The Legend Of Spyro: Love And War Book 2

by Spyro and Cynder lover

Continuation Of Book One! With Malefor returned to normal, Spyro and Cynder in love, and everyone now back to their normal lives, another threat; Flint, the new Dark Master, will put everyone and friendships to the test, mixing lies and threats against one another. Death is around every corner, lives at risk, and sometimes, not even being dead means you're forgotten.

6. Chapter 6: Every Hero's Weakness

Chapter 6: Every Hero's Weakness

Stirring in his sleep, Spyro couldn't get the thought off his mind about what the future could hold, what kind of threats that he could face that might be even more powerful then him, It's so stupid to think of, but on the other paw, it isn't. When I fought the dark side of Cynder, it took all of my power, and I even lost that power. What would've stopped someone from attack us right then and there and killing us once we returned to the temple? Same with the fight with the dark master, same for both times we fought the dark master. Every time I either, lost my power, or came close to losing the battle. The last fight I had with the dark master, I passed out from the pain and yet, I promised I would protect Cynder. How am I supposed to do that if I keep failing every step of the way? Waking himself up from his thoughts, he sighed, wishing he could find a way to prevent such a thing from happening, but to him, he has tried everything, Even before, when I started training, it wasn't even enough to take on Malefor. It took the dark power within me to save her. Which means, without my dark power, I would've lost... and that also means that... I'm weak. Opening his eyes to the darkened room with the only light coming from the moonlight that shined in through his windows. The only sound he could hear was Cynder's soft breathing which was quite soothing for him to listen to. He wanted to train, and he wanted to get stronger, but he didn't see a point in doing so the more he thought about it. Unable to move, he sighed once again without having a clear answer and he closed his eyes once again.

"I can't believe my son is giving up so easily," A voice called from in Spyro's room, but opening his eyes, he wasn't in his room anymore, and nor was he with his lover. He realized Ignitus had pulled him into his dream world in order to talk to him, and standing in front of him was Ignitus himself. Spyro shuck his head as he stood up and tried to decline it, "No, I'm not giving up, I'm just, having trouble understanding the point of training right now." Ignitus had already heard his thoughts, but he still wondered what else he might've been thinking, "So you think you are weak because it required a power that you didn't have to save your lover? And because you couldn't save her with your power, that frustrates you?" A slight chuckle emerged from Spyro, "Hitting the hammer on the nail with that one."

"Spyro, I understand where you are coming from but back then, Malefor had years of training from the four of us. We only trained you for a little bit while you were with us and that was it. It wasn't your fault. The dark master made Malefor's training seem double because of the boost the darkness can give to someone."

"But what about when I trained all night?! I pushed my body past its limit after what happened with the whole, arrow incident and it still wasn't enough! The only thing it did was give me the power to defeat dark creatures and apes, but even with the power I thought I had, it took the time power, another source of power that isn't mine, to protect Cynder and the Hatchling which means my training was useless! And if you want to prove me wrong then do it."

"Well, you were able to take on the Guardians that one day."

"Only because I had trained after everything that had happened and they didn't so it was an easy to win fight. If they were trained, and they worked together, I would've lost. During the brawl we all had, I would've lost for sure if I didn't have my dark power so at this point, I can't even tell how powerful I really am right now."

"But the dark power is apart of you. Think of it like fire or ice, it's just something you've learn to control. Like how you learned to create water from using two abilities at the same time, the darkness is no different."

"The darkness can be apart of anyone. If Terrador knew how to control and use this dark mode that I have, he would easily be able to beat me in a fight."

"But even though Terrador is in his normal form with no darkness, same with you, you could easily beat him in an arm wrestle for sure."

"Ignitus, when was the last time any of you have trained? The only time the Guardians have ever fought something was during the raid from those dark creatures on Warfang. They are inexperienced. Like I've said, if they trained for a week or so, together, they could easily beat me, and I feel like I haven't gotten anywhere with my own power. What do I need to do? What am I missing?"

"Why are you worried about it? You have the dark power either way to do a lot of things so why are you so worked up about your strength compared to the darkness?"

"Unlike the Chronicler, I can lose my powers. It has happened before. I lose the dark power and then what? Warfang is attacked by every ape in existence and I wouldn't even be able to stay through half the fight without my dark form. We would lose the battle of something we're to happen like that. Since you are the Chronicler, you don't know what power is yours or not but it doesn't even matter because your power comes from the Ancestors themselves... and something like that scares me."

"What? Hehe, Spyro, do you think someone else could get a holed of my powers?"

"All it took was one dragoness to come into your life and you didn't even know she was an assassin and all because you wanted to be respectful and not read her thoughts. Tell me Ignitus, what if she turns on you now? What if she's taking your powers or even killing you right now."

"Well since time is frozen while we are in here, I'm sure I'm fine."

"Not the point, Ignitus. You know as well as I do, there is only two ways this could play out: The Chronicler's powers get into the paws of someone who wants nothing more then to destroy the world, or you give up on life because she has left and tricked you, easily making you vulnerable because she knows she had your heart, and she can easily manipulated you at any point."

"Claire would never do such a thing."

"I thought the Chronicler was supposed to know all? But that's the whole point isn't it? You know all, but you don't want to accept it. And I don't hate you at all for not wanting to accept it. Sparks always talked about how Cynder would turn back into her dark self and kill us all, and I never wanted to believe it, and luckily, I have been able to keep her safe. But... Ignitus that's... it's also about Malefor. The whole thing with the apes has gotten my scared, even if I try not to show it."

"You think Malefor was commanding those apes to attack us? I thought you said you trusted him?"

"I never said I believed it was, Malefor. In fact, I know it wasn't him. Why would he put him self through such a dramatic moment once again? No one wants to relive their fears, they always try to stay away from them, or even try and take them head on to face them. But if that were true, Malefor wouldn't have brought Carith along to do so. He would've told her to stay back while we all were ambushed. Malefor was scared, everything about how he moved and talked, I... I felt bad for him. I, I trust Malefor a lot, now more then ever seeing his fears, seeing him laugh... I was wrong since the very beginning with him."

"But if it's not Malefor then, why are you so scared?"

"The ape king is dead, the dark master no longer controls the apes. With those two, no one would've been able to lead them, and yet, when we were attack, they were coordinated, as if someone told them what to do. And if they didn't have someone controlling them, you would think we would've see one or more as we flew, or even before we landed, but we didn't. And with Malefor not being in control, it scares me even more because now the question is, who is controlling the ape army?"

"Unfortunately, I don't want to believe there is another dark master out there but..."

"Maybe not a dark master, we haven't seen any dark creatures yet which is also another reason I still trust Malefor."

"But even still, you saw that one Dragon get a holed of some darkness and Malefor told you he had dark spots laying around in case of emergency, well, the dark master did but, you get it. So what would you seeing a dark creature mean? Does this mean you wouldn't trust him even after everything that you've been through with him? And how could you be so sure it was even him in the first place? Terrador asked you this when we were walking out of the Chambers yesterday but, you didn't give a clear answer."

" Alright... I will clarify. It's because, say if, every time someone gets a hold of the dark spots, they would spawn dark creatures. If that were the case, me using my dark power would make dark creatures, but it doesn't. The only way I know of to make dark creature in theory is to have the power of the dark master completely, and I know for a fact, a simple little left over dark spot would not do such a thing. The only one who has this power, is the dark master, so it leads me to believe that Malefor would be the one controlling and making them."

"But that is another thing, he said dark spots, meaning more then one. What if someone got a holed of more then one and was able to obtain the power similar to that of the original dark master?"

"Ignitus... what do you know?"

"Pardon?"

"You are acting as if you are speaking in a way that there is some dark force out there and you aren't telling me. You've constantly tried to defend Malefor about this whole dark creature situation as if you know there is dark creatures out there. So tell me the truth, are you lying to me or not? Because even if you don't want to tell the truth, I can spend all day outside Warfang, killing as many apes as I need until I see some dark creature resistance."

Ignitus was surprised by his knowledge of how he put everything together, which made it harder for him because he knew if he lied or slipped up and gave out some more information, he knew his son would find out there really was dark creatures still roaming the world, "I'm only saying that because I'm scared to know what might happen if there were dark creatures. Life has been pretty peaceful, aside from a little incident here and here, but we've moved passed them with ease, and I want to keep life that way without interfering in a way that could get me in trouble."

"I've always wanted peace in this world... giving Cynder world peace wouldn't be such a bad gift, don't you think?"

"Hehe, thinking big as always when it comes to doing something for your lover."

"Well, I can't achieve a dream until I get stronger... Ignitus, if time truly does stand still in here, would it be okay if I stayed here and trained for as long as possible?"

"Unfortunately, the Ancestors wouldn't allow it. Most I could give you is an hour or two to be in here before they tell me to kick you out."

