Chapter 13

Memorable Moments

The day was slow but moved along at a steady pace. Cosmo and Isis both decided to dedicate their time remembering the elements. Everest was present, but wasn't being as helpful as Cosmo had hoped she would be. She always seemed to space out in her own thoughts. Cosmo did find out that one of her elements was ice. He wasn't surprised however. She always did seem to love the cold weather.

Orion was also sitting back and watching their training closely. He stayed quiet and out of the way most of the time, occasionally asking a question or two. Nothing was asked about their training, but the fox seemed more interested in their previous time in the dragon realms and how it was.

At midday, Isis was able to use electricity freely. Cosmo also learned about ice thanks to Everest. It was around this time her mood began to perk back up. After the success, they all decided to take a break and finish off the deer Archie managed to hunt down the night prior. While Cosmo didn't mind deer meat, he wouldn't mind if it had a few spices on it. It tasted a bit bland to him.

As they all sat on the cabin's porch after finishing their quick meal, Cosmo turned toward Orion, who was sitting on the porch railing looking out into the forest ahead of them. "Orion," Cosmo began.

"Yes?" the fox replied, still looking toward the treeline.

"I noticed over the past couple of days you've been heading out on your own."

Orion brushed it off. "Just exploring the world," was his response.

"But I don't think it would be safe," Cosmo retorted. "And you haven't had anything to eat today."

The fox shrugged as he looked toward the yellow dragon. "What are you my father? I can take care of myself. I had no trouble scaring that human off our first night in this place. What brought this up?"

Cosmo was quiet. Everest and Isis looked toward each other, mild confusion of what was really going on. The yellow dragon shook his head. "Nothing. Forget it."

The fox looked at him curiously for a moment, but let it slide. Jumping off the railing, Orion went back inside the cabin with the help of Everest who opened the door for him. Closing the door, she turned toward Cosmo and Isis.

"What was that about?" Everest asked.

"Look in the cabin again."

Everest was slightly surprised at his command, but did what he asked. Opening the cabin door once more, she peeked her head inside. "What am I looking for?"

"Is Orion in there?"

"No," she answered simply.

Cosmo sighed for a moment. "I didn't think so."

"He probably just went into the other room," Isis suggested.

"You can check but he won't be there."

Deciding to just go along with it, Everest stepped into her home and began looking around. No fox in the main room from what she could see. Walking into the other room, Everest began to look around. She searched in between the two beds Archie and she used and in the corners of the room. She didn't find anything.

Making her way back outside, she recited her findings. "Didn't see a fox, but he could have just shape-shifted into something."

"Why would he hide?"

Isis rubbed her head out of thought for a moment, but she had no answers. Everest also stayed quiet, unable to provide any solution to what Cosmo asked. "Maybe he didn't want to be interrogated and sneaked out," Isis finally answered. "Come on Cosmo, we have better things to do than to babysit him. Re-learning the elements is our top priority."

"Alright," Cosmo finally said. He decided to move on and forget about the fox for the time being. "Whenever you get free time Isis you should try to use your old abilities. I was able to use mine so I don't doubt you can use yours."

The fur dragon nodded. "Alright thanks for the tip. In the meantime I would suggest we continue training. The sooner we can use our elements again the more helpful we'll be later on." Cosmo didn't argue with that.

Hours passed. Cosmo and Isis continued to train hard until the sun began to set below the trees surrounding them. They didn't even notice that Archie had come back from wherever he was throughout the day. Possibly hunting for a relic if either of them had to guess. By the time they decided to call it quits for the day, Cosmo learned how to breathe fire once more as well as Isis being able to use earth again. Tomorrow he promised himself to remember his other two elements and help Isis with electricity.

Heading back into the cabin, both dragons were greeted by Archie. "So how was training? Excellent I assume? Ready to burn some squirrels to ashes? Maybe afterwards you could help me find my sunglasses?"

Cosmo looked at the man a bit oddly. "It went well enough, I have nothing against squirrels, and sunglasses?"

