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?

59. (Settling In) (53D) Teacher's Pet End

Author's notes:

Hello, everyone! It's been many months since the last update, but I'm glad I was able to crank one out. :D This is an extra long one (probably 50% longer than my usual chapters), so I guess that compensates for it?

I couldn't exactly find a proper split point and my beta readers told me everything felt so tightly woven together that cutting parts outright would reduce the quality or something. Ah well.

Moving on! It's been a long time since we've had a Warfang chapter (in IRL time). In case you've forgotten, the Temple apprenticeship covers six stages: student, associate, senior associate, fellow, and senior fellow. What has not been explained yet is that, upon graduation in the first week of autumn, most apprentices use the three months between High Summer and the Long Winter to find work, eventually joining commercial guilds, branches of government, or the knighthood, and of course, Temple graduates generally have a far easier time than non-graduates in getting positions. People who did not receive formal education in the Temple usually find work through connections or in enterprises or proprietorships unaffiliated with a registered guild.

As for the "Novitiate" position, it is an unofficial title given to apprentices who are equivalent to teaching assistants, exam proctors, etc. You might've forgotten as its definition was only mentioned once or twice.

Anyway, messages from my two beta readers below:

AzureDragonZX. Hello, AzureDragonZX here once again.

2024 really is coming and going, isn't it? In fact, it'll be closing in on a decade since this story first started very soon...! Well, in the meantime, here's another new chapter for you all to enjoy. This is actually the first chapter I've helped work on to feature Cyril, my personal favourite Guardian from the Legend of Spyro games. I have experience working with the character from my own story, so I was able to help fine tune his dialogue and keep him sounding in character. Let us know how it all turned out!

Strykeruk. Good day everyone, Strykeruk here. We've gotten another excellent chapter from Silent here, focusing again on our main character. Trials and tribulations abound and I look forward, as ever, to seeing all your reactions. Rest assured there is plenty more to come and whilst I can't speak for him, Silent seems as dedicated as ever to churning out his excellent world-building.

And here's my response to them:

Azure — I'm thankful Azure has experience working with Cyril with their own story. I found him difficult to write as I don't have anyone close to me IRL who I can use as reference for his portrayal. I should mention that I am not involved at all in Azure's story beyond being a springboard of ideas, but I have given it a read and I suggest checking it out if you are a fan of the Persona video game series. I've never played any of the games and don't know any of its canon, but Azure has done well in explaining Persona canon and connecting the two series, and in establishing their reincarnated human MC in what I believe is a unique take on TLoS: ANB. Go and check out More than One Heart! :D

Stryker — Yeah, and it hasn't been a full year! XD World-building also happens to be one of the key draws to Aimless, so I'm glad to provide. As I have told you and Azure over the course of writing CH59, the next chapter will feature the conclusion to the "Settling In" category, so I'm pretty excited for it! Unfortunately, that also meant this update had to be extra long, but I hope the readers won't mind.

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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Settling In

Chapter 59: Teacher's Pet 3 (Final)

"Strength... comes from an indomitable will."

~ Mahatma Gandhi

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[53D/LM]

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In the Allied Territories of Warfang, the Four Guardians represented its highest authorities. They flew far above the Warfang Council, which only claimed under its jurisdiction matters of direct relevance to the eponymous city, and any civil concerns related to the Allied Territories as a whole.

When the City of Dragons had been founded millennia ago, four dragons were appointed to the position—one to represent each of the traditional elements.

Fire.

Electricity.

Earth.

Ice.

Although other elements existed—Wind and Poison, to name a few—these were the most pervasive among dragonkind. Thus, it was only apposite for the dragon city to be governed by representatives of the Common Four, so that the majority would benefit and that order was maintained.

The ascent from Temple Apprentice to Elemental Guardian comprised a long and arduous flight spanning most of their life. Becoming a Guardian, if not a Guardian Candidate, meant complete devotion to not only one's elemental prowess but also one's repertoire of knowledge.

Though combat and other tactically relevant subjects were emphasized during the path to Guardian Candidacy, particularly throughout the Great War, nearly everyone pursuing the position had to possess varying levels of mastery in disciplines normally found in the Council's domain. Not to consolidate power, but to minimize the possibility of being tricked by the more conniving and deceitful people among the lesser ranks.

The Guardian of Ice was distinct in that the role was exclusively hereditary. While the other three were also occupied by aristocrats at the establishment of the Guardianship role, over time the position became more meritocratic, with dragons from either noble or lay origins rising into it.

It was only Ice that remained steady and unchanging across generations.

It was only Ice that appointed Guardian Candidacy to a few dragon clans across the Allied Territories.

Nobody questioned this, for it mirrored the natural tendency of the respective common elements. Earth constantly shifted and was inherently unstable. Fire burned strongly, and thoroughly. Electricity flashed in one direction whilst haphazardly zipping from one side to the other.

And as for Ice?

Ice was rigid and stubborn.

Ice was numb to the vicissitudes of change.

Ice was defined by inertia.

The current Ice Guardian, Cyril, was no different from his predecessors. He had held this position for over two centuries—over half the expected lifespan for the average dragon. It was a title he'd inherited, for the position of Ice Guardian typically fluttered between 11 different clans that all descended from the lineage of Corsha, the Sustainer of Dignity—an ancestor whose feats had been so remarkable that he was immortalized in the Warfang calendar as a day of the week. It was a stark contrast to the other three Guardians, who were appointed more through merit than by their status. Even Ignitus, said to be the wisest of the Fire Guardians, had tirelessly beat his wings and accumulated multiple achievements during the Great War, climbing up from the mud that was plebeian life until he finally attained greatness.

Located close to the Noble Chambers, they were inside one of the few lecture halls that had been built on the flattest peak of the White Mountain. Each had vaulted ceilings, with reliefs of illustrious dragons carved painstakingly by the Moles who had constructed the City of Warfang millennia ago.

Clerestories separated the ceilings further from the ground level, featuring multiple windows through which fresh air and sunlight were let into the hall space. All were supported by thick columns of rock rendered impervious to manipulation by Earth dragons, and all were large enough to fit a single adult, enabling easy entry and exit by both dragonkind and the lesser species alike. Each also provided an unobstructed view of the Four Towers, where the Temple's highest halls were located.

"Clear skies," Cyril grunted.

The ten students stood straight and attentive, as though he was their knight-commander rather than their teacher. "Steady winds, Master Cyril."

True to his reputation, Cyril glanced at the ten Ice dragons seated obediently on their haunches, their polished scales gleaming in various shades of blue and white. None of them sported overt signs of muddled blood—of interbreeding with dragons from the other elements.

The Ice Guardian panned his gaze across the group. "I suppose you're all wondering why we're meeting down here at Pantheon Lobby." He grunted. "Hmph, it most certainly is not a matter of my old age."

Some of the younger dragons, each on the precipice of adulthood and all a few years older than the Savior, chuckled awkwardly, betraying their thoughts.

"I will fly straight with you all today. Near the end of the last cycle, I spoke with Terrador about a task of grave importance. A duty that had become all the more urgent after what transpired last night."

Cyril glared at someone who'd inquisitively raised his forepaw. His cold stare rendered the apprentice's utterance into incomprehensible stutters. "I will not waste time flying through that crevice. If you are unaware of the latest windwhispers on the airstreams, I highly recommend socializing more. It is not my problem if you are ignorant of the world around you."

The elderly dragon began pacing across the arena where he and the other apprentices had gathered.

"All of you are senior fellows, the oldest and most advanced among all the apprentices roosting in the Temple! More than that, you all hatched from the Sustainer's Eleven. After you graduate in autumn, you will surely find your own flight paths among the various governing bodies of the Allied Territories.

"Constant awareness of everything that occurs within our walls—within our borders—is paramount to your success and our collective prosperity! Dragons of your bloodline never abdicate to Gintomyr. To do so makes you unworthy of your privilege." He stopped in front of the apprentice who'd raised his paw and glowered at him, snout twisted into a frown. "Is that understood?"

The apprentice struggled to maintain eye contact. He tried to resist the natural inclination to curl into a defensive, if submissive, posture. "Y-yes, Master Cyril. I understand."

Cyril's scowl neither deepened nor relaxed at his student's response. He made an inscrutable grunt as he resumed his pacing.

"Just as important as your cognizance of general matters is the willingness to confront turbulent storms according to the principles you have been taught." The walls of the arena sloped gently upwards and formed natural terraces of stone. Four paths led to the wide, doorless entryways of the Pantheon Lobby, upon one of which lingered Cyril's gaze. "This brings us to the critical undertaking I mentioned."

Without preamble, the Ice Guardian darted his neck forward and spat a cylindrical shard of frost at the entrance of interest. It flew in an arc before striking the ornately carved ceiling and exploding into a frigid cloud of dust and snow.

Heavy, clanking footsteps rumbled through the entryway moments afterward. Shadows appeared on the floor and presaged the entry of four heavily-armored knights, of which two were dragons.

The ten apprentices reacted with various squawks and gasps of surprise as they beheld the short biped flanked in-between the new entrants, reluctantly walking down the sloped path with a lethargic gait.

Everyone recognized Joshua Renalia on sight. After all, he was the only one of his kind residing within Warfang.

A panicked expression appeared on one dragon's snout before they turned to the Ice Guardian and exclaimed, "Master Cyril! You had Dragonbane brought here‽"

Another whined in protest. "The hoo-man killed Talonpoint Knights last night! I don't want to participate in whatever you're planning!"

The Senior Fellow that Cyril had intimidated into submission was trembling. "I can't do this. Alona's cloaca, I can't do this!" He crouched down, preparing to leap into the air. "I'm sorry—

Cyril interrupted the terrified dragon with an oppressive and thunderous roar. Even Joshua, with his subdued disposition, jumped from astonishment. The Ice Guardian instantly charged the apprentice, paw smacking into the latter's snout before anyone could respond. "Don't you dare leave this hall! If I didn't owe your parents a favor, I would have had you expelled last winter!"

The Ice Guardian rounded on all the others. "That goes for ALL of you!" He snarled. "Leave Pantheon Lobby, and I will treat it as your decision to withdraw from your apprenticeships!"

They responded to his declaration with indignant glares, but none dared to voice their opposition. Several dragons nervously glanced at Joshua multiple times; the human had stopped to watch and wait for Cyril to resolve things.

"Your attitudes are shameful!" He scolded them. "I did not expect this lily-livered behavior from Senior Fellows, much less dragons of the Sustainer's Eleven! I'm offended none of you tried to think things from my perspective. I've been planning this for an entire cycle, and I would never allow anything dire to befall my own apprentices."

Cyril suddenly whipped his tail up towards the seats, rigidly pointing it towards a dragon who'd been observing them all from the very start. "Isn't that right… Cynder?"

Cynder narrowed her eyes at the way the old dragon revealed her presence to everyone in the room. She had quietly entered Pantheon Lobby shortly after the Ice Guardian made his entrance, his commanding presence drawing attention long before his words did. After the near-catastrophe that had taken place in Alona Hall, everyone in the Temple seemed to have eyes full of scorn towards her, judging her for almost repeating the Incident. Cynder didn't know how the airstreams knew not only of her abject failure but also the role she unwittingly played in causing last cycle's tragedy at the Gates of Warfang.

The damage to her reputation came swiftly. Earlier this morning, she observed a few apprentices spitting at their forepaws when she was passing through the halls; some of the knights securing the Temple shot malevolent glares in her direction, as though she had once again become the Terror of the Skies… or at the very least, a bumbling egg feeding off her fame, just like how some now viewed Spyro.

Cynder chose not to answer the question directly. "You're the one who summoned us here, Master Cyril."

The Senior Fellows huddled up at the sight of her, their eyes anxiously cycling between her, Joshua, and the Ice Guardian. Their apprehension was blatant, and her earholes could pick up their doubts and concerns—they didn't care if she could overhear them.

"Didn't Lady Cynder cause the Incident?"

"It's foolish to rely on her!"

"Yeah! Better to just lock her up!"

"If she didn't have Lord Spyro so cloaca-smacked—

Boom!

Cyril had reared up and stomped on the stone floor of the arena with all his might, amplifying his strike with his element. Gusts of air surged through Pantheon Lobby. Hail formed from mana flung outward, with the elderly dragon as its center. It had the effect of silencing both the apprentices and the various knights in the lecture hall.

"Fasten your wings! Cynder's substantial contribution to the Incident and the extent of her culpability are under investigation. Notwithstanding this discovery, the fact remains she is the only person in Warfang who comprehends the Unknown Element to any reasonable degree, and also has the furless ape's absolute trust."

Cyril did not loudly raise that last point as he had with Cynder, but the blatant swivel of his head and the focused glare he sent towards Joshua was so obvious the human quickly responded, "If it wasn't for Cynder, we would've never found out about the shortcomings of my Element. I know people died last night, but she stopped me—brought me back to my senses. She did it once; I know she can do it again. I'd bet my working arm she'll intervene before it even gets to that point."

Hearing Joshua's response sent pain and guilt rushing through Cynder's gut. It exuded confidence and trust. Trust she absolutely did not deserve, after all she'd done to him. Cynder still remembered the way he embraced her, wrapping his arm and leaning on her black scales at his most vulnerable. In some ways, that stupid, one-eared, one-armed human was just like Spyro!

"His assertions need no elaboration," Cyril stated. His neck twisted as he glanced across the lecture hall, wings gesturing at the various guards standing by. "Several Talonpoint Knights are also monitoring them both." He preened. "And I will also be present throughout the entirety of this undertaking. None of you will be in danger."

Cynder resisted the urge to snap back with a sarcastic reply. This was all a farce—a scheme for Cyril to give his pride more tailwinds and elevate his ego. As far as he was concerned, Joshua was a malevolent devil who had been slowly manipulating everyone to his side over the last cycle and a half. Since the beginning, he refused to acknowledge all the efforts Joshua had been putting to learn more about himself while assimilating with the various cultures mixing in the city of Warfang. He only saw what he wanted to see, and heard what he wanted to hear.

