Chapter 10

The Story of White Garden

He knew he shouldn't have even bothered with that man. Wade had done nothing but bring pain into the foreign realm he invaded. Even if Archie had somehow convinced him what he was doing was wrong, it was far too late to change what he had set in motion. Words were powerless now. The Ubiquitous Collection Agency relentlessness was beginning to show itself. Archie was glad he escaped when he had the chance. He didn't know if he could stay mentally sane if he had stayed.

Everest asked him questions, obviously worried, when he returned from the UCA headquarters. However he couldn't just tell her what had occurred. Lying wasn't something he would normally do to Everest, but he felt it was the best choice to make. She wouldn't understand why he trusted Wade enough to even bother risking his own life to speak with him. Not even Archie knew. He guessed he just needed closure.

At present time the cabin was covered with snow. Another small snowstorm made its way over the area, forcing everyone to take refuge in the building. Isis rarely left the couch she claimed, mainly due to her leg still healing. Orion decided to sleep it off in the nearest corner. Cosmo on the other hand needed to stretch his legs.

Leaving the cabin, the yellow dragon sat on the small porch as snow fell from the skies. It wasn't bad for the moment. Maybe now was the best time to go for a walk before the snow began to pick up again.

Inside the cabin Everest made her way into the main room where Isis laid. Archie followed closely behind. She immediately noticed Cosmo was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Cosmo?" she asked, hoping Isis was actually awake.

"Outside," the fur dragon answered simply.

"By himself? It's snowing."

Archie grinned to himself. "You know Everest, Cosmo can take care of himself. No need to worry about him."

Everest looked toward Archie seeing a familiar expression on his face. "I'm not worried."

"I am."

That was a bit unexpected. Everest turned back toward Isis in wonder. "What makes you say that?"

Isis almost rolled her eyes. "He's going through a lot in his mind. I guess he's more thoughtful than me about our situation. The reason we're here is one. Last time we were chosen by the previous fallen six guardians. As soon as we fulfilled our roles, we were taken away without any choice to be made. All six of us disappeared whether we wanted to or not."

"I see," Archie began, stroking his chin in thought. "Cosmo grown accustomed to this world and didn't want to leave what he had behind. I guess he didn't have anything back in our world that was worth going back to."

"I'm not sure about that," Isis replied. "But what he had here was greater I'm sure."

"What did he have that was worth leaving everything behind for?"

Isis was quiet for a moment. She turned her head toward the cabins window, seeing Cosmo standing on the edge of the porch. "It's not my position to say . . . but I can tell he's growing depressed. He knows that when we fill our roles once again we'll disappear like last time. He really wants to stay here for some reason."

"Do you?"

"That's a good question Archie," Isis began. She sighed as she looked back toward Everest. "I have memories on our world. Mixed mostly but memories. Cosmo though . . . he was a soldier."

"Really?" Archie said, obviously intrigued as he sat down on the other open couch. Everest felt a bit uneasy about it.

"Not sure if I should tell it for him . . . but from the stories he told me, he wasn't too happy with his other life."

"I can imagine why. If he was a soldier he must have been through a lot. I have a great respect for them but it had to have been tough."

Everest had just about enough. While she didn't mind hearing about Cosmo's history, she knew what being a soldier meant. Archie told her a story once about what soldiers did back on his world. She thought it was just terrible.

"I'm going outside," Everest began, a brash tone to her voice.

Archie merely waved in response. She sighed in annoyance, but let it slide. Making her way out the door, she noticed Cosmo was beginning to walk out into the woods. She looked out toward him in wonder as she closed the cabin door behind her, wondering what he was doing.

"Cosmo?" Everest called out as she made her way toward him.

Cosmo turned, unsurprised to see Everest. "What is it?"

"What'cha doing?"

He shrugged. "Walking. Thinking about stuff."

"I see." While it didn't exactly answer her question, she figured it would suffice for now. "It's just . . . are you okay?"

Cosmo was a bit taken aback by that question. He turned away from Everest and looked distantly into the snowy trees before him. "What brought this up?"

"You're out here by yourself."

