The remaining of the day passed rather quickly for the dragons of Warfang. In fact, after getting their much needed rest, elder Orm offered to begin the tour of the city before dinner time. He narrated how the first group of dragons found this place during their escape from the war many yeas ago and how the population began to grow, with new refugees arriving by the day during the worst periods of the conflict. Orm also told them how Earth dragons were fundamental in the building of the settlement, since the basaltic stone was so hard and with an high fusion temperature, it became necessary to directly manipulate it with Earth magic in order to simply mould it.

After dinner in the great hall, the group separated for the night, sure that they would continue their visit the following morning.

Meanwhile in the White Isle…

"This is troubling…"Thought the Chronicler as he paced back and forth the hourglass room, around him many tomes of various colours were floating in front of his muzzle, as he looked trough them frantically. He was indeed worried since he felt a weird energy surge coming from one of the books of dragons. Ignitus was still new to this kind of job and he still needed much time to browse all the various books in order to find the troublesome one. The energy felt familiar and it did stir some unsettling feelings in him. It was actually similar to the one he perceived after the battle in the eastern mountains, when his former colleagues went to save Spyro. In that time he felt completely lost in seeing what happened to his young pupil and what suffering he went trough. Even worse, he felt worthless and powerless in not being able to help him in any way. Alas, this was his new duty to carry on, being just a mere recorder of events. He just prayed that nothing bad would happen to the young dragons he was constantly watching on.

"Be safe young ones…" He said in his mind, as he continued his search of the book.

Morning came fast as soon as Spyro closed his eyes. It was nice to finally rest one full night with his belly full and a comfortable place to sleep near his partner. He looked around himself and, in seeing that there was light filtering from the tent that covered the entrance of their room, he deduced that was time to get up and begin their new day. He returned his gaze to the black dragoness sleeping beside him. She was so beautiful when asleep and to him it felt like a crime to wake her up and break her blissful rest. In the end he convinced himself that it was the best thing to be done, so he gently began to lick her neck, in order to at least wake her up with a pleasurable sensation. After few seconds her eyelids began to flutter and soon after they finally opened, revealing the two beautiful emerald gems that he loved so much. Once her senses began to work properly, she gasped at the blissful sensation of his tongue running on her neck.

"...Spyro? What are…Ahh!"A moan of pleasure escaped from her throat, as he approached the sensible scales near her choker.

"I…Just…Wanted to…wake you up…"He said while keeping his ascent towards her muzzle.

"In the best of the ways" He finally concluded, as he licked her nose. Their eyes locked for a second, before Cynder moved her snout to meet his own and lick his lips sensually. He purred deeply, making his chest cage vibe.

"Hmm, keep going like this and I'll make you lick more than just my neck."She teased playfully.

"Whatever you wish, my love."He said, with his gaze full of love and care. She loved him even more when he was like this. She posed her forehead to his, closing her eyes.

"I love you"She whispered.

"I love you too."He answered.

They stood huddled together like that for another couple of minutes, before they both got up from the bed and directed towards the external walkway to join with their friends. They both watched with curios eyes the number of dragons that flew in various directions across the crater, many landing in apposite perches and ledges that were positioned along the other rings. Some dragons disappeared behind the coloured tents of their dwellings, meanwhile others stopped to chat with friends. It was beautiful to see so much life in a seemingly abandoned place like this.

The group directed back to the great hall to eat a modest breakfast before continuing their tour of the new settlement.

That morning another elder came to guide the Warfangians dragons. It was an adult dragoness, with deep blue scales and white chest. Her wings membranes were also blue, with a series of small white dots that almost seemed like stars on an evening sky. A sinuous white crest descended from her back to the tip of her long tail. Her eyes where of a lustrous golden hue.

She landed gently in front of the doors of the great hall and greeted with the guests.

"Hello, my name is Aqua, I'm a councillor of the city along with Orm, which I'm sure you already met. I'll be you guide today."She said with a smooth voice. Spyro and his group bowed their heads in acknowledgment before following the way of the dragoness.

They began to move to the centre of the crater, where there was another wide circular opening.

