Chapter 10: A Secret Exposed

Gavin awakened, wet because the ice that had been over his wounds had melted and able to open both eyes, to find Blizzeara and Ember asleep side by side in front of him. Ember was lying with her head laid to, what was to Gavin, the left with her muzzle half in the sack. Blizzeara laid to the right next to her. She was facing Gavin with her muzzle pointing right at him. The black dragon smiled as he stretched all of his limbs without any pain. He sat up and looked at his chest. Lifting his necklace, he found that the slashes were gone. The black dragon lifted his forepaws off of the ground and stood on his hind legs. He rose higher and higher onto his hind legs, swishing his tail behind him to keep his balance, and then fell onto his forepaws. Kicking his hind legs out behind him he then stood on all fours and quietly exclaimed to himself, "Those green dragon roses work wonders!"

"I see that you're feeling better, brother," came Cynder's voice from the cell across the hallway.

Gavin went over to the barred cell door, remembering what Ignitus had said, and laid down. Spyro was lying next to Cynder at their door. "Yes, I am. I'm glad to see that you two weren't hurt."

"We were forced to surrender as soon as Gaul and Malick captured you, Prowlus, and RedPaw," said Spyro.

"The Village is once again taken then," stated Gavin, "but this war isn't over. It is only just beginning. Spyro, Cynder, Ignitus contacted me through a dream. He told me some things, but has much more to say. He wants us to seek him out. Spyro, you remember the way to the Chronicler, right?"

"Yes," replied Spyro.

"What did he say, Gavin?" asked Cynder.

"Things that we thought we knew are different," explained Cynder's brother, "and this war has much higher stakes than what we thought. Ignitus will be able to explain things a lot better than I can, but we have to get to him first."

"Did you say Ignitus?" Blizzeara walked up behind Gavin.

The black dragon turned his head to face her and said, "Yes, Ignitus, the New Age Chronicler."

"Chronicler?" Blizzeara walked up from behind Gavin and sat down at his side.

Gavin sat up. "Yes, Chronicler, he…" Gavin was about to say that he is a chosen dragon who chronicles the times of his appointed Age, but what Ignitus had said to him in the dream stopped him. "…umm…"

"The Chronicler is a chosen dragon who chronicles the times of his appointed Age," said Spyro, saying the exact thing Gavin had stopped himself from saying.

The black dragon corrected his purple friend, "Well, that's at least one of the things that he does…"

"One of them?" inquired Spyro

"Yeah, Ignitus says that there is more to the whole Chronicler business than what we had thought…"

"Oh…" the purple dragon's brow was furrowed. "Did he say anything more about that?"

"No," Gavin answered, "I think that he tried, but the connection didn't give him enough time. There's a dark power blocking his communication abilities. He believes that the power is coming from the true enemy of this war. Ignitus, however, is blocked from discovering this enemy's identity by the same power." He looked to the ice dragoness who was looking at Spyro with intrigue.

"That's kind of weird, you look so much like them," she said.

"Who?" asked Spyro, falling into more confusion along with Cynder.

"My brother, Flamaro."

"She's right you know," agreed Cynder, "You and Flame look almost like brothers."

Gavin nodded his head in agreement.

Spyro still looked to Blizzeara quizzically. "You said 'them'."

"Well," Blizzeara had a sad tone in her voice, "you also look kind of like a younger version of…m-my father."

"Flame told us about how your parents died during the war against Malefor," said Cynder with condolence, "I'm sure that they fought bravely."

"Yeah," sighed Blizzeara.

"Blizzeara!" called a voice from down the hall.

"Flame!" Blizzeara called back, joy now flooding her voice. She saw her brother's red scaled paw sticking out of the bars of a cell some ways down and across the hall to their right. "Are you okay, bro!?"

"Yeah," replied Flame, "and don't worry about me being lonely. I've got an earth dragon who takes up half the cell to keep me company."

"Sorry," came the voice of the earth dragon, who was Erthal, which was followed by an, "It's okay," from Flame.

"Hey Flame!" called the rest of the dragons including Ember who now sat on the left side of Blizzeara, opposite of Gavin.

"We're glad that you're okay," added the pink fire dragoness.

Gavin tensed a little as he remembered that some of the fandoms from the human world had Spyro and Ember together with or and or or a war going on between her and Cynder. He quickly brushed off. That was just a fandom. Spyro and Cynder were obviously together, but would Ember end up falling for the purple dragon in any case?

Gavin shook the thought from his mind and focused. "Why did you wonder if we were speaking about Ignitus?" he asked Blizzeara, "Did you know him as Fire Guardian?"

"You mean Flame didn't tell you?" Blizzeara seemed astonished.

"Tell us what?" spoke Cynder, Gavin, and Spyro in unison.