Isis decided to just ignore those questions however to ask one of her own to the peculiar man. "How was your day?" she asked simply.

Archie shrugged his shoulders. "Meh could have gone better. Finding a relic would have been nice or a visit from Spyro and Cynder to tell us what the relics were supposed to be for. Something useful that could have happened but didn't."

"I'm sure they'll be here tomorrow," Cosmo assured, sitting down on a nearby couch. He noticed Everest sitting on the opposite seat, but she only observed the conversation before her. "Probably had stuff to do." Looking in the corner of the cabin, Cosmo noticed there was no fox. He decided to disregard it. There was nothing he could about that.

"Alright then," Archie began as he turned toward his bedroom. "I'm going to bed."

"Seems a bit early for that don't you think," Everest said.

"My dear Everest I've been up and about for a while and I'm quite tuckered out. If you get hungry I bagged another deer. It's sitting behind the cabin."

"Thanks," the white dragoness plainly said.

The man went to his bedroom quickly and closed the door behind him. While Cosmo could see that spark of friendship between him and Everest, he couldn't help but think about what she told him about her true feelings toward Archie. Isis quickly sad down beside Cosmo as she yawned and stretched outwards in relaxation.

"Now what?" the fur dragon asked. "Kind of bored."

"Why not see if you can use your telekinesis?" Cosmo suggested.

Isis shrugged. "Why not?" Looking toward the cabins door, Isis squinted her eyes in focus. It took a moment, but a familiar feelings made its way into the fur dragons head. In a quick second, the door handle turned on its own and opened.

"Spooky," Everest replied with a new smile on her face. It made Cosmo happy to see her like that. "Oh . . . wait a second."

"I can almost see gears turning in your head Everest," Cosmo began.

Then her smile widened. "I have an idea." Turning toward Archie's door, she clasped her two paws and rubbed them together. "Yes," she said, but with an extension on the end of the word in a silent, almost evil tone. It reminded Cosmo of a cartoon he once seen.

Meanwhile, as Archie began crawling into his bed. His door mysteriously opened with a creak. The man sighed, thinking he just forgot to close it all the way. Standing to his feet with a breath of annoyance, he made his way over to the door and shut it tightly. Satisfied, he went back to bed. But it was for naught. As soon as he threw the fuzzy blanket over his shoulder, the bedroom door opened once again. Throwing the cover off himself he looked over toward the door.

"Everest?" he called out. But nobody answered.

Curious, Archie slowly made his way over toward the door and peeked in the other room. There was no dragon to be seen. Taking a deep breath, he closed the door again and made his way into bed. As soon as he did, the door opened.

"Everest!" Archie shouted.

Running over to the door suspecting to catch the perpetrator, Archie was shocked to find out there was no one there.

"What's going on?" he began. "This better not be a joke. I'm tired and you know how I get when I'm tired!"

No answer. It was at this point that Archie was beginning to grow worried. Something seemed off about his cabin. Turning around back into his bedroom to investigate, Archie almost fell head over heels at what he was witnessing. The blanket on his bed was rising in the air on its own without any help from anything.

"What's going on!" Archie shouted.

Quickly turning around to flee, the bedroom door suddenly slammed shut. Archie went for the door handle, but it wouldn't budge. Looking on top of the nightstand between his bed and Everest's, Archie spotted his handgun. As he went for it, the blanket jumped on him and wrapped itself around him, trapping him like a mummy in an Egyptian tomb. Muffled noises was heard, but it wouldn't help him. The blanket tightened itself around his ankles and he fell to the ground with a thud. It was at the moment a groan of pain was heard as the blanket loosened its grip. Archie quickly threw the deadly object off himself and stood to his feet, stomping it on the ground, determined to kill whatever was attacking him.

As he began to calm down, Archie heard a knock off to the side. He looked over toward his window only to see two particular dragons looking back through at him. It was none other than Cosmo and Isis.

"What's going on?" Archie asked, but heard the bedroom door open behind him. Turning around, he was greeted by Everest.

Everest grinned, "You seem a bit ruffled in the feathers."

