"Little one…" a voice beckoned. Meredy blinked her eyes open but found not the park or her caretakers, but an empty black void, with nothing but a few glints of light along the 'ceiling'. Suddenly fear overtook the young dragon. Wait, am I alone again? Where am I?" The empty void she found herself in unnerved her.
"Little one… do not be afraid " a soft voice called again.
Meredy, however, was not listening. Tears started in her eyes, as she curled in on herself.
The voice seemed to sigh. To the girl's surprise, the scenery started changing. "My apologies, I should have known the usual scenery of my domain would be… frightening for one so young." The voice said.
To the hatchling's bewilderment, the scene changed to one of an endless field of lush grass, with a sunny, cloudless sky. To her further surprise, a ball of light manifested before her, white in color. However, it did not stay that way for long. Instead, it shifted into the form of a small dragoness, a bit shorter than most adults Meredy had seen. She was completely golden in color and seemed to glow a tad bit. She was rather nondescript as far as dragons went; in fact, she was somewhat translucent. All Meredy could see really was a warm smile on her golden muzzle, and welcoming, orange eyes. Unlike other dragons she did not know, this one looked… friendly. The hatchling felt an odd feeling of calmness wash over her when she looked up at this dragoness. Almost like she instantly knew she would not hurt her.
"My apologies for the less-than-optimal introduction little one. I should have known from the start a form and scene like this would be of more comfort." She said, in a soothing, angelic voice.
Meredy looked up curiously, her fear vanishing. "Up-too-mel? What is that?"
The dragoness chucked a bit and smiled. "Do not worry about it, dear.: She leaned down to nudge the hatchling as if in a gesture of friendliness. Perhaps this was just something dragons did...
"You are pretty," Meredy said, admiring her golden sheen. . The golden dragoness gave a slight smile.
"That's very kind of you, my child. But unfortunately, my dear, I can not idle. I must speak to you." She responded. She leaned down and picked up the hatchling with her maw. The golden dragoness then adjusted into a sitting position. She deposited the hatchling to her side, wrapping her tail around the shadow dragon.
Meredy felt comforted but confused. She looked up at the dragoness, who lowers her muzzle to the hatchling's level.
"My dear, I am sorry." She dragoness said.
Meredy tilted her head in confusion. "Sorry? For what?"
"For all of this. You should not have been plucked from your life like you were. You should not have been dragged into all this." She said.
"Dragged into what? What do you mean?" She inquired, barely knowing the words or comprehending what she was talking about.
The dragoness gave her a slight nudge. "Dear, you are much too young to know. Even if I were able to explain it, I doubt you will understand."
Meredy was confused. "Understand what?"
The golden dragoness sighed. " It is difficult to explain it all... but I will do my best. My child, you are very special. And there are those who would use you for their ends. I am forbidden from saying more for I cannot interfere; my presence here is all I am allowed, I am afraid."
The hatchling did not grasp anything she was told. "Why not? Who are you talking about? Why? Did I do something wrong? Can I apologize?" Meredy asked, worried
The golden dragoness gave her a maternal smile.
"You have done no wrong, my dear. Though your birth element is considered tainted by some, your heart is pure; purer than most. This I can see. You may be young, but I can see the compassion in you. You could not have done something to incite this." She said, giving the hatchling a comforting lick in the muzzle."
Meredy nuzzled her back. It was weird; she lacked a name but this dragoness felt like an old friend or loved one to her. Her very presence was comforting and soothed the young hatchling.
The dragoness spoke on as she comforted the hatchling. "I am sorry, though, that I dragged you into this. But it was the only thing I could do to help…" The golden dragoness said.
Meredy was worried. "Help? With what? What is happening?" She pleaded.
"Dark forces grow, my dear. Something has been set into motion. But know this: you will not be alone. You have many who will care for and protect you. I know it is confusing but it will all make sense in time…"
Suddenly Meredy's vision went dark.
"My child, my time is up. I cannot say more… but a wise dragon I know can help you further." The dragoness said as the hatchling's vision faded.
Remember, my child... stay true to your heart…" she said, before fading.
"Wait, what do you mean?" The girl tried asking. But it was too late, her vision went black.
