FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Avila woke up to a fine morning, overlooking the sunrise from her cave. She reached out to Seraphor. The silver red dragon was still sleeping, something Avila had accustomed to. She woke up and made a yawn, before walking towards the section of the cave where she found Shirdan starting to wake up, with Rhaynis and Vysrenis by his side.

"Hi...you're early today," said Shirdan.

"Nah, I just feel as if I need to wake up earlier today. Do we still have reserves?"

"Don't worry, I hunted some nocturnal creatures. They taste very good."

"And you're not roasting them with your lights?"

"No, I can control the intensity of my lights, Avila. Don't worry."

"Well, do what you must do today. I need to go meet with Cynder."

Shirdan nodded and started walking towards the kitchen section while Avila walked outside. She felt the warmth of the morning dawn, absorbing it into her, before she walked towards the lake.

After losing the fire that made Seraphor a whole being, the silver red had trouble waking up in the morning and had severe insomnia. One of his legs never healed completely and until this time, it was still bandaged. Seems that after losing his fire, Seraphor wasn't as energetic as he was supposed to be, and he looked older than his age supposed to represent. Not only that, he preferred reading books and watching movies than accompanying his children playing games.

Spyro and Avila was worried that Seraphor had lost his will to live, but the silver red ensured them that he was aging, not dying, so to not worry them. Still, despite of still having a biological age of a 100, he acted like a dragon five times older than he was now.

Avila finally reached the lake. It reflected the sun behind Avila, creating crystalline surface that made it looked pretty and full of diamond, just as what dragons would like. She then slowly went into the water and bathed herself, sometimes drinking the water and hunted some fish that was there via an underground tunnel. She felt content, half an hour or so, before walking out from it.

That was when she felt dizzy. Nausea kicked in and caused her to fall to her side, throwing up. The next thing she knew, she was bleeding from her nose, and she coughed out small speck of blood towards the grass.

"Something is not right," thought Avila. "This...felt like a darkness-induced sickness. I've never been sick because of darkness. Maybe Bart knows something about this."

She then teleported herself towards the rebuilt Qeveriyt to hasten her movement. She reached the place, but felt a severe headache, which died down after a moment. The dark dragon found Bartoz's dragon clinic, run with his husband, a Southern blue dragon he liberated many years ago.

Yet, before she even had time to go in, Bartoz met him in front of the door and said, "You're not the first, if you want to ask me about that?."

This surprised Avila. "What? You mean..."

"Come in. I'll explain."

Upon getting into the vast room enough for many dragons, Avila took notice of Cynder and her father. They were both surprised by her presence in the room.

"You too?" said Cynder.

"Hmm...it's kind of ironic that a death dragon could be sick," said Xiciro, half-joking. "Bartoz, what can you tell us?"

"Do you remember the dragon we fought in the Seventh War three years ago? The one the drakons called Akkelas?"

"We remember. What's with him?"

"Apparently, the attacks he gave us had another kind of element we don't really know exactly how it works. It works like a radiation to most dragons, and it had a delayed effect. Depending on the dragon afflicted, it could happen right after, or never happen at all before their death."

"So we all have radiation sickness?" said Cynder. "Is it deadly?"

"The good news is, we are all dark dragons, so we won't get a fatal progression. It is still a radiation sickness, but it will be nullified if you all take a rest."

"But you fought with Akkelas, too, right? Why didn't you get anything?"

"I had nose-bleeds this morning, but I am practically an undead, so it doesn't affect me more than that. Don't worry, it's temporary."

Avila then realized something. There was a fact that she somehow forgot. This line of thoughts was noticed by her father.

"Is there something wrong, Avila?"

"I don't know...I think we're missing something here. Are we the only ones fighting Akkelas?"

"Oh, if you're talking about Yrelka, she didn't get anything wrong, but one of her snakes wasn't materializing."

"No...please make me remember. Father, you used Emero Carought on Akkelas, right?"

"Yes, I remember it clearly."

"At that time, Cynder and I were too preoccupied to see the surroundings. Bart, you're not present when we were fighting him after you got thrown by him. But...there was one dragon that pushed Akkelas into the black hole...I think it's someone we know."

"Was it Yrelka? She helped us in the fight."

"No wait...it was even before Emero Carought...Shirdan?"

"Your adoptive son?"

"We talked about Andelhaus's death after that when we saw Shirdan...oh Ancestors. Shirdan, of course! He threw Akkelas into the portal and fell to the ground. Sannourah opened a portal behind him and we were too pre-occupied to Seraphor and Spyro's fight that we forgot about his involvement. It all happened so fast."

Just then, a thought of horror came into Avila, and she realized something was terribly wrong. She realized one vision she started to remember.

And that was the vision of Shirdan's leg getting clawed by the dragon.

"Dad, open a portal to my lair, right now!"

