Morning broke over the dragon realms ready for another pleasant day. Three of the guardians were still in a peaceful slumber as the sun shone brightly through the great temple windows; their great bulking bodies rising and falling with each breath they took. Terrador’s thundering snores seemed to shake the very chamber, but it didn’t bother Ignitus, Cyril or Volteer as they had had to put up with it for decades.

It was Ignitus who was wide awake. But his body lay motionless, not even a stir. He was breathing … but barely. It seemed age was taking a huge effect on him now, his eyes fluttered open and closed as each breath became much more of an effort. He couldn’t even feel the light breeze on his legs because of the alarming numbness in them. His mighty wings ached terribly as if he’d been flying for days without rest.

During the little sleep that Ignitus had that night. An experience had happened that seemed to be replaying through his mind over and over again. The ancestors had visited him with news he definitely didn’t want to hear at that time.

“Ignitus, I trust you have been expecting us for a while? …” said an aging dragon of red scales just like himself. Ignitus shakily replied to his father, the former fire guardian.
“Y-yes I have, but why now?”
“You’ve made your story on this world for many decades … longer even than I did Ignitus. You are old and have passed all your wisdom onto those who needed it. You have protected the world long enough. Its now time to rest ...”
“But I haven’t!” Ignitus snapped viciously, “Not yet … the fire guardian hasn’t even hatched, there is no one to take my place!” At that moment another dragon had appeared at the old fire master’s side. This one was even more crooked than Ignitus’ father and was very unfamiliar to him.
“We understand your anger towards us; we were the same when it was our turn to leave. But you cannot change the great ancestors’ minds, you must join us!” He growled. Ignitus knew that he must leave with them now, but he couldn’t, not at least until the egg hatched.
“What if I make a deal … let me stay until the new fire guardian is born and I’ll come quietly.” He pleaded. The two ancestors hesitated for a second, frozen in thought. After what seemed like days they turned back to him.
“We have decided to give you time in which to see the young one hatch, but when that happens you will join us whether you like it or not” replied the very old dragon with an expression of annoyance upon his face. Ignitus beamed and dipped his head to the ancestors.
“Thank you…”

Ignitus felt fury running through his veins at the ancestors. If they had agreed to give him more time, then why did he feel as if he was at death’s door? He couldn’t believe he had trusted the ancestors all his life when they were doing this to him now. No way was he going to submit to death willingly. Then Ignitus had a quick flash back from his dream…

“We have decided to give you time in which to see the young one hatch, but when that happens you will join us whether you like it or not.”

That must mean the new fire guardian must be hatching right now! Ignitus, using his mighty wings as support, limped extremely slowly towards the egg chamber; his feet dragging across the rough ground. Upon reaching the ancient doors he forced whatever fire he had left on the triggers. To his fortune it was enough to open the doors and he half dragged himself to the nest in which the egg lay.

His eyes grew wide with pride as he noticed the small shudders of movement. Slowly the shakes got more and more furious in his presence. Small cracks started to appear over the surface of the egg’s shell. The tiny egg had now attracted the attention of the other baby guardians who had begun to approach it cautiously with curiosity. Excitement coursed through Ignitus’ body as all feeling seemed to return to him and the worries of death were swept away. One final crack pierced the air, and he let out a sigh at the unbelievable sight before him.

The new fire guardian was a very tiny female of a deep golden colour. Deep red spines ran down her back and a red mane on top of her head. Her wings were the most unusual Ignitus had ever seen as they were not reptilian at all. They were covered in yellow and red feathers like a bird’s. The young fire dragon looked at her surroundings and briefly chirped a greeting to the baby earth guardian, who returned it cheerfully. Then it turned its curious gaze upon Ignitus whose heart filled with pride as she nudged him gently with her snout.

But then Ignitus suddenly felt extremely weak. All the pain returned to his tired old body as his deal with the ancestors was done. Ignitus smiled down upon his child briefly before letting his head fall heavily to the ground. His dying breath enabled him to utter his goodbye to the young ones.
“M-may the ancestor’s p-protect you …”

Spyro was surprised to find that he’d been summoned back to the temple that morning. He had lifted his heavy eyelids to find Sparx nudging him hard in the nose.
“C’mon big guy we’ve got a visitor who want to speak with you urgently!” nagged Sparx with a hint of jealousy in his voice, “it’s always you they want, would it hurt to think I was important for once?” Spyro open his huge jaws in one large yawn and stretched his powerful legs out before approaching the outdoors. There he found a fairly young and timid looking dragon who, upon seeing Spyro, dipped his head so low and so fast he very nearly smacked his snout on the hard ground. Sparx fell into a fit of giggles that made the messenger blush in embarrassment.
“Anyone would think he thought you were royalty!” hissed Sparx to Spyro underneath his chuckles. Spyro frowned at him and greeted the messenger with respect.

“Hello young dragon, what is it that is of importance?”
“I-I’ve been asked to bring you to the great temple, it is the guardians who summon you” the young messenger stuttered.
“I wonder why they want to see you?” said Sparx curiously. Spyro shrugged as well and was about to ask the messenger until the dragon answered for him.
“I’m not sure either, they didn’t tell me, but I do not think it is for a good reason as the ice master seemed very troubled when he sent me.”

The young messenger was a very fast flyer. That was Spyro’s immediate thought as they travelled through the skies towards the temple. He was constantly trying to catch up with the dragon, but every time he got close to the messenger, the dragon would speed ahead with one flap of his wings. Eventually, the young dragon went into a very steep dive and Spyro followed. As they broke through the white clouds the temple came into sight and Spyro could see the ice master awaiting them down below.
As his feet came back down to earth, exhaustion hit his wings from the quick flight, but neither the messenger or Cyril took notice of him. Cyril nodded a quick thanks to the young dragon that hurriedly departed.

Cyril then turned away from Spyro without a hint of noticing he had just arrived. But Spyro noticed the look of despair and grief upon the great guardian’s face and it troubled him greatly… What had happened?

The purple dragon and his dragonfly friend followed Cyril without invitation. They were led immediately towards the egg chamber. Horror hit Spyro, had something happened to the new guardians? He was about to ask Cyril this when he remembered that he wasn’t supposed to know about them. So he carried on in silence, watching Cyril closely. He was muttering sadly to himself…
“How could this happen, why now?” Spyro felt yet even more uneasy. The great doors opened and Spyro followed the ice dragon inside. There he saw something that would scar him forever.