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"S-Shirdan, what are you doing?!"

"Doing the best thing I can think of, Andelhaus! Those four drakons are no ordinary dragons!"

"But you said it..."

"I rather be dead than fulfilling my father's legacy."

While flying towards the Western Region, Shirdan cursed to himself. "Shit!" he thought. "I hate it when revenge actually backfires. I never thought Ceroz would actually had that big of a contingency plan. If those dragons found the Dragonsbane no human will survive this apocalypse!"

His panic caused him to beat faster than normal, which was straining his wings and fatigued him more. He should've known taking revenge of his father and his lackeys were the wrong thing to do. As much as he loved Cordandar like his father, he never would had thought that the sane dragon was lost forever.

As the forest of the Western Region started to be clear in his view, Shirdan started to breathe heavily and his wings were beating out of tempo. Before he could even maintain his altitude, he realized that he was in enemy's territory and he was attacked by an unknown thing. There was suddenly a dragon in front of him hitting him hard with a dark energy that, unlike his fight with Xiciro some weeks ago, actually hurt his light element. He quickly fell and hit the land, hard. Andelhaus was lucky that he managed to turn into a bear and survived the landing without major injuries, but Shirdan was hit by the head. Before he fainted, though, the last thing he could see were two black dragons in front of him, glaring at him, before everything went dark.

Avila knew the dragon in front of her was Shirdan, due to his resemblance to her old enemy, Ceroz. She was very mad at the risk of the dragon coming back into the Western Region that she was ready to kill the dragon, if not for Cynder stopping her.

"He's hurt, Vila! Why the hell do you want to kill him?!"

"You won't understand, Cynder, but he's the cause of Yort's death!"

"You can't throw accusations like that! Whatever he does wrong, he's hurt!"

"What would you do if your closest friend is killed by a miserable, cowardly dragon that dare to come back, thinking it is safe?"

When Cynder couldn't answer, Avila knew he needed to strike the miserable dragon down and end everything before he could even muster a force of Dragonsbane. Her attack, though, was stopped by a bear beside her, that fearlessly said, "Stop it, dragon! He's harmless!"

"What's your problem, Shifter? He killed the oldest member of the Order!"

"I know what he had done to that old dragon, but hear me out first! You dragons are ruthless, I know, but you're also reasonable, unlike humans!"

Hearing that, Avila quickly calmed down, but she asked Cynder to use her darkness to restrain the dragon. Avila then turned towards the bear Shifter and said, "Speak."

"My name is Andelhaus. I'm a Northern bear Shifter who is Shirdan's companion during his journeys. He saved me from a group of angry Dragonsbane villagers when I openly stated my support to you dragons."

"I don't believe he would actually save a low-life like you. His father doesn't care, so why would he care?"

"If he doesn't, then why am I standing here, talking to you? And why are you even saying that again while just the day before I told him that he's different from his father! Whatever his father is, he's not that dragon!"

"He killed the green dragon and almost took my father's life!"

"Stop making assumption about Shirdan like that!"

The deep voice booming behind Avila was from her father, who was opening a portal for him to come through. He was exceptionally calm, but he was also trying to contain his anger towards the unconscious Shirdan.

"He may have killed Yort, he may have tried to kill me, but I know he's not like his father! He's planning something I don't know what that is, but until we know what it is, don't kill him, Avila. I'm talking to you, both as a father, and Ceroz's former strategist."

Avila was hesitant to comply with his father, but she knew herself better than her supposed judgement. She wouldn't know what Seraphor would react if he knew what actually happened, but she was supposed to be the better one, not like his hot-tempered and taunting persona.

Thus, they waited for a while. It was in the middle of the afternoon when Shirdan woke up, still feeling dizzy, but found out that he was restrained to the ground and surrounded by angry dragons. He then sighed and said, "In all the places I fall unconscious, I chose this place. Fantastic."

"Quit your sarcasm, Shirdan. Speak." Xiciro's tone was flat, but threatening. Shirdan, unlike most villainous dragons, had no connections and couldn't escape this one. Yet, he then realized he couldn't be somewhat of a jerk, so he dropped his act by saying, "You don't need to restrain me if you have put me in this cage."

"Why should we do your request? You almost killed me back in Pol Hain and you have quite a gut to go back here and targeting my daughter's friends and family. Have you no shame? You're slowly becoming like..."