"So?"

"It's snowing."

"And?"

"You're not smiling."

Cosmo was quiet after that.

"Isis told me earlier she was worried about you and you had a lot of stuff on your mind." Everest looked for a response, but didn't find one. Cosmo remained quiet. "Well if you ever need to talk about it . . . I'm here. In the meantime, how about some ice skating?"

"Ice skating?" Cosmo repeated in question. He perked up a little in amusement.

"Sure! Didn't you notice the frozen pond behind the cabin? It seemed pretty solid the other day when me and Archie gave it a spin."

"Wouldn't it be cold?"

Everest shrugged. "Naw."

"Naw? I should have known better than to ask some dragon named Everest," Cosmo said playfully.

"Well I do have northern wings," Everest replied with a familiar accent. She smiled as she turned towards the pond, which could barely be seen in the distance. "Come on! No point standing around here!"

Cosmo watched as Everest hopped toward the pond excitedly. While he didn't mind the idea of ice skating something was bugging him. This dragoness was such a mystery to him. He barely knew anything about her, other than the obvious fact that she had fur on her spine. It wasn't very common but even Cosmo knew this signified a different breed of dragon, one capable of learning two elements instead of one. He wondered what she knew about the elements.

Everest looked back, motioning to follow her. Quickly making his way toward her, he saw her smile in response. Meanwhile, Archie was watching the whole thing from the window of his cabin. He quietly sighed.

"Something on your mind?" Isis began.

"Not really . . . well it's Everest."

"What about her?"

Watching Cosmo and Everest turn the corner of the cabin, he was unable to see the two of them anymore. He sat down his couch as he looked toward Isis. "She's been with me for a while. Having other dragons here, even dragons like you, are a godsend."

"What do you mean by that?" Isis began, sitting upwards.

"She's been out of touch with dragons she could actually talk and share her thoughts with. Sure she goes to the city sometimes but she never made friends or anything. You and Cosmo have already left an impression on her that I could never imitate."

"Not that."

Archie looked at her, a bit of confusion in his face. "What do you mean?"

"I meant the 'dragons like us' part. What are you racist or something?"

"That's a bit excessive don't you think?" Archie could clearly see the grin on the dragon's face however. "I see . . . trying to cheer me up are you?"

"Why not?" Isis began. "Why did I bring two pairs of pants to the golf course?"

Archie was a bit surprised by the sudden question. Although he assumed it was a joke. He decided to roll with it, becoming amused by the fur dragon's antics. "Do tell."

Isis smiled. "In case I got a hole in one."

Archie couldn't help but face-palm himself. It was amusing and couldn't help but chuckle though. "Of course."

"Hey good one."

"What?"

"Course? Like a golf . . . nevermind."

"Appreciate the effort though," Archie began.

"I'm surprised Orion didn't get a hold of that one though," Isis said, looking toward the corner was he was sleeping. Or supposed to be. The little canid seemed to be missing. "Hmm, wonder where he went off to."

"I didn't even notice he left," Archie added. "I'll go check the other room."

Meanwhile, Cosmo and Everest were taking their first steps onto the frozen pond. A bit of snow stuck to the ice here and there but it was mostly clear for the time being. It seemed it hadn't snowed quite enough for the white powder to fall through the trees enough.

While Cosmo felt a bit shaky, Everest began sliding around on her own without a care in the world. Cosmo felt a bit embarrassed as he watched her skate around, twirling and sliding backwards across the pond. He knew how to skate, but that was as a human. Having four legs was a much different experience than he was familiar with.

"You alright?" Everest asked, skating on by as she did.

Cosmo nodded. "Sure . . . I just never ice skated before."

"Oh." the snow colored dragoness began. "Well no time like the present! I'll teach you!"

Her enthusiasm was appreciated. Cosmo knew he'd need it so he wouldn't make a fool of himself. "Alright then."

"First off, lose the claws. Only use them if you're stopping or starting. Second you need to turn your legs more against the ice rather than with it. Helps you with balance. Thirdly is momentum, move your body in a way so you can keep moving. It takes a little bit of practice but it's easy. At least you don't have only two legs like Archie. Humans have a harder time ice skating than we do."

