Welcome back.

I do not know exactly how often I'm shooting for with these chapters but rest assured updates will happen. I have another Spyro story named Fate Decides if you didn't know, you'll like it if you like this story! (probably, I'm not a psychic)

Chapter 2

"Arcane Magic"

I looked down, at my knees. Blood pooled around me, every direction I looked was nothing but pools of blood and bodies. I struggled to keep tears from escaping my eyes as I looked between each of their faces. They didn't deserve this!

I stared back up at the figures in front of me, "You fucking bastards. I'll kill every single last one of you."

They laughed at me, a few pointed their weapons. The same ones they'd just use to dispatch my comrades. One stepped forward to mock me, "Go ahead, try."

I looked behind me at the growing mass of energy. Then turned back around with hatred, "Watch me!" But before I could take a single step I felt searing hot pain in my thigh. I fell to the ground screaming in agony, I opened my eyes and one of my dead comrades' horrified face was inches from mine.

"Wake up, little one."

I gasped in horror as I shot up from my spot, looking around me wildly with terrified eyes, "Stay a-away!"

"Calm yourself…" I heard a gentle voice.

My panicked breath didn't halt immediately, my mind was racing with confusion. Who were those people in my dreams? And why did I think that they were my friends? They looked nothing like any dragon or other creature. And why couldn't I remember where I came from before waking up in that forest? My own mind was tearing my fragile reality apart, and I would've fell into a panic attack if I thought about it anymore.

I finally looked up and Estrella was standing over me with a concerned expression. And slowly but surely my panicked breathing slowed, and my expression dulled, "Oh… Sorry Estrella."

She sighed, then laid down right next to me as she examined me, "That was quite the nightmare little one… You were screaming."

I shook my head, and tried to think on it, "Was I? I barely… remember it."

She tilted her head, "How curious…" She seemed to think to herself about that more than anything.

"Is it morning?"

"No, it's the middle of the night."

I nodded with an unsure frown, "Oh, okay."

There was a long bout of silence, as I slowly lowered my head down onto my paws and closed my eyes. After a few moments, I felt myself being lifted again, "W-What?"

Estrella settled herself down in the middle of the pillow, and laid me against her stomach. Then she slowly wrapped around me with her tail and head resting just near my body. "Sleep will come easier. Now rest, child."

From here I could faintly hear her gentle heartbeat, and the warmth of being surrounded. Which quietly lulled me back to sleep. I couldn't get off my mind, why were arcane beasts apparently so vicious as Estrella described? So far, even if she was slightly terrifying with her gaze and stature, she was a saint. I didn't understand, I would just have to accept the generosity of my new companion in full.

Once morning had come, Estrella had nudged me awake with an already freshly killed rabbit creature which she offered and I ate gratefully. As I finished eating the rabbit I looked around for her, and noticed her standing over by one of the lanterns. Curiously I walked over to her and stared up at her. She had one paw lifted towards the lantern, and the same blue and orange energy slowly left her paw and filled the lantern, which made it brighter. "Cool! Is that arcane?"

She was completely unphased by my sudden question as she slowly smiled, "Yes it is. Well, a certain quality of it."

"Can you teach me about it?" I asked hopefully.

Estrella chuckled as she walked over to the next one, whilst following her I tripped over my tail. Which apparently had not gone unnoticed, "It looks to me I should teach you how to walk first, before anything arcane related."

I whined, "But I can walk! I only trip sometimes, this damn- Oh… um… My tail just annoys me sometimes."

She huffed, "Please, child. You walk like a hatchling that only barely broke out of their egg."

I couldn't say she was wrong, but didn't want to admit she was right either as I averted my gaze, "Fine. Will you teach me arcane afterward?"

"Teach you about arcane, yes." She clarified. "Let me just finish fueling the lanterns first."

I left her to wade my paws in the springs, as well as cleaning my face. I wanted to know all about the arcane and the new magic that there was. It fascinated me on a deep level that I couldn't quite understand, it should just be natural right? I wondered if arcane was something separate from the elements… Was there magic in my old world?

I looked over at the bookshelf again, intending to go pick back up where I left off. Only to notice the book I was reading was gone, and looking farther up, I could see she had put it on the top shelf. There was absolutely no way for me to get it down, she was humming away as she continued to light the lanterns. Was she hiding something from me? She wouldn't do that, though… I have only known her for a day.

