It was later that day, around four o'clock in the afternoon. Muras' mind ran nonstop, trying to think of what Master Almai might want to talk to him about. He had sent an urgent letter to him to come and visit him in his office this afternoon. Muras just hoped that Forzen wasn't in trouble for anything. He had done everything he could to leave work early so he could get there as soon as he could; Master Almai had just told him anytime this afternoon was fine, so Muras wanted to get there as early as possible once school was finished.
The school grounds were almost completely empty when he got there, the majority of the students having gone home. That was pretty normal; everyone was quick to vacate the school grounds back when he was in school, too. There was no reason to stick around at school any longer than was necessary.
He made his way through the school, trying to remember where all the offices were from the school tour last week. Eventually, he came across another teacher walking down the hall back to their office. "Excuse me!" he called out.
The teacher let out a small yelp as she whirled around, not expecting the sudden shout, from Muras no less. "U-uhhh, Muras. What can I do for you?" she stammered.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I'm looking for Master Almai's office; would you be able to show me to it?" Muras asked.
"Um… sure, I guess. I-I-I can do that."
The teacher led him down the halls, stopping when they had arrived. She then quickly walked back down the hall as fast as she could. Muras shook his head with a sad sigh, before turning towards the door he now stood in front of. 'Almai Veogol, Intermediate and Expert Combat Teacher', the door read.
Raising his fist to the door, Muras knocked on it. "Come in," came Master Almai's voice from inside.
Muras slowly opened the door, looking inside to see Master Almai sitting at his desk. He looked up, pushing some paperwork aside as he realised who was standing in the doorway. "Oh, Muras! Great to see you. Please, take a seat," the earth dragon said.
"Is something wrong with Forzen?" Muras asked as he walked forward and sat down across the desk from Master Almai. "Is he in trouble?"
"No, he's not in trouble. I'm just concerned for him. He walked into my class this afternoon with a dislocated wing that I am almost certain came from a fight during lunch," Master Almai explained.
Muras groaned, bringing his paws to his head and rubbing his temples. "Was it bad?" he asked.
"I don't know. If he was in pain, he did a very good job of hiding it. I almost told him he didn't have to do a match in the ring, but he told me he was doing it before I could properly start my sentence. I do think the fight made it worse though; some of the dummies ended up pulling at his wings, and he then sprained his other wing later on in the fight. I sent him to the nursing room afterwards.
"But anyway, I decided to call you here because I thought it would be good to try and figure out how we could help him be a bit more diligent in protecting himself and not letting himself constantly get hurt."
"How, though? He won't attack another dragon; you heard him yourself in that nursing room," Muras challenged.
"He doesn't have to cause any harm to them," Master Almai clarified. "I think he just takes the attacks, judging off what I know of him so far. I want to see if we can maybe get him used to physically protecting himself when he does get attacked, just to minimise the chances of him getting assaulted. A push or a shove here and there, actually trying to dodge attacks. I've seen him fight in the ring, Muras; from what I've seen, there's no reason for him to be coming out of a high school fight with a broken wing, and especially not the state he was in on Glaenday.
"Now, I probably don't have the margin to do that myself, but I know you've been doing extra training sessions with him outside of school more specific to his elements. Do you think you'd be able to get in the ring with him and maybe try and help him work on his defenses against real dragons? Real dragons that he doesn't want to hurt but that want to hurt him."
"Do I have to be the one to do it? I kind of don't think it's fair on him if he has to protect himself against a much larger adult dragon," Muras murmured. "I don't want to just put himself on the spot like that, too."
"Firstly, it's combat and defense training. You have to put the student on the spot if you want them to learn from it. You can't teach someone in combat and defense if they don't feel threatened or uncomfortable. I'm putting all my other students through that, too."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I know because I lived through it. My father was in the military, I also went through intermediate combat in school, and then I joined the military. I've been raised in this way my whole life. Ultimately, particularly in our current war, that style of training was the only reason I survived. I faced death way too many times in my years in the army. I watched as many of my best friends were killed by Spyro's dark forces. Even Malefor's forces."
"I… I guess you're right."
"Besides, he needs to know what it's like when an adult attacks him, because I'm sure there'll come a day when an adult attacks him."
"It's already come and gone."
"Excuse me?" Master Almai exclaimed, leaning forward with wide eyes.
"It… It was his fourth day in Warfang, the same day as our tour of the school. I never saw what started the riot, but if Cynder's brother hadn't have gotten involved, I'm very sure Forzen would be dead. He was covered in blood, burns covering his body, his wings broken. From what Aerus told me, he had completely given up trying to get out. He had accepted death. I don't know if he had tried to get away at first, but I think that might be why he doesn't defend himself anymore, because I agree with you, I don't think he's trying to defend himself either. I think he's still in the mindset of accepting the abuse from everyone who hates him."