"Are you crazy?" Archie nearly exclaimed.

"No I'm Everest. You can relax, we found out Isis could use her telekinetic powers again so we put it to the test."

Archie sighed and flopped down on the bed behind him. "Great . . . just what I needed."

After the fun, the night proceeded slowly. Orion came back a little later and helped start a small bonfire in front the cabin. His fire combustion abilities were new to Everest. She heard Cosmo talk about it but never actually seen it happen. The flames just seemed to burst out of nowhere. It was kind of weird to her. Still, she decided to join them for the night.

Sitting around the campfire, Cosmo started telling stories of his life back in his realm. Everest was amazed at what he had to offer. Tales of his younger days when he was in school, his old friends which seemed to not be many, and of strange metal objects that he called cars. Everest had more questions about these cars than anything else as well as Orion. Cosmo tried to answer what he could, but he just knew how to keep them going. He didn't know exactly how they worked, explaining that he wasn't the car guy type.

Then when Isis began talking, she knew the perfect thing to talk about.

"It's ghost story time," Isis said simply with an evil smirk on her face.

She told of a tale about a simple dragon child and his pet cat. His cat wandered into a nearby forest, which he proceeded to enter. Before he could, the child was stopped by a larger, older dragon. He told the child to stay out of the forest, but he didn't listen and entered regardless of his warning. As soon as the child entered, the trees came to life and blocked his way out. Too young to fly, the toddler ran through the forest in search of his pet and another way out.

"What do you mean the trees came to life?" Cosmo interrupted.

"They came to life alright?" Isis retaliated offensively. "Anyways."

As the child ran through the forest, he stumbled upon the body of another dragon slightly bigger than him. The toddler cautiously approached, but it was difficult to see who it could have been. The trees light had quickly diminished once he entered the forest and darkness hung around every turn.

"Shouldn't that darkness part been told as soon as he—" Orion began.

"Shut up!" Isis interrupted.

When the dragon child closed in, the large dragon suddenly coughed and sat upright. Looking down, he noticed the child quietly observing him. He grew wide-eyed in disbelief and quickly explained that the child shouldn't have been there. The child said he was looking for his pet, but the other dragon only repeated what he said a second ago but he also said that the forest takes anyone who enters and never lets them out. As he begun to grow afraid, the child fled not believing what he was told. The elderly dragon cried out for him, but his voice was blocked out by the forests darkness.

"The dark doesn't block sound."

"This dark does now be quiet before I beat you to a pulp and leave you gasping for air in the middle of the woods!"

The child ran and ran but the scenery never changed. The sounds however did. All around him he began hearing ungodly sounds of creatures and thing moving just beyond the wall of darkness. Terrified, the child ran faster, but tripped and fell. Looking behind him, the child saw the same dragon he found before, but he wasn't moving. Bravely, he took a closer look. His scales were somehow made of tree bark and he wasn't moving at all. Turning back around, the child saw another dragon but this one was moving toward him. It told him he would become a part of the forest. The child panicked and tried to flee, but suddenly roots tied him to the ground below him. He looked up, tears in his eyes, and saw that the dragon that was advancing upon him was none other than the same dragon that warned him not to enter the forest. After that night, no dragon knew what happened to that child. They searched for him, but found no clues to his cruel demise.

"That's all?" Cosmo began, sounding a bit unimpressed.

"Come on. You have to admit it was good."

Everest however seemed a bit edgy. Her eyes were focused and she seemed a bit nervous. "That poor child."

"Relax," Cosmo assured. "It's just a campfire story. They're not meant to be true."

"Are you scared?" Isis asked, a smile curling on her face. Orion also had a slight grin on his face.

"It was a little scary yes," the white dragoness replied. She took a deep breath to relax a bit, hoping to herself that what Cosmo said to her was true.

"Four out of ten at best," Cosmo scored.

"Four out of ten?" Isis began in surprise. "You have to admit that for something I made up on the spot it was good."

The yellow dragon shrugged towards her. "Eh . . . five out of ten."

"That's better."

