"You will find out that being a purple dragon gives you a lot of advantages." Asher said to Spyro and Cynder, as both of them walked by his side across the facility. The doors slid open as soon as they walked near, opening space for them to pass without any problems. The hallways seemed to be all the same, made of the same material with the same blue lines running on the walls, on the ground, and even on the ceiling. They were sure that they would get lost in there without Asher, so they were sure to stay close to him and let him guide them both.

"Seriously, you get a lot of gifts, and there are guys wanting your autograph and wanting to take selfies with you." Asher explained. "The gifts truly are something. Seriously, they give you all kinds of things as soon as they see that you are a purple dragon. You would not believe how many gifts they give me every time I go into the street... of course, it could also be because my father is the president..."

"President?" Cynder asked, and Asher looked at her.

"Oh, yeah. You were from the time when there was still a king, right?" He said, looking at her. "Well, this is one of the things that changed since your time. You see, technically there is still a king, but now the power in here is a democracy. The royal family actually have only symbolic power, and the decision are made by a team of politicians, all of them elected by popular vote. The president is at the very top, and he is basically the guy who rules the country. At least by the time of the mandate, when there are elections for a new president. The guy can even be reelected if he did a good job."

"Oh... that makes a lot of sense." Spyro said, "Really sounds like a system that works."

"Yeah, some don't really agree with it." Asher said, "Anyway, my dad is the president, it is his second mandate. He is very popular among the city, and a lot of people think a lot of me because I'm his son."

Asher said it as if it was something that he should be proud of, but that for some reason he wasn't. At least that was the impression that Cynder had.

"I see..." Spyro said. "Well, it must be a really amazing to be the son of the ruler."

"You have no idea..." Asher said, and once more Cynder could notice the tune that the other purple dragon was using. It was as if he wanted to say something else, but was refraining himself from saying it.

"What about your mother?" Spyro asked to him, wanting to keep the conversation going. "What does she do? Is she one of these 'politics' as well?"

Asher stopped, and for a long moment he just stayed where he was. This caused the two dragons who were following him to stop as well, and to look at the other purple dragon. They were about to ask what happened, when Asher spoke:

"My mother... died... when I was still a hatchling."

Both of the dragons blinked. Spyro just realized that he had done something stupid.

"I... I'm sorry." The legendary dragon said. Asher stood still for a few moments, but then he turned to look at Spyro, and there was a smile on his face.

"Don't sweat it." He said, and added:

"So, let's keep going? My room is just this way."

With this, the three dragons continued their way. Spyro still felt bad about having brought up that subject, even though Asher did not looked particularly upset about that. As they walked, the purple dragon of the present continued to explain a few things to them.

"Every purple dragon receives their own room. They do that do give us space and to give us a bit more comfort. I saw the rooms of some of the others and they look nice. So do mine, actually." Asher continued to explain. "Like I said, there are some perks in being a purple dragon, they treat you very nicely. You know, Spyro, I bet they will give you one of the best bedrooms in this place, and to Cynder too, unless you two want to stay in the same room. Aaaand here we are!"

As he spoke this, the door right in front of them opened, revealing a room.

"Welcome to Asher's Cave." Asher said as he let them into the place that was his room. "Sorry for the mess."

They both looked at the room, which was a rather big one (for dragons their size), and the place seemed nice. The walls and ceiling were on the same style as the rest of the building, with walls of plain metallic material with blue lines running through them, occasionally blinking and glowing as if something was running through the lines.

"Don't worry about these." Asher said as he walked inside, "They don't keep surveillance inside of the private bedrooms. They know that we need privacy."

Spyro and Cynder weren't sure what Asher meant by "surveillance", but they kept their attention on the room that they had just entered. It was big, as they had already noticed. There seemed to have two other doors on the place, which Asher told them that were the closet and the bathroom. There was some furniture in there, most of it looking quite futuristic, including a big circular bed. What else called attention were the things that were on the walls, or over the walls. "Holographic posters" was how Asher called them. They looked like pictures floating in the very air, just a few centimeters away from the walls. They seemed to be solid, but when they tried to touch them their claws jus phased right through them, letting them know that these things were not real, but some form of illusion meant to be a decoration.

They showed individuals of various species. One of them was a dragon that was holding some kind of ball on his paws, looking like he was in mid-flight. Another one showed another dragon, this one a female, and she was flying through what seemed to be a golden ring suspended on the air. Next to it, there was another one that depicted a female cheetah, who was elegantly dressed and she looked as if she was dancing in the picture, looking at them with a smile on her face and with an object being hold close to her mouth.

"The dragon with the ball is Gaius Terradin." Asher said, "He is a champion of Speedball. The female is Elektra Thunderstrike, she is a champion of Aero Course. These are both very popular sports in our modern era." He said, and the two dragons looked back at him.

"What about the cheetah?" Cynder asked, and Asher looked at it.

"Oh, that is Clawdia Stalknew." He said, looking at the picture. "She is not an athlete, but she is one of the more famous singers of our generation."

"Is she good?" Spyro asked, and Asher looked back at him.

"Good? She is the best!" Asher said, "She has an amazing voice, and her songs are always amazing. She has a song called 'Darling, I'll Never Let You Go' that just speaks to me, you know? She is my favorite singer, and I hope I can get to meet her one day. Maybe when this is all over."