Cyril disregarded what Cynder said that morning. He didn't care that Joshua had finally been proven innocent. He didn't care that the Unknown Element would never cause massive loss of life for so long as Joshua did not believe he was in immediate threat of death.

The facts were dragon dung to Cyril, and he did not realize—no, he could not recognize he was actually endangering these apprentices by forcing this unnecessary trial upon them.

Another apprentice, however, raised a valid point. "Master Cyril," the dragoness said, "my cousin has the hoo-man's sister as a loungemate, and she said that weird Element reacts to fear—

The Ice Guardian interrupted her mid-speech. "Will all of you stop beating the wind‽ Don't be a bunch of smushed eggs! I've made extensive preparations for today's program and there are many safeguards to protect us from that bald monkey!" He cocked his neck at Cynder with a huff. "For those who are concerned Cynder might do something idiotic, Terrador and I stripped most of her privileges as a Savior this morning and she is currently under orders to intervene only when it is absolutely necessary."

Joshua recoiled at Cyril's statement with a surprised yelp loud enough to momentarily draw Cynder's attention. He stared at her all the way from the other side of Pantheon Lobby, somehow locking eyes with her. He mouthed something inaudible, though his shocked expression spoke volumes on his behalf.

When Cynder refocused on the lounge, she saw that all the senior fellows had relaxed a little. No longer were their postures riddled with anxiety. The calmness in their eyes betrayed their reluctant acceptance of the situation.

A stocky dragon chirruped. "I can guess your objectives in arranging for Novitiate Joshua's assistance." His level tone and respectful diction distinguished him from the other nine, who bristled at his use of the unofficial title. If he noticed, he clearly didn't care. "But, as a senior fellow, isn't it too late?"

Cyril glowered. "Explain."

"I've heard what his help had done to the kids," he said, referring to the previous demonstrations conducted by Volteer. "Boosting elemental performance, inducing enlightenment, overcoming obstacles in channeling mana… we don't need any of those things. The Summer Exams are done. Only a few people are joining this year's Clawback Tournament. Skyguide Ashelen has just announced we aren't likely to have another war for at least a century." He glanced at the black dragoness monitoring them, flanked by a pair of Talonpoint Knights herself. "Even then, we can always count on the two Saviors to help us."

As Cynder listened to the burly but rational dragon clarify his question, she silently praised him for capturing the true nature of Cyril's scheme while also questioning its necessity from their perspective. Unfortunately, Cyril already had his response prepared.

"I have always said that a dragon who is not proficient in their element has already flown halfway to ruin." He glanced at the human and begrudgingly admitted, "Joshua is useless in most educational matters, but he has demonstrated his value in enhancing elemental competency. Apprentices who would've been no different from those useless grayscales suddenly passed the Summer Examinations. Those who found it difficult to match theory with application soared after the furless ape touched their hides."

Cyril sat on his haunches and raised one forepaw, gesturing to the windows in the clerestory. "You have made great points about my timing, but you forgot what also takes place in the Fall. Most graduates start their internships in the Long Winter, but every guild and office in Warfang or any other city in the Allied Territories hold their qualifying exams the season before that."

A look of understanding crossed the senior fellow's snout. He thanked Cyril for the answer and quietly huddled together with the rest of his lounge. With Joshua's presence more or less accepted by the Guardian's students, Cyril fluttered his wings and growled at the human to join them.

The four knights were the first to move, marching down the sloped aisle. Two of them were dragons that Cynder recognized—Flaraxas and Seriphos. She was glad to see them, as nearly half of Joshua's security had died, been forced to retire, or sought reassignment by the break of dawn.

Seriphos flanked Joshua, ready to restrain him at any moment, while Flaraxas nudged him from behind, prodding him with his forepaw whenever he slowed down. Their expressions were professional and serious, revealing no emotion. Cynder remembered the way Seriphos testified on Joshua's behalf last week at Conillion Hollow. His cold demeanor was so jarring that she could hardly believe he was amicable towards the human in private.

The knights spread out across the center arena, wordlessly ushering their charge towards the old dragon. Cyril finally took off with his flight plan, beckoning Joshua to stand beside him and placing a seemingly friendly paw over his shoulders.

"Novitiate Joshua," Cyril began with a derisive sneer, "will be utilizing his, err, 'unique gift', to assess your mana flow and provide insights that you hopefully don't already know. Mother of Knowledge, I truly don't expect much from him considering your status—"

"O.M.G, dude, that was really—ow!"

Cyril gripped his shoulders tight enough to break his skin a little and shushed him. "But Azeroth the Infinite always finds a way to throw us into turbulent storms," he continued as if Joshua hadn't said anything. "Remember what I taught you: only dragons with resilience and adaptability finish their flight. It is impossible to prepare for unexpected variables."

Cynder frowned. He was emphasizing certain words. What was he up to?

"Whatever grievances you have towards the furless ape, set them aside and take advantage of this opportunity! Today's exercise is as much about understanding your inner magic as it is about understanding each other!" Cyril's paw was large enough to hold Joshua by the nape. He clenched his grip, causing the human to squirm. "The Novitiate included."

Joshua bent and twisted his spine, left arm flailing around, until he wrenched himself away from Cyril's uncomfortably tight grasp. "Cyril—" he caught himself and began with an apology. "Sorry. Master Cyril. You haven't told me what I'm gonna be doing yet." He gestured at the stocky apprentice with his working arm. "If Big Guy's right, they don't really need me here."

Cyril lowered his head to eye level and drilled his piercing gaze into the human's eyes. "Joshua." The dragon's voice was strict, disciplinarian in tone. Cynder could feel the austerity in the utterance of Joshua's name alone. "You just need to do what that blathering chatterbox always had you do. Observe my students with that ludicrous sense of yours. Correct the wrong and dangerous, and offer your wisdom. Whether it reminds or enlightens."

"But they're all around Spyro's age! Older, even! This lounge isn't like the one Master Volteer—

"You fly your flight, ape, and shall I fly mine." The imperative tone silenced Joshua's next rebuttal.

Cyril took this opportunity to add, "No harm in starting you off with easy targets. Besides, you'll be doing this over and over again with our struggling whelps once Over Steward Hoffbar finalizes the rest of your schedule."

Joshua stared at Cyril for a moment or two. He tugged his gaze away, facing the ten other dragons in front of him while grumbling softly. Cynder couldn't hear him, but knowing the human, it must've been his begrudging acquiescence.

Whatever he said, it was enough to satisfy the Ice Guardian.

Cyril straightened his posture and proceeded to entertain questions from the senior fellows directed at Joshua. Questions that Cynder had long known the answers to.

The first one was an attempt to satisfy some curiosity. "I heard you feel our mana and take control of it. How do you do that?"

"I don't know! I just will it to happen, and it happens! The taking control thing, well… you can resist it. It's just that the dragons before really trusted me—

His reply was interrupted by another such question. "People say your eyes glaze over like you're lost in the ozone when you're sensing us. Like this!" Cynder couldn't see the apprentice from her spot, but the chuckling that arose from the rest of the lounge suggested it was a humorously mimicked expression. "Can you tell us what exactly you're seeing?"

"Stars in the sky," Joshua said. "Twinkling, shaking, spinning, colors shifting… each star represents someone and those things I just mentioned let me visualize your emotions, your mana flow, and all that."

His answer caused a stir. "You can see emotions‽ Azeroth the Infinite, that's amazing! You should've gotten here in the Spring! I could've twined tails with this handsome drake working under Moneybags—

"Or not," another fellow butted in. "You don't know if he even liked you. He looked like he'd much rather mount a pile of scrolls than a dragoness!"

"Hmph!"

A male fellow asked, "Do you really have to… ughh… touch us? I don't like having those filthy paws on my shiny scales."

Cynder noticed the frown that formed on Joshua's face, but, to his credit, he skillfully suppressed it with a neutrally delivered reply. "Not really. As long as I synchronize with you, I'll feel what you do. It's just that the feeling's a lot stronger when I have direct physical contact."

"I don't trust you!" Someone shouted at him. "A friend of mine watched you get into a fight with some apprentices last week!"

"That's not my fault!" Joshua quickly defended. "That was self-defense! They were bullying me and my friend."

Another dragon snorted. "You associate with our lessers. Can you even help us? You only have monoscales for friends!"

"What does being monoscale have to do with anything‽"

That instigated the small lounge of dragons questioning him. They began speaking over each other, belittling his character and questioning his ability to help them. Their tones shifted from curious to disgusted, then to indignant and condescending. Soon, the questioning had shifted to his manual scavenging duty, and the senior fellows delighted in the idea he was shoveling their bodily waste down the lavatoria.

Cynder soon realized Cyril's plan. The Guardian did not intend on taking direct action. He was subtly influencing the senior fellows to test Joshua in his place. That every one of them were hatched from the Sustainer's Eleven didn't escape her notice. These clans were so arrogant Cynder couldn't believe they were native to Markazia. They thought they were above not only the bipeds but also all other dragons; their conceit was second only to that of the Skylanders'.

She was certain of it now.

Cyril knew their attitudes and worldviews weren't exactly welcome in the Warfang of today. He planned on destabilizing Joshua with rage and indignation. He wanted him to feel like tearing off his apprentices' horns, so much so that he would use the Unknown Element with malice.

She became even more confident in her theory when Cyril loudly and decisively stopped the questions.

"We must move on," the Guardian said. "We're wasting enough of our time as it is. I expect you'll demonstrate a similar passion for the activity we'll be doing today: shaping exercises."

A collective groan rumbled throughout Pantheon Lobby, vibrating even the very air.

Dragon magic operated on instinct and practice, and shaping exercises broke down every move into a series of steps that all came together when executed. The more familiar one was with the tactile feedback of their element, the faster and more efficient their execution became.

Cyril promptly explained this, going so far as to enumerate the steps needed to execute Snow Storm. He even explored the processes that had to be done to perform every step.

That would've been a good place to stop for most lecturers, but Cyril had a penchant for being thorough in certain matters. Knowledge was one of them. Amusingly, he shared this trait with Volteer.

"...our magic is undoubtedly superior to those of the lesser species, at least those among them who do have access to magic. Magecraft, or as some practitioners call it, spellcraft, requires concentration and calculation. These magicians must study symbology, enchantment, and other arcane concepts arduously, or they risk maiming themselves during practice!" He continued with a huff, "Magecraft may have the advantage of theoretically unlimited applications, yet each individual one has to be calibrated to the minute detail. It is pathetic, what our lessers must do to mimic a fraction of our ability!"

The old dragon made a few dramatic gestures as he pontificated, flicking a forepaw or snapping a wing open.

"On the other paw, we have an intimate connection with magic. We resonate with mana on an instinctive level. We do not require symbols and instruments. Somatic gestures and our very own will and imagination are enough."

His gaze turned to the only other person beside him. "Novitiate Joshua," he derisively drawled, "What you said earlier—that you will your abilities to manifest—is consistent with our conventions of an Element. Its peculiarities notwithstanding, it means you—a non-dragon—a lesser species!—are truly special, possessing the very essence of being a dragon. Most notably, your Element bears an uncanny similarity to Convexity."

Cyril turned his head, eyes falling not on the rest of his lounge, but on the distant observer watching them from the sidelines.

On Cynder.

The senior fellows followed his eyes, and Cynder curled in a little, feeling a little self-conscious from their combined gaze.

"Reckless and unnecessary sacrifices were made as we investigated the idiosyncrasies of your power over the last cycle and a half," Cyril said with a tinge of rebuke. His censuring tone was clearly addressed to her. "But, without them, we would've never learned the fact it combines the fundamentals of both magecraft and draconic elements."

Like Cynder, Joshua was visibly flinching beneath the Guardian's words. He wasn't acting like his usual self since last night, braving the currents with false bravado and his strange human words. Cyril's veiled messages to the both of them were not unheard—that Cynder's punishment was tantamount to a nip on the forepaw, and that Joshua was receiving special treatment only due to his potential value as a war asset, which was second only to Spyro.

"M-Mas, Master Cyril," Joshua stammered, his useless left arm dangling as he tried to face the Guardian. "You shouldn't compare me to—

"A few days ago, this furless ape converted Ice into Electricity!" Cyril glowered down at the human squirming beneath his paw like a prepubescent whelp. "A feat beyond even the Purple Dragon."

His gaze slowly swept across Pantheon Lobby, locking eyes with Cynder along with every dragon in his lounge. "Like magecraft, the Unknown Element requires focus to operate and strictly obeys a certain set of principles. Yet, like the draconic elements, it can resonate with the furless ape and it can be used liberally not with arcane theory and calculation, but by sheer willpower alone."

Cyril grinned. "Isn't that interesting? Think of all the tests my loquacious colleague has put him through thus far. And now, you have him all to yourselves for the remainder of our time."

Joshua shook his head, weakly spouting off protests. "Dude, no. No, no, don't pull this shit on me again, please…"

Cyril ignored him.

"My esteemed apprentices, you have nothing to worry about! Use the Novitiate's power to improve your own and discover all the possibilities it has to offer."

The lunatic was practically encouraging these young adults to test Joshua in however they deemed fit! The human clearly hadn't recovered from the traumatic event last night and he certainly wasn't in the right mental space to handle this. Unable to endure her quiet observations, Cynder rose up on her feet.

"Master Cyril!" She shouted at him, amplifying her words with a bit of the Wind element. "Joshua's still stabilizing himself from the recent turbulence. The dangers are—

"Immaterial!" The Guardian cut her off. "His emotional volatility makes him less of a liability. If he can't focus, he can't use the lethal aspects of his Element."

Cynder retorted with the fact his argument depended on Joshua genuinely believing he wasn't going to die, only for Cyril to raise his voice above hers. "Lifebringer's tail! Can't you comprehend that you are the reason behind my confidence?"

