Not sure when the next update will be to be honest. I'll be without a laptop for a while and will have nothing to work on it on. Hoping I can get a new laptop. You can help if you go to my profile. The first paragraph will explain. Just been struggling a bit financially :/

Chapter 4

A Chilly Reception

The weather was fairly cool as the chilly breeze blew across the open meadow. There were more clouds in the sky when they left Clawstone on their short journey to the next nearest settlement of Garipton. It was there they would rest up, stock up on food if necessary, then head out onto to southern road to Warfang.

Cosmo casually looked up toward the sky, seeing a bundle of darkened clouds ahead of them. He didn't think much of it though. His mind was mostly elsewhere.

Feeling some movement in the pack he had on his back, Cosmo glanced back to see Orion finally emerging from it after his snack of mango.

"Hope you didn't devour everything in there," Cosmo said. "We need it to last until we get to Garipton."

"Relax," Orion sighed, hopping up on Cosmo's head for a better view. "So this Garipton place . . . how far away is it?"

Unsure, Cosmo turned toward Isis.

"It's about a sixteen hour walk," she replied nonchalantly.

"Sixteen hours?" The fox was a bit surprised at how far it was. "You two can't fly?"

"Well . . ." Cosmo began, fumbling around for the words to explain. "I used to. I haven't been in a dragon body in a long time."

"So you stink at it?" Orion harshly responded.

"Hey," Isis began, getting the canid's attention. "It's not that easy to fly right off the bat when you've been a walking bipedal for several months. Our bodies need time to gain their strength back before we're able to do that, use elements, or our abilities."

"Booooring."

Isis eye'd the fox aggravatingly as he hopped off Cosmo's back for the first time since she seen him. "There's just no pleasing you is there?"

Polymorphing back to his original size as he walked in between the two dragons, he smiled towards the fur dragon. "Don't be like that, I'm sure there's something you're good at."

Isis rolled her eyes, "How about polymorphing into a—"

"Isis," Cosmo interrupted. "Be nice."

Cosmo only heard grumbling in response. Sure Orion could be a bit much sometimes, but Cosmo felt it would be a good idea to bring him along, even before he entered the gate.

Up ahead in the distance looked like a tree line connecting to a forest. The path the trio was on looked as if it were headed straight toward it. Cosmo looked back up toward the sky, seeing the same darkened clouds from before, then back toward the path ahead.

Meanwhile

A light blue dragon hopped down the street and skidded to a stop in front of a familiar house. Wasting no time, he opened the door and made his way inside. The room he was in was fairly small, but held a comfy couch sitting in front of an active fireplace. On the couch was a pure white dragoness, who quickly turned to see who was intruding in her home as if he owned the place.

"Star?"

"Hi Cutieboots!" Star jubilantly greeted.

Again with that name. The dragoness felt her face flush as she looked back toward the fireplace. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was going around the city but everything was just so boring. I didn't think I should bother Kali so I came here."

Odd that he would do that. The white dragoness never had Star visit her once before. Of course, it may have had something to do with he didn't know where she lived until earlier today.

"What do you expect to do here?" the white dragoness asked, finally able to look back toward Star.

She noticed he was light blue, which, if she remembered right, meant he was calm and collected. She didn't know her mood colors that well though, if they even had an effect on Star to begin with.

Star shrugged. "I don't know, it just felt like that I needed to be here."

"Was it to try and guess my name?"

"I know your name," Star replied with a smile. "It's Cutieboots!"

"It's not Cutieboots! And close the door!"

Star looked behind him to see the door was still wide open, letting all the cold air come in. He also noticed he tracked some snow in as well.

"Oops."

The white dragoness sighed as Star closed the door behind him.

"Are you sure it's not Cutieboots?" Star, once again, asked as he took his place beside the couch the white dragoness sat on.

"I'm sure Star."

"Then what is it?"

She was about to answer, but decided to ponder on it for a little bit. The guessing game was a bit fun after all. Star never seemed to run out of energy for it, plus she too was bored.

"I'll give you a hint," the white dragoness smiled. "It's similar to something up toward the North."

"Santa Claws!"

The white dragoness smacked a paw against her forehead. "Oh dear."

"Santa Claws' wife!" Star continued. "Rudolph! Prancer! Comet!"

