Chapter 20: Confronting

Deep within the temple, Volteer tensed with excitement, trotting around the pedestal in the centre of the room, studying the mysterious edged crystal placed atop of it. The colour, shape, sharp edges and rigidness of it left so many questions in the curious guardian's mind. He felt there was so much to dissect and discover in the mysterious construction. He paced around it, half closing his eyes with a tense crunching of his upper lip while he rounded the crystal pedestal as Phalera and Tegrol sat on their hinds watching the guardian murmuring under his breath constantly.

Phalera had grown to the point of getting used to her master's antics, somehow keeping a straight face with all his long ramblings and curiosity, especially during when he oversees her training. She understood why other dragons could lose themselves in Volteer's presence, but somehow she coped. Something Terrador and especially Cyril praised the young electric dragoness for. Volteer carefully tapped on his paws as he manoeuvred in circles around the crystal, studying every bit. His attention turned towards the pointed sharp edges dotted around the crystal. His suspicions drew louder in his thoughts at the crystal when comparing to the ones commonly known around the realm.

Tegrol focused on the curious disposition the electric guardian exhibited, listening to the muttering under the guardian's breath, just able to make it out despite his quickness "Blade like. edges… curious red. The purpose? Analogy of gems? Healing of dragons? No! Not of natural phenomena."

Volteer stepped up towards the pedestal, arching his head to the left, looking down to the mysterious glow in the centre of the crystal. Small and barely noticeable particles of energy floating throughout the crystal raised even more questions. Narrowing his eyes into slits, he leaned in closer with his snout inches away from the strange gem.

His eyes edged over every inch of the strange crystal, his head puzzling many questions and answers over and over as he muttered a 'hmm'. He pulled away and asked, "It is safe to touch! Correct?"

"Flame was the one who held it, and while he claims to have felt… odd as he held it, he was fine after he put it down," Tegrol answered.

Volteer turned back to the pedestal, curling his lips up around his cheeks, narrowing his eyes and leaned in towards it. He raised a paw and gently edged it towards the crystal. Phalera's right eye twitched watching the electric guardian about to engage secretly praying nothing wrong would happen as she heaved a breath through her snout. Even with the confirmation that Flame had already touched one, she lacked the complexity to stay calm.

The guardian's paw stopped inches away from the gem, spotting a faint light build up across the crystal structure. A majestic glow of red brightening as far as the palm of his paw. Peering in, he noticed small particles of red energy flowing throughout the crystal, his curiosity becoming bigger by the second. He continued leading his paw as the toes and the claws tapped against the structure before bringing his palm to rest on the crystal structure, careful to avoid any of the sharp edges.

The crystal instantly reacted as a brewed humming vibrated off the mysterious crystal with the glow intensifying, lighting up most of the chamber in red. Volteer listening to the humming as the vibrations tickled at his palm, the curiosity and ideas taking shape into his mind. Phalera and Tegrol watched in awe what they witnessed before them, struggling to find any words, only repeated gasps escaped from their gaping jaws. The brightness in such a dimly lit chamber became slightly blinding to the dragons, wincing as their eyes struggled to adapt to the light, Phalera twisted a wing covering the top of her eyes reducing the glare from the strange gem. Volteer pursued his curiosity to overwrite any discomfort, merely narrowing his eyes into slits as his study continued. He stroked his paw across the glass structure of the crystal, gentle to avoid any sharp points.

The rigid surface set out for the guardian considering most crystals be smooth in their nature. Feeling around, his attention drew to the sharp edges of the gem splitting off in multiple directions. He took his paw off and met with surprise as the glow died down, returning to its pale tiny light with small particles of red floating within the structure and blurted out, "Fascinating! just by touch, it resonates with such… energy!"

"What does it mean master?" asked Phalera stepping forward coming up to the pedestal inspecting the object with greater interest and confidence after Volteers close examination.

"I can only imagine the endless possibilities to what such a vessel like this is capable of. Or it's purpose," answered Volteer, his voice quaking in a sudden concern but overshadowed by his obvious excitement "In all my centuries I've never witnessed a crystal respond in such a manner. You touch it, young dragon. Let's see if it projects the same reaction."

Phalera hissed under her breath, her momentary interest losing, letting her thoughts run crazy with her worries of interacting with the crystal. She licked around her lips, relieving a slight itch she incurred as her leg twitched. Slowly she raised her left paw dangling in front of her upper chest before lifting it completely and edged her paw onto the crystal, resting it on the glass exterior. Same as before, it lit up into a glaring red glow, illuminating the entire chamber just about bearable to look at.

