It lives… It lives… IT LIVES!

Just kidding, sorry. Yeah, I know that this story had been abandoned for over three years, and that some people might have already gave up on it for thinking that it was dead and abandoned. Well, I have taken a decision, and I brought it back from the dead.

Yes, I'm taking this story from the point I left on, and this time I plan to do my best to finish it and to make sure that the story continue as good as it was back them, if not better.

Sure, I have grow a lot since that time, and I have become a more skilled writer, and I have my fair share of good stories, and I hope to continue them too, and to keep doing a good job for everyone who follows this and other stories. I have enhanced my English skills and now I'm more skilled in making stories develop, and now I make longer and richer chapters for stories, so I'm pretty sure that I can continue to make a good work with this.

For everyone who kept following this story even after three years of hiatus, I can't express enough my admiration for you and for all the compromise that you had with this from the very beginning. Also, for everyone that sent me OCs to add in this story, I still plan to use all of them, starting right away with this chapter, and I hope to make a good work with it and that everyone is pleased. Also, since it make literally years since last time I uploaded this story, I might not remember which OCs belong to the owners who sent them to me, and so, I would be thankful if you would help me remember which one sent which. Thank you.

Also, for everyone who started to read this story now, I hope you enjoy the work I'm doing with it, and the approach that I decided to do with this story. I promise to do my best to please everyone with this work of literature that I'm conducting, and I hope I can inspire and marvel you all with this work.

Well, I already talked too much, and I think you all want to go on with the story, after all, three years is too much time to wait!

So, let's go! Please, enjoy the story

(Bows and walks out of the way as the curtains open)

They were dragons!

There was absolutely no way of mistaking that shape, the shape of draconic body. These creatures in front of them were dragons, and that was for sure.

There were two of them. One was clearly a female, as it was no doubt due to the slenderness and the beauty of the body. She has light-grey scales in all of her body, and a pure-white color for her underbelly, as well as for her horns, which were long and slender and curved backwards in her head. She had a very slender figure, and the tailblade that she had was shaped just like a lance. Her eyes were blue in color, just like the purest blue of the sky. Though she had a slender and feminine figure, she also had some kind of presence, as it was possible to note by the look in her eyes, which denoted some kind of power that the young dragons could feel as they looked deep into them.

The other figure was also a dragon, as it was easy for anyone to notice. This one, however, was clearly a male, and he was indeed an imposing figure. Though he was slightly smaller than the female, he had a toned body, which indicated that he had a good physical strength that also that he probably had a very good physical training. The scales of his body were all of a dark-grey color, and he had three horns in his head, one projecting straight and slightly curve from his forehead, and other two projecting from the sides of his head, curving backwards just like the horns of a ram. His eyes called a lot of attention, due to the yellow color to them, and the slit pupils, which looked very much like the eyes of Malefor while he was still corrupted, with only a hint of being slightly scarier. Not only that, but the dragon also had a sharp-looking set of claws in his paws, which looked to be made just for battle, and his tailblade was shaped in the perfect shape of a trident. He didn't seemed to be as imposing as the dragoness was, but he seemed to be somewhat scary and that he would be just as fierce in battle as her.

There was a long moment of silence, as the three young dragons and their dragonfly friend, who was hiding behind Spyro's horn, locked eyes with the two adult and seemingly much more powerful dragons, who looked down at them. The male looked at them with some surprised in his yellow eyes, the dragoness, whoever, looked at them with a hint of anger and of mistrust, specially because she was looking straight at Cynder and Malefor.

After a moments of silence, the dark-grey dragon spoke, with a voice that was surprisingly nice to hear, despite his scary appearance. "I'm I crazy, or am I seeing two purple dragons?"

The dragoness stepped forward, "One of them is Spyro, the dragon we were told about in the prophecy." She had a voice that denoted her age, and she stepped forward, almost as if she was expecting an attack at any moment. "The other dragon with him is no other than the Dark Master himself." She spoke with a tone of deep hatred in her voice, that made Malefor flinch and recoil slightly, and her eyes were also in Cynder.

"And that one is Cynder, the Terror of the Skies." She finished, still with that tone of anger. Now it was Cynder's turn of recoil slightly form the older dragoness' words. The dark-grey dragon looked at the female with surprise, and at the three young dragons, taking particularly long glances at the two who were said to be the Dark Master and the Terror of the Skies.

"Are you sure?" He asked to her s he looked at them. "I mean, not that I'm questioning you, but I already saw the Terror of the Skies before, and she looked to be quite a big adult to me. And if I'm not mistaken, the Dark Master isn't around a thousand years old?" He looked again at the two dragons, who could not be older than teenagers. "These ones are only hatchlings."

