A swamp could seem like it wasn't the best place to live. However, the dragonflies who lived in there certainly thought it was nice. The kind of place where one could easily raise a family and live in peace and happiness. If one was careful to avoid the many dangers of the swamp, like the carnivorous plants and the snakes and the deep mud pits.

Hey, no one said it was the safest place to live.

However, for those who lived there, it was nice. This included a certain yellow dragonfly, who usually slept inside of his home on a hollowed-out log until late in the morning, unless something happened that made him wake up. For example, a strong indigestion from some suspicious butterfly that he ate last night.

Man! Talk about a stinky start for a day...

Sparx almost felt like going back to bed and not getting up for anything else.

But since he was already up...

Sparx washed his face and then his whole body on the upside-down turtle shell that caught the water from the rain. And he drank from the leaves that caught on dew during the night. This morning's dew was with an interesting taste due to the natural gasses of the swamp. It made the water taste... sparkly, if that even made sense. It tickled his throat.

After that, Sparx would make some exercises in the morning, flying in circles and catching some of the floating butterflies around his place. This was an advantage of living right by the side of one of the few places of the swamp that had a lot of blooming flowers. Food all times of the day, including in the morning.

After exercising and filling his stomach at the same time, Sparx decided to take a stroll on his favorite parts of the swamp. This was how he often started his day, and he always made sure to visit the places he liked the most, including that place where the bees made their nest, so he could snag himself a little desert in honey after a healthy butterfly breakfast.

On his way he would catch his favorite sights of the swamp, and sometimes meet some of the people he knew from around the area.

"Hey, Spyro." Sparx said as he continued with his stroll, passing by the purple dragon curled into a ball underneath a big leaf. He stopped dead on his tracks when he remembered that Spyro didn't lived in the swamp.

"Wait, Spyro!?"

Soon, Sparx made his way back to the purple dragon, who was still curled into a ball in the shadow, nearly as if he was hiding.

Spyro looked up as he heard Sparx's voice calling his name, and that was when Sparx saw the look on his yes.

Spyro had been crying.

"Spyro, buddy, what happened? Are you hurt? Did something happen? You got lost while coming for a morning walk?"

Sparx was genuinely concerned, since he very rarely saw Spyro cry. He knew how strong his purple dragon friend was. If he ever had tears on his eyes, then Sparx knew that it was something serious.

However, it seemed that Spyro didn't wanted to talk about what it was, even though Sparx was being insistent about it, wanting to know if Spyro had been bitten by one of the snakes or if he had twisted his ankle while walking through the twisting roots.

"I..." Spyro said after nearly twenty minutes of insistence from Sparx's side. "I had a fight with dad..."

Okay. That sounded serious. So serious that it left Sparx baffled.

He had never, ever heard of Spyro and his dad having a fight. I mean, he heard of the times that Spyro complained to his dad about the whole bodyguard/nanny thing, nothing new. But they never fought. At least Sparx never heard Spyro ever complain about them having anything that could be considered a fight.

Seriously, it was even weird that this father and son duo could get along so well without ever fighting...

And there Spyro was, with his eyes red from crying because of a fight with the old ape.

Spyro refused to give any details but said that he "preferred to be away from any ape for a while".

"None of them trusts me." Spyro said, "Not even Gaul." There was a hint of bitterness on Spyro's voice that the dragonfly never heard before when the purple dragon talked about his dad. This only made Sparx even more worried about what exactly triggered such a fight between Gaul and his dragon son, and what could have transpired between the two of them.

Spyro, however, refused to elaborate any further.

"I just need to be away from all of them for now." Spyro said finally. "I just want to be alone."

"Oh..." Sparx said, "Well, in that case, I guess I should be going..."

Sparx then turned around and was buzzing, when Spyro said:

"Stay... please."

Sparx looked at him, and he soon understood. Spyro was on that mood that people sometime get where they feel like they want to be alone. But not alone alone. They want to be alone with one person who they know they can count on. One person who they feel more comfortable with.

In this case, it seemed that this person was Sparx.

While worried about his dragon friend, who was clearly so upset, Sparx could not help but feel a twinge of pride for knowing that he was the kind of person with whom Spyro would want to be alone together in his moment of need.