Meredy blinked herself awake again. As she yawned, she looked around, only to find herself in some sort of white room. It was carved out of what seemed like white stone. It seemed very ornate but there were a great many bookshelves around too, all much larger than Meredy.
"Cynder. Spyro, where are we?" She asked as she blinked her eyes.
However, as she looked around she realized she was alone. Her caretakers were not around.
Before that could even sink in, she heard heavy paw steps entering the room. She turned her head to see a massive blue dragon, warding a cloak, entering the room. He looked above Meredy, as if expecting to see something.
"What could that have been?" he said as he was waking in. As he entered the room, he looked around. He raised a brow as if expecting to see someone there. From where he looked, he may have expected a dragon of his height or something larger.
Meredy began to tear up, confused and scared at the massive dragon. The blue dragon gasped in surprise at hearing the girl's sniffling and finally looked down.
"… why you're just a hatchling…" he said, bewildered.
Ignitus was confused about what he was seeing. Of all things he expected to find, he did not expect a hatchling this young. To his further bafflement, Meredy began crying. She curled in on herself and bawled her eyes out.
The blue dragon raised a brow, uncertain of what to do. He had lowered himself to the ground, trying to make himself seem less intimidating.
"Don't cry, little one. I am sorry. I did not mean to scare you-"
Meredy only cried more. Ignitus nudged her gently with his muzzle.
"W-where… a-am I? Who are you?" The child sputtered. "Where are Spyro and Cynder?"
The blue dragon blinked. She was flustered, though the mention of Spyro and Cynder gave him pause. However, he had to attend to her first. "I am the chronicler. "
"What's that?" The hatchling inquired. The blue dragon opened his mouth to respond but he stopped himself, realizing it was a very young hatchling he was talking to. She would not understand what this role meant. He was considered mostly a legend anyways. What would a hatchling barely in, as other species called it, their 'toddler' stage know?
"Umm, my name is Ignitus. You are here, in my…home ." He explained, trying to watch his words so that she might understand.
The hatchling looked up. "Is this a library? Mommy says books are always in libraries."
A library was not how he would normally put it, as it was so much more than just that, but for the sake of convenience, he would roll with it. It was not inaccurate per se, of course. "Why, yes. You could certainly call it one." He responded.
"My child, I am much more. You see, I watch over the stories of all dragons, both past and present. I was appointed by the ancestors to-" he stopped when he saw the vacant confusion on the child's face. The child blinked at him.
"Huh?" She asked."
"Why yes, I am a librarian." He said simply. Ignitus inwardly groaned. In his past life, he had given many lectures and had grown accustomed to giving long was not good at speaking in the laconic, simple manners a hatchling of this age required.
Meredy smiled. "Oh, does that mean you can read me a story?"
Ignitus sighed. "Well, yes. Perhaps, but there are a few things I need to do first…" he said, contemplating what to do. He had not brought her here and was not sure how a baby hatchling made it in. He might as well see what he could gather. "My dear... how did you get in here? It is... quite hard to do so.
Meredy shrugged. "A golden dragoness in a large field was talking to me before this. She said something about a wise dragon helping me. Are you the wise dragon?" She asked.
Ignitus raised a brow but smiled. "I hope so. It is my role as a... librarian of course," he said. The mention of a golden dragoness and a field rang a bell in his mind. It was often the form a celestial dragon took when addressing others, he knew. It was how he saw this celestial each time he spoke to her. But that would be something he takes up with her, not this girl. There was another question he had, though. "My dear, you mentioned Spyro and Cynder. Are they... watching you?"
Meredy raised a brow. " They take care of me while mommy is gone. They are super nice." She said.
Igniuts smiled. "So they took in a hatchling, eh?" He thought. The pair he knew to be very kind-hearted. "They are good friends of mine. I am glad to hear they are looking after you." He said. It was true, he was glad to hear at least this child was being cared for. But it was also convenient; Spyro knew Ignitus. He could address the purple dragon with his concerns and questions. For now, though, he must attend to this hatchling. "My dear, will you come with me for a moment? Perhaps I can take you to somewhere a bit better to talk."
Meredy nodded and allowed the elder dragon to lift her with his tail and onto his back. He brought her back into his main office and set her on the desk. From here, he used his magic to will a book to float in from a nearby shelf. Said book was black and blue on the spike and cover.
