M

Ferlost opened his eyes with a groan.

He had to close his eyes again immediately as the blinding sunlight hit his sensitive retina. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light, before slowly opening them back up, blinking rapidly as his pupils dilated to take in the appropriate amount of light. Once he was able to fully open his eyes, he looked around his field of view, seeing only a clearing in the forest. He was laid on the dirt amidst the tall trees and green ferns. How did he get there? When did he get there? Questions started to enter his mind as he slowly gained consciousness.

He groaned again as he tried to lift his head off the ground, but all his limbs felt like they weighed a ton each, and they were all completely numb. He tried to lift his tail, but only got the same result. He blinked as he looked around the clearing for something to help him, but he saw nothing that would be of any use. Then again, he was practically paralyzed for the time being; what would be able to help him?

...

...No. He wasn't about to be beat by fatigue. Had it ever beat him before?

Ferlost grunted in exertion as he tried to lift his limbs, though this only yielded the same outcome as last time. He thought for a moment before slowly trying to move the claws on his right forepaw. He lay there for a moment as he felt his finger joints suddenly come to life, twitching lightly in response to his efforts. He tried for a bit more to get the feeling to return to all of his claws in that forepaw. He grunted again as he balled his forepaw into a light fist, doing that a couple times before tightening his fist. He let a small smile of relief play onto his face as he realized he may be able to move after all. When the feeling returned to his forepaw, he began to feel his arm again too, and slowly but surely, feeling began to return to his weak body, until he was able to move his head slightly to look around. He didn't see anything else besides more growth and trees, but that wasn't what was important to him; he just focused on trying to get up.

With another grunt, he forced his head off the ground, before craning it around to make sure there really was nothing of importance in the clearing. Thank the Ancestors he did too, otherwise he could've missed the small pond that lay only about ten feet away from him. He licked his parched lips and began to test the use of his limbs. He still wasn't strong enough to get up, but he could still drag himself over to the watering hole, which he proceeded to do. He used his forepaws to drag his body through the dirt, his muscles shaking from the exertion as he grunted with each pull of his body, until he was right in front of the pond.

He eagerly reached down with a cupped forepaw, bringing fresh, clean water to his maw, drinking it down fervently, before sticking his entire maw in the water, gulping down every drop he could get. Cold relief flowed down his throat as he drank from the pond greedily, before pulling back and panting slightly. Satisfied with his drink, he sat on the edge for a bit, simply staring at the ripples he'd created, until they finally dispersed, living his reflection staring back at him in the clear water.

He had three big horns that curved up and back, as well as two smaller ones in between those. His eyes were an opulent shade of amethyst purple, as were his immaculate scales. He took in his appearance for a bit before trying to get his forepaws under him, grunting and shaking slightly from the effort as he slowly but surely got to his feet. He still looked down at his reflection in the pond and blinked lightly as he drank in every detail of his appearance. He was still confused. Even more questions began to swim around his head like a school of fish. Where did he come from? Why was he in the middle of the woods, left for dead for all he knew? Why was he so weak?

Who was he?

As that question made its way to the forefront of his mind, Ferlost realized that he didn't even know who he was. He must've had some form of amnesia that allowed him to remember only his name. It's possible he was just playing with friends and he accidentally fell and hit his head, and that someone was at least out there looking for him. What other explanation was there that didn't seem out of this world?

Ferlost snapped his head up as he heard something rustle in the brush. He blinked as he scanned the treeline for something in the foliage, but he found nothing. He continued to hear the rustling of plants being disturbed; whatever was moving must've been well-concealed, though, because he couldn't spot anything through the thick green leaves. He still tried to see what was making that noise, moving back towards the center of the clearing, where he saw the clear indent of his body in the dirt. He stood in it and looked all around him to see what was making the small noise, until he saw something jostle the leaves slightly right in front of him. Ferlost focused on the tiny rustle and readied himself for anything, his claws twitching slightly in anticipation. When something burst out of the foliage, Ferlost yelped slightly and almost immediately went on the defensive, until he saw what came out of the brush.

It was a squirrel.

Ferlost stared at the tiny creature for a second, dumbfounded, before he let out a breath of relief, relaxing as he looked at the critter. As he looked over the squirrel's brown fur, taking in its appearance, he realized he didn't even know what he himself looked like. As that thought entered his mind, he looked down at himself for what seemed like the first time ever.

