Author's Notes:

Sorry about the multiple updates to a chapter all at once, someone pointed out a couple errors in a PM, and after beating my head against my desk (head-desking) a couple times, I fixed them. Sadly, the first time I forgot to save, so... head-desk.

Chapter 5 - Temple Arrival

"Here we are. The Dragon Temple, and in three days no less. I will admit, you didn't completely embarrass yourself."

Blind didn't respond to the female, simply following her down to the clearing below. At least, he thought it was a clearing, his eyes were being overwhelmed by the brightness of the day, so he had to focus just to follow his guide. At least the sky orb had nearly set, so it was getting easier for him to see by the second since the sky orb was no longer brightening everything up to a painful degree.

He landed, and then followed Pyra to the structure in front of them. He ignored the pain in his wings, a steady pulse from the strain of keeping up with the larger dragoness in flight for three days, though he would die before he admitted to such a weakness. Weakness killed, and he didn't expect that to change here. She paused at the entrance to the building, and talked quietly to one of the dragons there, before turning away from the building. "The person you get to meet is this way. You will be spending a lot of time with him and a few others, so behave."

Blind didn't reply immediately, simply following her as she took a small, barely noticeable path around the Temple. The path stayed right up against the wall, and after following it for a few minutes, they entered a cave dug right into the base of the structure. As they entered, he finally asked his question. "What. Do. Here?"

Pyra followed the brighter sticks on the wall, heading toward something. "They do high end magic training here. Stuff too dangerous to be learned in a normal classroom where someone might just walk in, but that also still needs the protections we put up around the Temple. This area was added a few decades back, after a student nearly killed himself and a dozen others in a mishap."

He understood only some of what she was talking about, but enough to know that wasn't what he had been asking. "No. Me. Do what. Here?"

She paused, annoyed at being interrupted, before realizing what he was asking. "Oh, what will you do here at the Temple?"

She paused, and he waited, but she seemed to be actually thinking. "Well, the first thing you will be learning is to talk. That mess you think is talking is difficult to follow, and at some point we might need to understand you in a hurry. After that, you will likely get tested to see what your element is, you magic power and affinity, what kind of fighting style you use and how to improve it, and possibly even classes if you do well enough. The idea of the reeducation program is to make you a productive and mostly normal member of society.

And here we are. Be nice. Or whatever you think is nice, the dragon who will decide if you stay or not is just inside."

As she finished speaking, she knocked on the door, before pushing it open, and Blind's world was suddenly filled with brightness.


The three dragons in the room were arrayed in a triangular formation, the largest of the three watching the other two as they worked through their exercises. While his gaze and posture were impassive, the massive purple and golden dragon couldn't help but feel a swell of pride for his twin daughters. A year younger than he had been when he had finished off the Dark Master, and their skill with the elements challenged his own when he had been almost half again their age. Admittedly, he hadn't gotten the same education from practically the egg that they had; for that matter he hadn't even realized he was a dragon until he had been attacked by apes and defended himself and Sparx with his fire breath.

The thought of his now deceased dragonfly brother darkened his mood slightly, but Sparx had passed away peacefully from old age, leaving behind several children who had decided the dragonfly family's purpose was to 'protect, guide and assist their bigger, stronger, more dangerous and yet less sensible' purple brethren. Realizing his mind was wandering, he dragged it back to watch his daughters work.

Despite both girls coming from the same egg, it was easy to tell them apart. Vaeria had a long, lean build that closely resembled her mother Cynder as well as possessing Cynder's combat magic aptitude, but she had her father's horns and coloration. Her golden wings and purple scales made her look like a smaller version of her father. Vorela, however, had his build and eyes, while inheriting her mother's coloration; Jet black scales and magenta wings on a powerful body that oozed danger even at rest.

Right now, both were working hard, sweat streaming down their flanks and necks as they strained against the task before them. Both were trying to channel sub-elements that were as far from their natural affinity as he could think of. Vaeria working with the sand sub-element, and Vorela trying to channel plasma. They had started working before lunch, and it should be nearly dinner, which was only making it harder for them, but it was the last exercise before they stopped for the day.

