Aimless

by The Silent Insomniac

Joshua Renalia finds himself lost in the Dragon Realms with nothing but his sleeping clothes, his knowledge of Spyro lore, and a power beyond his understanding. Cut off from all he knows, the human discovers Spyro's world is alien, unforgiving, brutally shattering his naive expectations. How long can he live here before going insane? Is there a way back home? Why is he even here?

57. (BW) (64D) Night Raid 2

Author's notes:

Whew, it has been a long time! Roughly a year, in fact. IRL has been wild on my end, with responsibilities at work and at home intensifying by several magnitudes. As far as my personal interests go, I've been far more engaged in the stock markets. I'm in fact running a FB community group and have done a few online lectures, and I've recently managed to set up an advisory account so I can finally start taking on clients! I also did quite a heavy bit of research in a new short-term oriented strategy and...

*ehem*

I'll just stop since you guys aren't here on FFN to listen to me ramble about my life outside this Spyro fanfic. So, moving on, I've been writing CH57 on and off during the entire time, and I'm now at the point where I can comfortably put up the next update. This is an extra long one, though! So get ready for a hefty read.

Just to remind people, Bizzleb owns the village of Eyria and the characters Ophelia, Gileao, Aurona and her daughter Selema, and Kalen, while Riverstyxx owns Jayce Bladelizard. The December Cliffs arc serves a few roles when viewing it in the context of my overall plan for Aimless, and one of them is to pay homage to the two writers who have inspired me to not only write a Spyro fanfic but also to keep it as such, seeing as how I've been told multiple times that I could turn Aimless into my very own IP. I know I've said this again and again, but I can't help but do so since I would like contemporary readers of Spyro fanfics to go check them out.

Messages from my two beta readers below:

AzureDragonZX. Hello, AzureDragonZX here, once again. At long last… we are back. It may have been a while since the last upload, but I can personally vouch for Somni when I say he hadn't forgotten about this story. And from the looks of it, he hasn't lost his touch. There are some new writing techniques used for this chapter, which may improve the overall reading experience. I hope you all like it

Strykeruk. Hey all, Strykeruk here. Silent has finally graced us with his insane writing skills again and I look forward to seeing what you all think of this latest, rather brutal, chapter.

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 Dragon Realms follow 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!

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Beyond the Wall — Ape Menace

Chapter 57: Night Raid 2

"I've done unspeakable things for an ungrateful nation."

~ Anonymous

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[64D/LN]

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Aurona flew with haste, frantically flapping her wings to gain altitude and leave the airspace of Narvas Mesa. As she reached the other scouts, she locked eyes with the lounge formed for the very purpose of dealing with Vanish.

There were four dragons, two with the Earth element and two with Ice. Each one bore a harness to which either a snow leopard or an atlawa had been tethered. All of them came from the smaller settlements scattered about December Cliffs. A tactical combination meant to encompass as many variables as possible.

Aurona recognized the group was still lacking. They could've taken some members of Claytor's vintaine to remove the enemy's winds, but Ventura hadn't favored them today. If only that damned Bartholomew hadn't ambushed the knights at Icy Peak!

With a low growl, the Acting Chief of Eyria wordlessly took command of the lounge. Her eyes focused on the thick patch of trees between Narvas Mesa and Mystic Pinnacle, the tallest peak of December. She thought back to the last time she had seen her daughter, in Cliff Town. She was waving at the small dragon before she flew off to play with her friends there. Just thinking about the adorable smile on her pink scales made Aurona's liver clench in agony.

Determination filled her, knowing that she finally had a possible clue to her daughter's disappearance.

"Snouts to the ailerons!" she not so much commanded as she snarled at the lounge following her.

Aurona angled herself downwards and embraced gravity's pull. Soaring towards those trees, she circled around Narvas Mesa to avoid the mysterious golems' attention. Her eyes glanced sideways as they dove beneath the rim, seeing Claytor encase himself in stone armor, no doubt drawing inspiration from the Savior's grand opening to this battle.

"Thank you, Vinetar," Aurona whispered to herself. She wouldn't have abdicated her role in tonight's raid if it weren't for his reassurances. Sir Claytor did not have the Savior's unstoppable might, but he compensated for it with leadership experience. It was enough for Aurona to give him her neck.

If Azeroth the Infinite showered them with his grace tonight, then she would most certainly find some way to repay the knight. For the briefest of moments, her muzzle tingled at the thought of meeting him in her hut. But before the feeling could spread to her paws, she shook it off and folded her wings, going for a steeper, faster descent.

One of the scouts caught up to her. The snow leopard on their back dared to hold onto his harness with one arm so he could point at the ground with the other.

"Over there! Can you see them?"

He didn't even have to ask. Aurona traced the trajectory of his outstretched paw and easily saw two silhouettes skulking down the mountainslope. The dragoness squinted her eyes, narrowing her sight to concentrate on the surreptitious figures. Concealed behind the evergreen, they were difficult to glimpse. They fluttered in and out of her gaze as they weaved through the pine with impressive alacrity. The shadows raced down on all four paws, wings barely moving in a display of discipline, skill, and self-awareness…

If they were really dragons.

"Two dragons, element unknown!" Aurona called to the lounge behind her. With what they knew about Vanish, then they should respond with—

"Yes, Acting Chief, I also see two dragons!"

"Not us. I see a pair of felines!"

"And I see atlawa."

Foreboding silence settled on the lounge. One of the snow leopards was the first to speak up, voicing the conclusion they had all reached.

"Huntress, guide us. It really is Vanish."

Aurona wouldn't have heard it over the rushing wind if she hadn't been close enough to the rest of the lounge. She took a deep breath, feeling hesitation take root in her heart as they gradually swooped in from above. There was no way to distinguish the identities of the intruders. Such was true magic—inscrutable, formless, and terrifying. It was nothing at all like the elemental magic wielded by dragonkind.

Engaging Vanish meant leaving their destinies to Gintomyr. Her decision could very well lead to their deaths, and it might not even end there. Unveiling Vanish might result in a new war, and against enemies the Allied Territories of Warfang were ill-equipped—ill-prepared to fight.

"Your orders, my Chief?" rumbled one of the Eyrian dragons. "We have the tailwind."

Aurona didn't answer immediately. She could feel her breath hitch in the freezing air, her eyes transfixed on the clandestine figures skulking below. Her mind was busy making mental calculations. Nobody knew what Skylands was capable of—what their rulers were capable of.

She had been in Warfang to visit her former teacher and assess the infamous "Terror of the Skies" with her own two eyes when the Skylander Corps' first delegation arrived, their entourage exuding unparalleled contempt for everything that dwelled beneath their floating empire. Back then, she had witnessed the ease and effortlessness with which the least of the Skylanders subdued the best of Warfang's knights. It left an impression on her that was so deep, so vivid, that she had kept her attention on the airstreams for any and all things that involved the Skylands Empire.

One rumor in particular filled her with immense fear. A rumor that they were constantly researching new magic, new technology, new weapons… the likes of which were unimaginable!

"Chief Aurona!" the atlawa hollered, hurling her now-scattered thoughts into the dark and stormy blizzard. "Give us your decision now! Engage? Or retreat?"

Retreat? Retreat from her only lead on Selema's disappearance‽

Aurona snorted furiously. Vulcan's flames, how could she have let her own thoughts and doubts poison her so? As great as Skylands was, didn't the Allied Territories have the Purple Dragon and his mate? Weren't the Saviors the greatest deterrent force in this entire world? Their involvement would render any intercontinental conflict into mutually assured destruction.

"Subdue Vanish and reveal them!" Aurona cried. She folded her wings and swept downward, bearing on top of the draconic shadows.

One of the Earth dragons plummeted faster than her, his scales encased in magically conjured rock to increase his mass and with it, his terminal velocity. When they approached the slopes of Mystic Pinnacle, the snow leopard on his back tightened his posture and, keeping his furry body close to the reptile's spines, aimed a small bow at one of the targets.

The arrow flew swiftly, propelled by gravity and momentum.

Aurona's eyes became slits as she watched the shadow become a vague blur, reappearing a second later. They had dodged a practically invisible arrow aimed right for their legs.

Two other dragons descended on the hill, their riders shooting one arrow after another in rapid succession. The relentless projectiles seemed to slow Vanish, delaying them enough for the Eyrian fighters to unleash wide, encompassing waves through earth and snow alike.

The snow leopard from earlier leaped off his scaly partner and, brandishing a short blade, cleaved at the shadowy figure from its blind side. His weapon went straight through. Nonetheless, the effort had paid off, for the interloper had to dispel whatever obfuscated their identity, puffing into a mass of green, luminescent smoke.

Whoever it was under the disguise emerged concurrently with a burst of emerald clouds in the center of the clearing. Their comrade reappeared next to them, remaining enshrouded for a second before discarding its magical disguise as well.

Aurona perched upon a pine tree, her eyes glaring at the two creatures. Their foreign appearance stuck out jarringly in the white snow. They were bipeds with skin as green as tree leaves. Scrawny, yet lean and muscular. Their eyes glowed weakly in the dark, casting an eerie, white light.

"Lord Spyro was right!" Aurona declared. "The Skylanders are here!"

To her chagrin, the two Skylanders remained impassive. They did not react to her words, neither a twitch nor a flinch. Aurona's glare intensified, her scrutinizing gaze probing for a response, from the shuffling of their feet to the ethereal glow pulsing from their peculiar eyes. Her scales prickled with a vexing mixture of frustration and unease as the silence stretched.

Why weren't they doing anything? She'd just invoked the Savior's name; she'd just outed their origin! Didn't they care? If they didn't address this, the Skylands Empire would find themselves trapped in turbulence—the past four years of diplomacy dissipating like the wind.