"Damn. Wait, if time is frozen, how do they know if it has been an hour or not?"

"They are the Ancestors, they will know."

"Alright. What else can this dream world do that can help me train?"

"Well, since it is a dream world, anything. I can put you on Mars so you could fight the gravity, I could spawn a bunch of dark masters that you can fight that each have the real power of the original dark master. Anything you can think of, I can do it. But Spyro, about your dark powers, they are apart of you. Don't think you don't have to use them because you think it is cheap. Or like you said to Malefor before, about how you didn't want to use the power because what it took to get it. When you need to power up to save someone, don't think twice."

"I know I know, I will try... But think about it, the dark power is nothing more than a multiplier. Depending on how strong I am is also how much more stronger the darkness can make me. But I have to know, you fought me when I went all out with my power. That forehead flick that you did to show off in front of Claire, how close am I to achieving such a power? How close am to even coming close to a small percent of how powerful the Chronicler is?"

"Well, you're not wrong about the forehead flick thing. After Claire gave me that kiss, I kinda wanted to show off in hopes she would kiss me again. And about that forehead flick, I was very surprised how fast you got up from it. I was scared I would've actually hurt you during our fight."

"You broke, my arm."

"Hehe, oh yeah, sorry."

"But going back, how close am I?"

"You aren't very far to be honest. With the right amount of intense training, you could be able to get such a power in a couple of days, maybe. But that's if you train for the entire day for all twenty-four hours, and Cynder would kill you if you wasted time on such a thing. She understands you need training, but she has needs as well."

"As much as I love training, I would never neglect my lover to do so... Disappointing her would... ugh, I would never be able to live down the hate I would have for myself. Hehe, but now that gets me thinking, how are things going with Claire? Has she seen how much of a disappointment you can be when you leave her and do your work?"

"Nice try, but I can clone myself to do anything I need. Right now, in this dream world, it is really me, just my mind and yours. I'm laying with Claire while my clone works at the Dragon Temple for a little bit."

"Lucky little dragon you are. So when you going to say you love her? You two seem to be getting along pretty well?"

"Please, even you know it isn't that simple. Even for the all knowing Chronicler such as myself, I'm not a super hero."

"Speaking of super hero, it's another thing that has been on my mind. My parents had small books that they use to read to me when I was little, understandably since the letters were too small. But one thing I've noticed in a lot of hero books is, the hero is never strong enough to take on what ever is thrown at them."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm not going to say all the story hero's were like that, but very few had the hero be stronger then the villain. Most of the time, the hero would lose to the villain, get stronger, go on a quest or something, and come back stronger. And unfortunately, that's how I felt when I fought the dark master and gained control of my dark power. I don't want to feel weak, and I know I need to have this power before something like what happens in those stories happens to me."

"Spyro, being weak is just part of being alive. No matter how strong you are, you'll always run into another obstacle, rather it be emotional or physical. Life is like a story; A constant up and down in your life, and when your time is ready to face that obstacle, all you can do is hope that you'll be better then before to face it."

"You're wrong. Being the Chronicler and using what he knows is only clouding what you use to know. Having Malefor by my side, when ever a problem arises, what would we have to deal with? War? Hate? Sadness? It can all end with one single step, and life is nothing more then another obstacle that you have to push back just as hard as you have been since you started living! When ever you give up, it's all over, and it will take longer to heal then it would if you just keep trying. Think of life like arm wrestling; If you keep going, and trying to push through life, it's going to hurt at times, but when ever you win, you can feel the satisfaction of knowing, and feeling the relief that you've won!"

"What if I turned evil right now, with all the power I have. How would you be able to push through life after that?"

"There is no what if to that situation. You are just like me, you are just like Malefor, we are all the same when it comes to our lovers. Why would you ever turn evil when you already have everything that you could want? So what would be the point in ruining someone else's life...? That's why I'm backing off of Malefor, because I'm not making anyone's life easier by constantly trying to kill him. But, I can make everyone's life easier if I get stronger, if I can be stronger then what life has for me to face in the future. I need your help on this, Ignitus... Please."

"Hehe, you know, you don't have to butter me up? You could've just asked nicely."

"I asked when I first got in here!"

"True, but you never said please when you asked me now did you? I guess me being your father, it should be good to say that I need to teach you better manners. Don't want Cynder to think you aren't really a perfect Dragon now do we?"

"You know, I could easily get everyone to agree with me that you slept with another dragoness, and she will easily dump you."

"She'll believe me... I hope. And how dare you try and threaten the one who you're begging for help from!"

"Well, are you going to help or not, make up your mind."

"I will, but on one condition."

"Condition? You are the Chronicler! You can literally do anything just by blinking, what could you want from me?"

"I... You talked to Claire before, while you were in the hallway, right?"

"What else could we have been doing?"

"Well I, I wanted to know what she said? I'm just, a little curious to know if she loves me or not. I mean, the kiss on the cheek was an accident and yeah we've kissed one another on the cheek back and forth here to here but, maybe she is only doing it because she would feel bad if she told me she didn't like me. I wanted to know if maybe you could make sense of if she does or doesn't really care or love me?"

"And you will train me if I tell you?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes again."

"Once more, are you hundred percent sure."

"Yes!"

"You like guys?"

"Haha, nice try, I knew you were going to pull that trick. That and well, I read your mind before you even said it so..."

"Of course you did."

"Hehe, I can't help it. My mind is constantly getting information all over the world."

"It must suck when you have a headache and you still have to go through your Chronicler business."

"The Chronicler can't get sick nor can he or she get a headache. This is in order to keep the flow of work constant."

"The more you talk about your powers, the more I just want to hit you. But I guess, in a way, I'm just jealous. I mean, could you imagine? Your lover has a headache, and with a simple tap to the head, you could cure all of her symptoms. Cynder already loves me so much as it is, but just imagine, one claw could take care of any problem in seconds! Like how you tapped my forehead. If you would've done that more then probably, three times in a row, I would've seriously been down for the count if I didn't have my dark powers."

"Well, like I've said, you can get to where the Chronicler is in power. The Chronicler's power is limited to a certain degree just in case because they don't want us to snap and make the sun disappear. But with the purple dragon, it doesn't matter. You want the power to do such a thing, I don't really know if it would be possible, but I do know you could be far beyond that of the Chronicler's powers."

"So then what is holding me back now? Is it my lover? Malefor...? I just, can't figure it out."

"Nothing is holding you back, Spyro. You've just learned how to finally relax for once. Think about it; You just said how you trusted Malefor, and you really meant it. Seeing how happy he was, you knew you made the right decision. So now, with no real threat, and since you are within the walls of Warfang, what do you have to fear? The dark master and his creatures are gonem Malefor, you, and I are as happy as could be, so there is no need to worry about the future."

"Malefor, you, and me...? What's wrong with the other three?"

"Oh, they are fine as well, I just included us three because of us having lovers."

"Ignitus, why do you keep missing important details? You don't have to hide anything from me."

"What, what do you mean?"

"Volteer, he isn't happy."

"What? Of course he is, why would you say that?"

"We just went through it. You know what I'm talking about."

"Oh... is this about... Ersa?"

"Yeah. Until we find her, he probably will never be happy. But that makes me think, and, even smile to be honest, thinking, and knowing, there is an even happier Volteer hidden behind his own scales. And I feel like finding her could bring out that side of him. I mean, there is so much good that can be done if we find her. You all know her so it will be very easy for her to fit in. The girls, along with my lover, will have a fantastic time talking to her, and I mean, Volteer even said he would make her his mate as soon as he saw her! Hehe, I mean like, how much better can it get if she was here?"

"I... I wouldn't get my hopes up on that if I were you."

"What?! Why? This sounds like an even better future to have? Why wouldn't you want to have it? Is it because you'll get jealous that Volteer had the guts to tell his lover he loved her even though you can't do that with, Claire?"

"No... it's, it's nothing like that..."

"Well then, you need to tell me the truth. What is wrong? I can't help what I don't understand."

Ignitus sighed, unable to keep in the secret any longer. He knew he would have to tell his son at some point, but in a way, he always wish he didn't have to, "The reason you shouldn't get your hopes up is because... there won't be a Ersa out there for you to look for anymore because... where you were, at that tree, the blood... Ersa... died there, Spyro."

"What?! Ignitus, you can't be serious! There's... there's no way... did you check?! Did you make sure it wasn't just, something else, someone else?!"

"That's how I found out that she had died. After fighting for a bit, she was badly wounded. When she ran into that forest, that is, that is where she met her demise."

"No... no, I don't believe you!"

"Spyro, listen to me. She was badly wounded, there were no gems around when she died where she did, so there was nothing she could've done to heal herself with. She was smart, but smarts don't give you strength and that's what the dark creatures had. There was nothing she could've done. She was beaten in strength, and numbers... I... I needed to tell you this because... I don't want you two to be going around and looking for a ghost... I need your help because... I don't know how to tell Volteer. Either way, it's going to hurt him and, I don't want that to happen."

