"Glad you two slowpokes could finally make it," Cynder growled as Muras and Forzen walked into the meeting room in the Warfang Temple. "I was sure you would bail."
"Cynder, enough," Torialis snapped. "I know tensions are high, based off what I heard from Master Hyrath, but I do not want any needless antagonising and jabs at anyone, is that understood clearly?"
"Yes," the voices of everyone currently present in the room echoed, including the other three guardians.
Sitting around the large meeting table were the four guardians, Master Hyrath, Master Almai, Cynder, Frostine, Fjor'gand, and two older fire dragons, who Forzen assumed were the parents of 'Eleizen'. Muras and Forzen found a spot to sit between Master Almai and Torialis. The younger purple dragon shrunk in on himself as every eye turned towards him, the many gazes filled with fear, anguish, rage and hatred. He couldn't bring himself to look at the two fire dragons at the other end of the table.
"Now, I heard briefly what happened from Master Hyrath, but he only saw the very last moments of the fight where Forzen slaughtered the venomfang that had claimed to be Eleizen," Torialis said. "I want to hear the recounts of each of the main teens who Master Hyrath believed to be involved in this: Forzen, the one who in the end killed the venomfang; Frostine, Eleizen's closest and longest friend; and Fjor'gand, the one who Master Almai had said claimed to start the fight before the venomfang showed herself, according to the student that had come to fetch him. Did anyone want to go first?"
"Me! I'll go first!" Fjor'gand shouted. "That devil over there doesn't deserve to have a say!"
"Fjor'gand…" Master Almai growled.
"What? You know it's true, Master Almai!"
"Young Fjor'gand, did you or did you not agree to my request of no needless antagonising?" Torialis snapped, causing the younger earth dragon to reel back in shock at the leader of the guardians suddenly raising his voice at him.
"I… I, uh…" Fjor'gand stammered, a bit taken by surprise by Torialis' growl. "I did, s-s-sir…"
"Good. This goes to and from any party in this room. I don't care what your personal stance on Forzen is right now, but during this meeting, you are not to antagonise him, understand?"
"Yes, Torialis…"
"Good. Now, as per your request, you may go first."
Don't make up crap about me, please. That's the last thing I need right now, Forzen thought, tempted to say it out loud but too scared to.
"So, school had just finished and we were all putting our stuff away. As I was on my way to my locker, Forzen decided it would be a good idea to throw himself into me to try and knock me down," Fjor'gand started.
"That's a big fat lie and you know it!" Muras snapped, pointing his claw accusingly towards the fifteen-year-old earth dragon.
"Let him speak, Muras," Torialis growled through gritted teeth. "Continue, Fjor'gand."
"Anyway, after he did that, Forzen had turned back and decided to tackle Frostine, Eleizen and Kaala as well. I decided to instigate an altercation to try and stop him from attacking anyone else. I had some other students back me up and help in keeping him down, but we weren't able to contain that dev… Forzen's fury," Fjor'gand explained, catching himself as he saw Torialis, Ash, Muras, and Master Almai glaring daggers at him for almost causing Forzen a devil again. "He kept throwing accusations at Eleizen and threatening her, saying that she was evil and a monster.
"We didn't believe him, of course, because who in their right mind would believe that somehow, a student that we all knew who had been at the Academy for years, was suddenly a venomfang in disguise, ready to kill all of us. But… I don't know how in the ancestors' names he was right, but he was. It must've been some evil spell that Forzen or someone else had put on her, because she turned into a venomfang right in front of all of our eyes and attacked us.
"I hid soon after, not wanting to get killed, so I didn't really see most of the fight, but I heard all of it. And I saw the state that he had left Eleizen in after he… I don't know, killed is too light a word for what he did to her… mutilated her, I guess. I have never seen anything so horrific in my life. A neck should not look like that, even after a beheading. He was torturing her, he was having fun with it, I swear. That's the only explanation I can come up with. I've seen beheadings from previous sieges, and even the dark dragons don't cut off heads so messily. One clean strike and their work is done. Forzen on the other hand? I don't even know what he did since I wasn't looking, but whatever he did was not normal.
"He somehow turned Eleizen into a massive, adult-sized venomfang and brutalised her and had fun doing it! Do you see now what monster you've let into this school, into this city?! Do you not see how dangerous he is to all of us, and how close ALL OF US are to being OBLITERATED by him?! HE NEEDS TO GO! HE CAN'T STAY HERE!"
"Are you done yet?" Torialis snapped, watching as Fjor'gand stood up, pointing a claw at Forzen, who had shrunk back into his seat.
"NO I'M NOT! HOW CAN YOU STAY SO CALM AS TO HAVE LET THIS DEVIL INTO OUR HOME?! HOW CAN YOU STAY CALM WHILE HE SITS THERE SCHEMING, PREPARING TO DESTROY US FROM THE INSIDE, READY TO DELIVER US ON A SILVER PLATTER TO HIS DEVIL FATHER?!" Fjor'gand screamed, his throat constricting with each scream and his body shaking with fury.
"ARE YOU DONE WITH YOUR RECOUNT?" Torialis roared.
Silence.
Fjor'gand stood there, clearly trying to think of a comeback, something to say back to Torialis so he could continue his threats to Forzen, but he couldn't think of anything that wouldn't get him into even more trouble. He slumped back down in his seat, looking at the ground angrily.
"Alright, if you've got nothing more to say about your story, I don't want to hear anything else from you," Torialis muttered, before shooting some earth energy towards Fjor'gand.
The earth energy expanded, reaching around Fjor'gand's mouth, before hardening into solid rock, encasing Fjor'gand's jaws in a muzzle that kept his mouth clamped shut. An exasperated, muffled shout came out of his throat, but he was unable to form words through it.
"No more. You may ask for permission if you want to speak; only then will I remove the muzzle to let you speak, but you must have something productive and non-antagonistic to say. Now, do you have anything to say about your recount, Frostine?" Torialis asked, softening his voice as he spoke to the twelve-year-old ice dragoness, who seemed very overwhelmed by the situation, particularly having two purple dragons sitting across the table from her.
"I, um… yes…" Frostine said softly, not really making eye contact with anyone. "I do want to… correct Fjor'gand, I guess… Forzen didn't attack us, he merely bumped into us. We were all scared, unsure whether we were going to get attacked by Forzen or Fjor'gand. No offense, Fjor'gand, but you don't really have the best track record of being kind to people."
