Skylands Legends

1.1 The End of an Era

Magnificent. That was how to describe Spyro. Absolutely and stunningly magnificent. Never had that word better encapsulated a living being until the day it was used to describe him. He knew it, his fans knew it, his enemies knew it... he was: The Magnificent Spyro.

Wait, no. He thought. Not magnificent, it made him sound like a lame magician that specialized at party tricks. His talents were far better than simply 'magnificent.' They were... stupefying. No, that's not it. The word was too close to stupid and the last thing he wanted was to give his doubters easy insults to use against him. He needed something better, something... epic.

The terrific Spyro, the tremendous Spyro, the spectacular Spyro — they all sounded like cheap stage names. He needed something that lived up to all of his pure awesomeness, something legendary. And if his book title didn't live up to the raw epicness that was his life, what was the point? He was beginning to think that words wouldn't be enough to describe his majesty.

Afterall, he was the best defender Skylands had ever had. To everyone, he was known as THE Skylander. He was the Skylander that led the charge against the Hydra all those years ago to avenge Eon. He was the Skylander that took down the sorcerer dragon, Malefor. He was the Skylander with the most flawless mission record ever. He even led the most elite team of heroes in all of Skylands. He wasn't just a hero, he was a legend... legend.

The Legend of Spyro — now that had a good ring to it.

He grabbed the pen lodged between his scales and horn and scribbled the title down on the little notebook he had with him. He looked over it for a second before writing another inscription down next to it.

The Legend of The Legendary Spyro.

No, that was too much. He crossed it out and brought the pen cap up to his mouth to chew on. It's best to stay simple. He rewrote the 'The Legend of Spyro' again on a different page, this time drawing out the letters to make it look more fancy. He made sure to have sharp, jagged edges on each of the letters to make it look cooler.

While drawing the 'S', the sky ship's stern suddenly lurched upward with a loud screeching sound. It lasted for a few seconds before the ship pulled forward and leveled out in its descent. Cap'n Flynn's voice boomed through the intercom. "Don't worry everyone, it's just a bit of turbulence. I will try to avoid any more unseen islands from here on out. Thank you."

"Dammit, Flynn," Spyro muttered, looking down at his ruined sketch. Irritated, he slammed the notebook shut and set it down on the mast beside him, turning to look out at the mists. A dozen or so fog lights illuminated the area surrounding the ship. The orange light reflected off the mists creating a dome of vision maybe fifty yards in diameter. Faint shadows of tattered islands floated by them just outside their illuminating bubble. On one of them he spotted the outline of a few crooked, decaying trees. Piles of rubble lay at their roots, hinting at a home that used to be. Rotted grass grew in patches, giving the air a musty smell.

It was all quite depressing. Which was why he had tried to focus on writing his book. But now he was too annoyed to think. He hated the Lowlands.

In all his time as a Skylander, he had only visited the region one other time, and that was only because of a dare. The Lowlands were known as the absolute bottom of Skylands. An oppressive place coated in thick, gray fog that stretched on for miles in every direction. It was the only region in Skylands that the sun could not touch. Spyro remembered hearing once that the Lowlands were as deep as Frostfest was wide. Which if true would mean that it would take a full day to descend to the bottom. Someone could be in free fall for hours before they even reached the supposed void beneath the fog. It was quite the baffling thought.