It took Spike a week to recover from his ordeal, because even with the power of Akilesh healing his wounds he still used far too much of his power during the Archmage ceremony, not to mention he had tapped into the Aether to make the final seal that allowed him to bind the elemental in the first place, hence the reason why he spent the next seven days resting and mostly reading whatever was near him. He spent his time resting on one of the hills in Stone Hill, overlooking the rest of the realm as some of the Artisans dragons tended to the hatchlings, no doubt having learned from what happened when he and his siblings were little and loved to explore the area that was around them, and there were times where he chuckled when one of the hatchlings did something funny, like make a fool of the dragons that were watching them. Spyro and Ember, not to mention all of their friends, checked on him several times to be sure nothing bad happened to him after what occurred during the ceremony, not that he could blame them due to all the damage that had been healed once he tapped the staff, but it was nice to hang out with them every now and then and listen to the stories of what they did, since he needed to rest and staying in one spot was the doctor's orders, in a sense. He knew that the others might be annoyed by him having to stay in Stone Hill and do next to nothing, though that didn't stop Elora, Hunter, and Bianca from telling him about their lessons and what they were able to do so far, while Sheila and the rest of their friends revealed that nothing major had happened in Avilion, so things were okay for them, even though they were preparing for whatever the future held.
There was one other thing Spike did with his time while he was confined to the area he spent a week resting in, he took the time to study Akilesh in greater detail, as it was floating near the area that he was resting in and seemed to be waiting for him to do something with it, but based on what Nestor told him no one dared to touch the staff, fearing that it would do what it did to him during his ceremony, which was understandable when Spike considered what he had been through when he touched the weapon. He knew that right now he had nothing to fear from grabbing the staff, since he had tamed the power that was inside it, but it wasn't hard to understand why Argus and the others had refrained from even touching it, though he had to guess that Akilesh had followed him after he collapsed on the ground, no doubt waiting for a mental command or something to restrict it to one area, like how Malefor must have kept it inside the Arcanaeum for the last thousand years. Of course he still couldn't get over the fact that he had called the staff to his side, even though he did know it was possible for the staff of another Archmage to be summoned by the ceremony, due to what he had read in the ancient tomes and scrolls, but that couldn't have prepared him for summoning the legendary powerful staff that the first purple dragon had wielded so long ago, that part was the part he couldn't get over. In fact he wasn't the only one that was surprised by this event, as Cosmos and the others had been expecting him to create his own staff out of the various materials they had prepared for him, but nothing could have prepared all of them for what he had done, and now he had one of the strongest staffs, in the entire world, at his disposal, which would take some getting used to.
Argus and the other scholars, despite their desire to head back to the Arcanaeum and see what it had to offer them in terms of knowledge and potential artifacts, actually waited for him to rest and recover, showing that they understood the point Cosmos had made earlier, about how Spike deserved to be the head of any expedition that involved the structure he had discovered, which was surprising and he suspected that his display with Akilesh had convinced them not to go ahead without him, allowing him to rest without having to worry about the expedition happening without him.
By the time the seventh day came around Spike had recovered enough to actually cast some spells again and walked around Stone Hill like nothing was wrong, allowing him to head to the other homeworlds that the dragons lived on, if he wanted to anyway, but what he ended up doing was spending a few more days making sure everything was fine and gave Argus and the others some time to make sure all of their preparations were ready for a visit to the Arcanaeum. While he waited to see if the scholars were ready, however, he joined Spyro and Ember as they headed back to the land of the Peace Keepers, where he was able to watch as Elora and Hunter joined the training sessions that Titan had for the rest of his clan, where Elora had chosen to return to her normal attire, when they first met her, and Hunter had nothing on, but from what he could tell they were doing just fine. Despite the fact that Elora was used to the weight of her armor, and the weapons that it had, she showed them that she was capable of following the lessons Titan had for her and Hunter, where she was able to use her wooden training staff to parry the incoming attacks that were coming her way and even pushed a few of the Peace Keepers backwards, and that included knocking Hunter onto his back, showing that he still had much to learn and that Elora was highly skilled when it came to fighting. It was a surprise when the siblings considered it, as Elora had been more of a neutral person during their second adventure, back when they first met her, but it appeared that stopping Ripto and showing off their skills during the war must have convinced her to become a warrior, not that they were complaining since it had helped them during their last adventure, something Spyro mentioned when Elora took a short break from her lessons.