Cyril swept his forepaw towards the lounge. "They know what you did last night! They know what will happen if they go too far! They will not make the same asinine mistake!" He snorted. "Stop acting like his mother! The furless ape isn't your hatchling, adopted or otherwise."

The insult was the final gust that tilted Cynder's self-restraint into freefall. She had not been able to sleep since last night, tormenting herself with regret over her failure. She endured criticism after scathing criticism when all three Guardians confronted her—Terrador snarling, Cyril sneering, and Volteer's uncharacteristic silence. Cynder had not had any time to herself after they stripped off her privilege and authority as a Savior—after Volteer recused himself from his official duties for a full week.

Glass-eyed corpses had only just begun to haunt her when the sun rose and Cyril demanded her presence in Pantheon Lobby. Cynder could do nothing but banish her hurt—her self-loathing—for the moment and concentrate her mind on stopping the Ice Guardian from repeating her mistake. Yet again, and again, and again, the damned dragon verbally cut her down for that disastrous experiment in Alona Hall, mocking her for letting panic and anxiety guide her decisions.

Cynder had had enough of the old lizard's conceit. She growled furiously, feeling like tearing Cyril's horns off at that moment. Spyro's image appeared in her mind, his eyes pleading, his mouth asking her to stop. The dragoness banished the phantom and prepared to succumb to her more bestial nature—

Joshua suddenly laughed. His cheeks had turned red and he was snickering to himself like a fool.

"And WHAT may I ask is so amusing‽" Cyril snapped.

"I'm sorry. It's just… I can't get the image of 'Mommy Cynder' out of my head!"

The reply was so jarring that the entire lounge got a light laugh out of it as well. They chuckled as though Cynder wasn't about to fight with their mentor and leader. The moment deflated the tension enough for him to figuratively get between the two.

"But you're right, Master Cyril. I do need to fly on my own. I'm… honestly, I'm not ready for this shit." Joshua sighed. "I'd rather go back to my room and sleep! I couldn't care less what you're trying to do here. But, whatever it is, I'll do my best and change your mind about me."

Cyril was speechless for a few seconds. He regarded Joshua silently before grunting a rude and thunderous harrumph. "Hmph! Just an attempt to lick my paws."

Meanwhile, Cynder sat down, keenly aware of the knights' tense gazes on her. They would've intervened the moment she tried something, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt more people simply doing their jobs.

When she refocused on the lounge below, Cyril was already demonstrating the shaping exercises the senior fellows were going to perform today.

First, they were to form a large ball of ice and shrink it as much as possible without letting it explode.

Second, they had to remove the impurities in the ice, until its white hue became a flush blue or better yet, completely transparent.

Third, they were to fashion this blue or transparent sphere into other geometric shapes—a cube, a pyramid, or something that had multiple edges to it.

Lastly, they were to throw the projectile skyward, making sure it exploded on its own upon reaching the clerestory.

Only then did Cyril give Joshua his instructions.

"As for you, Novitiate, just go around and scrutinize their efforts. Work with them."

"Understood, Master Cyril."

.

.

.

.

.

Cynder monitored the situation carefully, keeping an eye on all ten senior fellows as they scattered across Pantheon Lobby's arena and began performing the four shaping exercises.

As part of this year's batch of graduates, all ten dragons were able to progress through all four steps from start to finish without any intervention from Joshua. Unlike the apprentices at Windvale Arena, they carried themselves with confidence and soon the sounds of controlled explosions resounded throughout the hall.

None of them, however, could properly replicate Cyril's masterful demonstration. It was evident from the way he meandered among them, dispensing reminders that sounded more like ridicule to Cynder.

"You call that transparent‽ There's still a speck of dust in there!"

"This sphere is a tad too big. I've seen smaller!"

"Egeria's horns, that exploded too soon! I cannot fathom how you passed the Summer Exams with such substandard skill."

"What is with this crude shape? It's absolutely ghastly!"

While Cyril was spewing harsh judgments after another, Joshua sauntered slowly around the arena with that absent-minded gaze he always had whenever he used his sixth sense. Cynder tensed up each time he approached one of the dragons, wary of any tricks.

The first few didn't do anything, not even the stocky one who had questioned Cyril, skeptical of this lecture's benefits. Cynder was surprised to see them show some improvement in their mana shaping. The ice became slightly clearer, the projectile slightly smaller, the explosion at the end slightly farther, slightly stronger—incremental at best, yet no less astonishing.

The marginal advancements garnered more interest from the remaining fellows. Another dragon—the dragoness who showed interest in Joshua's ability to read emotions—broke formation and directly accosted him. The transparency of her ice was on par with Cyril's, but her explosions lacked power and distance. Joshua offered to make physical contact with her forepaw, only to receive a battery of questions concerning the "fluctuations of his stars".

The sight eroded Cynder's vigilance. She was beginning to think that she had worried for nothing. Perhaps, despite Cyril encouraging some malicious actions, these dragons prioritized their own elemental mastery over political clout.

Cynder soon realized how mistaken she'd been when Joshua had his hands on the withers of a lanky apprentice. The circuit of shaping exercises commenced no differently from the others, with the fellow in question producing a near-transparent sphere of ice the size of Spyro's tail blade.

That blew up the instant it left his control.

Violently.

"F*CK!" Joshua shouted, diving sideways. Several icicles shot into the floor he'd just been standing on, leaving small cracks in the rock.

His head whipped around and saw the damage he barely avoided. His face contorted as he glared at the lanky fellow. "What the f*ck was that‽" He scolded him. "You almost hurt me!"

"No, I didn't!" The fellow retorted in an equally reproachful growl. "You did something!"

"That was all you, asshole!" Joshua yelled. "I felt your mana overload—

"You dare imply I'm incompetent‽" The lanky dragon stood on his hind legs and raised himself up to his full height. He snapped his wings open, snarling in a grand and intimidating display.

"Well, I wasn't doing anything to your—

Cyril stomped towards them. "Valorem's light! What's with this sudden turbulence?"

Joshua gestured to the cause. "Master Cyril, this goddamned jerk deliberately overloaded his channeling!"

"Suck an egg, Dragonbane!" responded the accused. "You're the one who sabotaged me!"

"Why would I do that‽ I'm not gonna f*ck up my first official assignment—

"I don't know with you! You're an ape!"

"And you're a scat egg!"

He slammed the floor, wings fluttering as he shoved his forehead against Joshua's. "You take that back," he growled. He pressed in, attempting to dominate the human from the first clash alone.

Joshua shifted his stance and pushed back. "Then tell the truth, you—

"QUIET!" Cyril thrust his forepaws between the both of them and pried them apart.

"Now tell me what happened." His eyes bore down on Joshua. "You first."

"I've been going around for some time now and have gotten to help at least half the class." Joshua had deliberately elevated his voice. He was loud enough for Cynder to hear him without focusing or straining her earholes.

Loud enough to draw the other fellows' attention and stop what they were doing.

The human explained how the flow of mana felt while they were drawing it out from their core and shaping it according to instructions. He emphasized many times that the other apprentices had already performed the exercises enough for him to easily identify what the lanky dragon did to cause the projectile's premature explosion.

"He's trying to make me look bad!" Joshua concluded.

The senior fellow accused of sabotage said precisely the opposite. Joshua came to him unsolicited. He refused his offer, only for the furless ape to insist on it. Reluctantly, he allowed his participation, only to be flummoxed and violated at feeling his mana moving beyond his control, interrupting the last of the shaping exercises at a crucial moment, thus causing the untimely fragmenting of his frozen sphere.

"You're lying!" Joshua cried.

Cyril sneered, "Is that how you managed to get Volteer and Cynder flying by your side? Meaningless aerobatics and psychological manipulation?"

He blanched. "Master Cyril, you got to believe me—

"I have no reason to take your word against my student's," the Guardian rebutted. "I've known these dragons for many years, and this particular fellow had excellent results throughout his entire apprenticeship. He has no reason to lie."

"Jesus-Mary-Joseph! I swear, I really felt the overload—

Another dragon entered the fray, confidently swaggering towards them. "Then prove it, ape! Here, feel this!"

The senior fellow took a deep breath and expelled several icicles from his maw. They were fashioned into smooth, transparent spikes, and Cynder noticed they were all spinning, which greatly increased their penetration power. He spat each up in the air, putting in more force—more power—more speed into the projectiles. His aim was perfect, with every icicle colliding with the ones that came before and merging with them.

The merged obloid projectile soared, arcing through the air. It exploded as soon as it was level with the windows—

No!

It continued to fall!

It descended until it was right above Joshua when it burst into snow and ice.

"Shit!" Joshua angrily growled. He raised his right arm at the shattered attack. The purplish-white glow of the Unknown Element manifested around the entire cloud. He wrenched his arm sideways, the swift reaction stopping the ice shards from raining on him at the last second.

Cynder instantly stood up, thinking it was time to intervene. The Talonpoint Knights beside her thought otherwise, unsheathing their weapons to bar her line of sight with enchanted steel. "No."

"What do you mean, 'no'‽" she hissed. "I'm stopping this before it becomes a storm."

The knight was unmoved. "Joshua's own knights have done nothing. You are merely panicking, Lady Cynder."

True enough, Seriphos, Flaraxas, and the other two knights standing attentively at the arena's edge had not moved at all. Cynder couldn't see the Earth dragon's face from her position, but she hoped it mirrored her own concern.

Cynder retreated, frustrated by the pressure to sit and watch. Refocusing on the apprentices, she realized Joshua had also been busy arguing.

"—control the entire time! You can't fool me!" The human glared at Cyril and swung his arm towards the second fellow. "C'mon, Master Cyril, you can't blame me for this one! I'm telling you, this guy and that jerkass here are f*cking with me!"

"I don't know what 'f*ck' means, but I was just showing Novitiate Joshua how to approach the teaching!" the second fellow laughed as if he hadn't done anything. "He shouldn't be feeling us out. He needs to be proactive, like any other teacher's pet!"

"Indeed," Cyril agreed. "The position of novitiate, though unofficial, entails a limited degree of leadership and vision." He scowled at Joshua, practically mocking him. "The path is never clear the first time, but failure to even anticipate a bit of mischief reflects a great deal about you, furless ape."

"For Christ's sake, I didn't expect this immature shit from a bunch of adults!"

"Really‽" The lanky fellow barked. "Didn't you know? We aren't considered real adults until we hit our fifties!"

Joshua gawked at him, reeling from the response as though he'd been punched in the gut. He hemmed and hawed, unable to speak.

"For someone everyone's calling Dragonbane," remarked the rambunctious fellow, "you aren't as scary as I thought! Maybe we should start calling you Dragonmount instead, huh?"

The remark drew several jeers from the other apprentices, even the ones Joshua had already helped. Cynder was appalled at Cyril's inaction; he was letting the lounge do as they pleased.

"Yeah!" someone joined in. "You're so easy to pin down!"

"Hey, novitiate! Hey!" An eager fellow, burly like a few others, trotted towards him. "Look what I can do!" He was already sprinting, frost enveloping his scales. Before anyone could react, he leapt at the human with his head—and horns—aimed right at his chest.

Cynder recognized the technique. Icefall—an elemental charge attack similar to Drill Dive, Comet Dash, and Volt Tackle. It could seriously hurt Joshua! Why weren't his guards doing anything‽

Cynder wanted so much to intervene, to bypass her security with Shadow and redirect the dragon with a burst of Wind, but she didn't have time. The senior fellow was already upon Joshua in the blink of an eye.

The human tried to defend himself, but the recent developments had completely surprised him. He could only channel the Unknown Element on his arm for a split second, then, flickering volatilely, it sputtered out like smoke and vanished right as the third fellow crashed into Joshua.

Together, they tumbled across the arena until their bodies slammed into the first row of seats. Joshua's cries echoed around Pantheon Lobby's walls. Both the human and the fellow who'd smashed into him were rolling side by side, groaning in pain. Fortunately their injuries weren't serious enough to warrant red spirit crystals.

Still, what just happened had been grave enough for the Guardian to finally speak up.

"Have you lost your scales‽ That attack carried untold amounts of risk. Did you forget? The furless ape can easily take your life if you scare him enough. Why would you dive into fog like that‽"

The young ice dragon chortled in response to the Guardian's harsh scolding. When he saw this, Cyril growled and slammed the floor with his paw. A sheet of ice flowed out from where he stood, traversing the short distance separating teacher from student and forming a block of ice. Instantly, the audacious senior was on his haunches, eyes blinking rapidly in surprise. His expression went from jocular to solemn as soon as he saw what Cynder believed was Cyril's infamous seething.

Joshua sat up, panting heavily. He clutched his useless left arm and pinned it to his torso. He said nothing as Cyril continued chastising the fellow, enraged. Cynder hoped his anger was sincere, and not because the dragon might have ruined his plan.

"Well? Aren't you going to say something‽ This goes beyond the mischief I was expecting."

Cyril quickly noticed Joshua's unamused glare and addressed what he was probably thinking. "Novitiate Joshua, no doubt you are presuming that I intended for this. And I, did." The human opened his mouth to retort, but the Guardian made a loud clicking noise. "You are an irredeemably dumb egg if you can't comprehend my reasons."

Joshua scowled at Cyril, but the old dragon didn't see it, having returned to the reckless student. "You. Respond now, or else I will make your graduation a wild and turbulent storm for your clan."

The threat was akin to a bolt of electricity, shocking the fellow out of his stupor.

"M-Master Cyril! I, I wasn't trying to hurt him. Really! Dragonbane didn't lower his head. He didn't even channel his mana like my friends do!" The dragon craned his head, glancing at all the other apprentices. "It was all just fun and games! I have your neck, I swear! I do this all the time, right? Right…‽"

Everyone he turned to didn't look him in the eye. The expressions they were making, though, all supported his excuses: that he really was the kind of dragon who would do something this imprudent.

