Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The world has always been a place where everyone could live in peace, and it was a good place for everyone.

However, things like that did not last forever, and it all came to change in the day that Malefor assumed the power.

In the past, the dragons lived in peace with all the other races, but Malefor, the purple dragon, did not agreed with this. In his condition as a purple dragon, the most rare and powerful of all kinds of dragons, he believed so powerfully in the superiority of the dragons over all the other creatures that he believed that it was their right to rule over all of the other creatures.

So, using from his charisma, and his amazing powers, Malefor assumed the power and crowned himself the king of all dragons. Soon, he started to change the peace that had once reigned over the land, and he moved armies of dragons against all the other creatures, aiming to spread the power of dragons to all the lands and to have all creatures under their power. Anyone who dared to defy him paid the price with death.

Whole regions were devastated, races were taken prisoner and some of them enslaved, and no one was safe from the army of Malefor. The dragons, who once were a symbol of peace and honor, became something that was to be feared and taken as a symbol of tragedy, and that was how their fame spread across the lands, as Malefor moved on with his campaign of domination.

Many had fallen and became trapped under his domain, but some of them resisted. There were some who were powerful or clever enough to find ways to avoid having their lands falling in the claws of the dragon army. Alliances were forget in order to protect the people, and some people who once were known for being pacific had to quickly learn to fight, become warriors and form their own armies.

Among them, were the apes.

For a long time, the apes had their own business, and never got too involved nor worried with the dragons, but the advances of the armies of dragons forced the apes to abandon their tribal rituals, and come together as people and get ready to the fight. At first, they were with little to no chances, they were slaughtered in numbers of hundreds, and their hope was diminishing every day more and more, until the hope appeared for them in the form of a leader.

A leader named Gaul.

"Don't give up now!" A big, blue-furred ape screamed at the apes who ran by his side. "We must protect or lands! Show the armies of Malefor that we will not go down easily!"

Gaul was a big ape, much bigger than a regular ape, and he was wearing a purple-colored armor, and a big helmet with big horns. In each of his hands, he was carrying scimitars, which were his preferred weapons, and they were both covered in some blood, from the dragons that Gaul was already forced to battle.

All around, apes were branding their own weapons, and all of them were fighting flying creatures, which also had armors of their own, most of them silvery colored with the timbre of a dragon's head with three horns. Some of them were breathing elements as they looked at the apes. One was breathing fire, while other was breathing frozen air, while other was breathing an arc of electricity into them.

Dragons were known for their elements. Each dragon had one, and it changed according to the kind of dragon, representing the color of their scales. There were dragons of fire, ice, electricity, wind, water, earth, and many more elements. That was what made the dragons be so efficient in battle and also what made them be so dangerous. Still, that did not discouraged Gaul. Not when the future of his whole people was landing on the shoulders of the big ape.

He simply continued to roar orders and encouragement to his army, as he leapt himself in direction to the battle, ready to take on a last stand for his people and for all in which he believed.

The battle raged for a few hours and, surprisingly, the apes were actually showing themselves to be able to win. The dragons were killed in a good number, and the apes showed considerably less loses, and soon, the après were being able to do something that they had made a lot in the past months, and something that, a few years ago, would be considered impossible: they were forcing the dragons to retreat.

Soon, the groups of dragons were retreat, as the leaders telling their solders to move aside once they saw that the martial skills of the apes had grew very much in the last months, due to the guidance of their leader. They had grew to a point that it was no longer that easy to confront them, and that group of assault was forced to retreat in order to save their lives and to avoid more loses. They all were flying away, aiming to return to their troops to recover.

"Yeah, you winged lizards!" One of the apes screamed at the fleeting dragons, who were soon disappearing at the distance. "Go back to the purple lizard with your tails between your legs!"

This was only one of the many cried that the apes gave to the fleeting dragons, and soon, they were cheering for yet another one of the victory that they had over the flying lizards, showing off that their abilities of elements didn't gave them the right to take them, and that the apes would never give up their lands and their freedom or surrender to their cruel ruling.

"To Gaul! Our king and leader!" One ape cried out as the others all cheered with him, and they continued to cheer, some of them very drunk, both with their victory and with the alcoholic beverages that they were taking, now that the battle was over and the dragons had fled back to their own lands.

Gaul was looking at the distance, smiling to himself, as he was able to forget the throbbing face of his head.

However, he winced slightly as the pain sting in again. He took a hand to his face, and rested it into the piece of cloth that now covered the place that once had been his left eye, and now was an empty socket, due to the attack of a dragon during the fight. The big king of apes had lost one of his sights, but it was only another one of the many scars that he was sure that he was going to have in order to defend his land and his people.

He sighed as he looked at his armor, discharged after the battle was over; exposing his furry chest, which now was covered in some bandages. His scimitars were left aside too, both of them still covered in blood from the dragons he had killed. Gaul winced as he looked at the bloody blades, and he sighed to himself as he remembered himself just how brutal battles could be for everyone.

However, his attention soon was broke as he heard a loud scream filling the air.

He immediately jerked his head at the direction that the scream had come from. He could not tell very much about voices, but that one surely did not sounded like the one of an ape.

This suspicious was soon confirmed as a young ape quickly came from a place, and he screamed to everyone. "Kallag found a group of astray dragons!" He said as if to get the attention of someone. "He is killing them!"

Gaul's eyes widened, "Oh, no…" He spoke to himself as he immediately got back on his feet, forgetting of all of them pain in his body as he was now running to the direction from where the kid had come from. He was not sure of where exactly was it, but it was not hard to find out, he just had to follow another scream, which now he recognized as the voice of a dragon.

He rushed, not caring to the people who were coming right on his trail, other apes, like him, as he just wanted to arrive in there before it was too late.

He could now hear more clearly the voices.

"Do you like that, you winged iguana?"

"Stop, please stop!"

"Don't let them escape!"

"NOOOO!"

Gaul was panting as he was running as fast as his tired and wounded body could carry him, and he was able to arrive into a place where he met a horrid scene.

A group formed by nine apes was killing a few dragons. They were only four of them, being that two of them were already dead, and they had serious wounds in their corpses, which looked like they had been mutilated. There were only two alive, and this was quickly reduced to one as one of them was killed having his throat sliced, as he was trying to say something that, to Gaul, sounded as if an "I surrender!"

His eyes were widen in horror, as he looked at the last dragon alive, a dragon who was limping, dragging himself at the ground as another ape was walking to him, with a wicked grin in his face, and have a bloodied spear in his hands.

"No! Please, I surrender! I surrender!" He said, practically begging for his life, the ape only smirked wider at him, before thrusting the lance forward, and spearing the dragon right in the heart, making him let out a loud and wheezing gasp.

"No!" Gaul screamed, "Stop it now!" He demanded, and all the apes stopped, and looked at their leader as he rushed to the last living dragon. The ape with the lance, who had crimson colored fur and amber-colored eyes, simply removed his lance of the wound, making it gush blood, as he simply looked at Gaul.

The big ape simply ignored him, and kneeled in front of the dragon, which open wound leaked blood. He wheezed as he looked at Gaul, and he even tried to say something, but it came out choked and unintelligible, and them, he simply went limp, his face turning to the side as all the light left his eyes.

Gaul just stood there, kneeling at the dragon, who had been killed with such cruelty like that, and he could only look at him as the feeling of shock was replaced by a feeling of grief for that poor soul. However, it was soon replaced by another feeling. One that was directed to the one who was, the most likely, the responsible for that cruelty.

He looked over his shoulder at the apes, who looked at him scared, save for the crimson one with the lance, who simply looked casually at him. "My king." He said, with a salute, as if he had not just killed four dragons. That, in turn, only made Gaul even more furious.

"Kallag." Gaul snarled at him, showing off his teeth, "You are the responsible for this?"

"We found them hiding." Kallag, the crimson ape said, "They were soldiers and our enemies, and so, we had to treat them as enemies. We just did what we should do." He said, as if he was saying something very reasonable. Gaul, however, was not taking that crap.

"They attacked you?"

"They were going to, no doubt." Kallag said to Gaul, who looked back at him with almost a murder shine in his eyes. "We just finished them off before they had the chance."

"This one was surrendering!" Gaul demanded, now not making any effort to hide his irritation.

"Really?" Kallag said, using a cloth to clean up the blood from the blade of his spear. "Well, I couldn't quite hear him well. You know that all that dragons say sound like snarls to my ears."

This was Gaul's turn to give his own snarl, as he got back to his feet and advanced against the crimson ape. All the other apes yelped and stepped back when they saw their leader and king walking with that furious look in his face, save for Kallag, who stood where he was, looking only slightly impressed, as the king stopped when he was very near him, looking down at him right in the face.

Gaul snorted at him, and he simply looked back at him, he was not smiling anymore, but his look still told that he was feeling confident. He looked at him, and he asked, "What happened to your face?" He was obviously talking about the cloth that now covered the place of the missing eye. Still, Gaul couldn't care less about it, as he simply looked at him and he said, his voice snarling with anger.

"I ordered to all the dragons who surrendered to be taken prisoners, not killed." Gaul said, and he seemed ready to pounce at Kallag and strangle him. "I made it perfectly clear, and don't you say that you forgot."

Kallag looked up at him, and he spoke confidently. "We don't know if they really plan to surrender or not. They might simply pretend to surrender and attack us as soon as we give them our backs." He said it matter-of-factly, as if it was an obvious thing. "We simply take ahead and kill them before they have the chance. Besides…" He looked at the tip of his spear, swinging it across the air slightly. "I mean, it is not like they would offer us any mercy if we surrendered."

Gaul snarled at him, and the apes took another step back, but Kallag remained firm, and he looked up. "You know, I find it strange that you are so keen on showing mercy to these blasted lizards." He spoke, and his tune was one of almost disgust. "It is almost like you forgot all that they already did. They killed many of ours! So, what is wrong with us doing a little payback by killing a few of these beasts? And also, I think you should be happy for seeing some of these things get killed after what just happened to you. It was one of them who took off your eye, right?"

He was asking it as if it was a perfectly natural thing, and the way he asked that to Gaul was almost a mockery. The bulky blue ape had to clench his fists so hard that his claws were actually digging into his palms, in order to hold himself back not to break the crimson apes jaw with a well-placed punch. "The war is horrible." Gaul said, his voice slightly shaken with anger, but he remained as composed as it was possible, as more apes were arriving and seeing the scene, seeing the dead dragons and quickly understanding what was going on.

"We all lost things and we all are carried by the brutality." He spoke "We all lost something in the war, and we all get wounded, and is truth, that some enemies may not show mercy to us, no matter the circumstances, but this is no reason for we to throw away or honor and decency!"

Kallag looked at him, and Gaul seemed really mad as he looked at the crimson and smaller ape. "This is one more time that you disobey my orders, and I'm already sick of it! From now on, the next time a dragon offers surrender you will accept it and take the dragon as prisoner of war. If I hear that you disobeyed my orders one more time, I'll order you to be arrested!"

Gaul said that in a tune that gave absolutely no mistake that he was talking very seriously about it, and that he was not kidding. All the apes who were looking were his witnesses, and Kallag simply looked back at him, with the same ferocity as Gaul himself, and he spoke, "For someone who was supposed to be our leader and help us defeat the winged lizards, you seem to care too much about them."

Gaul knew that it would be no use discussing with Kallag, and if he tried, he could very well end up strangling him I front of everyone. He knew that he had been clear enough for Kallag and that all the ones around were going to confirm it, so the crimson ape would no longer have an excuse, so, Gaul simply turned around to leave, and as he was walking away, he heard Kallag's voice.

"Don't worry, Gaul!" He said, "You won't listen of me killing dragons again unless it is in the battlefield."

Gaul knew that he was supposed to feel better, but for some reason he didn't. Maybe it was because he knew that, coming from Kallag, this probably meant that he was not going to let the word of what he did get to Gaul's ears. It was very likely, once the crimson ape had a serious thing against dragons, and that he would jump at any chance of killing one. Gaul noticed it in the first days that he joined their forces.

Many enjoyed having him around for he was one of the best warriors that many of them had ever seen, including Gaul. He knew that, despite the disadvantage of the size, Kallag was one of the few apes who could actually keep up on a fight with him and actually have a real chance of winning. Still, Gaul asked himself if it was worth it, for Kallag was one of the most violent beings that Gaul ever met in his life, and he was very inclined to kill dragons with little to no provocation. Gaul did what he could to correct this kind of behavior in all the apes who worked under his command, and he was sure that some of his army at least agreed with Kallag's point.

Many had lost a lot when the dragons started to attack. The apes surely were no exception to this, and they had lost a lot during this few years of war that the dragons had wagged under the orders of their new purple king.

The dragons had once been a very proud and noble race, and now they were fighting in name of domination and mercilessly, and that was a hard blow to everyone, who now saw the dragons as threats and as dangerous creatures who could attack you in the moment you less expected. Gaul knew that many thought like that about them now, and he could see that not only in Kallag, but also in many other apes of his own army, not to mention many fugitives and survivors of other races that had been attacked and conquered by the dragons. They saw them as monsters that should, most likely, be slain before they could hurt anyone else.

Gaul, however, was among the ones who thought differently.

He had always grown up with stories of dragons, and he even had met some of them in the past, before this whole madness had began. He knew dragons to be majestic creatures, that they were the defenders of the lands, and that they were great beings of power and wisdom that made the world a better place for everyone to live.

Sure, many heard these stories when they were younger, and that was why they considered the actions of the dragons such a terrible betrayal. Gaul, however, saw way past it. Gaul knew that, despite their good nature, the dragons were living beings, like all the others. Therefore, like all the other beings in this world, there were individuals who held darkness inside their own hearts, like Malefor.

The purple dragon was a cruel tyrant, who had come to power by making use of plots and of his own powers. Malefor was the one who assumed the control and corrupted the dragons to act as his hand, covering the world until he had all of it held in the tip of his claws, so he could do whatever he wanted.

Many saw Malefor as the symbol of what dragons had become, and they thought that all the dragons were like that, as wicked and cruel as their ruler, but Gaul knew well that a ruler did not reflected its entire people. He knew for he had heard many stories of a few dragons who he met who had escaped from the lands in order to avoid being captured. Malefor was cruel not only with other creatures, but with other dragons as well.

He had imprisoned and executed many dragons who had dared to oppose openly to his way of ruling, and he was no stranger to incarcerating innocents who dared to defy the laws that he had set up. People around the lands saw Malefor as a symbol of the dragons' wishes, but Gaul saw past it, and he saw Malefor as what he truly was: a tyrant who hungered for power, and was willing to go against all the most sacred laws of his race and of his ancestors to do so. An ambitious being who cared only for power and for nothing else, and who would not hesitate a single second in giving away the lives of anyone who was under his rule, dragon or not, to see his selfish wishes attended.

Truth was, in Gaul's eyes, the dragons themselves seemed to suffer as much as any other creature for having Malefor as their king.

Malefor was controlling their laws, and he practically owned their lives by using the fear as a weapon of control. He was now forcing the dragons to adhere to his new ways, and this way, he was poisoning the minds of the younger dragons, so they would share of his philosophies and of his cruel ways, and take them as truth, so Malefor would not need to use of fear to control them in the future.

Malefor was a disgrace to the dragons of the past, and Gaul knew it pretty well, he was acting like a monster to everyone at the same time that he forced the dragons themselves to sell his image as a great hero and a savior, who was helping the dragons to grow and to become more powerful. Gaul despised it. He despised everything about Malefor and the way he did things, and he felt sorry for the dragons who were make to comply with his commands and orders.

Still, it seemed that most people didn't thought the same way he did, for they were only caring about the way the dragons were attacking them, after being defenders of peace for so long, and the pain of the betrayal was too great, because of the many things that were lost in the clashes: lives, families, lands, belongings, freedom. Malefor, who now used his own race as a toll of conquer, was taking all of that and, as a result, everyone now was seeing the dragons as monsters.

Gaul sighed to himself, at the same time that he frowned deeply, as he wished that there were anything that he could do to change people's opinions about it, and he tried, but he had failed, for they all were too focused on their own suffering, and that was not little.

Gaul walked out of the place where the last clash had occurred, and he walked now in direction to the woods, entering into it and, as he went deeper and deeper into the silent woods, no one followed him.

Good. Gaul wanted to be alone with is thoughts.

The night had already put itself in place, as the sun had set not too long ago, and the first stars of the night had just appeared. Gaul looked up, being able to see them from where he stood with his only eye.

He grumbled as he rubbed his face. He would take a while to get used to having only one sight.

Well, it was probably one more of many scars that he was still going to get if this war lasted any longer, anyway, and by what he knew about the new king of the dragons, it was actually pretty likely that the war was going to last quite a while.

Opening again his right eye, now the only one he had, Gaul looked at the starts above. Well, at least he could still enjoy the beauty of these little things, even if one single eye. He sighed to himself as he simply relaxed and enjoyed that beautiful view.

As he looked, Gaul could see a few shooting stars passing by the sky, and his mind went back to the times in which he was just a little chimp, alongside his grandfather, that told to him about the stars in the sky.

He told to young Gaul that the stars looked back at their world from up there, and they only moved for certain special individuals. Usually for people who were important, or who were destined to make great changes into the world, good or bad. Sometimes they fell from the sky for some creatures, whoever, it was far more common for them to fall for the dragons, since the dragons were the most powerful and noble beings of that world. He said that, each time a dragon was born or died, one star fell from the skies, signaling either the loss of a valuable life, or the arrival of a new valuable treasure for the world.

Gaul sighed to himself, as he missed the old times. Gaul even asked himself if some star had fallen in the night that Malefor broke free from his egg. If the star was signaling the things he would do and the changes that the purple dragon was going to bring forth for the world. If it predicted the horrible things that he would do to the world and to his own kind, and all the destruction and the pain he would create in his quest for power.

The dragons were once a symbol of good and purity, now, more and more people were taking them as nothing but bad owes. That profoundly hurt Gaul, once he was not going to allow himself to forget all the beautiful and amazing things that he always heard about dragons. No. The dragons were not monsters. They were noble creatures who were put in this world to protect it from the evil and to ensure the future of all the things that lived, walked, flew, swan and crawled in it, and no evil dictator, insane and thirsty for power, would ever change that. At least, not to Gaul.

Even though Gaul was, like many more, forced to take on the arms to protect what he loved. Even if he was forced to take the lead of the apes, and teach them all how to fight and even to kill the dragons in order to protect what they held dear. Even if he was himself wounded by dragons who would most likely kill him in name of their new cruel king. Gaul knew that, in his mind, he would always see the dragons as that symbol of hope and the promise of a brighter future.

As Gaul let these thoughts wander in his mind, it seemed as if the world around him was disappearing, until he loud sound, like the snapping of a twig, brought him back to reality.

Immediately, the big ape put himself in attention, looking at the sides, as his hands instinctively traveled to his waist, where his swords usually were resting, it was a reflex that he developed in these times of war. However, he only realized that he had left his two swords back at the campsite when he found nothing but the leather of his belt and the fur of his own body in there.

Gaul would have cursed himself for forgetting his weapons, if it was not for another sound of a twig snapping calling his attention back. This time, Gaul was sure that it was closer. Gaul forgot completely about the swords, after all, it would not be the first time that he had to face an enemy only with his arms and claws.

"Who is there?" Gaul called out to the woods, to the direction from which the noises had come, "Show yourself!" He demanded, there was a long silence following this, and then there were more sounds.

Rustling of leaves.

Twigs snapping.

Whatever it was, it was big and it was moving, as if it was circling all around him.

"Stop playing this game!" Gaul demanded loudly, looking at the place in which his sharp senses and instincts could tell him that his stalker was. "Come out and face me now or I'll go to you!"

That was an ultimatum, and Gaul made sure to leave it perfectly clear to whoever it was and who seemed to be playing games with him. There was another silence, before the stalker started to move again, but no more moving around, instead, it seemed to be going in direction to Gaul.

The ape bared his teeth, and stood in attention as the figure was coming to his direction. The proclaimed king of the apes was in fighting stance, ready to defend himself in the case it was an enemy, and soon, the figure came out of the vegetation, and it completely surprised Gaul, making him drop his instance.

It was a dragon. However, who looked at this dragon could easily tell that it was not there to fight anyone in name of anyone.

This dragon was a female, and she was with white scales and a golden colored underbelly, with golden horns and wing-membrane and her tail ended into a scepter-like tailblade. She surely was a beautiful figure, but her appearance was not of the better. She had wounds, scratches and bruises in great part of her body. Her scales were dirty with mud, dust, and dried blood that had leaked from her wounds. She seemed to be limping into her left hind leg, and she had one basket into her forepaw, covered by a grey-colored blanket. She looked back at Gaul with blue eyes, which were full of pain and fear.

"Please… don't hurt me…" She managed to breathe out, seeming that every word consumed great part of her strength. She looked as if she was ready to faint from all the pain and the tiredness, and this, of course, made Gaul forget all of the worries about the war and about anything else, as he immediately started to go in her direction, to offer her help.

She got scared, and tried to back away, but the pain in her leg made her wince, and she was about to fell to the ground, before Gaul used his strong arms to support her, and to help her lay gently into the ground.

"Who did that to you?" Gaul asked, "What happened?" He said, as he checked on her wounds. She looked back at him, with her eyes still full of fear and pain, but still, she looked back at him with intelligence, evaluating, and she was going to see that he was genuinely worried with her.

"T-they attacked us." She said, managing to say a few words. "T-they were going to destroy it… I-I had to run, I could not let them…" A heavy coughing access cut off her speech, and she started to cough up blood, which stained the green grass under her mouth.

Gaul felt a terrible sense of dread running in his body as he could see her wounds more closely, and he realized that they were worse than they seemed from a distance. It was amazed that she was still able to move at all, yet carry a basket with her.

"Don't talk now." Gaul said to her, as gently as he could, "You need to save energy."

However, Gaul knew that it would made little difference now if she talked or not, Her body was severely damaged, and if she did not received the green healing crystals soon, she would most likely not live very long. Gaul remembered that his henchmen got some of these among the spoils that they got from the defeated dragons. A few of them surely would save her.

"You need health crystals; I'm going to get some." Gaul said, and he assured her, "I'll be right back, I promise." However, as he was about to leave, he felt her claw wrapping around his wrist, and he looked back at her, as her eyes, filled with pain, were pleading to him.

"Stay…" She managed to breathe to him "Please, stay… I don't want to die alone."

Gaul looked back at her, and soon, he found himself in a dilemma. She knew that she was going to die, and Gaul knew that too, by the severity of these wounds she had. She wanted him to stay, but if he stayed, he would be able to do absolutely nothing but to make her company and to comfort her as her final time arrived. If he did left, he could get the crystals that could save her life, but, he could take too long, and her wounds were too severe. She could very well pass away as he was away to get that what would save her. Worse than that, she would die completely abandoned and alone. Like no one in the world, good or bad, dragon or not, deserved to die.

Gaul looked at her for a while, pondering his options and his decision, and after she said a last, "Please… don't leave me alone." Gaul finally made his mind, and he decided what he would do.

He kneeled by her side, and he used his hands to cup her head, and to help her lay more comfortably. He was going to stay with her until the end. He was going to make her company during her final moments.

"It will be okay." Gaul said to her, as gently as he could. "It is all going to be okay."

She looked up at him, and she said, "My child."

This left Gaul slightly confused, when he remembered the basket that she had been bringing with her. He looked at it, as it was still in the ground. Using one hand, he picked up the basket and brought to closer to him, while his other hand still held the head of the poor, dying dragoness.

Once it was close, Gaul removed the blanket covering it, and he felt glad that he had kneeled, because otherwise his legs would probably have gave up on him and he would have fallen to the ground.

In the basket, was a dragon egg, as Gaul was already expecting. However, what made Gaul shocked was the color of the egg in question. Dragon eggs had each had a specific color, as specific as the colors that each dragon had, depending on their elements. The color of the egg symbolized the color of the dragon that would be born at it, and its element, inherited from the egg's parents.

What made Gaul surprised about this egg was the fact that it was not white like the mother, or any other regular color that Gaul could expect. Gaul even wondered for a moment if it was an optical illusion cast by the light of the blue and red moons of the sky. However, as he could take a very good look into the egg, there was absolutely no way of mistaking it. It was not effect of light, nor some kind of disguise, and not even Gaul's mind playing a prank on him.

The egg was purple!

And if the egg was purple, there was only one logical conclusion that Gaul could come to…

"They wanted to destroy my egg." The voice of the dragoness brought Gaul back to reality, and he looked at her. "My only child… I… could not allow it… I took my egg and escaped… before they could…" She could not finish, as she had another coughing access, bringing more blood to leak from her mouth.

Gaul didn't know what to say or what to do about it. He only looked at her, and back at the purple egg, wondering just who wanted to destroy the purple egg and why. Well, the most logical would be that people would not want another purple dragon around, since only one of them had already caused too much trouble, and so, the people from other species did not wanted to risk having another purple dragon around to make things worse than they already were.

However, Gaul was far from discarding the idea that Malefor would have ordered the destruction of the new purple egg. Purple dragons were rare, and taken at very high regard due to their ability to wield all of the elemental powers. That was the main reason why Malefor was so powerful and why no other dragon dared to defy his ruling as king. Another purple dragon would have the potential to match Malefor in power, and to dethrone him. Gaul would not be very surprised if he found out that the purple king had ordered his guards to find and destroy the egg as soon as he heard about it, to avoid having another purple dragon to threaten his position.

Gaul would actually expect that for the tyrant. Still, he was very worried as he looked at the egg, and back at the dragoness, who seemed about to die as she coughed more blood into the ground.

Gaul could not help but be amazed by her strength and her bravery. She had to run away from whoever was able to do it from her while protecting her egg, and went to the middle of the area in which the war was raging, risking to be found by another group of dangerous being that could not hesitate into killing her and destroying the egg. She forced herself to keep moving even though her wounds would made many other dragons with twice her size drop to the ground, unable even to move. Gaul wondered if that was the power of the motherly instinct, which was universal among all the living creatures.

"I had to be sure my child was safe." She spoke, being able to mutter strength to look up at Gaul, and to continue to speak. "I couldn't let them do it… It is just a baby… It does not deserve to die only because…" She once again had another coughing access, bringing forth more blood. Gaul had to hold her head slightly up to help her breathe better, and he gently comforted her.

"Relax, it is okay now." He said to her, as gently as it was possible. "You are safe now. You two are safe."

She looked up at him, and deep inside his eyes. For a moment, Gaul had the feeling that she was looking more than just his eyes, he felt like she was looking inside of them, and deep into his soul. After a while, she smiled at him, and she said, "You are a very good man."

Under normal circumstances, despite the war or anything else, Gaul would have become flustered with this kind of compliment coming from a dragon, however, now he was into a situation that would not allow that, once he was with his focus in the poor dragoness, and the very little time that she had of life. Not to mention the fate of her poor egg, which was going to lose the mother before it even had a chance to live.

"I have a last wish… for you." She said top Gaul. She knew that she was going to die, and she had already faced and accepted this, Gaul could see in her eyes, and he felt truly sorry that he was not able to do absolutely anything to help her, but to listen and maybe to try to realize her dying wish.

"What is it?" He asked, she looked up at him, and she said, with her weak voice.

"Please, take care of my egg."

Gaul looked at her, taken back by this request, once he had not expected it to come from that dragoness. Not now that the war was ranging over. He only looked back at her, and at the purple egg, and then, he felt something landing in his own hand. He looked back at the dragoness, who was looking at him, with a claw in his hand gently, her eyes were pleading to him.

"Please… I know of the war, I know what dragons did to apes and to everyone else, but I don't care… My child can't survive out there. They will kill it if they find it, so I can't trust anyone else…. Anyone else would have killed me and destroyed my egg for its color, but you…" She raised her paw, and gently touched his face, as she gave a smile to him. "You helped me, and you offered to help during my last moments… You showed kindness to me even with all that has happened… You did not tried to destroy my egg once you saw its color… Despite all the war that rages over, you are not tainted by anger, hate, or by spite… you… truly are a good man…"

She looked deep into his eyes, and she said, "I want… a man like you… to take care of my child… to care for it and to make sure that it is safe and sound… I'm sure that my child will be okay with someone like you caring for it… so, as my last wish… I ask to you… to take care of my child…"

Gaul was speechless as he looked at her. His mind was a fuss as he wondered all the possibilities that could come from this. Gaul knew that many of his followers had bad opinions about dragons, and even more about the purple ones, some of them even questioned his decisions because he showed compassion to a few dragons. What would they say if Gaul returned with a purple dragon egg, and said to them that now it was his personal responsibility? Nothing good, and that was for sure. Gaul was actually already imagining what Kallag was going to say and actually do about this whole situation. It was potentially a disaster, and Gaul could only imagine what kind of proportions that disaster could take.

His mind was take away from the subject as he felt the grip of the dragoness tightening around his paw, as he looked back at the dragoness, who was looking up at him with pleading eyes. "Please… my child needs someone to care for it and look after it… please… this is my last and only wish… please… take care of my kid…"

This was a desperate wish, and Gaul knew that. She knew that she was not going to live, and she had no one else who she could trust. He was her only option, and Gaul knew that pretty well. Still, she was talking it as if she could ask it to anyone else, and she decided to ask to him, and only to him, as if she trusted in him more than in anyone else in the whole world.

This was what made Gaul have doubts about his own doubts. He looked at her, and at the purple egg, ands back at her. He took a few moments to find his voice again. He finally was able to look her in the eyes, and he said, "I-I… yes… I will take care of your child. I promise."

At hearing that, she smiled at him, and she said, "Thank you." She sounded and looked happy, relieved, as if a great burden had been taken off her shoulders. Immediately, she wheezed one last time, and finally, she closed her eyes, as all the movement stopped, including her breathing.

It was so sudden that Gaul got scared. He looked at her, as if he was searching for any sign of life, but he found none. Her breathing had stopped; her heart was no longer beating, as Gaul couldn't find any pulse in her. He took almost one minute to realize that she had indeed died, and for him to accept that she was gone.

It was like she had lived only enough to make sure that her child would be safe, and then, she could finally rest and let her soul travel o the place where she would be going, which according to the belief of the dragons, was the far realms, with the spirits of the ancestors. Gaul took a few moments to recover his mind as he looked at her, and he finally was able to make sense of all that had happened.

He looked over to the basket in which rested the purple egg. An egg that, right then and there, had become his responsibility. Gaul never imagined that something of the like once he woke up in the same morning. He could only stare at the purple egg, and back at the dragoness, who now wasn't breathing as he rested her head in his hands. Gaul knew that this was not something that he had planned, however he knew that now it was very much his reality.

Resting her head in the ground, Gaul made a silent prayer at her, and he hoped that, whatever greater forces were up there, or anywhere else, would welcome her and make her finally have some peace. Gaul wished to give her a proper burial, and to that, he had to go talk to his armies. Of course, that would bring him the problem of explaining the egg.

Gaul looked at it one more time, and he approached the basket and the egg. Gaul picked it up, and he looked at it as the light of the two moons illuminated the egg. He wondered just how much that egg would actually affect his life, and he actually wondered if he was actually going to be able to keep the promise that he made to the dying dragoness. He knew that, in the current situation, living among the apes would not be the safest kind of life for that little dragon.

But, on second thoughts, in the current situation, there would actually be little kinds of life that would be safe for the poor little thing once it hatched, and Gaul was very much certain of that.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a sound that sounded like something cracking. Gaul was a little startled, and he looked around, when he heard the sound again, this time a bit louder. Gaul took a few moments to realize that the sound was coming from his own hands.

Actually, form the little purple thing that was on his hands.

The egg was hatching.

Gaul looked at the egg, as cracks formed into the shell as it was breaking, and the small hatchling in there was now fighting to escape its confinement.

Gaul could do nothing more than to watch as the egg broke more and more, the cracks expanding and getting together as the egg was losing its ability to stay whole. Soon, one piece of the shell broke, and fell to the ground, being push out by something. It looked like a blunt horn, golden and very small.

Gaul looked at it as the hatchling to which the horn belonged continued to push against the shell, aiming to break it and to see the outside. Soon, effectively, more cracks appeared, as the egg was breaking apart to free the small resident into the world and the fresh air. It took a few minutes before the egg finally had broken enough so it was possible to get a good glimpse of the small creature inside of it.

Gaul could look at its little face. It was purple in color, and decorated with golden horns, and Gaul could see that the underbelly was golden too. The small hatchling squeaked as it continued to fight against the shell, freeing more of itself, and soon there was an opening in the side of the egg, which allowed Gaul to take a better look at the purple hatchling.

It was small and very fragile-looking, as it was to be expect from a newly hatched baby, and it was all purple with golden underbelly and tiny white claws in its little paws. Gaul even was able to catch a glimpse of between the hatchling's legs, which confirmed to him that the small creature was a male.

The small hatchling moved as the shell was no longer a problem, but still resting its body into what was left of the shell of the egg, as it breathed the fresh air of the outside from the first time. It sneezed softly as some dust came into its nose, and it moved its paws, as if trying to learn how to reach its nose.

In this process, the young dragon baby started to open his eyes, revealing to have amethyst colored eyes. It blinked a few times, the world in a blur, as its eyes were greet with the light for the first time in his life, and the hatchling noticed something that was right in front of him. It was big, and it was taking up most of the space in his vision.

The small creature blinked several times to clear its vision enough to take a good look at the creature in front of him. Many would be scared when suddenly having a big, mean-looking ape, especially if this ape had a bloodstained eye patch covering a missing eye, while the other was wide in surprise.

The small hatchling, however, had just been welcome into life, and he was far too young and to naïve to grasp some concepts; like fear, danger, and threaten. So, that big creature was nothing scary or anything of the like, being the first thing he saw in his life. Actually, as the purple dragon sighted the creature, its instincts immediately started to work, as he immediately recognized the first living being it saw as its parent.

Gaul could only look, as the young draggy looked at him, and soon, he was opening a goofy smile, and letting out a very happy squeaky sound as it looked at him, with a shine in these amethyst-colored eyes.

In the moment Gaul saw this, he found it just the cutest thing he had ever seen in his whole life. Suddenly, all the worries of the war, of the rest of his clan, of the whole situation, they all seemed to vanish in the moment Gaul saw that adorable smile. Then, for the first time in the last days, Gaul was actually able to smile. A true smile, free from all the worries and all the other things that could happen.

Gaul could only look at that cute dragon that almost seemed to be giggling at him. However, at some point, his mind had to go back to the hatchling's mother, dead right by his side, and to all the worries that plagued him, from the war to his own troops. He looked at the young dragon, who was far too young and too innocent to understand all these problems, even if Gaul tried to explain to him. For a brief moment, Gaul felt envy of the young dragon, who had simply nothing to worry about, while Gaul himself now was in a position in which he would take all of the worries in his place.

Looking over, Gaul looked at the dead dragoness, and gave her a silent prayer and the guaranty that he would keep his promise. Then, he moved back at the basket, and put the hatchling back in there, along with all of the shell that the young dragon wasn't able to break. The small draggy continued to chirp and squeak at him, as Gaul covered him with the blanket, and was taking the basket in his arms, looking back one last time, and sighing as he walked back in direction to his camp.

As he walked past the forest, and back in direction to his camp, the young draggy looked up at him and chirped as he was in the basket. Maybe it was to call up Gaul's attention, and it worked, for Gaul looked at the basket and to the little dragon from time to time, to be sure that the little thing was okay, and this made the young dragon smile back at him and chirp more.

Gaul liked that, however, as he saw himself getting closer and closer to his camp, he knew that he couldn't simply walk in there with a dragon in plain sight, at least, not until he had the chance to explain the whole story to everyone. Until then, he needed to, at least, keep the young dragon hidden.

He stopped, and looked at the young dragon, and he said, "Look, I need to keep you hidden now." He looked at the young dragon, who looked back at him. "I need you to be as still and silent as possible until we arrive in my hut, okay?" Gaul was sure that the young dragon was too young to understand him, but he felt a bit more secure as he talked to the young dragon as if he could make it clear and the young dragon would cooperate.

So, Gaul covered the basket with the blanket, and made sure that it was well protected, before he started to walk back to his camp. As he walked, he was quickly greeted by other apes, most of them were worried that he had been gone for so long into the forest, but the proclaimed ape king assured them that he was okay, but he put them in pair of the dragoness that he had met and who died, but he omitted the egg and the young dragon, of course.

"Gather a group and go to retrieve the body; she deserves to have a proper burial." Gaul said, and the young ape saluted him.

"Yes sir… by the way, what there is in the basket?" he asked, looking up at Gaul, who looked at him and at the basket, which hid a very important little thing, and he said, "I… gathered a few fruits along the way. Before I met the dragoness, I mean…" He said defensively, hoping that they apes would buy it.

"Oh, right." The ape said, and he and the other ones started to leave, when a chirping sound came from the basket, what made them stop and Gaul's blood run cold.

"What is that?" Asked the young ape, and Gaul had to think quickly to come with an excuse.

"Oh! That, huh… It was me! I sometimes make these strange sounds when I'm really sleepy. I guess I should go to my hut to rest for a while, please tell the others that I don't want to be disturbed for the rest of the night." And with that, Gaul left quickly for his hut, hoping that the lie he gave was convincing enough so they would not want answers.

Gaul rushed in direction to his hut, and he thanked to any and all gods up above when he was finally able to reach it. Gaul closed the curtains of the entrance, and he made sure that no one was nearby to hear or to peek into the hut, before he finally took the basket to the corner, and placed it over the bed.

Gaul removed the blankets to reveal the young purple hatchling, which had been flip on his back by the rush that Gaul had caused at going to his hut in hurry. The young dragon was trying now to figure out how to flip back to his feet, while he looked at the big ape with the big and purple eyes.

"That was very close, little one." Gaul said, helping the purple draggy back to his feet, and the young purple creature chirped and squeaked in answer, giving one more cuteness onslaught that Gaul could not help but completely fall in love with.

The ape was only glad that he was able to be back at his hut, where he could take some time to think of some better way to explain the whole situation to his troops. He was able to actually smile and relax a little at the young purple dragon. The purple thing continued to make some funny things, as if to calling the ape to play with him, until the young thing started to look tired, and started to yawn.

"You look tired, little one." Gaul said, picking him up, "I think you better rest now, you have been through a lot."

As if on cue, the purple draggy started to get snuggle with the arm of the big ape, and after a few moments, the small dragon was breathing slowly, into a sound and easy sleep, as the small wings and tail twitched into the rhythm of a dream. Gaul looked down at him and the smile in his face widened a little more.

Gaul knew that now he was the responsible for that little purple thing, and that it was probably going to bring him a lot of problem, but still, he found himself simply unable to think anything bad of the situation then and there, with the little mass of purple scales snuggled up to him, small, cute and so very fragile. People always said that dragons were charismatic, and that it was impossible not to love them, and right at that moment, Gaul was feeling very much inclined to believe in that.

Still, the blue ape was far from relaxing, for he had to keep a watch and to keep his senses very much alert and attentive to everything around him. He knew that he would have lots of trouble if someone came in and found him with a purple dragon hatchling snuggled up on his arm. He would need something much better than feeling tired to be able to explain that to anyone who caught him in there in the act.

Gaul continued alert as he looked at the entrance, and he let the young purple dragon rest in his arm, as Gaul kept is watch, just like a dutiful father protecting his youth. Gaul was a man hardened by the few years of war, and he had already passed by much worse than a single night of not sleeping. He was able to keep his watch for days in a row if needed, and he planned to, if that meant keeping that young dragon safe.

Gaul barely noticed the hours passing; to him they were like minutes, as he kept all of his senses sharp at the same time that he kept his mind focused in other subjects. He was aware of nothing and everything at the same time. It was a very good trick that he learned long ago from his uncle, whom was a very skilled hunter famous for hunting prey by wounding, following and waiting.

Gaul only was call back to reality as the small purple dragon started to move, and started to make noise. A LOT of noise.

Gaul looked at the small thing, as it was letting out clearly needy squeaks and chirps, and this made Gaul look down at him.

"Hey, what is wrong, little one?" Gaul said, as if he really expected the hatchling to understand him. But the small thing only continued to chirp and squeak loudly, and Gaul was now starting to become worried that the excessive sound could attract the attention of people in the outside.

"Shh. Hush, little one, you are gonna get caught, we both are shhh." Gaul said, worried that the sound was going to put them both in trouble. The baby continued to chirp and squeak, and at a certain moment, Gaul winced as the small hatchling started to bite in his arm with his baby teeth, and he was biting a little hard.

It took a few moments to Gaul to be able to connect the dots and to be able to figure out what was bothering the poor little thing. "Oh, I see, you are hungry, aren't you?"

The small dragon chirped loudly, and continued to bite at Gaul's arm, as if he was trying to get any form of sustenance, that his instincts told that would do good to his aching tummy. The poor little thing was suffering from hunger for the first time in his short life, he did not liked the feeling, and he wanted it to go away.

Gaul looked at him, and around, and now, he cursed himself for not having brought any food and for not having it at hand in his hut. Gaul knew that he couldn't leave the poor baby all alone to search for food, but also, he could not simply take him outside to take him for the food, once the baby would make a lot of noise because of his hunger, and even if Gaul hid him with the blanket into the basket, the noise would most likely inform everyone of his presence. In addition, the idea of forcing the newly hatched baby to starve simply because it was convenient was something that Gaul would not even consider as an option.

After a lot of thinking, and a look into the poor, pleading eyes of that hungry hatchling, Gaul finally made his mind, and he decided that the poor thing needed food, but taking it with him would be too dangerous. So, the best course of action would be to leave the small thing in there, in his hut, where he would be safe.

"Okay, little one, I have to go now to look for some food for you." Gaul said raising the small hatchling with his hands and looking him in the eye, as the small dragon looked back at him curiously. "I'll be out for just a little time and I'll be back with something for your tummy, and while this, I need you to stay here, hidden and quiet, until I come back. Don't make any sound and try not to get into trouble, okay?"

Gaul didn't even waited for an answer, he simply put the small hatchling in his bed, which was at the same level as the ground, used the blankets to prepare a makeshift nest, and he put the hatchling inside of it.

As his hands left the hatchling, it started to chirp and to squeak, wanting the touch back. However, Gaul knew that he could not have the hatchling with him as he searched for food; it was too dangerous. "I'll be back soon, I promise." He said, as he turned around to leave, and walked away, and the small hatchling continued to chirp loudly, wanting to have him back.

These sounds broke Gaul's heart, but he knew that he had to think rationally as he took his next decisions. Besides, he was sure that he would take only a few minutes to find food and come back. It would be quick and it would be safe, and Gaul only had to take care and say that he wanted a bite before bed if anyone asked, and everything was going to be all right.

He just needed to be careful and nothing could go wrong.

The small dragon continued to chirp, as his big parent moved away from him, leaving him alone. The poor hatchling was suffering enough with the ache on his tummy, but now, he had the problem of not having his parent by his side to watch him. He was now completely alone, and he did not like this feeling.

I am here! Come get me! I don't wanna be alone!

The small dragon chirped loudly and many times, to try to get his parent to come back and to care for him. However, the parent was taking too long, and was not coming and answering to his calls, and this only made the small hatchling feel bad for being alone.

The hatchling called for a while, until it decided that it was not going to work. So the hatchling decided that it didn't wanted to wait for the parent to come back. It wanted to be where the parent was.

So, if the parent was not coming to him, he would go to the parent!

Slowly but surely, the hatchling started to move his legs, and it was new to him discovering how to use them and how to properly walk. His instincts helped him, of course, but still, the best he could do was give clumsy steps as he tried to keep his balance, at the same time that it tried to walk, as if to find out the parent and discover where it went.

The first thing the little male hatchling did was to climb into the nest that the parent made for it, and to get to the other side, which it did by clumsily climbing up it and dropping into the outside.

Once this task was done, the next thing he did was get back on his feet, and then, it started to go into clumsy steps around the small space that his parent had brought him. Once he looked at the place in which the parent had disappeared into, the small creature walked in direction to it, with its clumsy baby steps.

After a few moments, the hatchling finally arrived and went past the curtains that blocked the sight from the hut from the outside. It was officially its first adventure into the world, as the small creature looked around, and saw the earth, and he saw something glowing, and he saw the sky above, with the two moons casting their glows into the sky.

It was all beautiful, and it would capture the attention of the young creature. However, he had little time to worry about these beautiful things. He needed to find his parent, and he needed to find it quick. He didn't wanted to be without his parent. He could barely form rational thoughts just yet, but still, he knew by instinct that he couldn't be left alone for too long, otherwise it would not be good.

He continued to stumble as he walked in, without a clear destination as he simply walked around, searching for traits of its parent. All the new feelings and sensations got by his baby senses bombarding his mind as he searched for any specific clues that would lead to his parent, so they could be together again.

The feelings were new and they were intense, like the smell that was coming, and the sound of voices of beings that the small hatchling was way too young to recognize or understand, and so, he simply continued to walk. All these new feelings were making it hard for the young mind to focus, once they were too many new stimuli at the same time, and that was making his young and tender mind confused as these feelings overwhelmed him. He shook his head as he walked, and continued to stumble as he walked his baby steps, but he was surely making progress, for he was already a bit far from the place where he started, even if he had no idea if he was actually closer to finding his parent.

Of course, since he was into this near haze from the overload of feelings it wasn't surprising that he would not see very well where he was walking. He bumped into something.

The hatchling yelped as he backed away and landed in his butt, rubbing his snout. The hatchling suddenly felt a very strange feeling, as if he was not safe. He looked at what he had hit, and he saw that it was some kind of leg furred and crimson colored.

The baby had a feeling of danger as he looked up, and saw that the leg belonged to a creature that was very similar to his parent, however, this one was definitely not his parent. This one was smaller, and also, it looked different, and it was staring down at the young dragon with a look of pure hatred in its amber colored eyes.

The small hatchling didn't even had time to run as the creature lowered a clawed hand in his direction…

Gaul had just picked up the last part of what he would need to feed the young dragon. Just some pieces of roasted sheep, not very much, since the young dragon could not eat that much. Still, Gaul had picked up a generous portion, for he wanted to be ready in case the young dragon would wake up again hungry, as he knew that babies could eat a lot.

Luckily for Gaul, no one asked him why he would take this food to his hut, as many of them didn't wanted to argue with their leader, and so, Gaul was already ready to go back to his hut and to the young dragon who he had left alone in there.

He was already on his way, when he noticed what seemed to be a commotion of apes ahead of him, all of them gathered in there, and they all seemed to be agitated.

Gaul looked at them, wondering what was the whole fuss about, when another ape, a young one, came running in his direction.

"My king…" He said, panting as if he had run a lot. He seemed as if he was trying to recover his breath to say something to Gaul.

"Hey, hey! Easy now, young man. Deep breath." Gaul said, and the young ape obeyed, taking deep breaths to recover, but still, he seemed in a hurry to tell Gaul what was going on.

"My king…" He spoke, having recovered a little. "It is Kallag!" He spoke, and immediately Gaul felt worried, and soon, it turned into a freezing horror as the next words were said. "He found a baby purple dragon, and he is going to kill it!"

No! Was the thought that rang into Gaul's mind as he dropped the sheep he had been carrying and immediately rushed to the place where the apes were gathering, barely minding the young ape who he had just been talking.

He soon arrived there, and he saw many apes gathered in there as a crowd. Due to his bigger size, Gaul had a very advantageous spot to see over their heads, to exactly what they all were looking at. What he saw was making his blood run cold.

Kallag was standing in the middle of all the apes, inside a circle, and in one hand, he had a dagger, while in the other, a familiar shape that was squirming and crying out loudly, as if calling for help.

"My friends! This is the symbol of our suffering!" Kallag said to the crowd as he held the young purple dragon high, who chirped loudly and whined, squirming as it seemed to be scared out of his mind. While the young dragon was too young to understand concepts of death, it knew very well by instinct when something was a threat to his small existence. He didn't liked that thing, it made him feel bad, and the way it held him was hurting.

"Now, what should I do with it?" Kallag asked, as he looked at the young dragon in his clutches, and a smirk formed in his lips. "What about I cut out one member at a time?"

The crowd roared at him, as if they were actually agreeing with what he was saying! Gaul, on the other hand, was completely horrified. He started to open his way among the apes, aiming to reach Kallag before it was too late.

"Yeah, it will be good!" Kallag said, now his eyes into the small hatchling, who was wailing in fear. "One member at a time! Now, which member should I cut out fir-"

But Kallag never had a chance to finish his speech, for in that moment, a blue fist collided with his face, sending him back in direction to the crowd, at the same time that another hand snatched the young purple dragon of his clutches.

Kallag barely knew what had happened as Gaul simply stood there, panting and with a look of pure despise at Kallag, while the young dragon was now held securely in his arm, trembling in fear like a leaf.

Kallag soon recovered, and looked at Gaul, soon, he was getting up, and snarling. "Gaul, what is the meaning of this!?"

"You will not hurt this dragon!" Gaul snarled back at him, "I won't allow!"

"You are protecting a purple dragon now!?" Kallag said, his voice sounding with anger and betrayal "What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with me!? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?" Gaul roared, making every single ape around flinch, including Kallag. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

Gaul looked at Kallag, and he looked at all the apes around, and he said, "From today on, this purple dragon is under my protection! If any of you try to hurt him in any way, you will have to answer to me! Am I clear enough!?"

He looked around, and all the apes looked at him, none of them saying a word. Gaul shot a glare at Kallag, who looked at him with a look of almost hate, however, the crimson colored ape said nothing, and Gaul took it as a good sigh. He walked away, the apes around opening space, since no one dared to stand on his way when he was as mad as he was looking then.

Gaul walked back at his hut, and closed the curtains, and he looked back at the young dragon, who was trembling and whimpering in his arms. That was surely not a good way of starting your first day into the world, and Gaul knew it very well. He felt now terribly guilty for letting it happen to that poor young dragon.

"Shhh, it's okay." He said, as gently as it was possible, as he hugged the purple dragon gently against his chest. "It's over now, they won't hurt you. I won't ever let anyone hurt you, I promise." Gaul said as he continued to hug the poor young dragon, who was still trebling for a good while before he finally had calmed down enough…

In the morning, Gaul had just companied the burial of the dragoness who had trusted her egg to him. He paid his last respects to her as he stood in front of her grave, the young purple hatchling still clutched in his arms.

As soon as it was finished, Gaul once again returned to his hut, and now, as he carried the young purple dragon with him, he was receiving all kinds of looks from the other apes, most of them from fear and doubt for that young purple creature. And sure, a look of pure scowl coming from Kallag, who still had his face swollen and blackened from the punch. Gaul knew instinctively that the crimson ape was still going to make a lot of noise because of that, and he knew that, from that day on, he should not leave the purple dragon out of his sight for too long.

Soon he was back into his hut, with another ape companying him. Gaul finally was able to rest as the young purple dragon was eating some sheep, ripping out small pieces with his very small teeth. Luckily, Kallag had not harmed the young one, what the ape king was extremely thankful for.

Gaul would never have forgiven himself if he had allowed any harm to befall that poor little soul.

"So, the mother trusted the young dragon to you in her last moments?" The ape asked Gaul, who looked back at him, and simply nodded. The ape looked at the purple dragon, who seemed like had just ate enough, and was now resting into Gaul's lap. "So… what will you do now?"

Gaul looked at him, and back at the young purple dragon, who was looked back at him with these innocent amethyst eyes, and that goofy smile. Once again, Gaul felt his heart melting, but of course, that would not affect his decision, for he had already made his mind a long time ago.

"I'll keep my promise." Gaul said, looking back at the ape. "I'll take care of this kid, and I'll raise him as I would raise my own son."

The ape looked back at him, and simply nodded, not saying anything, even though Gaul was almost sure that the ape was thinking on a few things that he might wanted to say. Gaul was sure that many of the apes who followed him where going to have a lot to say about that matter.

"If it is your decision, my king." The ape said in respect, his head bowed. "So… the purple dragon has a name?"

Gaul looked at him curiously, and back at the young purple dragon in his lap. Sure, with all that had happened, the subject of what name that young creature should have had totally slipped from Gaul's mind. Still, now that the storm had seemingly dissipated (for now, at least), the subject was brought back.

Yes, the purple dragon needed a name, and that was for sure. However, Gaul was soon finding himself with no options for a fitting name for that young dragon.

Should he pick up a name from his tribe? Or should he give him a proper dragon name? Dragons usually named their young ones in a way that was somehow related to their element. What should Gaul pick up for a name for that young dragon?

Many options passed by his head, however, none of them seemed to fit properly that young dragon, or what he had been through.

What he had been through…

That poor young soul had faced many dangers even before he actually hatched. He had almost been killed, had lost a mother, and had faced his very first near death experience. That hatchling had been through a lot, and yet he survived and was there.

He was alive, and he was breathing, and as he looked up at Gaul, he looked happy. As if nothing in the world could possibly hurt him or make him any harm. That young dragon had passed through many things and survived them all, and he was there, smiling brightly, as if to tell Gaul that, despite all the horrible things that were happening, there was always a chance that things would work out in the end.

As if to tell him that, despite all the horrible things that could happen, because of the war, or because of anything else, things could get better, and he could still smile and see a beautiful day in the following morning. Gaul liked this kind of feeling, and that was exactly the feeling that the young purple dragon gave him.

A feeling of hope.

That was when Gaul decided for a name. This name belonged to the ancient language. One created by the first living creatures, and was the first language ever spoke in the world, said to have been the dragons. This name was a word that had the very exact meaning of "hope". It was a fitting name for that young purple dragon, both because of his species, as it perfectly put into words all that the purple dragon represented in Gaul's eyes.

"Spyro…" Gaul said, gently petting the head of the purple dragon, who chirped in happiness.

"His name is Spyro."

Chapter Text

The sun shone bright into the sky as the life went by.

Under the clear blue sky and the mid-summer sun, a village went by. Apes inhabited this village, and they all lived their lives into their rustic houses, made out of wood, rock, and straw. All of them quite humble, but all of them perfect for their lives in there.

They all took care of their own lives in there, with the hunters of the village coming back, carrying fish and even some deer from the nearby forest, which would all be cooked and turned into a wonderful meal for everyone. The women of the village were also minding their own affairs, working with the clay and the straw to make pots, baskets, hats, and they were sewing tissues. Some of them were taking care of small gardens, which contained either small flowers, or some veggies, or medicinal herbs, used for a variety of purposes.

While the adults were minding their affairs and taking care of their responsibilities, their young were playing around, many of them without a single care in the world. These young ones wore only loincloths and other simple clothes made of animal pelts, much like everyone else into the village. They were simply kids being kids; acting as if they didn’t had a single thing in the world to care about besides having fun the most they could. All of the young ones walked around, with the smaller toddlers running around and being goofy.

The ones who were nearing their teenage years, however, gathered, all of them talking about things, like their first lessons in fighting and hunting, and the times that they would spend trying to get the attention of that special girl they wanted to spend time with. If not that, then they were playing more mature games, like making some bets, seeing who could climb higher into the trees on the border of the village, or then some wrestling matches, or some hunter/hunted games. After all, that was part of entering the teenage years, gathering with others of your own age, do and talk about the things that would be part of the future. That was the regular behavior for recent teenagers.

However, there was one young soul into the village that didn’t followed that same logic. It wasn’t due to lack of interest, it was because it seemed that the others didn’t quite wanted to be near this one. He wished to interact with others as much as anyone else of his own age would. The problem was that he was not very much like the other ones of his own age, at least not in that ape village.

The young four-legged being was walking as he looked around at the village. His golden horns were shining slightly into the sun of the afternoon, it matched perfectly with the rest of his body, both his purple body scales, and the golden color of the plates of his underbelly. His long tail moved behind him, ending into a spear-shaped, golden tailblade. His purple eyes were moving into the place, as he looked at the village, and he could not avoid a feeling of sadness as he saw everyone walk out of the way as he approached, almost as if they were afraid of getting trampled or bitten if they remained on his path.

Spyro knew what it was about, and he knew that it was because he was not what the rest of the apes were. He was a dragon. A purple one, by that matter. That was enough to make most of the apes in there to be highly hesitant to be near him, and to walk away whenever he came near or passed by.

Of course, it was possible that the current company for his small stroll had something to do with it…

“You know, I think you guys didn’t needed to come with me.” Spyro said as he looked to his sides, to the six burly and armed apes that were walking by his sides, all and each one of them with an unfriendly look in the face.

They were all slightly bigger than the average ape, not as big as Gaul, but they all were imposing, of course, the weapons that they carried helped in their hands helped to sell the image of a group that you wouldn’t want to mess with.

“I could very well have walked across the village all by myself. I don’t think there would be danger in here.” Spyro continued, as he walked, and the six apes continued to follow his movements, forming a ring around him, as if to protect him from any danger that could possibly come on his direction.

“I’m sorry, mister Spyro.” Said the nearest ape to him, with hazelnut-brown fur, and carrying an axe that looked like it could easily cut another ape in two. “But king Gaul left very clear instructions for us to always be with you whenever you went outside.”

“Yeah, I know what dad said.” Spyro said, “But I still think that you don’t need to be so close.”

Spyro continued to walk across the village with the personal guard that his father had assigned to him walking by his side. They had been with him for a few years, they all were soldiers that his father knew and trusted, and they had the mission to keep an eye on him and make sure that no problem would come to him. They had a double work of bodyguards and babysitters.