Looking away from his father, Spyro sighed with disbelief and anger. He had hoped it was nothing but a lie, or even a joke, but coming from the Chronicler, and the fact that Ignitus read it from her book, it must've been true. Turning away from him and looking down on a planet as a small shooting star went over the planet, Spyro thought about it as well, wondering what he would say, even after how much he pushed Volteer to not let go of her, "I wouldn't be able to tell him... He already has a bad history with the purple dragons, and if I tell him that she died even after everything I said to him it... no... no!"

Turning back to his father, Spyro walked up and stood where he was before, and spat, not trusting what he had read, "I don't believe it! All because there was blood doesn't mean anything! Go back behind Warfang when I fought the dark master, and what would you see? Blood! Lots and lots of blood. But I'm still alive, I'm still breathing, and you never found my body! So how can you be so sure that she is dead all because you saw some blood?"

"It was written in her past, Spyro. There is no other way around it."

"You said some of what I read from Malefor's past was nothing more then a lie! How do we know that what you've read wasn't a lie either?!"

"Because what was lied about was the darkness. The thoughts and actions that happened were the lies when it came to his darkness. Ersa was never controlled by the darkness, and the only time she came into contact with the darkness, was when she fought it. Trust me, I want nothing more to believe you. I've looked, I've tried to find her, but she isn't alive any more, Spyro... I'm sorry... I know how you must feel, and I wish there was something I could do but... I can't... I can't bring someone back to life..."

It was quiet for some time, both of them thinking back and forth about the supposed death. Neither of them wanted to accept what they heard, and even with all the evidence, it just made it that much more difficult to defend whether or not she was alive or dead. Seeing his son frown, he watched as Spyro's body tensed along with his claws, and small drips of tears hitting the invisible ground as he looked down at the ground. Ignitus wished he could've taken back what he had said and regretted that he ever brought it up. "I thought it would help, i thought maybe he would have an answer for it... but... even for something like this I... if I don't know what to do, and neither does Spyro then... I guess the only thing to do is tell him the truth. It won't be easy but, hopefully it will be for the best." Ignitus thought, finally coming to an agreement with himself, so he told his son what would be best for them to do, "Spyro, I think it would be best if we..."

"Don't, say it..." Spyro growled, lifting his head up and looking at his father, already coming to a conclusion of his own, "Tell me, after the fight me and Cynder had with the dark master, did you know where we were? Did the, all powerful Chronicler know that we were even alive? Tell me the truth."

"How did you... well, you, you aren't wrong. After the fight, the Chronicler said he couldn't find you. I took over and after a while, i was finally able to figure out you were in Avalar. Hehe, that's uh, I guess where you can say, I started to haunt you and Cynder's dreams. That's also where I gave you the power to go into Cynder's dreams as long as you were laying with her."

"Did the book ever say how she died? Did it say exactly how she died?"

"Well, no, it wasn't completely stated, but..."

"And where the Hell is her body?"

"Spyro, that battle happened more then thirteen years ago. Her body would've decomposed way before then."

"Her skin would've decomposed, but her bones would've remained! So where are the bones of her body if she died?"

"Anything could've happened. The world split apart and they fell in, an ape or a dark creature could've taken them all, the cheetahs might have them, I don't know. There is so much that could've happened. But because she died, there was no need to continue to write down what was happening in her life. And if she was alive, the Chronicler or I would have her thoughts, we would know if she is alive or not. I want her back just as much as you and Volteer, she was one of the greatest additions we ever had to our group... But we couldn't save everyone that day... And in the end, we only saved you..."

"You trained Malefor to be the best, but you were his teachers, his masters! Why were you not strong enough to protect everyone?!"

"We could've won against him if it hadn't been for the fact that we were fighting apes and dark creatures all at the same time. Even if we would've gotten close, we would've been taken out. But after fighting for some time, we were able to come up with a plan and seal him away in that dark realm, thanks to the help of some of Volteer and Ersa's work. We were lucky they were able to finish the seal just in time. Once the seal was done, I hid it, and then we all retreated back to the Hatchlings to try and keep them safe, and while they defended them, I helped make sure you were safe by grabbing your egg, running out, and pushing your egg down the river. We... we didn't save, all the eggs... only you... but if wasn't for you, many more would've surely perished, and in a way, you've saved all of us."

"How...?"

"You saved everyone in the world first off for defeating the destroyer and the dark master, and before you say anything, yes, I do know Cynder was there to help and I give her proper credit as well. But you saved me from thinking it was all over and gave me the courage to fight. You saved Volteer, Terrador, and Cyril. You saved Cynder, and brought one of our most beloved friends back, that being Malefor, and also also in doing so, you even brought Carith back to life without even knowing it... If you were there that day, if wouldn't know what you do now, things would've been so much more different... but we can't change the past... I'm scared, to wake up with, Claire gone, and even as I tell you now, how we can't change the past it's... it is the scariest feeling in the world... and not even I can get over it..."

"I think about those same days, how I told you that I wanted to save everyone... how I didn't want anyone to die... if Ersa really is died, what would I do then? Volteer wouldn't believe it, he wouldn't want us to stop him when we told him so... how would I protect him from the truth? After a while, he will get suspicious. He isn't dumb, far from it... so now I just need to find an excuse to... to..."

"To, what?"

"No, never mind. It... it can't happen. Ignitus, don't tell him what has happened. I will deal with this. I was the one who gave him so much hope, and I plan to keep my promise to him. And if that day comes where he comes to find out I was wrong and she really did die well then... I guess I'm not the man I thought I was... and to show Volteer that I care, I might go through what he's going through."

"What do you mean by that? Wait... no. No way in Hell. Cynder will kill us one by one and very slowly, blaming it on me that you dumped her."

"Hehe, don't worry. It's just, going to be one of those things where I stay with him until he finds a lover, that way he knows he isn't alone. Of course he has you all, but when, and worse come to worse he goes outside of the Walls of Warfang, you all need to stay while I look after and guard him. The last thing we want is for him to off himself because he blames himself... But we shouldn't think like that. That is worse worse case scenario... it... it will never come to that..."

"Hopefully... Volteer is strong, I know he can push through. And if he can't, we'll be there for him."

"Be there for him... Ignitus, going back, what exactly happened with Malefor? The stories were very vague on what exactly happened to him."

"Well, after we sealed him in the gem, like I said, we ran back and I grabbed your egg. When I pushed it down the river, I ran back to see if I could help, but... I was too late. So, I ran away as fast as I could, grabbed the gem that sealed Malefor, and I ran away, trying to hide the gem. I found the perfect place to hide it, which was in a mountain. Can you guess which one it is?"

"Mountain Malefor!"

"Yep. After I put the gem there, it turned out Malefor's soul was in the gem, but his essence was in the convexity realm. He spoke to me before I left him. He told me it wasn't over, and that he would have his revenge."

"If you beat him before he got to the Hatchlings, how did the apes know to save Cynder's egg?"

"We could always ask him. But from what the Chronicler was able to gather, he just said that he needed one egg to survive in case anything ever happened to him and he would want this dragon to do his bidding. Gaul and his ape army agreed and they took one of the eggs which happened to be Cynder's..."

"Every time I think about the past I just keep wondering what life would've been like if I was there? If I would've been born before Malefor, to help and stop what he was planning... maybe I could've done something to help protect all of you, the Hatchlings, and even Ersa... I know I'm not the strongest, but with the power I have now, going back then, I would've been the strongest there ever was... I could've saved everyone."

"Don't beat yourself up for it. It was my fault in the first place that we were so weak. Terrador told us that we should keep training to keep ourselves ready for battle, but I declined the idea. We were in an era of peace, Malefor was happy with his lover, and he trained a lot more then we ever could've because he wanted to protect Carith. We never knew what would happen... that's also why we lost to an army of apes, we weren't trained, we weren't prepared, only Malefor was. Even now, when we were attacked once again by those apes on the way to the Temple, you were there. You took them out with such ease. And what was once feared by all of us, what we once lost to, you and Malefor beat in matter of seconds."

"Well, honestly, if it wasn't for Malefor's help, I might not have been as calm as I was when I fought. I was still scared, don't get me wrong. There were hundreds of apes out there and at any point Malefor could've attacked one of you. I would've had to deal with an army and Malefor at the same time. Because he pulled through, and didn't make a joke how he was going to hurt someone mid battle, I respected him a lot for that... Hehe, and even though everyone kept telling me to trust him, I wanted to find any and all reasons to kill him."

"Hehe, well, what is the reasoning now?"

"Well... I guess that third base thing he kept pulling on you made me want to kill him."

"Oh you are not alone on that."

