After the disaster of last night, the Dragonlings have gathered in the Guardian chambers early in the morning, at the request of the guardians. Flame seemed to be half asleep, though he did his best to stay conscious. The other Dragonlings though was completely awake, and ready for the day. All of the Dragons spoke with each other while they waited. The Pink Dragoness looked at Flame very carefully. Not even a mention of last night's events was brought up as if it had never happened.
"Virtuous daybreak young ones," Volteer said in his usual enthusiastic tone.
"Yes, good morning Young Dragons, we have news," Cyril said with a smug look.
Terrador rolled his eyes. "Yes, we have news for you, Young Dragons. Though, before we get to that I must say that Flame, Ember, you two have made excellent progress in training, you fight with the heart of a warrior, and have the mind and strategy of a commander. I am confident that either of you would make excellent guardians." The Fire candidates gave a slight bow of gratitude. "Now, with the time that passed it seems rather clear that we are in no danger of another attack, and with that, we have decided to resume the Choros to about one week from now." Cyril's face seemed to be just one big smile. Terrador tried his best to ignore this. "There will be Dragons coming here over the next week, healers, warriors, children, and families. I ask a favor of you, Young Dragons." Their eyes quickly flashed up at the Green Dragon. "With so many Dragons coming here, we do not have enough space for them to stay within the inner city. We need you to clear out The Ruins, move debris, and take care of any creatures that may be living there." All the Dragonlings nodded. "Thank you." A moment passed. "You all are dismissed." All of the Dragonlings quickly grouped up. Before the only ones allowed inside the ruins were Spyro and Cynder, Flame and Ember were never allowed inside, until now. Flame's mind quickly raced to the bracers Cynder gave him, and all he could think about now was what else he could find. Ember didn't care much for getting possessions out of the ruins, she mostly just wanted to see the ruins. Over the past few months, Ember studied ancient Dragons, a lot of it involved the ancient ruins of Warfang. She genuinely found great interest in its rich history.
"How big are the ruins?" Flame asked.
"It's one of the largest Dragon cities to ever exist." Ember pointed out. "Or was." Ember corrected herself.
They all decided that before going to the ancient city, that they would get some food. During which, Flame asked Ember several questions.
"Why were the ruins abandoned." Was the one and only question Cynder asked. Ember thought long and hard to the answer, though her mind was as blank as a newborn Dragonling.
"Honestly, I don't know, there have been a lot of ideas over the years. That city really is a mystery, there hasn't even really been any Dragons inside, except for the guardians, and you two." Ember said, looking at Spyro and Cynder. "it hasn't even been inhabited for 600 years, but only a few were even allowed inside. I don't know why it was ever, really abandoned."
"Malefor," Spyro said, quietly.
"Hmm?" The 3 other Dragonlings said, quickly turning their heads to Spyro.
"The war with Malefor first started 600 years ago. They must have locked the city once the war started." Spyro paused for a moment. "That must have been why Malefor wanted Warfang so badly." Spyro said quickly, now realizing Malefor's, original goal.
"That actually makes sense." Cynder said. "That city probably has a lot inside of it, I mean the bracers that I gave to Flame I found just wandering around, there's probably a lot locked away inside." It seemed all of them just grew more excited by these words. They quickly rushed to finish their meals, and scurried off to the ruins. They were but a few moments away from walking into the cavernous ancient city. All that separated the Dragonlings to the city was a door. The large doors were pushed open, Flame and Ember looked in amazement. A long bridge went from one side of the large underground cavern to the other. Water fell from above. In the floors, several cryptic markings remained. The structures were built into the stone walls. Though Spyro and Cynder both had already seen this, due to the dire circumstances at the time, they couldn't truly take it in. They slowly walked across the bridge until they stood in front of a large door. In between them and the door, a circular crystal left built in the ground. It glew a bright purple. The Dragonlings all stared in wonder. They all moved on and opened the large door that separated them to the inner chamber, most of which Spyro nor Cynder have seen. When they did enter this area many months ago it was to cut off the Destroyer, as a result, their minds weren't so much focused on the ruins. Ancient structures that seemed practically untouched, unlike the outer city. The buildings had many columns and distinct markings going through the structures.
"Do we even know where we're going?" Flame asked.
"Probably the housing section of the city." Flame simply looked at Ember dumbfounded as she said this.
"And where might that be?" Replied the young Dragon.
"Remember Flame, we studied a map of the ruins with Volteer." Flame thought for several moments until it finally came to him.
