"When I first hatched, I was alone. Nobody was around, dragon or not. I remember just crawling about trying not to walk off the edge of a cliff that I wasn't able to see-"

"Why wouldn't you have seen it?" Spyro interrupts. "I was blind," I answer, much to his surprise. "Wait, what?! You're blind?!"

"Aura Dragons are born blind," I shrug. "After the first two months of our lives, we develop sight, but until then we rely on our powers to guide us. We go off the auras of our surroundings. I suppose it's a little like a silent version of echolocation."

He nods, so I go on. "I was trying to find my parents, I remember. But they weren't there. I was alone until I finally got my eyesight, then I saw what before I had thought was just an oddly-shaped rock that felt like a tree or whatever. Turns out it was some kind of chest."

"What was inside?" He asked, intrigued. He was thoroughly engaged with my little tale. "It was two scales," I answer after a brief pause to build up suspense. If I was going to tell a story, I was going to do it right. "I still have them somewhere. I can tell they belonged to my parents. But that's all I've ever had of them."

"Well who took you in?" He asked. "Nobody," I sigh. "Well, I made some friends after a while and they let me hang around, but it wasn't the same. They didn't take me in, they just hung out with me and let me crash on the floor in front of their fireplace during winter since I never had anywhere else to go. They're the closest thing I've ever had to a family, really. You got lucky to be taken in by someone who clearly cared and provided for you."

He hung his head, reflecting. He was feeling guilty. "I never thought of it like that," he said. "I always considered myself unlucky to not know my family, but at least I got one."

We stay in silence for a few moments, then he looks up at me again. "But that still doesn't explain what you were doing at the Academy."

"I sensed the aura of your 'master'," I shrug. "It's one of the strongest auras of light I've ever felt that didn't come from a magical relic. I used it to grow stronger. It won't have any effects on him, if you're worried about that."

"How did you do it?" He asked. "I just need to be in close proximity to the source," I explain briefly. "Then I can take any excess energy left over. Only excess, so the strength will remain intact as well as everything else, which is how he's not effected by it. If I wanted to, though, I could've taken more and more energy until he was... you know..."

"So... you can kill people just by being close to them?" He scuttles back a bit. I laugh. "Only if I really push to do it. It would take some time to do it and you'd feel it, too. Besides, I don't see any reason to kill you."

He sighs in relief. "Thanks for not killing me, I guess." We both laugh again. I guess he's not so bad. "So I'm guessing your group sent you to find out if I'm a threat or whatever?" I ask.

"Well they sent me to find out what you did to Master Eon and then make you reverse it, but I don't really see any need to if that's really all you did." "He wouldn't have been able to use the excess energy anyway," I shrug. "If he had somehow managed to, he would've overloaded and it wouldn't have been good for him. If anything I helped prevent him harming himself by removing it. Would you punish me for removing a knife from his hand, for example?"

He thought about it for a moment. "I guess you have a point. But Stealth Elf won't like it." "The one that teleports?" I ask, earning a nod. "She doesn't like me anyway, it doesn't matter," I shrug. He laughs.

"She'll come around to you, just give her time," he said. If she can handle me, she can handle you." It's my turn to laugh. "If I get my way there won't be any need. I'm happy here, she's probably happy enough doing her thing, we don't need to cross paths again."

"I guess not, but still," he said. "Right, I'd better get back now before the others wonder why I'm taking so long and come after me. I already wasted ages looking for you."

"Well now you know where to find me," I shrug. "But I'm hoping you won't need to. I prefer to get my training done than be interrupted."

"Just like Elf! See? You're great already!"

I laugh. "If only it were that easy, I wouldn't have her sitting on me. Now get back before I scare you off."

My threat sent him packing.

I go back to my training in a decent a mood as ever, which is to say glad that I've got a nice session to get started with. My special training is very therapeutic. Spyro never returns and none of his little friends ever come for a visit, so that's good.

The rest of my day goes by peacefully, my routine now back into place. I'm exhausted by the time midnight rolls around and I'm glad to fly back into my cave, curl up in my makeshift bed and fall asleep.

When dawn slips through the cave mouth, I wake up, stretch and head outside for breakfast; a juicy salmon from the river near my cave. It's delicious. Then it's time for my training to begin, the first kind on the agenda being my range and accuracy training. I aim at my targets and fire beams of yellow aura at them, striking the centre every time.