Author's Note:

Another snip from Joshua's perspective.

Timestamp key: "D" for days, "W" for weeks, "M" for months, "Y" for years, "EM" for early morning, "LM" for late morning, "EA" for early afternoon, "LA" for late afternoon, "EE" for early evening, "LN" for late night, and "AD" for all day. Note that the Realms follows the sexagesimal system for keeping time, just like Earth. (In other words, 60 seconds per minute and 60 minutes per hour.)

Snip category key: There are four categories of snips. "Settling In", "City Life", "Beyond the Wall", and "The Journey Home". All four represent parallel storylines that take place within Aimless, and other than "Settling In", each snip category has at least two subtypes. Those subtypes aren't listed due to potential spoilers.

Enjoy!

Settling In

Chapter 21: Background Check [1]

"It's good to know where you come from. It makes you what you are today."

- Alexander McQueen

[5D/LM]

"You cannot defeat me! I am ETERNAL!"

Spyro let out a panicked gasp.

In a preemptive strike honed by long-perfected instincts, he blurred into the world of Dragon Time, leaped across the divider, and tackled Joshua Renalia down the broad, marble stair. He planted his forepaws on the human's shoulders and pinned him down with his crushing weight. "I knew it!" Purple drilled into viridian. "Where did you hear that?" Spyro demanded. "Tell me! You shouldn't know that… unless"—a purple aura enveloped his teeth.—"unless you're him, aren't you?"

Joshua maintained his poker face. "Who?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Malefor. I don't know how you did it, but as long as I breathe I won't let you—

"Pfffft." The adolescent's nonchalance dissolved into laughter. Howls filled the chamber's silence; anyone could see his amusement from a mile away.

Even Spyro the Dragon did a double-take. "Huh?"

"Joshua!" Both dragon and human turned their heads in time to watch Kilat spring forward from the Observers' Box like the fabled Savior before her. Spiral horns slammed into Spyro and sent him flying. Almost immediately, the little girl lowered her snout, nostrils sniffing the tunic on his chest. Cobalt eyes scanning his head. "Are you okay? Are you bleeding?" She nuzzled the gamer's shoulder, her pulse of life swirling. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Joshua raised the only hand he could. "Hey, hey, hey, hey." He pawed at her muzzle. "It's fine. You—

Spyro rose on all fours. "Step away!" He yelled at Kilat. But his voice seemed to waver. "He'll, h-he'll kill you."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The dragoness tilted her head at him, before turning her attention back to Joshua.

The air turned cold. "Little girl, please, listen—

A blast of wind interrupted whatever Spyro had planned. "Break it up." Cynder landed between them, growling. "This is not happening again!" She glared at her mate. "Spyro, why did you invoke an Element? What is wrong with you?"

The Purple Dragon blinked. Joshua saw the cerulean glow of the Ice Element fade away from the tips of his claws. "W-what's wrong with me? But Cyn, that ape is—

"Harmless!" the black dragoness finished. Her wing flared, gesturing at Joshua. "Look at him. He's in chains; he can't even move his left arm! Did you honestly expect Joshua would pull off some kind of trick? After saving your life a few days ago?"

He blanched. "Well…"

Cynder groaned. "And I told you before: this 'ape' is also our guest. He's under my protection! How could you forget that?"

"I-I didn't forget," he murmured. Spyro bowed his head, unable to look at her in the eyes. "It's just…"

"It's just what?" The dragoness paused. She waited for clarification, but it didn't come. "Just that you assumed he'd do something?" she finished for him. "Because you don't like him? Or because you think he's Malefor in disguise?"

"Cynder, he said—

"What he said means nothing. It doesn't mean anything unless we get more information out of him. Don't jump to conclusions, Spyro. You'll only make a bigger fool of yourself in front of the Court."

"I, I-I, I…"

She ignored his stammering and turned on Joshua Renalia. "And you!" she snarled at the human, stomping to the fallen teenager. Her claws clicked and clacked on the marble, eyes drilling into his. "Ancestors' cloacas, Joshua! What were you thinking? That was so stupid! You knew it would set Spyro off, didn't you? So why say it anyway? He could've killed you! I warned you several times in private: don't step on his tail and give this Court your utmost respect."

"Uhm…" Joshua Renalia couldn't help grinning. He found Spyro's overreaction too amusing. He still felt the hilarity in his chest. "Uhh, well…" True, the Purple Dragon of Legend could've killed him, but… it was totally worth it. Definitely SnapChat gold right there.

Her emerald eyes narrowed. Cynder approached closer. Kilat tried to stand up to her, only to be shoved away with a paw on the head. Joshua stiffened, seeing the black dragoness right on top of him. An awkward second passed. What was she going to—

Cynder bent over and caught the tunic between her teeth. She forced him to sit straight up, then thrust her snout into his face. "Did you seriously just say that was 'totally worth it'?"

"Oh." He scratched his head. "That, errr, t-that slipped out, huh?"

"Well?" Her terrible breath wafted into his nose again, but he couldn't look away. It might piss her off more. Somehow, the gamer found an irritated Cynder more frightening than a livid Spyro. "Do you have anything to say, human?"