"So, I guess now it is my job to help cheer you up, huh?" Sparx said, floating near to the purple dragon's head and leaning over his horn with his elbow. "Luckily for you, I know all of the best things to do around this swamp to lift a guy's spirits! Just follow me, my big grapefruit-colored friend!"

"Besides, I've always wanted for a chance you show you around!" He added, as he started to pull Spyro by the horn so the purple dragon could come with him. Spyro didn't had much of a choice right now, as Sparx was showing that he would not be taking "no" for an answer.

Besides, it was not as if Spyro was in a hurry to go back to the village.

So soon Spyro was walking across the swamp with his friend Sparx going around leading the way. What proved to be harder than he anticipated, with the unstable terrain consisting in muddy, uneven soil and twisting roots that were hard to cross when you could not fly like a dragonfly. Not to mention the strong smell of stale and putrid water of the swamp.

"You just gotta watch your step. Look where you are going and don't go rushing. As long as you are careful, walking on the swamp is a breeze." Sparx said to Spyro as the purple dragon struggled to follow him while he floated effortlessly above the ground.

"As for the smell, you get used to it. I honestly hardly even notice anymore."

Spyro found it hard to believe, with how pungent the air was there in the swamp. However, he followed Sparx through the rough terrain, once more wishing that he knew how to fly, at least so he would not get his paws all caked in that smelly mud.

However, Spyro had to admit, the sights around the swamp were nearly worth having the mud on his talons.

From the beautiful butterflies with multicolored wings, which Sparx claimed to be the most delicious kind, but hard to catch due to their "sleep powder defense mechanism", to the beautiful flowers that glowed in a blue hue as they came closer.

"You gotta see those flowers at night, buddy." Sparx said to his dragon friend. "They glow even brighter and you can see some yellow patterns on their petals as well. Well anyway, let's continue our tour through Swamp de Sparx. Oh, and careful with the pond over there, there is a family of crocs living in there that get really frisky if you get too close."

Following Sparx close behind, Spyro spent nearly the entire day going with him to see sights around the swamp. Eventually, it was time for lunch, and Sparx had a lot of options. Most of it were butterflies, which Spyro did not found very appealing. However, Sparx also suggested to him some mushrooms and berries that he knew for sure were not poisonous, and Spyro found those to be quite filling.

For desert, they had honey from the Star-Fire Bees' nest. Spyro was the one who got the honey for them.

Sparx warned him about the sting of the bees, but Spyro was not worried. As he predicted, he had been able to get the honey from the big bee nest without any problem. Spyro has long learned that his scales, although not particularly good in protecting him from scratches from thorns, much less from blades, and not even strong enough to protect him from the lashing of the heart cashew tree's vines, made for the perfect protecting against bugs' bites and stingers. They just could not get through his thick scales and cause him any real damage, like they could with the soft skin of the regular creatures, like the apes.

The honey they got was a nice desert, albeit a bit spicy for Spyro's taste.

After this, Sparx took Spyro to what was the dragonflies' equivalent to a village. In there, Sparx was eager to present Spyro to everyone.

It soon began apparent that Sparx have been bragging to everyone that he was friends with a real dragon, and now he finally could show Spyro to everyone around.

Is that why he was always so insistent of me coming with him to the swamp? Spyro thought as he was introduced to Sparx's family, friends and "acquittances". Starting with Sparx's parents, who were very welcoming of Spyro. His mother, Nina, was even maternal towards Spyro, as she was glad that her son had made at least one friend, since he apparently was quite the lonely little dragonfly when he was younger.

Sparx even took some time to present Spyro to a certain green dragonfly who, apparently, had always doubted Sparx's claims about being friends with a dragon, and was baffled for seeing that Sparx was, indeed, telling the truth.

"Man, did you saw his face?" Sparx said as he and Spyro took yet another stroll on the swamp. "That will teach him to call me a liar! You could have bared his fangs at him a little bit, though."

"Hey, I don't go around scaring others." Spyro said to his friend, a smile on his face. "Dad taught me better than... than..."

