Chapter 10: Dreams
Despite his utter lack of sleep, Spyro woke from his slumber early the next morning. But it wasn't because he was quite ready to wake up. Instead a constant high pitched whine buzzed around his head. Spyro shook his head and the buzzing seemed to go away, but the second after he settled back down, the buzzing came back. Knowing that he wasn't going to get back to sleep any time soon, Spyro cracked open his eyes.
The room was still dark, with the only light filtering through the curtain over the doorway, but Spyro's eyes quickly adjusted to the light. His wing was draped over Cynder, who had pushed father up against him during the night. Most of her back brushed against his stomach and he had one of his arms draped over her shoulder. Spyro tensed as he realized how close he was to Cynder, gently removing his arm and pulling back his wing so it lay flat against his back. He hadn't ever woken up this close to her before.
Spyro sighed as he rolled onto his back and off of the bed. He immediately came face to face with a small, yellow buzzing object.
"Getting a little close there I see, eh Spyro?"
Spyro rubbed his eyes to clear his vision, the glowing blob become an easily recognizable object. "Sparks!" Spyro hushed his voice as best as he could to keep from waking Cynder "what are you… how did you…"
Sparks gave a slight chuckle, "its not that hard to find you when everyone in the city is talking about what you did last night."
"Oh…" Spyro turned his head to the ground.
"Yep, wherever there is trouble, you are sure to be around somewhere."
"I wish that wasn't the case" Spyro let out a heavy sigh and took a quick glance over towards Cynder, she was still asleep.
"So how have things been between you two" Sparks motioned over towards Cynder, elbowing Spyro in the side.
"I really don't know, we haven't had much time to talk sine we fought Malefore.
"Haven't had much time, it's been two weeks!" Spyro shushed Sparks as his voice rose to a higher level.
"It's not that simple. Some things have happened since then." Spyro's talons unconsciously flexed, tearing into the ground beneath him."
"Things? What kind of things?" Sparks darted closer to Spyro, waving his hand in front of Spyro's face to get him to relax. "What did you do?"
Spyro glared at Sparks, getting him to settle down. "Sparks, she almost died… twice…"
"Oh…" Sparks quieted down and let the conversation drift off. "But she's ok now right, Spyro. I mean come on, what would our lives be without the evil she dragon chasing us around."
Spyro glared at Sparks, but a smirk slowly broke through his grim face. "No, they wouldn't be the same."
A grin slowly spread its way across Spark's face again "Well you two looked awfully comfortable there…" Sparks elbowed Spyro in the side again.
Spyro's face flushed as he stammered for an answer. "I uh… it was… uh… she was cold."
"So you thought you would warm her up with your stomach?" Spyro tried protesting again, but he knew Sparks already had his own notions of what happened. Instead he muttered under his breath. "It was her idea."
"Sure it was buddy."
Spyro quickly looked for a way to change the subject. "How did you get in here anyway Sparks?"
"Oh I just followed the guardians in."
"What? They're here already?" Spyro knew he was going to have to face the guardians eventually, but he figured he would get at least a day before they showed up.
"Yeah they're out there talking to whoever brought you in."
"Great." Spyro crept over and peered out of the small crack between the edge of the curtain and the wall. From where he was standing, he could only get a partial view of what was going on in the room beyond, but he could listen in clearly on the conversation.
"Hey buddy? What's going on out there?" Sparks pressed up close to Spyro's face trying to look out as well.
"I can't tell, there's this annoying bug in my ear that keeps distracting me." Spyro glanced back to see Sparks with a scowl on his face.
"Now come on, I'm never that mean to you." Sparks crossed his arms over his chest and hovered in place.
Spyro just rolled his eyes and looked back out into the room. "Never…"
"Hey!"
"Sparks, you came in with them, why don't you just go back out there and listen to their conversation?" Sparks could be a great companion, but when you wanted something done, he was the last person you wanted around.
"They told me to come in here and wait for you to wake up."
Spyro rolled his eyes again, "I couldn't imagine why."
"Hey if I went out there now, they would know you were awake."
Spyro glanced over his shoulder again; he did have a point. "Alright, just be quiet so I can hear what they are saying."
"… Yes I know, I've already arranged to take care of the damages." Spyro could easily identify Terador's deep voice.
"Well what about the council, they will want to know what happened." Glacier's voice came back through the room
"As far as you need to be concerned, we are the council right now."
A deep sigh resonated through the chamber. "I just don't know. None of this seems right, and this is nowhere near proper procedure."
