Nothing lasts forever. Nothing is eternal. Everything is lost in the elemental turmoil.
The world was destroyed, and yet it was not. Fragments of burning rock that had been flung into the air returned to the world's core, massive chunks of land the size of continents slowly pulled back into their proper places, and at the center of it all were two dragons. One was purple, the other an ebon shade.
As the chunks of earth returned to their rightful places, and the dragon realms were restored, all was peaceful.
At this time, in this age of peace, dragons prospered. What once was a dying race began to flourish again. Dragons that had hidden from Malefor's dark armies once more emerged to see the world. Dragons of elements that had previously been thought extinct.
Wind dragons, as rare as they were, returned in force. Dragons with elements of shadow, though shunned at first, appeared from their hiding places to see the world after Malefor's defeat. New elements appeared, appearing from what seemed like nowhere.
All was calm.
But the job of the Chronicler is to document the events of a new era, to ensure that the world goes on. If there were no events, there would be no need for a Chronicler.
It should probably be stated, peace doesn't exactly bring many noteworthy events.
Peace so rarely lasts, either.
In a small village, far from the dragon city of Warfang or the dragon temple of legend, there was unrest.
Not spread throughout the village, as it was not a great issue, but it meant the world to two parents living there.
"It's not natural, Jaya," A deep voice protested. "The egg was dead, colorless. Even spirit gems could not restore its color, and we used hundreds! It should not have hatched at all."
"Teneris! You cannot just dismiss this miracle! Our son survived, and that is all that matters." Jaya pulled the hatchling closer to herself, warming the child.
"It does not even have an element," Teneris continued.
"Does he need one? The purple dragon has ensured peace, now that he is gone." Jaya gently nuzzled her child, her amber eyes twinkling in the firelight.
Teneris sighed, looking at the sleeping hatchling. "It is unnatural."
"You keep saying that." The blue dragoness retorted. She shifted the hatchling to a cushion, curling up around it. "Yet I see it as a gift from the Ancestors."
The dark scaled shadow dragon sighed again, and was silent for a few moments. "What should we name it?"
Jaya was lost in thought, closing her eyes as she considered. "I do not know."
Both of the dragons remained silent, the only sound the crackling of the fire. When at last Teneris spoke, he spoke quietly. "Null."
"Null? As in, nothing?" Jaya opened her eyes, looking at Teneris with an angry glare.
"It has no element, it would be a fitting name," Teneris reasoned. "After all, is it not tradition to name a child after their element?"
"Very well then." Jaya's voice was calmer, more accepting. "Null."
"He's so… strange," The teacher commented, looking out the window. The hatchlings were all outside playing together, likely a game of tag.
"How so?" Jaya asked.
"He always has odd mannerisms, and everything he touches just… fails," Ferrus explained. The iron-scaled earth dragon shook his head. "The other day we were going over elements and their properties, but he continued to ignore what I said. When I asked him why he wasn't paying attention, he replied that he would never need to know about the elements."
Outside, one boisterous hatchling ran into another, smaller hatchling. The larger of the two got up and ran off, but the smaller remained on the ground.
"I know you said he has no element, but I cannot help but wonder if it's suppressed." Ferrus watched Null, the young dragon who had been knocked over. "He has the coloration of a shadow dragon, if that shadow dragon was covered in grass stains. Even if he has no element, it does not explain the spirit gems. He absorbed a whole cluster of the green gems just the other day, but they had no effect on him. It's self-contradicting."
Null finally climbed to his paws, shaking the dirt off of his dark green scales. Looking at the others playing, Null sighed deeply and walked off, resting under a tree.
"His energy is odd too. At some times he is full of energy, ready to act. Yet at others, he is so tired, as though he hasn't slept in days. It fluctuates almost randomly," Ferrus continued. "I cannot help but wonder if he has some element that is as yet undiscovered. So many are popping up these days. Just a week ago a dragon passed through who claimed to speak to the dead."
Ferrus sighed. "I cannot help but wonder what goes through his head…"
"I wanna be like Spyro!" Apex announced, jumping up on a rock. The wind dragon always had an overactive imagination, and so often said things without prompting.
"Why?" Null asked. He didn't really understand the other hatchlings. They were so energetic all the time, and they always made such huge leaps in logic. It made no sense. You had to follow logic all the way through, otherwise you would make mistakes.
"Because he saved the world," Apex said as though it was obvious. "He's a hero!"
"But what did he do?" Null inquired curiously. He had heard some of the stories of the purple dragon who saved the world, but not many.
"Spyro killed the Destroyer, and the Golem, and he defeated the Terror of the Skies, and he took down the Skavengers!" Apex said all of it without taking a breath, only now pausing to breathe.
"Who's the Terror of the Skies?" Null thought he recognized the title, but he wasn't sure.
"You don't know who Cynder is?!" Apex's jaw dropped.
"Oh. Spyro's mate, Cynder?" Null tilted his head.