Spyro trailed, and he then looked down. Sparx noticed the way Spyro was acting, and he was about to ask Spyro what was wrong when the purple dragon asked if there was any other place in the swamp that it would be worth them visiting.

Sparx was just listing a few places, which included the "sparkling mirror waterfalls" and someplace he called "cave of sweet smells", when they both heard a familiar voice.

"Spyro!"

They both looked up, just in time to see a familiar gray form floating in direction to them coming from above while flapping her wings.

It was Aerea.

"Spyro, I finally found you!" Aerea said, landing on the muddy floor and rushing to see him. "I was looking for you since the morning!"

Spyro was happy for seeing Aerea, that much was sure. He was actually glad for hearing that she had been looking for him. It made him feel good, for some reason. However, he was less happy when he heard she say that she needed to take him back to the village.

Back to Gaul.

"I'm not going back." Spyro said to her, and this surprised the gray dragoness.

"What? Why?" She asked to Spyro, "Is it because of the people on the village?"

"Yes." Spyro said without missing a beat. "Because of all of them! Not a single one of them understands me! I am done with all of them!"

"Spyro, what about your father?" Aerea asked, and Spyro scoffed.

"What, you mean Gaul?"

"Well, yeah!" Aerea said, "Spyro, he is worried sick with you! He has dispatched all your bodyguards to look for you everywhere! Before I went to try and look for you he was about to go looking for you himself! Spyro, don't you want to go back and let him know you are fine?"

"Why would I!?" Spyro said, now truly shocking not only Aerea, but Sparx as well. "He is no different from everyone else! He doesn't trust me either!"

"What?"

"Dude, what are you on about?" Sparx said, looking at the purple dragon. "The old ape would take your word over anyone else's any day!"

"Would he?" Spyro asked to Sparx, looking at him, and then at Aerea, before he sighed.

He then told them both the reason why he had that fight with Gaul. How he knew that he had practically banished Aerea, the second real friend Spyro ever made on his life, of the village due to what happened last night. And on the words they exchanged, which eventually culminated with Spyro running away from his father and seeking for refuge in the swamp, where Gaul never allowed him to go.

"Oof..." was all that Sparx could manage to say after Spyro finished narrating his discussion with his adoptive father.

"All those years, and I thought that he truly understood me." Spyro said, more to himself than to the two people with him. "But it turns out, he doesn't. He truly doesn't at all. Just like none of those other apes. I guess I don't belong among them, and I never did. None of them cares for me or appreciates me like you do, Aerea."

Spyro closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm going with you." Spyro said, and this shocked Sparx.

"Wait, what?"

"I don't belong in this village. The apes already made it clear to me that they don't want me around." Spyro said, "So, I'll be going with you. I don't care where, I'll follow you. Being with you will be better than being with those people. We will go forth and live great adventures together, just like Crash Bandicoot did!"

He turned to look at Aerea. He was not sure what he was expecting from her when she said that. I mean, she was surprised on the beginning, what was understandable. However, Spyro was not expecting for her expression to morph into one of anger.

"What, in name of Tiamat, are you talking about, you idiot!?" Cynder said to him, and this caught Spyro completely off-guard. The purple dragon could only look back at the gray dragoness, how looked back at him with a pissed off expression on her face.

"So your adoptive father, who has spent all of his life trying to make you comfortable and happy, does one thing that you don't like and your answer for it is that you want to run away from home forever and never come back!?" Aerea said to him. "Are you frigging kidding me!? I thought you were fifteen years old, not five!"

Spyro was so surprise that, for a moment, he forgot how to form words. Aerea looked at his dumbfolded expression, before she scoffed.

"Do you honestly believe that Gaul doesn't cares about you?" Aerea asked him. "Do you really think he is 'just some ape who took care of you'? Do you honestly think that? After he looked after you for fifteen years? Are you for real?"

"Well, I have been looking at you two, Spyro." Aerea said, "I saw the look on his face when he was talking with you, and let me tell you, a person who doesn't cares or appreciates someone does not acts like that. Your father loves you, I can tell that much."

She then glared at the purple dragon.

