"Wow, the food was delicious," Aurora commented, speaking once she, Flame, and the group that had shared their lunch with them had finished off all the food that had been brought to the beach, as everything she had tasted was beyond what she had been expecting when Cynder made the offer earlier, though at the same time Flame and their dragonflies nodded their heads to confirm her statement, before she glanced at the group of dragons, and their friends, that had brought the food to this place, "Seriously, its beyond anything that we've had in the past, and both of us have had some decent dishes before this day, but they pale in comparison to what you shared with us."
"We'll be sure to pass on your compliments to Alvar," Spyro replied, as he knew that the chef in question appreciated it when dragons told him how much they liked his food, something that was true when he made new dishes for Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and the rest of their friends, showing that he was able to adapt to the situation and prepare dishes accordingly, and he knew that his siblings, Cynder, and the rest of their friends agreed with him, before he focused on what they were about to do as he slipped on his scarf again, "Just give us a few moments and we'll make sure everything is packed up and ready to go, then we'll take you to the Nexus, which holds the portals to the homeworlds of the Dragon Realms, so we can start a tour and show you some of the lands that we call home."
"You mean a tour that will have both parties sharing information about their lands?" Flame remarked, showing that he understood what Spyro was saying, or what he hadn't said to be more exact, though at the same time Aurora and both of their dragonflies nodded their heads to confirm his statement, which was also the moment that Spike focused on what he had said for a moment, but, as it turned out, none of them really said anything and let the group clean up the mess that had created due to everything that had contained the food they had brought to the beach.
The group took a few moments to collect everything that they had brought to the beach, in terms of food containers, before making sure that each of them had their gear on and slipped their weapons back into position, so the moment they were ready to go Hunter and Bianca picked up the containers and started to follow the dragons as they lead the way back to where the Nexus rested, something that was followed by Flame and Aurora following them, even though they did spot the amusement park that was off in the distance and inquired about it. Cynder took a few moments to inform them that it was something that the Gnorcs, a race that was allied with the six dragon clans of the Dragon Realms after their villainous boss had been beaten a number of years ago, had built after coming to an agreement with the dragons that served as the Leaders for the clans, even though Nestor and the others had made sure the park had been built some distance away from the main beach that the dragons used as their relaxation spot, despite the fact that not many of them came here, as most of them were busy with their daily lives these days. Aurora inquired as to what Cynder was referring to and Ember told her about the hatchlings, who had hatched a little over two years ago, during the Year of the Dragon Festival, which caused both Aurora and Flame to nod their heads, as they also had such an event, under the same name, two years ago and there were a number of young hatchlings wandering around the lands of Capora, something that caused Spike to listen to what they were saying, even though he refrained from pulling out his writing materials, at least until they reached the Artisans homeworld and started the tour. Not a few moments later the group approached the Nexus and the pair of dragons paused as they stared at the six different portals that were resting in this area, the ones that lead to the Artisans, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, Dream Weavers, and the Machinists homeworlds, where just the name of the islands in question made both Flame and Aurora take a moment to wonder what they would be seeing as the group showed them around the lands that they called home, even if Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia came from some of the other lands and not the Dragon Realms.
When they passed through the Artisans portal, however, Flame and Aurora's jaws nearly dropped as they stared out at the homeworld that they had been brought to, where Spike noted that the pair had been able to pass through the portal without the magic knocking them backwards or something, making him wonder if Nora had changed the magic on them or if it was due to the fact that these two were strangers, but it was clear that they were caught off guard by the fact that they were staring at such a peaceful landscape, especially since some of the adult dragons were teaching the young hatchlings about the various arts that made up their homeworld.
"This place is so... peaceful." Flame commented, as it was unlike anything that he and Aurora had seen during their time in the lands of Capora, or at least that was what the group considered when they saw how the pair reacted to seeing this place, though while they did that Elora and Hunter made sure to put the containers down in an area that was out of the way of the other dragons, or at least until they were done with their lessons and noticed them resting near the portal to Dragon Shores, before he and Aurora glanced at the group, "I can't believe that you guys call this place home, as it just seems odd that the four of you would be the only ones to carry weapons around, while the other Artisans are focused on their instruments and whatnot... they are Artisans, aren't they?"