Finally she finished up, and she caught me eyeing the bookshelf. When she approached I had a single curious question, "Estrella, what element am I?"

She was silent. For much longer than I would've hoped, "Only time will tell, young one." She finally said. I turned to meet her gaze, but she had already turned to walk away, "Come, I will teach you the basics of walking."

"The basics?!" I whined.

"Yes."

Many long grueling hours later, which was like two, I had made some progress. Apparently walking isn't just forcing yourself to manage to push your body in a direction. Once she showed me just how bad my walking was, I felt embarrassed.

She taught me how to balance and not have my tail get in the way between strides. She did say I had a noticeably large tail which was contributing to most of my failure, but that it wouldn't be an issue after practicing. I finally got my walk down, and could do so with minimal to zero failure. "Can I learn to run now?"

She shook her head, "It will be a few days before you will be confident enough to run." She walked around me like an examining teacher, and slowly she nudged my wings, "Do you stretch them?"

"Do I what?"

"Stretch. Your wings. Every dragon, even if they cannot use them, must stretch their wings multiple times a day. Else your wings will be far too weak and unused to be able to fly." She explained as she pulled out one of my wings which was folded to my back. I hadn't used them yet, so the sensation felt very odd, like someone was grabbing an arm on your back.

"I've never used them." I replied.

She hummed almost disappointedly, "I would sure hope this isn't due to laziness, but from not being taught how to."

I lowered my head, "I never knew about it…"

Her gaze softened and she released my wing, "It's alright child, we have plenty of time to learn."

I suddenly felt an urge in me, one that terrified me and made me feel more ashamed than I've ever been in my entire life. This would surely be the most awful thing I've ever gone through, "Um… Estrella." She hummed as my face grew bright red and I averted my gaze, "I need to use the bathroom…"

I wasn't mocked immediately, and she slowly leaned down, "I assume you need to be taught that as well?"

I closed my eyes as my blush got worse, and I nodded my head slowly. The shame washing through my body now was beyond anything I could remember. Estrella released a small giggle, which caught me off guard, "No need to be ashamed. Come, little one." She said before picking me up.

Suddenly a week had passed by me in a blink of an eye. Each day I was learning something new about being a dragon, while also continuing to progress on other things. I had gotten to the point where walking wasn't an issue, and yet she would still tell me to keep practicing. I did wing stretches four times a day, and learned to control my tail far better than I had imagined possible. It was essentially just another limb you could control, but mine in particular was far more difficult to do so.

She taught me a lot about my paws, and how to use them better. How to keep myself from unintentionally using my claws on things. Every single little thing you could think about being a dragon, she taught me about. And about being a female, but those lessons were always wildly embarrassing. And while I listened eagerly, almost every time she finished teaching me something I would ask the same thing, "Can I learn about arcane now?"

Each night, I would wake from nightmares as well. It was regrettable, but Estrella didn't seem to mind. She wouldn't even let me bother trying to sleep alone now, but even when laying against her, I would often still have nightmares. Estrella was growing more concerned with it, and would often ask me to recall my dreams, and each time I wouldn't be able to. The dreams were the memory equivalent to a word being on the tip of your tongue, like you knew what happened, but everything was blurry. The only thing I could remember, as the dreams worsened, was that I could remember some dark being in every single one of them. He would smile sickeningly, and his eyes felt like they pierced my soul. I would run from him, and he would always be close behind. He never caught me but… I could feel that it was because he enjoyed the hunt more than anything.

I had one particular night, when I was sleeping next to Estrella, that things took a turn for the worst. In my dreams, it was more the same, bodies and blood. Other atrocities I dare not recount. Things that made me weep in my dream, where my body was not a dragon but something else. I did not understand these things. But this time, when the entity had found me, he seemed upset, angry. I don't know why, but running from him was hard, as if he had grown tired of the hunt and wanted his prey.

This time, I ran, and did not keep my distance. This time, he caught me. And the feeling was suffocating, I could do nothing as the entity had itself wrapped around my neck, and other parts of my body. It choked me, all the while searing pain shot through every part of my body. Inside my body even. I ceaselessly clawed at my throat where the entity was, but I couldn't even touch him. He wasn't something to be touched. I screamed, I begged for mercy, for help, and nothing came but less air and more pain. Tears flooded out of my face, all the while that creature stared back at me with a sadistic smile.