About 3 months ago Volteer had the Dragonlings study the Ancient Ruins. This consisted of mapping and general locations. Flame never truly understood why they had to learn about Warfang. How's this going to help me, or Ember as a Guardian? Flame thought to himself. Ember, however, was all too eager. The first lesson was soon to begin, both Volteer and Ember seemed very eager to start.
"Before the lecture instigates, are there any questions?" Volteer asked the two Dragonlings.
"Wow, I actually understood half of that sentence." Flame muttered.
"What did you say Flame?" Volteer quickly asked.
Flame stuttered for a moment and asked the first question that came to mind. "How would this help either of us as guardians."
"In due course, it won't Flame," Volteer said simply.
"Then why are we learning about it?"
It seemed like Ember wanted to scream at Flame, for how dare he try to get rid of a lesson about the Ancient Ruins of Warfang, though she held back.
"Flame, just for the reason that you are a Guardian contender, that doesn't mean that you skip school. You will still obtain your rudimentary schooling as you would if you were still at your home."
"Does that mean if either of us become guardian we'll still have to go to school?" Flame asked disappointingly.
Volteer laughed. "If you turn out to be guardian than it is your choice, though I acclaim that you endure your lessons, nonetheless it will not be an obligation." Flame breathed a breath of relief, even more, incentive for him to become Guardian, no more school! "Anyhow, let us go on to the lesson." For the next several minutes Volteer went on to talk about some of the culture, architecture, and much more. Honestly, Flame didn't really listen. It all seemed redundant to him, plus it didn't help that a majority of the things Volteer said came out as practically gibberish. Flame was only able to count about 60 words that were even within his comprehensible vocabulary over about 15 minutes. Ember started to nudge at Flame irritated.
"Are you even paying attention." Ember hissed. Volteer didn't pay attention, he was far too into the lesson to even notice anything outside of what he was talking about.
"Hmm? Did you say something?" Ember again pushed Flame. The Red Dragon laughed. "It would help if anything he said was even a language."
"Then say something!" Ember pointed out.
"Ehh- he seems a bit too into what he's talking about, I'll let it slide."
Ember smirked, then leaned in close and whispered, "if you don't pay attention you won't do well on the test."
"So?"
"Bad test means no Guardian; no Guardian means school."
Almost in a split-second Flame jerked his head up. "Master Volteer." It took a few moments for Volteer to notice that Flame even said anything.
"Yes, Flame?"
"Could you please lower your vocabulary a bit, it's hard to understand what you're saying."
"Of course, Flame." Volteer paused for a moment. "Now as I was saying, the ruins are designed much like a circle, with multiple sections and layers. There are two sections, the outer and the inner. Today that, we will focus on the inner layer, or sanctum I suppose you could say." Flame began to feel himself dozing off until Ember shoved him, bringing him back to reality. "The city from the view of a map looks much like a circle. Within the inner sanctum, or layer, there are many more layers, focused more in the center. In the inner layer, there are 4 other layers, each layer is restricted to specific Dragons. The outer most layer is a focus for the general public. The Northern area is more of a market like section, where the Public can purchase food, and other materials, furniture, and much more. The eastern section is more of a living area. This is where the homes and shelters can be located. The purpose of the southern area is still unknown to this day though." Flamed raised his paw up. "Yes, Flame?"
"How can we not know what the purpose was, it seems like it would be easy to find out, there's only a small amount of possibilities."
"Under normal circumstances, you would be correct, Flame, but the Ruins were designed in a very intricate way. On a map, it looks simple, because it is only a circle separated into many sections, but the city in itself is not flat on the ground, or on a surface underground. Anything that isn't a dragon would never be able to even go through here, at least anything without wings. Structures are placed on walls and even roofs. It's all in an ancient language, of which only one living being on the planet can even understand, Spyro, and that was only recently. Much of the city is locked away, the number of secrets hidden in there, all gone to waste." Volteer sighed. "Anyway, the western part of the city outermost layer of the inner sanctum was an educational area, stemming from every possible work opportunity. Whether it be political, labor, combat, it all was here. Now, the 3rd layer seemed to be an area for religious practices-"Ember raised her paw up.
"How exactly were these layers separated?"
"With massive walls and very specific entrances, that most times were heavily guarded and locked." Volteer put simply. "The second layer was a military section. Most of their advanced training took place here, strategizing, and much more. The innermost layer of the inner sanctum is another place that we have no knowledge of." Flame again raised his hand, trying to make an effort to the class. "Yes, Flame?"