Master Almai shook his head sadly, scratching his forehead. "With the kids here in school… it's all learned hatred. Sure, we still have attacks from Dark Peak and Spyro is very much at large, but most of the students we have here, particularly those Forzen's age, will not have seen the worst of Spyro. None of the children here were around when you… when Malefor was at large. All the adults, though? It's far from learned hatred; it's hatred from experience. They lived through all those things. It's only a matter of time before they attack him again, the same way all those dragons attacked you when Spyro revealed your identity to Warfang."
"Yeah… yeah I guess that's true," Muras murmured. "I don't know, I worry for Forzen… a lot. I don't know how to help him. I don't know what I can do to make everyone feel more comfortable around him. I know even after twelve years everyone is still wary of me, but I don't have to worry about being beaten in the streets at random, and I've been able to get a job, have a house, and live somewhat comfortably. I know many still hate me, but they tolerate me enough to not really care about me. I don't know how to make people see Forzen that way. It took twelve years to get to this point; I don't want Forzen to have to wait twelve years to get to this point, possibly more considering he's probably got it worse than I had when I returned here."
"I guess some questions are never easily answered," Master Almai sighed sadly. "But rest be assured that I will do the best I can to ensure that he's safe in these school grounds. I can't speak for the rest of Warfang, but as long as he's on campus, I want him to be able to walk around safely, go to each of his classes, and not feel constantly threatened."
"Thanks. I really appreciate your help with all this, Master Almai," Muras said with a small smile. "Is… there anything else you want to talk about regarding Forzen?"
"It wasn't on my mind until now, but today he did display a pretty impressive control over his powers during combat class today, even making use of a killing technique for the straw shadowclaw dummies that I've never seen before. I know you're doing some training with him as well; has he shown you this as well?"
"Yes, it was in one of our first training sessions, shortly after he first unlocked his lightning element. He asked to demonstrate it, and so… well, I hesitantly allowed him."
"Hesitantly? Surely you knew of his combat prowess; what was there to worry about?"
"Well… until you mentioned straw shadowclaw dummies, I never thought to make those…"
"You put him against a real shadowclaw?! Are you insane?!"
"He assured me he could do it, and I'll be honest, he did a spectacular job. I don't plan to put him against real dark dragons for the near future, but I at least know he can hold his own against one of them."
"Wait, you're telling me he actually killed a shadowclaw?"
"Yes, he did."
"Why the hell isn't he in expert combat then? Ancestors, that's incredible! I know he has large amounts of skill in combat but I wasn't expecting that from him!"
"Torialis specifically wanted him to be in intermediate. He didn't want too much attention and stress to be forced upon Forzen, and he didn't think it would be fair to throw him in such an intense class when he knows none of the students and teachers here, and doesn't even know anything about the schooling system. I'd even suggested putting him in novice combat while he got used to everything and everyone, but Torialis had said that also would've been a disservice to Forzen, which thinking over it again I think I'd agree with him."
"Yeah, I see your point. At some point I'd love to see him up in expert combat with me, but until he's ready, I'll make sure he's thriving the best he can in intermediate. He's incredibly gifted with his elements; he has quite a lot of control over them. You've taught him well."
"I'll be honest, lightning's the only one I taught him, and that overloading kill move he did on the shadowclaws was something he picked up from slaves at Dark Peak. I haven't bothered trying to tackle sound, as I'll need to do a bit of research on it first since I can't use it, and since Cynder wields wind, the guardians want her to train him in the wind element."
"Okay, I don't like that decision at all," Master Almai said, concern edging his voice. "After years of training under Cynder, as well as the new hatred I hear she seems to have towards Forzen, I'm scared for what she will put him through."
"I will aim to be there to make sure as much as I can to make sure she doesn't go overboard, trust me," Muras said firmly.
"Good. You know how relentless she can be."
"I do… way too well. I made her that way, after all."
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess that's true."
An uncomfortable silence set down between the two dragons. Muras became lost in thought, trying not to let his brain conjure up all the horrible possibilities that could happen with Cynder training Forzen. She was already pretty abusive in that first session where she made Forzen demonstrate his elemental capabilities to the guardians, putting him against conjurations of real dragons, before showing no restraint or empathy towards him, and finally strapping him to the power reader, which ended up setting off a pretty full-on trauma response.
He tried not to let himself think about how abusive Cynder might be towards Forzen in their training sessions, what unfair matches she would put him in, and how unrelenting she would be.
I need to be there to make sure she doesn't do anything horrible.
"Anyway, there's one more thing I want to ask you about. It's not really got anything to do with Forzen's schooling, and it's only a thought I've just now had," Master Almai said, cutting through the silence and pulling Muras from his thoughts.
"Um… yeah, ask away," Muras said.
"I thought I should ask… have you told Forzen who you really are?"
Muras faltered at the question. "As in… that I'm Malefor? Uh… no. No, I haven't. He doesn't know," Muras replied.