The night progressed for a few minutes more, but the group decided to douse the fire and go to bed. Cosmo had to admit it was good spontaneous fun. It had been a long time since he done something like that with anyone. Surely it would be a memory he would treasure in the future. He had no doubts about that.

The next morning came as the sun rose above the cabin's closest treeline. Birds chirped as the remainder of the snow melted, leaving behind a grassy meadow to gaze at. With a yawn, Cosmo awoke from his makeshift bed. Rising from the couch, he looked over but noticed Isis was missing. Looking toward the corner of the room, Cosmo saw Orion sleeping peacefully. At least he was still here.

Getting up and looking out the window, Cosmo saw Isis standing on the porch. He decided to give her some company and exited the cabin. The fur dragon looked to see Cosmo as he closed the door behind him. The yellow scaled dragon looked at her oddly, something seemed off about her. She seemed fidgety and uneasy.

"Morning," Cosmo greeted.

Isis was quiet for a moment as Cosmo took his place beside her. He looked upwards into the cloudless blue sky, enjoying the warm weather the sun brought. "Umm," she simply began.

Cosmo looked toward her in expectation. "Something wrong?"

Isis looked restless and unable to stay still. He could tell something was up. "Cosmo is it?"

"Isis are you feeling alright?"

The fur dragon shook her head almost immediately. "No. It's me. Melody."

"Melody? You mean the name you used when you were in the hospital? Isis are you trying to be funny?"

"No no nothing like that," the fur dragon began nervously. "You see . . . I'm afraid that Isis didn't pick that name randomly. It was in her head. I'm sorry. I didn't want this to happen!"

It was then that Cosmo realized what was happening. That moment that Isis had a split personality the first morning in the hospital. This was her. "Melody? Your name is Melody?"

The dragon nodded. "I don't know how this is happening. I want to leave but I can't! This isn't my body!"

"Calm down," Cosmo solemnly said. "Everything is going be okay, but you need to take it easy and tell me what's happening."

Melody sniffed as she felt tears coming down her eyes. She attempted to wipe them away, but they became soaked in her fur. Taking a deep breathe to still herself, she began to explain the best she could. "I know who Isis is. She was a human turned dragon to save us all those months ago. I don't deserve to share her body, but I was forced to. A while ago, our village was invaded by humans. They kidnapped us, took us away to their laboratory, and began doing experiments on us. In no time at all they began throwing us one by one into a machine that took our very souls from our bodies. I don't know how it happened . . . but when Isis was thrown in the machine there was no dragon soul to take. But when her body was linked with the machine, it created a bridge for a soul to take the empty place."

"And that soul was you," Cosmo finished.

"I can control when I take over her body. I don't want to but I had to so I could tell you this. A dragon can't live a soulless life. I need to escape this body before I lose control."

"What will happen if you lose control?"

"Then the Isis you know will be replaced by me until you can free me from her body. I'm no fighter. I'm just a simple dragon that wanted to live a normal life. If you lose Isis you lose an ally to help you."

This was a lot to take in. Cosmo sat in thought for a moment, attempting to come up with anything. "Any ideas how I can do that?"

Melody shook her head sadly. "I don't know. I'm sorry. I wish I wasn't involved in this."

"If you don't know then you don't know," Cosmo simply replied. "I'll see if Archie has any ideas. He is more familiar with the technology the humans used."

"Thank you," Melody said, calming down toward his courtesy. "I will stay in control of my actions for as long as I can. But before you do, I have to say that Isis was not the first one that this happened to."

"What do you mean?"

"Our souls were trapped but it didn't mean we couldn't hear. Another dragon was subjected to the machine, but it failed to consume a soul. In response, a soul escaped the machines holding and filled the dragon's empty soulless body."

Then almost immediately Cosmo knew. "Yin," he muttered. While he wasn't one hundred percent sure, he was almost certain. She was so similar to the Yin he remembered. "Looks like I have to pay her a visit at Garipton. But she claimed to be a different Yin when I met her."