"So, as you can see our city is built inside the caldera of a long dead volcano. We organised the structure to be in tiers, in order to have as much space as possible both in height and width. The dwelling are generally dug out from the basalt, which is promptly used to create supporting structures for the circular pathways you see around."She began, gesturing the various points of the city with her wings.

"That rampart where you landed yesterday is our line of protection agains the high-tide. It never happened that the water reached a threatening level, but we decided to totally eliminate the risk by building that wall."She continued, while she moved to the opening.

"This is the accessing point to the underside of our settlement, which also works as a rainwater collector. Follow me."She said, leaning to the edge and dropping herself in the hole. The others did as she said and one by one went down in the opening.

Spyro spread his wings in order to slow his descent and gently landed on the basalt floor of the cave. Once everybody arrived, he began to inspect his surroundings. His maw dropped, again, in awe.

They were indeed in an enormous cave which extended tens of metres in diameter and at least twenty in height. From the opening which they came in, a thick column of light was coming in, illuminating directly a big pool just underneath it. Around it there where a series of crystalline columns that were shining bright.

"So, this is what we consider the heart of the city. There, in the middle, there's our reservoir of water and those columns you see there are made of a special quartz which permit us to transmit part of the daylight around the caves."Continued the dragoness, always gesturing with her wings.

"From here we can access to various important places of the city, such as the infirmary, the storages of food, the mines and so on."She concluded.

From there the group began the exploration of the caves, with the guide of Aqua who promptly answered to all the questions they had. Volteer seemed the one who was most excited, since he was the one who asked the majority of the questions. Spyro instead listened with great care to what the dragoness said, marvelling each single room or detail he could take notice.

Meanwhile in the mines…

The earth adult was walking aimlessly for hours now, his paws ached but he didn't care. As matter of facts he couldn't feel anything aside the pounding voices in his head. Everything else was just a tingle, a sensation which he couldn't put his paws on. Not that he wanted or needed to. His only objective was to silence those voices. He had to do what they wanted him to do. He felt anger against this damned purple dragon, of which he didn't even remember the name.

Not that he cared.

It was his fault that the voices were tormenting him. They said it themselves. He had seen him the previous night in the great hall, before the beginning of his shift, he also had cheered for him.

Stupid ass.

"Kill him… Kill the purple…Kill…"The voices were constant, completely inebriating his hearing and his thoughts. They made a chaos which he couldn't stand for, making him feeling like his head was going to explode or other gory things.

Stupid kid.

His mother would say that a gentle-dragon should never speak curse words. He could almost hear her voice in the mess of whispers in his head. Yet, his mother had died two years before, and it was fault of the purple dragon. He heard his story, how he froze his sorry ass and the other killer with him in a crystal for three years in order to save himself.

Fucking coward.

He should had fought like anyone else and die like a real dragon, not hiding himself away from the war, while fucking Malefor ravaged the dragon-kind.

Mother was dead and it was his fucking fault.

"IT'S NEAR!"Exclaimed the voices all of a sudden, breaking his train of thoughts. He jolted on place, scanning his surroundings, in search of the purple whelp. He found himself in one of the major crossroads of the tunnels system. It was another wide cave with a tunnel for each important place down there, like the infirmary or the mines, where he was coming from. In between his fellow citizens that were walking quickly from one side to another he noticed that damned streak of purple scales.

Fucking finally.

"KILL HIM….KILL…"The voices where louder now, assuming a more masculine and distorted tone. He grinned. The dragon began to charge an earth missile, but before he could release it, he stopped. Only a coward strikes the enemy from distance. A real dragon would challenge face to face his enemy. So he crouched low, shifting his weight to the back leg, reading himself to sprint.

"KILL!"A now single voice hissed again.

He charged.

Cynder was trying to listen with all herself, but her attention was beginning fade away each time the dragoness opened her maw.

"This is one of the major crossroad of our underground tunnels. From here we can return to the main reservoir chamber or direct to one of the important places that we visited earlier…."

Her words blurred away, mixing with the low background noise composed by chattering and numerous paw steps. She looked around herself curios about the place, until she heard a set of paw steps approaching rapidly. She turned to the direction of the noise, only to see a big earth dragon charging against her purple dragon, which was, as the rest of their team, giving his back to the assaulter. He was too late to dodge or to evade the attack.

