FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

For the next four weeks, the group explored the city, studying its ancient designs, and messing around. Michael returned with Trice, they had their armor on, and they were covered with dust and grime.

"He's not here" Michael spoke.

"Where did you go?" Aura asked

"Everywhere" Michael answered

Trice walked over to the pool, and stepped into it. She groaned and floated to the center. Michael rolled his eyes and snapped his claws, and all of the dirt and dust vanished.

"In her defense, we did crawl through hundreds of miles of tunnels, like crawl, not walk." Michael stated

"Why?" Spyro turned to him

"There are a lot of hiding places and enclosed rooms down there." Michael explained

"What about the other ruins?" Cynder walked up to them.

"They're gone, completely destroyed and crawling with aberrations" Michael told her

"So we get to leave this planet" Flame smiled

"Yep, but we have to return to that original clearing first, we'll leave tomorrow." He replied

Spyro went to cook dinner, Cynder went back to reading from the vast pile of records that they found.

"Oh, wait! I wanted to ask you, did my family come from here?"

Michael looked confused "Oh, you're looking for your family. The records you have there are not the right ones, you want the grey ones, not the brown ones."

He picked up the stack of grey books, then picked a single one out, and handed it to her.

"I have a copy of all of these books in my dimensional archive. All you had to do was ask." Michael told her

"Can I keep this?" She asked

"Why not?" Michael answered

Cynder settled down with the book, and started reading it.

"Aura's family also came from here" Michael told her.

"Really?" Spyro cut in

"A long line of aether dragons, they helped defend the city before they split off with a large group to another dimension." Michael replied

Spyro handed out plates, Cynder thanked him but kept reading. After everybody had finished their meal, the sun had set and they laid down for the night. Michael set his fire core in the center for light, and laid down. The next morning, the group packed their things, and left the city. Spyro watched the massive structures fall in the horizon, he wondered why the void dragon might have stayed there. He looked around the strange forests, they teemed with life despite the temperature drop and the high-speed winds.

"How old are these trees?" He asked Michael

"It takes three thousand four hundred and thirty-five days for this planet to fully circle the sun. In normal years these trees will live for thousands of years." Michael told him

They landed in the original clearing, the blue flowers look unaffected by the weather. Spyro sniffed one, smelling the sweet aroma. He flinched in surprise when he felt a strong feeling of joy from the flower.

"Ethereal flowers" Michael noticed his reaction

Michael turned back to the center of the clearing, and focused his magic. With a powerful crackle, the portal opened. The group stepped through it, Spyro looked around, they were in a similar looking clearing, with the same flowers, but the forest was entirely different. Massive oaks replaced the thin but tall pines of before. Spyro looked around and spotted some smoke rising in the distance.

"What is that?" He asked

Trice looked where he was pointing and smiled "Nomads, they roam planets like this and live their lives without the constructs of society. They have the same basic traditions, mating ceremonies, and the such, but live only in nature."

"You seem extra happy." Cynder replied

"There are a few immortals in this group, and they're old friends." Trice told her

Trice took off with speed and boosted over to the smoke. Michael laughed and followed; the others took off with amused expressions. Eventually they flew out of the forest and over a massive grassland, rolling hills covered with grass spread as far as the eye can see. They spotted a group of dragons in the distance; Trice was already with them. When they approached, they noticed dragons of all colors and sizes. Cynder spotted two black dragons laying together, asleep. Trice was with a small group of dragons, varying in age. They were talking and laughing together. Michael landed and was greeted by an elder.

"Hello, good to see you again." The green elder spoke

"It's been what three thousand years?" Michael replied

"Too long" The elder responded.

Laughter burst from Trice and the other dragons.

Michael chuckled "Some things never change"

"Especially when your immortal" The elder replied

The elder noticed Spyro and Cynder.

"Spyro and Cynder! You look just like your parents." He stated

"Um, hi?" Cynder replied

"Forgive me, I am Az, chief of this nomadic tribe. We have heard much about you from the stars."

"Uhm, what?" Spyro looked up at him

"Amongst our tribe lives a star dragon, she can look upon the stars and receive tales of the present." Az told them.

A beautiful dragoness approached them, she was a very dark blue, almost black, and had white stars dotted all over her body. Purple hues splotched her body.

"Hello" She greeted them

"You're a... Star dragon?" Cynder stammered

"Yes, I can read events in the stars, it's a rare gift among only a select few moon dragons." The dragon answered

"Usually given by a powerful god" Az added

"Yeah, I was given my powers as a gift. My parents went through much pain and suffering because they were moon dragons. They were once loyal to Michael, and when he returned to find them, they remained so. He took up my egg and gave me my powers, and I was able to protect them from the suffering." The starry dragon told them.

"Does stuff like that happen often?" Cynder asked

"More often than not with powers like mine." The dragon replied "Forgive me, I never told you my name. I'm Nebula."

"Nice to meet you, if you don't mind me asking, why are you living as a nomad?" Cynder asked

"I'm immortal, so after my parents died, I explored everything, and after I had finished with that, I decided I wanted to settle down. But I still can not find a mate, and am unable to have children until I do, but I searched for many years, and Michael helped me the best he could. After having no luck, I decided to find a nomad tribe and wander with them for a while." Nebula answered

"Speaking of mates, I ran into Ethan at Sundance." He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Oh" She blushed "How was he?"

