The screams and shouts of battle outside had finally ceased after what felt like hours of conflict, the Darkspear tribe's attack on the village had come like a wave crashing down on an unprotected beach. Assisted by the Særower tribe the village didn't stand a chance against the Ape forces, but "why did all the shouting stop so suddenly?" Serena wonders. The attack had only started a few minutes ago, the screaming and shouting had been easily heard by her inside the building, but it all stopped so suddenly, replaced by a deathly silence. Serena wasn't quite an adult yet, barely older than a teenage Dragoness; she was searching the library for any interesting books, reading was her only real passtime nowadays. When the shouting started the librarian had told her to hide under the desk in the reading room, since she was wholly incapable of defending herself.

Skreeeeeek, the sound of the poorly oiled front door opening stops her pondering. The sounds of combat from the outside continue to be silent, unnaturally silent. Serena knows a little about magic, something must be casting a silencing spell in the area, and the library must be outside of it's area of effect. "If they're assisted by a mage-" Serena starts muttering but stops when the figure starts walking through the library. Serena's hidden underneath a desk against a wall in a side room, so there's little chance an Ape could find her. But the footsteps weren't one after another like a bipedal, but rather…. It's a Dragon! A Dragon could smell her out! This Dragon must be leading the attacking ape forces; it wasn't the first time this had happened, many warlords had tried to use Apes to bolster their own forces and expand their territories.

The paw steps quickly approach the room Serena's hiding in, even if he could smell her he shouldn't have been able to find that quickly. The librarian must have been caught on his way out since he had just left a moment ago. The librarian had sold her out; the village hated her, her parents had abandoned her as a youngling, and anyone else just sees her as another unnecessary burden to wherever she stays. She was just a normal kid growing up, most Dragons develop their magic by the age of ten and thirteen at the latest, she still hadn't at the age of seventeen. Although no one knows her real birthday, everyone had known that she hadn't developed her magic when she was supposed to.

She was cursed, no Dragon had ever not developed their Dragon Magic, their Elemental breath weapons. First the elders shunned her, then the adults, and finally the children copied their parents. Even if she tried to flee the village every surrounding settlement had been warned about her, warned that she had been cursed. The adults kicked her out of the village and forced her to live outside in a damp cave, the elders wanted to expel her completely, but couldn't bear the shame without a true criminal reason for it; and she was regularly beaten by the other children before she learned to avoid them, her once friends became her tormentors after their parents told them about her curse. With their magic the kids her age could easily overpower her, so they did; until one of their younger siblings downed in the night, although Serena had nothing to do with it they had finally left her alone. The Dragon who had attacked the village must have demanded a sacrifice to make an example of; of course they would choose her, who wouldn't?

Serena's not particularly angry, if given the demand, she would be the obvious choice. But she wasn't going to die easily, after the attacks from the village children she had learned a skill that she had kept to herself. General Magic, the category of magic that all non-Dragon creatures can wield, but is exceedingly difficult for any Dragon to use; it must've been made usable in place of her Dragon Magic, a way for the world to make up for her curse. Most Dragons can't use General Magic, besides most Dragons don't have a use for it, their breath weapons are significantly more powerful and require much less exertion and time to use. Pricking her finger and drawing a sigil on the chair in front of her, Serena hears the Dragon open the door leading into the room she's hiding in. Gripping a leg of the chair in her paws, Serena waits, her claws digging into the old wood in anticipation.

"Come out, I'm no-" the Dragon speaks out, shooting out of her hiding spot Serena swings the chair at the top of the desk. The Dragon has the sense to bring his wings up to protect himself but it doesn't protect him from the shock-wave of sound as she smashes the sigil bound chair against the desk. A loud screaming shock-wave stuns the Dragon, his head spinning from the unexpected attack he can't do anything as he's tackled to the floor; Serena was as weak physically as she is magically, a surprise attack was her only chance, her small thin body was just barely able to topple the bigger male.

