Muras woke with a groan, his vision hazy as he tried to blink away the sleep. He slowly pulled himself off the bed, before stretching his violet body out, yawning widely. He stood upright, smacking his lips, smiling as he realised he had just had one of the best sleeps he'd ever had since returning to Warfang. His time with his family, friends and mentors was also a big help.

He thought back to last night. He'd never felt so safe before. Being with his loved ones did so much for him. Of course now he was back in the living world, and was all alone, but Muras hoped that he wouldn't let that stop him from doing anything. He knew that more torment would be to come however, and while he was prepared for it, he was not ready for it.

He grabbed the book he was reading the night before and opened it, continuing to read it. Barely two hours later he had finished it. The purple dragon sighed as he closed the book, looking back at the shelf full of Volteer's old science books.

There was no way he was going to read any of that. Unfortunately it meant that Muras had to return to the library. To get out in public.

Muras groaned, before he grabbed his book, put it in a satchel, and slung it around his shoulder. With that, he then walked out of the door and down the corridor of the Warfang Temple. He eventually bumped into Logron, who looked at him with surprise.

"Oh! Hi, Muras! You're finally out of your room!" the yellow dragon exclaimed, eyes wide. "Glad to see you're feeling somewhat better!"

"Yeah, my family visited me in a vision last night. So did my mentors, the guardians of my time. It was so good to finally see them again. They… they forgave me," the purple dragon replied, to which Logron raised his eyebrows at. "I never thought they ever would, but they did, and I'm so thankful for that. They gave me courage. Which… I'm going to need. I want a new book."

Logron eyed Muras' satchel, before his gaze went back to stare the other dragon in the eyes. "That's great, Muras. Just… please be careful. I know for a fact that word is out; I've heard people talking about it, and three days is still not a lot of time for people to come to terms with the fact that 'Malefor' is living in our city," Logron said, raising his claws and making air quotation marks as he used Muras' old name.

"I'll try. I would like to stay intact as much as I can," Muras responded with a light chuckle.

"Alright, good luck Muras."

And with that, Muras continued onwards, and eventually ended up at the doors to the Warfang Temple. He hesitated, staring at them with uncertainty. Nervousness filled him and he began to shake.

Muras took a deep, shaky breath, before he raised his paw and pulled open the doors, walking out. He walked as quickly as possible to the library, trying his best not to make eye contact with anyone. He could still see angry, cautious or disapproving looks being sent his way wherever he went, and everybody kept their distance from him. Some would completely bolt in the other direction or down another street at the sight of him. Those that were parents would pick up their children and walk off calmly, as to not provoke aggression from the 'monster'.

Muras' heart stung at this. It happened every moment of every minute he walked to the library. The air was thick with judgement, fear and anger. It hurt Muras to be so distanced from society yet again. Back in the cave, it hadn't fazed him whatsoever, but after being in society and having friends for three weeks now, it pained him more than he thought.

The longer he spent out on the streets, the more he became aware of the rude remarks and death threats thrown at him, as well as people telling their friends and family to shut up, for fear that the purple dragon would retaliate. Muras wanted to, especially when a large ice dragon tackled him to the ground and started to assault him, luckily resulting in a bloody nose at worst, but he fought hard to keep his cool and remained calm and silent, in hopes it would make the Warfangians feel better about him.

It had the exact opposite effect, actually. It made everyone wary of him, worried that the hate and murderous intent was bubbling up inside, and at one point he would snap and start a mini-genocide. Muras hoped that this would subside quickly, but he also knew that it was going to take a very long time for everyone to be friendly towards him again.

Now I know how Cynder felt when she tried to get fitted into society, Muras thought with remorse, a tear swelling up inside his eye. Oh Cynder, I'm so sorry.

His heart twisted again as he thought of her. He'd done this to her. He had ruined her life, robbed her of her childhood, of real friends, and of a family. He'd turned her into someone who loved violence and craved for blood, and that side of Cynder was still there; that bloodlust and sadism had shown up during his torture. He remembered that glint in her eyes from watching her through the convexity crystals Gaul used to carry.