He looked at the image of the cheetah in a way that, to Spyro, was almost one of longing. The purple dragon said nothing to the other one, and continued to look around the place, and he saw a few more of these holographic displays, to which Asher was soon explaining:

"That is a poster of the 'Dragon Prince' series, it is one of my favorites. That one is from the 'Last Dragon Knight', it is my favorite movie franchise. And that one..." the dragon said, stopping at that specific image, which showed what seemed to be some dragons with weird armors and even weirder weapons with the. "That one is from the Dragonwatch, simply the best videogame ever made."

"Video... gay-me?" Spyro asked, confused, and Asher looked back at him.

"Oh, yeah, you guys don't know it yet, do you?" Asher said, looking at the two of them, "Well, a videogame is something that you will see a lot in here. They are some simulation things that allows you to live great adventures by taking the place of some of the characters in there, so you can live adventures as them."

"Simulation?" Cynder said, "You mean, like what we just did in the room back then?"

"Well, it is similar." Asher said, looking back at her. "But instead of actually being in the room as yourself, you look at the screen and uses a device in your paws to control the main character, or the character that you choose, in the case of Dragonwatch."

The two dragons looked at him, and it seemed that they were trying to understand what the purple dragon was explaining to them, and Asher then said:

"Come with me."

Soon they were in front of the television that he had, and Asher soon was turning it on, casing a tridimensional image to appear in it.

"3-D TVs are the best." Asher said, as he pressed a few more buttons, and then, he pressed the buttons on a device connected to the television.

"This is a gaming console." Asher said to them, "You use them to play videogames. They are like a machine that allows you to play these simulators on them."

"So, they are some kind of toy?" Cynder asked. She never truly played with toys on her life, not even the regular ones back on their time. She was wondering how she was supposed to play with that one.

She was sure that she could not kick it around like a ball.

"There are different kinds of game engines. This one, in particular, is of the Source Game Engines." Asher explained to them as the image of the television started to display an animation with the logo and title that the purple dragon just said, "I prefer them when I'm going to play a game. A lot of people prefer the Dream Field Frameworks, but I never could get used to the telepathic consoles."

As the game loaded, Asher was soon fumbling into it; by using a device with buttons on a thing that he held on both of his paws and that seemed to allow him to control things on the main menu. Soon, the dragon was selecting the option for the game he had just spoke to the two about.

The opening screen showed a dragon with black armor and even blacker scales, and with red glowing eyes. A helmet covered his head, with his eyes and his jagged horns being the only parts of it that were visible.

"That one is Lord Sirius." Asher explained to them, "He is one of the many playable characters of the game, and he is one of the best."

As he said that, Asher pushed a few more buttons, and soon, he was at the main menu.

"To play, you select one of the characters to be yours." He explained to both of them. "In this game, you can play as a single character fulfilling missions or fighting other characters. There is even an option that allows you to form a team with other players that are with you and you can do missions together, fight each other or all fight together as a team against the machine."

The two dragons listened to the explanation, sharing a look among themselves.

"When you say fight, you don't mean actually attacking the thing, do you?" Cynder asked.

"No, of course not!" Asher said, selecting an option.

Now the image of the screen changed, allowing them to see what seemed to be a series of other options. In the screen, the letter formed the words: TRANING MODE.

"You see, in order to play, you control the character with the joystick." Asher said, explaining, "This includes controlling their attacks, as there are some commands that caused the character to attack, just like there are commands that make them move, crouch and to jump and fly."

As he explained that, he pressed more buttons, and he looked like he was going through a few characters.

"There are all kinds of characters. There are the Tanks, the ones focus on going straight into combat and resisting blows. There are Strikers, which are the ones that are not as resilient as the Tanks but that are capable of doing a lot of damage. There are the Snipers, the ones that focus on fighting from a distance. There are the Casters, the ones that use magic to attack and involve strategy. There are also the Supporters, the ones that you use to help and heal the other characters, they are more useful in the co-op mode, when you have friends forming a team with you and you are fighting either against other players or again the machine."

Asher explained this to the two as he went through characters that depicted this. The first one was a massive rhinoceros-like character that wore an armor and was carrying a huge axe. The next one was a dragon who wore an armor full of blades and spikes, making him look like a weaponized porcupine. Next, there was a female cheetah wearing a grey cloak that produced a grey mist around herself, and she was carrying a heavily decorated bow. After this, it showed a unicorn with a pair of wings on her back and wearing some jewelry on her body, with a tiara and a necklace full of glowing gemstones. Next, there was a fawn dragon wearing a long cape, and she looked like she was a healer or some kind of priestess, she reminded them of Jocasta, for some reason.

"Each character is unique." Asher explained to them, "They have their own appearance, their own unique techniques, and even have their own backstory. All of that passing in the fictitious continent of Zeteroth. There are even factions, you see, in the story there is a civil war going on, with a few groups fighting for the control of the land, and each character is associated to a specific faction."

"It sounds... really interesting." Spyro said, as he took in all that the other purple dragon was saying, and Asher turned to him.