"I understand your anxiety, but this is a special case. You must understand that."
"Yes, I assumed there was more going on when I saw Spyro here." Spyro flinched at the mention of his name, he was getting to be very popular.
"Good, is everything settled then?"
"Well… one more thing. If I need to, where can I find Spyro? Who takes care of him?"
"That would be us again. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask."
"So you're his legal guardian?"
"In a sense, Cynder's as well"
"Very well, what about Zach?"
"Yeah who's this Zach person they keep talking about." Sparks was buzzing in Spyro's ear again.
"It's complicated Sparks, but I'm sure you would love to meet him, he would remind you of Cynder."
"In the evil dragon kind of a way?" Sparks crossed his arms again.
"Shh!"
"Well I'm sure those two would make a great couple."
Spyro's attention was torn form the conversation outside as his muscles tensed at Spark's last comment. He turned around and snorted a jet of cold air at his stepbrother who put up his hand in defense.
"Hey, I didn't mean it."
"Now be quiet so I can hear their conversation."
"… Well that will cause problems, do you have any idea where he might have gone?" It was Glacier, his voice carried traces of frustration and concern."
"No. We knew very little about him ourselves."
"Not even where he came from?"
"Not even that, he showed up under mysterious circumstances and disappeared under stranger ones."
"So you don't think he's gone home then."
"No it's not likely."
"I just don't like the idea of him wandering about with and injury like he suffered."
Spyro recoiled as he realized what the dragons were talking about. Zach was gone? He must have snuck out during the night after he had talked to him, but why would he have left. Was he still trying to hide something?
Spyro let out an irritated growl as he turned away from the curtain and walked back over to the bed Cynder was lying on. He had heard enough of their conversation.
"Something bothering you Spyro?" Spyro raised his head up to see that Cynder had woken from her slumber as well and had rolled onto her stomach.
Sparks flew over and hovered around his brother's head. "Isn't there always."
"Oh well now I see what the problem is. You're being followed by an oversized lighting bug." Cynder reached up with one of her hands and playfully swatted at Sparks.
"Ahh! She's trying to kill me!" Sparks weaved around Cynder's waving paw and darted behind Spyro's head.
"Shh! You two, you'll let the guardians know were awake." Spyro ducked under Cynder's paw as she swung after Sparks.
"What, the guardians are here?" Cynder stopped messing with Sparks and settled down to face Spyro again.
"Yeah, they're outside talking to Glacier about last night…" Spyro's eyes drooped as the lack of sleep finally caught up with him.
Cynder scooted over on the bed and motion for Spyro to sit beside her. "You look tired… come on and sit down for a minute." Spyro didn't protest and lay back down on the cushions, though not as close to Cynder as last time. "Are the guardians worrying you? I'm sure they will understand."
"No it's not them, I'm actually glad to see them." Spyro set his head down on the floor and closed his eyes.
"Well then what's bothering you?" Cynder reached down with one of her claws and rubbed the back of his neck.
Spyro stretched his neck out and let the strokes of Cynder's claws sooth his tense muscles. "Zach…"
"Hey now, he did a lot for you. I wouldn't go judging him just yet."
"It's not that I want to judge him, he just dose things that I don't understand." Spyro moved his head out from under Cynder's paw and turned back to face her.
"Just because you don't understand them doesn't mean that he doesn't have a good reason. Besides, I'm sure you could talk it out with him."
"That's just the problem Cynder, he left again."
"What? Why would he just leave like that?" A look of worry crossed over Cynder's face as she looked over Spyro towards the curtain to the other room.
"That's what worries me… why would he run if he didn't have something to hide?"
"Maybe he just doesn't want to cause any more trouble, he was more than reluctant to follow me when I went after you."
"Wait, you convinced him to follow you? I thought it would have been the other way around." Spyro shot Cynder a glance to which she turned her head away.
"Yes, I knew that I would need someone to help me along the way and I couldn't ask one of the guardians so I used Zach."
"Hmm…" Spyro put his head back down on the ground and closed his eyes again. He still couldn't understand anything that Zach did.
"Don't worry about it Spyro, there's nothing you can do about it now." Cynder reached down again and put her hand on his back.
"But what if he comes back Cynder? What if he comes back and he tries to get to me again?"
"He will have a lot harder time if he does try to go after you, but I don't know, I think something happened to him to have him act the way he did."
"When I talked to him last night he did say something, though I don't know if I should believe him."
"I never really caught his explanation, but the guardians seemed to trust him enough when he explained himself."