"Child!"

I continued clawing at my neck, it did nothing. I struggled violently yet nothing happened.

"Child wake up!"

The entity seemed upset as the dream fell away into ink and washed away, and I was back in reality. Yet even being back in reality I did not stop, I continued screaming and crying, clawing at my neck. But my arms wouldn't move now, as I felt them being held, and I felt hopeless. "P-Please let go!" I begged.

"Child listen!"

"Stop it! It hurts so much!"

"Child, look at me!" I felt a furry sensation brush across my cheek. And through my panicked breath, I slowly opened my eyes and I saw Estrella. But… I didn't understand. I was in between her paws, Estrella's face was wrought with horror, and tears were steadily falling from her eyes and down around me.

"Estrella? B-But I thought I… I was…" I said, shaking at the thought.

She slowly lowered her face and nuzzled me gently, "You're here, with me. I won't let anything harm you."

I teared up more, as my breath evened out, "He was… he was choking me… and my body it-it" I gasped for breath.

She nudged me closer to her furry chest, and I felt a rocking sensation, "You're okay, shh…"

I couldn't close my eyes, all I could see was the entity, and each time it made me panic a bit more. Estella did nothing other than rock me and nuzzle me, whispering affirmations of protection and care. She held me like this for what felt like a long time, until my tears turned to sniffles, and my breathing had become normal again.

Suddenly my adrenaline wore off, and I felt pain in my neck, which I felt my panic slight return to, "I-Is he back? Why-"

Estrella shook her head, "No no, he's gone. Little one, you were scratching at your throat not just in the dream. If I hadn't stopped you-" she stopped talking as she gently lifted my neck to inspect it, "You drew blood, but you'll be okay." I felt a warm glow, and soon the pain soothed away around my neck.

"Why does this keep happening?" I muttered sadly.

Estrella sighed, "Because something is hurting you deep inside."

"Will they go away?" I asked hopefully.

She nuzzled me, "I want to make them go away for you terribly so. But things like this are not so simple for a child."

I looked down at my paws, and felt a sudden feeling of dread and sadness, "Is there something wrong with me?"

I felt Estrella's breath halt for a moment, as she licked the top of my head, "Of course not. You could never be, not to me."

I smiled at her words, but still felt terrible, "I can't even do basic dragon things. I don't even have a name. How can you say that when-"

"Sylvie."

I tilted my head at her interruption as I looked up at her questioningly, she reaffirmed with a nod as she nuzzled me, "Your name is Sylvie. Not child, or little one… You are Sylvie." She said with a gentle lick to my forehead.

"Sylvie…" I muttered to myself. I stared at her face for ages, but I didn't have anything to say, tears flowed down the sides of my cheeks and I smiled up at her, "Thank you."

Estrella nodded, and started to hum gently as she rocked me and sat her head above mine. Slowly I asked with realization and fear, "How will I sleep again…"

Estrella looked at me pitifully, "I will cast an arcane spell on you before sleep every night from now on. It will protect you from those nightmares, they will never happen again," she said resolutely.

I hadn't been able to sleep again after all of that. Thankfully, morning was just around the corner for me and Estrella. When she went out for the hunt in the early morning, she had been worried about me, assuming I wouldn't be able to be alone for long. I reassured her multiple times that I'd be okay by myself, a dream couldn't hurt me in the waking world.

She begrudgingly left, and I had time to mull over the situation more as I did my morning wing stretches. It felt nice, having a name to call myself. I was very grateful for everything Estrella had done for me, she was very soft, caring, and worrisome under the surface. Getting to know her was fun, though she really didn't like talking about her past. I remembered one conversation where I asked if she had a family,

"Estella do you have a family of arcane beast like you?"

She looked down at me sadly, "No, child. Not anymore."

I frowned, "Oh, I'm sorry."

She gazed at me piercingly with sympathy, "It's not your fault."

A long moment of silence passed, and I grew curious, "Are you not…"

She raised a brow and waited for me to continue. "I don't know… I expected you to ask if I had parents…"

She hummed curiously as she put a book away, "Considering you're a hatchling that was roaming the arcane forest, I put the pieces together myself."

