At long last, the purple dragon arrived at Manzithot. It was a small village near Mount Boyzitbig, the unstable volcano that Spyro had rescued Terrador from. Small houses and markets were constructed out of igneous rock, of which the entire village stood on. It was an industrial village, filled with furnaces and many large pieces of machinery as dragons, manweersmalls and rabbits all worked and moved throughout the village.

Spyro landed, his eyes watering as he tried to blink the ashes, smoke and sparks out of his eyes. The air was full of smoke, both from the furnaces around the village and the natural environment, as ash billowed from the summit of Boyzitbig. The heat was a little overwhelming but he did his best to ignore it.

As Spyro walked around, he noticed some dragons didn't have wings. It wasn't like they had been cut off or anything; there were no stumps or scars to show the previous existence of wings. Spyro had heard of these creatures before; they were called drakes. Drakes were an inferior species of dragon that only ever bore the fire element, and could only breathe fire, rather than manipulate it and do everything a normal fire dragon could do. They also only came in muted greens, reds and yellows, regardless of the fact that they all breathed fire.

The purple dragon walked around a bit, asking if there was anyone of importance, like a leader or guardian or whatever, that he could talk to. A lot of them ignored him, continuing on with their work or walking past him. After a few minutes of asking around, a yellow drake finally engaged in conversation with him.

"Hello, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but do you know of anyone in a position of importance that I can talk to or seek a meeting for?" Spyro questioned.

"Who are you?" the drake scoffed, her voice rough and gravelly.

"My name is Spyro, the purple dragon. I'm on a mission at the moment, a very important one. I need to find someone here I can talk to immediately."

The drake looked up from her workbench, placing down the hammer she was using to craft what appeared to be some metal pole, glowing an angry red with strong heat. "Hmph, how important is it? I mean you don't seem to be anyone of importance," she said.

"I don't seem to be… what? Do you not know who I am? A lot of the world does, I'm surprised you don't," Spyro stammered, gobsmacked.

"Should I?"

"You know, Spyro? The purple dragon? Saviour of the world?"

"Saviour? From what?" the drake questioned, stifling a laugh.

"Saving the world from falling apart? Surely you were affected by it; the Belt of Fire would have probably passed through here too."

"Belt of Fire? You realise we live around fire and an active volcano. It wouldn't have been any different to what we're used to here."

Spyro blinked. Perhaps word of him saving the world didn't get everywhere in the world. It was a big world anyway so Spyro really shouldn't have been too surprised but he was just used to everyone knowing who he was. Having someone who didn't know of him was unfamiliar to him. It was very likely the whole village didn't know him, not just this yellow drake in front of him.

"Please, I ask of you to take me to someone who's in charge of this place. I promise I won't bother you again afterwards," Spyro said.

The drake eyed him down suspiciously, before rolling her eyes with a scoff. "Agh, whatever. I suppose a few minutes away can't hurt," she muttered to herself, before turning to the other end of the workshop she was in. "Hey Thlogar! Get off your lazy butt and finish this job for me!"

"Oh really, Mum? I'm playing marbles with Rolin!" Thlogar groaned, his yellow head peering up over a table, before a red head followed, possibly his friend, who he had called Rolin.

"Well then, you two can play after! I'm sure Rolin can help you out. I have to go out for a bit, so make sure you get some stuff done around here. And this better be finished when I get back!" the female drake scolded, before turning to Spyro. "Alright, let's go."

She quickly walked off, and Spyro followed her quickly, feeling a little awkward at having just witnessed her tell off her son and his friend.

The silence between them was uncomfortable and Spyro didn't know what to do. Eventually, getting sick of the silence, he cleared his throat and asked, "What's your name, by the way? I never asked earlier."

"None of your business. I'm just taking you to go see Mistress Elaren and then I'm going back to the workshop, got it?"

"I… okay. I'm sorry to bother you. Thanks for at least taking me to uh… Mistress Elaren," Spyro murmured.

Spyro inwardly wondered if she was always this rude, or if this was a part of the culture here. No one else really seemed all to inviting. Was it just because he was an outsider?

After a few more moments of silently following this nameless drake, they arrived at a large building that smelled of rich smoke and molten rock. They walked in, and Spyro's jaw dropped. The sounds of clanging metal and bubbling lava and hissing fire was all around him, and he felt himself sweating even more than he was outside in the heat of Munitions Forge.