The earth dragon, who was partnered with the feline who had earlier leaped into combat, settled heavily on the ground. A faint tremor passed through the earth, his elemental magic subconsciously exerting its innate influence. His rider edged closer to his flank to cover his tail, blade clutched in a tight grip.

"You stand before Aurona, Acting Chief of Eyria—the largest village in December!" He not so much demanded as he growled, his gruff voice booming against the walls of the forest. "We have two orators resting in Eyria, and they claim Skylands has no presence in our lands!"

"Yet here you are," his partner rumbled, "engaging in clandestine activity."

At the mention of the two orators, the Skylanders exchanged a brief, knowing glance. The unspoken conversation didn't escape an atlawa, who blew an impatient huff at the sight.

"Enough with the silence! Identify yourselves, Skylanders, and state your purpose!" His voice swelled with irritation. The bitter cold accentuated his tone. "Don't make this difficult. Lord Spyro, Savior of the Dragon Realms and the glory of Warfang, is among us tonight! Comply now, or face the consequences."

"Diplomatic consequences," the nearby leopard jeered.

A rogue beam of light slashed through the sky. Its transient radiance illuminated the forest's shadows for a moment.

Aurona gave it a passing glance. It emanated from Narvas Mesa. Whatever was transpiring there, she could only offer a silent prayer to the Sunburst Dragon to watch over Spyro and Claytor's battlefield.

The Skylanders too were drawn to the distant spectacle. The shorter figure—a female, judging by her delicate though fierce features—elbowed her taller companion. She whispered something to her partner, her words faint amidst the rustling pine.

Whatever she said seemed to sway her companion. Aurona scanned the tall one's lean and muscular form as they stepped forward. Male, she concluded. She still couldn't place their species.

"We are indeed from the Empire." the male Skylander announced in calm undertones. His eyes, pallid and unnerving, slid over Aurona and her assembled company, as though they had the tailwind. His attire, an intricate ensemble of brown leather, armored in places with hardened hide and metal Aurona couldn't recognize, looked designed to fend off some cold, but lacked enough insulation for the harsh, frigid climes of December. "I see that you do not recognize our species either. We are stealth elves from the Survecon Unit of the Skylanders Corps."

"T-the Survecon Unit?" echoed the Earth dragon, confusion shadowing his words.

The elf's lips curled into a sneer. "Survey and Reconnaissance." Aurona found the Skylanders' nonchalance unsettling. This was not how someone behaved when they were hovering between a storm and a mountain!

His confidence, albeit disturbing, nearly distracted Aurona from the leopard below. Her fellow villager, under the pretext of casual movement, brought one paw behind his back and made a subtle gesture—a question meant only for her eyes.

"What do we do now?" it asked.

Aurona's gaze hardened on the Skylanders. Wisps of silky hair, as green as forest moss, danced in the icy breeze, framing their icy faces. Their pointed ears were keen, twitching as they captured every rustle, every whisper of their surroundings. The tension was palpable, almost tangible in the biting cold.

She snorted, a short, fierce sound that reverberated through the silence and sent her unspoken command to her lounge of fighters. In response, one of the Ice Dragons leaped from his perch in the snow-covered pines, his wings beating heavily, menacingly, as he and his rider hovered above them.

"Then enlighten us, stealth elves, why are you here in our lands?"

The male elf did not so much as flinch at the threatening display, even as the rider nocked an arrow and aimed at him.

"We're here on internal matters of the Empire. Rest assured our agenda doesn't conflict with those of our orators—

"That is our decision to make, foreigner!" The leopard brusquely cut him off. "Give us details, or we'll take them as soon as Lord Spyro catches up!"

"Ignorant bottom-dwellers!" The elf snapped, clenching his fists to the point Aurona thought he would escalate their encounter to violence. "How dare you question us‽ None of you have the right. The Skylands Empire is great and powerful beyond your comprehension! You should be quivering in terror."

Seeing and hearing the Skylanders' arrogance and blatant disrespect was enough for the entire lounge to breathe hellfire. They could practically taste their contempt. Even Aurona, whose thoughts still revolved around the mysteries of her missing daughter and the possibility that she might have gotten ensnared in some foreign plot, felt indignant rage replace every unit of courtesy she had mustered.

"You don't think the two of us are incapable of handling a bunch of groveling earthworms like the lot of you‽ We—agh!"

Before Aurona could voice her command to attack, the female elf intervened, swinging a gloved fist into her companion's face and knocking him down.

"Hey!"

"Quiet, Thalion!" the female barked. He shrunk back, mouth folding up as though he'd met his better.

Stepping forward, the female elf glanced at Aurona and her eight companions with those unnatural, glowing eyes before she kneeled, genuflected, and bowed her head in a gesture of respect. "I apologize for my partner's rudeness. I know it doesn't excuse his behavior, but many in the Empire do not think much about those who live in The World Below."

Her sudden entry and her even swifter words abated the order to strike, halting it right as it was about to exit Aurona's maw. Aurona mulled over the elf's words. Though she possessed enough tact to make an attempt at de-escalating the current conflict and even be the first to show respect, there was still an echo of disdain in her speech. It was clear that she, too, also thought less of them, with Aurona's status in December Cliffs meaningless outside it.

If these foreigners, who lived above the Empty Sea observing the flights of the Dragon Realms from their lofty perch in the floating continent, truly thought this way about them, the people of the Allied Territories, why did they bother reaching out? Why have embassies in the center of Warfang? Why deploy orators on diplomatic missions? Why send mabus bearing gifts of agriculture and woven handicrafts to far-flung places that had suffered terribly during the War, places like Uvali and Jordguard, when the Empire's own people saw them as ants? It didn't make any sense.

Aurona banished these questions from her mind. The geopolitics between Skylands and the Allied Territories were complex. Her questions were many, yet as the silence stretched out, Aurona realized these were matters best left to people like Spyro and Vinetar Claytor. As far as she was concerned, she would much rather hear news about her missing daughter as well as those who Vanish had taken.

Even the others thought the same way.

"We'll overlook this rudeness if you can give us more details about your activities here," voiced the Earth dragon. He stood on all fours, alert. He knew a fight could still break out at any moment.

The female elf looked up at them—looked up at Aurona herself. "We're on the hunt for a rogue Skylander. A yeti who went by the callsign 'Slam Bam' during his time in the Corps. Our court-martial judged Slam Bam as a traitor to the Empire for abandoning his post at Grand Celestial Palace."

"The Empire has an embassy in Warfang, doesn't it? Why aren't you going through it?" The Ice dragon queried, continuing the interrogation. Having multiple speakers made it difficult to settle on a psychological strategy, to navigate a straight path without giving anything away.

"You assume we aren't doing that already. Don't you think it's better this way, cleaning up our own mess?" The female rose to her feet and swept her arm across the whole group. "Just look at us! With all due respect, here you are, hindering us with all these questions while some traitorous scum is still out there, doing who-knows-what—

Her words were as a gust of bitter wind. They drove Aurona's patience to its limit. The politics and elusive answers were becoming unbearable, especially since they did nothing to clarify her daughter's whereabouts.

Her anger finally getting the better of her, Aurona herself spoke.

"Why don't you just tell us where you've taken the missing villagers? What plans does the Empire have for our friends? Our children‽" Her voice was icy, her questions piercing the frosty air. "My own daughter has been missing for years! She was snatched away, vanished without a trace. Now it is happening again, and by someone using the same kind of magic both of you are using! Mother of Knowledge, I demand answers!"

Her words struck a chord within the Skylanders. They jolted as though they finally felt the gnawing bite of the December cold. A brief flash of realization crossed their faces. Yet, they quickly regained composure and the female elf shook her head.

"We have no knowledge of these kidnappings. The Empire would never sanction something so heinous!"

Her denial only fueled Aurona's anger, and it cascaded among the ranks of her lounge. They all remained resolute, their patience waning, their hearts pounding with shared indignation.

The leopard yelled, "Huntress shoot you! For all we know, you're invading December behind your Empress's tail! No one else magically obfuscates themselves with magic. Only you damned airheads!"

Thalion—the elf who'd earlier been silenced by his partner—lost all restraint. His face contorted in fury, growling with raw emotion.

"What did I tell you, Elandra?" He spat. "There's no use talking to these bottom-dwellers! They're too blinded by their xenophobia, looking for anyone to blame for their own failures!"

The elf's derision was the final gust that tilted their wings into freefall. With the foreigner's insult lodging into Aurona's liver, her patience coagulated into an explosive glacier of fury surpassing everything she had felt before. Every scale on her body bristled, and all six limbs quaked with the intensity of her rage. With a roar, she issued the command they had all been waiting for.

"Take them down!"

In the next heartbeat, she was in motion, descending on the two elves with the swift decisiveness of an avalanche. The time for words had frozen over. Now was the time for action.

A frisson of anticipation raced through Aurona's veins as she plunged from the pine's sturdy branches, her wings folded tightly against her body. A harsh, confident growl tore from her throat as her lounge swept down on the stealth elves, all deadly grace and raw power. They were nine in all—four bipeds and five dragons, including herself. The environment tonight played to their elemental strengths and they were all among the best fighters that the villages of December could gather. However formidable or elite Skylanders believed they were, two could never overpower nine.

The dragon riders were the first to strike, releasing a flurry of arrows that sang through the air like swooping snowbirds. The Skylanders responded in an instant, evading the deadly barrage as they split and sprinted in two different directions.