"I do not know the full effects of a different soul inhabiting a dragons body," Melody explained the best she could. "As I sit dormant in Isis's body sometimes I think my name is Isis. Her memories mix with mine from time to time. Considering there are normally no soulless dragons, I would go and see this Yin."

"I will . . . thank you for the information Melody. I promise that I will put things right for you."

Melody showed Cosmo a smile of comfort. "I must go for I feel I have already overstayed my welcome. I will keep control of my soul for as long as I can, but you must find out how to separate us."

"How long do you think I have?"

"I do not know. It has been well over a week since the incident took place but I have been able to restrain myself. You should have plenty of time but if it begins to grow difficult I will let you know."

Cosmo nodded, but before he could reply the fur dragon in front of him suddenly fell as her legs gave out from under her. He was quick to her side to check up on her, but not before she began moving on her own.

Standing to her feet with a groan of annoyance, she looked over at Cosmo. "Bollocks. I knew something was wrong."

"Isis?" Cosmo began, assuming it was her.

The fur dragon was quick to answer. "For the moment yes. Didn't think it was getting that bad though."

"You know what just happened?"

"I do," Isis indicated, but she acted as if everything was normal or routine. "The other dragon girl in me showed herself. I was partially aware of what was going on the entire time she was talking to you."

"You're taking all this pretty well considering what's at stake."

"It's no different than my first time here," Isis astonishingly retorted, putting her forelegs on the porch's railing in front of her nonchalantly. "I guess I always knew her soul was in me since we escaped that place. Something didn't feel quite right, almost as if I was carrying extra weight. I've had glimpses of memories I never experienced. The name Melody was stuck in my head."

Cosmo absorbed all of what she shared to him and understood what she said. The fur dragon's circumstances were unfortunate, but she seemed to take it all without worry. "Then I suppose we need to tell Archie. Afterwards we'll track down Yin."

"Yin? Did Melody say something about her?"

"The Yin we met in Garipton may be the Yin we once knew from before. I think she was put in the same machine as you, but somehow escaped the laboratory. It's worth checking out, but first we should find out how to separate you and Melody. She said she could keep control but it wouldn't last forever."

"I understand," Isis replied. "Well then . . . I suppose it's time to start the day."

The morning felt like it came and went rather quickly. After eating a meaty breakfast Cosmo and Isis continued to relearn their elements while they waited for Archie to get out of bed. It seemed the human felt like being rather lazy today. Everest and Orion joined the two dragons shortly after their meal to observe but soon learned of Isis's predicament as well. She was quick to agree that if anyone friendly enough would know anything about the soul stealing machine it would be Archie. Orion didn't have any comments to add.

Easily enough, Cosmo was able to use his earth element by noon and with his help Isis relearned electricity. All that was left for him was ice. The fur dragon on the other hand still struggled with water and plasma, but he was sure she would be breathing those two soon enough.

The cabin door suddenly opened to a yawning human as he stretched his limbs upwards. Just by luck, Spyro and Cynder appeared flying over the treeline and landed in the vicinity of the cabin. Finally it was time to receive some well-deserved answers from the two.

"Greetings!" Archie exclaimed as he slowly walked over towards the group of dragons.

Everest casually looked over toward him. "About time you got up."

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting but it was due time for some deserved beauty sleep. Spyro. Cynder. What brings you two here?"

Spyro stretched his wings for a moment before sitting down on the small patches of green grass in front of them. "We finally figured out what's going on," he simply answered as Cynder took her place beside him. "Ignitus needed an extra day to check the library but we're pretty sure we know the deal behind the relic fragments."

Archie crossed his arms in readiness. Orion jumped on Cosmo's head in a smaller polymorphed form of himself as Everest and Isis looked over in anticipation. Spyro continued now that he was sure he had their attention. "According to Ignitus the relic fragments were used to seal the void in Velxtra Forest."

Archie grinned. "I knew it. Man it feels so great to have been right the whole time."

"Hate to burst your egotistical bubble," Cynder began bluntly. "But there's more to it than that."

