Chapter 1
-Trent's POV-
Well, now what? I was flying towards the direction that Libertas and Pacem told me to go when I saw a flight of dragons bellow me. The group consisted of one adult dragon and about 10 young dragons. I raised my altitude even higher to try and avoid detection. Apparently the flight was going to the same place I was because they didn't alter course. After another 10 minutes of flight I saw the ruins of a city. Warfang. The dragon flight descended towards edge of the city while I continued on towards the temple. As I passed over the city, I saw toppled buildings and debris littering the streets. Some buildings were intact, but even a young fire dragon that misplaced his fire breath could easily knock one down. I guess they weren't joking after all. I reached the temple and my heart sank. There was a gigantic diagonal slice though the building that started where the right wall met the roof and the left wall corner. One of the main doors was fallen inward and the other one was barely on its hinges. I landed at the steps to the temple and walked inside. Some of the bookshelves had fallen over and there were a few scorch marks are the remaining wall remnants. I saw places where ice shards would have smashed against the stone and stained blood in a few areas. 'At least who ever defended it didn't go down without a fight.' I thought to myself. I gave a moment of silence to all the dragons that would have probably fought during the temple's destruction and continued on. I made my way to the sleeping quarters and found my old room. I tried opening the door but found it to be locked. I searched around the door looking for the spare key I had for the lock. I found it sitting behind a brick that fell from the wall opposite to me and I unlocked the door. At least nobody else lived here after me. The room looked almost exactly how I remembered it, minus the dust of course. I walked over to my bed and went to Crystal's side. I patted my claw on her side of the bed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't keep my promise." I said softly. I was about to leave when my claw pulled off the pillow. I was about to put it back on the bed when I noticed a book where the pillow was. I slowly grabbed the book and opened it. The book had no title, but did say who it belonged to.
Please return to Crystal if found. This must be Crystal's journal. I opened it a few pages into the book and saw an entry that shook me to the core. It was dated the a few days after the fight with Tionis.
A few hours ago we held the funeral in honor of Trent. I decided not to attend because I figured it would be too hard on me. Spyro and Cynder understood and went to it without me. Raven and Nightclaw decided to stay with me. I figure they must miss him to. I thought it was bad when I saw the mountain explode the way it did, but it turns out that the days afterward are the real killers. I paused myself and sniffed a little. I continued. I guess life doesn't always have a happy ending, but it is a cruel world we live in after all. After the funeral Spyro and Cynder came back and asked if I wanted to join them for a flight. I didn't go with them. I didn't really see the point in flying for the fun of it anymore. In fact I don't really see the fun in doing anything anymore. I know that I told Trent that if anything were to happen to him that I would stay strong, but I just can't. I feel as if there is a hole in my heart that, try as I might, can't be fixed. I feel so lost without Trent that I just can't function. Tomorrow the kids get to be introduced to their new flight teacher, and as for me I plan on just sitting in bed. One day I know I will be able to move on, but I have a feeling that day is a long ways off from where I am right now. Maybe I'll try to leave the room tomorrow, but I don't think I will be able to accomplish it. A tear fell onto the page as I continued on. At the end of the day though, one fact remains. My husband is dead, and it is all my fault. I dropped the book and noticed my hands were shaking. I began to cry over what I just read, not because Crystal was in pain, but because I was the one who caused it all. I failed my wife, I failed my friends, and I even failed my own children. What kind of person have I become? I closed the journal again and put it in a bag I found. I put the pillow back on the bed and I stepped outside the room. I walked over to Spyro and Cynder's room and found that surprisingly it was unlocked. I walked inside and saw like my room, it was untouched. I started going though Spyo's cabinet and found a book like Crystal's. 'I wonder when he got this.' I thought. I opened it and found an entry a little later along the week.