"W-what..."

"No time to explain, take me back to my lair!"

Xiciro did just that, and upon opening it, they saw Seraphor trying to run with his electric steps, but couldn't do anything with his damaged leg. He then saw the portal and ran towards it while shouting, "Bart, Shirdan got a seizure! He's bleeding through his nose!"

Bartoz and Avila didn't hesitate to jump into the portal, with Xiciro went through his own portal after. Avila ran towards the cave and found Rhaynis and Vysrenis around Shirdan. The yellow dragon was twitching like crazy and he bled profusely through his nose and mouth. He was like someone who just got a seizure, as per Seraphor's statement. The death dragon didn't wait to embrace Vysrenis and Rhaynis while Seraphor and Bartoz tried to restrain Shirdan.

"Did you give him something that can trigger seizure?!"

"He never got an epileptic seizure before! Bart, what is going on?!"

Bartoz stopped, and stared at Avila. She nodded and took the twins away from Shirdan. His expression grim, in which Seraphor said, "Is there something you aren't telling me? Why is Avila in Qeveriyt?"

"Sera...Shirdan had a radiation sickness and...he doesn't have much to live."

"Radiation sickness?! Dude, that's not even real! Why are you saying that?! This is serious!"

I am quoting one of your movies because I don't have anything better to say! He's cursed!"

It caused them to go silent. "Cursed?" asked Seraphor. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"He was the only dragon that wasn't a dark dragon when we were fighting a drakon with a powerful dark energy it's like radioactive, even to us dark dragons. We will be fine. Avila will be fine...Shirdan...will not."

"Because he's a light dragon."

"Even if he's not a light dragon, he would still die. Maybe delayed time or more. But he's a light dragon, and darkness is his greatest enemy, as do light is our greatest enemy. When the sickness syndromes come out, it come out like a wrecking ball and it's wrecking him from the inside!"

"Stop quoting shitty pop culture!"

"I can't say anything better than this! Right now...he only had minutes to live."

"Will you at least try to find a cure?"

"I was making one for us, but Shirdan is beyond saving, and I discarded the elixir when I realized dark dragons weren't affected."

"Make that elixir again, Bart, or I swear I'll make your life worse!"

"No..."

Shirdan's voice was so weak and choked, but he sternly said it. Seraphor and Bartoz went silent upon his word.

"I understand how deadly the curse it. To be honest...I am not as immune as Ceroz was."

"What are you talking about?"

"Xiciro can...explain."

Seraphor turned towards Xiciro. He solemnly said, "Ceroz is a strong light dragon that cancelled out the dark. Shirdan is...not."

"What do you mean?"

"He's a clone, Sera. He can't have all the capabilities of his real self if he is aging like a normal dragon."

"Exactly as he said," said Shirdan. "Sera...it's okay."

"No it's not okay! You're my son! I will do everything to save you!"

"Please...don't. As much as you love me and care for me, I am...still the descendant of a villain. Yet...I never wanted it to be like this. So...don't sacrifice your dignity because of my death."

"Don't talk nonsense!"

"Will I talk like this if I'm at the face of death? I'm also referring...to your wife, Sera. Where is she?"

Seraphor wanted to object, but then he knew as a dragon, Shirdan had his own pride. Knowing that his adoptive son would hate him if the silver red sacrificed his own life just to save him, he grudgingly called Avila to him.

When he saw that both his adoptive parents and their relatives had gathered, he said, "For a hundred years...I never found love and I never trusted any dragons. But...your kindness and love on me convinced me to face the sins of my past. You're the best...family I've ever had...and I'm glad I can be a good son, as short as our relationship is..."

The yellow dragon then cough some blood and his scales started to become pale. "I...I'm so sorry for making you...so sad, and I'm...sorry for everything I've done. You...don't have to forgive me for what I did to Xiciro...Avila..."

"No...Shirdan, I never hold any grudge to you about your actions in Pol Hain," said Xiciro. "I know you're a good dragon from the bottom of your heart."

Shirdan made a weak draconic smile before turning towards Avila.

"I guess...I can't keep my promise to Rhaynis...huh? Please...don't let her and Vysrenis in despair."

"We won't." Despite of being so firm, Seraphor could see that Avila was trying to hold herself from crying. She then offered the weakened Shirdan a hug. The dragon was too weak to hug her back, but then...they saw him crying. From Seraphor's experiences, a dragon's tears were quite rare, but when it happened, not only did it symbolized their inevitable death, but also knowing that he could finally part ways with peace.

"I don't wanna go...," said Shirdan weakly. "I'm afraid of the dark..."

"Don't you worry, my child. Death is not a cold place. You will find warmth and meeting your lost ones again. Who knows...maybe Andelhaus is waiting for you."