The Ice dragon who had interrogated Elandra opened his maw and let loose a relentless deluge of snow and ice, while the Earth dragon who'd landed sank his forepaws into the snow and hurled a chunk of rock half his size at Thalion. Meanwhile, the Eyrian leopard, his rider, launched forward with his sword raised, zigzagging agilely like the blizzard wind.

In Aurona's mind, the two stealth elves should have been overwhelmed. Yet as the deafening clash of elemental forces echoed throughout the snowy landscape, she quickly realized they had all underestimated their foes.

The elves produced handheld weapons, seemingly out of thin air—golden and spherical in design, with a circular blade across its equator.

Chakrams. A foreign weapon.

Judging by their glossy yet nondescript appearance, it did not look like they were enchanted with magic, yet they were. Elandra held one at the ice breath, summoning a portable yet invisible barrier of unattributed mana to deflect the storm of icicles, then launched herself up the nearest tree. Thalion, meanwhile, simply cleaved the oncoming boulder in midair.

Both elves still had their other chakrams free and ready. Luckily for Aurona, this didn't escape her three allies' notice. The snow leopard twisted, a claw's breadth away from the male's blade, losing his sword to the counterattack. The Ice dragon, too, barely managed to avoid Elandra's strike. He aborted his attack and swiveled sharply to the right as she vaulted off the branches, zipping past him, fist and blade soaring through the frigid air where his neck had been a moment earlier.

Aurona and her lounge retaliated almost immediately after landing on the ground. A shower of arrows joined the elemental onslaught. Spiked earth erupted from beneath the snowy slopes, while Polar Bombs were lobbed across the air. They needed only one stroke of luck, one unguarded moment. Ventura, Spring of Fortune, would surely grant them his blessing.

In spite of this assault, the beleaguered Skylanders were as phantoms. Their movements were swift—incredibly reactive. Every time an arrow, a claw, a blade, or an elemental projectile went their way, the stealth elves leaned, twisted, or jerked their bodies with near preternatural alacrity. When they couldn't evade the attacks, they would utilize the enchantments within their chakrams, either deflecting them with judicious activations of the invisible barrier or slicing completely through.

Whether it was by instinct or by the rhythm of combat, Aurona and her companions gradually closed their formation. They huddled together in a protective circle at the heart of the clearing, focusing completely on ranged attacks with the atlawa standing guard for encounters at close quarters. How couldn't they? The stealth elves had already demonstrated multiple times how devastatingly powerful their chakrams could be.

Regrettably, this tactical adjustment played right into the Skylanders' paws.

Without warning, they began tapping into their unique magic. They stopped dodging and started blinking in and out of sight, leaving puffs of green smoke hanging in the air. It abruptly changed the tempo of the battle with such feral intensity that chilled Aurona's liver. Suddenly none of the ranged fighters could track them, let alone keep up.

The moment Thalion appeared in front of one of the atlawa, Aurona realized the intensity of the storm they'd all flown into.

She knew this villager. Knew he had family waiting for him back in Eyria. Ancestors, she couldn't stand idly by while he was cut down. Abandoning her position, she surged into the fray, desperate to intervene.

"Chief!" she heard someone cry out. She ignored them. This was the battlefield. As long as they had the numbers, they would maintain the tailwind.

Aurona watched the atlawa growl and kick snow at the stealth elf. He disappeared in the next moment, explosively blinking out. His exit spawned a green cloud of smoke, which dissipated when the clumps of snow passed through the entire space a second later. She searched for footprints in the snow or some telltale signs of Thalion's actions, yet there were none. As if he had become intangible.

Ancestors, this didn't seem like mere invisibility! Neither was it typical spellcraft—it seemed more like an innate ability, similar to the dragons' elemental magic. Her mind raced, speculation of whether the elves' innate magic inspired the method that the Empire used to "cease to exist" during the Great War flooding her thoughts.

Aurona shook off the distraction.

"No!" she screeched, blades of ice instinctively coalescing upon her claws and tail. She launched herself airborne with the flap of a wing. Thalion reappeared half a beat later, re-entering the physical realm right behind the atlawa villager, intent on burying one chakram into his furry back.

She was too late. Thalion's attack struck true, easily slicing through rawhide, fur, and flesh. But, by Ventura, his weapon did not fully sink through and kill the atlawa, for Aurona's approach forced Thalion to disengage.

He pulled back, eluding an icicle that she'd spat to amputate his arm. Now upon the elf, Aurona swiped her claws at him, moving as fast as she could so he'd have no chance of cutting off her forepaw in retaliation. She heard the Skylander grunt, followed by a faint clicking noise. The invisible barrier sprouted out of thin air. Her claws bounced off immediately. At the same time, they both heard something splinter apart, akin to the shattering of water ice.

Crrraaaack!

"Tch, out of mana," Aurona overheard him mumble. Whatever that implied, she now had an opportunity to finally land a meaningful blow on the male elf. She continued her offensive and, beating her wings, pirouetted, invoking a raging twister of snow to slam into him. Her tail smacked into his leather armor, the ice blade cutting into him before he could tap into his species-innate magic and blink away.

Thalion yelped in pain. An opening! Aurona pressed on, hoping to catch the opportunity to both disable him and take him out of the fight—

"Ahhhhhh!"

One of the snow leopards screamed before his voice regressed to incoherent gurgling. The rest of the lounge snarled furiously; then a frantic cry entered Aurona's ears. "My Chief, behind you—!"

As soon as she heard the warning, Aurona threw herself sideways, aborting her attack and leaping away with a strong flap of her wings. Unfortunately, she was a second too late. Her flank pulsed with sudden, sharp pain. Her vision went white, and a scream threatened to escape her snout. Aurona suppressed it, using the rush of combat to forcefully maintain her composure and land on her paws, glaring at the spot she'd just deserted.

Aurona's liver dropped at the sight, her breath hitching in her throat. The atlawa she'd just saved from Thalion lay before her in pieces, carved up like game by Elandra. A wave of dizziness assailed her, ignited by the agony radiating from her flank. One of the leopards laid dead, his white, blood-drenched fur distinguishable from snow. Beside him rested one of the ice dragons, his blood and entrails gushing out from a long cut that went from rump to jaw, staining the ground red.

"Azeroth's cloaca!"

"You scat eggs!"

"We'll make you pay for this!"

"Protect Acting Chief Aurona!"

All the remaining members of her lounge shouted in rage, infuriated by the casualties the stealth elves had just wrought upon their party. They intensified their attacks, seeking vengeance for the gruesome deaths of their friends. But for Aurona, her world narrowed to the burning sting of her wound and the chilling realization that they weren't escaping from this unscathed. She stumbled to the ground, vaguely processing the only remaining atlawa and snow leopard taking position beside her. The latter was kneeling, a red spirit crystal in his paws.

"At least this won't go to waste, Acting Chief," the feline muttered, grimacing at the blood dripping from the quickly-graying crystal as its energies drained into Aurona and mended the serious wound on her side.

As she recovered her vitality, alertness returned to Aurona's senses. Feet quaking, the Ice dragoness struggled to stand. She could do nothing but watch the remaining three dragons stubbornly attack the two elves. The earth constantly shifted, destabilizing them and rendering them almost incapable of standing. Waves of snow blanketed the clearing, their draconic controller aiming to entomb the Skylanders alive. The foreigners attempted to use their agility and inscrutable blinking magic to evade the cavalcade of attacks, but neither of them could get close enough for a killing blow before earth and ice rolled over them.

Both elves' chakrams quickly ran out of mana, their barriers shattering into pieces as they shielded their wielders from the most vicious of elemental attacks. Aurona, now fully healed, took this chance to channel her mana into her snout and pour out an Ice Breath cold enough and fierce enough to match the Ice Guardian. Thalion and Elandra, who had been focused on the other dragons, were utterly blindsided by Aurona's attack. It slammed into them as soon as they poofed back into view and sent them tumbling down the slopes.

The Earth dragon who'd been carrying the now-dead leopard on his back made a thunderous and ferocious roar as he sprinted down the mountainside, angularly leaping into the air with such strength that he spun laterally during his descent—an advanced technique known as Drill Dive, one that was certainly fatal now that the Skylanders no longer had the ability to summon invisible barriers.

The male elf managed to recover from his fall, springing from the ground and grabbing hold of a tree trunk. Quickly reorienting himself, he raised his lone chakram—one was lost to the fall—and crouched his legs, waiting for the right time to pounce. When the other Earth dragon came close to his partner, he bolted and took to the air—

"No, you don't!"

The other Earth dragon slammed into Thalion, gyrating in midair like a boulder, his scales covered in a solid layer of earth. It stopped his counterstrike and left his partner Elandra vulnerable.

Aurona, breaking into a sprint, followed after the group. She caught up with them in time to see the other elf lying on her back and watch her raise her legs to meet the spinning attack. An agonized scream ripped out of Elandra's throat as her opponent's horns and unstoppable velocity crushed into her legs and mangled them. Once the dragon ceased spinning, he vaulted backward—tail smashing into the female elf and sending her further down the hill—and landed far away from the range of her chakrams.

Another pained yowl quaked the air. Thalion landed on another tree trunk sprouting from the steep slope, the dragon who'd interrupted his saving intervention now writhing on the bottom of the hill, ichor pouring out of a freshly-amputated paw.

"Elandra, no!" the male gnashed his teeth, his expression twisting into an impassioned rage. "Uncivilized maggots, I will make you regret this!"

The other Ice dragon slowly descended the hill towards him. He barked, laughing, "With what? Those pieces of paper? You must have lost your scales!"