Fjor'gand growled at her from underneath his muzzle, before slumping back in his seat and watching her tell her version of the story, frustration burning in his eyes. Frostine shivered at the growl aimed towards her, and she tried not to think too much on it, instead focusing back to telling her story.
"We tried to stay back and get out of the argument, but Forzen started threatening Eleizen out of nowhere. I had very confused feelings at the time. It was nice to see Fjor'gand standing up for someone outside of his gang for once, but at the same time, we were absolutely terrified. The way Forzen spoke about Eleizen and talked about being ready to fight her was so scary. When he finally fought back against everyone who had tackled him, I don't think I'd feared for my life so much before. Sure I've lived through sieges, but… I'd never felt so in danger. I only knew that Forzen was Spyro's son, not much else. Seeing him threaten my friend and fight back against others who were trying to do the right thing… it terrified me more than anything else. I genuinely thought we were going to die, starting with Eleizen.
"The next moments went by in a blur of very confusing emotions. I was scared, I was horrified by those awful shriek attacks that Forzen was doing on Eleizen, and then… I was confused. I remember seeing her scales flicker to venomfang scales. I watched as she bled green. I thought it was fake at first, an illusion that Forzen had put up. But Forzen then claimed he couldn't make illusions. And as I looked back to Eleizen, the flickering on her scales had stopped when he had stopped the shriek attack, but her blood was still green, and… and it was still coming out of her green.
"I knew her blood was red. Obviously, since that's the colour it should be. But I also watched her bleed that one day she accidentally stabbed her paw with a pitchfork when we were six. I knew for a fact she had red blood. But as I stared at her, her blood was green.
"And then, she… she started saying awful things—'Lord Spyro' this, 'dark lord' that, 'power and rule', 'Purple Prince'—I didn't know what to do. Before I knew it, she shot poison at me. Forzen… he caught it in the air and saved me. Then Eleizen turned into a venomfang and attacked everyone else. Kaala and I ran and hid. We were so confused, so scared, that we didn't even know how to feel when we watched her neck get pelted with that impossibly fast earth missile, again and again and again. We didn't know how to feel when we watched her fall lifeless, when she stopped screaming."
Frostine wiped her eyes, suddenly realising she was crying. She took in a shaky breath, trying to control herself, trying to find words to say. "I don't know if this is even relevant, but I couldn't sleep well last night after what happened yesterday," she sobbed. "I was plagued by constant nightmares of venomfangs and purple dragons killing those I loved, killing me… I was plagued by nightmares of Forzen tearing apart the real Eleizen the same way he tore apart the venomfang, his body drenched in red as he laughed at what he had done. Even when I was awake, I saw venomfang silhouettes hiding in my room. I… I don't know what else to say. I guess that's it. Thank you…"
"Thanks, Frostine. Now, Forzen. Your turn," Torialis said.
Forzen shivered as all eyes turned to him. He gulped nervously, before he took a deep breath and started speaking. "Out of the two stories that have been told so far, I do want to say that Frostine's version leans a lot more towards the truth," Forzen explained. "However, there are some things missing from her story, which I don't blame her for, as a lot of it was something that only I knew.
"So, to provide a bit of context, every dragon has what is called a spirit trace, and I have the ability to sense other dragons' spirit traces. It is something that any dragon can learn, but it is one of the things that I learned at Dark Peak. When doing this, a spirit trace will usually feel like the dragon's element, their personality, and the purity of their spirit. This was how I discovered that Eleizen was a venomfang.
"I had my first run-in with Eleizen earlier in the day yesterday, accidentally colliding with her between expert combat and lunch. The moment she and I looked at each other, I had a very strong feeling that something was off about her. She unsettled me just by merely looking at me, so I decided that when I got a chance to get a bit closer to her without forcing my way into close vicinity, I would read her spirit trace. I got a chance to as she walked into history class after lunch, and so I read her spirit trace. I felt absolutely no fire, only venom. Her spirit was dark and evil. I know what a venomfang's spirit feels like and that was it.
"I spent all day trying to figure out what to do with this information, and how to deal with her, since I knew that keeping her around would increase the risk to everyone, especially considering I had a very good feeling that she was only there for me. She couldn't care less about anyone else, which was exactly what happened; she tried to kill literally everyone else to get to me during the fight; it's a miracle no one actually died.
"Throughout the day, I think Eleizen was on edge too. I think she kinda knew that I had read her spirit trace, but I'm not quite sure. She just… kept staring at me. I'm not sure whether she was being cautious of me, or if she was just keeping an eye on me, which was what she was sent here to do."
"So that's why you two were acting so weird during class yesterday," Master Hyrath muttered.
"Pretty much. She was staring at me to keep an eye on me, and I was so out of focus because I had found out just seconds before class started that there was a venomfang inside our classroom," Forzen replied. "It was… very concerning knowledge to have sprung on me like that, and it weighed on my mind all day. That was why I was so on edge when the altercation happened, and it's why I was so direct with accusing her of being a monster. I didn't know what else to do."
"You could've come and told us," Master Almai said. "You know that I at least want to help you, Master Hyrath is at least somewhat on your side even if he still doesn't like you, and you have the guardians and Muras to talk to as well."
"Would any of you have believed me?" Forzen challenged. "Would any of you have thought that my claim of another student in the school secretly being a venomfang? You didn't believe me during the fight, Master Almai, when I told you that the venomfang we were fighting was Eleizen, one of your own students. It's such an insane, ridiculous claim, that even you, who has been unashamedly on my side ever since I came here, did not initially believe me."
"Forzen, I—" Muras started.
"No, Muras. He's right," Master Almai interrupted, holding up a paw to silence the older purple dragon. "I questioned him when he said it during the fight. I didn't believe him. Even as she started speaking about herself taking on Eleizen's name, I refused to accept it. I doubt you would have either; you probably would have thought him crazy. Any of the others around this table, even more so, to varying degrees."
"I hate to say it, but Master Almai's right," Ash said. "You two, as well as Torialis, are probably Forzen's biggest supporters right now. And if one of you couldn't accept it, I highly doubt the other two would as well."
"You don't know that, Ash! I might have!" Muras exclaimed.