"Stop comparing me to him," said Shirdan with a furious, but genuine growl. He knew he must face the fact that all of the veterans of the war branded him just like his mad father. Yet, his action apparently surprised Avila, which Shirdan wouldn't blame. In fact, every dragons had branded him.

"You can't deny the fact that Avila and Seraphor, if he's here, are eager to kill you the moment they saw you," said Xiciro. "Say what you want to, but I know you're Ceroz's son. Did you change your mind? What do you up to, exactly?"

"I am not changing my mind, dragon! We are facing an impending apocalypse and you're here interrogating me and threatening to kill me! I don't care about you killing me, imprison me in the deepest cave you can get, or seal me in an eternity like those miserable dragon slayers, but at least hear me out or there will be no dragons to save!"

"Do you think we'll easily trust a dragon who almost killed my father and killed Yort, huh?! Look at a goddamn mirror for once and see how your face looks like your father!"

"You have no rights telling me that I am like my father! I am Shirdan, and he's Ceroz! I am not him!"

"Still, you cannot deny the fact that you've killed the green dragon. I think running in circles here, for ancestor's sake. Will you excuse me for a sec?"

Xiciro moved Avila aside. The young Argoon dragon was clearly furious on the fact that she couldn't kill the dragon and save her beloved mate. Her father noticed this and whispered, "Shirdan may be a jerk, but he's not a liar. At least stay calm and talk to him, okay?"

"I just can't, dad. Sera's still facing his own problem and what we can do is to trust a dying dragon in front of us! I still have Vysrenis and Rhaynis to care for."

"So why don't you ask Rhaynis to talk to him?"

When the dragon turned her head to Xiciro in surprise, he sighed and said, "Do you think I don't know? Seraphor may be oblivious to the fact, but you, who had fear inside you, descended some part of it into her."

"But Rhaynis is barely 40! She can't just fly here and zonk the hell out of that dragon, right?"

"If her ability is influencing dragons, then she can be our best lie detector. Unless Shirdan has other ways to counter hypnotism, then she's our best bet. I'll open a portal to your lair when you are sure about this."

Avila was still reluctant on betting if her daughter can do it, but then, she put her trust to her father. He then tried to open a portal, but something was blocking him.

"Strange, it usually works."

Being a quick thinker, Avila realized that her father had a parallel currently inside Cynder's home. She quickly used her blinking ability to go to where Sannourah was, where he was quickly put face to face with Xiciro. Being not aged, but basically in the same age made both of them very awkward.

After a little explanation, Sannourah sighed and said, "I wish my soul is not stuck in my 35 years old body. Seeing my counterpart in his proper age and body is...weird."

"You can live twice your age if you want to. Don't be this old junk. Now, do what you must do."

Sannourah took a deep breath and made a motion like tearing something up to the air. Before they knew it, a giant scenery from a tear on the air suddenly appeared. They could see Rhaynis and Vysneris were playing tag, but stopped when they saw the portal and shouted, "Grandpa!" in unison, like a true twin would do. They both jumped towards the portal, without any warnings first, and they both bumped to Sannourah. They both were surprised to see that the portal wasn't opened by the dragon they knew as their grandfather. Rhaynis, being the innocent type, naively asked, "Are you coming to play with us? We're about the same age!"

"What do you want to play? I'm 500, by the way."

"Let's play tag! C'mon, you're it!"

Sannourah started running around like a true dragonling would, trying to catch them. Upon seeing that, Avila just turn away in embarrassment.

"H-How strong is she, exactly?"

"Her fear power is not an illusion like what I have, but to make someone feel like her voice is something they actually want to do."

"Well, so she's the best lie detector there is."

Avila knew that, despite of his father's questionable methods, she believed his choices, having through with making her father an enemy. She slowly walked towards Rhaynis and said, "Okay, Rhaynis, calm down. Mom wants to ask you something."

The silver dragon stopped and turned her vision to her and said, "Is it a treat?"

"Uhmm...maybe later. I just want you to talk with that dragon over there."

Rhaynis eyed Shirdan's subdued body. "Why is he tied up like that?"

"Oh that's perfectly normal. He is a naughty dragon, so he's tied up like that." Back in Avila's mind, though, she knew Rhaynis was too young to know the crisis at hand.