"Is this like the southern outermost area, or is there another reason?" Volteer seemed to grow excited to the very question.
"What an excellent question Flame. No, it is nothing like that. The reason that nobody has any knowledge of it is that just about no Dragons have been in it, and none of them live today. Only the grandest Dragons, and Council could ever even come close to looking at the door. There has only been 6 Dragons to ever be inside, and 4 of them were the Grand Council, also known today as the guardians."
"Wait, were you in there?" Flame quickly spouted out.
Volteer laughed. "No Flame, if I was in there I would have told you what was in there. In that time Guardians were exactly were as what the previous name entails, Council members, they ultimately made the decisions of the city, and didn't take matters into their own hands, but commanded the military, so I suppose you could call them leaders and commanders."
"And who were the others?"
"One, we do not know. A name lost in time. Though the other all Dragons know." Volteer said grimly. "Malefor." Eyes of shock went through both Flame and Ember. "Yes, in the time of the ancient city Malefor was not only a grand Dragon to them, but he was practically a deity." Volteer paused. "This is a subject for another time, let us continue."
That was practically all Flame could remember. Flame wasn't even sure if he was conscience a minute after that.
"FLAME!" The Red Dragon quickly jumped back. Ember shouted into his face. "Are you ignoring me?" She said somewhat irritated. "It's ok if you don't remember, but just tell me, instead of staring with a blank face."
"Sorry Ember." He said quickly. "I wasn't ignoring you though, I was thinking –"
"That's new." Ember quickly blurted out with a chuckle.
"The housing is on the eastern part of the city, right?" Ember seemed somewhat impressed.
"Wow, for once you remember something."
"Knowing that it's east means nothing if we don't have a map." Cynder butted in.
"Point made," Ember said.
"So, how exactly are we going to navigate through the city if we have no idea where we are." Flame asked.
Ember smirked. "Well, we just so happen to have the only Dragon in the world who can understand Dragonian, so there's a start." Ember quickly looked at the Purple Dragon, who did his best to not include himself in their 'argument.'
"Yeah Spyro, look around." Flame quickly said.
"What am I looking for, exactly?"
"Maybe a sign, there must have been some way the ancient Dragons knew how to navigate through here," Cynder said.
Spyro looked around for a moment until he spotted something. He couldn't help but laugh.
"What?" Flame asked.
Spyro pointed his snout forward towards a wall. "There's a map there."
All the dragons moved forward, closer to the wall. The map was engraved into it as if mined out with a chisel. Spyro and Cynder looked at the 2 fire Dragons and found that they had the strangest face of confusion.
"What?" Both Spyro and Cynder said at the same time.
"That is not even close to the map that we learned with Volteer."
"How so?" Cynder asked.
"We learned that the city was circular and that it was separated into sections, this I don't even know how to describe."
I guess we don't have as good of an understanding of Warfang as we thought, Flame thought to himself.
The map that they saw was far beyond comprehension, it seemed to be separated into several different sections, with different maps depicting each one, with text that was remotely unreadable.
"Spyro can you make anything of this?" Ember desperately asked. The Purple Dragon was baffled by what he was looking at. That map's complexity even seemed to give him a headache. He couldn't even read the words.
"I can't even read this." Spyro put simply, still dazed by what he saw.
"What?" Flame anxiously muttered.
"I can't read this, it's not Dragonian."
"That can't be good." Flame and Cynder both articulated in synchronization. Ember seemed to pay no mind to it and stared heavily at the map.
"Uhm, Ember, are you ok?" Flame carefully asked.
"Shh." Was all that came out of Ember's lips. Flame, Spyro, and Cynder stood there, awkwardly, and purposefully averting gazes. "Hey Flame, do you remember when we learned about semiotics?"
"Semi what? Semi-ionics?" Flame said.
"You know that Ionic is an ancient Dragonian form of architecture?" Ember pointed out.
"So, you're calling Dragonian architecture small?" Flame said with a smirk.
"Oh, shut up." Ember blurted out. "Do you remember or not?" Flame quickly shook his head. "Semiotics is the study of symbolism." She said after a sigh. Still nothing. "A lot of the time, rather than using words, the ancient Dragons used symbols for navigation." Ember drew out.
"You know it would probably be easier just for you to tell us where to go rather than try to explain all of this to me, especially since I'll probably forget everything you just said in a solid 10 minutes." Ember rolled her eyes.
"I can't tell exactly, just sort of the general location, like I said earlier, this is really hard to read."
"Well lead on Ember." Flame said.
