I Ran Away

by Jeff Gordon

Years after the defeat of Malefor, Spyro's life has gone from a once great vanquisher of evil, to a mundane peacekeeper for the nation. Desiring for a life as a normal being, an accidental revelation has him walk out on everyone he used to love.

1. Prologue (1)

I ran away.

I ran away, because of the wretched life I had been cursed with, to be an epic hero. The one where everyone looks at you as their only solution, the one where you must solve everyone's problems, the one where your influence was seen as a seal of approval. A larger than life character that killed any chance of settling into normal life. It was exciting at times, to have the fame surrounding your name. However, speak to anyone who's famous, and it can be just as much of a bad thing as a good thing. I had been forced to switch my life of adventure and discovery, for one of repetition. There was no world left to save, so what was the purple dragon, destined to save the world, supposed to do when that task was complete? The uncertainty in my purpose, I hated it. I wanted to be free, to do something with my life again. I could only take the mental turmoil for so long.

I ran away.

Gone were the days when I could go outside without a care in the world. Gone were the days where I could go fight the next evil villain, fulfilling a destiny that didn't mean anything to me, just to the people who played the damsel in distress. An adventure, a story, where you know and yet don't know how it'll end. The Dark Master, as if he was the realization of a children's storybook, who wanted to destroy the world. For what? Power? Riches? Freedom? Or simply to destroy me? Of course, at the time, I thought I was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I nearly died, and yet survived. A sidekick of mine I was foolish enough to trust after nearly killing me herself, redeeming herself in those final moments. The Dark Master vanished, we survived, somehow. For what? For me to save the pretty girl, the world, everyone I loved, receiving a million, a hundred-thousand thanks, and living happily ever after? I refused. I didn't want to follow the "Happily Ever After" story. I wanted to control my fate now. I need out, and now.

I ran away.

What was wrong? What was wrong with having everyone look at you as the savior of the world? What was wrong with having the love of your life live with you forever and ever? What was wrong with fulfilling your destiny. Living in a new age of peace? Reuniting friends, family, and memorializing the ones who had fallen? What was wrong when everything was right? So who cared if it was like I was living in a cliche adventure novel?

I did, and I hated it. So I did something about it.

I ran away.