A loud noise was heard behind Ember, making her trance vanish. She didn't flinch at the sudden movement of the door, slamming back and closing the shack to the outside world however; all she did was blink a few times and stare in confusion at her surroundings while her mind slowly regained control to analyze her situation, and the situation wasn't at all on her favor.

Ember would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't scared after inexplicably getting trapped Ancestors know when. A minute ago she was ready to head home after a successful, if not humiliating, section of herbalism. Now she was inside a wooden shack almost not big enough for her body; full of questions as to how and why she ended up there. The pink dragoness was feeling sick, a headache and a fever building up, and fear was making her chest inhale and exhale air at an alarming rate.

"H-hello? Anyone?" Her scales went cold when she heard taps on the walls coming from the outside.

Ember now was sure that entering this place was the worst mistake she had made. Even as an excellent fighter and knowing how to use her elemental breath like a true contender for fire guardian, she couldn't get on a fighting stance and intimidate whoever is behind this awful prank. Instead, her position was one of fright as the taps got closer to the door, sounding like needles scratching the wooden surface of the walls.

"...I'm gonna blast your face off!" Ember tried to sound intimidating, but the fear could also be heard in her words.

The worst scenarios were passing on her head: Someone wanting to kidnap her and sell her organs to the black market, enslave her, become the new toy of sadistic perverts or even practice the cruelest of scientific experiments. She heard so many stories of cases like this that the thought alone of that happening to her made her stomach twist.

The scratch of needles finally reached the doorway. The sound was getting acute and lower like if it was trying to pierce through the door; and then it stopped.

Ember still had ice coursing inside her veins and the silence never felt so loud on her ears. She didn't want to open that door, but also wanted to get out of there and fly away as fast as her wings could allow to any place away from this shack. Her breathing was shaky and her heartbeat could be heard even from outside the shack. The poor female was begging for this sensation to go away. Begging for this horrible dream to stop. But it wouldn't.

BLAM!

Ember screamed in terror with the door swinging open so violently that it seemed to have broken a little in the upper border.

She couldn't take it. Ember thought she was gonna pass out from shock. She tried to ease the pain in her chest caused by her heart slamming her ribcage with a massaging paw on the area; but wasn't successful.

However, the door was open now, she could finally escape this hell she entered; but her gut was telling her otherwise. She knew this could be a trap; someone could be waiting for her to go outside and capture her.

Even the outside world looked completely different. It was too bright outside, like if the sun was way too close to Earth and was about to swallow the planet with flames. Ember forced her vision but got no glimpse at the once beautiful forest she was exploring before entering this hellish place.

What even was that place?

She must do this fast.

And so, like a pink arrow piercing the air, Ember flew with the heaviest wing-beat she could perform. Her eyes shut tight with fear and anxiety as freedom was already in her paws. The dragoness didn't care if she was gonna hit a tree on her blind escape from the shack, all of her desires were centered on getting as far away as possible, no matter where she was heading.

Her wings were burning with fatigue. Ember was panting hard by the time she got comfortable enough to stop her wings and land on the ground. She had many questions racing through her mind: Who did this to her? Why did she get so scared? What was causing that noise on the wooden wall? How she didn't hit any obstacle?

Why did the outside look so different from before she entered that place?

Taking a moment to finally open her eyes to look at her surroundings, Ember came to the sad conclusion that the vivid green forest she was flying by moments ago was now completely devoid of any form of life. All of the trees with no exception were dry, burned, or cut down. The terrain was resembling a wasteland with thick and hot air that could burn her throat if she stayed there for too long. There was no life, there was no lake, no shack; nothing.

The atmosphere made Ember wish she had never exited that shack. This was much worse than being locked up in a small room.

"Wh… Where? Why?! What is going on?" Ember was desperate to find answers to such severe unanswered questions. Her world was gone, everything she knew and loved was dead.

Ember was really close to snap. She wished to all the ancestors for this to be nothing more than a bad dream. Yes! she might have fallen asleep after so much work done. So now all she has to do is wake up, return to Warfang, and forget this nightmare had ever happened.