"Give me one moment." He said to the hatchling, as he flipped the book open. It was, in truth, her book. Seeing her now confirmed as much to the older dragon. All dragons s had books chronicling their lives in the white isle. Sure enough, it was still blank. What that meant he did not know. "It's supposed to chronicle all dragons of this realm's lives. But she... is something different." He thought to himself.
Ignitus sighed. He was getting nowhere with this. He contemplated his actions. He could ask her more pressing or deeper questions but he knew from prior experience with young hatchlings, they were not very articulate. And then there is the fact he was concerned about violating her privacy. A somewhat hypercritical concern given how he has entered other's dreams before he knew, but his role as chronicler ducted he does so at times. He had his reasons to ask in the first place, of course; usually to help the dragon in question. But interrogating a young hatchling was not the way to do this, nor would it be of much help. If anything, he felt it best to ask some kind of guardian of hers He simply sighed. There were so many questions he had about her.
"Why are the books floating?" The hatchling's voice broke him from his pondering. He glanced at her in the table. She was gazing up at the books floating around, a confused look on her face.
Ignitus chuckled. "That, my dear, is one facet of White Isle. These books are enchanted with magic beyond that of a normal dragon. As for why they are floating right now, we'll, I am reorganizing a few shelves." He chuckled.
The shadow hatchling shrugged. "That's cool. But what is the White Isle?"
"Where you are now dear." He answered.
"So it's an island but white?" She inquired, tilting her head in curiosity.
"Well, it's more than that… " he began, before catching himself. How much would a hatchling her age understand of the Isle's nature?
"Yes, you could say that." He stated simply. "Well, think of it like you left your- you are dreaming." He corrected himself. The process of leaving one's body spiritually was difficult to explain.
Meredy raised a brow. "So… you are part of my dream?"
"Y-yes, in a way." He said, trying to keep it to where she could understand.
"Oh! If this is my dream, can I make it an adventure?"She inquired.
The adult dragon raised a brow. "What?"
"You know, dreams can be whatever we want right? Can this dream be an adventure?" She asked again.
The elder dragon sighed. He looked down at her amused. "Little one, it's… more complicated than that. Think of it like your, umm, dream is set as what it is."
Meredy shrugged. "Ok. So can you read me a story?"
Ignitus smiled. That question was much of an understatement. Being a chronicler, he had infinite stories he could tell, but for this little one, he would stick to the classics. The "three dragons and the troll" would suffice. It was a tale about three dragons trying to cross a bridge and being charged by a troll. Sure they could just fly over but it was a children's fable after all.
"I believe I have just the thing..." he said, going to get a book and bringing it back. Meredy eagerly sat on the desk as the older dragon brought a book to read. He opened it and began reading it. "Once upon a time..."
Sometime later, the hatchling had awoken. The hatchling blinked her eyes awake and yawned. What a weird dream that had been, but a nice one. Those two dragons seemed friendly for dream figures. And one even read her the three goats, er, dragons. It sounded a lot like the story her mom read her...
She stood on top of that large mat in the center of the room. Funnily enough, to the side of it was a large couch as well, though. As if to accommodate bipedal or humanoid guests. Meredy hopped on top of it to get a better view of the room. Once on top of the couch, she peered over to the kitchen. Cynder seemed to be preparing something, stirring what looked like a pot on an elevated stove-like fixture. She was using her paws to do so. What was weird was how large everything in the kitchen was that a dragon could do this. Regardless the view made Meredy think of her mother when she prepared dinner.. back in her old home. Meredy could smell the food from here, and it was nothing short of wonderful. She did not dwell much on the memories though.
"Smells good." The hatchling called. Cynder turned around with a smile but it faded quickly to panic when she saw the hatchling on her ledge.
"Young hatchling, get down from there right now!" She said, hurrying over and grabbing Meredy in her maw. She set the child gently on the floor.
"What's wrong?" She asked, tilting her head.
"Don't climb things without permission, young hatchling. You could have fallen and hurt, stay close and play a bit. I need to finish dinner. " She said sternly, before going back to finish her dish.
Meredy sighed and looked around. She did not have any toys out right now, but there was plenty to explore around. And Meredy had an active imagination.
