Disclaimer: I own nothing except my characters. Other canon characters are owned by their respective companies.

Exclaimer: To people who don't like the story, just don't read it.

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Legacy of Legends

Chapter 34

Symptoms

Spyro yawned as he walked down the empty halls of the Temple. He had woken up that morning to find that he was alone in his bed. He and Cynder usually woke up at the same time. And even then, if one were earlier than the other, they’d just wait for the other to wake up. But Cynder wasn’t there, prompting him to go look for her. After a few moments of walking, he happened to come across an ice dragon he had never seen before.

“Spyro!” the dragon called out. Apparently the dragon knew him.
“Yes?” From his tone, Spyro discerned that it was urgent. “What is it? Did something happen?”
“Yeah! Flare actually asked me to go look for you. Come on, I’ll take you to her.”
“Okay…thanks…who are you?” Spyro asked, following behind the dragon.
“Wait, you don’t know who I am?”
Spyro shook his head, smiling sheepishly. “No. Sorry. Who are you?”
The ice dragon shook his head. “No need to apologize. I arrived yesterday, with the other dragons.”
“Oh I see,” said Spyro. Other dragons DID arrive yesterday.
“The name’s Manuel.”
“I’m Spyro, even though you already know my name.”
“You’re kind of popular,” Manuel joked.
Spyro smiled and followed behind the ice dragon. “So, Manuel, what exactly happened? Care to fill me in? Why is the Fire Guardian looking for me?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. But what I do know is this.” Manuel looked at him seriously. “Something BAD happened last night.”

From Manuel’s tone, Spyro discerned that this wasn’t the ordinary bump in the night. He immediately began paying rapt attention.

“Go on.”
“To be specific, someone got attacked…again.”
“By what?” Spyro’s brow rose. “Wait, AGAIN? What do you mean again?”
“Latis got attacked by the dark dragon the other day. Last night…he struck again.”

Latis, another unfamiliar name; Spyro immediately classified the name as one of the dragons that arrived, same category as Manuel. But something irked him. A dark dragon attacked the other day? How did he not know about this? Where on earth was he when this happened? The question buzzed around in Spyro’s head like an annoying fly. He wanted to kick himself for not being more aware of his surroundings, but he’ll have to do it some other time. Right now he needed to focus. Everyone in the Temple was in danger, because of the dark dragon running around. And only he and Cynder had experience in fighting dark dragons.

It was time to get back in the groove, and put in some work.

“When did you guys find out?”
“Well…we um…I and Flare…” Manuel bit his lip, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
“What is it?”
“We…early this morning.” Manuel couldn’t say it. He felt nauseous just by thinking of it.
“What was that?” Spyro asked.

Manuel gulped. Now was not the time to be queasy.

“We found the body earlier this morning.”

0 0 0 0 0

Latis walked down the halls of the Temple, one destination in mind. After making and putting some medicine for Zaze at the side, she decided to go find Alyssa, to ask why her elemental powers were acting up. Freezing your tail on the floor wasn’t a common thing. It normally happened to dragons that were young, a hatchling typically, who were still learning and harnessing their element. She on the other hand, was clearly no longer a hatchling. It bothered her, since she was practicing the arts of healing. And one needed precise control of their elements when they did such a delicate act. Maybe being frozen in an ice cube did more damage to her than she thought.

She rounded around the corner, and headed into the library. This was where her Master usually was. Entering the doors, her eyes landed upon a yellow scaled dragon that was arranging the books at the bookshelves. It was none other than the Electric Guardian, Volteer.

“Um, Volteer?” she called out.
The dragon didn’t stop what he was doing, but glanced behind to see who it was. “Yes?”
“Is Alyssa in here?”
“She is actually.” Putting a book to its proper place, he pointed down the path. “Just keep going straight. You can’t miss her.”
Latis nodded. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome Latis.”

Now knowing where she was, the ice dragoness walked over there and looked for her Master. She found her reading a tome that looked very old. It looked like it was about to fall apart. For a moment she hesitated, wondering if she should bother her Master. The look on Alyssa’s face was concentrated; like she was even angry. Nonetheless she seemed rather busy, and her problem could wait. Just as she was about to turn around, her voice caught her.