"Okay… Okay... Time to wake up!"

The loss of sanity was imminent in her hyperventilated voice.

Ember began by pinching herself in the chest and neck, with no results other than red marks on her scales. With desperation increasing faster than fire on a dry forest; she started to cut her scales with her own claws. The pain was horrible for the poor dragoness; but the only thing bigger than that was the fear she was feeling.

No matter what she tried; Ember couldn't wake up. Her eyes were wider than any breathing creature could manage to get, with an alarming quantity of tears forming, and even her nostrils were pouring liquid. Her ribcage was hurting like stones trying to rip her open from inside thanks to her heartbeat.

Ember wanted to scream, she wanted to cry until there was no air inside her so that someone, anyone could listen.

The eyes of the pink reptile were watching her claws with dirt and her own blood on them. It was then that she moved her paws to inspect them when she heard a metallic noise coming from the spot where her paw was on. Cleaning the place from the dirt, Ember discovered the source of that noise; it was a chain. Judging by the rust in the material, it was safe to say that that chain had been there for a long while now, although the dragoness wasn't ready to see what was holding the other end of the chain.

Ember followed the rusty chain until the far end of it; what she found the chain curled over was the spark to ignite the giant barrel of powder begging to burst on Ember's head. She saw the remains of a dragon's leg with big chunks of flesh missing from it; flies feeding off the exposed flesh and blood.

The scene was so gruesome that the shock Ember had felt a while ago returned with vengeance. The dragoness had finally reached her limit and she couldn't take it. First she got stuck on a shack with someone outside wanting to hurt her or worse, then she exited just to find the entire world absent of any life, and now she was looking at a decapitated red dragon's leg with flies swarming it. Ember was sky-rocketing into insanity at such a high speed that her brain couldn't follow it anymore, making her pass out after trembling her entire body, her pupils to little black dots with the most horrified face she had ever wielded.

Now there she was, a pink stain in the huge desert cooking in the sun, and there she stood waiting for destiny to choose if she lives or dies from dehydration in the scorching sand.

Hours have passed and Ember was still lying untouched on the ground. The sun was in its last moments of the day but it was still burning like lava on the Earth. Not even the strong odor coming from the mutilated member next to her made her wake up.

Several months ago

"So, you both pretty much got to the core of the planet and trapped Malefor in it?" Asked a very curious Ember, in awe at the legendary duo telling her and Flame about their journey to stop the Dark Master, after contant demand from the pink lady.

"We defeated him alright, but we weren't the ones who got him trapped there." Answered Cynder with her right eyebrow going up in slight curiosity from this pink girl she knew almost nothing about, besides the awkward first impression they had some weeks ago when both her and Spyro returned to Warfang.

Regardless of her lack of intimacy with Ember, Cynder was slowly building a liking to her hyperactiveness and happiness, two things Cynder never got to experience much besides her time forcing her brain to listen to the neverending walking dictionary known as Volteer. She was constantly asking herself if one of her parents had electricity as their element for her to be an unlimited source of blabbering energy.

"Oh, who was it then? Oh, oh, was it the Ancestors? Or maybe the Chronicler? Oh! Maybe it was all the other purple dragons before Spyro!" The pink dragoness exclaimed.

Ember's neverending enthusiasm mixed with her ideas of who those spirits that trapped Malefor were made the pair of heroes eye each other in shock and confusion. Whatever her deal was, Ember surely was giving them reasons to feel a small discomforting dread.

"Uh… we're not sure…" Spyro said with his claws scratching the back of his head.

"Don't even try to understand it," The red dragon named Flame sighed to himself in boredom with his chin resting on the wooden table. "I gave up years ago."

"Come on, Flame, why aren't you as excited as I am? Hanging out with these two of all dragons for lunch is so amazing!"

Ember really couldn't stop the burning desire to know more about the pair of heroes who were sharing a table with her, regardless if said pair didn't have in their intentions going through a run down over their whole lives and going over step-by-step on their adventures to defeat Malefor.