Despite feeling intimidated by these two strange dragons, both Malefor and Cynder could not avoid feeling slightly insulted for being called "just hatchlings", however, Spyro was the first one to step forward, and he said, "Humm, hello?"

The two older dragons looked at him, and Spyro felt slightly intimidated, both by the presence of the dragoness as for the appearance and seeming physical power held by the dragon, but he was able to find his voice. "We… We were sent here by Terrador."

The dragoness looked at him, raising an eyebrow, while the dragon looked a bit surprised. "Terrador? The Earth Guardian, Terrador? The guy who they say that can lift mountains?" Yeah, it seemed that the earth dragon had some kind of fame, as it was easy to notice by the way that the dark-grey dragon was asking, and Spyro nodded.

"Yes, he sent us here to gather the dragons from the secret villages." Spyro spoke to them, and the loight-grey dragoness cast another look at the two dragons who were coming along with Spyro, and she narrowed her eyes.

"First of all, Terrador himself doesn't know the exact location of our Village." She said as she approached them, almost in threatening manner. "Second, I don't think he would send our sworn enemies to us."

Malefor and Cynder flinched, and Cynder stepped forward and she spoke, "We are not your enemies!"

The older dragoness narrowed her eyes to her, and Cynder could feel all the power that there was behind them. However, she already passed by a lot in the previous years, and she was not about to let herself be intimidated right away. Malefor was right by her side, and he too was not willing to go down in the first obstacle that came in their way.

"Please, just hear us out, okay?" The former Dark Master said, and his answer was an angry hiss from the dragoness, that was enough to make him recoil, and Spyro took forward, coming to aid.

"We have a letter from Terrador." Spyro said, reaching for the purse and showing a folded scroll that they had brought. It had been a gift from Terrador, in case the things got difficult with the dragons in the secret villages. Well, that was about to prove its usefulness.

The grey dragoness looked at it, keeping herself at distance, but she seemed to be still able to see clearly, and she looked at the three dragons that had come, and she said. "Put it in the ground."

Spyro obeyed, and he placed the piece of scroll in the ground, and he stepped behind, making sure to show that he didn't was any threat. The dragoness kept her eyes on him all the time, and she stepped forward, and she started to spin her tail. As she did, the young dragons could notice that it was like she was cumulating air in it, and after a while, she made a movement with her tail and sent the air she cumulated forward.

The young dragons watched as the air she had cumulated was still spinning, and it had turned into what seemed to be a miniature tornado! The small tower of spiraling air moved across the ground, raising dust and small pebbles as it moved in direction to the young dragons.

They all took one step behind, as the small hurricane came in direction to the folded scroll, and then, it stood right over it. Immediately, the scroll was raised from the ground, and now it was floating on top of the small hurricane, which stayed in place for a few moments, before starting to move back, returning to the two older and bigger dragons at a distance away from the young dragons.

"Wow… that is scary." Sparx said as he watched amazed from behind Spyro's horn, and Spyro and Cynder both looked amazed at the feat that the grey dragoness had done.

"How does she does it?" Spyro asked in amazement, looking as the hurricane carried their message in direction to the two dragons.

"She is a wind dragoness." Malefor said, answering to the other purple dragon's question, "What she is done is manipulating the wind, expert dragons that control the wind can do that."

Of course that Malefor knew about it, after all, he had himself seen this kind of ability in the distant past, when he was still a young dragon and had first started to have his lessons with the past Guardians. However, Spyro and Cynder had never personally met with a wind dragon, so that was entirely new to them. Even Cynder, who had natural abilities to control the wind, was surprised for seeing such a way of controlling the wind with precision and at a distance, for even her had not this kind of ability in her.

They watched as the hurricane floated the scroll in direction to the bigger dragons, and as soon as it was close enough, the dragoness reached with her paw and picked up the scroll, and the hurricane immediately unformed, letting all the dust and debris it had caught along the way simply drop in the ground, just like a leaf as soon as the wind stops. She kept her eyes at the young dragons, and she said to the dragon by her side.

"If they try anything, attack."

The dragon looked at her, and he slowly nodded. However, he was still unsure if he would like to attack children. Still, he was going to do what she wanted and he was going to keep an open eye. After all, you never truly know.

The dragoness broke the seal of the scroll and she unfolded it, letting it hang open from her claws as she started to read it.

She spent a while reading it, as all the dragons stood in attention. The grey dragon was looking intently at the young dragons who had come, who in turn, were looking attentively at the two older dragons, and in particular to the dragoness, who seemed to be the one that could most likely decide their fate and the success or failure of their mission.

She spent a while reading the letter, and as she read it, she both narrowed and widened her eyes, as she was taking in every single word that was written in there, with the unmistakable writing of the earth guardian.

She was done after three minutes, and she had a very serious look in her face as she put it down and looked at the three dragons. Then, she started to walk in their direction with firm steps, slowly closing the distance between herself and them.

