Hi dear readers, it's been a while, but with everything happening in the world during this period, writing sadly wasn't at the top of my priorities. Still I want to let you know that here everything is mostly fine, exams went well in the end and now I'm enjoying some good earned rest. I hope that's the same for all of you.

Again thank you for your support. Some of you turned to me to ask for help for their stories and I felt really honoured to be able to give my suggestions and opinions.

Now, without any other delay, enjoy the new chapter.

-Azotac

"This is indeed troubling!"Exclaimed Volteer apprehensively.

Spyro had just finished to explain what Ignitus had told him. Obviously the news about the still firm and concrete presence of Malefor's darkness in the realms came quite as a shock to the Warfangians dragons, which now all bore a very troubled gaze.

"What should we do?"Asked Nix.

"Well, relying on what Spyro said, one crystal has already been destroyed durning his rescue mission, while another lies inside these caves and it's the cause of the attack which Cynder received today…"

"But who knows how many others lay around the continent, if not the whole world…"Continued Volteer.

"We should immediately alert the elders of Seascale. We must find and destroy that crystal."Exclaimed Spyro.

"Good idea young dragon! I'm going to gather miss Aqua so we can go together to the elders. You two think you can be ready to leave in some minutes?"Asked worriedly the electricity dragon.

Spyro turned his vision to Cynder, who promptly nodded to him with a sure gaze.

"Yes we are, we'll wait you here."Answered the purple dragon.

"Very good, I'll be back in few minutes!"Exclaimed the elder, running out of the door. Once it was closed, the other three youngster turned their attention to their purple and black friends.

"What do you think is gonna happen? I mean, how can we defeat this darkness, if it can control dragons?"Asked Nix with worry.

"We must never let our guard down, that's all. We can't afford to let other citizens get influenced, or we could have to face a small army to get to the crystal."Said Cynder. Spyro was about to add something else, when the door bursted open again, with Volteer and Acqua entering with fast pace.

"That was lightning quick! "Thought Spyro.

"That was lightning quick, Sparky."Exclaimed Sparx. He then turned to face Spyro, which was watching him with wide eyes.

"Got it? 'Cause he's an electricity dragon!"Said the dragonfly laughing.

"C'mon we don't have time for bad puns, we must speak with the elders' council."Said the guardian.

"Come with me, I'll escort you there"Added Aqua. The others nodded and sped down the rocky tunnels. After few minutes they reached the central hub and ascended trough the circular opening, returning to the upper side of the settlement.

It took them another minute to reach the great hall, where there were already some councillors, attending other matters. Once they saw the group of Warfangians dragons coming to them with a fast pace, they grouped before them.

"Miss Cynder, it's good to see you already on your paws. We're extremely sorry for what happened down in the caves. Rest assured that the culprit will be severely punished for his aggression."Stated Orm.

"Actually we came here to give you a rather unpleasant news about this late attack."Said Aqua.

"Come over, purple dragon."Continued the dragoness, gesturing with her head. On his cue, Spyro positioned himself in front of the elders, which where scrutinising him curiously.

"Less than an hour ago I was contacted by the Chronicler, which told me that darkness still is present in the realms and more specifically, on your island. A large dark crystal is hidden in your mines and it has the potential to turn whoever comes in contact with it, into a menace like the one that assaulted Cynder before."Concluded the youngster.

The Elders recoiled with utter dismay etched on their faces.

"How is this possible!? Didn't you obliterate the darkness in recomposing the planet? You just lied all this time?"Asked indignate one elder.

Spyro bowed lightly his head, frowning.

"Of course they would blame me for this threat."He thought.

This only added up to the guilt already present in his heart since he received the news from Ignitus. He felt heavy, in knowing that someone could still suffer from the atrocities of Darkness. He fought with all he had to clean this world from the taint of Malefor and bring it back by literally mending its pieces together. Alas Fate cruelly decided that the peace that they sacrificed so much for, needed to be pushed farther away from them. He was really beginning to resign himself to live a life of constant strife. To battle to the end of his days for a peace that, in the current situation, seemed nothing more than a utopia. And of course everyone expected him to fight this battle for them, it's the "destiny of the mighty purple dragon" to fight for peace and dedicate his life to protect the weak. He was getting tired of fighting. He had finally found love and amazing friends-.

"What?…"

Someone pulled him out from his train of thoughts, with the simple and delicate gesture of a wing posed on his back. He turned around, meeting Cynder's emerald gems.

"Is everything ok?"She asked a bit worried.

In that moment he realised why he needed to fight. Not because everyone expected him to do so.