"Yeah, her." Apex's normal energetic attitude dampened. "She's scary. My dad says that she's still under Malefor's control, because if she wasn't she would have lost her fear, poison, and shadow elements. Dad also says that she'll probably turn back into that monster again when she's fully grown, so the guardians need to keep an eye on her."
"Didn't Cynder help Spyro defeat Malefor?" Null asked.
"Yeah, but she used to work for Malefor. She might just be waiting until we trust her before she brings him back. That's what dad says." Apex shuddered.
Null was silent as he thought. "I wanna be like Cynder."
"Why?" Apex almost screeched.
"Because without Cynder, Spyro wouldn't have beat Malefor," Null explained. "And nobody trusts me, or shadow dragons. Nobody trusts Cynder, but she saved the world anyways."
"You're weird, Null." Apex muttered, hopping down from the rock and walking off.
Null just watched him go, confused. "Why doesn't anyone ever understand?"
"Why doesn't anyone ever understand?"
As an adolescent dragon, life was more or less hellish for Null. He was always feeling sick and weak, and spirit gems rarely did anything to help it. Coordination was pretty impossible, seeing as his body was in the middle of growing. He often found himself tripping over his own paws or cutting himself with his sharper tailblade.
The biggest problem wasn't even him, it was his element. Rather, his lack of an element. It was infuriating, not being able to connect to any elements. The worst part was how others treated him. As though he were some other species, or had deliberately blocked his element. Sometimes he wished he was another species, that way he wouldn't have to deal with other dragons treating him as inferior.
Null padded out of the village, heading to his favorite place to relax. It may have just been a simple cave full of spirit gems, but it was calming.
At least, as long as he didn't accidentally touch any more clusters…
When he eventually reached the cave, something felt off. Null had always had better senses than most other dragons, and he prided himself on that. He wasn't fast, he wasn't strong, and he lacked an element, but he was smart and he was observant.
Null breathed in the scent, then sighed. "Apex, where are you?"
"Every time…" The white dragon dropped from the ceiling. He had grown into quite an impressive young dragon, with a finned tail and an impressive wingspan, it wasn't difficult to tell that he was built for flying. He shook his head. "How do you do it?"
"You didn't even try to disguise your scent this time," Null answered, looking around at the spirit gems. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of them in the cave, and Null hadn't even gone very far in. He paused in front of one particular spirit gem, its color drained and turned to a reflective black. He looked at his reflection.
His red eyes, his almost undernourished and skeletal form, and his ebony black horns gave plenty of people reasons to call him a demon. Null shook his head and looked away. That gem was his fault. He never should have tried to break a gem while angry.
"Y'know, I've always wondered how spirit gems work. They shatter at the slightest touch, grow back in mere minutes, and they heal and energize dragons." Apex poked a green spirit gem, causing part of the crystal to break off and shatter on the ground. The green fragments flew through the air and sank into his scales. "It's really weird."
"You think everything is weird." Null shot Apex a glance.
"That's because nothing in this world makes any sense," Apex shot back. He slowly padded over to the colorless spirit gem. "What happened to this one?"
Null sighed. "I did."
"Whoah, you transformed a spirit gem?" Apex circled the gem, his glimmering blue eyes locked on it. "I thought you didn't have an element."
"I didn't transform it, it's dead." Null poked the gem, showing that it didn't shatter like it should. "It's just a crystal structure now."
"You took the spirit out of a spirit gem." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Apex just looked at Null and blinked. "That's… weird."
"You think everything is weird." Null sighed, sinking down to lay on the cave floor.
Apex sighed as well, lying next to him. "I'm sorry about the others."
Null blinked. "Why? You didn't make them hate me."
"That doesn't make me less sorry. Dad hates you because he's a racist and prejudiced bigot, mom hates you because she's weakminded and shallow, all the other dragons our age are just morons." Apex took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "And I'm sorry about your dad."
"Again, it's not your fault." It did hurt though, to be reminded of his father. Teneris had left them a few years ago, because he couldn't deal with having a 'freak' as his child. Mom had done her best, but there was only so much a single dragoness could do.
"At least you don't treat me like a freak," Null said.
"Hey, if I wasn't your friend, nobody would be." Apex grinned. "But you are a freak."
Null could feel a smile twitching at the edges of his mouth. "Oh, and you aren't? Last I checked, you're the one who downed half of a boar in a single go."
"Hey, it takes a lot of fuel to keep this machine going." Apex laughed. "And you're the one who was so confused about games. I thought you didn't know what fun was!"
"Tag does not make sense. Why run in circles chasing one another? It's such a waste of energy," Null protested with a laugh in his tone.
"Okay, got me there," Apex admitted. He looked around the cave again, then stood up. "Hey, did you ever see what was further down?"
"No." Null shook his head. "It isn't safe."
"Oh c'mon! We're both almost fifteen years old, how dangerous could it be? Spyro was younger than us when he went on his adventure."
And that was Apex's trump card. He knew full well how much Null looked up to Spyro and Cynder, the saviors of the world. How much he would love to follow in their footsteps, to gain the acceptance he craved.
