Chapter 0: The Ones They've Loved, The Ones They've Lost
Part Two: Spyro's Parents
Malefor along with the rest of his birth class followed their instructor for the day towards the nursery. All of the newest generation of Dragons had been born recently, so the previous generation - Malefor included – was going to visit them today. It was a tradition where every four years all the Dragons four years of age would go and see the newborn Dragons. He wondered if there was going to be another purple Dragon such as himself at the nursery. None of the others of his generation were purple, and neither were any of his elders. It made him standout, which was uncomfortable. Why was he different?
"Oh isn't this exiting class? I remember when I had the opportunity to play with the newborns when I was four. Man that was twenty years ago! Who knows, twenty-four to twenty-eight more years from now I might be taking your own children on a field trip to the nursery, if I have this job for that long? Aren't I just rambling on?"
"Ms. Shoutfire," Aeron asked, "will- will each baby's mommies and daddies be there with us?"
"Good question Aeron. They're will be some older Dragons around my age tending to the infants, making sure they are fed and are healthy. But the rest of the mommies and daddies are working in various other jobs throughout Artisans, working just as hard to ensure the prosperity of our little community."
Other mommies and daddies, the phrasing of Aeron's question and how Ms. Shoutfire answered didn't feel right to Malefor. Normally he held his questions in reserve, preferring not to draw extra attention to himself then was already their due to his rare color, but today he just blurted out his question, for it was bothering him for some time.
"The other 'mommies and daddies,' their children are at the nursery. And all of our mommies and daddies are also here in Artisans. H- how are they all, each of our 'mommies and daddies'? Why do we, why can I never know them?"
Ms. Shoutfire became very worried at Malefor's questions. They were too insightful for a Dragon of his age, which hinted that Malefor knew or at least was curious about how children came to be. Which was natural; but at the same time this little purple Dragon was beginning to understand and question a core principle of his culture. That it is Dragon customs children aren't raised by their birth parents. The communitilization of the nuclear family was embedded in our culture long ago to separate ourselves from how our ancient ancestors acted. It represented an end to the era where Dragons were ferocious, solitary, predators. When Dragon eggs were abandoned by their mothers and left to fend for themselves till they survived to adulthood. This decision by our ancestors is to strengthen the importance of the community, where one's dedication is to every Dragon around themselves as equally as themselves. Or at least that was what Ms. Shoutfire was taught. The innocence, helplessness of infants, tending to them and watching them grow and learn is one of the most rewarding experiences there is, which is why I chose to be a teacher of younglings. But to sacrifice that experience of raising your own children for the greater good, it seemed like too much to give up, that it wasn't necessary. But I was obligated to tell Malefor the reasoning behind this custom, even if I had my doubts about it as well.
"Well Malefor… your mother and father, each and every one of your parents are indeed here in Artisans, and they could be any elder to you. However, all elders love and care for you equally. And someday each of you will have children of your own and do the same for the younger generations. I think when you enter the nursery and have a chance to see the newborns for the first time, see just how small and fragile they are, but also the great potential they have, you'll understand that you couldn't just love one of them more than the rest. That having the responsibility to provide for each of them, help them grow strong and healthy so that they may become valued parts of our community as you will be, is one of the greatest responsibilities there is. Protecting them, nurturing them, teaching them and helping them, it's what we live for."
Ms. Shoutfire thought she did a well enough job explaining both her opinion and the logic behind their ancestor's customs. Although in explaining it, one line she said bothered her: "you couldn't love one of them more than the rest." Of all of what she said, that might be a lie. Her daughter, Taika, was part of the newest generation this year. Which was why she was so excited to bring her class to tour the nursery today. It was a special opportunity most parents didn't have. She of course wasn't allowed to raise her daughter on her own or spend any extra time with her newborn today. She was to oversee this field trip. But every glimpse she would have of her, every time one of the children she was bringing here played and interacted with her, every little smile and laughter her daughter might have would be a terrible pleasure to watch from the sidelines.
