Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, I have been really lazy this past week or so. But i'm back now and hopefully the chapter after this will come out on time.

Winifred yawned, and flared her wings out, stretching both them and her front legs out. She was so tired right now. Normally this would have been because she had to spend yet another night in her office, preparing for the Origins Festival. Tonight was different however, as she and all of the other Delegates have been called up to the temple for something important.

Righting herself back up, the ice dragoness smacked her jaw together, her eyes falling half way closed. There was a slight sway to her body as she stood. She was about ready to collapse from exhaustion after spending the past two nights with little rest. There was still so much left to do. She had to sign endless stacks of paper and approve or turn down offers and services for this holiday. Not to mention having to keep some events a secret so that the other Delegates dont steal her ideas, while also trying to uncover what her rivals are working on. This on top of her usual everyday work has kept her up longer than she would have liked.

Just when she was about to leave her office for the night and get some rest, she was stopped by an ape who had a message from the Guardians, requesting that she come to the temple. At the time, she argued with the ape and asked if she could just see them in the morning, however the messenger insisted that it was urgent. That is how she found herself here among a small crowd of seven other Delegates.

They had all gathered in a large room that looked similar to the one the Guardians held their private meetings in. The biggest difference however was that there wasn't a desk for the Guardians to sit at. Instead it was a small podium that stood about a foot off the ground. This was made just so that whoever was speaking would have an easier time addressing everyone. Other than that, the walls were all decorated with an assortment of banners and colors, just to make the place look more lively. At a safe distance away from these were torches that were the only source of light in the room at the moment.

Everyone was just standing around, waiting for the Guardians to show up. There were some mermers between some of the Delegates, something about a new visitor to Warfang. Winifred wasn't sure what was being said though, her mind feeling rather dull at the moment.

She heard idle chatter among the others of similar status as her, but she didn't pay any attention to any of them. The only thing she wanted right now was to be under her warm covers, on her nice soft bed. A small smile cracked along the sides of her muzzle. She felt no desire to commune with the other people in the room, so she was left to her own wandering mind for entertainment.

Looking back on better times, Winifred thought back to a time when she walked through her front door. Just as she closed the door behind her and turned around, her face was met with a blast of some sort of dust. She screamed in fear of the attack, which was soon followed up by pain as her eyes began to burn. Whatever this dust was, it had gotten into her eyes.

An adult fire dragon gasped as he watched the black and blue dragon wither in pain. "Oh sweet ancestors, Winifred! I'm so sorry, I didn't think it would fly that far!" His sleek silver underbelly turned as pale as the rest of his face, when he realized what he had done. His words didn't reach Winifred, as all of her senses were focused on the burning feeling in her eyes.

The fire dragon had to help escort the Delegate to a stream and helped wash out her eyes. The male found it understandable that she struggled against his attempts to help her wash out her eyes. Her tail flailed about, and knocked his thigh, but he paid it no mind. Having to hold her head still with one paw, he did his best to splash water into her teary eyes. Once it was over, she was left gasping for breath as the pain started to subside.

"Winifred I'm-" the fire dragon couldn't finish his sentence as the female beside him knocked him over and dug her claws into his side until she felt a warm liquid run between her claws. She threatened to do the same to his neck, digging her talons deep enough to show she meant business, but not enough to do any harm. The male cringed in pain.

"What were you thinking Fletcher!"

The male did his best to shrink out of existence while under the pressure Winifred put on him.

"I-I-I just wanted to surpr-rise y-you" he stuttered in a nervus mess. He wasn't sure what scared him more. Winifred threatening to kill him, or the look of pure maddening rage on ner face. The ice dragoness didn't seem to like his answer.

"By trying to blind me!" Her claws dug further into his side, making him wince more.

"Please, Wini, give me a chance to explain myself!"

The ice dragoness growled and glared death at the fire dragon. Despite her better judgment, she got off him. She didn't stop glaring at him though.

"What did you blow into my eyes?"

Fletcher grew nervous again. "Wood dust." He could feel the female in front of him try to burn a hole into his skull with her glare. "Please, Wini, let me just show you what I had planned first, then you can kill me ok?"