"I'm sorry," Joshua raised his hands, palms outward. "I'm really sorry! I couldn't resist trolling him. I just had to do it."

If the dragoness did not comprehend the meaning of the word 'troll', she did not show it. "Why?"

"Because… I…" He blushed. "I did it for the lulz."

"'For the lulz'," Cynder repeated, deadpan.

If he had looked at a mirror at that moment, he would've seen his cheeks becoming a fuller red. "Yes, Cynder," he confessed, nodding. "For the lulz." His reply did not satisfy Spyro's mate. Her black muzzle was still inches in front of him, sporting a chagrinned expression. Joshua could make out each individual scale around her nostrils, the vertical creases on her black lips, and the complex texture of her viridian irises. His discomfort intensified by the second. The more he looked at Cynder—the more he stared into those spheres, the more he felt compelled to answer her unspoken question. "It was hilarious."

"So that was all a joke, wasn't it?"

"…Yes."

"And you did it, just because you could."

"…Yes, ma'am. And, a-and it was epic."

"'Epic', huh?" Cynder's gaze lingered on Joshua for a few more seconds. It felt judging, as though she was once more appraising his person. And there it was again, that urge to speak, to fill the silence with more babble, whatever good it would do for him. Joshua would have folded had the dragoness sighed a second later. Her sigh was overpowering, the stench nearly sending the teenager to the floor reeling. But either she did not notice or Joshua was just too good an actor. "I never thought someone like you could be so stupid and immature."

Sparx's loud voice shot down from the Observers' Box. "Maybe he's got some rocks in his head," the dragonfly mused.

Cynder did not comment and simply turned away, while Kilat sidestepped around the former Terror of the Skies, taking this chance to inspect Joshua. She set her paws on his shoulders and ogled his face. "Are you okay?" the child said. "What did she say to you? You really don't have rocks in your head, right?" She began nuzzling his temple, eyes poring across it. "Right?"

Joshua gently pushed away Kilat's snout. Her sniffing was starting to irritate him. "I'm okay, Kilat. I'm okay. Don't worry about me. I was just… being stupid, that's all. Yeah."

"Why? That wasn't funny at all. You got hurt, too!"

Joshua did not answer. He was too busy watching Cynder amble to Spyro's side. She licked his snout twice, but the Hero snubbed her. He turned away and shuffled past his mate. Cynder's tail brushed longingly against his flank, but Spyro ignored her as he made his way back to the Observers' Box. Joshua's and Spyro's eyes met as he passed, his life signature shrunken, cold, and blue. The weight in that purple gaze was penetrating, so penetrating that the human could not even mutter a more personal—a more sincere apology to either him or the Court.

Spyro himself proved stronger—better than Joshua when he stopped at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Observers' Box. "My apologies to everyone, for the disrespect," he said. His voice rang clear across the audience chamber. "I was impulsive. I was reckless. But I was only doing what I thought was right. I am very sorry for the trouble."

Joshua's gaze swung back to Cynder. He could feel sense her pulse of life. The human extended his ego boundaries a little, to assess her. A lukewarm sensation came over him. He felt it thrumming. Its size fluctuated multiple times a second. One look at her muzzle and he knew what Spyro did hurt her. This was not the first time they fought over him and he had an inkling their relationship was going through a bit of turbulence, but he never expected it to be this serious. Was there, was there something he could do? The thought of being responsible for the tension—for aggravating it further today brought feelings of guilt—

Kilat shoved her face and horns into Joshua's cheek. "Not now, Kilat." He struggled to push her snout aside. "What is it?"

"You didn't answer me," she mewled. "Why'd you do it? Ancestors, was that really a joke? I don't get it. Who'd laugh at any of that?"

"You won't," Joshua said. "You won't understand. It's just something from my life back at home," he explained. "Something my friends and I used to joke about."

Yeeaahhhhh, there was really no way he could explain himself to anyone here in this world. Thing was, when it came to Spyro the Dragon, specifically the TLoS continuity, fanfiction whose plots took place after Dawn of the Dragon almost always opened with one of the very last lines Malefor had in-game. One could even say it was among his last words.

Readers of post-DotD Spyro fanfiction have come across these six words time and time and time again. It became a taboo. A huge red flag for those seeking out quality stories to sink their scarce, precious time into. A few prominent TLoS fanwriters had gone as far as calling it something "to be avoided", unable to even count how many times they clicked on a story and found those very words in the first line alone.

Given the information that people sought from Joshua Renalia in this particular chapter of his life, it seemed almost appropriate to begin with something overused, overdone. It even had the benefit of attracting attention, for no one but the Saviors would know exactly what transpired between them and the great beast they sealed inside the depths of the planet.

He expected astonishment from the two Saviors, but good f*cking Lord, Spyro reacted perfectly. His rage, his anxiety, his vicious movements… as alarming as it was for Joshua, the instant he was brought down, all he could think of were memes and Youtube videos for everything that pissed him off when it came to the franchise, from the post-DotD templates to the gigantic farce called Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. SnapChat material indeed. If he had a way back home right now, he could've made a GIF out of it.