The two shared a nice laugh, and they were glad they could share a nice smile with one another from it, especially with everything they have been talking about. Spyro feared for asking his father if there was any other bad news, but he wanted to make sure that everything was resolved, and to make sure nothing else with bothering him, "So, is there, any other bad news? And if there is, you better have something to back it up. Don't care what you said, I believe Ersa is out there, and when I find her, you owe me one, deal?"

"That is an absolute deal. But I guess the only thing is just me wondering if Claire really did like that kiss, or if she thinks she is being forced to kiss me."

"You'll learn very quickly, especially if you ever admit your love to her that, controlling your lover to kiss you is the most romantic thing to do, especially since you can tell her that you are controlling her into doing so. I do it with Cynder almost all the time. It brings back bad memories of when she was controlled, but she and me are happy with what we are doing, and we try and forget the past that way."

"I'm not gonna lie, doing something like that with Claire does sound kinda fun."

"Aw, poor Ignitus needs some love before he gets old?"

"I'm not even close to being old so don't try that. I just, really want to know what it's like to kiss someone you love, that's all."

"You know to be honest, you think the Guardians, the all powerful protectors would be getting tons of girls by now. What's up with that?"

"Well, it's a number of different things actually. Before, we were always on the move, then after things had calmed down and Malefor and Carith were in love, we thought we should try, but we wanted to make sure everyone in Warfang was safe first by helping build and expand. And by the time we were ready, well, you know what happened. And now that we are up here, not many dragons come up here mainly because they are scared and don't know how to speak to the Guardians, or because lots of girls have already found other lovers."

"Damn... that must mean the Terrador and Cyril are screwed, which means you also got very lucky."

"No kidding... and man is she so beautiful."

"Did you tell her that?"

"Of course."

"Did you tell her that in the last five minutes?"

"What? How could I, I've been in here with you."

"Shame on you. She will never fall in love with you if you don't tell her she beautiful."

"You haven't told Cynder that!"

"But I'm already in love. We are talking about you and you not being in love because of it. And when ever I do get out of here once we are done, I'm gonna make sure that I tell her all about how beautiful she is just to make you jealous. I can go almost as far as I want, and I can even tease her. All you can do is say how beautiful Claire is before you freeze up and blush so damn hard, and you do know, she can easily see it through your red scales."

"Yeah yeah, what ever, I'll show you once I get out of here as well."

"Then I guess we both have something to look forward to now don't we?"

"Indeed."

"Well, I guess since we are talking about our lover's, I, I hate to bring up the past but something confuses me. You trapped Malefor in his mountain, correct. If Malefor was trapped in the mountain, how could he have been there when she... when he forced her, to kill my parents. And you know I mean the Dark Master when I say it like that, I'm just wondering."

"What? No, he was never there. After corrupting her with darkness, he used this darkness to give her the order to take out your parents to make sure there wouldn't be a purple dragon again, and for Cynder to take out her parents on the same day in order to make sure she didn't have any ties with anyone she knew or loved."

"Oh... I can't believe she had to go through something like that."

"Well, I did hear your conversation about wanting to read on their past. I think it would be a great idea. At one point, you and your parents actually met. Hehe, Zhen was always such a stubborn bastard when it came to protecting his family. He was always yelling at us, telling us to make sure nothing would happen to his Hatchling... if he were alive today, he surely would've kicked all of us out commission."

"Zhen? Who is that? Is that, my father?! Or, is that Cynder's?!"

"You can't say anything when I tell you, understand?"

"What? Why not?"

"Because, Cynder will learn about her parents in the future, and for now, neither of you should know your real parents names until you read some of their past. But for right now, I will tell you of Cynder's parents. But remember, you tell her, I won't let any of you read about their pasts."

"Alright alright, don't have to be so harsh about it."

"Alright. Well, I guess we can start with who we've already mentioned, that being, Zhen. He was a shadow dragon, and if you thought Terrador was tough, he took nothing from no one. He was like you, always protective of his family. But unlike you, if someone hurt his family, the only answered would've been death."

"Why? Did something happen to make him that way?"

"Well, this goes back to something that happened to his lover, or, rather his mate. Her name, was Ellen. She was a wind dragoness. And before Cynder was corrupted, wind was her primary element. Your lover definitely takes after her mother a lot. Her mother was always seeing the bright side of things, always trying to defuse the situation with a smile to get back to how things were. Say if, Malefor did something. Zhen would not have any of his jokes, but Ellen would laugh all day long."

"They sound like such opposites. How did they become to love one another?"

"Like I said, something happened in their past. But, say Zhen wanted to kill Malefor. If Ellen stepped in front and said no, he wouldn't fight it, he wouldn't growl, he would've just sat down, looked to the ground, and apologized. He knew her word was absolute, and he never fought her on anything she said, and they got along very, very, well. But, unfortunately, if Zhen was alive today, and he heard what has happened, to his daughter, to know that Malefor forced Cynder so many... I... I don't want to say this... but it might be for the best."

"You mean the dark master?"

"You try and tell him that. He wouldn't care what you said, and he might not even care what Ellen said. But, I could be wrong. I never really saw the happy side to him. I saw him almost smile once when his mate was nuzzling him and talking about him as she did, but, I don't even know what he was really like. It kinda makes me want to look back as well and see."

"So... Zhen and Ellen are Cynder's parents... If say... I prevented their deaths from ever happening, Cynder was never, corrupted, nothing ever happened, and I had stopped Malefor from flying away from Carith when he thought he had failed... what do you think would've happened...? I mean, my parents died as well because of this... do you think... I would be able to see my parents as well?"

"I... I couldn't give you a clear answer about that. There is so much we would have to think about. The Hatchlings that did die, what would've happened to them now? What other force would've found, or even gained the power of the darkness? What would've become of the apes and Gaul? There is just too much to put together. And, I don't want to give you a bad answer but... It might be for the worse. Your corruption gave you so much more power, it gave Malefor so much power as well that you can help him with. If you never had this power, and Malefor was never corrupted, the darkness would always find someone else... and we can't prevent that."

Spyro sighed, wishing there was some way he could bring every one back without messing around too much with the past. He was glad to her of his lover's parents, and he wondered what his parents were like as well, but he knew his father wouldn't say anything unless his lover asked him. Talking about the past, talking about the strengths and weaknesses of the past, he knew he couldn't let such a thing happen again, and one thing got to his mind most of all, and even though he thought about it, his father still heard, "The darkness will always find someone else... Does that mean peace is just a dream... and even if the darkness found someone else, who would it be? Malefor? If it ever even left his body... ugh! What am I talking about?! I know Malefor isn't the dark master I... I know it... I know I do." As he thought about Malefor, his mind went back to his fear; The sadness in his eyes, his tensed body, it was too real to make up. Giving him power as strong as his seemed like the right thing to do, but without power strong enough to protect his lover, to protect his future hatchling, it seemed pointless to Spyro to help him, and give him the power that Malefor wanted. He wished he could talk more with his father about a lot of things, but he had to make sure he used this time wisely. "Ignitus... thank you for, talking with me so much. We haven't done something like this in a long time."

"Hehe, anytime, my son. After all, we can talk when ever you want. Just say my name in your thoughts and say you want to talk and I can bring you back in here," Ignitus smiled, glad his son was having a good time talking with him.

"Of course. But, now more then ever, I'm scared. And for the first time in my life, Malefor isn't even a fear of mine. My fear now is that I, along with Malefor, won't be strong enough to defend against some kind of threat that comes our way. So, please, I'm asking and begging you to put me through the harshest training you can imagine. But, not emotional training where Cynder is involved, I just, I need your help to get stronger. I need power like yours."

"Alright but, are you absolutely sure? This training will not be easy. Even if your bones break, I'm going to rely on you to put yourself back together and keep fighting. Are you sure this is the kind of pain and training you want to go through? You have so many years to get so powerful, and you are only sixteen. You still have your life ahead of you to get stronger then anyone in the world."

"Someone else out there could only be thirteen and be strong enough to beat or kill everyone here, and I'm not going to let that happen. The more I wait, the more time someone else has to one up me, and I can't let that happen. Until I get stronger then you, I will never be satisfied. The fact that there is someone more powerful then me out there makes me know that I can be just as good, and even better, then you, and I have to be."

"Then, please, before we start... don't tell Cynder. She will kill me if she finds out I put you through this."

"Hehe, I won't tell her, don't worry. After all, if I did tell her about this, she would kill you, and then say how she was... disappointed in me. I can't have that."

"Hehe, alright... Then I guess, we can begin..."

"Oh, wait!"

"What's wrong?"

"Shouldn't we do this training in the training room? If this is just your dream world and I'm not actually training my real body then, wouldn't all this training not count for me?"

