"Spyro. Spyro, wake up."

The purple dragon opened his eyes slowly, his vision still blurry after crying himself to sleep. His whole face hurt from crying. He blinked a few times before wiping his eyes, trying to clear his vision. He suddenly became aware of his surroundings; it was a place that was all too familiar to him: the Chronicler's library.

He sat up straight, seeing the form of the teal dragon sitting in front of him. "Chronicler?" he murmured, wiping his eyes again. "What… why am I here? What did you call me here for?"

Spyro stopped short as his vision cleared and he saw the dragon who was sitting in front of him. He felt himself choke on his words as tears threatened to leave his eyes yet again. The Chronicler sat with a sad smile on his face, knowing what was going through Spyro's head.

"Spyro. It's good to see you again," he said.

"IGNITUS!" Spyro cried, immediately leaping at the Chronicler and wrapping him in a firm hug. "I missed you, I missed you so much!"

"Oh, Spyro. I know," Ignitus murmured, trying his hardest to keep his composure too.

"How did you survive? How are you still alive? Why… why are you here?" Spyro questioned, stepping back to look at the strange but familiar face in front of him; he was not used to seeing Ignitus with teal scales.

"Unfortunately Spyro, I'm not still alive. My physical form may have passed on, but my spirit? Well, the ancestors decided that they had a better use for me than having me pass onto the afterlife. They had an important role for me, and that was to take over the role of Chronicler from the previous one, who you no doubt have met."

Spyro nodded in acknowledgement. His expression fell slightly, knowing that Ignitus was still in fact dead, but he was happy at least that he could see him again, and knew that his spirit was alive and well.

"Unfortunately, young one, I… did not call you here on light terms of a reunion, as much as I wish that was the case," Ignitus murmured sadly.

"This is to do with Cynder, isn't it?" Spyro asked.

"Yes. Yes, it is. I also want to just open this conversation by saying I'm so very sorry about what happened to her. I know you love her."

"Very much. That's why I need to get her back. Any help or information you have would be amazing."

Ignitus sighed sadly as he turned to grab one of the books in a nearby pile he had already prepared. Spyro took this quite negatively, and began to raise his voice. "Please, just give me anything! I can't lose another loved one again! I can't lose my girlfriend!" he pleaded.

"I know," Ignitus said. "I know how you feel; I've been there."

Spyro's face fell. He didn't know Ignitus even had a love interest. He wondered what had happened to her, but decided not to press the topic considering he had never heard a word about her. He didn't think it was a story that ended well.

Ignitus immediately continued, "It's… unfortunately not that simple. There are a lot of moving parts to this situation, a lot that not even I could have anticipated. You see Spyro, there's a legend that has circulated for many a millennia, being passed along the generations, and no one knowing when it may come to fruition. I think… I think now is when the legend is starting to come into play."

"Legend? That was the one Volteer mentioned last night, wasn't it?" Spyro questioned.

"Yes. Yes it is," Ignitus replied.

"It can't be me, though. I can't be the Grand Elemental Master," Spyro insisted. "I know none of the secondary elements. I am nowhere near skilled enough to go against the embodiment of darkness. This Vhel-Ak'rhair? That's something else. I can fight a Malefor, not this thing."

"That's the thing, I think you might be able to. You just haven't been able to unlock them yet."

"So how do I unlock them?"

"All across the world, there are many elemental masters for every element in existence. You will need to find them and learn from them, on how to master each element. Unlocking mastery will come at a challenge, however, as each one requires you to learn very specific skills, and has a trial waiting at the end for you."

"Elemental masters? Where do I find them? How do I know who they are?"

Ignitus opened a blank book that looked almost like a notebook, not like any of the other chronicling books in the library. He had a few names and places written down on one of the pages. He tore it out and gave it to Spyro. "Here. These are their names, and where you can find them. The first four are easy: they consist of your main four elements—fire, lightning, earth and ice—and will actually be located in cities near or around places where you rescued each of us guardians from Cynder's clutches. The others—wind, water, poison, shadow and fear—will all be in their own locations which I have also marked out for you on that note. Keep this safe, and have it with you at all times. These are vital to you completing your quest."

