Hi dear readers, finally after a month I managed to public a new chapter. This time I focused more on a Auros's perspective, in order to develop his character a bit more. Hope you'll enjoy, let me know in a review or a PM. Also thank you to the new followers who joined the journey. Have a good reading.

-Azotac

Auros woke up yawning, as the first lights of the sun began filtering through the closed curtains. He got up on his paws few minutes later, stretching his sore muscles and shaking off the last remains of his doziness. The white dragon then walked to the large window and pulled aside the curtains, letting the fresh morning breeze invade his chamber and then directed outside on the balcony. He sat on the white marble, gazing the sky turning from a dull violet to an intense and fiery orange, with the sun raising on the other side of the temple. Auros could still see some stars in that morning sky, but they quickly faded away as the powerful rays of a bigger star invaded that obscure dome over his head. He sighed happily, as he released all the tension accumulated during the last week away from his new home, in search of the first dragon that offered to be his friend, which is casually the same one that saved the world from total annihilation. He shoved away those thoughts, focusing again on the now raised sun, bathing his snow white scales in the warmth that it provided.

"Better get ready to go…"He thought soon after, turning back into his room. The youngster proceeded in tiding up a bit his bed before leaving the chamber, closing gently the door with his tail. He descended the staircase and arrived in the empty main hall, the noise of his talons clicking on the marble was echoing eerily in the great room. He didn't know why, but there was something fascinating and almost alien in seeing such a majestic place completely devoid of life, even if for a couple of hours still. He turned his gaze to the door that led to the Guardians chambers, recalling what Volteer told him the last night.

"Come in, young Auros and please close the door."Said excitedly the yellow dragon. The white youngster did as the guardian ordered, before following him in his quarters. Volteer took place behind the working table in his library and began fumbling with some ampoules filled with coloured liquids. Auros was amazed by the swiftness of the guardian and by the way he handled the fragile vials. He watched him for some time, until the elder raised the ampule in his right paw, to examine it in a better light. The dragon turned his excited gaze towards the youngster and got closer to him, posing the vial on the wooden table.

"So, I called you here for giving you a great, exquisite news!"He said excitedly.

"While you were away in the rescue mission for our dear Spyro, I spent some nights working around with some alchemy books and curative herbs."He continued. Auros watched the guardian with a confused gaze, but before he could ask anything, the elder kept on going.

"And I think I managed to create a formula that will help you mitigate you intolerance to red gems."He concluded, finally presenting the vial to the youngster. The white drake was speechless, as he turned his gaze between the smiling electricity guardian and the greenish liquid inside the ampule.

"Wow… I don't know what to say… But…"He mumbled, turning his gaze towards the guardian.

"How do you know if it will work?"He then asked.

"Well, we should try it… But not now. When we're going to begin the training again, we'll see if it can help you. It may need some refinements."Replied Volteer.

"I understand. Anyway, thank you very much Master Volteer."Said Auros, shoving away his excitement.

"You're most welcome, young one. I'm glad I could help you. I wish you a good night of rest. You earned it."Concluded the guardian.

Auros then bowed his head and turned to leave, closing the door with his tail. The young dragon walked back to his room and flopped heavily over his bed, the fatigue eventually catching on him and making him fall asleep instantly.

The youngster shook his head abruptly, leaving his state of apparent unconsciousness and returning his attention to the real world. He stood up and speeded trough the long corridor that brought to the great door.

The gate opened and he walked down the marble staircase, when his eyes fell on the dragoness that was waiting for him. Nix was sit with her snout aiming at the beautiful colours of the early morning sky, the sun reflected gently on her iridescent azure scales, making them glisten brightly. His heart began to beat faster as his vision concentrated on her form, blurring out everything else. The youngster moved closer to her, until she suddenly turned to face him. Auros was instantly mesmerised by those beautiful silver eyes that watched him with a mixture of emotions. His own light-brown ones were staring directly into them, seeing his own reflection in those perfect orbs.