"I thought you had said this was a date…" Flame grumbled with gritted teeth.

He didn't care if they all heard his words. The red drake was clearly annoyed by something, and the desire to say his farewells and return home was bulging inside his skull.

"Huh?" Ember had heard the annoyed tone being shot out from Flame's mouth like heavy stones on the mud, but couldn't make out the words he had said thanks to her constant talking and excitement that now was cut down.

The same could not be said about Spyro and Cynder who could have made out part of his words, and they both knew what was troubling the red dragon.

Flame was angry because his friend, Ember, was preferring talking with her idols rather than him. He probably invited her for a time only for them both to enjoy. Both dragons being interviewed by Ember had a small but considerable amount of guilt in their gut.

"...And then me and Flame were told to guard the city while you guys were fighting The Destroyer, which was-" The pink flyer continued on her rambling despite what Flame had just said, that was until Cynder decided to act before her friend let all his frustration out on her.

"Hey, hey, Ember!" Cynder shouted out louder than necessary, getting confused glances from other customers around the group.

"Look, it's nice talking to you and you're real sweet for saying all those nice things about me and Spyro and all, but… aren't you supposed to be having fun with your friend?"

"What?" with a raise in her eyebrow, Ember looked at Flame and back at the other two dragons. "But we are having fun. Flame said he wanted to go for a walk and asked if I could come with him. I just accepted it and ended up seeing you guys."

Spyro heard her answer and almost immediately looked away with his claws touching his forehead.

"Cynder… Our order is taking too long don't you think?" Spyro said to his partner with a yellow smile, suggesting them both to leave the other fire-breathing dragons with a bit of privacy to sort things out.

"Y-Yeah… Let's uh… see what happened. We'll be back in a bit." Cynder gestured to Ember before both her and Spyro left the table in a bit of a rush.

And now there were only a very energetic Ember and a frustrated Flame left. Flame took the opportunity to finally express himself to Ember properly. What the pink drakeness wasn't expecting, however, was the expression of anger and sadness printed all over Flame's face.

"Why are you doing this?" Flame asked.

Something was very disturbing about his voice. It sounded more like whispering. loud enough for her to listen, however Ember heard it like a wind current coming straight out of Malefor's temple, and it made the female very uncomfortable.

The cheerfulness of the pink one evaporated like soft sand in the wind, and now she was worried. She could see it clear as day now that Flame was hurt. The thing she feared the most was seeing her beloved ones hurt, be that physically or mentally.

"Flame? what happened?" The dragoness landed her right paw on his chest to try comforting his heartache.

By this point, all of Flame's hate was substituted for sorrow. There was moisture forming on his eyes but he fought it back as hard as he could.

He couldn't get angry at Ember. Even if he wanted to, Flame would never have the heart to do it. So instead, the red dragon explained in the most polite yet sad way to his friend what was causing his chest to get tight.

"For a moment… I thought you actually meant wanting to go out with me on a real date. I was happy…" Flame was looking down all the time while giving his explanation in a depressive tone. "... But then it turns out it's yet another section of hanging out like friends. It's not that I don't like it… I just…"

Ember sighed. She was familiar with this situation involving Flame. She knew how deeply in love with her he was and how much he wanted to be her mate. Ember was so reluctant about this idea, but it was hurtful to watch the dragon she considered a brother getting heartbroken like that. What she feared the most involving a relationship with Flame was that she would end up being not the perfect fantasy Flame dreamed about, that she would become a disappointment to him and that would make him a mess of depression.

She believed there was someone better than her that would actually make him happier.

"Flame, we already talked about this." Ember explained, raising his chin to make his eyes meet hers. "We can't be mates. I'm not your perfect future and you'll just end up hitting a wall when you realise it. Please, Flame. Don't hurt yourself like that."

Flame closed his eyes and just let her words circle around in his mind. The same response every time he tried to convince her. It was making more harm to him than he could imagine.

It's not like he haven't tried to move on. He was glued to Ember and no matter what he did to forget about this so called 'fantasy,' he couldn't. His life without the dragoness of his life was a world without life.

