~Chapter 1~

He didn't know what was happening, it was almost like he was in a trance. Running through the forest as daylight began to fade; he was slowly losing his mind. Where was he going, why was he acting like this? Looking around he at least knew where he was, The Valley of Avalar. The valley was calm and peaceful, nothing seemed out of place. He never had the chance to take in the scenery as his head began to pound.

"What is happening to me?" the pain was agonizing, his whole body felt like it was on fire. The dragon reared back and roared, whatever bit of his mind that was left was now gone.

His expression contorted into a twisted smile, he scanned the area underneath him. Without speaking another word he leaped of the cliff. He quickly approached a lone village, before anyone could notice him; the village was rocked by an explosion. The villagers stared in horror at the black dragon standing before them. Laughing at the top of his lungs, he tore through one of the villagers. They attempted to fight back, but it was pointless he was unrelenting.

Fire and Darkness surrounded the area; any cheetah that got even a few feet away was burnt to a crisp. Throughout the fight the screams of women and children were unnoticed; the warriors were too focused on killing the threat. They had no other choice but to band together and overpower him, every cheetah rushed at him yelling as loud as they could. The dragon heard it in their cries, they were weak and hopeless. He knew their plan, gathering all of his strength, he performed a shadow fury.

When it was over he scanned the area, nothing, he had killed every last cheetah. He was about to leave when he heard a sound.

"Why?"

He turned around to see a young cheetah, covered in blood, tears running down her face. The dragon smiled, running his tail through her neck. That was it, another village in ruins, all because of him. Even as scanned the area looking at all of the corpses, not one thought of remorse ever entered his mind. Looking towards the sky, he noticed the position of the moon; it was still high in the sky. However he didn't want to take any chances he knew what would happen if he stayed here until dawn. The black dragon crept away into the shadows of the forest, blending in with the darkness.

A purple dragon stood in the plaza of a ruined village, grimacing at the burnt corpses. He looked around at the others with him; they all shared the same expression as him.

"These murders are becoming commonplace Terrador, and yet there is little we can do to stop them." The young dragon looked towards the voice; it was Cyril the Ice Guardian.

"What can we do Cyril there is no pattern to these murder, even then not all of the guardians are helping in this search." The two dragons looked at the purple dragon as a large frown appeared on his face.

"Well I can understand our lack of a fire guardian; however this doesn't excuse Volteer for slacking off." Cyril sighed.

What was Volteer doing, he should be helping them investigate the murderer. He's locked himself inside the temple and has hardly talked since the murders started. The young dragon wasn't surprised; most people have kept to themselves lately.

"Spyro." When he heard the voice he spun around to see Cyril standing impatiently tapping his paw. These murders were starting to get on Spyro's nerves; he wasn't interested in dealing with Cyril.

"Yes master, what's wrong this time?" Over the past couple months Spyro had developed an attitude and he was noticeably irritable. Cyril was concerned for the young dragon, but he knew they needed to find the killer.

"I know all of this work is taxing, but if this continues it could lead to insecurity among the people of Warfang." He knew this, he heard the exact same thing the last twenty times. Looking over Cyril's shoulder he saw Terrador heading his way along with the rest of the dragons and cheetahs helping with the search.

"I hate to say it Cyril, but the search has been inconclusive again, this killer is leaving no logical trail."

Cyril looked at Terrador for a second before looking down at the ground and sighing. "I guess we don't have a choice we have been here for days hunting shadows."

Spyro felt the effects of constantly searching for the killer; this wasn't the worst of it. There was one time they were so sure they had found something and only ended up running around in circles. For nearly a week they chased the killer around, only to find out hundreds died while they wasted time.

Terrador turned to Spyro, "Go head back to the camp and inform everyone to pack up."

"Well it's about time" Spyro sighed. He moved as fast as he could to get back to camp and see the others, while Terrador stared at him concerned.

"Terrador old friend, what could possibly be on your mind?" Cyril wasn't the best at guessing thoughts, but he knew it was related to Spyro.

He looked at him and sighed, "Barely a few months ago Spyro and Cynder defeated the Dark Master, and now we're forcing them into another incident." His voice rose a bit. "I know we wouldn't have won the war without them, but don't you think they deserve to live their own lives?"

Cyril shook his head, looking at him square in the eyes. "Yes, yes I know they deserve to enjoy the peace, but Terrador we both know we need their help with this incident." He groaned. "We both know that SOMEONE isn't doing anything to help us."