The female drake led Spyro to another female drake, clad in faded green scales and wearing a very fancy helmet and chestplate. A tattoo ran across her face underneath her left eye, consisting of lots of jagged lines and curves that formed the shape of a flame.

"Mistress Elaren," the yellow drake said, grabbing the armour-clad drake's attention.

She turned around, raising a brow at the yellow drake. "Good morning, Perigar. What brings you to the Fireworks?" Elaren questioned.

The yellow drake, whom Elaren had called Perigar, motioned to Spyro. "This outsider arrived by my workshop just a few minutes ago asking to see whoever he's in charge. I don't know what he wants, nor do I care," Perigar deadpanned, to which Spyro rolled his eyes a little bit. How rude could she get?

Elaren looked towards Spyro, and then back to Perigar. She motioned with her head to the door to the building, which she had called the Fireworks. "I'll take it from here. You're free to head back now," Elaren said.

"Thank you, Mistress," Perigar replied with a low bow of her head, before turning and moving towards the exit.

By now, Elaren had turned back to Spyro, eyeing him up. "So, purple boy. Who are you and what brings you to the village of Manzithot?" she demanded.

Spyro cleared his throat, feeling a little intimidated. "My name is Spyro. I have been tasked on a mission to learn every element known to dragonkind. Apparently I'm part of a prophecy that says I need to do this to save the world from the embodiment of darkness," Spyro explained, hoping that mentioning the prophecy would persuade Elaren to help him out and to give her a sense of urgency. "I was told to come here to learn my fire element, from someone named Ma'vhelma. Do you know where I can find them?"

Elaren just stared at him, unblinking. Eventually, she spoke. "A prophecy? Do you care to explain this prophecy to me?"

"I uhh… I can try. It's… It's a dragon prophecy so there's a high chance you wouldn't know it. I didn't even know of it myself until last night."

"Spit it out, purple boy, or I will be less inclined to help you; I'm a very busy drake in charge of a very busy village."

"Okay, I'm sorry. Basically, the prophecy states that a being named Vhel-Ak'rhair, the embodiment of darkness, will return to the world when his servants, known as ak'rhorans, who are dragons touched by dark magic, revive him. The prophecy is in play now; I have seen an ak'rhoran."

"So what has this got to do with you?"

"I'm getting there! The prophecy says that the only way to stop Vhel-Ak'rhair is for a dragon to have full mastery of every single element. And… well as a purple dragon, I am able to wield many elements, so I'm the only logical choice for this. So, because of that, I have a long list of places to go and people to see, and my list lead me here first. I am here to find someone named Ma'vhelma. Would you be able to help me find them."

Elaren sighed. "Ma'vhelma… I forgot of her existence until now," she said. "That woman lives an hour's hike away from here, into the volcanic valleys."

"Would you be able to take me to her?" Spyro questioned.

"Tomorrow. I'm too busy today."

"Can… anyone else here take me to her?"

"No. I will take you, and I will take you tomorrow."

Spyro blinked. He wasn't expecting that response, and he especially wasn't expecting to be delayed by a day already, but unfortunately he had no control over the situation. He felt pleading about the urgency of the situation wouldn't do any good either, as absolutely everyone here seemed to be very stubborn.

The purple dragon was pulled from his thoughts as Elaren's loud call touched his ears. "U'balin! Get over here!" she yelled.

A young manweersmall, barely a teenager, ran up from a crank, soot and sweat matting his fur, ran up from one of the workshops in the Fireworks. He stopped in front of Elaren with a low, hasty bow, before straightening quickly. "Yes, Mistress? What do you want?" the teenager asked.

"Go find purple boy over here some place to stay. I'm pretty sure there's a few spare places around," Elaren said.

"What do I do if there is nowhere for him to stay?" U'balin questioned.

"Figure something out. Have him live with you for all I care. Good day," Elaren said, before walking off and immediately barking orders at the other workers in the Fireworks.

Spyro gulped. This drake seemingly could not care less about him, even though she was going out of her way to spend tomorrow taking him to Ma'vhelma. She also appeared to be extremely stubborn, which was going to make staying for the next few days quite interesting. The other drake he had met, Perigar, was also quite similar, as were the other drakes and dragons that he had met before Perigar. Maybe they just hated outsiders?

