Chapter Twenty-Two: Shades of Past Events – Part One

Blade, Dawn, and Terradon softly landed on the sandy clearing while Sparx hovered in place next to the purple dragon.

At the same time, the mysterious dragon-shaped silhouette applied its landing to the sandy clearing as well just a couple of feet from them.

The three dragons looked on in wonder while Sparx tried to little avail to keep his fear in check as Blade noticed from a side glance, than returned his gaze forward.

"Sparx, relax." Blade spoke. "Whoever this guy is, he or she isn't going to hurt us."

With his attention still forward, Sparx shook his head upon that theory as the silhouette casually made its approach towards them.

"Spiky, you don't know that. For all we know, it could be a dreadwing or-or worse."

With a deep sigh, Blade rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Okay. One, it's not a dreadwing. And two, if it wanted to hurt us, it would've done so already while we were in the air. Now please, for the love of the ancestors, take a breath and relax."

Regardless of his discomfort, Sparx relented and started to ease himself of his worries for the time being as the mysterious silhouette made his presence known, against the mild dusty wind, in the form of, as Blade suspected, a dragon. A male adult dragon, at best.

At medium, muscular build and in what looks to be his late 20s, 28 years of age, this dragon took on a slight resemblance, at least to Blade's estimated knowledge, to the Chronicler.

Instead of grayish, light blue like the Chronicler, this dragon took on a whitish, light blue color to almost his entire body. He also had silver, glistering horns on his head that appears to be reflecting off the sunlight. His wings, which flaps gracefully, were a mixture of white and light blue while the membrane of the wings took on an aura bluish color.

Then, Blade and the others took note of several small ancient tattoo-like markings, that were of draconian language, seen around his mid-bodily form as well as around the end of his whitish tail where a silver curved tail-blade was seen at the end.

The mysterious dragon halted his stop in front of the group, his bluish orbs observing them all while a greeting smile graced his face.

"Greetings." He spoke as Blade nodded.

"Same here. And thanks for the help."

His smile intact, the dragon nodded.

"Your welcome."

"Speaking of which, what kind of power was that?" Dawn asked. "Because when I was looking in your direction, your arm was extended out-"

"And you saw the glow in my paws, correct?" The mysterious interrupted as Dawn nodded in response. "Well, like Blade here, I am no ordinary dragon."

Blade nodded, but then, his eyes slightly widened upon his mentioned name by this dragon. To his recollection, he never told the stranger his name.

"Wait, how did you-" Blade started before the mystery dragon intervened.

"My teacher spoke highly of you. I believe you met him in one of your dreams."

In perplex silence, Blade, while the others' face masked confusion upon the statement, slowly diverted his gaze a little to the side in hopes to try and piece together a recollection in his dreams.

When his thoughts flashed to a certain purple dragon, Blade looked to the mystery dragon.

But before he could speak on the issue, the mystery dragon, as if reading his mind, shook his head in response.

"Keep going." The mystery dragon spoke.

Although stunned that this dragon was able to somewhat read his thoughts, Blade resumed his recollection.

Then, his thoughts flashed to a certain celestial dragon. Afterward, Blade diverted his attention to the mystery dragon, and to his shock, nodded upon confirmation.

'"The Chronicler.'" Blade's thoughts spoke, which earned him a wider smile from the mystery dragon in response to his thoughts.

His facial expression diverted a little from shock to wonder, Blade took two slow steps forward, to the group's notice, before halting in front of the dragon.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"My name is Psymonius Drake. But, my friend...you can call me, Psy." He spoke with the kind smile still intact.

At approximately the same hour, Flaron and Dargaul looked upon the holographic image in stunning shock, momentarily replaced by seething anger.

"Who is that?!" Flaron demanded.

"I don't know, but that dragon somehow wiped out my trap!" Dargaul roared.

His seething anger intact, Dargaul started to walk off at the same time, Flaron saw something in the image that proved startling to him.

"Dargaul, stay your ground!" Flaron bellowed, his attention still to the image in front of him as Dargaul halted his stop and looked to the Dark Horn leader questionably.

"What?"

"You heard me. If you are going to send another troop down there, don't bother." Flaron commanded, much to Dargaul's seething dismay.

"Why?"

Flaron slowly diverted his attention from the holographic image, which deactivated on its own, to the dragon hunter, his slight anger and dismay still apparent, but masked, on his face.