"I'm afraid it has nothing to do with Santa," the white dragoness replied, grinning to herself.

"Aw," Star simply went, a bit disappointed at his lack of success. "How about Starlight? Or Brighteyes?"

The dragoness shook her head. "Nope. Starlight's a nice name but Brighteyes has nothing to do with the North."

The night went on as Star's names came and went. It didn't take a genius to know how they all turned out though. The white dragoness' name remained a mystery to the energetic dragon, but she still enjoyed the company. Now that she remembered, the last time she had company that stayed for more than five minutes was with Isis. It had been several months since she received news of that fur dragon's disappearance. She wished her fate had been different.

Taking a look out the window, the white dragoness realized it was dark out.

"Oh my, I didn't realize it was dark out already." Standing to her feet, she made her way toward the window beside her door. "I had better get that fireplace going. Don't want this place to become a frigid icebox in the morning."

Star quickly stood to his feet as if on cue. "Don't worry Starlight, I got it."

The white dragoness turned just in time to see Star breathe a small stream of fire onto the wood in the fireplace. It quickly began to burn, emitting a comfortable heat in the room. The dragoness rolled her eyes, then walked over toward the fireplace and into the heat's comfort.

"It's not Starlight."

"But you said it was a nice name."

"Désolée chéri, it is a nice name, but it is not mine," the dragoness answered with a smile.

Star cocked his head, studying the dragoness that sat before him. For a second there, it sounded like a different dragon spoke to him.

"I'm not from here," the dragoness said, knowing good and well what his curious mind was thinking. "I moved here from a small city named Clawstone near a small range of mountains."

"Clawstone?" Star repeated, laying down on his belly.

"Indeed," the dragoness continued. "Although my heritage hails from the country of Highscales, I was hatched in Clawstone. If I can remember correctly, I was born on a late cloudless night during a rare phenomenon that was in the sky."

"Awww," Star cooed. "What was in the sky?"

The white dragoness smiled. "Maybe some other time Star. For now you should probably get back home before it gets any colder outside."

"But I don't want to go back to the Elder Hall," Star lowly said. "There's no one there but Felenia at night."

Star looked back at the dragoness with pleading eyes. She knew what he was asking, but the truth was she never had the opportunity to open her home to someone else, even if it was only for one night. Plus it would be a bit questionable if the wrong dragon saw Star in her house.

"Is it okay if I stay here?" Star lowly asked.

It seemed all of his energy was drained to ask that one question. The dragoness had never seen this side of Star before. She as much thought as she could into the request before showing a small smile.

"Yes, I would like your company for the night."

Before she knew it, Star jumped her, throwing two limbs around her neck. The dragoness' breath was knocked out of her as she fell to the ground with Star on top, not intending on letting his affectionate hug go anytime soon.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Star exclaimed happily.

"Y-you're welcome," the dragoness stuttered, her face turning a light shade of red. She didn't realize how much a simple yes meant to him.

"It's just . . . I've been staying at the Elder Hall all the time," Star continued, his excitement lowering a bit. "I've always wanted to have a sleepover."

The white dragoness was quiet. Even though Star had only been hatched for nearly half-a-year, he had the body of a full grown adult. His growth process was artificial. She understood how he acted a bit childish sometimes.

Finally, Star let the dragoness go and stood to his feet. The dragoness just laid there however, deep in thought about this dragon.

"Do you mind if I call you Starlight?" Star quickly asked, getting the dragoness' attention once more.

"Starlight? It's very similar to your name though."

"How about Brighteyes?"

The dragoness thought about it for a moment. Star wore a small grin on his face as he waited for her answer.

"What if I tell you my real name?"

Star gasped. "Are you sure?"

The dragoness nodded as she stood to her feet. "You worked hard, you deserve to know."

Star started jumping in place, clearly showing happiness toward her. "Tell me! Tell me!"

Smiling, the dragoness answered. "Alright . . . you may call me—"

Meanwhile

Cosmo knew he should have thought ahead. Going into a forest wasn't the best of ideas when it was getting dark, especially if the particular ability to see in the dark wasn't working. But that wasn't the worst part. No, the worst part was that he was freezing. Snow fell from the treetops covering the ground below. Everywhere he stepped was snow.

"You okay Cosmo?" Isis politely asked. "I know it's dark but we should keep moving. I don't know what kind of creatures live in this place."

