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Mid Journey Reunion

It was strange...yet it felt real. His whole body somehow became lighter in that dream world, but it was as if he wasn't solid at all, or was he?

The sky was a starless one that night, covered with thick clouds in some parts of the sky. The moon was not seen, and darkness loomed over the place that night. What really made the place so bright was the flame that was burning high over the small posture of the young silver red youngling. He watched the fire, ash, and smoke poured into one place inside the burrow where his kin lived. Not only the burrow, though, but also the other half-rock dome-like house housing the race of silver reds.

At the time, the small silver red didn't notice that his family had died; killed by a mysterious dragon that was obscured by smoke, but the small silver red noticed its features. It was a black...wait, gold? Somehow the dragon has scales combinations, staring at him with its golden eyes. All of the sudden, the silver red lost his composure, and fainted.

He woke up while realizing that he was the only silver red dragon there alive, with his dying father giving him some words now forgotten by the silver red. His dream was vague, like covered in fog. Hazy, yet very clear in his mind. With a scream and his sight on the glittering black scales, he lost everything into the darkness, and he saw the black dragon, the one that he knew very well, started to disintegrate into bones while roaring in pain. The small dragon tried to help her, but it was too late. The black dragon had become bones in a matter of second, and while the silver red was confused on any reactions, he himself noticed that his front leg had started to become ash...

Seraphor woke up suddenly with a gasp. He was pretty sure the nightmare gave him a fright he once had when his wrong vendetta to the one he now loved almost took his own sanity. The dragon flexed his hand-like claws and waving his tail, wanting to know if they were still there. The nightmare even took most of the silver red's energy to hold the pain on his back legs, making him hurt even more like crazy.

Yet, he was unable to do anything until he reached the new dragon city, now knowing that the old one he knew had fallen. He was also temporarily out of commission after that fracture, so the only thing he could do was sleep again, yet he couldn't. He just lay there on his back and he watched the sky, admiring their beauty, and also reminding him on his mate.

"Can't sleep?"

Seraphor recognized the voice, but of course that wasn't the voice he would want to accompany him that night, worrying on the fact that it was still vile enough despite of now being a light voice dragon. Nevertheless, though, he turned his head to the source of the voice, directly into the eyes of the red dragon.

"Yes, I...got a nightmare."

Xerocia smiled to him while sitting beside a sleeping Ramusk. "It had been a century since I ever heard of your presence around Western Region. You're considered a hero among your comrades, you know. The pro-dragons now knew you're more than capable and the anti-dragons learned to fear you. You're like a monster to some, and...a savior to some. For me, you're just a lost kid."

"Then...how's your story?"

"You can see that Zarxavio saved you instead of trying to kill you, right?" said Xerocia. "And from inside him, I can hear that he gave you the fact that he's not the murderous self of mine, right?"

"You both can be better partners if you're now in a different body," said Seraphor.

"Apparently, he can't. If he left me, then I will be what I was 200 years ago."

"What do you mean?"

Xerocia didn't answer him, but stood on his two back legs and started to open his wings. The silver red knew the Soundfire dragon was trying to get away, so Seraphor said, "Wait! What do you mean?!"

"It's a secret you'll find out eventually."

"Can't you stay longer? I mean, why leaving? And why do you even bother being here?"

"I'm trying to find a friend," said Xerocia. "You and he had known each other for a while. It's just a coincidence we met and you're awake. I only want to drink."

Seraphor couldn't stop his old friend from leaving. It was as if he was only in a middle of a part-reunion went wrong, so he really was sad to know that another of his friend just come and go, without giving any exact condition on what happened for the past 100 years.

Xerocia then flew toward the direction of the city, before the other personality inside him talked to his head.

"Hey, are you kidding me?" said Zarxavio. "You only stay for a while just to talk to the midget and killing a bunch of mortals? You know, you're worse than me in staying a while and talk for a while with your friends."

"I know, I know," replied Xerocia. "But of course, he doesn't need another guardian. He has one."

"The purple one?"

"He's reliable, right?"

"He can be reliable but what he had done was only making an oversized meadow for us to fall unharmed, yet he gave us a scar...only a scar..."

"Shut it, Z. Let me concentrate on my flying."

The next morning...

"Damn...I can't sleep," said Seraphor when he saw the first light of the day. "The fever is bad enough."