She took her paw off, letting it settle back into its apparent natural state, feeling this odd sensation run through her paw. She twisted it, looking into the palm of her paw with a faint red glow emanating before the sensation left her, feeling her norm again, but continued to stare into her palm.

"What's wrong young dragon?" asked Volteer, noticing her odd behaviour.

Phalera heaved, narrowing her eyes at her paw before dropping it down slowly onto the floor and shook her head "Nothing master. Something felt weird for a second there but it's gone now."

"Hmm…" Volteer glared towards his young apprentice with deep interest, making a mental note of her reaction before gazing back at the crystal, "This thing has a lot of mystery to it. Questions, studies, discoveries, examinations. There is so much to do with this fascinating crystal."

Phalera peered up at her master for a split moment, allowing her curiosity to get the better before leaning in closer to gaze upon the structure. Volteer followed suit, ready to begin his work on dissecting what the crystal was and in the knowledge of hoping to teach his pupil more about gems.


Gnabry laid down on his chest against the smooth cobble, absorbing an array of red and green gems glowing around his scales as the cuts and bruises disappeared from his flesh as he felt empowered with the building return of his strength and power slowly raising himself from the ground as two dragons placed red gems against any wound they found and green gems onto any point of his body accepting the energy. He breathed in before shooting his head upwards, his snout facing the sky, releasing a heavy moan vibrating through his maw. His black wings straightened off his flanks, taking their natural position above his back.

The crystal treatment continued for a while until his body wouldn't accept anymore showing a full recovery. Fortunately, his body wasn't damaged to the point he would have to pace on his health recovery. Looking into the palm of his left paw and crunched it into a fist tasting the strength returned into his body felt so energising he panted out ready for action tensing the muscles through his body relieving any discomfort he experienced.

"Thats much better, thank you guys," Gnabry expressed to the two guards nodding to them and vice versa stepping back to give him space with Terrador and Pyrus stood before him "I'm ready now, sir. I'll lead the group back to the cave."

"Are you sure, Gnabry? you have been through so much over the last twenty-four hours!" asked Pyrus, voicing his concern to his guard the same as he would express to anyone being through such an ordeal. He stepped forward, placing a paw against Gnabry's right shoulder joint reassuring the black dragon "Your information has given us a good idea where to find them… you don't have to go back out there!"

Gnabry trailed down, looking to his paws, taking a moment to weigh the options presented to him but his resolve remained the same shaking his head at the offer and voiced with no hesitation "My team need me. They sent me to get help and I will not abandon them. My duty is to my team sir!"

"Spoken well young one," Terrador acclaimed in praise to the shadow dragon who dropped a tad flustered at the praise from the elder earth guardian just able to keep his expression straight brimming with confidence as Terrador laid the instruction "Go! Join Delacon at the armory and suit up. You will head out soon, along with a third of the guard to secure the forest."

Gnabry straightened up twitching the joints in his body relieving the discomfort and bowed respectfully to the guardian "Yes master, right away."

The shadow dragon twisted his body around sharply and moved away quickly, heading across the open plaza towards the temple. The area having been teeming with dragons and moles had mostly dispersed to carry out their patrols of the city or undertaking the quick preparations for the fight ahead of them to rescue their comrades under attack in the tranquil forest. Only a few of the guard remained, carrying out more important tasks assigned by Pyrus.

Spyro and Cynder watched from near the fountain in the centre of the plaza as Gnabry shot past, heading into the temple. Spyro leaned against the base of the fountain, conserving his disgruntled mood, unhappy that his pleas regarding his assignment after the bombshell of news regarding his comrades in the forest with Terrador had fallen on deaf ears.

Cynder noticed the annoyed look fuming from the purples dragon's gaze, although she felt a similar amount of indifference as was more reserved "Spyro… I know it's not ideal but Delacon and the others are more than capable of rescuing Seraph and the others."

"I know…" Spyro admitted leaning down his glare turning down to a mere glance switching to the black dragoness "But we should go with them. I can't just walk about on patrol knowing my friends are fighting for their lives. It's not right!"

He curled his left leg over the edge of the fountain bringing his right front leg folding it over as if he was crossing arms, crunching his lips together as his features across his face and snout creased displaying his obvious frustration to Cynder. He felt so hard done by. Naturally he expected Terrador to select him and Cynder for such a task, having nothing to do with their experience and powers alone but their experience.