It was for her.

Her life has been in constant turmoil since her birth, abused and tortured. Turned into a puppet, a monster, without will, denying her the right to live her life. Spyro felt a sudden rush of energy course through him.

For her, he would confront anything and anyone who dared to cross their path to the peace they deserved. A peace that she deserved.

So he nodded energetically, returning his gaze to the elders before him.

"I didn't know of its existence until half an hour ago, as I already said. We came here to help you with dealing this threat. We must find and destroy this dark crystal before it plagues any other citizen's mind."Stated Spyro firmly.

"And how do you intend to do it? Our mines extends for kilometres underground, it could be anywhere!"Added another elder.

"We could interrogate the Earth dragon who attacked Miss Cynder. If he's the one who found it, maybe he remembers the way. I can lead them to the infirmary's dungeons."Proposed Aqua.

"That's a stupendous idea. Let's go!"Exclaimed Volteer.

"I wish you luck, the last report stated that he was still unconscious."Affirmed one elder.

"We'll see what we can do."Said the blue dragoness, taking the lead.

In few minutes the group descended down the central ring and entered the lower side of the city. Acqua directed them into one of the paths that they visited before, but then she took a turn to a rather dark tunnel. After a couple minutes of silent walking, the team arrived in front of an iron gate guarded by two armoured dragons. They bowed to the group, before nodding to another guard behind the gate, which promptly lifted the barrier.

They all walked inside, with only the metallic noise of the iron gate falling back in its place accompanying their walk.

They walked along another barely lit tunnel, with a series of empty cells on their right.

"Luckily we don't have much, if any, criminal activity here in Seascale. These dungeons were built to detain any possible prisoner that might have been captured outside our walls…"Explained Acqua.

Finally they arrived in the medical wing of the building which was definitely smaller than the big facility they visited earlier. There were just a couple of stretchers and a raised examination bed, where the earth dragon that attacked Cynder was laying still.

"Miss Aqua! What are you doing here with our guests?"Exclaimed worried a voice form a side room. Soon after a fire drake emerged from the opening. He had a couple of leather-made pouches hanging from the side of his neck, and another couple strapped to his forelegs. From them, a set of vials could be seen coming out from the lid. Inside them, some green and dense liquid was moving at the same rhythm of the fire wielder's breathing.

"Relax, Rigon, we're here to talk with Soil about what happened this morning."

"I understand, but he's been unconscious since then…"The drake turned his head to face the purple youngster.

"You gave him quite a beating, Master Spyro."Sighed Rigon.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention to hurt him badly."Said Spyro, dipping his head below his shoulders.

"You did what had to be done in order to protect your friend form an assault. Don't be sorry."Stated the fire wielder.

"By the way, I'm glad to see you're fine miss Cynder."Concluded Rigon, returning his gaze to the bandaged dragon on the bed.

There was an awkward silence, until the fire dragon spoke again.

"So why do you need to talk with him about what happened? It was really clear that it was a deliberate attack, we have many witnesses…"

"There's been an important development about the aggression. We have reasons to believe that our friend here has been used and manipulated by a dark force in order to attack Spyro." Stated Volteer eagerly.

"Ancestors! I beg, tell me it's not Malefor again!" Pleaded the healer.

Again, silence fell for a couple of seconds, while the drake's eyes darted frantically between the various dragons in the room.

"It's not really Malefor, but his definitely connected to his power."Stated Spyro moving closer to the bed. He curiously looked at the drake, before lifting his right paw.

"From what I remember, Ignitus spoke about mind submission and not corruption. So in this case…" His body was like moving on its own.

He posed his paw on the green scales of the earth dragon. In that exact moment a jolt of pain flashed to his body, making him rebound with a yelp. Cynder instantly jumped to catch him, stopping his fall. She immediately inspected his figure, strangely not finding any kind of injury which could cause such pain.

Meanwhile Soil's eyes blasted open, as he yelped too, but from the fright. His unfocussed eyes darted panicking in every direction, until a purple figure came into view. Adrenaline pumped in his blood, making him skid away from the bed and wrap himself in his wings behind the bed.

The medic reached the scared dragon trying to calm him down, while the others tended to the purple dragon.

The earth dragon's eyes where wide as saucers, his pinprick sized, but unfocused pupils rebounded continuously in every direction. The dragon was clearly in panic.

Rigon posed his paw in Soil's shoulder, which caused another yelp from the younger dragon.

"Hey, calm down. Nobody's here to hurt you."

"T-t-they were e-every where. T-they w-wouldn't stop."Said the dragon, staggering.