"Because they are only there for the earth guardian. His element was already collected. It would be a wasted effort."

Fully turning to face Flaron, Dargual glared angrily towards the Dark Horn leader.

"So your plan was to bleed them dry of their elements."

Flaron nodded in response.

"You should have let me have that guardian's head when you were done."

"You and I both know that the only dragon's head that you want is the head of a purple dragon. So if I were you, I would do away with the anger, be patient, and stick to the plan."

In silence, and although displeased yet aware of the deal he made with the Dark Horn leader for his compliance, Dargaul exhaled from his nostrils and nodded curtly in response.

In return, Flaron nodded before getting back on task.

"What did you find out from our dragoness?"

"Nothing so far. She's resisting."

"As to be expected. Try again, but remember to keep her alive."

Dargaul nodded in response before making his leave as Flaron was left with his own thoughts on what he saw in the image. His mind flashed to those symbols on the white dragon's body, which left his mind in suspicious wonder.

'Where have I seen those symbols before?'

Psy bowed his head as a respectful gesture to Blade, who, although uncertain by the gesture, accepted it.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, young Blade."

With a smile, Blade nodded while Dawn, Terradon, and Sparx approached and halted by his side, looking at the newcomer.

"The pleasure is all mine, Psy."

Blade acknowledged their presence before his attention went back to Psy.

"Um, these are my-" Blade started before Psy intervened.

"Dawn, Terradon, and Sparx."

All three dragons, including Sparx, were in stunning silence with their mouths hung ajar upon this dragon's action as Terradon, with his stunned gaze still to Psy, veered his head close to Blade.

"Dude..." He whispered as Blade listened with his stunned gaze still to the dragon in front of him. "This dragon is freaking me out."

"Terr..." Blade started before Terradon continued in a whisper.

"How the fuck does he know our names?"

"I don't know, Terr. And I will ask him as soon as you inch that head of yours back."

In compliance and slightly offended by the last comment, Terradon veered his head back.

"How do you know our names?" Blade asked.

"Well, as said before, my teacher spoke highly of you, young Blade. You don't need to be a psychic dragon to know that. And as for the rest-"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up." Terradon interrupted, his expression etched in disbelief. "Y-you're a psychic dragon?"

Noting the disbelief in Terradon's tone as well as shown on his face, Psy nodded before raising his front left paw and, at its palm, displaying a bluish energy surrounding it, basically giving a demonstration of his power before his small audience.

As a result of said demonstration, a middle-sized pebble, to Blade and the others' stunning notice, emerged from beneath the sand right in front of the group, levitated in mid-air and surrounded by the same bluish aura.

Immediately afterward, Psy closed his paw to a fist, resulting in the pebble exploding into dust, startling the group in an instant, yet grew awestruck by the display.

"Asked, proven, and delivered." Psy spoke, lowering his paw to the ground.

But Terradon still held skepticism due to his slight knowledge of the power display.

'But wait, that's not even psychic. That's-'

"Telekinesis, Terradon." Psy spoke with his smile and attention to the earth dragon, who recoiled in startled shock upon the intrusion on his thoughts.

"The fuck?!"

Despite the earth dragon's vulgar reply, Psy kept his gentle smile before speaking.

"Telekinesis is an energy-based ability that can move objects and other beings. Quite useful, really. Reading and gauging your thought patterns, however...that's psychic. Or more commonly known as 'Telepathy.'"

All were silent for a while in the midst of a mild, sandy wind.

"Wow." Blade finally spoke.

"Second that, Spiky." Sparx followed.

"Third that." Dawn followed.

"F-Fourth that." Terradon spoke before speaking to Blade in a whisper. "Dude, that was fucking awesome!"

"Hence the 'Wow.'" Blade whispered back before directing his normal speech to Psy. "And here, I thought purple dragons were the only non-ordinary species around here."

Psy nodded, his facial demeanor immediately straightened.

"Yes, my thoughts exactly."

"So, what exactly are you doing here, Psy?" Dawn asked, the others practically in agreement to that question.

"Well, I ran into a few friends of yours and I thought I'd help out. They should be on their way here as we speak." Psy answered.

The others glanced at each other knowingly upon the friends that Psy spoke of before returning their attention to the psychic dragon, their previous mission fresh on their minds.

"Psy..." Blade started as Psy gave him his full attention. "Can you do me a favor? Actually two favors?"

"Say no more. I am already ahead of you, Blade."