Elora was more than happy to help them out, especially after all the hard work they put into helping Avalar out when Ripto was running around, and this training was going to help her and Hunter defend their home in case something else bothered them in the future, though that did tell the siblings that she would be up for another adventure, if another one happened to reveal itself to them and the others. Hunter was able happy to be of assistance, especially since hanging out with the siblings allowed him to get over his natural cowardly nature and become a true warrior, even if his skills were far below what Ember, Elora, and the others were capable of, but at the very least this prepared him for whenever he was forced into a situation where he couldn't use his machines and gadgets. In fact Bianca was of the same opinion that Elora offered them, meaning that if another adventure revealed itself she would find a way to join them and repay her debt to them, after everything they did to bring magic back to Avilion and liberate them from the Sorceress' grasp, though she did spent a great deal of her time training with Cosmos so she could tap into her true power, something she was grateful for since she was able to expand her magical abilities, even if she and the Magic Crafters were eager to see what Spike would do about a potential apprentice in the future. Based on everything she learned Archmages were supposed to accept an apprentice at some point and teach them what they knew about magic, and Spike was the only Archmage in the Dragon Realms, as while Cosmos was powerful, and he used a staff to channel his power, he wasn't on the same level that Spike was on and was no doubt hoping that Spike might take him under his wing at some point, since it was clear that the young purple dragon knew more about magic than anyone else in the three lands.
The only problem Spike discovered was carrying Akilesh around, as normally when a Magic Crafter reached the rank of Archmage they were already an adult and the staff they made also served as a walking stick, to a degree, but he was still a few years away from maturing and that meant that he either had to carry the staff on his back, between his wings, or he had to leave it in one spot and then call it to him whenever he wanted it, where the latter was what he started doing, due to the fact that it was good practice and allowed him to strengthen his magic once more.
By the time a second week had passed Spike was back to his old self, where the exhaustion and low level spells he cast were a thing of the past, meaning he was able to follow his siblings and friends without falling behind, he was able to summon some of the more powerful spells, and he felt much stronger as well, showing that the ceremony and his battle had allowed him to reach some new heights, in terms of magical ability anyway. Other than what he went through there was nothing major happening to the Dragon Realms, Avalar, or even Avilion, besides all the training that was going on and the elders caring for the hatchlings, but that was perfect for what Spike had in mind and he started to gather the scholars and the couple of Magic Crafters that wanted to visit the Arcanaeum, as it was time for them to return to Malefor's hidden vault and see what else they might be able to discover. Argus and the other scholars jumped at the chance to finally head into the legendary vault and see everything that it had to offer, while at the same time Cosmos and the Magic Crafters that would be coming with them would be looking out for magical items and seeing where they matched up with the history they read about, like Spike had done when they first entered the vault. Some of the relics and artifacts that were inside the vault would be returned to their respective owners, as now that the Sorceress had been taken care of there was no need for them to remain locked up, but first they had to find out what else was inside the Arcanaeum, before they bothered with moving some of the items out so they could be returned to their former owners.
Spike determined that the date of their expedition to the Arcanaeum would be two days from the day he mentioned it to Argus, Cosmos, and the others, giving the dragons a decent amount of time to make themselves ready for the event, even though all of them were excited by what they might find inside the ancient structure and what else they could learn about the fast, though he and his siblings left the others to their preparations as they returned to playing with the various hatchlings that called the Artisans lands home.
When the date of the expedition arrived Spike was at the front of the group as he walked through the portal that would take them to Avilion, or Midnight Mountain to be exact, where Bianca was waiting for them to arrive, as she wanted to see what else was inside the Arcanaeum as well and none of them were even going to try and talk her out of it, as everything she had seen so far only made her wonder what else was waiting to be discovered. With everyone gathered Spike lead the way back to the treasury that the vault was located in and everyone glided over to the small island the portal was located on, even though Bianca realized that this would get old past and was considering the possibility of making a bridge to make things easier for the future, but that was a thought that she pushed to the side as they entered the treasury. Once all of them were inside the final realm of Midnight Mountain they started to make their way to where the Arcanaeum was located, though this time it was easier to see it since Spike hadn't reapplied the cover spell that Malefor put on it, as the only being that could have misused it was now trapped in a crystal statue that, according to Bianca, was going to be put on display somewhere in Midday Gardens, because that was where the residents of Avilion voted it should go. Elora spoke up and told them that Moneybags' statue had been moved to Zephyr, since they were the ones that suffered the most from the bear's cross realm war when the siblings were visiting Avalar, but it was nice to know both of the statues had been placed where the residents would just stare at them and not think to touch them, even though Spyro, Spike, and Ember were sure Elora and Bianca had told the others about the magic that went into the statues.