"It is the best! Dragonwatch is the best game ever made! It has the best characters and the best scenarios and the best method of playing." The purple dragon said to the other two, "It is really the best! And..." He said, and he pulled out something form a pocket of the harness that he brought. "It is about to get even better."

The two dragons looked at what he just pulled in, both with curious expressions on their faces.

"What is that?" Cynder asked, as they looked at the device that Asher had on his paw. It looked like an octagonal device of silvery coloration with a glowing neon-blue center on it.

"This, my dear friends, is an expansion pack." Asher said, rather proudly. "It is something that allows to add information to a game, allowing to put in it additional graphics, additional options, and even additional characters. This one, in particular, is a very special expansion pack for Dragonwatch, one that is not predicted to be released for the next months, but that I managed to get my paws on."

The purple dragon looked at them, looking quite smug as he said these words.

"It really pays of to be a purple dragon and the president's son sometimes." He said as he smiled, "You can get some really neat gifts like that."

The two dragons looked at him, and even though technology was still quite hard for them to grasp, they got the gist of what Asher was explaining.

"So, that will add more things to the game to make it better?" Spyro asked, and Asher answered positively.

"And I'm putting it in... right now." He said, and he walked to the gaming console and inserted the device in a specifically made opening. Immediately, the whole thing started to glow, and the screen changed to show a message:

DISCOVERING NEW LEGENDS

"Now, we wait just a few minutes while it download." Asher said proudly, "I love how fast technology is. Do you believe that in the old days it would take hours to download?"

"Sounds cool." Spyro said, as he looked at the message that was being displayed.

"So, you said that it adds new graphics and characters." Spyro asked, "So, this means that there will be more of these guys to play as?"

"There sure will." Asher said to him, "This is going to be released in a few months, as a new form of commemoration of the anniversary of the game. There are a lot of new graphics, new levels for the machine game, and a lot of brand new playable characters. This one in particular has only three of them, but there will be many more when they actually release it. They decided to give me a small sample of it so I can play it ahead of everyone. You can say that it is like I am one of their beta players."

"Beta players?" Cynder asked, and Asher looked back at her.

"It means I'm one of the guys chosen to play it before everyone else, and that not only I got to experiment it before all of them, but I also get to find out if there is any problem on the thing before they release it to the public." Asher explained, "You could say that it is like as if I am their guinea pig. Anyway, I'm really excited that I can play new things about Dragonwatch before everyone else."

The two dragons nodded, as it sounded that Asher was quite excited about that. It clearly was something he really liked, and the way that he spoke about that actually made the two dragons want to try it out as well. Even though they both had no idea on how to play that thing. Luckily, Asher was in there.

He was soon giving them more consoles for them to play, and explaining the basic on which commands moved the character and which ones were to activate their special attacks.

"I'll explain the rest while we play. I'm good at teaching newbies." Asher said, as the game was almost fully loaded, and then, the dragon perked.

"Oh, just one more thing!" He said, rushing to a nearby cabinet, and pulling out some kind of package from it. It was of a screaming coloration of green and yellow, and he brought it to the place where they are staying.

The other two looked at it with interest.

"What is that?" Spyro asked, and Asher opened the package.

"These are Bitbites." He said, "Simply the best snack that was ever fabricated, and the best thing for you to eat while you play a game."

He removed a few things from the package. They looked like small biscuits with a triangular shape, with a yellow center and neon-green corners. The purple dragon popped some on his mouth, chewing with gusto.

"Want some?" He asked, offering some for Spyro and Cynder. Cynder sniffed it from his paw, quite unsure of it. Spyro picked some and popped one on his own mouth, chewing and letting the flavor spread across his taste buds.

"Hey, these are pretty good." Spyro said, and Asher smiled at him.

"Told yah." He said, and immediately, there was a sound coming from the screen, and Asher smiled even more at this.

"And, this sound means that the expansion is completed." He said, and soon, the initial screen appeared once more, and this one showed now a pair of red glowing eyes in a complete blackness, while the menu appeared right beneath the eyes.

"Now, lets see what's new." Asher said and, with his console, he started to investigate what were the changes added into the game, and soon he was finding quite interesting things.

"Hmm, some characters got new skins. A skin is like a specific appearance for a character, different from the original." He said, as he looked into it. "Some new graphics to play in the team vs. team more. New levels at the main game! Awesome!" He said, as he looked at thing after thing, and he was getting in the characters.

"Now, lets see who are the new guys we can play as... No way!" He said, as he was clearly surprised.

In the screen, it showed three new characters of the game. The first one was a dragon with a sturdy body and big red wings. The scales of his body where of a deep purple coloration, while his horns and the plates on his underbelly were of a golden coloration. His tailblade was shaped like a big golden spearhead, and he had fins of golden and red on his body. Underneath, there where the name of the character was, it said: SPYRO, THE GREAT PURPLE SAVIOR

By his side, there was a dragoness of black coloration. This one was a female, and she was slender and quite attractive. Her scales where jet-black, while the scales of her underbelly were of a dark-purple coloration. She had long sharp horns crowning her head, and two pairs of wings on her back, one of them with a crimson membrane, and the other one of a pure black coloration. Her eyes were of a purple coloration. Beneath her, in the place of the name, was saying: CYNDER, THE BLACK-TAINTED DRAGONESS

"It's you guys!" Asher said, clearly surprised, and so were the other two dragons, as they looked at the adult versions of themselves. However, they also gave a look at the final creature that was appearing on the screen.