Muras walked into the library, approaching the front counter and pulling out his book to return it. He opened his mouth to say a small greeting to the librarian, but the ice dragoness behind the counter let out an ear-piercing shriek of terror, cowering behind the desk. Muras jumped at the shrill sound, before he let out a sad sigh.

"Miss, I'm not here to hurt you, I promise. I just want to return a book and borrow something else to read," Muras said slowly and calmly.

"You're not allowed in here, you… you… demon!" the dragoness scowled. "Just give the book back and leave!"

She reached out with a shaking paw. Muras stared at it for a couple of seconds, before he let out another sigh, gently placing the book in her paw. The librarian seemed to hesitate at how gentle Muras was, but when she moved, she quickly whipped her paw away, retreating back to her fetal position.

"Go! Get out of here!" she shrieked, tears now forming in her eyes.

Muras just stood there, looking down at her sadly. He realised how young the dragoness was; she appeared to be no more than seventeen. He felt sorry for her, and he backed away as he realised he was scaring her. He hadn't interacted with anyone else in the streets yet; nobody had really been up close to him, apart from the dragon who assaulted him. The blood streaming from his nose didn't make him look all that peaceful either.

The librarian's cries had attracted unwanted attention from about a dozen other people in the library, as well as who appeared to be the manager or the boss. She was an old earth dragoness, in her early two hundreds, a scowl set across her lips.

"Mister Malefor, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," she said sternly, staring at him through narrow eyes. "Harassing people is not allowed, especially younglings like this one, and I'm sorry to say, I'm afraid we can't trust you."

Muras fought his crinkling face. He hated being called Malefor, and he was not harassing the ice dragoness curled up on the ground, holding the book close to her chest. Hell, the old dragoness wasn't even being sorry when she said she was afraid he couldn't be trusted. The way she so blatantly said it to him contradicted the words she was saying.

He swallowed his frustration and tried to speak as calmly as possible. "I'm sorry, miss. I didn't mean to upset this young one," Muras apologised sincerely, trying to choose his words carefully. "All I wanted was to return a book and do some browsing."

The elderly dragoness stared at him with pursed lips and a gaze like stone, and Muras wanted so badly to slap the judging expression off her face. He swallowed again, holding his anger in as best as he could. "I just want to browse, please. I haven't been feeling well emotionally recently, and it'd do me well to do some browsing." Muras pleaded.

"Fine, but you are forbidden to borrow. You can read in here for today, but you will not borrow a book. And after you leave this library, never return," the elderly earth dragoness rasped. "Understood?"

Muras didn't answer. He just stared at the earth dragoness in the eye, meeting her cold stare. How could she just kick him out like that? He loved reading, always had!

"Understood?" she repeated. "Answer me when I speak to you, you damn purple."

"Yes, I understand, Miss…" Muras said, trailing off, not knowing the dragoness' name.

Normally it would be polite to reply with your name, but the dragoness just scoffed. "You're not fit to speak my name, Malefor. Go and do your business, and then leave."

The purple dragon's heart sank. He just blinked, before he nodded slowly. "I… I understand," he murmured, before he slowly turned and made his way to the aisles of books.

A fire burned in his chest at the interaction he had just had; he took deep, heavy breaths to try and calm himself down. It worked, but a small amount of smoke began to rise from his mouth and nostrils as he took those breaths, and the few dragons scattered throughout the library were highly unnerved. Muras sighed as he heard many quiet whimpers and gasps, followed by hushed, shuffling pawsteps as everyone put distance between themselves and him.

Muras channeled his ice element internally to try and cool down his insides and stop the smoke. It didn't take long for the smoke to cease coming out of his mouth and nose, but people still shied away from him. He'd hoped looking calmer and less threatening would help, but everyone was still scared. He knew why, but it still hurt.