So, she began to explore around for a bit, trying to think up an adventure to go on. She still has her explorer's cloak on after all. Wearing it made her feel mysterious and heroic! She felt she could go on any adventure she wished. But being a hero, she needed her mighty weapon. She looked around for something to use to play with, but then saw something under the mantel that made her gasp in surprise.
A curved sword, with a black handle and a sharp curved blade, was sitting just next to the fireplace, barely visible behind some crates full of banners or decorations. It was a bit bigger than her, but she was sure it would still be fun to play with or look at. It was just the thing she knew adventurers would use.
"Oh cool, a sword!" She exclaimed loudly. She started walking over to it at a brisk pace. However, as she got closer to the nodded edge, she heard a panicked gasp and the sound of hurried paw steps heading her direction from the kitchen.
"Oh, my Ancestors!" Cynder exclaimed. Within seconds, she made a mad dash to the shadow hatchling and quickly grasped her by the scruff of the neck, right before she could touch the blade. Meredy was caught off guard by this and looked up innocently as she dangled from Cynder's jaw. Her guardian seemed to glare at the weapon. She shifted to standing on three legs held out a paw and sat Meredy on it and grasped her lightly.
"Sssspyrroooooo!" She called, angry. Her mate quickly appeared in the room from a nearby hallway. Cynder glared at him.
"Yes?" He inquired.
Cynder gestured to the scimitar and then to the hatchling in her paw. It took all four seconds for Spyro to piece that together. He grew wide-eyed and sheepish. "I am so sorry! I thought-"
"What was that doing there? I thought you moved all your display weapons earlier." She stated sternly.
"I-I left it out by accident when moving the stuff from the mantle earlier. I guess I forgot it when I set the others down." He said.
Cynder sighed. "Well you need to be more careful, the little one almost cut herself on it," Cynder said. "You can't just leave dangerous objects out like that!"
Spyro nodded profusely. "You're right, I was a fool to leave it there.." He said.
Cynder sighed. "I love you, Spyro, but truly you have to be more careful. We have a little one to look after, now ." She said, glancing at Meredy. Spyro nodded.
"Sorry. I thought had all the weapons from there a few minutes ago when I took the others… I will be more careful to double-check next time.
Meredy blinked and stared at the two. "What is wrong? It's just a sword." She stated. "Nothing happened anyways."
Her caretakers looked at her and back to one another. Meredy could not gel what thought was shared between them.
"Don't fret it, little one," Spyro said. "I'll go ahead and move it now." The purple dragon added, glancing at his mate.
"Can you watch it here while I finish dinner then, too? She just woke up and this demands my full attention." Cynder mentioned.
Spyro nodded. "Of course. I was done with my scrolls anyways." He said. Cynder sighed and nuzzled him. She nodded.
Spyro took the sword away to his office while Cynder moved to the main sitting mat and attended to Meredy. For her part, the child did not quite understand the drama. Why argue when nothing happened? She was just getting a tool for her game…
After a minute or two, Spyro was back and the shadow dragon was passed to him. Cynder resumed making dinner. In the meantime, Spyro was playing silly games with Meredy, such as lifting her with his tail. She laughed and smiled.
"So, little one, did you have sweet dreams?" He asked her, while she rode the adult's tail like a ride.
Meredy smiled. "Yeah. I had this dream where a golden dragoness said hello and sent me to some White Island or something. It has a library with floating books and stuff." She explained.
Spyro seemed to go wide-eyed and gasped. He set her on his back and looked at her, trying to mask his surprise. "Oh… that's interesting." He said, a bit anxiously. He looked Meredy straight in the eye. "Did… you happen to see anyone there?" He inquired. Meredy thought for a second. "A nice blue dragon. I think he said he was called the chronicle or something. He told me stories."
Spyro looked shocked for half a moment before his face went to a more stoic expression.
"That's… interesting." He said, in an incredulous tone. He hummed a bit and glanced at his mate in the kitchen. A smile crossed his face rather quickly. "Hey I know… how about we give you a surprise." He said.
Meredy looked up, and her eyes grew wide in excitement. "Oh, oh. Yes! I love surprises." The hatchling said, bouncing up and down in excitement.
