Embracing the past is only the first step to recovery... To truly heal you must be able to overcome all obstacles before you, lest you be crushed and consumed by the tragedies of the past once more
As the sun rose upon the mighty wall's of Warfang, it's rays glinting upon the now fresh coats of paint that adorn the recently rebuilt area's, some of it's citizen's awoke feeling rather refreshed, other's attempted to block out the great ball of fire's rays and return to slumber. But one drake in particular awoke some time before the sun had risen, feeling an assortment of emotions, namely anxiety and also a bit of excitement. This is to be expected as the young male in question was rather unique, coated head to toe in deep violet scales, his talons fading to an almost bloody red, while his underbelly and horns shared a pale tan with his wing membranes.
Malefor was no stranger to early mornings, having been sticking to a very strict schedule in the past consisting of early mornings and late nights filled with practice, exercise, and mutliple lesson's on the capabilities of the elements. He also had a feeling that the early morning would be one of the best time's for him to be alone, before he would be faced with other very displeased inindividuals, he was still rather disliked after all and considering the outcome of his trial there was a high chance he would be lacking on too much free time in the future anyway now that it was his job to teach what he could to Spyro and Cynder.
Upon waking he left his room shortly after, opting to make his way toward a place he was quite familiar with in the temple. When he found himself at his desired destination he had stepped outside of the main temple and into a large courtyard that aside from the large circular field of sand in the center, was covered edge to edge in weeds and overgrown plant life. Malefor visibly grimaced at the state of the area in which he had spent so much time sparring with his old friends and training with the guardians, though he couldn't fault anyone at the temple for it really. It had been his war which caused this sort of neglect after all.
Noticing a small shed off to the side which at a glance seemed to be filled with an assortment of gardening supplies, the purple drake decided to busy himself with the large scale mess, and having walked over to the center of the large area, began channeling mana into his forelegs, a green glow began to seep from beneath his scales. As he reared up on his hind legs and slammed his front down upon the floor, a shockwave of an emerald hue shot forth through the terrain beneath his feet. As it moved the ground began to crack and splinter, thus loosening all the roots below and forcing them above the dirt, before it smoothed out once again, leaving the offending plants exposed. As the glow in his limbs subsided, he began to push his mana into his forelegs once more aswell as guiding to his wing tips, this time the glow took on a bright red hue. As the glow grew brighter Malefor felt a warmth run through his body, before stopping in place over his arm's and his wings. The heat began to gather until finally flames began to flicker and spark to life upon his skin.
The purple dragon folded his wings in tightly, allowing the heat to build to massive proportions, before with a grunt of effort he spread his arm's and wing's out wide and released it in the form of another ring that expanded outwards, this one being made of the same flames which had just moment's ago coated his body. As it traveled across the courtyard the weeds and oversized plant's began to cook, their leaves all but ash when the flames had passed over them.
Now as flames began to travel across the courtyard incinerating all the invading plants, Malefor took in a deep breath of air, and now using more of his steep mana pool, allowed a blue glow to emanate from his jaws as he planted his four claws into the ground and began tilting his head down and began exhaling billowing clouds of white fog from his lungs, a deep chill now hanging in the air. As the cloud began to grow with each passing second until it was large enough to cover almost half the area, Malefor ceased the flow of mana to his throat, moving it toward his wing's like before.
A green glow began to emanate from his membranes, though this was not the deep green of earth that had been present upon his talons before, this shade of green seemed to be much more gentle and lighter hued. Begining to flap his wing's around in a circle around him, a breeze began to pick up exclusively in the courtyard swirling the large cloud around as it extinguished any remaining flame left over. It's job completed the purple drake titled his wing's upward, a draft of air pushing the fog up toward the sky, where it soon began to disperse and disapear.
Malefor looked upon his surroundings, a small smirk coming to his face as he saw the majority of needless plantlife had been burned away, leaving only a few clumps of weeds and grass here and there. Turning to walk toward the shed of supplies, he began digging around the small structure. Finally he found something promising, several large bags of daisy seeds, azalea seeds, and even some tulip and chrysanthemum seeds as well. The young prodigy began dragging each bag out of the shed and settled them in a row against the wall. Turning back to face the remnants of weeds and grass Malefor used his earth element to shift the dirt in a spiral like pattern upon the ground, making individual plots for each clump of seeds.