She didn't think twice on what she had to do. With all her might, she sprinted with her back legs and pushed away her lover just a moment before the dragon could snatch him with his jaws.

Pain exploded in her torso as the larger dragon's maw locked her in its prison of razor sharp teeth and saliva.

Spyro tumbled against Volteer, hitting his temple against the hard chest of the felt disoriented as his head was spinning a bit, but upon hearing the whine of his partner he immediately stood up and when he saw what had happened, his vision completely cleared, fuelled by anger. He witnessed the attacker open his maw to release his dragoness, making her fall limp on the hard stone floor, another yelp was emitted by her.

Before both Spyro and the Earth dragon could notice it, the purple one had already conjured a Comet Dash, which hit hard the attacker, sending him crashing on the opposite wall. A loud crash could be heard booming around the cave, while around them fell total silence. Spyro glared with burning eyes the earth dragon, which was trying to stand up.

"GET UP LIZARD! KILL HIM!"The voice screamed in his mind, while the adult desperately tried to collect his strengths. In that moment, another sharp pain exploded, as two powerful earth missiles reached him. Knocking him out cold. The last thing he could hear was the screaming voice in his mind.

Spyro observed the dragon fall limp under his attack, as a stream of dark-purple smoke left from the earth dragon's nostrils and dispersed in the air of the cave. He was about to fire another shot, when his hears caught the whine of Cynder. He turned immediately to face her, falling on his belly by her side.

She was bleeding from several puncture wounds on her back and underbelly. Her breathing was a bit fatigued, interspersed by coughs.

"She needs a healer! Now!"Shouted Spyro. Around him several other dragons had grouped to see what happened.

"We must bring her to the infirmary, put her on my back!"Said Aqua, lowering to the ground. Spyro gently posed her on her blue back, with the help of Volteer, before all the group speeded trough the caves in order to reach the infirmary.

They all entered quickly in the underground building, while the adult dragoness shouted orders in every direction, calling the attention of various medics, who promptly took the black dragoness with them, before disappearing behind a white door.

Spyro was about to follow her, but a blue wing unfurled before the door.

"Spyro, you can't follow her. You must stay here."

"Why? She's hurt, she…"He tried argue, but another wing, this time yellow, joined the blue one.

"She's right young dragon. The medics must be alone to help her."Said Volteer with a calming voice.

"Don't worry. I and Master Volteer will watch over her."Said the blue dragoness. Spyro bowed his head in defeat, before standing up and directing towards his friends. He sat on his hunches, which his head hanging low. He suddenly felt a wing unfurling on his back, as he saw his white friend smiling sadly at him. He left himself drag closer to him, until he rested his head on his shoulder.

"It's my fault, that dragon was going after me… "Said sadly the purple dragon, trying to hold back his tears. Before he could notice, another wing unfurled around him, then another. He felt also the little hand of his brother posing on his forehead as he began to caress him.

"She's very strong and in good hands. She will be fine in no time, I'm sure of it."Came Auros's soothing voice.

"And we're your friends and we're here for you."Said Nix in tow.

Spyro sniffled, calming himself. Now that the surge of adrenaline had diminished, his brain began to work again. He was indeed super worried for Cynder, but still he had faith in her and in the healers. Auros was right, she was the strongest dragoness in the world. She will go trough it.

"Thanks guys…"He said.

Meanwhile in the White Isle…

The Chronicler was now on high alert. The same energy that he perceived earlier came again, this time also infecting part of Cynder's book. He inspected carefully the dragoness's tome, fortunately not finding any trace of residual corruption. He sighed in relief. After a brief pause to regain his bearings, Ignitus tried to pinpoint the same energy inside the myriad of other books of the library. He searched frantically again and again until he found the incriminated book.

