Amongst the plains of Avalar the purple dragon of legend, Spyro and his companion, Cynder began to awaken not long after the world finally stopped shaking and the land had truly settled once more. Cynder was first to wake and as her green eyes began to flutter open her first conscious thought was to make sure Spyro was alright. As she pulled herself to her feet she saw the drake who had stolen her heart also begining to stir a few feet away from her. She walked her way over to him and began to poke at his shoulder with her paw. "Come on, Hero, wake up." She teased. As she prodded the purple warrior he finally gathered the strength to open his eyes, before flexing his claws and stretching out his back like a large scaled feline. "Cynder...are we..." She cut him off before he could finish.

"Nope, still alive and breathing believe it or not." She joked before her expression took on a more compassionate and caring tone. "You feeling alright?"

He began to check himself over to make sure he didnt have any severe lingering wounds from their previous battle, before replying "No i think most of my wounds healed while we slept, how bout yours?" He asked concerned for the well being of the black dragoness.

"Hmmm" she murmured to herself as she craned her head and tilted her body to the sides to get a good look at her scales, before being satisfied with what she saw turned back. "I seem to be doing just fine right now." She mused.

Spyro turned and looked over the field that lay below them just a small ways away to the north. " I can't believe we did it... We actaully won." he muttered, a little shell shocked now that he had a moment to absorb all that had transpired, his mind going over everything that had happened over the last few days before finally coming to a full halt at the memory of Cynder's words just before light had consumed them in the core.

He began to think on those words as his mind began to go over all the questions that arose from them. " Did she really say that? and... Did she mean it?..should i ask her..." He gazed at the black dragoness beside him out of the corner of his eye, who was currently admiring the spectacle of a few floating islands on the horizon. "No... Not yet at least. Weve been through so much so recently.. She probably want's to relax, ill ask her later when we've had some time to unwind after all this." He mused.

They were suddenly shook from their trance and torn away from the view of the lush green valley by the sound of rustling leaves behind them. As they both turned to face what was here to greet them they remained cautious and took on defensive stances in the event that whatever might be approaching intended them harm.

The bushes continued to rustle and shake causing both young adults to become more and more tense, until finally something began to break through the brush and upon viewing what emerged, Cynder was filled with dread and terror, while Spyro was consumed by questions and cconfusion as well as anxiety.

Cynder felt her breath catch in her throat before she loudly swallowed. "How...Why are you STILL alive?!?" She attempted to snarl though it came out as more of a whimper.

Spyro stood as stoic and silently as he could not wanting to give away his confusion at the sight before them, though he couldn't hide the growing tingle of fear in his purple irises.

Before them stood someone they thought was meant to be dead, the only other purple dragon besides Spyro, Malefor stood before them having taken a few strides into the clearing where they now once more stared down their greatest foe.

He gazed at them with calculating eyes, slightly on guard if his raised tail and slightly spread wings were anything to go by. It was at this moment Spyro noticed something different about the dark purple drake. He was... Smaller?

Indeed Malefor appeared to had shrunk in size and stature to an extent, though he still stood a good few feet taller than Spyro his rugged scales had become much smoother looking while maintaing the diminished dark violet hue as well as the red accentuating scales decorating his limbs, his trademark scar still adorning his muzzle right betwixt his eyes and nostrils, and what was most noticeable to Spyro was that Malefor's eyes no longer consisted of a purely yellow sclera with slitted black pupils but had changed to be much more normal looking for a dragon, however while Malefor's left eye had become a vibrant shade of violet equal to Spyro's own irises, his right eye maintained its almost eerie yellow tint thought now being confined to simply his iris rather than his entire eye.

Malefor roved his eyes over the two dragons before drawing in a deep breath of air " I know you have no reason to believe me when I say this but... I have no intention of fighting you any longer " he declared as calmy and passively as his now somewhat baritone voice would allow, before looking straight into spyros eyes.

Having locked eyes with the older male Spyro was now more intrigued than anything else at the moment, intrigued as to why Malefor was saying he didnt want to fight and why he hadnt simply stabbed them while their backs had been turned before, though his attention was partially split between the elder drake and Cynder who he could see was only barely able to hide her trembling, her exhaustion from the previous battle still present and causing her extra stress in this very difficult situation.

Seeing how neither of the two dragon's facing him had outright attacked him or said anything in response to his statement he continued. "I understand that you must be... Confused as to how i am here and I can explain that, all I ask is you give me the chance to speak freely."

Once again he was met with silence and cautious stare's from Spyro, and met with the trembling eyes of cynder as she negan to flex her claws in and out of the dirt below them. Both of them likelt more shocked than anythinf at talking to what by all rights should be a dead dragon.

"Spyro you remember when you defeated Cynder back in the realm of convexity she was freed from my influence, freed from the presence of dark aether do you not?" He asked lowering his wings and tail slightly in a sign of submission to show he didnt plan to fight, though it did little to quell Cynder's paranoia.

Spyro noticed the slight lowering of the other drakes limbs as a sign of peaceful intent so in return he allowed himself to stand up slighlty straighter no longer in a position akin to a cat ready to pounce, while Cynder refused to budge from her defensive stance opting only to stare and listen at the moment, the effects of mana burn still lingering having expended all of their energy in the fight previously, being the only thing keeping her from truly picking a fight.

"Yea I remember after Cynder was defeated she shrunk when the aether left her body. Why are you bringing this up? And just how did you survive? We believed you died down there after you fell over and didnt move an inch after that." He questioned still curious as to what the ancient dragon was getting at.

Malefor cast a sidelong glance at Cynder before returning his gaze to the other purple male before him. " I bring it up because... Its exactly like what just happened to me... You set me free from the influence of dark aether, and now that I am rid of its influence, I am able to think clearly and..." His voice trembled for but a moment almost unnoticed by Spyro, and completely overlooked by Cynder. " Feel guilt, and regret for my actions... And that is why..." He proceeded to slowly lower his head to the ground bowing before the two dragons before him and fully lowering his wings and tail to convey complete submission.

"I have decided to surrender and accept any punishment that you and the guardian's see fit." He stated as the sound of the wind was the only thing heard for miles as it rustled through the tree's all around them.