The purple dragon then spent the next two hour's placing seeds in each hole before covering it up using his earth element, organizing them in such a way that the assortment of colors would make the courtyard look quite brilliant with how they spiral out from the sand plot in the center, going in a repeating pattern of azalea's, tulip's and daisy's and lining the edges of the courtyard wall's were chrysanthemum seeds. When they were all planted Malefor lifted a paw to wipe the accumulating sweat from his brow, having worked until the sun was now much higher in the sky and all in the city were now wide awake.
Suddenly he was alerted to a presence at the entrance to the yard, as someone called out to him. "Malefor? Whatever are you doing out here?" The voice was revealed with a glance over his shoulder to be the electric guardian Volteer, who now noticing the drastic change to the courtyard, cast a glance upon the freshly set dirt before returning his yellow and energetic gaze to the purple drake. "Did...did you do...all of this? Just the other day this place was immersed in weeds and out of control plant's." The yellow male was in awe at the drastic transformation. "How did you do this so quickly?" He asked a big smile upon his face as he walked carefully toward Malefor so as to avoid what he realised were many fresh seeds planted around the area.
Malefor choosing to show and tell at the same time, began pushing mana toward one of his claws lifting it to show the guardian, allowing the limb to emit a yellow glow from below the scales and begin crackling with volts of electricity that began to arc off the tips of his claws and bounce upon his skin. "The previous guardian's taught me quite a bit of precise mana control, I have plenty of experience making sure my electricity only hits what I want it to, and making very specific alterations to the terrain is also within my capability." He explained as he began to tilt his paw and displayed the electricity travel along his arm and up his shoulder to his right wing tip before he finally allowed the energy to disipate and return to his mana pool unused.
The electric guardian seemed quite pleased at the display "Well at any rate, I must thank you for this. It is...pleasing to see the courtyard so clean again." Volteer spoke bowing his head in appreciation. Malefor nodded "Of course I simply wished to see it look a little like it's old self is all, I have a lot of fond memories of my own here." He responded casting a wistful glance at the center of the courtyard where he and his friend's would spar upon the sand, whoever got knocked out of the ring would lose and more often than not would be the hunter of their next meal together when they go out. Volteer nodded in understanding, choosing to allow the younger male a moment to reminisce before he spoke again. "Well I am unsure when Spyro and Cynder will awaken but in the meantime your more than welcome to acompany me to the temple library if you are done here." The electric guardian offered before turning to head back inside.
The purple dragon opted to follow alongside him as he did not have much to do untill the hero's of Warfang were out and about. As they walked in silence for a few minutes, Volteer attempted to make conversation with the former warlord. "Malefor?" He said trying to get the purple drakes attention, who in turn cast a glance at him and responded. "Yes Volteer?" He asked. "How was your night? Not too restless I hope. I am aware you have a room in the temple but I am unaware how it has fared over the years." He spoke a tinge of concern lacing his voice, to which Malefor shook his head in response before speaking. "No it was fine, just a bunch of dust which is easily cleared, likely some bugs laying about that will have to be dealt with but mothing I can't handle. I appreciate the concern though, Volteer." He thanked the scholar for his kindness, as he now saw they had reached the libary.
As Volteer was searching for the key to the library in his satchel, Malefor heard a voice from down the hall heading toward them, when he cast a glance to see who was approaching he was met with the sight of two young dragon's, an ice drake and an earth dragoness who seemed to be having a conversation. "Did you hear they reopened the arena, they should be having public fights pretty soon, yeah?" The earth dragoness asked her male companion. The drake responded with an eager nod of his head. "Yea should be soon, can't wait to see who they get in the ring next. Think they could get one of the saviors in there? That would be a sight to see!" He spoke sounding rather giddy before his friend elbowed him with a shoulder as she had finally noticed the gaze of the purple dragon in the hall ahead of them. The male was about to question the jab when he saw his friend gesturing toward Malefor, in response he said nothing but turned his head to face forward and avoid making eye contact with the purple male, his companion doing the same.
As they walked by in silence, Volteer finally managed to locate the key within his seemingly bottomless bag. "AHA FOUND IT!!!" He exclaimed, holding the key up slightly in a victorious display, which brought a smile to Malefor's face at the sight of the energy the older dragon possessed. Opening the door to the large room, the guardian walked in without a moments notice. Just as Malefor was about to follow he heard the voice of the earth dragoness from down the hall. "I hope that menace signs up for the fights, maybe someone will get lucky and put him down." She muttered angrily, while her friend said nothing as he cast a glance at the female.