What Ms. Shoutfire said also satisfied Malefor's curiosity yet bothered him as well. She said that "[his] mother and father" where somewhere in Artisans. Singular. She only said it once but Malefor got the impression that his teacher just voluntarily told him something contradictory to what he was told by other teachers. Malefor was sure none of the other children understood or were paying attention to Ms. Shoutfire's response, but the way she said it genuinely made Malefor believe that only two Dragons were his parents. Two Dragons were responsible for, well him, if that's what having children meant. They were somewhere among the tens of hundreds of Dragons in Artisans, and he might never know who they were. Yet isn't parentage special, like his instructor kept mentioning? Wasn't the love parents had for their children the most important thing? So why did they hide, from their own children? Why would I do that, and want to?
They arrived at the nursery, and after a brief lecture about being careful with the newborns and what not to do around them, he and the rest of the class were shown dozens of about four month old Dragons who were just beginning to become mobile and active. Each classmate of his began scurrying off, finding a Dragon to play with or a group to mess around with. Everyone was genuinely having a great time, and so was Malefor, forgetting his previous thoughts about parentage and how that would affect his future. But then he came across a newborn that was alone at the moment. He walked over towards him and stared at the young Dragon inquisitively. The little red Dragon noticed the shadow loom over him and returned the stare at Malefor. What Ms. Shoutfire said earlier rang inside Malefor's mind once more. That it was his responsibility, his duty to protect and help his kind. Malefor could understand it now, looking at this adorable and helpless creature whom four years ago Malefor was exactly like.
"Ms. Shoutfire, are we allowed know their names?" Malefor asked.
"Oh, why sure Malefor" she responded once she turned around from a group of children she was monitoring. "Hey Sirien, can you tell me this Dragon's name right here?"
"Umm sure Shout, his name's Ignitus."
"Hey Ignitus" Malefor said softly to get the infant's attention. Ignitus turned to face who had said his name, since he was beginning to learn what that sound meant. This is what Malfor was burdened with protecting. He would do anything to be able to do so.
"Aren't you even curious Ignitus? Who our parents are? I mean I've always been curious, ever since I learned what it meant to be a parent. And now my Elders expect me to be a father, yet never actually raise my own son or daughter. It's… It's infuriating."
"Dragon culture forbids parents from raising their own children for we believe children are best raised by the community. That we, including you and me, serve all Dragonkind, not just our future wife's and children."
"You sound just like Thomas, brother. I mean you and I wouldn't even know we were brothers if the Power Gem I have hadn't shown me."
"You should have never found that power gem in the first place. I can't believe you dragged me down to the catacombs and stole that thing. We could have been exiled just for trespassing in those sacred grounds."
"Grow a spine Ignitus. Or better yet, grow a pair since you're actually considering having a child this season."
"Are you sure you have a pair Malefor? You skipped your opportunity to have a child four years ago, and you're refusing to breed again this season."
"Are you listening to yourself? 'Breed!' Like you, I, and the rest of our generation are just a bunch livestock who mate when our owners permit it. Tell me you don't even remotely feel disgusted by some of the traditions our elders force on us!"
"It's not our place to question them."
"Not our place? Are you serious!? We're their future! Yet a few Elders dictate almost all aspects of our lives: what we learn, who we mate with, how we can interact with our own damn children! And I… I'm even worse off than you are! Do you know what it's like to be the only purple Dragon in the entire Dragon Realms? The legacy I have, the prophesy overhanging my head. Every day, it's training with one of the four Elements with a different all-knowing Elder. Constantly being observed and preparing for something they don't even feel obligated to tell me about. But I know; it's the Sorceress. There little secret the Elders thought everyone forgot about in the past thousand years. The reason us Dragons are cooped up here in these six Realms. Well I don't need them or their guidance Ignitus. I don't need their knowledge and wisdom! I'll just use the convexity against that bitch like she used it against our ancestors. I'll make her feel all the pain and suffering she's caused the world over the past millennia using her own power against her."
