius returned to normal and set him down. "Can you forgive me?" Kain was shaken. He was defeated and weakened to the point of near exhaustion from the shadows. He slowly nodded. Darius smiled, "Good. I do hope we can be friends in the future." He held out a paw, which Kain took, a little uncertain of what to do.

/ / / / /

Layla finished the charge. 'How touching…I hate it. Time to end all the happiness.'

She held the gem out and focused on Darius. The gem flared with purple light then exploded, sending the energy strait at the black dragon.

/ / / / /

Darius saw the flash, but it moved so fast he had no tie to react. The energy hit him and he could feel the power begin to over shadow him. He growled in pain and agony. His eyes shifted to the same dark purple and his voice warped in a horrible evil cackle. Kain jumped back. "Darius!" the others ran to Kains side with the barrier gone and watched as the energy warped Darius's form into a more "adult" version of the young dragon. A second set of horns sprouted from his skull as wicked looking blades appeared on his forearms and legs. His tail blade split into to evil looking scythes and his teeth sharpened and grew longer. Cynder gasped in recognition. He was corrupted.

Luna ran up to him, shouting. "Darius! Darius snap out of it!" He looked at her and swatted her away with his tail. Spyro lobbed a massive earth shot at his head and hit him. Darius stumbled and fell, but then righted himself and jumped into the air, flapping awkwardly and roaring.

The others gathered around Luna. She lay unmoving but convulsing in her crying. "He's gone…I can't believe it. Gone…"

There was a huge explosion as fire flew into the sky and rained down on the city. Wyverns began to fill the sky as other members of Malefors army stormed the gates and broke them free of their hinges and swarmed in. Spyro and Cynder were dumbfounded to be witnessing this all over again. Darius's corrupted form was joined by another, smaller one, and together they rained hell upon those on the ground. Spyro went into battle mode. "Solaris, Kain! Get the smaller one! Cynder and I will take care of Darius." He said this rather grudgingly, as the prospect of hurting a friend was horrible to him. Despite this they flew off, Solaris and Kain in hot pursuit of the smaller dragon while Spyro and Cynder met Darius head on. They crashed into him and held on tight, trying to pin his wings. Darius spun hard and flug them off, then unleashed a shadow torrent at them. They rolled apart and launched their own attacks, Spyro with fire and Cynder with poison. Darius dodged the poison but was caught in the inferno. He screeched in agony and swiped at Spyro. He was so fast that Spyro couldn't evade, but at the last second Darius reeled back and missed. He grabbed hid head and flew off into the forest. Spyro and Cynder watched, baffled. Then a minute later they watched him take off again and fly towards the mountains.

The battle was still raging around them as the group met up near Luna again. But they didn't care, Darius was lost and a new war had begun. Malefor had won this time and it crushed their spirits. Luna was still curled up in sorrow. The time of peace was over…

THE END