He turned to the manweersmall in front of him, who cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um… I guess we'll… go and find you somewhere to stay, I guess," he said, before walking quickly out of the Fireworks.

Spyro followed U'balin, the trip just as silent as the one with Perigar as they made their way through the small streets. The awkward silence was a bit too much for Spyro, so he tried to start a conversation. "So, your name is U'balin, right?" the purple dragon asked.

The manweersmall looked up at him, not expecting the question, before turning back to look forward. He then muttered, "Yes. Yes, that is my name."

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Spyro said. "My name's Spyro."

"I uhh… it's nice to meet you too… Spyro," U'balin murmured, testing Spyro's name on his tongue.

Spyro noticed how awkward U'balin was with the phrase. "Is everything alright?" he asked.

"I've just… never greeted anyone before," U'balin explained. "We don't really do that here. We just do our work and move on. If we need someone's name, we'll ask. Well, most of us will. Some, like Mistress Elaren, will tend to just use nicknames."

Spyro nodded; he had picked up on Elaren constantly calling him 'purple boy' and not once asking for his name. He had told her his name, but she had continued to call him 'purple boy' instead of 'Spyro'. It was weird, but Spyro knew it must just be the culture here.

The conversation died out again. Spyro was tempted to try and spark up more topics to talk about, but he didn't want to force anything. He didn't think he would be able to hold up such a one-sided conversation anyway. So he remained silent for the rest of the walk.

Soon, they walked up to a small stone hut that was surrounded by a few larger ones. There was a sign beside the door saying 'guest housing: vacant rooms available'. Spyro figured this was some sort of motel.

When they entered, they saw a small fire dragoness standing behind the counter. She was only young, appearing to be sixteen or seventeen. Spyro was a bit surprised to see such a young dragoness behind the counter for a motel, but he wasn't here to ask questions; that would be the wrong first impression.

"What do you want?" the fire dragoness mumbled in a monotone drone.

"Hello, um… this purple dragon here was looking for a place to stay for a while," U'balin replied.

The dragoness looked at the small manweersmall, and then up to Spyro. She narrowed her eyes. "How long are you staying here?" she asked Spyro.

"I… I don't know, actually. Depends on how long my training here will go," Spyro said.

"Training? For what?"

"Long story short, it's urgent business from Warfang, the dragon capital city. I have been asked to come here to seek guidance from Ma'vhelma. I've talked to Mistress Elaren and she said she will show me how to find her tomorrow, and then I will begin my training."

"Well, do note that it is eight granite shards per night. You can have Room 1, and you can pay when you leave. Now go."

Spyro blinked. Of course they had a different currency. He only had silver and gold coins, used by Warfang and some of the other major dragon cities. He grimaced, knowing he would have to say he couldn't afford it.

"There's one problem with that. I don't have any… granite shards. See, I have a different currency where I come from; I use silver and gold coins," Spyro said, taking some out of his satchel to show the dragoness.

"Well we don't use them, and I've never seen them in my life," the dragoness spat. "Unless you have eight granite shards per night, I'm afraid I can't give you a room."

"But miss," U'balin spoke up, "Mistress Elaren told me to find this dragon a room, surely you must lend him a room for the time being!"

The dragoness stared blankly at U'balin. "Mistress Elaren herself told you that, huh?" she said, to which U'balin nodded. "Fine. Room 1. But only for tonight. When Mistress Elaren comes around to take you off to your training, I will be talking with her to sort out your payment, whether you need to work for it or find somewhere else to stay. I will not be having a room used without being paid for it."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it!" Spyro exclaimed.

"Room 1. Go."

"Yes, sorry. Have a good day," Spyro said, before rushing out of the reception and sighing with relief as he made his way to the units to find his room. "I was a bit worried I was gonna get rejected."

"So was I," U'balin replied, still following Spyro. "There's only one other motel around in this village and if they rejected you too, I don't know what I would have done. My own home is too small for a dragon so I wouldn't be able to accommodate you."

"I grew up living with dragonflies; I should be fine if it did come down to that."

U'balin looked up at Spyro, giving him a very strange, skeptical look. Spyro took a minute to this about what he said, before adding, "I guess it was several years ago, and I've grown a lot since then…"

"Okaaaay…" U'balin murmured, before clearing his throat. "Anyway, I shall leave you to your own for now."