The young dragons felt intimidated, and they all stood in place as the dragoness, who was older and clearly much stronger than them, was coming in their way now. They knew that there was probably the possibility of them needing to fight, and they were ready for it. Still, they were all hesitant, for they knew that if they made the first contact with violence and a fight, this would surely ruin their mission for good, and end it even before it have even begun. That was why they were so nervous as they saw the wind dragoness coming their way.

She walked in their way slowly, until she was close enough that she would be able to lower her head and look at them deadly in the eyes.

Up close it was easier to see the clear sighs of age in her face, still, they could see even closely the fierceness in her eyes, just like the winds of a powerful storm. That was more than enough to make them nervous, as they could see the experience of several years of battles and many more of training in the eyes of that dragoness.

They knew that if she decided to attack them there were great chances that she was goin got win, even if they fought with all they had (what they didn't wanted at all) they knew that she was able to keep up with them and probably gain the upper hand with smart tricks. That dragoness was not the kind you messed with, and it was possible to see it just by looking in her eyes, and that scared deeply the young dragons, and the dragonfly, whom was still hiding behind Spyro's horn.

After a few moments, the dragoness said, in a low and careful voice. "Is this a trick of yours?" There was a great ferocity in her eyes, even if her voice was actually calm, and after a few moments, Spyro walked forward, and was actually able to look in her eyes with the same ferocity, and he said, "No."

They both kept the staring contest for almost one minute, while all the other dragons around only looked at them, wondering which one of them was going to make the first move. After this, the dragoness raised her head, and she looked at her companion, and said to him, "They are not lying. At least this one is not."

This made relief was over the young dragons, and the other grey dragon looked at her, and he asked, "How do you know that?"

She looked at him, and said simply, "His eyes don't lie." And she walked back at him, and she said, "Alright, if what the letter says is true, then we have a grave problem in our paws." She looked behind herself, at the young dragons who were there, and she said, "We are going to scout you to our village."

The young dragons were actually able to smile at this, but she quickly added, "If in any moment I have the slightest feeling that you are going to betray us, I'm going to end your lives myself, do you get it?"

The young dragons cornered slightly, and they nodded their heads, letting it clear that they had understood. This seemed to be enough for the old dragoness, who simply said, "Good. Now lets go, and stay close to us, unless you want to be lost in this mountains forever."

Soon as that was said, she turned to her companion, and whispered something to him, which the young dragons didn't heard, but it seemed that she was giving him some kind of advice or order, for the grey dragon nodded at her, and soon, they both were taking up to the sky, and the young dragons followed suit, now going and flying near them.

The two adults flew at a distance ahead, close enough for the young dragons to be able to follow them, but distant enough so it was safe for both parties. It was clear that what Terrador had said was true, and the dragons who protected the villages were still ready to fight. They still didn't knew who was that grey dragoness, and neither who was her companion, but they had already noticed that at least the dragoness seemed to be one able to handle herself in wars. Maybe she had even took part in some of them, and it seemed that she was still ready to fight to the death if the danger arrived.

The other dragon didn't looked less intimidating. He might lack the experience and the power that the dragoness leaked from her, but he showed to have a scary figure, and he passed the impression of being a strong foe, and not the kind that most people would like to face all alone. For what they knew, he could be, on his own way, just as powerful and dangerous as that grey dragoness, so the young dragons knew that they had to also be careful around him, for he too could probably be ready to end them if there was any slight suspect that they were a threat.

"Well, that could have been better." Sparx said in a whisper at the dragons near him, begin careful for the more distant dragons not to hear him.

"Yeah, but it also could have been worse." Cynder reasoned, and she said, "At least we were able to get to this meeting without ending up in a fight."

"And thanks to Spyro." Malefor finally said, and seemed rather down, "At least one purple dragon in here is good in dealing with people."

The other young dragons looked at him as he said that, and they noticed that he was looking down, and Cynder approached him. "Malefor."

The purple dragon sighed, and he said, "I still think I should not have come. This almost ended bad because of me." He looked up, and he said, "Maybe I should fly back to Warfang and let you take care of that, after all, you are the great heroes. I would only get in your way and make your mission more difficult."

Cynder looked at him as he had his head hung low, and she said, "Hey, Malefor." And the purple dragon looked at her, and she continued, "It was not your fault, you were being controlled by Balthazar." She said to, and he looked in her eyes as she spoke, "Just like I was being controlled years ago. I wasn't responsible for my own actions, and neither was you, yet, people still see me as the 'terror of the skies', and they act like that. If I followed your way of thinking, then maybe I should fly with you to Warfang and leave Spyro to take care of everything."

Spyro perked his head at them as he heard it, and Malefor only looked at Cynder. "I know that it is hard, but we have to get through. This is a new chance, for me, for you, for us."