The final dragon was another male, and he was sturdier than Spyro. His scales were all of a dark, tainted shade of purple, with a darkened maroon on the plates of his underbelly, and his tailblade looked like a jagged axe made out of bone. He had spikes made of bone protruding from his shoulders and down his back, and he had three horns that protruded from the top of his head, looking like a twisted and jagged crown. His eyes were of a deep crimson coloration, pretty much like the ones from the new opening screen. On his name, it was possible to read: MALEFOR, THE DARK MASTER

Wow ... the scary part was that this one actually looked like Malefor...

"This is so cool!" Asher said, as she looked at the new characters. "They made game versions of you!"

"Yeah... wow..." Spyro said, as he looked at what could be his older version. Or, at least what someone else thought that could be his older version. Cynder was also looked at the other her.

"They think I'll be buff when I grow older?" Spyro asked, looking at the muscles of the Spyro of the game.

"Why do I have four wings?" Cynder asked, looking at the dragoness that was being show on the screen. "And purple eyes?"

"Well, I don't know about the four wings and purple eyes." Asher admitted, "But, as for the buff you, this is basically how most people imagine Spyro nowadays." He said, and he looked at Spyro.

"You see, your legend changed a bit with time, and now most guys think that you were an adult by the time that you fought Malefor and saved the world." Asher said, and Spyro looked at him, "Like, anywhere between a young adult and middle-aged."

"Really?" Spyro asked, and he looked at the image that was being show. So, this was how the ones in the future actually thought he looked like?

"So, these new characters they added are us?" Cynder said, as she looked at the adult versions of herself and Spyro, and she could not get over on how strange that version of her looked.

"Yeah, it is probably for their commemorative edition." Asher said, looking in amazement at the new characters. "I gotta admit that it is really cool."

"So, they are doing it because they know that we have returned?" Spyro asked, and Asher shook his head.

"No way, they would have to know about you guys for that."

"What, you mean that they don't know?" Spyro asked, and Asher answered:

"Very few even know about the prophecy." He said to the two. "They don't know of the existence of the immediate threat and neither of the other purple dragons. Dad and the others decided that it would be better to keep it from the public to avoid panic. That is why I am the only purple dragon who is allowed out of the facility."

Spyro and Cynder shared a look among themselves. Did that meant that they were also forbidden of leaving the place?

"They must be doing it in order to celebrate their anniversary." Asher said, "They thought that it would be interesting to adding characters of the most famous legend we have as playable characters to their world. I gotta admit; it's really..."

Asher was saying, but he stopped, as he suddenly noticed one thing.

"Wait a minute." He said, and this caused the two other dragons to look at him.

"What happened?" Cynder asked, and Asher was looking at the screen.

"What... Is this right?" He asked, looking at the screen that showed the characters, and the two dragons were still not quite following.

"What happened?" Spyro asked, "Something is wrong?"

"Is just..." Asher said, looking at the screen, more precisely, at the symbols that were right by the sides of the names.

"The factions..." Asher said, and the two dragons looked at him with raised eyebrows. Asher turned to them.

"Do you guys remember that I told you that the characters had factions?" He asked them, "Like, groups where they fit in that determined their qualities? Well, these also represent their affinities and also some of their weaknesses."

"Yeah, you kind of said that, but not explaining so much." Cynder said, "So?"

"The factions are represented by the symbols next to the name." Asher said, "For instance, that symbol, near Spyro's name." He said, pointing at the white and golden symbol near Spyro, which seemed like the silhouette of a dragon.

"That is the Light Holders' symbol." Asher explained. "Normally games with factions don't have a good or bad guy, only factions with different ideologies and aspirations. But, in Dragonwatch, the Light Holders are the closes thing to the good guys, as all of them are noble heroes with righteous motives and upholders of justice above all things."

"So, that Spyro is one of them?" Cynder asked, "Well, no surprise in there."

"Yeah, but..." Asher said, and looked at Cynder. It was as if he was deciding either he should or not bring it up.

"But what?" Cynder asked, and Asher looked back at the screen.

"Look at the symbol near your name." He said, and Cynder looked at him with a raised eyebrow, before she turned her attention to the symbol that was near her own name.

It was a different symbol from Spyro's.

While Spyro was golden and white, depicting a dragon with his wings up, that symbol was black and dark-purple, and it depicted a dragon's silhouette, but with his open wings turned downwards.

"I am not on Spyro's side?" Cynder asked, looking at it. "Why I don't have the same symbol as Spyro?" She asked, and then she noticed one more thing.

"Wait, why do I have the same symbol as Malefor!?"

It was truth, besides Malefor's name was the same symbol that was right next to Cynder's name.

"That is the symbol of the Dark Carriers." Asher said to her, "Just like the Light Holders are the closes thing to the good guys, the Dark Carriers are the closest to the bad guys. In the in-game universe, they are guys who don't care about justice or honor, and they actually mock these ideals. They are all morally ambiguous, and usually they are anti-heroes at best and cruel villains at worst."