Serena raises her paw to strike at the Dragon's throat but her body stops responding, her body twitches against her will but she can't move. "I think that's enough young lady." She was being paralyzed by Electricity, but it doesn't hurt; everytime Dragons her age paralyzed her to stop her from running away it always burned like hellfire, but this doesn't. Her eyes widen in surprise once she sees the Dragon that she had attacked, his dark purple scales signify exactly what he is; a purple Dragon, a master of the Elements. "I think it's about time for you to get off of me, are you okay?" the purple Dragon calmly requests as he removes the paralysis effect from the Dragoness.

Serena keeps her head down and doesn't move, she's really fucked up now; she had just attacked an innocent Dragon, the village elders will finally use this as an excuse to expel her, or even execute her, she'd heard the whispering from the adults in the village. "You okay?" the purple Dragon awkwardly asks, she just lowers her head further against his chest. He doesn't mind having such a beautiful female on his chest, but he is on the job right now.

Sighing "you're not okay are you?" Malefor whispers reluctantly. The Apes were defeated and the village was saved, Malefor can take the time to deal with this; Malefor releases the silencing spell he'd used to disguise the sounds of him defeating the Apes, sometimes it pays not to announce that he had saved the people, too many people wanted to give rewards. Everyone wants the favor of the purple Dragon, shaking the thoughts of the likely confused village from his mind, Malefor looks back down to the Dragoness silently laying against his chest This wasn't something Malefor had much experience with, he did the fighting, the Elders dealt with the more complicated issues. Deciding to try his best "what's going on? Are you hurt?"

Serena shakes her head, "it's over, they'll use this as an excuse to get rid of me…" Serena starts to cry surprising herself, Serena had thought that she had cried all of her tears years ago.

"Get rid of you? Can you tell me what's happening?" Malefor asks, he hadn't come to the area to save the village, much less help her, he had come to investigate a cult and just happened to be in the area. Serena somehow manages to seem even smaller in response, "you can tell me-"

"I don't have an Element."

"You don't have an Element? But that's impossible. After a certain age all Dragons can produce one Element or another, it's a part of what makes us Dragons."

"I don't, I'm cursed" Serena stops crying, she doesn't like crying, especially crying in the chest of some random Dragon she's just met. He might be confused now, but once he understands her curse he'll abandon her like everyone else. "Everyone hates me, everyone knows I'm cursed, everyone I know wants to get rid of me."

Malefor doesn't know how to respond, he could use any Element, even Elements no other Dragon could. But not having any Element? Malefor doesn't know what he would do in her situation, his Elements were a big part of his sense of self, that's true for almost any Dragon. But how could anyone just decide to get rid of her? How could her life be considered so worthless in their eyes? Malefor manages to pull away slightly and sits up, Serena's eyes still closed and she falls into his lap, submitting to her inevitable fate. Despite how small she looks she was his age, with onyx black uniform scales, her scales are so uniform and small that the individual scales are barely distinguishable. Her body is thin and still clearly recovering from the scars of a difficult childhood, her horns curl up towards her snout, even their growth seems stunted; she was so small against him, not just physically, but emotionally too, she needs help that he doesn't know how to give. "Why would anyone want to get rid of someone so beautiful? '' Malefor absentmindedly whispers, Serena's surprised twitch immediately reminds him that he's said it outloud. "God I'm such a creep…" Malefor manages to keep this thought to himself. How could he say that to someone in such a state? It doesn't matter how pretty she was, that was incredibly cringy and wrong.

"You think I'm pretty?" Serena asks, confused, everyone hates her and her body. No one had ever considered her worthy of mention, much less pretty. Serena's not so vain as to think that makes up for her curse, but there's something about a handsome attractive male calling her pretty that makes it hard to be sad anymore. Looking up at him Serena takes in more of Malefor's details; his scales are a dark purple, bordering on black in some areas. Thick yellow and golden plates had started to form on his chest, signifying his transformation from a young-adult to a fully grown Dragon. His three horns split off of his head with one on each side and a final one coming out of the top of his forehead. Despite his powerful and nearly evil appearance it was clear that he was still her age, even if his size had bloomed a little earlier than hers did. His face is marred with concern, confusion, and surprise at his own actions, and a certain longing; a longing for someone, anyone, that he can make friends with, a longing that's plagued Serena's life for so long it's obvious to her.

