There is one thing that I regret more than any other. One thing that haunted me from the moment I awoke. My greatest regret.

On the day of my nineteenth birthday, I came out of the coma. The first thing I saw was a black dragoness with a gold band around her neck. It took me about ten seconds before I figured out that this dragoness was Cynder. Cynder, former Terror of the Skies and mate to the mighty purple dragon.

For the first time in a long while, I was afraid for my life. When she saw that my eyes were open, she ran out of the room. This confused me. Then Spyro walked into the room. I remember feeling angry – mistrustful.

"So you're awake?" He asked, considering me.

"Apparently. Where's my team?" That was all I wanted to know. But the answer was not what I wanted to hear.

"Dead," he replied shortly. It was a simple word, but it made my blood run cold.

My memory rushed back like a bullet.

"Gust, Flash, Specter, Rumbler; this is going to be our greatest test yet. If we pull this off, we will have enough money for whatever we need for the rest of our lives," I promised them. No more mercenary work; no more killing. All we had to do was get rid of this one purple dragon.

"Cole, do you really think we can beat him?" Specter was always the sensible one of the group. She was worried, I could tell. But we had to do this.

"I don't know, I just don't know," I sighed. I wanted to tell them that it was fine, that we could beat him with our eyes closed. But I wasn't going to lie to them.

"Specter, it will be ok," Rumbler told her. He had a not-so-secret crush on Specter.

"Yeah, Specter, the only thing to fear is you!" Flash liked to tease Specter. After all, she was a fear dragon, but she was also very cautious. Perhaps the reason she was so cautious was because she could sense everyone else's fear. That would scare me too. I had always thought her power was the most terrifying out of all of us – no pun intended.

"Back off, Flash," She snapped.

"Both of you, don't start," Gust sighed. That was Gust for you, always the fight stopper.

"Everybody, we need to start setting up the ambush," I insisted.

"He's right," Gust agreed.

"Thanks, Gust," I grinned. And with that we got to work.

I took out my knife and began making cuts on my arms to make it look like I had been attacked. Just as we had rehearsed, I went out into the middle of the path and began looking around for Spyro. We'd been watching him around here for days.

As we expected, the purple dragon appeared. When he saw me, he ran at me. He must have been worried about me, whoever I was. This was just what we wanted.

When he was within ten feet of me, I yelled "NOW!"

All hell broke loose. Gust unleashed a tornado with Spyro at the centre. Rumbler was throwing boulders at the tornado, tearing up the footpath as he did so. Flash surged a huge lightning bolt at Spyro and hit him square in the chest. Specter nailed him with a wave of fear and he collapsed. I thought we had won. Then I noticed his body glowing red.

The last thing I remember was yelling "RUN!" and the screams of my friends as they were burned alive.

I looked Spyro in the eyes, "Now what? Come to finish what I started?"

"No!" the purple dragon looked pained, "I didn't mean to kill your friends! I… lost control."

I looked away, searching for something else to speak about. I didn't want to talk about my friends. So I asked, "Was that Cynder?"

"Yes," Spyro replied, glancing at the doorway, "She wanted to kill you, you know." "That's what I thought," I muttered. I had seen it in her eyes, "I can't blame her though."

For a moment he only stared at me. Then he bowed his head and whispered, "I'm sorry."

With that, he left me alone. That night, my dreams were of my friends. I woke up in the middle of the night, my gems glowing bright enough to wake me and shroud the room in light. But it was only the gems of wind, lightning, earth and fear that were glowing. I wondered why, until my friends appeared in front of me. I didn't know if they were ghosts or…well, I didn't know what to think.

"Why?" they asked together, their voices echoing. I think my heart broke.

That is my greatest regret: that I had not died alongside those I called my friends.