This brought a few emotions to the surface for the purple drake, namely curiosity and slight annoyance at the harsh words, though he can't exaclty fault her for it. Mostly he was interested in this arena they were speaking of and as he entered the library which he had been in for quite some time, he was reminded once again of a moment of the past. As he glanced at one of the tables in the room, he saw a time where Terrador, Anise and himself would sit in this very room, and study advanced techniques and for a good while, fail to replicate them. He remembered how Anise would always laugh when Terrador attempting to make a wall of stone would result in the destruction of a temple wall which he would then be punished for and told to rebuild it piece by piece. Both himself and Anise would always assist him in this, not even needing to be asked or told to help one another out.
As Volteer was perusing a shelf filled with scroll's, Malefor approached him. "Hey Volteer?" He said tapping the older male on the shoulder, who in response turned to face the purple drake. "Hmm? Did you need something?" He asked tilting his head, his eye's inquisitive. "I overheard those two from the hall, they were talking about some sort of... Arena? I wanted to ask if you know anything about that. There wasn't anything like that back before I became the dark master." He asked taking a seat on his haunches next to the yellow guardian. Volteer smiled and responded. "In fact I do know a little bit about it, the arena was established some time after your disappearance." He stated grabbing a somewhat large book from a nearby shelf and opening it on the nearby table.
When the yellow drake opened it and turned the page's, Malefor was able to see what appeared to be a simple schematic of what appeared to be a type of colosseum. "The arena was made as a way for multiple dragon's to vent stress and let out their anger in a sense, not only that it gives other's something entertaining to watch at time's. More so it gives the fighters a chance to keep their skills in combat from becoming too dull. In fact it should be opening up in a day or so from what I heard." He stated in a chipper tone. Malefor nodded at this before responding. "Interesting, so the-" before he could finish his thought he was interrupted by a voice from the library's entrance. "Hey Volteer, good morning Malefor." The voice said, prompting the purple dragon in question to turn to face who had called out to him only to be met with the chipper smiling face of Spyro and the confident smirk of Cynder, who also had his golem resting on her back watching the larger creatures converse.
The former dark lord's mood improved significantly at the sight of the duo, a small smile coming to his face as he repsonded. "Good morning to you as well, how did you two sleep?" He asked. Cynder walked up to him and plucked the stone contruct from it's perch before holding it out to the dark purple dragon, speaking as she did so. "I slept fine thanks, how was your night?" She returned the question as Malefor took the golem into his claws before it climbed it's way up to his shoulder and took on a similar position as it had on the black dragoness's back. "Quite pleasent sleeping in a real bed rather than a dark and cold cell that much is certain, I tell you the air was begining to feel recycled down there." He joked with a small smirk before gesturing to the doorway with a paw as he continued. "Whenever your ready, we can head over to the courtyard for training." Spyro grimaced slightly, his snout twisting in a frown. "Now? Already? Surely we can wait a bit to do something fun right?" He asked hopefully, though the slightly older purple drake simply shook his head with a smile before responding.
"Never put off until tommorow what can be done today, the sooner we get this started the more free time we all get later on." He spoke, a chuckle following as he saw Spyro sigh in response, no doubt wanting to have more time to take it easy after all thats happened. Cynder took a few steps toward the doorway, turning her head to face the two purple dragon's.
"Well in that case we better get started then shouldn't we?" She spoke almost giddy at the thought of being able to get some form of action again. Malefor nodded before following her toward the hall, casting a glance at Volteer who was once again nose deep in several scrolls and books. "Have a good one Volteer." The drake said receiving a brief glance from the yellow drake. "Just please do be careful not to hurt each other or someone else." He spoke voicing his concern before returning his attention to the sheets of paper before him.
With that both Cynder and Malefor bounded out of the room, with Spyro following close behind letting out a groan at the thought of more training. As they left Volteer found himself utterly fascinated by a peculiar scroll which had been covered in dust and had clearly seen some age, one that told the tale of a supposed meeting with one of the ancestors and it displayed a sort of depiction of a large black mass that seemed vaguely draconic in appearance. "Hmm... I always wondered what theorys the dragon's of the past had regarding the ancestor's, I never considered someone would claim to have seen one of them, much less the keeper of the dead, Malek..." He trailed off his muttering becoming inner thoughts. "I wonder if this could even be true... Could there be any merit to this tale?"