"Well…" Malefor stammers, he hadn't had much luck with the other sex, so he didn't have much experience with girls. Not that it was appropriate at all to be thinking about something like that right now, but now that he's said it aloud it's all that he can think about, she's absolutely beautiful and seems to be struggling just as much as he is with life. He had heard the Elders talking about him, about his lack of ability to make friends, much less finding himself a girlfriend. It's not as if he didn't try, but he was the purple Dragon, his power hadn't been seen outside of legends, he intimated people. Some girls had noticed his looks, but everyone either decided having a relationship with him would likely be too difficult or that he was already taken. He didn't blame them, he can be abrasive and rude at times. The recent realization that his birth parents had decided that raising a purple Dragon would be too difficult would hurt anyone's chances at learning to be friendly to others.

"Well… I" Malefor fails to explain himself before looking away shamefully.

Serena picks herself up from his lap and sits on her haunches, thoroughly and equally embarrassed by his absentminded admission. "Ignore it, but I do appreciate it. Everyone I know only views me with scorn, you must not be from around here are you?"

Shaking his head "no I'm not. Why would people view you with scorn?" Malefor asks, blushing and looking away from her; there's just something so alluring about her, about how strangely honest the two of them accidentally were with one another. She already no longer feels like a stranger to him anymore.

"Like I said, I'm cursed. I'm different, therefore I've been ostracized. I've gotten over it" Serena lies. With a certain look in her eyes she pushes "is something bothering you?"

"You just seem nice, and you're not the only one who's been ostracized for being special."

"Really? Even the purple Dragon?"

Malefor nods sadly in response, "hard to make friends when everyone's fearfully respectful of your power."

"I suppose that makes sense, you really like me don't you?" Serena presses the awkward purple Dragon as he blushes deeply. Serena had gotten this kind of attention from other Dragons her age, until they found out about her curse of course; but Malefor was practically putty in her paws, he was so inexperienced with women that he can't do anything but wear it on his face. "So…." Serena slips up beside the purple Dragon who's doing everything he can to avoid her gaze, "what brings you all the way this far from the Capital City?"

Appreciative of the change in subject Malefor answers, "I'm looking for Darkness Dra-" Malefor instantly stops himself. That mission is a secret, this cult has dived back into hiding repeatedly these past weeks. He can't afford them slipping away again, especially if some of the rumors he's heard about them are true, "I'm looking for a cult-"

"You're looking for the Guardians of Darkness then" Serena punctuates the statement with a flare of her tail to get his attention before running it along his side. "I think that I might be able to help you with that, if you'll have me-"

"What are you running from?" Malefor suddenly asks, stepping away from Serena and her aggressive advances.

Taken aback by his rejection of her advances, "I see. You're more than just a ball of hormones, aren't you." Malefor blinks at the half-insult as Serena looks away, her expression growing grim "everyone in a several village radius hates me and most just want me to go away, and they don't want me coming back."

Malefor's gaze softens understanding exactly what she's implying, "this cult I'm looking for, is your…. Condition related to it?"

Serena nods, "my mother and father, I can only assume seeing as I'm just as much an abandoned orphan as you are; my parents used the same Dark Crystal that I'm sure you've already heard about, to transform me into a Darkness Dragon."

"But it didn't take?" Malefor questions confused, there's a lot of uncertainty about this cult and their practices.

"Correct, the crystal's effects are distributed seemingly randomly, but no one had the same reaction I did. I suppose technically since I was an egg at the time it's possible that I never had an Element, but I know that they experimented on with me using the Dark Crystal."

"You said you were abandoned, how do you know all this if your parents abandoned you?"

"Because you're not the only one invested in their downfall. My parents abandoned me the second I wasn't useful to them, and they'll pay for what they've done. So…. am I welcome?"

