Chapter 11: Arrival

Durin had issues. He was aware of that. Between PTSD, paranoia, being antisocial, distancing himself from society, and not taking proper care of himself, he was well aware that he had some "issues". Not that he could really bring himself to care enough to do anything. I'm still breathing and am living a life as a successful author - isn't that enough? He thought to himself as he examined the cut on his muzzle once again. The cut wasn't as deep as it looked, thankfully. It would leave a scar, but that didn't really matter to him.

Nothing really did.

It matters to Nova, the thought floated across his train of thought as he poked and prodded the loose scales, seeing which ones that needed to be pulled off and which ones wouldn't. He didn't flinch from the pain, it was just another thing he couldn't bring himself to care about. In fact, he relished it. Not the pain, no, but the distraction it brought him. The ability to focus on something other than his new "job" and the...responsibilities that came with it.

He steered his thoughts away from that line of thought, he didn't like thinking about the future - it didn't matter to much to him, and towards Nova. His small smile became slightly larger as he recalled her reaction to him appearing out of nowhere. She asked how he did it and he gave his standard response (albeit more smug than usual) "magic." And while most people called bullshit, he was being honest. Simple teleportation magic that required him to know the precise time and location it would be when he appeared or he could be lost in the time stream and appear anywhere from two seconds later to the beginning of time.

Maybe it isn't that simple, He mused. Whelp, live and learn. He tuned out the rumbling of the engine that reminded him of the all too familiar charge of mounted animals. Nova had longed sense disappeared, intent on exploring every inch of the airship. Which was fine by him, as long as she didn't pull any stunts again. Yes, it had been a few days but still. He couldn't help but worry.

He started towards the dining hall at leisure pace, Besides, it's not like anything bad can happen. As he turned the corner he saw a glowing golden and yellow dragon sitting next to an armored dwarf out of the corner of his eye. He whipped around to see them, hope blossomed in his chest… but nobody was there.

The ghosts had disappeared by the time his vision was fully set on their spot. He heard a faint laugh on the edge of his hearing. No, nonononononononononononononononono. Leave me alone! He backed away in fear as the laughter turned into a primal cry of pain and agony, mixed with a sinister, joyful laugh.

He ran back into his room and slammed the wooden door against its frame, hard. The screaming and the laugher only grew louder, drawing closer and closer, coming through the walls and the door; he fell against the door, the sound of his back hitting the door echoed through the room. Bouncing off of the walls, only adding to the growing cacophony of laughter and screams. He wrapped his wings around his body in an attempt to block out the raising noise. He covered his head with his talons but the noise continued to grow.

And it grew.

And it grew.

Help me…. Anyone…. Please…. Help me.

...Durin…

The voice was quiet and sounded far away, but he was able to hear it over all the noise.

Get up.

The voice grew closer.

You can beat this.

Get up.

It was closer now. Close enough that it sounded like the speaker was in front of them. He slowly lifted his head up, just enough that he could see over the tips of his wings. His blood froze in shock and his cold beating heart filled with hope. He couldn't believe it, somebody came! Somebody came! His heart beat faster and faster, hope flooded through him. He peeked his eyes over his wings, desperately trying to ignore how the noise increased as he did so.

Time froze. All the emotions flooding through him stopped. He opened his mouth to speak but the words refused to come, even as a jumble of words or noises.

"Get up off your ass…" The pulse dragon's ghost spoke gently, "...and win."

Somebody came.

Her transparent silhouette was outlined and amplified by the light pouring into the room through the windows. The light made her wing symbols glow even more and the light blurred her figure's edges making the edges around her head glow like a halo. The pulse dragon smiled gently, and all the noise stopped.

And then, just as quickly as she appeared, she was gone.

After of few minutes of blissful silence Durin rose to his feet. They would be arriving at the Academy in a few hours and he needed to prepare some things…. And find Nova, now that he thought about it. Yes, he definitely needed to find Nova.


Flame took a deep breath. The new teacher would be arriving in half a hour and everything that could have gone wrong… well not everything went wrong, a lot had though. Cynder went missing, most of the Guardians couldn't be there (they were off doing Spyro knows what), the Chronicler was smiling smugly to himself as he patiently awaited for the teacher's arrival, and Eon was…. Somewhere.