"Then he's a meanie!"

"Oh, no dear, he's just lonely. You're easy to make friends, right, Rhaynis? C'mon, don't be scared. Mommy's gonna go with you, alright?"

The young dragon nodded, then slowly walk towards Shirdan, whose menacing and still-angry expression was scaring Rhaynis. Fortunately Avila could convince the young dragon, in which she regained her courage and said, "You're not supposed to be naughty. That's bad."

"Is it?" Shirdan replied, his tone changed. "Sorry, little one. Did I scare you?"

"No. You're kind of cute."

"Am I? Never thought about that. I'm more than a hundred years old, young one."

Rhaynis gave a smile to Shirdan, which somehow made him smile back, surprising Avila that was behind Rhaynis. The young dragon then turned to her mother and said, "He's so kind, but I don't know what to say."

"Ask him about a danger up north. Is it true?"

Rhaynis repeated what her mother said, then Shirdan made a nod. Avila then said, "What is the danger?" followed by Rhaynis repeating it.

"My father locked up four dangerous dragons inside a mountain. I don't know they are very bad, and I don't know about it. I thought it is something my father left for me. I was wrong."

By this point, Rhaynis started talking freely to the dragon. She said, "But why do you get them out? That's a stupid thing to do."

"Guess I am a fool myself, huh? Say, little one, what's your name?"

"I'm Rhaynis. How about you?"

"Shirdan."

"So Shirdan, have you ever mate before?"

This line of question was so unexpected for Avila. She never believed a young dragon like he would talk about it. She's still 13 for a dragon!

"O-Okay, Rhaynis, maybe that's enough," said Avila trying to pull away. "Where do you know about that topic, anyway?"

"Vysy told me about it. He said some of his friends talked a lot about it."

"W-Well, your friends are old enough to talk about it, so maybe just...let's go to your grandpa, okay..."

"I haven't mate before, young one, but I've..."

Avila's glare snapped Shirdan back into reality, to which he was disoriented for a moment, then talked, in his usual tone.

"W-What? What did you do, you miserable dragon?"

"I saved you from talking about sex in front of my daughter, you understand? I never thought you have some many girlfriends despite of your reputation."

"But why am I talking like that?! It's my own personal secret!"

"That's why don't talk with a hypnotist," said Avila with a smile. "But because of her, we can believe everything you say."

That evening, Shirdan reluctantly ate inside the cave with the rest of the group. Avila and Xiciro decided not to talk about the events transpired around the Western Region. Shyplis (who changed from Spyro after Cynder asked him to talk with Yrelka and Sannourah), also stayed silent, and didn't want to make a problem, or else Alduin would wake up.

Rhaynis and Vysrenis, in particular loved to hang out with Shirdan. Due to the former's influence hypnosis, Shirdan was forced to comply with them, to the amusement of Andelhaus and the others. The bear Shifter, in particular, was relieved to see the usually tense Shirdan would ease up by some young dragons barely as big as him.

The dinner finished without any additional incidents, but knowing the fact that Shirdan was an enemy, Avila and Xiciro couldn't let him get away. After reaching their homes and putting both of her younglings to sleep, Avila pulled Shirdan towards the open-air atrium, and said, "Tell me the goddamn reason why you kill Yort, Shirdan, or I won't hear anything you say."

"It's a plain simple mistake I've made in my lifetime," said Shirdan with a scoff. "He's involved in the battle of Pol Hain. Who else used plants to impale except an old earth dragon?"

"Don't you suspect Seraphor? He is also an earth elemental."

"They may be the same, but I've seen what the dragonet can do. As good as he can use that element, he cannot grow trees."

"Just where did you exactly when we were fighting 150 years ago? This doesn't make sense. Why are you targeting Yort while he wasn't even involved in that fight?"

"But he recognized me!"

"He may have recognized you as Ceroz, yet I still cannot understand why he also know that you're his son. Still, tell me why he's in your target. I can understand your hatred to my father but why him?"

"Because...one my father's Hench-dragon said that he saw a green dragon flew away from the battlefield among the rubble and smoke. In the old Order, the only one that was green was Yort."

"Don't you think that's a little bit too far-fetched to be true?" Avila just rubbed her head. "This is getting nowhere, Shirdan. I can't trust you because of that story, but you're convinced you're the one that was right."