"Auros?"Came her melodious voice. He returned to the real world, shaking briefly his head.

"Yes, sorry. Did I make you wait?"He asked concernedly.

"Actually no, I've been here only for few minutes."She replied smiling.

"Well, shall we go then?"

"Of course"She answered, spreading her wings.

"Ladies first."Said Auros, gesturing with his now open wings. Nix giggled, then without another word, she took the sky, with him following suit. They soared silently over the awakening city, with the morning breeze gently caressing their scales. They flew together for some other minutes, until they landed swiftly over the round roof of a freshly re-built tower in the higher district of Warfang. The dark-coloured tiles were already warm by the sunlight as they sat on them. A mixed flow of emotions coursed through the white drake. He was indeed excited and happy to be there with Nix, he hardly remembered when he was that happy the last time in his relative short life. A burst of memories from his childhood passed in front of his eyes, making him realise something very important.

"Hey Nix, can I…tell you something?"He asked. She turned to face him, noticing a different kind of emotion reflected in his eyes, was it guilt?

"Yes, of course."

"Well, I realised only now that I never told you my story… I mean, I know a lot of things about you, because you told them to me, but I never told you anything about myself…About my family… And I'm sorry for that."

Nix was a little taken aback by this sudden change of heart from Auros, but she inwardly hoped that this day would come, maybe he was trusting more in their newborn relationship, or maybe he was just trusting her more as a companion.

"Hey, no harm done."She said, gently unfolding her wing on his back."It's your decision to talk about your own private matters."

"Yeah, but I feel like it isn't fair to you. It's difficult to be with someone of which you barely know anything."

"What I know about you it's more than sufficient to me. You're kind and caring and…"

"Quite handsome…"She muttered shyly. Auros remained dumbfounded from her words, he never received a compliment from someone else. He smiled kindly.

"Thank you Nix, I also think you're beautiful."Replied Auros. She flushed red, turning away her gaze from him. They stood silently for a couple of minutes, until she regained her composure.

"Anyway… I would gladly listen to your story."She said, turning his gaze to him.

"Ok, but you have to promise me, that what I'm going to tell you won't change that you think of our friends."He said, in an almost serious tone.

"O-okay."

"Thank you."

So Auros began to tell her the all that he could remember about his childhood. He told her about his family, and the mild hate that he received from the village he was born into.

Then came the night in with he lost everything, he told her about his encounter with the Terror of the Sky and how it ended for his family. At that moment he had to stop briefly to recollect his thoughts.

Nix was definitely shaken from what he told her, having also realised why he made her make that promise before. But what confused her the most was the way he talked about it. He was calm as always, he didn't shed a single tear, nor showed any sign of anger or sadness. She coiled her tail with his own, trying to offer a bit of comfort, even if she was the one in need of it right now. Eventually he continued his story, beginning from when he regained back his senses after that fateful night.

The white hatchling coughed loudly, his chest constricted from the rubble and debris that almost buried him completely. He could see some light spiralling in from the small gaps between the stones and splinters. His coughing stopped when his dulled hearing sensed a noise coming from outside. Someone or something was getting closer. Panic took control of his scared form, he tried to shove away some debris in order to escape, but the rubble was unmovable, until that someone began to take it away quickly. Tears began to form at the corners of his eyes, as he waited helplessly to be discovered and eventually killed by whoever was unburying him. Suddenly light shone brightly trough his watery eyes, making him shut them quickly.

"Ancestors!"The stranger exclaimed, then in less than a second a pair of big red paws grabbed him a tore him out of the pile of rubble. He was suddenly welcomed by warm scales and then a rush of air came, as his saviour took the sky.

"Captain!"Shouted the dragon, landing in the centre of the destroyed village, where his comrades stood.

"Corporal, what's the problem? Have found any remaining enemy?"Asked suddenly a commanding voice.

"No sir, but I found someone else."He said, revealing the white hatchling nested under his left foreleg.

"Ancestors!"Exclaimed the captain.