Slowly, Psy closed his eyes in concentration on a possible life force. And, in a matter of seconds, his eyes abruptly opened, revealing a bluish aura surrounding his pupils before slowly fading as the others looked on expectantly.

His expression stern and grim, Psy looked down to the others.

"The earth guardian is here in that fortress ahead, but his energy is faint. Follow me."

Wasting little time, Psy took off in a sprint on all four, followed by Blade and the others, minus Sparx, who flew by the purple dragon's side.

When they got to the front entrance, Psy, switching to a bipedal position, wasted little time as he braced both his forepaws to the strong steel door before cringing his face in concentration while the others stood back and watched.

Suddenly, both his palms were emitting a bluish aura, simultaneously, the aura was surrounding the upper, lower, and left to right sides of the steel door.

Afterward, Psy took three steps back while both his arms were extended out, keeping his concentration in check to hold the aura in place.

As he halted his stop, Psy strongly cringed his face while his powers surrounding his palms as well as the corners of the door suddenly switched from blue to a reddish color, much to the group's rising shock.

His concentration still in check, Psy slowly winds both his arms back and, in a swift motion, extended it forward, resulting in the doors opening wide.

The group's shock and awe has never left them upon that display of power.

"Open sesame." Psy spoke, with a wide smile on his face.

Then, Psy turned to the others, his expression quickly turning straight and grim.

"Go. But be careful."

"Why?" Blade asked, looking up to Psy as he and the others approached towards the doorway.

Hesitant for a while, Psy diverted his gaze downward a bit before looking to Blade, the grim expression still present on his face.

"Let's just say, uh...you won't like what's in here."

Although a bit puzzled by the comment, Blade nodded before he and the others raced inside the fortress.

Upon entry, they took time to observe, in awe, the long corridor that stretches down to the end where a door was.

"Alright, listen..." Blade started as he got to the front of Dawn and Terradon with Sparx hovering nearby him. "We don't know anything about this place. Might be traps in this fortress, for all we know. So it's best to approach this slow and carefully. Okay?"

Despite his anxiety, Terradon nodded in response, followed by Dawn and Sparx.

"Okay, let's go."

Without much haste, Blade, Sparx, Dawn, and Terradon made their approach through the long corridor, being careful to watch their steps on the stone tiles and not trigger any sudden traps.

"Um, Spiky?" Sparx spoke, his expression practically in sorrow.

"Yeah, Sparx?" Blade responded, his gaze remaining forward as he walked.

"About what happened outside-"

Then, Blade interrupted Sparx with a deep sigh escaping his breath upon knowing where the conversation was going.

"Sparx, you don't have-" Blade started before Sparx intervened.

"Spiky, please stop and let me talk."

After a while of silence, Sparx took a deep breath before speaking.

"Do you know who the last purple dragon was?"

With a brief side-glance to the dragonfly, Blade nodded.

"Spyro."

Sparx nodded in response.

"Were you two friends?"

"More than friends, actually."

Upon the sudden memory of his brother, Sparx sniffed up tears before continuing.

"We were brothers. Him, being the adopted one."

Surprised by this revelation, Blade halted his movement and gave Sparx his complete attention before the dragonfly continued while Dawn and Terradon, upon noticing the conversation taking place, halted their stop a fourth of the way to the door.

"Really?"

Sparx nodded.

"Yeah, and before you say a word, the conversation about him never came up with me, so..."

Sparx trailed off his statement upon noticing Blade's nod.

"I-I get it. Continue."

Hesitant for a while, Sparx took a deep breath and resumed.

"We were inseparable, Spyro and I. Even on adventures, even when he went to find out about himself, we were inseparable...until 13 years ago."

Blade's expression grew curious about that last statement, but remained silent to let the dragonfly continue.

"You know, being an adopted brother means being there for your family even though it doesn't seem that way. So I went with him on his adventures even though he and I knew that there were risks involved. And each time, either from fate or and act of God, we managed to pull through those risks."

Flashbacks of the past depicting both Spyro and Sparx's adventures and numerous close calls protruded in the dragonfly's head.

The sudden intrusion of the memories alone nearly drove the small glowing insect to tears, much to Blade's notice, but he held back and resumed.

"But then...I always get these feelings, these horrible nagging feelings, that somehow...these type of risks will put him in danger. Or worse, get him...killed."

Sparx cringed his eyes shut as a memory resurfaced in his mind on that tragic day; the day he saw, with intense devastation and revulsion, the bloody corpse of his deceased, adopted brother.

