For all who are reading, I'd like to give a shoutout to Aegis Dragon for coming up with the OC's in this chapter, and for allowing me to flesh them out. All characters and Idea's behind them belong to him. This one's for Aegis.

As always

Enjoy

Heat. There was always the heat. The sun beat down mercilessly upon the desert waste that surrounded Avalar. So much that nothing grew anywhere on the ground unless you were at an oasis. However, those little islands of life were not the only source of food in a desert. When one looked hard enough, one can always find life to sustain you.

Solaris scrambled over a rock to get a better view of the antelope. Solaris was a light Dragon, probably the last of his kind. Solaris found what he had been tracking for days; a small doe with a strange gait, most likely a broken foot. When one lived in the desert, one learned to take what you could. Solaris scrambled over into the cover of a dune right next to the rock, eye's on his prize. On a normal time Solaris would have flown out to get his food, but today he felt up for a bit of challenge, and did not want to have to fly out in the open where all could see him.

Being a light Dragon had its pro's and draws. He had almost mastered control of the light element, and was able to do devastating damage to anything with his radiant element. On the other paw, his coat of scales shown like the sun. A bright gold covered him from nose to tail-tip, only darkening a little on his underside to a very bright brown. That was what he hated most about being a light Dragon, his scales. They shone bright even in total blackness, likely some sort of ancient magic his breed retained through the years. His wings and eyes were the purest white. A light Dragon was said to have the most seductive eyes of all dragon breeds, with the purple's in second.

Back to the task at hand, Solaris. Back to the task at hand. Fill your belly, then see about finding some civilization. He thought to himself. Solaris had heard about the war years ago, when a purple Dragon betrayed everyone for more power. Then, when defeat was close, he vanished. Like a desert storm, gone with no trace on where he might have gone. Solaris had heard tell from some refugee's that the purple had been defeated by the combined might of the four Guardians and the Chronicler, if you believed such tales. As Solaris thought about what had happened all those years ago, he began to go over what happened in his mind again.

Flashback

It was a beautiful day. The sun shone down upon him with its brilliant radiance, almost as if it was looking directly at him and saying, "This day belongs to you, use it well." The day had started off just as normal. He had woken up ad said good morning to his parents, both had descended from light Dragons Dragons as well. He got a bite to eat of the deer his father bagged and brought home before going out to meet with his girlfriend, Nova.

They were going to meet up at the waterfall near the base of a cliff, just to enjoy the day. Walking up to the entryway to his cave, Solaris took off and made his way to their waterfall. It took less than ten minutes to get there, and when he did he saw Nova already waiting for him.

Solaris looked now upon the most beautiful creature ever to cross his path. Nova was a fire Dragon of a deep red shade, almost to the point of scarlet, with a slightly pinkish tint to her underside. Solaris sighed as he looked at her, and then she waved him over.

"Hey! Solaris what are you doing standing over there?" Nova said with a laugh. When Nova laughed, it made him laugh, which made him feel all the happier despite the joy he already felt.

"Hey Nova, how are you?"

"Solaris, I'm just great. I brought the items for the picnic this time so you wouldn't have to go hunting for lunch."

"Wow, thanks. But you really didn't have to."

"Actually I did. You have been finding food for us for the past two weeks; it should be my turn to return the favor."

"Well, as long as you didn't go through too much trouble to get it…"

"And would it matter if I did? I am a Dragon after all-" Solaris just laughed and walked up to her before embracing her in a passionate kiss. She stopped talking immediately and started to kiss him back. It was these moments that Solaris never wanted to end. When he was here with Nova, not a thing could touch him.

Solaris broke the kiss after a few minutes, and looked at Nova's eyes. Her eyes were a beautiful bright blue, on that he loved.

"So, have you made any progress with your study on dark Dragons?" Nova always turned the talk towards his passion. She loved to hear about his studies. As a light Dragon, Solaris was unusually smart. He always had a book under his nose when he wasn't doing anything more important. His favorite subject was that of dark Dragons.

Dark Dragons, the polar opposite of Solaris, a light Dragon, was mostly forbidden to read about. The reason for that was because a young purple Dragon, of unknown name or origin, had used those books to learn dark magics. Magics that could twist another's mind and control them completely. The only was Solaris had gotten his paws on them was because the elder of his town thought he should be more educated in the subject than others. This was probably because after the purple Dragon used those books, he found the secrets of mind control within, along with other black magics. The elder thought Solaris would be able to counter the magic with his own, the natural enemy of the dark.

"My studies have actually been going great. I have finally found out how a dark Dragon is created. A host Dragon needs to have the power of darkness already inside them before they can be put under control."

