The mantle of darkness holds down in the world. Spreading fear and destruction over all life.

The darkness and despair rises as all light and hope dies out, as stars fading out in the night. The life shall lose its shine, all the creatures shall cower in fear and the earth itself will shake and recoil in fear, as the coldness and despair of the darkest of nights shall fall over the land, taking away all that is good in the world.

However, even then, ther will still be one last strand of chance. When the hope seems gone, and the world seems condemned, the forces of good saw raise again in the form of the holders of the elements.

The Guardians, the masters of the forces of elements, living embidiments of the magic of the natural world.

Led by the dragons of purple and black, they shall fight the darkness that covers the world, and chase it away, allowign the power of lkight and hope to once again rise and cover the world. Spreading life and warm into the world, like the morning sun spreading the day across the land that ocne was covered into the dreaful night.

-Draconic Book of Eternal Owens, Chapter 128, The Legend of the Guardians

The night passed across the lands of the dragons, the peace and calmness were everywhere into the coolness and peace of the night. Soon, however, it ws broke by the coming of the first sunlight. It came from the big sun as the twin moons set off in the distance. The blue and red colored celestial bodies casting the last of their gosthly glow over the land as it was replaced by the light of the new day.

The rays of the sun spread its nice and welcoming warm over the lands, signaling the start of a new day, as they made everyone in their path to wake up and raise up to start the new day. It included a big construction, which happened to be the great Dragon Temple. One ancient place, which construction dated from an ancient time, maybe even before the first written word of the dragon nation.

It was a construction surrounded in mystery, and it was known for two main purposes which it had: first, it was the place where all dragonesses came to lay their eggs, and leave them to the care of the residents of the temple, the Elemental Overlords, ancient dragons which were known for their majestic abilities with the elements, which surpassed any living dragon, and for being as mysterious as the temple they resided in, both in theirn way of acting as in their own past. Most that was knwon about them was almost completelly pure especulation and rumors, most of them exagerated, others, not so much. Still, it was the max that anyone knew about the Overlords, since they didn't spoke anythign about their past, themselves.

The second, but equally important function of the temple, was that it served as a school for young dragons. In there, the young ones were teached by the Overlords themselves, about all they needed to know to start off their lives as members of the dragon society. They were taught about the principles of math and of history, as well as geography, and even a slightly introduction on politics, which included the relations of the dragons with other species.

But, most important of all, they learned the abilites necessary to control the elements.

Each dragon, depending on the kind, has a especial kind of maginc inside of him/herself, which allows the user to manifest it as a very especific form of elemental affinity. It was valid both for the classical elements, which were water, wind, fire and earth. It also applied to the creatuon elements: darkness and light. Also, there were the sub-elements, like ice, a variation of water, or a mix of water and air, and lightning, a variation of air, and a mix of wind and fire, or wind and light, depending on who you asked about it. Not to mention all the vast elemental espectrum, which included the elements of aura, time, gravity, and many others that made a far too extense list to be be all cataloged in just one lifetime.

Each magic was held by a particular kind of dragon, and it manifested itself in the dragon's appearence, like the appendages of his body, but mostly, into the color of the scales, which pratically became an universal indicator for a dragon's elemental affinity. Of course, as a powerful magic, it demanded responsibility, and also, it demanded learning to be able to control and use it with good sense. That was the main thing that was taught in the Dragon Temple: the proper use of the elements. And who would be better to teach this to the young dragons than the Elemental Overlords, the holders of the most powerful elemental magic that could be found anywhere in the world?

Sure, many people mistrusted the Overlords, due to all their secrecy, still, every dragon had been taught under their whim at some point of their lives, and all of them had to recognize, despite all their secredcy and near-reclusion from the rest of the society, they were extremelly competent in all the work they did, both as protectors of the eggs as the teachers of the new generation of elemental dragons.

The young dragons passed a good amount of the first years of their lives in the temples, being taught by the Overlords. They hatched in there, and they were quickly nursed and taken care, and they had their own homes, their own lives, of course, and they had their own paretns to care for them and who loved them. Still, many of them spent most of time in the temple, learnign from the Overlords until they were declared to have learned enough and be ready to go back to their homes and their own communities, and to starting to being taught the rest that they needed to be able to find a place i the world, once they have learned the basics.