"Might have. The evidence is clear now, but it wasn't before the fight happened," Ash challenged. "If Forzen had come to any of us instead of trying to coax the venomfang out of her disguise, there would have been no evidence. She would still be walking around as a red-scaled teenager, blending in and trying to live a normal life. And if we questioned her, she would probably deny it. Or we'd put ourselves in a very dangerous position where we would make ourselves targets. We wouldn't know for sure if we were told without the knowledge of what we know now to be very obvious."
"So if she disguised herself as Eleizen, how did I never notice? I would have noticed if my best friend of seven years was a different dragon," Frostine murmured.
"Exactly; she was our daughter," Vala, Eleizen's mother, piped up, her voice wobbly and filled with emotion. "How in the ancestors' names would we not notice?"
"My guess is the venomfang can also read spirit traces. I think she read Eleizen's spirit trace and felt her personality through it, and pieced together how she needed to act to 'be' Eleizen," Forzen explained. "Then she spent her time learning who Eleizen's family and friends were and how to interact with them."
"Forzen, did the venomfang say anything else about Eleizen?" Torialis asked.
"She said she took on the name Eleizen, and was determined to spread around a fake story that the real Eleizen was a traitor, attacking her schoolmates and teachers, returning me back to Dark Peak, before returning home and, in her words, 'digging herself a grave'. I asked her if that meant she had killed the real Eleizen, and with the way she replied, I have a very good feeling she did."
Vala started to break down into tears, and she leaned into her mate Farim's shoulder. "What did she say?" Farim asked.
"Something along the lines of 'does it matter, no one will know the truth once everyone's dead'. She then claimed that she was Eleizen."
"So… our daughter is… she's dead?"
"I'm sorry, but I think so."
"Forzen, the venomfang said in her 'story' that Eleizen would 'return home and dig herself a grave', yes?" Torialis asked.
"Yeah, that was what she said."
"Is there a possibility her body might be at home?"
"Potentially."
"Farim and Vala, I know this is asking a lot of you, but would you be able to take us back to your place to investigate?"
"What? As in right now?" Farim asked.
"Yes. I believe it might help bring some closure to the situation, especially to fill in the unknown of what happened to your daughter after the venomfang took on her likeness to disguise herself," Torialis said. "Anyone else is free to come, but if you'd prefer to stay as to not potentially see what we might find, I'll leave Lagenon here to supervise anyone else wanting to stay."
"Does anyone want to stay?" Lagenon asked.
"I… I'm scared of what we might find, but… I need to know what happened to my best friend," Frostine whimpered.
"I will be going; I need to know if one of our students has passed or not," Master Hyrath said, his voice grim.
The others just nodded and mumbled in agreement. Fjor'gand was a lot more reluctant to go, mainly because he didn't feel like he needed to, but since he knew he wasn't going to be released early, and he didn't want to be left alone with Lagenon, he just shrugged and grumbled behind his muzzle in a tone of 'I may as well'.
So, they all found themselves on their way to Larim and Vala's home… Eleizen's home. They walked in silence, a grim air around them. Larim was whispering softly to Vala; Forzen tried his best not to eavesdrop, his sound element picking up a few of their words. Larim was whispering words of comfort to his wife, as they prepared themselves for the possibility that they might see their dead child buried in their backyard.
Forzen felt awful for Larim and Vala. This was a situation no one deserved to be in. Everyone already had a strong idea of what the outcome would be, but no one was prepared to see it. Forzen already felt awful for traumatising everyone from the state he had left the venomfang in. While he knew he wouldn't be at fault for what happened to the real Eleizen, he still felt responsible since the venomfang who killed her was here to recapture him. If he wasn't here, she wouldn't be here either, and Eleizen wouldn't be dead.
The last thing he wanted to see was a dead body, particularly one who had fallen to the mercy of a venomfang. The only thing he could picture were the worst things his mind could think of. He tried not to focus on those awful, gory images, but he knew this would be the only way to prepare himself for what he would see. There was no light way around it: the real Eleizen was likely dead, mutilated, and had been rotting in that state from anywhere between one or two days to three weeks, since Forzen had gotten here.
Finally, they made their way to Farim and Vala's home, where they were greeted by another fire dragon. She was four years old, and very excited to see Farim and Vala, until she saw the state they were in. "Mummy? Daddy? What's wrong? Who are all these dragons?" the youngling asked.
"Kaida! Slow down!" an ice dragoness panted as she ran up from inside the house to greet them; Forzen guessed that she was a babysitter for Kaida.
"Aileena, can you please take Kaida out to the park or the markets?" Farim asked. "This is… probably something she shouldn't be around for."
"Farim? Vala? What's wrong?" Aileena asked.
"Not now. Please, just… take Kaida out for the rest of the day. I don't know how long this will take," Vala pleaded, trying to keep her tears in. "Just… spend the rest of the day outside please."
"I… okay. Come on, Kaida. We're going to the park."
"Yay! I love the park!" Kaida cheered, bouncing up and down where she stood.
Aileena lowered herself down to the ground. "Quickly, on my back," she said.
"I can ride on your back?!"
"Yes, you can."
Kaida let out a squeal of delight, before climbing up Aileena's legs and sitting herself down on the ice dragoness' back between the back of her neck and her wing shoulders. With that, Aileena made her way out of the house, jogging towards one of the nearby parks a few blocks down.
Forzen watched as Kaida looked back at the rest of the group that was with her parents, and Forzen could briefly hear Kaida's next remark as they started to move out of earshot. "Ancestors, it's the scary purple dragon kid!" Kaida exclaimed.
"Shush, Kaida!" Aileena snapped, almost sounding fearful as if she herself had just noticed Forzen's presence there as well.
Forzen felt sick. Now this young girl was supposed to be told later on that her older sister was dead and wasn't coming back. This young girl, who was so pure and full of joy and innocence, was about to have that taken away from her. He didn't know Kaida, or the relationship she had with Eleizen, but Forzen knew that usually siblings were pretty close. He felt awful, knowing that this young girl had one of the closest people in her life ripped away from her, never to come back.
"Alright, this way. We'll take you to the backyard," Farim said, leading the large group of dragons through the house and into the backyard.
It wasn't a super impressive backyard. It was small and empty, and the grass was pretty dry, but it was enough for a small group of dragons to hangout and for some small kids to play around in. However, Forzen knew that this backyard potentially had some dark secrets hidden in it: the corpse of a twelve-year-old.
Torialis, Master Almai and Muras began to patrol the backyard, using their earth element to try and sense anything underneath the ground. Master Hyrath stayed back, mainly to keep watch over Fjor'gand as the younger earth dragon fidgeted with irritation, scratching at the muzzle around his face that he couldn't seem to get off. It didn't take long before Muras stopped, and he choked, trying to hold back tears.