"There's a reason the Elders hid that Power Gem deep underground. I've told you about this but you just won't listen. That gem will corrupt you; consume the good in you till you can't even distinguish right from wrong. You'd hurt me or your own son to remain in sole control of that power." That vision Ignitus had when Malefor first showed him the Power Gem he had stolen from the catacombs replayed in Ignitus' mind. The young Dragon who stared back at him.
"I don't have a son nor will I ever. I don't plan on having sex with some random Dragoness arranged for me to… inseminate!"
"Having children is one of our biggest responsibilities and one of our greatest joys. We may not get to raise them personally, but we will see them grow up and hopefully watch them become better than us. This is our heritage brother, stop being so angry at the Elders, stop your determination to become powerful enough to kill the Sorceress, and just be yourself, Malefor."
What Ms. Shoutfire said to him twenty years ago replayed in his mind, about the joy of parentage. "You know you're my younger brother, right Ignitus? You haven't forgotten that yet?"
"Yeah, but sometimes I feel as if it's my responsibility to keep you from doing something rash. Change your mind about having a child. Please. I know you feel destined to do great things, to represent change for Dragonkind, but I promise you nothing is more important than providing for the posterity; being a part of future generations through your children. They might not know who gave them life, but they'll understand the community they're a part of."
"Did you just come up with that, or did you practice reciting all these lines to me before you came here today?"
"I'm serious Malefor."
"Well so am I. Something is genuinely wrong with the community we're a part of, and I won't be a part of it."
"Well, you're date is actually going to show up any minute. So you're going to have to tell her yourself that you're not interested."
"What the, I told those senile old bastards I wasn't going to participate in their quadrennial… fucking festival!"
"I believe it's pronounced 'quadrennial fertility festival.' And don't worry, my partner's coming, too. I thought we could double date."
"Date!? It's an arranged marriage Ignitus, not a date! She was chosen for you by a committee of perverted Elders without your input. How can you just love someone who is selected for you?"
"Easy. I talk to her and find out if she's the one. Remember she's in the same situation I'm in. I was chosen for her. And I don't have to love with her if I don't want to, and vice versa."
"Just as I though, spineless and balls-less!"
"In a year you could be proven wrong."
"In a year, the Elders will no longer be in control of me."
"Aren't you worried about him, Ignitus? He's your brother and I think he needs you."
"Malefor's beyond reasoning Taika. He won't listen to me; all he cares about is power. He believes he is the one to end the Sorceress' reign and free the world from her grip, and to do this he must master the same dark energy she controls."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"I'm afraid of what he'll lose when he gains that power. I've seen it Taika, and I'm worried for him but he just won't listen to me. I fear Malefor will obtain the power he seeks, and even though it's for a righteous purpose, he'll lose himself and Aeron in the process."
"Aeron loves your brother Malefor as much as you do. She's caring his child. He will listen to you two, I promise. You just can't give up."
"I'm starting to think you care for Malefor as much as Aeron and I do. What's up?"
"We're family, and Dragons look out for one another."
"I think Malefor is right about one thing, though. I really wish you and I could raise our child together."
"We will Ignitus, but we'll also love and raise each of our generation of Dragon's children equally as well. Each newborn is as equal and important as ours will be, including Malefor and Aeron's child."
"I know Taika, it's just that, now that I know I'll be a father, I just wish I could have our child look at me one day and know just how much I care about him. That he is the most important thing in my life and that I would do ANYTHING for him."
"I feel the same way. And I know you'll be a terrific father to our child." Ignitus and Taika then came close to each other and kissed. Ignitus then felt his partner's soft underbelly, feeling for the slight protrusion that was his unborn child's egg.
"Have you decided on what we're going to name him?" Taika whispered in Ignitus' ear.