"And there you are, ready to throw away all the love he gives you all because of one time you are not getting what you want. You are acting like a real brat, you know?" She was speaking to Spyro like a mother would admonish her own hatchling. "A lot of people would love to have a father as loving at yours', and they would treasure this father with all they have. Believe me."

The way area spoke that, with that intense, emotion-filled gaze that peered right into his soul, was somehow even more shocked than the screeching outburst just a minute ago. And now it left Spyro baffled.

Spyro had still been angry at Gaul until that moment. However, in face of Aerea's anger, the purple dragon's own went off like a blown birthday candle. With his anger out of commission, Spyro was able to reflect on what happened earlier that day.

And that was when he realized that he may have gone way too far with how he handled thins with his dad.

Did he... did her really said those things to Gaul?

Did he really said he was not his father?

The more he reflected about it, the more Spyro realized that he didn't meant any of the things he said. And the more he regretted every single one of them.

"Oh, great Simius..." Spyro said, looking down. "I am an awful son..."

Seeing Spyro like that told Aerea that Spyro had come to his senses, and this made her relax.

"Hey, dude, you are not an awful son." Sparx said to him, patting him into the much bigger shoulder. "But, I have to admit, the way you handed things was pretty crappy. And your maturity in the situation. And the way you treated your old man who looked after you literally since you were born..."

"I have to go back." Spyro said suddenly. "I-I have to go back. I have to apologize to dad..."

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea." Aerea said to him. Spyro then was ready to go back to the village but found that he didn't knew where to go.

That was when Sparx, very smugly, came forward and was ready to guide them in direction to the village... only to find out that he didn't knew where to go either.

"Hey, this swamp all kind of looks the same!" Sparx said on his defense. "I usually know the direction to the village by following your screams, but without it I kind of get lost..."

Sparx was embarrassed to admit that he was prone to getting lost on his own swamp, while Spyro could only groan in frustration.

"Let's fly." Aerea said, causing the two to look her way. "It will be faster this way."

"Oh, yeah, it will surely be." Sparx said, looking at the gray dragoness. "Except Spyro cannot fly."

The purple dragon looked down, and that was when Aerea said something that surprised both him and the dragonfly:

"Would you like to learn? I can teach you now."

"Wait, really!?" Spyro said, barely believing what he was hearing, and Aerea said:

"Now is as good a time as any."

"You know, maybe we should have tried walking." Sparx said to the two of them as they continued trying to make Spyro take off the ground. Like they have been doing for the past two hours.

"We would probably have found our way to the village by now."

"Aerea, I think it is a lost cause." Spyro said, "I mean, you speak as if flying should come as easily for me as breathing, but I just can't, no matter how much I try... maybe there is something wrong with me, maybe I came out of my egg defective or something..."

"Spyro." Aerea said, closing the distance between herself and the purple dragon. "You are not 'defective'. That much I can assure you."

Spyro looked at the gray dragoness, as she came surprisingly close to him, looking into his eyes.

"You are just thinking too hard." Aerea said, "Here, try once more, this time I'm going to help you, okay?"

With that said, Aerea leaned over, placing her paws on his chest. This caused Spyro's eyes to widen, and his cheeks were suddenly heating up as the gray dragoness was very close to him.

"Now, take a deep breath." Aerea told to him, "Close your eyes."

Spyro did, but it was hard, as those green eyes of the gray dragoness were quite entrancing.

"Keep breathing. Deep in, deep out." She instructed, and Spyro did as she told him. "Feel the air filling your lungs. You can't see it, but you can feel it. It is as real as the ground you stand on. If it is real, then you can interact with it. Focus on it. Spread your wings now. Move then up and down."

Spyro did, opening his wings wide, and flapping his wings. Quite fast at first, until Aerea told him not to force it.

"The air is less material than the ground, but it is not less real." Aerea instructed him. "You need to interact with it the right way. Flap your wings. Move them in slow, deliberate movements. All the while you feel the air fill your lungs. Over, and over again. Don't ever forget how real it is. How present it is. How it is, like everything else, a gift of the ancestors. Feel it surround you. Move you. Lift you. Let it carry you, and rely on it to sustain you, just like you do on the ground."

