Chapter 14: Secrets unveiled

There they stood Cesar before a possible father and Spyro before a possible Malefor.

"I'm here, now why did you want me here?" Cesar asked, he'd never been this confused in his life. Cesar begun to walk towards the figure with its back to him. Spyro rushed in front of Cesar, Cesar immediately stopped in his tracks.

"I don't think you should go near him, his aura, it's not right." Spyro informs Cesar and looks towards the possible Malefor, he then looks back at Cesar. "But, if you think 'it' is your father then I won't hold you back, but if 'it' is really Malefor, there's both of us in body bags." Cesar thought for a moment.

'He's right, it's pretty risky, if he can sense Malefor's aura then he can be 'it' or he can be nearby and 'it' could've lead us into a trap, I'll stay back for now.' Cesar looked straight at the figure. "Why haven't you answered me yet? Are you deaf?"

"No." The figure finally spoke. "Come here son." The figure turns it's head and the burnt scales became visible.

"How do I know your not leading us into a trap?" Cesar tried to get some answers. But in return the figure said something unpredictable.

"Can't you trust your father?" Cesar sighed and walked towards the figure. "Don't you want to know how I'm still alive?"

"Of course that's why I came here, I want some answers father." The figure chuckled.

"Follow me son." The figure starts to walk into the destroyed village. Cesar looks at Spyro to see if it was safe to follow.

"Go, but keep your distance from him, I'll be right behind you." Spyro said. Cesar then follows the figure until it came to a halt.

"Do you remember this place son?" Cesar looked around as the figure spoke.

"Yes." Cesar replied quietly. "This was the village center where we'd pray to the ancestors, a statue of one used to be here but now it's gone."

"I'm surprised you remember so much, I'm sure you'll remember Axel." Cesar sighed.

"How could I forget, he was one of my best friends, but now he's corrupt and so am I." Cesar then shook his head. "I can't remember much else though, but what I want to know is how are you alive? I saw you die."

"There is much you didn't see son, I never got hit by that fireball, I jumped out of the window in time only to be greeted by a familiar face, Malefor, he then tried to take over me but I saved you all just in time, that's when he took over completely and resumed his evil plot inside my body." The figure explained.

"But what about the ritual the apes did to free him?" Spyro asked filled with disbelief.

"There's more to it then that, the ritual was to unlock his true power, but now that Malefor has been vanquished from my body I'm free at last." The figure replied. "But son you must trust me."

"I do." Cesar replies. "And mother is still alive, she'll want to see you again father, it's time to put the past behind you and rise up to meet the future, father please come back to us, make our household whole again." The figure looks towards the village as he thought about what Cesar just said. Cesar looked to Spyro and Spyro smiled back.

"Alright son, I'll come back." The figure smiles as he turns around fully, he did have the appearance of Malefor except for his scale color, his scales were dark green. "Spyro I can't thank you enough for releasing me, my name is Exzaifer, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, we best get back though." Spyro says with urgency. Cesar nods and begins to fly. Exzaifer follows Cesar and Spyro back to Warfang.

Meanwhile at Warfang

Ashley and Scarlet were both talking to each other.

"Mother? Do you think Cynder will be okay? Scarlet asks in a worried tone.

"I don't think... I know she'll be alright soon. But we should've told you she was your sister, but in the end she'll be fine." Ashley notices Scarlet beginning to tear up so being her mother Ashley brought Scarlet close to her and embraced her. "It's okay darling, she'll be fine." Ashley was now trying to calm her down. Then a dragon raced into the room.

"Miss Ashley Cynder is awake." Ashley looked at the doctor and then back at Scarlet.

"See, she's still alive." She reassured Scarlet. Scarlet smiled in return. "Let's go and see her shall we?" Scarlet nods in agreement and follows Ashley to Cynder. Ashley goes into the room first and sits beside Cynder. "How are you feeling?" Cynder looks at Ashley and speaks.

"I feel... No pain." She manages to say. "Where am I?"

"You're in the Warfang Infirmary and you're in recovery, there's nothing to fret about, your friend will be back soon." Ashley answers whilst smiling. Cynder lets out a sigh of relief before asking another question.

"May I ask who you are? You look familiar." Ashley jerks back at the sudden question.

"Well, my name's Ashley, I'm Cesar's and Scarlet's mother... As well as yours." Cynder gasped as Ashley said that. Cynder couldn't believe it.