Their collective refusal to help had the fellow grinding his teeth. "You're all a bunch of smushed eggs! It's not like we haven't flown circles around the lesser species before. Remember that mole we left down at that cliff in Fracture Hills this spring?"

Cyril cleared his throat. "Just fly straight. What are you trying to say?"

He bowed again. "Master Cyril, I'm saying Novitiate Joshua is unqualified."

Joshua gasped. "What the f*ck‽"

The fellow kept talking. "He may have an Element, he may take hits like a dragon, but he is still no dragon. The hoo-man will never be a dragon! If he can't handle me, how can he even get his scales dirty with the young whelps? He'll be a useless novitiate if he can't keep up with the 'daring tricksters', and there's always one in every lounge."

"You motherf*cker!" An incensed Joshua stood up. With a wobbly stance, he drew strength from exasperation and righted himself. "Go jump—go fly in a volcano! You hit me once and now you're spouting off this crap? I was dealing with two other scat eggs; I didn't have a chance to focus on you. The way you're acting now, I wouldn't be surprised if you aren't…" He paused for a moment and swiftly figured out what to say next. "If you aren't employed this winter!"

The trickster snarled at the human. He snapped his jaws shut right in front of his face. His neck visibly recoiled when Joshua didn't wince or flinch, even after droplets of spit splashed his cheek. He recovered almost immediately and decided to close the gap, challenging him snout-to-face.

"Just because I was hatched with a bit more guts than my loungemates doesn't mean I'm a stupid egg. I am a future Guardian Candidate! And my clan had already arranged for an influential Talonpoint Knight who can take me in as a squire. I will have proven my worth this winter."

His statements were bold and helped him appear confident, but the constant swaying of his tail signaled otherwise. Joshua had poked a hole in his patagium, metaphorically. He knew this, so he tried to divert attention away from him.

"What about you, hoo-man? You're worth keeping around as a weapon but you shouldn't be flying with us! You scare easily. You can't take a rough flight. You hide behind your escorts—

"What exactly do you—and your lounge—want?" Joshua hissed, fully aware this aspiring fellow wasn't the only one who had doubts about him.

"A challenge."

The apprentice who started this turbulence in the first place answered him. "So we can see if there's a true dragon dwelling inside your ape hide."

Joshua did not immediately answer. He glanced at Cynder, and somehow, despite their distance, she felt his gaze lingering on her.

It felt piercing—so piercing she felt her insides twist. She could barely maintain eye contact, not after last night.

His face contorted, twisted into what looked like guilt—that same, sad expression he'd had just before she unleashed Siren Scream on him.

Was he asking for permission? Was he asking for help? Cynder felt as though she hovered between a storm and a mountain. She yearned to stop everything and take him away before this lounge did something stupid. Before she did something stupid again!

This whole thing was a terrible idea. Cyril really should've waited a half-cycle.

No! She should've fought for a deferral—

"By the Lifebringer, seriously‽"

Loud, deriding clicks cracked loudly in the air. The stocky senior fellow from earlier, the one Joshua called 'Big Guy', had risen on his hindlegs and stood at his full height. His snout angled up and down, staring down the human and not-so-subtly following his line of sight.

"Latching on Mommy Cynder's tail, even now! Where did the Novitiate I met suddenly fly off to‽ What are you, some hoo-man hatchling?"

"Dude, you weren't there last night."

"Stop pulling my tail! I don't care. None of us do. For all we know, the airstreams had it all wrong and you were simply caught licking the Savior's cloaca all night!"

"Such profane diatribe! As Spyro's presumed mate, Cynder should have a bit more dignity than that," Cyril grunted.

"Apologies for beating the wind, Master Cyril." Big Guy's voice sounded more mocking than it was contrite. "Perhaps she was simply seeking the use of his 'magic fingers' instead?"

The insinuations made Cynder feel so insulted she wanted to fly down there and beat the fellow senseless. Her insides lurched, tail lashing angrily. Yet, she endured Big Guy's deplorable words—she needed to control herself.

Meanwhile, Joshua flinched, cheeks flushing slightly crimson before scowling. "That's not—

"If someone's poking your wings, you poke them back! You fly through storms, not around!" Big Guy snorted and shut his eyes, not out of consent but out of disbelief. "Corsha, hard to believe Dragonbane's just a smushed egg after all."

The trickster who had collided with Joshua suddenly burst into loud, bellowing guffaws. He fell backwards, rolling off of Cyril's icicle, and then rolling back and forth on the ground. "It's official, Novitiate! Now you're Dragonmount!"

Hilarity and amusement swept across the entire lounge. Chuckles broke out among nearly every senior fellow. Even Cyril looked like he could barely restrain himself.

"Hmph! That's why you're always letting someone else fight for you!" Someone sneered. "They've probably got you pinned to the ground—

"F*ck you!" Joshua screamed. "F*ck ALL of you!"

Not a single one ceased their mocking laughter. Joshua's scowl deepened, twisting into raw, unbridled rage. None of the apprentices showed any concern, as Joshua had already proven himself incapable of channeling the Unknown Element when his emotions clouded his focus.

"All right, assholes, I'll do it! I'll f*cking do it!" the human yelled, shouting at the top of his breath. His infuriated expression would've been intimidating, had he been an actual dragon. "I'll perform your goddamned challenge if it'll get everyone here TO SUCK A F*CKING EGG!"

Big Guy grinned, muttering to himself as he sat back down. If Cynder read him correctly, he probably said, "Now that's more like it."

Cyril suddenly let out a loud and warning growl. He did not explain himself. He simply eyed the trickster and the liar who had tried to blame Joshua for his mana overload.

"Well?" Joshua snapped at the entire lounge, eyes passing over everyone around him, including the Ice Guardian. "What is it? What's the bullshit y'all are gonna make me do?"

"Simple!" The rambunctious fellow on the ground balled up and, with a flex of his wings and a flick of his hindquarters, bounced back, landing on all fours.

"Remember what I said?" He paused for a second, giving Joshua a moment to recollect. "Just prove that it's all dragon dung! Fly rough. Get those scales dirty!"

He gazed at the other nine apprentices. "We'll spit, throw, toss, and launch whatever we can come up with and you just protect yourself. We're not gonna kill you, but"—the trickster sneered—"if you're lacking, you'll be spending the rest of the day—the rest of the week!—in the infirmary."

The one who had spat an explosive obloid at Joshua, the second dragon who'd caused trouble, also teased. "While we'll be free spreading the ape's new name all over the airstreams!"

Cynder didn't like the sound of this. Pelting Joshua repeatedly with powerful ice attacks? All ten dragons flying together to send him to the healers? Lifebringer, so many things could go wrong here! What if it went too far‽ She couldn't believe Joshua wasn't fastening his wings! Why‽ Was it his name? His reputation…? Those weren't as important as these apprentices' lives! He shouldn't have to care about what others called him!

She glanced at Cyril, hoping the Ice Guardian was as mature as his noble upbringing implied. It didn't shock Cynder so much to discover his lips had curled up into a huge smirk. This must have been his plan all along. If the Unknown Element went wild and Joshua revealed his "true self"—if the turbulence becomes a storm in ANY way—then Cyril's actions would be justified. After enacting whatever safeguards he'd prepared to prevent a repeat of last night's tragedy, he would have all reason to declare Joshua as an extremely dangerous unhatched egg and demand his execution before he matured.

Honestly, it was a solid and well-thought-out plan. Cynder might have actually cooperated with him on it… if she hadn't experienced Joshua's kindness.

If she didn't already know exactly how the Unknown Element operated.

If she had completely blinded herself to Skylands' overt desire for Joshua.

The dragoness exhaled and rose to her feet.

This had to stop.

This madness had to stop!

The Talonpoint knights nearby eyed her warily. She glimpsed their paws tightening, their bodies tensing. Unwilling to cause another scene and escalate whatever charges the Council already had on her, she opted to use her mouth first.

"This is a terrible idea!" She hollered. She amplified her voice this time, not to the point her words disoriented the listeners but enough to make them flinch and draw their attention. "You're—you're ALL taking an immense risk! I flew this path yesterday. Don't fly through the same crevice. Joshua doesn't need to prove himself to anyone! He…"

"Cynder," Joshua's voice came sternly, the seriousness in his tone cutting off the strength in her voice. "It's different this time. I have to do this, or I'll never get to start my journey home."

"But Joshua—!"

The human turned away from her and glared at the trickster. "Let's start."

"Wow, Novitiate, didn't expect you'd have the cloaca to talk to Lady Cynder like that," the other dragon said. "She's still one of the Saviors, after all."

Suddenly, he closed the short distance between them and seized Joshua by his urine-stained tunic before the human could even reply. "Anyway, as you wish, let's FLY!"

With an excited cry the fellow rolled backwards. Joshua fell along with him, his fall arrested by his hindpaws. Then, after a split-second, he kicked with his hindpaws and propelled the human to the center of the arena.

Joshua landed with a bit of grace, striking the floor with his right hand first and bending the arm in such a way that he smoothly, seamlessly, descended into a roll and used the momentum to get back up on his feet…

Right as the trickster spewed several icicles directly at him.

Joshua raised his right hand up, with the palm open. He made a fist and pivoted, swiping down at the air as though wielding a handaxe. The glow of the Unknown Element, an eerie purplish-white, swathed over the icicles and sharply jerked them away from Joshua and towards an incoming Polar Bomb, causing it to explode.

More Polar Bombs were hurled at him. Joshua did the same as before, concentrating on the attacks with his hand as the focal point and launching them elsewhere. While he did this, a few of the dragons broke off, moving to surround him.

Some went airborne. Others just took new places in the arena.

Gusts of frigid wind bore down on Joshua from all sides. The hovering fellows aimed their snouts down and blew strong, potent Ice Breaths in his direction. The human went for a new strategy, tucking in his right arm and keeping his fist to his cheek, adopting some bizarre battle stance.

"Discernment…"

Joshua's Element coated both of his fists, but with his disabled left arm, he could only utilize one. An evident weakness, though one he overcame by using the physical distance between him and the apprentices.

"...Deliberation…"

The human jabbed the air, punching in the direction of an incoming Ice Breath. To Cynder's surprise, a ball the size of Joshua's fist erupted from the glowing aura and accelerated towards the attack. Orb and breath met midair. The latter scattered as the former flew straight through it, shrinking as it displaced more of the magicked ice and snow.

"...Determination…"

Then Joshua twisted left. Using his glowing hand, he literally chopped the icicle that grazed his forearm. It shattered in an instant, as if it'd been brittle. His eyes fixed on two apprentices hovering by the clerestory, he made several jabs in rapid succession, each punch shooting out spheres that scattered their attacks.

One of the senior fellows abandoned their circle formation. Flapping his wings, he took to the air and spiraled towards Joshua, forming a Snow Storm with him in its center.

Without looking anywhere else, the human kicked off to his right. An icicle that would've struck him in the back whistled as it passed through the space. He raised his working arm at the oncoming twister, palm aimed at the dragon within—

An orb of ice suddenly exploded right above Joshua. It was the same attack from the shaping exercises!

Cynder, unable to lay down, watched anxiously as he blanched. He sensed it only now!

He sprinted sideways and barely avoided the bombardment. But it did not spare him from the incoming dragon. He aimed his hand again, only for the aura of the Unknown Element to flicker. The Snow Storm missed him by just half a wing's length, yet the residual effects of this attack battered him with stray ice and snow, shoving him back.

"Jesus Christ!" Joshua cursed, backstepping, right hand clawing at his face, wiping off the frozen debris as quickly as he could.

More ice balls flew in. Joshua's eyes once more became glass, both arms wrapped in an ethereal flame. He backstepped and spun in place, flinging his arm around and unleashing a ring of inert flames.

They had the same effect as the orbs earlier; they also continued after vaporizing the ice attacks. The few apprentices who were in its direct path shrieked and either crouched on all fours or leapt high. The expanding ring soared to the edges of the arena and approached the Talonpoint knights. To Cynder's shock, Joshua's guards stayed aloft, while the rest hastily retreated beyond its range. When it connected with them, nothing happened.

Of the four who didn't flee, Seriphos was the only one who didn't flinch.

As if he had expected nothing to befall him.

As is he had better comprehension of Joshua's Element compared to the other three.

Cynder returned her focus to the apprentices. They had increased the frequency of their attacks, choosing quantity over power. They also shifted to ranged moves, unwilling to get too close.

Joshua, breathing heavily, continued to swing his only arm. The sight of his useless, disabled left arm was almost comical to watch. He dispersed and neutralized one attack after another, still chanting under his breath. "...ration, determin…"

He had a streak of blood coming down his nose. He didn't wipe it off. He couldn't wipe it off, not when he was totally focused.

All of a sudden, Big Guy swooped in from the air, rushing in fast with an Ice Breath erupting from his maw. He ignored and endured all the icicles he obstructed, aiming right at Joshua.

Joshua clutched the air and yanked his arm aside. The entire stream veered away and hit the trickster just as he had lobbed two Polar Bombs.

"AHHH, F*CK!"

Joshua screamed just after punching out another elemental orb at Big Guy. He stumbled, barely stopping himself from falling. The white sphere fizzled out a second before striking its target. The human clutched his head, blood trickling down both nostrils.

"Joshua!" Cynder yelled. "To your left!"

Having heard her, the human wobbled backwards. His agility was gone. His focus, gone. Cynder was horrified; he'd been doing so well!

He walked straight into the path of an icicle, and it smashed on his shoulder. It disintegrated on impact, but not without leaving a puncture wound on his russet skin. He grunted. "Goddammit!"

Another projectile battered him in the head. An explosive orb burst beside him, showering him with small hailstones, the force shoving him aside.