Spyro continued, disregarding Archie's frown. "As it turns out the void isn't what we thought it was. Back all those months ago when Star used the void, he wasn't using an element, but he actually summoned a living thing."

"A living thing?" Isis questioned.

"A very long time ago the void wreaked mayhem on dragons. The six spirit guardians created a powerfully enchanted stone artifact, then used it to control the void. They sent it into Velxtra Forest the broke the artifact into six pieces to create a powerful ward, sealing the void in the woods. Because of this, the void corrupted the area turning the forest into its famous maze-like structure."

"Is it still sealed?" Cosmo asked.

Spyro sadly shook his head toward him. Cosmo felt immediate discomfort toward his gesture. "I'm afraid not. The relic fragments lost their power just enough for the void to escape the ward and into the world. From what Ignitus told me Velxtra Forest is no longer corrupted so it isn't a maze anymore."

"Very interesting," Orion simply said. "So this void thing is super ancient?"

"Not entirely sure how long it's been around for but I would guess yes," Spyro answered. "What we need to do is find the relic fragments, put them back together again, and use the completed artifact to seal the void in another ward."

"But they're power has diminished," Everest stated. "How could they be used?"

"Ignitus believes that if we reunite the broken pieces its power will return. In order for it to work we need all six pieces though. Including the ones that are in the possession of others."

Archie groaned. "Then that means we'll need to pay a visit to Wade. I know for a fact he has one of the relics in his laboratories. Plus we'll be able to put a stop to his dragon soul stealing ways."

"Then that leaves Verus Nexis for the other two," Spyro said. "We still need to find the other three shrines that hold the remaining fragments. Who knows what the void is actually capable of."

Cosmo didn't want to know the answer to that. The void was a scary thing to witness. He remembered seeing it for the first time. Badly enough it was used on him in an attempt to stop him from unifying the six reborn guardians. He would never forget how that black ball of darkness attempted to draw him into nothingness.

Wait a moment . . . black ball?

"Everest," Cosmo began earnestly. "Remember when you fell through the ice?"

"How could I forget?"

"Remember what came out of the water after I pulled you up?"

"Of course, it was a black . . . ball of darkness."

Cosmo turned back toward Spyro with a worried expression on his face. "Spyro . . . I believe me and Everest have already seen the void with our own eyes. It tried to kill Everest by breaking the pond's ice and pulling her under."

"I don't even know what it wanted," Everest added uneasily.

"We don't know what it wants," Spyro answered, taking in the new information apprehensively. "But there is one more thing we know. Cosmo and Isis, I'm sorry but we told Ignitus, Relic, and Star that you were here."

"Relic?"

"Warfang's new leader," Cynder answered.

Spyro continued. "What we know is that the spirit guardians didn't call you two here."

"What?" Cosmo grew surprised. "But me and Isis both had dreams about a portal to the dragon realms. Not only that but we have reason to believe Yin is also here."

"From what Ignitus told us he said that something else was responsible for you being here," Spyro explained. "If it were anyone else I would have second thoughts, but I trust Ignitus. He's never led me astray in the past."

Everyone grew quiet in thought upon hearing the news. It was plenty to take in, but it left just as many questions they all had before. Orion hopped off Cosmo's head but the dragon looked down towards him with a question.

"Orion," Cosmo began in a firm tone. "That portal you guarded. How long did you say you were its guardian?"

Orion turned and cocked his little head toward him. "I'm not sure honestly. I didn't count the years."

"Who appointed you its guardian?"

The fox grew a bit surprised at the question. He sat down and wrapped his tail around himself as he put a paw on his chin in thought. "Hmm . . . you know that is a good question. I'm sorry but my memory is fuzzy. I can't remember that far back."

That wasn't the answer Cosmo was looking for, but he remembered Orion telling him that before. "If you remember anything let me know immediately. Perhaps whoever made you the guardian is the one responsible for us being here."

"Makes sense," Isis added. "Whatever created the portal knew individuals like us would need to use it. Kind of odd that someone from way back then knew what the future held, but I can't argue with results. We're obviously needed here to stop the void, the UCA, and Verus."