"Before I came in here last night, I talked with Cynder for a while. When we talked, he mentioned something about a red collar, much like the one that bound us together, only different."
"Wait… did you say a red collar?" Cynder perked up, anxiety evident in her voice.
"Yeah." Spyro turned back to Cynder, he could tell something was bothering her.
"I… I saw it before, Spyro he was telling the truth." Cynder fidgeted on the bed, becoming more uncomfortable by the second.
"I believe that he was telling the truth, but the one thing I don't know is if he is completely in control of his actions."
"Spyro, that thing was created by Malefore, you cant believe that Zach would have done those things by himself."
"I don't Cynder. But what if he is still under its control, what if he lapses back, what if the collar didn't break and he's simply playing us?" Spyro shook his head as he looked at the ground.
"Spyro, I know I've told you this before, but you worry too much. We will handle this problem if it ever comes up. But I don't think it ever will. Zach has had better opportunities than now to come after us both." Cynder reached over and brushed against his side with one of her wingtips. "Now relax, you need your rest."
Spyro grinned before poking back at her. "You do too, I heard you nearly exhausted yourself flying here."
"Yeah, well I was just keeping you from doing something stupid…" Cynder's voce took on a more serous tone as she cuffed him in the back of the head.
"I know… and Cynder, I'm glad you did." Spyro looked over and smiled at Cynder.
"Oh its not just me you owe a thank you to, I might not have made it if it were not for Zach." Cynder stared hard back at Spyro, her gaze edging Spyro on.
"I'll thank him when I'm sure he isn't trying to kill me."
Cynder smacked Spyro on the back of his head again. "Spyro, trust has to start somewhere, why not have it start with you?"
"I know, but don't expect me to completely trust him just yet." Spyro let out a heavy sight and rubbed the back of his head
"There, isn't that better?" Cynder chuckled to herself as Spyro rubbed his injuries.
"Sort of…" Spyro let out a big yawn before rolling onto his back. "Maybe we should get some sleep before the guardians wake us back up, they will probably want to leave as soon as they can."
Cynder yawned as well, culling up on a different part of the bed from Spyro, "yeah, that probably a good idea. Goodnight Spyro"
"Err… good morning Cynder." Spyro curled up and tired to drift back to sleep.
"Whatever" Cynder closed her eyes and attempted to drift back to sleep as well.
"Spyro, Cynder, are you two asleep?" It was Cyril, knocking on the door of their room.
Spyro turned and whispered to Cynder, a slight smile on his face. "So much for that idea…"
"If we had been, that certainly would have woken us up." Cynder rolled back onto her stomach.
"Yes Cyril, we're awake." Spyro yelled back into the hallway, rolling off the bed and standing up.
Cyril walked into the room, looking at Cynder laying on the bed and Spyro stretching himself out on the floor. "Good to see that you are both ok, you had us all worried for a while. Terador want to see you outside when you are ready."
"Ok, well be out in a minute." Spyro watched as Cyril turned and left the room, leaving him alone with Cynder and Sparks. "So much for getting anymore sleep."
"I'm sure that we can get some more sleep when we get back to the temple." Cynder stood up from her position on the bed and walked towards the door. "Now lets go, I'm sure they're waiting for us."
Spyro quickly followed Cynder out the door. All of the guardians were present in the room as well as Glacier and Flare. Spyro and Cynder slowly walked to the center of their circle and sat down.
"Ah it's goo to see that you are both alright." Terador was addressing them both, but looked more at Spyro, cocking one of his eyebrows.
"Yeah we're alright", Spyro looked over at Cynder before turning back to Terador and nodding.
"That's good to hear, but unfortunately we don't have that must time to waste. We do have some duties that need to be taken care of back at the temple, so we can't stay for long."
Flare spoke up form behind Spyro and Cynder. "You may have to wait a while, Spyro is still not well enough to fly."
Spyro craned his neck to look back at his wings, they had unwrapped the bandages from his wings last night after his fight with Zach, but his wings were barely holding themselves together. If he tried to fly again, he could permanently damage his wings… if he hadn't already.
"Don't worry we have taken care of that. Come one Spyro, we must leave before you attract too much attention." Terador turned to leave the room.
Glacier spoke up and stopped him before he had moved too far. "Actually, if you don't mind, I would like to hear Spyro's side of the story as to what happened last night. I have heard my children's side of the story, but I would like to hear Spyro's side to be fair."
"I suppose that wouldn't take up too much time. Go ahead Spyro, it's probably a good thing that we all hear what happened from you."