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

"In the end, although it just started out as a teenage romance, we just ended up latching on to the first person to truly understand one another. But after so many years, so many adventures together, so many hardships, we became mates'' Serena explains to the gathered Dragons. Flame is the only one just listening to her story, the other three recognize her ploy; she's trying to make them understand her, to trust her. The five sit around a pool of dark water, sitting on dark purple cushions that are surprisingly comfortable despite the bleak setting.

"So you fell for the first person to give you any attention?" Cynder growls suspect of her story.

"Don't be snide young one, besides I don't think that you have much room to be speaking." Flame looks confused by Serena's statement, but the other three growl lowly.

"What happened to your mat- I mean Malefor?" Flame asks, everyone looks like him like he's an idiot, Spyro and Cynder killed him twelve years ago. "I mean after his confrontation with the First Chronicler, but before he was defeated by Igneous."

Serena swallows nervously at the question, "we found him where his egg was found before either of us were hatched. He was nearly dead, all of his magic had been drained, he was on the precipice of death, but his Light magic saved him. Light magic is special, it's the reason why we needed to eliminate Spyro before it developed; it simply wouldn't let him die, he suffered immensely, but eventually he returned to us" Serena sees Spyro's question but stops him, "I'll tell you about it soon, I promise. He kept it together for a while, he had been disturbed by his confrontation with such a powerful being, what happened ate away at him for a long time. He knew that once he fully recovered his magic the First Chronicler would take his magic again; apparently the First Chronicler talked at length about his plan, especially about how close he was to fulfilling it. My mate knew that if his power was taken again, the First Chronicler would have the power he needed to destroy this world and restore his own. My mate knew he couldn't win, he knew that there was no way to stop him, that we would all die and that there was nothing we could do about it." Every challenge Spyro had faced had a foreseeable conclusion, one where his enemy was defeated through Spyro's own strength or those of his friends; but an unassailable foe? One he couldn't even begin to stand a chance to defeat? Spyro doesn't know how he would react to such news.

"We resigned ourselves to our fate, to save the world from despair and panic, during the world's last days we retreated to await the end, alone; until we discovered I was pregnant. The should-be happy occasion was tainted knowing that it would all be in vain, every stage of our child's development brought further horror, closer and closer the child came to being born into a world only doomed to die. We knew our child would be powerful, the child of the purple Dragon and the Daughter of the Occult would clearly be strong. By my magic we knew just how powerful he would be, even more powerful than his father; we wanted so much to be happy, but how could we be happy knowing the world was coming to an end? But in desperation, a desperation to protect what little he loves left, my mate hatched a plan; he knew that our child would be Fire Dragon, just like his father was originally before developing his other powers. My mate conspired to train our child, from birth, to be the warrior capable of defeating the First Chronicler. He didn't do this out of malice, he did it out of love; but in his love for his unborn child he condemned his own son to a life of hardship and conflict."

"Igneous…" Flame whispers in wonder.

"Yes our child, our precious child, is the great hero Igneous. I…" Serena stops, she had just gotten this far by letting the words flow, but this next part is far harder. "I knew the fate such a child would face, I knew the terrible life he would lead, even if my mate's plan was successful we would have to hurt our child. So I ran, I took our child's egg and left my mate" Serena brings a paw to her face to rub her nose, but keeps it there as the tears start to flow. "I didn't know what to do, he was never abusive, he was never demeaning to me, he never would have hurt anyone if he could avoid it; but I ran, because I was a coward. How could I face him? How could I tell the most powerful Dragon in existence that everything he's worked for, everything we've all suffered for was all for nothing? How could I look him in the eye and tell him to give up, let us, our child, and the world die for a few moments of happiness with our child. I knew he would try to follow me, to try to get the explanation that I didn't have for him; I couldn't face him, so I wanted to avoid having to do so. I enacted a cruel plan, I covered myself in a magic spell so he couldn't track me, and I teleported a section of our home to a swamp far out in the unexplored world. And then I went to that island, a place I knew that he would never dare return, the island his egg was found atop that intricately carved rock. I abandoned him, I abandoned my mate, I left him alone to face the end of the world."

