Chapter 3 – A Gift

"Look at this." A forest green dragon said as he looked over the new world. He had a tan-colored underbelly, which had several scars from previous wars, and wing-membrane, which were also battle worn. His horns were also tan-colored and grew straight from his head but curled around at the tip. "That young dragon is truly amazing."

"Yes, indeed." An ice blue dragon with a deep purple chest plate, accompanied him. He was skinny and his large purple wings sparkled like crystals. All along his back and even on his sides were sharp points that looked like icicles; his tail ended with a bunch of the icicles appendages. He had icy-blue eyes and two horns shooting out straight behind his skull, in between the horns were purple fins that lined down his neck, but didn't become smaller. "I have to agree with you Terrador, Spyro seemed to have done the impossible yet again. Of course, nothing less from a dragon with the wondrous powers of my ancient ancestry." He spoke proudly. A yellow dragon that also looked over the city scoffed.

"Cyril, the odds of you and Spyro being related in the utmost way is absolutely absurd." This dragon was yellow dragon with a purple-grey chest. He had immense yellow wings with purple edges folded on his back. The end of his tail that swooshed behind him resembled a tuning fork, the two-bladed edges tapping the floor and sending up sparks. On both of his shoulders were three purplish fins, two similar ones on both his cheeks, and a line of the fins traveled down his spine to his tail. Two horns curled back over his head, their tips twirling upwards, and a pair of energetic yellow eyes to go with it. "I say, your prestiousness, pomposity, arrogance, and the amount of time you spend bragging about your distant, ancestral, royal blood is obnoxious and odious to the extreme."

"Stay that electric tongue of yours Volteer. It is amazing how you don't suck all the air out of time, you electric chatterbox." Cyril retorted. They continued to argue and hurl insults at each other until the green dragon's deep voice was heard.

"Would you two please? Ancestors, there has been a single subject that you two can't argue about." Terrador boomed. Volteer and Cyril quieted down and they all turned back to the landscape. As they were, Cyril kept giving Terrador questioning glances. He had been unusually on edge ever since the world was put back together. He remembered when the first few days of the new age that Terrador would sometimes be looking in the Pool of Visions, as if searching desperately for something, but Cyril brushed it aside… for now. Just then a small ball of light flew up to the three dragons.

"Hey, old guys. Spyro come back yet." It said. The light dimmed a little to reveal a small dragonfly.

"No, Sparx." Terrador replied. Sparx hung his head in despair and nodded. He then flew off, which was odd, usually he would make a witty comment about them but the fact of not knowing where his 'brother' was must be very depressing.
When the young dragonfly left Terrador turned back to the scene with a heavy sigh. He had a secret, a secret no one else knew but him and it was about a certain dragoness. 'Cynder,' he thought.

"Young dragon…awaken."

Spyro woke up on a stone platform in a seemingly endless void. He slowly rose to his feet and saw he was in; Dreamscape, where the Chronicler usually communicates with him. He then looked at his surroundings, this place never ceased to amaze him. Every single platform was suspended in mid-air and seemed to have a bright blue aura around them. There were small bright lights above him that seemed to be stars and he could just make out a small constellation that seemed to be a dragon. It was him. "Enjoying the view." A voice said, a voice that made Spyro freeze and tense up. He was expecting the Chronicler to be talking to him, but it was something that he thought he would never hear this voice again. "Welcome child." Spyro slowly turned around to meet a dragon with purple scales. He had three dark-purple horns on top of his head and an orange under-belly. Spyro looked up to meet the gaze of Malefor himself.

"M-Ma-Malefor?" he stuttered. Spyro looked at his recent foe dead in the eyes of the evil dragon… but there was something in his eyes that Spyro had never seen before: they had a soft look to them but it didn't calm him down.

"Yes, child. It is I, Malefor, The former Dark Master. At least until you freed me."

"Freed you?" Spyro asked, relaxing a bit. "I thought I killed you." Malefor smiled warmly at the young dragon, which nearly blew Spyro away. His old foe is actually smiling … at him.

"Well, in a way you did kill me?" Spyro looked at him, more confused than ever. "You killed my dark side and freed the light that was left in me. I must thank you Spyro; you have given me another chance to live." Spyro didn't know what to think anymore, Should he trust Malefor's story? After all he did try to kill him on numerous occasions. "Any ways enough of the little chit-chat, I am here to give you something that only a purple dragon should have." A leg gauntlet appeared on Spyro's right foreleg.

"What's this?" He asked examining the piece of metal. It wasn't very large; in fact it was just big enough to fit on one of his forelegs. It was the same purple as his scales with a darker shade of purple on the wave-like patterns that lead to an indention in the center.

"This…, Spyro, is Alanor's Gauntlet. A very special and powerful item. Consider it a gift for saving the world." Spyro looked at him perplexed.

"What do you mean?" He asked the larger purple dragon. "Why are you giving this to me?" Malefor ignored the question and went on explaining the gauntlet's properties.

"This gauntlet, alone, it will only increase some of your abilities, but if merged with the right item, it can be used for the greater good or complete destruction for the realms." Spyro's eyes widened, but then narrowed at Malefor.

"So, it's like you." He stated harshly, dropping into an aggressive stance. Malefor chuckled.

"Settle down child. My Gosh, you have the same fiery spirit as your mother." He replied waving a paw to calm him down." When he said this Spyro's eyes became wide like saucers and he abandoned his aggressive stance in an instant.

"M-my mother?" he asked, completely shocked. Malefor nodded. "What do you know about my mother? Where is she? TELL ME!" He roared and Malefor frowned.

"I'm sorry child, I cannot reveal her to you. You will meet her when the time comes." He said with a tinge of sadness, which sparked Spyro's curiosity but kept to himself. Spyro sighed in dismay but looked up when the larger purple dragon spoke again. "And Spyro…" he started getting the young purple dragon's attention. "I will be dropping in every now and then to teach how to further control your elemental abilities." His face went serious. "I must warn you it will not be easy. I am a very stern teacher and you must learn how to control all of your powers to the fullest extent." Spyro inwardly groaned. Having to actually train during his vacation… whats up with that. That's killing the whole point of a vacation. "However…," he continued, bringing Spyro from his thoughts. "Seeing how you are still recovering from your most previous fight, from moi." He indicated toward himself. "I will give you until your 'vacation' is over. And now I shall leave you." He said starting to walk away.

"Wait! How do you know so much about my family?" Malefor craned his neck to look at Spyro.

"You will find out soon enough." Was all he said before he disappeared in the shadows. Then the surrounding flashed a bright white and he felt himself waking up.

Spyro awoke with a jolt, in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. He looked around the cave he was in and sighed as he saw Cynder resting peacefully next to him. He then looked at his right foreleg, and sure enough the gauntlet was still there but then it disappeared in a flash of light. Spyro began to panic slightly but settled down when appeared again.

' I guess I can make it visible if I want to.'. The artifact once again disappeared from his foreleg and he looked to the entrance of the cave. It was still dark out so he got comfortable and fell asleep, thinking about what Malefor said to him. For some odd reason, he was actually excited to actually train with him. Why, he did not know but, he will soon find out what he said in his dream and before their final battle.

'We share other qualities besides our color.'