"Yes, this is the Artisans homeworld, which also serves as Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember's home," Hunter stated, as he recalled what happened when he and Elora had first seen this place, that they believed that it didn't fit with the siblings that they had called upon to save Avalar from Ripto, along with how Bianca, and later Cynder, had reacted when they laid eyes on the land that was in front of them, though at the same time he chuckled as they followed Spyro as he left the area that the portal to Dragon Shores was located in, "also, before you ask why they're allowed to get away with being totally different from the rest of the Artisans dragons, just know that Spyro and Spike are purple dragons, so the rules that most dragons of this land live by don't apply to them, Ember is an honorary Peace Keeper and chooses to live by their set of rules, and Cynder, well, she hails from the city of Warfang, from the continent of Doxantha, and she's adapting to how the Artisans dragons live, even if they're letting her off the hook due to her parentage... or whatever their reason is for letting her be a rule breaking dragon."
"Isn't it weird for there to be two purple dragons, at the same time no less?" Aurora inquired, showing the group that while she was interested in what was around them, just like how Flame was interested in the landscape and the dragons that were showing off their skills to the newest generation of hatchlings, one of the things she was focusing on was the fact that there were two dragons that happened to have the same legendary scales, something that informed Spike that all of the groups of clans that ended up separated from those that lived in Warfang knew about the legend and everything that came with it.
"No, because Spyro and Spike are some of the greatest heroes of our world, along with Ember, Cynder, and everyone else they have befriended over the years," a voice said, which was when Nestor walked over to where they were standing, not that the group was all that surprised to see him since he was usually watching over the hatchlings as the other Artisans taught all of them about the various professions that their clan focused on, before the Leader took a moment to focus on Flame and Aurora, who froze for a moment as they became the center of his attention, "I don't believe we've met, so allow me to introduce myself: I am Nestor, Leader of the Artisans dragons."
"I'm Flame, with my dragonfly, Flare, and this is my friend Aurora, with her dragonfly, Daisy," Flame replied, where he took a moment to gesture to the others of his small group for a moment, so Nestor knew who he was talking about, even if it was pretty obvious at times, while at the same time repeating what he had told Spyro and the others when they had first met each other, even though he took a moment to consider something that they had just been told, "So, you guys are lead by Dragon Leaders, as opposed to our Dragon Elders, which I guess means that all of the groups of dragons took up a similar naming convention when referring to their leaders and realms."
"Leaders, to be exact, not Dragon Leaders," Spike stated, though at the same time he knew what Flame was talking about at the moment, since it appeared that the dragons of the Dragon Realms and the dragons of Doxantha had a very similar method to naming the realms, homeworlds, and their leadership roles, where Spyro and the others simply said nothing to that and let him talk, given the vast amount of knowledge that he had on all of the clans, before he focused on Flame and Aurora for a moment, "but yes, it does seem like all of the clans, regardless of where they ended up calling home after our banishment from Avilion, ended up using the same method or naming convention when it comes to all of the realms, homeworlds, and the leadership positions that each clan ended up creating over the years."
"Either way, its good to meet you two," Nestor said, showing the pair of dragons that he was happy to meet them and that he was just fine with them being there, even though he was curious as to what was going on at the moment and was hoping that one of the siblings or their friends would be able to tell him where they had come from, hence the reason that he seemed to be in the middle of thinking about something at the moment, before opening his mouth again, "though I will admit that I'm curious as to where you came from, since I know you aren't from any of the homeworlds of the Dragon Realms, nor are you from the continent of Doxantha."
"We came from Capora, which is our name for the four homeworlds that our Dragon Elders rule and watch over since the day we first landed on their shores," Aurora replied, though as she said that she noticed that Nestor was walking over to an area that seemed to have a tunnel that would take them somewhere, which was directly across the way from where the large doors they had walked by was located, making her wonder what they were going to be doing, "Flame and I are explorers, which is nothing like the clans that you set up since you started living in these homeworlds, and we wanted to leave our home to see what else the world had to offer us, all so we could map out the world, though we used a temporary portal to get to, um, Dragon Shores. I guess we were a little too eager to get to exploring, as the Professor said that some of his calculations might be wrong, since he was messing with a 'Nora' portal network..."