As the trio arrived in the courtyard, Malefor leading the way with the hero's of Warfang close behind him, the duo was quite shocked by the appearance of the courtyard, as last they had seen it the place was an utter mess. Spyro gaped in awe as he was about to take a step forward toward the center of the grounds, when a voice yelled in his direction. "WATCH YOUR STEP!" It was Malefor who had turned to face him a slightly concerned expression adorning his features and a single claw was pointing at the ground directly in front of him. The young warrior glanced at the dirt beneath him and saw a ridiculous amount of small mounds which indicated something had been planted in the ground. As Cynder noticed them as well and they both began to see just how much work the dark dragon before them had put into this area, they continued walking toward the sand pit in the center of the court all while making sure to avoid stepping on the small mounds.
When they found themselves past the minefield of freshly planted seeds, Cynder gawked at the dark violet dragon who had been the source of quite a few suprises as of late. "When did you have the time to even do all of this?" She asked incredulously. Malefor merely shrugged. "This morning, not a big deal I was up pretty early anyway. Besides gardening is quite relaxing." He stated with a gentle smile, before it suddenly twisted into a confident smirk. "Now then, I hope your both ready to begin." He asked. Both dragon's nodded in response, now standing straight up and alert. "Alright, Spyro?" The purple drake quirked a brow, before Malefor continued. "Your first, I want you to come at me without the use of your elements, non lethal strikes only which means no claws, teeth or tail stabs, blunt force only. Last thing we want is someone to get an eye poked out."
Spyro nodded while Cynder plucking Malefor's golem up off his shoulder, chose to go stand outside of the ring that made up their little battlefield. Both purple dragon's began circling each other their body's low to the ground, eye's narrowed while purple met yellow and violet. As the two living legends were sizing each other up, Cynder heard several voices from the direction of the door, casting a glance over her shoulder she was met with the sight of several ice, fire, and lighting dragon's peeking in through the doorway to watch the sparing match. "You know? I beat you once before, I bet I could do it again." Spyro taunted the other drake, confident smile upon his muzzle. Malefor said nothing in response nor did his expression change, they both simply kept circling. "Like a pair of sharks stalking their prey." Cynder thought to herself.
It felt like hours had passed as the drakes sized each other up, neither making a move to attack. When suddenly the first strike was made, for a moment everything moved so quickly that none of the uninvited spectators could truly understand what had happened, they didn't know who threw the first blow. Cynder saw it however, her eye's and mind trained through combat had no trouble comprehending the event's that took place. Spyro had been the first to leap, as he kicked off the ground with his strong hind legs and propelled himself toward Malefor, his right paw clenched in a fist as he intended to slam his paw into the side of Malefor's head, not to seriously wound him but just enough to daze him so Spyro could finish the fight by pinning the slightly larger drake to the ground.
This was not what had happened however, for before Spyro could make his punch connect, Malefor shifted his stance , now his legs which had just been spread wide to enable him to lower his torso to the ground shifted, his upper body quickly leaning back on his haunchs while also simultaneously tilting his upper torso to the left so as to avoid the impact of Spyro's hit. As he dodged the incoming attack, one of Malefor's own talons shot out toward Spyro's own paw before latching onto the wrist and pulling to the midair drake toward the ground in front of him. This caused Spyro to hit the dirt with no way to avoid slamming his entire body into the floor as Malefor also twisted around him so fluidly he could have mistaken him for a dragon sized snake. Now positioned above the drake he planted his rear leg on the flank of the prone male, his other free claw going to pin his head to the ground thus planting his muzzle in sand.
Stifled gasps of shock could be heard from the doorway as the dust had cleared and everyone began to realise who had won the sparring match. Malefor removed his talons from Spyro, allowing the drake to spit out the sand that got into his mouth, before offering an outstretched paw. Spyro glanced up before recahing up and grasping the former warlords claws with his own, allowing Malefor to help him to his feet. As Spyro allowed the room to stop spinning, Malefor spoke. "Little bit of advice Spyro. Next time don't assume you can win, always assume loss is a possibility. There is nothing wrong with a little bravado, but don't be overcome by foolish bravery. It can be fatal, purple scales or not." He said his tone becoming somewhat grim.