"Fine." Null pushed himself up. "Let's go see what's down there."
"Alright!" Apex immediately darted off into the cave, slipping between the spirit gems like a snake through the grass.
Null rolled his eyes and followed. Apex left a clear scent trail through the cave, even if his serpentine body had vanished from sight already.
As he followed his white-scaled companion through the cave, Null was careful to avoid touching the spirit gems. He didn't want to kill another cluster, that just seemed… disrespectful. It was forbidden to attack the roots of a spirit gem cluster because it would kill the cluster, so killing them by touching them felt even worse. Spirit gems were a gift from the ancestors and were to be treasured and appreciated.
Although this winding tunnel was a pain in the tail…
"What do you think is down here?" Apex asked excitedly. "Treasure? Magic armor? Maybe some of the rare blue spirit gems?"
"Probably more rock." Null suggested, carefully slipping past two tightly packed red spirit gems.
Apex gasped. "You're gonna want to see this."
"See what? More spirit gems? More rock? Maybe an underground…" He trailed off as he emerged into a massive cavern.
The height of the cavern was impossible in magnitude, more than enough for a full-grown dragon to fly around multiple times. Incredible growths of crystals were scattered around the cavern, with streams of pure water flowing through and around them. The water pooled around the edge of the cavern, flowing into the massive pit that was the center.
Both of the young dragons slowly inched forwards, looking down into the pit. Just barely visible was a glimmer of purple at the bottom. Apex peeked over the edge. "Wonder what's down there…"
Then, before Null could stop him, the wind dragon launched himself down into the pit.
"Apex, you stupid idiot!" Null threw himself after his friend, not willing to allow him to plummet to his death.
The air rushed past Null's face as he began falling faster and faster. He had no clue how far down this pit went down, and he half suspected it didn't have a true bottom.
Maybe it went down to the core?
But wait, that was… ridiculous.
Right?
Eventually something came into sight, far down the pit. A glimmering purple crystal, far larger than any gemstones that Null had ever seen. It kind of reminded him of spirit gems, but far more massive. He could almost feel the energy radiating off of it, further cementing the idea that it was some sort of spirit gem.
"Whoa…" Apex slowly descended. "What is this?"
Null slowed himself to a halt in the air, hovering above the massive crystal. If it was a spirit gem of some sort, he didn't want to risk causing it to die like the other one.
Apex, however, had no such qualms. He quickly landed on the giant purple crystal, marveling at the refraction of light off of the surface. "This is amazing! It's like, some sort of mega spirit gem!"
"Apex, maybe we should go now…" Null muttered. Something didn't feel right about this place.
"I dunno… it's so… shiny." Apex trailed off, staring into the heart of the crystal.
Null slowly flew closer, trying to grab his friend's attention. "We really should leave now."
"No…" Apex looked up, his cerulean eyes nothing more than a luminous white. "I think we'll stay here."
The white dragon's scales had wisps of grey snaking through them, slowly overtaking the normal coloration and changing him into something far more sinister. With a vicious snarl, Apex launched himself at Null, crashing into the dark green dragon and causing the two to hit the crystal with a thud.
Then, just like that, Apex's color returned to normal, and his luminous eyes dimmed back to blue. "What… what just happened?"
"Apex, what the hell?!" Null sputtered.
"I… this crystal's weird, man. Let's get out of here." Apex quickly flapped his wings, rising above the crystal. "I swear, that wasn't me."
"Yeah, whatever." Null shook his head and pushed himself off of the purple crystal. "I told you not to touch it."
"I should've listened." Apex shuddered. "That was so weird."
"You think everything is weird."
"Yeah, but that was just… weird. I wasn't me." Apex shook his head.
"That makes no sense," Null replied, looking down at the crystal and finding himself shivering. He thought he saw something moving, deep within the gemstone. "Let's get out of here."
"I'm with you there…"
Apex summoned a strong updraft of wind, pushing the two young dragons well out of the pit and back into the cave of spirit gems.
But what neither of them expected to happen was for a strange effect to take place within the crystal that they had landed on. Arcs of purple lightning shot from the core of the world, each one striking at the surrounding earth and sending a shockwave of elemental power coursing through the planet.
And in the core of the crystal, a soul far more powerful than anything else the world had ever known opened its luminous yellow eyes.
The elemental turmoil has begun.
A/N:
So, I've been a fan of the Spyro games ever since I could remember. Heck, one of the original games was among the first video games I've ever played. Unfortunately, I missed out very, very sorely when The Legend of Spyro trilogy was in its heyday, and only recently have I found it. Skylanders was a disappointment. Though not bad in and of itself, it just isn't Spyro. Unfortunately, it may be the reason we never get another real Spyro game.
But I digress. This is just the first chapter of a fic that I really don't know where I'm going with. Yet. I'll have a grand story and sequels plotted out by chapter three. Until then, enjoy what I have so far.
In case it wasn't blatantly obvious, this is set after DotD.
Please, review and let me know what you think!
Now read on!