Big Guy spiraled out of the way and whipped his tail, launching ice spikes formed from mana. Joshua sensed this. He tried to redirect them, still murmuring the Three Ds.

"Determination!" he cried out, sending them at the fellow who'd sent out that explosive orb earlier.

Meanwhile, the trickster pirouetted from his spot and sent out a wide sheet of ice towards Joshua. The human seized control, only for the Unknown Element to vanish. The attack didn't land, if only because Joshua fell to his knees, clutching his forehead. "Hnnnggggghhh—

Cynder was still amazed he could still keep going. The human rolled and pushed himself off, avoiding some attacks. But he had to endure the rest, curling up his body simply to protect his vital areas.

Several times he tried to take control of the elemental attacks or neutralize them with his own. More than half the time, the Unknown Element refused to cooperate and disintegrated instantly after he manifested it. Each instance ended with him grimacing, sometimes clutching his head or his nose bleeding more heavily. It didn't matter that he was chanting the Three Ds. It was obvious that he was approaching his limit.

He stumbled, gait unsteady. He could barely evade the hits even when he tried to—a completely opposite showing compared to his start. Joshua, at some point, ceased his counterattacks and redirections, opting for evasion and evasion alone.

"C'mon, haven't you had enough‽" He cried, if entreatingly. "Shit, I can't… oh my god, shit! I can't do this any—WHOA!" Joshua slipped, almost flopping on his face.

Cyril snarled angrily and stomped the floor, his paw shaking the rapidly melting ice gathering all over the center. "Mother of Knowledge, what kind of novitiate does nothing but fly and flutter about like a dumb bird‽"

Joshua stabilized himself before glowering at Cyril with teeth bared and lips curled into a scowl. A flurry of snow and ice shards interrupted his response, causing the human to yelp and raise his arm to block the billowing winds, and pathetically at that.

"Discernment-delineation-determination, discernment-delineation-determination, discernment…"

His efforts yielded no results. Joshua was forced to flee and sprint for a clear, unassailed position when an ice ball grazed his left shoulder, the sheer force of its momentum whipping the disabled limb backwards. "Ugh!" Purplish-white aura flickered around his right forearm, but the glimmer of hope proved short-lived.

"You're supposed to endure!" Cyril angrily chastised. "Eyes straight, ailerons flexed, seeking opportunities to exploit! Egeria's cloaca, how can you examine your students' moves if you cannot take hits‽ Aren't you capable of controlling others' mana‽ Use that skill already!"

Joshua was breaking in the face of this non-stop assault. Cynder grimaced, almost flinching, at watching an icicle collide with the human's head. It shattered into pieces, but the momentum sent him reeling, the force scraping his skin and creating an ugly wound that would leave an uglier scab on his face for weeks. A Polar Bomb then smashed his back, the explosion propelling him halfway across Pantheon Lobby's arena, his landing violent, streaks of blood scattered about the floor.

Cynder curled her toes.

Should she intervene? Would her guards try to stop her? Could she stop them without injuring them? If she used Fear, how likely was the possibility it would still affect Joshua?

Damn it, Cynder didn't know what she should do! Time was running out and sooner or later, Joshua's mind would focus on survival, and that would doom this trial to a tragic end. She turned her gaze to Joshua's escorts, only to see stoic immobility in all four knights.

Cyril didn't even realize what was happening. He was still tossing insult after insult at the beleaguered human. "You are defecating all over your name! This novitiate opportunity—all the gifts you're receiving from my colleagues—you do not deserve them. You do not deserve anything! You are just a dumb egg destined to play around in scat and piss along with the moles!"

"F-f*ck you, you old fart," Joshua, who had managed to recover during Cyril's verbal assault, stammered. He bent down to avoid another hit. His words were verbalized with much less emotion than warranted, due to the focus on his defenses. "You're one hell of an inept teacher if you can't understand that your assistant needs help."

The Unknown Element had set his forearm ablaze in a fiery aura. Retorting the Guardian's remarks momentarily weakened the glow—a sign of mental distraction—but not to the extent that it vanished completely and left him defenseless. Joshua struck at every attack of substantial enough size, literally slapping them back at one of the Senior Fellows, albeit with half the size and double the speed. The rest, he eluded.

Cyril sneered, "The Apes never allowed the Purple Dragon during the Great War. Neither did the Terror of the Skies nor the King of Apes! He might have received aid from Cynder four years ago, but that was only because he spared her out of the goodness of his heart."

Cyril made no attempt to disguise his contempt for Spyro's choice to save Cynder. The Ice Guardian had deemed it a foolish act of naivete, and he had said many times—to her snout—that her good nature was nothing more but divine intervention from Ventura, the Spring of Fortune.

"Joshua Renalia," the Guardian continued, using his full name for once. "The truth is, we are treating you no differently from Spyro. Ignitus tested his skills in Fire before sending him out to the Realms. I tested his aptitude for Ice right before directing him to Tall Plains! Spyro passed—Spyro exceeded our expectations over and over and over! You? You may have his potential, but you lack his talent."

"You were losing the f*cking war!" Joshua cried out after knocking a Polar Bomb into Big Guy and sending that dragon into a wall. The anger in his voice was palpable to the extent that his element died for an instant and he was forced to jump sideways to avoid a magicked stalagmite of ice. "And y'all got lucky the Purple Dragon was a damn genius! This is hard as balls! Why are you even treating me like this when the world's at PEACE and all I want to do is go home—Oh SHIT!"

Joshua had an arm raised at one of the few dragonesses in the lounge, eyeing the icicles on her tail, when suddenly the trickster of the lounge broke into a gallop and somersaulted upward, flinging his tail and hurled a great blade of ice at the human. Astonished, Joshua's reaction came late. He pulled his right arm back a mere moment before the ice slashed through where it just had been.

His eyes steeled, still glaring at Cyril. "Dude, stop them already! I've already proved my worth, didn't I‽ I almost lost my arm just now—

"And what of it? That does not indicate an attempt on your life. They've avoided your head or your heart with all their might, have they not? If you lose a hand or a leg to some apprentices, then you are without a doubt undeserving of the acclaim you received from Submaster Kaos last cycle."

"But—!"

"If that does occur today, it simply proves that you would only die with indignity were you to fly away to Skylands like a smushed egg."

"F*ck!"

Joshua had already been battered to the point his skin was terribly bruised and had cuts left and right. Cyril was right: the senior fellows weren't putting in the same effort as those who intended to kill. Even so, his refusal to stop the challenge made it abundantly clear that this was the Guardian's plan. His provocative words, all intended to destabilize Joshua and fill his head with useless thoughts and overwhelming emotion, would effectively undermine his ability to properly wield his Element until he finally framed them all as "enemies" in his mind.

Cynder shut her eyes as she gnashed her teeth. "At least Kilat isn't here to see this…"

Joshua continued his struggle. While the senior fellows outnumbered him ten to one, his purely defensive approach helped conserve both his mana and mental stamina. That the apprentices all feared following Cynder's flight helped immensely—nothing else explained why they neither escalated their attacks nor adopted more aggressive strategies.

Joshua utilized his ability to redirect some ice attacks at the dragons in the encirclement. Not by controlling the element directly, but by deflecting them with his bare arm. The Unknown Element left a purplish-white trail in the air whenever he swung or jabbed at an attack, regardless of whether further shaping had been put into it. Nearly everything he redirected connected with his targets, provided they didn't move out of the way, suggesting that Joshua had set it to shoot towards the last known position of someone he targeted at random.

Though the redirection spared him much damage, it was indisputable that the momentum they carried took their toll on him. He had to have endured part of the impact, especially in that infinitesimal moment in time between the instant he struck the ice and when it used part of the imbued mana to reverse direction, violating the laws of physics. Otherwise, Joshua wouldn't be avoiding ice blades and other sharpened magic that could cut off one of his legs, if not his only functioning arm.

This battle of attrition removed the winds and allowed Joshua to properly stay aloft despite his disability and their numbers. The entire lounge was showing early signs of mana exhaustion. Sooner or later, the weaker dragons would have to drop out entirely, having used up all their mana bombarding the human without anything to show for it.

The humiliation that would scatter quickly through the airstreams. Their inability to subdue Joshua would reflect not only on these ten graduating apprentices but also the Ice Guardian himself.

Amazingly, Joshua had not glanced at Cynder the entire time. She couldn't help but puff her chest in pride. He didn't need her after all—

"I can't accept this!" Liar bellowed, breaking out into a gallop. "Time to get serious!"

The Ice Dragon closed in on the human, a thick boulder-sized sphere of ice forming at the tip of his tail. He nimbly sprinted around another ice blade from Trickster and two Polar Bombs from Big Guy, and endured the frozen shards raining down from midair explosions. Joshua had either evaded these attacks or redirected them, with his central position putting Liar in the line of attack.

It was then, when he saw one apprentice finally get struck in the snout and sent flying to one of the seats, that he let out an enraged roar. "My brothers will never stop poking my scales if you finish your flight!"

Liar propelled himself into the air, fluttering his wings for additional lift. He did it not to take flight, but to get as high as possible before curling up and spinning downwards, his tail swinging faster and faster as he approached the human.

Joshua tried to move out of the way.

There were simply too many attacks for him to monitor and he ended up stepping straight into the path of a hailstone. It crashed into his back and sent him stumbling towards the approaching dragon.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoaaa—!" Joshua raised his hand reflexively, his element's aura trailing behind him. It gathered on his fingertips and spread out into a screen… a shield…

Blood suddenly spurted from his ears.

The Unknown Element vanished instantly. Moments later, the conjured tail hammer slammed into the floor beside the human, with the resulting shockwave knocking him back.

Cynder's breast shuddered from the loud and raucous boom blaring across Pantheon Lobby, concern stirring in her emerald eyes while she watched clouds of dust rise and obscure the center of the arena.

Joshua emerged, wobbling away. He was clutching his ears, screaming. "Ahhhh! It hurts…"

The apprentices ceased their assault, glancing at each other. The sight of their novitiate stumbling to the side rendered them diffident, fear evident in their body language.

A fear Cynder knew intimately.

The apprentice who had tried to cause trouble earlier with that explosive orb cried out, "Don't stop now, we're about to win! Strike Novitiate Joshua down!"

Trickster laughed. "And we'll get to call him Dragonmount for good!" He resumed the attack, being the first to conjure more hailstones and hurl them at the human.

Liar rushed out from the dust. "Damned furless ape, drop already!"

Joshua tried to plead with them. "Stop. Please, stop! We've done enough—

The dragon reared up to assail Joshua with swipes of his paws. The latter, holding a hand over one of his ears, ducked and weaved to elude the attacks, but he was flagging. Claws scraped him, tears appearing on both tunic and russet skin.

"The heirs to the Sustainer's Eleven can't lose to you! We can't! We can't!"

Joshua tried to focus—to channel his Element once more. It manifested briefly, enshrouding his arm in one moment and disappearing in the next. He managed to parry Liar's blow, palming the foreleg and sweeping it aside and away from him. The next blow came swiftly, and he barely repelled it, the sheer force lifting him and blowing him back several paces off. The other fellows' attacks struck him then, bursts of conjured ice devouring him.

"Jesus Chriiiiiist!" Joshua cried out in pain. "Guys, stop! Seriously! F*ck, I, I really can't—

Trickster cut him off. "We're just starting to fly, Novitiate!" He was already beside him, head being brought down to bear and thrusting into Joshua's folded arm. Luckily for him, there weren't any sharp spikes or formations on the fellow's horns, but that didn't protect the human from being thrown straight into the wall.

To their credit, not all the Senior Fellows had resumed their attacks. Big Guy and one of the dragonesses had slightly broken the formation, backing away and creating some distance with terror etched on their snouts. The former in particular turned and rushed not to Cyril, but to the nearest Talonpoint knight—Flaraxas.

"Sir! The turbulence is becoming a storm! You need to intervene."

"Not until Master Cyril gives his orders," the Fire Dragon leered, his voice revealing a hidden satisfaction at the pain and suffering the lounge was subjecting the human to.

Cynder watched Joshua cower in the corner as all three dragons who'd caused trouble today gathered their mana and unleashed an Ice Breath from three separate directions.

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"Why‽ Can't you see my loungemates going too far‽ They're not gonna stop!"

"We cannot interfere until there is an overt threat to the hoo-man's life."

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"Oh God!" With tears in his eyes, he brought his right hand up to try conjuring the White Aegis again.

Nothing happened.

Instead, Joshua let out a cry of agony and clutched his head, curling in and turning away from the sharpened ice and freezing gusts flooding his position.

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"Lifebringer! You are useless!"

"Calydon, why aren't you assisting your loungemates?"

"Master Cyril! It's obvious Novitiate Joshua's proven himself. He's made it this far against all of us! We—

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Joshua's cries entered Cynder's ears, clear as if he had meant for her to hear them. "Help me! Cynder. CYNDER!"

That was the final gust that tilted Cynder into freefall. Her anxiety had been accumulating throughout the entire challenge. She had put all the trust she could muster into both Joshua and Cyril, but now it was apparent the former had fallen into a trap that the latter was eager to trip and follow through to its conclusion.

Now the human was helpless, enduring the ferocious and relentless breath attacks of three Ice dragons, unable to tap his element, having overexerted himself and the limits of his talent or lack thereof.

A memory from the previous cycle flashed in Cynder's mind.

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Cynder beheld the ominous sphere of light floating above Joshua. She gasped in horror, watching it ripple, unable to imagine what it was capable of.

"No more," the human was muttering, his mind incoherent. "No more, no more. Please, no more. Jesus Christ, have mercy on me."

An atlawa knight nocked his bow with three arrows and aimed at Joshua. The White Orb reacted to his intention to kill at the very instant he released the bowstring.

It exploded into spears of light, crackling across the sky like lightning, shooting straight at all who'd been preparing to unload a stream of elemental attacks and the sharpest of Warfang's arrows.

Not a single dragon or archer escaped.