Auros then felt something smooth running down his back, as the older dragon caressed gently his scared body, in order to comfort him. A moment of silence cam after, before the deep voice of the captain returned.

"He must be taken immediately to the nearest settlement! He needs medical assistance."

"Corporal can you take him back to Noval? It should be a couple of hours of flight from here."

"Yessir!"Exclaimed the dragon holding him, before taking once again the sky. Auros could only let him self take away from exhaustion, as he fell asleep in the embrace of the dragon carrying him.

The white hatchling woke up an indefinite amount of time later, finding himself posed on a greenish cushion in a completely stranger environment. He instantly began to panic, as he scrambled to get up on his paws, only to fall down soon after from the sudden pain. He yelped at the horrific sensation, as he began to tremble on the cushion he was on. In few moments, sounds of hurried paw-steps could be heard and in a couple of seconds a dragoness emerged from the door. Auros didn't watch her as he was too afraid even to move, as he was simply all snuggled on himself, hiding his head underneath his wings. The dragoness came closer and gently caressed the hatchling's back with the back of her paw.

"Hey, little one, no need to be scared, you're safe here."She said with a caring tone, as the white one squirmed under her paw. Auros stopped shivering, before carefully poking his head out from his wings' cover, his brown eyes full of tears fixed on the dragoness before him. The nameless figure smiled at him.

"There you are. My name's Teal and I am a healer, what's your name, little one?"She asked softly. The white drake sniffed, before answering her question.

"A-Auros…"He stammered.

"Well, Auros, you took some nasty injuries and bruises, I came here to fix them."

She gently took out from a satchel some red crystals and held them in her right paw. As soon as Auros saw them, he recoiled in fear. He tried to move away, but another jolt of pain coursed trough his tiny muscles as he dropped back on the cushion.

"We need to fix your wounds, dear. Stay still, I'll be very quick."

"No! They… Hurt me…"Murmured the hatchling.

Teal raised an eyebrow at his words and began to giggle.

"That's not possible, my dear, all dragons benefit from these gems." She gently grabbed the hatchling and pushed the red gems onto his scales. In that exact moment a burning pain came from all his bruises making him wail in agony. He loosened from her grip and stumbled away, down on the cushion and then on the floor. He covered himself again with his wings in a defensive way, crying. The healer was in total disbelief, she never saw in her whole career something like that.

Teal tried to got closer to him again, but as soon as she placed the next paw-step, the hatchling cuddled on himself even more.

"I'm sorry, little one. I should have believed your words."She said, extracting a little glass jar from her satchel.

"Please, let me try to help you again. No more red gems, I promise."She concluded. Auros stopped shivering, only to turn his watery eyes to her.

"You promise?"

"Yes"

The healer got closer to him, opening the small jar and dipping her digits into the green ointment it contained. She then gently applied the cream onto his bruises and cuts. Finally she covered the most serious wounds with a bandage and posed the hatchling back onto the cushion. He was visibly more relaxed and calm. He yawned a couple of times, before resting his head onto his small forepaws. She smiled at him, as she caressed gently his nape.

"There you are, little one. You'll see, everything's gonna be alright."Those were the last words he heard, as he drifted into sleep.

"I stayed in the infirmary for another couple of days, before they sent me to another structure within the settlement. It was some kind of orphanage but for dragons of every age ."Continued Auros, while the dragoness that was with him listened to his narration.

"I lived there until the return of Spyro and Cynder from the time crystal."He sighed.

"The life wasn't all that interesting, apart from the basic education and combat training they offered when I was a bit older. No friends, no peers. Just a bunch of dragons or survivors, who was given a second chance to live away from the raging war. The only day I really remember was when the former Fire Guardian, Ignitus, came into the village to spread the news about the return of the Purple Dragon, just a couple of days after the Eternal Night…"He paused.

"I was in awe in seeing on of the most powerful dragons in the world standing in tall in front of all of us, narrating the adventures of Spyro."

"But then he spoke about Cynder… I remember that just in hearing her name, my blood ran cold."