Spyro turned back to Cynder who simply shrugged before nodding for him to continue. Spyro let out a heavy sigh before retelling what had happened last night. "After Chara and Makias left to go into town and Flare went upstairs I snuck out of the house and wandered into town. I wandered through town for a few minutes looking for the gate to the city, after a while I saw Zach and Makias together at the Market. When I saw Zach… I don't know… he was the whole reason that I was in this mess, I just lost it."
"And what happened after that…" Spyro was set off by how calm and collected Glacier was. He shuddered slightly before continuing.
"I don't know, the last thing I remember was seeing Zach, I can't remember anything until Cynder tackled me."
"Hmm… you remember nothing between then?" Glacier looked suspiciously at Spyro.
"No, nothing."
"Terador, can I have a moment?" Glacier and Terador went to talk over in one corner of the room, leaving the others to talk amongst themselves.
Cyril and Volteer carried on their own conversation while Cynder and Spyro sat in the center of the room. Spyro hung his head; "they don't believe me Cynder."
Cynder wrapped one of her wings around Spyro and moved her head closer to his. "Spyro, I know you, and Terador knows you. You would never lie about something like this. I'm sure there is a reason you can't remember."
"But what does it matter if Glacier doesn't believe me?"
"Hey, you don't know that yet. Now listen to what they're going to say, you might be surprised." As the two elder dragons came back from their conversation, Cynder pulled Spyro into a quick embrace before dropping her wing back to her side. Spyro couldn't help but smile at the brief contact.
"Between your story, what Terador has told me, and what my children have told me, I think I have an idea of what happened. Spyro… as strange as your story is… I don't think you purposefully went as far as you did. You may have had the intention of going after Zach, but your extreme actions seemed to be…" Glacier took a glance over at Terador who nodded "…not under your control, and seeing as no one else was seriously injured and the damages have been taken care of, I don't see a reason to follow this any more."
Spyro looked up at Glacier, grateful for the turn of events, he stammered with his words until Cynder elbowed him in the side. "Thank you."
Flare spoke up for her mate "It's the least we could do for you after all that you have done for us." Glacier nodded in agreement.
Cynder stood up and took a step forward, "don't worry about it, were just glad no one else got hurt."
"Hey, speaking of other people, where are Chara and Makias? I wanted to thank them." Spyro looked around the room but couldn't find any trace of the other dragons.
"They had to go to their classes this morning, but I will relay your thanks to them."
"Morning classes?" Spyro asked.
"Yes, they are very serious about their studies, Chara is doing especially well."
"Yes, I heard that she was one of the candidates for the next fire guardian."
Both Glacier and Flare beamed at the mention of their daughter's accomplishments. "Yes, and she is very excited to be. Though it can be hard on her sometimes."
Spyro turned talk silently to Cynder. "Next fire guardian?"
Cynder simply shrugged and turned back to the guardians.
"Well then, if there is nothing else. Spyro, Cynder, we should go" Terador and the other guardians turned and left the room, followed closely by Spyro and Cynder.
Flare and Glacier followed them out into the street for their final good-byes. Flare walked up to Spyro and took one last look over his damaged wings "Spyro, we may have taken the bandages off your wings, but I don't want you flying on them just yet."
"Don't worry about him, we'll have Volteer carry him back to the temple." Terador motioned over to Volteer behind him. Spyro groaned as Volteer walked over and picked Spyro up in one of his massive paws. This couldn't be any more undignified for him, and it was a long trip back to the temple.
"Having fun yet Spyro?" Cynder laughed slightly at Spyro's position.
"Absolutely." Spyro sighed as he tired to reposition himself in Volteer's hand.
"Alright, let's get out of here." Each of the guardians spread their wings and lifted off, hovering slightly above the ground.
Cynder spread her wings as well, trying to stretch out the stiffness from her previous flight. Cynder attempted to lift off the ground, but Cyril reached down and picked her off the ground as well. "Oh no you don't, we heard what you did and you're in no shape to be flying either."
"Hey Cynder, having fun yet?" Spyro had ended up hanging upside down from Volteer's paw and was laughing at Cynder.
"Ha ha, very funny Spyro." Cynder shot back before tuning away from him and making herself comfortable in Cyril's grip. The last thing that Cynder heard before sleep claimed her was Spyro's laughter over the strong wing beats of the guardians as they lifted off from the city and headed back towards the temple.
Zach cursed silently to himself as he struggled through the underbrush in the forest just outside the city of Warfang. He probably couldn't have picked a worse path to follow and now he was lost somewhere.