"Who would not stop, Soil?"Replied the medic.

"The v-voices, they were e-evil…"Continued the earth adult. Meanwhile his eyes began to focus again as they scanned the room.

He posed his eyes on the black dragons tending to Spyro and immediately all the events that happened just few hours early returned as strong and clear memories, and with them, also all the hate that he proved for the purple dragon, that now seemed to him so unjustified and wrong. The torrent of emotions was unbearable and he broke down crying.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"He whispered through the sobs, while Rigon patted him on the back.

Cynder, in seeing that Spyro was mostly fine, left him to the other's care and moved near the weeping dragon.

She gently posed her paw on the older dragon's one to gain his attention. The latter immediately stopped, focusing his teary eyes on her.

She could clearly see guilt and dread, both feelings well known to her.

"We know that what happened wasn't your fault, Soil, there's nothing to ask forgiveness for."

"But now we need your help to look for what made you attack us, we know it was a dark crystal, hidden somewhere in the caves of Seascale. Do you remember where you were when you found it?"She asked gently.

It took a couple of moments to the adult dragon to process what was happening. Yes, it was an indeed dreadful news, to know that in his home there was still a menace, but at the same time it was god to know that all that happened hours before wasn't totally his fault, that there still was hope to be forgiven.

He swallowed hardly, feeling his heartbeat slowing down a bit.

"I was assigned a new r-route from the director, I t-think I still have the map in one of my satchels."He answered weakly.

"I'm gonna fetch your belongings immediately."Said Rigon, returning to the room he came from before.

Moments after, the dragon returned with a couple of leather pockets with leg straps, all dusty and ruined.

Soil took the firs one and began to fumble with the lid, before digging his muzzle in the satchel. After a couple of muffled curses, he produced a piece of parchment, as much dusty as the leather container which held it. He unfurled the scroll on the floor, holding its ends with his tail.

"I-it isn't d-difficult to reach, just follow t-these directions from the main entrance of the m-mines."He explained.

Cynder nodded in understating.

"Thank you for your help, Soil. We'll leave you to rest and we'll take care of this."She said, folding the map and taking it under her wing. Soil bowed his head in respect.

"Thank you, Miss Cynder. Both for your help, and your forgiveness."Said the older dragon.

Cynder, which totally wasn't used to receive this kind and respectful treatment, remained a bit taken aback, but also very pleased in the end. All of her and Spyro's hard work in clearing her name was finally giving results. She remained herself to give a hug to her purple lug later.

She returned to her friends and smiled upon noticing the said purple dragon up on his paws again, talking to their friends. She eyed him again just be sure he was alright, thing she stated almost immediately, seeing him smile upon her arrival.

"Soil gave me this map of the mines"She said, showing the parchment hidden beneath her wing.

"Marvellous, young dragoness! Our search will be much more easy now that we have to know where to look."Beamed Volteer.

"Miss Aqua already left for the mines in order to evacuate them, so we must hurry and arrive there as soon as we can."Continued the guardian. The other dragons nodded, waved goodbye to the other two dragons in the room and speeded down the prison corridor.

Ten minutes later, after wandering a bit and asking around for help, they arrived at the entrance of the mines. It was a large, squared gate, with a big horizontal pillar serving as a lintel. All around the entrance there were several groups of earth dragons of all sizes and colours, most of them covered in dust and bearing some leather sacks strapped around their waist.

The range emotions varied from annoyed to cheerful, mostly the young ones were the latter.

The Warfangians dragons crossed the mass of earth dragons and reached the gate, where there was Miss Aqua, talking to another colossal earth wielder. She was at least tall as Terrador, but her scales color shifted from a very lavished green to a stone grey. The said dragonesses turned their attention to the arriving dragons.

The earth dragoness immediately framed both Spyro and Cynder, studying them from tail to muzzle. It was clear that she was annoyed to say the least.

Meanwhile Gaia was looking all around her with awe, she never saw so many Earth dragons in one place. Her wonder reached the top who she posed her eyes on the giant dragoness before her. Only the voice of the councillor interrupted her staring.

"Well, our friends managed to arrive. I already explained to Rose, directress of the mines, the problem."Stated Aqua.

"Yes, I must say that knowing that such a devilry is present in my mines and in my city angers me to no limit."Said the colossal dragoness, with a rumble.

"I would face this threat personally, but miss Aqua here advised me to let you deal with that."

"It's also good to now that one of my workers isn't a criminal…"She said, turning to Cynder.