Aurona felt panic rush through her. Pieces of paper‽

She squinted her eyes and focused on the items in the stealth elf's hand, gasping in horror as soon as she recognized they were a handful of scrolls, each smaller than the palm of his hand. Her thoughts returned to Narvas Mesa, recalling the tripedal constructs that had suddenly materialized from nothing after they had Commander Falconsinger hovering between a storm and a mountain. The twin golems he'd summoned wreaked much havoc on their raiding party, yet the only thing he'd done was enshroud himself in snow and tear up something made of paper.

Did the Skylander have those too‽ She could already imagine three or more of those things emerging from the darkness and destroying the entire mountainside together with her entire lounge!

"Get back!" Aurona commanded. "He'll summon golems like the ones at the mesa!"

The hovering dragon gawked back at her. "What‽ How?"

"Just trust me!" Fearfully, he ceased his approach and retreated backward.

"You know about summoning scrolls, too‽" Thalion not so much asked as he thought out loud. Aurona stared into the elf's luminescent eyes. There was no mistaking his wrathful gaze.

"Elf, let's end this here. At the rate we're flying, we will just kill each other. Please, surrender and come with us to Eyria. We'll get your companion treated for her injury and—

"YOU escalated this first!" Thalion furiously roared. "You weak, pathetic bottom-dwellers will NEVER—

The female elf coughed. "Thalion! D-don't. The, the Purple Dragon isn't far…"

Thalion grunted, his pointed ears rising and falling in sync with his fury. The desire to yield to his animosity and call upon artificial entities to annihilate what was left of Aurona and her lounge glimmered in his eyes. A tense moment elapsed, but soon, his rage faded. Seeing the stealth elf stick the summoning scrolls back into his pockets relieved Aurona's heightened fears.

Ventura's wings… it's over.

The relief Aurona felt was short-lived. Swiftly, the elf produced a small sphere—a device as innocuous as the scrolls. With an otherworldly flicker, the Skylander blinked, not once but thrice, each emerald puff of smoke coming successively closer to his downed partner.

A surreal yet bewildering spectacle.

The uninjured Earth dragon, noticing Elandra fiddling with an unusually large earring on her right ear, looked between the two elves and concluded they were up to something.

"You should've stopped right where you are, Skylander!" the reptile snarled, vaulting to intercept Thalion's approach. Aurora did not even have a second to warn her fellow villager about the object in the elf's hand, for it took only a second for him to flick the sphere across the air.

It exploded midway, emitting a powerful shockwave that slammed into the Earth dragon and sent him sprawling, crashing down like a fallen tree. Aurona and the Ice dragon leaped off the hill and glided down the slope.

"Stop provoking them!" Her authoritative voice cut through the tension. She unleashed her mana, invoking a radiant yet frigid aura. Ice condensed on the objects around her and a freezing vortex swirled around in the wake of her flight, symbolizing her power and strength. She had flown a very long way from her younger years as a temple apprentice in the City of Warfang.

Thalion reappeared kneeling next to Elandra. Aurona didn't know the female's flight plan; whatever it was, it needed to stop before the turbulence became a storm. Landing no more than three wingspans away, she called out to them.

"And you, Skylanders! I advise you to give up." Her words echoed across the mountainside. "We will provide first aid—

"Save your pity, bottom-dweller." A derisive cackle bounced off Elandra's lips. Her fingers were trembling, grazing her earring. It was glowing purple. "We'd much rather go home."

Aurona felt her blood freeze. The ornament's magic, too‽ They're better equipped than Warfang knights! Before she could do or say anything—before anyone could even react, reality warped around the Skylanders. Space itself was spiraling into a single point.

A terrifying howl filled the surroundings as an orb that absorbed all light formed nearby. It greedily sucked in light and air. All the snow and soil littering the hillside trembled, with the smaller pieces actually rising and floating toward what Aurona could only describe as a black hole. To her horror, the very gravity itself underwent an upheaval. In the next second, that universal yet inexplicable force that attracted everything to the ground underneath her paws was abruptly overwhelmed by an irresistible pull emanating from the mysterious orb.

The harrowing phenomenon continued, and even Aurona herself couldn't resist whining from utter distress. Paws scrambled. Wings flapped. She furiously tried everything she could to go backwards. Dread consumed the Ice dragoness and for the second time tonight, her entire world was simplified—this time to that imposing black sphere in the middle of the clearing.

Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the chilling phenomenon reversed gravity, the invisible force rushing outward in a display of sheer power. It pummeled Aurona and her lounge; the dragons found themselves pressed to the ground, while the bipeds, who were spectating from a distance, bows ready, were sent stumbling backwards.

.

.

.

Akash, an official orator of Skylands, turned his neck away, unwilling to gaze at Spyro, Aurona, and the other chiefs of December in the eyes.

"We've never had the Portal Masters under control." The Wind dragon was trembling. He verbalized his words as though he had regressed back into an immature whelp. "The Portal Masters don't answer to the Sky Empress. The Sky Empress answers to them."

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.

.

Raising herself back up on four paws, Aurona's mind reeled back to the orator's questioning a few days ago. Akash had effectively explained that the Empire had no interest in December. In the same breath, he clarified that the Portal Masters did not necessarily represent Skylands, and at least one might be involved with Vanish.

Aurona's suspicion strengthened the moment she looked back at the black hole. Now, a warped scene had appeared inside the empty void. Strange figures wriggled within the bizarre display for all to see.

What else could it be but a portal?

Her paws grappled the snow, scrunching wet, freezing clumps between her toes. Aurona frowned, unable to do anything but watch. Memories of her missing daughter ripped a sad and frustrated yowl out of her throat. Tears flowed while she bitterly gnashed her teeth. They were so close to getting real clues; if only they could do something! Why were they so weak when it mattered most‽

An enraged snarl ruptured the silence.

"Lifebringer! My nephew!" The Earth dragon who'd been flung back by the elf's concussive device bolted upright. He was fuming, breathing heavily, quaking in furor. "Give me back my nephew!"

Making one final, desperate attempt to stop them, his hulking form staggered towards the elves.

"Ground yourself! It's too dangerous!" Aurona cried.

He ignored her warnings, if he ever heard them at all. He broke into a sprint and once again performed the Drill Dive, this time moving twice as fast for the very earth had lobbed him into the air.

Aurona began to move—stepping forward—running forward—to stop him from flying to his own death, only to halt herself before she took to the air, realizing it was too late. Beside the portal, the darkness coalesced into two blue silhouettes, fading into view. Whatever—whoever they were, they quickly materialized into existence.

The figures immediately rushed to intercept the berserk villager, their bulk shoving aside the deep piles of snow. The dazzling blue light covering their bodies disappeared, revealing reptilian bipeds—gigantic sapients with the size to rival Ape Captains. They lunged forward, expertly holding crystalline bolts the size of a fat and chubby atlawa. One pulled it back on what looked more like a ballista than a longbow and shot it straight at the oncoming dragon. The other didn't bother with the bow and reared back, unattributed mana flowing into the humongous arrow.

Anguished, Aurona averted her eyes, unwilling to watch the ensuing carnage. "Ancestors—!"

The appalling sound of scale and bone being thunderously ripped apart interrupted her prayer and made her flinch. In the next moment, an obstreperous boom rippled in the moonlit forest, followed by a sickening, gurgling noise and guttural cheers.

"Ha, a smash hit!"

The grisly cheers echoing off of the snowy hillside sent a chill coursing through Aurona and what was left of her lounge. Her gaze flitted over to the remaining atlawa, who had scurried over to the other Earth dragon and was desperately helpiog him tend to his severed leg with a red spirit gem. The rest of the lounge stared, horror-struck at the bloody remains of their fierce comrade, whose body now resembled a grotesque jumble of snow and torn scales. The sight caused Aurona's stomach to churn, his features so disfigured he was barely recognizable.

Alona's tail, they had lost another one!

Of the five who remained, none attempted to seek vengeance on the new entrants. These new Skylanders were intimidating to behold. While they were shorter than adult dragons, their bulk certainly did not seem any smaller.

Aurona clenched her teeth, wings rustling nervously against the scales on her flank. What should she do here? They were horrendously outclassed. It had taken the lives of half her lounge to subdue just two stealth elves—two members of their reconnaissance team! These reptiles… these large, bipedal, flightless dragons… they looked like real fighters. To engage these behemoths would be no different than flying into an ape fortress with wings bleeding.

Without warning, more azure silhouettes faded in from the portal. It was another pair of these "bipedal dragons", for lack of a better term, with their crystalline weapons gleaming ominously in the moonlight. Mustering all her courage, Aurona rooted herself to her spot, glowering defiantly at the newcomers. Yet anyone could tell it was merely a facade, an act of bravado, from her four legs trembling in the snow.

The third silhouette, and the final one to appear, was an anomaly. Once the blue light faded away, a short and stubby biped took its place. Unlike the others, he had the same size and frame as a Warfang mole, albeit with a flatter muzzle—less tapered and less protruded. A mabu, if she recalled her old geography classes correctly. Covered in thin, brown fur, he appeared to be the least dangerous among all the Skylanders she had encountered tonight.

Resting on his snout were a pair of miniature glass circles, set within a frame of metal—a most unusual contraption. Somehow, it made the mabu even less threatening, as though a simple tap on his green garment would be enough to topple him over and expose his neck to a quick kill.

Aurona didn't believe her eyes for a second.

All the innocuous, seemingly harmless things she had seen tonight all turned out to be extremely dangerous—tiny scrolls containing magical constructs, bipeds equipped with their own innate magic and superior weaponry. Even Spyro's opening move to tonight's raid was also an astonishing surprise in its own right; something that was never mentioned in any of the airstreams circulating his wartime feats. Knowing this, the Ice dragon tapped into her instincts instead. She focused on her magical core, stirring the mana within. She cast it outward, hoping to sense it in the ambient air.