"Wait, you guys know the Professor?" Elora commented, as this was the first time she had really talked since the pair of dragons had arrived in Dragon Shores and joined them, before they cut their vacation short and came back here, but that piece of information was enough to interest the rest of the group, as they knew that there had to be a reason for the Professor to do something like this, without telling them anything about what he was doing, "We've talked with him a few times since the war for the fate of our world... we'll have to get back to you two on that later, as its a lengthy tale for us to get into and it would take an entire day to go over everything that happened... but he's been rather busy lately, so its nice to hear that he's doing well."
While she said that, however, Elora glanced over to the others for a moment and found that they were thinking the same thing that she had considered once Aurora mentioned that the Professor was somewhere in Capora, meaning that he must have been expanding his knowledge of the world and was searching for additional threats that the group could take out before they threatened the world, especially after what they had seen when they found Cynder, Warfang, and the first purple dragon himself, though all of them tilted their heads for a moment before they refocused on what they were doing at the moment.
"Well, from what I know he's been busy helping Flame and I out, while trying to help the other residents of the islands that we call home," Aurora continued, finishing up what she had started to say, before Elora interrupted her, but that was the moment that she stopped in her tracks as they reached the end of the tunnel that Nestor had been leading them to, as both she and Flame could see the massive airship that the group had used to get to Doxantha resting in front of them, not to mention the hot air balloon that was at the end of the dock, "Wow, what in the world is this ship?"
"The AS Harmony, or the Airship Harmony, if you prefer," Spyro stated, where he took to the air and flew over to the deck of the ship, as the vessel had been a gift to him and his siblings and Fury, the Captain of the vessel, could usually be found on somewhere on the ship, though he hadn't trained Marco and the other Balloonists on how to use it, something that would take time and effort to do, so if they wanted to use it they would need the Breezebuilder in question to take the helm and operate it, "We used this vessel to make a two week journey to the land of Doxantha, because we discovered something interesting on the globe that showed our entire world, instead of spending three weeks to a month by traveling over the seas... trust me, its quite impressive and, at the same time, we can use it to show you the other homeworlds of the Dragon Realms, without expanding too much of our energy in the process."
Flame and Aurora glanced at each other for a few moments before joining the group as they flew over to the deck of the airship, where Spyro chatted with Fury as the others readied themselves, something that was followed by him heading to the part of the vessel that contained the controls so he could get them underway, allowing Spyro to rejoin the group as Spike got started on explaining things to the new pair of dragons that were sitting near him, as in he told them about the Artisans dragons and what sort of professions they spent their lives working on, something that surprised the pair when they heard it. It was actually amusing that the pair was caught off guard by the fact that some dragons spent their days working on the same profession, without seeing if there were others that they might be good with, even though Spike did explain that all Artisans dragons explored their options early in life and most of them were like this, with the exceptions being Spyro, Ember, and himself, even though he was on his way to being one of the greatest scholars, Ember was one of the honored Peace Keepers, and Spyro was being groomed to be a Leader one day, which was no easy feat when they considered what Nestor and the others had to deal with. While they were doing that the airship shifted for a second, which was followed by their new friends rushing over to the edge of the deck and watched as the massive propellers emerged from the water and pushed the airship into the air, something that totally caught them off guard since they weren't really expecting the ship to fly when they had been told that this was an airship, to which Spike shifted their discussion to their airship and informed the pair that the Professor had assisted the Machinists dragons in building the airship, which was yet another surprise for Flame and Aurora, something they weren't expecting to learn after they passed through the portal that had brought them to Dragon Shores. Nestor, of course, stayed behind so he could return to his duties with the rest of the Artisans dragons and hatchlings, leaving the group to depart from the dock that the airship had been docked at and headed in the direction of the other homeworlds of the Dragon Realms, allowing Spike to inform them as to what was going on while they looked out at the lands for themselves.