Spyro woke up after grunting. Somehow Seraphor could see he wasn't all that energetic anymore, knowing of the fact that his friends had found a mate while he himself hadn't. Unlike what Seraphor knew 10 years ago, the purple golden dragon was now an adult and he was trying to find a mate. Ironically, the silver red had mated a little too early for a dragon in his world.

"Morning, Sera," said Spyro weakly while yawning. "You ready for another flight?"

"Wait, Spyro, we haven't done making preparations..."

"Oh shit, man, what the hell?!"

The exclaim came from Juagar, who was surprised by the sight of a bloody dismembered body beside him. He was near the lake to bathe, maybe.

"Why there is a fucking body lying beside me?!"

"Jua, stop panicking!" After calming the dark green draconian, Richard turned his draconic head to the dragons and said, "Alright, which one of you feasted early, huh? If you do, would you mind taking care of the carcass?"

"I'm not a human eater! I ate sheep, alright?" said Yort almost suddenly.

"I ate humans sometimes but of course I never left anything," said Ramusk. "There's another dragon here, somehow saving us from another fight."

"It's a slayer, then?"

"You can see it from this armor. It's jet black. A unique armor, of course. It was hard enough to hold dragon's claw, but somehow the dragon eating him had stronger claws."

"Goddamn it, man, clean it off! It reeks of death!"

After they disposed of the body (burning it, of course) and throwing any evidences into the lake, they readied themselves for another long journey. The draconians had finished and readied in their jeep while the dragons readied their wings to fly.

Again they flew through the desert, braving the harsh heat and strong sandstorm that protected the dragon city from many intruders. The natural sandstorm and the heat were too unbearable for Seraphor, but he endured it until they reached another stop, a big rock cave with an underground water reserve.

"From here we're supposed to be able to reach Dracokin, but the end was now covered in rubbles after the fight," said Yort. "I can't guarantee anything is left after that war so we just stay here. It's the best place to rest out here."

While they rested there to resume their journey through the evening where the sun is not as intense, Spyro wanted to have a stretch for a while, so he walked around the cave, which was surprisingly big for him. He saw the underground lake, still with fresh water intact. The water was cooling his throat when he drank it, and he wanted to see the desert landscape again when he somehow saw silhouettes of dragons flying to them. At first he dismissed it as heat illusion, but when he realized the illusion somehow became closer and closer to their position. It was when they realized the four of them were going to crash, Spyro exclaimed, "Whoa! Watch out! Incoming!" The dragons suddenly realized what happened and jumped to the side, with the draconians scrambled behind Yort's big body. The dragons crash-landed just in front of the cave's opening, and only after they cleaned themselves from the sand did both Seraphor and Spyro knew the quartet were the dragons they knew.

"W...what? How did they..."

"Oh, Seraphor? Spyro? What a chance meeting," said the blue one. "The world you're here now is splendid, I must say."

"Wait...how did you..."

"Leave Dragon Realm?" said the red one. "Of course we used the portal! Volteer and your mole friend opened the portal for us, saying that it was a one-way trip for sometimes."

"W..when did you follow me, Ignitus?"

"Right after you asked Volteer to the mole, we are suspicious on what he was currently doing for four hours without talking to us. He was never a secretive dragon for a talkative one like him. He explained everything to us, and of course we followed you with one of your concerned friend. Come, young one. Get to him."

From behind Terrador's massive body, came out one of both dragons' friend, with fire red color for scales and bulkier body than Spyro after spending hours of training his draconic body, becoming a masculine dragon more than the nerdy Spyro.

"Flame?"

"Well, look at that! You really have a knack of tech and fantasy, huh?! Wow, weapons, man! You little guys knew anything about guns and stuff."

"Uh...is he your friend?" said Yort.

"Yeah.... He's still enthusiastic with weapons of all sorts. Just don't take away his life, okay?"

"I thought a dragon as big as HIM would be wiser!"

"Some dragons won't grow as fast as some dragons...though he's mated."

The green one saw Seraphor and realized almost suddenly that the dragon was in a peril, so he came to his aid. When he reached the small dragon, he said, "This is bad, indeed. The bones had started to eat away his rotting flesh. Seraphor is, let's just say, won't survive without having his shattered bones mended in 24 hours."

"What?! We only have one day?!"

"What are you talking about? 24 hours is just barely over half a day..."

"Eh?! So that's why this world is slower than us?!" exclaimed Spyro.

