Chapter 3: A New Old Master

Jhonny's consciousness was coming back until he finally opened his eyes. Looking around, he could see that he was in the same cave he had found a few minutes ago... or had it been hours? However, looking back at his body, he realized that his scaly dragon body was completely healthy. In addition, he was on a bed of straw about his size.

"How strange…" he thought, looking at his body, "I remember feeling claws. Besides, who brought me here?"

"Wow, you are very lucky. Not many have faced Cerberus and lived to tell the tale"

Jhonny looked behind him: an old fire dragon was walking towards him, with a few fruits in a wooden pan.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" asked the young dragon.

"My name is Syrus, young dragon" he replied, "And you, I suppose, are the new apprentice for Guardian of Fire, aren't you?"

"Um… yes. But, how do you know?"

"Well, you're not the first to come here. The last young dragon to come here years ago, Ignitus, was my last student."

"Student? I thought this was a survival test."

"The ' survival test ' is to resist in this hostile environment. If it is necessary for someone to watch and guide the apprentice, for that there are veteran dragons who will be willing to help them"

"Oh, I understand..."

"Then what is your name, new young apprentice?"

"They call me Johnny"

"Hmm… very strange name for a young dragon. But I will not question the name of whom the guardians have chosen to succeed them"

"Yes, succeed them..." Jhonny mused, discouraged.

"Rest for now, and you must eat to recover energy"

"By the way, Mr. Syrus... how did you heal me so fast?"

The old dragon held up a vial filled with a red liquid.

"Juice of the fire flower that grows in these grounds," he replied, "A single drop can heal any wound, even a fatal one."

"Wow, thanks…" Jhonny said, getting up. It was true: no muscle ached.

The dried fruit that the old dragon had brought was like eating dry biscuits. In addition, the young apprentice also shared what he had brought with his savior.

"Tell me, what was that monster you saved me from?" Johnny asked as they ate, "I remember there was a three-headed dog-like creature."

"Surely you've heard stories of a similar monster dog that guards the entrance to the underworld" replied the old dragon, "Well, he's not the only one: the one in those stories is a being trained by demons and dark entities. The one here is more intelligent and mercilessly attacks prey smaller than itself. That's why I told you that you're lucky to survive."

There was a second while the veteran ate the food.

"But I'm afraid, you'll have to face it again," he finally told him.

"What?!" the apprentice asked in fear, "But you just said that I was lucky to survive!"

"If you have come here looking to increase your fighting spirit, you must prove it by defeating that beast. However, in your current state you will not be able to beat him. For that, you would have to increase the power of your flames to the level of shattering rocks."

"But it is impossible for a blaze of fire to destroy the rocks: they are very hard"

"Nothing is impossible, boy. Let me show you: let's go outside"

The old dragon led the young apprentice out of the cave. There was no sign of Cerberus, but the damage was evident. The two dragons approached a large rock black with coal.

"That rock is the target," he said, "But first, show me how much power you have."

Jhonny hesitated: yes, they had defeated Simian with that steel-hard armor... but now destroying a rock without anyone's support and only with his fire? Seeing that the veteran was serious, the apprentice took a deep breath, trying to find that inner flame. When it found it, it unleashed a burst of fire at the target. However, the stone did not feel the slightest harm, with the exception of being slightly hot.

"You don't have a great will to fight," Syrus concluded, "Fire is the flame of the spirit, which we keep burning with our motivation and desire. Also, your senses are limited: you rely too much on what you see or hear. No boy, you must see further"

"Further?" Johnny asked.

"That's right, do you even know what manna is?"

The apprentice remembered the teachings and readings.

"It is a magical energy of nature, which provides life and energy to living beings" he said, "It exists in every living being and in every breath of air. It springs from the earth in the form of spirit gems, an ancient gift."

"You can tell you've studied a lot... Right. But as you'll see, there are no spirit gems in sight, and none for miles. And, as you say, it exists in every living being. You are part of nature and it is part of you, just like manna."

With this last, the ancient dragon sent a powerful flame towards the rock, shattering it completely. Jhonny's jaw dropped at the veteran's achievement (despite his age).

"If you can sense and grow the mana within yourself, winning the fight of fire against stone is not impossible," Syrus concluded, "But for that, you must grow your will and enhance your senses, ready for the mana? disciple training?"

Jhonny, knowing that it must be a lot to learn in a short time, decided to start.

"Yes Master"

(Hours later, towards sunset ...)

Jhonny was doing a Sirsasana exercise (standing upside down, standing on the front legs) and he could feel little by little how the blood was rising to his head. This exercise, Syrus had told him, was to promote concentration and memory, as well as balance.

"This is more difficult than I expected…" he told himself.