And there, inside the Dragon Temple, still sleeping, laid one of the resident dragons of the temple, one of the young ones that were taught by the Overlords. He was a very young dragon, and he was quite known around there. Mostly because of his peculiar color. His scales were of a regal purple, which wasa very rare color, so rare that no one of the adults or of the older students had ever seem anythign like that before and, therefore, no one actually knew what kind of elemtn exactly the young dragon had.

He had golden underbelly and horns, and a spear-like tailblade, and he had eyes which were as purple as his body, which both laid closed as he slpet soundly, still not havign woke up yet, as the sun had just rose. This young dragon was also known for sometimes oversleeping and getting late for the classes. Not only that, but also, because no one of the other students still knew what was his elements. This young dragon had particular classes over his elemnt, instead of being gathered with other dragons with the same element as himself, and he never spoke a single word to anyone about his classes, or about what kind of element he had. This only led people to believe that he actually didn't had an element, and instead, the Overlords only kept pretending that he had an element, and that they were teaching him to use it, in order to avoid him from looking like a fool to the other dragons.

The young dragon, however, was far from carign about any of that, as he could only rool over his back, lettign his belly hang in the air as his limbs laid over him, his forelegs bent over his chest and his hind ones stretched in the ground, occasionally kicking, as if in the rithym of a strange dream.

*Poke*

The young and little purple dragon twitched as his leg kicked slightly, and he groaned. He shifted his body slightly, but did not woke up. It was far too early to wake up.

Poke... Poke. Poke.

But it was also too early to be poked. And someone was poking him.

The purple dragon groaned as he shifted his position, and now he was laying on his side, his back turned to the place from where the pokes where coming from.

There was a brief sound of tapping, as the claws of a dragon tapping the ground as it walked.

Poke

The one who was poking him had walked around him, and now was poking his chest and nose. This person really wanted to make him angry, and the young purple dragon had a feeling that he knew already who it was.

Poke.

The purple dragon immediatelly, without opening his eyes, moved his paw, and used it to grab the offending paw which was poking him, with a surprising quickness for a dragon who was asleep less than a few moments ago. The owner of the paw grunted in surprised, and huffed and pulled, tryign to reclaim its paw, but Spyro had a firm grip on it. He opened his eyes, and he looked at the one who the claw belonged to.

His suspects were confirmed, as he saw another dragon which somehow looked a lot like him, with horn in the same shape and a similar body structure. This dragon, however, had crimson colored flames, with loight yellow underbelly, and he had crimson eyes, which looked at the purple dragon. This one was clearly a fire dragon, as it was easy to notice both by his color and also by the natural decoration on his body that easilly made remmeber of flames and fire. It was alsmot painfully obvious, sometimes. It was clear and well defined to that dragon, who was very clear what he was and what was his talent, while the purple dragon barelly had any clear indication of himself or what he should be able to do. The young purple dragon could not help but feel somehow a kind of envy for that red dragon. Evenw ith him begin his own older brother. Well, adoptive brother, but still.

"Spyro... Can I have my paw back, please?" The red dragon said, still pulling into his paw, trying to free himself. The urple dragon, called Spyro, however, seemed not to want to give it back. "No, I already gave you your birthday present yesterday, remember?" The purple dragon sadi, matter of factly, "You may have it back one year from now, when you turn seven."

The way he talked it seemed that eh really wanted to keep the red dragon's paw on his paw for a full year. It seemed that he was thinking it would be funny to see his brother to having to hop to walk for a full year. But the dragon did not seemed to want that. He kept tugging and sttrugling to get his paw free from Spyro's grasp, but the pruple dragon had a firm grip.

"Spyro, let me go!" he said as he pushed his leg, but Spyro kept it held tighht, and he said, "I told you, Ignitus." Calling his older borthr by his name "I'll only let you have it back in your next birthday."

Ignitus looked at Spyro for a few seconds, and he laughed, as he said, "Well, okay then, I'll wait."

Spyro did not expected to hear it, he opened an eye to look at Ignitus, and he said "Are you really-?"