Again, the sudden intrusion forced tears from the insect's eyes upon Blade's worrisome notice.

"Sparx..."

"Goddamn it, I hate being right." Sparx whimpered, and then shouted. "I fucking hate it!"

"Sparx!" Blade shouted, his expression of intense worry for the dragonfly.

In flinching startle from the shout, Sparx opened his eyes, revealing to the purple dragon the watery tears forming in his orbs.

Dawn and Terradon expressed the same worry and concern upon notice, but didn't intervene as they resumed observation.

"Sorry." Sparx spoke softly as he rubbed the tears from his eyes with his arm before regaining his demeanor. "I'm sorry, I...sore subject."

In spite of his worries, Blade nodded.

"I noticed. Listen, Sparx...you really don't have to-"

"No, I have to. I'm fine, really."

After a while, Blade slowly calmed his worries a bit with a straight, concerned expression on his face before issuing a curt nod to the dragonfly, ushering him to resume his story.

"Anyway, after it happened, I left. All I told them is that I was going to my parents and tell them the bad news, which was slightly true since I stayed with them for three months mourning the loss. And another three months elsewhere."

"Where did you go?" Blade asked.

Hesitantly, Sparx shook his head.

"Honestly, I didn't know where I was going. Knowing that, I found shelter every which way I can. Anything that can keep me from going back to the temple."

"Sounds like you were trying to make yourself homeless." Blade speculated. "Why didn't you go back to your parents?"

"I wanted to, but what happened to Spyro hit them pretty hard, especially my mom. Me being there self-loathing wasn't helping matters. Couldn't put them through that."

"Did you at least write to them?"

Sparx nodded.

"Yeah. Just to let them know that I'm alright."

Blade nodded, than asked the question that was on his mind recently.

"Hey, Sparx?"

"Hmm?"

"What about Cynder?"

Caught off-guard by the question, Sparx slightly flinched, to Blade's notice.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I saw a statue of her at the temple just like Spyro's. You were going on and on about him, but didn't mention her."

Sparx hesitated a bit before taking a deep breath and speaking.

"Have you ever heard of the 'Terror of the Skies?'" He asked as Blade shook his head in response before the dragonfly resumed. "Well, years ago, that was her. The bad girl to an even badder dragon."

Blade nodded, knowingly.

"The Dark Master."

Sparx nodded in response, and then glanced surprisingly to Blade upon his sudden knowledge of it, to the purple dragon's notice.

"Ignitus told me."

Sparx nodded.

"Anyway, that dragon had his clutches into her twice before Spyro saved her from both attempts. And even after his defeat, that bastard still clings to her like a bad memory. Which is why she left on her own before coming back into the picture years later."

"And then?"

"And then, they rekindled their romance for one another, to Ember's chagrin, of course."

Blade raised an eyebrow upon that statement.

"Jealousy?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Sparx, to Blade's notice, allowed a small smile to grace his feature before speaking.

"More like envious. But that's pretty much the same thing, so yeah. She got over it overtime, though. Next thing you know, she and Cynder are the best of friends."

Then, once again upon Blade's notice, Sparx's smile faltered to a grim straight pattern as he resumed.

"Then 13 years ago..." Sparx started, closed his eyes, and then took a deep breath before resuming. "She was murdered."

As Sparx opened his eyes and looked to Blade, he saw the purple dragon's expression: Widened eyes and gaping mouth signifying horror and shock upon the revelation.

"What? How?" Blade asked.

"Ignitus didn't tell you?"

Blade shook his head.

"No. I only asked about what happened with Spyro. I had no idea they were in a relationship."

Sparx remained silent as Blade's gaze droned forward, trying to process this information before exhaling air from his maw.

"God, how did Spyro take-" Blade started to ask before halting his speech upon images of recent events in the desert intruding his mind. "You know what? Nevermind. I don't want to know."

But Sparx realized the question was coming and hesitated before speaking.

"He didn't take it well. In fact, he went full-on rampage on Flame because of it."

"What?!" Blade exclaimed out of surprise.

Sparx nodded.

"Yeah. Before Volteer intervened with the electroshock treatment to knock him out."

Although Blade was relieved, he felt disturbed that such an incident would happen, which got him to think what would happen if things turned out much worse in the desert then before. If Ember had died instead of injured, would his emotions skyrocket to full-on rage so he'd attack blindly not only at his enemies, but his loved ones as well?