Joshua felt someone's paw on the base of his spine. He turned and noticed Cynder was once again behind him. A little pressure from her soft, muggy pads urged him to stand. "Get up," she said. "Didn't you hear Terrador? We're resuming the hearing. This time, no more jokes; no more trolling (whatever that is); and no more 'lulz'. Or else. Got it?"

Joshua nodded, visibly nervous of Cynder. Her voice was grumpy, if not choleric. No way in hell he was going to mess around. Not when she sounded like his girlfriend while she was having her period. "I hear you loud and clear."

Without another word or gesture, the dragoness leaned her head towards Kilat. "You're coming with me," she said. "We're only permitted to watch from the Observer's Box." The child acquiesced, vaguely understanding the protocols of the audience chamber. Halfheartedly, she began to walk away, only for Cynder to reach down and bite down on Kilat's neck. The child yelped as the older dragoness lifted her up by the scruff. Before she could react, with a flair of her wings Cynder jumped straight up and past the divider, then set Kilat down before sitting on her haunches. Oddly enough, she placed herself far away from Spyro, sitting on the other side with so many people between him and Sparx.

"Before we continue," Terrador spoke, "I have one last thing to say about the matter." Joshua looked up the broad marble stairs, ogling the four pedestals installed on top. The Guardians occupied all of them. Three, actually, indicating a replacement for Ignitus hasn't been found yet. Volteer's, Cyril's, and Terrador's expressions were unreadable, their eyes watching him. Reading him. "While impulsive, I feel Spyro was justified at the very least. This is most likely irrelevant to matters concerning only the Purple Dragon, but it highlights the"—he paused, mulling over the proper word to use.—"intrigue in Joshua's origins, considering what we can infer from the very facthe possesses this knowledge."

"I still stand by my opinion," Cyril asserted. "It is impossible—it is outrageous for Joshua to know Malefor's last words in its exact verbatim. Only the Saviors would know what they are."

"You still say that even after he proved otherwise right in front of you?" Volteer questioned. "You saw how Spyro reacted to him. That cannot be faked."

"Bah!" Cyril dismissed him. "That was all good luck. I would bet a few coins the furless ape just pulled it out of his rump."

Observing the Guardians from below, Joshua realized how ingeniously the audience chamber was designed. His emerald eyes panned the room. Populated by Cynder, Kilat, Sparx, Spyro, and God knew how many people attending this meeting, the Observers' Box rose to his left and hugged the wall in its entirety. To his right a gentle breeze swept through a row of wide, open windows. Curtains bearing the colors of the Elements swayed along, as though beckoning the viewer to come and see the impressive panorama of the Warfang cityscape, the southern side of the wall, and the endless ocean beyond it.

With one of the only entrances to this chamber situated directly behind him, Joshua surmised this grand arrangement emphasized—and in an intimidating manner—who exactly ran the show here. The fabled Heroes of the Dragon Realms held no seats of their own, but their company certainly had a decorated atmosphere to it, bereft of either the riffraff from the rest of the city or the resident students of the Temple. Must be the Warfang Council, the human theorized. Apparently, Spyro and Cynder's status as Saviors afforded special privileges.

If it wasn't for the Guardians or the Observers' Box, Joshua might have imagined himself in Meereen, speaking before the Mother of Dragons. Man, I wonder if Jon Snow stayed dead or GMMR resurrected him in season six…

Damn it. He shouldn't be thinking about this shit now.

Luckily Terrador and Volteer were still trying to persuade Cyril.

"Hey," he raised his voice. "May I say something? Just to make things clear."

Cyril looked like he was about to snap, but Terrador silenced the Ice Guardian with a withering look. "You may."

"Great." Goddammit. He'd have clapped his hands if he could. Joshua settled with making eye contact with the old Ice Dragon. Don't be intimidated. Don't be intimidated… "Cyril, if you really think I'm whipping all this stuff out of my f*cking ass, how does that explain what I know about Cynder and her second possession?"

The Councilors in the Observers' Box looked at each other. Those closest to the black dragoness eyed her warily. Some backed off, just a little. Cynder herself was downcast. She turned away, ashamed. On the other hand, Kilat stared straight at him. Listening to every word.

"What the f*ck, you guys!" Joshua carped. "I blurted it out shamelessly while I was under the influence of Fear! You know, during that whole bullshit that happened in front of your gates. The entire city knows it by now. We're not breaking new ground here." He glared at the councilors as a group. "Besides, Malefor was a Purple Dragon. I don't think any of y'all would have had better luck fending him off in Cynder's place! It's not like you have to worry about it now, anyway. I mean, Jesus, her partner's a Purple Dragon himself!"

That alleviated their concerns a little. Joshua could tell from the slight slackening in their life signatures. Cyril, however, remained unimpressed. His pulse of life stayed as glacial as ever, reflecting in the tight scowl on his azure muzzle. "And so?" he challenged. "How is this relevant?"