Cynder saw for herself how all evasive maneuvers were useless. The jagged lances moved like electricity and constantly changed directions, branching out or jumping from one particle to the next, until they struck their target.

It did not matter whether they were hit in the head, in the breast, or on the tip of their tail.

It took only the most minute of physical contact to be sentenced to death.

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It didn't matter whether they were deliberately restraining the power of their blows. Joshua had already passed their challenge, and it was time both Cyril and his fellows accepted this.

The Talonpoint knights guarding her tensed when they sensed a subtle shift in the intensity of her gaze and the rigidity of her posture.

"Lady Cynder," one reminded her, "Master Cyril hasn't—

"I don't care! That wrinkly, old lizard can suck an egg!" Cynder cried out. Before anyone could react, she spun on her seat and unleashed a blast of wind outward. It knocked the knights off-balance.

The Savior tapped into more of her mana and channeled it into the stone beneath her, allowing it to permeate the earth as an inky and cold realm linked to the space near the human—the furthest extent of her range. Cynder dove into the portal of shadow, her sight of the outside world vanishing while she swam to Joshua's side with all her speed.

She emerged seconds later, flying out into the air between Joshua and all the senior fellows. Flaring her black wings, Cynder swept the air with her tail, mana radiating outwards as a green crescent. The blade of venom spread wider and wider as it soared towards Liar, Trickster, and Jerk in particular. They shut their maws and eluded her opening strike.

From that point onward, none of the apprentices would dare to attack Joshua again. Not when Cynder hovered before them, eyes narrowed into slits, ready to use her deep experience to subdue them all. None of them even dared to hurl an insult at the human for hiding behind her tail once more.

Cynder never anticipated that Cyril would attack her himself!

The scowling ice dragon flew up towards her with a snarl, abandoning Big Guy and Flaraxas. He rushed in with the power of Icefall. Cynder was stupefied by sheer disbelief. It was too late to react by the time she came to her senses. He collided with her in midair, launching her straight to the floor.

"Keep attacking!" Cyril commanded. "Do not stop until the ape surrenders!"

Cynder, recovering from her crash, pushed off the floor with her forelegs. She gnashed her teeth, feeling a few of her scales falling off her hide. "Don't listen to him! Joshua's about to—

About to break and kill you all, Cynder was about to say, but the Ice Guardian had spat an explosive orb after her and it erupted into shards of frigid ice right in front of her. The force knocked her down and flung her further away from Joshua.

She was just about to enter the realm of shadows when Cyril touched down before her and shoved his gigantic forepaw down her withers, flattening her on the floor.

"Hmph, you really do act like his mother," the Ice Guardian snorted. "This is exactly why I didn't want you present here. But I was forced, no thanks to Terrador…"

Cynder couldn't answer. Her snout paled, watching eight—no, seven apprentices barraging Joshua with so much ice that she could barely see him. Instinct urged her to repel Cyril and truly subdue all the apprentices, and the knights, too, if they tried to stop her!

Even with their numbers, Cyril's side was no match for her. Cynder did not possess Spyro's level of power or talent, but she was still one of the Saviors, and a force to be reckoned with. Breaking free from the Guardian's grip and then taking everyone down would be all too easy.

Should she, though? She had already been stripped of her privileges, and her name had practically crashed into the ocean after news that she had triggered the Incident at the Eastern Gates virulently spread across the airstreams. If she did something now, it would escalate the scrutiny and judgment on her—

"Watch, Cynder," Cyril said, breaking her stream of thought. "Just watch. Listen to him beg! A bit more pressure, and finally, Joshua's true self will emerge…"

True self? He was wrong. The human would only wish his problems away if it escalated to the greatest extremes, like he'd done during the Incident and last night's failed experiment. With his heart and mind, he would wish them all gone in the permanent sense and the Unknown Element would grant his desires by killing every single person in this hall who held even the slightest bit of malice towards him.

Cynder withheld her words. They were beyond rational argument and debate, and in retrospect, they had always been. Right now, she only had two options: obliterate every measure of progress she'd achieved over the last four years or leave everything up to Gintomyr.

She glanced up at the reliefs staring down at them from the ceiling. She didn't truly believe in the Pantheon, but if Azeroth the Infinite, Alona the Lifebringer, the Chronicler, or any of their esteemed ancestors were watching over them, surely they would inject some sense into all the stupid eggs surrounding her.

"Don't you scoff at me, girl," Cyril groused while Joshua mustered the wherewithal to dispel the incoming attacks briefly and create an opportunity to run. He pleaded—begged the lounge to stop, yet not once did he concede and say that he had lost.

"I've always suspected the furless ape to be linked to some nefarious scheme! An alien from beyond the Known World magically appears in Sunburst Forest, possessing intimate knowledge of state secrets and the element of death‽ And after we brought him in, we learn he can control the other elements like Spyro and achieve feats that are beyond even him‽

"You and Volteer expect us to believe this unhatched egg is docile‽ Loyal to us‽ Because his adopted sister is a dragon? Because he supposedly looks up to you and Spyro as his heroes? Because he owes you some 'life debt' and select individuals are beginning to like him‽" Cyril's voice grew louder, more hostile, and more derisive the longer he unleashed his innermost thoughts and feelings. "The both of you are cloaca-smacked! How do we know he isn't manipulating every person he's allowed to interact with? Can't you comprehend that this is all highly sus—

Joshua suddenly shouted, cutting him off and instantly drawing Cynder and Cyril's attention.

"I said stop! Stop! STOP IT!"

The timing couldn't have been better.

Not a second had passed after he became the center of attention when the Unknown Element arose as a thick yet translucent pillar that enshrouded Joshua from sight. Every projectile the apprentices had launched at him instantly disintegrated. In turn, Cynder couldn't help but gawk, witnessing his simultaneous recovery—his wounds closing and bruises fading.

As a manifestation he had delineated and determined into existence, it wasn't perfect. The attacks he absorbed and converted took a terrible toll. Each one quaked the all-encompassing barrier and caused him to stumble. She locked eyes with him then, and discovered one was leaking out blood.

He was still chanting, a vacant look glazing his eyes. "Discern, delineate, determine; discern, delineate, determine…"

Cynder squirmed against Cyril's grasp. "Joshua!" She yanked her upper half away from him and shoved her body up with her forelegs, eyes unwavering. "Joshua! Focus! We're not here to kill you! Don't give in!"

She didn't realize the Guardian had released her until she heard him scoff.

"Useless," he chastised.

"I'm sure you tried that exact same tactic last night, and clearly you haven't learned your lesson," was the unspoken message. The Savior felt her breast tingle with shame, but she said nothing. In her mind, getting through to Joshua's rationality was always the better option.

Cyril had other plans. "Commence!" he yelled out. The command alerted the dragoness to turn towards him and follow his gaze.

A Talonpoint knight emerged from the wall—no, it was a doorway to the utilidors, skillfully cut into the rock to appear seamless and unassuming. Cynder recognized the dragon's face. She'd forgotten her name, but it was one of Terrador's Guardian Candidates!

"No more attacks! I'm done, you hear me‽ I, am, F*CKING DONE!" Joshua yelled, his voice amplified to the extent Cynder felt her ears ache.

As he was shouting, the unknown Guardian Candidate reared up and slammed the floor with a pair of glowing forepaws, channeling the green mana of Earth into the ground.

Simultaneously, the White Pillar erupted into a shockwave. Seeing this, the senior fellows all ceased attacking and screamed, turning to run or take off to the air. The shockwave moved too fast, passing through four dragons who'd stupidly positioned themselves closest to Joshua. The rest, fortunately, were unscathed.

The very instant that the Unknown Element was about to engulf everyone in the arena, Cynder and Cyril included, Joshua suddenly cried out in utter shock as he fell beneath the floor.

The purplish-white haze vanished as though it had never manifested to begin with. Cynder, still breathing heavily from sheer fright and anxiety, couldn't process what had just happened until her mind registered Joshua screeching in agony.

"Jesus-Mary-Joseph! My leg, my leg, my leg! Aaahhhh, f*ck!"

When her eyes refocused, Cynder saw that Joshua had sunk into a pit deep enough to swallow a young, adolescent dragon. From the way he was screaming, it was likely that the bottom had been riddled with spikes.

"Cease and desist! As I command, this challenge is over!" Cyril declared. His authoritative voice boomed across Pantheon Lobby, yet the apprehensive tone was unmistakable. "Guards! Treat the injured. Administer the spirit crystals."

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"We're alive? …We're ALIVE! Praise the Ancestors!"

"Lifebringer's cloaca, I thought that was the end for us!"

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Cynder couldn't contain herself anymore. The Savior knocked the old dragon's paws away and rushed over to the human. She glanced down at the pit he had fallen into and grimaced. The wooden stakes arranged inside were thin and short. Their unique pattern and dark coloration… It was steelwood! These wouldn't break apart unless an adult dragon fell on them!

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"Praise Lord Azeroth, you're still alive! We couldn't execute my contingency in time. How do you feel?"

"Smooth and whole, Master Cyril. It didn't do anything to us."

"Wait! Something's not right. I, I-I feel strange, as if…"

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Thankfully, it didn't appear as though a biped had prepared the spike trap, as there was enough space for her to step into the pit without hurting herself. Cynder carefully descended, skillfully placing her paws, and grasped Joshua, who flinched at the touch.

The dragoness shushed him with a slow and calming breath, the same way she sometimes did with Spyro whenever nightmares from the Great War woke him up at night.

"Ground yourself, Sp—Joshua," Cynder said, correcting herself in time. "It's over. You did it."

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"It can't be. No way! That's, impossible. Impossible!"

"Have you two lost your scales‽ Stop flailing your forepaws and explain yourselves!"

"I can't believe it! I shan't believe it. I won't believe it!"

"You too‽ No, it's… it's all four of you!"

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Joshua panted heavily. Beads of sweat cascaded down his head. "Okay, good-good-good, good." He nodded his head multiple times, right hand clinging to Cynder's withers. "F*ck. F*ck, it hurts! H-help me, Cyn!"

"I have your neck," Cynder said. After a cursory glance at his situation, she rapidly used her sharp claws and tail blade to snap off the four spines impaling his leg.

Joshua quivered, wincing from each horrendous snap. Cynder hunched over with the intent to lift the human out of the shallow pit. "Okay, now lean on me and—

"I CAN'T USE MY ELEMENT!" Trickster suddenly bellowed, his voice marred with simultaneous shock and grief. Cynder's head snapped in the senior fellows' direction; the four who'd been swallowed by that shockwave-like attack were all busy making somatic motions. The kind associated with shaping exercises.

None of them were producing Ice.

"It's not working! Oh Corsha, NOTHING'S WORKING!"

"Th-that cannot be possible," Cyril stammered, grappling with the reality in front of him. He had yet to so much as glance at Joshua. "You all simply could've had your mana drained!"

"That's the most confusing thing, Master Cyril! I can still feel my mana! It just won't respond to me!"

Joshua groaned. Reminded that he still needed her help, Cynder tuned out the drama unfolding among the lounge. Ignoring—discarding even the very notion that it was possible to sever a dragon from their element from her head, she slowly lifted the human up back onto the floor.

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"Well, keep trying! If it's still in your core, you'll surely regain control."

"A-ah! I can, I-I can feel it moving! Nnngh… uugghhh!"

"Exercise caution! We don't know what else happened—

"Ptah!"

"...All that effort, for a small ice ball?"

"At least you aren't dead. Repeat the exercise and describe your experience. And you! How are you faring now?"

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Joshua rolled out of the way when Cynder followed after him, still clutching his head. Now that he was in full view, it was easy to notice the puncture wounds on his legs and the blood trickling out of them. His used, urine-soaked clothes were practically rags—tattered and full of holes. The bruises and cuts he had gained during the challenge had all been healed, each replaced with faint scars, leaving only the blood coating his left eye, his nose, and his ears.

The state of his clothes and the splotches of blood were so terrible to behold that Cynder instinctively approached Joshua and bent over his face.

"Cyn?" He gazed at her, confused. "What… are you—?"

"Stay aloft." She pressed down on his chest with her forepaw and, after hesitating to consider the situation, began lapping his blood off. It had not occurred to Cynder that her tongue was at least half the width of his face until she started.

"Ew, ew, ewwww…" Joshua squirmed, leaning away with a disgusted frown. "F*ck me, I don't need this from you too! I, I can clean myself up…! Ugh… so much spit in my eye…"

"Stop mewling," Cynder scolded. She spat the blood into the pit, then shifted her paw to hold his face steady. "Tch, you should be used to dragon baths by now."

Joshua groused under his breath. "Rrgh, nastier than Kilat…"

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"The mana's just staying put. It isn't leaving my core."

"Mine is moving, but it's like working with mud."

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Cynder ignored his childish whining. Given her larger size and the small area she had to work with, she concluded the cleaning with a few quick sweeps and left Joshua's sticky, glistening face free from all that unsightly ichor. After setting the grumbling human free, seeing Cyril still busy fussing over the four apprentices, she pondered what to do about the spines lodged in his right leg.

"Didn't expect your relationship to be that close," the Guardian Candidate who'd sprung the earthen trap said as she limped towards the two of them—she was carrying a sack in one forepaw. "It appears there is some truth to the 'Mommy Cynder' moniker, after all."

Cynder flinched. That meant this dragoness had been waiting behind the utilidor entrance from the very beginning. "So what? It is hardly inappropriate. You know my story, as you do his." She stepped over Joshua and placed herself between the defenseless human and the fully-grown earth dragon. "Now why are you here?"

The Guardian Candidate jolted and did not immediately respond. "Have you forgotten me, Lady Cynder?"

"...only your name," Cynder admitted. "But not your face. You're, one of Terrador's favored?"