Sure enough, the purple dragon went and got something from a nearby cabinet. When he placed it in her held-out paws, the girl opened her eyes and smiled. A toy ball, made of what seemed to be a plastic-like material. It was not plastic per se, but very soft and malleable. "Oh, a ball. Thank you!" She said, happily beginning to chase it around.
Preoccupied with her new toy, she missed an anxious look Spyro shot over at Cynder...
( elsewhere)
In a town, far away from the reaches of Warfang, a shadow dragoness walked through the streets. She had black scales, a dark blue underbelly, horns, and wing membranes. Everywhere she has gone in town during the past few days, she got stared out. So many stares, like she was
A known murderer or something. What had she done? She guessed it was because of the fact she was now a giant dragon, but hey, who is to judge?
She did not even understand it. Other dragons were present. So what is so special about her?
She growled to herself as she made for the library again. It was the only place she had that offered any kind of nearly scoffed to herself when she reminded herself of what her situation was. Her life truly had taken a turn for the weird as of late.
She was just taking her daughter to daycare when some white light flashed out of nowhere, and then she woke up in the woods as some giant black dragon. She had no idea what was going on or why. The events of her arrival her played out in her mind: After several hours of relearning the ancient technique known as walking, she had somehow figured out how to operate her new body. She had wandered aimlessly for most of the rest of the day until she found herself in a town.
Here can she was met with even weirder sights: some kind of society of dragons and anthropomorphic animals. Like something from the stories, she read her daughter at bedtime. She could barely comprehend how that even worked. It took her most of the first day in town to realize she was not in some kind of weird dream. Or a video game nearly. That's where she expected to see these kinds of things from.
Yet it was real. All of it. And she could not explain it.
Worse of all, her daughter was missing. Lilith had no way of knowing what happened to her. She searched hi and low across the entire area for most of the first day but found no clothing or footsteps. Now even a scent or smell, which was another weird ability she got acquainted with in this body. The only guess she had was that maybe Meredy had either been left in their old world or somehow turned into a dragon too since this is what befell her. But it was just speculation without evidence. What to think.
And the wildest thing was... the thoughts in the back of her mind. She had no freaking clue why she thought this, but part of her somehow thought Meredy was here. She would likely have been caught in the white light thing that got them since she was being carried by Lilith at the time. The other thing was... she hoped Meredy was in the care of someone better if she was here in this world, or back on Earth. Someone who was better than her.
The crushing feeling of failure came back to the dragoness. She felt like a failure as a parent. Having a child unprepared, barely having the money to provide for her, sometimes not being able to feed her... Being forced to dump her into the care of Lilith's sister at times because her job as a cop demanded she is gone for good chunks of time. The thought that she failed Meredy in some many regards hurt her... and now they were separated, maybe permanently...
Trying her best to fight off the crushing reality she was separated from her baby, Lilith decided to try to occupy her time and at least try to understand this weird world. Her first order of business was to find a library. Maybe she could ask around...
A random thud into her hind leg surprised her. The dragoness stopped and craned her head down. A small earth dragon, somewhat hefty in build but with green scales and brown wings, horns, and underbelly, was balking up at her. His horns were thick and cured down to the back of his head. His scales lacked any kind of patterns, but he had innocent blue eyes. He seemed to be wearing a pouch on his side, which Lilith found curious.
"S-sorry, ma'am. He said. His voice was young sounding, clearly that of a young child.
"You are fine, dear." She said. The earth dragon sighed.
"O-ok. Sorry I didn't see where I was going. I dropped something and had to pick it up, but then I lost my mom, and thought she was further ahead in the crowd and... yeah." He said nervously.
"It's fine. Do you need help finding her?" Lilith offered.
He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sound of a female voice calling a name. "There you are, Terra."
The two dragons turned to see another dark-colored dragon walking over. She was slender in build, but what stood out to Lilith was the fact that she had darker-colored scales, unlike any other dragon she had walked by yet. They were a dark grey, though with what looked like a washed-out red on her underbelly and membranes. Her horns were grey too.
The little earth dragon ran over and nuzzled her. The dragoness smiled and nuzzled her son. "There you are, Terra. I was worried for a bit there."
"Sorry, mother. I didn't mean to get lost. But I ran into her by accident." He said, gesturing to Lilith.