Flame looked around dock and, to his surprise, noticed that Malefor wasn't there. For a second he briefly wondered if nobody had told him before quickly wiping the thought from his mind. Malefor probably didn't care or had trapped himself somewhere with a lot forbidden magic books….again. Flame sighed, Malefor had a morbid interest in forbidden magic; specifically dark magic. Not the type you get a slap on the wrist for, but the type you can get killed or persecuted for!

It took lots of begging from Malefor and Cynder for him to promise to keep it a secret. Cynder had also pulled a lot of strings to make sure the books were untraceable, which meant he was the only loose end. And it was getting out of hand, sort of. Unless he had something better to Malefor was either "training" (aka crushing the hopes and dreams of aspiring Skylanders who thought they could fight him) or his nose was buried in those books…. or he was keeping an eye on Cynder or saving the world-maybe he didn't read them that much but he still read them.

Which was more than enough for Flame's instincts to urge him to tell someone else. Flame sent one last sweeping gaze over the dock and noticed that Eon had arrived and was talking to the Chronicler, they were speaking in hushed tones; the parts he had heard he couldn't understand, but the tone made obvious that it was something very hush-hush.

Flame spotted a group of tourists staring at them with awed expressions. He became very self aware of the living legends just sitting around on a dock. He gave them a large smile and a wave, one of the children flipped out and started talking to their mother with a face splitting grin. He chuckled to himself as he turned away and towards Jet-Vac and Stealth Elf.

Jet-Vac was trying to wake up a sleeping Stealth Elf when he spotted the approaching dragon. "Ah, morning, Flame. It seems Elf here was up all night reading that book of hers. Do we have any idea where Cynder might be? Or if we have any clues to her whereabouts?" The Skylander started using Elf as an armrest, sandwiching her head between the top of a post and his elbow.

Flame raised an eye ridge at the weird behavior only to drop it when Jet-Vac waved it off. "Do you have any idea where Malefor is?" Flame asked, "I kind of need him to be here to welcome the new teacher."

Jet-Vac shrugged, "No, I would check the library. Who's the teacher?"

Flame nodded to show his appreciation, "A dragon named Durin. Apparently he's the new cartography teacher. Thanks for the tip." He walked towards the library with a hint of indignity and irrational. Malefor was definitely going to get an earful.


Malefor's nose scrunched up in his sleep as a smell filled his dream.

What is that? It smells a lot like...like

"FIRE!" He shouted as he sprung up and away his chair, now fully awake. "Wait…" there was no fire. But that didn't make sense! What smelled like fire?

"Heya kid." Malefor spun to face the voice. He gasped and stumbled back, his scales had become considerably paler than before. "Don't you know how to greet someone properly? Reach out and shake my hand." The black dragon held out one of its paws expectantly.

Malefor took one last look at the dragon, with its jet black scales and red eyes. Malefor hesitantly reached out and grabbed its-

Frrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.

The sound of air leaving the whoopie cushion was the only thing Malefor's brain could render before the black dragon broke down into laughter. "Oh my ancestors! The ole whoopie cushion in the hand trick! That skeleton was right - it never gets old!" The black dragon laughed. He wrapped a wing around Malefor, which brought him back to the present.

He jumped back into a battle position, "Who are you? How did you get here?" He growled, but was surprised when the dragon rolled his eyes like this some kind of joke to him. Irritation and indignity flared through him as the thought of anyone not taking him seriously. "I'm Malefor the greatest-"

"Yes, yes. Your name is Malefor blah blah blah bunch of fancy titles. My name's Oryps." He looked over the books at Malefor's desk. Suddenly feeling very embarrassed he threw himself in front of the books. "Hey! I meant no harm. Just wanted to know you were reading." Oryps leaned his head around Malefor's poor attempt to stop him. "Myths, huh. Didn't peg you for that type of guy. What did that for? And that's a documentary styled book, that's not what I would call 'light reading' but whatever floats your boat. Unless…" Malefor shifted, he was getting uncomfortably close to his purpose.