Spyro had already told his father that he didn’t needed them, but the big ape was adamant, and made it clear that they would be with Spyro at any time that he would be walking into the village or out of it, and that he would not be going anywhere without them. This, of course, was quite annoying to the young dragon, who as leaving his young years to enter into the near teenage years, when he started to value his own privacy and space.

Still, Spyro understood, deep down, that his father just wanted him to be safe. Even though Spyro was not a kid anymore and thought that maybe, just maybe, he didn’t needed that much protection.

Well, Spyro knew that he could do nothing about it, not with the clear instructions his father left for them. The purple dragon could only sigh as he continued to walk and the ring of armed apes continue to follow his movements as he walked across the center of the village. The other apes all walked out of the way, but that didn’t meant that they wouldn’t give him any form of attention. Even though Spyro actually preferred they didn’t.

Spyro’s hearing was sensitive, he could pick up the whispering that was going among the apes outside of the circle around him, and he could feel their eyes on him as he passed. Most of it was hard to hear and to understand correctly, but still, Spyro had a good idea of what they were saying by the expressions on their faces and by the tone they used.

Spyro had spent his whole life among other apes, and during most of it, the apes that were close to him and to his father always were nice to him. However, as he grew, Spyro noticed that not all the apes seemed to want to be nice to him. Actually, Spyro started to realize that most of them seemed to want to keep distance from him.

When he was ten, his father finally started to explain to him better about the war. About the situation that the apes had with the dragons, and about their evil purple king. That was also the day when Gaul revealed to Spyro that he was not an ape, but a dragon, and that he was adopted.

Spyro couldn’t say that many of these revelations came as great shock to him, but he knew that after that day he started to see the world with different eyes. Now he was much more aware of the feelings of mistrust, fear, and even anger that other apes seemed to have towards him. Also, he now could understand much better the reason why they seemed to want to stay away from him, and also to keep their own children away from him.

Spyro grew up with little to no friends of his own age, and he was sure that this would not change in the close future. Still, Spyro barely paid them very much attention. He had already grew used to having the other apes avoiding him and casting him those glances from over their shoulders, as well as having them whispering behind his back, thinking that he could not quite hear them.

For all Spyro knew, they could continue with their lives. He barely even minded any of them…

Spyro continued to walk with his guard, and soon, they were passing by the center of the village, and they continued to walk. They passed by it, and by the houses, and by the small shops that were in the place, and soon, they were moving in direction to the edge of the village.

As soon as they moved out, the apes seemed to tense up, as if they were expecting much more danger outside of the village than inside of it. Spyro simply rolled his eyes, as he thought that he was probably in pretty much the same amount of danger if he was either inside or outside of the village.

They continued to walk, and soon, they were at a bit of a distance from the village, and walking in direction to the trees that were on the verge of it. As they walked, the ground was starting to become a bit more irregular, and those with a sensitive enough nose could pick up the smell of the stale water.

They were approaching a swamp.

As they approached, they stopped a few yards away from the edge of the swamp, and they stood there, as Spyro took a step forward, shortly walking out of the protective circle of apes, and he looked forward. He took a deep breath, and he let out a scream.

“SPAAAAAAAARX!!!”

Several birds, surprised and startled, flew off the nearby trees, as they voice of the young dragon echoed into the trees and inside of the swamp. One of the apes who was forming Spyro’s cohort put a finger on his ear as he made an expression as if it was hurting a bit. The young dragon had quite some powerful lungs.

Spyro waited, as he looked at the trees ahead and minutes passed. Spyro was about to take a great breath to call out again, when he noticed a small glowing dot flying in his direction. The purple dragon knew what it was, and he smiled to himself as the dot flew on his direction, before it stopped at a few feet of him.

“Hey, Spyro!” Said the creature who had just arrived with a masculine and young voice. The creature had the upper body of a humanoid nature, with a pair of arms, a big head with two antenna, and four insect-like wings on its’ back. Its’ lower body consisted into a segmented insect-like tail, and its whole body was yellow and glowed with a weak golden luminosity.

“Hi Sparx.” Spyro said, greeting his small dragonfly friend. He and Sparx had met a few years ago, during a time when Spyro had eloped from home, wandered too deep into the forest, and entered into the swamp. The two had met completely by chance, and while they had been deeply scared of each other at first sight, they soon grew attached to each other, and they started to play around a bit.

Spyro remembered very well that day. It was the day when he learned about dragonflies, and the day when he had made his first real friend. It was indeed a very good day for the young dragon, even if later on his father put him grounded for a whole month for walking out home hidden and without permission.

Sparx had greeted the purple dragon with a surprisingly strong and deep voice. If one were to compare both ages of the two creatures, they would conclude that while Spyro would be on beginning of his teenage years (13, 14), Sparx was mostly in the middle of it (15, 16). This age difference was something that many would say that they were unlikely of becoming friends, or that it would be unusual. However, there was nothing like that. Apparently, Sparx was kind of a pariah among his own race, and didn’t had many friends his own age. As a result, he and Spyro got along almost immediately after knowing each other, that is, after the initial scare of coming face to face with a real-life dragon had passed.

“So, how you doing?” Sparx asked the younger dragon, resting an arm on his nose as who would be leaning on a table.

“Same old. Dad still travelling, but he might come back soon.” Sparx said to him, and he gestured behind himself. “Meanwhile, I’m stuck with my nannies.” He was referring to the apes that his father had made into Spyro’s personal guard. Sparx looked up at them, and he waved.

“Hey, dudes!”

The apes waved back at the dragonfly just briefly. They already knew Sparx, for Spyro frequently met up with him. After all, Sparx was probably the first and only friend that Spyro has had, once the rest of the village was either too suspicious or scared of getting near him or letting their young do the same.

“So, what will we do today?” Spyro asked him, and Sparx chuckled at the dragon.

“Well, there was a guy last week that doubted that I knew a dragon who could crush him if he made fun of me.” Sparx said, “I could take you there and we both show him just how wrong he is.”

“Young Master Spyro can’t move too far from the village.” One of the apes said. “King Gaul left clear instructions that he would have to stay within the limits of the village and away from danger.”

Spyro rolled his eyes, and he really wished that his father had not been so specific on his instructions to the guards or that they were not so diligent in following them.

Sparx only looked to them, and he said, “You guys are some major joy killers, did you knew that?”

“We are just following King Gaul’s orders.” The guard said, “Our duty is to make sure Spyro is safe, and that involves keeping watch over him and preventing him from doing things that would put him in danger, like walking into the swamp.”

“Excuse me!” Sparx said, “My home is not dangerous! It is a very nice place where you can enjoy the strong scent of nature and swim into the waters for a refreshing day! Well, of course you have to watch out for the deeper part, because some snakes lurk in there… It also has some very good fruits from which you can eat! Even though some of them are poisonous… And it also has a very soft soil where you can sit, lay and walk all you want! As long as you are aware not to step into quicksand…”

The guards only looked at the two teenagers with a “not amused” expression, and the guard said. “I’m sorry, but going to the swamp is out of question. If Gaul finds out we let Spyro wander in there he will have our heads for sure.”

Spyro sighed, and Sparx only looked at him. “Man, and I thought that being the son of a king would actually be cool.” Sparx said, to which Spyro answered:

“Well, it is not as cool if the king is paranoid with your safety all the time.”

“So… what do we do now?” Sparx asked, and a little silence came, as the dragon smirked and said:

“Would you like have some more heart cashews?”

“Oh! Nice! I love those! I have been dreaming about them ever since we got them last week!” Sparx said in delight, but the apes who were with Spyro actually shared a worried look among themselves.

“Huuh, Master Spyro?” One of them said, “I’m not sure if it is a good idea…”

“Why not?” Spyro asked him, “It is inside the limits of the village and you will be able to keep an eye on me all the time. You won’t be disobeying any order that dad gave, and you surely won’t get in trouble.”

“But the heart cashews-”

“Are one of the best fruits in the whole village, and that is why I want to get some of them.” Spyro said, “So, dad said to you that you should make sure I was safe, but he also said that, as long as it was within the ranges of the village’s territory, I could go to anywhere I wanted and you could not stop me, ain’t I right?” Spyro had a smirk on his face as he said that, and he knew that he had made a score by the expressions of the guards.

They seemed like they didn’t really had a choice but do what Spyro wanted in that occasion, because now the orders that his father gave them were working on his favor. He turned back to his dragonfly friend, Spyro asked:

“Wanna go get some heart cashews?”

“Count me in!” Sparx said, Spyro smiled at him, and he said:

“Race to see who gets there first? First one to arrive has to give half of the heart cashews he gets to the other” They looked at each other for a few moments, before both of them sprint forward in running (or buzzing, in Sparx’s case). The guards soon had to rush to be able to keep up with them, the six of them with the feeling that they were going to regret being so dutiful in following their king’s orders.

Spyro and Sparx both were ahead of them, and the guards soon saw themselves struggling to be able to keep up with the two teens.

The purple dragon and the buzzing glowing dot following him soon were passing inside the village, and as they ran, they startled a few of the apes who were taking care of their own affairs inside of the village.

“What the-”

“Hey!”

“What is this!?”

“Look out!”

Sparx and Spyro barely gave any attention to them. Well, Sparx didn’t, while Spyro was caring enough to say some “Careful!”, “Purple dragon passing!”, “Excuse me!”, and even an occasional “I’m sorry!”

Meanwhile, the guards came right after them, and apologized better with the other apes in behalf of the young purple dragon they were guarding, before going on his direction.

“You know, if Gaul left someone to watch that dragon, he could at least also have made them do it inside of the hut.” One female ape said to another as they watched the guards running after the purple dragon and his glowing, small dragonfly friend.

“You know, Gaul should have arranged a cage to put that dragon in while he is away, instead of letting him walk around as he pleases.” The other female ape answered, and the first female could only not in agreement…

Spyro was able to get a good running start, but Sparx was famous for his own flying speed (or so he claimed), and he soon was proving to make the purple dragon have a run for his money (so to speak). Spyro was actually starting to pant a little as he ran, while Sparx looked back at him as he flew on his back, almost as someone who was doing the back swim. He had a tranquil expression in his face as he waved to the purple dragon.

Spyro had a fierce expression on his face as he snorted, and started to put all the effort he could into running faster, and he was actually able to gain some terrain. They were already moving to the opposite end of the village, in a direction very far from the swamp, with the apes behind them calling out for them to “slow down”.

As they raced, Sparx had dropped the act of the easy race, but he was still smiling as he looked at the purple dragon. “I hope you get plenty of them for yourself, dude.” The dragonfly said, “After all, the more of them you get the more of them you’ll give me, and the less of them I’ll have to get myself!”

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” Spyro said as he dashed across the ground, and he knew that he was not in the mood for losing to Sparx. He knew that, even with his arguments, his father was not going to be happy about Spyro going to pick heart cashews without the proper help after what nearly happened around two months ago. If Spyro was going to get into trouble for doing that once his father got back, he could at least win Sparx in this, so he would not have this over getting into trouble.

They continued to race, and after a while, they could spot some trees at a distance, tall and with purple colored leaves on them. Once they saw it, Sparx smiled as he licked his chops. “I can’t wait to be able to eat some of these delicious things that my dear purple friend caught for me.”

“Yeah, that will be nice.” Spyro said, “But they will be your dessert, because first you will eat my dust!” Suddenly, the purple dragon made a running dash forward, actually raising some dirt and blades of grass into the air, and this temporarily slowed down the dragonfly, who was coughing.

“H-Hey! Gah, pthuh! No fair!” Sparx said, but Spyro barely gave him attention, as he continued to race towards the trees with purple leaves, which came closer and closer as he ran in their direction, and as they did, Spyro could feel a familiar aroma as he approached. He didn’t had time to enjoy it as he knew that he had to arrive there before Sparx could caught up with him, and he could almost taste the victory, and it was almost as good as the heart cashews themselves.

Spyro was able to get a good advantage ahead, but now Sparx had recovered from the dirty and grass, and he was looking forward to the purple butt in front of him. “Just watch me, my scaly friend.” Sparx said as he took a mad dash forward, buzzing his wings as fast as he could and moving forward and straight just like a missile.

There was a moment in which he and Spyro were head to head, and they were both struggling to see who would lose their strength first and allow the other to get there first.

“Hey, Spyro!” Sparx said, as both of them continued to run. “Purpledragonslappedsayswhat!”

“What?” Spyro said, and immediately, Sparx slapped him into nose with a surprising strength for a creature his size in comparison with the purple dragon. This threw Spyro off balance enough for him to trip in his own legs and stumble into the ground. The purple dragon slid into the ground as he stumbled, some grass getting in his mouth as he slid in the ground, before he stopped and was able to look up, just in time to see Sparx buzz and swarm around the trunks of these trees.

“I won! I won! Who rocks? Sparx rocks! Oh yeah! The dragonfly rules!”

“Hey!” Spyro said, as he spat out grass from his mouth and got up. “It wasn’t fair! You slapped me in the face!” Spyro said as he ran in direction to the dragonfly, meanwhile Sparx was making a small dance in the air.

“Oh what? You said something, Spyro? I can’t hear you above all of the winning!” He dragonfly said, and he added: “You know what this means! You will have to give me half of all of the fruits you can get from these trees!”

“No I don’t!” Spyro said, as the apes finally were able to reach them, all of them panting slightly as they reach the two teenagers. “You played dirty! You didn’t won!”

“Yes I did! I arrived first.”

“Because you slapped me!” Spyro said, and the apes only looked at each other as they saw the teenagers having another argument.

“Sorry, you never mentioned any rules.” Sparx said in his defense, “Make sure to get a lot of them.” He added with a smirk.

“Why? You can’t even eat that much, I mean, look at your size.”

“Oh, playing the size card once more huh?” Sparx said, “Well, I’m pretty sure that I can surprise you, my dear friend.”

“Okay, enough of this.” One of the guards said, and the two turned to him. “You two ended this race and I think that I’ve done my exercises of the day.” He said, “Can we just finish this and go home.”

“Oh, we will! Right after I have a few of those for me!” Sparx said pointing to the branches of the high trees, filled with purple leaves. However, Sparx was pointing to something else that could be seen in the branches, some red speckles among the purple leaves.

“Well, you can get them.” Another one of the apes said, “When we get back into the tribe and get some help and equipment for that.”

“Oh, come one guys.” Spyro said, “They are right on the point of being picked! Just feel the smell!”

The purple dragon was referring to the aroma that was fluctuating in the air around them, coming from the branches of the trees. It was a sweet aroma and this kind of smell was unmistakable. It was the aroma of ripe heart cashews, ready to be removed from the tree and ate.

“Yes, but going in the trees to get them without any equipment can be dangerous. Don’t you remember two months ago?”

“I was kind of hopping we all could forget that.” Spyro said as he looked away, and Sparx said:

“I know that I won’t!” He had a smile on his face as he remembered that scene. “Man, I didn’t know that a dragon’s voice could get that squeakily!” and he laughed a little at the memory of the embarrassing experience that Spyro had.

“Well, king Gaul has surely not forgotten.” The guard said, and he looked at the purple dragon. “And he also knows that if you hadn’t received help in time it could have gotten far worse! Some apes had broken bones from a situation like that!” He said, and he turned around, “You see this?” He said as he let them see a long scar on his back. “This was from one time that I tried to get into one of these trees all by myself because a friend of mine dared me.”

Spyro only rolled his eyes, and he said, “Come on guys, I’m not letting that thing get me again! I’m smarter than that now. Nothing is going to happen.”

“You are right, because if anything happens to you, something a lot worse is going to happen to us, and that’s why you are not getting in there by yourself. If you want, we can get someone to come here and pick up a few fruits, or you can wait a few more days for the harvesters come and get a few. I am sure that they will make a special price for you. After all, that is one of the perks of being the king’s son.” The ape looked at Sparx as he said that last line, and the dragonfly only looked back at him.

Sparx then shared one look with Spyro, and after a few seconds, they both sighed. “You truly are joy killers.” Spyro said, and the Apex simply rolled their eyes as they were turning around and getting ready to leave, when Sparx suddenly said.

“Well, I have to say that I admire it.” He was now in full view of the apes. “It really is something to admire the way that you guys follow so diligently the orders of Spyro’s dad.” He said, as if to infatuate the apes. “You guys should ask for a raise.”

The apes shared a look among themselves, and at least two of them were actually agreeing with the small dragonfly. “Your point is?”

“I mean, you all are just so dedicated!” Sparx said, continuing to infatuate the apes with his talking. “You follow the little purple rascal whenever he goes, have to make sure that he is safe and well at all the time, and you need to make sure that he does not gets into troubles. I mean, caring for a teenager is already hard, and imagine if this teenager is such a rascal like Spyro, and it he also has a certain dragonfly partner-in-crime that supports him in his actions.” He said, almost as if he was making a monologue. “For instance, distracting you guys so he can have the chance to climb the tree without you guys seeing.”

“WHAT!?” The apes all said at the same time, and they turned around, seeing that Spyro was nowhere to be see. They looked up, and they could spot the young purple dragon gripping into the bark of the trunk as he was climbing into the tree in direction to the branches and to the prize that was hanging from there.

“Hey! Get down from there!” One of the guards said, and another turned to Sparx.

“Why you!”

The dragonfly simply laughed, and he buzzed away, flying very near to his friend.

“Thanks, dude.” Spyro said to his dragonfly friend.

“What would you do without old Sparx in here?” The dragonfly said, “Just remember to get a lot of these fruits for me.”

“Yeah, you can at least try to get a few of them by yourself, since we are both going up there.”

“Yeah, I guess I could, but I don’t need to try much because you will give me half of yours.”

Spyro stopped for a moment, and he looked at Sparx. “You know what? Why don’t we both get as many as we can and later we split them evenly between us?”

“Hmmmm.” Sparx said.

“Or, I can get down right now, forget about this whole situation and wait one more week until the harvesters come for the cashews.”

“Okay fine, deal.” Sparx said, and he took ahead buzzing, while Spyro continued to climb the tree. The young purple dragon was skilled in climbing, a consequence of having grew up among apes and among so many trees. According to some, Spyro had learned how to climb a few weeks after having fully mastered the art of crawling, and of course, the fact that he had talons that could dig into the wood and give him a better grip of the bark helped a lot.

“Spyro!”

“Mister Spyro!”

“Get back down here you little troublemaker!”

The guards continued to scream at the purple dragon who continued only to climb into the tree, indirection to the branches, where were both the fruits and the vines.

“King Gaul will have our heads if anything happen to a scale of his body.” One guard said, and he quickly moved in direction to the trunk and started to climb. Seeing him do that, the other five guards shared a look, and soon they all were moving in direction to the trunk, putting their weapons in their backs or into their mouths as they tested to see if they could get a good grip of that trunk before they started to climb.

Spyro already has a starting advantage, but the apes had the advantage of being more experienced in climbing and being somewhat nimbler, even with their weapons weighing them down. They were able to cover some more terrain as they climbed, even thought Spyro was, on his own, very nimble and fast on his own right. By the time Spyro was three-quarters on his way to the first branches, the guards were halfway and right on his tail.

“I swear that if I was Gaul I would ground this purple dragon.” One of the guards said as he climbed, and another one said something. It was hard to understand for he had an axe held in his teeth as he used both hands and feet to climb, but it was clear that it was an agreement. Meanwhile, Spyro was on the first line to reach the branches, and he could already see his prize ahead.

Heart cashews were fruits that grew up from these trees, and they were easy to spot once you got close enough, for they had an intense scarlet color. They sprouted upside down and they hanged from the branches into lines of green material, and they had a single seed in them that was on the point that was opposite to the one they hanged from the trees. This seed was black in color and it had the shape of a heart. These fruits exhaled a sweet scent in the air that was very characteristic for them, and that would always made Spyro’s mouth water as he could only think of taking a bite in these delicious things.

Spyro liked his chops as he was firming his claws more securely into the bark of the tree as he climbed more and more, soon covering the distance that separated him from the fruit. He stopped at a certain distance, as he looked at the branch from which the fruits were hanging, and to the purple vines that were swirling around it, covered into thorns.

Spyro tensed as he looked at that vines, and he knew that he would have to be careful in approaching. The last thing he wanted was to go through what he did two months ago…

Spyro approached very slowly, he was making sure to approach the branch as carefully as possible, and soon, the guards were right behind him, the first one saying:

“You are in trouble once we get back to the ground...”

“Shhhh!” Spyro said to him in a hush, as he saw that, with the sound of his voice, one of the vines had moved very slightly, almost like a snake around a branch. A few moments passed, and the vine went back to be still in the branch, and Spyro sighed, and he went back into approaching, until he reached the branch and was now aiming to walk on it, threading as slowly as he dared.

As he moved, the vines around his limbs moved very slowly, and Spyro knew that he had to be careful in there. Spyro soon reached the first of the heart cashews, and he carefully moved on to pick it with his paw. He was able to get a good grip at the red, pear-shaped fruit, and was able to pull it gently, until it disconnected from the line it was and came off in Spyro’s paw.

The vines moved slightly at this, but they didn’t seemed to be doing anything else than that. Spyro sighed as he held the fruit in his paw, and moved it in direction to his body. He was now bending his arm/foreleg to form an improvised space where he would be able to carry the fruits, as he continued to move in the branch with only three paws.

Meanwhile, Sparx was ahead, and he was pulling at one heart cashew until it came off from the branch, and the dragonfly carried it carefully, before flying with it back in direction to the ground. Sparx could not carry many at a time, so each one he took off he had to carry to the ground and leave in the base of the tree before flying back in direction to the branches to take off another one.

Three of the fruits were already in a small pile in the base of the tree. Spyro was somewhat envious of Sparx, since the dragonfly could buzz around with his wings and go up and down the tree in the blink of an eye. Spyro really wished that he knew how to fly…

Spyro was distracted, and he didn’t noticed when his tail brushed in one of the vines. Immediately, it started to move, and Spyro could feel something brushing into his tail, he got startled and looked back, seeing the vine trying to wrap around his tail. Instinctively, Spyro pulled his tail out of its reach, and the vine lashed in the air, as if searching for the thing it was trying to wrap around.

Spyro continued to move, now a bit faster as the vines were moving into the branch as if they were snakes. The initial touch seemed to have caught them to “wake up” to the fact that there was something in the branch.

“Careful man!” Sparx said as he pulled on yet another heart cashew out of the branch. “Don’t want them to get you again, do you?” He said the last part with a smile, and he buzzed downwards, Spyro could only snort, as he knew that it would be not funny if they did. Spyro continued to walk carefully, and he was able to reach a few more heart cashews. He was able to stretch his neck to be able to reach for the cashews and get them with his mouth, carefully pulling them out of their spots and adding them to the ones he was carrying.

The apes were looking at the purple dragon, and they were particularly worried as the purple dragon was now putting his neck very close to the branch and of the vines in it. If Gaul came back from his last campaign and found his purple dragon son choked to death or with a broken neck, the simians were all sure that their own families would not even be able to identify their bodies by the time the big king of apes was done with them.

“This is just great.” One of the apes said as he removed his axe from his mouth and started to walk into the branch, being very careful not to step into any of the vines that moved in the branch like serpents. He was walking in direction to the purple dragon, aiming to reach him to, at least, prevent him from getting killed over a few fruits.

Meanwhile, Spyro continued to remove the cashews from the branch, his foreleg now had some of them, and it was making it hard for him to carry them all. Spyro looked at the cashews he had gathered, and looked back at the branch, still with a lot of fruit, but also with the vines moving around over the place. He decided that now it would be a good time to come down.

He started to move carefully into the branch, and he found it to be rather difficult while carrying the cashews and considering that the branch didn’t had enough space for him to turn around while on all fours. The purple dragon was basically only walking backwards in direction to the place where he came from, so, it was not surprising that he ended up stepping in one of the moving vines.

Immediately, the vine reacted by wrapping around Spyro’s leg. The thorns were malleable, but they still could cause the sensation of something pinching lightly on his scales, and the feeling of the constriction was enough for the purple dragon to let out a surprised yelp and look back.

“H-hey! Let go!” Spyro said, and as he tried to get free from the vine, he bumped into another one, that tied around his other hind leg. “Gah! Stop that!” Spyro said as he tried to break free, and in the process, he dropped the heart cashews that he had gathered and let them fall in direction to the ground.

Spyro was now struggling effectively against the vines, as another one tied both of his forelegs and made the purple dragon to nearly drop into the branch as he was now held from both sides by the vines. He suddenly felt something rubbing against his backside, and he felt his blood run cold.

Oh no… Spyro thought. No, no, no! Not that! Not again!

Spyro immediately lashed his tail, trying to fend off these assailants, but he only managed to get another vine to tie his tail and hold it at the side, as other vines continued to rub his butt.

Spyro felt his breathing getting heavier and faster, and he felt a sense of the purest dread, as he knew what was coming next, and so did everyone who was watching.

Suddenly, it came.

A vine lashed on his backside, hitting it like a whip, and making the purple dragon cry out in surprise and in pain.

That was only the first, for then another vine lashed on his backside, and then they continued that, lashing the purple dragon’s butt.

Spyro felt his face burning in embarrassment as the vines now were spanking him, and meanwhile, he was crying out.

“Gaaah! Stop! Stop it!” He cried out, but the vines didn’t felt sorry for him in the slightest, and they only continued to lash at his butt with strength. “H-help!” Spyro cried out “Someone help me!”

The others around only looked at it, and Sparx, who was floating nearby, started to laugh hard at it. It was just as funny as it was when the same thing happened two months ago!

“Q-quit it, Sparx!” Spyro cried out as the vines continued to lash at his backside, and he turned his head to the apes who companied him. “G-guys! Help me!”

The apes shared a look among themselves, and some of them were actually snickering at each other. Maybe they thought that this was what Spyro deserved for bringing problem to them by doing something like that. This habit of the vines of constricting enemies and lashing at them was something that the tree had developed as a defense mechanism against anything that could harm it. It was the reason why it could be dangerous to try to get the heart cashews if you didn’t had the experience, the equipment, and if you were all by yourself.

Even though it was a way of defending against any dangers that could harm the tree by making potential threats move away, it could sometimes lead to some situations like the one that the purple dragon was facing in the moment.

The apes all looked as Spyro continued to be punished by the vines, much like a young chimp being spanked by its parents, and crying out a lot as he received this.

“T-this is not funny!” Spyro cried out. “Get me out of here!”

“Should we do it now?” One ape asked.

“I guess it is better, the vines look like they are getting more vicious.”

Indeed, once the supposed threat was not retreating from the tree, the vines were assuming that they needed to attack stronger for the threat to go away. As a result, they were lashing faster and more furiously at the target, and Spyro felt like soon they would start breaking his skin.

Fortunately to him, right at that moment, the ape who had walked into the branch finally decided to act, he positioned himself so he would not step on any vines, and he swung his axe with precision, cutting these two vines clean off. The vines lashed out at their severed parts, but were unable to reach or hit anything else.

“Ohhhh.” Spyro whined as his butt felt numb and his face was burning in shame.

“Well, I guess that I could say that I warned you, but the vines kind of already did that for me.” The ape said, as he proceeded to cut off the vines that were holding on Spyro’s limbs, freeing him as the vines loosened once they were cut and feel down to the ground, while the rest of them lashed around.

“Ouhhhhh…” Spyro said as he tried to stand, but with the numbness on his backside, it was a bit hard to stand on his hind legs, but soon he was able to stand properly, all of that under the gaze of that ape, who seemed to be having fun with that.

“Lets get down now.” The ape said, “Careful not to step on any more of them.” He said that with a bit of irony, as if that whole situation was a great game to him. Spyro knew well that he probably had fun seeing Spyro go through that, much like everyone else who saw it. Sparx was openly laughing as he pointed at Spyro.

“Just like last time!” He said as he continued to laugh hard for the whole situation. “Man, the tree really know how to give others a good lesson!”

Spyro felt his face burning, and he avoided eye contact with anyone as he walked back in the branch in direction to the trunk, and as he climbed down back to the ground. It was a bit hard with the pain on his tail area, and he need the help of one of the guards one or two times, but he was able to reach it and he was still avoiding looking at anyone.

“Well, I guess the tree once more showed that it can beat a dragon.” Sparx said, and he winked at the purple dragon, and Spyro only snorted and looked away, feeling that at any moment his face could ignite. He knew that the dragonfly was not going to let it go easily. He had just let go of the event of two months before, and now the very same event had repeated, and this was enough to make Spyro worry about it, for he knew that the dragonfly was going to make a new round of jokes.

“Well, now that we went through it all and we have a good laugh, I guess we can now share our hoard from the tree.”

Spyro sighed, and looked around, and he saw the heart cashews that he had dropped. They were slightly splattered into the ground due to the fall, and Spyro groaned to himself. They probably wouldn’t be that good to eat now that they were like that, and this reduced their total number of fruit to only the ones that Sparx had got.

Sparx followed Spyro’s gaze, and he stayed in silence for a while, before saying. “So, which one of these will be mine?”

“We cant’ eat them anymore.”

“What? Only because they got a little of grass in them? Man, you need to stop being such a wuss.” The dragonfly said, and Spyro only rolled his eyes at him, and he said:

“Well, I know that I won’t eat those.”

Sparx looked at him, and he saw the cashews in there, they should be around eight, and he looked at his own cashews, and they were only four. The dragonfly turned to Spyro, and he said, “Wanna trade?”

Spyro looked at him for a few moments, and he shrugged as he said, “Yeah, sure.”

Soon Sparx was on the place where the crimson-colored cashews had fallen, and he was feasting in one, getting himself smeared in the juice as he gobbled the pulp of that fruit. Meanwhile, Spyro was sitting with the cashews that Sparx had gathered, all of them perfect and not damaged in any way. That was the way that Spyro preferred, the heart cashews became strange when they were damaged, with their pulp becoming mushy and their taste changing to something more acid.

Spyro was glad that he had gotten some of them that were not damaged. Sparx could have the others, and he seemed to like very much of them. Spyro looked at his own, and picked one of his paw, bringing it to his muzzle. The sweet scent reached Spyro’s nose, and almost made him moan, and his mouth was watering in anticipation.

Spyro opened his mouth and gave a bite into the fruit. Heart cashews were known for their particular color, and for the heart-shaped seed that they had in them, both which gave them their name. Other than that, they were slightly famous for their sweet taste with some acidic notes. It was a delicious and unmistakable taste, and after you chewed and swallowed, they left a characteristic aftertaste.

Spyro almost moaned again as he bit the cashews, passing through the crimson covering and reaching for the sweet, pinkish pulp inside. The heart cashews were Spyro’s favorite fruit, and the purple dragon really would jump to the chance of getting one of them. In fact, just the opportunity to be able to taste one now made worth what he had just went through with the tree, and he would do it again if he could get more of them.

Spyro chewed and swallowed, and he didn’t even gave the aftertaste time to come before he gave another bite. In five bites, he had finished the cashew, leaving behind only the seed shaped like a heart. Spyro put it into the ground, and he was already feeling the aftertaste. Kind of bitter, with mostly sweet, like the pulp, but different.

Spyro reached out for another one, and he started to eat. All the while, the apes that formed his guard were keeping an eye on him.

“Just look at him…” Said one ape, the same who got Spyro free from the vines up there. “All happy juts because of a bunch of fruits. He seems just like a chimp.”

“Yeah.” Another ape agreed, “If chimps had scales, wings, talons, horns, and teeth so sharp that they could possibly rip out the head of an adult ape if they actually tried.”

The guards shared a chuckle, and the first one who spoke said, “But, seriously, I think that Spyro is actually a nice kid.”

“Yeah, but he keeps getting into trouble. Yesterday we had to save him from being mauled by some merchants who claimed that he had trashed their stands.”

“Yeah, but it was an accident.” The ape said on his defense. “Spyro did seemed like he felt bad for doing that.”

“Yeah that is true.” A third ape said. “Also, I don’t think the damage was that bad for them to want to maul him.”

The apes remained in silence after that, and they reflected on the fact that sometimes it seemed that the other apes searched for reasons to blame Spyro of something, or maybe even made up reasons, as if Spyro’s mere presence was enough to cause unfortunate events. Almost as if they thought that Spyro was somehow cursed, or something of the like.

The fact was that many in the village didn’t trusted a purple dragon, even the ones who claimed not to have anything against Spyro seemed not to want to be close to him. The guards knew that, because when they were first assigned to that job, some of them shared of the very same opinion.

“I can’t believe we have been responsible for Spyro for five years already.” The first ape said.

“I can’t believe on how much that dragonfly can eat!” Said another ape, who had been looking at Sparx, who had just finished gobbling the third heart cashew, leaving behind only the seeds behind.

Soon Spyro too was finished with his cashews, and all that was left behind was the seeds, and Spyro sighed in contentment as he gathered to four seeds, all shaped like small hearts, in his paw.

“Man! That was good.” Spyro said to himself, and he looked over, seeing Sparx laying in the ground with his belly in the air. The belly of that dragonfly was comically bloated, and there was no sign that the heart cashews had ever existed besides of the stains of their juices in the floor and the seeds left behind by the gluttonous invertebrate.

Spyro chuckled, got back on his feet, and walked to the dragonfly, and he stopped with his head just above Sparx. “Man, you really ate them all.” Spyro said, half-amused, half-stunned.

“I felt full after a while, but I knew that if I stopped eating I was going to regret it.” Sparx said, and right after, he let out a surprisingly loud belch. Spyro could only laugh at this. That was one of the main reasons why he enjoyed being with Sparx, that glowing bug constantly found a way to make him smile and laugh.

“Okay then.” One guard said, approaching the dragon and dragonfly. “You both kids had your heart cashews, now I guess we can go back to the village now, right?”

“Even because…” Another guard said, looking at the sun. “It is almost time for your training, mister Spyro.”

“Oh, right!” Spyro said; this had almost slipped his mind. He looked at Sparx, certainly to full to fly right now, and he picked him up and placed him on top of his head, in between his horns. Next, he picked up the seeds that Sparx had left behind, and collected them all on his paw.

The guards looked at him as he did that, and Spyro simply said: “What? The seeds are almost as good as the fruit.”

In fact, the pulp of the fruit was not the only thing that could be eaten. Once they were cleaned, toasted, and rightly seasoned, the seeds of the heart cashews made a fine nut that was a very nice snack. It was another thing that Spyro really liked, and that made the heart cashews by his favorite fruit.

Once they had it ready, the guard once more formed a ring around Spyro as they were now scouting him back into the village. Spyro, on his side, could only roll his eyes as he wondered why they still did that.

Well, probably because his father ran a tight ship when it came into keeping him safe, and the instructions he gave them were really specific. Soon, they were walking back into the village, six apes forming a ring, a purple dragon in the center, and a belly-bloated, snoring dragonfly on the purple dragon’s head.

As they walked, Spyro was already getting ready to have once more the stares and the whispering of the others of the village over him. That was one thing that Spyro had grew used to over the years growing up in these villages. No matter where he was, Spyro frequently saw himself being a target of looks and of these whispering from other creatures, and now he barely even minded anymore.

Sighing, Spyro looked at the sky, letting Sparx fall from his head into his back, right between his wings. As he looked at the clouds, Spyro could not avoid letting his thoughts wander to the one that was maybe the only one who never really judged him in any way.

Gaul, the King of Apes.

Or, as Spyro knew him: “Dad…”

Chapter Text

Spyro and his group walked across the village once more. Once more, the apes formed a ring around Spyro, to which the purple dragon could only roll his eyes in annoyance at, but he knew that he could do nothing about it. He just sighed as his personal guard made sure to scout him to the place where he was required to go next.

They moved across the village, until they approached a particularly big rut, made from wood, straw and big leaves in the ceiling. This rut in particular was sturdier than the others were, once it and reinforced, due to its size, with pillars of wood from trunks of trees, and tied in place with vines.

That was because this rut was not mean only to be a place to live in, but to be a place of training.

Spyro and his group soon approached the hunt, they entered into the door, which was with with a curtain made from tissue, and once inside, they met a place that was surely more than just a place to stay and to rest after a hard day working outside and walking around the village.

The place was big on the inside, and the walls of the hunt were decorate with what seemed to be some symbols of tribal tradition, painted with red, white and black ink. The ground of the place was completely cover with layers of straw, what made the ground in there much softer to step into and even to lay on. However, that softness in the ground was not for comfort, and Spyro already knew that, still, it was hard not to feel somewhat comfortable to step, sit and even lay in that ground when he had some chance to do that.

As soon as Spyro and his guard walked inside, someone who was in there already greeted them. There should have around 14 apes in there, the youngest of them being around the same age as Spyro, and others being already adults. The 15º, the oldest of them, was clearly older than the rest of them. He was an ape who was big. Not as big as Gaul, Spyro’s father, but he was bigger than the average ape. He stood in a height that he was able to look down to make eye contact with Spyro, something quite rare among the other apes. He wore a clothing that consisted into a robe of blue tissue with green details; quite more clothing than the rest of the apes usually wore around the village. He had fur of a light shade of grey, possibly due to his old age, what had his fur losing its coloration. His eyes were golden in coloration, they showed the weight of the years of wisdom and experience of his many years of life, and that was easy to see as he looked at the purple dragon who had just walked in.

“Ah, young Spyro.” He said in a soft tune, with a warm and kind smile on his face at the purple reptile who had just walked in. “Seems that you arrive just in the nick of time, as you usually do.”

“Sorry, Karuum Nalug.” Spyro said, bowing his head gently. “I kind of lost track.”

“It’s okay. The important is that you are here. Now, if you may take place with the others, the lesson will start now that everyone is here.” The older ape said, and Spyro bowed his head again in a sign of respect, before rushing to have a place among the other apes. As he took place, the other apes on him were discreetly moving away from him. Spyro just ignored him, once he was already used to this kind of thing, instead, he made sure to focus on the lesson that he was going to have.

“Now, you all in here are already familiar with all of the basics.” The grey ape, Karuum Nalug, said as he walked in front of all of the ones who were his class, with his hands behind his back as he spoke solemnly, to make sure they all would hear him. “Now, while some of you have more deep knowledge of the most advanced techniques, you all must never forget about the importance of the most basic. After all, the basic is the root for the advanced, and if you forget the basic, than you are doomed to eventually lose the skill in the advanced. That is why, for today, we will focus on strengthening the basic knowledge of the principles of the Munduri. Now, choose a partner, get in position, and practice the basic of blocking and attacking.”

As he said that, the class started to move about, as the ones in there started to choose their training partners, usually by pairing with someone who would be nice training partners, either by friendship or by overall affinity. Of course, Spyro was not surprised to see that he was left without a pair to train.

The purple dragon sighed, and as the teams formed around him, the grey ape came to him.

“Spyro, you will be training with me.”

“Yes, Karuum.” Spyro said, bowing his head. The ape nodded at him, and soon, they took a small distance from each other, and they both got in a position. Karuum Nalug took a position that was similar to all of the apes around them, with his arms positioned in front of his body, and his hands both as if they were ready to jab someone with the point of his fingers. One of his legs was stepping forward in an angle, while the other was behind him, as if he was ready to make a step backwards at any moment.

Spyro took another position, but which was overall similar to the one that Karuum Nalug was making. He was had his two forepaws ahead, his right one in front of the left one, and he was standing on the tips of his taloned fingers. His hind-legs had pretty much the same position of the older ape, as if he was ready to both step forward and step backward at any moment. His tail moved from side to side, as if to show that he was ready to battle.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Begin!”

Immediately, the ones in there started to move around each other, it could even by mistaken by a dance, if it wasn’t for the fact that they were attacking each other.

They were practicing Munduri, an ancient form of martial art that had its roots attributed to the apes.

Each duo was moving around each other with fast and nimble movements, and they attacked each other with their hands, elbows, knees and with their feet. The ones who attacked seemed to be aiming at specific parts of the enemies, like the joints and in other places that looked to be quite vulnerable, like the chest and the neck. The ones defending were blocking the attacks by using their limbs. Knees were block with the hands, punches were block with the forearms, kicks were block with the legs, and elbows were block with both arms.

It was obvious to notice that they all were practicing the very same style of fighting, however, a good eye could notice that each one of the practitioners were fighting in a slightly different way, as if each one was practicing a particular form of sub-style of that art that they were training. However, it was nothing more than Munduri, in its most basic form. That martial art was know for its adaptability, which allowed particular fighters to adapt the way of the art to their own strengths and even their personalities.

The perfect example of that was Spyro.

The purple dragon was sparring with Karuum Nalug, and he was demonstrating the skill of the Munduri on his own way. He was moving around, using his paws to attack. The ape, bigger than him and much more experienced, was easily blocking the attacks with his limbs, using his hands to block a jab of the paws of the purple dragon, while he used his feet to block attacks that were focused on the joints of his legs.

He also answered with his own attacks, which Spyro blocked mostly with his wings, using them to parry and even to block the attacks of the ape, much like the others used their own arms, and Spyro was showing to have a great skill in this, as he was able to keep up with the attacks of the ape.

As they moved, the ape showed to have a great skill in battle, and at the same time, he was saying things about the technique and style, not only to Spyro, but also to the other students;

“That was a nice defense, young dragon. Haron, stop dancing and fight back! Luru, Munduri focus on attacking the weak spots, but that does not means kicking the groin! This is not a fight between drunk apes, have some class! Kabut, try to correct your stance and avoid doing unnecessary movements!”

The ape seemed focused on fighting the purple dragon but he still seemed to be able to perceive the world around him, as if he had eyes everywhere on his body, which allowed him to perceive just everything around him. It was pretty cool, but it might sometimes be a bit creepy. Spyro could remember the old days when he would look at the ape with a mix of amazement and fear, trying to sight the eyes that he had all over his body, right underneath his fur, which the older kids told him about…

Spyro was bring back to reality by a jab of fingers in the junction of his wing with his “wing shoulder” on his body. It was not necessarily painful, but it was like a shock in that place, and it snapped Spyro back to the present.

“Focus on the battle, young one. An enemy with a blade could have used it to slice that wing of yours clean off.” Karuum Nalug said to the young purple dragon, who said a “yes, Karuum” and now trying to keep his head into the battle.

He maintained his position as he advanced against the older ape. Spyro used his paws to try jabbing at the monkey. But Karuum Nalug had much more experience in actual battle than Spyro, and he was able to parry all the attacks of the young dragon. However, that did not discouraged the young dragon, but actually only seemed to push him into fighting better and harder.

Spyro continued to fight, and at some moments, he would resort to more than just his forepaws. At one moment, he would try to headbutt and hit with his horns. At one, he would plant both of his forelegs in the ground and swing his body to use his tail like a whip, or use his hind legs to kick much like a horse.

Of course, the skilled warrior would be able to dodge or parry them. One or two attacks actually landed, but the skill of Karuum Nalug would allow him to shrug it off as if it was nothing. He truly was a hardened warrior, and that was why he had these students and was teaching them such an ancient and noble art as the style of fighting the Munduri. Everyone who was in there truly respected him, including Spyro, who learned a lot from his four years of learning the advanced from of Munduri from him, after his father taught him the basics.

“Nice, moves, Spyro.” Karuum Nalug said, “The same for you, Mollak. Keep up the good work. Kulbat, stop slacking off and take this seriously. You want to learn the more advanced techniques? Then you gotta focus on the battle!”

Spyro could not avoid the feeling of annoyance when it was clear that the ape was still able to fight on all that was going on around him while he fought Spyro. It was almost as if it was too easy for him, and he was able to diverge his attention without risking having a dangerous comeback from the purple dragon.

Spyro knew that he had landed a few hits, and it was very hard to do on a warrior of the level of Karuum, even if they were only lucky hits, as Spyro believed to have been partially the case of these ones. Still, Spyro felt that he wanted at least to be a challenge big enough to make the grey ape to focus only on him and actually stop focusing on everything around him. So Spyro would at least feel like he was making him sweat a little. That would make him feel good about himself.

“Come on, Spyro!” Sparx said, cheering for the young purple dragon on the sidelines, as he and the apes who made up Spyro’s guard were watching. “Show the furry dudes what a dragon is made off! Come on!”

The other apes shared looks among them, and they rolled their eyes, as they knew that the young dragonfly probably should not be making so much noise when the training was going on.

“That little friend of yours is quite of loud, ain’t he? Junup, don’t even think about it, young lady!” said the old and grey ape, and Spyro just shrugged.

“Yeah, he kind of likes to make sure that everyone hears him.” Spyro said with a smile, and he continued to try to hit the big ape with his head, almost thrusting himself backwards as he aimed for the stomach, trying to damage the soft tissue in the area that had no ribs to protect it. However, Karuum Nalug only grabbed his head with both hands.

“That is a nice move.” The old ape said, “But if you use it too many times the enemy will start to expect this, and in one of those attacks, they could grab your head like that and just twist it to break your neck.” He said, as he moved Spyro’s head in a “twist” way, as if to emphasize his point. He let go of Spyro, and the purple dragon only nodded to him, before letting out a sigh and resumed trying to hit his sparring partner.

“Come, dude! You can do better than that! Move that purple butt of yours!” Sparx cried from the sidelines.

Right after that, Spyro once more moved his body so he was able to use his tail like a whip, and this time he was able to hit the target. His hard tailbone landed right into the joint of Karuum Nalug’s leg. The ape grinted his teeth as he felt the impact and was made to go into his knee.

There were a few gasps around as the others around stopped and turned their heads to see if it was actually truth that their teacher had been brought to his knee.

“Well, I didn’t meant actually that, but whatever! You got him now!”

Spyro immediately moved back, raised his paw, and trust it forward, aiming the sole right in the solar plexus of his teacher.

However, the old ape showed that he still have some moves up his sleeve.

Immediately, as Spyro moved, the ape made a single movement with his arm, which blocked the attack, and swept it downwards. This made Spyro lose his balance, as he was literally flip off his feet. His world spun as he was nearly toss in the air, and next, he felt two hard jabs of a simian hand on his fore and hind ankles.

By the time that Spyro landed back in the ground, his left foreleg and his right hind leg were shaking as if they had taken an electric shock, and soon Spyro was feeling a pain on his joints, as result of the well placed attack of the ape on him.

The purple dragon groaned, as he struggled to get back on his feet, but it was hard with the shaky legs that he had got from this last attack. Meanwhile, the ape got up from the ground, and he walked to the purple dragon, having a smile on his face.

“That last move with your tail was well placed, young dragon.” The old ape said to him, and the purple dragon looked back at him. The ape was smiling. “But only because you hit an attack does not mean that you must drop caution and got in for a quick victory. That was what caused your defeat in here, and that could easily cost his life in an actual battle.”

Spyro looked back at him, and bowed his head. “Yes, Karuum Nalug.” He said humbly, knowing that the words of the ape were precious. However, even then, Spyro could not avoid the feeling of slightly pride on himself as he thought about what he had just accomplished in there.

I brought him down to one knee! Spyro was practically cheering in his mind, as he knew that this meant that he had evolved in his style of combat. Of course, the ape still won, but the fact that Spyro had been able to land such a significant hit was something that was hard not letting to get to his head.

“Well, I guess that is enough sparring for now.” The ape said to the group. “Now, I noticed that some of you were slacking on the battle, and some of you were actually trying to use tactics that were less than honorable.” The ape said that with a hard expression on his face. “Like attacking with low moves, and also an intention to make use of some substance to attack the enemy.”

As he spoke that, some of the apes in there looked at the ground nervously, a certain female even attempted to hide something within her vests, but it was to no use, since the old ape had already noticed.

“Munduri is an art that can be adapted to your own personal style, but that does not mean that you can simply add your own fair of dirty tricks at will! Munduri is a noble art, and it must be respected as such, and this means fighting it with honor as much as possible, something that some of you seem to have forgotten!”

The ape spoke with a great authority, and the reprobation on his voice was far more powerful and efficient than the greatest wrath, as if was able to cut deep into everyone and let them know their own faults.

“Now, everyone who used some of these tricks in the sparring, you might get out and make ten laps all around the village.” He spoke, and immediately some apes started to protest. “And I don’t want to hear any ‘buts’!” He added, and this made nearly all of the quiet.

“What about the purple dragon?” One of the older apes said, pointing at Spyro, “Shouldn’t he do the laps too?”

“Why would he?”

“Because he used his tail to hit you!”

“Yes, and?”

“I mean, it is not fair! All of us have to fight with only four limbs, our two arms and two legs! Including you, Karuum Nalug! The purple dragon has wings and a tail, what make him have a total of seven limbs! This makes him have a unfair advantage!”

Spyro only rolled his eyes in annoyance. Yes, annoyance, because they were bringing up this topic again.

The old ape only looked at the younger one, and he said, “I do believe this has already been discussed previously, right?” He asked, and though he was focus on the ape who said that, the way that he talked made it seem that he was saying it to the whole class. “Munduri is an adaptive combat art that can be applied in a special way to everyone who uses it. That also applies to Spyro. It is only natural that he makes use of all of the limbs that he has, it is only the nature of the Munduri. There is absolutely no disrespect for honor or tradition in there.”

“But he-”

“Didn’t I said I didn’t wanted to hear any ‘buts’?” The ape asked, and he added, “Only because of that, you will be doing ten additional laps. Now move on, all of you.”

The students all bowed their heads, and they all were heading to the exit. In the way out, that particular ape shot a glare to Spyro, as if he was the one who had done that. Spyro only stared back at him with a grumpy face, as if saying: “it was your fault and you know it!” to the ape.

As they left, Karuum Nalug spoke to the ones left in the rut. “As for the rest of you, I have to say you all did very well, as it was to be expected.” He said that, and everyone in there chorused:

“Thank you, Karuum Nalug.”

“Now, I’ve seen that you are still holding on fine to the basic teachings.” The ape continued, as he walked in front of his students, almost the same way that a general would walk in front of his troop. “This is good, because it means all of you are ready to the most advanced techniques, and that is what we will be seeing today.”

It was hard to avoid the thrill of learning something new in the art of Munduri, at least in Spyro’s opinion. He already knew a good number of techniques, but it seemed that the old ape knew a nearly limitless amount of them, for every occasionally he showed some that Spyro had never seen before in his life. These were moments that Spyro eagerly waited for, both for the chance of seeing something new and for the chance of maybe learning how to do it.

“Now, I want all of you to focus, and to pay attention in me, because this technique is one that demands attention and to be concentrated in the battle.” The grey ape said, and he adopted a position that all of them already knew was the most basic for the Munduri. “This technique is one that demands a lot of finesse, however, like all others in Munduri, it can be adjusted to the particular way of any fighter.”

All of the students were focus on the ape as he continued to explain.

“This technique is one that aim to attack the opponent in a way that leaves them disoriented, and to make them lose their ability to stand and to fight.” The ape explained, as he shifted his stance, and was now with his other leg ahead, and he moved one arm up, while the other was resting by the side of his body.

“Now, someone try to attack me.” The ape said.

The room was silent, as all of the students were hesitant to move forward. They all knew better than to simply advance against the Karuum, for they knew that he could easily sent them flying away the same way he had done with Spyro just moments ago. Still, someone daring to step forward.

This one was Spyro.

The purple dragon was feeling confident with the small victory he had recently achieved by making the ape go into one knee. So, he was feeling a little bold, and he decided to go for it and to try to attack.

The rest of the hut watched as the dragon went forward, and he nearly lunged at the ape, raising a paw and thrusting it forward in one single motion. Karuum Nalug seemed to be able to predict his movement, for he swiftly used his arm to move the attack aside, while his other arm moved about, and moved right in direction to the purple dragon’s head.

His wrist stopped in the air, mid-blow, and only a few inches away from the purple dragon’s temple.

Spyro looked at the hand, and he saw that the part that was the ape’s wrist was mere inches from hitting the side of his head. He could not avoid the feeling of his heart pounding, as he knew that, if that blow had hit, it would send him to the ground, or maybe even make him lose consciousness.

There was a silence in the room, as the ape moved away from the dragon, he turned to the rest of the class, and he said aloud, for everyone to hear. “The head is a vulnerable point, as much as the joints.”

The room was silent, as the rest of the room was drinking from the words of the elder ape, and he continued. “A strong punch in the forehead can leave an opponent dazed. A blow into the area of the ear can cause dizziness. A blow to a temple causes great pain that can leave an opponent unable to react. A blow to the back of the head, if hard enough, can cause an enemy to lose consciousness.”

The room continued to look at the ape, as he said, “The head is a weak spot, however, it can also be one of the most dangerous places that you can hit.” He spoke, “Make one mistake, and you will leave your opponent the perfect change to fight back and to cause massive damage. That is why you need to attack only when you are sure that you can land a strike. For that, you use the strongest part of your fist or your wrists, and you aim for an area of the head that will give you the result you desire. Forehead for daze, ears for dizziness, temples for pain, back for unconsciousness.”

The ape looked at all of his class as he explained that. “This is called Kakuma Yakuniki, or ‘Head Strike’, for being simpler.”

“So, it’s just whacking someone in the head?” Sparx asked aloud, “Man, I can do that! It is easy!”

There was a heavy silence after these words, and everyone was looking in between the dragonfly and the teacher. The grey ape only looked back at the dragonfly, his expression neutral.

“Easy, huh?” The ape asked, “So, I guess you would not mind coming here and demonstrating, right?”

Sparx was taken back by that, and he looked at the ape, having been left kind of speechless.

“W-what?”

“Yes, come here and try it out. After all, it is just ‘whacking in the head’, right? Come on, demonstrate it on me?”

The dragonfly didn’t moved, he just looked at the ape and around, and it was obvious that he already regretted to having said these words aloud.

“W-well… I mean. I kind of could, but, I have ate less than one hour ago, and getting in a fight could upset my stomach. Besides, I have been having this pain in my left lower wing, and I think I’m falling with a cold-”

“Come over here, young dragonfly.” The ape said in a tune that was gentle, but that at the same time left little doubt to how it was going to be. Sparx saw himself with little choice but to go for him.

Spyro had returned to his place, and now Sparx was floating in front of the ape, who stood in front of him with both hands behind his back and looked back at the dragonfly with a neutral expression, as if waiting for him to come with the first move.

“Whenever you are ready.” The ape said, and his expression was one that could almost be take as boredom.

Sparx looked around, and after a few moments, he decided to finally make a move. However, as soon as he tried to move in direction to the ape, Karuum Nalug raised his foot, and used it with the same dexterity as if it was his own hand, something that most apes knew how to do, and grabbed Sparx by the tail section, making him cry out as the ape swiftly pinned him to the ground.

He now had Sparx under his foot (quite literally), and he could crush him easily if he actually wanted to.

“Attacking is part of the battle, the other one is reacting.” The ape said to the class, and turned his eyes to the dragonfly that he was pinning to the ground. “It is easy to assume that the opponent will not be able to react to an attack, however, in battle, you must expect the enemy to be able to react in speeds and ways that you will not predict, especially if they see you trying to land an attack. So, to make sure that you will be able to hit the enemy, you need a combination of precise timing and careful planning, to make sure that the enemy will not have the chance to attack you back. Because, if they do, than you might be the one who will be going to fall in battle.”

“Yeah, okay, I got it.” Sparx said, squirming in the grip of the foot of the ape, “Now, would you mind letting me go, I kind of don’t enjoy the smell of cheesy foot… Seriously, when you last washed that foot of yours?”

Karuum simply chuckled, he let go of the dragonfly, who soon was getting up, and he turned back to his class. “Now, the main point of this technique is waiting for the best possible moment to apply the attack, and to make it with the right amount of power to achieve the desired result. You can achieve it from several ways, with the most common being inducing the enemy to attack and to advance against you, causing themselves to leave an opening that you will be able to explore to attack. This is something hard to do, and will demand you to keep yourself focused in the battle all the time, and you will have to have a perfect timing in the moment the guard of the enemy is open to attack. After all, the head is a weakness, but most enemies know that, and that is why many, if not all of them, will try to keep guard up in their heads during most of the time. However, if you apply the technique correctly, you are almost guaranteed to be able to cause even the biggest foes to come down in submission.”

All of the apes whispered among themselves after the ape was done talking. The most daring of them were already imagining themselves using this technique against a dragon, hitting them in the head so bad that they would come down like a fruit from a tree. Spyro himself was one of them, and he could not help but imagine himself facing a much bigger adult dragon, and forcing them into submission in ways that he had only heard about how his father did in the battles…

“Now, each one of you come forward and practice in the dummy. Would someone get the dummy, please?”

Soon, there was a dummy of an ape in the middle of the room, and each one of the students came forward and stood in front of the dummy, which was not like the regular dummy. Firstly, because it was not a simply dummy that someone would simply use to punch, once it had a full body, complete with legs and arms and a head that resembled the one from an ape. Second, because it was moving, and at the present moment, it was standing in a position that was very similar to the one of Munduri, but much more mechanic, almost robotic, but it seemed to be ready for the battle, and just waiting for others to come at it and fight.

This was a special dummy, which was bring years ago by Gaul’s groups after one of their incursions into the lands that had been take by the dragons. That was create by the dragons with their special form of magic, and it was, apparently, use to train their young and their apprentices in the arts of combat. It was one of the interesting things that Gaul seemed to have been bring back as spoil of war to the villages and to the overall lands of dragons.

The dummy was something that had been hard to understand at first, however, once they figured out how it worked and how to make it work on their favor, it became quite popular, along with nearly everything that came from the lands of the dragons as spoils of war. The dummy had soon be taken by Karuum Nalug, as it proved to be useful as something to practice for the students of Munduri.

According to the grey ape, the hardest part was teaching Munduri to the dummy, so it would be able to keep up with the students. However, once it learned, it was now a part of the training on a daily basis.

Of course, there were still people who were quite scared of the dummy, once they believed that it could easily turn on them and start to slaughter the students if it was left unsupervised for a while. Of course, they had the dummy for a little over ten years, and nothing had went wrong yet.