I laughed a bit at that, "Oh, yeah… Well, you're not wrong then."

She leaned down and nudged me with her own smile, "We shall be orphans together," I laughed at her as she rarely made jokes. And her whiskers tickled me.

I was broken out of the memory by her return, "Sylvie, I'm back. Are you alright?"

I popped up next to her, "Yep!"

After eating, and finishing on some of my daily tasks, I asked yet again, "Estrella, can I learn about arcane?"

She looked over at me, and seemed to be in thought for a while, until finally she nodded slowly. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

It wasn't long before I was sitting before her, with her looking down at me from a few feet and she began in her more teacher-like voice. "For starters, as I've told you, I am teaching you about arcane, not how to use it." She noticed my disappointed face and sighed sadly, "Sylvie, dragons cannot learn arcane magic, it's unfortunate but it is a simple fact of life."

I slowly nodded my head and huffed, "Damnit- I mean… oh well… It's still cool though, I want to know what you're doing when that orange and blue stuff comes off you!"

She laughed, "Arcane is something that only an arcane beast may wield, and each beast has their own type of arcane magic dictated by their race. This is called an arcane beast will. For instance, a Runebear may know how to use his arcane to enhance his physical attributes or to make his claws hurt more. Please never go near one, Sylvie." She expressed worriedly.

I just nodded, "Yes ma'am… So what about yours? What does your uh… arcane will do?"

She began walking back and forth in thought, "My kind were once the strongest amongst all arcane beasts, and now I remain the only one left."

"I'm sorry Esta." I said using my nickname, "Is that why you are nice and not like the others?"

She came over and nuzzled the top of my head, "It's not your fault little one. And… I still wouldn't have trusted most of my kind, but the stronger a beast is the more intelligent it is. So in a way, yes."

"Okay so what can you do?" I said, tilting my head impatiently.

She let an orange flame dance in one of her paws, but it wasn't fire and it didn't look like fire. Almost like something was trying to imitate fire. She seemed to think to herself before talking, "That orange energy you've been seeing is my arcane will manifesting into my desired use for it. The blue energy mixing with it, is my spirit."

"Wait so you can make your will do anything you want it to? And why would you put your spirit into it? Isn't that dangerous?"

She hummed, "There are limits, but yes my arcane will can replicate anything I desire it to. If I need it to act as a fire, it will. If I want to freeze something, I just make it unnaturally cold. My kind were adept at being the most adaptable arcane beast that there is."

My eyes were probably sparkling in awe at what she told me, "That's so cool Esta!"

She continued with a nod, "And for your question about spirit… The spirit doesn't go away or anything when you use arcane magic, it adds a sort of… claim to your magic. It's like a mark of your power as an arcane beast. Which is why if any other beast were to somehow approach my cave, they would feel my presence with the torches I light on the walls and likely turn tail and run."

I nodded, "Oh so it's like a magical way or marking territory or showing that you're stronger than someone?"

She nodded, "Yes, good listener you are Sylvie. Many times even just showing another beast my spirit is enough to make them run in fear. But other than that, the spirit does not do anything else. And that's pretty much everything to do with the arcane, what do you think?" I almost noticed her avert her eyes as if she was keeping herself from saying something, but I shook my head.

"Thank you Sylvia, I get it all now." I said happily. Arcane magic was cool but it wasn't meant to be for me. That didn't mean I couldn't figure out the other cool kinds of magic I could do in this world. Or… my world? Why did I think that?

Estrella nodded and began to walk away, "Good. Than let me go get us some lunch-"

"Esta, can you help me use dragon magic? I want to learn about it. Please!"

She froze, it almost seemed like she flinched when I said that, and it took her a few moments before she could look at me, "Sylvie, dear… You're too young, okay? You could hurt yourself and…" She sighed, "Be good, I'll be just a while." She said before turning to leave.

"Esta! That isn't fair!" It was worthless as she had already ran out of the cave in a hurry. I groaned and huffed angrily as I threw myself onto the ground and rolled onto my back, "It's not fair… I want to do cool magic too!" I complained to nobody.

It was another few weeks later when I had "graduated" for lack of a better term. Estrella congratulated me on being proficient at everything I should be proficient at for my age. I was comfortable walking, running, jumping, and stretching my wings. As well as controlling my tail and claws correctly. Estrella remarked that I was a quick learner and a very good student. "So now what do I do Esta?"