While the instructions were a bit vague in Cosmo's sense, he decided to make the best of the advice he was given. He slipped a few times but was able to get going a little bit. It did seem a bit easier to do with four legs rather than his usual two. As he continued forward, Everest skated beside him for support in case he did fall.

As Cosmo reached near the pond's edge, he began to turn with the best of his ability. It turned out to be a bit more difficult than he though. Leaning a bit too far left as he turned, he felt his feet slip out from under him. It was so quick he didn't even realized he was caught before he hit the ice below him.

"Good," Everest began. Cosmo realized he was leaning up against Everest's side, preventing him from falling. "Not bad at all."

"I almost fell," Cosmo began, feeling his face flush with near shame.

"Almost," the dragoness began. "I didn't expect you to get too far. You may be a tuteur but I know better than to leave a first timer's side."

"A tuteur?" Cosmo felt as if he heard this accent before.

"Sorry, it means guardian," Everest explained. "My heritage sometimes likes to show itself." She smiled toward Cosmo as he stood back to his own feet.

"It's familiar to me," Cosmo said, slowly turning himself to face the pond once more. "I've heard something like that before."

"Did you now?" Everest stayed by Cosmo's side as he began skating again. "Was it from a dragon much like myself?"

"I believe so," Cosmo replied, feeling himself pick up speed. "Isis had a friend who was like that. Said she came from somewhere past Highscales."

"Did she have fur much like I do?"

Cosmo nodded as he pushed himself forward. "She was pure white, except for her yellow eyes."

Everest became quiet for a moment. Snow still lightly fell through the treetops as the two of them skated down the pond. Reaching the edge on the other side, Cosmo began to turn. Everest stuck right beside him just in case. However this time he managed to turn properly, even though it was a bit slowly.

"She's a baron dragon much like me," Everest said suddenly.

"A baron dragon?"

Nodding, she continued. "We're a different breed of dragon born in the north."

"So that's why the cold doesn't bother you?"

"Are you cold?"

Cosmo shook his head. "Not cold enough to stop."

Everest smiled towards him as they continued forward. She looked back ahead of them in silent wonder for a moment. Cosmo could almost hear her thinking.

"How did you meet Archie?"

She grew a bit startled when she heard that. "Archie? Well . . . it's a long story honestly."

Cosmo looked towards her to see that smile of hers was missing. Something didn't feel right all of the sudden with her. "I have time. It's just me and you here, but you don't have to tell if you don't want."

"It's fine . . . I said the other day it would do me some good to tell someone." She took a deep breath as the two of them reach the other side of the pond once more. She skidded to a stop as well as Cosmo. He looked toward her in concern. It almost seemed she didn't want to relive whatever she was about to tell.

"Are you sure," Cosmo began.

Everest nodded. "I met Archie over two months ago. I honestly don't remember the exact time but that isn't the point. We met under . . . questionable circumstances."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said earlier, our breed of dragon lived up north in Highscales. It snowed three out of four seasons there most of the time. Our village, Blanc Jardin as we called it, was a peaceful place full of livelihood and festivity. It may not have been revolutionary like Warfang but we got by. Until one day we were visited by not so friendly visitors."

Everest looked up towards the treetops and sighed. "These visitors were humans."

"Humans?" Cosmo began.

Everest looked back toward him and nodded. "Yes . . . but these humans were different. We don't know where they came from, but they attacked without pity. We didn't know what to do. Our village wasn't prepared for such an attack."

"What happened?"

"They were ruthless. They attacked us with objects we never seen them before. Weapons that could shoot darts which would put any dragon they hit asleep. It cut a good number of us down so fast we didn't have time to react."

Cosmo immediately knew what she was referring to. These humans weren't ordinary for this world. They were from his own world. "But why would they do that?"

"They wanted us alive," Everest explained, remorse in her voice. "Alive for what they did to us next."

"Did anyone escape?"