By the fact that she didnt murder him in the most painful way she could imagine, was enough of an ok answer to Fletcher's question. He guided her back to their home. He was surprised that the back of his head didn't combust from the intense look in her eyes.

When they got back home, Fletcher was the first to reach the porch. The fire dragon spun around as they walked through the door, and pointed at the floor. Looking down, Winifred saw her name written out of wood dust.

"I was planning on blowing some dust at you, and then igniting it and letting the small fire trickle down onto the dust on the floor." Winifred looked both confused and still very pissed at he needed to further explain himself, Fletcher continued.

"Well, I was hoping that the fire would then burn the dust on the ground, and you'd get to see your name light up before you!"

The ice dragoness looked at the male in front of her and then at her name. Getting a sense that he needed to prove himself further, Fletcher blew a small bit of fire at her like how he planned, her name burst into flames for a second before going out a moment later, leaving behind a black mark into the wood floor that now spelled her name.

Winifred just kept swapping her gaze up and down between her mate, and the charred flooring. She wasn't sure what to feel right now. Should she feel mad more about the fact that Fletcher almost blinded her or the fact that he wanted to light a fire on their wood floor? She could also just let it go, and accept the fact that her mate was only trying to do something nice for her. Even if it was really stupid. Winifred sighed and approached the fire dragon. Fletcher stiffened his body, worried she'd attack him again.

"Your hopeless Fletcher."

The adult male wince as he felt Winifred lick at his wound that she inflicted on his side. Despite the pain, he relaxed and even smiled. No matter how dumb Fletcher acted, Winifred still found herself being able to forgive him. Maybe it was because she really loved him more than she could possibly imagine. Or maybe it was just because she pitied him so much.

Fletcher craned his head back, and nuzzled the back of his mate's neck. "I'll impress you again one of these days." She never knew what he meant by that.

Winifred snorted and lifted her head up. She pressed it against his snout and nuzzled him.

"Me being able to put up with your antics is impressive enough as is."

She felt a wing being draped over her back, and the male beside her nuzzled her back.

He started to whisper to her again. "Does that mean I'm off the hook?" Winifred pulled her head back, giving her mate a disappointed look, before she shook her head.

"No, you are still sleeping in the guest room tonight."

"What?! I apologized for throwing dust into your eyes."

"Yeah, but you also we're planning on burning something on our WOODEN flooring." All of her anger returned to her in that moment, and she felt like she needed to let it out.

Fletcher stood with a dumb look on his face, as if he had just realized the dangers of his displays of affection. Winifred groaned, when she saw his face. How she managed to fall for someone like Fletcher still confused her. Needing a reason to leave the entrance hallway, she walked around him and went deeper into their home.

Watching his mate walk away from him, Fletcher began to whimper, hoping to regain her affection. The ice dragoness looked back at him and saw the big eyes the fire dragon was making.

She rolled her own eyes and continued to walk away. However as to show she wasn't completely heartless, she ran her tail along the underside of his neck.

Fletcher seemed to perk up at that, and even gave her a playful growl before following her deeper into their home.

Winifred signed. It has been so long since Fletcher has been home, and she was growing desperate to see him behind those doors someday soon. Even if he was going to do something stupid again, it was be nice just to be near him again. She knew she just needed to wait a little bit longer.

Or at least that's what she always told herself.

Her daydreaming was interrupted when she noticed she was tearing up. She sniffled and did her best to hide her sorrow from the other Delegates. She didn't want them to see her look weak, especially now that there was a competition between all of them.

She straightened up and looked around the room. As far as she could tell, everyone was minding their own business minus the idle chatter of wondering what they were doing here. Feeling that her masculinity was still safe, she slumped forward a bit. But, before her mind could go back to wondering in the past, the doors opened up, and two Guardians, Volteer and Terrador, walked in. Seeing them, everyone bowed in respect to the Guardians.

When the two dragons got to the small stage before the crowd, Volteer started to speak up first.

"I'm sorry to call you all here on such a late hour. We would not have bothered you if we did not feel like this was very important."

A small mermer spread through the Delegates. Even Winifred grew interested as she heard more about the newcomers coming to Warfang. Something about a possible danger to them all. Before everyone could discuss what could be going on, Terrador did his best to silence the crowd.