Malefor turned his attention to face Cynder, the black dragoness already knowing what was coming as she offered the small construct to Spyro before taking the purple drake's place in the ring. As the two once began circling not unlike Spyro had done, Spyro heard footsteps approaching from behind. Casting a quick glance to see who it was he was afforded the sight of a familiar drake walking toward him. It was the fire drake they had dinner with just the other day, Flame. His red and gold scales seemed to shine in the light of the afternoon sun. He walked up next to Spyro before taking a seat his eye's never leaving the sight before him his normally bright and cheerful smile was nowhere to be found, replaced with a slight frown as he gazed at the begining sparring match.
Spyro suprised Flame had yet to say hello opted to break the awkward silence. "Hey, Flame, what are you doing here?" He spoke his tone betraying his discomfort at the usually chipper drake being so quiet. Flame seeme to snap out of whatever trance he was in and turned his head to face the purple drake beside him. "Oh hey Spyro... Sorry I didn't mean to ignore you, I'm just..." He cast his gaze back at the slightly larger purple dragon. "Thinking." He finished. As the two drake's began to converse the match between The Terror of the Skies and The Dark Master was truly begining.
As the two circled, Cynder's eye's were scanning over the purple drake, looking for an opening to strike. Though before it had been Spyro to attack first this time it was Malefor who leaped. Rather than jumping in the air he stayed as low to the ground as he could, using the strength in his hind legs to propel himself forward into a slight slide along the sand. Cynder had realised just what he was up to the moment he pounced, he seemed to be aiming to topple her by taking out her slightly weaker legs. He was going to use the fact that Cynder was much more lithe than strong to his advantage. But just before his talons could wrap around her wrists she leaped upward, barely getting out of his reach before she landed squarely on the larger dragon's back with a flip, and planting a claw on one of his curved horns and another on his shoulder she attempted to use her weight to push him toward the ground hoping to use the element of suprise to win. Just as she had begun to apply pressure to his body though, Malefor retaliated with a suprising motion of his tail as it wrapped around her bladed one and with a hard tug managed to yank her grip free from his horn.
This was just enough to allow Malefor to buck his back and throw the black dragoness off, the dark scaled female landing on her feet just next him. As she regained her footing she was about to attempt another attack when suddenly she was tackled by the purple drake, his weight pushing her into the ground where he proceeded to wrap his right foreleg around her throat and pulling back on her horn to choke her out. Just before he could fully tighten his grip Cynder used her flexible body to twist and slip from the position she found herself stuck in, managing to end up in a very awkward angle, her back against the ground while Malefor was above her head also laid on his wings while Malefor's snout was now buried against the ruby red scales of her chest, his arm still wrapped along her neck and quickly cutting off her circulation as she attempted to pry the limb from her throat. Deciding to use this to her advantage, she curled her lower body upward and wrapped her hind legs around Malefor's neck and proceeded to shove him against her stomach in an attempt to cut off his air as best she could and hopefully get the opening she needed to win.
Malefor was expecting lots of thing's from Cynder when they began, he had been prepared for tricks and the slick maneuvers she was known for. What he had not expected was to have his entire muzzle shoved into her stomach and forced to inhale the scent of the black dragoness, he couldn't understand why but to him the smell was so pleasant that he almost let of of his grip around her neck. "She smells like...Strawberries..." The thought had popped into his head before he realised now was not the time to be thinking like that. Though Cynder's tactic had almost caused his grip to loosen fully, he had begun to tighten his limb around her throat once more.
However luckily for the black dragoness his brief hesitation was all she needed, as she used the lapse in his determination to begin rocking her body back and forth repeatedly. Using the momentum she threw the purple drake to the ground with the two rolling along the sand in a ball of scales. When they stopped spinning Malefor's arm's had been detached from the black dragoness, and she had her legs planted on either side of the purple drake's waist, her forelimbs planted on his chest to keep him pinned. Both of them were panting and wide eyed at the abrupt end to the match but quickly recovered as they both stood up, Cynder removing herself from the awkward straddling of the purple dragon. As they stood Cynder quickly whispered to the now flustered drake who would be turning red in the face if not for the fact a large portion of his muzzle was already colored crimson. "We don't talk about this ever. Got it?" She hissed. "Talk about what?" He Whispered back to her. "Exactly" She said.