"How about the fact nobody here knew about it? Your Saviors would've kept this secret until they died and maybe even centuries beyond that if I didn't just throw it out there while I was hallucinating." Joshua glanced at the Observers' Box and eyed the two dragons. "Am I right? Spyro? Cynder?"

Cynder did not turn to him. She kept her eyes trained to the ground. Her wings remained limp. Her tail, lifeless. Joshua felt heat from her pulse of life. It swirled slowly, its intensity flaring from its center within. Any dumbass could discern the raw guilt tearing at her inside.

No one did a thing to help her. The Councilors were apathetic. The Guardians were bound by duty and decorum, while Kilat simply didn't care. Sparx looked oblivious. And Spyro…

Spyro looked worried. A familiar expression, probably from the few emotional cutscenes TloS had as a series. Seeing it returned Spyro to the pedestal Joshua had held for him in his childhood days. And, as though true to this image, the Purple Dragon of Legend discarded the worry from his muzzle, steeled himself, and met Joshua's eyes. "It's true," he spoke softly, gently. Now this… this was the protagonist—the fabled Hero as the gamer remembered him.

Even a gentle voice would reach to the far ends of a room if it was the only one keeping the silence at bay.

"The Dark Master corrupted Cynder a second time. He wanted her to kill me. Maybe he thought I would kill her in self-defense. It would've been one less dragon to worry about. If it wasn't for that curse, Cynder and I would've never realized how much we loved each other. And that's what brought her back. Love can be a powerful thing.

"We never told anyone about this when we returned to Warfang." Spyro's muzzle lingered on each and every other person in this room. His voice seemed to address each one individually. "Why should we? It's a private moment. It's our moment. It happened between us, and only us. Besides, I didn't want anyone to look at Cynder any differently just because she got hit by a curse again."

Spyro ended it on that note. After a momentary pause, Joshua asked, "That's happening now, isn't it? Because that secret became public knowledge a few days ago?"

Spyro sat on his haunches. He did not answer him. He did not need to.

The gamer continued, "For what it's worth, Spyro, I'm really sorry about that. If I had known what was happening to me, I wouldn't have said it."

The dragon glanced up at him. He said nothing. Joshua wondered what the Hero was thinking. Did he accept his apology? Was he still processing it? Or was Spyro reassessing his measure him? The adolescent hoped his sincerity shone through.

"You probably wouldn't have figured it out anyway," Terrador said. "The Fear Element triggers unique responses among individuals. You are no different."

Then why did he see Malefor then? Why did Cynder's Phantom Fright make him see visions of that Big Bad Dragon murdering his entire family and destroying the world he knew?

He tested the waters. "It makes me relive my worst fears, doesn't it?"

"Hmm, yes and no," Terrador answered.

"What do you mean?"

"Multiple factors determine what you see, so it's not necessarily your 'worst fears'," the Earth Guardian explained, before moving things along. "But that's a conversation you can take up with Volteer in private, later. Whatever you saw—regardless of what it was, the fact is your knowledge is valid. That is indisputable." He glanced at Cyril. "I am sorry, Cyril, but this proves Joshua Renalia is aware of Malefor's last words and clearly he wasn't guessing."

The Ice Dragon grumbled, "The evidence is against me; I'll concede to that. But this only makes things more…"

"More interesting?" offered Volteer.

Cyril went another direction. "More complicated."

"It does," Terrador agreed. His muzzle faced Joshua directly, his gaze trained right at him. "How did you know all of this? Why do you even have this information in the first place?"

Finally, the loaded question.

Since Day 1, Joshua Renalia circled this question many times in his solitude. His backstory was one of the few things that constantly nagged him at every step of the way. From the long hike of his very first day and the long hours he wasted trying to see Ignitus in the Spirit Gems, to the nights he spent admiring the twin moons and the unfamiliar arrangement of stars in the sky.

Kilat's intent gaze reminded him of the couple of times she asked about humanity, on their way here. She must be remembering how all those conversations they've had. (Hopefully she didn't recall him yelling at her.) They always led to complex science things Joshua knew shit about. Not once did the dragon-girl truly ask about his species. It nearly got to that point, but at the time Joshua had successfully distracted her with the way humans harnessed electricity to manipulate the world itself.

This time Joshua had no such escape. Everyone in this room wanted to know more about humanity. Enormous pressure came from every corner of this audience chamber. The members of the Court all had distinct life signatures: frigid, shrunken, but with a hot epicenter at the brink of ignition.

Even Kilat's pulse of life felt identical. Her cobalt eyes bored in on him so strongly Joshua could feel her stare. There was no question that her curiosity had returned. She's bound to interrogate him again, back in his "room".

The human clenched his fist. Kilat wasn't the type to keep quiet. The dragoness would jump at the instant he said something that contradicted what he already told her. Right now, that adorable little girl was the biggest threat to him. She could cross-examine him at any given moment. And that wasn't adorable. Not at all.

Joshua had to be careful. He had to be truthful. He had to be consistent.

He had to…

.

.

He had to lie better.

In fact, he had to lie so damn good that he'd believe in his own bullshit.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Challenge accepted.

Barney would be so proud of him. If he pulled this off right, this would be legen…

.