Everest shook her head. "I don't know. We tried to fight back, but just couldn't. They were quick and before I knew it, I was shot with what Archie said was a tranquilizer. I fled into my home, but I fell shortly after that. When I woke, I was trapped in a cage with many of my villagers. We tried escaping, but the prison bars were electric and shocked us every time we got near."

Cosmo's mind went back to when he was captured. He remembered the prison bars shocking him whenever he got close to it. He only escaped because of Orion.

"One by one they came for us. They would drug us and drag a random dragon down their hall and beyond the door where we couldn't see. I hid in the corner of my own cell, scared out of my mind. For the first time in my life, I didn't think I was going to live to see the next day. Every dragon I knew was dragged off. My friends . . . my family."

Cosmo could almost hear his heart shatter.

"I was the last one left. When I heard the door open, I knew it was my time. I tried to fight back, but they drugged me with a dart much like the others. There was nothing I could do. As they dragged me down the hallway of their lair, I already accepted my fate. As I reached the end of the hallway, they opened the door to the last room I thought I would ever see. Inside more humans sat in wait in white coats, looking at me as if I were the bad guy. I looked around the best I could, but I was too weak. The only object that came in my vision was a dome like machine with wires and tubes connected to it. They wasted no time to open its door to throw me in."

This machine, it had to have been the same machine that Isis was inside when he and her were captured.

"But . . . it seemed there was one human who had a heart. Before they could close the door, I heard an alarm go off, a gun being fired, and arguing behind me. I managed to turn myself just enough to see what was going on. One man was aiming his gun toward anyone who dared to get close to him as he made his way toward me with something clutched in his hand. When he got close enough, he stabbed me with it."

"Stabbed you? What was it?"

A silent moment passed before Everest answered. "It was an adrenaline shot. In no time at all I was feeling better than normal. I turned to the man and he was readying himself to take me out of there. Seeing as the other humans were defenseless and without weapons, they let him take me away."

"So you escaped?"

"Well it wasn't easy, with the alarm going off we had a tough time getting away without trouble. But you know . . . I'm a dragon with nothing left to live for, he was a human that wasn't afraid to use a gun. We made it out without a hitch. I guess it wasn't expected at all for that to happen so they weren't prepared for it."

"Let me guess, that man was Archie?"

Everest nodded. "None other."

"What did you two do after that?"

"Well . . . he explained what happened. He said he was part of their organization, or the Ubiquitous Collection Agency for its proper name. They came here through a gate they found at the base of a volcano, or so Archie told me. They were supposed to look for resources, but got more than what they bargained for when they realized where the gate had taken them."

"A land of dragons."

"And magic," Everest added. "When they found objects of magic, they went insane. Wanting to understand magic, they took a particular stone that was said to have been made by the six original guardians themselves. It was then that they studied it and realized one thing. It's power was weak. Weaker than it should have been. I don't know how, but they got in their heads that the only way to fix this stone was to imbue it the souls of dragons."

"So that explains the raid on your village."

Everest nodded in confirmation. "Blanc Jardin was my home. All it took was a few hours for it to become a place of sadness. I don't want to go back, fearing what the humans may have done with it. For all I know, they burned it to cinders."

That all made sense. Cosmo didn't have words to describe what he was feeling right now. Sorrow? Regret for asking Everest that question? It was obvious that these humans defiled her only home, killed her family. She had no one left. She was ready for death. But Archie prevented that.

"Was Archie involved in that raid?"

Everest took a moment, but slowly nodded. "He was. He felt much regret for what he helped do. So he did the only thing he thought of. He freed me and we escaped. We've been together ever since. At first I hated him. I wanted him to die for what he did to me. But . . . I couldn't. Even when he gave me the chance to kill him, I couldn't. If he was willing to die for what he did, I couldn't bring myself to do it."

Suddenly taking off back down the pond, Everest looked back towards Cosmo with the same smile she had from earlier. "Well, no point in sitting around. How about a dance?"

"A dance?" Cosmo began, skating his way toward her. "I can barely skate, much less dance."

"Relax. I'm no expert either, I just want to have fun. I don't get to do something like this often. It would be pleasant if I could."