Cynder blinked, looking at Asher, and then at the symbol that she had by the side of her name.

She was... a villain?

And she was on the same side as Malefor?

That was how the people of the future saw her?

"But this is wrong!" Spyro said, "Cynder is not evil! It must be a mistake!"

Asher looked at them, and he then turned to the screen.

"Look, it has an option to see their backstory!" He said, as he obviously wanted to find a way out of what was happening at the moment. "Maybe it explains why they are in different factions. I'm sure that they wouldn't do that without adding some justification."

With this said, Asher moved the selection to the part that said: LEGENDS OF PURPLE AND BLACK

"Let's see what this is all about." He said, and he pressed play. Soon, the screen got all black, and the three dragons looked as a video started playing.

The video started with two dragons together in a cave. It was the adult Spyro, and the one by his side was Cynder, although she didn't quite looked like the one that appeared in the screen before. She looked normal.

The two dragons were very close to each other, and they were even nuzzling.

They separated for a moment to look lovingly at each other's eyes. Then, they looked down.

The camera moved, to allow seeing what they were looking at…

There was a small nest right between the two dragons, and in it, there was a single dragon egg, black with purple speckles.

The scene changed, and now it showed a group of many creatures reunited in front of a great rock formation that looked like a pair of great claws curling over something.

The image changed to show a close on the group of creatures, and among them, there was adult Cynder, chained and held in place by the creatures, as she struggled to free herself, trying in vain to escape, hissing and snarling at all of the creatures around her, trying to bite them. However, she wasn't truly paying attention to them. She was truly paying attention to someone that was far ahead.

A young dragon, black and yellow in scales and horns and with a star-like necklace around his neck, was also in chains, and he was being drag in direction to the rock formation. All the while, he struggled and tried to get free.

"Mama!" The young dragon cried out. "Mama!"

"Let him go!" Cynder said, struggling even more. "Let him go now!"

"Stop complaining, Cynder." Said a dark voice, and Cynder turned her head to look at the source of the voice.

It was Malefor, he was standing by her side with a hard expression.

"Your son has been chosen to be the vessel of an ancient power beyond comprehension." Malefor said to her, "You should feel honored."

"I'll tear you apart for this!" Cynder hissed at him, and she turned back to where they were taking her son.

"Mama!" the young dragon cried once more, as they dragged in direction to the formation, and brought him into the altar that was right in the center of it. They chained him to the altar, and prostrated themselves as they walked back from the altar. "Mama!"

"Umbris!" Cynder cried out, still fighting her chains, but unable to free herself. She watched in horror as the formation started to emit a dark-purple glow.

Soon, the formation was glowing, and it emitted a series of small purple lightning bolts, which soon were being aim at the young black and yellow dragon. Soon, the young one was screaming out as the arcs of lightning focused on him. The chains that were holding him started to melt away into nothingness, vanishing like mist, and the young dragon was now floating in the air, as the arcs increased, and the young dragon continued to float in the air without his wings moving, being held in there by the power of the formation. He opened his eyes, and they were change to a dark-purple coloration.

"Umbris!" Cynder cried out, and she still tried to get to her son, but it was fruitless. By her side, Malefor grinned.

"Don't worry, Cynder." Malefor said to her. "Soon it will be over, and your son will be the holder of an indescribable power. A power that will help me achieve all of my goals."

Cynder hissed and growled at Malefor, looking at him with murder in her eyes. However, her attention was diverged, as a sound resounded across the sky.

"What is that?" Malefor said, as he and the others looked at the sky, as the sound got louder.

Suddenly, the clouds parted, and a purple meteor came down from the sky. It hit the ground in front of the crowd, causing a cloud of dust and debris to fly up, startling many of them, with some of them now running away.

The others on the crowd had remained, and many of them looked at the cloud that had formed on the place where the meteor had hit, including Malefor and Cynder.

Suddenly, a beam of purple energy erupted from inside the cloud, and hit Malefor square in the chest, sending him flying back and crashing into the crowd, sending many of the creatures flying away as he reeled on the ground. Cynder looked in shock, and she looked back at the cloud in time to see a wave of energy come out of it and hit her, but this did not made any damage to her, but completely shattered the chains that were holding her.

She looked in shock as she now was free, and she looked back as she saw that the cloud was finally clearing.

Standing there, was Spyro, standing in all of his glory, his wings outstretched and a fierce expression on his face.

"Spyro!"Malefor snarled as he caught sight of the purple dragon. Meanwhile, the entire crowd broke away, as all of them had expressions of fear in their faces and were running for their dear lives.

Malefor was the only one that had stayed right where he was, and he was the only one on whom Spyro was paying any real attention. The two purple dragons were glaring fiercely at each other's eyes, and it seemed that they were about to start a fight. However...

"Spyro!" Cynder cried out, making the purple dragon look at her. "Spyro, you have to save Umbris!"

Spyro looked at her, and he looked back at the formation. The small black and yellow dragon was still in there, and the yellow on his body was darkening, as the dark-purple glow on his eyes became more and more intense. There was an aura of pure dark power forming around his body as he floated in there.

"You are too late, Spyro!" Malefor said, causing Spyro to look at him, as the evil purple dragon grinned, "The ritual has already started, and it cannot be stopped! Soon, your son will become the vessel of the power that will allow me to destroy you and every single one of your allies!" He said, and he laughed.