The other dragon snorted, blinking slowly at Cynder with an amiable flutter of her wings. "Fine, I'll let you fly low. It's Talwinne. Formerly a medic during the Great War." She presented the sack in her paw. "I still do carry spirit gems, in case of emergencies. Have the Novitiate use these after removing the stakes from his leg."

"Thank you," Cynder said, truly grateful, not only for the assistance, but also for the respectful attitude Talwinne had shown. There were green and red crystals inside the sack, each a large fragment the size of her paws. She was starting to remember why Terrador had a favorable stance towards this dragoness' candidacy.

"I'm glad to hear one of the Saviors hasn't truly forgotten me," Talwinne suddenly quipped.

Cynder had not meant to verbalize her thoughts. "You left a strong impression," she recovered with a smile.

Turning back to Joshua, she handed him the green one first, knowing it would alleviate his magic-induced headache. As the color faded and the crystal became brittle, Cynder informed him of her plan to yank out all four spines together with the warning that it would hurt.

A lot.

At first, Joshua was hesitant, until his head rounded towards Seriphos, who was staring straight at him from the other side of the arena. Cynder couldn't hear him say anything, but when the human consented to her plan, she realized the unique sensing abilities of the Unknown Element granted him better hearing than her.

"They're almost done. I'd like some dignity when I face Gromble and those scat eggs."

Having said that, Cynder had no qualms clasping the largest of the four stakes and violently pulling it out. An alarming volume of blood spritzed out of the hole, compelling her to quickly move to the next one. Joshua screamed and jerked his legs in an instinctual attempt to get away, but Cynder used her weight to hold him down, keeping him steady while she removed the other stakes. To his credit, the human was able to restrain much of his voice and ensure Cyril's attention (and wrath) wasn't drawn to him.

.

.

.

"Oh, Alona! Finally, a reasonably sized Polar Bomb!"

"...I can't believe grayscales even live like this!"

"Indeed! The world feels so, hmm… empty, without mana."

.

.

.

Joshua had been holding the red spirit gem in his hands, with Cynder cleaning his legs as she had done with his face, when Talwinne decided to come closer. "Novitiate Joshua, thank you for sparing them. I was expecting those four to be dead."

Joshua took a few seconds to answer. "Uh… Talwinne, right? You're the one who did this to me."

"Yes, but it was Master Cyril's contingency—

"Figures."

"—and it was highly effective. You don't seem so terrifying now that we know it's this simple to kill you."

Cynder agreed with Talwinne. Much of Warfang's terror stemmed from the possibility of Joshua unleashing the full lethality of his Element, which could bypass any defenses they could equip or set up. But did she have to say those words to his face? Even with her paw holding his legs in place, Cynder felt the human twitch uncomfortably.

"Thank you…?" Joshua did not know how to respond to that either.

"Still, your element works far too fast. I can't believe those apprentices got hit. I'm happy they're not dead, but that state won't last forever, will it?"

"None of them wanted to kill me. That's a massive difference from before."

Cynder felt her flews burning from shame, knowing she was the direct cause of those events. She intended to step away from Joshua and retreat to a less conspicuous spot in Pantheon Lobby when she finished cleaning his bloodied leg, but the human had sensed even this and gripped her tail, stopping her from leaving. He shook his head while facing her, with a disapproving look in his eyes.

"As for those guys, I set it to last a few minutes," he continued. "Any longer, and I might've fried my brain. Just imagining them toothless, unable to fling all that ice on me, kept giving me this strange feeling… like I was violating a divine law or something."

Cynder couldn't stay quiet anymore. She had to say something, or the shame would grow stronger. "Joshua, how are you feeling now? Couldn't you have done the"—she scrambled for a name—"'Draining Shield' earlier?"

"Better," he replied, tossing the brittle spirit gem away. "But one's not enough. Head's still throbbing, just not as bad. And to answer your question, no. I couldn't. It couldn't focus enough. I was too angry and, and… and… there was that migraine worsening by the minute. It took everything I had to visualize the White Pillar—

"Candidate Talwinne." Cyril's voice sliced into their conversation, the Guardian stomping towards the three of them. His snout bore a serious frown while his gait radiated exhaustion. "Socializing with Cynder and the Novitiate, are you?"

"Master Cyril," the Guardian Candidate responded. She quickly changed the subject. "How are the brats?"

"Smooth and whole, or they will be, soon. I am simply…" He struggled to continue, especially before them. "Unsettled to hear them recount the feeling of, suddenly losing their magic." The old dragon seemed to appear more wizened and aged as he spoke. "Nonetheless, thank you for your assistance. It could have been worse."

"Think nothing of it," Talwinne replied. "I was only following Master Terrador's command. Since I am no longer needed, it is time I report back to him."

"Very well."

Talwinne turned to leave. Before she walked towards the exit, she craned her neck towards Joshua. "Novitiate Joshua, the mental fortitude you displayed today was tremendous. As far as I'm concerned, you have shown those pompous, gilded wings what you're made of."

Cyril scowled at the mark. "You may leave now, Talwinne. This conversation is reminding me exactly why I do not like you."

She smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment."

.

.

.

"Aha, YES! YES! Oh, sweet frigid ICE, how I missed you so!"

"Oh, please. You already knew this was temporary."

"Shut up, Calydon! Don't ruin the moment for me!"

.

.

.

Cyril glared down at Joshua, who stood up and faced him, human to dragon. Cynder remained by his side, silent yet resolute. The scowling dragon, however, focused on him as if she wasn't even there.

"It appears… I was incorrect about you, Joshua."

He broke eye contact immediately. His confident attitude was gone, and it seemed as though he had wilted. "I see no reason to discount the risk that you're connected to some villainous plot. The truth notwithstanding, at the very least I now believe that you're simply a spoiled brat trapped in a storm far greater and more turbulent than we can begin to comprehend."

Cynder glanced around Pantheon Lobby. The senior fellows had gathered around them, albeit at a respectful distance. Their gazes were no longer brimming with derision or anxiety.

With Cyril pausing mid-speech, one of the apprentices spoke up. It was the dragoness who'd shown interest in his emotion-sensing. "Master Cyril, does this mean Novitiate Joshua will be moving to the second floor?"

Cyril turned and glanced down at her. "Correct," he affirmed. "Starting today, I will no longer object to the relocation. You can visit him anytime at your leisure once it is done, but the same applies to everyone else." There was a smirk in his tone. "I surmise his friends will want to hoard him after flying around all those security restrictions last cycle."

Her figure wilted, and she frowned. "Oh. Right. Novitiate Joshua has friends."

Trickster jocularly slapped his forepaw on her flank. "Egeria, Frostelle! We already told you like a hundred times: that dragon doesn't like you! You don't need the furless ape to know that."

"And I've said just as many times that I keep sensing something else from him!" Her tail lashed out and whipped his hindleg.

"That's just your cloaca talking," Trickster retorted. "If you want to get mounted that much—

Before he could say anything else, Liar hissed at him until he went quiet. The other dragon, having drawn attention to himself, stood beside Cyril.

"Novitiate," Liar said, his eyes angled down on Joshua's. On all fours, he stood slightly taller than Cynder, making him a few years older than her and Spyro. "You did very well overcoming our coordinated efforts. Tailwinds might've gotten you here, but it is clear you earned the right to live among our juniors." He kowtowed more than once—an appropriate gesture coming from someone who started this storm. "I also… want to apologize to you."

Liar flicked a wing towards the Ice Guardian. "Master Cyril had nothing but terrible things to say about you since your turbulent arrival in the eastern gates."

Cyril bared his teeth, yet quietly endured.

"The airstreams swirled with windwhispers smearing dung on your name," the fellow continued. "My friends and I called you many things, and expected nothing but the worst from you: an enemy of the Allied Territories, if not a heartless murderer. What we saw today invalidated all of that."

Liar glanced at Cyril and, after receiving no signal of any sort, took a few more steps forward. He stopped a few paces before Joshua, tail curling and wings folding even tighter as Cynder glared strongly at him.

"I think I speak for my entire lounge when I say we want to start over and take off on a new flight." He bowed again. "My name is Ledimer. Thank you for showing us who you truly are."

Joshua looked at Cynder. He didn't say anything, but she could sense the joy surging in his posture. He reached around her neck with his right arm and pulled her into a hug, nuzzling the underside of her chin. "See?" he whispered. "I told you I needed this. All the same, thanks for helping me all this time, Cyn."

When the brief embrace was finished, Joshua slowly closed the short distance between him and Ledimer, still recovering from mental fatigue. "Y'all already know my name." He grinned. "But I'll gladly take having a few more allies around here."

"Allies with more lift," Ledimus emphasized. "You'll need more than just a floor full of young, impressionable apprentices if you really want to earn the city's favor." He preened. "You're lucky everyone in our lounge will eventually wield great influence."

"I won't need it. I'm not trying to be Spyro here. Oh! That reminds me. Earlier, you said your brothers are bullying you? I hope losing to me won't make that worse.""

A loud growl disrupted the conversation. Trickster trotted towards them with a scowl on his snout. "HEY! You aren't the only one who wants to talk to Novitiate Joshua, Led! Don't hoard the hoo-man to yourself!"

"A few words won't—

Trickster interjected, "Look, Novitiate. Our families may look down on our loss, but they can go suck eggs! After what you did, how can anyone think less of you? I've never felt so POWERLESS in my entire life! Don't you know what this means‽ A dragon's got a problem with you, turn 'em into a grayscale for a day! They'll stop bothering you real quick."

Joshua chuckled awkwardly. "Errr, elemental sealing is a lot harder than it looks, uuuhhhh…"

"Name's Aushad, but my pals call me Osh." The dragon turned and beckoned Big Guy and Frostelle to join them. "Humongous over here is Calydon. Drake's pretty massive for his age. The hen, that's Frostelle. Her cloaca's leaking for some gold-obsessed lizard working for Councilor Kaufer. Stay away from her dumb schemes and—OW!"

"Seldoot's horns, like you're any better!" She leveled her gaze on Joshua. "You. If he ever invites you somewhere, don't come along without any of your friends. Osh likes to cause trouble and he won't hesitate to use you."

"I'm not THAT bad, Frostelle!"

She flicked her wing at Cyril. "How many times has Master Cyril saved your hide?"

As the two bickered and fought, Calydon suddenly hollered above their squabbling. "Bylrun! Leaving without saying a word to the Novitiate? You're the one who suggested the challenge in the first place!"

The dragon he had called out was none other than the senior fellow Joshua had labeled as Jerk earlier. Bylrun jolted as soon as Calydon called his name. With everyone in the lounge glaring in his direction, the dragon let out a sigh and plodded back to the arena with a defeated, if meek, disposition. It was clear he'd felt bad about their loss.

As Cynder refocused on Joshua, she belatedly realized that all the senior fellows had gathered around him. In fact, the human had unconsciously been stepping away from her farther and farther, until there was now a cloud of young dragons talking to him like he was one of their own.

"You know, Novitiate," someone was bragging, "Not once did I ever take those windwhispers seriously! I was always skeptical of them. The airstreams always get someone wrong, you know."

"Go jump in a volcano! You were the first one calling him the return of the Dark Master!"

"N-No, I wasn't! You're misremembering things."

Cynder couldn't help but smile at the scene. For once, she felt proud of the human. Joshua didn't hide behind her, and Kilat hadn't been here to intervene with her prodigious elemental skill and ferocious overprotectiveness.

It wasn't long before melancholy struck the Savior. Cynder felt her flews burn, and her gut wrenched in agony. Shame filled her mind once more; with tears in her eyes, she turned away from the heartwarming scene in front of her.

She should've trusted him more—should've had more faith in him. She should've let him take off by himself while watching from the ground, ready to intervene only when help was needed, just as she had been forced to do.

What did that say about her? On her decision-making? On her temperament?

Cynder restrained herself from sobbing as she dragged herself back to her seat, her sweaty paws leaving behind wet pawprints. The Council and the Guardians had been right to strip her privileges. She didn't deserve them…

"Cynder."

Cyril spoke to her, his tone serious and gruff. No longer was he the mentor releasing a lounge of apprentices to the wilderness. He was once again the Guardian of Ice, and his eyes glowered with portent.

"Walk with me outside Pantheon Lobby." Cyril shifted his head to gaze at Joshua. She knew he was wary of the human's impeccable hearing. "I want a word with you."

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Author's notes:

Whew! Another chapter down! Extra long, so I hope it was worth the wait.

Also, this chapter was ORIGINALLY categorized as City Life (and had been published as such), but after some thinking and a brief discussion with Azure, we decided it was best to reassign this to Settling In.

So sad that I exhausted the chapter length though. I had a post-A/N scene planned depicting my AU Jayce Bladelizard dishing out fatherly advice to Spyro as he laments the loss of Ignitus, his father figure.

Perhaps I will have space in the next chapter? Who knows.

Either way, I'm really excited to get the next one out too. CH60 will mark the END of the "Settling In" category. Ahhhh if only IRL duties can stop draining all my time…

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Replies to reviews:

Starfett13. Well, here you go! Would like to get a comment other than "I really loved this story" though. ;;

Ren (Guest). Yeah it's what I do when I'm not working or writing! Market's currently having a bloodbath in mid-2024 and I'm totally soaking it up. Catching falling knives made of gold, dude. Been doing this for 15 years and got the scars (and the high returns) to show for it. :P

I already have crypto though, but it's less trading and more DeFi.

Coollatiospokemon4342. Hello and thanks for the review! Glad you're still following the story after all this time. :D

I got the piece that you sent me before, and there was quite a bit to unpack there, in terms of story structure, descriptiveness, dialogue, spelling and grammar, and emotional depth. It also read more like an OG story than it did a fanfiction as well.

Sorry I never got back to you re: the detailed critique :( IRL just kept hitting me with responsibilities and work I didn't wanna do. (sigh) I don't have much time to write these days, either.

Bronzeheart92. Hey, dude! Glad to see you're still around, and for so long too.