That thought was pushed aside as they found the bridge that would allow them to access the Arcanaeum, along with the rest of the structure's outside as well, to which they braced themselves and headed inside, entering the Archives not a few seconds later and came to a stop when they reached the core of the vault, the center where they discovered the large globe that detailed the entire world.
"Fascinating." Nora commented, as she had heard the group found the Arcanaeum, something she knew to be true after seeing Spike tame Akilesh, which was currently on the young dragon's back, but she was amazed by just how much was stored away inside the massive vault, showing her that Malefor went above and beyond when it came to guarding any relic or artifact of power, especially after seeing what the staff was capable of, "The stories claimed that the Arcanaeum was full of knowledge and artifacts, all saved before the big battle with the Sorceress, but even then they don't prepare you for just how much stuff is inside this place... we could spend years trying to understand the secrets of the first purple dragon and the artifacts he kept safe from those that would misuse them."
"And there's the chamber that Akilesh had been stored in," Spike said, gesturing to the room that Hunter had found the last time they were here, an area that was now missing the staff he was carrying, though there were still sets of armor and plenty of weapons inside it, hence why he considered it an Armory, one that Malefor must have used before he had to seal the Arcanaeum, to prevent the Sorceress from getting at all of this, "We know there are twelve chambers that rest around the central one, with one of them being the Archives, the one that served as Akilesh's home being an Armory, and a third that served as a holding area for several Farseeing Stones, making it a Farseeing Room, in a sense, but that leaves nine more for us to explore and see what they might hold. There's no telling what else Malefor might have hidden inside this place, especially when we take the legends and stories into consideration, though from the looks of the room this staff was in earlier it doesn't seem like Malefor put any traps down, in case the Sorceress breached the front door, but, at the same time, we should be careful as we explore the rest of the Arcanaeum."
Argus and the other dragons nodded their heads in understanding as they dispersed into the chamber that served as the heart of the Arcanaeum, where it was easy to see that Argus turned back and walked right back to where the Archives rested so he could see what knowledge they had to offer, several of the dragons stayed in the heart of the structure and studied the various artifacts that were from the various realms of Avilion, and Nora headed into the Farseeing Room to see if she could tap into the stones, mostly to see how they worked for herself. The siblings, on the other claw, stepped into the Armory again and looked at the various weapons and armor that Malefor had gathered over the years and sealed away to prevent them from being misused, though while Spyro was interested in the armor, and was no doubt trying to imagine a dragon wearing some of them, Ember was interested in the personal weapons of the first purple dragon, as she was interested in seeing if she could find something to rival Akilesh. While part of her didn't much care for magic, she had to admit that having the powerful staff around was a good thing, especially since it was in Spike's claws, she was curious if there might be more weapons like it, ones that maybe she and Spyro could wield, or some sort of relic that would allow them to keep up with their brother, hence the reason Spike was standing near her as she checked out the relics, both due to his own curiosity and so he could inform her of what each item was. She was sure that each of them had an interesting history and had done something amazing in the past, and she also included Spike's new staff in that thought process, but she was looking for a weapon or item that spoke to her, in a sense, even though she saw a number of weapons that ranged from swords to spears and even halberds to battleaxes, showing her that Malefor must have been a master fighter to have so many weapons, if they were all his anyway.
In the end she discovered a side room of the Armory, which didn't overlap with any of the other rooms, that contained a pair of what she assumed were fangs of some kind, even though they looked like a pair of curved identical daggers that were made of powerful metal, one Spike determined had to be the same that Akilesh was partly crafted from, but her brother eased any worries she might have of these weapons containing a creature that was like what was inside his staff, even though she could tell that the daggers were more powerful than normal weapons.
