Everything was silent, the sun was rising, birds were chirping. The Skylanders couldn't believe what just happened. Tuff Luck couldn't bear just standing there and sprinted towards Wallop, whose blood painted the rocks underneath him red.
The feline pushed her fingers onto his neck to feel if there was a pulse. "He's alive!"
Everyone was surprised, some joined Tuff Luck to help, while others went off to find something they could use to carry him.
"He needs immediate medical attention." Gearshift was standing right next to Tuff Luck and informed the others about his condition.
"Out of the way!" Knight Light shouted as he squeezed himself through the crowd. Ka-Boom and the angel found a red cloth which is normally used for decoration. They rolled the Earth Skylander on top of it and quickly carried him to the hospital. Whirlwind was the most experienced Skylander with healing abilities, so she would take care of the lethal wound.
The ones that remained outside were worried, scared even. "What do we do now?" Someone asked in agony. "How could he do that?" Another questioned Snap Shot's decision to join the Doom Raiders. "Where did they go?"
Questions over questions and Spyro was in between all of them. He was the leader, he carried the responsibility in such situations. Everyone turned to him and asked him for advice. The dragon was overwhelmed and didn't know how to help them.
Stealth Elf made her way through the cluster of Skylanders to support her friend. "We should go talk to Eon." Spyro nodded and followed the elf who guided him back to the Academy.
The doors leading to Eon's office opened with a loud noise. "Master Eon! Did you-"
"Yes, Spyro. I saw everything." The spirit used his astral powers to observe the recent events. "What just occurred is the beginning of a new war." The old man looked at his two former students with a stern and almost intimidating vibe.
"Eon, I promise I will fix this." Spyro sounded desperate, he didn't know how to set things right. This is something that never happened during his time as the leader.
"I'm certain you will." Eon kept gazing outside of his window and thought about the consequences that will come with this. "Even though I'm the one to blame."
"What!?" Stealth Elf and Spyro were bewildered and wondered what he was talking about.
"I shouldn't have assigned Snap Shot to train with a Doom Raider. I didn't expect him to grow this close to Wolfgang and… join their side." Eon turned around and floated through his office. "It was a mistake to allow the villains to join us. They simply cannot be redeemed."
"What should we do now?" Stealth Elf usually always had a plan at hand, but even she was clueless this time.
"We will track down the Doom Raiders and make sure that all of them return to Cloudcracker Prison." The spirit turned his back to the two Skylanders. "Forever."
Spyro gulped and made his way back outside, followed by Stealth Elf. They were eagerly awaited by the hoard of Skylanders and their questions. Spyro was once again overrun by everyone, but instead of fleeing, the dragon inhaled and unleashed a mighty flame into the air. Everyone turned silent and watched their leader collect his thoughts.
"Everyone, listen up!" The Skylander talked with a strong tone and raised himself into the air with his wings. "The Doom Raiders tricked us once again. I know you're angry and scared, but we have to focus on our next move!" The heroes looked at the purple dragon with awe and clung onto his every word. "We don't know where they went, or what they will do next, but we do know that they're out there together! I will assign groups that will head out into every corner of Skylands to look for any escaped villain. If you find one, trap them immediately!" The crowd was determined, and everyone was aware of the urgency in this situation. "Do not face a Doom Raider alone! Today we saw what they're truly capable of, make sure to stay together."
"And don't kill your allies in order to protect them." Stealth Elf was referring to Snap Shot's betrayal. Some Skylanders in front of her clenched their fists with rage after remembering what he did.
"Yeah… don't do that." Spyro also had to process that fact and tried not to give it too much attention. "The first missions will begin tomorrow! I want everyone to give me an exact report of any hints that could lead us to the villains. Is that clear?" Spyro's allies nodded. "Good. Now go and prepare yourselves, you'll need it."
The crowd separated into smaller groups. Everyone was talking about their plans and theories regarding the escaped Doom Raiders. Some immediately went to visit the training section of the Academy, which caused a big queue. A few Trap Masters decided to check on Wallop and make sure that he's okay. The Earth Skylander was still unconscious, but Whirlwind was able to keep him alive and tend to his wounds. It was a dark time for the Skylands, a time no one expected to come again.
Spyro and Stealth Elf walked alongside each other while discussing further plans. The atmosphere was tense, and everything appeared darker than it did the last few weeks. Stealth Elf only shortly looked to her left when she saw Enigma and Star Strike again. She stopped talking to Spyro and instead approached the Magic Skylanders. The dragon soon took notice of that and tried to stop her.
Star Strike interrupted her conversation with Enigma and looked over to the approaching assassin. The mysterious alien expected another argument. "Stealth Elf, listen-"
Spyro ran after his friend in fear that she would ignite another fight. "Elf, wait!"
"I'm sorry." Stealth Elf left everyone surprised with those two words and they were silent for a few seconds.
"You are?" Star Strike couldn't think of a better response and just wanted to hear the elf's explanation.
"After the recent fight, I realized that we have to stick together and trust each other." Stealth Elf sounded truly sorry about her behavior and looked at the grey bricks she was standing on, before returning her sight to Star Strike. "I shouldn't have stuck my nose into your business and I trust you that whatever it is you're doing, it won't endanger Skylands."
"Wow." Spyro felt every word of her apology, even if it wasn't directed towards him. He never heard such sentences from the rather proud warrior.
"I don't know what to say…" Star Strike expected anything but an apology from Stealth Elf. "Thank you."
