Hello again. I've been gone for quite a while, and I blame school for that. I wish I could say all this time was spent working on this chapter, sadly not the case. Anyways!

First and foremost, I would like to thank my reviewers, they basically got me thinking about the direction this story was going, and to be honest, it didn't have much of any direction. I'll also admit the first chapter was rushed too much and didn't have the effort put into it as it should have. Basically, I'm contemplating redoing the first chapter. It's also caused me to redo this chapter a number of times since I could never be really satisfied with it. I also know it's opening up to be another cliché story especially with Dusk's attitude and his strength.

I'd also like to stress that this is not another 'hey look at how awesome and overpowered my OC is and here's how he's going to solve everyone's problems'. I'm trying to go for something more psychological, at least when it comes to Dusk. Oh, and no more italics.

With that being said. Thanks to those who reviewed and viewed the first chapter. I hope to improve with this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't claim ownership of the spyro universe/franchise, only the OC's I made myself.

The grove was filled with flowers blooming and the trees had fruit blooming everywhere. It was a beautiful day, but Dusk had ugly business to deal with.

As Dusk moved through the Grove his mind was wandering around random memories. The memories filling the most space was his time at Heimskr. He thought about the times he was punished for in his own opinion, silly reasons.

"I can't believe my luck in life, I get mistreated for 18 years of my life, and as soon as I escape misery, I'm attacked and nearly kidnapped." Dusk thought with a hint of melancholy.

"Yet here I am, trying to hunt down some bad guys for nothing more than a mere feeling of self-gratification. How exactly is this going to help me in life? I guess it won't, but I suppose it couldn't hurt either."

One memory showed itself in Dusk's mind, the one where he was almost killed.

"Ah yes, who can forget commander jerkface who nearly got me killed?" Dusk's thoughts began to wander back to that moment in time.

Dusk and Novis were in the mess hall with two of the overseers. They were being punished for starting a fight with another group of orphans. The fight had started because the other orphans were making fun of Novis calling him a weakling. Dusk did not take kindly to their bullying and lashed out at one of them and started a fight. The fight was stopped shortly after an overseer had entered the room and deemed Dusk responsible. For their punishment, they were tasked with cleaning the mess hall.

"Dusk and Novis if you don't stop idling, I'm going to give you a thrashing." The male overseer yelled sending echoes through the hall. Novis shivered while crying. Dusk remained unfazed at the overseers' demand, not even blinking.

"Listen here you two, either you get started cleaning, or I will make sure you will be cleaning everything by paw." The overseer snarled, his eyes filled with anger.

"This is the type of punishment you get beating up another one of your family members." The other overseer stated.

"First of all, they were bullying Novis and I merely stood up to them, and guess what, if they did it again I would beat them up, no regrets." Dusk responded plainly.

"Is that so? Very well then I'll just have to give you a worse punishment." The overseer chuckled.

He took hold of dusk and dragged him outside. Novis standing passively, too scared to act.

"You better get started if you don't want the same punishment." The remaining overseer threatened.

Novis immediately started cleaning.

Outside the snow was falling hard. The overseer was flying with dusk in paw carrying him far into the cold wilderness. He threw Dusk on the ground and landed next to him.

"To ensure you learn your lesson I'm going to give you a little handicap." The overseer chuckled as he took hold of the purple crystal situated around his neck.

The purple crystal started shining a bright light at Dusk, completely blinding his view. The light stopped shining, and Dusk felt something weird around his wings. He couldn't move them.

"Let's see if you can make it back alive without flying, and if you don't, oh well no harms been done either way." The overseer chuckled.

"See you when you get back, if you get back at all." The overseer corrected himself and flew off into the distance disappearing from Dusk's view.

"You bastard, I did nothing wrong. All I did was defend my friend and here I am, somewhere in the middle of nowhere with no clue how to get home!" Dusk yelled at the top of his lungs. He knew however, annoying as it was, it wouldn't solve his current predicament.

"I should probably get going before this storm becomes too strong." Dusk thought as he proceeded to move in the same direction the overseer flew away in. He was surrounded by nothing but a barren snowfield with poor visibility.

