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The Lost Cave

Wow...what is this place? The buildings are very big and...spacy for a dragon to sleep in."

Seraphor was staring in awe on the structures of the Dragon District. In the place where he stranded the buildings weren't that big, so he could guess that beachside dragons were different than urban dragons. Even, what he remembered on Dracokin wasn't like this. The dragons simply sleep outside. Here, there are shelters reserved for them, even making a big building complex.

Yort and the silver red put Jaradas on a comfy haystack. He was breathing hard, but his vitals were stabile (as what Yort said). The green earth dragon tried to mix some medicinal herbs. He put some of them to Jaradas' hurt part, and the resulting pain made Jaradas roared in all of his dragon's might. Asola wanted to help, but Yort stopped her by saying "Young dragoness, you'll be hurt here. Let me help the once human."

When Asola left the shelter, Seraphor said, "Once human?"

"This dragon is a political prisoner given on some degree of freedom," said Yort between Jaradas' strong roar of pain. "There are many of them, from the kingdom that you once called Korth."

"But...Korth is..."

"Korth became a stronghold to the anti-dragons 10 years after that faithful day when you're gone," interrupted Yort. "The humans knew without their dragon guardians, they will not be able to withstand attacks from the antis, so they made a deal with them, ensuring safety on the kingdom with slayers. It was then Korth became a big foul city. 30 years later, Ramusk retook this place, and made it our stronghold again.

"I don't know what's the king at that time was thinking, but...he did some kind of a proposal to somehow 'curse' these humans into the beasts they sought to hate...us. The curse made use of a foul black magic to permanently change their body into that of a dragon, with no hope of returning back to human, as this technique took the life of the magician using it. I don't know why there are fools in this world."

"Oh...so that's the recap where I left it," said Seraphor.

After Jaradas calmed himself, Yort took a deep breath and said, "Sera, would you mind taking a walk with me? If you now want to stay permanently, it's a good way to know your surroundings."

"I'd be glad to."

After Yort told Asola to take care on the ash green, both dragons took a stroll down the Dragon district. It was still afternoon and the sun was still high on the sky. Seraphor overheard some dragons talking about the extreme heat that happened just for a minute, and hoped that they didn't know that a small barely adult silver red was burning the forest in a matter of seconds.

Seraphor realized that while some parts of the city remained the same, the place seemed to be modernized. Now, there are magical structures and many magical technologies supporting the lives of the humans. The dragons now had a newer kind of social behavior akin to that of a human. Both the Dragon district and the human part of the kingdom had big paved roads so dragons could walk around the city without destroying or damaging the buildings. He was particularly fascinated by how dragons could be so close to humans, unlike the time before he left to Dragon Realm.

"Things have changed around here," said Seraphor in awe. "I never thought this kind of fantasy can be a real thing."

"Yeah...oh, and you can meet many of your old friends here. Follow me."

Yort directed the silver red to a big building near the castle, where Seraphor could see many dragons were inside, relaxing on what could be said a nice warm day to hunt. Yort went inside first, then Seraphor.

"Hey Yort," said a dark red wyvern-dragon Seraphor could quickly identify as Ramusk. "What news comes from you?"

"You should have known this old friend of ours, Ramusk," said Yort with a smile.

"The old friend that you mean is...oh ancestors..."

The whole noises in the building went silent when they all realized the silver red beside Yort. It was as if he became the center of attention to the dragons, and it made Seraphor uneasy, as if he was a wanted dragon. But then when Ramusk went closer and, still wide-eyed, sniffed Seraphor, the hell dragon said, "I...it's really you! Seraphor! He's back! It's a goddamn miracle, my friends!"

"Uh...hi...I really miss you..."

"Miss me?! We have been waiting for the whole goddamn century for you to show your ass around here, Sera! The dragons all hail you as a hero!"

"Hero?"

"Like I said, Sera, you deserve a hero's welcome," said Yort with a smile. "Tell everything about your journey when you disappear."

Seraphor wanted to try to avoid telling anything about the place he disappeared into; knowing very well that the place he got stranded to was nothing less than party-going dragons having parties with a dozen of fantasy creatures. He had no word to share with them, but Ramusk said, "Come, Sera, you must be hungry! You can tell us anything about your journey."

Meanwhile, up in the castle...

"What do you mean 'half of the forest was burned to crisps'? That can't be possible, even for a dragon's fire!"

"But...my king, he isn't a simple dragon," said Asola. She left Jaradas in Yort's shelter while flying back to the castle. "I know about his legend, and he's very famous between the dragons. We all know him and respected him."

"This dragon...what can you say about him?"

