(Meanwhile…)
Sybilla and the young dragons had arrived at a small dragon city to the east of where the valley of Avalar lay. The city was certainly Warfang: but not the one they knew. The large walls and various buildings were still very small and did not have the famous designs that were the work of mole architects, it was more rustic.
"It feels strange to be here and that it's not how you remember it…" mentioned Aurora.
"How is the city in your time?" Sam asked in a whisper, so that Sybilla wouldn't hear them.
"The moles made it golden and bigger. But you'll be able to see it when we get back."
"Did you say something?" Sybilla asked as she heard them.
"No nothing..." Drago excused them, "Sam is just asking my sister if she'll agree to go out with him"
"Drago!" Sam and Aurora yelled in unison, turning red. Since Aurora had bothered Drago so much with his relationship with Nina, it was time to turn the tables.
"That was not decent, Drago" Nina told him.
"Naaa... it's a joke, isn't it?" Ash asked.
"Of course" Drago apologized.
"Let's save nonsense for later guys" Rayla interrupted. Then she turned to Sybilla, "How can we help, Sybilla?"
"Sybilla!" a voice yelled.
The young dragons turned. Just then, the two brothers got a lump in their throats: an ice dragon was approaching them, and she was very similar to her mother. Furthermore, she was wearing the same ice gem pendant that Aurora wore. They had seen her only once, in the statue hall of Dante's freezer: it was her grandmother, Eira.
"Nice to see you again, friend!" Sybilla greeted her, "Where is Cynthia?
"Organizing everyone to…" she replied, but her gaze fell on the young dragons and the pendant Aurora had, "But who are you, young dragons?"
Each young dragon had to introduce themselves. Fortunately, Eira had passed away long before the Skylanders were born (and Sybilla a couple of years before), so she didn't know anything about them. However, her light blue eyes fell on Aurora's ice pendant.
"Tell me... Aurora, right?" Eira asked, "I see that you also have a special gem"
"Er... it belonged to my grandmother" she replied, without saying anything else.
"Funny, mine was from my grandmother too" then she approached her and touched the gem, "Wow, it's funny that two gems like that exist. By the way, do you know that this gem can give you special protection?"
"What kind of protection?"
"I don't want to tell you and spoil the surprise, but let's say that when an ice dragon exceeds its limits, even beyond them, the gem reacts and invests you with new powers"
"That story was told to us by our grandparents, Eira," Sybilla laughed, "But I'm also intrigued if it's true or not. Anyway, let's go see Cynthia, it's getting late"
They all came to a small house. The interior was warm and light and somewhat cozy, yet the place was hardly decorative and almost empty. Lighting and heat came from two fire pits located at the entrance and three others around the round room. On the floor, there were several baskets with straw and blankets where colored eggs rested (Red, light blue, green, yellow. Unfortunately, there were no black or white eggs). Something reminiscent of Easter. Making arrangements and taking care of them, there was a black dragon like Cynder, but a little more cheerful because she was singing a song as if the eggs were listening to her.
"Cynthia," Sybilla told her, "we're ready to go. I see that you like to treat everyone as your children…"
"It's just that I feel a little worried, Sybilla" she replied, "I trust Terrador, but if something happens to my son or daughter... I don't know if I could bear it..."
"I also trust that Ignitus will protect our son... don't worry, everything will be fine"
"Thank you for cheering me up…" then she turned to Nina and the rest, "Hello kids, what are you doing here?"
"We came to help transport the eggs to LunaVillage" Nina replied.
"You? But… what about your parents?"
"Don't worry" Drago told her, "We are authorized by them. We look young, but we have previous education and training. Although our new member, Sam, needs a little more practice with the light."
"That is why they will help us transport the eggs" Sybilla indicated, "While we travel, I can teach Sam to master his element, the temple is not an option now"
"Okay... Let's get ready to go out, can you help me with this?" Cynthia asked.
Everyone collaborated in accommodating and sheltering the eggs to keep them warm during the trip. Nina, Aurora and Rayla all seemed to have something called 'motherly affection' that all women have when they take care of their children. For their part, Drago, Ash, Flint and Sam were trying to be as delicate as possible to preserve the eggs.
Once everything was ready, Sybilla, Cynthia, and Eira led the young dragons outside and prepared to leave. However, an explosion at the edge of the city: an army was closing in on them, causing several dragons to split up to contain the invasion.
In itself, it was an army, but it was… a weaker than those they had seen in the future: there were only apes, not the rest of the dark army.
"Come on!" yelled a giant (apparently the general, though he wasn't as burly as Galu or Simian), "Bring me the dragon eggs!"
"Sybilla! What do we do?" asked Eira, "We can't allow them to invade the city"
"But we can't let them get close to the eggs either," Cynthia defended them.
"We take care of it!" Nina said standing up.
Drago, Rayla, Flint and Ash accompanied him, while Aurora and Sam took it upon themselves to help the adult dragons protect the eggs. As soon as he saw them arrive, General Simio laughed:
"These dragons are nothing more than hatchlings, go get the females and the eggs!"
"Who do you think you consider us less?" asked Ash, "We'll show you that we're not just anyone"
"I agree with you friend" Drago told him, "Let's go there!"
Finishing the words, Drago breathed out a mouthful of fire and began to attack the apes, who ran while their armor and hair caught fire. On his side, Ash took down seven with a rapid fire attack and Nina surprised them using her shadow move. From his perspective, Flint also attacked with ground missiles and Rayla with a powerful discharge that caused a chain reaction. After laughing, the ape general was stunned to see his army defeated in the blink of an eye.
