The white dragoness stood over the sleeping hatchling, admiring how cute she was. She stood like this for only a few moments, however, as she realized now was a good time to examine her.
"Kids going to be a handful, I am sure." She thought to herself. Going back into the supply closet, the white dragoness came back out with a light blue orb-like object, attached to a handle.
"Let's see what we can find," Serana muttered.
She held blue orb, which was a magic detecting device, towards the child. Holding it over the girl, the dragoness watched as the color of the orb shifted colors, before slowly morphing into a mix of a dark blue and black, black being the most dominant color. Serana gasped, nearly losing her grip on the device from her paw, as she got over the initial shock.
"Those colors… That could only mean…" She shook her head. She need not panic. As a medic, she had been taught to control her emotions and to calm herself quickly. Shock did not last long with her. Taking a deep breath, she slowly collected her thoughts.
"Her aura is like… that of the dark lord's servant, Cynder. But how could that be? Shadow has not occurred in hatchlings since…" Her thoughts trailed off. Then, she thought back to the dark blue on the scale.
"The black means shadow, but why is it mixed with blue? Very rarely do hatchlings have a mixed aura…"
Serana glanced back down at the hatchling, who was slumbering peacefully. Many thoughts ran through her head as she stood over the sleeping infant.
"Does this mean… she is destined to bring death to the realms? Will she fall to corruption? Will she… become what Cynder was-"Serana quashed the thoughts in her head just as quickly as they appeared.
"No. I mustn't fall into this hysteria. It's an innocent hatchling. She did not ask to be born like this, and I cannot discriminate against her. Simply having the element does not mean she is destined to be evil." Serana reminded herself.
After scolding herself mentally for a bit longer, she recalled her role as a medic and looked back into treating the bruises on the poor girl's body. Thinking fast, she grabbed a red healing crystal from the shelves, bringing it close to the hatchling.
Sitting down again, she pressed it gently against the hatchling, watching as the crystal broke and magic energy burst out, becoming absorbed into Claire's body. In an instant, any wounds were healed. Claire barely seemed to notice, simply shifting over in her sleep.
Serana smiled at the hatchling again, before going back to organizing her supplies.
Hours later, the workers and guards of the outpost had been going about their usual routines. Silvus had been notified of development by his scouts and called away to investigate something they found. Having complied, he had taken flight along with Loupin, who had wanted to personally see to finding the hatchling's parents. The scouts had found something not too far of a flight from the outpost.
"So what is you found exactly?" Silvus inquired, while in flight.
"Well, sir… It's better you see for yourself." Loupin said, solemnly.
Silvus took the hint and remained silent as the two dragons flew further and further, before they finally arrived at their destination, several miles away from the outpost, in a forest clearing. As the two dragons made their descent, a grisly sight came into view.
Two adult dragons lay dead, covered in wounds and lacerations. One of them, a male, was of a bulky build, with grey scales and a purple underbelly.
The mother was a dark black, with a blue underbelly just like Claire did. She was slender in build, with an elongated neck and black wings on her back.
Silvus looked over them solemnly. Across both the fallen dragon's bodies, nervous lacerations were left. On closer inspection, the male had suffered grievous wounds to the neck and torso, as well as to his wings. Claw marks adorned most of his body on top of that.
The female, meanwhile, had bite marks across her throat, as well as a number of lacerations across her back and side.
Surrounding the bodies were at least two more of the outpost scouts, a pair of orange dragons, each wearing armor. They looked over the fallen pair with sadness.
"We were too late." One of the guards noted.
"So it seems…" Loupin added, in a somber tone. Silvus, meanwhile, examined the wounds on the fallen pair. Looking them up and down, Silvus noted the arbitrary nature of the wounds at hand. After he finished examining the bodies, he turned to his scouts.
"Poor souls…" He muttered as he got ready to speak.
"Seems to me like they were ambushed by some local predators. Wulvers maybe, or something else. Clearly had claws."
"What might have they been doing out here in the first place?" Loupin inquired.
Silvus thought for a moment. "I am not sure. Maybe they were hiding from something or resting after a long flight. Whatever attacked them likely took them by surprise." He glanced around again, noting numerous pawprints and scratch marks on the ground.
"Judging from the terrain and the shape of the bodies, they at least put up a fight," Silvus stated. Looking back to the bodies, he sighed again.
"Give them a proper burial, please. I will have to file a report to my superiors in Warfang… And figure out what to do with their poor daughter." He said, his voice waning a bit at the mention of the now orphaned infant.
The scouts nodded solemnly as the captain spread his wings and took flight, leaving Loupin and the others to their tasks.
Serana had been tending to her duties for sometime now, while being mindful of the sleeping infant in the cot near her. As she went about her duties, she had been trying to think up a way to report her finding's about the hatchling to her superior.