"He's only known as a silver dragon with red stripes on his back, making some lines of horizontal stripes over his scales. He had ferocious bony wings and those mystic blue eyes..."

"But...that's impossible! He's supposed to be dead years ago!" said a scholar. "Everyone in the Order believed he's dead!"

"But if the legend is true, then...praise the gods...."

"Where is he now?! Asola, tell me!" said Flicrist in a hurry tone.

"He's...in the Dragon district..."

Right at that time Flicrist suddenly jumped out from the place he relaxed and ran toward the porch. He didn't have time to think before he made a jump and flew away to the Dragon district, landing near the building where the Order stayed. He wanted to rush inside, seeing the silver red, before he was held by a dragon.

"Oh...hold it!" said the dragon. "Flicrist, if you want to see Seraphor, you will have to wait for a while."

"Why? He's all dragon's favorite! My mother told me many things about him, and I never thought it was true!"

"Calm down, Fli. He can meet you if you wait. The Order is surrounding him like crazy as if he's a long lost friend or something. To tell the truth, I can't believe a barely adult dragon still unable to talk wise and still very wild can be a legendary hero to the pros. I never know if I haven't seen his feat."

Flicrist left the dragon while seeing that Seraphor's figure was obscured by many big old dragons inside the building, most of the Order members. Inside, Seraphor had a trouble talking about his adventures, knowing very well that his changed style of talking to fit those beachside dragons could pose a confusion to his friends, and also, most of it wasn't even relevant to his real world's life.

After he had finished telling stories, Seraphor wanted to leave to get a rest and at least taking a bit of air. He walked outside after saying goodbye to all of his old friends, before he bumped to Flicrist. Flicrist that thought Seraphor was still inside the building thought he was a random dragon until a dragon told his name.

"That's the legendary dragon?!" said Flicrist couldn't believe on it. "He looks like he's barely 50 years old! That's just a youngling!"

"Actually, Flicrist," said Yort after getting out of the building. "I had done researches about the silver reds and found out that they had been said to be extinct many years ago. He's a legend not because of his age, but that incident where he killed the whole army of Anti-dragons with a single attack trying to attack Dracokin. You're still small at that time, so of course you don't know."

"He..."

"His race has a very slow rate of growth. He can be more than 200 years now, but his body will only increase in size a little. You can ask him many things about his past before he left us to a rather...unbelievable adventure."

Meanwhile Seraphor still wanted to find Avila, knowing very well that everything about her back before he was stranded in Dragon Realm took his vision momentarily. He saw fear in the dragoness' face when his grip was lost. He knew the dragoness needed him to survive as she was a dark dragon, and once an enemy of his. The newfound love they carved to each other's heart left a long-lasting relationship that made them unable to be separable. Knowing very well that the story telling had made him exhausted and the day had become dark (his first night in his own world after some years), he wanted to retire to his cave after exhaustion on burning the forest with the Cercle du Soleil when he realized his cave was positioned near the top of the mountain and he lost his wings again.

"Ah, goddamn it, this is not one of those shits again..."

"You need a help, little dragon?"

Asola was walking in front of him, knowing very well on his predicament as a wingless dragon. Seraphor flexed his wings a little and said, "Well...if you don't mind..."

"Don't worry. You can sleep in my cave for tonight. Tomorrow I'll take you back to your lair," said Asola with a smile.

"You sure? It's not normal for a dragon to piggyback others."

"Piggyback?"

"Never mind..."

Asola took Seraphor to her lair, which was, in Seraphor's surprise, the front porch of his former cave, now covered with a big stone wall serving as his own lair's door. He really was having a bad timing to get back as his cave had now been occupied by a female dragon, no less. Well, nevertheless, he told everything to Asola about the cave he had behind the wall.

Asola seemed surprised. "Really? This was your lair?"

"I don't want to try to take it back, seriously. I know I'm a wild dragon from my hatchday, but, believe me, living in an inn with a rather rebellious twin personality purple dragon made me unable to live in a big dark cave. I will find another place to live."

"Oh...but, at least you can stay here for the night, right? It's not as cozy as you will think of an inn, if that's what I once knew from seeing a human's inn."

Seraphor made a gesture to put one of his front legs to the rock wall and with a simple push, the rocks parted ways, making a door. Asola was still surprised by it and when she followed Seraphor to the section of the lost cave Seraphor lit some giant wicks, half-covered with spider's web, and the once dark cave became bright with some of the gold stash packed neatly to a section of the cave. The ceiling was high, presumably hollowing near the top of the mountain, and it was lit with the same fire from the wicks, making the room bright.

"I...I can't believe it. Is this...is this your cave?" said Asola in awe. "It's awesome."