"I found her."
Vala cursed, tears spilling down her face once more. Farim gasped, and even he was struggling to hold his composure now. Master Almai made his way to Muras, helping him as he proceeded to gently dig the body up, while Torialis made his way over to the two grieving parents. "You don't have to look if you don't want to," he told them gently. "If you want to stay here, that's fine."
"No. I want to see my baby. I don't care what she's like, I need to see her one last time," Vala sobbed, taking a hesitant step forward.
"I'm here, honey. I'm here," Farim whispered to her softly as he followed her.
Frostine found herself rushing over towards the hole, also crying. Forzen hesitated, before slowly walking over as well, however he kept his distance as to not get in the way of the grieving parents and best friend of Eleizen.
Muras and Master Almai gasped as they uncovered her. "Yup, that's a venomfang's kill. She's been dead for about a week," Master Almai murmured.
Vala finally broke down, unable to hold her composure. She stepped back as Muras and Master Almai reached in and slowly lifted Eleizen's body out of the ground, before sitting down and crying uncontrollably, her husband sitting down beside her and holding her tightly, also crying. Frostine also gasped with horror, before bursting into tears as well.
Forzen felt sick once Eleizen's body came up above the ground, getting placed beside the hole they had dug her out of. Her mouth hung open in a silent scream, her snout indented from what was probably an earth muzzle similar to the one Fjor'gand was wearing right now. Her flesh was grey, and her face was rotten and mangled, the red scales completely melted away to expose the flesh. Dark, crusted blood streamed from her grey, lifeless eyes and the corners of her mouth, and the flesh around her eyes had peeled back significantly, exposing more eyeball than was normal. The flesh drooped around her cheeks, and the inside of her mouth was decorated with black spots and holes, almost as if she had taken a glob of poison to the mouth. She had so many holes in her mouth that it looked like her throat forked into three, the flesh in the back of her throat drooping and sticking to other parts of her mouth.
She had also been sprayed with poison across her chest as well, the scales also missing around her chest, exposing flesh with holes in it that showed her ribs. Inside her ribcage, her heart had shrivelled, and her lungs had melted quite badly. One of her arms was raised up to her chest, and another brought up to the side of her head. Dark blood was crusted around her claws on both paws. The one raised to her chest was still claws-deep in the flesh.
There was a slit to Eleizen's throat as well, although with the amount of damage the poison had done to her body, Forzen knew that the slit was just venomfang-Eleizen having fun.
"That dent in her snout is likely from an earth muzzle that was way too tight," Master Almai murmured, stepping away from the body with fear. "And she was buried so well; I wouldn't have even thought this part of the yard had been dug up and a body put inside it."
"She would've had to have an earth dragon with her. But… how is that possible?" Muras asked.
"The Dark Assassin Corps," Forzen and Cynder said at the same time, surprising them both.
After a brief moment of shock, Cynder continued. "They were the ones behind the attack at Typhaar. Children, the same age as her, raised the same way I was, trained only to kill. It's possible that Eleizen—the venomfang Eleizen, that is—brought one with her, an earth dragon, to help silence Eleizen and bury her after she died."
"It's barbaric, it's horrible, it's… it's… evil!" Vala wailed. "How could any dragon do this? How could anyone do this to my baby?!"
"It's like you said. It's evil," Forzen said. "Only a creature of pure evil could even think of doing something like this, and that's exactly what I felt from the venomfang."
"Torialis," Master Hyrath piped up. "Fjor'gand would like to talk if that's okay."
The earth guardian looked over to Fjor'gand, before sighing and using his earth element to let the earth muzzle fall away from his mouth. "Alright, speak," Torialis said.
"So… everything you said at school yesterday… everything that happened… it was all real?" Fjor'gand asked.
"Are… are you asking me?" Forzen asked.
"Yes, I'm talking to you, Forzen! Now answer me when I speak to you!" Fjor'gand snapped, using the line he had used on Forzen many times over the past three weeks, however he didn't sound anywhere near as confident this time.
"Yes. Everything I said was all real."
"Everything you did was real?"
"Yes."
"So, you… you protected us?"
An awkward silence filled the backyard. Even Vala's loud wailing had subsided, and she looked at Forzen with surprise. Forzen looked around, noticing Frostine recalling how close she was to also being poisoned, Frélix look at him with a newfound respect, Muras and Master Almai looking at him proudly, and both Cynder and Fjor'gand struggling to come to the realisation that maybe Forzen did have a good heart.
"Yes."
Fjor'gand visibly flinched the moment Forzen said that one word. Forzen watched the young earth dragon battling himself internally about it. "No. No, that can't be true. You can't have fought that monster, to protect us, right? It's not possible," Fjor'gand stammered.
"But it is."
"It can't be! You can't have a pure heart after being raised by Spyro and living in Dark Peak for twelve years! You can't possibly have good intentions when you bear Spyro's elements and his colours."
"What if I do?"
"It can't last forever, right? It didn't last forever with Spyro. He didn't even make it a decade out of the Dark War before he turned dark and started a new one."
"Fjor'gand, watch yourself," Torialis warned.
"I'm not trying to be antagonistic! I know it's hard to believe me but I swear I'm not! I'm just… I'm confused, I'm scared, I don't know how to feel about… about him—" Fjor'gand exclaimed, pointing with a shaky claw towards Forzen. "—looking out for me, for us! I don't know how I feel about him being good!"
"You'd prefer him to be evil?" Muras questioned.
"Yes? No? I don't know!"
"You just want him to seem bad in your eyes so that he 'deserves' all of the hatred and violence you give him," Master Almai accused. "I still remember what you did on his first day in school."
"I DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL!" Fjor'gand screamed, and Forzen was beyond shocked to see him starting to shed tears.
"Fjor'gand…" Torialis said gently, but with a loud yelp, Fjor'gand turned and ran off, spreading out his wings and flying out of the backyard and away from them.
"Well, that went well," Cynder murmured with a roll of her eyes.
"Cynder, now's not the time for sarcasm," Muras said gently.
"You don't have the right to scold me," she snapped back aggressively.
"I'm not. I'm saying this as a friend. Everyone's already at an emotional high due to… everything happening right now," the older purple dragon murmured, briefly glancing down at Eleizen's rotten corpse. "We don't need anything else adding to it. Please."