“Yes, Latis, what is it?”
Latis sighed and faced her. “I’m sorry to bother you, are you busy by any chance?”
Alyssa shook her head and smiled at her. “No, not really; I’m just really having a hard time understanding this tome. It’s very old and the language used is equally older.”
“I’m sorry. I-I should just come back later.”
“No it’s okay. I’m tired of this book anyway.” Alyssa then placed the book back to its shelf. It slid right in, even procuring a small dust cloud as it did so.
“What seems to be bothering you, my dear student?”
“Well, it’s rather silly actually.” Alyssa raised her brow, but kept on listening. “I froze my tail to the floor.”
Alyssa’s expression changed to being puzzled. “You froze your tail to the floor?”
“Yeah, I did. Is that normal?” Latis asked. “I mean, I know it’s not normal for dragons of my age to have something like that happen, but given my case being frozen in ice and all…”

Alyssa went into deep thought and used her experience as a healer to assess the situation. Being frozen in ice does have its effects on dragons. One of them is having their tail frozen to the floor, for ice dragons at least. It wasn’t a life threatening problem; more like an annoyance. It usually goes away in a day or so. But Alyssa had to be sure. This could be a symptom to a more serious problem.

“Where were you when this happened?”
“I was at the infirmary.”
“Doing what?”
“I was making medicine for him.”
“Him?” Now this irked Alyssa’s curiosity quite greatly. Her eyes narrowed, a conclusion slowly forming in her mind. If she was right, there was definitely ANOTHER symptom Latis forgot to mention. “Medicine for whom?”
Latis smiled. “It was for Zaze.”
“Zaze?” Alyssa’s brow rose. “As in the electric dragon; the one who saved you?”
“Yes. That’s him.”
“Why would he need medicine?”
“He developed a cold from sleeping on a wet bed.”
“Oh…I see…”

Alyssa looked at Latis with a knowing eye.

“What is it? Is it serious?”
Alyssa shook her head, thinking to herself. “I can’t say for sure. Is there anything else? Another symptom you probably forgot to mention? Anything?”
Latis thought to herself. She looked back, and sure enough, found one.

0 = 0 = 0

“Could you…let go of by paw?”
“What?” Latis looked down and saw that she was still holding his paw, and there was a layer of ice that was beginning to form around them. “Oh sorry!”

Latis pulled away, the ice cracking as she did so. Zaze gingerly held his paw close to himself, trying to warm it back up. Latis walked over to the cupboard to get something else to help aid Zaze’s health, turning away before he could see her blush.

“I’m sorry about that. Usually I have good control over my element. Being frozen in that ice must’ve…” Latis was cut off by the sound of light snoring.

0 = 0 = 0

“There is one.”
“What was it?”
“My paw froze as well.”
“Why? What were you doing?”
“I had to hold his paw. His fever was a bit high, so I lowered his temperature.”
“And your paw FROZE while you were holding his?”
Latis sheepishly laughed. “It kind of did. When I let go, there was even the sound of cracking because the ice shattered.”

Bingo. Alyssa sighed and shook her head, a knowing smile on her face.

“What is it? Is it serious?”
“No it’s not serious. In fact it’s fine actually. It should be gone in a few days.” Alyssa smiled, waving a paw at her.
Latis sighed. “That’s a relief. Thanks Alyssa.”
“Anytime.”
“I probably should get back to him, see you later.”
“Take care now.”

Alyssa then watched as Latis turn around the corner, and hear the sound of the door closing a few moments later.

“Your paw freezing involuntarily isn’t something you get from being frozen in ice.”
Alyssa turned around and saw Volteer with a smirk on his face.
“And how do you know that?”
Volteer chuckled. “I am the one mostly in the library. I read a book or two every now and then.”
It was now Alyssa’s turn to smirk. “So I am guessing you probably know what’s going on then, do you?”
“I think I do. For fire dragons, it’s when you burn their paws; for electric, you shock them; for earth, you poke them by accident since the dirt in their paws hardens. And for ice, you freeze your paw with them.”
“Yes, that is correct, Volteer. It is a phenomenon completely involuntary and common among young dragons since there powers are still being mastered.”
“And isn’t it also a sure fire way to tell?”
“Yes. It is.”
Volteer chuckled. “This should be interesting.

0 0 0 0 0

Latis walked down the halls of the Temple, her mind finally relieved that her paw freezing wasn’t a bad thing.

“At least it wasn’t serious,” she said to herself.

She looked up and saw Cynder and Sparx walking down the hall, the two chatting rather animatedly about something.

“Hey guys,” she called out.
“Hey Latis, did you happen to see Zaze by any chance?” asked Cynder.
“I have actually, why do you ask?”
“Where is he? We haven’t seen him this morning,” Sparx said.
“He’s at the infirmary. I was just about to go there myself.”
Cynder was caught off guard. “Why is he at the infirmary!? Was he attacked too!?”
“Attacked? What do you mean attacked?” It was now Latis’ turn to be confused.
“I guess the news hasn’t spread yet to you. You know that dark dragon that attacked you?” Sparx asked her.
“What about it?” Latis asked, feeling a slight shiver go down her spine.
“He attacked again. Only this time, no one was there to save the poor guy,” said Sparx grimly.

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Author's Notes:

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