Vaeria was already manipulating the element she had channelled, swirling it about her as she tried to merge the opposing sub-element with her natural aura, and slowly improving. Vorela, however, had only managed to summon a large… clump was the word Spyro was going to use, of plasma, but otherwise wasn't getting it to do anything but seethe and writhe as it tried to escape her control. He waited a few more minutes, but he could easily see that both of them were starting to lose control of the elements. "Alright, go ahead and discharge the magic into the sinks. Let us not set the room on fire today girls."

Vorela turned to glare at her father, and yelped as she completely lost control and her concentration shattered. Spyro reached out, and grabbed the magically created element, before he expertly spun it into one of the magical sinks scattered throughout the room. A quick glance showed that Vaeria had managed to start draining the magic supporting her element already, but was moving far slower than she normally would. Spyro frowned as he watched his daughter struggle with the fairly simple task, and quietly admitted to himself that he had pushed them too hard today. But at least now he had a definite answer to the question of how much Power both of them could channel without...

His thoughts were interrupted by someone knocking, and then opening the door. "Lord Spyro, I have…"

The speaker was cut off by someone snarling in pain and falling over out in the corridor, which caused all three of the dragons in the room to turn to the whomever was out in the hallway. Vaeria yelped as her element suddenly dumped onto the floor, but most of the errant power had already been dismissed, and the rest quickly dispersed as her magic vanished. Spyro sighed as he realized who was talking. "Commander Pyra, I thought you were out looking into that report of ape attacks with Terrador? In … Long Pass, wasn't it?"

Lady Commander Pyra turned back toward him, and stepped into the room. "Yes sir, and already dealt with. Terrador was checking the town for possible scholarship students, but we also found someone that you should meet."

She paused, and then reached out and grabbed whoever was in the corridor, dragging them into the room despite their thrashing and a cry of 'touch me no.' Spyro gave Pyra a bland look, before jerking as the dragon in her grasp screamed in pain. At least he thought it was a thrashing dragon, its movements were erratic in her grasp, and it kept trying to hide behind Pyra, whimpering about 'brightness.'

Spyro looked over the dragon as Pyra dragged it back out in front of her, revealing that it was actually a dragon, though an unusually built one. It, no, he, quickly flipped his wings up into the Iron Wing defensive position, denying Spyro a better look, but it was enough to make him give Pyra an amused look. "Well, he doesn't seem interested in meeting me. Why did you bring him all the from Long Pass, where I assume you found him, and why would I be interested in meeting him?"

Lady Commander Pyra, well known for her no-nonsense attitude, devotion to duty, and supposedly so humorless that her guards joked about her being an earth dragon with a heart of solid stone, if she wasn't so hot blooded, smirked at her friend. "He's a feral that goes by the name of Blind. And he volunteered for your feral reeducation program."

Lord Spyro, hero of the Dark Master War, the Convexity rebellions, and all around beloved hero of the races that inhabited the Dragon Lands, simply stared at Pyra for a moment, before groaning. "Well, that is not good. That program was shut down by your uncle's royal order about six or seven years ago."

As unfortunate as the situation was, Spyro couldn't help but take amusement at the dumbfounded expression on his friend's face. "Come on, let's find some place to set up your applicant, and see about how to deal with this mess. We were done here anyway."


Spyro and Pyra led the way out of the underground vaults and into the Dragon Temple proper, the new dragon on the other side of Pyra though lagging a bit behind, and Vaeria and Vorela coming up behind the group at a slight distance. Both of them were watching the new dragon at their father's request. He wanted to know more about the dragon, and why he acted like he did around the three of them, and his daughters had eagerly agreed.

Pyra had insisted she had not seen such a reaction before, and while she had asked him, his response of it being 'too bright' was not answer enough to determine the problem. Spyro had no doubt that was the best the feral could describe the problem as though. He didn't seem… mentally stunted like the other four had been, but more… suffering from an unusual thinking process that also affected his ability to talk. Or possibly he thought normally, and just lacked the right words.