.

.

Joshua slapped his chest with his right hand and clutched the tunic. He took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself. "Terry"—the Guardians looked at each other in confusion.—"I mean Terrador. I'll start this off nice and easy, ayt?"

Another deep breath. It's go time.

"Humans live far away. We're very far. We're so far and so isolated, that the majority of humankind thinks dragons like y'all don't exist." He eyed the people in the Observers' Box. "Same goes for talking moles, warrior cheetahs, clothed bears, rhynoc guards, and nasty gnorcs. Plenty of humans believe we're the only sentient beings in the world!"

Hopefully the people living in the Dragon Realms haven't fleshed out the world map during the past four years of peace. Otherwise, he'd be totally f*cked.

At the declaration, the Councilors began murmuring at one another. Sparx started zipping around the Observers' Box. Only the Guardians, Spyro, Cynder, and Kilat focused their undivided attention on him.

"Seeing all of you in this room, that's obviously not true." He went on, "But there's no way we would know that, since we lived so far away. However, my kind is also a curious bunch. Soooo, while some humans disagree with that belief as a matter of principle, there are so, so, so, soooooo many more who would rather test it and prove it right or wrong."

Joshua paused it there, and let silence do his work for him. The adolescent fanboy gave the Guardians and his idols plenty of time for his words to sink in. He monitored their life signs, their body language, even the movement of their eyes.

Terrador's frown probably meant he understood the implications and didn't like it. Cyril's narrowed eyes and upward-facing muzzle indicated his slow processing. Kilat was opening her mouth, as though murmuring speculation to herself. Joshua found it amusing to notice Sparx doing the exact same thing, and with that signature "thinking man" pose he was portrayed with several times in-game. His heroes—the both of them—stared straight at him patiently, their snouts unreadable but obviously interested in what he was going to say next.

Volteer gasped. "Ah!" The old Electric dragon sounded like he just experienced an orgasm in his brain. "Your people sent out reconnaissance? Explorers? Surveyors? Scouts?"

"That's right," Joshua said with a grin, channeling his best Tron Bonne impression. "Yooou got it!" Man, a round of applause would be so appropriate for him right about now. "And naturally, those same explorers kept to themselves. To avoid discovery, you know. We're real wary about meeting other intelligent—other sentient people, I mean. Fear of the unknown and all that.

"To aid the exploration effort—and obviously guarantee my species has full control over our own discovery—we invested in devices that allowed people to hear and see from great distances."

Kilat started jumping excitedly. Right on cue. "Ooh, ooh! Ooooohh! The camlas! The camlas!" Joshua's heart ached at her antics. The child was just so cute. Goddammit, she was distracting him. "You're talking about the camlas, huh? Those things that run on electricity, right? Riiighhht?"

Three.

Two.

One.

Volteer tripped and gracelessly stumbled right off his pedestal. "You, y-y-you can perform long-distance scrying with electricity?"

Joshua couldn't have timed this better himself.

"I-i-i-impossible! Joshua, as eccentric as we all find you, you must be pulling our tails. All our tails! Electricity cannot perform such magic. It is wild, untamed, uncontrollable—an Element born from the skies itself!"

Cyril scoffed. Joshua eyed the Ice Dragon. He didn't seem that impressed by the revelation. A quick glance at Terrador also revealed the same thing. The Councilors all had neutral expressions, and their life signatures were cold. Shaking, but cold. What's wrong? Shouldn't they be reeling on the floor like the Electric Guardian?

"Don't believe the ape, Volteer," Cyril advised. "Joshua's species cannot perform any of this. He is lying by the skin of his teeth. Mixing truth with his lies, to make them more believable." He glared at the young man. "He has no intentions of revealing the real reason to us."

Next to him, Terrador only harrumphed. His muzzle bobbed a little, as though insisting the human to elaborate.

Joshua shook his head, his arm outstretched. What the f*ck is this shit? Why did they want him to explain some more?

As a matter of fact, why didn't Cyril believe him? Sure, the old man—the senile dragon who seemed to hate his guts pegged him right. It was true: just about everything he said were blatant lies and half-truths, concocted to fit the context of the Dragon Realms as he knew from direct observation and memories of both Spyro continuities. Yet those little tidbits about humanity and the technology they had? Those were all f*cking real.

High-tech digital cameras of the 2010s. He wasn't lying at all! He wasn't even exaggerating their ability. They had cameras that could freaking see the surface of the moon in all its wonderful detail from the f*cking Earth!

And that bit about humans generally being afraid of aliens and mutant freaks? Oh come on. Seriously? Independence Day, people! How about War of the Worlds, or Edge of Tomorrow? DC Comics even had Injustice: Gods Among Us three months before Warner Brothers announced that Dawn of Justice movie back in 2013's Comic-Con. Plus, video games explored this theme just as well as the movies did. Dead Space, Alien: Isolation, and even Mass Effect's backstory for crying out loud. Joshua was not lying when he gave this detail a few seconds in the limelight. Complete and utter sincerity should have shown on his face. They should have believed him without question.