She was not blind to the fact that this could have big ramifications back in Warfang. The shadow element was a rarity, and often looked down upon, especially after the scars s on the world the dark lord and Cynder had left in their wake. As for her mixture of auras, well, she could night quite predict what it would mean…
She sighed again, not having the answers she wanted. All she knew was that she needed a proper researcher to examine the baby as fast as she could.
For now, though, all she could do was provide for the hatchling as best as they could. They would navigate this dilemma as they went along.
"Serana?" The captains deep voice sounded from nearby, breaking her from her thoughts. The medic turned and glanced at the entrance, noting the presence of the captain.
'Shhh, sir! You will wake the hatchling." Serana whispered. Silvus gave her a sheepish nod, before gesturing for her to step into the medical building office with him.
Serana looked up at him, nervousness causing her to shake. To her worry, she noted the captain caried a solemn gait with him.
"New sir?" She inquired. Silvus nodded.
"Scouts found a pair of adult dragons dead, some miles from here. Ambush by predators, likely a disrupt over territory." He noted. "An adult male and female looked a lot like this hatchling we found. Think those were her parents." He said sadly.
Serana looked down in sorrow. "Poor souls. May they rest in peace."
Silvus gazed at Serana, noting her nervous expression. "I take it you have something to report as well? You seemed nervous when I walked in here." He noted, having noticed her demeanor when he had entered the building.
Serana nodded. "Sir, I ran some tests on her aura and…" She trailed off, with a glance aside.
"Yes?" Silvus said, his curiosity piqued.
Serana took a deep breath. "She has the aura of a shadow dragon." She spoke bluntly.
An awkward silence blanketed the room as the captain's face paled, his eyes huge in shock. It took him a few moments to be able to muster a response.
"S-shadow?! But… that kind of magic has not been seen since Cynder served under Malefor. No one had wielded that in…" He sputtered.
"Sir, that's not all. She seems to have another type of element with her, but I don't know what it is. She seems to wield shadow but, it's a mix, in some regards." Serana explained.
Silvus grimaced. "What? So, is she shadow dragon or not?" He parroted.
Serana shook her head. 'Yes, and no, as far as I can see. She has an aura of a shadow dragon, but its… different." Serana. "Part of her aura is wind, as far as I can see, but in her case, if I recall my lessons on such topics correctly, it's mixed in with her shadow aura."
Silvus just looked at her again in confusion. "I am no fool, but I am not well versed in the other elements. I only know as much as my own. What does this mean for her and her magic?" He asked.
Serana sighed. " I am not fully certain. I was instructed on how to examine a hatchling's magic aura and determine elements, but there is only so much we can tell from this device I used. Maybe it will augment her shadow abilities in some ways but…" She shook her head. "We need to send her to Warfang and have her examined. This is a unique combination."
"One of her parents must have been a wind dragon," Sivlus muttered. As he pondered this information, he suddenly recalled something in his head.
"Come to think of it, there have been rumors and reports by seers of a dark aura in towns across the region. Reports speak of a dark dragoness fleeing from town to town…" His voice trailed off. "And one of the bodies we found would match the description of the dragoness in the reports…"
Both dragons looked at each other. "Guess we just found her then," Silvus noted, a hint of sadness in his voice.
Serana gave a somber nod, then shook her head. "There has to be more to it than that. Were they being pursued, and if so, because of their daughter? Did the dragoness have a dark aura as well?" She asked, almost rhetorically.
Silvus shook his head again but stared at the vixen. "Look, for now, we need to report this to Warfang." Silvus affirmed.
The white dragoness nodded, while Silvus relief an exacerbated sigh. "This is going to cause a bit of an uproar amongst the council." He noted, thinking about the taboo nature of this kind of shadow magic. Recalling other problems at hand, his thoughts shifted to the hatchling's personal needs.
"I don't know what else to say. The poor girl lost her parents already, and is cursed with an evil element-"
Serana held up her paw. "It's not evil, sir, and neither is she. Remember, an element is neither good nor bad, it's how someone uses it that makes it so. This type of magic is taboo only because of its infamous users." Serana stated, referring to both Malefor, Cynder, and the negative history of shadow dragons the pair had been taught about, from generations long past.
Silvus nodded. "Of course. I am not saying she's some evil monster; she didn't choose to be born with these powers. But, the stigma is caries, left by all those who used this element to their own end, centuries before Malefor, even." Silvus stated.
"I am not in the mood to give a history lesson, but you know full well how taboo this kind of magic is. I can't imagine how the Warfang council might react to this." The captain added.
"Indeed. I am not sure what to tell you on that matter." The medic said, with a glance aside.
Silvus just shook his head again, realizing they were getting ahead of themselves.
"Look, let's just stay focused on the problem at hand. We have an orphaned hatchling with dark powers in our care. We should be our attention on her care, and let the council in Warfang deal with the politics. " The captain reiterated.