"I know this is asking a lot of you, and I really don't want to pry into your personal life and your relationship with Forzen, but I really think you should tell him. He deserves to know."
"But… I can't do that to him. If he found out who I really was… that I was another purple dragon that ruined our legacy and made everyone hate him… it would break him. It would destroy his trust in me."
"Any more than it would if he found out another way? It's bound to happen, particularly with the way the other kids are treating him. What would be worse: you going up to him, admitting you were hiding something from him, sitting him down and telling him gently, and in a way that you can control it, or a random kid rocking up and telling him, in a way that would probably be very biased and inaccurate, and find out that way that you've been hiding this from him? He'd lose more trust in you the second way."
"I… I don't know…"
"He deserves to know, Muras. And like I said, if you get in first to tell him, it means you get control over the situation. Not some random kid."
"I… okay. I'll do it," Muras murmured nervously after a deep breath.
"I know it's a big ask, but it'll benefit the both of you in the long run; I'm glad to hear it. Sooner than later would be best. Tonight would be great, if that's possible."
"I'll see how it goes, but I could try tonight."
"Alright, I think that's pretty much everything I wanted to talk to you about," Master Almai said with a soft smile. "I hope we can meet again in better conditions next time."
"Yeah. Thanks for the chat, and thank you for keeping an eye out on Forzen," Muras replied, standing up.
"You're welcome. It's the least I can do. The kid deserves it."
Muras turned and began to walk out the door, before almost colliding with a thinly built but tall ice dragon. He leapt back at the sight of Muras, letting out a small yelp. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Muras apologised frantically, feeling awkward for scaring the dragon, who appeared to also be a teacher.
"Ah, Master Krygour!" Master Almai said from in his office, walking towards the door and seeing the history teacher standing a few steps away, trying to calm his breath as he looked cautiously at Muras. "I was meaning to ask, did Forzen make it back to your class okay after his trip to the nursing room?"
"Uh… yeah, he made it back. His presence was… a bit disrupting, mind you," Master Krygour replied.
"Disrupting? He didn't cause any trouble, did he?" Muras asked.
"It was more the other students didn't like him around. I… I tried to calm them down but they kept insulting the poor boy. Didn't help we were beginning our unit on the Dark War, too," Master Krygour explained.
"Wait, unit on the Dark War?" Muras queried. "That's taught here now?"
"I mean it began a thousand years ago; it's very much part of history. It was just unfortunate that we had to start looking into the corrupt purple dragons, which I think gave the class the urge to turn on the little de—the little purple dragon."
"Okay, what was that you were about to say?" Master Almai challenged, picking up on Master Krygour's speedy correction.
"What was what?"
"I'm not stupid, Krygour. Spit it out. You were about to call Forzen a devil, weren't you?"
"Come on, it's all I've been hearing from the class today; it hasn't been easy to get out of my head."
"It wouldn't be that hard if you didn't believe it. You hate him too, don't you?"
"Almai, you're looking way too far into this, I promise you."
"The truth, Krygour," Master Almai snapped, slamming his paw on the ground.
Master Krygour jumped at the sudden loud thud and the heavy tone in Master Almai's voice. Even Muras jumped, being so caught off guard by Master Almai's sudden demeanour change.
"Almai, there's no need for this. There's no need to scold me like I'm some child," Master Krygour stammered. "I tried to stop everything and get back to teaching, I swear!"
"Has anyone told you you're a bad liar, Krygour? I'm usually pretty good at seeing through people but you're just making it plain easy," Master Almai shot back.
"Why do you care so much about this?"
"Because Forzen is one of my students too, and I have vowed to make sure all my students are safe when they're in these school grounds. If I find out you incited any hate towards him, I'll be talking to Hyrath about you."
"All your students? They're all in danger with a purple dragon wandering the school halls. What if he hurts them?"
"From my view, the only one who seems to be getting hurt is Forzen. My other students are perfectly fine. Unless I am given an explicit reason to push Forzen out, I will advocate for his safety. Now, what happened in that class?"
"You're not required to know everything that happens in my class. I don't have to tell you. Particularly not with him around," Master Krygour spat, gesturing towards Muras.
Master Almai shot forward, grabbing the thin ice dragon and pinning him against the wall, pushing down against his smaller form with every bit of power the strong, burly earth dragon could muster.
"So now the mask is dropped. I see your hatred for purple dragons, it's clear as day. I may not have known you well since I started working here, but I never thought you to be a bigot. How wrong my judgement was," Master Almai growled. "Now, tell me what happened in your class. Is Forzen okay?"
"He… he ran out of class," Master Krygour croaked, wincing as pain flared through his body from the intense pressure that the other teacher was exerting on him. "I don't know how he is, but he damn near scared half the class to death when he made a mad rush across the room towards the door."