"Fine…" That was Flame's final word before getting up in all fours and turn his back on the establishment and his long time friend. His head hanging low and chest getting tighter. Every time it was the same thing. Every single time he tried to confess himself, it only ended like this.

Ember herself hated seeing him like that. She was worried, but mostly sad for having to give such explanations to him time and time again. The dragoness watched him go toward the horizon of Warfang and reached her paw towards him.

"You're not gonna eat?" Ember called for him, however the response she got only served for her conscience to weight on her even more.

"I lost my appetite. Have fun with them"

Spyro and Cynder, who were watching it from inside the establishment, being very careful not to listen to any words they were saying, returned to their table to find a very disheartened pink dragoness. Whatever happened while they were 'gone,' didn't end well at all.

"Ember… Is everything okay?" Asked Spyro.

Ember responded by closing her eyes and moving her head down. She had to do something or else Flame would just drown himself even more in constant pain.

"Guys… can I ask you something?" Ember finally had spoken after a minute of silence.

"Of course, Ember. What do you wanna ask?" Cynder said, her voice soft and caring for the pink dragoness.

"How do you tell someone who loves you that you're not the best mate he can have?"

Current days

The blazing sun was gone and the cool breeze of the night came. Ember was slowly regaining consciousness but was feeling a weird sensation as her body was shaking from side to side, and her blood was entirely concentrated on her brain. She opened her eyes just a little bit to look at her surroundings, and what followed was an expression of true horror.

She was being carried by two dragon figures wearing some kind of armor that covered almost all of their scales. Her paws were chained by a log, making her body go upside down, and her wings were tightly tied together, putting a heavy strain on them. Whoever locked her wings like that, did so with the intention of hurting her.

She desperately tried to shake her body even harder to try and break free of her bondage, however those chains were something much different than any ordinary chain. These chains had really sharp razors that could cut a dragon's scales like paper, making any unfortunate soul who tried to escape suffer an excruciating pain. The more she shook, the more her paws were hurt and blood eventually leaked from her legs.

Ember whimpered in an acute tone and stopped moving her body, seeing how this was resulting in nothing more than her soft paws getting chewed by sharp blades on chains. She concentrated her elemental energy to breath fire on those strangers that were carrying her, and yet again she was met with disappointment; her elemental magic was completely drained out and all she could emit out of her muzzle was a small puff of smoke.

There was nothing she could do.

Ember began to look around to get an idea of where she was. The dragoness saw buildings and more armored dragons with the same set of armor of the ones carrying her. The pink fire-breather also saw plenty of ruins in some areas, as if a conflict had happened recently. Ember proceeded on examining her surroundings even with the vision upside down and made a worrying conclusion after seeing a plaza that was well known by her that she was in Warfang, but not the prosperous Warfang that everybody knew.

Ember began to feel her guts swirling around as yet again the worst possible thoughts began racing on her mind about her friends. What happened to them? Was Spyro and Cynder defeated by… these dragons? Oh Ancestors, what about Flame? What did they do to him?

It seemed like the entire city was transformed into a fortress of Malefor. There were banners with a symbol on it - a red dragon soaring through a dagger pointing down and surrounded by two other dragons flying upwards in a spiral - and those soldiers, they were everywhere. None of them moved an inch and the civilians walked around with dread in their eyes. Whoever these dragons are, they can put fear in anyone without even moving.

The worst was yet to come.

Ember was on the verge of a mental collapse already, but what she witnessed in the plaza where Flame used to play with her when hatchlings, was a catatonic overload of despair. Taking place right in the middle of the square was a huge wooden platform with chains hanging from another piece of metal suspended above the platform. The chains were connected forming a lasso and some of the armored soldiers were moving dragons who looked extremely bruised to those chains.

Ember couldn't believe the cruelty of these dragons. The victims had their wings tied to their bodies so they couldn't fly away and all of them looked terrified. Their faces begging for mercy but the armored dragons didn't even flinch at their supplications, as if those armors were empty husks being controlled by something or someone.