Thinking about Andelhaus made Shirdan started wailing, causing the rest of them to start shedding tears of sorrow from the scene. Rhaynis and Vysrenis roared in sorrow with Shirdan's wailing. In Shirdan's vision, memories of his journey with his new family flashed in front of his eyes, with all the good things and the bad things played in his mind simultaneously. He experienced every happiness he had ever had for the past three years, a short time for a dragon's standard.

Just before every good memories ends, he saw Andelhaus, in his human form, walked towards him, accompanied by a black dragon similar in appearance to Avila. Andelhaus then said, "Finally...you're in peace." The death dragon then guided Shirdan through a blinding light, where he went through. Finally, he was at peace.

Avila could sense that her mother had taken Shirdan's soul, leaving Shirdan's lifeless body. Seraphor and Xiciro saw his eyes and they realized that Shirdan had passed on. Avila then let go, while saying, "May death brings you the peace you've earned."

The news of Shirdan's death caused some of his friends to mourn his passing. Despite of knowing what Shirdan had done to Yort and almost destroying the world by freeing the World Eaters, they knew that he had redeemed himself the best way he could. Both the senior members and the younger members were heartbroken, given the fact that Shirdan was a changed dragon. He was kind and very energetic, like how a light would've do.

Knowing that he deserved a proper funeral, Xiciro and some of the dragons carried Shirdan to a meadow where Avila and Seraphor first met, still the same after a hundred years or so, on the outskirts of the Xici kingdom. With a powerful flame breath from some of the fire dragons, they cremated his body into dust, while some dragons made a roar of sorrow. Some of the humans also joined in, taken by the joined sorrow and mourning.

Avila wanted to walk away, unable to cope for the sudden death of a beloved adopted son. Just then, due to her powers, she saw her mother, her stewardess, and Shirdan's soul stood side by side, watching Avila. Shirdan approached the death dragon and whispered something to her. Anything that Shirdan said to her finally broke her and she started crying. Seraphor saw this and went to her, asking her what's wrong.

Avila turned her head towards her smaller mate, and she said, "He called me 'mother'..."

"Shirdan?"

Avila nodded. "He never called me 'mother'...in his lifetime."

Shirdan's ashes were spread through the meadow, where he could finally rest in peace. With Spyro's help, Seraphor planted a seed of a tree on where Shirdan was cremated, hoping someday it would be blooming in hope and remembrance towards Shirdan.

Time would go on without any sad events, except for Seraphor's family.

Avila finally had to go to the realm of the dead to fulfill her legacy as an angel of death. Seraphor and his youngling knew that she needed to go someday, and let her go. She visited them in their dreams, talking about her job and her new life, but she always wanted to return into the living and have another child with Seraphor, something that the silver red felt uneasy, knowing that her mother would disagree.

Seraphor, after a long and bizarre adventure through his post-war years, finally passed on due to natural cause. He was 450 years when he died. Because he's a dragonet, he had shorter lifespan than other dragons, and wasn't virtually immortal. The Order mourned his passing and made a monument in Qeveriyt in memory in both Seraphor and Avila. The bronze statue in Pol Hain was re-erected, still with the same design when Seraphor and Avila were still very young and saved the port town.

Spyro and Cynder returned to Dragon Realm and went on to become the guardians of the Realm, as did Ignitus and the rest of his group had done for so many years. Due to the long-lasting inter-dimensional connection with the Main Continent, Dragon Realm's dragons had a longer lifespan, and had started to open more and more portals to many places. Alduin and his brothers became the protector of Dragon Realm, like Spyro before them.

Then...50 years had passed since Seraphor's death...

The tree that Seraphor and Spyro grew on the meadow was very old and dying. A figure came towards the giant tree. It was a dragon, carrying an old tattered book in its mouth. It put the book just under the tree, with a slab detailing the tomb. It had a silver scale and red stripes on its back, similar to Seraphor.

"Hey...Shirdan. It has been 200 years," said Rhaynis, now an adult. "You know about this book, right? It's the story we really like to read. Well, I took it from an old archival storage downtown. The human clerk said it's old and historical, but I just don't want it to be sitting inside a dusty warehouse."

Rhaynis then paused a moment, before saying, "Mom doesn't visit us any longer. It's fine, really. I wish she take care of dad and you. Oh, and uh...my first child is going to hatch and...I am going to name him Shirdan, just so you know."

After a while, she turned around and said, "Goodbye...Shirdan." And left. Behind her, the tree started to grow again, as if getting renewed. It bloomed flowers from it. As Rhaynis flew, one of her legs attracted some leaves, and as she went into the city, the trees started blooming, despite of the presence of cars and pollution.

It's the dawn of the modern age, and from here, the journey of Seraphor and Avila finally ends. Their songs had ended, and thus, their children continued to see the future, continuing the legacy of legends.

The End.