And she did.

Unmistakably powerful magic emanated from the seemingly harmless mabu. Deep and rich in power. While it did not feel as ancient or as unfathomable as the overwhelming power inhabiting the legendary war hero, Aurona sensed that this magician was still a force to be reckoned with.

The mabu surveyed the snowy surroundings, gaze shifting as he took in the scene. His muzzle twitched, eyes veering, squinting in her direction—no, in the direction of Narvas Mesa. There was a faraway look in his eyes, as though he was seeing something other than the moonlit, star-spangled canopy that was the sky. A moment later, another raucous guffaw from one of the wingless, flightless dragons disrupted the quiet tension, drawing a displeased frown on the mabu's face.

The mabu put a finger to his throat. "Enough!"

To Aurona's surprise, the command reverberated across the hillside, magic shaking the very atmosphere. The sadistic laughter died down abruptly, reverting back to uneasy silence. "The death of a nameless worm is nothing worth celebrating," he chastised, his nasally voice a stunning contrast to the power and authority he exuded. "Do not besmirch the prestige of the Snapshot Unit. Is that clear?"

The two reptiles who had slain her fellow villager gazed askance, unwilling to meet the glare of the diminutive mabu. Meanwhile, the male elf approached him, carrying a now-unconscious Elandra on his shoulders.

"Thank you for coming, Sorcerer Hugo," Thalion murmured, his gratitude palpable, sounding much relieved.

Hugo merely grunted in response, directing the elf to the nearby portal. "Go home and rest. Master Eon awaits your report."

Thalion hobbled to the open portal. As he entered, it seemed as though time stopped for him. He froze mid-step, before red light engulfed his figure, morphing it into a crimson silhouette that darkened further and further until it vanished altogether into oblivion.

Aurona barely caught a glimpse of the stealth elves' traversing into the portal, for Sorcerer Hugo stepped forward, glowering at Aurona and what was left of her lounge.

"You damned, meddling mudwalkers, always butting in Skylander business! I ought to smite you all where you stand and toss your carcasses to my crocogators." The sole surviving snow leopard saw this and vigilantly raised his bow. His grip was tense, but courage failed him when it came to nocking an arrow. He would've been dead if he even tried, for the bipedal dragons—the crocogators, as Hugo called them—went quiet, eyes narrowing into fearsome slits.

The true monster of the group thrust his chunky finger behind Aurona. He pointed at the mesa looming from above.

"Count yourselves lucky, primitives. You live only because Spyro is up there on that rock." With a snap of his digits, the hulking crocogators stood at attention. Their discipline was evident, testifying to the sorcerer's command. "Snapshot 1 through 4, we return to Lightcore!"

As if ingrained into their bodies, all four crocogators swiftly positioned themselves into an arrow-shaped formation, with Sorcerer Hugo at the tip. The mabu then turned around to leave, sauntering back to the portal.

Watching the Skylander pass between the first pair of crocogators, with the latter clearly shifting their body to follow after their tiny superior, a sense of foreboding washed over Aurona. If the Skylanders left, their only clue to Vanish would disappear with them. Desperation clawed at her insides. Valorem's Wings, there was only one thing left she could still do. The only possible course of action that had a real fighting chance at getting the information everyone in Eyria needed.

Aurona got to her feet and rushed forward. She ignored the calls of her fellow villagers. Endured the glares and violent grunts of Hugo's Snapshot guard. Her rapid sprinting attracted the sorcerer. Then, when his eyes fell on her approaching form…

The Acting Chief of Eyria threw herself to the snowy ground, bowing her head, and slamming her muzzle on the cold, frozen soil. "Please, wait! Almighty sorcerer, I am sorry that we interfered with your affairs, but we wanted to pry information from those stealth elves! L-Lifebringer, we didn't expect things to escalate to, to this!"

Aurona had humbled herself, prostrating before the entire group of foreigners. She kept her eyes closed, unwilling to gaze at either them or her fellow people. Her words trembled. She knew that the Skylanders could kill her at any time, but she had to try. For Selema's sake, she had to try!

She heard the mabu make an exasperated groan. "Ugh. Make it quick."

It was not until Aurona spoke did she even realize tears had started flowing freely, dripping down her snout.

"My people—the people of December are under attack by apes, led by someone who claims to be Gaul's successor. There's a four-armed yeti supporting them. We believe he is collaborating with someone to kidnap young dragons for reasons we don't understand. Someone who is using the same magic as you, taking our hatchlings, our whelps, our future!" Aurona sniffled, gripping the snow, her head swirling with memories of the last time she'd seen her only daughter. "Alona's mercy, tell me! Is this 'Slam Bam' Bartholomew? Why would he do this? Who is he working with if it isn't your Empire? What could he possibly want with innocent children‽"

Her distraught begging hung in the air. A long bout of silence passed between Aurona and the foreigners. When she opened her eyes, she flinched, seeing how all five Skylanders regarded her with ostensible, egregious disgust. The dragoness sniffled again.

"I'm begging you, please, give us an answer. Anything! Those two elves were our only lead. I, I haven't seen my daughter in years since she vanished—

"Silence!" Hugo cut Aurona off with another magically empowered shout. Lowering his hand, the sorcerer took a few steps towards her. He was cautious enough not to go within her striking range, though the dragoness had no intention of courting death. His imposing presence belied his diminutive size. Aurona whimpered, eyes dilating as though she was staring at tornadoes. She stayed quiet, waiting for a reply. Hoping for a reply.

She got one, but it wasn't what she was expecting.

"Even a worm can be a mother." Hugo sighed, turning around. "Unfortunately, bottom-dweller, I do not need to tell you anything."

Aurona's chest felt agonizingly hot. Pain tore at her. The living memory of her missing daughter warped and stretched, the pink whelp's smile transmogrifying into an expression of grave terror. She reached for the sorcerer, no longer caring if the crocogators would kill her for doing so. "But… oh, Azeroth! But… please! I just want to know what happened to my Selema—!"

Hugo raised his hand. A wave of force surged forth and slammed into the mother's snout. She went down, whimpering.

"Chief Aurona!" she overheard one of the dragons cry out.

The mabu sorcerer glowered at her, throwing an ominous warning. "Don't you dare dirty my coat with those filthy paws!" He huffed. "I'm not some fool who sympathizes with scum living in the squalor of the World Below."

"By Valorem the Principled—

"Shut up!" commanded Hugo, adjusting the glass device resting over his eyes. "Your entreaties are useless here. Remember, I don't need to tell you anything. Understand?" His ruthless eyes penetrated through her scales. "Now, to reciprocate your display of humility, I will leave you with a warning: the Skylanders Corps will continue operating within the plateau. We do not need your help. Get in our way, and we'll destroy you."

With that final threat, Sorcerer Hugo straightened his green coat and proceeded to leave, with the crocogators following in pairs. Much like the stealth elves, as soon as they made contact with the portal, their images froze as if time had ceased flowing for them, collapsing into a fading, red silhouette.

As soon as all of their silhouettes redshifted into the void, the portal collapsed in on itself in a silent yet mysterious implosion. It left nothing behind, not even a trace. The Skylanders were gone. All the tension drained from Aurona, her legs buckling beneath her as sobs wracked her body.

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.

.

A heavy, morose silence draped over the mountainside once the Skylanders had left Mystic Pinnacle.

Aurona, alongside the battered remnants of her lounge, began the slow process of recovery. All three dragons used up their last red spirit crystals to heal their injuries, albeit reluctantly, due to the scarcity of the crystalline blessings of the Ancestors compared to years past. The two bipeds, unable to utilize the ancient magic within the gemstones, smeared herbal concoctions on their wounds and dressed them with bulak fabrics.

Among the injuries treated was Aurona's own patagium. She hadn't even noticed it being damaged amidst the chaos; the pain only made itself known in a throbbing pulse after the foreigners left. She guessed it had happened when Hugo suppressed her pleading with magical force. Luckily, Aurona's previous healing—to seal the wound that the stealth elves had inflicted on her flank—hadn't been enough to put her at risk of Diminishing Absorption.

Her eyes lingered on the other four members of her hunting lounge as they all gathered together on the hillside. The earth dragon who'd had a leg severed had been able to get it reattached and was now leaning upon the atlawa so he could walk straight. And the lone ice dragon touched down beside Aurona with the snow leopard on his back.

Seeing their numbers practically reduced in half sent a wave of numbness through the dragoness. Her attempt to gain information had only resulted in insults and threats, and Aurona couldn't help but feel she had cast aside her dignity for nothing.

That's what usually happened when matters were left to Gintomyr. Total success, or complete failure.

"My Chief."

Her features wilted in shame and grief, Aurona slowly turned her snout towards the speaker. The Earth dragon had broken away from the atlawa and approached her with a noticeable limp. "I have seen that expression from your father, during the War. Do not let regrets cripple your wings. You did the best you could."

Frowning, Aurona shut her eyes, unwilling to gaze into his. "Mother of Knowledge, I don't know. Maybe we could've been more diplomatic. I, I was foolish. I'm not as strong as Lord Spyro or Master Cyril…

"Yet you would've made Guardian Candidate," came the reply.

"That was many decades ago," she said, sighing wistfully. Looking back at her younger years as a temple apprentice in Warfang always made her feel melancholy, reminiscing over a male who would've been living with her in Eyria today, had he not sacrificed himself for her and their then hatchling daughter. "Haaaa… I'm not that dragoness anymore."