"No way... these are the Fangs of Felinia!" Spike stated, as he had read about the powerful daggers that were in front of them, just like the other scholars had done over the years as well, and he knew what he could tell Ember, though this just made him wonder what else they might find in these rooms, because the possibilities were numerous, "These daggers used to be part of an ancient creature, possibly a massive cat or a panther or something, that stood as tall as the heart of the Arcanaeum and was capable of leveling large areas in a matter of minutes, but according to the tales Malefor fought Felinia, severed both of its large fangs, and then used those fallen items to deliver the finishing blow. The creature fell on an island that would one day become the island that Prince Azrael and his people would be living on, hence why they share the same name, and it was said that Malefor had several forms he used when carrying these weapons, the daggers you see right now, a hand claw variation, as in like claws over our actual claws, and a few others."
Ember had no idea what Spike was talking about and asked him to explain it better, where Spike lifted the daggers off the pedestal they were resting on and placed both of them over her bracers, one for each of her arm bracers, to which she watched as both weapons seemed to disappear entirely, though that only prompted Spike to tell her to envision one of the forms he told her about and she did, where three long metallic blades rose out of her bracers without damaging them, though from what she could tell these weapons would allow her to fight slightly further away from a foe, instead of getting up close and personal all the time.
"Okay, now that's pretty cool." Ember remarked, where she stared at the blades for a moment and quickly determined that they would be a perfect fit for her, both in her current stance and possibly when she matured into an adult, especially since there were other forms the weapons could take and she was interested in seeing what else she might be able to do with them in the future, before a thought came to mind, "You think we'll find something for Spyro? Maybe a sword of some kind, or some other weapon?"
"Hm, it all depends on what else we find," Spike admitted, because there were a number of tales about the weapons and armor that Malefor had used before the Sorceress started trouble and banished the dragons from Avilion, so there was really no telling what might be lurking in the rest of the Arcanaeum's other nine rooms they had yet to explore, or if they might find something for Spyro to wield in the future, "We've seen weapons, armor, scepters, staffs, tomes, scrolls, and different pieces of treasure, not to mention the Farseeing Stones and all the materials that have been stored away, so there's really no way for us to know the extent of what is in this structure... not until we explore all of it, anyway."
"Hey Spike, you might want to see this." Spyro said, where Spike and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, as this could be something interesting, before they walked out of the room that they had found and followed their brother to the chamber he had discovered, another side room that belonged to the Armory, making them wonder just how many rooms like this existed in this part of the Arcanaeum, before they found four thick swords floating above four pedestals that lined the room Spyro had discovered while Spike and Ember discovered Ember's new weapons, "I have no idea what these are and figured that you would have some idea as to what they might be, since you've read most of the tomes and scrolls that are in the Dark Hollow archives."
"The Runeblades of the Elemental Lords... powerful swords made from pieces of the massive elementals Malefor had to face at one point in time," Spike replied, where he stepped forward and found that there were no enchantments, and more importantly no traps, for him and the others to worry about, though that was when he stopped in front of a blade that was about half the width of the head of Titan's battleaxe and had a number of runes running along the length of the metal, before he stopped a faint fiery aura to it, where the other three had an icy aura, a rocky aura, and a lightning aura, which brought a smile to his face, "Flamestrike, forged from a fragment of the Firelord, Frostbringer, crafted from a spike that fell from the Lord of Frost, Tremor, made from a piece of the Stonefather, and Storm's Fury, forged from a few pieces of the Stormlord... they're weapons that were empowered by the various runes that you can see on the blades, allowing the wielder to tap into their respective powers, meaning fire, ice, earth, or lightning."
"And this one?" Spyro asked, as there was a fifth blade, one smaller than the other four and looked more like one of the normal blades that Titan and the other Peace Keepers used, that was floating off to the left of the opening that they had walked through to get inside the room they were in, though he was sure that there was a windy aura or something that rested around the blade in question.
"Windshear, the Blade of the Windlord," Spike said, though this was another surprise he wasn't expecting to see while they explored the Arcanaeum, because while it wasn't as powerful as Akilesh was, and he suspected that was the case for many of the weapons that were resting in this vault, before he returned his attention to the weapon in question as he took a moment to recall everything about it, to give his siblings an idea of its history, "The Windlord isn't like the other four Elemental Lords I mentioned, as he was one of the minor Elemental Lords and held less power than his superiors, but the Windlord recognized the power that Malefor commanded and offered to ally himself with the first purple dragon, and to show his sincerity he took a piece of himself, empowered it with the power of wind, and crafted this Runeblade with the help of those that crafted the other four, before delivering it to Malefor."