"No...it's worse than that," said Ignitus in a worried tone. "If...24 hours is what he claimed as barely over half the day, the day will finish earlier for us, and of course Seraphor had no time left. We must stall his bone condition or he won't survive the medical attention."

"There's no other way than to go to wherever place we can to save him," said Terrador with his usual calm tone. "Where are you going to go?"

"We're going to a dragon settlement to mend his bones," said Yort. "But...how do you know his bones are shattered while you haven't even seen the bones yet?"

"I'm a healer back in my world so I know his condition," said Terrador while carrying Seraphor on his back, while staring at Spyro with his green eyes. Spyro knew the earth guardian wanted to silently tell him about his harsh flying and of course about his recklessness on this situation. Terrador was always the one that felt Spyro's 'modern' style disturbing to him, but they could stay as friends. Spyro knew arguing with the old dragon was useless, so he just opened his wings, preparing for a flight.

"Oh, Spyro? You can fly now?" asked Flame.

"Well, I found out about a magic to levitate so, yeah, I levitate, not flying."

As the main group was preparing to fly to Qeveriyt city, Avila and her own friends managed to find the settlement at an almost the same time when the dragons reached the place to rest behind Dracokin. As they reached the settlement, Avila was struck with sadness that embraced her.

Unlike the prosper Dracokin, the place was very rural. The houses were not made from fine woods, but instead only a roof covered with leather to hold anything raining down on them. The walls were made from fabrics, which was now half torn away, quite possibly because of the sandstorm. Dragons didn't have proper shelter, and the best housing there was made from scrap metal, melded by the heat of dragon's fire. With it positioned over the ground, Qeveriyt was sure to be a target for the antis to attack them, knowing that the exposed post meant the death toll for them. They would only wait for the arrival of the enemies with what defenses they had left.

"I...I thought this is a city," said Cynder in question. "This place is like a post-apocalyptic human settlement."

"Welcome to Qeveriyt, my dear," said Xiciro in a sympathetic tone. "The dragons here are the only ones left to defend the old Dracokin when it was attacked by the soldiers. The rest are scattered around the continent, helping the pros in taking cities."

He then turned to Avila. "C'mon, then...you have friends here, right? Say hello to them."

"B...but, I...it's complicated. You see, I..."

"Avila? Is that really you? Wow, those feathery wings made you cool!"

They all turned to meet a silver dragon Avila knew. Despite of him looking young enough to fool dragons, he was around a thousand years old when both Avila and Seraphor met him back many years ago.

"Where have you been from these past century? We all missed you, Vila...oh, ancestors, are you a real life basilisk?"

Avila realized the dragon was thinking about the fangs, so she countered it by saying, "No, that's just, uh, my own genetics. I grew fangs when I reached 100 years old! I thought I was a snake, too, like..."

"Well, you're a half-snake if you can poison others with a bite. Hey, you've got good friends following you, huh? Hey, Xiciro, thanks for helping the old ones survive to reach us."

"As for you? How is your eye?"

"Oh, about that, uh..."

Avila didn't need the answer, though, since she could see that one of the silver's eyes was not there, replaced by a scar running down from his forehead to the side of his maw. Somehow something or someone did it to him, and seeing a dragon having scars made Avila felt insecure on what outcome the conflict could be.

"It's alright, Argum. You know, how about you go back to your rider and tell him to find a company for this young dragoness? She had just returned after a while, so she might need friends."

When Argum left them, Avila said, "You know, I almost thought you took Argum's eye for your freak experiment."

"And, of course, you think I'm that evil now? How simple-minded, I must say."

Though at first Avila thought Xiciro had been deceiving the ones he supposedly saved while gaining his own things, her suspicions lessened when Avila saw some dragons knew him as a kind-hearted medical expert for dragons. The black dragon also didn't do anything that would be said as a vile dragon would do, like asking about reserves and information after gaining their trusts.

Maybe so, Avila must try to grow suspicion on the one she once sought as an enemy, so she kept a good eye on the dragon.

While Avila was talking with some dragons she knew in her past (most of them had younglings to care now), Cynder and Sannourah seemed to be out of place. First, they were surprised that instead of scared, the silver dragon instead knew Avila in first sight, as if her condition was normal. More, they somehow didn't feel the deathly aura around her, so maybe they wanted to talk to her like old friends, while the Dark Sentinel resented her right after they knew her transformation. It was as if the dragons in her own world had anticipated her condition beforehand.