"You still are, Chief Aurona," he said, with a sympathetic smile on his muzzle. "Wise and strong. I certainly couldn't have given my neck to those airheads." His forlorn gaze landed on the other Earth dragon, whose butchered corpse laid nearby. "My flight would've ended just like that: carved into bloody pieces.

"Besides, you got that sorcerer to listen, didn't you?" he pointed out. "I couldn't hear well from where I was, but I heard your shouting. Chief or not, Aurona, you are still a loving mother, and I refuse to believe that did not move him. You should think about whatever he told you. Perhaps he did give you something."

"Thank you," was all she could say. His words offered little comfort, but the attempt was always appreciated.

Things returned to a quiet, yet unsettling calm. Once they had finished recuperating from the worst of their injuries, gathering the dead and preparing their corpses for transport back to Eyria became top priority. It was disheartening to see what Thalion and Elandra had done to three of their friends. When they finished wiping the blood using torn tunics and dead leaves, they saw that everything that the chakrams had slashed through was cut clean. Those metal blades had sliced effortlessly through armor, skin, flesh, and bone.

Aurona felt dizzy, nausea blurring her sight. She felt so sick she wanted to vomit. If only—

"Acting Chief Aurona," the growl of the other Ice dragon jolted Aurona out of her thoughts. He had a claw trained at the mesa. "You need to fly back up there. Tell Lord Spyro what you've learned. That he was wrong about Skylands and Vanish."

"I-I can't just leave you all here—

"The danger is gone," the faint growl of a snow leopard rang in her earholes. "We'll be fine. Our people need you up there more than down here."

Aurona's form quivered. She couldn't—she didn't want to leave them. Guilt gnawed at her insides like scale-burrowing insects. She had led half of her lounge to the Ancestors' domain and gained nothing of value.

She felt like a failure.

"My chief."

The snow leopard asked her, his voice hoarse and wavering, drenched in grief, "Did you gain anything from the sorcerer? Any clues as to who Vanish is?"

She had nothing to offer him but silence.

Bowing his head, he sniffled, repressing his tears. "Please, tell me… tell us… our friends didn't die for nothing."

"...They didn't." Aurona forced her voice to stay steady despite the emotional tempest raging inside her. "They didn't crash into deep water."

He took several deep breaths, mustering his own inner strength to deal with the emotions beleaguering him as much as Aurona and the rest of the lounge. "Right. Right. Then, we, we cannot stop here. Chief, please, return to Narvas Mesa. We'll be fine here. The Huntress watches us."

Aurona brought a forepaw to his shoulder and clenched, mirroring what Sir Claytor had done for her, silently hoping the small gesture brought even a bit of comfort. Then, commanding the lounge to reconvene with the raiding party at the base of the mesa, the Ice dragoness crouched low to the ground and took off into the skies.

As she soared back towards Spyro and Sir Claytor, her mind relived the events of their encounter with the foreigners. Aurona had come to terms with the impossibility of them ever emerging from that encounter unscathed—they had grossly underestimated their opponents' capabilities. It was unfortunate that Spyro had been mistaken about Skylands supporting Vanish.

However, it was not as if it was meaningless confirmation. The December Cliffs and the plateau on which it sat was a desolate, inhospitable region. There was nothing of value here, save for its role as a natural wall that separated the Allied Territories from both Devil's Reach and that ominous castle barely visible from the peak of Mystic Pinnacle. Why would such a powerful country send agents here of all places to conduct reconnaissance?

To look for a traitor? But why would somebody hide out in these remote mountains to begin with? December was so far from Warfang—far from anything with political value. Someone who deserted the Skylander Corps wouldn't have done so without securing means of defending or concealing themselves. If they wanted to hurt the Empire—by sabotaging existing Skylands-Warfang relations, for instance—then weren't their treasonous interests better served by staying inside the City of Dragons? There was no reason for someone like that to even be here!

Aurona ran the logic through her head several times as she climbed in altitude. It just didn't make sense to her. Sorcerer Hugo's words also echoed in her thoughts. He declined to tell her anything, yet the mabu had emphasized this, not once but twice. Why did he stress that?

.

.

.

"Remember, I don't need to tell you anything. Understand?"

.

.

.

Was Hugo playing tricks with her, or was he insinuating that Bartholomew was indeed Slam Bam, a Skylander who had gone rogue? The mere notion of someone belonging to that fearsome group abandoning their station was inconceivable. It would be equivalent to a Talonpoint Knight deserting security duty guarding Lady Cynder or Master Cyril. Who would even want to leave a prestigious position like that‽ It was unthinkable!

Unless…

…Unless there were compelling reasons to discard all loyalty and turn a mighty nation into an enemy.

Such as principles, if not a personal vendetta.

As for the matter of Slam Bam's presence on these dreary mountains, it still didn't make any political sense to Aurona—

A thought suddenly popped into her mind.

Nearly all of Skylands' might originated from the Portal Masters, just as Warfang's influence emanated from the Guardians and the Purple Dragon. The Sky Empress, like the Warfang Council, held something more akin to an administrative and ministerial role, albeit with greater authority over geopolitical matters. What if Bartholomew wasn't after political sabotage, and instead wanted to hurt people who didn't care about diplomacy, experts of magic like Sorcerer Hugo and the masters he serves?

Everyone knew that dragons were the only species naturally capable of elemental magic. The Purple Dragon of Legend was said to have the ability to warp and distort reality. Wouldn't someone opposing Skylands' true powers display an interest in dragonkind?

Wouldn't a so-called "traitor", who deemed it necessary to desert the very institutions that had raised him into glory and prestige, want to work with, to collaborate with this mysterious entity?

"Falconsinger," Aurona uttered to herself. "By Egeria, that ape might actually know the collaborator!"

Aurona beat her wings with more vigor than before. The winds were silent save for the currents howling in her earholes. Narvas Mesa had gone quiet. No longer did it have the constant echo of chaotic combat. It was in a state of eerie peace.

She didn't know how Spyro and Sir Claytor concluded this battle, but she hoped it ended in a way that would yield further progress in her investigation and minimized casualties.

However, when Aurona finally ascended past the mesa's edge and approached the congregation of people beside what appeared to be ruins dug out by primate hands, she saw Eyria's lone ape resident, Jayce Bladelizard, standing over the frigid corpse of Commander Falconsinger. His ochre fur stood out even in the moons-drenched snow.

As she descended, fanning her wings to catch the air and transition to a graceful glide, Aurona peered at his face. Even from afar, she could see a confusing mix of emotions playing across it. Jayce didn't share the triumphant sneers prominently displayed on the other fighters scattered across both the mesa and the ice-packed slopes of the fortress. Neither was he visibly dejected over the death of his own kind. He instead wore a neutral expression, reflective of someone who had nothing personal against Commander Falconsinger.

Someone who was just doing his duty.

Someone who had once been part of the Dark Army long ago, but now chose to fight for the two dragons he deeply cared for, and for the communities that took him in.

Just a few wingbeats away, Spyro was engrossed with the twisted remains of what Aurona presumed to be the golems that Falconsinger had summoned. His snout fluttered across the debris, sniffing and prodding, as though searching for clues. Clues as to what, Aurona couldn't be certain, but she guessed it had something to do with the infamous furless ape living in Warfang. Jayce had told her this much, the day after Claytor's vintaine arrived; the war hero's presence was nothing more but a favor from the whimsical Ventura, for he had come here on what Jayce called a "soul-searching effort".

Aurona's thoughts then returned to Sir Claytor himself. She found the vinetar far away from the Ape Commander's body, surrounded by her fellow villagers. The Talonpoint knight was soaring in a whirlwind of activity, speaking animatedly with various team captains. His commanding presence and booming voice gained him the full attention of the December militia. Seeing the Earth dragon's excellent leadership skills stirred an inner heat inside Aurona. She might have even acted on it, had it not been for the burdens she was carrying at this moment.

The Acting Chief of Eyria landed, paws softly striking the rock, wings kicking up a small cloud of snow. She regarded Falconsinger with much disappointment. He knew who Vanish was, Aurona believed, but he had taken the secret with him to death.

"You've returned, Chief Aurona," Jayce said, glancing at her. "Glad you're alright."

Aurona made sure to not let her emotions slip out. Jayce was an ape who kept no secrets from Ophelia and Altai. No doubt whatever she said here would be repeated to them and inevitably join the airstreams. "I didn't expect to find you up here," she said. "Weren't you leading one of the strike teams below?"

Jayce gazed at her, his eyes calm and resolute. "I was, but I had a feeling Falconsinger might have attempted to escape through a hidden passage." He chuckled. "Back during the War, it was an open secret among us… insignificant fighters, that for all of the commanders and their cronies' talk of fierce, valiant combat against the 'evil dragons', they would always have some secret escape tunnel prepared so they could abandon their soldiers as soon as defeat is imminent.

"Bleakshooter and Falconsinger were 'hatched from the same clutch', so I figured they would be no different." Jayce explained. "And I was correct. I found this escape tunnel during the main assault, and cut him off right as he was about to use it."

Aurona eyed the Ape Commander's corpse. "Did you kill him?"

Jayce's face hardened. "No. Falconsinger ended his own life with a hidden dagger." His voice carried a regretful undertone. "I'm sure we could've learned something from him. It's just… Egeria, none of us expected he'd do something like this after we stripped him of his war hammer."

"He's right." Vinetar Claytor ambled towards them, having finished his briefings with the various warriors of Eyria. "From my experience, apes are too cowardly to consider killing themselves or fighting a hopeless battle." He glanced over at Jayce. "No offense."

"None taken," Jayce said.