One by one, the students started to spar with the dummy, which reacted much as a real fighter of Munduri. Each student tried to imitate what Karuum Nalug taught them, moving around the dummy, sparring with it for a few moments, waiting for the right moment to try a Kakuma Yakuniki.

Of course, most of them were meet with failure, as the dummy was able to dodge and fight back, or to grab their arms and twist these painfully. Some had a small margin of success, once they were able to pass their hands centimeters away from the dummy’s head, or even to slip their hands against the head of the dummy, but they all failed to hit it with a decent blow.

“Spyro, it is your turn.” Karuum Nalug said, and soon, the purple dragon was walking forward. He stood in front of the dummy, and bowed his head slightly, in a sign of respect so traditional to that art. The dummy bowed its head back, and soon, they both were in fighting position.

“Begin!”

As soon as Karuum Nalug said these words, the two fighters started to move around each other. The dummy was the first to attack, and it did so by trying to hit Spyro with the ball of its hand, something which Spyro dodged swiftly by slipping to the side. The purple dragon answered with a movement of the paw right into the joint of the elbow, and the dummy reacted as if it was a real fighter.

That was the first of many blows that the dragon and training dummy exchanged, each one fighting with the skill of the same level, and they were constantly at each other’s throats, and ready to fight and answer with powerful attacks. Spyro was able to answer and to deliver some blows, but the dummy fought him as if he had exactly the right amount of training to be a true challenge to the purple dragon.

They continued at it for a few minutes, and it was a longer time than the dummy took to defeat any of the other students. However, Spyro barely noticed that, as he continued to fight the dummy with the best that he could, the words of Karuum Nalug were still in his mind.

Move around. Make the opponent come to you. Wait for the perfect opening. Then Strike.

Spyro was following this, and he already knew how to make the dummy come to him so he could do that.

First, he aimed an attack that was to intend to hit, but to make the dummy believe that he was attacking to try to cause him some damage.

It worked, and the attack only scratched the surface of the leg of the dummy, which soon decided to react and to attack Spyro. Just as the purple dragon had expected it to do.

Spyro gave a few steps back, as it let the dummy advance against him. Against a regular enemy, this would cause the one attacking to gain confidence or to be angry at the dragon, what would cause them to attack harder to try to hit. The dummy seemed that it acted as a real fighter (that was one of the reason why it was so good to use to train), as it started to attack Spyro more fervently, as if it was eager to hit Spyro.

Another thing that Spyro has been counting with, and now, Spyro had to wait for the perfect opening.

Not yet. Not yet. Wait a little longer. Could it be… no, it wasn’t it. Not yet.

Soon the moment came when Spyro saw an opening, but he would have to be quick and clever. Dodging one attack that the dummy had just tried with the leg, holding the leg, Spyro now expected a comeback from the dummy, and it soon came in the form of a blow from the arm aimed at his neck.

Immediately, Spyro saw his opening. He let go of the leg of the dummy, he moved to the side, dodging the blow from the dummy completely, and he saw the dummy’s guard completely open. That was when Spyro finally decided to strike.

In that small window of chance, Spyro raised his paw, and swung it hard and precisely, and soon, the hard part of the base of his paw connected with the face of the dummy.

Many amazed gasps followed that, as Spyro made the dummy move back and wobble, just as it would if it was a real, living opponent. Spyro had managed to make contact with the temple, and the effects of a blow like that would be obvious. The dummy wobbled for a few moments, but it soon regained footing, and it was now turn to Spyro, as if it was facing him.

Spyro looked back at the dummy, and after what seemed to be a few moments of staring contest, the dummy bow to Spyro in a sign of respect of the Munduri. Spyro returned the gesture.

“Well done, young dragon.” Karuum Nalug said to him, and Spyro turned to him and bowed his head, while the dummy was now standing in place. Soon, Spyro was walking back to his place among the crowd. He had reasons to feel proud of himself for what he had just accomplished, and many would be really impressed that he had been the only one in the class that managed to land a direct hit into the dummy during the whole training.

However, his sensitive ears picked up the whispering of the other students, and let him know that they were not exactly impressed with him.

“Did he used some trick to manage to hit?”

“Of course he did! If no one else did!”

“Maybe he managed to give some command to the dummy to let him hit.”

“I guess that dummy went easy on him because he is a dragon. I mean, that thing was made by dragons, wasn’t it? I probably decided that it should let a dragon have some advantage on it, so it held back.”

It was envy, and Spyro knew that. Envy and their own preconceptions on dragons, and on Spyro himself, because he was not only a dragon, but a purple dragon. Spyro had already grew used to this kind of thing, but it did not made it any less frustrating than usual. Still, now Spyro felt far too proud of himself to actually give too much attention to whatever they were saying.

First he had managed to land a hit that was able to make the Karuum come down to one knee, something that many other warriors would fight with him a hundred times and not managed to do. Second, he had been the only one on his class to manage to land a hit of an advanced Munduri technique in the dummy.

Spyro had all reasons to be proud of himself, and he knew that his father also would be. Spyro now had something else to share with him, and one more reason to anxiously wait for his return from his last campaign.

“Now, I ‘m glad to see that you all are open to the advanced techniques of the Munduri.” Karuum Nalug said, “And while it is true that some of you did better than others, I’m proud to say that every single one of you is learning the advanced part of the art. This brings me a great satisfaction.”

The ape looked through each one of them with a shine in his eyes that was so common in a teacher that saw his students growing and learning. “Well, this concludes or lesson for today, all of you are free to go back to your daily routines. I hope to see you all in the next class, when we will refine better the techniques that were teach today. The class is dismissed.”

“Yes, Karuum Nalug.” The class chorused as one as they all bowed their heads to their teacher, and soon, the students were dispersing one by one, forming groups and chatting among themselves as they went to go back to their lives. Spyro was among the ones that stayed behind, as he walked back to his group.

“You did awesome, man!” Sparx said, flying next to the head of his friend, and Spyro smiled back at him. Soon, they noticed someone else approaching them.

“You were really impressive today, young dragon.” The grey ape said, “Few times I saw a student be able to learn and apply the Kakuma Yakuniki so well so little time after being taught how to do it. Normally it takes a while of practice to be able to do that. You are really an amazing practitioner.”

Spyro could not help but blush a little at the compliment, and he was glad that his scales did not made it clear to others who were looking at his face. “Thank you, Karuum Nalug. You are very kind.” Spyro said, and the ape simply shrugged.

“I’m just telling the truth.” The ape said to him, and he looked at the members of the group that Spyro was in. “So, how has this little purple dragon been treating all of you so far in this week?”

“Oh, you know the drill, Nalug.” One of the apes of Spyro’s guard said, dropping the “Karuum" term, which was something that, in the culture of the Munduri, was close to “sensei”, a term that was used to describe masters and teachers of the art. “This little rascal gets in as much troubles as any teenager does, and sometimes we do have to get into quite a pickle by following him.”

Spyro looked away, and he could not help but blush more, and hope that his scales would hide the fact that he was blushing.

Nalug chuckled, and he said, “Yes, I know how teenagers can be. Nothing too new in there, just the usual for the young lads.”

“Yeah, the usual thrill.” Sparx said, “Purple butt gets in trouble, his bulky babysitters come to save his sorry tail. The use.”

“Sparx!” Spyro said to the dragonfly, who only smiled smugly at him. The rest of the group chuckled at this. This kind of scene had already become normal among them, once they all had the chance of knowing Sparx and Spyro, and they had long ago learned how to see past the “purple dragon” thing, and to see Spyro as he truly was: a young lad who actually cared much for the ones around him.

Of course, not everyone thought like that, and that was no secret to anyone.

“Well, I really admire your dedication and talent, young one.” Nalug said to the young dragon, “You are still training in your free time, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir.” Spyro said, “When I have the chance I practice by myself, and dad helps me practice when he is around the village.”

“Quite a partner you have.” Nalug said, “I was present during the time your father was learning the practice of Munduri. He was a very promising student in it, much like you. In fact, he was one case of the ones who had managed to perfectly apply the kakuma Yakuniki shortly after being taught it, much like you.”

Okay, now Spyro felt even more reasons to feel proud of himself.

“He did a very good work teaching you in the basics, by the way.” The grey ape added, “Most of the students I have come with little knowledge of the art of Munduri. You, whoever, came with a very good knowledge of the basic. Gaul could really have become a very good Karuum if the whole situation was different.”

“Yeah, dad is really great at Munduri. I guess he is one of the few that could compete with you.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he is.” Nalug said, and he looked at the young dragon, “Well, I guess that you have more places to be going now, ani’t I right? I’ll be seeing you in the next class. Continue practicing, it will lead you to true mastery.”

“Yes, Karuum Nalug, I will.” Spyro said, bowing his head. The ape bowed his head back, and soon, the purple dragon was departing with his group, leaving behind a grey ape that was smiling in a warming way at him.

A nice kid. You did a great job raising him, Gaul.

As Spyro went by, a couple apes who stayed behind had saw his interactions with the Karuum, and they were already whispering among themselves.

“Why the Karuum always speaks to him when the class ends?”

“Maybe to give him some tips on how to be better. He does that for the purple dragon more than for anyone else. I thought he didn’t had a favorite student.”

“All because that purple lizard is under king Gaul’s protection.” One ape said bitterly, and the other apes around let out mumbles of agreement.

“I’m telling you guys, one day that dragon is still going to bring real problem to all of us, and Gaul will have the fact that he took a dragon under his protection coming back to slap him in the face.”

“Man, what a day!” Spyro said as he walked in the village, his personal guard following him very closely as he walked.

“Yeah, the day in the life of the prince of apes is surely something.” Sparx said to the young dragon as he floated right around his left horn. “So, what now, studying some important laws? Etiquette lessons? A date with the princess of the neighbor country? Solving a discussing between two bickering apes in the edge of the village? Maybe a speech for the people to practice when you will be at the throne? What is next in the agenda of prince Spyro?”

Spyrro chuckled, and soon, one of the apes said, “Actually, mister Spyro should be using some time of his day to study some lessons.”

“Oh… I kind of hit the spot with the law thing.”

“Oh, come on guys, can’t I take the day off for now?” Spyro asked, and the apes said:

“Your father made clear that during his absence you should still do the chores that you normally do when he is in the village. This includes using your time to study and to learn as much as you could. After all, these knowledge will be very precious for your future.”

Yeah, what kind of future a dragon could have in a village of apes? Spyro through for himself a little bitterly, but he did not risked saying it aloud, for he knew that someone who was nearby could easily misinterpret what he was saying and taking it the wrong way.

Spyro knew that he would have problems to live in the village ever since he learned of the war, of Malefor, and of his own nature as a purple dragon. Of course, the problems only grew as Spyro himself grew older. Spyro was not even fully grow yet, and he already had to look down to make eye contact with most apes in the village. That made most of the apes of the village be even more scared of him, and that was something that Spyro could easily notice only by the way that they behaved around him.

Spyro was still in his growing process, and he was sure that at some point he would start to have the “growth spurts” that were so natural to all of the creatures, and Spyro was sure that were normal for dragons also. If he grew around the size of the dragons that he read about in books, then he was pretty sure that he would have to be careful to even move around the village without breaking anything. It was hard to imagine himself having a life in there once he was a full grow dragon. Even because he was pretty sure that the rest of the village would be too scared of him to even come close.

Still, his father always insisted into him learning all that he could to “contribute with his growing”, which included lessons in math, history, and even some political matters. Some lessons that even the other chimps around Spyro didn’t had. Still, the purple dragon never complained about them aloud, and he knew that he was not going to start now.

Sighing, Spyro just said, “Fine. But just because I don’t want dad pulling at my horns when he comes back and one of you tells him that I have been slacking off with my studies.” Spyro said, and soon, the rest of the purple dragon’s group was moving in direction to another place of the village, all the while, the rest of the apes in there were looking at them, moving away, and whispering among themselves as they passed.

Chapter Text

In that village of apes, each ape had their own hut, and depending on the ape themselves, the huts could be small and humble, or it could be bigger and fancier. It was something that could vary a lot depending on the ape, and this was true including the king.

Gaul had his very own hut in that village, and it was a hut that looked like something fit for the one that was widely recognized by the apes as their king.

This hut was the bigger of them all, looking like it could easily house a family of ten. The walls were made of wood covered with special tissues, but nothing too fancy, since Gaul himself was not very much of a fan of fashion. The roof was made of special water-proof leather, which served to protect the house in case of rains and winds, and it made a very good job. The windows and the doors were covered with tissues as well, and they had no doors, like most of the huts in there. The apes came from a long tribal tradition, so they were used to the lack of doors or windows, once everyone knew and trusted everyone, and so, there was no need for locks or secrets. Maybe it was because Spyro was a dragon and not an ape, but he didn't particularly like the idea of living in something which anyone can come in at any moment. He felt like he didn't had privacy, especially now that he was a young teen.

Still, Spyro had to admit that he was glad to live in that house. The inside was devoid of most decorations, since Gaul had more of a Spartan style. There weren't paintings in the wall, and neither there was any fancy decoration, like expensive vases of colored glass or of exotic shapes. Instead, nearly all of the objects in there had functions. The carpets were in there to soften the ground, the chairs to sit, the table was for sitting and eating. The one thing that called attention, however, were the books.

There was a good deal of books in the hut, gathered in corners on the ground of beaten earth, with a single rug over it to prevent the dirty from ruining them. Some of these books belonged to his father, but most of them had been acquired because of Spyro.

Ever since he had learned how to read, the books had become a gateway to the young dragon. He rarely went out of the tribe, except in the case of some trips in which his father would take him. So, the books were his best and most effective way of having contact with the outside world.

There were all kinds of books in there, provided by Gaul with the resources that he had. A good deal of them were works of fiction, like for instance: "Destiny of Fire", the narration of the legend of the first fire dragon; and "Knight of the Stars", which was a book about a dragon who gained the power of the great stars above and used it to spread life and hope into the world. Of course, there were also other books in there, like for instance: "Poems of Laughs", a collection of comedic poetry that was written by an author of the tribe of the bunnies (that one was a favorite of Spyro when he was having a bad day and needed a good laugh), and also a very interesting book that Spyro has come to like very much: "The Adventures of Crash Bandicoot".

All of these were good readings to pass time, however, now that Spyro was back home with the rest of his guard, he was picking up a different section of books. All of them had plain covers and only showed their titles in the front, titles like: "Mathematical Theory", "Flowers of Medicine", "Stars of Our World", "Beasts of the Wild", "Geography for Beginners", "History of Magic Crystals", and "Populations Around the World".

These books were all educative and informative in nature, and they had not been picked as a way of passing time. Gaul had arranged those books exactly to "help into Spyro's development". Gaul wanted to make sure that Spyro would know all that was needed, and apparently he thought that it was something that he would not learn just from being around the apes. So, he provided all these kinds of books for Spyro to be able to study all the kind of information that could be possible for someone to need.

So, when most apes his age were going around and hanging out with their friends, Spyro was usually following the study regimen that his father prepared for him and was reading and re-reading these books to be sure that he would never forget this information.

Spyro understood that his father made that to make him smart, and he was even able to understand why it was important for him to know about math and about the kinds of flowers in the wild that could be dangerous and that could serve as antidote for the bite of a snake, as well as the kinds of animals that lurked in the jungles. However, he still failed to see how it could be important to know the name of the constellations of the sky and the kind of traditions that were the most common for a tribe that he never saw before in his life.

Still, Spyro accepted this, for it helped him to focus, and it actually helped him to pass his time as he read it. Besides, Spyro thought to himself, as he picked up one book and started to read. It is not like anyone my age would like to hang out with me, anyway… well, besides Sparx. He sighed as he sat on the ground and started to read the teachings of the book about math, and he was pretty sure that he had already memorized most of the formulas…

Cubic meters.

Cubic tons.

Divided by…

Multiplied by…

Square.

Spyro was familiar with all of that, and it was easy for him, more so than it would be for most other apes of the village. Not only the ones of his own age, but also most of the adults. Spyro felt like he would ace most of them if there was ever a quiz to this. Still, Spyro doubted that it could actually have a use in his immediate future…

"Man, this is so boring!" Sparx said as he floated around on his back, as if he was laying around, but his wings still buzzed and allowed him to float in the air. Two guards were inside the tent, and they were keeping a close eye to Spyro. The other four were distributed across all of the entrances of the tent, as if to make sure that no surprise attacks would come over the young dragon while he was studying.

"Yeah, I have to agree." Spyro said. "I hope dad brings more books. I already read all of the new ones that he had brought."

"You seriously want more books?" Sparx said to the young dragon. "I mean, every normal teenager would want a mascot, or a skateboard, or some sick accessory to impress the ladies."

"Yeah, but I'm not a normal teenager." Spyro said without taking his eyes off the book. "At least not in this village."

There was a silence following this, as Sparx realized, too late, that he had touched the wrong subject. The guards only shared a look among them as they continued to watch the young purple dragon. Spyro focused on the book for a while, before he moved on to another book.

Followed by another, and another.

It was all for a while, and all the time, Spyro focused himself in the words that were written on his books to prevent himself from thinking at other subjects. Books were like a refuge to Spyro, for they helped him escape from the problems that troubled him, and they allowed him to forget what he constantly faced living among a tribe that was afraid of him.

However, his reading was interrupted when someone's voice resounded in the outside of the tent.

"What do you want?"

It was one of the guards, and by the tone of his voice, it seemed that he had stopped someone who just came. This caught Spyro's attention, as he raised his head and started to hear with more interest.

"Relax, man, we don't want trouble." A voice said, a younger one, who owned that voice was probably a teenager, but not much older than this.

"Answer the question." The guard said once more. "What is your business here?"

"We came here to see Spyro."

Now that really caught Spyro's attention.

Someone had come to see him? And they were referring to him by his name, instead of calling him "the dragon" or "that purple reptile"?

"What is your business with young Spyro?"

"Well, we'd like to see if he wanted to hang out with us." The young voice said. "We heard that he didn't have anything planned for today, so we decided to come see him and ask if he wanted to spend some time with us."

Spyro could barely believe what he was hearing. Someone had come to invite him to spend time with them? That hadn't happened since… ever!

Spyro left the book in the ground, having already forgotten about it as he dashed in direction to the entrance from which the sound was coming. By getting out, Spyro could see what was going on.

One of the guards had his weapon in his hands, and he seemed as if he was ready to fight. In front of him, Spyro could see a group of five apes, all older than him by two or three years, and among them, was a particular ape with greenish-brown fur on his body, and with the fur on his head parted in a way that it seemed to be a Mohawk.

Spyro knew that ape! He was Zeggor. He was an ape who had some fame among the rest of the young apes in the village. He was famous for being quite a rebellious ape and for being good in nearly anything that he did. There were stories all around the village about him, telling that he had once collected around three hundred heart cashews all by himself, that he once won a battle with a river snake, that he once was able to sneak all across the swamp and come back in one piece.

The guy was a legend! He was the most popular young ape from the whole village. All of the girls in the village let out lovesick sighs when he came near, and all of the guys in the village wanted to be him, Spyro himself included.

"Come on, now." Zeggor said. "We just want to see… Spyro! Hey!" The young ape said and waved to the purple dragon as soon as he saw him. Spyro was paralyzed for a moment as he looked at him, unsure of how to answer. All he could do was raise his paw and wave back.

"Dude! I was hoping to see you before you left for some other place." He said to the young purple dragon. "I was hoping you had not, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to invite you to come to the forest with us."

Spyro blinked, and he looked at the ape in front of him.

The most popular ape of the village. The ape that all of the young apes wanted to be with and of whom they all wanted to be friends. The ape who was so popular that he and Spyro never actually talked to each other before in their whole lives.

He was in there, and he was asking for Spyro to come and to hang out with him and his crew.

"Huh..?" Was all that Spyro was able to mumble, and Zeggor smiled at him.

"Yeah, dude! We are going to the forest to spend some time in our spot. We were wondering if you wanted to come with us, right guys?" He asked his crew, and they all agreed with him.

"Y-you want me to..?" Spyro said, starting to get a grip on this, but still having some problems to actually believe it.

"Yeah, so, you wanna come?" Zeggor asked again, looking at Spyro expectantly. The purple dragon continued to look at him for a few moments, before he finally seemed to realize that he needed to say something, and he started to speak.

"Yes!" He nearly blurted out, but he now was trying to be a little more composite. "I-I mean… I-it would be really nice. I mean… Sure, I want." Spyro finally said, adopting a position and tone that he considered to be neutral. Zeggor smiled at him, as if he approved.

"So, let's go?"

"Sure, lead the way." Spyro said, and stepped forward, but he was stopped on his tracks when the guard stepped on his way.

"Young master Spyro, what about your studies?" He asked, and Spyro looked at him, and back at Zeggor, who was looking back at him with a raised eyebrow. "King Gaul was very clear that you should not slack on anything during his absence, and this includes your studies."

Spyro looked up at him, and he gave a look back at Zeggor, who was now shrugging.

"Oh well, I guess you are too busy then." He said casually as he turned around. "Maybe another time. Let's go guys." He was starting to leave, and his whole crew along with him. Panicked surged on Spyro at this.

All his life, he had never been invited to anything by someone who was his own age. Even less by someone who was so popular like Zeggor. For him to actually be invited to anything was something that was new to him, and Spyro heard enough around the village to know that if Zeggor invited you to something you could not turn him down.

He was the coolest ape of the tribe, and if you just were with him, you could become cool by association. For Spyro, that was a chance of actually starting to become popular, a chance of finally being accepted among the other young apes, like he never was before on his life. That was a chance that he could not let slip through his claws!

"Zeggor, wait!" Spyro shouted, making the ape turn to look at him, along with his crew. "I… I can go with you! Right now!"

"Master Spyro…" The guard started to say, but Spyro cut him off.

"Look, I already read those books many times, and I'm pretty sure that I have them all memorized, and if you try to make a quiz to me about anything on any of them I know that I'll ace it. I have been on this routine for how long now? I have never slacked before, and I have pretty much stayed in home a good part of my days without having anything to do. I think I do deserve a little break to hang out with someone who actually came here to invite me for something. So, today I'm taking a break from studying."

"But king Gaul…" The ape tried to say, but Spyro cut him off again:

"I'll talk to dad when he comes back and tell him that it was my decision to skip study. You can leave for me to deal with him."

There was a silence as the guards shared looks among them, and there was a lot of expectation as the guards seemed to ponder on letting or not Spyro go. Luckily, Sparx quickly came to help.

"Come on, dudes!" The dragonfly said as he attracted the attention of the guards. "Spyro spends his day in here, bored beyond belief, and he is supposed to just refused someone's invitation to have a good time so he can continue bored? I don't know about Gaul, but I would not be very satisfied if I knew that the guys I hired to protect my son were forcing him to be miserable."

There was another brief silence, and one of the guards said: "Well, young Spyro indeed has always been diligent with all of his studies and compromises."

This seemed to be enough.

"Okay, I guess you can go." Spyro smiled at this, but his smile was short lived when the ape said: "We are going to accompany you, as always. And this is not up for discussion. King Gaul was clear about we going with you anywhere."

Spyro looked at Zeggor, and he was expecting the ape to actually make some kind of excuse for not taking Spyro, once he probably would not want some adults coming with his crew, especially if they were Spyro's bodyguards, who were so efficient and diligent in all that they do. No one would feel comfortable with big and armed apes watching their every move.

However, Zeggor only looked at Spyro expectantly. "So, you coming, Spyro?"

Spyro looked at him.

"Y-yes. I'm coming."

"Great! Let's go." He said, and Spyro was actually able to smile again.

"Yeah! Finally, something fun to do!" Sparx said, and soon, the guards were getting ready to follow Spyro in another of his adventures outside of the tent.

It took only two minutes, but soon, Spyro was walking out of the tent, with his guard following him from behind, Sparx buzzing by his side, and this time, he was actually surrounded by apes who were close to his own age and who had asked him to come with them.

Spyro looked around at the apes who were smiling at him and even talking with him about things. They were mostly questions about how were things, and about what was like to be the son of King Gaul. However, no matter how trivial these questions could see to anyone who heard them, to Spyro they meant a lot.

As they walked and talked, they moved away from the village, and they were now starting to walk in direction to a nearby forest. It was around the same direction of the trees that gave the heart cashews, but it was also a different path, one that led to a great mass of trees from many different species and very close to each other. It was a true forest, right outside of the small village.

That forest was the kind of place in which apes would go in groups, for it was said to be filled with all kinds of wild beasts that would not hesitate into pouncing into an unsuspecting creature that was going there. Not only that, but the great mass of trees made it somewhat easy to get lost in there, as much as it was in the swamp where Sparx lived. There were even rumors about that forest being either cursed or haunted, or maybe both things at the same time.

Anyway, it was not the kind of place where someone would come on their own only for the shake of it. The hunters went in there, of course, to get some meat for the village, and of course, some other apes went in there without any hesitation and without any kind of fear. Gaul, for instance, said to be the biggest ape who ever lived, and also famous for his bravery and strength, when Spyro was younger, he used to think that his dad could do anything, what was, of course, normal for any young kid who looked up at their fathers.

The forest was serious business, of course, and the younger apes tended to stay away from there and not go in there alone, if not for any confirmed danger, than just for the rumors that went about the forest and the things that happened in there. Of course, Zeggor was not one of these apes. One of the reasons he was so popular in the village among the young apes was because he seemed completely unafraid of going into the forest, and he had always come back from it unscratched, always with some amazing story to tell others about an adventure that he had lived in there, like for instance, one time that he was forced to fight for his life with two big saber lions and was able to escape right under their muzzle.

Spyro himself had never been in there, but he heard all kinds of stories that were related to the forest and to the things that Zeggor had lived and done in there, and about how he was able to escape to live another day. Spyro found these stories amazing, and he often wondered what would be like to be able to be with Zeggor during these adventures, even though he knew that he would most likely be of little use in these situations.

"… so, as the son of the king of apes, that technically makes you a prince, right?" one of the apes who was with the group asked Spyro. "That gotta be awesome."

"Yeah, well… I think it is." Spyro said to him. It was kind of a new thing for him to have someone talking to him like that. "I mean… I never got royal treatment of anything. Dad is not much into this 'royal privilege' thing, I guess he don't want me to become one of those spoiled brats."

"Still, being the son of the king must have a few perks." Another ape said. "You can probably get your father to bring you anything you want when he comes back."

"Yeah, dad does bring me some gifts when he returns." Spyro said, "But it also has some small things…" he added, and looked over his shoulder, looking at the guards who were following the group of teens right behind. "Like have a full-time team of babysitters following your every move."

"Yeah, I noticed that." Zeggor said. "By the way, I wanted to talk to you about this." Zeggor added as he approached the young dragon and started to whisper, as if he wanted to be sure that the guards were not going to listen.

"You know, we kind of like to do things without anyone telling us we can or can't. We like to move free. To walk how we want. To go where we want. We like to do whatever we want without someone patronizing us all the time. After all, we are not chimps anymore, right?" He said to Spyro, and the purple dragon looked up to him.

"So, having these guys following us would kind of cut our fun short, because they surely will want to prevent you from doing anything 'dangerous' because your father asked them to."

Spyro could not help but agree with every word that Zeggor had just said. Of course that these apes were not going to let Spyro do anything that they would consider dangerous, as they tried to prevent him from getting the heart cashews earlier (well, Spyro had been badly spanked by vines due to daring to do that, but that was not the point), and Spyro knew that he could not be cool if he had this group of apes following him and treating him like a baby.

"I mean, sure your father worries, after all, he is a father." Zeggor continued to say, "But you gotta admit that it is not cool being followed like that. These guys surely would not let you do anything fun." He spoke, and Spyro immediately agreed with all that he was saying.

"So… if you want to walk with us, we gotta find a way to get those guys off our heels." Zeggor spoke, and Spyro knew exactly what it meant. He also knew that he had no other choice but to find a way of losing his guard if he wanted to have a chance to hang around with Zeggor and his crew.

"I know." Spyro said back to him immediately, "I really can't stand these guys all the time. We gotta lose them." He said, and then another voice came in with a little buzzing of insect wings.

"I totally agree!" Sparx said, getting the attention of the two. "Those guys really don't know much about fun. We need to get them off our tails, and luckily, my dear purple-butted friend and me have some techniques for this…"

The guards continued to follow the group in front of them for a while, and they all noticed that the group in front of them suddenly seemed to be getting full of secrets, and that was something that made them quite suspicious, especially when they saw the golden, glowing point that was Sparx floating along with Spyro and seeming to join the little whispering that was going on…

They continued for a while, and then, the little flying, glowing dot that was Sparx suddenly moving away.

"Man, I'm hungry!" Sparx said, "I'm gonna grab a few berries, be back in a few!" He said and flew away, and the guards shared looks among themselves.

"Just how much that little thing can eat?" One of the guards asked.

"I don't even know where he puts that much food." Another one said.

"This smells fishy…" Another one said, and this one had a suspicious expression on his face.

There was a brief moment of interlude, a few minutes actually, before they suddenly heard a very loud sound piercing the air. It was shrieking, but it was a scream, of that there was no doubt.

It was Sparx.

"Sparx!" Spyro cried out as he immediately rushed to the place where the scream had come for, what startled the whole group. The teens stayed where they were, but the guards wasted no time and started to follow the purple dragon as he nearly dived into the vegetation.

"Young Spyro!" The guard called out as they started to move across the vegetation and the many trees that there were on the way. "Young Spyro, wait!"

"Didn't you heard this scream!?" Spyro called, panic on his voice as he continued to dash across everything on his way. "Sparx is in danger! I gotta help him!"

"At least wait for us!" The guard said, as the six apes continued to move after the young dragon, passing with some difficulty by the vegetation on the way and dodging the trees. Spyro was far more agile than they were, and he was able to open a good distance between himself and the apes who were following him. Not only that, but the dense vegetation of that part of the forest also made it hard for the apes to follow his movements, and they had actually just lost sight of him.

That was just perfect.

Looking behind and seeing the guards so behind of himself, Spyro smiled. He looked at his side, and saw Sparx, well and glowing, buzzing by his side as he smiled as well. They just needed to nod to each other to start off their plan.

In that moment, Spyro dodged and hid behind a tree, while Sparx continued to buzz his way, making sure to hit a lot of vegetation, to mimic the sounds that a young dragon would do while running across that dense vegetation.

"Young Spyro!"

"Spyro, wait for us!"

The voices continued, and Spyro remained as still and silent as he could as he pressed his back against the tree he was hiding, and soon, the guards passed by him. Spyro knew because he saw glimpses of them as they dashed right past his hiding spot, completely failing to notice his presence in there, and chasing the sounds that were being produced by the runaway Sparx, thinking that the purple dragon was making them.

Spyro waited until they were out of sight and out of hearing, and he sighed, before chuckling a little. Spyro knew that he was going to make them very worried with this, and that they were not going to be happy when they discover that they had been tricked. Still, Spyro could not help but feel somewhat proud of himself as he had managed to trick the six adult apes into doing what he wanted.

Spyro smiled as he got out of his hiding spot and he started to make the travel back to the path where he had come. It took a while of walking, but Spyro was easily able to find the path even among the dense vegetation, mostly due to his good senses. Soon, he was approaching the point from where they had first departed.

"Are you sure about this, boss?"

"I sure am!" Said Zeggor's voice as Spyro approached. "Just you guys wait and see, it will be great!"

"But, are you sure that we need that-"

Whatever the other ape was going to say was lost, as the young purple dragon emerged from the vegetation, making the group turn to him.

"And this is how you lose a babysitter!" Spyro said proudly, and the group all looked at him, and Zeggor had a great smile at his face.

"Awesome, dude!" He said, walking to Spyro and patting his shoulder. "That was a great plan! Almost as good as my own plans. And the way that you pulled it off, flawless!" He said as he placed an arm around Spyro's shoulders, and he turned to the group. "Come on guys, he made awesome! Give him some clapping!"

The group was lost for a moment, but soon, all of the apes in there was clapping at Spyro, as if he was a main character who just did an amazing scene on the stage.

Spyro looked around, barely believing that this was all for him. He could feel his face heating, and be was truly hoping that the scales that he had were helping to hide his blush.

"You were truly amazing, my purple friend." Zeggor said as he continued with an arm around the purple dragon's shoulders. "You have potential, that much I can say! Walk with me and you might learn a few more things that will make you nearly as awesome as me." He said, and the purple dragon only looked at him and give him a kind of dumb smile in answer, and the ape finally let go of his shoulders. "Well, since we lost those guys, I think we better go now, before they find us again."

The group agreed, and they were all getting ready to leave. Spyro was about to follow their lead, when he remembered one thing.

"Wait! We can't go yet." He said, making the group stop and look at him. "We need to wait for Sparx."

"Who?" Zeggor said, and suddenly he remembered. "Oh, the dragonfly."

"Yeah, we have to wait for him. He will be losing them and then he will come back to meet us."

Everyone in the group shared looks among themselves, and after a while, Zeggor decided that it was better to just say it.

"Yeah, about that… I think we cannot wait for him."

"No, we can." Spyro said. "Sparx probably won't take long to lose them, and they will take a long time to find the trail again. Sparx is really good in-"

"Okay, let me stop you there." Zeggor said. "You are not quite following, so I better explain. Okay, you see, the thing is that, we are not the kind of crew who walks with bugs."

Spyro looked at him, as if he was trying to understand what Zeggor just said to him. "Look, is not like I have a problem with the little buzzing guy, or with you being his friend." Zeggor quickly added in his defense, "But is just that, that guy is not the kind of guy who would be cool enough to walk with us, and we need to keep a certain standard in the ones who come with us to hang out, and the little guy don't reach the standard, not like you."

Spyro looked at him, and he was starting to get a grip on what the ape was saying. "Wait… so, if I start going out with you guys I need to stop seeing Sparx?"

"No, of course not." Zeggor said, "You are a free ap- dragon, and you can hang out with however you want on your own time. I just saying that, if you are hanging out with us, that little bug can't come along. I mean, he might be your friend, but he doesn't belong in our crew. You on the other hand, surely does."

Spyro blinked at him, and he took a while to say something. "So… if I want to walk with you guys, I can't bring Sparx along?"

"You catch things fast, dude." Zeggor said to him with a smile. "Look, we all know that up until today, that little guy was your only friend, but you got new friends now, and you can hang out with us on one day and with him in another, but you can't hang out with all of us at the same time. That is how it is. I'm sorry, but you will have to stop spending so much time with the buzzing guy." He said to Spyro, and the purple dragon looked at him as he offered him his hand, and smiling to Spyro. "So, let's keep going?"

Spyro only looked at the ape, and after a few moments, Zeggor retreated his hand, and causally shrugged. "Of course, if you have problems with this, I totally understand. Well, I guess not everyone wants to hang out with us, anyway." He said, and was now starting to walk away, and in this moment, Spyro panicked.

"Wait!" Spyro blurted out, and Zeggor stopped, looking over his shoulder at the dragon, who stood in there for a few moments, and he started to say:

"M-maybe I have been spending too much time with Sparx… I-I mean…" Spyro said, barely believing that these words were actually going to come out of his mouth. "I guess I can stop being around him that much. I-I can explain to him later. He is my friend; he will understand… I think…"

Zeggor smiled as he continued to look at the purple dragon over his shoulder. "Of course he will." He said to him, "After all, friends are for things like that right? So, let's go?"

Spyro looked over him. He looked over his shoulder, as if he was expecting Sparx to show up from the woods at any moment, but the little dragonfly didn't come. Spyro turned back to Zeggor, and he spoke: "Y-yes. Let's go."

Zeggor smiled at this, and soon, the group was moving away from that spot. As they moved, Spyro could not help but continue to look at the place they were, and he was really starting to feel bad because of this.

Going out with Zeggor was a chance that Spyro was having of maybe becoming more popular within the tribe, and to finally start to be accepted. Still, the young purple dragon never imagined that, to become popular, he would actually need to jeopardize his first and, currently only friend. The young purple dragon had made that decision in a rush, and now it was starting to make him think that he should have gave it a little bit more thought.

However, Spyro knew that, in the long run, it would be good for him. He would not stop seeing Sparx, he would just not spend as much time with him as before. He would also hang out with Zeggor, and this would make his life in the village a little better. Besides, Spyro was sure that he could talk with Zeggor a little better over this subject, and he knew that he could convince the ape to at least give Sparx a chance. After that, maybe he could be hanging with both his old and new friends in a single gang. It sounded like a good plan…

As they walked, they moved deeper and deeper in the forest, and the sounds of it were getting more intense as the forest became more and more alive around them, and the trees were becoming more numerous, with then light now having some difficulty to go into the place, casting it into a near-shadowy environment, that made it look somewhat weary, making it kinda scary.

However, the apes in the group continued to walk as if they were just making a walk into the plains. It seemed that they had already come in there before and gone back unscratched, was what Spyro thought. He, on his end, never come to that part of the forest, for it was "too dangerous". His father made it clear for the guards that Spyro was supposed to avoid that part of the forest, as well as other places that could be dangerous to him. Of course, the guards obeyed diligently and prevented Spyro from going into the deep woods.

However, the guards were no longer there, and Spyro was left with the crew that soon would become his own. They walked in direction to the deep woods, and Spyro felt scared, but he also felt somehow trilled for being in there. Even though he was mostly scared… Maybe 65%.

Spyro continued to follow the group, and the silence was broken when Zeggor spoke loud enough for Spyro to hear:

"So, Spyro." He said, making the purple dragon perk and look at him. "We are all really glad that you came here with us."

"Y-you are?" Spyro asked, sounding almost like a child.

"Of course." Zeggor said to him, offering a smile. "We are the coolest lot, so we should only be glad that someone cool like you are with us, right guys?" He asked, and the rest of the crew all agreed with him.

"I-I am cool?" Spyro asked, barely believing it.

"Of course!" Zeggor said once more. "You are the son of our king, and you are the kind of guy who is never afraid of anything! That is the very definition of cool on my books." He explained as he continued to smile at the young purple dragon. "A guy like that, who is so cool, surely belongs with a cool group. That is why we want you to hang out with us more."

Spyro looked up at him, and a spark of hope was on his chest. "Y-you are inviting me to be one of you guys?"

"Well, yeah." Zeggor said. "Like I just said, a cool guy belongs into a cool group." He repeated, and he continued to walk. "All you need to do is pass by your initiation."

"Initiation?" Spyro asked, looking at him.

"Yeah. It is a thing that everyone of our group has to do to prove their value. It is like a baptism. Of course, since you are so cool, it is merely a formality."

"R-right! And, when it is going to be this?"

"Now." Zeggor said, and this surprised the young purple dragon. "Why do you think we are coming here for? Your initiation will be right in this part of the forest."

"O-oh. Right." Yeah, it made sense… kinda… "And… what will it be?"

Zeggor only smiled at him, and said: "You will know as soon as we get in there. For now, you just need to know that it will be a proof of your bravery and your wits. Do you have those things, right?"

"Of course!" Spyro said automatically, and Zeggor only smiled back at him. They resumed walking in silent, and as they walked, the forest around them became even darker and more ominous, and Spyro felt a creeping feeling in the back of his head and all the way to the tip of his tail. Still, he steeled himself and continued to walk. He had to prove that he was as brave as them, otherwise, it could ruin his chances of becoming member of the group.

"Here we are." Zeggor said as he came into a halt, and the rest of the group followed suit. Spyro didn't knew where they were now, but he knew that it was deep in the forest. The area had many trees, and it was somewhat dark due to the canopies of the trees blocking the light, and Spyro looked around, and he could notice that they had stopped very near a cave, which looked big and dark.

"Spyro, this is the place of your initiation." Zeggor said.

"Oh, here?" Spyro asked, looking around. Zeggor pointed to the cave.

"Well, in there, to be more precise." He explained. "For your initiation, you will have to go inside that cave."

Spyro looked at the cave. It looked a little intimidating, and that was something that Spyro could easily notice. Still, it didn't seem all too bad… as long as the cave was empty.

"So, I just go in there?" Spyro asked, and Zeggor answered:

"Yeah, pretty much. Oh, but I recommend you to do it carefully, because there is an owlbear living inside."

Spyro felt his heart skipping a bit as he heard these words. There were all kinds of beasts in the world, and in these regions, the owlbears were known to be among the most dangerous. They were big predators who were famous for their aggressiveness and for being extremely territorial. They were said to maul anything that was foolish enough that came to their lair, and they would never stop until the thing was either dead or too far away for them to chase.

All of the hunters and gatherers knew that if there was an owlbear around, then you should be careful to never get on their territory or between them and what they wanted.

Most of all: you should never, ever, ever, EVER enter the cave where they lived.

"A-a-an o-owlbear?" Spyro stammered as he took another look at the cave.

"Yeah, an owlbear. Don't worry, the guys are nocturnal, it is sleeping now. You just have to sneak in there without waking it up."

"B-but is an owlbear." Spyro said, "I-if it wakes up…" The urple dragon didn't had the courage to finish that sentence, and Zeggor only waved it away.

"Well, it would not be your initiation if it was something easy to be done. Also, you don't have to worry, we have all done that already."

"We have?" Someone said, and this person soon said: "Oh, yes, of course! It was so long ago that I forget it sometimes, hah!"

Spyro continued to look in between the cave and Zeggor, and the ape was looking at Spyro, expectantly. A mental battle was going on the purple dragon's head, and after a few moments, it seemed that one of the sides had won:

"I… I'll do it." Spyro said, trying his best to sound brave and determined. Zeggor smiled at him.

"Great! But you have to go into the very place where the owlbear is, deep inside the cave." He explained to the purple dragon. "You won't believe how many guys only go a little in the entrance and come back claiming to have complete the initiation. You will have to prove to us that you went to where the owlbear is."

"H-how do I prove it?"

"You see, in that cave there are a lot of glowing gems. They are in the deep, where the owlbear sleeps." The ape explained. "To prove to us that you went all the way, you will have to take one of the gems out of there and bring it back to show us. Can you do that, buddy?"

Spyro looked at him, and once more he looked at the cave. Every instinct of his body was telling him that this was a bad idea. All that he read and was taught told him not to go into the cave of an adult owlbear. The feeling on his guts was telling him that it was not worth it, and that he should turn tail and leave that place.

However, there was another voice that talked to him. A voice that told him that this could be his chance of finally having someone other than his father wanting him around in despite of his purple scales. His chance of walking around with other apes his own age and to actually make some new friends. His chance to be seen as something more than just a purple dragon who had been adopted by the king.

His chance of being accepted.

That voice had a very powerful influence on Spyro.

"A-alright!" Spyro said, and Zeggor only smiled in return.

Soon, Spyro was standing right in front of the cave, and he was trying to prevent his body from shaking, even though the movements of his tail betrayed his emotions.

The purple dragon looked at the entrance, and he looked back, at the apes who were gathered behind and looking at him. All of them were looking with expectation, and Zeggor was the one who had a smile on his face as he gave Spyro a "thumbs up".

Spyro nodded at him, and turned his head back at the cave, which seemed even darker and more ominous up close. Swallowing the lump that was forming on his throat, Spyro gave the first hesitant step ahead.

Spyro was actually going to do that. And his good sense was promising to kick his tail for that.

The purple dragon gave one step after the other, as he started to walk in direction to the depths of the cave. The only light came from the entrance, so Spyro found himself in a darker and darker environment as he dwelled deeper in that cave.

Spyro could hear his own breathing and his own heartbeat, being even more aware of them than he normally was. His breathing seemed to be louder than he remembered, and Spyro was now trying to control it, as if a single exhaling could be heard from several miles away. His heart was beating a bit too loudly too, Spyro was now asking himself if the hearing of the owlbears was good enough to hear a heart beating too hard…

It didn't help that the darkness of the cave made his hearing all the more sensitive, and Spyro was only even more aware of himself as he kept moving.

The darkness was near total, and Spyro had difficulty to see anything more than a few inches beyond his snout. Still, he continued to walk forward, and the sound of his claws tapping the floor at each step he gave sounded almost like a battalion marching to his ears.

Soon, Spyro started to see something ahead.

There was something glowing deeper into the cave.

His head perked as he saw that, and he started to move a little faster, but still being as silent as he could as he approached. That distant seemed to take an eternity to be crossed, and as Spyro approached, that glow grew in intensity, and Spyro could notice that it was somewhat ghostly and eerie, making it look almost like something that was not from this world.

Still, Spyro only cared about approaching more. He knew that it was probably the gems that Zeggor had spoken about, and Spyro had to get one of them to prove that he had been in there. It was the only way that he would pass and effectively become a part of Zeggor's group. This was what was going to make his life in the village better. This was what would prove to everyone that he was not just "the purple dragon". This was what… what…

What was that smell?

Spyro got distracted by the foul smell that was on his nose, and he stopped just about he was to trip into something. Something big, and furry…

Spyro felt his blood freezing in his veins as he looked over and saw the creature who that appendage belonged to. It was a big and bulky creature that dwarfed Spyro in comparison. The creature was possible as big as his father, or maybe even bigger! It was covered in dense and thick fur, and underneath it Spyro assumed that it was mostly muscle. The figure moved very slightly as it was breathing, and Spyro now was asking himself if that loud breathing that he had been hearing was this one or of the owlbear.

Spyro felt himself trembling, and beads of sweat were running down his features. He moved as carefully as he could, placing one leg after the other above that outstretched limb, and he tried his best not to touch it, and not to make a single sound as he moved. He even held back the sigh of relief when he passed by the limb without touching it.

Spyro was still shaken, but he remembered himself of the reason why he was in there, and he turned back to the source of the glow.

What he saw was something quite breath-taking.

The walls and the ceiling of the cave were decorated with these many glowing gems. They were in colors that ranged from light-blue to the violet, and each one of them had their own glow. For a moment, Spyro asked himself if they were some of the magic crystals that dragons were famous for using, and which his father sometimes brought as spoils from the battles. However, Spyro soon saw that they were different. These gems did not give him the same feeling that the crystals did, even though Spyro had the feeling that they were special on their own.

The light that they shone was phantasmagoric, and it gave the place a hint of supernatural. Spyro could not help but think to himself how lovely the light that they had actually was.

Spyro needed to get these gems to prove that he was in there.

Walking to the walls, Spyro looked at each individual gem, and as he looked, he noticed that the gems glowed in different ways, with some having more intense glows, and others being subtler. Some of them even glowed as if they were forming shapes inside of them. Sometimes it seemed like a half-moon, and others it looked as if it had stars inside.

Spyro eventually found one that really caught his attention. It was one of a violet-blue coloration, and if you looked it the right way, it was almost as if there was a swirl of mist in the inside.

That one really caught Spyro's attention.

It was the one that he was going to take.

Nudging the gem with is paws, Spyro saw that it was stuck, but he was determined to take it out of there.

When one paw was not enough, Spyro balanced on his hind legs and used both of his front paws/hands to grab and pull at the gem. It seemed to be really stuck in there. It would take more effort to pull it out.

Spyro huffed and grunted as he pulled and twisted, trying to get that glowing stone free of the wall. He barely noticed that he was making increasingly more noise.

Finally, the gem came out.

Spyro tumbled into the ground as the gem just popped out of the wall, making quite a noise as the stone wall broke and the purple dragon went to the ground.

All this noise made the creature that was sleeping in there move and stir.

Spyro was getting up when he saw that the owlbear was getting up as well.

Spyro felt as if his heart had stopped, and he looked at the owlbear that rose. Spyro could, for a moment, take a glimpse of the features of the bear, which made it look somewhat like an owl.

The creature raised and let out a sound that you would expect from an angry animal. That sound resounded in Spyro's guts, and it made him shake even more, as he expected the creature to turn at him and attack.

However, it seemed that someone up there liked the purple dragon. For the owlbear, as if not even noticing Spyro's presence, just moved its body, and laid itself lazily on the ground once more.

Seconds become minutes, and Spyro convinced himself that the creature had somehow just went back to sleep.

The purple dragon was barely even able to believe it. For a long moment, he just stood in there as he had seemingly forgotten about what he had come to do in there.

Spyro remembered as soon as he looked at the gem he had on his paw, round and with that ghostly mist in the inside.

Shaking it off, Spyro finally returned to his quest, and now, he was moving to get out of there. As silently as he could.

Spyro even held his breath as he passed by the owlbear again.

As he walked in direction to the exit, Spyro could not help but give occasional glances at the gem that he had just recovered. It was something really beautiful. Maybe Zeggor and the others will let him keep it after he showed it to them?

As he walked, Spyro could see the light of the gems fading, and then there was darkness. However, the glow of the one gem that he held was giving him an illumination that he didn't had before. He continued to walk, until he could see the light of the day in the other end of the tunnel.

Spyro felt himself giving a sigh of relief, as he could see that light.

He had done it.

He had actually done it.

He went all the way and was coming back with his proof.

Spyro could barely contain himself to just run forward and scream to his new crew that he had done it and was now one of them…

"I told you that purple lizard was not going to make it." Spyro hears someone say, and it made him stop for a moment to hear.

"Maybe he is still coming back with one gem."

"Did you heard the sound? Surely he awoke the owlbear and it probably is eating him now. Not that it is a bad thing, though."

Zeggor clicked his tongue. "Yeah, I really thought that the purple lizard could do it. I guess he was just useless anyway."

Spyro continued to hear, and the apes were none the wiser that he was listening to them.

"Well, now I guess I'll just have to find something else to give to my girl." Zeggor said as he stood.

"Well, the idea of trying to use the purple dragon to get one of these gems was good." Another ape said, "too bad that he got himself killed."

"Yeah, I'm even surprised on how easy it was to convince him." Zeggor said. "Man, that lizard really thought that we were going to let him walk around with us."

"Yeah… but, wouldn't he had gotten mad when he found out that we were not?"

"So what? He would be in so much trouble with the guards and with king Gaul that he would not have chance to get revenge on us. And if he said anything, we would just deny it. After all, how would believe in the word of a purple dragon if a lot of apes said otherwise?" Zeggor said, and he punctuated it with a laugh, and the other apes followed his suit.

Spyro felt numb as he heard that. He just stood in there as the apes laughed, unable to think or to react as his mind trying to take a grip on the revelation that he just had. As soon as he processed what he found out, he felt a surge of fury starting to build up on him, making him feel like a volcano ready to erupt.

"You. Bastard!" Spyro said, startling the apes and make them all turn to him, all of them with surprise expression on their faces.

For a long moment they just looked at him, as the dragon looked back at them with hate on his eyes.

Zeggor was the one who was able to break the silence as he spoke:

"Spyro!" He spoke as he opened his arms, as if welcoming him, and he had on his face a big smile. The fakest one that Spyro had ever seen. "Man, we were all getting worried with you! When we heard that sound we thought the worse! It is so good to see your face again!"

Spyro felt his rage rising even more at how fake that ape was.

"You think I didn't hear?" Spyro nearly growled, and the smile disappeared from Zeggor's lips. "You were using me!"

Zeggor now looked somewhat afraid, along with the other apes. They started to give steps forward as Spyro started to give steps on his direction.

"All that talk about wanting me to join your crew! It was all a lie! You just wanted me to go in there and get a gem for you!" Spyro said in anger, his voice raising in volume with each sentence.

"C-come on now." Zeggor said, as the other apes were starting to gather around him in fear. "L-let's not jump to conclusions, dude."

"You were using me to get a gem that you could gift to someone!" Spyro nearly shouted. "You were not brave enough to go in there yourself, then you found someone else to go into your place! Of course! Why would you risk your fur getting in the cave of an owlbear when you can just convince a purple dragon to go in there for you and let him be mauled to death!"

Spyro was screaming now, and the other apes continued to look at him as he advanced against them, and maybe it was the fact that Spyro was a dragon coupled with the hatred on his expression, but all of them seemed to be genuinely afraid of the purple dragon.

"That story of 'initiation' was just an excuse to make me go in there!" Spyro shouted in outrage. "You just wanted me to get in there to do something for you since you didn't have the guts to do it yourself! And to think that people actually think you are cool! That I thought you were cool! You. Filthy. Liar!" Spyro shouted, a shout that almost sounded like a roar, and it echoed all around the forest.

The sound of his voice continued to resound into the forest around them, and Spyro was standing there, panting after his small tirade, and he continued to look at the apes, who were all gathered in there, looking at him in fear. None of them noticed that Spyro's tirade had also echoed inside of the cave that he had just came out of.

At least not until they heard a loud bellowing sound coming from the cave.

The apes and dragon all froze when they heard it, and Spyro slowly turned his head to look at the cave, and the sounds of something coming could be clearly heard.

They all watched as a great creature emerged from the cave, and stood in two legs. Its big eyes staring at them as none of them dared to move. After a few moments, that felt like hours, he creature opened its beak and let out a guttural, roar like sound that denoted how much angry it actually was.

A small fact about owlbears: they are exclusively nocturnal creatures, and there is absolutely nothing, nothing, that they hate more than when someone awakes them from their slumber in the middle of the day.

That owlbear had been awoke in the middle of the day by the angry shouting of a young, outraged purple dragon.

As you could expect and guess, it was absolutely furious, and ready to take this anger in something…

"Oh, crap." Spyro and Zeggor said at the same time.

Chapter Text

"Master Spyro!"

"Spyro!"

The apes continued to call as they moved across that area of the forest. They haven't seen or heard the young purple dragon for a while now, ever since he went to save Sparx, and they were now becoming greatly concerned.

"Spyro!"

"Come here, you little rascal!"

Nothing.

No answer at all.

They were really getting concerned.

"Just where is he?" One of the guards said aloud, and another one, who was near, looked at him.

"Maybe he got in trouble trying to save Sparx?"

"If the dragonfly was even needing to be saved."

"Huh?"

The ape looked at his friend. "Seriously? We have been searching for them for nearly half an hour, and we haven't found or heard anything from them ever since. Quite curious, once I was sure that we would at least have heard someone calling for help if there was any actual danger."

The second ape looked at him. "Are you saying that there is not?"

"I'm saying that we might have been bamboozled."

There was a silence as the other ape took in what was said.

"Ohh, these two are in a lot of problem if that is the case. I'll make sure to tell king Gaul what Spyro had been up to this time."

"Yeah, if we can find him before Gaul comes back. Otherwise, I can assure you that we will be more deep in it than Spyro."

The ape looked at him for a few more moments, and he turned back to the forest as he continued to call:

"Spyro!"

"Spyro!" Said the first ape, as they continued to call, and it was clear by the tune of voice that he was using that he was not amused. They surely were going to say it to the ape king, and they will have certain satisfaction in seeing the young dragon be grounded for running off like that.

Gaul loved the young purple dragon as his own son, still, he would surely not hesitate into punishing the little winged reptile like any parent would punish their kid. In that point, Gaul had always been just, even if he was severe, and he gave instructions for the guards to inform him of any misbehavior that Spyro could have had during his absence.

The guards continued to walk among the forest, until they heard a sound coming from the distance.

"What was that?" One guard asked, alarmed by such a sudden sound.

Another one, very close to him, looked over, and he had a worried expression as he looked around.

"Owlbear." He said.

"What? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." He spoke, and he looked at a distance. "Four and a half miles away."

Another distant roar came, and the ape turned his head into a specific direction. "North-west." He said, pointing at the direction from which the roar had come from.

"Oh my…" The first guard said. "S-should we be worried? Y-you think it might come this way?"

"Unlikely." The ape said, "They rarely move too far away from their territory, unless they are pursuing something. Let's just avoid that area and we should be fine."

The other ape continued nervous, and he looked at the direction that the ape had pointed out.

"W-what is it even doing awake at a time like that? Weren't they supposed to be nocturnal?"

"They rarely awake in the middle of the day, it is true." The other one said, "Maybe it was really hungry, or maybe some creature stumbled into its lair and woke it up."

"What a poor soul." The ape said, looking at that direction. "What creature would be reckless enough to walk and awake an owlbear?"

The question remained in the air for a few moments, before both apes stopped dead on their tracks. They turned to each other, with eyes wide in horrid realization.

They both turned and started to run in the direction the roars had come from.

"Spyro!"

"Everyone, in here!" The other ape said, calling the attention of the other apes, and soon, they all were heading on the same direction, and praying that they were not going to arrive there too late.

"Spyro!" Sparx called as he floated across the forest. "Spyro! I already lost the dudes!" He called, but got no answer back. He looked at all sides, and he saw no trace of the purple dragon or of the crew of apes who he was walking with.

"Spyro!" He called, but no answer. He buzzed across the trees.

"Spyro?"

He looked inside some bushes, startling some wild jackalopes (some horned bunnies)

"Spyro?"

He looked behind a particularly big tree.

"Spyro?"

He even started to look under the rocks.

"Spyro!"

No sign of the purple dragon in any of these places, and the young dragonfly was starting to get worried.

They were playing one at him. Yes, that was it, it had to be it. They were all hiding to see him freak out, and laughing at his expenses. It had to be it, because the other option was that they went off without him, and Sparx was absolutely sure that Spyro would never just ditch him like that.

"Come dudes! This stopped being funny half an hour ago!" He called to the forest around him, and he still got no answer. "Just stop playing with me so we can all go and have some good time without the babysitters!"

Nothing.

Just the silence of the forest around him, and the sounds of nature, like the birds chirping and the frogs doing, little animals running here and there, that creepy roar coming from the distance, the buzzing of some bees-

Hold on.

Sparx turned his head around, as if to see what had produced that roar. He saw nothing, only more vegetation around him.

"G-guys?"

