The Aftermath TLOS (Book 1)

Chapter One

The first thought that went through Cynder's head was 'too bright'. Her head ringing, she slowly lifted her head and looked over at the purple dragon.

"Spyro!" she calls, with no response.

She gets up and looks him over with worry, 'he seems okay' she thinks to herself. She looks around, wondering where they are. They appear to be in a valley surrounded by an ethereal lake. In the center of the valley is a henge, a large statue of a dragon at the center. Cynder wearily approaches the henge studying the markings on the stones. Each stone was marked with a depiction of the same dragon as the statue. First it shows the dragon surrounded by two types of armies, with strange floating islands in the background. Second a depiction of the dragon using some sort of magic, the rune that depicted the magic felt protective. The third and final depiction showed the same dragon traveling through some sort of portal.

"What?" Cynder says to herself, just noticing the text below the depictions.

The words seem to translate themselves into a voice in her own head

"Michael, the defender of life and guardian of the multiverse. To awaken the ultimate guardian, a purple dragon must use all of their elements upon the statue"

At that moment Spyro woke up

"Cynder! where are you?" He yelled worriedly.

"Over here" She replied, and ran over to him.

"Are you okay? What Happened? Where are we?"

"I'm fine" She answered, "I don't know where we are or what happened"

Spyro, showing visibly less worried turns his attention to the henge with its sapphire veined dark gray stone. He looks at the depictions and "reads" the text below

"This is a Guardian?" He asks in surprise "Should I free him?"

"What... Oh yeah" Cynder replies, seeming to forget that Spyro was a purple dragon for a second"

"Maybe you should" She answers

Spyro walks over to the front of the statue and looks at it for a moment, before deciding to awaken it. He charges up an element ball containing all of his powers and throws it full force at the statue. When the dust settles the two dragons gasp at surprise as the statue stands seemingly untouched. Then with a sudden rumble, the sapphire veins began to glow brightly, pulsing with magic. The statue's eyes began to glow as well, cracks starting to appear throughout its entire body. The cracks grew bigger and with a might crash the statue blew apart, releasing a mighty black dragon with dark blue eyes. The black dragon had two horns that curved up and back and a tailblade that started before the tip of his a tail and ended 3 feet past it, it appeared to be a dual-edged tailsword. The dragon's completely black body was protected by armor, intricately woven metal with carefully placed onyx and sapphire gems that glowed with a similar pulse to his eyes. The magic fades and the dragon "wakes up" he looks straight down at the younger dragons.

"You must be Spyro and Cynder" His voice seemed... Oddly normal

"How do you know are names?" Spyro asked getting in a protective stance in front of Cynder

"I am Michael, the Guardian of the balance between good and evil, the protector of the infinite multiverse. In each dimension a version of me exists, but we are one being, connected, one soul that experiences infinity all at once. So, in simpler terms I know a LOT of things."

"Do you know where we are then?" Cynder asked

"We are in the Valley of Souls, the most magical place on... What's left of this planet" he said looking out at the ethereal lake surrounding the island.