Prologue:

"What... what happened?.." Malefor exclaimed loudly. His surroundings were pitch black; he couldn't even see his paw inches from his face.

"Where am I?!" He shouted. Then suddenly, a dark, menacing voice seemed to claw its way into Malefor's brain.

"Malefor..." it said, almost whispering. Malefor was shook by this; he turned his head around frantically trying to find anything or anywhere the voice could have come from, but he saw nothing but darkness.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Malefor responded intimidatingly.

"Aww, Malefor... you wound me," the voice returned. "Do you not recognize my voice?" Malefor thought for a moment, then finally realized who the voice belongs to. Someone he hasn't heard for hundreds of years.

"Arsan..." Malefor said under his breath, his eyes open wide with either astonishment, or fear. All of a sudden, Malefor's surroundings were illuminated and a velvety blue sky hung above him. He stood by a building in shambles with two dragon statues on either side of the entrance. He was back on the Floating Islands, or what looked like them. They seemed to be.. shifting. As if this wasn't exactly reality, but somewhere in between real and fake. A strong gust of wind blew against his face causing him to turn around to see a black dragon sitting there on his haunches. He had multiple silver spikes protruding out his spine down to his tailblade shaped like a scycle. He had crimson red eyes, and a crown of five silver spikes coming out of his head. He delivered a faint, sly smile.

"Ah.. so you do remember me. It's been far too long, my old apprentice." Malefor's jaw dropped and his eyes widened as his old master sat before him. He instantly lowered his body to the ground as a way to bow. "Rise." Arsan said as he slowly walked to Malefor and started circling him as Malefor sat there, still having now idea what to think of this.

"I thought... I thought you were -"

"Dead, yes I know." Arsan interrupted, laughing softly. "It's kind of hard to explain." He finished as he stopped in front of Malefor's face, looking him in the eye once again.

"Where am I?" Malefor asked, very confused.

"Also hard to explain," Arsan answered, cracking his neck loudly then turning to walk away. "Not many have failed me... and lived." He said sinisterly. Malefor took a step back slowly.

"Mast-" Malefor could not finish his sentance before Arsan whipped around and pinned his tailblade against Malefor's throat.

"Silence!" Arsan boomed. Malefor winced in response and closed his eyes. "You, Malefor... have failed me not once. Not twice. But three... THREE FUCKING TIMES!" Arsan roared, striking Malefor in the face with his claws leaving three claw marks across Malefor's left cheek; blood streaming from the cuts down his neck. Malefor hit the ground hard because of this, coughing as he lay at the dark dragon's paws. "Get... up..." Arsan ordered, but Malefor only laid there holding a paw against his cheek to stop the bleeding. Irritated by his former apprentice's weakness, Arsan stomped on Malefor's stomach hard enough to crack a few of his ribs. Malefor roared in pain, "I said... GET UP!" Arsan shouted once more. Slowly, Malefor slowly stumbled to his feet, growling silently and gnashing his teeth because of the pain.

"I'm sorry Master.. I failed you." Malefor said lowly, hanging his head in shame, fighting back the tears from his pain. "It was Cynder. He aided the purple dragon."

"Wasn't it your job to conrol her? Or should I have put that responsibility in more reliable paws?" Arsan interrogated.

"He turned her back, my lord, the purple dragon; Spyro. He managed to free her from my grasp."

"And you, my star student, couldn't best a small, whelp of a dragon?"

"He was trained by Ignitus, my lord. And the three other guardians.

"Ahh, Ignitus. I remember him. Of course he was no older than Spyro is now, no doubt, last I saw him. He was strong but... his loyalty, faithfullness... they clouded his true judgement." Arsan said sneering. "I wish I killed him when I had the chance,"

"Don't worry about that, my lord. He died within the Wall of Fire." A long hearty laugh left Arsan's throat,

"The height of irony, don't you think?" He said, continuing to laugh.

"Sir," Malefor said trying to get Arsan back on topic from his sinister laughter. "Why have you brought me here? I don't understand how this happened." Arsan took a moment to compose himself then turned to face him.

"You were meant to return back to the Dark Realms. With no one else under your control, no one could help you escape like last time."

"So why am I here now? Is this... Convexity?" Malefor asked looking around. He was answered with a chuckle from Arsan,

"Yes, it is my apprentice. And you are here because I brought you here."

"How did you get here? You never answered me before."

"When the guardians betrayed me that sparked the eternal war. You remember that, don't you?" Arsan asked him. Malefor nodded his head,

"I was still a student.. a hatchling."

"Very good! Well, to make a long story short, Zarrik, and I fought endlessly until finally he struck me down. Except when I died, I came here instead of the Dark Realms. I've been wandering this plane of Convexity for centuries, and when I heard that you were dropping in, I couldn't hesitate but to catch up."

"Zarrik... where have I heard that name before?" Malefor asked confused.

"That was the name given to The Chronicler at birth." All of a sudden, a flood of memories blew through Malefor's mind of his youth. Then suddenly, he rememebered something,

"Spyro and Cynder..." Malefor started. Arsan cocked his head confused. "They're still alive. Aren't they?" He said hissing.

"Yes, my friend. Barely. But yes." Malefor roared angrilly and swatted a dragon statue to pieces as it's remains floated out into Convexity.

"Ancestors damn them! Damn them!" He shouted. Arsan snickered silently.

"Your anger..." Malefor looked at him angrily.

"What?" Malefor asked him.

"You anger is powerful Malefor. Use it." Malefor grew irritated with his riddles.

"What the hell do you mean by that? What could possibly come that could be of any use to me right now?"

"I will ignore your egregious tone," Arsan said as he walked closer to Malefor who lowered his head apologetically. "Your anger, is what connected you to Cynder. It is what made you a part of her, allowing you to tap into her mind."

"She has pushed me out. I cannot reach her mind." Malefor announced.

"Not entirely true, my old friend. The reason Cynder has 'pushed' you out of her mind is because of the state of her mind. She is calm, content, collected... now that the war is over why wouldn't she be?"

"What do you mean, Arsan?" Malefor asked slightly annoyed.

"She has no more fear of you, Malefor. The only reason you could see her thoughts and bend her state of mind was because she was afraid of you." Arsan said with a sadistic grin, as if trying to get Malefor to finish the point.

"Without fear, we are not connected. I get that. How does this help? How am I to instill fear into somebody who believes I'm dead?"

"You have to take away the thing that took away her fear in the first place. The very thing that gave her hope."

"Spyro..." Malefor said silently. Arsan smiled and nodded his head.

"You kill Spyro, Cynder will have no reason to have faith. No reason to have hope, and fear will creep back into her mind. You will be abled ot finish what you started, and without Ignitus, no one will be able to stand in her way this time."

"But how am I to kill him from here? Am I being sent back?" Malefor asked quizzically.

"No. You had your chance; well technically you had three chances. This time I'm leaving this to the professionals." Arsan said in a sarcastic smile. Malefor winced from his pain and put a paw over his stomach.

"Who?.."

"I still have a few dragons faithful to me back in the real world. Only if they fail, I'll be holding you responsible for not finishing the job in the first place. And let me tell you now, if you die here... you don't ever come back."