Spyro looked at him, and he then looked back, seeing the young dragon in there, getting darker and darker with each passing moment, as the aura of dark power was growing. Spyro then looked at Cynder, whose eyes were begging him to save Umbris.

Spyro looked at her, and his own expression almost seemed pained.

"I'm sorry." The purple dragon said to her, and Cynder looked at him confused.

However, that changed as she saw him turn to look at Umbris direction. Energy was accumulating in his mouth, as if he was charging an attack.

Her eyes widened.

"NO!" She cried out, looking at Spyro. "Don't do this! He is your son!"

Malefor, who had been confused as well, now noticed what Spyro planned to do.

"No!" Malefor said, as he immediately launched an attack of energy at Spyro, but this attack did not connected, for Spyro erected a dome of energy around himself, blocking the attack completely. Meanwhile, Spyro continued to charge the attack, getting ready.

"Spyro, don't do this!" Cynder cried out in despair, as she scratched at the energy field, which prevented her from getting at Spyro.

"There must be another way! Spyro!" She cried out, and Spyro looked at her.

There were tears streaming down her eyes, and Spyro looked at them with a pained look of his own. However, he turned his attention back to the formation and to the young dragon that was in there.

"NO!" Cynder cried out, and now she turned to the formation as well.

"UMBRIS!"

She started to run in direction to the formation, but it was too late.

Spyro opened his mouth, and he released a blast of pure ether. It travelled through the air, and passed by Cynder, flying in direction to the young dragon still floating in the air.

It connected, and then there was an explosion of the purest energy.

A cloud of dust rose from the construction.

Spyro continued to look at it, his back turned to Malefor.

"No..." The Dark Master growled in frustration, and he looked with hatred at Spyro. That was when Spyro turned at him, a look of pure hatred on his own face.

Suddenly, Spyro lunged at Malefor, his face an expression of the most absolute fury.

"Umbris, look what a beautiful gift your father has sent!" Cynder said to her son, as they both had just opened a package, revealing in it a necklace with the symbol of a star in it.

"It's so pretty!" The hatchling said, and Cynder nodded.

"Yes, it is pretty." Cynder said to him. "Your father always sends the best gifts."

"But why papa is not here?" The young dragon asked, looking up at his mother.

"Because your papa is making the world safer for you." She said to him. The young dragon continued to look up at her. "Your father is a purple dragon. You see, the Ancestors send him to the world to help make it safer for everyone in it, including you." She said to her son, "He cannot be in here now because he has to keep making the world a better place so you can be safe and happy."

"I would be happy if he was in here." Umbris said, looking down, and Cynder looked at her son.

"But he is." She said to him, and the young dragon looked at her. "This is a gift from him." She said to him, "It proves that he remembered of you, and that we thinks about you." She said as she showed to him the star necklace. "This way, even if he is not here in person, he is in here in mind and spirit. This way, he will always be with you."

As she said that, she placed the necklace around his neck, and it fit like a glove. The young dragon was beaming with happiness as he wore it.

"I like it!" Umbris said, Cynder smiled at her son and nuzzled him.

"UMBRIS!" Cynder cried out as she finally reached the formation. Or what once was the formation.

The cloud was clearing, and it was not possible to see that the formation was completely destroyed by the force of the blast.

And Umbris was nowhere in sight.

"Umbris! Umbris!" Cynder cried out, looking to all sides, as if her son was suddenly going to answer to her cries. She continued to look around.

"Umbris! Um-" She stopped when she noticed something on the ground, and she looked at it. Her expression turned into one of horror.

Laying on the ground was a broken star. It was the star of Umbris necklace.

"No..." Cynder said, nealy dropping to the ground, as she picked up the broken star, holding it in her paws, and looking at it.

"Umbris..." She said, and tears were falling from her eyes.

Soon, Cynder was breathing heavily, and sounding as if she was choking back sobs.

"He is gone..." A voice suddenly said, and Cynder looked up.

She could see a figure standing in there. It had the size and aspect of Umbris, but it was clearly not him. This was a silhouette of purest shadow, with glowing purple eyes, which looked back at Cynder.

"Spyro killed him..." The figure said, it had no mouth, but it was still able to speak, in the form of a dark whispering.

Cynder looked at it, and her face hardened, but tears were still streaming down her face.

"His own son... How could he?" The dark figure said, "He didn't even hesitated. The legendary hero is a fool. He is just an obedient little soldier who follows the orders of the Ancestors, and the Ancestors are blind."

Cynder continued to look at the creature, and it looked back at her.

"It is the truth. The Ancestors did not protected your son, and neither did their champion, even though it was his own son. He was sacrificed in the name of others who he didn't even knew." The figure said, stepping in Cynder's direction. "It's not fair. They have to pay for this. You should be the one to make them pay. I can help you achieve this, if you just-"

"Shut up." Cynder said, looking back at the figure, clutching the broken star of her son's necklace in her paws. "I know exactly what you are getting at. I know what you want."

She glared at the creature, which looked back at her in silence.

"I accept." Cynder said, and the creature's eyes widened just a little bit.

Cynder glared at it, before lowering her head.