"I just don't get it. He was so willing to have us carry out the missions before, but now it feels like Terrador doesn't want us involved at all," accused Spyro, pondering the whole situation in his head grumbling under his breath "If there was an actual reason I'd be fine with it but he hasn't given us one."

"I know. It seems suspicious," concurred Cynder although her tone was a little more relaxed than the purple dragon's but even she struggled to contain her frustration wrapping her wings up against her flanks, her snout stiffened as she struggled to hold back her building annoyance.

"Maybe something changed!" Cynder suggested.

Spyros eyes raised and his perplexity changed to curiosity "What do you mean Cyn?"

"I don't know… maybe his way of thinking changed with how many dragons and moles are available now."

"What? so we aren't useful anymore?" Spyro objected, flashing his eyes towards Cynder before returning the same gaze to him.

"No! Not like that at all Spyro!" Cynder defended waving her paw dismissing the idea but faltered unsure of what to think of the situation now "To be honest. I'm not sure what to make of his thinking. But we both know if he doesn't want to send us, then he has a good reason to do so."

Spyro narrowed his eyes, the intensity of his vexation becoming more noticeable as his pupils taking in the words of the black dragoness and peered to his right towards the guardian and captain stumping back towards the plaza likely heading for the temple. The purple dragon huffed under his breath tugging his lips together "Well… maybe it's time we find out the reason."

Spyro looked back towards Cynder, his eyes settling almost a trail of guilt plastering to his expression "I don't want to disobey the guardians but in my heart this is the right thing to do. I can't just stand by knowing my friends are fighting for their lives."

Cynder nodded and comforted the purple dragon tapping a paw against his paw "I know Spyro. Something is clearly going on and we're going to find out. It is strange, suddenly, for Terrador to be this way with us, even after all the missions we have been through."

Terrador paced gently towards the temple, intending to cut across the courtyard. He gazed to his left at Pyrus walking beside him. His mind appeared elsewhere, peering into the sky. The guardian took this with interest and cleared his throat, gaining the yellow dragon's attention "Pyrus? Is this situation troubling you?"

The electric dragon's flinched in his movement as the corners of his eyes crinkled at the guardian's question. He turned his head away, not bearing to look back at the guardian as a shadow of shame shrouded over him, clouding his thoughts. His breathing slowed down marginally as he slowly collected himself with a long breeze exhaling from his snout.

"I should have sent larger, more experienced groups into the forest. They were unprepared for such an attack," Pyrus confessed, placing the blame for the situation on his shoulder joints "Some dragons out there are young… inexperienced. It was foolish of me. My decision caused all of this."

Terrador narrowed his eyes watching the doubt creep over Pyrus's expression and stopped turning his upper body a tad towards the captain and stopped him "Listen to me at once, captain!"

Pyrus gasped under his breath at the sharp, deep tone of the guardian's command, placing his undivided attention on earth elder. His eyes widened when he noticed the serious glare the guardian crossed at him, assuming he was about to be scolded by his superior. He believed he deserved it, bracing himself for harsh truth and a torrent of a lecture considering his position as leading the guard. Terrador stopped on the spot, prompting Pyrus to do the same, slowly turning the front half of his body to face him.

"This is not your fault! No one could have predicted the remnant organised themselves to this capacity. We all assumed we reduced them to hold outs. If anything Pyrus, this is the responsibility of myself and the guardians."

Pyrus tilted his head, struck with surprise at the words uttered in a strangely gentle tone from the guardian looking away in a plight of shame proceeding to concede, "We failed to expect the capabilities of our enemy. Blindly sought to focus on just the preservation of dragon society as we ignored the idle threat, the remnant of Malefor's forces posed to us. If anyone should bear the blame for these recent events… It is I."

Silence filled the space between them, Pyrus could not conjure any words to offer the guardian after the admission of responsibility. It almost felt like an awkward silence, neither knowing what to say after the exchange on the captain's part, his superior and someone he had respect and admiration for took responsibility for the crisis unfolding. He shrugged his shoulder joints, realising he had a duty to perform and couldn't afford to show weakness.

"Master, this isn't your fault either. It's as you said: No one could have predicted this turn of events. So we all bear a responsibility, even the council who only focused on restoring Warfang and ending the notion there was danger. So by that logic we all bear the responsibility, but now we have to respond and protect our people. Like we always do, sir!" Pyrus exclaimed, filled with admission and pride with an exterior of confidence in the end of his statement.

Terrador saw the fire in his eyes birthing a smile on the elder dragons "Well spoken, Captain… Once again you prove why you are the right choice."