Spyro perked his head even more as he listened to that, and Cynder continued to talk to Malefor, "This can be our chance of getting redemption, of proving to the world that we are not the monsters they came to know."

Malefor looked at the black dragoness, who seemed to really be sure of what she was saying, and then, she did something they neither of the purple dragons expected, she reached with her paw, and held Malefor's own, making his eyes widen. She only looked at him with a kind smile, and he said, "We will get through this together, and it will be alright. I promise."

Malefor looked at her, and he blushed at this. Of course, he was chronologically more than a thousand years old, but in his body and mind he was still a teenager, and having someone, especially a female, holding paws with him, was somewhat awkward to him, especially if she gave him comforting words.

Still, Malefor felt like her words had taken a great burden of his heart, at least part of it, and he was actually able to smile at her again. He didn't knew what words to say to her in return, and so, he said nothing, he only nodded at her, and he had a smile on his face, and she smiled and nodded back, and they both seemed to become happier.

Neither of them looked at Spyro, and so, neither of them saw the slightly frown that the other purple dragon had on his face as he saw these two holding paws…

A head of them, the two dragons led the way, and they made a lot of curves and detours into their way, as they were guiding the three younger dragons and their dragonfly friend into the way that, supposedly, would lead them to the village. Of course, it was taking a while, and it almost felt like the young dragons were all following the older ones as they flew in circles.

"Guys, I'm starting to think that these guys don't know where they are going." Sparx said in a whisper for the young dragons, and, as amazing as it sounded, the young dragons thought that maybe the dragonfly was right. It took a while for them, and they didn't thought that they were going to actually take this long to arrive in the village, in wherever place of that mountains it was. Maybe the dragons had gotten lost, but it would not make sense.

What would be the point of living in these mountains and having a village in there if you were not going to be able to find the way if you got lost in there? Of course the village was secret, but it only would made sense that the ones who lived and protected the place would have to be able to find its location so they could come back, right?

The time was passing, and the dragons were starting to get their wings tired as they followed the older dragons in an endless travel across the mountain, and Sparx, by now, was pretty sure that they had all gotten lost, and they were going to be in there until there was only their bones left, just like the former Dark Master had said it would happen.

After a while, the dragon who were in front, made a quickly descending move, diving bellow, and the young dragons, surprised by this, decided to dive after them, and they soon dove right after them, and after a while of a freefall, the older dragons resumed their normal flight, but now, as a lower level, away from the tops of the mountains, and covered by the shadows of the mountains around them.

The young dragons shared looks among themselves, as they continued to follow, and soon, the older dragons started to take more detours and more curves, but this time, they were leading the young dragons for a way that they were completely sure that they had not gone yet. They saw a lot of features that they had not seem before, like some specific rock formations, and also some plant growing into the rock and into the sides of the mountains, like small trees and moss and flowers. That path was new to them, and all of the young dragons were happy for it.

After a while, they started to descent again, with the adults leading the way into the slowly descent as the young dragons followed. They were approaching the ground, and it seemed that they were going to land. The young dragons actually were thankful for this, for their wings were getting tired of flying so much, and they were thankful for they were going to land in the ground and rest their wings.

The older dragons were the first ones to touch the ground, and the other younger dragons landed at a certain distance from them, all of them letting tired sighs.

"Man, I don't remember ever flying so much before." Malefor said, as he stretched his wings and flexed them many times, as if to prevent them from straining from the effort he had made. Spyro and Cynder both agreed with him, for they had already to fly very much before, but never for so long and in such a tiring way like making so much curves and detours. Even Sparx, who was used to flap his wings a lot, being a dragonfly, was actually seeming to be tired from being so long in the air.

"Man, I think my wings will fall off!" He said as he dropped in Spyro's back, seeming tired, and he was panting slightly. The older dragons, however, didn't seemed to be so tired, and the male, actually looked at them, and he said to his companion. "Are you sure that these two are the Dark Master and Terror of the Skies?" He was whispering to her, so the younger dragons would not hear him, "I'm pretty sure that dragons with such fame would have more stamina than that."

She looked at him, and she said, "Don't drop your guard." And that was all that she said to him, as she turned around and started to approach the younger dragons, who were still resting their tired wings.

"Form this point we walk, and there is still a while of ground ahead of us." She said to them as they looked up at her, and they all nodded. Sparx, however, didn't agreed all too fast, and he soon said, "Are you sure we are in the right place? Because back there I had the feeling that we were walking in circles!"

"Because we were!" Said the male grey dragon from where he stood, surprising the dragons and dragonfly, not only because he said that, but because he also showed that he could listen well what they were saying form that distance, showing that he had a good hearing. This lead the young dragons to wonder just how much he had actually heard from their talk earlier.