The group found that Flame and Aurora were definitely surprised by the fact that the Peace Keepers homeworld was so different from the Artisans homeworld, going from a lush island and shifting to a desert-like island, not to mention the fact that there was a cavern of ice below part of the desert and that the dragons had devised their own versions of all of the structures that the other clans used throughout their daily lives, all designed to handle the heat of the desert and to keep the dragons cool. They were both rather impressed when it came time for them to see the mountainous area that the Magic Crafters called home, especially since they were expecting the homeworld to be an island and not up in the air, which made both of them glad that they had the airship so they could quickly breach the clouds and take them up to all of the marble halls and structures all of the magical dragons were used to seeing, though that also gave them a chance to see some of the other magical beings that lived in the other lands, even though Bianca informed Flame and Aurora that they were likely going what she was doing, trying to become Spike's apprentice, which was she had done sometime after Spike had become an Archmage, which only caused them to be silent as they listened to what the group had to say. That was followed by them eventually passing over the swamp area that the Beast Keepers worked in every day, where Aurora said that she was grateful for the airship at this point, as it allowed them to be above the smelly island and not get the smell of of the swamp on them, despite the fact that the siblings informed her that there was shampoo and everything that took care of the smell and odor. After that they passed by the floating islands that made up the land of the Dream Weavers, one of the homeworlds that really interested the group since they were surprised by the fact that seventy-five percent of all the dragons that called this island home slept during the day and worked at night, leaving the remaining percentage to sleep during the night and work while the sun was up, just like the rest of the dragons of the other islands. They eventually came to the last and final island, which happened to be the more mechanical island that the Machinists called home and worked in, where the group informed the newcomers that these dragons had assisted the Professor while the airship was still being put together, not to mention everyone else that worked on the vessel, which seemed to impress the pair and made them wonder what else the Machinists might be working on.
Of course there was also the fact that the newcomers got a chance to see the island that the Phoenixes called home, which was really a surprise that both dragons weren't expecting to see, especially since both of them seemed to be under the impression that the fiery birds actually existed and that they weren't a myth, something that was due to Sol's ancestors wanting to be left alone and not be hunted by those who wanted them for their feathers and whatnot, but due to what the siblings had done for the Dragon Realms and some of the other lands, saving them from danger and those that had been threatening them, the Phoenixes had come out of hiding and had joined the Dragon Realms.
"The Dragon Realms are more impressive than what I thought they would be," Flame commented, not that he was expecting anything less of a place that was run by dragons, especially since it appeared that Spyro, Spike, Ember, and the others had done everything in their power to make sure everything was fine in the lands they had told them about, even if they didn't know a lot about Avalar and Avilion, which appeared to be the true name of the lands the dragons used to live in over a thousand years ago, before he turned to glance at the group, where he noticed that Spyro was in the middle of talking to Fury again, "though I'm still surprised by the fact that you have all these Artisans, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, Dream Weavers, Machinists, Phoenixes, and who knows what else in the other islands that you've assisted over the years. You have the makings of an army!"
"In a sense you would be right, as almost all of the adult dragons in the Dragon Realms participated in the war that was for the fate of our world," Amelia replied, speaking for the first time since the pair of dragons had arrived in Dragon Shores and had started to see what the Dragon Realms had to offer, though at the same time Spike weaved his magic through the air for a moment and a massive portal opened in the space in front of the airship, something that allowed the vessel to travel from the Dragon Realms and end up in Avalar, near Summer Forest, which put a smile on her face as she took a moment to glance down at a place that would have been her home had her parents not been displaced and sent to Doxantha by the evil Moneybags, even though that caused her to think about the newcomers for a moment, "but don't think, for even a moment, that the dragons were alone, as they had the aid of everyone from the lands that they helped out, the stone soldiers of the Deepcore Army, the majority of the Runeblades, and everything else that was used against the enemies they were fighting."
"Note to self, you guys would be the perfect allies if something were to go wrong in Capora, not that I'm saying that I want something bad to happen," Aurora said, showing the group that she was impressed by what Amelia had said, even if it was still a shocker when she thought about everything that had been mentioned, while at the same time her statement made the group take a moment to wonder about Red and how similar to Gnasty Gnorc he was, just in the off chance that the exiled dragon tried to attack the lands of Capora and take his revenge on them for what they did to him, even if they knew nothing about why he was banished in the first place, "its actually rather nice to learn that, in the unlikely event that something bad were to happen to our home, we might have some friends to call upon to help us restore order."