The yellow dragon almost felt like blushing at the praise he received from the guardian, his cheeks puffing a tad, almost slipping into his almost still young posterity "Thank you, master… Delacon and his group will head out as soon as possible, I'd better see them off, sir."

"Terrador!"

A voice yelled, stopping the two dragons. They peered to to their right, spotting Spyro and Cynder running toward them. Terrador halted any thought, bewildered by the intense look he noticed on the purple dragon's face. He twisted his face, assuming they had something to report and snubbed at Pyrus "You carry on Captain. I'll come find you later!"

"As you wish, master Terrador!" The yellow dragon bowed respectfully, folding up his wings against his flanks and turned, heading off to the temple peeping at the two young dragons addressing them "Spyro! Cynder!"

The young dragons acknowledged the captain rushing by stumping quickly to the temple. Spyro watched him with a gleaming focus, his eyes narrowing as Terrador garnered their attention "What is it young ones? Have you found something to report?"

Spyro stomped to a halt flickering a last second glint of hesitation and looked toward Cynder stood beside him and vice versa emitting the same bleak outlook. Their bodies tensed with a fire muzzling in their bellies. Spyro didn't care as he tilted his gaze slowly to the elder dragon, also shooting a curious look at the young dragons narrowing his eyes to the side noticing the behaviour the young dragons emitted. Something in the back of his mind told him this would not be a simple conversation. His breathing remained steady, allowing himself to be patient, allowing the young dragons to prepare themselves to proceed on whatever they wished to speak to him about.

Spyro's nostrils flared guzzling one last breath steadying his mind "No Terrador we haven't gone on the patrol!"

"Interesting…" Terrador muttered, taken by a slight surprise at the inactivity, but logic told him there was a simple explanation considering who he was speaking. He relaxed his legs into place, offering a calm posture and inquired, "May I ask why you have yet to set off on your task?"

"Because we feel we need to go with the forest group, Our friends need our help!" Spyro stated, keeping it simple.

"I thought we had already discussed this young dragons. Your knowledge of the crystal we seek would best serve the patrols today and that is why you on that assignment!" Terrador maintained, his tone becoming heavier in a show of authority.

"And we accepted that. But that was before we found out our friends are fighting for their lives and need all the help they can get!" Spyro rebuked, crunching his teeth bulging out under his scaled lips.

"A large team of dragons and moles led by knight Delacon are preparing to rescue our comrades. Don't worry, young dragons. They have more than enough personnel to handle this. They are going to rescue them and return here at once. And then more groups of dragons will follow suit to aid the other teams already there in securing the forest form the Remnant. It is under control," Terrador explained to the two dragons remaining collected in his words, making a false hope it would be enough to sway Spyro and Cynder.

"But how do you know that is enough, Terrador!" Cynder argued, her features crunching up and her eyes blazing with intensity, narrowing "The dark remnant cannot be underestimated! Malefor created them and we have seen what they are capable of. Spyro and I know this better than most and we want to help."

Terrador eyes lids shrunk slowly turning into a frown seeing clearly the young dragons would not back off so easily as he came to expect. Spyro stepped forward facing the guardian with the blazing determination in his voice "We need to go Terrador. You know how capable we are, how useful we would be!"

"Don't think for a moment we are disputing your ability, young dragon. Far from it! You are right, we don't know the capabilities of the dark remnant at this moment, but we can't send out too much of our forces and leave the city under-protected. If they could infiltrate the city once and we still don't know how they did it undetected. There is no doubt in my mind they could do it again! And with a larger force this time," Terrador concluded.

Spyro and Cynder halted in their thinking. The guardian had merit to his argument, and they couldn't force any counter against it. Spyro curled his lips and edged his digits, peering over to his right, contemplating the words of the earth guardian maintaining his calm stature. It was true what Terrador said. The remnant could use this as an opportunity to attack while they distracted the dragons, but something didn't add up for Spyro. It was almost as if the green elder was trying to edge the conversation around, and that seemed strange for the guardian.

"I get that Terrador but barely a quarter of the guard are being sent to the Tranquil forest, you said that earlier," the purple dragon argued, catching the interest of the guardian as his eyes widened with a hint of surprise as Spyro continued "Your not leaving the city under-protected. And any force we encounter in the forest would be occupied as well. So forgive me but im struggling to believe that is the only reason here we are not being sent."