The grey dragoness, however, only gave him a hard glare, which was enough to make him cower and almost seemed to be about to hide his own face with his wings, and she sighed, as she looked at the young dragons and their dragonfly companion, and she said, "Lets get going."

And that was all she said before starting to walk ahead, and the young dragons soon followed her and the other dragon, and soon they were walking among the shadow of the mountains. Sparx was still in Spyro's back, and he whispered to the dragons around him. "I knew that we were going in circles! I bet they had gotten lost and that they don't even know where we are!"

"We do!" Said the grey male at him, turning his head to look at the dragonfly, and startling the young dragons, for he showed once again that his hearing was acute, and that he could hear very well what they were talking in there. Of course, he didn't said much more, for a quick glance from the dragoness by his side was enough o silence him and make him walk without saying anything else.

"Okay, so if they weren't lost, then why would they make us fly in circles?" Sparx whispered to the others, ignoring the fact that they knew that the dragon could, most likely, hear him even if he whispered, and this led the young dragons to wonder the same thing. Why would they make the young dragons fly in circles on purpose? It was to make sure that they would not know the way? It was to protect the location of the village by keeping the precise path to it a complete secret, which they would not find without their help?

Well, it was the only thing that seemed to fit, because the only other option would be doing it to lose someone who was following them, and they wanted to take the young dragons to the village, so they would not want to lose someone who was in their tracks, right?

"What do you mean by 'you lost them'!?" Balthazar roared as he was communicating with the minion that he had sent to follow the young dragons.

The black creature with wings on its back was communicating with him by a crystal, and the figure looked at him as it spoke. "I was following them, but they met another dragons on their way."

Balthazar perked his head as he heard that. "What kind of dragons?" He said in a low and angry whisper.

"Wind dragons." The figure said at him as it looked at him, "We continued to follow them as it seemed that they would be leading them to the village. However, they started to move in circles, and to make tunrs and curves. It was hard to follow them, even more as they started to speed up." The figure explained. "It was like they knew I was following them, and were trying to lose ume."

"Is because they KNEW they were being followed, you useless shadow!" Balthazar nearly roared in anger. He knew enough about wind dragons to know that their connection with the wind element gave them a wide range of special abilities which included the ability to hear at great distances by the sounds that the wind carried. Not only that, they were also able to, if they were enough experienced in the control of their element, feel anything around them using the air currents, and they could discover hidden enemies only by their breathing. Of course, that stupid creature couldn't breathe, but still, it had a body that could disrupt wind currents, and it was more than enough for a wind dragon to be able to track it and know that it was there.

Balthazar thought that most wind dragons had died, along with the other kinds of dragons, but it seemed that he once again was proved wrong. The presence of a variety of dragons that he had long considered extinct was again a source of worry for him, for it proved that other varieties of dragons could still be alive. Including…

"You imbecile! How could you lose them so easily!?" Balthazar demanded form his minion, and the creature only bowed at his image, and said.

"It won't happen again, Master." It said, and Balthazar looked at it. "I know it won't, you incompetent shadow." With that said, Balthazar cut the communication, and immediately, he whispered a few words that made the crystal that was showing the image of his minion to start glowing.

The figure just had the communication cut short as it looked at the crystal, which moments later started to glow in a sickish purple color and vibrate. The figure only inclined its head sideward as it looked at the crystal, and it barely had time to think about it or to actually think about it, when…

BOOOOM

The crystal exploded, into a big boom that completely obliterated the creature, and that echoed through the near places, including the near set of mountains.

Malefor stopped and perked his head, as he thought he had heard something. "Did you heard that?" The purple dragon asked at the others, who looked at him.

"Heard what?" Said Sparx, who was still resting into Spyro's back as the young dragons were following the older ones. Malefor looked behind himself as he was searching for what could have made the sound that he just heard, but there was nothing in his sight, and he only kept looking there, until the dragons in front said.

"Hey, we need to get going!" It was the male, and the young dragons looked at him, and they continued to go. Malefor stayed behind a little, and he kept looking behind as he said to himself, "It seemed an explosion."

"Malefor, let's go." Cynder called him, and after a few moments, the purple dragon finally let it go and started to follow his companions as they followed the bigger dragons.

They passed by a long set of hallways in the bases of the mountains and by some caves that connected the ways. All along, the older dragons kept a certain distance, but not very much, form the younger ones, and it seemed that the way they were in was a long one, and that it was made to prevent it from being found from above. Things seemed different from the ground than they were up in the air.

After a while of walking, the older dragons lead them to a corner covered by the stony edges of two mountains almost touching one another, and it seemed that their next path would be right across the corner. Before they passed by it, though, the older dragoness turned to them, and she walked in their direction, looking at them straight in the eyes as she spoke.