"We just need to take this one step at a time. I will file a report and have someone fly into Warfang. In the meantime, keep this between us. We don't want to cause any chaos amongst the scouts." The captain stated. "Just let me worry about dealing with the politics and what not. For now, I just need you to take care of the little one." He finished.
The two were interrupted by the sound of crying from the other room. Serana's face paled, or as much as her white scales would allow, as she glanced through the door and over at the hatchling. Another whine confirmed to the adults that she had awakened, and needed… something.
Serana and Silvus exchanged a glance before Serana rolled her eyes playfully.
"I will see to her, sir." She finished. Silvus let himself out, as she went to attend to the hatchling.
Approaching the child, she found the hatchling crying in her cot. Sighing calmly, the dragoness sat down on her haunches and picked up the hatchling in her left paw.
"What seems to be wrong, dear?" She asked the hatchling.
A low grumbling emitted from the hatchling's belly, as the girl briefly stopped crying to look up at the medic.
"Oh. Hungry again, it seems?" The dragoness said, with a half-amused huff. Taking the hatchling by the scuff, she gently picked her up and took her to the storage closet, where she began mix the hatchling formula as she had earlier.
Finishing after a minute or so, she sat back down and offered the hatchling bottle. Sure enough, the hatchling gripped it quickly and began drinking the bottle down rather fast. Within a minute, the hatchling had finished the bottle and was making a purring sound, almost like that of a cat.
"Hungry little thing aren't ya?' The medic said calmly, as she rocked the hatchling in her paws.
As she did, she glanced around, recalling a stuffed doll of a dragon she had in storage, meant to comfort younger patients. After she finished rocking the hatchling, she placed her softly in the cot, as the Serana left briefly to retrieve the doll from the closet.
Noting Claire was beginning to sleep, the medic placed the doll next to the young hatchling.
"Sleep well, little one. I promise you, everything will be ok." The medic said softly, as she looked over the sleeping hatchling. Inwardly, the medic k
(-)
Later that night, as Spyro and Cynder were in their bed chambers. It was a lavish room, with a mixture of dark and purple coloring on the fixtures. The room itself had a stone wall, but the pair had linens matching their scale colors, including on their sheets and pillows.
Spyro lay in the bed, exhausted. Next to him, Cynder was reading a book, grasping it in her paws. The former scourage of the skies had grown considerably since the war, looking scarily close to the form she had taken during her servitude of Malefor. He body was a dark black, with a red underbelly. She was of a slender build now.
As Spyro shifted from his spot, his mate noted his dower demeanor and put down her book to address him.
"Spyro, you've been acting down since you got home. What's bothering you so much?"
Spryo groaned, having not wanted to bring up news of the rumors that had been plaguing his mind since the talk with Tarron. He worried have Cynder would not react too well, seeing as she had been an infamous wielder of similar powers to what the rumors reported.
"Its nothing." He said, dismissively.
Cynder shook her head. "Were it nothing, you would not be behaving the way that you have been." She retorted.
Spyro sighed. "Had a talk with captain Tarron. Talked about some rumors he's been getting, about some dragon with dark aura running around some towns across the country." He said, a bit flatly.
Cynder looked at him and raised an brow(as much as dragons could)
"Dark aura? You don't mean…" She trailed off.
Spyro looked over at her. "Nothing concrete, but still…" He added, looking towards here. " I was worried it would upset you-"
Cynder held up her paw. "Its fine, Spyro. Its not like its an insult or anything. I made peace with my powers long ago. It's just an element at the end of the day, Spyro." She replied, giving him a light nuzzle.
Spyro smiled. Cynder looked back at him.
"But what exactly about these rumors bothered you so much?"
Spyro shook his head. "Not too sure. I guess it's just worry. I don't know what this potential shadow dragon would be doing, but it seems like it's causing a fuss. Warfang hasn't seen any shadow dragons since… well, you know. It's a taboo topic, amongst the council." He said, sheepishly.
Cynder huffed. "Yes, I know. Everyone is tainted by the way Malefor used these dark powers to corrupt me, and what he made me do. This type of magic has left its mark on the world, and those who used it." She said, with a shudder at the memories. "But we can't just assume whoever it is automatically evil. They could be lost and confused." She pointed out.
Spyro pondered what she said. Subconsciously, he realized he might have been making assumptions about this individual, and what they might or might not be doing.
"You could be right. Until we hear more, though, we can only speculate." He replied.
Cynder sighed again. "If something comes of it, I am sure we will know. For now, let's just get some sleep. All the speculation in the world will bring us nothing but a headache.' She said with a sigh.
Spyro nodded, before giving her another nuzzle.
"Goodnight, Cynder."
"Goodnight, Spyro." The two lovers said as they both drifted off to sleep.
And that's a rap. I will elaborate more on the history of shadow dragons in this universe in a later chapter. Until next time.