"Everyone, please listen up." Terrador's voice boomed throughout the room. The Delegates went silent, all of their eyes turned towards the green Guardian. There was a serious tone to his voice, which made Winifred a little nervous. Were they in danger of something?

"Due to recent events, we can no longer let people into the Sanctum."

The Delegates were quiet, as they tried to figure out why they would be called here just for that.

'There not letting people in? Why?'

Winifred tried to figure this part out. The only thing there were the poor souls that were trapped in crystal by Malefor… unless, that was the reason why no one was allowed in.

"Did something happen there?" Winifred was a little nervous by what they could answer with. Both Guardian's expressions lowered as she asked this question.

"It might be best if you knew." Volteer didn't look happy about talking about this. "The Sanctum was attacked."

A small uproar erupted from the crowd, each wanting to know more, and now they were supposed to explain to the people they watched over why they couldn't go see their trapped family members and friends. Winifred on the other hand stayed still, her jaw hanging open. Someone attacked the Sanctum? Were the people inside ok, did this person hurt any of the statues?

Her eyes dilated. "Fletcher."

As the Guardians tried their best to calm the crowd down, Winifred ran out of the room in a blind haste. Her mind started to race, as she ran down the hallways of the temple. "Please be ok, please be ok!" She was muttering to herself, several flashes of her mate came to her mind. Sure there were some bad days, but she knew he was only trying to make her smile. No matter how stupid he acted sometimes, she still loved the dragon.

The doorway into the Sanctum came into view, and beside it stood two Cheetah guards, fully suited in their leather armor, bows strapped to their backs and a sword on their sides. They didn't bother to move as Winifred came barreling towards them. Coming to a sudden halt in front of them the ice dragon had to take a moment to gather her breath again.

"Let me in!" Winifred bore her teeth at the guards, trying to seem intimidating. Neither one of them moved.

"We are sorry mam, but we can't. The Guardians have ordered us to-"

"Guardians be damned!" Winifred shouted at the pair, but they were unphased by her pissy mood. "My mate is in there, and I need to see if he is ok!" Tears started to take form again in her eyes. Was he ok, did the people who attacked the Sanctum, kill her mate? She has waited for almost twenty years for him to be free. Was he really gone?

The guard on her left shook his head. "I'm sorry but we can't. My best friend is in there, and I can't see him." The guard balled his paws into a fist, as he tried to sympathise with the dragon in front of him. "You should have seen what they are doing in there right now." The guard started to growl.

"They are just sweeping the pieces into crates. They are treating these people like trash!"

Winifred tried to figure out what the guard was telling her. Whoever it was that came here didn't just attack the place. They killed several people inside. Her heart began to pound faster till it was the only thing that she could hear in her head.

She fell to the floor, tears streaming down her face. "Fletcher…." Even though she had no way of knowing the fate of her mate right now, she could only focus on the worst possibility. It came to her at a slow pace, but over time her sorrow turned to rage. Picking herself back up, Winifred loomed over the two guards, with a deadly look in her eyes.

"Who. Did. This!" Her words were tainted with pure hatred, that burned hotter than any fire dragon could even dream of producing. She didn't care who it was that possibly hurt her mate. She was going to kill them once she found them.

Both guards flinched a little, one even reached for the sword on his hip, scared that she was about to attack them. "Um, w-well mam, f-from what I heard, it was a p-purple dragon."

The color drained from Winifred's face, the fire in her eyes being doused by this reveal.

Was it true, did Malefor return, or was this a new purple dragon? She fell onto her haunches. What hope was there in avenging her mate if it really was Malefor? What if this new purple dragon was as strong as Malefor, or even stronger? She made a silent prayer to her ancestors that this dragon was someone she could take on if given the chance.

Watching the dragon before them wither away before them, the first guard offered some hopeful words.

"I know not being able to go inside is hard, but here me out. They have captured the dragon, and the Guardians are figuring things out right now. With any hope, they will make him hang, and we can move on with our lives."

This did help out a small bit, but Winifred still wasn't satisfied. She sighed as she stood back up. "Thank you both. Sorry to have troubled you." Her voice was soft, almost a whisper, and yet both cheetahs could sense the intense anger in guards gave her a sympathetic look, understanding, to a degree, what she was feeling right now. As she walked away and down the hallways her mind was set on one thing. If the Guardians don't end the purple dragon, she will.