The yellow dragon slowly stopped in front of her. He gave it some thought, but could see her pleading blue eyes staring right back at him. He gave a smile. "Alright, but I have one last question."

"Go ahead," the snow dragoness began in anticipation. "Ask away!"

"What does Blanc Jardin mean?"

Everest kept her grin as she moved closer to Cosmo. She put her paw on his shoulder and began skating down the pond, pulling Cosmo with her.

"It means 'White Garden'."

Clever. It snowed there most of the time from what Everest told him and it was her lovely home.

"Now about that—"

But before she could even finish, the ice from beneath her suddenly broke. Cosmo watched as Everest, the happy dragoness, fell into the icy cold water below her. With a splash, Everest disappeared beneath the frozen layer of ice.

"Everest!" Cosmo called out.

He looked down the best he could into the hole in the ice, but couldn't see anything. His heart was pounding, but knew what had to be done. Everest wasn't coming up. So he had to go down.

"I hope I don't regret this," Cosmo began. He took a few a deep breaths then leaped in.

The ice water clenched to his scales as he opened his eyes the best he could. Cold was one word to describe the state he was in, but he didn't see Everest. Did she somehow hit the bottom? Diving down deeper, Cosmo forced himself to move. All the fibers in his body was telling him to get out the water, but he couldn't. Not now. Not yet.

The pond was deeper than Cosmo expected. Feeling the burn in his lungs, he exhaled a bit of air to find a bit of relief for his lungs. The rest of his body though was freezing. He didn't know if he could look for much longer without drowning or freezing, whichever came first.

Finally, there she was. Despite the darkness, Cosmo could make out a blurry figure struggling on the muddy bed of the pond. Somehow, her limbs were stuck, trapped in the mud. Wasting no time, Cosmo grabbed her by the waist. Using his wings, Cosmo flapped and pulled her up, managing to free her from death's grip. Everest and Cosmo began swimming upwards, but Everest was slow.

Pulling her upwards, Cosmo did his best to get both of them to the surface. Seeing light entering through the hole in the ice, the yellow reptile propelled both of them with his wings and back legs. His air supply was running out. Darkness began to overtake Cosmo's vision, but forced himself one last push toward his only way out.

Emerging from the water, Cosmo coughed as he mustered the small amount of strength he had left to claw the edges of the ice to pull them both up to solid land. Pulling Everest up with him, Cosmo laid her at the edge of the pond. Her eyes were closed.

"No," Cosmo began. "Not now. Not again. I'm not losing you."

Cosmo never had to perform cardiac pulmonary resuscitation before, but as a former soldier he was pretty sure he remembered how. Placing both two paws on her chest, Cosmo began performing the procedure. After ten pumps, he placed his own mouth over hers and forced air into her lungs. Pushing down on her chest again, Everest suddenly jerked upwards coughing up water out of her lungs. Cosmo was immediately at her side patting her back.

"What . . . happened?" Everest managed between coughs, she was violently shivering in place.

"Save your strength, the ice cracked and you fell through," Cosmo explained. His heart was racing as he was also shivering. "We need to get to the cabin before you freeze to death."

Everest said nothing as she slowly stood to her feet. The water clung to her scales with its frigid grip. Cosmo stood with her but heard a noise from behind. He and Everest turned back toward the point only to see something they weren't expecting. An amorphous shape of darkness, turning and twisting its shape, surfaced itself from the frozen pond's hole. Cosmo didn't know what this was, but it seemed it didn't intend on sticking around. Whatever it was, it quickly fled the scene into the woods behind it.

"What was that!" Everest exclaimed.

"There's time for that . . . later," Cosmo managed. The cold was greatly influencing his own thoughts. "We need to get . . . warmed up."

Slowly making their way back toward the cabin, Cosmo couldn't help but think of what that thing was. That morph of darkness. Whatever it was, it came out of the pond. Did that thing cause Everest to fall through the ice? It seemed pretty sturdy when he was skating on it.

Making their way up the stairs, Cosmo burst through the front door. Panting, both him and Everest collapsed as Archie and Isis quickly stood to their feet in surprise.