He stood in the romance aisle, carefully reading through the titles and author names of each book, picking a few out to read the blurb on the back before putting them back onto the shelves. There was one book however that piqued his interest: Tear of Rejection, by Heredith Krastil. He read the blurb on the back; it seemed interesting. It appeared to be about a young fire dragoness who had been rejected by her family and kicked out at the age of seventeen because she didn't like the dragon she was forced into an arranged marriage with. Out of that isolation she would eventually find the love of her life.

That was all the blurb gave away, but Muras was hooked. He grabbed the book and took it upstairs to the reading floor, sitting down on the ground against the corner of the room, and beginning to read. He didn't want to sit at a table; he knew that the dragons here would tell him to leave. He would spend the whole day here on the floor if he had to, considering this was his only chance to read a book.

Muras was barely two chapters through his book before he was interrupted by a low, hostile growl, ripping him out of the words on the page.

"You."

The purple dragon looked up with a jolt, spotting an earth dragoness in her late twenties staring over him, lips pulled back in a snarl. Muras recognised her from somewhere; he searched his memory.

Right, she was the one who had gotten trapped in the Ghoul Realm just after the cheetahs arrived. Her name was Apata, if his memory served him right.

What did she want from him, though?

"Don't just stare at me!" Apata scowled. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"What? I-I-I'm sorry, I don't really understand," Muras said quietly.

"Don't play dumb with me! You know what you did!"

Muras' eyes widened with realisation at what she might be referring to. "Oh… are you… are you talking about something I did as Malefor?" he asked. "If so, I'm terribly sorry, but I don't remember—"

"Liar!" Apata spat. "You know what you did!"

"I'm sorry, I really don't."

"You killed them! My family! Mother and Harath! You could have at least kept Father alive but no, you killed him too! Father, who sold us out and told you where Rahggen was, so you could invade it and take or kill whoever you wanted!"

"Look, Apata, I'm sorry—"

"You are not fit to speak my name, you monster!"

"Apata, calm down," a new voice piped up.

Both Muras and Apata turned to see Cynder walking up behind them. The green dragoness whirled around with a snarl.

"Don't speak, Terror! You brought him back!" Apata snapped. "And I thought you understood! I thought you understood what happened to me, and then you just… bring him back?!"

"I brought him back before I ever learned of your family history, Apata," Cynder replied, her voice quiet and level, yet intimidating. "Muras is not that monster anymore; he just wants peace."

"Stop defending your Master! He can defend himself!"

"She's right, Cynder," Muras murmured. "I can. I'm fine."

"Then fight me!" Apata roared, her voice getting louder and louder. By now all eyes were on them.

"No!"

"Why not?!"

"Because I just want peace! I don't want to fight! I don't like violence. I just want to forget my old life and start anew."

Conflict flooded Apata's face. She huffed a few times before she let out a frustrated growl, whirling around and stomping away to an empty table at the other end of the room to read the book she was holding.

Cynder sighed sadly. "Hey, I'm sorry about that," she murmured.

"Don't be. It's fine, don't worry about it," Muras said, shrugging it off.

"I worry anyway."

"Why? I ruined your life; you should hate me."

"You know why."

"You tortured me."

Cynder hesitated. Her eyes flicked away from the purple dragon sitting in front of her, unable to hold his gaze. She let out a long exhale, before sitting down beside Muras. "Look, I'm sorry about that. I really am. I… I don't know, I still have really conflicted thoughts about that. About you. But underneath all of that I really do think you've changed. You show absolutely zero signs of the Malefor I know," she murmured.

Muras didn't reply. There was an uncomfortable silence between them, and Muras even squashed himself further into the wall he was sitting against, feeling somewhat uncomfortable sitting beside Cynder.

"I'm glad to see you're out and about though," Cynder piped up again. "I felt really bad after what you said, you know."

"Cynder. I'm fine. I'll be fine. Stop worrying about me. This is my life, my chance to redeem myself. I don't want others having to do it for me. I'm very much capable of doing it myself," Muras insisted.

The dragoness just smiled, nodding her head before she stood and turned to leave. She paused, before turning around again. "Did you have any problems coming in?"