Mildred coughed, as her lungs began to fill with smoke. Her eyes shot open as she began to choke. Before her was a small fire that had started when she at some point knocked over the candle onto the desk as she slept. In a panic, Mildred did her best to put out the fire with her wings. She was glad that it was only a small fire, or else she would have been in deeper trouble.

Letting out a sigh of relief once it was out, she tried to process what happened. She figured she must have passed out at some point while reading through her missing mates journal. Looking at the partly charred desk in front of her, she was glad to find that Malefor's journal was left unharmed by the fire.

She couldn't remember where she had left off, and out of curiosity scanned through it again.

Day 45, Year 712

Greven pulled a funny prank on Master Cyril. According to him, that water bucket trap was meant for me, but I'm more than happy to watch that icey geezer get what he deserves anytime. Granted, Greven got punished and ended up having to spend the rest of the day cleaning up the training grounds after a bunch of the city guards tore the place up. I thought about trying to bail him out, but it was kind of funny watching him struggle to move debris back and forth.

He did get me back for laughing at his misery though. When he finished up, we started heading back to my place. We had to pass the market, and when we passed one of the stands, Greven did something to make the cart shutter. Several fruits rolled off, and fell onto the ground. The owner was screaming his head off at me about being more careful. Worse yet, he didn't even believe me when I told him that it wasn't my fault.

Greven is kind of a jerk like that, but I know he doesn't mean any harm by it. I've seen how he gets when he actually gets angry. I think I even wrote about that a while ago in here. Dude can be a mess of rage. I still think it was a little funny to see him squirm about in anger after I pinned him down.

Speaking of mad, I don't know why I hang out with crazy people. Between Greven getting hyper aggressive, and Mildred getting upset over me bumping into her, I think I might be going crazy. I didn't even run into her that hard. Sure I knocked her over, but she's a big girl. She needs to grow up, that's what I think.

Now for a heart update. Hedate? Upart? No, those are stupid. Note to self, stop trying to combine words.

Anyways, I still haven't learned anything about this other heart beat. I'll be honest, I'm getting kind of tired trying to figure this out. After twelve years, all I have found about it are just theories. Master Volteer seems to think it's part of a grand scheme, the likes of which we don't know or even understand yet. I personally think it belongs to someone important. Who that might be I have no idea.

Maybe it's the Chronicler's heart? I know he is only a myth, but it's said that the Chronicler passes his role down to whom he deems worthy. If that were the case, will I be the next keeper of this world's history? I have to admit, the idea feels intriguing to me. To have the knowledge of anyone at one's disposal. If it's not his heart, then maybe all I need to do is find him! Then I'll be able to figure out who's heartbeat I'm hearing is!

Note to self, look up stuff about the Chronicler.

Anyways, I think that's all that really happened today. At least all that I think is important enough to note down. Hmm. I hate endings, they are so hard to write.

Mildred wore a smile on her face. She remembered those days very well. Malefor was a jerk back then, but he did make a small point in that journal entry. She was far too high strung, and pompous back in the day. She couldn't remember that specific day that Malefor noted in his journal, but she was sure she made his head ring after she was done yelling at him.

As far as she was aware, her mate never did find the Chronicler. Maybe he just gave up on his search, or maybe he just found better things to focus on other than myths. She smirked a bit, as she wondered if she had anything to do with that.

Leaning back on her haunches, Mildred looked towards her closed door. It was rare that she was ever up this late. Most days she would have just gone back to bed, but she wasn't all too tired right now. Maybe that was because she was choking on smoke a moment ago. Regardless, she got up to go check on her daughter.

She wasn't very surprised to find that Cynder wasn't in her room. Mildred knew what Cynder did while her mom was asleep. The real question came to where was she training right now? While a part of her felt that she should respect Cynder's boundaries, it worried her that her daughter might be caught using her elements. At the very least she could just stand from afar and watch what her child had learned.

Leaving her home, Mildred looked around the dark city. "Now if I wanted to hide away, where would I go?"