"And what happened to have made him do that? That's not like him; he only ever seems to run out when he is extremely upset by something, which in the time I've known him for, has only happened once," Muras said.
"How am I supposed to know? I'm not in that worm's head."
"What was said that made him react that way?" Master Almai growled, increasing his pressure on Master Krygour and causing him to cry out in pain.
"I-I-I don't know, I was just talking about Malefor's descent into darkness and the start of the Dark War!"
Master Almai slapped Master Krygour across the face. "That's a load of grublin dung and you know it!" the earth dragon snarled. "It's obvious you're trying to protect yourself now that your true nature's been revealed!"
"What were you saying about me?" Muras questioned, his tone suddenly very serious.
"Just about how you let your 'impressive' powers got to your head and how you showed the true colours of your kind, growing lustful for power and taking the lives of everyone around you, including your family," Master Krygour snarled back through gritted teeth, hatred dripping from his voice.
"You dare get my family involved in these lies of yours?" the purple dragon challenged, stepping closer and getting equally into Master Krygour's personal space as Master Almai was.
"Lies? You dare to pass off your crimes as lies? Everyone knows what you did! Everyone knows how you killed your mother and corrupted your father, turning him into a sick, twisted agent of darkness. Everyone knows how you tortured your brother so much you brought him to suicide!"
A lightning infused fist slammed into Master Krygour's face as an angry howl burst from Muras' jaws, tears brimming his eyes. "HEY!" Master Almai shouted, raising a wing between Muras and the other teacher before Muras could throw another punch at Master Krygour. "Starting a fight is the last thing we need; calm yourself, Muras."
"But he's teaching them misinformation, and pushing onto Forzen that our 'true colours' are murderous and twisted! This isn't right! Yes, my family died after my corruption, but they didn't die at my paws! Yes, I grew lustful for power, but—"
"But what?" Master Krygour coughed. "Why does it matter if those things happened regardless of the specifics?"
"Shame on you, Krygour. I thought you prided yourself in being a history teacher and getting caught up in accuracy. This is nothing but bigotry and your own personal hatred, and a lack of understanding," Master Almai scolded, before turning to Muras. "Yes, I admit that for many decades the false truth may have been taught, but no one knew any better, since there were no records of what really happened. Perhaps you might be able to shed light on the truth."
"You trust him not to twist his own web of lies and make himself seem like the good guy?" Master Krygour spat.
"I was equally as much the victim as I am the villain in the Dark War," Muras explained. "I refuse to claim to be the good guy or paint my name in a good light, because I am aware I did some awful things, whether it be a thousand years ago or as recent as twenty years ago. I just want to correct the false information in recorded history, and help people understand what happened to me. So yes, I will do what I can to help correct Warfang's records."
"You can't let him do that! He'll taint everything! That devil will use that opportunity to brainwash Warfang, and then he and his little devil apprentice will drown Warfang in darkness and feed it over to Spyro! They're all under cahoots!"
"And there are your true colours, Krygour," Master Almai growled. "Are you serious? 'Little devil'? You better not have called him that this afternoon. Now don't you dare lie; you have nothing to hide now."
Master Krygour's face darkened significantly, his eyes gleaming with hatred, both towards Muras and Master Almai. "I might have," he said darkly. "Honestly, I was quite surprised by him in class. I thought he would defend himself a lot more. I also was really surprised he didn't know that his mentor was the great Dark Master."
"YOU TOLD HIM ABOUT THAT?!" Muras roared, tears now streaming down his face as he realised he had missed his chance to tell Forzen in a controlled setting.
"Actually, I didn't. The students did," Master Krygour clarified with a dark smile.
This time, the punch came from Master Almai, coupled with a violent curse. Master Krygour groaned as the back of his head slammed against the wall, and he spat out blood that was now starting to ooze out from his gums.
"For the love of the ancestors, keep your class in check, you bigoted bastard. I will be taking this to Hyrath, and I will see to it that you either get fired, or you lose your chance to teach any class that Forzen's in, and any class that focuses on the Dark War, do you understand?" Master Almai snarled.
"You're making that all up," Master Krygour laughed. "You have no power over me. You can't convince Hyrath to do any of that."
"I can at least try. Now get lost. We're going to find Forzen to try and fix the damage you caused."
"Hope you have bad luck with that."
"Go to hell," Muras scowled.
"You first, devil."
Master Almai punched the ice dragon once more, causing him to slump to the ground in pain. The earth dragon had to hold himself back from punching the horrible dragon a third time; just looking at him made his blood boil. Master Almai bit his lip, shaking his head, before he spoke.
"You would do better than to antagonise Forzen if that's what you truly believed about him. If you truly thought he was a devil, I would think trying to upset him, antagonise him, and spill your bigotry on him would be the last thing you'd do. After all, if he really was evil deep inside that 'dark heart' of his, I wouldn't be surprised if you were his first victim," Master Almai growled lowly. "Likewise with this other 'purple devil' standing a few metres away. Think twice before you act next time."
