"I shall begin with the moment after you were voluntarily frozen in time," the Chronicler began. "You see, after you and Spyro had been taken care of, the dragons gathered from around the world to take stock of how many dragons had died in the war, and how many were left.
"When everyone had gathered, it was discovered that there were no more female dragons; they had all died, either in battle or in the Destroyer's destruction of the world. There were no more eggs to be found, either; the Year of the Dragon had ended ten years before. Without you, Cynder, there was no hope for the dragon race…or, so they thought.
"My predecessor, the previous Chronicler, had passed on his duties to me the moment that Spyro had reversed the Destroyer's work, as it marked the beginning of a new age. Therefore, as it had become my duty to maintain the balance of nature and the continuation of the dragon race, it fell to me to find a way for the dragons to continue to live until Spyro's return. With the new powers vested in me, I was able to take the power of the gems, as well as some of the life force of every remaining dragon, and create a new breed of dragon, one that was to be the merest shadow of what we had once been. It is this type of dragon that has ruled the worlds ever since.
"Today's dragons do not look like the dragons you've seen. They stand on their hind legs, their wings are fixed in an outspread position, and they are visibly not as strong as dragons used to be. They also have very little elemental power, and even less magic. Today's Guardians, known as Elders, are nothing compared to even the weakest of the dragons of old.
"As I had once been Master of Fire, I was able to give the new dragons some modicum of control over that element, but no other. Still, the new dragons were so helpless compared to what we once were that they had to join forces with two other species to remain strong enough to rule the worlds. Sparx here was able to facilitate the forming of a pact between the races of dragons and dragonflies; just as he had once been Spyro's partner in all things, so too would each dragon be able to have a dragonfly partner of his or her very own. Unlike the bond of mere friendship between Sparx and Spyro, however, each dragon's bond to his or her dragonfly was to be magically enforced, and the dragonflies, being stronger than the new breed of dragons, would be able to combine their own life force with that of their dragon and take hits from enemies in the place of their dragon partners. Few dragonflies could take more than three blows before their bodies were destroyed, but the spell would keep their spirits bound to their dragons until such a time as they could be restored. For many centuries, this restoration would have to be done by a fairy, as neither the dragons nor the dragonflies had the ability to absorb the energy of gems any longer. Eventually, however, the evolution of the Beast Makers Clan, a group of dragons who are able to use their minimal magical powers to create new, albeit weak, species of creatures, managed to create many, many species of small, defenseless animals that would turn into butterflies upon being struck by any sort of significant force; these butterflies were made so that they would be able to restore the dragonflies' bodies and health. These small creatures now abound throughout the entire world, even in places where dragons have never lived.
"The magical pact binding the two races was more powerful than I could have predicted, though, and the dragonflies, like the dragons, were reduced to feeble imitations of their former selves. Today's dragonflies are little more than sticks with wings, eyes, and a mouth, though they have grown some since Spyro was born; they now have actual heads and antennae, and can actually speak comprehensively, which is very new. They still, however, have no arms. Sparx here was also like that until he was restored by the power trapped in the crystal you were sealed inside of.
"Also, the fairies of the world joined forces with the dragons, entirely of their own accord. They are very helpful to the dragons in many ways, and Spyro has much to be grateful for on their behalf.
"At first, there was also a third means of strength to be provided to the dragons: Like the Time Crystal I wear around my neck, Dragon Amulets were made, which provided dragons with extra strength or special abilities. The practice was quickly abandoned due to its complexity and the fact that only the dragons of old were able to make them, and it has only recently been revived, though the new Dragon Amulets are not nearly as powerful as the ancient ones. The Shadowstone that Spyro wears is one of the old Amulets, and allows for passage into the Shadow Realm, which is a strange, twisted version of the world, on the other side of ours. Spyro is the first dragon since the end of the Great Era to be strong enough to use it.
"I do not mean by all this that the past five million years have been without their advancements in magic and technology. The dragons of today, being far weaker than what we once were, but of no less wit and cleverness, have found and produced incredible means of getting around their new shortcomings. For instance, throughout the world, there are many places that are far away from each other, but brought close by means of magical dragon portals that instantly transport any creature from one specific place to another. These were constructed because the new breed of dragons are generally too weak to make the trip by air. And, as I said before, the Beast Makers Clan managed to produce a new means of restoring wounded dragons' dragonflies. More than that, the Magic Crafters Clan once built magical figurines that acted as a sort of failsafe: if a dragon was harmed after his or her dragonfly had disintegrated, the magic would be released from one and fully restore both dragon and dragonfly. More ingenious still, about nine years ago, the Magic Crafters and the Beast Makers combined their creations, so that some butterflies now contain the magic of the figurines, and the magic is now released directly into the dragonfly.