She had heard from a neighbor about a 'hide out' some of their kids used to play in. There were several of these alleyways between buildings that led to an opening at the end all over town. That would be a cramp, but a usable place to practice. It's possible that Cynder could have gone over to the gardens to train, but she didn't think her daughter would risk making a mess of the area when practicing.

The next question was, which direction did Cynder go? Mildred couldn't help but smirk a little. This was just about the same as hunting some wild animal. Now she felt a little bad for comparing her daughter to a wild animal, but what Cynder didn't know wont hurt her.

Taking somewhat of a wild guess, she started to walk in the direction of the temple. Seeing as her daughter was so interested in the place, it's possible that she would try training somewhere in that direction. All Mildred could really do is wonder around, and hope that Cynder wouldn't actually go into the temple.

Spyro laid his head against the stone walls of his prison cell. It was bitter cold, but it was kind of helping the pounding in his head. Ignitus had just finished explaining what Spyro was doing while he was dreaming of that black void. Or was it even a dream to begin with? He grunted. This whole mess hurt his head whenever he thought about it.

"I didn't hurt anyone, right?" He wasn't sure if it was going to help him feel any better, but knowing if he did do something bad, might help him understand what was going on.

Ignitus shook his head. "You gave us a scare, and threatened both me and the guards, but no one was actually hurt."

Spyro groaned. Why was this happening? Who was that smoke dragon he saw in his dream? Was it the same thing that was controlling him? If so, why did it seem so hesitant towards him, and why didn't it attack anyone? It was probably safe to assume that both that thing and the heartbeat are one and the same, or at the very least connected somehow.

"Do you have any ideas as to why?" Again Ignitus shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. Maybe Volteer might know a thing or two, but as far as i've seen or heard, nothing explains what is happening to you." Spyro shut his eyes, and just tried to keep the head ache down. The fire dragon felt rather sorry for the young dragon, but he couldn't trust him just yet. As far as he knew, Spyro was still a danger to him, and everyone else in Warfang.

Ignitus stood back up. "Spyro, i'm sorry, but I must leave. Me and the other Guardians will need to figure out what is going on. If you can provide us with anything useful, please tell one of the guards you need to speak to us."

Ignitus waited a moment for Spyro to reply, but the purple dragon said nothing. It pained the older dragon to see someone so young be afflicted with whatever was changing him. But that didn't change the fact that Spyro was still a danger to everyone. Seeing no other reason to stay there, Ignitus took his leave.

"Wait." Spyro stopped the elder dragon just before he left the cell. Spyro opened his eyes and looked up at Ignitus, who was staring back at him.

"I don't know if this is true, but I think this thing can only control me when i'm either sleeping or maybe just a weak state of mind. It has only taken over after I fell asleep in here, or when I was sick, and even then it was only after I walked into the Sanctum. I don't know why, but I feel a pull towards that place. Maybe there is something there that could answer your questions."

Ignitus looked uncertain by any of what Spyro was saying. It's possible that he was right about when that dark mist can control him, if it's controlling him that is. The purple dragon hasn't shown any signs of hostility other than when his scales were black, so his theory is possible.

Then there was the issue of the Sanctum. The only thing there were the dragons trapped in Malefor's black crystals. Why would one purple dragon trap them, only for another to kill them? What purpose did these crystal statues hold, if they held any at all? He shook his head. It was best to ask the other Guardians what they thought. Maybe together they can come up with something.

"One more thing." Spyro's words pulled Ignitus out of his thoughts. "When you see Greven again, please tell him that i'm sorry for dragging him into this mess."

Ignitus felt as though a dagger was being pushed into his heart. "I will young dragon. Though I'm sure he holds no resentment towards you. He seems to care a lot about you." Spyro did crack a smile after hearing that.

"Thank you."

Ignitus just nodded before leaving to find the other Guardians. The two guards he had stationed there closed the cell behind the adult dragon before returning to their positions on either side of the jail. As Ignitus walked down the prison, towards Greven's cell, he let out a sigh. He was ready to put this night to an end.

Again, I'm sorry this took so long, and I promise to get the next one out sooner.

That being said, wow a bit was covered here, and it's only part one! I wonder how Winifred is going to treat Spyro once she finds him. What will happen when Cynder reaches the temple? Who knows?