The four young Dragons stare at their paws, utterly unable to understand the pain that inflicts her. They were just entering adult-hood, none of them were old enough to even consider taking mates or having children themselves; but to know there was nothing they could do to save their lives or the lives of the children would have been a burden most of them likely wouldn't be able to bear. "It started a few days after I ran away, I knew that he discovered the broken chunk of our home. I had hoped that he would wait for me to come home at my own pace, but a week before his battle against the First Chronicler I had been experimenting with a powerful teleportation spell. It could warp an entire building, but it was prone to accidents, half-warped objects being split between the areas, but sometimes the warped object would just disappear from existence. I had mastered the spell in secret, I wanted to surprise him, but I used it to run. My mate had thought I was killed by the spell; he believed that his mate, the one bearing his child, his lover, and the only Dragon in the world to truly understand him, was dead." Serena stops crying, she doesn't deserve to after what she's done. "That was when it started, my mate's desperation to do something, anything; anything to bring back his dead family, to protect them from an inescapable fate. His plan seemed to have been to amass all of the power in the world, to counter a God by becoming one himself. But he knew that the people would oppose his seemingly reckless power hunger, he knew that they wouldn't understand his plan, or his pain. He started gathering gems of Elemental energy from their sanctuaries, he was easily able to overcome the guardians without even sustaining casualties. But then the Elder's decided to stop him, believing that power had finally corrupted my mate. So he killed them, he killed every single one of them and harvested their power himself; my mate, who had spent so long protecting the world, was ready to tear it down to stop the First Chronicler."

"With the massacre of the Elder's the world declared war on my mate, every single race was united in stopping the mad purple Dragon, but even with a united world they were still gravely outmatched. Malefor, in one of the last good acts in his life, tried desperately to explain himself, to explain his actions, he tried to do things peacefully. But the world refused, he was a murder and a threat, so my mate was forced to destroy the world to save it. Practically every single sentient creator was united against him, I think he believed that he could restore the world once he obtained the power, so abruptly his mercy ended. Somehow he raised the Darkspear tribe of Apes into extreme power and waged war against the world, he waged war in a final desperate attempt to save it. He wanted to save his own power, and avoid alerting the First Chronicler to his recovery, and resided himself to waging a slow war to amass all the power in the world. I don't why the First Chronicler didn't strike, surely he would have noticed my mate's return to full strength, maybe he believed that he could get more power by waiting for my mate to win his war."

"But he was stopped? Was it really Igneous? Did he really have to kill his father?" Flame asks, Flame didn't know his parents, even still he couldn't even consider killing his own blood.

"I hid nothing from my child, when he was old enough I told him everything, he was about twenty when he learned the full truth about his father, that it was his father that was the one waging war. And then he left; my son was ashamed of both of his parents, his mother drove his father to madness by abandoning him, and his father was destroying the world he spent his whole life trying to protect. I had taught him the same cloaking spell that had stopped my mate from finding me, so I wasn't able to find him. A few months after Igneous left the nest, rumors began to grow about a powerful Fire Dragon was single handedly pushing back Malefor's armies, that he rescued the Atlawa and Lupin races from certain death, and that he saved the Dragon race from near extinction. And then one month later, he killed and sealed his own father, the resulting explosion glassed half of the continent, but finally peace could return to the world. I don't think my mate ever learned the truth about his child or his mate. All of this was caused because I was too cowardly to confront my mate about his plans for our child, I've done indescribable wrongs and caused so much pain. I'm prepared to face punishment for my crimes, but please, don't blame my mate for his actions, I caused them all."

"But what about when we fought him?" Spyro asks. "He talked a lot about how similar we were, but he just wanted to destroy the world, he didn't seem to be trying to save it."

"Malefor had been resurrected by Gaul's efforts at the Well of Souls; but there's something you need to understand about bringing back the dead. They're never the same, resurrected people come back…. Changed. Malefor was never the cruel creature you had to-"

"Except when he made me" Cynder growls.