"Thank you. Goodbye, U'balin!" Spyro said.

U'balin was already walking away by the time Spyro replied, and he didn't respond. Spyro's smile faded, a little annoyed U'balin didn't say 'goodbye' back. No one here seemed to have manners, and was always in a rush. No one had really been that hospitable to him. He had to persuade Elaren to let him stay here, and U'balin only helped him out because Elaren told him to.

With a sigh, he made his way to his room, taking off his satchel and lying down on the ground. There wasn't really a bed; it was just a hard stone floor. Spyro wasn't sure how well he was going to be able to sleep, but at the very least he had shelter. He remembered how he had had to sleep out in nature during the war five years ago. However, now that he remembered the moment, they never actually got to falling asleep since the cheetahs had tranquilised them that night to kidnap them.

Sadness washed over Spyro. Why do all my memories have to be during war or having to do with some big impending doom? Spyro thought. I don't remember much of my childhood; it's very hazy before when I was twelve. I then had five years of relearning how to live normally, and now we're in a war again.

At the very least he could be thankful that he had the first twelve years of his life to be a child, even if it was isolated from his kind, raised among dragonflies. Cynder didn't have that. Her whole childhood was war; she was raised and built to be a merciless killing machine, and even after she was freed, the war still lingered. She only had the last five years of a 'normal' life, and a good amount of that was full of trauma from bullying, nightmares, flashbacks, and intrusive thoughts.

He remembered one rough night where he spent two hours consoling her as she recovered from her mind telling her to kill her classmates simply because they were being too loud in class. The thought hadn't swayed from her mind for the rest of the day, and the unwavering need to kill something or someone had lingered. He struggled to pull her out of her thoughts, but eventually she had just cried herself to sleep. He remembered spending the night with her, holding her firmly in his embrace.

Spyro swore he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

And he had already failed.

Now she was out and about, an ak'rhoran, probably murdering anyone right now. Darkness coursed through her veins, and there was no way to bring her out of it. Not this time.

The purple dragon blinked away his tears, knowing he needed to stay strong and stay focused. He had a huge task ahead of him, and it started tomorrow. He was finally going to see Ma'vhelma.

He figured he had at least get some sleep so that he could stay focused on whatever tasks Ma'vhelma had for him.

Spyro woke up to a loud banging on the door to his room. "Hey purple boy, wake up!" a harsh female voice growled.

He jumped up, heart racing from the sudden rousing. "I'm up, I'm up!" Spyro cried.

"Hurry up, we don't have all day."

Spyro looked out the window to his room. The sun had only just risen; it was still fairly early in the morning. "But the sun—"

"—has only just risen, I know," Elaren snapped. "Now get your butt out of here and let's go; we got a decent hike to get to Ma'vhelma."

"Okay, okay I'm coming!" Spyro stammered, rushing to grab his satchel, hurriedly slinging it over his shoulder, and rushing out of the door.

Elaren scoffed, shaking her head, before turning and walking—pretty much speed walking—out of the motel complex and into the main streets. The purple dragon blinked at how quickly she was walking, before breaking into a small jog to catch up with her. It was a bit tricky and tiring matching her pace, but he didn't want to risk getting yelled at for falling behind.

They made their way out of Manzithot, walking along the rocky landscape. The air was unbearingly hot, making Spyro sweat. A large river of lava flowed slowly and ominously beside them, moving towards Manzithot. Spyro noticed they had been walking on a slight incline.

After another hour of marching along the igneous rock and leaping over small streams of lava, Elaren made a turn into a cave entrance that spiraled into a large cliff face, which Spyro assumed was the side of a volcano.

A bright orange light illuminated the cavern as lava dripped down the sides of it, collecting up in pools on the ground. The bubbling of the lava was loud and the heat was incredible. Despite Spyro being used to high temperatures, even this was too much.

They walked for another fifteen minutes through the cave, continuing to work their way down, before they reached a large round room, feeling almost like a training arena. On the opposite end of the arena was a huge opening where a massive lake of lava sat, illuminating the room with nothing but orange light. It was so bright it hurt to look directly at the lava.

"This… Ma'vhelma is down here?" Spyro questioned, looking at Elaren.