"Fine, I guess so…"
"If I may say anything," Forzen piped up, turning to Farim and Vala. "I want to say I am awfully sorry for how all this turned out. I wish I could have stopped Eleizen from being killed, but unfortunately I couldn't protect her the way I did her friends. I've seen enough dragons die around me recently, and it always hurts to see more go down, particularly younger dragons, dragons with families who love them and care for them. I just hope that it brings you comfort knowing that I brought justice to the monster that killed her."
"I… I'm sure I speak for Vala as well as myself, but… I… I don't know how I feel about it," Farim replied, and Forzen's heart sunk in his chest. "We've heard of you being here, and we've always been cautious of you. Even now, we are. I appreciate that you feel sorry and tried to look out for her friends and schoolmates, but… I also heard about how badly you mutilated that venomfang."
"She was a venomfang doing Spyro's bidding. She deserves no mercy or empathy," Forzen said bluntly. "I'm sorry to be so forward about it, but that's truly how I feel. I've seen those monsters in action, and they are the real devilspawn. Those are the creatures that the Dark Overlord created for murder and torture and endless violence."
"I know, but… you've got to think about everyone else who was there. I know I haven't seen the extent of your carnage, but from what I've heard it was horrific, and you did that in front of other kids, either your age or a little older. Yes, they've lived through sieges and all that before, but the majority of them probably haven't seen so much carnage so close before, particularly committed by someone that they fear an extreme amount."
"I have to agree," Master Almai said. "While I was impressed and commend your fighting skills, particularly having never seen you against a foe like that, watching you adapt and learn how to fight her, I can't help but think of everyone else who watched that. I'm sure you would have noticed, but even I was scared, and you know I haven't been all that afraid of you at all since I started teaching you. The dexterity you have with your elements is incredible and a force to be reckoned with, and you have incredible power behind your skill as well.
"When everyone fears you the way they are, seeing that is only going to make it worse. They know what you're capable of. You might see it as protecting them and taking down a foe who deserved it, but others are going to see it as you mercilessly slaughtering someone that you hate. If they think you hate them because of the prejudice they've put onto you, they will start to fear what you might do to them. I think that's what's happening to Fjor'gand right now. You saw just how scared he was."
"Yeah… yeah, I did. I never thought about it like that…" Forzen mumbled sadly, staring down at his paws, the very paws he used to manipulate the wind that tore that venomfang's head off her neck.
"Would it be possible if… if you guys all left now? Particularly the two… purple dragons?" Vala murmured.
"Sure. We'll all give you time to grieve," Torialis said with a nod. "We can find a place to store Eleizen's body while you sort out where you would like her to be buried."
"No. We'll keep her here," Farim replied. "Our family line, for centuries and centuries, has always believed that it was more respectful for a fire dragon to be cremated, to return them to the element they were born from. Eleizen was also a firm believer of this. I would like to spend a few last moments with my daughter alone with my wife, before delivering her back to her element."
"I understand. I wish you both the best. I pray for peace and hope among you two and your younger daughter," Torialis replied, before turning to the rest of the group. "Alright everyone, let's go."
The rest of them turned and made their way back through Farim and Vala's house, returning to the main streets. "Alright everyone, I think this meeting is complete now. I think we've uncovered everything we can about what happened to the real Eleizen, as well as coming to a consensus on what happened during the fight at the Academy," Torialis said. "You may all head home. Farewell."
With that, the guardians turned and made their way back to the Warfang Temple. Master Hyrath and Master Almai returned to the school. Cynder just huffed before bursting into the air, heading towards the barracks. Forzen, Muras and Frostine were stood in the streets alone. Forzen suddenly felt very awkward, seeing the ice dragoness standing a few steps away from him. She turned to him with a terrified expression, but Forzen swore he could sense a gleam of gratefulness in her eyes.
"I, um… thank you… for saving me from being poisoned yesterday," Frostine murmured quietly and slowly.
"You're welcome," Forzen said.
Frostine just studied him for a few moments, as if trying to tell if he was genuine, before she nodded and spread her wings, flying off in the direction of her home.
"We should probably head home too; you've had a big few days," Muras suggested.
"That sounds good. I just want to go home and be by myself. Had too much tension and fighting with other people over the last two days," Forzen replied.
"So, what are your thoughts on everything that was said today? What are your thoughts on Forzen?" Almai asked Hyrath as they walked back towards the Warfang Academy.
Hyrath sighed, hesitating for a bit, and Almai didn't know what he was about to say. He couldn't read him. It didn't take long for him to finally respond, but his voice and expression was so blank, Almai didn't know if he really meant it.
"Better than they used to be," Hyrath murmured.
"How so?" Almai asked, pressing a bit further.
"I've been wary of him since he had the tour of the school grounds. I wouldn't say I hated him, but I definitely didn't like him. I only went out of my way to 'protect' him so that it wouldn't start any unnecessary fights and make other kids feel safe to bully and beat up others, because I know it would go beyond just the purple dragon if we let it get too far," Hyrath explained. "Besides, you saw what those bullies did to him on his first day of school. I only saw the incident report, but even just reading what happened angered me.
"But, seeing how he cares for others, even if they despise him, and will protect them when they're in trouble from creatures he grew up with, creatures that most think he would side with… it's made me think more on his true intentions. It almost feels too real for it to be faked. Maybe Forzen really is a good person with a pure heart. Maybe he isn't a dragon to be feared."
"He's really not," Almai replied. "He's scared to fight others in class, and doesn't want to hurt everyone, and he's really polite. He's also just… very scared and shy, so he doesn't interact much."
"I know, I've definitely noticed that," Hyrath agreed, making Almai smile slightly. "It's a lot for a dragon like him to take in, being in a new city, new home, his first school, and particularly when all the students hate him so much… when all the other grown citizens hate him so much too."
"I wonder if there's a way we can help everyone grow to like him a bit more."
"I'm not sure. Because even if people realise he's good, there's still a lot of fear surrounding him. It was like what Fjor'gand said. Spyro didn't last long being good-hearted before he decided to pursue darkness. What if Forzen makes that same decision? What if Forzen turns dark and betrays everyone who believed him to be good? Take in mind what you told Forzen earlier as well: people will fear what he will do to them because they fear that he hates them for what they've done to him. That display of raw skill and power from someone as young and untrained as him is scary. It will scare anyone, even someone like Cynder."