"I don't have an answer for you young one, it's possible that his death corrupted his soul. I think he wanted to bring his mate back and that he wanted to bring me back through you-"

"What, was I supposed to be his mate-?" Cynder starts growling.

"NO!" Serena shouts to her feet with her hackles raised causing the four to go on guard. Serena takes a deep breath calming herself, "he wouldn't have betrayed me. That I know for certain," Serena sits back down on the pillow. "The spell must have failed because I wasn't actually dead, he wanted to switch you out with me, that must be the truth" Serena explains mostly to herself. Malefor's done many terrible things, he'd done terrible things for his family, he would never betray them, he would never take another mate.

A silence falls at Serena's outburst, they understand her anger at herself; and Malefor's actions are equally inexcusable and cruel, even before his corrupting resurrection. A lull overtakes the conversation, how could they continue talking after that intense discussion?

But Flame has questions of his own; "what happened to your son, Igneous, after he defeated and sealed Malefor?"

Serena sits back down and closes her eyes, "I know I said that the same cloak that protected me from my mate also shielded my son from me, but I was able to spy on him using more conventional methods. The cloaking spell doesn't protect him from being seen through magical means, just being tracked with observation spells. Through that, and secretly following my son throughout his journey, I know that he didn't face Malefor alone. Just like you Spyro, he also found someone he could trust and face that evil with; I don't know who this Dragoness is, he became much more protective of himself after bonding with her. She was a mage like myself, although she clearly wasn't nearly as skilled as myself, she knew how to avoid being seen if she didn't want to. I'm not even entirely sure what she looks like."

"Was Igneous killed when he defeated Malefor? What happened afterwards?"

"I couldn't be certain at first, he had camouflaged himself so well. It took me years to find him, he had fled to the far east."

"The far east?" Ember asks, "but there isn't anything further east than this? This is the edge of the known world."

"Of the known world," Serena explains. "There is another continent far out to the east, I couldn't go there because those two would surely know. But I do believe that he's there-"

"Igneous… Is alive?" Flame asks, Dragons are immortal; but few Dragons live more than two centuries, much less a millennium.

"I'm alive" Serena plainly answers before she chuckles. "As I mentioned Light is a special element, it can heal and preserve life itself, preventing decay and cancer. Malefor gave this effect directly to me, but I think he might have passed it genetically onto his son, although I suppose that Dragoness might have done it" Serena theories.

"If you haven't been to visit him, how do you know he's alive?" Spyro asks this question; rather than asking if Malefor's Light is why he was able to be resurrected centuries after his death, Spyro can't bear the thought of his return once more.

"Sixty, or was it seventy, years? It can be hard to keep track of time once you get as ancient as myself. Some time ago my son contacted me just to say one thing, that I'm a grandmother. Although my son may of stayed out of my sight for so long his child hasn't done the same, in fact-"

"Igntius" Cynder wonders aloud to the other three's surprise, she can't believe she hadn't noticed the connection between their names. Serena nods her head but doesn't continue, only looking sadly at the young Dragoness. "Do you have any great-grandchildren? Did Ignitus have any children himself?"

The other three look at her incredulously, never Ignitus or any of the other Guardians had never mentioned any children, surely someone would have mentioned them. "I don't know young one, Ignitus may have been in my eye the past decades, but he still knew how to hide things he didn't want others to know. I know he kept secrets from even his closest of friends and allies, but not even my magic can grant me that knowledge."

"I see…" Cynder nods understandingly while giving a side-eye to an unaware Flame and Spyro. Cynder didn't initially suspect Spyro, but Flame was obvious; his mythical scales and Fire peaked her suspicions, and Spyro is clearly related in some way.

"Can you tell me more about Malefor and his powers-" Spyro starts when a high-pitched ringing sounds in his ears. Confused and instantly irritated Spyro looks at the source of the painful noise as it stops, Spyro notices something familiar about the pool of water they're all sitting around.