"Aren't Dark Dragons already evil? They would just agree to work with another evil Dragon, wouldn't they?"

"No, they wouldn't. As you may not know, Dark Dragons are just as good as anyone else. It's just that their powers are more powerful than most. Thelduin the black was one of the greatest Dark Dragons ever to live. He helped to contain the Destroyer of worlds when the world almost broke over seven thousand years ago."

"Anyway, I have finally figured out where the magic comes from. It seems that certain types of Dragons are born with a high amount of energy. They use energy to breathe their elements and elemental enhanced attacks. The only way other Dragons can contain and create more energy is to be around or break green crystal shards. That energy is the source of magic, though I don't know where magic itself came from." Solaris said.

"Magic? Is that what you have? I know you didn't want me to, but a few weeks ago I was passing by your house when I saw a brilliant flash of sunlight. It came from inside your house. I walked up to the window, and then it happened again. I saw you sitting there performing the most amazing breath attacks I have ever seen." Nova looked at Solaris with a guilty expression. The main reason Solaris didn't want her around when he practiced his elemental breath attacks was because he had no teacher to help him along. This resulted in many of his attempts exploding in his face and melting stone around him.

"I just don't want you to get hurt when I practice." Taking her paw, Solaris said, "The other day my attack failed, blew up in my face and melted the rock around me. It could have killed me, and I don't want to risk putting you in such danger when I practice." Nova nodded her head and changed the subject, Solaris always became gloomy when the talked of elemental breaths. Everyone in town had a teacher, all except Solaris.

"So, do you know what tomorrow is?" Nova asked with her head held high.

"How could I forget? It's the Grand midsummer night Gala. You've been talking about it for weeks. What about it?"

"Aren't you going to ask someone special to the Gala?

Solaris laughed. "Why do you play this game? I already assumed you and I would go together, why wouldn't we?"

Nova looked at him shocked. "Why would I go with some offbeat Dragon with no courage to ask his lady?"

Solaris gaped at Nova. "You're serious about this?"

"Of course I am, stupid."

Solaris sighed. "Ok, let's get this over with. Nova?"

"Yes, Solaris?"

"Will you go to the Grand Midsummer night Gala with me?"

"Of course! Who else would I go with?" Nova laughed, making him smile.

"OH, so you want to play like that, eh?"

Solaris jumped up and playfully talked her to the ground. Both Dragons laughed loudly, their shrieks of delight echoing for hours afterward until the sun had finally met the horizon. Both Dragons flew home slowly, giving each other turns and darts in the air.

Solaris took Nova home, kissed her goodbye, and waved to her father before returning to his own home. Instead of staying up to eat with his parents, he told them he was tired, as indeed he was, and started to walk to his room, saying goodnight to his parents as he went. Solaris opened the door to his room, letting the light into the hall. His room was bare of everything except his needs and his books. Ignoring everything except the bed, Solaris slowly crept into it, and promptly fell asleep with a Dream of Him and Nova dancing at the midsummer night festival.

A rapid stream of explosions hitting the ground from a height woke Solaris up from his slumber. Solaris looked out the window; the moon was just going down. Great, He thought, Wake me up before dawn with your noisy and early celebrations. Solaris thought.

Solaris got out of bed and began to walk towards the cave entry, when another series of explosions rocked the ground. Solaris paused for a moment, these were definitely not fireworks.

Solaris ran out to the main room, looking for his parents. They were nowhere to be found, and the explosions continued in the background. Solaris ran to the cave mouth, and stopped when he saw wheat was outside. A large fire raged outside of his cave, the entire town was being ravaged by the fire. Already it had consumed half the town. Solaris saw his father, a town elder, fly to the town hall from a distance. Solaris was about to follow him when he caught first sight of his enemy. A large, completely black Dragon silhouetted against the fire fly after his father

Solaris felt a pang of dread. This was no ordinary black Dragon, this was dark magic possession. That meant they would be fighting a force they might not be able to defeat, a Dragon who fought against his or her will. Solaris took flight, soaring through the air, he had to find Nova and get her to safety. Solaris landed on the ground in front of her house, and was immediately attacked by a large ape holding a wicked cleaver.

Screaming its gibberish language, it ran at him weaving the cleaver like a club rather than a sword. Solaris ducked under it's first attack and jumped left to avoid the second. But missed the third, the blade biting into his shoulder. Solaris did not have any time for this, calling upon his elemental power, Solaris used his light breath attack. The ape screamed in pain as a bright golden solar fire burned him to a crisp. Behind him, several more apes ran at him, all meeting similar fate to the first.