"Don't worry about that. All training that is done in here will always be recorded by either me or the Ancestors. They know what kind of pain you are in and what kind of power you gained from this experience. So, when ever you leave this dream world, all the pain that you had at the end of the training is what you will wake up to. And say, you were able to gain some musle, when you fall asleep, then wake up the next morning, you'll get that muscle from the Ancestors. After all, how do you think I've gotten my powers? You all yell at me for my, borrowed powered that I never worked for."

"Hehe, oh yeah. Just making sure. Alright, now I'm ready."

"Alright, First, lets change the terrain."

Raising his paw, the galaxy around them turned black along with everything else. For a second, Spyro couldn't see anything, but light came into view above him. Looking up, it was the blue sky, and the sun shining down from above them. Looking back down and in front of him, Ignitus was still in front of him, but behind him were trees, grass, and bushes. Looking behind himself, there were three big mountains with snow on top of them. Walking up next to his son, Ignitus stood next to him, and Spyro turned his body around and looked at the mountain with him. Pulling his paw up, he pointed it at the mountain, and flicked at it. Everything around them cracked from the wind, including the grassy floor underneath them. The gust of wind was so strong, Spyro had to block his eyes with his wings. With the wind slowly calming down, he pulled his wings back down. His body shuck from the sight. The entire forest in front of them was gone. Following the trail of destruction, his heart skipped a beat, and his eyes grew wide. The mountain had a massive hole in the middle of it that went straight through the back of it. Cracks could be heard from the mountain before it caved in on itself, completely destroying itself. His breathing grew slightly heavier as he never knew such a power existed, which only fueled his fears and need for power. As he blinked, everything had returned back to normal: The mountain was fixed, along with the surrounding area and the forest. He looked up at his father, trying to control his breathing, "Please... What... what do I... what do I have to do."

His father could only smile, seeing the desperation in his eyes, he was glad he was able to help out his son so much, compared to how things were in the past where he felt helpless. Unfortunately, Ignitus knew this kind of power was still a little out of reach for him, so he decided to teach him something else that would satisfy his need for power. "Before we get to that kind of destructive power, lets start with the basics. You need to focus on your powers like: Fire, Earth, Lighting, And of course, Ice. Now tell me, have you mastered your elements yet?" Ignitus asked with a smile, as even for him, he didn't know there was more to his powers then he thought. "Of course. While me and Cynder were going on our journey to beat the dark master, I learned to master my elements. I have trouble with earth, but I got the hang of it after a while," Spyro explained. "Oh, so does that mean you can do this?" Pulling up his paw, Ignitus showed one claw and ignited a small light of fire. But it was no ordinary fire, it was blue, and it had more of a sense of warmth coming from it, almost as if it was being controlled better then normal fire. Spyro's eye's went wide with amazement as he never knew he could control and master fire different from his red kind. "If you can master this, there is one other fire that you can try and get to," Ignitus paused, twirling his claw, making the blue fire turn purple, "You can achieve such a thing as purple fire." The warmth coming from this fire was a lot more different then that of the blue fire. The warmth could be felt all over his body, and even his eyes, but it didn't hurt. His body felt so peaceful just even looking at the fire. The purple fire moved and waved very slowly compared to normal fire. A small growl came from Ignitus as he put his paw to the ground. "Ignitus! Are you okay?" Spyro asked. "Yeah, yeah, it's just, the higher you go in the power, the more stamina it uses. Blue fire is a little difficult to control and takes a medium amount of stamina. Purple fire is increasingly difficult to control and takes a large sum of stamina. That's why, when you tried out that move from my book, it drained your stamina completely. The way your body moved, it's like how the fire is: Smooth, Gentle, until finally being released into a destructive force."

"Wait... so, even for you, you aren't able to maintain this, purple fire? If you can't then, how would I ever be able to get to such a kind of power?"

"Remember, my power is limited to a certain degree. You on the other paw can have as much power as you want and no one can tell you otherwise. Even though it may take long, the pay off for this power is enormous. The blue fire could burn through just about almost anything. And the purple fire could put the temperature of the sun to shame. But here is also something you should know. Fire isn't the only element that has a color change when you master it."

"What? Wait, so, if my ice is blue, would I have blue ice power?"

"Your ice is already blue, so unfortunately, you won't know until you've mastered it. You'll know the feeling when you have. But just like the fire, soon your ice will turn purple. Which I know sounds wired and as you think of it, it seems wired, but purple ice is like a diamond: Both in power and beauty. And same goes for your lighting and Earth."

"Purple lightning sounds pretty cool... But going back to this, purple fire, why did it feel so, calming. I've always liked when it was somewhat cold when I sleep, and having Cynder beside me, I have that right amount of heat and comfort, but the fire... it was like, no matter how hot or cold I was, it felt so, calming. It was hot but, it felt as if I were to put my paw on it, it wouldn't hurt... I can't explain this feeling... is there some way, I could hold the fire?"

"Sorry, Spyro. If I were to let you hold the fire, you wouldn't have to control it with your own energy, and how you are now, the fire would drain your stamina in an instant. I would show you again, but even for me, I can't hold it for that long. Maybe after training and all, I will try and show you again, but for right now, my stamina has to come back to me."

"Alright... But, you understand the feeling, right?"

"I have experienced it before, yes. I've made it close to a hundred degrees in my temple one time, but the fire isn't affected by any other heat. It keeps the temperature you have it at. I've tried to freeze it, but it just moved within the ice, and melted it, but after it melted it, it still stayed its normal temperature somehow. Even the ice had the same temperature as it so it wasn't hot when I touched it."

"What? How, how did you do this? You could barely hold the fire before but your saying you did all this?"

"I had to get permission from the Ancestors to do this, for experiment purposes."

"Oh... and what about lighting? Is it the same way?"

"Purple lightning is... like you, I can't really explain it. It's just, so calming. I, now mind you, this was experiment purposes, so don't yell at me. I shocked myself with the purple lightning..."

"Your are starting to make me thing of you as an older Malefor."

"What?"

"You remember how Malefor tried to fight fire, with fire?"

"How do you... Oh yeah. What ever, look, I was experimenting. Come to find out, purple lightning is like a kind of, healing ability. At first, nothing really happened. I paralyzed my body and fell to the floor. I used the purple lightning again and it, it somehow shocked all my nerves back together without any side effects. I even later learned it can even restart your heart, give you more of a jolt of energy, and fix any nervous system damage that you could have. And there is probably so much more I don't know about."

"All that... just from one ability... Wait a minute... 'I even later learned it can restart my heart'?"

"You are killing me with the questions."

"Just making sure that you won't say, 'I attacked Malefor in his sleep and restarted his heart'. So I guess as long as your doing this to yourself, sure man... But seriously, you accidentally kill or harm yourself permanently doing this, I'm going to tell Claire."

"Alright alright, I won't. I will let you be the test dummy in the future."

"Hehe, that's a deal. I promise, one day, when ever I master my fire, me and you are going to see who can hold the fire the longest?"

"I look forward to it," Ignitus smiled, holding onto his promise for the future, "So does that mean you are ready to start your training?"

"Yeah... yeah I think I'm ready. So what are we going to do first?"

"First, you are going to fight only using fire. No fist, and no other ability. You can only kill with fire. We will keep going and going until you think you are ready to take a break, sound fair?"

"Yeah. But just remember, don't care how much pain and wounds I take, until I say I quit, then you do not stop spawning those dark creatures, agreed?"

"Spyro, you could go through even more pain when you fought me. Are you..."

"Yes... Yes, I am sure..."

He saw the determination in his son, and this burning determination had been in his eyes ever since he talked about him training him. Sighing from the thoughts and painful cries that he know he would hear, he agreed with him and decided it would be for the best. "Just, be safe, please. I know you are about to go all out on this but, you don't have to do all this you know. I can tell you right now, you are a lot more powerful then you think," Ignitus encouraged him, still not wanting to go through with this. "There are still dragons out there who would threaten my lover, and the peace I want to give her. You all are at risk as well and I will not be satisfied until I know I can keep everyone safe. And in the future, if Malefor keeps proving to me that he is who he says he is, then I will show him as well how to master this power," Spyro promised himself with determination. "So, when will you make Malefor your friend? Still scared he will kill one day." Spyro sighed, not really knowing the answer, but he had his hopes for the future, "I'm going to see how this week plays out. If he behaves, and doesn't say something stupid like you and Claire going to third base... then maybe, maybe! Really big maybe, I will make him my friend. I trust him, so you don't have to worry about me killing him as slowly as I would like to."

"Hehe, sounds fair enough. So what, you trust him enough to kill him fast rather then slowly?"

"Yeah... but, like I said, I need to see how things play out. If he didn't kill Ersa, it wouldn't take me a whole lot longer to consider him my friend, especially since I know Volteer would be happy, so it would be a win win for everyone. But... since you said she was died, I just have to wait and see. The future is a scary thing, but, of course, anything can be scary if it's unknown. But, as long as I have everyone, you, and Cynder... The future will always look bright."