She ignored him, walking forward towards the lake before lowering her head in a bowing motion. "Ma'vhelma, we have come seeking your presence," she murmured.

Spyro blinked. Was this Ma'vhelma some sort of spirit or ancestor or something?

They waited a bit, before the lake of lava began to bubble. It bubbled softly, before it grew into a raging, bubbling pool. Spyro stepped back, cautious from the small globs of lava that flew into the air towards them. Elaren seemed unfazed.

After a few more seconds, there was a loud screech and a bright orange creature leapt out of the lava. Spyro braced himself as lava exploded into the air, but none of it came near to him or Elaren. When the purple dragon looked up again, he saw a massive creature, a hybrid between a phoenix and a dragon, its feathery wings and mane made of fire, its beak long and sharp, eyes glowing a bright white. Its scales were small and glowed brightly.

Was this Ma'vhelma?

"Mistress Elaren, it is good to see you again after all these years," Ma'vhelma boomed, a deep feminine voice rumbling from her throat. "What is your request?"

"This young purple dragon here comes seeking your presence, my lady," Elaren explained. "He claims it has something to do with a prophecy."

Ma'vhelma turned to Spyro, her blinding white eyes piercing into his very soul. "Young dragon, what is this… prophecy that Mistress Elaren speaks of?" she asked.

And so with that, Spyro explained the prophecy to the phoenix-dragon, and partway through the prophecy it seemed Ma'vhelma knew what he was talking about. Her eyes widened and she gasped the moment he mentioned Vhel-Ak'rhair by name.

"The Bell of Hal'rath," she interrupted. "Has it rang?"

"Yes it has," Spyro said. "And the ak'rhorans are already out and about; my girlfriend is one of them. She turned right before my very eyes."

"Oh no, this is not good," Ma'vhelma whispered with a shudder, her eyes widening as her body stiffened.

"Lady Ma'vhelma, do you know of this prophecy that purple boy speaks of?" Elaren questioned.

"By the ancestors, I do. It came around very early on in my life several thousand years ago, and it was the talk of the era," Ma'vhelma replied, before quickly turning to Spyro. "What is your name, purple dragon?"

"Uh… Spyro," he murmured, still a little intimidated by the size of Ma'vhelma, and the fact that she seemed to be made of fire.

"'My lady'," Elaren hissed under her breath to Spyro.

"Oh, I mean… Spyro, my lady," the purple dragon stammered, bowing his head slightly, noticing that Elaren was still in a bowing state.

"No need for the pleasantries, young Spyro," Ma'vhelma huffed. "We don't have the time for that. I see you are a purple dragon so I assume you're the Grand Elemental Master in training."

Spyro straightened, looking back up at Ma'vhelma. "Yes, I am. I'm here to learn about the fire element," he said.

"Well then, let's begin shall we? Elaren, you may go."

"Thanks, my lady," Elaren said, before she then straightened up. She turned to Spyro. "Will you be able to find your way back?"

"I believe so," Spyro said.

"Great. Find me when you get back; then we will talk about what you must do to stay in Manzithot."

With that, Elaren whipped around and left, leaving Spyro and Ma'vhelma alone. "Alright, Spyro. Now tell me, what can you do?" Ma'vhelma queried.

"With my fire? Uhh I can… breathe fire?" Spyro replied nervously. "I can also use a comet dash and shoot fire bombs too."

"That's it?"

"Um… yeah? Yeah that's… that's about it."

Spyro suddenly felt underqualified. Ma'vhelma's blatant 'that's it?' made him worry that he wasn't as skilled as she thought he should be, and that she would give up on him. He shrunk in on himself, doubt filling him. Maybe he wouldn't be able to do this. If he was so undertrained on fire, who knew how hard the other three elements would be, let alone all the ones he had never used before.

"Alright then. Show me what you got."

Ma'vhelma's voice brought Spyro from his thoughts. Her eyes flashed brightly, and in front of Spyro, several small creatures began to materialise in front of him. They were small, slightly stout lizards that wielded long spears. With a battle cry, they rushed at him.

Spyro leapt out of the way, dodging a few thrusts of the spears, before he breathed a long stream of fire, incinerating three of them. Four more rushed at him. He spat a fire bomb at them, which detonated as soon as it made contact with the ground. Three of the four lizards were burned alive, but one managed to escape, only losing an arm, which now hung by its side, smoking and sizzling.