Burying the question down in his mind for now, Blade swallowed a bit of saliva down his throat before speaking.

"Then what happened?"

In silence, Sparx took a deep breath before speaking.

"It got worse."

Before Blade could ask more, the sound of a cleared throat noise diverted their attention to Terradon and Dawn, who approached them, but halted their walk about a 4th of the way.

"Um, guys, I hate to break this up, but we're kind of on the clock." Terradon said as Dawn nodded.

Blade and Sparx nodded to them before looking to each other.

"He's right. But listen, Spiky, don't be too reckless, alright? I've already lost one family member. I can't bear to lose you, too."

Blade stood there in stunned silence upon that statement. It would appear that his mother and the dragonfly have something in common: They feared for his safety.

Regardless, he nodded in response as he and the dragonfly met up with Terradon and Dawn and resumed their trot towards the far door that leads to the inner sanctum of the deserted fortress.

The area they entered in was a dark and dingy horizontal hallway, almost similar to the vertical corridor that they just entered from. But the walls were lined with dimmed torches while the corners of the walls were etched in cobwebs. The hall itself held many doorways leading to, what Blade assumes, dungeon cells including a nearby staircase on the right-hand side leading upward.

Keeping their fears and uncertainty in check, the trio of dragons and one dragonfly slowly resumed their exploration of the place, being mindful of any unwanted traps in the area with the only spectrum of light being Sparx's golden glow.

After a clean sweep of the area, they approached the staircase and traverse upwards that lead to a few nearby doors.

However, by the time they got to the top, they were instantly introduced to a horrible, putrid aroma intruding upon their nostrils, forcing them to stop, groan, and immediately cover their mouths in disgust.

"Oh, my God!" Dawn exclaimed.

"By the Ancestors, that reeks!" Terradon followed

Sparx nearly retched from the smell before voicing his reply.

"Holy shit! What the fuck is that?! It smells like dead sheeps!"

Blade grew silence upon those questions and, despite his strong disgust, decided to take the risk of trying to slowly trace where the smell was coming from.

The others followed, all the while enduring the horrible aroma.

A minute or two of tracing the smell and Blade halted his track to the middle steel door, followed by the others as they all observed the door with the sign entitled 'Trophy Room.'

"The smell is coming from in here." Blade spoke.

Terradon's expression grew skeptical, despite his disgust from the smell.

"Seriously? Who would keep dead sheeps in a trophy room?"

Blade shrugged.

"I don't know." He spoke as he slowly braced his left fore-paw on the steel door. "Probably the guy that used to live h-."

Blade's words were cut short, for as soon as that single action was applied, his body strongly tensed up and his eyes clenched shut upon a sudden, horrifying vision protruding in his mind.

Visions of deceased, decayed, bloodied, corpses where an adult purple dragon bore witness to it all.

Abruptly, the visions ended as Blade, with a startling gasp, quickly paddled back away from the door with his face and mouth masking his expression of horror along with tears threatening to be unleashed from his eyes.

The sudden action didn't go unnoticed by the others, each carrying worried expressions to the purple dragon.

"Whoa. Dude, you alright?" Terradon asked.

"Yeah, you look like you saw a ghost?" Sparx spoke.

Dawn grew silence as she took note of the terror in his eyes.

"Blade?" She called.

But Blade didn't even register a response. His terrified, tear-stained gaze was still to the steel door before him.

His breathing shuddering in the same emotional response to what he saw.

It wasn't until Dawn braced her fore-paw to his shoulder that he flinched from his stupor and looked to her. Yet, his previous expression on his face remained and his shuddering breath went back and forth as he gulped the saliva down his throat trying and failing to keep the rising bile of vomit from emptying out of his body.

"Blade, what happened?"

"I-I saw d-"

His sentence cut short as he heaved and struggled to keep the vomit down to no avail as he quickly shoved Dawn aside, to her surprise and shock, turned around and unleashed his bile of vomit upon the walkway as Sparx and Terradon groaned in disgust.

Yet, their worries increased upon this action.

"Jesus, dude, I never thought you'd get like this over dead sheep." Terradon spoke.

But Blade, breathing heavily, head hung low, and recovering from his sudden lost of lunch, shook his head.

"It's not sheep." He said, in a loud whisper, which caught the others by surprise and confusion. "By the Ancestors, it's not sheep."