"The place you are about to go in, is a sanctuary created to keep the dragons safe during the war, and to make sure that the forces that attacked us would not endanger the future of our species." Her tone was serious, and it was very clear by her expression that every word that she was saying could be anything but a joke.

"We have devoted our lives in protecting this place and making sure that every being who lives in there was safe from any threats from the outside, being it from the darkness that was consuming the world, from the ones who served it, or the ones who were in control of it." She looked right at Cynder and Malefor as she spoke so, and this made very clear that she was referring to them, and the two younger dragons flinched a little, as they saw that this dragoness really did not trusted completely in them, even with the letter that Terrador had sent talking in their favor.

"You two are being allowed to enter there and know the place, however, be warned, if in any moment your mere presence in here brings danger to our village or to the ones who live in it, I'll not hesitate in doing what is necessary to ensure our safety." The way she talked, it was far from being a threat, it was only like she was making one fact perfectly clear, as if a good explanation. Still, the way she said it let it clear that she meant that, if they somehow put the place in danger by any way, she was going to attack them.

Yeah, the dragons were ready to fight and to protect themselves and the villages, just like Terrador had said to them. The young dragons knew that, if most dragons were like that in the villages, the mission was probably going to be much more difficult than they had initially expected.

"Did I make myself clear enough?" The older dragoness said, and she looked at them, expecting for an answer, and the young dragons all shared a look among themselves, and they all nodded as they looked at her, and so did Sparx, who was still in Spyro's back. "Yeah, sure."

This seemed to be enough for the dragoness, who nodded back, and she resumed her walk, and this time, the younger dragons were allowed to follow her closely, and they were near her and the older dragon, who actually smiled down at them, and he said, "Welcome…" They turned the corner to see what was on the other side.

"To the Secret Howling Breeze Village."

What the young dragons saw made their jaws drop.

Village would be a pet name for a place like that. It was actually bigger than a village, and it didn't come to be a city, but still, was rather impressive. The place consisted into a lot of houses of stone and wood that had been built into a series of plateaus. Some of the houses were into the level of the ground, hidden beneath the shadow of the mountains that surrounded it, but others were place in the plateaus, which raises form the ground and into the mountain as if they were a series of stairs.

The houses in there were simple, but they were big and well built, the kind of thing that could last for a few decades without problems, what made sense for a place that you would need to stay in for a while when you were hiding from someone. And there were dragons in there.

They were many, actually, they were hundreds, maybe a little more. They were big, small, thing, bulky, male, female, all kinds. Most of them were grey colored, just like the two dragons who had brought them there, but there were some of other colors too, like the colors that Spyro and Cynder already knew, like yellow, green, light-blue and red. They also noticed some colors that they had not seen before into dragons, like some dragons that were black in color, just like Cynder, and also some dragons that were of a deeper shade of blue, too dark to be ice dragons like Cyril. The fact was that the place seemed to be exactly what it was said to them that it was: a safe haven for the dragons to hide and keep themselves safe as the war went on, and so the species would have a chance of surviving.

The young dragons all had a mix of several different emotions. In part, they felt amazed that a place like that was able to keep hidden during the war, with the armies of darkness sweeping across the lands. In part, they felt marveled that a place like that existed, and that there was still being so much dragons around like that, this, of course, brought a new feeling to Malefor and Cynder, who had considered earlier themselves the responsible for the near extinction of the dragon kind: a feeling of hope and of relief, for they knew that they were not the ones to be blamed for the vanishing of their own species. For, if in that single place there was so much dragons, all together, imagine in the others!

This brought a new feeling of hope in their hearts, which they both shared as they were even able to smile.

"Very few had ever discovered the existence of that place." Said the wind dragoness, who moved behind them, and she looked down at them as they all looked up at her. "You should consider yourselves honored from being able to see this place by yourselves, and I really hope that you do not take this honor lightly."

That tone was in her voice again, a tone of someone that was not going to drop her guard. This once again rekindled in all young dragons the feeling that she still not trusted them completely. Many would mistake it for paranoid, but they all knew that she was only being careful. She probably had lived enough horrors into the war to know that dropping her guard, even for one second, could mean a horrible end, and she was not going to simply drop it at all only because of a letter. This kind of acting was to be expected.

She looked at them, and she said, "We will scout you into the village now." She was serious as she spoke that, and she looked at the village. "Try not to call very much attention for yourselves."

The young dragons all shared a look, and they knew what she was meaning. They all nodded at her, signaling they understood, and she nodded back and soon she was in one side of them, while the male dragon was on the other. "Ready, little ones?" The male asked, and the dragons all shared a looked, and they nodded at him.

And soon, the young dragons were all being led inside the secret village, and they walked into a new territory.

In the first few minutes there was nothing big about them being in there, but soon, they started to attract stares from people, and soon, there was almost a crowd looking at them with several different expressions.