"I… I guess you're right."
It didn't take long before they arrived back at the school. Walking into the main courtyard was a snap back to reality as they saw dragons and moles cleaning up the courtyard from the green blood and gore, as well as the large amounts of venom that had been sprayed all over it the day before. Underneath the puddles of venom, it had corroded into the concrete bricks and the gardens, leaving behind some large holes in the ground.
In a large metal container was the body of the venomfang that Forzen had slain, her mangled face peering up over the top of the bin. Almai assumed the body would later be burned. He shivered as he looked at it, trying not to think about the events of last night too much. It had traumatised him enough already, as had seeing Eleizen's mutilated corpse. Sure, he had spent years in the military, and he had seen some awful things, but what happened yesterday had really shaken him quite badly.
He was just thankful, throughout all of that, that Forzen was on their side. He had a good feeling that Forzen would absolutely annihilate him in a proper all-out battle. Even with his size and experience advantage, Forzen had him beat with skill and power, and he had way more elements at his disposal too. Not only that, but he had beaten a venomfang, which was a feat even most adult dragons couldn't say they could do. And he had been able to take the time to toy with the venomfang before killing her, whether he intended to do that or not.
Almai wondered just how strong Forzen was. What would he be like when he grows older? He would be an unstoppable force.
Maybe we need someone like him as an ally. I don't think we can beat Spyro without someone like him, he thought. I know we have Cynder but I think he even has her beat.
It was crazy to think of the possibility of how much power Forzen had, and how much skill and control he had over his elements. He had never heard of using the wind element to catch elemental attacks in the air before, for example. That was something Cynder had never done before. Then there was the way he used wind manipulation: prying a dragon's neck apart with it, after supercharging an earth missile to become a deadly bullet. Almai winced remembering it was his earth missile. He shuddered at the thought of helping create such a deadly weapon.
"You okay, Almai?" Hyrath asked.
"Yeah, I'm just… thinking," Almai murmured.
Hyrath followed Almai's gaze; he was still looking at the large metal container that held the venomfang's corpse. He sighed. "That was a full-on fight. And a rather worrying one too," Hyrath said. "I'm just glad no one else died from it. I would hate to be losing more children and putting them all at risk."
"I'm just glad it's over. I was actually really scared; I've been so out of practice from fighting venomfangs that I was sure I was going to get killed. I'm just glad Cynder was there to help when I got poisoned," Almai murmured, reaching up to his neck, which had a few scars on it from where the venomfang had bit him and injected him with venom. "I'll be honest, I don't know what was scarier, the venomfang or Forzen."
"I only caught the end of it, and even though I will say I'm leaning more towards liking Forzen now, I would still answer Forzen. That feat was astounding for a dragon of his age, let alone to cause as much carnage as he did on a foe so deadly and with so many more advantages than him."
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way," Almai murmured.
"Anyway, I think you should head home," Hyrath suggested. "School's out for the day so it's not like you have classes to teach. Besides, you've had a massive two days, given the fight yesterday, and the meeting today, not to mention poor Eleizen's body being buried inside her backyard."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to try and draft up some letters to each of the parents of the students in the school. There's no doubt that word has spread about the venomfang attack and Forzen slaughtering her, and I am certain that many parents are scared for their child's safety here, particularly with Forzen around. I want to try and send out letters to everyone to try and ease that."
"Oh. Okay, well I wish you good luck with that."
"Thanks. Ancestors know I'll need it."
With that, Hyrath left, and Almai turned and made his way out of the schoolgrounds, walking slowly back home. Even after all the thinking he had done today and yesterday, he still returned to his thoughts once more, thinking over and over about everything that had happened over the last two days. The fight, the gore, the slaying of the venomfang, pulling out Eleizen's body from the ground and watching her parents break down in grief… it all came rushing back to him.
As he thought about it, he realised he hadn't even told his wife about what had happened. She had asked him about the bruises, the thin scabs running along his body, the scarring around his neck, but he had just told her that he would tell her later. He hadn't felt like talking about it while he himself was still trying to process what had just happened, and he also didn't feel like he was allowed to tell her quite yet.
"Home already?" his wife, Kyliss asked when he walked in the front door.
"Yeah, school was cancelled today. I went in for a meeting with Hyrath and the guardians," Almai explained.
"Is this about what happened yesterday?"
"Yeah."
"Are you able to talk about it now?"
Almai knew it would be a good idea to, but… he was scared to. He stood there, looking at her, struggling to make a decision. He watched as Kyliss sighed sadly, standing up from the rug she was lying on, before nuzzling him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Please, Almai. I'm worried. You came home covered in scars and bruises yesterday, which I know isn't normal for a teacher," Kyliss said, and the fear in her voice made Almai's heart sink.
"I… sure. Let's sit down."
Almai guided Kyliss back to the rug she had been lying down on earlier, before they both sat down on it, looking at each other. Almai's gaze briefly went down to her large belly, their first ever egg forming inside her. He suddenly felt the fear from yesterday all over again. All the emotion from today hit him even harder. He had been so happy to finally bring another life into the world, to finally have a child of his own, that he didn't even think about what type of world he was bringing this child into.
He saw the grief-stricken faces of Farim and Vala again, seeing their daughter's week-old corpse in front of them, left in a state of gruesome decay. As much as he wanted to avoid doing so, he ended up putting himself in their paws. His child wasn't even out of its mother's body yet, but already he had felt such a strong connection to it that the moment he thought of it in the same condition as Eleizen, he found himself in tears. He found himself able to contain his sobs, but his tears slipped with ease from his eyes.
"Almai. What happened?" Kyliss pleaded. "You're worrying me."
So, he explained to her about the venomfang attack, about how he'd gotten poisoned and was very lucky to have Cynder there or he would have died. He told her about how the venomfang disguised herself as Eleizen, and how they spent the last part of the meeting today trying to find Eleizen's body in her own backyard.
"Almai, I'm scared," Kyliss whimpered, shuffling forward to get close to him.
Almai wrapped his wings around her protectively, stroking her back with a gentle paw. He rested his chin on her forehead, and he winced as he felt her trembling in fear.
"I know. I am too," Almai whispered.
"That new purple dragon you teach already scares me; hearing he can do that terrifies me even more."
"He's a good dragon, Kyliss, trust me."
"I'm trying; I've been trying since you first said that to me, but… I'm still scared of him. And then there's the venomfang attack, and that dead girl… Almai, what world are we bringing our child into?"