His plated chest scales were a sandy-beige color, covered in dirt from him laying on the ground. His scales, just like the ones on his head, were a striking, vibrant hue of purple. Ferlost brought his tail around to examine it, noticing the strange shape of the end of it; it was almost like a pitchfork, but instead of three pointed ends there were two. His wing membranes were the same shade of sand-beige as his chest scales, as were the twin sets of spines running all the way down his back. He took in everything about himself, familiarizing himself with his own body before turning back to look at the squirrel, just in time to see it dart away and up a tree.

"Hello?" a voice called out.

Ferlost snapped his head in the direction of the voice, his eyes going wide.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" the voice called out again.

It was smooth and feminine, and young from the sound of it. Ferlost blinked in surprise and hope before wondering: what if this newcomer was dangerous in some way? The purple dragon looked around the clearing for someplace where he could hide, diving into the bushes haphazardly before tearing some leaves to cover himself better just as the owner of the voice jumped into the clearing.

She had obsidion-black scales that sparkled lightly in the sunlight, along with a crimson underbelly and chest scales, and there were only a few plates on her chest that interlocked perfectly. In addition to this, she had white markings around her eyes, on her forehead, and on her shoulders, as well as a few metal accessories. Well… more than a few; she had a chrome-silver choker, anklets on her wrists, a tail-ring, two blades on the claws on her wing joints, and a scythe-shaped tail-blade that looked like it could do some serious damage.

She looked around the clearing, but Ferlost didn't get a good glimpse of her eyes until she turned to look straight at his hiding spot. Her eyes were emerald green, and there was a clear wisdom there that was beyond her apparent years. Ferlost put that out of his mind, however, as the dragoness approached his hiding spot, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the disturbed foliage in suspicion. The dragoness sniffed around the edges of the little depression Ferlost was in, before turning back to inspect the rest of the clearing. Ferlost panicked as he saw her sniffing at the indent of his body in the ground, realizing she must've been matching up the scents. He'd been found out.

Alarmed, he jumped out of the clearing and tried to run past the dragoness, only for his wobbly limbs to fail him, dropping to the ground with an "oomph!" as he looked back at her. She narrowed her eyes at him and bared her teeth slightly as she advanced on him, making Ferlost back up and whimper quietly. She probably heard his sound of distress, however, as she immediately dropped the threatening façade and trotted over to his side in a non-aggressive manner, looking down in slight concern.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Ferlost continued to look up with fear in his eyes, thinking she might've been tricking him.

The dragoness pressed her lips together before saying, "My name's Cynder. What's yours?"

The purple dragon took a bit to regain his bearings before saying in a shy, quiet voice, "Ferlost."

Cynder gave a comforting smile. "What're you doing out here?" she asked him.

"I don't know," Ferlost admitted. "I don't have any memory before waking up in this clearing… all I know is my name."

Cynder nodded and got a little closer. "Can I touch you?" she asked. Ferlost nodded, and Cynder gently cupped his head, looking at it from a bunch of different angles. He could tell something was off about him to her, though, because she made a face when she inspected his horns. Before he could ask, however, she pulled back and said, "It doesn't look like you have any serious head injuries, or any at all, actually."

Ferlost looked up at her, their eyes locking for a brief second before she looked away.

"Why don't we take you to see the Guardians?"

"The Guardians?" Ferlost asked.

Cynder nodded. "Do you need help getting up?"

Ferlost shook his head and got to his feet, albeit shakily, his knees trembling slightly out of fatigue at having to support his weight. He stood in place for a couple moments to make sure he wouldn't fall, before looking back to Cynder.

Cynder nodded before turning around and walking out of the clearing. Ferlost followed her, trying to keep up with her rather fast pace, panting like a dog within only a few seconds. He had a feeling the trek wouldn't be fun.

M

It'd been at least a half-hour before the trees started to thin out, their numbers lessening as Ferlost and Cynder walked. Thankfully, Ferlost built up quite a bit of resilience and was able to tough out the trek, putting his shaking limbs out of mind for the time being as he and the black-scaled dragoness walked through the last of the forest, until they exited the treeline and walked into a grassy hill. Cynder trotted up the hill with ease, looking back at Ferlost, who took a bit more time to get to where she was, his head hung low with exhaustion as he regained his breath.

"Ferlost, look," Cynder said, nudging him slightly as she pointed.

Ferlost lifted his head to look at what she was pointing, his jaw dropping to the ground as his eyes went wide.