So why—

Volteer's voice sliced through his incredulity. "Joshua," he called from his pedestal. He appeared to have regained a bit of his composure. "You're not aware of this, but magic is uncommon in the Realms." The dragon must have seen the disorienting perplexity and confusion on his face. God, he was so thankful for the few allies he had here. "Few people of any species possess the mana reserves needed to become a magician or spellcaster, and even then, magic is taught, practiced, and researched only in Skylands and in Castle Shadowstone. 'Long-distance scrying' itself is considered extremely advanced. Only a few individuals can perform it.

"But, b-but what about you dragons?" Joshua asked. "Didn't you guys have, like, a Pool of Visions or something in the old Temple? Don't the Purple Dragons have awesome magic and all that? Aren't your 'Elements' also magic?"

His answer disappointed him. "No, they're not. There is a distinction between our abilities and true magic. I'm afraid, ashamed, and embarrassed to admit that I do not know the specific nomenclature, so I cannot really explain any more than that.

"I don't think the technical details are important anyway, Joshua, because you're insinuating your entire species is capable of and proficient with something only a clutch's worth of people can do—and barely at that." Volteer looked at him. His eyes screamed apology. "I'm sorry," he said with a shake of the head. "But the thought, it, i-it breaks common sense."

Oh boy.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, ohhhh boy.

This was a tough one. He had to explain how a camera worked. F*ck, did he have to explain how eyes worked, also? Joshua scanned his audience. They were all ogling him, waiting for his reply. God-f*cking damn it all. This was the one time he listened to his school teachers, or at least wished he was a walking Wikipedia.

Gotta remember your biology and computer 101, dude. Remember.

Gotta remember.

Got to freakin' remember!

He raised his hand. "Give me a moment," he said. He hoped his words came out calm, collected, and unperturbed. "This is going to be a little"—What was that word Volteer just used?—"uhhhh, technical, even though it's basic knowledge where I'm from."

"Ancestors help us," Joshua heard Cyril mutter. "He's about to feed us with more dragon dung."

Terrador retorted, "Keep an open mind, Cyril. Maybe it's something we've never heard of before."

Cyril did not reply back.

Joshua Renalia decided to go with the concept of a digital camera. It's one of the few things he recalled from Wikipedia, in a little bit more detail than the other articles. All because Dad's a photography nut. The strategy was simple, but first he needed to one piece of information.

Luckily the silence was still up and as awkward as ever. "I have a question for people here," he said. "Do you know how your eyes work?"

"Our eyes?" Terrador repeated. "Is this important?"

Joshua frowned. "Yes. Believe me, it is. So do you know or not?"

"What do you mean?"

He resisted the urge to groan or facepalm. "You're seeing me right now, correct? You can see me with your eyes?" Joshua waited for a nod. It came. "Great, but have any of you considered how vision exactly happens?"

Silence.

"I'll take that as a no."

Okay, that established the baseline. All right, Joshua. Time to give video game characters a basic lesson in biology. Try not to f*ck this up.

"I'll keep this short and sweet," he began. "All eyes—mine, Volteer's, Cynder's, Kilat's, my rhynoc guard, that random cheetah over there—all of them take in light, in the exact way they are arranged." He gestured to several places in the Audience Chamber. "Where I'm sitting. Where the stairs are. Where the Court's observing me. What the colors are. How bright the place is." He clenched his right fist as if to compress the air within it and proceeded to cram it into his eyes. "Our eyes take in all that so hundreds of little nerves inside can process the light, its colors, and its arrangement into a form of energy and transmit them straight into our heads. Do you understand me?"

Volteer pushed him. "Yes, affirmative, it seems simple enough. Go on." If it wasn't for the fascination in his eyes and the way he focused his entire attention on Joshua, he might have thought Volteer as uninterested in the knowledge he was dispensing here. Hopefully everyone else was giving him the same attention the Guardian was.

Time to blow your minds, motherf*ckers.

"Because of our isolation and our relentless drive to invent and test stuff, human society has gotten to the point where it can make artificial eyes. They capture light the exact way our real eyes can. We even invented a machine that transforms this into electric signals and sends the whole thing to an electricity-powered monitor so it can be translated back—

"What is a 'monitor'?" came the question.

A brief description of the monitor and its use led Volteer to dub it a "scrying glass" for the sake of this discussion. Meh. Whatever floated his boat.

"Current versions of the artificial eyes," he continued, "can process hundreds of images in a second. My people went as far as creating a variant of the machine that processes sound instead of light. Naturally, we combined the two together. In my home, we called this device a digital camera. It is common in my society. I had one myself, folks."

Volteer took a while to respond to that. "No, something like that cannot exist. It cannot. It's… it's not possible."

Another from the audience attacked him with another question. But this time, it came from one of the Observers—from one of the Councilors, actually. A bear, clothed in expensive-looking robes. "Excuse me, but assuming this 'long-distance scrying glass' does exist, shouldn't it be a rarity in your society, rather than a commodity?"

