Firelight
(Please note, some details are not included and this outline does not cover every detail)
The fanfic starts with the raid on the temple as seen at the beginning of A New Beginning. All of the eggs are smashed but the apes present cannot find the purple egg, to Gual's anger. They leave, but a young solider, Jayce, finds a red dragon egg on the way out, which he deludes himself into thinking is a gem and keeps.
Cut to 12 years later, Charla is out on her own and is chased by a Death Hound (and cannot fly due to a wing injury at the moment) but manages to escape the Death Hound. Soon, she finds a captive Earth Dragon names Lances. Though he is rather grumpy, he agrees to let Charla help her escape. He claims he used up all of his magic, but later reveals he doesn't use his element anymore (due to a vow to his fallen brother.)
Eventually, Charla sneaks him enough food to help break him free. She also sneaks into the office of the commander and finds the key. They are discovered by apes, but they e manage to fight them off, with Charla using her fire to blow up some nearby powder kegs. From here, they flee into the wild and find a place to rest. They chat and get to know each other for a while, and Lance finds Charla rather odd. Charla concedes and begins to explain her backstory to Lance, which takes up the next third of the fanfic.
The story flashes back to when Jayce brought Charla's egg back to the Well of Souls. His brother, Raden, discovers it, and but decides to keep it a secret for his brother's sake. It eventually hatches, and Jayce hides the hatchling in his pocket. He goes to Silverback for help, as he is the expert on dragons, and is being used by Gaul to raise Cynder. Silverback gives Jayce pointers and assistance on how to raise the hatchling, which he initially dubbed Char, though they later call her Charla.
Silverback agrees to watch Charla and help keep her secret by hiding her amongst the Death Hound pups. He also gives Jayce reading lessons. As Jayce learns to read, he is also given books with info on how to raise a dragon.
Over the next 12 years, Charla grows up in the Well of Souls in secret, looked after by Jayce and Silverback. They help her learn her abilities as best they can. Jayce and his brother grew much taller over time, but Jayce ends up becoming a hound master who handles the Deathhounds.
On the night Cynder is revealed to the Dark Army, Charla steals a look at her but is spotted by the dragoness. She and Jayce are found out, and end up fleeing the Well of Souls while Silverback stays behind to stall Gaul. They fight their way through the defenses and escape through the skin of their teeth.
They spend some time on the run, but eventually, they come across a dying dragon who talks about the death and destruction he was fleeing from, caused by Cynder and the Apes, and is also shocked to see an ape and a dragon together, given the war. The dragon perishes from his wounds, and Charla is left shocked. Motivated by the events the dragon talked about, Charla asks Jayce to explain. Jayce explains the events about how he raided the temple and came to become Charla's adoptive parent. Charla is distraught by what he says and flees in the night, feeling she and Jayce cannot be together, due to her misunderstanding of what Jayce explains.
She makes it to Dante's Freezer, where she sneaks into an ape fortress and witnesses Cynder interrogating Volteer, the electric guardian. Charla is unable to help him and flees back out the window, but a Dreadwing finds and attacks her. She flees, and ends up finding a spirit gem for the first time, but is attacked again by Dreadwings and later finds the undead in the region. Eventually, she is captured and taken prisoner.
Cynder herself interrogates and taunts Charla. She makes repeated visits and brings Charla food. She vents about her frustration with the ape army and seems to have some sort of weird fondness for Charla, though she denies it. She still insults Charla, but Charla notes how Cynder seems almost unsure of herself and her actions at times during her stay in captivity.
Eventually, Jayce shows up and frees Charla. The two flee the fortress but Cynder gives chase. After a harrowing chase, they eventually evade the black dragon and make it to a boat. They intend to ride it to safety, but Gaul's ship intercepts them and they throw ropes to drag the raft towards the ship. Jayce jumps on Gaul's ship and cuts off the ropes so Charla can go free. He is overwhelmed and severely injured by the apes, but he sacrifices himself to go free. It is not clear if he died or not; he suffered many injuries but Gaul kept yelling he wanted Jayce alive to put him in the dungeons of the Well of Souls with Silverback. However, the apes ignore Gaul and keep hurting Jayce, who keeps fighting. Gaul himself eventually gets fed up, joins the fight, and is last seen by Charla bringing his massive swords over on Jayce, possibly killing him.
Charla's raft washes up elsewhere, where she at first waits for Jayce but loses some hope, unsure he is dead or not. A snail-like a creature, however, consoles her and gives her hope. With renewed hope, she decides to figure out how to get to the Well of Souls and starts her journey.