"Hehe, well I mean, as long as there is a Sun, of course it will."

"Hehe, great, you are becoming like an older version of Malefor."

"Sweet."

The two shared a nice laugh, which Ignitus was glad, but he also knew it would make it that much harder for him to watch as his son fought even after all the blood that would be shed. Seeing as his son stretched out his body to prepare for the fight, he knew there was no other way to try and talk him out of it, now all he could do was wait and watch as the fight unfolded. Turning away and walking away from his father, Spyro walked to the other side of the open field. Standing in front of the tree at the end of the field, he turned around and looked at his father and called out, "Ready!" Ignitus could only sigh as he heard those words. A dark cloud of smoke formed in the middle of the field as Ignitus backed away. Dark creatures jumped out one by one from the cloud with weapons ready. "I guess I shouldn't make this easy on him, so lets make them a little more, powerful," Ignitus thought, giving the dark creatures a little more boost in power. Getting in a fighting stance, Spyro was ready to take them on as he said, "What's wrong? Scared or...?"

A small gust of wind went by as his head. His eyes went wide and his mouth hanged opened. The dark creature were so fast, he didn't even notice that his check had been cut clean to the side. Small amounts of blood poured from the cut, which somewhat frustrated him. "I've already taken a cut and the battle has barely started?! How weak can I be?!" Spyro growled at himself, wiping the blood off his cheek before charging head first into battle. Sliding down on the ground, he used his wings to spin himself around, igniting fire around him as he went through the dark cloud. The dark creatures dodge his fire. Slashing his tail through the ground to stop himself, Spyro growled as he slid back, taking another couple of hits from a blink attack. The four dark creatures that he was fighting all got attacks off of him as he was staggering backwards. He now drew blood from his two arms, his other cheek, and right near the top of his horn. Thinking he could end it quickly, he charged up fire in his mouth. "They haven't even moved!" Spyro growled, in his thoughts while fueling the fire in his mouth. Using his mass amount of fire, it engulfed the forest in front of him in a blinding amounts of fire. But he had failed to kill them. As he used his fire, the dark creatures sliced at his body. Hissing from the attacks, he had had enough and built up the same amount of fire, but in his body this time. Flying up into the air, he pulled his wings in along with his arms. Feeling the fire build up inside, he stretched his arms and wings out, letting out a massive amount of fire that burned the surrounding area completely. As the fire reached the ground, Ignitus tapped the ground. A small protective barrier shielded him from the fire as it engulfed the area. Landing down on the ground, Spyro's breathing had grown heavy as he had already gone through so much power. Looking around the forest, it was almost completely burned to the ground from his fire usage, which he felt good to know he at least had this much power, but it proved to do little good as he fought. He felt slashes hit his legs and arms. The sudden pain caused him to growl. Looking over at the dark cloud in the middle, the dark creatures were still standing there. "That's... that's impossible! I've burned this whole damn forest down! How are they still alive?!" Spyro yelled with frustration. Going into his dark mode, he had enough. His scales turned dark along with his whole body. Disappearing in the blink of an eye, so did the dark creatures. Explosions could be heard and felt as the forest was being completely destroyed from a small fight with these dark creatures. Every punch made another small crater in the ground. Fire burned and incinerated trees, turning the land into nothing more then a burn pile of ash. Reappearing in front of his father, Spyro's breathing had grown severe. His body had sustained even more injuries as he bled from his wings, side, and tail. His dark scales were more purple now then they were dark as he was losing the power. Ignitus bit his lip as he wanted to just stop the training now, but he remembered what they had agreed on.

"Come on, Spyro. You don't have to keep doing this," Ignitus thought, wishing he could tell his son, "I've made it so these dark creatures are unbeatable, there is nothing you can do." The dark creatures had come back onto the field, standing side by side with one another. They decided to finish Spyro off. One took the opportunity to rush in, and since Spyro couldn't see nor read their attacks, the dark creature disappeared and reappeared right at his chest. Pushing his weapon right into his heart, Spyro's eyes went wide as he felt like he was going to faint. "Spyro!" His father cried. As his eyes and body grew heavy, he felt like falling to the ground, but he couldn't, he wouldn't allow himself to. Bitting his lip hard enough that he bled, he shot his eyes open and let out a monster growl. Grabbing the dark creature by his neck, he snapped his neck completely, killing the dark creature. "What?! But, but it was unbeatable!" Ignitus thought with wide eyes, seeing almost in slow motion as the dark creature fell to the ground with his neck twisted the other way. Falling down to the ground, Spyro tried to keep his balance, which proved to be more of a challenge then he was hoping for. His dark power had almost been completely drained, and because of this, he started to feel more and more of the pain then he had before. Along with the fact that his adrenaline was starting to fade. Grabbing the weapon, he slowly yanked it out from his body, successful in doing so. But in doing so, more blood spilled from the wound as well. "I... I can... use the remainder of... my dark power... to heal my... heart..." Spyro thought to himself in a struggle. His dark power slithered through his body and towards the hole in his chest, using the last bit of the dark power to seal and heal his heart. Taking one step to his right, the pain hit him hard enough to make him almost fall over. Seeing that he didn't have his dark power any more, the three remaining creatures did the same as the first one. Disappearing and reappearing, each dark creature took a stab right at his body. One hitting and pinning his tail to the ground, another slicing right through his back leg, and the last hit and went through his back. The weapon that stabbed the top of his back went through the top of his back and out his chest, touching the ground. Ignitus couldn't watch any longer, and everything screamed at him to do something. Seeing as Spyro's body started to go limp and he had closed his eyes, Ignitus ran forward to stop what he feared and knew would happen. But before he got half way, he stopped and watched as darkness from his body started to slowly emerge from where he was stabbed. The darkness circled around the holes in his body and broke the part of the weapons that were in his body. The weapon that stabbed out threw his chest fell to the ground while the dark creature held just a broken stick. The weapon that stabbed in his tail did the same. The dark creatures backed away wondering what was happening.

"Spyro...?" Ignitus whispered, watching as Spyro's body fell down onto the ground, almost as if he was knocked unconscious. The darkness hovered over where he was stabbed and slowly made it's way over blood that had spilled on his body. Walking up more towards his son, he stood in front of him. His body laid there on his right side while the darkness slowly moved around his body. Ignitus watched in awe as the darkness had moved away from where he was stabbed, and the wound was completely healed, along with the blood that surrounded it. The darkness continued to heal his body and clean him of blood, and the sight to him was amazing to see such a thing. "But... the parts of the weapons... wouldn't they still be in Spyro's body?" He thought to himself, placing a paw on Spyro's side, wondering what happen to those pieces. His eyes grew wide as he said out loud, "Incredible!" Taking his paw off his son's side and placing it back to the ground, he watched as the darkness returned into Spyro's body. Looking at his son's body now, it was completely cleaned of damage and blood. "But... why would the darkness do such a thing? Why would it..." He paused in his thoughts as he heard a small grunt of pain escape from Spyro's mouth as he shuck. "Spyro," Ignitus whispered, looking down to see him waking. As Spyro opened his eyes, he laid on the ground with slight anger as he said, "And... I failed... I thought we agreed that you wouldn't heal me no matter what happened."

"But that's the crazy part, I didn't heal you," Ignitus said with excitement in his voice which made Spyro very curious as to what he meant. Taking a step back from his son as he stood back up to his paws, grunting in pain as he did so, Ignitus couldn't help but quickly explain, "While you were knocked out, your dark powers healed and protected you." Hearing the darkness did something aside from destroy sounded unbelievable to him, and Spyro called him on it as if he was bluffing, "Really? My dark powers? I'm not stupid, Ignitus. You can't heal by using something that can destroy."

"No no no, trust me. When you were knocked out, the darkness hovered around where the weapons were stabbed into you. They broke off the weapons even though they were in your body!"

"If they were in my body, wouldn't I have a piece of a weapon in me?"

"Hehe, oh man, this is were it gets even crazier. The darkness inside your body broke down the weapon inside your body and basically disintegrated it! It even cleaned you off of your blood! I never knew the darkness could be used in such a way! I was a little scared at first because I thought, with you knocked out, it would take over your body, but it didn't! It healed it!"

"The darkness... protected me?"

"Crazy, right?!"

Still not believing his father, he decided to try something. Reaching his paw up and stabbing his claws into his other arm hard enough to make him bleed, he cried out in pain and clenched his teeth to help hold back the pain. "Spyro! What are you doing?!" Ignitus cried, watching as his son pulled his claws from his arm. Blood dripped down the side of Spyro's right arm as he explained, "I'm going, ugh... I'm going to see if you are bluffing or not... I... I want to see for myself what you are talking about. I don't believe the darkness would rather heal me then to take me over."