"If it was gigantic and made of rare materials, sure why not? But our cameras are small and made of simple stuff. Glass, steel, that sort of thing. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys can make some of your own if you dedicated some research into—

"Enough!" Cyril rose to his feet. He snarled at Joshua. "This is preposterous. Your species cannot make 'artificial eyes' or these 'cameras'. I want proof. More proof!"

"Fine!" Joshua snapped at him. He moved up a stair, his posture defiant and challenging. "You want proof? I'll give you proof." He scoured through memories of all the times he played The Legend of Spyro. He made sure to pick moments the obstinate Guardian would remember. Joshua told him about the way Spyro found him in Tall Plains long ago. He described the space he was found in, the position of his body, even the exact appearance of the Stone Sentinel. Terrador's case was even better. He was the only one found awake, in a cave, in the center of an active volcano crater whose surface was covered with metal and train tracks.

By the time Cyril conceded defeat, he was already going over that time the four Guardians escorted Spyro and Cynder through the ruins of Old Warfang, providing details like only a person who had been there could. "You win," finally said the Ice Guardian. "I hate to admit it, but you win, Joshua. I cannot dispute it."

Someone suddenly exclaimed, "NO!" The voice thundered the chamber, drawing attention from everyone in the room. Joshua's eyes widened at the sight of Cynder stepping back, her mouth agape. She lifted a paw to cover her muzzle, only to accidentally stumble and fall on her back.

Cynder did not pick herself up. "You mean, people… h-hundreds, t-t-thousands of people out there… they, t-they know about me?" The dragoness curled in on herself, quivering. "They've seen what I've done? Heard every word I said? Witnessed everything I did?" Tears started flowing. Her voice cracked. "Everything? All, a-all of it, without exception?"

"Cynder!" Spyro flew to her side, his instincts kicking in. He soared to his mate and was beside her in a wingbeat. He stood there for her. He buried all their differences—set aside whatever conflict they might have had from their divergent opinions on Joshua, and bent over her, mumbling things even Joshua's augmented hearing couldn't pick up. In one automatic movement, the black dragoness plunged her snout into his shoulder and wrapped a forepaw and a wing around him. The human could hear her sobbing.

"Ancestors," groused the Purple Dragon. He glared at Joshua. "I understand keeping a low profile, but sticking your snouts into our lives? You humans are sick."

Meanwhile, Kilat kept her thoughts to herself. The expression on her face saddened him. It looked like she was about to cry. Everyone else were either stupefied or disconcerted. The entire audience chamber burst into loud murmuring. Guardians and Councilors alike spoke with each other, debating what this could mean, trying to come to terms with what Joshua thought they assumed to be a massive invasion of privacy.

He heard Terrador speak over the din, to directly address the gamer. "Joshua, I must ask. Can you tell us anything about the military arsenal possessed by your species?"

The teenager paled. Terry was thinking of war assets now? Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit. What should he do? Should he go on ahead and let them know about humanity's "weapons of mass destruction"? About the existence of firearms, military vehicles, and the extent to which they were developed? Oh f*ck, should he tell them about fighter planes, stealth bombers, orbital satellites, and all those things? God-f*cking son of a bitch, man! What the hell should he do now? Sure, all he had to offer was abstract information or "common knowledge" at best, sprinkled with some inspiration from Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. But Jesus Christ, if he told them all, what were the consequences? How would they react?

Forget that shit. How would that information impact his standing in Warfang? And his plans of going home?

Joshua's poker face was beginning to break, but fortunately another voice interrupted the Earth Guardian before he could demand his answer. "That's not the question you should be asking, Terrador." At once he turned and saw a white dragoness, standing in a corner of the Observers' Box. A corner he hadn't paid attention to until now.

The gamer recognized her and her pulse of life at a single glance. She was that Wind Dragon who tried to snatch Kilat away from him, when the Guardians led the attack during that incident at the Gates.

"Oh really, Skydancer?"

She raised her voice and, in effect, stopped all the noisy murmuring. Even Cynder ceased sobbing, though she refused to get up and rejoin the other Observers. "Perform a little extrapolation in your head. You'll easily conclude Joshua's answer would simply shatter common sense again. To put it another way, any question about humanity's military power is pointless, given the reason we're having this discussion to begin with."

"Do you have anything better for our guest, then?"

She smirked. "In fact, I do." Oh hell no! The gamer did not like the way it looked on her snout. Skydancer turned to him. "Human," she inquired. "If your species knew what was happening to the Realms, why didn't they do anything? The way I see it, there would've been so much less deaths during the War had humanity intervened. If we were aware of your existence, we wouldn't have misclassified you as an Ape subspecies when you showed up at Warfang's doorstep."

.

.

.

"O, R, Z, F, M, L," Joshua grouched under his breath.

Author's Note:

And another snip down! Okay, let's see… what's next? There's a long list of snips to pick from (including "Background Check 2"), and I haven't introduced any of the submitted OCs yet. XD Decisions, decisions…

Again, suggestions are welcome. Just send me a PM. Oh and as a reminder, if you want me to feature one of your OCs, feel free to PM me for a discussion.

All right. Proceeding to replies to reviews:

LunarWalker: Thanks, bud. I hope I won't disappoint as the story progresses. See you in the next chapter!