Spyro stared at the blade for a few moments before removing it from the area it was floating in, where he could tell that fighting with the weapon would be rather difficult in his current form, but at the very least he decided that he might as well have a tool that would allow him to keep up with his siblings, as he noticed Ember's new toy when Spike helped her out with them, before finding a sheath that the blade went into and a belt that he could wear, allowing the three of them to leave the Armory with their new items.
"Hey guys, you won't believe what I discovered," Hunter said, as he had been quiet during their expedition, no doubt spending time with Bianca and seeing what she could learn from all of the knowledge that rested in the Archives they had walked through earlier, before he rubbed the back of his head for a moment as he considered something, "okay, its more like what Bianca and I discovered, but you guys should come check this out... we found a massive room or chamber that has more of those dragon statues, like the ones that are guarding the outside of the Arcanaeum."
"No way, you guys found the Deepcore Army?!" Spike nearly exclaimed, as there were tales of Malefor using an army of stone warriors, who looked like the statues that rested outside the structure, to defend certain parts of Avilion from all of the enemies that wanted to bring him and the other dragons down, as in the ones before they settled into their lives and created the stories Bianca knew about, but in the aftermath of every dragon being banished from these lands it was believed that the army had been wiped out, though now it seemed like the peace the first purple dragon had fought for resulted in him hiding the force away until it was needed again.
Hunter shrugged and lead the way to the opened room he and Bianca had explored earlier, where the siblings found that there was a staircase in front of them that took them lower into the Arcanaeum, making them wonder why how many floors the structure even had, before eventually coming to a stop as they glanced out at a massive chamber that was far larger than the rest of the structure, one that held hundreds of stone dragon statues, all armed with weapons, standing at attention, waiting to be called into action once more.
"Now that is an awesome sight... the legendary Deepcore Army," Spike said, where he and the others joined Hunter and Bianca in looking out at the force of stone warriors that seemed to be slumbering at the moment, which made sense due to the fact that Malefor was the only one that could awaken them, but even as that happened he noticed the spell that was on the plaque in front of them, 'Piertotum Locomotor', a spell that was roughly known as an awakening spell for inanimate objects, but he didn't say it out loud due to the fact that he didn't want to accidentally awaken the army from their slumber, even if they would serve whoever woke them up, "They guarded the realms of Avilion while Malefor fought off the stronger foes, protecting dragons and the other residents until they were broken beyond repair... and they must have been sealed away to prevent the Sorceress from using them to enforce her rule over these lands, especially since they were supposed to be rather hard to take down."
"So everything in this vault is dangerous and Malefor was paranoid that someone might use all of it against him and the other dragons," Hunter remarked, though in that moment Spike frowned at him, causing the cheetah to sigh for a few seconds as he rubbed the back of his head, where he realized that badmouthing the first purple dragon was unacceptable, given everything he went through to protect his home and his people, "Okay, maybe I'm wrong about him being paranoid, but you have to admit that everything in the vault is, in some way, dangerous to Avilion and the residents that call all of the realms home, especially after what happened during your ceremony."
"Still, we should check with Prince Azrael and the other leaders of the other realms, to see what items Malefor might have borrowed from them a thousand years ago," Bianca spoke up, as she had been mostly silent since they entered the Arcanaeum and this was likely the first time she had spoken since they returned to the structure, though at the same time Spyro, Spike, and Ember nodded their heads to agree with her, because it was easy to understand what she meant and all three of them agreed with her, "With the Sorceress defeated many of these items can go back to their respective owners and realms, since some of them have been expecting their magical artifacts to be returned at some point in time, so they'll be happy that we're upholding Malefor's side of the agreement, to hold them until a threat is taken care of and then return them once the coast is clear."