Spyro having been too preoccupied with Flame to pay much attention to the fight, bounded up to Cynder, a smile upon his muzzle and with Flame at his side. "Hey Cynder!" He exclaimed. The black dragoness focused her attention on the excited male, raising a brow in curiosity. "What's up?" She asked, as Malefor began to take tentative steps away from the group, wishing to let them have their space now that their friend had arrived. "Flame just invited us to a campout with Crystal and the others tonight!" He exclaimed. Cynder smiled at the thought of being able to get out into the open again, not that she didn't like the city but a change of scenery always felt nice. Then a thought came to mind. "Wait, would... Malefor be able to come?" She asked hesitantly finally glancing at the drake who had a moment ago been attempting to sneak away. Upon realising he was being watched he froze up like a deer in headlights at the sight of Cynder's narrowed eye's and scowl. Flame rubbed the back of his head nervously with a claw before responding. "Um... See the thing with that is... Well..." He trailed off before looking to the concern on Spyro's face and the frown on Cynder's.
Flame sighed, his paw leaving his neck. "Alright, look I'm gonna be straight with you guys I don't know why you took his side in that trial yesterday, but I really don't know if he should come... Whatever the circumstances." He admitted, which evoked a displeased snarl and a snap of teeth from the black dragoness. "What?!? Why?!? You were there right? You heard everything, he wasn't in control back then, just like me!" She practically shouted. Flame winced at the volume before he repsonded. "Because I personaly don't know what to think about him, but more than that... Ventus would flip if he showed up." Spyro stepped forward to ask a question. "Did he lose someone in the war?" Flame nodded a small frown coming to his face. "Yeah... His parent's both died trying to protect him from a massive raiding party sent by one of The Dark Master in order to wipe out any source of resistance." Malefor lowered his head and grimaced at this information. Cynder began to clench the ground in frustration, her claws digging line's in the sand.
"This isn't fair..." She growled under her breath. Malefor stepped up next to her and placed a paw on her shoulder. "Cynder it isn't a big deal, after the pain I've caused it's a stroke of luck that I have you looking out for me at all, fact is I'm not surprised by this in the least, you both should go. Have some fun, you deserve it after all the trouble you went through to end the war." Spyro stepped in at this. "Not a chance, we said we would stick by you, we aren't gonna go back on our word so easily." He turned to face Flame his expression becoming apologetic. "Sorry Flame but if he can't come then neither can we." Flame pursed his lips before his claw went to his chin in thought. He took a glance at Spyro before he spoke. "Spyro?" The purple drake quirked a brow. "You swear to me that he can be trusted, that he isn't just putting up some kind of act?" He asked wanting to trust the drake's judgement in this area of which he had no knowledge. A single thought ran through his mind "All this talk of darkness and corruption with purple dragon's doesn't really make all that much sense to me, so I don't think I can trust my own judgement here..." Spyro nodded, his eye's adamant. "I do." He stated with certainty. Flame took a few steps forward and found himself face to face with The Dark Master.
As he gazed into Malefor's duel hued eye's with his bright amber colored one's he spoke again this time asking the much more intimidating drake a question. "If I say you can come, can you promise me you won't hurt any of my friends, physically or otherwise?" He questioned, his eye's probing. Malefor was about to speak and say that he didn't plan on coming but before he could his eye's fell on Cynder's hopefull gaze and his answer fell apart. He turned his eye's back to the young fire drake, a sigh escaping his muzzle. "Yes I swear on my life.." He stated holding his right paw over his heart as he did. "I won't do anything to hurt your friend's or anyone else for that matter."
Flame sighed before nodding to the purple and crimson dragon. "I don't know much about you... but if they wanna give you a chance I'll believe it, they know more about this situation then I do, so I'll do my part and hold my judgements back until I know exactly what type of person you are." The fire dragon spoke in such a way so as to make it clear he had no intention of playing games. "Give me any reason to think that you might hurt the people I care about and we are gonna have a problem purple scales be damned, show me you can be trusted and I'll treat you as such." Malefor merely nodded in response not wishing to needlessly upset the red male and make a pointless enemy.