"He began to talk about what happened to her, how she was in control of the Dark Master and how Spyro freed her from corruption…"

He then giggled.

"I didn't have the time to feel anger that a sense of pity and compassion washed over me…I…I realised that she was just like me. A poor youngling whose childhood was stripped away by some kind of evil and dark monster."Continued the white dragon.

"Anyway, after that day the life remained pretty much the same…Until the war eventually came at our doorstep, a day before the supposed end of the world, the dark army invaded Noval and razed it to the ground."He sighed.

"The guards obliged me to flee and go to Warfang were I should have been safe, while they kept fighting the enemy…"

"In the end I flew as fast as I could towards here, but then the world began to shatter…"He stopped, moving his gaze towards the dragoness.

"I think you know the rest. I'll stop boring you."He concluded with a tired smile. Nix stood silent for some seconds, trying to process all that he told her about him. She really didn't expect him to tell the whole story of his life, but in the end she wasn't all that bored. In fact she proved pity for him, being stripped away by his family in so young age and completely catapulted in a foreign environment. What most struck her, tough, was his acceptance of the one who murdered his family. She really couldn't figure out how it was possible to him to simply forgive something like that and also being able to live in close contact with the one who ruined his life.

"I admire you, Auros."She finally said, a bit shyly. He replied with a confused gaze.

"I mean… You're the nicest dragon I've ever met. I really admire you for what you are now despite the life you had."She said. The white dragon smiled fondly at her.

"Well, I consider myself very lucky. One of our friends didn't have the same fortune as me."He said, with a bit of sadness. Nix recognised almost instantly of who he was talking about.

"She had the legendary Purple Dragon by her side, tough."

"And I've the help of my new friends and most importantly I have you now."He replied, unfurling his wing over her, dragging her form closer to him. She let herself take in his protective and affectionate draconic hug, before turning her silver eyes towards his slightly higher light brown ones. He had his usual smile plastered on his snout, bathing her with his calm and happiness. He then gently pressed his snout onto hers. She was a little taken aback by his action, but quickly shoved her feelings away and replied the affection. They stood like that for quite sometime until he spoke again.

"Thank you for listening to me today."He said lovingly. She was about to reply, when her eyes caught a movement in the distance. Auros noticed it too and turned his gaze towards the same direction. His orbs caught some figures in the distance, flying closer to the walls. He returned his attention to the dragoness beside him.

"Maybe they're some new refugees… Wanna go see them?"He asked. She didn't want really to ruin their intimacy, but in seeing the glint in his eyes she couldn't refuse.

"Ok, lead the way."She answered. He grinned even wider, before taking the air in the direction of the new dragons.

The couple landed soon after on the stone platform behind the western wall. Before them there were at least thirty new dragons all in awe in seeing the great dragon city, probably for the first time. One guard took off southward, while the others followed captain Baldur. Nix was happy to see more new dragons to return to the capital, but her happiness faded once she turned her attention to Auros. His usual smile had vanished, replaced by a sudden coldness, as his gaze was fixed on a particular dragon in the group which was flying away.

"Hey, what's the problem?"She asked, clearly worried. He didn't answer instantly.

"Remember when I told you before about the elders in my village?"He sighed. She only nodded.

"Well, that dragon is one of them."He said pointing his wings towards a pale blue elder.

Auros was watching terrified his father while he discussed with two other familiar dragons. He was peeking from the barely open door that led to the bed chamber, almost completely obscured by darkness.

"GO AWAY FROM MY HOME!" Shouted the blue and gold dragon to the ones in front of them, a cold icy mist streaming from his nostrils.

"Kelno, you're only delaying the inevitable."Spoke the first.

"The hatchling is a disgrace to your blood and to our village. We're doing you a favour."Added the second. In that moment the blue dragon roared ferociously.

"Dare to threaten again my son and I will personally hunt you down."He snarled. The other two in seeing no possibility to reason with the dragon, turned and left for the door, under Kelno's icy stare. Once the door shut, he relaxed his muscles and sighed heavily.