After that Spyro, Spike, and Ember looked at a few of the other rooms that were inside the Arcanaeum, where one of them held Cosmos and the couple of Magic Crafters that had come with them, though it was easy to see why they were so interested in the room they had discovered, because it contained a number of magical artifacts that the old dragons used to use and supposedly gave to Malefor when their time came, to either hold onto them or to pass them on to those that came after them. It also contained a number of spell tomes that detailed some of the stronger spells of magic, ones none of them had even seen before, and there was a rather interesting tome that excited Nora, as it was a book on the magic that was her specialty, Teleportation Magic, where she discovered that it was possible to move entire structures from one place to another, provided everything was set up in one location ahead of time. That explained one of the other rooms the siblings found, as there was a slot in the floor that Akilesh's base fit into and caused the magic to flow around Spike as he and the others witnessed what was going on, revealing locations that they had been to in the past and made them realize that they could move the Arcanaeum whenever they wanted to, while also discovering that the Sorceress must have done something to prevent anyone from using that type of magic a thousand years ago, otherwise Malefor would have just moved the vault to a place the Sorceress couldn't get to, instead of what they had found out earlier. Nora and the others braced themselves as Spike gave the spell a go, where they found that the Arcanaeum seemed to draw upon the magic that was around it, instead of the user's, to move from one location to another, and nothing inside the structure or the rooms moved as he moved them from the treasury and brought them to the plateau his ceremony had been on, before moving them back to their previous location with a smile on his face.
They had a reliable way to move the Arcanaeum to a location that was more convenient for all of them, if they wanted to do that anyway, and once the test was done Spike pulled the staff's base out of the slot and they continued to explore the rest of the vault, even though he eventually returned to the heart of the structure a few minutes later and stared at the globe that represented their world. He could see Avilion easily enough, thanks to the label that was placed on it, and on the other side of the world rested the Dragon Realms, just like the stories and tales claimed, while Avalar rested in the same hemisphere of their world that the land he and his siblings called home resided in, where he was sure Glimmer was the realm pointing in the direction of their home while Autumn Plains seemed to be pointing in the direction of Avilion, something that made him think about how Moneybags came to these lands. By studying the globe he found that there were a number of islands that had been labeled by Malefor and the others, with names that connected to the Farseeing Stones he had found earlier, but that was before he spotted something that was both interesting and surprising at the same time, there was an icon of the Aether over the part of the Magic Crafters island that his ceremony had taken place in, showing that the globe could detect when the powerful element was in use, and there was another on Midnight Mountain, no doubt reflecting when he and his siblings first tapped into the Aether. What was really interesting was that there was a third Aether icon on the globe, one that happened to be located in the equator of their world, where a large landmess was resting, and from what he could tell it would probably take a week or two, by using an airship or a boat, to reach it, but the icon wasn't the only interesting thing, the most important part of this was that it was a landmass they had never visited in the past... and the icon was pulsing, demonstrating that whoever was using the Aether was still active and alive.
While Spike considered there to be a possibility that there were other dragons out there in the world, based on what they had learned from Ripto and visiting Avalar, he had determined that it was impossible for there to be another dragon that could tap into the Aether and unleash its power, yet here the globe was showing him that he was wrong and that he and his siblings weren't the only ones with this ability, making him wonder if there was another purple dragon waiting in the land Malefor went to, be it the first purple dragon himself or someone entirely different, with the latter being more likely than the former. As he considered that he realized something, whoever the other energy signature was must have felt Akilesh being used for the first time in a thousand years, which would automatically make one assume it had to be Malefor, since he was the only one to wield the staff, though Spike felt that it was possible for the first purple dragon to impart some knowledge to whoever took over as leader of the group of dragons he must have found, if the missing stone in the Farseeing Room was any indication. From what little he knew Warfang seemed to be the name of a city, instead of an island or a continent, which he and the other dragons were used to, meaning that to get any answers as to what was going on, and to find out who the other Aether user was, they would need to make arrangements to travel to the new continent and see whatever was going on for themselves, something he knew was going to be difficult since all they had were hot air balloons and potentially the Professor's rocket, but they would need something bigger since he knew a few dragons that would want to embark on this adventure.
One thing was for certain, and that was whenever they embarked on the quest to discover the meaning behind the third Aether icon, as he knew that Spyro and Ember, at the very least, would want to figure out what was going on, they were going to be in for what was likely to be one of the greatest adventures of their lives, discovering new things and maybe learning more about the past than they could from a scroll or tome, and he was totally excited to see what the future held for them this time around.