"So, I'll follow the orders and let you solve this problem. May Ancestors look after you all, young dragons and Guardian Volteer."She said bowing curtly and finally directing to her subordinates, heavy paw steps echoing in the cave.

"Well, shall we begin. Has your extra time with Soil produced any result?"Asked Aqua inquisitively.

Cynder stepped in, producing the map and unfurling on the ground.

"He gave me this, he said to follow this directions from the entrance."Said Cynder. The blue dragoness scrutinised the map, before turning her head to the dimly lit tunnel.

"Very well, it shouldn't be too far away, still we need to be careful." She said, directing in the caves.

"C'mon, let's go."She intimated. The other dragons followed her.

It took them a while to get near the indicated location, which, based on Aqua and Soil said, should have been a new route to explore to extract gems. That explained why the dark crystal was never found before that day. Cynder kept consulting the map from time to time, helped by Spark's light.

They continued to walk and walk until Spyro halted abruptly, a frown on his face.

"Do you feel it?"He said, suspiciously.

"What?"

"The magical draw of the crystal. It's subtle, but present. We're getting near…"He stated. The others nodded and returned to walk, this time with extra carefulness.

After few minutes they finally spotted a crevice in a side wall, with a strong purple light emitting from it. They all halted in seeing this.

"Good, now that we found it, what do we do?"Asked Gaia.

"We must clearly destroy it, young dragoness, the real problem is how to do it, without being mind-boggled."Hummed Volteer.

"Surely we can't make the cave collapse, it wouldn't guarantee the destruction of the crystal and it would probably bury us alive."Observed Auros.

"Maybe we could dig a tunnel underneath it! Then make it sink under water."Beamed Gaia. Aqua raised a brow.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but our island extends hundreds if not thousands of meters underneath the sea. It would be impossible to do it."Stated Aqua flatly.

Gaia pouted at the answer, beginning to think again to a solution.

"I have an idea, but it's risky…"Affirmed Spyro.

"Do we have any spare green crystals?"He asked. Immediately all dragons fumbled with their satchels, some of them producing a couple of green magical gems.

"What it's your plan, Spyro?"Asked inquisitively Volteer.

"Cynder and I are going to get closer. I can protect us with my fire-shield. While she can get a better view of what we're dealing with without getting influenced."Stated the purple dragon.

"I could use my static energy shield, Spyro."Affirmed Volteer.

"Yes, but since the aperture is really small, I don't see the use to waste you energy to bring just the two of us there. Maybe we could use it later to shield all of us in case we didn't find a smarter way to destroy the thing without a frontal attack."Said the purple youngster.

The older dragon paused for a moment, before sighing.

"Ok Spyro, but be careful. If you feel too much energy withdrawal leave immediately, understood?"Demanded the guardian. Both Spyro and Cynder nodded.

The couple stepped on and Spyro exhaled heavily, gathering as much concentration as he could. The magical draw was still present, but it wasn't strong enough to compromise his ability, or at least he hoped.

He focussed harder, letting his worries slip away and a bluish aura began to form around the two young dragons. Once fully covered, Spyro nodded to Cynder and began walking in the direction of the crevice. As soon as the crystal came into view, a dart of black energy bolted from it and even if it was several metres inside the cave, it struck with great energy, dissipating with a hiss against the shield. Spyro exhaled heavily, while Cynder began to use her venom to melt the rock and open a bigger passage for all the group. After a couple of tense minutes the two returned to their team, panting in fatigue. With a greater opening the onslaught of the crystal was also stronger, meaning Spyro consumed more energy that he intended to. They got offered the remaining green crystals, which they gladly accepted.

Once they got their energy practically restored, Volteer spoke up.

"So, what did you see?"

"The crystal is at least five meters inside the cave, rooted in the middle. I don's see any way to circle around it without getting one of us corrupted."Said Cynder.

"The idea should be attack all simultaneously, if we hit the same point around the base, there's more probability to crack it."Said Spyro.

"So it's front attack then… Very well."Sighed Volteer, standing up. Spyro raised a brow in seeing the Electricity Guardian, who usually sparked brighter than the element he wields, so gloomy and tired.

"All of you, get behind me and, for Ancestors' sake, do not cross the line of the shield. "Stated Volteer.

"Here we go!"Said, the guardian, moving rapidly to the, now wider, aperture in the wall.

Immediately the crystal reacted to their presence sending those malicious streaks of dark energy than now resembled more bolts of lighting than a mist.

Simultaneously the group of dragon began their assault, completely bathing the crystal with a cascade of magical attacks.