"The only thing we would have to worry about is Red suddenly returning to take his revenge on the Dragon Elders who banished him all those years ago," Flame added, though at the same time he knew what Aurora was talking about, as he didn't want the banished Elder to suddenly come out of his banishment and attack the homeworlds of Capora, which would be bad since they were enjoying a time of peace at the moment, before he glanced over at the others for a moment and found that Spike was already pulling out his writing materials, showing him and Aurora that he was interested in what they had to say about the Dragon Elder that had been banished, "Listen, there's not much we can tell you about Red, as neither Aurora or I are scholars like you are, other than the fact that he experimented with dark magic, supposedly for the betterment of dragonkind, until he, according to the stories, summoned a creature from another dimension and it lashed out at the house of one of our Elders, something that caused the Elders to gather together and sent it back to the place it came from, or at least I think that's what they did, and then they banished Red for his crimes."
"Dark Magic?" Cynder inquired, something that was followed by Flame and Aurora nodding their heads, showing the group that they had heard what the red dragons had said correctly, though as they did that she glanced over to Spyro for a few seconds, who seemed to be thinking the same thing that she was thinking, as the two of them were the only ones that knew something about the villain that tried to bring about the end of the previous world, something they had partly succeeded in doing based on what the Chronicler told them, "Sounds like the Dark Master's handiwork..."
"We'll, ugh, take your word for that," Aurora said, where her statement showed that she had no idea what Cynder was even talking about, even though it was more accurate to say that it was a 'who', and the look on Flame's face showed that he was of the same opinion, though at the same time Cynder decided not to worry them about an ancient evil that she and Spyro had beaten, who they were sure hadn't been reborn in this world like they had been, before the pink dragon glanced over the edge of the airship and focused on the lands that were below them, "Anyway, the lands of Avalar, from what we can see, are quite lovely and they seem rather peaceful."
"Trust me, they weren't like this three years ago," Elora commented, where she smiled as she glanced out at the land that she and Hunter called home, as she remembered what the siblings had done when they had been called to Avalar so they could deal with Ripto, and Hunter was still sorry for accidentally intercepting the villain and his minions when they were using a portal to travel from one place to another, and she knew that Hunter and his sister had to be smiling at the land that they were staring down at, "We had some problems a few years ago, what with a villain trying to take control of our realms and two races were in the middle of a war with each other, thanks to the sinister actions of a certain bear that we have imprisoned, but, thanks to Spyro, Spike, and Ember, we were able to repel the attacks, take out the villain, and restore order to Avalar. Of course, once everything had been returned to normal, Hunter and I joined the siblings when their third adventure came around, which was where we met Bianca and she joined our cause, to help us take down an evil magic user called Morrigan, who was trying to gain immortality and the power to take down Malefor, even though her plans ultimately failed thanks to what the siblings did."
"She must have gone insane, because no one has seen Malefor for a thousand years, not since the days that we lived in the Forgotten Realms, or Avilion, based on what you said," Flame stated, showing that he was still coming to terms with the fact that he and Aurora now knew the name of the lands that the dragons once called home, before they were forced to leave their homes, while at the same time revealing that everyone that called the homeworlds of Capora home had the same thoughts about the first purple dragon, that Malefor was missing and that no one had seen him for a long time, not that the group blamed them for thinking such a thing, before he noticed something interesting as he glanced back at the group, who happened to glance at each other for a moment, "Um, is something wrong?"
"No, everything is fine... though trust me on this, Malefor is alive and well," Spyro replied, where it was easy for him and the others to see that Flame and Aurora were shocked by the news, which was understandable given that he and the others had thought the same thing they had been thinking, something that was corrected when they saw the legendary dragon in battle, with their own eyes, though even as he said that Spike weaved his magic into the air again and the vessel passed through another portal, this one taking them to the island they had fought Malefor in, and once they were on the other side of the portal he nodded his head and Fury started to descend towards the island.
"Indeed I am," a voice said, where Spyro and the others watched as Malefor, in all his glory, landed on the deck of the airship not a few seconds after he finished talking, though at the same time the airship landed in the water and came to a stop near the island that happened to be where Malefor had battled and trained with Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember in the past, before the previous adventure had started anyway, before they noticed as the first purple dragon stared at the group for a few seconds with a look of interest in his eyes, even though Flame and Aurora were totally stunned by what they were seeing at the moment, "I felt some strange magic in the air and wondered what was going on, so I decided to investigate what I was feeling and discovered that your airship was descending towards the island we train on, hence the reason I flew up to see what you were up to, since Nestor told me that you would be spending the entire day relaxing in Dragon Shores and that it would be a day or two before we resumed your training... which brings me to my first question, Elora, what happened to you?"