As Dusk started moving, the wind started blowing harder. The wind blew with a strong force, the snowflakes felt like miniature knives stabbing against his scales.

Dusk felt his stamina draining, his vision blurring, his muscles slowly giving up. The further he moved, the more his muscles resisted the next movement.

"I will not die, not like this." Dusk kept saying to himself. As much as he tried, he eventually collapsed in the wilderness, exhausted, freezing and passed out.

Dusk woke up, finding himself in a cave, feeling warm with a blanket over him, and a live fire in front of him. Sitting across of him was a wolf. The wolf had yellow eyes and white fur with a light shade of blue. The wolf was eyeing him closely.

"So, you're finally awake huh." The wolf said, revealing she had a feminine voice.

"My name's Frost, I'm an oracle, and believe me young one you are not the first one to be saved by me. By my ancestors those overseers have always been careless in how they handle raising you young ones."

Dusk slowly got up, still groggy, exhausted and panting, after his collapse in the wilderness never once dropping his gaze at the wolf who had saved his life.

"Tell me something young one, what does your future hold?"

"What kind of question Is that?" Dusk panted.

"Look into my eyes and let's see." She responded.

Dusk gazed into Frost's eyes thinking it was a weird request. They kept gazing into each other's eyes until Frost's eyes started glowing a bright green color. Dusk was caught off guard as a pulsing green wave enveloped the cave and then quickly subsided.

"My dear friend, do you never consider your actions ahead of time?" Frost enquired.

Dusk was taken aback by the sudden and direct question but shook his head.

"So, you're an arrogant one? That's okay, everyone starts somewhere." Frost told him, winning a frown in response.

"Listen, you have an interesting future ahead of you. What do you think is awaiting you?" Frost went on.

"I don't know, and I don't care. All I know is that I want freedom without authority figures, I've had enough of those." Dusk responded angrily.

"If you want my advice kid, it's probably about time you gave up that attitude. Do that, and you'll find you might succeed more often in your endeavors."

Dusk winced in response, the idea of working for someone else was ludicrous. The overseers demanded respect and would never give it. He would never trust another adult with his life.

"With that said, you're free to go. The snowstorm has subsided, and you can head back home. If you follow that direction you should be home by lunch time." Frost said as she pointed in the direction leading out of the cave.

"I don't think I have the strength to make it very far." Dusk panted.

"We can fix that." Frost said, as she walked over to a chest and pulled out a green gem.

She lifted the green gem close to his head and the gem started shining. Slowly Dusk felt his energy returning.

"I also took care of the spell that incapacitated your wings. Also, don't let your overseers know that I live out here." Frost told him as she put the green gem away.

"Now get going, and good luck out there. Remember, if you don't fix your attitude, bad things will happen to you in the future." Frost told him as a final remark.

Dusk shook his head and began walking out of the cave.

He returned home, and as Frost had predicted, just in time for lunch. Dusk made his way to the mess hall but on his way, he walked into the overseer that had left him in the wilderness. He was, to say the least, very surprised to see him.

"H-How are you still alive? We all thought you died out there!" The overseer said loudly causing a scene.

"Maybe it's time you stopped underestimating me." Dusk said coldly and moved past the overseer, having no interest in talking with him.

Dusk got his food and sat next to Novis, who was also very surprised to see him.

"Y-You're alive? I can't believe it! My only friend in the whole world and here you are, alive and well!" Novis exclaimed.

Dusk shrugged.

"I guess I'm just that good." He responded with a slight laugh. They ate their lunch and discussed what had happened. Novis had cleaned the whole mess hall, but it had taken away a night's rest. Both overseers had stayed the whole night too, criticizing his work and pointing out spots he had missed. It was an awful punishment.

"One day my friend, one day we're going to get revenge on these bastards." Dusk said to Novis, who in response gave an approving nod.

"If only he hadn't put a spell on my wings I could've made it back just fine." Dusk thought to himself.

The grove eventually changed scenery into a forest. The tall trees were brimming with green leaves. The light was shining through the leaves giving a pretty view. He had walked far and still the trail kept going and going. His thoughts were interrupted when he spotted some tents in the distance.

"It must be them!" He thought in excitement.

Dusk climbed one of the trees to get a better view of what was ahead.