"What's going on!" Archie exclaimed.

"Fell through ice," Cosmo said plainly. "We're freezing."

Archie ran into the other room, grabbed a thick blanket, then threw it over the two dragons laying on the floor. The human closed the front door, then tucked the blanket in tightly for the two teeth chattering dragons on his floor. He wasn't exactly sure what Cosmo meant, but first thing he needed to do was get the two dragons warmed up.

Isis ignored her leg, which was mostly healed by now, and decided to put her fur to some use. She laid herself over the two dragons, much like she did for Cosmo when they first arrived in the dragon realms.

"Again Cosmo?" Isis began, worry in her voice but knew they would be alright.

"Don't start."

Cosmo didn't know what to think at first. His predicament, Everest, or that thing he saw in the pond. That black ball of darkness had to have been responsible for what happened. There was no way Everest could have just fallen straight through the ice. It would have cracked first. He would have noticed it. Why else would it have been there? Was something trying to kill Everest for some reason?

A few silent minutes passed as Cosmo began to feel himself warm up. He felt awkward for placing Isis in this position again, especially after that incident in the hospital, but he wasn't complaining about it. Archie never said a word, but stayed by Everest's side. After what she told Cosmo about their past together, he understood what was going on between those two. He would have to tell Isis later, assuming she was interested in her story.

Beginning to relax a bit, Cosmo's mind wandered back to that sphere of darkness. Something about it was troubling him. Looking at it then, his mind couldn't comprehend what he was looking at, but now that he thought about it something almost seemed familiar. Almost like he seen it before. But where could that even be?

"You doing alright?" Isis asked.

"We'll be fine," Cosmo answered. He looked beside him at Everest, who seemed to be doing alright. "Thanks."

Isis took that as her queue and slowly stood back to her feet. "So what happened out there again?" she began, sitting back down on the couch she claimed from before.

Everest answered, "The ice broke from under me while me and Cosmo were skating. I don't know what happened but when I hit the water I felt something forcefully pull me under to the bottom. Before I could even react, my legs were stuck in the muddy bottom. Cosmo dived down to pull me out and saved my life." She looked over toward the yellow dragon gratefully with a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good," Cosmo began reassuringly. "But after I got us both back to dry land something came out of the water behind us."

"Something?" Archie said, standing to his feet with crossed arms.

"Some kind of ball of darkness came out of the water," Cosmo answered, but sounded unsure. "I don't know what it was, but something about it brought back some weird deja-vu."

"How come?" Isis asked. "Did it remind you of something you saw?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe it was something from our first time in the dragon realms. You said it was a ball of darkness?"

Cosmo simply nodded toward her.

"Hmm . . . convexity? No can't be, never seen convexity used like that. Wait . . . could it have been the void?"

"The void?" Cosmo questioned, unsure toward the answer. "I don't know Isis. This thing moved on its own. Almost like it was alive."

"Well I don't know I'm just spouting ideas here," Isis retaliated.

Cosmo sighed. It seemed that whatever it was would remain in mystery. At least for now. There would be plenty of time in the future to find the answer to that question.

"I bet the UCA is responsible for this," Archie began. "They removed a magical stone fragment from some kind of shrine when they first arrived in the dragon realms. The UCA had no idea what that thing was actually being used for. All we know it held some kind of monster in a prison."

"Magical fragment?"

"Yes," Everest answered. "I did some research on the matter a while back when Archie first told me about it. We assume that the stone was something called a relic fragment. There was six in all, supposedly made by the original spirit guardians themselves. The reason they were created is unknown."

"But why leave the fragments in such unguarded places?" Isis asked.

"I doubt it was by choice. The fragments were supposed to be around Velxtra Forest."

Cosmo recognized the name immediately. "The enchanted forest that's a maze?"

"That one," Everest replied. "No one knows why that forest is like that. All we know is that there is no known entrance into the forest, nor an escape. We just know it was used for a prison in the past. Some dragons were able to decipher the forest's true path and walked inside it just fine. Others could wander, lost for the rest of their lives."