Blizzeara chuckled a bit. "Flame always was one to obey dad's word, never breaking it unless dad said that he was good to go." She looked to Spyro. "My dad, the dragon that, in my opinion, you look kind of like, was...or is…I'm not sure on that now…Ignitus."

"What?" Gavin replayed the dragoness's words in his head.

"Ignitus had hatchlings?" was Spyro's remark.

Cynder just looked surprised

"The Guardians aren't supposed to have hatchlings," explained Blizzeara, "and if they do, they are forced to train another dragon to take their place and then step down from their position as Guardian. Ignitus, Flame and I's father, was trying to do so, but was forced to remain Fire Guardian because of the war against Malefor. You see, Flame and I didn't hatch in the Dragon Temple in the swamp."

"To the extent of our knowledge, only a choice few that were, at least supposed to have been, from those clutches of eggs did. The number, fortunately, seems to grow larger and larger," said Gavin.

"Yes," nodded Blizzeara, "When Flame and I did hatch, we were with our mom in Warfang. She was our main provider while dad helped with the war. Occasionally, he would stop by for late night visits. We always enjoyed them. They grew less and less, however, as the war progressed. Though, when he did come, he always told us about how his hope was growing more and more after the arrival of a purple dragon." Blizzeara looked to the purple dragon before her and smiled through her now forming tears. "I guess that the purple dragon, Spyro he had said his name was, was you. I would sometimes catch him and mom whispering happily to each other about you. What they said, I never did hear for certain, but thank you for helping to make them happy. Seeing them happy made Flame and I happy."

Spyro smiled and nodded.

Blizzeara looked to the black dragoness lying beside Spyro. "And I guess you're Cynder."

The black dragoness nodded.

"He talked about you too. He told us about how you had changed. How you were no longer the 'Terror of the Skies'. You raised his and mom's hope even more; which in turned raised me and Flame's. Dad was so happy that Spyro had been able to save you from Malefor. 'Especially after the disappearance of her parents and sibling,' he had said."

Cynder looked guilty. "I didn't know that I made someone feel good like that. I had felt like I didn't belong…"

Spyro laid his paw over Cynder's and gave her a light squeeze and smile; which got a small smile from her; as Blizzeara continued, "Then one day dad came to Warfang with three other dragons. Dad told us that the Dragon Temple had been attacked and that Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx…" At saying Sparx's name, Blizzeara chuckled. "How could I forget about Sparx? Dad talked about him too, the stories about him always made us laugh."

The four other dragons smiled.

"I remember a few stories you told me about him," said Ember.

"He told us that Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx had disappeared; but that we should keep hope, something that dad seemed to never lose ever since he met you, Spyro. He said that he had sent Hunter, a cheetah from Avalar, to search for them."

"I believe that that was me," came a familiar voice from the cell to the left of Spyro and Cynder's.

"Hunter!" exclaimed Gavin. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"I did not want to interrupt," explained the cheetah whose fur was, what we would consider, a normal color. "It is an honor to meet you, Blizzeara." Hunter placed his right hand against his chest and bowed while he sat cross legged. RedPaw, red fur and all, sat beside him.

"The honor is mine," Blizzeara said as she continued, "Dad and the three other dragons, who we learned were the three other Guardians, stayed at a separate place in Warfang. Flame and I were so excited that dad would be around more often. Even though we never got to meet the other Guardians, why I'm still unsure; I think that dad hadn't told them about us yet, I think that he was waiting until he found someone to take his place before he told the other Guardians that he had a mate, son, and daughter; either that or he didn't want to worry them over such a thing while the war was going on; we were still very happy."

Blizzeara sighed as the memories got harder. "Three years passed. To Flame and I, the war was just a scary story, something that wasn't real; and then Warfang was attacked. Suddenly, the war was very real. Mom tried to hurry us out of the city…but…" Blizzeara's voice cracked. She sobbed and closed her eyes as tears began to fall.

Ember wrapped her wing around her friend. Gavin touched his to her side.

In their cell down the hall, Erthal cuddled Flame with his wing as the memories flooded into the fire dragon's head.

The ice dragoness regained enough composure to continue. "A Golem entered the city. It was huge…and destructive. We had to take to ground for fear that it would see us and attack us. I remember seeing two silhouettes that were tiny compared to it. It was you and Cynder fighting it, trying to protect the city. We saw dad trying to help to, and gasped when he was swatted away into a building. Mom was taking us away from the fighting, but we detoured to check on dad. We were relieved to find him okay, shaken, but okay. We all gave him a hug for morale. Mom kissed him on the cheek. He then told us to not be afraid. I remember his exact words.

"He told us that, 'Even in the darkest of times, there is always hope; but sometimes fear clouds our vision. Sometimes our strength gives out; and yet sometimes, when all seems lost, a light shines through the darkness; and we are reminded that even the smallest amount of courage can turn the tides of war.' He then told us that we should get out of the city and flew off."