Master Krygour flinched as he realised what Master Almai was saying. Muras knew the large earth dragon didn't believe in the words he was saying, but he sure made it very believable, particularly for someone like Master Krygour who truly did believe that he and Forzen were hellspawn.
However, Master Almai wasn't finished. He turned and spat on the ground beside Master Krygour, before he uttered one more word, his voice dripping with more venom than Muras had expected from him.
"Gab'vaal."
Muras' eyes widened. It, like 'moras'tov', was an ancient word, and while superstitious at best, was an ancient curse that someone would say when they wished the worst suffering on another dragon. The exact curse was long since lost to time, but it was easily a hundred times worse than a simple 'go to hell'. He was surprised that these ancient words were still known amongst a small few dragons in the modern day, however it was also a bit sad to know that it seemed to primarily be racist slurs or the worst curse anyone could mutter at another being.
He watched as Master Krygour's eyes also widened, signifying that he knew the meaning behind the word as well.
Master Almai then turned and broke into a sprint, urging Muras to follow him. They both made their way out of the building as fast as they could, immediately taking to the skies, trying to get a wide look at the massive city from above.
"Hopefully it's not too hard to find one lone purple dragon amongst all these other colours," Master Almai murmured.
"I'm so scared," Muras whimpered. "I left it too late to tell him. What will he think of me now?"
"Muras, we will cross that bridge when we find him. For now, finding him is the most important part. We don't know where he is, who he's with, what's happened to him… I just want to find him and make sure he's safe. Can you help me with that?"
"Yeah… Yeah, I think so."
"Great. Now let's go find Forzen."
They flew up high in the air for a few minutes, keeping a few metres apart to try and get the widest reach they could while still being able to see and hear each other. As Muras searched, he could feel his heart racing and more tears threaten to leave his eyes. He fought hard against his emotions, knowing that crying would only blind him with his tears and stop him from scouting for Forzen properly.
He couldn't believe how quickly this afternoon had fallen apart, particularly his plans for tonight. He was supposed to sit down and tell Forzen about his true identity as Malefor, only to find out that Forzen had already been told hours ago during school, and had run off to who knows where. Was he safe? Would he ever trust him again?
Every minute that passed was long and agonising. Every minute that passed was another minute that Forzen spent alone, probably hating him, more and more with every single second that ticked by.
Curse you, Malefor. Curse the darkness in the Well of Souls for infecting me. Curse those damned cultists that stole me away and left me to starve down in the Well! Muras thought, rage building up inside him. You ruined my life! You tainted the legacy of me, my family, and of all purple dragons!
I never had this pressure and hatred from the previous corrupt purples; they were too few and far between to have impacted my world the way I impacted the current world! Spyro isn't helping matters either; curse you, too!
So many evil purple dragons; I'm sure we'll only ever be thought of as evil creatures many millennia into the future after this. I worry for all the purple dragons to come, knowing that this is the legacy that Spyro and I—no, Spyro and Malefor—have set for them.
"I found him!" Master Almai shouted, tearing Muras from his dark thoughts.
Muras followed Master Almai's claw down to the roof of the library, where a lone purple blob sat. As they got closer, it slowly began to look more like Forzen. Muras shot forward, Master Almai following close behind him, before they landed on the roof behind Forzen.
"Forzen, I—!" Muras started.
"What are you two doing here?" Forzen interrupted, his voice low and dark.
Both adult dragons faltered, wincing at the venom and heartache in the younger purple dragon's voice. A few moments passed, before Forzen turned around, looking at them with judgemental, untrustworthy eyes. "I have no idea why the hell you're here, Master Almai," Forzen said, confusion edging his tone slightly, before he turned to Muras and spoke with pure malice. "And you, Malefor… get out of my sight."
"Forzen. Let me explain. Please," Muras pleaded softly.
"Explain what?! That you lied to me?! Well yeah, I already figured that out!" Forzen snapped. "You come to me, pretending that you and Malefor are completely separate dragons, and that you were supposedly born between Malefor and Spyro! Jaarsol told me the legend! Once every ten generations! Of course I'm the exception since I directly inherited my cursed purple dragon genes, but you? It didn't add up!"
"Forzen…"
"I've done a lot of thinking over the last… however long it was. Thinking about how much you lied to me. How you so easily hid something as important as you being Malefor, the Dark Master, the murderer of millions, the one who almost led the world to its demise! You don't think I deserved to know that? You know, the one seemingly good purple dragon who is overshadowed by a not so distant history of two other purple dragons in a row going evil and starting wars? A history that is still in the present? You wouldn't think that the poor kid whose father is an evil purple dragon should deserve to know that his mentor also used to be one? How do I know you're not still evil? I can't… I can't trust you right now!"