Spyro looked at the note, before folding it up and holding it firmly in his paw. "Yes, Ignitus. I understand," he said.

"Now, keep in mind that you may come across many ak'rhorans throughout this quest. As you know, ak'rhorans are beings that have been corrupted by darkness, which Vhel-Ak'rhair controls. They are loyal to him. Now, in Cynder's case, she is the only one currently alive who has been reverted back to her old self, the Terror of the Skies. All the other ak'rhorans have been revived from the death, risen once more to complete their ultimate goal: summon Vhel-Ak'rhair."

"Do you know who these other ak'rhorans are?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. I don't know if these are all of them I was able to come across, but I have found a good few of them," Ignitus said as he opened the pages of several books to show some very shady looking dragons.

Spyro's eyes wandered over the books, taking in each of the dragons that were sketched on the pages. They were all very intimidating, and a lot of them had rather gruesome events shown on the parchment. His eyes paused on Cynder's book, wincing as the Terror of the Skies stared back at him. He hadn't thought of that monster since after the war; it was scary to see her again. It was scary to see Cynder's beauty twisted into such a terrible creature.

The book beside Cynder's also sent fear running through Spyro's veins. The cover was a very familiar shade of violet, an on the pages on full display was someone that he would much rather forget.

Ignitus immediately noticed Spyro's gaze stop on Malefor's book. He sighed sadly. "Yes, this does mean that Malefor has returned. He bares no introduction, for you know the Dark Master well. As far as I know, nothing's changed with him, aside from his goal now being to summon his own master, and that he will now be extremely aggressive and vicious, as will all the other ak'rhorans. I don't know if they will be as feral as Cynder was, or even if she'll remain in that state for long, but you'll need to adapt to whatever situation you might come across."

Spyro couldn't turn his eyes away from Cynder and Malefor. He felt the tears welling up in his eyes. "It hurts to see her like this again," he murmured. "It terrifies me to see him again. He was bad enough, but… knowing there was a greater force behind… Malefor… it scares me."

"All of these dragons were touched by Vhel-Ak'rhair's darkness in many different ways. Being a purple dragon and the strongest out of all of them, Malefor was hit the hardest. He became an extremely powerful being. And like the other ak'rhorans, they had been untouched by Vhel-Ak'rhair's motives, only his dark powers. They each had their own will, and… unfortunately, Malefor's was to reconstruct the very world."

"Cynder didn't have her own will. She was bound to Malefor's. She was stripped of everything."

"Even the chance to be her own ak'rhoran. Even though she was made one through Malefor's corruption, she was made to be a slave to him. They were touched by the same power, but Malefor's ulterior motive was to control her."

Spyro sniffled, wiping his eyes. "Every time we look into her past it just gets worse," he whimpered. "I feel horrible for her."

There was an uncomfortable silence, before Spyro finally took his eyes off Cynder and Malefor's books. His gaze landed on the book of a very nasty fire dragoness; she was slender and had a very curved form, yet her claws, horns and teeth were long and very sharp and jagged.

"Now, onto the others," Ignitus continued, following Spyro's gaze. "This is Coriah, also known as the Blood Witch. She developed a hunger for blood—a lust for blood, if you can put it that way—at a very young age after a freak accident caused her to lose a lot of blood. She ended up fascinated with it, and eventually she managed to gain power in her hometown and became a queen of torture. She eventually became so infatuated by blood that she began to get into some dark spells, enter Vhel-Ak'rhair's influence, that allowed her to create her own creatures, guards if you will, of blood—both her own and her victims'. This is why many referred to her as the Blood Witch. She is extremely dangerous and take caution if you ever meet her."

Ignitus then moved on to a book with an ice dragon on it. Many scars covered his form, and he wore large steel gauntlets with massive, nasty claws. "This one is Seriivon, known as Poisonclaw. He grew extremely hateful of those around him, having a very rough childhood, and created his metal gauntlets. He forged them out of the sharpest, strongest metal he could make, and then learned how to use dark magic to infuse them with a constant flow of poison, so that anyone that he would cut with his gauntlets would immediately become poisoned. The day after he made them, he killed his family. He then continued to turn to dark magic, to the point where it would corrupt him."