"Name him? How do you know it's a he? You haven't even laid… it yet."
"It's not an IT, okay. And you know there isn't a gender unspecific pronoun for a Dragon. So I just called him a 'him' because, well I want to know what you want to name our Dragon, male, female, whatever."
"Well… how about Spyro?"
"Umm… I think Aeron wanted to name her child Spyro."
"Oh what, I thought we discussed this with her already?" Ignitus said laughing.
"I know you were a little tipsy Iggy, but I think you agreed with Aeron that whoever's child was born first got the name Spyro, and the latecomer was stuck with the more generic name Flame."
"I said that?"
"Yes, yes you did. You also said whoever's child is named Spyro would someday tease his cousin Flame and say his name's 'generic'."
"Oh yeah." Ignitus then remembered something else from last night. "Malefor wasn't there last night, was he?"
Taika sighed before she responded. "No, no he wasn't."
"So this is where you go when you hide from your wife." Aeron said after she landed next to next to her husband. He recently flew to this large rock a couple dozen yards offshore to be by himself for a while. The setting sun and the crashing waves were not distracting Malefor for he was deep and thought.
"I'm not hiding Aeron."
"You were never one to understand sarcasm Mal. You missed my little get together with Ignitus and his wife. I'm still pissed at you for that." Malefor allotted his wife a quick glance before looking back at the horizon again. "Come on Malefor, don't be yourself and shut me out, please. You have that look on your face, like something is seriously bothering you, yet you won't let me or your brother help you." Malefor breathed in slowly and closed his eyes before he stared at the rock beneath him. "You know, convincing you to have a child is probably one of the best decisions I've ever made. You're special Mal, know that I know this. And it's not just your color and your ability to wield multiple elements of Dragon magic. No, you're a visionary, a fighter, a protector. But you feel like that job is solely your own, to take the punishment and consequences that burden comes with, so you isolate yourself to shield others from these pains. But you don't have to. I won't let you."
"Let's run away Aeron. Let's raise our child on our own and explore the rest of the world outside Artisans."
"What?"
"[Sighs]… Ignitus keeps saying the power I'm chasing will consume me, and that I'll hurt the ones I'm closet to in pursuit of it. And… I'm starting to think he's right. At first all I wanted was to liberate our kind from the tyranny of the immortal Sorceress, stop our need to be refuges crowded away on six remote islands. But now I'm staring down a well of unlimited power, and am afraid I'll fall in. I'm hoping you can make the choice for me, Aeron. I'll follow you anywhere away from her, so that we can abandon our responsibility to this morally corrupt community and start anew somewhere else."
"Malefor, what are you saying. I… I love it here, our family's here, you brother is here. How can you not see how wonderful it is here?"
"Our culture won't allow us to be truly together Aeron. They won't let us raise our child together."
"I know Malefor, but it's not like we'll never see him or her again."
"You don't understand! I don't want to share our child with the rest of Artisans, partition my time with him, keep from him that I'm his father, and that I love him more than ANYTHING in the world. And I'll have to do that if I stay here. I CAN'T due both Aeron. I can't be the protector Dragons need and begrudgingly kneel to my society's expectations. The Sorceress is coming, I can sense it. And if I don't do everything in my power to stop her, every Dragon will die like she always intended. So I either became the being I know I'll hate and stop her, or we leave, and I'll be the father I now know I always wanted to be."
"I… I don't know what to say Malefor" Aeron said a little teary eyed. "How can I just abandoned everything I've ever cared about. Malefor, please stay. Let me help you, I know there is another way."
Malefor breathed out heavily, smoke escaping from his nostrils. "I know you won't change your mind. I can feel your attachment to this place." As Malefor spoke, six glowing Gems rose from out of the ocean, surrounding him and Aeron. Malefor's eyes began to glow with a bright light as a dark aura began to surround his body, frightening his wife. "This is where we say goodbye then. I have a duty to do, I'll save Artisans and the other five Realms, but I won't be a part of it if it keeps me from the ones I truly love. Goodbye Aeron. And… I'm glad you convinced me to have a child as well."