"If they aren't friendly then I agree," Orion added, still walking along the two dragons. Being a fox, he had no trouble seeing through the dark in the forest.

Cosmo forced a nod. "Y-yeah. I'm fine."

It was no wonder to why Isis or Orion wasn't freezing themselves. They had fur. He didn't. However, he didn't want to slow them down. But truth be told, he didn't know how much further he could walk through the snow. It was beginning to take its toll upon him.

A few more minutes passed until Orion looked back toward Cosmo, who began to fall behind.

"Cosmo?"

The yellow dragon looked up toward the fox, teeth chattering as a breeze blew through the forest. Isis stopped long enough to turn around, only to see Cosmo shivering violently in place.

"I-I don't th-think I . . . can g-go on."

It was then that the fur dragon realized that the dragon was suffering greatly in the cold. She felt guilty as she ran back towards him, knowing good and well she should have realized what was wrong with him before.

"I'm so sorry Cosmo!" Isis apologetically exclaimed. She used her furry tail to clear a spot on the ground from snow. "I feel so stupid for not noticing."

"What's wrong with him?" Orion quickly asked.

Finished up, Isis led Cosmo to the spot she cleared on the ground. "He's freezing! We need to warm him up!"

Laying the shivering dragon down on the cold grass, Isis looked him over. She put a paw on his side, only to have an icy chill travel through her leg.

"Keep still," Isis said.

Orion simply watched as the black fur dragon lay her body over Cosmo's, covering him up with her fur like a blanket. The fox looked off to the side, thinking of a way to help free Cosmo from the weather's icy grip on him. Then he hatched an idea.

"I'll be right back Isis," Orion stated simply, then suddenly bolted off into the dark forest.

Isis didn't even get the chance to ask before the fox disappeared from her sight. She was too focused on keeping Cosmo warm, who was still shivering beneath her.

"I-Isis."

"Shh," Isis cooed. "It's going to be alright Cosmo."

"It's n-not . . . your fault."

"I should have noticed before," Isis retorted softly. "So yes . . . it is."

A silent moment passes as another breeze rushed through the trees. Cosmo was slightly beginning to feel the numbness in his body disappear, only to have it replaced by Isis' body-weight. The fur dragon was doing everything in her power to warm him up.

Then Isis perked her ears up as she heard some footsteps in the snow close-by. She looked towards the noise, but he night vision ability wasn't working. The fur dragon only waited.

The time in between each footstep was too spread apart for it to be Orion. Of course, she immediately remembered he was a polymorph. He could have shape-shifted into anything by now. That was what she hoped as the noise began to grow closer with each passing second.

Then she saw it, and it was simply unbelievable.

It was a human. He was heavily clothed in a tattered brown outfit with a hood over his head. It was nearly impossible to see his identity in the darkness.

The human stopped at the sight of the two dragons and immediately unsheathed a short hidden blade from his side. Isis immediately jumped him, knocking the blade loose from his grasp and knocked him down to the snowy ground. Whoever this was, he sure didn't seem friendly.

"Who are you?!" Isis demanded. "Tell me!"

The human quickly jumped to his feet as he quickly spotted the blade he had lost, slightly sunken in snow beside the fur dragon that scolded him.

It was dark, but Isis could tell what he was looking at. She knew that without that weapon this human was powerless against her. The humans of this world wasn't stupid enough to try and take a dragon on without a weapon in their hand.

Regardless, the human did the unthinkable and jumped Isis. The fur dragon grew surprised as he landed on her, knocking the breath out of her as she hit the ground. Before she could recover, the human grabbed the weapon he dropped from before and turned toward her.

As soon as she was standing, the human charged. When the timing was right, Isis jumped toward the side, evading the humans' downward swing, then swung her claws toward the leg. She felt contact as she ripped through the clothing, hearing a grunt of pain from the attacker in the process. The human quickly kicked Isis in the face, knocking her back in a daze, giving him the room he needed to recuperate from the hit he just took.

Just as Isis was about to jump him, the attacker was hit from behind, knocking him down to the ground once more. Standing on the other side was Cosmo, who still looked weak from the cold the weather brought.

The human jumped to his feet and backed up enough to where he could keep an eye on both dragons at once. Then he noticed Cosmo.