But, before he could finish, Ignitus yanked his paw away, breaking free from Spyro's grasp, at least. "Ha, I win!" He said as he laughed "Thank you for the second birthday present!"

Spyro groaned, normally he would have made something in return, but he was still too sleepy for that. "I'm ging back to sleep, stop poking me." He said as he turend, gtting ready to drift back to the land of dreams.

"Oh, no! You won't!" Ignitus said, now shaking Spyro with both paws, "The Overlords are asking for you to be in the meeting chamber!"

Spyro groaned. He knew that Ignitus would not play over somethign like that, it was not like him. Well, if he was wanted by his teachers, then there was nothign he could do about it besides going for it, right? He jujst wondered why, and what could be so important...

Spyro yawned and he stretched his body, and he looked around the room ofr the first time, and he notice what was different about it.

It was nearly empty, save for him and Ignitus. Normally it was full and crowded of other young dragons like them, all of them students of the Overlords, and all of them usually crowded over each other as they slept, or even walking around as they got ready to have breakfast, take a dip in the nerby pool to wash, or even around, playign a little in the free time they got before, between and fater their classes.

Anyway, what he usually sw when he woke up was a minefield of sleeping dragonlings, all of them sleeping deeply, and some tiwching and sleep talking. All his fellow students were usually there when he woke up, but now, they were not there. He could not see the yellow, green, blue or any other color of dragon around. He could not even see Lumino, their other brother, who usually was there when he woke up.

Had the classes already started? Was everybody already having class around the temple? Spyro was sure that he would not have slept for so long that he would be the last one to wake up. He was not usually a late sleeper. Besides, by the light luminosity he could see entering the windows, it seemed that it was still near-dark outside, indicating that the sun had barelly rose yet. Where had everybody went?

"Spyro." Ignitus called, making him look at him, thye purple dragon then asked, "Where is everybody?"

Ignitus shurugged "The Overlords came and told everybody to go the the yard and stay there until later, the first classes would be cancelled today. And then, they called some dragons, including me and Lumino, to the meeting room. And they also sent me to get you."

Spyro looked at Ignitus. Cancelling the first classes? Csalling a few young dragons to the meeting room? Usually that place was only for the Overlords to enter, and it was forbidden for the students to go into it, unless one of the Overlordds called them there. Usually, when you was called to go to that room by an Overlord, it ment that you were in trouble for making somethign wrong, or that you were up to receive a very important notice about something. Spyro had already been there a few three times, once becuase of a prank he played and he received a long scolding because of it, and the other two were to discuss details of his training with the Overlords.

But, why they wanted to see him again?

"Why?" Spyro asked to Ignitus, and the red dragon shurugged again, and he said, "I don't know, they are being secretive (as always), but they say it is something very important, and they want all of us in there, including you, and they said for us to hurry."

Spyro looked at Ignitus, and he suddenly felt most part of hsi sleep and tiredness to slip out of him as he got up, stretching his still sleeping muscles. He then was walking alongside Ignitus, their claws tapping in the ground as they across the empty sleeping chamber,and they got out into the hallway, which led to the halls of the temple.

Spyro had been in here for as long as he could remember, and so was Ignitus. They both knew these halls pretty well, and they both knew the way to the meeting room, and they could navigate in there without getting lost. They knew that palce pretty well, though they had already got lost a cou0ple times in the past. Now they knew their place for being their home.

In minutes, they were in front of the door of the meeting room, and they both shared a look, as they both were wondering just what was the purpose of them being called in there. Nevertheless, they knew that they needed to go inside there to know what this was all about.

Ignitus was about to knock, when a voice came form the inside, saying "It is open, you two can come in."

They got startled by this, and they shared another look. They both summoned what they could of courage, and they opened the door, in order to walk into the room that was waiting for them.

Little did they knew, that by doing it, that by entering into that very same room, their lives would change forever. That by entering there, all they knew and they believed would be different, and that their lives would take the most inexpected turn.

Little did they knew, that their calling int ehre, their meeting in there with several toher dragons, that all that would come from that meeting and all the folloowibg events to it, would forever change their fates...