The Talonpoint Knight returned his gaze to Aurona. His eyes shifted, suddenly brimming with relief. Claytor sidestepped past Jayce and butted heads with her. She accepted the gesture and found herself welcoming the relieved sigh rumbling out of his throat.

"I'm glad to see you smooth and whole, Chief Aurona," he said.

"Likewise, Sir Claytor." She smiled at him, impressed at what he'd accomplished. "You took good care of my lounge while I was gone."

"The heavy armor certainly helped," the veteran knight chuckled. He took the opportunity to explain what happened in her absence. Ape morale plummeted shortly after Commander Falconsinger's demise. All semblance of leadership vanished, replaced with the desire to flee from Narvas Mesa and scatter into the wilds, rather than regrouping at Cliff Town and continuing the fight. Emboldened, the December villagers fought harder to kill every ape down to the last individual.

"Made me glad for my orange fur and—huffff—Ophelia's extra precautions," Jayce remarked as he sniffed at his clothing. "Some dragons from Mishekan almost mistook me for the enemy!"

Aurona frowned. Jayce might have been accepted by the entirety of Eyria and quite a number of people in December, but that didn't mean there weren't any stubborn eggs in the other villages. Elder Ophelia would have been breathing hellfire if anything had happened to him. "They didn't bother you, did they?"

"Not at all." Jayce smirked. "In fact, they started thanking me when I pointed out where all the important hiding spots were."

Claytor swooped back into the conversation. "And because of that, we're certain there won't be any stragglers or escapees from tonight's raid. Not even a minute ago, I was entertaining quite a few requests to return home and check the ruins."

Aurona guessed these were people from Pystis and the hamlets within the vicinity of the mesa. "I would've approved those, within reasonable limits."

"A 20-minute flight distance and a single conroi led by the village chief should suffice," Claytor not so much asked as he declared it. Aurona liked the confidence in his response. It spoke of his experience, if not the discipline he'd learned in Talonpoint Keep.

"Did you find any signs of Bartholomew or Vanish in the camp?" Aurona discreetly brushed aside the unspoken question in the vinetar's report and flew straight to the most pressing concern.

"None at all. I've already had several dragons sniff up and down this ice fortress for any foreign scents. Even Jayce got to scour the escape tunnels on the way up," Claytor reported.

The crunching of snow drew their attention to a smaller dragon coming up on them. It was Spyro. His purple scales appeared as blue as a common Ice dragon in the moonlight. "I sensed Bartholomew's scent by what used to be one of the commander's tents. It's old and stale, like he'd only been here yesterday or the day before that."

His young muzzle swept across the three of them, then lingered on her. His nostrils dilated. The hero's eyes dilated. "I smell blood on you." He padded hurriedly to her, deeply sniffing the odors exuding from her scales. "Your blood and, and—Ancestors… What happened to you?"

"We found two silhouettes skulking about the mountainside," Aurona began to retell her story. "Ambushed them. Forced them to dispel their disguise."

"And…?" Spyro asked.

"And revealed two Skylanders of some foreign species. They called themselves 'stealth elves'. They're part of a reconnaissance unit." Aurona paused. She didn't want to go on, to proceed and relive the ordeal she had just survived. Her breath hitched.

The gaze in the war hero's eyes softened. "Aurona, if you need more time—

Aurona made a loud and thunderous snort and stomped her feet. "I'm fine, Lord Spyro! Lifebringer's breath, it's just, I still can't believe we underestimated them." Another deep breath. "Haaaaaa… they were just two bipeds. Shorter than the snow leopards, even. Yet, they slew almost half my lounge in but a few clashes."

Aurona proceeded with her tale. She spoke of their innate, wraith-like ability to blink in and out across the battlefield. She pointed out their vicious weaponry, with blades that could cut through solid rock and a magical vessel filled with enough mana to generate small barriers of force.

"We could've beaten them, but one elf had a handful of scrolls just like the ones that contained these golems," Aurona said, nodding at the debris that used to be the tripedal constructs that Falconsinger had summoned. "While the other wore an earring that could transmit messages at long distance."

Claytor asked, "They called for help?"

Aurona slowly blinked in affirmation. "They did. It was my first time, seeing a portal form from nothing. And my first time seeing someone brimming with such power. A true magician." Sorcerer Hugo dwarfed even Sorceress Bianca, in her mind. From what little she knew of the rabbit witch, the two were several wings apart.

Aurona didn't mention her shameful begging. It was too embarrassing for someone of her stature, for someone who had been asked to become a Guardian Candidate during the Great War. "Lord Spyro, that sorcerer and his security detail would have killed us all, were you not here at the mesa."

Jayce scratched his chin in consternation, off to the side. "They were wary of him, even from this distance?" His eyes lingered on the purple dragon, brows scrunched in thought. Aurona had found this odd as well. Something about Spyro made him so dangerous that they couldn't risk provoking him even when they were separated by a few minutes' worth of flight.

It made her glad that the legendary Savior was flying with them. Whatever it was that made them excessively cautious though, she could leave to Gintomyr. As far as she knew, it wasn't any of her business.

Spyro, nonetheless, wilted as she finished her story. His disappointment was palpable as he muttered, "So, you failed, then?"

"Not entirely," Aurona responded. Her gaze hardened. "We managed to confirm that your theory was wrong."

Spyro blanched. His expression furrowed into one of shock and disbelief. "W-what‽ But that doesn't make any sense! Who else could Vanish be if it's not another Skylander?" His tail swung agitatedly in the air. "I can't be wrong again! Not this time…"

Claytor cast a sad gaze at the Savior. "Lord Spyro…"

"I'm sorry," said Aurona, solemnly, "But the stealth elves truly didn't know anything about Vanish. They were even surprised to hear about the abductions."

Jayce asked, after quickly glancing at Spyro. "Why are they in December then?"

"They're hunting a traitor."

"Bartholomew," Claytor logically concluded.

"Correct," Aurona confirmed. "Bartholomew used to be a member of the Skylanders Corps, under the name 'Slam Bam'. Whatever his intentions are, he ultimately plans to harm the Empire, and clearly he doesn't care if he drags innocent dragons into his flight."

Aurona turned her neck towards the Ape Commander. His cold, mangled corpse was still laying out in the open, frozen. "I'd bet some coin that this ape personally knew Vanish. If only he was still alive," she sighed, a note of regret in her voice.

Jayce's tail swished sideways as he spoke under his breath, "Yet Bartholomew hasn't been here in more than a day… Hmmm, hunted by Skylanders, allied with a third party we still know nothing about, hunting adolescent dragons and younger…"

Aurona left the naturalized ape to speculate on his own. Mother of Knowledge had blessed him, somewhat. Compared to the rest of his kind, Jayce was a bit clever, and he had a gentle heart, especially for young dragons.

"How about asking Sorceress Bianca about this?" Claytor suddenly suggested. "I dare not compare her to a Skylands sorcerer, but she's still very adept in magic. If Vanish is doing something to damage the Empire, she might have an idea what he's planning, and how dragons fit into his scheme." He grinned. "Armed with that knowledge, we might be able to set a trap."

Spyro had recovered a little by this point and chimed his agreement. "That sounds reasonable. It's been a few days since we left Bianca behind at Dragon Rock, but I know she survived her encounter with Bartholomew. She should be in Eyria by tomorrow."

Aurona was hesitant. "I don't know." Doubt clouded her eyes. "That witch is a familiar face in Eyria, but I'm not convinced that she's—

"Oh, Azeroth's cloaca!" Jayce yelped. His alarming gasp disrupted the somber atmosphere and replaced it with a sense of panic. "We need to get back to Eyria, RIGHT NOW!"

The urgency in his voice startled everyone nearby. Aurona was the first to react. "Jayce, what do you mean—

"Where else could Bartholomew be if he isn't here‽" the ape clamored, his expression transforming into one of dread. "He wouldn't retreat to Cliff Town after crippling most of Sir Claytor's vintaine; and your father already wiped out Bleakshooter's only other base, so he isn't there either. That leaves us with only one other possibility: Eyria."

The vinetar blinked in agreement. "Mother of Knowledge, you're right! Eyria's a valuable target with all the dragons taking refuge there, and with December's best here with us tonight—

Spyro was already on the move. "I'll go now." He crouched low, his rear wiggling while he spread his wings. "You guys, gather the best fighters here and follow behind me—

Aurona, feeling a tight constriction in her chest, stopped him with a plea. "Can I go with you directly, Lord Spyro?"

Spyro glanced over at her. "Chief Aurona, I can't apply Dragon Time to others."

"That's fine!" Aurona shouted, her desperation coming back to her. "I can… I can hold your rump instead!" She whimpered, her emotions spiked by mental images of her frosty village in shambles, of friends and loved ones lying dead. "Please. A chief must be there for her people."

Spyro's gaze went grim and stone-faced. "All right. But you better hold on tight. I won't—I can't come back for you."

Jayce approached Claytor, speaking to him in hushed whispers. Ape and dragon locked eyes, an unspoken message passing between them. Then, the Talonpoint knight blinked his assent, prompting Eyria's sole resident primate to pull himself up the dragon's back.

"My Chief!" he cried. "Sir Claytor and I will rally those who can still fight. You and Lord Spyro must hold out for as long as you can!"

Aurona, who'd been standing behind an anxious Spyro, eyeing how to best mount the young dragon without creating an awkward atmosphere, turned to the departing ape and dragon. "Go! We'll meet you there!"

Spyro growled, accentuating the urgency. "Aurona, we need to leave. Whatever you're worrying about, you should save those thoughts for later."

Realization jolted through her.

Lives were at stake. They had no time to tarry!