"...Unless, your trying to find out information about the Wraiths! Well, you've stumbled into the right dragon!" He boasted dramatically. "Heh. On a serious note, what to you want to know?"

"Wait, really?" Malefor exclaimed, his hopes soared, his previous irritation gone. "Well-uhhhhh- how do you kill one?" He was taken back by Oryps, sure, but that didn't mean he wouldn't use this god-send of a dragon's knowledge.

Opryps paused for a moment, pondering the question. "You need an enchanted blade. Now, you can 'kill' them normally but the don't stay dead. You need an enchanted blade to permanently kill them, specifically one capable of destroying(or banishing) souls." His tone had change, from a carefree and laid back one to a more wizened and experienced one. The dragon dragged one of his claws along the desk, creating a scraping sound that filled their corner of the library.

"Only three blades are capable of killing Wraiths." He said, "One, the blade of the king of the Dwarves, Dragon's Fang, a blade wielded by Spyro himself. Two, the blade wielded by the Leader of the Prime Guard, Vampris, Hope's Stand In. And finally, three, Seraphim's Guide." He interrupted his list with a sigh. He paused for a few moments to let Malefor sink in the information. The way he had mention the final one made Malefor wonder i he had any experience with it. It sounded like he did but it sounded bad and good, it reminded him of the Chronicler; the way that the dragon acted young but hid a troubled and experienced past behind the façade.

"Wait! Dragon's Fang? We have a piece of it. Maybe we could-" Malefor started but stopped when Oryps held his paw in a 'stop' motion. Oryps had turned back to him and was considering him with a thoughtful expression.

Orpys shook his head, "Were it so easy I would have done it myself. Dragon's Fang has, obviously, been shattered and while the spell remains of the blade it won't work unless we have all the pieces. Pieces, it seems, that have been lost to history, and before you ask you cannot reverse forge a dagger or some other type of weapon with it for two main reasons. One, it requires a special forge and fire, both of which have been lost for centuries at this point. Two, only the one who forged it and the one who it was intended for can wield it to its fullest potential." He sighed, "As for the others? I do not know where Seraphim's Guide lays or its user as it has the same enchantment as Dragon's Fang. No, our only option is Hope's Stand In." He turned in the general direction of the door. "But that is a subject for later. Now come on, we have to welcome the new teacher. Don't wanna get on their bad side… or do we?" He muttered the last part to himself.

"Wait! Before we go, do you know where Hope's Stand In even is?" Malefor asked as he jogged to catch up to his new friend as they exited the library.

"I recently got a tip that could point us in the right direction."


Nova had been watching the Academy grow closer and closer as soon as it came into view. The rest of the passengers were doing last minute packing as the ship drew closer to the dock. Nova shifted her shoulders slightly, one of her mother's swords, Hope's Stand In, rested on her back and she was still getting use to it and the worn leather sheath sitting on her back.

Durin had given it to her just before the Academy had appeared over the horizon. Saying that she was going to start training soon and might as well get used to it. She had asked why as she still had exactly eleven months and four days before she became a Skylander-in-training. He had replied saying that didn't mean she shouldn't start training now.

He had kept the other one, a normal "pulse sword"; a sword the Pulse Dragons could use to channel their Pulses into the blade to either have a lightning sword or…. Well actually she didn't know what else it did. Durin had also kept the Arkeanstone. She didn't know why but she had an odd feeling about it, it looked unnatural, it felt like soft glass when touched, and Durin refused to unwrap it for more than a few seconds unattended.

She asked and he went full lecture mode on her. Something about rare stones and thieves.

Pop!

Durin appeared right next to her. Scaring her out of her thoughts and generally freaking her out. "HOLY SHII...ot?" She corrected herself, Durin shrugged. He didn't care. Her nerves started to calm when she remembered what he just did. "Wait, no, I'm mad at you! You can't just keep appearing wherever you want! It's rude! Also why was there a pop this time?" She settled for glaring after saying her bit.