"Yeah but... you didn't have to go so far as to do something like that. You could've just made a small hole in your paw or something, not something this severe."

"I'm... I'm sorry... If what your telling me is true, there is... there's just a lot on my mind."

"Well, when the darkness heals you, do you want to talk about it?"

"If the darkness heals me. But if..."

"Spyro!" Ignitus cried in an outburst, scaring Spyro a little, "Look at your arm!" Looking down at his arm, his eyes went wide as he watched the darkness slither out of the hole in his arm and clean the blood and the wound. He also felt the darkness down at his other paw as well. Pulling his left paw up and looking at the one, he watched as the darkness circled around his claws. As the darkness slithered back up his arm and into his scales, the blood from his claws that he stabbed into his arm was now clean. "No... This..." Spyro stopped as he put his paw back to the ground and looked back over at his other arm to see it was cleaned and healed, "This... this doesn't make any sense... Why... But... Before, when I fought you, when we went to the Dragon Temple... why is the darkness doing this now?"

"Well, if you think about it, after that fight I had with you, I healed you. From what I can recall, ever since you got the dark power, you always were either healed by me after training or what not, and when ever you bled and I wasn't around, you would wash it off with water like you did back then. But now, since their was nothing to help you this time, the darkness stepped in and helped."

"But... It's the darkness! A tool used for evil! Something that was used to summon and command the destroyer...! Why... why would it heal me instead of infect me and try to use me... This doesn't make any sense..." Spyro wondered as he sat down on the ground and wondered with confusion, not understanding why the darkness would help him. Ignitus also tried to make sense of it as he thought about it, and he came up with a reason of what it could be, "Well... I have an idea. Maybe the darkness was already infected by something, that being your pure side, so... it now acts as a ally?"

"It acts like an ally? This is the darkness we are talking about. It only has one means and that's it."

"Then how come before, when you were knocked out way back when you were knocked out and almost killed by the Dark Master, why didn't the darkness take you over then? Didn't you find it wired that you were still able to survive even with such severe injuries?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, maybe... maybe the reason you were able to hold on for so long was thanks to your dark powers. Any normal dragon surely would've died with the amount of stamina drain and blood loss, and yet, you laid on the floor for a good hour or so before you were finally healed... why is that? How were you able to survive that?"

"I'm not going to admit that the darkness saved me."

"But because of the darkness, you were able to defend and protect Cynder. With this dark power, you've been able to fight with ease and a smile. Just like with those dragons, and with the apes, and when you fought me and everyone else. So what about the darkness is so bad? From where I'm standing, the darkness has helped out a lot for you." The idea that the darkness was something helpful made Spyro snarl, and he disagreed with that statement, "You're wrong. When ever I use my dark power, there is always a balance to it. Every time I use it, I feel the anger coming from it. Everything that's happened, things that the Dark Master did, what's happened in the past... I have to control all that hatred."

"And how do you do that?"

"It's not really, all that easy. I have to be pretty serious from times to keep myself from letting the darkness take over. Basically, what I do is, I have to think of anything sad, something heart breaking every time I use my power. With the right amount of anger and the right amount of sadness, I'm able to easily use the power... but... those two emotions aren't easy to deal with as they, just like my dark power, are the most powerful weapons in the world."

"Then... why would the darkness heal you?"

"Instinct? After all, when I use my dark power, it always has access to my memories in order to draw out that anger. The darkness to me seems more like a virus; It makes you sick when ever you have to experience it, and when it's all over, it's a nice sigh of relief. But, one thing the darkness does that a virus doesn't is... It actually does help me."

"Is this thing about the darkness healing you really messing with you that bad?"

"No... I just... I can't believe I lost to those dark creatures you made my fight."

"Spyro. They were unbeatable. The fact that you even killed one puts the biggest smile on my face."

"But what if Cynder was attacked by these unbeatable enemies."

"Well, for one, Malefor would be here to help you along with the Guardians to make everything easier. And even if they couldn't help, knowing you, you'd explode with dark energy and annihilate everything that stood in your way. Hehe, I mean, after all, I haven't seen you pissed off in forever, which is definitely a good thing."

"Hehe, why, because I'm already such a pain in the ass to deal with."

"Of course not. It's just, last time something angered you, it was when the Dark Master attacked and nearly killed Cynder. I know that was a bad time for you and everyone else, especially for me since I couldn't do anything but... You were more then half as powerful as I was. That power of rage you had was almost... scary."

"Why am I weaker now then compared to back then?"

"Because compared to back then, you were only full of rage. You were intending to kill rather then to save. Seeing what he could do pushed you to do what you knew what would be for the best. Like how you said, you need sadness and anger to control your dark power. But at that very minute, those two emotions were going crazy from everything that happened which only made your powers stronger."

"So then... I know my darkness can be so much more then what it is now. But... just like everything else, I should master it before I try and move on to something more advanced."

"Precisely."

"Then... we are going to put my dark power to the test and see what else it can or can't do. Tell me, Ignitus, how cold can you make it in this dream world?"

"Well... I mean... I can make it cold enough to give us frost bite from frozen Hell if that's what you want. Why do you ask?"

"We are going to see if I do or don't need to use my powers to protect me from severe conditions of weather. It seems my dark powers will only assist me when ever I know for a fact I can't do anything to help myself. So, I'm not going to do anything, and I'm only going to let my dark powers do everything."

"Don't hate me, but I kinda hope when I make it negative fifty, your dark powers don't work, that way in can see you freezing in a cube of ice."

"That's pretty..."

""Cold," Ignitus and Spyro both joked at the same time with a laugh. "But, seriously, if that does happen, burn me free. Like I said, I'm not going to use any of my powers at all," Spyro said with a little more seriousness in his voice and even somewhat with a chill as he was now a little afraid of that happening. "Alright, guess I will start making it a little cold around here," Ignitus said as he stood there doing nothing, and Spyro looked at him with a raised brow, wondering why he wasn't doing anything. After a couple of second of silence, Spyro spoke, "So... uh... Getting chilly up in here or...?"

"Wait... you don't feel that?!"

"Feel what?" Ignitus was surprised that Spyro stood there with a confused look on his face which made him somewhat smile as he thought, "Incredible! His dark power really does have abilities protect him even from the cold. It's about negative a hundred and he doesn't even look like he understands what I've done... Hehe, how about I try and make it even colder... Negative two hundred should make his scales to icicles" As he made the temperature colder, Ignitus was sure this would freeze Spyro were he stood. The entire area around them started to freeze over in white ice. Now as the two breathed, they could see one another's breaths, and even Spyro had to admit it was cold, "Alright, I will agree, it is a little chilly now. But... you got anything... What the hell!" Looking over at the dark creatures, their bodies were completely frozen over with ice. Looking back at his father, he asked, "How cold is it?"

"Should I lie to him? It could make him want to push himself further to be even more powerful... If things get out of paw from this, then I will tell him the truth," Ignitus thought to himself about what to say, and when he knew what to say, he spoke, "Oh... uh, you know... It's only about negative fifty degrees... I just froze those Bastards on purpose for what they did." His words worked as Spyro started to feel hate for how weak his dark powers were, "So... only negative fifty degrees... Well, I know for a fact my fire can handle something like this no problem. I guess I just need to work more with my dark power... Alright, let's turn up the heat now."

"Alright." Now using his powers, Ignitus thought to himself, wondering how hot he should make it, "Well, Spyro's dark powers can protect him against negative temperatures pretty well. So, how hot should I make it...? What about... a normal amount of two hundred degrees and go up from there." Turning up the heat very quickly, the ice around them hissed as it melted around them. "Ouch," Spyro chuckled, feeling the heat from the boiling water as the heat from around them took over the cold. As the water dried up, he now waited to see how his son would react. To his surprise, he didn't seem fazed, and Spyro spoke with a sigh, "Let me guess... seventy degrees? And I'm also guessing you only heated everything up just to get rid of the ice, right?"

"Seventy Degrees?" Ignitus thought once again before he spoke, "Well... not exactly... it's more like sixty degrees. And you are right about the ice though, didn't want to give you a handy cap," He lied once again, and he felt a little bad for lying as he saw the slight frown on his son's face once again. "A clean seventy? Screw it, let's make it a nice, hit, three hundred degrees. Let's see if he can take that," Ignitus thought, turning up the heat even more around them. As the heat started to get warmer and it reached it's peak, Spyro started to sweat a little as he chuckled, "Okay... now it's getting a little... hot."

"A little? This dark power can surely protect him a lot better then I thought... I guess I should tell him the truth so he knows how far he has come." Turning down the heat back to a soothing temperature with a nice breeze, Spyro sighed as he was somewhat glad things had cooled off. "Spyro... I don't want you to feel like your training is for nothing, so, I'm going to tell you the truth," Ignitus spoke. "The truth? Let me guess, it was like, fifty degrees and I was sweating, right?"