"Forzen, please just calm down so we can talk about this," Master Almai said gently.
"Butt out of it! This doesn't concern you in the slightest!" Forzen snarled, before turning his attention back to Muras. "You told me you were evil for a time, Muras. By that, I thought you meant a few hours, a few days, max! But no, in truth you were Malefor, the evil purple dragon who spent one thousand years trapped away in Convexity, before roaming the world freely for another three years after that! I don't know how long you roamed around for before you were imprisoned in Convexity, but I'm confident it was several more years, right?"
"Yes…" Muras murmured.
"How many?"
"Twenty."
"Twenty… whole years? Are you serious?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
Muras suddenly collapsed to the ground as lightning tore through his system. He looked up once his body had stopped thrashing, surprise taking over him as he realised Forzen had just attacked him. Looking at Forzen broke his heart. The young purple dragon's eyes were bloodshot, red with emotion, tears threatening to surface, but Forzen fought against his emotions with everything he had; Muras could see the fight taking place as he grit his teeth and trembled with anger and emotion.
"I'm sorry," Muras whispered under his breath.
"HOW COULD YOU HIDE THIS FROM ME?!" Forzen screamed. "YOU DIDN'T THINK AT LEAST ONCE THAT I NEEDED TO KNOW ANY OF THIS?!"
"Forzen. Please don't yell over the top of me; let me explain," Muras croaked as he lifted himself back into a sitting position; Master Almai stepped forward to help Muras sit up, but the purple dragon shrugged the teacher off him.
"You better not tell me any more lies, you got that? You've caused me enough pain and trauma in the week I've been here. This is your last chance before I ditch you and Warfang for good. I still don't know if I can trust you, and once again you've failed to prove that you can be. I don't feel safe anywhere, and all I want is just one dragon who can teach me things and not hurt me again," Forzen said, his voice small and quivering with emotion. "So please, no more secrets about purple dragons. Tell me the truth about you, and tell me everything you know about how we react to dark magic. I need to know whether I'm truly doomed to the same fate that you and Spyro were. I need to know whether I truly am a devil like everyone says I am."
"Okay. I promise. No more lies. No more hiding things. So, as you now know, I was born a thousand years ago. I was raised as a good kid, in a good home, with good parents. The guardians cared for me and helped teach me about my elements once they discovered I could use multiple of them, kind of like the way I was teaching you with your lightning element," Muras explained. "However, there was a cult in Warfang that believed purple dragons were a mutation, a curse, sent by the ancestors themselves, so when I was ten, they kidnapped me and threw me into the Well of Souls as a sacrifice. Whether it was a sacrifice to the ancestors, or to the dark spirits that slumbered inside the Well, I don't know.
"I was stuck in there for a few weeks before I managed to make it out, and in that time, the Night of Eternal Darkness had come and gone, and during that night, I had become entranced by the dark energy surrounding me, and… well, I had absorbed a lot of it. My belief is that exposure was what eventually made me turn.
"Now, I made it back home eventually, and over the next nineteen years I would go through several trials all accumulating to my eventual downfall to becoming Malefor. I had several family members pass, and when I was twenty-one, one of my best friends committed suicide.
"Two years after that, a war broke out between Warfang and a wolf civilisation, and I joined the army to help fight. I became a large target in this war, and I was eventually captured and held for ransom. Warfang sent a rescue mission, but it was a glorious failure; seeing all those dragons die trying to save me… it broke me. Warfang sent another rescue mission three months later and I was successfully rescued, but by that point, my mental state was deteriorating and I found myself more agitated, more angry, more susceptible to darker thoughts.
"Right before I turned twenty-five, I single-handedly ended the war. I slaughtered the entire city we were at war with. I'm sure you remember on Glaenday when you asked how old I—and by extent Malefor—was when I was corrupted; twenty-five was one of those numbers. I didn't make up either of those numbers, by the way; I chose those because they were very key times to my descent into Malefor. That day I slaughtered the wolves… I'd never felt so much rage, so much hatred… so much bloodlust. But that day I was also seen as a hero for ending the war.
"That was when I got the idea to hire others to fake big crimes so I could come in and save everyone. I got obsessed with being the hero. That was the moment I grew in my lust for power. This went on for a year and a bit, before I was caught and imprisoned for a few months. I was nearing twenty-eight when I was released and my mind was fading fast. The darkness inside of me was growing, and I couldn't stop it. I became a bully and a very horrible person, eventually driving my foster brother to suicide.
"The other number I gave was twenty-nine. That's because on my twenty-ninth hatchday, Malefor was truly born. I fully gave in, and lost all control. I killed a guardian that day. I was eventually overpowered and exiled, so I returned to the Well of Souls and built my ape army. In the time between then and my next return to Warfang, both my parents died. Father went mad. He—"
Muras paused. He couldn't go into too much detail. It wasn't appropriate to talk about everything his father did to Forzen. He was only twelve; he didn't need to know that his father had become a rapist in his maniacal madness. Muras looked behind him, only now remembering that Master Almai was still there, also listening intently.