"There was a pop because I wanted one to be. Also, you look adorable when your glaring." He said, "Or, at the very least, are trying to." He chuckled at her as she just put more power behind the glare in response. "Cheer up, little Supernova, we're here."

Nova turned and was surprised to see that they were actually there. Before Durin could stop her she dashed down the ramp and- "Oof!" she collided with another dragon. Because of course she did.

"Hmm. Dragons colliding with me is becoming a usual event now I see." She hurriedly backed up, bowed her head, and offered as many apologizes as she could as fast as she could. "Now, now, It's fine, it happens more than you would think." She lifted her head at the odd comment and gasped.

The Chronicler.

I ran head first into the Chronicler!

Of course I did.

She felt heat rise in his cheeks as she backed up a few more steps in respect, "I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were there and I-"

The Chronicler laughed, "I thought I told you already, that's not necessarily. What's your name young one?" He asked, his voice was soothing and calming to Nova's jumping nerves.

"Oh! My name? It's Nova." She was suddenly aware that Master Eon's eyes, Stealth Elf, Jet-Vac, a fire dragon, and Malefor's eyes were on her. "He-he. Hi…"

"Chronicler," Everyone turned to the new voice. Nova's nerves calmed down immensely when she saw Durin. "...It's been awhile."

"Indeed it has." Their tones were different. The Chronicler's soothing tone had been replaced by a more solemn and relieved; similarly, Durin's causal, nonchalant, care-free tone had been replaced by a quiet, respectful, and...gladness?

Nova had very little time to ponder as both dragons moved closer to each other, she took a step back to not get squished between them. A smile transpired between them and Nova got a feeling there was much, much, deeper story to this.

Durin turned to the rest of the gathered Skylanders, the dock was empty by now. "Hello, my name's Durin. I'm your new cartography teacher and this is my adopted daughter, Nova." She smiled and gave an awkward wave.

Eon stepped forward to say something but Malefor beat him to it. "I'm Malefor and let me be the first Skylander to welcome you." He extended his hand which Durin took and gave him a nod. "Behind me are Skylanders Jet-Vac and Stealth Elf," He motioned to them who each gave him a nod. "And hot-head over there is the new Guardian of Fire, Flame." At this point Eon stepped up and extended his own hand.

"It is good to have you back here, even if your not a Skylander." Durin took his hand and shook it as well. He didn't nod this time. "Come, let me show you to your office. Everyone else you are dismissed." Eon instructed and everyone started to go their separate ways.

Durin leaned back a little, "Nova, go talk to Malefor. I think you might like him." He winked and followed Eon towards the massive building of the Academy.

Nova shot him a smile and took in the Academy. The main building was a huge cathedral type building with a bunch of bridges, towards the top of the building, branching out to connect small towers on their own small islands. She was so absorbed in the view that she didn't notice the Chronicler come up behind her. "Come now, Nova. I think your father is right when he says you might like Malefor." He motioned her to follow him and she did do, albeit a bit hesitant.

Anxiety twisted her gut and pulled at her nerves. What if he ddin't like her? What if she wasn't good enough? Whatifwhatifwhatif- "Calm down, young one. He couldn't hurt a youngling even if he tried. He has too big of a heart." The Chronicler reassured her, well aware of the irony, and led the way to the purple dragon.

Unaware of red eyes trailing his leaving form before they tunrned to Durin's shrinking form "What are you up to now, O'brother mine?" Oryps chuckled to himself as he started off in the direction of Durin. "And where's our little Pulse Dragon friend, Vampris?"


Plot twist! Hehe. I was meaning to do this for awhile now. So I've had massive writer's block which is why this has taken so long. And if this chapter seems all over the place that's because it is. I couldn't really wait to have them arrive as I needed that to happen now so I could move the plot forward.

And yes, Nova now uses Hope's Stand In. So the question is now 'How did Durin kill a Wraith?' Answer is spoilers wait a bit more. The Wraiths have been explained more and there was no Dale and Cynder because this is a really big chapter.

I also want to give htffan951 for the support and advice you've given me. As well as everyone else who has read or reviewed this story.

Fly High and Long, my little Dragonets,

Dragon.