Malefor then took off, the six gems following him. He flew straight through the invisible, magic barrier, which had isolated the Dragon Realms from the rest of the world for millennia, causing blue sparks of energy to wildly fly out from the hole Malefor created, which began to seal behind him slowly. Thomas then landed on the small islet Aeron was left on, calling out his son's name as Ignitus landed behind his father.
"The power's consumed him. May the Fates be kind" Thomas said forlornly.
Aeron, crying at this point, turned to her elder. "He's… he's gone. How could he just leave? I… I loved him."
"He loved you to, Aeron." Ignitus said to his sister in law.
"I saw what was happening to him too late." Thomas interjected. "The power of the Convexity, its temptation is almost irresistible. Malefor in his lust to have that power lost who he was, and for that I am truly sorry. Malefor presumably took the other five Gems from the other five realms by force. There are reports trickling in of murdered Dragons who attempted to stop Malefor from taking the Power Gems. They were no match for him."
Aeron gasped and continued to cry at the news she was hearing about her husband. "He… he couldn't. I know him, he wouldn't harm another Dragon. He was amassing that power to protect Dragonkind."
"That may be true, but he needed the power Aeron. He wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of that."
"But... he- he told me he would follow me anywhere and forget his ambition, if we left and raised our child together, I know he wasn't lying Thomas. I… I!"
"What's wrong Aeron," Ignitus said worriedly as he approached her. She was in pain, he could tell.
"The baby, it's coming. I'm starting… to contract."
"Get her to the nursery Ignitus."
"Dragon's aren't supposed to fly when their contracting."
"She's going to have to."
Ignitus, Flame, Crash... It was a lot to bear, pain Spyro would carry with him for the rest of his life. But he had a bright spot as well: Cynder. The Dragoness he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Spyro and his grandfather Thomas were both in the Senate Building, the day after Spyro and Cynder spread Crash's ashes at the beachside.
"She means the world to me Thomas. She's the one I want to spend my life with, start a family with. And I won't let anything bad ever happen to her. Not like in the previous reality, the one I read in the Atlas, where Crash never shows up from the future; where I was deceived into killing her. I won't let that happen, I won't let Malefor touch her; I'd kill him before I let him. I don't care if he's my uncle."
"Are you prepared to do that, my grandson? End his life if it came to it?"
Spyro hesitated before he answered his grandfather's question. "I know he's your son, Thomas. But you also know how dangerous he is. He's out there, somewhere. And if he ever decides to hurt anyone I care about, I'll stop him before he can. No matter what it takes."
"Ignitus and I… we believed that there was always still good in him. The day he first saw his brother, the day he married, the day he helped rescue you from the Sorceress in Artisans. I believe Ignitus still thought sow till the moment he died."
"Do you expect me to believe that? Do you still believe that?"
Thomas breathed in uncomfortably and exhaled before he responded to Spyro's question. "The day you came here to the Senate Building after you defeated Gnasty, and Magnus and I told you we would be completely honest with you. I ended up lying to you."
"About what?"
"Ignitus and Malefor's wives, before their children were born, had a bet that whoever's child emerged from their egg first would be named Spyro, and the latter would be named Flame."
Flame. Spyro thought back to when he always joked with him, about their friendly competitions growing up, how he made fun of his name on occasion, the day he told Ember how he felt about her, and how Flame sacrificed his life to protect a wounded Cynder from Red. "Flame… he was my cousin?"
"Yes. And Ignitus was his father… Malefor… he's your father. You deserve to know that Spyro. If you confront him again. That if Malefor's father, brother, and wife couldn't convince him of the wrong he's done, than maybe his son could."
Taika and Aeron are IP's of SaziSkyLion on DevianArt