Archie showed a grin toward the short story. "Spooky right? No one knows how or why the forest became that way. But with the relic fragments being told to be situated around the forest, what if the fragments are connected to the forest? What if the forest being enchanted wasn't enough?"

"What do you mean?" Cosmo asked.

"What if the relics are locks and are holding something in the forest?"

It seemed plausible. If the relics were in fact locks of some kind, what if that thing that tried to kill Everest was something from the forest that escaped? Could one missing relic fragment open a crack just enough for darkness to leak into the world?

"It's only a theory though," Archie continued. "Me and Everest spent a while researching, reading books, and whatnot. We don't exactly have solid ideas to what these fragments actually do."

"It's still something to think about," Cosmo replied. Beginning to feel nice and toasty, he took it slow on standing to his feet. He felt a little shaky at first, but it passed quickly. Everest followed his example.

"You two alright?"

Both dragons nodded toward the human.

"Good."

Cosmo eyed the human for a moment, seeing his eyes looking toward Everest. He turned toward the couch Isis was on and seeing an open spot next to her. Walking over, he disregarded Orion, who seemed to be sleeping in the corner before Cosmo left.

"That fox missed out on all the fun," Cosmo said to himself, sitting down to rest his tired bones.

Meanwhile

The Elder Hall was barely alive with activity. Not much was going on inside the building, but three younger dragons were standing in front of an older one in his office, giving a report of what had happened in their human encounter in the forest.

"We found the human that was spotted near the city," Spyro began. "We tried to give chase, but he fled and got away."

"Are you sure?" Relic began, standing up behind his desk out of surprise. "You fought that human in the forest?"

"He was pretty strong," Cynder answered, she felt a bit nervous telling Relic the human escaped. "Whoever he was, he certainly knew how to fight. He wore enchanted clothing."

"His sword was enchanted too," Star added. For the moment his scales were as orange as Spyro's wings. The dragon felt a bit dispirited for letting the human get away, but promised himself he would do a better job next time he saw him.

Relic shook his head disapprovingly. Sighing, he turned toward the room's only window behind him to look outside. Snow lightly fell upon the city streets as a couple of dragons walked, enjoying the cool weather. He looked back toward the trio of dragons in front of him and sat back down on his oversized seat. "It's not your fault. You did what you could."

"But we did get some information out of him," Spyro replied.

"Did you?"

Nodding, the purple dragon continued. "He said he was search for the temporal stones or relic fragments. He's after them to obtain their powers and become stronger."

"The fool!" Relic exclaimed. "Does he realize that those stones shouldn't be touched?"

Cynder calmly replied, "I don't think he cared. But we did come up with a plan. What if we were to find a relic fragment ourselves and wait for our human friend to show up?"

Relic stroked his chin with his claw in thought for a moment. "Yes . . . that may work. We would have the element of surprise on him. Perhaps we could even capture him for further questioning."

"Do you really think that's wise?" Spyro surprisingly asked.

"What do you mean?"

"This human is strong. I don't think we should underestimate him. He already claims that he was using the power of a fragment to aid him in battle."

"I see . . . well do what you think is best Spyro. I trust your judgment."

Spyro bowed out of respect. "Thank you sir. But I have one more thing."

"One more thing?" Relic repeated. "Did the human do anything else?"

"It was something he said. He told us that he fought a fur dragon the night before and said that a couple of dragons found their way back into this realm."

"Found their way back? What do you mean by that?"

"I think he meant Cosmo," Spyro said.

"Cosmo? The same Cosmo that disappeared three months ago? But if that were true, why would he be here? And the fur dragon you mentioned?"

"Isis."

"Two of the reborn spirit guardians wandering the forest? How do you know this?"

Spyro didn't know what to say at this point. Something told him that saying it was a gut feeling wasn't going to be enough to suffice his question. "It was the way he said it. What if that human is going to cause a lot of trouble? So much so the spirit guardians brought back Cosmo and Isis. What if Yin, Myrianda, Blaze, and Clover are also here?"