Some were amazed, some were with fear, some had expression of apprehension and even hate. These last ones were especially directed to Malefor and Cynder, who both cornered as people looked at them, pointed and muttered a thing or other among themselves.

As they walked, they saw that there was more than just dragons in this village. There were other creatures too, some of them familiar, like moles and goats, which Spyro and Cynder already saw in their travels. However, there was some species of creatures that neither of the young dragons had ever saw before. There were a few griffins in there, and also centaurs and fauns. They also caught sight of some bipedal creatures, like the cheetahs, but which species they failed to recognize. And they also saw…

"Am I delirious or that is a unicorn?" Sparx asked in low voice to Spyro as he looked at the particular creature, a horse, with pure-white fur and a golden horn on its forehead, and which soon was grouping with others of its kind. They seemed to be talking among themselves as much as everyone else as they looked at the young dragons who were being scouted into their village.

Malefor wasn't as impressed. He had already saw some of these creatures before in his early life, or at least heard about them. Malefor remembered that he had a meeting with a unicorn lord in that time. It was strange seeing all of these creatures again after so much time. Well, it was a long time for him, a time that he had passed as a puppet for Balthazar. A time that Malefor thanked the Ancestors and any other power that lived into the great heavens that had at least ended, and he was able to be himself again.

Still, he could not shake away the feeling that he had as they all gave him a look that was very much the same and that he was easily able to recognize. It was a look of someone who had suffered in his hands. Or who had at least heard about the monstrosities that he had done. A look of people who knew that he once was the Dark Master, and who would not take lightly all of the offenses of the past with the speech that he was under someone else's control. Malefor was feeling the despair of before creep back in his mind.

Cynder noticed this, and she gently touched his tail with her's. Malefor looked at her, and she smiled at him. "It is going to be okay." She said to him, as gently as possible, and the purple dragon smiled at her, and they continued to walk, with their tails touching. Over his shoulder, Spyro looked at them with their tails touching, and he was wondering if it was needed for them to be so close together.

The young dragons were led into the village, passing by a lot of people as they walked into stairs in direction to the upper plateaus, and they passed by a lot of people who gave them more stares and whispered among themselves as they passed. It was staring to become some short of pattern, which left the young dragons slightly uncomfortable, and they were actually quite glad when it came the moment that they were not among other creatures so much, as if they were going into a deeper place of the village.

They were led into another of the buildings, one that seemed to be a closed one, without windows, and as they walked in, Malefor noticed that the door of the place seemed to be made out of iron bars, and he also noticed that this construction was more sturdy and more resilient them the rest of the houses. Almost as if it was purposely made to resist things better.

They were guided inside, and the female said, "I'll be right back, stay in here." And she simply walked out, and the young dragons all looked at her as she went, and Sparx, who was still in Spyro's back, said, "Hey, what is that, no food?"

The young dragons all looked at Sparx, and soon, they were left alone in silence with the older dragon. The grey colored adult looked down at them, and he soon said, "Soooo, I guess this is interesting…"

He was trying to make a conversation, and Spyro said, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

The grey dragon smiled, and he looked at the other two. "So… is that true?" He asked, and the young dragon and dragoness looked up at him. "You two are really… them?"

The young dragons knew what was the reason of that question, and they both looked at each other as they wondered how to answer. Luckily for them, Spyro was there to intervene. "What if they are?"

The older dragon looked at him, and he said, "Well, it would be a little awkward, wondering all that had happened during the war, and all the stories I had heard. I can say some people from here will not be very happy for having them here."

The two young dragons flinched, and Spyro looked at him, and he said, "It was not their fault." Spyro said, with very vehemence, surprising a little the older dragon. "They didn't choose to do these things, and neither had they asked for it to happen to them."

The way Spyro said it made the other two also look at him, and Sparx, who was in his back, also said, "Yeah, but it doesn't change the fact that they did."

"Good point." The older dragon agreed with the dragonfly, and then, as if he noticed him for the first time, he said, "You are a dragonfly?"

"Hey, lets focus!" Spyro said, looking at the bigger and older dragon, whom looked at him. "Oh, right, sorry." He said, apologizing as he scratched the back of his head. "I got carried away; by the way, my name is Ridley." He said, offering a nice smile.

The young purple dragon looked up at him, and he said, "I'm Spyro, this one is Sparx." He said, gesturing to the dragonfly in his back. "These ones are Cynder and Malefor." He gestured to the two other young dragons, who looked up at the dragon. Surprisingly, the older dragon smiled at them, and he said, "Nice to meet you."

"Oh, right…"

"N-nice to meet you, sir."

They both were not expecting a dragon to actually be nice at them, especially with the way that the other dragoness acted with them. The older dragon seemed to notice that the young dragons were a bit awkward, and he was about to say something else, when the older dragoness finally returned, and she was not alone.

