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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The Purple Essence

Chapter 10

The Atoner

He was floating in a seemingly endless void of dark space. No light, no wind, no nothing. It felt familiar to him. Of course, it was the same feeling when he was imprisoned; imprisoned at Convexity. Speaking of feelings, he felt…different. It was like…a part of him died.

"Am…I…dead…?" he asked himself, looking around.

"No, you are not."

He blinked, surprised to hear someone reply to him.

"Who's there?"

That was when a sudden light blinded him, illuminating the darkness around him. Out came from the light was another dragon. He looked like an old wise looking dragon. Age seemed to have thrashed away at him, leaving him all wrinkly, scars evident at some parts of his body whilst his scales seemed to lack the usual luster one would have. He was a white scaled dragon with faded blue underbelly. He couldn't believe his eyes. He recognized who this dragon was.

It was his Master; Master Gale.

"Do you not recognize your Master?" he asked calmly.

"Master Gale. H-how is it you're here?" he asked.

He chuckled. "You misunderstand. I am not here per se. I am talking to you in your dreams."

"I am…sleeping?" he asked, disbelief in his tone. "Shouldn't I be…dead?"

"You should be," said Gale. "But due to certain circumstances, you aren't. And now, we must ask for your help. The Dark Essence is still at large."

"I do not understand. What is this 'Dark Essence' you speak off?" he asked.

"It would seem I have a lot of explaining to do," he said, scratching his chin.

"You see, through careful deciphering, we have managed to translate The Artisans' Book."

"That old book?"
"Yes, we have. There we have learned what the ancients' knowledge of dragon kind. Among one of the entries was about the Purple Dragons. Have you ever wondered why you are special?"

He smiled, thinking at the though. "It was always at the back of my head."

"Well, what makes a Purple Dragons special, unique and otherwise different from other dragons, is that, they posses what the Artisans named as, the Purple Essence."

"The Purple Essence?" he asked.

Gale nodded. "Yes. With this trait, it separates them from the usual norm, for which it allows them to master all five elements, with addition of the special element and powers, which is exclusive to purple dragons only."

He nodded. "I understand now, what the Purple Essence is. But what is this Dark Essence you spoke of earlier?"

"Ah, I see you still have good recall. The Purple Essence, no matter how strong it is, still has its drawbacks. One of them, and probably the most dangerous of them all, is the Dark Essence. You have to understand, the Dark Essence, is part of the Purple Essence. Without it, the Purple Essence would not exist. This Dark Essence was what consumed you, and turn you into the Dark Dragon you were. The Dark Essence can only be awakened, if thoughts of power, greed and violence begin to cloud the heart."

"You speak of past tense, I am still not…evil?"

"Do you feel evil?"

He stopped, caught off guard by the simple yet thought provoking question. He looked deep inside himself and found no such emotion. Emotions of malice, violence and dark carnal desires that used to intoxicate his mind and body were no longer there. It was as if…it had died.

"…I do not. I do not understand. Why?" he asked.

"That is a very good question, and I have an answer for that. You see, the Purple Essence is an inborn trait; however, it is not an exclusive trait. It can be taken away."

He cocked his head to the side. "Taken?"

"Yes. Absorbed in other words; what I am saying is that, other dragons can become purple dragons in title, if they absorb the Purple Essence present in purple dragons."

"How?"

"It is only possible to absorb the Essence, if the said purple dragon, is near death."

"I see…but what does this have to do with the Dark Essence?" he asked.

Gale chuckled. "Ah, you seem rather slow to piece this together. In that case then, I'll help you. Why do you not feel evil?"

He thought for a moment and tried to hypothesize it.

"Because…I no longer have the Dark Essence?"

"Correct. If that were the case then…" Master Gale stared at him, giving him the hint.

"…I no longer possess the Purple Essence."

"I see you realize it now," said Gale. "Now let us look at the bigger picture, for you to understand it fully."

"Due to the Dark Essence present in you, we had no choice but to send you back to your prison at Convexity, and sealing it completely. However, we could not do this, when you were still powerful and ran amok, ruling the Dragon Realms. When Spyro and Cynder confronted you however, we saw the chance. When you were weakened with their combined efforts, we summoned all our powers to try and banish you back to your prison. However, we did not anticipate that you were still strong, at the current state you were in. The Dark Essence fought back, and soon we lost grip on control, sending you back to the Dragon Realms. All hope seemed lost for us, in destroying you completely. But something different happened. As you were recovering at the bottom of the Volcano, someone arrived and took the Purple Essence from you."

"Taking the Dark Essence along with it…" he finished.

"Now you understand what I meant when I said we needed your help. With the sudden change of pace, we used the remaining powers we had to get you out of there, to safety for you to recover. For which you are doing right now."

He blinked, realizing how things changed to his favour. If it weren't for the Dark Essence, ironically, saving him, he should be dead right now.

"I…see…what happens to a purple dragon if the Purple Essence was taken away from him?" he asked.

"They'll be left with their original element, along with a few certain changes; in your case that would be the Wind Element."