"Auros, you can come out."Announced the dragon. The white hatchling did as he commanded, walking towards him. He aimed his snout to his father's face.

"Dad, what have I done to make them angry?" The older dragon gently wrapped his son under his blue wings.

"Nothing, my dear. They're angry because you're special. But don't worry, mom and dad will be always here for you…"

And with those last words in mind, Auros watched the dragons disappear behind the buildings of the great city.

Cynder woke up still embraced in her lover's arms. She was all snuggled under his chin, gently posed on his rising chest. Her eyelids fluttered for a moment before revealing the two precious gems that were hidden under them. She slightly raised her head from his body in order to admire him. Few words could describe how happy she was to be back home with him mostly safe and sound. The whole kidnapping thing made her realise how much she needs him in her life, how lost she feels without him, without his unconditioned love that tore her away from darkness.A wild yawn broke her staring. She then turned her snout towards Spyro's neck, nuzzling him gently. He groaned softly before waking up too soon after. His eyelids revealed the amethyst orbs that swiftly turned to stare at her emeralds ones.

"Good morning"She said, nuzzling his snout.

"Good morning you too. How are you feeling?"He asked. She giggled at his question, loving the fact that he always thought about her before himself.

"I'm feeling great, what about you? You're the one injured here."She replied smiling.

"The scars do itch sometimes but for the rest I'm good."He then pushed forward to meet her snout.

"As long as I'm with you."She giggled as she replied the cuddle. In that exact moment her stomach burped, signalling the fact that she was hungry. Spyro bursted out laughing but soon his laugh turned into a cough and Cynder's annoyed look tinged with concern. She caressed his left shoulder while his burst died down, leaving him slightly panting.

"Are you sure that you're ok?"She asked, clearly concerned.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine."He said, with his grin returning on his face. He wasn't really sure of his answer, because the cough left a weird feeling in him, but in seeing the concern in his black dragoness's eyes, he quickly shoved that sensation away.

He then moved his paw to her belly, caressing it.

"You don't want to keep your stomach waiting, do you?"He said, mischievously. She gently punched him on his foreleg, before getting up from the bed, her partner following suit. They took the sky from the balcony, directing towards the Great Hall to have their breakfast. In few minutes they landed in front of the magnificent building and to their great surprise they found a group of unfamiliar dragons entering the structure, guided by some guards. Some of them noticed their presence and began murmuring with their companion, shooting dumbfounded glances to him and some glares to her.

"Spyro, Cynder"Called a familiar voice. In seconds a couple of familiar young dragons landed beside them.

"Hi Auros, hi Nix."Said the purple dragon. The white dragon got closer to him, inspecting his body.

"How are you feeling?"He asked preoccupied.

"Better Auros, no need to worry. Soon I'll be back in full strength." He reassured. The white youngster returned to his previous position to Nix's side before smiling back to his violet friend.

"It's good to hear it."He then turned his gaze towards the great building.

"Wanna go to eat?"

"Sure, I'm starving."Admitted Cynder, taking the lead towards the entrance. The other couple followed them. Nix raised her head to speak to Auros.

"Are you sure you want to go in there? I mean what if you encounter that dragon?"She asked with worry.

"I'm sure he won't even recognise me."He reassured.

"And it is better that this be so"He thought, moving towards the entrance.

They managed to elude the mass of dragons that was beginning to form inside the hall and surprisingly they found Gaia already eating her breakfast.

They sat all together and began to chat as their usual, trying to dodge as much as they could talking about the events of the last week or so. It was an attempt to return to normality and maybe help Spyro to forget about his…experience. Cynder was sure that, even if he didn't display it, what happened left a great mark on him, both physically and metaphorically. As the minutes went by, they kept on talking, soon the moles brought them their food and before they noticed it, they already had cleaned their plate. After finishing their meal, they continued chatting and laughing together. They were so taken by their conversation that they didn't noticed the approach of an unfamiliar ice dragon to their table.