Without a second thought, the human sprinted toward him with his weapon in hand, ready to end the weakened dragons' life.

"Cosmo!" Isis called out.

But before she could stop him, a fire suddenly burst from out of nowhere in between Cosmo and the attacker. The fire barely lasted for a second before disappearing, but it surely got the humans' attention. Isis was quick to get to Cosmo's side, just as Orion showed up in her sight.

He was twice as big as he was before. He had obviously polymorphed.

The fox also had a few logs gripped in his mouth.

"What are you doing here?" Orion asked, dropped the logs. "You better get out of here if you know what's good for ya!"

As the fox raised his tail, another fire burst out of nowhere in front the human. Quickly sheathing his weapon, the human slowly began to back off.

"Go!" Orion exclaimed. "Or I'll set your clothes on fire!"

It didn't take any more threats to send the attacker scurrying back into the depths of the forest. Isis turned toward Orion, simply amazed.

Isis was quick to get Cosmo to lay back down in the spot he was before. The fur dragon laid herself back down on top the cold dragon as she looked back toward Orion.

"How did you do that?"

Orion showed a grin. "I'm a chinese fox. Did you think polymorphing was my only ability? The answer is nope . . . with my tail I can set fires to whatever I please. But only little fires. Big ones tend to make me tired."

The fox set the wood he brought from the snowy forest near Cosmo, then polymorphed back into his original size. He didn't waste any time to set the wood ablaze with fire with his tail. Isis watched as the log combusted into flames, sending a wave of warmth toward her and Cosmo. She slowly stood to her feet to let the dragon under her feel the effects of the fire Orion made for him.

"Thanks," Cosmo managed, still laying on his belly. "Both of you."

"You should get some sleep," Isis suggested, no longer worried about him freezing. "I'll keep watch . . . just in case."

Cosmo looked up toward the dragoness. "But you need sleep too."

Isis shook her head. "I'll be fine. I'll sleep when we get to Garipton. We can't risk that human coming back."

"Speaking of which," Orion began, looking down the path the human scandaled to. "Are humans usually like that towards dragons?"

Isis turned toward the fox in thought. It wasn't hard to recall that time where Ismeral Nexis used convexity and the void elements to poison dragons minds, forcing them to do his will. She also remembered that other time where humans attempted to invade Warfang.

"Actually, humans did attack Warfang nearly a year ago I believe. They wanted to wipe the dragons out of the city for some reason."

"Seems humans aren't too friendly in these parts."

Isis looked over towards Cosmo, who seemed to have found sleep fairly quickly.

"Well, there were some humans who were friendly. I don't know what happened to them though. They helped us during the brigade against Warfang before we were sent back to the human realm."

Orion yawned. The fox quickly curled himself up in front of the fire, which was quickly melting the snow around it. He felt the ground was a bit damp, but didn't pay it much attention.

"Right . . . well if you see any trouble wake me."

"Alright," Isis simply went.

Orion was alright in her eyes. He did his part and saved Cosmo's life by sending that human off running.

Isis took a moment to think about the human. He didn't seem that well armed but was obviously trained. When he was without his weapon, she was sure he would have backed off. It wasn't until Orion showed up that he ran for it. He must have fought against dragons before to not be afraid of them. That would explain why Orion frightened him. Or it could have been the fact the fox made fire appear out of thin air.

Isis curled herself up near the fire as she stared off into the darkness of the woods surrounding her. More time to think about that fox later.

There was a reason they were in the dragon realms again. What plan did the gods have for them now? Was Ismeral Nexis making a comeback? Did he somehow find a way to escape the void? Or was it something more?

The Following Morning

The snow had passed over, leaving the forest covered in a thick blanket of snow. The tree's held the white substance on their limbs as several birds chirped their morning chorus's. Cosmo, Isis, and Orion had a quick bite to eat out of the fruit from the yellow dragon's bag before they headed off. Of course, it would be a little bit longer until they reached the city. It was there that they would stock up on food and sleep in until heading to Warfang.

Isis's mind was clearly elsewhere. Cosmo, who was feeling much better now that the sun was out, had noticed after after a while.

"Something on your mind? You seem a bit off."

Isis looked over toward Cosmo, seeming drained of energy. "Just wondering why we're here."

"Oh . . . I don't know."