The dragoness looked up. "My apologies ma'am... " she said eyeing the dragoness curiously.
Lilith shrugged "It's fine." She said simply. The dragoness looked at her.
"I was not expecting to see another dark dragon out here... but where are my manners? My name is Mistral. Pleased to meet you."
Lilith did not even know what to say about the dark dragon comment. Nor was she in the mood to ask. "I'm Lillith. Forgive me for being curt, but I was looking for a library. Do you know where one is?" She inquired. She was trying to avoid conversation as much as possible. She knew nothing about this world and barely knew what to say.
Mistral hummed. "Just a bit further down the road, to the right." She said.
The shadow dragoness nodded. "Thank you. Excuse me but I must be on my way." She said, leaving quickly.
Mistral nodded and bid her farewell while taking her son with her to walk down the street the other way. Lilith was not normally so curt but she did not want to draw any attention to herself. She knew nothing and could say something out of place. The comment about another dark dragon was odd. What were dark dragons? Did it have to do with her scale color? Lilith had been no clear.
Soon enough she was at the library, as a sign put it. She was lucky that she apparently knew how to read the symbols in this world; as if her skills from before translated over to whatever was the basic language and writing system for this universe. The library itself was a rather large yet simple building constructed of grey stone all around, though clearly carved and crafted with care. The outside lacked much detail, really, other than a few windows carved into the sides. It was rectangular in build. Inside, the walls and floors were stone but had wooden beams around for support in some places. Bookshelves full of scrolls and such were all around, attended to by different bipedal cheetahs in simple red robes. When she got to the main desk, which was attended by a rather large panther-like cat, which stood about seven feet in height. Weird thing was, unlike the other species nearby this one was quadrupedal and white for some reason. Was it a fantasy panther, but huge? Why was it white if it looked so much like a panther? She did not know.
"Excuse me, I am... kind of new here. Can you show me where the history section is?" The dragoness inquired.
The feline hummed. "Sure." He said, walking out from behind the counter and showing her the way. He seemed a bit aloof or at least deep in thought about something. He said little else as he lead the dragoness to the history section. When they got there, he hummed. " What kind of history are you looking for?" He asked.
She thought. "General history." She replied. The cat raised a brow.
"What kind of 'general' history? And of what? We have a history of many things here." He stated.
Lillith thought. "Duh, get your head in the game."She thought. "Umm, of dragons." She tried. Surely there was more 'lore' to learn, she knew, but she might as well learn more about her new species if she was to blend in this world.
He raised a brow again. "Well, there is much to know, but what do you need exactly? Dragon elements? Magic?"
Lilith again paled. "Umm... what I mean is a general rundown of the more... important aspects of... our kind's society and... facts.." She said.
The feline blinked at her.
"I... I have a daughter who is starting school and she has a thirst for knowledge. It... been a while since I thought of these things. I want to give her a head start, ya know?"
The puma nodded but raised a brow. "I see. But, daughter? I thought dark dragons could not- oh, never mind me. Sorry." He said dismissively, changing the subject rather fast. "If you need that, I think I have a few books that could help. Do you wish to check them out?"
"Reading here is fine for now. She is young, and I doubt she will read through them herself." She said. In truth, her daughter was barely old enough to know how to read at all. But she need not complicate her cover story.
The feline, to her surprise, levatated a few books down onto a nearby table. The books were a bit large, enough that even a dragon could navigate them. Lilith gasped in surprise.
"How did you do that?" She asked. The puma just sighed.
"Magic. My kind is well versed in it, much like you dragons. Levitation is a basic spell for us, at least. Mostly works on small objects, unless you are really good at it." He said, nonchalantly. Lilith just rolled with it. "Anyways, here is a basic history and facts book about you dragons and such. It should tell you what you need to know.
Left alone with nothing but time and some books, the dragoness decided to look over the book she was given. It was titled: Dragons, a Species Study."
The rest of the day went by rather fast. The dragoness had more or less read through most of the history books before her. The need to distract herself from her own grief and worry, and the thirst to understand this strange world drove her to read everything she could. The three books had been a rather simple overview of things. Apparently, it was relatively short and mostly for an introduction for those beginning a study of the species.