Almai looked down at her stomach again, and he reached down to put a large, protective paw over the top of her belly, over the top of their child.
"I don't know. But just know that I will do everything in my power to protect our child from Spyro's forces of evil. I will do whatever I can to make sure that it is safe. You can trust me on that."
"So, what happened at the meeting?" Takeila, Fjor'gand's nineteen-year-old sister asked him.
"I don't want to talk about it," Fjor'gand scowled as he walked into the house.
"You were the one going on about how much control you were going to have over the meeting, being there for the entire fight, right? Don't tell me you couldn't make them believe your side of the story?"
"Well my side of the story was wrong!"
"That's absolute dung, since when has anyone in our family been wrong about anything?"
"Maybe now!"
"Okay, now you really gotta tell me what happened."
"I don't have to tell you anything! It wasn't your meeting!"
"When it involves my younger brother coming home like this, I think I deserve to know," Takeila growled, walking up to him and staring down at him.
"Takeila, just leave me alone already!" Fjor'gand screamed.
Her paw flashed upwards, slapping him across the side of the face. "You don't get to scream at me like that!" Takeila growled.
"Make me stop, then!" Fjor'gand challenged, before spitting on her paw.
All hell broke loose as Takeila tackled Fjor'gand to the ground, reaching forward and placing a heavy paw on his face, pushing it into the ground. He thrashed about underneath her, screaming bloody murder, but with her placing all her weight on him, he was unable to do much to get her off him.
"Okay, that's enough!" a rougher voice snarled, and their mother came storming around the corner.
Takeila quickly stepped off Fjor'gand, but their mother still proceeded to give Takeila her own slap across the face. Fjor'gand tried to get up to his paws, but his mother slapped him across the face too. "Mum, what was that for?!" Fjor'gand exclaimed.
"For starting it," their mother scowled.
"What?! But Takeila attacked first!"
"You spat on her!"
"She still slapped me before that!"
"You antagonised her!"
"She antagonised me as well!"
"You didn't answer her very simple question!"
Fjor'gand wanted so badly to scream, yell, or even hit her. Instead, he also spat at his mother's paws, before whirling around and storming off to his room. "You go up there, you disgusting pig, and you're stuck in there for the rest of the night without dinner!" his mother threatened.
"See if I care! I don't want food anyway!" Fjor'gand snapped.
He slammed his door shut behind him. He then heard his mother on the other side of the room cursing behind her breath, before he heard her put up a thick layer of earth around the door. He then heard his older sister walk up to his door and giggle mockingly. "Enjoy starvation, you little brat," she teased.
"I said I'm not hungry!" Fjor'gand shouted. "If you want to mock me, make sure it's for something that actually matters!"
"Takeila, away from him! Now!" came the voice of their mother from down the hall.
"Seriously, Mum?" Takeila groaned.
"Yes, now get away or I'll lock you in your room for tonight too!"
"Ugh, fine."
With that, his older sister was finally gone. Thank the ancestors for that. He made his way to his bed, slumping down on it with a huff, looking out at the window. It was nearing the end of the day now as the city began to glow gold under the near-sunset sky. He had spent most of the afternoon sitting alone in a park trying to figure out his emotions after he had run off from Eleizen's place.
This was why he didn't rush straight home after leaving the meeting early. His family had quite an ugly personality. His father, Marguul, was prideful and scornful, like most ice dragons. Marguul was always out working. Their mother, Farati, was a rough and somewhat violent earth dragoness, who thoroughly disliked being a stay-at-home mother. The moment her kids were old enough to both be going to school was a massive relief for her.
Their parents didn't really seem to care about them; they only had kids because they felt like they had to, because it was something society seemed to constantly push onto couples, particularly since they had both been mates for seventy years before they finally had Takeila. Both their parents were in their hundreds, making them much older first-time parents than normal—usually dragons had their first clutches between their twenties to fifties.
Growing up, Fjor'gand and Takeila had grown hateful of their parents, but also hateful towards each other. They never liked each other, and were always fighting and making fun of each other. She said she 'looked after him', but he had no idea how much of it was forced onto her by their parents, or how much of it was just her saying that to get a sense of ownership over him.
Being around his family had shaped him into such a hateful, aggressive dragon who loved to pick fights and win, always trying to one-up everyone and come up on top. So, moments like what happened today made him feel awful, ashamed, and depressed. He was proven wrong. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew it.
He could never show his family how he really felt about today. He had never felt so much fear and confusion before. Those emotions were unbecoming of someone from his family. He knew he would get absolutely berated for feeling so afraid, and probably even beaten by Farati, to try and whip the fear out of him. Only anger was acceptable.
Spending time in the park alone was good, but he still couldn't deal with what he was feeling. Everyone was watching him. Everyone knew him as the angry, scary dragon from school, who everyone feared and who everyone submitted to. He couldn't be seen as the one afraid. He couldn't be seen out of control. He had mainly spent the time there trying to cool down and distance himself from his emotions, but even as he walked home, he could feel them lying dormant.
The moment he was locked into his room, he finally felt like he could address them. The full weight of the emotions hit him, and he almost collapsed as he felt the fear hit him full force. The images of Forzen tearing apart that venomfang so seamlessly entered into his mind again. The moras'tov was truly a demon in disguise. No normal dragon should be able to have that much power or skill with their elements at the age of twelve. It was beyond unnatural, and it was terrifying.
Fjor'gand remembered feeling the hatred seeping from Forzen when he looked at that venomfang. He shuddered. Was that what Forzen would do to those he hated? Was turning Forzen into his punching bag making the moras'tov hate him?
Would he be next? Would he be subject to the same treatment as the venomfang?
His paw reached up to his throat, rubbing it tenderly as if to see if it was still there. He winced as he thought of that earth missile, shooting at high speeds in and out of the venomfang's neck repeatedly. He thought of the way those claws reached out to manipulate the wind, ripping off the venomfang's head.
Do I keep trying to kill him, or do I stop? He needs to die so he can't hurt anyone else, but what if he grows so much hate for me that he fights back and kills me first? Fjor'gand thought. I don't know what to do.
He thought about his question to Forzen earlier, and his response.
So you… you protected us?
Yes.