"Does there have to be a reason?" Orion asked, walking alongside Cosmo through the snow. The fox's paws were a bit larger than usual, possibly because he had polymorphed them to make it easier to walk through the snow. "Maybe you two were given a choice to come back? Like an invitation."

"I don't think so," Isis replied. She sighed and continued. "I just don't want to get my hopes up on staying here is all."

Cosmo could understand that. It was too heartbreaking last time when they were forced to leave, she just doesn't want to go through all that again. To be honest, he didn't either.

Warfang

Elder Hall

The elder building wasn't too bustling with activity this morning. Relic yawned as he entered his office for the first time today. He glanced through the window behind his desk to see a thin layer of snow covering the streets. Didn't seem to be any dragons out though.

The large dark green dragon sat down in his oversized chair behind his desk, only to notice a folded piece of paper resting on top of it. He picked it up to examine it to notice it seemed to be a report, much similar to the one he received the other day. Wasting no time to open it, Relic began looking it over.

"Sir," a voice emanated. Relic looked up to see his assistant Felenia entering the room. "Oh, it seems you found it."

Relic looked back down toward the note and continued reading. It was a report from the northern gate of Warfang, mentioned they saw a human entering the forest early yesterday morning, heading toward Garipton. He was seen heavily clothed in a beat up brown outfit, so it was impossible to see a face.

"What's with the human sightings recently?" Relic rhetorically asked. "First there's the human near the eastern gate, now there's a different one near the northern gate heading into the forest. Only city in that direction is Garipton."

"Chances are he has already made it to Garipton," Felenia replied. "I don't think he would have went in the city walls however. Humans are still very much unwanted in most places."

"Sir," Felenia began. "Perhaps we should look into this. Remember when humans invaded Warfang? How they fought for Ismeral Nexis? What if there were still some left?"

"Are you implying that they're up to something?"

"It's quite possible."

Relic casually looked back down toward the report on his desk in thought. It does strike him as odd to see humans showing up around the walls, even if they're keeping their distance.

"Right, I want to know what they're up to. The only humans that are to be trusted are the five up in the Tathric Range and no more. But I can't send my guards after them, I need to keep the city's defenses strong."

"What about Spyro?"

"Spyro? No . . . I couldn't. He's already done so much in past for us. I wouldn't want to impose."

"They can always say no," Felenia replied.

"They?"

"Him and Cynder."

"Ah," Relic went in realization. "I nearly forgot about her."

The dark green dragon stood to his feet and began to gaze out the window. Those two would surely be of help in this situation. He didn't want just any dragon of the city to know of what was going on outside the walls after all. It was better if they could live their lives in the city without fear.

"Alright," Relic finally answered. "Can you ask them to be here at noon?"

Felenia nodded. "Of course Relic."

"Thank you Felenia . . . I appreciate it."

"Anytime sir . . . oh and sir."

Relic looked back toward Felenia. "Yes?"

"Just out of curiosity . . . have you heard about the relic fragments?"

"Relic fragments?" he chuckled. "A bit ironic."

"Heehe, yes I suppose it is now that I think about it," Felenia said in an amused tone. "But on a serious note, have you heard anything about them?"

"Relic fragments . . . can't say I have. Is it something I'm supposed to know about? Relic asked, sitting back down in his chair.

"Well," Felenia began, a bit unsure of what she was about to say herself. "It's only myth, but legends say that there are six relic fragments in the hidden somewhere in the land that came from the original six ancient guardians. They were said to hold an unimaginable power, thus were hidden away."

"Hmm," Relic simply went. "What purpose did they hold?"

Felenia frowned. "I'm not sure. It's beyond my knowledge. But they were hidden away for a reason. If they were to be removed from their rightful places . . . I don't know what would happen."

Meanwhile

The forest was thick with snow and even thicker with trees. However he was sure of it. What he was searching for was here. A lone human in thick brown clothing made his way across the forest. He had his hood over his head to help keep warm.

He looked ahead to see a structure that was, strangely enough, untouched by snow. Ancient stone formed a small raised platform with several tall columns surrounding it. In the middle was a pedestal with what looked like to be a shard from a stone. The shard itself had an odd green glow to it as the human approached.

"At last," the human lowly said to himself. "I found it . . . the first relic fragment."