Today the new flight instructor replaced Trent. It was hard to see him there instead of my friend, but I tried ignoring the feeling. I decided to watch how he taught the kids, and found out he was a very laid back teacher. He basically launched the rings in the air and told the class to go nuts. Chaos ensued. A lot of the dragons just started getting into groups and chatted the class away, while others tried flying through the course only to be shot at by some 'wise' dragons on the ground. Raven and Nightclaw were basically left to try to keep the class in order. After a few minutes they even had the teacher listening to them. Ada-go kids. I have to say I am impressed with their performance. Today David didn't show up for class. At first Cynder and I thought it was odd, but we figured he was taking one of his walks. After school, Cynder and I went to see Crystal. She hasn't left her room since 'he' died so instead of calling her out we decided to just sit down and talk to her. We talked about how our days went and one thing led to another and we found ourselves talking about Trent. We talked about our good moments with him, like that time we pranked him into flying into a wall behind a water fall. I see they never let that go. As we talked I noticed Crystal's mood start to lighten up, but then it faded into sadness. She started crying again and Cynder and I put our wings over her to try to calm her down. She calmed down after a few minutes and we hugged her. I looked out the window and noticed that the classes were about to end. Cynder and I said our goodbyes to Crystal and walked to our room. When we got to our room, we put Serenit to bed and I was just thinking about Crystal. I just don't know how she will go on without him. I almost cried again after reading that last line and put the book back. I decided not to go through anymore of their items and left the room. I closed the door like last time and decided to just leave the temple. This place held to much significance to me that I wouldn't be able to stay without being constantly reminded of my failure. As I stepped into the main room I heard voices getting closer to the door. It was the group of dragons. I hid in the shadows being cast by the door and decided to watch them. It looked similar to a field trip back from my old world. The lead dragon was the first to walk in. She appeared to be an earth dragon. "Alright class now it is time to see the dragon temple." The class got excited and ran into the room after her. As the dragons walked into the temple, I noticed something odd. At least two or three of them had trademark physical properties of a night fury. For example, I saw one fire dragon have ear-flaps instead of horns, an ice dragon had a night fury's tail fins, and an earth dragon had a night fury's legs. 'I see my bloodline has survived throughout the generations.' I thought. The earth dragon teacher spoke up again. "Legend has it that over 3,000 years ago, this one proud temple was inhabited by the very last purple dragon to exist. It is said that he was a fine warrior and would willingly throw away his life if it meant saving other from the clutches of darkness. He was not alone in his adventures however, 3 other mighty dragons stood by his side. It is said they were brothers in arms. The fought together, laughed together, and if they needed to, they would die for one another. One of these merry heroes was unlike any dragon ever seen before. He was the great ancestor to all the nighfuriouses, and would gladly lay down his life for anyone that required it." The dragons sat there mesmerized by her speech. I then noticed the fire dragon I notice earlier shoot her hand up. "Yes, Lilly?" The earth dragoness asked.
"Does this mean my great ancestor was a legendary hero?" Lilly asked.
"It does to a degree. As we all know, the legend is only a fable, but the nighfuriouses are still a thriving species. We don't know how they came to be, since we never could find the original ancestor. Since so much of the records from the time period have decayed over the years we wouldn't even know his name." The earth dragoness answered. If only she knew I was watching her class. 'Lilly' nodded her head and the earth dragon continued. "This story has been passed down to us generation after generation over the last 3,000 years. Like I said before, we have no proof that the legend was real so we assume for the moment that it was an urban myth made to inspire young dragons to do great things. This city is the only confirmed landmark that appears in the legend, but that is probably because the dragon who started the legend lived in this very city." I can't believe what I am hearing. I just can't believe the dragon species would discredit all of Spyro and Cynder's efforts over a short 3,000 years. The earth dragoness then led the kids to the hallways of the temple, my cue that I could leave. Before I did though, I saw 'Lilly' look back at the door. She saw me and her mouth hung open. I winked at her and took off into the sky before she could draw any attention to me. I left the ruins of Warfang behind and decided to go someplace I haven't been in years, my old cave. I turned in that direction and began my trek. Luckily the landmarks were aligned and I found the cave with no problem. I set up a campfire like I did during my first night in the Dragon Realms, but this time something was different. As I was looking for a meal, I saw a sleeping dragon under a tree. It was a nighfurious. His scales were a deep grey and he had a white underbelly. His ear-flaps were similar to mine and he even shared the same tail. He had white spines running down the length of his back. This dragon looked no older than 14 years of age from what I could tell. He had a few cuts on his torso so I had to make a call. I grabbed him and flew him back to the cave. I gave him some red gems I found nearby and the cuts were healed. I looked outside and noticed night was approaching. 'Maybe I'll nab a deer tonight.' I thought. I did manage to find a small deer and ate it inside of the cave. I was about to go to sleep when I heard the dragon wake up.
"Ancestor above, where am I?" He asked with a groan. He then looked to me. "I'm…I'm…" The dragon then passed out. 'Oh boy, here I go again.' I thought.