The Chronicler then grabbed another book, showing another male ice dragon. A blindfold was wrapped over his eyes, and all four of his limbs appeared to be made out of some ghostly, spectral matter. "This is Kluvar, or the Spectre. At a young age, he suffered a loss of all four of his limbs in a terrible accident, and became bullied by many others his age, and avoided by many of those older than him. His only wish was to get his limbs back, and so after years of digging and research, he managed to tap into dark magic to recover his limbs, albeit in a spectral form. Unfortunately, he would become obsessed by this and try to work on his magic to bring his limbs back properly. This resulted in another accident that caused him to lose his eyesight. Try as he might, he could never return his eyesight, now relying on spectral auras to make his way around. He also fell victim to corruption from overuse of dark magic."

Finally, Ignitus grabbed one final book, and Spyro noticed he seemed to hesitate. The purple dragon looked at him with concern. "Ignitus? What's wrong?" Spyro questioned.

"This… this dragon is De'drin, also known as Warhammer," Ignitus murmured, showing Spyro the book; on it was an earth dragon clad in a strong layer of earth, acting much like armour. "He was the most recent ak'rhoran before Cynder. His corruption was slow, but happened due to a brief exposure of dark magic when he cut his shoulder on a crystal during a fun adventure with his friends into a cave. The crystals happened to be crystalised darkness, and so he ended up exposed to dark magic and didn't even realise. The corruption was slow, as it was such a miniscule amount of dark energy he had been exposed to, but it had slowly grown inside of him, festering for years, before it finally showed."

By this point, Ignitus had closed De'drin's book, and Spyro noticed he was getting oddly emotional. Maybe Ignitus knew De'drin? That would make both De'drin and Cynder very close in terms of corruption in the timeline.

"I knew him well," Ignitus said, noticing Spyro's odd look when he saw the Chronicler's emotion. "He was… he was mated to my daughter, Muarna. His corruption happened shortly after she found out she was pregnant. Jealousy overcame him as he moved to attack us guardians. He clad himself in his earth armour and fought hard to kill all of us. He was arrested in time, but he managed to escape, his power and rage grown even more powerful from his growing darkness, and he tried to kill us again.

"He… almost killed me. He had me down on the ground and I thought I was dead. Instead… the attack I expected never came. Muarna had gotten in between him and I, and taken the hit for me. Luckily, she survived, but she ended up in intensive care. I ended up killing De'drin, luckily. He couldn't live. He was too dangerous to live."

Spyro's heart ached, watching Ignitus try to hold it together. He couldn't imagine the pain he went through, of having to kill his son-in-law, and having to watch his daughter almost get killed by her lover, while she was carrying a child.

"And… Muarna? Did she recover? Did her egg survive?" Spyro questioned.

"Muarna survived until she laid her egg," Ignitus replied, holding back tears. "After that, she passed."

"I'm… I'm really sorry to hear that."

"Muarna's dying wish was that I would look after the egg. I failed that task. I ultimately had to lose the egg to protect it, due to the coming war."

"Lose the egg to protect it? What do you mean?"

"I put the egg into the Silver River to protect it from the siege on the Dragon Temple. Spyro, that egg was you."

Spyro just blinked. His breath left him, and he struggled to bring it back in. He was the child of Ignitus' daughter? He was… Ignitus' grandson?

"You're… my grandfather? Why… Why didn't you tell me? Why did no one tell me?" Spyro murmured, still trying to decide whether to feel happy, upset, betrayed, or angry.

"I wanted to. I just… couldn't find the right time, amongst the war, training you, the impending Night of Eternal Darkness, and then the threat of Malefor. And after that? Well, I don't know. I can only speak for myself on this."

Spyro just nodded, looking down and sniffling. He wiped his eye, before looking back up at Ignitus… his grandfather. "So… if you were Muarna's father, and De'drin was Muarna's mate, then that means that De'drin… is my father?" he murmured.