She hummed curiously, "Well, you're going to keep doing the habits I've taught you, and continue to live like a hatchling and grow."

My mood dropped a bit, "I'm still not ready to learn dragon magic? Why?" I expressed rather annoyedly.

Estrella put a paw to her head and sighed in exasperation, this was probably conversation ten or so about this topic, and each time she lost her patience even more. "Sylvie. I've told you no time and time again."

I stomped my paw, "And I've told you every time that it's not fair! I want to learn magic!"

She shook her head, "Well, then you're going to keep asking, you're not ready."

I groaned, "Why, because you said so?"

She looked at me with a scowl, "Yes because I said so, and you better listen to my Sylvie. From now on I forbid you from asking that question until I say you can learn it myself-"

I finally growled at her, more of an instinct than purposeful, "You keep me trapped in this cave all day, I barely see sunlight, so why the hell can't you teach me how to defend myself?"

She turned right back around and growled, "Because you are a hatchling, and you will die out in that forest! Is living with me in this cave really all that bad Sylvie?"

"Damnit it's not fair Estrella! What am I supposed to do all day? Stare at the wall?" I yelled.

She lowered her head and snarled in my face, "Watch your mouth and your tone young hatchling, I'm only doing what's best for you!"

"Well maybe you don't know what's best for me! How do you know what I need? You were completely alone before you found me!" I said slightly regretfully."

Her eyes flashed with anger and sadness and a low growl hung in her throat, "Go to bed." She ordered angrily, "Now!"

I looked up defiantly and huffed, "You're not my mother!"

That actually seemed to hurt her as her expression faltered and she averted her eyes, the growling stopped and she backed up refusing to look at me.

"Fine Sylvie. Maybe I was wrong trying to be nice, well don't worry, I'll make the rest of your stay here as miserable as you seem to think it is." She said angrily, turning to leave for the cave entrance.

My anger couldn't be contained and I didn't stop, "And maybe I was wrong about you, maybe you're just as feral and heartless as the other arcane beasts." With a loud growl she bounded out of the cave quickly.

I stood there for a few minutes, huffing and trying to contain my anger, but I couldn't and yelled to release it, hitting the bookshelf in the process. A few books fell off and I fell on my back and started crying. This wasn't fair, I felt like a caged animal and I knew nothing about my own people. Why was she acting like that? And why was I acting like that? She had to be hiding something from me… That was when I noticed a book at the very top of the bookshelf, it was about a quarter off the bookshelf and stared down at me. It was the same book I had read from before, why was she hiding it from me? I steeled my gaze and stopped my tears as I stood up, then an idea came to me and I smiled.

Estrella growled to herself as she paced around the forest within her ward area, she didn't know why she snapped as hard as she did on Sylvie. 'She's being a little brat,' She told herself as she clawed a nearby tree, 'I've given her everything I can and she…' It was not like Sylvie to act like that, not unless she was very upset.

This made the fox wonder if she was the problem, maybe she was being ridiculous and should've told her a long time ago. Estella sighed as she stopped on the edge of a lake and looked down into it, the moon reflecting her image back up at her and she let a few tears fall, 'What are you doing Estrella. You grumpy old hag. You knew raising a hatchling would be tiresome.' She scolded herself angrily.

She let more tears flow as she though back on their fight, 'She's just a hatchling, she doesn't understand… Why did you lose your temper like that? You just want her safe, but at the cost of her hating your guts now?' She buried her muzzle in her paws, putting one over her face, 'Now she'll never look at you the same again. You had a family again for a brief few weeks and threw it away, stupid…' She berated herself in her head as she whimpered.

'You're just like your mother in the end, aren't you Estrella?' She asked, looking at her tear stained reflection. 'And Sylvie was right. You're not giving her enough sunlight, and she has no friends, she can't while living with you.'

Estrella whined as a wave of fresh tears poured out, 'You can't be a mother to her, just like she said. Maybe it was best if you took her to the dragons?' She whimpered, 'But maybe I can? I can do better as a mother I can…'

'Tell her the truth,' She told herself whilst looking in her reflection, 'Go back, make amends, and tell her the truth. Tell her everything. Then you can be happy together again, you're not like your own mother.' She reassured herself.

