"Oww. Man. Why are these portals so intense?" Aragon held his dizzy head. "Brrr. Dang, it's freezing!"

"Welcome to Winter Tundra. It specializes in cold weather," Elora said, offering a hand to lift him off the ground.

"I'm from the desert. Definitely not used to any kind of cold…"

"We'll go somewhere a bit warmer," she said. "But brace yourself for a couple minutes. We're about to go walk across some ice to get to the next realm."

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"This is Cloud Temples."

"Still a bit chilly, but I can feel my limbs again. Are we up in the sky?" Aragon snapped some photos. "Why does it feel so… empty here? Like, even emptier than the other places?"

"It sort of is empty. There's actually only one real inhabitant left here, but I'll take you to him later. But despite the emptiness, I personally can't help but love the beauty and peace of this place. I like coming here to pray."

"Where did everyone else go?"

"Long story short… these used to be wizards who lived here and ruled this place. But as you can probably guess, their practices were evil and demonic, though the rest of us never realized because, again, we were blind to the corruption and they all seemed like nice people. Spyro came at the time the wizards had accidentally created powerful warlocks after trying weird spells on the animals here. Spyro defeated them all, but didn't know at the time that the wizards were the true evil. So later on, Hunter, the Professor and I came and asked them to stop their wicked practices, or to leave. They chose to leave. I'm not sure where they went, but the rumor is they migrated to this place called Wizard Peak in another part of the world."

"I never realized Avalar was such a dark place back in the day…"

"Well hey, like I said, not every place here was like that. But it was definitely something we needed to realize. Ripto's invasion of Avalar was chaotic, but looking back, it doesn't even compare to all of the wickedness we were already living in without realizing it. Maybe we needed that invasion as sort of a wakeup call."

"Well, I'm glad everything worked out for you all…"

"Me too. Come on, I'll show you the temples."

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Elora showed her tourist all of the little temples, with the fireplaces and, in many of them, breathtaking views of the sky. He was quickly growing fond of that place.

They made their way out to an open ledge.

"Okay, we're a little over halfway through the realm. But, look over there," Elora pointed out into the distance to a very large, orange-haired man standing next to a small tree.

"Is that the last inhabitant?"

"Yes. His name is Agent Zero. He's… well. Honestly he's never been the brightest guy in the world, but I can't help but feel sorry for him these days."

"Why's that?"

"He used to be part of this secret club with his friends. They build a hideout a little further out that way, just for fun, and never let anyone in if they weren't a "member." It was kind of cute, actually. They were like little kids. But many years ago, the wizards actually killed off all of his friends for some kind of sacrifice, but none of us could work up the courage to tell him for the longest time. When we finally did, he wouldn't believe us. To this day he's still in denial, and every day he waits over there by that tree, hopeful for his friends' return."

"That… might be the saddest thing I've heard all day."

"Really though. I pray for him a lot. I know Spyro was actually able to go to the hideout with him when he was here, but had to be really sneaky about it so Agent Zero wouldn't catch him following. But I think that probably made his day. So I guess, in a way, he does still have one living member left… wherever he is…"

"Should we go talk to him?"

"You know, I thought about introducing you, but lately every time I've tried talking to him, all he ever says is the same thing. He says he's a secret agent and is about to go to his secret base, but won't leave until I'm out of sight. But he never even leaves anymore. It's almost like he's waited for so long that he just recites the same lines over and over."

"I still think we should go. Can we?"

"If you want to."

They took the whirlwind over to the next platform of land and walked over to the large man.

"Hey there," Aragon said. "My name is Aragon and I'm visiting here for the first time. Just wanted to introduce myself. How are you doing today?"

"I'm a secret agent! I'm going to my secret hideout. Only members of my secret club are allowed to go there. I'm not leaving unless you hide behind that tree so you can't see me."

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you, secret agent. You know, I'd actually love to see this secret base and join your secret club! What do I have to do to get in?"

"I'm a secret agent! I'm going to my secret hideout. Only members of my secret club are allowed to go there. I'm not leaving unless you hide behind that tree so you can't see me."

"…Oh. Uh… okay, I'll hide behind this tree. See? All nice and hidden, so I can't see you."

He stood behind the tree, facing away, but the large man didn't move. There was no sound of footsteps.

After several moments of silence, Aragon came out of hiding and left the area, finding Elora again.

"Dang. You were right…"

"I'm sorry. I know it's hard to see him like that," she sighed regretfully.

"Do you think there's any hope that he'll… well, regain his sanity?"

"I absolutely believe there's hope. And hey, if Spyro ever does return, I'm sure the agent will be overjoyed to see one of his fellow members again."

"I suppose I'll have to keep an eye out for this dragon, and send him Avalar's way if I ever see him."

Elora laughed. "Yeah. If you could do that, I'm sure you'll have everyone's gratitude."

They walked into the next tower.

"This is the last thing I wanted to show you."

They climbed up a ledge. "This is known as the bell tower, where three large, loud bells hang. You can see two of them up here; the last one is above us. They used to be considered sacred, but they haven't been rung in years. We now know there's no real significance to them, so we just leave them alone and appreciate their beauty."

"They definitely are beautiful." He continued taking pictures. "Just like that sunset out there."

"I suppose it's getting late. Shall we head back?"

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After a very cold walk back to the home world portal, and a very dizzy transportation, the two arrived back in Summer Forest.

"Man. What a day…" Aragon managed.

"I'm sure you're tired by now. I imagine you'll want to be getting back home?"

"Yeah. Home sounds nice right now."

"Well, I hope you enjoyed your time here. Sorry I couldn't show you more places, or… any realms with a less dark history."

"That's completely fine. I appreciate you showing me around. I'm sure everyone back home will be intrigued by this information."

"Come back any time."

"I will."

He looked up at the hanging peace flags for a moment. "This really is a peaceful place."

"And you know…" he continued. "I always knew there was a God, but never really thought about Him much or anything. But you all have inspired me. So I think I'll change that going forward…"

"That's great! Good for you!"

Suddenly the two looked up at the sky, catching sight of a small black silhouette soaring above them.

"That looks like…" Elora squinted, trying to get a better look through the sun's bright rays.

"Spyro…?"

She let out a small laugh. "Well what do you know… I guess there really is hope that he'll return. Maybe even sooner than we'd expect."

Aragon took out a device and attached it to the portal, punching in the coordinates to take him back to Agent 9's Lab.

"I'm glad," he finally said. "I hope you'll have your beloved visitor soon. Maybe some of the other former inhabitants will come back too. In fact, I'm confident that they will."

"I am too."

"So until next time…"

"Until then. Goodbye. And good luck with your spiritual journey."

The portal lit up, and with a flash he was gone.

A/N: Feedback is welcome.

So… this was my first Spyro fic, and the first one I've ever written without actual humans involved lol. It felt kinda weird and OOC many times, but part of me just wanted to explore some ideas that I've been wondering about (I know there wasn't very much plot). Spyro 2 will probably always be my favorite game and there's just so much nostalgia, but it's crazy how little I understood or realized about certain things. Like, the weird things like with the idols and hula dance rituals, and even just looking up what fauns and satyrs actually were in Roman/Greek mythology. Crazy stuff, man. I feel kinda bad that I sort of tainted my favorite game by writing this and doing some research, but I do think it's important to note that lots of the origins and concepts of this game aren't so innocent like they might seem.

But anyways. I know this story was very Christian, and that happens a lot when I write. It was just challenging to find a way to make that happen in the Spyro universe lol. So yes. Leave constructive feedback if you wish on how I can improve. Thanks for reading (: