(In the meantime…)
Aurora was waking up after the strong blow she received from Arborik. She was sure she didn't want to fight the monster to prevent some kind of change, but… that blow hurt a lot… didn't it? the pain was starting to fade. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
It was inside what looked like a tree from the old grove, but it was very different from what one would see on the outside: the space was quite large, and most of the walls were covered in vines and decorated with green and light blue flowers. She could also see a large straw bed near where she was lying and there were a couple of wooden bowls (one contained some pure water and the other contained fruits and some mushrooms). A strange white light was coming from somewhere. Focusing her gaze, she found a white dragon emanating warm, pure mana to the side of her body, where she had been struck.
However, the shock of it made her startle and jump back. The white dragon also noticed this, but he only said:
"Whoa, I'm sorry. I know it was vulgar to approach you without your permission, but you were hurt."
"A dragon of light…" Aurora mused in surprise, "Did you heal me?"
"Well, not completely yet, but if you let me finish, I will."
"Oh yeah... I'm sorry"
Aurora let the dragon bring her claws closer to her body to finish healing him. While they were in the process, the young dragon noticed that she was around the same age as him: a young dragon.
"Sorry what's your name?" she asked him.
"Oh! How rude of me..." the young dragon apologized, "My name is Sam, what's your name?"
"Aurora"
"Aurora..." Sam chuckled a little, "Nice name."
"Thank you," Aurora blushed a little, to which Sam did too, "So it's your ability as a dragon of light... to heal others?"
"Well, that's what my mom taught me… whenever I get hurt me when I bumped into a tree or when those forest creatures hurt me, she healed me. But, that's all I learned from her…"
Aurora saw the sad face on Sam and almost immediately understood.
"What happened to her?" she asked carefully.
"I was little when we had to hide. My parents and I were being hunted by the dark army and then my dad sacrificed himself so that my mom and I could escape here…"
There was a pause in which an air of pain could be perceived in the environment.
"My mom and I lived here for a few years. Then, a year ago, the dead hounds were tamed by the apes and they searched the whole grove. Mom tried to take them to a safe place, but she ran to that gigantic monster that attacked you…"
"You mean Arborik, right?"
"Does that thing have a name? well, mom never told me. Anyway, Mom got hit by Arborik and then…he killed her…"
"Oh I'm sorry"
"Don't worry, at least... this time I'm glad I saved someone attacked by that monster... Look, you're already healed."
Aurora realized that the pain was gone.
"Thank you very much," she said.
"Don't worry…"
Then, taking another quick look around her, Aurora realized: "Oh no! my brother and the others! Have you seen them?
"The group of dragons that was with you? I'm sorry, but I don't know what happened to you after I saved you. You were unconscious and I thought you needed urgent help."
"Yeah well..." then, she remembered the mission, "It's true... Sam, we need your help"
"Well, I think you've already received it" he replied, "But if you need anything else..."
"Yes, we need you to help us take down the Dark Master. You may find it hard to believe, but I am from the future…"
Aurora took her time to explain to Sam the situation, the existence of the scroll of time and their need to find a dragon with the element of light. The new young dragon listened attentively to the girl's words, having several doubts.
"Well, I never believed that story about the time scroll was true, but I think Mom told me something about it in a story," he said, "Although I find it hard to believe… you mean there are no light dragons in the future anymore? "
"That's how it is. That's why we need help from one from the past. Help us, please"
Aurora's beatiful eyes were enought to convice this new friend, but...
"Aurora, I know you need help, but the truth is… I don't have the strength to…"
Just then, the sound of flapping wings was heard and the rest of the Skylanders entered the hollow tree. For a minute, they didn't believe it, but Aurora was with the much sought after dragon of light.
"Aurora!" Drago told her, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine, Drago" she replied. Then, she turned to Sam, "Let me introduce them: this is my brother Drago, she is Nina, he is Ash, he is Flint, and she is Rayla. Guys, this is Sam."
"Nice to meet you all," Sam told them.
"The pleasure is ours" Nina replied, "Well, we have found you: a dragon of light. We need your help to…"
"Aurora already explained it to me..." he stopped hern "But I think that I can't help you"
Everyone remained in silence.
"Why not?" Drago asked.
"My parents gave their lives to keep me safe and I can't risk my life like that" he explained to them, "Besides, I have no abilities beyond healing. I don't control my mana well."
"Sam…" Aurora tried, "I know what your parents did, but if you stay here sooner or later you will disappear like the story says and… we wouldn't want that to happen"
"I know you are afraid to die" said Rayla, "Yes, I know what it feels like: I felt it too when we faced Malefor and thanks to our team spirit we were victorious"
"Did you face the Dark Master and win?" Sam asked incredulously, "Wow, I don't think I can do something like that."
"You wouldn't do it alone" Drago told him, "We'll do it like last time: all together. Only this time, there will be a seventh member of our team."
Sam sighed and thought for a bit. Then he told them:
"If you want to defeat the Dark Master again, I'm in. But like I said before, my powers don't go beyond just healing, I haven't had much of an education in mana since my parents died."
"We can take you to the future again and have the guardians teach you" Ash proposed.
"There's a problem to that, Ash," Flint explained, "In the future, there's no light dragon that can teach him. We can't carry Sam like this, it would be very dangerous if we carried him like this."
Hmm, Nina thought.
"Did you come up with something, Nina?" Drago asked.
"We are in the past, right?" she asked.
"Yes…"
"It's a possibility… but how about we search for my grandmother, Sybilla? She could teach Sam in the complete mastery of light mana."
They all looked at each other: the idea was good, but it had a drawback...
"That's a great idea," Rayla said, "But we shouldn't mention anything from the future or tell them that you or Ash are her grandchildren. If she were to find out… who knows what could happen to history"
"You know Ash, nothing to talk about anymore..." Nina said to her cousin.
"Okay, I get it," he replied. Just then, his stomach began to rumble, "I think escaping Arborik is much hungrier than facing him."
"I have some food around here," Sam mentioned, "But I didn't expect so many visitors…"
"Don't worry" said Nina showing all the supplies they had brought with them, "There's enough for everyone here"
And so, everyone relaxed to eat something before taking flight towards their next target: the dragon temple of the past.