Spyro did, he could feel the air. He could feel it as he breathed. His chest moved as he did. Aerea's paws were still on his chest. He could feel her scales against his own. His chest hammered on his chest as he felt her touching him.

"You can fly..." Aerea said, and Spyro continued to flap his wings, as he continued to breathe. Her paws left his chest, and Spyro was a little disappointed. He wanted her paws to remain there...

"Spyro!" Sparx suddenly said, "You can fly!"

Spyro's eyes snapped open. The purple dragon blinked, looking down. His wings were still flapping, and his four paws were no longer touching the ground. The purple dragon stared down in disbelief, and he even looked at the sides, as he continued to hoover above the air as he floated in the air.

He then looked at Aerea, who was smiling at him with pride.

"Told you that you could fly." She said to him.

I... I can fly... I can fly! Was all that Spyro could think, before he suddenly started laughing uncontrollably, most out of disbelief than anything.

I can fly! I have to show this to dad!

Flying turned out to be harder than Spyro anticipated, but once he got the hang of it, he was able to keep himself in the air rather easily. With Aerea's guidance, he was quickly able to take it to the air, flying through the canopies of the tall trees of the swamp, until they were above the foliage.

"It is all about practice." Aerea said to him, as she saw how the purple dragon was struggling to control his movement as it was his first time flying. "You will learn to have fine control with time. Everyone goes through it. For now, just try not to think too hard, and let your instincts guide you."

Spyro did as she told him, and he mentioned to her how good of a teacher she was, and this made the gray dragoness blush.

"Well done, pal." Sparx said, as he floated right by the side of Spyro's head, as the purple dragon steadied himself in the air while flapping his leathery wings. "Welcome to the high club, mate. The one where all flying guys have a blast. We can throw a party to welcome you as our new member."

"We can do that later." Aerea said "Now, we gotta fly back to the village. I swear Gaul seemed ready to kill someone last time I saw him..."

Spyro did felt bad about this, and he was thinking on how he should apologize to his dad once he saw him. Well, he didn't have much time to think, once he found out that flying made it for a much faster way of traveling than walking on foot.

And he could see everything from up there! He could see the swamp on beneath all the way on the horizon, where the sun was already setting, meaning the day was ending and the night would be starting soon, (what meant he would probably be in time for dinner). He could see the great heart cashew tree in the distance, and it still seemed huge.

He could even see the village! He could see it in the distance, with the smoke rising from it as they flew closer to...

Wait, smoke?

"Are they having a barbeque party or something?" Sparx asked, as they flew closer and closer to the village. As they did, soon they were filled with horror, as they realized that there was no barbeque, let alone party.

The village was on fire!

As they came closer and closer, they could see apes running from the flames, screaming in terror as they fled as fast as their legs could carry them.

Aerea and Spyro both landed among the running apes, with the purple dragon nearly stumbling right on his face before he recovered and looked at the apes.

"Hey!" Spyro said, "What is going on!? What is happening!?" Spyro asked to the passing apes, only for them to completely ignore him as they continued running. One of them yelled of panic even louder when he saw Spyro, before continuing to run.

That was when an ape enveloped in flames came running towards them. They were both baffled, and the ape fell into the ground, rolling around as he screamed in agony

"Hey!" Spyro said approaching him. "Hey! Calm down! Let us help!"

However, the ape was not interested in being helped by them. He only continued to scream as he rolled into the ground, trying to put out the flames all by himself, until Aerea used her wind element, and she created a sucking vortex that removed all of the oxygen of that air around that ape, causing the flames to stop burning in just a second, leaving behind a rather charred ape, shivering and whimpering in pain.

Spyro tried to go to him to help, but the ape nearly clawed at the purple dragon, before getting up and stumbling away, looking like he was still in pain, but looking like he was wanting to get out of there as fast as he could.

"Master Spyro!" Said a voice, and Spyro turned his head to look and he saw the familiar faces of his bodyguards running to his aid.

"Guys!" Spyro said, "Guys, what is going on!?"

"The village is under attack!" One of the apes said to him. Then, they heard a loud roar in the distance.