The pink Dragoness studied the map for a few more moments, etching as many details into her head as she could. Once that was done she looked around until she found one path that she focused on. After a few moments, she began walking. While the other Dragons stayed focused on the task at hand, Flame couldn't help but marvel at the city itself. The buildings delicately carved of pure stone. They were nothing like the buildings of current Warfang. Each building unique, differencing themselves to the others. It was obvious that those that carved them output the upmost care into every little detail. Some had more of a Nordic style to them, and some Celtic. Flame looked up and saw buildings hanging from the roof and walls.
"You coming Flame?!" Ember shouted over the long distance between the two Fire Dragons.
"Sorry, I'll be right there!" Flame took off at a sprint after the rest of the Dragons, whom were conversing over the stars, of all things.
Once they finished their conversation, Flame felt that he had to ask the question that he hated to ask.
"So I don't wanna be that guy, but are we there yet?"
"Not too much farther Flame," Ember said with a smile.
"Ok then, can I ask where is there?" The Red Dragon asked irritatingly.
"Somewhere that way is the area that the ancient Dragons lived in."
"Do you mean, like, for shelters, and homes?" Flame asked.
"Yeah, what else could I mean?"
"You do realize that we passed those right?" Flame laughed.
"What!?" Ember screeched.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we passed it."
"No, we still have a quarter of a way to go, Flame. I have a photographic memory, I know exactly where we are compared to the map." She said defiantly.
"Well, are you sure that it's just in one spot, cause from what I could tell everything that we thought we understood about Warfang, we never really understood. It'll probably just be better for us to explore the area and clear out what we can."
"Oh yeah, you'd love to explore the place and scrounge up whatever you can find." Ember said with a smirk.
"Actually, he makes a good point." Cynder said. The Pink Dragoness sighed before nodding her head.
"Alright, let's do it." Ember said, defeated.
All the Dragons walked away in their own directions. Ember continued forward, still seeming determined on getting to her original destination. Flame went deeper into the city, while Spyro and Cynder started working their way back, clearing out everything that they can, while fitting in a little exploration. Everything seemed to be designed with the utmost precision. None of what Spyro and Cynder saw during the war in the Ruins compared to this. They never got this deep, and it was truly spectacular. During nearly this entire time Ember tried to figure out how exactly the entire city hadn't collapsed. All of it is underground, yet the buildings go up so high, with such a large city, it didn't seem remotely possible, but it laid before all their eyes.
"You know, there's still one thing that I don't get." Cynder said as she turned down what seemed like a form of an alley.
"And what's that?" The Purple Dragon replied.
"Well, it all makes sense with Malefor wanting Warfang, but why would he destroy the world? I don't see what he gains from that." This had been a question that Spyro hadn't even considered, though now it seemed so obvious.
"I- " Spyro hesitated. "I, honestly don't know. Maybe he really believed that it was the purpose for the Purple Dragons to bring about a new age."
Cynder rolled her eyes. "Sure, yeah that's it." She said sarcastically. They both quickly turned into a building that seemed to be a shop.
Spyro smirked. "What, you don't think so?" It seemed to be some sort of weapon shop. There were different variations of tail blades, and attachable metal claws.
"It'd take a lot for me to believe a single word that comes out of his mouth." Cynder said as she inspected one of the tail blades.
"Honestly, now that I think about it, I probably don't want to know." Cynder laughed for a moment before looking at the blade again.
"How do you think this one would look on me?" Cynder pointed to one of the tail blades. It was much straighter than the one that she already wears, but it did have many markings and was obviously a very old style of blade.
"Oh god, are we at that stage of our relationship?" Spyro chuckled, as did Cynder.
"What I can' ask you if you like something?" Cynder asked with a smile. "How would you even know any stages of a relationship."
"Ok, ok, I'll give you that." Spyro inspected it for a moment. "Honestly, I prefer the one you've got on."
"Really?" Cynder said, surprised.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know. You just didn't seem much for the, I guess, style, of the one that I've got."
"Guys!" A voice shouted. "You really want to check this out!" It sounded like Flame.
"Let's go see what your boyfriend wants." Cynder said with a smirk. Spyro gave her a bad look before rolling her eyes. She laughed, and they both ran out the building and followed the direction of the voice. After some time of running they finally caught up to the voice, and it was Flame. The Fire Dragon waved with his tail, and behind Ember ran up.
"What is it, Flame?" Both Spyro and Ember said.
"Look for yourselves." Flame pointed with his snout to a massive building next to him. It looked like it was a massive temple. "So anyway, do you guys wanna check it out, or be boring and wander around the city?"
