A Dragon's Heart

Chapter 1

New arrival (Sora)

"Eight....Nine....Ten! Alright! Here I come!" Sora shouted as he turned around from his tree, a blue insect flying around his head. He was a grey dragon with a brilliant set of emerald eyes. He was 17 years old, his wing span about average for dragons his age. He was born and raised in Avalar: A well-known area within the Dragon Realms. He grew up on his own, being one of the few dragons in the area. It was as he grew up that he befriended Volt, a dragonfly who had migrated from the swamp. The two of them were almost like brothers, much like Spyro and Sparx were growing up. And like them, they were an oddly matched pair of brothers. But brothers, nonetheless.

"You'll never catch me this time, grey boy." Volt called out as Sora chased after him. There was one odd thing about Sora: he always wore a skull over his face. He used it as a mask, as though he were deliberately trying to hide his face.

But for what reason?

Was he embarrassed? Perhaps he was shy. He didn't have many friends, excluding Volt. He was familiar with the native cheetahs, Hunter for instance. With Spyro having gone on his own, Hunter took it upon himself to be Sora's aide. To provide advice and guide him on the right path, while Volt was Sora's guardian. He protected him and made sure that he steered clear from harm.

Maybe he's afraid. Sora is a coward of sorts. If he knows that he doesn't stand a chance, he will cower and start to beg for his life. There were instances where he fought and defended himself, but he prefers to avoid conflict (It's not really his thing).

But no matter the reason, Sora always wore the skull-like mask over his face, allowing only his eyes to be seen from under it. He was comfortable with it and even with it on, he always managed to live life normally.

"I see you, my little buzzing friend." Sora said, taking notice of Volt from behind a bushel of vines hanging from a tree branch.

"Yeah, but seeing and catching are two different things, big boy." Volt said in a taunting manner before flying further away from the drake.

"Hehe. Yeah, you better run."  Sora continued to laugh merrily as he chased after his dragonfly sibling, jumping over river rocks that the insect could easily fly over. Once Volt reached a certain distance, he turned back and smiled at Sora.

"What's wrong, Sora? Can't you fly? Oh that's right. You're like one of those grounded dragons. Mm, that's too bad. You can't feel what it's like to soar in the breeze." He taunted. Sora scoffed and smiled at him.

"Oh yeah? You're toast when I catch you." Sora charged after Volt, following him downstream until he came across a cavern with ancient symbols inscribed around the entrance. Volt flew inside, but Sora stopped in his tracks. "H-hey. That's cheating. We're not allowed to go in there. Hunter said so." He exclaimed.

"Yeah. But Hunter is hunting, so he isn't here, is he?" Volt replied. Sora scratched his head. It was true. Hunter went out for the day and wouldn't be back until late in the afternoon.

"Well....yeah. But we still can't go in there. It's forbidden."

"Pfft. Excuses, excuses. Catch up or give up, fatty." With that, Volt dashed into the cave. Sora had a bad feeling about this, but Hunter wasn't going to be back for awhile.

"...I guess....checking it out won't be too bad." He concluded. Without a second thought, he stepped into the cave, unaware of the event that was about to unfold.

BGM 1

Sora didn't know why, but he felt a terrible vibe crawling up his spine. He ventured on into the cave to catch up with Volt, but he lost track of him.

"Where's that little gnat gone off to?" He asked himself. He kept looking around, hoping to find any trace of him when he heard a voice call out from within the cave.

"Hey, has anybody seen a big grey thing with weight issues? I seem to have lost mine." It said. It was definitely Volt's voice, annoying as it could be when he said things like that. Sora followed the path where the voice came from, diving deeper into the cave and its forbidden rooms. Along the way, Sora noticed something. There were many inscriptions in an ancient language written over the walls as well as illustrations. Most of them were familiar, depicting the rise and fall of the Dark Master he heard about in legends. But there were some that confused him.

In them, there were three quadrupedal creatures and a dragon. One had a horn on its head, another had wings and the last one had no real noticeable features at all.  It looked as though they were conversing with the dragon.....and then they stopped. For the carvings of the strange creatures stood to the right the dragon in what looked like another land while the dragon was to the left of them in what looked similar to an area in Avalar.

"Weird....what does it mean?" Sora mumbled. He shook his head and continued on until he finally caught up to Volt who was standing in a sunlit tunnel. "There you are. Come on. Let's get out of here."

"Whoa. Hold on, dude. Check this out." Volt interrupted as he flew further in. Sora followed after as they came to the center of the area. There were stone pillars, some broken and some intact as they all formed around a stone dais. On it was a marking that was quite common in scrolls. It was a magic symbol meant for transportation from one world to another. Normally portals were used to do such things but even primitive ways, such as this, were still used. Wanting to examine it more, Volt hovered over the dais, to which Sora quickly protested.

"Hey. Volt, get away from there!" He shouted. Volt chuckled and smiled at him.

"Why don't ya come over here and make me, brudda?" He taunted. Sora's nostrils flared as Volt's taunting had become too much to bear. As he charged at Volt, the dragonfly flew out of reach from him and a pillar of light rose around the young drake.

"W-what's going on?!" Sora said, panicking. He tried to force his way out of the light, but it just repelled him and held him there. "Volt! Help!"

"W-what do you expect me to do?! I don't know what--" Before Volt could finish, Sora began to glow and as he uttered one last cry for help, he vanished without a trace. The symbol on the stone dais vanished as well while Volt searched around the room to find any sign of the grey dragon. "Sora? Hey Sora!!! Where are you?!"

Where Sora was, he had no idea. Everything seemed to happen so fast. One minute he was trapped in a pillar of light and the next minute, he hit the ground with a loud "Oof" escaping his lips.

Ow....my head, he thought. Where am I? He began to open his eyes, though his vision was still a little blurry. He had the ability to move his head still, which signified that he was still alive and he began to look around him. There were stone pillars all around him, as well as trees and a two pairs of purple feet. Though they looked different from that of a dragons. Once his vision cleared, his eyes trailed up to the source of the feet until his gaze met with Berry's.

"..........." Berry said nothing and neither did he, but both of their mouths opened wide, making audible gasping noises before they both suddenly screamed.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"