The roar of a dragon.

"This dragon came out of nowhere and started torching the village!" One of the bodyguards said. "Gaul and the troops are trying to fight him, but he is too strong. I've never seen anything like that! We have to run now before- SPYRO!"

Spyro ignored him. As soon as he heard that his father was fighting a powerful dragon, he forgot about all else and ran on the direction that everyone seemed to be running from. His bodyguards and Aerea were, as to be expected, all hot on his heels. They were all calling his name, but the purple dragon ignored all of them. He flapped his wings and floated above the ground, flying on that direction, and soon he was catching sight of this dragon who was attacking the village.

"Keep fighting!" Gaul said to the apes "Surround him and attack from behind! Stay on his blind spot!"

The ape continued to bark orders, while all the ape soldiers continued to surround the dragon, who roared back at them before swinging his wings and tail, producing long whips of fire that hit the apes and send them flying back with burn marks on their bodies.

"Dad!" Spyro cried out, as he could see that his father was getting ready to charge on the dragon himself.

"Dad!"

"Spyro!?" Gaul said, his eyes widening as he looked to see the purple dragon flying back. Spyro was only interested in flying to his dad, but he was stopped by a gray missile that hit him and made him stumble on the ground until he landed right behind a hut that, much like all the others on the village, was being burned to ashes.

"Aerea!" Spyro said, recovering and looking at the gray dragoness. "What's the big idea!? Let go of me! I need to go help dad!"

"Spyro, we have to flee!" Aerea said, "We have to get out of here as fast as we can!"

The way she said that made it sound as if she was in a real hurry to get away from there as fast as she could. She looked to be on the verge of absolute panic as she looked at the purple dragon.

"What!? No! We gotta help dad!"

"No! We gotta flee!"

"We gotta help!"

"Flee!"

"Help!"

"Flee!"

"Help!"

"Bury our heads in the sand and pretend to be bushes!"

The two dragons stared at Sparx, who floated in between the two of them.

"What? It works for the leaf-feathered ostriches..."

Soon, the bodyguards finally caught up to them, and they were trying to get Spyro to come with them and flee from the burning village, just like Aerea, but Spyro refused to leave, saying that they had to help Gaul fight the invader dragon.

"Spyro, you can't!" Aerea said, still sounding desperate to try and convince Spyro. "That dragon is not like the others! Look at him! You see his armor!?"

Spyro managed to look at the dragon, as he could see him past the burnt parts of the hut. He saw as the dragon tossed five apes away as if they were nothing. He could see him illuminated by the light of the fire of the burning houses, most of which he probably set alight himself. This dragon's scales had a deep shade of crimson, with orange flame-like patterns on the parts of his body that were visible. Most of his body was covered in combat armor. However, unlike the armor of the dragons he and Aerea freed on the previous night, the armor wore by this dragon was all on a deep shade of purple that was very close to being black. With markings on the shoulders, hip and neck plates that seemed to glow as bright as the flames around him.

"He is not just a solider of the army!" Aerea said, "He is a member of the Prime Battalion!"

"Prime Battalion?" Spyro asked, confused. He had never heard about them before. Aerea, however, told him:

"They are Malefor's personal guard, and they are invincible!" Area said to Spyro, "If you try to fight him, he will kill you!"

As if to emphasize that point, the dragon opened his mouth and let out a gigantic fireball. The apes all ducked out of the way, as the fireball sailed through the air and literally burned its way through five huts, completely carbonizing them, and just continued flying, passing dangerously close to the one place where the two dragons, the six ape guards and the dragonfly were all hiding.

"I told you what I want already!" The dragon in purple armor said, looking at the apes as they tried to get up. "You know who I am after. Continue getting in my way and you will pay with your lives."

The way the dragon spoke that was cold and calculated. As cold as the look on his yellow eyes, which glared at the apes with the most absolute indifference. Nearly as if he was a machine.

As if he had no soul.

The apes' answer was to attack, only for the dragon to fight back by igniting his wings and swinging them at the apes. The heat was so strong that one of the apes was literally burned through, being sectioned in half, much to the horror of all onlookers.