It was the tome of a young adult Earth dragon, named Soil. He began inspecting the book with utmost care, until his eyes opened wide in seeing the last pages. He fixed his gaze to the clear image of a dark-crystal construct embedded in the parchment, his orbs filling with disgust and fear. He called to him Cynder's book, browsing it rapidly until he found the chapter about Spyro's rescue mission. He searched carefully the pages, his eyes bouncing between each line of text, each small image. Ignitus retraced every step she made in those obscure caves, until another daunting image compared before his eyes. It was the picture of an enormous dark crystal, embedded in the ceiling of the cave in which Cynder and the rest of his friends were in. He accosted the page to Soil's one. If the mind could make noise, his would be roaring like a dragon in mating.

"Dark crystals…"

"Grublins…"He said turning his gaze to Cynder's book.

"Mind submission…"He then stated, with his attention to Soil's book this time. Suddenly a realisation came to him. It hit like a thunder in the clear sky.

"No…It can't be…"He said, now clearly preoccupied.

"I need to talk with Spyro, he must be prepared!"He thought while he directed towards the chamber of the pool of visions. He sat on his haunches, breathing in and out slowly, trying to clear his mind from all the preoccupations.

"Spyro…"He called.

The young dragons were still huddled when Spyro raised his head, his gaze lost.

"Spyro? Are you ok?"Asked Auros with a worried tone.

"I…I…"He tried to speak, before he suddenly collapsed against the white dragon like a dead body.

"Spyro!"Exclaimed his friend.

"We need a healer!"Shouted Auros to the nurses that were in the foyer. Immediately, several dragons converged on the youngsters.

"What happened!?"Asked Sparx worriedly, making slalom through the forest of horns and wings.

"He just passed out from one moment to another…"Said the white dragon worriedly. The dragonfly stood silent for couple of seconds, before his eyes widened in realisation.

"This can't be good…"

The purple dragon woke up in a weirdly familiar place. He was sprawled on an ancient stone floor, with greyish-blue tiles. Around him there were several bookshelves, all packed with tomes and books of various colours. He recognised almost instantly the place. He was in the White Isle.

"Spyro…"Called a well familiar voice.

"Ignitus?"Said Spyro, getting up from the floor. Few seconds later the familiar dragon emerged from behind the hourglass, smiling at the youngster. The purple dragon walked to the elder, hugging his foreleg tightly, while the new Chronicler nuzzled his head gently. They shared their affectionate moment together before Ignitus broke the embrace.

"Spyro it's beautiful to see you…"Said Ignitus, moving his gaze towards the purple's body. His gaze saddened a bit in seeing the marks of his recent imprisonment still clearly visible on his young scales.

"Spyro I'm sorry…"He suddenly said.

"For what?"Asked curiously the youngster.

"Because I did nothing to help you when you where kidnapped…" Said the Chronicler sadly.

"Well, it's not your fault. It just happened and I went trough it, like everything else. I'm lucky to have Cynder and my wonderful friends that care much about me."Said Spyro, before his eyes shot open.

"Cynder! She's still injured! I must go back to her."Said Spyro, in almost a pleading voice.

"Don't worry young dragon. She'll be fine. In fact I'm sure she will be by your side when you'll wake up."He replied, smiling. Spyro smiled a little again, thinking about his dragoness and how much he was worried.

"Spyro, I called you here because there's something you need to know…Follow me…"He said, with a serious tone. The youngster followed him without a question. Few seconds after, a pair of books floated before the elder. One was green and one black.

"You see, when you your friends and my former colleagues came to rescue you, I felt a weird energy surge, just after the mountain collapsed…"Began Ignitus.

"At first I thought it was nothing, but after you arrived in the city of Seascale, I perceived another similar surge. So I began to look for the source."He said, as the green book opened before their eyes. The pages began to scroll rapidly, until they stopped abruptly. The page displayed the swirling dark crystal structure that the earth dragon had found. Spyro's eyes widened in seeing that, but before he could voice his curiosity, Ignitus continued.

"The dragon that attacked you today found this crystal yesterday night. The corruptive power of the formation submitted his mind in doing whatever it wished him to do."

As he spoke, the black book came floating near them and opened to another page. This one was displaying a couple of young dragons in dark cave with an enormous dark crystal on the ceiling.

"This is Cynder's book, and it displays what they found in the cavers of the eastern mountains…"

"I think this isn't a coincidence, since both of these crystal were situated in remote places and both of them were infused with a particular dark power."Stated the elder. Spyro raised his head to meet Ignitus's gaze.