The Life Skylander nodded, indicating that the two have made amends.
"I'm sure you still want to know what we were doing there." Enigma, who listened to the conversation in silence, finally spoke up about the situation.
"If you don't mind telling us." Stealth Elf didn't demand answers, but nevertheless she wanted to know what the fuss was about. Spyro's interest was awakened as well and he sat down next to his friend.
"As you know, I originated from a hidden realm which was impossible to access." Enigma talked about his biography, which every Skylander has in their record for others to see. "My staff allowed me to leave my home and enter the Skylands, even if it meant closing the door to my realm forever." Star Strike knew what it was like to never be able to go back home, and she thought about her own realm as her companion was talking. "Now, me and Star Strike are trying to reopen the door to a realm to retrieve an ancient artifact."
"What kind of artifact?" Spyro was extremely curious and restrained himself from asking more questions.
"It's called the Book of Destiny." Enigma used his staff to project said book for the others to see. It was an enormous brown leather book with golden accents and decorated with glowing light blue gems. On the front of the cover, there was a symbol which almost resembled the Core of Light before its destruction.
"It's said to be the oldest piece of literature in history. It was created with the creation of Skylands itself and it recorded every event from the beginning until now."
"Why have we never heard of it?" Spyro asked whilst still being entranced by the book.
"It's a secret the people from Enigma's realm kept to themselves. After their home was discovered by the forces of evil, they transported the book to another realm." Star Strike answered for the Trap Master. "Since I come from a different realm too, Enigma thought I could help him to enter the unknown place and find the book."
"But what do you need it for?" Stealth Elf was skeptical about their plan. "We have several books about the history of Skylands in our library."
"It doesn't only show the past." Enigma responded this time. "It can also show the future."
Spyro's eyes widened. "How is that possible?"
"As I said, it's an ancient relic. The magic within it is unlike any other." The mage finally cancelled the projection of the book and held his staff next to his body. "If we could get the book and look through the pages-"
"We could see the future!" Star Strike's excitement caused her to finish Enigma's sentence.
"That means we could also see how we will catch the Doom Raiders!" Stealth Elf was filled with hope again and looked at Enigma with her glowing white eyes.
"And we can prevent future problems!" Spyro added and was just as excited as his friend.
"It's not that simple." Enigma popped the Skylanders' bubble to bring them back to reality. "The future is unpredictable, there are infinite outcomes to every situation. It can show us how to find them on one page, but then show us our failure and their reign over Skylands on the other." Spyro and Stealth Elf watered their positivity down and weren't keen about that outcome. "We can't analyze the book and follow it step by step, we can only use it to guide us to our goal."
Spyro sighed but returned to his determined state right away. "Well in that case we can go find the book to see where the Doom Raiders could be!"
"Exactly!" Enigma was happy that the dragon caught onto what he was trying to say.
"I guess we already have a mission then." Stealth Elf crossed her arms and was ready to set off to the Path of Doors without having to be invisible this time.
Spyro, Stealth Elf and Enigma all headed to the air balloon island while talking. Star Strike was still lost in her thoughts and didn't even notice their absence. No one ever knew what she was thinking about, but whenever she did, it seemed like she was in another world.
"Star are you coming?" Enigma asked the hooded Skylander after noticing that she stayed behind.
"Yeah, sorry!" Star Strike snapped out of her passive state and followed the other three right away.
Roller Brawl and Smolderdash were inside of the Cloudcracker Prison. The two Skylanders wanted to check for any damages or even remaining villains. They parted their ways to cover the gigantic building, but always managed to stay close enough to talk to each other.
"Didn't Sprocket come in here during the fight?" Smolderdash levitated through the crystallized chambers to investigate the different cells.
"Yeah, I think she did." Roller Brawl made a round through the facility and found herself back in the center with the crystal that was used as a power source. "Guess she left with the Doom Raiders too." The vampire snickered to lighten the mood.
"This isn't funny, Roller." Smolderdash was usually light-hearted, but she was truly concerned this time. "I stayed near the prison the whole time, I never saw her get out."
"Well then let's go back to the Academy and look there. I'm sure she's already working on something to track down the villains." Roller Brawl looked up to see the Fire Skylander slowly descend to the ground.
"I guess you're right." Roller Brawl skated off before Smolderdash followed her, hoping to find her friend soon.
There was an enormous island in one of the most abandoned corners of Skylands. It was filled with trees of every kind. Only few knew of the jungle's existence, among them was the Golden Queen. And that's where she and the rest of the Doom Raiders went after escaping from Cloudcracker Prison.
"What's our next step, your majesty?" Dreamcatcher just transported the gang a far distance and was exhausted, but not enough to dismiss her leader.
"We wait." Golden Queen responded blankly and looked at the vast collection of trees surrounding them. "You all did a good job today, for once it wasn't an utter disappointment." The sorceress glared over to Snap Shot and Wolfgang, they stood next to each other and didn't speak a word. They had to recover from what happened only minutes ago. "You too, Snap Shot." Golden Queen smiled which caused the Skylander to distance himself even more from the group.
Dreamcatcher heard muffled sounds behind her. The head turned around and put on a displeased expression. "And… what do we do with her?"
Golden Queen approached the person she was referring to. The others gathered around as well and looked at their queen with anticipation.
Golden Queen's irritated mien changed to another evil smile. "Well, we need something to motivate the Skylanders, don't we?"
Everyone laughed and looked at Sprocket, who was tied up like an animal and looked at her enemies with hatred.