"Well I guess I brought this on myself." Zach spoke into the empty air, listening to the sounds of the forest around him. It was actually kind of peaceful, and Zach let the serenity clam his nerves.
Had he made the right decision? Running away like he did? It would cause some trouble for him in the future, but it was better for him that he had some time away from other people. He always was able to think better when he was by himself.
He was lucky the guards at the city gate hadn't questioned him too much. His excuse of wanting to get an early start on his travels had seemed to calm their suspicions about a dragon leaving the city so early, but it still wasn't a walk through the park.
Zach stopped again as his foot was caught by a vine stretching across the forest floor. Growling, he cut the vine away with his talons and unwrapped it from around his foot. He should have gotten more sleep before he left, then maybe he would be flying over this mess of a jungle instead of trudging though it. But there's nothing he could do about that now.
Zach looked around for a place could rest for a moment, but the entire forest floor was covered with different plants and shrubs. He trudged through underbrush further, looking for some place he could rest, if only for a moment. The farther he moved, the more his limbs seemed to weigh him down.
A low branch tripped up Zach again, sending him to the ground and causing him to eat a mouthful of dirt. He pushed himself off the ground and spat out the clods of dirt from his mouth. His head was spinning and his vision was beginning to blur. Zach shook his head and the feeling seemed to go away and strength seamed to return to his legs. Zach kept walking through the forest underbrush, constantly looking for somewhere he could talk and rest.
As he walked, Zach thought about the apes that had controlled him at one point. Shouldn't he be doing something to stop them? No that wasn't his problem. The guardians would probably take care of them. But what if they came after him? He didn't really know how to defend himself, and he was too worn out to do anything.
Zach stumbled again as the terrain became uneven under his feet, his vision blurred again, and his head began to throb. Zach stopped to hold his head, but a sharp pain began to shoot through his skull. Zach staggered a few more steps before collapsing on the ground. Zach struggled on the ground to maintain consciousness. Something wasn't right about this, he knew he was tired, but this wasn't natural. The world seemed to spin around Zach as he convulsed on the ground, darkness flickering across his vision. Eventually his body couldn't take it anymore, and Zach gave in, welcoming the peace of unconsciousness.
"Wake up young dragon, we are nearly home." Spyro stirred in his sleep and awoke to the rhythmic beating of Volteer's wings. Looking down he could see the familiar sight of the silver river snaking its way across the valley below. This meant that they had to be somewhere near the temple. Spyro twisted in Volteer's grip to get a better view of the surroundings. Volteer above him had his neck stretched out for the rigors of flight, staring off in the distance at their destination. Terador was flying slightly above and in front of Volteer, leading the group of dragons through the air. Off to his left, Spyro could see Cyril flying through the air alongside Volteer, carrying Cynder in his massive paw. Cynder dangled limply from his paw, obviously asleep from their long journey. Spyro smiled to him self as he looked at her, she was almost comical.
Spyro turned and yelled at Volteer though the roaring wind. "How far are we from the temple?"
Volteer yelled back without moving his head. "It's nearly right below us now."
Before Spyro had time to answer he felt his stomach force its way up his throat as Volteer took a sudden dive. Volteer dropped like a rock before pulling up sharply to land on the platform outside the temple on three legs. Volteer balanced himself before setting Spyro on his feet. Spyro coughed a few times before tuning and scowling at Volteer.
"Next time, tell me before you're going to do something like that."
Volteer grinned at scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about that, I forgot I was carrying you."
Spyro raised an eyebrow. How Volteer could forget he was carrying him five seconds after he had talked to him was unbelievable, but then again, this was Volteer he was talking about.
Spyro turned around to see Terador and Cyril land gently on the platform beside him. Cyril balanced on three feet as well and gently laid Cynder on the platform. From what Spyro could see, she was still asleep.
"Well, you two young dragons seem to still be worn out. Why don't you go get some more sleep, I'm sure your bodies could use the rest even if you don't sleep any more." Terador spoke in his usual deep voice, rattling Spyro's ears.
Spyro looked over at Cynder again, she hadn't moved since Cyril set her down, she was definitely asleep. Cyril bent down again to pick her up and carry her to her room, but Spyro stopped him. "I can get her Cyril, her room isn't far from mine."
Cyril looked to the other guardians who nodded before helping Spyro position Cynder over his back. Spyro then walked carefully down the hallway, taking great pains not to jostle Cynder as he moved.
Each of the guardians watched the pair from their own perspective as they disappeared around the first corner. Once again, Terador was the first to speak.