The roar came again, and it seemed ominous and really angry. Sparx shivered as he heard that, and he was a little relieved when he realized that it seemed to have come from somewhere quite far from there.

Sparx didn't knew much about the creatures of the forest, but he was able to recognize a roar of a very dangerous and big creature when he heard it. He also knew the exact procedure to do to deal with the advent if you ever hear the sound like that: you turn tail and fly in the opposite direction as fast as your bug wings can possibly carry you.

"W-well, I guess the guys are not in that direction." Sparx said to himself as he smiled nervously. "So, I guess I'll just look for them elsewhere."

The golden dragonfly was just turning around when something came in the opposite direction and hit him.

"Ohhf!" Sparx said as he saw himself in something big and furry, which soon stopped.

"Hey! What the-" the thing that hit him said as it came to a stop. The dragonfly was dizzy for the blow and he only started to recover when a hand picked him by the wings and removed him from that surface, which turned out to be someone's face.

"You!" The owner of the face said, and Sparx shook his head violently from side to side, to clear his head of the dizziness, and he was able to look at the creature, and he saw the angry face of an ape. It was one of the guards.

"Oh, hey!" Sparx said, with a big nervous smile on his face. "Dude, you will not believe what I went through! I'm lucky that spyro found me back them otherwise I wouldn't be alive! We were just trying to find the way back to you guys when we got lost and-"

"Save it, bug." The guard said to him. "I don't have time for this! Spyro might be in danger!" He said, and dropped Sparx before he continued in direction to the place where the roars had come from, right before another one came.

Sparx looked at the direction in which he went, his mind trying to assimilate what he heard. When he finally did, his expression turned into one of worry.

"Oh boy!" He got up from the floor and buzzed his wings as fast as he could after the guard. Once more, Sparx could not help but feel amazed by the capacity that his dragon friend seemed to have to get himself in all kinds of dangerous situations.

(Chased – Dark Fantasy Music; by Emily – RollForFantasy; see in YouTube)

As soon as the owlbear roared, everyone seemed to awake from a stupor. Spyro was barely turning around when he saw that most of the apes had already ran, with the exception of Zeggor, who seemed to almost be paralyzed in place as the rest of his crew was running as fast as they could, and Spyro was not far behind. Spyro considered himself brave, and the fact that he walked inside the cave of the owlbear was more than enough proof of that. However, he was smart enough to know that facing an owlbear on your own was not an act of bravery, but a suicide plan.

Spyro was running, with the apes ahead of him getting closer, when he saw that there was one ape short in the group.

Spyro stopped and turned his head, to see that Zeggor was still in the same spot, not moving and looking as the owlbear was closing the distance between them.

"Zeggor! What are you doing!?" Spyro called, but the ape seemed not to have heard him, as he just stood there like a statue and the owlbear was now dangerously close to him.

Zeggor looked up at the monster of a beast stood before him, roaring a sound that was something between a bear and a bird, and it rose one of its paws with curved claws. By seeing these, Zeggor was able to open his mouth to let out a very high-pitched scream as the claws moved on his direction.

However, they never connected, because in that same moment, something swipe in Zeggor's legs, causing him to fall on his side in the ground.

Spyro was glad that he had learned how to do good swipes as part of his lessons in Munduri, but he knew that it would take much more than that to fight an owlbear, and he didn't had the skills for something like that. Running was still the best option, and they needed to run now!

Right after, Spyro moved his tail and wrapped it around Zeggor's leg, and started to pull as he was running, dragging the ape into the ground as he ran.

"H-hey! Ouch! Stop! Ouch! Ouch! Yeouch!" Zeggor said as the pebbles, sticks and roots passed on his body, ripping tuffs of fur from him as he was drag on the ground.

"Stop! Stop, you stupid lizard! Ouch! Let me get up! I have legs! Ouch! My loincloth!" He cried out as the only clothing that he was using was rip off his body by a root, leaving him in bare fur.

But Spyro could not stop, not when there was a big ownbear running after them. The thing was proving to be quite fast, of course, the fact that Spyro was dragging a currently naked and flailing ape across the ground of the forest with his tail was considerably slowing the purple dragon down.

Why was Spyro even saving him?

The purple dragon didn't had time to think on this too deeply, for he had to continue to run, as the owlbear was starting to get closer.

"Let me go! Just tops running you dumb-" Zeggor started, but when he gave a look behind, he saw the owlbear closing distant, fury and assassin instinct on its face as it ran in their direction, roaring. "Run! Run like the wind! Even better, flap these wings and fly us out of here!" Zeggor said.

Spyro would have rolled his eyes, if it wasn't for the great tension of the current situation. The purple dragon truly wished he knew how to fly. Now more than ever.

If he could, he would be laughing in the air while the owlbear roared in rage at him from the ground…

"Gah!" Zeggor screamed as one paw came dangerously close to his head, and Spyro had to speed up a little more. It was hard, but maybe they had a chance of escaping.

"Zeggor, can you climb?"

"What? Ouch!"

"Are you a good climber!?"

"Of course I am!"

"Good!" Spyro said, as he ran straight in direction to a tree, and he swung his body as he ran, as hard as he could, and let go of Zeggor's leg as he whipped his tail upwards.

The ape was propel upwards screaming like a little girl as he moved in an arch in the air, before he suddenly was cut off when he slammed face-first into the trunk of a big tree. He only "hmmph"ed as he hit the trunk, and he would have fallen down if he hadn't used his arms to hold onto it out of pure instinct.

Meanwhile, Spyro had to quickly jump out of the way when the owlbear swung his claw and it almost hit him, hitting the ground where he was. Spyro was now facing the bear, as it recovered and looked at the purple dragon straight in the face, roaring and growling as it looked at the winged reptile with murder on its eyes.

Spyro was breathing heavily. His own heart hammered on his eardrums as he looked back at the creature that stared at him.

That creature was much bigger than him. Clearly much strong physically. It was a deadly beast that would tear him apart and feast on his guts if it managed to kill him. Spyro knew that he should want to run. Every one of his instincts told him to turn tail and run as fast as his legs could carry him, now that he no longer had something to weight him down.

However, Spyro didn't moved.

Maybe it was the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Maybe it was the natural instincts of a dragon. All that Spyro knew was that, in that specific moment, he did not felt like running away.

Spyro looked back at the owlbear and, in what could be an act of defiance, Spyro bared his fangs and snarled right back at him, as his body moved by instinct, adopting a posture that was familiar to Spyro, yet, he had never used on a situation like that. It was finally time to test his munduri skills in an actual fight.

Of course, Spyro didn't imagined that it would be against a giant and assassin owlbear, but whatever.

The bear was the one that made the first movement, as it charged in Spyro's direction, and the purple dragon stood his ground. It was as if the world had slowed down as Spyro saw the bear coming on his direction.

In the moment a paw was flying on his direction, the purple dragon immediately jumped out of the way in a swift motion, and the claws of the big and furry creature missed him by less than in inch. Spyro barely had time to think of it as he saw himself having to dodge yet another attack that came into his direction.

Spyro jumped and twisted out of the way of the claws that came in his direction. The training with munduri had made him very swift in battle, and it had ingrained the style almost as if it was an instinct. It was the first time that he actually used it on a real battle, but it came as naturally as when he used them during the training sessions. If it wasn't for them, he would not be able to dodge the attacks of the owlbear, and he surely would be a mangled corpse by now.

Thank you, Karum. Spyro thought as he dodged yet another swipe of claws, this time aimed at the same level as his head, and as he continued to dodge, the owlbear was growing angrier and angrier. It seemed not to accept that the purple dragon was able to escape its wrath so easily, and it was determined to punish him.

The creature was moving around as it advanced against Spyro and tried to hit him in every way that it could. Meanwhile, Spyro danced around the owlbear, following its movements, and jumping out of the way of every attack that it tried to throw at him. Spyro made sure to keep his eyes on the owlbear, measuring his movements and making sure to move the right way in the right moment. He was proving to be quite good at this game, however, the owlbear didn't liked it, and it was growing angrier at the purple dragon, the frustration making a number on it as it had finally lost its temper with the young dragon.

The owlbear roared as it got on two legs and got ready to slam both of its forepaws down into the purple dragon. Spyro saw an opening in that moment. After all, munduri was not just about avoiding damage, but also about damaging the enemy, even if this was something that could tear you apart with its bare claws.

In the moment the paws of the owlbear came down, Spyro jumped forward, and now, he was right behind the animal as it stood on four legs. Spyro moved both of his hind paws into a "donkey kick" aimed for the forepaws of the owlbear. They were mostly focused in the areas that would be equivalent to the elbows, and Spyro made his best to make the kicks land perfectly and with the max of strength that he could muster.

The owlbear roared as it moved, and Spyro saw himself forced to move as well, so he would not be in a position in which the bigger animal could easily claw or bite him, and so he would not be stomp on as the creature moved its big and muscular body.

Spyro had to dive and roll sideways to avoid the creature, and as he got up, the beast was snarling at him, even angrier than before. The battle was taking too long, and Spyro knew that. The beast was big and strong, stronger than him in many aspects, and even Munduri would not help him for long. A true master like the Karuum would be able to bring that owlbear down (or at least Spyro thought), and his father surely would have no problem kicking the butt of that monster. Spyro, however, was smaller and physically weaker, and all he had were his body and the Munduri to help him. The odds clearly were not on his favor.

Spyro needed a plan, and that was when he remembered earlier on that same day.

Kakuma Yakuniki.

That could surely bring that thing down, of that much Spyro was certain. However, the purple dragon was not sure if he was going to be able to pull it out. It was an advanced technique, and he had just learned it today. Literally. He knew that testing it in a real fight could end very badly for him, especially as he remembered the Karuum saying how dangerous it could be.

The roar of the beast brought him back to reality as it ran in his direction, and Spyro had to instinctively jump out of the way to avoid the claws of the beast. The dance had resumed, with Spyro dodging the owlbear's attacks while he occasionally managed to land his own blows into the beast. However, the few blows that he was able to land seemed to cause little to no effect, and the vicious blows of the owlbear were getting harder and harder to dodge. Spyro had just barely escaped a blow of the bear, as the claws grazed on his hide, removing a few of his scales and leaving behind marks that leaked blood.

Crap! This way I'll be a gonner for sure! Spyro thought to himself. Oh, screw this! I'm going to die at this rate if I don't do anything! At the very least I could die doing all I could! That owlbear is going to have it now!

Spyro stumbled back, taking a few steps and breathing to stead himself as the owlbear roared and started to charge at him once more, this time the neck was outstretched as the creature seemed to be ready to bite the dragon with its beak. Or… would it be peck? Oh, screw it!

As soon as the creature came close, Spyro immediately sprint into action, and he was able to duck quickly to avoid the beak of the beast. However, in that same moment, a clawed paw moved forward, and Spyro was forced to bend his body as the claws scratched his skin, producing a new cut that would leak blood. However, Spyro didn't had time for this, for in that moment, he saw the opening he had been aiming for.

He was in the perfect angle, and that was his perfect chance. It was all or nothing this time.

Once more, Spyro could have the sensation that time had somehow slowed when he was looking at the owlbear. He saw the perfect opening, and so, he stood on his hind legs, keeping both of his forepaws of the ground. He raised them, and brought them down in direction to the owlbear's head.

The area of the inside of his wrists made direct contact with the side of the head of the owlbear, where its ear was located. Spyro had put so much strength on that blow that both of his wrists were hurting from the impact, his forepaws shaking slightly.

The owlbear made a sound and it was as if time had returned to its normal pace again. Spyro had to go back to the ground and he rolled away immediately, to avoid a possible retaliation from that owlbear.

As the purple dragon got back on his paws and looked at the bear, he saw that it was shaking its head, and it actually seemed to have an uneven pace as it walked. It almost seemed to be somewhat woozy.

Spyro looked at the uneven footing of the beast, and he knew that the Kakuma Yakuniki had worked. Aiming for the ear had the desired effect, and the thing seemed to have been dazed, as it was leaning toward the side of its body that Spyro had hit, but it seemed that it was not going down. It still growled, and it seemed to look with murderous rage at the purple dragon.

Okay. I managed to land the attack of an advanced Munduri technique into a savage owlbear that would have killed me otherwise. Great! Woohoo! Now I think that it is time to try something else.

Spyro looked at the owlbear and, instead of adopting a new pose and getting ready to fight, Spyro turned tail and started to flee. He went to a tree, and grabbed the trunk as hard as he could, sinking his claws in the bark as he got ready to start climbing. Spyro could not know how to fly, but growing up among apes had made him a heck of a good climber.

He had already moved up a few paces when the owlbear seemed to have recovered, and was not going in direction to the tree where it saw Spyro. The purple dragon continued to climb, and he was making a good progress by the time that the beast had reached the trunk and tried to claw to reach for him.

The claws barely missed his tail as Spyro continued to climb, aiming to get away from the claws and beak of the creature for love for his dear life. He looked down at the beast that continued to claw and roar at him, and he instinctively continued to climb to the tree, aiming to open the greatest possible distance between himself and the owlbear.

Spyro would have continued to climb if his horn had not poked at something, that immediately yelp in answer to that, making him stop and look up.

What he saw was a bare ape behind that was being rubbed by a hand, and beyond it, he could see the face of Zeggor, looking down at him.

"Careful with those!" The ape said to him as he rubbed his buttocks, and Spyro could only look back at him. The tree he was climbing was the same one in which he had hurled Zeggor, and now they were pretty much in the same situation. Climb up a tree to escape from the big and bad owlbear that was thirsty for their blood down there.

The roar of the beast as it stared daggers at them was no shooting to either. They continued to hold into the trunk as they looked down, and it was the time when they felt safe enough to talk to each other.

"Yeah, here we are. Never thought I'd end like that." Zeggor spoke, right before he looked down, straight at Spyro, and he said, "This is all your fault!"

"My fault?" Spyro said, looking up at him.

"Yeah! You were the one who woke it up with your growls and snarls!"

"Wha- This is… We wouldn't even be in there in the first place if it wasn't for you!" Spyro shot back. "You were the one who was using me to get a stone for you!"

"Well… I…" Zeggor seemed unable to find a good answer for that. Spyro knew that he had a good point in there. All of that happened because Zeggor had planned tyo use Spyro to get something. If it wasn't for that plan none of them would be even close to the cave of the owlbear, and they would not have gotten in that situation, to begin with. Of course, it were Spyro's screams that woke the owlbear up, but the whole situation was nothing more than Zeggor's doing, and even the green ape recognized that.

"I risked my life getting in that cave, and now we are stuck in a tree not to be mauled." Spyro mumbled "All because of a stupid rock."

"Hey, if it is so stupid, why do you still have it?"

"Huh?" Spyro said, and for the first time since the cave, he realized that he still had that same rock in his paw. It was still clutched in his paw, and thus was the reason why the holding the trunk in an awkward way in that specific paw. Spyro had totally forgot about it, but he had not let go of it.

I… I run, fought the owlbear, and climbed the tree with this in my paw? Spyro thought to himself, surprised that he had been holding that the whole time. Any other person would have forgot about the stone, dropped it and ran the fastest they could, to open the greatest possible distance between themselves and the owlbear.

The beast continued to snarl at them, and it was soon hitting the tree with both of its clawed paws, and this made the tree shake considerably, so much that both ape and dragon had to hold themselves in there to avoid falling to what would most likely be a certain doom in the claws of the owlbear.

The beast continued to attack the tree, and the trunk was actually starting to shake back and forth with the strength of the pushes of the great beast. Spyro had the feeling that he could hear both the trunk and the roots being force by the actions of the owlbear.

"Man, this is bad! This is really bad!" Spyro said, "Hold on in there! If we fall we will be in trouble!"

"What do you mean by 'we'?" Zeggor said back at him. "I'm the one who don't have wings! If I fall, I hit the ground! If you fall you just need to flap those things and fly away!" He stopped for a moment, and then he said, "By the way, I don't you just fly back to the village? And take me with you!"

"I can't!" Spyro said.

"Oh, come on! I'm sorry I lied to you!"

"No! I can't fly!"

"Say what?" Zeggor said, looking down at the dragon with shock. Spyro rolled his eyes at this. Everybody knew that dragons could fly, and many thought that it was something that they just did, much like the birds. So, it was always safe to assume that Spyro, for being a dragon, would automatically know how to fly. However, the truth was very different.

"I might have wings, but this doesn't means that I know how to fly." Spyro said to him, for a moment being oblivious to the owlbear beneath them. "I never truly learned how to. Dad even tried to teach me, but we didn't had much success. He even brought me some books involving flying mechanics, but they didn't helped that much. It seems that it is the kind of thing that you can only learn from someone who actually knows how to fly."

Zeggor looked back at him for a moment, and he asked:

"So, if you fall from the trunk them you won't fly away?"

"No." Spyro said, and there was a brief moment when they looked at each other, before Zeggor started to kick at him.

"Hey! Hey! What are you doing!?" Spyro cried out, and the ape continued to kick him while he held into the tree.

"Well, you are the one who woke up the owlbear!" He said as he kicked Spyro in the head. "So, maybe it will be calmer once it had eaten you! So I'll be able to climb down and go home!"

"You will give me to the owlbear!?" Spyro practically roared in outrage, and Zeggor only looked back at him.

"Yeah, you know, I gotta survive! Nothing personal!" He said, and he gave one last kick into Spyro, this one hit his nose, and it was enough to make the purple dragon lose his grip into the trunk, and before he knew it, he was falling.

Spyro barely had time to look down as he landed right into the face of the owlbear, which was too surprised to react properly. Spyro them stumbled out of his head and into the ground, dazed at what had just happened. Meanwhile, the owlbear turned its head to him and roared as it went after Spyro. The purple dragon had to dive out of the way to avoid the claws.

"Zeggor! You bastard!" Spyro cried out to the ape in the tree, but he was unable to look at it, for he had to put himself to run to void the claws of the owlbear. However, this time, the beast seemed to have a bit more luck than the purple dragon, for the next swipe of claws managed to land into Spyro's hind leg.

Spyro was spun and tossed in the air as pain exploded on his leg, and he landed with a heavy thud into the ground. He groaned as the pain on his leg made itself fully present, and Spyro looked at it. It had bleeding marks in it, but it was not shredded, but in compensation, there was a high pain in the area, which made Spyro almost sure that the bone of his leg was fractured.

The owlbear roared once more, and Spyro tried to stand, but he immediately regretted it, for the pain that shot from his leg up his spine made him gasp and stumble into the ground, falling flat on his side. He could not stand with this leg. He could not run. He could not fight.

To put it short: he was doomed.

Spyro had already accepted it, and he could not help but curse his own misfortune to end up like that. Well, it was mostly his fault. After all, he was the one who believed that the "coolest" ape of the village would actually want to be his friend. That anyone in that village could honestly want to be his friend.

Spyro looked at the owlbear, which ominously walked in his direction, grunting and snarling at him.

So, that was it. That was how his life was going to end. Well, maybe there were worse ways to die.

As the owlbear towered over him, Spyro felt his heart beating madly, and as the creature raised its paw for a killing blow, Spyro turned his head away, closing his eyes tightly, and silently calling out for the one that took his mind:

"Dad…"

(Tides Have Turned – Sci-Fi Fantasy; by Emily – RollForFantasy; see YouTube)

Spyro waited for the blow that would take his life. However, that blow never came.

Instead, there was a very strong gust of air, and a sound of the owlbear, half-drowned by the sound of the howling wind.

After a few moments, Spyro dared to open his eyes. He could see the owlbear stumbling back, and roaring. However, it didn't seemed that it was roaring at Spyro. Immediately, something moved above Spyro, dashing in the air above his head, so fast that Spyro barely registered it, and this thing flew into the owlbear head-on.

Spyro blinked as he saw that thing stop in midair, and then, a strong wind came from it as it flapped its wings. The owlbear stumbled back as it was hit by a wave of air, and Spyro could feel the wind that was coming from there.

The beast roared and it swung its arms, trying to hit the creature that was flying in front of it. Said creature just flew out of reach and then started to circle the owlbear. The beast tried to reach it, but was unable to, and each time, it was knock over, seemingly by gusts of wind that were coming from the creature that was flying around it.

Spyro looked mesmerized at the scene that played out before him, unable to look away, and he momentously even forgot about his leg. What was happening in there was far more interesting than his own possible broken leg.

The owlbear roared in rage, and it tried once more to advance against the flying creature, but it seemed to get tired of that, for it stopped in the air, and then, the winds started to gather. The owlbear seemed unable to approach it, as if the wind itself was pushing it back.

After a few seconds, the wind had got so strong that Spyro had to use one of his wings to shield himself as the wind threw dust, leaves and blades of grass in his direction, but he was still able to see the amazing thing that happened next:

The owlbear started to raise from the ground. From the ground! It was flailing as it started to spin, and the creature then spread its wings wide, and then owlbear was rose in the air, almost as if it was inside a very small hurricane (it was what seemed, once the wind was forming this exact shape). The owlbear was hurl across the air, crying out, and Spyro followed it with wide eyes as it landed in the ground with a heavy thud.

The beast remained in the ground for a moment, before clumsily getting up. It seemed to have thought "oh, screw this, I'm outta here!" for it immediately sprint into running in the opposite direction, vanishing into the woods.

Spyro was baffle by what had just happened, and he continued to look in the direction that the owlbear had run. His mind was still trying to process and take a grip on what had just happened.

"Wow! That was a close one." A new, unknown voice said, and this seemed to snap Spyro back to reality, as he blinked his eyes. "That thing was big. Are you…" The voice trailed off, and Spyro finally turned his head to look at the owner of the voice, the one who just saved his life.

It… no, she was staring back at him, while Spyro stared back at her, both with wide eyes.

The two dragons only stared at each other in silence, none of them moving or saying anything…

Chapter Text

There was silence in the forest.

Not a sound was in the air after the owlbear had retreated. Except for the sound of the wind in the trees, rustling their leaves and producing a very soft howling-like sound.

The two dragons just stood where they were as they stared at each other.

Spyro knew what dragons looked like, of course. He had already seem images and drawings of them in the books his father brought. However, that was his first time seeing another dragon in the flesh. And a female!

Yes, Spyro knew what females looked like, and there was no way that he would not recognize a female standing in front of him.

She had scales in her body of a light-grey coloration, and her underbelly was of a soft-blue coloration. She was around his size (as far as Spyro could tell), and she had a slender body, much more curved than Spyro's own athletic frame. Spyro could catch a glimpse of her tail from where he was standing, and he could see that it had a tailblade shaped somehow like a spear. She had a head that was crowned by not only two, but six horns, which sprouted backwards. She was also wearing some jewelry, mostly two bracelets of silvery metal in her forepaws, and a necklace in her neck that was decorate with white and blue gems. She was also wearing something in her body that somehow looked like a harness of leather, one that had many pockets in it. However, what called Spyro's attention the most where those eyes. Green and they were wide as they looked back at the purple dragon.

The silence was unnerving, and Spyro didn't knew what to do in that situation. He had always heard others say that dragons were dangerous, but Spyro himself had always been a dragon, so he never truly heard to what they said. Still, now that there was a dragon standing before him, a stranger who he never saw, Spyro couldn't help but feel nervous, even though she had just saved him from being mauled.

Spyro tried to move and stand, but in that moment he felt a sharp pain on his leg, which made him gasp in pain and fall back to the ground, curling over himself and wrapping his tail around the wounded leg.

The owlbear surely had made a number in it, and Spyro was sure that his bones had fractured, even though his leg was not broken. Still, it was clear that he was not going to be standing for a while…

"A-are you okay?" The dragoness asked, and Spyro looked back at her. It seemed that his reaction to his own pain was enough for her to snap out of the silence, and now her eyes looked at him with what seemed (to Spyro) genuine concern.

"I'm not sure…" Spyro said, "The owlbear did a number on my leg." He looked over and saw the state it was a darkened bruise was forming under his scales, making then acquire a coloration that was not the usual and definitely was not healthy. It looked bad.

"Does it hurts?" The dragoness asked, and Spyro tried to flex it, only to hiss in pain.

"Anytime I try to move it…" Spyro said, "Well, that serves me right for walking on an owlbear's cave. Man, dad is gonna kill me."

"Can you walk?"

"I don't think so." Spyro looked at his leg, after a few moments, the dragoness looked into one of the pockets/pouches of her harness, and she removed a small red crystal.

"Hold still." She said, and she crushed the crystal on her paw, and them, the crushed thing started to glow, and the small shards of it floated and they flew in direction to the purple dragon's leg.

Spyro flinched as he could feel the shards colliding with his skin and merging with it. It was a feeling that was quite strange and yet welcoming. They spread a feeling of relief on his body as the pain diminished considerably, and Spyro could almost fell his flesh and bone fixing under the effect of the red crystals. After a little feeling of relief, Spyro looked back, and noticed that his leg not only didn't hurt anymore, but looked considerably better than it did a few moments ago.

Spyro looked at it, and tried to flex it. No pain. Spyro started to stand up, and he stood with just a mild discomfort on that leg.

"Better?" She asked, and Spyro was able to smile at her.

"Yes, a lot! Thanks."

She nodded, and once again, the silence was in there. However, Spyro was not going to let it settle in this time.

"You are a life saver, you know?" The purple dragon said, "Like, seriously, with it wasn't for you the owlbear would probably be chewing me by now."

She smiled. "Yeah, I'm glad it didn't. So, you said that you walked into its cave?"

"Yeah, it was stupid." Spyro said, "Dad is going to give me an earful because of this."

"So, you and your dad…" She asked, "Are you escapees too?"

"Escapees?" Spyro asked, and she looked at him.

"Yeah, you left the dragon lands to be in somewhere more peaceful?"

Spyro hesitated a little before he answered. "Actually, I never was in the dragon lands." Spyro admitted, and the dragoness looked curiously at him. "I mean… maybe my egg was laid in there, but I was already out of the territory of the dragon lands when I hatched, according to my dad."

"Oh, I see." The dragoness said, "I hear about a lot of dragons that leave the dragon lands to live in other places. They want to live in peaceful places that are away from the war, and from Malefor's ruling

"Yeah, dad told me a lot about that… hey, you asked if we were escapees too, this means you are one?"

The dragoness stopped for a moment, and looked unsure before she nodded.

"I've never met an escapee of the dragon lands before… well; actually, I never met another dragon before." Spyro admitted, looking to the side, and this granted the dragoness who look at him curiously. She seemed about to say something, when she suddenly turned her head to a direction.

"Did you hear that?" She said as she looked in that direction, her head perking, as well as her wings.

"Hear what?" Spyro said, and she shushed him.

"This!" She said, and among the silence, Spyro had the feeling that he could actually hear something.

Sounds of leaves and vegetation moving, and it was getting closer. For a moment, Spyro felt a rush of panic as he wondered if the owlbear was coming back for a rematch. However, this soon died when he was hearing the sounds of voices.

"I'm think he is here!"

"Hold on!"

Spyro looked at the direction that the voices were coming from, and soon, it was confirm that it was his guard. The apes started to come out of the woods in his direction.

"There you are!" One of them said, one who was holding a big axe. "We have been looking for-" But he didn't got to finish that sentence. For in that moment, the dragoness immediately leapt and now was standing in front of the apes, in a position that Spyro could only recognize as a fighting one.

The apes immediately reacted as well, and they all were now in fighting position as they looked at the dragoness.

"Who is that!?"

"Who is this dragoness?"

"Is she with Malefor's armies?"

"I don't think so, she is young."

"Maybe she is a scout?"

Spyro looked at them, and back at the dragoness that now stood in between him and the apes.

"None of you savages dare to give a single step forward." She snarled at them, spreading her wings threateningly and Spyro could feel a slightly increase in the strength of the breeze of the place.

The apes all were in combat position, and Spyro watched the scene unfold before him. There was a silence, as both the dragoness and the apes looked at each other.

"Step away from the purple dragon." One of the guards said to the dragoness. "Do it slowly."

The dragoness stared at the apes, and then, she craned her head slightly back to Spyro, and she said, without taking her eyes of the apes. "Don't worry, we can beat them together… I think…"

Spyro seemed to recover.

"W-wait a minute…" Spyro started to say, but the apes interrupted him.

"You will step away from the purple dragon and you will state your business in here." The ape demanded. "Do that, and maybe there will be no need for a fight."

"I can blow you away like leaves if I want to!" She said to them, "Believe me, I have been surviving out here for a while, I think I can take a bunch of savages like you!"

"Wait!" Spyro said, but he was ignore.

"Who are you calling savage?" One of the apes said.

"That would be you!" She said again, and the wind seemed to be getting stronger.

"Last warning!" The ape said, taking his axe in his hands and giving one more step forward. "Move away from the purple dragon, now!"

"Get out of the way." The dragoness hissed at him, and she adopted a position as if she was ready to pounce, and the apes too had a position in which they were ready to go for a fight, things seemed about to get really-

"WAIT!" Spyro screamed, his voice echoing into the forest around him. This was enough to break everybody out of what they were doing so they all were looking at the purple dragon, and the purple dragon wasted no time in talking:

"Okay, you all need to stop this, right now!"

"Wha?" The dragoness said, and the next to speak was one of the apes.

"Mister Spyro! What is going on?"

Spyro took only a second to move, now he was the one who was standing in between the dragoness and the apes, and he looked from one to the other.

"Okay, I guess we kind of skipped a few things here." The purple dragon said, and he continued, as he looked in between the dragoness and his guard. "But I don't think that you two should be fighting between each other now?"

"What are you talking about?" The dragoness asked. "They are apes! Don't you hear what they say about apes? They are savages who kills dragons and drink their blood!"

"Why would we do that?" One of the apes asked, with an expression of disgust in his face.

"Young Spyro! What is going on? We were attract here by the roar of an owlbear and we meet you with a strange dragon! Do you know her?" Another ape asked, and Spyro turned to him.

"Yes. No. I mean. We just met!"

"Wait… you know these apes?" The dragoness asked, and after a moment, Spyro sighed heavily, almost as if in defeat.

"We really skipped a few things…" Spyro said to himself. He turned to the dragoness, and he gestured to the apes. "Yes, I know these guys. They are some bodyguards that dad has designed to watch over me when he is not around. They all are in charge of protecting me, and as far as I know, none of them drinks dragon blood."

The dragoness looked at him, in surprise, and back at the apes, as Spyro turned to the apes and he now gestured to the dragoness standing behind him. "Guys, that owlbear you heard? It tried to maul me, and it would have succeeded if it wasn't for her. She saved my life."

There were a few moments of awkward silence, as both sides took in this information that the purple dragon just gave to them. A silence that was broken by a familiar voice:

"So… we are all friends in here?" Everyone looked to see a glowing golden dot. It was Sparx. "It means the dragon chick is safe?"

Spyro sighed. "Yes, Sparx, she is safe."

The dragonfly hoovered from a distance, as if evaluating the situation from afar, and meanwhile, the dragoness looked at the little thing.

"Is that a dragonfly?" She asked, and Spyro looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Wait, you said that these apes are watching you at your father's request?" She asked Spyro. "What? Are the apes his slaves or something?"

"We are nobody's slaves!" One of the apes said, sounding indignant, and the rest of the apes agreed with him.

"Look, I know that we have a lot to talk and a lot to ask, but right now I'd rather go back to the village before another owlbear appears." Spyro said to them. "Seriously, I had enough adventure for a day."

"I totally agree." One ape said, "By the way, as soon as we are back in the village you are in trouble. Your father will hear about this, young man."

Spyro groaned as he was kinda hoping that he could avoid something like that. Meanwhile, the dragoness looked at the scene with a raised eyebrow, and she did not went unnoticed by the rest of the apes.

"What about her?" One ape asked, gesturing at the dragoness.

Spyro seemed to consider it, and he turned to her. She only looked back at him, and after a while, she said:

"Well, since it seems that you are okay, and since you trust these apes…" She spoke, seeming quite unsure.

"I guess I'll be going now." She said and turned to leave, and Spyro could not avoid asking:

"Wait, where are you going?" He asked. "Are you staying somewhere around here? The forest is a little dangerous."

"I'll be fine." She said, "I'm just passing by here, anyway. I guess I'll be on my way."

"But, are you traveling alone?" Spyro asked. She looked back at him.

"Well, yeah, there were not many of my friends who wanted to come with me when I decided to become an escapee." She spoke. "You know how this goes. Well, anyway, I'll be going." She said, and she tured to leave.

Spyro looked at her as she was walking away, and for a moment, an emotion passed through his heart.

In that moment, Spyro rushed to her, saying:

"Wait!"

She stoped and turned around to look at him, as he approached her, and when he was closer, he said:

"I… uhm, I'm Spyro. I mean, my name is Spyro. What is yours?" He asked to her.

She looked at him for a few moments, and she said, "My name is Aeria."

"Oh, okay." Spyro said, "So, Aeria, why don't you come to the village with us?"

This surprised everyone around.

"What?" Aeria said.

"What?" Exclaimed the apes.

"Say what?" Sparx asked.

"What?" Said another voice, and right after, a sound of a twig snapping came, followed by the sound of Zegor falling from the tree and into the ground.

Of course, no one barely minded, as they were still processing what the purple dragon had just suggested.

"Yeah, I mean, you saved my life, and I guess that since you have nowhere to stay… well, maybe you could stay in our village." Spyro said, and the dragoness looked at him.

"You mean… living among the apes?" She asked, seeming uncertain.

"Young Spyro." The ape said, catching the purple dragon's attention. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea."

"What, do you think she could be a spy of Malefor?" Spyro asked to them. "Come on, guys, she is barely my age." He said, pointing the thing to them. "She is not working for Malefor. She is running away from him! Dad always says that the escapees of the Dragon Lands deserve help, we are not going to go against what he taught, are we?"

The apes had no answer to that, and after a few moments, Aeria was the one who spoke.

"Well, I'm flattered, really, but there is no need." She spoke. "I mean, I have done well for now, and I kind of already know where I'm going." She looked at Spyro as she spoke that, and the purple dragon looked back at her.

"Oh, then you could stay in the village for a while to rest. I mean, you must have been traveling for a while, and it would be nice for you to have a good place to rest, one where the animals won't attack you." He insisted. "Please, just so you can recover and continue with your trip. You will be my guest."

She looked at him, and looking at these expecting amethyst orbs, she found herself with no will to turn it down. Spyro looked at her, as she said:

"Well, I have been traveling for a while. And it would be nice to have an actual place to rest that is not a cold cave."

Spyro nodded, and he looked at the apes, who were silent as they looked at him.

"Oh, come on!" Zegor said on his end, using his hands to cover his body in an attempt to preserve his dignity. "We are not going to invite another dragon to our village, are we?"

"She will be my guest!" Spyro said firmly. "It will be my way of returning her for saving me. I think dad would agree with me."

There was no answer for something like that, and the apes shared looks among themselves, and after a while, one of them said:

"By the Great Simius… Okay, but if King Gaul has a problem with this it will be all on you." The ape said, and Spyro nodded at him.

"I wouldn't expect anything different." He said with a confident smirk, knowing that he had won on that point.

"Okay, now get up and lets walk back home, you are still in trouble, mister." The ape said to the purple dragon, and as they were getting ready to leave, Zegor was able to ask:

"Hey, guys? Could anyone spare me a loincloth? Or maybe some pants? Please?"

A few minutes later, the team was ready to go. One of the apes, luckily had a cape, and they were able to improvise a covering for Zegor, so he would be able to return to the village with his modesty somewhat intact. Still, he was in as much trouble as Spyro after the purple dragon explained what Zegor had made him do and why.

The ape tried to claim that Spyro was making it up, of course, but one single glare from the biggest of the apes of the guard was more than enough to make Zegor start spilling the beans. Now the guard knew everything about his little plot involving Spyro, they would make sure to inform Gaul of it, and that was enough for the ape to show even more fear than he showed when the owlbear was chasing them.

Spyro could even smirk, but he reminded himself that he too would be in trouble, and that his father was surely going to want to have a serious talk with him about all of that once he was inform of the whole situation.

With this, they were in their path to walking. But not before Spyro made a request to his guard:

"You want us to walk you back forming a circle around you and the dragoness?"

"Yeah, you know, to protect us." Spyro said, "Well, mostly to protect her. I mean, the people in the village are already used to me but… well, I don't know how they will react to a strange dragon. Maybe it is better safe than sorry, in this case."

The apes looked over at the dragoness, who was out of their hearing shot, and they had to agree with the point that the young purple dragon made. They accepted his request, though not only for the motives that Spyro pointed out…

Now, they were walking back to the village. The six apes formed a circle, with one of them holding Zegor by the arm to make sure that the ape was not going to try to make a run for it. The green ape was looking dejected, for he knew that returning home like that would surely be a blow on his reputation, especially when the rumors started to go around.

Inside the circle, Spyro and Aeria walked side by side, and floating near them, was the golden dragonfly. Sparx was flying close to Spyro's head, but his own head was turn away from the purple dragon.

When Sparx had heard that Spyro had agreed with Zeggor when he suggested them to leave the dragonfly behind, he was surely not amused.

"Come, Sparx, I already apologized." Spyro said again. "I should not have gone with their talk, and I already nearly got mauled by an owlbear. I learned my lesson. Can we leave this behind, please?"

Sparx continued to look away, and now he was actually moving his body so he was facing the other direction of the purple dragon, even though he continued to buzz his wings on the same direction they were walking.

"Come on dude." Spyro said, and Sparx continued to give him the 'cold shoulder'. Luckily, they had been in similar situations in the past.

"Oh, please, Sparx. If we don't make up, I'll have no one to share heart cashews with." The purple dragon said, and the cold façade of the dragonfly faltered a little bit. However, he remained firm.

"Seriously, who I'm gonna take with me when they are being harvested? Who will walk with me among the many freshly picked fruits? Who is going to get himself all dirty in their juice with me as we gobble them up?"

There was a brief pause, and Sparx mubled:

"Maybe you can get some new friends…"

"Oh, come on, Sparx. You are my friend!" Spyro said, he gently nudged at the floating dragonfly, what made a little more into breaking the façade of the little grumpy invertebrate, and he actually started to smile.

"Really?" Sparx said, and he now was looking at the purple dragon. "Then you will not mind in giving your friend your friend half of your share of the heart cashews." The dragonfly added, and Spyro smiled.

"Not one bit." He said, and nudged him again, and Sparx now laughed as he leaned on Spyro, resting his arm into the side of his head.

Meanwhile, Aeria looked at the two.

"Hummm, Spyro?" She asked, "I know that you and this dragonfly are friends, but aren't you afraid of getting some disease from him?"

"Disease?" Sparx asked, "I don't have any disease! I bath once a week. In fact, I bathed this morning. I'm a very clean dragonfly."

"Don't you bath in swamp water?" Spyro pointed out.

"I bath using water of the leaves! That water came from the rains and is perfectly clean!" The dragonfly said, and his expression of outrage was the funniest thing ever, Spyro couldn't help but chuckle at it.

"Good you are having fun now." One of the apes said to the purple dragon. "Once we get into the village you are going to be inside the hut until King Gaul returns, and then you will have to understand yourself with him."

Spyro only sighed and rolled his eyes, meanwhile, once that ape said that, Aeria became agitated, and she even looked at Spyro, and whispered.

"They are not serious, are you?"

"Huh?"

"They are not truly going to give you to Gaul, the king of apes, are they?" She whispered, as if telling him a secret that she didn't wanted the apes around them to hear.

"Well, these guys are the biggest snitches." Spyro said in a low voice, but not truly whispering, in part because he wanted them to hear that. "Anyway, as soon as he is back he will hear from this. So, I guess I'll have to face him sooner or later."

"Wait, Gaul is coming to this village?" She asked, sounding surprised.

"Coming back." Sparx said to her, "That big ape lives in the village we are going."

When she heard that, Aeria stopped on her tracks, once she did, the rest of the group stopped too stopped, and Spyro was now was looking at her.

She seemed frozen on the spot, and she had a look in her eyes that was on surely fear, if Spyro could interpret it right.

"Aeria?" The voice of the purple dragon made her look at him; his look was fill with concern. "Everything okay?"

"I-I… I don't… I mean… M-maybe I should not be at your village…" She said, and started to move as if she was about to make a dash for it. Spyro noticed, and he looked at her, before saying:

"Hey, hey! It's okay." He said in a gentle tone, as much as he could, and she looked at him. "Nothing bad is going to happen."

"B-but…" She started to say, and Spyro approached, looked at her in the eye, and offered his best friendly smile to her.

"It is going to be okay." He said gently. "I promise."

This seemed to ease the dragoness somehow, and after a few moments, she relaxed, and nodded, and they had soon resume walking, even though Aeria seemed tenser than before.

"B-but, Gaul is not in the village now, is he?"

"Nah, he is out in another campaign." Spyro said casually. "He has been doing that a lot more recently. Seems things are getting harder within the borders. Malefor is growing more aggressive."

Aeria nodded, and she looked at the purple dragon. "A-and you are not scared?"

"Of the war? Well, yes. I mean, I don't really take part on any battle but everyone says that-"

"No. Not of the war. Of the king of apes." Aeria said, and Spyro looked at her. "The idea of standing before him and of facing him… Doesn't it scare you?"

Spyro looked at her curiously, and he said: "No… why would it scare me?"

She looked at him with what Spyro could nearly describe as shock, as if he was either incredibly brave or very stupid. She didn't asked or said anything else for the rest of their trip, and soon, the village was coming in vision.

The sun was starting to acquire that orange coloration of the middle-to-late afternoon, and the movement in the village was starting to reduce, but not enough for the coming of the group to pass unnoticed.

Actually, as soon as that group approached, many of the apes turned their attention to them, and some of them were actually coming out of their huts to look at the group that was coming back.

What called their attention the most about the group was not the fact that they were six burly apes and a purple dragon. Nor that the coolest ape of the village was being hold by the arm and dragged back like a criminal, while he wore a makeshift loincloth that looked more like a diaper.

What called the attention to most on the group that was returning was that it was bringing another dragon with them.

"What dragon is that?"

"It looks sleek. Do you think it's sick?"

"I think it is a female."

"Why are they bringing it here?"

"Did they captured her?"

"Why isn't she in chains?"

"What if she attacks the village?"

The talking was somewhat of a hush-hush, however, their words were loud enough to be heard, and Spyro could hear them all very well. He was sure that Aeria could hear them too, by the expression that she had on her features.

Spyro felt something boiling inside of him.

He was use to have them say these kinds of things about him. He had lived with that for years. However, now that they were being target at Aeria, he felt different. It was somehow even more angering, and it was something that he didn't felt like he could ignore.

Spyro made a decision in that moment. Maybe it wasn't a smart one, but he had already made, and he was not turning back now. Stepping forward, he steped out of the circle that the apes formed and he looked at the apes around as he spoke as loud and clearly as he could:

"Attention, everyone!"

This made every stop whispering and look at the purple dragon, who was now talking:

"A very short while ago, there was a small situation on the forest! You can ask Zeggor… No, actually, don't ask him, he is going to lie!" Spyro said, and the apes traded looks among themselves as they looked at the young dragon. "Well, what you need to know was that I was in a life-threatening situation, and I would not have escaped alive if it wasn't for the help of this dragoness, whose name is Aeria, by the way!"

Spyro gestured to inside the circle, where Aeria stood where she was, and the apes looked at the dragoness, who shyly waved back still unsure of what to do in such a situation. They continued to whisper among themselves, but they were silence when the purple dragon once again started to talk.

"Aeria is an escapee of the Dragon Lands, someone who is running away from Malefor and his army so she can live her life the way she wants. She is all alone and she has been traveling for a while. She saved my life, and I had to repay her somehow." Spyro spoke, and after a few moments, he took a deep breath and said: "So, as a way of thanking her, I invited her to stay in the village."

Spyro had barely even finished talking when the uproar came from the other apes.

"He did what!?"

"No way!"

"He is bringing other dragons to our village now?!"

"I knew this was going to happen!"

Spyro half expected this reaction from them, and he could merely roll his eyes as they threw away commentaries of indignity at the purple reptile, and Spyro merely spoke back to them:

"I made up my mind! She is going to stay here until when she wants, and if you have a problem, you can talk to dad when he comes back!"

Spyro made his way back to the circle while the group around continued to rant and voice their disapproval at hs decision. The apes of the circle only looked at him as he walked back…

"What? They were going to find out sooner or later, I just let them in now so we would get this over with and they can all get out of their systems." Spyro said as he stepped back into the circle, and Aeria was still inside, looking both at Spyro and at the sides, as the apes around seemed to have a thing or two to say.

"Hummm, hey?" Zeggor said, catching the attention of the ape holding his arm. "Would you let me go now? I need to go get a better clothing before any of my friends sees me like this."

The ape glared at him in a way that made Zeggor recoil, and after a while, he just snorted and let go of his arm.

"Don't try to escape. King Gaul will want to talk with you when he hears about this." The ape said, "I'd get ready."

Zeggor staggered as he was let go, and soon he was rushing away, most likely to his hut. Around them, the apes continued to express their disapproval on Spyro's decision, but the purple dragon barely minded. By now, it was something that he was actually quite use to, and he had long learned to ignore.

Aeria, however, continued to look to the sides, and she seemed nervous of having so many aggressive apes around her.

"Just ignore." Spyro said to her, "They scream and threat a lot, but they rarely do anything, and if they do, is never more than throwing a tomato or something." He said to her, offering a nice smile. "They know better than to make my dad angry." He winked at her, and she looked back at him, and nodded.

They continued to walk, with the circle of apes keeping both of them separated from the crowd around. They continued to rant for a while, but eventually they left them be, going back to what they were doing, but some of them still looked rather displeased with the idea of Spyro having brought yet another dragon in the village. Despite what he said, Spyro was sure that he was going to hear more about it later on, especially when his father came back.

They continued to walk as the apes gave them less attention, and even though they still got the evil eye here and then, they were able to continue on their path with no further incidents. As they were getting closer, the group stopped, the apes divided as some of them mounted guard on the entrances, and other two entered with Spyro, Aeria and Sparx.

"We are not letting you out of our sights again." The guard said to Spyro as if he was scolding a chimp, and Spyro rolled his eyes, even though he knew that he deserved it after the little stunt that he pulled earlier.

"So… you live here?" Aeria said as she looked around. She was seemingly taking in how big the place was, and she was taking in the great amount of books that were laying in the ground and in the corners.

"Yup, me and dad." Spyro said, "And my nannies, part of the time." He added, looking at the apes who were guarding them.

"An advantage of your dad being an important dude." Sparx said as he rested in Spyro's head, and the purple dragon only looked up to try to look at the dragonfly. Aeria was still looking around, and she looked at the ceiling.

"Well, I guess he must be, if the apes gave him a place like that… Still, the place is kind of small." She said, and Spyro looked at her. "I mean, your dad's horns must scrap the ceiling when he stands, and it must be hard to stretch his wings."

Spyro looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and then he realized what was going on.

"Oh, yeah… you see, dad doesn't' have horns… or wings, for that matter."

Aeria stopped for a moment, and she looked at Spyro.

"Oh, sorry! Did he lost them?"

"Actually, he never had them." Spyro said, "It would be strange if an ape had them."

"An… ape?" Aeria looked puzzled at this, and Spyro sighed.

"Yeah, my father is an ape."

"Wha… but… but you… I mean… how?" She said, trying to form a coherent thing from what was just said to her, and Spyro was the one who cleared this to her:

"Actually, he is my adoptive father." Spyro said. "He took me when I was still inside the egg. My blood father… well, I have no idea who he was, but I had a very good father in these years." He said with a smile.

"Oh…" Aeria said, she looked at him for a few moments, and she seemed to be thinking on what to say next. After a while, she said:

"So… just you and your… ape dad here?" She said, "Well, it seems pretty big for an ape."

"It is good for king Gaul." One of the apes said, and Aeria turned to him.

"What? The king of apes Gaul?" She said, not being able to hide her surprise, and the ape looked back at her.

"You should feel honored, not many have the honor of being invited to the hut of Gaul himself."

"Wha-" Aeria said. "Are you saying that the king of apes live in this hut?" She said, sounding surprised. "Wait… didn't you said that only you and your dad lived in here?" She turned to Spyro, and the purple dragon looked to the side, as he knew that it was better to settle this whole thing now.

"Yes, we do. Just me and my dad: Gaul."

Aeria stopped at this, and she just stared at Spyro as if he had grown a second head. "W-what?" She said, as she only stared at him. "G-Gaul is… He is your… He is the…"

"The ape who raised me since I came out of my egg." Spyro said, finding the look she had in her face just slightly funny.

"B-but… Gaul is… He is… You were raise by… This means you are…"

"A prince." Sparx was the one who answered, as he continued to lay on Spyro's head, and he was thinking that the reaction of the dragoness was really funny, as he could not stop smiling. "Bet you didn't expected to find someone of the royalty around here, did you? Well, I can't blame you, everyone thinks that princes live in great castles with a lot of butlers and maidens that do everything for them."

"Yeah, I never had those." Spyro admitted, "Dad was never into this kind of thing."

Aeria continued to look at him, as if she was still taking in all that was reveal to her. She opened and closed her mouth several times, as she seemed to be looking for the words to say, and after a while, she just stared at the ground. A very heavy silence took the place, and it was soon growing very awkward to both young dragons.

After a while, Aeria finally broke the silence by looking around. "So… I see a lot of books in here."

"Oh, yeah." Spyro said, "They are all mine. Dad brings me books every chance that he can."

"So… how many of them have you read already?" She asked, Looking around again as she looked just how many books there were around.

"All of them." Spyro said, and she looked surprised at him.

"He reads three or four books a day ever since he learned how to read." One of the apes said, as he had noticed the look in the face of the dragoness. "A true bookworm, if you ask me."

"Yeah, the fact that dads insists for me to study everyday helps a little bit, right?" Spyro said, and Aeria looked at him.

"Gaul… encourages you to read?" She said, sounding surprised, and Spyro nodded.

"Yup, he says that it will help my growth and give me a better future, or something of the like." Spyro said, "But, I really love to read. I hope dad brings new books when he comes back."

She looked at him, and she looked around once more. "So, what kinds of books do you read?" She asked, and Spyro answered:

"All kinds. Dad always brings me as much books as he can. There are books of math, history, science, there are some biographies here and there. There are books about plants, about the movements of the stars." He continued to explain to Aeria. "There are also a lot of fiction works, like the Adventures of Crash Bandicoot."

This caught Aeria's attention, as she looked at him.

"Wait, you mean you have books of Crash Bandicoot? For real?" She sounded genuinely surprised as he said that.

"Yes, dad found them on his trips, and he let me read them." Spyro said, "You never read them?"

"No one in the Dragon Lands has read these books." Aeria said to him. "At least no one of my age, these books were forbidden many years ago."

"Forbidden?" Spyro said, now it was his turn to become surprised.

"King Malefor banished these books by a law, as well as many other books that were considered offensive."

"Offensive?" Spyro said, "The books are not offensive, at least I didn't considered them this. I mean, it is the adventure of a hero of a distant land who fights for the freedom of his people and to defeat an evil tyrant."

"The book was considered offensive by the government." Aeria explained to him. "They say that it was banished for it 'encouraged inadequate behavior', or something of the like."

Spyro took in the news, and he couldn't help but think it was stupid. Forbidding a book to be read only because you didn't liked what said in there? That sounded stupid in Spyro's mind. What could be wrong in the story of a hero who fights for his people and for their future? If anything, the story was inspiring.

"So, you really never read it?" Spyro finally asked after a long silence. Aeria only looked back at him and shook her head "no".

"Well, that has to change!" Spyro said, and he immediately dashed to one of the piles of books, and dug among them one exemplar that he had. It was a little old and had a worn-out cover, and in it, there were the words: THE RISE OF CRASH BANDICOOT

With the book on his paw, Spyro walked back to the dragoness, and he stood before her, presenting her the book.

"This is the very first edition of the Adventures of Crash Bandicoot." He said as he offered the book to her. "It is the start of his adventures and it is the first thing that you need to read if you are new to the saga." Spyro said, and Aeria took the book. "Read it and then decide for yourself if it deserves to be banished."

Aeria took the book and looked at it, before turning her eyes back to Spyro, and nodding at him. Spyro just smiled at her, seeming satisfied, and after a while, a voice broke the thing between them, as one of the apes spoke:

"Speaking of reading, I believe that a certain young purple dragon should go back to his studies." One of the apes said, and this got Spyro's attention to him. "After all, you didn't really finished reading the books that your father said before you were interrupted and decided to go on your little adventure. Nothing better than you continuing from where you left and finishing before it is time for your dinner. Right?"

"Yeah, okay." Spyro agreed, knowing that he would have no saying in the matter anyway, so he would better just go on with that.

The next hours were greatly uneventful, with the two dragons doing their respective books under the watchful eyes of the apes. Cynder was reading the book that Spyro gave to her, getting to know first paw the kind of story that Malefor had banished from their land. Spyro, on his end, was reading other books, all of it educational about distant communities and survival in the wild, as well as some about basic chemistry.

Spyro showed that he indeed was an avid reader, and that he was a speed-reader. By the time that Cynder was finished with one quarter of the book, Spyro was just finishing his third in a row, and while it was quite boring, Spyro continued to read it, and as he finished, he was ready to pick up another book, when:

"Okay, I think it is time for dinner now." One of the apes said, Spyro rose his head to look, and he could hear his own stomach grumbling in hungry, and Spyro had to admit that eating something would be nice.

"Food sounds nice." Spyro said, he looked at Aeria, who had stopped reading her book, and he asked her:

"So, want some food?"

She took a moment to answer. "Well, that depends on what is being served." She said as she looked at the apes. "Because, I rather not eat anything that was once a dragon…" She said as she looked at them, and this granted Spyro to look at her with a raised eyebrow. The apes only looked at her coldly.

"It will be fish. It was bought from the market this morning, so it will be very fresh." The ape said to her, and Aeria only looked back, and she had to look down under that icy glance, Spyro knew that the situation was getting tense. He decided to break it by speaking:

"So, I guess some fish sounds nice!" Spyro said, "You will love the fish around here, they are delicious when grilled!"

That seemed to be what it took to break the tension, and soon, the books left aside, and the two dragons were guide outside, where a fireplace had been place, and the fish were already in there being grill.

"What kind of fish is that?" Aeria asked as she took a look into the strange fish that was being grilled. It was long and had four pairs of fins on its body, as well as a great dorsal fin that almost looked like a sail of some kind. It also had eyes quite strangely shaped, looking like stars.

"Is a starry-eye tuna." Spyro said, "It is a fish that sometimes passes by the river during this time of the year. It is because of their mating season." He explained. "You are lucky, these are the tastiest fishes that we can get on the rivers." Spyro said, and he was already licking his chops as he looked at the fish being grill.

"Too bad that it takes so long to grill." Spyro said, and Aeria looked at him.

"Well, it would be faster if you used a fire breath." He said casually, but Spyro said nothing in return, and they just remained in silence, the fish continued to grill. Spyro's stomach grumbled louder, and he blushed as his stomach was making so much noise with a girl by his side. It was quite embarrassing for the purple dragon. Luckily, Aeria either didn't noticed that or said nothing on the matter.

"It does smell good." Aeria spoke as the fish was halfway grill, and Spyro had to agree with her, and soon, after what seemed a small eternity, the fish was grilled and ready for them to eat.

"Okay, you can dig in." An ape said as he served pieces of the grilled fish to the two dragons in big leaves working as dishes, and Spyro didn't wasted time in digging in the food. Aeria was a little more moderate in her was of eating, giving small bites as she held the thing in her two paws while Spyro ate straight from the leaf.

Aeria gave a few looks in Spyro's direction, and he continued to eat as if he was unaware of her looks, but she said nothing of the way that he ate.

"This fish is rather good." Aeria said, "I never truly liked fish, but this one is really good."

"Told you." Spyro said as he chewed and swallowed the fish, and he added:

"Boy, I'm thirsty."

One of the apes pulled something, some kind of bottle. He opened it and filled a bowl with a thick and crimson fluid, and offered it to the purple dragon.

"You are lucky I carry some of this."

"Oh, thanks!" Spyro said, taking the bowl and taking gulps of it, not noticing the expression that Aeria had in her face as she looked at him drinking that.

After a while, he finished, and he looked at the dragoness, who was stating at him. For a moment Spyro wondered if he had anything in his face, "What?" He asked, and she said nothing.

"Do you want some?" The ape asked; filling another bowl with the fluid form the same bottle, and offering to the dragoness, who looked at it with Spyro could recognize as mistrust.

"I-I…" She said, and after a second, she recomposed herself, and said: "No, thanks, I don't drink blood."

"Blood?" Spyro asked, confused, as he looked at the dragoness. The ape, on his turn, had a sour look as he looked at her.

"It ain't blood, miss." He said as he continued to hold the bowl. "It is lagople juice."

"La… lago…" Aeria said, and the ape rolled his eyes.

"It is a berry that grows in the forests. We use it to make juice. Will you want it or not?"

The ape seemed to be losing his patience, and Aeria only looked at him for a moment, before she took the bowl from his hand and took it near to her face. She sniffed it, then she took a small sip, and she seemed to approve it, for she took a bigger gulp.

"Hey, this is rather good." She said, and Spyro smiled at her while the ape who offered said nothing, and continued to look at her with an icy gaze. The dinner continued for a while, soon everyone had ate their fill, and the apes continued to watch over them.

"Well, I guess that it is time for a night's sleep, don't you agree?" One of the apes said, and Aeria looked surprised at them.

"What? Sleep now? But the sun barely set!" She spoke, and the purple dragon looked at her.