The lizard rushed at the purple dragon, who counteracted with a comet dash, lowering his head and encasing his horns in fire before leaping at great speeds at the lizard. There was a loud crack as he made impact with the lizard. It was sent flying backwards, its chest seared from where the red-hot horns had slammed into it. It slowly managed to get up, before Spyro released another fire bomb, destroying the lizard.

Spyro turned to Ma'vhelma. For a moment, he couldn't read her expression. Worry filled him.

Eventually, Ma'vhelma sighed. "It's basic as all hell, but you're good. You pack a lot of heat, and you keep the energy alive in you when you use the fire element. You're aggressive and bring lots of power to it," she said. "Fire can be a very aggressive element, and with it, usually comes a more aggressive attack style. Even more so, if you can breathe fire with as much ease as you do, you can do a lot, both in combat and in regular daily life, such as lighting a furnace or even something as small as a candle. By the looks of it, you have control over your attacks, which is good, but you do not have control over your fire."

"My… fire?" Spyro questioned.

"Yes, your fire. You see, every dragon has their own element lying dormant within them, and they can expel it pretty much anywhere from their body, or use it in many ways that you don't get from basic training. Every dragon has the capability to manipulate their element, allowing them to connect more closely with their element, both inside them, and in nature. In turn, if you learn to be able to control your inner fire, you can control the fire all around you."

With that, Ma'vhelma opened her wings, and with a flash of her eyes, the lava she stood in began to move, creating a large whirlpool around her. It spiraled up and around her before splitting into several long streams of lava that floated through the air around the room. Each different stream then turned into a ball of lava, suspended in midair, before with a click of her talons, they burst into sparks, looking very akin to a firework.

"You can… manipulate lava?" Spyro exclaimed. "That's so cool! How… how do you know it's not some sort of phoenix magic or something?"

"I am also half dragon, Spyro," Ma'vhelma said sternly. "I learned both dragon fire and phoenix magic throughout my life; I know very well what is dragon fire and what isn't. My mother taught me how to do this, and she was a dragon."

"Okay. I'm sorry," Spyro murmured.

The phoenix dragon sighed. The moment was very short-lived before Ma'vhelma spoke up again, wanting to get directly into the training. "Now, come. First of all, we need to get you familiar with how fire and lava feels," she said.

"How… fire feels? I know what it feels like. Hot, painful, makes you sweat, that sort of thing."

Ma'vhelma shook her head before opening her beak and breathing a white hot inferno out of it. It was very strong and forceful as it roared powerfully out of her mouth. Spyro jumped and shuffled away a few steps, not expecting the sudden stream of fire rushing down to the ground right beside him.

Soon she closed her beak, ceasing the stream of fire rushing out of it. Spyro sat staring at her, before looking beside him to notice the ground was lit by her white hot fire.

"Now stand in it."

"WHAT?" Spyro exclaimed.

"You heard me. Stand in it."

"That will burn me!"

"It will hurt, but it won't harm you. Stand in it and trust me."

Spyro gulped. He wasn't sure if he liked Ma'vhelma anymore. But nonetheless, he cautiously stepped forward, doing what his teacher instructed. The heat was unbearable as he got close to the burning spot in the middle of the room, which was saying something considering the whole room was filled with lava.

Eventually, he stepped in, and he cried out in pain. However something was stopping him from running straight out again. His front paw was stuck in the fire, and it hurt.

"I thought you said this wouldn't harm me!" Spyro cried.

"I said it would hurt, not harm you. Your paw is fine, keep it in there," Ma'vhelma instructed.

Sweating, Spyro nodded as he grit his teeth, trying to hold in his screams. The fire was relentless, angry, savage. He watched as the flames licked around his paw, holding it close and wanting to swallow it deeper into the core of the fire. The flames were hungry and loud, roaring and hissing away. The pain was excruciating and he wanted nothing more than to scream out to make it stop.

Eventually, Ma'vhelma snapped her talons again, and the fire dissipated. The pain went away. Spyro looked down at his paw, and it was completely fine. It was as if it had been untouched by the fire.

"Now, tell me again. How did the fire feel?" Ma'vhelma inquired.

"I umm… It felt angry," Spyro said. "It felt… savage… and hungry. I could feel it licking at my paw, wanting nothing more than to burn it to a crisp. I could hear it roaring and hissing at me."