She suffers a wing injury and his on her own for about a month before running into Lance.
The flashback ends, and we cut back to the present. Lance finds the story hard to believe but trusts Charla and agrees to help her on her quest, having nothing else he was doing and feeling he owed her for saving him. The two head off and survive in the wild for some time, bonding. Eventually, they find an abandoned city that had been raided by apes. There, they find a dragoness who takes them in and talks to them and claims the inhabitants are just in their homes for the day. The pair spend the night, but note the next day how, despite there being a lot of dragons, none seem to react to them. They get wise that something is up, go confront the dragoness who took them in and its revealed all the inhabitants and the dragons illusion by a kitsune-like creature named Nuala. She explains herself and reveal she is trying to nurse a Sky Serpent,(which are basically eastern dragons) back to health. This Sky Serpent is Meredy.
Charla and Lance agree to help, if they Nuala can help them. They agree and go to a nearby cave to get the spirit gems that Meredy needs to heal. There they are attacked by Earth Golems, and are overwhelmed. Charla yells at Lance to use his element, but he refuses. Nuala intervenes with an illusion that the golems feel, they get the gems and flee. Lance explains that he does not use his element because of a promise and tells Charla not to ask him again. They give them to Meredy, and the group decides to travel together for a bit. Meredy and Nuala are heading for Pyrelight, and in turn are trying ot head further north to get to Zephry, where the surviving Sky Serpents are believed to be. Meredy wants to try to find her father and species there, if they are alive. Lance is hesitant to travel with more, but eventually is convinced to do so, since Nuala and Meredy offer to aid them on the journey plus Charla wants to meet more people, especially more females like Nuala and Meredy.
They discuss flying, but Meredy cannot fly, which they note to be odd, since her species have wind powers. And Lance argues its safer to It's revealed she suffered some kind of trauma after her home, Zephyr, was destroyed by Cynder and Dreadwings. The debate wether it safer to pass the mountains tehy need to traverse nearby to keep heading west, to make their way to the Well. Nuala and Meredy need to head further north after cleraing the mountains to get to Zephyr. With Meredy not being able to fly and arguing they have cover from ape patrols, they head out on footDuring them morning they are leaving the city,, Lance is stubborn about sleeping in when Nuala tries to wake him up. They scavenge anything of use in the ruins of the city they are in before leaving, to which Charla finds a satchel but they find little else. Lance and Nuala butt heads and cannot seem to get along due to how their personalities are.he's hey have a few chapters of antics, arguments, jokes, and bonding moments as they survive in the wild. Nuala and Charla go out hunting for something called a "Ganu When out hunting with Meredy for a creature called a goat-like a creature called a "Ganu" and kill it. Its too big for Charla to carry back but Nuala used her illusion magic to make Charla not feel the weight on her.They bring it back, Lance tells Charla he should have gotten him to lug it back, although they note they it might have been stolin otherwise. Charla and Meredy look at this statue Charla picked up in the city they were in and she notes it reminds her of one of Jayce's desk back at teh Well of Souls. Charla mentions a bit of her backstory and notes to Meredy she did not know her real biological parents, while Lance argues with Nuala a lot and refuses her help to remove them at first, before caving if he promises not to snap at her.Charla asks Meredy why she was on the shore Nuala found her on when she was injured and first met Nuala, to which she explains her backstory. Her home of Mistral, a city in teh sky, was destroyed by Cynder and Dreadwings, many Sky Serpents were killed, including Meredy's mother but she is too traumatized to elaborate more. She managed to flee but her element has been blocked after trauma she suffered (later revealed in Balefire to be using it in a frenzy to brutally rip apart the dreadwings pursuing her, which traumatized her along with the loss of her home.) She hopes to find her father in Zephyr, were her father and other survivors maybe. She is not sure what exactly happened to other serpents as she fled quickly after her mother was killed defending her. She notes she and Nuala travel aroudn for protection and to help each other, much like Charla and Lance.Charla feels sorry for her, but comforts her by stating she is happy to have her and Nuala around and notes she feels a comfort aroudn them she has not felt since Jayce.Over the next week, Charla and the group travel and Charla bonds with Nuala on hunts. One day, Charla is out on hunting duty with Nuala, while Lance and ther others sleep. They catch some "cat bats" and the group is traveling and discusses their plans. Nuala was told by Meredy about Charla not knowing her parents and asked if she can call her Char, which Charla notes is strange but she doesn't mind. They