"Exploded, but after I carried his sister to safety, he asked about you. I think he still likes you." He told her.

Spyro glanced at Cynder, remembering the gruesome image of the city decimated.

"Where are they now?" She asked

"Faun, and incredibly bored" Michael answered.

"Maybe I could go see them?" She asked shyly

"Were searching for the void dragon" Michael told her "You can come with us and return to Faun when were done"

"You're looking for Onyx? He passed by here a couple thousand years ago." Nebula told them

"I figured as much; do you know where he went?" Michael asked

"Not sure, but he didn't go far from here, this system or the next one over." Nebula told him

"Yeah, I figured that as well. We already checked Origin." Michael replied

"YOU WENT TO ORIGIN? AND THEY SURVIVED? That place is filled with aberration." Nebula gasped

"We went to the capital, and I left them in the center, they were safe. The aberration spread far larger than expected." Michael told her.

"Yeah, I went there a while back for some records, but was jumped by a massive amount of those... Creatures." Nebula shuddered

"Yeah, Trice and I slayed hundreds of thousands of them." Michael explained.

"Spyro, Flame, Ember, Cynder!" Trice called "Come on!"

They followed her to a cave entrance. She smiled at them, and entered. Cautiously, they followed. After a few minutes of walking. The group found themselves in front of a collection of lava pools. Cynder gasped as Aura leaped into one of the pools.

"What, we can do that?" Spyro asked

Ember looked at her confused, then realization struck her.

"Yeah, I can't believe nobody told you." She spoke

Spyro stepped into the pool, he groaned in pleasure. Cynder stepped back, unsure, Trice laughed and tossed her into the pool. Squealing, she fell in with a splash. When she surfaced, she gasped at how good it felt, Flame swam beside her, laughing. They swam for what felt like hours, laughing, playing, goofing around. Michael walked into the tunnel, and smiled at the younger dragons.

"Found the pools, did they? Only took them a couple thousand years." He said as he walked into the boiling lava.

"How are we able to do this?" Spyro asked

"Magic, Dracios Elementia are made of pure magic, mostly biology, but a lot of magic." Michael sighed as he floated on his back.

Cynder laughed and giggled, Ember splashed her with the water, she squealed and splashed her back.

"How have we never done this before?" Spyro asked, watching the girls

"The only lava pool you have ever been through is the one at the Munitions Forge, and I think you were a bit... distracted." Michael replied, opening an eye during the pause, then closing it.

Aura surfaced suddenly, making Cynder jump, laugh, and start splashing her too. Flame had the misfortune of floating by as a wave of lava struck him hard in the face. He sputtered and flipped over. Ember laughed, then froze as he disappeared under the surface. Flame leaped up and grabbed his mate, dragging her with a yelp under the surface. Cynder laughed at the shenanigans, then gasped, and vanished, then Aura followed. Suddenly, the four dragons burst from the pool with a massive splash, laughing. Spyro leapt forward, and tackled his mate, she yelped and splashed as he growled and threw her across the pool. Michael ducked as a splash of hot magma struck him. He grunted in annoyance, and sank to the bottom of the pool. They messed around for a few more hours, then grudgingly got out of the pool. Michael walked out of the pool as if it wasn't there, and guided them to an underground mineral pool.

"You're going to want to bathe now, because when the lava solidifies, it will leave you covered in dirt and stone." He told them

They splashed into the water, and quickly bathe, then they left the cave system. The sun had fallen, and the nomads had settled into their temporary beds. Spyro and Cynder spotted Nebula, and walked up to her.

"What are you doing?" Cynder asked.

"Just reading the stars." She explained, staring at countless lights above them.

"What do you see?" Cynder replied

"I see your uncle and aunt, sitting on their eggs, one of them is black, how interesting." She stated

"You can see that!" Cynder gasped

"I see the present, but not the past or future, I see things as they happen." Nebula told her.

"What else can you see?" Spyro asked

"I can see the used to be dark planets being reformed into new civilizations. The ML are bringing happiness and prosperity to all of the Dark Authority's old territory. But I also see something else, something ancient building far from here. Don't worry, this evil will not rise now, it may take hundreds of years, or a few decades. For now, you will have peace, but you must find the source of this old evil. Michael has more things to worry about than something that hasn't risen. Like the evils that already have. I don't know what's coming, but I know you must find a way to stop it." She stared trance-like at the sky.

Suddenly she shook her head. "Sorry, I appear to have lost my train of thought."