"Wh... What? You're... My.." Before Cynder could continue she begins to tear up. "I.. Never knew that... My mother was alive." Cynder placed a paw over her muzzle as she sobbed. Scarlet didn't like this so like she did to Scarlet she embrace Cynder in the same motherly way. Cynder continued to cry letting out wails as she couldn't contain her tears. A large patting of paws could be heard from the corridor before Spyro rushed into the room and towards Cynder's bed. "Spyro!" Cynder shouts in relief of seeing him again.

"Cynder! You're alright." Spyro replied. Ashley let go of Cynder to let Spyro have some space with her. Later Cesar and Exzaifer arrived. Ashley went wide eyed when Exzaifer entered the room.

"Exzaifer darling?" Ashley raced over to Exzaifer and embraced him, they stared into each others eyes and finally kissed. They stopped.

"Ashley, I'm so sorry about all of this." Exzaifer apologized. Ashley shook her head.

"No, it's not. What matters is that we're all here, safe and together at last." Ashley objects. "You've missed so much, just come with me." Ashley leads Exzaifer out of the room. Cesar looks towards Spyro and Cynder.

"I told you she'll be fine buddy." Cesar said with a big grin. Scarlet also had a big smile and at this moment everyone was happy. "Hey where are Kelly and Drariek?"

"They went to get some sleep a while before you got back." Scarlet answered. "We best sleep as well." Scarlet lets out a big yawn. "I'm exhausted after all these events." Scarlet begins to leave the room. "Are you coming brother?"

"Oh yes I'm pretty tired to, but where do we sleep?" Cesar asks. Scarlet then looks very excited.

"Mother says she's got a sweet house near here, we'd have to find her before we go because I have no idea where it is." Scarlet says very fast. Cesar sighs.

"Let's go find her then." Scarlet's grabs Cesar's fore leg and yanks him out of the room. Spyro was still talking to Cynder.

"Why aren't you phased about the body change?" Spyro asks. Cynder looked around as if she was searching for an answer.

"Well, it's a long story, an ancestor told me, her name is Galaxia, she told me a lot about what was going on with me and that's how I knew what to tell you when we were at the mountain, she then showed me something that'd happened to Cesar." Cynder started to explain.

"What happened to him?" Spyro interrupted. Cynder pouted. "Sorry, you can continue."

"Well before he was frozen, he got caught up in an incident, this seems unusual but Galaxia gave Cesar's parents the secret to creating electrical machines, and Galaxia said she was the one that kept everything in check, but one day she made a mistake and Cesar got infected with something, but it didn't make him sick nor hurt, it gave him powers, but I haven't seen Cesar's elements yet, have you?" Cynder asked.

"I've seen him use light, but I've never seen any dragon use the element of light before, but he has a spirit named the light warrior inside him so I guess that's where he got that element from, I'm sure even he doesn't know his new powers yet." Spyro answers looking Cynder in the eyes. Cynder shrugs. "Anyway I'm so glad your getting better, and I'm sure when you get out we can be together and I can take you somewhere to eat, but I gotta find somewhere first."

"That could be lovely Spyro, I can't wait." Cynder embraced Spyro and Spyro embraced her in return. "I love you Spyro."

"I love you to Cynder." Spyro lets the moment sink in on both of them as a happy day had only just begun.

Temple Garden

Ashley was sat on a bench with Exzaifer and was telling him all that'd happened.

"And then Cesar and Scarlet came, I feel stupid for not recognizing them first but when I mentioned how I met you they figured out who I was on their own." Ashley explained to Exzaifer.

"Wow I've really missed that much, I just couldn't let the old village go so I went back there first and when I came to Warfang I spotted Cesar, but I wanted to show him something at the village but I didn't get enough time." Exzaifer answered. Ashley sighed.

"Well I'm sure you can show him in the near future honey, we best find the kids before I lose them again." Ashley chuckled and so did Exzaifer. They both stood up and nuzzled each other before seeing Cesar and Scarlet enter the garden.

"Woah this place is so beautiful! Mother do we have a garden like this back at the house?" Scarlet yelled out in awe. Cesar looked around taking in the new surroundings.

"I bet it seems like forever since you've been here son." Exzaifer suggested. Cesar looked towards his father with a grin, but suddenly a large gust of wing blew. "Oh it sure is windy tonight." He was wrong as a screech filled the air, something had flew over them. Cesar went wide eyed.

"It's that giant bird." Cesar explained. "Has it followed us here?" Scarlet looked at Cesar in shock.

"Are you sure it's the same one that sounded like Axel?" Scarlet points to a big white bird that was gliding above the city. "See it's the other one that fought off the Axel sounding one."

"Why's it here off all places?" Cesar asks himself.