Edmonton58: I checked out the story and went straight to the relevant chapter. It's a great story, btw, so thank you for giving me something to add to my reading list. Anyway, though Joshua's Element shares some characteristics with Wither's Nothing Element, it's not really the same.

The Nothing Element is basically Mikan Sakura's Nullification power in Gakuen Alice, plus a few more features that make it more dangerous than plain vanilla nullification as Wither can enter a "Void" world at any given time and travel through it. Yes, Joshua shares the potential of Element cancellation and absorption with Wither plus his ability to utilize the dark crystals, but that's probably the extent of their similarities. Joshua's Element can do more than that.

Zero: *sigh* I give up.

Djax80: Best be patient then. I'll probably take my time getting to the point where things will start shaking up. Sure, Aimless has just entered the "slice of life" territory, but I still want some sense of order here, so I have prerequisite snips for specific chapters I want to put out there. For example, the mega arc that involves your OC requires at least three separate snips, two of them being snips that introduce other readers' OCs.

Server lock: That's true. At least that's why I'm not putting on the stamp of approval right out the gate when people PM me their OC. I actually reply back with a questionnaire that I want filled out, followed by discussions over how they fit the storyline.

And dude, a "tongue bath" can also be considered perverted if the context isn't identified. XD I pity Joshua though. It's kind of terrible if that's the only way you can get yourself properly cleaned up.

Bizzleb: Nice seeing you here again, biz! It's going to be a while before I get going on another "mega arc", so the story should slow down to something easier to read. Doesn't mean I won't be nurturing the seeds I've planted during the previous arc. XD

Expect more pop culture references. But they only come out when Joshua's the principal POV. I'll probably have to lighten up on his viewpoint after the next couple of snips or so.

Same here. It would never feel like home for me. I mean, sure, I can get used to it, but I'll still reminisce every now and then. Thankfully, I have some real life experience for me to draw upon when I get to those snips. I had to live for six years in the United States, after all. Still… right now I'm missing the USA, yet when I was living there I was also missing my homeland too. Isn't that just hilarious?

I felt it had to be Volteer, as Joshua is his responsibility. Joshua's way of thinking and speaking is causing some communication trouble for everyone, but I attribute that to a difference in culture and Volteer recognizes it. He tries to meet Joshua half-way but… well, it's kinda weird coming from him. LOL

I think Spyro would sympathize with Joshua if he didn't have the Unknown Element on him. They might be already friends by this point in the story. Oh well. Life just sucks sometimes.

Oh, just wait 'til Glorified Peon 2. That'll be fun.

GhostChris: Standing out and being different. That's the plan, dude! Spyro and Joshua becoming friends? Hmmm, we'll see. XD

T.G.S.: I recommend signing in when you review, so I can directly reply to your feedback. :D But thank you very much for your glowing comments! It fills me with pride… and unfortunately burdens me with the incessant drive to provide well-written material. I can't just half-ass the story just to churn out the chapters. XD

Kudos to you catching the reference with Cave Johnson and his lemons. XD We got another Joshua-oriented chapter for this update, so hope you can catch all the pop culture references I'll put in here.

I googled it too, btw. Hilarious.

Koal: It'll probably work well, now that Joshua has displayed pretty good behavior over the week he's been in the Temple. Word should travel fast. Whether he can endure the job though… well, that's a different story.

Anon1: In the first place, I'm not making him out to be a "hero" (yet). XD So for the moment, he's gotta adjust.

Anon2: He'll get to control his Element better. Eventually. Somehow. I don't know when. He'll never be able to control it past a certain point, though. I can't imagine him achieving it. Maybe if he was my other OC… then again, it wouldn't be the same story.

Folwod: Sorry, dude. Can't make him stop cursing. I did tell you Joshua's personality is based on a real person's, and the consistent profanity is a trademark of that person. (He also happens to be named "Joshua" too, although he doesn't share surnames with my OC. "Renalia" is a few letters different from his maiden name, I will admit that. XD)

I haven't seen the real-life Joshua since graduation, but after ten years—give or take—I'm very certain he outgrew that phase. He's got a respectable job, according to Facebook… but I don't think he remembers me anymore. We weren't exactly that close, back in the day.

InfamousVenous: Thank you very much for the comment, dude! Very welcome. I'm glad the degree of realism and believability in Aimless has attracted your attention and is the reason for you sticking it out with me until this chapter. It's not going to be all crap though. XD I think the last snip and this one demonstrates that quite well.

4Dragons: Welcome to the story, Deedee! I wish some of the other forum peeps would review my fic, but many of them have—unfortunately—graduated from reading Spyro fanfiction. There are others who still write, but iRL or other pursuits probably prevent them from reading. Oh well.

Anyway, thank you for the feedback.

Regarding my quirks to my style. First, the overuse of italics and bold signify cadence or intonation mid-speech. I know these are normally left to the imagination in most works (even actual original works), but I'd rather get my point across, so to speak.

Subversion of the classic genre. After discussing things with you, I agree that deconstruction is a better label.