"So you think it's…"The purple began.

"Indeed Malefor's power."Concluded the elder.

"But how, we defeated him! How's possible?"Asked Spyro with great concern.

"Calm young dragon. Malefor is as matter of facts defeated, but his influence and power were immense…"

"When I visited you the first time, I told you that these were indeed still dark times. I wasn't lying. It pains me to ask you this, but Spyro you must destroy that crystal and whatever other maleficent thing that Malefor created to conserve his power."Said Ignitus.

"Now it's time I let you go, I'm sure your friends are worried for you. Talk with them and with the other guardians about this. They will help you in any way they can and advise you in your quest to bring the downfall of the darkness that plagued our realms for centuries."Concluded the Chronicler with a solemn tone.

"I will do it."Said Spyro, raising his head to meet Ignitus's gaze. The former fire guardian smiled and nuzzled gently the younger dragon.

"Thank you, young dragon. Now go, your friends are waiting for you."Said Ignitus as Spyro began to glow.

"I'm proud of you. Never forget that."Were the last words Ignitus said before everything disappeared.

Cynder woke up laid on a bed in the infirmary. Beside her, a blue dragoness was fumbling with a couple of small glass jars, filled with some weird greenish ointments. The black youngster's move attracted the attention of the healer, which gazed at her with a beautiful smile.

"Hello young dragoness."She said.

"Hello… what happened?"She said with fog clouding her recent memories. Then her eyes widened in realisation. She turned her gaze to inspect her body. The dragoness found that, apart for a couple of bandages around her waist, she was mostly good.

"You were very lucky, young one. Your wounds were mostly superficial and so easily curable with the help of the red gems. We fixed you up in a short time. You just needed to rest."Said calmly the healer. Cynder's attention, though, was now completely on another problem.

"Where's Spyro? Is he ok?"Asked concernedly Cynder.

"Ah, Master Spyro passed out in the infirmary foyer. I think he's resting in the room next to this one."Stated the medic.

"I didn't think that the purple dragon could be so impressed by a bit of blood."She snickered. Cynder frowned, sure that this wasn't the cause of his passing out. They both had their fair share of bloodshed witnessing and Spyro had never faltered once during their journey.

"Can I see him?"She asked, almost pleading. The dragoness watched the youngster for a couple of moments, before nodding and guiding her towards the door.

His room was literally on the opposite side of hers. The dragoness pushed open the wooden door, which revealed a bed on which the purple dragon was laid. Sparx was leaning on his bead, caressing his forehead.

"Hey Cynder!"He exclaimed, buzzing towards her.

"How's the dark mistress feeling?"He said. Cynder frowned, as a mischievous grin formed on her lips.

"Pretty hungry, maybe I'll eat you as a starter."

"Ok, ok, I'll stop teasing."Said Sparx raising his hands. Cynder's grin vanished, replaced by a concerned gaze, while her eyes wandered to the purple dragon resting on the bed. She moved closer to him, resting her head beside his.

"You know I have a bad feeling about this…"Piped up Sparx, hovering beside her.

The dragoness frowned.

"I just hope he will wake soon."She said as she climbed on the bed and enveloped the purple figure with her wings. She finally rested her head near his on the cushion and fell fast asleep.

Spyro's eyes shot open, as he drawn in a deep and long breath, similar to the one who someone would make if he was almost drowned.

His gaze wandered on his surrounding, which were completely foreign to him. He was beginning to get up when he felt a warm weight on his side. He looked down to find the most beautiful creature he could ever laid eyes on.

Cynder was sleeping soundly, gently snuggled on his chest, with one wing covering his lower body and one arm leaned just beneath his neck. It was indeed a protective hug. He smiled lovingly at his sleeping beauty, before it dawned on him. She hadn't any visible injury on her body, when just before he lost consciousness, she was injured and bleeding profusely.