"Young dragon, why the sudden defiance!" Terrador argued catching the purple dragon off-guard with a small gasp before hardening his exterior willing to show no fear "Pyrus and myself have concurred, this is the best course of action. You should trust in the judgment of your elders."

"Terrador, you know we do, I have always trusted your instruction and wisdom. I have always believed in you and the other guardians and would follow you Terrador and you know that," Spyro reassured, voicing his respect for the guardians until he closed his eyes before admitting, "But this time… It doesn't feel right, Terrador. I just get this feeling there is a reason you don't want us to go!"

Terrador closed his jaw after drawing a whiff of air through his nostrils, staring down at the purple dragon. His mind deliberating on the purple dragon's conclusion, leaving Spyro with nothing but silence. Left unsure of how to respond, he blinked casually after his eyes narrowed. It felt tense for the purple dragon watching the guardian's slight of movement, trying to work out what he was thinking, only succeeding to add to his suspicions of the earth guardian's intentions.

"Is there something you haven't told us?"

"You overstep your mark young dragon!" Terrador rebuked in a surprising display of annoyance, catching the two dragons by complete surprise of the guardians' reply "I don't deem it necessary to include you two in the group. We have perfectly capable dragons with experience like yourselves. I'm sure you can appreciate they feel the same as you two do."

Spyro taken aback by the answer Terrador gave him only added to his suspicions, he shut his maw after the quiet gasp and took a step forward, stumping his paw, displaying his resolve "Of course we understand that Terrador. That is not the point I am making. We just don't understand how when our people are in danger, the most urgent of all responsibilities, and suddenly we aren't included. The guardians have always been willing to have us on these assignments, less risky ones, but not one of the potentially most dangerous in such a long time. Why?"

Terrador found him surprised once again, Spyro finding an answer and a way to undo any point the guardian made to his argument. Becoming unnerved deep within himself, the guardian made the slightest shake of his head. If a dragon could sweat, he certainly felt like he would sweat all over his face as his features tensed, crunching up across his face. It became a struggle to maintain any form of calm persona even for a dragon as well strong-willed as himself.

"Is it something we have done, Terrador? Have I disappointed you and the guardians? Do… you not feel I am capable?" asked Spyro, his mind very inquisitive to the thoughts of his elders losing confidence within him. Terrador's eyes widened with shock of the sudden questions changing the complexation so quickly instilling shock into the guardian.

He tapped forward quick to reinforce faith into the purple dragon and declared, "Of course not Spyro. Never think like that. I couldn't be prouder of the fine dragon you are growing up to be. Both of you have overcome so much in your lives already, be proud of that. My reasons have nothing to do with that young dragon!"

"THEN WHY?!" Spyro shouted, frustration getting the better of him, raising his voice for the very first time to the guardian ever.

"You say we should be proud of ourselves Terrador yet what are we meant to think when we are being left out of such an important time where our allies are in danger and we don't get a good enough reason we are going!" Cynder rebuked backing Spyro in their questioning at the guardian.

Terrador almost felt backed into a corner devoid of words to speak from his mouth, almost wanting to stamp his authority down on the two dragons, but even that didn't feel it would resolve the situation. It amazed him the resolve the two young dragons displayed against him; he was almost at the point of snapping at them, not seeing another way out of this situation, thinking of how to regain control of this debate.

"I don't get it Terrador, the guardians were always confident in me to go out when I was younger. Like when I had to find the chronicler, or when I was saving the other guardians. Or when me and Cynder had to go confront Malefor. But why not now? This isn't right!" Spyro accused, a hint of annoyance flaring in his tone.

"Because you shouldn't have to!" Terrador roared, echoing throughout the surroundings, silencing Spyro and Cynder shaken from the sudden outburst, bringing their wings close to their bodies as Terrador flared his eyes with a crunch of his jaws as realisation hit the guardian. He halted, moving his eyes away from the two dragons. With a brief shake initial shake of disappointment he dropped his head, sighing in defeat.

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other, their expression telling the same story and asking the same question; What just happened? It was not-Terrador like what they just witnessed they weren't sure how to react. Spyro staggered breaths as he looked back towards the deflated guardian holding his head down to the ground his breathing slowed exhaling smoothly through his nostrils.

"Terrador?" asked Spyro, holding a paw off the ground, questioning whether to step closer to the guardian as his thoughts of frustration toward the elder dragon slowly crumbled, replaced with many questions towards his strange behaviour.

The guardian's chest raised as he inhaled a deep breath and exhaled loudly, peering up at them "Alright young ones. You deserve the truth… it's cowardice on my part to hide it. The truth is, young dragons that… I'd rather you not go."