Both stayed in silence. Then Shirdan asked, "When...did you have offspring? The last time I know, you both are still returning to normal life."

"Just how outdated your information are? Rhaynis and Vysrenis are 35 years old now."

"Then may I ask...where are their father now?"

"You think I'm going to sell my mate that easily?"

"I thought we are past that, Avila. Tell me, where is Seraphor."

Avila then exhaled. "You know, every day I don't see my mate sleeping beside me, I feared the worst, and my hatred to you grow even more. I know you're not involved in this, but Sera is having a problem with his powers and we suspected that you have a say in this. But then, seeing you coming here, eating with us and being such a real nice dragon dropping that jerk-face act, I felt pity for you. Ironic, isn't it? Revenge changed you so much."

"What do you mean? I am the son of the Defiler, and I have the rights to be hated."

"Not when you talk to Rhaynis when under her influence. You threw away all your happy memories solely because of anger to Yort. When Rhaynis talked to dragons, her influenced force them to show their true self. Your true self is not of a mad dragon like Ceroz, but of an innocent dragon, revenge-ridden. Just...drop the revenge and think of what you've done to the lives of the dragons here and all around this Continent. The apocalypse will come soon and there's nothing we can do about it except to wait until they come."

Upon hearing that, something stirred inside Shirdan. He couldn't admit that what he did was futile, but then, he opened his wings and said, "I think it is better if I am your captive than being a free dragon. Tell Andelhaus...I'm sorry for dragging him into our mess."

Avila realized what he meant. Before she could stop the dragon, he made a smile and drew some light from the nearby torch and intensified it, blinding Avila. In his mind, Shirdan thought it would be best that he returned to the city that started it all and confessed. He had seen how the darkest dragon in the whole group would actually talked him out of his revenge path, a path he had followed for a very long time since Cordandar's death.

He just made a smile to himself, and said, "I am just a messenger. Do what you want with that message" before flying into the dark of the night to return to Qeveriyt to answer for his crimes.

The next morning, Xiciro saw Avila at the atrium sleeping. He approached the dragon and said, "Sleepwalking is your habit now?"

"That goddamn son of a bitch blinded me!"

Xiciro shushed Avila, then she realized that her voice was loud enough for both of her offspring to hear. She then fell into whisper and said, "Shirdan blinded me and flew to Qeveriyt!"

"Then why are you sleeping in the middle of the atrium?"

"I don't know. The strong flash weakened me and caused me to faint. Never thought I would be caught defenseless since Ceroz..."

"Well, he's Ceroz's descendants. He can play dirty, too. But this is very bad. If Shirdan also confessed that he's Ceroz's son, no dragon in Qeveriyt will let him live. When was the last time you talk with him?"

"Maybe it's around midnight or before midnight. I'm not sure. There was no moon and no stars."

"And I'm too pre-occupied with putting your kids to sleep. Just who gave them that electronic apparatus, anyway?"

"That would be both my husband and Spyro. Come on, we need to catch up with Shirdan before something bad happens to him."

Just when Xiciro wanted to open his own portal, something was taking away that ability before he could. He couldn't do it after three tries, which was very awkward for both of them since there was a complete silence after each tries.

"Did you drink something last night, dad?"

"I appreciate your attempt to joke, my dear, but I really am depowered. Something is interfering with my dark dimension."

"You mean like something jamming the signal?"

"Tell me, Avila, is there any other dimensions besides the Dark Dimension that I should be worried about?"

"There is another one called Shadow Dimension, Xiciro."

Avila gasped when she heard the voice. It was a voice she wanted to hear for almost a month. She quickly turned around, and in her field of view, her beloved silver red mate was standing by the mouth of the cave, yet something changed from him. Unlike when he first get into the dimension, Seraphor had soft scales and not quite rugged. Now, though, it was as if he had a rough day inside the Shadow Dimension. Both of his eyes were yellow, but he was in control. Most part of his body was covered in scar. He also looked older than he was before, as if he had been away for many years.

Avila wanted to hug him, but her concern as his mate overwhelmed the reunion. She quickly said, "W-what happened inside that dimension, Seraphor?"