"Purple dragon?"He spoke with a cold voice. Spyro turned upon hearing his call. As soon as the youngster posed his gaze on him, the elder he bowed his head. The violet youngster studied for a moment the drake in front of him. He had a dull blue set of scales, dotted with frills that seemed to be little ice shard poking out from his skin. Those frills ran up from his shoulders to the base of his six silver horns, which bore the same colour as his underbelly and chest.

"No need to do this, please keep your head up."He said concerned. The ice one did as he said, his cold eyes never leaving the violet dragon.

"It's an honour to meet you, Mighty One."

"Also, no need to call me like that, Spyro it's enough."

"As you wish, Spyro. It's also an honour and a grace to meet your friends." He turned his gaze to meet the eyes of the other youngsters. He scanned them on by one. Surprisingly he only glared briefly at Cynder. However as soon as his orbs dropped on Auros, his eyelids suddenly narrowed.

The white one maintained his calm look, not replying the glare. He noticed a glint of realisation in his pupils, something that he hoped not to see that day.

"You…"Said the ice dragon, his voice cold like the permafrost of Dante's freezer. He moved his gaze back to Spyro.

"Master Spyro, may I ask you why do you spend you precious time with scum like him?"He said inquisitively.

"Sorry, what?!"Asked in disbelief the purple dragon. The ice dragon didn't bother to answer and turned to Nix.

"Also you, young lady, a pure-bred ice dragon like you should have nothing to do with degenerated impurities like the one sitting next to you."He spat, while the dragoness huddled behind Auros's wing. His cold eyes returned to the white dragon, which bore the same unfazed gaze as before.

"You are a disgrace to our blood, you deserve nothing more than my spit."He did as he said, spitting a small globule of ice that landed on the wooden table in front of him, freezing at the contact with the surface. Spyro was about to speak back in defence of his friend, when the young dragon stood up and moved in front of the elder, gazing him with the same expression, drilling his eyes with his owns. Both went silent few seconds until he spoke.

"Are you done with this bullshit?"He asked flatly.

"What? How you dare-"

"How you dare to speak like that in presence of the great Heroes of the realms. You can insult me as much as you want, but do not minimally think I'll let you harass my friends with you stupid royal-blood wyvern-shit." He replied, raising a bit the tone of his voice. He then noticed that the elder was raising his paw, clearly in order to strike him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You're a full-of-yourself piece of garbage, but you're not stupid. You wouldn't dare to attack a young dragon in front of the Saviours and other Warfang citizens, would you?"Added the white dragon, almost mockingly. The elder snarled ferociously, his eyes bouncing between the other youngsters, the crowd and the white dragon in front of him. Auros could tell that he stroke directly with his words, as the ice one puffed viciously a cloud of icy mist before turning and leaving the great hall.

Auros waited until he disappeared before dropping his stance and releasing the tension. He returned to seat next to Nix, sighing heavily.

"I'm sorry for this display, I shouldn't-"He was interrupted by Gaia.

"That was awesome!"She beamed."You literally destroyed him!"

"But-"

"Yeah that was really cool! I thought he would melt in any second seeing his anger."Laughed Cynder.

"How did you manage to not jump on him? I would have shredded him into pieces if I had been you."She continued.

"You should be prou-"Spyro tried to compliment with his friend, before a series of violent coughs came from his lungs, making everybody interrupt their cheers and turn a worried gaze over him.

Cynder instantly flung to his side, with a paw over his back. The burst didn't stop, letting him barely any time to breathe in. Small tendrils of jolting electricity and green earth energy began to form around his muzzle, as the coughs continued.

"We must bring him to the infirmary!"Shouted Cynder. Instantly Auros reached for him, taking his friend on his back as the whole group flung out with an incredible speed from the great hall.

P.S.

I'm also happy to announce that I finished the timeline for this story and I also figured out a probable sequel. It will take time, but I will eventually make real my idea. Stay tuned and check my profile for updates! See you next time!

-Azotac