That confused Fjor'gand to no end. Why would Forzen do that? Was there some sort of evil ulterior motive? Was the moras'tov playing mind tricks on Fjor'gand? Was he trying to deceive him to make him believe that he wasn't a bad person? Was this Forzen's way of drawing Fjor'gand in close to kill him when he least expects it?
It's gotta be something like one of those options, right? There's no way he could have looked out for us from the good of his heart, Fjor'gand thought. He's Spyro's son. He's evil. And if he's not now, he will be later. That's exactly what happened with Spyro. I don't trust him to stay good.
And the moment he turns evil and everyone starts complaining or hiding away in fear, I will laugh because I was right, and no one believed me. That moras'tov needs to die. I swear I will kill him eventually.
His fear and confusion finally returned to hatred, an emotion he was much more comfortable with. He felt at home in hatred and anger. It felt awful, yet good at the same time. It was strange. Maybe it was because it was all he knew? Maybe it was because that's all his parents ever gave to him? Either way, Fjor'gand didn't care. He just wanted Forzen gone.
"Dear ancestors, please welcome and accept Eleizen's spirit, as we dedicate her to you in death," Farim prayed. "Please forgive us for not committing her spirit to you sooner, as we were fooled by the forces of evil and tricked into thinking she was still alive."
"We pray that you would provide her with safety and love and understanding, all the things we gave her, and that she will know that even though she isn't here anymore, we are still thinking of her," Vala added, her voice wobbling from her sobs. "We thank you for all the time we got to spend with our lovely daughter. She will be strongly missed."
"We also pray that you help give us the strength to tell Kaida later on. She deserves to know that her sister who she loves so much is never coming back. We also pray that you help give her the strength to get through this. She loved Eleizen so much, probably even more than we loved her, and… it hurts to know that she won't have her beloved sister anymore."
"Ancestors, please help us get through this," Vala sobbed, finally giving into her tears.
Vala felt Farim wrap his wing around her softly, before bringing her in close for a strong hug. They sat there in the embrace for a few moments, before Farim finally let go and stood up, walking a bit closer to the altar which they had Eleizen's body laid on top of. "Safe travels to the afterlife, my little girl," Farim whispered, before breathing fire all over Eleizen.
They watched as their daughter's body burned in the golden light of the sunset. They watched as her body was reduced to ashes, the fire from her father's breath so hot and strong that it even turned her bones into dust.
Soon, she was gone.
When the fire started to die down, revealing an empty altar with ashes covering the top of it, Vala broke down into tears once more. This time, Farim joined her, his sobs shaking his body.
Grief washed over them so strongly that they didn't realise Kaida and Aileena had returned from their day at the park until Kaida had sat down next to Vala, resting her head on her mother's arm.
"Oh, Kaida! You're back home!" Vala exclaimed, hastily wiping her eyes.
"Mummy? Why are you and Daddy crying?" Kaida asked innocently.
Vala turned to Aileena, who stood behind them all, looking quite awkward. "You may go now, we've got this from here," Vala said.
"Thanks. Don't worry about payment. Given the situation, I'll do today for free," the babysitter said with a soft smile, gesturing towards the altar as she had a strong feeling what had happened.
"You sure about that?" Farim asked.
"Yes. Anyway, um… my condolences. I'm sorry this happened."
Farim and Vala didn't get a chance to say 'thank you' to Aileena before the eighteen-year-old ice dragoness turned and walked back out towards the front door and leaving.
"So, Kaida… I don't… I don't know how best to tell you, but… something awful has happened recently," Vala murmured as she looked down at Kaida, placing her paw gently around the tiny dragoness.
"Is that why you and Daddy are crying?" Kaida asked.
"Yes," Farim said, making his way over towards his mate and daughter, getting close to them. "It involves Eleizen."
"Eleizen? What happened to her?"
"She's… she's gone."
"Gone? Where did she go?"
"She went to a special place. She went to go live with the ancestors."
"The ancestors?"
"Yes. You know the old spirits from past generations who look after us? Those are called the ancestors," Vala explained.
"But Eleizen isn't old. Why did she go to them? Why is she living with them? Was she not happy living with us?"
"Kaida," Vala choked, hating having to explain all this to her now. "I want you to know that she was very happy living here. She loved us, and she loved you. You were very special to your older sister, don't you forget that."
"Then why did she go?"
"Because… because…"
Vala burst into tears again. She couldn't verbalise it. She couldn't tell Kaida. No matter how much she knew she needed to. She couldn't bring herself to let the words out. Farim came to her rescue as he finished her sentence.
"Because she died, Kaida. She's not alive anymore. And when someone dies, they leave this world to go and live in peace with the ancestors," Farim explained. "The sad thing is, it means we won't ever see her again. She isn't coming back."
"She's not? Why? Doesn't she love us?" Kaida whimpered, tears brimming her large eyes.
"She does. So much. But unfortunately, that's just how this works. She died, and you can't bring back someone from the dead."
Kaida looked back and forth between Farim and Vala. Her face contorted with sadness, and the tears began to spill down her cheeks. "So… I'll never get to see Eleizen again?" Kaida sobbed.
"No," Vala breathed, her heart aching.
"I'm so sorry," Farim whispered.
Kaida didn't have any more words to say. She just started crying. Vala laid down and pulled Kaida up against her chest. Kaida leaned into her mother's embrace, clinging onto her chest firmly with tiny claws and crying to her heart's content. Farim sighed, getting in close and wrapping his mate and daughter in his own embrace.
As they all lay together crying, they all felt a soft whisper touch their hearts.
Goodbye. I love you.
It was Eleizen.
So the events of the last chapter have messed everyone up lol, and we get a bit more of a look into Almai and Fjor'gand's lives too. I almost wasn't going to have the sections with Almai, Fjor'gand and Eleizen's family at the end, but I thought it would be nice to actually go a bit deeper into their minds regarding this. Was almost going to have Frostine as well but I couldn't think of how to make a section with her stand out from Eleizen's family (since they're both dealing with grief). There will be more of Frostine later, but I didn't think it worked here.
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Dragon of Mystery: Glad to hear you liked the fight lol, I'd been hyping myself up to write the last chapter for so long, it feels good to finally have it written and up here (much sooner than I thought, I honestly expected to take a few years to get to this point of the story but I've just been cranking this story out so fast lol). And ye, that revelation doesn't spell anything good for Forzen (or Warfang lol).
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Thanks everyone for reading, and I've actually already started the next chapter, so hopefully I'll have the next one ready soon! See you all later and have a great day/night!