"Yes. Unfortunately it does," Ignitus said. "I really hate to break the news to you but… your father is an ak'rhoran. And you might have to fight him some day."

A wave of shock passed over him. It felt like he couldn't breathe. He finally had answers as to who his biological parents were, and they were unfortunately not the answers he was looking for. They were both dead. One was an ak'rhoran. And he would very likely have to fight him at some point throughout this quest.

He didn't think he could do it. Fight his own father? Despite being an ak'rhoran, he didn't know if he could do that. Sure, he had never met De'drin, but the very fact that he was Spyro's father made the young purple dragon never want to bring harm on him.

Unfortunately, he knew De'drin would not have the same resolve. He would do anything to revive Vhel-Ak'rhair, especially if he knew that Spyro would be the one who was prophesied to put an end to Vhel-Ak'rhair.

"I…" Spyro stuttered, choking on his words as he tried to recover from his shock; he cleared his throat, breathing shakily as he wiped sweat from his brow. "I understand."

A million questions and concerns ran through Spyro's mind. Ignitus noticed how overwhelmed Spyro looked, and wrapped a wing around him. "Are you okay?" Ignitus murmured.

"I… I don't know. I'm scared, I'm overwhelmed, I'm worried I'm going to fail," the purple dragon replied. "I'm terrified to fight my father. I'm terrified to fight my girlfriend. I'm scared I won't be able to accomplish what I need to do and that I'll fail my friends… that I'll fail the world. This… this is bigger than anything I could ever imagine. I thought Malefor was a big deal, but this? This is infinitely bigger and more important."

"Spyro…"

"The embodiment of darkness?!" Spyro interrupted, looking up at Ignitus with tears in his eyes. "What chance do I have against that?! I… I don't see a way I can win against something who is darkness personified, who is the one behind Malefor, and so many other corrupt dragons through history. I don't know if I can do this."

"I really don't know if this means much, but… I believe in you, Spyro," Ignitus said. "I know I always have, but I know you've got this. So do the other guardians and the others in Warfang, I know that for a fact. You're strong and kind and you wield more power than you realise."

"I just… I don't know if I can handle that responsibility."

"I don't think anyone could ever prepare themselves for this responsibility. Not even a purple dragon. It pains me that you've had to have so much responsibility with all this, especially after everything you went through with Malefor. But do know that you have many people who are on your side cheering you on and willing to help, and you will be aided by many in mastering your elements."

"That's another thing, I don't know how to even master my elements, or in the case of elements like wind, water, shadow, and all that, learn them. How do I learn in a few weeks what would take someone years to do? I imagine I do not have much time at all to master my elements."

"I have done some research and I've found some people that may be able to help out with your elements. I've comprised a list of people for you to go seek out," Ignitus explained, turning and grabbing from the desk behind him a sheet of parchment with ten names on it. "Take this, and hold it tight. Each of the names also have a city or town or place where you can find them at."

Spyro skim-read the list, noticing the places he had to go to for his own elements—fire, lightning, earth and ice—were all nearby to where he had gone during the Dark War to free the guardians from Cynder's grasp. "At least I know where to go for my own elements," he said. "I'll have to do some searching for the others, though. Those names don't look familiar."

"I wish you the best, my grandson. I believe in you."

Spyro's breath hitched at being called grandson. He'd never been called that before, and it had been years since he was ever called son—mind you, this wasn't even from a biological parent, or even a dragon. It felt so unnatural to him but at the same time, it felt right.

The purple dragon smiled at his grandfather, before rushing to him and hugging him tight. "Thank you… grandfather," he said, testing the name on his lips.

It felt good to say.

At long last, Spyro finally had family; unfortunately they were all dead and had quite a dark past, but he at least had answer to who they were.

When Spyro opened his eyes, he found himself in his bed again. In his paws was the list that Ignitus had given him. He wiped his eyes, feeling the residue of his tears from the night before over his face.