More questions burned in the minds of Spyro and Cynder, feeling unsure how to react. Cynder took a step forward, cautious in her movement towards the deflated guardian still not making eye contact with them "But… but why Terrador?"

Her question left unanswered as the guardian remained still, initially making no sign of reacting to the question. The two dragons for a split second peered to each other, sharing the same confused expression before hearing a loud breath from the guardian looking up towards the cloudy sky, reclaiming what calm and semblance he could bring himself back into the reality of the situation. It almost felt uncomfortable as this heavy feeling weighed into his chest. It almost knocked the balance in his body, but it felt so foreign. A guardian with centuries of training and experience was so unnerved in a single conversation, it almost felt like a stab to the heart he had dishonoured his training.

He heaved a sigh through his body out of his breathing, finally laying his eyes back onto the young dragons collecting his words and lamented, "Okay! I don't want you both to go on these missions because… you have done enough and you're still so young to grow and experience life. You both spent so much of your lives struggling to survive and not experience life as I or so many other did. And you both deserve to."

Silence filled the air as both Spyro and Cynder left with jaws gaping. They struggled to process what they heard from the lips of the Earth dragon. It felt like a complete polar opposite of the leading warrior, motivating Terrador they were so accustomed to. It didn't feel right. This time Spyro had no hesitation in stepping closer to the guardian right in front of him "Terrador… what do you mean? It almost sounds like you don't want us to fight anymore. I don't understand!"

"You two didn't deserve to have the weight of all the pressure and the world on your shoulders, is what I mean. And now that seems par for the course of continuing once more," justified Terrador raising his voice and projecting his point across.

Cynder blinked repeatedly brooding his words before and she shrugged "But that's not true Terrador, we have our friends and allies to help us and we help them, working together…"

"Wait a minute, Cynder…" Spyro lifting his wing, interrupting the black dragoness as something twigged in the back of his mind recounting the words Terrador just uttered his eyes peering one way and another trying to make sense of it before staring up at the guardian "What do you mean didn't deserve? Are you by any chance referring to the dark wars about me and Cynder?"

There was a pause in the air as Terrador grumbled under his breath, looking away for a moment. His eyes peered off in multiple directions and clenching one cheek to the other, trying to collect himself. This behaviour didn't go unnoticed by Spyro and Cynder being left astonished by the guardian's behaviour, not being able to recall ever seeing any of the guardians look so unnerved, even after a brutal battle. Whatever was going through the elder dragon's mind, they knew it was serious.

The guardian closed his eyes, huffing a powerful breath of air through his nostrils before opening and laying his eyes onto the pair and relented, "Yes… You both have spent your early lives fighting to survive same as us, even the generations coming through now into this new world. Understand we have many available experienced dragons, so don't expect to get sent onto every assignment."

"We understand that Terrador, that has been the case over these last two years. We have had our downtime but when our friends are in danger and they need help you decide to hold us back this time…" Spyro questioned, still unconvinced at the truth narrowing his eyes into slits "But back during the war the guardians never hesitated to have me or Cynder at the front of these fights, especially at the dam or the destroyer… So why the sudden the cold paws Terrador?"

"WE HAD NO CHOICE!" Terrador shouted almost an ear-piercing torrent jumped through the scales of the younger dragons taking recoiling a couple of steps back Spyro defensively kept a paw raised leaning his body back against his hinds. Cynder twisted her tail round her body, unsettled by the sudden outburst from the guardian, dropping his head filled with a great wave of shame and uttered quietly, "We had no choice…"

The guardian sounded defeated in his whisper. The shame coming out for Spyro and Cynder to see as his features turned groggy and somewhat despondent his wings dropped a few inches and curled before he closed his eyes looking away "We the guardians failed our duty to protect the dragon race and the realms. We failed in our service to safeguard the year of the dragon, and our forces collapsed. And our one alternative was to turn our hopes to not one but two of the most courageous and talented young dragons the realms were ever graced with, never deserved to have the weight of the world on their shoulders. We guardians who were expected to succeed failed and can only be ashamed of ourselves. Any of the praise we get is underserved."

Well… finally, so sorry for this being so late, I'm sure you've noticed I'm looking at an XCOM story as well I want to spend sometime on that so I will be jumping about a bit but stuff has happened so Writing hasn't been my biggest priority at the moment but I found time to get on.

So this chapter was meant to be longer but I decided to do something interesting… as for what it is well…you'll find out.