The city that lay below them was absolutely colossal. There must've been at least hundreds of buildings, all of them made out of a sand-colored brick, similar to the color of his chest scales and wing membranes. He could see dragons of all colors flying around the city, while others opted to roam the streets. Ferlost could see buildings that easily reached over a hundred feet in height, as well as some of the smaller ones, and he slowly began to notice that the city itself had different levels of elevation, giving him a new appreciation for the grandeur of this city, knowing the struggle architects must've had to go through to build it. What probably caught his eyes the most was the massive wall that ran around the entire city, and he took note of the cannon-like structures on top of the large barrier, meaning it was more than likely extremely thick as well.

Ferlost gaped in astonishment at the city as he took it all in, turning to Cynder when he heard her utter a small chuckle.

"This is Warfang," she said. "The great dragon city of old."

Ferlost turned back to the city and scanned the entire area, marveling at its sheer splendor before noticing Cynder start to move down the slope that led to the city. The young male followed her, careful not to slide down as Cynder approached a large gate almost right in front of them. As they made their way towards Warfang, Ferlost realized that this city was even bigger up close, the wall looking even taller than before now that they were right in front of it; looking at the bricks used, Ferlost figured he could easily fit inside one that was hollowed-out and still have room to spare.

Ferlost continued to gawk at the huge city as he and Cynder walked to one of the gates, where there were two dragons, one of Fire and one of Earth, both of whom were wearing steel armor.

"Cynder," the Fire dragon said as he nodded politely to the dragoness, who nodded back. The Fire dragon looked to Ferlost and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Hey, wait a minute… I thought Spyro was the only purple dragon," he commented.

Cynder shrugged and said, "I don't know either, but I'm taking him to the Guardians. Maybe they can figure something out."

The dragon nodded and moved out of the way, as did the Earth dragon, who kept staring at Ferlost, who shied down under the brute's unwavering gaze.

"Hey, he kinda looks like -"

Before he could finish, Cynder said, "Thanks, you two, but we'll be on our way now."

Both dragon's nodded, but as Ferlost followed Cynder into the city, he could feel the Earth dragon's gaze piercing into his back, making him move just a bit quicker, almost to the point where he was tripping over his shaky limbs.

"Stay close to me," Cynder said to him.

Ferlost nodded and kept trying his best to keep pace with her as they entered Warfang. Ferlost could see dragons swivel their heads to stare at him as both he and Cynder made their way through the streets, which slightly unnerved him, but he tried his best not to pay attention to them, instead focusing on what would happen when he met the Guardians. Who were they? What would they say about him? Could they fix his amnesia? Ferlost shook his head of the questions and put everything out of his mind as he walked with Cynder, including the shake of his limbs.

Eventually, both young dragons reached an enormous building in what must've been the center of this entire city; it was very smooth in design, curving in a lot of places. In fact, the entire building looked more akin to a concrete sports stadium, only there was a huge statue adorning a pedestal on top of the entryway of a dragon. Even in statue form, Ferlost could feel this dragon's nobility just by standing under it, bowing his head lightly out of respect as he and Cynder entered the huge building. He looked over his shoulder and caught dragons staring at them even as they went inside, making him shy down a bit more and prickle with unease, only loosening up when both dragons turned the corner and started to wander the halls of this grand building. Ferlost admired the feat of architectural wonder as they padded along, before noticing Cynder herself stealing glances at him; he could tell she was trying to be sneaky about it, but she was either bad at doing so or Ferlost was good at picking up little details, because he could clearly see her gaze wandering to him more than a few times as they walked through the massive, empty halls.

Their claws click-clacked on the concrete below their paws with each step, each sound echoing through the grand corridors as Cynder led Ferlost through what seemed like a maze, until they came to a massive set of twin doors made entirely out of wood. Ferlost blinked in surprise at the size of these doors, a little bit daunted by what lay beyond them. Cynder, however, walked up to the doors without hesitation and banged one of her forepaws on the right door three times. Each loud bang resonated through the halls for a few seconds, before the door opened, revealing a tall dragon.

His scales were forest green and seemed to exude authority, as did his forest green eyes. His brown chest-plates were thick from what Ferlost could tell, and he had a few brown growths that looked almost like rocks protruding from his shoulders. Back spines of the same color and appearance ran down his back, and he had two beige, ram-like horns on either side of his head. His massive wings were furled up neatly on his back, though Ferlost could tell that the beige membranes were slightly tattered. What was most intimidating about this dragon, however, was the huge mace on the end of his tail, the same brown as his chest plates and with four spikes the same beige color as his horns.