"Good, you're starting to understand. That is what fire is like. It is an angry, volatile, dangerous element. While it can be soft and calm and can do good, like lighting a candle, it can become a wildfire if the wrong things come into play, and it can be destructive, uncontrollable, and like you said, angry. This is why we need to be able to control what is inside us so it doesn't get out of han, because by that point, we are unable to control our elements and it becomes unstable nad dangerous to use."

"I think I get it."

"Over time, I will test you to control these things, to not let your fire, like your rage, get out of hand. The final test I have for you will be stressful, and you will need to keep your cool in order to stay in control of this volatile element."

Spyro's heart began to race. That sounded terrifying. He only hoped he could be ready for it; then again, he fought Malefor and won, and he wasn't ready for it then, despite having plenty of training. Maybe he would never be truly ready until he did it.

"For now, we will start with fire manipulation," Ma'vhelma continued. "This way we can get you used to feeling your way around fire, and being able to control it. Doing this on a more external level should well with it at an internal level. Now, open up your paw."

Spyro looked down at his paw, before opening it and handing it up towards Ma'vhelma. She bent down, her large beak hovering over his paw, before a soft, small stream of fire left her mouth. A small fireball sat burning away in Spyro's paw.

Ma'vhelma straightened up, looking down on Spyro and the small fireball. "Now Spyro, I want you to put that fireball in your other paw, without physically passing it over like you were to pass a ball or something. Use your mind; imagine sending that fire soaring through the air and into your other palm. Connect with the fire and send each flame into your other paw."

The purple dragon sighed, not knowing how he was supposed to do that, but knowing the only way he would figure out how to do it would be to try. He looked at the fireball in his paw, watching as the flames danced slowly about in his grasp. He flexed his claws a little, feeling the heat between them.

However, he knew he needed to feel more than just the heat. He needed to feel the fireball. He needed to be able to connect with it.

Spyro closed his eyes, exhaling deeply. His mind stayed fixed on the fireball, trying to focus on it specifically, rather than the heat filling the room around them due to the massive pool of lava that sat in front of him.

He sat down, raising his other paw in preparation to catch the fireball if he was able to pass it over. He breathed deeply, slow inhales in through his nose and out of his mouth. With every inhale he could smell the fire and molten lava, and it tickled his nose, making him want to sneeze. It was almost a burning sensation, the air being full of fiery particles and fumes.

Time passed. Spyro had no idea how long he was sitting there for. It could have been minutes, it could have been up to an hour, he had no clue. All sense of time had escaped him. But he knew one thing: something had changed. A cool feeling washed over his body; it was as if the heat around him had completely dissipated, having been replaced with a cool, brisk breeze that swept through the cavern. One thing remained however, and that was the heat in his palm.

He could still feel the fireball, and only the fireball.

Spending so long fixating on it and thinking about it had allowed him to connect with it, and now it was all he could feel. He could almost feel each flame as it moved, and he felt his heart flicker in the same way. He felt it move with the flame. Spyro was calm, much like the flame. Unlike every other fire he had created—large, aggressive infernos made to hinder or harm foes, even to kill them—this fire was calm and gentle, and he felt his heart mirror that.

At the same time, his heart wanted more. It was hungry for more, to burst out and devour something, to burn something. This was what the fire in his paw wanted. It wanted to grow and spread, take life so it can grow and flourish.

This was what Ma'vhelma was talking about with control. Spyro could feel the flame fighting him to grow bigger, to burn him and feed off his flesh. But Spyro was in control right now, and he was able to keep it steady.

Now it was time to try and move it. He pictured the fire in his paw, as well as both of his paws that he held outstretched in front of him. He felt the space between his paws.

He imagined the fireball moving between his paws, still holding as much focus on it as he had earlier. Slowly, he felt the heat leaving his paw. The fireball had left it, and was now hovering in mid-air. However, he could still feel the fireball's heat, as if it was now part of him. He felt it move slowly between his paws, and he grew excited, knowing he was going to be able to do it.

His heart sped up, growing more excited. So did the fireball.

Spyro felt the radius of the heat expanding, growing hotter and wilder, and by the time the fireball hit his paw, it felt way hotter than it had earlier. He jumped, leaping back and dropping the fireball. It fell to the ground, dissipating in a cloud of flames, before smoke took its place.