Gavin's brain clicked at the quote. It had been in the games. Had the game developers known? He wondered.

Blizzeara cleared a lump from her throat. Gavin scooted closer to her side and wrapped his wing around her over Ember's. The ice dragoness looked to him, smiled for a second, and then continued, "We didn't get very far. We were attacked by some of Malefor's forces that had gotten inside of the city. They were five huge, brutish creatures who wielded scary looking axes. Mom told us to run into an ally way and wait for her to come and get us. At first we didn't want to go, but our elements weren't developed very well. We didn't know how to fight and we were scared, so scared. Mom made us go and we ran off into a nearby ally while she stayed to fight.

"We waited and listened to the sounds of the war around us. From the sounds nearby of mom fighting to the rumble as the Golem fell defeated; and then everything was quiet…aside from the far away echo of battle. We waited for what seemed like an eternity, sure that mom would soon come and get us and we would get away from all the horror.

"After she didn't come, we decided to get out of the ally way and see if we could find her ourselves. The thought that maybe she had simply went down the wrong ally and the recalling of dad's words kept our wavering hope alive…that is…until we got to where we had last seen her. She and the attackers were gone. There was so much blood that we both knew she could no longer be alive. Where and why they took her body, we still don't know. There, in the street, I embraced my brother, and we cried."

Blizzeara took a deep breath to calm herself and keep from losing it. "I knew then that I had to take charge. Yes, Flame and I are of the same age, but something deep down told me that I should, for the time being, be the one to lead. So I decided that we should look for dad, or at least one of the other Guardians. They would help us, but we first came across Mason. Dad had told us about this mole and we knew that he was one of his most trusted friends. Even better, dad had introduced us and trusted Mason to keep the secret of his family for until he revealed it himself. We asked Mason where dad was, but he just looked at us with sad eyes and shook his head.

"Flame and I both knew it at the same time. He and mom were gone, taken by this stupid war. Mason said that our dad had flown off into the belt of fire with Spyro and Cynder. He said that somehow he knew that Ignitus wasn't coming back. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew…and he was right: dad never came back."

The ice dragoness, through her tears and sobs, looked to Spyro and Cynder. "I'm sorry. At that moment, I hated you both. I felt that you two were the reason that they both had died, but I later realized that that wasn't true. You, along with mom and dad, were the reasons that we and the world were saved. I hope that you both will forgive me."

"We do," both Spyro and Cynder said.

Blizzeara nodded in gratitude.

"Ignitus sacrificed himself in the belt of fire so that we could get to Malefor," Spyro said, "He was a good dragon and mentor. Sometimes I felt like he was my own father, I always wondered if he felt the same. Now that I know that he was your and Flame's real father, I feel bad for feeling that way."

"Don't," said Blizzeara, "I am glad and proud that my father was such to the purple dragon."

Spyro bowed his head as Blizzeara finished, "Our home had been destroyed during the attack. Mason took us in and helped us to recuperate from it all. When we had put ourselves back together, we thanked the mole; and against his disapproval, we left; striking out to fend for ourselves. We didn't want to be pests to anyone; and if ever Warfang was attacked again, we didn't want to be the reason that someone else took one more fatal second then they had too. That's why we didn't seek out the Guardians. That's why we accepted help, but never stayed. That's why we found jobs to earn money."

The ice dragoness took a minute with the memories. She welcomed the warmth, even though she was an ice dragoness, from the two dragons on either side of her. She then looked to them both and said, "Thanks."

Ember nodded, let go, and folded her wing against her side. Gavin's wing, however, didn't move. Instead, it laid against her. Blizzeara looked to him questioningly.

"You tell me when to let go," he said.

Blizzeara smiled and folded herself under his wing, closing her eyes. Ever so slightly she leaned into him, not against him, and it wasn't very noticeable, but she leaned a little closer.

The ice dragoness realized that now she may have to take Ember's advice from a different perspective and not fall too far for this black light dragon before she got to know him some more.

It was funny, though, how things had suddenly changed. Not too long ago, really just some hours ago, she was thinking of him as some crazy dragon. Now, she realized that she might truly think that he was indeed 'kind of cute'.

Author's Blurb: Awww...Blizzeara and Gavin sitting in a...uhh...I probably shouldn't resort to that kind of thing right now...

Quite a secret of Ignitus exposed. He had children: Blizzeara and Flamaro.

Does anyone else agree that Spyro and Ignitus do look similar. Find a picture of them both and look at them. One example to look at is both of their horns. In my opinion, they look rather similar.

"Even in the darkest of times, there is always hope; but sometimes fear clouds our vision. Sometimes our strength gives out; and yet sometimes, when all seems lost, a light shines through the darkness; and we are reminded that even the smallest amount of courage can turn the tides of war." -Ignitus

~Stick With Me~