Sparx and Terradon, despite their worry grew skeptical upon the comment.

"What? That doesn't make any sense." Terradon spoke.

"Yeah, I'm with Terry here, Spiky. I mean-"

"GODDAMNIT, IT'S NOT FUCKING SHEEPS!" Blade shouted, which echoed throughout the area and startled those around him by flinching, recoiling surprise, fear, and shock, especially Dawn.

His increased worried expression intact, Terradon slowly approached Blade, who was breathing heavily from his outburst while Dawn tries to ease his calm, and halted next to him before looking to the steel door, than back at his purple friend.

"I...I don't get it, Blade." Terradon spoke before looking to the steel door. "I mean, if it's not sheeps, then what the hell is it?"

Slowly, Terradon, with his attention away from Blade, cautiously approached the steel door, much to Dawn's shock.

"Uh-"

But that was all Dawn was able to utter before the voice of a purple dragon caught her attention.

"Terr..."

Terradon stopped and turned to Blade, who stood up on his slightly shaky legs and slowly turned to face the earth dragon.

His mouth free of the stains of vomit and his eyes dried of tears, yet replaced by a strict, firm, and strong, burning anger within the orbs, to everyone's notice.

"Get away from the door."

His voice was firm. That much they have noticed as Terradon looked to the door, and then, slowly back at Blade suspiciously.

"Why?"

"Just...trust me, okay?"

His gaze diverted downward, Terradon grew silence for a minute to gather his thoughts before looking to Blade firmly and speaking.

"Blade, you're my friend. And I love you like a brother. But we saw you touch that door. Not open it, touch it. After that, you were backing away like you saw the devil himself, and then telling—no, raging at us that it's not sheeps in there shortly after you lost your lunch. You want me to trust you? Tell me what the fuck you saw, and how you saw it. Otherwise...I will take the alternative."

Silence, with his expression still intact, Blade looked to Sparx and to Dawn individually. And though they were worried, their body language and expression told it all to the purple dragon: They wanted to know as well.

Diverting his attention forward with his head low and his eyes cast down to the ground, Blade loosened the anger from his expression, but kept it firm and stern as he took a deep breath and exhaled from his maw before finally looking to Terradon in defeat.

"Alright, Terr...I'll tell you. Just...get away from that door. Please."

With a slight nod of satisfaction with the response, Terradon did as instructed and sat next to Blade's left side while Dawn remained at his right side.

Sparx hovered and landed on the purple dragon's left shoulder as all looked to Blade with worry and concern.

Though, Blade didn't have to look in their direction to notice the gazes. They were very concerned about him. He knew that. But behind that firm expression on his face, was a seed of anger and fear: Anger at what atrocity he found out in there, and fear of indulging that knowledge on them. The kind of knowledge that could potentially scar them for life.

He didn't want to wish that on anybody, least of all, his friends.

He didn't want to tell them that. He shouldn't. But he was caught in hindsight by those around him due to his actions and emotions, to which he mentally chastised himself for.

But he was raised to be honest with others. Their friendship, kindness, and relationship means everything to him.

But he also values their safety. Something he made perfectly clear back at the desert.

He felt torn. Yet, despite that, the decision was already made.

Taking a deep breath, he exhaled from his nostril before speaking while avoiding their stares.

"Terradon, while you and Sparx were arguing in the air, I had a vision or visions. Visions I couldn't even decipher because they came so fast and all at once."

In silence, Terradon, Dawn, and Sparx took the explanation to mind before the dragonfly spoke.

"Spiky, is that why you-"

But Blade shook his head, knowing the question was coming.

"No. That was after I saw a small fragment of what that vision was."

Silence, Sparx slightly nodded before Blade resumed.

"But still, I didn't know what the hell it was, until..." Blade stopped himself a gulped the rising fear down his throat before resuming. "...Until I saw, or had another vision, on what was behind that door."

In silence with worry still etched to their faces, Terradon, Dawn, and Sparx looked to each other, and then to the purple dragon.

But Blade knew the question was coming, and when he answered, it threw the three individuals around him into a world of shock and horror.

"It was drakes." He spoke, the rage evident in his voice, but thoroughly maintained.

To Be Continued...

Once again, my apologies for the long wait. IRL stuff and all.

In the next chapter, the young drakes continue their search for the earth guardian, Terrador. Along the way, Blade discovers more startling and horrifying revelations regarding the past purple dragon.