"You said that an evil is coming, and that we have to search for it. Where would we do that?" Spyro asked

"An evil?" She looked up at the stars "Oh, yes, an ancient one in fact"

"What is it?" Cynder asked

"Not sure, this was before even my time." Nebula answered

"Really?" Spyro replied

"It's old, really old, it might have to do with the time before this dimension. Long ago, in Providence, an unsure evil rose from eldritch origins, I don't know what happened, and Michael won't speak of it. Whatever happened caused the complete evacuation of the dimension. It has been cleared out by now, so this is something you will have to do yourself. After you defeat the next evil, you should travel to Providence with your friends, and find out what happened there. Michael vanquished the evil that forced the dragons out of the dimension, but other things came from that evil. To defeat the new evil, you must find it's origins to find it's weaknesses." Nebula was lost in trance again

"So there is more in store for us?" Spyro sighed

Nebula shook her head again "I'm sorry, what were you saying."

"I said that there was more in store for us." Spyro told her

"Oh, yeah, you have a lot in your destiny, but you can choose not to do any of this. At any point you can stop, and Michael will do everything." Nebula told them

"We could just... stop?" Cynder asked

"Your expected too. Michael knows that you will want to have your own children, and they can't be raised with you under constant threat." Nebula replied

Cynder looked over at Spyro, then back to Nebula "But that would mean leaving Michael to deal with a massive amount of evil"

"He's done it before; he can do it again" Nebula replied

Spyro looked around "Where did he go?"

"I think he left to go search the planet for Onyx." Nebula told them

"That trance thing, does it happen often?" Cynder asked

"Michael gave me special powers, most star dragons can only see things that the sun touches, but I can see almost anything. I have no control over what though. Whenever somebody asks me to focus on something, I get lost while answering them." Nebula answered.

Cynder was about to say something, but was interrupted by a strange rumbling in the distance. They looked over to see a massive herd of large brown animals running across the plains. A few young adult dragons, only a few years younger than Spyro and Cynder, woke up and took off towards the herd.

"Buffalo" Nebula explained "They are our food source."

They watched as the young dragons picked out a couple of buffalo, then attacked. The young dragons quickly finished off the buffalo, and carried them over to the tribe.

"We are their only predators, and whenever the herd thins too much, we just move to another one." Nebula told them

Spyro nodded, and watched as the young dragons brought the buffalo to a group of young dragonesses, they talked and giggled.

"Courtship rituals, we follow the same basic rules as the rest of you, but we have some interesting rituals. Such as offering the buffalo, instead of a ceremony, a drake can offer a dragoness a buffalo, and if they accept, they are officially mated." Nebula explained "It's quite cute actually."

They watched as one of the dragonesses grabbed the buffalo that was offered her by a shy drake. Blushing, the dragoness bit into the buffalo, and smiled at her new mate. The drake roared, and kissed her, they flew off together, laughing. The other dragonesses laughed and watched them go, they hadn't accepted the buffalo offered to them, but they were still chatting with their suitors. Some of the older dragonesses grabbed the remaining buffalo and started slicing them into chunks. They started fires, and Cynder went over to talk to him.

"She has a very dark past." Nebula spoke

"I know" Spyro replied

"You love her anyway" She stated, without any doubt in her mind.

"Of course, nothing can change that."

"It still haunts her, and whenever you get hurt by it, it hurts her worse." Nebula replied

"I know, but I can't help it."

"You really can't, it's instinctual."

"Of course it is" Spyro frowned "So is a lot of things."

Cynder pulled some spices out of her storage, then put them on the meat. One of the cooks took a bite, then smiled and nodded.

"That is the way of our species" Nebula shrugged

Spyro nodded "So, with your powers, what elements do you have?"

"Sun, moon, and fire." Nebula answered "I would have been a fire if I didn't get these powers."

"Really? Weren't your parents both sun dragons?"

"Yeah, but element genetics are strange. Your mate's aunt just laid a black egg, but neither of those families have black dragons in them. It is quite strange, but it is just a mutation, like your color."

"My color is a mutation?" Spyro asked

"Yes, all purple dragons are, but it can't be passed. The more dominant colors your children will have are black and red. But you have a likely chance to get yellow, blue, and more likely pink."

"My parents? And Cynder's?"

"Exactly, with Cynder's heritage she will likely have at least one black egg, and a red one from you. This is just probability though, I can't predict the future or anything, but from my experience, you will get at least one of each, and probably at least one mutation, depending on how many clutches you two have."

Spyro blushed "We haven't figured that out yet"

"Of course not, that's something you figure as you go." Nebula replied

"What about you? You want children?"

"More than anything, but I haven't been able to find a mate." Nebula sighed

"What about that immortal Michael was talking about? Ethan?"

Nebula blushed "We courted for a while, but were separated when he had to go help his sister. She was struggling with her immortality; she couldn't find a mate. Eventually she did, but they also got separated, now Michael has hunters searching for him. We think he got lost within the Dark Authority. I can't wait to see him, I hope he still has feelings for me, because I can't wait to be mated." She sighed again

"You okay?" He asked, noticing her anxiety

"Well, I want to have kids as soon as possible, and if I don't do it soon, I'll have to wait another year" She replied

They watched Cynder talk with the other cooks for a while, then Spyro noticed her yawn. He walked over to her.

"Hey, want to go to bed?" He asked

"Yeah, I didn't know that these nomads were so active during the night" She replied

"That's why they laze around all day, they hunt, cook, and play during the night." Spyro told her

They found a patch of soft grass, and curled up for the night.