"Just go ahead." She said, and her voice sounded resigned. More than that, it sounded resentful.

Then, the broken start amulet on her paws started to emit a dark substance. It was as if darkness was leaking from every corner of the star, and this darkness was spreading into Cynder.

The black dragoness didn't even rose her head as the darkness travelled across her chest, up her neck, and covering her face.

Spyro and Cynder were both looking at the egg, which had cracks appearing on it.

"Come on, little one." Spyro said, in a very gentle voice. "Come on, just push a little harder."

The cracks stopped for a moment, but then, they spread all over the egg.

The two dragons looked down at the cracking egg, and soon, there was a small newly hatched dragon on the next, with pieces of the broken shell all around itself.

Spyro and Cynder both leaned forward to the small dragon, which started to chirp.

"He is perfect." Spyro said, and Cynder soon was nuzzling the hatchling.

"His name will be Umbris." She said, and Spyro soon was nuzzling the hatcling too.

Spyro panted as he looked back at Malefor, who was panting a tad bit as well.

The two dragons glared daggers at each other, and they seemed like they were ready to resume their fight.

However, suddenly, they both perked their heads and looked at the same direction.

A silhouette of a familiar dragoness stood in the darkness.

"Cynder?" Spyro asked, as he looked at the silhouette.

Suddenly, the silhouette lunged forward. In direction to Spyro.

The form of the black dragoness collided with Spyro, pushing him back in direction to a boulder, colliding with it so hard that it produced a loud booming and a cloud of dust as the boulder cracked.

Malefor looked at it with wide eyes, before his face broke into a grin.

As the cloud of dust cleared, Spyro was with his back forced against the boulder, which had a crater on the point of impacted. He was not able to move, as two clawed hands were against his muzzle, keeping him pinned into the boulder by the head.

Cynder's scales became even darker, as any other color either disappeared or was replace by a dark-purple. The star that was once part of Umbris necklace was now on her chest, embedded in it as if it was now part of her body. A second pair of dark wings sprouted from her back. Her horns became longer and sharper. Her eyes changed from their green coloration to a glowing purple, with pupils that were like six-pointed stars, which glared at the purple dragon with anger and contempt.

"The Ancestors aren't blind!" Cynder said; her voice distorted and full of hatred. "They just don't care! Like you!"

Spyro's eyes were widen as he looked at Cynder, or at what once was Cynder.

The dragoness pressed his head harder against the boulder, producing more cracks as the stone behind him gave in to the pressure.

Electricity cracked in Spyro's paws. The purple dragon rose his paws, placing them right into Cynder's face. The electricity boomed, as it blasted the dragoness right in the face, sending her flying back and reeling on the ground.

Once the dragoness stopped, she got up on her feet once more, and she growled.

Her appearance was different now, and she looked just like the dragoness that was show on the screen minutes ago. She panted and growled, looking at the purple dragon, whom looked back at her with a surprised expression, as he recovered his breath.

The dragoness looked at him, before she looked at the side.

Malefor was walking near her, and he looked at her with his red eyes, as if he was evaluating her.

"Well, that certainly didn't went like expected." The Dark Master said, as she looked at the transmuted black dragoness. "That is far from being an ideal vessel... but it is better than nothing, I suppose." He said with a shrug. Cynder hissed at him. Before she looked back at Spyro.

"You do you need to leave?" Cynder asked as she looked at the purple dragon. By her feet, the newly hatched Umbris was sleeping soundly.

"Because I am needed." Spyro said, "I have to help finish this war and bring peace to the land. They need me there."

"And we need you here." Cynder said, looking at him, as he looked back at her. "Your first born has just hatched, and he needs his father with him as he grows. You should stay in here for him!"

"What if this war spreads more?" Spyro said, looking at her, "What if it reaches this place, and our son ends up dragged into it? I need to help end this war so that won't happen. I need to end it so our son can live in peace. I have to go."

Cynder looked at him for a while, and then she looked down, at the sleeping hatchling.

"I'm going to fight so neither of you have to." Spyro said, "I'll always keep you both safe, no matter what I have to do, and if you ever need me, I'll come to save you both."

Cynder looked up to him, and Spyro looked back at her.

"I promise."

She looked back at him, and then she nodded.

"Just end this war as fast as possible and come back." She sadi to him, and the purple dragon continued to look at her, and at their new son.

"Will you be fine taking care of him alone?" The purple dragon asked.

"What, worried that I'll become crazy again?" She asked, it was a joke, but Spyro didn't laughed.

"Don't worry, back then I didn't had anything that gave me a reason to believe in the world." She said, and she pulled their child closer to her own body, as if to protect him from anything that could come.

"Now I have a family that I love very much." She said, as she nuzzled the sleeping hatchling, which yawned and turned on his sleep.

"I'll never fall back into the darkness." She said, as she rose her head to look at her mate, who looked back at her. "I promise."

They looked at each other, and this time, Spyro opened a smile as he looked at Cynder.

Spyro was looking at Cynder with an expression of hurt and betrayal, as if he didn't believed what was happening.

Cynder stood in there, by the side of a grinning Malefor, as she looked at Spyro with clear hostility.

"Well." Cynder said, looking at her former mate. "It seems that we both broke our promises."