Estrella stood up and took a long breath of fresh air in, mixed with the lake and the sounds of the wildlife, she felt more calm and at peace. She was the adult in this situation, and she was going to make amends with her new daughter, even if it took years. 'It won't be so bad telling her the truth, she's still such a strong and independent little hatchling.' She smiled as she turned around and began walking back home, but her face fell again in realization, 'You terrified her, she's probably whimpering in bed thinking I was actually going to make her life a living hell. God am I stupid.'

She began running her way back, 'You'll do better, you'll be the best mother, you have to comfort your little one now.' Estrella nodded, realizing she had been too emotionally affected to be paying attention to the ward she had set out. She reached out with her mind to connect with Sylvie in the cave, but when she grasped around she couldn't find her. 'What? Did my outburst cause the ward to collapse?'

She felt around, and felt a few smaller beasts in her ward, it was definitely still working. A rush of panic shot through the fox's mind as she quickened herself. She couldn't sense Sylvie? What happened? Did she leave in her moment of clouded thoughts? There's no way she had… killed herself even? Estrella whined in terror as she finally got to the entrance of her cave, bounding inside and calling out; "Sylvie! Sylvie, are you okay? I'm sorry little one!"

She looked around frantically, relaxing that she hadn't seen the most awful sight imaginable, but not much as she still couldn't see her. Or even feel her presence. "Sylvie I'm sorry love! I take back everything I said!" She called around as more tears edged her vision. Her breathing quickened so much she barely could tell she was taking in oxygen as she finally set sights on the book on the ground in front of the bookshelf.

She ran up and looked down, her blood running cold as she saw the page she was desperately trying to keep from the young hatchling. She had to read it just to make sure her fears were correct, "White dragons do not have any form of element, and have zero capability of learning it. White dragons are heavily discriminated against due to inferiority, as some do not even consider them dragons."

She shook her head in disbelief, she was stupid and arrogant. Of course Sylvie sought the answer out herself, and knew that she was lying the whole time. She was too scared to tell her she couldn't learn magic, that she would never be able to do the things she wanted. And now she didn't know what to do.

She was missing, she would never return and it was up to her to find her, but then it would-...

No, she had to find her! She couldn't care about her own safety when her little one was lost and alone thinking the whole world was against her.

Estrella shook her head and bounded toward the entrance, 'I don't care that you have no element Sylvie, I love you all the same.' She wished she could tell her adorable face as she looked into her beautiful eyes.

Estrella let the final tears drop, then she steeled her gaze, 'It's okay, momma's coming to save you.'

.

.

END

Where'd Sylvie go? Estrella's natural instincts kicked into overdrive. Woe be to any assailants of her precious yet confused human turned dragon.

Also I'm lowering rating to T until it starts to get into M rating territory. Mostly cause hides M rated stories automatically unless you change it and I'm a filthy advertiser who wants to be sure everyone notices my story LOL. But by all means, this is an M rating story I swear.

vaggls: Thanks for the review! And yes Spyro and Cynder will be in here somewhere, they're tagged importantly. I'm interested for that interaction as well.

L0RD3N: No spoilers, well slight spoilers, but I've never actually seen this particular trope I'm setting up for done ever (in a Spyro fanfic). And I'm going to stay cryptic about what I mean by that. So you'll just have to wait and see what I mean lol. Thanks!

Plague Doctor 2035: Actually, I refer you back to the reply to L0RD3N in response to most of your review lol. And yes this will still be my darkest story yet, not sure whether to be excited or not but we will see. Thanks for the review.

ELION57: This review rubs me in the wrong way a bit, I'm not sure what you mean by that... Female protagonists are good, and if you don't like them I have 3 stories ongoing with male protags. So... read if you want nobody's forcing you.

Vaderisawsome24: Thanks. I do plan on updating everything in due time.

Guest: Well I'm in love with writing them! And I'm pretty sure I started that trend when I wrote Fate Decides maybe? If not please point me in the direction of similar stories. The only 3 I know about are mine, and my friend PlagueDoctor's story Kindess of Strangers (still need to read that). No ego here, but if there are more similar stories I'd love to hear about them. Thank you unnamed stranger for the compliment and review.