Hehe, nope, haven't given up on Aimless yet! A fanfic reader I got to meet personally IRL actually asked me how I managed to keep up my commitment to this fic, and I would like to say it's because of the sheer flexibility that I got from the story's non-linear structure and major slice-of-life focus.

Actually, I found out quite recently that Aimless does have a TV Tropes page! IDK who wrote that, but whoa! Kudos to the fans who decided to make one. I feel honored to see this fic on there, but omfg, does it increase the pressure to do well! That higher level of scrutiny means everything I say/write will be looked at. o_o;; Luckily Azure and Stryker are still around to help me out, despite the many years I've spent writing this monster on and off.

Kranos459. Well I hope this update is a good enough sign? There are times when I would have one 1200-word segment that I could submit to Azure and Stryker for review for a straight week followed by a one or two week period where I'm swamped with IRL work and household responsibilities.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to just sit down and do nothing but write my fanfic (and do my investing) but I still have a day job, a wife, and all that. That's just the way it is. At least the fic hasn't been mothballed to death like some other amazing TLoS stories.

Either way, I hope you at least liked this chapter.

Earthpatriot117. Glad you liked seeing Jayce and Spyro together. :D And I see you're a fan of Firelight too! Well, you're in for a treat if you stick around as I gradually contribute to Aimless.

If you're paying close attention to the dialogue here, you'll realize that Charla's mother was mentioned here by name. You would recognize it if you've been paying attention to her DeviantArt, while she was still active. I mentioned before that Charla herself has appeared in the story (hint: she lives in the same district as Vara), but that won't be the last time she'll be making an appearance.

JDM (Guest). Thank you so much for the review! Glad to be back. Writing the fanfic is good for the soul :3

Owen O'Henry (Guest). Hey, Owen! Thanks for the feedback!

I hope you liked this update, since we're taking a look at Joshua through Cynder's perspective. We'll be having Joshua for another two or three chapters after CH59 (with the next chapter marking the end of "Settling In", as mentioned earlier), and I'm pretty stoked to write him again.

As for your comments re: Night Raid, I am glad you think the whole battle was well done. I had to write the entire outline from the omniscient point of view and pick the perspective of the characters I was going to write. It helped in setting up things that were happening outside the POV characters' purview and making it feel like things were happening too fast and too chaotic, just as it would be in an actual combat situation.

That scene with Aurona humbling herself before Sorcerer Hugo was a completely ad hoc change to the outline that I came up with right when I was making the segment, and the beta readers loved it! I'm glad you enjoyed that too—not many protagonists, significant or minor, do that except in a hostage situation (which is practically cliched at this point). Leaders also do that—constantly second-guessing themselves and asking what-ifs, should-haves, and could-haves. I'm glad I was able to portray this properly.

The traitor from Skylands is Slam Bam (i.e. Bartholomew). I thought this was clear already given that both Master Eon (represented by Hugo and the two Stealth Elves) and Submaster Kaos (represented by the Golden Queen Model Vavriel and the Nightshades supporting her) are aggressively pursuing him, but each faction has their own reasons for doing so. Unfortunately, though, the mere presence of Skylander operatives is already enough to sour diplomatic relations between Warfang and the Empire. I hope to give more context to what's going on in Skylands when we return to the December Cliffs.

Thank you so much for your comment re: the story structure. That's why I assigned categories to begin with. It not only helps in sustaining my inspiration for writing Aimless content (because I could make a sudden pivot to another category if I'm getting bored/frustrated), but it also empowers the reader to read what they want to read. The only disadvantage to this, really, is that this structure won't work on a traditional serialization structure.

Anyway, tips? Hmm… well, we talked about this over PMs but it fizzled out fast. I guess IRL got in the way? You wouldn't be the first one though. An Aimless reader I got to meet IRL actually asks me for some advice from time to time on Discord and sometimes I say stuff that makes sense for their situation (and other times we just blab and talk about certain canon characters or other TLoS fanfics :P).

First thing I can tell you though, is to first figure out WHY you're writing the story. Aimless initially started out as my way of conveying my frustrations of being an immigrant—living in a society that you find somewhat alien, one that is familiar to you and yet filled with norms, standards, and dispositions that you know nothing about, not to mention the kind of systems that the government has in place there. That is why there's a very heavy slice-of-life content to begin with: because Joshua's discomfort (and eventual mental struggle) is something that I had to deal with, and still encounter from time to time, and I would like to express myself through that.

The serious plot, well, that came after the story blew up in CH10. I was like "Whoa there are a lot of people following the fic… uhh… okay, guess I'll take it a bit more seriously", and that came to a head after I finished and posted CH19 because I had to find a way to reconcile my need for a good plot with my desire for a story of alienation and assimilation.

Austin (Guest). Hello, Austin! Thanks for the review!

I'm glad you're enjoying the fic!

Spyro does eventually "bury the hatchet", as the saying goes, but unfortunately, it doesn't exactly progress any further from "tolerating each other", which you would see in the oneshot Chasing Leads.

Including elements of Skylanders and the Classic trilogy is a totally natural move by any fanfic writer and should be expected. We just love trying to loop in these things. The way I did it seemed appropriate given how I wanted to write the story, and I'm glad you're liking it.

Re: chapters concerning Lord Caesar and the Apes. The second story arc, Winter Diplomacy, concerns the apes in general and builds up on the events in December Cliffs. Joshua will actually play a more active role there, as will his friends. There will also be plenty of machinations going on behind-the-scenes and I'm eager to write it out. :D

Re: meaningless crossovers suggestion. Wheeeww that thing has NOT updated in more than 10 years! I reread it a little… the writing exuded that sense of familiarity… I suppose I read it before, back during the times I was still lurking in FFN's Spyro section instead of actively writing.

I'm trying to think how this would happen… Hmm… given that it's peacetime in Aimless, I would imagine that they'll arrive long after Joshua's arrival. They'll probably be welcomed with much less controversy than Joshua, but they'll inadvertently start a new series of scandals as the Guardians quickly find out that Joshua had been LYING to them when they questioned him about his background way back when he'd first arrived. Oops. XD

Guesy (Guest). Hello! Sounds like a good idea!

I've seen a story do something like this before, but it was towards its end rather than its beginning. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It would render a lot of Joshua's personal journey quite meaningless, not to mention we would never get to explore his angst over being a "copy".

Why don't you make your own story and try writing it with that premise? :D

Dr. Kocktor. Joshua isn't much better even in his second month living in the Spyro world, but I think he could've at least put up a decent fight if he had the same level of understanding of his element back then! Too bad he can't turn back time.

Hope you got to read on though! Your review came in at CH5 and there were like… 50 chapters to go ;;;

Guest #1 (Guest). Yep, definitely motivated to get stronger and be more independent! I think I captured this character development here in Teacher's Pet 3. Thanks for the review! Hope you liked the chapter.

DatGuy1st. The Main Story or ("Serious Aimless") is just beginning. Of course we'll get nothing but questions… and more questions when we get answers to those questions. XD

You can, however, expect some actual lore being dished out when Bianca comes to Warfang. You know it's going to happen—shortly before that disastrous test, Cynder herself made the mental decision to have the rabbit sorceress analyze Kaos' magically-encrypted remarks on Joshua when she gets the chance.

Guest #2 (Guest). Sorry, but you'll have to keep waiting. Joshua gains some skills, enough to stand his ground as he'd done here, but his element has too high of a skill ceiling for him. It's not gonna happen. ;;

Guest #3 (Guest). Thanks for your review! A Spyro VS Joshua rematch in a spar? Hmm… too dangerous. Spyro could easily up the lethality at any time… even if he WAS aware of their connection to each other the entire fight.

I can probably think of a way to make this happen, but I'll hold off on that 'cause whatever I choose to do needs to be consistent with everything else in the story.

Guest #4 (Guest). Joshua's Element already has a name. Even if it didn't, it couldn't be Mirage since his element can do way more than that.

Thanks for the comment, though.

Yuvalyly. Thank you for both of your reviews! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Kinda nice that you reread the fic whenever a new chapter comes out. I do the same thing to the fics that I follow and also took some time cranking out an update. ;; You tend to notice things on your second or third run-through too.

Re: "month". Those incidents are writing errors on my part. Either they were meant to be retconned, or I completely overlooked it when I did my proofreading.

Re: the spirit gems. I don't exactly remember when spirit crystals or spirit gems came to refer to all of them. It has been so long. In DotD, the purple gems have been turned into "dark gems", so they drain Spyro/Cynder of mana and prevent them from using magic. (Looking at your second review though, it's clear you know about the dark gems now. :P)

Aimless has its own cosmic lore re: the gems, but I have yet to find an opportunity to bring it up.

Re: Skylands' advancement. Yes, they are highly advanced. They have plumbing and, as you've seen from the way the Golden Queen speaks, a form of wireless internet.

Re: dragons evolving to be completely magical. Dragons will still have powerful bodies, so draining them of all mana or, as Joshua has done here, temporarily sealing their connection, doesn't completely render them harmless. I get what you mean though. Everything they do is intertwined with ambient mana.

I would guess that prolonged exposure to dark gems, and a large batch of them too, would have a direct impact on their physiology.

Wolfe Itzo'k. Thanks! Yeah, sorry about that one-year update time. Inspiration comes by harder these days, and whenever I do get the inspiration to write, IRL rears its ugly head and I find myself having only a sliver of time to focus on it. Sadly, adulting saps away at your time for your passions/hobbies due to all the responsibilities that get thrown at you.

At any rate, I am currently working on the finale to the "Night Raid" chapters and the next set of chapters will focus on Warfang. It's halfway done.

Still confirming that romance will eventually show up on the table. I'm not sure if I've written to you or placed it on one of the author's notes, but the story's designed to make it a really slow burn considering Joshua's psychological starting point. As old as this story is, it has only been two months for Joshua in-universe, so his mind is stuck in 2015 and he hasn't moved on from his conservative Catholic mindset.

If it ever gets to the raunchy stuff, while I have personally written NSFW stories, Aimless will strictly be kept free from the lewd details, so lemons/smut will be kept offscreen.

(Also, glad you enjoyed the outline I gave you though)

(Aaaand sadly, the outline's gonna remain in outline form for a long time lol)

Sir Mountcastle (Guest). Hello! Thanks for the review.

Hmm… when exactly in 2015? I've kept that part deliberately vague, since I want readers to come up with the answer on their own, since imagination is pretty powerful.

I guess you can assume December? The transmigration is supposed to be after his 15th birthday. I'd tell you the exact month but, uhhh, I haven't thought of the IRL Joshua in so long that I've already forgotten his birthday. (Whoops!)

ThatBombsMine. Hello! Thanks for sticking with Aimless after all this time. :3

I'd update faster (like once a month fast), but unfortunately IRL doesn't give me much time to work with. Looking back, I wish I had gotten started earlier on like River and Goldie, way before IRL starts sucking the free time out of you. Alas, I started at a time and age when I only had enough time to crank out one chapter a month, and now it's even less. I'll try to speed things up a little on the outlining side, though, so we can get the plot moving, too.

The December Cliffs arc is unfortunately something we gotta go through, as the future arcs build on it. However, it is nearing its denoument since the Night Raid series of chapters represents a major turning point.

Ginopippofreebooter. Looking forward to seeing how you'll get around that! (Oh, I should probably check out your story sometime.)

Why these humans are usually child soldiers/ninjas with years of training? Well… I guess it's because there's not a lot they can do to an actual dragon when they encounter one? I had Joshua fighting Death Hounds with a stick and he almost died XD Those other MCs would crush those doggies fast, surely… and most authors don't like doing nasty things to their MCs.

That's a bright start though! Good luck with your writing!

MrQuestionMark (Guest). Hehe I wonder if I disturbed your sleep again :P

GreatCornholioOfLakeTiticaca. Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

Guest #5 (Guest). The true identity of Vanish will be revealed in one of the December Cliffs chapters. I totally expect readers to figure out who it is by the time I get to do so.

"I bet he's starting to get the hang of the Unknown Element at this point."

I think I addressed exactly this in this chapter. XD

Guest #6 (Guest). Vanish can technically do that… if he wasn't strictly monitored by Cynder and all those pesky guards. I think they would have a different reason for taking him away, though.

Guest #7 (Guest). Well… what happened in this chapter isn't exactly his revenge, but he did give those bully apprentices their comeuppance!

Guest #8 (Guest). Hello, and thanks for your review! Oh, and thanks for also giving the spinoff story a read! :D

Joshua in Aimless and Joshua in Home but Not Home are considered one and the same, although the events of HBNH are not considered canon to the main story.

I don't know if I've already mentioned it in the A/N there, but Joshua in HBNH is 40 years old in Earth years—that's 10 years in the Aimless timeline.

15yo Joshua is a very different person as a 40yo, which begs the question: what the hell happened between Aimless 0Y (where we are now) and 10Y (where HNBH takes place)?

Showing what happened is one of the reasons I continue writing this story. It isn't the primary reason, but it's one of 'em. :3 Azure and Stryker know a little bit of what happens since we had to discuss stuff concerning the 6M - 8M timeline (when the 2nd major arc, Winter Diplomacy, is set), and part of it ties heavily into what happens in 5Y and 10Y. They don't know everything though, but believe me, the Main Story gets "SKDaGamer dark" towards the endgame.

(sigh) Would be nice to get there…

Guest #9 (Guest). No, I haven't done a story like that. I've read other KH stories/fanfics though.

My own spin to it… I mean, it's basically just Disney Final Fantasy original elements with a world hopper as the MC. I would go much further than just Disney and Final Fantasy and go "Roger Rabbit but video games" with them. Think Wreck It! Ralph, but with maybe a more edgy storyline, to go with the trends at the time.

zykwuanmartin. Joshua? Nah… he's a MacGuffin! XD

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And that's it! Nothing else to see down here. Until the next update. :3