They stayed at the settlement for a while, before setting off again. After her suspicion to Xiciro had lessened (seen from how she saw the dragon was a better medic than a vile dragon), she, Cynder, and Sannourah went again back to Xici kingdom. They knew their routes, but relied on Sannourah's portal power instead. They reached the kingdom in an instant, and back to where she saw Asola watching the city with Jaradas. They seemed too smitten with each other to not realize three black dragons were behind them. Only after Avila made a sudden scratch on the stone floor did they became surprised, but like before, they realized that she was a legendary dragon.

"Wait, you're...Avila, right? I thought you have a normal...pair of wings."

"I...uh, got these when I grew older," said Avila. "Anyway, where's Sera? Isn't this his cave?"

"He gave it to us, but you can stay for a while here," replied Asola while licking Jaradas. "I can take you to the city; I think he lives there now."

"Thank you. But, you know that this is my cave too?"

"Uh..."

Avila made a grin on her draconic face after seeing Asola's confused expression. "Just kidding! I don't really need a home right now, I mean a permanent one. I want to return to my mate and settle off again."

"But..."

"Well, time to go."

As Asola opened her maw to speak, Avila had opened her feathery wings and jumped off the cave opening with her friends following. She was relieved on the fact that her friends had accepted her condition, so she was sure her mate, the one she believed the most, would accept her as a proper dragon instead of a menace.

When she reached Xici kingdom, though, she was met with one of the dragons, somehow got distraught by something. Avila then recognized a dragon looked similar to her friend, but didn't know why.

Approaching him, the black dragoness said, "Hey, uh...do you happen to know where Seraphor is?"

"Seraphor? About that...we can't find him," replied Flicrist. He wasn't informed of the dragon's mysterious disappearance with two of the best Order members. As he was trying to change his view to find the silver red, Avila was found by another red dragon, one of Avila's comrades.

"Avila?"

"Riant, where is Sera? I thought many said he was here," said Avila in a worried tone.

"Sera disappeared some days ago," said Riant. "I suspect that he's going to Qeveriyt with Ramusk and Yort. I can't see them around."

"Qeveriyt? When?"

At that point Avila overheard some dragons talking about her mate, and what she heard troubled her.

"It was tough. I can never understand the pain," said a dragon. "That poor silver dragon can be a legend, but...I don't know what will happen to him with his bones fractured."

"I heard the young dragon roared in pain for the fracture. Somehow he was tortured by the pain."

"Last I heard he can't walk anymore."

As the dragons talked more, Avila became more and more uneasy on the fact. She was too troubled beyond measure that she unexpectedly gave out her darkness aura, making the place colder by seconds and darker. This change was recognized by Cynder and Sannourah, while the rest just made a comment about how cold the place became.

"Avila, maybe you should...calm yourself for a moment," said Cynder. "You're making the place colder."

The black dragoness realized her own emotions flowed to her own power. As she did that, a voice she was acquainted to warned her on her actions.

"Remember, Avila, you have the darkest emotion," said the female voice. "Force it all out, and death will surround you."

"But...Seraphor..."

"I'm sure the dragon is alright. What I concern is your surroundings. Remember your role, Avila. You're not a killer, just a taker."

As she calmed herself down, the darkness all around her dissipated, returning the temperature to normal. Her heart was still full of worries, though, since it concerned her mate. She wanted to go back to Qeveriyt and helped the silver red back to what he used to be, but then...

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but...the three of us would like to open a portal for our own reinforcement come to your aid."

Riant looked surprised. "Aid? From where?"

"It's time to give you the fact on my journey. I'm not journeying in this realm. Sannourah, open the portal."

As the demon dragon obliged, he made a scratch to the air creating a long straight line that proceed to open into a totally different world, which the red dragon could say that it was very dark. In there, he could see many dragons and riders gathering in a place, and when they saw Sannourah's portal, one of them, Coraero, called, "So, it is time, then?"

"Yes, Coraero," replied Avila. "Now my world needs all of your aid, Dark Sentinel."

Avila kept thinking on Seraphor's condition, but a thought came to her. The dragon survived many kinds of ordeal with her, even always saving her from peril. That belief gave hope to Avila that the dragon would survive and someday meet her.

For now, it was her job as a guardian to the kingdom to help fight with them.