The purple dragon, now filled with determination and a goal, leapt out of bed, grabbing a satchel where he packed his list, some spare health and mana gems, and some of his favourite berries for food.

He zipped up the satchel, slipping it over his shoulder and ready to walk out of his home, before he stopped. He turned and ran to his cupboard, opening it and fishing out the proposal ring he had for Cynder. He stared at it, taking in the glistening onyx and amethyst gems decorating it. Spyro felt tears spring to his eyes as he looked at it. He kissed it, holding his lips against the silver ring as long as he could. Right now, it was the most important thing to him; it was the only part of his girlfriend that he still had with him.

Eventually, Spyro's lips parted from the ring, before he opened up the satchel and placed it inside, right at the very bottom. He needed to hold onto it; he needed to carry Cynder with him. Plus, he wanted it on him at all times. He couldn't lose it. He couldn't leave it at home with no one to watch over it.

That ring meant everything to Spyro.

He thought back to his task: saving Cynder, saving the world, and fulfilling the prophecy. The prophecy still weighed heavy on his mind and he was still very scared about it, but he had no other choice but to do what he had to do. He had done this once before; he could do it again, right?

This time however, he was all alone. He didn't have Sparx. He didn't have Cynder. Everyone he would meet would be new faces and he'd only be around them temporarily while he learned his elements, and then he'd have to move onto the next location.

It was going to be a lonely, lonely task, but he had to suck it up and do it anyway. The world depended on him, more than it did during the Dark War. At the very least, Spyro knew his friends would have his back, as did Ignitus… his grandfather. The very thought of Ignitus being his grandfather still brought him joy.

However, he had no time to dwell on those thoughts, knowing he had to leave immediately. When he walked out of his house, he took in the light of sunrise beginning to illuminate the skies.

He quickly ran off to the Warfang Temple, in search of the guardians. When he got to the guardians' chambers, he quickly knocked on the walls to wake them all up.

"What in the hell? Not again," Cyril grumbled from in his room.

Volteer was the first to open the door to his room, appearing already very awake when he peered around the corner—he must've been up early studying or reading given the candlelight in his room.

"Spyro? Whatever could you require from us now?" Volteer questioned as the other two guardians groggily opened their doors and peered out.

"Nothing, I just came to let you guys know that… I will be leaving. For a very long time, quite possibly," he said.

"You're taking the quest to fulfill the prophecy?" Terrador said. "You became accepting of it very quickly."

"I'm not gonna lie, I still hate that I have to do it and I am absolutely terrified, but… I don't have any other choice. The prophecy is clearly talking about me. I won't stop Vhel-Ak'rhair or save Cynder if I don't do this."

"I understand, but… how will you know where to go?"

Spyro opened his satchel and pulled out the list. "I spoke with the Chronicler last night. He gave me some helpful insights and a list on where I need to go to master each of my elements."

"You were contacted by the Chronicler again?" Volteer exclaimed. "An event like that hasn't transpired for almost a decade now. What could possibly have warranted such a connection to occur after so long?"

"Probably the prophecy and the growing threat that the Dark Tyrant brings unto the world," Cyril suggested.

"Yeah definitely. His advice was really good and… I'll be honest it was nice seeing him again," Spyro said. "But unfortunately because of the impending threat it's a very urgent thing I need to do like… right now. So I'm leaving today."

The guardians looked at each other in silence, a little bit worried for the young purple dragon but knowing he absolutely had to do this. "Well, we appreciate you telling us. I wish the best for the journey," Terrador said with a nod. "Do know that we have your back, and if you ever need anything, feel free to send a letter."

"I will. Thank you. I'm gonna go say goodbye to my friends now, and then… yeah I guess I'll be off then."

"Alright, see you later Spyro. Best of luck!" Terrador boomed as Spyro turned and speed-walked back down the hall and out of the Dragon Temple.

He then made his way to the cafe that he and his friends usually met up at for breakfast, hoping they would be there. It was only Blaze and Kairo there, but he was sure they could tell Arcton when they saw him next.

"Hey, guys!" Spyro called, walking up to their table and sitting next to them.