"Now, despite these seemingly war-related innovations, things in the world were relatively peaceful up until about a decade ago, merely one decade after Spyro was reborn. Spyro can tell you the details of his many adventures at a later date, but to put things simply, some of the Beast Makers' failed attempts to create powerful creatures came to resent the dragons and retaliated, wreaking havoc on the world."
"You mean Gnasty Gnorc, Ripto, and the Sorceress were created by dragons?" Spyro asked.
"Yes," answered the Chronicler, "which is why they were powerful enough to do actual great harm against any group of people; dragons may be weak compared to what they once were, but they remain the most magical creatures in the world.
"At any rate, Cynder, as you've probably guessed, Spyro's calling came in the forms of these monsters, and he quickly made a name for himself as a hero in communities around the world. The dragons, recognizing the signs, encouraged him, and the Elders themselves began to train him. In one of his adventures, the dragon you saw outside, Red, was his foe, and Spyro later managed to bring him back over to the right side. Spyro is even more powerful now than he was when he left the world five million years ago, as he has learned some spells from the Elders that are not elemental.
"Just three days ago, Spyro's memories began to return, and, recognizing this as the final sign, the Elders gathered everyone in the worlds together and told them of your story; that is, of yourself, and of Spyro, and of Sparx, and of Malefor. Now, all the sapient creatures in the world know of you, and are expecting you back on the mainland.
"Cynder, your return, as well as that of Spyro, has been long awaited by all of dragonkind, and they may expect things of you that are unreasonable. Be prepared for this when you leave."
"Wonderful," Cynder muttered.
"It will not be as bad as you are expecting," the Chronicler reassured her. "Many will hail you as a hero, past and future."
"Future?" Cynder queried.
"They're expecting you as the mother of the new dragon race," Spyro explained. "Being one of the dragons of old, you'll be able to produce dragons that are as powerful as dragons used to be."
"With you?" Cynder asked slyly.
Spyro shifted uncomfortably and looked away.
"Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, now it is time for me to tell you all another story, one that you've all been wanting to hear, though for varying amounts of time," the Chronicler mercifully interrupted.
"What story's that?" asked Sparx.
"The story of Red's origins," the Chronicler replied.
"Yeah, I have been wondering about that," Spyro said. "I've asked the Elders, but none of them seemed to want to talk about it."
"That's because no dragon wants to admit that, a few millennia ago, they repeated the mistakes of the past; that, and it would have been hard to explain to you without telling you of your own destiny," the Chronicler replied. "However, as it is very relevant to current events, I will relate it to you now. Spyro, do you recall the pink eggs with brown spots that you rescued when you first became a hero by defeating Gnasty Gnorc?"
"Yeah," Spyro answered, "I've always kind of wondered about those, too. Aren't they dud eggs, since they were laid so long after the Year of the Dragon? I don't really understand why it was so important for me to rescue them."
"What do you mean?" asked Cynder.
"Eggs that aren't laid during the Year of the Dragon don't hatch," Spyro explained. "Eggs that are laid within the first few years after the Year of the Dragon have magical properties, but late ones like the ones I rescued when I fought Gnasty Gnorc…they're useless, aren't they?" he asked the Chronicler.
"No," the Chronicler answered. "You see, though those eggs usually don't hatch, they do every now and again, and the dragons that are born from them are unusually powerful; somehow, they tend to have inherited some of the powers of our Ancestors. The Sorcerer, whom you fought recently, was one such dragon; Red was another." Spyro was silent, allowing the Chronicler to continue.
"When Red was born of one of the so-called dud eggs, he was a marvel to all of dragonkind," the Chronicler went on. "His color, for which he is now named, has been unprecedented by any dragon of any era, old or new. There were dark orange-red dragons in the old days, such as myself, which had indicated Fire to be the dragon's element, but Red's bright-red coloring had never been seen before. I myself was surprised when he was born.
"His color, along with his strange but harmless deformities, such as his hunched neck, the strange fins on his elbows, and his underbite, led the dragons to wonder what powers he might have when he grew up. He was tested, and, naturally, was found to have great magical abilities, beyond that of any dragon known throughout the Dragon Kingdoms - the Sorcerer was born, and grew up, far away from the dragons, and none of them knew of him until the day he attacked the Dragon Kingdoms. Going back to Red, some dragons believed that perhaps he was the long-awaited reincarnation of the great Spyro, though it was granted that he didn't resemble you in the least. It was deemed possible, however, though this was mostly out of impatience - one justification was that he was bright red and Cynder's Time Crystal was rumored to be blue, and red and blue make purple. Despite the absurdity of such arguments, it was still deemed possible, and Red's birth name was Rofelam."
"Are you kidding me? Rofelam?" Cynder asked, laughing.
Spyro looked at her questioningly.