"Ah, welcome back, Cynder," the dragon boomed in a deep, imposing voice.

"Master Terrador," Cynder greeted.

"What brings you to the Temple?" Terrador asked Cynder.

Cynder began to answer, but Ferlost shifted in slight discomfort at the comparatively massive dragon, drawing the attention of said dragon, who stared at him with wide eyes. Terrador gaped at Ferlost, who shied down with a timid whimper. The bigger dragon stared at the purple male for a bit more before regaining his composure, blinking a few times to do so as he moved out of the way for the two young dragons to enter the room he was in.

"Why don't you two come in?" he said. "No doubt there is much to discuss."

"Is Spyro back yet?" Cynder asked with a bit of hope in her voice.

Terrador seemed to relax slightly at this question, giving a warm smile to Cynder. "I'll let him tell you himself."

"Cynder!" a new, higher-pitched voice called out.

Both young dragons turned to see another purple dragon coming their way with a smile on his face, his amethyst eyes twinkling with joy as his muscles rippled with each movement of his. His golden chest scales were slightly dented and scarred in some places, as were his scales, but it wasn't very noticeable. His horns, spear-shaped tail-blade, and back spines were all the same polished gold color, and while his wings weren't as brightly colored, they were still elegant by themselves.

The dragon approached both of them with a smile, his eyes locked onto Cynder, but as he turned to see Ferlost, his smile slowly disappeared, and his eyes filled with disbelief.

Terrador sighed and quickly ushered Cynder and Ferlost into the room, closing the door behind them with a loud boom. The loud sound made Ferlost jump with a yelp, looking behind him at the door with slight panic in his eyes, before turning back to the room, marvelling at the sheer size of it. There were bookshelves all around the elliptical room, as well as various artifacts. Six red cushions were sat around the center of the room, where a large pool lay. Ferlost looked up to see two other dragons almost as big as Terrador, but not nearly as intimidating.

One was pale-blue with darker chest scales, his tail-blade looking more like Ferlost's, but with a few extra spikes, and there were growths on his shoulders like Terrador's, but these looked more like sheets of ice. The other was yellow with navy-blue chest-plates, with a tail-blade that looked almost like two scythes of the same colors; his wing membranes, like the other two older dragons', were tattered, and the growths on his shoulders looked more like dark-blue fins than anything.

Terrador joined the other two on a cushion, as did Spyro and Cynder, before they all looked to Ferlost, who gulped slightly under the gazes of all five dragons, shakily moving to occupy the last empty cushion, sitting down unsurely, feeling as if that cushion didn't belong to him. Everything was silent for a moment before Terrador began speaking.

"This is indeed a strange occurrence, but in these times we must be open to everything and everything. From what I've seen, this isn't the Malefor of old that tried to destroy the Dragon Realms with his wicked power."

"He's right," Cynder spoke up suddenly, making everyone look at her. "He doesn't even seem to have any memory of anything that happened over the past three hundred years, and apparently Malefor was only a name he came up with when he was corrupted."

Ferlost furrowed his brow. What was all this they were speaking about? Malefor? Three hundred years? Corrupted? Wicked powers? Too many questions circled his head for him to keep up with, but he pushed them all out of his mind and listened to the conversation.

"But then why did he come back as a young dragon after the Ancestors pulled him under?" the blue dragon asked.

"Perhaps he was cleansed by the Ancestors, given another chance to be redeemed," the yellow one speculated.

Ferlost only listened to the information being tossed around, taking in as much as he could without giving himself a headache.

"Do you remember anything, young dragon?" Terrador asked, directing the question towards Ferlost.

The young dragon froze as all eyes once again turned to him, his heart beginning to race as he began to feel short of breath. His throat tightened slightly, words refusing to leave his mouth as he looked around at the gazes of everyone, shying down more under the gaze of the one called Spyro, as his gaze seemed to be more fiery, and he hadn't said anything at all.

"N-no…" Ferlost finally managed.

"Are you sure?" the yellow one asked. "Nothing about your past? Friends? Family? Events? Not even anything about your corruption or your -"

"Ancestors, Volteer, can you shut your yap for five seconds?" the blue one complained, saving Ferlost from having to answer any of those questions.