The first thing she learned was that dragons had all sorts of magic elements and appointed guardians to represent the main four: fire, ice, earth, and electricity. There was water and wind, but they lacked appointed guardians. Apparently, there had been societies of each dragon element in the past. Those of the wind and water elements live high in a sky city or in an ocean kingdom respectively and had appointed councils who dealt with their affairs. The appointed guardians were more like respected members of the elements, appointed by Warfang as the 'representatives' of said elements in city matters, as well as being perhaps the most esteemed masters of their elements respectively. Apparently, they were considered the most powerful in their elements, Their duties, however, varied greatly since.
She read of the great legend of the purple dragon, who could wield all the elements, but turned evil named Malefor. Apparently, he had led a long war against his own kind, using the war-like ape species as his minions. He had offered them power and taught them magic, in exchange for their service. The apes seemed to be a society of raiders for as long as recorded history went back, and always hated the dragons, out of envy for the power the species wielded. They needed little excuse to provoke a war. They had come into conflict with the ancient dragon clans, who ruled Warfang city, in years prior to Malefor's fall to evil over land disputes over then unoccupied territories. The war was in a period of off-and-on status for decades on end, until Malefor himself was killed by ancient guardian dragons. He, however, split his soul, from what magic experts understood, in an attempt to avert his own death. The dragons back then, using ancient magic now lost to time. From what was understood, it was like a great seal of sorts placed on his soul. found a way to seal his soul in another dimension, called "Convexity."He sat there for centuries, yet Malefor still found a way to communicate with the ape tribes. He left instructions that were passed down and still found ways or a straight his schemes. It would seem he was not fully dead, but perhaps only physically. No one understood the extent to which one could call Malefor dead even. He had even imparted knowledge of a ritual involving the Night of Eternal darkness. Using the dark magic from the Well of Souls that was boosted that night, he had 'resurrected' himself with Gaul's help that night. Yet, even the book noting this was not fully understood just how he did it.
He had been 'dead' for perhaps only a certain number of decades. He had been a hero for a long time before his own fall. Dragons could live for centuries on end. Malefor was considered a great hero for much of his life. The exact timeline all this went down was skewered and fell under ten dragon generations. It took Lilith a bit to piece this together but apparently meant around five hundred years. Apes and dragons had been at war since before even that, but it had always been smaller-scale skirmishes. Malefor had made the apes from a band of raiders to a superpower in their own right. Malefor even discovered and invented magic techniques of his own.
The rest was much more recent. The apes kept wearing down the dragon's numbers until the species was endangered. The combination of magic, advanced weapons, and creatures bred to kill dragons, gave them an edge. That and unyielding persistence in large numbers. By the current estimate the book offered, this dragon species was only in the tens of thousands population-wise, instead of hundreds of thousands as they were centuries prior. The raid on the temple many years ago had been seen as a grievous blow to the species. Dragons were slow to reproduce and grow. And the apes kept destroying various hatcheries. Many of the dragons now had either fought in the war or gone into hiding. The war was thought lost after Cynder, the Terror of the Skies, had come onto the scene. Luckily, a new purple dragon named Spyro had been born in the Year of the Dragon. He, in brief, found his place as a dragon, defeated the Terror of the Skies, killed the ape king, and defeated Malefor once and for all, with the former Terror of the Skies' help.
Now, dragons had been rebuilding. In the twenty years since the way, the realms were at peace, and new dragons had been born. Warfang had been repaired from damage during the war and the purple dragon was seen as the hero of a new age.
Besides this history lesson, that the dark dragoness had gathered was common knowledge in this world, it also gave basic facts about their society and so on. But what caught her eye was the dark elements section. In short, the technique and rituals were discovered to create three dark elements that were currently known: Poisons, Shadow, and Fear. From what Lilith gathered, she was a shadow dragon. Apparently, the process was painful but the elements could be considered deadly. Many found these elements easier to train than their own natural ones, but the process could be lethal and not commonly known. Few knew how to do it and even fewer were willing to reveal how it was done if they did know. Dragons could fall to these unwillingly if exposed to "forces of dark magic". Whatever that meant.
Lilith sighed. She at least hung had a better understanding of this world now. But all of that was still much to take in. Done with her reading, she left the book on the table under the instructions of a library worker and left, seeing as it was closing time.