"Oh, Ripto, the villain that attacked Castle Hills during the dragonfly ceremony, let his magic go wild when we faced him in combat and his last pair of spells had quite the effect on me," Elora replied, though at the same time she took a few seconds to open her clawed hands for a moment and stared at them, because at this point she was used to her new form and knew there was no way she was going to revert back to what she had been like before Ripto had struck her, despite what Spike had said when he explained what she might go through in the coming weeks, "Spike says it was chaos magic, or something to that effect, and that my current form is what I'll be using for the rest of my life, even if there is a chance that I might revert back to my original faun form... though I have to say that being half dragon is actually pretty awesome, even if it was a massive shock for the first couple of days."
"I see. Well, I'd like to see what Spike has written on the matter, just to add the knowledge to what we have stored in the library of Warfang," Malefor said, mostly due to the fact that he was interested in what had happened to Elora and why she had such an interesting form, instead of what he had seen the last time the group had trained with him, where Spike took a moment to nod his head and confirm that he would make sure the first purple dragon had his notes on the matter, before Malefor turned his attention to the newcomers, "I don't believe that we've had the honor of meeting before today, so allow me to introduce myself: I am Malefor, known as the first purple dragon in every history book and tome, formerly the Protector of Avilion, and am currently serving as the High Guardian of Warfang."
"Ugh, I'm Flame... and this is Aurora," Flame stated, though his tone and the look on his face reflected the fact that he and Aurora were totally surprised by the fact that they were actually standing in front of Malefor, the one dragon that was more legendary that anything else in their world, where Spyro noticed that Aurora, on the other claw, seemed to go still as they realized who they were staring at, before he regained his focus, "we're explorers that come from Capora, which is the name for the islands that our dragon clans call home, much like how Avalar is the overall name for the islands that Elora and Hunter call home, and we used a temporary portal to explore a brand new part of the world, which brought us to the island called Dragon Shores that Spyro and the others happened to be relaxing at during our arrival. We told Spyro and the others a little about the lands that we called home while we were flying through the air, though we mostly focused on Red, a Dragon Elder that was banished for trying to use Dark Magic and successfully summoned a creature from another dimension, which caused the other Dragon Elders to send it back to the place it came from and then they banished Red for all of his crimes."
"Dark Magic, you say?" Malefor commented, where he placed a hand on his chin for a moment and considered what Flame had just told him, which was what he had told Spyro and the others while they were heading to this island, though it was more like he was actually thinking about the memories of his previous life and was seeing if he had known anything about what they were currently talking about, before he shifted his gaze over to Spyro and Cynder, as they were the only ones who knew who he was considering, who nodded their heads a few seconds, "It seems like we might have found out what happened to the Dark Master, which isn't good considering what he did in the past... Spike, can you open the way back to the Arcanaeum? There's something we need to check out."
"I'm confused. What's going on?" Aurora asked, though while she said that Spyro informed Fury as to what they were doing while Spike weaved his magic into the air near the island, at a point where they would be able to leave the island and not damage anything that was around them at the moment, something that informed her that she and Flame had missed something important, as the group had figured something out and it appeared that whatever it was had sprung them into acting, by taking them to another part of the world.
"We think there's a reason the Professor sent you to Dragon Shores, and we're going to either confirm or deny it by seeing what's on the Arcanaeum's globe," Spyro replied, informing Flame and Aurora that there might have been more to what the Professor had done for them, as it was possible that their friend had noticed something odd and wanted them to be aware of it before something terrible happened, but based on what they had seen in the past, the events that lead up to all of their previous adventures, he and his siblings, at the very least, were sure that a new adventure was coming and their friend had sent the newcomers as a warning of some sort.
Spyro was hoping that there wasn't another evil being out there in the world, plotting to take over another land and rule over those that called the land home, just like all of the villains that they had taken out in the past, especially after they had taken down Ripto and put an end to his latest scheme, but he knew that the only way for him and the others to learn what was going on was to check the Arcanaeum and see what the globe had to offer them, before they figured out what the next step they were going to take was.