"Try to feel the warmth of the heart of the earth: the core" Syrus told him, "If you connect with the environment, you can feel anything around you, even enemies"

The young apprentice emitted a wave of heat around his body, this wave transformed into small sparks and then an aura of fire... but, the position he was in brought back his memories:

" You are useless ... you are useless ..."

" Stop playing the hero ... there are no heroes ..."

The flames from his body raged out of control... until it became an explosion that threw him backwards. Fortunately, Syrus caught him and helped him back to the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Johnny sighed; He couldn't answer that he was fine, because he wasn't: his past continued to torment him and the comments he received as a child and young man caused him psychological suffering too strong to ignore.

"Let's try another exercise," Syrus told him.

(A few minutes later, in a rocky curved quarry ...)

The young apprentice stood at the bottom of the quarry, eyes closed, while his mentor rolled hot rocks to the edge of the curving cliff.

"You have to go by your gut and intuition!" The adult dragon warned him, "The rocks won't seriously hurt you, but you better be able to dodge without using your senses: feel the heat of rolling objects."

Although he was blindfolded, Jhonny had closed his eyes and was trying to perceive the ambient heat. It was…difficult to describe what it felt like: it was like he was wearing those heat vision goggles, only darker and he couldn't see the rocks, but an accumulation of heat energy that was moving at great speed, getting closer and closer.

Just when he was a few meters away, the young apprentice began to move: he knew that those round forms of heat were the rocks that he had to avoid (in addition to being able to perceive the movement of the earth). Successfully, he dodged several of them. However, the attack was constant as the rocks came and went due to the movement and shape of the quarry. It was like being in the middle of a pinball game.

Although he was able to dodge a few, so many targets made it difficult for him to find a clear path at times. Also, part of the exercise was not flying. In that way, Jhonny soon found himself hit by one, and then another and another... he was being stoned continuously. Luckily, the dragon scales made like armor and he wasn't hurt as badly.

When the exercise was over, Syrus healed him again.

(Later ...)

Both dragons were sitting next to each other, in a meditative position. Anyone would think it was in a quiet and peaceful place, but the truth was that they were each on a pillar that gushed from a large pool of lava.

"Try to stay calm," Syrus told him, "Don't let fear and worry overwhelm you. Believe in yourself and have will in what you do"

It was easy to say that if you weren't in that situation. However, it was a much calmer exercise than the previous two, if the lava and the difficulty of breathing due to the gases were not considered.

When a small stone was heard dislodged, Jhonny seemed to hesitate and trembled, which triggered his pillar to break free and collapse. Before he tried to spread his wings, Syrus had saved him with his tail.

(Towards nightfall ...)

"I can't do this" Jhonny said to himself over and over again as he watched the moon rise, "why did I accept this?"

"Good question, young man" Syrus told him, who had heard him, "That's the beginning of your path: knowing what you're looking for with this journey and training. But more importantly, ask yourself who you are."

"Many have told me..." the young dragon sighed dejectedly, "It's something I can't solve..."

The old dragon approached the young dragon and put his paw on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. Although this seemed to work at first, Jhonny still couldn't respond.

"You can solve it, if you open up to others" he told her.

"If it were a problem that could be discussed from dragon to dragon, I could explain it, but..." he answered, knowing that he had to tell him, "...I'm not exactly a dragon..."

Jhonny told Syrus everything that had happened to him: from his life and youth as a human to the last few months, since he woke up as a dragon in these realms. After hearing everything, the old dragon said:

"With that past, it's no wonder your spirit and will are so low," Syrus told him, "If Ignitus, the other guardians, and your friends trust you, why can't you trust yourself? Don't you have any ambition?"

"None, I just want to help others. Being someone important to them…"

"Be the hero, huh?"

"Yeah…" he sighed, knowing he couldn't hide it, "Growing up, I felt like I didn't belong anywhere. I was with my family, I know, but I felt empty inside."

That was the reason why he admired Spyro: the purple dragon was destined from birth to mark his history; instead, Jhonny had been only a human, but he wanted to give meaning to his life... to be something different and at the same time special.

"You must learn to overcome those memories. They told you that there are no heroes. But neither can a human being transform into a dragon, but here you are. They told you that you are useless, but you can breathe fire, do you think those comments can affect you now?"

"Deep inside, I still believe it... maybe I should never have enlisted as a guardian's apprentice"

"If that's how you feel, why did you want to become a guardian?"

The young dragon felt flushed, which the adult noticed.

"I understand" he said, "It was a girl"

"How...?" asked the apprentice.

"You don't live that long without knowing the acts that are done out of love..." he said as he returned to the cave, "Rest for now, tomorrow you must show how powerful your love's feeling is to make your spirit burn"

Jhonny approached the cave, still somewhat discouraged. However, his new master smiled at him.

"You may not believe in yourself yet, but there are others who do believe in you. And I believe that tomorrow will be a different day."

A little more encouraged, Jhonny smiled back.

"Okay, I'll try to improve tomorrow"