Ember rolled her eyes. "What do you think?" The Pink Dragoness said as she started walking up the stairs. After a few moments the other Dragonlings did the same.
"So, what do you think it is?" Flame asked.
"Well, we're gonna see in like 10 seconds." Spyro replied.
"Point made."
After a few moments of climbing stairs, they finally reached the ground level of the building. Massive columns surrounded what looked almost like a gladiator pit. In the back stood a massive stone Dragon, that appeared much like the one that was in the Dragon temple.
"Uhm, what is this?" Spyro said aloud, while all the others thought the same.
"Maybe an arena?" Cynder said perplexingly.
They all stared at it for several moments until Spyro glided down into the pit. The Stone Dragon's eyes began to glow white. Instantly all the Dragonlings prepared for the worst, readying their jaws and claws, spiking up their tail blades, except for Spyro and Flame, of course. Once the Statue's eyes no longer glew, 2 entities appeared just a few feet away from Spyro, they were apes. Though they weren't the apes that Spyro, or any other Dragon saw a few years ago, they were entirely see through, a spectral being. They growled and howled, preparing to charge for Spyro. The Purple Dragon smiled before performing a comet dash straight through them. Just like that, they disappeared out of thin air. Spyro turned around, the others didn't have any idea what happened, not even Cynder.
"Can I just ask what the crap just happened." Flame said as he glided down to Spyro.
"This is a training arena!" Spyro said ecstatically.
"What?" All the other Dragonlings had glided down.
"There was one of these back in the Dragon temple before Malefor took it. It creates things for you to fight, they can't do much to you, unless you let them."
"What do you mean if you let them?" Ember asked concerningly.
"Ignitus told me that the masters of the Arena have control over the arena. They can create entities to fight, and choose how dangerous they are. Whether they are basically target practice, or if they're basically a replication of the real thing. You can also create little scenarios for different abilities."
"Wait, are you then a master of this arena?" Flame raised a brow.
"Master of the arena is more of a title, I'm not a master, but Ignitus taught me how to control them."
"But how did you know that this place was one of those arenas?"
"I didn't create those apes." Spyro put simply. Faces of worry went across all of the other Dragons, though Spyro wasn't concerned at all. "When I saw the statue, it reminded me of the one in the Dragon temple, when I thought about it the eyes started to glow." The other Dragons relaxed.
"Wait, can you make a Wyvern?" Cynder asked excitingly.
"I can try." The Purple Dragon took a step back and focused on the massive statue. The eyes quickly flashed, and a spectral Wyvern appeared just a few feet away. It only stood there, staring out into space. "This one's not dangerous right?"
"If I remembered how to do all this correctly, it shouldn't even be able to move."
"That doesn't sound very reassuring." Flame whispered to himself.
Cynder stepped very carefully towards the phantom, prepared for it to do anything. Thankfully it still only stared off. The closer she got, the less careful she was. Cynder was right in the face of the Wyvern, and still nothing happened.
"This is amazing!" Cynder exclaimed as she quickly spun around back to the other Dragons. The others seemed to be somewhat confused.
"What's so amazing about seeing a Wyvern?" Flame asked. Cynder laughed at the question.
"Think about it, Wyverns are incredibly aggressive and hostile towards us, but this allows us to study them in detail, and get an understanding of them, without putting us at risk."
"Cynder, nothing's happened in months, we're safe." Ember said concerningly.
"Are you willing to take the risk?" Cynder asked, somewhat aggressively.
"What risk is there to take? If those Wyverns were going to do anything they would have done it months ago."
"Do what you want, but I still see them as a threat." Cynder took flight and left the arena before Ember, or anyone else could say a word.
"Why is she so paranoid." Ember asked Spyro.
"Do you really even need to ask." Spyro said.
"Uhm, yeah, why wouldn't I?"
"How much do you actually know about Cynder?" The Purple Dragon asked.
"Honestly not much." Spyro noticed Ember's head turn away somewhat. "I know that she unwillingly served the Dark Master, and she and you beat him, that's about it." They all flew out of the pit. "Can you tell me?"
"Believe me, you don't want to know the full story." Spyro sighed. "She's been through a lot, don't hold it against her." Spyro noticed Cynder in the distance. "I'm gonna go with her, I'll see you guys later."
Spyro managed to calm Cynder down, and he agreed to help her to learn more about the Wyverns. All the Dragons finished cleaning out a large amount of the city, and made it entirely safe for any other Dragons.