One by one, the soldiers wear the chains around each condemned neck. Ember could even make out the figure of a hatchling who wasn't even half of her age, while the executioner waited in the far left of the platform. The dragon who was going to take those lives was massive. He had his own set of armor, unique to someone as big as he was. His wings could almost reach both sides of the wooden area he was in and his paws could squash a dragon's head without much trouble.

After each dragon had their necks surrounded by the black chains, another group of soldiers - each carrying massive steel spheres - tied those heavy objects on the rear legs of the dragons.

Ember could hear loud faints and sobbings from them. The earth hatchling Ember was watching didn't have a clue of what was going on, but he was a wrack of nervousness - eyeing from left to right and breathing faster than a rat who just escaped its prey. It was clear that the young dragon didn't know he was going to meet the Ancestors just in a couple of minutes, but in the most painful way possible.

It was all ready. The executioner flapped his enormous wings, making dust and leaves go away, and then he grabbed the metal bar with the chains and began to go higher. In less than a minute, all the dragons being hanged had their lives sucked away. The blood had its access to their heads denied as the chains, together with the heavy maces on their legs pulling them down, were slowly taking their spirits away.

Once again, Ember continued to shake violently her body, and this time she began to scream for the whole city to hear. Witnessing those dragons hanged, especially that hatchling, made her go on a frenzy. Her throat was burning with her screaming and her legs had even more blood leaking.

A dragon nearby was approaching her with a sword after hearing her alarming screams, and with the sword handle, he gave a strong blow on her forehead, forcing her to shut up and her vision to go blurry. The guard then grabbed Ember's head and made her face him in a rude and violent way.

"Listen here, hatchling, I don't care how young you are, but if you continue to scream like that…" The soldier then raised his sword to her bloody paws below the chain and made a small cut on it, making Ember gasp in fear. "I'm gonna cut your paws one by one and feed it to the creatures outside of Warfang."

"No, no, no, no, no, please!" Ember begged for the armored dragon. Her tone growing in despair feeling the sword slowly sawing her leg.

The guard on the other hand gave a malicious chuckle watching this small pink dragoness begging for him not to amputate her member. He removed his weapon from her wound before asking one of the dragons who was carrying her who she was.

"According to the King, she's the one responsible for the prison break from yesterday. As per usual, none of them managed to get away." The dragon said, pointing his head to the gallows.

"She didn't manage to go far though, ever since the King ordered the entire region to be taken away from all it's resources, it became impossible for anyone to survive out there."

"WHAT!?" Ember shouted in utter disbelief.

Prison break? Region without resources? Even if she inspected every second of her past, she had zero success in finding out this was the world she lived on. All of her childhood, her training, the peace that it came after the grublin invasion of her hometown. None of this included any deserted wasteland and a totalitarian government in her memories. She started to believe something dragged her to this neverending nightmare, and she wanted to know what it was and why they did this.

However, and this was the scariest of her thoughts, a small part of her was starting to believe this was the world she had always lived in. She couldn't say exactly how, but for her to be known as the responsible for those dragons being killed and that she was in the same prison as them fuelled this theory in her head.

And now, instead of being killed the same way the others were, she was being transferred to some place else.

"I don't know anything about any prison! I don't even know what happened here!" Ember desperately told the guards. Her body was visibly shaking from head to toe with dread consuming her from within. Tears forming and blurring her vision and sobs could be heard coming from the bruised pink drakeness.

"Please… l-let me go…"

"Even if we wanted to let you go, it is not up to us." The other dragon who was dragging her in her front told her. He was much more calm than the other two aggressive soldiers. "The King will decide your fate."

Ember once again shut her eyes, wanting to go back to reality without these monsters ruining the place she holds dear to her heart. The dragoness didn't even want to know what this so-called 'King' did to her friends.

"Between you and me, those prison friends of yours who got hanged had it easier than you will have with the King's decision. He and his Queen are the most merciless dragons known to dragonkind."

The dragons continued to the King's palace, carrying Ember who was a sobbing mess at this point.

"P-please… I didn't do anything… let me go… let me… go..."