then began discussingDuring a conversation with Lance, Charla asks Lance where they might be after they clear the mountains, he claims they may end up somewhere near Warfang. Charla is excited because she read about the massive dragon city in Silverback's books growing up and wants to see it, Lance is hesitant due to personally reasons (It later turns out its related to his father being a general and dying in the war, and not wanting to be in the city reminded of his past, and be recognized by people who knew him or his father, as well as possibly being trapped there since kids like them would not be let out into the wilds by authorities)Charla however, wants to go to see it anyway.Nuala notes she and Meredy will likely split off from the group, much to Charla's sadness, but Nuala states this was what they agreed to anyways: traveling only for as long as their paths lined up until they they needed to split off.When eating at the cave they caught the "cat bats" in, Nuala notes Charla does not say much about where she and Lance are going. Charla asks Nuala about the Well of Souls and if she has heard of it. Nuala does not know about it. Charla explains it's the ape's main fortress and states that its her goal to get there. Nuala finds that crazy, and Charla states its because her family is there. An argument breaks out and Nuala gets worked up when Charla mentions they got about getting directions from an ape, saying the ape could have lied. She points out the ape was pinned and terrified at the time, but Nuala still thinks it crazy and its uncertain the ape can be trusted. She off handly mentions maybe someone in Warfang knows where the Well of Souls is, which give Charla an idea to go there to find a map. They fly back to the others and makeup after they get back, when Nuala apologizes for snapping. She reasons apes are a trigger for her.Charla thinks about Nuala's points over the next day and a half, and discusses things with Lance.Lance and Charla discuss the two. He says he does not mind Meredty, as she is quiet, but Nuala gets on his nerves. She asks him if he is grumpy because of Charla spending time with Lance but that is not the case, so he claims. He asked Charla if she still wanted to visit the city and she states she does, as she might find a map there. He is also eager to dump Meredy and Nuala, as Nuala gets on his nerves but he is fine with Meredy as she is quiet.The discuss going to Wafang to get a map, Charla thinks its a good idea but Lance does not want to go, stating the ape was terrified when they interrogated it. He reasons "it can't be that hard to find a dirty great mountain swarming with apes".Charla giggles at that but still wonders if he has a personal reason not to want to go to Warfang.After this discussion, they, are interrupted by the sound of wing flaps nearby, to which they realize they stumbled upon a blue dragoness.
This dragon turns out to be Chelcie, a member of a group of refugees. She was hunting Nuala, after Lance and Charla briefly fight her off and it turns out Nuala is sentient. Nuala is not happy about being hunted and Lance does not want to go with her, but Charla and Meredy want to meet other dragons and the group follows Chelcie to the group of Reguees.Its turns out the reguees from a village that was destroyed by the Dark Armies. They are lead by a dragon named Teslan, Chelcie's uncle. The refugees are bound for Warfang, and Charla wants to see the city and go with them. Teslan does not want to leave the kids on their own, and insists they come with the rest of the group to Warfang for safety. Lance does not want to go, as he fears they will be shoved into an orphanage and separated. (it is also later revealed that Lance had father who was higher ranking in the Warfang military and died in a skirmish some years ago he had volunteered for) Charla insists, since she wants to go anyways and Lance concedes. The dragon, Teslan, is controlling of Charla and Lance, but just wants to keep them safe; he initially refuses to let them leave after finding them, for their safety. He forbids them to go back on their own anyway, and puts his niece, Chelice, in charge of them.Eventually, Nuala and Meredy split off from the group and head their own way. They are trying to get to the other Sky Serpent city of Mistral in the north and decide to cut through the city of Pyrelight to do so. Charla is sad to say goodbye to Nuala and Meredy, but stays with the refugees.
The group head for Warfang and make it to the damn, but are attacked by Dreadwings and Apes, as the city is under siege. The adults fight, but Lance stops Charla from joining the fight, and holds her back to protect her. They eventually make it the ruins of the old city from Dawn of the Dragon. They navigate the tunnels, and Charla and Chelice, while exploring, find the door that can only be opened from the other side. They inform the adults and all the dragons present try to open it but it does not work. Charla finds a hole she and Lance can slip through, and sneak into the city to try and get help.
A guard catches them and thinks they are runaways from the academy. They tell of the refugees but are not believed at first. It takes some effort, but they convince him that their story is true and they have news to report.