Flame took a few steps back so he could look at the whole trio. "Alright, you guy's should tell the guardian's where your going just in case they get concerned, and after that we can head out, sound good?" he asked. Three heads nodded in response. As the four began to travel down the hall toward the main foyer, hoping to find one of the three elder drake's going about their business. Luckily enough, they came across Terrador who seemed to be having a conversation with a brightly colored cheetah who turned out to be none other than Hunter, the felines yellow and white fur being defined by the black spots that decorated his body. As the group approached, Hunter noticed them out of the corner of his eye, his muzzle adopting a kind smile at the sight of the two dragon's who had come to think of as friends, though he cast a wary glance upon the second purple dragon with them, and a quick once over the red drake made it apparent this was the leader of the small group of dragons that had returned only days ago.
"Spyro, Cynder good to see you both as always!" He exclaimed. Spyro nodded with a trademark smile of his own. "Hey Hunter" He turned to face the earth guardian beside him. "Hi Terrador" The earth drake bowed his head with a greeting of his own. "Greetings Spyro, what can I do for you all?" The green drake requested. Cynder spoke up before Spyro could utter a word. "We just wanted to let you know that we would be leaving the city for a night or two." Terrador quirked a brow at this. "And why is that?" The guardian asked. "Me and some friend's were heading out on a campout for a few night's, I invited them to come, Sir." Flame answered respectfully, standing up straight as opposed to his typical relaxed demeanor. Terrador chuckled at the young red drake's formal response. "What's your name young drake?" He asked. "Flame, Sir." The drake answered. "Well Flame, please drop the sir, call me by my name. Your a friend of Spyro so your a friend of mine." He said, his voice full of kindness.
Flame nodded his posture lowering as he relaxed, as Terrador continued to speak. "There is no problem with you having some time to yourselves ancestor's know you have earned it after all all that has happened, do not worry about speaking with Volteer or Cyril. I will inform them of your departure. But before you go..." He turned his green eye's toward his oldest friend. "I would like to speak with you about some things Malefor, if you dont mind?" He requested. At this Hunter spoke up. "Well I suppose I should be going then, I have some business back in my village to attent to." The cheetah bowed his head toward the group of dragon's before turning to walk out the door, as he exited the temple he cast a glance over his shoulder at the purple hero of legend and his female companion. "Until next we meet my friend's, I wish you the best." He spoke with a conviction that told the purple drake this would be far from their last meeting with the brave cheetah, speaking up before he lost sight of the warrior's golden fur he shouted out. "Hope to see you again soon Hunter, safe travels!" With the departure of Hunter, the purple and red dragon nodded in agreement toward the large guardian and turning to the other three young adults he asked "You guy's mind waiting out front? I won't be long." Spyro quirked a brow at the request but decided against questioning it, opting instead to walk toward the front door with Flame in tow. Though Cynder waited a brief moment before following them she soon was out of sight, leaving the guardian and the former tyrant alone.
For a few moment's both were silent as they stared eye to eye, not a word leaving their lips. The silence was broken when Malefor's lips twisted into a smirk, a chuckle boiling up from within his throat. "By the Ancestor's Terrador... We really are a bunch of fools are we not?" He spoke a laugh breaching his word's all the while as a smile came across the green dragon's own muzzle. "I suppose we are, old friend. If Ansie could see us now she would most likely berate us both for fighting at all before, Dark master or not." Malefor felt a twinge of sadness at the mention of the girl he had loved like a sister...the girl he killed. But those thoughts vanished quickly at the return of more pleasant memories, the darkness that momentarily clouded his mind dispersing as quickly as it could fall. "I do not doubt that in the slightest." Terrador nodded before he spoke again, his muzzle wearing a small smile at the thought of being able to speak with his friend once more. "Well anyway I know you have somewhere to be but I merely wished to check in on you after the other day, I caught a glimpse of you and Spyro sparring in the courtyard earlier, speaking of, you didn't need to go through all the trouble of cleaning it up." Malefor was about to insist he did not mind but the earth drake raised a large claw to request his silence as he continued.
"I already know that nothing I say will stop you from doing such outlandish thing's so I won't bother trying. Instead I wish to ask what you think of both Spyro and Cynder's capabilities." Malefor nodded before he told Terrador of Spyro's foolish and hasty attack from before and Cynder's much more calculated approach. "Well I am not disappointed if that is what you are thinking, but I have not had much time to evaluate them in anything but a single match of purely physical combat, I won't know much until I can test them in the elemental field. As far as their skills in manaless combat go though, Cynder managed to win against me no surprise there, I believe Spyro would have had better chance had he not been overcome by so much confidence and bravado." Giving the larger older drake a smile he continued. "I must say you all taught them both immensely well for the short amount of time you had to work with, you should be proud." Terrador bowed his head in a show of appreciation.