"I do suppose that we out to follow them."
"Yes, we don't want them getting any ideas now do we. And its best to make sure that Spyro is actually in his room this time." Volteer turned and followed Terador and Cyril who had started down the hallway.
"It's not so much Spyro running away what I'm worried about. He has more than enough reason to stay now." Terador led the trio into the large reflecting pool room.
"Then what are you worried about Terador?" Cyril looked at Terador who only rolled his eyes.
"Their safety for one. It seems that some other forces are going after them, and I want to do everything possible to keep them safe. That among… other things…" Terador coughed as he started down the hallway towards Cynder's room. "I'll take care of things with them, you two wait here for me to come back. We have some other things to discuss."
Spyro set Cynder down on her bed as gently as he could, rolling onto his side so she could slide off of his back. After Cynder was safely on her bed, Spyro stood up and turned around. From what he could tell, she had slept during their travel back to the temple and all the way back to her room. It was amazing she had woken up for the short time he had talked to her this morning. Spyro let out a heavy sigh as he looked down at Cynder. Once they had rested, he was going to tell her. It was starting to eat him alive and after recent events, time seemed more critical. If only she was awake now.
Spyro tuned and started walking back out of Cynder's room, but stopped. Did he have to sleep in a separate room from her again? There was plenty of room, and they had spent plenty of time together on their travels. Besides, Spyro had his best nights sleep in weeks last night. Sure it was a little awkward, but being in the same room as her seemed to put his mind at ease.
Spyro turned and took a step back into Cynder's room, it couldn't really hurt anything could it?
"Oh no you don't Spyro, back to your own room now." Terador had come into the room and was standing in the doorway.
Spyro simply nodded and followed Terador out of the room. That solved that problem. Terador led him back down the hallways to his own room, where he stood outside while Spyro got himself situated. As Spyro rearranged himself on his own bed, something kept nagging at the back of his mind, besides the fact that there were other dragons around his age that he didn't know existed until recently, something he heard while leaving Warfang bothered him.
"Terador, what was that I heard earlier about a new fire guardian?"
Terador let out a heavy sigh before starting. "I meant to tell you earlier, but with everything that's been going on it has been difficult. With the loss of Ignitus, there is an absence in the guardian ranks. While we can function solely as a trio, it is best to have at least four guardians. This prevents a single person or a pair from gaining too much power. If we are split on an issue, it takes debate and deliberation to come to an agreement instead of a majority rule. And while there is no dire need for a new guardian, recent events have concerned some of us, and we feel now would be the best time to choose a candidate."
"Who all is qualified to be a candidate?" Spyro looked up at Terador with curiosity in his eyes.
"While there are some older dragons that would meet the criteria, we as guardians know that our time will soon come to an end, and we will need a new generation of guardians soon. With this in mind we decided to look at the qualified ones in younger generations. These dragons are not only skilled in their art, but they also possess some accelerated form of maturity, decision making, and leadership."
"Was I a possible candidate?" Spyro was asking more out of curiosity than a desire to be guardian.
"Yes and no. While you do have the skills necessary to become a fire guardian, you also have the ability to become other guardian types as well. Then there is the fact that you are a purple dragon, this almost elevates you over the guardians themselves, but it also means that you need to heed their council well, lest you follow Malefore's path. We felt that it would have been too much of a burden after all that you have done to put you as a position of guardian. However, do no think that you are not important. You have proved yourself time and time again that you know more of how the wold works than some dragons will ever know. And there is one thing about you that I hope that you never lose. Something that makes me proud to have watch you grow."
"And what is that Terador." Spyro looked up at Terador curiosity in his eyes.
"Your heart Spyro. You will always do what is right, even if it means sacrificing yourself. That kind of sacrifice is one of the purest things to behold, don't ever let that change."
"I won't Terador."
"Good… and Spyro, you're not upset about the next fire guardian are you?"
"No, I understand it needs to be done, and I wouldn't have wanted to be the next guardian anyway. I don't think I could have ever matched up to Ignitus…"
"Don't sell yourself short Spyro, he would be very proud of you." Spyro became more solemn at the mention of Ignitus and Teardor knew it was still a sore subject for him. "Spyro, you know that Ignitus gave his life because he cared for you. It is ok that you feel like this over loosing him, but what Ignitus did was his own decision."
"But what if had stopped the destroyer earlier? What if he hadn't…" Terador flared out his wings to stop Spyro's rambling.