"So, a year inside the dimension and the first thing I got is you asking what happened in there. Well, I can't describe anything except the fact that in there time went slower than this world, and...how long have I been gone?"

"It's almost one full month since you had gone, Seraphor. But, why didn't Spyro or Shyplis told us anything about it?"

"Oh, they won't understand. I'm just a guest in the Shadow Dimension. Anyway, do you have anything to eat? I feel like I'm going to faint. While you're at it, can any dragon fill me in on what happened?"

Avila and Xiciro was trying to fill Seraphor in on what happened in the main Realm, but they were left in silence when they saw how Seraphor ate viciously, as if he never ate for weeks. They couldn't start talking until Seraphor slowed down a bit and managed to hear them talk. Avila tried not to talk about Shirdan, but, ever the observer, her silver red mate could see that she was hiding something in each corner of her story, and some was contradicting with Xiciro's stories, which both were forced to acknowledge. In the end, Avila told Seraphor everything about Shirdan.

"He has guts, I give you that," said Seraphor after drinking a whole water from the nearby artificial waterfall.

"Are you sure you're okay? I told you everything, right?"

"Yort's killer is not him."

This made both Xiciro and Avila surprised. "What?! Just one month ago you're ready to kick his butt a new hole and now you say he's not Yort's killer?! Did you get a kick in the head?"

"You do realize Rhaynis can easily influence him while she can only partially do that to me and not able to you, right? Avila, Rhaynis's barely 35. No dragon that age can control fire yet, let alone using it like an Order dragon. Her hypnosis cannot actually be controlled, but even if she could, it won't be as strong as it will be when she's an adult. The fact that both Sannourah and Shirdan are susceptible to hypnosis is because Sannourah has a body of a 35 years old, like her, and Shirdan is not supposed to be a vengeance-driven dragon."

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"Have you ever seen me play a game called 'Bioshock'? Well, the character is given some words that triggered something so he unconditionally accept anything if a phrase is spoken. In the game, it is 'Would you kindly'."

"You mean something triggered his killing intent? That's absurd, Seraphor. He had that killing intent even before I say something."

"Xiciro, do you remember any dragon with the Defilers who has the ability in using hypnosis? Sart cannot be one if he's a half-wyvern with poison-based abilities, and Ceroz is like Shirdan. Or maybe do you have any phrase in particular?"

"Hmm...we always call him the young one since we raised him to be the next Defiler. Cordandar always call him that. He always refer to Shirdan as 'the young one'.... Wait, that's it!"

"And you're the observer of the situation and their strategist, right? Did you see who killed Cordandar? Shirdan claimed that some trees impaled him, but at that point, I couldn't manipulate tree growth, and Yort clearly wasn't involved."

"No, Cordandar's body was covered in rubble right before you guys went into my lair."

"And from the three of us, we didn't know if any dragon or any riders ever saw any body under the rubble. Which can mean..."

"Either Cordandar is still alive, or he was killed by Shirdan," said Avila. "Oh my ancestors...."

"Now this is new. A 150-years old conspiracy theory. Now, Cordandar's conspiracy aside, right now you might be able to use your portal, Xiciro. We need to get to Shirdan before the veteran Orders did something bad to him."

While Xiciro opened the portal, he said, "If you're a human, you will be a very great private investigator. That genius is clearly unparalleled, even for a wise dragon."

"It's all merely a theory, Xiciro. There is no telling if it is right until we can prove it, in Rhaynis."

"Wait, are you planning to take her along? She's still sleeping and she's too young to be involved in a murder!" exclaimed Avila.

"Hey, 35 is not a kid anymore. I know, she acts like she's a 7 year old human but she's a smart kid. Oh, and I think Vysy must come too."

"Seraphor, for the love of god, this is not the time to involve kids!"

"Hey, 35 is like 14 in human, so they are mature enough to be involved in a CSI like scenario. Relax, hon, they don't need to see the crime scene. All we need is to prove if my theory is correct or not."

Avila was overwhelmed; not only did her mate came suddenly, he suddenly wanted to involved the younglings in a crime investigation. She knew this wasn't supposed to be how a dragon do things, but Seraphor was still right. They are civilized in many aspects, and Seraphor proved it by not lashing out to kill Shirdan without thinking first. She made a smile to herself. Now she knew what her mate was capable of when there was no actions.