"Was there anything else you wished to discuss?" Malefor asked. "Just one more thing, I want you to promise me something Mal." The guardian spoke with a tone that did no good to hide the fear and worry in his voice, the suprise the purple drake felt at the use of his old nickname being swept away by the concern lacing his old friend's voice. "What...What is it Terra?" He asked hesitantly. "Promise me you'll watch your back at all time's, thing's are still...tense and a lot of people don't agree that you should be free, some won't do anything or say anything. But I am worried about the kind of people who will act on impusle." He wrapped a large green scaled arm around the purple drake pulling him into an embrace. "I don't want to lose my best friend a second time, especially not when I just got you back, just please be careful and surround yourself with people you trust."
Malefor nodded in response, a little shaken by the worry that Terrador was showing, he hasn't seen him get frightened by much in their youth and it was a rare and concerning thing to see. "I understand you don't have to worry Terra, I'll be fine." He spoke taking a moment to return the embrace of his friend, before separating and bidding farewell to go and join the three other dragon's waiting for him outside. When he was gone Terrador heard a voice speak up from behind him, a familiar one no less, it carried with it a prideful aura that the earth guardian was all to familiar with. "You know it would help a lot more if we just kept him here in the temple where we can keep an eye on him?" The voice of Cyril spoke, his icy blue eye's meeting Terrador's as they turned to face him.
The earth drake repsonded with a snort before replying. "As true as that may be, I will not force him to stay within these wall's when that is what caused the event's of the past to play out as they did to begin with, to prevent that type of tragedy from befalling anyone else, we can't have anymore self destructive decisions like that Cyril." The ice dragon sighed as he stepped up next to the earth drake. "I suppose your right about that but my main concern is what will happen when he does run into someone who is more than talk, it could turn out badly for him whether he fights or not." Terrador nodded his mind begining to run wild with worst case scenarios, before he shoved them down into the darkness of his mind and began to hope for the best outcome he could for his closest friend of the past.
As Malefor stepped out of the main gate from the dragon temple he was met with the sight of Spyro and Cynder conversing with Flame and another dragoness who he had never seen before, she was an ice dragoness he if he had to guess based on her white and blue scales, and icicle like spikes. As the group spoke Flame glanced at the purple drake approaching out of the corner of his eye, before he tapped the ice dragoness on the shoulder causing her to turn in his direction just as he had made his way over to the group. Malefor was not sure what her opinion was of his presence her eye's revealed no hints of her emotions, as they scanned over him in a rather analytical manner. The fire dragon wishing to break the ice cleared his throat a bit before he spoke. "Crystal this is Malefor, he is going to be coming with us on the trip too like I told you." He gestured to the purple and red male with a paw as he spoke, before he turned his gaze to Malefor. "Malefor, this is Crystal, one of my closest friend's." Malefor nodded and deciding to be respectful placed his right paw upon his beige chest scales, bowing his head low and closing his eye's. "A pleasure to meet you Crystal, I hope that this turns out to be a pleasant experience." He spoke, lifting his head to glance at Cynder when he heard her struggle to hold in a laugh. Raising a brow he asked her "What are you laughing about?" When she repsonded her muzzle was twisted into a sadistic toothy grin. "It's nothing just didn't take you for a suckup is all. Huh dark master!?!" She broke out laughing at this point her chest heaving as she cackled.
Malefor grit his teeth and growled under his breath. "I AM NOT A SUCK UP. I was simply trying to be polite, something you clearly didn't pick up from me when you were still the Terror it seem's." The indignant retort only proved to make the ebony scaled dragoness laugh harder. "Forget it let's just go, Flame was it? Your in charge lead the way and we can leave the crazy one here behind." Malefor griped somewhat annoyed at Cynder's humor but also allowing a small smirk of his own to appear at the good mood that her laughter seemed to impose on the group as a whole. Flame simply nodded as even he couldn't help but chuckle at the cackling female, lifting off into he air with Crystal following right behind him, the duo being tailed by both purple drake's, while Cynder finally recovering from her laughing fit began to catch up to them swiftly as well. The group began following the fire dragon as he led them toward the south far past the wall's of Warfang. As they flew a single thought crossed Flame's mind. "So far so good maybe this won't be so bad after all, heh wouldn't that be a dream come true..."