"Spyro, we cannot change what has happened, all that we can do is work on the present. And I know that Ignitus was proud of his decision. If there was any way that he was going to go down, it would be protecting you."
"Alright." Spyro didn't seem completely satisfied, but he had returned to a much calmer demeanor. "Thank you Terador."
"Your welcome. Now go and get some rest, you and Cynder both need to recover."
Spyro nodded his head before closing his eyes. Terador turned and walked back towards the reflecting room with the other guardians. Things still were not back to normal, but they were on their way.
Zach stood inside what appeared to be a enormous library. Different books of all shapes and sizes lined the walls of the circular room, with an oversized hourglass dominating the center of the chamber.
"Where am I?" Zach posed the question to the empty air, but was surprised when a gentle laughter echoed around the room.
"That seems to be everyone's first question." Zach turned to see a pale gray and white dragon calmly walk into the room. "Welcome to my humble home, if you could call it that."
Zach stared hard at the strange dragon walking in the room. His nerves were on edge because of finding himself in unfamiliar surroundings, but something about the dragon seemed familiar to him, something that he should remember. As Zach stared at the dragon, he sat there patiently, waiting as the smaller dragon in front of him studied him. Zach tried to sort though his mind to figure out why the dragon seemed so familiar, very few things in this world seemed familiar to him and he knew something about this dragon was important.
The flickering torchlight made it difficult to pay attention to the dragon as small shards of glass or crystal refracted the light and sent different colors dancing across the walls off the room. Zach flinched as a streak of blue crossed the other dragon's face, distracting him again. Zach refocused but the light continued to cause problems as a green streak flashed across his face.
Zach pulled his gaze away and rubbed his eyes to help focus his vision. "No not green… not blue…" he thought to himself, "it should be…" something clicked in Zach's mind and his jaw went slack as a red beam passed across the older dragon's face.
"…Red… Ignitus!"
"It's good to see that some people know who I am, but tell me young dragon, who are you?"
Zach cringed slightly, he hadn't meant to say that aloud. "I'm sorry, I'm Zach."
"Ah… Zach… it is good to finally meet you. You know, you have been causing quite a disturbance throughout the realms"
Zach raised his eyebrows, "I guess I'm that popular then."
"Yes you are, and I wanted to see for myself who we were dealing with. You are quite a unique dragon" Ignitus turned as raised his hand, a book from a nearby table then immediately came to his open palm. "Your book, unlike most dragons, tells very little about you. No name, no where you were born, and nothing about your life at all up until the last two weeks, and even then the information is scarce."
"Err… my book?" Zach arched his neck in an attempt to look at the book Ignitus was holding.
"Yes, your book…" Ignitus turned it so Zach could get a better look at it "it tells me things about a dragon's life, and things that might be in their future."
"Wow…" Zach looked at book, but all the pages looked blank to him. "Is they're anything written in it."
Ignitus sighed and closed the book, setting it on a table beside him. "That's the thing, you are a very strange dragon. Normally if I can open a book, I can read it. However there are a few special occasions where the contents of a book are lost to me. I can only guess that means that there is some special purpose for them."
Zach shot Ignitus a quizzical glance. "Special purpose you have to be kidding me."
"Perhaps, perhaps not, but for some reason, your pages tell me very little. And it also seems that you have that affect on people you came in contact with.
"Well trust me, as soon as I can get home, I'll be out of everyone's way."
Zach watched as Ignitus' mouth moved, but no words came out of his mouth. "What was that Ignitus?"
"Hmm… we seem to be running out of time, we must talk about some other things quickly."
"Why what's going on?"
"It's simply that I can't maintain a connection with someone like you for a great deal of time. You don't quite have the power, but on to business. Zach, I need you to come find me."
"Umm… ok… I found you?" Zach was beginning to question Ignitus' sanity, though maybe he should be questioning his own.
Ignitus chuckled slightly but continued his explanation. "This is simply a connection with your mind of sorts, a dream basically, I need you to physically come and find me. Besides, I need some way to determine if you are trustworthy or not, so there are some safeguards in place."
"Ok… so where are you?" Zach didn't quite understand why Ignitus made this seem all that difficult.
"It's not that simple, see you can't come find me."
Zach just looked at Ignitus.
"There are only a few people that can actually cross the barrier into this section of the realm."
"So you're saying that I have to find one of these people." Yes it was diffinately his sanity that should be in question.
"You catch on very quickly."
"Would Spyro happen to be one of these people?"
"You've seen him?" Ignitus became visibly excited at the mention of Spyro's name. "he's alive?"