"Don't get some nasty thoughts about where I got the gold from. We got it from helping the previous kingdom and also having a little adventure on our own, often battling other dragons and get their gold as payment. The gold is not that much, so I'll just take half, and you half."

"Half?! You can't be dividing your mount of gold! Are you trying to hurt your pride?"

"C'mon now. In the place I got stranded to, it's natural to pay others on a good service, and you give me a good place to stay."

Though reluctant, Asola decided that Seraphor needed to adapt to the urban dragon life instead of being a wild dragon, so for the night, Asola let the silver red slept in his part of the cave while Asola flew back to the kingdom, as she only sleep in the cave. She was particularly concerned with Jaradas at the time. As she reached the place where Jaradas was resting, Yort was beside the ash green, which had woken up. Some parts of the dragon were bandaged and Jaradas was resting on the haystack provided to him. Upon seeing Asola he tried his best to stay away from his sight, but the crimson dragon forced his head to face her, and he was nervous.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault to be so weak. Like I said, it's okay if you can't save your own love. We're dragons, not humans. You talk much with the elder, I presume?"

"He taught me many things about dragon's life...it's all so different from what I know from books. First of all...I'm a reptilian, and...and..."

"Shhh," said Asola while closing Jaradas' maw gently, unlike in previous times where she was still hostile to him. "Don't talk too much...you need much rest."

"I...I..."

"Yort...you can leave us together for now...it's private matter."

Yort that understood Asola's desire decided to get out from the shelter and closed the door behind him. Jaradas somehow knew what Asola wanted from him, so he said, "No, wait! I'm not ready for this! I..."

Upon seeing Asola's black eyes and directly into her yellow and slitted eyes, and unknowingly he felt very calm, yet drowsy and mesmerized by the crimson dragon's body. Her soft scales mesmerized Jaradas, and he had been inside Asola's charm.

"Calm yourself, Jaradas, dear...," said Asola with a little hiss. "You are mine now..."

"...I'm yours..."

"There's nothing to fear..."

"I have nothing to fear..."

"Follow my desire. Satisfy...my desire..."

Yort heard some noises of dragon mating inside the room and he knew the 'private matter' Asola meant. She had been smitten to the dragon and it might need a better relationship on their part, so Yort just sighed and walked away to a place where he could meet with his friends.

Unknown to him and all of his friends, there was another dragon that came back from another dimension. A portal was opened in the cave silently, and from inside, a voice came out.

"Okay, so...is this really your dimension?" said a childish male voice.

"Yes it is...it's him."

A black dragoness came out from the portal, with feathered wings and snake fangs. She loomed over the silver red, with concerned look. She was more relieved when she had heard Seraphor's breathing. She smiled to herself.

"Avila...he's..."

"Yes...he's the one your male befriends to," said Avila. "But...I can't see him."

"Maybe he's exploring? He and his dragonfly half-brother is always the adventurer type."

Avila left Seraphor's side. He said, "Then let's get going."

"You don't want to at least let him see you? You both have been separated for 10 years."

"And you, Cynder, have been separated far longer than me, so you need to find your own dragon fast."

"Where do we must start," said Cynder. "There could be a possibility that only Seraphor is being transported here, not Spyro. Avila, he's right in front of you. Do you want to make him suffer more than this? I bet he's been waiting for you for ages."

"He knows I will be coming. We can wait forever if we have to. Besides, I have a feeling that he's not ready to face this form. He's not like us. He's a Light dragon."

"Although he's a Light, I can feel it, Avila. He's not going to reject you."

"No...let him wait for a while longer. San?"

"Yes?"

"You can follow us if you want to. It's a great exploration here than there."

The black dragon waiting for them closed the portal behind him and walked out from the other side. It was small, but had considerably grown after the life essence he lost started to slowly come back to him. He watched around, sometimes seeing the white moon and the bright kingdom down from the cave. The small dragon watched the place in awe. He had never seen a lively place like that in the middle of the night.

"How do you think, Sannourah?"

"Your world is full of lively humans! I never thought the other dimension can be so full of surprises!"

"We can set off anytime," said Avila. "I can get you to a place where we can find many dragons we can find to, and also to at least find information to whatever time period we are in."

"Why is that?"

"The way I remembered the kingdom down there, there are no place reserved for dragons. The place has changed as much and I must find my friends to adapt with the timeline. C'mon, Cynder, Sannourah."

The three of them opened their wings and flew off through the night. It was a bright moon, where the night was full of moonlight. Cynder watched the moon while flying, and always remembered Spyro when they were watching the moon before their fight with Malefor happened.

The past was always the past....