Nina, Ash, Drago, Aurora, Rayla, and Flint all tumbled together like a cyclone until finally, feeling the ground under their feet, they landed with a crash on the grass. The time scroll stopped glowing and fell softly into the middle of the circle of young dragons.
"Ow… my head…" Ash said as he stood up, "That was worse than a triple aerial pirouette after venison dinner…"
"You can't even say it" Rayla supported him, "I almost threw up"
"Um, guys... where do you think we are?" Nina asked as she rolled up the scroll and they put it in the supply bag they had brought.
They looked around, they were in the clearing of a dark forest in which strange sounds were heard and white moths were flying. Thorr closed his eyes and dug his claws into the grass and dirt to feel everything around him (something similar to what Thorr had done before).
"I can see..." he said trying to visualize the environment through the mana that flowed in the earth, "deep caves, huge trees, poisonous rivers and... grotesque creatures"
"Poisonous rivers and grotesque creatures…" Aurora repeated trying to remember where she had heard that before, "That is really bad: I think we are in the ancient grove"
"But, we can get to SilverScale in no time, maybe," Ash suggested, "Maybe we can talk to someone there."
"If it's there…" Drago replied, "If that scroll worked and this place is like years ago before we were born, SilverScale hasn't been built yet"
"Then we better get out of here before…" Nina suggested.
A monstrous and deep cry echoed through the entire place and instantly everyone went on high alert. It was something giant.
"What was that?" Rayla asked once everything had calmed down.
"Not to make you nervous, but I thinks that was Arborik," Aurora replied, "These were their territories. Well, they are until the Nina's father, Mr. Spyro, destroys it"
"Yeah... I think that uncle Sparxs told me about him before" Nina said.
"If we find him, he will also suffer the same fate" Ash said bravely.
"Have you not heard, Ash?" Nina reminded him, "My dad will beat him in a few years, we shouldn't do it sooner because we would change history. We must concentrate on the mission: find a dragon of light"
"Oh, I almost forgot"
Everyone agreed. Preventing any creature that might come out of the bushes, they ventured out looking for a way out of the gloomy place. Although they could fly away, it was not an option since the trees covered almost the entire sky. The grove seemed to grow more gloomy with each step he took. Then, out of nowhere, the sound of something collapsing startled them: behind them, two swamp trolls had appeared with their giant mallets of fallen branches.
"At least this can't get any worse..." Ash mentioned.
But talking too much also has its disadvantage: six demonic dog-like four-legged beasts appeared.
"You had to open your mouth, Ash…" Nina told him.
"Dead hounds" mentioned Aurora looking at the appearance of the smaller creatures, "They are dedicated to hunting dragons"
"Fighting them has nothing to do with altering the future, right?" Drago asked.
"No, I dont think so"
"Okay...then let's fight"
"Be careful not to burn the place down, Drago and Ash," Flint warned them, "if not, maybe we can change something."
"In that case… Aurora and Nina" Drago told them, "Maybe your skills will help us with the trolls. We take care of the pack"
A hound suddenly attacked.
"Earth shield!"
Flint defended them with an earth shield. The rest of the pack attacked and they only had to separate. Nina went straight for the Troll on the right, who tried to hit her with her mace, but the dragon dodged, turning into a ghost for a second. Then, she impaled the troll through the center of its body and onto its back.
"Shadow Dragon!"
The attack hit the enemy's back squarely, tearing a large hole through his body. Immediately, the troll fell to the ground and sank into the earth. On the other hand, Aurora also dodged the troll's two blows and went straight for her legs, which she cut with her tail that she transformed into an ice blade. The troll collapsed and now she had him at her mercy.
"Icy Blizzard!"
Aurora froze the enemy and created a large glacier in the middle of the forest.
"Ground bomber!"
Flint took down several of the hounds and Rayla, Ash, and Drago took care of the rest. Outmatched, the beasts ran off like a whipped dog.
"It's more difficult when you don't use your powers…" Ash said a bit tired, "We need a break"
"If those creatures live around here, I doubt we'll have time to rest," Rayla suggested, "Before more show up, we need to get out of here."
Without hesitation, they all ventured to continue looking for the exit. They walked for a while gliding and dodging swamps of poisonous water and nocturnal weeds (which didn't mean much due to their obvious superior numbers).
"Hey guys!" said Aurora suddenly, "There's something over there!"
They all turned to look in the direction where she had pointed, but there was nothing.
"I don't see anything" Drago said, "Surely it wasn't your imagination?"