Their positioning at least let him speak with the guard commander openly, even if it was softly. "You realize the only reason this will work at all is because it is less than halfway into a break, and we can maybe play the rules to do it. Ancestors know, the others do it enough that it is nice to finally turn the tables on them."

Pyra had just given him an amused look, before shrugging. "Even if it doesn't work, he will not be in an area where the town is actively hunting him to kill him. Despite my personal thoughts that he needs to be watched because of how strange he is, I only found one even slightly possibly true rumor about him, and that was ten years ago or so."

Spyro watched the young dragon behind them jerk out of the corner of his eye. He realized that that number meant something to the feral, and that the feral had exceptional hearing to be able to hear their murmured conversation from that far behind them. He jerked his head back slightly, and then mouthed 'talk later.' Pyra frowned, and then shrugged and nodded, before continuing the walk in silence.

They were almost to the faculty residence section of the Temple when Spryo heard Blind snarl. Glancing back, he saw the feral back at the intersection they had just passed. His wings were spread and head low as he hissed at something down one of the side corridors. Pyra took a couple steps back, and glanced down the corridor, but it was completely empty. Even as both adult dragons turned toward him, though, he snarled even louder, and then he took a swipe at empty air with one paw.

A soft yelp of surprise explained what he was reacting to, but it shocked Spyro that he had noticed the individual in question. He didn't need to see the perpetrator to know who it was, though. "Trance! What did we tell you about harassing others with your ability?"

A loud sigh echoed down the corridor, and then a young draken slowly faded into view. Soft blue scales and brilliant silver wings flashed in the soft light of the passage, as the young and curvy dragoness glared at the feral with emerald eyes, though she couldn't hide her interest in him. Being as he was the first one to ever catch her while she was using her natural ability who wasn't also a purple dragon, Spyro wasn't surprised the illusion dragoness was taking an interest. "I was just going to tease him a bit. Not like there is anything else to do."

Pyra gave the young noble what was probably her fourth best glare, before jerking her head to the side passage. "I am meeting with Cyril later. Unless you want me to mention this stunt to him, you would do well to leave, now."

Trance met her glare with an impassive stare, before yawning. "Fine, bet he is boring too."

They watched the young noble leave, only to nearly run into one of the few albino students as she approached the corner. The two students gave each other glares of pure hatred, but the albino had a couple of her friends with her, so Trance didn't bother saying anything. Pyra stared at the approaching students, before turning to Spyro. "I thought it was the break between schooling semesters. How many students stayed? Or have already returned?"

"About seventy. And it is about dinner time, so most are likely to run into us as we are near the main cafeteria. Shall we keep moving?"

They quickly resumed their progress; Vorela and Vaeria made excuses to the group of their fellow students and kept moving. They made a couple of detours to avoid the slowly thickening crowds, but arrived not long after dinner began. Spyro turned to the feral, and considered what to do as he studied the newest problem. At least now the feral had stopped trying to hide behind his wings, but he still had his head bowed and eyes shut hard. "This is your room for the night. Tomorrow we will know what we can do, so please stay inside tonight. I will have some food and water brought by later. Is there anything else you require?"

The feral entered the room, and then looked around, before shaking his head. He pulled the chest pouch off, and set it down in the corner, before turning back to Spyro and Pyra, though he flinched as he faced Spyro. "No."

Spyro's mouth twitched in amusement, before the feral shut the door. He turned to his daughters, and nodded down the hallway. Once they were around the corner, he glanced at the twins. "Alright, what did you two notice about him?"

Vorela answered first. "You mean other than the abnormal physique, the plates instead of proper scales, the fact that he flinches whenever he turns toward any of us but Pyra, or that he spoke all of ten words since meeting the legendary Spyro and his supremely attractive daughters? I doubt the last was from being shy."

Vaeria gave her twin a glare, before sighing and answering as they moved away. "He detected Trance while she was using her cloak. As the only other person to do that, I don't think he did the same thing I did. I noticed her disturbing the surrounding environment, but I am not sure how he did it. I also don't think he sees the same way we do. I know his name is Blind, but he was definitely reacting to things around him without using sound or scent."

She paused, before sneezing and then shaking her head. "He also has a massive scar on his stomach. I couldn't see where it ended, but it starts on his right hip, and goes up along his stomach. It is about as wide as my paw, which is quite remarkable. His survival, I mean. It does explain how he moves though, body low to the ground, but not touching. Just really hard to get up under him. He also walks with a slight limp, likely from a fresh..."

Pyra was looking at the twins for more information, but Spyro just grinned, letting Vaeria expound upon and extrapolate from what she had noted about the feral. He kept half an ear on it, but most of it was conjecture. His mind was on how to help his friend get out of the mess she had gotten into. If they actually helped the feral become a properly civilized dragon, all the better.

Blind relaxed in the emptiness of the room as the door shut. The 'really big and bright' dragon had left, along with the two smaller 'less bright but still really bright' ones. He knew one of them was named Spyro but not which one. But that was also the name of someone Vidalus had constantly talked about, just like Pyra and Terrador and half a dozen other dragons that were important for some reason or another, so perhaps he should make an effort to not anger the larger dragon.

He jumped against the wall, and then pushed off to grab the sharp edged branches near the top of the room, flipped his tail over his belly, and wrapped his wings about himself. For now, he didn't see himself doing anything but resting, so resting is what he would do, and figure out what was next once he was in. Learn to talk better, of course, and maybe see if they could do anything else. If nothing else, he would watch, he would learn, and he would consume what he could. Blind felt his mouth twitch at that thought, before yawning and wrapping his wings tighter, and waited for exhaustion to claim him.

Codex Entry:

Going to start adding notes on various things that otherwise would need their own sections in the story, but would detract from having otherwise knowledgeable characters not knowing about it. Kind of like Mass Effect codex entries, though these are a bit more obviously biased. Taken from various sources written in universe, so any errors, bias, or outright racism is from the source material, not the author.

Magic, Elements and Abilities

Magic, also known as Power, is the most fundamental force of reality, creation, and existence.

As all dragons are taught from hatching, and again at school, Magic is Life. Just the act of being alive, or possibly just in existence, produces magic, and all creature exude magic, though in amounts too small for all but the most experienced and trained mages to notice. What appearance magic takes depends on the mage in question, but all agree that even stones, bones, and dirt can appear to produce magic if left under the sun for any length of time.

But while any race can learn to control and harness magic, only the race of dragons is capable of nearly every individual knowing how to control it to at least some instinctive degree. The exceptions are the pitiful and pathetic albino dragons, born lacking in both element and Magic, though some are more adept at overcoming this limitation though brute force and ferocity, though they still fall far behind even the most limited of dragons, and many of the less fortunate races.

The most common example of a dragon's magic is its element, which is what a dragon can expel through its mouth at even a young age. There are eight 'basic' elements, twenty eight sub-elements, and many sub-sub elements, or super elements. While those of an element are not necessarily limited to just that element, their starting element is the one that they can delve more deeply into, and the easiest. However, dual element dragons are a myth, and none have been found in existence.

In the case of most dragons, their elemental abilities follow a logical progression, from beginner to advanced to expert to master to grandmaster. However, a rare few are born with an instinctive understanding of a single, higher level ability, often times with an aptitude for it far greater than what their seniors can achieve. These abilities are always related to their element though what the ability is varies from dragon to dragon. Despite various attempts, there is no way to guarantee that a dragon will be born with an ability, let alone which ability the child will have.

Abilities are essentially random, and there has never been a dragon with more than one, EXCEPT for the rare purple dragon. Purples are the only known dragons to have two abilities, and all purples have the same two abilities. The first is aptitude, but NOT affinity, with all elements, primary, sub, and super elements. The second is that they can freely change fate, both their own and others, though none except the most arrogant have ever claimed to be able to control what fate they changed the dragon in question to. A side effect of this ability to alter fate is that they often fail entirely to appear in visions, except for the most catastrophic and dire ones. And even in those, their appearance is subject to the whims and assumptions of the viewers.