"I don't have time for this!" Solaris said to himself. He took flight and made his way towards the main hall. While in the air, he caught sight of several large, oversized bats carrying more apes to the town. Dragons were all over the skies and ground trying to combat this new threat.

Solaris alighted at the front gate to the hall of elders, looking for his father. In front of him was a dead yellow electric Dragon, stabbed through the head with some sort of blade. Whatever it was, it was made of strong material to drive all the way through a dragons skull. Solaris heard voices in the main hall, so he flew up to the roof to surprise any enemies, and help any allies that might be inside.

Upon nearing the window at the top of the temple, the voices could now clearly be discerned. Looking inside, Solaris saw his mother, his father, the village elder, and the council of elders all surrounding a large black female Dragon. Solaris dimly noted this as the Dragon he saw earlier.

His father spoke up, "What is it you want? We have no quarrel with the outside realms. State your demands or be gone!"

In a dark, seductive voice, the female answered. "My, my, don't we have a large amount of bravery here."

"Tell us what you want demon. Before I lose taste and decide to tear you limb from limb."

The female gave him a look that silenced him immediately. "Why don't you keep your fat mouth shut before I decide to kill you where you stand. I realize you all know what is going on, so I'll make this quick. You have a light Dragon hidden in this village. This light Dragon is needed by my Master. Bring him to me, or I will destroy this town along with all of its inhabitants."

All of the Dragons in the room froze. No one had ever come to a village demanding the life of a young Drake. All of the elders look at Solaris's father, who had an impassive face.

"What is your answer?"

Solaris's father spoke up again. "We will never betray one of our own to demon filth. Leave now, and never return. We do not-"

Solaris's father was cut off in mid sentence, as Cynder whipped her tail up and caught Solaris's father in the throat. Solaris saw a wicked blade fixed to her tail, which passed right through his father's scales. Solaris felt his heart skip several beats as his father fell to the ground in what seemed like slow motion. Solaris felt tears begin to fall down his face, his mother screaming and throwing herself at Cynder.

Cynder laughed, "What is that going to accomplish? You saw how easily I overpowered that fool. What is it you plan to do?"

Only tears answered her. Cynder again dashed forward and took up Solaris's mother's neck in her jaws, snapping the vertebra with relevant ease. Solaris could only curl into a ball as he watched both his parents die under his gaze. For the first time in his life, Solaris truly felt hopeless. Not being able to do anything for those around him, and now his parents were dead. Solaris cried on the rooftop, listening to his parents last breath escape them.

Cynder turned towards the rest of the terrified Dragons before her, now with an angry look in her eyes. "I'm not going to ask again. Where is he!?" Cynder screamed. "You will show me where he hides, or I shall kill each and every one of you! Where is he!"

From behind Cynder came a voice. "I'm right here."

Turning around, Cynder beheld her quarry. The golden Dragon, the only one with the power to harm her without convexity, stood ready to do battle with her.

"So, after I kill half the population, you reveal yourself at last. Will you come peacefully?"

"Over my dead body."

"Just what I wanted to hear."

Cynder and Solaris faced each other, Dragon to Dragon, both at equal power. Cynder dashed forward to slash at Solaris with her paw, but Solaris easily dodged it and countered, which Cynder blocked. Solaris took flight, with Cynder following right behind him, and tried to give him several slashing overhead strikes at the back. All of which missed Solaris, but came so close, he could feel the passage of air on his scales. Solaris then tried to evade her by weaving through the various buildings and barns. Smashing through the barn door, Solaris just barely managed to stay ahead of her. Corkscrewing out of the barn, Solaris managed three or four turns in the air before Cynder smashed him out of the sky.

Somehow, despite her larger frame, Cynder still managed to outmaneuver Solaris in the air. Resorting to his last line of defense, Solaris tried to fight. Running straight at Cynder, Solaris tried to smash one of Cynder's wings with his tail, but only scored her side, while she made a long bloody gash down his side. They traded blows for another few minutes, before Cynder stabbed downward with her talons and wrapped them around his neck.

"Well. Looks like you lost, as if you had any chance. Any last words?" Cynder said maliciously.

Solaris had been about to curse her in every way he knew. To spite her, and take the enjoyment away from the killing. Before he looked into Cynder's eyes. In there he saw a purple haze clouding her mind, but upon looking deeper he saw regret and sorrow resonate through her entire being. He then remembered what he had learned about Dark Dragons. This was not Her fault, Cynder, if that was her birth name, was not to blame for any of this. Rather it was whoever was on the other end of the connection.

Solaris looked at her and smiled a smile of regret. "Just three. I forgive you."