The purple male cast the blue dragon a slightly thankful glance, before looking away and down at his paws, which suddenly became very interesting.

"What do you remember, Malefor?" Spyro asked.

Ferlost shook his head. "Nothing… except my name…" he said. "And it isn't Malefor."

"What is it?" Terrador asked.

He slowly looked up to meet the gaze of everyone there. "Ferlost… my name is Ferlost."

Everyone continued to look at him before the blue dragon spoke up again. "I believe it would be beneficial for the young dragon to be allowed time to adjust to all this. It must be a lot for him."

"Since when were you so considerate, Cyril?" the yellow one, Volteer, teased playfully.

"If we want answers out of the young one, they won't come from pestering him while he's weary," Cyril explained. "We should give him some time to rest. Young Spyro."

Spyro looked to Cyril.

"Do make sure young Ferlost has a good hearty meal and a warm place to sleep."

Spyro nodded and made to get up, before Terrador said, "Spyro, you've been working hard enough. If Cyril is so keen on getting Ferlost food and a bed, maybe he should do it himself."

Volteer snickered behind a paw and turned away in an attempt to silence the noise as Cyril went slack-jawed.

"You expect me to take care of a child?" he asked.

"You suggested it," Terrador retorted with a small grin.

Cyril readied a witty comeback, but he only groaned and stood up. "If, by the will of his Splendor, Head Guardian Terrador, it shall be done," he groused sarcastically.

This lightened the mood a bit, as the two other dragons, Cynder, and Spyro, laughed a little, however neither Ferlost nor Cyril did the same, one out of shyness the other out of annoyance, but if felt the mood was lifted slightly as Cyril approached Ferlost.

"Come along, now," he grumbled as he walked past Ferlost.

The young male stood up as well, still a bit shaky, before following Cyril out, aware of the other fours' eyes on them as they exited.

Cyril led Ferlost through the halls silently, and this time, since Cyril was so much bigger than him, Ferlost had a bit more trouble keeping up with the dragon due to his shaky limbs. Cyril seemed to notice this and walked a bit slower to make it easier for Ferlost to keep pace with the old dragon. Eventually, the two came to a long, curved hallway with numbered rooms on either side of the corridor. Cyril walked down a good distance with Ferlost tailing him closely, before they came to a room numbered 713. Cyril reached up with a paw and turned the doorknob, swinging the door open before standing out of the way, gesturing for Ferlost to enter the room. The shy purple dragon nodded a quick thank you and started to pad into the room.

"I hope this room is to your liking," Cyril said. "If not… well, there's not much we can do; this is the only free dormitory left at the moment."

Ferlost entered the room, and his jaw dropped at the size of it. It must've been at least six hundred square feet, which to him was massive considering his small size. There was a large bed that could easily fit two dragons of Terrador's size placed near the center of the left wall, along with two bedside stands. Near the end of the room, there was a small depression in the floor with two fancy couches sat around a small coffee table. Along the wall opposite to the bed were large bookshelves that reached the ceiling in height; it must've held at least hundreds of books. Right outside the depression was a large balcony that oversaw Warfang, only a large set of sliding doors separating the inside from the outside. In the nearest corner against the left wall, there were cupboards and a cooler, along with a furnace and sink basin.

Ferlost stared at everything in awe, his eyes wide as he looked over the room that would be his for the time being. He then remembered that he wasn't alone, and looked back at Cyril, who was poking his head in through the entryway.

"Well?" he asked expectantly.

"I-it's great," Ferlost said. "Thank you, sir."

Cyril harrumphed. "Finally, a little respect around here," he grumbled to himself. "I shall be back later to fetch you some food."

Ferlost nodded as he looked back out the doorway to the balcony, realizing that the sun was already beginning to set; it must've been a long day, but it had gone by so fast.

"Thank you, Cyril," he said again.

Cyril pulled his head out of the doorway with an irritated grumbled and closed it behind him. Ferlost looked around the room for a bit, before eyeing the bed. Just looking at it made his eyelids become heavy with exhaustion from the day, padding towards it shakily as he yawned lightly. He jumped up onto the bed and immediately curled up, falling asleep almost instantly.

M

Slowly getting back in the swing of things. With the worldwide quarantine, I've been writing a lot more, and I've had the chance to do some more fanfic. This is from a prompt on a Spyro fanfic server I'm on on Discord, and I like to think I did a pretty good job, but let me know in the reviews if you spot a mistake. Thanks for reading, and have a good day/night