"Oh, Spyro! Good morning!" Blaze said, pausing as he noticed the satchel around Spyro's shoulder. "What's the satchel for?"

"I uh… Oh I should've figured out how to word this on the way here. I… I have a quest I need to go on. A long one," Spyro explained. "I will… very likely be gone for several weeks, maybe even months."

"What? Why, what happened?" Kairo questioned.

"Long story short, there is a prophecy that I just recently found out about, and I'm part of it. I need to go out and gain mastery over every element in existence so I can fight an impending darkness threatening to swallow our world. The prophecy is in full play now; that bell that rang last night? That was the Bell of Hal'rath, and it marks the turning point where the minions of this darkness rise, preparing to revive him. And… as I unfortunately found out, Cynder is one of them."

Blaze and Kairo stared at Spyro with shock, unable to think of something they could say to comfort him. The smile had disappeared from Spyro's face as he explained his situation, and everything was serious now. Very serious.

"So um… yeah, I'm really just here to… I guess say goodbye for now," Spyro said.

"I'm coming with you!" Blaze exclaimed, standing up in his spot.

"No. No, you are not," Spyro replied quickly and firmly. "I'm sorry to decline and be so harsh but this will be… very dangerous. I do not want to put more lives in danger. I have to go alone. This is something I have to do by myself."

"But—"

"No buts."

Blaze looked deep into Spyro's eyes, both of them on the verge of tears.

"Blaze… it's okay," Kairo said, raising a paw and placing it on Blaze's shoulder.

"I just… I want to help my friend, you know? Help out if he might need it. Whether it's moral support, emotional support, support in a battle. I don't care, I just want to go to help my best friend out," Blaze replied.

"I know, but… if what Spyro says is true, especially about the prophecy, then… this might be dangerous, and something he needs to do alone," Kairo said softly.

Blaze nodded, trying to hold back his tears with a sniffle.

"I will see you guys again. I promise," Spyro said.

The two dragons nodded silently. The silence was awkward but Kairo eventually broke it. "We'll miss you, but I wish you the best, purple boy. You've got this. I know you do," the electric dragon said, before stepping forward to hug Spyro.

"Thank you," Spyro said, his voice quivering slightly.

"Good luck, Spyro. I'll miss you, man," Blaze said, choking on his emotions as he also hugged his friend.

"I'll miss you too, Blaze. I'll miss all of you. Arcton too; please let him know of what I am doing and why I have gone."

"We will. Thank you, Spyro. Good luck!" Blaze said again as Spyro turned with a nod and a smile, before turning to walk out of the cafe.

Once he was out, he grabbed out his list, taking note of the first location on the list that Ignitus gave him. It was the location and teacher for his fire element. He had to go to a city in the outskirts of Munitions Forge called Manzithot—the manweersmalls truly had some creative names—and he had to find someone named Ma'vhelma to help teach him his fire element.

Spyro put the list back in his satchel, closing it, before spreading open his wings and taking to the sky, feeling the cool breeze brushing against him as he flew.

Spyro had been flying most of the day, taking a few small thirty minute breaks here and there and pausing for an hour at lunch time to eat; by the time he saw the orange light of sunset begin to fill the sky, he realised he was hungry, and it was time to find some dinner. He landed, walking out into the forest to find some prey.

It didn't take long before he found a deer, so he silently stalked it, before killing it and cooking it—he noticed he preferred his meat cooked rather than raw. It was a good meal, but as he sat by the fire, digging into the deer carcass, he suddenly realised how lonely it was. There was no one to talk to, not even anyone like Sparx. Maybe he should have allowed Blaze to come with him; he was worried that any longer like this would make him go insane.

Luckily, Spyro was only maybe another two hours flight away from Munitions Forge, so he knew he would be back in social company soon. If anything, the loneliness would only be through travel fares where he made his way from city to city alone. He wished he had someone with him rather than being left to his own thoughts, but it could be worse. At least there were people he could interact with at each city, and most importantly, learn from.