"Yeah, in here we tend to sleep early. The days start soon around the village, especially when you are the son of the king of apes." Spyro said to her, and the dragonfly floated near them.

"Yeah, I better be on my way too." The dragonfly said, and he looked at the dragon. "See you tomorrow buddy, and you better make good to your promise for me to consider forgiving you for today." Sparx said as he punched Spyro's check playfully, making the purple dragon smile. Soon, the dragonfly was flying away into the night, while Spyro waved goodbye to him.

"Okay, that is it, time to sleep." The ape said, and Aeria seemed to still not be feeling quite sleepy, but Spyro was ready to rest after the day that he had, and soon, they were moving to inside the hut, and the two dragons moved to a place that had been prepared for them to sleep.

Spyro already had his own bed prepared in the area, something else that his father had long arranged for him, circular and with pillows in it for Spyro to lay and to rest. For Aeria, they had to improvise something with some pillows and mattresses, but they were able to do something that was fairly comfortable for her to spend the night on.

As she got ready to sleep, Aeria removed her harness and placed into a place near to her bed, and she laid in it, testing the place that was prepared to her.

"Have a good night." The apes said, as they resumed their positions.

"Are they going to be here the whole night?" Aeria asked, and Spyro stretched his body while he laid on his bed.

"Yeah, they are used to it. They sleep in turns so there is always someone watching. Dad's instructions. He seems to be afraid that someone will sneak in here during the night and slice my throat while I sleep."

Cynder looked at him, she looked at the place around, and she saw a few apes getting ready to sleep while the rest of them mounted guard in the place. She turned back to Spyro.

"Do you feel safe?"

"Well, with all of these guys keeping guard, it is hard not to feel safe." Spyro said, and Aeria said:

"No. I'm asking if you feel safe around the apes." She asked him, Spyro looked at her, and she looked at him as she was expecting his answer. "Do you feel safe living among the apes? With all of the things that they do?"

Spyro wasn't sure of what she meant, and he just shrugged.

"Well, I have lived among apes my entire life. I felt safe around them for that long, and I still do. Sure, they give me the eye here and there, and some of them make it clear that they don't like having me around." Spyro said to her, "But I'm not really afraid of any of them… well, save for Kallag." Spyro said the last part in a low voice to himself, and Aeria looked at him.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nevermind." Spyro said, not wanting to delve in that subject, even because, if he started to talk about that major arse that was Kallag, he was sure that he would be unable to have a peaceful night of sleep. "Well, anyway, I'm pretty sure that we are both safe, now let's sleep, okay?"

Aeria looked at him, and she nodded.

"Yes, but, don't you want it back?" Aeria said as she dug into the pockets of her harness. She pulled out the glowing stone that Spyro had brought from the cave of the owlbear. When they were on their way back, she had offered to keep it for him, and he accepted, giving it to her for her to keep safe.

"Oh, yeah, thanks." Spyro said, picking the rock, and he looked at the way that it glowed, casting a ghastly glow in the place, he placed it on his bed, next to the edge, and he turned to her.

"Okay, now we really gotta sleep."

"Okay, good night, Spyro."

"Good night, Aeria." Spyro said as he yawned and turned to sleep, curling over himself into a ball with a pillow to rest his head, and soon, he was getting ready to sleep. He could still hear Aeria moving in the improvised bed near to his own, and he had the feeling that she was going to take a while to sleep. Meanwhile, Spyro felt tired, and he felt like he could sleep for a long while, but not before he reflected at all that had happened to him in the course of a single day.

It was hard to believe that all of these things had been a single day of his life, and that all that happened in there had affected him so deeply that it was hard to believe. He was only imagining what the following day would bring now that all of these things had happened to him.

Little did Spyro knew that, in the course of the following days, his life would change in more ways that he was able to imagine.

Little did he knew that, in the following days, his life would change so much that it would, most likely, never be the same again…

Chapter Text

Things have moved on since that day on the forest. Also, some of them have changed.

For one, Spyro was now on an even closer watch by his bodyguards/babysitters, as they wanted to make sure that the purple dragon would not slip out of their sight and get himself nearly killed again. They were sure determined as not to fail on their duty, for they knew they would face Gaul's wrath if they did.

The second was that Spyro kept his distance from Zeggor. Every illusion that he had about the ape being cool shattered when he knew just how much of a jerk that ape truly was. The guy was willing to risk Spyro's life and let him be mauled only so he could get a crystal to impress a girl! What an idiot! From that day on, Spyro looked at the ape with a lot more suspicion, as he now doubted many of the stories about the things that Zeggor claimed to have done. And he no longer had any desire to get involved with him.

However, the most meaningful that had happened since that day, was that Spyro made a new friend.

Aeria had been in there for around a week now, and during this time, she and Spyro had gotten closer and closer. Maybe it was because both of them were dragons, so they had a lot more of common grounds to talk, especially when they saw that their subjects of interest overlapped.

Spyro shared many of his books with her, and she was particularly interested in the stories that she'd read. She could not read as fast as Spyro, but she was an avid reader as well, finishing her book on just two days, and she also finished the second one. Aeria really liked the story of Crash Bandicoot, as she found it to be something amazingly interesting. She would soon be talking about the story with Spyro, and the purple dragon was more than happy to discuss it with her, as he really wanted to hear her opinions on the book and the story, as well as discussing the mentality of the characters.

Also, the dragoness herself had some information to share with Spyro, as the young purple dragon had rarely been out of the village, even in company. Spyro knew about the world through his books, but he had never truly saw the many things and people that they talked about, and he was truly curious about the outside. Now, Aeria could not give him many kinds of answers, but she could give him enough that the purple dragon could have at least part of his curiosity sated.

These two really had a lot to talk about, and they surely spent a great deal of time together in the past week. Spyro was truly happy for he finally had someone his own age to hang out and to have a conversation, and that it was someone of his own species. Spyro really felt that he had some kind of connection with Aeria, for they quickly became great friends.

"Yeah, guess saving someone's life can truly make you fast friends." Sparx said about how close these two got so fast. Spyro knew that he somehow could agree with it, as he wondered just how much of this friendship was actually born from the fact that Aeria saved him from being maul by a very angry owlbear.

Of course, while Spyro himself was happy for having made a new friend, there were some around that didn't quite liked having another dragon around.

The villagers have always been suspicious of Spyro, even though he had been there virtually for his entire life. It was almost possible to understand why they were even more suspicious of a dragoness that had just arrived and that they didn't knew.

They gave suspicious looks at Aeria, and some even glared at her. All of them kept their distance, though, for they have heard some stories of how that grey dragoness had, all by herself, pushed back an owlbear with the power of her dragon element. This seemed to be enough for them to think that it was better not to get in trouble with her, especially because she seemed to have become fast friends with Spyro.

Speaking of which...

"Amazing how these two got along so fast."

"What did you expected? They are both dragons!"

"They stay together in there, talking while they ignore everyone else."

"What do they talk about so much?"

"Think they might be plotting something?"

"I was passing near them once, and I hear them talking about some book."

"I bet she is teaching him how dragons act!"

"Seeing these two together really makes me nervous."

"What if the dragoness stays in here forever?"

"If she does, then I'm picking up my chimps and leaving this village for good!"

Phrases like that could be picked up around the village, and they would eventually make it to the earholes of the purple dragon. It made Spyro mad that they would say such things about Aeria.

Of course, Spyro was used to this kind of talk about himself, and he learned to ignore it. However, the fact that these kind of commentaries now were focus not only on himself, but also on his new friend, he was finding them even more unnerving, as they managed to make him want to snarl at the ones who were making them.

Luckily, only being around Aeria proved to be enough to help him get distracted from the commentaries that went around, as Spyro found out that he truly enjoyed being around her. Not only that, but she also had no problems in hanging around Sparx, unlike these apes who tried to use him.

Spyro now had two great friends with whom he could talk and that truly appreciated him.

Screw Zeggor and his apes, Spyro had his own gang now and, to the purple dragon, they were truly the coolest gang in the village.

"And when Crash invaded the laboratory and found out that he had a sister? That was so amazing!" Aeria said to him, and Spyro nodded.

"Yeah, Coco's appearance in the story was truly a surprise, and it really added depth to everything." Spyro said to her, as both the dragons were now on Spyro's rut, as there was an armed ape along with them, while the rest guarded the rut from the entrances.

It took a day or two, but Aeria got used to the constant presence of the apes that were always with Spyro at all times of the day.

She found it rather strange that the apes would follow Spyro everywhere, but while they talked and did things together, they found themselves ignoring the presence of the apes nearly completely, as it was easy to focus solely on each other.

"I really don't get why these books were forbidden." Spyro said to her, "I mean; they are such an inspiring story. They teach you to fight for what is right and to stand up to what you believe to be wrong."

"Yeah... Maybe that is the reason." Aeria said, and Spyro looked at her with a raised eyebrow. However, the dragoness seemed to shake this off, and she was now looking at the purple dragon with a smile.

"Well, I can say that I truly like this story." The gray dragoness said, as she looked at Spyro with a smile. "I'm really glad I got the chance to read these books. I never did back at home."

"Well, I am really glad that you liked them." Spyro said, as he couldn't help but get a funny feeling on his stomach as he looked at the way that the grey dragoness smiled.

Could I be getting sick or something?

"Young Spyro." Said a voice, and the two dragons turned to look at the ape who was talking to them. "Sparx is outside and he wants to speak to you."

"Oh, right!" Spyro said, and soon, he and Aeria were going outside, and they met Sparx just floating outside from side to side, and he looked a bit grumpy.

"You left me waiting!" The dragonfly said when he was asked what was the problem. "I was waiting in the edge of the swamp for nearly an hour!"

"Oh... Oh!" Spyro said, as he suddenly remembered that they were supposed to meet up with Sparx. They'd been so caught up on their conversation about the series of books that they liked that they completely forgot about that. Now both dragons were feeling a bit ashamed for having forgotten about their dragonfly friend like that.

"Sorry, buddy. We lost track of time." Spyro said, and Aeria too was apologizing, saying that she was to blame for having started a conversation that caught Spyro's attention so much that he completely forgot about Sparx.

The dragonfly looked at both of them, and he sighed.

"Well, guess it really can't be helped. You guys have gotten a lot closer these days." The dragonfly said, "So, are we going to go now?"

"Huh? Go where?"

Sparx looked at the purple dragon. "Seriously, dude?" He asked, and the purple dragon only looked at him. "You have seriously forgotten what day it is, after how anxious you have been for it?"

Spyro blinked as he looked at the dragonfly, and then it clicked:

It was the Harvest Day!

The day of the year when the heart cashews reached their full ripeness and were ready for harvesting.

It was a tradition of these lands, and it was something that many looked forward, including the younger ones, like Spyro.

He had completely forgot!

"That's right!" Spyro said suddenly, "They are harvesting the heart cashews today!"

"Yeah, what means, hundreds of these delicious things will be soon ready to be eaten and they will be bursting with flavor and with that delicious juice that they have inside of them!" Sparx said, sounding dreamy as he spoke that.

"That is right! I forgot! Why didn't you guys remembered me?" Spyro said, looking at the apes that were his bodyguards. Meanwhile, Aeria looked at the purple dragon, a bit lost in the talk.

"I'm sorry, 'heart cashews'?" The grey dragoness asked, and Spyro looked at her. Suddenly, he realized that he never told to her about them.

"Oh, they are the most delicious fruit that we have around here." Spyro said to her. "They are sweet, they can be used to make juice, and they have seeds that can be toasted and salted to become a delicious savory snack."

"Oh..." Aeria said, looking at the purple dragon.

"What, you never had one?"

"No really." Aeria said, "We don't have these heart cashews back on my homeland. Actually, had never even heard about them before today."

"Well, you gotta taste them." Spyro said, and he soon was moving. "Come with us, we might be in there just in time to see the harvesting!"

Soon, the group was moving. Spyro and Sparx were both on the lead, and they looked like they were on a true rush to get in there. Aeria was coming right behind, and she was amazed at how fast these two were, so much that she almost felt that she should start flying to be able to keep up with them. Right behind them, came the apes, who had to struggle to keep up with the dragons and the dragonfly.

After a while of running, the big trees that gave the heart cashews were coming in sight, and they looked quite impressive. They always looked impressive to Spyro, who had already saw them a lot of times while growing up in that village and seeing the Harvest Day many times. Imagine how impressive they should look to Aeria, who was seeing these magnificent trees for the very first time in her life.

As they approached, it was already possible to feel the sweet smell of all the nearly overripe fruits.

"Wow, this smell delicious." Aeria said, as she was able to catch up with Spyro and Sparx, who were both still going at full speed.

"Yeah, they sure do." Spyro said, "And they taste even better."

The three continued to dash, being follow by Spyro's guard, whom were far behind for they could not move at the same speed as the younger ones.

Soon, the group was arriving at the spot on the base of the many large trees.

As the two dragons and the dragonfly arrived, they noticed that there was already a group of apes in there. Part of the apes were adults, who were with equipment that they would be using to harvest, and they looked like they were getting ready. However, the rest of the crowd was form by young apes, most of them teenagers nearing adulthood or even some chimps.

"They are all here for the heart cashews." Spyro explained to Aeria as they all approached. As they did, many apes noticed their presence, and moved away. Meanwhile, the six ape bodyguards were soon arriving, quite winded for having to run that much to keep up with the younger ones, still, they were soon recovering and placing themselves around Spyro and his two friends.

The whole crowd watched as the apes who were going to harvest got ready, by carrying big baskets, placing harnesses on themselves, and carrying some big machetes on their waists, along with some other objects.

"Why are they using so much equipment?" Aeria asked, as she saw the apes, who nearly seemed like they were getting ready to battle. "Isn't it just go up there and pick the fruit?"

"Not with the heart cashews." One of the guards said, "You can ask Spyro about that."

The purple dragon blushed as the grey dragoness looked at him with a questioning gaze.

"Well... The heart cashews grow in these big trees. They are a lot taller than the other trees around, and so they need some equipment to be able to climb in safety."

"But I always heard that all apes were great climbers, because they spent all day climbing trees and swinging on the vines." Aeria said.

"That is a stereotype." Another guard said, this caused Aeria to look at him, and then Spyro continued.

"Anyway, the fact that the tree is so tall makes it dangerous to be up there, once you could fall. That is made harder because the bark of the three is very smooth and harder to grab if you don't have equipment or sharp claws." The purple dragon explained. "Not to mention the vines."

"What about the vines?"

"They lash at you if you get too close." The purple dragon explained. "It is a type of defense mechanism that the three has to fend off attackers. The vines move as if they are tentacles, and they can detect motion around them. If they detect motion on the branches, they will start moving and they will lash out and even tangle on whatever comes near. Many apes had their arms and legs broken by the grip of the vines, or got some nasty scars from the violent lashing."

"Some have actually died." A guard said, and this really surprised Aeria.

"Some actually die from trying to get fruit!?" She exclaimed rather loudly, granting a few of the apes nearby to look in her direction. "That is crazy! Why do they try to go after it, then!?"

"Because it is a tradition." Another guard said, as he looked at the dragoness. "It is something that was done for a long time, beside, the heart cashews are greatly appreciated, as they not only make something important on our culture, but they also can be sold to other tribes and people, making them something that actually helps our economy."

The grey dragoness looked at him, and she actually nodded at this explanation. However, the look in the face of the dragoness let others know that she still found it crazy that others would die to get some fruit.

"B-but still... If going up there to catch them is so dangerous, shouldn't they just wait for it to drop from the tree by themselves?" Aeria asked.

"If they did, then the heart cashews would already be rotten and there would be nothing to enjoy out of them."

"Not to mention that if they hit the ground they bruise and lose flavor." Spyro said, and this granted Aeria to look at him.

"I think they still taste great." The dragonfly said, and Aeria only looked around as they all spoke of these fruits as if they were something extremely important to their world.

"Look, they are starting already." One of the guards said, looking at the apes who were all geared up and had already started to climb on the three.

These apes had harnesses that included spikes tied to their wrists and ankles, which pierced the bark and allowed them to have a much better grip so they could better climb. They were making some progress, and they were showing that, despite what the guard said about all apes being good climbers being a stereotype, these apes really were good climbers.

They were making it to the top at amazing speed, and they showed that they were skilled in what they did. In minutes, they were on the levels of the branches, and they were each going into a branch.

As they did, the vines tangles on the branches started to move, as they were soon detecting the presence of something on the branches that could be a threat.

As they did, each ape pulled out a long and thin spear, and they approached carefully, before swiftly spiking the vines with the tip of the spear. This caused the vines to lash out violently, but only for a few seconds, before they eventually fell back and now seemed to be almost limp. It was almost as if they had been drug out.

"These spears are covered in the poison from a wyrm that feeds on the heart cashews." Spyro explained, as the grey dragoness by his side looked at the events developing up there. "This wyrm can spray out some poison that affects the vines, causing them to go limp so it can perch on the branches and feed on the fruit without being bothered. They managed to harvest the poison and use it to coat the spears, so they will be able to approach without being attacked."

"How do they harvest poison from these wyrms?" Aeria asked, and Spyro looked at her.

He had made the same question to someone years ago, and it developed into a lengthy explanation of the processes that were used to attract the wyrms and get the poison.

At the end of it, the purple dragon had deeply regretted having asked.

Spyro shuddered a bit as he remembered the process that was explain to him on "milking" the poison out of the wyrms.

"Believe me." The dragon said, disgust on his face, "You don't want to know."

Meanwhile, the apes up there continued to move across the branches, poking the vines with their spears to cause them to go limp after flailing a bit. Of course, some of the vines were feistier than the rest, and they showed that they could actually be dangerous if they approached, even with the poison numbing them.

That was why they had their machetes.

The apes would pull out their great blades and swing them at the vines, hitting with sure blows that were enough to wound or even cut off the vines completely. As the vines fell down, still twitching even though they were sever, their stubs leaked a thick, crimson sap that almost looked like some short of blood.

"Sometimes they have to cut off the vines because they might not answer to the poison." The purple dragon said, as they looked at the apes doing their work up there, and they also saw the vines sever and falling down from the branches and lashing around as they still tried to hit or even grab something.

"Yeah, it sounds like it works." Aeria said, looking at the flailing vines. "But, wouldn't it be better just to use the blades to cut the vines off for good? Like, so there would be no chance of them striking again."

"The idea is not causing too much damage to the tree, otherwise it will produce less fruit on the next season." Spyro explained to her, "They use the poison because it will not truly cause damage, and the vines will fully recover after a few hours. Cutting the vines causes the tree to get upset, so next time the amount of heart cashews will be less."

"So, the apes want to be nice to this tree even though it tries to kill them?" Aeria said, and Spyro shrugged.

"They got used to living from the tree, and it is something really important." The purple dragon said simply. "Also, have you tasted the fruits? They are the best thing ever, totally worth getting a lash or two."

The grey dragoness looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and Sparx said:

"Yeah, even though you get them right on your purple butt."

"Oh, shut it, Sparx!" Spyro said, and he then started to blush. Aeria only continued to look at them, as it seemed that she was taking in everything that they were saying, and it seemed that she still seemed not to fully understand how someone could be so keen on some fruit.

She choose to say nothing, as she continued to look up at the branches, and at the apes who moved across them.

She saw as the apes reached out for the fruit that was on the branch, once the vines had all been control and were no longer a danger. Some of the vines still twitched, but they were not problem to the apes, who simply moved their limbs out of the way and continued diligently with their work.

They were very careful when removing the cashews, as they knew that the wrong movement could cause the vines to star acting up again, and so, they were slowly making advancements into the branches, as they picked the fruit and placed it in the baskets that they were carrying with themselves.

The process was effective, and some of the ones who were looking were truly expecting something to happen.

"They are all hoping that they will be able to catch one as soon as they come down." The guard said to Aeria, and the grey dragoness continued to look up.

She saw how good they were on doing that, and how efficiently they could pick up all of the fruit. However, she thought that it was taking a bit too long.

"Does it always takes so long?" The grey dragoness asked, looking at them.

"Well, it is a slow process." Spyro admitted to her. "It takes some time for them to be able to catch everything, but they do manage to get everything."

"It would be easier if they could fly." Aeria said, "Like us."

Spyro looked at her.

Yeah, he never truly told to Aeria that he could not fly. It was something that just didn't came up at any given moment.

He stood there in silence, and after a while, Aeria simply stepped forward, and flapped her wings.

In no time, the grey dragoness was flying up to the branches, causing a lot of surprise to everyone who was looking.

"What is she doing?" was the thought on the minds of many of the ones who were seeing it.

The grey dragoness simply flew to the branch, and soon, she was hoovering right by the side of the ape, who raised his eyes in surprise, and nearly lost his balance when he saw the dragoness flapping her wings just a few feet away from himself, looking at him with a smile.

"Hey there!" She said, and the ape only stated back at her, unsure of how to react.

"Could you toss me one of these baskets, by any chance?" Aeria asked, and the ape continued to look at her, unsure of what to do. "Just so I can help you guys with this harvest thing. Please?"

The ape blinked, and eventually, he decided that there could be no harm in letting the dragoness help. He reached out for an extra basket that he was holding and tossed it to the grey dragoness, who grasped it in the air. He looked at her as she held it in her front paws, and he checked on the sharpness of his machete.

Just to be sure.

Once she had the basket firmly held on her paws, Aeria turned her attention to the branch. It was full of these moving vines, but the dragoness was not going to let that intimidate her.

With movements of her wings, all of sudden the wind around her started to move faster, and the ape that was close noticed it. It was like a very strong upward draft that almost made him lose his balance, forcing him to hold on to the branch to avoid falling. The ape, as well as everyone who was looking from down, was asking themselves the same question:

What was she doing?

The answer soon came, as the dragoness flew closer to the branch, with the vines being blow upwards by the ascending gust of wind, causing it harder for them to lash at the dragoness. Aeria used this on her favor, as she suddenly made a fast movement, as if a tailslap.

Her spear-shaped tailblade hit the exact point where the cashew was connect to the branch, and the fruit was blow upwards by the draft.

Aeria repeated this movement a few more times, hitting a few more cashews, precisely severing their connection to the branch, and caused them to be all blow upwards by the ascending gust.

They remained in the air for a while, and then, with a movement of her wing, the wind stopped.

The cashews started falling, and the dragoness was very swift as she moved in the air, catching all of the cashews very safely on the basket. All of that under the amazed eyes of everyone who was looking.

"Did you saw that?" Someone said, and everyone soon was talking about what she had just done.

"That was an element?"

"I think it was wind."

"So this is the kind of things that dragons can actually do?"

"That's so scary!"

"I thought dragons could only breathe out their element."

"Wow, that chick has some tricks, doesn't she?" Sparx asked, nudging Spyro's neck with his elbow. The purple dragon mumbled an answer, as he continued to look at what Aeria was doing, along with everyone else. He too was amaze by what he was seeing, and it was obvious that the dragoness was not done yet.

The gray dragoness continued to repeat this across the rest of the branch, using upwards wind to blow the vines out of her way, and using her tail to slice the cashews clear off the branch and keeping them on the air. Then, she just cancelled the wind and gathered the cashews on her basket.

She finished her branch far before any of the other apes.

And she was not done yet.

She continued to move over the other branches, and each time, she used her flying and her wind abilities to gather the cashews before everyone else.

At some point, she would dash across the tree fast as a breeze, picking the cashews before any of the vines had time to lash at her. One another, she would create a small whirlwind that would pluck the cashews out of the branch and carry them safely to her basket.

The gray dragoness was giving a true show of what a wind dragon was capable off, and it was impressing everyone who was looking at it.

The ones who were picking were impressed, but not very much amused. The feeling they had was that the dragoness was making it seem easy on purpose, almost as if she was mocking them and showing off.

The ones down there had a similar feeling, as they saw what the dragoness was doing and they were knowing just what she was capable off. This helped in nothing for the feelings that they had that she was dangerous, as they were all wondering if she could use these powers of hers' against the rest of the village.

Sparx was among the few who looked at the scene with genuine and pure amazement. He knew what dragons could do from the stories, but seeing it first hand was even cooler. The dragonfly almost looked transfixed by the show that the gray dragoness was giving. The same could be said about Spyro.

The purple dragon looked at the dragoness that was doing that, and he could not help but feel amazed by all that he was witnessing. From the shows of elemental mastery so famous to the dragons, as for the amazing flying skills that the dragoness displayed.

So... this is like when you are able to fly and to use an element like the other dragons... Spyro thought to himself as he watched the scene developing up there, and as he did looked at the dragoness, he couldn't help but feel a small spark of envy as he saw all that she was capable of.

In minutes, the dragoness had her basket full, before any of the other apes, and it was so full that she had to balance and be careful while flying as not to drop any. So, while the rest of the apes continued their way up there, the dragoness was carrying her overfilled basket down, aiming to unload it and then going back up to continue.

In this, Spyro rushed to her, aiming to talk to the dragoness now that she was down.

"Aeria, that was so cool!" The dragon said, and she looked back at him, smiling.

"What, that? This is just basic wind element." She said to him. "Well, maybe not all of it is basic, but it is no big deal, really. Anyone who trained enough would be able to do the same. I bet that you could do even better if you practiced enough. I can even give you some hints if you want." She said to him, and this caused the purple dragon to look away for a moment.

"Yeah, maybe..."

The dragoness looked at the purple dragon, and she wondered, for a moment, if she had said something wrong.

Soon, however, this was forgotten, as the dragoness was moving up again, with a basket now empty, as all of the fruit in it was left on the ground, as she went up to get more. She soon was repeating the show that she gave.

By the time they were done with that tree, she had gathered four whole baskets of fruit, while the ape gatherers only got one basket each.

As they all went down, they measured their progress. Of course, the apes were more numerous than the dragoness, so they had more, but the dragoness still got four whole baskets all by herself, while each pone of them only got one.

"Well, this was productive." Aeria said, looking at the many fruits. "So, shall we move to the next one?"

"Actually." One of the gatherers said, looking at her. "We prefer to do it ourselves."

"Huh?"

"This requires a delicate touch and experience that I'm afraid that you don't have." The gatherer said, and Aeria looked at him. "You should probably leave this all to us."

"But I was just..."

"You are a guest in this village." The ape cut her again. "And it would not be nice to make a guest do work."

He was trying to be polite with her; however, another ape came forward.

"Give me this." He said as he snatched the basket from the dragoness paws rather roughly. Aeria blinked, surprised.

Spyro had been close, hearing and seeing this, and he couldn't help but feel deeply indignant by this. However, he knew that he could actually do nothing about that, at least nothing that he actually wanted to do, once it would get himself in problem, as well as Aeria.

However, there were two things that Spyro could actually do at that moment.

The first was to remember the faces of these apes, so he could point them out for his father once he came back. Gaul was not the kind who accepted this kind of behavior, and he surely would want to have a word with them.

The second...

The purple dragon walked unceremoniously between the grey dragoness and the apes. He had his eyes on the apes at all the time as he walked among them and into the pile of fruit, his bodyguards following behind, as per Spyro's instructions. Then, they started to pick up some fruit on their arms.

He still looked at the gatherers as he passed with two of his bodyguards carrying a meaningful amount of heart cashews on their arms. He looked like a prince passing among the peasants with his entourage.

"Let's go, Aeria. They clearly are busy." Spyro said simply, under the surprised looks of the grey dragoness, as well as that of the apes. Aeria herself was surprised, but after a few moments, she was walking around with Spyro, as they moved away from the group.

"Smooth, dude." Sparx said to Spyro as he approached with the cashews. "Very classy."

"That was... something." Aeria said; impressed with how the purple dragon handed the situation.

"Yeah, I had to do something." The purple dragon said. "I usually don't like to take advantage that dad is the king, but sometimes I have to do something."

That much was truth. As the adopted son of the king, Spyro did had privileges, when he actually wanted to use them. This included having his bodyguards/nannies do things for him, and being able to do stuff and get away with it. However, Spyro didn't liked doing this kind of thing often, for his father always told him that he should respect the others, which included not using his position to make himself have advantage over others.

Also, there was the fact that Spyro himself didn't liked having to do stuff like that, for it only made others avoid him even more. Not that they wouldn't normally avoid him anyway.

"Why did they acted like that?" Aeria asked, "I was just helping."

"It is nothing personal... I think." The purple dragon said. "Is just that... they really are a bit mistrustful of dragons around here. You know, because of the war and everything."

Aeria nodded, as it was clear that she could understand that.

"Anyway, I think you did amazing." The purple dragon said, wanting to shift the subject so they would not have to focus on it. "The way you flew around and did all of these things in the air. It was so cool. I wish I could do stuff like that."

"Yeah, well, I am a wind dragoness." She said to him with a smile. "Flying is kind of what we do, but anyone can learn to fly like that if they make some effort. I can give you some hints to your flying."

There was a silence, as Spyro looked at her.

"I... can't fly."

"Oh?" Aeria said, looking at him with some surprise. Spyro sighed.

"I never really learned how to fly." The purple dragon admitted, "Dad even tried to teach me. He brought many books about flying mechanics and other things, and we did our best so I could learn, but I never got the gist of it. I can't count the times I jumped from the top of a rock trying to flap my wings only to land with my face on the dirt."

"Oh..." Aeria said, and there was silence for a while after this. No one really said a word, not even the bodyguards, who shared looks among themselves.

Then, Aeria broke the silence be saying:

"Would you like me to teach you?"

The way she asked it was so casual that it really surprised Spyro. As well as the ones who were around.

"What?" Spyro asked, and the gray dragoness continued to look at him for a while, before she repeated.

"Would you like me to teach you how to fly?"

He blinked, as if he was really surprise by what she said.

"I mean, usually dragons learn how to fly from other dragons, at least as far as I can tell." She said to him, and she seemed to have become a little awkward due to his reaction. "Now, I know that you and your... dad tried a lot, but if you would like to attempt learning flying from a dragon..."

Spyro was unsure of how to answer, and he just looked at her for a while with a surprised expression. She shied away a bit, and she was a bit nervous. She was about to apologize for saying that, when Spyro suddenly said:

"It would be great!"

It was a bit of an outburst, and it surprised the dragoness, who looked back at him. Spyro recomposed himself, and tried again:

"I mean... I would love to learn how to fly with you. I mean... it wouldn't hurt to try learning to fly from another dragon."

They looked at each other for a few moments, before both of them looked away.

"Okay then." Aeria said simply, and Spyro and her walked side by side. The apes all looked at them, one or two of them with raised eyebrows. Sparx looked a bit confused by the way that they were acting. Meanwhile, Spyro was asking himself why his cheeks were heating all of sudden...

After a while of walking, Spyro suggested them to stop to eat the cashews, and soon, the group was stopping.

Sparx had an entire pile all for himself, and the bodyguards had only one or two cashews each. Meanwhile, the rest of the cashews were left for the two dragons, who were eating them from a certain distance of the group, as they were sitting on the edge of a small cliff as they ate the crimson fruit.

"These are delicious!" Aeria said, as she was already eating the second one.

"Told you." Spyro said, as he ate some himself.

"I think I have a new favorite fruit now." Aeria said as she continued to eat. "How come I never heard of such a good thing before?"

"That is because they only grow around here." The purple dragon said to her. "Only those of the land and of the neighborhood know about them. And we don't exactly import them to the Dragon Lands."

"Yeah, I imagine." The gray dragoness said, and the two dragons continued to eat the delicious fruit. They enjoyed the flavor of the juice and sweet pulp and left only the heart-shaped seeds of the fruit behind.

As they ate, the pile they had was becoming smaller and smaller. At a moment, the two dragons reached out for the pile, and they touched each other's paws as they both reached.

Startled, they looked at each other, and at their touching paws, before quickly removing them.

"Sorry!" They both said at the same time. Once more, Spyro felt his face flushing, and he hoped that is purple scales helped cover it up.

Just why was he so blushy today?

They both looked at each other for a few moments, before they turned their look at the pile... or better saying, to what once was a pile of fruit, and they saw that all that was left was a single hear cashew surrounded by the seeds of the ones that they ate before.

They looked at each other.

"Do you... do you want this?" Aeria asked.

"Y-you can have it." Spyro said.

"B-but don't you want it?"

"Well, I had many already."

"Yeah, but this is your village. And they came from your trees."

"Yeah, but you are the guest."

They were at it for around a minute, before Aeria took a decision. She picked the fruit, removed the seed, threw the fruit in the air and, with a swift and precise movement of her tail, she sliced through the cashew, cutting it perfectly in half.

She picked both halves in her paws, and Spyro looked at her. She then offered one of the halves to Spyro.

"Here. We share it."

Spyro blinked, and looked at it in surprise, before looking up at her with what seemed shock.

Meanwhile, the apes, who had been watching the two dragons from a distance, and saw what the dragoness did, stopped for a moment to look at it.

"Is she... going to share it with him?"

"Oh, my..."

"Ahhh... I-I... Huhh..." Spyro said, as if he was unable to form coherent words. Aeria looked at him confused, and now she was wondering if she had done something wrong.

"W-what?" She said, "Is... is it not polite to offer to share one?"

"W-what?" Spyro said, as if he was suddenly recovering. "N-no! I mean... I-it is not that." He said, as if he was quickly apologizing himself with the dragoness. She looked at her, seeming to be a bit confuse by her behavior and, thinking about it, Spyro could not really blame her. "Is just that... a-among apes there is a certain superstition around sharing a heart cashew."

Aeria looked back at him, blinking.

"Oh... Does it brings bad luck?"

"No." Spyro said, "Quite the opposite. I mean..."

The dragon was about to get all flumpy as he looked for the ways to explain. But he was able to recompose himself just in time and to start explaining.

"It is an old legend." The purple dragon explained. "It says that, if you share a heart cashew with someone, then both your hearts become connected." He said, and she looked at him as he did. "Among couples, it is said that sharing a heart cashew means that you two are going to be together and in love forever, and will always be part of each other's lives."

There was a silence following these words, as Aeria took in what Spyro just said, and the purple dragon looked as if he was nervous about saying anything else. After nearly a minute, Aeria finally broke the silence:

"So, it is like a promise of eternal love?"

Spyro looked away, praying that the gray dragoness would not be able to notice his blush. Why was he feeling like that all of sudden?

"So, you actually believe in that?" Aeria asked, prompting Spyro to look at her. She was looking at him with curiosity, as if wondering what his answer would be.

"W-what? Me?" Spyro was a bit surprised, but he was able to start to form an answer for this, after a moment of almost tripping over his own words.

"N-no. I mean... N-not really. Is just that... I-it something that everyone comments about. But I don't really believe it... I guess."

"Then what it is the problem?" Aeria asked, and Spyro looked at her confused. "If you don't believe it, then you should have no problem sharing this with me, right? Besides, you said that it happens when a couple shares one of these fruits. We are not a couple, are we?"

Her arguments made sense, and Spyro had to admit.

He was a bit hesitant, but he reached for the piece that she was offering to him, and picked it up.

As soon as he picked it up, she took her half to her mouth and took a bite of it. Spyro looked at the dragoness, who had a lot of etiquette as she took small bites of the fruit and took her time chewing. After a few more moments, Spyro looked at his own half, and took it to his mouth, taking a solid bite and eating half of it at once.

"Oh my..." One of the apes said, as they still looked from a distance. "They are actually sharing one..."

"Does the dragoness knows what this means?" Another ape asked, to which even another one answered:

"Well, Spyro surely does."

"Could it be that he thinks she is someone to share a heart cashew with?" The first ape added. There was a silence following these words, as all of them were imagining if this could actually mean something.

"I don't get what there is about this." Sparx said, suddenly flying among the apes, as he took looked at this. "I mean, I shared these cashews with all of you guys."

The apes all stared at the dragonfly.

"I mean, I ate the halves that you guys didn't ate. Does this count as sharing?"

"No." The apes said as one as they looked at the dragonfly.

Meanwhile, the two dragons had actually finished the cashew that they were sharing, and they now were looking at the sky as they talked about a few subjects. They talked about the books that they read and that they enjoyed. Talked about how nice it was that summer day. Talked about their favorite things.

It was like most talks that the two had, and they truly liked to talk to each other.

Spyro, however, was noticing something different about this talk.

It was not that the subjects were different, or that they were more or less interesting than before. Is just that... now he actually paid attention to Aeria when she talked.

Not that he didn't paid attention to her before, but now he was paying a lot of attention at the gray dragoness.

As she talked, he paid attention to how her mouth moved. As she spoke of the things that she was the more passionate about, he noticed how her eyes changed, shining when she spoke something that made her happy and becoming a bit duller when she spoke of things that made her sad. As she laid in there, under the summer sun, he noticed how her horns and scales glowed under the sunlight, as well as the jeweled necklace that she constantly wore around her neck.

All of the things that he had casually noticed at one moment or another, but at that moment was something that it seemed that he was noticing for the very first time. And every single one of them seemed very interesting for the teenage purple dragon.

What was going on?

Why was he feeling like that?

Why was he blushy and nervous and bashful all of sudden?

Could it be the heart cashews? Could it be that they had gone bad? Would he start feeling stomach problems at any moment? Would Aeria feel them too? That would be super awkward.

But, looking at her, it seemed that the gray dragoness was not feeling anything.

Could it be just Spyro? Was one of the ones that he ate?

Could it be that... the superstition of the heart cashews was true?

That question hit him square in the head as he thought about that. He never truly believed that, and he never truly gave it a lot of thought. Mainly because he was sure he would never share a heart cashew with anyone, once he knew that this meant he would need to have a girlfriend to share with, and there was no chance of a dragon finding a girlfriend in an ape village.

However, that was before a female dragoness came along.

Spyro felt himself suddenly receiving a hard blow in the head again, as he realized what this was about:

During the last days, he had known Aeria better, as she would quickly become his friend. Not surprising, once she did saved his life. However, as of that day, something seemed to have suddenly shifted within Spyro's view.

Now Aeria was no longer just another member of his own species who became his friend. She was a dragoness of whom he had now become close of, and that was someone who he actually enjoyed a lot spending his time.

For the first time since they met, Spyro was actually seeing Aeria as a female.

A rather attractive one, at that.

Not that he knew many other female dragons to compare...

Still, the realization even hit him even harder than before, as his face was heating up so much that he thought that the purple of his scales could change to a vivid red. He barely even noticed Aeria speaking to him, until she called his name a bit loudly.

"W-what?" Spyro said, kind of looking like a fool as he looked at her.

"We are going to go back to the village now?" Aeria asked again, looking at the purple dragon.

"Oh... oh! Yes! Right! Back to the village!" He said as he got up a bit quickly, and prompting the gray dragoness to look at him with a raised eyebrow. This only added to Spyro's bashfulness, but he was able to recompose himself, and soon, the two dragons, the dragonfly, and the six apes of Spyro's guard were walking back to the village.

As they walked inside of the village, the group attracted the eyes of many of the apes that were in there, and of course, they would make comments about them as they walked.

Spyro was more than used to this kind of thing, once that was how he lived during most of his life among the apes. This kind of mistrust and fear was not anything new to him. However, it still bothered him that they would say things about his new friend Aeria.

"I still can't believe he actually invited another dragon to live in here."

"I just want to know what Gaul will think of this when he comes back."

"Maybe he will finally realize that raising that dragon was a mistake."

"What if he starts bringing more dragons in here?"

"If that happens, I'll take my wife and our chimps and will leave this village, I swear."

Spyro had to bite back all of the retorts and snarls that he wanted to make at the apes around him. However, some of the comments that they were making actually made their way into the purple dragon.

"You guys realize that she is a female, right?"

"Yeah, maybe that is why he invited her to come. He wanted a girlfriend."

"Do you think he will ask her to marry him?"

"What if they have children?"

"I don't even wanna think about it."

Spyro found himself blushing even more at these commentaries that the apes around them were making. In part because they remounted to something that Spyro himself had just realized not too long ago.

However, Spyro was able to ignore it long enough to allow him to be able to reach his hut in time, and in there, he was able to relax, along with the rest of his group. His guard stood in place in their usual spots, Sparx went to a pillow to lay and take a nap. While Spyro and Aerea were both left to do as they wanted.

"Well, maybe we could use this time to read a bit more. What do you think?" Spyro asked her, and the gray dragoness didn't immediately looked at him.

"Yeah... sounds nice." She said, but she was a bit vague. Spyro looked at her.

"Aeria?" He asked, causing her to look at him, "Is something wrong?"

The gray dragoness blinked as she looked at the purple dragon, and she tried to say that everything was fine. However, Spyro was not buying this, and he insisted, for it was obvious to him that there was something bothering the gray dragoness.

"The way that they talk..." Aeria finally said, after a long time of silence and of trying to dodge Spyro's questions and changing subject, she finally started to talk.

"All of the things that they say about you..." She said as she looked at the purple dragon. Spyro shrugged.

"They do that a lot."

"As much as now?" Aeria said, looking at the purple dragon. "They already gave you a hard time like that before I arrived?"

Spyro didn't answered to this, as he looked back at the gray dragoness, as none of them said a word after a few moments. There was silence in the room (save for Sparx's snoring) as the two dragons looked at each other, and the two ape guards traded a look among themselves.

"I feel like things got harder for you after I arrived." The gray dragoness said after a moment of silence. "I feel like me being here is bringing you trouble. You are so nice to me... like few others have been before."

The dragoness looked at Spyro. "I hate to think that I'm bringing you any problem..."

"You are not." The purple dragon said, prompting Aeria to look at him.

"These guys have been giving me a hard time ever since forever. They are just like that." The purple dragon said to the dragoness, as they both looked at each other. "You don't have to blame yourself for them being a bunch of jerks."

"But..." Aerea tried to say something, but Spyro cut her off."

"I'm glad you came." Spyro said, "You saved me from becoming owlbear food, you have been willing to read my books and talk to me about them. I have to say, it is really nice to meet someone who wants to talk to me about stuff and who is on my side."

They looked at each other for a while, and Aeria then looked away.

"I'm really not bringing you trouble?" She asked, rather timidly, Spyro noticed, to which the purple dragon was quick to answer:

"Of course not!" He said, and she looked up at him. "If anything, my life became a bit more interesting ever since you came. I mean, you are nice to have a conversation with, you offered to teach me how to fly, and you are a good person."

Aeria looked at him, as if she was really surprise for hearing that.

"I-I am?"

"Of course!" The purple dragon said once more. "You are funny. You are strong and determined. You are very supportive of me. Not to mention how straightforward you are with everything. Seriously, few times I've met someone as sincere as you. I really think you are a great person, and I'm sure that my dad would think the same if he had the chance of knowing you.

Spyro looked at the gray dragoness, hoping that this was going to cheer her up, even if just a little bit. However, he saw as a strange emotion crossed her eyes, and the gray dragoness looked at the ground. Spyro could even swear that she was shrinking very slightly.

Oh, man... Spyro thought as he saw the dragoness' reaction. Did I said something stupid?

Spyro was about to aske her if he said something wrong, and he was even ready to apologize to her. However, his thoughts were interrupted when a sound could be heard.

It sounded somewhat like a bell.

This caused both of the dragons to perk their heads, and even Sparx, who was sleeping, stirred from his slumber.

"Whu- wad's dis?" The dragonfly asked, as he looked up confused. The sound of the bell continued to resound.

"W-what is this?" Aeria asked, to which one of the apes answered.

"It is one of the alarm bells."

"Alarm bells?" Aeria said, looking around, as the sound got louder, and she could hear some voices on the outside, as it seemed that the apes of the village were reacting to the sound. "I-is it some kind of danger? There is someone attacking?" She said, looking very scared.

"No." Another ape said, as they both stood. "It is not that kind of bell."

"T-then what?" The dragoness asked, and this time it was Spyro who answered.

"He is here!" He said, sounding very happy.

"Dad is back!"

Chapter Text

The village where Spyro lived was a peaceful one.

The covering of the woods and the distance from the actual lands where the conflicts actually happened made sure that the village and the ones who lived in it were far from danger. This way, the apes in there could enjoy the peace that came from living in such a nice place, and sometimes they could even forget about the war.

However, it was a mistake to think that only because the village enjoy safety that the war could never one day reach it. Gaul knew that, and so did the apes who followed him, and knew how terrible and dangerous the war actually was. That was the reason why the village had a set of bells to serve as alarms.

In the beginning, the bells' only purpose was to warn against a possible coming of an invasion. However, Gaul, being the tactician that he was, developed specific patterns to the bells, to indicate certain types of events. For instance, a certain pattern of bells indicated the coming of a hostile force of dragons. Another pattern indicated the presence of a small group or even of only a single dragon in the borders of the territory. Another one would indicate the need for an immediate evacuation.

With time, however, as no invasion or any real danger ever came, the bells took on other functions, as they were made with another purposes, for instance, to indicate a celebration, or to summon a gathering of all of the apes into a single place. The purposes of the bells were many.

Including the one that they were using right now.

BLIN-BLEN-BLEN-BLON

BLIN-BLEN-BLEN-BLON

"Dad is back!" Spyro cried out, as he got up in a hurry, and Aerea looked at him as he did.

"W-what?" The gray dragoness said, looking at the purple dragon. "G-G-Gaul is back!? H-how do you know!?"

"The bells!" Spyro said, and the dragoness once more heard the resounding bells.

BLIN-BLEN-BLEN-BLON

"This configuration of bells means that the troops are returning to the village!" Spyro said to her, sounding as excited as a child in the Christmas morning. "And if the troops are returning, this means that Dad is coming back along with them! I gotta go see him!"

With this, Spyro didn't said anything more or waited for anything before he dashed out of the hut like a purple-colored lightning. Even the guards didn't had time to do anything about it, as they only saw a purple blur passing by them and rushing away from the tent.

"Wow!" Sparx said, floating near to Area. "Never saw that purple boy run so fast before."

"He is excited." One of the guards said, as he looked to the entrance of the hut, through which Spyro had ran. "The last time he saw King Gaul was nearly six months ago, when he departed to help the armies on the front lines to repel the dragons' advances."

"The front lines?" Aerea asked, looking at the big ape.

"Of course." The ape said, looking at her, and he continued:

"King Gaul is one of the most important generals in the forces that still resist the advances of the Dragon Army, and he has allies in many of the tribes that still resist. Of course he would be among the ones who are helping..." The ape said, but he stopped as he heard intently. This caused the other two to look at him.

"Helping what?" Sparx asked, and Aerea looked at the ape with a raised eyebrow.

"What? What happened?"

"The bells." The ape said, and he continued to listen intently.

BLIN-BLEN-BLEN-BLON BLON-BLON-BLIN-BLEN

BLIN-BLEN-BLEN-BLON BLON-BLON-BLIN-BLEN

After a few moments of listening, and then his eyes widened.

"Oh, no." He said, and soon he was rushing out of the hut in a rush.

"Hey!" Sparx said, looking at the running ape. "Hey! Dude! Where's the fire?"

Aerea also looked at the running ape, and soon, she and Sparx were both rushing after him.

Spyro was so excited that he couldn't contain himself.

He hadn't seen his father in six months, and he was starting to wonder if dad would be away for a whole year, like he did during that one time that he went to the front lines before. Now his father was back!

Spyro wanted to meet with him, and that was why he was rushing so fast across the village, seeming like a purple blur that crossed the paths of anyone who was on his way. Of course, Spyro didn't bumped into anyone, and he apologized to the ones that he nearly bumped into, but he didn't reduced his speed or stopped for any means, not even during the moments when he had to look around to orientate himself and know in which direction he had to run. He certainly didn't stopped to hear the curses and bad words of the ones who were not happy for the young dragon rushing like that and nearly knocking them to the ground.

All that he thought about was meeting with his dad and talking to him after the nearly six months that the big ape had been away. He wanted to tell him how he advanced in the Munduri. He wanted to tell him how he got that beautiful gemstone from the cave of the owlbear. He wanted to tell him that he had made a new friend.

Spyro was the most excited about the new friend part, as he really looked forward to presenting Aerea and his dad. He was sure that the big ape would love the gray dragoness.

That was the reason why Spyro was in such a rush to get to his dad. And nothing was going to stop him.

After a few minutes, Spyro finally was moving away from the village, going in the direction where he knew that the group of warrior apes was coming from. He kept running for a few more minutes. He wasn't tired in the slightest, as he only cared about getting sight of his dad.

Finally, Spyro could see dots forming in the distance, catching the shapes of many apes moving together as one mass.

Spyro had a good enough vision to be able to make out the individual apes that formed the incoming group. Not really a gigantic army, but they were no small group either. They should be around two hundred of them in there, although Spyro was sure that not all of them were residents of the village. Spyro could not see well enough to easily differentiate their features from that distance, but he could see well enough to differentiate them for their armors and the coloration of their fur.

Among these apes, there was one in particular that stood out, due to him being much bigger than all other apes around him. He was truly a sight hard to miss, especially since he was clearly on the lead of the army.

"DAD!" Spyro said as he caught sight of that massive ape, and he speeded up even more, looking at the incoming army, as some of them looked at him with surprised expressions, although the dragon could not notice that from a distance.

"DAD!"

"SPYRO!" The big ape called back, as he recognized that purple shape moving on his direction, and he too started to move to his meeting.

The two figures ran to each other, both of them seemingly forgotten of everything that was around them, up until the moment they reached each other.

Spyro made a jump, flapping his wings as he landed right into the chest of the big figure, who put his arms around the purple dragon in a hug.

"Dad, you're back!" Spyro said, hugging the big ape as he nuzzled him, and the big ape hugged him back.

"Dad, I missed you!"

"I missed you too, my little dragon." Gaul said, as he continued to hug his son. After a while, they separated, and they looked at each other.

Gaul had not changed much in the years ever since he adopted Spyro. He was still bigger than any other ape that Spyro had ever seen, however, he did had some signs of age showing on him, starting with the wrinkles on the sides of his mouth and around his eyes, and for the small patches of grey fur that was forming on his face, which was covered in scars gained from the years of war against the dragons. Such wrinkles were very subtle, though, and most other creatures would hardly even notice unless they took a real good look at the big ape. Gaul was still on top shape. The most meaningful thing on his face, whatever, was the fact that is left eye had been replaced by a green gemstone, this was something that Spyro always remembered about him, for the big ape had lost it when Spyro was really young. The one eye that was left was always kind and welcoming to the purple dragon, though.

"Say, you have gotten another growth spurt?" Gaul said, looking at him, "You seem bigger."

"Dad, I'm so glad that you are back!" Spyro said, looking at his adoptive father, "So many things have happened! I made a new friend! She is a dragoness who is running away from the Dragon Lands, I invited her to stay in our hut and she is so nice! You have to meet her!"

"Okay. Okay." Gaul said, kneeling and putting Spyro down. "I am sure that you have a lot to tell me, but that can be later." He suddenly seemed worried at something as he looked at the purple dragon. "Now you have to go back to the village, now."

"What?" Spyro said, looking at him.

"Spyro, you have to return to the village and remain out of sight." Gaul said, looking at him, before he looked over his shoulder, at the army that was still coming after him. "Before they get sight of you."

"What do you mean?" Spyro asked. For a moment, he thought that his father was talking about the many apes, but Spyro didn't understood why he had to leave. However, he soon understood, as he heard a sound coming from the direction of the army. A sound that was not made by any ape.

It was a roar.

A dragon's roar.

Spyro looked at his dad as realization settled in, and the ape looked back at him.

"Go to our hut and wait for me in there. I'll be going soon, I promise." He said gently to the dragon, and Spyro nodded, before he turned around and began to run back, as fast as his legs could carry him.

As he ran back, Spyro could once more hear the bells. This time, he was noticing the change in pattern and cadence of the bells.

BLIN-BLEN-BLEN-BLON BLON-BLON-BLIN-BLEN

Spyro knew that configuration, and was one that he had failed to notice in his excitement and rush to see his dad.

That configuration meant that the army was coming back, and that they were bringing prisoners.

It was rare for the army to bring back dragons as prisoners, but it did happened time to time, and they had developed some methods to keep them imprisoned without them representing a danger to the village. A process that involved using a special staff with gems that Gaul owned that drained their energy and rendered them unable to use their elements. Spyro never saw it himself, but he had already heard about that.

The whole procedure helped keep the village safe while the dragons were being kept in there. Spyro knew the whole procedure from his father, and he knew that there was an important procedure that was to be follow by the purple dragon himself: to remain out of the sight of the dragons.

Everyone in the village and practically everyone on the ape army was aware of Spyro's existence, and the fact that he was Gaul's adoptive son. However, outside of the apes, very few actually knew about him, and definitely, no dragon and no one of the Dragon Lands even imagined that Spyro existed.

"You would become a target in the moment they found out your existence." Gaul told him. "Malefor would certainly react to the existence of another purple dragon other than himself, and if he found out I am sure that he would react to it. That not to mention the fact that many of the other tribes would have their own reactions of they knew about another purple dragon, many of them have been deeply marked by the war, and I don't know how badly they could react if they found out about you."

Gaul was basically telling Spyro why it was so important to keep him a secret from the others, for his own safety. The purple dragon thought that this was a little over the edge from his dad, however, he was forced to agree that there was some logic behind his thought. So, Spyro saw himself forced to go along with it and, overtime, Spyro learned to share of his worry, as he started considering that it was important keep himself out of sight from these that could reveal him to the evil king of dragons.

Still, sometimes Spyro asked himself if this was actually needed. Would Malefor really be sending some kind of elite dragon to chase him if he found out that Spyro existed? Wasn't him too busy plotting how to take over the world to worry about a teenage dragon living among apes?

Spyro didn't thought of that at the moment. He was only worried about doing as his dad told him and getting back into the village before the dragons they brought as prisoners could catch sight of him.

As he was moving back, he soon met his guard and his two friends. They had gone after him once the apes realized that the cadence was telling that there were prisoners coming with the army. They knew very well of Gaul's worries of preventing Spyro's existence to coming into Malefor's knowledge, and they seemed to share of his worries. Or at least be made worried enough of it by Gaul.

Once they met with the purple dragon, they were quick to take him back to his hut, where he was to remain until Gaul came to him, after the prisoners have been place into their own prison hut, which certainly had begun being prepared as soon as the bells indicated that the army was bringing dragons as their prisoners.

Spyro was in the hut during this time, so he could not see what was happening. However, the purple dragon had a very good idea of what was going on into the village.

There was a celebration going on, as it was usual when Gaul returned. The massive ape was beloved by all of his people. He was fair and brave, willing to face the dragons head on and to lead through example, and this made him extremely popular among all of his people. He was the kind of king that would punish his followers if they broke the laws and harshly discipline his soldiers if they failed to follow his orders and the kind of discipline that he preached. However, he was also a kind leader, who would never punish anyone unfairly, and who treated even his captured enemies with justice and mercy. This made Gaul be both feared and loved by everyone who met him.

Gaul was the first true leader that the apes really had, their first king, or as close to a king he could be to a people that for a long time was divided into many tribes with each their own leader. It was thanks to him that they were able to assemble an army that allowed helping the other tribes to halt and repel the advances of the Dragon Army.

With all of that together, it was no wonder that Gaul's presence in the village would be a motive for celebration among all of the ones who live in there, as it was safe to say that were some among them who literally worshipped the ground the big ape stepped on.

Gaul's return was always a reason for celebration, even when he brought dragons as his prisoners.

Meanwhile, the dragons would most likely have the opposite reception, as they were only more "stupid lizards" who were part of the army that oppressed them, attacked them and wanted to take their lands and kill their families. Spyro himself had to face a lot in the village of apes, and he was the son of their king. He could hardly imagine what it would be like to be one of the captured dragons, being in a place where they were seen by everyone in there as an enemy that didn't deserved any kindness or consideration, and that should be killed if possible.

This was the kind of thing that they would have to face while being in there, even if Gaul had strict policies that prevented the war prisoners from being mistreated, both by the soldiers and by the inhabitants of the village. They were going to be receiving death glares and cold shoulders every now and then until they were to leave the village.

However, Spyro found himself distracted to think about the prisoner dragons for too long. Especially when Gaul, true to his word, went to the hut as soon as he was done with the other business that he had.

That was when Spyro finally could properly reunite with the man who raised him ever since he came out of his egg, many years ago. Gaul was really happy for seeing Spyro, as much as the purple dragon was for seeing him.

"Seriously, you did had another growth spurt while I was out." The ape said, looking at his son as he kneeled to allow Spyro to climb into him. "You have grown anther foot ever since then."

Spyro was happy that his dad was finally back. He could finally talk to him and tell him all that had been happening ever since they last saw each other.

And there was a lot to tell.

Spyro told to him how he progressed on the Munduri, which granted him a lot of pride on his dragon, something that made Spyro really happy. His bodyguards, on their turn, told Gaul about how Spyro had received a spanking from the vines of the heart cashew tree, what made Spyro blush and the big ape chuckle a little bit, although he also could not avoid being worried for Spyro having gone to the heart cashews alone, what was dangerous by itself.

Howver, this was nothing compared to when they told him about the owlbear. About how Spyro was invited by Zeggor and his gang to "hang out", and he used Sparx help to lose his guard, and then he entered to owlbear's cave to try and get a gemstone for the gang of apes had told him to. Gaul was visibly flinching and getting a heavier expression as he heard this.

"And you just did as Zeggor told you?" Gaul said, looking straight at Spyro's eyes, causing the purple dragon to look away. The ape didn't showed signs of anger, and neither was him screaming. However, Spyro would prefer if he was, for the tune of worry and the look on his eyes were somehow worse.

"I... I really thought that they wanted to be my friends..." Spyro said. He thought that this was a good justification when he thought about it before. However, as he spoke it now, it didn't seemed like a good excuse at all.