"Spyro, it's Malefor spelled backwards," she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh," Spyro said. Then, turning to the Chronicler, he asked, "Why would they name him that?"
"Because, young dragon, they believed that he might have been the reincarnation of you, but they didn't want to tempt fate," the Chronicler answered. "So, to be safe, they named him after the other purple dragon of old; but, not wanting him to end up like the Dark Master, they spelled the name backwards, in the hopes that he would likewise turn out to be the opposite of Malefor."
"Yeah, that really worked out," Sparx commented sarcastically.
"Indeed it did not, and that's why he is known as Red today," the Chronicler agreed. "While he was growing up, however, Rofelam was not kept in the dark about his possible destiny like you were, Spyro. He was raised hearing stories about you, and he wanted to be you so badly that he actually was able to visualize in detail some of the encounters you and Malefor shared, his old memories as Malefor roused by the stories told to him of ancient times. As he was about to come of age, he told the Elders, who had been training him, that he remembered some of his past, believing himself to be you. In earnest, the Elders began preparing to escort him the long way here, which none of them were strong enough to do on their own. While they prepared, however, Rofelam came of age and grew to be an adult-sized dragon, which he could not have done if he had, in fact, been you.
"His hopes shattered, his dreams crushed, Rofelam was given a position as one of the Elders, but to him, this was no compensation for what he had hoped to be. He had wanted, more than anything else in the entire world, to father the new race of dragons, to be great, to be able to do something so wonderful for the world. Because of his upbringing, he had a good heart, and was frustrated by his inability to usher in the New Era. His frustration quickly turned to rage as his old self stirred, and he began to blame the dragons for his disappointment. He turned on them, and when he was cast out, like his former self, he sought to find a way to destroy the dragons. This was why he hated you so much, Spyro; he was jealous.
"At first, he tried using his magic to pick the dragons off one by one, and he later actually managed to wage war against the dragons on his own, without any sort of followers. The dragons repelled his attacks, finally destroying the link between himself and his dragonfly and stripping him of his name, and he was forced to admit defeat and disappear from view. I, of course, was able to follow his exploits through his book, and watched as he found some of the dark crystals from the days of Malefor's rampage, guided subconsciously by his old memories."
"The Dark Gems!" Spyro exclaimed.
"Yes, that's what they came to be known as by the dragons of today, and as he was the reincarnation of the one dragon who had learned to master their use, he was able to tap into their power and gain internal strength, without need for a dragonfly," the Chronicler confirmed. "After you defeated Gnasty Gnorc, that beast's soul wandered to where what remained of Malefor's power lay, drawn to it as the dark souls of old were drawn to the Well of Souls. There, Red revived him. He did the same for Ripto and his two half-dragon minions, but Ripto was ungrateful and ran off with Crush and Gulp, looking for revenge. After that failure, Red stopped reviving your foes, and the Sorceress never got a second chance. Gnasty Gnorc, though, was very grateful to Red, and found comfort in Red's ugliness, as that had been what Gnasty Gnorc had held a grudge for against the dragons."
"He hated the dragons because he was ugly?" Spyro asked.
"Indeed," the Chronicler answered, "as it was the dragons who had created him to begin with. At any rate, after spending some time mining Dark Gems and building an army of Gnorcs with his new accomplice, Red returned to the world, and you know the rest."
"Hey, speaking of the Sorcerer, what happened to him?" asked Spyro.
"He is dead," answered the Chronicler. "You dealt him a mortal blow."
"But he escaped," said Spyro.
"Indeed, but his wounds were too great," replied the Chronicler. "He barely managed to get back to his home, but he wasn't strong enough to recover."
"Where was his home?" asked Spyro.
"The islands which you once called home," answered the Chronicler. "He lived in the remains of the Temple."
"Uh-huh," said Cynder, who had no idea what the two dragons were talking about. "That's interesting. Now, I have a question: How is it that Malefor managed to come back through Red now?"
"That is the last story I have to tell you," the Chronicler replied. "You see, when Malefor was taken away by the spirits of the Ancestors, he was not truly killed. Even though the Ancestors boosted Spyro's planet-restoring spell with Malefor's immortality, his spirit remained strong enough to work against them. Because the world was still an in-between place when you were encased in that crystal, he was able to sneak in and add his own essence to it. When Spyro released you by absorbing his own essence, the piece that was Malefor's was deposited next to Red and, unable to resist, he picked it up."
"That's what he was holding!" Spyro realized.
"But why?" asked Cynder. "What does he want this time?"
"What he wants, my dear child, is the three of you," the Chronicler answered. "His fall at your hands - yes, yours too, Sparx, for you were very crucial in Spyro's quests - left him enraged, and he wants revenge. He must not be allowed to have it; the time has come for him to be killed once and for all, fair and square…and with his immortality gone, you will be able to do just that."