"—He started killing people, and… doing other horrible things to people. Worse than killing them," Muras explained carefully; he looked over to Master Almai, whose eyes were wide with horror as he pieced together what Muras was so carefully implying. "He was later executed, and my mother killed herself in response to everything that had happened. This is why Master Krygour probably told you that I killed my family. Because… in a way, I did. And I regret it every single time I think of them.
"Even back then I regretted it. But that regret turned to shame, and that shame turned to hate. I had nothing for my true self to cling onto, and so my darkness took over. In my last moments, I named that darkness Malefor, and so I would then take on that name, erasing Muras from existence for centuries. It was only when the ancestors purified me and allowed me to return, intending for me to mentor you, that I came back as the dragon I used to be, before all the darkness."
Forzen just looked up at Muras. The purple dragon couldn't read the younger one's expression. Muras hoped that was enough for him. He hoped the shortened, paraphrased recount of his life was enough for Forzen to accept it. It was all the important major information, omitting all the super detailed stuff that he had told Cynder back in his cave all those years ago, and the full details of his father's atrocities.
"So… the Well of Souls… that exposure to its dark energy was what put that growing darkness in you, right?" Forzen asked.
"I believe so, yes," Muras replied. "I can only assume; I don't know the ins and outs of how dark magic works or how our bodies, our essence core, our convexity blueprint, reacts to it. I can't say I'm an expert of how corruption of a purple dragon even works, or even if I understand everything that happened with my mind, but I have a pretty strong feeling that that is what caused it. Same with Spyro's case; he was affected by the Well's dark magic when he was twelve, even more so than me. Unlike me, Spyro developed a completely separate dark alter ego. I don't know what caused his reaction to be so different from mine, but I can only assume that this dark alter ego helped him make the turn to darkness."
"So I'd need to have dark magic from the Well in me to be susceptible to going evil?"
"Oh, Forzen…" Master Almai murmured. "You're scared you're going to go dark, aren't you?"
"It's not that farfetched of a fear to have, isn't it? When my own father is the current evil purple dragon, and the last one was vanquished barely eight years before he fell into darkness, and no one knows what causes that switch, of course I'm scared!" Forzen exclaimed. "For all I know, it could just be something that happens to purple dragons! From what I know, Spyro was one of the most humble, peace-loving dragons around before his corruption. From what you tell me, Muras, you were a pretty good kid too. So what happens if all the effort I'm putting in to be as good and as peaceful as I can, to try and prove that purple dragons can be good, all ends up for naught and I turn evil out of nowhere?
"And, if it is exposure to dark magic, what does that mean? What does 'exposure' mean? Is it like catching a contagious airborne virus or do I have to have it directly injected into me? I worry because I have been around dark magic for all my life; I was raised in Dark Peak, surrounded by kids who were taken away and came back as mutated, murderous monsters, surrounded by artificial dragons that were crafted from scratch with dark magic. I don't know what's inside me, and I'm scared that being here is a bad idea."
"Forzen. There's nothing to worry about just yet. I've been through this myself, I'm sure I can pick up signs if there is something happening inside you," Muras said firmly. "Please trust me on that."
"But what good is it if we can't stop it? Yeah, if we pick up the signs early, that's one thing, but if we can't stop it, what's the point?"
"I… I don't know…"
Forzen sighed, lowering his head as he stared at his paws. Muras looked back at Master Almai, who had the same dejected expression as both the purple dragons did.
"I feel… so hopeless… so stuck. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. What am I here for? Why do I need to be here learning all this stuff, trying to get people to like me, if it's all going to be for nothing in the end?" Forzen croaked, his voice breaking as he tried to keep his emotions in check.
"Tell you what, Forzen… I've not been much of a research person, but… if there's a way I can try and find a solution, or find a way to know how our bodies work, then I will do my best to do that," Muras suggested. "I can talk to the guardians in the morning and see if I can get Master Lagenon to help out. I'm sure it'll be good information to pursue, both to help us understand you, but also to help future generations understand their own purple dragons when their time comes."
"Are you sure, Muras? Haven't you got enough on your plate already?" Master Almai asked, stepping forward. "You work, you're mentoring Forzen, and you said you were going to provide something to help teach the history around your descent to darkness, something that's a bit more accurate to your story."
"I can figure something out, Master Almai. I want to do this," Muras countered. "Anything to help Forzen, and the future generations of purple dragons. I'm sick of all the problems that Forzen's had to deal with, and I don't want anyone else to have to go through the same. I don't want anyone to be clueless and ill-prepared on what to do should a purple dragon be exposed to darkness, because I think we are very susceptible to its effects. I want to be able to prevent situations like this one, with two evil purple dragons back-to-back."