The walk back out of the town was of little note. At first. Few people were out at the time. Not that she minded that; many people just stared at her wearily, for some reason. Some did not really bat an eye, oddly enough, but she guessed it had to do with apparently being of the 'dark' elements. From what she got, the element she seemed to have might be considered a form of dark magic. Maybe some associated it with evil?
She did not know. But it was getting late. The sun was setting and most individuals in town were on their way home if they were not already there. She kept walking and found herself near the town's front gate. It had a wall around its sides, and two dragon guards posted. As she was about to exit, she thought she vaguely recalled seeing the shape of the dark grey dragoness from before, walking past her amongst another few dragons. She seemed to stare at Lilith intently for a solid few seconds but said nothing else.
Liltlth waved it off and exit the town soon after. She mostly just slept in a cave in the wilderness for the time being. She had no money in this world...
For now, she would have to make do. Resigning herself to her arrangements, she left the town.
As the couple was settled into their bed, Spyro could not help but look over his adopted hatchling and mate. Both were sound asleep, Meredy curled in Cynder's paws. Spyro wished to sleep, but questions still plagued his mind...
How and why had the hatchling seen the Chronicler? The vague description the young hatchling gave matched that of Ignitus, Spyro knew. He had been visited a few times over the years by his old mentor. He had consulted about this with Cynder, of course, but she knew not what to make of it.
This hatchling was perplexing. Well besides the fact all kids were hard for the purple dragon to understand, all the mysteries about this hatchling kept adding up...
Just who were her parents? Why did she have such potential for magic? And why was a toddler-aged hatchling important enough to see the chronicler himself? Spyro did not know but... maybe he could consult Ignitus...
Resigning himself, he went to sleep...
Yeah, this chapter may as well have been called: vague plot sets ups and exposition. But at least it moves the story along in some ways.
Sorry for the exposition dump, but this was the only chapter I could think to leave it. I am trying to keep some of it vague because explaining some of that more precisely makes it all the more confusing. I just needed to help paint a somewhat better picture of the state of the world in this story. And yes this info is relevant for later, but it may seem weird I left it in this chapter until we get to that point. Oh yeah. Remember that golden dream dragon, it will come into play later. And yes, she is so uninterested in playing babysitter that she dreams dumped Meredy into Ignitus. ( Don't worry, that scene will make sense later in the story. Like the obvious question: why were they so sorry? I am certainly not telling. Not yet…)
In all seriousness, I need that scene both for a later part of the story and to introduce Meredy to the chronicler but without him personally knowing how to contact her( reasons like Lilith and Meredy being apart) And I hope I am balancing the magic plot stuff with the more mundane life Spyro and Cynder have taking care of Meredy. I want the cute family stuff to not lose focus in the plot. Additionally, by doing so I want this story to feel more 'mundane'( or as much as a fantasy setting can be) and avoid it becoming an overly long, convoluted monolith of a story, like many fanfics I have read do. ( not throwing shade or specifying which) That being said, I do want this to have a nuanced plot but keep it straightforward and easy to follow, of course.
Not going to lie, I was a bit worried about this chapter introducing Lilith. I can't fully elaborate because of spoilers but I was worried about making her a polarizing character due to her arc. Instead of shooting myself in the foot by doing something like that and splitting the audience down the middle ( and causing detracting and arguments), I decided to edit her arc. And acknowledge the implied neglect sooner rather than later. And yes, it will be addressed more thoroughly in a later scene. I know that would be a polarizing aspect of her ( and I am not justifying that at all) What the rest of her arc would have been, I will explain later, because again, spoilers. Though that's not to say she and others count have some kind of character flaw to stand out and develop from. Not everyone is a perfectly good person, but her actions should speak louder than words, I know.
Also, yeah, I know the main draw in this fanfic is Meredy's cute antics and her relationship with Spyro and Cynder. Relax, I will I am aware of that. They are the stars of this fic. Lilith plays a central role in Meredy's backstory in this story, but she isn't exactly a protagonist per se ( not an antagonist mind you) The best I can describe it is between being a secondary and main character in terms of importance.( if there is a word for that)
What can I say? I will go out of my way to avoid polarizing decisions; it's stupid to do those. It's better to just make a good story people will enjoy. I hope I succeed in that