"Yes young one, it's a Pool of Visions just like the one at the old Dragon Temple, an art that my son had clearly passed on to his own. There's a few more in the land, but my family should be the only ones capable of making new ones…." Serena trails off her explanation as the dark waters ripple. The dark waters of the Pool of Visions finishes rippling to reveal the proud stonework of the city of Warfang from a high-overarching view. Serena sighs "it seems that I've only continued to fall into that Elder's plans." Turning to Spyro "it seems the fallen Elder Red is calling for you to return to the city of Warfang, he was present during my mates confrontation against the First Chronicler, he may have the answers you seek-"

"Wait!" Ember growls, "did you think we'd just drop everything and rush over there? And leave you unpunished?"

Serena turns darkly to the pink Dragoness, "I've done many things worth punishment in my life. I've lived with knowledge that my abandonment of the one I swore to spend the rest of my life caused suffering and chaos on an unimaginable scale. Tell me young naive one, do you have the means to punish me more than I have myself? What horrors can you inflict that can amount to my sins?"

The intensity of Serena's statements burns into the gathered Dragons, "lets go" Cynder decides.

"But-" Ember starts to protest.

"There's nothing more we can do, they've failed their objective, I don't think it's possible to break them any further." Although Serena might act like she's at their mercy she's at least confident enough to send her guard away, whether that shows her honesty or deceit is impossible to tell. Ember lowers her head in forced agreement, the plan was that she would atone for her sins by stopping the Terror, but in the end she was just dead weight.

"But what about Light?" Spyro asks, "what is it?"

Serena shakes her head, "no one truly knows. Even in my time Light was prophesied to be a powerful Element used by an extinct race of Dragons. My mate believed that it could heal, protect, and banish evil, but even he didn't know. There is one, another hidden from my sight like my child, rumor states that she can heal any wound, cure any ailment. She's supposedly descended from the Dragon Kings of old, find the Miracle Dragon Wonder, she may have the answers you seek.

"Are we supposed to just leave you here?" Cynder reiterates Ember's statement. "Everyone came out of this alive, if just barely. Your failure to act in the past has caused almost every modern hardship, what are going to do to help stop the First Chronicler?"

"I can do nothing, my magic is nothing without significant acts of preparation, barely a whisper in a hurricane to his, but Lux and Umbra can."

"Seems awfully convenient for you to offer that, why would they help us? Lux himself said that he didn't understand what was happening, what's their motivation?"

"The First Chronicler is their adoptive father" Serena lets the minor shock fade before continuing. "The First Chronicler is responsible for the return of certain characters, I believe you called them the "old legends characters"? He brought them back as a ploy to make you more powerful, although through their free-agency I doubt they ever realized that. He did this for you, to make you more powerful. But twenty-seven years ago, around your hatching, he took in four orphans, presumably for the same purpose; but it seems that Malefor's return has ruined his plans, caused the First Chronicler to hesitate in his actions long enough for you to defeat my mate and be sealed, removing the ability to harness a purple Dragon's power. When Lux and Umbra discovered what they were raised to do, they rebelled and joined the Dark Guardians to kill you and rob the First Chronicler of this generation's purple Dragon-"

"That doesn't make sense" Cynder starts earning a glare for her interruption. Cynder briefly thinks to ask about the name of their organization but decides there's more important things than semantics. "At the Dragon Temple there was a break in just before we got there, and they managed to find both myself and Spyro in seemingly random locations. Are you sure that it was Spyro's return that caused this, or did something else happen before we got back?"

Serena shakes her head "no, I don't think so. What you're implying is the existence of another purple Dragon, but with my magic I can search the world, since they presumably shouldn't have protections against my scrying. The only areas protected from my magic are the Fairy Kingdom and Avalar, and in both lands tensions with Dragons have long since broken, no Dragon could live there without my notice. I'm afraid it's simply impossible, if you're looking for a reason for your return, then I'd imagine that the First Chronicler must have somehow brought you back from wherever you were. I'm sorry, I know that there's many things that you wish to know, but there are things even I don't know."