"We have to run!" Aerea said, to the purple dragon. "Before he sees us! We have to leave now!"

Spyro, however, remained stubborn, until a familiar ape ducked behind the hut the two were on.

"Spyro!"

"DAD!" Spyro said as Gaul kneeled by his and Aerea's side.

"Spyro, you need to leave!" Gaul said to his purple son with urgency. "You need to leave right now, before that dragon sees you! If he sees you, he will not stop until he gets you!"

"Dad! I want to help!" Spyro said to him. "I can use munduri! I can help fight! You can even give me a weapon and I can hold it with my mouth!"

"No!" Gaul said to him, "You need to leave now! Go with the others and get to safety!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

This continued for nearly two minutes, with Gaul, alongside Aerea, Sparx and the bodyguards all trying to convince Spyro that staying and fighting was too dangerous, and trying to get him to leave for safety. Spyro, however, proved that he was more stubborn then all of them combined, as he refused to leave his dad behind.

Meanwhile, the dragon continued to advance, unmoved by the apes trying to fight him, swatting them out of his way as if they were nothing more than annoying gnats flying around his head.

"Give me the one I came for." The dragon repeated, with that voice that was nearly robotic, such was the way it was devoid of emotion and firm. All the while, he continued to move forward.

In direction to the hut everyone was hiding behind.

"Dad, I want to help!" Spyro said to his father, while Gaul looked to the side. He could not see the dragon, but he knew that he was coming closer and closer, and soon he would be over them.

"Let's fight him together!"

Gaul continued to look, and then he turned his gaze to the purple dragon. There was a look of sadness on his face.

"Spyro..." Gaul spoke, looking at the purple dragon in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

What happened next was so sudden that Spyro did not immediately understood what happened. For a moment, he even thought that the dragon had spat another fireball and that this one had produced an explosion that blew him and the others away. However, he soon was realizing that this was surely not the case.

As the world spun around him, he saw the shocked expressions of his bodyguards and friends, before he once more caught sight of his father, who was looking at him with sadness and guilt, as if he had just been forced to do something he didn't wanted to do.

Spyro fell to the ground, the world still spinning even though he was laying down. As stars danced before his darkening vision, Spyro came to realize what happened.

D-Dad... punched me...

Those were Spyro's last thoughts before darkness took him.

Never on his life had Spyro felt such a headache on his life.

It felt as if his skull was throbbing. Pounding even. The purple dragon groaned as he stirred, moving on the comfortable mattress he was in, slowly opening his eyes as he heard someone calling to him.

"Spyro!" Said the familiar feminine voice. Spyro's eyes opened and he looked to see the familiar face of a gray dragoness looking back at him with worried eyes.

"Spyro, I am so glad you are awake!" Aerea said to him, and Spyro looked into her green eyes.

It was all a dream... Spyro though. It was all a dream. Everything is fine...

This thought filled Spyro with relief, and the purple dragon stirred from the bed, getting up and looking at Aerea.

And realizing that they were not on his hut.

This was not the hut where Spyro lived.

"Master Spyro!" Said another voice, and he turned his head to see one of his bodyguards, who looked like he was standing guard by the entrance of the hut. He then looked out and screamed outside, telling who was just out there that Spyro had woke up.

Immediately, the rest of his bodyguard team all came inside, followed by a dot of golden light that flew right to Spyro's face and hugged it. Sparx was speaking so fast that it was hard to understand what he was even saying, and this only served to make Spyro even more confused.

"We are in an improvised hut near the swamp." One of the guards said, "We brought you here after you fainted. We had to get you as far from that dragon as possible before he caught sight of you."

Spyro blinked.

The dragon.

The one that torched the village.

This meant it had been real.

Everything had been real.

It had not been just a dream.

It all really happened.

Their fight. His running to the swamp. Aerea coming to bring him back. The village on fire. The dragon on purple armor. His dad...

His dad!

"Dad!" Spyro said, suddenly completely alert, practically jumping off his improvised bed and looking at everyone.

"Where is he!?" Spyro asked frantically. "Where is my dad!? What happened to him!?"

Not even one of them could answer that question.

They couldn't answer it because they didn't know...