The guard sends help to aid with the door, and Charla and Lance are taken to the council building. There, they are brought before the council, who cannot decide on the best course of action to take. The kids are dismissed for their age but the general of the armed forces takes them to his office. Charla and Lance tell them what they know, but also learn Pyreflight has fallen. Charla asks him about the Well of Souls, but Lance shushes her and tells her that is not really public knowledge later. The general also reveals that Lance is the son of a previous general and Lance later explain his famliy life to Charla. (How he and his brother got into trouble a lot, but his brother lacked an element and was bullied, and died to apes. Additionally, his mother was devastated by the loss of her mate and other son, but Lance left her sometime after.)
For the sake of convenience, when they are told they are going need to choose to be adopted or put in an orphanage, Lance sticks to the story he made up for him and Charla, that she is his adopted sister and how they are from his home, Jordguard. The two are placed in an orphanage run by a nice dragon named Madame Orinthe.
For the next few chapters, Charla and Lance adjust to life in the Orphanage. Charla does not like having to follow all the rules Warfang has and seems set on just getting the map and escaping Warfang. However, she delays going to the library to do so as she seems to be slowly growing accustomed to life in the city. She grows to enjoy the routine and the feeling of a normal life, but her concerns for her adoptive family weigh on her. She visits Chelice a few times and is even given a tour of the city, while Lance considers taking an apprenticeship at the city Dojo. At one point, they visit the Warfang library and learn where the Well of Souls is and Charla begins getting ideas for her escape.
Eventually, Charla asks Lance when they are going and he states they might not be escaping, as Warfang is guarded and on lockdown due to being under siege. He has a talk with Charla, reasoning that is near impossible to get to the Well of Souls in one piece. He asks her to ride out the war with him by staying in Warfang and then return to his home with him as an adopted sister. This puts him at odds with Charla's desire to save Jayce and Silverback, and the two break off. She ponders her situation and how much she enjoys Warfang, but dreams sent by Meredy and her desire to save her adopted family win out. She steals a key to the library from Chelice, who was volunteering there and takes a scroll from the archives with a map to the Well of Souls. She flees Warfang out the way she came and flies to Pyrelight. While out on her own, she briefly sees Spyro and Sparkx fly by.
She catches up to Meredy, who explains that Nuala went missing in Pyreflight. Lance also catches up to them, having escaped the way Charla did, and chews Charla out for running off. He states how everyone back in Warfang was worried for her and Chelice got in trouble for Charla stealing the key, as the vault was supposed to be restricted access. Chelice was acquitted, but Charla feels guilty.
The group sneaks into Pyreflight, now under ape control, and sneaks into a tower there. While in it, they are met with illusions, including Charla finding one of a ghostly Jayce. Lance snaps her out of it and they find Nuala, who is working with the apes. They are also confronted by commander Coldbone, formerly known as Pevmuffin, who was the commander of the camp that held Lance at the start of the story. They fight him and Nuala, and then it is revealed that Nuala was only working for the apes because they held a surviving litter of Vulpala pups hostage. She turns on Coldbone during the fight, but they can't beat him. It gets to the point Charla releases a fury, which kills Coldbone and accidentally kills the pups. However, they figure out that the pups were just an illusion created by the apes after harnessing Vulpala feathers and magic crystals.
Nuala is pissed about this, but they manage to convince her that the pups were never even there. They regroup with Meredy, and flee the city.
In the ending, they are Nuala explains herself, and makes more or less makes her peace with the rest of her friends. Charla affirms Lance as her big brother figure and affirms her friendships, as well as the strive to make it to the Well of Souls. The fic ends with them all looking to continue their journey together.