"I swear I saw it. I could see a tail"
"Maybe there are more creatures that live in this forest," Flint suggested, "But let me see…"
Refocusing, Flint dug his claws into the earth.
"Aurora is right: I can feel a presence nearby…" he commented as he closed his eyes, "But it's strange, it doesn't have the same mana as this forest or the creatures that live in it, but I can't tell if it's a friend either… this place is not suitable for my concentration"
"Do you know which way it went?" Nina asked.
"Yes" he replied, opening his eyes and pointing to the left, where the undergrowth and fallen branches met, "But huh?! He has… vanished"
"How did he vanish?"
"Either he has disappeared or he is simply not on the ground"
"Well, if he's a friend, we'd better find him, maybe he can lead us out of here."
Running in the direction they had indicated, they set out to search for this strange presence through the thick undergrowth. Once they ran quite a bit, they found themselves in a huge clearing, where a river of poisonous water ended in a huge waterfall. In the middle of the river, there was a small island with a misshapen tree. There was no one else but them.
"This place looks like the center of the forest" Rayla deduced, "I think that instead of going out we have gone deeper"
"The good thing is that you can see incredible views from that waterfall" Drago said, "Hey! I think you can see the silver river, we can fly from here and get to where the city was or at least to the temple"
"Hey guys, what about the presence we were following?" Aurora asked.
"Well, we wanted to find the way out, right?"
"Let's do a test before we leave here" Ash suggested, "Hellooooo!? There is someone there?"
Everyone strained their ears, but they only heard the sound of poisonous water falling down the waterfall.
"Apparently not…" Flint began. But immediately a tremor shook them all.
The small island in the center of the poisonous river began to rise, and revealed a huge and monstrous wooden head that also had teeth. Then other wooden members followed, linked together by thick, strong vines. It was a huge creature that they only remembered in one class…
"Arborik!" they all said.
The massive Arborik spotted the young dragons and charged at them with a mighty slam to the ground. Despite the fact that the youngsters dodged it, the shock wave nearly sent them flying.
"Now you'll see!" Drago yelled, starting to ignite his mana, but Aurora stopped him.
"No, Drago!" she yelled at him, "It is not our responsibility to kill Arborik. If we do, the future may change, we'd better get out of here."
Reluctantly, for they all wanted to fight, they took flight and, dodging one of Arborik's huge fists, flew down the river, avoiding the waterfall. However, the giant had no desire to let them escape, as he threw himself from the top of the waterfall and fell, poisonous water splashing all around, the grass withering just on contact with the liquid.
"Are you sure you don't want to face him?" Ash asked as they flew as fast as they could away from Arborik, "He is coming more and more near"
Arborik threw a punch, reaching out with his vine arm, by an inch, hitting Aurora and she plunged into the poisonous river.
"Aurora!" his sister yelled as he flew back before she fell.
But suddenly, another dragon appeared at the end of the river and saved her from death. They almost didn't believe it when they saw it: it was a dragon with white scales and yellow horns about his age. Then, he flew towards the other end of the river and got lost in the undergrowth, taking Aurora with him.
"Aurora!" Drago yelled again.
"Drago, watch out!" Nina yelled: the next to be hit was going to be the young dragon.
Drago realized that and deftly dodged Arborik's blow: he was quite upset by what had happened with his sister and his fire was beginning to burn with anger.
"You pay me for this... Dragon Comet!"
Drago lunged at Arborik's head as he surrounded himself with a considerable amount of fire. The wooden giant cried out in pain as his entire body collapsed towards the poisonous river. Fortunately, he was not dead, as he writhed in pain trying to pay for the fire that the young dragon had left him.
"Hey Drago!" Nina stopped him, "I think that's enough. Remember: we must not change anything from the past. Rather, let's look for Aurora"
Drago realized his mistake and apologized as they walked away before Arborik got up again. When they went into the woods trying to find Aurora, Rayla interrupted:
"Did anyone else notice that the one who saved Aurora was a white dragon?"
"It seems so…" Flint replied.
"Well then, we're in luck!" Ash exclaimed, "We found a dragon of light and as soon as we talk to him, we can surely return"
"That is if we find him and my sister," Drago stopped him, "I'm grateful he saved her, but why didn't he stay?"
"It's hard to stay, fight and hold someone while fighting someone the size of Arborik…"
"Well, now you have a point..."
"Flint, can you find Aurora?" Nina asked.
Flint refocused, digging his claws into the ground. He was like that for a few seconds until he said:
"I found her"