"It's not possible..." he said.
"Now, what were you saying about us?" Ash boasted.
"Argg...enough of nonsense..." the ape pulled out a spiked club, "No one makes fun of the great Caranthir"
"We'll see about that…" Ash replied as he ignited his mana.
"One moment!" Sybilla yelled.
Ash stopped and the young dragons turned to look at her: Sybilla walking towards them as her white mana emanated from her. Just being in her presence, she felt a sense of purity and tranquility, as if she were the glow of a morning sun or a full moon.
"You must be one of the Dark Master's ape generals…" Sybilla told him fearlessly, "I humbly ask you to leave us alone. Do not unload your darkness against those who have not harmed you..."
"Haven't hurt me?" Caranthir asked indignantly, pointing at his fallen companions, "A joke? you have struck down my army and we didn't even touch you."
"But you wanted the eggs…" Nina snapped at them, "To destroy them"
"It's true," Sybilla agreed, "They hurt unborn beings because of their fear of them, why do innocent beings have to suffer because of others? It does not seem fair to me: these actions are selfish and cowardly"
"Bah… I've heard enough nonsense…!" Caranthir yelled at him, lunging forward.
Sybilla was ready. Behind her, Sam stared in astonishment at the glow of her mana.
"Star Extinction!"
Sybilla's mana transformed into multiple beams of light that went at the speed of shooting stars upon impact, hitting as hard as an asteroid. It didn't take the blink of an eye for the attack to break through Caranthir's armor and strike him so quickly that she didn't even notice until she was on the ground.
Silence fell: the young dragons are shocked by Sybilla's power. Although it was somewhat of an offensive attack, there was not a hint of hatred towards the enemy in it: the purity of the dragon remained intact until the end.
"Impressive" Cynthia told her friend, "You keep showing your usual talent, friend"
Thank you Cynthia. But I think we'd better talk later. If the apes know of the existence of the second group, more armies will soon arrive. We must take care the eggs"
Cynthia knew there was no way to argue with that. So, going back to their original mission, the dragons and Skylanders helped carry the eggs.
(1 hour later…)
How difficult was it to bring at least three dozen dragon eggs to a two-day-travel location while keeping them warm and comfortable? It is not easy at all: the dragons had to stop more than once to make an arrangement and prevent an egg from falling and on other occasions they also had to return the heat to them. For the latter, when it was time to drop a stop, Drago and Ash used their fire powers to create bonfires and keep them warm.
For her part, Sybilla was in charge of training Sam, separating him a bit from his friends and Cynthia and Eira. Once they were far enough away, she asked him:
"How much did your parents teach you?"
"My mom only taught me to heal," Sam explained, disappointed in his own weakness, "I don't know…how to make my mana a fighting force. Also… I don't fight much, I'm afraid that the same thing will happen to me as they did"
"I understand… you know? The power to heal is unique to us, the dragons of light: we show our good feelings and love for our neighbor when we want to help them heal from their wounds. That's what your mother taught you, right?"
Sam nodded.
"But if you want to fight, you must clear away the darkness that clouds your heart with light: fear. Deep down in your heart, it's not that you really want to fight, but to protect someone you care about…"
Turning her gaze, Sybilla pointed to Aurora, who was with Eira helping to care for the eggs. Sam noticed it too, he felt trapped at that moment.
"So you're doing it for a girl?" Sybilla asked.
"Am I a fool for thinking of that?" Sam asked.
"No, on the contrary, when you fight to defend someone, you become very strong. We dragons of light rely on the light that guides our hearts to shape our mana…"
Saying so, Sybilla used her mana that shimmered on her claw and formed a butterfly of pure light.
"We dragons of light possess that light thanks to the stars" Sybilla explained, "Because these stars illuminate and predict destiny. Shine your mana like the stars and cause an explosion like a supernova…"
Sybilla stood up and began to billiard the mana, which surrounded her in a white aura. Just being around her, you felt an extraordinary purity. Then, she stopped.
"Now try it yourself"
Sam stepped forward and tried to emanate mana based on the knowledge he had been given, but his light was very dim, and he didn't have as much power as Sybilla. The reason was inside him: first, the pain of having lost his family; secondly, the fear of being captured just like them. It was not easy to find a glimmer of light in that.
"Sam, focus," Sybilla was saying to him, "You have to look for the spark of light in the depths of the darkness that torments you. Feel that connection with the shining stars…"
He retested several times. Rarely, his mana increased greatly, but then went out like a candle in the cold wind.
(Meanwhile…)
A surviving ape from the attack on Sybilla's group was telling everything that had happened to another even bigger ape, with black Viking armor and one green eye.
"Two light dragons guarding a group of eggs…" he said, "This is a great opportunity"
"But, master Galu..." the scared ape told him, "There are not only those two dragons of light and the other two adult dragons, but also six other young dragons and they are very powerful..."
"Shut up, you coward! Forgot the mission?! The purple dragon egg may be with them."
"But…"
"They are still very strong… I could go in person, but I must wait and see if my other minions find the egg with the Ignitus group in the temple… In the meantime… Sioux! Dayx!"
Two apes as big as he were present. Each carried a huge scythe.
"As for you…" Galu told him as he raised his green scepter towards the escaped ape. Instantly, he transformed him into a dark ape equally as large as himself and the other two, with a heavy axe, "Okay… Asther, as a new general; you, Sioux and Dayx must destroy the eggs and the dragons that protect them, but bring me the purple dragon egg (if you find it) and a black one intact…"