"If that is the case then we are all in danger," Relic began. He sighed as he thought for a moment, then continued. "Do what you must do. I must stay behind to overlook the firefighter commission for the city."

"So Warfang is getting firefighters?" Cynder asked, genuinely curious.

"It seems so Cynder," Relic smiled. "It seems so."

Meanwhile

Everything was turning up for Kali since she found Cerulean. After taking the child into her home, her mood perked up greatly. Cerulean was in rough shape when she found her, but after a few days of a warm bed, good solid food, and loving company, the child was feeling better than ever.

But then there was her egg. Her own offspring sitting in her room on top of warm spanish moss, cuddled in the corner of her bedroom. While Kali was unsure of parenthood, the company of Cerulean made it seem better somehow.

Then someone began knocking on the door. While Kali was in her kitchen, Cerulean took the liberty of answering the door for her. On the other side waited a pure white dragoness with a saddlebag, who only smiled toward the light blue dragon upon seeing her.

"Hello Ceri," the dragoness began.

"Hi!"

"Mind if I come in?"

Stepping aside, Cerulean let the dragoness in. Kali, upon hearing a familiar voice, stepped into her living room to see her white scaled friend with that same trademark smile on her face.

"Hello Kali," the white dragoness began. "I was passing by on my way to lunch and was wondering if you wanted to come along? Maybe Ceri would like to visit the market?"

"Sure," Kali replied, chipper as ever. "Let me just grab my bag."

The white dragoness dismissed her concern. "No need, I'll take care of it."

Deciding to just go with, Kali and Cerulean accompanied the white dragoness to the market for lunch. There weren't many dragons walking the roads due to the light snowfall, but Kali didn't mind one bit. It wouldn't take that long to reach the market anyways. There were bound to be dragons there.

Her assumption was correct. When they reached the market many dragons, both big and small, were walking, talking, and buying their daily needs. The outside restaurant she normally visits seemed to be almost empty though. Probably because of the weather.

It didn't take long to order their food. Afterward, the three of them sat down under the nearest table with an awning over it, protecting them from the snow from above. The familiar sounds of commotion filled the air as Kali looked around from her spot over the market. Seemed the same as it always did. She didn't expect it to be any different.

"So how are things going between you two?" the white dragoness suddenly asked.

"Great!" Cerulean began, almost excited to answer.

"Couldn't be better," Kali added with a smile. Looking toward the dragoness she couldn't help but see a slight frown to her face. "Why do you ask?"

The white dragoness just sat for a moment. Kali studied her friend's odd expression, but was unable to decipher what was going on. Something seemed off with her somehow.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes . . . I'll be fine. It's just . . . well . . . I'm going to sound stupid or something."

"Just say it," Cerulean suggested.

"Alright. I think I saw Isis."

Cerulean had no expression. While the name Isis sounded familiar, she couldn't remember who this dragon was. Kali however was just deadpanned.

"Who is Isis," Cerulean asked.

"She's an old friend," the white dragoness replied. "A black fur dragon who made her way on my front door step."

"Isis isn't here," Kali said simply, denying what was told to her.

"I'm sorry to mention her, I truly am. But I thought I saw her in the hospital a week ago. I tried to keep it to myself, but it has been exasperating darling."

"There are other fur dragons," Kali replied.

"That's true, but this fur dragon had a friend with her."

"Don't you say it. Please don't say his name."

The white dragoness sighed. Talking about Cosmo in front of her was a very touchy subject. But she honored Kali's request. "Alright, I understand. I apologize for even bringing it up."

While Cerulean looked a little confused, she merely shrugged it off as she waited for her food to arrive. The white dragoness looked over toward the market square as Kali struggled internally with the information she was just told. She couldn't believe it. There was no way she was going to believe that there was a chance Cosmo was out there. The pain was hard enough the first time.

She exhaled as she realized she had her breath held. While she wanted Cosmo back, she was also beginning to accept he was gone. She didn't want anyone or anything to bring that hope back, only for it to shatter in front of her. Looking upwards into the sky, she couldn't help but wonder.

What if her friend was telling the truth?