"Push forward!"Screamed Volteer while beginning himself to move on inside the cave to get closer to their objective. Everybody followed the elder dragon, not daring to exit the range of his life-saving electricity shield.

Their onslaught went on for quite few minutes and just only after that time, the monstrosity's surface was beginning to chip. It was an hopeful sight, still, on the other hand, the dragons were almost exhausted, with Volteer struggling hard to maintain their line of defence.

They went on and on, until a loud crack emerged from the centre of the crystal, as it began to glow with a bright purple light. The group was less than three meters away from their target and their magical energy was verging on its end. Gaia and Nix had already stopped emitting their elemental breath, struggling to stand. Spyro and Cynder too were almost at their limit, they knew it was now questions of seconds rather than minutes. Spyro most of all, was giving everything he had, but alas the effects of all the tribulation he faced in the recent past had eventually taken its toll on him. He still needed time to recover after all, as the Guardians told him before he left. Never he thought that a voyage of peace could only be the beginning of another conflict. Again he wondered when his fighting days will finally come an end. In that moment he felt a tap on his right shoulder. He glanced sideways only to see that Auros had stopped emitting his elemental breath and was watching him with a serious stare. He got closer and screamed:"Cover me!"

It took a fraction of a second to Spyro in order to realise what he was going to do, alas it was already too late. His white friend conjured a Comet Dash that zapped out at an astounding speed from the barrier and collided directly with the focal point of their assault, taking part of their attacks in the meantime.

In the moment of contact a bright, blinding light invested all the dragons present in the cave.

The crystal exploded. Time seemed to stop.

Or so it seemed to all the presents, because a fraction of a second later, they were all tumbling on the rocky flooring of the tunnel which they came from.

The poor Volteer didn't have time to get up, that Auros was literally slammed on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. They white dragon unceremoniously dropped on the floor, his scales fuming slightly.

Nix ,with the last straw of her strengths, darted towards him while Aqua helped the guardian to regain his footing.

Auros's scales where fizzing probably due to taking the blunt of the magical explosion directly on him, some of them where chipped off with a nasty burn marks showing the skin below them.

Fortunately he was still breathing, as his eyes fluttered open.

"Oww…"He murmured.

"That was very irresponsible and impulsive, young dragon…"Said Volteer panting.

"Still, good job."He turned is gaze to face everybody.

"Is everyone ok, our white friend aside?"He asked worriedly.

"Just tired as hell."Said Sparx, who stood in the rear the whole time. Every dragon glared at him, even Spyro. He raised his tiny hands in defence.

"Just joking, just joking…"

"I think we all just need to get back and rest a bit."Said Spyro, with an heavy breathing. Meanwhile, Nix was aiding Auros in standing up, he draped a wing over her back to help himself with his balance. The whole time, the azure dragoness had a mixture of clear concern and a veiled anger in her eyes, as she scrutinised him for any other injury and sometimes breathing ice on his hide in order to cool him down. He whispered a 'thank you' to the dragoness, before nodding to the others.

Miss Aqua meanwhile was studying the cave in which the crystal was installed. Any trace of its presence had completely vanished, as only a small crater was left in its place. Some dust and debris had fallen down the ceiling, but there was no evidence of an imminent structural collapse. At least they could return safely, with a slow pace.

"Very well team, let's get some utterly well deserved rest."Said Volteer, regaining a bit of his usual quirkiness.

And so they left the dark tunnels and the mines behind them, only to be met at the entrance with a crowd on dragons all bombarding them with questions. Aqua dismissed them briefly, escorting their guests to their accommodation. They will have time to address their success once they're fully rested.

Spyro and Cynder almost dragged themselves to their hay-bed, before literally falling asleep coiling on one another.

Meanwhile Volteer dispensed to Auros a couple of red crystal, that, after a couple of pained hisses, sealed his wounds. Volteer reprimanded him again a bit, before adopting a more condescending expression and sending him off to bed with an energetic pat on the back.

Nix waited for him at the entrance of his room and dragged him to bed, embracing him with her wings.

"You scared me again, what happened to your being a considerate dragon?"Asked the dragoness, her eyes closed.

"I'm sorry, but things where really getting bad and I didn't want to get anyone more hurt."He answered with a whisper.

"Hmm."She hummed.

"Well, I'm glad you're ok."She said, nestling her head in the crook of his neck.

"Goodnight"He said, licking her forehead.

"Goodnight"

Outside, the sky over the spent volcano, glimmered with silver and golden stars.

Hope to see you in the next chapters, thank you for reading. I'll be regularly updating my profile with the status of the current chapter.