His thoughts took him to this Ma'vhelma that he had to meet. He didn't know who Ma'vhelma was, let alone what gender they were. The only thing he was sure about was that Ma'vhelma was a fire dragon. I mean, they had to be, right? A manweersmall couldn't teach Spyro how to use the fire element, a thing only dragons can use.

Spyro sighed, swallowing the last of his meal and proceeding to lie down beside the fire, feeling it warm his scales. His mind began to run wild as he lay there, much to his frustration. All day he had been focusing on getting where he needed to go, but now that he was on the ground and not going anywhere, about to go to sleep, his mind was finally starting to wander.

It wandered straight to Cynder.

Spyro couldn't help but wonder if she was okay, trapped away in her mind. He saw how scared she was after she broke out of her fits of rage or her moments where she wouldn't feel like herself. He knew she could see and feel everything that was going on. And now she was stuck inside a prison in the corner of her mind, forced to witness her body do unspeakable things and try to revive Vhel-Ak'rhair.

A shudder ran through Spyro's name at the thought of the name. Even the sound of it was sinister. Spyro was too scared to even think about having to face him. He didn't even know what Vhel-Ak'rhair looked like.

He was way too tempted to give up and fly back to Warfang, but he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

This was never going to be easy, Spyro. That's just the nature of it. Your life as a purple dragon with such unimaginable power was never going to be easy, he told himself, trying to help himself process everything. You are part of this prophecy whether you like it or not; hesitation will get you nowhere except from one step closer to the world's end. You have to do this, Spyro. You have to do this for your friends, for the guardians, for the world around you…

"For Cynder…" he murmured, relishing the taste of her name on his lips. "I'm doing this for the world, but most importantly I'm doing this for you, my love. I need to have you back."

Spyro turned back to his satchel, grabbing out the ring. He rotated it in his claws, taking in the beauty of every gem in it and the very curve of the ring. He took in the moonlight shining off the surface of the ring, making it shine gloriously. Once again, he brought the ring to his lips and kissed it.

This time, he imagined kissing Cynder. He tried to feel Cynder's soft lips on his own, the taste of her warm breath; he lingered so much on the memories of them as if he was trying to conjure her back in reality so he could kiss her and kiss her over and over again. So he could hold her and protect her.

However, he knew his lips were still pressed against the ring, and sadness washed over him as he took it away. He stared at the ring again, his eyes glistening with painful tears, but also with determination.

"I will get you back, Cynder. I will get you back, and I will marry you. I promise."

At long last! A new chapter of GEM after two years! I'm very sorry that this took so long but with my focus on uni and on Demonised (which I finally finished) I wasn't able to do much writing for this. Now though I'm definitely gonna try and focus a bit more on this story before getting to Outcast (Book 2 of Purple Legacy), and hopefully crank out a few more chapters lol. It's good to finally be back working on this story.

...

TARDIS1039: Hahaha yup the darkness is finally starting to creep in now. Definitely not Demonised-levels but the tension's definitely rising lol. Also yeah lots of pressure from the guardians, but now that he's finally realised the gravity of the situation, he's realised there's no way out of this. Time for a big journey to start lol

Also btw Spyro's twenty in this, that was a typo on my part that I did actually fix lol. I'd completely forgotten how old he was when I wrote the previous chapter lol

Dragon of Mystery: Can't answer on the Cynder question but you'll have to wait and see hehe; I have some stuff planned for her (and the other ak'rhorans mentioned in this chapter). And yeah the reaction's definitely warranted, especially so soon after Cynder's been taken from him. Now he's come a bit more to terms with it, but only because it's the only way to save her. The world too of course, but Cynder ain't leaving his mind any time soon lol; she's gonna be the main driving force for him to continue going.

MysticFire824: Thanks for the big review lol I really appreciate it, and thanks again for mentioning the error with Spyro's age lol. I've already talked to you regarding this review in PMs two years ago lol, so I don't need to respond to too much of this again lol. Also here's your answer with the ak'rhorans lol.

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Anyway, the next chapter will be MUCH less than two years away, and I look forward to getting the next few chapters out soon. Thanks for reading, and have a great day! See you all later :)