"If they really wanted to be your friends, they would not have made you do something so dangerous." Gaul said to Spyro seriously. "Friends do not demand others to put their lives on the line for something as stupid as a small gem. Certainly they don't make them do it only to prove that they are brave."

The tune that Gaul was using was serious, and Spyro found himself unable to meet his gaze.

"And in the end, they were only using you to get a gem, ain't it right?" He asked, and Spyro nodded.

"I'll deal with them later on myself." The big ape said, and Spyro looked at the big ape. He was looking away from Spyro, and this time the purple dragon could see the anger on his face, as he thought of the ones who put Spyro's life in danger for something so stupid.

At that moment, Spyro almost felt sorry for Zeggor.

Almost...

"And you actually managed to repel the owlbear using Munduri?" He asked, looking back at Spyro, and the anger dissipating, as he pushed the thoughts out of his head. Spyro nodded at him.

"Yeah, I did." The purple dragon said, and he described how he managed to make the big bear retreat by using what he learned from his Karuum, and he even made a little movements to depict how he managed to apply the blows with precision.

"You should have seen, dad! I was amazing!" Spyro said, but them, he deflated. "But, I still didn't managed to fend off the bear. If it wasn't for Aerea, I don't think I would be here."

Silence followed this, as Gaul looked at Spyro, before he spoke:

"Spyro..." He said, his tune was gentle, but Spyro could still hear the disappointment tune hidden within it, which was much worse than if he was berating him. "You have put yourself in a great danger. You are lucky you are even here now, and you should know better than to do something so reckless."

That was Gaul's version of a berating whenever he talked to the purple dragon. The intensity variating depending on how bad Spyro had screwed up. Gaul had always been a loving father, the proof of it being that he never hit Spyro for anything, even thought many apes believed that he should, "to keep the young dragon on the line". Gaul never hesitated in admonishing him, though, and these were things that Spyro really didn't looked forward to, and sometimes he punished him with forbidding him from leaving the hut or taking away his favorite books, Spyro wondered if he would be doing that now.

Spyro felt the big hands of the ape landing on his shoulders, prompting him to look at the big simian.

Gaul pulled Spyro in a hug, surprising him, and he said:

"I am glad you are safe." He said, "Don't do something like that again, okay?" Spyro was stunned for a few moments, before he returned the hug.

"I won't, I promise." The purple dragon said, as he hugged his father back. They seemed to have forgotten about all around them, at least until someone said:

"Dawwwww, that's so sweet." Sparx said, looking at the exchange between father and son.

Soon, the two were parting, and Gaul looked at Spyro, before he asked:

"And, this 'Aerea' who rescued you from the owlbear?"

"Oh, she is right here!" Spyro said, "I invited her to stay after she saved me! Aerea! Aerea!" Spyro said, looking around, and not seeing her. But he soon was catching sight of her, she was looking from a corner, seeming like she wanted to remain out of sight.

"Hey, Aerea, come here! I want to introduce you to my dad!" Spyro said, sounding excited. The gray dragoness, however, seemed not to share of this excitement. She was hesitating to come out of the spot she was and approaching the huge ape.

"Don't be afraid, young one." Gaul said, looking at the gray dragoness. "I don't bite, unlike what you might have heard."

It took a few more moments, but Aerea was slowly making it out of the place and approaching. She looked a bit frightened. Spyro assumed that it was because of his dad's size. After all, Gaul was much bigger than the average ape. In fact, Gaul was certainly the biggest ape that Spyro had seen in his entire life, and he had already seen quite a few of them by living among the apes ever since he could remember. He assumed the scars that covered the simian's faced also helped.

Aerea approached slowly, keeping her head somewhat down, and Gaul got up as he looked at her.

There was a long silence between them, before the Ape walked to her, and kneeled in front of the gray dragoness.

This caused Aerea to shy away from him a bit, especially when the big ape raised a hand on her direction to touch her neck, or better saying, her necklace.

"This is really beautiful." He said, seeing the necklace decorated with blue and gray gemstones on the neck of the dragoness. She flinched a bit at his words, and she now looked like she wanted to run away from him.

The others looked at the scene, and it lasted for only a few moments, before Gaul leaned over, and pulled the dragoness in a hug.

Aerea was in shock at the big ape suddenly pulling her in a gentle hug.

"Thank you." Gaul said, after a few moments of hugging her. "Thank you so much for saving Spyro."

The gray dragoness said nothing, as she was not sure on how she should respond at a situation like that. She allowed herself to be hugged, and didn't resisted as the big ape broke the hug, and looked at her with a kind smile on his face.

"You are more than welcome in this hut." He said, looking at her. His smile was kind and welcoming, and it surprised the gray dragoness that someone with such scars on his face could have such a kind smile.

The dragoness looked at him, and she nodded, still unsure of what to do in a situation like that, and instead keeping a respectful silence as she smiled back.

"So, she has been staying in here for the past week?" Gaul asked, "You have been all good to her, right? She is a guest in our house, after all, it is important to be courteous."

Spyro and the guards made sure to let the big ape know that they were being as courteous as possible with the dragoness. They were treating her nicely and being as welcoming to her as possible. This satisfied the big ape.

Aerea had been listening to this, and she seemed to be glad that the big ape appreciated her. This was making her relax a little bit, and she was starting to talk to the massive ape as well, and she seemed to be actually warming up to him.

This made Spyro happy, as he saw his new friend getting along with his father, and this was something that made him very satisfied. It was really important to him that the people close to him got along with his dad, after all, they were all people who he liked. Seeing the ones he liked getting along like that was something that the purple dragon really appreciated.

"So, it is true." A voice suddenly said, making everyone turn to look at who it was.

It was a big ape. Not as big as Gaul, obviously, but big on his own right, and with a muscled body that looked like he was made for battle, or at the very least hardened by enough combats for him to be able to boast about it. He still wore the combat armor, black and which contrasted to his crimson fur and his dark face. He had a serious expression as his yellow eyes looked ahead, focused on the gray dragoness into the place.

Spyro immediately groaned to himself as soon as he caught sight of that ape.

Not Kallag.

Spyro was no stranger to Kallag. He was a general on his father's army, and he was said to be one of their best warriors, although he was not as good of a warrior as Gaul himself. He was also popular, but not as much as Gaul. Possibly mostly because he was said to have killed many dragons during the war.

Spyro had long learned to avoid Kallag. The crimson ape was someone who had a very bad opinion on dragons, the same kind that most of the apes had in relation to dragons and the war. He would always be speaking about how they should be more aggressive with the dragons, and how they should not show as much mercy as Gaul wanted, not to mention that he was often bragging about all of the dragons that he killed in combat.

Spyro disliked that red ape. He was always giving glares to Spyro, and the purple dragon always knew that, if it wasn't for Gaul being his dad, Kallag would certainly have him added to the list of dragons that he slayed, or at least get him chased out of the village for good. The guy was a complete jerk.

Also, there was another reason why Spyro avoided him. He was afraid of Kallag. Spyro didn't like being afraid of a guy like that, especially after he realized that the crimson ape enjoyed the fact that Spyro winced and shied away as he came close. However, the purple dragon could not help it. He didn't even quite knew why the crimson ape scared him so much, but he knew that he had, since he was a hatchling, a recurring nightmare where he saw Kallag's face looking down at him with hatred, followed by a big clawed hand moving in his direction.

"I heard the villagers talking about it, and I had to come check for myself." The crimson ape said, walking into the hut, not even bothering to look to anyone else, as his gaze was fixated into the gray dragoness, who got a little into defensive as he came closer.

"So, our resident dragon finally started bringing friends of his own kind to the village." Kallag said, and he cast a glance of Gaul, "You know, this could actually be a good moment for me to start saying 'I told you so'."

Gaul was not impressed in the slightest, and he only glared back at the crimson ape, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Kallag, remember that conversation we have about entering someone's hut unannounced and uninvited?" Gaul said, looking at him, "It also includes my own living hut!"

Kallag looked at Gaul for a few moments, before he bowed his head:

"I terribly sorry, my king." Kallag said, in a respectful manner, although some of the ones who were around could notice a hint of mockery in the manners and voice of the crimson ape.

"I guess I got carried away by the information that your son started to bring dragons to our hidden village." He said, raising up and looking at Spyro. "It made me wonder if he had finally turned on us."

"He didn't." Gaul said, cutting Spyro, who had his own answer ready to say to that ape. "He merely decided to offer housing to someone as a sign of gratitude for having helped him in a moment of need."

"Yes, I am sure he did." The crimson ape said, looking in between the two dragons. "Well, now that we are in the village, I assume that we can give her the treatment that outsider dragons usually have in our village." He said, looking at Aerea, who didn't liked the gaze that this ape was giving her.

"After all, I am sure that she would feel more comfortable along with the others of her kind. Maybe with a special set of chains on her."

Aerea really didn't liked what the red ape was saying, and neither did Spyro.

"You are not chaining Aerea!" Spyro said, causing Kallag to look at him. Spyro flinched slightly as the gaze of the red ape landed on him, but he held on, as he would not give that guy the pleasure of seeing that he could intimidate him. Not on a moment like that.

"Why not?" Kallag asked, looking at the purple dragon. "I mean, I understand why you are not in chains, since you are the 'prince'." He said, and there was obvious mockery on his voice as he said that, "But she, on the other hand, is an outsider, certainly coming from the Dragon Lands. We need to be sure that she will not represent a threat to anyone on our village."

"She is not a threat!" Spyro said, looking at Kallag in the eye. "She is an escapee from the Dragon Lands. She is trying to live a peaceful life!"

"How do you know that?"

"She told me!"

"And how do you know that she didn't lied?" Kallag said, looking back at Spyro, "I mean, she could very well have lied to your face to help her side. She seems a bit deceitful to me."

Aerea flinched as she heard that, but nearly no one around noticed.

"She certainly would not hesitate into lying to a fellow dragon to help her side." Kallag said, looking at the purple dragon. "Of course, unless she didn't needed." He was looking right at Spyro, as he said that, and Spyro had a feeling that he knew just what was coming.

"I also heard that you have formed a close bond with this dragoness ever since she came to live in here a week ago." Kallag said, looking at Spyro. "So, you finally found someone who is more important to you than the ape who raised you?"

Spyro felt rage fill him. He was about to open his mouth and curse at the red ape. However, Gaul beat him to it.

"Enough of this, Kallag!" Gaul said, with a volume and ferocity that made everyone around, save for Kallag, to give a step back. There was a serious, severe anger in the face of the big blue ape, as he looked at the smaller one.

"This dragoness is not an enemy of ours." Gaul said, looking at Kallag in the eye as he towered over him. "She was not captured in combat, and she is not a soldier of the Dragon Army. She is a refugee who is running from an oppressive ruling and that has stumbled in our village, and during this she saved my son from certain death."

Each word was controlled, and each sentence was calculated and had power behind itself. Gaul was making sure that Kallag understood that he was not joking as he spoke, and that he would not be taking any of his usual antics in that situation.

"She will remain in here as our guest, and she will not be mistreated. She shall remain free and be well-treated until she goes her way."

Spyro looked at his dad as the big ape said that. He could agree with everything that the big blue simian was saying. However, when he mentioned the part of Aerea "going her way", he felt a pang of sadness on his chest. So sudden that it caught Spyro by surprise.

"You mean, instead of keeping her in chains and secluded into the prison for a few days before you let her go?" Kallag asked, looking at the big ape. "Like you do with all of our prisoners?"

There was a silence as they looked at the big ape. Aerea, in particular, looked at him as if she was surprised.

"I have been wanting to talk with you about that, by the way." Kallag said, looking at Gaul, "Do you have to release all of the dragons that we make prisoner? Do you really think that this is wise?"

"Once they have witnessed what it is like in the war, they no longer want to have any part at it." Gaul said, looking back at the crimson ape with ferocity, "If they no longer want part in the war, then they are not out enemies anymore. So, we have no reason to keep them as prisoners. What else can we do than to free them so they can go back to their homes and to their families?"

"But there is another option." Gaul said, looking at him. "To execute them."

Spyro and Aerea both had a sick feeling on their stomachs as they heard that, and Gaul looked at Kallag with murder on his gaze.

"I am not having this discussion with you again, Kallag." The big ape said, "Not now."

"Well, it is an important discussion for a king and his general to have, ain't it?" Kallag said, looking at him. "Do you believe that is wise to let these dragons go after they have been in our village? To let them go and tell everyone of the outside world about the place where the king of apes make his residence?"

"They go to return to their families and to look for shelter from the war." Gaul said with seriousness on his voice. "They don't have any desire of going back to Malefor's army."

"How do you know?" Kallag asked, looking the king in his one eye. "Because they told you? Because they gave you their word? Please, you have no way of knowing that they say the truth when they say things like that. They might be able to bring them straight to our village."

"Not with all of the precautions that we take." Gaul said, looking at the ape. "They are blindfolded all the way into the forest until we are less than a few miles from the village, when we finally remove their blindfolds. When they arrive, they are kept isolated from everyone until the moment of their departure and we even limit the ones who have contact with them for interrogation. They don't receive any information that would be relevant while they are imprisoned, and they are made unconscious so they can be taken to the place where they will be freed, far away from here."

Gaul was looking down at crimson ape, before he finished:

"They don't leave with any information that would be meaningful or that would place us at risk. There is no need to kill them."

"Well, maybe we should kill some of them anyway." Kallag said, "After all, if we only release the prisoners without killing them, then the armies will realize that they don't need to fear us, and they will start looking down on us."

Gaul glared at the smaller ape, who seemed completely unfazed.

"So, we should execute some of the prisoners every now and then." He said, looking at the bigger ape, "Just so we won't look weak."

They glared at each other for a few moments.

"Is showing mercy a sign of weakness?" Aerea suddenly asked, making the focus of the room shift to her. She was looking at the crimson ape as she said that, her expression was serious as she was practically glaring at him.

"Is valuing the lives of others a weakness?" The gray dragoness asked, looking at him. "So, this means that not caring about them is a strength?"

"You stay out of this." Kallag said, and pointing a clawed finger at the dragoness. "This does not concerns you."

"I am not staying silent!" Aerea said, with an intensity that caught the ones around her off-guard, including Kallag. The dragoness looked at him as she seemed to be getting ready to admonish the ape in a serious way.

"You think that not caring about others is something that makes you better than everyone else?" She asked, looking at him. "You think that being willing to kill others just like that makes you powerful? Do you think it makes you brave or strong? Well, it doesn't!" She looked at him with anger. "There is nothing brave or strong in killing others only because you can! This only proves that you are nothing but a tyrant!"

Kallag glared at the little dragoness.

"Why, you little..." He said, his hand moving to the hilt of his weapon, something that the ones around noticed.

"Don't you dare." Gaul said, stepping up and getting between the ape and the dragoness, glaring daggers at the crimson simian. "You try to threaten my son's guest, and you will not be leaving this hut in one piece."

They both glared at each other for a long time, and Kallag soon was removing his claw from the hilt of his weapon. However, he still gave a serious glare to the bigger ape.

"Gaul, you proved many times that you are a good leader. And your decisions have always helped us and everyone else." Kallag said, looking at the bigger simian in the eye. "But I have to say that some of your decisions are the kind that I would not take in your place."

He cast a glance at Spyro. "Adopting a purple dragon as your son." He looked back at Gaul. "Freeing these dragons after taking them prisoner when they would never do the same for us." He then looked at Aerea. "And now, welcoming a strange dragon into our village, without even being sure if she could be a spy or otherwise a danger to all of us."

After this, he looked back at the big ape.

"It seems that you are far too lenient with the dragons, even though they are our enemies." Kallag said, looking at Gaul. "I have to say, if I were the king, things would be different."

"But you are not." Gaul said, glaring down at the smaller, crimson ape. "I am the king. So, you will change your tune, lower your head, and remember your place."

The silence was so heavy in there that it was as if everyone was holding their breath. It seemed that they were just waiting for the brawl that was about to break in there.

However, no fight broke.

Instead, Kallag just bowed his head slightly, and said:

"Yes, my king."

He then rose his head, and turned to leave, but not before he shot one last evil glare at Spyro and at Aerea. He walked out of the hut, with an up straight and dignified posture, as if he was a noble general getting out of the hut where they had been discussing strategy.

Some let out the breath that they had been holding. Among them, was Spyro, who was glad that Kallag was gone. That ape always made him nervous only for being around.

The purple dragon cast a glance at Aerea, and he saw that she too seemed relieved that Kallag was gone. Spyro had the impression that the gray dragoness had just gotten a lasting impression of Kallag, as did most of the ones who've met him.

After a while, Gaul sighed, turning back to Aerea, who looked back at him. The big ape then smiled, and said:

"Well, I assume you didn't had lunch yet, right?"

Chapter Text

Time for food had come, as the big ape and the two dragons were now sitting around a table that had been prepared for them. Some nice food brought, served in leaves in the place of plates. The menu consisted in fried cream-bellied mantises, spiced with pludia grass and swamp tea leaves, a wonderful first course; followed by a smoked meat of alpine rattlesnake with sweet vines on the side. Some nice lagople juice to drink in bowls, and a huge bowl of heart cashews for dessert, courtesy of the harvesters, who made sure to separate the best ones for Gaul and, by extension, Spyro.

"They were really rude to Aerea." Spyro said to his father in between bites, "She was helping them and they just acted as if she was getting in their way. I guess they were envious of her skills. Dad, you had to see, she was so amazing using her wind element. It was just like in the stories that you told me about the wind dragons that flapped their winds and created winds strong like those of a hurricane."

"Sounds like it was truly amazing." Gaul said, as he took bites of his food. It was mostly picking it up with his hands and taking it to his mouth to eat, while Spyro ate it with gusto with great bites. Meanwhile, Aerea was looking at the food that was bring to her, and she looked as if she was still trying to figure out if that was edible or not.

It was clear that she was not use to eat bugs or snakes. At least, not the same way that Spyro and his father surely were. The fried bugs remained in front of her, staring back at her with their dead bug eyes, and the pieces of the snake looked like the snake itself had been cut in half, both haves had been skinned and then dipped in spices and smoke. The strange, lilac-colored vine that was right by the side of it looked a bit strange too, as the dragoness had never seen anything like it where she lived.

This food all looked quite strange to her.

It smelled really good, though.

"The food is really good, Miss Aerea." Gaul said as he looked at the dragoness, who looked back at him surprised. "You should really try. When eating the mantis, you should start with the head. It is the crunchiest part, and don't worry about the snake, they completely removed all parts that had poison, and even if they didn't the sweet vines can neutralize most natural poisons, not to mention that they go really good with snake meat."

He took a bite out of his food, while Aerea looked at him, before she looked back at her food.

It was so different from the food that she was used to having. Still, so was most of the food that she had been eating in the past week that she had been staying with Spyro as his guest, and most of it proved quite good.

So, the dragoness decided to give it a try, as she (awkwardly) picked up one of the fried bugs and (very hesitantly) took a bit on the head of the thing.

She never imagined that a bug could be so delicious.

She was soon eating them with gusto, just like the other two.

"Yeah, I just want to say how much I am appreciating being here, guys." Sparx said, looking at the three as he was on the table as well. "Really nice of you to eat bugs with a bug on the table. Very thoughtful."

"Oh, quit being dramatic." Spyro said to him, "These bugs are not sentient like you dragonflies, besides, they taste really good."

"And don't you eat butterflies?" Aerea asked, and Sparx said nothing, just looking at her as she took another bite.

"Oh, by Yo! I never knew that bugs could taste so good! I'll want these fried mantises more often!"

She continued to eat, and Sparx looked at her eating. After a few moments, he started licking his chops. Then, he lunged at the nearest leaf that had mantises and took one of them.

"Here, I am becoming a cannibal. You guys happy?" He asked, before he started to bite at the fried mantis, all under the eyes of everyone else.

"Hey! These guys taste just like orange butterflies!" Sparx said, and he started eating more voraciously, causing Spyro to laugh at him and Gaul to chuckle. Aerea, on her end, didn't really looked at the dragonfly, as she had soon found out that seeing him eat was a sure way to make her lose part of her appetite, and she didn't wanted that, not when she just found out how good these things tasted.

She soon was also trying the snake and the vines, and she found out that these things really did tasted great together. The savory taste of the snake somewhat harmonized with slightly sweet taste of these lilac vines. The vine was a bit chewy, but it did went along great with the soft snake meat.

This was really proving to be a great meal.

All the while, Spyro was talking to his dad about all that had happened while he was away. He spoke about his training, about the things that he had seen on his walks, about how things had been ever since Aerea had come along, and he even made some commentaries on the inside of the owlbear's cave, with the many glowing gemstones that there were inside of there. He even showed Gaul the one that he had rescued from inside there, and that he had kept ever since.

"Indeed, it is a beautiful gem." Gaul said, as he looked at the curious thing that now seemed to have become a dear possession of the young purple dragon. The ape looked at it with great interest before he gave it back to Spyro, "You better keep a good eye on this. I could be valuable."

And so the talk continued, all the while Aerea remained watching the two while they all ate. She saw how the purple dragon spoke to the massive ape of all that had been happening lately, no matter how big or small, and the ape would hear it with interest, before saying something back that would either make the purple dragon blush, laugh or beam with pride.

She just continued to look and, at some point, it almost seemed that she had forgotten all about her food.

"Are you satisfied, young Aerea?" Gaul asked, snapping the dragoness out of her thoughts.

"W-what? Oh, y-yes, I am. I mean, kinda." She said, looking at her nearly finished food. "Yeah, I guess I'll only have one of the heart cashews as dessert." She picked up one, and soon she was eating. After a few moments, however, she talked to the two.

"You two seem very close." She said, not really thinking on what she was speaking, and the two looked at her, what prompted her to look away, somewhat embarrassed, she was about to apologize, when Spyro said:

"Well, of course we are close." He said, as if this was something obvious. "After all, he is my dad."

"Y-yeah, but..." Aerea said, looking at him, "With the war and all, he probably has to focus a lot in it and you might stay away from each other for a long time, right?"

Gaul was the one who answered this time.

"Indeed, I have my responsibility due to the war." Gaul said, looking back at the gray dragoness. "But that does not means that I'll neglect Spyro. I come back as often as I can, and I make sure that I'll spend the available time that I have with him, at any moment that I have it."

"He is always there when I really need him." Spyro said, looking at his father with admiration. "And he is always supporting me. Once he stopped a meeting with other generals right in the middle of it only to check on my when he heard that I had been stung by a scorpion. It was a false lotus scorpion, the kind that doesn't have any venom, but dad stopped everything juts to come check on me and be sure that I was okay." Spyro really sounded like he admired his dad for that, and he truly did. "That is how all dads should be."

There was a silence following these words, and Aerea looked at him. For a moment, Spyro even wondered if he had said something wrong, for the dragoness now looked sad.

Really sad.

"Yeah... you are right." She said, looking down. "Dads should be like that..."

More silence followed this, as Spyro looked at both Sparx and his dad, as if asking "what did I do wrong?" to both of them, and hoping that one of them would answer.

"So, I hope you have enjoyed the food, Aerea." Gaul said, the dragoness looked back at him and nodded.

"Yes, sir." She said, "It was delicious. It was the best meal I had ever since I left the Dragon Realms. It was so good." She sounded sincere as she said that, and then she added:

"So different from what I thought that the meals of apes would be."

She said that in a low voice, and it seemed that she was talking to herself and not to them. However, Spyro had picked up what she said, and it peaked his curiosity.

"What did you thought an ape's meal would be like?" He asked, and she looked at him, once more making him think that he might have said something wrong. However, this was not sad like the other, but it seemed to be... what was that? Fear? Embarrassment? Guilt?

"I..." Aerea said, and it seemed that she was trying to decide if she should or not tell them what was going through her head now. "I... heard some things about apes and their meals... back in the dragon lands."

"What, that they eat with their feet?" Spyro asked, "Because I've seen a few of them doing that, but most of them don't do that, it is anti-hygienic."

"W-well, they told me that too." Aerea said, and she looked at them, "Just as that they eat their own young, and their own poop." She said, and Spyro looked at her, "And that they liked to drink the blood of the enemies that they defeated in battle."

Spyro looked at her with a disgusted expression. Sparx was more neutral, but he still said:

"Ew."

"That's ridiculous!" Spyro finally said, looking at her, "No ape that I ever met did any of that."

She flinched a bit at his tune, what made the purple dragon regret having spoken like that to her, however, the dragoness soon was trying to justify herself:

"I-it's just what they have told me about the apes back on the Dragon Realms." She said, "They... they say a lot of things about the apes. And not only about how they eat."

"They say that the apes like to torture little animals to pass their time, and that they use the bones of their fallen enemies to make jewelry." She spoke, "They say that they live in the trees and like to leave captured dragons tied into vines and hanging for several hours before they finish them off by carving them up alive. And then they eat their guts and drink their blood, and laugh while they do that."

"They don't do any of that!" Spyro said, sounding outraged. "They never did and they would never do! Not even Kallag would go that far!"

Aerea flinched a little more, and she looked away.

"This is part of the war." Gaul said, now causing everyone to look at him. His expression was serious, but it was serene.

"Dad?" Spyro asked, and the big ape soon was talking once more to the ones on the table.

"In wars, it is very important to make yourself look like the good guy to your own people." Gaul said to them, "To make your cause seems correct and righteous, so your citizens will be by your side, even if you are doing wrong things."

"But you don't do wrong things." Spyro said, "You don't have to look like the good guy, because you are a good guy."

"Wars are never simple, Spyro." The big ape told the dragon, "Wars always involve much more than who is right and who is wrong. They involve interests. They involve conflicting ideologies, and sometimes it is hard for the ones involved to actually say who is right and who is wrong. Sometimes, even the ones who are fighting for the right cause will seem wrong to their enemies, either that or they will be made to look wrong, in order to favor the other side."

Spyro looked at his father, and the ape continued to explain:

"It is common in wars for the leader and his army to be depicted as paragons of moral, and for the causes that they fight for to be described as righteous and in the interest of the people as a whole." He said, "Also, it is not uncommon for them to depict their enemies and opposers as being evil. Malefor has always been keen on using both of these tactics. He presents himself as a noble leader for his people and paints all the ones who oppose him as evil. It is actually no surprise that he would be depicting apes as cruel and merciless, once we are the ones who oppose him the most."

He sighed.

"Most of the dragons have never even met an ape before in their lives, and they all know that we live in the forests. It must not be hard for Malefor to convince them that we are a bunch of brainless savages." Gaul said.

Neither of the two dragons said a thing, and Gaul looked at Aerea.

"I bet that you have also heard quite a few things about me, haven't you?" He asked, in a very friendly tune. At this moment, Aerea looked at him, and then she looked down.

"What is it?" Spyro said, looking at the gray dragoness. "What do they say about dad?"

Aerea hesitated, as it seemed that she was unwilling to share what she knew. However, she saw herself with little choice with a direct question like that. So, the dragoness soon was speaking:

"You are right, Malefor really does preaches how his causes are noble for all dragon kind, and he demonizes all of the ones who oppose him." Aerea said, and the others looked at her. "The apes in particular... and their king."

Spyro looked at her, and he could already feel outrage raising in anticipation, already imaging the kinds of lies that they told about his father. Gaul, on his end, had more of a neutral expression.

"He, and all of the others, say that Gaul is a monster." She said, "The biggest, cruelest and most violent ape who has ever lived. They say that he often kills his own subordinates when they fail with him even once or question his orders. That he tortures captured dragons until madness and then has them placed on stakes and watches as they bleed to death , and that he later drinks their blood. That he destroys dragon eggs and then eats the unborn dragons as a delicacy. All these shorts of things. I once heard my father say that, if you are about to be captured by Gaul, then you better try to kill yourself as fast as you can, because if you live, Gaul would torture you for fun so much that you would be begging for death, and then he would laugh at you and just keep torturing you."

Spyro is shocked for a few moments; however, it is soon giving away to outrage.

"None of that is true!" The young dragon nearly roared. "Dad wouldn't-! He would never-! He doesn't even-! How can they think that he would-!? That is all crap!"

"Spyro!" Gaul said, causing the young dragon to look at him, "Language, please."

"But this is all lie!" Spyro said, looking at his father. "You would never do any of these things! You never killed or tortured anyone! You are not like that!"

"I know." The ape said to the purple dragon, "This is propaganda. Malefor is selling me to his people as a monster so he can keep selling his image a righteous and noble king who will guide dragon kind to 'their rightful place'."

"Yeah, he never stops saying that." Aerea said under her breath, the others on the table looked at her, and then she added:

"Well, according to what I heard. I mean, everyone in the kingdom speaks of how Malefor has helped the kingdom improve, but everyone seems to forget how much he controls everything that happens in the kingdom, and how much he taxes everyone to have more funds for the war. Did you know that dragons who openly badmouthed him would either disappear or die on very suspect circumstances, like some strange accident on their home or an unexplained suicide? I mean, how can a dragon accidentally fall on a spear twenty times?"

The two said nothing in return, and Aerea simply looked away, before she continued:

"Not to mention that he is always demanding that more and more dragons at the age of fighting join his army to help in the war. They don't have a choice, you know? Refusing is seen as betrayal and punished as a crime."

Silence followed these words, as everyone took in what the dragoness had just said to them.

"Man." Sparx said, "No wonder I hear of so many dragons packing their bags and leaving the place in the dead of night."

"Yeah." Aerea said, "Trying your chances out here is better than remaining in that tyrant's shadow."

Spyro looked in between the two as he took in all that he just heard, and he didn't liked it in the least.

How could Malefor spread such lies? Okay, it made sense, considering what Gaul had just said, but this was unacceptable! Gaul would never do any of these things! He was not a monster! Malefor was the monster! He was the one who wanted to destroy and enslave everyone else!

Gaul was the good guy in this story!

To think that the guys in Dragon Land actually thought that he was evil...

"I am sorry." Aerea's voice suddenly broke Spyro out of his reflection, and he looked at the gray dragoness, who had her head down, as if in shame.

"For what?" Gaul asked, and she soon was saying:

"For believing these stories." She said, and it was clear that she regretted having believed in them. "They kept telling me such things about apes and about you ever since I could remember, in those rhymes, in the sleep stories, in the books, I guess I just took what they told me and never questioned it."

She rose her head to look at him. "But, now I see that none of these stories are true. That maybe none of the stories that they told me about the non-dragons are true."

She bowed her head once more.

"I am sorry that I ever believed in such things."

She sounded sincere as she said that, and it really seemed that she regretted having believed in the stories that they told her since she was a hatchling. Everyone in the table could easily see that.

After a few moments of silence, Gaul was the one who spoke:

"It's alright."

Aerea slowly rose her head, and she saw that Gaul was giving her a kind smile.

"You never met an ape before, so you clearly had no way of knowing if the things that they told you were truth or not." Gaul said, and Aerea looked back at him.

"B-but I should have suspected." She said, "I should have suspected that he was telling everyone this to justify why they should kill the apes and show them no mercy. I should not have let him..."

"Malefor is manipulative." Gaul said, cutting her off as he rose his hand. "He might be cruel and ruthless, but he knows how to be charming and how to control the masses. If he didn't, he wouldn't have been able to remain in the position of ruler, even with all of his power. He only managed to remain as king for so long because he knows how to influence and fool the dragons into thinking that he is right. It is no surprise that you ended up being convinced by his words as well."

"But I am..." she tried to say, but Gaul once more cut her off.

"You are a runaway now." He said, looking at her. "You realized the wrongs on Malefor's ways and you decided to leave. At the very least, this is what I presume."

Aerea looked at him in the eyes, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I started to see what he was doing, and I realized that there was no way that what he was doing was right, no matter what he said." The dragoness said, "I realized that I had no choice but to leave while I still could."

Gaul looked at her for a few moments, and he nodded.

"You are welcome here in our village, for as long as you need." He said, and the dragoness looked back at him, "You will have all the shelter and protection that you may require. I'll see to that myself."

"Thank you." Aerea said, "You are so generous."

"Hey, you saved my son's life." Gaul said, "This is the very least I can do for you." He had a smile on his face, and the dragoness could not see a single shadow on his face. She didn't saw anything that would indicate that any of the things that she heard about the king of apes could be truth in any sense. Once more, she felt ashamed of having believed in the stories.

Soon, someone was coming. The ape approached Gaul was whispered something on his ear. The king nodded.

"Tell them I'll be going soon."

The ape bowed and rushed away, and Gaul looked at the two dragons.

"Well, the good food is certainly an advantage of being called a king." Gaul said, getting up, "Still, it has some drawbacks, like when you need to have an urgent meeting with your generals to discuss a lot of important matters regarding a war just after you have returned from a campaign."

The two dragons looked back at him, and he said:

"I'll be busy for the rest of the day. You two are free to go around the village or to stay on the rut, as you want." He said, looking back at the two, "Just make sure that you kids have a lot of fun, okay?"

"Yes, sir." Spyro said, making a salute to the big ape, who smiled back, although he did said:

"Don't you think that this means you are not in trouble, young man." He said to the purple dragon, "We will have a more serious conversation on this later. No go have fun, you two." He said, and the two dragons were soon leaving, the dragonfly coming right after them.

Gaul smiled at them, before sighing and turning his mind to the more serious things at hand in there.

He needed to speak to the generals about their behavior with the other tribes.

Spyro loved to have his father at the village for many reasons.

Because he was always willing to listen to him. Because he never looked at him the way that most other apes did. Because he was always there to help him anytime he had some kind of problem, no matter how big or small it could seem.

Another thing that Spyro liked very much was, when his dad was on the village, his bodyguards didn't kept following him around all the time.

The guys all followed him around while Gaul was away in a campaign, however, when he was at the village, they often left him alone and gave him more privacy. Spyro had the theory that this was because they thought that he would be less inclined to try and pulling out any kind of misbehavior while his dad was around. After all, any teenager would feel disinclined to try and do things that they shouldn't do it their parents were around to hear about it.

They weren't completely wrong...

What Spyro knew was that his dad did not insisted for him to have his bodyguards with himself while he was around the village, only when he was away doing something else.

Anyway, with his dad in the village, this meant that his nannies would not be following him everywhere. In other words, Spyro and his friends had all the freedom they could have to go around the village without anyone tailing them all the time.

This was all that a teenager like Spyro could want.

Soon he and his two friends were going around the village and seeing all that they couldn't see when the bodyguards were near them. Spyro took them to some places that only he knew, like a water pond hidden among the rocks near a cliff, and a small road that lead to a clearing filled with delicious berries (which Spyro ensured them that were not poisonous, for he had learned about these specific berries from one of the many botanic books that his dad had brought him).

They also went around the village, with Aerea taking this chance to take to the skies and survey the area from above, while Spyro and Sparx followed from bellow. Well, Spyro was the lower of the three, as Sparx could still fly in the air several feet above the purple dragons head. That was a moment when the purple dragon really wished that he could be up there with both of them. He really was thinking of holding onto Aerea's promise of teaching him how to fly.

The villagers, in their turn, were not very keen on having Spyro run around the village without his bodyguards with him. They probably thought that he would try something now that there was no one with him all the time to rein him in. Also, some of them were nervous for having yet another dragon on the village, one that was flying right over their heads and that could probably strike them from up there if she wanted to.

However, today, it seemed that the villagers were actually not giving that much attention to the purple dragon, and not even to the other, strange dragon that was on the village.

Today, they had other things to focus on.

Gaul and his army had come back to the village.

This meant that the soldiers who had gone with Gaul to the battle were coming back to their families, reuniting with them after a long absence. Husbands reunited with their spouses. Fathers reunited with their chimps. Everyone was having a good meeting with the loved ones that they left behind in order to protect these very same loved ones.

And that was happening right on the day of the harvest.

What could make such a day more special to this village?

Of course, in such joyous circumstances, it was no surprise that the village would be in the mood for a celebration. A great dinner table was prepared, with everyone in the village cooperating for it, bringing several types of food in for the upcoming great feast. Also, there was a great space being prepared for recreations and for dancing, along with a great bonfire that they would soon be lighting up to illuminate the celebration.

This was all made to prepare for the night, which was quickly approaching, and soon, Sparx noticed it.

"Yeah, getting dark already guys." The bug said, turning to both of them. "I gotta go back to my swamp now. See you tomorrow." He said, and Spyro and Aerea both waved at him as he departed, flying across the darkening sky in direction to the swamp, saying that he should go soon, "before it got so dark that he would get lost in there and be eaten by one of these strange plants".

As he left, Spyro chuckled.

"He just doesn't wants his parents to star yelling at him again for being late to help cleaning his house." Spyro said, looking at Aerea. "He still lives with his parents, by the way."

"Yeah, I figured that out." The dragoness said, "He does sounds like a bit of a momma's boy."

"Yeah, I think the same thing." Spyro said, "But, I don't say that aloud very much. At least not when he is around. When I do, he shots back that I am a daddy's boy."

Aerea chuckled at this, and Spyro could feel himself blushing. Luckily, he was able to diverge her attention from the subject by saying that maybe they could sneak around the party, which she accepted.

Spyro was pretty sure that he and Aerea would not really be welcome into the celebration. Even though they couldn't really stop Spyro from taking part in it if he wanted (not with Gaul on the village to hear about it), Spyro had long found out that worse than being left out of a party was to be in there when no one wanted your presence.

Still, Spyro soon found out that he could have just as much fun by being near the party and away from everyone's side. It was almost as if the purple dragon was making a celebration all by himself.

Of course, this time he was not really all by himself.

This time he had some nice company.

Female company, it was to be added.

Soon she and Spyro were in a certain spot, as the day got darker. It was close enough so they could pretty much see and hear what was going on in the celebration, however, it was also far enough that none of the apes would notice their presence and start being rude to them until they decided to leave.

To Spyro, it was a perfect spot.

They could smell the delicious smell of the food, and it made their mouths water. And their stomach grumble.

"Maybe we can snaek in with no one noticing." Spyro said, already planning on how he would sneak into the table. That was a disadvantage of being purple, you stood on the background. However, that was when Aerea surprised him once more.

"Hold up, I have an idea." She said, and soon she was standing in there and making a few movements with her wings. Soon, a small hurricane was forming on the ground. It was very small, and the wind that formed it was so clear that the thing was practically invisible to the naked eye.

Soon, Aerea was making a movement, and she was sending the small hurricane forward. It was a matter of minutes before the hurricane would come back at them, carrying some food inside itself. Mostly it were small snacks, like some friend mantis and also some toasted heart cashew seeds. The kind of thing that can vanish from the table without anyone truly noticing.

"Cool." Spyro said, feeling glad for having the food.

This was not stealing. Not at all.

Stealing was when you took something that belonged exclusively to another person. It was a celebration. Everyone who wanted could go in there and take all of the food they wanted, it was free for all. They had all of the right to eat the food as anyone else. They simply were getting the food from a distance, you know, without being there in person.

The food was good, and the two young dragons were eating their fill, with the extra hurricane to pick up some juice. It was basically a spiraling wind that picked up the liquid and floated with it back to them as it spiraled inside of it. They had to drink it straight from the hurricane, but it was as good as if they were taking it from a bowl. To Spyro, it was an amazing experience.

The celebration was continuing, with the apes now playing games and forming groups to talk to each other. That was something that Spyro and Aerea could do by themselves, as they found out that they had a lot to talk about.

They talked mostly about their shared interests, and about the things that they could do on the following days. Spyro was excited to have his first flying lessons with Aerea, while the dragoness didn't really looked forward into going into a stroll around the border of the swamp where Sparx lived.

However, one subject that they didn't spoke was Aerea's past or her family. It seemed that something about the subject really made her uncomfortable.

"I'd really just leave all of that behind." The gray dragoness said to the purple dragon, and Spyro accepted her words, thinking that she must have gone through a lot before leaving the Dragon Realms.

Soon, however, his mind was distract from this by the familiar sound of music.

He could recognize well the sound of the aslexo's strings. The percussion that was achieved by beating the bailtu. All of that accompanied by the sound of two teawe pipes. All of that was strung together to form a melody with a fast pace and a very upbeat vibe to it.

"Great, the music started." Spyro said. Aerea rose her head, looking at the scene in the distance, and she was able to make out the apes at the distance playing their instruments. They looked quite strange to the dragoness, but they did made music alright.

"That sounds really good." She said, and Spyro was already bobbing his head up and down at the rhythm of the beat. He was not the only one that was getting on the rhythm, for it was just a matter of time before the apes into the celebration were all getting into the center of the area, and they were all starting to move in it, as Aerea was able to see from a distance.

"Is that a dance?" She asked, seeing the fast, wild and yet graceful movements of the apes.

"It sure is." Spyro said, getting more and more on the rhythm of the music. "That is sembla, a very traditional form of dance that all apes know."

"It looks difficult." She said, looking at how the apes moved, made swings, wide gestures with their limbs, and some of them even made mortal backflips as they stood in there, all of them following the rhythm of the music.

"It is not that much, actually." Spyro said to her. "It is all about letting your body go as free as possible. You just go crazy and let your instincts guide you. The very word 'sembla' comes from the old ape dialect, and it means 'craziness'."

"Well, it certainly looks like craziness." The dragoness said, seeing how these apes were going wild with their more and more daring dance moves. Some of them just dropped to the ground as they tried to make a move, only to get back up and once more start dancing as if nothing had happened, and everything was all part of the script. It looked like these creatures didn't had a single worry or care in the world.

"Yeah, the trick to it is to go wild without looking stupid." Spyro said, "And, even if you end up looking stupid, you just gotta not care about it at all. After all, you are doing that to have fun and to celebrate at something."

Aerea nodded as she continued to look at the apes that danced in a way that nearly seemed frenetic. She was amazed at how they didn't bumped on each other as they danced like crazy. It did seemed that they were all having fun.

"So, wanna try it?" Spyro said, and Aerea looked at him. "It is pretty easy once you get going."

The gray dragoness was hesitant, but she ended up accepting to try to dance. The purple dragon was soon making a demonstration to her of his own version of sembla.

"Can you really dance it?" She asked the purple dragon, who was getting ready to start. "Isn't it only for two-legged creatures, like the apes?"

"Apes are very adaptive." Spyro said to her, "And so are their arts. Be them martial or a dance, the arts of the apes are made to be very easy to adapt to your own style or, as I came to find out, your own body type. You just have to get the gist, find the style that works for you and... go for it!"

With this, Spyro soon started to dance.

It was as frenetic as what the apes were doing. The difference was just that the dragon danced in a way that four-legged creatures like him could easily manage. Still, the style was pretty much what it seemed to be for the rest of the apes, a form of carefree, managed madness of pure movement on the rhythm of the music.

"See? It is not hard." Spyro said, as he continued to dance, and he made three backflips, looking at the dragoness as now he was standing on his front-legs as he moved his legs and tail into the air as if they were the end of a whip. Aerea only looked at him.

"Not hard?" Aerea said, looking at him, and the purple dragon looked back at her.

"Oh, come on. Just give it a try." Spyro said, going back to all fours and looking at her. "Look, it is not very hard. Just start by sweeping your limps into the ground or into the air as wide as you can. Do it as if you are trying to stretch your body and swipe. Just like this." Spyro demonstrated what he was saying, and Aerea looked at him.

It seemed simple enough.

The gray dragoness was soon imitating the purple dragon, doing these movements, while Spyro kept encouraging her to keep dancing. He showed her more and more complex moves, and she repeated them the best she could. It took a few minutes for her to realize that these were not actual dance moves.

Sembla was the kind of dance that didn't had actual routines or practiced steps. It was all about letting yourself lose and let your body go with the flow, being as crazy and free as it wanted to be. That was what sembla was about, and the gray dragoness was soon getting quite into it, along with the purple dragon.

Spyro was used to dance by himself during celebrations, as he would stay from far and listen to the music, just going along with it. After all, it was his own party. Nothing wrong with dancing sembla by yourself in the case you had no one else to dance with (or in case you were the kind of creature that others would rather not dance with).

However, Sembla was the kind of dance that you could dance with someone else. Spyro simply never had a partner to dance before. Of course, that changed on that night.

Soon the two dragons had dwelled into their own improvised form of dancing. They would sway and skip around each other, and at some points, they would get really close, nearly rubbing themselves at each other as they danced along. Of course, Aerea was still a bit awkward with all of that, once she had just now started to learn sembla, and it take a while before you could dance it with the same skill as Spyro or the apes. However, the gray dragoness was showing that she was truly getting in the hang of things.

She was now starting to get into it, and once you got into it, it became easy. All she needed was Spyro's guidance, his encouragement and the little correction when she made something that could actually be consider a mistake, like moving her limbs in a way that they could cause a sprain.

The two dragons now were dancing together at the sound of the apes' traditional music, moving their bodies at the rhythm of their dance, and they both looked like they were having a lot of fun with this. Spyro would do handstands and mortal backflips, while Aerea would move her body with the grace and dexterity that a wind dragon could have. Sometimes they would be side by side, sometimes they would be moving so close to each other that they snouts would almost touch, looking into each other's eyes as they had a hind-leg and a tail stretched in direction to the sky.

It was all going with the rhythm of the music, which was getting more and more intense.

That was how sembla went. You followed the music and let your body go free. Of course, this meant that, if the music got faster, you would go faster to match it. That was another thing that Spyro instructed Aerea into, and the gray dragoness followed his instructions well.

Maybe a bit too well.

When the music reached its climax, Aerea was so into it that she was barely thinking of what she was doing anymore and, when Spyro jumped to make another mortal, she instinctively tried one as well. Of course, that was when things got complicated, for the two dragons bumped into each other in the air and collapsed into the ground, tangling on each other.

They were a mess of legs and wings as they tried to get back up, only for them to end up one on top of the other, both panting and looking into each other's eyes.

For a moment, the world seemed forgotten. Even the sound of the clapping and cheering of the apes to the end of the music seemed something very far away from them.

For a long moment, they stayed like that, with Aerea on top of Spyro, and the purple dragon was looking up at her as she looked back on his eyes. They both then looked away, both blushing.

"S-sorry." Aerea said, to which Spyro answered:

"I-it's okay. Stumbling around and bumping into others is part of learning how to dance sembla." He spoke, before looking back at her. "Actually, you were doing surprisingly well for a starter. You managed to do some very cool moves before we ended up like this."

"Yeah... well, I had a really good teacher." She said, looking back at Spyro.

"Yeah, and you fell on him while dancing." Spyro said, "And he might be a bit bruised tomorrow, but that's fine. He will try to stand a little farther away during next lesson."

"And I'll try not to go for the hardest things like I did today, teacher." Aerea said back, and the two dragons laughed at this.

They were once more looking into each other's eyes.

In that moment, it was as if everything around them was forgotten, and they only focused on each other.

Spyro had never had so much fun at a celebration before. He really liked the fact that Aerea was there with him. She was really fun and Spyro really liked being around her.

With her around, Spyro felt like he didn't needed to care about all of the apes who rejected him and didn't appreciated him.

He didn't meet many people who could make him feel like the rest of the world didn't mattered. In fact, the only ones that made him feel like that were his father, who always cared about him; and his friend Sparx, who always made him smile and laugh. Guess he could now add Aerea to that list.

He really liked the fact that she was there with him, and he felt like he could forget everything about everyone else.

However, this was not as simple as Spyro would like.

"It is just an absurd, you know?" A familiar voice broke them out of their thoughts. A voice that they preferred not to have to hear in a moment like that.

Kallag was walking nearby. Two other soldiers were with the crimson ape, both smaller than him but bulky and strong-looking nonetheless.

"Gaul is one of the best warriors and strategists that I've ever met, and I'll not deny that his decisions have helped us many times." The crimson ape said to the two other apes, "But sometimes he just cannot make the best decision. He lets his emotions get too much on his way of thinking. Especially when it comes to that little scaly pipsqueak that he calls his son."

The crimson ape sounded like he was ranting, and the two apes listened, as well as the two dragons. Luckily, the apes didn't saw the dragons, once they had tumbled and ended up behind a set of vases. They were hide from their sight, but they could still hear to everything they were saying. The two dragons just remained low, on the same position that they were, as they didn't made a sound and listened to what was being said.

"I mean, accepting a foreign dragoness into the village?" Kallag said, "Someone who could very well be a spy for Malefor's forces, and who could pose a threat to everyone in here? I mean, I can almost understand why keeping the purple dragon, once Gaul has already trained him, but a strange dragoness? And he didn't even considered putting her imprisoned with the other dragons!"

Spyro remained silent as he heard that, although he did wanted to say something.

"Trained him"? What, they thought that Spyro was a pet or some wild beast to be trained?

Aerea also didn't seemed happy that Kallag was still thinking of imprisoning her.

"Yeah, I can hardly believe that as well." One of the other apes said, "And I heard that it was the purple dragon himself who brought that dragoness here. He is actually bringing his kind to the hidden village now."

"Yes, he is." Kallag said; the resentment was clear on his voice. "Of course that sooner or later he would start favoring his own kind, even after Gaul domesticated him. It is like I've been saying for years; we cannot trust someone like him."

Spyro flinched as he heard that. Once more, he could not avoid the sting that came from such words, even when they came from someone like Kallag, who had had absolutely no respect for. The crimson ape sighed, "Well, I guess that all of my warnings fell on deaf ears all this time."

The two other apes agreed with him, and the second ape said:

"Yeah, I don't feel comfortable with that dragoness running loose on the village. I mean, I already feel uncomfortable with these dragons in chains on prison. By the way, what Gaul will do with them?"

Kallag scoffed, "What else? He is going to free them, like he does every time."

The other apes didn't liked to hear that.

"This is too dangerous." One of the apes said, "With so many dragons being freed after being brought here, it is only a matter of time before they start to get a clue of where the village is."

"They probably laugh at us." The other one said, "They laugh at us for letting them live while they would kill our kind without hesitation. Those monsters torture and kill our kind once they are taken prisoners and we don't do anything to them. I don't like this."

"Yeah, me neither." Kallag said, and he paused for a moment, before he turned back to the other apes.

"You know what?" He asked, looking at both with them with a smirk. "What about this time we don't let them go free?"

The two dragons tensed as they heard that, while the two apes looked at the crimson one, who was smiling at them.

"The dragons are currently chained and wearing these collars that suppress their elemental powers." Kallag said to the two, "They are now incapable of defending themselves. With a few more apes and good weapons, it would be like shooting arrows at wingless ducks."

The two shared a look.

"But... wouldn't Gaul be mad if we did this?"

"What? Being mad at us for having no choice but to kill the dragons after they had attempted to escape, and we happened to be close to intercept them as they were trying to escape from the village and go back to the army to reveal our location and put all of us in danger?" Kallag said, and the two apes looked back at him.

"If we all agree in our story, I am sure we can convince Gaul." Kallag said, "I've seen these two who Gaul put to guard the dragons, and they were drinking their butts off. By now, I doubt that they are even conscious. It would be very easy for everyone to assume that they slept on point and let the dragons sneak past them. Maybe we could even convince them to agree with the story, if this would keep them out of trouble for drinking and sleeping on duty."

He looked at the two. "So, you two want to do something about those winged lizards?"

The two apes looked at him, and they both nodded, what made Kallag's smile widen.

"You go and gather a few more soldiers." He said to one of the apes, before turning to the other. "You and I are going to get some weapons, really sharp ones. Dragon hide is thick. We all meet in front of the prison in twenty minutes."

With this, the three apes went their way, all of them ready to go ahead with their business. None of them noticed that, just behind a couple vases, were two young dragons who had horrified expressions with what they had juts heard.

Chapter Text

"He is going to kill them!" Aerea said, looking at Spyro. "Kallag is really going to kill the dragons!"

She was freaking out, and rightfully so. After what she had heard, it was clear that Kallag had all of the intentions of murdering the dragons who they had taken prisoners, the same dragons that King Gaul had already decided that would be set free, and he was gathering other apes to help him carry on with his plan.

This was enough reason for her to freak out, and so was for Spyro. The purple dragon was as horrified as she was, for knowing that Kallag planned to kill those dragons without giving them any chance to defend themselves.

Of course, Spyro knew that Kallag hated dragons, and he knew that he would probably jump at the chance of killing one. However, he was surprised that Kallag would go as far as to disregard his father's decisions. Gaul had already decided on freeing the dragons and Kallag was going to kill them anyway?

"We have to go find dad!" The purple dragon said, looking back at the dragoness. "We need to tell him what Kallag is gonna do! He will stop him!"

"We don't have time!" Aerea said to the purple dragon, "That savage is already gathering other apes to go in there kill the dragons! He will be there in ten minutes, maybe less! We won't have enough time to find Gaul and tell him while Kallag is already putting is plan in motion! Do you even know where Gaul is right now?"

Spyro stopped and looked at her.

He didn't knew where Gaul was. He knew that he was having a reunion with the generals, but he didn't knew exactly where it was. Spyro had never found out where exactly, because he never had many intentions of finding out. Well, he even had some curiosity of knowing, but Gaul had always told him that this was not important, that he didn't needed to know for it had to do with the war, and he wasn't part of it.

Now Spyro wished that he had asked his father where it was, anyway, at least so he would know where to come looking for his dad if there was an emergency. He knew that it was somewhere on the outskirts of the village, but that didn't helped at all, not when Kallag was already getting ready to start his murder plan.

"Until we find Gaul it might be too late." Aerea said, "We can't let Kallag kill those dragons!"

"M-maybe we can ask someone where it is." Spyro said, "My guards! Dad said to send one of them to call him if I needed something while he was in a reunion!"

"And do you know where you guards are now?" Aerea asked, and once more, the answer was no.

"Spyro, we can't waste time looking for someone while Kallag and his friends are out for dragon blood! We need to do something now!"

"But what can we do?" Spyro asked, and Aerea looked back at him.

"We can take action." She said, serious. "We can act like dragons and do something about it."

Spyro blinked, looking at her as she said that.

"Aerea... are you saying... that we should fight Kallag?" The prospect scared him. The people in the village already mistrusted and feared him, even though he never did anything to them (well, not directly, or on purpose, at least). If he attacked someone, even Kallag, he would pretty much be confirming to all of them that he was a dangerous monster, and then his life in the village would become impossible. Spyro had the feeling that even being the adoptive son of Gaul would not truly help him if he went that far.

Also, if Spyro was being completely honest, he was scared of Kallag. Something about the ape just scared the living lights out of him. The very idea of standing up against him scared Spyro, as if Kallag was a dangerous monster that would tear him apart if he tried anything. It was not only the fact that Kallag was bigger than most apes (and bigger than Spyro) or that he was a skilled fighter. It was as if there was something about Kallag that just awakened fear on the purple dragon, as if it was a memory seated somewhere deep on his mind...

"Yeah, that is not a bad idea." Aerea said, looking at the purple dragon, and she noticed the hesitation on his face. "But, I was thinking of something else."

"What?"

"Finding the dragons first." Aerea said, looking at the purple dragon, "And freeing them before Kallag can come for them."

Spyro blinked, looking at her.

"W-what?"

"You heard me." Aerea said, with a determined expression on her face. Spyro stared back at her. "You know where they are kept, right?" She asked, and Spyro nodded. While Gaul didn't let Spyro know where he reunited with the generals, he did let the purple dragon know where the prisoner dragons were kept, so he would keep far from that area.

"So none of them can catch a glimpse of you." Gaul explained, and Spyro just went along with it.

"What? The dragons are going to be freed tomorrow anyway, right?" Aerea said, looking at the purple dragon. "What's wrong with freeing them tonight?"

"B-but..." Spyro said, looking at her. "T-they are dragons... I mean... we are just going to let them out, just like that? W-what if they decide to use the chance to attack?"

"Look, unlike what you must have heard from the apes, dragons are not stupid and violent beasts that lunge at anything that moves." Aerea said, looking at the purple dragon. "We are reasonable, and I am sure that those dragons will be more worried with finding their way back home than trying to attack the village."

"B-but them they will know where the village is!" Spyro said, looking back at Aerea. "They might bring other dragons here!"

"Not if we take them to far before letting them fly away!" Aerea said back to him, "Ain't that how your dad normally does it? We can do just that!"

Spyro looked her, somewhat at loss.

"W-well..."He said, stammering, "Y-yes, we could, but that would... I mean... maybe we should... I-I guess that we shouldn't..."

"They are going to be murdered!" Aerea said, looking at him to convey all of the urgency of the matter. "Kallag is going to kill those dragons if we don't do anything now! We don't have time to go look for anyone! We have to do something now before Kallag can go on with his plan! We don't have time to think, we have less than ten minutes!"

Spyro was only staring back at her, and she repeated:

"We have less than ten minutes." She was calmer, but her voice still denoted urgency. "It is now or never Spyro. Those dragons' lives are at stake."

Spyro continued to look at her. He saw how serious she was at the matter, how urgent she was in spite of being seemingly so calm. She was really passing on to him the entire magnitude of the situation they were in, and how there was no time for hesitation. It was now or never, just like she said.

Spyro still had doubts, as his mind was thinking of all of the ways that this could go wrong. However, on that moment, looking on Aerea's green eyes, Spyro decided that maybe it really was not the time to think, but to act.

His own father once told him that there were times when a man should only act and leave all of the thinking for later. Spyro now had the feeling that this was one of these moments.

It was a moment to act first and worry of the consequences later.

Soon, Spyro and Aerea were both moving across the village. They wanted to be unseen, for they knew that they would be in trouble if they had to give explanations. However, that was not hard, once it seemed that the entire village was at the celebration. This left the space open for them to go as fast as they needed to.