Spyro continued to look at her, and he looked down, closing his eyes, as a single tear ran down his face. However, he looked up again, and this time, the hurt was replace by a burning determination, as his mouth glowed as he charged his next elemental attacks.

Spyro started to run in their direction, while Malefor and Cynder now were running towards him.

They all jumped, mouths opened and glowing with the power of their charged attacks, and then the whole screen went black.

On the screen, the words appeared in blue and golden: DRAGONWATCH

The 2-D animation finally ended, and the screen now was back into the selection menu.

The three dragons only stared at the screen, as they processed what they had just seen.

The silence persisted for a while, and it was unnerving.

"Oh... wow..." Asher said, trying to break the silence. "They truly took the 'creative liberty' to the letter, right?" He said, and he had a smile on his face, but neither of the other two dragons was smiling.

Spyro was still processing what his other version had done. How he had killed his own son like that, even if it was to prevent something bad from happening. He didn't even tried to save him in some other way.

Spyro wouldn't do that. Never.

But, it seemed that the people of the future thought that he would, and that somehow shook Spyro.

As for Cynder...

The black dragoness didn't said a word, but she got off the bed and walked to a corner of the room, and she just... stayed there.

"Okay, so Dragonwatch was a bad idea." Asher said, putting the controller down and turning off the game. He looked at Spyro. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay." Spyro said, "Is just... that is a lot to process."

There was a while more of silence, as Asher wanted to keep apologizing to the two for having suggested that game, but he knew that saying anything could make things worse.

The silence continued for a while, and Spyro finally recovered enough to speak.

"So, they really think that I was an adult by the time I faced Malefor?" Spyro asked, and Asher looked back at him.

"Yeah, I guess that most think it makes more sense that the one who defeated the Dark Master was an adult rather than a teenager." Asher said, "As if you could only do good things once you are an adult..." He said the last part in a low voice, and Spyro stared at him. However, Asher was quick recovering from this and resuming a conversation.

"Well, anyway, a lot of guys take creative liberties when it comes to your legend." He admitted, "I mean, it was over fifty thousand years ago. That is a lot of time to anyone, even dragons. Of course some details would get lost or change with time."

"What kind of details?" Spyro asked, and Asher shrugged.

"I don't know, the order in which you rescued the guardians? Your fight with the apes in Dante's Freezer? How long it took you to transverse the Mystic Glades and if you had too many fights with the unicorns in there?"

"Mystic Glades?" Spyro said, "I've never been there. And I've never really met an unicorn. I mean, I heard about them from the Guardians, but I never actually met one."

"Really?" Asher said, sounding genuinely surprised. "So these parts are made up? They always were my favorites..."

"Yeah, I guess these things never happened. Sorry." Spyro said, and he then felt movement on the bed. He turned to look and saw Cynder. She had walked back to the bed and laid in there again by his side.

"Are you okay?" Spyro asked, and Cynder nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine." She said that, but for some reason, Spyro was not completely convinced.

"You know, you should not think too much about it." Asher said, "I mean, people are reinterpreting the legend all the time, and some of them are more different than others. I'm pretty sure that some guys will be a bit weirded out by this version of you guys. Well, I know that the black dragons will be; they take a lot of pride on Cynder's part on the legend..."

"So, I heard you guys were talking about things that they say about our legend, right?" Cynder cut him out, and Asher took it as a cue to change subject. One that he was thankful for having.

"Oh, yeah." Asher said, "You know, there are all kinds of versions of the legend, and they change in a lot of details depending on the source you look upon. But, they all follow the same line of events, you know, discovering other dragons, being trained by the Guardians, rescuing Cynder, getting stuck in a crystal, saving Warfang, defeating the Dark Master. They have a bit of coherency."

"But, they changed a lot?" Spyro asks, "Where can I read it? Do you have the books?"

"Dude, you are in the future." Asher said to him, "You can read all of it from the Aethernet."

"From the what?" Spyro said, looking at him with a cocked head. Asher smiled at him, and he pressed a few buttons on a machine that was near the holographic projector.

"Just a thing that we enjoy here in the future." Asher said, as the image now showed something different.

"Think of it as a web of information that covers the entire world. A place that is not real but it is real at the same time." Asher explained. "It is a virtual space where you can store information. Not only everyday information, like how to fix an holographic projector and how to use a telepathic-link interface, but also more detailed information, like all of the information available about the legend of Spyro the purple dragon."

Spyro blinked, as he saw the amount of information that the holographic screen was now showing. His mind was still processing and trying to make sense of what the other purple dragon had just said.

It was a bit complicated, and Spyro was not sure if he was getting it all.

"So... it is like a library?" He asked, not sure if it was right.

"A library. A game room. A meeting room. A place to make business. A bank to take and put money. A map to locate anything and everything. You name it, the Aethernet surely has it." He said with a smile, and he tapped a few commands into the holographic keyboard.

"Now, I believe you want to know more about your own legend, right?"

Hope you have enjoyed this chapter.

Also, in the case you have noticed, the backstory that just showed for the three dragons on the videogame was based on the backstory of 'Zaphrael' and 'Lucretia', from 'AFK Arena'. Hope I don't get into copyright problems ^^;