Ahead of him he could see five tents, a fire pit, some weapon racks and a few cages. It seemed like one of the cages had prisoners in them. Probably meant to be ransomed he thought. In the middle Dusk spotted the group of cheetahs and moles who had failed to capture him. It looked like some sort of commotion was going on.

"You absolute idiots, how dare you not bring back someone like that? I have no words for your stupidity, ransoming a dragon like that could've set me… uhm… us up for life!" The male cheetah scolded the group.

"But sir it wasn't our fault, that dragon was really fast and strong. We couldn't have hoped to fight back. We already lost Femur to that beast." One of the moles pleaded with the cheetah.

"You dare question me?" The cheetah snarled back at him, his rage echoing through the woods. The mole responded by shaking his head furiously.

"Listen up you dirty sacks of filth, either you go back and bring that dragon back here or else. You got that?" The cheetah threatened the group.

"Yes sir!" They responded in unison and ran off, back in the direction they had come from originally.

"Why can't I have proper associates working under me?" The cheetah sighed to himself. He walked over to the cage with the prisoners in it and hit the side of it with his sword, chuckling as he did.

Dusk looked over the camp and noticed that it was weakly set up, no defences, not even a sentry outpost. These guys were probably rookies and overtaking them would be easy he thought. He got down from the tree and snuck towards the camp. His mind was going through scenarios on how to overtake the camp. He could go in swift and strong cutting down his enemies along the way. He could wait until night while they were all asleep and silently get rid of them.

In the end his arrogance took over as he charged into the camp, slashing down one mole. Blood gushing out of its neck like a waterfall, collapsing on the ground.

"We're being attacked!" One of the cheetahs yelled. Dusk observed as they scrambled to draw their weapons and piled up in a big mess.

"I was wondering whether or not you guys were rookies, but now I can tell." Dusk said plainly.

The group stared at Dusk, who gave back a menacing stare, he was not scared.

"Lower your weapons, I wish to speak with it." A voice sounded behind him. He turned around and saw it was the cheetah he had witnessed scolding the previous group. He was dressed in mithril armor wielding a bow and a scimitar and a small pouch on his right thigh, he had bright yellow fur with green eyes.

"Are you with the temple of Warfang kid?" The cheetah went on to enquire.

"I'm my own agent, and I'm free to do as I please." Dusk responded.

"That's a surprise, usually you orphans are easy prey, then again we'd have nobody we could ransom you to. Not to mention the speed and ferocity of that attack of yours. It's no wonder my associates couldn't capture you."

Dusk continued staring down the cheetah.

"Let's see how you handle yourself. Prepare yourselves lads!"

Upon giving the command the kidnappers prepared their weapons and trapped Dusk in a circle. There were seven of them, all equipped with swords and iron armor. Dusk got into a combat stance and stared down the cheetah standing in front of him, paying no attention to those on his side, or behind him.

Dusk analyzed the situation ahead of him. He knew he was surrounded, and if he made one mistake it could spell doom for him. He decided the best strategy was to wait for one of them to attack. As it turned out, the kidnappers had the same idea. Time passed by, without anyone making a move, eventually their leader became tired of their idling.

"Are you idiots ever going to attack!?" Their leader yelled out in frustration.

"But sir, if we wear him down by waiting, we can easily overpower him and take him as a prisoner." One of the moles responded cheerfully.

"You idiot! Don't reveal our plan, now the kid is going to know." One of the cheetahs scolded the mole. The leader responded by doing a facepaw.

"You're just jealous I came up with the idea and you didn't!" The mole yelled back.

"No, it was my idea." A second mole responded

"Would you guys shut up, you're ruining my plan!" Another cheetah yelled.

"Oh and what's your plan then? Let's hear it."

This bickering back and forth went on for some time, none of them realizing Dusk had lowered his guard.

"Of all the bad guys I could meet, it had to be these guys." Dusk thought to himself. His thoughts were interrupted when the cheetah in front of him began charging forward, catching him off guard. In one quick desperate move, Dusk lunged his tail blade forward hoping to damage the cheetah before he could hit him. As luck would have it, Dusk managed to pierce the cheetahs throat, causing blood to gush from his throat.