Spyro silently agreed, but moved to another subject Cosmo brought up a few moments ago. "You said that Yin was here too?"

Cosmo nodded. "We saw her in Garipton but she claimed to be another Yin. When me and Isis were captured by the UCA she was in a machine that attempted to absorb her dragon soul. The soul she didn't have, therefore another dragon soul filled the empty spot. That soul took over Isis's body and told me that there was another dragon like Isis that was in the machine."

"That's a bit crazy," Cynder replied in surprise. "So the six doesn't have the souls of dragons?"

"Apparently not," Cosmo answered. "But when we met Yin in Garipton she was a firefighter."

"Firefighter?" Spyro repeated. "A few firefighters from there was recently transferred to Warfang's new station to fill the missing roles. Maybe we should ask Relic if Yin was one of those dragons before we go all the way to Garipton?"

Isis nodded with a short grin. "Sounds good. That will certainly help us find her and find out what she's up to."

"Afterwards we'll find the relic fragments, Verus Nexis, or the UCA. Whatever comes first."

"Don't forget," Archie firmly began. "The UCA carry weapons. Make use of your shields. Like magic in this world, bullets are just as deadly. I don't want to spend the rest of my days here picking those things out your bodies. I'm not even classified as a doctor."

"Do you know where the UCA might be holding their fragment Archie?" Cynder politely asked.

"Of course I do," the human answered crossing his arms. "But for the time being I would rather find the last three shrines before going into the belly of the beast again. Screw that noise."

While he did make a very good point, Spyro couldn't help but think of all the chaos the UCA was causing with their soul siphoning construct. The sooner they took the fragment they used to power it, the more lives they would most likely save. But it would make them a large target if they went through with it. The UCA would do everything they could to steal it back.

The purple dragon didn't want to, but came to agree with Archie. "Then we should go after Verus after we find the remaining shrines. We should walk the perimeter of the forest until we find some unnatural ruins."

"When should we start?" Orion asked excitedly.

"Now would be a good time."

"Excellent," Archie began. "I'll grab some gear and we'll head out immediately."

Cosmo was silent, but agreed with the plan. The unpossessed relic fragments should be their first priority. Once they're in safe hands, it would then be time to move on to steal the remaining stones, put them back together, and banish the void once more. But there was one catch that everyone knew. The void already knew they were here. It tried to kill Everest and Cosmo didn't doubt it wouldn't try to kill again. He still had no idea what the void was actually capable of.

"This is gonna be a whole lot of fun."

Meanwhile

The fire's blaze burned brightly as dragons were crowded around the burning building. Worried murmurs were passed along as dragon officials did their job to keep them back at a safe distance. Inside the building however, an excited dragoness took a deep breath to calm herself as she unleashed torrents of water towards the fire in front of her.

"Yin!"

The white scaled dragoness snapped her attention to a nearby doorway as a dark blue dragon slightly larger than her stumbled through the doorway before landing on his face. Yin couldn't help but giggle toward him, despite the fire in front of her.

"I'm over here Pongo," she replied.

The dragon known as Pongo quickly stood to his feet and was by Yin's side in a second. "Fire on the west side is taken care of."

Yin nodded and turned back toward her small blaze. It only took but a few moments to put it out with her water element. Both dragons kept their heads lowered to avoid suffocating from smoke as they both continued to douse the remaining embers.

It was hard to believe that there were buildings made of wood in a city of firebreathing dragons. This particular one was no different. A standard two story business building somehow caught on fire due to a careless dragon who didn't know how to control his flames apparently. The room Yin was one was mostly smoldering ashes and burnt remains, but she was able to save a good chunk of the eastern corner.

A few more minutes passed and Yin needed a break. Using the water element constantly was really stressful on her strength, but Pongo was happy to take over to make sure the embers wouldn't re-ignite. While he was a bit clumsy sometimes, that dragon was quick to make friends with almost anyone. It was no different with Yin. The first time she seen him he tripped on a sidewalk curb.