Two bulky shapes were coming with her, both walking in two legs, with a very bulky and sturdy building, and both carrying axes with them. They had maroon-colored fur and green eyes. Their feet ended in hooves and they had short tails, and they had hands with four fingers which carried the axes they were bringing, which were each one with a blade almost as big as the bodies of the young dragons. They both had long horns in their heads and one of them had a golden ring on his snout, and they both were wearing long pants. They both were like humanoid bulls, and none of them seemed to be very friendly, as they looked at the young dragons.

Spyro and Cynder looked attentively at the creatures that they had never seen before. Malefor, however, knew full well what they were: Minotaurs. Malefor had already saw a few of them in his early life, and these encounters were usually a bit scary. Of course, Malefor was just a hatchling at the time, and so, big creatures like that seemed scary, still Minotaurs were famous for being a race that was directly involved into wars and they were known for being devoted to war and for being fierce, as well as for having a short temper. So, Malefor was taught to be very careful in dealing with them, for letting them angry could result in some broken bones or maybe even a missing limb. And now, looking at these bulky Minotaurs, Malefor suddenly felt like he had once again become a little and fragile hatchling who they could squish him as if he was a small bug.

Malefor gave a step back as the two bulky Minotaurs looked at him with an expression that was like they wanted to chop him in half right in the spot. However, they did nothing, they only stood there, as the dragoness stepped forward, and she said, "Ridley." The grey dragon looked at her, and she said, "We have to go now."

She then turned at the young dragons, and she said, "We didn't expected your coming in here. We have to talk to a few people and we might take a while. You need to stay in here and wait for our return." She then gestured at the two Minotaurs, "They are going to guard the place until we come back."

She didn't even need to say what it was about for them to understand. These two big and bulky guys were there to keep an eye on them, to make sure that the young dragons would not try anything during her absence. It was just another proof that she didn't trusted them just yet.

"Okie Dokie." Said Ridley, turning to the dragoness and making a salute, which seemed a little comic. She only rolled her eyes, and said, "Let's go."

And they both started walking out, and Ridley turned back to the young dragons, and he said, "If you want something just talk to these guys. Don't worry, they look mean but they are actually very nice. We'll be back soon." He offered a kind smile to them as he walked out, and the young dragons and dragonfly were left alone with the minotaurs, who still looked down at them with these grumpy expression.

There was a long moment of silence, as the bulky creatures held their axes, and Sparx said, "Nicer than they look?" He said in a whisper at the young dragons, "I really hope so."

Malefor looked at him, and he looked back at the minotaurs, and he said, "Huhhh, hi?"

The bull-like creatures snorted at him, almost giving him a scowl with their eyes, and once again, the former Dark Master felt like he just didn't belonged to that place. He looked down, turning and walking to a corner of the construction they were in, and laying in there, facing the wall. The minotaurs both kept their eyes on him, as if they were just waiting for him to try something.

Cynder, of course, noticed this, and gave her own scowl at the minotaurs, and she walked in direction to the purple dragon, and soon, she was there by his side, saying, "Don't worry. It will be okay."

Malefor looked at her, and he said, "I'm not sure…"

She gently bumped him with her paw, and she said, "Come on, we have gone this far and we can't give up now. I'm sure that it will be okay, we just need to keep our heads raised high." She had a nice and sincere smile in her face as she said these words to him. "I'm sure that we are going to be okay."

Malefor looked at her, and seeing how much she seemed to be sure of that somehow gave him hope and made him believe in it too. He was able to smile back, and they both shared a little laugh.

Sparx and Spyro both looked at them, and Sparx said, "Yeah, it really seems that they are almost like a family. I guess it comes from being a former evil." The dragonfly had said it with a tone of humor, but Spyro was not even close to smiling as he was looking at the two dragons in there, so close to each other…

So, that is it. I still wanted this chapter to be greater, but I have other ideas that would need to be better explained in the following chapter, anyway, hope you have enjoyed it, and that you like that little cliffhanger I left in there.

Yeah, it seems like there is something going on with Spyro, as it is easy to notice, and everyone else seems to be oblivious to that.

Ridley is an OC, the first who was sent to me when I first put the option for sending OCs, and honestly, I thought that he was probably going to be the only one, but now I have quite a handful of them and I'd like to make the best to put them all into the story.

Anyways, Ridley is an OC that belongs to Antex-The Legendary Zoroark, a fellow here from FanFiction, and he gains the credit for this character, which will be very active in this story.

And also, I added other species besides dragons into that Universe, sure, because they had a quite large variety of species into the original series, and I think that it would add color and depth to the world of Spyro. Yeah, the world is big and is very colorful, and I plan to pass this great diversity into this story, hope you all like it ^^

Stay tuned to find out what will happens next ;)