"What happens now then?" he asked.

"Now, we ask of you, to pair up with Spyro and Cynder and put a stop to this fake purple dragon," Gale said, looking at him seriously. "Due to certain circumstances, you've been a second chance in life. Do not waste it."

"Pair up with them? I doubt they'd want to see me again!" he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if everyone out there would want to kill me."

"Change their opinion of you, by atoning for your mistakes. Trust is hard to earn, but worth it."

"I understand Master. I will not fail you," he said, bowing before him.

"Be careful Mal. We will watch over you; may the Ancients watch over you, may they watch over us all."

0 0 0 0 0

The sun was shining brightly up at the sky, as a body lay on the forest floor. A groan emitted from his body, at he shifted to the side. A pair of yellow orbs appeared as he opened his eyes, trying to get accustomed to the sudden appearance of light. Instead of seeing the blue sky up above him however, he was surprised to find a pair of orange colored eyes looking back at him.

"AHH!" he shouted, surprised to see someone looking so close at him.

He rolled to the side, feeling slightly disoriented as he had just woken up. He jumped upright, immediately scanning his surroundings to find the owner of the orange eyes. Much to his surprise, there was no one there.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" he called out. There was no response. But there was something else that peak his interest.

"Is that my voice?" he asked himself.

He sounded different. He remembered having a distorted loud sounding voice that sent shivers down other dragons; sometimes even to himself. Now he just sounded…normal. The word rolled of his tongue feeling alien to him. He would have never described himself normal back then. But now…circumstances changed.

"Who the heck was that…?" he asked himself, wondering who was the owner of the orange eyes.

He recognized the eyes as a pair of dragon eyes. But whoever it was, he could move fast. There were no traces of anyone else being there, aside from the fact that the bushes seemed to have been moved and bent to the side a little.

As he slowly got his bearings back, his 'dream' came back to him. He remembered that Master Gale had come to him in his dreams, and explained to him the things that had been happening. Master Gale…now that he thought of it, he was the one that he first…killed when the Dark Essence took over him.

He shook his head. The suppressed memory was one of the first that was trying to come out and lash at him with guilt behind it. He couldn't allow himself to break down right now. He was left with a task by his Masters. He couldn't fail them. Not now, that he was given a second chance in life, no matter how ironic it was on how he got it.

Looking up he noticed his surroundings and recognized the area.

He was at the Enchanted Forest. The forest right next to the Ancient Grove; he remembered this place. It was the place he was usually in when he wanted to wander around the forest. It was notable since it was right next to the Ancient Grove; the place forbidden for them to go to for obvious reasons. From memory, things seem to have changed.

The forest seemed to be thicker and more alive than it was before. The sounds of animals roaming around and the usual flapping of wings were picked up by his keen sense of hearing. It was definitely not the forest he usually loitered in.

But right now, one thing was on his mind. His throat was parched, and he wanted to drink water. He remembered that Silver River ran through here before ending up at the Ancient Grove. He just needed to find the River first.

"Where was that river…" he asked himself as he began walking to the direction he thought it was.

As he walked, his thoughts began to wander back to the things Master Gale told him. There was someone that had stolen his Essence. Who could that be? And why? No clear culprit popped into his mind and viable reason as well. To that moment, it was still unknown to him, due to the lack of information. Moving onwards, the next thought that popped into his head was of the idea…of allying himself with Spyro. He sighed realizing how big of a feat that was.

It was no question that Spyro and Cynder were alive. It was quite clear all around him. If it weren't for them, there would be no Dragon Realms at the moment. And the last thing those two would want to see, was their archenemy appearing out of nowhere and wanting to ally with them, to atone for his mistakes. That would just be too farfetched. He wouldn't be surprised if Spyro blasted him with Convexity the moment he saw him.

"How the heck am I going to befriend them…after all I did…"

Not to mention Cynder too. Cynder would probably have the biggest grudge on him than anyone else. He did actually force her to try and attack Spyro back at his Lair. He imagined her reaction to him and they see each other. Hell has no wrath like a dragoness scorned. And everyone knew that you do not mess with a dragoness in that sense.

With a looming prospect before him, Malefor continued onwards burdened with problems that are too tough for him to handle. He only hoped that he can deliver when the time comes for him to do so.

However, unbeknownst to him, a pair of orange eyes carefully watched and scrutinized him as he walked on, up above the trees, hiding from his suspicious eyes earlier.

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Author's Notes:
Sorry for not being able to upload this yesterday. Internet was being bad to me and I had to delay it because of that. Sorry.

Well here we are. Now that was some interesting plot movement now wasn't it? If it wasn't, I don't know what will. I know that the start of this story has been rather...well...bland, bluntly speaking. And I don't blame you for thinking that. I was setting everything up for the future chapters that I've already typed. As with all my stories, the story begins to pick itself up around Chapter 10. So from here on out, less fillers, more plot.

Now that we have things explained, and terminologies making sense. What do you think might happen? Especially now with Malefor on board. I can't just seem to make Malefor an evil dragon. There's just something about him that mystifies me.

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