Terrador eyes began to narrow. "Cyril, I don't think Volteer would do nothing as innocents die, he has to be doing something productive right now."

"That walking dictionary has been locked in his room for the past few weeks, the only time he left it was to go to the library, and he even has his food delivered to his room!" Terrador snickered at Cyril's ranting. "What could possibly be so amusing, old friend?

Terrador looked at him smiling. "Oh it's nothing, just remembering old times."

Cyril couldn't help but smile himself. "It's been awhile since we last sat down and had a simple chat, I can only wish we resolve this incident as soon as possible."

Terrador's smile began to wane. "Indeed, but we should be careful not to push the young dragons, Spyro seems more irritable than usual."

Cyril's smile completely disappeared. "Excuse me are you telling me you haven't noticed?" Cyril spat out. "He's been like this ever since he returned to Warfang, and his attitude always seems to be directed towards me." Cyril began to growl.

Terrador was surprised, he knew Cyril could rant if he wanted to, but the way he spoke caught him off guard. Cyril's rants were usually humorous and were hardly ever serious, but he was acting like he was actually mad at Spyro. "Calm down Cyril, I can imagine he's just tired of playing hero, he's not the only one who wants to relax and enjoy the peace."

Cyril still wasn't convinced, ever since Spyro and Cynder returned; Spyro was acting hostile towards everyone, even his brother Sparx. With most people he just gave them the cold shoulder or shooting them a glare, but Cyril was a different story. He didn't know what it was that made Spyro dislike him so much, but the more those two were around each other, the more uneasy everyone around them was. At first it was just like everyone else, Spyro simply ignored him or growled at him, but the hatred between the two would only grow. It was one day, during an argument of theirs, something happened that permanently created a wall between them.

"What do you think you're doing young dragon?" Cyril questioned Spyro as walked out of the temple. Spyro groaned and ignored the Ice Guardian, instead continuing down the road into town. However, before he could get to the gates, Cyril blocked his path.

"Get out of my way." Cyril noticed that Spyro seemed more tense than usual, but he thought nothing of it.

"Spyro get back in the temple, with the way you've been acting around other dragons, we don't want to take any risks. Spyro paused, giving Cyril a heavy, piercing glare that made him shiver slightly. He shook it off and reached out to grab Spyro, but before he could even touch him he felt a strange tingling feeling. He looked at one of his legs; there was a large spike of ice through it. Before he could say anything, the pain finally registered as clenched his bleeding leg. Looking up he saw Spyro frantically running through town, towards the setting sun.

"Cyril!" He turned around to see his friend Terrador shocked at the sight. "Are you alright, what happened!?"

Cyril looked down towards the ground, taking one glance at the ice speared in his leg. "It was an accident, I was…training and the ice ricocheted and hit me in the leg."

Terrador nodded his head. "Alright let's get you back inside and heal wound."

Cyril couldn't say anything else, he was too shocked to. There was one thing that was running through his mind, it was only one word.

Why?

Ever since then, Cyril rarely said a word to Spyro unless he had to. Even if he wanted to speak to Spyro, the young dragon never looked him in eye after that day.

"Cyril?" Cyril snapped out of his thought to see Terrador still patiently standing the same spot.

"I wish to be alone for now old friend." Cyril turned away from Terrador, walking back to his tent.

Terrador could only stare as his friend slowly walked away, as if in deep thought. "Why are they acting like this, I thought after Malefor was defeated everything would return to normal." Terrador sounded broken. "Just like they were before, when we were children." Terrador was so busy talking to himself he didn't hear the sound of crunching leaves behind him.

"Master Terrador we're ready to leave." Terrador turned around to see a young fire dragon, almost Spyro's age.

"Alright Flame, give me a minute to gather my belongings." The young dragon bowed to the guardian and left for the camp.

Terrador looked towards Cyril's tent and sighed; he turned away and walked towards his own tent. "This is only the beginning isn't it?" Terrador growled. "Damn the Ancestors!"

Authors Note:

Welcome to Hell

My first fanfiction, oh god, let's see how this nightmare ends. I'll say this right now for everyones sake, don't expect quality or quantity. I'm not a very good writer and I'm also not a very fast writer. This fanfic will probably start of slow as hell for all I know, but doesn't mean I won't try. God this author's note is terrible...anyways I appreciate any criticism and hope you enjoy the story!