They were moving away from the village, going at Southeast direction, in direction to an area covered in thick trees with yellowish-green bark and with purple leaves. Among the leaves, there were vines on the trees, vines that glowed on the dark, casting a glow on the area that eliminated any need for torches.

It was good, for those trees were far too close for comfort, as the glowing vines were hanging low, standing just above their heads, so low that their horns nearly brushed on them. As they moved forward, they could see something up ahead. It was a clearing, and in the middle of it, it was possible to see a big hut, much bigger than what one would expect for a hut meant for apes. It was also sturdier than the huts back on the village, which were made of wood and straw, as this one looked to be made of solid blocks of rock, built for maximum resistance.

The two dragons slowed their pace as they approached the hut, being careful as they threaded around it, until they stopped near the entrance. Looking over the corner and seeing the ones that they knew where guarding the place.

Two burly apes, both of them heavily armored and carrying big weapons, the kind that certainly helped them look even more intimidating than they were. Of course, at that moment, the two apes didn't really looked intimidating. It was hard to find anyone intimidating as they were currently out cold, sleeping on their seats as they had the jugs from which they were drinking wine spilled and drool leaking from their mouths.

It seemed that these two had really drank themselves to unconsciousness, just as Kallag said they would be doing.

"Gaul should get better guards." Aerea said as she and Spyro both approached. They were about to go in, but Spyro stopped her.

"Wait! They cannot see me!" Spyro whispered, and this confused Aerea. Spyro was soon explaining.

"Dad always said how important it was that none of the captured dragons ever saw me, so they wouldn't go back to the dragon army and tell them that I exist! He does want word of my existence reaching Malefor's ears!"

Cynder looked at him for a second, and she looked as if she was ready to say something in protest, but she then thought about it, and she seemed to realize that Spyro indeed had a point. However, this also left her thinking.

"How will we free them without them seeing you?" She asked, and Spyro said:

"Maybe you can free them."

"No!" She said, and then she added, "T-they might think that it is strange to have a dragon working along with apes, they might see me as a traitor for being in the village and not being chained along with them. They won't trust me in that case."

Okay, that sounded a bit odd, but Spyro went along with it. So, they could not see either of them. That posed a problem on their plan to free the dragons, and the two had to come up with a solution fast, before Kallag would finish preparing and come in there to kill the dragons.

Soon, Spyro had an enlightenment. He knew the perfect solution.

Sneaking into the entrance, careful not to bump into the snoring guards (but making sure that they were completely out), the two dragons looked inside of the hut, and they were able to see that it was, indeed, not a place for habitation, but a place made to serve as a form of prison.

If the bars on the windows were not enough proof, then you just needed to look at the chains hanging from the walls and ceiling, some of them connected to the prisoners in there.

The dragons had shackles on their front legs, as well as to the collars on their necks. The collars had some gemstones and runes on them, which formed a special type of spell on them that prevented the dragons from using their elemental powers. Gaul used that precaution to make sure that the dragons would not be able to cause damage while they were keep imprisoned.

To the shackles and collars, the chains were attach, and they rattled as two of the dragons moved.

It were four of them. One of them seemed to be the feistier, he was a dragon with blue and white scales, and he looked like he was still trying to free himself from the chains, although his attempts were weak and half-heartedly, as if he was tired of trying to free himself. By his side, a green-scaled dragon seemed to be moving a little, although he didn't looked to be trying to free himself, instead looking like he just didn't wanted to keep stopped for long. There was also a dragon with scales of various shades of grey, he looked to be the biggest of them, and he just stood in there, nearly as if he was standing to attention, and he seemed to be the most serious of them, seeming peaceful and undisturbed. He certainly seemed different from the orange dragon by his side, and he too seemed like he was not trying to free himself, but unlike the grey dragon by his side, he was looking down and he seemed to be worried, Spyro had the impression that he had been crying.

None of them noticed the two dragons spying through the corner of the entrance. Spyro and Aerea shared looks, and they nodded.

"Attention, prisoners!" Spyro said, making his best impression of an adult ape that he could. Luckily, Spyro used to practice disguising his voice for fun, and Sparx said that he was rather good at it. Spyro was not sure that he was that good, but his voice certainly came out so deep and loud that the dragons would certainly think that it came from one of the apes.

The dragons all reacted as they heard this new voice, and their heads turned to the entrance.

"W-who's there!?" The fire dragon said, sounding as scared as he looked.

"My name is... Saggur!" Spyro said, saying the first ape name that he could think of. It was the name of one of the gatherers. "I am a general in here in orders from King Gaul. I came here because Gaul decided that there is no point keeping you here any longer."

The dragons all heard to it, and it seemed that they had interpreted the orders on their own way.

"Oh, Bahamut! They are going to kill us!" The orange dragon said, looking like he was about to start crying again. "They are going to kill us and drink our blood!"

"Let them try!" The blue dragon said, struggling with renewed vigor and looking like he was really trying to break the chains now. "Come over here, you ball of fur! I'm going to break all of your limbs!"

"Enough!" Said the grey dragon, causing the other two to stop. The dragon looked at both of them, and it seemed that this look was enough to tell them to cut that out. Then the grey dragon turned to the entrance, and spoke to the unseen owner of that voice.

"I am Nimbus Wingstorm. Leader of this squad." The grey dragon said, sounding very serious as he spoke that. "As their leader, I am ready to pay the price of having allowed my squad to be killed and captured. I am ready to die."

"Captain!" The fire dragon said, but was silence again with a single glare from the grey dragon.

"I have committed many actions in service of the one who I call my king." The grey dragon said, "I accept whatever price it is for those actions, and I'll take it with a raised head. However, I do request that what is left of my squad is spared, as it was promised to me by your king." He was serious as he spoke that, "I want Gaul to uphold his word of not bringing any harm towards my subordinates."

"Oh, come on! You think that savage will really let us live!?" The blue dragon said, struggling even harder. "He is probably going to watch as they torture us to death!"

"No he won't!" Spyro said, dropping the fake voice for a moment, but immediately correcting it and speaking again with that deep tune. "I-if King Gaul said that no harm would come to you then you can be sure that he has the intention of upholding this promise, if possible."

"'If possible'?" The green dragon asked. "I don't really like the sound of that."

"I am ready to accept whatever punishment Gaul and the rest of the apes desire in name of my entire squad." The grey dragon said once more. "All I want is for my subordinates to be spared any mistreatment."

"You don't have to worry about that." Spyro said, still remaining out of their sight, hiding just behind the entrance of the hut. "Because Gaul have decided that you are going to be freed. All of you."

The four dragons blinked.

"Say what?" Said the green dragon.

"R-really?" The orange dragon said, sounding hopeful.

"Yes, really." Spyro said, "All of you will be let go so you can return home."

There was a few moments of silence, before the blue dragon spoke:

"Okay, I get it, what's the catch?" He said, looking at him, "Do we have to let you guys cut off our horns so we will go back in shame? Will you leave scars on our bodies so everyone will know you had us? Will you guys castrate us before letting us go so we can't have hatchlings?"

Spyro heard and felt disturbed by the questions. Especially the last one.

The dragons really thought that apes were that bad?

"N-nothing like that." Spyro said, trying to hide his unsettlement. "You will just be freed but... first, you all need to close your eyes."

"Why?" The blue one asked, his suspicion clear on his face and voice.

"Just close your eyes!" Spyro said, starting to get nervous because this was taking too long, and Kallag was on his way to come in there with armed apes. The dragons all shared looks, and the three of them had their eyes on the grey dragon, their captain.

"Do as he says." The grey dragon said, and soon, they were all obeying. The dragons all closed their eyes, with the blue one being the last one to do so, and it was clear that he was still suspicious.

As Spyro saw the four dragons with their eyes closed, he turned to look at Aerea, who had been working on getting the keys out of the passed out ape. She was able to get it without waking him up, as he had drank enough whine that he would be able to sleep through nearly anything. She had the keychain, as well as some pieces of cloth that she found on the nearby box. Spyro nodded at her.

"Keep your eyes closed." Spyro said, as he and Aerea walked into the hut. "No peeking!"

"What, are you going to throw us a party?" The green dragon asked, "Funny, I don't remember any of our hatchdays being today."

Spyro and Aerea approached, and Spyro looked at her as they nodded to each other. Spyro stood in front of the dragons, while Aerea approached with the keys and with the cloths.

"Okay, now we are going to unlock your shackles." Spyro said to them, as Aerea put herself to work on that. "But we will only free your front paws, don't try anything." He spoke, and the dragons stood still as the grey dragoness fumbled with their shackles. She struggled a little at first, but she soon was unlocking their shackles, until all of them had their front paws freed. They seemed quite relieved for having the shackles off, especially the orange dragon, who let out a sigh of relief. Apparently, his shackles were so tight that they were bruising his scales badly.

With this done, Aerea nodded to Spyro, and he nodded back to her. She soon was placing one of the cloths in front of each one of the dragons.

"Okay then." Spyro said, looking at the dragons. "In front of each one of you there is a blindfold. You will now pick them up and tie them over your eyes."

"What?" The green dragon asked. "You mean, like when we were walking to here?"

"Yes, just like that." Spyro said, "We cannot have you knowing the precise location of this place and telling it to the army. So you will be blindfolded and scouted to far from us so you won't know the location of the village."

"Village?" The orange dragon said, "The other apes told us that this was a settlement of their army."

Spyro's heart skipped a beat as he heard that.

"What, they lied to us?" The green dragon asked, and the blue one soon was saying:

"I knew it! I knew that these apes could not be trusted!"

"Hey! Hey!" Spyro said, raising his voice. "Hey, will you quit it!?" He said, starting to lose his cool with the dragon who tried to free himself from his shackles.

"Just relax!" The dragon said, "You will be free to go in no time!" He was getting nervous himself, as this was taking more time than he had anticipated, and he was already looking over his shoulder, as if expecting Kallag and his friends to come through the entrance at any moment.

"Yeah, right!" The blue dragon said, squirming harder now that his front paws were free. "You just want to get rid of us! Is that why you want to blindfold us, ain't it? So we won't see you coming with the big axes to cut our heads off!"

"W-what?" The orange dragon said, and he now sounded scared again.

"No! That's not it!" Spyro said, but the blue dragon continued to squirm and to shout out curses directed to the one who was talking to them. Meanwhile, the orange dragon was actually starting to sob, as if the other dragon had convinced him that they were going to be killed now. The green dragon started rambling about something, while the grey dragon was trying to get his subordinates to take a hold of themselves.

They were being so loud that Spyro was worried that the apes at the entrance would wake up. Not to mention the constant fear that Kallag could arrive at any moment.

Eventually, Spyro had enough.

"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!?"

It was louder and the closest thing to a roar that Spyro had made in his fifteen years of life. It had an effect as well, as it caused all of the dragons around to stop. The four dragons were still with their eyes closed (surprisingly) and not saying a word. Even Aerea had stopped and was now staring at Spyro. The purple dragon needed a moment to breathe and recompose himself.

"Look, I know that you are all nervous and scared. You have all the right to be. I know that you certainly don't trust apes, with all of the things that you have heard, but I can assure you that th-WE are not as bad as they've told you." The purple dragon corrected himself on the last moment, not wanting to make things worse with another slip of his tongue. "You are going to be freed and will be able to return home to your families, but for that you need to do exactly as I am instructing you, otherwise I'll not be able to stop other apes of coming here to kill you all! So, if you could all just reach to the blindfolds in front of you and put them on, we will be unshackling you so we can take you somewhere else and just let you go!"

The dragons said nothing as Spyro finished, although the orange one whimpered when Spyro spoke of them being kill. They just remained in there, saying or doing nothing, and Spyro got worried that he had truly lost them now, and that he was not going to be able to help them.

Then, he grey dragon said:

"Reach out to the blindfolds and place them."

"What?" The green one said.

"But Captain-" The blue one tried to say, to which the grey one shot back.

"Do as he is saying, so we can all move on." He was feeling ahead of himself with his forepaw as he spoke that, until his claws came in contact with the cloth that Aerea had placed. As he grabbed it, he took it in both his forepaws and took it to his face, starting to tie it over his eyes.

"Do it now." He said, and soon, the other dragons were following suit. Soon, all of the dragons were placing the cloths over their eyes and tying them around their heads, effectively blinding them. Aerea and Spyro shared another look at this, and the purple dragon nodded at her, mouthing at her to "do it quickly", to which the grey dragoness obeyed, quickly moving around the dragons, fitting the keys on their bonds and unlocking them. She unlocked the shackles on their hind-legs, as well as the lock that held the chains on their torsos. She also unlocked the chains that connected their collars to the walls and ceiling of the stone construction, but she kept the collars, as well as the chain that connected them to each other. She also kept the bonds that pinned their wings against their bodies.

"Okay, we can get going now." Spyro said, as Aerea took hold at the chain that connected to one of their collars, and was ready to guide them.

"Wait, what about our wings?" The orange dragon asked.

"And what about those darn collars?" The blue dragon said, "Are you seriously going to keep them?"

"Yes, we will." Spyro said, "They will be removed when have taken you far enough so you can leave. Until them, the collars remain, and your wings will be bond. You just have to move along as we guide you, okay? Now we have to go."

It seemed that the blue dragon wanted to complain, but he was stop as the grey dragon simply told him to "obey their captors", so the dragon begrudgingly remained quiet, and accepted to by guide. But he mentioned that it made him feel like an oxen, or like a dog being taken by a leash.

Spyro and Aerea soon were guiding the four adult dragons out of the hut. Spyro was going ahead, to check on things, and Aerea was just behind him, holding the chain connected to the collar of the orange dragon. From the neck of the orange dragon, another chain extended, which connected to the captain's, and a chain from his collar connected to the green dragon, and finally one connected from his' collar to the blue one's.

They passed by the two apes, who were still fast asleep. Spyro was relieved to see that they were still out, even with Spyro's scream, but he was even more relieved to see that Kallag was nowhere to be seen. Soon, he was moving forward, with Aerea leading the four dragons by the chain she was holding, and the dragons followed, trusting in the one holding the chain to guide them.

They moved out of the clearing, coming through the same path they had come. On their way out, the dragons tripped on some roots and nearly got their heads and necks tangles into the low hanging vines. The blue dragon even let out a curse, another one as a branch tickled his bound wing. Eventually, they made out of the woods, and Spyro and Aerea both looked at the village at the distance. They could still see the lights that were coming from the celebration. However, there were other lights in sight, which seemed to be moving towards their direction.

Having a feeling on what and who it were, the two teenage dragons guiding the four adults decided to speed up. Aerea pulled the chain insistently while Spyro urged the dragons to move, which they did. They seemed confused on the sudden hurry, but they did as they were told, and started to rush after their guides.

Soon, the dragons were leaving the clearing behind, as they moved out of sight of whoever it was that was coming in there. Spyro then felt glad for the distance between them and for his naturally good eyesight, enough to be able to see in the dark without the need for torches, which the ones coming at the distance would have surely seen.

The dragons all moved quickly, but silently, in the night, and as they did, they moved around a few corners, and moved farther away from the village. As they moved further away, the sight of the village was farther away from them. By now, the lights of the village were out of sight, and the two dragons actually relaxed a little bit.

Spyro and Aerea looked at each other as they felt like they had really pulled something. In a way, they had. They had saved these three dragons from being kill. Kallag would arrive in there intending to free the dragons and see that they were no longer in there...

Kallag would...

He would see that the dragons were no longer in there...

And what would he do then?

Spyro suddenly realized that he hadn't thought what would happen if Kallag had gotten in there and saw no one. He would see that the dragons that were supposed to be in there were no longer on the hut. He would immediately assume that they had escaped, and he would go after them.

Spyro heard many things about Kallag during the years. Not only that he was a fighter as skilled as Gaul, but also that he was one of the best scouts and trackers among the apes.

Kallag would certainly be able to track the dragons once he saw that they were no longer in there. And he would consequently find Aerea and Spyro helping them escape. And then...

Ohhh, Spyro really didn't thought that through.

Soon, the purple dragon was urging the whole group to move faster. It was a bit hard, with Aerea leading the dragons by the chain, and said dragons being blindfold. The dragons actually thought it was strange.

"Why are we going so fast?" The blue one asked, his mistrust still clear. "Are you in a hurry to see us go?"

"Yeah, in a way." Spyro said, looking over his shoulder at them.

"Does it has anything to do with these bells in the distance?" The grey dragon said, and Spyro looked at him.

"What bells?"

"These bells that have been sounding for nearly a minute now." The captain answered. "I have been hearing them from a distance, along with what seems to be angry voices."

Spyro looked at him, and at Aerea, who looked back at him.

"Air element. Enhanced hearing." She mouthed to him without making a sound. Spyro got the gist, and he then looked back at the dragon.

"How are the bells sounding?" He asked, "There is a pattern?"

"Yes." The grey dragon said, "Four short rings, followed by two long ones, one very high-pitched one, and two more short ones. Then it repeats.

Spyro felt blood draining from his face.

He knew that specific sequence of bells.

It was part of the system of alarms of the village. More specifically, that was the sequence that meant "great emergency on the village, all females and chimps get to safety and all of the soldiers get your weapons and be ready to fight".

Spyro had no doubt that there was Kallag's hand behind this.

"And there is also a lot of angry voices." The grey dragon continued, "And it seems that some of them are coming this way."

It got worse by the second.

Spyro was now practically urging the dragons to run as fast as they could. They were even more suspicious by this, but they did as they were told, moving as fast as they could on their current predicament.

Each moment seemed to last far too long, as Spyro was already seeing the mob of angry apes catching up to them, weapons on their hands and murder on their eyes.

Oh, boy. Why did he thought that was a good idea?

Then he remembered that he hadn't. However, it was too late to think of that. He could only keep moving and finish his thing as fast as possible.

After what felt like an eternity, they reached an open plateau, out of the forest and far from the village. Not as far as Spyro probably thought, but far enough.

"The key, now!" Spyro said, and Aerea soon was handling him the key. He turned to the dragons. "All of you keep your blindfolds." He said, and soon he was going to the dragons. He fit the key on their collars, starting with the grey one. The collar came off, followed by the thing that was binding his wings. The wind dragon let out a sigh of relief as he spread out his wings.

"Go flying, now!" Spyro said, and the dragon did as he was told, flapping his wings. They were a little numb after they time they had been bound like that, but soon he was flapping them enough to take flight. Spyro was already passing to another dragon, the orange one. This one was not able to fly immediately, for his wings felt too numb, and they actually seemed a little bit bruised from the tight restraints.

Spyro then decided to proceed free the green dragon, who was faster on recovering, and he was soon flapping his wings and taking to the sky, going to the same direction as the grey dragon. Next it was the blue dragon, and he didn't wasted time to spread his wings and fly away, ripping the blindfold from his face as he took to the skies and not even bothering to look back.

Now, only the orange dragon was left. He was still recovering, spreading his wings and flinching a bit from the soreness in them. Spyro was urging him to try to take flight soon. At that moment, they now could actually hear the apes that were coming after them. They were distant, but they were closing in quickly.

"They are that way!" Said a voice that, even from a distance, could easily be recognize as Kallag's, and that made Spyro's blood run could from the sheer rage that was in it.

"Let's go in there!"

"Get your weapons ready! Kill the dragons as soon as you see them!"

"Don't let any of them escape!"

"You have to go now!" Spyro screamed, completely dropping the false adult ape voice. "If you don't go they'll kill you!"

"But my wings..."

"They will kill you!" Spyro said, "You have to fly away now!"

"Here they are!" Someone says, and Spyro looks in horror, to see a few apes coming their way, torches on their hands, as well as weapons. All of them seemed like they were truly ready to kill someone.

As they tried to go their way, however, Aerea acted, and she opened her mouth to let out a blast of wind in their direction. It pushed them all back, and in this, one of them had the torch fly out of his hand and land just near Spyro. In this moment, the orange dragon, who was scared, ripped the blindfold from his eyes.

"What's going on?" The dragon said, scared. "Why all of this-"

He trailed to what he was saying in the moment he looked back, seeing a dragoness in there, looking like she was using her wind to keep the apes away. It was obvious that this scene surprised him, by the shocked expression on his face.

However, that surprise paled in comparison to the one that he had when he turned to look at Spyro.

The teenage male dragon would never forget the expression of pure shock and bewilderment on the face of the orange dragon as he looked at him. Looking at him as the light coming from the nearby fallen torch reflected on his scales, its light causing the purple of them shine even more than the moonlight.

"Y-you..." The orange dragon said, looking at the younger, purple-colored dragon that was standing before him. "You are... you are a-"

Suddenly, the orange dragon was cut off as an animalistic yell cut through the night, making both dragons turn their heads to Aerea, who was still using her wind breath to push the apes away. It was possible to see an ape among them who was advancing in their direction, fighting his way through the current of strong wind with strong and firm steps, a spear on his hands as the fur ruffled his crimson fur, and he had a look of pure determined rage on his face.

"You have to go!" Spyro said, turning to look at the dragon, looking away from Kallag, who looked to be dying to get to them. "Fly away now! NOW!"

The orange dragon hesitated for a moment, but he certainly didn't needed to be told twice. Turning his head, the dragon looked at the sky, seeing the faint shadows of his friends at the distance, and he soon was flapping his wings and taking to the sky, leaving the purple dragon behind.

In that moment, Kallag, with a powerful show of strength and skill, made a powerful jump, passing over Aerea's head, what surprised the grey dragoness. He landed a few feet away, and he locked eyes with Spyro.

At that single moment, Spyro could feel a beam of hate directed towards himself, emanating from those eyes. However, they didn't locked on Spyro for long, for soon he raised his head to look at the dragon that was escaping.

The last one that was still within reach.

Changing his stance, Kallag got ready to throw the spear and hit that dragon right on the back of the head, and he had the perfect chance, as the dragon lifted his head, probably looking at his friends at the distance.

At that moment, Kallag was already throwing, but he suddenly lost his footing as something slammed into him.

Spyro didn't even thought of what he was doing. He was merely acting in an impulse. The impulse of preventing Kallag from killing that dragon. The impulse of saving a life.

It was that impulse that caused the purple dragon to run to him, plant his forepaws on the ground and spin his entire body in place, slamming his hindpaws and his tail on the ape, catching him off guard and causing him to fall at the same time that he let go of the spear. As a result, he didn't had the aim that he intended. Still, the spear flew through the air in the direction of the dragon.

Spyro immediately looked over, his ears hearing the sound of the spear flying through the air and then hitting something. His heart froze as he saw the dragon flinch in the air and nearly fall.

Had Kallag hit him?

However, this horror would soon turn into relief as the dragon recovered, and was once more flying away, getting smaller and smaller as he left the purple dragon behind.

He was okay.

Kallag had missed.

They were all safe.

They were going to live.

This was enough to make Spyro feel a great relief.

However, that relief cut short as a sharp blow sent Spyro reeling to his side.

The purple dragon didn't even had time to get up, as he suddenly felt a foot being pressed down against his neck. Causing him to choke and immediately take his paws to the foot, but it was pressing so hard against his neck that it took Spyro a great effort just to keep himself from suffocating.

He looked up at the owner of that foot, and it felt like a block of ice had been drop on his stomach as he looked at the scowling face of Kallag, which looked at him with more contempt and anger than Spyro had ever seen in anyone's face before. With a dash of disgust on the side.

"You know, this don't surprise me in the slightest." Kallag said, his voice dripping with poison as he looked down at the purple dragon, who felt petrified before the pure hatred that emanated from the crimson ape.

"I have always knew that something like that would happen." He said, pressing his foot harder against Spyro's neck. "I have told Gaul for years that you could not be trusted, no mattered how much he thought he had tamed you and made you loyal to him. Well, maybe now he will finally start to listen."

The foot on his neck was pressing so hard that it was actually blocking Spyro's windpipe, making the dragon gasp and squirm under the ape. He would probably have suffocated if Kallag were not fling off him by a blast of wind.

Spyro gasped for air as the foot that was killing him was now off his neck, while Aerea ran to him, asking him if he was okay and urging him to get up, which the purple dragon was doing, albeit shakenly.

Meanwhile, Kallag was quickly recovering and getting back at his feet, while other apes were coming through the woods.

Voices resounded around Spyro and Aerea, as the apes asked questions. Soon those questions were answer, and these answers turned into affirmations. These affirmations soon became accusations and then cries of outrage, and such cries soon were turning into threats, all aimed at the two dragons, who looked around at the many armed apes that looked at them with anger.

Among the apes, was Kallag, who simply batted the dust out of his fur as he looked at the two dragons.

"You know, Gaul always said that my hatred for dragons would keep me from thinking clearly when it was needed." Kallag said, his voice strangely calm as he looked at the two dragons. No. He was looking at Spyro.

"Perhaps he was right."

Spyro looked at the calm face of the ape, and he saw that his eyes did betrayed what he was really feeling at that moment. That beam of hate once more aimed at the purple dragon.

"When I first saw you, I knew that you were trouble of the worst kind, and I knew what I had to do." He said, looking at Spyro. "I should have killed you right then and there, but I let my hatred get the best of me. I thought that only killing was not enough, I wanted to savor it. More than that, I wanted for everyone to see."

"That was my mistake." Kallag concluded, giving one more step in Spyro's direction, causing the purple dragon to retreat and Aerea to get between the dragon and the ape.

"I drew a crowd for myself and made of it a game, deciding just the most painful way to end you." Kallag said, still looking straight at Spyro. "This was what gave Gaul time to come and save your worthless purple hide. If I had just sliced your neck the moment I saw you, you definitely wouldn't be here today to do what you just did."

He finished looking at Spyro.

"Well, I won't make the same mistake twice." He said, reaching out and drawing an axe from his belt. "Time to finish what I started fifteen years ago."

That sounded more threatening than any of the explicit threats of the other apes around them could possibly be. It was enough to make Spyro cower in fear. Aerea was not as intimidated, though. She looked like she was ready to fight all of those apes in Spyro's behalf, and the wind was already building up around her wings, at the same time that all of the apes seemed ready to jump at her.

Spyro felt like he was sitting on a pile of gunpowder, and that a single spark would cause everything to blow up.

"ENOUGH!"

The booming voice was the explosion. An explosion followed by silence, as everything had come to a halt. Everyone turned in the direction from which the voice came, and they could see that the crowd of armed apes was opening to allow a much larger ape to pass.

Gaul seemed even more imperial and intimidating at that moment.

As he walked, he looked at what was before him. The two dragons, and past them was Kallag, with an axe in his hands.

The two apes locked eyes for a moment, with Kallag's hands tightening around the handle of the axe, while Gaul's hands moved to the handles of his scimitars. For a long moment, they both looked at each other.

Then, Kallag lowered his axe, what caused Gaul to let go of his swords. Then, he looked away from Kallag, instead looking at the two dragons.

Once more, it seemed that Spyro was the focus of attention between the winged reptiles. Even though Kallag was certainly the most intimidating of the two (to the purple dragon), Spyro was taken aback for seeing Gaul so serious. More than he had ever seen before.

"What has happened tonight?" Gaul asked. His voice was calm, but very serious, much like his face. As he spoke, though, Spyro noticed something on his voice. Something that he had rarely ever heard on the voice of the king of apes.

Disappointment.

Spyro would prefer if he was screaming in anger.

The purple dragon could do nothing more than lower his head, unable to face his father.

Chapter Text

It is amazing how a single night can change everything.

And not necessarily for the better.

Spyro certainly had the dreadful feeling that things were going to change on that night. He could not shake away the feeling that everything was going to get worse after that night, as Kallag looked at him with hatred, and Gaul continued to look at him with what Spyro could only assume was a huge disappointment, before the purple dragon and his grey companion were both scout back into the village.

Gaul guided them back into the hut, while everyone around them looked their way, and many of them whispered between with each other, all of them sharing what they thought they knew and what they heard, all of them wanting to know what exactly happened. Some of them seemed like they had a vague idea of what had happened already forming on their minds.

They did not went back to the hut were they usually stayed though. This time Gaul took Spyro to another hut, one even bigger than Spyro's, and which was reserved for Gaul to have his meetings with his generals and other important individuals. Spyro didn't reflected at this at the moment but, much later, he would find out that there was a reason why Gaul was taking him there.

Perhaps it was because of those whispering and the way they were looking and pointing at Spyro that Gaul decided to put guards on each entrance of the hut for the entire night. Or, perhaps it was because he wanted to be sure that Spyro would not go away and cause even more problem.

Either way, it seemed that he at least considered it for a little bit, when Gaul told that extra guard to keep an eye on the two dragons all night as they slept, and he did told them that they would sleep now. He was still not yelling, and neither did he sounded angry, but Spyro preferred he did, because the way he spoke, the disappointment on his voice, was much, much worse.

Spyro curled into a ball as he slept on the night, with Aerea by his side and his father going out to do something else without even talking to Spyro one final time to wish good night. Spyro nearly felt like whimpering and sobbing himself to sleep, but he decided that it was better to just sleep and get this over with.

Maybe he would wake up and find it was all a bad dream.

It didn't turned out to be a dream.

Spyro became aware of this as soon as he woke up and the guard of last night was still in there, looking at him with a serious expression as he waited for Aerea to wake up as well.

She wished good morning to Spyro as soon as she woke up and looked his way, but it was clear that this morning was anything but good for the purple dragon. He was looking down and looked miserable as the wind dragoness stood by his side and walked to him, nuzzling him softly to try and make him feel better.

They did not had a meal with Gaul, and instead they were both brought fruit and fish for breakfast, and told to wait for Gaul to call for them both. They even offered Spyro a book for him to read as he waited, probably upon the orders of their king.

However, Spyro didn't felt like reading today, even if it was a volume of the Adventures of Crash Bandicoot that he never read before. He just didn't felt like reading anything now. He thought he would not be able to truly appreciate the act of reading as he usually did. Heck, at this rate he would hardly even been able to concentrate enough to read properly. His eyes would just skirmishing through the words without actually reading anything. It happened before, and that was why Spyro knew it would be useless trying to read.

All he truly did was look down as he waited for the moment when his dad would finally call them both to talk to him. And he spent a whole amount of time dreading what Gaul would say once they were before him.

Funny how your mind could always think up the worst possible results when you knew you were in trouble.

Spyro had always considered himself a bit of an optimist. He would not have been able to live his life so far if he was not able to be optimistic about things. However, even he found it hard to imagine anything but the worst possible outcomes for this meeting with his father. He could only imagine what his father would say to him once he was before him.

It was with dread that Spyro heard the guard coming to inform him that Gaul was ready to see both of them now. Spyro nearly felt like a condemned man walking to his execution as he and Aerea were both take to Gaul's presence.

The wind dragoness once more surprised Spyro by touching his tail with her own. This caused Spyro to blush, as his instincts told him that touching tails was an important thing, even if Spyro himself had not lived among other dragons enough to know what a big of a deal this was.

It did made Spyro feel slightly better about what they were about to face.

That was, until they walked into the room where Gaul waited.

Oh, no! What is HE doing here!? Was all that Spyro's panicked mind could think. His stomach dropping several feet underneath the surface of the earth as he saw Kallag in there, standing by Gaul's side and looking at the two dragons with a lot of contempt as they made their way into the room.

Spyro looked down, avoiding that gaze. Aerea, on her end, glared back at the ape, looking at him with a challenging expression.

Kallag's scowl deepened as the gray dragoness gave him that look.

Gaul, on his end, remained impassive in the midst of all of that, as he simply looked at the two dragons. Spyro looked at the ground, at his own paws, while Aerea continued to have a glaring contest with Kallag, showing no signs she would look away from those hateful eyes. Both of them, however, looked in direction to Gaul as he spoke, his voice as serious as it could be, but gentle.

"Now... about last night." He looked at the two dragons in the eye. "Would you two mind explaining to me what exactly happened?"

"Are you seriously asking that, Gaul?" Kallag said before either of the dragons could answer to the bigger ape's question. "I think it's pretty obvious what happened last night."

He turned his gaze to Spyro, and the purple dragon cowered in face of the beams of hate projected from them on his direction.

"You 'son' has finally shown where his true loyalty lies." Kallag said, "With his own people. What is actually not that much of a surprise. I have been telling you for years that he can't be trusted, and it seems that last night finally proved it."

Gaul didn't looked away from Spyro and Aerea, as he spoke in an icy tone:

"Kallag, I'll inform you when it is his turn to talk, until then, I seriously advise you to keep your mouth shut."

Kallag scowled at the ape king as he was told off. He did obeyed though, as he didn't said any more words. Aerea had a smirk on her muzzle as she saw that crimson ape being put on his place so swiftly. Spyro, on his end, could not smirk, as he was still looking at his father, who looked back at him as he, once more, asked what happened.

Spyro soon was explaining to Gaul what happened last night that led to the outcome that Gaul himself witnessed.

Spyro told him about how they were enjoying the party from afar after they left Gaul, and how Spyro tried to teach samble to Aerea, and they both ended stumbling and ended up hearing of Kallag's plan to kill the prisoners without Gaul's consent. They decided to act to save the lives of the dragons, taking all of the measures to ensure the safety of the village and themselves, and how everything went downhill when someone noticed the dragons were gone and sounded the alarm.

"So... that was it." Spyro concluded, looking down as he didn't dared to look at his father, feeling ashamed of what he has done, even though he knew that saving those dragons' lives was the right thing to do.

Gaul looked at him for a few moments, before turning his gaze to the ape standing by his side.

"Kallag..." Gaul said, looking at the crimson ape, who looked back at him. "Did you really plotted to kill the prisoners against my orders?"

Kallag's answer was immediate:

"No, my king. I would never dream of disobeying your orders."

"Wha...?" Spyro said, looking at Kallag in shock.

"You liar!" Aerea said, practically screeching as she looked at Kallag. "You did planned to kill them! Spyro and I heard it all!"

"Oh, really?" Kallag said, looking at the gray dragoness. "There are anyone else who heard it? Anyone who can confirm what the purple dragon just said?"

"I can!" Aerea said without a hint of hesitation. "I was there and I can confirm that you and those two bastard friends of yours were plotting to murder those defenseless dragons together!"

Kallag didn't seemed fazed at all, and he just looked at her with a serene expression.

"Oh, so the purple dragon has his accomplice vouching for him? Well, that certainly means a lot, doesn't it?" He said, a smirk on his lips as if he knew he was making a point. Aerea looked like she was ready to jump at him and slash that smirk clear off his face with a swipe of her claws.

Kallag then turned back to Gaul.

"You are not seriously going to take the word of those dragons over mine, are you, my king?" He asked, and Gaul looked back at him.

"It is the opinion of two people against your own." Gaul said to him coldly. Kallag was not shaken.

"Do you want more witnesses? Well, you can ask the two apes who those dragons claim to have seem with me last night. They will confirm that we never talked about killing the prisoners or anything similar. Then it will be three against two, no?" He said.

"Those two were in on your stupid plan!" Aerea said to the dragon accusingly. "They will go along with whatever you say!"

"You mean, like how you are currently doing for your purple friend?" Kallag asked her, matter-of-factly. He then turned back to Gaul, and asked him to "listen to reason" and "not believe the words of the two dragons who so clearly betrayed them".

"I trust Spyro." Gaul said, and this surprised not only Kallag, but Spyro as well. "I know him."

"Well, maybe you don't." Kallag said to the king of apes, "Maybe you never really knew this dragon as well as you have convinced yourself."

Gaul said nothing in return, and only continued to look at Kallag coldly, while the crimson ape continued:

"Gaul, I this dragon who you've spent the last fifteen years calling your son has finally showed that, even if you trained him and made him obedient, his loyalty to his own kind will always surpass any bond that you thing you have built." Kallag said to Gaul, "So, thinking like this, this betrayal from his part is not really a surprise. Now, the only question left is, how to deal with this and make him pay for turning on us. Now, if you would accept my humble suggestion..."

Spyro dreaded what kind of suggestion Kallag would say on the grounds of "making him pay", and he was glad that, before he could give any, Gaul cut him off.

"That's enough, Kallag." Gaul practically growled at the smaller red ape through clenched teeth. "Remember where you stand."

Kallag seemed to remember, as he remained silent.

"I brought you here to hear your side of the story and to confirm Spyro an Aerea's. I've done that, what means that your part in here is done. You can leave." Gaul said to him. "You can leave as well, Spyro."

Gaul's voice was much gentler as he spoke to the purple dragon, but it was also serious, as there was still the fact that Spyro did something that produced serious repercussions. This was enough for Spyro to still feel like he was in deep trouble.

Kallag, on his end, bowed to Gaul, before making his way out of the hut, having time to spare one final glare at the purple dragon and his gray friend on his way out, casting them both pure poison with is gaze. Spyro shrunk under his eyes, while Aerea glared at him with fire in hers'.

Spyro waited until Kallag was gone, because he didn't wanted to leave the hut at the same time as him. Actually, he felt like waiting for a while before going out, to be sure that Kallag was gone and that he was not waiting for him just outside with his weapons ready to behead him.

The events of last night seemed to work to reinforce Spyro's fear of Kallag...

"Aerea." Gaul said, as the two dragons were both getting ready to leave. "I need to have a word with you."

Spyro looked at Gaul in surprise. He was confused, as Gaul had just told that they could leave, and that was when Gaul clarified to his son that he wanted to have a word with Aerea alone. This caused the two dragons to share a look, but Spyro eventually did as his father requested of him, and he was going to give the two of them the privacy they needed to talk.

"But be back in twenty minutes." Gaul said to Spyro as he was making his way out. "I need to have a word with you afterwards."

Strange how such a casual phrase could sound more threatening than the nastiest death threat of the world.

Perhaps it was the tune his father used, which didn't let Spyro forget that he was still in trouble.

With this, Spyro had his head low and was saying a "yes, dad" as he made his way out of the hut. He decided to just take a walk through the village, as he did when he had too much time to kill and didn't felt like reading.

However, Spyro regretted it.

It was no news to have people looking at him with mistrust and even anger. Spyro grew up with it for as long as he had lived on that village. However, this was the first time that it was so much anger directed at him at once.

Once more, Spyro's own sensitive ears worked against him, as they allowed him to get every single word that they were saying about him as they looked his way. That was how Spyro knew that they all heard everything about last night already.

Well, part of it, anyway.

They all knew that he and Aerea had both freed the dragons. However, they didn't knew the details behind this. They seemed to think that he had done it because he has decided to side with the dragons rather than the apes. To them, this was the first sign of something that they, apparently, always suspected.

"We cannot trust him." Someone said.

"Like we ever could trust someone like him."

"Of course he would turn on us at some point."

"Maybe now Gaul will finally get rid of him now."

"If he does, then I'll finally be able to sleep with an ease mind."

"If he stays in this village after this, I know I won't."

"There is no way any of us could possibly trust him after this."

"Are you saying you ever trusted him in the first place?"

"Of course not!"

"There is no way we could ever trust a dragon."

Spyro kept his eyes down, and he tried not to hear to all they were saying, like he had done many times before. However, today it seemed to be particularly hard to just ignore them and brush their words off. It was hard to just ignore all of their words on how he "betrayed all of them", and how he "finally showed his true colors".

It was just hard.

And, of course, fate seemed to want to make it all worse for him. So, it sent Zeggor.

The ape who, just two days ago, walked into the village in shame after trying to trick Spyro, was now as arrogant as he ever was (and Spyro could not believe how he never noticed how much of an arrogant piece of dung the ape was), and he was making pressure on Spyro as much as everyone else with his words.

He would not stop bragging to everyone how he escaped certain death when Spyro tried to give him as food for the owlbear after he attempted to allow him to join his crew.

"I was just trying to be nice and give him the benefit of doubt." Zeggor would say to everyone around him, as he had each one of his arms around a female ape, who were all over him. "Well, I guess sometimes you do pay the price for your kindness. I should have listened others when they told me not to trust him. Well, that's life, I suppose. I certainly learned my lesson."

Oh, how Spyro wanted nothing more than to go in there and smack Zeggor all over the head with his paws, and then with his tail, and then use both of his hind legs to kick the ape as hard as he could right on his arrogant behind. He would like to see if anyone would think he was cool once he had his butt handed to him by a dragon.

However, Spyro refrained from doing it. He knew that it would only make his situation with the rest of the tribe even worse.

But... did it even matter at this point?

Everyone was already looking at him as if he was a traitor. A look that, thinking about it, was not very different from the look that everyone always gave him. As if they never trusted in him at all in the first place.

"I knew we could never trust someone like him."

Spyro's heart was fill with disgust.

Disgust towards every single one of those apes who never trusted him. Who never gave him the time of day. Who never even gave him a chance, and just judged him for being a dragon and for the color of his scales. None of them ever even tried to know him. They just took one look at him and assumed that they knew everything that there was to know about and that Spyro was not worth their time.

None of them ever looked at him as if he was anything more than a dragon.

Only his dad did.

And Sparx.

And Aerea.

Aerea. Spyro could not help but think of her, and of how kind she was to him and how she was ready to act on his defense literally a few seconds after meeting him. She was kind to him, and she gave him the friendship and comprehension that all of those apes have, for so many years, denied him.

Spyro didn't realized how precious that was until that moment.

He now treasured Aerea even more than before, and he felt like he needed to tell her that.

This was what made him turn around after his short walk across the village and make his way back to the hut, not minding the looks and whispers of the apes.

They no longer mattered.

Spyro arrived right on the time that Aerea was coming out of the hut, her head down.

For a moment, she and Spyro crossed paths and locked eyes. However, the gray dragoness looked upset. So much that it made Spyro worried.

She looked down again, and she walked past Spyro without saying a word. Spyro was about to talk to her, when he heard his father's voice calling his name. The blue ape was standing at the entrance of the hut, looking at Spyro with a serious expression as he called him inside.

As they both entered, Spyro was about to ask what made Aerea upset, but Gaul silenced him with a "I'm disappointed with you, Spyro", as he had the most serious expression that Spyro ever saw him make, and this seemed to kill all of the questions the purple dragon was about to ask.

"What you did last night was reckless." Gaul said to him, "So reckless that I honestly never imagined you would ever do anything like it."

Spyro looked up at his father, saying that he did it to save those dragons lives, and that he was careful to not let them know the location of the village. He tried to say it all to his father in hopes of proving to him that he was not the one in the wrong... well, not completely, at least.

However, it seemed that the matter Gaul was more worried about was:

"That dragon saw you." Gaul said to Spyro. "He saw your purple scales and he knows what you are. And I am sure that he will tell the other dragons."

"Spyro can, you imagine what will happen if other dragons believe him?" Gaul asked to his purple dragon son. "What will happen if this information makes it to the higher ranks of the dragon army? If it makes it to Malefor himself?"

Spyro knew. He knew it because Gaul always made sure to paint a vivid image of the consequences of what could happen if Malefor found out of the existence of another purple dragon, one that could possibly oppose him.

It would basically be like having a giant target painted on his back for the rest of his life.

"You have put yourself in an unbelievable amount of danger, Spyro." Gaul said to him. "I'm honestly worried about what will happen next. We may need to move you to another village, just as a precaution."

Spyro continued to look down, as he took in what his father was telling him.

As he heard that, his eyes widened.

"Wait, move from the village?" Spyro asked, surprised. "To where?"

"Somewhere you will be safe." Gaul said to him. "I can make arrangements as soon as possible."

"But, what about my friends?" Spyro asked, "What about Sparx and Aerea?"

"Sparx is an adult, you can talk to him and, if he wants, he can come along." Gaul said to Spyro.

"Aerea too?" Spyro asked, and then Gaul's expression changed in a way that gave Spyro a very bad feeling.

"She can come too, right?"Spyro asked, and Gaul looked at him for a few seconds, before sighing.

"Aerea will be leaving the village today."

Spyro felt his stomach drop when he heard that.

"What...?"

"She will continue her travel alone." Gaul said to his son, turning his back to him. "She will receive rations for a few weeks of travel and then she will continue on her way."

"S-she is leaving?" Spyro asked, looking at Gaul. "She decided to leave?"

There was a little more silence, before Gaul said:

"I told her to leave."

"What!?" Spyro said, looking at his father. "Why!?"

"It will be better if she is not around you." Gaul said to his son, as his back was turn to him. Spyro, however, would not just accept this answer. The purple dragon was soon demanding to know why it was that this was happening. Why was one of his two only friends being forcefully kicked out of his life.

Gaul said something about her presence being dangerous, but it was so cryptic. Spyro came to understand that Gaul blamed her for the events of last night. After all, she was the one who convinced Spyro to free the dragons.

Spyro still didn't accepted it, and he told his father that she was only trying to help, that she was only trying to prevent Kallag from killing those dragons without need, and that he didn't understands why his father was so high-strung on her because of it.

Gaul said something back to Spyro, and Spyro tossed an argument back at him. That discussion was starting to get heated.

"Spyro, you don't get it!" Gaul practically yelled at his son. "We can't trust someone like her!"

That last phrase struck Spyro like a rock to the head. For a long moment, Spyro only looked at his father as he said those words.

Words awfully similar to the ones he heard the apes say that morning.

Spyro was shaking.

"Oh... so, we can't trust a dragon?" Spyro asked, his voice denoting his hurt. Gaul looked at it.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Oh, it isn't!?" Spyro demanded, looking at the ape whom he, for so many years, called his father. "Because that was what it sounded!"

"What I mean is..."

"What you mean is that dragons cannot be trusted!" Spyro said to him. "Just like all of the other apes of this damned village! None of them ever trusted me, just because I am a dragon! None of them ever cared about me! And neither did you!"

"Spyro!" Gaul said, looking back at the purple dragon. "How can you say that? I raised you!"

"You mean you domesticated me!" Spyro said to him. "You made sure that I would be obedient and not be a problem to you! You made sure I would be tame and that I wouldn't know how to fly or use any elements! That's what you did!"

"Spyro!" Gaul said, looking at Spyro as he looked back at the ape with teary eyes.

"Wasn't it!?" Spyro demanded of him. "Didn't you kept me from learning the elements because you wanted to be sure I would not be able to burn the village down!? You said I didn't needed to learn elements because I would live a peaceful life and I would not need to fight! Well, I assume that a mascot who cannot bite you back is much easier to manage, is it!? And that's why you don't trust Aerea, is it? Because you didn't mad her obedient and she could bit you if she has a reason, right!?"

"Spyro, do not distort my words, you know how much I hate when people do it!" Gaul said to him. "And don't call yourself a 'pet'! You are much more than that for me! I'm your father, dammit!"

That was when Spyro said something he thought he would never, ever, say.

"NO, YOU ARE NOT!"

It was Gaul's turn to be stunned into silence, as the purple dragon continued to glare at him while shaking slightly.

"You are not my father!" Spyro yelled at him. "You are just some ape who my mother trusted her egg because she was dying and had no other choice! Stop acting as if you are anything other than that!"

Spyro didn't even waited for any form of answer from Gaul. He just turned tail and dashed out of the hut.

"Spyro!" Gaul called him, but Spyro didn't looked back at him. He continued running ahead, not stopping for anything. Not even when he nearly bumped into a familiar grey form, who moved out of the way as soon as the purple dragon passed, and Spyro didn't even stopped to see or acknowledge who it could be. He just continued to run as fast as he could, without looking back.

"Spyro! Spyro, come back here this instant! SPYRO!"

All of those cries went ignored by the purple dragon, who continued to run forward as fast as his four legs could carry him. Hot tears streamed down his cheeks as he ran away.

Away from Gaul. Away from all of the apes who mistrusted and judged him. Away from the village.

He just kept running, as he just wanted to leave every single one of them and never come back...

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Someone's world can go up in flames in a single night.

That was a truth of life, which came barging in with no warning and no notice, and you could do nothing but run and leave behind what you knew.

Homes. Livelihoods. Even family members and friends.

It all went down in flames.

The apes had their entire village, to many of them their world, go down in flames in a single night. All work of a dragon.

And now, on the following morning, they were still recovering. Still shaken. Still broken.

Still trying to pick up the pieces of whatever was left of their lives after that one night of fire and terror.

And then, another dragon came running across them.

"Dad!? Dad! Dad, are you here!? Dad!"

Spyro was never the quieter individual. However, on that morning, he was louder than usual.

"Dad!?" Spyro called, before approaching a few apes.

"Have you seen my dad?" He asked, only for the apes to bare their fangs at him in a display of aggression that, in normal conditions, would have shocked Spyro due to how sudden it was. However, the purple dragon had other things to worry about.

"Hey, have any of you seen dad?" Spyro asked to a family of apes, only for the chimps to scream in horror and cling to their mother.

"Stay away from us!" The father said, pulling a knife and threatening Spyro with it.

Said knife was slammed away by the swing of one of the bodyguards, who quickly got between Spyro and the ape who threatened him. Soon, the others joined, as well as Aerea and Sparx, all of which had been following Spyro since he stormed out of the hut, desperately looking for his father.

That said, the purple dragon quickly found himself lost, as everyone moved to a new location, far from the original village, which had been burned down. And Spyro, unconscious at the time, was taken away from the burning village by his bodyguards along side his friends, while Gaul remained behind to fight the dragon with the rest of his soldiers.

However, not knowing where he was would not deter Spyro from looking for his father, as he had been doing by running around the improvised camp for nearly fifteen minutes.

"What about the wounded?" An ape nearby asked, to what the other one said:

"They took them to an improvised infirmary. They are all being treated for burns and other wounds. Some of them got it pretty bad."

Hearing this, Spyro quickly turned attention to the two of them.

"What!? Is it true!? Where are they!? Where are the wounded!? I need to know!"

"Why?" one of them said, glaring at the dragon. "So you can finish what that monster from yesterday started!?"

"What? No!" Spyro said quickly. "I need to see if dad is there! I need to know if he is okay!"

Soon another of the bodyguards came forward, and he talked to the two apes, both of which seemed very aggressive towards the purple dragon.

"We need to know if King Gaul is okay. Please." He asked to the apes, who shared a look, before one of them answered:

"We don't know about King Gaul. He and the other soldiers have not come back yet. We don't even know if they will."

"Are you sure?" Spyro asked. "Please, I need to know if my dad is okay!"

"We don't know, okay!?" The other ape said. "And if he is not, then it is your fault!"

"M-mine?"

"Yes, yours! And of that one as well!" The first ape said, pointing at Aerea. "After all, it were you who freed the dragons!"

"And once they were free, they told their friend where to find us!" The ape said. "We lost our village because of you! This is all your fault!"

Around them, other apes started agreeing with this. The bodyguards, noticing the changing mood, were quick to steer Spyro away. All the while, Spyro was looking down.

Were... were they right?

The dragons he and Aerea set free?

Was that the cause?

Because they were freed, and then one of them saw Spyro and he told someone from his troop about him.

Was it all because...

"Spyro?" The female voice snapped Spyro out of it, making him look and see Aerea looking back at him with a worried look.

He blinked, their eyes locking as the two of them seemed not to know what to say to the other.

"Aerea..."

"S-Spyro..." She said, looking back at him, looking away, and then looking back. "Spyro, I…"

"They are here!" The voice of another ape interrupted the gray dragoness before she could say what she wanted. And soon, Spyro would forget everything about what she was just about to say, as the ape said something that captured his entire attention.

"The soldiers are back! They are returning, and most of them are still alive!"

Those were good news for the apes. After all, it meant that their warriors and defenders were coming back.

However, those were even greater news for Spyro, for it meant to him that Gaul was certainly among them, leading them back to the villagers, like he always did.

"Dad is coming back!" Spyro said, as he quickly put himself to run forward. As he did, the others went right after him, calling for his name and asking him to slow down and wait for them.

Despite the purple dragon's sudden surge of positivity for knowing that they were coming back, some of the ones following him could not help but feel a sudden, eerie feeling of dreadful foreboding.

As if they knew, in an instinctual level, that things were about to get a lot worse.

Which was why they were all telling Spyro to slow down and wait for them. However, they would not he able to catch up with him. Especially once Spyro, in a rush to get there, flapped his wings and took to the air.

It only took him around two minutes of flying. He quickly left the apes behind, as only Aerea and Sparx were able to keep up with the purple dragon as he took to the skies and flew in direction to the group of apes he could see from a distance.

"Spyro, wait!" Aerea called him again. "Spyro! Spyro!"

However, the purple dragon did not wait. He did not slow down or even looked back, as if he was ignoring her.

Well, not really "ignoring". He was hearing her. He acknowledged that he was being called by both her and Sparx. However, he was not turning to look at her. He didn't had time to address the fact they were calling him. He was far too focused on what was right in front of him. On the group of people that his dad was, most likely, a part of.

He needed to get to them. He needed to see his father among them, safe and sound, even if wounded. Only that would bring him peace of mind again. Everything else was just background noise on his mind.

Even the screams of the apes below who either dove onto the ground or ran out of the way as they saw the shadow of a dragon flying over them.

Eventually, the group of returning apes caught sight of the purple dragon, who landed on the ground before them. He was running in their direction, calling out:

"Dad!? Dad, are you there!?"

He was so focused on looking for his dad's face, which should be easy to see considering how bigger he was than the average ape, that he failed to notice how a lot of the soldiers were gripping their weapons hard and glaring at him with hatred, with some of them even lifting their weapons as if they were getting ready to attack.

However, Aerea did not missed those obvious signs of aggression.

"Spyro!" She cried, before opening her wings wide and then flapping them forwards, creating a wave of wind that moved past Spyro and then shifted its direction in a way that it caused some of the apes, who seemed ready to charge at the purple dragon, to stumble back and fall flat on their butts.

"They are attacking!" Someone shouted. "Get them both!"

Once more, Aerea rushed forward, using wind to give herself a forward burst and then landed before Spyro, opening her mouth and producing a spiraling current of wind that hit the ground and formed a whirlwind, which moved forward and caused the apes to stumble back as they were pushed back by the strong gusts.

One of them, however, dashed forward, swinging his weapons as he hit the whirlwind, causing it to decompose into dust and mist before vanishing completely.

Kallag got up, glaring at the two dragons, his weapons ready to attack. Luckily, that was when the bodyguards caught up to them, and they all took defensive positions between Spyro and his friends and Kallag and the soldiers.

Seeing this was enough to make Kallag stop and just glare at them, as well as at the purple dragon.

"Kallag!" Spyro said, "Kallag, what happened!? Where is dad!? Is he in the back of the group? Is he hurt?"

Spyro asked those questions in desperation. His worry with his father so great that it easily overshadowed the natural eeriness he normally felt towards the crimson ape. Kallag, however, still looked at Spyro with the very same hostility as always, as he even bared his fangs at the purple dragon.

This caused one of the bodyguards to step up, standing directly between Kallag and Spyro, his axe ready to swing if there was any real need.

Kallag looked at him, and then at Spyro.

"It must make you feel so safe, no?" Kallag asked to the purple dragon. "To have your father's loyal followers protecting you from all harm? Well, that won't last much longer. Not now that they will be receiving orders from someone else..."

The way Kallag said that caused the purple dragon to have shivers, all kinds of alarms going off on his head as the crimson ape looked at him with a strange, cruel glint on his eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" Spyro asked, looking back at the ape. "Kallag, where is my dad?"

As Spyro asked that question, other apes started arriving, all of them coming to see the soldiers, and to see which ones of them had came back and which ones needed of medical attention. Seeing them come, Kallag allowed himself to open a smirk.

"You are about to find out." He said to Spyro with a hint of cruelty, even sadism, on his voice. As if he knew that, after all those years, he was finally going to get payback at an old foe and could hardly contain himself.

With this, he moved past Spyro, his dragon and dragonfly friends, and his bodyguards, and walked right into the apes, all of them asking question after question. It all came to a halt as Kallag rose his voice:

"My friends! I know you all are worried, and rightfully so! Our village, where we made our home, has been targeted by our enemies, the dragons!"

As he said that, Kallag cast a not-so-subtle glance to Spyro and Aerea, and many apes took the hint, as they followed his gaze and glared at the two dragons, who both shrunk under that hostility.

"However, you do not have to worry! We have fought the beast and chased it off! The dragon will not come after us! We are safe!" The ape said, and everyone seemed to sigh a sigh of relief upon hearing those words. They were all glad for knowing that the monster who destroyed their houses would not be coming for them next.

However, that was when Kallag continued:

"Sadly, such a victory did not come without a price. Our village was destroyed, and now that place is no longer safe. Not only that, but we lost very valorous warriors while fighting the dragon."

Kallag made a pause, allowing some silence, as if letting everyone absorb this information, before he dropped the true bomb:

"Among them our king."

Gasps and exclamations of horror followed those words. Spyro's eyes went as wide as dinnerplates as he heard those words, a knot instantly forming on his stomach, which dropped all the way to the core of the world.

"Yes." Kallag said, his voice taking in a solemn tone. "Is with a heavy heart that I must tell all of your that our brave leader, King Gaul, has perished in combat. He died a hero! Fighting the dragon head on while leading us, like he always did in life! His bravery will inspire us for many generations to come as we fight against our vile enemies!"

As he said the last words, he turned to the two dragons present, glaring at them as if silently accusing them of having a direct hand on Gaul's hand. Aerea backed away under his gaze, especially once she noticed that many other apes were glaring at them the same way.

Spyro, however, seemed oblivious to it. He was too busy trying to get a grip on what Kallag just said. His brain worked in overdrive to try and understand what the big crimson ape said about what happed on the village.

About what happened to his father.

It did, eventually, and Spyro maintained the shocked expression on his eyes, before it morphed into outrage.

"You... liar!"

Kallag had a raised eyebrow at the purple dragon as he said that, as if this was not exactly the reaction he had been expecting. The purple dragon, on his end, continued to glare at him.