The cheetah dropped his sword, holding his paw against the wound, gasping for air, dropping to the ground. The other group stared in silence, wide eyed at what had just happened. Until someone broke the silence.

"You hurt my brother you little snitch RAAARGH!"

In blood fueled rage another cheetah came charging at Dusk from his side. This time however, Dusk was prepared and rolled to the side just before the cheetahs' blade found his flesh. In one quick move Dusk stabbed the cheetah with his claws piercing the armor and going straight for the heart. The cheetah dropped his sword and clung unto Dusk's arm.

"Not bad kiddo." The cheetah wheezed with a small laugh.

Dusk dumped the cheetah's body on the ground, causing the group of five kidnappers to flinch. Glaring menacingly at the group, Dusk noticed they were all scared and cowering.

"R-Run!" One of the moles yelled out, which caused the group to drop their weapons and run in all directions into the forest.

Dusk turned around and stared back at their leader, who was not in the slightest bit amused at what had just happened. The two stared at each other before the cheetah broke the silence.

"Hmmmm…. I wonder, could you possibly be?"

Dusk's ears perked up, eagerly awaiting what the cheetah was going to say next.

"No that's not possible, your kind would be under the highest protection, then again you appear to have all the makings of a great fighter. Perhaps what you need is a change of heart."

Dusk was confused, a change of heart. What did he mean by that?

"Why so confused, no dragon your age can pierce iron armor with such ease, let alone fight with such strength. I wonder, what gave you this thirst for blood in the first place?"

Dusk shot another confused look at the cheetah. This was how he always fought, he knew no other way.

"Why are we even having this conversation?" Dusk went on to enquire in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Because I believe in civility between strong warriors, at least until I think otherwise, and you, you have proven to be worthy enough." The cheetah looked lost in thought. It took some time before he broke the silence once again.

"Well whatever or whoever you are, you've caught my attention. I must now bid you farewell. Perhaps we'll meet each other again, hopefully with the end result that one of us will be bleeding to death." As the cheetah finished his sentence he produced a small sphere from his pouch and threw it on the ground. The sphere on impact released a large smoke cloud, obstructing Dusk's view.

As the smoke subsided Dusk was surprised to see the cheetah had disappeared.

"That was really weird." Dusk thought to himself. His thoughts were interrupted when his attention was drawn to the cage where some moles were being kept. He approached the cage and noticed there were three moles being kept in it.

"Can you please get us out?" One of the moles pleaded with Dusk.

Dusk nodded in response and looked at the lock keeping the cage shut. The lock was weak and rusty, opening it by paw should be easy. It took some time, but Dusk eventually managed to force the lock open. Removing the lock and opening the cage the moles jumped out of the cage and rejoiced over their newly gained freedom. The three moles were all adults, with one of them being an elder.

"Thank you for freeing us… But tell me something, was that cheetah telling the truth, are you an orphan?" The eldest mole asked. Dusk nodded in response.

"That's a real shame kid, why don't you come with us to Warfang? I know the fire guardian personally and I'm sure they will have a place for someone with your strength. Plus, we can help you find out if your egg was lost and if you truly have parents."

Dusk shook his head.

"I had enough of authority figures back where I lived before I came here." Dusk responded plainly, showing no signs of emotion or care for the good deed he had just committed.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, but I can assure you, whatever you experienced at that place you lived at, will not happen in Warfang." The eldest mole reassured him.

"Look, I understand why you're doing this, but I don't have time for this. Are you good to make it back safely?" Dusk responded slightly annoyed.

"Yes, but." With that said, Dusk ran away, disappearing into the forest.

The eldest mole sighed.

"Looks like we should get back and report this to Pyris." The eldest mole ordered his friends.

Well that's pretty much all I had for you in this chapter. I hope this was at least more readable than the last chapter, if not I need to know now, either through a review or a DM. Personally, I'd rather want criticism than praise because I feel like I learn nothing from praise.

That being said I'm not trying to discourage you from saying something positive about this story, by all means say it, but also give me critique if you see something I should improve on.

I don't know when I'll have time to write the next chapter, but I'll do my best to do be more effective, no promises though. See ya next time, and peace.

-Keijt Kotchenski