Now she just had a white bandage around her waist, which wasn't even stained in blood. He was very happy to see that she was fine and as his worries faded away, he rested his head back to the cushion. He closed his eyes again, recollecting the words which the Chronicler told him moments before. Spyro was a bit angry at himself, but most of all he was disappointed. He had deceived himself, in believing that he could finally live an happy life in peace, away from darkness and leaving war behind. Now he discovered that evil had never left the realms, it was just waiting for strike back once again and this time he was the main target. His train of thoughts was suddenly broken by a light shuffling and yawn coming from beside him. He opened his eyes to see that Cynder was waking up beside him. She yawned again, as her emerald gems revealed again to the world after her sleep. He smiled lovingly at her.

"Spyro!"She exclaimed, cupping his snout with both her paws and bestowing him with all the kisses she could muster. He indulged her love, bathing in the marvellous sensation that it provided. She finished her assault planting her muzzle on his, with a firm kiss. Then she released him.

"Wow, did I miss you?"Asked astounded Spyro.

"Like you couldn't imagine. By the way, what happened to you, the healer said that you passed out in the foyer."She asked curiously.

"Well…The Chronicler contacted me about something…troubling."He said with his eyes downcast.

"I'd really love to tell you more, right now. But it's something that all of our group should hear. It's really important."He stated. Cynder nodded in acceptance.

"Do you want me to call the medic?"She asked.

"I'll go, I'm sure you still need to rest."He said, pecking on her cheek. She purred lovingly, watching her purple dragon leaving for the door. Spyro exited in the corridor and luckily found a nurse walking nearby.

"Excuse me?"He said. The dragoness turned around and her eyes widened once she focused on the purple dragon, but before she could utter a word, Spyro continued.

"Hello, could you please ask to my companions if they can reach me in my room. I need to talk with them, if it's possible."Said the youngster. The nurse stood silent for a couple of seconds before nodding silently and directing towards the other end of the corridor.

Spyro only raised a brow, before he directed back to his place. He opened the door and laid beside his partner, nuzzling her cheek.

"I asked to a nurse if she could retrieve them. They'll arrive soon."He said. The purple dragon then focused his vision to her body, again inspecting her scales to see if there was any tangible remain of the attack she suffered before.

"I'm fine Spyro, don't worry."She said.

"I just wanted to be sure…"He replied.

"You shouldn't have taken that hit for me…I-"

"Spyro, would you have done the same for me?"She asked the rhetorical question.

"Yes, of course!"

"Then I'm fine with it. I'm proud of myself that for once I saved you from pain."She said, nuzzling under his chin. Just before he could utter a word in response, the door opened.

"Guys, are you ok!?"Said Gaia entering the room, followed by the other Warfangians dragons.

"Young dragons you gave us a big scare, both of you."Said Volteer. Both Spyro and Cynder bowed their heads.

"Yes we're fine, sorry for getting you worried."Said Spyro.

"Anyway I called you because there's an important thing I must say to you all."Continued Spyro, with a gloomy tone. He inhaled loudly.

"Ignitus, the late Fire Guardian, is the new Chronicler."Said the young dragon. It was like dropping a bombshell.

Volteer was the first to open his mouth.

"That's…That's…Amazing!"He said with the happiest voice Spyro had ever heard.

"This only demonstrate how much strong and honourable was…Is…our dear friend. Being blessed by the Ancestors with such a terrific, magnificent honour is the strongest proof of his greatness as a dragon."Concluded the guardian, while the youngsters watched him with mixed feeling. Gaia and Nix had only heard about Ignitus, while Auros had seen him once. They all knew the story of how the fire elder sacrificed himself in order to permit to Spyro and Cynder to go on in their journey.

Volteer returned his attention to the purple and black youngsters on the bed and in seeing that Spyro was still frowning he got closer to him, caressing his head with one wing.

"Young one, what troubles you? Shouldn't we all be happy to know that Ignitus has been chosen for such an honour?" Said the elder, with caring tone. Spyro exhaled heavily before bringing up his head and meeting his gaze with Volteer.

"He told me that darkness still lies ahead…And it wants to get me." Volteer recoiled with wide eyes. He was about to utter response, before a loud yawn came from Cynder's back. A second later, Sparx zipped up from the bed, with beady eyes. He gazed around, seeing all the dragons around him frowning.

"Hey, did I miss something?"