Cynder nods in understanding, she had suspected as much, perhaps an egg was recently laid containing a purple Dragon? Or maybe some other power had brought them back? Or maybe there's no reason at all? But there is something that she can finally get answers for, Cynder silently raises the amulet in her paw; the same necklace that whose energies had been used to corrupt Cynder, the one Malefor gave to his mate. The silver green-inlaid gem necklace looks so natural against Cynder's chest that all three of her friends had nearly forgotten about it, but of course Serena remembers it.

"I see…." Serena acknowledges. "That was…. My mate gave it to me so long ago, I…" Serena shutters and mutters. "I'm not sure when anymore, it doesn't have magical properties of its own and I don't know where they got it, that green gem was the only piece of treasure my parents kept with them; the same biological parents who abandoned me after I failed to absorb the Darkness. My mate cut and inlaid it in silver himself, crude as it was, it was beautiful and we both cherished his accomplishment, and he presented it to me when he formally asked me out on our first date. Can I ask you a question? Of course your connection would lead you to it, but where did you find it? I had left it behind by mistake when I fled, I wanted to leave it behind for him, that he would have something to remember me by, something that would bring him comfort in the end."

"A black obsidian structure, just like the Dark Spire; inside was a head-model of you, with both the necklace and an intricate crown inlaid with many precious gems. My mother and father stumbled upon it, a curse laid on it cursed my mother, which was then passed down onto me in her womb."

"That structure…" Serena looks away with a distant look. "No, there was no way he could have known, he must have made a grave for me after he became convinced that I had perished. So that's how you ended up cursed…. Wait. Did you say the crown was also there?" Cynder nods in conformation. "That crown could open a portal to another, contained reality, Malefor took it from a cult of necromancers who worshiped a long dead Dragon Queen. Retroactively, I should of hid there, but in my desire to protect our child I simply ran."

"This belongs to you…" Cynder starts to remove the necklace, although it truly belongs to her parents, this is the last memento of the Dragon Malefor once was.

"No," Serena holds out her paw to stop Cynder. "That no longer belongs to me, I betrayed my mate, I abandoned him and his love. I don't deserve it, but your life was ruined by the object, it's your choice what happens to that cursed necklace."

Spyro's about to ask more questions when another shorter high-pitched noise stops him. "It seems he's expecting you, I'm not sure of Red's true allegiance, I would recommend you return to Warfang promptly."

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

Everyone was silent as they exited the Dark Spire, all lost in their own thoughts. Together they land on the same dune like crater the Dark Spire floats above, "is this really okay?" Ember asks. "Just… leaving them there?"

"I don't think it matters anymore" Cynder explains darkly, if any of what Serena said was true, then what chance do any of them have against the First Chronicler? "We need to find Red, he's done a lot to keep us alive, although I don't know for who's sake he did so, I think we need to talk to him and find out what he knows."

"But is this really okay?" Flame asks. "What did we really accomplish out here? I was hoping to… you know, have a final confrontation against the Terror" Flame sheepishly admits.

"Usually we do…" Cynder trails before snapping to attention at something far away.

The great sand storms of the desert had drifted much closer than before, although they're clearly not heading their direction, it would only take an hour to reach them….. "We should stop the Scavengers, while we're here" Flame voices growing in confidence.

"For all we know the world is ending-" Cynder starts.

"We can't just abandon them!" Flame fires back. How could she be this cruel?

"Cynder's right" Ember meekly whispers. Ember hadn't fulfilled her duty, she hadn't done anything to stop the Terror like she promised. "We can come back after we've spoken to Red, if the end is really happening then it won't matter how many people we save-"

"We should save them," Spyro requests. "What's the point in saving the world is we just abandon the people in it-" Spyro stops when everyone looks at him in mild shock. "What is it?"

"When you put it like that…" Cynder mutters looking away.

"I didn't mean it like that-" Spyro tries only for Cynder to shake her head.

"No it's the truth, we can't just abandon suffering right in front of us. What could we possibly call ourselves if we just abandon the slaves on that ship?"

"Those people need our help now; our situation isn't their problem, they shouldn't have to suffer in enslavement!" Flame confidently declares as they fly towards the twisting sandstorm.