Cynder looked at him incredulously, before a bright, blinding light of a solar flare lit up Cynder's vision. Solaris had temporarily blinded her, giving him time to act. Solaris clawed her side, leaving a nasty gash, then took to the skies. He would find Nova and then take her to Avalar, she would be safe there. Solaris knew that his solar Flare wouldn't keep Cynder busy for long, so he decided to search her house first.

The cave she used to call home was collapsed into ruble, so he decided to check the town square. As he approached the town square, he noticed that most of the Dragons had rallied there, forming a defendable position against the ape horde. As Solaris approached, several older Dragons called out in greeting. Or asked him about the whereabouts of his father. That's when he noticed something strange.

Moving toward him faster than anything he could think of, a shadow, blacker than the night around them hurdled towards Solaris.

Cynder.

So it proved true, Cynder, Terror of the Skies, launched herself towards Solaris in an attempt to silence him once again.

I need to lure her away from the rest of the Dragons. Alright, lets end this then. Solaris flew head on towards Cynder, bracing for impact. It never came.

As he neared the black beast, Solaris heard a cracking noise of bones snapping. Am I hit? Am I dead? Realizing his eyes were closed, Solaris opened them to see what had happened. Seemingly from out of nowhere, a fiery red Dragoness had flown headlong into Cynder. This new force had cause Cynder to miss her intended target, only buffeting him to the ground. The fiery red Dragoness was one Solaris knew only too well.

"Nova! No!"

Both Dragoness's crashed into the ground, with Cynder on top of Nova's ruined frame. The bones Solaris heard snapping were Nova's vertebra, as only her head and neck moved, still biting and tearing at Cynder.

Now really crying, Solaris was about to fly to her aid, when he realized something. He had no chance of beating Cynder. He had to take the opportunity Nova had provided him and escape. Dragons were flying out of the town in droves as the relentless apes started using their black magic, or fell to the accumulated swords and spears thrown at them.

Looking one last time at his love, his Nova, Solaris turned away and whispered to himself before flying away, "I'm sorry, Nova."

He flew to the outskirts of the town, then looked back. Nothing was left but a burning fire. All that he loved, all that he cherished. Gone in one night. Solaris was broken, and lay in the dirt. Crying for his parents, his friends, and for Nova. He was especially sorry because he had planned to ask her to be his mate at the Gala.

Nothing but ashes filled his mouth as he rose from the dirt. He would become an exile. No more civilization for him, no more anything. He just wanted to die somewhere in the wasteland. So he set out into the desert, and didn't look back.

Flashback ends.

Not a day went by where he didn't think about His parents and Nova. He missed them all dearly, but now that he had gotten back on track, he knew he still had the will to live. Nova would have wanted him to go on. He sighed, somewhere, he felt that Nova was watching over him.

Concentrating back on his hunt, Solaris crept along the sand until he finally was withing leaping distance of his quarry.

Almost there… NOW!

Solaris jumped up and tackled the doe before it could even wake up. All around him, deer jumped up and ran as fast as they could. Ran, ran, ran. Anywhere, to get as far away from the beast as possible.

Solaris settled down on his kill, going through his memories again. He had decided against going to Avalar, and instead focused on clearing the wastes of Apes. Whoever had sent them to kill him evidently sent them into the waste often, for Solaris killed new camps every month. For some reason, though, Apes had become more and more frequent, almost as if they were retreating from Avalar.

Though Solaris felt it his duty to kill them, he did not do it out of vengeance, but out of concern for other waste communities that these apes threatened.

What a waste, Solaris knew that he should be doing something more, but he couldn't find out what. What was he supposed to do? Go after Cynder in a revenge attempt? He didn't blame Cynder for it, and the one time he'd gone to confront her at the Crystal castle, he found it in ruins. Someone of great power had destroyed the castle, someone with the power over convexity. That didn't often bode well. Only Dark Dragons and Purple Dragons were born with the ability to use convexity.

The thought had echoed through Solaris's thoughts for the past five years, ever since he left the remains of that castle. Oh, well. He needed to get some sleep, not think about events of the past.

He curled up on the sand in an effort to go to sleep, and nearly succeeded when something rumbled though the ground. Looking up, Solaris dropped his jaw in surprise. Spearing into the air, from the direction of Avalar was a large beam of purple energy. Pure convexity. Whatever was generating this much energy was obviously bad, as only two things could be done with that amount of power. Someone was wither opening a portal, ot someone was resurrecting the dead. Both proved fatal if Avalar wasn't warned.

Looking at the phenomenon made Solaris think of Nova. Perhaps if he destroyed this evil, he would get closure on the matter.

One way or the other, Solaris was about to reveal himself to the world.