Ma'vhelma sighed, "Good start, but not good enough. You got too excited. When you're trying to connect with fire for the first time, any slight change in your feelings will reflect itself into the fire you are controlling. You got excited, and so did your fire, and you ended up burning yourself."

Spyro looked at his paw sadly. It was slightly charred—it wasn't too horrible but it was kind of bad as well. Ma'vhelma sighed, before lowering her head and touching Spyro's burned paw with the tip of her beak. The purple dragon yelped in surprise, recoiling as the sharp point of her beak rubbed against his burn, before the pain suddenly disappeared.

He looked down at his paw, a golden glow covering his burned paw, before it quickly faded away and revealed a fully healed paw.

"Did… did you just heal me?" Spyro questioned in awe.

"I did, but that is phoenix magic. I'm afraid you won't be able to learn that," Ma'vhelma replied. "Now, I want you to do it again. And stay calm. No excitement, no frustration, no nothing that will change how both you and the fireball are feeling. In time you will be able to learn control over fire when you are not at ease or you're incredibly stressed, but for now you do not have that control."

"I… I understand."

Ma'vhelma didn't wait for his answer before she leaned forward, breathing another fireball into Spyro's paw. He sighed, before he closed his eyes and began to focus on the fireball again. He had to redo this whole process; since leaving the intense focused state he had been in for the last long while, all the heat in the room had returned to him, and he was very aware of it.

It still took him a while to finally reconnect with the fire in his palm, but he did it slightly faster than the first time. He began to try moving the fireball again, slowly and carefully, trying to keep his cool.

Spyro felt the fire move from one paw to another, and then before he knew it, the fireball had been moved to his other paw. He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw the fireball sitting on the opposite paw to the one he started with.

He let the fireball dissipate, before returning his two front paws to the ground. He looked up at Ma'vhelma, who wore a small smile.

"Great job, Spyro. That is a great start."

Spyro beamed back at Ma'vhelma; it seemed like she had her doubts proven wrong, and Spyro was very glad about that. Having his tutors doubt him was the last thing he needed, and he wanted—no, he needed—to do a good job and pass whatever tests his tutors would have with flying colours. Without proper mastery of all his elements, he wouldn't be able to become the Grand Elemental Master, and in turn, he wouldn't be able to defeat Vhel-Ak'rhair or save Cynder.

The purple dragon took a deep breath. "Thank you, Ma'vhelma," he said with a small bow of his head.

"Now, I want you to get used to this feeling, of being able to manipulate fire and feel it as it moves through the air. Go again."

Spyro nodded, before closing his eyes as he felt Ma'vhelma breathe fire into his paw once more.

This took a lot longer to complete than I expected (I was hoping to get this one out last month); I got a job and I also hit a little bit of writers block with this one but I finally got it out!

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MysticFire824: I'm really glad to hear it was worth the wait! I'm glad you like the Ignitus scenes too; he's always interesting to write depending on which story I'm working on, as I've taken a different approach to him each time I've written him. And yeah I wanted to try something different with De'drin coz most OCs that are Spyro's father don't tend to be bad, so I figured I'd do that with him (plus I thought it'd be cool to have his father be an ak'rhoran), and same with doing something different with Spyro's relationship with Ignitus; I haven't seen the grandfather approach done and I felt it fit better regarding the characters and ideas I had.

And thanks, I look forward to getting more work done on this story! The challenge is gonna be completing it since it's so big (much bigger than Demonised), but I'm actively working on figuring out how to condense certain sequences especially coz I know going through a similar process for each of the elements is going to be a lot to get through and could get old quickly so it'll be interesting to figure out how I'm going to do this story.

Plague Doctor 2035: I'm just glad you liked the chapter and continued reading :) I do apologise for the long wait between chapters and I did wonder if people would think the story had been abandoned, but it's always been something I wanted to get back to.

Dragon of Mystery: Yeah Spyro's gonna have a rough time with these ak'rhorans, coz he not only has Malefor and his own girlfriend to worry about, but now his father too. I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and it's great to be back working on this! I'm just hoping I can stick to my goal of a chapter a month, so we'll see how that all goes).

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Anyway thanks for reading the chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! As usual, have a great day, and hoping to get the next chapter out soon! Cya later! :)