"Muras—"
"Do not fight me on this one. Please. I've done enough damage, to the world and to the future of purple dragons. I want to make things right. Too much is unknown about us, particularly since I destroyed many of the records all those centuries ago. Too much lost knowledge, too much that everyone is unprepared for in terms of raising and aiding purple dragons, particularly in keeping them safe from darkness. I need to find answers."
"I… okay. Just know, if you need help with any of Forzen's training, if time is willing I will be happy to help if you need time off that for anything else. I may not be able to help him with his elements, unless of course he discovers earth, but I can at least help him train. It might allow me to figure out how best to help him in a school setting for combat class too."
"Only if Forzen's okay with that," Muras said, turning to Forzen.
"I… Yeah, I guess that's fine," Forzen said, before murmuring under his breath, "It wouldn't be the worst arrangement I've gotten for this training crap…"
Muras sighed as he caught the words. He's not wrong. I worry for his training sessions with Cynder, Muras thought. I bet he's terrified for them.
The purple dragon then turned back to Master Almai with a soft smile. "Then yes, your help will be greatly appreciated if you're needed," Muras replied.
"Great," Master Almai said, before looking out over the sky to see the sun setting. "Anyway, I should probably head back and pack up everything in the office, and maybe talk to Master Hyrath about that scum teacher."
"Scum teacher?" Forzen questioned.
"We ran into Master Krygour after a meeting that we had," Master Almai explained. "We heard what happened in history and can I just say that I am awfully sorry to hear what happened, and I will make sure that it won't happen again."
"Master Almai, it's fine… you don't have to—"
"You can't persuade me otherwise, Forzen. What he started in that class… that's not appropriate, and very unbecoming of a teacher. No student deserves that," Master Almai said firmly, before he looked back at Muras. "Can I trust you two on your own now?"
"I… I think so?" Muras said with uncertainty, looking to Forzen for confirmation.
"Yeah, sure. For now. Don't expect me to hang around you much," Forzen grumbled.
"I understand. I'll give you your space to process everything and be alone. Now, we should head home," Muras said.
With that, the three dragons all turned and left, Master Almai returning back to the Academy, and Muras and Forzen returning home. Not a word was spoken between the two purple dragons as they flew back to Muras' house. The older purple dragon gave a few glances towards Forzen, and sighed.
You don't deserve any of this torment, young dragon. None of it, he thought. No dragon does. I promise I will make it up to you, Forzen. If there is anything I can do to prove that you won't become evil, I will find it.
You deserve a good life, and I intend to help you get that.
And that's another chapter done! Hope you guys liked it! I stressed a bit over the dialogue for this one coz I really wanted to get it right, but I think I did it all justice.
Also we'll be getting back to Cynder next chapter to see how she's doing! I wasn't intending on spending so long away from her (it was originally only supposed to be one Forzen in school chapter but that expanded to three after I realised there was more I could explore with it, and of course after introducing Almai, so I decided to do a kinda mini arc for Forzen here lol.
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Dragon of Mystery: Oh yeah Krygour's an absolute douchebag lol; it kinda felt right to give Forzen a crappy teacher alongside such a great teacher like Almai, just as a bit of major contrast with them (and it also allowed me to have the conflict between the two teachers here which was also quite fun to write). Hope the conflict with Forzen and Muras here worked well too; he's at his last straw with Muras now (you can tell the poor guy's trying but he's made quite a lot of mistakes and poor choices so far).
MysticFire824: I responded to most of this in DMs, but I can see where you're coming from with that. The latter part of Demonised especially did have a bit of killing off new characters, but that was because I wanted the stakes to be incredibly high, and in terms of characters like Lavin, he had served his purpose for what I felt he needed to do (saving the group from the bloodlusters, bit of extra lore on dark magic, take the group to the Well of Souls, where he would later be killed by Spyro (who was then technically Naar'voth as he was midway through the possession process), and to emphasise that this was a death mission that Cynder and Muras potentially might not have returned from. Even in terms of Prafûr, we'll see Cynder properly processing his death next chapter and seeing how she reacts to it. With Blitz, it's implied he made it out of the Well of Souls alive, although we don't see him again afterwards. I do have plans for him, we'll see him again later lol.
I'm glad you've been enjoying this so far though, and I'm really glad you're liking Almai as well, I really like writing him. And yes, Forzen also has secrets (mostly tied to lots of trauma). There will be answerss soon, but for now, he's keeping a lot of things close to him (as he mentioned in this chapter, he doesn't have a lot of trust with anyone, particularly Muras at the moment).
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Alright, that's it for now! I'll see you in the next chapter! Still (very, very slowly) working on the next chapter of GEM, and I'm planning on starting the sequel to Fear of Fate (the final installment of the Luckiest Girl in the World AU) soon as well, so keep an eye out for that! See you all later, have a great rest of your day!