Balefire
The sequel starts with Nuala narrating their adventure to the others as they cross the Arid lands, a desert wasteland leading them toward the Well of Souls. Along the way, Charla see jackals from afar multiple times, and it is stated that they often serve as omens and have tales around them of jackals dragging off travelers. When she sleeps, Charla has dreams of the Well of Souls, but they seem ominous. As they travel, they discuss getting Meredy to the city of Earthsoul, where they can find her aid in getting her to the remaining Sky Seprent city where they think her father could be. During their time, Meredy shows doubts on what she thinks is best for her, and the rest of the group is spilt as well. Nuala also intends to further accompany Charla and Lance to the Well of Souls to get her revenge on Gaul, though she promises to aid Charla as well. Lance as reservations on this once he learns. Lance intends to keep leading them to Earthsoul, which he had stopped at on his travels before.The group keeps traveling until they reach the outskirts of Earthsoul, which has been partially wrecked by the Dark Army. The remaining parts of the city have a gigantic Earthwall erected for protection. They also see Lake Crystellus, which is nearby the city. It had been famous for its many spirit gems, but sadly it had been sacked by the Dark Army and lost it's gems. The surrounding outskirts of Earthsoul have also been sacked and left in ruins.When they get to the wall, they debate on whether to enter or not, as the guards would likely detain the children since they are unattended. Charla wants to go in along with Nuala to get supplies but Lance is very reluctant to let her do so. After much praising he lets Charla enter with Nuala, who casts an invisibility spell. They steal much-needed supplies but Charla gets separated while looking around at the stalls. She runs into a stall run by a feline who is selling wares, including a storybook called Star Tales. Nuala finds Charla here, and Charla, having no money to pay for it, convinces Nuala to trade one of her feathers to the feline for Star Tales, which the feline intends to make into a dream catcher. They exit the city soon after.They end up staying in an inn around the city. Though Charla wishes to press on, Lance argues they should stay a bit, rest, and figure out what to do with Meredy. Meredy currently still cannot fly and her magic is locked. The group argues about what is best for her and keeps butting heads. Lance feels Nuala is abandoning Meredy by leaving her in Earthsoul to get help, but Nuala argues that she has done all she can to help Meredy and has gotten her to safety. The group argues many different viewpoints on Meredy's situation throughout their stay, and no one can seem to come to a conclusion about what is best or right.At one point, Charla goes out on a walk a bit away from the city along with Meredy, and they talk a little bit. During this walk, a naga attacks the pair of young dragons and attempts to eat them. During the fight, Meredy's wind powers activate an emotional turmoil, and Charla and Meredy escape. However, Meredy cannot seem to control her power after this still, and this causes more debates about what to do.Eventually, Lance, Charla, and Nuala decide it may be best to leave Meredy in Earthsoul to keep her safe, while they continue to the Well of Souls. However, they say goodbye to Meredy and she seemingly leaves, Meredy ends up running back and deciding to join them, instead of continuing to the remaining Sky Serpent city to try to find her father and her kind. Charla is happy Meredy is still there, but Lance has his doubts if its what is best.Regardless, the group continues to travel, now aiming to head towards Wispergalde Forest, which will provide cover from enemies and get them closer to the Well of Souls. Along the way there, they encounter a dreadwing rider ape who crashes.They have a hostile confrontation with this ape, but he reveals he simply is fleeing from the war and wanting to get away from it all. He reveals that Cynder has been seemingly killed by a purple dragon(Spyro) and was gone now, though Lance does not believe in purple dragons. ( This part is referecning how she was defeated and returned to normal in A New Beginning) . With their ace in the hole gone, the apes' plan to besiege Warfang fell apart. This ape had enough of war and decided to flee. Cynder's fortress had also been taken back by electric dragons. The ape also kills his dreadwing to prevent it from suffering. After a hostile conversation, Charlan and Lance let him go, and he reveals his name to be Kafik Skyfire.The group keeps moving and enters the Whisper Glade Forest, which is full of all kinds of deadly magical creatures and fae-like creatures. During their stint here, the group gets lost and runs into various dangers, including a larger toad-like creature called a Boggart that nearly eats Charla. Soon after that encounter, Charla is accidentally separated from the group by small creatures and see's a strange deer-like creature, later revealed to be called Qilin. After that encounter, she refinds her friends and they keep trying ot survive in the forest and find their way. The next day, they find themselves lost and as they argue, a colossal snake shows up and nearly eats them. After escaping that, they are eventually found by a pangolin monk from Sanghalin order, who worship Qilin. This monk brings them to shelter within the monastery her order resides in, though Nuala is a skeptic of them.During their stay here, the group experiences a great number of developments in their dynamics. The first morning they are there, Charla explores and finds the room where the monks, who have visions and dreams of the future, leave carvings of their visions. Charla sees a carving of the Wello of Souls and Pema, the monk who found them, finds her. Charla asked her about the specific carving she was looking at and Pema explains her order's visions and how this carving references the Night of Eternal Darkness. Pema gives Charla warnings about the Well of Souls and the upcoming Night of Eternal Darkness and warns Charla her visit there may overlap with the Night of Eternal Darkness. She warns Charla to avoid going there, though Charla feels she has to save Jayce and Silverback, despite the warnings. Inspite of this, Charla resolves to continue her quest, feeling she has come to far.