"Kallag, you filthy liar!" Spyro nearly roared at the ape, who looked unimpressed, while many others backed away.

"A liar? Me?" The tone Kallag used was one of condescendence as he looked at the purple dragon. "How so? What did I lie about?"

"About dad being killed!" Spyro let out another roar. "That he is gone! That's not truth!"

Kallag looked at him with no reaction.

"There is no way dad would die! There's just no way! He is the strongest ape of all! Even the strongest dragons could never kill him! There is no way the one from last night did! Where is he!? Where is dad!? Why are you telling people he died!?"

"Oh? What is this?" Kallag was looking intently as Spyro. "Are you denying my words? Denying that our king is dead? Is this your way to try and escape from blame?"

He gave another step.

"For is your fault he is gone." Kallag said to Spyro, looking him dead in the eyes, nearly as if wanted to be sure the purple dragon would understand exactly what he was saying. "It is all because of you that our people lost a king. It is your fault that our leader is now gone."

"Stop lying!" Spyro was demanding at this point, his lips curling in an involuntary snarl as he looked at the ape. "Stop saying dad is gone! That's not truth! It can't be!"

Kallag said nothing to this, instead, he only reached for something on the pocket of his loincloth.

"There is no way I would ever believe dad would die! That just not truth! If you think I'll believe this then you are-"

What Spyro was saying got lost, as Kallag pulled something and held it in the light for not only Spyro, but everyone to see.

It was something green and red, and the people soon took notice how it was a gemstone. A green gemstone that was covered with something red.

Then some, among them, Spyro, realized it was:

"Dad's crystal eye..."

The haunted tone on Spyro's voice was lost to most others around him, as everyone, realizing that it was, indeed, the crystal that their king had in replacement of his lost eye, covered in blood.

"Our king died a hero, just as he lived." Kallag said, looking around as he showed the crystal. "He fought head on against the dragon. He helped us thrive in the face of adversity, and his guidance was what helped us prevail. Many more of us would have not returned was not for his courage and leadership."

He had a solemn expression as he said the next words.

"However, even out brave king could not face this one dragon. I was there to witness his bravery on his final stand against the beast, which claimed his life before retreating."

"I wished to bring him back, to return him to our people for his final rites. However, his body had, sadly, been horribly disfigured by the fires that took his life. I could not bring myself to allow for this to be the final image that our people would have of our noble leader."

He continued to hold the crystal high in the air.

"This..." Kallag had a heavy tone as he said that. "Is all that is left of him."

Around him, everyone absorbed this information. Many of them had horrified expressions, which soon turned into expression of anguish and grief, as they all took in what Kallag was telling them.

The terrible reality they now had no choice but to accept.

Including Spyro.

N-no...

"Yes, we have lost our king, my friends. This is a terrible day for our people."

No...

"However, let us not allow ourselves to be consumed by grief. We cannot allow ourselves to in this time of war. Instead, let's remember our king for the many deeds he performed, for how fervently he fought for us, and for how much he inspired all of us."

This can't be...

"I shall carry all of those in my heart as I take on the role of leading out tribe."

"Say what now!?"

Someone had cried out to this, however, Spyro hardly even heard it.

This can't be... it can't, I can't. Please, tell me it ain't real. Tell me this is a bad dream. Tell me dad is okay. Please...

Please...

"And what exactly makes you the new king!?" One of Spyro's bodyguards, loyal followers of Gaul, asked. "What gives you the right to take his place!?"

"I was his follower for years, as well as his second-in-command." Kallag said. "I have fought by his side for years, and I have nothing but the well-being of our people in mind, as Gaul himself know. And you can ask just anyone on our village."

The bodyguards did not agree to this. However, it soon became clear that a lot of the apes around them did. They all spoke of how strong Kallag was, and how he helped keep their people safe from the dragons by fighting by the side of their king and fending off Malefor's forces. More and more voices came in, as the apes of the village, on their great majority, supported Kallag as their new leader, now that Gaul was gone.

"There is no one more adequate to take Gaul's place than him!"

"I'll follow Kallag!"

"He always cared for us!"

"He will keep us safe!"

"With Gaul gone, he is the only one who can keep us safe!"

Each new voice seemed to make Kallag grow. Or, at the very least, the smirk on his face, as it soon became clear that he had the support of the other apes. That they were all willing to follow him right away. As for those who were not...

"Is with no joy that I take on this duty." Kallag said, once more sounding solemn and somber. "However, I will take it even with a heavy heart, as I promise to protect our people from the vile grasp of our enemy, and to keep us safe from all dragons." He then turned to Spyro and Aerea.

"Including the ones who are right here."

Tension arose.

"The dragons who entered in our midst." Kallag continued. "The dragons who made themselves look harmless while living among us. The dragons who plotted and betrayed us in favor of their kind without a second of hesitation and brought ruin upon our village."

He was glaring intently at the two as he said those words.

"The dragons who are to blame for us losing our beloved king."

As he said those words, glares formed. Followed by voices of agreement. Voices of anger. Voices that soon formed accusations and threats, all of them directed to the two dragons.

Aerea stepped back, her wings flared as her muscles tensed to the perception of a threat coming her way.

Spyro, however, seemed oblivious to all of it. He was too busy looking at Kallag's hand. At the object that he held to it.

"Dad..." Spyro gave a step forward towards Kallag, only for the ape to move forward himself and kick him, sending him to the ground.

"Spyro!" Aerea tried to reach the dragon, but was stopped by the other apes, all of which seemed they wanted a piece of her. Even the bodyguards were surrounded, resulting in Kallag being unimpeded to walk to Spyro and plant a dexterous foot on his head to press his face down on the dirt.

"I told you one day Gaul would not be here to protect you, didn't I?" Kallag was practically grinning with glee as he said that to the purple dragon. "This day has finally come, lizard. Now I finally get to do as I want with you and no one will stop me!"

"Get away from him!" Aerea roared at Kallag, and then at the apes around her. "Don't you dare stand in my way!"

The wind around her agitated, what caused a lot of the apes to step back, but they were still on her way, as Kallag was now pulling out one of his axes.

"Now..." The crimson ape was practically salivating, like a wolf who cornered a prey and couldn't wait to taste its blood. "Time to finish what I started fifteen years ago."

Spyro squirmed from under him. However, those squirms were half-heartedly, and nearly absent-minded, even as he noticed Kallag lifting his axe up, getting ready to swing it down while aiming straight for Spyro's neck.

However, he never had the chance to swing it and behead the purple dragon. A fist came and collided right into his face, sending him flying and causing the two objects on his hand to be let go. The axe sank its blade on the ground near Spyro's head, missing his face by merely two inches. The purple dragon blinked as he looked at his own reflection on the polished steel, before looking up at the ape who just saved his life.

"Nalug!" Kallag said, getting up after spitting a tooth and some blood. "What the hell are you doing!?"

"Keeping you from killing Gaul's son." The Munduri master was glaring at the red ape while holding a fighting pose, one arm lifted in a steady position while the other one held a rectangular wooden box. At his feet, Spyro had gotten on all fours and, very shakenly, walked to the other object Kallag dropped upon being punched.

"Dad..." Spyro said meekly as he scooped the green gemstone on his paws.

"Dad..."

"You dare betray your new king!?" Kallag demanded as he got up and glared at Nalug, who then said:

"I am loyal to the old king!" Nalug said, "And our old king would not want his son to die!"

"That thing is not Gaul's son!" Kallag demanded while he pointed at the purple dragon. "It is just a dragon he took under his wing hoping he could teach it to fight for us, but that was the cause of his demise instead! And I am sure that he regretted not having killed him himself on his final moments!"

Nalug tensed at those words.

"I will not allow you to kill him." The ape was still holding his Munduri pose as he said that. "Anyone who wants to lay a finger on him will have to get through me."

Kallag was baring his fangs at the other ape as he glared at him. Nalug, however, was not impressed. He just held his position, and no one dared to try to approach him. Not when he was a grandmaster of Munduri who was known for being nearly as strong as their recently-deceased king, and who only never took part on any conflict because he was a preacher of pacifism.

At this moment, Aerea acted. With a screech, she released a gust of wind that caused many of the apes before her to fall prone, leaving the path clear for her, Sparx, and the other bodyguards to reach the purple dragon, and soon they were all forming a perimeter around him, ready to fight off anyone who tried to come too close to the purple dragon with harmful intentions.

This was enough to keep all other apes fearful of trying to close in. Especially the winds that flowed around the great dragoness, some of it forming three small whirlwinds around her.

And, all the while, Spyro was still holding onto the gemstone. His body still shaking, tears leaking from his eyes and dropping on the gem, washing away the blood as they landed on the dry substance and moistened it once more.

"Daddy..." Spyro squeaked, his voice strained as if he was choking. He barely reacted when someone called his name. However, he did blink when he was grabbed by the shoulders and made to look into someone's eyes.

"Spyro, did you hear me!?"

"W-whu... what?" The purple dragon's vision was blurry due to the tears. However, he could still see the face of Nalug looking back at him.

"Spyro, you need to leave." Nalug said, "It is not safe in here for you. Not anymore. You need to go and hide. I'll find you later, I promise, now go! Go with your friends! Now!"

Spyro was still confused, his brain seeming to only now be catching up with what was happening around him, as Sparx pulled on his horn to try and get him to move, and Aerea also urgently told him to run, while his bodyguards all held their weapons against the other apes to ensure they had a safe path out of there.

Spyro then ran. Not because he wanted to, but because the others were telling him to, and he was running with the others while many other apes yelled curses and threats at him.

And, among them was, obviously, Kallag.

"If I ever see you again, I will kill you, and nothing will stop me!" The voice of the ape was as threatening as ever before. "Gaul is no longer here to stop me, and it is all because of you! Don't ever forget that our king is gone because of you! For we will not!"

Spyro continued running as many apes rose their voices in agreement with Kallag's words, some of them even cheered. They cheered Kallag as their new king.

For the old king was gone.

The old king was dead.

Gaul was dead.

Spyro's father was dead.

Because of him.

Spyro's eyes once more were filling with moisture, but he kept running as the dragonfly, dragoness and apes with him told him to continue to run.

They only stopped a lot later, when they had retreated deep into the swamp, where most apes avoided going.

"It's okay, they are not following us." One of the bodyguards said as they all recovered their breath. "We are safe now."

"Thank the swamp gods!" Sparx said, "Man, you apes can be really rambunctious, can't you?"

"Do you even know what that word means?" Aerea asked of the dragonfly. However, any answer that the glowing bug was thinking of giving was forgotten as a sudden, broken sound caused them to look.

"Spyro?"

They looked at him. All of them just looked at the purple dragon, who had the gemstone of his father's eye held close to his chest. More tears were coming, as choked sobs escaped from his throat.

"I-its my fault..." Spyro said. "It's all my fault... Kallag is right, it is all my fault..."

"Hey, Spyro? Buddy?" Sparx approached.

"It is all because of me!" Spyro said, "Because I freed those dragons! They told the other dragons where the village was and then they sent that one! And now dad is... d-dad is..." The dragon was trembling. "It's my fault... it's all my fault..."

Everyone looked at him, with some of them sharing looks. Aerea looked down, before she approached the purple dragon.

"Spyro, don't say that." She spoke to him, very gently. "What happened was not your fault, you can be sure of that."

There was silent after those words, the purple dragon assimilated them, and then he eventually said:

"You... are right..."

For a moment, the gray dragoness smiled, thinking she had made Spyro feel better. However, her smile disappeared as the purple dragon turned to her, an expression of anger on his face.

"It's your fault!" The purple dragon had an accusatory tone as he said those words to a shocked Aerea. "Because it was you who had the idea of freeing the dragons! I wanted to go and talk to dad! If I had not listened to you, then none of this would have happened!"

"Spyro!" Aerea said, and then a discussion started between the two dragons, which the apes and dragonfly around could do nothing more than to watch as it escalated more and more, with the purple dragon throwing accusations while the gray dragoness defended herself from them.

"Kallad was going to kill the dragons, Spyro!" Aerea said, somewhere between exasperation and anger. "What were we supposed to do? Just sit back and down nothing!? Just let them be slaughtered!?"

Spyro then shocked her by saying:

"Yes! That would have been a lot better! I didn't know any of those dragons! Just like I wish I had never known you! I lost my dad because of you! I hate you!"

And before Aerea could recover and say anything back, Spyro turned around and bolted.

"Huh? Wait! Spyro!"

"Master Spyro! Wait!"

"Leave me alone!" Spyro said to whoever it was that was talking to him, as he just dashed out of there as fast as his legs could carry him. And then, with a powerful jump and a flap of his wings, the purple dragon was airborne and flying out of there as fast as he could, what was a quite fast despite the fact he had literally learned to fly yesterday.

His wings carried him across the swamp. His vision was turvy with tears, and this resulted into Spyro many times just narrowly avoiding colliding with trees. In more than one occasion, he had to land on it with his paws and then propel himself so he could go back to flying. And, during the path, he also collided with some clouds of smelly swamp gas and with birds, but Spyro barely minded any of those. Nor the impact of those feathery critters nor the nauseating smell of the gas could make Spyro forget the reason why he was flying.

They could not make him forget the heartbreak. The anger. The sadness.

The guilt.

The loneliness.

The fact that he had lost the only person in the world who loved and cared for him unconditionally all his life, and that the last conversation they had was a fight.

Spyro eventually had to land. His wings were hurting on the joints connecting them to his back, as well as the rest of the musculature around them, which were all the muscles Spyro knew from the anatomy books that were involve in flapping the wings hard enough to keep him airborne.

He landed on a small hill by a big lake. He was panting, sweat was dripping from his forehead and muzzle as he panted. He could see his own reflection on the water of this lake, which was surprisingly crystalline considering that they were inside of a swamp, which made Spyro think that maybe this lake was separated from the rest of the stale water, making it clear, as well as drinkable.

As it was clear from the animals Spyro could see on the edge of the lake, both drinking from the lake.

They were long-eared gazelles. One adult and one fawn. The adult, a male with a proud pair of antlers, drank from the water while keeping his ears lifted. By his side, the small fawn drank from the water as well, his long and floppy ears dipping in the water and coming back wet. This caused the adult, the fawn's father, to lick his ears clean.

Seeing this only caused Spyro to remember his father even more. To remember everything that kind ape did for him since he took him in. How much he sacrificed and struggled to protect him and make sure he grew up strong, healthy and happy.

The gazelles both ran in alarm as the purple dragon cried. His cry was not a roar, but just a cry. A cry of sheer, agonizing emotion that the purple dragon could no longer hold down, and that ended on the poor dragon collapsing in a sobbing pile of scales.

He cried.

He didn't know for how long. He didn't care.

He just cried...

"Hey, hey, now." Gaul said to his little purple dragon son. "No need to cry, Spyro."

"B-but..." the purple dragon said as the ape wiped off his tears. "But I broke the fishing rod... the one you just gave me... I-I didn't mean to... I'm so sorry, dad..."

Gaul pulled his son closer, letting him know he was not mad. That those kinds of things happen, and that it was not his fault.

"B-but I ruin everything!" Spyro said, nearly breaking down in tears. "I always ruin everything for you and everyone! I'm just a burden!"

"What? Of course, you don't!" Gaul said to the purple dragon. "Where did you got that idea?"

"T-the red scary ape said it..." Spyro said, sobbing weakly as he said that. Gaul looked at him for a moment, before looking away as his expression soured.

"Dammit, Kallag..." He growled, and the purple dragon flinched. Gaul, quickly realizing that the purple dragon was still looking at him, quickly working on going back to tranquilize him.

"Spyro, you never ruined anything for me. You are not 'a burden' or anything of the like. Take my word to it, and don't let anyone ever tell you that you are." Gaul said, wiping the last tears away from his son's face, while Spyro continued to sob weakly.

"S-sorry about the fishing rod..." Spyro said again, to what Gaul said to him:

"It was just a piece of wood, Spyro. I can get you a new one no problems." He was petting the purple dragon's head.

"B-but I ruined the fishing..."

"No, you did not." Gaul said to the purple dragon. "We still have this one." He showed his own fishing rod to the purple dragon. "And I'm still going to teach you how to fish."

And he did. He made sure to teach the purple dragon the proper way to do it. He explained to Spyro that the previous one snapped because he swung it too hard. He needs to have a steadier paw on it and be careful when pulling back.

"It is all about knowing when to be rough and when to be gentle." Gaul explained to Spyro, as he placed his paws on the right position on the fishing rod. It was hard when you had paws instead of hands, but he soon showed Spyro how it was done, and the purple dragon was soon pulling a fish out of the water.

A big one.

"I did it!" Spyro said happily. "Look, daddy! I did it! I did it! Look! Look!"

"Yeah, I can see." Gaul said with a smile as he checked the fish Spyro just caught. "That's a nice one, buddy."

"We will surely make a nice feast out of it." Gaul said, and this made the dragon stop smiling.

"You want to eat him!?"

And this, obviously, developed into a discussion on that was the purpose of fishing, to get a nice fish to eat. And Spyro, with big eyes, asked if it was not cruel to the fish's family, who were probably waiting for him to come back.

"And he will miss them too!" Spyro said, practically shoving the fish's face on his father's own. "Look! He is so sad!"

And the fish just moved its mouth while staring back at Gaul with those unblinking eyes that made it hard to tell if it was already dead or not.

"Oh, Spyro..."

In moments like that, Gaul fully understood why people said children were too pure for this world. With no option, Gaul tossed the fish back into the river, and the critter was soon swimming away at a high speed.

"Go back to your family!" Spyro said happily as the fish swam away. Gaul, on his end, knew that the fish would probably get eaten by something else by the end of the day. However, he would never say that to his small son and ruin that little smile of his'.

"You are a good boy, Spyro." Gaul said as he petted his son between his developing horns. "The kindest, sweetest and most adorable ever. So, don't ever believe anyone if they say you are bad, because they either are lying or don't know what they are talking about. Alright?"

"Yes, dad!" Spyro said, and then he jumped on him, nuzzling his chest.

"I love you, dad!"

This made Gaul smile.

"I love you too, Spyro."

Spyro had stopped crying.

Not because he was feeling better, but because he ran out of tears.

So, he just laid there. Not moving. Not crying. Breathing only enough to keep his blood circulating. He was basically just... existing. Like a clam on the bottom of the ocean, uncaring about anything going on around him.

He wanted to keep like that.

He wanted to truly become a clam.

He wanted to just grow ignorant of everything else and just stay there for the rest of his life while not thinking anything.

However, that was not an option.

Spyro had not been born a clam, but a dragon. A purple dragon. The one creature who everyone other than his father seemed to fear and hate because of what the other purple dragon did.

A purple dragon who, despite all of that, was raised with all the love and care by the one person who should hate him more than all the others.

And now, he was gone.

Spyro got up.

He just got tired of laying on the ground. He looked at the gemstone, and he saw the blood in it.

He flinched, frowning as he stared.

He mindlessly walked towards the lake and started to clean the gemstone. He hardly even realized what he was doing, or why. He didn't think about it. He just did it. He washed the dry blood from the stone that was once his father's replacement eye, until it was clean and shining, like it often did when Gaul looked back at him with a smile on his face.

But his smile was missing. His whole face was missing.

All that was left was that glowing, crystalline eye.

It was all Spyro had left to remember him.

The purple dragon held it close to his chest, his eyes closing, but no tears coming out. He ran out of tears for the day. He would need to wait a bit before he could shed more of them. Until then, he would just hold this gemstone to his chest.

However, he would not be alone in this.

"Master Spyro?"

Spyro blinked, and then he looked back.

Apes.

Had they come to kill him?

No. They didn't look angry. They looked... worried. They were worried with him.

The two bodyguards approached the purple dragon, one of them putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Come with us." He said gently. As gently as Gaul always did when Spyro was clearly sad. This only made the purple dragon feel even more miserable as he lowered his head.

He went with them.

It was a longer way than it was when he was flying. It took a long time to transverse the swamp on foot, but they eventually arrived in the place where the others were waiting.

"Spyro!" Sparx said, quickly dashing through the air and hugging Spyro's snout. The purple dragon was surprised, and he did not react for a while. He did, however, blinked as the small glowing bug told him how worried he was that Spyro fell into some quicksand pit and would sink away and never be seen again.

And he was not the only one who had been worried with Spyro.

Aerea also came. She approached with care, and asked Spyro if he was okay. She nearly seemed scared.

Spyro remembered the things he said to her, and he regretted every one of them.

"Aerea, I..." Spyro said, "I'm sorry. I... I'm sorry for what I said. I... I was just so angry..."

Area looked at the purple dragon and told him it was okay.

"You lost someone you love very much. I know how much that hurt." Aerea said to Spyro as she approached him. "That... is not someone should have to go through."

Spyro looked at her, and then he asked:

"Will it hurt like this forever?"

"It gets better with time." Aerea said honestly. "It never really goes away, but you learn to live with it and to move on, as hard as it might seem. That is all you can do in situations like that. To keep moving on."

Spyro looked at her, and then he looked down. A heavy silence fell upon the small group, which was then broke by a familiar voice coming from the edge of the clearing they were all standing in:

"Caruum Nalug!" Spyro said in surprise as he saw the familiar face of his Munduri teacher coming into the clearing, carrying a big, rectangular wooden box under his arm.

"Told you I would find you later, didn't I?" Nalug said as he approached them. Soon, he was giving them a brief resume of what happened after they all ran.

"Kallag is still promoting himself as the new king of apes." He said in a somber tone. "And he is managing to convince everyone. Even the people who were not sure in the beginning are starting to voice their support for him being the new king now that Gaul is gone. They will surely start spreading announces of Gaul's death and of Kallag's rise as their new leader. There is little doubt about it in my mind."

"This is bad." One of the bodyguards said. "This means that, from now on, the apes will have a much harsher stance on the war."

"Yes, it does." Nalug said, and then he turned to Spyro.

"And it also means that you cannot come back, young dragon. It is no longer safe for you to live among apes."

Spyro looked at him, and then he looked down, the full weight of the situation finally sinking in on him.

"I'm really sorry about it, Spyro." Nalug said, to what Spyro said back:

"It's not your fault. It's... it's my own... no one else's."

"Spyro, it is not!" Aerea said, "It is my fault, like you said! I was the one who convinced you to free the dragons!"

"You only wanted to save them. And I was of the same opinion." Spyro said to her, his voice denoted resignation of some kind, as if he had already accepted his own responsibility. "I should have pushed for the idea of going for dad, maybe we could have arrived on time. But I went along with yours, and I screwed it up by letting one of the dragons see me. That was because that one from yesterday showed up. It was all because I was reckless and careless. It's my fault dad is gone, and that I no longer have a home or a place to go."

He kept looking down, everyone around him only looked at the dragon, all of them wanting to say something back at him, to make him feel better. It was Nalug who did.

"There is a place you can go."

This caused Spyro and everyone else to look at the Munduri master, who then placed the box he carried with him before the purple dragon.

"Gaul gave me this to keep." Nalug said, "Said that, if anything happened to him, then I should give it to you. It was an insurance, so to speak. Something to make sure you would have a future, even if he was no longer here."

Spyro looked at the box. Soon, with the others' encouragement, he opened it, and they all looked inside.

There were a few items inside of the chest. A harness with many pockets in it, identical to Aerea's. A pair of bags, both seeming quite full. A collar-like dragon necklace with a red gemstone of some kind in it, which looked quite fancy. And, standing out above all else, were two furled pieces of parchment, both with Gaul's stamp in a purple wax seal.

Spyro looked at it all, and then, he reached out for the first of the items. With the wax seal broken, Spyro unfurled the first of the two parchments and found it to be a letter on his father's handwriting.

Spyro, if you are reading this, it means the worst has happened. I won't be coming back anymore and will have to leave you alone. I'm sorry, and I hope you can forgive me.

It also means that is no longer safe for you to life among apes. If I know Kallag, he will use the fact I am gone to try and improve his position, as well s to turn the other apes against you and paint you as their enemy, and I won't be there to stop him. You will have to leave the village and the ape lands. This is the only way.

But, don't fear. There is a place for you.

In this box, you will find a map. This map will lead you to a place that even Kallag was never told about. A haven for you to find a peaceful life that I always wanted you to have. The people in there are of my entire trust, and I know they will accept you with open arms and minds, and they will make sure to protect and care for you. They are a very united community who accepts anyone who is looking for peace.

I also included a few things to help with your travel. One of those bags contains health crystals, they will be important for your travel. The other one contains gold which can help with your needs until you arrive. The necklace, however, it's the most important, as it will allow you to travel without being recognized. The gemstone in it is a Chameleon Crystal, one of the magic crystals we talked about and that only dragons could use. Once you put it, it will cast an illusion that will change the color of your scales from purple to red. It is merely a disguise, to allow you to pass by an ordinary dragon and avoid unwanted attention. It will be important once, to reach the haven I told you about, you will need to pass straight through the Dragon Lands, there is no other path, sadly.

Once you arrive, you must look for Ignitus, he is their leader, and he will know what to do. Trust him to guide you, Spyro, just like I trust his kindness and wisdom. You will be safe under his guidance.

I am so sorry, Spyro. I'm sorry for not being able to come home again. For not being able to be there to see you grow, or to teach you more things. I am so sorry, and I hope, from all of my heart, that you can forgive me.

The next lines were the ones that got the purple dragon the most:

Spyro, your name means "hope". I gave it to you because that was the feeling you gave me with that smile of yours, so innocent and pure. Please, never lose that smile, nor your own hope. There can always be light on the other side of a dark tunnel, never forget it.

Good bye, Spyro. I love you, and I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you.

Your father, Gaul.

"Dad..." Spyro said, his voice quivering slightly. A lonely tear ran down his cheeks and landed on the parchment, which he then held against his chest. "I love you too."

Everyone watched Spyro, and Aerea and Sparx were the ones who came closer to him, to comfort him with a glowing hand/ grey paw on his shoulder. They didn't say a word, but they both let the purple dragon know they were there for him.

Nalug, on his end, made sure to tell Spyro that he would he hoping for the best, and advised him to remember his lessons.

"I will." Spyro said, "Thank you, Caruum." Spyro bowed to him respectfully, and Nalug nodded at him, before addressing the bodyguards.

"Kallag says he is willing to forgive you for protecting Spyro, but only if you come back to the village before sundown. Those who don't will be considered traitors and enemies of all apes. I am pretty sure he will make good to those threats."

The bodyguards all shared looks, and they all nodded at Nalug, who then made his way back to the village.

After this, Spyro and the others started making preparations. The bodyguards were all hurdled as they were discussing something that seemed important, while Spyro got ready for travel with the help of Aerea.

She was the one who oriented him on the right way to fit the harness, which was so important to dragons when they were traveling, especially the main frontal pouch that was basically a bag tied to the harness itself. She helped him fit it on his body by buckling the harness tight enough that it would not slip free while making it loose enough that it would not hurt over the course of a long travel.

The bags with crystals and gold coins were tied to the side, in a way that they would not unbalance Spyro while he was flying or even walking. She truly knew how to handle it.

"I made sure to learn back when I was getting ready to travel. Had to prepare since I was leaving in a hurry." Aerea said, "I needed to get going as quickly as possible."

She said nothing more, and Spyro decided not to ask. Soon, he was pretty much ready for travel, save for one detail.

"So, I just put it on my neck?" Spyro asked as he looked at the necklace which, in all honestly, looked like a fancy dog collar, while his bodyguards came and joined them.

"Yeah, the Chameleon Crystals will activate as soon as you have the collar on. I mean, I think, from what I heard about them." Aerea said, and then Spyro nodded, before he tentatively put the necklace on.

It was cold, and it felt a bit constrictive as the metal snapped in place through the mechanical lock behind. As soon as was in place, it happened.

The purple hue, which had been on Spyro's scales ever since he could remember, started vanishing. It was gradually replaced by a reddish shade that seemed to spread through his scaly skin like ink spreading through water, staring from his extremities. Spyro watched in fascination as he saw the red spread from his paws and tail to his torso and then, as he supposed, his head. IN the end, all the purple in Spyro's body had been replaced by red.

"You look like any regular fire dragon." Aerea remarked as she looked at him. "No way anyone will think you are a purple dragon in disguise, unless they really have a reason to be suspicious."

Spyro checked on his scales, seeing that every single one of them turned into a deep shade of red that somehow reminded him of the dragon from last night. It was disturbing, but the purple, now red, dragon managed to put it on the back of his head and focus on how important this would be in her travel.

Dad would not have left this if it didn't think I would need it. He reasoned with himself. I will have to go through the Dragon Lands to get to the place where this friend of his' live, and the best way to do it is by pretending to be just a normal dragon. Yeah, that makes sense.

"Oh, and..." Aerea reached for one of the pockets of her own harness and pulled out something. The purple gemstone Spyro got from the cave on the day they met. "Here. You can carry it in your own harness. You... you still want, it, right?"

Spyro looked at it, before accepting it. He thanked the gray dragoness, before putting both it and his father's eye crystal on a pocket.

Maybe I can make a necklace with them... this would be a good way of remembering dad...

Spyro was soon distracted by the voices of his bodyguards, who announced, to his surprise, that two of them would be going with him, while the others would be going back to the village.

"We have families that we need to look after." One of them said, "We wish we could go with you, but I need to think of our own loved ones now."

"I, on the other hand, don't have any family waiting for me. Never had." The ape with slightly purplish fur and carrying a spear on his back said. "No one would miss me much."

"My children are both adults now, and they don't even live in the village anymore." The one with yellowish hue on his fur, with orange on his arms and legs, said as he adjusted the pair of maces he had on his belt. "And my mate passed away three years ago. I also have nothing tying me here."

Spyro looked at those two, seeming in shock that, even thought they had no loved ones to tie them, they were willing to abandon their home so they could accompany him into the land of their dragon enemies.

"Gaul tasked us with protecting you when he was not around." The purplish ape said. "As far as we are concerned, it still applies. So, we are following his orders, staying with you and protecting you with our lives. This is all we can do as his followers."

Spyro could not help but look at the two, feeling touched.

"Guys... thank you."

With this, the rest of the bodyguards bid them farewell and wished them good luck, and they made their way back to the village. This left Spyro, Aerea and the two apes to prepare to travel.

And Sparx would be going with them as well.

"Yeah, people been telling me for a while that I should move out of my parents, and even dad has been giving me hints that they are tired of their freeloading son." The golden dragonfly spoke that very casually. "It's not like I have any friends other than you anyways. So, yeah, I'm going with you, and the dragon chick and... those two, whatever their names are."

That was when Spyro realized something that, honestly, made him a bit ashamed of himself:

He didn't know the names of any of his bodyguards, despite them being with him for years.

"Name's, Makkug." The one with the spear spoke.

"I'm Oovak" The one with the maces said. "So, what about we start walking now? Bet we can cover a good distance before it gets dark."

And so, with only a map drawn by Spyro's late father, the group departed. They didn't know where exactly they were going, but they were all marching towards that fate, each one with their own thoughts on the matter.

And, among them, Aerea's thoughts seemed to be the most troubling, as the others would have noticed if they looked at her and saw the expression on her face as she looked down...

Chapter Text

Amazing how far one could make when they truly felt like it, even when they could not fly.

Well, the fact that Spyro and Aerea could both carry the apes with them certainly helped speed up the travel, although Aerea confessed to Spyro, in a low voice and out of the apes' earshot after they landed, they would have covered even more ground was not for them carrying the apes with them. However, she was certainly glad for having Makkug and Oovak with them, especially after they both rescued her from being taken by a giant river centipede when they were restocking their water.

It has been four days since their departure. Four days since they left behind the village in the aftermath of the loss of Spyro's father, and now they were following a map that Gaul left behind to reach for "a place where Spyro would be safe", whatever that even meant.

And, in those four days, they managed to cover, according to the apes, the equivalent to nearly three weeks of steady march on ape's step.

"Quite the good rhythm, if you ask me." Makkug said as he walked forward with his spear resting over his shoulder. He seemed relaxed, but he was still ready to pull his weapon and use it to kill anything that came forward and threatened any member of the group, and he was as good with it as Oovak was with his maces.

Aerea had come to be weary of them as much as to admire them for how strong and skilled they were. She confessed at some point that she never expected to have companions for her travel when she first left the Dragon Lands, and that she was enjoying having them around.

Sparx was of the same opinion. He was all in for this adventure, and he certainly liked finding new kinds of butterflies, mushrooms and berries to eat. Although he already ate something poisonous twice, with the latter time causing him to go into a hallucinogenic-fueled monologue as the effects of the mushroom wore of.

"Next time listen to me when I try to tell you not to eat something." Spyro said, adjusting the necklace with the chameleon crystal on it, it's magic causing his purple scales to change into a deep shade of red. Spyro had started wearing it to get used to the feeling of the necklace around his neck for when they actually arrived at a place where they would need to hide his color. "You are lucky those were blue dream mushrooms instead of blue demise mushrooms. One of them just causes hallucinations while the other causes a painful death, even though they are nearly identical."

"Yeah, good to know I picked the one that makes you say the clouds taste like yellow instead of the one that kills you." Sparx said drily with a smirk on his face. "Makes you feel glad to be alive, right buddy?"

He winked at Spyro as he said that and smiled. Spyro, however, didn't smiled back.

He instead looked down, with a sad expression on his face.

Sparx knew he had screwed up, and he could see it even more clearly on the way the gray dragoness glared at him as she scooted closer to Spyro to put a wing around him in a hug as they continued to walk down the patch of dense forest.

Right... still too soon.

Well, Sparx should have assumed it was too soon. I mean, less than a week was nowhere near enough time for a person to fully process the death of a father and move on from it. However, Spyro had no choice on this matter, as he had to run in order to avoid falling victim to the fury of a newly-empowered Kallag, who would now be sure to make Spyro enemy to all apes.

And every other dragon, for that matter.

He didn't have the luxury to hang out and process his grief in peace. Most didn't have in times of war. The only option was to keep moving forward and try to process your feelings while also fighting for your life.

It was not the best. Far from it. However, for Spyro, it was the only option now.

Luckily, he was not doing that all alone.

The group continued their travel. The apes provided their protection, while Aerea's elemental powers helped in the case of difficult problems on their path. Even Sparx did his part, as his small size and quick flying abilities made him a perfect scout for the areas ahead.

And Spyro proved to be a valuable member of the group as well. After all, with all the books his father brought to him, the purple dragon had learned practically everything that he could learn from all manners of subjects. From the kinds of plants that were safe to eat to the proper way to recognize the presence of a dangerous creature that could devour them and that they should avoid, such as the Quake Terrors.

Of course, reading about it all in a book and applying this knowledge for in-site survival were two completely different thing. Spyro was not foolish enough to think he was a true survival specialist. He was careful and humble enough to know when to apply the theoretical knowledge he had, and it proved to be very valuable for the group to continue their travel with minimal incidents on their path.

"Good to know we have someone on the group who knows which plants serve as medicine and which leaves cause rash. Would hate to wipe myself with the wrong one." Oovak said, causing some awkward laughing and some cringing expressions.

At some point, they stopped. They made many stops on their now five days of travel, as they needed to eat and sleep. This stop now was one that was made by Sparx who, like a true drama queen, whined and complained about his wings feeling like they were about to fall off, and only stopped when he was allowed to land and rest on a shade caused by the leaf of a giant flower stalk, while the apes both went to forage for food, making sure to remember the list of poisonous fruits and mushrooms that Spyro told them they could find in an area like that.

And, while they went, Spyro and Aerea stood behind. The gray dragoness was, once more, watching worriedly the purple dragon as he looked at the green gemstone that was once his father's eye.

All he had left to remember him.

He was not crying while holding it anymore, like he did on the first day. However, he still spent a long time looking at it, and she even heard him talking to it a few times. There was even a time, just on the previous night, when she woke up at night for a sip of water and hard Spyro saying something to the stone as he caressed it:

"I miss you so much..."

He was coping. She knew that. He was coping with the fact that he lost the only family he ever knew. That was hard on anyone, and of course he would find a way to cope with it. Most people needed a way to cope with loss, otherwise they went insane. Especially if they, like Spyro, wished the last talk they had with the person they lost had been different...

She could not let it go on like that.

Which was why she once more approached Spyro and asked:

"Want to train more with elements?"

Yes, for using elements was part of being a dragon. Each dragon had their own, with Aerea's being wind. And Spyro, as a purple dragon, could use all existing elements, including the ones that had not yet been even discovered.

That, at least, according to theory.

However, as it turned out, learning elements was different from learning how to fly. It required a different type of focus, even though the basic principle was the same. Summoning the power of the ancestors inside of your body and allowing it to manifest.

That was the basic that would allow any dragon to start tapping on their element, and it was the type of thing that one should know how to do by the time they are ten.

Spyro, however, was struggling with it. He opened his mouth and out came... nothing.

No fire. No lightning. No cold mist. Not even wind. Okay, his breath technically counted as wind, but it was nowhere near what Aerea could produce when she opened her mouth and produced a gale so strong one could think it came straight from a hurricane.

The most Spyro got from trying so hard to "bring some great power from deep within" was a belch that had apparently been building since last night's dinner, causing the purple dragon to blush and hide his face with his wings while Aerea stood there awkwardly and tried not to giggle and make Spyro's embarrassment worse.

"Well, I think we are making progress."

"We are, because I think that I might actually becoming less close to actually producing anything other than a bad breath." Spyro said that without much humor, "Seriously, that surge I felt while we were beginning totally wore off."

"This means you have lost your focus." Aerea sounded like she knew what she was talking about as she explained:

"You need to keep your spirit focused to be able to use an element. It is hard on the beginning, but once you get the hang of it you can do it as easily as you can flap your wings and fly, and you will even be able to fight no problem."

"Yeah... I will..." Spyro said, remembering the dragon from that night. The one who took his father. The one who destroyed everything he had in a single night and burned it all to the ground.

Spyro regretted having snapped at Aerea and having blamed her for what happened. It was not her fault. He knew it now.

It was that dragon's fault. That one who she said belonged to the Prime Batallion. A dragon who Malefor sent from his personal guard.

Those two were the ones to blame for Spyro not having a father anymore.

"Okay, let's go back to training." Spyro said to Aerea. "Teach me how to do the element stuff." He asked of her, silently adding to himself:

So, I can find both that one dragon and Malefor and make them pay...

They stayed there for a while more. The sun moved across the sky as the hours passed. They should have stayed in that for around two, maybe three hours, and yet Spyro could not produce anything that resembled an element, no matter how much he tried.

"Ugh, why it doesn't work!?" Spyro asked in frustration after recovering from getting so winded from blowing nothing but hot air that he got light headed.

"I keep trying and trying, but nothing happens!"

"Spyro, calm down." Aerea said, "If you keep getting angry then you will never get it."

With that said, Spyro took a deep breath, and then he asked Aerea, one more time, if there was any reason why it could not be working.

"Well, I am not a specialist." The gray dragoness said. "But what I learned from my instructor is that one's state of spirit and mind affects a lot on how well you can control your element. Basically, if your spirit is not fully invested into what you are doing, then chances are you will not succeed."

"But I am invested!" Spyro said, "I have been trying this for days!"

"Maybe you are not as invested as you think you are." Aerea said, "Maybe there is something preventing your spirit from focusing properly. It can be a lot of things. It could be some turmoil on your life, like grief or-"

Aerea caught herself a bit too late. There was an awkward silence between she and Spyro as the two of them looked away, the air quickly getting heavier.

"I-it could also be that you lack a motivation." Aerea tried to move on with the subject and get past the moment. "A lot of using an element has to do with your motivation at a given moment. You are harnessing the power of nature to fulfil a goal, and you need to have your goal clear in mind, and truly want to achieve it."

"Well, I feel really motivated to learn the elements right now." Spyro sounded sure, but Aerea said:

"Do you? What do you think about when you try to use an element?"

"Justice", that was the answer that Spyro wanted to say. It was the word that came into his mind as he thought of what he would do to Malefor and all of those who followed his orders when he became powerful enough. However, knowing full well what Aerea, like many others, would probably say about it, he simply said it was because he wanted to be able to kick the tail of the next dragon who attacked them.

"Is that the only reason?" Aerea asked, "To kick the ass of an attacking dragon?"

"Well, yeah?" Spyro was looking at her. "I mean, what else could I want to learn it for?"

Aerea looked at him for a couple moments, and then she said:

"To protect someone."

Spyro blinked, tilting his head as he looked at the grey dragoness, and Aerea continued:

"My mother used to say that our elements come from the heart. That they relate to our emotions, and that is why we need to be careful when using them." She was looking at the purple dragon intently as she said that "She also told me that kind emotions are more powerful than vile ones. That the feeling of love is more powerful than hate."

"Love?" Spyro asked.

"Love for a friend." She clarified to him. "Or for your neighbors, or your home, or for your family."

Those hit Spyro, especially the last one. Aerea did not do it on purpose, and she seemed not to notice how her words affected the purple dragon, as she continued:

"Love gives your strength, Spyro. It makes you strong to protect the ones who care for." Aerea said, "Way more than you would have if you only thought about hurting someone who hurt you."

"So, my advice for you..." Aerea said, "Is to try and think of the things and people you love. The ones you want to protect. They will motivate you when you are learning."

Spyro looked at her for a few moments, and then he said:

"But I have nothing left to protect anymore."

Aerea said nothing in return. She only looked at the purple dragon as he kept his head down. Then she said:

"I... I think that's enough training for now. We better get going back to the camp before the others get worried..."

Spyro nodded. He could not think of anything to say after this and, honestly, he kind of lost the motivation to even try today. They could try again tomorrow, or maybe later once he was feeling a little better.

Now it was time to go back to the clearing where the others were waiting, which they had to exit because it was too densely surround with trees and Spyro did not want to risk starting a fire as he tried to breathe flames.

They gave a few steps towards the direction of the clearing, suddenly Spyro's head perked.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"That!" Spyro said, "Do you hear it?"

At first, Aerea was not sure what the purple dragon was talking about. Then she heard it.

Hustling of leaves. Grass being crushed. A twig snapping.

In front of them. Then behind. Then on their left. And then back in front.

"Who's there!?" Aerea demanded as she scooted closer to Spyro. "Who is there!? Show yourself!"

The hustling continued around them, and now there was another sound. A strange, bone-chilling chittering sound that somehow sounded angry and mocking at the same time.

"Stay close to me." Aerea said to Spyro as she lifted her wings, looking forward to the foliage that she just saw move. She looked intently at it, watching for any sign of movement. Then, as she gave a single step forward...

The leaves burst as something jumped out of them. It was chittering loudly as it dashed forward. Aerea reacted by firing a hurricane forward, but the creature jumped out of the way and continue to rush forward, chittering madly as it went straight to the two of them, getting closer and closer to the two dragons.

"Dodge!" Spyro said as he jumped out of the way, and so did Aerea. However, as the thing attacked them, it managed to peck on Aerea's wing. The dragoness let out a hiss of pain as she flapped her wings.

An advantage of being able to fly was that they could avoid danger much easier. They just needed to flap those big things on their backs and fly all the way back to the clearing and to the group and away from their attacker.

Or they would have done that, was not for Aerea to suddenly feeling as if she could not flap her wings properly anymore.

"W-what is-" she looked at her wings, and her eyes widened at what she saw. She let out a scream as she fell.

"Aerea!" Spyro immediately dove after her, landing on his feet near her as she stumbled into the ground. "Aerea, what's wrong!? What happened!?"

"I-I'm turning into a plant!" she squeaked in fear. "I'm turning into a PLANT!"

"What?" Spyro said, as he looked at her wings, and his eyes widened.

Wood.

All over her wing, and still growing. A wood was spreading over her wing, the flesh and tissue giving way to bark, with some small branches coming out of it and sprouting small leaves.

Shocked, Spyro looked at this event happening right before his eyes, and that was familiar to him. He read about it on his books.

"Spyro, help me!" Aerea said. "My wing is turning into wood!"

"No." Spyro said, "It's not turning into wood! Is being covered in it!" he then looked at the creature that attacked then and, just as he suspected, the being seemed like a mix between a chicken and a snake with green and brown colors all over, a beak that seemed made of bark, claws that resembled thorns, and a crest on its heat that looked to be made of lush green leaves.

"That's a timber cockatrice!" Spyro fully recognized the creature from a video about dangerous forest predators. "Their beaks leave behind splinters on the target when they peck that immediately start growing into bark! They trap the prey into a layer of wood so it cannot resist as they eat it alive!"

Aerea did not like the sound of that.

"No weird chicken-snake leafy thing is going to eat me!" She said, glaring at the cockatrice, which screeched and chittered back at her, making a complex intimidation dance at him, nearly as if it was calling her to come at it.

And Aerea was glad to do so.

"Aerea, wait!" Spyro said right as the gray dragoness charged ahead. He was almost too late to warm her.

"Timber cockatrices hunt in packs!"

Just after he said that, and Aerea was mid-gallop towards the cockatrice, then seven others of them suddenly burst out of the foliage around, all of them jumping on the dragoness, who hurried to stop and then jump back.

She managed to avoid most of their beaks, but one of them hit her leg with its beak. The spot it hit had some woody-looking splinters in it. The wood of those splinters then fused as they grew and speed at a speed that would put bamboo to shame. Aerea caught herself stumbling back as her hind led was suddenly enveloped in a lair of wood that made it look as it the limb was enveloped in cast.

She groaned and limped back as they closed in on her, with one of them chittering and then jumping on her.

It was intercepted mid-air by Spyro, who swung his tail and hit it with his spear-like blade into the head, sending it sprawling back and landing on all the others.

"Timber cockatrices are predators that specialize in hunting bigger and stronger prey." Spyro said "They use tactics like using one of themselves as bait and luring the enemy to attack so the rest of the pack can peck it until it is encased in bark."

As he spoke that, the cockatrices chittered and then they started circling around the dragons, surrounding them as they clicked their beaks menacingly.

"Anything else you know about them?" Aerea asked as she and Spyro got in position one with their back turned to the other. It was a little hard to move with her leg encased on that hard wood, but she managed to.

"Well, they use their green and brown colors to blend into the woods and camouflage, and the adults do all the hunting and swallow huge chunks of their prey to go back to the nests and regurgitated it to the young."

"Nasty. Anything else?"

"They have a toxin on their talons that is like that of poison eve, if they scratch you it will itch so bad you will not be able to think straight, and it takes days to heal." Spyro continued to recount what he remembered from the book. "Oh, wait! They are super afraid of fire! If we had a torch, we could send them off running in a second!"

"Well, we don't have a torch, so let's do this another way." Aerea said, and then she opened her mouth in a blast of wind as soon as another cockatrice tried to run towards her. The thing was tossed back, and then other two came forward.

From there, the battle started.

Aerea showed she knew how to use the wind element, as she managed to fight off the cockatrices with gusts of wind and small hurricanes. Spyro, a few feet away, fought a trio of cockatrices with Munduri moves.

I'm so glad I kept training after leaving the village. Thanks for the lessons Karuum. Spyro thought as he delivered a precise blow to the throat of a rushing cockatrice, and then delivered a blow to the stomach of another one causing it to stagger back, and they were now keeping a healthy distance from Spyro while spreading their wings and chittering at him.

Then he saw another passing flying by them, knocked away by Aerea's wind.

But I'd be able to fight even better if I could use elemental powers. Heck, if I could use fire, I could just torch them all away... but I can't. I can't figure out elements. Maybe I don't have what it takes...

"Spyro!" Aerea's voice snapped him back to reality "Focus!" She released a gust of wind that knocked down one that was trying to approach him from the back.

"Y-yes! Sorry!" The purple dragon said, "Damn, there are too many of them!"

Spyro and Aerea continued to fight, but they could not do it properly when the cockatrices used all their natural teamwork to overwhelm the two dragons by circling and dancing around them. One of them managed to peck Spyro's tail, causing it to immediately be encased in wood and no longer being useful in combat. At the same time, Aerea was pecked by another one of them on her front leg, resulting her to have now two of her four legs encased, alongside one of her wings.

The cockatrices were starting to gain over them, and they saw themselves forced into a corner as they were closing in.

Things didn't seem to be going well for the two dragons.

And that was when help came.

A ball of blue fire-like energy came and hit one of the cockatrices like a meteor.

The dragons blinked, and then they looked at the place from which the blast had come. They saw a hooded, two-legged figure wearing a cloak with arms rose in direction to the cockatrice that was just hit by the ball of flames.

And that figure was not alone, as there was another hooded figure standing just nearby, and this one had a bow.

"Who are those?" Aerea asked as she and Spyro looked at the two hooded figures, to whom the cockatrices chittered in anger while ruffling their feathers, whole the second hooded figure pulled an arrow and tensed it on the bow.

As the second hooded figure was ready to fire an arrow, a loud sound was heard.

It was a screech. One that sounded like a chalkboard having a nervous meltdown, and that caused the two dragon's scales to rattle on their bodies and stand on end as if they were fur.

Something was coming.

And it arrived by practically crashing into the place by slamming through the bushes and flattening them. It stood there, screeching, its feathers puffed out and the scales on its' body glistening in a shade of green far more vibrant that that of the other timber cockatrices, who retreated closer to the creature and stood around its legs, like chicks around a hen's.

Spyro was in shock as he saw it.

Is that a timber cockatrice alpha? It's huge! Almost four times the size of all the others! I mean, the book said they could grow bigger than all the others, but not THAT big!

The creature continued to screech, it's cries loud enough to be heard all the way back to the clearing, where it caused the two apes to perk their heads and grab their weapons to check what it was while Sparx followed them after recovering from the scary sound that nearly made him wet himself.

But, until they arrived, it could be too late.

Especially as the cockatrices, now led by their alpha, started charging once more.

"Behind me!" that was all that Aerea had time to say before she lifted her wing that was not trapped and managed to create a shield of spiraling wind around them that repelled the cockatrices that rushed towards them.

And, as they did, the two hooded figures attacked. One of them fired blasts of flaming energy into the cockatrices, causing them to stumble back. Meanwhile, the other shot arrows at amazing speed, which hit the cockatrices and caused them to screech in pain as they stumbled backwards with the projectiles sticking out from their bark-like skins.

And the alpha continued to charge, not being deterred by any of those things as it attacked. Its massive head and beak broke through the windshield and created a small crater on the place Spyro and Aerea had been just a moment ago, causing a whole tree to sprout from there as the two dragons were both flung back in different direction by the sheer force of what just happened.

The two figures then attacked together. One of them pulled an arrow on the bow, while the other put their hands together and emitted a flow of energy that coated the arrow, which then flew in direction to the alpha, hitting it o the eye and exploding, causing the creature to screech in pain as it stumbled back.

Spyro was getting back to his feet, a bit shaken, when he heard Aerea's cries. He looked to see her being pecked on the front let, chest and neck by the cockatrices. She managed to blow them away, but it was too late, for that was when the bark started encasing her entire front-half.

"Aerea!"

"Sp-mmmmmm!" her cry was cut as he entire muzzle, and then her head, was encased in bark. This was bad. This was very bad!

She was going to suffocate!

And, as if that was not bad enough, the alpha had recovered. It lost an eye, but that only seemed to make it even angrier, and it started walking forward with quick steps, screeching as it towered over Aerea. The hooded figures were getting ready to go again, when the other cockatrices came to them and started attacking, forcing the figures to stumble back.

It left Spyro all alone, to watch as the alpha timber cockatrice advanced towards the immobilized and breathless form of Aerea, how tried to move her free leg and tail but unable to actually get out of where she was, only managing to fall over and lay on the ground as the massive predator looked down on her, and Spyro could swear the creature was drooling from its beak as it looked down on the trapped dragon.

It was going to eat her.

It was going to kill her.

Spyro was going to lose her, just like he lost his father.

"No..." Spyro squeaked, as the cockatrice opened its beak, screeching in victory as it then lunged down.

"NOOOO!"

Spyro screamed. He roared. And, as he roared, a stream of bright, orange flames came out of his mouth in a stream that hit the cockatrice right on the face with the force of a volcanic eruption.

The screeched that followed was the loudest one yet. A screech of pure agony and animalistic terror that could be heard all around the forest, as the alpha shook its head wildly, its feathers burning with blazing dragon fire, before the creature turned around and ran aimlessly to the forest like a chicken with the head cut off.

This was such a shocking scene that it caused the rest of the cockatrice pack to look at it in bafflement, as well as the hooded figures. The latter ones, however, recovered quickly, and they decided to use this chance.

The figure with the bow pulled two arrows and got them ready, while the other figure produced balls of blue and red light from their fingers, and aimed them at the arrows, causing their heads to glow on the same color.

As the figure with the bow got the arrows ready, instead of aiming them at the cockatrices, they aimed straight up, and then released the string, causing the arrows to fly in the air and explode in a purple light.

The cockatrices looked back in time to see a literal rain of purple arrows coming down on them.

Over half of the pack perished, with the other half running away while chittering, looking like living pincushions as they made their way on the same direction their alpha left, while the two figures watched them leave, and finally let out sigs of relief as they saw they were not going to come back.

Spyro, on the other hand, was freaking out massively.

"Hold on, Aerea! I'll get you out of there!" He said that as he fumbled with her wood-encased head. However, despite his words, he could not figure out how to free her from it for the life of himself.

The bark was though and breaking it apart would take time. His claws were not strong enough, and he was sure that he would either break his teeth or accidentally crush Aerea's skull with his jaws if he tried to bite the head off. He could also not just burn it with fire, which he didn't had time to bask on the fact he just used, out of fear of hurting her. And he could also not go and bring the others to help, because he knew he could not come back on time, as Aerea was quickly suffocating.

"No, no, no, no!" Spyro said, trying to pry the layer of bark open as if it was a walnut, but failing as it was solid and as hard as a rock. As he did, Aerea was squirming in earnest from her free parts, signaling her panic with the airlessness. "Come on! Open! OPEN, DAMMIT!" the purple dragon kept trying to pry the wood off her or break it off carefully with his paws, but he was failing miserable and wasting precious time and oxygen that Aerea currently had.

While Spyro was desperately trying to free Aerea, one of the hooded figures approached him from behind. As soon as he noticed it, the purple dragon stepped back, getting into an instinctive munduri combat stance while standing between the hooded figure and Aerea. And the figure, with a feminine voice, was quick to tranquilize him.

"I mean no harm!" she said as she pulled back her hood, revealing the animalistic features of one of the many beastman tribes that populated the continent. Specifically, her features, yellow fur and massive ears denoted her as a member of the rabbit tribe. "I want to help."

Despite her words, Spyro did not drop his guard. He would not easily drop his guard in a moment like that, after nearly dying, but the rabbit urged him.

"I can save your friend." She spoke to him, "But I have to do it now, because she won't last much longer."

Spyro looked over his shoulder at Aerea, and saw her grey leg and tail still trashing, but showing the first signs of slowing down, signaling that the dragoness was truly suffocating, and would not hold on for much more. She could have thirty seconds left, at most.

"Please." Spyro turned his gaze back at the rabbit, who held both her hands in clear view to show she was not a threat. "Let me help."

Spyro didn't really had a choice there. So, he stepped aside, and the rabbit stepped forward, approaching the trapped dragoness, who was letting out whimpers as she slowly suffocated. She then acted fast.

With a deep breath and then a sigh, she lifted both her hands. Between then, a ball of light formed. And then, this ball of light shrunk, condensing into a single point of light on the index finger of the bunny's right hand, which she now pointed at Aerea's head while holding her wrist with her other hand.

Then, the point shot forward with the speed of a bullet, hitting the wood-encased muzzle.

Splinters and small pieces of wood flew everywhere. A gasp was heard. Aerea took deep, loud lungful after lungful of air, while Spyro was quickly on to her telling her to breathe calmly, so she could get enough air on her lungs. The dragoness, still blind as the bark was still covering the rest of her head, did as told, and tried to get as much oxygen from each breath as possible, while the rabbit watched them both from just a few steps away.

And that was the moment when the apes and Sparx all arrived.

"What is going on here!?" Oovak had his maces ready to be swung. By his side, Makkug had his spear on his hands, pointing them at the rabbit while demanding her to step away from the dragons and identify herself. The rabbit stepped back quickly, her ears shooting up in alert.

Then, an arrow landed by Makkug's feet, causing the ape to jump back and point his spear to the second figure, who already had another arrow ready on their bow.

"Do not dare to threaten her." The figure said with a male voice cold as ice, while holding the arrow ready to be fire.

"Hunter! Calm down!" the rabbit said to her hooded friend, while Sparx went to check on Spyro, who was telling his guards to put the weapons down, and trying to explain that those two were not the ones who attacked them

It took several minutes, but eventually everything that happened was clarified.

"You know magic?" Madduk asked to the rabbit, whose name was "Bianca", with a raised eyebrow. "As in, real magic?"

"Yeah." The rabbit said, creating a small purple flame on the palm of her hand. "And I'm pretty good at it."

"Well, that explains those prickled things." Sparx said as he pointed at the dead timber cockatrices. The apes put their weapons down, and they apologized for their outburst.

"We feared you could intend to harm Spyro and Aerea." One of the apes said as he looked at the two. "I know a lot of people would, considering the current political circumstances. It would be unusual for someone who is not a dragon to see two young dragons in trouble and want to help them."

"And yet here we have two apes protecting two dragons." The figure named "Hunter" pulled his hood, reveling the feline features that Spyro quickly recognized as those from the cheetah tribe. "That is even more unusual, if you ask me."

The apes looked at the two newcomers, evaluating them, until Aerea's voice called their attention:

"Excuse me, not wanting to be a bother or anything, but could someone, please, get me out of this thing? I got splinters on places splinters should never be..."