"A few," Muras admitted. "I scared the hell out of the poor girl at the front desk, and the manager told me to get lost. I managed to persuade her to let me in, but she said after I leave, I'm not allowed back in."

"Are you serious? That's a whole load of—" Cynder cut herself off in a groan as she stormed downstairs.

It didn't take long before Muras heard the voices of Cynder and the manager tearing into each other. Then Cynder's voice faded, and she was gone. Muras sighed, before turning his head to look at Apata, sitting at the other side of the room. He only wished he could remember what happened to her and her family so he could properly understand and apologise to her. She'd given him the basic rundown but he didn't have all of the information and was still pretty lost.

Whatever happened though, it wasn't good. He knew that for a fact.

With a sigh, the purple dragon returned to his book, reading for another five hours. It was past lunch-time; he was hungry and tired. He couldn't finish the book, especially after five hours straight of reading. It was a very large book, and it also didn't help that his mind had not been entirely focused on the book here and there.

Muras was constantly aware of people walking in to read, giving him harsh, judging or terrified looks, and avoiding him. Many curses and rude remarks were also uttered to him as people walked past. Apata had also left an hour and a half after she arrived and almost started a fight with him, and she gave him a small string of harsh, foul curses upon leaving. She even whacked him across the face with her mace-like tail 'accidentally' as she swung her tail side to side behind her.

The fear and hatred was strong in the room. He hated it. He missed being a red dragon. Muras had friends when he was red.

But his real self had been shown to the world, and there was no point hiding it now that everyone else knew.

He was purple, and for the rest of his life he would stay that way.

Muras stood with a groan, closing his book. He knew he wouldn't be able to finish it, but he had come to terms with that over the past five hours. There were a few gasps that arose as he stood and walked off, attention being drawn to the purple dragon.

He made his way to the aisle to return the book, but just before he walked down it, he was stopped with a tap on the shoulder. He turned around to see the elderly earth dragoness from earlier that morning standing in front of him. Muras sighed, preparing himself for another scolding. "Did you want to borrow that book, mister?" she asked instead, and Muras' eyes widened with shock. Did she really just say that?

"Uh… yes, miss," Muras mumbled, and the manager beckoned him to follow her. They filled out the paperwork, and he had officially borrowed out his book.

"See you later," the dragoness said, baffling Muras even more, but he didn't bother to ask.

He remembered Cynder arguing with the dragoness a few hours earlier. She probably forced the manager to allow Muras to borrow the book. Cynder could be scary and threatening, and he knew that; she could easily have forced the old dragoness to let him come back and borrow books.

Muras silently thanked Cynder as he walked out of the door, although he wished that she didn't worry over him too much. He made his way back to the Warfang Temple, getting greeted by Logron once again.

They went out for a late lunch, as per Logron's suggestion, which was very quick as all Muras wanted to do was eat and go back, especially since there were extra complications with the staff at the restaurant because they didn't want to serve 'Malefor'. Muras could see in the yellow dragon's eyes that he felt bad for him.

When they got back, Muras shut himself away again, having been out in the open for so long and not wanting to put up with any more hatred. He spent the rest of the afternoon continuing his book, and getting some sleep.

And that's another chapter finished woohoo! Really hope you all liked this one!

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MysticFire824: Hey, glad to see you here lol; I've said most of this stuff in DMs, but I'm really glad you liked the previous chapter with the more heartwarming approach to it; I feel like it's something that was needed and I think at that specific point in the story it fit well. And I hope to see you here more often but I 100% understand if it's not your cup of tea; I know I'm certainly excited to see you for the next GEM chapter.

Dragon of Mystery: Yup, surely is a huge relief to Muras lol; it's good to have him finally starting to get forgiveness and all that, albeit slowly, especially in the living world. And yes, Spyro's been blocked from the ancestors for a while now; if you remember back to when Terrador met Ignitus in his dreams, Ignitus mentioned this back then lol.

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Anyway, that's it for now; hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all with another chapter of something sometime soon haha; bye!