When they were sure the fire was out, the two dragons cautiously made their way back downstairs to find it resembled the upper floor. Mostly smoldering ashes with a side of barbecued foundation to go along with it. Avoiding the weak flooring and walking across the grounds built-in supports they made their way outside to a crowd of dragons who cheered them on. While this was Yin's first time in a real scenario, she felt as if she seen the cheering crowds one too many times.

"Phew," Pongo began stretched his limbs and dark orange belly. "I'm beat, but it doesn't get better than this."

But Yin was struggling internally to the point where she couldn't hear her friend. The cheering crowd that stood before her was so familiar. While she remembered seeing the occasional crowd back in Garipton during her training, there was something about this particular time that made her mind race. Then for a brief moment, the word Allynse flashed through her thoughts.

"Yin?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Yin looked toward Pongo. "Sorry . . . got lost in thought."

"Everything okay? You didn't get hurt in there did you?"

"Of course not," she assured. "I've just had a lot of things on my mind." She disregarded the crowd's dying cheers for a moment to continue. "I feel like I should have done something else with my life."

"Something else?"

"Like singing."

Pongo grinned. "Are you sure you're not that same Yin from all that time ago from Warfang's festival?"

"What happened during the festival? I was elsewhere during the entire celebration."

"We had one of the best times of our lives. There were games, dancing, and singing."

"Let me guess," the white dragoness began. "That singer was named Yin."

"Yep . . . she also looked exactly like you. Which is why I'm unconvinced you aren't the same Yin. I heard you singing in your room the other day."

Yin and Pongo quietly decided to walk off to the side in wait for their superiors. "I didn't know you were listening in." She felt her face flush a bit.

"Relax your voice is nothing to be embarrassed about. Not a lot of dragons have that talent. If I had a voice like that I would sing every chance I got." A quiet moment passed. Yin took in everything he said with silent agreement toward his perspective. While it was a blessed gift, she couldn't help but recall memories she seemed to have just forgotten for some odd reason. "But hey not everyone can have the gift otherwise it wouldn't be one," Pongo continued. "I'm sure if everyone could sing like an angel a gargled messy singing voice would be a welcome sound."

Yin couldn't help but chuckle toward him. While he did make interesting points, her thoughts kept returning to a certain dragon duo she met in Garipton. Cosmo and Isis kept showing up in her memories. While she remembered being in a village cowering and questioning herself why the sun was blocked, on the same fateful day she also remembered battling dark dragons in the same city she stood in today. It didn't make sense to have two different memories like that.

"You know Pongo," Yin began. "There's something I must know about this other Yin. Was she a hero of some kind?"

"Only one of the best," Pongo immediately answered. "From what rumor tells, she along with five others traveled to a dark planet to destroy it, thus stopping it from wiping us out. If it wasn't for her I'm sure we would all have been goners."

Upon hearing this information another flash of memories rushed into Yin's mind. The dark planet's poisonous atmosphere and the dark dragons that fought to keep them out of a stone tower. Cosmo and Isis made an appearance along with several other dragons that seemed familiar. Two of them thought she definitely recognized. Spyro and Cynder were there as well she was sure of it.

"I thought everyone heard about the tale of those six dragons by now," Pongo casually said, sitting down on the stony ground below him. "But then there's enigma's like you."

"I'm an enigma?"

The dark blue dragon shrugged. "Well you say you're Yin. You look exactly like the Yin I remember seeing. You sing just like her too, but you claim you're not her at all. It's just so weird you know. What are the chances of something like that happening."

Yin took in what he said and thought about it. It was all true. Something was off about her. The memories, the resemblance, the talents, it was all there. She possessed all of the likeliness of the Yin she was having obvious flashbacks of.

"You're right," Yin suddenly said. "I'm the Yin you saw that day. There's no other explanation."

Pongo almost cracked a smile toward her in amusement. "You don't have to pull my tail now. Why don't we make sure our work here is done while we wait? Who knows . . . a fire may have started back up again."

Standing to his feet Pongo made his way toward the buildings entrance as Yin silently followed, beginning to believe what she said was true.