"You could say that, we've been chasing each other around for a few days."
"Good then you should be able to convince him to help you. And he should be able to decide if you are trustworthy."
"About that… we aren't exactly on the best terms."
"How so?"
"To make a long story short, he thinks I tried to kill Cynder."
"And did you?" Ignitus would have chuckled at Spyro's protectiveness over Cynder had her life not been in danger.
"Sort of…"
Ignitus took a long moment to look at Zach, "sort of… you and I have a lot to talk about if we meet."
"Everyone seems to say that."
"Yes, you are indeed a strange dragon." Ignitus' voice cracked and faded away again and the whole scene seemed to dim. "I regret to say that our brief meeting must come to an end." Ignitus turned and walked towards the doorway he had entered the room from.
"Wait! Can you tell me anything about my powers, I don't understand anything about them." Zach ran after Ignitus as he started to leave the room.
"I could tell you all about your powers, but it would be more beneficial if you figure things out for yourself. However, there is one thing about your powers I will tell you and it is very important that you pay attention and take this lesson to heart." Ignitus closed his eyes and stood still for a moment, as he did the room seemed to brighten for Zach. "We do not have much time Zach"
Zach nodded his head in response.
"Zach, you know that you have a power that can heal wounds and revive the body, this works on the basic principle of other elemental power in that you draw on the elemental power that you store in your body, and turn in into a controlled form."
"Ok that makes sense."
"However, your power brings up a special case. Your power, in short, turns elemental energy into physical energy, such as to heal the body or relax the muscles, and I could go on."
"Ok."
"It also seems to work in reverse. You can take physical energy and turn it into elemental energy."
"Hmm… that's kind of neat, but why is that a bad thing?"
"Because Zach, that physical energy can only come from one source, and that is you. When you exert yourself too much or if you feel the dire need, your body will start shutting down and turning the physical energy of your body necessary to live, into elemental energy that you can expend. And if you were to exert yourself too much, Zach, You could kill yourself."
Zach didn't have a reply to what Ignitus had just told him. It would explain what happened to him when he had helped Cynder.
"Zach, as you grow stronger, your ability to sustain your powers will increase and the threat of you overexerting yourself will diminish. But you must never forget what I have just told you. It will only take one instance of you overexerting yourself and you may injure yourself to the point that you can never recover."
"That makes me feel so much better."
"Relax Zach, it would take an exertion far beyond what you normally use to push you to that point."
"That's good to hear." Zach looked up at Ignitus. Even if he hadn't learned much, he at least had a grip on something he could do. Although now he had countless other questions and journeys he would have to take to get them answered, but maybe he should just start by doing what he was told. "But why are you doing this, you have no reason to trust me. In fact after what I've told you, you should be sending me in the opposite direction."
"Young dragon, there are some things in this world that do not require an explanation. You may have done nothing to gain my trust in you, but you have done nothing to destroy it. Besides, I know I can trust Spyro and if he trusts you enough to bring you to me, then there won't be a problem."
Zach chuckled to himself. "I suppose that makes sense, but that also means it might be a while before you see me face to face."
Ignitus' mouth seemed to move, but once again Zach could hear anything coming out of his mouth.
"What was that Ignitus?"
"I'm sorry, I can't maintain a connection with you any longer. And send my regards to Spyro, I couldn't be prouder of him." Ignitus turned and walked out of the room through the same door he had entered through.
"Ignitus wait…" Zach ran after Ignitus, but stopped when he realized that he wouldn't be coming back, "how do I get out of here."
As if to answer his question, the room around him started to darken and dissolve into tiny pricks of light. The pricks of light slowly got bigger, connecting into each other before completely filling Zach field of vision. As the light started to fade, Zach found himself standing in a forest somewhere. Looking around, he saw himself surrounded by trees and underbrush, in other words, he still had no idea where he was.
Looking further into the forest, Zach was alarmed to see a dragon passed out in the underbrush. Trying to race over to the fallen dragon, Zach found his limbs were still sluggish. After what seemed like ages, Zach finally made his way over to the dragon, only to have his jaw go slack.
Lying tangled in the underbrush, was himself.
"Because this isn't weird or anything…" Zach looked down at himself… he looked as if he was in a peaceful sleep and other than the large scar across his chest looked like any other dragon.
Zach reached out with one of his talons, maybe he needed to wake himself up. As soon as Zach nudged himself with his talon, he was immediately overcome by vertigo. Zach's world completely tuned on end, spinning uncontrollably around him. And once again, Zach fell back into unconsciousness.