"You're right, Lord Spyro. Let's go." With a deep breath, the Ice dragoness purged her inhibitions and climbed on top of the war hero's back. Aurona felt her scales burning, her paws sweating, as though her villagers' eyes had fallen upon her. In any other context, it would look like they were engaging in something more, intimate, albeit with their sexes reversed.

She ignored—disregarded this feeling and used her claws to clutch tight. Spyro himself reacted with nothing beyond a quick, acknowledging grunt. Crouching down, he yelled at the top of his breath. "Here we go!"

They took to the air, their bodies slicing through the wind. With each flap of his wings, Spyro doubled his flight speed, soon becoming faster than any other dragon in the region—in the entire continent! His form began to blur as he moved faster than she could perceive.

Propelled by something other than a tailwind, the world narrowed. The lands below were reduced to a dizzying corridor of swirling white, blue, green, and black. Her insides lurched with a sensation she could only describe as utter disorientation, a state where they were "falling" across this strange passage.

Aurona shut her eyes and, clenching her digits, clung to Spyro for dear life. Her mind filled with fear, with hope. She began to utter a prayer, murmuring to the Ancestors and beseeching the Dragon God.

"Oh Azeroth, please, let Eyria be safe…"

---

Author's notes:

FINALLY! After a lot of mentions and small scenes, the canon Skylanders have made their official debut in Aimless, and it begins with Stealth Elf, Snap Shot, and Hugo. Of course, several changes have been made, such as "Stealth Elf" being a sub-species of elf, "Snap Shot" being an elite unit comprised mainly of crocogators, and Hugo being more fearsome and intimidating than his canon counterpart.

Such changes were made not only to fit the imperialist nature of the Skylands Empire but also to match the power scaling in the Aimless world.

And yes, there is one hell of a backstory behind Slam Bam's alleged betrayal of the Skylanders. Unfortunately I cannot imagine where I can fit it in. Perhaps in a Meaningless Crossover entry?

One last thing: I hope you guys liked my attention to detail! I've been wondering exactly how portals would work from the perspective of an outsider, and so the way travelers either redshift or blueshift should be consistent with laws of physics, as they are currently known as of this writing. The scene at the end where Spyro manipulated spacetime to accelerate his flight speed is also consistent with modern physics. :D

And now, moving on to...

Replies to reviews:

Guest #1. It's not Joshua's Element. Joshua's Element is purplish-white, not pure white. What Spyro was using was the Light element. Hypothetically though, Spyro and Joshua are able to use each other's respective elements, so yes, Joshua can use Convexity (or Aether, if that's what you want to call it). Unfortunately, in terms of practical usage, neither Spyro nor Joshua can do that, simply because their underlying mechanics are too different. Joshua's Element is much closer to spellcasting in that it requires awareness of multiple variables (discernment), focus (delineation), and willpower (determination) for it to even work, whereas the Purple Dragon's Convexity functions according to one's emotions and desires, just like all the other elements available in his near-unlimited arsenal.

Kranos459. Consistent updates? Uhhhh... I can't commit to that.

BronzeHeart92. Yep! You and Azure share this understanding that the single defining trait of humanity is their capacity for empathy. After all, other than the early 2000s, where else in our several millennia of oral or written history have humans accepted gender identities beyond male and female, acknowledged the existence of mental health (and the need to prioritize it just as much as one's physical health), empowered the disabled/impaired, and put concepts like diversity, equity, and fairness into the world's zeitgeist? I admit that all these topics are still highly contested in several places across the world, but it bears mentioning that none of these movements would have happened if empathy was not one of humanity's defining traits as a species. (Another one is our ingenuity, but that's a separate subject matter.)

Of course, the other species in Aimless canon are capable of empathy, but it is not as pronounced nor is it heavily prioritized and/or accentuated in either their interpersonal relationships or their culture.

Bizzleb. Heeeeyyy! No problem, no problem. You can call it a form of giving back. XD I think you'd even like this chapter even more too, seeing as how I made Aurona the POV character. I hope I managed to portray her well. It's' difficult working with someone else's characters!

Glad you enjoyed the previous chapter. Aurona has certainly proven herself to be a capable fighter who also knows her limits. And yes, that extra detail for Jayce. He referred to it again, you know. XD Something actually happened offscreen but it was also resolved in the same breath. He's not the POV character, after all.

That's Claytor being influenced by Joshua! XD He would have quite a lot to say to him, wouldn't he?

Kebarton. I understand that a lot of people like the slice-of-life things going on back in Warfang, but there are also a lot of people who are bugging me about the stuff that happens outside it. I receive pushback from two different groups, and this is simply a consequence of having an ambitious story that's just so big in terms of scope. I'm currently managing this by having a "3-3" setup (3 chaps focused on Joshua's personal story, then 3 chaps focused on the Main Scenario), and so far it's working. :D

We actually have one more Beyond The Wall / Spyro chapter coming up. After that, we'll be getting back to Joshua's side of things back in Warfang. Red Lady will finally be making her debut in Chapter 60, so I'm very excited to write that out. :D

Spyro-the-Purple-Dragon. Joshua? Shipping? Uhh... I suggest reading Home But Not Home to find out. HBNH is a Meaningless Crossover of Aimless and AWSW (Angels with Scaly Wings), set during the 10Y timestamp with a 40 year old Joshua. While the story itself is not canon to Aimless, it makes multiple references to what is or what will eventually become Aimless canon. Of course I'm avoiding the major shit that goes down much later on, but little things like shipping... I think you'll find a few clues in there.

LoNeWoLf (Guest). An "unforeseen relapse"?

DiabloPProcento. Glad you liked the chapter! I hope this one was also to your liking. Spyro won't be back in Warfang for a while, but the readers' viewpoint will be returning to Warfang after the next one! And as I mentioned to Kebarton, Red Lady will finally be introduced in-story. :D

Wolfe Itzo'k. Oh, the AO3 version is sooooooo far behind the main FFN one! I mainly keep it around just for the exposure :D And yes, that's correct. There is eventual romance here, but it's still a very long way off. The timestamps for those series of chapters would be in the 2Y to 3Y mark, so that's quite a while. Doesn't mean that there won't be fluff/emotional moments before that though.

And just to give some clarification, if you're expecting M-rated or explicit smut in Aimless, I'll have to disappoint. There won't be anything explicit here. I will seriously cut off with something akin to "fade to black" if I ever write myself into a scene that goes in raunchy directions. I have other accounts in... other sites though, so who knows, maybe I'd put one in there if I ever get bored.

Yuvalyly. Thank you so much for your feedback! Yeah, I've received the "you ought to turn this into a story" feedback already, and several times at that. I still can, actually, seeing as how there are so many "video game" webnovels out there. I simply do not want to go that route. I have other original works somewhere out there though. You just won't know it's me. XD

Also... there's some bit where Streeg got called a gnorc by mistake? Hmm... Azure's supposed to catch retroactive continuity errors. I'll be sure to bring this up with them. Thanks!

Coollatiospokemon4342. Damn, it has been a long time, isn't it? Thanks for taking the time and the effort to send me one! Hoped you like this chapter as well. And you got your own fic too? Send me a summary over DM. It's not on your FFN.

ThoughtMaster (CH53) (Guest). You nailed it! :D It also stands to reason that others are able to do the same with him if their wills and intents are synchronized, as what happened with Kilat way way way back during their first meeting at Dry Canyon.

Man, if only someone like you had made a guess like that way back!

Starfett13. Patience, man, patience! I do this as a hobby, so no regular updates and all that.

SonicDJM. Hello! Another reader who hasn't left a comment in a long time.. Glad to hear from you again. And that''s totally OK! Our interests change as we grow and develop, and oftentimes, IRL also catches up and occupies most of our time. And wow! Chapter 36... yeah, a loooot has happened since then.

Re: writing quality - the timestamps were unavoidable, sadly. It's what happens when you've got a story like mine that's trying to go into all sorts of directions while putting some meaning into its own aimlessness (no pun intended). World-building and character development... well, TLoS has loads of blanks to fill, and I managed that. Oh, and I'll try to fit "Rain of Sins" into my reading list, now that I'm rereading your review. And thank you again for comparing me to professional writers! It's a major compliment considering that I don't even write for a living and creative writing is nowhere near my professional interests (i.e. investing and finance).

Re: Spyro's dislike towards Joshua. As I mentioned in our DM, you are totally correct. Very few people have actually gotten this, even after I made it so much more obvious through Spyro's reaction towards an actual ape. You're also treading quite close to how I view the Purple Dragon in the TLoS context.

Re: Joshua's transmigration. It's a fairly good guess, is all I'll have to say about it. I still haven't received your predictions yet, btw!

Re: Joshua's Element. Joshua's power ceiling is extremely high, to the extent it is just as unique and as overpowered as the Purple Dragon. This was seen in the entirety of the second arc, and once again, briefly seen during Cynder's fly-by-night experiment with the Fear element and the way it impacts the Three Ds. I can confirm that Joshua is fully capable of changing a dragon's element as well as conjuring objects using elemental magic. HOWEVER, such things are far beyond his natural ability to do so and any attempts to do that will result in his death. In the end, he is still only human.

Henchman1997. I'm glad you're enjoying the Night Raid so far! Hope this one will also be to your liking.

Amount of time between updates? To be perfectly blunt about it, it's my IRL responsibilities. I'm an expat working as a purchasing manager in Southeast Asia, so if work doesn't have me attending conferences/conventions in other countries, it has me coordinating with suppliers as well as my employer's accounting and sales teams, on top of the executive management. The company's on a nosedive right now and the owner-managers are doing their best to turn things around. I play a major role in whatever they decide to do, soooo... yeah. Work.