"It was about three hundred degrees just to get you to sweat even a little."

"What...?! No... Ignitus, come on, be serious."

"Spyro, when it was cold, it was more then what you thought it was. It was negative two hundred and yet you said it was, a little chilly."

"Are... are you serious," Spyro somewhat smiled which made him smile as well, and Ignitus was glad he was telling his son the truth.

"The reason the ice burned away so quickly is because I made it a smooth hot two hundred degrees in almost an instant. Just look for your self," Ignitus gestured his paw over to the dark creatures. Spyro looked over to see they had melted away with nothing remaining. Looking back at his father, he continued to speak, "Even they couldn't stand the heat, or even the frosty ice hell that I made." Spyro's smile grew a little wider from his father words as it really did seem to him that he was making progress. But as he thought about the dark creatures, his smile slowly faded, but Ignitus knew what he was thinking about and assured him, "Don't worry about losing to them. I gave them basically my powers. They knew your attacks before you even made them. The fact that you killed one means... if I only did send one after you, you surely would've won."

"But..." Spyro murmured, but Ignitus quickly interjected.

"You were fighting four of me, basically. Each if them were of course a little weaker but, your power isn't something to play around with. You put yourself in a position that would've angered you, I'm sure you would've won. When you are backed into a corner, it's scary to think what you'll do, especially with your dark power." Hearing his words made him feel a little better, but he wanted to know just how close he was to being better then the power that he possessed, "How close am I to you then?"

"Tell you what, you tell me if me and Carith will ever fall in love with me, then I will tell you. So, tell me, what do you think?"

"Oh, no no no, mister. Cynder and I have to wait to read our parents past, so you are going to wait to find out if she loves you or not. But, unfortunately, I can already see you crying and doing nothing but laying in bed because Claire left you... It's going to be a very tough time for you... Especially if I told you what she said in the hallway that one night."

"Wait! What?! Spyro... you are joking... you're joking, right."

"Yep."

"Not funny! You actually sacred me. Both mentally and physically. Look, look at my body! I'm shaking because of you."

"Hehe, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you that much. If you said me and Cynder weren't going to fall in love, I would've acted the same."

"The only difference is you would burst out into tears like you always do."

"Am I talking to Malefor right now or..."

"Sorry, but, going back and reading what happened back then... he isn't wrong."

"Yeah yeah, what ever, point is, stop getting so worked up about love. The time will come between the two of you, just don't be something that isn't you. Cynder fell in love with who I was, and Claire fell in love with who you are. So as long as you don't change that, you'll be fine, I promise you." Ignitus let out a sigh of relief, believing his words as his son had already been through this, so he trusted him on it. Raising a paw into the air and looking at the front of it, then turning it around and looking at the back of it, Spyro placed his paw back on the ground. Looking at his father, he smiled and thanked him for his help, "Thanks for doing this, Ignitus. I wanted to train, but I didn't want to get up and leave Cynder alone in her bed. I also didn't want to wake her."

"When ever you need me, I will be there. But, now with that said, does that mean you are done training?"

"Unfortunately. I am getting a little tired and I have learned a lot when it comes to what my powers hold. And... I think it would he more fun to learn more about my powers with... Malefor."

"What?!"

"Don't think that means I don't want to train and talk with you because of course i do, anytime, any day. But, Malefor wants me to help him train, and you don't need to train. So, me and Malefor can work together to grow stronger and learn more about our elements and dark powers."

"I put myself into a dream, didn't I."

"Hehe. Look, if you want me to go back to hating him, I have no..."

"No reason to...!" Ignitus cried out in an outburst, somewhat scaring Spyro, "Ahem... What I meant was, yeah, you're right, you should train with him. I've been away from Claire for a while so, you know, I want to feel her cool body while I cuddle with her."

"Then, till we talk again?"

"Well, there is one thing I did promise, remember?" Raising a paw up as he paused, Spyro's eyes grew wide as he knew exactly what it was going to be. Looking at the middle of his paw, he watched as a small purple flame formed on Ignitus's paw. Feeling the warm feeling again, he couldn't resist as he had to feel it with his paw. Pulling his paw up, he rested it over the top of the flame. "Why... Why does this feel so... relaxing?" Spyro spoke to himself. Placing his paw down over the fire and on Ignitus's, he rested it there for a second. Pulling his paw back up, he saw the fire had disappeared. Looking up at his father, the two put their paws back to the ground and he opened his mouth to say something, but Ignitus spoke first, "You will get there one day, I know you will. You have the heart, you have the determination, and you have all the friends you could want to back you up." A tear formed in Spyro's eyes. Instead of saying something he jumped up and hugged his dad with his wings. Putting his head over his shoulder, he whispered while Ignitus hugged him back, "Thanks, Dad."

"Hehe, I should be thanking you. It's all because of you that, Claire is here and, now knowing how it feels to love someone... Thank you for helping me so much that day." Spyro chuckled as well as he backed away from the hug and Ignitus let go as well. Now wanting to talk some more, Ignitus brought up something that could help him stay, "You know, I could always just make you feel awake with my powers. You wouldn't need to sleep."

"What happened to wanting to feel Claire's cold body?"

"I just..."

"This isn't going to be the last time we talk. We all go down to the Chambers like everyday."

"Yeah... you're right. I like when we all meet up like that every morning... it's something I don't want to change. But, don't worry about tomorrow. If you want to train Malefor, please do so. I don't want to stop you from becoming closer friends with Malefor."

"Becoming friends with Malefor... I never thought I would say something like that, let alone think it... and yet, I do smile a little when I do."

"Then I won't change your mind at all. We will leave off on the best note possible." White light slowly started to form around their bodies, and Spyro just had one more thing to say to him before he had to leave, "But just remember what I said, about Claire. And remember what you promised me, about, Ersa. I will prove you right both times." Ignitus chuckled, knowing exactly what he was talking about and whispered, "There isn't a day that goes by... where I regret calling you, my son..."

---

Opening his eyes and listening to the light sounds of snoring from the other Guardians, his mind and self from the dream world returned to his body. He smiled wide, glad that he was able to talk with his son and help him for as long as he did. Chuckling somewhat as he remembered the promise he made to his son, he picked his head up and looked down on Claire. Seeing how happy she was as she slept made him feel proud. He was happy to see he was doing something right for her. As much as he wanted to wake her, everything seemed so peaceful. Everyone was sleeping well, and she was calm. He didn't want to disturb her sleep by waking her, and decided it would be best if he let her sleep, giving Spyro the win. Hehe, alright, Spyro. Lets see if you can wake your lover... I would but... I can't help but enjoy this peace that we have. Oh, and before I forget, thank you, Ancestors, for giving me and Spyro more then a couple of hours to spend with one another, that meant a lot to me. But, going back, I will keep that promsie I made to you, Spyro. I will tell her one day, and... I know she will say yes... I know she will, Ignitus thought to himself, wondering if his son would fair any better then he did in his attempt to be more romantic with the one they cared about. Laying his head back down over Claire's, the cool feeling all around her scales made him feel so comfortable, which made it that much more easier to fall asleep. Thinking he would open his eyes for a second to try again, he failed. As soon as his eyes closed, he drifted right off to bed with a smile.

---

Waking up in his bed once again for the second time this night, Spyro's eyes slowly opened as he looked into his darkened room. Picking his head up, he smiled, remembering the hug he was able to give his father just before he left. Thank you, Ignitus, for being the best father I could ever ask for, He thought to himself, glad he was able to talk for as long as they did. It helped clear his mind on a lot of things that he was going on, and looking down at his smiling lover as she slept, it helped him better understand what he needed to do in order to keep her safe. If not even the Chronicler has power over this, purple fire, with Malefor's help, I can achieve it, and I can protect Cynder no matter the threat! Malefor, I'm putting a lot of trust into you by asking you to help me... please... please be the one everyone says you are. As he thought about it, looking at how peacefully his lover was breathing, the smile on her face, how comfortable he was even now, he knew he couldn't wake her. Thinking about his training as well, he knew he needed a lot of sleep if he was going to train as hard as he wanted to. So, instead of waking her up, he could only sigh with a smile. Laying his head back down over Cynder's, he thought to himself, Well, I guess you win this round, Ignitus. I can't wake her, even as cute as I know it would be to see her beautiful face... I need to make sure I can keep things the way they are. And until I know for sure I'm powerful enough to keep this peace, I have to keep trying... But, thank you again, for all your help back there. Closing his eyes once again, he felt, calm. A lot calmer then he did before for some reason, and thinking back, it had to do with his words that his father said to him. I guess I will have to test my strength against Malefor and see what happens... Spyro thought halfway through before falling asleep from the sound of his lover's breathing and the comfort of her body.